Former President Gerald Ford Dead at 93

Rancid Altoid was one of a large number of readers to tell us that "Former U.S. President Gerald Ford, who was swept into office after the Watergate scandal and later pardoned Richard Nixon, died at age 93, his widow said on Tuesday."

Comments

Cnn does it best

[BoomerSooner]

CNN Special coverage

He was pretty interesting! I didn't realize he was a Michigan football player who turned down the NFL to go into Yale law!

Not sure I agree with the Nixon pardoning but it did get the messiness behind us. However, it allows presidents to seem to operate with out regard to legality (ie, current war crimes, etc...)

Re:Cnn does it best

[TrisexualPuppy]

He was pretty interesting! I didn't realize he was a Michigan football player who turned down the NFL to go into Yale law! Not sure I agree with the Nixon pardoning but it did get the messiness behind us. However, it allows presidents to seem to operate with out regard to legality (ie, current war crimes, etc...)

I am very saddened to read of this. I found a little more pertinent info here, a much less biased source. I am planning on travelling to DC to pay my respects. He was quite a man.

Re:Cnn does it best

[elrous0]

I didn't realize he was a Michigan football player who turned down the NFL to go into Yale law!

Considering what a joke the NFL was in the 30's, that's not as big a surprise move as you might think.

-Eric

Re:Cnn does it best

[afidel]

I heard on NPR this morning that there were two assassination attempts against Ford. One of them was a result of a local paper publishing his complete travel itinerary when he was in town, when this was discussed with Ford not long ago he remarked that he was not aware that the paper had published that information! It's interesting that the attempt against Regan that injured Brady gets so much notoriety but the two attempts against Ford are never talked about.

Re:Cnn does it best

[teflaime]

Bias? I'm not sure where you are seeing bias in CNN's coverage. They portrayed him as a kind and honest man who did what he thought was best for the country, as opposed to what was best for himself or the Republican party. Which, to be accurate, was pretty much how Ford said he wanted to be remembered.

Re:Cnn does it best

[eln]

The wiki article on Gerald Ford currently has several areas where a word in the article has been replaced with the word "wank," or where that word has been inserted. Fairly subtle, but easy to catch if you actually read the article start to finish.

Re:Cnn does it best

[Mr. Slippery]

It's interesting that the attempt against Regan that injured Brady gets so much notoriety but the two attempts against Ford are never talked about.

I know /. skews young, so it's possible you may not remember Reagan getting shot.

That's the thing: unlike Ford, he actually got shot, as did Brady and a Secret Service guy, Tim McCarthy. Missed killing Reagan by about an inch. We had to wait in suspense to see if he would survive or not. So, yeah, that stands out in people's memories. (I was 11 when it happened.)

Re:Cnn does it best

[OnlineAlias]

Well, Regan actually did get shot, and Brady was crippled. I think its fair to say those outcomes make them a little more noteworthy. If Ford had actually taken one for the team it would be a little more well known.

Re:Cnn does it best

[Reziac]

Please take my respects with you. From all that I know of him, Gerald Ford was a good and honest man who did the best he could even in a tough situation, and always had his countrymen's best interests at heart. I am saddened by his passing, but glad that we had him in life.

Re:Cnn does it best

[ConceptJunkie]

OK, I'm not up to date on the latest fad in nutty conspiracy theories. Would you mind elucidating?

Re:Cnn does it best

[Vicissidude]

Bias? I'm not sure where you are seeing bias in CNN's coverage. They portrayed him as a kind and honest man who did what he thought was best for the country, as opposed to what was best for himself or the Republican party.

There's your bias right there. Honest? That's completely laughable. Best for the country? Pah-lease.

Ford is a man who let a crook go free for the benefit of the Republican party. Just imagine Nixon, a dirty Republican, and 4-5 years of a trial where everyone knew he had broken the law. Reagan would have never made it into office in a political climate like that. And all of Nixon's cronies such as Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Bush Sr, would have had their careers ruined.

No, Ford's actions were for the benefit of the only person who elected him to the position of President of the United States: Richard Nixon.

Re:Cnn does it best

[Red Flayer]

Missed killing Reagan by about an inch. We had to wait in suspense to see if he would survive or not.

No offense, but I recall it a bit differently. It wasn't until much after the fact that we knew his life was in serious danger... all the networks said was that he had been shot (and of course we at first thought the worst) but then the news programs said it was a minor wound. At first, no one knew Reagan had been injured at all, since the bullet entered 'inconspicuously' through the armpit.

Not until much later did the surgeons divulge how close the bullet came to Reagan's heart, we all thought it was not a big deal until then.

Re:Cnn does it best

[WillyPete]

He was also aware in advance of the plan by Indonesia to massacre the East Timorese with U.S.-provided weaponry (~200,00 killed). Now, I'm not certain that we really needed to act militarily, but if the Indosesians wanted to kill a third East Timor's population I fail to see why we got to provide the weapons.

http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_co ntent&task=view&id=975&Itemid=135
http://redstateson.blogspot.com/2006/12/gaw-in-act ion.html

Re:Cnn does it best

[milimetric]

If you re-read it, your argument is:

they portrayed him the way he wanted to be remembered
=> the report was not biased

This is a terrible logical argument. I don't know if it's true that he was honest and kind as a president but his desire to be remembered as such does not make him so.

Regardless of his merit, may he rest in peace. Simply to serve in that position without going insane is an accomplishment in my mind.

Re:Cnn does it best

[xmundt]

Greetings and Salutations.
          That was a very difficult period for the country, and did sow the seeds of what America has become now. Everyone has a different spin on what would ahve been "best" and for whom.
          I was left with a deep feeling of betrayal and an even stronger distrust of ALL government, as this pardon seemed to be more of a process of sweeping the whole, nasty mess under the carpet, to allow the politicians to get on with business as usual. It may have been worse for the country for Nixon to be put on trial for his activities...but we will never know.
          It is my opinion that this action, while easier in the short term, DID push the balance of power away from the citizens, and towards the government, and moved us another step along this path to totalitarianism that we are on. It is still true that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. By allowing Nixon to escape prosecution, the message was sent that power is immune to oversight and personal responsibility. Many people said that he would never be seen again, because of the humiliation of being forced out of office, and yet, only about 10 years later, he was being feted and pursued for interviews as "an elder statesman".
          The sad thing is that Nixon DID do some good things during his six years or so in office. His "opening of CHina" went a long way towards causing the Cold War to crumble. He did make some serious efforts to find a way to resolve the "war" in Vietnam and save face for everyone. The fact that he got swept up in the power and paranoia thing, and threw it all away by attempting to undercut the freedoms and rights granted to us by the Constitution though pretty much trumps almost everything else.
          I do agree, though, with characterizations of Ford as being a very decent man. IF he had been elected to a full term perhaps he would have changed the course of American history in a more positive direction...but again, we will never know.
          Merry Christmas.

Re:Cnn does it best

[skahshah]

From all that I know of him, Gerald Ford was a good and honest man who did the best he could even in a tough situation, and always had his countrymen's best interests at heart. I am saddened by his passing, but glad that we had him in life.

I'm seeing in the future... Someone will say that exact same thing about Jimmy Carter, and someone else about George W. Bush. Isn't that insightful ?

Re:Cnn does it best

[Reziac]

Hmm. Well, about Jimmy Carter, I'd say as President he was kind-hearted and genuinely meant well, but didn't have the common sense the gods gave a brick. The jury is still out on GW.

Re:Cnn does it best

[DerekLyons]

It's interesting that the attempt against Regan that injured Brady gets so much notoriety but the two attempts against Ford are never talked about.

I know /. skews young, so it's possible you may not remember Reagan getting shot.

It's not just that /. skews young, but that Ford's lame duck presidency is largely forgotten - and what did happen during his watch is vastly overwhelmed by the issue of his pardon of Richard Nixon.
 
 

That's the thing: unlike Ford, he actually got shot, as did Brady and a Secret Service guy, Tim McCarthy. Missed killing Reagan by about an inch. We had to wait in suspense to see if he would survive or not. So, yeah, that stands out in people's memories. (I was 11 when it happened.)

That's the thing - you are too young to remember the attempts on Ford's life. It has nothing to do with the fact that Reagan was hit (and nearly killed) and everything to do with your age. I was 11 in 1974 - and plainly remember both attempts, which were widely covered in the media at the time. The attempt on Reagan's life is also remembered more because it occurred in the post-CNN world and was captured on a widely aired videotape.

Re:Cnn does it best

[pizzaman100]

Don't know who labeled parent a troll, but it should be insightful. The NFL wasn't much in the 30's. Teams frequently folded, salaries were low, and it wasn't near as popular as college football. There were 11 teams in 1930, and only 8 in 1932. The Green Bay Packers are a reminder of the humble beginings, the "Packers" were started by a small local Green Bay packaging company that was willing to pay for equipment for the players to get them started.

Re:Cnn does it best

[cold fjord]

Ford is a man who let a crook go free for the benefit of the Republican party.
. ...
No, Ford's actions were for the benefit of the only person ...: Richard Nixon.

Could you make up your mind? Or, better yet, how about we go back to the beginning: Ford did what was best for the nation.

After he became president, a quarter of the time of the White House staff was being taken up by the Watergate proceedings. That wasn't moving the country's business forward any more than Clinton's impeachment that so many on Slashdot bitterly complain about. To make it even "better", Nixon wasn't President anymore to suffer the results of his actions, Ford was. With the pardon, Ford cleared the agenda of the President, his executive staff, Congress, the FBI, CIA, and various other agencies to deal with the problems of the American people since the most important result was already accomplished: Richard Nixon was no longer the President of the United States of America, having resigned in disgrace, and many of his henchmen in jail. Although it might have been personally satisfying and politically useful to some people to pursue Nixon, it would have continued to take up large amount of time for an uncertain result: you still have to get beyond reasonable doubt, and even then you can face jury nullification or hung juries.

Your notion of a 4-5 year trial is dubious speculation and political pornography. Even with a five year trial, Ronald Reagan would have still been running against President Carter. Jimmy Carter was stuck running on his record, the economy, and events of his day. He lost then, and he almost certainly would have lost even with a trial of Nixon. A second term for President Jimmy Carter wouldn't be any more palatable for most Americans due to a jury verdict against former President Nixon, the President before the last President.

Although it may be personally satisfying to you to think of Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Bush Sr. as being ruined, that is doubtful; they didn't do anything wrong. Colson, Dean, Liddy, and the rest, went down because they did.

Re:Cnn does it best

[Vicissidude]

Could you make up your mind?

Richard Nixon as President was the Republican party. He was the head honcho, the main man. A pardon for him was also a pardon for the party, as I already explained.

Ford did what was best for the nation.

Hardly. He did what was best for the only man who elected him to the position, Richard Nixon, and their political party, the Republicans.

Your notion of a 4-5 year trial is dubious speculation and political pornography.

Not unlike what happened to Clinton during his 4-5 year, $50 million investigation which only determined that like a vast majority of Americans, he lied about sex.

Although it might have been personally satisfying and politically useful to some people to pursue Nixon, it would have continued to take up large amount of time for an uncertain result

Yes, that's called justice. It's not pretty and it can take time. Instead what we got was a mockery of justice that only proves well connected dirty Republicans are above the law.

As far as I'm concerned, Ford is an accomplice to Nixon's crimes by letting him go free. Ford does not deserve my sympathy nor respect. If there is a hell, he is certainly burning in it.

Re:Cnn does it best

[Hangin10]

I'd rather look at it as if all the angles are correct. He did it because Richard Nixon gave him the presidency. He did it to clean up the mess for the Republican party. He did it to prevent tax dollars on useless trials. No matter what he did it for, they all have pretty much the same result.

And as for Nixon? Who cares. The President is not called the most powerful person on Earth for no reason. I wouldn't be suprised if the guy who blew the whistle and everybody after that associated with the "crime" didn't mysteriously unexist.

Re:Cnn does it best

[cold fjord]

Richard Nixon as President was the Republican party. He was the head honcho, the main man. A pardon for him was also a pardon for the party, as I already explained.

No it wasn't. The pardon was very unpopular politically. As a result, the Republicans got pounded in the midterm elections, losing 49 seats. That is far worse than they did in the last election.

Hardly. He did what was best for the only man who elected him to the position, Richard Nixon, and their political party, the Republicans.

Ford's White House had charge of the President's papers, formerly Nixon's, now his. His staff was spending 1/4 of their time just dealing with all of the legal mess from Watergate, and he was spending large amounts of his energy. That doesn't include what was going on in Congress and elsewhere. Much of the country was fixated on it. That could have lasted for years. Ford cleared it away with his pardon power: Shazam! - Instant 25% more time to spend on little things like the energy crunch, Middle East war & peace (a big deal after the massive Yom Kippur war in 1973), South East Asia, Europe, China, the Soviet Union, global cooling, and other matters. Having 25% more time to spend on issues that are important to the current business of the nation sounds best to me.

Not unlike what happened to Clinton during his 4-5 year, $50 million investigation which only determined that like a vast majority of Americans, he lied about sex.

Actually there were a series of determinations made about various issues, and new ones just keep popping up: Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate, the Lewinski affair, Vince Foster's death, and so on. If the white House would have cooperated instead of fighting tooth and nail, and various records hadn't mysteriously gone missing and then magically appeared years later, it might have gone quicker. And, just to be clear about it, Clinton lied about sex in a case in which his sexual behavior was an issue. It cost him an $850,000 settlement, his law license, and any reimbursement for legal expenses. Other people have gone to jail for what he did. Also, the answers were only clear after the investigations, not before.

Yes, that's called justice. It's not pretty and it can take time.

Weren't you just complaining about that in President Clinton's case? Why is it different for President Nixon?

Instead what we got was a mockery of justice that only proves well connected dirty Republicans are above the law.

Whew! I was worried, for a moment I thought it was only well connected dirty Democrats, Libertarians, and the occasional independents who get off lightly. Thank goodness we have equal justice. On second thought, if well connected dirty Republicans are above the law, how did Chuck Colson, Gordon Liddy, and various others of the White House "plumbers" go to jail, and Spiro Agnew get socked for tax evasion and bribery? Why did Nixon have to resign?

As far as I'm concerned, Ford is an accomplice to Nixon's crimes by letting him go free.

Somehow I doubt that what you are really after is justice for Nixon's part in the obstruction of justice in the Watergate affair. You do realize that Cambodia, the Christmas bombing, Kent State, Vietnam, and all of the rest, would not have played any part in the trial, or any possible punishment, don't you? Even if they would have prosecuted and convicted Nixon for obstruction of justice, I doubt that you would have found that an adequate proxy for whatever real punishment you think he really deserved.

