Comments are frequently made on older blog items that may not be noticed by regular BRAD BLOG readers. I hope to do something about that soon (as soon as my busy schedule of late will allow anyway). But a comment came in this morning on the “Michael Moore Connects the Dots” item that I believe is worth highlighting here, since it may otherwise go largely unnoticed.
“Sam” commented to say:
Given the Right’s smoke-screen that “the Military” supports George W. Bush, I think it’s important to show what the real story is. That there are millions of Americans out there, yes, many in the Military, who are able to understand the brink of danger that this Administration has brought us towards. Folks who understand, as Bill Clinton said on Tuesday, that “strength and wisdom are not opposing values”.
Thank you “Sam” for serving our country in both uniform and by speaking up in hopes of countering the deadly spin of the Right. If you have not yet visited Paul Rieckhoff’s website, you (and everyone else) should do so! I highlighted his story some months ago here. He’s another great American, one who gave up a cushy Wall Street job after the towers fell to serve his country, and who is not afraid of speaking out when he sees a “Commander-in-Chief” who is dangerously playing partisan games with the Constitutional (and otherwise American) Ideals that this country was founded on and which are being surreptiously frittered away under the cynical guise of “National Strength and Security”.
It’s not a fight for “National Strength and Security” that the Right is waging. It’s just another cynical “wedge issue” being exploited in order to further divide this country, so that the Right might hang on to their power. And it’s high time we put an end to such self-destructive nonsense in this country. Thanks, “Sam”, for doing more than your part in that regard!
I have a friend who works for the FBI and she said for 17 years the FBI and CIA never talked to each other. Now she says that everything has changed due to the Patriot Act and that work is so much better now that everyone is talking to everyone – yet you guys blame the Patriot Act for us losing our freedoms at the same time you criticize the FBI and CIA for not talking to each other before 911.
NUANCE
Pronunciation: ‘nü-"än(t)s, ‘nyü-, -"äns; nu-‘, nyu-‘
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from Middle French, shade of color, from nuer to make shades of color, from nue cloud, from Latin nubes; perhaps akin to Welsh nudd mist
1 : a subtle distinction or variation
2 : a subtle quality : NICETY
3 : sensibility to, awareness of, or ability to express delicate shadings (as of meaning, feeling, or value)
Yes, there are many necessary points in the "Patriot Act". Many of them, in fact, the same points that folks like Ashcroft so ardently argued against when they were proposed by a Democratic President (Bill Clinton).
As John Kerry has explained, the "Patriot Act" has many needed items, and many that should be either entirely thrown out or otherwise changed. Never mind that I wished he’d spoken up for that point of view the first time the "Patriot Act" was voted on, the point is your Black and White world, Paul, of Right: Good, Left: Bad is not only tiresome, it’s exceedingly self-destructive for this country (the one you’d likely claim to "love" if given the chance).
Save your simplistic "wedge issue divisiveness" for the boys over at Free Republic where the back-slapping self-delusion is more appropriate (and indeed, the only thing welcome there!)
White Christian republicans don’t have much to fear from the Patriot act…yet. That’s mainly reserved for Muslims. But their not REAL people, right Paul?
Just another Big Spending Big Government Big Brother Republican.
Off the original point, I have a friend at work who was in the Army. His dad did clandestine work for the NSA during ‘Nam. His uncle was a Ranger in ‘Nam. They’re from the Deep South, and they are all voting for Kerry.
Wow…Military *and* the South!
Ol’ Dubya is probably in more trouble than he knows! Or that our friend Paul, would like to admit! (Assuming he even knows! 🙂
Folks i grew up in rural Georgia. It was so far from the nearest town in Georgia they named it after the nearest town in Tennessee. i grew up seeing that damned stars and bars everywhere. Saw the first t shirts that said "you have your x i have mine" or "American by Birth Southern By the grace of God". My nephew is in the military. My sister has NEVER voted for a democrat. This year she is voting for Kerry. Her SON convinced her because ALL the men and women in his unit have a very low opinion about Bush. The general mood of the military seems to be malaise over a civilian command who couldn’t care less about expending their lives for nothing.
When the 101st went into Tuwaitha and found that uranium, they were elated bacause they thought they had found proof of the WMD. When it turned out that the civilian and military command KNEW that the uranium was there, that it had been tagged by the UN and undisturned for YEARS that elation was, to say the least, undone. Now that there will be no WMD found, in fact, now that we know they were DESTRIYED prior to 1998 the military rank and file are in a tizzy.
Iraq is going to bring this guy down in the South.
I doubt it!
http://www.nydailynews.com/fron...p-188030c.html