FC: NASA replies to Politech post by deleting website bio?

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Background on Dian Hardison, who was reportedly charged with mailing foot 
powder in her water bill:
http://www.local6.com/orlpn/news/stories/news-148684320020530-050554.html
http://democrats.com/view.cfm?id=7700

The deleted page, from archive.org:
http://web.archive.org/web/20010311054619/http://ltp.arc.nasa.gov/women/bios/dh.html

-Declan

---

To: declan () well com, thediehard () sunnyfla net
Cc: watha () monitortan com, dave () farber net
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 03:22:34 -0500
Subject: Politech has impact
From: terry.s () juno com

It appears Politech has been noticed by NASA, and they've cut off an
entire section of their maze of Web sites pending removal of content
about Dian.

"Dian Hardison" no longer shows up on the primary NASA.gov search engine.
 It shows close to 100 hits on the NASA HQ search engine, not all within
the ltp.arc.nasa.gov subdomain.  It appears that's the "Learning
Technologies Project" area of the Advanced Research Center site.

No URL's at ltp.arc.nasa.gov are working, as if they turned off that
entire segment of the educational project.  The subdomain doesn't
resolve.  Finding the IP address for it of 128.102.2.54 via NSlookup, it
still appears dead, as do pages polled from that IP (rather than URL) and
polled via directory and page filename at that IP.

Other *.arc.nasa.gov pages are working.

ltp.larc.nasa.gov pages are working.  That appears to be a smaller piece
of the same educational project, at a NASA remote location at Langley.
It Traceroutes as if linked via Cox cable circuits local to Virginia,
noting that Cox does serve that geographic area.  A NASA employee
directory lists 757 Area Codes for larc.nasa.gov email addresses, which
reflects Hampton, VA.

Other NASA URLs are working fine.  Dian's name shows up in lots of .pdf
file newsletters, as a contact for fellow NASA workers being encouraged
with financial subsidies to participate in Toastmasters and other forms
of public relations.  It shows up in some pages of other NASA divisions,
but yet others that appear in a search are offline or 404, or restricted
access as if internal phone books or work progress records.

I can't help but conclude NASA is embarassed.  However, in a rush to hide
and cover, they've at least temporarily killed access to an entire youth
education initiative subdomain (97267 hits for "Learning Technology
Project"), while leaving so many other documents mentioning Dian one
might only suspect her claims of rushed or less than fully competent
staff also apply to those trying to revise NASA online history and
pretend she's not a wrongfully terminated esteemed employee who was in
fact just doing a superior job of her official duties.  Worse, perhaps
they KNOW she would make a good witness to a Congressional inquiry.

In pages whose posting dates range from 1995 to 2002, it's obvious that
Dian not only did her official job for NASA, but was frequently promoted
as a model employee to other employees, and helped a special program to
educate and set an example for kids.

Attached are my search results.  Grab 'em now, in case more disappear.
It's going to take a LOT of editing to do an Orwellian history revision
of all places Dian's efforts are documented in NASA's Web presence, not
just on html pages but in archival documents and newsletters.  Yet more
difficult would be removing her mentions from an apparent CD-rom NASA has
distributed promoting their space projects. I've saved at least a few of
the former and present such pages and documents here, and have done
enough Whois, NSLookup, and Traceroute tests, plus trying to load pages
by IP rather than URL, that it's obvious these changes are no accident.



Terry


"KSC TOASTMASTERS: Space Center employees are constantly in the public
eye and in situations which require you to represent the
United States Space Program. Employees are encouraged to develop their
communication and leadership skills to meet this challenge.
Toastmasters International is a professional, multi-level training
program for both beginning and advanced education in the critical skills
of “listening, thinking, and speaking”—all important tools in both the
work environment and your personal lives. NASA has recognized
this by reimbursing civil servants for the cost of training. For more
information on the Toastmasters organizations and the three
different locations/dates for training sessions at KSC and CCAFS, contact
Mike Schnoke, Jack Jamba, Bill Cleaver, Dian Hardison, or Nona Mamaradlo
at 784-7502."

---

To: declan () well com
Cc: thediehard () sunnyfla net
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 04:23:49 -0500
Subject: 3.2 Appropriate Content for NASA Sites
From: terry.s () juno com

http://nasa-wbp.larc.nasa.gov/3.0/3_2.html

3.2 Appropriate Content for NASA Sites
NASA is candid in dealings with the public, and a similar stance is taken
with the Internet. The "NASA Public Affairs Internet Policy" states,

"From its origins in 1958 to the present day, NASA has pursued a policy
of openness and accessibility. The Agency’s business is conducted and
explained in full public view, and the results of NASA’s activities are
considered a resource to be made as widely available as possible. With
the advent of the Internet, a medium NASA helped create, a powerful new
communications tool is available for explaining NASA’s programs to the
American people, and for making many of the results of those efforts
widely available electronically. Information is to be freely shared
across the Internet, but only information that is appropriate and cleared
for public release."
Documents that are in development or are not to be viewed by the public
should be placed on web servers that have restricted access. No document
in a draft or development state should be viewable by users. Likewise,
documents not cleared for public release should be separated from those
posted on a public website. In terms of content, all documents, whether
public or private, shall be directly related to the official
responsibilities of individuals and organizations fulfilling their
assigned missions and charters consistent with their individual Center,
NASA, and the federal government.

