20061126 Pelosi, Pea Soup, Solyent Green, Setting Hair on Fire

Pelosi, Pea Soup, Solyent Green, Setting Hair on Fire, and the meaning of life in an Age of Global Warming.

Pelosi's message to voters? Ethics, shmethics

November 26th, 2006

It is one of those series of “way too weird” moments that only can happen in the Internet age – or to an attention deficit hyperactive blogger with a serious internet surfing habit; however, grazing the net several days ago I came across an interesting column by Martin Schram. I said to myself; “Self, this would be a great “Other Voices” piece in the Carroll County Times, to give the paper a bit of balance.”

Several days later, whoa - there it was, in the Carroll County Times, Saturday, November 25th, 2006 edition of “Other Voices.”

It was then that I remembered that “Seph’s Mom” wants her to write:

“How about a nice controversial article like the reigning Dem Nancy Pelossi…”

Ms. Dray then interjects: “She's not even a reigning reindeer until January.”

“… who wanted to clean upthe culture of corruption- and plans to appoint afederal judge who was impeached and removed forbribery and corruption!!!”

Ms. Dray writes: “Congress can't appoint judges--that's the President's job. You must be talking about Representative Alcee Hastings, who used to be a judge but was impeached for corruption. His impeachment apparently convinced the morons in his district to elect him to Congress instead….”

Please see the rest of the post: “Can't We Get Through Christmas Before The Wurlitzer Starts Up?” It is a very bright conversation about Speaker-elect Pelosi, Senator John Kerry, Representative Alcee Hastings and more. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

To be sure, I can’t agree enough that it would be nice to get a break before the next Congress convenes - - and especially before the Maryland General Assembly Opera gets cranking up next January.

I’m glad that I am not the only one who gets advice as to what to put on the blog and what not too. Between the blogs and the columns I write, I get lots of advice…

I so wanted to help Ms. Dray out and write a scathing retort about “Nancy Pelosi’s Reign of Error,” (sub-titled: “The Pending Pelosian Malthusian Prerogative.”) And I just could not bring myself to do it. The Speaker of the House-elect makes my milk curdle and my blood boil. (See post script below.)

In an unguarded moment, combine Representative Pelosi in the same paragraph with Senator John Kerry and I go into spastic convulsions, for which Father Lankester Merrin is needed immediately. My head spins and I spew split pea soup.

(Speaking of pea soup is there any truth to the rumor that former Vice-president Al Gore’s sequel to “An Inconvenient Truth” is “Global Warming and Solyent Green - the Halliburton solution?” That Speaker-elect Pelosi wants to make the rich into Solyent Green to actually feed the middle class – after she nationalizes their banks accounts. Remember, “Solyent Green is people” and one of the reasons for the need for Solyent Green was global warming…)

Imagine Al Gore as Charlton Heston …!? … As he searches for "What is the secret of Solyent Green...



So, anyway, Ms. Dray – and her Mom, gets a pass from me. I’ll let Mr. Schram have the honors.

Mr. Schram writes for the Scripps Howard News Service: “Veteran newsman Martin Schram focuses on the intersection of the news media, policy and politics.” His columns appear on Tuesdays.

His column last Tuesday, November 21st, 2006 was titled, “Pelosi's message to voters? Ethics, shmethics ” – [0.7742 SCHRAM-11-21-06 2006/11/21 13:16:02 Editorials and Opinion 776 words By MARTIN SCHRAM]

Last Saturday, it appeared in the Carroll County Times as: “Dems have ethics shortfalls too,” By Martin Schram, Other Voices, Saturday, November 25, 2006

The slug on the Scripps Howard web site reads:

“Some hail as unprecedented the manner in which California Democrat Nancy Pelosi has chosen to begin her surefire reign as the first woman ever to be speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. But they have forgotten Ralph Perk. They have forgott...”

Picking up exactly where the slug stops, a bit more of the column goes like this:

“…en the 1970s day when Cleveland's erstwhile mayor sought to enliven an otherwise humdrum dedication of a new construction project by cutting the ribbon not with a boring scissors but with a blowtorch - and set his own hair on fire…”

OMG, with a column that begins like this, it quickly becomes “must read” material. Go here to read the rest. You will not regret the time…

I gotta go. All this keyboarding has made me hungry for some Purée Mongole - extra rich and creamy. Soon to be a specialty of the Dems’ cafeteria in the RHOB.

Kevin

POST SCRIPT:

Oh I wish that “Joisting for Justice” was not a Maryland Blogger Alliance member. I so wanted to write a scathing retort about “Nancy Pelosi’s Reign of Error.” And I just could not bring myself to do it. The Speaker of the House-elect makes my milk curdle and my blood boil.

Not that I will not disagree with a fellow MBA member. But I wanted to project some frustration and make it really snarky.

But alas, just as when I cover the Maryland General Assembly Opera; in spite of the fact that I so enjoy media criticism, what goes on with my colleagues in the downstairs press room, stays in the press room and I try to give the colleagues, with whom I work, a wide berth and some comfort to not have some snitch looking over their shoulders and swiping at their coverage.

