Posted on 07/27/2005 8:12:08 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Like millions of Americans, I heaved a sigh of relief upon reading that Jane Fonda finally is going to speak out against the war in Iraq. Where has she been?
On book tour promoting her autobiography-in-progress, "My Life So Far." We might have guessed a real-time sequel was in the offing.
Fonda says that, having met some veterans and their families while on tour, she's decided to break her silence. "I've decided I'm coming out," she told an audience in Santa Fe, N.M. "I have not taken a stand on any war since Vietnam. I carry a lot of baggage from that."
That baggage includes the now infamous photo of Fonda in 1972 sitting atop a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun while on a tour of that country. Many Vietnam vets do not forgive Fonda for what they view as treason and for making their lives harder, especially prisoners of war who were tortured in her name. To her limited credit, Fonda has apologized.
Still, her newest foray into antiwar territory feels like a cartoonish parody of her former self. Jane Fonda playing Jane Fonda. In her newest version of Me, Myself and I, Fonda will segue from book tour to antiwar tour via a cross-country trip on a bus that runs on vegetable oil. Slick. But is it canola?
Fonda is mum on details but promises "it's going to be pretty exciting." One can hardly wait. Suddenly, I find myself dreaming of a time when the Rolling Stones do not do one more tour, and Jane Fonda does not find her groove again.
Ending the war is surely the goal of any sane person, but what precisely would Jane Fonda and others against the war have us do? Withdrawing now isn't an option. Losing the war isn't an option. Handing Iraq to terrorists isn't an option. Even those opposed to invading Iraq concede that much.
So what is the point of an antiwar, vegetable oil bus tour? After this trip, Fonda may need a small island to accommodate the baggage she'll accrue.
Meanwhile, there is serious work to do in Iraq, especially as a new constitution is being crafted, the success of which will hasten our ability to withdraw successfully. If Fonda and other celebrities want to attach their names to something constructive, they might join the Independent Women's Forum (iwf.org) in trying to advance the status of women in Iraq and, ultimately, throughout the Middle East.
IWF members meet regularly with Iraqi women, both in the U.S. and abroad, to teach them the principles of democracy and equal rights. Their critically important work is based on the understanding that democracy and freedom are the antidote to terrorism, and that women's (and other minority) rights are fundamental to the ultimate cure.
At this precarious moment, as terrorists gain momentum from successful hits in Britain, Lebanon, Egypt and elsewhere, Iraq's working-draft constitution leaves much to be desired. Of greatest concern is a section that leaves personal matters - marriage, divorce and inheritance - to whatever religious law is practiced by the family's sect.
Women are equal, in other words, as long as their rights don't violate Shariah, or Koranic law. What this could mean for Iraqi women is on vivid display in places where Islamic law rules.
A few days ago, for example, a woman in an Indian village who was raped by her father-in-law was forced to nullify her marriage, marry the rapist, and act as mother to her former husband. This mind-numbing fatwa was issued by South Asia's most powerful theological school, according to The Washington Times.
Before the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi men and women were almost equal. Except for those chosen especially for rape by Saddam's sons and their henchmen, women faced only the same tortures as men. Now, they may face diminished status under a constitution that, as proposed, contradicts democratic principles of equality and freedom.
The Iraqi parliament has until Aug. 15 to adopt a draft constitution, which then faces a nationwide referendum by mid-October. If the women lose, we all lose.
Now there's a cause for feminists and Fondas alike. If we want to end the war in Iraq, a sound, woman-friendly constitution is at least part of the answer. To that end, Michelle Bernard, the IWF senior vice president who runs the democratic outreach program to Iraqi women, says she'd be happy to accept Fonda's check.
"I have not taken a stand on any war since Vietnam. I carry a lot of baggage from that."
No kidding! (I almost said, "No shit!").
There is one problem for you, Ms. Jane, and your ilk. Let's go back 35 years. Back then guys were saying, "If we had been attacked, I'd feel different about going off to fight in Vietnam. It'd be different if the Vietnamese people were a threat to America".
Guess what?
I L0VED the Godzilla pic.
Send Jane to Laurel, oh that would be a great pleasure.