Ford does not deserve my sympathy nor respect. If there is a hell, he is certainly burning in it.

You display a remarkable generosity of spirit.

Re:Cnn does it best

[kwietman]

Although President Ford was criticized for his pardon of Nixon, such a decision was not made without extensive soul-searching. Ford felt is was in the best interests of the country not to be embroiled in a complex and potentially destabilizing trial of a former president under the politically-charged aegis of an opportunistic Senate while trying to deal with an increasingly unpopular war in Viet Nam and an oncoming recession. Ford was well aware of the scorn he was likely to receive upon issuing the pardon, and gained absolutely no favor within his own party by doing so. Even his press secretary resigned in protest, and it likely cost him the 1976 election. Ford, however, maintained until his death that pardoning Nixon was the surest way to let the country move on, and that, even with the knowledge that it would ultimately end his political career, he would not have changed his decision. There is, however, evidence that Alexander Haig may have had a hand in influencing the decision, although no specific agreement was made.

Re:Cnn does it best

[ConceptJunkie]

I know perfectly well what the Warren Commission was all about. What I'm wondering is what bizarre twist on the facts leads you believe Ford was a traitor. Believe it or not, Google won't clue me in to your weird opinions.

Re:Cnn does it best

[Vicissidude]

There is also evidence that Ford traded Nixon a pardon for the presidency. That's obstruction of justice. It shouldn't have been done. It was against the law. And it was possibly an impeachable offense.

Re:Cnn does it best

[Vicissidude]

The pardon was very unpopular politically. As a result, the Republicans got pounded in the midterm elections, losing 49 seats.

Yes, and as a result, Reagan was able to come in at a time when no one was talking about impeachment. Had a trial actually occurred over 4-5 years, it would still have been fresh in everyone's minds years after the end. The pardon instantly ended all of that. Sure, it might have been a hit in the short term, but it was their best choice for the long term.

Ford cleared it away with his pardon power: Shazam! - Instant 25% more time to spend on little things like...

Bullshit. The pardon was not done to give Ford time to work on other projects. The pardon was not done to "heal the nation" or other such nonsense. Nixon wanted off. And they all wanted to get the Republican party out of the spotlight. Ford traded Nixon the pardon for the presidency.

You: Weren't you just complaining about that in President Clinton's case? Why is it different for President Nixon?

You want to compare the two? Fine, I'm perfectly all right going there.

The difference between the two is that Clinton was brought to justice.

The difference is that Nixon actually broke laws that people care about and which affect the nation. The only law Clinton broke was lying about his own sex life.

The difference is that we spent half a decade investigating Clinton and spending $50 million to find out that he lied about his sex life. We didn't spend anywhere near that amount of time or money investigating Nixon.

The difference is that Nixon was far more dirty than Clinton ever was. Nixon brokered a deal with Ford to trade the presidency for a pardon.

Re:Cnn does it best

[kwietman]

Although the previous comments were true to the best of my knowledge, it seems that Bob Woodward has done it again. In examining tapes of phone conversations recorded by then-President Nixon, Gerald Ford is found to be an unwavering friend of the embattled leader, and promises help in any form during Nixon's crisis. It turns out that the two were fast friends, more so than even Washington insiders knew, and that this, more than the good of the country, may have influenced Ford's pardon. New info comes to light, and it sheds the blazing light of truth on President Ford. Disappointing, to say the least.

Our Long National Nighmare is Over

[CrazyTalk]

...is one of my favorite quotes of all time, and was said by Mr. Ford in the wake of the Nixon resignation. I'm actually old enough to remember when Ford was president (And Chevy Chase spoofing him on Saturday Night Live). From what I know, he seemed liked a geniunely nice guy. He will be missed.

Re:Our Long National Nighmare is Over

[CrazyTalk]

Lisa: It's so enlightened of you Dad, to take us to a WNBA game

Homer: Hey, Nachos are Nachos.

Re:Our Long National Nighmare is Over

[mkcmkc]

Here sure called that one wrong...

Re:Our Long National Nighmare is Over

[sasdrtx]

Ford was our first Dumbass president, and I guess we like that now. Yes, he had good intentions, but unfortunately good intentions and great power in a dumbass lead to big screwups.

Ford should have said "Richard Nixon's long national nightmare is over." A majority of the country wanted justice served. And if dealing with it was taking 25% of the energy and time of the white house staff, well boo-frickin'-hoo. I'm sure we'd all be much better off if more of the government was distracted more often anyway.

Oh, Great!

[Luscious868]

Another US-centric article. I think I'll shit my pants like a 2 year old and piss and moan about it. What the hell? Don't you evil USians realize there are other people in the world? How dare a USian site, hosted in the USA, started by a USian and edited primarily by USians post information about something US-centric. You bastards! This wasn't voted on by the UN, it's illegal!

Re:Oh, Great!

[Khakionion]

Hey I'm a USian you insensitive clod!

Re:Oh, Great!

[10e6Steve]

Chill out Saddam.

Re:Oh, Great!

[Reality Master 101]

You know, just out of curiosity, is there a European equivalent of Slashdot? If not, why not?

Re:Oh, Great!

[nitehawk214]

If not, why not?

 
Probably because they already have Slashdot.

Re:Oh, Great!

[ahodgson]

A German guy was going to make one, but then he went on vacation for 8 weeks and forgot about it.

Re:Oh, Great!

[CrazyTalk]

LOL funniest comment of the year!

Re:Oh, Great!

[pimpimpim]

I'm a european, and about every european country has their tech blog, for example heise in germany, and tweakers or webwereld in holland. 'Limiting' point is, they're all in the language of the respective country. For the rest they're pretty good, news can be in there faster than it would on slashdot, and they're all moderated, therefore no junk as with digg. So the quality is ok, I just don't have the time to read them all and find the comment moderation system on slashdot the most pleasant and efficient to read.

Forgive and forget?

[cyberon22]

He should never have pardoned Nixon.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[CrazyTalk]

Why? It was the "classy" thing to do.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[tomhudson]

He should never have pardoned Nixon.

Definitely agree. His excuse at the time was lame, and paved the way for future excesses.

Part of the responsibility of the highest office in the land is to make the tough calls, and he totally failed it on that one. No wonder people kept asking if he had played football without a helmet.

When a president who nobody voted for pardons his predecessor and former "boss" for criminal activities, it stinks. The "National Nightmare" was over when Nixon resigned - putting him on trial would have sent the message that there aren't 2 sets of rules - one for white-collar elites and one for the rest of us.

To paraphrase it - "Fuck someone over, go to jail - fuck the whole country over, retire and write a book. Fuck it!"

On a side note - how is Ford's death "News for Nerds?"

Re:Forgive and forget?

[Hal_Porter]

On a side note - how is Ford's death "News for Nerds?

Have you seen that video of him falling down the airplane steps?

Re:Forgive and forget?

[Pharmboy]

He should never have pardoned Nixon.

He didn't do it for Nixon, he did it for us. It isn't like Nixon was going to run for any other office, and if you are old enough to remember, with Vietnam, JFK, Bobby Kennedy, MLK, Kent State, and everything else that had happened over the last decade, we really didn't need another investigation to tell us what we already knew.

Everyone knew Nixon was guilty, and because he was ex-pres, he wasn't going to go to "pound you in the ass federal prison" regardless of the outcome. We did not need 5 years of court hearings at that time.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[afidel]

Nope, pardoning Nixon was the single greatest thing the man accomplished, and it cost him a lot both politically and personally. Most historians agree that the nation would have been much worse off with the protracted political fight that would have resulted from the trial. Sure there are many who think he should have been punished, but I think resigning in shame and having that as his legacy is probably one of the greatest punishment for a man with the drive to become president. Look at the guys involved with Iran-Contra, they served their piddly sentences for much worse crimes, and today are back serving in the highest reaches of government.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[NorbrookC]

Part of the responsibility of the highest office in the land is to make the tough calls, and he totally failed it on that one.

Considering that every one of his advisors recommended against the pardon, and he still did it, I'd say that was a tough call.

The other thing that all the people that froth at the mouth about this (still) forget is that an article of impeachment |=criminal charges. In fact, Nixon hadn't been indicted in the legal system, when the pardon was issued. Now, whether he would have been, and whether he would have convicted is something that can be argued (and probably will be) for a long time.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[BCW2]

Thank you for the only accurate comment on this subject. I agree that we didn't the continuation of the media clusterfuck. A trial would have made the later OJ circus look boring. Ford was one of the most honourable men to ever be President.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[smchris]

I'm not crying a lot of tears. Another anecdote was that he was paid to appear at his next door neighbor's party. Perhaps not a big thing in this day of celebrity and star party appearance hirings but it seemed awfully petty at the time. And that he made the guy appear at his door with the money before he would go over there.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[IdleTime]

It's fun to be modded troll for telling the truth!

Re:Forgive and forget?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, pardoning Nixon was the single greatest thing the man accomplished, and it cost him a lot both politically and personally. Most historians agree that the nation would have been much worse off with the protracted political fight that would have resulted from the trial. Sure there are many who think he should have been punished, but I think resigning in shame and having that as his legacy is probably one of the greatest punishment for a man with the drive to become president.

No, it wasn't. It has given idiots like Bush carte blanche to run amok with just about zero fear of being taken to task in a meaningful manner. Nixon should have gone to the fucking slammer.

My favorite part of the Wikipedia article on Watergate:

"The White House blamed this on Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, who said she had accidentally erased the tape by pushing the wrong foot pedal on her tape player while answering the phone. However, as photos splashed all over the press showed, for Woods to answer the phone and keep her foot on the pedal would have required a stretch that would have challenged a gymnast. She was then said to have held this position for the full 18½ minutes. Later forensic analysis determined that the gap had been erased several -- perhaps as many as eight -- times over, refuting the "accidental erasure" explanation."

This is third world level stuff... they should have tried and executed Nixon's ass right then. Just the fact that he tried to invoke executive privilege to cover it up is enough for me. Unfortunately, our leaders are not afraid of this, and so they'll continue to do their thing with the fear of serving a token sentence at most... all thanks to Ford's "greatest thing" in your words.

Look at the guys involved with Iran-Contra, they served their piddly sentences for much worse crimes, and today are back serving in the highest reaches of government.

Yeah, funny how that works. If the powers that be were worried about having their nuts in a sling this wouldn't have happened. Tell me again how your vaunted pardon helped matters? Everybody is so concerned about "smoothing things over" and "moving on" instead of holding people accountable that it really removes the motivation to work within the law for a lot of these folks.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[Mr. Slippery]

Sure there are many who think he should have been punished, but I think resigning in shame and having that as his legacy is probably one of the greatest punishment for a man with the drive to become president.

Shame? What shame? He's still defended as a hero by neocons. His people are still to be found in power in D.C.

The fact the Nixon didn't go to jail is what let Reagan and Bush II get away with their subversions of the Constitution.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[Dun Malg]

...putting him on trial would have sent the message that there aren't 2 sets of rules - one for white-collar elites and one for the rest of us. In a perverse sort of way, I think it's better that it went down that way. Rather than having a show trial resulting in what would have been undoubtedly little more than a slap on the wrist, we simply got to see how the system really works. We had the truth demonstrated for us loud and clear: there are two sets of rules; or rather more accurately, there is a gradient of rules. The more money/power you have the less severe the punishment for a given crime.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[missing000]

Someone should point this out next time the old "slashdot is liberally biased" argument comes up. There's no lack of bias on either side when it comes to moderation.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[jafac]

Most historians agree that the nation would have been much worse off with the protracted political fight that would have resulted from the trial.

How would it be better had justice not been served?

How is sticking our head in the sand as a nation "better for us"?

That justice was not done, set the stage for the future. The Iran-Contra traitors are all back on the job, instead of jail, where they belong. Karl Rove actually served on Nixon's campaign, and his poisonous brand of divisive politics or character assassination is still turning our nation's political discourse into something akin to pro-wrestling.

I think in the short term, yes, it would have harmed the country. But in the long run, we would have been much better off had we, as a nation, faced the corruption of our political system, drew a line in the sand and said "No more. There will be justice this time, and every time henceforth."

Re:Forgive and forget?

[jafac]

he wasn't going to go to "pound you in the ass federal prison" regardless of the outcome.

Yeah - that's what people were saying about Hussein 5 years ago. Now the fucker's going to hang.
(too bad Pinochet escaped justice).

Re:Forgive and forget?

[Reziac]

I remember something Ford said years later, to the effect that he truly agonized over this decision, because while impeachment was the legal and moral avenue to pursue, it would have torn the country apart at the worst possible time. So he wound up going against his personal ethics because at the time, there was a much greater need to set it behind us and use our resources to deal with larger issues -- issues that had an actual impact on Americans' lives.

I believe he made the right decision, even tho as you say it cost him personally (perhaps more than we'll ever know).

Ford was often lambasted for being ineffectual, but in retrospect, his most basic policy was NOT to fuck with anything that might be better left alone. If all politicians operated like that, government would act only in the event of genuine need, and not at the behest of every special interest that comes down the pipe.

We have lost a greater man than we knew.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[Lars T.]

Nope, pardoning Nixon was the single greatest thing the man accomplished, and it cost him a lot both politically and personally. Now that's what many would call "Damning With Faint Praise". Not you of course.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[nsaspook]

Well even teddy knows Ford did the right thing.
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Education+and+Public+Pro grams/Profile+in+Courage+Award/Award+Recipients/Ge rald+Ford/

Re:Forgive and forget?

[catfood]

Nixon was so obviously guilty that bringing him to justice would have been a mistake.

I'm really failing to see the logic in that. Would it have been okay to try Nixon if he'd been just kinda-sorta-somewhat guilty of lesser crimes instead?

Re:Forgive and forget?

[JhohannaVH]

Thank you for remembering this, Pharmboy. Thank you. He was a critical healer in our nation at a time where we could have just as easily been destroyed. Sad... no one remembers anything more than 3 years anymore. Elephants never forget. :D

Re:Forgive and forget?

[lucifig]

The fact that Nixon didn't go to jail is the reason kittens and babies die.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[Vicissidude]

Why? Nixon was a crook. There is no "class" in letting criminals go free.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[Vicissidude]

Ford was a crook. He was an accessory to Nixon's crime, preventing justice from prevailing. Ford hurt this country by letting everyone know loud and clear that the rich, powerful, and connected are above the law.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[JhohannaVH]

Ah, but at the Presidential Dinner, he was the only one NOT under indictment, so he couldn't have been all that much of a crook.

