Steven Gardner, who served aboard Kerry's swift boat, has this to say about Kerry

 
http://www.swiftvets.com/vids/gardner.wmv

A LETTER FROM SOME VETERANS

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August 25, 2004

Senator John Kerry
304 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Kerry,

We are pleased to welcome your campaign representatives to Texas today. We honor all our veterans, all whom have worn the uniform and served our country. We also honor the military and National Guard troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan today. We are very proud of all of them and believe they deserve our full support.

That’s why so many veterans are troubled by your vote AGAINST funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, after you voted FOR sending them into battle. And that’s why we are so concerned about the comments you made AFTER you came home from Vietnam. You accused your fellow veterans of terrible atrocities – and, to this day, you have never apologized. Even last night, you claimed to be proud of your post-war condemnation of our actions.

We’re proud of our service in Vietnam. We served honorably in Vietnam and we were deeply hurt and offended by your comments when you came home.

You can’t have it both ways. You can’t build your convention and much of your campaign around your service in Vietnam, and then try to say that only those veterans who agree with you have a right to speak up. There is no double standard for our right to free speech. We all earned it.

You said in 1992 “we do not need to divide America over who served and how.” Yet you and your surrogates continue to criticize President Bush for his service as a fighter pilot in the National Guard.

We are veterans too – and proud to support President Bush. He’s been a strong leader, with a record of outstanding support for our veterans and for our troops in combat. He’s made sure that our troops in combat have the equipment and support they need to accomplish their mission.

He has increased the VA health care budget more than 40% since 2001 – in fact, during his four years in office, President Bush has increased veterans funding twice as much as the previous administration did in eight years ($22 billion over 4 years compared to $10 billion over 8.) And he’s praised the service of all who served our country, including your service in Vietnam.

We urge you to condemn the double standard that you and your campaign have enforced regarding a veteran’s right to openly express their feelings about your activities on return from Vietnam.

Sincerely,

Texas State Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson
Rep. Duke Cunningham
Rep. Duncan Hunter
Rep. Sam Johnson
Lt. General David Palmer
Robert O'Malley, Medal of Honor Recipient
James Fleming, Medal of Honor Recipient
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Castle (Ret.)

SMILE

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Now that food has replaced sex in my life, I can't even get into my own pants.

Marriage changes passion; suddenly you're in bed with a relative.
 
I saw a woman wearing a sweat shirt with "Guess" on it.  I guessed, "Implants?" and she hit me.
 
How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?
 
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Darn...that was fun!"
 
I signed up for an exercise class and was told to wear loose-fitting clothing. If I HAD any loose-fitting clothing, I wouldn't have signed up in the first place!
 
When I was young we used to go "skinny dipping"; now I "chunky dunk."
 
Never argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference.
 
Wouldn't it be nice if whenever we messed up we could simply press 'Ctrl Alt Delete' and start all over?
 
Why is it that our children can't read a Bible in school, but they can in prison?
 
Brain cells come and brain cells go, but FATcells live forever.
 
Why do I have to swear on the Bible in court when the Ten Commandments cannot be displayed in a federal building?
 
My favorite bumper sticker: "If you can read this, thank a teacher -and, since it's in English, thank a soldier !!"

HERE'S A STORY YOU WON'T READ ABOUT IN THE NEWS

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Another Side of President Bush 

"Above is a picture of Mike McNaughton of Denham Springs, LA.  He stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan Christmas 2002.  President Bush came to visit the wounded in the hospital.  He told Mike that when he could run a mile that they would go on a run together.  True to his word, he called Mike every month or so to see how he was doing."

"Well, last week they went on the run, 1 mile with the president. Not something you'll see in the news, but seeing the president taking the time to say thank you to the wounded and to give hope to one of my best friends was one of the greatest/best things I have seen in my life. God bless him."

Justin

 
CPT Justin P. Dodge, MD
Flight Surgeon, 1-2 AVN RGT
Medical Corps, U.S. Army

JOHN KERRY'S 1ST PURPLE HEART (The real story?)

