cannabisnews.com: 'Passionate and Principled'





'Passionate and Principled'
Posted by CN Staff on October 25, 2002 at 22:01:22 PT
By Mark Leibovich, Washington Post Staff Writer
Source: Washington Post 
Sen. Paul Wellstone frequently had the look of someone who'd just woken up from a two-hour nap. He would squint into TV lights and always seemed to be scratching the back of his neck. This was the default bearing of Minnesota's liberal senior senator: apparent discomfort, in public. Wellstone, who died in a plane crash yesterday at 58, was one of the great agonizers in American politics. In an arena that prizes quick decisions and smooth delivery, Wellstone, a former college professor, always seemed to relish the time he spent in gray areas. If this made him a "softie" -- one of Wellstone's favorite self-descriptions -- so be it. 
Fans hailed Wellstone's angst as a mark of his mental dedication to his job. It gave him an eggheaded credibility. Likewise, opponents would decry Wellstone's distress as tiresome liberal hand-wringing. Either way: "I just need to do what I have to do," Wellstone said after a debate last week in Moorhead, Minn., against Republican candidate Norm Coleman. During that debate, Wellstone was asked -- as he often was in his last days -- about his position on Iraq. His voice cracked slightly and he was hard to hear at first. "It would be a mistake to vote for a resolution that would authorize an administration to go it alone," he said, something he had muttered variations on several times. His views were widely known and well set. Yet the mention of Iraq elicited a signature wince from Wellstone, as if the chore of giving his position again had set his mind churning anew. "I voted against the resolution," he concluded quietly, "and I just thought that was the honest vote for the people I represent and love in Minnesota." While his supporters applauded, Wellstone looked down at his feet.For all his pained deliberation, Wellstone was a devout and reliable liberal. He and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) competed for the distinction of casting the most lone dissenting ballots in 99 to 1 Senate votes. Once he'd made up his mind, it was always clear where Wellstone stood on an issue, even if it ran counter to the Democratic mainstream. He supported Bill Bradley for president in 2000 and Jesse Jackson in 1988. "He was one of the most passionate and principled people I've ever known," Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) said in a statement, a familiar theme expressed yesterday among senators from both parties.Later in his 12-year Senate career, Wellstone developed a knack for blunting ideological edges. He became less averse to building coalitions with unlikely Senate allies. They included his ideological opposite, Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), with whom he co-sponsored legislation on human rights in China and whom -- without irony -- Wellstone considered a friend. "Win or lose, Wellstone learned to shake hands and be warm," says Blois Olson, co-publisher of MNPolitics.com, a political Web site based in St. Paul.Wellstone followed in Minnesota's proud tradition of rumpled liberals such as Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale -- with a dash of Jesse Ventura maverick thrown in. He became the state's signature liberal at a time when Minnesota was being infused by centrist suburban voters, many of them transplants from the East Coast who were more inclined toward the executive pragmatism of Coleman, the former mayor of St. Paul.Wellstone was more respected -- or, in some cases, begrudged -- than he was wildly popular among Minnesota voters. A former college wrestler, he always seemed to be in the fight of his political life, barely managing 50 percent of the vote in his previous two elections and running just slightly ahead of Coleman in this race.Pundits viewed the Wellstone-Coleman contest as an ideological petri dish for the Iraq debate, an evenly matched slap fight between high-caliber candidates with opposite views on the prospective war with Iraq. But what was more striking up close was how the race offered such a stark case study on contrasting political styles. It pitted a quirky muddler (Wellstone) against a telegenic smoothie (Coleman) in what was at times a nasty campaign. There was the standard array of negative ads and charges of distorting each other's records. But inevitably, in debates, when the subject turned to who was to blame for the campaign's harsh tone, Wellstone would jump out from behind his lectern and punch the air. "I'm 5-foot-5," he would say with a wide grin, "a little guy's gotta defend himself," and everyone would laugh.Wellstone's earnest demeanor could melt into his trademark giggle. An old leftie protester on campus, he grew to tolerate the chummy machinations of Congress and even came to relish the give-and-take of retail campaigning. Wellstone was more a hugger than a backslapper and would commonly wade into audiences and clutch his supporters with both hands as he spoke to them. He had a distinctive flavor of charisma: not the instantly magnetic Clinton vintage but more that of a lovable, accessible professor who enjoyed wrestling with issues late into the night.At public events, Wellstone was a congenital lingerer. If a voter wanted to discuss an issue, the senator was prone to sticking around much longer than his staff wanted him to. After his debate with Coleman in Moorhead, Wellstone stood in the chill of a late Tuesday night and discussed a procession of issues that were raised by lingering voters -- Social Security, prescription drugs, corporate scandals.Before he walked to a waiting car, Wellstone was asked if he had "agonized" over his vote on Iraq. "Well, I mean, uh, sure," he said. "But certainly not on the political part." He went on to give a classicly Wellstonian answer in which he seemed to be debating the response in his own mind while delivering the transcript in a quiet, halting cadence. "I think these questions, the sort of life-and-death questions, where you don't know what's going to happen . . ." He paused, scrunched his face and veered in another direction. "You know, if people are going to be in harm's way, you really struggle to know what's right." He stopped again, and then injected a parenthetical about how he's consulted with experts all over the country about the Iraq question. And how that's one of the things he truly loves about being a U.S. senator. Wellstone said he examined the Iraq question from every angle. This was a painful choice -- one that well could have hurt him against Coleman -- but the process of making it was invigorating. It reminded him why he came to the Senate in the first place, he said, and why he was eager to return. Wellstone started to make another point when he looked up and noticed a car filled with staff waiting to take him on a five-hour drive to Minneapolis. "I wish we could talk longer," he said, but it was time to go.___ Sen. Paul D. Wellstone ___Biography• Elected: 1990 • Hometown: Northfield, Minn.• Born: July 21, 1944, Washington, D.C.• Religion: Jewish• Family: Married to Sheila Ison; three children• Education: University of North Carolina, B.A. 1965 and Ph.D. 1969• Career: Professor of political science, Carleton College, 1969-90• Political Highlights: Candidate for election for Minn. Auditor, 1982; Minn. campaign co-chair, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, 1988; Member, Democratic Natl. Committee, 1984-1991Source: Congressional Quarterly Note: Paul Wellstone Agonized Over His Decisions. But He Never Wavered. Source: Washington Post (DC)Author: Mark Leibovich, Washington Post Staff WriterPublished: Saturday, October 26, 2002; Page C01 Copyright: 2002 The Washington Post Company Contact: letterstoed washpost.comWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.com Related Articles & Web Site:Sen. Paul Wellstonehttp://wellstone.senate.govSen. Paul Wellstone Killed in Plane Crash http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14557.shtmlFighting The Drug War from The Treatment Fronthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8897.shtmlBomb Discovered Before Visit of Senatorhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7838.shtml
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Comment #11 posted by DANA on October 29, 2002 at 23:17:58 PT
....SWAMPIE..
..Dizzy....?...Tommy Roe?
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Comment #10 posted by DANA on October 29, 2002 at 22:50:02 PT
..ICING..SCHMICING!!
