Only my admiration for this man could've brought me out of my self-enforced retirement from political writing.

Thank you, Jet, for eloquently championing a public figure seldom considered on his own merits. Too many people were never able to set aside the strong biases created by the Nixon pardon.

I could go into other seldom considered aspects of the fallout from Nixon, at great length, but I don't want to distract yet again from the legacy of President Ford.

Oddly enough, I'm in the unusual position of admiring both Ford and Carter, when most people who like one tend to hate the other. Today Americans have been seduced into preferring politicians who are merely good at projecting a certain image (in this, Reagan and Clinton are far more alike than either's fans would care to admit). In the long run, we would do better to put people of true substance and genuine character like Carter and Ford into public office.

Jet,
Brilliant Job!!!

What Victor said - except that I had no use for Carter even though I respected what he attempted to do for alternative energy.

I was once an American, and Gerald Ford was the kind of fellow I would have easily had over for a beer or a coffee, had he been willing to show up...

How is it that Ford can go and die and Carter just goes on and on like some sort of retarded energizer bunny?

I'm tempted to ask why you dislike Carter, Ruvy, but instead will stick to the topic at hand. (Maybe later I should write an article about Carter...)

I'm realizing how little I've known about Ford. Mostly I'm aware of how he was treated in parody and comedy. Chevy Chase's pratfalls on Saturday Night Live never struck me as very funny, but now I can see how they illustrated Americans' sense that their whole country had somehow lost its footing after Watergate and the war in Vietnam. It was a case of laughing to escape the pain.

And then there was the depiction of President Ford in one of the Pink Panther movies (although I don't think he was ever actually named). That one had a punchline I laughed at when I first saw it, but later on I realized how deeply disrespectful of him it actually was.

It doesn't seem so funny to me now.

Thanks Victor. I agree with you. I went from being a republican to an independent and then became a democrat during that period.

He was a great man.

Thank you Mr. Testi, it came from the heart

Ruvy, just as Ford was unjusifiably linked to the Dark Side of Watergate, I think you'll find that Carter suffered the same fate for the Arab Oil embargo and the hostage crisis, both of which were out of his control, but he got blamed for them any way.

When Carter ran for reelection I voted for independent Anderson, even I was disgusted, but now that I look back at history with a clearer head I find Carter got the bad end of the stick too.

Belizaire you are disgusting wishing anyone dead, no matter what you think of him.

I still laugh Victor every time I hear someone replay Bob Hopes joke about Ford's golfing.

Gerald Ford is dead and Jet's gay.

So Matthew what the hell took you so long. Did you get your mother to help you write that?

It wasn't a "twist of fate" that kept him out of the NFL. It was his decision to go to Yale Law School. Players in the '30 and '40s didn't make a lot of money.

"If he hadn't acted the country would've been mired down for decades."

Who ordered for the extra helping of hyperbole? What do you base the assertion above on? The trial and appeal, assuming there was one, which I don't, would have been finished before we got out of the '70s. And it wasn't a long, political nightmare. It was the system working and righting itself.

I have no doubt that Ford did what he thought was best for the country, but he incorrectly acted like a parent with children instead of as an employee of the people. Some argue that the pardon was more egregious than Nixon's crimes because Ford illustarted that the powerful could get away with anything, which is not how our system is supposed to work. Ford defied the majority and got what he deserved at the next election. Appearing to not know what was going on in Eastern Europe didn't help, either.

"the political right convinced him that Ford had too much baggage."

Incorrect again. Ford would only accept the VP slot if he was given more power than the position held. Reagan rejected the idea of a "co-presidency".

If you aren't going to do research on your subjects, you should stay in retirement.

Victor,

The brief answer to your question about Carter is that he was an insincere bastard about most things.

The one thing he did right was to sit down with that fireside chat about energy, and to point out that there was a malaise in American society. This was right on the money then, and it is even more on the money now.

Americans' self indulgence will do them in in time.

Ford was often described as a "commom man", but I think he was quite uncommon. Yes, he was rather simple and direct, but I think that makes him an exception in the modern world where you can rely on every person hiding some great sin and ready to slide away from responsibility and accountability. As example I give you that other person often described as common, GWB.

If Ford was "the great healer" then Nixon must be "the great wounder".

President Ford was a common man and became president. Jimmy the peanut farmer hired black workers and paid cheap wages while drinking Billy Beer and shoving peanuts up is southern ass. NUKE THE UNBORN GAY PEANUT FARMERS. Got that nuke thing from BC.

Gerald Ford was a kind, decent, brave man -- but it wasn't just the Nixon pardon that destroyed his re-election. He was also kinda dumb, and that became glaringly apparent in his second debate with Jimmy Carter, in which Ford made what had to be one the most absolutely stupid comments in all of political history, when he told New York Times reporter Max Frankel:

"There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration."

Frankel: I'm sorry ... did I understand you to say, sir, that the Soviets are not using Eastern Europe as their own sphere of influence in occupying most of the countries there?

Ford: I don't believe ... that the Yugoslavians consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union. I don't believe that the Romanians consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union. I don't believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union. Each of these countries is independent, autonomous, it has its own territorial integrity, and the United States does not concede that those countries are under the domination of the Soviet Union.

Ford was a laughingstock for weeks afterward, and the remark was a turning-point in his downfall.

Read the original TIME Magazine story.

As a non-American, I was relieved when Ford took office, as he seemed as honest as the day is long (and as ordinary as the rest of us, yet clearly he was in fact an exceptional man and far from ordinary).

However, his grasp of international politics was a worry: "There is no Soviet domination of eastern Europe" (in an internationally televised debate with Jimmy Carter).

At the time, I didn't understand the reasoning behind the Nixon pardon. 20-20 hindsight is a great thing, though, and it's obvious today that it was good for America in the long run.

Even his clumsiness was endearing. Had I been an American, I probably would have voted for him.

Jet, I love to read both Sussman and you, and I hate to see you fight, so I gotta ask you to read the link he posted in his comment before you spend any more time being offended by what he said.

Victor. Why would Sussman want to fight the Incredible Hulk?

Ruvy, Out of respect for the man, the subject is Gerald Ford, not Jimmy Carter.

Thanks

Bliffle 17-you're right and I concur

Rodney, if you've ever seen David Letterman's "great moments in Presidential Speeches" you'd know that GWB made Ford look like a genious.

