Background on Dian Hardison, who was reportedly charged with mailing foot powder in her water bill: http://www.local6.com/orlpn/news/stories/news-148684320020530-050554.html http://democrats.com/view.cfm?id=7700 The deleted page, from archive.org: http://web.archive.org/web/20010311054619/http://ltp.arc.nasa.gov/women/bios/dh.html -Declan --- To: declanat_private, thediehardat_private Cc: wathaat_private, daveat_private Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 03:22:34 -0500 Subject: Politech has impact From: terry.sat_private It appears Politech has been noticed by NASA, and they've cut off an entire section of their maze of Web sites pending removal of content about Dian. "Dian Hardison" no longer shows up on the primary NASA.gov search engine. It shows close to 100 hits on the NASA HQ search engine, not all within the ltp.arc.nasa.gov subdomain. It appears that's the "Learning Technologies Project" area of the Advanced Research Center site. No URL's at ltp.arc.nasa.gov are working, as if they turned off that entire segment of the educational project. The subdomain doesn't resolve. Finding the IP address for it of 128.102.2.54 via NSlookup, it still appears dead, as do pages polled from that IP (rather than URL) and polled via directory and page filename at that IP. Other *.arc.nasa.gov pages are working. ltp.larc.nasa.gov pages are working. That appears to be a smaller piece of the same educational project, at a NASA remote location at Langley. It Traceroutes as if linked via Cox cable circuits local to Virginia, noting that Cox does serve that geographic area. A NASA employee directory lists 757 Area Codes for larc.nasa.gov email addresses, which reflects Hampton, VA. Other NASA URLs are working fine. Dian's name shows up in lots of .pdf file newsletters, as a contact for fellow NASA workers being encouraged with financial subsidies to participate in Toastmasters and other forms of public relations. It shows up in some pages of other NASA divisions, but yet others that appear in a search are offline or 404, or restricted access as if internal phone books or work progress records. I can't help but conclude NASA is embarassed. However, in a rush to hide and cover, they've at least temporarily killed access to an entire youth education initiative subdomain (97267 hits for "Learning Technology Project"), while leaving so many other documents mentioning Dian one might only suspect her claims of rushed or less than fully competent staff also apply to those trying to revise NASA online history and pretend she's not a wrongfully terminated esteemed employee who was in fact just doing a superior job of her official duties. Worse, perhaps they KNOW she would make a good witness to a Congressional inquiry. In pages whose posting dates range from 1995 to 2002, it's obvious that Dian not only did her official job for NASA, but was frequently promoted as a model employee to other employees, and helped a special program to educate and set an example for kids. Attached are my search results. Grab 'em now, in case more disappear. It's going to take a LOT of editing to do an Orwellian history revision of all places Dian's efforts are documented in NASA's Web presence, not just on html pages but in archival documents and newsletters. Yet more difficult would be removing her mentions from an apparent CD-rom NASA has distributed promoting their space projects. I've saved at least a few of the former and present such pages and documents here, and have done enough Whois, NSLookup, and Traceroute tests, plus trying to load pages by IP rather than URL, that it's obvious these changes are no accident. Terry "KSC TOASTMASTERS: Space Center employees are constantly in the public eye and in situations which require you to represent the United States Space Program. Employees are encouraged to develop their communication and leadership skills to meet this challenge. Toastmasters International is a professional, multi-level training program for both beginning and advanced education in the critical skills of “listening, thinking, and speaking”—all important tools in both the work environment and your personal lives. NASA has recognized this by reimbursing civil servants for the cost of training. For more information on the Toastmasters organizations and the three different locations/dates for training sessions at KSC and CCAFS, contact Mike Schnoke, Jack Jamba, Bill Cleaver, Dian Hardison, or Nona Mamaradlo at 784-7502." --- To: declanat_private Cc: thediehardat_private Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 04:23:49 -0500 Subject: 3.2 Appropriate Content for NASA Sites From: terry.sat_private http://nasa-wbp.larc.nasa.gov/3.0/3_2.html 3.2 Appropriate Content for NASA Sites NASA is candid in dealings with the public, and a similar stance is taken with the Internet. The "NASA Public Affairs Internet Policy" states, "From its origins in 1958 to the present day, NASA has pursued a policy of openness and accessibility. The Agency’s business is conducted and explained in full public view, and the results of NASA’s activities are considered a resource to be made as widely available as possible. With the advent of the Internet, a medium NASA helped create, a powerful new communications tool is available for explaining NASA’s programs to the American people, and for making many of the results of those efforts widely available electronically. Information is to be freely shared across the Internet, but only information that is appropriate and cleared for public release." Documents that are in development or are not to be viewed by the public should be placed on web servers that have restricted access. No document in a draft or development state should be viewable by users. Likewise, documents not cleared for public release should be separated from those posted on a public website. In terms of content, all documents, whether public or private, shall be directly related to the official responsibilities of individuals and organizations fulfilling their assigned missions and charters consistent with their individual Center, NASA, and the federal government. If NASA content will be included or referenced on a non-NASA site (either by directly including it in the web page or by including a link to another site), make sure that the content is pertinent to your organization, and that the resulting page content is appropriateand endorsed by a government agency. