Something you ought to read: Heroes Don’t Shout.

One common denominator of true heroes is they don’t get full of themselves and their acts. They believe that any other person in the same place would have done the same thing. They don’t talk about it unless they have to.

And then we have Senator Kerry. A man who must proclaim at every campaign stop about his service in Vietnam, his three Purple Hearts, Bronze Star and Silver Star. And yet no one takes him at his word. Why? Because I think he’s talking about his awards to convince himself more than us that he is a war hero.

What went wrong?

There are three big problems with Kerry from the standpoint of those who are proud of their military service. And one of those reservations has been overlooked entirely by the parade of talking heads, so few of whom have served in uniform themselves.

As far as the swift-boat controversy goes, it’s likely to remain a he-said-she-said issue through Election Day. The red flag to military men and women is that so many swift-boat veterans have come out against John Kerry. Not just one. Not 10. Dozens upon dozens.

This is as rare as humility in the Hamptons. Vets stick together. Kerry likes to play up his “band of brothers” image, but if he’s got a band, his opponents have a symphony. And even if the first violinist turns out to be a “Republican stooge,” it’s nonetheless stunning for so many vets to denounce a former comrade publicly. It just doesn’t happen unless something’s really wrong.

And there are many things wrong. Senator Kerry keeps changing his story about what happened, he has three citations for his Silver Star (see next post) and so on. The amount of inconsistencies against Kerry has gone from a three piece garage band to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. And things are falling into place.

Despite the Left-wing medias efforts to dismiss and discredit the Swift Boat Vets, they are making a lot of headway against Senator Kerry.

Good.

Senator Kerry has some rather large inconsistencies in his records released so far. John Kerry’s Puzzling Silver Star Citations.

Senator Kerry has not one, but three citations for his Silver Star. This is very unusual. Not only that, it appears that the last two are “upgrades” for his first one, as if the first and second ones weren’t valorous enough. He also has on his DD-214 (discharge papers) a “V” on his Silver Star that isn’t mentioned anywhere else.

Having sowed the wind by carefully crafting his tour of duty in Vietnam as a campaign gimmick, John Kerry is now reaping the whirlwind. He has seen virtually everything about his four months in country challenged with provable eyewitness accounts backed by sworn affidavits: the “wounds” which never required hospitalization or lost time, for which he finagled three Purple Hearts; his Bronze Star with a combat “V” for “heroically” rescuing a special forces soldier who was about to be pulled from the water by a nearby Swift boat, the man in danger, perhaps, of drowning but not under hostile fire; his “gallantry” for back-shooting an enemy soldier, for which he was awarded the Nation’s third-highest decoration, the Silver Star.

Please read the article, it is very important, especially the differences between the versions of the citation.

It shows that Senator Kerry may not be the war hero that he thinks he is.

This is another case of Democrats stuffing the ballot box, N.Y. Daily News Unearths ‘Stunning’ Democrat Vote Fraud.

Yes, I will admit that there are some Republicans caught up in this mix. But they are vastly in the minority, outnumbered by Democrats by a margin of 6 to 1. The breakdown is Democrats 68%, 16% no party listed, 12% Republicans.

Here’s a telling paragraph:

The pro-Kerry paper said that efforts to prevent such fraud “rely mostly on the honor system.” That’s a serious flaw when people who have no honor are involved.

Amen. But don’t you know it, the only ones that will be prosecuted will be those of Republican persuasion. That’s because both areas that these snowbirds live in are heavily Democrat. So I’m not holding my breath over this.

Not feeling well, just really tired. See you either this afternoon or tomorrow.

Another intrusion into my privacy, National ID seen in 9/11 panel plan.

Let’s get this straight. I am a citizen of Tennessee first, and the United States second. That’s the way the founding fathers intended. I am a real private person and I would like to be on as few Federal databases as possible. My past actions have me in several already (I was in the Navy and I used to have a security clearance) and I wish to join no additional databases.

This is one of those “feel good” measures that will be implemented, while the more important (and harder) things are ignored. This will not increase our security and will decrease our freedoms.

All things are done slowly and with (or for) the children. Our children are already subjected to daily searches to “protect” them. Instead of taking out the dangerous students, all are subjected to a metal detector, clear backpacks, and other such personal intrusions. These kids are being acclimated to such things so they will not contest such warrantless searches when they become adults. Instead of sealing the borders and throwing out the illegal aliens, they will expect us to submit to a national ID card.

Which do you prefer? Freedom or the security of a slave?

This just proves that there is more and more of a double standard when it comes to Democrats, Kerry Campaign Won’t Fire MoveOn Staffer.

For those of you who don’t know, one of the requirements of a 527 being able to operate is that they have no coordination between them and the campaign they are purporting to support. This means no people in the campaign with current or former ties to a 527, or vise versa.

Well, the Bush campaign just had to let go a guy who appeared on a Swift Boat Vets for Truth commercial.