Besides the opera that is what we know as that august legislative body, the worst in the nation, gives me plenty to write about - - and the folks in the press room in the Annapolis Statehouse are really neat and extraordinarily talented.

So, anyway, Ms. Dray – and her Mom, gets a pass. I’ll let Mr. Schram have the honors.

20061125 Soccer Dad’s Intelligent update on John Bolton confirmation

Soccer Dad’s Intelligent update on John Bolton confirmation

November 25th, 2006

As a follow-up to 20061119 John Bolton and his recent remarks on the UN, Soccer Dad weighs in with some comprehensive and intelligent commentary in the matter of confirming U.S. Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton.

Please find it here. “Bolton for the Door.”

And previously, he had called to my attention some additional information and commentary sources:

Martin Peretz's take on Bolton: http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20060828&s=peretz082806

or here

http://jewishworldreview.com/0806/peretz_bolton.php3

Thanks a bunch Soccer Dad.

Kevin

20061119 John Bolton and his recent remarks on the UN

John Bolton and his recent remarks on the UN

November 19th, 2006

Baltimore native John Bolton has once again called to our attention the lunacy of the UN.

The Baltimore Reporter has a must read post on the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton: “Wow, read this:.”

The U.S. Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, launched a scathing attack on the United Nations Friday.

Read the rest here. It is well worth the time…

The Baltimore Reporter concludes with:

“And the Dems want to get rid of this guy! As Curt said, the United Nations continues to make a mockery of themselves with these self-serving resolutions brought on by some of the worst of the worst on this planet. He could not be more right. He could not be more right. How many resolutions has there been against Palestine and Hezbollah compared to Israel?

The UN should either be reformed or shut down. And only a man like Bolton will do it.”

I’ll add one more “should.” In my August 2, 2006 Tentacle column, I wrote: “Confirm Joltin' John Bolton:”

“On March 7, 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Baltimorean John R. Bolton to be the United States ambassador to the United Nations. It is time for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - as well as the entire upper chamber - to confirm our Maryland-bred leadership in the U.N…”

Read the rest here.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA. E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org http://www.thetentacle.com/ Westminster Eagle Opinion and Winchester Report http://www.thewestminstereagle.com/ www.kevindayhoff.com has moved to http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

20060708 la ministra de Asuntos Exteriores de Austria U Plassnik

La ministra de Asuntos Exteriores de Austria U Plassnik

Saturday, July 08, 2006

El primer vicepresidente y ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, Samuel Lewis Navarro y la ministra de Asuntos Exteriores de Austria, Ursula Plassnik, durante la IV cumbre de Jefes de Estado y de Gobierno América Latina y Caribe-Unión Europea que se celebra en la capital austríaca del 11 al 13 de mayo de 2006.


www.mire.gob.pa/noticias.php?id=1646

International People, Austria, Woman

####

20060708 Austria's Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik

Ursula!

"Serbia's President Boris Tadic (R) welcomes Austria's Foreign Minister and President of the EU Council Ursula Plassnik before their meeting in Belgrade June 30, 2006. REUTERS/Marko Djurica (SERBIA) Hat Tip:Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog.

And yes, she is 6' 3" tall!

Read more about Bundesministerin Dr. Plassnik here and here and here and here.

####

20060521 Not Fonda Jane

Not Fonda Jane

May 21st, 2006

Every year, this time of the year, a number of Internet e-mails make the rounds as to what Jane Fonda did or did not do, during the Vietnam War.

Although I am certainly no fan of Ms. Fonda, it is important to have some insight as to what actually happened and what is Internet fiction.

I just went to Snopes and read their take as to what is fact and fiction.

_________________

Hanoi'd with Jane

http://www.snopes.com/military/fonda.asp

“

Claim: Jane Fonda betrayed U.S. POWs during the Viet Nam War.

Status: Multiple:

During a 1972 trip to North Vietnam, Jane Fonda propagandized on behalf of the North Vietnamese government, declared that American POWs were being treated humanely and condemned U.S. soldiers as "war criminals" and later denounced them as liars for claiming they had been tortured: True.

Jane Fonda handed over to their captors the slips of paper POWs pressed upon her: False.

In 1999, Jane Fonda was profiled in ABC's A Celebration: 100 Years of Great Women: True.

"

The article then gives some examples of some of the e-mails that are circulating…

Then, the article goes into great length describing what Snopes believes to be true and what happened. It is a good read.

Read the rest of the lengthy article here: http://www.snopes.com/military/fonda.asp

As far as whether or not Ms. Fonda committed treason – here is the Treason Article of the Constitution, you decide for yourself…

The Constitution of the United States of America -- Article 3, Section 3:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attained.

####

20060508 Kennedy Mills and Limbaugh

Kennedy Mills and Limbaugh

A Tale of Double Standards

May 8^th, 2006

_________________

Rush Limbaugh Turns Himself In on Fraud Charges, Reaches Settlement

“Friday, April 28, 2006 WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —Rush Limbaugh and prosecutors in the long-running painkiller fraud case against him have reached a deal calling for the only charge against the conservative commentator to be dropped if he continues treatment, his attorney said Friday.

