Long story, but someone had an extra ticket to go see him speak at Town Hall in NYC on Thursday, May 25th, and I'm going!

I'M SO EXCITED!

I've never seen him in person before. I know it's old hat for some of you here, but not for me!

:dance: :dance: :dance:

Cool! :clap: :) :D

Good for you!

Enjoy.................Andrew :Y:

Bring a video camera! :good:

I doubt cameras or any kind of recording equipment are allowed. :?:

That's this Thursday, damn I'm jealous. Are you going to ask him the all important big question??? :D

The big question . . . what . . . will you marry me?

Oh, you mean that question. :lol:

I'm sure I won't get the chance, but even if I did, I wouldn't. We've all heard the answer he's giving for now. I wouldn't expect it to change--not for about a year.

We've still got a long wait ahead of us. Let's just ride this wave as far as it'll take us . . .

I love that response, don't some of us wish. :D

Mmm. We won't go there . . . ;)

I'm so thrilled for you, Karen, that you're going! Couldn't happen to anyone more deserving! :clap:

If he doesn't want to marry you (and hey, you're already married), please tell him I'm available. :D
(Oh, phooey, he's married too. Good thing I adore Tipper).

Remember every detail, and be the writer that you are, and tell us EVERYTHING YOU CAN when you get back. All of us are with you in spirit.
Love,
Dinah

Mine eyes have seen the glory . . .

The event was fantastic. While we milled outside waiting to be let into Town Hall, there were two people there from Billionaires for Bush, one obnoxiously holding a champagne glass and the other wearing a black-and-white cowhide cowboy hat and going up to people saying things like, "Global warming is your friend! Aren't you glad we have global warming?" People just looked at them like they were aliens from Mars and ignored them.

Once inside, there was a long wait (it didn't start even close to on-time), but it was such a beautiful hall that it was interesting sitting there waiting in anticipation. Town Hall is a century-old building that was built specifically for the purpose of giving progressive causes a venue for expression, so this was a very appropriate place to hold this panel discussion.

Finally, Chris Anderson, the Editor in Chief of Wired magazine, which hosted the event, came out to introduce Gore. When Gore came out on stage, the applause was thunderous (and this was a relatively small hall), and everyone jumped to their feet to give him a standing ovation. Because it was a small hall, I could see him very well, despite not being that close to the front. His presence on the stage was enormous.

He spoke for about 15 minutes, no notes, no cue cards, and while I know that he's given these talks thousands of times, it was still impressive how smooth he was. He was extremely animated, natural, funny, and endlessly fascinating. He introduced Tipper--she was down in the front row, so when she stood up, all I could see was the back of her pretty blond head, and then he said that, while his own daughters weren't there, Chelsea Clinton was. He gestured to the side of the auditorium, but Chelsea didn't stand, so I couldn't see her. Everyone applauded, though. Then he closed out his introduction, and they went into part of the slide show from "An Inconvenient Truth."

Afterward, the whole panel came out on stage, sitting in living-room style armchairs. The moderator was John Hockenberry, who over the years has been on NBC, ABC, PBS, NPR, and is currently a Contributing Editor for Wired. Also on the panel were Laurie David, Lawrence Bender, and physicisit/astronomer Jim Hansen of NASA, who has been studying climate change since the 1970s.

Hansen gave a brief presentation of the science, which was interesting, but he isn't an especially interesting speaker, particularly in comparison to Gore. When the conversation came back to Al, everyone was again riveted. There's just something about the way he speaks, even in general conversation, that makes it so you have to pay attention--that deep, resonating voice, the gestures, the animated facial expressions.