If NASA content will be included or referenced on a non-NASA site (either
by directly including it in the web page or by including a link to
another site), make sure that the content is pertinent to your
organization, and that the resulting page content is appropriateand
endorsed by a government agency.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
CIO Internal | CIO External | NASA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------

NASA Official Responsible For Content: WWW Best Practices Team
(www+wbp () larc nasa gov)
Curator: Dave Olsen (dmolsen () pop900 gsfc nasa gov)
Last Updated: August 30, 2000



http://nasa-wbp.larc.nasa.gov/toc.html

http://nasa-wbp.larc.nasa.gov/3.0/3_3.html

---

From: "Scott Jordan" <scott_c_jordan () yahoo com>
To: <owner-politech () politechbot com>, "'Declan@Well. Com'" <declan () well com>
Subject: Dian Hardison
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 09:02:28 -0800
Message-ID: <003201c2cadc$de42a280$0f01a8c0@sjvaio>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
        charset="iso-8859-1"
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal

Declan, I shared the Politech piece on "Subj: More on Space Shuttle Columbia
disaster earlier today" with some e-acquaintences who, like me, are very
interested in the topic.

Dian Hardison's story caught the eye of one, who quickly researched her
further.  Appears she did a whole lot more than email a joke.

Best regards,

--Scott Jordan
  San Jose


> I don't know Dian, but Terry is a longtime and valued subscriber to
> Politech. NASA still has Dian's bio online, which says she was a
> propellant
> engineer:
> http://ltp.arc.nasa.gov/women/bios/dh.html


-- If he did not know Dian Hardison, then before posting her rant, a search
of Google on Terry's part would have been a good place to start. I recommend
you folks talk a look ...
<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22dian+hardison%22&btnG
=Google+Search>

-- Also here's a bit more about 'highly decorated NASA engineer' Dian
Hardison from some newspaper coverage I happened to come across:

FLORIDA TODAY
June 12, 2002

Letters to the Editor

Domestic terror here in Brevard County is totally unacceptable.

Dian Hardison for years was everyone's "Morality Mom." She wrote all the
papers in Brevard two or three times a month telling all of us how we should
live our lives. Her subjects covered all areas from breasts to bikes,
politics to priests, and always the theme was that we, the common
conservative work-a-day types, were just plain duds or worse.

This lady needs desperately, after all she did confess, to spend some
serious time in the custody of the state's penal system.

Can anyone really appreciate the fear she must have caused to some innocent
letter opener at the water department? It fits the common theme of her
liberal political views -- that she alone knows what is good and fair, and
that even a police officer is stupid for not recognizing the powder for a
prank. I guess they were supposed to smell it to see if it was anthrax or
whatever.

Roy Deeser
Titusville
...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
June 5, 2002

Alleged false anthrax mailer posts bond

COCOA -- A 44-year-old Cocoa woman arrested last week and charged with
lacing a water bill with fake anthrax posted bond and has another court date
later this month.

Dian Hardison was charged with falsely threatening to unleash a weapon of
mass destruction. The second-degree felony comes with a maximum 15-year
prison term.

Police said Hardison put foot powder in her January bill payment, knowing
city employees would fear it might be anthrax. The powder fell out when a
customer service worker opened the envelope.

The worker and another person in the same office were quarantined. At the
same time, nearly 80 employees were evacuated from City Hall and the air
conditioner was shut down to prevent any possible spores from spreading.

City Hall was checked by police and reopened two hours later.

Police were led to Hardison by her name on the bill and the attached check.
A DNA match on the envelope confirmed her identity as the sender, police
said.

In order to leave the Brevard County Detention Center in Sharpes on
Thursday, Hardison posted $500 bail . Her next court appearance is June 28
in Melbourne before County Court Judge David Silverman.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY (Brevard County, FL)
May 31, 2002

Cocoa woman; 44; charged in anthrax hoax

BYLINE: Tanya Caldwell

Cocoa woman, 44, charged in anthrax hoax

Police: Suspect put foot powder in city water payment

By Tanya Caldwell

PORT ST. JOHN -- A 44-year-old Cocoa woman was charged Thursday with lacing
her water-bill payment with fake anthrax, which prompted the evacuation of
75 employees from City Hall in January. Dian Hardison was charged with a
second-degree felony. She remained in the Brevard County Detention Center in
Sharpes late Thursday on $5,000 bail.

Police said Hardison put foot powder in her January bill payment, knowing
city employees would fear it might be anthrax. The powder fell out when a
customer service worker opened the envelope. The worker, who feared it was
anthrax, and another person in the same office were quarantined; employees
were evacuated from City Hall and the air conditioner was shut down to
prevent the possible spread of spores. City Hall was checked by police and
reopened after two hours.

The scare was one of hundreds in the wake of the October discovery of
anthrax in South Florida, Washington, D.C., New Jersey and New York City.
Five people died, and more were infected. Police were led to Hardison by her
name on the bill and the attached check. Her identity as the sender was
confirmed by a DNA match on the envelope.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, federal authorities have treated such
incidents seriously, Cocoa police spokeswoman Barbara Matthews said.

Hardison had "a few comments" about the arrest, Matthews said. "She thinks
that we're stupid, and that once we found out it was just foot powder we
should just let it drop."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

St. Petersburg Times
April 23, 2002, Tuesday

Supporters of nudism speak

BYLINE: JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK


Commissioner Betty Whitehouse intended to target potential strip joints and
sex clubs when she asked staff in March to craft an antinudity law for
Hernando County.

The lawyers brought back a proposal that did much more. And, in the face of
a highly supportive crowd, commissioners did nothing to change that
direction during their first hearing on the ordinance.

Since that April 9 session, people who enjoy nude recreation have pressed
commissioners to exempt nudist clubs, parks and resorts from the rule that
otherwise would not permit them, even in a private setting. "We don't want
to offend anyone," explained Richard Mason, government affairs coordinator
for the Florida Naturist Association, who has sent several e-mails and
documents to the county that challenge its position.