“Limbaugh was booked on a single charge that was filed Friday, said Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County Jail. He left about an hour later, after Limbaugh was photographed and fingerprinted and he posted $3,000 bail, Barbera said.

“The radio giant's agreement to enter a diversionary program ends a three-year state investigation that began after Limbaugh publicly acknowledged being addicted to pain medication and entered a rehabilitation program.”

Read the rest at: Rush Limbaugh Turns Himself In on Fraud Charges, Reaches Settlement

_________________

KENNEDY/RUSH DOUBLE STANDARDS

By Michelle Malkin May 08, 2006 09:43 PM

_________________

What's in a Name? Plenty If It's Kennedy

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 8, 2006; C01

“

It's hard to imagine that Patrick Kennedy would have gotten elected to Congress a dozen years ago without his last name.

It's equally hard to imagine that the media would be going wild about his late-night car crash and prescription drug addiction if he weren't a Kennedy.

The only lingering mystery is why national news organizations didn't pounce earlier on the Rhode Island Democrat's long history of alcohol and drug abuse, depression and a series of downright embarrassing incidents.

The answer in large measure is that Kennedy hasn't been a very important House member. But given the journalistic obsession with the Kennedy family and its tragicomic soap opera, he does seem to have gotten an easy ride -- except in the New England press, which has chronicled his every misstep.

While Kennedy, the 38-year-old son of Ted Kennedy, was widely reported to have held a news conference Friday, it was nothing of the sort. He read a statement designed to elicit sympathy, saying he was going into rehab, and took no questions. This amounted to an age-old damage-control technique: changing the subject.

”

Read the rest: What's in a Name? Plenty If It's Kennedy

_________________

Patrick Kennedy & Double Standards

05/05 04:37 PM

By Mark Levin on the Mark Levin Blog, National Review Online

“I don't wish anyone ill, except our nation's enemies. It's a good thing that Patrick Kennedy is going back into rehab. But I am very angry.

“For nearly three years we witnessed the persecution of Rush Limbaugh, who became addicted to painkillers resulting from back and neck problems. We witnessed leaks by prosecutors who spread lies about him being involved in money laundering, drug rings, and doctor shopping. But the media happily repeated them. Some mocked him.”

Read the rest at: Patrick Kennedy & Double Standards

_________________

PATRICK KENNEDY SHOULD RESIGN

By Michelle Malkin May 05, 2006 04:33 PM

Nope, I didn't say it. Here's the call from a commenter at--yes, it's true--The Daily Kos:

_________________

KENNEDY PRESS CONFERENCE

By Michelle Malkin May 05, 2006 03:04 PM

_________________

The Baltimore Sun does not use permalinks. Pasted below is the entire article by Annie Linskey, which appeared in the Baltimore Sun on May 5^th, 2006:

“

Ex-sportscaster Mills sentenced to house arrest

He pleads guilty to stealing prescription painkillers from neighbor

By Annie Linskey

Sun Reporter

Originally published May 5, 2006, 9:58 PM EDT

Former WMAR sportscaster Keith Ross Mills was sentenced Friday to nine months of house arrest for stealing prescription painkillers from his next-door neighbor in Linthicum, a woman with cancer.

Mills, 48, pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary before Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Joseph P. Manck.

At Friday's hearing, the neigbhbor, Ladye Parsons, testified that Mills' actions had disrupted her sense of security. "I haven't beaten cancer," she said. "I'd like to know that I can die at home and pain-free."

Afterwards, she said the sentence was "more than fair."

Mills, who has been battling addiction to prescription drugs for several years, apologized to Parsons in court, saying he did not mean to make her feel unsafe and adding: "If I need to move out of my house, I will."

After his arrest in January, Mills lost his job at Channel 2, where he had worked for 18 years. Addressing the judge Friday, he said: "I have been humbled by this experience -- embarrassed, humiliated, but humbled more than anything."

Drew Berry, WMAR's general manager, did not return repeated phone calls Friday.

Parsons went to the police in early January to share her suspicions that someone had been stealing money, jewelry and medications from her home since October 2003, according to charging documents.

Parsons said she initially dismissed her own concerns, believing that her treatment for cancer was making her absentminded. She has lost a breast and a kidney to the disease.

After consulting friends and family members, she had a surveillance camera installed in her home and on Dec. 6, 2005, the camera recorded Mills sneaking into the house, emptying pills from a bottle, leaving and the returning to apparently wipe his fingerprints from the bottle, ac cording to Assistant State's Attorney Scott Messersmith.

Police set up a sting, hiding in her bedroom on Jan. 25. They arrested Mills when he entered the house and took nine pills, including OxyContin.

Addiction to prescription pain medications is one of the fastest growing reasons for which abusers are seeking treatment in Maryland, said Bill Rusinko, research director for the Maryland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration.

Almost a third of people seeking treatment for painkillers in Maryland come from Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties, and 92% of those in treatment for abusing the drugs are white, Rusinko said.

