Dawnsinger

Kerry's first Purple Heart self-inflicted

Now, besides his former commander and hundreds of fellow swift-boat commanders and crewmen questioning Kerry's service and fitness to be commander-in-chief, the doctor who treated Kerry's first "wound" speaks out, raising again the dispute with Kerry's own crew that there was any enemy action . . . and indeed the possibility that Kerry wounded himself horsing around.

Read the details . . .

Kerry's "band of brothers"

Hundreds of John Kerry's former comrades-in-arms are scheduled to declare his unfitness for command and their general disdain of his service in Vietnam, according this story.

While many Vietnam vets do not want to publically castigate a fellow vet, I hear how they feel in private. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Vets understand how a young officer gets medals, even if the general public does not. They understand "body counts," even if the public does not. And they understand working the military system, even if the public does not.

We may honor the uniform, but Mr. Kerry is going to find out how much support he really has among veterans in November.

Read the story . . .

Iraqi POWs & military training

OK, here's one I can't swallow. News reports are quoting military spokesmen as saying that the soldiers who are facing charges after the revelation of horrible pictures of humiliation of Iraqi prisoners did not receive in-depth training on the Geneva Conventions, which govern treatment of prisoners of war.

Read the Associated Press story . . .

This is piffle. Unless Army basic training has degraded severely since my time, the basics of the Geneva Convention are drilled into every recruit. We treat them humanely, they treat us humanely . . . that's the idea, at least. The training is more detailed than that. Every POW is entitled to a checklist of rights, and this checklist is, or at least was, required knowledge to graduate from basic training. Add to that that the six currently facing charges (as well as their commanders) are trained military police officers . . . who in the process of achieving their MOS presumably receive special training in the handling of prisoners - POWs or rowdy grunts alike.

Forget Geneva Conventions, for a moment, since many of these military police will be walking the beat in your neighborhood one of these days. If photos turned up (and forgive me if they already have) of New Orleans police officers urinating on naked suspects, making human pyramids of their bodies, attaching wires to their genitals and balancing them on a block dressed in a black hood, and writing racial or religious slurs on their skin . . . if female police officers were free to humiliate nude male prisoners . . . I'm guessing no one would even raise the idea that the officers had not received "in-depth training."

Please read on . . .

From the "beware the sign of the fish" department

From the "beware of businesses bearing the sign of the fish" department . . .

A 38-count federal indictment says a Miami couple used Christian publications to market a fraudulent gold-coin scheme . . . the U.S. Coin Exchange billed itself as ''the leading Christian gold dealer'' and told investors that they could expect to double or triple their investments in a matter of months.

Read the Miami Herald story . . . (free registration is required)

Read the Christianity Today article sourcing the Miami Herald article . . .

Two points: First, Christianity Today, a well-respected publication, was one of the publications running these advertisements. I suggest they review their advertising policies. Second, if you're in the apocalyptic mindset, remember that your salvation is in spiritual armor, not in hoarding gold.