Warbird Information Exchange

It upsets me to report that Randy "Duke" Cunningham who up until today a Congressman from Calif. has resigned after pleading guilty to accepting 2 million dollars in bribes. Mr Cunningham who was an ace while flying with the navy in the Vietnam War, could receive a 10 year sentence according to the story at www.cnn.com. A very sad situation indeed. The corruption in our government never ceases to amaze me!

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Pat, The sad thing is he was probably set up! I've know "Duke" ever since I worked at Champlin's, nice guy!! I wish him the very best of luck and god's speed!!

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John Lane, Jr.

Hi John, thanks for the info. Yes, its sad all the way around and it sucks big time if he was set up.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Get this book and it will amaze you all the cr*ap that went on in the
Navy establishment. Even Cunningham pulled some real dusies.
http://www.gregoryvistica.com/otherPubs.htm

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Don't touch my junk!!

He wasn't set up. He made a statement today saying that he had been taking kickbacks for years. He admitted to doing it all along, and knowing that it was wrong. From hero to zero. Convicted to 10 years incarceration.

There are a lot of dead warriors out there who have given their all, willingly or not, so we can have the best. Politics aside, what any person who has served as I have can see is that the ultimate cost of doing business in this country is high amongst those who have fought their war from the air. Most of those who have fought and survived went on to be participants in their communities in many productive ways. Maybe they were a bit louder around old buddies, but they did their part and then some.

For someone who comes from that background and then draws the line of entitlement with themselves beyond the reach of "the rest" deserves the last bit of scorn we can heap upon them. I'm sure this guy was a neat person and probably a decent pilot. But the things I fought for were that we are free and equal, not one or the other, and that no one gets ahead without paying their due. Every day, I hope that I am giving my all, and some days it has been hard to give that. But this guy deserves the 10 years, because he knew he was wrong, he admitted it, and for him to play the sob story in front of the press for leniency just sickens me. I've done lots of wrong in my life, and I've stood up and been counted when the licks came down. It's his turn to be among the 2 million people who got caught doing wrong in this country, and deserve their time, and are paying it.

You might say this is harsh, but one of these days when we actually meet, I'll spend a few hours telling you just about the stories when we had equipment that failed, putting together gas money out of our pockets because the government didn't have fuel for us to train, buying my own equipment because I couldn't get new stuff to replace worn out old stuff, buying my own meds because the army didn't have any money for it. I've got plenty of them, and they are some of the reasons I hung up 12 years in the Army. Sound like war stories? Then ask the guys deploying right now how many of them had to buy the new Quik Klot trauma dressing on their own, while the DOD is dicking around between services arguing over another inferior product. I don't have a lot of respect for people who cheat people out of what they need to do their job. And that is what this guy did, pure and simple.... That money they spent on him getting their way with the DOD should have been spent in other ways- like getting $4.00 (that's right, $4.00) trauma dressings for the soldiers who are buying them. Just outrageous.

I'm going to end it here, because as I write this, I'm getting more mad at this guy and I don't even know him. Flame on, but if he had any real balls, he'd be writing a check for his whole fortune to some of the guys and gals who could really use it, the people he thought were NOT his equals, and are recovering in Walter Reed, Bethesda, Malcolm Grow and other hospitals around the country.

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REMEMBER THE SERGEANT PILOTS!

The piece of sh*t had this to say:
"I misled my friends, family and myself. The truth is, I broke the law and disgraced my office and myself,"
Too bad the Hanoi Hilton is no longer open for business, I can't think of a better place for him to pay his debt...

Found his quote here:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld ... -headlines

Whoa...warbirdnerd...that's a bit harsh. Hanoi Hilton??? Were you in the "Hilton"? I'd venture to say that if you had been, you'd lighten that up a little.
No...I wasn't there either but I'm not the one wishing that on the guy.

Mudge the astounded

very shocking & quite disappointing, evidently he used bad judgement as a congressman, but his political record should stand well away from his military record, & there should be no reflection as such. he was an officer, a gentleman, & a war hero 1st. as a politician who got popped with his hand in the cookie jar he is among a long string of govt officials who just can't pass the temptation of the almighty buck.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

I would have to comment that in fact, the Col. is right, there have been more disgraces in politics than just from Duke. Much worse things have been going on for years.

It just happens that he got caught. He knew it was wrong, but in Washington, it is not seen as wrong in the eyes of congressmen and senators.

He did the crime, he should do the time, plain and simple. He should have known better, but then again, who knows when your being put in those situations, what would you do? You see everyone around you doing the same darn thing, so what the heck, might as well get mine, he served his country, maybe he thought, he needed a little kick back for kicking ass in Vietnam.

Money is the root of all evil, when you dont have it, you want it, and when you have it, you can't get enough of it.

It is sad to see it happen, but he should have said no, and reported the contractors to the house and had them slapped up a bit.

'fraid to say I'm whole-heartedly with Forgotten-Field here. I met Duke, at a NASM lecture about ten years ago. He seemed like a really decent bloke, and I sure respected what he went through in the service of our nation.

However, for what he did as a politician, there is no excuse, nor should there be any leniency. He took well over two million dollars over an extended period of time, to use his political influence to pedal inferior products to defend our nation. How can any of you give him the soft glove for something like that. He potentially put the lives of our service men and women at risk, and by extension, ours as well. How he could do this to his own service-brethren is beyond anything I can understand. You cannot say "they all do it, so why can't he..." that's such apologist bull-cr@p! The truth is that they don't all do it, however, too many do. Most of the current leadership seem to from Frist's insider trading to Cheney's Haliburton, and most of them belong in jail too. We shouldn't put up with it! People like Duke, make me sick to my stomach. Yet another hero down the toilet. Nothing he's done in the past will mean a darn thing now. He didn't just fail the test once or twice.... he did so repeatedly, and over many years, and knowingly. I listened to him cry during his NASM lecture when recounting the story of a man taking unbelieveable punishment in the Hanoi Hilton for having sewn an American flag into the back of his jacket. That story made me cry too. Now it's like he took part in the beating, and I'm sorry, but I can't forgive him, not ever.

Richard

Cuningham being a Nam hero and ace is, I'm sure, idolized by many has 'their' hero. This puts him on a higher pedistal than the rest of them.
I think he's shattered the faith of many who expected more from him. especially VETS. To say Hillary and rest do it so it's Ok for Duke to do it to is pure horse sh*t.
Read Fall From Glory by Gregory Victica. It will blow your mind with cr*p that went on including Duke's antics at Top Gun!!! Victica was the San Diego Times reported that first reported on the tailhook scandle.

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Don't touch my junk!!

Boyington gets all kinds of blame for his alcoholism and selling himself after the war. Duke should get even more. I have much more respect for the Boyington's of the world than those who we place in positions of trust as elected officials, and they betray us.

He has destroyed his previous record as a hero by betraying the trust of the people he was elected to represent. This is why the Ted Kennedys of the world get away with murder, yet how are they elected every year.

I say vote em all out and start over again. Remember in your high school American History class, how it was a financial strain to be elected to Congress, not a financial boon that it is today. Basically I am sick and tired of working my butt off so others can live in the lap of luxery in DC.

My $0.02

Ok the Hanoi Hilton might be a bit severe, but Duke had farther to fall than the average politcian...

Its a shame that he did not bring the professionalism to Congress that he had as a Naval Aviator. Society is so preoccupied with material gain, that true possessions like integrity and honesty are laughed at when they interfere with the acquistion of wealth. I hope that people who preach the line about the Person who dies with the most toys wins, will realize that your DEAD and not able to enjoy life.