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| Marine Sgt.Rafael Peralta |
For the war in Iraq, four Medals of Honor have been awarded for extraordinary acts of combat heroism. Of those four awards, all of which were posthumous, three were for action that involved smothering a grenade to save others – action consistently recognized by the Medal of Honor.
One Marine – Sgt. Rafael Peralta – was nominated for the Medal of Honor for the same reason, but, unlike those who have been properly recognized, he was denied the nation’s highest award for combat valor by then-Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates.
Sgt. Rafael Peralta was nominated for the Medal of Honor for using his body to shield his fellow Marines from a grenade. Secretary Gates’ review panel, in spite of overwhelming evidence, refused the award and downgraded it to the Navy Cross. Now, more evidence has been uncovered that Sgt. Peralta did, in fact, pull that grenade to his body as was originally claimed and the review panel refused to believe.
In reality, all it should take for the Marine Corps and the Navy is to resubmit Sgt. Peralta’s Medal of Honor nomination. That should be enough. A new secretary of defense means new possibility for Sgt. Peralta and the Marine Corps.Regardless, there’s new information available, enough to reopen the case, and there’s also a formal request to the secretary of the Navy to resubmit the nomination from a bipartisan delegation of House and Senate lawmakers. It is important that the Marine Corps knows it has the secretary of the Navy’s support. Representing one of his own, a Marine, the secretary of the Navy should resubmit the nomination as soon as possible to the secretary of defense. — Washington Times, March 6, 2012
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Dennis the Menace is out. Dennis Kuninich his primary bid to return to Congress.
Toledo, Ohio – U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur bid goodbye to political foe, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, before the votes were counted and her victory was sealed Tuesday night.…In Cleveland, Kucinich did not admit defeat but quietly slipped out of what was supposed to be a victory party.
It’s about time we got rid of that self-avowed Marxist.
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The story about a CMOH fraud has ended. At a public event in California, Xavier Alvarez, an elected member of a local water board, told event planner Melissa Campbell, he was a Medal of Honor recipient. Campbell, a 10-year Marine veteran was thrilled…until she listened to comments from Alvarez. Before the event was over, she scanned the list of CMOH holders and discovered Alvarez’s name was missing. That discovery lead to charges that reached the Supreme Court.
Now that story is over.
On a tour bus trip to Southern California Edison’s Big Creek power plant, event planner Melissa Campbell was passing out snacks to dignitaries when one of them asked her a question that would change both of their lives and make U.S. judicial history.“Do you know who I am?” asked Xavier Alvarez, an elected member of a local water board, not waiting for an answer.“I am a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.”Nearly five years later, Mr. Alvarez, who never served in the military, stands among dozens who have been convicted under the federal Stolen Valor Act, a misdemeanor crime that carries a sentence of up to one year of imprisonment for lying about receiving military honors. After Mr. Alvarez’s appeal, his widely publicized case recently went before the U.S. Supreme Court. — Washington Times.
But the real story is not about Alvarez. It is about Melissa Campbell. She is the one who deserves recognition.
…after exposing Mr. Alvarez’s medal claim as a hoax — later reporting to the FBI what she viewed as a crime in progress — Ms. Campbell said she wasn’t thanked by her employer. Instead, she said, she was fired.“I was told it was unprofessional to confront him,” she told The Washington Times in a recent interview. The company did not respond to inquiries about her departure, citing a policy of not commenting on personnel matters. Mr. Alvarez declined through an attorney to comment.Ms. Campbell now works as a family readiness officer for the military. She has politely declined the offers from a parade of lawyers inquiring whether she would like to file a lawsuit against her former employer. She told them she was not interested. While she still wants her name cleared, she said, she doesn’t want to spend any more time thinking about Mr. Alvarez.
Kudos to Ms. Campbell. Well done!
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A few months ago, Todd Palin publicly endorsed Newt Gingrich. When Sarah Palin was asked about that endorsement, she replied with a grin, “The First Dude went rogue.” She, at that time, had successfully skirted the issue of Presidential endorsements.
Although she almost endorsed him in an earlier appearance on Fox, Fox News contributor and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin revealed that she voted for former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in the Alaska Republican presidential primary.…“I knew you were going to ask me that, and I am just the poorest politician-sounding pundit,” Palin said. “It is tough for me to spin out of a question like that when it comes from a Fox reporter. If it comes from another reporter, I can spin out of it. Since it came from you, I will tell you, I won’t sound like a politician and I will tell you who I voted for tonight.”Palin laid out her criteria in her decision.“I considered who can best bust through the Orwellian Obama rhetoric that we heard more of today in Obama’s press conference talking about another insolvent and unconstitutional bailout that has no funds to finance — another program that he wants to kind of forced down our throat. Who can best bust these ideas of America never taking steps towards energy independence and we have the natural resources here and can do it, and who can best bust through that radical left dispensation and desire to mistreat those who are defenseless, mistreat those who perhaps have some disadvantages by making them more beholden to government? Who best can contrast themselves from that?”Who was that? Palin said it was Gingrich, the “cheerful one.”“I thought who best could do that — my own personal opinion — is the cheerful one, Newt Gingrich,” she said. “I have appreciated what he has to for — stood boldly for. He has been the underdog in many of these primary races and these caucuses, and I’ve respected what he has stood for. Up here what we have — it’s not a primary, basically it’s not even a caucus — it’s a presidential preference poll. My preference tonight was for the cheerful one.”
That works for me, too.