The following is a summary of the facts available at this time via the media, surrounding Senator Paul Wellstone's
       airplane crash of 10-25-02. Judge for yourself, was this more likely an assassination or an accident?                                            ***************       From the 10-27-02 Sunday edition of the St.Paul Pioneer Press:       "They were no longer in control of the aircraft." said Don Sipola, a former president of the Eveleth Virginia Municipal
       Airport Commission, who has 25 years of experience flying at the airport. "That will be the $64 question---what
       occurred in the last few minutes that distracted them or caused them to wrestle control of the aircraft."        "Something caused them at low altitude to veer off course," Sipola said.        The angle of descent also indicates an out of control flight, Sipola said. The normal approach for the aircraft is a
       descent of 3 degrees, he said. But Siploa said the NTSB investigators told him Saturday that the plane was
       descending at 30 degrees.        "This was a real steep bank, not a nice, gentle don't-spill-the-coffee descent," Siploa said. This is more like a space
       shuttle coming down. This was not a controlled descent into the ground."                                             ***************       From the Minneapolis Star Tribune 10-26-02:       The state of Minnesota operates two King Air 100's. Jesse Ventura uses the planes.        Tom Kirton, an associate professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fl. said he flew a
       similar King Air model for five years as a corporate pilot before joining the school, which also has one. "The King Air
       is the finest airplane I have ever flown," he said. "The engines were totally reliable."        "Performance on take off and landing was suberb. I mean, its got power to spare," Kirton said. "You take off and
       lose an engine, most folks could bring it down very, very easily on one engine and land a perfectly normal landing."        Jeff Johnson, an associate professor in the aviation program at St.Cloud State University, said he has flown about
       500 hours in King Air 100's as a private pilot. He said the planes are forgiving, stable and reliable.        Johnson noted the King Air 100 has a flexible, boot-like device on the leading edges of the wings that the pilot can
       make "expand like a balloon to break ice off."        He said he was told that only one pilot is required to fly the plane, two were hired because a Senator was on board.        The pilots of Wellstone's plane... Conry had nearly 5200 hours of flying time and the highest certification a pilot can
       attain, his company said. Guess had 650 hours and was certified as a commercial pilot; he graduated from UND's
       aeronautics program.        The weather at the Eveleth airport was a mix of mist and light snow at the time of the crash.        Greg Spoden, assistant state climatologist said that at the Eveleth airport visibility was about 3 miles at the time of
       the crash.        End of Star Tribune article.                                             ***************       As CNNFirst Reported: Breaking News.        The crews on the ground found two large sections of plane. The tail section was intact. The weather did not have
       anything to do with the crash, said the on the scene reporter.        Wolf Blitzer tried to correct her.        He said, “The plane was flying into the storm of freezing rain, right?”       There is no evidence that weather had anything to do with the crash.        The on-the-scene reporter stuck to her guns.                                             ***************       From the 10-29-02 Minneapolis Star Tribune:       However, the team was able to make this significant discovery: the plane's landing flaps, which allow a slower and
       steeper approach to a runway, were extended 15 degrees on EACH wing.        This information tends to discount the possibility, discussed by some local pilots, that one flap may have
       malfunctioned, putting them in different "asymmetric" positions and causing the plane to slowly turn 90 degrees
       from its westward approach to the runway in the moments before the crash.        According to Executive Aviation, which operated the plane, Capt. Richard Conry flew his second-to-last flight
       Thursday, to Bismarck, N.D. His co-pilot on that flight told the NTSB that Conry didn't seem sick or tired on that
       flight.        Conry spent much of Wednesday undergoing a required test of his flying proficiency, the Star Tribune has
       learned. Executive Aviation spokeswoman Mary Milla said Monday that Conry passed the so-called check ride,
       which was administered by a company pilot designated to conduct the exams by the Federal Aviation
       Administration (FAA).        The proficiency checks are required of commercial aviators every six months to maintain licensure.        "He passed the check with flying colors," said Conry's wife, Johanne, on Monday. She also said her husband was