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From the website Swift Boat Veterans For Truth

KERRY'S VERSION
The
action that led to John Kerry's first Purple Heart occurred on December
2, 1968, during the month that he was undergoing training with Coastal
Division 14 at Cam Ranh Bay. While waiting to receive his own Swift
boat command, Kerry volunteered for a nighttime patrol mission
commanding a small, foam-filled "skimmer" craft with two enlisted men.
The purpose of the patrol, which Kerry later described as "a half-assed
action that hardly qualified as combat," was to find Vietcong guerillas
moving contraband around a peninsula north of the bay on sampans.

At the target location Kerry saw a group of
sampans unloading something on the shore, and lit a flare to illuminate
the area. The men from the sampans ran, and Kerry and his crew opened
fire. At that point, according to Kerry, "My M-16 jammed, and as I bent
down in the boat to grab another gun, a stinging piece of heat socked
into my arm and just seemed to burn like hell." (page 147, "Tour of
Duty") Kerry and his men strafed the beach, shot up the sampans and
returned to Cam Ranh Bay.

HIS COMMANDING OFFICER'S VERSION
As
an officer in command (OIC) in training, Kerry reported during this
mission to William Schachte, who eventually retired as a Rear Admiral.
Schachte flatly contradicts Kerry's claim to have been wounded by enemy
fire, saying that after his M-16 jammed, Kerry picked up an M-79
grenade launcher and fired a grenade that exploded too close to the
boat, causing a small piece of shrapnel to stick in the skin of his
arm. Kerry himself did not report receiving hostile fire that night,
which would have been required, and there is no record of hostile fire
for the mission.

Kerry succeeded in keeping the
small piece of shrapnel in his arm until the following day, when he was
treated by Dr. Louis Letson, whose version of the event matches William
Schachte's account rather than Kerry's:

THE DOCTOR'S VERSION
I
have a very clear memory of an incident which occurred while I was the
Medical Officer at Naval Support Facility, Cam Ranh Bay. John Kerry was
a (jg), the OinC or skipper of a Swift boat, newly arrived in Vietnam.
On the night of December 2, he was on patrol north of Cam Ranh, up near
Nha Trang area. The next day he came to sick bay, the medical facility,
for treatment of a wound that had occurred that night.

The story he told was different
from what his crewmen had to say about that night. According to Kerry,
they had been engaged in a fire fight, receiving small arms fire from
on shore. He said that his injury resulted from this enemy action.

Some of his crew confided that
they did not receive any fire from shore, but that Kerry had fired a
mortar round at close range to some rocks on shore. The crewman thought
that the injury was caused by a fragment ricocheting from that mortar
round when it struck the rocks.

That seemed to fit the injury which I treated.

What I saw was a small piece of
metal sticking very superficially in the skin of Kerry's arm. The metal
fragment measured about 1 cm. in length and was about 2 or 3 mm in
diameter. It certainly did not look like a round from a rifle.

I simply removed the piece of
metal by lifting it out of the skin with forceps. I doubt that it
penetrated more than 3 or 4 mm. It did not require probing to find it,
did not require any anesthesia to remove it, and did not require any
sutures to close the wound.

The wound was covered with a bandaid.

No other injuries were reported and I do not recall that there was any reported damage to the boat.

REQUEST DENIED
The
following morning, John Kerry arrived at the office of Coastal Division
14 Commander Grant Hibbard to apply for a Purple Heart. Having already
been informed by Schachte that Kerry's injury was self-inflicted rather
than the result of hostile fire, Commander Hibbard told him to "forget
it." Hibbard recently said of Kerry's minor scratch, "I’ve seen worse
injuries from a rose thorn."

THEN, WHO GAVE IT TO HIM, IF ANYONE?
Nevertheless,
John Kerry managed to obtain his coveted Purple Heart for this incident
nearly three months later after being transferred to Coastal Division
11. The circumstances remain obscure, as there are no written records
of this award on file at the Naval Historical Center. Various other
documents that might shed light on this award remain unavailable due to
Senator Kerry's refusal to release his complete military records.

