CLICK
THE ICON ABOVE TO FULLY PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER AND SUPPORT TRUTH
MINERS
Vipre Antivirus Premium does it all! Keeps
out viruses, trojans, worms, adware, spyware, malware. If your
computer is running slow, it is probably infected with one or more of these
problems. Download the trial version and get instant relief from the
bad stuff. Purchase and register and get up-to-date, real time
protection.
Was Jane Fonda asked to
leave a Montana restaurant?
This bit has
been passed around the internet since 1996.
The supposed restaurant has
had many names and sometimes no name. Sir Scott's Oasis, Rocky
Mountain Pasta Company, Land of Magic Steakhouse, Silver Dollar,
Longhorn Bar & Grill are among the restaurants named. Certainly
it has all the red lights one would expect in a false tale. It
is told by an unnamed someone who heard it from a friend or relative.
The writer is not named nor is the person who supposedly witnessed the
event named. No dates are given.
At one point, Snopes contacted every restaurant on this list.
None had any recollection of such an event. Sir Scott's said
that Fonda did indeed come in one time, but that there was a long wait
and she left, no words, no confrontations. Consider Fonda's own
words in 1994 about such an event: "If you're ever in a
situation where you're not getting served or you can't get what you
need, just cry," she recommends. Fonda, who attended the Goodwill
Games in Russia with her husband, Ted Turner, said she tried the
crying game when an elevator operator in Moscow was too busy reading a
letter to take her upstairs, and once again when she couldn't get
served in a restaurant. Worked every time."
Was "Hanoi Jane" named Woman of the Year?
The "Hanoi Jane" message has been
floating around since 1999 when this supposed "honor"
occurred. The
"honor" came from the Ladies Home Journal for a TV show, April 30,
1999 which was hosted by Barbara Walters. Wow. Some honor!
The
Hanoi Jane message makes false statements about 2 POWs. The problem
with this message is not with the Fonda allegations (which are very
true), but with supposed statements by ex-POW's that they never made.
As you will see below, these POW's have asked that the message no
longer be forwarded because of these claims.
I am in no way trying to underplay the
serious nature of what happened when Jane Fonda and her then husband
Tom Hayden went to North Vietnam. I do, however, believe that it is
totally wrong and dishonorable to put lies into the mouths of the
brave men who faced torture at the hands of the North Vietnamese.
The information below is in their defense, not in defense of
Fonda and Hayden. They really did go to N. Vietnam and really did call
our POW's liars. That doesn't excuse the message's shortcomings.
The message claims that statements were made by Ret. Col. Larry
Carrigan and former Air Force pilot Jerry Driscoll about how Fonda was
involved in some of their torture. Both men have claimed that these
allegations are not true and would very much like for these false
allegations to stop. No one who claims to honor these veterans should
continue to forward this message. Fonda once called our POW's liars -
let's not make them out to be liars either. Carrigan was shot down
over North Vietnamese in 1967, but was never in a POW camp and says that
he never met Fonda. Driscoll has denied that this information
came from him as well.
The third accuser is Michael Benge and he says the statements are
true. He claims that his North Vietnamese captors wanted him to meet
with Fonda and tell her how well the POW's were being treated. He
agreed to meet with her, but told them that he would tell her the
truth about their treatment. He was tortured for this and never met
with Fonda. He has also never accused Fonda of having any
personal knowledge of his torture.
Fonda has apologized more than once for her past
actions (most recently in April 2005). Some have said that her
apologies were insincere. I don't know about that. I'm no judge of the
intents of her heart. Many people do things they are later sorry for.
Many people will never forgive. Certainly I do not know whether or
not she truly repented of her actions during that time. My take is
that Fonda simply adjusts herself to fit every man she's with. She
was a sex-kitten for Vadim, a liberal activist for Hayden, a workout
guru on her own, a socialite for Turner and a low-key giver to the
poor for Jesus. Unfortunately, none of those relationships lasted and
the Jesus thing doesn't seem to have panned out very well, so she is
rather personality-challenged at this moment. Why keep this going when Fonda is
nothing more than a has-been star with little or no influence any
more?
Did actress Cindy Williams write a
piece about denying raises to military personnel?
The Cindy Williams who wrote the article
identified herself directly in the article as a Senior Research Fellow
at MIT and a former Assistant Director for National Security in the
Congressional Budget Office.