President Ford's gaff was no different than any that you or I make every day, and at least he had the balls to come out and admit it.

STM to be fair the man was just getting used to being Vice President and suddenly he was president. Of course he was going to screw up, and he did.

Not a single one of us could've done any better.

Having said that, thanks for your kind words
Jet

Victor anyone who was unfamiliar with this site would've assumed Sussman had just underlined the word Dead to be a smartass instead of thinking it was a link and mentioned my sexual preference as a put-down.

However since he takes the time to make a fool of himself on my articles on a regular basis, I carry it as a badge of honor and consider him one of my most loyal fans.

This was a very somber article and I was writing sincerely from the heart hoping the Ford family would see this tribute. Why would I be offended by someone writing as a response to an obituary "Ford is dead and Jet is gay"?

sr as a friend, I'm asking you to give the hulk shit a rest please?

Thank you
Jet

Jet. I think it was President Ford that pardoned jimmy carter for peanutgate after the Billy Beer incident which unstabilized Turkmenistan. Carter being in a somewhat drunken stuper stipend oil resources within the Arab Emirates. Now you know the rest of the story. Also have info about Rosalynn the hoe Carter. And you wonder why Iran sucks flying carpets. Hope this has been informative to you.

(sigh)

At your request Sir the Hulk is gone. sr

jet,

A warm and moving tribute to a kind and decent man.

"Accidental President" notwithstanding, I believe as you do: he sacrificed himself (his Presidency) for what he thought was best for the country.

We have had very few Presidents who have measured up to that standard.

hyperbole alert -

Ford was a disaster for citizens who were in the beginning stages of a sobering evaluation of their government - his apparent decency and humor allowed them to look away from the metastasizing imperialist cancer that resulted in the secretive antics of the Reagan debacle and continues spread unabated to this day

Sr, I tell you what, just for you, I'll tint my bio photo green on St. Patrick's day, if I'm still around.

Love Jet

Jet. If I had to read the comments from the village idiot I would sigh also. Your a good man Jet with a kind heart. Later amigo.

Clavos, it'd be hard to name a president that was so brave since him. Thanks.

Oh Troll, just call it bullshit and be done with it!

sr# that's no way to talk about Sussman, now be nice.

Jet,

May you soon get to write a memorial piece on Jimmy Carter. In the meantime, what I said about both Ford and Carter stand...

On this incredible hulk stuff, BTW, is that a piece of digital mischief? What I want to know is: Did Jet stick a picture of his melon on a shot of Arnie's body??

Please explain, Jet, old chap. It looks like an advertising shot from City Gym.

Yes, Jet, but unlike you I allow facts to enter my bubble. When you use false information on multiple occassions, it calls your whole piece into question.

Who, as you asserted and contrary to all evidence, convinced Reagan that Ford had too much baggage? Do you think when a member of the Ford family comes by (yeah, right) they want to see you spreading false information about the man?

So Sussman, has that been the underlying reason for your relentless cyber-stalking attack

Pot: meet black

Up to #43 and no Dave Nalle...Does any one want to start a pool?

While Jet and I may disagree on many things political (I think Ronald Reagan was a better President, I suspect that Jet would disagree). To paraphrase Jet, this is not about Reagan, this is about Ford. It is spot on about the fact that this is an accidental president and this is abour what a remarkable job he did in his limited time in office.

" ... "Gerald Ford is dead and Jet's gay."
- Matthew T. Sussman

Wow, the little sports nerd finally slips up and exposes the insecurity of his own masculinity.

So Sussman, has that been the underlying reason for your relentless cyber-stalking attacks on Jet all along? .... "

Come on guys, do yourselves a favour and do Sussman the courtesy (even if he don't deserve it) of checking out his link on the aforementioned post ... then you'll see what it's about.

It's actually quite funny

To answer your question STM... No. It is an instrument by my shrink's suggestion in order to keep me from expressing how helpless I feel with my failing health and finances.

I did actually look like that at one time... please drop the subject.

Jet

IgnatiusReilly the article has credible links to everything from CNN to Time magazine to the Gerald Ford library. You are a rotten shit for spitting on his memory and not worth further comment.

Thanks MR Testi, I would greatly appreciate it if everyone would limit their remarks to Mr. Ford's memory.

MCH Dave's been markedly absent from my articles of late. He's probably busy. I value his opinion.

STM I have checked it out and it's about as funny as a dirty joke told at a funeral and extreemly disrespectful to a great man's memory. If it wasn't meant as such, I'm sure the dig "and Jet's gay" wouldn't have been added.

If his purpose was to say Ford's dead and Jet's gay-so what else is new, I could say the same about almost every article he's written, and he has made a point of saying on every one of mine.

enough already.

How am I spitting on his memory by pointing out the falsehoods that you have written in your article?

I have asked twice and you have offered no evidence of your assertion. I checked your link written by Edwin Meese and he makes no mention anywhere that "the political right convinced [Reagan] that Ford had too much baggage."

You don't honor a man by printing falsehhods about him, so spare me your hollow insults. Prove your claim, or be like Ford and admit your gaffe.

I worked for the Ford Campaign in '76 and one of our great worries was that ultra conservatives like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were threatening (as they are the potential candidates today) to keep their congregations away in droves unless Ford actively and loudly campaigned on the specific platform of overturning Roe v Wade which had been recently handed down.

Whether you believe that of which I heard and read at the time with my own eyes and ears is of no concern to me.

That you continously persist in calling me a liar is of no consequence either, other than to show your bias, and prove one of the main reason I left the Republican party after Reagan sold it to the televangelists who promised the turnout that gave him the election.

... end of discussion

Looking a bit more closely at the Ford administration, we find out that he was an honest fellow himself, but surrounded by not the most admirable of individuals. Foreign policy was in the hands of Henry Kissinger, who appeared brilliant at the time, but was really a servant of the Rockefellers and the CFR, and was more in the employ of Vice President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller than in the employ of Gerald Ford, the nominal president. We see also in these years the rise of the true nemesis of this country, George HW Bush, who became envoy to China in 1974 and Director of Central Intelligence in 1976.

While Ford himself was a good man, his administration may more be judged by the actions of the other three men mentioned in this comment.

I have not called you a liar; I have said you have written false information. What bias do I have other than for the truth? I asked for proof of what you had written, and you failed to provide it.