And please... our country LOVES electing criminals. Can't you see that? They reelected the UN-Clinton William Jefferson, when he was busted with cold cash. Muwahahahah. Fuckers. Laws mean nothing anymore in this country. It makes me sick, knowing my ancestors have fought and died for her for 400 years. *sigh*

Re:Forgive and forget?

[Slider451]

It makes me sick, knowing my ancestors have fought and died for her for 400 years.

Your anscestors, but not you, right? Part of the problem is that very few today think there's anything worth fighting and dying for. Men of Ford's generation understood service. Today it's a punchline.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[JhohannaVH]

Your anscestors, but not you, right? Part of the problem is that very few today think there's anything worth fighting and dying for. Men of Ford's generation understood service. Today it's a punchline.

No, you are right, sadly enough. Alas, my entrance to the Air Force Academy was shot down by a faulty heart, asthma, and a birth defect. Army, Navy, Marine Corp enlisted wouldn't take me, touch me, or have anything else to do with me. Blackwater wouldn't even take me for contracting... I'm a girl with health issues, in Iraq??? Uh, no.

My heart was shattered by the knowledge that I could never serve my country. And I'm still not old enough for a run on Congress, so that service shall have to wait. But don't you *ever* think I didn't do everything in my power to serve my country, for I wanted nothing more in my life, ever. After generations of men having served in this great country's militaries over the years, I would have been the first female. But noooooooooooooooooooo... I got all the way through the acceptance process to the AFA... until my last fitness rep, where my heart problem showed up. They hadn't connected me to a heart meter whilst performing under physical duress before then... the murmur and arrythmia showed up, so they yanked my medical files. They were located in the AFA hospital, as I was a frequent patient. I was 2 weeks out from final acceptance when they shattered my world. My grandfather never forgave me, either. Even though it was a birth defect (Marfan's Syndrome) that kept me out of the military.

I have worked at the Academy, Norad, and other Air Force installations, and I am currently seeking a GS position to serve in Civil Service, if the Feds will have me. We'll see. But serving my country is the only thing I ever wanted to do. I got thrown into computers as a sidebar, because I couldn't do anything else with my shitty life.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[Slider451]

My reply was aimed at the Gen X+ generations, not you specifically. Clearly you're an exception. And clearly I'm an insensitive clod. It's easy to forget that there are many veterans and would-be veterans in the ranks of /.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[JhohannaVH]

My reply was aimed at the Gen X+ generations, not you specifically. Clearly you're an exception. And clearly I'm an insensitive clod. It's easy to forget that there are many veterans and would-be veterans in the ranks of /.

Ah.. whatever are we going to do with those past our generations? :P Genwhatever? :P

You're not insensitive... after trawling (hahah, pun intended) all the way through this, it's easy to remember WHY you posted the way that you did. So many American Haters on here.. and the sad thing is, that most of them ARE American. *sigh*

It's also not something I bring up much, because I'm far too political and Republican as it is... let alone be proud about it on /. I could lose my job and/or prospects! :P:P I'm joking. But no, I wasn't offended... many people assume that cuz I'm a girl I would never have even though to serve in the military. But in fact, it nearly destroyed my future... but I fought back and I'll still win in the end.

But seriously, thank you for posting that comment, because it's far too easy to sit back and be a keyboard commando (think Freeper), than get out there and actually DO something. At least I am not all talk, and I kick ass when it comes time to. :D I volunteer, I write letters, I fax, I VOTE. I dunno many others my age that do that. *cough* *splutter* My age. LOL. Yeah, at 33, I'm an artifact already. :P

Re:Forgive and forget?

[Duhavid]

Maybe he/she/it is trying to be introduced to your sister?

Re:Forgive and forget?

[coredog64]

He's still defended as a hero by neocons. What neocons? Nixon's party was the Republican party but many of his actions were not those of a conservative -- wage and price caps, EPA as a cabinet level post, creation of HMOs.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[firenurse]

Now this is the most insightful comment I've seen this year!

Re:Forgive and forget?

[tomhudson]

In fact, Nixon hadn't been indicted in the legal system, when the pardon was issued.

... so even by your own statements, the pardon was premature. Actions speak louder than words. Ford demonstrated his supreme contempt for the ability of the "little people" to be able to handle impeachment and criminal procedings. "Putting the national nightmare behind us" rather than learning the lessons it had to teach is what got the world to its current place - a president who feels he's above the law and makes no bones about it, and an expectation among higher-ups everywhere that they won't feel the full force of the law because, aw shucks, they're "special", and humiliation is such a terrible punishment compared to (gasp) jail time...

Fuck that.

Ford blew the whole thing off with his self-righteous, pateralistic, condescending attitude. That people are still pissed decades later shows just how wrong he was.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[N3WBI3]

Presidential pardons *are* part of due process!

Re:Forgive and forget?

[missing000]

By pardoning Nixon, Ford suspended the due process of law which would have most likely convicted him of high crimes. Now a standard has been set which exempts the executive from due process and makes the law inherently unequal for all of us.

Some day historians will look back at the current administration and see the clear link between these two things and the runaway executive power which has so weakened this country. One can only hope that future administrations do not exercise this practice in the future.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[N3WBI3]

The constitution is the supreme law of the land and in that document the President has the ability to pardon anyone (Like Bill Clinton did when he pardoned Terrorist in 2000). I hate to tell you this but when do you something within the framework of the law it is not outside of due process it is part of due process.

Now a standard has been set which exempts the executive from due process and makes the law inherently unequal for all of us.

Not true pardons are part of due process, now when Al Gore claimed 'no controlling legal authority' to hide documents based around the Clinton 96 fund raising activities *that* was setting up a second set of rules for executive branch members.

Some day historians will look back at the current administration and see the clear link between these two things and the runaway executive power which has so weakened this country.

Don't put the utter crap bush is pulling on Carter when FBI document disappear from the white house in the 1990's during an investigation its the fault of *that* administration. And when bush abuses the law as he has its on him not Ford!

You can argue whether or not Ford *should* have pardoned Nixon and you would probably have some valid points. When you go off calling it subversion of due process when *by definition* its part of the supreme law of the land (and on of the necessary checks in our system) or blaming Bush actions on it you're so far off base you look like a raving lunatic.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[anaesthetica]

On a side note - how is Ford's death "News for Nerds?"

The Politics section long ago abandoned any pretense of nerd-applicability.

Re:Forgive and forget?

[anaesthetica]

He's still defended as a hero by neocons.

Not really. There's very little about Nixon that fits either the neocon mold or the mold of their various heroes. Nixon was a liberal Christian--a Quaker--rather than an observant Jew or Christian like the neoconservatives. He adopted a policy of decline (along with Kissinger) rather than one of a powerful, resurgent America like Reagan or Bush. In fact, the neoconservatives are explicitly against the kind of Nixon/Kissinger realism, eschewing it for a "muscular idealism." (That Kissinger has being advising the current White House says less about any neocon affinity for realism than it does Kissinger's characteristic position as an indiscriminate courtier to power.) In domestic policy Nixon was also quite liberal, doing little if anything to undo LBJ's Great Society policies, and pursuing conservationism quite actively. The division within the Republican party between the Nixon/Ford wing and the Reagan wing, and the neocons taking the Reagan wing side, has been a defining characteristic of the rise of the neocons.

The King is Dead, Long Live the King

[thermopile]

Interestingly, President Ford is the only person to have served as both Vice President and President, and been elected to neither position.

Obligatory wiki quote.

Re:The King is Dead, Long Live the King

[Dachannien]

And in response, an obligatory Futurama quote:

Bill Clinton's Head: (to Leela) Hey, sugar cookie! You know, legally, nothing I can do counts as sex anymore.
Gerald Ford's Head: I apologize for his rudeness, ma'am. He gets this way around meaty looking women.
Fry: (to Clinton) Hey, I remember you. I was gonna vote for you one time. But voting isn't cool, so I stayed home alone and got trashed on Listerine.
Gerald Ford's Head: Frankly, I've never felt voting to be all that essential to the process.
Richard Nixon's Head: No kidding, Ford!

Re:The King is Dead, Long Live the King

[$RANDOMLUSER]

Ford was also the last surviving member of the Warren Commission.

Re:The King is Dead, Long Live the King

[dkleinsc]

As long as we're on the obligatory quotes, we might as well throw in Airplane!:

Steve McCroskey: [to Mrs. Oveur] Now your husband and the others are alive, but unconscious.
Johnny: Just like Gerald Ford.

Requiescat In Pace

[Ginnungagap42]

I guess the wolves finally got him.

Re:Requiescat In Pace

[Luminus]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-897704581 44460734&hl=en/

That might illuminate the unaware.

Re:Requiescat In Pace

[Hognoxious]

What I don't get is, why does he pronounce it as "Jhaihairhald Fowaaaaaahrd"? Is he like Canadian or something?

Re:Requiescat In Pace

[novus ordo]

Look at the bright side, at least he escaped Richard Nixon's corpse!

But the real question is...

[Ubergrendle]

Was he eaten by wolves?

Re:But the real question is...

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

Completely inappropriate

Re:But the real question is...

[brouski]

I think it more likely the corpse of Richard Nixon rose from its grave and strangled Gerald Ford to death.

Re:But the real question is...

[Aqua_boy17]

No, the real question should be:
Is Generalissimo Francisco Franco still dead?

Re:But the real question is...

[Ginnungagap42]

Yup. Still dead.

He was

[dl107227]

He was delicious.

The Accidential (Accident Prone?) President

[Iphtashu Fitz]

A lot of people, especially younger ones, weren't aware that Ford was the only US president who was never elected to office. When Nixon's vice president, Spiro Agnew, resigned over charges of tax evasion, Nixon chose Senator Ford to replace him. Then when Nixon resigned over Watergate, Ford took the top job. I think most people these days only know of Ford through accident-prone appearances on shows like the Simpsons and impersonations by Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live reruns. Some people believe that his unremarkable term of office was just what this country needed after the previous administraitons focus on Viet Nam, Watergate, etc.

Re:The Accidential (Accident Prone?) President

[jellomizer]

No the second time he got both the popular and electral vote. Quit Wining and wait 2 more years.

Re:The Accidential (Accident Prone?) President

[sgrbear]

Not to pick nits, but it was "Congressman Ford," not "Senator Ford."

Re:The Accidential (Accident Prone?) President

[$RANDOMLUSER]

Ford was never Speaker of the House. He was the Minority Leader from 1965 to 1973.

Re:The Accidential (Accident Prone?) President

[LoverOfJoy]

Thanks to electronic "voting".

Yeah, him and the upcoming Democrat congress.

Re:The Accidential (Accident Prone?) President

[theckhd]

He was not a Senator, but he wasn't Speaker of the House either. He was House Minority Leader.

During the eight years (1965-1973) he served as Minority Leader, Ford won many friends in the House because of his fair leadership and inoffensive personality. from Wikipedia

In addition, he was indeed chosen by Nixon.

Because the Republicans did not attain a majority in the House, Ford was unable to reach his ultimate political goal--to be Speaker of the House.

When Spiro Agnew resigned the office of Vice President of the United States late in 1973, after pleading no contest to a charge of income tax evasion, President Nixon was empowered by the 25th Amendment to appoint a new vice president. from Gerald R. Ford Biography

Re:The Accidential (Accident Prone?) President

[jellomizer]

That is only in the senate the house has larger majority. Except for taking chance happenings and linking them to consperacy after consperacy. Perhaps you should sit back and try to figure out what the democrats are doing wrong to keep themselves from keeping the majority. During the last election did didn't get people voting for Democrats you got people voting against the repbulcans. Perhaps just perhaps they should reoganize their ideas and views make them a bit more consistant.

Re:The Accidential (Accident Prone?) President

[Scudsucker]

Perhaps you should sit back and try to figure out what the democrats are doing wrong to keep themselves from keeping the majority.

Lose their fear of challenging the media, and the notion that not being ultra conservative == liberal.

During the last election did didn't get people voting for Democrats you got people voting against the repbulcans.

That's part of it, but the fact remains that the Democrats took Congress by winning tough races, not by running as 'Not Republicans'.

Re:The Accidential (Accident Prone?) President

[spitzak]

No, that is a lie that is actually being propagated by conservatives (!) to stop investigation of electronic voting, by making people think it will upset the entire country and threaten the conservative leadership.

In fact the last election would be an *excellent* time to investigate the electronic voting, for precisely the reason that it *can't* affect the outcome. Even if you assumme every single electronic machine in Ohio was fixed to throw the election to the Republicans, it would require the counties with those machines to really be voting something like 70% for Kerry, while adjacent and otherwise identical counties without electronic machines somehow were voting 49% for Kerry, for the election to come out differently.

Of course the conservatives are scared to death that something funny did happen and will be detected, so they will make sure any attempt to detect it is avoided by a bogus threat that it will destabilize the country. And a bunch of nutjob Liberals who refuse to admit that perhaps the majority in the country don't agree with them are doing there best to help this plot along...

Re:The Accidential (Accident Prone?) President

[servognome]

I did go to school in the U.S. and they never taught me that the presidency is something that you win in court.

Yeah it's something you win with backroom deals like in 1800, 1824, and 1876.

Re:The Accidential (Accident Prone?) President

[Deadstick]

No. Nixon appointed him to fill the office of Vice President, vacated by the resignation of Spiro Agnew who was under indictment for tax evasion, in 1973 as authorized by the 25th Amendment. Ford became President on Nixon's resignation in 1974, under Article II, Section 1, Clause 6.

rj

Re:The Accidential (Accident Prone?) President

[MillionthMonkey]

>I did go to school in the U.S. and they never taught me that the presidency is something that you win in court.

Yeah it's something you win with backroom deals like in 1800, 1824, and 1876.

Well! That makes it OK then.

Re:The Accidential (Accident Prone?) President

[XxtraLarGe]

Ford was never Speaker of the House. He was the Minority Leader from 1965 to 1973.

That's right. The Democrats were in control of congress back then. Thanks for the correction!

So farewell then,

[E.J.Thribb]

So.
Farewell then, Gerald Ford.
Many said you were not the sharpest tool in the box.
How wrong they are, now.

Funny thing about Ford...

[Warbringer87]

A very decent human being, was the only president to not have been elected to either of the executive positions he held (appointed by nixon to VP, later president in wake of Nixon's resignation). Apparently, elections make candidates into jerks.