       in good health and well rested for the Wellstone flight.                                             ***************       From the 10-29-02 St.Paul Pioneer Press:       "Investigators...have ruled out physical problems with the pilots and one important piece of equipment."        Dr. Thomas Uncini, St.Louis County's chief medical examiner, said Monday his preliminary conclusions are that the
       two pilots were in good physical condition and there were no signs that they suffered a heart attack or stroke. "No,
       it didn't happen," he said of medical problems. "It looked pretty straightforward."        Frank Hilldrup, lead investigator for the NTSB said the landing gear appeared to be down but was too damaged by
       fire to determine if it had been locked into place.        Another pilot who landed a slightly larger twin engine plane at the airport on Friday, a couple of hours before
       Wellstone's plane crashed, said in an interview that he experienced no significant problems.        Veteran pilot Ray Juntunen said there was very light ice, "but nothing to be alarmed about. It shouldn't have been a
       problem."        He said he ran into moderate icing conditions at 10,000 feet and requested permission to drop to 5,000. At that
       altitude, he had only light icing. When he dropped to 3400 feet, to begin his approach, "the ice slid off the
       windshield," he said.        According to the NTSB, Wellstone's pilots received warnings of icing at 9,000 to 11,000 feet and were allowed to
       descend to 4,000 feet. Juntunen said he was able to see the airport from five miles out, and another pilot landed a
       half-hour later and told him the clouds were a little lower, but still not bad.        Radar tapes indicate the plane had descended to about 400 feet and was traveling at only 85 knots near the end of
       its flight. It then turned south, dove at an unusually steep angle and crashed.                                             ***************       From the 10-26-02 edition of the St.Paul Pioneer Press:       The weather Friday was dismal, gray, foggy, with light snow, but the landing should have been routine, said Gary
       Ulman, assistant manager of the Eveleth Virginia Municipal Airport.        Shortly after 10 a.m., Ulman heard the pilot's voice on the radio and saw the landing lights flash on after the pilot
       clicked the signal from the cockpit.        But the plane didn't land.        "After a while, I thought to myself, 'Where the hell are they?' "        Ulman jumped into his own private plane and took off in search of the missing aircraft."                                             ***************       Summary:       If the icing conditions were so bad (which they weren't) why would Ulman take his own plane up?        They had just radioed in that they were coming in for a landing. They were only about 7 miles out. They gave no
       indication of any problem. The NTSB has confirmed that several times.        There was no problem with icing at the altitude they were flying.        Airport manager Ulman even took his plane up proving that icing was not a problem.        The landing gear was down.        The plane was "forgiving, stable and reliable."        The engines were "totally reliable."        You could land it "very, very easily on one engine."        "Performance on taking off and landing were superb."        The pilots were experienced veterans in good health and well rested.        Only one pilot was required to fly the King Air A100 but they had two as an extra precaution for safety.        Bush had made it his number one priority to get Wellstone out of the Senate, presumably thru the election
       process.        Bush himself had come to Minnesota to stump for Republican Norm Coleman. "Americans for Job Security", a
       Republican controlled "tax-exempt" group pumped over one million dollars into ads against Wellstone.        Wellstone had voted against Bush's Homeland Security. He had voted against some of Bush's judicial appointees.
       He pushed stronger environmental programs while Bush pushed the opposite way.        Wellstone pushed hard for genuine measures to counter corporate fraud while Bush pushed for cosmetic ones.        Wellstone pushed hard for an independent 9-11 investigation over Bush and Cheney's strongest objections.        Wellstone voted against giving Bush a free hand to invade Iraq and it actually increased his popularity in Minnesota.
       He was pulling ahead of Coleman and it looked like he would win re-election.        …AND THEN...        They lost all control and all communications in his plane instantly, without warning during a landing approach.        Is this sabotage, assassination or an accident?       You be the judge.        - Compiled by Rick Ensminger
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Comment #9 posted by SWAMPIE on October 29, 2002 at 20:32:05 PT
DAMMITT!DANA!!!!.... 
  You just had to bring up that song,and now it's gonna be runnin'through my head like a peep-shot on "Beverly Hills 90210"LOL!! How's that for east-coast humor?Just kidding,not a prevert,only goofy cause the harvest started!"I'm so dizzy,My head is spinnin!Like a whirlpool,It never ends,And it's you girl! Makin' it spin!You make me so DIZZY! WHOM would be the author?,And is that the name of my boat?
