Sentiment From One Who's Been There

I've recently spent some time with a guy who came home from Vietnam after having served three tours, received the Bronze and Silver Stars, a Medal of Commendation and sundry military mentions, who told me for the first time, "I couldn't tell anybody where I was. I had to hide it."

The War

I've known this person all my life, so I was very interested because he never had spoken of these degrading details. This guy was in the middle of the Tet Offensive, along with other grunt bodies. He's one of the people who was spit on when he came home to America.

Can you imagine spitting on a stranger simply because he wears a uniform? Imagine the kind of mind behind that utterly indefensible behavior. Imagine their absolute cowardice. They can say they're heroic till the cows come home simply because they "spoke out." Uh huh.

Don't believe what antiwar people say about their activities not affecting our people overseas. It's likely a troublesome irritant at first--part of the irony of democracy that you can vocalize hate speech against the very people (volunteers!) who are serving in your name.

Even the most professional soldier must tire of the nearly endless questions regarding the war's legitimacy, direction and progress. It has to be among the most frustrating aspects of adapting to an inhospitable and innately dangerous theater of war. Suddenly everyone's been to war college and knows everything there is to know about warfare. Everyone's a critic.

Who Are These People?

The people who want America to fail in the war on terror are the individuals who sold us down the river in the 60s and 70s in Vietnam. You know their names. They are the same, immature, narcissistic individuals who insisted their protests didn't contribute to placing our soldiers in harm's way. The only difference now is they're old and grey, like me.

The younger ones? Who cares? What possible addition can they give to this erroneous argument about the legitimacy of the war on terror? They're within that circle of self-centered folks having learned at their elders' knees that "...war is bad, the U.S. is bad, Republicans are bad. Now, where did I put that latte?"

Never Again

After talking with this Vietnam veteran I realize I must--no--I will stand up to the antiwar rhetoric. Never again should we allow the antiwar's shallow and craven voices to kill our spirit and cause Americans to lose hope and courage. Their calls for withdrawal only is amplified by the persistence of a mass media that has shown its collective irresponsible behavior for decades. If Americans give in, I fear the worst for all of us.

There is great power in reminding one another of the terrible consequences if we do not succeed in winning in Iraq. Iraq is simply a piece of the war on terror. We need to remember that. Since 9/11 the question has always been thus: if not now, when; if not there, where? Those are our choices given the enemy's ability to kamakazi their way across our borders.

Something tells me Iraq is a cakewalk compared to what's next if we allow ourselves to fail there.

Thanks for the read.

Open Call to Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard: If any of you have a story to tell, please write me. I'll try to include as many as I can.

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A Marine's View

Sometimes you get the most wonderful pieces forwarded from God knows where! I am passing this one along because it's my duty to do so.

In a message dated 11/15/2005 5:11:52 PM Pacific Standard Time, GM ENT GC writes:

This poem was sent from a Marine to his Dad. For those who take the time to read it, you'll see a letter from him to his Dad at the bottom. It makes you truly thankful for not only the Marines, but ALL of our troops

THE MARINE

We all came together,
Both young and old
To fight for our freedom,
To stand and be bold.

In the midst of all evil,
We stand our ground,
And we protect our country
From all terror around.

Peace and not war,
Is what some people say
But I'll give my life,
So you can live the American way.

I give you the right
To talk of your peace.
To stand in your groups,
and protest in our streets.

But still I fight on,
I don't bitch, I don't whine.
I'm just one of the people
Who is doing your time.

I'm harder than nails,
Stronger than any machine.
I'm the immortal soldier,
I'm a U.S. MARINE!

So stand in my shoes,
And leave from your home.
Fight for the people who hate you,
With the protests they've shown.

Fight for the stranger,
Fight for the young.
So they all may have,
The greatest freedom you've won.

Fight for the sick,
Fight for the poor
Fight for the cripple,
Who lives next door.

But when your time comes,
Do what I've done.
For if you stand up for freedom,
You'll stand when the fight's done.

