BUY THE BOOK:
BILL MILLER, DO YOU KNOW ME? A DAUGHTER REMEMBERS

Elizabeth "Libby" Miller Fitzgerald has written a book about her Dad, Bill Miller, who was Barry Goldwater’s Vice Presidential running mate in 1964.

Both Libby and her Dad were personal friends of mine.

Prominently featured on my wall is a picture of me with Miller, a Congressman from New York, during his tenure as Chairman of the Republican National Committee. He had previously been Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Libby was a member of the Young Republican Club at Newton College, which club was founded and led by my future wife, Peggy.

Libby was a strong supporter of mine when I won election as State Chairman of the Massachusetts College Republicans.

Another good friend in the club was Kathy Wilson, daughter of New York’s then GOP Lieutenant Governor, Malcolm Wilson.

My wife was also a friend of Mary Anne Morrissey, whose Dad, Francis X. Morrissey, despite a very questionable record, was Ted Kennedy’s first recommended nominee to the Federal judiciary --- a nomination put forward by his brother, President Jack Kennedy, but subsequently withdrawn under a hail of criticism.

By the way, Bill Miller was a terrific guy and was justly proud of his very fine daughter.

Other famous personages, including Jackie Gleason, had daughters at Newton College. Gleason frequently visited the campus in glorious fashion, along the lines of his television character, "Reginald Van Gleason III". In addition to his extraordinary talent as an actor, comedian, composer, and conductor, Gleason also was a man’s man and a delightful person.

THE ATLANTA BRAVES HAVE DOWNSIZED THEMSELVES

As a fan of the Braves since age 5 when I lived in Boston, a fan who remained loyal to them as they traveled to Milwaukee and then Atlanta, I have been deeply saddened by some of the recent changes in the Braves line-up.

One of my favorites, Julio Franco, at age 47, will begin playing for the New York Mets. Leo Mazzone, the greatest pitching coach in baseball, is now on the staff of the Baltimore Orioles. Rafael Furcal, the greatest shortstop in baseball, will be playing in 2006 for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In previous years, we’ve lost Greg Maddux (to the Chicago Cubs) and Tom Glavine (to the New York Mets). There have been many other departures as well, including star pitchers Kevin Millwood, Russ Ortiz, Jaret Wright, and Denny Neagle, not to mention catcher Johnny Estrada, infielder Vinny Castilla, and more.

This is very difficult. Much of it is the result of a limited payroll mandated from above by the team’s owners. Nonetheless, it bodes ill for the Braves’ success in 2006.

Sadly, the team to watch in the NL East next season is the New York Mets, who have spent a fortune during the "hot stove league" period in acquiring some of baseball’s top talent, including Billy Wagner of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Another big loss for the Braves was the departure of Kyle Farnsworth to the New York Yankees. Farnsworth flopped in the post-season, but he turned out to be a superb reliever during the latter part of the regular season.

The only good news is that the Braves dumped Danny Kolb and sent him back to Detroit from which he ought never to have departed.

THE BLOOD RUNS THIN AMONG THE DESCENDANTS OF BILL FRANCE

Good news --- responding to pressure from The Conservative Caucus and others, the U.S. Navy is on the verge of reversing the steady decline it has experienced since Dick Cheney’s days as Secretary of Defense and has embarked on a new shipbuilding program.

As reported in The New York Times (12/5/05), "The Navy wants to increase its fleet to 313 ships by 2020, reversing years of decline in naval shipbuilding and adding dozens of warships designed to defeat emerging adversaries, senior Defense Department officials say."

TED KOPPEL: IDEOLOGUE FIRST, JOURNALIST SECOND

Back in the 1980’s when I co-hosted a daily three-hour radio talk show on WRC (NBC’s Washington, D.C. affiliate) and served as co-host for CNN’s "Crossfire", I had occasional contact with Ted Koppel of ABC’s "Nightline", who has recently retired.

Unfortunately, my previously high regard for Mr. Koppel ended as the result of an experience I had in his "Nightline" studio later in the 1980’s.

I had just returned from South Africa (RSA) where I had helped lead a delegation concerned about growing Communist influence in that country, which Marxist-Leninist influence manifested itself in some of the most brutal acts of terrorism of the modern era.

Upon my return to Virginia, I answered my door one afternoon to find a half dozen of those with whom I had met in the RSA. They had come to America seeking my help in exposing the brutality which they and their associates had suffered at the hands of the African National Congress (ANC).

One of my visitors was an African-American woman whose husband and two sons had been "necklaced" and burned to death by Nelson Mandela’s ANC.

Other guests included a young lady who had been disfigured as the result of a terrorist bombing at a railway station, as well as John and Cindy Leontsinis, founders of "Victims Against Terrorism", who had come to South Africa from Chile to escape growing Cuban Communist influence under the regime of Chile’s Premier, Salvador Allende.

Other members of the RSA group also had first hand accounts which they wished to share.

During their visit, they were hosted by Jerry Falwall on stage in Lynchburg, Virginia at the "Old Time Gospel Hour" and interviewed by a number of journalists.

At my request, Ted Koppel permitted my friends to await an audience with him in ABC’s "green room". I had high hopes that Koppel would reference the experiences of these individuals on "Nightline", particularly since on that very day, his program had featured accounts of chaos, brutality, and acts of terror at an especially horrendous soccer game disruption in Europe, where a significant number of people died in the melee.

Koppel dismissed, out of hand, the heartfelt testimony of my friends, saying, in effect, that murderous behavior by the ANC was not the kind of terrorism in which he had an interest.

At that point, I regretfully concluded that Mr. Koppel’s bias corrupted the integrity of his journalism.