Remembering

Sherry and I will be visiting Washington, D.C. again in May. I will again take the time to honor the men and women whose deaths earned them their place on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I will once again speak to the eight comrades in arms who I flew with and who died in the Vietnam War, a conflict which made no sense then like the Iraq War makes no sense now.

Last week I got one of those PowerPoint shows in my mail about supporting the troops. Very poorly constructed, with blurry images. It starts out with a flag-draped coffin, with part of the written dialogue about the men and women serving “YOU to make this country what it is.”

What a commentary on the consequences of this war, one I’m sure the author didn’t intend.

We then take a picture tour of the fact that a soldier’s life isn’t like life here in the States. Some of us know this from personal experience.

Next is a slide of Cindy Sheehan and friends marching down the road near Crawford, Texas. The text reads” You put on your antiwar/don’t support the troops shirt, and go to meet up with your friend. He (the soldier) still FIGHTS for your right to wear that shirt.” I have news for the author: “antiwar” doesn’t necessarily equate with “don’t support the troops.” Just not so, the scores of people I know who are against this war take special pride in supporting the troops. 

Then we continue our tour of how different a combat zone is to civilian existence.

We then see three slides attempting to justify this war, ignoring the fact that the devastation in the pictures has been caused by our continued presence in Iraq.

In the end more words about equating our lack of support for the war with the character of those fighting it.

The final slide shows a line of helmets atop rifles inserted in boots and says: “Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American GI. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.”

The author has it wrong. Soldiers may die for their comrades and they may die for their unit. But not for their country. Mostly it just happens, but mostly it’s about marshalling the courage to get up each day and doing what it takes to stay alive, one mission at a time.  It’s hot, the food sucks and you’re tired. It becomes intensely personal the moment you hear those live rounds being fired at you or a buddy dies in combat. I can still hear the sound of small arms hitting the side of my helicopter. I had breakfast with him this morning and now the ops officer is telling me his helo was shot down and there were no survivers. None of this is “for my country.”

I didn’t go to Southeast Asia to die for my country, and the men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan didn’t go to those countries for that reason, either.

I’m also very sure that freedom doesn’t have much to do with Iraq. Unless someone in a dark gray suit is talking about the freedom of corporations to profit from the sale of oil.

Republican heroes

The end of the first weekend in March and TPM pointed out this piece from Australia. The conservatives in the Republican party just had their annual to-do this last week and they allowed Ann Coulter to issue her usual potty-mouth comments. The motley crew of 2008 candidates were there and Barry Goldwater is turning in his grave.

We had a great weekend. Allie got to meet her cousin g and run in the dog park down there. The house is clean and Sherry, Allie and I worked out in the yard. The ferns really took a hit with the snow and wind this winter and I’m wacking away the fronds on the large ones a few at a time.

Checking Emails

I received a couple of emails this past week from someone I hold dear. One was conntained a series of untruths about Muslims and Islam, the other about the Clintons. It’s a shame that these emails get passed along without critical examination. I took a few minutes to research the assertions in both, and in the process uncovered the slimy sources of the content. One can publish what ever one wants to in today’s electronic world, but it doesn’t make the facts true. What’s more, it leads us away from compassion and understanding. I found one source had even substituted Catholicism for Islam and come up with the same misguided logic.

I didn’t reply to the sender of the emails, nor did I forward them to everyone in my address book. I happen to admire Bill Clinton and look each person’s religious or spiritual beliefs from the life they are leading. I just blessed the sender, did this blog entry, and continued to be grateful for that friendship and the world as it is.

A Couple of Thoughtful Ideas

Two articles in the NY Times caught my attention this morning. Paul Krugman opined that John Edwards has the best idea yet for fixing this country’s health care crisis: minimize the role of  insurance companies (you’ll need Times Select to read). The other is written by the wife of a Navy chaplain, calls for a war tax. Quote:

“Unlike the old phone tax, however, this new tax must be dedicated to financing programs that support and heal combat veterans and their families during deployment and afterward — combat trauma counseling, respite child care, part-time jobs for spouses trying to make ends meet, marriage counseling. These programs have always suffered from meager budgets, and while the public’s interest will inevitably move on, the needs won’t go away as long as America has a military.

For those who oppose the war and spending any additional money on it, all I can say is that this isn’t about financing a war. It’s about reducing human suffering. And for everyone who claims to “support the troops” — peace activists and war supporters alike — put your money where your bumper stickers are.”

Both contain creative ideas for these insane times.

Drawing the Line

A foggy day here on the bluff above Discovery Bay, and even foggier in Washington, D.C. I noticed a nice piece in The Atlantic Online this morning by James Fallows. Congress continues to chart the politeness and electability in 2008. In the meantime more Iraqis and American military continue to die. I was under the impression we had an election last November. It wasn’t a primary for the next election cycle, it was a rejection of King George. Do these folks in the House and Senate think we’re all so forgetful?

Hunt for Red October

I read the piece in the NY Times this morning, the president signing an executive order requiring a political appointee at federal agencies. I am reminded of the Communist Party political officer aboard the submarine in The Hunt for Red October, keeping Sean Connery in check. Frightening, but just one more abuse of power by King George.

A short word to the new Democratic leaders in the House and Senate: you were elected to get us out of Iraq, not posture with solutions that will keep us there for years. Yes, pulling the US out within months will be messy, but less so than keeping troop there for years. Respond to King George with courage and conviction.

Madam Speaker

The article by Maurene Dowd this morning continues the attitude the MSM has about Nancy Pelosi and women in politics in general. We have a woman third in line to the presidency, and in Washington, our governor and both senators are women. Nothing wrong with all of them being “politicians,” but it seems the only way the press can report their activities is by either using stereotypes of the submissive mall shopper or as “pretend men,” women in three-piece suits acting as stereotypical males.

I wonder what would happen if women were free to bring feminine power into politics?