Immediately after his arrest, Mills attended a monthlong drug treatment program at the Cross roads Centre, an inpatient facility located on Antigua. He is attending sessions at Partners in Recovery, an addiction center affiliated with the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital. He said he attends five Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week.

"I can't promise that I won't relapse. I can promise that I will work every day and every second to stay on top of this problem," he said in court.

His sentence also included a five-year suspended prison term, five years of probation, random urine tests and no contact with Parsons. Mills may leave his house to seek employment and attend counseling.

In September 2004, Mills was charged in Baltimore County with forging a prescription for a cough medicine that includes the narcotic Hydrocodone. Two months later he received a criminal summons from Anne Arundel County for obtaining prescription drugs by fraud. The cases were consolidated and a Baltimore County judge sentenced him to one year unsupervised probation.
annie.linskey@baltsun.com ”

####

20060105 Enemy Imaging

Enemy Imaging

January 5, 2006 by Kevin Dayhoff (1,127 words)

Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland (D) has resurfaced in the news once again. In Maryland? What the heck is going on here?

Last month Governor Robert L. Ehrlich announced hiring Bo Harmon to be his political director for his re-election campaign. The Baltimore Sun ran an article on December 10, 2005, which said, in part:

“Maryland Democratic Party spokesman Derek Walker said he was shocked that the governor would hire Harmon, and compared the political director to Joseph F. Steffen Jr., the former Ehrlich aide who was fired after admitting to spreading rumors about Mayor Martin O'Malley.

Democrats here and in Georgia immediately criticized the hire, saying Ehrlich is bringing to Maryland a virtuoso of nastiness who attacked the patriotism of Cleland, an Army veteran who lost three limbs in Vietnam.”

The Sun continued its criticism by calling the readers’ attention to a negative ad run by Senator Cleland’s opponent in the 2002 Georgia Senate race.

The ad used, what is known in the business as “enemy imaging.” Identifying an opponent with a nefarious character. Sorta like, running a picture of Governor Ehrlich with a fired state employee – Mr. Steffen.

The only difference is that after many folks, understandably, criticized the Chambliss campaign ad, the ad was taken off the air, changed and ran without the nefarious character images.

In the MD4BUSH–Steffengate saga; long after it has been revealed that MD4BUSH was a political dirty trick by democrats for which it has been suggested that several members of the Maryland Democratic Party have lost their jobs; the Sun is still running the negative ad which ‘enemy images’ Governor Ehrlich with Mr. Steffen.

So what is the rest of the Senator Cleland story? He lost his 2002 senate re-election bid because of his liberal voting record while serving in the senate and representing a conservative constituency.

Rich Lowry, writing in National Review on February 20, 2004, “Max Cleland, Liberal Victim,” put it best.

Democrat Senator Cleland “was on record supporting countless tax increases, and voted with his party's leadership against protecting the Boy Scouts from a campaign to keep them out of public schools and against banning partial-birth abortion. In many of these votes, he parted ways with his more conservative and popular colleague Miller, thus creating a major political vulnerability. He lost fair and square.”

This is what happened.

Senator Cleland returned home from Vietnam terribly wounded with injuries that would stop anyone but Superman. But he didn’t let being disabled stop him and he worked hard to recover and continue to serve his community and his country.

It was said best in a poignant Washington Post article on July 3, 2003, entitled “Political Veteran.”

After Mr. Cleland returned home from recovering from his injuries, in “1970, at 28, he became the youngest person ever elected to the Georgia Senate. In 1977 President Jimmy Carter appointed him to head the Veterans Administration. In 1982 he was elected as Georgia's secretary of state” and served until 1996.”

In 1996, when Senator Sam Nunn (D) decided to retire from the U.S. Senate after serving 24 years, Georgia Secretary of State Cleland tossed his hat in the ring. Senator Nunn had always been strong on national defense and Vietnam veteran Max Cleland seemed a perfect replacement.

He wasn’t.

In 1996, Mr. Cleland narrowly defeated his opponent, businessperson Guy Millner by 30,000 votes. He only got 49 percent of the vote.

Slate published an article by Michael Crowley on April 4, 2004 called: ““How the disabled war veteran became the Democrats' mascot.” It is not a poignant or deferential piece. Mr. Crowley wrote, “There was little reason to expect Cleland to be a star senator, and he wasn't.”

Of his 1996 campaign, Mr. Crowley wrote:

“In that campaign, Cleland made up for his lack of political skill—the Atlanta-Journal Constitution noted that he "has never been known as a deep thinker" and was prone to "platitudes" in debates—by harnessing the emotional power of his war injuries…”

After six years in the Senate, Senator Cleland’s re-election was in deep trouble at home. Although he could serve his southern constituency well enough on local Georgia issues, “Cleland's undoing was that he couldn't negotiate the dilemma facing many Southern Democrats — how to vote liberal in Washington while appearing conservative at home.” (Rich Lowry, February 20, 2004, “Max Cleland, Liberal Victim” National Review)

In the 2002 election, Senator Cleland was challenged by four-term conservative Republican congressman Saxby Chambliss, “who'd been elected in the "Contract With America" class of 1994.” (July 3, 2003, “Political Veteran” Washington Post)

Mr. Crowley wrote: “Most of Chambliss' attacks were based on Cleland's most "liberal" votes on social issues like partial-birth abortion. But in the race's closing weeks, Bush and Chambliss hammered at the fact that Cleland was voting with Senate Democrats against Bush's proposed Homeland Security Department because of its infamous provision limiting union rights. The message was that Cleland was kowtowing to big labor at the cost of protecting America.”