I’ll let the story tell you:

But there’s no doubt that Kerry knew all about Exley’s background when he hired him.

In April the Kerry for President Web site proudly announced: “Zach Exley joins the [Kerry] Internet team as Director of Online Communications and Online Organizing. He was previously the director of special projects for the MoveOn.org.”

Exley claims he won’t communicate with MoveOn until after the election, but when he teamed up with Kerry, MoveOn’s executive director, Eli Pariser, acknowledged that Exley will be able to make use of “what he’s got in his head.”

And a statement issued by MoveOn when Exley signed on with team Kerry insisted that “federal election rules permit some forms of communication” between Exley and the liberal 527.

If that ain’t skating around the rules, I don’t know what is.

You know, it was Democrats that pushed this abridgment of free speech through Congress, and they can’t play by its own rules. They have to cheat by shuffling staffers, stuffing ballot boxes, voting the graveyard, you name it. They have to cheat every step of the way just to stay even with us.

Pitiful.

Yet another case of Kerry hypocrisy, MoveOn Ads OK; Swift Boat Ads Not OK, Kerry Campaign Says.

I do have a dog in this fight. The Swift Boat Vets have nothing to gain by lying, and Kerry’s story keeps changing in light of the facts presented by the vets book.

I am inclined to believe them for two reasons: Kerry has yet to tell a story that didn’t need revision, and from the blatant pro-Kerry bias by the media, the attacks by the media on the Swift Boat Vets give credence to what they are saying. Also, Kerry has his hand caught in the cookie jar as far as getting Reagan DoD Secretary John Lehman to “sex-up” his citations.

Getting back to the original gist of the story, remember that MoveOn.org had on its website two member-submitted commercials comparing Bush to Hitler. To have even considered them shows what kind of people they are. Kerry thinks stuff like Bush=Hitler ads are okay, because they attack the president, but when someone shines a light on his service in Vietnam, that’s not okay? He’s the one that made his four month stint in-country the centerpiece of his campaign, he shouldn’t whine if somebody checks it out to make sure that’s what really went on.

I am subscribed to the Kim Komando email list, and every day I get a new link to check out. This one is important, Shields UP! It checks your computer to see if there are any vulnerabilities in your system that hackers can exploit. I highly suggest you follow this link and get a checkup. Then, if you don’t already have a firewall, get something like Zone Alarm. There are two versions of Zone Alarm, the basic firewall that is Freeware, and the more advanced program that you have to buy. I recommend at least the Freeware firewall.

I came through clean as a whistle, because I have Zone Alarm. It has blocked 28,530 attempts by hackers to take control of my system.

Unless you’re into Warhammer 40k, you’re not going to recognize some things, but just go with the flow. I have faith in you that you can get the gist of the conversation.

This is a tournament where you play 3 battles. You are awarded points for winning and losing, plus points for sportsmanship, army composition (if it is balanced, matches the back story and fluff) and how well it’s painted.

I play Ultramarines, the baseline Space Marine chapter. They are known as the Big Blue Machine because of their Robin’s Egg Blue color. They are also known as Smurfs for the same reason. They are the most balanced army, being able to handle themselves in ranged and close combat equally. Other races and chapters are great at ranged combat, but suck in close combat, and the other way around.

My first battle was against another Space Marine chapter, the Dark Angels. The mission was “Unplanned Assault.” Here you started with two platoons of troops, and everything came on later in the game. My opponent stood and shot at me. Due to her weaponry, and the fact that she would not advance, I was also forced to sit back and shoot. She (yes, there are females who play 40k) managed to get her important pieces on the board before I did and shot rather large holes in me.

However, the catch to the scenario is that you have to roll during the game to see what the exact objectives are. The choices were holding terrain features, table quarters or just plain regular victory points. I had her plainly beat on the first two, but we rolled up #3 instead. She ended up wining 606 points to 303.

The second scenario was “Archeotech Excavation.” Here you had 6 markers strewn around the board and your job was to get a trooper next to it and check it out. I placed one marker near my deployment zone, he placed one near his, and we placed the other four in the middle of the board. I managed to get next to three of them on the first turn and number 2 happened to be the objective. Now my job was to hold his forces off.

For some reason he advanced slowly and poor placement of a couple of units prevented him from firing very much. Any infantry unit that was within range of my Devastator squads (two squads firing either missiles or plasma blasts) just disappeared under the withering hail of fire. I managed to break the morale of two of his units, one ran right off the board, never to be seen again. I also managed to block a majority of his units by placing one of my Rhino transports in a strategic spot. For some reason he fired at that instead of the squad guarding the objective.

Anyway, I got 300 points just for having the objective, and I won 843 to 215.

