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Prairie Sunshine left a comment a couple of nights ago that I want to elevate today, so that everyone will have a chance to read it. It is a poignant reminder that in the small towns, and rural farms, and urban landscapes — wherever it is that we each live, there is a high probability that someone near you has been touched by the cost of conflict. And once in a while, something brings that very personal, very difficult cost home for the rest of us:
Had a really poignant drive into town. Turned on the Fargo radio for weather and road reports. Right at the freeze mark and rainy dismal white-knuckle driving all the way back. Then the radio mentioned a motorcade for the Frazee soldier’s remains which were arriving in Fargo and asked people to come out to honor him. Just west of Hawley we started seeing pickups and SUVs at the ends of driveways. Flags flying in front yards. By Dilworth, the fire dept trucks were all out along the road. As we drove into Moorhead, the police escort led the way for their group. My God, I had tears running down my cheeks. Flashing our lights seemed such a small gesture. All those fatheads on the Sunday shows and cable news with their strolls and photo-ops and posturing. And it’s all about this. One 28-year-old kid coming home for the last time.
In a prior post, I put together some listings of how you can help the families of our soldiers who are currently serving overseas, or who have been injured or killed. So often, the families of our service members have difficulty getting some help — even for little things like plumbing or electrical repairs or extra money for groceries, or even a little babysitting to get some time to themselves for just a little while to help cope with the stress and strain of deployment and fear for a loved one's safety. And there are things that can be done to help our soldiers in the field, too. See here and here for some ideas on this, and please feel free to share others in the comments below.
There are days when I despair, and days when I feel like there could never be enough weeping or anger in the whole world. But today, re-reading Prairie's comment, I'm thinking about how decent so many Americans are at their core — whatever their political leaning and whatever division thereon they have been led to believe ought to define them.
It should not — we should be defined by what we do, how we adhere to our values, and what we do in furtherance of them. In our hearts, we are all so similar. That we sometimes remember that and act accordingly is a great source of hope. And I wanted to share that with everyone today.
Reach out to someone else in your community and lend a hand — be it the family of a soldier serving in a faraway land who simply need a shoulder to lean on, or someone who is elderly and in need of someone to just stop by and say hello once in a while. Whatever it is, reach out and remember: whatever the political situation of the moment, this nation has lasted for years before now, and will last long after the present Administration has long exited the White House. But the connections that we make with the people around us are the true test of who we are.
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i want to thank the academy…
As usual, you post very poignantly about these examples of our common humanity and need for community.
I want to thank a soldier and his/her family for their sacrifice.
It’s the worst kind of cheat. That’s why I hate them.
…but also want to second this thought of christy’s, elegantly expressed.
we are called on to define ourselves as more than the lumps that the authoriarians would have us be. it starts with remembering who we are and where we come from and how we must move forward together.
Well said Christy- the general public has no idea what the families of those who are deployed are going through. Besides the terrible uncertainty and fear, there are the mundane tasks of everyday living that must be done by only one partner. With so many Guard and Reserve members deployed, the families of the deployed are not gathered around military basees, but are throughtout the country–especially in small towns and farms. Please think of them and even, more do something when you can. It will be so appreciated.
Not even one of these service members needed to die. What a criminal shame!
From Huffington Post. Richardson First Candidate To Sign Medical Marijuana Bill
And this is why banning the footage of the coffins is such a nasty thing. It erases this sacrifice from the minds of the general public, except for those that they come home to. Then the lesson gets driven home and hard.
It’s hard ot describe how that makes me feel, because in some ways. The public needs to see those coffins come home. It makes the war real.
Small town in New Mexico. Woman with 2 sons, both joined the military, because they needed the money. Just heard the youngest was injured when an IED hit his vehicle. Part of his face blown to bits. Woman had complained to me that the recruiter had convinced her son to be a “scout”. He thought it was going to be adventuresome. Will send her some money in an envelope…she works as a waitress, among other odd jobs. At least the military is flying her and her two daughters out to Walter Reed and putting paying for their lodging.
This war disgusts me.
I was talking to a neighbor last week who has a son and daughter-in-law in the Army. He got back from Iraq this past fall. He’s thinking about getting out becuase the army will not allow he and his wife to ever be stationed together stateside (she is currently not in danger of going to Iraq).
She is a Chemical Engineer. He is an engineering school graduate, althought I’m not sure what type. He has cross-trained or offered to cross-train in just about anything he could so they could be stationed together, but the Army still refuses.
There may be other issues I’m not aware of, but this does not seem like a good way to keep good soldiers.
aliasofwestgate @ 9
Agreed, but there are photos of the coffins in local papers at least.
A wonderful post, CHS.
Why can’t they show the faces of the fallen more in the MSM? Our brothers, sisters, sons, cousins, fathers, mothers, many so young-looking I can only think of how cheated they were to have heard Taps before Reveille…
This war has been a travesty and waste. Yet our soldiers are doing their duty and the price for rural America has been disproportionate. We owe it to them to end this asap. These heroes have seen the horror of man’s inhumanity to man. Why must the innocent suffer for the folly of this war without end?
Thank you Christy for this post. I alternate between tears and rightous anger against those who have caused this suffering.
aliasofwestgate @ 9
It’s a lot like the USAttorney issue. Try to keep all coverage on a local level, hoping that nobody will look at the bigger issue.
Beautiful post, Christy. Thank you, and thanks to Prairie Sunshine for her story. I also agree with commenter aliasofwestgate–we do need to see the coffins coming home.
Thank you, Christy. You are so at the top of your game today, with this post icing on a cake.
Thanks to Prairie Sunshine, too. So easy for folks to forget that this war is personal for so many of us.
Thank you Prairie Sunshine for this beautiful description.
It is so sad.
And thank you Christy for giving us so many ideas of ways we can support the troops and their families.
DonS @ 3
Try soldiersangels.org
Off-topic:
Devilstower has some advice for reporters to hang up next to Froomkin’s pointers:
Some Advice for the Traditional Media
Write the Book in Your Own Time
Your Inside Source is Not Worth Your Soul
Don’t Eat Where You Shit
[Edited by mod at request of the commenter]
Thank you Christy and nice writing Prairie Sunshine!
