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Stories of American Heroes - Brought to you from the "Home of Heroes" - Pueblo, Colorado
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Stories of American Heroes - Brought to you from the "Home of Heroes" - Pueblo, Colorado |
Flap over Purple Heart a red herring
By Bill Husted
Denver Post Columnist
Publish Date: July 28, 2005
Colorado Congressman John Salazar has it all wrong. It's not the Purple Hearts that should upset him in "Wedding Crashers." It's the eye drops.
In the hit Owen Wilson/Vince Vaughn comedy, the boys never use Purple Hearts to seduce women, as Salazar claims. They talk about using the medals to get free drinks if they crash a wedding that has, God forbid, a cash bar. We never actually see them using the medals for anything.
Salazar is beating his chest over medal abuse and has introduced the Stolen Valor Act, which makes falsely wearing a military medal a criminal offense - even if it is used to get a free drink!
"If moviegoers take the advice of 'Wedding Crashers' and try to use fake Purple Hearts to get girls, they may wind up picking up an FBI agent instead," cautioned Salazar in a statement.
In an effort to appease, New Line Cinema has removed the Purple Heart reference from the movie's website.
CBS Evening News delivered a rather snarky report on the flap Tuesday night.
Much more troublesome than passing a Purple Heart is the dangerous misuse of eye drops in "Wedding Crashers." Wilson's character douses a rival's wine with a big squirt of the stuff, which makes the man vomit for about 18 hours.
In fact, ingesting eye drops does more than that. It may cause lowering of body temperature, blurred vision, difficulty in breathing or halting it entirely, elevated and dropped blood pressure, seizures and tremors, even sending the person into a coma. This is the unfunny joke in the movie, and let's hope kids don't do it at weddings or anywhere else.
RESPONSE
To The Editor
Dear Mr. Husted;
You have to be kidding me. "In fact, ingesting eye drops does more than that."
Nice point, but what about those trusting women who have ingested a line of bull-squat from a phony medal recipient, so he can scam his way into their heart and eventually their savings account? Or worse yet, what about the millions of voters who have been hoodwinked by phony heroes with phony medals who got their votes. Believe it or not, both issues are very real, and have happened countless times all over this nation.
I am both a former Green Beret with a son who is a Green Beret, and another son earning his. I'm also a longtime student of the martial arts, and in both cases, studies have proven that less then one out of ten who claim black belts actually are, and the statistics are almost identical for those claiming to be Army Green Berets or Navy SEALs.
But those are earned in a peaceful theater. Imagine how people feel who have lost a leg, a son, a husband, a kidney, a hand, and received a Purple Heart for such an act, then someone like you blows it off when Hollyweird makes light of phony medals, used to do what ?. . . Get free drinks!
Why do you suppose veterans like me cry when the flag goes by, we hear the Star Spangled Banner or Taps, or see soldiers returning home from the mideast? While you were slighting veterans like Vietnam-era veteran Congressman John Salazar (Who is way over on the other side of the aisle from me politically) for protecting our legacy, and enjoying yourself watching nonsensical formula films like WEDDING CRASHERS, American fighting men and women were losing their innocence, limbs, best friends, and sometimes their very lives, so you can enjoy the freedom to belittle their sacrifice.
Whether you like it or not, Bill, your attitude makes you no better than the phony wannabes who use unearned medals to pick up chicks, or even get free drinks. You must be one of those guys who slurps beer and chomps their hot dog while the National Anthem is playing at the Broncos game. If you aren't, your article certainly made you come across that way.
Blessings,
Don Bendell, a Vietnam veteranDon Bendell served as an officer in four Special Forces Groups, is a best-selling author with over 1,500,000 copies of his books in print worldwide, a 1995 inductee into the International Karate Hall of Fame, and owns karate schools in southern Colorado. Visit him online at: www.DonBendell.com.
Don Bendell is available for Media Interviews regarding this Bill: (719) 269-3929
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Please Sign Our |
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Stolen Valor Act of
2005 . |
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Read/Download the Policy Analysis Paper that is the basis for this legislation. |
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John T. Salazar (CO-3) SPONSOR |
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Doug or Pam Sterner may be contacted at: (703) 461-3626 or by Email: Pam Sterner - Doug Sterner
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To more fully
understand the depth of this problem Please Visit |
HomeOfHeroes.com now has more than 25,000 pages of US History for you to view.
James
Fields (Left) regaled the audience in Chillicothe, MO, on
veterans day with tales of his heroism that earned him a Navy
Cross for heroism in Vietnam while serving under Lt. Col.
Oliver North. The same day in St. Louis, Michael Wielbacher
showed up for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball wearing the Navy
Cross and Distinguished Service Medal, along with a two Silver
Stars with "V", four Bronze, and more. Both were
bogus heroes. Wielbacher is prosecutable but Fields is NOT (he
was wearing a Navy Cross PIN, not the Medal. Both are exposed
in this excellent report from the St. Louis Fox Affiliate.