"We would like them to add, "except in areas set apart or provided
therefore,' " to the ordinance, Mason said. "That's not unreasonable."

He argued that nudity does not, by itself, create the negative secondary
effects that the Hernando ordinance implies. He noted that clothing-optional
public beaches in Miami-Dade County do not have problems such as rape and
prostitution, nor do private nude resorts in Pasco.

"The only thing this ordinance will do is criminalize the activities of
naturists, backyard sunbathers behind a fence, and Boy Scouts
skinny-dipping, after a hike, in a remote stream," Mason wrote to
commissioners.

Senior Assistant County Attorney Kent Weissinger told commissioners in a
memo that, despite arguments that the ordinance might discriminate against
an "otherwise legal use of property," his office backed the proposal as "the
best means of prohibiting nudity in public places."

Commissioner Diane Rowden has decided an exemption would harm no one.

What's more, Rowden said, she had trouble seeing the difference between a
community setting deed restrictions and an exemption that allows nudity, if
it takes place out of public sight.

"I am not against having a nudist colony in Hernando County," she concluded.

County planning and parks staff said no one has asked to open a nudist park
or resort.

Whitehouse and Chairwoman Nancy Robinson signaled their willingness to
reconsider the issue as well. Each has asked the county Legal Department for
an analysis of the available options. "I'll reserve my final determination
for after the public hearing," Robinson said.

Whitehouse stressed that her main concern was keeping "some of the types of
establishments that they have in Pasco," such as Lollipops and Calendar
Girls, out of Hernando. Banning nudity in private places deemed public by
ordinance might not be necessary, she said.

Commissioner Chris Kingsley, meanwhile, said he was not inclined to alter
the rule because of letters that came from people who do not live in
Hernando County.

The letters offer a different perspective on nudism from that presented
during the first public hearing, where all but two speakers spoke of the
need for public morality and several referred to the Bible.

"We are good, decent people who are opposed to most everything any
responsible American would be opposed to," wrote Dean Newton of Mesa, Ariz.
"The only difference is we do it naked." "The widespread notion that nudity
harms children is incorrect. It's the fear and loathing of it that does the
damage," wrote Paul Rapoport of Ontario.

Dian L. Hardison of Central Florida urged the commission not to adopt the
ordinance as written.

"Please do not waste your time trying to satisfy a handful of psychotic
screeching malcontents who wish to force their own personal mental problems
on everyone else by rule of bad, potentially unconstitutional, and certainly
antifreedom law," Hardison wrote, "because they never will be satisfied
until everyone else is as miserable as they are."

The public hearing is set for 5 p.m. today.

- Jeffrey S. Solochek covers Hernando County government and can be reached
at 754-6115. Send e-mail to solochek () sptimes com.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY (Brevard County, FL)
November 24, 2001

Letters to the Editor

...

Where is school tax money going?

By Dian Hardison
Port St. John

More and more, I hear students speaking out on their concerns regarding
where the tax and lottery money for schools is going. I hope they're
complaining loud and clear to their parents about those issues.

While extracurricular activities such as band and sports do raise a little
of their own money, it is true that too much of our taxpayer funding is
being dumped in a black hole somewhere. Book money is being siphoned off for
"consultants." Physical upgrades and repairs are being done on the cheap,
guaranteeing they will have to be done over. Good teachers are forced to put
up with students who don't want to learn, disrupting classrooms full of
students who do. Meantime, some kids play cards or wander off to fast-food
joints to "hang out."

I note that the School Board county taxes are nearly a full percent of my
property value. Given our county's population, there should be enough money
for eight more schools and a thousand more teachers. But even the two badly
needed projects for high schools in Viera and Port St. John are being put on
hold.

Where is the money going? Certainly not to pay good teachers and properly
perform needed work on the buildings. I think maybe I need to run for the
School Board and start digging through buried files. ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY (Brevard County, FL)
August 9, 2001

Letters to the Editor

BYLINE: Florida Today

...

Do more work on energy fronts

By Dian Hardison
Cocoa

Even though President Clinton was being hounded with fake scandals to
distract attention away from his real accomplishments and to try to blunt
the effectiveness of his policies, and though Al Gore had to put up with
being called an "environmental wacko" and dismissed as an "ineffective nerd"
in the same breath by the hate-mongering polluting industries, they could
have done better on the energy front.

But the desperate need to move into the future for energy sources was never
given the emphasis it deserved.

You'd think the brief hoo-ha about the world's population reaching 6 billion
would have at least provided a wake-up call. Perhaps the Kyoto initiative is
our best bet right now.

As more and more people become appalled at the short-sightedness and greed,
local municipalities are setting our own standards, cleaning up our own
factories and power plants and investing in our own future infrastructure.

Farms are receiving aid in exchange for putting up modern windmills. Desert
cities are allying with universities and Silicon Valley to spread solar
technology.

Here in Florida, we have enormous amounts of energy free for the tapping, if
we can only put the collectors -- wind, solar, hydrodynamic -- into place.

Some of our own power companies are willing to help invest in it, with the
proper incentives. After all, profit is profit, and cheaper energy means
more profit.

We need only to convince our own local governments, and turn our own
universities and industries loose on the problem.

And when the price of oil and coal drops to too little to make it worth
burning, then the fossil fuel robber barons will go back to being the
backwoods hicks that they are. ...