Yesterday i went to the vet at the end of the day with my cat, Buddy, the best feral cat in the world. There was no one there except 2 tech assistants and the vet who has a son in Iraq. This is a country vet in conservative Santorum land. We all just sat in the waiting room and hashed out the terrible situation this country is in, covering everything from Marcy’s book, Halliburton, 2000 and 2004 election fraud, the compromised media, global warming, Gulianni’s wife and her dog torture business, and on and on. Even Buddy seemed interested.
My point is that these are blue collar conservative people who never before would question government.
My copy of Marcy’s book is going to these folks along with a list of websites for them to browse.
Keep spreading the word firedogs and stay away from Judith Nathan.
Message for all who perceived GWB as ’strong’.
Elections have consequences.
jayackroyd @ 20
I read that too jackroyd. Simple yet elegant advice
Is things may come undone says online?
Marie Roget @
13
NYT Casualties of War: Faces of the Dead
CHS:
I have a bit of a problem with this post. You’re neglecting that the “honoring” of killed soldiers is often a forum for nursing the “stab in the back narrative” and any number of potentially violent grievances.
I suspect soldiers as a whole are more like the public at large — and therfore more like me — than their forced loyalty performances for Bush would indicate. Still, the military is still a dangerous reservoir of authoritarian sentiment, and one of the destructive things about the Iraq war is that it has and will continue to produce thousands of grievance-mongers hostile to constitutional democracy. I’ll wager more of them will be swiftboaters and “MIA-POW” creeps (few things sicken me more than seeing that quasi-fascist black flag given the same pride of place as our national flag) than Ron Kovacs’es.
The founders understood how insidious the military is. I am all for throwing money at our veterans, not just the wounded. But it’s just as much out of fear of them as out of sympathy.
My revulsion at the military was crystallized relatively recently by a fairly innocuous exchange. On returning from a protest rally with an “Out of Iraq” sign, a couple of guys asked me, “Pardon me, sir, but have you ever served?”. I rejoined that, no, I hadn’t, and didn’t plan on doing it any time soon, but it took a while for the implication of what they were saying to sink in: I’m pacifist scum and the military is the only body worthy of taking action and making decisions.
This is bitter irony. I just read in the Minneapolis paper about 20-year-old Marine who was killed in Anbar Province on Sunday. Daniel Olsen. He was shot in the back.
Olsen’s family lives in my suburban community. At risk of being forever labeled Barbara the Morose, I have to tell you that this just rips at my innards. Immense sadness with an accompanying and equal measure of rage.
Part of me wants to force Junior to come to the pending funeral to see what he has wrought. To watch the anguish of Olsen’s family and friends. To have to experience what it means to condemn our young people to death.
Part of me views the presence of Bush at a service such as this as the ultimate sacrilege. So turns out he is truly damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. But the bottom line is that he is damned. Of that there can be no question.
Amen, sister!
We are a strong, resilient nation and this war has made a lot of people re-think their attitudes about war.
A conservative friend of mine at church has started speaking out against the Iraq tragedy. It’s an mazing about face for someone I’ve known for over 50 years. His youngest daughter is a Nurse in the Navy and he “just doesn’t want her going over there.” He also speaks of what the money we are spending over there could do for us here.
Jesus told us to feed his flock. I’ve spent a good deal of time reading the Gospel and I don’t recall anywhere his warranting us to spread Democracy.
I don’t know what God Voice George Bush is listening to, but it is clear to me that he is lieing his butt off!
I heard an interview of a Iraq Vet’s mother Tina Richards yesterday about her lobbying activities in DC. Her son has survived two tours. She sold her home, staying friends to lobby congress to stop this war. Her son Cloy has attemted suicide and is deemed 80% disabled yet the the military is seeking to redeploy her son to Iraq.
http://www.grassrootsamericafo….._News.html
THANK YOU. For those of use low on funds, but able to babysit for free, I searched all through anysoldier, and didn’t see resources for finding and helping local families with service. Anybody got a clue on that one?
Thank you for your insighful writing. This war enriches our controllers. The film “The Lives of Others” describes how it was done in East Germany in 1980; today in the US, their tools are more effective. They are eavesdropping on us all; they steal our rightful power and wealth, our very lives and health so they can remain in power for their corrupt purposes. When Hillary wins for 8 years as they already have agreed (done deal), it will mean 36 years of rule by the Bush-Clinton family; it is beyond doubt they plan on Jeb after that. Has anyone really looked into Clinton’s Arkansas connections? Something tells me not much happens there without a nod from old man Rockefeller.
brendan @ 26
Kovic
The only person I know who has someone in the military is a lady I used to work with whose nephew is now in Iraq. She was very gung-ho/nuke-em for the war and all that when we first invaded. I hear now through a mutual friend that this lady and her family are now terrified for this young man’s life. She went up to my friend one day (probably realizing how my friend and I feel about the war) and said, “I now know this war is wrong. It was a mistake.”
I don’t see this woman anymore but my friend does. My friend said she just thought, “I feel bad, but you know, you people voted for this man, TWICE! What did they expect?” But you can’t say that of course, you just have to feel bad for them, what they’re going through.
It is SO sad that some people have to be personally touched by this sort of tragedy before they can understand why we were stomping our feet and hollering back in March of 2003.
I’ve seen some columns on this Matthew Dowd guy doing a turn-around now that his son is going to Iraq.
If I knew someone personally going through this, I’d try to lend an objective ear. That’s what people really need most, someone to just listen. I can’t talk to this lady, but I feel her pain and I’m just glad she now understands that I, and people like me, have always supported our military and never wanted to put them in harm’s way unnecessarily, which was the whole point behind not supporting the war itself. We didn’t want this to happen to them or anyone else. And that’s why we were and are so angry about this needless war.
Judy @ 10
This is another part of the tragedy. Lying recruiters. Shameless indeed.
