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Veterans Day -- Honor and Protest
Thousands gathered to honor our military veterans in Auburn, Washington on Saturday. Organizers say it is the biggest Veterans Day event west of the Mississippi River. And it may well be. It's big.
Bands played and parents propped their kids up to see the parade of veterans and bands playing patriotic songs including, "God Bless America." (Read article. )
Then, yesterday, just a short distance away in Olympia, Washington, protesters claimed they would do anything to support the troops as they clashed with the police trying to stop a convoy of military-cargo shipments at the Olympia port. A small group of protesters also marched to city hall last night protesting the war while still attempting to stop the shipments.
Only in America is such freedom of public dissent both allowed and protected by law.
In reading the coverage of the events in the Seattle P.I. and KOMO news, I found the comments of those protesting and honoring both striking and very telling.
I'm sure much was said during the course of both events, but looking at what the news organizations choose to quote, I found a very interesting snapshot of reality.
At the event in Auburn, Mike Cochrane, an Air Force veteran who fought in Vietnam, said of his injuries and subsequent Purple Heart, "I zigged when I should have zagged," then quickly pointed to the other veterans and said, "They've earned the respect." Then added, "Everything we have today, our freedoms, is because of veterans."
U.S. Marine Corps veteran Richard Sidlowski, an Auburn resident, said he didn't agree with the war in Iraq but that we should, "Just make sure to respect your country a little more."
Meanwhile, a few miles south on I-5 in Olympia, Joshua Simpson, one of the protesters, said "I'm the only one here who's been in Iraq, I'm the only war veteran in the vicinity, and I'm still here because I don't want my community to be involved in the militarization of Olympia."
While we respect his right to dissent and express his opinion, it does strike a remarkable difference in how people view a day set aside to honor those who have and are defending those freedoms.
The folks in Auburn, even those who disagree with the war in Iraq, honored America and all those who have given so much.
The folks in Olympia seem to have a preoccupation with themselves, what they want and when they want it.
In the line from Simpson that the press is quoting, he refers to himself four times in a single sentence.
Very telling.
You tell me. Is America great because of the people gathered in Auburn on Saturday who have fought to preserve our freedoms or the people running around the streets of Olympia yesterday and last night choosing Veterans Day weekend to talk about themselves while trying to stop needed provisions from going to our troops?
________________
Gary Randall
President
Faith & Freedom
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20 Comments:
"You tell me. Is America great because of the people gathered in Auburn on Saturday who have fought to preserve our freedoms or the people running around the streets of Olympia yesterday and last night choosing Veterans Day weekend to talk about themselves while trying to stop needed provisions from going to our troops?"
Can't America because of BOTH groups of people? Aren't BOTH groups acting according to their beliefs? Isn't the fact that our Constitution guarantees BOTH groups the freedom to express their views publically without fear of reprisal EXACTLY what makes America great?
Much in the same way Gary chose to sully his Grandmother's heartfelt poem with his partisan politics, he is now seeking to score politcal points under the cover of allegedly honoring our service members. How sad that politics is the highest value to some.
Jack in Seattle
Thank you to those who are thinking of others and protecting others rights.Thank you to those who are protecting womans and families rights in Irag. Thank you to those protecting afgahnistan children from being thrown into a satinistic malitia. Thank you for all who have given my kids pride in saying the pledge. Those who defend our freedom . Our speech.
Thank you - to the Vetrans.
Hi Gary!
As a Gulf War 1 veteran, ( US Army ), I concur to what you say.
Certainly, the war protesters have the right to say their views, but at the same time have to learn to respect our nation for what it stands for! I have lived thru dictatorship under the late tyrant Ferdinand Marcos and this evil man has been supported by both republican and democratic presidents. The democratic president that I am referring to is former president Jimmy Carter( now a Nobel Peace prize winner). While Mr. Marcos was suppressing freedom of speech and killing his own political opponents and imposing Martial Law for 7 years( 1972-1979), Jimmy Carter turned a blind eye on human rights! The same goes with Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge took power( 1975-1979) and killed over a million Cambodians, the UN and Jimmy Carter could do nothing!
These myopic minded Americans who now protest and hate the current republican president forget history that the democrats too are corrupt, evil and are lame ducks in leadership! Fact: It was under the democratic leadership ( EO 9066 which FDR signed) that Japanese-Americans were locked up in World War 2. It was also under the democrats that millions of Cambodians died under the Khmer Rouge, Mr. Marcos suppressing freedom of speech and killing his political opponents, imposing Martial Law! Yes, republican presidents have also made errors! But being one sided like the press: CNN, ABC, NBC,New York Times, etc. is doing/giving a disservice to the Americans as a whole.
