[Vision2020] How Mitt Romney Dodged the Draft . . .

[Tom Hansen]

People have the right to know the level of patriotism and honor those seeking to become president.

Mitt Romney demonstrated IN FAVOR of the Vietnam War.  Yet, when his number is called, he whimpers away.  What an EFFING joke!

Let me tell you something . . .

In June of '69, a week after I graduated from high school, I actively demonstrated in Canoga Park (California) against Vietnam.  A group of us (including yours truly) were arrested for unlawful assembly.  Being the son of a police officer, I was escorted to the Devonshire LAPD station where my father was on duty as Desk Sergeant.  They let him decide what was to be done with me.  My own father locked me up for the weekend.  When I was released on Monday morning, my father lectured me about how wrong it was to associate myself with VIVA (Voices in Vital America), a group of people that became friends of mine and "scum" to my father.  The next day I went to the recruiting offices in Sherman Oaks.  The waiting list for the national guard and reserve was 18 months long.  The waiting list for the Navy was six months long.  

Jobs were virtually null for 17-year olds fresh out of high school.

So, there I stood in the hallway of the recruiting station, looking at two doors; one marked "US Marine Corps Recruiter" and one marked "US Army Recruiter".  I flipped a coin.

Being 17, and two months from my 18th birthday, my father was required to sign a permission slip, which he did.

On December 3rd, less than six months after the Canoga Park demonstration I arrived at Tan Son Nuht Air Base, Vietnam . . . a brand new Army private.

I stood my ground at home against my father and refused to cave in.  And now, 44 years later as I think back on it, I wouldn't have changed a damn thing!

You see, Mr. Arnold, it is a matter of integrity.  SAY WHAT YOU MEAN and MEAN WHAT YOU SAY !

I expect that from friends as (I am sure) they expect it from me.  We CANNOT expect anything less from our Commander-in-Chief.

'Nuff said.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students.  The college students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)
 

On Sep 3, 2012, at 3:50 PM, Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I don't think we should judge people based on their military status. Honestly, I would have tried to get out of fighting in Vietnam War too, as I think the slaughter or innocent people over there was unjustifiable, especially towards the end of the war when we knew it was a lost and unworthy cause. "We had to destroy the village in order to save it!", should have been a clue it was time to pack up and go home.
>  
> People that served during that time were patriotic because they were putting their life at risk, and those that resisted fighting overseas were patriotic because they knew it was war that hurt the nations involved and resolved nothing. In their minds, and I think rightfully so, saw carpeting bombing little girls with napalm in remote villages as unjustifiable.
>  
> Donovan J. Arnold
> 
> From: Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com>
> To: Moscow Vision 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com> 
> Sent: Monday, September 3, 2012 2:20 PM
> Subject: [Vision2020] How Mitt Romney Dodged the Draft . . .
> 
> "Demonstrating in favor of the Vietnam War at Stanford University, Willard "Mitt" Romney, however, would face uncertain odds in a Selective Service College Qualification Test. Most college men could not make the cut to postpone being drafted. Romney left Stanford after one year, and pursued his Mormon religion's mandatory ministry for males: two years in France in his case. When the Selective Service System (the draft) noticed so many young Mormon men taking S2 deferments for ministry, they restricted it to one Mormon minister per district. Mitt's father, Gov. George Romney, was influential in the Mormon church. The chosen one in the district was Mitt."
> 
> (audio)
> http://archive.org/details/HowMittRomneyDodgedTheDraft
> 
> With Air Force veteran H. Bruce Franklin who taught at Stanford at the time. He teaches a course on the Vietnam War. Franklin's article on Romney and the draft appears in CounterPunch . . .
> 
> http://CounterPunch.org
> 
> ------------------------------------
> 
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
> 
> "We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students.  The college students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."
> 
> - Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)
> 
> =======================================================
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
> 
> 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20120903/53955c2f/attachment.html>