Then came those “GOP television ads.” They crossed the line. They were unnecessary and inappropriate and should have never been aired.

In the Washington Post July 3, 2003 article it was noted:

“both sides ran attack ads, but none was as controversial as Chambliss' homeland security spot. It opened with pictures of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. "As America faces terrorists and extremist dictators," said a narrator, "Max Cleland runs television ads claiming he has the courage to lead. He says he supports President Bush at every opportunity, but that's not the truth. Since July, Max Cleland voted against President Bush's vital homeland security efforts 11 times!"

After both democrats and republicans condemned the inappropriate ad, the ad was removed from the air.

Which brings us full circle. Since the Sun has brought it up. Beyond the issue of comparing how many articles the Baltimore Sun ran on MD4BUSH-Steffengate with how many articles it ran about the alleged criminal identity theft of Lt. Gov. Michael Steele’s personal financial records by Senator Schumer's staff at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee…

Now that MD4BUSH has been outed as a democratic dirty trick, the Sun needs to do a reality check and realize that by continuing to run the picture of Governor Ehrlich with Mr. Steffen on their web site, they may think that they are cleverly perpetuating a negative “enemy-imaging” ad on Governor Ehrlich.

What they are really doing is perpetuating a reminder of despicable gutter politics at its worse.

It is a rule of classier political practitioners that the family of an elected official or candidate for office is off limits – out of bounds. No matter what party to which they belong.

When is the Sun going to take the picture off their web site?

Just asking.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org
####

20050610 Comparing the academic record of Al Gore, John Kerry and George W. Bush

Comparing the academic record of Al Gore, John Kerry and George W. Bush

Kerry’s grades shed new light on campaign

SpokesmanReview.com

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=4149

Commentary By Richard Benedetto, Gannett News Service, June 10, 2005

WASHINGTON - While the general impression during the 2004 presidential campaign was that Democrat John Kerry was the intellectual superior to President Bush, it turns out that their grades while undergraduate students at Yale were remarkably similar.

In fact, Bush’s were a tad higher. His four-year average was 77; Kerry’s 76. Both were C students. Kerry graduated from Yale in 1966; Bush in 1968.

[…]

… Bush’s mediocre college record was trumpeted by Gore backers as proof that the Republican candidate was a dummy. But in the spring of 2000, The Washington Post published Gore’s college grades at Harvard. Like Kerry, he was hardly an honor student, either.

Nonetheless, Gore backers kept up the “dumb Bush” mantra…

[…]

Kerry’s grades were made public this past week by the Boston Globe… During the campaign, Kerry refused to waive privacy restrictions for the full file… The transcript showed that he got four Ds in his freshman year, Bush received one D in his four years, in astronomy. At the time, Yale considered grades between 70 and 79 a C and 60 to 69 a D.

And there’s more. Read the rest of Mr. Benedetto’s commentary here: Kerry’s grades shed new light on campaign

####

20040827 “Bring it on John” by Oliver North

Bring it on, John

Blogger note: Col. North’s column is reprinted here in its entirety. It is a must read – comprehensively.

Oliver North (archive)

August 27, 2004

"Of course, the president keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country. Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that. Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: 'Bring it on.'" -- Sen. John Kerry

Dear John,

As usual, you have it wrong. You don't have a beef with President George Bush about your war record. He's been exceedingly generous about your military service. Your complaint is with the 2.5 million of us who served honorably in a war that ended 29 years ago and which you, not the president, made the centerpiece of this campaign.

I talk to a lot of vets, John, and this really isn't about your medals or how you got them. Like you, I have a Silver Star and a Bronze Star. I only have two Purple Hearts, though. I turned down the others so that I could stay with the Marines in my rifle platoon. But I think you might agree with me, though I've never heard you say it, that the officers always got more medals than they earned and the youngsters we led never got as many medals as they deserved.

This really isn't about how early you came home from that war, either, John. There have always been guys in every war who want to go home. There are also lots of guys, like those in my rifle platoon in Vietnam, who did a full 13 months in the field. And there are, thankfully, lots of young Americans today in Iraq and Afghanistan who volunteered to return to war because, as one of them told me in Ramadi a few weeks ago, "the job isn't finished."

Nor is this about whether you were in Cambodia on Christmas Eve, 1968. Heck John, people get lost going on vacation. If you got lost, just say so. Your campaign has admitted that you now know that you really weren't in Cambodia that night and that Richard Nixon wasn't really president when you thought he was. Now would be a good time to explain to us how you could have all that bogus stuff "seared" into your memory -- especially since you want to have your finger on our nation's nuclear trigger.

