An Open Letter to Rush, Laura I., Michelle M., Mike Gallagher, Glenn Beck, and friends...

First, let me say thank you for your efforts to inject some spine into our public officials this week. You were all correct about this bailout, as were the vast majority of Freepers here on little ol FreeRepublic. We almost pulled off the upset. But as usual, the 'conservative' punditry was split along familiar lines.

The Fred Barneses, Hewitts, Medveds, and the National Review ladies were all pimping the bailout, providing much needed cover for some House Republicans (and democrats) to suddenly see the merits of adding another 150 Billion in pet projects to the $700B socialist card trick Secretary Paulson pulled out of his bloomers last week.

We were defeated, despite valiant efforts. I can hear the anger and frustration in your voices and read it in your written words. The scorn you are heaping onto Washington, dems and GOPers alike, is absolutely justified. I can't even write how I really feel about these traitors to capitalism. No website or forum would tolerate my crude remarks.

However, I would like you to take special note of one Duncan Hunter. Yes, you remember him. Retiring ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee; that deep voiced, serious conservative that coined the term "Kennedy Wing of the Republican party" - referring to several of his 2008 presidential primary rivals. Yes, that guy.

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that Mr. Hunter voted no monday, and once again today. Mr Hunter, in so doing pointed out what should have been obvious and determinant about the so called 'bailout'. Quote: “Instead of doing what is right, Congress pushed forward a plan that, at its core, is no different than what Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson initially proposed. Now, after already bailing out several financial institutions, costing taxpayers billions of dollars, Secretary Paulson will have access to a new and significantly larger line of credit to bailout more Wall Street investors. I believe this is the wrong approach to addressing the condition of our economy and the failures of our banking system."

Hunter also told the San Diego Union Tribune that the "sweeteners" only reinforced his opposition, adding that this boondoggle "brings us one step closer to a nationalized economy".

Now Congressman Hunter was not the only Republican to oppose this bill. There were quite a few. But those quite a few did not include Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo or John McCain. Is it starting to flicker yet?

BTW, Hunter also voted NAY on the recent massive energy bill....the one with all the global warming nonsense and the ban of incandescent lightbulbs. The one that passed overwhelmingly.

And if you recall recent history, Hunter teamed with Jim Sensenbrenner to beat back the Kennedy wing of the party and the dems - led by John McCain - that tried mightily to close Gitmo and end the "torture" of waterboarding.

You may also have vague recollections of an utterly retarded and anti-American Amnesty bill. We all fought it tooth and nail from the outside. But no single politician was more responsible for its defeat than Duncan Hunter. And despite plenty of lip service given during our recently completed primary, only one man said what he meant, and did what he said, in the ongoing struggle to defeat the Republicrats illegal alien coddling for the past 25 years.

And I want to give you a friendly reminder, as you read all the recent and coming articles about China's malfeasance, espionage, dangerous military growth, advanced weapons systems made with US technology, and intellectual property piracy. Duncan Hunter has been calling China out by name and leader for the past 15 years, giving dire warnings of what was to come if we trusted them and sold them advanced technology. The story will only get hotter in the coming months. Too bad we didn't listen to the only rock ribbed anti-communist still in government.

And finally, there was only one candidate running in our primary who played a crucial role in the development of our Missile defense systems, only one that has advocated and actually built border fencing for the past 20 years, only one who wants to re-invigorate US manufacturing by eliminating ALL taxes on US firms who manufacture within our borders, only one who was against the Law of the Sea Treaty in Reagan's day and continues his virulent opposition today, only one whose military expertise even surpasses that of John McCain, only one who sees global warming as nothing but Algorian alramism, only one who has been absolutely convinced for 28 years in Congress that energy independence is a vital strategic necessity, only one who would would scare the bejesus not only out of the terror masters - but also out of the chicoms and Putineskas, and only one man who each of you would admit would make the best damn Commander in Chief available.

Toss in 100% conservative on the 2nd Amendment, on property rights, on the life of the unborn, on "political corrctness", and folks, we have a leader.

I only bring this up, because in 2012, it will be crucial for conservatives to get it right, for the survival of our Republic as we know it. We are going to barely hang on for the next 4 years no matter who wins. So please, guys, next time use your heads, and quit playing the impartial observer. Read up on the differences between the records. And for crap sake, read you emails from me telling you these things. Otherwise, we get what we get. And today is a prime example of the shit we can get when that happens.