Minor typo

[SNR monkey]

Not to be a grammar nazi, but it should read "from the too-many-submissions-to-ignore dept"

Re:Minor typo

[MS-06FZ]

Did someone say boobs? Where? Where??

Re:I will never forgive him

[Frumious Wombat]

In all likelihood, given the political climate of the time, you still wouldn't have gotten to the bottom of everything Nixon did, and only put up with months of political grandstanding and butt-covering. On the other hand, Nixon's henchmen were publicly tried, their crimes exposed, and most of them did time. Unfortunately, being shameless (*cough* G. Gordon Liddy *cough*), they didn't quietly disappear as would have been appropriate. (that includes you, Henry K.) Exiling Nixon to Fairbanks, rather than California, would have been appropriate as well, but as the Stones put it, "you can't always get what you want". Having seen what drips out over the years about Nixon's time in office, you can only imagine what would have been vomited up at the time if it all came out at once. Ford seems to have done close to the right thing.

So don't complain. Personally, I wanted to see Ronbo, G. H. W. Bush, and Co. brought to task over Iran Contra, but with those last minute pardons for the perpetrators as the investigators finally got near GHWB, my generation got diddly/squat. You at least got something, even if it wasn't RMN in San Quentin.

Re:This is here why?

[Overzeetop]

Because he was succeeded in office my one of the biggest nerds ever?

I know, it's a stretch, but I'm trying to work with you here.

Also he is the only Eagle Scout to ever be

[Mycroft_514]

President. No Wiki quote, look it up yourself. But he joined 6 of the 12 men who walked on the moon with that distinction. (Why do you think Apollo 11's lunar module was called "The Eagle"?)

Re:Also he is the only Eagle Scout to ever be

[Guppy06]

I could say decidedly snarky about BSA's stance on political and social issues, but instead I'll just say this: so what? Why is a person's membership in such an organization notable?

The fact that the headline is "Former President Dies" and not "Eagle Scout Dies" suggests that having BSA's name attatched to Ford is more notable for the BSA than for Ford.

Re:Also he is the only Eagle Scout to ever be

[Guppy06]

"Why do you think Apollo 11's lunar module was called "The Eagle"?"

You tell me. Probably for the same reason they're only called "Eagle Scouts" in the US and former posessions (since we're a bunch of traitorous republicans).

I was under the impression that members of the BSA were expected to do such patriotic acts as looking at the picture on the back of quarters or dollar bills from time to time. The eagle was adopted as the national sybol of the United States well before Baden-Powell was born, and over a century before he exported his idea.

Boy Scout first and patriot second?

Re:This is here why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because we need an excuse for our daily two minute Bush-hate, that's why.

Re:This is here why?

[KingNaught]

Certain news items trancend news genres. On Sep 11th their were lots of news stories on Slashdot about it, even though the stories weren't nessessarly tech related. Basiclly anything a nerd would be interested in knowing is news for nerds. And most US nerds would be interested in the Death of a former president. Heck I'm sure theres a few political science nerds on slashdot.

from the to-many-submissions-to-ignore dept.

[Boone^]

This is why digg is so very popular, guys. There's no cranky /. editors to bust through! :)

Re:from the to-many-submissions-to-ignore dept.

[eurleif]

And the misspellings are much worse.

Hmmm....

[SlashdotCrackPot]

Guess after James Brown died it's not a man's world anymore....

And we thought it would never happen

[FreshnFurter]

"Hola bambe, hungala dimba Gerald Ford.. *click* *click* *click* *click* ..hola bambe, allah bumba bubba hulla humba hey."

Dana Carvey's SNL skit

[Liberaltarian]

as Tom Brokaw immediately came to mind when I heard the news. There are audio bits on Dana Carvey's website, and occasionally someone will upload the entire skit to YouTube (before it's inevitably taken down by the copyright police).

Tom Brokaw: Gerald Ford dead today at the age of 83.
Producer: Good, now one for next year.
Tom Brokaw: Gerald Ford dead today at age 84.
Producer: Now one for if he's shot.
Tom Brokaw: Gerald Ford shot dead today at age 83.
Producer: Add the word senseless.
Tom Brokaw: Okay, Gerald Ford shot dead at the senseless age of 83.
...
Tom Brokaw: Alright, we got it?
Producer: No. We've got "eaten by wolves".
Tom Brokaw: What? Now, come on!
Producer: Just read it!
Tom Brokaw: Gerald Ford isn't gonna be eaten by wolves!
Producer: Taft was.
Tom Brokaw: Really? Taft?
Producer: Uh... yeah.

Re:Dana Carvey's SNL skit

[Dachannien]

You know what's really amusing about that?

I was watching the late night talk shows last night, when the broadcast was interrupted by a "special news report". Well, unfortunately for them, their sound was screwed up, so I flipped over to the cable news channels. CNN was the only other channel reporting anything about Ford's death, and Anderson Cooper was giving his report over a crapload of stock video of various events in Ford's presidency.

In other words, they've had this queued up and ready to go for some time now. Of course, Ford's health got considerably worse over the course of the past year, so it's not like it's a huge surprise, but it still seems a bit morbid to me.

Re:Dana Carvey's SNL skit

[Nasarius]

Yeah, that was my first thought. The skit is also on SNL's Best of Dana Carvey DVD. It's on Google Video here at the moment.

Re:Dana Carvey's SNL skit

[Rob T Firefly]

That's standard procedure. News outlets have ready-made obituaries on file for pretty much any notable celebrity or public figure beyond a certain age. When someone dies, they dust off the obit, check it for any major need of updates, fill in the age and details, and print it.

Re:Dana Carvey's SNL skit

[DarkHelmet]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-897704581 44460734&hl=en

Re: 6 of the 12

[silentounce]

I was told there would be no math.

Re:This is here why?

[SecurityGuy]

No, this really doesn't need to be on slashdot. Sure, it's newsworthy, relevant, and important, but it is also everywhere else. It's a great story for lots of web sites, just not this one.

September 11th was different. It was the unexpected and violent death of thousands in the largest terrorist act on our own soil in our history. It was the beginning of (a series of undeclared) wars. It had implications for everyone's future.

This is the natural passing of a single man. A former president with his share of controversy, sure, but this is nothing like September 11th.

Reminds me of this . . .

[Slithe]

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/96/96dbrokaw.phtml

Tom Brokaw: Alright. "Gerald Ford is dead today, and I'm gay." Now, wait a minute!

Voice of Producer: What? That'd be a huge story - Ford dying, and you coming out!

Tom Brokaw: But I'm not gay!

Voice of Producer: Today you're not gay, you know.. but then one day you wake up, you like men, and Gerald Ford dies, and we're screwed. Everyone's hearing about it from Dan Rather!

It's a hoax

[Hognoxious]

At least, there's nothing on netcraft about it.

Re:This is here why?

[MECC]

Certain news items trancend news genres

Nerds are by definition not in the mainstream, and this news clearly is (not that all mainstream items are offtopic). While there are various different types of nerds out there into various topics of interest, its the nerds of the kind this site was ostensibly started for that has for the life of the site that has defined the vast majority of the topic matter that gets a submission put up on the front page.

One of the things that makes this sight interesting to nerds is that it isn't crowded with mainstream media items like this. Why not post the latest news out of Iraq each day (On the basis that this news transcends genres most Iraq news would qualify and nerds of various genres would find it interesting), Iran, or most of the middle east?

Broaden your scope, lose your focus. Lose your focus, lose your interest.

Yes, the East Timorese with sorely miss him

[MrSteveSD]

Ford and Kissinger visited Jakarta in 1975 and gave approval for the invasion of East Timor. Kissenger told Suharto...

It is important that whatever you do succeeds quickly.

Well it did succeed and over 200,000 East Timorese died during the invasion and subsequent occupation. It's strange that neither Ford nor Kissinger mentioned they gave the green light for the East Timor invasion in their memoirs. It must have slipped their minds. Fortunately details of their meetings with Suharto are now available (released by the National Security Archive in 2001). Yes Ford will be sorely missed by the people of East Timor.

Re:Yes, the East Timorese with sorely miss him

[silentounce]

What East Timorese?

Re:Yes, the East Timorese with sorely miss him

[dbIII]

The connection? It was the day before and there was a very large donation to the Republican party. Now it COULD have been a coincidence, but there are few nations in the Western Pacific that would see it that way.

Re:Yes, the East Timorese with sorely miss him

[dbIII]

Well, it's costing Australia a lot at the moment to deal with things there even now as well - but not everyone cares about that either I suppose. What the USA should care about is overt bribery by a foreign power to a political party changing foreign policy - it looked to the world that the USA had been bought off. I think the point was that he is not so squeaky clean and that Nixon was not the only one from that administration tainted by accusations of corruption.

Re:Yes, the East Timorese with sorely miss him

[Capt James McCarthy]

"Well, it's costing Australia a lot at the moment to deal with things there even now as well - but not everyone cares about that either I suppose. What the USA should care about is overt bribery by a foreign power to a political party changing foreign policy - it looked to the world that the USA had been bought off. I think the point was that he is not so squeaky clean and that Nixon was not the only one from that administration tainted by accusations of corruption."

Wait, wait..don't you mean: people in power do shitty things. If you can name a leader who has played nice while in power, feel free to let the rest of the world know. To have some country gain, some country has to lose. I didn't make the rule.

When the US minds their own business, they get blamed. The US steps in and gets blamed. It's really a broken record.

Re:Yes, the East Timorese with sorely miss him

[NDPTAL85]

You are 1 for 2. Yes I am a Sociopath, but I like to get my freak on so I usually vote Democrat.

Thanks for being a stereotyping jerk though!

Us Sociopaths need to form a lobbying organization to advance our rights. How about the National Sociopath Association? We can call it the NSA! Wait that one's taken...

Re:Yes, the East Timorese with sorely miss him

[xeno-cat]

"When the US minds their own business, they get blamed. The US steps in and gets blamed. It's really a broken record."

Yes Virginia, it really is that simple.

Re:Yes, the East Timorese with sorely miss him

[dbIII]

When people don't play within the rules they deserve criticism - bribery and corruption are against the rules in US politics. Being bribed by a foreign agent to do something that appears to be against the national intrest even more so - even if it is getting paid to look the other way and put up a veto in the UN there was still a lot of public money spent to allow bribe money to go into private pockets.

Just a bit of reminiscing....

[jbarr]

When I was 17, I received an Eagle Scout award. Our local Scout council was holding a benefit dinner, and President Ford (by that time, former president) was the guest of honor, who was a former Scout himself. I was asked if I wanted to be in the color guard, and I readily accepted. I also had the honor of sitting next to him at the head table for dinner. He was a very gracious man, and was happy to talk with us about him and Scouting. Being young, I was quite nervous, but he interacted with us in a comfortable, casual, yet respected manner.

One thing that I'll never forget is that for dessert, we were served a "grasshopper pie", which was a mint ice cream and chocolate pie. Interestingly, they served him a bowl of three simple scoops of vanilla ice cream. When I asked him about it, he said that he loved vanilla ice cream, and didn't like the other fancy stuff.

Anyway, it was a pleasure to have had the honor of spending a short time with him.

Re:Just a bit of reminiscing....

[jbarr]

So... you're saying when you were 17 you got the shit kicked out you on a daily basis?

Nah. I was just building up my geekness factor, preparing for my inevitable early-on participation on /.

Re:Just a bit of reminiscing....

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

One thing that I'll never forget is that for dessert, we were served a "grasshopper pie", which was a mint ice cream and chocolate pie. Interestingly, they served him a bowl of three simple scoops of vanilla ice cream. When I asked him about it, he said that he loved vanilla ice cream, and didn't like the other fancy stuff.

Loved vanilla my ass! Mint and chocloate at a Boy Scouts meeting!? Talk about political suicide. The smart man sticks with the vanilla for the cameras. The wiser one never goes within 200 meters of the place.

Nixon pardon was the right thing

[tomhath]

The country had way more serious problems than letting congress have a blood-letting, including Vietnam and the economy. He also argued against impeaching Clinton.

Re:Nixon pardon was the right thing

[WidescreenFreak]

The BBC tends to agree with you, as per their article on the BBC News web site: "Analysts believe in the short term it may have cost him the 1976 election, but in the long term the decision has been seen as astute."

At the time there was so much going on and so much devisiveness because of Vietnam that a long, drawn-out impeachment would have been just about guaranteed. Nixon did the right thing by getting out of there so that he couldn't bring further disgrace to the Office of the Presidency and Ford did the right thing by saying, "That's it. It's done. Now, can we look at healing instead of creating more wounds, thankyouverymuch?"

I wasn't aware that he recommended against the Clinton impeachment, but he did the right thing there, too. I wish that my fellow Republicans heeded him.

In the annals of American presidencies, I don't think that he'll get much more than a footnote in many respects, with exception of the pardon; but his attitude, demeanor, and honesty were exactly what the U.S. needed at the time. Hopefully, we'll get someone of the same integrity in 2008 because we really need it, but right now it doesn't look like we will.

Rest in peace, Mr. President.

Go Blue...

[elinenbe]

There goes another great University of Michigan alumni. Go Blue!

Re:Go Blue...

[Phour Phaser Phred]

I knew there was something I didn't like about him. Go Buckeyes!!

Betty Ford..

[aapold]

I think Ford may be the only President whose wife left a longer-lasting legacy and larger impact on our consciousness than he did. I mean, he was pretty bland other than dealing with things he didn't start...but the Betty Ford clinic is practically part of our national vocabulary.

Re:Betty Ford..

[Doctor Faustus]

What were you expecting her wife to do?

Re:Let the SOB rot in hell

[grolaw]

As much as I hated Tricky-Dick and Ford's Pardon (imagine the scope of that Presidential Pardon - all acts charged and uncharged - Ford cut off any investigation of Nixon, per se - but the Church Commission gave us some idea how out of hand the CIA was at THAT time) I know that Nixon was a very bright man. He argued and won a tough 1st Amendment case before the SCT and won. He was a sneaky son of a bitch given to using dirty tricks from the Helen Gahagan Douglas campaign forward. He opened the door to China and laid tens of thousands of servicemen in their graves with the campaign promise, "I have a secret plan to end the war" (at the time we joked that his plan was that he was going to vote for Humphrey).

Nixon: dishonest, dirty-trickster that he was - would not support GWB's imperialism. Nixon said: when the president does it it isn't against the law; W just does it and smirks. He knows we don't have enough votes to impeach him over the next two years.

