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As the Kate Zernike front page Memorial Day weekend New York Times story indicates, a number of Kerry supporters were disappointed that Kerry had not vigorously defended himself against the charges of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 Presidential campaign. According to Zernike some "are compiling a dossier that they say will expose every one of the Swift boat group's charges as a lie and put to rest any question about Mr. Kerry's valor in combat." That might not only be a difficult task but it could backfire badly. As Vanity Fair's acerbic columnist Michael Wolff said...

Kate Zernike's story on the front page of the Memorial Day Sunday New York Times, "Kerry Pressing Swift Boat Case Long After Loss," is an unfortunate reminder of the Times's embarrassingly poor coverage of Kerry in the face of the Swift Boat Veterans' for Truth charges in the 2004 election. Now as then, the Times acts as if the issues involved were between Kerry's latest representations of his record and the "unsubstantiated" charges of the Swift Boat group. The Times used the term "unsubstantiated" more than twenty times during its election coverage and continues to make no discernable effort to...

On a pleasant hillside in the Vacaville-Elmira cemetery in California, there is a grave that still has no gravestone almost two years after a brave young soldier was buried there. According to his mother, he was born on Memorial Day and died at age 24 on April 4, 2004, fighting with the First Cavalry Division in a militia- and terrorist-infested district of Baghdad named Sadr City. He was not an unknown soldier. In fact, thanks to his mother's constant use of his name in media appearances, he may be the best-known soldier of the Iraqi war. He's Casey Austin Sheehan,...

The Republican Party is uneasy as it shambles toward the crucial 2006 congressional elections. Many of its supporters claim to feel demoralized, if not seduced and abandoned, by the conservative president they thought they elected in 2004. With President Bush's Nixonian economic policies and unwillingness to curtail federal spending, and the Republican faithful as confused as everyone else about the Iraq War, this is a good time to gain some political perspective from two veteran architects of the Reagan Revolution. In the midst of another difficult political predicament, Germany's Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, once said he had finally found...

There is a great furor over whether the opinions of a number of retired high-ranking officers should tip the balance in the ongoing debate over the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. But the question really isn't whether Rumsfeld should resign. He has already resigned several times and had President Bush tear up his letters of resignation. He clearly is taking responsibility for his actions on a continuing basis. But now that a galaxy of flag officers are raining down on Rumsfeld demanding his resignation, no one seems to have bothered to ask which, if any, of these generals had...

As Lake Ponchatrain's waters began to drown his city, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin had the colossal nerve to shout indignantly "Get off your asses, and let's do something" -- and then continued doing nothing himself, but add to the deluge by bursting into tears. Having been prodded on Saturday into ordering an evacuation by President Bush and the head of the Hurricane Center and then delaying it for seventeen crucial hours until well into Sunday, Mayor Nagin is directly responsible for the AP picture of over 200 unused New Orleans buses marooned in four feet of water that...

Questions Remain About Kerry's Military Records But will the press answer them? The Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times published in-depth accounts this week but, according to Lipscomb, the form that produced the documents may have asked for "anything and everything" or "nothing much at all." By Thomas Lipscomb (June 11, 2005) -- The Boston Globe and The Los Angeles Times initially refused to confirm or deny that they had a copy, or had even seen a copy, of the Standard Form 180 (SF-180) by which Sen. John Kerry’s “complete” military records were released over the past several days. This...

A front page story in the Boston Globe claimed that: "Senator John F. Kerry, ending at least two years of refusal, has waived privacy restrictions and authorized the release of his full military and medical records." In another Globe story Kerry had promised "The truth in its entirety will come out." But did it? Kerry's election hopes faltered last summer and fall as accusations of fraudulent and incomplete military records were aired. The fact that Kerry repeatedly refused to sign a single-page military form called the Standard Form 180, that would have released all his military records to the public,...

As distrust of the press grows, news articles are relentlessly scrutinized for bias, but almost no one is focusing on stories that are simply ignored. For instance, a May 18 report in the Afghan newspaper Kabul Weekly said the riots that killed 17 people were not about disrespect for the Koran in American detainment camps--they were a show of force by the Taliban and another fundamentalist group, Hezb-e Eslami. "These demonstrations were organized by the Taliban and their supporters, and only some naive people joined the protesters," the newspaper said. The BBC picked up the story on May 22, but...

