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John Kerry's medals include the Bronze and Silver Star as well as the Purple Heart.

Dear Trevor,

Trevor wrote: > When the cease-fire was in place, I noticed that neither side
> wanted to stop fighting, except they were pressed to do so by
> outside forces.

That may be the key. All of the places that might trigger a major
regional war can be controlled by outside forces. A partial exception
is India versus Pakistan, but the major exception is China: They are
preparing for a preemptive attack on numerous fronts, and when they
decide to launch, there'll be no "outside force" to stop them.

If by Africa you mean Egypt, I think that's a possibility, but I would
be really surprised if something in Mali, Nigeria, Kenya or Somalia
spirals out of control into Europe. You can't predict what will
trigger a world war, but if someone put a gun to my head and forced me
to predict a scenario, I think the most likely one is a preemptive
attack by China.

I actually thought the most likely scenario was a war between Israel and Palestine that spiraled out of control and dragged everyone else in. We seem to treat them like we did the Balkans a century ago; whenever something flamed up, the international community would try to paper things over, only to watch in horror as things went up again a year or two later. We're doing the same thing; things have flared up three times over the past 6 years and I don't think it's going to be too long before they take the final step. When the cease-fire was in place, I noticed that neither side wanted to stop fighting, except they were pressed to do so by outside forces.

Postby Reality Check » Sat Dec 22, 2012 7:35 am

My favorite Media statement about John Kerry was during the 2004 campaign when Bob Dole publicly questioned a statement of fact made by John Kerry regarding the Vietnam War. The Media characterized John Kerry as a war hero who was being viciously attacked and lied about by Bob Dole. Bob Dole was described by the media as a "wounded veteran".

Bob Dole, of course, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor during World War II and spent over a year in the hospital recovering from his wounds. The only award Kerry received during a war was several purple hearts for minor injuries, such as a scratch on his hand. John Kerry was able to leave Vietnam before his tour of duty was over by "racking up" enough "purple hearts" to get an early out.

Yes, I remember the 2004 campaign. A good part of his argument was "I am a Vietnam Veteran" and it was like he was about to rip his previous wounds open to show what a worthy candidate he was. That is, until the Swift Boat Veterans showed up and told the public what he actually did, before and after the war. Even though the media downplayed, they eventually had to mention it and I am of the belief that the scandal cost him the presidency.

Even so, I can't believe how close he came to it, or that he was the pick for the democratic nominee. I shudder to think about his possible presidency, and I guarantee him being Secretary of State won't be much better with the contempt he showed for the country. I've talked to a few Vietnam Veterans and they all despise him.

John wrote:The mainstream media is characterizing him as a Vietnam war
hero

My favorite Media statement about John Kerry was during the 2004 campaign when Bob Dole publicly questioned a statement of fact made by John Kerry regarding the Vietnam War. The Media characterized John Kerry as a war hero who was being viciously attacked and lied about by Bob Dole. Bob Dole was described by the media as a "wounded veteran".

Bob Dole, of course, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor during World War II and spent over a year in the hospital recovering from his wounds. The only award Kerry received during a war was several purple hearts for minor injuries, such as a scratch on his hand. John Kerry was able to leave Vietnam before his tour of duty was over by "racking up" enough "purple hearts" to get an early out.

Years later, after Kerry was in Congress, or the Sentate, he received military medals from fellow politicians who had never served a day in Vietnam and were busy granting amnesty to draft dodgers and deserters at the same time they were giving Kerry medals for bravery. Kerry's commanding officers in Vietnam never recommended Kerry receive any medals for bravery during, nor in the years immediately after, the Vietnam War.

I'm familiar with the politics of the situation, as I've lived in
Massachusetts for decades, but what I was addressing goes beyond
politics. The mainstream media is characterizing him as a Vietnam war
hero who became "antiwar," but that's not the way I remember it, as I
wrote in the article. He went way beyond "antiwar," saying that U.S.
soldiers were, in essence, Nazis, terrorists, rapists and torturers.
That's not being antiwar. That's expressing deeply held contempt for
America.

I see the politics quite differently. I don't for a moment believe
that Obama wants to govern from right of center. This is a guy who
spent twenty years listening to his mentor, Reverend Wright, screaming
"God damn America! God damn America!", and who has a wife who said
that America is "mean." This is a guy who would prefer to govern as
far to the left as he could get away with.

And that's the point. You look at his "right of center" policies, and
conclude that he wants to govern from the right of center. I look at
those same right of center policies, and conclude that he was forced
to adopt those policies because he couldn't get away the policies he
really wanted.

