Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (38035)	7/25/2005 4:05:37 PM
From: paret	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

Politician crashes Marine's funeral Hands out business card, tells family 'our government is against this war' July 24, 2005 © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com When the family of Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich gathered in Pittsburgh for the fallen Marine's funeral, they expected a large crowd – after all, they've lived in the area for generations and Joseph had been a police officer before becoming a leatherneck – but they didn't expect to see Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor show up, hand out her business card and tell them "our government" opposes the war. Goodrich, 32, and fellow western Pennsylvanian, Lance Cpl. Ryan J. Kovacicek, 22 – both second-generation Marines – were killed in Iraq two weeks ago during a mortar attack, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Goodrich's funeral was held last Tuesday. According to Sgt. Goodrich's sister-in-law, the church was full of those "who wanted to tell his family how Joe had impacted their lives." Then, she says, "one uninvited guest made an appearance, Catherine Baker Knoll." Knoll, the first woman to achieve Pennsylvania's No. 2 position, was elected in 2002 as the running mate of current governor and fellow Democrat, Ed Rendell. Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll According to the fallen Marine's sister-in-law, Lt. Gov. Knoll sat down next to one of the Goodrich family members. During the distribution of communion, she leaned over and asked, "Who are you?" and gave the surprised family member her business card. The Goodrich family is furious, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. While the church was packed with Marines and law enforcement officers in dress uniform, Rhonda Goodrich is certain the politician wasn't an invited guest. "Knoll felt this was an appropriate time to campaign and impose her will on us. I am amazed and disgusted Knoll finds a Marine funeral a prime place to campaign." Most upsetting, says Goodrich, was Knoll's message to the family. "'I want you to know our government is against this war,'" Goodrich quotes the lieutenant governor. "Our family deserves an apology," Rhonda Goodrich says. "Here you have a soldier who was killed – dying for his country – in a church full of grieving family members and she shows up uninvited. It made a mockery of Joey's death." The family plans to ask Gov. Ed Rendell if Knoll's statement reflects his administration's position on the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rendell will probably not be happy to hear of Knoll's latest malaprop. Last November, reports swirled of Rendell's desire to drop Knoll from the 2006 ticket, if only he could find a way to do it gracefully. Knoll, although active in politics for nearly 35 years, had developed a reputation as an "isolated and eccentric figure" who burns through staff, requires extensive coaching to perform her duties as president of the state Senate and often angers top senators in her own party. In spite of the hiring of a high-priced speech coach to help her break the habit, Knoll has introduced Gov. Ed Rendell at public functions as 1940s gangster movie actor Edward G. Robinson, the Morning Call reports.