By: Corporal Aaron M. Gilbert, US Marine Corps
USS SAIPAN, PERSIAN GULF

March 23, 2003
Hey Dad,
Do me a favor and label this "The Marine" and send it to
everybody on your email list. Even leave this letter in it. I
want this rolling all over the US; I want every home reading
it. Every eye seeing it. And every heart to feel it. So can you
please send this for me? I would but my email time isn't that
long and I don't have much time anyway. You know what Dad?
I wondered what it would be like to truly understand what JFK
said in His inaugural speech.

"When the time comes to lay down my life for my country,
I do not cower from this responsibility. I welcome it."
Well, now I know. And I do. Dad, I welcome the opportunity
to do what I do. Even though I have left behind a beautiful
wife, and I will miss the birth of our first born child, I would
do it 70 times over to fight for the place that God has made
for my home. I love you all and I miss you very much. I wish
I could be there when Sandi has our baby, but tell her that I
love her, and Lord willing, I will be coming home soon. Give
Mom a great big hug from me and give one to yourself too. Aaron

If this touched you as much as it touched me, please forward it on.
Let's help Aaron's dad spread the word.
FREEDOM isn't FREE
someone pays for you and me.

Dick and Merlene Carlson,
1109 North Main Street
Winterport, Maine, 04496-3418.
"We can't change the winds but we can adjust our sails."

So, there we are. Amazing that there are brave people who will stand in front of you and me when we're in danger. Absolutely amazing.

For a full presentation with pictures, look through my email to you.

Thanks for the read.

Wake Up, America

I don't know what it will take to get Americans to awaken to the dread and reality of this terrorist war. Another 9-11?

Probably not. They'd just blame President Bush again.

Come On! Come On!

I contend that any country who has a full generation without a draft, i.e., never having to defend itself, is headed for disaster.

We've got the media who consist mainly of sixties-style anti-war creeps, and another bunch of people who have never had it so good economically, who are generally uninformed and pretty stupid. Add to that their relativist social model, and voila' you've got major pantywaists. Lots of brawn from hours at the gym, and little from few hours spent reading something other than Vanity Fair.

Currently, I believe we've slipped into a silliness that will only be reversed when the dying see their own sweet reason ahead of them. After all, disrespectful men and women produce disrespectful results.

I Hated the Feminist Movement...

even when I liked it.

We've feminized everything in this society to the point where we female-types have no one to save us (yes, that includes you, Mr. Metrosexual).

Meanwhile, the kiddies (at script meetings, editorial meetings, bookdeal meetings, publicist's meetings, congressional aide meeting) currently masquerading as grown-ups (they actually get to vote too, you know), haven't a clue as to what makes things go round and around.

For example: what would move a essayist like Dowdy to knowingly put her country's men and women in jeopardy, or a silly little woman like Fonda to add to her countrymen's torture as she did when she was made a pit stop at the Hanoi Hilton? Think of it! What motivates an individual to love humanity more than the human? Oh, how very leftist of them, how so socialististic.

My unsophisticated brain says they're either awfully cruel and inhuman or crazy. Or both.

The War is Still Going On

Get off the president's back already. My God, the man has done wonderful things. The right-wing needs to sit down and shut up, the middle needs to give the president the support he needs (I'm mad at Warner and Frist for their betrayal of the president today), and the rest of us need to do what's right by our service people.

This smells just like the sixties anti-war crap that caused the deaths of 50,000 men and women to be in vain, plus the lives of two-million or so Vietnamese and Cambodians. How could they? And why? To be different, to be a thinker, someone to be looked up to?

I Was There.

These people, these dissidents, these antisocial, antiAmerican pariah who had the gaul to spit on people like my brother when he returned from three TDYs in Vietnam, these morally deficient, valueless, soulless, unrepenting Narcissists are the very same ones who caused the South Vietnamese to lose their war.

We cannot allow this to occur again. In Vietnam, we had not only the manpower, but the technology to win that war. We were there for legitimate, anti-Communist self-interest reasons.

But, the Fifth Column, the press/antiwar movement won. They forced Lyndon Johnson, another soulless politician to hold back and de-escalate that war. Then Nixon, that SOB, puts another four years on the bill as Kissinger kissed up to the North Vietnamese in Paris. It was disgraceful.