The article that MIT Cindy
Williams wrote was not necessarily anti-military, but was about what
she believe to be the gap in the wages of military vs. civilians. Lest
anyone mistake the reason for my writing about this, I fully disagreed
with her premises. Comparing the jobs of people who put their lives on
the line for this country with people who work in offices is like
comparing apples and artichokes. They might both be somewhat round in
shape, but that's all they have in common. The "young airman" who
wrote the rebuttal, knowing full well he was not writing to the
actress, is named Michael Bragg. His rebuttal to the actual issues
brought up in the Williams article were well put. He sent his rebuttal
directly to Ms. Williams and meant it for her eyes only. He told me
that he made the unfortunate mistake of also sending a copy to his
father and a few friends. The well-meaning friends sent it on. At some
point, some doofus did not read the Williams article and decided that
anyone by the name of Cindy Williams must be the actress. That version
stuck. It upset Mr. Bragg greatly.
Very definite changes
have been made to Mr. Bragg's original reply and he is also unhappy
with that. In later versions there is a line that says, "But, tomorrow from KABUL,
I will defend to the death your right to say it." At the time he wrote
this, we were not even in Afghanistan. Bragg was not serving overseas.
His actual words were, " To borrow from Voltaire, I will defend to the
death your right to say it." The deliberate change was made after we
entered Afghanistan to make the issue seem more current and to make it
more upsetting.
Did Russ Hamblin, a
former hard-drinking buddy of John Wayne's, give his life to
Christ after a Billy Graham crusade and go on to write Christian
songs?
I'm
going to present the original message first, then take it apart.
Some parts are true, some are false.
Original Message:
Back in the 50's there was a well known radio
host/comedian/song writer in Hollywood named Russ Hamblin who was
noted for his drinking, womanizing, partying, etc. One of his
bigger hits at the time was "I won't go hunting with you Jake, but
I'll go chasing women".
And along came a young preacher holding a tent revival. Hamblin
had him on his radio show, presumably to poke fun at him. And to
gather more material, Hamblin showed up at one of the revival
meetings. Early in the service the preacher announced, "There is
one man in this audience who is a big fake."
There were probably others who thought the same thing, but Hamblin
was convinced that he was the one the preacher was talking about
(some would call that conviction), but he was having none of that.
Still the words continued to haunt him until a couple of nights
later he showed up drunk at the preacher's hotel door around 2 am.
Demanding that the preacher pray for him. But the preacher
refused, saying, "This is between you and God and I'm not going to
get in the middle of it." But he did invite Russ in and they
talked about 5 am at which point Russ dropped to his knees and
with tears, cried out to God.
But that is not the end of the story. Russ quit drinking, quit
chasing, quit everything that was "fun". And began to lose favor
with the Hollywood crowd. He was ultimately fired by the radio
station when he refused to accept a beer company as a sponsor.
Hard times were upon him. He tried writing a couple of "Christian"
songs but the only one that had much success was "This Old House",
written for his friend Rosemary Clooney.
As he continued to struggle, an old friend named John took him
aside and told him all your troubles started when you "got
religion" and asked if it was worth it all. Russ answered simply,
"Yes". Then his friend said, "You liked your booze so much. Don't
you ever miss it?" And the answer was, "No". John then said, "I
don't understand how you could give it up so easily." And Russ's
response was, "It's no big secret. All things are possible with
God." To this John said, "That's a catchy phrase. You should write
a song about it."
As they say, the rest is history. The song Russ wrote was "It Is
No Secret" - "It is no secret, what God can do. What He's done for
others, He'll do for you. With arms wide open, He'll welcome you.
It is no secret, what God can do." etc...
By the way, the friend was John Wayne, and the young preacher who
refused to pray for Russ Hamblin was Billy Graham. And now you
know "the rest of the story."
(1) The man who wrote the song "It Is No Secret" is named
Carl Stuart Hamblin, not Russ Hamblin. Some newer versions
give his correct name.
