Swiftboating
Swiftboating
President George Bush Jr. was not “swiftboated” — his Democratic opponent in the Presidential election of 2004, Senator John Kerry, was. Kerry was a Vietnam combat veteran who received three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, and a Silver Star.
Bush Jr. had served stateside in a National Guard unit, and was later accused of failing to report for duty or take his required physical for more than a year.
To counter the possible impact of the contrast between the military record of the two candidates, a group of prominent Republican supporters helped to organize and provided most of the funding for an organization critical of Kerry’s war record called, “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” (SBVT). According to wikipedia:
“SBVT characterized itself as a non-partisan group both in the legal sense and in spirit, yet several prominent individuals who assisted SBVT also have had close ties to the Republican Party. According to information released by the IRS on February 22, 2005, more than half of the group’s reported contributions came from just three sources, all prominent Texas Republican donors: Houston builder Bob J. Perry, a longtime supporter of George W. Bush, donated $4.45 million, Harold Simmons’ Contrans donated $3 million, and T. Boone Pickens, Jr. donated $2 million. Other major contributors included Bush fundraiser Carl Lindner ($300,000), Robert Lindner ($260,000), GOP contributor Aubrey McClendon ($250,000), George Matthews Jr. ($250,000), and Crow Holdings ($100,000).”
Military career of John Kerry
George W. Bush military service controversy
Swift Vets and POWs for Truth
Copyright © 2010 Henry Edward Hardy
What Congress really needs is more fools!
What Congress really needs is more fools!
It says something when the most insightful and effective legislator in the US Senate is a comedian: Al Franken (D-MN).
Al Franken Gets Alleged KBR Rape Victim Her Day In Court
Franken’s stern words for Obama administration revealed
Franken could be US fiscal savior
Comcast execs make few guarantees to Franken
Franken chairs as ‘Vote-a-rama’ begins
Copyright © 2010 Henry Edward Hardy
Iranian Worms in Space!
Iranian Worms in Space!
Iran reports it has launched live worms into space.
Iran has test-fired its Kavoshgar 3 satellite carrier, Iran’s Press TV reported Wednesday, February 3, 2010.
The Iranian Aerospace Organization (IAO) says that a mini environmental lab on board will enable studies of two worms, a rat and two turtles as the rocket traverses the earth.
Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi on Wednesday hailed the successful launch and insisted on the “peaceful” nature of Iran’s space program.
“Iran will not tolerate any un-peaceful use [of space] by any country,” General Vahid was quoted as saying by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
Iran fires satellite carrier into space
No indeed. No un-peaceful worm launchings shall be tolerated.
Iran Says It Sent Animals Into Space
Copyright © 2010 Henry Edward Hardy
Barak Obama: This is the Day
I’ve been watching the coverage of Barak Obama’s Innauguration. I took notes as the pundits tonight on CBS said,
5:52 PM listening to the pundits on TV “a golden day for Barak Obama”
“Millions came to Washington… I’m glad I got to see it”
5:53 PM “The people were speaking to us and it would be prudent to listen to them”
5:54 PM “Washington can be a very corrupting place, I hope this signals a new era of honesty and authenticity”
Bob Schieffer said he had seen 12 Inaugurations and never seen one like this, “this was something special”.
Even the stolid Francis X. Clines of the New York Times was taken by the levity of the crowd:
‘Is there a problem in the nation? Hear ordinary Americans chant: “O-ba-ma!” One tedious, serpentine line outside the Mall, its restlessness surfacing, suddenly was prodded into happiness when teenagers broke into song: “We’re off to see Obama — the wonderful president of ours!”
Later in the article the ever-serious Cline’s joy starts to show through:
‘The Obama speech patterns became a separate source of celebration, the way John F. Kennedy imitators used to do “vi-gah” salutes. After the speech, a man happily walking a bridge back to Virginia as the best way home suddenly tried an Obama riff on his friends. “We must walk the bridge built by our ancestors! We will find it long and hard! And we will confront Exit 10 C — wherever it leads!” His friends laughed and shared the pleasure of having heard firsthand President Obama in his opening hour.’
But what brought tears to my eyes:
Actress Cicely Tyson, asked her reaction, bursting out with the words of the 118th Psalm: “This is the day which the LORD hath made: and we *will* rejoice and be glad in it.”
Communist folk singer Pete Seeger, 89 years old, belting out the words of “This Land is Your Land” on the steps of the Lincoln memorial with five hundred thousand people on the Mall singing along in such spontaneous, profound joy.
Pete Seeger Bruce Springsteen Obama Inauguration [Google Video]
Guardian Editorial, 20 January 2009: This week, the 89-year-old Seeger stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial singing Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land with Springsteen at the pre-inauguration concert. Seeger’s judgment on politics and music has not always been right, but he is a man of his times and he has been the troubadour of the American left for more than half a century. His return to the spotlight is another sign that things are changing for the better in America this week. In praise of … Pete Seeger
Rick Warren: “We know that today, Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting up in heaven.”
cf. Hebrews 12:1 (KJV): “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us…”
Aretha Franklin, whose fabulous hat looked like she was wearing a grey, diamond-studded clipper ship, testifying to all our hopes and dreams with her breathless rendition of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”.
“From every mountainside
Let Freedom Ring!”
See:
In Washington on Inauguration Day
Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead
Delicious Subversion
Reborn in the USA: America is great again
President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address by David Bergman
Copyright © 2009 Henry Edward Hardy
Yes, we can!
Yes we can!
Election night morning, November 5, 2008
I have never been prouder of my country than I am tonight.
I just watched Obama’s acceptance speech on BBC. How beautiful to hear the cadences of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King from this remarkable man. Yes we can.
God Bless you Barak Hussein Obama, and God Bless the United States of America.
Copyright © 2008 Henry Edward Hardy
About Scanlyze
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Scanlyze is an online magazine of essays, commentary, satire, and analysis. Were we half as clever, for inspiration we would take Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Swift, Montaigne, or Seneca.
“The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us.”
John F. Kennedy, October 26, 1963
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