This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Liberals suck

  • Geoff Millard; the latest IVAW phony soldier (Updated)

    The anti-war movement loves the Iraq Veterans Against the War. In an interview, Head Hag of Code Pink bragged that IVAW gives the anti-war movement credibility;

    “The vet groups are our street cred,” a California-based anti-war activist tells me at the group’s barbecue. Medea Benjamin, co-founder of feminist anti-war group Code Pink, says the veterans’ group appeals to the American glorification of the military, even within the anti-war movement. “People who have been part of a war that I consider immoral and illegal still have more legitimacy than people who were against the war from the very beginning and refused to fight in it,” she explains, sitting in the vets’ living room while her college-age cohorts chat with the veterans and eat hamburgers and sausages. “They command more of a sense of authority and more of a sense of understanding of what’s actually happening on the ground.”

    Let’s take a look at the credibility that Medea values so much, shall we?

    The president of the Washington, DC Chapter, Geoff Millard, for example, is a real gadfly on the Washington, DC Leftist scene. I saw him going into the William Ayers book signing last month. Here’s a picture of him sitting behind then-candidate Barack Obama at a speech leading up to the election in Pennsylvania;

    This is his profile on the IVAW website;

    In his profile, Millard brags “Along with a peace delegation Geoff became the first Iraq war veteran to meet with members of the Iraqi parliament about their 26-point peace plan. Also Geoff has traveled Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iran meeting with Iraqi refugees at every chance.”

    But he’s being modest. He’s also addressed the Socialist World Forum in Venezuela and fawned over such luminaries as Hugo Chavez and Cindy Sheehan. Here’s a picture of him marching with Medea Benjamin and Cindy Sheehan a few years back exercising his “street cred” for the anti-war movement;

    My buddy/alter ego Robin at Chickenhawk Express did some extensive research on Millard a few years back when he first started making the IVAW scene while he was AWOL. Robin includes his history as a malingerer complaining constantly about his bouts of pain from a old wrestling injury  – he claimed an Iraqi doctor said he should go back to the States, but Army doctors disagreed.

    After he finished his tour of Iraq and the Army wouldn’t give him a medical discharge, he became a conscientious objector and went AWOL for nine months. Familiar story, isn’t it? It’s always some sort malfeasance on the part of IVAW members that preceeded their “conscientious objectors” or “resisters” status.

    Notice, like most of the other folks in IVAW, he lists himself as a Sergeant. In addition, he claims he served in Germany, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq. It sounds more like a flight path than a career path.

    I got a hold of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on Geoffrey a few weeks back and it was a little light on information;

    It said that he is a specialist and not a sergeant as he claimed, and his awards were only two medals and ribbon – quite a bit different than what he sports in public;

    That’s a lot more than what’s in records, no? Need a closer look?

    That’s three awards of the Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) on top – but none of them are in the FOIA.

    Well, see, I’m a fair guy, so I decided before I posted anything, I wanted to give Geoffrey a chance to respond – actually, TSO and Uncle Jimbo advised me to proceed cautiously.

    Thanks to some prodding from  Army Sergeant, I’m sure, he responded the same day, and sent me one of his three DD214s – of course, he sent the best one of the three, the one that says he earned all of those medals and that he’s a sergeant. The only thing I’ve altered is his Social Security Number, his mother’s name and address and his home address;

    Now that would seem to settle it, right? Well, not quite. I sent the DD214 to my new friends at POW Net and, eagle eyes that they are, they noticed right off that even though he has awards for foreign service in block 13, there’s no foreign service time in block 12f.

    The folks at POW NET sent the FOIA request back through St Louis with the DD214 Millard sent me.

    Guess what? The Army sent the same FOIA information back even though they had his DD214. His form 2-1 doesn’t mention any service in Iraq.

    The folks at POW NET are forwarding the FOIA and the DD214 Millard sent me to the FBI for further investigation.

    1stCAVRVN11B emailed this picture of Millard wearing a CIB, which also isn’t in the DD214 or the FOIA report;

    He explained in his email to me;

    [The DD214] will not show a CIB that is a longer story of my being pined [sic] in Iraq but not having it on paper back home because of Army FUBAR.  I was unsure about wearing it and I admit I did once but never felt comfortable with it on.

