SBVT more interested in politics then truth

Local Voices: SBVT more interested in politics then truth 09/18/2004 To the Times: In Gil Spencer’s column "Not everyone sold on Kerry’s Vietnam valor" (July 30), he introduced readers to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group founded to oppose the presidential candidacy of John Kerry. SBVT is a "527" group, a tax-exempt public advocacy group, free to spend money to influence elections as long as they do not work in coordination with political parties or candidates. On its Web site (www.swiftvets.com), SBVT describes itself as "non-partisan." The connections and loyalties SBVT has to the Republican Party, Bush family, and the Bush/Cheney 2004 re-election campaign makes any non-partisan claim by this group ridiculous. SBVT has waged a politically motivated smear campaign against John Kerry in an attempt to divert attention from questions surrounding President George W. Bush’s own military service record during Vietnam and his record as president of the United States for the past four years. Sen. John McCain condemned the SBVT advertisement after it first aired as "dishonest and dishonorable" and called on the White House to condemn it as well. The White House declined to do so and let the ad run its course. President Bush finally spoke out Aug. 23, suggesting all 527 groups are bad for the presidential election. Bush failed to specifically criticize the ad from SBVT. He chose to collectively bunch all 527 groups with the SBVT group. Many of these groups are involved in "get out the vote" campaigns. Most of these 527 groups are not engaging in smear campaigns with unsupported libelous allegations. In the 60-second TV ad, members of SBVT are presented as men who "served with John Kerry." None of the veterans featured in the ad served on either of John Kerry’s two swift boats (PCF 44 and PCF 94). In the ad, Louis Letson claims he knew Kerry was lying about his first Purple Heart because he treated him for that injury. Navy records show that Letson was not his doctor and did not treat Kerry for the injury in question. Adrian Lonsdale said in the advertisement that "(Kerry) lacks the capacity to lead." This opinion contradicts Lonsdale’s own assessment in 1996 of the courage and bravado demonstrated by the young officers that ran the swift boats. Lonsdale stated, "Sen. John Kerry was no exception." Another veteran in the ad, Lt. Commander George Elliot, states, "John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam." However, during Kerry’s Senate re-election campaign in 1996, Elliott defended Kerry and described the action that merited him the Silver Star as "an act of courage." John E. O’Neill, co-author of "Unfit for Command," (which details SBVT claims), is listed as co-chairman of SBVT. He is a lawyer at the Houston-based firm Clements, O’Neill, Pierce, Wilson and Fulkerson. The clients of this law firm include oil and energy giants. President George W. Bush’s general counsel when he was the Texas governor, Margaret Wilson, is also a partner at the firm. She followed President George W. Bush to Washington and now serves as the deputy counsel for the Department of Commerce. In his column, Spencer cited comments by Rear Adm. Roy Hoffman (retired), chairman of SBVT. He failed to include the information that a Los Angeles Times examination of Navy archives found Hoffman actually praised Kerry’s performance in cabled messages during the Vietnam War. Spencer also cited comments by Kerry’s commanding officer, Lt. Commander Grant Hibberd, concerning the first Purple Heart Kerry was awarded for a shrapnel wound received Dec 2, 1968. Hibberd now expresses doubts about the source and severity of Kerry’s wound. Yet Hibberd made no mention of his doubts in a 1969 evaluation in which he gave Kerry the highest possible marks for the categories of moral courage, judgment and decisiveness and the second highest possible marks for the category of military bearing. If Hibberd was so troubled after the incident, why didn’t he include his doubts in his evaluation? It would also be easier to take the word of SBVT as truth if the major monetary contributors to the group didn’t include some Texans with deep pockets and longstanding loyalties to the Republican Party and Bush family. The most generous donors include Bob Perry, CEO of Houston-based Perry Homes, one of the largest builders in Texas. A campaign finance watchdog group, Texans for Public Justice, ranked Perry as the No. 3 donor in the state of Texas during the 2002 election cycle, with more than $4 million in donations to Republican political action committees and Republican candidates. The Bush administration has repeatedly denied any involvement or connection with the group launching these attack ads. It is hard to explain why a veteran featured in the recent ad, Kenneth Cordier, was a member of the Bush/Cheney 2004 Veteran’s Steering Committee. Cordier resigned from his position on Aug. 21, and his name was promptly removed from the Bush/Cheney 2004 Web site. It is difficult to believe the claims made by the veterans in the SBVT ad campaign because many of them have gone on record in the past praising John Kerry’s service in Vietnam. (That they came) forward with these accusations only after Kerry became the presumptive presidential nominee for the Democratic Party shows SBVT is more interested in politics than truth. One would sensibly think veterans who served as John Kerry’s crewmates would be the best judges of his honesty, character and leadership ability. Most of the veterans who actually served as crewmates of John Kerry showed their support for his candidacy for president by appearing on stage with him at the Democratic National Convention in July. JONATHAN THOMAS Aston ©The Daily Times 2004

