Rep. Pete Stark Needs To Increase His Medication

Below you will find an article from the Oakland Tribune. It shows the utterly disgusting response of U.S. Representative Pete Stark to a letter he received from a man in his district. Stark a former Air Force Captain made several inflammatory remarks about an elite fraternity that apparently he has forgotten, the United States military. Stark spewed several ignorant remarks that showed just how out of touch some of our politicians really are. Stark raises the question, when is a person to old to serve in politics? Below you will find the article, in bold are some of my thoughts.

Stark said, "enlisted men are too stupid to spell"

In his 72 years of life has he become that out of touch to think that the enlisted men in our military are cavemen? Are we all inarticulate, Neanderthals? I take personal offense to his remarks. I know that a Bachelors degree is not that uncommon amongst enlisted people. At the least an Associates is required for higher enlisted ranks. I have known enlisted men and women with degrees ranging from an AA to a Ph D. Who is stark to call these well educated enlisted men and woman "stupid"?

Stark voice mail on Iraq vote winds up on Limbaugh, Net

Newark man takes offense to rep.'s response to his faxed criticism
By Josh Richman and Sandhya Somashekhar, STAFF WRITERS
Saturday, May 08, 2004 - A man who wrote to U.S. Rep. Pete Stark criticizing his Thursday vote against a resolution on abuse of Iraqi prisoners got a personal reply within the hour -- voice mail from Stark inviting him to explain why he thinks he's "such a great, goddamn hero."

"I think I got the point across," Stark, D-Fremont, said Friday after the voice-mail message had been posted online and become the topic of heated local talk radio. Syndicated host Rush Limbaugh played it nationwide later Friday.

"I probably would've left out the blasphemy ... it was a poor choice of words," added Stark, 72. "Other than that, I would stand by the entire statement that I made to him. We can't call back our words. If that's the part that offended him, I would humbly apologize."

"I guess that means he stands by his statement that enlisted men are too stupid to spell," shot back Daniel L. Dow, 33, the Newark tech sales executive, Army National Guard sergeant and 2002 Republican Assembly candidate who drew Stark's ire.

"It was assaulting the very person he's there to represent," said Dow, who returned in January from a six-month deployment to Kosovo. "Rather than saying, 'Mr. Dow, I hear your opinion, and though I don't share it, I appreciate hearing it,' he leaves this message. This isn't a bar room brawl kind of arena."

Tape heard 'round the nation

Dow faxed Stark a letter Thursday afternoon saying he was "appalled" by Stark's vote against the resolution, noting many of Stark's constituents are serving in the military with pride and distinction. Dow wrote that Stark's vote shows he doesn't support troops selflessly serving their nation, and "is a disgrace to the people of this district who have elected you."

"I urge you to stop your contemptuous display of bitter partisanship and your politicization of this war," he added. "Your actions are very divisive and destructive to the morale of our troops and the morale of our nation. I know that a majority of the population of the 13th Congressional District are very strong in their support of our soldiers and in their support of the war in Iraq. Your 'NO' vote today reflects that you are way out of touch with the people of this district."

Stark soon left Dow a phone message saying that Dow didn't know what he was talking about, and that Stark believed someone had put Dow up to writing the letter, perhaps even writing it for him: "I doubt if you could spell half the words in your letter."

"But I'll call you back later and let you tell me more about why you think you're such a great, goddamn hero, and why you think that this general and the defense department who forced these poor enlisted guys to do what they did shouldn't be held to account -- that's the issue," Stark said. "So if you want to stick it to a bunch of enlisted guys, have your way, but if you want to get to the bottom of the people who forced this awful program in Iraq, then you should understand more about it than you obviously do. Thanks."

Dow gave Stark's taped message to KSFO 560 AM, which aired and discussed it Friday. The station also posted it on the Internet and sent it to Limbaugh, who played it nationwide later Friday. Limbaugh said Stark spoke "typically as a liberal would to an upstart, peasant, dare-to-speak-to-a-congressman citizen."

Thursday's resolution passed 365-50 with 19 members not voting. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was the lone GOP vote against it, while Democrats against it included House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco; Barbara Lee, D-Oakland; George Miller, D-Martinez; and Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma.

At a news conference earlier Thursday, Pelosi noted Democrats had wanted to amend the resolution to call for a congressional investigation of all abuses committed by military personnel or civilian contractors, "including the command atmosphere that contributed to such abuse."

Despite our pleadings last night, the Republicans would not put in the resolution a call for looking into the behavior of the contractors in Iraq, she said.

The resolution's final draft urged the secretary of the Army to investigate any and all allegations of mistreatment or abuse of detainees in Iraq, correct any problems found, bring swift justice to troops who violated military law and report to Congress often.

The ultimate question

Stark said Friday the ultimate question must be: "Was this in fact ordered, implicitly or directly, by the Department of Defense, the CIA, the administration, or was it just six rogue enlisted guys?"

"Part of our concern was that without a congressional investigation ... it will be left to the administration to cover up the obvious involvement of the Department of Defense and the administration of condoning, if not creating, the atmosphere that allowed this to go on," he said. "There are those of us inside the Beltway ... who are sometimes suspicious of the tenacity with which the fox can in fact guard the henhouse."

Alameda maritime consultant and U.S. Naval Reserve veteran George Bruno, Stark's GOP challenger in November, said Stark "has a history of this type of behavior.

"Stark's disdain for the military is a slap in the face to all who have served and sacrificed to protect this county," Bruno said, adding the district has been disadvantaged because Stark "refuses to value diversity of opinion above his personal preferences."

Dow ran for the 20th Assembly District seat in 2002, losing to Democratic incumbent John Dutra. He served in the U.S. Army from 1989 to 1994, reaching the rank of sergeant and serving as a Korean linguist in the Military Intelligence Corps.

Stark was a U.S. Air Force first lieutenant from 1955 to 1957 and then served six years in the Air Force Reserve, retiring as a captain.
Stark has a habit of dusting it up with his critics.

Is this man so arrogant and out of touch to think that he reached the rank of Captain on his own. Without the enlisted men around him the mission would not be met, plane and simple, cut and dry. It is the enlisted man that makes the military what it is. The military could survive without officers, but it could not exist without the enlisted men and women who serve this great nation!

During a tumultuous Ways and Means Committee hearing last July, Stark called another lawmaker -- an ex-policeman 21 years his junior -- a wimpy fruitcake who couldn't make him shut up. Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., replied by telling Stark to take his medication.

But ultimately it was committee chairman Bill Thomas, R-Bakersfield, who offered a tearful apology on the House floor for that day's events; he had called Capitol Police to evict committee Democrats from a library where they were caucusing.

I do not condone the actions of a few soldiers, civilians and whomever may have been involved with the mistreatment of the Iraqi prisoners of war. I do however condone anyone who feels the need to tell Stark what an Ass Hole he is!

Posted by SlagleRock at May 10, 2004 09:11 PM