Congressman David Obey called military mom Tina Richards a “liberal Idiot”
and then apologized for it
be sure and drop him a note to let him know there’s plenty of us out here to check his sincerity
http://obey.house.gov/hor/wi07/
I suspect soldiers as a whole are more like the public at large — and therfore more like me — than their forced loyalty performances for Bush would indicate. . . I’ll wager more of them will be swiftboaters and “MIA-POW” creeps
Sounds to me like you are confused.
brendan (26) — there are some of us in the community who have no problems getting in the face of those who would try that dolchstasse bullsh*t.
I didn’t encourage my stepson to serve his country to risk his life for a lie; I didn’t wait by the phone or watch for a dark sedan so that a couple percent of this nation’s population could realize increased gains on their petroleum-invested stock portfolios. I didn’t take every call my stepson has made to me, panicky with PTSD after his return, so that some pompous dry-drunk fratboy with a f*cked up attitude about service to his country can call me a traitor.
I am so over listening to it; I’ll listen to it when they pay their own damned dues by serving in Iraq.
katymine @ 29
Doesn’t anybody get it? Tell me why U. S. boys in high school, if they make it there, are not going on to college? It’s not because they can’t learn. It’s because they cannot afford it. THEY CANNOT AFFORD A COLLEGE EDUCATION IN THE RICHEST COUNTRY EVER ON THIS PLANET.
So what do they do? There is our “Volunteer” military folks.
Rayne @ 37
Now this is a person who is not confused!
TeddySanFran @ 25
Thank you, TeddySanFran, for linking to this excellent NYT feature. I just want to see these faces more on tv as well. Nightly. Your kids, your town, your former students convinced by an on-campus recruiter that this war’s the best vid game ever…
Just wish these faces were on the evening news more.
33- how true. I have friends who voted for Bush both times, all “rah rah you Dems are destroying the country traitors, etc.” who have come to realize how wrong this war is. And still they cannot face up to what they did, but at least they feel bad about Americans losing their lives in Iraq. I try to be understanding about their change of heart, but I still have to suppress the urge to yell “you dam’ fool- you did this in your stupidity and ideology- now you have to pay the price.”
I wish they would be made to go to every local soldier’s funeral, and stand there with the family while they grieve. maybe that would make them understand what they caused.
Rayne @ 37
A swampland (I monitor Joe Klein so you don’t have to) commenter points out:
Colonel Graham, why haven’t you been called to active duty and deployed on multiple Southwest Asia tours like the rest of us?
The Colonel being Lindsay, of course.
I have a cousin who is a pilot for FedEx who was called up, and spent 6 months flying an A-10. Doesn’t talk about it.
You wrote:
There are days when I despair, and days when I feel like there could never be enough weeping or anger in the whole world. But today, re-reading Prairie’s comment, I’m thinking about how decent so many Americans are at their core — whatever their political leaning and whatever division thereon they have been led to believe ought to define them.
I despair too. But for all the grief, think of how bad it would be without the blogs. Think of our incompetent, malevolent beltway press corp. The only sources of truth in our sad country are the blogs.
Ron Brownstein, of the LA Times, had a column sometime back about how the Republican Congress let the country down by not exercising their oversight responsibility. I wanted to yell at him: what about the press corps responsibility to seek and print the truth? They were on vacation for six god damn years.
jayackroyd @
20
I just skimmed it but you have the wrong attribute, Devilstower wrote that piece.
Just clarifying.
Some Advice for the Traditional Media
by Devilstower
Tue Apr 03, 2007 at 06:15:01 AM PDT
Grover Norquist
Especially those 21 class II senators.
TexasBetsy @ 38
That is not what Tina Richards said yesterday on the radio in a live interview. That there are plans to deploy him soon.
Map of Iraq War Military Deaths by state. You can click on the state and provide a list by name & city.
http://icasualties.org/oif/USMap.aspx?hndState
cbl @ 35
My, my, he’s quite the charmer, isn’t he?
azureblue @ 42
Do not forget that we elect a House of Representatives that are supposed to look out for the best interests of citizens of this country when the Executive Branch fails us. It is not every citizen who caused this war, it is every member of the House who voted in favor of Bush’s plan, without scrutiny.
Bustednuckles @ 45
Thanks. too late to edit. Maybe a mod will notice.
[Modnote: we live to serve]
eyesonthestreet @ 39
Not everyone wants college. Some want trade schools or other kinds of job training. Too bad none of THAT is free.
I have to come to Dave Obey’s defense. He’s the real deal and has worked very hard for progressive causes for decades. And he’s managed to stay elected by a fairly conservative northern WI constituency. He knows that you can’t always get what you want, as fast as you want. His frustration was obvious and unfortunate. Don’t write him off. Please.
Brendan 26: ““Pardon me, sir, but have you ever served?”. I rejoined that, no, I hadn’t, and didn’t plan on doing it any time soon, but it took a while for the implication of what they were saying to sink in: I’m pacifist scum and the military is the only body worthy of taking action and making decisions.”
What they despise actually describes the Decider, whose orders they follow – except the “pacifist” part and the Poodle, (neither of whom served in the military) whose new policy is to ask RAF pilots to Kamakazi their airplanes. It’s all over the news.
Not everyone wants college. Some want trade schools or other kinds of job training. Too bad none of THAT is free.
Hey, Zell figured it out in Georgia. Fund middle class white kids to got to college on the backs of poor people who play the lottery and call it, gag, the Hope Scholarship. Oh yea, make sure you tie it to grades so economically (educationally disadvantaged) kids have even less of a chance to use it.
LS @ 53
I thought Kerry was the Poodle?
Some of the op-eds in today’s LA Times:
The ‘queen of nice’ goes nuts
Jonah Goldberg
Rosie O’Donnell’s wacky 9/11 conspiracy theories should get her kicked off ‘The View.’
No choice: Stay the course in Iraq
By Barry R. McCaffrey
U.S. leadership deserves support for one last effort to succeed, says a retired Army general.
He isn’t an anti-Semite. He’s right
By Zev Chafets
Micheal Ray Richardson said Jews are ‘crafty’ and adept at security. Correct on both counts.
