Pat Shannan's MUSINGS
What If They Held an Election and Nobody Came?
Throughout the whole course of history of this once-great nation, has there ever been an election year when Americans had a worse choice of the lesser of two evils? Oh, where have you gone Pat Paulson, now that we need you? This would have been your year, buddy!
At one end of the spectrum, the alleged right, we have the Junior Godfather and heir apparent to the Bush Crime Family. And from far out in left field, it's the brain-addled Yalee and former roommate of actor Tommy Lee Jones who apparently spent more time at the tables down at Morey's than in the classroom. Personally, I think Jones would make a better president than either of them. He and a few million other Americans. Are these two imposters really the best that we can find? Let's hope they both lose. What if they held an election and nobody came?
My Dream Ticket
Hey! What about Alan Keyes and David Duke together on an independent ticket? Let's face it. The two speak with ten times the truth and logic than all of those other clowns put together. Of course, Duke will never shake the media label of "former Klansman," just as that ever-liberal press will issue a preface-tag to everyone who tends to jeopardize the power structure with too much truth. Will Randy Weaver ever be mentioned again without the "white supremacist" tag? Remember "Panamanian strongman" Manuel Noriega? "Conspiracy theorist" Jim Garrison?
Okay, so it is time for us in the alternative press to counter. We could start with . . . infamous liar Bill Clinton (or maybe "Nose-like-a-vacuum-cleaner"); convicted felon Web Hubbell; former pot smoker Al Gore; and reformed drunk and admitted cocaine sniffer George W. Bush. This could really be fun, but back to the so-called election at hand.
Since typing the tongue-in-cheek "Dream Ticket" scenario above, I am really amusing myself with the turmoil the establishment news media would be thrown into, wrestling with this coalition. I think a third party candidacy of Alan Keyes and David Duke would not only be refreshing and entertaining to the public but would drive the liberal news media batty! All stigmas aside, these two guys have spoken more truth in the last six months than the others have in their whole lifetimes. Think of it! Suddenly, Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather would be forced to listen to two very educated men from the so-called radical right espousing more wisdom than the liberals could counter. They would also see that neither hates the other and both are approaching issues from the law rather than a majority opinion. What would the NAACP and Jesse Jackson do, sit mute? And can't you see Sam Donaldson in an interview, struggling along and asking, . . I don't know. Just what could he ask, without risking truth exposure? Well, I can dream, can't I? After all, I am just musing.
On A More Serious Note
It's the year of the legacies. If little Georgie goes in, we can count on the senior Godfather spending more time in the White House directing Junior than he ever did when he was actually president. We can look for more illegal, welfare-seeking immigrants crashing our borders, Iran/Contra-like shenanigans, foreign wars when politically correct, and an ever-expanding domestic police state. And if the son of the business partner of notorious communist Armand Hammer stumbles in, count on more giveaways to minorities and a giant socialistic left foot forward. Is a totalitarian tyranny by any other name really anything different?
The liberal press has had its fun the past few months harping on the ignorance of G. Dubya, while ignoring the buffoonery of its own favorite clown. But in fact, some of the public statements uttered in all sincerity by Algore make the previous Republican whipping boy Dan Quayle come off as magna cum laude; while Albert is more Lawdy, how come! Get a load of the brilliance of our exalted vice president. Be energized to a standing ovation for his wisdom! Be astonished by his cogent logic!
"Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, & water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe." --Vice President Al Gore, 8/11/94 (Is Al saying that he is ready to volunteer for the next available flight?)
"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it." (Thanx for clearing that up, Al.)
"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." (And always remember: Wherever you go, that's where you are.)
"Welcome to President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, and my fellow astronauts." (Al often flew into the stratosphere after a few puffs, imagining he was en route to Mars)
"The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century." -- Vice President Al Gore, 9/15/95 (Just when did you live, Al? Are you living now or just haunting us as a ghost of Christmas past?)
"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'." --Vice President Al Gore, 12/6/93 (Math was not his best subject. But then neither was public speaking.)
"Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things." (You got that right.)
"The future will be better tomorrow." --Vice President Al Gore11/30/96 (Yes, and the past was worse yesterday, if you believe the re-writes)
"People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history." (And this is really what bothers us the most about your candidacy.)
"We're going to have the best-educated American people in the world." --Vice President Al Gore, 9/21/97 (The current public fool system can't even produce the best-educated American people in Dekalb County, Georgia - See below)
"It's time for the human race to enter the solar system." (For what?)
"I stand by all the misstatements that I've made." --Vice President Al Gore to Sam Donaldson, 8/17/93 (Attaboy, Al. Show your spunk. Don't back down now!)
"I am not part of the problem. I am a Democrat." (Oh, of course. This gives you the stamp of cachet from Valhalla.)
"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls." (Well, I'll be darned. Nobody ever clarified it for me that way. Thanx, Al.)
"When I have been asked who caused the riots and the killing in L.A., my answer has been direct & simple: Who is to blame for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings? The killers are to blame. (Well, I'll be darned. Nobody ever clarified it for me that way. Thanx, Al.)
"For NASA, space is still a high priority." -- Vice President Al Gore, 9/5/93 (Well, I'll be darned. Nobody ever clarified it for me that way. Thanx, Al.)
"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children." --Vice President Al Gore, 9/18/95 (Well, I'll be darned.. . . Oh never mind.)
"As many of you know, I was very instrumental in the founding of the Internet" -- AL Gore to Katie Couric 3/99 (And don't you curse the day you did that! But a few million truth seekers would like to thank you.)