    Well, the real reason he should have felt uncomfortable about wearing a CIB is because he never earned one no matter who “pinned” him – it wasn’t an Army FUBAR. To earn a CIB, a soldier has to be a qualified infantryman in the 11 or 18 series MOS and be serving in an infantry unit lower than brigade level. Millard was a 12B combat engineer not an 11 or 18 series, and he worked for a general – there are no generals below brigade level. I told him all of that in an email, but he didn’t see fit to respond.

    Millard wants the honors accorded an infantryman who served in combat without having to put up with the shit of actually being an infantryman. Stolen valor.

    So let’s recap the “street cred” of the anti-war movement; Millard claims to be a sergeant, the Army says he’s a specialist. He claims to have a chest full of medals, the Army says he has two and a ribbon. Millard claims to have been awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, even though he was never a combat infantryman and the Army disagrees with him. Millard claims to have served on the Mexican border, Germany, Qatar, Kuwait and in Iraq and the Army has no record of him ever leaving New York State except for basic training and advanced individual training.

    Oh, and the FBI will be investigating him for falsifying his military records.

    At least he’s got experience doing a perp walk – he may need that skill.

    Now, I’ll admit that I have a hard-on for Millard since he tried to intimidate TSO and me at Winter Soldier by asking us for our blog URLs so they could monitor what we were writing about them from the inside. I’m pretty sure he didn’t ask any of the friendlier bloggers for that same consideration.

    Later, he threatened to throw TSO, Rurik and me out of Winter Soldier because TSO talked to a Washington Post reporter. Oh, and he made one of his minions remove me from the Congressional hearing room for Winter Soldier after I filmed him playing general’s aide before the hearings checking mikes and shuffling paper.

    So this post is my pay back – and that’s why it’s languished for three weeks in my draft folder waiting to get the facts just right. It’s been rewritten countless times and a number of people have contributed to it and they’re all credited.

    I’ve got several other records requests being processed, so you may see a spate of “phony soldier” posts in the next few months. Ya’all phony soldiers had better adjust your narratives.

    UPDATED: For all of you sharpshooters, someone sent me a clearer picture of his medals;

  • Hollywood stuck in the 60s

    I’ve long been a “student” of  Che Guevara in that I read every word of his that I could find. I studied his life and his activism – and I kept him at arm’s length. It’s easy to succumb to the romanticism of a iconic figure like Che if you read the romanticism of the Left that has him the symbol of the struggle against the United States and democracy as a whole.

    Just like if you only read the Left’s version of Nixon, the Left’s version of Reagan, the Left’s version of…oh, well, just about anything, really. And it’s that romanticism that attracts young minds of mush to the Che T-shirts, the Che beer – it’s easy to fall in love with notion of Che as long as you don’t think about him too much.

    Reason has put out this video entitled “Hollywood’s Sick Love Affair with Che Guevara”, that, characteristic of everything Reason produces, makes more sense than any crap coming out of Hollywood these days.

    The event is the release of Benecio Del Toro’s portrayal in the new movie “Che” which Del Toro opened in Cuba the other day – sweet, huh? I’ll admit that Che is an underachiever when it comes to mass murder, at least when you compare him to Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot and other successful mass murderers, but then how many people do you have to kill to be despised by the Left? Cuba Archives lists 132 executions directly attributable to Guevara – it’s certainly not the millions of other communist thugs, but how many does it take (hat tip to Babalu Blog)?

    According to Cuba Archives, those 132 weren’t given the benefit of a trial;

    During its on-going investigations, Cuba Archive has found that most of the men executed by order of Ché Guevara were career or low-ranking members of the Police or Armed Forces of Cuba who had performed their constitutional duties and had committed no crimes despite serving under a 7-year dictatorship. In many cases, they came from families that had served their country for several generations. A few were members of paramilitary groups or protective forces that had committed crimes under the Batista dictatorship. But, none had the benefit of trials conducted with basic rules of jurisprudence.

    The American Left has been whining for years about the abuses of the criminal Bush Administration. Have 132 been executed? Has even one been executed? Their greatest complaint about the Bush Administration is the water boarding of two people and the outing of Valerie Plame. But Che is a fricken hero worthy of worship.

