I really, really hate the stupid.
I don't mean your average dumb person.
I mean the stupid among the press.
Armed with a position they never really earned and too stupid to have gotten a real degree in anything, these glorified general studies majors do so much damage while convinced they've done some actual work.
They're hacks who destroy the world with every lie they retell as they type away under the mistaken pretense that they're (a) educated and (b) informed.
They're idiots -- that's all they are.
And they do so much damage.
I'm reminded of that with the latest garbage the Christian Science Monitor's published.
Gretel Kauffman's the idiot in question and click here for what only a fool would call 'reporting.'
There are War Resisters in Canada.
We've gone over this before.
And we've corrected the record before and we've slapped around the stooges who can't get it right.
But here comes Gretel.
She types:
This cooler welcome is due in part to the fact that these resisters are deserters "who volunteer to serve in the armed forces of a democratic country and simply change their mind to desert," as opposed to the Vietnam draft dodgers, who never chose to be involved with the military, immigration minister Jason Kenney explained in 2009. "And that’s fine, that’s the decision [the deserters] have made, but they are not refugees.”
Did Jason Kenney say that?
Jason Kenney knows two things.
1) How to stick his finger up his ass.
2) How to sniff it after.
That's about all Jason Kenney has ever known.
"Draft dodgers" and "deserters."
Canada took in both during Vietnam.
Both were awarded asylum.
We've gone over this and over this.
A "draft dogers" was someone who refused to be inducted.
A "deserter" was someone who was inducted and then self-checked out.
Canada took in both.
I'm sorry that a little piece of s**t like Gretal -- what can we expect with that name anyway, certainly not brave journalism -- can't do the work required to cover the topic.
I'm sorry that she thinks quoting from NY Mag is the height of journalism.
I'm sorry that she thinks being a stooge who refuses to do the basic fact check necessary qualifies as journalism.
But she's found the right post.
Only at the Christian Science Monitor could a two-bit whore like Gretal survive.
What was the last big lie they pimped?
I think it was when we had to slap the little liars around for their editorial about how Vietnam veterans were physically spat on.
Remember that lie?
It's one lie after another from this rag that has strayed so far from the roots of its creator.
When this lie about Canada only taking "draft dodgers" first started to get popular early in the war, I spoke with several "deserters" who live in Canada and I said, "It would really help today's War Resisters, if you would come out publicly."
And two did.
They stepped forward, they gave interviews and the lie about "draft dodgers" only subsided.
But it only takes one cheap whore to start the lie back up.
Gretal gave herself a whore's bath, sat down at her laptop and decided to spread the journalistic equivalent of a venereal disease.
Thanks, Gretal.
Maybe next time, you can get your lazy ass into the Ford archives to get actual numbers of US "draft dodgers" and "deserters" who used President Gerald Ford's clemency program to return to the US from Canada?
I can find those numbers in a snap.
Here they are lazy ass Gretal: 736 and 5,555.
Yeah, Gretal, there were more deserters than draft dodgers in Canada using the Ford program.
But I guess you'd have to get off your back and sit upright to do some actual work.
Here's another question, Gretal, you are aware of the US lesbian war resister who went to Canada in the last decade and did get refugee status, aren't you?
Oh, no, you're not because she's not in your story.
Your story is propaganda and lies because you're the laziest whore in the world.
You've done nothing to help people in need but you have repeated a lie, a falsehood, by Jason Kenney who has done everything to prevent War Resisters from being granted asylum today.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
Your colleagues should be embarrassed to work with you.
Shame isn't enough when your lazy, whorish ways hurt people.
And that's all you've done, Gretal.
You've hurt people with your whoring.
As the War Resisters Support Campaign notes:
Although many Vietnam War resisters came to Canada due to the imposition of the draft, 10,000 of those Americans were volunteers. Many of the most outspoken opponents of the Vietnam War had signed up to serve but later realized that they did not wish to participate in an immoral war of aggression. At the time, Canada welcomed both draft dodgers and deserters (volunteers).
When we were noting that we were also pointing out that no "deserter" was asked, "Well you were drafted, right? You weren't? You signed up? Well you can't stay in Canada!"
There are so many lies told about War Resistance and Canada. I'm glad the WRSC has created a page regarding the issue of "draft dodgers" and "deserters."
But there are so still so many lies out there.
And, yeah, let's go there, let's do it.
For too long WRSC didn't tell the truth. Maybe they didn't know it.
And we'd have to do it here and you know who (the American non-military who fled to Canada and had her little piss panties online, you remember her, yeah, we all do) would take to her lousy blog to attack us for correcting the historical record.
That included this from July 10, 2008 (and I'll note the end of the excerpt with "-----------------------"):
Yeah, I saw the story. We're not linking. It's nonsense. It does explain a lot, though, doesn't it. Like how the 'movement' in Canada still struggles?