I don't doubt you heard those things, but that was when you were working in the Ford campaign in 1976. While it may be an educated guess that those same sentiments were passed on to Reagan in 1980, that doesn't mean they occurred and they certainly don't jive with the reports from the people involved in the negotiations.

If you had written in the article you presumed the Right forced Ford out because of your earlier dealings, I might not have said anything about it. When you state it as fact, you shouldn't be surprised that it gets called into question.

You might want to update your profile to say that you only want feedback that doesn't call into question anything you write.

You can take your ball and go home now.

Ruvy, the man had barely gotten used to being Vice President when he was suddenly thrust in to office. Other presidents had two months to assemble their cabinets.

Of course Ford had to use people already in power, what other choice did he have? he had no aspirations of becoming president and in fact was in the process of retiring when he was called to be Nixon's VP. He had one day's notice that Nixon was resigning, and never dreamed he'd be president, only that he'd be VP for two years and then retire.

considering all that I thank he did a magnificent job.

Your result may vary.

I have not called you a liar; I have said you have written false information... yep that makes about as much sense as anything else you've said.

I've said I saw the campaign from the inside, the information source is me. By telling me I have to prove my own statement is calling me a liar. I'm saying it was fact that I witnessed with my own eyes while sitting in a room full of Ford staffers in Akron Ohio. We watched Falwell on TV from his pulpit tell his flock that Ford was unworthy of the presidency because he didn't do more to undo Roe v Wade and unless he made it an intregal part of his campaign Falwell's moral majority would withdraw their support for him. I watched with my own eyes Pat Robertson on the 700 club say the same thing.

If you don't like my facts, that's tough shit, I stand by my own word. If you don't believe me then take your balls and eat them for all I care.

bon appetite

I'm sorry that you don't see the difference between using false information and someone lying. I guess no one has ever told you something that was incorrect, you've passed it on, and then found out it wasn't true. I'll make sure to tell Colin Powell you think he's a liar.

I've already written, "I don't doubt you heard those things," but again that was in 1976. You made statements about the 1980 campaign. Maybe you need help with math, but those were four years apart. You act like your evidence from 1976 proves your claims in 1980. They don't no matter how many times you repeat them.

You write "We watched Falwell on TV from his pulpit tell his flock that Ford was unworthy of the presidency."

Yeah, in 1976. What does that have to do with Reagan picking Ford as Vice President four years later?

When you provide some facts, then we can worry about whether or not I like them.

Being nasty and rude does not prove your claims, and if you are trying to run me off, you could have done that a while ago by admitting you made a gaffe as President Ford did. But if you want to danage what little credibilty you have, please feel free to keep it up.

I've got nothing much to say about Ford, which is why I haven't chimed in. This is a nice obit, though. There are others who will say much more negative things about him, but he deserves some good words as well.

Dave

Thanks Dave, nice to hear from you.

"anyone who was unfamiliar with this site would've assumed Sussman had just underlined the word Dead to be a smartass instead of thinking it was a link and mentioned my sexual preference as a put-down."

Or,

Anyone familiar with the Internet knows: "Underlined word" implies "link."

So what Mr. Sussman is trying to say is that it's perfectly appropriate to leave the message "Ford is Dead, Jet is Gay" on a heartfelt tribute to a personal hero.

Somehow I knew that.

Nice tribute, Jet.

Thank you Donnie, Ford was the last republican I ever voted for. I still admire him as the best president to sit in the office.

Jet..What a magnificent article you wrote about President Ford..I just read George Will Broder and Novack on what they had to say about Ford and article was the best of all of them ..He was the perfect man for an in perfect period...Woodward has an article in the Washington Post and quotes President Ford as saying Cheney and Bush made a terrible mistake in going to war in Iraq ..that shows what good COMMON SENSE he had..again great job Jet

Thanks Georgio, Woodward was on the panel of Larry King Live last night and he played taped exerpts of his interview with Ford that today's article was based on.

Again, this is why Ford was the last republican I ever voted for.

Jet

I put a full page "tribute" to the man in my newspaper. I was up putting the paper together Tuesday when word came across the wire.

I learned a lot but I'm not sure it was worth learning, except as part of history. As a hero he's had almost zero influence on America; much less than his wife.

Sometimes things are easier to see from the outside. In comment #11, Jet says he still laughs at Bob Hope's joke about Gerald Ford's golfing.

In comment #12, Matthew cracks another joke. It happens to be an obscure reference to a particular line in a Saturday Night Live skit from about ten years ago, so he posts a link to a transcript of that skit.

At one point in the skit, Tom Brokaw's producer instructs him to pre-record the news headline "Gerald Ford is dead today, and I'm gay." The producer argues this unlikely combination of events would be a major scoop, one which they couldn't let the other networks have as exclusives while Brokaw is away on vacation.

I'm not normally one to explain jokes, but in this case it's necessary to explain why, to me, Matt Sussman's intent seems clearly friendly. The part about being gay is not an attack on Jet; it is a reference to the SNL joke.

Sussman reads about Jet laughing, and attempts to make Jet laugh again.

Unfortunately, Jet tends to perceive anything from Matt Sussman as arriving with hostile intent. As far as I can tell, this derives from a long series of misunderstandings. If explaining the joke can clear up just one of those misunderstandings, it will be worth the effort.

Temple if leading us finally out of Vietnam...
If finding a workable solution to the Oil Crisis
If allowing the nation to heal after Watergate
If the Salt II talks...
If helping the country recover from double-digit inflation and 9% unemployment is nothing

You're right

A joke that needs to be explained, especially an obsure one, can be dangerous.

However if Mr. Sussman was joking, I hope next time he explains it a little better and assumes that 6-words that can be taken out of context could be taken more than one way.

You're right a series of missunderstandings may be responsible for this, and I concede your point Victor.

I hope in the future to give him the benefit of the doubt, and hope he'll understand that not everyone (especially me) understands his sense of humor.

I didn't read far enough into the link.

Um, Jet,

The Paris Peace Accords, which officially ended the Vietnam war, were signed on January 27, 1973.

Ford didn't take office as President until August 9, 1974.

The credit for "leading us finally out of Vietnam" is Nixon's.

Clavos, Nixon may have engineered it, but we didn't pull out of Vietnam until late '74 early '75 because Nixon was too busy with Watergate to do anything constructive.

Ford got us out of Vietnam, despite whose idea it was.

Jet,

It was far more than Nixon's idea. The fact is, he ended the war.

Pulling out was just cleaning up.

