Loved Their Country So Much, They'd Die For It...

This used to be up at the Ed Schultz Show website, but I haven't seen it in a while.
Democrats

Senator Bill Nelson Astronaut, NASA, 1986 United States Army Reserves, 1965-1971 United States Army, 1968-1970

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle,1st Lt., U.S. Air Force SAC 1969-72

Former Vice President Al Gore enlisted August 1969; sent to Vietnam January 1971 as an army journalist, assigned to the 20th Engineer Brigade headquartered at Bien Hoa, an airbase twenty miles northeast of Saigon

Former Senator Bob Kerrey Lt. j.g., U.S. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam

Senator Daniel Inouye US Army 1943-'47; Medal of Honor, World War Two

Senator John Kerry Lt., U.S. Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and three awards of the Purple Heart for his service in combat

Representative Charles Rangel Staff Sgt., U.S. Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea

Former Senator Max Cleland Captain, U.S. Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam

Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) U.S. Army, 1951-1953. (WHAT?!!)

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) Lt., U.S. Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.

Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) U.S. Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91

Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) served as a U.S. Army officer in World War II, receiving the Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.

Representative Leonard Boswell (D-IA) Lt. Col., U.S. Army 1956-76; two tours in Vietnam, two Distinguished Flying Crosses as a helicopter pilot, two Bronze Stars, and the Soldier's Medal.

Former Representative "Pete" Peterson Air Force Captain, POW, Ambassador to Viet Nam, and recipient of the Purple Heart, the Silver Star and the Legion of Merit

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-CA Staff sergeant/platoon leader with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, U.S. Army; was wounded and received a Purple Heart.

Bill McBride, Democratic Candidate for Florida Governor volunteered and served as a U.S. Marine in Vietnam; awarded Bronze Star with a combat "V."

Gray Davis, California Governor Army Captain in Vietnam; received Bronze Star

Chuck Robb, US Senator from Virginia served in Vietnam

George McGovern awarded Silver Star & DFC, dozens of missions during WWII.

Former President Jimmy Carter most recent recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, seven years in the Navy Except for his fellow service-academy graduate Dwight Eisenhower, no President of the twentieth century spent more years in uniform than Carter.

Former Vice President Walter Mondale U.S. Army 1951-1953

Former Senator John Glenn, D-OH (1974-1999) Served in WWII and Korea; extensive military commendations include the Distinguished Flying Cross on six occasions, and the Air Medal with 18 Clusters.

Congressman Tom Lantos, D-CA Did not serve in the US military; did serve in the Hungarian anti-Nazi underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg, is the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress.

Republicans

Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeldserved in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as an aviator and flight instructor. Served as President Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East and met with Saddam Hussein twice in 1983 and 1984

Senator John McCain McCain's naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross Senators Cleland (D-GA), Kerry (D-MA), Kerrey (D-NE), Robb (D-VA) and Hagel (R-NE) defended him when smearedby Bush campaign circa 2000

Former President Gerald Ford served in the Navy, WWII

Senator Ted Stevens, R-AK WW II pilot two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Air Medals, and the Yuan Hai medal awarded by the Republic of China.

Chuck Hagel two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam.

Representative Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) served in USMC in Vietnam; wounded in action

Chuck Hagel two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam.

Former Senator Bob Dole WWII veteran, Purple Heart.

Representative Sam R. Johnson combat missions in both Korea and Vietnam POW in Hanoi from April 1966 to February 1973

Tom Ridge Bronze Star for Valor in Vietnam

George Herbert Walker Bush pilot in WWII. Shot down by the Japanese; was lone survivor out of airplane

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA/49th there were some problems with his service. (see: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1998/05/29/NEWS12714.dtl )

Interesting…

House Majority Leader Tom Delay, did not serve

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist did not serve

Rick Santorum, R-PA, third ranking Republican in the Senate did not serve.

Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, did not serve.

GW Bush decided that a six-year Nat'l Guard commitment really means four years

VP Cheney several deferments, the last by marriage (in his own words, "had other priorities than military service")

Att'y Gen. John Ashcroft did not serve ; received seven deferments to teach business ed at SW Missouri State

Jeb Bush, Florida Governor did not serve

Karl Rove avoided the draft, did not serve, too busy being a Republican.

