Relatively Short Answers, Considering The Source, To Offensive Rhetorical Questions

I HOPE by now--since you can't possibly come here for news--you've seen, via D. Aristophanes of the Sadlynauts, Kernfluffle II turns out a little less boffo at the box office, especially if you're Steve Gilbert:

—– Original Message —–
From: Steve Gilbert


To: markkitchell@yahoo.com


Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 6:14 AM

Subject: Any Record Of Charles W Payne?

Mr. Kitchell,
As you may have heard by now, Barack Obama has claimed that his great uncle Charlie Payne was a member of the 89th Div that liberated Buchenwald.
According to records his full name is either Charles W Payne or Charles T Payne (most likely the former), and he was born in 1924 — and he is still alive today.
He most likely was from Kansas at the time of enlistment.
Do you have any record of this gentleman?
Thank you,
Steve Gilbert
sweetness-light.com
PS - If you go to my website, you will see that I was probably the first to note the error in Mr. Obama’s first claims about his “uncle.”
Obama Claims His Uncle Liberated Auschwitz | Sweetness & Light
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/obama-claims-his-uncle-liberated-auschwitz

The reply was quick and to the point:

Please crawl back under the rock you came out from.
Good day
Raymond Kitchell, veteran 89th Inf Div

Which--don't get ahead of me--would not be the end of it to Mr. Gilbert's way of thinking. (Let us, while we're at it, pause for a moment to consider the roaming Googland truth seeker who publishes this response to begin with, and who won't take the subtle hint it provides. Is he the foolhardy [after seven Beam & Cokes] frat boy on the fourth-story window ledge? Or in staring down Hell Itself and the life of eternal assholitry, is he braver than any dogface from the 89th ever thought of being at the Mosel, the Rhine, at Eisenbach or Thuringia? You be the judge.)

No, instead Mr. Gilbert needed several more last words, which, for all I know, are still echoing, but this was the first:

I wonder how many people who visit the 89th Infantry site and support Mr. Kitchell’s work realize his politics are those of Cindy Sheehan?

Zing! Because, y'know, everyone with a sincere interest in all things military--Steve Gilbert, Case in Point--is a raging warhawk. Make that Republican warhawk.

This got me to thinkin' about how such ruderal cluelessness manages to survive to typing age. Even if you didn't grow up in an era where every boy's father had fought in one, if not two, wars (excepting "Big Russ" Riley, who was 4-F, had to slink home from the Induction Center because he'd already had his going-away party, and presents, and spent the war working in a defense plant and wearing the GI underwear one of his older brothers sent home intended as a post-war stash), you can find 'em on the History and Military channels, especially since you're so all-fired hepped-up about other people's service. There aren't too many combat veterans who're all that eager to strut their service around (they're a lot more likely to shed fresh tears, sixty years on), and not many more who're eager to see another generation face what they faced (and what you have no clue about), whatever their politics. Research that, motherfucker, though you might have to risk getting up from the keyboard, going out in the streets, and getting caught by a Press Gang.

How many people might realize Raymond Kitchell's politics "are those of Cindy Sheehan"?  A lot.  And a lot who wouldn't be surprised.  And probably many times more than would automatically assume that a US military veteran would naturally share a (rather more long-distance) warlust and  pathological hatred of uppity black men.  Maybe you could go out and meet some, asshole.

P.S.  On second thought, don't.