But I'm not even sure that left/right of center even applies these
days. I'm not joking about the comparison to 1930s Germany -- the
massive corruption, gangsters in Washington and on Wall Street, union
thugs declaring war and beating people up on behalf of the President,
refusal to prosecute any crook who makes a campaign contribution,
calling anyone who objects a "racist" -- then we're on the same trend
line as 1930s Germany. That doesn't mean we'll go as far as Germany
did along that trend line, but we're definitely on that trend line. I
believe in America's institutions, and I believe that when the
"Kristallnacht moment" comes, even the loons will come to their senses
and reverse direction. (We actually saw something like that in
Pakistan recently, when the girl Malala Yousufzai was shot by the
Taliban, causing revulsion throughout the country. Sometimes the
thugs go too far, though we have to remember that they never went too
far for the people in 1930s Germany.)

> Do you think there's a possibility of WWIII starting in Africa?

If by Africa you mean Egypt, I think that's a possibility, but I would
be really surprised if something in Mali, Nigeria, Kenya or Somalia
spirals out of control into Europe. You can't predict what will
trigger a world war, but if someone put a gun to my head and forced me
to predict a scenario, I think the most likely one is a preemptive
attack by China.

John, I think you are ignoring the politics of the Kerry appointment. Kerry wanted to be SoS (no idea why) and that caused Republicans to signal that he was the sole candidate they'd accept without a furious confirmation fight. Why would they do that? Because outgoing Republican Senator Scott Brown wanted to make a run for Kerry's seat in a special election where he would not have as much chance of fighting the demographics that caused him to lose to Warren. Republicans figure on him winning, his name is well known and the only person likely to keep him out of that seat, Governor Patrick, has said he isn't interested in running. In fact Patrick has said he'll not appoint an interim Senator, making it nearly a given that Democrats will be down one in the Senate, and Republicans up one seat.

So why would Obama go along with this so easily? Almost looks like Rice was a token offering, a couple of weeks of fuss and she backs out, then suddenly Kerry is in and he'll go through without even a question. Plus, Obama was under tremendous pressure from grassroots Democrats not to give a Senate seat to Republicans. So why did he do that? Partly because the Senate is a very exclusive club, and he's moved before (Libermann) and now with Brown, to make sure a sitting Senator doesn't lose a seat. Patrick is obviously fine with this, otherwise he'd do a Democrat for an interim and mess with Scott's chances.

(Y'all want some emotion from me all the time instead of dry analysis so here's some, I THINK IT"S ABSOLUTELY REPREHENSIBLE for politicians to treat their jobs as something owed to them and not as the result of free elections. The manuvering to keep certain people in the Senate and House is just repugnant. It is utterly against the intent and intention of the US constitution.)

And again what nobody on left or right wants to hear, Obama prefers to govern from slightly right of center, and this move removes a Senator who is somewhat left of center and replaces him with one somewhat right of center. Democrats don't want to hear that they've moved right of the true center, they put their hands over their ears and yell "LA LA LA" when given evidence of this. Republicans don't want to hear it because it's harder to run against anyone who isn't "the most liberal person in Washington". Funny that, how every single candidate manages to be the most liberal or most conservative - you'd think that was a single person, wouldn't you? Easy enough in practice though, there are many party line votes each year, so you just pull all of them for five or ten years, find 30 or so where the candidate voted with the party and have intriguing names on the bills, and declaim those as the litmus test for most liberal or conservative. With those rules anyone can be "most liberal" or "most conservative". And that's politics. Most of the politics ongoing today involves breastbeating about how uber conservative or uber liberal somebody is, when in fact for the most of them there's little real difference. Truly, do I sound all excited about this seat swap and highly probable shift of a Senate seat? It's going to make no difference at all, except as one more brick in the wall of "all Senators serve for life, damn the elections".

Do you think there's a possibility of WWIII starting in Africa?

22-Dec-12 World View -- Ethnic revenge massacre in Kenya kills 41

President Obama nominates John Kerry as Secretary of State

** 22-Dec-12 World View -- Ethnic revenge massacre in Kenya kills 41
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/cgi ... 22#e121222



Contents:
Ethnic revenge massacre in Kenya kills 41
Syria's civil war versus Kenya's civil war
President Obama nominates John Kerry as Secretary of State


Keys:
Generational Dynamics, Kenya, Pokomo, Orma, Mau-Maul rebellion,
Darfur, Syria, Bashar al-Assad, John Kerry