My new LTTE, San Antonio & local paper

[WolverineDG]

:grr: :grr: :grr: i'm so fed up with the swift boat veterans for "truth" and michelle malkin's crap about self-inflicted gun shot wounds, i sat down & hammered out this little number:

Dear Editor,

In the professions that I have held (teaching & law), I have learned the hard way how to spot a liar. First, they try to get your attention with something that is mildly sensational. If that doesn't work, then they repeat the story, making it more sensational than the last, until what they are currently telling you bears little or no relation to their original story, much less the truth. Such people also like to throw in catch phrases, such as "some people say" or "I have heard" in their attempts to add credibility to whatever it is they are trying to pass off on you. (Heard those on the "news" broadcasts lately on Fox or CNN? Down a shot each time you hear that on one of the "news" shows & see how quickly you end up on the floor.)

It is this experience that tells me that whatever it is the "Swift Boat Veterans" are for, it is certainly NOT the truth. First comes suggestions that John Kerry somehow didn't deserve his three Purple Hearts because they were merely "scratches." I've seen & heard many "accounts" of these assertions in letters to this column & on television. Next, in his appearances on behalf of the Swift Boat Veterans for "Truth," Larry Thurlow suggests that John Kerry did not deserve the Bronze Star because he did not come under enemy fire, yet Mr. Thurlow himself received a Bronze Star FOR THE SAME INCIDENT. (Is he so outraged that he turned in his unearned medal?) And when THAT story began circulating on Thursday & causing damage to the SBV "truth," along comes right-wing mouthpiece Michelle Malkin on "Hardball" claiming she has heard "some people say" that the shrapnel in John Kerry's leg came from a self-inflicted gun shot wound!

As a teacher, if a student had told me whoppers this big, I would have spoken with his or her parents. As a lawyer, when someone tells me a story on the stand that conflicts with what they earlier stated, I get to ask "Were you lying then or are you lying now?" As an American, I am saddened and angered that a person's military service, once a well-respected asset on a resume, has now become a target for character assassination because of political affiliation. I wish this garbage would stop. The men & women who make the choice to serve our country, especially those who volunteer for frontline duty, deserve better treatment than this.

Sincerely,

me

[gratuitous]

1. Pretty good

They'll probably trim it a little, but it hits the high points.

In your next letter, remind all veterans in the audience that if this is the way the Bush campaign, headed by an AWOL neer-do-well, treats a five-times decorated veteran, how do you suppose they're going to treat you when you come looking for help with college, treatment for service-related disability, or anything else the VA is supposed to do?

[stavka]

2. Given that the heart of this argument is this...

Lt. John Kerry knowingly fired a 40mm M-79 grenade launcher at a rock, close enough to his own vessel that the shrapnel from that detonation might wound him.

That potential wound could have, in all likelihood, struck him in the face, eye, neck, or hand; seriously wounding, if not killing him.

It is hard to believe that John Kerry could so predict the ending result of a stray 40mm grenade round shot from a boat in motion against a shoreline when our own super computers and GPS can not calculate collateral damage in a radii of less than 30 yards.