Mullings by Rich Galen | Secret Decoder Ring for July 5, 2000

The Patriot Wednesday, July 5, 2000

TITLE: "The Patriot" The title of the new Mel Gibson movie about which most of this column is written because it was, for most people a holiday. As I am neither a nurse, a fireman, nor a police officer I tried to cut down my workday to a minimum. There. Truth in column writing.

Here is a link to the movie.

Here are pictures of the real Swamp Fox

And Mel Gibson

Here is the Encyclopćdia Britannica entry for Francis Marion

Marion, Francis

b. c. 1732, Winyah, S.C.
d. Feb. 26, 1795, Berkeley County, S.C., U.S.

byname THE SWAMP FOX, colonial American soldier in the U.S. War of Independence (1775-83), nicknamed by the British for his elusive tactics.

Marion gained his first military experience fighting against the Cherokee Indians in 1759. Then, serving as a member of the South Carolina Provincial Congress (1775), he was commissioned a captain. It was after the surrender of Gen. Benjamin Lincoln to the British at Charleston, S.C. (1780), that he slipped away to the swamps, gathered together his band of guerrillas, and then began leading his bold raids.

Marion and his irregulars often defeated larger bodies of British troops by the surprise and rapidity of their movement over swampy terrain. For a daring rescue of Americans surrounded by the British at Parkers Ferry, S.C. (August 1781), Marion received the thanks of Congress. He was then appointed a brigadier general, and after the war he served in the senate of South Carolina (1782-90).

"PAN was the center-right party in the national election." The LA Times' MARY BETH SHERIDAN and KEN ELLINGWOOD wrote:
"Mexico's longtime ruling party suffered a fresh blow Monday as returns from landmark elections showed that it had lost for the first time not just the presidency but its dominance in the federal Congress.

The returns indicated that voters had thoroughly repudiated the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which oversaw the construction of modern Mexico. They handed a stunning victory to Vicente Fox, the charismatic businessman who will be the first non-PRI president in 71 years.

Fox's influence in Sunday's election turned out to be deeper than anyone had imagined. His center-right National Action Party, or PAN, [emphasis mine] became the leading force in both houses of Congress, according to nearly complete official returns.

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Texas under Governor Bush:

1st in student improvement on test scores, especially for African-American and Hispanic students.

1st in reducing the amount of releases and disposal of toxics - more than all 49 other states combined.

1st in the nation to allow a patient to appeal an HMO's decision to deny care.

1st to create a prison ministry to help offenders reintegrate into society.

1 of only 3 states to require reductions of harmful pollution from older, unpermitted utility plants.

1 of only 10 "highly successful" states in reducing welfare rolls between 1995 and 1998.

4th in growth in total personal income.

9th in teacher pay, when adjusted for cost of living and teacher experience.

$1.8 billion investment in healthcare initiatives.

1.2 million jobs created, representing more than 10 percent of new jobs created nationwide and 48,000 new businesses.

Lowest unemployment rate in twenty years -- 4.7 percent.

Doubled the number of adoptions of abused and neglected children in Texas.

America under Clinton-Gore:

The number of uninsured Americans increased by more than 8 million.

Almost 70 percent of fourth graders in the highest poverty schools cannot read at basic level.

Teachers were victims of 1.8 million crimes at school, including 657,000 violent crimes.

Illegal drug use among high school seniors increased 78 percent.

Federal prosecutions of gun-related offenses decreased by 46 percent.

More than 12,000 U.S. soldiers are on food stamps.

Enacted a $115 billion tax increase on Social Security enefits.

Federal government is the nation's largest polluter, costing taxpayers nearly $400 billion for cleanups.

45 convictions, 72 indictments/misdemeanor charges, and 8 imprisonments related to the 1996 campaign finance scandal, improper conduct by Clinton-Gore cabinet officials, and Whitewater.

What did Arkansas look like when Al Gore joined Bill Clinton in 1992?

50th in environmental policy initiatives.

47th in per capita state spending for education.

43rd in per capita spending for higher education.

41st in citizens living in poverty.

45th in children living in poverty.

47th in children without health insurance.

45th in children living in hunger.

43rd in infants born with low birth weight.

47th in personal income.

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