Last Saturday, while Guest Hosting "Radio Cafe With Cathy Hauser," Erik Hare and I talked about Professor Frankfurt's book ("On Bullsh*t"), Erik's post over at Barataria, this post (and the subsequent comments!), the media's role in propagating/covering BS, and how BS seems to be the modus operandi of today's Republican Party.
Last July, we chronicled Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul and his dirty tricks - in Part 1 and in Part 2 and in Part 3 and in Part 4.
From "Part 2" --
And Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul's allegation regarding the picture is just as bogus, as I (tried) to explain to Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul last week; the sign does NOT read "Enduring Freedom Veterans" followed by "for Kerry" - the sign reas "Enduring Freedom" followed by "Veterans for Kerry."
From "Part 4: --
Yes, gentle readers, that's Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul calling Congressman Tim Walz a "phony soldier." And that BS about the photograph? COMPLETE BS. Of course, would anyone expect anything else from the party of Tony Sutton and Michael Brodkorb?
From an email I sent to Dave Thul on July 13th, 2009 --
> > > Oh - and you should know, in that sign? The bottom says "Veterans
> > > For Kerry" which was an organized group of Veterans supporting John
> > > Kerry. It included a Swift Boat Captain that now resides in Eden
> > > Prairie.
> > >
> > >
> > > While YOU seem to claim that sign reads "Enduring Freedom Veterans"
> > > I'm guessing the fact that there was a "Veterans For Kerry" group
> > > blows a huge hole in the story Michael Brodkorb loves to spin.
That was last July.
What did FORMER Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair, and NOW GOP Endorsed Candidate for House District 26-A post on his blog, last week?
And after 2 1/2 years of asking, neither Rep Walz, his staff, or any liberal blogger have been able to explain to me why Walz claimed to be an 'Enduring Freedom Veteran" back in 2004 in this picture- (picture, below the fold)
BULLSH*T. Complete and utter BULLSH*T.
Can't call what Dave Thul wrote a "lie," because it is far beyond lying; as Erik asked:
Is it really a lie when the person making an outrageous statement doesn't actually care if it's the truth or not?
When they don't care they are "bullsh*tters" - because they simply don't care if what they say (or, as in Thul's case, write) is true or not. GOPers don't care if what they say/write is true or not; they only care that the voter thinks it's true.
And that's why the GOP's newly endorsed candidate for House District 26-A, Dave Thul, is Today's Example Of Why Reasonable People Can No Longer Reasonably Assume GOPers Are Telling The Truth.
And when did I turn into a fine Franken fan? It was from speeches where Senator Al Franken equates net neutrality with free speech. Senator Al Franken gave a keynote address at the Future of Music Policy Conference in Washington, DC today.
And you may remember that during a live webcast of a 2007 Pearl Jam concert, AT&T killed the audio for a few beats. Turns out the missing lyrics were criticisms of President Bush.
Yesterday, in Part 3: "When Soldiers Speak Out" it clearly was stated the issue isn't Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul's right to speak out; the issue is following established military rules, regulations, and protocol while doing so. And Department of Defense Directive 1344.10 was mentioned.
Today, we're going to take a specific look at that Directive, and it's applicability to Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul's use of his official @us.army.mil email account.
There is no doubt that Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul used his official @us.army.mil account for partisan political purposes; Political Muse first noticed this use back in April. Also, a quick google search (just enter "Dave Thul") of blogs results in two hits on the very first page - this one:
They can't ignore you if you show up in person
17 Jul 2009 by (redacted)@us.army.mil (Dave Thul)
Written by Dave Thul. Friday, 17 July 2009 09:17. Since I have yet to receive a phone call or email back from Congressman Walz's office about the still unexplained photo of him claiming to be an Afghanistan veteran, I decided to visit ...
True North - Pointing Minnesota in the... - http://looktruenorth.com/compo... [ More results from True North - Pointing Minnesota in the... ]
and this one:
Minnesota's own phony soldier
12 Jul 2009 by (redacted)@us.army.mil (Dave Thul)
Everyone who follows politics must remember the political uproar over Rush Limbaugh's 'phony soldier' comment in 2007, referring to the media's fondness for quoting 'soldiers' against the war in Iraq whose service and military records ...
True North - http://www.looktruenorth.com/c... - References
[ More results from True North ]
Yes, gentle readers, that's Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul calling Congressman Tim Walz a "phony soldier." And that BS about the photograph? COMPLETE BS. Of course, would anyone expect anything else from the party of Tony Sutton and Michael Brodkorb? But, that's a tangent, albeit a tangent we'll get to later. For now, back to Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul and his use of his official @us.army.mil email account.
Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul has been discussed in the blogosphere quite a bit lately, concerning his use (mis-use?) of his @us.army.mil email account. Political Muse began writing about this back in early April. Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul recently exacerbated the issue by launching an ambush on Congressman Tim Walz - as discussed yesterday in Part 2 of this series.
"When Soldiers Speak Out" was published in the August 2007 issue of Parameters while the national debate about the war in Iraq was intense. This debate was beginning to include active duty soldiers, as Major Kiel explains:
Remarks against the President (Bush) have become more prevalent among service members because they communicate through a host of mediums unfathomable to yesterday's generation of fighting men and women. Soldiers frequently post digital journals, cell phone photos, and music videos on popular Internet sites such as YouTube and MySpace. A few techno-savvy troops even manage their own milblogs, or online personal diaries where they can communicate in cyberspace about virtually anything to virtually anyone.
That sure sounds like Major Kiel could be directly referring to Dave Thul, his personal blog, and his comments about President Obama and Congressman Walz, doesn't it?
Major Kiel goes on to describe in his 14 page article specific cases and specific rules, regulations, and protocols involving troops speaking out while on active duty.
In his article, Major Kiel discusses but doesn't link to Department of Defense Directive 1344.10, Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces. That Directive can be linked to, here.
In Dave Thul's case, while on active duty is key. Clearly, according to this article published at the US Army's War College, Dave Thul would be in some serious hot water over his actions --- were he on active duty. Were he on active duty, Dave Thul could potentially face Courts Martial for his actions. The question is how these rules, regulations, and protocols affect members of the National Guard NOT on active duty - such as National Guard member and Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul.
So far, I have been unable to find rules, regulations, or articles about these questions.
Therefore, the questions raised have been brought to the attention of the Minnesota National Guard's Public Affairs Office for clarification.
Today's Avista Capital Partner'sStrib has a story about the Mpls Park Board; apparently, Park Board President Tom Nordyke doesn't think it's an appropriate use of Park Board property for the City's Charter Commission to hold meetings at said property when the topic to be discussed is the possible elimination the Park Board.
Seems like these days, a lot of people are taking shots at the Park Board. In the course of investigating the Crown Hydro Project, one group that seems to especially get in the Park Board's face*, is a group called ParkWatch.org, who's whole schtick seems to be "the Park and Rec Board is filled with incompetents, liars, and thieves and you can't trust them or believe anything they say - EXCEPT when it comes to Crown Hydro."
And I couldn't believe the amount of paperwork ParkWatch.org demands. I asked for information regarding data requests from the Park Board; I simply couldn't believe what ParkWatch.org wanted. Let's look!
"Protecting our nation-and the freedoms we cherish as Americans-from those who would do us harm is first and foremost among the duties of Congress. Accordingly, defending the United States, the American people and our Constitution is my highest priority as Minnesota's U.S. Senator." - taken from http://klobuchar.sen...