------------------------------------------------------------------------


FLORIDA TODAY
March 25, 2001 Sunday Final and all Editions

Lawsuit on nudity ban to proceed

BYLINE: Patricia Walsh

Lawsuit on nudity ban to proceed
By Patricia Walsh
Florida Today

Marvin Frandsen felt so strongly about his right to sunbathe nude at the
Canaveral National Seashore in September 1995 that he stood bare _ except
for an armband _ and protested Brevard County's ban with a Bible in his
hand.

Frandsen, a Melbourne physicist, was one of the naturists who participated
in a demonstration in a parking lot adjacent to Playalinda Beach, where he
said nudists had enjoyed free expression for decades. He and many others
were arrested for violating a 1995 county ordinance prohibiting public
nudity.

Now, Frandsen, 42, thinks he's a little closer to telling his side of the
story in federal court. Frandsen, his wife, Jan, and five others _ Frank and
Marianne Cervasio, Dian Hardison, Bryan Morris and Tonianne Wyner _ filed a
lawsuit claiming the county's ordinance violated their First Amendment
rights.

U.S. District Judge Anne Conway stated in an order filed Tuesday in Orlando
that the lawsuit is legally sufficient on its face to proceed. Conway denied
a motion by Brevard County and its sheriff to throw out the case.

Frandsen's Merritt Island attorney, Mark Tietig, contends Frandsen "was
engaged in a political demonstration and he was portraying himself as a
biblical prophet, the prophet Isaiah."

Frandsen said he and the other five individuals were simply exercising their
constitutional rights, and Brevard's "vague and overbroad" ordinance
illegally bars them from expressing artistic, religious and educational
ideas and messages while nude.

Frandsen, formerly of Fort Walton Beach, said Playalinda's nudist area was
well-known and it was "a major reason that we moved here" in 1990. He said
there were times when 1,000 beach-goers gathered at Playalinda.

The controversy began in the early 1990s when federal park rangers began
issuing citations for public nudity in what Frandsen views as "a vendetta"

against naturists. He said church members had waged letter-writing campaigns
to protest the nudists at Playalinda "even though most of them had never
been there. It was a political hysteria." However, Brevard County Attorney
Scott Knox said the ordinance was designed to prevent instances where
individuals and families _ some with small children _ unexpectedly
encountered nude sunbathers. He acknowledged that naturists have put up
quite a protest, but said nude sunbathers "could just go up to Volusia
County."

Knox said nudists began straying from their traditional area at Playalinda
in the early 1990s. "It seemed that when the thing became controversial, it
drew out people who liked to expose themselves and who weren't naturists,"
he said. "Perverts started to show up."

A dozen Park Service "criminal incident" reports document complaints from
beach-goers who said they saw individuals engaging in various sex acts at
Canaveral National Seashore between 1993 and 1996.

Frandsen, who said he is one of about 300 members of Central Florida
Naturists Inc., said he wants to protect use of nudity during a large
assembly as a means of expression.

"It's an issue of being able to communicate about naturism and politics. . .
. Right now, we are censored from doing so, under threat of arrest," he
said.

Chief Deputy Bob Sarver of the Brevard County Sheriff's Office said the
controversy has died down since the ordinance was passed.

"We haven't done much enforcement (of the public nudity ordinance), and it
hasn't been a problem for the last several years," he said Friday.

Brevard County sheriff's Cmdr. Jimmy Donn said deputies don't normally
patrol Canaveral National Seashore, but they do enforce the ordinance when
public complaints trigger their response. "There are not scheduled
operations when the Sheriff's Office puts people out at the seashore for the
purpose of generating arrests. We simply respond to complaints we receive
from the public," Donn said.

During the first two years after the ordinance took effect, dozens of
arrests were made. In 1997, 60 people were arrested or ticketed, but the
number dropped to 16 in 1999. A violation can carry up to 60 days in jail
and a $500 fine.

The push for a county ordinance came, said Assistant State Attorney Wayne
Holmes, after a federal court dismissed the citations issued by federal park
rangers seeking to use a Florida law. The ordinance drew a fervor of
protests from naturists because the far north end of the beach had been a
site for nude sunbathing.

"The beach is an isolated beach and, as I mentioned, historically it was
kind of unofficially known that if you went far enough north where you
weren't in peoples' faces, you would not be bothered," Holmes said.

Holmes said Frandsen and other naturists took actions designed to raise
constitutional issues regarding the ban. In 1997, Frandsen pleaded no
contest to public nudity; he was sentenced to six months of nonreporting
probation and fined $350.

Frandsen said that for him and his family, going naked is about self-esteem,
liberation, emotional health and enjoyment.

"There's a whole psychology that comes with wearing clothes that you don't
really understand until you go without," he said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
September 6, 2000

Letters to the Editor

...

School vouchers help wealthy

It's pretty funny that George W. Bush, who failed at everything he ever
tried and whose daddy bought his way through school, wants to be our
president. But the plan his owners and masters are trying to ram through is
not at all funny. In fact, it comes perilously close to treason.

School vouchers, "opportunity scholarships," whatever the lie of the week
is, are nothing less than an undisguised and constitutionally illegal
attempt to funnel taxpayer's money to churches in exchange for the
money-laundering and "voting guides" provided by the fundamentalist
evangelicals.

Whining, "Poor people need vouchers to escape bad schools," and "Competition
will improve public schools," they ignore both logic and facts.

Why not use that money to improve bad schools for all the students? Study
after study has established that children need smaller class sizes. Why not
hire more and better teachers? How can "competition" improve something which
has no resources?

Nor is there any guarantee that private schools provide better education.
Any church can set up its own school as a money-making scheme. The teachers
don't have to be qualified in any way.

In fact, very few people can send their child to private school, even with
vouchers. Private schools don't stay close to poor neighborhoods, and don't
want "lower class" children.

