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Hey kids! Governor Manchin here! Today's
The Charleston Daily Mail's Jake Stump wrote a piece on Wednesday focused on Pvt. Jessica Lynch and the pressure by some West Virginia politicians to award her the Medal of Honor.According to the story, "Retired Marine Lieutenant General Michael DeLong wrote recently in a New York Times op-ed piece that West Virginia politicians repeatedly pressured the military to grant Lynch, a prisoner of war, the nation's highest military honor. In an interview with the Daily Mail this week, DeLong would not disclose who specifically called for Lynch to receive the prestigious award."The story quoted Retired Marine Lieutenant General Michael DeLong as saying"They (the politicians) were pushing for her to get a Medal of Honor without knowing what really happened. It's like they thought I didn't know what a Medal of Honor was. Their motives were really pure. You can't just go pushing for someone to get a Medal of Honor."DeLong said the pressure came from the state's congressional delegation, but all five of them have denied it. But one politician who was applying the pressure was former Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw. The April 12, 2003 edition of the Daily Mail reported, "State Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw has written to President Bush and the West Virginia congressional delegation urging Lynch receive the nation's highest wartime commendation.'She's a heroic West Virginian and an American patriot,' McGraw said."DeLong told the Daily Mail he wanted to reveal the hypocrisy of Capitol Hill politicians who were now accusing the military of capitalizing on Lynch's story. "They talked about the military pushing heroes when the people who were really doing the pushing were in Congress," DeLong told the newspaper.
Vic Grigoraci, Democrat incumbent for Charleston city treasurer, has mailed a mini cookbook to voters, with an inscription from his wife saying, "Please vote for Vic on May 15 so he will stay out of my kitchen." It's a blatant ripoff of Delegate Danny Wells' cheesy campaign theme. The back inside page of the mailer contains a lengthy endorsement letter from Republican Mayor Danny Jones. Republican Sam Haddad is opposing Grigoraci. No word on whether Haddad knows any recipes, which is apparently a qualification for treasurer. Meanwhile, a reader sent in some stats on Charleston's population trends, just as a matter of interest more than a statement on anything:85,79671,50563,968 57,287 53,421 51,176One of the year's biggest films will undoubtedly be the upcoming "Spiderman 3," following a trend that began bigtime with 1989's "Batman."Yes, the Christopher Reeve "Superman" series, which began in 1978, came before "Batman," but it didn't really spawn imitators on a big scale. And prior to that, comic book movies were typically relegated to B features or TV movies.But over the past 15 years or so, we've been inundated with caped wonders and flying avengers, ranging from "The Hulk" and "Darkman" to "X Men" and "The Fantastic Four."Superman and Batman have been the most consistent mainstains, reincarnated every few years. The first Batman movie was a 1940s serial, and Superman soon followed. In fact, the old "Adventures of Superman" TV show with George Reeves was ushered in by a cheaply made feature film, "Superman and the Mole Men," later edited to fit into the TV series.After 911, we were reminded that the real heroes of our world are people like police officers, soldiers and firefighters. But while we might acknowledge such truths, it doesn't quench our thirst for fantasy heroes in capes and tights, as Spiderman is about to prove once again. 