And, yes, I agree with the poster that observed that we can thank Gerald Ford for the past 25 years of political connivance because Dick Nixon evaded justice. Impeaching a president and indicting him under the criminal statutes is a duty that every president undertakes when he takes the Oath of Office - too uphold, protect & defend the Constitution. Ford was selected because he would pardon Nixon and to hell with the Constitution.

GWB has certainly followed Ford's contempt for the Constitution - every day and in every way "W" finds new ways to destroy this nation - at home and abroad - and the direct line of responsibility runs right to Ford's pardon.

If I were a Christian, I'd agree that the SOB should rot in hell. As it stands, Ford lead the good life for nine decades because he was a pliable pol.

Nope, the played-too-hard President

[ScentCone]

I think most people these days only know of Ford through accident-prone appearances on shows like the Simpsons and impersonations by Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live reruns.

It's worth mentioning that Ford was actually very athletic (more so than probably every other president, though Dubya liked to jog and now bikes when he can, and of course Teddy Roosevelt was Action Guy). Ford played very hard in his younger years and it really took a toll on his knees, which is why he had trouble on stairs later on (it may seem quaint to kids today, but they really didn't have the cool knee-joint replacement tech back then).

How to have a train-wreck in a Chevy

[elrous0]

I just hope he doesn't retire before his increasingly erratic behavior lands him in the news a few more times. It's the only way he's made me laugh for the last 15 years.

-Eric

Backroom negotiated pardon?

[wasted]

Not sure I agree with the Nixon pardoning but it did get the messiness behind us. However, it allows presidents to seem to operate with out regard to legality (ie, current war crimes, etc...)

I always wondered if Nixon's resignation was a negotiated deal with other members of the Republican part, with the pardon being part of the deal.

Re:Backroom negotiated pardon?

[bryanp]

Ford always denied that assertion.

Unlike every President since him, he had such a reputation for honesty that most took him at his word for it.

Re:Backroom negotiated pardon?

[toddbu]

I always wondered if Nixon's resignation was a negotiated deal...

I was watching Donald Rumsfeld being interviewed on TV this morning about Ford. When the interviewer asked if Ford miscalculated the impact of the pardon, Rumsfeld said that you couldn't apply the word "calculating" to Ford. I agree, and don't think that Ford was part of any deal.

That being said, let's just say hypothetically that Ford did make a deal. If this were the case, he still did the right thing. One of my first political memories was from the night that Nixon resigned (I was 11 at the time) and I remember my dad saying before Nixon's address that he was hoping that Nixon was planning to resign. This was quite a shock to me because my family had always had Republican leanings. By the time Nixon left office he had been disgraced, had few remaining friends, and paid a heavy price by giving up the Presidency. The country needed to move on, and the best way to do it was to clear Nixon out of office. Did the Ford's pardon provide justice? Maybe not. But it cleared the way for the country to get on to more pressing issues.

Re:Backroom negotiated pardon?

[wasted]

That being said, let's just say hypothetically that Ford did make a deal. If this were the case, he still did the right thing.

I agree, it was pretty much the best thing to do as far as moving the country forward. That is why I wondered if it were a negotiated deal. The whole Watergate affair was soiling politics pretty bad, and the sooner it went away, the better. With this in mind, a negotiated resignation real soon with a pardon later would seem to be better for the GOP and arguably the country than dragging out the process.

Messiness in front, though

[PopeRatzo]

When Ford pardoned Nixon, it did not get the messiness behind us, it just pushed it all in front of us by a few decades. The end of the 20th Century needed to see a crooked American president dragged before a court and sent to jail. If it had been done back then, we might not be seeing the kind of lawlessness we're getting from Jackass 2 in the White House today.

Instead, we came to a near constitutional crisis because a President cheated on his wife. It gave a free pass to presidents for generations to come.

Face it, when Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, the only Americans he was sparing were the pissant Republicans that were hanging on by their fingernails anyway back then, and the paranoid, drug-addled fuck that had vacated the White House months before (see, history repeats itself!). He was doing the sleazebag political version of "Paying it Forward".

Re:Messiness in front, though

[JavaLord]

When Ford pardoned Nixon, it did not get the messiness behind us, it just pushed it all in front of us by a few decades. The end of the 20th Century needed to see a crooked American president dragged before a court and sent to jail. If it had been done back then, we might not be seeing the kind of lawlessness we're getting from Jackass 2 in the White House today.

Really, and what "Lawlessness" is that, and how does it relate to what Nixon did? Are you acusing GW Bush of rigging the elections, and if so what happened this last time around? While some may question the "Domestic Surveillance" program, it is surely done for different reasons than Nixon's goons breaking and entering to try to get an upper hand in an election.

Instead, we came to a near constitutional crisis because a President cheated on his wife. It gave a free pass to presidents for generations to come.

Uhhh, no there wasn't anything near a 'constitutional crisis'. Also, Clinton wasn't impeached for "Cheating on his wife", it was for grand jury perjury, civil suit perjury, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power. All of these fall under 'High Crimes and Misdemeanors". While Clinton did obviously commit perjury, I personally am happy he wasn't impeached for it since it didn't really harm the country in any way.

Face it, when Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, the only Americans he was sparing were the pissant Republicans that were hanging on by their fingernails anyway back then, and the paranoid, drug-addled fuck that had vacated the White House months before (see, history repeats itself!). He was doing the sleazebag political version of "Paying it Forward".

Or maybe he was just trying to do the right thing for the country? I do hope both parties get over the desire to impeach one anothers presidents for partisan discord.

Re:Messiness in front, though

[udderly]

But then again, why should the OP allow facts to get in the way of what he/she wishes to believe?

The logical fallacy of Blank and White Thinking, which is a hallmark of those with Borderline Personality Disorder, seems to affect most of us when dealing with political figures.

Maybe GWB and/or Bill Clinton are saints, sent from God himself; maybe they're full-on sociopaths. However, the most likely scenario is that they're the usual mixture of good and evil, altruism and selfishness, who through various turns-of-events became President despite their flaws.

Likewise, their policies could be completely evil or completely good, but more likely the result of mixed motives and the general imperfection of the human intellect and psychology.

Re:Messiness in front, though

[JustForMe]

Unfortunately, there is only one president who proclaimed "Either you are with us, or with them"!!! Call it BPD, Black & white thinking, Dry Drunk, just plain idiotic or whatever you please.
In my opinion, Ford did the right thing to pardon. He pardoned a criminal and that's whom presidents pardon anyway.

Re:Messiness in front, though

[calidoscope]

Maybe GWB and/or Bill Clinton are saints, sent from God himself; maybe they're full-on sociopaths. However, the most likely scenario is that they're the usual mixture of good and evil, altruism and selfishness, who through various turns-of-events became President despite their flaws.
Very well put, that's the most insightful statement I've ever seen in the politics section of Slashdot. To think that presidents may be allowed to be human...

What's really sad to see is how little people know of abuses of presidential power by presidents before Nixon, specifically Woodrow Wilson.

Re:Messiness in front, though

[operagost]

Instead, we came to a near constitutional crisis because a President cheated on his wife and lied about it under oath. Fixed that for you.

Re:Messiness in front, though

[Chysn]

> While Clinton did obviously commit perjury, I personally am happy he wasn't impeached for it since > it didn't really harm the country in any way. Dude, he was totally impeached for it.

Re:Messiness in front, though

[Sqwubbsy]

While Clinton did obviously commit perjury, I personally am happy he wasn't impeached for it since it didn't really harm the country in any way.

Clinton was impeached 3 times for

1. Perjury
   
2. Suborning perjury
   
3. Obstruction of justice
   

He was not, however, removed from office. He was impeached. 3 times. Get it straight.

Re:Messiness in front, though

[PopeRatzo]

Do you hear the stupidity in the notion that a President had to take an oath to testify about CHEATING ON HIS WIFE? What the hell was he doing in front of a Grand Jury investigating marital infidelity anyway, except to titillate the same tightasses who clammed up when one of their own was trying to talk young boys into stroking themselves via IM? operagost, you oughtta be ashamed.

What do you think might happen if the current bit of smegma who inhabits the white house had to testify about the run-up to the Iraq War?

URLs for the video

[Liberaltarian]

http://onegoodmovemedia.org/movies/0612/geraldford dead.mov

http://www.snowball-in-hell.com/Carvey.wmv

If one gets slashdotted, try the other. Enjoy!

+5, Funny

[jobsagoodun]

Where are my mod points where I need them!

Re:Let the SOB rot in hell

[dfetter]

I agree 100%. It's not a coincidence that some of the worst bad actors of the current junta were staffers in the Nixon white house. Nor is it a coincidence that a lot of them were involved in Iran/Contra on the way to their current misdeeds.

Rule of law has to be for everybody, not just those without the power to adjust the judicial process to their taste.

Swept into office?

[plopez]

That makes it sound like a landslide election victory. Ford was in fact the first US president to never be elected by the voters. He was appointed by congress after Nixon had to resign under threat of impeachment due to corruption and blatant violation of the constitution, and Spiro Agnew had to resign due to corruption.

Ford was chosen because he was innocuous. He ended up becoming Kissenger's sock puppet.

How is this insightful?

[CyberLord Seven]

By pardoning Nixon, Ford stopped all of the investigations and set the US up for another Imperial Presidency. Rather than putting Watergate, and it's excesses, behind the country, Ford's pardon put them into the future. Take a look around and you'll see for yourself.

For those too young to know better; the Watergate scandal is NOT about the break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters! Watergate is about everything that happened AFTER!

Re:How is this insightful?

[coredog64]

America has had Imperial Presidencies since Lincoln.

Re:How is this insightful?

[Anonymous Coward]

>another Imperial Presidency

Much as I detest the man, our current regime doesn't count as a imperial Presidency if the voters explicitly endorse it by putting him back in office, no matter how slim the margin was.

It's the will of the peepul, curse their stupid little souls. Sit down, wipe the foam off your mouth and get over it.

Re:How is this insightful?

[operagost]

By pardoning Nixon, Ford stopped all of the investigations and set the US up for another Imperial Presidency.

You mean Jimmy Carter's? We voted him out after one term because of his incompetence.

We haven't had an imperial presidency since ol' Four-Term-FDR.

Re:How is this insightful?

[cold fjord]

For those too young to know better; the Watergate scandal is NOT about the break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters! Watergate is about everything that happened AFTER!

Don't be ridiculous, Watergate was about both. There wouldn't have been an "after" if there hadn't have been a "before", and all of unsavory activity that went into making it possible. The trail from the break-ins lead to the White House, but the greatest danger to Nixon personally was the cover-up.

By pardoning Nixon, Ford stopped all of the investigations and set the US up for another Imperial Presidency. Rather than putting Watergate, and it's excesses, behind the country, Ford's pardon put them into the future. Take a look around and you'll see for yourself.

That is just silly. What got Nixon in trouble wasn't an "imperial presidency", but rather conspiracy, burglary, and obstruction of justice. They did it not to serve the interests of the United States and its people, but against their political opponents in a general election to get reelected. There isn't any legal leg to stand on to make any part of Watergate legal. That is a very different situation from, for example, the precedent, case law, and Article II arguments supporting the reported NSA program against the terrorist networks by the current administration. {And any claims that the administration considers Democrats to be terrorists is fatuous, tedious crap. Sadly, there are still people who eat it up. :( }

Scary Times for the U.S.

[Hercules Peanut]

A former President is dead and all we can comment on is the rightness or wrongness of a decision made to seek justice or move on. The comments from both sides appear pretty hot too even after all of these years. It's scary just how polarized we have become. It really seems as if you are firmly entrenched one way or the other.

It doesn't give me a whole lot of hope for the near future. Every time we see something on slashdot it is hotly debated with no middle ground and no compromise. With that attitude, I find it unlikely that we will elect officials who are willing to walk the middle ground or compromise and that, to me, is scary.

President Ford, I was too young to know what was really happening during your term so I won't judge (I am also not a judge). You took the highest position in the world and I respect you for that accomplishment as I do every President regardless of party or policy. I remember feeling encouragement from you in the boy scout commercials and I thank you for that.

Rest in Peace.

Re:Scary Times for the U.S.

[MS-06FZ]

A former President is dead and all we can comment on is the rightness or wrongness of a decision made to seek justice or move on. Now that's not true at all! Quite a lot of us have commented on the old Dana Carvey skit from SNL where Tom Brokaw talks about Gerald Ford dying.

And don't you think it's a little silly to talk to a dead man? People might think you're weird. :)

For some reason...

[FridayBob]

... every time I think of Gerald Ford, I think of a 1976 TV campaign
advert in which they showed this feisty little old lady saying:

"Right now I'm voting for Jerry Ford definitely!

Well, I was still too young to vote at the time, but at our Florida
high-school mock elections, he lost big time. He wasn't exactly
inspiring to the younger generation.

Death Templates

[nxtr]

You think they came in handy?

Re:Death Templates

[Rebelgecko]

Actually, they DID come in handy. When the local news here interrupted to say that Ford had died, they started a 10 or so minute long biographical story. It was really obvious that it had been prepared previously. While the narrator told Ford's life story they showed a slideshow of his entire life set to annoyingly upbeat background music. AND I missed the ending of the show i was watching ;-p

In case you forgot

[mustafap]

The web was designed by an Englishman. So any news, on any subject not related to Englishness in general, must first be approved by the British. Duh, I would have thought you would know that.

Re:In case you forgot

[BgJonson79]

And there was no 'Net before the Web, right?

Re:In case you forgot

[BgJonson79]

Yeah, the Good Ol' Days were so much better :-)

Re:Let the SOB rot in hell

[Rob T Firefly]

It's not a coincidence that some of the worst bad actors of the current junta were staffers in the Nixon white house.

Ben Stein is not a bad actor! He's a character actor. Sheesh.

Re:Unfortunate

[jratcliffe]

If you're going to quote websites verbatim and at length, you really need to cite them. This is lifted wholesale from www.libcom.org. As to the content of the piece itself, well, I'm going to stick with the old adage about trying to teach a pig to talk: don't do it, it'll frustrate you and annoy the pig.

Re:Unfortunate

[halivar]

You neglect to mention that policy of arming Indonesia continued unchanged throughout the Carter administration. Are you going to hang him, too?

unelected president

[keeboo]

From CNN
was the only politician who served as vice president and president but was never elected to either office

Are US citizens proud of this!?
My country had dozens of unelected presidents, each one worse that 10 Nixons combined!