He spoke at great length about a number of topics, one of which was the need to get back to activism, not only with regard to the climate crisis, but in politics in general. He essentially said that we have drifted away from the activism of the '60s and '70s, when people really cared about issues and worked to effect change. He used the environmental examples of acid rain and the destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer that were occurring in the '70s and '80s. He said people made the difference back then, first of all by stopping the behaviors that were contributing to the problems, and secondly by applying pressure to the government to enact laws that would change the harmful patterns that were contributing to the problems. Smokestack-scrubbers were installed at coal-burning plants to filter out the harmful particulate matter that was drifting eastward from the Ohio Valley and causing the death of lakes and forests. With regard to the ozone layer, chlorinated fluorocarbons were banned and safer alternatives were found. He said we need the same kind of action today, that people need to not only change their own destructive habits but need to apply pressure to the government to enact laws that will have broader-reaching effects. He emphasized repeatedly the effectiveness of, and the need for, grassroots efforts, both regarding climate change and politics. He said that just the people seated in the auditorium that night would be enough to change America if everyone of them went out to work to make change on a national basis. I think that may have been stretching it a bit, but the point was made.

The audience was encouraged to write down questions on cards that were passed up to the front. John Hockenberry sifted through them to pull out the best questions. At one point he said to Gore (paraphrased), "I've had to set aside about half of these," and Gore said, "Oh, questions about me being a candidate," and he chuckled. Everybody applauded, and he held up his hands in a "please, don't."

At the very end, Hockenberry finally asked "the question." Gore gave the usual answer, although he added in something I hadn't heard him say before. He said that, in politics today, candidates are sold via sound bytes and that that's not something he's particularly good at, so he's handicapped. He said what we've heard before, about how he's serving in a different way, he's on a campaign, but not a political campaign, and then Hockenberry failed to do what most news interviewers do, which is ask the next question--"Are you saying never?" So, because he didn't ask that question, the audience was left with the impression that he meant he'd never run again. My husband, who of course has heard all about all this from me for years, even turned to me and said, "That sounds pretty definitive." I waited until we got outside to explain why it wasn't--that he can't say "yes" now because it would weaken the message of the movie and because it would open him up to 2 1/2 years of attacks from the media, in addition to which I think he honestly doesn't know now what he intends to do. And he can't say "no" now because I think it would negatively impact people who planned to go see the movie. It might turn many people off to the point where they wouldn't go when they'd planned to.

So, that was my night. I wanted to get an autographed copy of "Truth" in the lobby, but my husband was rushing to get out, so that was that. And there was no "meet and greet" session afterward. I was prepared to tell Gore that Rodney (blueraider) had said to say "hey," but I didn't get my opportunity.

But one thing Gore is is highly convincing. Even though I've always been green in my habits and beliefs (hence my screenname), I left there convinced that I could and should do more. We all should, and I believe seeing "Truth" on the big screen will convince many people of that.

But I also took home Gore's message of returning to my activist roots, which I'd already started to do anyway. We need to practice activism to make the changes we want, and that includes in politics, not just to get our legislators to enact laws to protect the environment, but to get the politicians in office who will actually serve the American people rather than just protecting corporate interests.

It's time for us to get off our collective butts and get out there and work for the changes we need.

Apparently there was a "meet and greet" session afterward and I missed it because my husband was in such a rush to get out of the theater. :angry:

Personally, I cannot blame your husband for being in a rush to get you out of there. ;)

:lol:

We saw "An Inconvenient Truth" this past Saturday in Dallas. Very impressive. I was a little puzzled as to why the movie covered the 2000 election, but then I thought, perhaps it was to plant in the viewer's mind, "How would things be different if Gore had taken office?"

I'd seen clips of various parts of the movie, but one I had not seen beforehand concerned Antarctica. He showed a portion of the ice shelf that had dissolved into open water, but before that happened, satellite photos of the area showed odd dark specks in that area. Soon, the whole area collapsed into the sea. Those dark specks were pools of water that were ice but had melted. He then moved to Greenland and showed that the same thing appears to be happening there.

Amidst all the hype and distraction, this stuff could really be happening right now, and it's rather scary to contemplate the consequences. Thank goodness someone is harping on it.

See this movie when it comes to your area.

We are really pumped now to see Al when he arrives in Houston on June 7.