Fonda is now both a joke, a pitiful relic pitifully attempting to recreate what she obviously still thinks of as her "glory days." You're right. Killery is the real menace. She can do gigantic damage to this republic. Fonda's running on Wesson oil, if she runs anywhere at all.
Madame Wannabe Empress of the World is a potentially FATAL person in this country. We simply can not possibly afford another MINUTE of having ANY Clinton in our White House, let alone the two of them back in there for a possible 2nd run of 8 disastrous years. They have already done enough damage. My fervent wish is that somehow I can "wish upon a star" and have both of them permanently removed from public view.
Thanks for your remarks. They are a very assessment of these two women; - the difference between a rapacious wannabe and a distinct has-been.
Char (:
Who's Jane Fonda?
Was she in Vietnam?
Anyone for setting up a Spitting Tour?
loser 60's freak. Also again with the fake causes. Yet she has botox treatments. Ha,ha. She should get them on her hands and neck while she is at it. Loser.
The Vietnam war was the longest in our nation's history.
1st American advisor was killed on June 08, 1956,
and the last casualties in connection with the war occurred on May 15, 1975, during the Mayaquez incident. Approximately 2.7 million Americans served in the war zone; 300,000 were wounded and approximately 75,000 permanently disabled. Officially there are still 1,991 Americans unaccounted for from SE Asia.
Vietnam was a savage, in your face war where death could and did strike from anywhere with absolutely no warning. The brave young men and women who fought that war paid an awful price of blood, pain and suffering. As it is said: "ALL GAVE SOME ... SOME GAVE ALL"
The Vietnam war was not lost on the battlefield. No American force in ANY other conflict fought with more determination or sheer courage than the Vietnam Veteran. For the first time in our history America sent it's young men and women into a war run by inept politicians who had no grasp of military strategies and no moral will to win. They were led by "top brass" who were concerned mainly with furthering their own careers, most neither understood the nature of the war nor had a clue about the impossible mission with which they'd tasked their soldiers. And the war was reported by a self serving Media who penned stories filled with inaccuracies, deliberate omissions, biased presentations and blatant distorted interpretations because they were more interested in a story than the truth! It can be debated that we should never have fought that war. It can also be argued that the young Americans who fought so courageously, never losing a single major battle, helped in a huge way to WIN THE COLD WAR.
Where was she when Clinton went into Kosovo????? Hypocrit I say .....
Still giving aid & comfort to our enemies.
ROTFL. Nooooo...Freepers are great people, nobody would have said you'd lost your mind.
And I did recognize it lol, but it was such a great pic it could have been a tunnel *anywhere*
thanks for the biggest laugh of the night I've had. :)
*puts paper in printer to print of pic*
Fonda's problem is that she hates her country in spite of all that it has given her. She, like many misguided socialists, envisions a Utopian world in which everyone has roughly the same resources and opportunities.
Because her vision regards any form of competitive edge as being inherently evil she must also regard capitalism as evil. Odd, since capitalism has made her quite wealthy, and our military has kept her free to spend that wealth.
She is a pompous, self-important, and shortsighted woman who will go to her grave feeling unsatisfied because her goals of a socialist Utopia will never be realized.
One might overlook her actions as a youth and simply call it misguided idealism. But now? She's old enough to know better. The fact that she still doesn't get it tells us all just how disconnected she is from reality.
A lifetime is a terrible thing to waste.
GMTA, and all that, heh heh heh...
:^)
Brilliant observation, SkyDancer. Thanks for the thought. You're right. That ill-conceived adventure by Clinton didn't arouse Miz. Fonda's ire one bit.
Thanks for your comment. I wish I had thought of it myself!!
Char (:
She has a title for it. It's "MY LIFE, SO FAR.
Thanks, neverhome!
Char :)
You are of course welcome. Thanks for an interesting post.
Hm... scary to think of anything about J/F being interesting.
Okay
Jane has the oil,
she's full of {Pi$$ and} vinegar
Who, oh who will bring tomatoes when she shows up?
A.A.C.
{thinking seriously about a tomato concession business following the "Red Jane rides again" freakshow...}
You're welcome .... seems that those idiots wear their liberal blinders when it comes to history.
Regards,
jane
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