US is far behind the rest of the world in this matter...

Re:unelected president

[JhohannaVH]

Apparently, you need an education on how the Executive Branch Works. He was not elected because he was selected when Spiro Agnew resigned in the wake of Watergate investigations. Then Nixon quit, therefore making him President. When he ran for re-election against the future asshat Jimmy Carter, he was defeated for pardoning Nixon.

Or was this supposed to be funny?

Re:Unfortunate

[delirium of disorder]

My post was not copied verbatim; here are the sources:

The conversation between Kissinger, Suharto, and Ford is declassified public record. You can find it all over the web, at the national security archive, or by submitting your own FOIA request to the federal government.

The office appointments are basic history and my phrasing is original.

The description of Ford's invasion of Cambodia was originally written by Howard Zinn and has appeared in several web pages and books.

And to that, the obligatory SImpson's Reference

[nuintari]

So, who is going to move into the house across the street from the Simpson's?

Vigil at Ford's birth site, in Omaha..

[modi123]

Actually, I have no idea if there is one or not. Last night, as I was toasting the memory of Ford with his favorite drink, Jaggerbombs, I tried to rally the bar to go down and hold a vigil. Sadly, this didn't happen.

Here's the google map link. Enjoy it.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=3202+Woolw orth+Avenue,+omaha,+ne&ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=41.245829,- 95.958989&spn=0.002307,0.005783&t=k&om=1&iwloc=add r

Side note, Omaha also is the birth place of Malcom X.

Re:A little respect, please.

[meringuoid]

I think Gerald Ford was doing what he honestly believed was best for the country when he pardoned Nixon. Isn't having to resign the presidency in disgrace a pretty heavy punishment?

For being a bad president, sure. For being a criminal, no.

The prosecution of Nixon would have dragged on forever, and to what purpose?

Justice?

Squeaky Fromme - a Manson Cult member one attempt

[spineboy]

She was responsible for one of the assassination attempts on Pres Ford. A secret service agent saw her acting oddly, went over to check her out and was close enough to prevent the shooting by STICKING HIS FINGER between the guns hammer and bullet, thus preventing the bullet from firing.
Sara Moore, a five time divorcee, and Patty Hearst fanatic, was responsible for the other attempt, just 17 days after the first one. Her aim was deflected by Oliver Sipple, a gay ex-marine, who never received a thank-you from the president, until Harvey Milk protested that. Mr. Sipple eventually committed suicide.

Re:Unfortunate

[novus ordo]

Don't forget he pardoned Nixon. Oh yeah and sold Iran the Nuclear Facility they are now using to enrich nuclear fuel. Funny how things come full circle...

Re:Unfortunate

[delirium of disorder]

The policy of arming Indonesia continued unchanged throughout the Carter administration. Are you going to hang him, too?

In fact the policy of US military aid to Suharto's Indonesia continued through the Carter, Regan, Bush, and Clinton administrations. They should all be investigated. According to the Nuremberg Tribunal, whose findings are accepted as International Law by the United States and most of Europe, hanging is an acceptable punishment for the crime of aggression. Every living US president should be investigated for this crime because each and every one started one or more aggressive wars.

I personally would prefer that they be imprisoned for life in the same cell as Saddam Hussein and others like him. I brought up hanging just to take the rather conservative position that we aught to obey the Law.

Re:This is here why?

[NekSnappa]

Why is this such a stretch? Pres. Carter commanded nuclear subs, did gratuate studies in nuclear physics, and even spotted a UFO.

Re:Bush involvement

[JavaLord]

We still don't have a motive for the crime -- Nixon was leading in the polls at the time of the break-in. Some suggest the motive might have been to steal the evidence that Nixon and George H.W. Bush were involved in the JFK assassination.

So the democrats had this, and just didn't release it...and they never mentioned it publically afterwords? Please, those kinds of theories are put forward just by authors looking to sell books to marks. They broke in to place wiretaps to see what the democrats were up to. Sure Nixon was leading in the polls, but does a thief stop stealing just because he has money?

And this is news... why?

[guruevi]

What exactly does this have to do with Politics for Nerds or News for Nerds or anything technological? Was it a computer that killed him? Was it the trucks on the intarweb? Was his life lengthend by a magical ward from WoW?

Re:And this is news... why?

[Yusaku Godai]

I'm surprised it took this far down in the comments for one of these to appear. Or maybe they were all already downvoted into oblivion.

This is still, in a way, "stuff that matters". Also note that it got "too many submissions to ignore" so clearly it is of interest to many /. readers.

Re:And this is news... why?

[JhohannaVH]

Because there have only been 42 Presidents in the United States of America, and when one of them dies, it is *always* important. Not to mention that he died at the same age as Ronald Reagan... he healed our land from some of the worst wounds we've ever suffered as a people, and his wife's recovery program has saved over 60,000 lives in 25 years. Yeah, he was a very important person. Especially to those of us that actually LIVED in the 70s. There were never more living Presidents in American history as there were yesterday. Now there are only 3, and I can't wait for 2 of them to kick it. I completely and totally blame both Carter and Clinton for the mess we face in the advancing Islamofacist assault on the Western World. Note to self: Head in Sand Not Useful for World Peace.

Re:And this is news... why?

[kcurtis]

I'd like to thank Congressman Virgil Goode for his thoughts on this occasion.

Re:And this is news... why?

[guruevi]

Still, you had already 42 leaders, one old dude dies and that is news? There are more leaders in the world, from big country's (especially leaders that aren't leading anymore), you don't see that they are dying/dead here. I doubt that Saddam's hanging will be on /.

Now if they get killed or die and they had a big technological influence or something technological suppositively killed them, then it would be /.-worthy news.

Re:And this is news... why?

[JhohannaVH]

Saddam's hanging will be here. As was Livenienko's poisoning. You see, there is more to our world than technology, but the people that use it. These are people that changed the world, one way or 'tother.... good or bad, and technology drove most of it.

And actually, Gerry Ford's contributions to the US are far greater than he was *ever* credited for, and that's why it is being posted here. Especially his commitment to fighting the Cold War.

And they should broadcast ole Saddam's swingin' from the gallows on the web. Far more of his victims fled the country during the first Gulf War than are there now. Hell, pay-per-view it! :D

Re:And this is news... why?

[JhohannaVH]

Heh. Now that's funny.

But alas, no..... I'm not racist. Or classist. Just a realist who is watching with disgust how governments are allowing their people to be taken from them.

How did he die?

[pupstah]

Was he mauled by a pack of wolves or did France go up in a big fireball?

Google Video

Re:Squeaky Fromme - a Manson Cult member one attem

[pointbeing]

Wikipedia says Ford thanked Sipple. Interesting article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Sipple

OK, I'm a cynic ...

[carpeweb]

... but the overall judgment of the posts seems to be that Nixon was the only corrupt politician we've ever had ... as if we never had corruption before Nixon and as if we wouldn't have had any if we had just prosecuted Nixon to the full extent of the law (which, btw, was/is far from settled, since we've never criminally prosecuted a president; impeachment is all we've got, and, fortunately, it has been invoked sparingly).

The pardon wasn't an easy call, meaning that it had an upside and a downside. Given the significance of the first presidency to be politically terminated, the magnitude of both upside and downside was bound to be large. But it cannot possibly be true that "if only we had prosecuted him fully", we would not have corruption today. Did Abscam stop the Keating Five? If Clinton had been conviceted for lying (essentially the charge), would that have stopped future presidents from lying?

I'm actually not so cynical that I don't think prosecuting crimes is worthwhile, but I just think the overall reaction on this topic is incredibly naive, both about how much benefit would have come from prosecuting Nixon, and about how easy or simple that might have been.

Re:OK, I'm a cynic ...

[Reality Master 101]

If Clinton had been conviceted for lying (essentially the charge)

Just a small correction -- the charge wasn't just "lying", the charge was the President of the United States, the protector of the constitution, lying under oath, in a court of law, a much more serious offense.

Re:OK, I'm a cynic ...

[NDPTAL85]

You are still bitter about that aren't you?

I suppose what the lie was about doesn't matter in the least does it?

Cause of Death

[Lt. Pierogi]

It was just announced that former president Ford died of injuries sustained from falling down a flight of stairs and breaking his neck.

The accident happened at a local golf course shortly after striking several golfers in the head on the 5th hole.

Re:I will never forgive him

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

(that includes you, Henry K.)

Actually, despite his foreign policy schemings, Kissinger was in all probability the only living soul in Nixons administration uninvolved in the political and monetary corruption.

Chevy Chase

[jonerik]

Now that his career is really dead, Chevy Chase is reportedly being kept under a 24-hour suicide watch.

All I know is...

[xquark]

that he liked BEER and NACHOS!

He took JFK secrets to his grave

[dtjohnson]

Ford was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission which issued its still-controversial report on the Kennedy assassination. In 1997, Ford publicly admitted that he changed the Warren report's description of the bullet wound in Kennedy's back to read "A bullet had entered the base of the back of his neck" instead of the draft "A bullet had entered his back at a point slightly above the shoulder and to the right of the spine" to make the theory that a single bullet had passed through both Kennedy and fellow-limo-occupant Connally sound more tenable. This was a huge change because at the time that the Warren Commission report was released, no one knew where Kennedy had actually been shot. To this day, the nature of Kennedy's wounds are obscured in mystery thanks to an autopsy performed by inexperienced military doctors on a sliced-up body that had secretly arrived in a rubber body bag and military casket two hours before the autopsy even though it had supposedly left Texas in a fancy funeral home casket (which was actually empty) escorted by Kennedy's wife.

Ford knew some of the Warren Commission secrets and he took them to his grave.

Re:He took JFK secrets to his grave

[polyex]

Yes and dont forget to mention the black helicopters, the new world order ,skull and bones , Illuminati etc! Beware of the black helicopters!

Re:He took JFK secrets to his grave

[dtjohnson]

Yes and dont forget to mention the black helicopters, the new world order ,skull and bones , Illuminati etc! Beware of the black helicopters!

None of the things you refer to are factual. It is a fact that Ford changed the words in the report, that Kennedy's wife escorted an empty casket, that inexperienced doctors performed an autopsy on a body on which surgery had been previously performed on the skull, etc. It is also a fact that no one to this day knows what happened to Kennedy's brain tissue (which would have shown the path of bullets passing through it). These things have all been painstakingly established via tens of thousands of hours of labor by people reading dusty governement documents, tracking down and interviewing the dozens of people present at the time, etc.

Re:He took JFK secrets to his grave

[polyex]

Actually there are lots of folks out there that think all the things I mentioned are very real. I personally feel they are just slightly more delusional than the JFK conspiracy fans. As for the people laboring through dusty documents - Many of those people sell videotapes that say that the airliners on 9/11 were controlled by remote control. Everything is a damn conspiracy that they seem to have the unique ability of uncovering to turn what is seen as obvious on its head. Its also the sheer number of conspiracies that they seem to be "uncovering" which makes them seem delusional, even if on the outside chance they happen to be correct about one even one of them! I just wish the folks that see a vast conspiracy in so many things would just step back for once and look at the other real possibility that they are just trying to spice up there own dull lives, lives that without the benefit of the discovery the vast conspiracy of the week would not be worth spending the fuel on the black helicopters to follow them in the first place.

Re:He took JFK secrets to his grave

[BoneFlower]

You have a reference to Fords comment about changing the report?

One, I don't know you from a hill of beans, so your credibility is unknown.

Two, assuming he did change the words, it is at least as important to know *why* he did it as it is to know he did it in the first place.

Re:He took JFK secrets to his grave

[EGSonikku]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kEh3Kgwhk0

http://www.jfkfiles.com/jfk/html/faq.htm

Don't let silly facts get in the way of good 'ol paranoia.

Re:He took JFK secrets to his grave

[EGSonikku]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-cri43ttTo&NR Also this. Notice JFK and Connally react at the exact same instant, right after passing the sign because they were hit by the same bullet. Also shows the 3d model's positioning to be correct.

Oswald owned the gun used to kill JFK, and there are pictures of him holding it. Marina Oswald testified in 1964 and 1978 that she took the photographs at Oswald's request.

http://independence.net/jfk/oswaldxh300.jpg

  He had used the same rifle earlier in attempt to assassinate General Walker.

He attempted the assassination on April 10, 1963. Though he did not leave specifics of his plans in writing, Oswald did leave a note in Russian for Marina with instructions for her to follow -- should he be jailed in Dallas, or otherwise disappear. neutron activation tests later proved that the Walker bullet was from the same cartridge manufacturer that the two bullets which later struck Kennedy were from.

He was seen carrying what he told co-workers were 'shower rods' into the building. He was the only employee missing from the building after the assassination. He shot and killed a police officer while attempting escape, this same gun was found on him when he was arrested.

I mean, what proof do you want?

Re:He took JFK secrets to his grave

[dtjohnson]

JFK and Connally react at the exact same instant, right after passing the sign because they were hit by the same bullet

The only evidence that Kennedy was ever even hit by a bullet from behind is the wound whose location was described incorrectly by Ford. That wound was found by the autopsy doctor to be shallow and was never dissected to determine its depth and the bullet pathway profile. The throat wound was also found to be an 'entrance' wound by the doctors who treated Kennedy. There is no exit wound from Kennedy's body for the bullet that was supposed to have continued on and entered Connally's body.

Oswald owned the gun used to kill JFK, and there are pictures of him holding it

The only evidence linking Oswald to the gun is a mail order form with a phony name on it. The photograph showing Oswald holding the gun is an obvious composite forgery. The only evidence linking the gun to the Kennedy killing is the bullet found on the stretcher in the hospital. The guy who found the bullet was a firearms expert and said the bullet he found was pointed while the one that turned up matching the gun was rounded. The chain of custody on the bullet is broken and no one can establish that the bullet found on the stretcher is the same one that ended up as being identified as coming from the gun.

He shot and killed a police officer while attempting escape, this same gun was found on him when he was arrested.

Oswald may have shot and killed a police officer but there is no solid evidence linking him to that. Oswald was found with a pistol when arrested but the bullets that killed the police officer were not found to have come from Oswald's pistol. The pistol found on Oswald was also not found to have been used in the Kennedy killing. However, after the Kennedy killing, a fingerprint was found by the Dallas Police on a box up in the sniper's nest on the 6th floor that matched a fingerprint taken from a man named Mac Wallace who had previously been convicted of murdering a man named Doug Kinser in Texas in 1953. At the time of his death, Kinser was threatening to bring down then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson with scandal. Mac Wallace was a very close associate of vice president Lyndon B. Johnson who became President upon the death of Kennedy. Johnson appointed Gerald Ford to the Warren Commission shortly after he became President.