Vouchers don't usually go to lower-income families. The vast majority of
those getting our tax subsidies are upper-middle incomes, and most of those
kids were already in private schools. Vouchers just allow them to raise
their prices _ and their profits.

The Republicans don't give a rat's carcass about lower-income people, and
don't really want to improve education, because educated people aren't so
easily fooled by their empty promises.

Dian Hardison
Port St. John

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------


FLORIDA TODAY
August 31, 2000

Political letters to the Editor

...

It's politics, not drug treatment

By Dian Hardison
Cocoa

The self-proclaimed "president and founder" of the "addiction treatment
program" named H.E.A.R.T. is obviously concerned about something far
different from helping addicts. The Brevard County School Board and property
appraiser, for example, are in no position to "solve our worsening substance
abuse and mental health disasters."

No, by endorsing good ol' boy Ron Clark, right-hand buddy of old
money-wasting Jake Miller, and smoke bomb-throwing B.B. Nelson, Harold
Koenig proves that his interest is special-interest money and increased
government interference in personal freedoms, while relaxing laws that
protect the average citizen.

I thank Koenig for giving me a list of candidates to vote against.

...

------------------------------------------------------------------------


FLORIDA TODAY August 23, 2000

Letters to the Editor

...

PETA has point on eating meat

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) pulls a few stupid stunts
_such as protesting eating the rats on "Survivor" _ but you have to admire
the group's consistency and uncompromising message.

Killing unnecessarily is wrong. Eating a cow or a pig is no more glamorous
that eating a cat or a dog, no matter what name you dress it up with.
Wastefulness is wrong. Cruelty is unforgivable. Wearing an animal's skin
just to prove you can afford it is stupid and detestable.

Every single health study conducted in the past 50 years, except for the
"studies" conducted by con men with millions to make on their snake-oil book
schemes, proves that Americans eat too much protein and way, way too much
fat.

Animal meat contains chemicals that contribute to cancer. Vegetables contain
chemicals that fight cancer. Animal meat causes obesity. Vegetables fight
obesity. Animal meat is difficult to digest and causes blockages in the
you-knows from bacterial infection. Vegetables promote gastrointestinal
health. How simple can the choice be?

"Meat tastes good," is the whine usually raised in response. No it doesn't!
Try eating your meat plain, with no seasoning, no grilling, nothing except
heating it enough in the microwave to kill the bacteria. Yuck!

Put the same kind of effort into flavoring and seasoning your vegetables and
you'll find whole new galaxies of taste experience. Grill and season a slab
of onion and a few tomatoes and carrots and peppers on a stick. Check out
the herb and spice collections and get creative, or stick to the simple
recipes in Vegetarian Meals for the Cooking-Challenged.

Dian Hardison
Port St. John

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
July 8, 2000

Letters to the Editor

...

Americans are slaves to big oil firms

By Dian Hardison
Cocoa

In Canada, they're converting their buses to hydrogen fuel cells. In
Australia, they're running their ferries on solar power.

All over the world, other nations are converting to clean, renewable energy
sources, from hydrodynamic to geothermal to wind.

Only in America are we such slaves to big oil _ thank you, George Bush! _
that we'd rather go to war or ruin our own water and air rather than join
the 21st century. ...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
June 28, 2000

Letters to the Editor

...

Maligning military not productive

It's difficult to find fourth estate forums without the left-wing opinions
of Dian Hardison. Though her meanderings are amusing, I draw the line when
she maligns the American Legion. Their members sacrificed to protect her
inane letters.

Most left-wing liberals have contributed to budget problems, not the
solutions. Why didn't she stay in the military and work for fiscal
responsibility? Why didn't she fix the military budget with her "good eyes,
good computer skills" when she was in the Navy?

Why does she blame only right-wing politics for our country's numerous
problems? No specific political party is to blame for it all, or the
panacea. My parents taught me to vote with heart and conscience. It makes
little difference if we elect Democrats or Republicans, as long as
candidates have integrity, foresight, and love God and country. Political
parties are only as good as the people who participate, from local to
national levels.

We can never repay our debt to the men and women who served in the military.
A truly patriotic American recognizes that "uniforms and parades and
monuments" are tributes to the human spirit, not the dollar sign. As long as
we have Hardisonites and not nonpartisanites, we will have military pork
barrel projects. However, paying enlisted people substandard wages is
certainly a mistake, as is lying to our military about future benefits.

And don't blame senior officers. They must follow orders of the Commander in
Chief, the Great Prevaricator.

No, this is not 1910 or 1945, but it is still a time when diverse skills
(including charging up a hill) will be needed in our society. One should
remember that plumbers, painters, janitors and mechanics, to mention a few,
contribute to launching the orbiter. Every person is valuable, and high
technology is useless if it is a substitute for common sense.

Peggy Duarte
Mims


FLORIDA TODAY
June 24, 2000

Letters to the editor

...

Democrats no friends of space program

By Lillian Banks
Merritt Island

Is June 9 letter-writer Dian Hardison being spoon-fed misinformation about
the NASA budget by Patsy Kurth's campaign for Congress?

Hardison fails to point out that Republicans have increased NASA's funding
over the president's request ever since 1995. If Democrats and Clinton/Gore
are so supportive of NASA, then why did they propose budget cuts for NASA
from 1993 to 2000?

And it is Vice President Al Gore's foreign policy failures that have left us
saddled with Russia as an unreliable partner in the space station program,
which has hurt Kennedy Space Center because of the reduction of the space
shuttle flight rate.

Hardison also fails to point out that the NASA budget approved by the House
Appropriations Committee fully funds all of our human space flight
activities (space shuttle and space station) at Kennedy Space Center.

