It still amazes me that so many of these rich ***** who grew up with gold crammed up their ass, whose parents then essentially paid to keep them out of Vietnam, now have the absolute absence of any ethics that would prevent them from constantly name-checking the military. Those who are born with advantages that the rest of us have to earn must have hideous and deformed souls.
You're the one who said you thought what he did was illegal, based on a law that makes it illegal to claim medals you didn't earn. So, basic logic would suggest you must have reason to believe he claimed medals he didn't earn.
I did - and it says nothing about medals. Which means either you didn't read the law you're referring to, or you are referring to something not referenced in the article. So again, do you know of some claim he made about winning medals (which wouldn't be surprised, given all his ... "mis-statements"? Or did you not read the wikipedia entry you posted? Or are you referencing something else? It wasn't a particularly difficult question.
No I didn't read either which is why I asked. I knew you can't just make up crap about military service. Someone asked how could it possibly be illegal so I linked them. What is up your butt today?
I saw his press conference today on TV, it was pathetic. He was trying to blame the press for his lies. He said he just misspoke. This event combined with the resignation of Rep. Mark Souder after admitting to an affair makes for another embarrassing day for Republicans and Democrats.
Reading the original article posted (or your own link) would have solved the problem. You're the one that seemed offended that I asked you a question about the article you linked...
Why are you on him? You made a simple mistake and he asked for clarification. No big deal... just correct it and be on your way.
OK, so the government doesn't want people stealing cases from warehouses and reselling them... they are government property after all. It is illegal to resell lots of stuff that has U.S. Government on it because, you know, it belongs to the U.S. Government. In this case, however, you can still get them on Ebay whenever you want and there are tons of MREs for sale that don't have the U.S. Government stamp on them.
Back to the original topic... it seems we may have jumped the gun a bit... The damning video his Repub opponent released to the NYTimes has a longer version. Earlier in the speech, he says he served during the Vietnam era. Hard to believe he would intentionally lie about serving in Vietnam when a few moments earlier he said something different. I think this lends a little more credence to his contention that he misspoke. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100519/ap_on_re_us/us_blumenthal_vietnam
The problem is that he's been doing this for many years. And it's hard to accidentally keep this meme going. Here are some excerpts from the original NY Times piece: But an examination of his remarks at the ceremonies shows that he does not volunteer that his service never took him overseas. And he describes the hostile reaction directed at veterans coming back from Vietnam, intimating that he was among them. In 2003, he addressed a rally in Bridgeport, where about 100 military families gathered to express support for American troops overseas. “When we returned, we saw nothing like this,” Mr. Blumenthal said. “Let us do better by this generation of men and women.” At a 2008 ceremony in front of the Veterans War Memorial Building in Shelton, he praised the audience for paying tribute to troops fighting abroad, noting that America had not always done so. “I served during the Vietnam era,” he said. “I remember the taunts, the insults, sometimes even physical abuse.” ... The New Haven Register on July 20, 2006, described him as “a veteran of the Vietnam War,” and on April 6, 2007, said that the attorney general had “served in the Marines in Vietnam.” On May 26, 2009, The Connecticut Post, a Bridgeport newspaper that is the state’s third-largest daily, described Mr. Blumenthal as “a Vietnam veteran.” The Shelton Weekly reported on May 23, 2008, that Mr. Blumenthal “was met with applause when he spoke about his experience as a Marine sergeant in Vietnam.” And the idea that he served in Vietnam has become such an accepted part of his public biography that when a national outlet, Slate magazine, produced a profile of Mr. Blumenthal in 2000, it said he had “enlisted in the Marines rather than duck the Vietnam draft.” It does not appear that Mr. Blumenthal ever sought to correct those mistakes. ... In an interview, Jean Risley, the chairwoman of the Connecticut Vietnam Veterans Memorial Inc., recalled listening to an emotional Mr. Blumenthal offering remarks at the dedication of the memorial. She remembered him describing the indignities that he and other veterans faced when they returned from Vietnam. “It was a sad moment,” she recalled. “He said, ‘When we came back, we were spat on; we couldn’t wear our uniforms.’ It looked like he was sad to me when he said it.” He certainly also has said otherwise, which makes him seem more senile or stupid than anything else. Most of his attempts to appear to be a Vietnam Vet are associated with events related to Vets. If nothing else, he's walking a fine line of saying things to intentionally give the impression he was over there - basically, a fancy way of lying without lying.