I think the point of showing that wasn't political at all. My impression was that it was just one of the many things the film used as defining moments in Gore's life that have brought him to where he is. Certainly things like his son's near-death, his sister's death from lung cancer, and selection 2000 would have a huge impact on him and what he decided to do with his life, and I think that's the main reason that snippet was in there. They didn't dwell on it at all. I really don't think it was put there for political reasons.

It was 1987!

At a lecture the other day they were playing an old news video of Lt. Col. Oliver North testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings during the Reagan Administration.

There was Ollie in front of God and country getting the third degree, but what he said was stunning!

He was being drilled by a senator;

"Did you not recently spend close to $60,000 for a home security system?"

Ollie replied, "Yes, I did, Sir."

The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience

"Isn't that just a little excessive?"

"No, sir," continued Ollie.

"No? And why not?" the senator asked.

"Because the lives of my family and I were threatened, sir."

"Threatened? By whom?" the senator questioned.

"By a terrorist, sir" Ollie answered.

"Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?"

"His name is Osama bin Laden, sir" Ollie replied.

At this point the senator tried to repeat the name, but couldn't pronounce it, which most people back then probably couldn't. A couple of people laughed at the attempt. Then the senator continued.

"Why are you so afraid of this man?" the senator asked.

"Because, sir, he is the most evil person alive that I know of", Ollie answered.







"And what do you recommend we do about him?" asked the senator.

"Well, sir, if it was up to me, I would recommend that an assassin team be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth."

The senator disagreed with this approach, and that was all that was shown of the clip.






By the way, that senator was Al Gore!









Also:
Terrorist pilot Mohammad Atta blew up a bus in Israel in 1986.

The Israelis captured, tried and imprisoned him.

As part of the Oslo agreement with the Palestinians in 1993, Israel had to agree to release so-called "political prisoners."

However, the Israelis would not release any with blood on their hands, The American President at the time, Bill Clinton, and his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, "insisted" that all prisoners be released.



Thus Mohammad Atta was freed and eventually thanked the US by flying an airplane into Tower One of the World Trade Center. This was reported by many of the American TV networks at the time that the terrorists were first identified.
It was censored in the US from all later reports.

Okay, for those who may not know the truth behind this absurd piece of trash that's been circulating the Internet, I have posted below the actual facts this ridiculous garbage comes from: http://www.snopes.com/rumors/north.asp

In a nutshell, for those who don't know or don't want to wade through the whole thing, North never fingered Osama bin Laden (he wasn't even on our radar screens yet), and Gore had nothing whatsoever to do with questioning North because he wasn't on the Senate Subcommittee that grilled North about Iran-Contra. The lies above are all fabricated, and the anti-Gore folks are having a field day writing their trashy lies and posting them as truth. The truth is below:

Claim: During the 1987 Iran-Contra hearings, Oliver North warned Congress that Osama bin Laden was "the most evil person alive" and that "an assassin team [should] be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth."

Status: False.

Example: [Collected via e-mail, 2001]

Remember this?

I was at a UNC lecture the other day where they played a video of Oliver North during the Iran-Contra deals during the Reagan administration. I was only 14 back then but was surprised by this particular clip. There was Olie in front of God and Country getting the third degree. But what he said stunned me. He was being drilled by some senator I didn't recognize who asked him:

'Did you not recently spend close to $60,000 for a home security system?'

Oliver replied, 'Yes I did sir.'

The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience, 'Isn't this just a little excessive?'

'No sir,' continued Oliver.

'No. And why not?'

'Because the life of my family and I were threatened.'

'Threatened? By who.'

'By a terrorist, sir.'

'Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?'

'His name is Osama bin Laden.'

At this point the senator tried to repeat the name, but couldn't pronounce it, which most people back then probably couldn't. A couple of people laughed at the attempt. Then the senator continued.

'Why are you so afraid of this man?'

'Because sir, he is the most evil person alive that I know of.'

'And what do you recommend we do about him?'

'If it were me I would recommend an assassin team be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth.'

The senator disagreed with this approach and that was all they showed of the clip.