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- CIO Internal | CIO External | NASA ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- NASA Official Responsible For Content: WWW Best Practices Team (www+wbpat_private) Curator: Dave Olsen (dmolsenat_private) Last Updated: August 30, 2000 http://nasa-wbp.larc.nasa.gov/toc.html http://nasa-wbp.larc.nasa.gov/3.0/3_3.html --- From: "Scott Jordan" <scott_c_jordanat_private> To: <owner-politechat_private>, "'Declan@Well. Com'" <declanat_private> Subject: Dian Hardison Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 09:02:28 -0800 Message-ID: <003201c2cadc$de42a280$0f01a8c0@sjvaio> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal Declan, I shared the Politech piece on "Subj: More on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster earlier today" with some e-acquaintences who, like me, are very interested in the topic. Dian Hardison's story caught the eye of one, who quickly researched her further. Appears she did a whole lot more than email a joke. Best regards, --Scott Jordan San Jose > I don't know Dian, but Terry is a longtime and valued subscriber to > Politech. NASA still has Dian's bio online, which says she was a > propellant > engineer: > http://ltp.arc.nasa.gov/women/bios/dh.html -- If he did not know Dian Hardison, then before posting her rant, a search of Google on Terry's part would have been a good place to start. I recommend you folks talk a look ... <http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22dian+hardison%22&btnG =Google+Search> -- Also here's a bit more about 'highly decorated NASA engineer' Dian Hardison from some newspaper coverage I happened to come across: FLORIDA TODAY June 12, 2002 Letters to the Editor Domestic terror here in Brevard County is totally unacceptable. Dian Hardison for years was everyone's "Morality Mom." She wrote all the papers in Brevard two or three times a month telling all of us how we should live our lives. Her subjects covered all areas from breasts to bikes, politics to priests, and always the theme was that we, the common conservative work-a-day types, were just plain duds or worse. This lady needs desperately, after all she did confess, to spend some serious time in the custody of the state's penal system. Can anyone really appreciate the fear she must have caused to some innocent letter opener at the water department? It fits the common theme of her liberal political views -- that she alone knows what is good and fair, and that even a police officer is stupid for not recognizing the powder for a prank. I guess they were supposed to smell it to see if it was anthrax or whatever. Roy Deeser Titusville ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY June 5, 2002 Alleged false anthrax mailer posts bond COCOA -- A 44-year-old Cocoa woman arrested last week and charged with lacing a water bill with fake anthrax posted bond and has another court date later this month. Dian Hardison was charged with falsely threatening to unleash a weapon of mass destruction. The second-degree felony comes with a maximum 15-year prison term. Police said Hardison put foot powder in her January bill payment, knowing city employees would fear it might be anthrax. The powder fell out when a customer service worker opened the envelope. The worker and another person in the same office were quarantined. At the same time, nearly 80 employees were evacuated from City Hall and the air conditioner was shut down to prevent any possible spores from spreading. City Hall was checked by police and reopened two hours later. Police were led to Hardison by her name on the bill and the attached check. A DNA match on the envelope confirmed her identity as the sender, police said. In order to leave the Brevard County Detention Center in Sharpes on Thursday, Hardison posted $500 bail . Her next court appearance is June 28 in Melbourne before County Court Judge David Silverman. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY (Brevard County, FL) May 31, 2002 Cocoa woman; 44; charged in anthrax hoax BYLINE: Tanya Caldwell Cocoa woman, 44, charged in anthrax hoax Police: Suspect put foot powder in city water payment By Tanya Caldwell PORT ST. JOHN -- A 44-year-old Cocoa woman was charged Thursday with lacing her water-bill payment with fake anthrax, which prompted the evacuation of 75 employees from City Hall in January. Dian Hardison was charged with a second-degree felony. She remained in the Brevard County Detention Center in Sharpes late Thursday on $5,000 bail. Police said Hardison put foot powder in her January bill payment, knowing city employees would fear it might be anthrax. The powder fell out when a customer service worker opened the envelope. The worker, who feared it was anthrax, and another person in the same office were quarantined; employees were evacuated from City Hall and the air conditioner was shut down to prevent the possible spread of spores. City Hall was checked by police and reopened after two hours. The scare was one of hundreds in the wake of the October discovery of anthrax in South Florida, Washington, D.C., New Jersey and New York City. Five people died, and more were infected. Police were led to Hardison by her name on the bill and the attached check. Her identity as the sender was confirmed by a DNA match on the envelope. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, federal authorities have treated such incidents seriously, Cocoa police spokeswoman Barbara Matthews said. Hardison had "a few comments" about the arrest, Matthews said. "She thinks that we're stupid, and that once we found out it was just foot powder we should just let it drop." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ St. Petersburg Times April 23, 2002, Tuesday Supporters of nudism speak BYLINE: JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK Commissioner Betty Whitehouse intended to target potential strip joints and sex clubs when she asked staff in March to craft an antinudity law for Hernando County. The lawyers brought back a proposal that did much more. And, in the face of a highly supportive crowd, commissioners did nothing to change that direction during their first hearing on the ordinance. Since that April 9 session, people who enjoy nude recreation have pressed commissioners to exempt nudist clubs, parks and resorts from the rule that otherwise would not permit them, even in a private setting. "We don't want to offend anyone," explained Richard Mason, government affairs coordinator for the Florida Naturist Association, who has sent several e-mails and documents to the county that challenge its position. "We would like them to add, "except in areas set apart or provided therefore,' " to the ordinance, Mason said. "That's not unreasonable." He argued that nudity does not, by itself, create the negative secondary effects that the Hernando ordinance implies. He noted that clothing-optional public beaches