Kerry's Military records
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| Tue, 08-24-2004 - 7:15am |
It is clear that at least one of Kerry's Purple Heart awards was the result of his own negligence, not enemy fire, and that Kerry went to unusual lengths to obtain the award after being turned down by his own commanding officer.
John Kerry has long insisted that using the three-injury loophole to leave combat early was his own idea, but Kerry's fellow Swift officer Thomas Wright, who served on occasion as the OIC (Officer in Charge) of Kerry's boat group, contradicts that claim. Wright reports that he "had a lot of trouble getting Kerry to follow orders," and that those who worked with Kerry found him "oriented towards his personal, rather than unit goals and objectives." He therefore requested that Kerry be removed from his boat group. After John Kerry qualified for his third Purple Heart, Thomas Wright and two fellow officers informed him of the obscure regulation, and told him to go home. Wright concluded, "We knew how the system worked and we didn’t want him in Coastal Division 11."
Constructing a complete picture of Kerry's service is difficult due to gaps in the Naval records provided by the Kerry campaign. These gaps include missing and incomplete fitness reports, missing medical records and missing records related to his medal awards.
Senator Kerry can clear all of this up if he would authorize complete access to all his military records by filing a standard Form 180, a simple two-page release form.

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"According to the household survey, the economy has created 600,000 jobs ." http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2004/mft04082318.htm
"The July employment report was far from the summer blockbuster that the consensus around Wall Street had predicted. Indeed, some economists dashed for the whiteout and rewrote their reviews for economic growth. However, it appears that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and company still see the economy turning in a solid, if not stellar, performance." http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=66&u=/bw/20040816/bs_bw/nf200408138428db081&printer=1
"Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar rose versus the euro for a second day on expectations government reports this week will show U.S. economic growth exceeding the pace of expansion in Europe. " http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=a7S4c36uVXoM&refer=japan
"July 27 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. consumer confidence rose this month to a two-year high, boosted by an improving job market that also is helping keep new-home sales close to a record." http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=aiK_8t_NG3Bw&refer=home
"The Institute for Supply Management reported that its index of manufacturing activity rose in July for the fourteenth consecutive month. Eighteen of the 20 industries surveyed reported stepped-up activity. Norbert J. Ore, the chairman of the institute's survey committee, summarized the good news, "The manufacturing sector continues to grow at a rapid rate." New orders are up, and inventories are too low relative to orders, meaning that manufacturers will have to step up output to restock their customers' shelves. Even export orders rose.
The service sector is also growing rapidly. In July, activity in that sector increased for the sixteenth consecutive month, and at a faster rate than in the previous month. New orders and order backlogs also rose in the service sector.
Consumer confidence is high, probably because personal incomes have grown for three consecutive quarters. Consumers returned to the auto showrooms in July, and drove vehicle sales up by more than 12 percent from June levels. Despite high gas prices, sales of light trucks and SUVs led the way. "
Renee ~~~
The BLS figures do not incorporate self-employed people, BUT the household survey may double count people who are self-employed, and work for another company as well.
Way too confusing to make heads or tails of the figures.
The only thing I know is that the household survey uses 325,000 as a guideline for their figures. Anything over that is considered a good sign for economic and jobs growth, and I think that the revised figure for July was around 450,000 or so.
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