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Jewish World Review July 26, 2005 / 19 Tammuz, 5765 With friends like these.... By Jack Kelly
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
What, besides an excessive fondness for groceries, do Catherine Baker Knoll,
Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor, and ultra-left wing film maker Michael
Moore have in common?
Air Force Major Gregory Stone, an air liaison officer with the 101st
Airborne Division, was killed in Kuwait in March, 2003, when Sgt. Hasan
Akbar rolled a grenade into the tent where he was quartered.
Moore used footage of Maj. Stone's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in
his antiwar propaganda film, Fahrenheit 9/11. He did so without the
permission of Maj. Stone's family.
The family was not pleased. Maj. Stone's mother called Moore a "maggot that
eats off the dead."
Catherine Baker Knoll has done Moore one better (or worse).
On July 19th, a funeral service was held at St. John Lutheran Church in
Carnegie for Staff Sergeant Joseph Goodrich, 32. Goodrich and fellow Marine
reservist Lance Corporal Ryan Kovacicek, 22, were killed by mortar fire July
10th while conducting combat operations in Hit, in western Iraq.
Goodrich, a Marine reservist since 1993, also had been a police officer, and
the church was filled to overflowing with Marines and cops who came to say
farewell to their fallen comrade.
Goodrich was remembered as a principled, good natured person who always had
time to help other people with their problems.
"He was always upbeat, always smiling, never had a bad thing to say about
anyone," recalled HM1 Mike Debich, a Navy corpsman in Goodrich's unit, Kilo
Company of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, based in Moundsville, W.
Va.
Brian Armstrong, a police officer for the borough of Forest Hills, had
served with Goodrich as a cop at the Kennywood amusement park, and was
inspired by Goodrich's example to join the Marine reserve.
"When bad things would happen, he would handle it with a take charge
attitude," said Armstrong, who served in Iraq with Military Police Co.
Bravo, a reserve unit based in North Versailles. "That's when the Marine
came out of him."
After his wife, Amy, being a Marine was the most important thing in
Goodrich's life, Armstrong said. Goodrich's father, James, had been a
Marine in World War II.
"He wouldn't have wanted to die. He loved life too much. But if he had to
die, he would have wanted to die as a Marine, defending his country,"
Armstrong said.
Catherine Baker Knoll, who lives in nearby McKees Rocks, crashed the
funeral, plopping herself down in the pew next to Linda Kubiak, Goodrich's
aunt. During the communion service, Knoll told Kubiak she attends 90
percent of these "functions" across the state.
"This was not a function," fumed Rhonda Goodrich, Joseph's sister in law.
"A function is a dinner or an awards ceremony. This was my brother-in-law's
funeral."
Then Knoll handed Kubiak her business card and confided: "I want you to
know our (state) government is against this war."
"When my sister in law related that to us, everyone just gasped," said
Goodrich's mother, Patricia. "We didn't feel it was appropriate at all."
"I am amazed and disgusted Knoll finds a Marine funeral a prime place to
campaign," Rhonda Goodrich said.
"After seeing dozens of my fellow Marines from my battalion get killed
these last few months, I always felt that at the very least that these men
were being honorably brought back to their families and being laid to rest
with as much dignity as our nation could afford to provide.
"This woman has misrepresented our government, and poorly represents the
state of Pennsylvania," the officer said. "If Pennsylvanians have any self
respect at all, they will take whatever legal methods are available and toss
her out of office immediately."
Gov. Ed Rendell faces a stiff re-election fight next year. If he wants to
get re-elected, he'd better think about getting a new running mate.
"Maggots who eat off the dead" tend not to attract many votes.
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© 2005, Jack Kelly |
Mitch Albom | |||||||||||
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