Marine Corps Moms

Rushing through Monday

My laptop is undergoing a motherboard transplant today - the surgeon hasn't announced when the procedure will be done. And, I think he's a bit tired of my frequent phone calls. Since my antique desktop will not let me access web sites, including Marine Corps Moms, I'm stuck with 30 minutes at the library with an impatient sixth grader in line behind me. Here's some good stuff for today.

Cassandra has a marvelous piece on the Kerrylied rally. Here's my favorite part but you really need to read it all.

First up was Dexter Lehtinan, an Army paratrooper and Ranger who was seriously wounded in 1971. His recovery took 18 months and many operations - most of his cheekbone was destroyed. Now an adjunct law professor, Mr. Lehtinan retired as a 1st Lieutenant, then graduated first in his class at Stanford Law School. He has served in the Florida House and Senate, was a US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and has argued before the USSC. The Unit and I had seen him just that morning on Washington Journal, where he argued persuasively against another Vietnam Vet who supports Kerry. Despite his scars, he is still a handsome and imposing man.

Lehtinan spoke of his experiences: "I was discharged from a military hospital 18 months and several operations later, almost as good as new from the wounds my enemy had inflicted on me. Those wounds were just flesh and blood. But the wounds inflicted by John Kerry -- the bearing false witness against me and a generation of honorable veterans -- those wounds were much more serious; they went much deeper. Those wounds went to the heart and soul. Those wounds never go away."

"Now we're in another war. Now my son is in the Marine Corps, a weapons officer flying F-18D Hornet jet fighters. That's the Marine Corps Kerry mocked with a book cover showing protesters simulating the flag raising at Iwo Jima, with the American flag upside down. That's the F-18 fighter that Kerry voted against in the Senate. And today John Kerry's picture hangs in an honored place in the enemy's war museum in Saigon, as an honored hero to the Vietnamese communists."

"At least he's a hero somewhere.", he commented wryly.

B.G. Burkett, author of Stolen Valor, invoked the recent 60 Minutes forgery scandal, relaying how Dan Rather claims to have been a Marine, but actually failed to complete Recruit Training. Burkett discovered this while checking up on Rather's claims after Rather ran a CBS TV documentary, "The Wall Within”, in which he portrayed vets as guilt-ridden, dysfunctional, and mentally disturbed.

She's got some great pictures to go with her narrative - please visit her site and read the rest.