Posted by admin on August 17, 2008
Another interesting thing about McCain’s book is in it he never implies in anyway he thinks himself a hero.
In fact, throughout the book his most intense suffering is when he punishes himself for FAILING to be hero.
McCain’s autobiography is a saga of a guy who tried to be a hero but didn’t have the right stuff.
Read it, and you’ll see this yourself.
This leads me to believe that it wasn’t McCain who started this POW hero crap is was somebody else; possibly his father who was mortified at the crap he heard junior was pulling as a POW and quite naturally wanted to cover it up.
Or maybe the media, which at the time was made up almost entirely of draft dodgers.
Then the cock and bull story got out of control.
Guys like Hannity and Limbaugh who had never even been in the Boy Scouts, misread McCain’s book and transmitted their confusion to the public.
And who can blame McCain for going along for the ride once the lie became as big as it did?
ricland
Posted by admin on August 17, 2008
The deeply disturbing thing about John McCain’s Silver Star narrative is the deeds it attributes to John McCain are not mentioned anywhere in John McCain’s autobiography “Faith of My Fathers.”
These supposed deeds of “extraordinary heroism” simply never happen in McCain’s book — not even remotely so.
In other words, based on his autobiography the deeds cited in his Silver Star, have no basis in fact — they’re completely MANUFACTURED!
So how did he get the Silver Star?
I’m thinking his old man the admiral put him in for it, more than likely to cover up all the borderline crap junior did while a POW.
At best, McCain was an ordinary POW; at worst, he was a collaborator– but hero? Never.
He still regrets signing a false confession and he really ought to because most POWs did not. Most POWs resisted signing false confessions.
Still, his lack of RESISTANCE is not the point.
The point is the deeds spelled out in his Silver Star narrative simply NEVER HAPPENED!
I just read McCain’s autobiograpy and if he indeed did all of the things he says in it, he was a trooper. And by trooper I mean he did the best he could do. But “hero”? Absolutely not.
John McCain was simply not a hero as a POW. He never tried to escape, he signed confessions and made broadcasts (under duress), he gave at least five interviews that were used for propaganda purposes.
POWs Bud Day, Stockdale, Guy, et al., never did any of this crap. They RESISTED, John McCain did not … could not, because pampered rich boy that he was, he just wasn’t made of the stuff Bud Day and Ted Guy were and his captors knew it.
I repeat — his captors knew he was a soft rich boy!
Which is why time and again they tricked and cajoled him into doing things he never should have done — confessions, interviews, radio propaganda broadcasts, etc.
ricland
Posted by admin on August 16, 2008
Torture was a way of life yet in the 5 1/2 years McCain was a POW he was only subjected to it once. Meanwhile, other prisoners were tortured on a regular basis.
But the real point is this: McCain’s Silver Star cites a period of time years before the one torture incident he cites in his book.
In addition — and far more damning — his Silver Star narrative states McCain displayed “extraordinary heroism” by refusing to sign a false confession and give up military information, etc., when in fact he gave up military information during the time cited, a time he himself admits he WASN’T tortured.
Indeed, in his book McCain omits his interview with the Nan Dan reporter on 11 Nov. 1967, an interview during which he told the reporter:
“…The briefing was held in the morning that they told me of the situation and the plan of the raid, which should take place about noon. A reconnaissance officer explained this plan to me. They showed me photographs of my targete and marked out the paths to be followed by the oriskany at this point.
They pointed out to me a number of antiaircraft positions near hanoi and a number of possible rocket positions, the positon of our resuce ships, the radio frequency, the compositon of the flight, and so forth. Upon arrival near the target, our formation with six bombers, would mount the attack according to the following order: I would be number three, the chief of the formation number on. Each pilot would have to approach the target from a different direction, the choice of approach left to them…”
http://www.powmccain.org/…
Yet his Silver Star citation reads:
for the period 27 October 1967 the day after he was shot down to 8 December 1968 –“His captors… subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelties in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes. Through his resistance to those brutalities, he contributed significantly towards the eventual abandonment…” of such harsh treatment by the North Vietnamese.
In other words, no matter how liberal your definition of RESISTANCE is, McCain did not display RESISTANCE when he talked to the Nan Dan reporter.
Clearly, the information he gave the Nan Dan reporter was passed on to military intelligence and used by those defending Hanoi to shoot down more pilots.
And we may argue about whether McCain was a collaborator or not, but one thing that’s indisputable is he was not RESISTING when he provided the Nan Dan reporter with the military information cited above.
And finally, if you don’t grasp why this is important I’ll explain why. As McCain states in his book
“The realization that my captors accorded me different treatment than the other prisoners me bolder and at times more reckless than I should have been. It also made me feel guilty to know that my courage and loyalty had not been put to the test with the same cruelty and tenacity that marked our captor’s attempts to destroy the resolve of other prisoners.”
