I just watched a segment on Fox and Friends with Steve Doocy, one of the Baldwins, Robin Givens and some comedian dude. They were supposed to be discussing Matthis’ flag burning theater and why the media isn’t covering it. Doocy said something to the effect that none of the media are covering it, that there’s just one blog out there saying anything. Um, Steve, the name is “This Ain’t Hell”.
Of course, Givens sucked all of the oxygen out of the room with her answer that all of the media only covers what they want. So it wasn’t really a discussion, it was Givens attempt to cover for the media and the White House with the “everyone does it” excuse.
Apparently they’re not putting the video up because they just posted the following segment while I was typing this.
I wrote about Thomas Barnhart back in January when he finally admitted after 40 years that he isn’t really a SEAL According to the Navy Times, he earned himself a year in the hoosegow;
A retired Coast Guard chief warrant officer 2 who falsely claimed to be a decorated and combat-hardened SEAL was sentenced to a year in prison Thursday and ordered to repay $11,098 in veterans’ benefits he fraudulently received.
The case against him began when Mary Schantag of the POW Network got wind of the bogus claims. Her investigation led to the Virginia state attorney’s office looking into the matter.
On Jan. 25, 2008, Barnhart admitted his DD 214 was altered, and that he was neither a SEAL nor a combat veteran. By that time, Barnhart had received $13,923 for his fraudulent PTSD claim.
One Iraq Veterans Against the War member of whom I’ve never heard until today is Joyce Wagner. She’s one of those actual Iraq veterans whose number is dwindling at IVAW these days. She pens an opinion on the IVAW website today – probably the first hing I’ve seen written there with which I agree;
So when Matthis took an action, whether right or wrong, without considering this community it became incredibly offensive. As Matthis continues to boast his righteousness, even having the audacity to compare himself to Martin Luther King, it becomes more offensive.
Members from the Pittsburgh chapter composed a letter to the board of directors, which several other individual members signed onto in agreement. This letter was not asking for reprimand or punishment. It was simply asking for dialog, something that has thus been refused. We also suggested that if Matthis wants to perform renegade actions without care for the others in his community (including those who were present in DC on that same day who were performing their own action TOGETHER) he should voluntarily remove himself from the board in order to accomplish his own agenda, whatever that maybe.
At least some members of IVAW see the act for what it was – a selfish plea for attention.
Wagner writes that IVAW provides an opportunity for some members to express a unique shared viewpoint, But is that really the case these days, Joyce? The support that she claimed she got from IVAW membership has been co-opted by a far Left minority who only wants people in :Iraq veteran” T-shirts to prop up in front of their rallies. Matthis’ actions on March 20th prove this. He had no illusions that he was pissing on the more conservative, more “pro-America” membership of IVAW, but because he’s been able to twist the real message of IVAW, and bend the Board to his will with his idit antics, he knew that spinless Jose Vasquez and the other non-Iraq War veterans on the board would capitulate to him.
Now your choice is whether you want to remain with the sinking ship of the IVAW or whether you want to seek the camaraderie of REAL Iraq veterans, or whether you want to wallow in theatrics of the porcine Left. The Board has left you no choice, except confronting Matthis yourself, with their decision to let Matthis continue unabated and to embrace the profane message of Elaine Brower “This is what we think of this country”. As well as, Matthis’ “This is not my country”.
From this point forward, every IVAW T-shirt will be conflated with those messages of Matthis Chiroux and Elaine Brower.
This picture is of Dahr Jamail (center of the picture in black glasses and dark hair), eminent journalist for Truthout.org. He seems to be leading some IVAW protesters in their march on the National Archives in March, 2008, doesn’t he? Well, this photo probably represents that truth better than any Jamail himself could pen.
Jamail has made it his life’s work to besmirch the reputation of the American soldier. We’ve compiled a fairly large number of posts about Jamail, a search on his name will demonstrate how he’s attached himself to James Branum, the IVAW and Under the Hood Cafe. Apparently, he took volumes of notes during the Winter Soldier hearing in March 2008, because he drags them out at every opportunity and repeats quotes from them like a trained bird. (more…)
Shades of Stefan Cook, the Army Times reports that Army flight surgeon Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin has announced that he’d rather be a political tool than an Army officer by refusing to deploy because the President won’t show Lakin his birth certificate.
“I am today compelled to make the distasteful choice to invite my own court-martial, in pursuit of the truth about the president’s eligibility under the constitution to hold office,” Lakin said in a YouTube video being circulated by Safeguard Our Constitution, an organization raising money for Lakin’s legal defense.
“If he is ineligible, I believe my orders and all orders are illegal,” said Lakin, 45. “Any reasonable person looking at the evidence in the public domain would have questions about President Obama’s claim to be a natural-born citizen.”
Lakin has been in the Army 18 years, is assigned to an Army health clinic at the Pentagon, and he is a recipient of the Bronze Star and various service medals.
It looks to me as if the Army has a problem in their medical department. First Army doctor Nidal Hasan shoots 14 people at Fort Hood after some politically correct medical officers handed him off between themselves and now this half-wit thinks he has a point. Oh, and did I mention that Army Capt. Connie Rhodes, who tried the same antics last year was also a doctor? Well, she is.
