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AL-QAEDA PLANNING MORE ATTACKS

It should come as no surprise, though sadly it will, that Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda have some big plans for the United States leading up to the presidential election. Time magazine is detailing evidence of a possible attack on the U.S., and it quotes a 'senior intelligence official' as saying "this is looking more real every day." It sure makes me look forward to going to New York for that Republican convention.

Remember .. Al Qaeda achieved a stunning success in Spain with a pre-election attack.  Spain now has the first Al-Qaeda installed government in the Western World.  Perhaps they think they can accomplish the same thing here in our country ... and I'll just leave it to you to figure out just which of the two candidates they want to install.  Even on a Monday the answer to that one will be easy.

Time magazine is saying the FBI has warned a congressional leader that congress could be a target.  I wonder how many of the Democrats in congress think about appeasement rather than fighting back when the heat gets turned up like this.

Reality check.  It's a war.  This presidential election is taking place during wartime.  The non-Muslim is at war against Islamic extremists who are determined to bring us a world dominated by Islamic culture and Islamic law.  They are emboldened by their success in Spain.  They are encouraged by the successes they have had chasing countries out of Iraq with a series of kidnappings and threats of executions.  They are made stronger by the now-to-be-expected weakness of Europe. 

SORRY, BUT IT'S THE RECORD HE'S BEEN RUNNING ON

Sorry, folks, but I just don't get it.  Senator John McCain, Wall Street Journalist lefty Al Hunt; they're all saying what a terrible, terrible thing it is to raise any questions about John Kerry's military service.  Just one question:  Why?

This really isn't all that hard to understand.  Since the very first day that John Kerry began his active quest for the presidency he has focused on one thing; his record of service in Vietnam.  Well before the New Hampshire primary Kerry's repeated focus on his Vietnam war record became somewhat of a joke.  Many media figure I've talked to simply cannot remember one single campaign appearance where Kerry did not use his Vietnam record as evidence of his qualification to serve as commander in chief.

OK ... so if Kerry wants to present this evidence to the great voting jury out there, then the other side gets to present their evidence also.   The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are doing just that.  They have a story to tell, and it seems a lot of people are interested.

There are always two sides to a story.  People like the Wall Street Journal's Albert Hunt are making the assumption that anything that a veteran who supports John Kerry says is the undeniable truth; and any utterance from a veteran who does not support John Kerry is a damnable lie.  Neither Kerry's veteran entourage nor the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth would end Diogenes' quest.  The rational voter will listen to both sides, perhaps engage in a bit of personal research, and make a decision.   Perhaps some voters will be somewhat surprised by the intensity and viciousness of the response from the Kerry crowd to the SBVT charges.  Maybe they'll remember that it's the stuck pig that squeals the loudest.

The truth about John Kerry lies somewhere between two extremes.  On the one hand the Kerry entourage may be right in their presentation of Kerry as a courageous war hero who's boldness in action led to three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star in just four amazing months.  On the other hand, the charges set forth in the current Amazon.com bestseller "Unfit for Command" might be a more accurate portrait.  John Kerry may indeed have been a manipulative schemer who's primary purpose in volunteering for duty in Vietnam was to build a war record on which to pursue a political career.  Perhaps, as charged, Kerry did complain endlessly to his superiors when he felt that his assignment might be a bit too dangerous.  Maybe he did manipulate the system to gain at least one, maybe two Purple Hearts from self-inflicted wounds. 

The story that seems most plausible to me is that Kerry did volunteer for duty in Vietnam to enhance his political portfolio, and that he did push the envelope in his search for Purple Hearts.  I also believe that he probably did act with gallantry when he saw some of his fellow Americans in danger.  I would like to know more about the Purple Hearts.  There's reason to believe that Kerry made up his mind to get those three Purple Hearts as quickly as he could in order to take advantage of the Navy's "three and you're out" rule.  Right now I think the Bronze and Silver Stars were honorably earned.

Not so honorable, however, were the actions last week of Kerry's lawyers in their attack on various members of the SBVT.  Particularly outrageous was their treatment of Dr. Louis Letson, the physician who treated Kerry for the wounds leading to his first Purple Heart.  Last week Democratic Party and Kerry votes sent letters to television stations in battleground states threatening their very licenses if they dared to run the SBVT ads.  In that letter they referred to Dr. Letson as a "phony" doctor and to his corpsman as a "physician."  Dr. Letson served in Vietnam treating our wounded.  Kerry saved lives?  So did Dr. Letson, and to refer to him as a "phony" doctor seems to me to be every bit as outrageous as questioning Kerry's medals.  Don't expect any outrage from John McCain or Al Hunt on this one, though. 