But that's not really the problem, either. The trouble you're having, John, isn't about your medals or coming home early or getting lost -- or even Richard Nixon. The issue is what you did to us when you came home, John.

When you got home, you co-founded Vietnam Veterans Against the War and wrote "The New Soldier," which denounced those of us who served -- and were still serving -- on the battlefields of a thankless war. Worst of all, John, you then accused me -- and all of us who served in Vietnam -- of committing terrible crimes and atrocities.

On April 22, 1971, under oath, you told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that you had knowledge that American troops "had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam." And you admitted on television that "yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed."

And for good measure you stated, "(America is) more guilty than any other body, of violations of (the) Geneva Conventions ... the torture of prisoners, the killing of prisoners."

Your "antiwar" statements and activities were painful for those of us carrying the scars of Vietnam and trying to move on with our lives. And for those who were still there, it was even more hurtful. But those who suffered the most from what you said and did were the hundreds of American prisoners of war being held by Hanoi. Here's what some of them endured because of you, John:

Capt. James Warner had already spent four years in Vietnamese custody when he was handed a copy of your testimony by his captors. Warner says that for his captors, your statements "were proof I deserved to be punished." He wasn't released until March 14, 1973.

Maj. Kenneth Cordier, an Air Force pilot who was in Vietnamese custody for 2,284 days, says his captors "repeated incessantly" your one-liner about being "the last man to die" for a lost cause. Cordier was released March 4, 1973.

Navy Lt. Paul Galanti says your accusations "were as demoralizing as solitary (confinement) ... and a prime reason the war dragged on." He remained in North Vietnamese hands until February 12, 1973.

John, did you think they would forget? When Tim Russert asked about your claim that you and others in Vietnam committed "atrocities," instead of standing by your sworn testimony, you confessed that your words "were a bit over the top." Does that mean you lied under oath? Or does it mean you are a war criminal? You can't have this one both ways, John. Either way, you're not fit to be a prison guard at Abu Ghraib, much less commander in chief.

One last thing, John. In 1988, Jane Fonda said: "I would like to say something ... to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of things that I said or did. I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I'm ... very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families."

Even Jane Fonda apologized. Will you, John?

Oliver North is a nationally syndicated columnist, host of the Fox News Channel's War Stories and founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance.

©2004 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

20040827 “Bring it on John” by Oliver North

20040527 POW Congressman Johnson Hanoi Used Kerry Speech

20040527 POW Congressman Johnson Hanoi Used Kerry Speech

POW Congressman: Hanoi Used Kerry Speech, Gore Comments 'Traitorous'

Thursday, May 27, 2004 11:34 a.m. EDT

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/5/27/113857.shtml

POW Congressman: Hanoi Used Kerry Speech, Gore Comments 'Traitorous'

North Vietnamese jailers at the Hanoi Hilton invoked Sen. John Kerry's 1971 anti-war testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to taunt and demoralize U.S. POWs, Vietnam war hero Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, revealed on Wednesday.

Johnson, who spent six years at the infamous prison camp, also called former Vice President Al Gore's remarks yesterday to the radical left-wing group Moveon.org "traitorous."

Asked if he'd heard about Kerry's speech while he was at the Hanoi Hilton, Johnson told WABC Radio's Mark Levin, "Yes, we did."

"[Hanoi Hilton jailers] played stuff on the loudspeaker darn near 24 hours a day - propaganda, of course - telling us about the 'uprisings' in the United States," he said.

A fighter pilot in both Korea and Vietnam, Johnson was shot down on his 87th combat mission in 1966. He spent three and a half of his six POW years in solitary confinement, during which he was repeatedly tortured and had no contact whatsoever with any other American.

A fellow POW Navy captain recalls that Johnson's first words upon being released from solitary were "Lieutenant Colonel Sam Johnson reporting for duty, sir."

Johnson told Levin that his North Vietnamese jailers found the anti-war activities of actress Jane Fonda, who teamed up with Kerry's Vietnam Veterans Against the War in 1970 and '71, to be particularly useful.

"They played her speech to the guys on the front line, where she talked through a loudspeaker and told them to lay down their arms and quit fighting," he recalled. "And John Kerry was part of that anti-war movement."

"He was a Jane Fonda type, if you will," added Johnson, who referred to Kerry on the House floor last month as "Hanoi John." "That's what most of the POWs refer to him as," he explained.

"[Kerry] let the veterans down. When you're in a war you don't go out there badmouthing your fellow soldiers," he noted, referring to Kerry's 1971 speech. "You know, that's a disservice to the veterans."

"Anybody who comes back and works against the best interests of the United States, in my view, doesn't deserve to be president of the United States," the former fighter ace said.

Johnson also weighed in on former Vice President Al Gore's speech to Moveon.org yesterday, where Gore called on top Bush defense and national security officials to resign.

After Levin played a clip from the Gore speech, the Texas Republican was livid, saying that the comments were "as close to being traitorous as I can think of."

"You know what, we're in a war. I think people ought to stop and think about that," Johnson added. "I think that our [soldiers] are doing such a grand job [in Iraq] that they just need to be commended and not slaughtered by traitorous remarks that I just heard."