Why I’m not buying this paper. (And McCaffrey hasn’t gotten it yet. How many ‘last chances to succeed’ should they have, after four years of not succeeding?)
raven @ 54
Hey, Zell figured it out in Georgia. Fund middle class white kids to got to college on the backs of poor people who play the lottery and call it, gag, the Hope Scholarship. Oh yea, make sure you tie it to grades so economically (educationally disadvantaged) kids have even less of a chance to use it.
That’s the lottery scheme in most states. It’s amazing how few people have figured it out.
I feel so terrible about these soldiers being at the mercy and orders of people like this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6521311.stm
ack! katymine – you beat me to it
what I’ve been doing is printing the Texas list out once a week and posting it with pix from funerals and maimed Texas military personnel at the little store/gas station in town
sounds ghoulish I know, but there’s a fabled tribalism here and I use it every chance I get
I also include contact info for Cornyn, Hutchison, and TRMPAC Monkeyboy John Carter – always asking my fellow Texans why these clowns aren’t listening
Raven 55,
Blair is Bush’s Poodle.
Harold Ford is over at TPM cafe. He’s written a post and is supposedly responding to comments.
But it has been a while and Ford hasn’t followed up with any responses yet.
Meanwhile, the commenters are really giving it to him. I hope Ford’s at least reading what they have to say.
http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/sp…..mon_ground
raven @ 54
Hey, Zell figured it out in Georgia. Fund middle class white kids to got to college on the backs of poor people who play the lottery and call it, gag, the Hope Scholarship. Oh yea, make sure you tie it to grades so economically (educationally disadvantaged) kids have even less of a chance to use it.
Or tie financial aid to grades as well. Even the loan programs. So that if you have medical issues as an older student? You can’t go back and get it again after you get cut off without remorse. I’ve had to drop classes for three semesters because of my health problems. I can’t go back and start again with any hope, more than likely because i wont’ be allowed to GET any more help. Even if i manage to get my health issues under control. I want that second associates. But my prospects to get it are looking gloomier and gloomier. I hate to see what it’s like for someone pursuing a bachelor’s with health problems.
raven at #36:
Read with more care before retorting so snottily.
Hey, Zell figured it out in Georgia. Fund middle class white kids to got to college on the backs of poor people who play the lottery and call it, gag, the Hope Scholarship. Oh yea, make sure you tie it to grades so economically (educationally disadvantaged) kids have even less of a chance to use it.
That’s the lottery scheme in most states. It’s amazing how few people have figured it out.
Shit, they got it figured out here. Athens is full of SUV with W stickers! And this knuckle dragin, moonpie eatin, p-nuts in the RC cola drinkin goof we have for governor now. . .they LOVE him!
azureblue @ 42
I saw Cindy Sheehan a while back on CSPAN and she was asked about how her old friends in California felt about her anti-war activities. She said they were all big time Bushies (this was about a year ago, I think, so it wasn’t even during the height of the war fervor) and that basically all her friends from her past had dumped her for this reason. They were just no longer on the same page.
I had to ask myself how many of these people had kids or other loved ones in the military.
I just thought that was the saddest thing. And I think it illuminates a noteworthy point about Christy’s post. I think most of us, if we had a pro-war friend who had a child in the military, would at least try to be supportive (if allowed) without being judgmental, simply because we are compassionate people who can draw distinctions between political affiliations and basic humanity.
That’s the difference between liberal thinkers and sheeple.
Phoenix Air America has a local program in Sundays called About Face, these are members of the Veterans for Peace group and do Anti-recruitment visits to High Schools.
Last Sunday, they were discussing their latest visit which was by invitation by the teacher. They asked the students how many had been approached by recruiters and around 2/3 of the students raised their hands. Several stated that they started contacting them in middle school. What they do is talk about the recruitment process, will go with them to the recruiter if they want to join to make sure they negotiate a FAIR contact and are not lied to. They provide the balance from another view of those who proudly served.
The recruiters are allowed into the campus’s but the Vets for Peace have to be invited and approved by the School administration.
brendan @ 63
Well, you tell me, are they like you now but going to turn into swiftboaters because of their military service?
martha
I have not written Obey off – I was singing his praises just last week
but I also find it wildly coincidental that there’s a youtube and a subsequent apology – so I wrote the good Congressman to let him know we’ll be watching him
For Jane:
With much love.
Was something wrong with the server the last 30 mins. or so?
I am sorry for our losses and the continued suffering of so many families.
Perhaps pointing out to the folks who are finally turning from this war that a sound foreign policy and a president worthy of being commander in chief who has the ability to choose his advisors with sagacity and care is the important thing and it is what the military, the American people, and the world deserves.
That voting for reps and senators who can and will clearly articulate their answers to our questions and remain accountable is important and the only way they remain electable.
That a dramatic shift away from the military industrial complex is the right way forward. That diplomacy works and we will have the money at home to take care of our country, while we will have much left over to engage in helpful enterprises with those abroad who are less fortunate.
That removing the obscene wealth squandered in elections and politics is right. Understanding the power of lobbies and other forces is essential.
That protesting bad policies is our duty.
That Blackwater and other mercenaries are bad for this country.
That nuking other people is unconscionable and immoral.
Already the American people are spared much of the violence and death. This administration and others have so successfully dehumanized the people “over there” that most people shrug and don’t worry too much about the numbers or the agony. The soldiers who return home dead are only known by their kin and small towns. It’s another form of desensitization– only live troops are used for photo-ops and this is wrong.
Many of our past and present foreign policies and actions are the root cause for almost all of the present antipathy directed toward our country. The heated rhetoric that is spewed and the hideous ideology that is possessed by this administration is only making things worse.
jmo.
katymine @ 66
I think you meant to say fair “contract” – Middle school??? This is simply disgraceful. Good thing what those Vets for Peace are doing. I’d heard (someone correct me if I’m wrong) that there is a conscientious objector clause in the contract that is never pointed out by the recruiter, of course, but that anybody who doesn’t want to fight can use that clause to avoid combat.
Anybody know anything about that?
katymine @
66
I work in a local high school and we have a group that brings in anti-recruiting materials & posters to place right near the recruiting materials. All approved by our local school board.
Biodun @ 70
Here too.