And if you believe that broad generalization you're being ridiculous. I live in New York and read the Times on a daily bases. I believe I have a greater authority to state that someone living in San Antonio probably doesn’t have a full grasp of what they are talking about in regards to the New York Times.
You still aren't getting it. Someone asked if it was illegal to claim to be a veteran. You answered with a link saying it is illegal to claim to have a medal. When Major asked if he claimed to have a medal you took that as an attack somehow. You didn't answer the question asked so Major asked if you were answering any question at all. Turns out you weren't.
Correction, I found lying about service disgusting and thought it was illegal. Someone asked how the hell is that illegal, I showed the Stolen Valor. At this point Major had to options 1. I just read your link and it seems he would have had to claimed to win a medal in order to be committing a crime. Seems like he didn't do that so no it is not illegal. 2. Did he claim to win some kind of medal? The second one seemed like a smartypants remark. Possibly not. If not I apologize. The point of the Stolen Valor act is to stop people from using their fake military service for personal gain.
Now, this one could fit CaseyH's illegality claim. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/29/AR2010052903029_pf.html Illinois Senate candidate admits claim about military award was inaccurate By R. Jeffrey Smith Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, May 29, 2010; 5:41 PM The Republican candidate for President Obama's old Senate seat has admitted to inaccurately claiming he received the U.S. Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year award for his service during NATO's conflict with Serbia in the late 1990s. Rep. Mark Kirk, a Navy reservist who was elected to Congress in 2001, acknowledged the error in his official biography after The Washington Post began looking into whether he had received the prestigious award, which is given by top Navy officials to a single individual annually. The Post's inquiries were sparked by complaints from a representative of state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, Kirk's Democratic opponent in the Illinois Senate race. Cmdr. Danny Hernandez, the Navy's assistant chief of information, said for several days last week that he was having trouble finding records to clarify the matter. Then on Friday, he said Kirk, an Appropriations Committee member who co-chairs an electronic warfare working group, had changed his Web site to incorporate a different account of the award. In a message on his blog, Kirk wrote that "upon a recent review of my records, I found that an award listed in my official biography was misidentified" and that the award he had intended to list was given to his unit, not to him individually. Kirk was assigned to a unit based in Aviano, Italy, during the conflict. A professional group, the National Military Intelligence Association, gave the unit an award for outstanding service, according to a revised résumé posted on Kirk's Web site Saturday. The association's Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor Award celebrates "the exceptional achievements of an outstanding Naval Intelligence career professional," but the citation in 2000 contains no mention of Kirk and instead designates the entire Intelligence Division Electronic Attack Wing at Aviano. Kirk, whose campaign has emphasized his military service as a reservist, similarly misstated the award during a House committee hearing in March 2002. In a remark recorded by C-Span, he said, "I was the Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year," an achievement he depicted as providing special qualifications to discuss national security spending. Eric Elk, a spokesman for Kirk's campaign, declined to comment except to say "we found the award was misidentified and corrected the name." Kathleen Strand, communications director for the Giannoulias campaign, said Friday that Kirk "is lying or embellishing his military record," making him "the worst kind of Washington politician." An official summary of Kirk's military service, released to The Post by the Navy last week, lists other awards and decorations, including two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation medals, a Joint Meritorious Unit Award, a Navy Unit Commendation, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, and a National Defense Service medal. A copy of one of these commendations posted on his Web site describes him as the intelligence officer for a single squadron at Aviano and says he used a "keen analysis, far-reaching intelligence-gathering network and concise and complete flight briefings" to supply aviators with updates on the threats to their planes. According to recent polls, he and Giannoulias are in a tight race. Giannoulias has been handicapped by the federal regulators' seizure last month of his family's bank.
This man should not run for office. He's either senile or he's a liar - either way, there's something wrong with him.
