Part I: Money Laundering 101 by AMG

Forgive the delay in posting.  We have been making sure that we have everything in order before delving into AMG’s extensive past of money laundering via a non-profit in her home state of  California called Support Our POW/MIAs.   This group, was organized to “… be used for the collection of POW/MIA information through interviews with indigenous forces in anticipation that such information will lead to the location and potential return of live hostages and or the remains of Americans who died or were killed in Southeast Asia.”

The officers were:

George Bartles, President

Errol Q. Bond, Sr., Vice President

Betty Bartels, Secretary & Treasurer

Collen Lucas, Director

Diane Collins, Director

You can find their 1981 Non-profit Tax return here: Support_Our_POW_MIAs_1981_Tax_Return

This group kept in regular contact with AMG via phone calls on a regular basis with updates on the amount of donations that had come in, from whom and then large “donations” as well.  Additionally, per instructions from AMG and Carol Bates at the NLF Office, Support Our POW MIAs sent various amounts of funds to places in the US and abroad (Thailand for example).  AMG may not have been aware but Treasurer Betty Bartles documented not just donations but also calls from both AMG and CB instructing her where to send the money and to whom.  (Update: A reader emailed asking if Carol Bates would have already been employed at DIA at the time this money laundering was taking place.  If anyone knows, please let us know.)

Here are some 16 pages of notes and communications between AMG, CB and Betty Bartels Communication_Records_between_AMG,_CB_and_Betty_Bartles

We hope you paid special attention to the last page of the previous document collection.  That was where things began to get interesting.   When Support Our POW MIAs was bringing in thousands of dollars annually to be used, quite often, as AMG dictated, things may have gotten a little too comfortable.  As you saw in the last page of the previous document link, the Vice President, the officer who was signing the annual tax returns started asking questions, questions that AMG didn’t want to answer.

On October 15, 1985 Support Our POW MIAs’ VP, Errol Q. Bond, Sr. resigned his post and left a resignation letter that would have made Col. Millard A. Peck proud.   Here is Bond’s letter of resignation.  Errol_Q_Bond_Resignation_as_VP_Support_of_POW_MIAs

This was the beginning of the end for AMG and CB’s money laundering gig.   Yet, as we all know, AMG always has a back-up plan … Expect to see that tomorrow afternoon.

While AMG has vehemently denied any involvement with the distribution of the monies of this California non-profit, the evidence is clear that she used all of these people for her own agenda and when things started to go bad, she did what she does best.

Support Our POW/MIAs would lose their non-profit status in the year following Bond’s resignation.

What does Ann Mills-Griffiths Really Know? Part II

Our apologies for not posting about the Foundation for Tomorrow scandal just yet, that will have to wait for tomorrow.  We found a few more really interesting and insightful documents that must see the light of day.

The first, without a doubt, simply stands on its own merits.    It is a communication on League letterhead asking for donations for the NLF, yet the entire letter is in the first person singular.  Apparently, AMG considers herself a one woman show.  Read here:  AMG I wanna talk about ME!

The second is an exchange of letters between AMG, Dermot Foley, then NLF Counsel and Earl Hopper, then Chair of the NLF.  In short, Mr. Foley made a comment about AMG at a status review hearing with DIA over the POW/MIA case for Earl, Jr.  Someone at DIA, ignoring the parameters of the closed meeting, leaked the comment to AMG.  The following pages are a series of letters that show again, the narcissistic character of AMG.  Read here: AMG tipped off by USG on statements in closed hearing

Next we have the Assistant Secretary of Defense, after being made aware of a letter from a Mrs. Sullivan (who was requesting that the NLF Board received a report at the end of every POW/MIA technical talk with Vietnam) responded to Mrs. Sullivan’s letter by writing to AMG, not Mrs. Sullivan.  Additionally, there is no mention, reference or cc of this correspondence to the NLF Board.   Does the USG not understand that AMG works for the Board and the Families?  They seem to have erroneously given AMG the impression that she IS the POW/MIA issue. Read here: Mrs Sullivan letter reply sent to AMG

The next document is our personal favorite.  Doris Zimmerman, a parliamentarian consultant, after attending the 1986 NLF Annual Meeting, had this almost hilarious professional review of the NLF’s adherence to Robert’s Rules of Parliamentary Procedures.  This one is a must read. Read here: NLF and Parliamentary Procedure