IF HE REALLY RECEIVED IT, DID HE DESERVE IT?
Military
regulations state that to qualify for a Purple Heart, an injury must
come "from an outside force or agent," and treatment for the wound must
"have been made a matter of official record." While John Kerry managed
to satisfy the second criterion by insisting that an amused Dr. Letson
provide an official Band-Aid, nicking himself with a fragment from his
own poorly-aimed grenade fails to meet the first qualification.

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I THINK I WOULD HAVE THROWN IT AWAY TOO!

PONDER THIS

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1. If you spin an oriental man in a circle three times does he become disoriented?

2. Can an atheist get insurance against acts of God?

3. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

4. If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?

5. Why is it called tourist season if we can't shoot at them?

6. Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?

7. What if there were no hypothetical questions?

8. If a deaf person swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?

9. If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?

10. Is there another word for synonym?

11. Where do Forest Rangers go to "get away from it all?"

12. What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?

13. If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?

14. Would a fly without wings be called a walk?

15. Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?

16. If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?

17. Can vegetarians eat animal crackers?

18. If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?

19. Why do they put Braille on the drive-through bank machines?

20. How do they get deer to cross the road only at those yellow road signs?

21. What was the best thing before sliced bread?

22. One nice thing about egotists: they don't talk about other people.

23. Does the Little Mermaid wear an algebra?

24. Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?

25. How is it possible to have a civil war?

26. If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest drown, too?

27. If you ate both pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?

28. If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

29. Whose cruel idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have "S" in it?

30. Why are hemorrhoids called "hemorrhoids" instead of "asteroids"?

JOB APPLICATION

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NAME: John Kerry

RESIDENCE: 7 mansions, including Washington DC, worth multi-millions.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
Law Enforcement. I voted to cut every law enforcement, CIA and defense bill in my career as a US Senator. I ordered Boston to remove a fire hydrant in front of my mansion, thereby endangering my neighbors in the event of fire.

MILITARY:
I used three minor injuries to get an early discharge from the military and service in Vietnam (as documented by the attending doctor). I then returned to the US, joined Jane Fonda in protesting the war, and insulted returning Vietnam vets, claiming they committed atrocities and were baby killers. I threw my medals, ribbons, or something away in protest. Or did I? My book; Vietnam Veterans Against the War: The New Soldier shows how I truly feel about the military.

COLLEGE:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. Unlike my counterpart George Bush, I have no higher education and did not get admitted to Harvard nor graduate with an M.B.A

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:
I ran for U.S. Congress and have been there ever since. I have no real world experience except marrying rich women and running HJ Heinz vicariously through my wife Teresa.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
As a US Senator I set the record for the most liberal voting record,
exceeding even Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton. I have consistently failed to support our military and CIA by voting against budgets, thus gutting our country's ability to defend itself. Although I voted for the Iraq War, now I am against it and refuse to admit that I voted for it. I voted for every liberal piece of legislation. I have no plan to help this country but I intend to raise taxes significantly if I am elected.

My wealth so far exceeds that of my counterpart, George Bush, that he will never catch up. I make no or little charitable contributions and have never agreed to pay any voluntary excess taxes in MA, despite family wealth in excess of $ 700 million.

I (we) own 28 manufacturing plants (Heinz) outside of the U.S. in places like Asia, Mexico and Europe. We can make more profit from the cheaper cost of labor in those Countries, although I Blame George Bush for sending all of the jobs out of Country.

Although I claim to be in favor of alternative energy sources, Ted Kennedy and I oppose windmills off Nantucketand Martha's Vineyard as it might spoil our view of the ocean as we cruise on our yachts.

RECORDS AND REFERENCES:
None.

PERSONAL:
I ride a Serotta Bike.
I call my Gulfstream V Jet The Flying Squirrel.
My $850,000 42-foot Hinckley twin diesel yacht is the "Scarmouche".
I am fascinated by rap and hip-hop and feel it reflects our real culture.
I own several "Large" SUVs including one parked at my Nantucket summer mansion, though I am against large polluting inefficient vehicles and blame George Bush for the energy problems.

PLEASE CONSIDER MY EXPERIENCE WHEN VOTING IN 2004.