The Dog That Didn't Bark The Press and Linda Foley: Why has there been so little mention in the mainstream media of the Newspaper Guild president's recent charge that journalists are "being targeted for real" in Iraq by the U.S. military? By Thomas Lipscomb (May 26, 2005) -- Newspaper Guild President Linda Foley made a public statement on May 13 that journalists are “being targeted for real in places like Iraq.” She has been trying to slide out of it ever since. Pressed by E&P’s Joe Strupp, Foley offered a clarification on who specifically was doing the targeting: “I was...

The spectacular fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975 had Americans glued to their television sets. Millions watched as long lines snaked up stairs at the American Embassy waiting to be rescued by the U.S. military. It had been barely 10 years since the first U.S. Marine combat troops arrived in Vietnam at Danang. That decade had been punctuated by premature proclamations of victory, promises of "light at the end of the tunnel" and a Tet offensive that effectively destroyed the Viet Cong, but remained a potent Communist propaganda coup in Western media. "Vietnamization" finally removed almost all America combat...

The spectacular fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, 30 years ago, had Americans glued to their television sets. Millions watched as long lines snaked up stairs at the American Embassy waiting to be rescued by the U.S. military. It had been barely 10 years since the first U.S. Marine combat troops arrived in Vietnam at Danang. That decade had been punctuated by premature proclamations of victory, promises of "light at the end of the tunnel" and a Tet offensive that effectively destroyed the Viet Cong, but remained a potent Communist propaganda coup in Western media. "Vietnamization" finally removed almost...

...The object of U.S. action in South Vietnam was to stabilize Asia in general and Southeast Asia in particular. At the time, Asia was anything but stable. The former British colonies Malaysia and Singapore were under siege by Communist guerillas. The No. 2 political party in India was the growing Communist party, and Pakistan and India were still at one another's throats. Taiwan expected an assault from Red China at any moment. And China itself was suffering from Mao's "Great Leap Forward" industrialization that led to a famine that killed more than 30 million. Indonesia under Sukarno was headed toward...

THE spectacular fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, 30 years ago, had Americans glued to their television sets. Millions watched as long lines snaked up stairs at the American Embassy waiting to be rescued by the U.S. military. It had been barely 10 years since the first U.S. Marine combat troops arrived in Vietnam at Danang. That decade had been punctuated by premature proclamations of victory, promises of "light at the end of the tunnel" and a Tet offensive that effectively destroyed the Viet Cong, but remained a potent Communist propaganda coup in Western media.

When Dan Rather departed on March 9, at least he beat his competitors at ABC and NBC for the first time in five years. What seems to have been overlooked by media managers and journalists in their exhaustive discussion of Rathergate and Easongate is what news organizations are supposed to do for a living--- report and publish the news “without fear or favor,” as The New York Times' owner, Adolph Ochs, once put it. Whatever CBS and CNN may have done wrong originally, both organizations compounded it by going into a coverup mode worthy of the Nixon White House or...

I spoke with Tom Lipscomb a short time ago. Tom did great reporting for the New York Sun about John Kerry's phony war record and the plot in Kansas City. He has been nominated for a Pulitzer for his reporting, but is not hold his breath. He knows they will never award it to him because of the subject of the reports. Tom is named in a song on the new parody CD, YOU'BE BEEN FREEPED, Vol. 1. We did a version of BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS by Johnny Horton that became the BATTLE OF KANSAS CITY. Our kudos to...

We pause briefly to interrupt QaQaagate for this question: What if captured Viet Cong documents revealed close coordination and cooperation between the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Communist Hanoi during the period John Kerry served most actively as VVAW's national spokesman and a member of its executive committee? Our sources suggest that we'll find out tomorrow, courtesy of Thomas Lipscomb and the New York Sun.

