22 Responses to “Short Game 7” »»

1. Mister
   Comment by Mister | 07/31/07 at 2:22 pm

   IMO, that dog dialogue was extremely . I really did LOL.

2. junyo
   Comment by junyo | 07/31/07 at 3:06 pm

   Two war amputees with Dubya? I’m so proud of them. And so ashamed of him.
   So much better that he should’ve ignored or refused to meet with people injured by his orders. But I guess your outrage is because they were injured in BushCo’s “illegal” war in Iraq, huh? Except that one of them, Sgt Duncan (who knew that “war amputees” were actual people with names and everything, not just symbols to make a point?) lost both his legs after being wounded in Afghanistan. The other was Specialist Ramsey. The President met both men when he was visiting troops at Walter Reed last year.

   It’s not 1965. There is no draft. Anybody in the military is there because they were/are an adult that voluntarily signed a contract to perform a job and follow orders that carried the implicit and explicit risk of harm. They were in fact injured doing that job, and their employer was expressing concern. What about that makes you so very proud of them? You obviously don’t believe in their mission, or support the cause they nearly gave their lives for. And you’re ashamed of the man who’s orders they followed. So why so proud? Please dispense with the cliches and instead of paying lip service, call a spade a spade. The real reason you feel any smypathy at all is you believe them to be ignorant dupes who were stupid enough to sign up to fight for this country. Only infantilizing soldiers allows this whole BS concept of “I support the troops but not their mission” to make any sense. If you don’t support their mission, or the man and institution that dispatched them on it, then you have to believe that they voluntarily signed up to get shot up for nothing. That they were lied too and were too stupid to catch it (but hey, that’s pretty much what most of Congress is claiming, so what the heck) and that their superiors went along with it. That kind of thinking sickens me.

   My girlfriend send me a link to some cool sand castles and I gotta see this.

3. Linda
   Comment by Linda | 07/31/07 at 3:48 pm

   Junyo: Your comment is articulate and your anger is obvious. Maybe this will help:
   - This photo was published for use by AP on July 25. It has nothing to do with a meeting at Walter Reed; nor does my comment.
   - My newspaper identified them both by name (readers of my blog know that I never identify private citizens) and by Afghanistan and Iraq. I am not sure what your point is here … they are both war vets to me whether the war has an official name or not.
   - I am proud of any one who joins the military to the benefit of him/herself and this country. It is precisely because they are there doing their job that they deserve my respect.
   - And because soldiers do what they are told to do, we hope is that what “their employers” tell them is honest and true and just. We have all repeatedly been ill advised by a White House that plays with the truth like it is a football; soldiers are not they only ones who didn’t catch it. And for that, I am very ashamed of this President.
   We will never agree, you and I. I am sorry to sicken you. Posts are supposed to be more rewarding than that.

4. Emily
   Comment by Emily | 07/31/07 at 4:15 pm

   Linda, I try never to do this, but right now, I have to. Please forgive me.

   To the commenter above: Please suck on your self-righteousness like it was the balls you wish you had. Do you really believe that every deployed soldier is fighting for the “cause” of his or her commander-in-chief? Yes, we volunteered, but most of us did not know when we did so that we would be asked to participate in what amounts to one man’s quest for power. True, there are quite a few soldiers in Iraq who still believe that we are here to “free” its people, but the vast majority are fighting for survival alone. It’s kill or be killed around here, once you step off the safety of a base (which isn’t necessarily that safe to begin with), and it generally has nothing to do with any greater cause than saving our own skin. I’m one of the fortunate ones who isn’t out on patrol every day, but the ones who are, are doing it because they know the only way to get home is to kill the bad guys and train the Iraqis to do the same. We’re not here defending America. We’re here defending one group of Iraqis against another group of Iraqis. One group is actively killing us, and the other couldn’t really care less whether we live or die, as long as they have someone to provide for them because they can’t do it themselves. The only reason soldiers are getting killed and injured is because they’re in the way of a battle that’s been going on for centuries, and which our fearless leader only recently decided to join for no logical reason. Our being here now is helping nobody in the long run, and only hurting us. That photo makes me ill, as well, because I’m currently imagining the line of bullshit that the man in the middle is spouting at those two soldiers to make them feel as though they lost their legs for a “good cause.” If he gave a shit about them, he would meet with them without cameras, and then he would apologize for sending them off to fight an army of thugs who are killing their friends right this moment, just for the sake of doing it.

   I’m sorry, Linda. I’ll stop now.

