Jewish World Review July 26, 2005 / 19 Tammuz, 5765

With friends like these....

By Jack Kelly

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | What, besides an excessive fondness for groceries, do Catherine Baker Knoll, Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor, and ultra-left wing film maker Michael Moore have in common?

Air Force Major Gregory Stone, an air liaison officer with the 101st Airborne Division, was killed in Kuwait in March, 2003, when Sgt. Hasan Akbar rolled a grenade into the tent where he was quartered.

Moore used footage of Maj. Stone's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery in his antiwar propaganda film, Fahrenheit 9/11. He did so without the permission of Maj. Stone's family.

The family was not pleased. Maj. Stone's mother called Moore a "maggot that eats off the dead."

Catherine Baker Knoll has done Moore one better (or worse).

On July 19th, a funeral service was held at St. John Lutheran Church in Carnegie for Staff Sergeant Joseph Goodrich, 32. Goodrich and fellow Marine reservist Lance Corporal Ryan Kovacicek, 22, were killed by mortar fire July 10th while conducting combat operations in Hit, in western Iraq.

Goodrich, a Marine reservist since 1993, also had been a police officer, and the church was filled to overflowing with Marines and cops who came to say farewell to their fallen comrade.

Goodrich was remembered as a principled, good natured person who always had time to help other people with their problems.

"He was always upbeat, always smiling, never had a bad thing to say about anyone," recalled HM1 Mike Debich, a Navy corpsman in Goodrich's unit, Kilo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, based in Moundsville, W. Va.

Brian Armstrong, a police officer for the borough of Forest Hills, had served with Goodrich as a cop at the Kennywood amusement park, and was inspired by Goodrich's example to join the Marine reserve.

"When bad things would happen, he would handle it with a take charge attitude," said Armstrong, who served in Iraq with Military Police Co. Bravo, a reserve unit based in North Versailles. "That's when the Marine came out of him."

After his wife, Amy, being a Marine was the most important thing in Goodrich's life, Armstrong said. Goodrich's father, James, had been a Marine in World War II.

"He wouldn't have wanted to die. He loved life too much. But if he had to die, he would have wanted to die as a Marine, defending his country," Armstrong said.

Catherine Baker Knoll, who lives in nearby McKees Rocks, crashed the funeral, plopping herself down in the pew next to Linda Kubiak, Goodrich's aunt. During the communion service, Knoll told Kubiak she attends 90 percent of these "functions" across the state.

"This was not a function," fumed Rhonda Goodrich, Joseph's sister in law. "A function is a dinner or an awards ceremony. This was my brother-in-law's funeral."

Then Knoll handed Kubiak her business card and confided: "I want you to know our (state) government is against this war."

"When my sister in law related that to us, everyone just gasped," said Goodrich's mother, Patricia. "We didn't feel it was appropriate at all." "I am amazed and disgusted Knoll finds a Marine funeral a prime place to campaign," Rhonda Goodrich said.

Rhonda Goodrich was by no means alone in her amazement and disgust. "As a Marine Corps officer, it is unethical for me to express political opinions, but my opinion of this sorry excuse for a human being has nothing to do with politics," an officer in Goodrich's battalion in Iraq emailed the web log "Rhymes with Right."

"After seeing dozens of my fellow Marines from my battalion get killed these last few months, I always felt that at the very least that these men were being honorably brought back to their families and being laid to rest with as much dignity as our nation could afford to provide.

"This woman has misrepresented our government, and poorly represents the state of Pennsylvania," the officer said. "If Pennsylvanians have any self respect at all, they will take whatever legal methods are available and toss her out of office immediately."

Gov. Ed Rendell faces a stiff re-election fight next year. If he wants to get re-elected, he'd better think about getting a new running mate. "Maggots who eat off the dead" tend not to attract many votes.