Hanoi Approved of Role Played By Anti-War Vets BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB - Special to the Sun October 26, 2004 The communist regime in Hanoi monitored closely and looked favorably upon the activities of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War during the period Senator Kerry served most actively as the group's spokesman and a member of its executive committee, two captured Viet Cong documents suggest . . . The significance of the documents lies in the way they dovetail with activities of the young Mr. Kerry as he led the VVAW anti-war movement in the spring of 1971. . . The...

Mystery Surrounds Kerry's Navy Discharge An official Navy document on Senator Kerry's campaign Web site listed as Mr. Kerry's "Honorable Discharge from the Reserves" opens a door on a well kept secret about his military service. The document is a form cover letter in the name of the Carter administration's secretary of the Navy, W. Graham Claytor. It describes Mr. Kerry's discharge as being subsequent to the review of "a board of officers." This in it self is unusual. There is nothing about an ordinary honorable discharge action in the Navy that requires a review by a board of officers.

New Witness: Kerry Was Present at Dark Plot MeetingGroup Debated and Voted Down Plan To Assassinate Senators By THOMAS H. LIPSCOMBOregon MagazineMarch 15, 2004 Another witness has come forward to attest that John Kerry was at a November 1971 meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War at which the group debated and voted down a plan to assassinate senators who supported the Vietnam War. A Kerry campaign spokesman, David Wade, has said Mr. Kerry did not attend the Kansas City meeting, and Kerry biographer Douglas Brinkley has said Mr. Kerry told him he was a "no show." "Kerry may have...

Lipscomb's latest piece examining Kerry's Navy service appeared in the New York Sun and the Jewish World Review. John O'Neil of SBVT issued a press release after the Nightline show this past week, the last paragraph of which contiained this teaser: "Further, one has to wonder why ABC News will not address the serious questions as to why John Kerry only received an honorable discharge through the act of then President Carter, seven years after his discharge, and had to have all of his military citations reissued, on the same day, when he became a United States Senator in 1985....

Steve Malzberg interviewed Thomas Lipscomb this morning. Listen to it now by visiting my website and scrolling to the bottom of the page.

Steve Malzberg interviewing Thomas Lipscomb regarding Kerry Discharge on WABC Radio

Mystery Surrounds Kerry's Navy Discharge BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB - Special to the Sun October 13, 2004 An official Navy document on Senator Kerry's campaign Web site listed as Mr. Kerry's "Honorable Discharge from the Reserves" opens a door on a well kept secret about his military service. The document is a form cover letter in the name of the Carter administration's secretary of the Navy, W. Graham Claytor. It describes Mr. Kerry's discharge as being subsequent to the review of "a board of officers." This in it self is unusual. There is nothing about an ordinary honorable discharge action in...

An official Navy document on Senator Kerry's campaign Web site listed as Mr. Kerry's "Honorable Discharge from the Reserves" opens a door on a well kept secret about his military service. The document is a form cover letter in the name of the Carter administration's secretary of the Navy, W. Graham Claytor. It describes Mr. Kerry's discharge as being subsequent to the review of "a board of officers." This in it self is unusual. There is nothing about an ordinary honorable discharge action in the Navy that requires a review by a board of officers.

In today's New York Sun, Thomas Lipscomb reports on the latest mystery involving the Vietnam service of John Kerry, who by the way served in Vietnam . . . We're not sure what to make of all this, but certainly the story of John Kerry and Vietnam is more nuanced than the simple tale of heroism he sold his party and is trying to sell the country.

<p>An official Navy document on Senator Kerry's campaign Web site listed as Mr. Kerry's "Honorable Discharge from the Reserves" opens a door on a well kept secret about his military service.</p> <p>The document is a form cover letter in the name of the Carter administration's secretary of the Navy, W. Graham Claytor. It describes Mr. Kerry's discharge as being subsequent to the review of "a board of officers." This in it self is unusual. There is nothing about an ordinary honorable discharge action in the Navy that requires a review by a board of officers.</p>

