One man's view of the world, from the top of this great big rock somewhere in the middle of God's Country, with an eye toward freedom....or at least some way to get back down without goin' over the edge.

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Location: West Virginia, United States

Former U.S. Army, SPC E-4, Veteran of Operation Desert Storm. If you are or have ever been a soldier, you have friends in my house.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Laura's on the Porch with a 2-X-2 (or, Some Girls Just Can't Get Enough)

Apologies for the lateness of this one. I'm sure you've all heard about it by now. This is just my take on it.

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I tell ya what, fellas...George's got it. He's got the Touch.

For someone that close to half the country supposedly loathes...he sure is popular with the ladies.

Awright----AWRIGHT---pipe down back there.

Look...I know this is a mother who has lost a son in the battle against terrorists in Iraq. I can't sympathize with her, because I have never been in her shoes. That doesn't mean I want her to hurt anymore than she already does.

The problem is this: As much as I hate to say this...I don't believe that her son's death is the sole inspiration for her recent actions.

She says she just wants a face-to-face meeting with the President. Well, that's all well and good. I'm sure that there are many of us who would like to meet with the President.

See, the thing is...she's already had one. And, if her local newspaper's account of that visit was truthful, she was at least a little impressed:

"I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis," Cindy said after their meeting. "I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith."

In fact, it could be said that she came away from it feeling somewhat better than when she got there:

The trip had one benefit that none of the Sheehans expected.
For a moment, life returned to the way it was before Casey died. They laughed, joked and bickered playfully as they briefly toured Seattle.
For the first time in 11 weeks, they felt whole again.
"That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together," Cindy said.


Okay.

Now, cut to the present day, and this (by way of our dear ol' buddy Kos) is what she has to say about he whom once she'd called "a man of faith":

Another big story that was going on today was about my first meeting with Bush in June of 2004. For you all I would like to clarify a few things. First of all, I did meet with George, and that is not a secret. I have written about it and been interviewed about it. I will stand by my recounting of the meeting. His behavior was rude and inappropriate. My behavior in June of 2004 and is irrelevant to what is going on in 2005. I was in deep shock and deep grief. The grief is still there, but the shock has worn off and the deep anger has set in. And to remind everybody, a few things have happened since June of 2004: The 9/11 commission report; the Senate Intelligence report; the Duelfer WMD report; and most damaging and criminal: the Downing Street Memos. The VERY LAST THING I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS IS: Why do the right wing media so assiduously scrutinize the words of a grief filled mother and ignore the words of a lying president?

As you might expect, of course, the usual suspects haven't been particularly helping things.

Now, maybe it's just me...but something stinks here.

I understand that a bereaved mother is going to have some serious emotional rapids to get through before she reaches calmer waters, but....
I'm sorry, folks. This is too complete a reversal to have happened all on its own.

Whoa, hold on....apparently, it's not just me after all. As it turns out, quite a few other people caught a whiff of something foul in all this.
In fact, according to that same local newspaper this week, this includes a goodly chunk of her own family:

In an e-mail to a San Francisco radio station, Cherie Quartarolo, a sister-in-law and godmother of Sheehan's son, who was killed in action in Iraq in 2004, said: "We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the expense of her son's good name and reputation'....
In the e-mail, Quartarolo says she is speaking on behalf of Casey Sheehan's paternal grandparents, as well as "aunts, uncles and numerous cousins.'


Forgive me, o faithful ones, but my baser nature just won't leave me alone on this one.
Something else happened here. Or, perhaps...someONE else.

Miss Malkin has a theory or two about this. I'll let her take it from here.

Before I leave you to your ponderings, I will say this:
I truly do pray that Miss Sheehan is able to get past all this and come to grips with the loss of her son.

And I think eventually she will...if she is allowed to.

Monday, August 08, 2005

R.I.P. -- Peter Jennings: 1938-2005

Peter Jennings dies of lung cancer

Peter Jennings Dies of Lung Cancer At Age 67

I don't care about politics today. That's for another time.

He was one of the best at what he did, plain and simple. He will be missed by many.