Ace,

I know it was tough to pull yourself away from hunky colin ferrel's bisexuality, but good job!

I think the better question would be "Does Kerry HAVE a discharge?"

heh heh

My take on Lipscomb's article includes quotes from and links to the relevant statutes (which are otherwise kind of hard to locate because of a 1994 reorganization of Title 10 of the U.S. Code).

You're making that bit about a "rumor" up, right?

Right?

SCREW INTEGRITY, I WANT THE QUESTIONABLY SOURCED RED MEAT.

Jeff,

Then I suggest you search Free Republic for "Kerry Security Clearance."

Gotcha.

Damn. That is red-hot. Wonder if there's any way to prove it?

No wonder he won't release his security clearances.

Er...I meant military records.

And I know quite a bit about security clearances, by the way. I'm surprised he was granted them to sit on the Intelligence Committee, honestly. Perhaps there's an "elected official" exemption.

Jeff B.-

If I remember correctly, elected officials are considered "cleared by the American people" by the FBI. If you look at the background on some in congress, I doubt they'd pass any other way.

I'll state first that I do not care for Kerry personally, for the vast majority of his positions where a vote in the Senate was involved, and for what I see of his proposed foreign policy (Let us return to those golden days of yesteryear, when the US was isolationist and let the rest of the world construct its own handbasket in which to...).

But on this one thing, his discharge, I really don't see much. It may have been part of a push to get rid of supernumerary officers - and the expenses of paying and giving benefits (eg PX privileges) to officers who would probably never go active again.

Some have said he joined in 1966, so why was he not discharged earlier. Well, the 66 was in what seems to have been Naval ROTC. When his deferments were stopped, he could have used that to join: BUT by joining the Navy directly, he probably could pretty much select his first posting from any available - at least it was that way in 1965, when I used my draft notice to join the "Regular" Army instead of the draftee Army (the recruiting sergeant pulled strings, knowing that I had already tried to enlist twice and been turned down). So, that would make his date of service 1970 - and two years active followed by six in the reserve, standard terms, would have put his discharge circa 1978.

All that said, just why won't he sign the release form for his records?