in Miami-Dade County do not have problems such as rape and prostitution, nor do private nude resorts in Pasco. "The only thing this ordinance will do is criminalize the activities of naturists, backyard sunbathers behind a fence, and Boy Scouts skinny-dipping, after a hike, in a remote stream," Mason wrote to commissioners. Senior Assistant County Attorney Kent Weissinger told commissioners in a memo that, despite arguments that the ordinance might discriminate against an "otherwise legal use of property," his office backed the proposal as "the best means of prohibiting nudity in public places." Commissioner Diane Rowden has decided an exemption would harm no one. What's more, Rowden said, she had trouble seeing the difference between a community setting deed restrictions and an exemption that allows nudity, if it takes place out of public sight. "I am not against having a nudist colony in Hernando County," she concluded. County planning and parks staff said no one has asked to open a nudist park or resort. Whitehouse and Chairwoman Nancy Robinson signaled their willingness to reconsider the issue as well. Each has asked the county Legal Department for an analysis of the available options. "I'll reserve my final determination for after the public hearing," Robinson said. Whitehouse stressed that her main concern was keeping "some of the types of establishments that they have in Pasco," such as Lollipops and Calendar Girls, out of Hernando. Banning nudity in private places deemed public by ordinance might not be necessary, she said. Commissioner Chris Kingsley, meanwhile, said he was not inclined to alter the rule because of letters that came from people who do not live in Hernando County. The letters offer a different perspective on nudism from that presented during the first public hearing, where all but two speakers spoke of the need for public morality and several referred to the Bible. "We are good, decent people who are opposed to most everything any responsible American would be opposed to," wrote Dean Newton of Mesa, Ariz. "The only difference is we do it naked." "The widespread notion that nudity harms children is incorrect. It's the fear and loathing of it that does the damage," wrote Paul Rapoport of Ontario. Dian L. Hardison of Central Florida urged the commission not to adopt the ordinance as written. "Please do not waste your time trying to satisfy a handful of psychotic screeching malcontents who wish to force their own personal mental problems on everyone else by rule of bad, potentially unconstitutional, and certainly antifreedom law," Hardison wrote, "because they never will be satisfied until everyone else is as miserable as they are." The public hearing is set for 5 p.m. today. - Jeffrey S. Solochek covers Hernando County government and can be reached at 754-6115. Send e-mail to solochekat_private ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY (Brevard County, FL) November 24, 2001 Letters to the Editor ... Where is school tax money going? By Dian Hardison Port St. John More and more, I hear students speaking out on their concerns regarding where the tax and lottery money for schools is going. I hope they're complaining loud and clear to their parents about those issues. While extracurricular activities such as band and sports do raise a little of their own money, it is true that too much of our taxpayer funding is being dumped in a black hole somewhere. Book money is being siphoned off for "consultants." Physical upgrades and repairs are being done on the cheap, guaranteeing they will have to be done over. Good teachers are forced to put up with students who don't want to learn, disrupting classrooms full of students who do. Meantime, some kids play cards or wander off to fast-food joints to "hang out." I note that the School Board county taxes are nearly a full percent of my property value. Given our county's population, there should be enough money for eight more schools and a thousand more teachers. But even the two badly needed projects for high schools in Viera and Port St. John are being put on hold. Where is the money going? Certainly not to pay good teachers and properly perform needed work on the buildings. I think maybe I need to run for the School Board and start digging through buried files. ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY (Brevard County, FL) August 9, 2001 Letters to the Editor BYLINE: Florida Today ... Do more work on energy fronts By Dian Hardison Cocoa Even though President Clinton was being hounded with fake scandals to distract attention away from his real accomplishments and to try to blunt the effectiveness of his policies, and though Al Gore had to put up with being called an "environmental wacko" and dismissed as an "ineffective nerd" in the same breath by the hate-mongering polluting industries, they could have done better on the energy front. But the desperate need to move into the future for energy sources was never given the emphasis it deserved. You'd think the brief hoo-ha about the world's population reaching 6 billion would have at least provided a wake-up call. Perhaps the Kyoto initiative is our best bet right now. As more and more people become appalled at the short-sightedness and greed, local municipalities are setting our own standards, cleaning up our own factories and power plants and investing in our own future infrastructure. Farms are receiving aid in exchange for putting up modern windmills. Desert cities are allying with universities and Silicon Valley to spread solar technology. Here in Florida, we have enormous amounts of energy free for the tapping, if we can only put the collectors -- wind, solar, hydrodynamic -- into place. Some of our own power companies are willing to help invest in it, with the proper incentives. After all, profit is profit, and cheaper energy means more profit. We need only to convince our own local governments, and turn our own universities and industries loose on the problem. And when the price of oil and coal drops to too little to make it worth burning, then the fossil fuel robber barons will go back to being the backwoods hicks that they are. ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY March 25, 2001 Sunday Final and all Editions Lawsuit on nudity ban to proceed BYLINE: Patricia Walsh Lawsuit on nudity ban to proceed By Patricia Walsh Florida Today Marvin Frandsen felt so strongly about his right to sunbathe nude at the Canaveral National Seashore in September 1995 that he stood bare _ except for an armband _ and protested Brevard County's ban with a Bible in his hand. Frandsen, a Melbourne physicist, was one of the naturists who participated in a demonstration in a parking lot adjacent to Playalinda Beach, where he said nudists had enjoyed free expression for decades. He and many others were arrested for violating a 1995 county ordinance prohibiting public nudity. Now, Frandsen, 42, thinks he's a little closer to telling his side of the story in federal court. Frandsen, his wife, Jan, and five others _ Frank and Marianne Cervasio, Dian Hardison, Bryan Morris and Tonianne Wyner _ filed a lawsuit claiming the county's ordinance violated their First Amendment rights. U.S. District Judge Anne Conway stated in an order filed Tuesday in Orlando that the lawsuit is legally sufficient on its face to proceed. Conway denied a motion by Brevard County and its sheriff to throw out the case. Frandsen's Merritt Island attorney, Mark Tietig, contends Frandsen "was engaged in a political demonstration and he was portraying himself as a biblical prophet, the prophet Isaiah." Frandsen said he and the other five individuals were simply exercising their constitutional rights, and Brevard's "vague and overbroad" ordinance illegally bars them from expressing artistic, religious and educational ideas and messages while nude. Frandsen, formerly of Fort Walton Beach, said Playalinda's nudist area was well-known and it was "a major reason that we moved here" in 1990. He said there were times when 1,000 beach-goers gathered at Playalinda. The controversy began in the early 1990s when federal park rangers began issuing citations for public nudity in what Frandsen views as "a vendetta" against naturists. He said church members had waged letter-writing campaigns to protest the nudists at Playalinda "even though most of them had never been there. It was a political hysteria." However, Brevard County Attorney Scott Knox said the ordinance was designed to prevent instances where individuals and families _ some with small children _ unexpectedly encountered nude sunbathers. He acknowledged that naturists have put up quite a protest, but said nude sunbathers "could just go up to Volusia County." Knox said nudists began straying from their traditional area at Playalinda in the early 1990s. "It seemed that when the thing became controversial, it drew out people who liked to expose themselves and who weren't naturists," he said. "Perverts started to show up." A dozen Park Service "criminal incident" reports document complaints from beach-goers who said they saw individuals engaging in various sex acts at Canaveral National Seashore between 1993 and 1996. Frandsen, who said he is one of about 300 members of Central Florida Naturists Inc., said he wants to protect use of nudity during a large assembly as a means of expression. "It's an issue of being able to communicate about naturism and politics. . . . Right now, we are censored from doing so, under threat of arrest," he said. Chief Deputy Bob Sarver of the Brevard County Sheriff's Office said the controversy has died down since the ordinance was passed. "We haven't done much enforcement (of the public nudity ordinance), and it hasn't been a problem for the last several years," he said Friday. Brevard County sheriff's Cmdr. Jimmy Donn said deputies don't normally patrol Canaveral National Seashore, but they do enforce the ordinance when public complaints trigger their response. "There are not scheduled operations when the Sheriff's Office puts people out at the seashore for the purpose of generating arrests. We simply respond to complaints we receive from the public," Donn said. During the first two years after the ordinance took effect, dozens of arrests were made. In 1997, 60 people were arrested or ticketed, but the number dropped to 16 in 1999. A violation can carry up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. The push for a county ordinance came, said Assistant State Attorney Wayne Holmes, after a federal court dismissed the citations issued by federal park rangers seeking to use a Florida law. The ordinance drew a fervor of protests from naturists because the far north end of the beach had been a site for nude sunbathing. "The beach is an isolated beach and, as I mentioned, historically it was kind of unofficially known that if you went far enough north where you weren't in peoples' faces, you would not be bothered," Holmes said. Holmes said Frandsen and other naturists took actions designed to raise constitutional issues regarding the ban. In 1997, Frandsen pleaded no contest to public nudity; he was sentenced to six months of nonreporting probation and fined $350. Frandsen said that for him and his family, going naked is about self-esteem, liberation, emotional health and enjoyment. "There's a whole psychology that comes with wearing clothes that you don't really understand until you go without," he said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY September 6, 2000 Letters to the Editor ... School vouchers help wealthy It's pretty funny that George W. Bush, who failed at everything he ever tried and whose daddy bought his way through school, wants to be our president. But the plan his owners and masters are trying to ram through is not at all funny. In fact, it comes perilously close to treason. School vouchers, "opportunity scholarships," whatever the lie of the week is, are nothing less than an undisguised and constitutionally illegal attempt to funnel taxpayer's money to churches in exchange for the money-laundering and "voting guides" provided by the fundamentalist evangelicals. Whining, "Poor people need vouchers to escape bad schools," and "Competition will improve public schools," they ignore both logic and facts. Why not use that money to improve bad schools for all the students? Study after study has established that children need smaller class sizes. Why not hire more and better teachers? How can "competition" improve something which has no resources? Nor is there any guarantee that private schools provide better education. Any church can set up its own school as a money-making scheme. The teachers don't have to be qualified in any way. In fact, very few people can send their child to private school, even with vouchers. Private schools don't stay close to poor neighborhoods, and don't want "lower class" children. Vouchers don't usually go to lower-income families. The vast majority of those getting our tax subsidies are upper-middle incomes, and most of those kids were already in private schools. Vouchers just allow them to raise their prices _ and their profits. The Republicans don't give a rat's carcass about lower-income people, and don't really want to improve education, because educated people aren't so easily fooled by their empty promises. Dian Hardison Port St. John ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY August 31, 2000 Political letters to the Editor ... It's politics, not drug treatment By Dian Hardison Cocoa The self-proclaimed "president and founder" of the "addiction treatment program" named H.E.A.R.T. is obviously concerned about something far different from helping addicts. The Brevard County School Board and property appraiser, for example, are in no position to "solve our worsening substance abuse and mental health disasters." No, by endorsing good ol' boy Ron Clark, right-hand buddy of old money-wasting Jake Miller, and smoke bomb-throwing B.B. Nelson, Harold Koenig proves that his interest is special-interest money and increased government interference in personal freedoms, while relaxing laws that protect the average citizen. I thank Koenig for giving me a list of candidates to vote against. ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY August 23, 2000 Letters to the Editor ... PETA has point on eating meat People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) pulls a few stupid stunts _such as protesting eating the rats on "Survivor" _ but you have to admire the group's consistency and uncompromising message. Killing unnecessarily is wrong. Eating a cow or a pig is no more glamorous that eating a cat or a dog, no matter what name you dress it up with. Wastefulness is wrong. Cruelty is unforgivable. Wearing an animal's skin just to prove you can afford it is stupid and detestable. Every single health study conducted in the past 50 years, except for the "studies" conducted by con men with millions to make on their snake-oil book schemes, proves that Americans eat too much protein and way, way too much fat. Animal meat contains chemicals that contribute to cancer. Vegetables contain chemicals that fight cancer. Animal meat causes obesity. Vegetables fight obesity. Animal meat is difficult to digest and causes blockages in the you-knows from bacterial infection. Vegetables promote gastrointestinal health. How simple can the choice be? "Meat tastes good," is the whine usually raised in response. No it doesn't! Try eating your meat plain, with no seasoning, no grilling, nothing except heating it enough in the microwave to kill the bacteria. Yuck! Put the same kind of effort into flavoring and seasoning your vegetables and you'll find whole new galaxies of taste experience. Grill and season a slab of onion and a few tomatoes and carrots and peppers on a stick. Check out the herb and spice collections and get creative, or stick to the simple recipes in Vegetarian Meals for the Cooking-Challenged. Dian Hardison Port St. John ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY July 8, 2000 Letters to the Editor ... Americans are slaves to big oil firms By Dian Hardison Cocoa In Canada, they're converting their buses to hydrogen fuel cells. In Australia, they're running their ferries on solar power. All over the world, other nations are converting to clean, renewable energy sources, from hydrodynamic to geothermal to wind. Only in America are we such slaves to big oil _ thank you, George Bush! _ that we'd rather go to war or ruin our own water and air rather than join the 21st century. ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY June 28, 2000 Letters to the Editor ... Maligning military not productive It's difficult to find fourth estate forums without the left-wing opinions of Dian Hardison. Though her meanderings are amusing, I draw the line when she maligns the American Legion. Their members sacrificed to protect her inane letters. Most left-wing liberals have contributed to budget problems, not the solutions. Why didn't she stay in the military and work for fiscal responsibility? Why didn't she fix the military budget with her "good eyes, good computer skills" when she was in the Navy? Why does she blame only right-wing politics for our country's numerous problems? No specific political party is to blame for it all, or the panacea. My parents taught me to vote with heart and conscience. It makes little difference if we elect Democrats or Republicans, as long as candidates have integrity, foresight, and love God and country. Political parties are only as good as the people who participate, from local to national levels. We can never repay our debt to the men and women who served in the military. A truly patriotic American recognizes that "uniforms and parades and monuments" are tributes to the human spirit, not the dollar sign. As long as we have Hardisonites and not nonpartisanites, we will have military pork barrel projects. However, paying enlisted people substandard wages is certainly a mistake, as is lying to our military about future benefits. And don't blame senior officers. They must follow orders of the Commander in Chief, the Great Prevaricator. No, this is not 1910 or 1945, but it is still a time when diverse skills (including charging up a hill) will be needed in our society. One should remember that plumbers, painters, janitors and mechanics, to mention a few, contribute to launching the orbiter. Every person is valuable, and high technology is useless if it is a substitute for common sense. Peggy Duarte Mims FLORIDA TODAY June 24, 2000 Letters to the editor ... Democrats no friends of space program By Lillian Banks Merritt Island Is June 9 letter-writer Dian Hardison being spoon-fed misinformation about the NASA budget by Patsy Kurth's campaign for Congress? Hardison fails to point out that Republicans have increased NASA's funding over the president's request ever since 1995. If Democrats and Clinton/Gore are so supportive of NASA, then why did they propose budget cuts for NASA from 1993 to 2000? And it is Vice President Al Gore's foreign policy failures that have left us saddled with Russia as an unreliable partner in the space station program, which has hurt Kennedy Space Center because of the reduction of the space shuttle flight rate. Hardison also fails to point out that the NASA budget approved by the House Appropriations Committee fully funds all of our human space flight activities (space shuttle and space station) at Kennedy Space Center. The credit for that goes to Congressman Dave Weldon. Even Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Graham says you won't find a stronger advocate for our space program anywhere in Congress. Since 1991, Kurth has been rated by the Miami Herald as one of the least effective senators in Tallahassee, and if she goes to Washington, you can bet our space program will suffer. As Hardison pointed out, "space is the symbol of human achievement and freedom," but misleading attacks like hers cheapen that symbol. ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY June 9, 2000 Letters to the Editor ... What does House GO have against NASA? By Dian Hardison Cocoa A House appropriations subcommittee voted recently to trim the NASA budget request for 2001 by more than $300 million. The budget is $112 million greater than the agency's fiscal year 2000 budget, but $321 million less than what President Bill Clinton proposed when he submitted his budget request in February. Last year, House Republicans tried to cut NASA's budget by more than a billion dollars, which would have effectively gutted the agency. While Republicans throw money at the military faster that it can even ask for it, allowing huge programs to waste billions on weapons systems that don't work, what have they got against NASA? Space exploration is the hall mark of a forward-looking society. Space inspires children to pursue scientific education. Space is the symbol of human achievement and freedom. Never mind. I think that just answered why the Republicans are so set against reaching for the stars. ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY June 7, 2000 Letters to the Editor ... Writer slams GOP tactics What used to be the GOP _ Grand Old Party _ has become the "Dumb Old Party." Get this: They're now trying to use the census as an election issue. Apparently, P.T. Barnum didn't go half far enough. The DOPes are now whining that "this administration's census" is "intrusive" and hinting that "maybe they wouldn't fill it out themselves." (Actually telling someone not to fill it out is, in fact, a criminal act.) Now let's see. Which party was in charge of Congress when Congress approved every single question on the long form two years ago? The Republicans. Which party wanted to use the easier-for-everyone, and more accurate, statistical sampling? The Democrats. Which party hollered that it was "Constitutionally required to count every single person (in fact, it's not) with a complete form?" The Republicans. Which party usually benefits when the facts show that there are a lot more marginal-poor people than the DOPes like to admit? The Democrats. And which party is now encouraging the marginal-poor not to be counted? Hmm? Hmm? The census ought to be an election issue, all right: It's proof positive that the Republicans don't consider you to be a human being unless you're a wealthy campaign donor. But money cannot, in reality, buy one single vote. With one dot of a pen, one punch of a card, you can personally get rid of them. And if you don't, then you, too, are a DOPer. Dian Hardison Port St. John ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY May 17, 2000 Letters to the Editor License testing must be equitable In last week's letters to the editor, I partially agree with Dian Hardison's opinion in regard to drivers license renewals and testing requirements here in Florida. Yes, we do grow older. We gain wisdom. But, we slowly lose our driving skills. When our wisdom suddenly races by our skill level, most of us will hang the car keys up for good. But, should the state of Florida automatically take the keys based on mandatory testing? Only when a nationally recognized testing and renewal program (not a national drivers license) is established would I agree to mandatory license forfeiture. Why? Because every winter we read in our local paper about another "elderly" snowbird causing or involved in an accident. The chances are very good that our temporary residents have their drivers license issued from other states, states that do not have testing requirements. So, what do we do? Penalize the Florida residents only? I don't think so! Robert Arnold Titusville ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY May 10, 2000 Letters to the Editor ... Retesting older drivers right Driver safety seems to have become a lightning rod once again. The note that those who are involved in wrecks should have their driving skills retested was a good idea, not only because it would increase people's attention to safe driving, but because there are a number of medical conditions that can impair driving ability that strike with little warning at any age. The old woman who said that "new drivers ought to be retested every year, too" proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that her own faculties were slipping, because that makes zero sense. Teen-agers cause the greatest number of wrecks because they're careless and hormonal, not because of anything physically wrong. Retesting can hardly help that. But the over-55 group causes the most number of wrecks per mile driven. Those are car insurance figures, not mine. So, gripe at them, not me. Teen-agers need greater supervision. But the most vital need is for retesting and relicensing everyone over 55 every three years, and every year for those over 70. In the first place, that's the fastest growing age group, and by far the most numerous here in Florida. In the second place, that's the age group at which the most rapid decline in sight, hearing, reflexes and comprehension deteriorates. Sure, there are plenty of 80-year-olds who have no trouble driving. There are also plenty of 60-year-olds who don't have any more business behind the wheel than my cat does. In the third place, well, I was standing in line at the license bureau when they brought in the old woman. She couldn't remember her own name for the clerk; her companion had to prove it. She couldn't hear the directions; they had to be shouted at her. She couldn't see the camera she was directed to look into. But she was given a driver's license renewal _ which she also dropped. Her companion had to pick it up while shuffling her out the door. A car is a deadly weapon in the wrong hands, and there are probably more people in Florida who should not be driving than there are those who own guns and shouldn't. Dian Hardison Port St. John ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY March 8, 2000 Letters to the Editor ... Look to England for abject lesson I have suffered through the tripe written by one Dian Hardison before without comment. But now she has stepped on my "gun freak" toes. We do not trust President Clinton and his reasonable gun restrictions. He and his cadre of fellow gun-haters want not regulation of guns, but the abolition of private firearms in America. I met an English tourist the other day in Sand Point Park. I said to him, "You don't have any guns in England, do you?" "Oh no," he said. "They took them all away." " How could this happen," said I. "The Englishman is a trusting fool. When our government tells us to do something, we do it. And the crime rate is very high." The crooks, of course, didn't surrender their guns and