A very close friend of my daughter lost his life in Iraq in September, he was 19. He is the 4th individual from her highschool in this small town to lose his life in bush’s illegal war. Thinking about it makes me crazy as hell some days. I keep wondering when in the hell this insanity come to an end, and what event will make that possible?
cbl @
68
I actually felt a lot of sympathy for him during that video. He’s right. You can’t do anything if you don’t have the votes–and getting the votes is a messy, time consuming process.
Does anybody else think that one reason for Reid-Feingold is to communicate to the president that the current bill is the best one that he’s gonna get–and to get Mitch to head down Pennsylvania Avenue to tell him so. He can veto one bill and have it sustained. He can even veto two. But he can’t veto three and have it sustained. No bill means no more war.
The idiot is finally paying the price for his budget chicanery. If this money had been in the omnibus budget bill, it would have passed.
OT–
The latest Bushism:
You can also see the video of Bush’s comments here.
cbl @ 68
I understand the need for patience and I appreciate his vote. I think he was very frustrated at the time, but it was unfortunate that he lost his cool and tossed around the “liberal” nutcase thing. He’s talking to his base, there. If he voted against the war, then by God, us liberal nutcases were right behind him. So please don’t turn around and smear us with a Fox News label, Rep. Obey. We’ve had quite enough of that from the other side. Otherwise, thank you for your vote and efforts to end the war.
I am lucky enough that my best friend is an Iraq war vet. I get to bounce all sorts of theories off of him and be continually reminded how close the war is.
Boyohboyohboyohboy. They’re really ripping Harold Ford a new one over at tpmcafe.
To tie that into this post, it is really amazing to me how much ordinary folks have done the right thing and come (finally for those who are not on FDL) to learn the truth about the war. And this all occurred not without leadership, but in the face of leadership that was opposed to everything ordinary folks think is right. That’s D leadership & R leadership both.
I got goosebumps reading this.
o/t
a phone conversation overheard somewhere within DOJ
“Hey Italia, Alice here, how are ya, it’s been a while – yeah I know, but then Democracy 21 sent that letter and Waxman wasn’t happy with the Griles deal so sorry hon”
Not Your Night Italia, Not Your Night
cbl @ 82
I read she got a “letter” from DOJ. It is about time.
OT–but not really
The Dems react to Bush’s presser:
I sure hope Ridenour is pulled back into the swamp, cbl.
barbara @
27
You got that right, Barbara. Damned by history and heaven.
And, oh, man, Christy. That drive, that moment has stayed with me since Sunday afternoon. It tempered the gratitude/joy my husband and I felt yesterday with his “all clear” CLL test results. It shimmered in the background of April Fools’ jokes with our grandson about seeing the Happy Feet penguins dancing on the ice of our little lake…
The writer in me struggles with how to tell our reactions without treading on the space of that family.
All I know is, in those dismal, grey, haunted moments, when flashing lights were dimmed by freezing rain, I cried. God and Mother Earth were crying, too.
Meanwhile, Pelosi arrives in Syria (and see the photo-op that the Dunce was anticipating this morning):
Each event that has occurred starting with the appointment of Bush/Cheney, 9/11, lying us into Iraq, Afghanistan, Pat Tillman, Katrina, Larry Franklin, A****C, Plamegate, Marianas, GWOT, Gonzogate, Abramoff, RNC e-mailgate, Niger forgeries, Pakistani intelligence, etc., etc., has its own slew of smoking guns. When we can once and for all identify the underlying big smoking gun that permeates all of these events – connect the dots, and expose it so that all citizens can be informed as to what it is; sanity might return. Until then, we have to keep digging, leaving no stone unturned.
the majority leader. Mr. Reid said a veto would mean that Mr. Bush “will have delayed funding for troops and kept in place his strategy for failure.”
This should be repeated each and every time the republic party tries to blame the democrats for not funding the troops.
Biodun @ 87
Well SOMEBODY has to bring diplomacy back to our government! Go Nancy!
Prairie—
Thank you so much for what you wrote. I remember your original comment the other day. Please do write more when you can.
Christy, thank you for your writing and passion – and your appeal to the best in us.
Rayne @
37
Rayne, thanks you for standing up for the Republic. We don’t serve the military – the military serves our nation and our Constitution – and our freedom of speech. We don’t have to prove to anyone that we deserve our rights – the Constitution military officers swear to uphold demands those rights on our behalf.
Rayne, thank you for speaking out. Your post – and yesterday’s commenter (name?) speaking truth to Judy Wilson and Tom Fiendman inspire me.
We speak truth to power, and it hurts them.
Biodun @ 87
Is she flying in her own airplane? Is it called Air Force 3?
cbl @
59
This is a great idea. Thanks!
For y’all hoping and praying that the Iraq War may end soon, well, the sad news ain’t over by a long shot.
http://www.counterpunch.org/heller04022007.html
From the Dunce’s presser:
My bold. No Mr. President, you cannot understand.
TexasBetsy @ 90
There she goes emboldening our enemies again!
Those same enemies we shipped detainees to to be tortur . . . um, never mind!
Well, a bit OT, and off of the somber mood, but I have to give a shout out to Garry Trudeau and Scott Adams.
Doonesbury’s been eviscerating Mitt Romney this week – today’s is here, and Dilbert has a paen to Lorita Doan here.
Key quote from Dilbert:
“Lying is a process?”
“It is if you use enough slides.”
MP
I sure hope Nancy isn’t going to stop over in Tehran anytime on Good Friday…(I actually think the story is bogus, but..)
LS @ 99
Britan’s “48 hour deadline” sure is strange timing.
Please be patient with me while I ask a question. Am I going insane, or was this post up yesterday for a time? I remember reading it yesterday, and now it is here again.
Am I crazy?
What you see as “decency (of Americans) at their core”, I see as painless, meaningless gestures. It’s the same thing as flag-waving and talking heads nonstop. It means nothing. It’s worth nothing.
It’s the same thing as televangelists with their feel-good and getcher tangible reward becasue you deserve it crap.
