Letters to the editor for Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013

Praise of ‘Hanoi Jane’ a clear planned dig on Veterans Day

On the world stage of the United Nations on Nov. 6, Ambassador Samantha Powers made the following adulatory comment praising activist Jane Fonda: “ ... you know life has changed when you’re hanging out with Jane Fonda back stage. There is no greater embodiment of being outspoken on behalf of what you believe in — and being ‘all in’ in every way — than Jane Fonda, and it’s a huge honor just to even briefly have shared the stage with her ...”

The first few days of November, particularly the exact date of Nov. 11, is the short period of time set aside specifically for Americans to express our debt of appreciation to our military men and women for the sacrifices they make every day to protect America’s freedom, which, but for them, would not exist. Given the price of their sacrifice — the loss of leisure, limbs and life — you would think that President Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations could have picked a time to gush forth her fawning glorification of Jane Fonda that did not splash over onto the few days of appreciation for Veterans Day.

I am not about to believe that the timing of the praise Samantha Powers lavished upon Jane Fonda was accidental. Not only was it a deliberate intrusion upon Veterans Day, it was also intended to be a denigration of the American soldier in the presence of her “anti-war” heroine, “Hanoi Jane.”

Orlis Trone

Fernley