15 years ago today, Abbie Hoffman died

April 12, 1989

we could use him today. he would have been a hell of guy to have go after Bush




also, FDR left us 59 years ago today

and 27 years ago, ann_coulter_is_a_man today entered this world

:party: :toast: :hug:
Yes, it would be nice to see some intestinal fortitude on the part of Dems.

i'm 27 years old...old,old...so very fuckin' old

but otherwise it's been a good day. family loaded me up on buster keaton dvds. can't complain

He was always great on the Stern show.

I'm 30 years older than you, so I have actual memories of his ability to use humor to mock the war and its mongers. We sure could use him now.

... which helped Reagan-Bush beat Carter. A short while after this article, Abbie was "suicided."

AN ELECTION HELD HOSTAGE

BY ABBIE HOFFMAN AND JONATHAN SILVERS

`The obscure we see eventually. The completely apparent takes a little longer.'--Edward R. Murrow

On January 20, 1981, minutes into his first term, President Ronald Reagan performed a diplomat miracle.

For more than a year, a revolutionary government in Iran had held 52 Americans hostage in retaliation for America's support of the deposed shah. To the world's dismay, President Jimmy Carter was unable to secure their release. Traditional methods of persuasion--an admixture of pleas, threats, economic and military sanctions--proved useless against a fanatic regime that preferred martyrdom to capitulation. Armed with little but epithets and clubs, an Iranian mob had crippled the Carter Presidency and brought America to its knees.

And there the nation remained until Reagan placed his hand on a Bible and took a solemn oath. Half a world away, the fanatics who had once chanted `Death to the Great Satan' instantly scrambled to appease the country's new leader. Barely two hours after the Inauguration, `with thanks to Almighty God,' Reagan made the announcement that America had been longing to hear for 444 days: `Some 30 minutes ago, the planes bearing out prisoners left Iranian airspace and they are now free of Iran.'

In the jubilation of homecoming, no one asked why the hostages had been released at that particular moment. No explanation seemed necessary. Throughout his Presidential campaign. Reagan had slammed the Iranians as `murderous barbarians' and implied that, if elected, there were ways of handling such people. `We did not wish to inherit the hostage crisis,' explains Richard Allen, a Reagan campaign strategist and his first National Security Advisor. `We wanted to make it clear to the Iranians that this was the one issue Reagan was unstable about.' The Reagan transition team circulated menacing rumors that military reprisals and Normandylike invasions were `under consideration.' (According to Allen, its propaganda was not without humor: `What's flat and glows in the dark?' `Tehran, five minutes after Reagan's Inauguration.')

CONTINUED...

http://democracyunbound.com/playboy1088.html

Here's more on the subject:

http://democracyunbound.com/octsurprise.html