Lastly, which is a perfect introduction to the Foundation for Tomorrow piece that will run tomorrow, this series of communications between AMG and the then Chair of the NLF, Charles Walker, outlines AMG’s almost salacious need to leave everyone with the impression that she is “in the know.”  This lack of self-control apparently may have put a rescue mission of live POWs in jeopardy in 1981.  Read here: AMG potentially foils a POW rescue mission

Thank you for reading and please check in tomorrow afternoon for the beginning of the Foundation for Tomorrow scandal.  After you read these documents you will wonder how AMG managed to stay out of prison.

What does Ann Mills-Griffiths Really Know? Part I

Thank you for your patience, we have received several emails asking why there was no post from yesterday.  We had some technical issues that needed to get sorted out and are now all set.   Just as an aside, the posts over the past few days have received over 550 reads – THANK YOU!

Before we forget – from an earlier post that referred to the Secrecy Agreement with DIA; here is the standard secrecy agreement of the day that AMG most likely signed.  AMG has never made her signed agreement public.  AMG Secrecy Agreement

Today we are going to take a look at a few documents that clearly show AMG’s narcissistic nature and her obvious belief that her role in the POWMIA issue was/is her personal playground.  You will read correspondence that shows AMG’s communications with League members as being her thoughts and beliefs, not those of the organization.  The Board of Directors at the time felt it was necessary to communicate with the membership to let them know that AMG was publishing the League’s newsletters without clearing them with the Board first and that she was offering up her personal opinions and beliefs disguising them as the League’s.

Read here: Col Hopper re Newsletters not from B of Dir

The next document shows proof that AMG knew the truth about the Tomb of the Unknown and to protect the US Government, she kept the truth from the League Board and the League membership (and the Blassie Family)  to, most likely, maintain her alliances within the Government in tact.  It was Ted Sampley, a Vietnam Veteran, who pieced together the evidence that finally brought to light the truth about the remains that were buried in the Tomb of the Unknown.  The simple chronology of the voice messages that AMG left on the League’s answering machine clearly show that she was attempting to protect the Government after they knowingly put the remains of  who they thought was Lt. Michael Blassie, in the Tomb of the Unknown in Arlington National Cemetery.   If anyone every wonders where the strong animosity between Ted and AMG comes from, this incident with the Tomb of the Unknown was the tipping point.    Whose side is she on?

Read the email from Ted Sampley here: The Real Story Behind the Tomb of the Unknown

Update: Someone contacted us and told us about this document that shows more of AMG’s slight of hand in the Tomb of the Unknown: Read more here

Most disturbing to all of us was the letter from DIA to AMG outlining DIA’s strong belief that “The Mortician” was providing solid evidence and that the Vietnamese did/do indeed have a storage facility outside Hanoi where hundreds of remains of our service members sit.  The most interesting aspect of this letter is that it is address to AMG only, not the NLF Board and there is no mention or suggestion that AMG share this information with anyone else.  In short, AMG was once again attempting to control the issue in a manner that she personally say fit, not per the directives of the NLF Board.   Why has AMG never gone screaming from the rooftops calling for the US Government to press the Vietnamese about this storage facility?

Read the letter from DIA to AMG here: DIA to AMG re The Mortician

Thank you to all of the readers who have sent us emails of support, we appreciate the feedback.  Also, a blanket thank you to those other individuals who have decided to share documents that they had in their possession that would help shed light on other aspects of AMG’s character and her often questionable actions.  We have a LOT more to post.  With that said, we will be posting two articles today, so check in with us later this afternoon for our second installment for the day.

In that article, once we have permission, I will be posting some of the anonymous comments we have received.   We will leave you with this one which we have already received permission to post …

“Ann knows about the documents you are putting up – She is pretty angry.”

Well, AMG, if you are reading this, please know that our goal here is to give the POW/MIA issue back to the families.

Later: The Foundation for Tomorrow …

Acts of Defiance by League Executive Director and Illegalities of 2011 Elections

Included here below are a series of letters and correspondence that confirm AMG’s ongoing defiance of directives given to her by the Board of Directors of the National League of Families dating back some 30+ years. Aside from the specific events listed in the correspondence, it has surprised us how AMG so easily allowed then National Security Council’s Dick Childress, a government official, now advisor to the NLF, such unvetted access and such direct involvement in the day-to-day operations of the NLF.