To say, "leading us finally out of Vietnam" is disingenuous, and implies more accomplishment on Ford's part than he merits.

As I said upthread, I admire Ford, and think he was a decent and honorable man; but credit for getting us out of Vietnam is given to Nixon, and not just by me.

You're right Clavos, the man did absolutely nothing while he was in office and let Henry Kissinger run foreign affairs, and Nixon's staff did all the work while he sat on his ass.

Ford coasted until the end of Nixon's term waiting till he could retire and go on doing nothing and collecting a fat pension.

If it hadn't been for Ford coasting on all fo Nixon's hard work and trying to take credit for it, he wouldn't be remembered for anything except a failed election and assuming a position he didn't deserve and wasn't elected to.

Happy?

Jet, nicely done...

I tend to agree with troll in #32, with much more detail, but I won't dredge that up about a decent man who has passed on.

However, from the Weird Affairs Desk comes this link with some quotes from Ford about current affairs and this Administration.

Goes to show Ford was a much more honest man than any from his party since.

One of us? Which "us" do you mean? One is reminded of the old Lone Ranger Joke, when Tonto says....oh, you know.

From Encarta MSN...

In the spring of 1975 the North Vietnamese began what was to be the last offensive in the war. Only a small contingent of American security personnel and U.S. embassy personnel remained in Saigon, the South Vietnamese capital, and in April 1975 Ford ordered their evacuation. On April 23, 1975, at Tulane University, Ford announced that the war in Vietnam was "finished as far as America is concerned." One week later, North Vietnam captured Saigon and the South Vietnamese government surrendered, ending the war.

OK Jet, Ford ended the Vietnam war...

D'ho Goes to show Ford was a much more honest man than any from his party since.

Amen

Clavos, in case you missed it read #77

Careful, Clavos, Jet gets nasty when you point out his errors.

Gee, Clavos has a bunch of underlined words there that I thought were links, I wonder where I got that idea Suss?

Ignatious just because you call them errors doesn't make it so. I say you've spread a bunch of bullshit lies since entering this string.

There

That has as much credibility as anything you've put forth.

Bliffle go listen to Dark Side of the Moon. specifically Us and Them... You'll figure it out.

You know it's funny, anyone can pick and choose items off the web or an encylopedia and mangle, turture and twist them into something that resembles the "facts" they want to present.

I wrote a tribute to a man I admired, not a textbook. Look again at the top of the article. It fucking says OPINION you morons.

I admired the man, I worked for his campaign, and I'm only relating my OPINIONS of the man from my perspective.

Don't accuse me of mangling facts, if I were doing that it'd say NEWS on the top of the article.

In my opinion Gerald Ford was a great man.

Jet, in case you missed it read #78.

'Bye...

Where is the Arch Conservative when I write something that he'd agree with?

One question - why no mention of the Warren Commission? There are four BC articles about Ford, and only one reference to the Warren Commission among them, which strikes me as odd.

Baronius, there were two reasons why I didn't mention it.

I chose to stick mostly to his presidency and its legacy

Many of the conclusions of the Warren Commision have since proven to be flawed, not because of incompetitance but because technology has improved drastically since then.

I don't think there are many Americans who agree about the Kennedy assasination, so I chose to leave it out so it didn't become a distracting side issue.

Jet

Excellent choice; we really bypassed unnecessary contention on this board. (heh.) Still, the Kennedy stuff has to be mentioned, if only because it put Rep. Ford on the political map.

I recall very different dynamics among the religious right during the 1976 election. They hadn't gelled as a political movement yet, and weren't affiliated with either party. Abortion wasn't discussed in polite company. The big religious/political debate was school prayer.

Carter was a man of faith. Ford didn't wear his faith on his sleeve. The "evangelical vote" didn't exist per se, but evangelicals tended to vote for Carter. Disillusionment with Carter on matters like the ERA helped create the religious right as a movement, and focus it on parties rather than candidates. And now I'm getting off-subject. The point is, the evangelicals didn't abandon Ford because they weren't necessarily with him or his party.

Jet. Speaking of football. FSU44/UCLA27. UF44/OHIO27 on 1-08-07. Ohio is just gator food. CHOMP CHOMP.

"So Sussman, has that been the underlying reason for your relentless cyber-stalking attacks on Jet all along?"

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones...

Jet -

I love ya, man. I really enjoyed your well-written article. And I don't write this to be a dick.

But when you have, as your "official BlogCritics photograph," what looks like (and, in fact, is) a silly photo-shop of your head on some 'roid-fiend's body...I mean, you're gonna get shit for it. Just deal with it.

R.J. This was supposed to remain a private matter, which was covered extensively on the private writer's board, but since you and others insist.

The image is photoshopped, I told all of you that in the private writer's board and asked you to play along. Something really stupid on my part to think that any of you actually might... My bad

By changing my image, I was hoping to force myself to not go on and on about my failing health, depression and my finances. I figured you'd all appreciate the vacation from all that, but instead you seem to thrive on it.

My eyes are failing, they're not getting better. After 11 laser surgeries Ohio State has resorted to experimental drugs just recently cleared by the FDA in order to stop my vision from getting worse. they say it's not getting better, they're just causing it to get worse slower.

After 2 years of uninsured medical bills I've spent $24,000 of my own savings and run up $53,000 in debt on hospitals, doctors and prescriptions. I have $125 left in the bank, about $100 on hand and the rent is coming due next Tuesday. Visa just informed me my minimum monthly payments are now $800 a month, Mastercard is demanding $200. This means soon I'll be forced to file bankruptcy, lose my credit cards and since I've been paying my phone and internet on them, I'll lose both of them too, so you won't have to deal with me soon. I've sold just about everything I own of value for pennies on the dollar to make expenses to the point of having nearly nothing left.

Two years ago I was upper middle class, in a few months without a miracle, I could be living under a bridge.

I saw a second psychiatrist last Friday, who told me that since I'm a diabetic and had had hepatitus C, adding another antidepressant would be dangerous to my health in terms of liver damage, eye damage and what I'm on now is causing brain chemicle inbalances that are affecting the diabetes and making it worse.

Trying to force myself of the Cymbalta causes bouts of near suicidal depression and outbursts of rage and impatience for no apparent reason. suicide is never far from my mind.

So to try to prevent this I changed my bio image. As I say I used to look like that, and I figured if I tried to live up to that image, spoke only positively about my life, and not talk about the above because of it, maybe I could improve my state of mind.

