OpEdNews - Diary: BACKSTORY: THE UNVARNISHED GORE VIDAL

"Vidal famously called William F. Buckley Jr. a "pro-crypto-Nazi," got sued for it, and apologized to the judge by saying: "It was a modest slip of the tongue, I was searching for the word 'fascist.' "

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DIANE'S NEWS CLIPS begins here :)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> BACKSTORY: THE UNVARNISHED GORE VIDAL By Daniel B. Wood | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor LOS ANGELES It was just an ordinary day in the journalistic trenches when I got the call. "Gore Vidal has a new book out ... would you like to interview him?" said the voice on the other end of the phone, a well-known Los Angeles publicist. "Isn't he the guy famous for saying, "It's not enough to succeed. Others must fail?" I asked. "That's the one," she said. "The one who said, 'I had never wanted to meet most of the people I had met, and the fact that I never got to know most of them took dedication and steadfastness on my part?" "That's him," she answered. "Sounds like a lovely opportunity," I said. "I'll take it." OK, it didn't happen quite that way. But like everyone - like some people, anyway - I thought I knew who Gore Vidal was, at least on the surface: literary lion, scold, verbal jester, and political screed writer. To double-check my memory, I went on Wikipedia (just to make sure the upstart website was up to snuff): Author of 25 novels, six plays, 200 essays, and several screenplays. Check. An early novel, "The City and the Pillar," and a later sexual farce, "Myra Breckinridge," credited with pushing the envelope of sexuality in modern literature. Check. Historical novels ranging from the Roman Empire ("Julian") to the birth of the American republic ("Burr") garnered wide respect among historians, and his "United States: Essays 1952-1992" won the 1993 National Book Award. Tried politics in the distant past. Check, check, and check. Now 81, Mr. Vidal recalls the second half of his life in the just-released, "Point to Point Navigation." I wanted to pick the brain of someone who had been around that long and written that much. But how do you bone up to interview a whiplash-fast wit who has skewered some of the highest-octane intellectuals around? In nightly TV debates at the 1968 political conventions, Vidal famously called William F. Buckley Jr. a "pro-crypto-Nazi," got sued for it, and apologized to the judge by saying: "It was a modest slip of the tongue, I was searching for the word 'fascist.' " [snip] Continued >> http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1124/p20s01-bogn.html _________________________________ U.S. Government Reveal TRILLIONS OF TAX DOLLARS MISSING " 'According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions,' Rumsfeld admitted. $2.3 trillion - that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America." -- CBS News, 1/29/02, U.S. Secretary of Defense raises evidence of government, military corruption "A GAO report found Defense inventory systems so lax that the U.S. Army lost track of 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 Javelin missile command launch-units. When military leaders were scrambling to find enough chemical and biological warfare suits to protect U.S. troops, the department was caught selling these suits as surplus on the Internet 'for pennies on the dollar.' " -- San Francisco Chronicle, 5/18/03 "The Defense Department spent an estimated $100 million for airline tickets that were not used over a six-year period and failed to seek refunds even though the tickets were reimbursable." -- New York Times, 6/9/04 One of the most stunning underreported stories in the media is the well-established fact that at the very least hundreds of billions of dollars (if not trillions) are missing from the accounts of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld himself admitted that $2.3 trillion may be missing. Why hasn't this astounding evidence of major government and military corruption broadcast in headline news around the world? Why isn't anyone talking about it now? As the media is failing so badly at getting this news out, we've put together below excerpts from the few media articles and government documents which reported the problem. Click on the links provided for verification. To understand how the media is failing at its job on this and other critically important stories, read our two-page summary by top journalists at http://www.WantToKnow.info/mediacover-up. You can help to change this vastly irresponsible behavior by informing your friends and colleagues and calling on all of our media and elected representatives to address this critical problem. Together, we can and will build a brighter future. With best wishes, Fred Burks for PEERS and the WantToKnow.info Team Former language interpreter for Presidents Bush and Clinton Continued >> http://www.WantToKnow.info/corruptiongovernmentmilitary _________________________________ .ron corvuswire@verizon.net NOTE from Diane: As interesting I predict you'll find the following sites and as much as I DETEST Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians, the total Zionist control over our government and its affairs, I nonetheless found it laced with anti-Semitic pronouncements. Not cool; too broad a brush, because its only a part of the whole. It's up to us to bring balance into our own lives so we won't be led into these traps. Massaged reports and documents are too common. Most talk shows, their selectively chosen guests more often than not, force-feed the public in such a skewed way, things that require scrutiny are all of a sudden eclipsed by personal bias tainting the whole affair, making it easier to dismiss, and anyone who objects is labeled anti-Semitic. A Zionist's accusation of anti-Semitism is popularly, frequently and outrageously used to cover up atrocities, so don't buy into it! The push-your-buttons tactic is what it is, a way to keep one off balance by constantly dealing the anti-Semitic card. Attack the attacker isn't news, but it's everywhere and all of the time, a Zionist tool that needs to be eliminated. That said, read the following, take the best, leave the rest, judging each on its own merits. :) B-cool. http://judicial-inc.biz/Oneill.htm | http://judicial-inc.biz/1_master_supreme.htm ----- THE ZAPATA CORPORATION Marines detained the contractors and later impounded several anti-tank weapons, hand grenades, as well as a AK-47 assault rifle, according to Lt. Col. Dave Lapan. They were