The disingenuous AMG, apparently wanting to give the impression of being “connected”, claimed and still claims today to have a security clearance when actually what she signed was a secrecy agreement. Only an employer can request a security clearance for an employee which also requires an official background check, interviews with known associates, etc. Has anyone reading this post ever been approached by any US Government official asking questions about AMG for a security clearance? If so, please let us know. Lastly, if AMG claims to have a security clearance, they who is her true employer?

The linked documents below span various decades and show an ongoing attempt of AMG to control each and every aspect of the POWMIA issue as she felt fit.

Childress Protecting AMG after violating NLF bylaws 1983  (AMG sharing NLF Board Meeting notes with Childress and DIA)

Earl Hopper to AMG 1992 (Former NLF Chairman of the Board outlining unfathomable actions of AMG)

AMG falsely accuses Patty Skelly and the Fallout (AMG attempting to discredit another POW organization in an attempt to control the POW issue)

and my personal favorite …

From America for Freedom Always to AMG post 1988  (Another POW group expresses their malcontent with AMG and her actions)

Now *there* was some fun reading!

Returning to the security clearance, there is a liability issue that NLF members need to concern themselves with in light of AMG’s resent announcement that she is stepping down as NLF’s Executive Director to write a book on the POW/MIA issue. Her secrecy agreement (NOT security clearance) includes a clause that she will, basically, take all the secrets to her grave and will not share them with anyone either verbally or in written form. Will the NLF be held financially responsible for any breach of that clause considering the fact that AMG was acting as a representative of the NLF at the time?

Then there is the change in staffing at the NLF of adding a National Coordinator and doing away with the Executive Director position. Did the Board of Directors vote on the addition of this position and was the position advertised? Or was the candidate hand-selected by AMG and then presented to the Board for their approval in direct violation of NLF by-laws?

It is interesting how the above mentioned change coincides with changes in the by-laws. Why wasn’t there made available, even on the NLF website or via email, a copy of the existing by-laws and an explanation why the proposed changes were needed? Is AMG, assuming that she rejoins the Board of Directors, positioning the organization in a way that will give her more power as the new Chair of the Board of Directors? With the present Chair stepping down, it will entail a Board vote as to who will fill the Chair post. Since AMG oversees who is put on the ballot for the Board of Directors, it is certainly not a stretch to assume she could possibly stack the deck, making sure that she can control all those on the Board.

So, not only do we have the inexplicable changes in the by-laws, the addition of staff done behind closed doors, we also have the presence of a non-family member on the Board of Director’s ballot. Susie Stephens-Harvey *was* the sister-in-law of SSGT Stephen Geist, USA. She is not a blood relative of Geist and is no longer married to Geist’s brother. She is no longer a family member, by marriage, and should have been downgraded to an associate member as soon as the divorce was final. Therefore, Ms. Stephens-Harvey is thus ineligible to run for the Board seat. Yet, because she is someone who AMG considers one of her foot soldiers, this fact was ignored. This act alone makes the entire election null and void – in other words, illegal. A new election will need to be organized and this time, considering the above improprieties, the Board may want to reconsider having the completed voting ballots sent to the NLF Office and instead hire a third-party agencies with no ties to the NLF or any of its Board members or employees, past or present.

One final thought … If you perused just about any website that offers advice or suggestions about how to properly run a non-profit organization, you will find a suggestion that is strongly reiterated time and time again. Employees or former employees should not have the opportunity to serve on the Board of Directors as this would be a direct conflict of interest.

Lots to think about here.

Tomorrow Part III: More Documentation of Ann Mills-Griffiths Fleecing of The Missing

The Fleecing of the National League of Families

For the past 30 years the NLF has dozens of Board Members yet only one leader with only one agenda – Ann Mills-Griffiths and her personal and professional agenda.  Documentation that has been sent anonymously to the POW Warrior has shed some significant light on the agenda of Ann and how she has creatively carved out a career and a pension for herself from the families.