But thanks to those of you who can't seem to let it go, play along, or just gleefully insist on making me look like a fraud, the attempt didn't work.

I hope you're all fucking happy with yourselves.

A side effect of my new photo seems to be that more and more websites seem to be interested in my writings, mostly gay oriented, but even though this article is a little under two days old, it's been reproduced on over 35 websites aleady, as do a few others since I changed my image. The image brings them in, the words keep them coming back.

It's a gimmick, a cartoon character, but it seemed to work with everyone but the people I cared most about... all of you.

Yes that's my head on someone else's body-I used to look like that until I was robbed and nearly beaten to death.

I hope this ends the constant references to my new image, and the smartass attempts at making me look like a fool...

...somehow I doubt it though

A private matter displayed on the Internet. Hmmm, I can't see how that could go wrong.

I think the picture is fun. It's super-Jet. What kind of a whiner would complain?

It would be funnier if you used Jeff Gannon/Guckert's body, though. It's widely available on google images.

Dave

"R.J. This was supposed to remain a private matter"

Your public photo was a private matter?

"which was covered extensively on the private writer's board"

Which I, and most other posters, do not read every day...

"I hope you're all fucking happy with yourselves."

You don't have to be so fucking defensive, bro!

Look, I can sincerely empathize with your vision problems. I have abysmal vision myself. And it ain't getting any better.

And I can also relate to your depression. I have suffered from depression in the past, as have many millions of people. And you are seeking help, which is a good thing.

But you have to understand: People are not always going to be "nice" and "sensitive" in the comments section of your posts. Especially when they don't know your personal story. And especially when you attach that bogus picture to all your posts.

If you are depressed, why would pretending to be something you're not be helpful? Just put your regular, normal, genuine picture up there. You're a normal looking dude. Post it, and be proud.

Or, you can continue to post your fake photo...and people will keep busting your balls over it. Your call.

My 2 cents...

You know what Dave, you're absolutely right, to quote Bette Midler "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke!"

THIS IS A JOB FOR SUPER-FAG!!!!!

Interesting. Jet is liberal. Im conservative. Never met Jet, however I call him friend. GET OFF HIS ASS PLEASE.

Jet wrote: "STM I have checked it out and it's about as funny as a dirty joke told at a funeral and extreemly disrespectful to a great man's memory. If it wasn't meant as such, I'm sure the dig "and Jet's gay" wouldn't have been added."

Jet: Did you read the whole thing on the link, or just get angry? It's a 10-year-old SNL skit, running through about 20 combinations of what might regarded as a major scoop, with Tom Brokaw repeating them all in a hilarious grouping of unlikely scenarios. It's a joke, mate, and since you have no problem about your sexuality, why the extreme sensitivity about it?

Lighten up old boy, no one's giving you a hard time.

Jet: I thought you putting your melon on the other body might have showed that you DO have a sense of humour. I thought if that's how you meant it - as a dig at yourself - it was very funny.

Please don't get so upset mate; as I've said above, no one's having a dig at you. It's just a bit of irreverent fun. Join in and enjoy it.

GOODNIGHT

STM please see the last sentence of #69

sr goodnight Mrs. McGilicutti where ever you are.

Jet's picture?

Is this what this comment thread has deteriorated to discussing?

Sigh....

Shabbat shalom Ruvy.
I wholeheartedly agree.

Blessings and Shavua Tov
Jet

from Bloomberg...Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. said it will close Jan. 2 in honor of former President Gerald Ford. The New York Stock Exchange may shut down as well.

President George W. Bush today declared a national day of mourning for Tuesday, when a memorial service for Ford will be held. Nasdaq Chief Executive Officer Robert Greifeld announced the all-electronic exchange's decision in a statement recalling that in 1999 and 2000 Ford served on the board of the NASD, the largest private regulator of securities firms.

The NYSE, the world's largest stock exchange, hadn't made an announcement on closing by 9:15 p.m. New York time. ``Our plans are forthcoming,'' spokesman Eric Ryan said. Closing the NYSE would continue an almost four-decade tradition of marking presidents' deaths by halting trading for an entire day.

``The right thing is to be closed, to pay the proper respect to President Ford,'' said Ted Weisberg, a floor broker who's worked at the NYSE for 38 years.

Trading on the Nasdaq will resume Jan. 3.

Futures and options exchanges in the U.S. said no decision had been made yet on closing Jan. 2.

The NYSE, owned by New York-based NYSE Group Inc., has been closed at least part of the day for every presidential funeral since William McKinley's in 1901, according to information on the NYSE's Web site. The past five deaths, stretching back to Dwight Eisenhower's in 1969, have been marked with a suspension lasting all day.

Ford, the 38th U.S. president, died Dec. 26 at age 93.

Sept. 11

Closing the Big Board on Jan. 2 would mean a four-day suspension of NYSE trading, including the weekend and New Year's Day. That would be the longest stretch since the six-day halt following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Bush ordered government agencies and departments to close on Jan. 2, except for offices essential to national security.

Representatives from the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the New York Board of Trade said a decision hasn't been made on closing Jan. 2.

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors will close; Fed district banks will be open.

The central bank said minutes of the December meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee will be delayed until Jan. 3. They had been scheduled for release on Jan. 2.

Jet,

What? ARE YOUR FUCKING NUTS?!

I don't wanna rain on your little fantasy tribute/parade here, but since you're trying to get the entire readership to squirt a few for Ford, I must admit that my Tsunami can't compete with your tear-jerker above.

I haven't read any of the comments, but

Here's

Ahhhhhhhhhhh, Shark the love coming from you makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Jet, don't mistake honest assessments from a critical, non-sheep-like mind with "love."

Thanks in advance,
xxoo

S

That photo, anyway, is not worth the thousand words spent on it.

Shark just because he was my political hero doesn't mean he has to be yours. And when yours dies, I hope you write an admiring article on him so I can come along and return your favor.

For this tiny moment I briefly returned to my roots in the GOP, that's where I cut my teeth, that's where my political roots are. But a lot of you are showing quite clearly why I left the party and moved left.

Republicans apparently eat their young and discard their forefathers like old used paper towels in a wastebasket. President Ford cleared the way for Reagan. Reagan admired him so much he even offered him the position of VP before he chose George Bush Sr... and look what Reagan led to.

