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Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Cindy & Chavez

From the Inbox:
Cindy & Chavez
Venezuela Dictator Vows To Bring Down U.S. Government

Venezuela government is sole owner of Citgo gasoline company

Venezuela Dictator Hugo Chavez has vowed to bring down the U.S. government. Chavez, president of Venezuela, told a TV audience: "Enough of imperialist aggression; we must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century."

The guest on his television program, beamed across Venezuela, was Cindy Sheehan, the antiwar activist. Chavez recently had as his guest Harry Belafonte, who called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world."

Chavez is pushing a socialist revolution and has a close alliance with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Regardless of your feelings about the war in Iraq, the issue here is that we have a socialist dictator vowing to bring down the government of the U.S. And he is using our money to achieve his goal!

The Venezuela government, run by dictator Chavez, is the sole owner of Citgo gas company. Sales of products at Citgo stations send money back to Chavez to help him in his vow to bring down our government.

Take Action

Please decide that you will not be shopping at a Citgo station. Why should U.S. citizens who love freedom be financing a dictator who has vowed to take down our government?

Very important. Please forward this to your friends and family. Most of them don't know that Citgo is owned by the Venezuela government.

YOU CAN VERIFY THIS ON THE CITGO WEB PAGE.


Editors Note: This was a chain email that was forwarded to my account, it seems to be accurate, but I have not done any fact checking beyond following the links that were provided.


Kerry’s Catch-22

Kerry’s Catch-22

[Catch-22: A situation in which a desired outcome or solution is impossible to attain because of a set of inherently illogical rules or conditions.]

John Kerry may fancy himself a war hero and an old hand at armed combat but somehow, in spite of all his self-filmed heroics, he doesn’t seem to know how to extricate himself from an untenable tactical situation. Campaigning on his Vietnam War record in 2004, Kerry found himself confronted with a harsh reality of war: most of the men he served with in Vietnam were not about to let him get away with his deceptive portrayal of himself as a selfless warrior, heroic in battle and grievously wounded in service to his country.

Think about it, folks, do you suppose the American public ever would have known that Kerry’s multiple Purple Hearts were awarded for mere scratches, in one case possibly self-inflicted, if a group of his former comrades in arms, the Swift Boat Veterans, hadn’t come to the fore and warned America that the Democratic candidate might be sporting more warts than wounds?

Now, more than a year and a half after his defeat, aided and abetted by his rear-echelon buddies at the New York Times, Kerry is attempting to refute the charges that many political insiders think cost him the election and constitute the critical issue that must be dealt with prior to any attempt by Kerry to seek the Democratic nomination again. As long as that big question mark hangs over him as to who is telling the truth about his war record, John Kerry doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in Cambodia of attracting any big-money backers. He has to resolve this problem and therein lies John Kerry’s Catch-22.

With the help of the bootlicking, mainstream media, Kerry again is going to try to paint the Swiftees as a bunch of ultra-rightwing, ex-military fascists manipulated by the evil Karl Rove to spread vicious lies about Kerry’s heroic service. Supposedly Kerry backers have uncovered new testimony and documentation to support his claims of heroism. They are trotting out some of the same weak responses from the same weak witnesses that failed them in 2004 and will fail them again. These die-hard Kerristas seem to think that this time they can sell the American public a bill of goods that Americans weren’t buying in ’04 and aren’t any more likely to buy this time around.

They want you to believe that a group of retired Navy men who had no formal affiliation or organization prior to Kerry’s being nominated as the Democratic candidate, all suddenly coalesced into this lynch mob of right wing fanatics willing to sacrifice their lives, fortunes and reputations in fealty to the evil George Bush. They want you to believe that these men, some of them Democrats, most of them officers, many of senior rank, including flag (admiral) rank, who served long and honorable careers, suddenly morphed into pliable tools of that devil Rove and took the national stage to tell vicious lie after vicious lie about this great hero who served four months in Vietnam and then returned to savage and slander his fellow sailors and all other members of America’s armed forces in Senate testimony that has since been proved to be utter garbage.

The Kerristas want you to believe that these men who served out their full one-year tours in Vietnam while their heroic candidate invoked an arcane military policy to get himself out of harm’s way as quickly as was politically expedient, are all liars, all men who would sell their honor to elect the evil Bush. Kerry’s camp followers think the American public can be wooed by a compliant, cooperating mainstream media into believing one man’s self-serving testimony over that of dozens of honorable warriors, all of whom share one notable distinction that their heroic opponent does not: they all have unquestioned, unclouded, honorable discharges.

During the campaign, Kerry repeatedly was asked by the opposition to complete and submit a Form 180 which would allow the Navy to release his entire service record so that there would be no question as to who was telling the truth, him or the Swift Boat veterans. The drive-by media ignored the issue but talk radio and the internet informed many of the demand.

