Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
Understand, right here, and right now, that I am a Conservative Republican from Orange County, California. Keep that in mind, right here, and right now, while I comment on Bobbie Kennedy Jr’s political activities – especially those surrounding the vaccine issues.
I am, of course, researching and writing a series on what I call the “vaccine construction.” Of course I came across Kennedy’s writings on the subject, and his TV appearances. I read it all.
And, I liked every damned bit of it. Good for you Bobbie…
Let me tell you what I don’t like…
I was nineteen years old in the US Navy when my Commander-In-Chief, John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK), then President of the United States, activated certain components of the mothballed Navy Fleet in anticipation of a conflict with Nikita Khrushchev, then Premier of the Soviet Union. The dispute was over Khrushchev arming Castro’s Cuba with Intercontinental Missiles aimed at the US.
I picked up one of those mothballed ships in New Orleans in late 1961, a WWII era oiler – the USS Kankakee AO-39, and along with 225 more guys, scraped off tons of preservative tourmaline, repainted it, armed it, filled its tanks with black oil and AvGas, and headed out for the training grounds in the Caribbean. After a few months of steaming around playing Navy, one day in 1962 JFK drew the line in the sand, so to speak, and told Castro and Khrushchev to get those missiles out of Cuba yesterday or face invasion. He ordered the blockade of Cuba by the US Navy. My ship was at the oil piers in Norfolk, Virginia at the time.
Oilers don’t engage in fighting ship activities. Those three inch fifty gun mounts, four of them mounted on our ship, are, and were at the time, pop guns compared to the armament on Cruisers, Destroyers, Escorts, Frigates, Submarines, not to mention the devastation that a Carrier Group can deliver. Oilers are part of the auxiliary fleet, and, as such, it was our job to keep the fighting ships logistically at maximum fighting capacity.
In Norfolk, while at the oil piers, we topped off our tanks, on-loaded deck cargo of five inch thirty-eight ammo, crates of torpedoes, bombs, food-stuffs, and whatever fighting ships need to maintain an attack. Then we headed south.
Towards Cuba…
Our job was to keep the fighting ships at above 85% fuel capacity, so we fueled ships while cruising at eight knots all during daylight hours. Then we met up with another oiler, and refilled our own tanks all night. We circled Cuba several times maintaining the blockade ships.
Then I met John F. Kennedy.
I never actually had the pleasure of personally meeting John F. Kennedy, and I would have loved to have, but when the President of the United States is holding a sharp stick, and stabbing it at the enemy, and I was at the sharp end, believe me there was a bond that day.
I was right there when the shot was fired over the Russian tanker’s bow. Right there at what could have been the beginning of World War Three. Right at the sharp end.
We knew there were Russian subs everywhere. We knew, too, that we, our ship, would be a primary target, for fighting ships don’t run without fuel. We had a constant cordon of ships and planes surrounding us – all set up for anti-submarine warfare. Protecting us.
Then one day on the blockade, while fueling two Destroyers, one on each side, we got the order to perform an “Emergency Break-Away” to the ship fueling on the starboard side. The Destroyer was the USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr (DD-850), named for John’s brother who died in World War II. I questioned the order because of the danger of that activity (throwing our fueling rig into the ocean). It was very dangerous for our fueling rig people. The Captain changed the order to “Quick Break-away,” and we safely, with no one hurt, pulled our rigs back on deck. The JP Kennedy hit full throttle, and pulled away. Then we got the order to break away from the port side Destroyer quickly – and we did.
While we were securing everything we suddenly went into a shuddering turn to port, turning hard into a 180 degree course change. Airplanes were everywhere, warplanes roaring across just over our masts at combat speed, ASW planes circling with their rigs in the water looking for subs. Before we had our rigs secure, we were called to General Quarters – This Is Not a Drill. Our Destroyer Defenders had drawn in close to, if necessary, take a torpedo instead of us.
Before we finished our turn, the distinctive sound of a five inch thirty-eight firing came from just to the left of our aft superstructure. The Joseph P. Kennedy had fired the round across the bow of the Russian tanker.
We were, at that moment, at war with Russia. None of us expected to live out the day, perhaps not the hour.
That’s the sharp end of the stick.
I remember exactly where I was when John Kennedy was killed. I watched what happened to Bobbie Kennedy. I knew then that America was in for a hard ride.
So, what is it I don’t like? I don’t like the crappy criticisms I’m reading about a member of a family I hold in high regard. A family that, in reality, has devoted its very life to America. I definitely do not like the contrived Wikipedia article about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
I am really getting tired of Wikipedia encouraging and allowing the socially unwashed to write crap about Planet Earth’s good people, hiding behind anonymity – and then a few days later Wikipedia intentionally erases the evidence that would trace these people. Also, I don’t much like the feeling I get that a careful examination of Wikipedia’s so-called “anonymous contributors,” would show those so-called “contributors” are, in fact payers of a fee-for-service who’s interests coincide with those same untraceable “editors…”
Wikipedia operates under a US government IRS 501(C) non-profit tax status, and as such, pays no taxes. However, if a connection could be shown, and I have no doubt it could be, between so-called “anonymous contributors,” and so-called “editors,” and their bigoted articles, Wikipedia’s tax free status could be removed, and Wikipedia would then have to pay back taxes all the way back to its start-up date – the virtual end of Wikipedia.
I can read between the Wikipedia lines, and I am adept at ferreting out how it works, and who is doing it. In short, if Bobbie Kennedy Jr., an experienced attorney campaigner, wants to take a monstrous bite out of Wikipedia’s ass, so to speak, and perhaps even shut Wikipedia down completely, I’ll be glad to help.
I recognize some of the internet names of the slime writing the Kennedy article. The one that stood out immediately (Brangifer) was Stephen Barrett (Quackwatch.com)’s Personal Assistant, and Assistant Webmaster Paul Lee. Lee, who little is known about, and seems to be in hiding, is part of the self-styled “skeptic” (pseudo-skeptic) community which Wikipedia management has set up as a power within Wikipedia, conspiring over, and controlling articles about health care using anonymity.
Tim Bolen – Consumer Advocate