they prey on a defenseless public. To those of you who don't really like guns or own one, we need your help, too, to preserve gun rights. Can you imagine what your life would be like if only the police and, of course, the criminals had a firearm? Think Dodge City on Saturday night. Joseph Gill Titusville ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The American Spectator March, 2000 Washington Post ... (December 15, 1999) Florida Today On the pages of a great daily, Dian Hardison, a 100% American, makes the case for giving the hellish Reagan and Bush the Pinochet treatment: Those who continue to gripe about Jane Fonda's protesting the Vietnam War debacle are themselves poor excuses for Americans. The founding document of our country, which obviously they have never read, guarantees the right to freedom of expression. Jane Fonda was expressing the constitutionally protected opinion of many that we had no business in that doomed war in the first place. Selling American weapons to enemy powers, on the other hand, definitely comes under the definition of treason. Circumventing laws against import of banned substances in order to profit a secret cabal is a criminal action. If private citizens did either they would be facing long jail sentences and possible execution. But, in fact, these actions were sponsored and committed by two of the highest elected officials in our country. Jane Fonda is an American patriot. Ronald Reagan and George Bush are traitors, not just to every veteran, but to every American. (December 1, 1999) Two weeks later, Ms. Hardison extends the treatment to new victims: My, how the marchers wail when someone threatens to puncture the rose- colored balloon in which they've encased their heads! But something I neglected to mention renders all their insults impotent: I was in the military; one of the first three women, in fact, to be selected for Explosive Ordnance Disposal training (alongside some Navy SEALS), and an officer in the submarine tracking command, about which author Tom Clancy was so sappily wrong.... If you're so "offended," then put your money where your mouth is and help support veterans through any of their good organizations, as I do. And the fact remains uncontested that George H.W. Bush and his puppet Ronnie Ray-gun are traitors, and Bush Jr. and John McCain are multibillion-dollar thieves, and the lot of them should be in a non-country-club prison for life. ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY February 9, 2000 Letters to the Editor ... Clinton gun rules no threat to rights President Clinton proposed some straightforward, common- sense regulations on the flood of guns, but from the howls of the gun nuts, whose whole identity is dependent on that phallic substitute, you'd think they were being castrated physically instead of psychologically. "Now they'll know where we all are!" shrieked one psycho. "This is just like communism!" Question one: Who is "they?" This is classic paranoid schizophrenia. Question two: Do you have a driver's license? A credit card? A telephone account? Then you are already in every computer of anyone who wishes to find you. This is part of living in the modern world with the modern conveniences. A person has to take a written test, pass an exam and demonstrate proficiency in order to get a driver's license. Your driving record is constantly monitored, and you can lose that license any number of ways. A person also must carry insurance in order to drive. Why should a gun be so much easier to buy and use than a car? Why does the same Congress that decided that a teen-ager was too young to buy a beer maintain that the same teen-ager should be allowed to buy a gun? The hysteria over liberals threatening our second amendment rights is not just nonsense, it's a deliberate lie. The rights of law-abiding citizens are in no way being threatened or compromised. Dian Hardison Port St. John ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY January 19, 2000 Letters to the Editor ... Be on your guard on morality claims Beware the simplistic claims of the right-wing propaganda on the lack of, or need for, "morality." In fact, morals and ethics are very clearly defined as that which contribute to the survival of the species and of the society, respectively. Corporations are totally unethical when they place profits and the welfare of the few above the interests of the many. (And dumping pollution is flatly immoral.) Today's social and governmental set-up rewards greed and idolizes wealth above responsibility. Only a restructuring of taxing and spending will level the playing field by force and allow the have-nots to at least get an education and a savings account. And ethical responsibility will occur about the same time that people realize that only a massive boycott of pro sports will bring their obscene salaries under control. Corporations rule the world by enforcing the status quo -- "them as has the gold makes the rules." The difference between the two major parties is what they define as "freedom." To the right wing, it's freedom from government regulations on health, safety, environmental protection, etc., while strictly regulating an individual's private life. To the liberals, freedom means exactly that: freedom from restrictions, unless the freedom is harmful to another. The task lies in determining what is harmful. Dian Hardison Port St. John ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY January 5, 2000 Letters To The Editor ... Party contributions contain surprises A perusal of the top campaign contributors reveals some surprises. Sure, everyone knew that big companies like Philip Morris and RJR Nabisco and Boeing, and big banks like Citigroup and Bank of America and MBNA, and big- money associations like the AMA and NAR (Realtors) would devote most of their money to the Republicans. But Federal Express and UPS? We expect the auto dealers and the developer-builders and AT&T and Bell to throw in with the party of big money and big business, but Amway? Hospitals and insurance companies and drug manufacturers, sure, but the National Beer Wholesalers Association? It is indicative of the difference in philosophies of the parties that the International Association of Fire Fighters prefers the Democrats, 83 percent to 17 percent, while Japanese auto dealers back the Republicans by about the same (82 percent to 18 percent). Operating engineers and plumbers -- vital professions -- contribute to the Democrats by over 85 percent. Restaurant owners and tobacco industries back the Republicans by a similar percentage. Educators and nurses choose the Democrats. Accountants and Microsoft contribute 65 percent