Preparing for Military Draft in Spring 2005

This is for all the parents out there who have children between 18-26 years of age. US Preparing for Military Draft in Spring 2005 by Adam Stutz • Wednesday January 28, 2004 at 09:50 AM The current agenda of the US federal government is to reinstate the draft in order to staff up for a protracted war on "terrorism." Pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills S 89 and HR 163) would time the program so the draft could begin at early as Spring 2005 -- conveniently just after the 2004 presidential election! Reinstatement of the draft Dear Friends and Family, I urge you to read the article below on the current agenda of the federal government to reinstate the draft in order to staff up for a protracted war on "terrorism." Pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills S 89 and HR 163) would time the program so the draft could begin at early as Spring 2005 -- conveniently just after the 2004 presidential election! But the administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed NOW, so our action is needed immediately. Details and links follow. If voters who currently support U.S. aggression abroad were confronted with the possibility that their own children or grandchildren might not have a say about whether to fight, many of these same voters might have a change of mind. (Not that it should make a difference, but this plan would among other things eliminate higher education as a shelter and would not exclude women -- and Canada is no longer an option.) Please send this on to all the parents and teachers you know, and all the aunts and uncles, grandparents, godparents.... And let your children know -- it's their future, and they can be a powerful voice for change! Please also write to your representatives to ask them why they aren't telling their constituents about these bills -- and write to newspapers and other media outlets to ask them why they're not covering this important story. The Draft* $28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. SSS must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see website: http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the SSS Annual Performance Plan - Fiscal Year 2004. The Pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide.. Though this is an unpopular election year topic, military experts and influential members of Congress are suggesting that if Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan [and a permanent state of war on "terrorism"] proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to draft. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5146.htm Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and H.R. 163 forward this year, entitled the Universal National Service Act of 2003, "To provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons [age 18--26] in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." These active bills currently sit in the Committee on Armed Services. Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era remember. College and Canada will not be options. In December 2001, Canada and the US signed a "Smart Border Declaration," which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in. Signed by Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Manley, and US Homeland Security Director, Gov. Tom Ridge, the declaration involves a 30-point plan which implements, among other things, a "pre-clearance agreement" of people entering and departing each country. Reforms aimed at making the draft more equitable along gender and class lines also eliminates higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen would only be able to postpone service until the end of their cur-rent semester. Seniors would have until the end of the academic year. *This article by Adam Stutz is from the "What's Hot Off the Press" column of the newsletter of Project Censored, a media research group at Sonoma State University that tracks the news published in independent journals and newsletters. From these, Project Censored compiles an annual list (more than 20 years running) of 25 news stories of social significance that have been overlooked, under-reported, or self-censored by the country's major national news media. The mission of Project Censored is "to educate people about the role of independent journalism in a democratic society and to tell The News That Didn't Make the News and why." "What's Hot Off the Press" includes student synopses of articles currently being investigated for inclusion in the next Project Censored report. For more info and/or to receive Project Censored's newsletter, go to http://www.projectcensored.org, or email [censored]@sonoma.edu

Why I didn't download SP2

Windows XP SP2 Opens Door For Everyone Published on: Thursday, 16 September 2004, 16:07 GMT As soon as you install SP2 on a Windows XP PC with a certain configuration, your file and printer releases are despite activated Firewall, world-wide visibly likewise all other services. The PC must make only for an internal LAN releases as well as by modem or ISDN a connection available to the InterNet manufacture. DSL users are excluded likewise concerned, those, which already integrated a Firewall in the DSL modem or one DSL-rout use. In addition the InterNet connecting release of this PC must be deactivated. It resulted in test way Scans on the part of the PC world that this configuration is by no means rare or exotic: Without larger trouble and in only short time we found private documents on easily accessible computers in the InterNet. It is to be assumed it weighs their owner in deceitful security that its releases would be visible only in the internal home net, since a password protection was not often even to be overcome.

