An Esoteric * Visitor, Russ Vaughn (2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, Vietnam 65-66)has been sending me excellent submissions for posts on Esoteric * Diatribe. The first submission I published from him has been featured on Blog's for Bush's Carnival of the Bush Bloggers and mentioned on many other sites. His latest email reads:

Ken,

Since you didn't post my earlier comments on Kerry's salute maybe you will consider this rewrite. I just got so damned angry today thinking about this phony hero and how he's dividing veterans once again to serve his own selfish purposes that I had to write this.

Ken, I'm not trying to hijack your site but I do feel very strongly about this issue. I simply want to reach as many people as I can and try to make them see what a phony this guy is.

Hey, after all, a site called esoteric-diatribe should be able to absorb a few diatribes by an old vet like me, hmmm?

Russ

Well I encourage people to email me submissions and I am happy to post good submissions... I don't always have time to post really good submissions and I can honestly say Russ Vaughn has never emailed me anything not worthy of print on Esoteric * Diatribe; therefore, I happily turn the rest of this post over to Russ.

Ken,

Found this quote on another site, the Mighty Righty, and it actually made my stomach churn to read this and then think of this opportunistic hypocrite sneaking out there to use The Wall as nothing more than an election prop:

"We will not quickly join those who march on Veterans’ Day waving small flags, calling to memory those thousands who died for the greater glory of the United States. We will not accept the rhetoric. We will not readily join the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars—in fact, we will find it hard to join anything at all and when we do we will demand relevancy such as other organizations have recently been unable to provide. We will not take solace from the creation of monuments or the naming of parks after a select few of the thousands of dead Americans and Vietnamese. We will not uphold traditions, which decorously memorialize that which was base and grim."
John F. Kerry "The New Soldier"

From this quote we can assume he wasn’t seeking solace. What he was doing was desecrating our memorial with his adolescent behavior. For one Vietnam Vet to be giving another the finger on such hallowed ground is disturbing. For the offending veteran to be one who seeks to be commander in chief of our military forces is disgraceful beyond belief.

Hear me Brothers: that middle finger conveys far more than anger at Ted Sampley. That finger is John Effin’ Kerry’s salute to all of us who served in Vietnam. It speaks volumes as to what he really thinks of us and our memorial. It also speaks volumes as to his lack of maturity, his poor judgment and his inability to lead this nation.

I return your salute, Sir: FJK!

Russ Vaughn

2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

Thank you for speaking out, Russ, Esoteric * Diatribe is proud to help share your voice with the world. My only suggesting is that you call Hanoi John by the more family orientated John Waffles Kerry, and not John Effin' Kerry.