      SWAMPIE
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on October 29, 2002 at 09:03:32 PT
Dana
Don't worry about it. It really doesn't matter to me. I'm trying hard to do the news and keep the peace here on the site. I don't like when people get upset. It doesn't make sense to me. Fighting is such a waste of our energy and fighting can really crush a person. I've seen it when I use to go and read other message forums but some of the things I read made me feel so bad that I won't even check out other sites. The only place I can find a sanctuary is here and I'm very happy that we are all trying so hard to keep this a good and positive site.
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Comment #7 posted by DANA on October 29, 2002 at 08:49:02 PT
..DANASOURAS..
..I am a dinasour,,and I dont think it's a "negative",term!...I hope you dont think that I was suggesting that you were a dinosoar FoM.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on October 29, 2002 at 08:22:25 PT
Dana
You apologized for something I didn't even read. As long as we don't fight here on this forum I am fine. I talked to Nicholas and he knows how I feel. I don't think he meant to upset anyone. We need to stop taking things personally and we all will be able to do a good job and accomplish much. Fighting isn't good. Fighting hurts everything and everyone.I am not a dinosaur because that is a negative term but I am almost a senior citizen and that beats the alternative. 
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Comment #5 posted by DANA on October 29, 2002 at 07:34:00 PT
...Hi FoM...
..you know I like you too........I think you get madder at me,than I get at you,,,but ...the main thing,,is that neither of us get mad at each other on purpose!....It just happens.....If we pretended we never got mad,,it would be fake and plastic(*).Lol....d(*)...sorry for dinasour hippie cliche'....it may be a bit far out for some,,,but I still think it's OK to use the terms of our era....... outasight!...to go even further off topic...for some reason,I've had that Donovan song "Hurdy Gurdy Man", on my mind for the last few days..not from hearing it on the radio or anything,,but just some strange musical flashback of the mind.Just then when the hurdy gurdy man comes singing songs of love..."
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on October 28, 2002 at 22:33:52 PT
Hi Dana
I'm calling it a day but I wanted to say hi to you. You must get so mad at me. I like you. You have lots of BBA! Talk to you again soon! Keep on keepin' on!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by DANA on October 28, 2002 at 22:30:48 PT
......Al Martin....
http://www.almartinraw.com/column77.html
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Comment #2 posted by DdC on October 28, 2002 at 21:55:32 PT
Bad Moon Rising...
From: ARON KAY
Date: Sun Oct 27, 2002 1:19 pmthe article is by stew albert who was a member of the yippies....if you have any questions re: the article....please contact stew via stewa aol.comBad Moon RisingPaul Wellstone's plane went down on Oct 25. His wife, pilot, daughter and campaign aides perished with him. Nobody knows why it went down, but I'm betting Ashcroft put on a curse on the plane. Wellstone is the second individual on Ashcroft's enemies list to perish in a private plane crash. The first was his opponent in the Senatorial election, who went on to run as a corpse and beat him.Wellstone in the Senate was an impossible dream. Imagine a left-wing Jewish college professor with an amateur wrestling background getting elected to the US Senate, forget about it, it's not going to happen, but it did. He won two terms in office and was on his way to a third. This despite the White House handpicking his opponent and shadowy right wing foundations spending millions on a slander Wellstone campaign. Appropriately, Paul Wellstone's last vote was against war with Iraq.Wellstone's death forces me to think how dangerous it is to become an influential liberal in America. There doesn't seem to be much longevity in it. Remember JFK and RFK and Martin Luther King? Who all fell by assassination. And labor leader Walter Reuther who went down in a plane crash? And Allard Lowenstein who was murdered? The death of these very powerful liberals helped change the political face of America. With these people gone, it was a lot easier for the right-wing to take power. Wellstone's passing makes