Congressman Leo J. Ryan Birthday Salute

[Desertphile]

From: idaj00
Subject: In Memory of the late Congressman Leo J. Ryan
Date: 4 May 2005 22:32:14 -0700
Message-ID: <1115271134.455900.246040@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>

Congressional Gold Medal Recipient Leo J. Ryan

Another year has rolled around since my last note of rememberance of a man who I called my friend. Had he lived he would have been 80 years old today . I remember the night I got a call from a friend in Pennsylavnia that Leo had been murdered.

I knew his view of destructive cults and mainly $cientology as his favorite nephew was involved so I felt he would address that subject next. What a tragic loss.

So once again I renew my promise that I made to him many years ago.

Rest in Peace dear friend

Ida




Leo J. Ryan


b. Lincoln, Lancaster, Nebraska, 5 May 1925
d. Jonestown, Guyana, 18 November 1978

Friday, 18 November 1983

An Act

To honor Congressman Leo J. Ryan and to award a special congressional
gold medal to the family of the late Honorable Leo J. Ryan.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) the President of the United States is authorized to present, on behalf of the Congress, a gold medal of appropriate design to the family of the late Honorable Leo J. Ryan in recognition of his distinguished service as a Member of Congress and the fact of his untimely death by assassination while performing his responsibilities as a Member of the United States House of Representatives. For such purpose, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to cause to be struck a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury. There is authorized to be appropriated not to exceed $25,000 after October 1, 1983, to carry out the provisions of this subsection.

(b) The Secretary of the Treasury may cause duplicates in bronze of such medal to be coined and sold under such regulations as he may prescribe, at a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, material, dies, use of machinery, overhead expenses, and the gold medal. The appropriation made to carry out subsection (a) shall be reimbursed out of the proceeds of such sales.

(c) The medals provided for in this section are national medals for the purpose of section 5111 of title 31, United States Code.

97 Stat. 992

Statement on Signing the Bill Authorizing a Congressional Gold Medal Honoring the Late Representative Leo J. Ryan

November 18, 1983: I am pleased today to affix my signature to the bill H.R. 3348, honoring the late Congressman Leo J. Ryan by authorizing a special Congressional Gold Medal of appropriate design to be struck and presented to his family.

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the day Leo Ryan was tragically struck down by an assassin's bullet on a faraway airport runway in Guyana. As his colleagues have noted in their tribute to him, it was typical of Leo Ryan's concern for his constituents that he would investigate personally the rumors of mistreatment in Jonestown that reportedly affected so many from his district.

Leo Ryan is the 88th recipient of a Congressional Gold Medal and only the 4th Member of Congress to receive this high honor from his colleagues.

President Ronald Reagan

Note: As enacted, H.R. 3348 is Public Law 98 - 159, approved November 18.

The rest of the story is here: http://www.congressionalgoldmedal.com/LeoJRyan.htm

 

[Roadtoad]

It was interesting, but when I was a student at American River College, I manage to get an interview with Leo Buscaglia not that long after the Jonestown massacre.

Buscaglia is genuine: what you saw on the TV screen is just what you got in private with the man. After about 40 minutes of questions about other stuff, I asked him about Jonestown. He said, "The one thing you should remember is that we cannot get into this business of Follow the Guru. Because a Guru can only lead you to himself, he cannot lead you to you.

"So, whenever you play 'Follow the Guru,' he's always going to lead you astray."

Perhaps with a bit more critical thinking, Jonestown might not have happened. Perhaps my own life would have been happier. No matter how benign the "guru" comes across, he's still a "guru."

 

[Desertphile]

The full medal citation includes mention of most victims dying from poison; yet I recall reading later research that said most died from gunshot wounds. Scientology Inc. used to assert that the slaughter was the result of CIA brainwashing but I haven't seen them make that claim in quite a long time.

Time was, cults used to butcher themselves and/or other when threat of exposure occured: now they just sue the heck out of the exposers.

 

[materia3]

Congressman Ryan did not die of poison. He died trying to escape from Jonestown amid the chaos of the "judgement day" and was shot and killed by some of Jones' security guards, probably on Jones' direct orders. Jones himself, was subsequently assasinated the same day by his own guards as he was trying to make his own escape in the jungle with duffle bags filled with cash and the social security checks of his followers. Jones was a charismatic scammer who used his political connections and the welfare and housing rolls of the city of San Francisco to recruit poor blacks and Jews to the "promised land." I believe Jones was a former housing commissioner in SF. It all came out in a book by Nathan Landau called "Heavenly Deceptor." There were two survivors of Jone's inner circle, one a guard who ended up in jail stateside and Theresa Buford, a woman who was his second in command and with her photographic memory had memorized all Jones' foreign numbered bank account numbers and details of those and domestic accounts. (*) She was represented by Jones' lawyer, Mark Lane, a man who later parked both his daughters in France not far from the Swiss border. Acording to Landau he may have also fathered a child with Buford.

For more info online search:

Nathan Landau/
Heavenly Deceptor

also:

Terri Buford

Mark Lane and Jonestown

I think the book Heavenly Deceptor is still available on amazon and I highly recommend it to all skeptics interested in debunking religious cults.



Insofar as I am aware Leo Ryan is the only U.S. congressman ever to have been assasinated while in office and in the line of duty.

______________________________________________
*

Amount Bank Location Source

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

$711,000 Barclay's Bank Int. Ltd. Georgetown, Guyana LAT 1/5/79
$100,000 Bank of Montreal (CA) San Francisco, CA LAT 1/5/79
$21,000 Bank of Montreal (CA) San Francisco, CA LAT 1/5/79
Unknown United California Bank San Francisco, CA LAT 1/5/79
Unknown Bank of America Los Angeles, CA LAT 1/5/79
$10,000* Bank of America (personal) San Francisco, CA SFE 1/9/79
Unknown Wells Fargo Ukiah, CA SFE 1/9/79
$2,043,000 Swiss Banking Corp. Panama City SFE 1/9/79
$5,231,536 Union Bank of Switzerland Panama City SFE 1/9/79
$5,173,000 Union Bank of Switzerland Panama City SFE 1/9/79
$206.396 Bank of Nova Scotia Nassau,Bahamas SFE 1/9/79
Unknown No name given Curacao SFE 1/9/79
Unknown No name given Virgin Islands SFE 1/9/79
$76,000* Grenada National Bank Grenada SFE 1/9/79
$560,000 Barclay's Bank (supplies) Pt.-Au-Spain, Trin. SFE 1/9/79
$200,000 National Cooperative Bank Georgetown, Guy. SFE 1/9/79
$33,757 Banco Union de Venezuelas Caracas, Ven. SFE 1/9/79
$2,000,000 No name given Caracas. Ven. SFE 1/9/79
Unknown No name given Paris, France SFE 1/9/79
$1,000,000 Union Bank of Switzerland Zurich, Switz. SFE 1/9/79
Safe Deposit* Union Bank of Switzerland Zurich, Switz. SFE 1/9/79
$11,000,000* "Treasure Chest" (1974) Redwood Valley, CA SFE 1/9/79
$2,000,000 Jonestown site total Guyana SFE 1/9/79
$1,000,000* Bank of Nova Scotia San Francisco, CA SFE 1/9/79
Unknown Wells Fargo Los Angeles, CA SFE 1/9/79