5. Steve
   Comment by Steve | 07/31/07 at 5:31 pm

   No need to be sorry Emily. You may not like it, but you are doing the right thing and you are doing something you should be proud of for the rest of your life. This, I think, is the best country going, and it is because of people like you. Frankly, I think there still should be a draft, but thankfully we apparently have enough good citizens with the balls to do their part to help keep this country what it is. Not many do, but many will say things like “there are other ways I can give back to my country for what it has given me”, and maybe they are right, but I don’t know any who have told me what those other ways are, let alone done it. Certainly if one of those ways is supporting this country and its military, they’re not doing that.

   Viet Nam sucked too. I hated it. And I never met anyone who didn’t. My guess is Korea (we’re still there by the way), WWII, WWI and all the rest of them sucked too. I could have had a lot to say about “my” president too. And we’re talking Johnson and Nixon – and even Kennedy for that matter. We do what we are told to do and leave it up to those in power to decide what must be done – right or wrong. That’s the only way it works. But you won’t come home and get spit on. This time, you will get thanked and your president will take the spit. That’s part of his job and he knows it. I’m glad I was in my shoes rather than the president’s. God only knows what it must be like to have to make the decision to go to war and live the rest of your life with every injury and death that comes with it on your soul. I think I can assure you this: Not one of our presidents has ever gone into a war just for the hell of it. And I also think that history has proven that the world, if not just the United States is a better place for it. Most, if not all of our enemies DO go to war just for the hell of it. Idiocy, jealousy, power, land, religion, whatever. We don’t. Remember, THEY started this thing, not George Bush. It started with the embassy bombings, the first World Trade Center, and the USS Cole, among others. Maybe if the president at the time would have payed attention, this whole thing would be over by now. But he was too busy chasing some little pig around his desk with a cigar in one hand and his dick in the other. So much for the “smart one”.

   I know it sucks. It does. It’s war, not golf. It is about survival. Like Patton said, “It’s not about dying for your country. It’s about making sure the other poor son of a bitch dies for his”.

   There are a lot of us who really understand what you’re doing. And part of that is not fully understanding what you’re doing. I didn’t understand why we had to fuck with Viet Nam. But if someone had had some balls then and not listened to the polls about a bunch of fucking hippies, and let us win that thing, decisevely and brutally, maybe we wouldn’t have these asswipes with a really fucked up view of the world in our face now. Good luck, be safe and thank you.

6. Keith
   Comment by Keith | 07/31/07 at 9:46 pm

   WOW, I was going to stay out of this, but I just can’t. Steve, there is no way we could win in Viet Nam, just as there is no way we are winning in Iraq. The truth is we should have stayed out of Viet Nam. We didn’t accomplish anything constructive there. Our positions were getting constantly worse in Viet Nam, and our losses were escalating. Sure we killed a lot of people. Unfortunately, many were civilians. As a history and government teacher at that time, I was vitally interested in the war. It wasn’t a “bunch of fucking hippies” that pulled us out of Viet Nam, it was the majority of the American public that was tired of senseless loss of life. Both that of our soldiers and the enemy. And it was the majority of Congress that voted to have us remove ourselves from Viet Nam.

   It’s really difficult for me to try to determine what you are trying to say, your use of the language is so limited. But know that the majority of Americans can and do support the troops while we are working to see that they are removed from danger. I’m not sure that you can say that a war that is based on lies to the American Congress and to the American people is one that makes either the world or America a better place.

   No one wins at war anymore. We only lose in different degrees. The mentality that thinks we can or will win is not one that can accept reality. Emily is right. It’s one man’s quest for power.

   Emily may God bless you and bring you home safe.

   And I understand you weren’t around then, but I was. Our nation was behind our war effort in WW2, and the Korean War. However, when President Eisenhower saw that we could not win that war he removed us from it in an honorable way.

7. R Wayne
   Comment by R Wayne | 08/01/07 at 4:56 am

   Yeh, but did anybody enjoy the sand sculptures?

8. stephanie brown
   Comment by stephanie brown | 08/01/07 at 5:45 am

   I did R Wayne, I did.

9. dogowner
   Comment by dogowner | 08/01/07 at 9:27 am

   Excuse me, but I’ve got to know. I’ve had many dogs over many decades, yet I find myself having to ask: what the hell is a “pizzle?”

10. Linda
    Comment by Linda | 08/01/07 at 9:59 am

    Dogowner: It’s exactly what you think it is. Explained to us once by Lucy’s Mom at http://www.musingsfromtheleftcoast.com, it seems that those pre-packaged rawhide sticks your dogs love to chew are often the part they also love to lick on their own anatomies.