I’ve just discovered Sinclair Lewis in all his satirical glory, so forgive me for referring to Babbitt and Main Street and Elmer Gantry – but we haven’t progressed a microsecond beyond the time of those stories, and it’s a national failure.
The nation should face every single killed soldier’s open casket – and better yet – a visit to the place where that person died. No more hiding under the cover of night, behind fenced off hidden cargo bays and under closed caskets covered with flags and flowers. Now THAT would be a meaningful gesture.
OT – Regarding the US Attorney purge.
A commenter over at TPM Muckraker has a great angle on this that I wanted to share.
The essence is that if Gonzalez wants us to believe that they were planning to get these US Attorneys confirmed, rather than using the Patriot Act as a shield, then the Bush administration should start the confirmation process immediately to show good faith.
Here’s the comment:
Well then. If Gonzo says they were going to get Senate confirmation, let the confirmations begin, IMMEDIATELY!
This is such a simple answer to this underhanded, corrupt procedure of using the Patriot Act for partisan politics.
Lets now set up the schedule for the confirmations. If King George and Gonzo are loyal to the constitution, the confirmations will be held with FULL White House cooperation,
If King George and Gonzo are loyal to their party first, they will not allow the confirmations and claim presidential privilage and the use of a provision in the Patriot Act to replace USA’s at his(George thru his boy GONZO) will. This provision was intended for USAs killed during time of war when the need for IMMEDIATE replacements is paramount. Not to get rid of USAs because they weren’t “Loyal Bushies”!
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/ar…..p#comments
The Dunce misses the whole point of David Gregory’s question because he simply didin’t understand it:
Why do republicans hate the troops? Here is John Derbyshire on the National Review’s The Corner commenting on the Brit troops held Iran …
Brit Wimps [John Derbyshire]
Once again, it’s me and Ralph Peters on the same wavelength, deploring the cowardice of the British sailors and marines kidnapped by Iran. When it happened, I said I hoped the ones who’d shamed their country would be court-martialed on return to Blighty, and given dishonorable discharges after a couple years breaking rocks in the Outer Hebrides (which, believe me—I’ve been there—have a LOT of rocks). Now, I confess, I wouldn’t shed a tear if some worse fate befell them.
God – what a creep.
CNN – woman shot in face in CNN center.
Where in the world is Dick Cheney?
Here’s what Bush said in his press conference today…
“Congress’s failure to fund our troops on the front lines will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines, and others could see their loved ones headed back to the war sooner than they need to,” Mr. Bush said. “That is unacceptable to me, and I believe it is unacceptable to the American people.”
He’s the one that extended their service beyond any reasonable service time. I can’t believe (once again) that he has to gall to say this shit.
To mods:
If you think my comments get to personal will you let me know, I am new to this and do not want to offend anyone? Just send me a “You went too far…” okay?
[Modnote: you’re fine, don’t worry]
Methinks the GOP has forgotten their Kipling:
“Far called…our navies melt away,
On dune and headland sinks the fire,
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet.
Lest we forget–lest we forget!”
sweet chocolate jeebus! they’re not even good about bein’ bad -
Good evocative piece as a reminder, yet I also am enigmatized thinking about this.
Having been through the Viet Nam decade and losing about half the male friends I ever cared about, I was assured by media in those days that the conclusion reached was that combat-style warfare was obsolete. It was common knowledge that must have faded away or just never got acknowledged in the Bush frenzy/ ignorance/avarice.
Thanks for your diligent, excellent posts.
Brisingamen @ 109
Or this one from Rudyard…
If any question why we died
Tell them, because our fathers lied
The Dunce at presser: Let’s quickly veto this bill and win the war, quickly:
JF @ 106
He was last seen going back into the WH after the presser this morning.
Wampum’s on fire with the Italia case:
[snip]
Wampum has much, much more on Federici here.
And a legal noose around Grover? Sweet.
Hope the investigation strangles his organization, and the prison term drowns his freedom in a bathtub.
N=1 @ 102
New to this blog? Because you don’t seem to be aware of just how tense, angry, and depressed people get at what’s going on, especially when it’s being done by our alleged government. We need that feel-good stuff: it’s what keeps us from doing things we’ll regret later.
Knowing we aren’t alone out here is a great help.
The Dunce certainly wants Congress to be quick about things, while he takes his sweet time trying to understand SCOTUS’s decision:
My bold.
TexasBetsy @
74
And three…
W’s stagemanagers have missed the boat. In Rose Garden events the prez must face the sun to avoid being in the shadows. You’d think they’d provide him with tinted contact lenses so he doesn’t have to squint & scowl. After Mission Accomplised & the blue-lit cathedral in NOLA, I have higher standards.
The Dunce means sexual orientation, doesn’t he?
My bold.
Biodun @ 104
Again, how dare they attempt to exercise oversight?
eCAHNomics @ 119
Is there any Q&A session in which the man does not squint & scowl? He despises answering questions for reasons that do not bear repeating. But I’ll say it anyway: he’s incapable of coherent thought or speech and the very notion of trying to combine those two together is a downright nuisance.
Finally, the Dunce’s understanding of the separation of powers:
118
Four. I’m in TX.
Jack Keane is on TOTN now. Spinning AEI lies. What a disappointment these people are.
Biodun @ 120
PAGING GANNON!!!
5
Richardson’s campaign has gotten a boost. He’s been appointed by W to go to DPRK to bring back U.S. service member remains from Korean War.
Marie Roget @
13
Lehrer shows photos and specs of the fallen on a regular basis. It is shocking to see the age-span of the victims, from 18 yr olds to those in mid 40’s. This awful war is robbing us of a generation of youngsters as well as many others – and when you add in the grievously wounded, and the terrible damage to Iraq and its innocent citizens, it’s just unbearable.
The war is horrific. Those in the Bush administration, Congress, and the MSM who continue to lie about the war are DISGUSTING! They should pay for their crimes.
Wonderful post Christy.
Very difficult to read.
No doubt even harder to write.
Thank you.
New thread from Jane Hamsher.
