another brother of a BOTL lost in Iraq

[SuperChuck]

But nothing, and I mean nothing sickens me more, than to get a newspaper or a glimse on CNN, showing AMERICANS protesting military funerals across the country...

Try to keep in mind that the VAST majority of Americans, regardless of their stance on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, support our troops 100%.

[SmokinDVM]

It sickens most people when we see whack-jobs protesting against the military, especially at funerals of fallen soldiers. But, these idiots are a small, mentally disturbed group, and not representative of the US public in general.
We need to be careful not to confuse protesting against the Iraq war with protesting against the troops. The trend in this country equating protesting against the war, or the current piece of crap that calls himself President, as protesting against the troops or being un-patriotic, is a fallacy perpetrated and perpetuated by the extreme right wing. Having been in the military myself, I am fully aware and sympathetic to the situation that the troops are in. That doesn't mean I can't, and in fact have a responsibility to, protest against the unnecessary and ill-advised misuse of our troops by the present administration.

[Locard]

Try to keep in mind that the VAST majority of Americans, regardless of their stance on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, support our troops 100%.

Thanks SuperChuck. I know that the majority do support our troops 100%, and show their support tremendously. (I don't even have to tell you the outpouring support that is received from BOTL.) But the media loves to showcase and report the scandelous information, and it is disheartening when we get that news here. I am not saying that I am discouraged by the rantings of these protestors at funerals...if anything I am fueled. I am just utterly disgusted, that someone would take their rights (freedom of speech), and use it in a manner that disrespects soldiers and what they die for.

[Shelby07]

Greetings From Rancho Mirage
By Ben Stein
Published 4/5/2006 2:29:42 AM

Dear Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, National Guard, Reservists,
in Iraq, in the Middle East theater, in Afghanistan, in the area near
Afghanistan, in any base anywhere in the world, and your families:

Let me tell you about why you guys own about 90 percent of the cojones
in the whole world right now and should be damned happy with yourselves
and damned proud of who you are. It was a dazzlingly hot day here in
Rancho Mirage today. I did small errands like going to the bank to pay
my mortgage, finding a new bed at a price I can afford, practicing
driving with my new 5 wood, paying bills for about two hours.

I spoke for a long time to a woman who is going through a nasty child
custody fight. I got e-mails from a woman who was fired today from her
job for not paying attention. I read about multi-billion-dollar mergers
in Europe, Asia, and the Mideast. I noticed how overweight I am, for
the millionth time.

In other words, I did a lot of nothing. Like every other American who
is not in the armed forces family, I basically just rearranged the deck
chairs on the Titanic in my trivial, self-important, meaningless way.

Above all, I talked to a friend of more than forty-three years who
told me he thought his life had no meaning because all he did was count
his money.

And, friends in the armed forces, this is the story of all of America
today. We are doing nothing but treading water while you guys carry on
the life or death struggle against worldwide militant Islamic
terrorism. Our lives are about nothing: paying bills, going to humdrum
jobs, waiting until we can go to sleep and then do it all again. Our
most vivid issues are trivia compared with what you do every day, every
minute, every second.

Oprah Winfrey talks a lot about "meaning" in life. For her, "meaning"
is dieting and then having her photo on the cover of her magazine every
single month (surely a new world record for egomania ).This is not
"meaning."

Meaning is doing for others. Meaning is risking your life for others.
Meaning is putting your bodies and families' peace of mind on the line
to defeat some of the most evil, sick killers the world has ever known.

Meaning is leaving the comfort of home to fight to make sure that there
still will be a home for your family and for your nation and for free
men and women everywhere.

Look, soldiers and Marines and sailors and airmen and Coast Guardsmen,
there are eight billion people in this world. The whole fate of this
world turns on what you people, 1.4 million, more or less, do every
day.

The fate of mankind depends on what about 2/100 of one percent of the
people in this world do every day -- and you are those people. And
joining you is every policeman, fireman, and EMT in the country, also
holding back the tide of chaos.

Do you know how important you are? Do you know how indispensable you
are? Do you know how humbly grateful any of us who has a head on his
shoulders is to you?

Do you know that if you never do another thing in your lives, you will
always still be heroes? That we could live without Hollywood or Wall
Street or the NFL, but we cannot live for a week without you?

We are on our knees to you and we bless and pray for you every moment.

And Oprah Winfrey, if she were a size two, would not have one
millionth of your importance, and all of the Wall Street billionaires
will never mean what the least of you do, and if Barry Bonds hit ninety
home runs it would not mean as much as you going on one patrol or
driving one truck to the Baghdad airport.

You are everything to us, as we go through our little days, and you
are in the prayers of the nation and of every decent man and woman on
the planet.

That's who you are and what you mean. I hope you know that.

Love, Ben Stein

[cigar no baka]

Boy do I ever love Ben Stein. He always has such a way with words and speaks so convincingly and with passion in his voice. And he makes a helluva lotta sense.