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Veterans Support Ron Lewis for Congress

By Jeff “Mario” Smith, Guerilla Reporter

October 11^th, 2006

Yesterday, many Veterans, Ron Lewis Supporters, state and federal legislators, and the media gathered at the Hardin County GOP Headquarters for a “Veterans for Ron Lewis Rally”. The event was organized by Dave Jarrett, Navy Vietnam Veteran and DAV Service Officer for that part of Kentucky.

In attendance as speakers were Congressman Ron Lewis, Congressman Joe Wilson [R, South Carolina], MC Dave Jarrett, Father Kent Litchfield [Vietnam Veteran USMC], Jeff “Mario” Smith [Army Veteran Germany, from a long lineage of Veterans including his son who is deployed to Afghanistan], Danny “Greasy” Belcher [Vietnam Veteran Infantry Sergeant and Vice Chairman, National Vietnam and Gulf War Vets Coalition], and J. W. Thurman [Retired Army Colonel, Distinguished Service Cross Recipient for valor under fire in Vietnam, brother to Major General Thurman, Iraq].

Honored at the rally were Joe and Mary Milliner of Shepherdsville, KY. Joe is a WWII ex-POW aviator shot down several times, once captured by the Italians only to escape and get airborne again eventually being shot down by the Germans who kept a tighter hold on him. As if this wasn’t enough sacrifice for one family to make, Joe and Mary’s son, CWO William P. Milliner, was shot down in Laos in his helicopter on March 6^th, 1971 and is still missing after being seen in captivity as a POW.

Joe has written a book about his exploits and those of his son “Billy”. The book is called “The Eagle and the Angel” and is available by writing to Joe in Shepherdsville. Contact this writer for more information. Reading this book is an education on the POW MIA issue as well as the turmoil of families that still don’t know the fates of their loved ones who served so that we might enjoy the freedoms we seem to take for granted.

What follows is the text from the speech of Guerilla Reporter Jeff “Mario” Smith. It is apparent from speaking with people in the crowd and from listening to the speakers, that Veterans support Ron Lewis for Congress and don’t have a “whole lotta love” for Kentucky State Representative Mike Weaver, a man who is “using his status as a retired Army officer as a crutch” in his campaign advertisements to the point of even omitting that he is “retired”.

Kentucky Veterans have had a long and emotional battle with Mike Weaver over the flying of the POW MIA Flag at the Kentucky Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Frankfort. Mike Weaver was the primary person trying to keep that flag from flying at the memorial, and Kentucky’s Veterans will never forget his vehement promise not to have that flag fly there as well as his committee vote against it.

Incidentally, Mike Weaver kept the POW MIA Flag from flying at the memorial for several years. Ours was the one and only Vietnam Veteran Memorial in the nation not to fly the black flag of respect for those who never returned from past wars. Apparently, Weaver made a statement to someone that it would “take and act of Congress” to get that flag to fly there.

Through the efforts of Task Force Omega of Kentucky, Vietnam Veterans MC, the VFWs and Legions, and others, but primarily due to TFO State Director Danny “Greasy” Belcher walking the halls of Congress to get supporters, we got that “act of Congress” in the form of the POW MIA Memorial Flag Act. This law mandates that any time the American Flag is flying at any national memorial, the POW MIA Flag will fly with it. Since Weaver and the few cronies he had stated that they followed federal guidelines on the flying of flags at the KY Vietnam Veterans Memorial, they now follow this new guideline and that flag is finally flying at Kentucky’s Memorial to her fallen in Vietnam.

This is a victory of huge proportion against the abuse of power by one man, Mike Weaver, who refused to listen to his constituent Veterans on this issue, and it will keep him out of Congress.

Speech by Jeff “Mario” Smith

Before I begin, I want to thank Dave Jarrett for organizing this event today. Don’t start timing me yet Dave. [Laughter] I have here in my hand the latest edition of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Magazine. On Page 31 the VFW has printed their endorsements for political office. Congressman Lewis, thank you for 14 years of representing the interests and needs of our Veterans and congratulations. [Applause and hand shaking]

On New Years Eve Day, 2005, representatives from Task Force Omega of KY, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Vietnam Vets MC, AMVETS Post 124 Maysville, Patriot Guard Riders, and several other groups joined family and townspeople to honor the sacrifice of SFC John David Morton of Bowen, KY, Killed In Action, Kandahar, Afghanistan.

I didn’t know SFC Morton, but it was obvious by the show of respect that he was a good man who was loved by many. He had a beautiful wife, two beautiful daughters, and a beautiful son. SFC Morton, a Godly family man and soldier, went into harm’s way so that we might sleep in peace at night when we lay down our heads.