Kerry tap-danced around the issue, giving vague, evasive responses right up to the election. Many feel it was this refusal to release his military records that cost him the election. Since his defeat, he has been asked repeatedly, most notably by Tim Russert on Meet the Press, to release those records, and he always promises to do so, in fact, right up to the present. In the recent Times puff piece, is this:

“Mr. Kerry has signed forms authorizing the Navy to release his record.…”

Kindly note that Mr. Kerry has signed forms, but there is no indication that he has submitted them to the Navy. This is just more of the same Kerry duplicity that runs like the muddy Mekong River through his questionable military and unremarkable political careers. And kindly note also that the enablers at the Times don’t call him on this point at all.

But what the Times and the Kerristas don’t seem to grasp is the afore-mentioned quandary facing their hero, John Kerry’s Catch 22. Their hero is between a rock and a hard place: he can’t refute the testimony of his tormentors without releasing his full military records to the public.

But there are many veterans, like me, who believe that the reason he will not release those records is that contained therein is material far more damaging, probably fatal, to Mr. Kerry’s political aspirations than anything the Swift Boat Vets have said about him. It may be the contents of investigative reports into his treating with the enemy when he met with the Vietnamese in Paris while American forces were actively engaged with both Viet Cong and North Vietnamese regulars. If his records contain documents showing that federal investigators and prosecutors concluded that his actions were treasonous or constituted aiding and abetting the enemy, but prosecution was declined for political reasons, that revelation probably would foreclose Mr. Kerry’s political options. Likewise, the timing and conditions of Mr. Kerry’s discharge are suspect, having been held up years past the time it should have been granted, issued in fact, not until the Carter administration, when a general amnesty was declared by Carter for draft resistors and associated federal violations.

But of course, we’ll never know any of this, will we? Unless Mr. Kerry authorizes the Navy proceed with a full, public disclosure of his military records. Do you think a man who lost the presidency of the greatest nation in the world rather than release those records will do so now?

Russ Vaughn


Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Forsaken Honor, Forgotten Shame

Forsaken Honor, Forgotten Shame

“False face must hide what the false heart doth know.”
Macbeth 1.7

The liberals found a new Macbeth
To bait the media with claims of death,
And atrocious acts by his own men,
Opportunely vague ‘bout where and when.
But liberal bloggers shared with glee,
New proof of our troops’ infamy;
Web witches stirred their bitter brew,
Caring not their broth might be untrue.

But liberals heed not lessons learned,
That hollow heroes leave them burned.
So fools rush in, disdaining danger,
And hold on high a phony Ranger,
Exploit a mentally troubled youth,
To extend their version of the truth.

Because our troops they so despise,
They swallowed whole his vicious lies.
So now we witness once again,
The Lefties just can’t seem to win,
When it comes to picking warrior heroes,
Liberal heroes often turn out zeroes,
Who wrap themselves up in the flag,
And unlike heroes, boast and brag;
And trot out rows of Purple Hearts,
For scratches on their body parts.

Why must they seek to elevate
Themselves with lies that desecrate
The brave and honorable reputation
Of those who serve, protect our nation?
John Kerry, Murtha and Macbeth,
All share a trait, exploiting death.
In their own selfish quest for fame,
They’ve forsaken honor, forgotten shame.

Russ Vaughn


Just One Old Ernie Pyle

Just One Old Ernie Pyle

As a boy of four in ’44 I missed out on his style;
But at thirty-six in ’76 I learned more of Ernie Pyle.
To read his tributes to our troops always brought the question why,
That my own war’s correspondents didn’t hold our troops as high.
I’d witnessed acts of bravery as great as World War Two,
But press accounts of those same acts were seldom, they were few;
More likely to be displayed in morning print or evening news,
Were American acts of cruelty to prop up protestors’ views.

Ernie placed himself in battle’s midst, not seeking safer shelter;
He sought the trenches sought the fight, sought out the helter-skelter.
He told the folks back in the States grim truths about their brave,
Providing families insights they could reread, they could save.
Ol’ Ernie gave the folks back home proud memories they could treasure,
Unlike sly Walter Cronkite feeding enemies evening pleasure.
Nope, Ernie wrote of men he loved up until his final deadline,
Unlike Arnett and other creeps seeking only a bigger headline.

Where did they go those of the press who believed America good?
The ones who’d write about our troops and for the things they stood?
What madness does possess them that they now extol our losses,
Finding fault in all we try to do, debasing all our causes?
We serve, we fight so that they might have freedom to convey,
The good things that we’re doing, the good we do each day.
But instead they undermine us in their sniping, gloating style;
I’d swap every damned one of ‘em for just one old Ernie Pyle.