Now ... here's a way that John Kerry can divert attention from his four months in Vietnam.  He can cite some other accomplishments from his life that he believes would impress the voters.  He can tell us of the great and wonderful things he did as the Lt. Governor of Massachusetts.  He can regale us with some war stories from his days as a prosecutor.  Hell, he might even tell us how he managed to seduce two incredibly rich women into his (marital) bed.  I'm sure that there are a lot of young men just out of the service who would love to learn that little stunt.  Then ... for a real stretch, Kerry can tell us all of the great and wonderful things he accomplished in his 20 year Senate history.  He's campaigning on the theme of a "Stronger America."  Perhaps he can explain how all of his votes against funding for intelligence gathering and against the very weapons systems we're using today to kill terrorists in the Middle East made America stronger.

In the meantime ... someone owes Dr. Louis Letson an apology.  We'll be placing calls to the attorneys who sent those threatening letters every single day until we find someone to talk to.  Stay tuned.

THIS IS RATHER ODD, DON'T YOU THINK

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ran an ad attacking John Kerry's Vietnam war record.  In that ad a man named George Elliott, a retired Navy Lt. Commander, said that he made a terrible mistake when he signed the documents for Kerry's Silver Star.  After that ad surfaced a story appeared in the Boston Globe written by Michael Kranish saying that Elliot had recanted his story.

Then things got curious.

After the Kranish story about Elliot's retraction ran, Elliot reportedly stepped forward and said that the Kranish article was wrong and that he had not, in fact, retracted his statement contained in the Swiftees' ad.  It was also reported that Michael Kranish was somewhat of a Kerry insider, having written an introduction to the Kerry-Edwards campaign book entitled "Our Plan for America."  That led to this story in the Globe written by Susan Milligan.  Milligan said that the Globe was standing by it's reporting, and that Kranish did not have any connection to the Kerry campaign and did not write any introduction to Kerry's book.

Then things got even more curious.

Did Kranish write an introduction to the Kerry-Edwards campaign book or not?  Has he been exposed as a Kerry supporter bringing his bias to his news reporting?  Or has there been a simple misunderstanding.

Let's just say if you had searched Amazon.com or PublicAffairsBooks looking for the Kerry-Edwards book last week  you would have seen a reference to an introduction written by Michael Kranish.  Later, after the Kranish article about Elliot's supposed retraction appeared in the Boston Globe, the web pages for the campaign book suddenly dropped the references to Kranish and his introduction.

Interesting

MARX IN THE CLASSROOM

This weekend my annual "school supplies" column ran at townhall.com.  In this column I detail a growing trend in government schools whereby student's school supplies are confiscated on the first day of school and designated as "community property."  It's your child's first lesson teaching the Marx-Engels adage of "from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs." 

Every time I write this column I get letters such as this one from parents and teachers who have experienced this growing trend and aren't happy about it:

Mr. Boortz,
Your column in Townhall today was right on target, and quite in the nick of time.  I've taught for several years, but this year am teaching a new grade.  Yesterday, one of my teammates, a sweet lady, told me I should  take my students' crayons up to be distributed as needed.  I knew that wasn't right, but I couldn't put my finger on why this felt so totally wrong.  After all, these are middle schoolers, not kindergarteners; they don't eat crayons if not closely supervised.   Then I read your column. and I have my answer.  Thank you for saying what I couldn't put into words!
Thank you for being the guy who says it!
(Name omitted)

I also get emails from outraged readers who insist that I have made this whole thing up.  They think that because it isn't happening to their child in their government school (yet) that means it isn't happening anywhere.  It's your typical head-in-the-sand response.  I don't blame these parents for reacting so forcefully.  Deep within their hearts every single parent in this country who has the true interests of their children at heart knows that they are doing their children a great disservice by sending them to the government to be educated.  They know that they are short-changing their children and exposing them to an atmosphere permeated with mindless political-correctness, union politics and government indoctrination.  These parents (am I talking about you?) feel guilty for not making the sacrifices required to get their children out of the clutches of government and into a private school for their education.  Then along comes some smart-ass radio talk show host writing about private property seizures in the government schools and they react with anger. 

