Courage, and the lack of it

Boston Globe ^ | May 3, 2009 | Jeff Jacoby

[MartinaMisc]

ARLEN SPECTER would never have made it into "Profiles In Courage." Unlike the senators described in John F. Kennedy's book - men who remained true to their principles, even when it meant paying a steep political price - Specter has never been celebrated for his backbone.

Forty-odd years ago, Specter abandoned the Democrats in order to win election to Congress as a Republican; five days ago, he abandoned the Republicans in order to win reelection as a Democrat. As he announced his defection, he all but admitted that he was acting out of naked expediency. "I have . . . surveyed the sentiments of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania and public opinion polls," he told reporters, "and have found that the prospects for winning a Republican primary are bleak." According to a new poll, only 30 percent of Pennsylvania Republicans were supporting Specter's renomination, while 51 percent favored his conservative rival.

When Vermont Senator James Jeffords defected from the GOP in 2001, Specter blasted his perfidy, and said senators should be barred from changing parties in midsession. As recently as two weeks ago, he assured voters that he wouldn't do such a thing. Asked whether he might consider running as an independent or Democrat, Specter staunchly replied: "I am a Republican and I am going to run on the Republican ticket in the Republican primary."

But if Specter is no profile in courage, there are others in the public eye who are, as two admirable American women have recently reminded us.

Carrie Prejean and Mary Ann Glendon could hardly seem more dissimilar. Prejean is a 21-year-old California beauty queen and model; Glendon is a Harvard law professor and a former US ambassador to the Vatican.

[DeaconRed]

Arlin will take his toys and go home.

[Bernard]

When is anybody in the media going to give credit to George W. Bush for saving Arlen Spector’s career in 2004? If W had not supported Arlen in the primary, Pat Toomey would probably have been the Republican candidate for Senator that year.

[Yorlik803]

He would probilty wait to see where is going before he switches sides....again.

[Stepan12]

There is no justice.

Anyone remember that murderer of Holly Madison called "the Unicorn"?

The murderer and founder of "Earth Day" was let out on bail and, then, fled to France thanks to Arlen Spector.

People have forgotten it, but I haven't.

Spector started out his political career as a slime and ended it that way. Holly Madison's family had to wait long long years for partial justice as Eichlor (sp) cannot be executed.

[wally_bert]

At least not on this side.

It is amazing how worthless people like Specter, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Jane Fonda, Barney Frank (to name only a very few) get away with anything and everything. What is just as amazing is the number of sheeple that applaud these criminals.

[RU88]

Specter and principles are like hot dogs and ketchup. Natural law (not Scottish) dictates that the two shall never meet. This scumbag wouldn't know what a principle was if it walked up and hit him in the face.

[RipSawyer]

Who are you referring to? According to internet sources Sen. Gaylord Nelson was the founder of Earth Day.

[Bernard]

And, the slogan of the Tea Party should be, “No representation without taxation.” The only way to control government spending is to make us all responsible for paying the bill. Deficit spending will be the downfall.

[mkjessup]

You're thinking of Ira Einhorn, the dirty hippie who murdered Holly Maddux in 1977. Einhorn hid the body in a trunk in his apartment for a year and a half, and only after neighbors started complaining about the odor, did cops discover Holly's decomposed body in Einhorn's apartment.

Enter Arlen Specter.

Our 'expert' on Scottish law was not only happy to defend that piece of sh*t, he coordinated with local celebrities and worked his connections to get Einhorn's bail set at a ridiculously low $40,000. Barbara Bronfman (heir to Seagram's liquor) paid the bail.

As you might suspect, the murdering scumbag skipped out before the trial even began.

In the interim, it later was discovered that Bronfman (Einhorn's bail buddy) had been sending cash to Einhorn in Europe on a regular basis, Bronfman and Einhorn it turned out, had a common interest in the paranormal (which made it all ok I'm sure).

Einhorn was captured in France 16 years later, and after a fuklotta legal maneuvers (Einhorn had been living under an alias with a new swedish girlfriend), Einhorn was finally extradited to Pennsylvania in 2001. He was given a new trial (part of the arrangement the French demanded in order to agree to extradition), was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

And it shouldn't surprise anyone that part of Einhorn's defense was that he was 'framed' by rogue elements of the CIA. Holly Maddux's parents died before Einhorn was finally captured, they died believing that Einhorn had beaten the system.

I'm sure they know now, that Arlen Specter's buddy was finally brought to justice although he should have been executed with extreme prejudice.

Here's the scumbag right here:

Rot in Hell, Einhorn.

[fleagle]

All I can say is wow. That’s a great editorial. Thanks for posting.

[Wpin]

“Spector could have retired and faded away. Now his legacy will be finalized with this selfish move.”

This is what will be remembered of him...kind of like Benedict Arnold who did a lot of good things before his betrayal. Specter will go down in history for his cowardice and betrayal to the people who gave him a long career.

[Safrguns]

Seems like there's someone else who sees the commonality in these two women.

lol... we should welcome him to the "clueless bafoon" club.

[mad_as_he$$]

” Humans meet the final judge in the end. I am not the final judge; God is the final judge. My job is too arrange the meeting as soon a possible.” Unknown US Marine.

[Stepan12]

Earth Day's dirty little secret (excerpts from the link:

"On this, the 36th anniversary of Earth Day, it is only fitting to speak of one of its founders, Ira Einhorn.

You won't find Ira Einhorn's name listed in any of the Earth Day promotional literature, as the organizers have taken great pains to distance themselves from this man, at least since he became better known for composting his girlfriend in a trunk in his closet for a couple of years in the late 1970s.

Earth Day organizers and publicists don't want to have anything to do with Ira these days. Since he was convicted of murder, he hasn't been very useful to them. But that wasn't always the case. In 1970, during the first Earth Day event, which was televized throughout the globe, Ira Einhorn was on stage as master of ceremonies.

Or so he claims, and it seems likely that he was.

A friend and contemporary of Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, and acquaintance of authors Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsburg, Timothy Leary, Alvin Toffler, and Isaac Asimov, Einhorn held the floor for a half hour, during the first Earth Day celebration, in Philadelphia, kissing Edmund Muskie on the lips before surrendering the microphone to the Senator from Maine. There is no evidence that Muskie rejected his advances, or that anyone associated with the event had ever voiced any disagreement with Einhorn's place as a key organizer until after his arrest for the murder of Holly Maddux.

Ira Einhorn knew all of the right people. Executives from Sun Oil and AT&T showered him with support, financial and otherwise. Ira Einhorn was the man who could make Earth Day happen as, it seems, he did, denials notwithstanding."

SNIP

"Today, we celebrate Earth Day, sacrosanct, proclaimed by none other than our Republican President George Bush, and every president since 1975, when President Ford first proclaimed and urged observance of Earth Day on the March equinox.

We're living in a time where wacky is in, and life doesn't mean very much.

While it is likely that Einhorn's violent history is not shared by other Earth Day founders, the observance is nevertheless bizarre.

Underlying the themes of Earth Day is a call for mankind to align itself with nature, and against itself, enlisting human beings to take part in a battle that seeks to place humanity under the control of an enlightened elite, one that values the interests of nature above that of people.

The process of our destruction is termed sustainable development, a destructive scheme that is in direct opposition to Christianity, which holds that man is to have dominion over nature, which is given to us for our use.

Ira Einhorn took the life of one woman, while the movement that he had a hand in founding seeks to steal the life from all of us."