Lemmings
Rayne at #37:
You say:
“I didn’t encourage my stepson to serve his country to risk his life for a lie; I didn’t wait by the phone or watch for a dark sedan so that a couple percent of this nation’s population could realize increased gains on their petroleum-invested stock portfolios.”
If you encouraged someone dear to you to enlist, that’s exactly what you did. That is a callous thing to say, but I’m a parent and would never offer my child to unscrupulous strangers — Republican politicians, no less — for their mercenary aims. Those “serving” in Iraq are not “serving their country”; they are doing the opposite. That, indeed, is one of the infuriating and shameful things about this war.
OT – Jerusalem Post -
Jerusalem Post
Attended a Scott Ritter speaking event Saturday evening. Scott said that Iran is 7-10 years from developing a nuclear weapons program. But he also said that Scottsdale AZ is 7-10 years from developing a nuclear weapons program.
Phrase….. the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issues a fatwa which states that nuclear weapons are not consistent with Islam. He equated this to the Pope swearing on a bible that something is true.
It takes 3000 centrifuges working full time for 1 year to produce enough weapon grade nuclear fuel. Iran has only 167 centrifuges and they still have not been able to get them to work well. Iran does not have access to quality uranium to convert into a weapon.
Mandrake @ 122
MBA from Harvard. The one GWB has came out of a gumball machine located somewhere on campus.
I have to admit, I was a little shocked when I received this email on March 27th from another employee at the small company where I work (less than 150 employees):
As I leave for my military commitment, I want to say how much I have enjoyed the past eight years at [our company], and look forward to coming back for future years after my deployment.
Even though I know there are some people that may feel a certain relief of me leaving, that I won’t be bugging them now :] , I will certainly miss all of you.
Many of you may not know about my need for lightheartedness, so I may joke about it but I do thank everyone for the help they have provided me, so I can help others in return to complete the processes we all have.
Any and all prayers are, and will be, welcomed and accepted.
Keep up the great work everyone is doing and remember, we both rely on others and are relied on by others to help us do our jobs. I hope to see/talk to you all upon my return, to hear great stories of all of our efforts for [our] products.
Take care of yourselves and each other.
- Name
It really hits home when someone you know has their life put on the line because of the “surge” policy of this administration.
I hope she comes back well.
- Tom
sumpl @ 111
Much to my shock, nothing has changed. Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s also, I was utterly appalled to discover that our “leaders” had learned absolutely nothing from Vietnam. Somehow, I knew Iraq could turn into another Vietnam although I had no clue it would get as bad as it has. It is tragic beyond words that our “leadership” has completely ignored the lessons of that war and vaulted us headlong into their dream of eternal Middle East conflict.
These people are beyond reason and reality. Honestly, I listen to these Repube talking points these days and I have to laugh. I mean, I really catch myself laughing at the absurdity and the complete disconnect from reality.
The McCain-Baghdad debacle? It’s hysterical. I’m sorry, but it’s gone beyond tears for me. I’ve cried for 3 years now. The absurd jumps out at me with each new Iraq photo-op, and the laughter comes effortlessly as I watch these buffoons hawking a war like snakeoil salesmen pitching amazing cure-all unguents.
brendan @ 131
I am about to be very snarky, because you don’t seem to understand what Rayne said (and didn’t seem to understand any other posts you’ve commented on, either).
She’s told us, many times over the last year or so, about the problem her stepson has with the VA and its services, or more accurately lack of services. She’s written about them losing his paperwork for school (twice lost) and about PTSD – yes, he’s back, and out.
She has never written to say that she encouraged him to join up, and especially not for any of the reasons you seem to be implying.
brendan @
131
brendan, you are so off base here.
My stepson entered the service in 1999, under President Clinton. At that time we had every expectation that he would serve under President Gore. It has been honorable and noble to serve one’s country during peace time, when Presidents have used their diplomatic forces and their intelligence appropriately, with military ONLY as a last-ditch measure. And NEVER pre-emptively.
What you just did was a form of dolchstasse and I don’t appreciate it one bit. If you have guilt about not serving your country, you deal with it. This family has served, and unfortunately were abused by the lies of this administration in such a way that it could not fight back, just as none of our troops could stop the war if they were already in the military when the lies started. We don’t deserve one damned bit of abuse from anybody allegedly on our team.
P J Evans @ 136
P J, thanks for getting my back. I did actually encourage my stepson to join the service in 1998-1999, but this was an entirely different country and a different world at that time.
We’d heard during the 90’s the abuse that Clinton received for deploying troops under NATO to the Balkans; fighting genocide was apparently nothing but “wagging the dog” according to the majority Republicans in Congress. Yet a scant 3 years later these same morons are bending over backwards to let Bush “wag the dog” so that he didn’t look weak on terror (and pony up some dividends while he was at it)??
And unfortunately, when one enlists, one signs up for an 8-year hitch. 4 years active duty, 4 years inactive ready reserve. In 1999 it just didn’t seem like this would be a challenge, having had friends and staffers serve their 8 with only glowing recommendations for the experience. In 2007, it’s been pure hell; we will be challenged to have a standing, highly-trained force for quite a long time.
Rayne, ‘brendan’ put my back up with its first post (#26), and just continued apparently clueless after that.
I guess one of the problems with increased visibility is increased trollish commenting.
I hope your stepson gets his paperwork straightened out soon.
Rayne and PJ Evans:
What I said was callous, but I won’t apologize, because of what Rayne responds with here: “If you have guilt about not serving your country, you deal with it.” Joining the army is “serving my country”? That’s crazy enough, without the additional suggestion that I would feel in any way guilty about not contributing my own skin to our country’s militarism.
You two need to step back and try to view the U.S. the way I suspect most of the rest of the world does. They only see our actions, not our supposed ontological goodness or the “honor” of our armed forces. And the kind of self-adoring naivete of these two statements really needs to be rebutted:
Rayne says “It has been honorable and noble to serve one’s country during peace time, when Presidents have used their diplomatic forces and their intelligence appropriately, with military ONLY as a last-ditch measure”, as well as “I did actually encourage my stepson to join the service in 1998-1999, but this was an entirely different country and a different world at that time.”