The Kennedy assassination is too complex to discuss here other than to point out that Ford obviously knew a lot that he never told which is a loss to history.

Re:He took JFK secrets to his grave

[dtjohnson]

Sorry, I didn't have a chance to look at the youtube video yesterday "lining up the single bullet" but I just now looked at it and I notice that the entry point on Kennedy's back shown in the video is actually the erroneous higher location described by Ford rather than the presumably more accurate location in the 'autopsy' report.

Generally, though, even the lower entry point does line up with the single bullet theory trajectory if you assume that Kennedy was leaning forward sufficiently or something. The problem with the single bullet theory is not that it is provably impossible but just that it is extremely unlikely. To believe in the single bullet theory, you have to believe that Oswald (or whoever) fired very rapidly, very accurately with a very tight shot grouping on a moving target, that the bullet lost very little metal and deformed relatively little passing through two bodies, and wrist, and a leg, and you have to ignore the chain of custody problems with the bullet. It's like if the police found a guy holding a smoking gun at the scene of a killing and decided to start looking for a second shooter who might have run down the street. Not impossible, that, but unlikely for sure.

Re:He took JFK secrets to his grave

[EGSonikku]

My mistake.

I could time travel your ass back there, put you next to Kennedy in the limo, and you would just claim it was my CIA mind probe giving you false memories.

The photo's were faked? Besides the fact that 57789923 experts looked at them? Despite the fact, that his own wife said she took the photo's? Besides the fact he owned the same type of camera that was used to take the pictures?

You're worse than the freakin Intelligent Design nuts.

Re:Squeaky Fromme - a Manson Cult member one attem

[jkauzlar]

Her aim was deflected by Oliver Sipple, a gay ex-marine, who never received a thank-you from the president, until Harvey Milk protested that. Mr. Sipple eventually committed suicide.

Oliver Sipple *did* receive a thank you note and was honored nationally as a hero for his deed, although he never was thanked in person:

The police and the Secret Service immediately commended Sipple for his action at the scene, while Ford thanked him in a letter...[and following Sipple's presumed suicide much later in 1989] President Ford and his wife sent a letter of sympathy to his family and friends.

Interestingly, Sipple had suffered emotional trauma from his time served in Vietnam and the press coverage following his deflecting the gunshot to save Ford only increased his anxieties. Much of the problem was due to the press's outing of his homosexuality. Sipple spent a good part of the next decade trying to seek legal recompense against the press for making this public.

Wait a minute...

[Anonymous Coward]

Look at the guys involved with Iran-Contra, they served their piddly sentences for much worse crimes, and today are back serving in the highest reaches of government.

Nixon was undermining the Constitution, the checks and balances. I hardly think you could do any worse undermining the foundations of the USA--the whole reason for his impeachment. On that note, you wouldn't happen to see a similar situation developing these days? The Missouri Compromise didn't prevent the civil war, it only made it more inevitable. Just as you let the president usurp power not given to him in the Constitution, you will make the impending conflict inevitable. Not holding Nixon accountable is the *worst* possible thing he could have done. That's why we have presidents undermining Congress to get us into wars, and now we have one making his own court systems and writing his own laws. And you wonder why these guys aren't held accountable. You make me sick.

Re:Unfortunate

[corbettw]

In mid-May 1975, just three weeks after the victory of the revolutionary forces in Vietnam

And there you betray your bias. Thank you, I can now safely ignore the rest of your commie diatribe in peace.

Re:Unfortunate

[delirium of disorder]

I am not a communist; I just acknowledge historical fact. I happen to be opposed to Marxist-Leninism and any other form of authoritarian communism. There was a communist revolution in Viet Nam that gained control of the nation. There was a communist revolution in Russia that gained control of the nation. I don't support either regime, but I also don't deny that they exist(ed).

Re:Squeaky Fromme - a Manson Cult member one attem

[ZBM-2]

>>She was responsible for one of the assassination attempts on Pres Ford. A secret service agent saw her acting oddly, went over to check her out and was close enough to prevent the shooting by STICKING HIS FINGER between the guns hammer and bullet, thus preventing the bullet from firing.

Actually,the gun didn't go off because she didn't have a round in the chamber. Blocking the hammer of a 1911 model auto would be pretty difficult.

Helsinki Accords

[Lawrence_Bird]

In fact, ultimately his most important decision was to sign the Helsinki accords against the opinion of his party and frankly many in the US at that time.  People thought it was a copout to codify the post WWII boundaries but he recognized that the human rights provisions would be a timebomb ticking inside of the USSR.  It was not long after that dissent began to appear in the combloc, specifically Poland.  These were the first cracks in the soviet empire.

Re:Let the SOB rot in hell

[polyex]

We are on the same page politcally, but I just wish the left would stop using exaggerations like imperialism, its so played and a turn off to moderates who the left should try and court more. Iraq is not going to become a state or commonwealth of the US. Slamming a guy personally because of tough decision you do not agree with is petty. Saying that he is a son of a bitch and should rot in hell is not only disrespectful to a man who was president, but distracts from your otherwise valid points. "There's another reason why you should love your enemies, and that is because hate distorts the personality of the hater. We usually think of what hate does for the individual hated or the individuals hated or the groups hated. But it is even more tragic, it is even more ruinous and injurious to the individual who hates." -Martin Luther King

Re:I will never forgive him

[Frumious Wombat]

Henry has enough else to answer for that being involved in CREEP and the other domestic corruption would have been the colored sprinkles on top of the organic bespoke banana split.

Gerald Ford died today, at the senseless age of 93

[MS-06FZ]

Tom Brokaw: Alright. "Gerald Ford is dead today, and I'm gay." Now, wait a minute!

Voice of Producer: What? That'd be a huge story - Ford dying, and you coming out!

Tom Brokaw: But I'm not gay!

Voice of Producer: Today you're not gay, you know.. but then one day you wake up, you like men, and Gerald Ford dies, and we're screwed. Everyone's hearing about it from Dan Rather!

Ford Eating a Tamale

[geognerd]

Anybody else remember the time he tried to eat a tamale without removing the corn husk?

Re:Ford Eating a Tamale

[Verminator]

Holy Crap!
You're supposed to remove 'em?!?
My bowels thank you.

"if" the voters...

[ClioCJS]

That's a big "if" considering, the unverifiability of the electronic voting machines used in the elections.

Re:Unfortunate

[polyex]

When you say "they are now using to enrich nuclear fuel", you are deceptively implying thats its the same people. An important point your not mentioning is that your talking about about Pahlavi's government that it was sold to, not the current Islamic Republic Of Iran which siezed power (and in turn the Nuclear facility) in the Islamic Revolution.

My favorite quote on Gerald Ford

[gd23ka]

"Gerald Ford isn't a homosexual or a bisexual. In fact, he is a trisexual,
that means he'll _try_ anything."

Just one of the many men and women he forced himself on.

Re:This is here why?

[Overzeetop]

Sorry. Not the Carter is a nerd part - that's a given - but that Ford dying is News for Nerds because he lost to Carter in his only presidential election. That's stretching it. I suppose an extra nerd point is due for the simple trivia that Ford was never on a winning ticket in a presidential election.

There's a British one

[A nonymous Coward]

Slantfullstop

Re:Shows just how accurate media portrayals are

[jackbird]

He's an idiot in matters of governance and diplomacy, but an absolute genius at politicking. Watch him light up and become articulate and engaged when he's discussing electoral politics.

the oppositte of CONgress is... PROgress

[ClioCJS]

I'm casting doubt on every Congress since I was born. Oh, you mean about the e-voting machines? I'm casting doubt on every Congress since 2000. :)

P.S. Yes I know I just fed the troll.

Re: What about General Washington?

[trdrstv]

A lot of people, especially younger ones, weren't aware that Ford was the only US president who was never elected to office.

All George Washington had to do to become President, was not to say he didn't want it.

More about the discussion

[CrazedWalrus]

Nerds are by definition not in the mainstream, and this news clearly is [mainstream.] It is in a section called "politics", which the death of a former President certainly falls into. I don't really know why Slashdot decided to have this category to begin with, but since it does, you need to expect political news in it.

Broaden your scope, lose your focus. Lose your focus, lose your interest. I don't really mind this, though. I come to this site to read the discussions, much of which is more insightful/inciteful than you'd find in mainstream press. Sometimes it's interesting to me to hear the perspectives of other people who are "outside the mainstream", even if the news itself isn't.

Re:More about the discussion

[MECC]

I guess I usually hope that rather that posting rehashes of news everybody has heard (like this posting), I'd rather, for any given topic, see postings of info not commonly seen, like this.(quote of Ford at his VP confirmation hearing regarding a possible Nixon pardon - go ahead mod this offtopic).

Re:Let the SOB rot in hell (troll?)

[mlwmohawk]

Unelected? Ford was elected along with Nixon as Nixon's VP. You can't possibly be this stupid

I'm not sure how old you are so I'll let that slide.

Spiro Agnew was elective as Nixon's Vice President. He later resigned and Ford was appointed as vice prseident. Shortly after Nixon resigned, Ford became president, and in what can only be called payback, pardoned Nixon.

Read some history it will do you good.

Re:Squeaky Fromme - a Manson Cult member one attem

[djh101010]

Actually,the gun didn't go off because she didn't have a round in the chamber. Blocking the hammer of a 1911 model auto would be pretty difficult.

It would? How so? Nice big gap there, would hurt like a SOB but no reason you couldn't get, say, the web of your hand in there. Got a couple bites on the web of my hand from 1911 hammers, but from holding them the normal way (OK, a bit high actually).

Turn the TV Off.

[srobert]

The advancing Islamofascist assault on the western world.?
  Turn the TV off and go outside. Your chances of getting killed by a terrorist are on the same order as that you'll be stung to death by bees. The Islamofascist boogeyman is not hiding behind every corner and under every bush, regardless of what you heard on Fox News.

Re:Turn the TV Off.

[JhohannaVH]

Muwahahahahaha... Tell that to Mogadishu. Tell that to Beirut. Tell that to Baghdad, Paris, and Amsterdam. Tell that to Banda Aceh. Tell that to Indonesia. And oh yeah... remember to tell your grandkids when they get drafted to fight for Christendom, as it were. I'm sorry, but they will NOT be enforcing any kind of Sharia on this Redheaded Rebel.

And I'm allergic to bees, so my chances are pretty good. Especially since I'm 10 miles from Tijuana.

I don't watch Faux News... I read Das Interwebs... :P Where the hell did they come up with that anyways? A few of my favorites:

http://www.drudgereport.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
http://news.google.com/
http://www.haaretz.com/
http://www.msnbc.com/
http://thehill.com/
http://www.iht.com/
http://my.yahoo.com/ - of course, customized for worldwide RSS.


Grow up and open your eyes to the world reality. Not just the one you see in your four walls. Try working with some people from different parts of the world. Especially men from the worker caste in India that don't know anything about how to work with Females. One peed all over the bathroom IN OUR OFFICE, because the young janitorial Mexican girl knocked on the door while he was taking a leak. He was offended, so he whizzed all over all of the porcelain. Oh, and he was Muslim too... he would accost any woman he saw wearing a crucifix... and since we have a lot of Filipinas here, it was awful. Needless to say, it STILL took us 2 months of protesting to get HR to do something about him. I particularly enjoyed bringing in bacon and egg muffin sammies and eating them right in front of him. Oh, did I mention that he was in the cube next to me.. this is how I know all this.

My favorite foreigners that I've ever worked were with practically brothers... we even shared an office. One was a Christian Iranian, the other a Sunni Iraqi, and they surfed (in the ocean) together daily. I miss them both so much... and they treated HUMANS with a dignity and respect I've never seen since. Sad. I learned a lot from them.

It's not the terrorism I worry about, it's the FORCED IMPOSITION of Sharia on societies that are too vulnerable to know better. Women are being beaten in the public square now in Banda Aceh, and no one cares... the UN let them take it over... and now, they are beaten to death for meeting with a man in public. FUCK THAT SHIT maynard. FUCK IT ALL... I will give MY rotten ass life to make sure that NO ONE must suffer under such injustice. *sigh* Even you. Especially you... too damned ignorant to know better.. either that, or you're blinded by decades of such imposition already.

These Are The Best Of Times And The Worst Of Times

[NDPTAL85]

Which is it?

Before the Gore/Bush election there was widespread sentiment that the two parties were too similar to care about who won. A lot of people simply did not vote because they couldn't see a real difference between the Republican and Democratic parties.

That was generally seen as a bad attitude for the electorate to have. SO, the Republicans kicked it up a notch and broadcast to the world stark reminders that they are super-religous, over-judgemental, pricks.

So now that the two sides have re-declared their base positions you think thats a BAD thing? Which one do you want? Are we partisan or non-partisan? I don't think there's a middle ground. I don't want to be sorta-partisan. Thats just half assing it. Who wants to phone in hate? COME ON, PUT YOUR BACK INTO IT!

Alan Shugart died two weeks ago

[Lars T.]

and nobody here cared? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Shugart

Motive

[Mark_MF-WN]

That is so ridiculously fucking stupid that it's unbelievable.

Do you really think that when a politician is ahead in the polls, his/her campaign staff sit around saying "now that we're ahead, let's just stop. I think we've done enough." Of course not. They keep doing what they're paid to do -- acquire the biggest lead possible. And information about your opponents' strategies provides a proven advantage in elections. If you can beat your opponent to the punch on every issue, on every topic, they come off looking like incompetent boobs and you look cool and in control. Is it any wonder that Nixon supporters would want to have the Democrat's campaign plans?

Show me one election in which the party that was ahead suddenly stopped campaigning, and maybe you will no longer qualify as a humongous retard or a braindead partisan dipshit. But of course, that doesn't happen. Ever. It's just not how politics works.

Re:Let the SOB rot in hell

[grolaw]

Imperialism. An interesting term. Can you name any other nation on the planet that has military bases within the borders of other sovereign nations? What do you call a nation that spends more money on its military than all other nations, combined? The US has the military might to invade almost any country on the planet - and we have used that power extensively.

What do you call our naval base on Cuba? The US is certainly not welcome there..... and you can find our bases spread across the planet - most arising from WWII, but the Philippines we conquered and "Christianized" at the turn of the last century (and, Puerto Rico, too). I'd call the US military presence across the planet an "imperial" act by an imperial government. If you have a better term for this I'd like to know what it is.

