Hey, Everyone's entitled to their opinion...

All right, I don’t like to get political but there are a few things that do tend to get me going. If you know me - and I can’t imagine any reason why you would be at this web site if you did not know me - then you know that I am no fan of Jane Fonda.

Now before I rant, let me just explain something. We live in a free country. And I believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and their beliefs. People are free to support or protest anything they like. If our country goes to war, and you don’t agree with the war, then you are free to protest. It’s the American way; it’s one of the very freedoms that you are guaranteed as a citizen, or even a guest of this country.

To that end, I don’t give a rat’s ass that Jane Fonda protested the Vietnamese War. It was a representation of her opinion, and she was entitled to it. My beef was that her actions went beyond protest. Her actions were in the support of the North Vietnamese (our enemy during the war), and caused direct harm to our soldiers. That is going too far.

Imagine going to Afghanistan today to support the Taliban, and deliver Anti-American rhetoric for broadcast. Furthermore imagine taking direct actions with the Taliban that put captured American soldiers into harms way. All the while calling those soldiers cowards and war criminals RIGHT TO THEIR FACES.

And another thing. If you disagree with the Government’s actions then protest the Government, don’t attack your countrymen! This woman’s actions went beyond recrimination of the Government; she attacked individuals. And for her actions, ABC included her in their show, “100 Years of Great Women”.

So this morning I opened an email with a letter supposedly a conglomeration of accounts of Vietnam Veterans reporting on Jane Fonda’s trip to their POW camps in 1972. I did a little research, and it turns out that only part of the email is confirmable. I discovered that at the POW Network page. However I encourage you to check it out, since they also have the whole story there.

So here’s the bottom line: just because Jane Fonda’s trip to Vietnam was in 1972 and this show aired in April 1999, doesn’t mean that we should just forget about it. If this upsets you then you are entitled to tell folks about it. Here are some of the folks that you might want to tell:

Walt Disney Company
Attn: Public Relations
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, California 91521

Or you can email them at: webmaster@disney.com
Or just use this link: Disney.go.com

You can also write a letter to ABC:
Network Programming ABC Inc.
77 West 66th Street
New York, NY 10023

Or just use this link : ABC News


Just to be fair I want to mention that in 1988 while shooting a film in New England filming was halted by the number of people protesting Jane Fonda. As a result of this stoppage Jane appeared on 20/20 with Barbara Walters and issued a short apology to Vietnam Veterans. Most veterans have rejected the apology as too little too late.

Here’s a publicity shot of Jane Fonda posing with North Vietnamese soldiers sitting on an anti-aircraft gun used to shoot down American soldiers.