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Politics : Proof that John Kerry is Unfit for Command -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (3706)	8/28/2004 9:09:47 AM
From: tonto	Respond to of 27181

Kerry "volunteered" only after his deferment that he requested was denied. The Navy back then was regarded as the most safe division to be in and was the choice for most that knew they were going to Nam. We all remember that. It was something that we discussed while the draft was on. It was our only option at some control over our destiny. Kerry had two choices, to be drafted, or to volunteer and have some choices. Either way, he was going to Nam after his deferment was denied. Cheney also did this as Kerry was volunteering for combat.

To: American Spirit who wrote (3706)	8/28/2004 10:02:54 AM
From: Andrew N. Cothran	Respond to of 27181

EXCLUSIVE: The Dirt on Ben Barnes Claims about Bush and the Air National Guard Blogspirator According to an 8/27/2004 article in the the New York Times, a new Swiftboatesque testimonial video was released featuring Texas lobbyist Ben Barnes who claims that he got George W. Bush into the National Guard in 1968. "I walked through the Vietnam Memorial the other day," Mr. Barnes said, according to a videoclip posted on the Internet this summer, "and I looked at the names of people who died in Vietnam and I became more ashamed of myself than I've ever been because the worst thing I did was get a lot of wealthy supporters and a lot of people who had family names of importance into the Guard and I'm very sorry about that and I apologize to you and the voters of Texas." The New York Times did not mention Ben Barnes connections with John Kerry's campaign, or the DNC connections with the release of these videos. Who Is Ben Barnes? CBS News reports that Ben Barnes is one of eight "bundlers" who have raised more than $500,000 for John Kerry's campaign. He is also listed as a Vice Chair of the Kerry campaign on the John Kerry campaign website. According to the Dallas Ft. Worth Star Telegram, Barnes is one of the "gatekeepers and endorsers for Texas appointees and job-seekers" in a potential Kerry administration. Ben Barnes had been the Lt. Governor of Texas in the early 1970's, but saw his elected political career end as a result of the Sharpstown stock-fraud scandal. The timing of this news release, days before the Republican National Convention, is suspicious. A Texas Observer editorial from 10/15/1999 shows that Ben Barnes has made this accusation before. Ben Barnes, then Lieutenant Governor... has admitted that he personally interceded with Guard officials at the behest of a business associate of Congressman Bush. The ex-President says he is "almost certain" he didn’t ask Barnes, directly or indirectly, to intercede for his son; the carefully crumbling denials suggest there is smoking documentation somewhere, and we may yet get a more precise snapshot of how the people who start the wars avoid risking their children to fight them. These claims were already discredited by then. CNN reported in July 1999 that the Los Angeles Times had already investigated them, reporting that the "Los Angeles Times said it found no evidence that either Bush or his father, former President George Bush, had personally tried to influence or pressure anyone to get the younger Bush a place in the Texas Guard. Bush's father was a congressman from Houston at the time." Who is Distributing This Video Now According to the New York Times, the website which released the video, Austin4Kerry.com, crashed when James Moore, the author of "Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential" and "Bush's War For Reelection : Iraq, the White House, and the People" sent an email to his mailing list, with the resuling traffic crashing the website hosting the video. According to the New York Times, the website changed to 69.59.167.160 This website is hosted by www.polycot.com but contains the instructions "email info@greaterdemocracy.org" Greaterdemocracy.org is run by Aldon Hynes, the Chief Technology Officer for a financial firm in Stamford, CT. Or it was, the website is no longer in existence. Mr. Hynes was also involved with the Connecticut for Dean campaign and made several financial contributions to the Dean campaign. His wife, Kim Hynes, is running as a Democrat for State Representative in Connecticut and has had Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean appear at her fundraisers. Mr. Hynes, who is now involved with distributing the Ben Barnes video, was an accredited "blogger" at the Democratic National Committee. According to the DNC Blogwebsite, "Aldon is one of approximately 20 bloggers who received press credentials for the convention." The DNC Blog website recounts Mr. Hynes writing: blogspirator.blogspot.com. It was great to meet several really wonderful people from the Texas Delegation. I really look forward to the coming few days and chances to explore how we can all work together to help revitalize democracy in America. The Blogspirator unsuccessfully tried to reach Mr. Hynes on Friday night to confirm that this is where he met the members of Austin4Kerry.com. Thanks to LindyBill on the Politics for Pros thread