Representative Saxby Chambliss, Georgia did not serve had a "bad knee" (yet somehow feels he has a right to attack Max Cleland's patriotism)

Jack Kemp did not serve (was unfit because of a knee injury, though he heroically continued as a National Football League quarterback for another eight years)

Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA went AWOL from his Austrian army base to enter a bodybuilding competition

Eliot Abrams did not serve,

Paul Wolfowitz did not serve,

Richard Perle did not serve,

Rudy Giuliani did not serve,

Michael Bloomberg did not serve

George Pataki did not serve,

Pat Buchanan did not serve

Rush Limbaugh did not serve (Anal Cyst of something like that)

Michael Savage (aka Michael Alan Weiner) did not serve

George Will did not serve

Bill O'Reilly did not serve

Paul Gigot did not serve.

Bill Bennett did not serve

Pat Robertson claimed during 1986 campaign to be a "combat veteran." In reality, was a "Liquor Officer."

Spencer Abraham did not serve,

John Engler did not serve, Rep.

Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA did not serve

Another Soldiers Blog

So here is another blog from a soldier. How can you read this and not cry?

http://www.livejournal.com/users/qp4/

Are You Supporting the Troops?

You must go to this site and read this blog. It is unbelievable.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/rev_wayfarer/

Dear Senator McCain:

I realize I am not one of you constituents, but I felt the need to write you this letter. I became acquainted with you during the 2000 primaries. At the time, I was a registered independent, so I could not vote in the primaries, but I followed your campaign with interest. You came across to be as a man of integrity and honor, and though we disagreed on a few things, I was prepared to vote for you. I was deeply disappointed that you did not win the nomination, and due to the manner in which you lost, I could not support your opponent. Since that time, I have watched your career in the Senate with interest, and I must say, I had been impressed. That was up until the election of 2004.

You see, I can understand your vote on Iraq, although I might disagree. Your arguments in support of operations in Iraq where, and still are in most cases, clear and concise. See, although I feel strongly that this was a colossal misstep and even a danger to our country, I can understand and appreciate an opposing few. A good leader is not one who never makes mistakes, but one who finds corrective action against mistakes made. I still feel that your voice is a valuable one in the military arena. I know you do not take lightly the loss of one American man or woman in combat. I know you do not consider the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines chess pieces in some twisted game of imperialist chess. I can disagree with you about this war among other things, because I believe you do listen and consider views other than your own.

What I do not understand, what I cannot forgive is how you have not been all over the abuses you and I both know is going on right now in War on Terror. It turns my stomach to think that “a few bad apples” are sitting in prison, all lower enlisted, and you and I both know they did not think up the type of torture that was depicted in photographs all by themselves. If that was not enough to completely reverse my opinion of you, the fact that there are pictures out there far, far worse than anything seen to date and no one up the chain other than Army Reserve Brigadier General Janis Karpinski (please see http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082405Z.shtml#1 ) has been held accountable makes me see you through a completely different light. You may be one in a hundred Senators, but you are one Senator with the good will of the majority of the American people. You are the one Senator neither the Right nor Left marginalizes, sneers at or takes for granted. When you speak, people listen, and you had one hell of an opportunity to lead your country back from the brink and you chose not to. You stood beside a man who was implicit if not directly responsible in the smearing of your wife, the other half of yourself, and your child. You put your arm around the man with no more respect for your family than he would have for a fly. I find that unbelievable to say the least. It is a Christian principle to forgive, but God never told anyone to be stupid. These people would turn on you quicker than a rabid dog. You don’t have to get mad at the dog, a smart man stays away from it. When you lay down with dogs you get up with fleas. Senator McCain, you have fleas. Out of all the Senators in this Congress, you are one of the few that could stand up and not have his popularity affected by much. Are you so afraid of the far right that you must sell you honor for change of winning the 2008 primaries? Have you no faith in basic decency of most of the American public? You defend an indefensible President and a corrupt administration, you close your eyes and agree not to look to closely at the ties between Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay during your investigation into the Indian casino hearings, and I am supposed to respect you why. I had hopes that you would be one of the last statesmen left in Washington D.C., I was wrong.