Ford was unique as a President. He owed no one anything for being financing his way to the office of president, hadn't intended to run for it again, and so he didn't have to suck up to anyone for political favors. He was the only president before or since who did what his conscience dictated and not his handlers or the party bosses wanted.

You know it's funny, I write a tribute to a Republican conservative champion and look what happens. Time to go back to being a damned liberal I guess, or just give up and go back to my music reviews.

I beginning to take comfort in the fact that the only thing most of you have a problem with in this article is my bio picture.

I'm beginning to suspect all this hubbub over a picture is because I'm turning a few of the guys on and they don't want to admit it. Like it or not that "photo" of my former self is getting a lot of attention and giving me a lot of exposure on OTHER websites as a writer that I otherwise wouldn't get, and people are taking me and my views seriously. That image is getting my foot in doors in places I normally wouldn't be welcome in.

If I had any sense I'd go where I'm apparently welcome instead of taking this abuse here, which by the way I'm getting nowhere else. On Netscape alone I've gotten nearly 700 hits on my profile alone in only a matter of weeks, and feedback isn't over the damned photo, it's about my writing!

Why stay?

There are a lot of people I respect here, Nalle, Olsen, Ruvy, John-even Sussman (which is why I get so pissed) to name a few. Unfortunately I have to deal with the assholes here too

Jet

Rabbi RaHamim Pauli wrote in his weekly Sabbath e-mail:

"Quote of the week: "He loved his G-D, his family and his country." - Betty Ford on the death of her husband. Maybe he was not the greatest president the USA ever had but he put G-D above everything else according his wife - now that's what I call a tribute!"

'Nuff said.

Jet sez:

You know it's funny, I write a tribute to a Republican conservative champion and look what happens.

That's what happens anytime you side with conservatives, even for a moment, Jet. The liberal attack squads come out in full force. Even the manatees show up.

You ought to know, Jet; you've been one of them often enough.

The family of President Gerald R. Ford, 38th President of the United States, has announced the official schedule of President Ford's state funeral and the related services and ceremonies. The funeral and other services will occur in three stages. Stage One will occur in Palm Desert, Calif., Stage Two will occur in Washington, D.C. and Stage Three will occur in Grand Rapids, Mich.

STAGE ONE - California Portion of the State Funeral

President Ford's remains will be received with military ceremony at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, Calif., approximately 12:20 p.m. Friday, Dec. 29.

After the arrival ceremony and a private family prayer service and visitation, the remains will lie in repose at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church from 4:00 p.m. Friday, Dec. 29, until approximately 8:00 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 30 PDT/PST. A Guard of Honor will attend the remains while in repose. The public is invited to attend this repose at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church.

The remains of President Ford will depart the church with ceremony at approximately 9:45 a.m. PDT/PST, Saturday, Dec. 30, and be transported to Palm Springs Regional Airport. The public is invited to pay their respects along the motorcade route. The remains will depart the airport with ceremony at approximately 10:15 a.m. PDT/PST and be flown to Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

This will conclude the ceremonies in California.

STAGE TWO - Washington Portion of the State Funeral

1. President Ford's remains will arrive with ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Saturday, Dec. 30, at approximately 5:20 p.m. EDT/EST.

2. En route to the U.S. Capitol, the motorcade will travel through Alexandria, Va., in remembrance of President Ford's long residence in that city as a Congressman and as Vice President of the United States.

3. The motorcade will pause at the World War II Memorial located on the National Mall at 17th Street, between Constitution and Independence Avenues at approximately 5:35 p.m. EDT/EST, Saturday, Dec. 30. World War II and other veterans, as well as the public, are invited to attend this tribute.

4. The motorcade will then proceed to the U.S. Capitol and be received with ceremony at approximately 6:30 p.m. EDT/EST, at the East Steps to the U.S. House of Representatives. President Ford's casket will proceed up the East House Steps on the East Capitol Plaza in honor of his 24 years as a U.S. Congressman. His remains will be met by a group of his former House colleagues. His casket will lie in repose at the open House doors honoring his time in Congress. The casket will then be carried through Statuary Hall. His remains will then move to the Rotunda for the Lying in State portion of the state funeral. President Ford's remains will lie in state with a Guard of Honor until 9:15 a.m. EDT/EST, Tuesday, Jan. 2. Public viewing will be allowed during this time.

5. At approximately 9:30 a.m. EDT/EST, Tuesday, Jan. 2, the remains will depart the Rotunda and rest at the closed Senate doors in honor of his service as the Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate. The motorcade will then proceed to the Washington National Cathedral, passing the White House en route.

6. At approximately 10 a.m. EDT/EST, President Ford's remains will be received with ceremony at the Washington National Cathedral. A national funeral service will then be conducted at approximately 10:30 a.m. EDT/EST.

7. Following the service, the remains will depart with ceremony from Washington National Cathedral at approximately 11:30 a.m. EDT/EST. A motorcade will transport the casket from the cathedral to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., for a departure ceremony at approximately 12:15 p.m. EDT/EST.

This concludes ceremonies in Washington, D.C.

STAGE THREE - Michigan Portion of the State Funeral

President Ford's remains will arrive from Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and be received with ceremony at Gerald R. Ford International Airport, Grand Rapids, Mich., at approximately 2:15 p.m. EDT/EST, Tuesday, Jan 2.

His casket will then be moved by motorcade to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, Grand Rapids, Mich., for a brief private service. During the service, wreaths will be placed at the casket by the presidents of Yale University and the University of Michigan in honor of President Ford's law degree and undergraduate degree, from those institutions respectively. Following the service, President Ford's remains will lie in repose until 3:30 p.m. EST/EDT, Tuesday, Jan. 2. The public is invited to pay their respects at the museum during repose.

President Ford's remains will depart the museum with ceremony at approximately 1 p.m. EST/EDT, Wednesday, Jan. 3, and proceed to Grace Episcopal Church, Grand Rapids, Mich., for a private funeral service for invited guests only.

President Ford's remains will be received at the church with ceremony at approximately 1:30 p.m. EST/EDT. Following the service, the remains will depart the church with ceremony at approximately 3 p.m. EDT/EST and proceed to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum for a private interment service.

The casket will arrive with ceremony at the museum for a private interment service at approximately 3:30 p.m. EDT/EST. The private interment service will be conducted immediately following the arrival ceremony.

Jet, a coupla points:

1) Ford should have spoken out against the Iraq war while he was alive; on that issue, he's a chickenshit -- no matter what else he might have done.