Ever since an angel tried to exalt himself above God and voluntarily fell from heaven, the world has been in a war of good versus evil. Contrary to what the peace hippies believe, evil will always exist in our world until Christ returns, and it is often disguised as good. The original author of lies and deception has done a fine job setting an example of how to make bad look good and good look bad.

In Topeka, KS, there is a cult run by a hateful man named Fred Phelps. This cult is disguised as a Baptist church, but in reality is merely the extended family of Fred Phelps and a few misguided friends. I am a member of an Independent Baptist Church, and I can tell you, this Fred Phelps cult of hate is no Baptist Church. But remember, evil disguises itself as good.

Some of the Phelps family was at the funeral for SFC John David Morton on that New Years Eve Day in Bowen, KY. They were not there to pay respect. Oh no, they were there to disrespect. They had signs saying things like “God Hates Soldiers”, and “Thank God for IEDs”, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, they were stepping all over the American Flag.

The Phelps cult didn’t last long on that secluded country road, in Bowen, KY, even with lots of law enforcement to protect them, as our sometimes misguided government does. After making the mistake of grabbing one of our disabled Vietnam Veterans, the ensuing rumble sent them home with their tails tucked between their legs. As I recall, the male member of this hateful group had a Coke can to his head to keep down the swelling. I don’t think they know just how lucky they were that day. [Thank yous and applause]

We did our job with much restraint. We kept the cult out of sight of the family, and SFC Morton’s funeral was not turned into a protest moment for the alleged “free speech” of hateful people that the ACLU exists to protect.

Ahhhh, the ACLU. It is my position that those initials stand for the Anti-Christ Liberals Union. This is another evil entity disguised as good. They say they are about civil liberties and free speech, but are instead about the removal of Jesus Christ from public view and the protection of scoundrels like the Phelps Cult. Remember, evil disguises itself as good.

Sun Tzu, in “The Art of War” said, “All war involves deception. The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”

Bowen, KY wasn’t the first time we met the Phelps Cult on the ground in Kentucky, and I had had enough. On New Years Day, I composed letters and emails to my Kentucky State Legislators, Senator Tom Buford, and Representative Bob Damron, asking them to introduce bills that would make funeral protests illegal in Kentucky. I asked for this on an emergency basis. I did not want to see any more heroes disrespected and surely did not want their families to have to endure that.

Senator Buford, later named the “Task Force Omega of KY Legislator of the Year” primarily due to his efforts on this bill, sponsored SB93 in the KY Senate. Representative Bob Damron, passed off this responsibility to Mike Weaver, who, coincidentally, had already announced he was going to run for Congress against Representative Ron Lewis. Hmm.

I knew about Mike Weaver. Against the wishes of Kentucky’s Veterans, he kept the POW MIA Flag from flying at the KY Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Frankfort, the ONLY Vietnam Memorial in the country not to fly the POW MIA flag. Yet he campaigns that he is all about Veterans. National Vietnam and Gulf War Vets Coalition Representative Danny Belcher will tell you more about this when he speaks.

Suffice it to say, Weaver was not a man I trusted to do the right thing.

Time would prove my suspicions correct. While the Senate Bill flew through the Senate, the House Bill became held up in committee. Also, Mike Weaver, the alleged original sponsor of the house bill, added an obscure Amendment to his own bill. If it was his bill to begin with, why did he have to amend it on the House floor, thus slowing down the process? What is wrong with this picture?

Representative Damron also had to get with the Chairman of the Judiciary to work out several problems with Weaver’s bill regarding things like offensive signs. Well, after many calls and emails, we finally got these bills the priority they deserved and they became law. They tell me it was historic in how fast these bills moved, and how they became law immediately as opposed to the normal mode of waiting until a specific date.

However, I had asked for these protests to be illegal “Within Sight or Sound” of any funeral, memorial, or funeral procession for 48 hours before and 48 hours after. This is common sense, right? Unfortunately, exhibiting fear of the radical leftist ACLU, what we got was a weak 300’ with no time buffer. Even that common sense legislation is challenged by the ACLU, and a weak-kneed Judge in Frankfort has ruled in favor of this evil group.

U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell has stated there is a "strong likelihood" the law will run afoul of the First Amendment's free-speech protections. There you go! Liberal Judges and politicians are bowing to the evil ACLU, afraid to take a stand for what is right. It is high time we tell the ACLU to go where they are headed anyway, and stand up to their Anti-Christ and Anti-American agenda. [Loud Applause]

We must contact Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo and pressure his office to challenge Judge Karen Caldwell’s ruling. Do it now and do it often until the right thing is done. Get others to call and write.

Congressman Lewis, you have been a strong supporter of Veteran legislation for 14 years now. Please find a way to defeat the Anti-Christ Liberals Union and help us create a federal law against the ghastly behavior of groups like the Phelps Cult from Kansas. We simply cannot allow this to go on any longer.

Jeff “Mario” Smith

Task Force Omega of KY

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