Clinton’s policy towards Iraq was not “entirely different” than the neoconservative one, and I say that as a Democrat. The sanctions regime, the bombing, and the withdrawal of inspectors in 1998 were necessary precursors to Bush’s invasion. I’m not saying Clinton or Gore would have invaded (though if Gore had had an unfortunate accident as President, Lieberman certainly would have), but the Clinton administration were the ones who first advanced the notion of “regime change”, not their successors. In the same manner, another President Clinton will be a continuation, if a shrewder and more rational one, of our current policy.
We are on the same side politically, but I have to make the point I make in #26, even if it interrupts the homilies to the dead. No amount of “supporting the troops” is going to appease our political adversaries, so why not try tackling the bigger issue of militarism.
PJ Evans at #139:
My post at #26 was “trollish”? How so? I make the point that many — it doesn’t even have to be a majority — of those coming back from a losing war will carry grievances that can be the seed of authoritarianism, revanchism, irridentism, whatever you want to call it. And it’s not only war that undermines democracy, but a big-ass military, no matter how many “honorable” intentions the soldiery have.
Was that really so unreasonable?
As painful as it may be, I agree that Americans need to face up to these terrible losses. Small-town America seems to do a wonderful job of honoring its sons and daughters. Our neighboring town of 450 lost a 23 yr. old in January and there were over 1000 at the services. There was a lovely full-page photo montage in the regional newspaper.
Last week on spring break, every shop window in a Colorado town of 400 displayed a memorial poster of a recent graduate killed in February. He was one of only 3 boys in his graduating class of 10. It broke my heart.
http://www.chieftain.com/metro/1172230907/2
Christy it was oh so depressing/enlightening spending so much time knocking on doors during the last two elections in Appalachia. I can’t count the number of parents, wives, grandparents that I talked with who had relatives serving in the Bush administrations illegal and immoral war. Many of these people were the “working poor”. Often working two jobs just to make ends meet. Many of their kids and relatives had joined the military to access college.
Rep. Charlie Rangel (NY) brought up compulsory military service on Russerts MTP this Sunday. I support this! Russerts interview with Rangel is worth listening to. Things change when our representatives children are expected to serve
How many suicides? How many of our homeless are Vets? 50%
katymine @ 132
Scott Ritter is one of my heroes. This guy has been attacked, undermined and still speaks truth to power. Diane Rehms has interviewed him several times over the last four years. Her interviews are well worth listening to.
BUY SCOTTS LATEST BOOK ON IRAN!
The people I respect admit their own mistakes and apologize for their own actions, without hiding behind what some other person may have done.
Brendan, you have earned my utter contempt.
kathleen at #143:
I don’t Rangel ever meant to be taken seriously; his proposal was a pointed rebuke to supporters of the war, but still a foolish one. If I’m mistaken and he did mean it, then the suggestion was an outrage.
Think about what you’re saying, for heaven’s sake. Do you really want compulsory military service? Do your really want a year of your life or your child’s spent in a barracks? A lot of wicked people were responsible for invading Iraq, but another more subtle thing also laid the groundwork for the war: this general seal of approval given to the military and a tacit scorn for “doves” or “peace”. Our culture is really sick when even decent minded people on the left are unthinkingly endorsing compulsory military service.
Reduce the armed forces to 20% of their current size. As a nation we’re simply morally and unethically unfit to wield the kind of military power we do now. If there’s ever really a war we must fight, we can institute the draft and raise a conscript army.
brendan, did you serve in the Peace Corps?
How about Doctors without Borders? maybe Greenpeace?
I’m beginning to think the people you thought were stabbing you in the back had a point. A sharp one.
Rayne at #148:
Let me elaborate on those two guys who said that. They were clearly disdainful of my sign. They had a vaguely Confederate-style facial hair. They were fit enough to have been Marines, and I believe they were. I don’t think I misinterpreted their comment and if they participate in any way in politics now or in the future, it won’t be to ours or the country’s good. Trust me, you don’t want to be on their side.
As for your other point: unless I’ve volunteered for peaceful causes I’m unfit to criticize those who volunteer for the military? I don’t get the logic. I’m sorry, I’m selfish: I’m a run of the mill taxpaying wage slave. I happen to believe the military is parasitic and destructive, regardless of the fine intentions or illusions of those who join. That shouldn’t make me a nut beyond the pale here, or a troll, much less be a cause for pangs of conscience.
This nasty dispute reminds me of Cindy Sheehan. She doesn’t go around demanding people honor her son’s sacrifice. She opposed her son enlisting, but allowed him, and now bitterly regrets it. She’s a mother and her son is dead, for worse than nothing, she knows it, and she’s angry.
In #140 I address you in more detail. Even at this late date you show a disturbing faith in our country’s ability to wield military power responsibly.
I know you are an esteemed and expert commenter on attorney- and Plamegate. Stick to that.
brendan @ 140
If you cannot see basic human decency for what it is and a genuine desire to reach out to other human beings in need, then you need to revisit a lot more than your misunderstanding of Rayne’s motivations. If you think for one damn minute that I or anyone else in this thread is trying to appease anyone on the wingnut end of things by asking people to care about military families, then you don’t know any of us very well.
In my state, which has the highest per capita military service of any state in the nation, there are a lot of children who are dealing with long, difficult separations from one or both parents who were serving in national guard units to make ends meet because their police or firefighting or teaching jobs or what have you wouldn’t put food on the table or clothes on their backs.
Wanting to help some poor kid who is homesick for his dad, and help his mom out with a plumbing problem because she doesn’t have the skills to do it herself nor the money to hire someone? That’s just plain being human. If we have gotten to the point where everything has to be psychoanalyzed through the lens of how some wingnut will view it, we’ve already lost. And you’ll pardon me if I continue to reach out to others because that is exactly who I am, and who I always have been — and I’ll be damned if you or some wingnut, either way, is going to change that.
CHM at #150:
Point taken. You make it eloquently.
I know this is seriously epu’d here but Comcast service has been sporadic all day. So, before I lose my connection again (and assuming no one has posted this yet), here’s a poignant example of the price the littlest Americans are paying for the war. Thank God for the occasional happy ending.