<p>BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB - Special to the Sun October 13, 2004 URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/3107 An official Navy document on Senator Kerry's campaign Web site listed as Mr. Kerry's "Honorable Discharge from the Reserves" opens a door on a well kept secret about his military service. The document is a form cover letter in the name of the Carter administration's secretary of the Navy, W. Graham Claytor. It describes Mr. Kerry's discharge as being subsequent to the review of "a board of officers." This in it self is unusual. There is nothing about an ordinary honorable discharge action in the Navy that requires a review by a board of officers. According to the secretary of the Navy's document, the "authority of reference" this board was using in considering Mr. Kerry's record was "Title 10, U.S. Code Section 1162 and 1163. "This section refers to the grounds for involuntary separation from the service. What was being reviewed, then, was Mr. Kerry's involuntary separation from the service. And it couldn't have been an honorable discharge, or there would have been no point in any review at all. The review was likely held to improve Mr. Kerry's status of discharge from a less than honorable discharge to an honorable discharge. A Kerry campaign spokesman, David Wade, was asked whether Mr. Kerry had ever been a victim of an attempt to deny him an honorable discharge. There has been no response to that inquiry. The document is dated February 16, 1978. But Mr. Kerry's military commitment began with his six-year enlistment contract with the Navy on February 18, 1966. His commitment should have terminated in 1972. It is highly unlikely that either the man who at that time was a Vietnam Veterans Against the War leader, John Kerry, requested or the Navy accepted an additional six year reserve commitment. And the Claytor document indicates proceedings to reverse a less than honorable discharge that took place sometime prior to February 1978. The most routine time for Mr. Kerry's discharge would have been at the end of his six-year obligation, in 1972. But how was it most likely to have come about?</p>

Did Kerry write own report of disputed clash? October 1, 2004 BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB A faded 35-year-old operations order recovered from the Naval Historical Center in Washington bears directly on the ongoing dispute between Sen. John Kerry and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth about who wrote the key after-action report that ended Kerry's service in Vietnam. The report appears in the official Navy records and is posted on Kerry's presidential campaign Web site. The report details Kerry's participation in a naval operation on the Bay Hap River on March 13, 1969, in such glowing terms that he was awarded...

New Document Indicates Kerry Wrote Disputed Vietnam Report BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB - Special to the Sun October 1, 2004 Conclusion: Kerry wrote the disputed after action report that is the basis for his bronze star.

A faded 35-year-old operations order recovered from the Naval Historical Center in Washington bears directly on the ongoing dispute between Sen. John Kerry and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth about who wrote the key after-action report that ended Kerry's service in Vietnam. The report appears in the official Navy records and is posted on Kerry's presidential campaign Web site. The report details Kerry's participation in a naval operation on the Bay Hap River on March 13, 1969, in such glowing terms that he was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for pulling Special Forces officer James Rassmann...

Publication:The New York Sun; Date:Mar 12, 2004; Section:Front page; Page:1 HOW KERRY QUIT VETERANS GROUP AMID DARK PLOT When Talk Turned To Assassination He Exited, Vet Says By THOMAS H. LIPSCOMB Special to the Sun     The anti-war group that John Kerry was the principal spokesman for debated and voted on a plot to assassinate politicians who supported the Vietnam War.     Mr. Kerry denies being present at the November 12-15, 1971, meeting in Kansas City of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and says he quit the group before the meeting. But according to the current head of Missouri Veterans for...

Intrepid reporter, Thomas H. Lipscomb, is scheduled to appear on MSNBC's Scarborough Country this evening. Check local listings for the time in your area. I believe it aired at 9pm in the east. Kerry's whereabouts during the Vietnam Veterans Against The War's Novemeber 1971 Kansas City meeting should be the topic of conversation. (This is the meeting where the proposal to kill pro-war Congressional leaders was discussed and voted upon by the VVAW.)

Want to know the latest on Kerry campaign waffling on Kerry and the Assassination?

KERRY’S CAMPAIGN ASKED A VETERAN TO CHANGE STORY KANSAS MEETING AT ISSUE By THOMAS H. LIPSCOMB Special to the Sun     A Vietnam veteran who said he remembers John Kerry participating in a 1971 Kansas City meeting at which an assassination plot was discussed says an official with the Kerry presidential campaign called him this month and pressured him to change his story.     The veteran, John Musgrave, says he was called twice by the head of Veterans for Kerry, John Hurley, while a reporter for the Kansas City Star worked on a follow-up piece to a New York Sun article about...