Which is to say, other prisoners were not only afforded much hasher treatment than McCain, some where killed because of their RESISTANCE; that is, tortured to death rather than sign false confessions, give up military information, make anti-American broadcasts, and all the things McCain did.
Yet McCain gets the Silver Star for deeds he didn’t do, and they don’t get one for the gallant deeds they did do –
and you don’t see anything wrong with this…?
ricland
Posted by admin on August 16, 2008
McCain has two problems with the 1973 self-report he gave to win his Silver Star.
First, Department of Defense documents have surfaced that show he gave Soviet agents classified military information during the period his Silver Star citation says he refused to give such information under torture.
powmccain.org
Second, he states in his autobiography he WASN’T tortured during the period of time of the citation.
From these two points we can only conclude one thing: he gave up military information to the Soviet agents WITHOUT being tortured; that is, the acts of “extraordinary heroism” he self-reported to get his Silver Star never happened, at least during the time cited in his Silver Star narrative.
That’s all I’ve tried to explain to the idiot yahoos in this forum — that by his own words as laid out in his 1999 autobiography, “Faith of My Fathers” McCain contradicts the story he told Navy brass 23 years earlier to get his Silver Star.
ricland
Posted by admin on August 15, 2008
Your problem, Kenhunt, is reading comprehension.
There were 600 POWS only a handful of whom received America’s third highest award, the Silver Star and on balance we have no reason to believe McCain endured more torture than anyone else and a great deal of reasons to believe he was never tortured at all.
The question, however, is not whether he was tortured. That’s a strawman yahoos like you keep waving like a bloody flag whenever the question of McCain’s Silver Star comes up.
The question is whether McCain lied when he self-reported deeds of “extraordinary heroism” not witnessed by anyone else.
If McCain lied then for the past 40 years we have rewarded him for this lie like no other POW has been rewarded, many whom can verify their RESISTANCE under torture, some whom were killed because of it.
McCain is now regarded as the the greatest American hero from the Vietnam war. Books have been written about his “extraordinary heroism,” movies made about it, his fabulous political career propelled by it, a career that now stands to award him the most powerful job our nation has, all because of his alleged deeds of extraordinary heroism.
Without his Silver Star none of this would have happened. Without his Silver Star John McCain would have been just one of 600 other anonymous POWs.
In other words, McCain’s Silver Star is a testament he performed better than his fellow POWs, that they were ordinary and he extraordinary, that unlike them, when tortured he continued to resist, that because of this extraordinary herorism, he has the right stuff and is more qualified to be president than any of them and certainly Obama who never even served in our armed forces at all.
In other words, John McCain is no Bob Dole who never once used his medals to lay claim to political office. McCain is a guy who turned his supposed “extraordinary heroism” into a cottage industry. He made it all but heresy to run against him, sacrilege to challenge anything he ever said.
John McCain has for decades used his Silver Star as a weapon to beat down, humiliate and destroy anyone who got in his way.
In other words, John McCain has made his Silver Star the issue, not me, pal.
ricland
Posted by admin on August 13, 2008
McCain’s Fraudulent Silver Star
The Silver Star is our nation’s third highest award for gallantry. It’s description is as follows:
The Silver Star is awarded for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States not justifying a higher award. It may be awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the U.S Armed Forces, distinguishes himself or herself by extraordinary heroism
Please note the words “extraordinary heroism.”
In literature that attempts to describe what is meant by “extraordinary heroism” the acts and deeds of men like Audie Murphy, Sgt York, Ollie North, David Hackworth, Bob Dole are included; men each, who displayed extraordinary heroism as witnessed by at least two other persons.
The problem with John McCain’s alleged act of extraordinary heroism is it was neither witnessed by anyone nor technically possible.
Consider the specific narrative of McCain’s Silver Star award:
His captors… subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelties in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes. Through his resistance to those brutalities, he contributed significantly towards the eventual abandonment…” of such harsh treatment by the North Vietnamese.
Within this narrative the significant points are:
1. McCain was tortured
2. He did not sign a confession despite this torture.
3. He did not give up military information despite this torture.
4. His RESISTANCE to his torture “contributed significantly to the abandonment” of torture of other POWS.
“Extraordinary Heroism?”
Absolutely.
If John McCain did the deeds spelled out in his Silver Star narrative he without question displayed gallantry and valor.
The problem, however, is based on his autobiography and recently available Department of Defense transcripts, McCain did not do a single one of the deeds enumerated above.
1. In his autobiography, “Faith of My Fathers” McCain states that under torture he CONFESSED to being “a black pirate who bombed innocent women and children.”
2. Although McCain makes no mention of it in his book, we now have four Department of Defense radio intercepts showing McCain gave three interviews while he was in the hospital and one after he was released.