We saw what happened when we cut and run. We saw how millions of people died. We saw the effects up close and personal when our military people came home. Yeah, they said the same thing back then. You can support the military without supporting the war. Bullcrap.

Enough is enough. Bill Maher and Daily are no longer as amusing when you think about the effect their words have on our people. Think seriously before you yuk it up at some soldier's expense.

Put the entertainment on the back burner, and the priority back on the people who are doing our dirty work for us.

Thanks for the read.

Oh, by the way. If you're interested in a painting, take a look at my website.
www.frontstreetgallery.net

Republican Men are Acting Like Everyone's Father...

...instead of acting like equal partners in a worldwide conflict against terrorism.

Harriet Miers is the President's Choice

The patriarch baloney should stop. Mainstream Republicans of boths sexes need to stand up to the ungrateful right wing of our party. It is difficult to believe they'd rather be right than an important part of a support system for the president in time of war.

This irresponsible behavior reminds me that their ideals are in conflict with what most people profess to want--to succeed in the war on terror. Roe v. Wade is settled law. Why fight now? Does God really want his servants to put an entire nation at risk because their pride can't take the perceived insult from the Party? Where is that written, please?

The Long Blades Are Out

If our opponents' hateful words could kill, all of us Republicans would be dead thousands of times. Moreover, we have many more assaults ahead of us. The last thing this country needs is a split in our party.

I'm not asking for conservatives to put their knives away forever. I'm simply begging them to have faith.

Meanwhile, I hope these gentlemen get off their sexist kick soon. It's extremely unbecoming.

Thanks for the read.

The Battle For New Orleans

African-American entertainers show up at the evacuee centers to buoy the storm-ravaged's spirits.

Black bosses, preachers and the usual suspects line up to lie to the people they say they love and respect: black folks. Make that poor black folks.

When they hear the truth about New Orleans' Mayor Nagin and his criminal handling of this emergency, will some prominent black person step up, not excuse Mayor Nagin's part in this mess?

Or will we, as a culture, again lie about what we see and hear?

It's difficult to blame black, successful people in America who don't take responsiblity for the lies told on their behalf. After all, they can't forget where they come from, lest they get called an uncle or plantation black. God help him or her if Harry Belafonte doesn't approve of their politics.

Oprah to the Rescue

Gee, I have a hard time messing with Oprah. She has a good heart. But, she's clueless here.

Instead of showing women how to look fifty pounds thinner or fifteen years younger, why the hell doesn't she concentrate on lessons to save lives? When one thinks of the numbers of poor women who are home during the day watching her, you have to wonder why didn't she step up to the plate herself?

Maybe one of her books of the week could be the FEMA manual, in which it states clearly that disaster victims probably will be on their own for three days or more.

If anyone has enough curiosity, he could ask to see the FEMA website at the neighborhood library.

Instead of citing human nature and stupidity as the culprit, these ethnic pimps have decided that George Bush will be the SOB of this century. But the truth is this: people with children chose to ignore common sense and direct evacuation orders. It's like a mother leaving a child in a locked car on a summer day in Phoenix! Come on. What responsible mother would put her children in harm's way? If nothing else, maternal instinct would help you find a way out of that city, wouldn't it?

Of the thousands upon thousands of cars passing above them, could these women not stand along the interstate with their kids and beg for rides out? No one would've picked them up because they're black? If that's true, then Americans aren't as wonderful as they said they are.

This latest generation of notoriously corrupt Louisiana officials, hand picked by their Democrat bosses, have found out there's more than jive and jazz to running a big city. Their neglect of the poor, weak and sick amongst them is unconscionable.

Maybe the Pres Wasn't Such A Jerk After All

Few seem to know that the president called Governor Blanco three or four times prior to the hurricane and gave her a plan for evacuation, According to the Washington Post, September lst's edition, the president's office faxed her three memos summarizing the plan. He called her and begged her to let him federalize New Orleans. The president was ready to step in immediately. She ignored it, saying it was too complex.

