-Caveat Lector- http://www.softskull.com/ Fortunate Son: Second Edition J.H. Hatfield FEATURING new material by Mark Crispin Miller, David Cogswell, Mark Levine, Michael Binder, Seth Tobocman, and Sander Hicks. New writing also now available in eBook format on CyberRead. http://www.cyberread.com/search_result.asp?PRODUCT_ID=ISBN:1887128794 http://www.cyberread.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=ISBN:1887128794 http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/Hatfield061101/hatfield061101.html 11 Jun 11 2001�It's a classic case of damned if you do & damned if you don't "When Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President was published and subsequently recalled by St. Martin's Press (under pressure from Bush's legal eagles) in October 1999, everyone wanted to know who my sources were for the controversial afterword in which I alleged Dubya had been arrested for coke possession in 1972 and had his record expunged due to his father's political influence. <snip> In the past year, the Berkley Putnam publishing group canceled a true crime book I was supposed to write, St. Martin's killed another hardcover biography I was contracted to pen and, oh yeah, thanks to a comprehensive investigation by Linda Starr, we discovered St. Martin's has continued to sell returned copies of Fortunate Son at discount outlets such as the Half-Price Bookstore chain (no, they didn't burn them like they publicly and pompously claimed). Fast forward to the annual BookExpo America convention�the "Super Bowl of the publishing world," according to USA Today�where I held a press conference to re-launch the revised and updated version of Fortunate Son, which includes a postscript by author and media analyst David Cogswell, an appendix on Dubya's AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard by noted Dallas Cold War historian Michael S. Binder, and a new foreword by Mark Crispin Miller, the author of the recently published and critically-acclaimed The Bush Dyslexicon (a great read, which Entertainment Weekly graded an "A" and chose as their Editor's Choice in the June 8 issue). But thanks to the new introduction by my publisher, Sander Hicks, who "named names" and identified my sources, I was backed into a corner. When USA Today's Bob Minzeheimer point-blank asked me at the BEA press conference if Karl Rove, Dubya's chief strategist and dirty trickster extraordinaire, was indeed my major source�the so-called "Eufaula Connection"�I had to fess up to the truth, especially since Hicks was also handing out to the press copies of my private phone records along with the new version of Fortunate Son. <snips> And, of course, Rove "was traveling and could not be reached" for a comment. He can't go on the record and say it isn't true, because IT IS and the phone records speak volumes. How else would I have his private number at his home in Ingram, Texas, plus his fax machine and other unlisted numbers? Even with the passage of a couple of years, I can still hear the recorded message on his residential answering machine replayed in my mind: "Hi, you've reached Karl and Darby . . ." One day the hypocritical Dubya announces he intends to offer a mix of arms purchases and military aid to Russia in exchange for reduced resistance to his plans for a science-fiction-based missile defense system (we call that "bribery" and "greasing the palms" down in Arkansas), but within 24 hours, NATO dealt the prez a blow by issuing a statement that failed to endorse Son of Star Wars and also voiced our allies' concern that it could "lead to another arms race." Late Night's Conan O'Brien: "The Pentagon has been accused of wasting money because they sent an aircraft carrier from San Diego to Hawaii for the premiere of Pearl Harbor. Not only that, the government spent $1 million transporting Strom Thurmond to the premiere of The Mummy Returns." Let's be honest, if Timothy McVeigh hadn't confessed to the Oklahoma City bombing, the recent disclosure of thousands of previously overlooked FBI documents relating to the case could have conceivably been grounds for a mistrial and the homegrown terrorist could have walked right out the front gates of the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana . . . New York Daily News columnist Michael Kramer recently said "amen" to what I have consistently written about as a Dubya' biographer�he's a petty, schoolyard bully. Kramer said, "Those who know Bush best know how mean he can be. The President harbors grudges, perceives slights even when there's scant evidence for them and . . . positively relishes getting even." I haven't yet figured out what "rogue nations" are as defined by Dubya. The Taliban rulers of Afghanistan can enslave girls & women, produce 75 percent of the world's opium supply, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists (yes, Osama bin Laden's base of operations is located there) and destroy every vestige of civilization in their own backyard, but Dubya rewards them with a $43 million aid package . . . While at BookExpo America, numerous people wanted to solicit my comments about 19-year-old Jenna Bush and her drinking problems. Although I disagree with the Bushes that the twin daughters are off-limits to the press if they create news (People magazine is running a cover story), I still adamantly contend that this is a family issue. Alcoholism is hereditary and, although he has never used the "A" word, Dubya has confessed that he had severe drinking problems in his youth and cut off the firewater when he turned 40. When the revelation of his DUI in Maine in 1976 was revealed only days before the election, he said he hadn't even told his girls about it because he "didn't want to send the wrong message." Dubya, I plan to tell my infant girl one day about my checkered past in hopes she won't make the same mistakes I did. Get real, man, when the daughter of the president shows up at a restaurant in Austin with the Secret Service in tow and tries to use a fake I.D. (a felony in Texas) to obtain alcohol, then you have a problem on your hands. She likes the buzz, just like you once did. Deal with it responsibly as a man and a father . . . A recent CNN/USA Today poll showed only 38 percent of Americans say the new prez is doing enough to solve the country's energy problems and 6 in 10 say energy companies have too much influence over his administration . . . Since Vice-President Cheney so strongly believes nuclear power is an acceptable source of energy for the future, I guess he won't mind if a reactor plant is built in his backyard Jeb Bush, while announcing that he would seek reelection as governor of Florida late last week, also said he would continue to oppose any move by his brother's administration to allow oil drilling off the Florida Gulf Coast. "Florida is unique, and we need to protect our shorelines," he said. Oh, how convenient, like Alaska and Montana and the national forests of this country aren't "unique." Will someone please hand me a barf bag . . . The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights approved a report that accused the Florida governor and Secretary of State Katherine Harris of disenfranchising countless residents of the Sunshine State during last year's presidential election, the majority of them African Americans. The report found that 54 percent of the ballots rejected as improperly marked were cast by black voters�who accounted for just 11 percent of voters statewide�while predominantly white voting districts "were more likely to have high technology . . . for verification of voter eligibility." The inquiry concluded that the Y2K election in Florida was characterized by "injustice, ineptitude and inefficiency," and the commission plans to ask U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft for a Justice Department investigation into violations of the federal Voting Rights Act. You can take this one to the bank, if the election outcome had been different and Gore would have won, the Republicans would have already insisted on a special prosecutor . . . I begin and end with my ol' fishing buddy, Karl Rove. A recent financial disclosure form released by the White House showed he owned holdings worth more than $100,000 each in Boeing Co., one of the nation's 3 largest defense contractors; Enron Corp., a Houston energy conglomerate and one of Dubya's biggest sugar daddies; General Electric Co., a supplier for nuclear and fossil fuel power generators; and Pfizer Inc., a pharmaceutical manufacturer. Although Dubya' senior adviser got caught with his fingers in the cookie jar and submitted a draft request for a certificate of divestiture from the Office of Government Ethics�which, according to the Washington Post, allows deferral of capital gains taxes on sales that are made to avoid conflicts�Senate Democrats said they would determine if a hearing might be warranted, since Rove had retained his holdings through the administration's deliberation on its energy policy. We'll do this all again next week, folks, so please come back. � 1998-2001 Online Journal�. Excerpts for critique - read the book http://www.softskull.com/ Fortunate Son: Second Edition J.H. Hatfield <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