But I do thank you for at least helping me find a political home-in the Democratic Party. At least I know they won’t give me five dollars to put in my front pocket while taken a hundred dollars out of my back pocket.

Sincerely,

Navy Vet
1990-1994
Navy Wife
1995-2004
Wife of Navy Retiree
2004-Present

Did You Know?

So, I understand Hurricane Katrina is a very bad hurricane. I understand it is big news. I just wonder, is it all the news that went on today. If you are the average American, who comes home from work and turns on the evening news for you daily fix on what’s going on in the world around you, would you know that the Sunni delegation walked out of the reading of the new Iraqi constitution? Would you know that a Shiite cleric encouraged his followers to reject a U.S. influenced constitution and there were massive demonstrations in Shiite areas against it? Did you know the Iraqi constitution only guarantees women an elementary school education? Maybe not. Perhaps you are a little more active in your quest for knowledge, so you turn to MSNBC or CNN for some in depth coverage of our fine planet, news that cannot be covered in a half hour. Would you know President Chavez is considering going to the U.N. to ask that Pat Robertson be brought up on charges for making a terrorist threat? (I think that one is pretty funny actually.) Would you know that the anti-Cindy Sheehan protestors are funded by far right special interest groups and buses had to be cancelled because there were not enough right-wingers to fill the seats. Would you know that even the Gallup poll has Bush’s approval ratings at 40%? Would you know there are groups working diligently to get Jeb Bush to run for President? The truth is, if you are reading this, you know better than to count on the corporate media to tell you much of anything. Unfortunately, the majority of Americans are not as savvy. Do your country a great service and point the blind to the nearest progressive blog, or at turn their radio, computer or podcast to a progressive talker. One ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

My Hero

Take a Listen

http://shows.airamericaradio.com/play.php?file=RandiRhodes/08-05-05/Attaway.mp3

Democrat calls for racial profiling inquiry

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Democrat_calls_for_racial_profiling_0825.html

So race relations have gotten better have they? The Bush Administration runs the government like a business do they? Humm... I wonder, why is it, in this administration, if you do something unethical, questionable, or even slightly suspicious you get promoted, but those who stand up for what's right gets fired or demoted. Put the kool-aide down and read the article.

Child Rape Anyone?

So, apparently, as many of you know, there are more pictures and video from Abu Ghraib that the Pentagon did not want released. You probably also know that those pictures and video contain evidence that hired contractors -mercenaries- raped children. Children!!! Ned yet, even with photographic evidence, not one of the people depicted have been accused of anything, much less prosecuted. You do not here this at all on main stream media. Why is there no outcry about this, especially from the so-called "Religious Right?" Why are the morality voters not up in arms over the RAPE of CHILDREN? Maybe they just don't know about it. Maybe they haven't been informed. Or maybe, brown children aren’t quite as precious as two tow haired innocents from Idaho.

Some Famous Patriots

Ida B. Wells, American Patriot and Republican
















Eleanor Roosevelt, American Patriot and Democrat

What is a Patriot?

So what do you think a patriot is? According to Webster’s, the definition of a patriot is “one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests.” It is very easy to call someone unpatriotic, however, do you know what you are saying? Republicans love to say Democrats or people who support ideas associated with Democrats are unpatriotic because they disagree with this Administration. The love of ones country has NOTHING to do with who is President (as they proved during the Clinton Administration). Supporting the interests of this country sometimes means opposing the views of a President and standing up for what is right when he is wrong. Supporting authority does not mean being blindly led. The authority of the United States is bigger than one man, it is more important that a one-sided ideology. A republic, which is what we are, does not have one branch of government so that many voices can be heard. Anyone who suggests otherwise, anyone who says if you do not support the President you do not support the troops, anyone who claims to love your country you must blinded follow it’s leaders is not only stupid, but is patently unpatriotic.