Bush didn't even have the balls for a "Champagne Unit"

Molly Ivins explores the Champagne Unit.

How honest is Bush? How honest are his supporters? They can't even admit he received special favors to get into the National Guard, and it is blatantly obvious that he did.

Then he skipped out on service, ignored direct orders, and received special treatment to get out. The Killian memos, now confirmed by forensic and document experts as genuine, are not even the be-all and end-all of the matter. Attendance and evaluation records prove Bush was a deserter.

Moral blindness
Bush in denial about 'Champagne Unit' privilege

AUSTIN, Texas --- Oh for heaven's sake, doesn't anyone know how to research a story anymore? I have never seen anything as silly as this ridiculous Republican chorus that, aha!, Ben Barnes is a Democrat and so we know he's lying!

The question is not whether Ben Barnes is a Democrat. Ben Barnes has never claimed to be nonpartisan or not to have any affiliation with the Kerry campaign. Of course he does. He's been a major Democratic player for years. The question is whether Ben Barnes is telling the truth about how he got George W. Bush in the Texas Air National Guard.

The ridiculous little blowhard Sean Hannity crowed on Fox "News" that "Ben Barnes testified under oath in 1999 that no member of the Bush family ever contacted him about getting into the Air National Guard." How true. Nor has he changed his story one whit. Barnes testified in 1999 that the man who called him about little George Bush was Sid Adger, Poppy George Bush's dear and good friend. Let's ask Poppy about Sid Adger and see some of that "famous Bush loyalty."

And how would Adger know whom to call? Adger had two sons in that very unit of the Air National Guard, that's how he knew whom to call. The notorious "Champagne Unit" of the Guard was also graced by the son of former Gov. John Connally, both sons of Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, Bobby Sakowaitz (Houston department store money), the grandson of H.L. Hunt (Dallas Oil) and several players for the Dallas Cowboys football team. Anyone who thinks that is just a coincidence or some kind of freaking accident probably thinks Sean Hannity is a journalist.

I listened to Dick Armey chuckle about how "everybody in Texas knows Ben Barnes is a partisan Democrat," as though that were enough to discredit him. Is it possible to be a nonpartisan Democrat? I'll tell you something else damn near everybody in the Texas political world has known for years, and that is that during the Vietnam War Ben Barnes was the guy you went to if you wanted to keep your kid out of Vietnam. All you had to do (if you were a player) was call him, and he'd call Gen. Rose at the Guard. Our late Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock told me that at least 30 years ago: It was almost common knowledge in Austin. Barnes never talked about it because he was ashamed of it. I admire him for coming out with it and for taking the heat for it now -- he knew this would be no picnic.

I didn't write about Barnes' actions until 1999 because I couldn't get evidence. Then the 1999 lawsuit -- at which Ben Barnes testified and said exactly what he is saying now -- finally forced it out.

Recall that Texas was then, as now, a conservative one-party state. I was with the anti-Lyndon Johnson, pro-Ralph Yarborough (a progressive state senator) faction, and Barnes was the darling of the establishment wing. One of those television fools asked indignantly why Barnes would do a favor for a Republican congressman like Bush. Well, Sid Adger asked him to.

Listen, my children, and you shall hear: There was then no nasty partisan politics in Texas except inside the Democratic Party. The Republicans were upper-class establishment types, and the tradition of Texas Republicans and Texas Democrats working and playing well together continued, actually, until the Republicans took over, when it ended with a bang.

If you doubt me, ask George W. Bush about Bob Bullock and Pete Laney, the lieutenant governor and speaker when he was governor. As Bullock himself used to say, "It's all done on friendship." Republicans like Ken Lay regularly contributed to Democratic officeholders in order to have influence with them.

I've spent my life fighting against those cozy relationships, where power and favors are traded among insiders and regular people get screwed. Barnes used to stand for everything I disliked about politics. He and John Connally (by then a Republican) were partners in the real estate business and went broke back in '80s, along with a lot of other people. Barnes is still playing the Texas power game, but he's backed a lot of people for public office who aren't going to help his business any, which I consider the test of an honest player. Dick Armey's contemptuous dismissal of Barnes leads me to wonder how he would describe what "everybody in Texas" knows about the way Tom DeLay practices politics.

The only reason any of this is relevant today is because it speaks directly to the character of the man in the White House. For Bush to still stand there and deny that he got no special breaks, to deny that some other American kid went to Vietnam in his stead, is so telling of his moral blindness, of his deliberate obtuseness about the way the world of power and privilege screws over most people. If only he had the grace to say, as Barnes did, that he is ashamed of what happened, I'd have some respect for him.

 

Is this post #100 on his service record? Good lord, shut up already.

Would love to see your coward ass try and suit up for any branch of the military.

 

If this is not your original work, you need to cite the source. See the T.O.S.