It's scary when you think 15 years ago the government was aware of Osama bin Laden and his potential threat to the security of the world. I guess like all great tyrants they start small but if left untended spread like the virus they truly are.

Variations: One of the versions of this item that was circulated concluded with the statement "The senator disagreed with this approach and that was all that was shown of the clip. If anyone is interested, the Senator turned out to be none other than ... Al Gore." (Senator Al Gore of Tennessee was not a member of the United States Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition and therefore did not take part in the questioning of any witnesses before the Committee.)

Origins: For most of us who watched the televised Iran-Contra hearings in 1987 — held by Congress to determine whether the Reagan administration had secretly and illegally sold arms to Iran in order to secure the release of American hostages, then used the profits from those sales to fund the contra rebels in Nicaragua — the enduring image we came away with was a memory of an unapologetic and resolute Lt. Col. Oliver North delivering testimony in a Marine uniform. North, who was a central figure in the plan to secretly ship arms to Iran despite a U.S. trade and arms embargo, and who as a National Security Council aide directed efforts to raise private and foreign funds for the contras despite a Congressional prohibition on U.S. government agencies' providing military aid to the Nicaraguan rebels, testified before Congress under a grant of limited immunity in July 1987, becoming "the darling of the American conservative movement with his earnest, self-justifying testimony during the televised hearings" (or, to the other side, becoming a villain "who lied to Congress to support an illegal
war").

Although North had been granted limited immunity for his testimony, he was later convicted of criminal charges related to Iran-Contra activities (a conviction that was eventually overturned on the grounds that witnesses had been influenced by his immunized testimony). One of the charges against North was that he had received a $16,000 home security system paid for out of the proceeds of the Iran-Contra affair and had forged documents to cover his receipt of an illegal gratuity. North admitted that he knew the security system was a "gift" but maintained he never inquired about who had paid for it or how it was financed, and he was insistent that he needed the security system because the government had failed to provide adequate protection against international terrorists for him and his family.

The terrorist North mentioned in his testimony was not Osama bin Laden, however. To the extent that bin Laden was known to the western world in 1987, it was not as a "terrorist" but as one of the U.S.-backed "freedom fighters" participating in the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden's hatred of the U.S. and conversion to "terrorist" status is not believed to have come about until the Gulf War of 1990-91, when he was outspokenly critical of Saudi Arabian dependence upon the U.S. military and denounced U.S. support of a "corrupt, materialist, and irreligious" Saudi monarchy. (The Saudi Arabian government stripped bin Laden of his citizenship in 1994 for his funding of militant fundamentalist Islamic groups.)

No, Oliver North did not testify about or speak the name Osama bin Laden during the Iran-Contra hearings. He claimed that threats against his life had been made by terrorist Abu Nidal, telling a congressional committee:
I want you to know that I'd be more than willing ... to meet Abu Nidal on equal terms anywhere in the world. There's an even deal for him. OK? But I am not willing to have my wife and my four children meet Abu Nidal or his organization on his terms.
To emphasize his point, North showed the committee a blow-up of a newspaper article detailing the atrocities of Abu Nidal and recalled that an 11-year-old girl named Natasha Simpson, the daughter of an Associated Press news editor, had been gunned down (along with four other Americans) during an attack by an Abu Nidal group on the El Al terminal at the Rome airport in December 1985. North also later claimed that an attempt on his life had been made five months before his congressional testimony at the instigation of Libyan leader Mohmmar Qadaffi:
In February 1987, Muammar Ghadaffi ordered his thugs to carry out a threat made against me in 1986. Thankfully, the FBI intercepted the well-armed perpetrators on the way to our home, and my family and I were sequestered for a time on a military base. The orders from Tripoli were delivered to a terrorist cell in Virginia — at the offices of The People's Committee for Libyan Students.
So no, Oliver North didn't warn us back in 1987 about Osama bin Laden's "potential threat to the security of the world" or suggest that bin Laden be hunted down by "an assassin team," nor was he given the brush-off by a clueless senator "who disagreed with this approach." Eventually, Col. North drafted his own response to this piece of misinformation:
FROM THE DESK OF LTCOL OLIVER L. NORTH (USMC) RET.
NOVEMBER 28, 2001


OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS, I HAVE RECEIVED SEVERAL THOUSAND E-MAILS FROM EVERY STATE IN THE U.S. AND 13 FOREIGN COUNTRIES IN WHICH THE ORIGINATOR PURPORTS TO HAVE RECENTLY VIEWED A VIDEOTAPE OF MY SWORN TESTIMONY BEFORE A CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE IN 1987.

