Freedom's Fire, Brightly Burning

Kerry points to "The most important work"
By Patrick Brodrick/ Staff Writer
Thursday, June 22, 2006

CLINTON - It has housed disadvantaged and troubled youth since the Victorian era, but on Monday the Robert F. Kennedy Action Corps in Lancaster hosted both local and federal politicians, including former presidential-candidate U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

(snip)


During his speech, Kerry drew attention to the fact that all too often funding for centers like the Robert F. Kennedy Action Corps is being left out of spending bills.

"Budgets for these programs are being slashed," Kerry told the crowd. "I’ve seen it all over this country, community by community and state by state, families are struggling. Too many children in this country are struggling to get the help they need. Values are taught to young people in three ways; through their parents, through their teachers and organized religion - I know some people don’t like to hear that but it’s the truth. And in the richest country in the world, too many children are without all three."

Kerry said that is why institutions like the Action Corps are so crucial to the country’s youth.

"I want to thank all the people that work at this center and all the institutions just like this one," Kerry said. "Without question this is the most important work being done in America."

Kerry gets it.

Now compare that with the so-called "values-based" republicans with their plan to cut taxes for the wealthy and balloon the deficit to saddle future generations with immense debt, so that government support for children's programs like this becomes impossible; while they spend Congress' time (and my tax dollars) arguing about "urgent" issues such as "protecting" marriage from, well, people who want to get married; while they spend their time in Congress debating how and how much to slash from children's programs, so that they can continue to fund war and the war provisioners. Those seem to be the republican "values," and if so I don't want any part of them. I don't see how any Christian can.

I'll take the values of Kerry and others like him. Real Christian values, that prioritize love and caring over condemnation.

Senator Kerry is really getting out and about in the blogosphere these days.

I was wondering why there were so few comments on the posts at The Hill blog...then I found that only Congressmembers, staff, and recognized policy experts can post comments. It does seem like that would keep the debate a little more civil than if the riff raff were allowed to post!

Re:Troop Withdrawal–It’s time for Iraqis to stand up for Iraq
June 15th, 2006

Want to win the war on terror? Want to deal with Iran’s nuclear threat? Want to stop the Taliban from retaking Afghanistan? Want to stop Al Qaeda’s new beachhead in Somalia? I sure as hell do. I’m tired of a national security game of half measures where the same people who took their boots off Osama bin Laden’s neck at Tora Bora when he was cornered, now think we have to stay bogged down in Iraq forever and leave these growing threats unaddressed.

Our enemies are thrilled we’re bogged down in Iraq. But we have a choice. It’s time to redeploy for victory in the war on terror. It’s time for Iraqis to stand up for Iraq. We know the verdict of our generals: the war cannot be won militarily; the only way forward is a political settlement. We need to listen to Gen. George Casey, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, who argued that our large military presence “extends the amount of time that it will take for Iraqi security forces to become self-reliant.” To make Iraq self-reliant, we need hard and fast deadlines, not an open-ended commitment of U.S. forces. Our troops have done their job in Iraq. It’s time for Iraqis to stand up for Iraq.

Posted by Mass. Dem. Sen. John Kerry

Recently, the Dem Daily posted on the New York Times report of John Kerry's continuing fight against the repugnant smear merchants we know as the Swift Liars. One of the smear merchants, Colonel "Bud" Day, responded to the NY Times article in a press release, claiming - falsely, but why should Day begin now to care about truth - that Kerry's "Vietnam service and medals" were "roundly disputed by virtually all of his former commanding officers and shipmates who were part of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign." But as Snopes reported back in 2004, here's the truth about Kerry's shipmates and commanding officers opinions:

Although the men quoted above are often identified as “John Kerry’s shipmates,” only one of them, Steven Gardner, actually served under Lt. Kerry’s command on a Swift boat. The other men who served under Kerry’s command continue to speak positively of him:
...(snip)...
Many of Kerry's Vietnam commanders and fellow officers also continue to speak positively of him:...

