The National Guard debate/debacle: The recently uncovered memorandum attributed to the commander of W's unit appears to be a forgery. Now I am not a typeface expert (although they have weighed in on the modernity of the typeface), but I did serve quite a bit of time in the Navy. What struck me as odd about the document was the formatting.
- Every officer in the service learns basic formatting procedures - for memos, forms were available - and if not you simply typed "Memorandum" underlined in the upper left corner.
- Dates were written as "4 May 1972" not "04 May 1972."
- There would be a "From" and "To" block not "Memorandum to Lt. George W...."
- The memo in question "orders" Bush to report for a flight physical to the HQ not the hospital and the Flight Surgeon is not copied on the memo.
- The officer's rank would be abbreviated as LTCOL USAF, not "Lt.Colonel."
- Bottom line, this piece is a "ho-ax" as we say in the deep South.
Contrast this attempt to smear W with the veracity of the numerous Swift Boat Vets that have challenged Msr. Kerree.
Now let's do a "worst case scenario." We'll be good economists and make some assumptions.
- Assume every naughty thing you heard about Bush's service in the National Guard is true...he was AWOL for two months, he used influence to get in the Guard, he didn't fulfill his requirement etc.
- Now assume every naughty thing you've heard about Kerry's service is true...he joined the Navy to escape the draft and pretend to be JFK, he gamed the Purple Heart system to get out early, he was a coward who ran from the fight.
Now answer the following questions:
- Who, while on active duty, accused the US Military of committing war crimes and being the army of Genghis Khan?
- Who has made his service in the military the central reason for you to select him in November?
'Nuff said.
A pox on both your houses! In the must read and ponder category, Mark Helprin's piece in the WSJ this AM is powerful: http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/mhelprin/ As we are rounding into our third year of war...or at least third year since we admitted we were at war, it's a powerful indictment.
IVAN vs. the NFL: The Tennessee Titans will have to play the Miami Dolphins on Saturday in order to avoid having Ivan call interference on the game! Isn't it hard to concentrate on the game with a Cat 5 hurricane bearing down on you?
Bread and Circuses: Am I the only one that was offended by the wierd show last night to launch the NFL Season. Sir Elton John who has bemoaned "censorship" in the United States singing "Saturday Night's Alright for Fightin'" before Thursday night football. Hell, he is a walking "wardrobe malfunction."
Look at the internals: WSJ's morning page reporting that in the same poll in which the "world" would vote for Kerry over W, there's an interesting finding: 58% of Europeans prefer a "weaker America." Why is that? My hypothesis is that, with the exception of Great Britain which still has a backbone, Europe has essentially become a moral wasteland unable to distinguish between good and evil. They don't like to face the hard choices that have to be made in living in a dangerous world. They would rather just brush it under the carpet in the hope that it will go away. This is why liberals are so enamored of their "sophisticated" society. As we sit on the eve of the 3rd anniversary of 9/11 could the choice be any more obvious. We stared into the very face of evil in the fiery plumes of the World Trade Center. It will not go away if we just try to get along with it.