Their memories deserve better from the American
people than the election of an honor thief to the U.S.
Senate (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, click to enlarge)
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Congressman Mark Kirk (R-IL) hopes to fill President Obama's old U.S. Senate seat (now held by Sen. Roland Burris, who is not seeking reelection). His hopes of doing that may have just hit a sizable stumbling block, in the form of revelations that he has misrepresented his military service record, and in a rather self-serving manner.
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.
"Inaccurately claiming" is a nice, polite way of putting it. A blunter, but perhaps more accurate, way is often associated with burning pants.
Upon being caught in his "inaccurate claim," Congressman Kirk decided to make another claim--one that's not looking much more accurate than the first. Let's acknowledge, first, that there is an award to which he could have made an honest claim.
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 website Saturday.
A unit award--for which many people worked hard--work that Congressman Kirk might as well have tried to steal from them. For a bit more on the claimed award vs. the actual one:
Kirk did not win the Intelligence Officer of the Year prize in the late 1990s -- awarded by the U.S. Navy -- but did receive the "Rufus Taylor Intelligence Unit of the Year" award for outstanding support provided during Operation Allied Force.
We are not, I hope, being asked to believe that Kirk simply made a "mistake," and confused the Intelligence Officer of the Year with the "Rufus Taylor Intelligence Unit of the Year," but alas, that's what Kirk would seem to be claiming.
In a posting dated Thursday on Mr. Kirk’s campaign blog, Mr. Kirk, who holds the military rank of commander, seemed to portray the error as a mix-up over awards for the work he did during NATO’s conflict with Serbia just over a decade ago.
“Upon a recent review of my records, I found that an award listed in my official biography was misidentified as ‘Intelligence Officer of the Year,’ ” Mr. Kirk wrote.
"Well," some might say, "although Kirk would know the difference between the awards, the staffer who set up the website might not have, and maybe Kirk just missed it." Nope--not buying that, either.
But Mr. Kirk himself described winning the other award during a Congressional budget hearing on March 13, 2002. “I was the Navy’s intelligence officer of the year in 1998,” Mr. Kirk said, according to a recording made that day by C-Span.
Not a great time to be caught in this kind of lie, Congressman--not only right when Richard Blumenthal is still trying to recover from revelations of his invented military heroism, but on Memorial Day weekend, too.
So what does this have to do with gun rights? Mark Kirk may be the most anti-gun Republican in Congress and is among the very worst in either party. He sponsored a bill to ban so-called "assault weapons" in 2008 (and another bill to close something he calls the "fire sale loophole"). He's a co-sponsor of H.R. 2159, to give the Attorney General unilateral power to block gun purchases by anyone he designates a "suspected terrorist." He's one of the most active Congressional supporters of NYC Mayor Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns, voicing support for closing the mythical "gun show loophole," and requiring background checks to work in a gun store.
There isn't, in short, an infringement on that which shall not be infringed that this forcible citizen disarmament extremist wouldn't support.
In the end, is it surprising that someone so bereft of respect for the liberty of the American people would also be devoid of honor?
Atlanta: Ed Stone | Austin: Howard Nemerov | Boston: Ron Bokleman | Charlotte: Paul Valone | Cheyenne: Anthony Bouchard | Chicago: Don Gwinn | Cleveland: Daniel White | DC: Mike Stollenwerk | Denver: Dan Bidstrup | Detroit: Rob Reed | Fort Smith: Steve D. Jones | Grand Rapids: Skip Coryel | Knoxville: Liston Matthews | Los Angeles: John Longenecker | Minneapolis: John Pierce | National: David Codrea | Parkersburg: Nicholas Arnold | Phoenix: Douglas Little | Pittsburgh: Dan Campbell | Seattle: Dave Workman | St. Louis: Kurt Hofmann | Tucson: Chris Woodard | Wisconsin: Gene German
Comments
Technically, that's not even a unit award, at least not in the sense the term is normally used: an official Department of Defense unit award, with corresponding ribbon, such as the Meritorious Unit Award or Presidential Unit Citation.
This was nothing more than a trade group award.
GSR, you're right, but looking at the National Military Intelligence Accociation's "about" page, I saw they do have some kinda DoD affiliation.
www.nmia.org/about.html
In the end, I decided it was a point that would take too long to fully explore, for the amount of meaning it would have.
Well, this isn't the first time Kirk has misrepresented himself. I have it on good authority that Kirk has claimed to be a homosapien. Further, I accuse him of being bi-sexual,condidering he keeps trying to f**k me.
well,while i think his lies are terrible... why is gun control a bad thing....
If only the voters had listened to his opponent in the primary who has screaming from the rooftops that he was fraudulently claiming awards.
Simple difference, Kurt: With a DoD award, you add a ribbon to your uniform and it becomes part of your personnel file.
With this, you get a nice plaque to hang on the unit wall and probably a fancy certificate - and at best, a mention in your officer performance report.
because tony, it isn't about controlling guns it is about controlling people. A free society does not. No unarmed society has ever maintained freedom, most have not maintained any semblance right to life for its citizens. Can't post links here, but look up the websites for 20th Century Democide and Freedom, Democide, War Home Page.
If that doesn't answer your question, perhaps you were not meant o be free. In which case, there are plenty of places in the world that will be more than happy to accept another serf.
A lair is a liar no matter how you look at it. If a man will "misrepresent" something like this then what else does he change to suit himself? How do you trust something like that? As vets we have all embellished a war story or two or maybe we just see it differently with age than we did as kids scared out of our wits. But real vets do not steal honors or claim honors that do not belong to them. Most heroes downplay their actions and a desk jockey unit award has better use in the latrine than anyplace else. And it certainly does not compare to a bronze or silver star or the medal of honor.
well,while i think his lies are terrible... But why is censorship a bad thing? But why is forced religion a bad thing? Warrantless searches? Property seizure? Excessive bail? Self-incrimination?
When did we get so many people in this country who don't understand rights, Freedom and Liberty? I'm guessing tony believes that the Government should provide everything for everybody.
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