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


Memorial Day Piece at WSJ

From the Inbox:
This piece at the WSJ is certainly worthy reading this Memorial Day weekend:

Russ Vaughn


Saturday, May 20, 2006

Send this Old Warhorse to the Barn

Send this Old Warhorse to the Barn

Marines like to say, "Once a Marine, always a Marine." Though not a Marine myself, this old ex-paratrooper is a staunch supporter of the Corps and believes John Murtha has shown himself to be the exception to that rule. His latest attack on our troops specifically targets the Corps and belies his adherence to the Corps' creed, "Semper Fidelis," always faithful.

Murtha has become the darling of the liberals; like John Kerry he's a Vietnam veteran who uses his military credentials to attack our troops and their mission. As a fellow Vietnam vet, I've been loathe to comment on Murtha because, unlike Kerry, this guy was the genuine article, an enlisted man who rose to the rank of full colonel while serving in extended combat operations.

For that, we owe him. However, we can only accept so much disparagement of our troops before we say, "Enough!" and retire this particular Marine once and for all. That time has come. Murtha has a worthy challenger for his too long held office in the fall elections, Diana Irey. Here is information about her and a means to contribute to her campaign:

http://www.irey.com/

I have just made a contribution to her campaign as I hope you will. We should all get on board and support her election efforts regardless of where we reside because Murtha's continuing diatribes against our troops and our country provide aid and comfort to our enemies, a situation that affects us all.

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


McCain Booed at NYC School

NEW YORK - Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) received a cantankerous reception Friday at the New School's commencement, where dozens of faculty members and students turned their backs and raised protest signs and a student speaker mocked him as he sat silently on stage.

The historically liberal university has been roiled in controversy in recent weeks over the selection of the Republican and likely 2008 presidential candidate to speak to its 2,700 graduates and thousands of family, friends and faculty.

The Madison Square Garden crowd cheered loudly as Jean Sarah Rohe said McCain "does not reflect the ideals upon which this university was founded."

Rohe, one of two distinguished seniors invited by the university's deans to address the graduates, spoke before McCain did but noted that he had promised to deliver the same speech he gave at the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University last weekend and Columbia University on Tuesday.

"He will tell us we are young and too naive to have valid opinions," Rohe said. "I am young and though I don't possess the wisdom that time affords us, I do know that pre-emptive war is dangerous. And I know that despite all the havoc that my country has wrought overseas in my name, Osama bin Laden still has not been found, nor have those weapons of mass destruction."

McCain later thanked Rohe for her "Cliff's notes" version of his speech.

Sticking to the remarks he made in earlier speeches, McCain reaffirmed his support for the Iraq war but urged debate and dissent. And he repeated the theme that drew Rohe's derision.

"When I was a young man, I was quite infatuated with self-expression, and rightly so because, if memory conveniently serves, I was so much more eloquent, well-informed and wiser than anyone else I knew," McCain said.

As he delivered his remarks, several dozen students and faculty turned their backs and lifted signs saying "Our commencement is not your platform."

Some 1,200 students and faculty had signed petitions asking the university president, former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, to rescind his invitation for McCain to speak, saying McCain's support for the Iraq war and opposition to gay rights and abortion were not in keeping with the prevailing views on campus.

Kerrey urged students to exercise the open-mindedness he said was at the heart of the university's progressive history.

"Sen. McCain, you have much to teach us," Kerrey said toward the beginning of the ceremony, drawing a smattering of boos and hisses.
Wow!!!! McCain is the most liberal RINO in the entire country. He isn't far enough left for NYC?!?! Maybe we ought to hold off on the wars abroad and focus on the enemies at home...


Friday, May 12, 2006

Mr. Bush, Tear Down That Cross (a poem)

Mr. Bush, Tear Down That Cross (a poem)

On a hill in San Diego
Stands a monument to our losses;
A tribute to our wartime dead
Like many other crosses.
Against a tranquil azure sky,
This cross has borne the years,
It’s spreading shadow falling
Upon graves that bear our tears.
For decades no one’s questioned
This pale tribute to our slain,
Until angry Libs at ACLU,
Decided to complain;
And seek a federal order
From robed fools in Sodom town,
That this offensive Christian symbol
Must forthwith be torn down.

To everything’s a season,
A time for birth and dying,
A time, too, for love of country
To fall victim to Liberal lying;
A time for those of any faith,
Those heartfelt, frank believers,
To be ridiculed and rejected
By hollow harsh deceivers;
But there is a time as well
When truth must sure prevail,
When our hearts sense basic truth,
Causing fools like these to fail.
And stand we must against these fools,
Or it will be our gravest loss,
If these fools succeed when they demand,
Mr. Bush, tear down that cross.

The Left’s has ne’er forgotten how Ronald Reagan brought their fall
When with his words he changed the world by tearing down their wall.