Ann has repeatedly gone against specific directives from Board Members and Board Chairmen to run the POW/MIA Issue in the manner that she thought fit. She routinely circumvented NLF by-laws and allowed government officials to have far too much control and influence in NLF affairs.

Over the past month I have been wading through hundreds of pages of NLF documents that outline the character of an individual who put herself ahead of everyone and everything. As with most people in Washington, it is about power, money and control. Yet, with everything it starts with money.

Let’s take a look at the last few years of IRS 990 forms for the NLF. You will see that in each form enclosed close to 50%, and in some instances even more, of the League’s annual spending went towards the salary, pension and medical benefits of Ann. You will also see that over $20,000 is spent each year on maintaining office space for an organization with one employee. Is *that* conscientious spending on the part of a non-profit organization?

NLF 2009 990
NLF 2008 990
NLF 2007 990
NLF 2005 990

Note: We have been unable to find the 2006 IRS 990 form for the NLF, yet we will keep looking.

Tomorrow Part II : Ann’s defiance of the NLF Board of Directors and the Illegalities of the 2011 Elections Platform

Military Subcommittee Hearings Summary

Well Follks, if you were able to watch the hearings on July 10, 2008 then you were quick to figure out that these hearings were just a farce to appease us on House Res 111. If you missed the hearings, you can watch them via your media player from the House Armed Services Committee’s website here. Just scroll down as the dates are listed in reverse order, newest to oldest. If you have problems with that link, you also can watch then on C-SPAN here as well.

You will find that the questions asked by the Committee Members are either related to Personnel issues or Budget issues. Families are mentioned almost as an after thought. It is also clear that this committee who is supposedly responsible for the oversight on DPMO and etc. has no clue what is really going on in The Issue.  One of them even went so far as to ask Charles Ray how he felt about the pending legislation (House Res 111).  I loved it – 64%  of the House of Representatives is in support of this legislation, representing the voice of the people.  Yet the opinion of Charles Ray somehow makes a difference?  Since when does the Legislative Branch ask the Executive Branch their opinion on a piece of legislation?, insinuating that Ray’s view point should sway opinion. 

Rumor has it that there will be another hearing on the POW/MIA Issue giving family groups and individuals the opportunity to testify before the Military Personnel Subcommittee. When we have the official word on when those will be, I will be sure to let you all know. Of course our dear friend AMG will be at the top of the list of witnesses. You really have to love her – she has supposedly been against each and every committee or select committee that non-League family members and activists have tired to get through Congress. Yet, she is always there to testify when said committees did take place.

I sincerely hope that what they say is true, that Marines guard the Gates of Heaven. AMG won’t have a prayer! 

Until next time!

The POW Warrior

PS – on another note, I received a chastizing e-mail from a friend of James Webb who attempted to tell me that no one has done as much for the POW/MIA Issue as him and etc. The hysterical part about it was that this guy’s story about the meetings and etc. totally contradicts what Webb told the families involved. So, this chastizing e-mail actually turned out to have the opposite of the intent of the writer. If it weren’t so damn sad it would have been funny.

House Armed Services Subcommittee – POW/MIA Hearings

If you subscribe to the National Alliance of Families’ Bits N Pieces, you have surely read that the House subcommittee on Military Personnel will “suddenly” be having hearings on the POW/MIA Issue. Why? Well, they claim that they haven’t gotten an update on the Issue in over a decade and that it was time they did.

From Bits N Pieces:

House Sub-Committee on Military Personnel to Hold Hearings – On June 25th we learned that the House Sub-Committee on Military Personnel would hold hearings on the POW/MIA issue. While we welcome the Committee decision to hold its first hearings on the POW/MIA issue since 1998, the Committee and Congressional leadership should understand that these hearings are not a substitute for passage of H.Res 111.

Hearings simply give organizations and individuals a chance to present a picture as they see it and to make recommendations on future efforts. These hearings do not provide the opportunity for in depth investigations of the type required to properly address new POW/MIA information discovered and developed since the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs issued its final report in January 1993.

The first hearing is scheduled for 2:00 PM July 10th. You can watch and/or listen to the hearing via the internet at http://armedservices.house.gov/audiocast.shtml Testifying that day will be Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs (DPMO) Charles Ray and Admiral Donna Crisp, Commander of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC.) Dates for future hearings have not been set. When they are we will let you know.