It's OK, folks.  I understand.  Nothing upsets a parent quite so much as having some stranger expose their mistakes in raising their children.  You just go ahead and believe that the government is the best possible teacher for your precious child.  Someday you'll look with pride at that little myrmidon you're raising .... and thank the NEA.

BORED KID DUPES THE WORLD

A video aired Saturday showing an American being beheaded...the video had turned up on the Internet. All the major media news headlines thundered with the headline that another American had been beheaded in Iraq! Since the story was bad news for Bush, it made the front page.

Then somebody at the Associated Press made a phone call to 22-year-old Benjamin Vanderford in San Francisco...and surprise...he answered the phone. It turns out he made the whole thing up. The beheading was faked at a friend's house months ago, complete with fake blood and footage he found on the Internet. The media had been duped...they ran with a story before they found out if it was true.

The kid says he did it to bring attention to his campaign for city supervisor (not sure how fake beheadings tie into a successful political campaign, but anyway,) and when that didn't work, he decided the point of the video was for social commentary. Whatever. Basically, he pulled a prank.

The FBI is probing the hoax...and is pursuing prosecution. For what? Screwing around and posting a video online?  Probe the media, not Vanderford.

MAYBE JUST A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS

The Olympics are fixin' to start in Athens.  Diving is an Olympic sport.  When is the last time you saw a diving board at a swimming pool?  Damned lawyers.

I was watching the tube this morning while getting ready for the show.  I now have the names of at least three new drugs I need to ask my doctor about ... especially that drug name written on that woman's belly.

New York Senator Charles Schumer wants to institute a program of background checks for anyone who buys a lot of fertilizer.  Schumer, of course, is a huge gun control guy.  Now it's fertilizer.  What's next? Maybe the federal government ought to run background checks on everyone who wants to rent a truck.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Would you like to see just how absurd some people can be in using the "Nazi" word? Here's a story about unions at Wal-Mart.  One idiot says you have to be a "Nazi" to believe that workers shouldn't have the right to organize. Is this person really that dumb?

Get some Swift Boat veterans out there opposing Kerry's candidacy .. and listen to the demands to investigate their finances.  But what about a group of rock musicians working to defeat George Bush?  Well, that's a different story, of course

Ahhh another reason why Europeans don't like us.  They're embarrassed!  We work, they don't.  Lazy people generally resent hard workers.

WDTN-TV in Dayton will be airing the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad after all.

Drudge has the latest excerpt from 'Unfit for Command,' and apparently The Poodle lied about spending Christmas in Cambodia.  Imagine if this was George Bush we were talking about.

It's official...Alan Keyes is running for Senate in Illinois.  He admits it's a long shot, but this should be a good one.

President Bush has caved and will allow international observers for the November 2nd presidential election.  The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will observe...at least it's not the U.N.

9/11 Commission member and former Clinton administration official Jamie Gorelick has called Michael Moore less than honest and says he distorted the facts in his film.  Michael Moore not honest? Imagine that...

Condoleezza Rice said on 'Meet the Press' yesterday that the United States will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.  Good.

General Tommy Franks has declared The Poodle qualified to be Commander in Chief.  Not if you ask the men who served with him, General.

Even the mainstream media is now admitting The Poodle faces an uphill battle in convincing voters he'd be a better Commander in Chief in the war on terror.  Eleanor Clift says Bush has this one in the bag.

The election is less than 90 days away, and Al-Qaeda is plotting an attack in an effort to elect the terrorist-appeasing Poodle.  Will it change your vote?

The media is going all-out to discredit the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth...as the Media Research Center reports.

Robert Novak has read 'Unfit for Command' and says it is a well-researched account of The Poodle's service in Vietnam. 

John Kerry continues to make the false allegation that we "went it alone" in Iraq.  Diana West says the real reason The Poodle is upset is because we didn't get the French on board.

The Democratic National Convention has dominated the headlines, but Michael Barone reminds us not to ignore the latest round of WTO negotiations.

Thomas Sowell says fraud is central to the Kerry campaign because liberals just can't level with the public.

Four suspects are charged with beating six people to death over an X-Box.  What the hell is wrong with people?

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