Day's press release is rife with similar distortions upon falsehoods upon blatant lies. I would not even bring it up here except as a reeference to report that yet another former POW - a former "Hanoi Hilton" cellmate of some of the Swift Liars, has had enough of these politically motivated smears against a "Vietnam brother" and is going on record with his feelings on the matter. I received the following statement of Commander Phillip Butler, USN (ret.), in my email a couple days ago and was unable to post at the time. Here is the full statement from Commander Butler in response to Day's attacks on John Kerry - emphasis added:

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Leader’s Renewed Attacks on Kerry “Sicken” Former POW

As a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, I read with great sadness retired Air Force Col. George E. "Bud" Day’s statements in yesterday’s press release from the “Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation,” a group that was formerly known as the infamous “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.” They may have changed their name, but they have not changed their tradition of lies and distorted facts.

In the press release, Col. Day resumes the vicious partisan attacks his group honed against Sen. John Kerry in 2004, an attack which our fellow POW, Senator John McCain aptly described as “dishonest and dishonorable.” Day claims that he speaks “for a vast majority of Vietnam veterans who believe he [Kerry] betrayed them 35 years ago” and that “…John Kerry's deliberate betrayal of his countrymen … alone compelled many POWs and most Vietnam veterans, Swift Boaters included, to stand firm against this poser, this strutting would-be hero and turncoat."

I was captured on April 20th of 1965 and released on February 12th of 1973, making me the 8the longest-held POW in Vietnam. During one period, November of 1969 till May of 1972, I was incarcerated in a camp we named “Camp Unity,” part of the “Hanoi Hilton,” with hundreds of my fellow POW’s. During this time I shared a 40 man cell with Ken Cordier and in the adjoining cell were Paul Galanti and Jim Warner, all of whom were active in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth negative campaign. Contrary to statements by these men, none of us ever heard about John Kerry’s testimony or statements against the Vietnam War while we were in captivity. I remember. I was there.

The great majority of us were mentally, emotionally and physically tortured by our Vietnamese captors. We often suffered from malnutrition, diseases and isolation. Many of our comrades died in captivity under these conditions. No one who was ever held captive as a POW in Vietnam will ever completely put the experience behind them.

But what sustained all of us during those terrible years was our supportive brotherhood because every POW relied on his brothers for survival. This bond transcended any differences in race, rank or politics. Just before our repatriation in 1973 we formed a fraternal group, “The Fourth Allied POW Wing,” also known as “Nam POWs.” It was to be an apolitical and fraternal organization of those who “returned with honor.”

And it wasn’t until 2004 that the fraternal bond was broken and many former POW’s were stunned and sickened to see a small number of our former cellmates enter the political fray with the negative Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against John Kerry. Regretfully, many of us remained silent as a multi-million dollar political smear campaign diminished and denigrated Kerry’s service in Vietnam.

Day, Cordier, Galanti and Warner have claimed to speak for most veterans and POW’s. But they only spoke for a small group of ultra right-wing ideologues. In his renewed attacks on Senator Kerry this week, Day recycles the same personal vitriol and falsehoods about Kerry’s “betrayal” of our fellow veterans that his organization trademarked in 2004.

The real truth is John Kerry is a Vietnam Veteran who fought heroically and was awarded a Silver Star and Purple Heart for his service. But he is also courageous for coming home and telling Americans the truth about the Vietnam War. John Kerry has continues to honorably and selflessly serve his country to this day. And I am proud, as a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, as a former Navy Light Attack carrier pilot, as a retired Navy Commander, as a Vietnam veteran and former POW, to call Senator John Kerry a Vietnam brother whom I honor and respect.

Commander Phillip Butler, USN (ret.) was a prisoner of war in Vietnam from 1965 to 1973. He was awarded two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts among other combat decorations.