(2) Hamblin gave his life to Christ in 1949 after attending a
Billy Graham meeting. He was never refused by Graham. Here
is Cliff Barrows recollection of what happened between Hamblin
and Graham:
Barrows went on to say, “What
a delight to be back in Los Angeles again. I was recalling this
morning with a group of people about Stuart Hamblin who was a
legendary figure back in those days. He had a radio program and
he invited us to come on the program and he talked about the
crusade in a big tent. He said on the air, ‘Go on down and tell
them that Stuart Hamblin sent you down.’ Well Bill [Billy
Graham] came to be with us on the program one day and Stuart
said the same thing, so Billy said, ‘Well, how about you coming
Stuart?’ He stopped a moment and then said, ‘All right, I will.’
He came and we were praying
for him. He had a Godly wife and Stuart really needed to know
the Lord in a personal way. The upside was that he came and
heard the message and he didn’t respond to the invitation then,
but he went home and he couldn’t sleep that night and he came
and met Mr. Graham at the hotel and gave his life to Christ. The
news spread quickly and one day he was walking down Hollywood
Boulevard with his friend John Wayne, and John Wayne said,
‘Stuart, what’s this I hear about you hitting the sawdust
trail?’ Stuart replied, ‘Oh, that’s no secret John, what God has
done for me. He can do it for you or anybody else.’ John then
said, ‘That sounds like a song, Stuart. Why don’t you write
one?’ So he went home and wrote, ‘It is no secret what God can
do…” and Bev Shea has since sung it all around the world. That’s
the joy that we’ve had.
(by Dan Wooding, Founder of
Assist Ministries from ANS news article dated November 16,
2004).
(3) Hamblin did not
make fun of Dr. Graham on the radio show (even prior to his
conversion) but actually urged people to go to the meetings. The
radio station and Hamblin actually wanted him on the program and
he did indeed appear on the program prior to Hamblin's
conversion.
(4) John Wayne was at least an acquaintance of Hamblin's from
his hard-drinking B-western movie days (both of them). Neither
man ever gave this account and no one knows where it started. It
didn't start popping up until the late 90's.
(5) Hamblin had great success after "It Is No Secret." He
wrote a number of well-received songs prior to "This Ole House."
(6) Hamblin DID (the one known truth in the message) take a
stand against alcohol, which caused him to lose his radio
program. Snopes reports the following:
lose his radio show, the Cowboy Church of the Air, over his
refusal to do a commercial promoting alcohol, but his principled
stand led the Prohibition Party to nominate him as their
candidate for President of the United States in 1952. Hamblen
racked up nearly 73,000 votes and finished fourth in a field of
twelve candidates despite appearing on the ballot in only
twenty-one states.
Some versions
attribute the story to Paul Harvey. This is not true. The author was
anonymous. As always, one should always be wary of anonymous
articles and messages.
Did Band leader Tommy Dorsey write the song "Precious Lord, Take My
Hand?"
The story is true, but it was not
written by Tommy Dorsey, the white bandleader of the 40's (as
most versions indicate). It was written by Rev. Thomas Dorsey,
a black gospel & blues song writer.
Thomas Dorsey - born 1899, died 1993
African-American, Christian born in Villa Rica, GA Spouse: Nettie
Harper
Tommy Dorsey - born 1905, died 1956
White, religious beliefs not in any bio, born in Shennandoah, PA
Spouse: Jane New
Are Lee Marvin,
Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers war heroes?
There
is a grain of truth regarding Lee Marvin, but the rest of the
message is completely false.
Lee Marvin received a Purple
Heart for injuries sustained in the Battle for Saipan in 1944.
He is buried at Arlington Cemetery. He was never at Iwo Jima. He
and Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo) never served together.
Keeshan never even saw action. He enlisted near the end of the
war, two weeks prior to his 18th birthday (he was born on June
27, 1927). Iwo Jima was over by then and we dropped the A bomb
two months after he signed up
Fred
Rogers was never in the armed
forces at all (and therefore not a navy seal) and had no tattoos. He went straight from High
School into college, earning a BA in music composition in 1951.
He went straight into TV work . He later went to seminary and
was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1963.
Both
Keeshan and Rogers were indeed heroes though.
They served our nation's children
for decades. I spent many happy mornings of my childhood
with Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Green Jeans, Dancing Bear, Mr. Moose
and Bunny Rabbit.
Did
Denzel Washington "whip out his checkbook" and make a large donation to
the Fisher House at Brooke Army Medical Center?
The email
claims not only claims that Washington made this donation, but that
there was no media coverage of this patriotic moment.
