April 12, 2006 Response to DailyKos contributors' questions regarding Dr. Bob's credentials:

I would like to clarify a few things. First, every claim on my web site is absolutely true. There is no inflation or exaggeration. I received the SAME ROTC Award of Merit in 1955 and again in 1956. I received the Republic Aviation Airpower Award in 1956. All three of these awards were for my service in the Air Force ROTC. The SAME award was for being one of the ten outstanding cadets in the country. I received it as a junior and again as a senior. It was a pretty coveted honor at the time. In 1956 I was the first student in the history of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (founded 1824) to graduate in Aeronautical Engineering with a perfect 4.0 academic record. And I did it while taking graduate Nuclear Engineering courses as an overload as well as AFROTC. The President's Medal of Veterans For Peace (and I still have the medal) was awarded by VFP in about 1985 for my successful efforts to keep Reagan's "Star Wars" weapons out of space. I have been the keynote speaker at VFP national conventions on four different occasions. The George F. Kennan Peace Prize was awarded to me in the 1980s by a national peace group (I forget which one) for my efforts to bring us through the Cold War without nuclear conflict. The Eisenhower Medal was awarded in the late 1980s by a peace group in California for battling the military-industrial complex Eisenhower warned us about. I was the first recipient. I don't know if there were ever others. I have received many other awards. These were listed because they were the most meaningful to me.

As for my preaching, most of it was done BEFORE I became an independent Catholic clergyman. As a matter of fact, at the time I was invited to speak before the Pontifical Academy of Science in Rome, I was an Episcopalian and a layman. Same for the time I spoke at a synagogue in Hollywood, CA, a Russian Orthodox seminary in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and a mosque in Azerbaijan. All these were before I became an Old Catholic and was ordained. Since then, I have preached in Episcopal and Lutheran churches but not in Roman Catholic churches. They are very touchy about "schismatic" Catholics. By the way, I am retiring as Presiding Bishop of the United Catholic Church in order to pursue my campaign for Congress. My successor will formally take over at our Synod June 1st - 4th in Branson, MO.

I'm surprised that no one questioned my having directed all the "Star Wars" programs under Presidents Ford and Carter. Most Americans swallowed Reagan's 1983 claim to have invented the whole thing. So they don't think it existed under Ford and Carter. But my statement is entirely accurate. I directed all the "Star Wars" programs from 1976 to 1978 when their existence was secret (and some of the details much more highly classified than that). I even used the term "Star Wars" in a secret report I wrote in 1977. Officially, these programs didn't have a name, just a number. That's so Congress wouldn't know they were funding laser battle stations and such. It didn't become "SDI" until 1984. I have copies of the Congressional Record from 1982 (the year BEFORE Reagan's infamous "Star Wars" speech) in which Senator Proxmire and Congressman Moakley reprinted unclassified articles of mine in which I used the term "Star Wars" and pointed out the strategic dangers of weapons in space. (By then the Reagan administration had de-classified a great deal. Back in the 1970s I couldn't even use the words "laser" and "space" in the same sentence without the whole document becoming classified.)

And how come nobody questioned my Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Nuclear Engineering from Caltech (1966)? That's by far the hardest thing I've ever done.

I appreciate the opportunity to discuss these things. I'm an OLD guy, and I've done a lot of things. (Did I mention I have seven children and twenty-one grand-children?) When I look back on my life, I can hardly believe it myself. But I assure you, it is 100% true. I have to be very careful, because people often rewrite my stuff and change it to be more "accurate." Often they say I directed "the Strategic Defense Initiative." But that is not true. SDI didn't start until I had been retired for six years! So when I catch it, I change it back. Having been a whistleblower for 24 years, and having run for President of the United States, I am very careful about the claims I make, and about the claims my staff and supporters make about me. I'm always having to tone them down and restore truthfulness.

By the way, my military service is a matter of public record. I flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam, was stationed in Korea twice, and did a horde of things not touched on in my web site. For most of my Internet career, I've been my own webmaster. Now I have one who does stuff for me. Sometimes something slips by me. If you spot anything, let me know. But chances are, it's true. After all, truth is stranger than fiction. And I don't blame folks for thinking my background is strange. I know. I lived it. Now can we get back to the issues and our efforts to "Take Back America" for the people?

Dr. Bob Bowman