Lynn goes on to say that no series of hearings on the Hill will substitute for a House Select Committee which House Res. 111. I couldn’t have said it better myself!

If you will be working or unable to listen in to the first session on July 10th, The POW Warrior will be live blogging the event here so feel free to check in from time to time during the day to get some insight on what is being told to Congress about the Issue by DASD Charles Ray and JPAC Commander Rear Admiral Crisp. There testimony should be rather interesting!

Another Con Man Fleecing the POW/MIA Issue

In a previous post I shared my personal views on former JPAC field investigator James M. Webb and his recent attempt to fleece the POW/MIA Issue with claims of “inside information”.  After viewing his first of many money making products, I suspected that Webb was trying to make a quick buck by marketing his insider idea to families and activists.

Little did I know that his plans were on an even grander scale.  I have been made aware of some of the activities of James M. Webb and let me make this clear, he is in the same category as Mike Hearns and Richard/Hadel who was recently exposed by POW/MIA Families.  Webb seems to be escalating his level of fraud on family members.  First, we have the DVD “The Untold Story” which really tells us nothing that we don’t already know.  It was so poorly made and the lack of preparation is more than evident as the DVD goes on.

Now, it appears, that Webb has moved on to more covert operations and is targeting individual families or groups of families with claims of assistance, knowledge of live men and contacts in SEA that can “help” bring out a live man.

The POW Warrior has been made aware of a POW/MIA family who sought out Webb for additional information on a case that he had investigated multiple times in the past. He responded to the family that he would be happy to review his old reports and then provide the family will a full report on any significant information that he recalled that may not have been mentioned in the original reports.  The family was made this promise in late 2007 and after three follow up e-mails that were never responded to, this family got the message that Webb had no intention of helping anyone except himself.

His tactics escalated to include offering information to LKA families and most likely some false documents as evidence of life. Apparently many family members have contacted Webb asking for help and information and he has apparently decided this was where the real money was because his purported monthly newsletters, upcoming book and other products have seemed to come to a inexplicable hault.  The POW Warrior had been told that the upcoming book was initially going to be a collaborative effort between Webb and David D. Hendrix, the reporter who broke the Alternate Identity Program. Yet due to “creative differences” that partnership was dissolved.

Webb was supposed to be a guest speaker this past week during the Annual Family Meetings and after receiving the money to purchase his airfare, donated by various LKA family members, he asked if they would pay for his assistant to come along as well.  The need for an assistant is still mind-boggling to me, yet I digress (thankfully the families told him that was impossible).  Some 10 days before the meeting he responded that he had his tickets for 16-19 June when he was actually supposed to be in attendance for 19-21 June.  A week before the meetings he communicated that he was attempting to change the reservations and would get back to those involved.  On the 18th he had some unknown individual contact the families again stating that he had suddenly become ill and was hospitalized with what appeared to be some type of poisioning.  Was he insinuating that he was purposely poisoned so he could not attend the event?  It is hard to speculate. 

To date, there has been no further contact from Webb and these families are out over $2500. 

One final thought, Webb has claimed in his DVD that he was present for the infamous document shredding incident in Hanoi yet myself and others have attempted to find someone who can corraborate his participation and at present, we have not been able to do so.

What may well be at the core of this situation is that Webb underestimated the POW/MIA Families and activists and suddenly realized that his con-game would not get passed those assembled who have been fighting this issue long before he ever set foot in SEA as an investigative team member.  Not to mention those who he may well have made promises to or had been ignoring via e-mail were expected to be in attendance and he may well have been concerned about a confrontation.

Either way, Webb is now, at least in my eyes, an official enemy of the Issue.

The POW Warrior

UPDATE May, 2009:  With the Annual Meetings just a few months away, I thought a follow up on Webb would be in order.   He has seemed to disappear.  His website, The POW/MIA Insider, is not longer active, his promised publications are non-existent and the families that he fleeced for over $2500 have not heard a word from him. 