A COPY OF ONE OF THOSE E-MAILS IS ATTACHED BELOW. AS YOU WILL NOTE, THE ORIGINATOR ATTRIBUTES TO ME CERTAIN STATEMENTS REGARDING USAMA BIN LADEN AND OTHER MATTERS THAT ARE SIMPLY INACCURATE. THOUGH I WOULD LIKE TO CLAIM THE GIFT OF PROPHESY, I DON'T HAVE IT.

I DON'T KNOW WHO SAW WHAT VIDEO "AT UNC." (OR ANYWHERE ELSE) BUT, FOR THE RECORD, HERE'S WHAT I DO KNOW:

1. IT WAS THE COMMITTEE COUNSEL, JOHN NIELDS, NOT A SENATOR WHO WAS DOING THE QUESTIONING.

2. THE SECURITY SYSTEM, INSTALLED AT MY HOME, JUST BEFORE I MADE A VERY SECRET TRIP TO TEHRAN, COST, ACCORDING TO THE COMMITTEE, $16K, NOT $60K.

3. THE TERRORIST WHO THREATENED TO KILL ME IN 1986, JUST BEFORE THAT SECRET TRIP TO TEHRAN, WAS NOT USAMA BIN LADEN, IT WAS ABU NIDAL (WHO WORKS FOR THE LIBYANS — NOT THE TALIBAN AND NOT IN AFGHANISTAN).

4. I NEVER SAID I WAS AFRAID OF ANYBODY. I DID SAY THAT I WOULD BE GLAD TO MEET ABU NIDAL ON EQUAL TERMS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD BUT THAT I WAS UNWILLING TO HAVE HIM OR HIS OPERATIVES MEET MY WIFE AND CHILDREN ON HIS TERMS.

5. I DID SAY THAT THE TERRORISTS INTERCEPTED BY THE FBI ON THE WAY TO MY HOUSE IN FEB. 87 TO KILL MY WIFE, CHILDREN AND ME WERE LIBYANS, DISPATCHED FROM THE PEOPLE'S COMMITTEE FOR LIBYAN STUDENTS IN MCLEAN, VIRGINIA.

6. AND I DID SAY THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAD MOVED MY FAMILY OUT OF OUR HOME TO A MILITARY BASE (CAMP LEJEUNE, NC) UNTIL THEY COULD DISPATCH MORE THAN 30 AGENTS TO PROTECT MY FAMILY FROM THOSE TERRORISTS (BECAUSE A LIBERAL FEDERAL JUDGE HAD ALLOWED THE LYBIAN ASSASSINS TO POST BOND AND THEY FLED).

7. AND, FYI: THOSE FEDERAL AGENTS REMAINED AT OUR HOME UNTIL I RETIRED FROM THE MARINES AND WAS NO LONGER A "GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL." BY THEN, THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT HAD SPENT MORE THAN $2M PROTECTING THE NORTH FAMILY. THE TERRORISTS SENT TO KILL US WERE NEVER RE-APPREHENDED.

SEMPER FIDELIS,
OLIVER L. NORTH
In mid-2002, the "Oliver North warned us about Osama" falsity was twinned in e-mail with another wildly popular Internet muddling, the "We freed Mohammed Atta" claim. Like its North counterpart, the Atta story was largely false.

And, with this latest infiltration of offensive sewage into our community, I AM TURNING OFF GUEST-POSTING ALTOGETHER.

NO MORE POSTS FOR YOU!