I have been without inspiration to write anything besides ‘updates' as of late, and I can only stomach so much of that – how many ways can I say, “It has been busy…Julie and I are good…We…blah, blah, blah, blah.” Yesterday, the long national nightmare that was Spring Term at UD ended, and after a very late night of exercising the demons at my new favorite watering-hole (The Ginger Man), I think my head is finally clear enough to think again. I even spent a couple of hours reading…wait for it, for FUN (reading has not been ‘fun’ for nearly 6 months).
As I said, inspiration has failed me, but ‘where the Lord closes a door….’, right? I can always count on good ‘ole Fox News-loving, ultra-Republican Betsy Stone to give me something to chew on, and this morning she came through in the clutch to break me out of my intellectual slump with this email:
Tokyo Rose
The other night we watched a movie called, "Flags of our Fathers." During the movie, I pointed out the radio broadcast of "Tokyo Rose." She had the best music on her station. During World War II; the Japanese developed a way to demoralize the American forces. Psychological warfare experts developed a message they felt would work. They gave the script to their famous broadcaster "Tokyo Rose" and every day she would broadcast this same message packaged in different ways. The Japanese hoped it would have a negative impact on American GI's morale.
What was that demoralizing message? It had three main points:
1. Your President is lying to you.
2. This war is illegal.
3. You cannot win the war.
Does this sound familiar today? It is because we are being bombarded by Tokyo Hillary, Tokyo Harry, Tokyo Teddy, Tokyo Nancy, , etc., and they have picked up the same message and are broadcasting it on Tokyo CNN, Tokyo ABC, Tokyo CBS, Tokyo NBC, etc., to our troops. The only difference is that they claim to support our troops before they demoralize them. Come to think of it, Tokyo Rose told the troops she was on their side too.
When did patriotism become synonymous with willful blindness? (allow me to invoke the authoritative “we”) We pound our fist against the table in defiance of anyone who would dare claim our president to be a liar? REALLY? We had no problem impeaching a womanizer when he was caught in adultery. We had little problem dismissing a liar after it was determined that he indeed “was a crook”. The very word ‘politician’ has become a punch line, part and parcel with lying; untruths are almost expected, and so why does Bush get a free pass? – because he has been dubbed the uber-Christian by the Right? – because he is a Republican (aka: The New Israel)? Simply put, he is a politician, he is a human, he is a liar.
Is it not possible both to be American and to be ashamed of our highest governing authority? Can we not call this war a mistake? – a mistake discovered long ago, but through the hubris of a pseudo-idealist, good-ole-boy with a gun, divine right of America president, it has turned from a bad idea to a multi-billion dollar staring contest with an infringed upon state, daring the other to blink first so that we might be declared right. I, though certainly not patriotic in the traditional sense of the word (I do not salute nor pledge allegiance to a flag), am proud of the free society that has been forged through several hundred years of labor on the part of my forefathers. I recognize that this freedom has been bought at a high price, namely the lives of those who have fought to secure the freedoms I undoubtedly take for granted, but this mantra does not apply in this instance, and I think it is despicable to invoke such hallowed imagery to win support for one man’s personal mission to reclaim a legacy squandered after 9-11.
We are sacrificing the lives of soldiers in the name of “Liberty”? Are you kidding me? – There are African nations in the midst of long-running civil wars and despotic totalitarianism far, far worse than that which was going on in Iraq. Where is our sense of “freedom for all” when it comes to the poor nations whose resources we do not need to sustain the American way of life? I suppose interceding on behalf of the Africans cannot help us drive our SUV’s and are therefore on a lower strata. We are only interested in protecting the 'liberty' of those whose interests intersect ours...and maybe this does not make us villainous after all. Haven't we dismissed the notion of absolute altruism long ago?
I am lazy; I did no research for this rant. Further, we need not agree; you need not vote for Obama or Clinton in '08 in order for us to be friends or family, but I would encourage anyone to download the podcast of “This American Life” from iTunes and listen to last month’s “Habeas Schmabeas”, which details the conditions at Guantánamo Bay. Hear the testimony of those ‘terrorists’ that have been released after several years’ incarceration, and tell me about the moral fortitude of our governing authorities.
