"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast"
-Oscar Wilde		 Brilliant at Breakfast title banner "The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself."
-- Proverbs 11:25
"...you have a choice: be a fighting liberal or sit quietly. I know what I am, what are you?" -- Steve Gilliard, 1964 - 2007

"For straight up monster-stomping goodness, nothing makes smoke shoot out my ears like Brilliant@Breakfast" -- Tata

"...the best bleacher bum since Pete Axthelm" -- Randy K.

"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum." -- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (1954-2015), They Live
Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Why an Honorable Discharge Doesn't Mean Squat
Posted by Jill | 11:52 AM
Scott McClellan and the rest of the Bush mouthpieces (this means YOU, Judy Woodruff) are fond of saying that George W. Bush received an honorable discharge from the National Guard, and that should put the matter to rest -- as if an honorable discharge were the same as, oh, say, a Bronze Star.

It should be noted John Muhammad also received an honorable discharge from the National Guard. He served in the Louisiana National Guard from 1978 to 1985, during which time he received a summary court-martial on August 2, 1982. He was tried on one count of failing to report to his duty station on time, three counts of willfully disobeying an order, one count of striking another noncommissioned officer, one count of wrongfully taking property, and one count of being absent without leave. He was demoted one grade and served seven days confinement.

And he received an honorable discharge.

This is not to say (as Republicans would if we were talking about John Kerry instead of George W. Bush) that George Bush = John Muhammad, mostly because Bush's body count is much, much higher than Muhammad's, even though he didn't pull the trigger himself on anyone. However, it does show that an honorable discharge doesn't mean jack shit, as you have to be a pretty bad apple to receive anything but. (Or be gay, but that's another story.) However, in debunking the Bush Junta meme of "He received an honorable discharge -- end of discussion" using Muhammad as an example, it's interesting to note that when Muhammad disobeyed an order and went AWOL, he was demoted and served a short jail sentence. When Bush disobeyed TWO orders -- to undergo a physical examination and to report for duty at a National Guard post in Massachusetts; and when he never showed up at the Alabama National Guard, the reaction of the National Guard brass was to shrug it off.



That name doesn't ring a bell? John Muhammad is one of the two men who went on a sniper rampage in the Washington, DC area last year, leaving 10 people dead.
0 comments
Bookmark and Share