On April 11th, the Boston Globe outlined more of the vice president's deceptive tactics: ". . . Gore's claim that he grew up in Carthage, Tenn., when he was reared in a Washington hotel suite; his exaggeration of his farming background; his statements, later debunked, that he had been under fire in Vietnam and that his investigative reporting at the Tennessean in Nashville in the 1970s had sent people to jail; his claim to have been schooled in rural Tennessee and urban Washington, when he was educated at an elite private school in the capital; and his insistence that he had been a homebuilder and small businessman when he had minimal involvement in a small Tennessee subdivision."
In one 1988 ad, Gore claimed to have been a ''brilliant student,'' but that has been contradicted by the record. Gore's transcripts show that his high school and college grades were predominantly B's and C's. The same campaign ad also said Gore ''refused any special treatment'' when he joined the Army for two years and went to Vietnam, where he spent five months. Yet Newsweek reporter Bill Turque discovered evidence that General William C. Westmoreland played some role in Gore's enlistment. And when Gore arrived in Vietnam, Turque reports, his commanding officer issued instructions that Gore be kept away from danger.
Attack On Gritz Fails It was good news to hear that Bo Gritz and Sheldon Robinson were acquitted of all charges by that jury in Connecticut. (See March cover story) An out-of-control prosecutor was thwarted, and considering the full scope of circumstances, I would have been applauding the verdict even if the defendants had been Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Dahmer. (Well, at least Jeffrey Dahmer.) At best this was a thought crime with no victim - far more dangerous to our liberties than the newly discovered "Hate Crime Syndrome" permeating our society, which no one can even define. Prosecutor John Malone's case was a cheap shot - an attempt to imprison one more American who had climbed too high on the Soapbox of Truth.
The Gritz case stank. And even if someday Bo confides that indeed he actually was trying to spirit away those kids, we should not condemn him for obeying a higher law. Let us remember that his motivation would not have been to hold the children for ransom but rather to protect them from what he believed was sexual abuse. If we see a child drowning in a city pond where there is a sign posted "No Swimming," do we refuse to dive in to save the child out of fear of violating the city statute?
But there may be foreboding piece of bad news accompanying this story, as well. Militia of Montana leader John Trochman believed that Gritz had been duped by a wily woman, Linda Weigand, and that she was the real culprit. For years he has charged that Bo, after being presented the facts, simply had too much ego to admit that he had been taken in on a sham. Trochman may be right, but the jury is still out on that one.
Jerry Gillespie, former business partner and confidante of Gritz, appeared to be crying over sour grapes. While it seems that he has a legitimate gripe about financial losses while employed by Bo and Claudia Gritz, this can never justify shaking hands with the devil by testifying for the prosecution in such a draconic "legal" proceeding. This dangerous precedent of coercing neighbor to snitch on a neighbor for the benefit of the State is reminiscent of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
Both Trochman and Gillespie emphasize that they went to Connecticut because they were subpoenaed for trial. Gillespie says that he was threatened by the local sheriff with being "hauled away in chains" to Connecticut, if he didn't cooperate. But if they really believed in the power of that impotent subpoena, each was as foolish a sucker for the judiciary as they accuse Gritz of being for Wiegand. The State of Connecticut (and every other state) has no such subpoena powers outside of its own borders. The subpoena was a bluff, and Gillespie might have recovered his alleged losses and a whole lot more from the State of Arizona had he forced Sheriff Bonehead to carry out his threats.
Say What? Atlanta talk show host Neal Boortz reports on YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK:
Have you had to conduct any business with any local governments lately? Did you come away with any confidence that the government employees you had encountered actually knew what they were doing?
Now, I know there are exceptions. But those exceptions are growing rare. The sad fact is that the vast majority of government employees are making more [money] working for the taxpayers than they could possibly earn in the private sector. And just why is that? Because they're poorly educated; they lack basic entry-level job skills and they are incapable of coherent communication in the English language.
Case in point:
A listener tells me of an e-mail inquiry to the DeKalb County Probate Court. The person wanted to know whether or not a minister from out-of-state had to obtain any special licenses or sign any documents in order to perform a marriage in Dekalb County. Here is the response that person got from the DeKalb Probate Court:. (Note from Shannan: You may have to attempt to read it several times, but we have reprinted it exactly the way it was written.)
"About you question, anyone from any state can come and performed you ceremony longest they ordained or have license to married people, they ok. There are no need to show or ask for any kind of paper they don't need anything just sing the marriage license itself. I hope this help you. If you have any question please call us. At 404-371-xxxx."
This person isn't qualified to utter the phrase "would you like french fries with that?" fifty times a day, let alone work in a responsible position in a government office being paid with taxpayer dollars. A product of our government schools. I guarantee it.
We are a nation of confused fools. Why shouldn't we elect a fool to lead us? Recently, I received an audio tape recording of a Sunday sermon by a Presbyterian minister in Florida. It was an ear-tickling, stem-winding, patriotic sermon about how the nation was founded - with particular emphasis on the separation of church and state - that would make any listener be proud to be an American. "We have always had separation of church and state in this great nation," he said from his 501(c)(3) pulpit, completely unaware that he had personally relinquished that freedom when he stuck his neck in the corporate noose. A few bureaucrats lied to the church leaders three decades ago about the need to incorporate in order to secure tax deductions for all the donations by church members. In all their great wisdom, none of the elders or deacons had the foresight to look a few lines deeper in the statute and see that the churches already had a tax exemption anyway. urt of Appea