Russ Vaughn 5 11 06


Saturday, May 06, 2006

World War III?

President Bush is likening the War on Terror to World War III. He may be right. For years analysts were calling the Middle East a powder keg waiting the explode. The US relied on the containment policies that proved effective against the Soviets during the cold war. America was lulled into a false sense of security.

Our naivete and innocence came crashing down on the darkest day in our lives. In the greatest outpouring of sympathy the world has ever seen, the entire world it seemed mourned for the horrible loss that occurred on September 11th, 2001.

The United States, with the overwhelming support of the world community, destroyed the Taliban in Afghanistan, but this was just the start of a much greater campaign. Any county that harbored terrorists and provided them with support would become an enemy of the United States.

The greatest destabilize force in the Middle East undoubtedly was the regime of Saddam Hussein. Hussein's history of attacking his neighbors, stockpiling and using chemical weapons, and his generous support of terrorist organizations including Hamas and Al Qaida, made Hussein the obvious choice for the next battlefield of World War III.

Unfortunately, Hussein had corrupted the UN and many of its members with money illegally taken from the oil for food funds. Nations that had provided tactical, financial, and logistical support for the war to depose the Taliban opposed the war against Saddam. A combination of greed, shame, and perhaps even diplomatic blackmail resulted in several US "allies" opposing the war.

President Bush, seeing that the diplomatic route was failing, pushed on with the support of a coalition of nations - a still relatively large number of nations - bent on removing the greatest threat to a lasting peace in the Middle East.

The War on Terror is still far from complete; thus World War III is still far from over. It appears very clear that Iraq will NOT be the last stop in the War on Terror. With Iran working diligently to develop Nuclear Weapons it is only a matter of time before a coalition of Nations, likely one lead by US forces, will be forced to take action. If not for Iran's nuclear ambitions, Syria would also be a strong candidate for a next stop for US troops. North Korea could be a threat, but they seem to be adequately contained... for now.


Iraqi's Cheer Copter Crash

At least four British servicemen are feared dead after a helicopter crashed in the Iraqi city of Basra, sparking violent clashes between locals and troops.

...

Hundreds of Iraqis swarmed to the crash scene waving their arms and grinning in apparent jubilation.

...

British troops who rushed in to assist met a hail of stones from the jeering crowd and at least one soldier was seen firing a warning shot into the air.

There were cries of "we are all soldiers of al-Sayed", a reference to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
I feel awful that this happened. If the US Government had just taken al-Sadr out like they SHOULD have, I think this particular incident would likely not have happened.

The British soldiers are honorable and the British people are our great friends and allies. I surely hope our governments will be swift and just, working together to solve the al-Sadr problem once and for all.



Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Down Mexico Way

I wrote this over a year ago and it received modest distribution. It also earned me threats over a period of several weeks from a deranged lib who didn't like my reasoning. I thought perhaps today would be a good day to send it out again.

RV

Down Mexico Way

Try crossing our southern border; try going the other way,
To enter Mexico illegally for an extended, unlawful stay.
Ignore immigration quotas, all their visas and their fees,
And quietly slip their border, anytime you damn well please.
Just sneak in past the policía, ignoring Mexican laws;
You’ve a desperate need to improve your lot; you have a righteous cause.
With Evil Bush in power now, destroying your liberal order,
You’ve a right to seek asylum, to trespass their northern border.

Once there, speak English only and demand it in their schools;
Forget assimilation; make Mexicanos change their rules.
What right do these Latinos have to make you learn their lingo?
Tell those churlish campesinos¹ you’ve the right to remain a gringo.
Move right on in, live your own way, ignore their cultural norms,
And demand the use of English on all their official forms.
Free healthcare is, of course, your right; let poor peones² pay,
For bilingual health providers throughout your border-bending stay.

Be sure to have a baby just as quickly as you can;
A citizen in the family helps legitimize your clan.
Then have another three or four, or maybe six or eight;
Don’t worry how you’ll feed them, just demand help from the state.
Paisanos³ paying taxes may resent your reckless breeding,
And protest loudly to their states about your gringo kids they’re feeding;
“But it’s just our way,” is your excuse, “Brought from our Yanquí land.”
How dare they question gringo ways they’ll never understand?

So defend your Anglo ethos; yield not your Yanquí essence;
And demand a driver’s license to legitimize your presence.
Just so you know what you’ve done wrong in case of policía stops,
Insist the Federales must teach English to all cops.
Make Mexicans accept your ways, make them your pliant fools;
Demand a Yanquí culture course be taught in all their schools.
So what you paid no taxes; when you’re an old gringo who will care?
File for your Seguridad Social, after all, you’re due your share.

If all this sounds preposterous, an irrational expectation,
Dems are demanding it for Illegals now in our multicultural nation.

Russ Vaughn


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