That pic of Shannon with the Purple Heart eyepatch just gets me.

[TayTay]

Tell me, how far was it, really from this:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/30/gop.purple.he... /

To this:

From the PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer: Testimony from John Daneil Shannon, picture above at the House Congressional Hearing, 3/5/07

STAFF SGT. JOHN DANIEL SHANNON, U.S. Army: Upon my discharge, hospital staff gave me a photocopied map of the installation and told me to go to the Mologne House where I would live while in outpatient. I was extremely disoriented and wandered around while looking for someone to direct me to the Mologne House. Eventually, I found it.

I had been given a couple of weeks' appointments and some other paperwork upon leaving Ward 58, and I went to all of my appointments during that time. After these appointments, I sat in my room for another couple of weeks wondering when someone would contact me about my continuing medical care.

We have almost no advocacy that is not working for the government, no one that we can talk to about this process who's knowledgeable and we can trust is going to give us fair treatment and informed guidance.

Yeah, I guess they really were mocking the recepients of Purple Hearts back at the Republican National Convention back in Aug/Sept of '04.

[w8liftinglady]

1. Shannon's testimony got to me.His TBI was so evident.

He is a great spokesperson for the wounded.

[lonestarnot]

31. Those band-aid folks were some pretty fucking stupid folks.

[roguevalley]

38. when he would forget what he was going to say, it made me want

to hug him. this is so utterly sad.

[babylonsister]

2. What a stark contrast. So sad, all the pics for different reasons. nt

[Chemical Bill]

3. Powerful...

contrast.

K&R

[Mind_your_head]

4. My blood runs cold when I think of those 'bandaid' people

[maveric]

47. Disgusting!

Smearing a true war hero with lies and propping up a traitorous draft-dodging frat boy...
When I saw that I broke my own rules and began to HATE!

[maggiegault]

56. When I Saw Those GOP Fat-assed Idiots Wearing Those Bandaids...

...I discovered then and there that there are millions of Americans walking our streets today who are beyond redemption.

[durtee librul]

5. K&R!!!!!

Thanks for posting this....I was so damn angry when I saw those pukefaced f***R's with these on....I coulda just puked. I was out of control whenever I think about it and again, I knew what was REALLY going on WRH and the Soldier's Home in DC as my dad is a resident there and quit his cancer treatments as he couldn't take what he was seeing for the poor conditions there.

Again, thanks for the great pics....this should be sent to a political cartoonist to take advantage of. Wonderful job.

[Rex]

6. The only nice thing I can say about the people with purple heart bandaids is

they all look old and will hopefully die soon.

[KansDem]

54. I'd like to stick huge purple-heart bandaids on their coffins...

I know they'd enjoy the humor as would all the grievers who attend their funerals.

HAHAHAHA!!!, they would say, HAHAHAHA!!!, that was a pretty funny joke...!

[Rex]

58. It was the nicest thing I could say about them.

nt

[KansDem]

60. I'm with you on your observation...

These people are the epitome of what's wrong with this country. I never thought I would ever see Americans making fun of a decorated American vet! (and I come from a military family).

They are the scum of the earth, and I would just love to take their perverted, disgusting "values" and cram it back in their faces. And the corporate media who helped give them their "platform."

[globalvillage]

7. Every time I see a photo of that bitch

with the ugly hat and the bad false teeth I want to hurl.

When I saw the hearing yesterday, I recognized Staff Sgt Shannon immediately. I had just used his photo in this video on Saturday.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...


I wonder if these people even think about the message they sent to the wounded with those band aids? Bastards.

[ThatsMyBarack]

52. That's Pat Peale, THE STUPID FAT COW!!!!

Those false teeth look ready to pop out and bite someone!

[TayTay]

8. It just makes you wonder

Do these people in power have even the slightest idea of how much suffering they have caused and how their arrogance, neglect and outright incompetence has contributed to that suffering?

Or do they just want to mock the wounded and pretend that everything would be fine if we would just look the other way?

[mloutre]

9. [b]

n/t

[vankuria]

10. Thanks for reminding us

As the wife and daughter of combat veterans this really pains me to see these wingnut morons mocking a sacred symbol. We need to make sure this is never forgotten.

[yardwork]

22. Welcome to DU!

[vankuria]

24. Thank-you

I'm happy to be here

[Synnical]

26. Ditto That

And welcome to DU.

-Cindy in Fort Lauderdale

[TayTay]

29. Welcome to DU vankuria

and yeah, I hear you. My father served and did six months in a hospital from injuries received in WWII. This was beyond sick.

I also think that there is a direct line from those who mock Purple Heart recipients to those who ignore and abandon the wounded veterans. It's not hard to see why the scandal with veteran's health care happened.