11. Lucy’s Mom
    Comment by Lucy’s Mom | 08/01/07 at 10:04 am

    Don’t believe I want to get into the “debate” over Bush and the Iraqi war and the Vietnam war, et al. I have opinions, but who doesn’t? However, I can definitely tell you what “pizzle” is. Follow this link (URL address) for a nice clear explanation.

    http://musingsfromtheleftcoast.blogspot.com/2007/04/little-knowledge-is-dangerous-thing.html

12. Linda
    Comment by Linda | 08/01/07 at 12:10 pm

    Opps! Sorry, Lucy’s Mom, for misquoting your address. Thanks for straightening it out. About the debate … I posted a strong opinion on a difficult subject so I have to be ready for strong counters. It is distressing without a doubt. But it points up how emotionally strung out all Americans are right now. Thanks for commenting.

13. Emily
    Comment by Emily | 08/01/07 at 12:39 pm

    I forgot to mention before (heat of the moment, I guess) (ha, try to get that song out of your head now!) that those sand castles are fucking crazy-awesome. I would never be able to devote all that time and effort to a piece of art that was just going to be swept away shortly afterward.

14. Steve
    Comment by Steve | 08/01/07 at 1:26 pm

    Linda you are absolutely right. I wish I had a better command of the English language so I could articulate my point but I can’t (old war wound). And believe it or not, I am always open to an intelligent, well thought out and perfectly accurate lesson in the truth. And I know you get it. And I love you for it. And as you know, I don’t hang out with people who are not smarter than me. And what the hell, my opinion is only my opinion and I know that… even though I’m right.

    And yes, the sand scuptures are magnificent… and I understand it. Saw a similar exibition of talent in Italy. Wonderful… beautiful pieces done in chalk, plain ol’ chalk, on the sidewalks. How great is it for us that some people do things just because that’s what they do and we get to enjoy it for a while.

15. josh
    Comment by josh | 08/01/07 at 1:41 pm

    Wow. I have no wish to comment on anyting related to the war or politics, but I would like to say one thing about the President w/ amputees picture. When did prosthetic legs get so cool looking? Not that I would want one, or two, but seriously, those are way more bad ass looking than the regular foot shaped ones. They’re almost as cool looking as the old pirate peg legs, but a little more captain-hooky. And they look like they might be springy so you could moon bounce around. And when are they going to come out with rocket legs? That way you could fly around in a blaze of flames. I mean if you have to lose limb, you might as well do it in style. Maybe that’s just me.

16. Mister
    Comment by Mister | 08/01/07 at 2:13 pm

    I lost a limb before taking up residence in the nursing home. When I e-mailed that fact to a friend, he responded that there had just been a huge windstorm where he lives and they damn near lost every limb in the backyard.

17. katie
    Comment by katie | 08/01/07 at 8:18 pm

    i think supporting the troops means looking out for their well-being and making sure they get home without loss of life or limb. and obviously, our country has failed us in so many ways the past few years. i come from a family of soldiers, but all i can say is that although i am proud of them and love them, it has made me hate war and what it does to our brave men and women. war just isn’t the answer. i was very glad to see emily’s comments–they were articulate and interesting, so thanks for those. il ike seeing the other side too. we just have to understand that just because some are opposed to war doesn’t mean we don’t respect our troops or want them to be able to do their job (yes, that they willingly took) well. it’s a job most of us don’t want to do. come home safe, emily.

18. stephanie brown
    Comment by stephanie brown | 08/02/07 at 9:39 am

    ah mister, you crack me up. i love your sense of humor (or is it your friends sense of humor that i should be praising? hehe)

19. Jennifer
    Comment by Jennifer | 08/04/07 at 12:09 am

    There is a sandcastle sculpture contest this weekend in Bellingham as well, down on the water near the Bellwether hotel. I hope to get over there to see them – the photos on your post look most impressive!

    and, hear hear to Emily. You rock sister.

20. anon
    Comment by anon | 08/08/07 at 11:43 am

    Steve and Juyno: I agree with you and thank you for having the guts to state the “other” opinion even though it is not “politically correct”….especially in most of the blogs.

    cool sand castles

21. Steve
    Comment by Steve | 08/09/07 at 2:00 am

    Thanks Anon, I really appreciate your guts to say that. It’s a nasty business, but we must win and fact is we can. But “politically correct” won’t get it done. Some can sit back with a pipe in their mouth and pontificate all they want, but until they get in there, actually do something and learn a little bit about reality and how it works their opinion is irrelevant. Thanks again!

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