Might I add that we Hunter supporters were lambasted due to his low name recognition, by the same people who now fawn over Sarah Palin because of her name recognition. But most of them had never heard of her, and it proves our contention that it is the process that brings name recognition. I know that’s true because I had not heard of Obama before this campaign.

Second, note how the MSM has jumped the shark in its frenzied treatment of Palin. It has gotten to the point that articles that are obvious hit pieces are generating more followers for her because Middle America knows that what is written simply ain’t so, and by such elitist based criticism the MSM criticizes Middle America. We Hunter supporters knew that this media frenzy would ensue the moment a republican was nominated, with the media turning on whomever the GOP candidate would be. This frenzy seemed to catch McCain off guard, suggesting that it was not a part of his campaign strategy. Hunter supporters KNEW it would happen and sought to INDUCE this frenzy.

Third, recall that Hunter was the only candidate in US History to ever get NOT Invited to a series of debates when he had delegates (voters actually voted for him) to his name whereas several of the ones who were invited had no delegates to their name. The GOP allowed POLLS conducted by the MSM to determine the process rather than ACTUAL VOTES.

Question:

"Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States Betrayed Its Own POWs In Vietnam"

Monika Jensen-Stevenson & William Stevenson

This book is about a devastating American scandal. In Kiss the Boys Goodbye, two award-winning journalists provide startling evidence that the American government, right up to its highest echelons, knows, and has always known, that American POWs were left behind at the end of the war. More amazingly, it has regularly obstructed the efforts of private citizens to discover the truth.

Monika Jensen-Stevenson, Emmy award-winning producer of CBS-TV's 60 Minutes, and her husband, William Stevenson, author of the best-selling A Man Called Intrepid, have written a heartbreaking account of men sacrificed to American foreign policy and to clandestine operations—some of them highly questionable—concealed from the American public and its elected representatives.

The story began in 1985, when Jensen-Stevenson was developing a segment for 60 Minutes on ex-marine Bobby Garwood, who escaped from Vietnam in 1979 and claimed to have seen countless Americans still in captivity. He claimed, also, to have been a prisoner of war, but the government disagreed and convicted him—with surprising haste—of collaboration with the enemy, burying his story of prisoners along with his reputation. As she examined Garwood's case more closely, Jensen-Stevenson found herself drawn into a world of secret information, anonymous sources, official obstruction, missing files, censored testimony, and thinly veiled threats from highly placed government officials. She met with veterans, families of missing men, disillusioned and outraged government officers—who shared with her the information and documents they had gathered painstakingly over the years. Thus began a five-year investigation that produced some eye-opening revelations about the government's abuse of power and secrecy.

Not only does Kiss the Boys Goodbye reveal evidence of men abandoned and families torn apart, but it raises larger questions that strike at the very heart of democracy. When honorable men and women who ask questions are ignored, ridiculed, or persecuted by their own government, whom is that government serving? When a government uses the cry of "national security" to conceal facts from the public, how can the actions of that government be assessed, and to whom is it answerable? Is there, in fact, a "secret government" of intelligence bureaucrats running the country? Reading this explosive book will forever change the way you view the Vietnam War, the Americans who fought in it, and the government that betrayed them.

MONIKA JENSEN-STEVENSON is a former magazine editor who started her career in TV journalism in Canada as a reporter and producer for CTV. In 1981, she moved to CBS-TV's 60 Minutes as a staff producer, and worked there for six years. She won a Gold medal for Best TV Documentary at the New York International Film and TV Festival for one of her CTV productions and an Emmy for her mini-documentary "In the Belly of the Beast." She writes regularly for the Toronto Star.

WILLIAM STEVENSON first encountered the Far East as a Royal Navy fighter pilot and re-turned to Asia at the outbreak of the Korean War as a correspondent for the Toronto Star, later traveling for the Star in China and South-east Asia and covering the final French defeat in Vietnam. He is the author of A Man Called Intrepid and Ninety Minutes at Entebbe, and his television credits include a period as staff producer and co-host with Alistair Burnett of Dateline, ITV's nightly news program from London, and one as correspondent and producer for CBC-TV.

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