Medals? Don't give a toss

I have watched the Kerry medal boomlet go on and on, without much caring. But some have questioned what really happened. Apparently Tom Oliphant was close to the action. How close?

On the way to the fence where he threw some of his military decorations 33 years ago, I was 4 or 5 feet behind John Kerry.

Worthwhile reading, if you're interested in what he did.

I recall that many (many) years ago, I was an frenetic Canadian high-school student, with a dash of what passed for a few radical opinions in those days. At one band concert with a bunch of other bands, mostly American, they played the Star Spangled Banner. Most of the members of our band stood, but I and one young lady I had long had a crush on, declined to stand. It was partly out of protest of our perception of Reagan era policies, and that we didn't like what the present administration in the big country to the south was doing those days. In retrospect, that's a pretty stupid thing to have done, since the anthem is about the nation, not one administration. However we didn't descend to the barbarian levels I have heard about when at a NHL hockey game the US anthem was booed. That made me ashamed to be a Canadian (apologizing for the cliche of such a thought, true though it may be). And

Another time, I signed a petition to stop the testing of cruise missiles over Canada. They had a mock-cruise missile with eyes and a jaunty grin painted on it's warhead, up on Parliament hill for us to gaze upon. Once again, I signed along with a not-at-all unattractive young lady, though I'm sure that had no effect on my idealistic seventeen year old mind.

But hopefully none of this can come back to haunt me. Although I am, sadly, 35, I was not born in the US so cannot run for president. I probably had less cause for my "sins" than Kerry, who in my view, committed much less sinful acts with the medals or ribbons. Once again leading to the question, are the media Heathers on decaffeinated crack?