Why Didn't Reporters Dare Report Shane Osborn's First Words to America? Why Were America's Reporters and Editors Afraid to Quote Lt. Osborn's Statement on God's Role in the Crew's Survival? April 16, 2001 By: Mary Mostert ( http://www.bannerofliberty.com/ ) It was a holy week in America for the majority of its citizens - with both Passover and Easter being observed by millions of Jews and Christians. So, it was a time when a majority of the population was sensitive, one would think, to spiritual feelings. And, on Good Friday, the day that hundreds of millions of Christians observe as their holiest day of the year, Fox News devoted considerable time to a delving into the question, again, of John Ashcroft's religious "bias" and whether or not he should be allowed to function as Attorney General. A clip was shown that was supposed to prove Ashford's unfitness for office. The question was, "Has John Ashcroft said things in the past that would mitigate against his objective ability to enforce the law as he is charged to do as Attorney General" and then played the tape which, according to Alan Colmes, "proved" him unfit to be attorney general. It showed him saying: at Bob Jones University: "Unique among the nations American recognized the source of our character as being Godly and Eternal, not being Civic and Temporal. Because we have understood that our source is eternal, America has been different. We have no king, but Jesus." To Alan Colmes on Good Friday, that statement was "proof" that John Ashcroft should not be Attorney General. He says the issue of "government and religion" is something that we "need to discuss." He really believes that John Ashcroft saying "We have no king, but Jesus" is some sort of threat to the separation of Church and State and, therefore, Ashcroft should be driven out of office. Why, I don't know. I can just imagine what he would have been saying had he been reporting the news after George Washington dared to say in his Farewell Address: "Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be concluded to the influences of refined education...reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle..." And then there was that dastardly Thomas Jefferson, rumored to be anti-church, who said in his Second Inaugural Address: "I shall need the favor of the Being in whose hands we are, Who led our forefathers...from their native land, and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; Who has covered our infancy with His providence and our riper years with His wisdom and power...I ask you to join with me in supplication, that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils and proper their measures, that whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and shall secure to you peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations." Then, on Saturday, we watched the return home to Whidbey Island of 24 young Americans who had been through a truly harrowing experience on Hainen Island in China, after their surveillance aircraft was bumped by a Chinese pilot and almost crashed into the sea, which would have killed all 24 of them. Lt. Shane Osborn, commander of the aircraft, spoke first - and very briefly. He will undoubtedly be an American hero to millions. Not only did both his crew and his admiral credit Osborn with saving the lives of the entire crew, he is a man of few, but very quotable, words, as is befitting a real hero. However, in searching the various news sources last night, I was struck by the fact that NONE of the articles quoting Osborn mentioned what HE thought was his most important statement. The articles I read quoted Shane Osborn's pithy statements on the ordeal, i.e.: "The first thing I thought was, 'This guy just killed us. " "I remember looking up, seeing water. "By the time I got the engines shut down, they were already at the door." Yet, none of the papers seemed to find the space to print the statement Lt. Shane Osborn himself seemed to believe was the most important one he made. As he stepped to the microphone, he indicated he had two important things to say. On arriving at Whidbey and finding himself in front of a microphone, he said: "I just have a short couple of words I'd like to say. First of all, I would like to thank God for allowing my crew and myself to be here. (Cheers). It was definitely Him flying that plane. "I'd also like to thank my 23 other crewmates. Without them I wouldn't be standing here right now. (Cheers) They performed far above and beyond the call of duty and made me very proud. And should make every one of you proud. I would also like to thank the Administration, my chain of Command, everyone in Hawaii on getting us home and getting us home quickly." There must have been a lot of people in the TV audience besides me who had been wondering just exactly how Lt. Osborn managed to manhandle that plane down. And, he told us in that first sentence, yet NONE of the reporters used that first statement. Most of the world believes that Shane Osborn's very first statement was to thank the GOVERNMENT for the successful outcome of the even. But, that was not what he said. What he said was "First of all, I would like to thank God for allowing my crew and myself to be here. It was definitely Him flying that plane." How is it that every reporter - or perhaps it is every editor - in the country was afraid to print what Shane Osborn said? Did his giving God credit offend their notion of what a proper hero in government issued uniform should say? What more appropriate story could there have been, on a weekend of both Passover and Easter, than to have made banner headlines of what Lt. Shane Osborn said about how his EP3managed to land safely, in spite of the damage from the collision? Why were the American people incorrectly told that Lt. Osborn credited the government, not God, for the survival of his crew? To comment: mmostert@bannerofliberty.com