It’s beyond me why Army officers think that the same behavior endorsed by IVAW and countless other hippie organizations will result in something legal. I’ve written countless times in regards to Cook and Rhodes, this doesn’t help us win the war against terror, and all of this ancillary bullshit doesn’t help the good order and discipline in the military as a whole. Winning that war is more important than anything else we do – everything else is bullshit. As long as the President is still fighting that war and supporting the troops, these pretend patriots who hide behind the Constitution are wrong, wrong, wrong.
This is Dick Stoops, a Korean War veteran who is about to be inducted into the Kansas National Guard Hall of Fame, but we have some questions about him. In this article, he claims he was a POW and that he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. However the folks at POW Net say that he’s not on the list of Korean War POWs or the list of DSC recipients.
In the article, he claims he made three combat jumps with the 187th Regimental Combat Team, however, the 187th RCT only made two combat jumps during the war – the sum total of all of the combat jumps of the entire war. Stoops also claims he spent three years fighting in Korea, but the overseas bars in this picture indicate only one year. Speaking of his sleeve, I’m pretty sure the Pathfinder Badge has never been worn on the sleeve.
While we’re on his uniform, in the article, he says he was a PFC in 1950, yet the school from which he would have earned those glider wings closed two years before that. He did get it right that the 2d Ranger Company was attached to the 187th RCT, so he’s wearing the right scroll, but there’s so much wrong with his story, it makes me wonder what records the board for the Hall of Fame are reviewing.
The folks at POW Net wondered about that, too, and called the museum. The museum staff can’t remember requesting records and thought his uniform looked a little strange. According to Mary, the Chairman said “I would have thought the Guard checked all that.” Mary thinks that there may be forgery involved, but she applied for a FOIA, so we’ll wait for the outcome of that. Right now we just have questions.
IVAW's Matthis Chiroux, Robyn Murray and MFSO's Elaine Brower burn the US flag "This is not my country!"
In the above depicted incident, IVAW board member Matthis Chiroux, while garbed in his IVAW T-shirt took it upon himself to speak for the entire organization and burn a flag at a rally organized and paid for by the Maoist ANSWER organization. The IVAW organization has had several opportunities to separate themselves from the incident.
Jose Vasquez, the Executive Director of IVAW could have asserted some authority and come out firmly against Matthis Chiroux’ actions. Instead he prattled on about his Puerto Rican ancestry as if that had something to do with issue.
So the Board had a meeting over the incident. On Facebook I found this response from the Board to one of their members who inquired about their final decision;
Thank you for your input on this subject. After much debate the board agreed, with one exception, not to censure Matthis for his actions. However, this does not mean that the board supports his actions. Rather, it is an expression of the belief that, while Board Members do represent the membership in some capacities, participation on the board should not stifle individual expression.
The matter is left to Matthis to engage with the people he has angered by his actions.
Have you ever read such a pussy response in your life? “We won’t censure Matthis, but that doesn’t mean we support his actions”. That rates right up there with “near hit” and “almost pregnant”.
So what does it mean to my readers who are still IVAW members? You burned the flag, too. He was wearing the shirt, he’s a board member, you burned the flag, too, because your board decided that, unless you confront Matthis yourself, you’re giving your tacit approval to his theater.
Many of you have defended to me your membership in the IVAW after the Jesse MacBeth fiasco by declaring that Jesse MacBeth happened before you joined. Did Matthis Chiroux happen before you joined? Did Matthis Chiroux write about how much he’s like Martin Luther King, Jr. before you joined? Was he walking around declaring that he’s an Afghanistan veteran before you joined? Did he declare that there’s no honor in your service and sacrifice to the country before you joined? Did he apologize to an Afghan parliamentarian for his occupation of her country before you joined? Did he claim to have PTSD from listening to barracks talk before you joined?
Was he elected to the Board after you joined? Did he and his ISO insurgents hijack the organization before you joined?
What exactly are you doing these days belonging to an organization led by mostly non-combat veterans (wearing the same “Iraq Veterans” emblazoned on their chests as you have) who don’t even understand you and do their level best to marginalize your concerns and silence you?
And, oh, the word is that anyone who wants to confront Matthis, he’ll be at the East Gate of Fort Hood burning another flag on Saturday afternoon after a march from Under the Hood Cafe – that innocuous little coffee shop.
A few weeks ago I made a post about a guy calling himself “Jamie St Clair de Janiero” (a gay porn screen name if there ever was one) who was going around various Marine Facebook groups and forums claiming he was a Recon/MARSOC Marine. He also stole pictures from Major Jason Grose’s blog and posted ridiculous pictures of himself wearing a Gortex jacket with CWO rank, a SCUBA badge, and combat parachutist wings. After I made the post, a lot of people started coming out of the woodwork with stories about how this guy had defrauded them. According to one person that emailed Jonn, he even was claiming to be a DEA agent as well. Well apparently some people who he had taken advantage of saw our post and other information posted about him on Facebook and contacted law enforcement up in Michigan about this clown. In response, he was arrested on charges of fraud and booked in jail in Ottawa County, Michigan.
I hope those Recon skills work out for ya in the showers….
