FReeper Canteen ~ Pancakes on Wednesday ~ 24 March 2004

Canteen Crew ~ Radix

[beachn4fun]

Good morning Mayor. How are ya?

[StarCMC]

Why thank you ever so much! ;o)

[beachn4fun]

ha....ha.....what a yoke! Good morning Tomkow. How are ya?

[beachn4fun]

Good morning USVet. How are ya?

[StarCMC]

Another one that bears repeating....

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Vietnam Vet Explains His Thoughts on John Kerry
The message below was written by Don Bendell, a Vietnam veteran who served as an officer in four Special Forces Groups, is a best-selling author with over 1,500,000 books in print, a 1995 inductee into the International Karate Hall of Fame, and owner of karate schools in southern Colorado.

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Today's Political Food for Thought My wife had rotator cuff surgery earlier this year, and the recovery is terribly painful. Then, she developed a staph infection, and they had to cut the same scar open and operate on her again. Just thinking about the pain and anxiety of facing that painful surgery a second time in the same wound, makes me cringe.

That experience, however pales in comparison to what I am going through right now, in my heart.

The old hurts are surfacing and the feelings of betrayal by fellow citizens, and their leader stirring them up, are breaking my heart again. I am being cut in the same scar. How did we who served in Vietnam suddenly become cold-blooded killers, torturers, and rapists, of the ilk of the Nazi SS or the Taliban? Most of us were American soldiers who grew up idolizing John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and all the other heroes.

That was why I volunteered. But for political expediency, John Kerry has rewritten history, again. After spending only four months in the country of Vietnam, John Kerry testified before Congress in 1971 with these exact words about incidents he supposedly witnessed or heard about from other vets: "They personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."

I was a Green Beret officer who volunteered for duty in Vietnam and fought in the thick of it in 1968 and 1969 on a Special Forces A-team on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, just for starters. We were the elite. We saw the most action. Everybody in the world knows that. But we did not just kill people, we built a church, a school, treated illnesses, passed out soap, food, and clothing, and had fun and loving interaction with the indigenous people of Vietnam, just like our boys did in Normandy, Baghdad, Saigon, and everywhere American soldiers ever served. We all gave away our candy bars and rations to kids. Our hearts to oppressed people all over the globe.

My children and grandchildren could read your words, and think those horrendous things about me, Mr. Kerry. You are a bold-faced, unprincipled liar, and a disgrace, and you have dishonored me and all my fellow Vietnam veterans. Sure, there were a couple bad-apples, but I saw none, and I saw it all, and if I did, as an army officer, it was my obligation to stop it, or at the very least report it. Why is there not a single record anywhere of you ever reporting any incidents like this or having the perpetrators arrested? The answer is simple. You are a liar. Your medals and mine are not a free pass for lifetime, Senator Kerry, to bypass character, integrity, and morality. I earn my Green Beret over and over daily in all aspects of my life.

Eight National Guard Green Berets, and other National Guard soldiers, have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you totally dishonored their widows and families by lumping National Guard service in with being a draft-dodger, conscientious objector, and deserter, just so you can try to sabotage the patriotism of our President who proudly served as an Air National Guard jet pilot. I have a son earning his Green Beret at Fort Bragg right now, and his wife serves honorably in the Air National Guard, just like President Bush did, and I am as proud of her as I am my son. I volunteered for Vietnam and have no problem whatsoever with President Bush being our Commander-In-Chief. In fact, I am proud of him as our leader.

John Kerry, you personally derailed the Vietnam Human Rights Bill, HR2883, in 2001, after it had passed the House by a 411 to 1 vote, and thousands of pro-American Montagnard tribespeople in Vietnam died since then who could have been saved, by you. Earlier, as Chair of the Senate Select Committee on MIA/POW Affairs, you personally quashed the efforts of any and all veterans to report sightings of living POW's, when you held those reins in Congress. You have fought tooth and nail to push for the US to normalize relations with Vietnam for years. Why, Mr. Kerry?

Simple, your first cousin C. Stewart Forbes, CEO, of Colliers International, recently signed a contract with Hanoi, worth BILLIONS of dollars for Collier's International to become the exclusive real estate representative for the country of Vietnam.

"Hanoi John," now that it works for you, you beat your chest about your Vietnam service, but to me, you are a phony, opportunistic, hypocrite.

You are one of those politicians that is like a fertilizer machine: all that comes out of you is horse manure, and you are spreading it everywhere. Medals do not make a man. Morals do.

Don Bendell Canon City, Colorado

[beachn4fun]

Good morning Arrowhead. How are ya?

[Old Sarge]

BEACH!

[beachn4fun]

Good morning HopeandGlory. How are ya? Do you know what the arrival time is for the homecoming?

[StarCMC]

-Interesting But Useless Information


The U.S. makes enough plastic film annually to shrink-wrap Texas.

A rat shows displeasure with another rat by biting its butt.

Arnold Schwarzenegger owns seven Hummers.

Your computer keyboard is dirtier than a toilet.

In America now, there are more dogs per household than children.

Tony Blair once spent the night sleeping on a park bench in London.

Americans receive an average of eight birthday cards each year.

The longest movie ever made is "The Cure for Insomnia," which clocks in at 87 hours.

When two NHL players collide, their pads and bodies can absorb enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb for a minute and a half.

Like fingerprints, every tongue print is unique.

62.7 percent of all e-mail sent in December, worldwide, was spam.

Americans stand about 14 inches apart when they converse. Russians, about 10 inches.

Pool shark Minnesota Fats was once hospitalized for "cue-tip-chalk lung."

500 pairs of fake sideburns were used in the making of "Gone With the Wind."

Thomas Edison proposed to his second wife by Morse code.

The average public swimming pool contains more urine than chlorine.

The Statue of Liberty's waist size is 35 feet.

Thomas Jefferson liked to greet foreign ambassadors in his pajamas.

The dog on the Cracker Jack box is named Bingo.

[beachn4fun]

Good morning 4CJ. How are ya?

[beachn4fun]

Good morning Ms. Feather. How are you today?

[tomkow6]

A lot of folks can't understand how we came to have an oil shortage here in America.

Well, there's a very simple answer.....Nobody bothered to check the oil. We just didn't know we were getting low.

The reason for that is purely geographical. Our oil is in Alaska, Texas, California, and Oklahoma.

Our dipsticks are in Washington DC.

[beachn4fun]

Good morning Sarge. Other than the stress of what's going on, how are ya?

[Old Sarge]

Arnold Schwarzenegger owns seven Hummers.

My Guard unit doesn't even own seven Hummers!

The Statue of Liberty's waist size is 35 feet.

Darkwing and I don't feel so bad, now...

The average public swimming pool contains more urine than chlorine.

EEeeewwwww!!

[beachn4fun]

Good morning Linda. How are ya? Love the graphic!

[4CJ]

Good morning 4CJ. How are ya?

Wishin' I was at the beach ;o)

[Old Sarge]

Not much different from the other day...

[Pippin]

LOL!

[StarCMC]

Ain't that the truth!???!

[beachn4fun]

Good morning Ronnie. How are ya? You sure are partial to We Were Soldiers.