It's a bunch of nonsense. The 'journalist' doesn't even grasp that war resisters who went to Canada during Vietnam included deserters and, no, not all of them were drafted into service.
Whatever was supposed to have been accomplished with the article, nothing was. But in terms of the movement (or 'movement'), until everyone stops repeating this nonsense that Canada took in draft dodgers but not deserters, any real movement building suffers.
The stupidity at this point is the biggest obstacle to building a war resistance movement in Canada. Note the following:
Jeff Enger, a deserter from the Army and therefore excluded from the Presidential pardon, will be sworn in as a Canadian citizen next Friday, one of the many self-exiled American war resisters who "want to make our lives here." However, like other deserters, Mr. Egner would like to be able to travel freely in the country of his birth.
The Presidential pardon covered nearly all draft evaders of the Vietnam War period. Mr. Carter postponed a decision on the men who entered but then deserted the armed forces.
Jack Colhoun, a leader in the Toronto exile community, is one of those deserters who insist that they would fight in a "just war," or "if the United States were attacked," as Mr. Colhoun put it.
The men interviewed, who represent a cross section of the estimated 20,000 to 25,000 American war resisters living in Canada, have in common a yearning for recognition by Americans at home that their actions were an acceptable exercise of principle "in the American tradition," as one said.
"We don't expect to be congratulated or anything," said Mr. Egner, a law student at the University of Toronto, "but we believe we acted correctly."
They also share a deep conviction that the deserters, as well as the draft evaders, should be pardoned.
Robert Trumbull, "Pardon Brings Cautious Response From Some War Exiles in Canada," New York Times, January 23, 1977. Let's just stay with the Times because I pulled all their articles from that period out of the journals and put them in a folder.
For Sidney and Ruth Schwarzmann of Nassau County, the war in Vietnam did not end when the last troops came home. Or when former President Gerald R. Ford declared his clemency program. Or when President Carter, on his first full day in office, signed a pardon for some Vietnam war resisters.
The Schwarzmann's 31-year-old son, Victor, has been living in Canada since 1968, in what amounts to enforced exile, since he faces desertion charges if he returns to the United States. He left the Army after passing his physical, applying for conscientious objector status and being turned down.
That's Paul Wilner's "After Vietnam, a War of Emotions," New York Times, April 3, 1977. In August 1976 when then candidate Jimmy Carter spoke to the American Legion in Seattle, what did he say? "I do not favor a blanket amnesty but for those who violated Selective Service laws, I intend to grant a blanket pardon." He's speaking of the draft. That's all he offered. If you doubt it, go to a real library and pull the rolls of film to look up January 22, 1977 when the Times ran "Evaders In Canada Call Action A Sham: Exclusion of Deserters Is a Source of Bitterness to Exiles Who Say Pardon Will Affect Only 2,000." The author is again Robert Trumbull. Second paragraph in the article:
Jack Colhoun, co-editor of a magazine for the self-exiled Americans in Canada who is a deserter from the Army, branded Mr. Carter's plan "a real sham, sinsiter, almost Nixonesque."
[. . .]
There is no official figure, since the Canadian Government omits reference to military status in its immigration procedures, but Mr. Colhoun's group estimates that the number is from 20,000 to 25,000 of whom 6,000 to 7,500 are believed to hae become Canadian citizens.
After counting out the deserters and those who have taken Canadian citizenship, only about 2,000 of the exiles in Canada, or one of every 10 or 17, will benefit by Mr. Carter's pardon, Mr. Colhoun declared.
Carter's decision was called out for leaving out deserters before Carter took office. In December 28, 1976, Tom Wicker was doing just that from the op-ed pages of the New York Times in "Clemency, It's Not So Simple."
We could go on and on all night. Carter did not pardon deserters. He set out the framework he was using on the campaign trail in 1976. He refused to alter it. Gerald Ford did offer a clemency program for deserters and draft dodgers. You had to jump through hoops and most war resisters found it to be a joke, but he offered it. Carter focused on draft dodgers, not deserters. For those who like to play what-if, if Carter hadn't talked up his 'big plan,' Ford might have issued a pardon. He was considering it. It was reported. But Carter had been elected and was coming in with his 'big plan.' As Elizabeth Holtzman told PBS on the first day of Carter's administration, she hoped he would revist his decision. He didn't. There was that hope. A lot of people were hoping. But he didn't revisit it.
Until the war resistance movement (in Canada and in the US) starts telling the truth about what happened, it's going to be a long muddle. You can find muddles and lies all over the internet, click here for one example, but that doesn't change reality. Canada's not being asked to do anything that they didn't do before. That's the talking point. Until that's established, the counter-argument will always be "There's no draft today!" There's no need for that back-and-forth. It's counter-productive and it wastes time. Canada welcomed draft dodgers and deserters during Vietnam. Today it's being asked to recognize deserters the same way it did during Vietnam. It's not being asked to do anything different or new.
