JANUARY 1, 2001
Tugging the old year behind
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com

One of my New Year projects is always to review the previous year's list of guests I have interviewed. The last year of the millennium was an interesting eclectic collection (which is the way I like it). We covered a broad spectrum of issues and topics and broke a few significant news stories along the way.

For good or ill, I have often been considered one of the more "reasonable" conservative talk show hosts. I eschew partisanship and instead use as my litmus test, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If something is in consonance with the Constitution and what the framers intended to gift us with, then it is good. If something or someone attempts to undermine, abrogate, or fiddle with the Constitution, they are bad.

My detractors (and there are many) have called me everything from a knuckle-dragging, right-wing wacko to a partisan creative writer. If we can be judged by who our detractors and enemies are, I must be doing something right. At various times throughout the year I was targeted by the White House, the Pentagon, the Navy, the Army Psyops community, CNN, CBS, the pharmaceutical industry, the DNC, an assortment of congressional flakes, the Council on Foreign Relations and even the NRA.

In reviewing my last year's work product I was hard pressed to pick my favorite interviews and top 10 issues/stories. However, although it was difficult, and you may disagree, here is my list of favorite interviews and stories for 2000 -- and more links than you may want or need.

For interviews, the high-profile names are not usually the most interesting guests, but this crop proved the exception to that rule: Matt Drudge, Ted Nugent, David Schippers, Reps. Bob Barr, Jim Traficant and Richard Pombo, Laura Ingraham, Susan Schmidt, John Fund, Phyllis Schlafly, Bob Novak, Jack Germond, Reed Irvine, Debra Saunders. All, including Reed Hundt, were both entertaining and substantive.

Geoff's 2000 top 10

10. Global warming really is an exercise in creative writing and excluding facts that contradict one's preconceived opinions. Dr. Fred Singer and his contrarian view of global warming continue to generate e-mail still.

9. The ubiquitous, would-be controllers of everyone and everything, the United Nations, has contributed some interesting moments: from Cleon Skousen's nephew Joel Skousen (who opened a door for WND to get both of his uncle's books "The Naked Communist" and "The Naked Capitalist" in our online store) to Joan Veon follows the monster all over the world.

8. Gun control remains a pet annoyance. I was delighted to learn the gun industry had finally taken the offensive and was now suing the litigious self-righteous duplicitous bastards back. Bob Morrison from Taurus was a guest just prior to the gun industry coalition filed suit.

7. Michael Balkan's story was heart breaking and continues to generate concerns about the entire industry of vaccinations.

6. Privacy is an issue we have addressed from assorted angles. However the developing industry of subdermal biochip implants is frightening. About five years ago (long before anyone heard of "Digital Angel"), I had a caller to my talkshow who has become a periodic guest. He helped design what some people view as the inevitable "Sign of the beast."

5. Vote fraud has been a pet peeve of mine for over a decade. I have periodically discussed it on the air with experts who have investigated it for twice as long -- the late Jim Collier, author of "Vote Scam," Devvy Kidd, and Jim Condit. We first revisited the issue in March and then again in November when the chads hit the fan.

4. CNN intern controversy. No (get your mind out of the oval office), it wasn't that kind of controversy. CNN apparently "exposed" some military interns to the CNN work environment. The "perception of impropriety" resulted in an excrement storm that had half the psyops community spamming me and others offering physical threats or deep-deep background checks into my youthful indiscretions at Fort Benning and Fort Bragg.

3. The real China threat. Among our best interviews were Bill Gertz and Steve W. Mosher.

2. Jack Daly accusing Strobe Talbot and friends of treason. Daly is an active duty Navy officer with still about two years remaining before he can retire. For him to make this charge was huge. Actually in so doing he is in violation of Article 88 of the UCMJ. He "should" be in front of a court martial by now. However that would mean introducing evidence that would prove his claim and the full-in depth interview.

1. Flag flap series. Without question, the most controversial story I introduced was the "Flag flap." When I reported Aug. 23 that President Clinton was going to make an official trip to Vietnam after the election and before he leaves office, it was immediately denied. Three weeks later USA Today and the Associated Press confirmed the presidential trip to Vietnam. The other half of that initial story reported there were discussions to accommodate a Vietnamese requirement that their flag always fly in a superior position to any other. That too was denied officially. The very same "news" organizations that routinely use "sources reporting under condition of anonymity" eviscerated WorldNetDaily and me for not attributing our quotes to sources. Eventually the flag discussions were acknowledged in a letter received from an active duty Navy officer, but again with no name/rank etc. However, almost by accident, a recent interview with the chief justice of the supreme court of the Marshall Islands confirmed everything originally published in WorldNetDaily in August.

So, that was the year that was in a very abbreviated form. What 2001 has in store is anyone's guess.