His first interview was with Soviet agents immediately after he was shot down. In this interview McCain gave up specific classified military information, including, packet routes, altitude, order of battle, target, radio frequencies, position of rescue ships, etc.
The military importance of this information should not be overlooked.
For example, once McCain revealed the position of rescue ships, his captors surely located and attacked these ships. Likewise, once the enemy knew the packet routes into Hanoi, it could reposition its surface to air missiles to shoot American bombers earlier and with more accuracy.
3. Since we now have overwhelming evidence McCain did not RESIST his ALLEGED torture, the last postulate in his Silver Star narrative — “His RESISTANCE to his torture contributed significantly to the abandonment” of torture of POWS,” must be seen as a complete and utter falsehood; that is, an outcome that had absolutely nothing to do with any alleged deeds or any alleged RESISTANCE of John McCain.
And there you have it…
Based on the narrative of his Silver Star, McCain was awarded the Silver Star for things he simply didn’t do — couldn’t have done.
And McCain knows this…
He knows he did not do the deeds cited in his Silver Star narrative.
He knows he’s taking credit for deeds he never did.
And make no mistake about it, this speaks to the character of the man.
In short, John McCain is a fraud and his Silver Star, rather than being evidence he is a hero, is evidence he’s a liar and cheat.
ricland
Posted by admin on July 27, 2008
Motorized Bike
You could use your old Schwinn, the clunker with those big balloon tires. Clunkers are actually better-suited for the home brew motor kits selling on Ebay at $150 a pop (and shipping for an obscene $55!). The better kits go for $250; that’s if you can find one. Dealers can’t keep ‘em on the shelf.
And here’s the real reason they’re selling like hot cakes — 120-150 miles per gallon!
Fill up the half-gallon tank for $2 on Monday and you’re still riding Sunday on the same tank. How cool is that?
The concept is simple enough: attach a small engine to an ordinary bike, make a few adjustments — and Shazam! you’ve got the cheapest motor transportation on the planet. Smart Cars …? they’re gas guzzlers compared to these puppies.
Downside? No air bags is one of them. You get side-swipe and you’re in trouble. And then there’s the other foibles, but more on that later. Also no trunk — but that’s what backpacks are for, right?
Actually, motor kits for bikes have been around since the “Whizzer” motor bike kits first hit the streets in 1939. Today the Whizzer Motor Company is back in action but the companies leading the “revolution” today are a handful of small start-up companies that started shipping the motors within the past five years.
Question: “How fast can the go?”
Answer: “Faster than you think.”
The gas-powered kits come in three flavors — chain (our favorite), friction, and pulley belt. The chain kit uses drives a chain attached to an included sprocket installed on the rear wheel axle. The friction kit drives rollers over your rear wheel propelling the bike and you forward. The pulley belt pulls a wheel placed within the rear wheel spokes.
The chain motor is the most popular by far (74% ownership in one forum) and a bit more complicated to install than the others (but with the right tools can be done in three to four hours).
The bikes are street legal requiring no license or insurance probably because cops have no way of knowing how fast they go unless you tell them. But they can fly. An 80cc chain motorized bike can easily hit 40 mph.
Are they for everybody? Well, no. Although none require vast mechanical knowledge to install and maintain, you should be something of a tinker. The motorized bike forums (linked below) may seem daunting with their talk about torque, gas-to-oil ratios, 2-stroke engines vs 4-stroke engines, etc, but most participants admit they’re not gear heads and were surprised how simple the kits were to install.
If the forums are any indication, people love them. And then there’s the “revolution” angle. Roland Bosma, 29, owner of “Spooky Tooth Cycles “ in Tucson, says he started his company to get people out of the cars and onto their bikes:
“I was in a cafe and the person behind the counter asked me if I had any mopeds for sale. He only had like $400 to spend. I didn’t have anything, but it started this whole thought process.”
Want to go green? A motorize bike is the way to do and to save a bundle on gas in the bargain.
Finally, a few tips:
1. Your bike must have a solid axle, not the quick-release type (unless your motor is a rear-rack mount)
2. The rear tires should be threads or slicks. Knobbies will vibrate the bike.
3. Heavy, old-fashioned bikes with fat tires are the best and often can be picked up at threfts for less than $30.
4. The $250 engine kits ares Chinese made and reliable, but if you can afford it spring for a more expensive Japanese make like Honda, Mitsubishi, Tecumseh and Komatsu Zenoah ($500-$600)
5. If you don’t want to mess with self-installation, custom-made bikes can be had for around $600 plus shipping.
Forum listing of reputable dealers:
http://motorbicycling.com/f3/find-dealer-review-1730.html
Happy Trails!
Ric Landers
Engine Kit
