WOULD YOU GIVE MONEY TO THIS MAN? SEAN HANNITY THINKS YOU SHOULD!

The 2006 Hannity Freedom Concert Series will be held in two locations this year, Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ on July 21, and Coors Amphitheatre in San Diego, CA on August 2. As has been the case in past two outings, the concerts will feature popular country singers as well as well-known conservative pundits. Oliver North will be co-hosting the events with Hannity. He has been a part of the concerts in year’s past as his organization the Freedom Alliance has been a sponsor of the events. Tickets this year are $54.99, up from the 39.99 cost from last year.

This will be the fourth year of the event, and the first time it will have two dates, one for the East Coast as well as the West Coast. This has been seen as a typical right-wing event, as no one other than those that consider themselves conservatives will be making an appearance at the concerts. Ironically, this has been off the radar screen of those who normally go after this element, but there were always those that spoke up about this, particularly on Hannity’s own website’s discussion board. “People aren’t likely to take kindly to the politicizing of an event that was originally intended to raise money for the children of our fallen soldiers — ALL of our soldiers, regardless of how their families vote,” wrote one poster regarding last year’s concert. On SpartanTailgate.com, a poster put this year’s concert in another perspective. “Methinks it’s his attempt to associate himself with something he deems worthwhile, thereby compartmentalizing his general unethical and immoral support for the war and his inexplicable hate-filled diatribes,” the poster wrote. “He secretly believes and/or hopes that his association with this will assist him with being able to sleep at night.”

Oliver North should be a factor in this as well, because his Freedom Alliance has been seen more of an effort to clean up his tarnished image, and in the end just throwing money at the families of fallen soldiers might fall short of atonement for what he has done. In 1989, North was convicted by a federal grand jury of “obstructing a congressional inquiry, destroying and falsifying Security Council documents, and accepting an illegal gratuity” regarding false statements he made to Congress regarding the Iran-Contra affair. North was the chief coordinator of the illegal sale of weapons via intermediaries to Iran, with the profits being channeled to the Contras in Nicaragua. He was responsible for the establishment of a covert network used for the purposes of aiding the Contras. Many conservatives have turned their backs on North because while his then-Commander-in-Chief, Ronald Reagan was telling authorities that he had no recollection of the deals made in Iran-Contra, North was labeled a turncoat for saying that he was authorized by the president himself to make those deals.

On July 20, 1990, North’s conviction was overturned on appeal in advance of further proceedings on the grounds that his public testimony, which was broadcast on national television, may have prejudiced his right to a fair trial. The charges were dismissed on September 16, 1991, after hearings on the immunity issue, on the motion of the independent counsel. According to Wikipedia, North’s convictions were overturned because he had been granted limited immunity for his Congressional testimony, and this testimony was deemed to have influenced witnesses at his trial.

This did not make North’s life any easier, however. He was still seen as a liar and a traitor, and this followed him to a disastrous campaign for Senator, where he lost to an unpopular incumbent. Notable military veterans even campaigned against him. The New York Times once reported that as recently as 1993, a Virginia judge denied Oliver North’s application for a permit to carry a concealed weapon “on the ground that the applicant is not of good character.” The term “Ollieism” was coined to refer to a subordinate acting illegally or unethically to get a job done because he wants to please his boss.

By this point, North, recognizing his image of being a liar and traitor, had gone into damage control by founding the Freedom Alliance in 1990. It is a 501(c)(3) foundation that seeks “…to advance the American heritage of freedom by honoring and encouraging military service, defending the sovereignty of the United States and promoting a strong national defense.” Currently, it has contributed to the anti-immigration activism over the past year, calling for bills in Congress that would have made undocumented workers and anyone who assists them in anyway felons. It is just one of the many popular causes among conservatives, many of whom have embraced North again despite his traitorous past. North also is a regular Fox News correspondent and appears on a number of its programs. It should be noted that North refuses to admit he did anything wrong.

Hannity, who has proclaimed to support the troops, once gave the excuse that “I wasn’t invited” to go to Iraq to visit them when a caller challenged him to do so in a December 2004 exchange on his radio program. He then charged that liberal celebrities force themselves upon the troops when they go there, when many of them go through the USO, who indeed always asks for celebrities to do so. This doesn’t sit well even with other conservatives, however. “He talks the talk but falls down on the walk,” One poster wrote on the neocon website Free Republic, ironically adding, “after all if it weren’t for his ‘good friend’ Col. North he would have no idea where his freedom comes from.”