it that much easier for the Bush gang. And of course big shot conservatives all seem to die rich, old and in their beds surrounded by greedy relatives. On Oct 26 people all over the world demonstrated against the Bush war with Iraq. And many thousands were in the streets of St. Paul. Minnesota, Wellstone's hometown. The extremely large crowd was a passionate tribute to Paul Wellstone and his fighting dream...Stew"This legislation is terrible for working families and it rewards the predatory and irresponsible lending by banks and credit card companies which fed the crisis in the first place. For that reason, a broad coalition of consumer groups, unions, women's and children's groups, civil rights organizations, and religious groups have united in opposition to this bill." --Senator Paul WellstoneARON KAY- http://www.pieman.orgColombia Report
http://www.colombiareport.orgCritics Detail Risks of Colombian Coca Spraying
http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=4229Toxic Drift: Monsanto and the Drug War in Colombia
http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=669
June 21, 2001  A prominent U.S. Senator and other government officials from both Washington and Bogotá stood on a Colombian mountainside above fields of lime-green coca -- the plant sacred to Andean Indians, but also the source of the troublesome drug cocaine. They were awaiting a demonstration of aerial herbicide spraying, part of the U.S. drug war in Colombia. The spectacle, put on by the U.S. embassy in Bogotá last December, was supposed to address Senator Paul Wellstone's doubts about the accuracy and safety of the U.S.-sponsored drug fumigation program. Wellstone, a Democrat from Minnesota, is a fierce critic of military aid to Colombia and the demonstration needed to come off without a hitch, to win him over to the use of aerially sprayed herbicides. The night before, U.S. officials had responded to the Senator's skeptical questions by assuring him that the spraying would target coca fields without harming food crops. "They had said that by using satellite images they could hit very precisely targets without any chance of danger to surrounding crops" said Jim Farrell, Wellstone's spokesperson, who was also there. However that turned out not to be the case. "On the very first flyover by the cropduster, the U.S. Senator, the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, the Lieutenant Colonel of the Colombian National Police, and other Embassy and congressional staffers were fully doused -- drenched, in fact -- with the sticky, possibly dangerous (herbicide) Roundup.""Imagine what is happening when a high-level congressional delegation is not present," Farrell noted, pointing out that careful preparation had gone into the botched flyover. Wellstone left Colombia completely unconvinced by the Embassy.Sen. Paul Wellstone killed in a plane crash
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/25/politics/25CND-CRASH.html"Bomb discovered in Colombia before visit of U.S. senator, ambassador December 1, 2000
http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/12/01/colombia.wellstone.03/ ""Police Thwart Assassination Attempt on Senator Paul Wellstone 
http://mediafilter.org/caq/BushFamilyPreys.html"The Family That Preys Together by Jack Colhoun
http://www.krcg.com/now/story/0,1597,167370-324,00.shtmlHERBICIDE DOUSES U.S. SENATOR
http://www.americas.org/news/nir/20001210_herbicide_douses_u_s_senator.aspMonsanto Bush Carlucci
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39001-2000Dec21.html"Monsanto Company, an 85 percent owned subsidiary of Pharmacia Corporation." 
http://microrim.samovar.ru "On April 3, 2000, a new first-tier competitor in the global pharmaceutical industry was created. Pharmacia Corporation is the result of a merger between Pharmacia and Upjohn and Monsanto. 
http://www.pharmacia.com 
http://www.pnu.com/ 
http://www.monsanto.co.uk/news/2000/january2000/27012000_monsanto.html"Pharmacia and Upjohn's board of directors is comprised of Frank C. Carlucci (and others)
http://www.nortelnetworks.com/corporate/news/newsreleases/1999b/4_29_9999298_Carlucci_appt.html 
A.C.L.U. Bug Spray
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on October 27, 2002 at 18:23:40 PT
Mondale Asked to Replace Wellstone
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/REPLACING_WELLSTONE?SITE=CODEN&SECTION=HOME
Oct 27, 
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