Tough decision to pardon Nixon? Hardly. The fix was in from the word go. If you read Ford's own memoir you can find a nice neat version of a conversation he had with general Alexander Haig about pardoning Nixon - well before the resignation. In the late 1970s, the Nation magazine published excerpts of Gerald Ford's memoirs in which he revealed that pardoning Richard Nixon was raised with him by Haig before Ford replaced Nixon in the White House. The Nation magazine faced a landmark lawsuit over copyright because it did not have the permission to print the early draft.

Turn to the staff and actions of Ford in office - and you will find Kissinger, Rumsfeld, Cheney & Wolfowitz - the roots of the "W" Presidency. Rummy just resigned in disgrace.

On December 6th, 1975 - Ford and Kissinger (then the US Secretary of State) met with President of Indonesia Suharto. The very next day, Suharto ordered the invasion of East Timor, a small country that had declared its independence from Portugal just days before the invasion. The Indonesian military occupation of East Timor has claimed the lives of at least 200,000 people, according to Amnesty International. That makes one third of the population -- the greatest genocide in per capita terms since the Holocaust.

FOIA requests have shown that Ford and Kissinger approved of the invasion and agreed to continue to supply arms to Suharto. On December 7, 1975 Ford made a speech condemning the Japanese for their attack on the US - and sent an "emergency" letter to Suharto by diplomatic pouch. At the time the Ford Administration represented that communiqué as a direct response to Suharto's invasion. FOIA responses show that the pouch held only golf balls. Google: National Security Archives and read it for yourself.

Ford put George H.W. Bush in charge of the CIA.

This goes on, and on and on....

I stand by the proposition that the man lived the good life at the expense of hundreds of thousands of his fellow human's lives and laid the groundwork for the corrupt US Government that we face today.

Insofar as I am not a Christian I don't believe in Hell - however the sentiment is appropriate.

He Changed the Tone

[Michael_Burton]

The first time I saw an actual U.S. president live and in person was in October or early November of 1970. That year, like this one, was a mid-term election year, and Richard Nixon was traveling the country promoting Republican candidates. He spoke to a campaign rally at the Statehouse in downtown Columbus, and I went down to see him.

There was a big crowd -- lots of Nixon supporters, and a small number of Vietnam War protestors around the edges of the crowd. And every word out of Nixon's mouth seemed calculated to stir up anger and hatred in his listeners. The air was thick with it. At any second, I expected someone to start throwing punches, or worse.

On November 1, 1976, I saw another president speak at a campaign rally at the Statehouse. It was the day before Election Day, and the president was Gerald Ford. Once again, there was a big crowd with lots of Ford supporters and a few protesters. But the atmosphere -- that was completely different.

Ford did not preach hate. He said what he was for, and why, and asked for our support. But he didn't ask us to hate anyone who disagreed. I was wearing a campaign button for a Democratic candidate for Senate, and one of the Republicans in the crowd kidded me about it. I wasn't worried that he wanted to bash my skull in. It might be hard to understand just how remarkable that seemed unless you were at the Nixon rally six years earlier. Six years, and a different president, and everything had changed.

So I will always think good thoughts about Gerald Ford. He showed that it really does matter what the president says, and how he says it. This would be a better nation today if his successors had followed his example.

Re:The Price We Paid for that Pardon

[/dev/trash]

Oh goody, I always love the 'Blame the President' crowd around here. Reminder, Congress makes the laws. Don't like it, take it up with them, not the office of the President.

Re:Take your own medicine.

[ssundberg]

No, he was nominated by Nixon and confirmed by congress. He was appointed by the process or both groups, not just one or the other. You're both a little off. Ford did not need appointment. He was the first Vice-President to succeed into the office of President under the 25th Amendment which was ratified in 1965 following JFK's assassination.

Re:The Price We Paid for that Pardon

[grolaw]

Congress makes the laws? OK - but Executive Orders are not made by Congress and we are all subject to massive "wiretap" thanks to an Executive Order.

President Reagan and his top aides ignored a 1982 law at the center of the Iran-Contra scandal. Known as the Boland Amendment, it banned US assistance to anti-Marxist militants in Nicaragua. Ollie North & Admiral Poindexter were just the top of the "plausible deniability" pile of Executive Order weasels ignoring the Laws and Constitution by funding secret wars.

The war-making power is specifically vested with the Legislative Branch - unless the Executive chooses to ignore the Constitution. This seems to happen fairly often these days. That pack-o-lies UN WMD dog-and-pony show that executive branch bitch Colin Powell put on for "W" and Rummy only goes to show that the present Executive branch is too big for a Republic.

Where did any President after Nixon get the idea that the laws didn't apply to them? That Pardon Ford gave RMN. Then GHWB pardoned all the Iran-Contra figures.

Sorry, the center of the rot is in the Executive Office. Reality bites.

Re:Shows just how accurate media portrayals are

[siriuskase]

He's an idiot in matters of governance and diplomacy, but an absolute genius at politicking. Watch him light up and become articulate and engaged when he's discussing electoral politics. But, he was hired to govern and diplome, not discuss politics. Why does the hiring process focus on the wrong skills?

Uhm...

[kitsunewarlock]

I still enjoy Nixon for everything he did OTHER than Watergate and the lying and what-not...but I mostly like what he did for cancer research and involving relations with China...

But no man should be judged by only their worse moments. You must take ALL moments into account, and until you see everything a person did, you should not judge for yourself what they have done.

Clinton is still loved by many despite what he did. And I don't mean the scandel. I mean acts reguarding printing so much money that the penny is now worth less than 1 cent...

Re:Shows just how accurate media portrayals are

[jackbird]

Indeed. You're hardly the first to point that out, but it's hard to come up with alternatives that are even nominally democratic.

My comment was more to not underestimating one's opponent, however.

Re:Let the SOB rot in hell

[polyex]

Name a country? How about Russia? They still have military bases in foreign countries (although mainly in Central Asia) How about India in Tajikistan? Last I checked they were on the planet! We Christianized the Phillipines? Where are you reading this? Phillipines was a SPANISH colony from 1500's until 1898 and believe me Catholicism was brought by the Spanish missionaries and entrenched long before the Spanish/American war , heck, all of this happened long before even the United States existed. Columbus arrived in Puerto Rico in the late 1400's, and named the place after John the Baptist. In the 1800's SPAIN allowed Catholics to settle the Island with Free land (Real Cedula de Gracias de 1815 (Royal Decree of Graces of 1815) swelling the population from 155,000 in 1800 to almost a million at the close of the century. To say the United States Christianized either of these places is not telling the whole story, they were already vastly Christian. As an atheist I HAVE TO ASK -Why are you in such a rush to let Spain off the hook?

Re:Let the SOB rot in hell

[grolaw]

Some later historians, such as Howard Zinn, cite the Philippine-American War as an example of American imperialism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine-American_W ar/
During the war 4,324 American soldiers died, only 1,000-1,500 of which were due to actual combat; the remainder died of disease. 2,818 were wounded. ... Philippine military deaths are estimated at 20,000 with 16,000 actually counted, while civilian deaths numbered between 250,000 and 1,000,000 Filipinos.
http://www.historyguy.com/PhilipineAmericanwar.htm l/
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1132/is _4_51/ai_56640457/

----------------
Russia? Central Asia? Pardon Moi, but the remainders of Russian Hegemony are not asian, they are central european see,
http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?i sbn=0521864038/

-------------

Catholic nations are hardly "christian" for the Protestant US.

_____________

US Imperial power? See http://www.libsci.sc.edu/bob/class/clis734/webguid es/milbase.htm/
U.S. European Command, in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany, is responsible for 13 million square miles in 89 countries and territories. This area of responsibility begins at the North Cape of Norway and extends through the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas, through most of Europe and parts of the Middle East, to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. The Command's mission is to support and advance US interests and policies throughout the region and to provide combat ready land, maritime, and air forces to Allied Command Europe or to US Unified Commands.

Point out another country holding military bases covering 13 mega-miles in Europe, alone. You can't and there isn't any other country with the US power as demonstrated by our basing. Iraq has a base under construction that is larger than the Vatican - because we want control over Oil.... nothing else.

Sadam Hussein has less than 30 days to live - my question: does "W" have a fetish in the killing of people? Think back to the execution of Carla Fay Tucker - where "W" mocked her plea for mercy.

I think "W" is one sick puppy. Tell me you don't agree.

Re:Squeaky Fromme - a Manson Cult member one attem

[Adult film producer]

Sipple was invited to the White House. The invitation was withdrawn when it was learned that Sipple was gay.

Thanks some thanks for saving his life..

Re:Unfortunate

[novus ordo]

True, that is a little deceptive, but the fact still remains. Seems like we give these terrible weapons to guys like Saddam (and Pahlavi wasn't much better either) and then come back wanting them back after the puppets we installed didn't work that well. I don't think that giving away nuclear technology to our friends now (like India these days for example) will gain us any favors in the future. So yes, it was a friendly government at that time, but that doesn't exactly make it a smart decision.

Re:Unfortunate

[delirium of disorder]

By definition a revolution is simply the overthrow of a government by those who are governed. Some revolutions are led by the majority of the populace of a nation, others by a small band of revolutionaries. Some I support, others I do not.

Dead at 6:45 pm. Then, at 6:46 pm...

[Zhe Mappel]

...he tripped over the rack containing Nixon as he entered Hell.

A mere 100,000-200,000 Timorese were slaughtered thanks to good ol' Gerald R. giving Indonesia the green light for invasion, a number that pales next to Nixon's bodycount in Vietnam. May they have eternity to compare notes.

Re:Let the SOB rot in hell

[LazloTheDog]

the Philippines we conquered and "Christianized" at the turn of the last century (and, Puerto Rico, too). The Spanish took care of that long, as in centuries, before the US arrived. Their methods were very thorough. JM

Re:Let the SOB rot in hell

[polyex]

W. Has issues. But so do you. :-)

Re:Pardons

[PopeRatzo]

Mark, yesterday must have been wingnut day for moderation.

That someone would mod your comment "offtopic" is really a misuse of the system.

You must have hit a nerve. I got caught in the same net, bro.

Re:Let the SOB rot in hell

[grolaw]

Well, the US Public was sold the war on those terms and, as I said before, Protestants don't consider Catholics "Christian".

Re:Pardons

[Mark_MF-WN]

Hey, thanks. But really, the mod system tends to be a bit deranged at the best of times. I've had absolutely trollish posts get insightful mods and extremely well-thought out posts get flamebait mods. Just the nature of public debate I suppose.

Re:The Price We Paid for that Pardon

[/dev/trash]

You forgot Poland.

Re:The Price We Paid for that Pardon

[grolaw]

say, what?

Poland had nothing to do with Iran-Contra. It was Lech Walesa at the Gdansk shipyards that made Poland stand out. There was nothing about Poland in the scandal.....

Indeed, the 1980 strikes at the Gdansk shipyards stand for exactly the opposite of both Socialism and Capitalism - human rights took center stage and Poland made massive changes because of Walesa.

We kill our social leaders (and, no - Squeeky Frome's assassination attempt doesn't count - why anybody would attempt to shoot Ford is beyond any reason - but she was a member of the Manson clan) e.g. MLK, Bobby Kennedy, JFK, Medgar Evers.

Not a one of these people made a mark on the Michigan congressman, Jerry Ford. A man who never sponsored meaningful (or, any) legislation in his position in the House. A man who was, by all accounts, a go-along, get-along member of the GOP who was selected to replace Spiro Agnew exactly because he was no threat to Nixon and was pliable as hell. At the time, Nixon says in his own memoir, he accepted Ford because, "there were no dead women or live boys" in his background.

A nice, pliable man who agreed to pardon a criminal President and had no interest in the 200,000 deaths in East Timor he tacitly authorized. A fine, shining example of the GOP's Real Politic....

Perhaps GWB is happy with the Johns Hopkins study that finds 640,000 excess civilian deaths in Iraq - making him three times the man Ford was.

Re:The Price We Paid for that Pardon

[grolaw]

FROM TPM:

As Ford told Woodward last year: "I think that Nixon felt I was about the only person he could really trust on the Hill." Said Ford: "I looked upon him 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."

Woodward follows by noting that "that acknowledgment represents a significant shift from Ford's previous portrayals of the pardon that absolved Nixon of any Watergate-related crimes."

Except that it still doesn't address Al Haig's "conversation" with Ford. The fix was in and Nixon got off. Now presidential pardons are used to free co-conspirators; secret wars continue and the population of this Nation (all but the upper 5%) is screwed.

Ford will lie in state while Saddam swings. A major blowup in Iraq is anticipated - with good cause - and Bush's escalation of the Iraq war will seem only a response to increased sectarian violence.

All of this contempt for the Constitution can be traced to Nixon and his ability to avoid the legal consequences of his actions. We impeached Clinton for lying, under oath, about having sex with Monica. I supported that action and the outcome - we have to have our chief executives held to their oaths.

By that standard, "W" is long past due for impeachment. The problem is that the Republicans controlled both houses and were too busy robbing the country blind to give a tinker's damn about the sad state of the majority of taxpayers.

We paid dearly for Ronnie's deficit & GHWB's S&L scandal... we may never drag ourselves out from under the burden of the Bush tax cut and the Bush Wars - all thanks to Ford paving the way through that damned pardon of Nixon.

The cutoff age to join the US military is now 49 years - so, all of you /.'ers who think Bush is doing just fine - drop by the local recruiter's office and signup today. You can post from Iraq.

All that is well and good.

[jotaeleemeese]

Until you take the trouble to read about the current President, then you will understand that to his human failings he adds an amount of political incompetence rarely seen in any democratic ruler on recent times.

Your are confussing what was though about the call

[jotaeleemeese]

It was though to allow your personal friend and former boss to suffer the indignity of a trial and most likely punishment.

He fumbled on that account, taking the easy way out.

At what point do US politicians meet justice then?

[jotaeleemeese]

Never seems to be your answer, as long as it is "for the good of the nation"....

Yeah, lets compromise about the law.

[jotaeleemeese]

Lets make it flexible.

Not.

Sometimes compromise betrays lack of character and principle.

And frankly to honour somebody to for reaching a position of responsibility without regard for the consequences of his actions is frankly abhorrent to me, nobody should be accorded honours for his poisition but for his actions.

Mr Ford failed miserably and should be remembered as the failure he was, no matter how much positive spin some of the media are trying to put on his demise.