[vankuria]

35. I'm honored to be here

When we heard the news break about the problems at Walter Reed while it sickened us, we were not surprised. The entire VA system is fractured. When my father was sick back in '02 the service he recieved from the VA was horrible. Everyone we complained to treated us like dirt. My dad died and I couldn't help but feel the terrible treatment he recieved at the VA contributed to his death. I wrote letters to everyone in any position of power and no one even answered me, very sad. Now we are starting to hear similar stories and we know the problems are throughout the entire system. The poor treatment of our vets is a national disgrace! Seeing these moron, lunatics attack Sen. Kerry's patriotism is beyond reprehensible. Amazing that Kerry a true war hero is made out to be the coward and Bush who ducked out of combat service (wasn't he defending the state of Texas against the Viet Cong?)is the hero. Unbelievable!

[newyawker99]

43. Hi vankuria!!

Welcome to DU!!

[beachmom]

44. Welcome to DU, Vankuria. I like your Kerry picture.

I read in Tour of Duty that the reason he looks so serious in the picture (it was when he received his silver star) was because he was thinking of one of his best friends, Dick Pershing, who had been killed in the Tet offensive in '68. That pic gets to me every time.

[wicket]

46. Welcome to DU!

[ThatsMyBarack]

51. Welcome to DU, vankuria!

[MissWaverly]

11. I saw his picture in the Post with no eye patch and his missing eye

I hope he gets the help he needs, he is truly one of the best, as for the rest, their
mockery of wounded veterans is truly repulsive.

[baldguy]

12. these are not the enemies of America:

Not this



Not this



Not this




Not this



Not this




Not this



Not this



The Iraqi people and America's soldiers are NOT America's ememies.

===================

THESE are the enemies of America:

[TwilightGardener]

13. WTF??? This is the first I've seen this...

PURPLE HEART BAND-AIDS??? What's next, Medal of Honor sun visors? How completely and totally offensive to those who served and were wounded, to have an honored symbol of their courage and sacrifice cheapened to a cutesy gimmick, stripped of all its meaning and significance. That's in such bad taste it's beyond the pale. American mass marketing of empty-gesture patriotism at its worst.

[durtee librul]

14. Wienerdoggie

They wore these at the Republican Convention and thought it was all the rage. They were mocking Kerry and his purple heart.

[TayTay]

15. And the chickens are coming home to roost on this

They mocked Purple Heart recepients then and they mocked them with poor service in this war.

It's just so damn sad. So much needless suffering.

[TwilightGardener]

18. I don't remember those!

I thought they were of the same category as the the stupid yellow car magnets--an empty symbol of support. That they were created solely to mock Kerry is even MORE sick. Truly, nothing is off-limits for these venal people to co-opt for their own twisted purposes.

[Noisy Democrat]

34. I'm still angry about the Purple Heart bandaids

I used shots of them prominently in one part of a vid I made in 2005 -- a memorial to the emotional s***storm that was the 2004 presidential campaign. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyYmWgXhnRI

[karynnj]

19. and there was NO outrage in the MSM

Also the great Republican heros (such as they are) McCain, Guiliani, Bush, Cheney, Romney etc all spoke on the stage looking out at the crowd containing these creeps - and NO ONE demanded they remove them. You would think that at least McCain would have realized that this was not just against John Kerry. He also likely KNEW that Kerry was earned the bronze star and silver star and that he was injured 3 times.

[beachmom]

45. There WAS outrage on The Daily Show, however. What's that guy's

name who does "Back in Black"? He did a bit on them and screamed that they were the biggest idiots. It was pretty good.

[Warren DeMontague]

16. Well, it was okay, since they were making fun on John Kerry, who is a Democrat.

And everybody knows Democrats are all unpatriotic girly-men, unlike courageous, manly-men war heroes like Bush and Cheney.

[Chemical Bill]

17. The band-aids were to mock Kerry...

when the swiftboaters were doing their worst. The repukes were happy to spread the word for the swifties. Funny, so was the corporate media.

Bill

[opihimoimoi]

27. The GOP are so Brainwashed...they denigrate God if they could get 5 votes....assholes ...all of them

[stanwyck]

20. We can win elections using these images

really. Americans on the whole support fairness. And the Purple Heart Band-aids in light of thousands of American lives lost in Iraq are now more disgusting than ever. Show these people. Show them laughing with their little mocking band-aids, these people who have never fought for their country. Show them. And show John McCain man-hugging Bush with that sublime look of obsessive love. Show the video of Bush as he sat for 7 minutes after being told "we're being attacked." Show the video of Bush at his first press conference after 9-11 when he under-whelmed the nation when he was most needed to lead. Show Bush cracking jokes in the aftermath of Katrina. Show Ann Coulter calling John Edwards "faggot".
Maybe ole Bill O'Reilly is right. There IS a culture war. And it's ugly. The right's culture is based on lies and smears. Show it. I trust the American people to tire of these horrid people with their stupid band-aids and the leaders they worship who care little about America and our history and Constitution.