brought to Camp Fallujah, where they were questioned about what they were doing in Fallujah, and about the attack on the Marines. They refused to speak and were detained for three days. Their passengers were from the Parsons Corporation. All of them were deported out of Iraq. [snip] Continued / see photos >> http://www.corvuswire.com/zapatacorporation.htm _________________________________ Submitted by: http://wildseederus@yahoo.com lootin' and pollutin' in coal country [LINK TO VIDEO] 4:17 >> Bombing the Appalachians: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-AURSRRS-c _________________________________ IF LINK DOESN'T WORK, THEN PASTE ARTICLE LINK(S) INTO YOUR BROWSER -- OR GO DIRECTLY TO >> http://www.truthout.org FOCUS | States Will Tell Supreme Court Feds Must Act on Warming http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112506X.shtml On Wednesday, a coalition of 12 states, led by California and Massachusetts, will try to persuade the Supreme Court that the nation's environmental regulators have the legal authority and responsibility to control greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming - which many scientists describe as the biggest environmental threat to the planet. ----- [ NOTE from Diane re: the following: This is news, 'US government ignores warnings?' Wow, if the majority of Americans don't know this by now they must be living proof of reincarnation, because no one can be this dumb in one lifetime. ] Whistleblowers Say US Government Ignored Their Warnings http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112506F.shtml He knew there were problems. He didn't think he was one of them. At the time, Coleen Rowley, the FBI agent who had raised concerns about how the pre-9/11 arrest of al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was handled, was being hailed as a national hero. FBI Special Agent Mike German says he had also just received a mass email from FBI Director Robert Mueller, urging other whistleblowers to come forward. "I was assuming he'd protect me," German says. Instead, German says his accusations were ignored, his reputation ruined and his career obliterated. ----- FOCUS | Despite a Year of Ire and Angst, Little Has Changed on Wiretaps http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112506Y.shtml For all the sound and fury in the last year, the National Security Agency's wiretapping program continues uninterrupted, with no definitive action by either Congress or the courts on what, if anything, to do about it, and little chance of a breakthrough in the lame-duck Congress. ----- Gates Advocated Bombing Nicaragua http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112506B.shtml ----- FOCUS | Iraq Quickly Heading Toward Full-Scale Civil War http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112506Z.shtml Revenge-seeking Shiite militiamen seized six Sunnis as they left Friday prayers, drenched them with kerosene and burned them alive, and Iraqi soldiers did nothing to stop the attack, police and witnesses said. The fiery slayings in the mainly Sunni neighborhood of Hurriyah were a dramatic escalation of the brutality coursing through the Iraqi capital, coming a day after suspected Sunni insurgents killed 215 people in Baghdad's main Shiite district with a combination of bombs and mortars. The attacks culminated Baghdad's deadliest week of sectarian fighting since the war began more than three years ago. ----- Alice Walker | All Praises to the Pause http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/112506G.shtml "During the pause is the ideal time to listen to stories," says Alice Walker. "There are stories coming to us now from every part of the earth; and they are capable of teaching us things we all used to know.... They tell us that in their society men and women are considered equal but very different. Man, they say, has a destructive nature: it is his job therefore to cut down trees when firewood or canoes are needed. His job also to hunt down and kill animals when there is need for more protein. His job to make war, when that becomes a necessity. The woman's nature is thought to be nurturing and conserving. Therefore her role is to care for the home and garden, the domesticated animals and the children. She inspires the men. But perhaps her most important duty is to tell the men when to stop." _________________________________ http://www.bushwatch.net | http://www.musipedia.org _________________________________ IT'S THAT TIME! MICROSOFT ISSUES MONTHLY PATCHES On Tuesday, Microsoft issued a number of security patches for Windows. Five were labeled "critical," Microsoft's highest designation of severity. Some of the flaws could allow hackers to control an affected machine. The owner would not have to take any action. Other vulnerabilities could be exploited to spawn worms. If you haven't installed the updates, now is the time. Simply run Windows Update. Be sure to listen to me Monday through Friday. Use my map to find me near you http://www.komando.com/listen/index.aspx _________________________________ eHEALTHY NEWS The Hidden Poison Lurking on Your Kitchen Table - Discover why you want to avoid conventional salt like the plague, and the purest salt on earth and its 13 amazing health benefits. http://www.mercola.com/forms/salt.htm ----- Mushrooms: Your Newest Vitamin D Source - Are vitamin-D-rich mushrooms a good or poor solution if you are low in vitamin D? http://www.mercola.com/2006/may/6/mushrooms_your_newest_vitamin_d_source.htm _________________________________ Video: Holiday Romance | United Kingdom | 18:47 | J.J Keith ... [Triple feature] OSCAR NOMINATED TALE OF CRIME AND ROMANCE-- A would-be thief enters a house and finds plenty of reasons to make himself at home. Chief among them is the fact that he can't leave, having been trapped by his victim and forced to look after the place while she's on vacation. Can the tables be turned again? http://www.atomfilms.com/af/content/atom_12 If you love "Holiday Romance," then you'll love Alexander Jovy's other comedic shorts Two's Company >> http://www.atomfilms.com/af/content/twos_company and White Bits. >> http://www.atomfilms.com/af/content/white_bits _________________________________ NationalGeographic.com http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/ _________________________________ NASA Astronomy picture of the day http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html _________________________________ I don't have to look up my family tree, because I know that I'm the sap. ~ Fred Allen