Wilson, Betsy Wilson....
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Wow! Nice hard step to the left there. You've obviously been set free from the bondage of West Texas Republican politics.
Let me start by saying that I HATE politics. I think patriotism is a huge sin in the church (little c), and I'd much rather be about the King's business than America's or it's president's. I do however, have a few thoughts. So I'll take a moment away from my life as a "rock mega-star", to share my admittedly strong opinions.
First off, I have quite a few soldier friends who worship with me on a weekly basis, who would would rip your liberated throat out for extending your political frustrations into the work they do every day. Let's not forget, they're on Iraqi soil because at one point EVERYONE including Smokey Obama and the ex-presidents wife, (whose ex-president "husband" at one point claimed NOT taking care of Saddam as one of his biggest failures) believed they had warheads pointed at your "liberty". Actually, they'd probably not get to your throat because they'd be laughing pretty hard at the fact that civilians are so convinced that they actually know what goes on over there. Truth be told, your podcast is NO more unbiased than your momma's precious Fox News. When two sides spend all their time trying to stay away from each other, their interpretation of "news" gets pretty jumbled as well.
Second, I shudder at the fact that your highly educated mind would imply that Bush missed one war and started another. As if he played an elementary game of "spin the globe" to see where he should pick a fight. I remember my CHS government class enough to know that he doesn't ACTUALLY have the power to start this war all on his own. He's the one to "declare" war, but it takes a lot more than that to put it into action. I'm also amazed that you've bought into this war being over gas. That definitely came from your podcast listening (or from fatty Michael Moore), and not from Mrs. Wilson's Fox pal Bill O'Reily. If that's what this war is about, Bush REALLY did send troops to the wrong place. Less than 5% of our imported oil comes from Iraq. We get well over 15% from Canada, so maybe our troops should be there. Iraq is not even in the top 10 oil producers in the world, and barely makes the top 5 for reserves, coming in considerably lower than the others in the top 5.
Furthermore, Africa is no more Bush's business than it is yours and mine as members of the Church (big C). The pres never took an oath to stamp out world hunger and internal warfare, you and I did however, when we chose to follow Christ and obey His commands. GW swore to take care of your liberty, and keep people from threatening that liberty with "nuke-u-ler" weaponry. While what's going on in Africa sucks pretty damn bad, they were never threatening the country Bushy swore to protect. Expecting the govt to do the Church's job is pretty naive. I think JC will come back before He allows a president to do our work. Honestly though, everyone would probably be just as much on Bush's backside if he went to war for Africa, or any other country. We just don't want him spending our money on anything that might risk the lives of precious Americans. While I disagree with the administrations attempts to make this ware about Iraqi liberty, I'm pretty dang glad my 5 day old son doesn't have to worry about his skin melting from a Saddam bomb.
All that said, I love your freedom to feel the way you do (so do my friends in desert camo). I'm not incredibly at peace with our countries leadership or politics, but I definitely am not silly enough to believe one side is more "pure" than another (not implying that you are). The Bush '04 sticker faded on my SUV long ago, along with my love for the flag painted elephant, so I'm by no means defending the "good ol' boy", I just don't think it's so easy to write it all off with the blue-party explanation of everything about the last 4 years of Bush led America. I also don't think that getting pissed at one man solves or explains anything, it just makes you look like a die hard democrat, who hates the man who represents the other side more than they love the process and freedom that elected him.
Maybe our boys should be back home. Maybe we spent too many of our dollars. Maybe the whole war should be over. I'm not sure. All I know is that my buddy who just went flew over for his second tour, was pretty convinced he needed to go back.
I'm not mad. Don't hear that in my response. You're fiddy times smarter than me, and I'm well aware of that fact. I just thought you'd want to know that people are reading...opinionated people.
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