Valerie Plame

I wonder why this "scandal" has been avoided in the press lately... First, the media is all over it. Now, hardly a peep. Here's a Quote from the Washington Post Story: "Fitzgerald is investigating whether Bush administration officials leaked the name of CIA covert officer Valerie Plame to syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak last July. Plame is married to former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, a public critic of the Bush administration's claims about Iraq's efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. Wilson has suggested that administration officials disclosed his wife's identity as retaliation for his criticism." So there it is in a nutshell. Bush administration member(s) of unknown identity leak classified information (Rat Her Out) and no one cares... You know that it is a federal crime of treason for one to divulge (Rat Her Out) a CIA operative's identity? Things are beginning to stink around the intel circles. What's next? Osama Bin Laden is going to mysteriously be captured? I'm betting that it will happen before November 2nd. How about you?

Censure Yahoo

Censure Yahoo for disabling the recommendation feature in it's message boards. Yahoo had a feature in it's message boards enabling the user to "Recommend this post". Well since this election has been heating up, many recommendations have been made for Anti Bush and Pro Kerry posts. So much so that to a Bush supporter, you would not want to continue reading. It's amazing that Yahoo caves into the likes of Karl Rove (I'm sure he is behind this) and others. The feature was very entertaining and more importnantly, provide the user to tell the poster that he agreed with his post. So what's up Yahoo? At least tell the users of your news boards why this has occured.