John Forbes Kerry – Domestic Terrorist March 19, 2004 - by William A. Mayer We are not sure exactly what one has to do, in these days of moral ablation, to disqualify oneself from running for elective office. The Clinton years notwithstanding, there have always been parameters within which national candidates must comport themselves - certain minimum standards that even prospective politicians might reasonably meet. This year, however is very different. It’s quite clear that the Democrat Party is busted - a sprung watch - beyond repair. The nominative process that we find ourselves within, clearly demonstrates this. That...

Publication:The New York Sun; Date:Mar 15, 2004; Section:National; Page:4 New Witness: Kerry Was Present at Dark Plot Meeting Group Debated and Voted Down Plan To Assassinate Senators By THOMAS H. LIPSCOMB Special to the Sun     Another witness has come forward to attest that John Kerry was at a November 1971 meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War at which the group debated and voted down a plan to assassinate senators who supported the Vietnam War.     A Kerry campaign spokesman, David Wade, has said Mr. Kerry did not attend the Kansas City meeting, and Kerry biographer Douglas Brinkley has said...

John Kerry receives a military decoration during the Vietnam War in the 1960s.IN A front page article in Friday's New York Sun newspaper, a conservative writer, Thomas H. Lipscomb, takes on Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and a letter that may or may not have been written by Kerry - a letter that may or may not be housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society here. Lipscomb, who has written a number of pieces critical of Kerry in the past and served as editor of Richard Nixon aide H.R. Haldeman's memoir, "The Ends of Power," would not appear to be an...

The anti-war group that John Kerry was the principal spokesman for debated and voted on a plot to assassinate politicians who supported the Vietnam War. Mr. Kerry denies being present at the November 12-15, 1971, meeting in Kansas City of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and says he quit the group before the meeting. But according to the current head of Missouri Veterans for Kerry, Randy Barnes, Mr. Kerry,who was then 27,was at the meeting, voted against the plot, and then orally resigned from the organization. Mr. Barnes was present as part of the Kansas City host chapter for the...

I was just watching FOX news and an author from the New York Sun, wrote an article about 3 veterans who remember John Kerry attending a V V A W meeting in which they would vote on 'assassinating top US 'war-hawk' politicians who want to continue the war. Kerry's entire campaign has denied him being there but these three individuals are saying otherwise. I am not subscribed to the paper (or online edition) But if this is true, Kerry would be facing some serious problems. I am looking for the FOX news transcipts, but those normally don't come out for...

ORIGINAL THREAD REGARDING APPEARANCE OF REPORTER TOM LIPSCOMB ON FOX NEWS Reporter Tom Lipscomb wrote a bombshell piece of investigative journalism a few days ago that appeared in the NY SUN --- LIPSCOMB STORY - How Kerry Quit Veterans Group Amid Dark Plot Lipscomb was supposed to be on FOX NEWS today but got bumbed because of the horrific terrorist bombing in Spain. He is rescheduled for Sunday at 2:48 pm Eastern. For those who haven't paid attention, Lipscomb wrote a story about a meeting in Kansas City on Nov. 12-15, 1971. At that meeting of Vietnam Vets Against...

Amazing. I just spoke with Tom Lipscomb who wrote the recent article in the NY SUN that discussed a Kansas City Meeting in Nov. 1971. At that meeting, Vietnam Veterans Against the War were discussing assassinating U.S. Senators. John Kerry has denied he was there. In a Kansas City Star piece yesterday, Randy Barnes, who has placed Kerry at that meeting must have gotten a phone call. He now is backtracking and isn't quite so sure Kerry was there. Barnes suggests that Kerry might have been at the St. Louis meeting earlier and he is confused. How about this? JOHN...

THOMAS LIPSCOMB STORY Reporter Thomas Lipscomb wrote the story which is linked above in the NY SUN. It has the potential to end the Kerry presdential run. I had a great conversation with Lipscomb a short while ago. This story was too hot for some of the majors. But Lipscomb assured me it is well-sourced and is dead on. Two witnesses have placed John Kerry at a Kansas City meeting of the hierarchy of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War in November of 1971. At that meeting, they actually took a vote about assassinating United States senators. It was...