I just wish the president had gone ahead and told Nagin and Blanco to go to their rooms. Because he didn't, because he respects the rule of law and our system of federalism and trusted these local leaders to do their jobs, he hates black people.

We all know, though, if he had taken over, the Bush Haters would say it was because Blanco is a woman and Nagin is black. When's this doublespeak going to stop?

Thanks for the read.

America's Wish Fulfilled!

It could happen, you know. If we put all the old stuff aside, and start again.

New New Orleans

Offer each family who lost everything voluntary participation in a program funded by the federal government in which the following would take place:

• Each family will be given a large sum of money. We will provide classes in which the labs would include buying their own homes. Literally. The homes will be in a federal reservation not far from the old new Orleans.
• Each adult with children will be required to attend parenting classes.
• Each parent will be given vouchers for their children's education in schools that are designed to fit the individual's needs.
• Each teacher or instructor will be provided housing and benefits. However, the standards for hiring these teachers will be high. What we are doing is building a new generation to lead the next one!
• In the meantime, enterprise zones will be created in the new city. People who are more skilled than others, will start them. But they will be required to have rotating apprentices all the time. They will be loaned the seed money, expected to pay it back. There will be no taxes on these enterprises for a set number of years.
• This model city will begin to govern itself when the best and brightest step up help in this venture. That will be determined as the new black leadership in this country takes over.

That's only part my idea. Could it work? Who knows? If everyone is free to choose, why wouldn't it?

Most importantly, the money will be spent anyway. Why not spend it on something that won't return our friends to their old lives of poverty?

Thanks for the read.

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

It took very little time for the foreign press to blame, four-square, the entire hurricane mess on President Bush. Even the Telegraph in London has got in on the act.

Another world offensive has begun against the president. But first, before we heed their advice to kill the president, shouldn't we ask more questions?

Why Did It Take So Long?

Of course, with the data (empirical and otherwise) we have so far, the president seems to deserve criticism. I was dumbfounded, for instance, by his lack of urgency. By Wednesday night, I was ready to impeach him. Distressed by the tick tock of this endless, deadly evacuation, I admit I started to doubt. It was so, well, so uncharacteristic. Dubya not on it? It was too hard for me to believe.

Then my sweet husband, who is very smart, made a startling observation. What if the Feds can't go into New Orleans? Dang! I should have thought of that.

Sure enough, in a small interview on Fox, an FBI person whose team had been there since Friday, made it very clear there were national security issues in addition to the presence of opportunistic groups posing as city gangs. DEA also was there, as was INS. So, we may be able to conclude that opportunistic groups, perhaps those unfriendly to the rest of us, were in the city.

When asked if the national security problem somehow involved communications, the FBI spokesman said he couldn't go any further than acknowledging that it indeed was. Considering the proximity of important military facilities, plus New Orleans being a huge port, I had to allow that might be true.

In addition to the president's apparent security problems in the city, he seems to have made the mistake of trusting that local authorities were up to the task. Might this explain the president's gloved hand early on?

Why Else?

I've heard myriad reasons:

• The fleets usually in the gulf had to be moved out before the storm so they wouldn't sink. Carriers full of helicopters? How long does it take to return to port? Likely a few days under full steam.

• The prepositioned National Guard troops, vainly anticipating the go-ahead from Governor Twit, finally had to move to the east from their former strategic position closer to New Orleans as the storm had shifted just before it hit land at the mouth of the Mississippi. The worst appeared to be over, they thought, with their fingers crossed.

• The National Guard command said quite frankly, they thought NOPD could handle their jobs. It never occurred to them the force would deplete itself by 60%! Whose responsibility is that? What if 60% of LAPD or NYPD, with their thousands of cops, decided to leave their posts in an emergency? Let's get real. Some folks in New Orleans love their city, but not enough to try to save it.

• Mobilizing a federal force takes a few hours. That's a reality.

• Clear responsibilities are defined by law, procedures and plans. Again, the locals didn't do their jobs.

Political Realities

Every leader has his own political reality that has to be reckoned with by his enemies and his supporters. Otherwise, the art of political gamesmanship descends into armed conflict.