 

Changing the Subject,

Rex, I was wondering about your atheism. The Bush/Kerry service record bashing is getting a little stale, although I admit I have done my fair share. Everyone around here has their minds made up and have formed their opinions. No use banging our heads against the wall over and over. I do have a question concerning your atheism, though, so maybe you can come down off your mountain for a moment to enlighten me. I have known/do know a few atheists, and have read a little on the subject to try and gain some understanding of their perspective. The primary underlying cause in their cases seems to be the lack of a strong father figure from early on in their lives. There are also other similarities, such as above average intelligence, coupled with a deep-rooted inferiority complex brought on by certain other inadequacies in their lives, which contribute to their refusal to believe in the possibility of being greater than them. I am just curious to see what led to your own personal adoption of atheism and if you fit that profile. Based on your attitude and your refusal to converse with the locals around here, it seems as though you might. You seem to be very pessimistic, which is understandable given your lack of belief in an afterlife. It's difficult to understand how someone can make it through the trials of life without the belief that something better awaits. Of course I am a mindless "believer" so I suppose it stands to reason it is your view I don't have the mental capacity to understand. Still, I do wonder what makes you guys "tick". So go ahead and write a scathing reply, stroke your ego, and make me look foolish if you wish. I do request if you respond to this post please refrain from using “I refuse to be ignorant and believe in fairy tales etc. ” and the typical rhetoric I have seen before. Although I disagree with your opinions, you do seem to be able to do a good job of penning your thoughts at times; that is why I am asking. I am looking for more than the typical responses people I know have given me in the past. If you are able to provide more, please do so. If not, I assume you will ignore this post as you have most others.

 

Glad to see you are not in jail marc. :thumb:

I was a bit worried when you weren't online yesterday.

 

Just a little busy, I popped in couple of times. We got it straightened out. No jail time and no ambulances required. A peaceful resolution. The UN would have been so proud. :lol:

 

glad to hear it.

 

i know this question is not for me, but if you dont mind, i will answer too. in fact you are probably better off if i answer, because i am way more honest than rex, and far more reasonable to discuss things with.

"lack of a strong father figure "

my father is great, my parents are still married and i love my dad. he is one of the most geniune people i have ever met. and being geniune is the best quality there is.

"such as above average intelligence,"

of course!

"deep-rooted inferiority complex brought on by certain other inadequacies in their lives, which contribute to their refusal to believe in the possibility of being greater than them."

hmm, i think the refusal to believe has more to do with lack of evidence. you need to remember that the concept of faith is by nature irrational and there fore difficult for some people. i dont have an inferiority complex. i happily admit all the things i am particularly terrible at. i think that to some extent it is cowardice on the part of the believers that forces them to believe, because they need to delude themselves from having to deal with reality. in fact i think you demonstrate a little of this mentality with this statement:

"It's difficult to understand how someone can make it through the trials of life without the belief that something better awaits."

for you it is. and it sucks for me too that heaven doesnt exist. but i can stand it. i will not need to lie to myself about it. i once had a girlfriend that believed in god purely because she was scared of not believing. after a while she realized that truth had nothing to do with what she hoped was true out of fear.

"I am just curious to see what led to your own personal adoption of atheism"

again, i know you are not asking me, but too bad, i answer anyways.

when i was 11 years old i had a friend that was jewish. i didnt really know or care what that meant. but then i realized he didnt buy in to the jesus story that everyone i knew believed. i couldnt figure this out. then we discussed it and i understood. he believed what his parents told him. his view of the universe and god was based not on science or reality or observation but his parents. and my parents believed something totally different. so here he was, seemingly completely screwed out of believing in jesus for the rest of his life. and because of john 3:16 i knew that believing in jesus is what gets you to heaven. and then i realized there are millions of people who had a different religion, and none of them based it on reality, just the particular superstition they had been brought up in, according to the time or region of their birth. i realized that if i had lived thousands of years ago, i might have been taught about zeus or whatever, and what i was being taught now was obviously exactly as ridiculous. and i could see how incredibly arbitrary that was. truth was somehow defined to individuals not based on reality, but randomness of birth. and yet everyone was sure theirs was right. i knew that what i had been told was just like the rest. i had no illusions about being lucky enough to having been born into the "true" religion. plus i could tell my mom was too smart to believe in anything our church taught, she would just never admit it, because she didnt want to risk the valuable friendships she made through church.

plus it is obvious that most religious people are lying to themselves, and only going through the motions of their faiths, because they cannot take to deal with a world where when your best friend dies, he is gone, rotting under the dirt forever, and obviously our lives are basically meaningless except for the enjoyment we can get out of them in the short time we exist. that can be a tough pill to swallow, especially if you happen to have the capacity for deluding yourself, which i have learned that many people do.

also when you are a little kid you pretty much believe what adults say. but then you get older and you realize that adults are often charlatans. the jimmy swaggarts and popes of the world are so transparently full of lies. and people will say anything as long as it makes other people listen.

well, we know i dont have this attitude, so i dont fit your profile. i love the locals, and they love me back. dont let rex's bad attitude lead you to think that only people who worship a magic man are friendly.

 

I might have guessed you were a fan of that poisonous dwarf, Molly Ivins. If she'd cut back just a little on the out-and-out venom against conservatives, I might take her seriously. As it is, she's good for a chuckle now and then.

 

You are right, Martin, the question wasn't intended for you, but thanks for a well thought out, civil response. I almost included a statement in there that it wasn't intended for you, because you are right again in saying you don't fit the mold which I described. I thought you might comment, and I was interested to hear what you had to say. As I have said before, I don't agree with you, but I also don't mind hearing your reasoning behind your belief (or lack of). I directed it at Rex because I haven't seen him provide any real reasoning behind his beliefs, from politics to religion. Based on what I have read of his posts, he fits the mold I described to a T. I admit I don't read everything he puts on here, because so much of it is repetitive, so he may gone into more detail, but if he did I must have missed it.