2) Writers must have thick skin. You apparently don't. Don't be such a big baby.

3) If you need verification from strangers on the web, yer also need some therapy.

4) It's all just dots on a screen, babe.

Shark, you're not up on political protocal. It is an unwritten rule that former presidents of the same party as the current president do NOT under any circumstances critisize him.

Different parties yes, but not the same.

In case you haven't been paying attention, I am in therapy twice a week for Post traumatic stress, and suidical depression due to the attack and beating in 2004 that nearly took my life and health, both of which I'm on prescriptions for.

It's amazing how I only get this here and nowhere else. The bio photo is accepted, my writing skills and opinions, everything. That photo with my shirt on is genuine and you could see how fit I used to be, it's just 15 years old (which is why everyone kept saying I didn't look 51) and was taken before all this happened to me.

The fact that so many of you are DETERMINED to embarrass me in front of newcomers to this website who don't know all this and I have to explain it is astounding.

Websites like Digg where I got over 800 thumbs up for one article in a matter of days. Netscape where over 600 in a matter of weeks

Maybe when they rarely disagree with me on other forums it doesn't matter as much because I got my start here, so my loyalties are stronger here and I care more about what you people think... here. You're a tougher crowd and harder to please here so I have to work harder.

But

You can tease and abuse a dog for only so long before he turns on you and you get bitten. Then you have the nerve to be surprised when you walk into the back yard and he runs away from you instead of accepting any kind of affection without suspicion because he was brought up to be weary of it.

What is the old saying?

"A man is loved everywhere but in his own country"?

Jet, this is in response to others, so please spare us another one of your pity posts.

"The liberal attack squads come out in full force."

Spare the melodrama. I asked Jet to clarify his statement about the right forcing Ford off the ticket in '80 because it was contrary to everything I had heard or read.

First, he says he has credible links. When I check his link, it makes no mention of that fact. He then tells me what happened in '76, but lacks any proof of what happened in '80. Then he segues into saying it's his opinion even though his sentence wasn't framed that way. And the entire time, he throws insults and curses.

No one came to his defense, not the people Jet respects or anyone else. If you guys want to sit around, slap each other on the back, and have a good time, that's fine. But know that you do a disservice to Jet as a writer as well as the truth.

Although, I guess I should thank you all for allowing me to appear in the role of Young Lad in Blogcritics' version of "The Emperor's New Clothes."

When a photo is attached to a bio, it is automatically placed on every article posted. It is not something that is manually done by the writer.

jeez

The weekend before the convention in which Reagan was nominated as GOP presidential candidate, I was appalled to see Jerry Falwell on TV angrily denouncing that Reagan would even consider Ford, as a running mate because Ford had taken no action to reverse roe v wade. Falwell and Robertson had both vowed to oppose the nomination via their broadcasts.

This was also reported by Walter Cronkite a few evenings later on the CBS evening News. I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears and shared the outrage of my fellow Ford supporters that evening.

I don't give a damn if Ignorant-acious believes me or not.

Ruvy#105. Even I your local village idiot could not agree more. Well said Sir.

Thanks MCH

Well when notning intelligent can be thought to say my dear sr, they go to the playground.

So it wasn't in your links and it wasn't what you heard while you were working for the Ford administartion in 1976.

If this was your evidence, why not state it when you were first asked? Why did it take you two days of misdirection, insults, and cursing to reveal this?

From Bob Woodward's article:

Pres. Ford: "I looked upon [Nixon] as my personal friend. And I always treasured our relationship. And I had no hesitancy about granting the pardon, because I felt that we had this relationship and that I didn't want to see my real friend have the stigma."

Yeah, that sounds like he did it to save the country.

Jet: "...In case you haven't been paying attention, I am in therapy twice a week for Post traumatic stress, and suidical depression due to the attack and beating in 2004..."

COUPLA THINGS:

1) I wasn't paying attention and I couldn't care less...

...because...

2) Everybody has problems. I've got more problems than God. I've had at least half a dozen personal tragedies since I've been on BC.

BUT I Haven't mentioned ONE OF 'EM --

...because...

a) it's dots on a screen
b) I don't know any of you personally
c) to plead for special considerations for my writing because of my personal problems would be beneath my personal standards of dignity and integrity
d) who gives a shit
e) this is an "online magazine" -- not a SUPPORT GROUP.

3) I assume that everyone has -- to some extent -- a fucked up, problem-filled life of pain and suffering. It goes with being human. ~NEXT!

It sounds like Ford and Nixon were cronies and the pardon was a personal favor.

"Pres. Ford: "I looked upon [Nixon] as my personal friend. And I always treasured our relationship. And I had no hesitancy about granting the pardon, because I felt that we had this relationship and that I didn't want to see my real friend have the stigma.""

"Tragedy today, as former President Gerald Ford was eaten by wolves. He was delicious."

Sounds like a good subject for a satire R.J. you should right that up

It's already been done... :-/

Sylvia, Shark, despite your opinions, Pres. Ford held a unique place in history, he was beholden to no one but his wife. He owed no political favors for getting into office, so he had the freedome that no other president had to do as his conscience dictated.

Despite your sources, his decision to pardon Nixon was so that his administration could go on with the business of the country without getting bogged down in Watergate, and he was right.

and history will judge him that way.

Jet

Here.

I missed something RJ? On this site? By the way if you'd like a smile, read my new Isley Brothers review.

My dialup connection is too slow, I'll take your word for it

Happy New Year, Jet. :-)

"Despite your sources"

The source was Ford. I think he might have some inside info on the matter. Read the Woodward's piece in Friday's Wash Post

Ford actually reminds me of Tom Sawyer, considering how many people he got to do his whitewashing for him.

For God's sake let it go. His main reason for the pardon was to allow the country to move on. Why aren't you jumping up and down in hysterics about his critisixm of Bush's war?

jeez

Back atcha RJ

I'm going back down to the party here I just hope they didn't run out of beer yet.

OK Jet, all due Respect here, but you say, "He owed no political favors for getting into office"

Actually he owed Nixon, and paid the debt, as I stated, he gets points for honesty.

The big problem here that anyone might have with Ford revolves around his pardoning Nixon. Now the common thing is that this was to allow the "nation to heal"

I call bullshit. You see, what it actually did was remove the office of the President from being held responsible for ANYTHING.It demonstrated to the people of the US as well as the rest of the world that even if the highest elected official in the nation breaks the very laws he has sworn to uphold and protect, the mechanisms for punishing said acts could be circumvented and NO responsibility taken for the crimes.