The Shantag’s over at the POW Network referenced this link regarding James M. Webb.  Apparently I wasn’t the only one who questioned his claims.

http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19672&page=2

Educating Garrison Keillor

 

A  syndicated columnist from Minnesota, Garrison Keillor, wrote a scathing piece that appeared in many major newspapers across the country condemning a national non-profit POW/MIA -Veterans group, Rolling Thunder ©  their site here,  for their disruption of his Memorial Day Weekend in our nation’s capitol.    It appears that Mr. Keillor was inconvenienced by having to wait some 20 minutes to cross Constitution Avenue on Sunday, May 25, 2008 as Rolling Thunder’s 21^st Annual POW/MIA Demonstration Ride took place through the Capital.  Reports have estimated that some 350,000 bikers came from all corner of the US, Canada and even Australia to demonstrate in the name of those  100,000 POW/MIAs that are still unaccounted for from all our military conflicts as well as some significant issues that affect our military veterans.

 It would appear that Mr. Keillor, felt the need to express his discontent by lashing out using his “the pen is mightier than the sword” technique.   It is significant to note that Mr. Keillor was not in DC for business, this was a leisure visit.  On that day he was just another American enjoying a beautiful day in our nation’s capital.  Therefore he decided to use his next syndicated piece as a weapon against these 350,000 patriots who disrupted his day.  Before dissecting his piece, which I refuse to provide a link to, let’s just say that Mr. Keillor didn’t plan the logistics of his day’s events and instead of blaming himself for the “piss poor planning on his part” he decided to wield his pen to reallocate blame. 

Please keep in mind that many websites geared toward DC for visitors, DC papers and even hotels were making Memorial Day Weekend visitors to DC well aware of the fact that Constitution Ave. would be inaccessible during certain times on Sunday.  It suffices to say, Mr. Keillor didn’t get the memo.

 **********

Dear Mr. Keillor,

To dutifully correct you, this was no “tribute” or “celebration”.   It was a demonstration.  It was a message to Washington’s political arm that those assembled are well aware of the fact that men were knowingly left behind in past wars and we want them to act appropriately to correct it.   If you had done some research before you put pen to paper, you would have learned from Rolling Thunder’s Mission Statement that,

                THE MAJOR FUNCTION OF ROLLING THUNDER ®, INC. IS TO PUBLICIZE THE POW-MIA ISSUE: TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC THAT MANY AMERICAN PRISONERS OF WAR WERE LEFT BEHIND AFTER ALL PREVIOUS WARS AND TO HELP CORRECT THE PAST AND TO PROTECT FUTURE VETERANS FROM BEING LEFT BEHIND SHOULD THEY BECOME PRISONERS OF WAR-MISSING IN ACTION. WE ARE ALSO COMMITTED TO HELPING AMERICAN VETERANS FROM ALL WARS.

 

Mr. Keillor, you went on to say that the “patriotism somehow gets lost in the sheer irritation of the thing.”   How irritating indeed.  I wonder how we could compare your irritation with the “irritation” of having a loved one captured and never returned?  Or with the children who hold their parent’s hand on their death bed being told to keep fighting with Washington to find their brother still missing from Vietnam?  Or with the mothers of soldiers Byron Fouty and Alex Jimenez captured last year in Iraq? 

 

You explained that you went to see some fine artwork at the National Gallery after the disruption of you day and found the peace and quiet to be “an outpost of civilization.”  How ironic that this “civilization” that you so enjoyed was bought and paid for by the brave men who are remembered on the various memorials found just a few blocks away.   These men who loved their country and valued all that it stands for more than they valued their own lives.  I am reminded of the George Orwell quote, “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”   There is no doubt that you, Mr. Keillor,  are one of those sleeping peaceably …

 

 You drone on for three paragraphs about the artwork you saw and how, in your mind, all one needs to know about war can be read in the specific books you mention.  Well, Mr. Keillor, there are certain things in life that must be lived in order to be truly understood.  Those of us with children can attest to the fact that what we thought being a parent was and what it is are two very different things. The same can be said about war.  No one in that demonstration “played soldier”, Mr. Keillor, and I can assure you they didn’t consider it a game.   The overwhelming majority of those that drove by you have seen war, they have lived it is a way that only their band of brothers can understand.  These are the rough men who stood ready to do violence on your behalf.   If you were truly searching for those who are “playing soldier”, you simply needed to head to the opposite end of Constitution Avenue to Capitol Hill.  There is where you will find people who know little if anything about being a soldier, yet trying to pretend that they do.  They did it during Vietnam and they are doing it again.

