"Duke" Cunningham is doing time.

He was just sentenced to 100 months.

Most for ANY Member of Congress!

EVER.

Took at least $2.4 million worth of bribes.

Yacht, Home, Rolls-Royce, trips, jewelry.

Navy's only Ace from VietNam, with Driscoll as RIO.

64 years old.

Horses dick.

He pleaded for leniency.

What happens to these guys?

I mean, he's not a "bad" guy???




********************ReeferGuy™





***

On Fri, 3 Mar 2006 17:37:42 -0700, (ReeferGuy)
postulated :

What happens to these guys?

Power corrupts.

I mean, he's not a "bad" guy???

He's the worst of the worst.

In article ,
(ReeferGuy) wrote:

He was just sentenced to 100 months.
Most for ANY Member of Congress!

Took at least $2.4 million worth of bribes.

I mean, he's not a "bad" guy???

Taking $2.4-million and getting 8 years in prison are
not things that you think of when you think of "good
guys". He may have had a brilliant Navy career, but
when the metal met the road, he turned evil. Now he
is paying the price, and showing other people why they
should not follow in his footsteps.

Like they say, evil will always win over good, unless
good is very, very good.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

----------
In article , "John
A. Weeks III" wrote:

Taking $2.4-million and getting 8 years in prison are
not things that you think of when you think of "good
guys". He may have had a brilliant Navy career, but
when the metal met the road, he turned evil. Now he
is paying the price, and showing other people why they
should not follow in his footsteps.

Dunno about "brilliant" career. I've seen some things indicating that he
almost got himself kicked out.

There have been some fascinating articles in the Washington Post about him.
He comes across as slightly unbalanced. He had a habit of shooting off his
mouth and saying things that got him into trouble on the Hill, and then
breaking down into tears when confronted about them. It's a weird reaction.
Makes me wonder if he's bipolar.

Also interesting is what the psychiatrist hired by his defense team said
about him. She said that he developed megalomania after he was shot down in
Vietnam and then praised as a hero. She claims that this led him to believe
that he could do no wrong and that anything he did was justified. Uh huh.
Megalomania, huh? Perfect for Congress.





D

"DDAY" wrote in message
ink.net...
----------
In article ,
"John
A. Weeks III" wrote:

Taking $2.4-million and getting 8 years in prison are
not things that you think of when you think of "good
guys". He may have had a brilliant Navy career, but
when the metal met the road, he turned evil. Now he
is paying the price, and showing other people why they
should not follow in his footsteps.

Dunno about "brilliant" career. I've seen some things indicating that he
almost got himself kicked out.

There have been some fascinating articles in the Washington Post about
him.
He comes across as slightly unbalanced. He had a habit of shooting off
his
mouth and saying things that got him into trouble on the Hill, and then
breaking down into tears when confronted about them. It's a weird
reaction.
Makes me wonder if he's bipolar.

Also interesting is what the psychiatrist hired by his defense team said
about him. She said that he developed megalomania after he was shot down
in
Vietnam and then praised as a hero. She claims that this led him to
believe
that he could do no wrong and that anything he did was justified. Uh huh.
Megalomania, huh? Perfect for Congress.

I have know the guy for over 36 years. I won't say we are good friends, but
whenever we saw each other we said hello. His Naval career was just so-so,
not brilliant but not a disaster either. He probably wouldn't have stayed
around the Navy if he hadn't been an ace.

And that was part of the problem, and has always been. He went through all
the training learning to fly, learning his profession as a fighter pilot,
with everybody telling him how good he was. Telling how special he was to
succeed when so many failed to make the grade. Then he reached the panicle
of success and became an ace, which proved it to him. Somewhere along the
line he began to believe his own legend. Then he is elected to congress,
everything just fell into place for him with little failure. (I guess his
only real setback was the failure of his first marriage). How can you blame
him for believing the BS that everybody fed him. It would take a special
person to maintain a balance with a life like this.

I rejoiced in his success, and I am saddened by his failure. He just proved
that like many of us he has feet of clay.

"Red Rider" wrote in message
...

I have know the guy for over 36 years. I won't say we are good friends,
but
whenever we saw each other we said hello. His Naval career was just so-so,
not brilliant but not a disaster either. He probably wouldn't have stayed
around the Navy if he hadn't been an ace.

And that was part of the problem, and has always been. He went through
all
the training learning to fly, learning his profession as a fighter pilot,
with everybody telling him how good he was. Telling how special he was to
succeed when so many failed to make the grade. Then he reached the panicle
of success and became an ace, which proved it to him. Somewhere along the
line he began to believe his own legend. Then he is elected to congress,
everything just fell into place for him with little failure. (I guess his
only real setback was the failure of his first marriage). How can you
blame
him for believing the BS that everybody fed him. It would take a special
person to maintain a balance with a life like this.

I rejoiced in his success, and I am saddened by his failure. He just
proved
that like many of us he has feet of clay.