"Al Gore is no friend of America the way he was talking in those clips you played," he told Levin. "It's just unbelievable to me that anyone would make comments like that about our nation and the war that we're involved in today."

Rep. Johnson's war decorations include two Silver Stars, two Legions of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, one Bronze Star with Valor, two Purple Hearts, four Air Medals and three Outstanding Unit Awards.

He also served as director of the Air Force "Top Gun" Fighter Weapons School.

Editor's note:

 Breaking: The Real Story About John Kerry`s Vietnam Record – Click Here!

19720925 Jane Fonda in North Vietnam transcript

Jane Fonda in North Vietnam transcript

http://www.aiipowmia.com/updates/updt6003.html

19-25 September 1972

June 30, 2003 SEA - Jane Fonda Radio Hanoi Broadcast

The following public domain information is a transcript from the US Congress House Committee on Internal Security, Travel to Hostile Areas, HR 16742, 19-25 September, 1972, page 671.

"This is Jane Fonda. During my two week visit in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, I've had the opportunity to visit a great many places and speak to a large number of people from all walks of life--workers, peasants, students, artists and dancers, historians, journalists, film actresses, soldiers, militia girls, members of the women's union, writers."

http://www.aiipowmia.com/inter23/in300603hanoiradio.html

Re: Jane Fonda Radio Hanoi Broadcast

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: June 30, 2003

"Broadcast Over Radio Hanoi

To American Servicemen Involved In The Indochina War

by Jane Fonda

American Actress, Political Activist

August 22, 1972 - The following public domain information is a transcript from the US Congress House Committee on Internal Security, Travel to Hostile Areas, HR 16742, 19-25 September, 1972, page 671.

This is Jane Fonda. During my two week visit in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, I've had the opportunity to visit a great many places and speak to a large number of people from all walks of life--workers, peasants, students, artists and dancers, historians, journalists, film actresses, soldiers, militia girls, members of the women's union, writers.

I visited the (Dam Xuac) agricultural co-op, where the silk worms are also raised and thread is made. I visited a textile factory, a kindergarten in Hanoi. The beautiful Temple of Literature was where I saw traditional dances and heard songs of resistance. I also saw unforgettable ballet about the guerrillas training bees in the south to attack enemy soldiers. The bees were danced by women, and they did their job well.

In the shadow of the Temple of Literature I saw Vietnamese actors and actresses perform the second act of Arthur Miller's play All My Sons, and this was very moving to me--the fact that artists here are translating and performing American plays while US imperialists are bombing their country.

I cherish the memory of the blushing militia girls on the roof of their factory, encouraging one of their sisters as she sang a song praising the blue sky of Vietnam--these women, who are so gentle and poetic, whose voices are so beautiful, but who, when American planes are bombing their city, become such good fighters.

I cherish the way a farmer evacuated from Hanoi, without hesitation, offered me, an American, their best individual bomb shelter while US bombs fell near by. The daughter and I, in fact, shared the shelter wrapped in each others arms, cheek against cheek. It was on the road back from Nam Dinh, where I had witnessed the systematic destruction of civilian targets-schools, hospitals, pagodas, the factories, houses, and the dike system.

As I left the United States two weeks ago, Nixon was again telling the American people that he was winding down the war, but in the rubble-strewn streets of Nam Dinh, his words echoed with sinister (words indistinct) of a true killer. And like the young Vietnamese woman I held in my arms clinging to me tightly--and I pressed my cheek against hers--I thought, this is a war against Vietnam perhaps, but the tragedy is America's.

One thing that I have learned beyond a shadow of a doubt since I've been in this country is that Nixon will never be able to break the spirit of these people; he'll never be able to turn Vietnam, north and south, into a neo-colony of the United States by bombing, by invading, by attacking in any way. One has only to go into the countryside and listen to the peasants describe the lives they led before the revolution to understand why every bomb that is dropped only strengthens their determination to resist.

I've spoken to many peasants who talked about the days when their parents had to sell themselves to landlords as virtually slaves, when there were very few schools and much illiteracy, inadequate medical care, when they were not masters of their own lives.

But now, despite the bombs, despite the crimes being created--being committed against them by Richard Nixon, these people own their own land, build their own schools--the children learning, literacy--illiteracy is being wiped out, there is no more prostitution as there was during the time when this was a French colony. In other words, the people have taken power into their own hands, and they are controlling their own lives.

And after 4,000 years of struggling against nature and foreign invaders--and the last 25 years, prior to the revolution, of struggling against French colonialism--I don't think that the people of Vietnam are about to compromise in any way, shape or form about the freedom and independence of their country, and I think Richard Nixon would do well to read Vietnamese history, particularly their poetry, and particularly the poetry written by Ho Chi Minh."

---

---

DISCLAIMER: The content of this message is the sole responsibility of the originator. Posting of this message to the POW-MIA InterNetwork© does not show AII POW-MIA endorsement. It is provided so you may make an informed decision. AIIPOWMIAI is not associated in any capacity with any United States Government agency or entity, nor with any non-governmental organization.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only. [Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ]
AII POW-MIA does not endorse any offsite material, organization or individual. For information purposes only.

