Posted on 09/10/2004 8:57:28 AM PDT by islander-11
What was the first thing John F. Kerry [related, bio] did after he was discharged from active Navy duty in that ``barbaric war''?
The self-described war criminal filed to get his $300 Vietnam war bonus from the commonwealth of Massachusetts.
I guess Kerry wanted to grab the dough before he repressed that ``filthy obscene memory'' of a war he regarded with a ``very, very deep sense of revulsion'' and that he hoped, nay, prayed, ``a merciful God will wipe away (from) our memories.''
But not, apparently, until the check from the state cleared.
He was discharged on Oct. 13, 1969. Two weeks later, he filed for the bonus. His check arrived on Dec. 17, 1969, just in time for Christmas, a Christmas that was no doubt seared, seared into his memory, just like the previous one, which he spent in, or at least semi-near, Cambodia.
This check is still in the files of the state treasurer of Massachusetts. What isn't in the files is Kerry's own $300 check which three years later he publicly pledged to write, and then apparently never did.
So, first he wanted the Vietnam bonus money, before he didn't want the Vietnam bonus money. Then he planned to return the money, before he decided not to return the money.
Does all this sound vaguely familiar?
``We have no record of any check from him returning the bonus,'' said a spokesman for the state treasurer. ``It was a long time ago.''
But not long enough for everyone to forget. According to a story the Lowell Sun ran last week, Kerry appeared before the Lowell City Council back in 1972 to ask the council to pass a resolution condemning the war. Asked about his medals and the bonus check, he said, ``I returned my medals to make a point. I will now do the same with the bonus money.''
For 32 years, apparently, the check has been in the mail.
A call was placed to the Kerry campaign, asking them whether in fact Kerry now claims to have returned the $300 bonus. The call was not returned.
The odd thing is, a lot of Vietnam veterans, for whatever reason, never collected their bonus. Others waited years - the state has issued 1,185 of the checks since 1989. But Kerry, who so despised the conflict, couldn't get his hands on that money fast enough.
``That $300 bonus didn't just end up in your mailbox magically,'' one Vietnam vet e-mailed me. ``You had to fill out a form and mail the state your original DD214 (discharge papers). So Kerry actively sought what according to him must have been blood money. At the same time he's stabbing his comrades in the back, he's grabbing all he can.''
It's a pattern. Do as he says, not as he does.
Now Kerry's very, very concerned about the lack of funds for welfare programs. He said so just this week. Yet here in Massachusetts, we have an option on our state income taxes. Thanks to the anti-tax group Citizens for Limited Taxation, you have an opportunity to pay income taxes not at the current rate of 5.3 percent, but at the old, Dukakis-era rate of 5.85 percent.
Does Liveshot pay his state income taxes at the higher rate? He does not. Even though his elderly second wife is worth a billion dollars, he can't bring himself to pay his ``fair share.''
Shouldn't he do it ``for the children?'' I know - of the 3,133,565 filers in Massachusetts this year, only 1,460 paid at the higher rate. But isn't John Kerry [related, bio] better than the rest of us?
Let me guess. He's planning to pay the extra money. The check is in the mail, and it'll arrive at the State House the same day that $300 refund of his Vietnam bonus check shows up.
Wow, now this really gets to the point.
I cashed my bonus check before I returned it.......
This needs more exposure. Thought he denied returning his medals, but this article says there was a news story quoting Kerry as saying he gave back his medals.
I am still waiting for the Senate to stop making out paychecks for an Employee who doesnt come to work, John Kerry.
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