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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (421745)	7/2/2003 11:11:18 AM
From: calgal	Respond to of 769670

Joel Mowbray Remember the real heroes newsandopinion.com \| As we celebrate our freedom this Independence Day, we must remember the heroes who helped bring freedom to the Iraqi people. Just as our independence was not won without cost, American - and British - men and women put their lives on the line to free Iraqis from Saddam Hussein's tyranny. And with a tenuous peace, they are still risking their lives for the cause of freedom. When his unit was ambushed by Iraqi forces near Nasiriyah on March 23, Spc. Joseph Hudson was one of six soldiers captured. Nine members of his 507th Maintenance Company died in the attack. The 23-year-old was held as a prisoner of war for three weeks - and on May 29, Hudson re-enlisted, one of eight former POWs to do so thus far. His time spent as a POW, in fact, was part of the reason he committed to serve his country for an additional four years, telling The Associated Press, "I know my previous experience will help me in the future to train other soldiers." Spc. Edgar Hernandez was stationed with Hudson at Fort Bliss, Texas, and was also taken as a POW on March 23. Images of both men streamed across television and the Internet within days of their capture, as Iraqis had videotaped their prisoners and put them on display. Hernandez, who was badly bruised and had cuts on his face in the video, matched Hudson's bravery and patriotism. On Friday, the 21-year-old pledged four more years of service to his country - and a lifetime of commitment to his new bride, Edleen Aguilera. Maj. Hal Sellers faced a dilemma before the war. His newborn son, Dillon, needed a heart transplant, because his little heart could not pump blood. Sellers, a 13-year veteran and his unit's second-in-command, could have taken a desk job with the Marines to stay close to home. He chose instead to lead his fellow soldiers in the Middle East. Baby Dillon got his new heart on March 12, while his daddy was in Iraq. Though worried about his son, Sellers believes he made the right call, telling CNN, "I joined the Marine Corps voluntarily, and not just for those times when it's easy." Other heroes were not as fortunate. On April 19, Army Sgt. Troy Jenkins saw a young Iraqi girl holding a cluster bomb. He grabbed the explosive device from her hands. It exploded. In shielding the young child and his fellow soldiers from harm, the 25-year-old lost his left leg and two fingers on his left hand from the blast. Four days later, the hero succumbed to his injuries, leaving behind his wife of five years, Amanda, and their two sons, 3-year-old Tristan and 2-year-old Brandon, who have their daddy's blue eyes. Staff Sgt. Andrew R. Pokorny was one of two men manning machine guns in the rear of a 25-ton armored personnel carrier as it was on a routine patrol along the Euphrates River on June 13. When the vehicle went down a 4-foot drop, the driver lost control, and the carrier flipped. As the vehicle began to flip, Pvt. Randall Funderburk was falling out, but Pokorny grabbed him and threw him back inside. The hero, who thought not about himself but his fellow soldier, was struck by the vehicle and killed. The 30-year-old, who was not even supposed to be out on patrol but insisted on going that day, left behind his wife, Martha, and their son, Kodi, and two daughters, Kristen and Andie. Pfc. Jesse Halling enlisted in the Army after his high school graduation last summer. On June 7, his squad under guerrilla attack from Saddam loyalists positioned on the rooftops, Halling went out with two other soldiers to engage the enemy. The 19-year-old from Indianapolis was firing a machine gun from atop a Humvee while telling the others inside the vehicle to take cover from the rocket-propelled grenades. Even under intense incoming fire, Halling chose to stay at his post rather than taking shelter inside the Humvee. Shrapnel from an exploding grenade ripped through the hero's jaw. Halling died soon after at the hospital. At the funeral, Brig. Gen. Randal Castro told Halling's family. "There are three to five soldiers alive today because of Jesse's heroism."

To: calgal who wrote (421745)	7/2/2003 11:14:43 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Liberty, equality . . . and diversity? By Ward Connerly This July Fourth will mark the 227th anniversary of America's quest to realize the dominant ideal of our Declaration of Independence: "All men are created equal." The Supreme Court's decisions regarding the University of Michigan's racial preferences admissions policies give us reason to reflect on the history of that quest. Our progress has been very real, yet very difficult. Slavery, the greatest stain on this nation's fledgling years, threatened equality from the start. After 600,000 men and one president died to end it, in 1868 this country ratified the 14th Amendment, which stated in part, "No state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Nearly 100 years later, with full equality between the races still not a reality, we passed the Civil Rights Act to guarantee equality under the law for those who still didn't receive it. That Act read, "No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." The University of Michigan being, like virtually all institutions of higher learning, a beneficiary of federal money, the law and its application would seem to be clear. But the Supreme Court has now demoted the concept of equality under the law in favor of a concept with a much cheaper pedigree: "diversity." Although no American ever fought or died to promote it, and few can even define it, our robed masters in Washington have declared that equality under the law must be balanced with "a compelling interest" in attaining "diversity." "Diversity." Such an innocuous, pleasant-sounding idea. Who could be against it? But "diversity" is an empty vessel of a word, begging to be filled with meaning by the listener. To many, it means students of all colors and backgrounds will populate our nations' universities in harmony. All fair and reasonable people applaud that. To the academic elites, "diversity" means a license to discriminate to achieve the "critical mass" objectives that reside solely in their minds. As a Regent of the University of California for more than a decade, of one thing I am certain: the building of "diversity" at virtually every select university means preferential treatment has to be doled out according to race. All "races" are equal, but some are more equal than others. As tragic as this ruling is, there's still great reason for hope. One bad judgment can't erase centuries of progress. America is a great nation where the overwhelming majority of its people still believe in equality under the law. Even better, the liberty enshrined in the Declaration of Independence — the document we celebrate every July Fourth — guarantees the right of the people to organize and impose their political will on their government. Our successful fights in California and Washington state to ban racial preferences, despite vociferous opposition from many political elites, are proof of this fact. Our Declaration of Independence outlines a civic structure to guide and regulate the relationship between the people of America and their government as well as with each other. Throughout the centuries, the character and the ideals of the American people have been heavily influenced by the words in that document. Embedded within it is the essence of America's definition of itself: its commitment to freedom, its belief in a Creator, its proclamation of unalienable rights endowed by that Creator, its dedication to absolute "truths," and, significantly, its devotion to the creed of equality. More powerful than any law, executive order or court decision is the culture of equality fashioned by the words to be found in that Declaration. It is that culture of equality — a belief that all Americans are not only equal in the eyes of God but equal in the eyes of the government — that binds us and unites us as one people "indivisible." Should a significant segment of the people lose faith in the principles contained in the document that represents the social contract we have with each other, that culture of equality will erode and America will cease to be a nation that promises and delivers "liberty and justice for all." It is not the law that unites people; it is trust. Friendships are forged, marriages are sustained, currencies are valued, and governments survive on the basis of trust. The Court's UM decisions tear at our sense of trust in our government. The time for America to break free from its obsession with classifying and dividing her citizens by "race" has come. And the popular revolt will begin in the state of Michigan where a national effort must be mounted to prohibit the university and all other entities of government from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any American citizen because of "race," ethnic background, sex or national origin. It must begin in California where Americans are blending at an astounding rate and defy the rigid categories of "race" imposed by the government. And the battle must be waged in every other state where the people have the right to petition their government and to enact laws through such a process. We must strain every sinew and muster every ounce of courage to negate this unjust decision. Let us declare anew our devotion to equal treatment and defend that principle against those — even the Supreme Court of the United States — who would deprive us of it. Ward Connerly is the founder and chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute and the author of the autobiography "Creating Equal: My Fight Against Race Preferences."