First, we had the letter of June 8, wherein Mr. Gray unleashed a broadside that unloaded every conceivable insult short of calling me a "chickenhawk," which cheap insult came in a later cheapshot by Mr. Merhoff. I have nothing but respect for those who served honorably, like Mr. Gray, but his protestations that I criticized President Obama on Memorial Day is simply a convenience for his outrage that I should take any occasion to speak ill of Obama (I have a previous letter to editor from Mr. Gray that takes a similar approach--insults upon brickbats that never, ever disprove a single fact in my columns, never formulate a single coherent counter-argument to my fact-based, informed critiques of Obama).

That is why I wrote for today's column that such opponents of my speaking out, in writing, are the real thugs and bullies, writing their diatribes for the sole purpose of intimidation--as evidenced by the above-mentioned failure to disprove a single, principled statement I make showing Obama for the duplicitous hypocrite he has turned out to be.

First, how low is it to throw my (admitted and regretted) involvement in Vietnam War Protests back in my face to attempt to discredit my support for America and her troops now? This comes from the liberal side of the aisle that for 8 years has told us, ad infinitum and ad nauseum, that "dissent is patriotic/highest form of patriotism" and such; I've seen many veterans and currently serving military state that they did or do what they do to secure the freedom for those protesting what they do, to have that freedom. Does Mr. Gray feel that those who protested, whether against Vietnam or Iraq, were exercising their patriotic right to, shall we say, "petition the government for redress of grievances" (in the Constitution somewhere)? Many Americans, protesters included, honestly felt a sense of duty to protest then, as many did against the Iraq war, but folks have the right to be wrong, too.

I never did anything in my youth to insult Vietnam vets, so to try to equate my peaceful protest with the protesters that Mr. Gray encountered that tried to get him and his fellow soldiers to shirk their duty is just, well, an unwarranted cheapshot and low blow. Yes, I have written and believe that the protest movement against the Vietnam war was, intentionally or not, knowingly or not, an expression of "useful idiot-ism" in service to the communist enemies fighting against us. I didn't know that then, though, and I'm sure many on the left would take issue with me if I documented the extent of complicity and manipulation directed by communist, anti-American actors behind the Vietnam protest movement. We could have won that war at several points long before the protest movement had begun to exert political pressure to abandon Vietnam. Gen. Patton said it best when he said that Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser--decisions in Washington, uninfluenced by those of us with long hair and signs, made the decisions that resulted in America's loss in Vietnam.

Particularly contributing to that loss were the Democrats in congress that refused to honor America's obligations to provide air support and supplies to South Vietnam after our military mostly withdrew (acts that were no longer done with mass protests since the draft had ended). Had we simply done that, the south would have been able to defend itself, and America would have "won." I didn't cause us to lose, the brave men and women in uniform didn't, Democrats in congress did.

So, if I'm to be castigated for peaceful protesting, after which I expressed my regret and became a supporter of America and our military, what should be said for someone like (now Senator) John Kerry, who did far more than I ever could have dreamed of, to undermine our military in Vietnam, with his lies told before Congress about atrocities (lies documented to have been fabricated for the charade called "Winter Soldier")? Did Mr. Gray express similar outrage and oppose Kerry for president? Or is his outrage selectively applied, as the saying goes, to those he disagrees with when he chooses to take sides. How about any outrage over, again, John Kerry for saying that we were just "terrorizing" civilians at night in Iraq.

As I wrote, nothing in Mr. Gray's missive disproved what I wrote that is simply on the record factually true about Obama on Memorial Day, May 25: His speeches are "replete with straw men arguments, fallacious reasoning and erroneous, revisionist history." His blatant dishonesty over Gitmo; criticizing, but continuing, military tribunals and other war on terror tools; and saying interrogations methods were illegal without backing it up with Justice Dept prosecutions--all stand as valid critiques of Obama that those, like Mr. Gray, on the left simply want to intimidate into oblivion.

I have nothing to be ashamed of, Mr. Gray, and could prove the amounts of money and other forms of support I give for our local, as well as national military, but I'll not stoop to the level of dignifying your letter in that way.

By the way, I had a student deferment until the lottery gave me too high a number to be drafted. So I didn't enlist; I wish I had, but I wish I had done a lot of things differently. I don't wish I hadn't written a single word exposing the lies, hypocrisy and hyper-leftwing-ism of Obama.