Thanks for the ping. Man, Squantos, did you ever touch all the bases. As usual, Id like to add my two cents (not that I can elaborate on anything you said ... I just like to increase the value of the pot by a couple of pennies :)
Every time I hear a news report about Natalee Holloway I want to spit nails. Were I her Mom, I would be indescribably grief-stricken, frustrated and angry. But how many people in this world are equally grief-stricken every minute of every day, for reasons equally heartbreaking or much moreso? Do we even know the names of the three female Marines who were barbarically killed last month in Fallujah when a suicide bomber rammed their vehicle? Im willing to bet that their pre-death assignments wouldnt be classified as party girl activities. Nor were the male Marines killed along with them spoiled, pampered, irresponsible free spirits, with parents of social standing, out looking for a quick score. Why are those murdered Marines simply nameless, faceless corpses, mentioned anonymously a couple of times and then forgotten by all but their family and friends, while Natalee Holloways name and face are being engraved on our national consciousness because of the tragedy of her disappearance? (Rhetorical question. I believe our answers would be identical.)
[Note: I performed a Google search under Natalee Holloway and received 289,000 responses. I performed a Google search under names of female Marines killed and identities of female Marines killed and received Your search did not match any documents.]
Do me a favor. Close your eyes. Lets think of America as the proverbial ship of state. Our ship is being attacked on all sides by enemies of all stripes. Some are terrorists from outside of our borders who see it as their destiny to bring us to our knees, with no limit on the amount of blood spilled in the process. Others live within our borders, and they envision a political ideology or a personal thirst for power as being far more important than the preservation of our ship from destruction, or from being overtaken by barbarians of the former sort.
While our ship is being mercilessly bombarded (from enemies in the distance, and from others on board) and is taking on water, some on board are simply looking through pretty pink binoculars, marveling at the grace and beauty of the water birds and ocean life they might chance to view and wondering if the intense smoke might be harming those lovely creatures in some way, completely oblivious to the noise and destruction around them. Others are attempting to find a way to communicate with the attackers in the hopes of reasoning with them and helping them to understand that what they are doing is actually quite detrimental to us. Others are battling among themselves over who should rightfully be sitting at the helm. And still others (most on this forum, I would venture to guess) are either looking desperately for weapons with which to return fire, or they are bailing with every ounce of their strength. The only problem for those who have chosen to bail is that the bucket that has been provided by the ships leaders has no bottom.
This sentence from the article leaped off the screen:
Larsen noted that communications capabilities in the Washington, D.C., area have been improved since 9/11 to assure that "first responders" to attacks are able to use their cell phones.
Wouldnt it be more prudent to secure the barn door, rather than bragging about the fact that, once the horses have escaped, youll have plenty of people on hand to try to round them up?
(pri-or-i-ty noun something that must be attended to before anything else)
I turn a deaf ear on reports of our leaders bickering over how to repair the insolvency of the Social Security system. I turn a deaf ear to reports of our President and other G-8 leaders focusing their attention on funneling yet more money into corrupt African governments, or confronting the global warming mirage. I turn a deaf ear to the revelations of the Tom Cruise/Oprah Winfrey ilk. I turn a deaf ear to conjecture about how a .25 increase by the Fed will affect our twin deficits. I turn a deaf ear to any news report that includes the words prisoners, tortured, by, American, and troops in that order, and in the same sentence.
Being alive, and a citizen of a secure and sovereign republic, trumps any concerns I have about any of the above crises.
When one of our American leaders begins talking about spending my tax dollars building a fifteen-foot tall, barb-wire-topped wall across our northern and southern borders, and placing a trained, armed American in a lookout post every quarter mile along those walls, I will listen.
When one of our American leaders introduces legislation that (1) eliminates random airport and coastal cargo searches, (2) eliminates the term illegal profiling from our national lexicon, and (3) only, but specifically, requires searches of anyone, or any cargo, that meets the rational definition of suspicious, I will listen.
When one of our American leaders formulates a viable means of confronting, or eliminating, the growing nuclear menace represented by China, North Korea and Iran one that doesnt involve taking them at their word I will listen.
And Im betting that Im going to be hearing impaired for the foreseeable future.
~ joanie
It'll never fly, Joanie. It makes much too much sense. Good ideas, well expressed.
Being alive, and a citizen of a secure and sovereign republic, trumps any concerns I have about any of the above crises.
Amen, lass!
When one of our American leaders begins talking about spending my tax dollars building a fifteen-foot tall, barb-wire-topped wall across our northern and southern borders, and placing a trained, armed American in a lookout post every quarter mile along those walls, I will listen.
When one of our American leaders introduces legislation that (1) eliminates random airport and coastal cargo searches, (2) eliminates the term illegal profiling from our national lexicon, and (3) only, but specifically, requires searches of anyone, or any cargo, that meets the rational definition of suspicious, I will listen.
When one of our American leaders formulates a viable means of confronting, or eliminating, the growing nuclear menace represented by China, North Korea and Iran one that doesnt involve taking them at their word I will listen.
Double amen, lass!
Thank you for some more of your common sense thoughts. I want a write in campaign started for something--supreme court justice maybe? ;)