Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: altair19 who wrote (54986)	1/17/2006 8:32:38 PM
From: SiouxPal	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 361250

Just watched Pigsfeet sing "You Gotta Shave That Kitty". LOL'ssss.

To: altair19 who wrote (54986)	1/17/2006 8:33:27 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 361250

Asking the Biggest Question: Why We Fight By Paul Rieckhoff* huffingtonpost.com 01.17.2006 As the war in Iraq approaches its third anniversary, it's easy to lose perspective. Critical issues such as the lack of body armor, or the difficult transition back to civilian life consume our attention and resources. Twenty-four hour news chatter drones on with the story of the hour. When the war does make it into the headlines, it is soon elbowed out by the latest scandal, disaster, or pop-culture faux-pas. In the midst of this maelstrom, we owe it to past, present and future generations of American Troops to remember the bigger picture. "Why We Fight," a stunning new documentary, is a great way to quickly reacquaint yourself with the history of the American military. Along with the history, this film takes the subject one step further, with the compelling personal stories of Sen. John McCain, William Kristol, Chalmers Johnson, Gore Vidal, Richard Perle and others. The film, directed by Eugene Jarecki, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. One more reason to like this film: It's helping to support Veterans. If you're in New York City or Los Angeles tomorrow night (Jan. 18), you can attend a benefit screening of "Why We Fight." After the film, there will be a panel of Iraq Veterans who will share their experiences and answer questions. All the proceeds from the screenings will go to support IAVA: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. For more information on how to get tickets, click here. It's a great way to support the Troops and Veterans, and remind yourself of just how important the big picture really is. _________________________________________________________ * Paul Rieckhoff is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Executive Director and Founder of IAVA (Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America), the country's first and largest Iraq Veterans group. When Paul Rieckhoff returned from a tour of duty leading an infantry platoon in Baghdad in early 2004, he quickly became concerned with the way the war in Iraq was being portrayed in the media. There were many policy wonks and four-star Generals on TV, but no one to explain what the War was really like on the ground. As the one group of people that could communicate the “Ground Truth,” or the experience of war known only by those on the front lines, Veterans were notably (and counter-productively) absent from the public dialogue. Rieckhoff decided to remedy that problem. Rieckhoff created IAVA (formerly Operation Truth) in June 2004 along with a couple of other Veterans, a handful of volunteers, and massive amounts of credit-card debt. In less than one year, the organization attracted to its advisory board supporters such as former Navy SEAL/Governor Jesse Ventura and Vietnam Veteran leader Bobby Muller. The group also attracted over 600 Iraq War Veterans and more than 45,000 grassroots supporters across America, including family members of the troops presently in or recently returned from the theaters of combat.

To: altair19 who wrote (54986)	1/19/2006 4:05:22 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 361250

Purple Heartbreakers By JAMES WEBB* Op-Ed Contributor The New York Times January 18, 2006 nytimes.com Arlington, Va. IT should come as no surprise that an arch-conservative Web site is questioning whether Representative John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has been critical of the war in Iraq, deserved the combat awards he received in Vietnam. After all, in recent years extremist Republican operatives have inverted a longstanding principle: that our combat veterans be accorded a place of honor in political circles. This trend began with the ugly insinuations leveled at Senator John McCain during the 2000 Republican primaries and continued with the slurs against Senators Max Cleland and John Kerry, and now Mr. Murtha. Military people past and present have good reason to wonder if the current administration truly values their service beyond its immediate effect on its battlefield of choice. The casting of suspicion and doubt about the actions of veterans who have run against President Bush or opposed his policies has been a constant theme of his career. This pattern of denigrating the service of those with whom they disagree risks cheapening the public's appreciation of what it means to serve, and in the long term may hurt the Republicans themselves. Not unlike the Clinton "triangulation" strategy, the approach has been to attack an opponent's greatest perceived strength in order to diminish his overall credibility. To no one's surprise, surrogates carry out the attacks, leaving President Bush and other Republican leaders to benefit from the results while publicly distancing themselves from the actual remarks. During the 2000 primary season, John McCain's life-defining experiences as a prisoner of war in Vietnam were diminished through whispers that he was too scarred by those years to handle the emotional burdens of the presidency. The wide admiration that Senator Max Cleland gained from building a career despite losing three limbs in Vietnam brought on the smug non sequitur from critics that he had been injured in an accident and not by enemy fire. John Kerry's voluntary combat duty was systematically diminished by the well-financed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in a highly successful effort to insulate a president who avoided having to go to war. And now comes Jack Murtha. The administration tried a number of times to derail the congressman's criticism of the Iraq war, including a largely ineffective effort to get senior military officials to publicly rebuke him (Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was the only one to do the administration's bidding there). Now the Cybercast News Service, a supposedly independent organization with deep ties to the Republican Party, has dusted off the Swift Boat Veterans playbook, questioning whether Mr. Murtha deserved his two Purple Hearts. The article also implied that Mr. Murtha did not deserve the Bronze Star he received, and that the combat-distinguishing "V" on it was questionable. It then called on Mr. Murtha to open up his military records. Cybercast News Service is run by David Thibault, who formerly worked as the senior producer for "Rising Tide," the televised weekly news magazine produced by the Republican National Committee. One of the authors of the Murtha article was Marc Morano, a long-time writer and producer for Rush Limbaugh. The accusations against Mr. Murtha were very old news, principally coming from defeated political rivals. Aligned against their charges are an official letter from Marine Corps Headquarters written nearly 40 years ago affirming Mr. Murtha's eligibility for his Purple Hearts - "you are entitled to the Purple Heart and a Gold Star in lieu of a second Purple Heart for wounds received in action" - and the strict tradition of the Marine Corps regarding awards. While in other services lower-level commanders have frequently had authority to issue prestigious awards, in the Marines Mr. Murtha's Vietnam Bronze Star would have required the approval of four different awards boards. The Bush administration's failure to support those who have served goes beyond the smearing of these political opponents. One of the most regrettable examples comes, oddly enough, from modern-day Vietnam. The government-run War Remnants Museum, a popular tourist site in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, includes an extensive section on "American atrocities." The largest display is devoted to Bob Kerrey, a former United States senator and governor of Nebraska, recipient of the Medal of Honor and member of the 9/11 commission. In the display, Mr. Kerrey is flatly labeled a war criminal by the Vietnamese government, and the accompanying text gives a thoroughly propagandized version of an incident that resulted in civilian deaths during his time in Vietnam. This display has been up for more than two years. One finds it hard to imagine another example in which a foreign government has been allowed to so characterize the service of a distinguished American with no hint of a diplomatic protest. The political tactic of playing up the soldiers on the battlefield while tearing down the reputations of veterans who oppose them could eventually cost the Republicans dearly. It may be one reason that a preponderance of the Iraq war veterans who thus far have decided to run for office are doing so as Democrats. A young American now serving in Iraq might rightly wonder whether his or her service will be deliberately misconstrued 20 years from now, in the next rendition of politically motivated spinmeisters who never had the courage to step forward and put their own lives on the line. Rudyard Kipling summed up this syndrome quite neatly more than a century ago, writing about the frequent hypocrisy directed at the British soldiers of his day: An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please; An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees! __________________________________________________ *James Webb, a secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration, was a Marine platoon and company commander in Vietnam.