Following his triumphant victory in the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential candidate’s debate, Senator John “Johnny-boy” Edwards had a little rain poured on his parade by a former National Director of Weather Secretary, US Air Force General Scheville Stone II.
Edwards told delegates in attendance in Manchester that if elected President he planned to “travel around the world” by hot-air balloon to restore America’s ties in the international community.
“We’d have to shoot him down if he did so,” said General Stone, Wednesday.
“As it stands now, any unregistered aviation in the post-9/11 world, over American airspace is in direct violation of our security ordinances and authorizes an immediate shoot-down.”
Stone served in the current Bush administration as National Director of Weather Secretary. After hurricane Katrina struck Stone was awarded the distinguished Victory Medal for rescuing mother of four Katherine Chambers from the roof of her submerged two-storey duplex. He returned to active service at the beginning of the new year.
Edwards could not be reached for comment, but his campaign spokesperson Trudell Snaps, brushed aside General Stone’s statements. “Obviously, what he (General Stone) is getting at is some kid, or terrorist, you know, going up there, without a permit, and getting into some kind of shenanigans. That’s not what we’re talking about here at all. John Edwards is not only a respected member of the US Senate here at home, but he also is the only candidate running for President who can command the respect of the people here at home, and the international community abroad.
“Plus, if he were to be elected President, he would technically be Mr. Stone’s boss, and could therefore, simply fire him if he stood in the way of any balloon trip.”
Edwards has repeated his intention to fly his homemade hot-air balloon around the world if elected, since first mentioning it in the New Hampshire debate.
Brent Gumble, Edwards head balloon maintenance tech told reporters Edwards’ balloon could be “up and ready in 72 hours – and that uptime is steadily decreasing as we get all the holes patched up from his test flight.” A less than fully-successful test flight resulted in the destroyed barn of California residents John and Caroline Hughes. The Hughes, as has been well-reported are suing Mr. Edwards for 1.4 billion dollars U.S.
June 05 2007 | Democrats and 2008 Elections and Foreign Affairs | No Comments »
Presidential hopeful John “Johnny-boy” Edwards told members of the press and others in attendance at the Manchester, New Hampshire Democratic debate that if elected President in 2008 he would “travel around the world and restore America’s reputation.”
Asked by rival Democratic Presidential contender Barack Obama how he would be traveling “around the world,” Edwards stated “By hot-air balloon of course, like my grand-pappy.” It is well-known that Edwards grandfather Louis B. Edwards III died in a fiery hot-air balloon crash off the coast of New Mexico in 1922. His remains were never found.
“With respect to your grand-pappy, I don’t know if the respected Senator is aware or not, but currently the U.S. air force has only sixteen hot-air balloons in operation, and of those sixteen, eleven are in Iraq, three are in Afghanistan, and two are stationed at Fort Bragg in case, God forbid, we have to face another terrorist attack here at home. With these facts in mind I think it’s fair to ask, Senator, how we can expect you to “travel around the world” by hot-air balloon when all our balloons are currently pre-occupied with serving this nation’s national defense needs.”
Waving down chortles and belly-laughs which had erupted from delegates and press in attendance Edwards looked Obama straight in the eye and delievered what proved to be the evening’s most memorable line: “I have my own hot-air balloon, Senator. I built it in my free time.”
June 04 2007 | Democrats and Iraq and 2008 Elections and Foreign Affairs | No Comments »
There has recently been a lot of talk over what has become known as the Wimbledon Controversy. For those in the dark about what this is, the Women’s Tennis Association have raised concerns about the fact that the prize money for women’s and men’s competitions are not equal, men receive more. They claim that this is unfair and that the women should be paid the same. At first glance this does appear to be unfair. Before we jump to that conclusion it is important to look at the facts behind why the prize money is different.
continue reading »
March 21 2007 | Democrats and Clinton | No Comments »
The issue of how to pull the troops out of Iraq has topped all other issues among democratic front runners as the early caucuses take place, starting this week in Iowa. The importance of the issue to democratic voters was seen this week as Hillary Clinton pulled an about face on her previous opposition to deadlines for troop withdrawls and is now supporting a plan which would see all troops out of Iraq by March 2008. continue reading »
March 18 2007 | Democrats and Iraq and 2008 Elections | No Comments »