posted 08-08-2004 08:24 AM         

Kerry's campaign manager made a visit to the Cardinal and said to him, "We've been getting a lot of bad publicity among Catholics because of Kerry's position on abortion and the like. We'd gladly make a contribution to the church of $100,000 if during your sermon you'd say John Kerry is a saint."

The Cardinal thinks it over for a moment and agrees to do it.

Kerry shows up, and as the Mass progresses the Cardinal begins his homily.

posted 08-08-2004 11:05 AM         

In 1971, I debated John Kerry, then a national spokesman for the
Vietnam Veterans Against the War, for 90 minutes on The Dick Cavett
Show. The key issue in that debate was Kerry's claim that American
troops were committing war crimes in Vietnam "on a day-to-day basis with
the full awareness of officers at all levels of command." Now, as Sen.
Kerry emerges as the presumptive Democratic nominee for the presidency,
I've chosen to re-enter the fray.

Like Kerry, I served in Vietnam as a Swift Boat commander. Ironically,
Kerry and I served much of our time, a full 12 months in my case and a
controversial four months in his, commanding the exact same six-man
boat, PCF-94, which I took over after he requested early departure.
Despite our shared experience, I still believe what I believed 33 years
ago -- that Kerry slandered America's military by inventing or repeating
g rossly exaggerated claims of atrocities and war crimes to advance his
own political career as an antiwar activist. His misrepresentations
played a significant role in creating the negative and false image of
Vietnam vets that has persisted for more than three decades.

Neither I, nor any man I served with, ever committed any atrocity or
war crime in Vietnam. The opposite was the truth. Rather than use
excessive force, we suffered casualty after casualty because we chose to
refrain from firing rather than risk injuring civilians. More than once,
I saw friends die in areas we entered with loudspeakers rather than
guns. Kerry's accusations then and now were an injustice that struck at
the soul of anyone who served there.

During my 1971 televised debate with Kerry, I accused him of lying. I
urged him to come forth with affidavits from the soldiers who had
claimed to have committed or witnessed atrocities. To date no such
affidavits have been filed. Recently, Kerry has attempted to reframe his
comments as youthful or "over the top." Yet always there has been a
calculated coolness to the way he has sought to destroy the record of
our honorable service in the interest of promoting his political
ambitions of the moment.

John Kennedy's book, Profiles in Courage, and Dwight Eisenhower's
Crusade in Europe inspired generations. Not so Kerry, who has suppressed
his book, The New Soldier, prohibiting its reprinting. There is a clear
reason for this. The book repeats Kerry's insults to the American
military, beginning with its front-cover image of the American flag
being carried upside down by a band of bearded renegades in uniform -- a
clear slap at the brave Marines in their combat gear who raised our flag
at Iwo Jima. Allow me the reprint rights to your book, Kerry, and I will
make sure copies of The New Soldier are available in bookstores
throughout America.

Vietnam was a long time ago. Why does it matter today? Since the days
of the Roman Empire, the concept of military loyalty up and down the
chain of command has been indispensable. The commander's loyalty to the
troops is the price a commander pays for the loyalty of the troops in
return. How can a man be commander in chief who for more than 30 years
has accused his "Band of Brothers," as well as himself, of being war
criminals? On a practical basis, Kerry's breach of loyalty is a
prescription of disaster for our armed forces.

Kerry's recent admissions caused me to realize that I was most likely
in Vietnam dodging enemy rockets on the very day he met in Paris with
Madame Binh, the representative of the Viet Cong to the Paris Peace
Conference. Kerry returned to the United States to become a national
spokesman for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, a radical fringe of
the antiwar movement, an organization set upon propagating the myth of
war crimes through demonstrably false assertions. Who was the last A
merican POW to die languishing in a North Vietnamese prison forced to
listen to the recorded voice of Kerry disgracing their service by his
dishonest testimony before the Senate?

Since 1971, I have refused many offers from Kerry's political
opponents to speak out against him. My reluctance to become involved
once again in politics is outweighed now by my profound conviction that
Kerry is simply not fit to be America's commander in chief. Nobody has
recruited me to come forward. My decision is the inevitable result of my
own personal beliefs and life experience.

Today, America is engaged in a new war, against the militant Islamist
terrorists who attacked us on our own soil. Reasonable people may differ
about how best to proceed, but I'm sure of one thing -- Kerry is the
wrong man to put in charge.Man who should not be commander in chief

posted 08-09-2004 09:01 PM         

quote:

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Originally posted by pocotoo:
It sickens me to see how some people carry on regarding politics.