M & T Bank

Worry Free Checking My Ass As of September 3rd, 2004, My "Worry Free" checking account balance is - $ 181.16. And I'm going to explain to you why. M & T Bank is from New York. They had purchased the bank I held an account in for years October 6th, 2000. Prior to that, I enjoyed knowing that when I made a cash deposit on a Friday morning, the money was available for withdrawal or to be applied to checks written the same day. Since M & T Bank came along, you could arrive at the bank at 9:00 AM, Deposit $ 1000.00 in CASH, and not see the money until Tuesday morning! Meanwhile, back at M & T Headquarters, the greedy bastards would slam you with NSF fees of $ 30.00 a shot. In all, I have payed over $ 1,500.00! Use your Check Card as a MAC purchase at the WAWA? Cha Ching! $ 1.50. Withdrawl cash from any non M & T bank ATM, including PNC Bank which does not charge you for access? Slam! $ 1.50 please. Don't use your Check Card? Cha Ching! That will be another $ 1.50. Web Banking bill pay fee? NEVER USED It but yes, every month, $2.95 out of my account. And what the hell is a $3.00 fee for return check option doing there when I do nothing but bounce them? Here's the latest statement: Date Transaction Description Withdrawals Deposits Total Balance 08/30/2004 DEPOSIT $50.00 -$181.16 08/26/2004 CHECK CARD INACTIVITY FEE $1.50 -$231.16 08/26/2004 FEE FOR CHECK RETURN OPTION $3.00 -$229.66 08/02/2004 WEB BANKING BILL PAY FEE $2.95 -$226.66 07/26/2004 FEE FOR CHECK RETURN OPTION $3.00 -$223.71 07/20/2004 INSUFFICIENT FUNDS FEE- $30.00 -$220.71 07/20/2004 INSUFFICIENT FUNDS FEE-CHECK NUMBER **** $30.00 -$190.71 07/19/2004 STOLEN FROM AN INTERNET CO. (Will Post about this later) $5.95 -$160.71 07/01/2004 WEB BANKING BILL PAY FEE $2.95 Ok. Now some will say: "This guy just can't balance a budget", well your half right. In March of this year, I opened a checking account at Commerce Bank. No more slamming me with bounced check fees. Why? Well I can go there with cash even on a Sunday and deposit it, walk out the door, go to a MAC machine and the money is there to pay bills. So, getting back to M & T or I should say, M $ T, I went online and e mailed them concerning this. This is a few of their replies: (Note the dates.) Date: 11/10/2003 Message ID: 2259765 To: From: M&T Subject: Re: General Question (Sent 11/6/03) Dear Mr. Ward: Thank you for your email. Please note that cash deposits made before 2:00pm on a weekday will post to your account that same day. However, this will not appear in Web Banking until our system updates have been completed for that day. Updates do not complete until after 6:00am the next day. Because you made this deposit on the 5th before 2:00pm, it posted on that date. A review of your account record shows that you do not have overdraft protection. M&T offers a Line of Credit to be used with your checking account for overdraft purposes. If funds are not available in your account, the line of credit will transfer the dollar amount needed to pay the item up to the credit limit. There is a $1.00 line of credit transfer fee assessed for each occurrence in addition to finance charges on the outstanding balance. The finance charges assessed to your account work similarly to a credit card. This is a big savings compared to insufficient funds fees. There are three convenient ways to apply for a Line of Credit. As you are already a web user, you may find it easiest to visit our web site at http://www.mandtbank.com/ and choose the “Loans and Credit” option. From there you will need to click “Apply Now” and enter the appropriate information. When asked the “Loan Type,” choose “Overdraft Protection.” Of course, you may also apply at your nearest M&T Branch or by calling the M&T Telephone Banking Center at 1-800-724-2440. Thank you for banking with M&T. Well, that is not true. I have made deposits in cash well before 2 pm and have deposit slips to prove it! A line of credit? Yeah right, I was turned down. Why give me overdraft protection when you can get money from people like me? Now, they have a new type of checking account called "Totally Free". I inquired about it and was told by a teller that I'd have to pay off my account, then close it, then open up a new one to qualify. Now, does that make any sense? Banks should automatically give existing customers the new benefits. M & T Bank had $31.5 billion at December 31, 2001. And an office in the Cayman Islands. How nice.. Well, in the end, I will pay this off , cancel the Check Card and what am I with? A glorified piggy bank? Nah, I 'll just close the account completely. Banks should be investigated! I will say this about the bank. I'll miss the friendly tellers and staff at the local branch. That's one thing they have going for them, but remember, these tellers worked for the old bank, Keystone. I wonder what they think of their employers? Maybe I'll ask.. P.S. Copy this code and add it to your blog. M&T Bank

Energy Hog

Someone sent me this web site to add to our Delaware County Links section. Being that it isn't a Delaware County, PA link, I decided to post it here and in my blogroll. It explains energy losses from your home, etc with an interactive game using flash. Check it out! Fun for all ages!Energy Hog

Duane "Dog" Chapman, A.K.A. Wannabe A R N O L D

DogTheBountyHunter.com - Official site of world-famous Duane "Dog" Chapman, Bounty Hunter! Look out all you little girly men... Once a Con, ALWAYS a con. I cannot stand this testosterone pumping loser who goes out and becomes the predator. Gee, let me see. you were in prison for what? Who is this guy? Does he carry a firearm? I'll give ya reality, TV has gone nuts when your wife defends some loser ex Con over the History Channel. I'll investigate this guy later to see just what his "Rap Sheet" reveals... Bring it on to Pennsylvania you loser! Ahahahahahaa!

Rants, Raves, and other Useful Information: Beer Revealed as Historic Female Plot...

Rants, Raves, and other Useful Information: Beer Revealed as Historic Female Plot...: "Beer Revealed as Historic Female Plot... - Comment (0) To test the theory, 50 men were fed 6 pints of beer each within a one hour period. It was then observed that 100% of the men: talked excessively without making sense; became overly emotional; couldn't drive; failed to think rationally; argued over nothing; had to sit down while urinating; and refused to apologize when obviously wrong. No further testing was considered necessary... This was funny enough that I had to repost it. On the same site, right underneath this article, are warning labels for different products. I suggest you check that out as well. posted by Candie Goodyear at 11:15:50 AM"

KERRY’S ‘UNWAVERING’ COMMITMENT TO ISRAEL

1amc Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 2 Location: Lost in Cyberspace Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 11:13 am Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote: KERRY’S ‘UNWAVERING’ COMMITMENT TO ISRAEL

As president, I will never pressure Israel to make concessions that will compromise its security. My commitment to a safe and secure Jewish state is unwavering... We must stand with Israel, supporting our ally's right to build a security fence... As president, I will use bold diplomacy to get governments to recognize the growing crisis of resurgent anti-Semitism, and take action to deal with it...