    This how I remember Che;

    Stretched out in a jungle hut with a Bolivian sergeant’s bullet in him – after a failed revolution that Castro sent him on to get him out of Castro’s hair.

    If the Hollywood Left is looking for a Cuban to make a movie about, why don’t they make a movie about Yoani Sanchez, a cuban blogger who has been systematically harrassed and persecuted for blogging about the Cuban regime and conditions in Cuba. Doesn’t that sound like a story worthy of a movie more than a story about an idealist who becomes a thug-murderer whose only claim to fame is to look dashing in a beret?

    Thanks to ponsdorf for reminding with the link to CDR Salamander.

  • Told ya so

    A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the Democrats pushing for a 25% spending cut in defense. Today TSO sent me an article (without a link) about our favorite Congressman, John Murtha, who thinks a good place to start cutting expenses in the Defense Department is military bonuses;

    “What I’m saying is, there’s going to be less defense spending,” House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., said in a speech at the Center for American Progress on defense priorities. “I’m not going to predict how much of a change we’ll see in the coming years, but I do know that defense spending is going to be under severe pressure.”

    […]

    Murtha said the Army and Marine Corps spent about $2 billion on enlistment and re-enlistment bonuses since 2007 — incentives lawmakers and service officials deemed necessary to help meet recruiting and retention goals.

    But Murtha said bonuses were one area that could produce savings as forces are drawn down in Iraq. “If we draw down, we ought to be able to get rid of the bonuses,” he said.

    I wrote before the election that when Democrats talk about cutting defense spending, it’s code for cutting personnel costs. They passed a great big GI Bill this year that encouraged people to leave the military, and now they’re talking about cutting the incentives to stay.If I didn’t know better, I’d think Murtha is planning to reduce the effectiveness of the military. But that can’t be it, can it?

    You’d think they’d cut back on useless weapons programs, wouldn’t you? But not when Murtha controls the purse strings and needs to send that money to his district;

    But he said the military could find savings by reforming its healthcare system, addressing military compensation, and reducing operations and maintenance costs.

    All personnel cuts. It’s always the troops who pay for the social programs the Democrats need to buy votes. Murtha has proven time and again that the military doesn’t affect his success in his district. He can call them murderers and criminals, heck, he can even call his constituents a bunch of redneck racists and they’ll still vote for him as long as he can keep dragging Federal dollars to his district. So why shouldn’t he cut bonuses, healthcare and eventually the troops pay – there’s no incentive for him to stop.

    Remember back during the Winter Soldier hearings when Maxine Waters told Kristopher Goldsmith that he was braver than the troops who are fighting in the wars right now, and that she is going to get the same benefits as someone who served their full tour without misbehaving? Where do you think she’s going to get the money to pay for Goldsmith’s college education?

  • Dems urge Obama to keep pledges

    The Washington Times runs an odd story this morning entitled “Van Hollen urges Obama to keep promises“. Now, why would Democrats have to remind Obama about his campaign promises a month after the election and a month before he takes office – unless they know something we don’t;

    Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a point man in Democrats’ policy and political shops, said his party recognizes it is now fully responsible for the performance of the federal government and must deliver on President-elect Barack Obama’s long list of campaign promises – or else.

    Making good on those promises – specifically reviving the faltering U.S. economy – likely will determine whether Democrats gain or lose seats in Congress in 2010, he said.

    “I do think the most important thing for the Democrats in the Congress is to find a way to follow through on what the American people expect us to do,” the Maryland Democrat said.

    Topping the must-do list Mr. Hollen laid out Wednesday with editors and reporters at The Washington Times was an economic stimulus packed with New Deal-style public works projects followed by energy, health care and education reforms.

    I’m guessing that they know all of those big-ticket items are somehow getting thrown under the bus for more short-term needs like tax cuts. Of course, VanHollen has never had the country’s best interests at heart – he’s a bitter, partisan, BDS-sufferer. Oh, and my congressman. His constituents are a reflection of his own ignorant, self-serving politics. Well, the constituents of his that are eligible to vote.

  • Post: Jackson, Jr tied to Blagojevich?

    The Washington Post speculates this evening about Jesse Jackson, Junior’s connection to Rod Blagojevich;

    “Senate Candidate 5,” an aspirant to President-elect  Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat mentioned in FBI tapes of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, appears to be  Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., his attorney said at a press conference here this afternoon, but he said Jackson “has made no illicit approach to the governor.”