The third scenario we were very short on time and we only got two turns done. It was a “Cleanse II” mission against Dark Eldar. It was on an almost maze like battlefield, with blocking terrain everywhere. As with all of my battles, I placed my heavy support in the best locations and proceeded to tear up my opponent. All of her transports were hover type, and she had about 8 different vehicles. I managed to shoot 6 of them out of the air in those two turns, and one of the surviving flyers was damaged. Because we were so short on time we just did a quick run down on who was damaged and dead, I won with 396 points and counting to her 144.

For each win, you get 15 points (9 for a draw and 5 if you lose), plus bonus points if you meet certain other secondary objectives. Plus you get rated by your opponent on how good of a sportsman you are and all that. I managed to get 51 points, 18th out of 28. Not a good showing for me, considering I was in the top ten the last tournament.

I’ll never win the championship prize, my army just isn’t pained to that level and never will be. But I have fun and that is the object of the exercise.

The next tournament is in December, I hope to have a Necron army ready to go, and have a Tau army for my son. That’s a lot of painting between then and now.

The short version is I got my ass handed to me last night.

I started on week 4 of this campaign, so I’m already handicapped by being behind. Also, this is a territory capturing kind of campaign and the more territories you have, the bigger your army is. Last night I (the bottom ranked player) faced the #1 ranked player in the campaign. Because he is 4-0, he actually had 200 more points in his army than I did. That’s a lot in 40k.

Despite the disparate number of points, my Marines and I gave him a fairly bloody nose last night. While I was wiped out to one man and a Rhino (transport), I managed to last the full 6 turns (the length of the game), not something everybody can do against this player. And, I wiped out three squads of his and a couple of vehicles. All in all not a bad accounting if I do say so myself.

It’s been well documented that Kerry does well when he SHUTS UP. Here is another case, John Kerry Doesn’t Know His Own Mind. President Bush spoke very recently about brining troops home from overseas bases like South Korea and Germany. Senator Kerry has mercilessly reamed the President over that.

But here comes the kicker. From the Senators own mouth:

I will have significant, enormous reduction in the level of troops. . . . I think we can significantly change the deployment of troops, not just there but elsewhere in the world. In the Korean peninsula perhaps, in Europe perhaps. There are great possibilities open to us. But this administration has very little imagination.

Kerry fronts the idea, and when the President says “I like that idea, let’s do it,” Kerry screams at the top of his lungs that it’s a bad idea.

Yet another waffle from the Waffle King (apologies to Weird Al Yankovic).

I got floored when I read this, GAO Finds Rampant Medicaid Schemes.

I’m not surprised about the rampant fraud, that’s been going on for years. I’m upset that there are only eight inspectors for the 50 states. That is just way too few. Especially when they admit that it will take them until 2006 to finish this cycle of checking all of the states. No telling how long they have been at this cycle. And when they get done, they have to start all over again.

Oversight is one area where we should not skimp in. Especially when fraud is rampant and well-documented.

For once, I’d like to see more investigators on the job.

In a hilarious article that is no longer there, I found part of it on The Political Digest.

The following memo, distributed this week by the Energy Department’s acting assistant secretary for environmental management (EM) to fellow department
officials, is titled “Tell Me What You Think Of This Idea.”

“Ladders are accidents waiting to happen. It’s only a matter of time before we see another ladder accident. In order to make EM an accident-free work environment, I am considering banning ladders from EM. Here is my rationale:

oIn just the last year, 10 people have fallen off ladders.

oA 3- to 4-foot fall can be fatal ….

oThere is no way to adequately control ladders, even after you lock them up, people still find a way to get to them.

oThere are other more safer ways to elevate people (lifts, scaffolding, etc.), even if it takes a little more time.

oWe need to get out in front of this issue; I will not accept another 10 falls.

“This is my proposal:

oIssue a EM policy that bans ladders from all EM sites, effective December 1, 2004. This will give sites three months to plan and prepare to change their mode of operation.

oDuring this time, sites will be required to develop a ladder-control policy that requires some sort of senior management control over use of an ladders until they are no longer in use.

oSites will be required to make a declaration that they are ladder-free.

oWe would use the month of December to conduct a site walk through to verify this.

oEffective January 1, 2005, EM will be declare a ladder-free work environment.”

This has all of the earmarkings of gun control, since you can easily substitute “gun” for “ladder” and have a large amount of the talking points for the gun-control crowd.

But I think it’s hilarious, don’t you?

Well, I’ve got a Warhammer 40k club meeting tonight, you can find this club at Adeptus Memphis. At least I have the scenario sheet before the battle. I didn’t last week and had my butt handed to me. I had the wrong army for the scenario.

I have a tournament coming up Saturday, and I’ve got to repaint the shoulder pads of 50 Space Marines so they are 3rd Company instead of 2nd Company like I had them. You see, you get style and fluff (back story) points if your army is well painted and in line with the fluff. I already had the Company banner 3rd Company, as well as the markings for all of the vehicles. Yeah, I’m a real type A (for anal) personality.