May 14, 1999

"I interviewed some of these refugees two days ago. When 
I interviewed the refugees, I found some things to be 
tremendously interesting. They all said the same thing: 
In fact, they didn't have any problems until the bombing started.
- Senator James Inhofe (April 29, 1999)


For the  first time in 41 years of piloting his own plane, 
a propeller fell off Senator James Inhofe airplane. It 
happened last Saturday. I just learned about it today. 

Readers who have been following these posts from the
beginning know that Senator Inhofe has visited Yugoslavia
personally and been an outspoken critic of the
bombing. He's also expressed doubt on the veracity 
of NATO's claim that "the Serbs" are responsbile for the 
mass exodus from Kosovo. He attributes the Albanians' 
leaving  to what he says refugee camps residents 
told him unanimously: They had no problems until 
the bombs started dropping.

Inhofe's comments have been all but censored from the
US news media, though the transcript of his remarks
is available in the Congressional Record and his
web site. http://www.senate.gov/~inhofe/fl042699.html

Inhofe is Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Readiness 
Subcommittee.

Details about Inhofe's recent aircraft mishap:   

Sen. Jim Inhofe, a pilot for 41 years, made an emergency 
landing early Saturday after the propeller fell off his 
airplane.
 
Inhofe, R-Okla., was not injured, but his single-engine 
airplane was slightly damaged, said press secretary Danny 
Finnerty. Inhofe was alone in the aircraft.
 
Inhofe said he glided for about eight miles before landing 
the plane at Claremore Airport. He said he took off from 
Ketchum, where he keeps his 1979 Grumman Tiger, and had 
been in the air about 10 minutes when trouble began. 
 
``I noticed a vibration,'' he said, then heard a pop as 
the propeller dropped off.
 
The plane became tail heavy and he knew it would be difficult 
landing, he said. ``I wasn't sure I could make it,'' he said.
 
Inhofe, an experienced, commercially rated pilot, was en 
route from northeastern Oklahoma to Oklahoma City, where he 
was to meet President, who was touring tornado-ravaged parts 
of central Oklahoma.
 
Finnerty said the FBI has been asked to investigate because 
``propellers don't just fly off airplanes every day.''

=========================================================

Michael Parenti and Peggy Norton treated the death-by-airplane
accident of labor leader Walter Reuther at some length
in Parenti's book "Dirty Truths." Reuther was an outspoken
opponent of the war in Vietnam and Cambodia and despised
by Richard Nixon. Parenti's account is well worth reading. 

Nearly 30 years later after his death in 1970, the FBI 
still refuses to turn over nearly 200 pages of documents
regarding Reuther's death.

"The labor movement is about changing society...What good 
is a dollar an hour more if your neighborhood is burning 
down? What good is another $100 pension if the world goes up 
in atomic smoke?"
- Walter Reuther, founding member of the United Auto Workers