The credit for that goes to Congressman Dave Weldon. Even Democratic U.S.
Sen. Bob Graham says you won't find a stronger advocate for our space
program anywhere in Congress. Since 1991, Kurth has been rated by the Miami
Herald

as one of the least effective senators in Tallahassee, and if she goes to
Washington, you can bet our space program will suffer.

As Hardison pointed out, "space is the symbol of human achievement and
freedom," but misleading attacks like hers cheapen that symbol.

...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
June 9, 2000

Letters to the Editor
...

What does House GO have against NASA?

By Dian Hardison
Cocoa

A House appropriations subcommittee voted recently to trim the NASA budget
request for 2001 by more than $300 million. The budget is $112 million
greater than the agency's fiscal year 2000 budget, but $321 million less
than what President Bill Clinton proposed when he submitted his budget
request in February.

Last year, House Republicans tried to cut NASA's budget by more than a
billion dollars, which would have effectively gutted the agency. While
Republicans throw money at the military faster that it can even ask for it,
allowing huge programs to waste billions on weapons systems that don't work,
what have they got against NASA?

Space exploration is the hall mark of a forward-looking society. Space
inspires children to pursue scientific education. Space is the symbol of
human achievement and freedom. Never mind. I think that just answered why
the Republicans are so set against reaching for the stars. ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
June 7, 2000

Letters to the Editor

...

Writer slams GOP tactics

What used to be the GOP _ Grand Old Party _ has become the "Dumb Old Party."
Get this: They're now trying to use the census as an election issue.

Apparently, P.T. Barnum didn't go half far enough.

The DOPes are now whining that "this administration's census" is "intrusive"
and hinting that "maybe they wouldn't fill it out themselves." (Actually
telling someone not to fill it out is, in fact, a criminal act.)

Now let's see. Which party was in charge of Congress when Congress approved
every single question on the long form two years ago? The Republicans. Which
party wanted to use the easier-for-everyone, and more accurate, statistical
sampling? The Democrats. Which party hollered that it was "Constitutionally
required to count every single person (in fact, it's not) with a complete
form?" The Republicans.

Which party usually benefits when the facts show that there are a lot more
marginal-poor people than the DOPes like to admit? The Democrats.

And which party is now encouraging the marginal-poor not to be counted? Hmm?
Hmm? The census ought to be an election issue, all right: It's proof
positive that the Republicans don't consider you to be a human being unless
you're a wealthy campaign donor. But money cannot, in reality, buy one
single vote. With one dot of a pen, one punch of a card, you can personally
get rid of them. And if you don't, then you, too, are a DOPer.

Dian Hardison
Port St. John

...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
May 17, 2000

Letters to the Editor

License testing must be equitable

In last week's letters to the editor, I partially agree with Dian Hardison's
opinion in regard to drivers license renewals and testing requirements here
in Florida.

Yes, we do grow older. We gain wisdom. But, we slowly lose our driving
skills. When our wisdom suddenly races by our skill level, most of us will
hang the car keys up for good. But, should the state of Florida
automatically take the keys based on mandatory testing? Only when a
nationally recognized testing and renewal program (not a national drivers
license) is established would I agree to mandatory license forfeiture. Why?
Because every winter we read in our local paper about another "elderly"
snowbird causing or involved in an accident.

The chances are very good that our temporary residents have their drivers
license issued from other states, states that do not have testing
requirements.

So, what do we do? Penalize the Florida residents only? I don't think so!

Robert Arnold
Titusville

...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
May 10, 2000

Letters to the Editor
...

Retesting older drivers right

Driver safety seems to have become a lightning rod once again. The note that
those who are involved in wrecks should have their driving skills retested
was a good idea, not only because it would increase people's attention to
safe driving, but because there are a number of medical conditions that can
impair driving ability that strike with little warning at any age.

The old woman who said that "new drivers ought to be retested every year,
too" proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that her own faculties were slipping,
because that makes zero sense.

Teen-agers cause the greatest number of wrecks because they're careless and
hormonal, not because of anything physically wrong. Retesting can hardly
help that.

But the over-55 group causes the most number of wrecks per mile driven.
Those are car insurance figures, not mine. So, gripe at them, not me.

Teen-agers need greater supervision. But the most vital need is for
retesting and relicensing everyone over 55 every three years, and every year
for those over 70.

In the first place, that's the fastest growing age group, and by far the
most numerous here in Florida. In the second place, that's the age group at
which the most rapid decline in sight, hearing, reflexes and comprehension
deteriorates.

Sure, there are plenty of 80-year-olds who have no trouble driving. There
are also plenty of 60-year-olds who don't have any more business behind the
wheel than my cat does.

In the third place, well, I was standing in line at the license bureau when
they brought in the old woman. She couldn't remember her own name for the
clerk; her companion had to prove it. She couldn't hear the directions; they
had to be shouted at her. She couldn't see the camera she was directed to
look into. But she was given a driver's license renewal _ which she also
dropped. Her companion had to pick it up while shuffling her out the door.

A car is a deadly weapon in the wrong hands, and there are probably more
people in Florida who should not be driving than there are those who own
guns and shouldn't.

Dian Hardison
Port St. John
...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
March 8, 2000

Letters to the Editor

...

Look to England for abject lesson

I have suffered through the tripe written by one Dian Hardison before
without comment. But now she has stepped on my "gun freak" toes.

We do not trust President Clinton and his reasonable gun restrictions. He
and his cadre of fellow gun-haters want not regulation of guns, but the
abolition of private firearms in America.

I met an English tourist the other day in Sand Point Park. I said to him,
"You don't have any guns in England, do you?"