Brooke Army Medical Center is housed at Fort Sam
Houston Army Base in San Antonio, TX. As a native San Antonian,
this is a familiar place to me. The Fisher House is one of two
low-cost motels within walking distance of the hospital especially for
family members of service members in treatment at the hospital.
In December 2004, Washington visited BAMC by
invitation and participated in a ceremony in which he presented 3 Purple
Hearts. He was informed that there was a need to expand the
facility and offered to make a sizeable donation towards the expansion,
which he did later, not on the spot.
As to the media ignoring it, the San Antonio Express
and News was right on the spot. However, Washington, unlike many
of today's celebrities who only do good with publicity entourage in tow,
did not invite the press. The local paper was alerted and promptly
took some photos.
One other allegation made in some versions of the
message claims that Denzel had a son in Iraq, but that wasn't true. One
son was only a teenager at the time of the write-up and the other was on
the practice squad for the LA Rams football team.
Washington is known for his generosity and for his
patriotism.
Radio Stations won't play a Diamond Rio song called "In God We Still
Trust"
There isn't
any truth to this email. Diamond Rio songs are generally played on
Country stations, which also play many conservative and somewhat
religiously themed songs all the time. My guess is that someone
started this after requesting that it played and it never was.
Most commercial stations have a rotating list of songs that are to be
played every hour. Even on satellite radio certain pieces are
played everyday. The last place I worked my boss liked to listen
to spa music and when given the opportunity, I chose light jazz.
There was a pretty regular line-up throughout the week.
This
particular song simply wasn't released as a single for top 40 airplay.
Diamond Rio has never stated that anything like this has ever happened.
No one passing this along could point to a single station with such a
policy.
Is Bill
Cosby planning on running for President and does he present his ideas in
the article that follows?
No.
Cosby has said that he has no plans to run for any office. The
email piece started circulating in 2008 and the Cosby for President part
was added later. No one knows who wrote the article, which is
slightly humorous.
ORIGINAL MESSAGE
I HAVE DECIDED
TO BECOME A WRITE-IN CANDIDATE. HERE IS MY PLATFORM:
(1) Press 1
for English is immediately banned. English is the official language;
speak it or wait at the border until you can.
(2) We will
immediately go into a two year isolationist posture to straighten out
the country's attitude. NO imports, no exports. We will use the 'Walmart'
policy, 'If we ain't got it, you don't need it.'
(3) When
imports are allowed, there will be a 100% import tax on it.
(4) All
retired military personnel will be required to man one of our many
observation towers on the southern border. (six month tour) They will be
under strict orders not to fire on SOUTHBOUND aliens.
(5) Social
security will immediately return to its original state. If you didn't
put nuttin in, you ain't gettin nuttin out. The president nor any other
politician will not be able to touch it.
(6) Welfare -
Checks will be handed out on Fridays at the end of the 40 hour school
week and the successful completion of urinalysis and a passing grade.
(7)
Professional Athletes --Steroids - The FIRST time you check positive
you're banned for life.
(8) Crime - We
will adopt the Turkish method, the first time you steal, you lose your
right hand. There is no more life sentences. If convicted, you will be
put to death by the same method you chose for your victim; gun, knife,
strangulation, etc.
(9) One export
will be allowed; Wheat, The world needs to eat. A bushel of wheat will
be the exact price of a barrel of oil.
(10) All
foreign aid using American taxpayer money will immediately cease, and
the saved money will pay off the national debt and ultimately lower
taxes. When disasters occur around the world, we'll ask the American
people if they want to donate to a disaster fund, and each citizen can
make the decision whether it's a worthy cause.
(11) The
Pledge of Allegiance will be said every day at school and every day in
Congress.
(12) The
National Anthem will be played at all appropriate ceremonies, sporting
events, outings, etc.
Sorry if I
stepped on anyone's toes but a vote for me will get you better than what
you have, and better than what you're gonna get. Thanks for listening,
and remember to write in my name on the ballot in November.
God Bless
America !!!!!!!!!!!
Bill Cosby
When you order from Amazon, support Truth
Miners by clicking this link first
Truth Miners is run by, owned by, written by and maintained by Cathy Holden -
all articles, unless noted, are written by me. Ask for reprint permission
please. Thanks!
