''John Kerry, Criminal'' and the Silence of the Media
by Doc Farmer
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
I start this article with a confession. I'm jealous. I wanted to write the article I’m about to speak to you about, but two authors beat me to the draw. Quite frankly, I'd feel much worse about this if I had been able to write a better article than they, but that is not the case. Their article is excellent, factual, well researched, and a devastating indictment of a presidential candidate. Therefore, my jealousy is mollified, but I'm still honked off (only slightly, though).
Henry Mark Holzer and Erika Holzer, who in 2002 wrote the book titled ''Aid and Comfort: Jane Fonda In North Vietnam,'' have written a report for FrontPage Magazine entitled ''John Kerry, Criminal.'' I had spoken to my editor about doing a piece on the laws that John Forbes Kerry had broken in regard to U.S. Criminal Code and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) as regards his actions following his return from Vietnam, while he was still a member of the United States Navy. However, Holzer and Holzer did theirs first. Quite honestly, they also did theirs best. Two thousand, four hundred and fifty-nine carefully crafted words of pure accusation.
To summarize, the Holzers found that Kerry had violated two key federal laws. The first is 10 USC 904, part of the UCMJ, which states:
Any person who . . . without proper authority, knowingly . . . communicates or corresponds with or holds any intercourse with the enemy, either directly or indirectly, shall suffer death or such other punishment as a court-martial or military commission may direct.
The other is 18 USC 953, also known as the Logan Act:
Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
The Holzers go into great detail on the whys and wherefores and hows of the case against John Kerry, and why he should be prosecuted under these statutes. They make a compelling case. Not being a (insert favorite swear word here) lawyer, you’d think that it would be difficult to follow their indictment, but they walk the judicial neophyte through the issues step by step. They show legal cases and precedents that demonstrate how the pieces of the evidentiary puzzle fit. They show his ability to be charged under the statutes, his military status during the times where the crimes are purported to have been committed (which is imperative for UCMJ jurisdiction) and even the definitions of specific key words in the laws. I guess they didn’t want anybody misunderstanding the meaning of ''is'' in this case....
I could now try to spend the rest of this article trying to explain their simplified legalese into American, but that’s not necessary for two reasons. First, Henry Mark Holzer and Erika Holzer did a pretty good job of that already. Second, and more importantly, it’s not the reason for this week's epistle.
''John Kerry, Criminal'' was published on September 17, 2004. The 217th anniversary of the Constitution. At this writing, it is September 22. The article has been around now for five days. I’ll make a wager: I’ll bet this is the first you’ve ever heard of the Holzers' indictment of John Kerry.
Granted, it's been a busy five days. John Kerry appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and did a rather lame Top Ten List (only numbers 9 and 2 were actually funny). Dan Rather denied that the forged documents actually were forged, until he was forced to apologize (but still didn’t admit they were forged, I hope you noticed!) The Kerry campaign and the Democratic National Committee denied any knowledge of the forged documents, the people involved, or who the guilty party was who wrote that Top Ten List.
Still, you would think that two prominent (bleeping) lawyers making a serious criminal charge against a presidential candidate would merit at least some mention on the news, or in the blogs, or on the talk radio circuit.
Silence.
I did a search on ''John Kerry, Criminal'' over at news.google.com, and only came up with a single hit. The article itself. Nothing else. No other coverage or mention by ANY members of the press. Why? These are not conspiracy theory wacko nerds in their mom’s basement, playing ''X-Files''--these are sincere researchers. One is an author, and the other os a professor emeritus at Brooklyn Law School who specializes in federal appeals. I doubt Mulder and Scully will be knocking on their door any time soon. However, NBC, ABC, Fox News, and other members of the media should.
Why aren’t the media investigating this? What are they afraid of? The news media seem to have absolutely NO fear of making baseless accusations against a sitting president. Why the reticence on examining well-researched indictments against his opponent? Are the media moguls worried that they might insult Kerry? The lib/dem/soc/commie media seem not to be averse to this when the target is Dubya. Is it concerned that it might have John Edwards sicced on its ivory tower? When he’s not busy chasing a passing ambulance, that is?
This is more than simple media bias. This is cowardice.
The news media keep telling us how brave they are. Newscasters will go into heavy fire zones, cameras rolling through a night-vision scope, to bring America the war-torn images, the truth as they decide to slant it. For weal or for woe, we've accepted that bravery (or at least bravado) and accepted their actions as almost as gutsy as the soldiers they cover.
Sadly, when it comes to a certain presidential candidate, the collective members of our vaunted fourth estate are little more than pusillanimous capitulators. They're not brave. They're not gutsy. I'm beginning to think they're not even truly Americans.
They’re French.
~~~~~oo0oo~~~~~
I urge everyone to read the original article, ''John Kerry, Criminal'' at FrontPage Magazine. You can find it here at frontpagemag.com. Be sure to send it to your family, your friends, and your local newspapers and television stations. Let the reporters in your hometown know what they're missing, and demand that they at least look at the issue. If they don't? Well, you’ll at least know where they stand in |