"Oh no," he said. "They took them all away."

" How could this happen," said I.

"The Englishman is a trusting fool. When our government tells us to do
something, we do it. And the crime rate is very high."

The crooks, of course, didn't surrender their guns and they prey on a
defenseless public. To those of you who don't really like guns or own one,
we need your help, too, to preserve gun rights. Can you imagine what your
life would be like if only the police and, of course, the criminals had a
firearm? Think Dodge City on Saturday night.

Joseph Gill
Titusville

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The American Spectator
March, 2000

Washington Post

...

(December 15, 1999)

Florida Today

On the pages of a great daily, Dian Hardison, a 100% American, makes the
case for giving the hellish Reagan and Bush the Pinochet treatment:

Those who continue to gripe about Jane Fonda's protesting the Vietnam War
debacle are themselves poor excuses for Americans. The founding document of
our country, which obviously they have never read, guarantees the right to
freedom of expression.

Jane Fonda was expressing the constitutionally protected opinion of many
that we had no business in that doomed war in the first place.

Selling American weapons to enemy powers, on the other hand, definitely
comes under the definition of treason. Circumventing laws against import of
banned substances in order to profit a secret cabal is a criminal action. If
private citizens did either they would be facing long jail sentences and
possible execution. But, in fact, these actions were sponsored and committed
by two of the highest elected officials in our country.

Jane Fonda is an American patriot. Ronald Reagan and George Bush are
traitors, not just to every veteran, but to every American.

(December 1, 1999)

Two weeks later, Ms. Hardison extends the treatment to new victims:

My, how the marchers wail when someone threatens to puncture the rose-
colored balloon in which they've encased their heads! But something I
neglected to mention renders all their insults impotent: I was in the
military; one of the first three women, in fact, to be selected for
Explosive Ordnance Disposal training (alongside some Navy SEALS), and an
officer in the submarine tracking command, about which author Tom Clancy was
so sappily wrong....

If you're so "offended," then put your money where your mouth is and help
support veterans through any of their good organizations, as I do. And the
fact remains uncontested that George H.W. Bush and his puppet Ronnie Ray-gun
are traitors, and Bush Jr. and John McCain are multibillion-dollar thieves,
and the lot of them should be in a non-country-club prison for life.

...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
February 9, 2000

Letters to the Editor

...

Clinton gun rules no threat to rights

President Clinton proposed some straightforward, common- sense regulations
on the flood of guns, but from the howls of the gun nuts, whose whole
identity is dependent on that phallic substitute, you'd think they were
being castrated physically instead of psychologically.

"Now they'll know where we all are!" shrieked one psycho. "This is just like
communism!" Question one: Who is "they?" This is classic paranoid
schizophrenia.

Question two: Do you have a driver's license? A credit card? A telephone
account? Then you are already in every computer of anyone who wishes to find
you. This is part of living in the modern world with the modern
conveniences.

A person has to take a written test, pass an exam and demonstrate
proficiency in order to get a driver's license. Your driving record is
constantly monitored, and you can lose that license any number of ways. A
person also must carry insurance in order to drive. Why should a gun be so
much easier to buy and use than a car?

Why does the same Congress that decided that a teen-ager was too young to
buy a beer maintain that the same teen-ager should be allowed to buy a gun?

The hysteria over liberals threatening our second amendment rights is not
just nonsense, it's a deliberate lie. The rights of law-abiding citizens are
in no way being threatened or compromised.

Dian Hardison
Port St. John

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
January 19, 2000

Letters to the Editor

...

Be on your guard on morality claims

Beware the simplistic claims of the right-wing propaganda on the lack of, or
need for, "morality." In fact, morals and ethics are very clearly defined as
that which contribute to the survival of the species and of the society,
respectively.

Corporations are totally unethical when they place profits and the welfare
of the few above the interests of the many. (And dumping pollution is flatly
immoral.)

Today's social and governmental set-up rewards greed and idolizes wealth
above responsibility. Only a restructuring of taxing and spending will level
the playing field by force and allow the have-nots to at least get an
education and a savings account.

And ethical responsibility will occur about the same time that people
realize that only a massive boycott of pro sports will bring their obscene
salaries under control.

Corporations rule the world by enforcing the status quo -- "them as has the
gold makes the rules." The difference between the two major parties is what
they define as "freedom."

To the right wing, it's freedom from government regulations on health,
safety, environmental protection, etc., while strictly regulating an
individual's private life.

To the liberals, freedom means exactly that: freedom from restrictions,
unless the freedom is harmful to another.

The task lies in determining what is harmful.

Dian Hardison
Port St. John
...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
January 5, 2000

Letters To The Editor

...

Party contributions contain surprises

A perusal of the top campaign contributors reveals some surprises.

Sure, everyone knew that big companies like Philip Morris and RJR Nabisco
and Boeing, and big banks like Citigroup and Bank of America and MBNA, and
big- money associations like the AMA and NAR (Realtors) would devote most of
their money to the Republicans. But Federal Express and UPS?

We expect the auto dealers and the developer-builders and AT&T and Bell to
throw in with the party of big money and big business, but Amway? Hospitals
and insurance companies and drug manufacturers, sure, but the National Beer
Wholesalers Association?

It is indicative of the difference in philosophies of the parties that the
International Association of Fire Fighters prefers the Democrats, 83 percent
to 17 percent, while Japanese auto dealers back the Republicans by about the
same (82 percent to 18 percent).

Operating engineers and plumbers -- vital professions -- contribute to the
Democrats by over 85 percent. Restaurant owners and tobacco industries back
the Republicans by a similar percentage. Educators and nurses choose the
Democrats. Accountants and Microsoft contribute 65 percent to Republicans.
No surprise there. And the working unions with a primary focus on, well, the
people who do the work, primarily support Democrats.