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And now, from June 12, 2009, we'll again address the differences between what Ford offered War Resisters and what Jimmy Carter offered:
Because the lies from up north continue, we're apparently going to have to do a slow walk through. David Postman (Seattle Times) outlined what Gerald Ford offered to war resisters: "a limited clemency for Vietnam draft resisters and military deserters." Here's Gerald Ford speaking in September of 1974 (and link has text and audio):
In
my first week as President, I asked the Attorney General and the
Secretary of Defense to report to me, after consultation with other
Governmental officials and private citizens concerned, on the status of
those young Americans who have been convicted, charged, investigated, or
are still being sought as draft evaders or military deserters.
On
August 19, at the national convention of Veterans of Foreign Wars in
the city of Chicago, I announced my intention to give these young people
a chance to earn their return to the mainstream of American society so
that they can, if they choose, contribute, even though belatedly, to the
building and the betterment of our country and the world.
That's Ford and his jump through hoops program which a study by the New York Times
found, before Ford even left office, was being utitlized by very few of
the over 50,000 who had self-checked out. Now let's move to Jimmy
Carter once he becomes president. Here's how PBS's The NewsHour (then The MacNeil/Lehrer Report) reported Carter's program on January 21, 1977 (link has text, audio and video):
Just
a day after Jimmy Carter's inaguration, he followed through on a
contentious campaign promise, granting a presidential pardon to those
who had avoided the draft during the Vietnam war by either not
registering or traveling abroad. The pardon meant the government was
giving up forever the right to prosecute what the administration said
were hundreds of thousands of draft-dodgers. . . . Meanwhile, many in
amnest groups say that Carter's pardon did too little. They pointed out
that the president did not include deserters -- those who served in the
war and left before their tour was completed -- or soliders who
received a less-than-honorable discharge. Civilian protesters,
selective service employees and those who initiated any act of violence
also were not covered in the pardon.
Use
the link and you can read, listen or watch the roundtable which
includes then US House Rep Elizabeth Holtzman who states, "I'm pleased
that the pardon was issued, I'm pleased that it was done on the first
day and I'm pleased that President Carter kept a commitment that he made
very clear to the American people. I would have liked to have seen it
broader, I would like to have seen it extended to some of the people who
are clearly not covered and whose families will continue to be
separatedf rom them . . . but I don't think President Carter has closed
the door on this category of people." I like Liz and I've known her for
years but it was this b.s. attitude of praising Jimmy instead of
pressuring him that allowed him to never revist the issue again. He
never did another thing and its appalling that a magazine called
"Newsweek" which wants $5.95 an issue for their 'factual' reporting
can't get their damn facts straight. (Hint to other reporters, stop
believing the lies you hear up north. It is your job to fact check
statements if you present them in your articles.) Jimmy Carter did not
offer an "unconditional pardon" to deserters. He offered nothing to
deserters and just because an old man in Canada (a deserter) told you
that Carter offered something doesn't make it true. It's also appalling
because Newsweek covered some of this in real time so the
magazine (wrongly) fabled for its fact checking should have caught these
lies before they made it into print.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So there you have it.
The next time a lazy whore like Gretal wants to 'report' on the topic, she or he can review the above -- many have links -- and pull up the real time coverage to avoid lying or quoting liars like Jason Kenney.
For the record, it's the spring of 1969 when Canada, under Pierre Trudeau, officially decides to stop turning deserters over to the US government.
That's a reality that no one wants to talk about.
We may after Canada holds their elections.
For now the fable of Pierre can stand because it puts pressure on his son.
Margaret Griffis (Antiwar.com) counts 203 violent deaths across Iraq today.
I'm traveling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
That shell shock love away
-- "Hejira," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her album of the same name
The number of US service members the Dept of Defense states died in the Iraq War is [PDF format warning] 4497.
Terminator Genisys
2 hours ago
What Jesse said
2 hours ago
Extant -- when is dead actually dead?
2 hours ago
Extant (I hate Julie)
2 hours ago
She's lost Pundifact
2 hours ago
That's how you know they are in trouble
3 hours ago
Non-community members are asking where Isaiah's comics are?
They're in the newsletters.
They aren't here.
He's covering Barack and Iran and doing a hilarious job.
But he's elected not to post them here because if the deal goes under he doesn't want the fall out or the blame.
Hopefully, the deal will be over -- one way or another -- this week.
But as community members know, Isaiah's being skewering it repeatedly in all four (weekly) community newsletters.
xxx