[sandnsea]

23. Show It - Exactly

That's what is so annoying to me about this whole Coulter episode. Yes it's ugly - but look at what happened at the actual Presidential nomination convention, look at Cheney and his al qaeda comments about Pelosi, look at all this vile ugliness that comes from the actual people who are now running for President. THAT is what is horrific and it needs to be exposed. I am sick of this denouncement and apology bullshit. They won't change and the only thing we can do is shame them back into the crooks and crannies they crawled out of. Crass and Conniving Conservatives. It's What They Do.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/

[stillcool]

21. boy that is potent stuff....

as well as the other pics up-thread. I hope this gets seen by some of those convention attendees. Would make a great little leaflet bomb...hmmmm

[salin]

25. The sad thing, is that I doubt that any of the folks pictured

from the convention - could see any irony or feel any shame for participating in that ugly publicty stunt. Not a one.

[opihimoimoi]

28. The blood supply to the part of their brains where critical thinking takes place..has been

comped....the GOP are Alien Zombies...the damage they do to our species is all the evidence I need...

[salin]

30. perhaps this is the very reason they reject the idea of evolution?... Come

let us walk on the surf and enjoy the sunset... (those lines always brought me a sense of serenity in the moments when I needed it most - most wanted to scream while the idea of sererenity in nature was most needed.)

[opihimoimoi]

37. Come, we go Luau by the beach... food/drink/ music/sunset....

we go laugh/smile/ as all Humans should from time to time

[salin]

40. Some day...

I am going to show up on a Hawian beach - and take you up on all of these suggestions of ways to unwind/come to a place of self-peace. Not sure if that is a promise or a threat (dependng upon your interpretation of me on DU)

[opihimoimoi]

41. LOL, you would be welcome like a long lost Brother....or Sister...

Come, we go enjoy the thought...(Sweet Hawaiian Music and soft waves lapping the shore)

[JI7]

39. same type that thinks Iraq and Saddam were behind 9/11 attacks

[bleever]

32. That is a powerful set of images.

Very powerful.

Thank you for putting them together.

[wisteria]

33. Yes they were insulting them and they use them and our Iraq veterans

still, to make a point or push a political agenda. This administration knows nothing about what is is like to actually serve your country and be willing to die for it.

[Noisy Democrat]

36. The bandaid thing still makes me ill

I put most of these same pictures of the Purple Heart bandaids into my vid "Bring Me To Life"; I was still angry about that, and I think it showed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyYmWgXhnRI Now I'm not so much angry as sad, come to think of it. Anyway, you are right. These people have no genuine respect for sacrifice or service -- or anything other than raw power, it seems.

[flying rabbit]

50. Save me from the nothing I've become

Indeed...
damn good video.
It pains me about what could have been.
Still... I am not dead yet, and the game is far from over.

Peace

[Solly Mack]

42. Oh, those folks are able to rationalize it all away in their minds

Such as

See, Kerry wasn't a real vet and he didn't really earn his purple heart , so it is OK to mock him. Besides, it's just political, and anything goes as long as it is in the name of politics , don't you know. It's just politics. It's not harmful. It's just how the game is played...and gee, we wanted to win.

[Miss Chybil]

48. Sorry. I stole your post and emailed it to my entire address book.

The outrage I feel is overwhelming.

[Chemical Bill]

49. Kick

[Joe Chi Minh]

53. "Yeah, I guess they really were mocking the recipients of Purple Hearts

back at the Republican National Convention back in Aug/Sept of '04."

Well, I suppose we'd have to concede that they did their best at that Republican Convention. But actions will always speak louder than pictures or words. Still top marks for imagination and effort.

Just because they've been kicking crutches from beneath vets, doesn't mean they shouldn't enjoy having a hearty laugh about it, too. Why, surely it was the icing on their cake. Wow, they'd be just helpless, hysterical with laughter if they visited one of those hospitals, wouldn't they? But angels must weep.

[Chomskyite]

55. Have any attempts been made to identify and contact . . .

. . . the Republican delegates who wore those band-aids? It would be a very fine thing to be able to put names with those pictures so that as long as they live and as long as google exists, those pictures will haunt them.

[maggiegault]

57. I'll Go You One Better.

I believe that the Democratic party should name them and demand warrants for their arrest for treason.

Parodying the sacrifices made by our troops, during a time of war, no less, should mean that you get a one-way ticket to Gitmo. We're holding David Hicks for less.

[knight_of_the_star]

59. They better use that in '08

Run shots of Walter Reed then put it next to the Purple Heart Band aids. Let the voters make their opinions from there.