Now, I would have wished that Nixon had been put through the process, found guilty of some things, innocent of others and THEN pardoned. This would have shown that NO ONE is above the law, and yet would have allowed an ex-president to have left office and the transition to be without blemish.

Silly of me, I know.

That being said, I do say again that Ford was a pretty decent fellow by all accounts, and should get the footnote in history he deserves.

That's on the same line of logic as blaming a substitute teacher that filled in the last coupld of weeks of class because the regular teacher got fired.

what are you guys going to do when I go back to being a liberal democrat again?

Unless the substitute teacher allowed the regular teacher a free pass when the latter broke the law, that analogy doesn't hold water.

Sorry Jet, but Sylvia nails it. To use your own analogy, the regular teacher breaks a law, and then the substitute pardons the teacher and continues on with the class.

What lesson does that teach the "students", of that "class" as well as those own the hall?

It's my only caveat when it comes to Ford, other than the pardon, which he was obligated to do as I stated previously, Ford did a pretty good job, and demonstrated nothing but integrity. Even his pardon was a sign of integrity,he stayed bought,a rarity in politics nowadays.

the problem wasn't Ford or the pols...it was the citizens who were itching to back away from radical action to reform their institutions

I even believe that Ford thought he was doing the right thing, but we'll never know what would have happened, so this idea that he saved the country is unfounded.

Luckily for many of us and our family members, Betty showed a better way by having the strength to deal with a problem rather than brushing it aside. It helped my father and for that I owe her thanks.

"what are you guys going to do when I go back to being a liberal democrat again?"

Simple. We'll wait for the wind to shift once again, and see which new plot twists "The Continuing Trials and Tribulations of Jet" will take next.

Ray, my loyalties don't shift that easily. I can prove that just by the fact that I'm still here at BlogCritics after everything. I'm still a democrat, and I till consider Ford one of my heroes. Ford was the last GOP I voted for before I watched the republican party bought and sold by Ronald Reagon to Big Business and the Religious Right.

I'll continue to quietly watch all of you spit on his memory, and like all of you've said, "it's all dots on a page."

Life has a way of coming around full circle, and I'm sure I'll the get chance to repay all of you and you know what?

I'm not going to do it. I'd like to think I'm not a petty as some of you have been.

Gerald Ford was a man of integrety
You can spit insults at a dead man all you like.

I can't make him a hero
Not a single one of you can make him a villian.

But it does show me who my friends are...

This is New Years Eve and all you young punks are playing with your PC. Blowing up serious fire-works and drinking Capt Morgan is my pleasure. Of course why am I sitting here reading this crap.
HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Why indeed sr, why indeed?

Jet. Just launched a #10 coffee can over the tree tops. Scared the crap out of my neighbors barking dip stick dog. To bad I couldn,t have launched the dog. Such is life.

"Pres. Ford: "I looked upon [Nixon] as my personal friend. And I always treasured our relationship. And I had no hesitancy about granting the pardon, because I felt that we had this relationship and that I didn't want to see my real friend have the stigma."

Ford's greatest piece of thinking on this issue is really relevant for the time: that with a nation doing poorly economically and in turmoil over the fallout from Vietnam, and in total social upheaval, how the hell would it have been able to move on had an entire nation been fixated upon the travails of a president on trial?

Ford in fact showed great political foresight in making that decision. Indeed, he and his administration had set as their major goal trying to salve America's social and economic ills, and he was nothing if not honest which is why Americans liked him in the first place.

Ford's other belief was that as Nixon would be remembered with such shame was probably punishment enough for a fallen, disgraced president. You have to think, too, outside the envelope of America: how does it look to the rest of the world, your friends and enemies alike, when you put a president on trial, and potentially have him facing charges that could see him jailed.

It would have dragged out for years, no doubt. Would America have been able to move forward in that time?

Very doubtful. Indeed, America needed healing in that period and that was a good start.

Ford in the end knew it might cost him the presidency but still did it.

I don't believe there were any secret deals made in relation to the decision, which with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight proved to be the right one. Just not for Gerald Ford.

Thanks STM, there's no way Ford didn't know the consequences, and that it was political suicide. He did it any way.

It took courage and guts. As one of the leaders of the house he knew the constitutional law concerning the matter. He knew if it wasn't the right thing he'd be the one on trial instead of Nixon-that's undenialable fact.

Happy new year my friend.

There will be no mail delivery Tuesday and most government offices will be closed in order to honor Pres. Ford.

"Jet. Just launched a #10 coffee can over the tree tops. Scared the crap out of my neighbors barking dip stick dog. To bad I couldn't have launched the dog. Such is life."

sr - I love you, man!

Happy New Year!

SR you didn't mention you method... Cherry bomb?

Anyone familiar with Blogcritics knows: "Sussman" implies "pathetic
attention whore with piss-poor sense of humor."

Really? I'll have to write that down somewhere as a reminder. Other than that what did you think of the article?

Thanks RJ. Jet my friend that is a family secreat however mine make cherry bombs look like lady fingers. All my friend could say was holy crap. I now look foward to the 4th of July.
Jet and RJ HAVE A GREAT DAY. 'KA-BOOM'

SR, next time tie a clothes line to the dog's collar before you light the fuse and aim the can toward the swamp!!

Jet. Am I required to get permission from PETA first? Like that would stop me. Think I'll do the old stand by. K9 soppository with fuse extending. Now where did I put them nukes.

Nothing more American than alcohol and explosives. Sa-lute!

"Gerald Ford was a man of integrety"

Ha! Read Hitchen's piece at Slate to see the ugly truth about Ford's reign. http://www.slate.com/id/2156400/fr/flyout

"1. Disgraced the United States in Iraq and inaugurated a long period of calamitous misjudgment of that country.

2. Colluded with the Indonesian dictatorship in a gross violation of international law that led to a near-genocide in East Timor.

3. Delivered a resounding snub to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn at the time when the Soviet dissident movement was in the greatest need of solidarity."

Nice

"The Ford epoch did not banish a nightmare. It ended a dream--the ideal of equal justice under the law that would extend to a crooked and venal president. And in Iraq and Indonesia and Indochina, it either protracted existing nightmares or gave birth to new ones."

Be sure to travel up to Michigan to spit on his grave while you're at it.