Replies

I wasn't defending Bully. I was angered over the ammunition they used against him. I was in the Texas board too so I know that he was expecting it and reached the point that he was angry enough to provoke it.

But I grew up in the Intel community and spent a lot of time on SAC bases and I have a special affinity for B-52 Drivers and their Crews.

I remember those alarms going off and then hearing those engines spoil up as they raced down the runways. You felt it all the way to your bones. Nobody moved as the whole base and surrounding communities waited knowing if the engines did not throttle down and those planes took off that we were going to die. Knowing that those men aboard those planes knew their fates and the fates of the people they would leave on the ground was awe inspiring to me and I took deep offense to someone using that as a punch line.

People on the Texas board know that Joe is a friend but I'm not defending him as a friend, I am defending his service and what I believe Free Republic is all about. I understand full well that this is Jim's site and we are here as his guest, but I am a Freeper and that is something I wear with pride. I came to this place because of it's reputation of being the definition of what Conservatism is. Lately the bullying and the attacks on each other has hurt but I understand that this is an extraordinary election and we all have everything we believe this Country is riding on the outcome so I've ignored it, but I will not ignore attacks against someones service, that is too far from who and what we all claim to be.

I'm sorry for implying you were defending his behavior - you weren't.

Did bully have his buttons pushed? Absolutely. But he was old enough to know that he was crossing lines that he didn't need to be crossing and was creating a self-fulfiling prophecy of being banned. The fact that he has left up his post on his blog about FR being a fertile recruiting ground for racists and that Jim Robinson is trying to scam folks sealed the deal.

I figured that blog post was just him blowing off steam, but it's still there, and it's intent now is not to blow off steam but to try and paint FR as a racist organization and JR as a con artist.