    Although Blagojevich (D) was captured on the tapes saying that an emissary from Candidate 5 had offered to raise $500,000 for Blagojevich’s campaign treasury, lawyer James Montgomery said Jackson knew nothing about that.

    “Politicians and fundraisers do some funny things from time to time,” said Montgomery, who told reporters that Jackson does not know the unidentified emissary. “I wouldn’t put it past someone to claim they were representing congressman Jackson.”

    Here’s a screen shot of that in case it changes by morning;

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  • Colombia, the new Israel

    Mora at Babalu Blog writes that the United Nations is getting bored with just bashing Israel so they’ve found themselves a new democracy awash in a sea of thugs at which they can aim their false outrage;

    The UN is now demonizing Colombia alongside Israel as a nation whose human rights record must meet UN scrutiny and condemnation.

    While Zimbabwe dies of cholera.
    While Venezuela slides into a dictatorship.
    While Darfur runs from genocide.
    While Russia turn into a hell with no future.
    While Burma goes ignored by the outside as monks are beaten and killed and aid is denied
    While business as usual goes on in red China.
    While Cuba continues to abuse truth tellers like Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and harass Yoani Sanchez. While Cuba artificially impoverishes 9 million people to keep them servile and controlled. While Cuba continues to imprison 1000 people, many up on no charges at all except ‘dangerousness.’ While Cuba gets away with destroying libraries and mob-lynching dissidents. While Cuba refuses to allow anyone at all to leave the vortex legally.

    Never mind that: Israel and Colombia are the real problem you see.

    Well, actually, the United Nations does that because if they get outraged at Zimbabwe, Cuba, Darfur, etc… they’d have to actually do something about it to remain a legitimate human rights defender. As long as they point and yell at the more innocuous offenders, they never really have to actually accomplish anything and their high-paying jobs in cushy offices are secure. And if they actually started making a difference in the world, they’d lose their jobs to peaceful coexistence – can’t have that, can we?

    From the link;

    Colombia was also criticised recently by Human Rights Watch, which said that President Alvaro Uribe’s administration “hampers justice efforts” by obstructing investigations into its alleged links with paramilitaries.

    Um, Human Rights Watch was actually ejected from Venezuela a few months back. When will they get their panties bunched about Chavez?

  • This is what corruption looks like

    I wasn’t going to mention anything about Rod Blagojevich’s arrest this morning because DrewM, Slublog and Michelle Malkin have all done such a great job of keeping me informed, I figured I can’t add anything of substance. But sitting here watching the US Attorney’s news conference just infuriates me. (You can see the video and transcript of the press conference at Gateway Pundit) Ya know, I’ve listened to the Left blather on about corruption in the Bush Administration while this REAL corruption is happening.

    I’ve read the blather from the hippies about “this is what a police state looks like” referring to the attempts to make them act civilized. But here’s a real police state – a politician witholding funds from a childrens’ hospital (for Pete’s sake) until the CEO pays him some cash. A politician using his office to get journalists fired. Selling a seat in the upper house of Congress.

    Do I blame Obama? Nope. I’m sure he’s not poltically inept enough to know anything about it. The first Democrat who tries to rush to the aid of this slug should be shot. I know how forgiving Democrats are towards their own criminals (Marion Berry) and I just expect it cynical asshole that I am.

    Added: Charles Krauthammer said he’s not just corrupt. He’s psychotically corrupt.

    This is the headline AP chose – notice how far you have to read to find out to which party the crook belongs.

    As compared to today’s Larry Craig story – second sentence and in the caption of the picture;

    Bits Blog thinks it all sounds a little too familiar. Laughing Wolf reports that Blackfive may have been caught in a pay for play scheme involving Uncle Jimbo’s beer money.

  • IAVA, VoteVets and AFGE “very excited” about Shinseki

    I hope they didn’t mess themselves when they heard about Obama’s choice for VA Director, but Todd Bowers, the governmental affairs director of IAVA, the “nonpartisan” organization that tried to turn veterans and troops away from Republicans with their VERY PARTISAN scorecard for the past election, declared that his band of merry fellows are “very excited”;

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