Going Upriver

I went and saw Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry tonight and I have to say that it was a very powerful film. Admittedly, part of the effectiveness for me may come from the fact that I'm a veteran myself. While the movie was about John Kerry, it was also a sliver of time. The movie looked the history that John Kerry was a part of from about 1961 to about 1971. It talked about what was going on politically in the United States at the time and when John Kerry went to Viet Nam it gave a lot of background about what was going on on the ground. It also provided details about how he got his silver and bronze star and one of his three purple hearts. Most of the movie however, addressed the anti-war movement of the late 60's and early 70's and how Kerry became involved in it. It showed a lot about Viet Nam Veterans against the war, their protest which was from April 19, 1971 (my birthday) until April 24, 1971. During that time Kerry addressed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and at the end of the protest the veterans admitted that the medals that they had received meant nothing and what they had done in Viet Nam was meaningless. They then threw their medals over the hastily erected wall in front of the Capital Building. I have to imagine that this action, admitting that what they had been through and what so many of their friends had died for was incredibly meaningless, was incredibly difficult and probably left several of them floating in an empty void. The movie also briefly brought up John O'Neill. He (and 8 others) was hired by the Nixon administration to try to discredit the Viet Nam Veterans Against the War. O'Neill is a veteran, very clean-cut in appearance and apparently was never involved in any immoral acts as he saw them. John O'Neill has shown up recently as one of the money men behind Swift Boat Veterans for Truth a vehemently anti-Kerry Viet Nam veterans group who has been trying to discredit Kerry's Viet Nam service. President Bush also mentioned in last nights debate that he was at John O'Neill's house when he met his life Laura. Which to me at least, puts the lie to Bush's statement that there was no connection between his campaign and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

This was a very good movie. Sharon, was going to go with me but she had to cancel. I wish she could have seen it. I definitely recommend if you have the opportunity to see it.

I am going to have several busy days coming up so I should probably finish this so I can get some sleep. Good night everyone.