 

Many of us are curious as to how you expressed your patriotism while in DC for Memorial Day.   After seeing the artwork did you pause at any of the war memorials?  Did you take the Metro to Arlington Cemetery?  Did you go to the VA Hospital to visit with Veterans as hundreds of members of Rolling Thunder did on the day before the ride?  Did you walk up to one of those bikers and shake his hand and say thank you?  Did you stop to listen to the speeches given by those supporting the POW/MIA Issue?  One certainly does wonders.

 

The most important question I have to ask Mr. Keillor is this; What do you do to reach out to those in need?  When was the last time you did something that wasn’t self-serving?  What causes do you support?  Not just with writing a check for a tax write off or spending $200 a plate for a gala but something that you give you time to, something that you believe in? 

 

You see Mr. Keillor, these 350,000 people spent their hard earned cash and rode their bikes from as far away as California and even flew in from Australia to participate in what you deemed an “irritation”.   These folks rode for battle brothers who made the ultimate sacrifice, missing battle brothers and some even rode for their missing family members.  They gave up their trips to the museum, their picnics, yard work, pool time and their day off to give voice to those who have none.  And what did you give up?  20 minutes standing in the sun on a street corner.  How patriotic of you!

 

One final thought, Mr. Keillor.  You painted your description of these 350,000 people with a very broad brush.  I can assure you that there were people on those bikes who earn more money than you do and live in a home much nicer than yours.  Yet they rode on bikes not BMW to send a message.   You made reference to these ponytail clad bikers, well, you would be surprised to learn that many of them later donate that hair to “Locks of Love” and then start growing their hair to donate it all over again.   Can I ask again about what you do for others?

 

Class is over, Mr. Keillor, I would recommend that in the future, the next time you decide to take a trip or write about something that you know nothing about, don’t follow the traditional stereotypes or make assumptions, do you research, after all, you are a journalist. 

 

Roger Clemens is more important than POW/MIAs?: How Congress decides what matters to America

Legendary Pitcher Roger Clemens preparing to give testimony to Congress

Fox News is reporting that Roger Clemens, a seven time Cy Young Winner, is being investigated by the FBI for his potential perjury during his testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on February 13, 2008, less than two weeks ago.

I am sure that I am not the only one of us that is sitting in front of the computer screen saying, “Huh?”. I had the opportunity to watch some three hours or so of the hearing and regardless of my opinion of Roger Clemens and his former trainer Brian MacNamee, I have to wonder what it takes to get the attention of a committee such as this.  Were they feeling that the Armed Services Committee was getting too much of the lime light and wanted to get their piece of the pie? Were their hearings too boring? Are more than just a handful of them up for re-election this year? Maybe their hearings weren’t “sexy” enough for the American people to take notice? I was close to sugar shock at all of the selfagrandizing each member droned through before addressing the witnesses with their questions.

How is it somehow the responsibility of Congress to investigate athletes allegedly injecting themselves with HGH or other enhancers but the blatant abandonment of servicemen by the Department of Defense and even the Executive Branch of the United States somehow takes a back seat to this circus like atmosphere? Has Congress gone the way of Hollywood and taken an oath of sensationalism all in the name of re-election?

This House Committee was simply convened, there was no exhasting efforts to get co-sponsors, no resolution needed to get the ball rolling, someone simply decided, “Hey, we need to poke our noses into this one!”

So, my question to this House Committee is this; What does it take for you to want to honor those who willingly gave their lives for the country that you comfortably serve and who were systematically abandoned because no one had the testicle fortitude to stand up and say, “This is wrong and has gone on long enough”? What do you say to the families of these brave men who went into battle with the thought that nothing would be more foreign than their nation considering them a liability?

I am reminded of the story of former POW Frank Anton who, after his release was made aware of the fact that US servicemen were within 25 feet of him to photograph him but were ordered NOT to rescue him out of concern over letting the enemy know that we were aware of their movements. This lack of action on the part of these covert ops soldiers extended his captivity another two years.

In response to his debriefers after being made aware of this unthinkable act he asked, “Why didn’t you get me out?”

I wonder how may have spent the past 40 years asking that same question – and are still asking it today.   Whose son, brother, uncle, cousin or father goes to sleep every night asking the Heavens this simple question?

The POW Warrior