I applaud Commander Butler for taking a stand. I note that in his statement he doesn't come close to listing all of Kerry's medals, which suggests that he is not a close follower of Kerry, or at least is not highly partisan towards him. (Most of Kerry's partisan fans would be sure to list every award, I think). If I am correct, that makes his statement here even more compelling: he was there with those other men, and attests that their reports are false. His description of the brotherhood created by the hardships and horrors of captivity, and the subsequent betrayal of that brotherhood by these liars for political purposes, is a powerful statement. Thank you, Commander Butler.

For more background, here are a few articles from Ron Chusid's recent series re-visiting the truth about John Kerry, Vietnam, and the smear hacks:

• Widow of Swift Boat Skipper Defended Kerry (Note all the links in the comments of this entry)


• AP Found Evidence Supported Kerry Against Claims of the Swift Boat Liars


• Boston Globe Found Charges Against Kerry Laughable


• Eye Witness Verified Kerry’s Account of Mission Leading to Silver Star


• Washington Post Reporter Exposed Swift Boat Lies


• FactCheck Exposed Many Examples of Dishonesty in Swift Boat Lies


• Rassmann: Shame on the Swift Boat Veterans for Bush


• Kerry Attacker Retracted Criticism; Agreed Kerry Deserved Silver Star


• Los Angles Times Found Attacks on Kerry to Be False


• Washington Post Review Backed Kerry’s Account of Service


• AP Reported That Kerry Highly Praised in Military Records


• Swift Boat Attacks on Kerry Dismissed As Urban Legends

I'm here blogging from the Take Back America Conference in Washington DC. This morning I had the distinct pleasure of joining in a bloggers-only discussion with Robert Redford, and Jerome Ringo, President of the Apollo Alliance. For anyone who has been spending too much time under a rock (or just getting news from the M$M - same thing), the Apollo Alliance is (from their web page):

The mission of the Apollo Alliance is to build a broad-based constituency in support of a sustainable and clean energy economy that will create millions of good jobs for the nation, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and create cleaner and healthier communities. Through policy alternatives, organizing, and on the ground results in states and cities across the nation, we are demonstrating that a social just, environmentally balanced and economically prosperous future is attainable.

While we were waiting for the VIP's, I realized I was sitting next to Taylor Marsh. We had a nice chat about blogging in general, and of course I didn't take notes so I will only remember details of what we talked about when I wake up for no good reason at 2 a.m. some night this week.

TayTay had thrust a voice recorder - the kind college students use for recording classes - into my hands right before I walked into the room, so I got a sort-of quasi recording of Redford's and Ringo's comments and replies. Redford spoke a little too quietly so the audio didn't come out well enough to post, but I could make out enough of it to remind me of what was said as I wrote this post - thanks, Tay!

After a few introductory remarks, the floor was open for questions. The first question was about the role of environmental issues in the 2006 elections. Redford expressed hope that they would play a role and get some attention in 2006, and spoke of how depressing it was that the environment was mostly ignored by the media in the 2004 election.

The response to the next question was more interesting and hopeful. The question was for a comment on Al Gore's movie, "An Inconvenient Truth." Redford commented that the language is moving to the visual media, and it's good to put environmental issues in that language. He then said that the film was especially important in the area of solutions - that we need to focus on solutions. Jerome added that he feels that Gore's film has ended the debate over whether global warming is real. He called it "an end, and a beginning" - an end of the argument over the reality of global warming, and a beginning of a real movement to address solutions.

There were a couple more questions, including one about whether the "category 5 denial" of global warming amounted to "an impeachable offense." (C'mon, we can't even get Bush impeached for outright breaking the law by ignoring FISA, yet the fellow asking that question thinks simple negligence and denial of reality is "impeachable"? Bob and Jerome got a good laugh out of that.) But I think Jerome's statement about "an end, and a beginning" was the most powerful, and I sure hope he's right.