Good post! Duke was a solid pilot, the most PREPARED pilot in theater, and
he was presented with opportunities which he capitalized on. Officerlike
qualities? Well, he wasn't the dullest tool in the shed.

The power corrupts comments earlier hit it right on. We throw 535 human
beings into the candy store, tell 'em the owner is blind, and watch. His
corruption is on the grandest scale yet discovered, but how many of them
have been influenced by lesser things? The whole K-street Congress axis is
a detriment to our well-being, and we've got the budget to prove it. The
SOB's have discovered they can bribe us with our own money.

R / John

In article ,
(ReeferGuy) wrote:

He was just sentenced to 100 months.

Most for ANY Member of Congress!

EVER.

Took at least $2.4 million worth of bribes.

Yacht, Home, Rolls-Royce, trips, jewelry.

Navy's only Ace from VietNam, with Driscoll as RIO.

64 years old.

Horses dick.

He pleaded for leniency.

What happens to these guys?

I mean, he's not a "bad" guy???


I doubt he's ever been a "good" guy...at least in the last 20 years.


I think the experience with "Duke" Gordon (aka Krztalizer) related on
rec.aviation.military last year pretty much sums of the character of
this "not a bad" guy.

He mentioned writing Randy and one his Vietnam era squadron mates, Don
Blakeslee, a letter on behalf of his (Gordon's) son asking for advice
(presumably career advice) and mentioning to both that he was writing to
both.

I doubt Gordon expected or felt he in anyway was entitled to a response
(it doesn't hurt to ask), but the responses he did get pretty much tell
one everything they need to know about what a "good" man Randy is:


Col. Blakeslee personally wrote a response giving advice as well as
including autographed photos.

Randy wrote back telling Gorgon to buy his book. Not only buy his book,
but by it directly from him (Randy). Then he told him how much he
charges for an autographed photo and closed it all off with an insulting
dig at Col. Blakeslee.


"not a 'bad' guy"? Feh.



--Mike

What outfit (squadron) was he in ?
Don, VF-154,65-67

On Sat, 4 Mar 2006 13:19:08 -0600, (Donald Keeney)
postulated :
What outfit (squadron) was he in ?

Since you didn't quote I can't be certain but you may be referring to
Convict Cunningham. A quick Google reveals:
http://www.acepilots.com/vietnam/cunningham.html

John (and Red Rider)

I knew Cunningham since the mid 70's. Fact, Cunningham was on the RIF list
until he became an ace. Had he not become an ace that day, he would have
been passed over and released from the Navy.

I never saw him once that he was not sitting in a bar (O Club) letting
everyone one within hearing distance know that he was the greatest pilot the
Navy had in his time.

I flew against him 4 times at Top Gun and had 4 kills.

I have to disagree with in part (John) about him being the most prepared. I
would say he WAS prepared having gone through TopGun but there were more
than several handfuls of Navy drivers who would have come out of the fray
Cunningham was in as Aces. Luck of the draw.

Most of them would not have made it their life's mission to live off that
reputation. Willie (Driscoll) was quoted as saying on more than one
occasion that they were in the right place at the right time. As far Col
Toon, it has been proven that Toon was not involved in Cunningham's shoot
downs.

Later in his Navy career, Cunningham became an egotistical drunk who would
berate anyone who disagreed with him.

I can not honestly say I would have accomplished what he did that day, but
given the same situation and being well trained for it, I would like to
think I would.

Much of the above is my personal assessment but there are also facts
presented.

VR
Jake

"John Carrier" wrote in message
...

"Red Rider" wrote in message
...

I have know the guy for over 36 years. I won't say we are good friends,
but
whenever we saw each other we said hello. His Naval career was just
so-so,
not brilliant but not a disaster either. He probably wouldn't have stayed
around the Navy if he hadn't been an ace.

And that was part of the problem, and has always been. He went through
all
the training learning to fly, learning his profession as a fighter pilot,
with everybody telling him how good he was. Telling how special he was to
succeed when so many failed to make the grade. Then he reached the
panicle
of success and became an ace, which proved it to him. Somewhere along the
line he began to believe his own legend. Then he is elected to congress,
everything just fell into place for him with little failure. (I guess his
only real setback was the failure of his first marriage). How can you
blame
him for believing the BS that everybody fed him. It would take a special
person to maintain a balance with a life like this.

I rejoiced in his success, and I am saddened by his failure. He just
proved
that like many of us he has feet of clay.

Good post! Duke was a solid pilot, the most PREPARED pilot in theater,
and he was presented with opportunities which he capitalized on.
Officerlike qualities? Well, he wasn't the dullest tool in the shed.

The power corrupts comments earlier hit it right on. We throw 535 human
beings into the candy store, tell 'em the owner is blind, and watch. His
corruption is on the grandest scale yet discovered, but how many of them
have been influenced by lesser things? The whole K-street Congress axis
is a detriment to our well-being, and we've got the budget to prove it.
The SOB's have discovered they can bribe us with our own money.

R / John