Part of that includes making nasty decisions, right or wrong, about the emergency at hand. Sometimes those choices are homeruns; sometimes not. I don't know why the president couldn't act sooner, or even if he already had. More will be revealed.

What we are watching right now is the biggest chess match we've seen in a long time. On one side is the credibility of the most powerful nation on earth; one the other is a cabal of individuals who want to president to fail at any cost.

In Texas they call it "how the cows ate the cabbage." Nagin's reality is simply defined: he will be pinned with exhibiting the worst dereliction of duty in the history of natural disasters, or he will be a nice little boy and do what the feds tell him.

As for sister, she'll be talking secretly to the president, getting on his good side. She knows how the cows eat the cabbage. She'll fade into ingnominy, unless she pitches in and hires federal people at the state's expense. In management they call that "buying your way out of trouble."

This is Bigger Than New Orleans

If the president's opponents think the United States is going to be pushed into a corner by a bunch of penny-ante politicians who don't know shoes from Shineola, they can think again.

I can imagine the president made that abundantly clear when he met with hizzoner and her idiocy, the governor, both of whom failed, failed, failed in their important duties to their people.

Moreover, other city and state officials throughout the country are on notice to take this stuff seriously and get the right, skilled people on board to plan for the worst. Their local pride isn't appropriate.

We can tell the Europeans that Americans, under the direction of the president, are in this together.

Thanks for the read.

The Heiracrchy of Blame and Responsibility

All politics are local. Don't ever forget that.

Mayor Daly, Giuliani, Et Al
Great city mayors have one very important public trait: they are first and foremost leaders within their own spheres. They know where to go for the services (corrupt or otherwise) that keeps a city going.

Many city mayors have large, effective police forces and people who will take the heat for them when the going gets bad. If they're really good at their jobs, they have trump cards to pull during the bad times.

The great mayors of big and large cities are the jewels in our crown. Without their powerful presence managing their cities, what we would have are real disasters like New Orleans.

All that Jazz
Mayor Ray Nagin showed his be-hind as he ranted, raved and called the president everything but a white person. Meanwhile, hizzoner didn't have a clue and decided he'd blame everyone but himself.

Even the city official, laughingly called "Director of Emergency Planning," stated that there was no planning. Huh? How much you wanna bet said director's former occupation was matre' de somewhere in the Vieux Carre?

Meanwhile, the Governor, that perimenopausal idiot who is so glad the president came, she clung to him like his mentally unstable sister-in-law, simply couldn't lead when required.

She clutched! She didn't order troops even though the president gave her the gift of an early state of emergency status. Why didn't someone scream at her, "For God's sake, Woman, make the call!" What a terrible character defect is weakness.

FEMA maybe didn't plan well enough, but the will was there. Logistically, this could have been avoided if the mayor had done his job AND the governor had stopped being hysterical long enough to take control.

President Bush shares the blame, in a much smaller way. He should've followed his gut and got the militias going sooner. Live by delegating, die by delegating. In this case, his advisors failed him.

Finally, the media. I don't know what to say about them. They also failed; I'm just not sure how yet.

Thuggery and Why
These individuals, thugs, would be the ones the mayor called " a few Knuckleheads." These tiny cliques of misanthropes have placed our country at risk. We must use the powers of the posse commitatus to rid our cities of them. We have to eradicate these vermin.

Why do these people do these horrible things? Because they can. No one stopped them. Meanwhile, everyone who understands that force must be met with force, that law and order has to be the top priority in crises, step forward.

Not so fast, Mayor Nagin.

What We've Learned
It matters not that this is a 150-year event. We have to assume that any emergency can be bigger than we think. I guess we should have back up plans. I'm not a professional, so I can only use my common sense.

If you haven't figured out that we are on our own in a biblical-style emergency, then you'd best find someone to take care of you--and not the government. You'll be on your own for a very long time. Imagine this type of emergency occurring in a large city--like L.A. I can't bring myself to think of it very long.

I've always known intellectually this truth. Now I'm a believer. My action item is setting up communications plans with my family. That's a good place to start.

Thanks for the read.