Oliver North

This guy is famous on TV, but he's been a true-blue dickwad for decades.  How did he become famous?  In the notorious Reagan-era Iran-Contra Scandal, that's how.  What the hell was the Iran-Contra scandal?

Okay.  It's very simple.  While a member of the National Security Council, this jerk sold arms to our enemies in Iran.  He then took the boatloads of money he made and gave it to a bunch of right-wing commandos in Nicaragua, which was completely illegal.  The money was laundered through some fascist Lousiana banker.  What a surprise.

The actions of the Contras were described by The Catholic Institute for International Relations, as "one of consistent and bloody abuse of human rights, of murder, torture, mutilation, rape, arson, destruction and kidnapping." Ollie really knows how to support the good guys, si?

Other horrors committed by the Contras against their Sandanista foes are actually too sick to report here.  Reagan was all too happy to aid the Contras, afraid the Sandanista government was some kind of liberal socialists (sound familiar?) so he instructed the CIA to conduct secrets ops against them.  Keep in mind that the Contras were usually funded by drug money, specifically crack cocaine sales.  Senator John Kerry is the man who brought this nastiness to light.

Luckily, Reagan's plea to Congress to throw tons of money at this disgusting group was roundly rejected in 1988.

Philip Johnson

Philip Johnson -- yes, you remember him. The tall, elegant New York architect, immaculate in his dark suit, lived in a glass house but didn't throw stones... cultural icon with a wry sense of humor, ultimate partier... all thanks to being independently wealthy due to early ownership of Alcoa Aluminum stock...

Johnson was heavily involved with Harvard, Yale, the Museum of Modern Art, and oh, yes, ADOLF HITLER. Oops!

What? Quite a slip-up! Some say a youthful mistake, I say WAY too involved for WAY too long. Pals with Hitler?

... it turns out that this "early admiration" lasted for the better part of a decade. During that time... Johnson helped organize a U.S. fascist party. He worked on behalf of the Nazi sympathizer and radio broadcaster Father Charles E. Coughlin. He attended one of Hitler's Nuremberg rallies in 1938, and in 1939 he followed the German army into Poland. "We saw Warsaw burn and Modlin being bombed," he wrote afterward. "It was a stirring spectacle."¹

Johnson went to Harvard but dropped in and out to travel in Europe, trying to contend with his sexual identity. His crushes on two other Harvard students, Alfred H. Barr, Jr. and Henry-Russell Hitchcock led to his rapid entrance into a career in the arts. Barr was appointed director of the brand new Museum of Modern Art, and Hitchcock was an aficionado of Modern architecture. Hitchcock and Johnson traveled together to Germany to study the subject in 1930. Unfortunately, he "returned with enthusiasm for modern architecture and, somewhat ironically, a glowing view of Adolf Hitler."²

Hitchcock and Johnson wrote The International Style which became highly influential in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Johnson worked in support of Detroit radio broadcaster Father Charles E. Coughlin who was known for characterizing the New Deal as the "Jew Deal." (to be continued)

¹ "Remembering" Philip Johnson
By Anne Applebaum
The Washington Post
February 2, 2005; Page a23

² Dictionary of Art Historians
Lee Sorensen, ed.