I believe that the time has come for the American people to demand that the relationships, between the United States, Israel and certain Israeli groups be reviewed immediately. Israel and certain Israeli groups will always put the interest of Israel and their own ideologies ahead of any thought of America or the rest of the world. My perspective at this time goes like this, 9-11 was “Tonkin Bay 2001” and it was extremely successful. Now we have to “DEAL WITH IT”. 9-11 was a conspiracy that continues within America. The actors that conspired to stage the event are criminals, pure and simple. The list of crimes they committed will be large, as will the number of individuals that will be caught and prosecuted for these crimes. I tend to disagree with the assumption that this has to be a massive conspiracy; I think we may find that a relative small number of persons actually working for the government, and others working within the government were actually involved in the prosecution of the traitorous deed itself. The conspirators that planned the 9-11 events are more than likely outside the criminals that originated the ideal of using an event of such magnitude to change history and lead our country on the courses we now travel. The number of individuals needed to accomplish the act is directly related to the power of the persons involved. I also tend to lean heavily toward involvement by Israelis. “WE, THE JEWISH PEOPLE, CONTROL AMERICA, AND THE AMERICANS KNOW IT.” Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon October 3, 2001 (IAP NEWS) We do not need to wait 5-10-25-50 years to know the traitorous criminals that were involved in 9-11. (Northwoods 40 years) The ideologies that contemplated and carried out the criminal acts on 9-11 are a very real (Level Bright Red) threat to our country. Think about it; they committed what they thought were perfect crimes, escaping unknown and untouched. Now the depth and breath of their crimes are being exposed and they have nowhere to hide. The repercussions from the truth about 9-11 may be far reaching and with amazing changes in the relationships we now have with Israel. I do not think for a moment that certain groups of Israelis would hesitate in killing 3000 Americans, or 300,000 Americans, or 3,000,000 Americans if they thought the results would benefit their vision of Israel and the rest of the world. I do not for a moment think that certain Americans (powerful people, families, and corporations,) would hesitate in killing 3000 Americans, or 300,000 Americans, or 3,000,000 Americans if the results would benefit their visions of themselves and the rest of the world. Israel is somewhat like a child which has benefited from 50 plus years of leniency, and protection from an over zealous mother (USA) who would not listen to any sort of criticism whatsoever of her lovely child. Now the child has become a sociopathic serial mass murderer. Whatever relations we have from this point on with the State of Israel and certain related Israeli groups cannot continue to proceed as is, by outdated agreements and arrangements that blind us to the evil in the child. This is not Isramerica, or Jewmerica. This is the “United States of America” and even with all its warts and blemishes it is ours, not theirs. Our treasury and military are not supported by the citizens to be used or abused by any other county regardless of who they are. We cannot lose our democracy and solvency because of our subservience to any country or ideologies. We have to assume the role of leadership. You know the saying,”Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way”. We have to lead, we cannot follow, and we are too big and bad to get the hell out of the way. When I say bad, I do mean bad, we have the ability and the means to defeat any foe or foes on this planet. It is a given that we are by far the most potentially dangerous nation that has ever existed. How, we manage this massive power will probably decide the fate of this world. The enormity of American power is almost inconceivable, capable of turning the planet into a lifeless hunk of space debris. It makes no “difference” to history if the United States of America becomes a failed experiment in “Democracy”, but it damn well “matters” to history. This “Country’ was not built on the backs of our many millions of ancestors, mostly decent, hard working, and honest people, to be given away to any peoples, cults, political parties, or other country, so they could fund themselves, their friends (conspirators), and their ideologies as some kind elixir for World Government. Respects, I myself am fed up with America kissing Israel's Ass. Billions of dollars we give them. They have healthcare, cheap gas, hell, Sharon's comment? I'll vote for George Bush in a heartbeat if he would put AMERICA instead of Israel first. And yes George, I know you read this blog too. So how about it?