20020412 President Bill Clinton and the International Criminal Court by Oliver North

President Bill Clinton and the International Criminal Court by Oliver North

Global injustice By Oliver North Friday, April 12, 2002

DULLES, Va. -- On Dec. 3, 1969, Bill Clinton wrote to Col. Eugene Holmes, director of the University of Arkansas ROTC program. In that infamous letter, Clinton stated that he "loathed" the military.

On Dec. 31, 2000, 31 years later -- almost to the day -- Bill Clinton, as commander in chief, proved how much he still loathes America's military by subjecting them to the "justice" of a rogue international court.

On New Year's Eve, just days before boarding Air Force One for the last time with a load of stolen ashtrays and White House towels, Bill Clinton signed the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court (ICC), another unaccountable United Nations bureaucracy that became reality this week.

The ICC claims jurisdiction over cases of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and "the crime of aggression," which the U.N. has never defined.

Although a permanent international court has been the globalists' dream since the end of World War II, it wasn't until widespread violence broke out in places like the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda in the 1990s that Kofi Annan and his cohorts went to work.

In July 1998, the U.N. convened the "United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court" in Rome to form a permanent international tribunal to try individuals for "the most serious offenses of global concern."

Once in motion, their court would claim jurisdiction over every person in the world and grant the ICC prosecutor extraordinary powers and ICC officials lifetime immunity.

Read the rest here: Global injustice By Oliver North Friday, April 12, 2002

19991231 Yeltsin Dec 31 1999 resignation speech

Yeltsin's resignation speech

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6584973.stm

Boris Yeltsin annouced his resignation on the last day of the 20th Century

Russian President Boris Yeltsin's shock resignation speech came in an address on Russian television on 31 December 1999. This is the full text of his speech.

Dear Russians, very little time remains to a momentous date in our history. The year 2000 is upon us, a new century, a new millennium.

We have all measured this date against ourselves, working out - first in childhood, then after we grew up - how old we would be in the year 2000, how old our mothers would be, and our children. Back then it seemed such a long way off to the extraordinary New Year. So now the day has come.

'Contemplated long and hard'

Dear friends, my dears, today I am wishing you New Year greetings for the last time. But that is not all. Today I am addressing you for the last time as Russian president. I have made a decision. I have contemplated this long and hard. Today, on the last day of the outgoing century, I am retiring.

Many times I have heard it said: Yeltsin will try to hold on to power by any means, he won't hand it over to anyone. That is all lies. That is not the case. I have always said that I would not take a single step away from the constitution, that the Duma elections should take place within the constitutional timescale. This has happened.

And likewise, I would have liked the presidential elections to have taken place on schedule in June 2000. That was very important for Russia - we were creating a vital precedent of a civilized, voluntary hand over of power, power from one president of Russia to another, newly elected one.

'We must go'

And yet, I have taken a different decision. I am standing down. I am standing down earlier than scheduled. I have realised that I have to do this. Russia must enter the new millennium with new politicians, new faces, new intelligent, strong and energetic people. As for those of us who have been in power for many years, we must go.

Seeing with what hope and belief people voted during the Duma elections for a new generation of politicians, I understood that I had done the main job of my life. Russia will never return to the past. Russia will now always be moving forward.

I must not stand in its way, in the way of the natural progress of history.

Why holding on to power for another six months, when the country has a strong person, fit to be president, with whom practically all Russians link their hopes for the future today? Why should I stand in his way? Why wait for another six months? No, this is not me, this is not in my character.

'Forgiveness'

Today, on this incredibly important day for me, I want to say more personal words than I usually do. I want to ask you for forgiveness, because many of our hopes have not come true, because what we thought would be easy turned out to be painfully difficult.

I ask to forgive me for not fulfilling some hopes of those people who believed that we would be able to jump from the grey, stagnating, totalitarian past into a bright, rich and civilized future in one go.

I myself believed in this. But it could not be done in one fell swoop. In some respects I was too naive. Some of the problems were too complex. We struggled on through mistakes and failures. At this complex time many people experienced upheavals in their lives. But I want you to know that I never said this would be easy.

Today it is important for me to tell you the following. I also experienced the pain which each of you experienced. I experienced it in my heart, with sleepless nights, agonizing over what needed to be done to ensure that people lived more easily and better, if only a little. I did not have any objective more important than that.

'Not leaving because of my health'

I am leaving. I have done everything I could. I am not leaving because of my health, but because of all the problems taken together.

A new generation is taking my place, the generation of those who can do more and do it better. In accordance with the constitution, as I go into retirement, I have signed a decree entrusting the duties of the president of Russia to Prime Minister Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

For the next three months, again in accordance with the constitution, he will be head of state. Presidential elections will be held in three months time.

I have always had confidence in the amazing wisdom of Russian citizens. Therefore, I have no doubt what choice you will make at the end of March 2000.

In saying farewell, I wish to say to each of you the following. Be happy. You deserve happiness. You deserve happiness and peace.

Happy New Year, happy new century, my dear people.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.