And to simply attack the current republican president , while deleting what democrats have done wrong is negating the truth!
Mind you, I used to be a registered democrat, but am now an independent party voter.
Going back to the protesters, they should be made aware of the facts and not be one sided! As the saying goes: "There are two sides of the coin!"
Regardless of what the world and others sees America, as an immigrant to this nation( now a naturalised citizen), this still is the greatest nation on earth and I thank the Holy Trinity for the blessing they gave me being here and serving the US Armed Forces!
Americans should be grateful for the blessing they have and for what the veterans have done to this nation! Let us look at the current world crisis: Burma, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia...to name a few are run by dictators or tyrants who suppresses freedom of speech and violate human rights by using the military to turn against its people/citizens!
At least here in the US, despite its flaws, we still cherish our basic freedoms that God gave us!
May God bless the USA always!
Yes there ae 2 sides tothe coin .
One side is making well thought out decisions and trying to determine the consequesnses of a decision and the other side is making knee jerk short sighted decisons with very little thught of the future.
The situation in Iraq was predictable.
Our president place our young men and women in a situation where the enemy is invisible.
a soldier on the street does not know if the Iraqi walking towards him is friend or for, but the iraqi know that the soldier is an accupier of his country.
Going into Iraq was a blunder
and we are paying dearly for having a person in the Whitehouse
who thinks that he is JOHN WAYNE.
The protesters in Olympia remind me strongly of the Westboro Baptist clan. They both revel in the attention they gain by treating soldiers with contempt. The only difference is that the Phelpsites are more honest.
Yeah, yeah, I know... they're not attacking the troops, they're trying to shorten the war. By interfering with the delivery of materiel that will protect and sustain soldiers. I'd like to give them the beneffit of the doubt as merely naifs rather than blackguards, but the end result is still a drive toward surrender that will result in a lot more deaths than maintaining the occupation would.
What kind of person mugs for the camera while clamoring for dead soldiers? I guess we know.
Joel in Moses Lake
Jack America can and does have both groups.I was asking who are the givers and who are the takers. Who made this country great.
Joel in Moses lake
Well said.
I honor our soldiers in Iraq, but
I do not honor the coward that sent them there.
Gary,
My point was that BOTH groups made America great!!! Now, I know you would like to claim each and every positive aspect of this Nation to be the sole provence of conservative Christians, but it simply isn't so, and no amount of divisive posting by you is going to change that.
As for Joel's comments that you endorse, BOTH side support the troops, they just have different views of how to do that. It's a shame that you can't just disagree with their position or methods, but have to attack what you assume (with little or no basis) to be their motivations.
Oh, and just to clear, Westboro Baptist - the ONLY group out ther actually treating soldiers with contempt is Christian and conservative, and shares FFN's views on homosexuality.
Jack in Seattle
I do not honor the coward that sent them there.
Understandable, Ralph. I disagree, but I understand your reasoning.
However, the cogent question at this point isn't whhether they should be there or not. They're already there. The question now is, is it better that they succeed at their mission or fail? The people protesting don't want to frame it that way, but that's what it comes down to. They're lobbying for failure.
As for Joel's comments that you endorse, BOTH side support the troops, they just have different views of how to do that.
No, Jack, they don't support the troops, although they probably think they do. Even granting them stupidity instead of malice, they don't understand that stopping equipment from shipping out isn't going to bring the soldiers home. They'll still have the same mission to complete; they'll just have to do it with less equipment, and the knowledge that people at home want them defeated as much as the enemy does.
Homosexuality is beside the point here. Both Westboro and PMR have the same goal: more dead soldiers to illustrate their own egotistical pretense of morality.
Joel;
1. The equipement being unloaded in Olympia is being RETURNED FROM IRAQ, so any blockade of this traffic will have no affect whatsoever on the availablity of said equiptment for troops in Iraq (did you even read the linked story?)
2. I wish the pro-war side would take the time to define "victory" and "defeat" as they pertain to Iraq. Just what are the parameters of each? How can it be a "defeat" if we have accomplished the stated goal of diposing Saddam and stopping his (non-existent) WMD programs? Seems to me that the pro-war side doesn't want to define either of these because then we would be able to measure progress or lack thereof, besides having them undefined makes it so much simplier to deploy the "defeat = not supporting the pro-war political position" as you have so deftly done.
3. I see nothing to support your claim that PRM wants more dead soldiers, in fact every statement I have seen from them indicates that they want to see FEWER dead soldiers. Perhaps it isn't their sense of morality that is egotistical and warped?
