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Politics : John EDWARDS for President -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (375)	2/21/2004 1:14:54 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Respond to of 1381

AS, Calm down and get your prescription filled.

To: American Spirit who wrote (375)	2/21/2004 1:39:53 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 1381

Here are my problems and suspicions: (1) Kerry was in-country less than four months and collected a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts. I never heard of anybody with any outfit I worked with (including SEAL One, the Sea Wolves, Riverines and the River Patrol Force) collecting that much hardware that fast, and for such pedestrian actions. The Swifts did a commendable job, but that duty wasn't the worst you could draw. They operated only along the coast and in the major rivers (Bassac and Mekong). The rough stuff in the hot areas was mainly handled by the smaller, faster PBRs. (2) He collected three Purple Hearts but has no limp. All his injuries were so minor that he lost no time from duty. Amazing luck. Or he was putting himself in for medals every time he bumped his head on the wheel house hatch? Combat on, the boats were almost always at close range. You didn't have minor wounds, at least not often. Not three times in a row. Then he used the three Purple Hearts to request a trip home eight months before the end of his tour. Fishy. (3) The details of the event for which he was given the Silver Star make no sense at all. Supposedly, a B-40 was fired at the boat and missed. Charlie jumps up with the launcher in his hand, the bow gunner knocks him down with the twin .50, Kerry beaches the boat, jumps off, shoots Charlie, and retreives the launcher. If true, he did everything wrong. (a) Standard procedure when you took rocket fire was to put your stern to the action and go balls to the wall. A B-40 has the ballistic integrity of a frisbie after about 25 yards, so you put 50 yards or so between you and the beach and begin raking it with your .50's. (b) Did you ever see anybody get knocked down with a .50 caliber round and get up? The guy was dead or dying. The rocket launcher was empty. There was no reason to go after him (except if you knew he was no danger to you just flopping around in the dust during his last few seconds on earth, and you wanted some derring-do in your after-action report). And we didn't shoot wounded people. We had rules against that, too. (c) Kerry got off the boat. This was a major breach of standing procedures. Nobody on a boat crew ever got off a boat in a hot area. EVER! The reason was simple: If you had somebody on the beach, your boat was defenseless. It coudn't run and it couldn' t return fire. It was stupid and it put his crew in danger. He should have been relieved and reprimanded. I never heard of any boat crewman ever leaving a boat during or after a firefight. Something is fishy.

To: American Spirit who wrote (375)	2/21/2004 1:46:15 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Respond to of 1381

AS, You'll appreciate this report from campaign trail. You sound as though you eat pizza with a knife & fork as well, no wonder you love Kerry so much, the two of you have so much in common: Kerry Ignores Reports That He Is 'Aloof' -- Democrat presidential frontrunner Sen. John F. Kerry today ignored reports that he is 'aloof' and dismissed charges that he is 'patrician' or 'aristocratic', calling the the latter "lies promulgated by provincial proletarians -- the ignorant hoi polloi." As reporters pressed Mr. Kerry about his alleged aloofness, the junior senator from Massachusetts casually waved his hand, as if brushing off crumbs from his necktie. He then continued to talk about his service in Vietnam in contrast with President George Bush's stint in the National Guard." During a campaign stop at a restaurant, Mr. Kerry carefully carved a pizza slice with a knife and nibbled small morsels of it from a fork as he told some local people about his service in Vietnam. He used the occasion to again refute claims that his noble lineage sets him apart from most Americans. "Just because I was born into wealth, attended an Ivy League school, married two wealthy women and live in a multimillion dollar home in Boston's finest neighborhood, doesn't mean that I can't identify with the common man," said Mr. Kerry. "I can relate to the average Joe Sixpack. He loves to hear about my service in Vietnam and I enjoy talking about it. So we have something in common." ***************************************