A Letter To The Editor

"A few years ago, when dvds were first appearing on the shelves, video stores were selling their VHS tapes to the general public for very little money. Well, my library became swollen with many of my favorite movies...Seven, The Sixth Sense, Out of Africa, Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, I,II,& III. Shawshank Redemption, Jacobs Ladder, Contact...& many more. That's what I love to do in the winter. Watch a good movie. To find one has become a rarity nowadays. It seems Hollywood can only come up with an overabundance of violence and sex and redos of the older really good stuff most of which contains hollywoods political stance of the day. Recently, we watched the latest movie about Robert Kennedy and you only have to change the names to reflect current day politics and news headlines. Little has changed.

The real gem we came across was about the beginning of the Viet Nam war. You remember, the war we weren't having. It took place in a prison, the infamous Hoa Lo prison, later dubbed The Hanoi Hilton and was about the first prisoner, one Everett Alvarez, who was shot down over North Vietnam. Over the next decade, hundreds of others were detained in this Hell hole, including John McCain. Forty one years ago on October 26, 1967 Senator McCain was shot down and captured and remained in this prison for five and a half years. How any of them survived was nothing short of miraculous.

The Vietnamese Commander demoralized the men in many ways, but the first was to claim there was no war since none had been declared and that they were criminals and not subject to any "rules of engagement". (The torture came later.) The men were held in solitary confinement, but devised ways to communicate and boost one another through this contact just so they could survive.

The commander stated that the real war was being fought in America at the universities in Berkley, Ca. and Chicago, Il. (Ayers) and New York, N.Y. and in the "Mall" in D.C.(the protests and the later "Million Man" march effected by Louis Fahrracon.) He stated that the media would eventually be determinate in America's presidential elections and how the South American and other dictators could prevail thru media interference. There were examples of our very own "Hanoi Jane " and the "documentary crews" sent to interview the men. And America could do nothing to help them since we were not at war, yet the media was allowed to shape the outcome. They should have been ashamed. As they should be ashamed, now! Amazing how "all this" today could be so evident as early as 1987 and coming from Hollywood of all places.

It is my wish that this movie be shown all across the nation in time slots opposite Obama's bought half hour sometime next week or at least before the election. It runs a little over 2 hours and would be well worth sitting thru the commercials it would require to air. (Wish I knew how to get that going.)

"The Hanoi Hilton"... Watch it! You won't regret it. It could shape your thoughts regarding the election.

As Governor Palin states, "There's only one man running who's ever really fought for you..." And tomorrow is the 41'st anniversary of his capture."