I find it very difficult to form an "educated" opinion on who to vote for.
Wally

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Wally - First, you are viewing a free speech OFF TOPIC FORUM and the first post should have tipped you off that it was all about politics on this thread. You read 102 posts "before" you posted, and then state: "how it sickens 'you' about how some people are carrying on about politics". Nobody asked you to read all the political posts,,,,you could have chosen to ignore the entire thread. You chose to voice your opinion, and you are welcomed to do just that here. We all don't agree about everything, BUT, we all are entitled to our opinions. I personally would like to hear more from the other side of the table so that we can carry on intellectual discussions regarding the direction this great country is taking for the future. Without dialogue and compromise, everything remains the status-quo. JMO

I hope you do not take this as a personal attack towards you,,,,its not. Glad to have you aboard and you do present some interesting points to consider.

posted 08-09-2004 11:34 PM         

quote:

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Originally posted by pocotoo:
It sickens me to see how some people carry on regarding politics. We are all Americans and should be concerned about the country, not taking potshots at politicians or at each other. ...

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posted 08-10-2004 12:32 AM         

quote:

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Originally posted by blackcat:
Wow CNOTE. I can see exactly have this fits into the thread.....................well maybe not???????????????

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Thanks...LOL

latest trailer to this movie... http://www.dpena.com/movies/Reviews.wmv

posted 08-10-2004 01:00 AM         

quote:

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Originally posted by blackcat:
Great Trailer CNOTE here it is again.
http://www.dpena.com/movies/Reviews.wmv

However as stated in an earlier post I'm just a ponderin' 'publican so what do I know????? LOL. Where the heck is that polioboy guy?

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Funny you should ask I tryed to get in contact with him many times and the phone was shut off and then GONE!!!!! I like the guy and hope he comes back!!!!

posted 08-10-2004 01:22 AM         

Did you see this trailer? It's great!!!!!!!
http://www.dpena.com/movies/Reviews.wmv

By the way, after posting so many times, Ed ask me if I highlight my hair. Do you know what the heck he's talking about?????????? LOL.

posted 08-10-2004 01:58 AM         

-Jay Leno

"We make jokes about it but the truth is this presidential election really offers us a choice of two well-informed opposing positions on every issue... OK, they both belong to John Kerry, but they're still there."

-Jay Leno

"John Kerry will undergo surgery to repair his right shoulder. He originally hurt it when he suddenly switched positions on Iraq."

-Craig Kilborn

"President Bush listed his income as $822,000. You know what John Kerry calls someone who earns $822,000? Not even worth dating."

-Jay Leno

"Well the good news for Democrats, now over half the country can identify a picture of John Kerry. The bad news, the majority still thinks he's the dad from The Munsters."

-Jay Leno

"John Kerry accused President Bush of catering to the rich. You know, as opposed to John Kerry who just marries them."

-Jay Leno

"They say John Kerry is the first Democratic presidential candidate in history to raise $50 million in a three-month period. Actually, that's nothing. He once raised $500 million with two words: 'I do.'"

-Jay Leno

"Today, John Kerry announced a fool-proof plan to wipe out the $500B deficit. John Kerry has a plan, he's going to put it on his wife's Gold MCard."

-Craig Kilborn

posted 08-10-2004 08:27 AM         

quote:

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Originally posted by idive:

I think that at least most of the posts in this thread indicate that we ARE concerned about this country. I find it ironic, however, that there are so few opposing opinions in this thread when there seems to be so many (in this country) saying that Kerry will win. I would think as diverse as the people here are that we pretty well represent "the people" of America. Just an observation, and JMO.

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Good observation Mickey. I feel most of the Demo-Hypocrites are voting against Bush, instead of for Kerry. Guess it is hard for them to defend his poor senate voting record,,,unless it involves handing out more Pork tax $$$ to Massachusetts or supporting more wasted tax $$$ to fuel government programs to keep the poor,,poorer. Kerry isn't interested in the plight of the middle class, he can't relate to them, unless it involves raising their tax burden. His prepared rhetoric speaks of tax cuts to the middle class by raising the taxes of the rich, but it's clear that his plans for America mean 'more new taxes' = "Hope is on the way!"

Maybe more of the left will speak up,,,,but I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for them to respond. JMO

posted 08-10-2004 10:41 PM         

How many soldiers lives do you think CNN put at risk during the war..(and don't say none)...their live coverage was ridiculous, spending million dollar bombs to destroy the enemies ability to communicate only to have CNN tell them almost live exactly what had been done..... Heard many times Iraqi officials say they used CNN as there main source of intelligence. Almost fell off my chair one night as I heard one of their armchair generals explain on live TV how to take out the A1M1 (or is that M1A1) anyway you know the tank I mean, I think they are around $10,000,000 each. I thought there was going to be an uproar, but no one said a thing, shocking....I think the media should have been on a 24 or 48 hour delay. Good thing there was Fox News to confuse them.

Good Journalism is almost lost, there are still a few, most are just wh#$^s (something to do with the oldest profession). They are also played like fiddles by such mediocre intelligence as Janet Jackson, Madonna. etc...

What about the rumors about the soldiers wages being cut, and deducted for dieing etc., etc.. Is this true?

posted 08-11-2004 10:04 AM         

Bush sucks. Kerry sucks. At least Clinton got blown.