Dian Hardison
Port St. John

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
December 29, 1999 Wednesday Final and all Editions

Letters To The Editor

Let's use taxes for better things

Why do we need taxes?

You know, the big ones. Social Security. Military protection. Interest on
the debt (actually by far the largest expense).

Agriculture is a big one. Veterans Affairs is a medium one.

And Veterans Affairs is not taken out of the military budget, which would
only make sense, but out of NASA, which is a very small one.

The military budget is more than $300 billion. NASA's is less than $13
billion.

How come we're wasting all that money on missiles and tanks and helicopters
that don't work? What would we do with the surpluses of a fair tax system?

How about pay down the debt?

How about not just providing a decent education for our children, but giving
them a reason to want one?

How about turning some of the eyesores of the concrete jungle back into land
that can provide food and fresh air?

How about (gasp!) opening up avenues of worthwhile work and hope, so kids
don't turn to crime because they have nothing to do and nothing to lose?

Of course, the Republicans will oppose fairness with every mighty dollar and
platform they have. Because in a fair economy, they would no longer be kings
and dictators in a system that no longer has a lower caste.

Dian Hardison
Port St. John
...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
December 15, 1999

Letters To The Editor

Pro life plate shows concern

In response to Dian Hardison's letter, Dec. 1, 1999:

First, you as a taxpayer are not paying for the Choose Life plates.

Second, the anti-choice folks do care about life, or they would not take a
stand.

Third, how can you put all these people in one category?

Fourth, who are the T-H-E-Y you speak of, who "don't give a rat's carcass
about life?" You state that having identifying license plates for the sickos
is a good idea, that way you know who to watch out for. I think you need to
watch out for more dangerous people.

The people who choose this plate are concerned about life at all stages.

Margaret Hannon
Port St. John
...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
December 13, 1999

Letters to the Editor

Anti-Vietnam writer served in military

By Dian Hardison
Cocoa

My, how the marchers wail when someone threatens to puncture the
rose-colored balloon in which they've encased their heads! But something I
neglected to mention renders all their insults impotent: I was in the
military; one of the first three women, in fact, to be selected for
Explosive Ordnance Disposal training (alongside some Navy SEALs), and an
officer in the submarine tracking command, about which author Tom Clancy was
so sappily wrong.

Many of my friends had been in-country, and as river rats, not just rear
echelon. They were justifiably aggrieved -- as was I -- at the treatment
they received upon returning home, but what they really hated was the lack
of leadership that sent them ill-prepared and ill-equipped to a "war" that
accomplished nothing. The protesters, including Jane Fonda, were right all
along; but the baby- killers we should have been spitting on were the
Pentagon brass and the congressmen who kept the war going because their
districts were getting wealthy from manufacturing weapons.

If you're so "offended," then put your money where your mouth is and help
support veterans through any of their good organizations, as I do. And the
fact remains uncontested that George H. W. Bush and his puppet Ronnie
Ray-gun are traitors, and Bush Jr. and John McCain are multibillion- dollar
thieves, and the lot of them should be in a non-country-club prison for
life.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORIDA TODAY
December 8, 1999

Letters to the Editor

...

Admiring Bill, Jane far from admirable

In a letter to the Star-Advocate on Dec. 1, Dian Hardison says: "The one
thing that makes America unique in all of history is that we can despise
what one jerk says, but we are required by our founding law to defend their
right to say it."

I fully agree with Hardison on this point. She can say anything she wants
to, even when she calls those who defend human life "sickos" and "perverts,"
as "it takes one to call one."

Also, in a recent letter to Florida Today, Hardison says: "The founding
document (the U.S. Constitution) guarantees the freedom of expression."
Exercising her right of free speech, she goes on to say former presidents
George Bush and Ronald Reagan are traitors. Strong stuff, I would say, but
nothing less could be expected from a "fellow traveler."

Hardison's admiration for Hanoi Jane Fonda can be expected, but when
discussing traitors, she is very careful not to mention her role model Bill
Clinton, whose administration allowed hydrogen bomb data and missile
technology to fall into the hands of Red China.

Homer H. Dew
Titusville

------------------------------------------------------------------------

ORLANDO SENTINEL
June 15, 1998

LETTERS FROM READERS
TRUE MEANING

A DAY after Flag Day, it's worth noting that we do not pledge our allegiance
to a piece of cloth. We pledge our allegiance to the ideals it represents -
and the highest of those ideals is freedom.

A constitutional amendment to protect the flag is a desecration to both the
Constitution and the flag. If it becomes illegal to express an opinion in
America, then the American flag and American Constitution will no longer be
worth protecting. Dian L. Hardison, COCOA

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Orlando Sentinel Tribune
September 1, 1991

LETTERS
PRIVATE CLUBS SEEM WASTEFUL;

Maybe I'm being insensitive, but the tempest over whether Jewish players
would or would not play at the Orlando Country Club strikes me as less
important than the fact that there even is a country club which charges a
$10,000 initiation fee.

Ten thousand dollars! To play tennis and hobnob? How many children could be
fed and housed for the money these people throw away to feed their egos?
   -

Dian L. Hardison
   -Titusville

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Christian Science Monitor
October 28, 1987,

LETTERS

Animal testing

The article on animal testing was quite unsubtly biased in favor of
corporations which perform cruel and less than effective methods of
establishing the ''safety'' of their products. Is the Monitor becoming just
another apologist for big business and sloppy government?

Dian Hardison, Titusville, Fla. 




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