4. When discussing WBC homosexuality is NEVER beside the point, it (or more accurately hate-filled opposition to it) is their very reason for existence!!
5. I find your with "the knowledge that people at home want them defeated as much as the enemy does." line of argument to be especially specious and offensive. That same "logic" has been used to argue that there should be no political debate in this country about what course of action to take in this war. That is contrary to the principles of democracy and our tradition of the military being under civilian rule, not the other way around!
Jack in Seattle
To RalphinEverett,
You still miss the point I made: Freedom of Speech! Have you ever experienced ( first hand) dictatorship? I am sure you have not! Your arguments against mine is weak and hollow! I suggest to live in Burma, North Korea, Pakistan, Zimbabwe . Then come back and challenge me! There are no freedom of speech in those countries. They are censored and are being one sided! You attack the Bush administration, but fail to see the errors of the Democrats. I have already mentioned Jimmy Carter! You cannot even refute what I stated on Jimmy Carter( failure/turning a blind eye on human rights in the Southeast Asia) or FDR who locked up Japanese-Americans( EO9066)..Those are the facts!
All you do is attack, attack, attack. But weak in defending your democrats who I have pointed out have made errors as well and cost a lot of human lives to wit: Cmabodia ( under Khmer Rouge) lost over 1 million lives. Philippines lost several hundred political opponents of Mr. Marcos. You just can't stand the truth! Thus I got out of the democratic party! They can't take the truth!
"All you do is attack, attack, attack" WOW, talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
Since you feel that your first-hand experience with dictatorships makes you an authority on them, did it never occur to you that maybe, just maybe, those of us, who grew up in this country, might be just a trifle more familiar with it's workings than an immigrant?
Then again, given that you seem to be laboring under the delusion that we need to leave the country of our birth and go live under a dictatorship before we can "challange" you it probably didn't.
For instance we know that Carter was elected in 1976 and took office in January 1977, so placing the blame for events that took place in Cambodia in 1975 and the Phillipines in 1972 at his feet is asinine.
BTW: you might want to familiarize yourself with punctuation aside from the exclamation point, it will make you look less like an unhinged lunatic.
Jack in Seattle :)
Dictatorships don't just suddenly happen. They are the sum total
of oppressive laws being passed over a period of time .
Ralph,
You are correct! I would add 'laws ignored'. Bush is blatantly violating FISA with no consequences.
Also, fascism occurs with the consent of the citizenry. As it did in Germany, and presently is growing the US.
Mark in Tigard
Also, fascism occurs with the consent of the citizenry. As it did in Germany, and presently is growing the US.
And will you still stand by that if Bush steps down in January 2009, as no actual fascist dictator has done? Or has the standard for fascist dictatorship been lowered to include him?
Joel,
At no point did Mike call Bush a fascist dictator. He merely pointed out that he has been flaunting the laws of our nation (which is an action he shares with fascist dictators).
There is a growing proto-fascism in this country, read some of Dave Neiwert at dneiwert.blogspot.com. He is a local journalist with in-depth experience convering the Militia movement and other far-right fringe groups.
Jack in Seattle
So, Joel, you used the term 'if Bush steps down', not 'when'. I have a bit of concern about that myself.
While I'm sure Neiwert is a good read, you can understand my comment by simply looking up 'fascism' in the dictionary.
1. (sometimes initial capital letter) a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
Mark in Tigard
At no point did Mike call Bush a fascist dictator. He merely pointed out that he has been flaunting the laws of our nation (which is an action he shares with fascist dictators).
My mistake, Jack. Rereading it, he didn't actually say so; the justaposition merely implied it. I do think that's what he meant, but if he didn't, I'm open to correction.
So, Joel, you used the term 'if Bush steps down', not 'when'. I have a bit of concern about that myself.
Mark, that wasn't a Freudian slip or anything. I don't think there's any doubt at all that he'll step down, and I'm kind of surprised that anyone seriously questions it. Under our system, it would be exceedingly difficult for any politician to hold power in a dictatorial manner, which doesn't stop their opponents on both sides from predicting the end of America when their guy isn't voted in.
That really is a two-way street, BTW. If Hillary Clinton is elected (as I expect), we'll be hearing much the same kind of rhetoric from the right that we heard from the left about Bush.
I think it's a stretch to call the militia groups and their ilk "fascist." Fascism requires a certainn regimentation that I don't think is consonant with their attitudes. If anything, I'd call them more ultra-libertarian. Thanks for the tip on Niewert; I'll have a look.
Excuse me; that should be Mark, not Mike. I apologize.
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