The Dusty Dog

Memorial Day - Let Us Never Forget..... THE TRUTH

Today is Memorial Day. There are millions of flags waving. Parades happened or will be happening everywhere. The weather is warm and the skies are blue, so there will be billions of hot dogs and hamburgers getting grilled. Let's not forget the multitudes of kegs and micros that will be imbibed today. Today is a day to party.

But, it is also a day of remembrance for those soldiers who have fallen, sacrificed life and limb to fight for this country. However, when a statement is put out by the White Wash, it makes me cringe. Literally, I cringe. Today, the prez and his main squeeze will participate in a Wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. The hypocrisy makes me wanna puke.

I am writing about Memorial Day today because I just read an article by a fellow blogger who has summed up the meaning of this day in a very significant way. Taylor Marsh points out the hypocrisy of the right wing scheme machine (Rachel Maddow's term) and the myth of Republican assertion that they are stronger and more capable to protect our homeland (the fascist's term) from terrorists and whatever machinations of their deranged brains they happen to put out to mainstream media for dissemination to a gullible American populace. As Taylor pointed out, there are 50+ vets who are "storming the hill", running to take back Congress and put it in democratic control again. All those 50 vets are running as democrats.

I am not going to re-write Taylor's article. Instead, I am exerpting two paragraphs, and I strongly urge my readers to navigate over to her site and read the entire article, MEMORIAL DAY: The Republican Military Myth Revealed. It's worth it. It's Memorial Day, and we must never forget.

In 2000, George W. Bush allowed former POW and war hero Senator John McCain to be impugned within an inch of his personal life (to McCain's disgrace, he not only let it pass, but supports the culprits). This was followed by Ralph Reed comparing a three-limb amputee and war hero Senator Max Cleland to Osama and Saddam, something he later stated he'd do again. Mind you, Reed never served. It's a disease in the Republican party that has infested the ranks, which has led to the trigger happy chickenhawk Republican that is costing this country Her very life. Dick Cheney is now a legend for his 5 deferments. John Ashcroft had 7 deferments. The list of non-serving neocons is long: Speaker Hastert, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, former majority leader Tom Delay, Missouri's Roy Blunt, Karl Rove, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Dana Rohrabacher, Bill Frist, Mitch McConnell, Trent Lott, Rick Santorum all chose not to serve our country, but the list goes on and on.

Democrats, on the other hand, are military people by service: General Wesley Clark, Representative Dick Gephardt, Representative Bonoir, Senator Tom Daschle, Vice President Al Gore, Senator Bob Kerry, Senator Inouye, Senator John Kerry, Representative Charles Rangel, Senator Max Cleland, Senator Teddy Kennedy, Senator Tom Harkin, Senator Jack Reed, Senator Fritz Hollings, Boswell, Peterson, Thompson, McBridge, Pete Stark, Gray Davis... Senator George McGovern, Senator John Glenn, Vice President Walter Mondale, and, except for Ike, President Jimmy Carter, who served more years in the service than any other president. Of course, we all know that Bill Clinton dodged the draft during Vietnam, but he also didn't wage premptive war. Let's also remember that it's not Democrats vilifying soldiers who stand up and speak out.

Thank you, Taylor Marsh.

posted by Dusty Dog at 5/29/2006