to Republicans. No surprise there. And the working unions with a primary focus on, well, the people who do the work, primarily support Democrats. Dian Hardison Port St. John ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY December 29, 1999 Wednesday Final and all Editions Letters To The Editor Let's use taxes for better things Why do we need taxes? You know, the big ones. Social Security. Military protection. Interest on the debt (actually by far the largest expense). Agriculture is a big one. Veterans Affairs is a medium one. And Veterans Affairs is not taken out of the military budget, which would only make sense, but out of NASA, which is a very small one. The military budget is more than $300 billion. NASA's is less than $13 billion. How come we're wasting all that money on missiles and tanks and helicopters that don't work? What would we do with the surpluses of a fair tax system? How about pay down the debt? How about not just providing a decent education for our children, but giving them a reason to want one? How about turning some of the eyesores of the concrete jungle back into land that can provide food and fresh air? How about (gasp!) opening up avenues of worthwhile work and hope, so kids don't turn to crime because they have nothing to do and nothing to lose? Of course, the Republicans will oppose fairness with every mighty dollar and platform they have. Because in a fair economy, they would no longer be kings and dictators in a system that no longer has a lower caste. Dian Hardison Port St. John ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY December 15, 1999 Letters To The Editor Pro life plate shows concern In response to Dian Hardison's letter, Dec. 1, 1999: First, you as a taxpayer are not paying for the Choose Life plates. Second, the anti-choice folks do care about life, or they would not take a stand. Third, how can you put all these people in one category? Fourth, who are the T-H-E-Y you speak of, who "don't give a rat's carcass about life?" You state that having identifying license plates for the sickos is a good idea, that way you know who to watch out for. I think you need to watch out for more dangerous people. The people who choose this plate are concerned about life at all stages. Margaret Hannon Port St. John ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY December 13, 1999 Letters to the Editor Anti-Vietnam writer served in military By Dian Hardison Cocoa My, how the marchers wail when someone threatens to puncture the rose-colored balloon in which they've encased their heads! But something I neglected to mention renders all their insults impotent: I was in the military; one of the first three women, in fact, to be selected for Explosive Ordnance Disposal training (alongside some Navy SEALs), and an officer in the submarine tracking command, about which author Tom Clancy was so sappily wrong. Many of my friends had been in-country, and as river rats, not just rear echelon. They were justifiably aggrieved -- as was I -- at the treatment they received upon returning home, but what they really hated was the lack of leadership that sent them ill-prepared and ill-equipped to a "war" that accomplished nothing. The protesters, including Jane Fonda, were right all along; but the baby- killers we should have been spitting on were the Pentagon brass and the congressmen who kept the war going because their districts were getting wealthy from manufacturing weapons. If you're so "offended," then put your money where your mouth is and help support veterans through any of their good organizations, as I do. And the fact remains uncontested that George H. W. Bush and his puppet Ronnie Ray-gun are traitors, and Bush Jr. and John McCain are multibillion- dollar thieves, and the lot of them should be in a non-country-club prison for life. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FLORIDA TODAY December 8, 1999 Letters to the Editor ... Admiring Bill, Jane far from admirable In a letter to the Star-Advocate on Dec. 1, Dian Hardison says: "The one thing that makes America unique in all of history is that we can despise what one jerk says, but we are required by our founding law to defend their right to say it." I fully agree with Hardison on this point. She can say anything she wants to, even when she calls those who defend human life "sickos" and "perverts," as "it takes one to call one." Also, in a recent letter to Florida Today, Hardison says: "The founding document (the U.S. Constitution) guarantees the freedom of expression." Exercising her right of free speech, she goes on to say former presidents George Bush and Ronald Reagan are traitors. Strong stuff, I would say, but nothing less could be expected from a "fellow traveler." Hardison's admiration for Hanoi Jane Fonda can be expected, but when discussing traitors, she is very careful not to mention her role model Bill Clinton, whose administration allowed hydrogen bomb data and missile technology to fall into the hands of Red China. Homer H. Dew Titusville ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ORLANDO SENTINEL June 15, 1998 LETTERS FROM READERS TRUE MEANING A DAY after Flag Day, it's worth noting that we do not pledge our allegiance to a piece of cloth. We pledge our allegiance to the ideals it represents - and the highest of those ideals is freedom. A constitutional amendment to protect the flag is a desecration to both the Constitution and the flag. If it becomes illegal to express an opinion in America, then the American flag and American Constitution will no longer be worth protecting. Dian L. Hardison, COCOA ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Orlando Sentinel Tribune September 1, 1991 LETTERS PRIVATE CLUBS SEEM WASTEFUL; Maybe I'm being insensitive, but the tempest over whether Jewish players would or would not play at the Orlando Country Club strikes me as less important than the fact that there even is a country club which charges a $10,000 initiation fee. Ten thousand dollars! To play tennis and hobnob? How many children could be fed and housed for the money these people throw away to feed their egos? - Dian L. Hardison -Titusville ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Christian Science Monitor October 28, 1987, LETTERS Animal testing The article on animal testing was quite unsubtly biased in favor of corporations which perform cruel and less than effective methods of establishing the ''safety'' of their products. Is the Monitor becoming just another apologist for big business and sloppy government? Dian Hardison, Titusville, Fla. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? 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