Saturday, November 11, 2006

The Governor of Oregon and Vets

Today I attended the memorial service for an old friend and I was reminded how painful it is to participate in a family's grief. Our Governor does this for our fallen soldiers and their families. These are not old men who have lived a full life, these are soldiers whose parents have out-lived their child, whose spouses no longer have the love of their life, whose children will no longer know the arms and kisses of a parent, whose friends have only memories. Their grief is appalling to anyone not made of stone, I share it at a distance, through a TV screen or newsprint and that remoteness saves me tears.

I don't care if you opposed this war from the very first, as I did, or you believe it is necessary now, we are responsible, this is our war and these people are ours. They are acting and dying and being hurt in our name, we don't get to duck that. I cannot and should not go to these services, except in spirit and possibly by representation.

There is no requirement that our Governor attend these services beyond his personal commitment. He undertakes a painful duty because he understands the concept of responsibility, our responsibility, Oregon's. Any person who would voluntarily subject himself to such emotional battering on behalf of his fellows deserves to be acknowleged. It is not just a matter of Ted Kulongoski being a "former" Marine, it is part and parcel with the man's character. I don't care if you voted for TK or not, on this day and those days of memorial service you stand with him, because he's standing in for all of us.

I thank the Governor for doing my job, for honoring those who served to the utmost degree, for honoring those who have lost their loved ones, for making the small acknowlegement that can be made of all of our loss. We are all so much poorer for their deaths.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Top Stories: World : The Islamic Threat
Posted by admin on 2006/11/10 17:47:06 ( )
*By Douglas J. Hagmann, Director
director@homelandsecurityus.com

--75% of British Muslims sympathize with French rioters

--77% of British Muslims, 83% of Muslims in Spain oppose the US war on terror

--71% of British Muslims have a favorable opinion of Iran

10 November 2006: No one should be surprised by the information provided yesterday by Eliza Manningham-Buller, the Director-General of MI5, about the terrorist threat facing the UK. The threat of Islamic terrorism predates the attacks of 9/11, and it will continue well into future generations until we lose the lies about Islam that the cancer of political correctness perpetuates. Manningham-Buller provided a tempered glimpse into the massive problem facing Great Britain, noting that the threat posed by Islamic terrorism is “real, here, deadly and enduring.” Full text of speech

The reality is that the threat facing our national security is much greater than anyone has yet dared to say, at least publicly. A 39-page report from July that outlines growing trends of Muslims worldwide provides some insight into the mindset of the “general Muslim population” about a number of topics, from their (lack of) desire to assimilate into western society to their overwhelming support of terrorist organizations like Hamas, and favoring their victory over Israel. As stated by Manningham-Buller , it is evident that more Muslims are moving from passive sympathy towards active terrorism, which has been and continues to be a trend inside the United States.

HEY LEFTY/CHEVY GUY!

One: If you really check it out, your KMAN,was asked to attend the activation ceremony of his guard unit in Salem when they left for Iraq....HE WAS TO BUSY THAT DAY, HE WAS BOWLING IN NEWPORT!

TW0: If you shut down the JTTF,and limit means to catch badguys here....YOU AID THEM!

You are going to get us killed>

PS, My DSS racing 82 Stang went 10:60 at 125.55 mph and I DROVE IT TO WOODBURN, put the slicks and skinnies on up front, put a few Chev types back on their trailers and sent them home.

You sir, need to think about what your party will not do about the terror issue!

Chuck Butcher said...

Fast car. I prefer to work on Bowties and drive them, but there are alot of fast cars of all makes around. There are things I like about the Woodburn track & things I don't, what I mostly don't like is the 350 mi drive to get there, so Firebird for me, mostly. BTW, the 62 Chevy II was built as and used as a year around daily driver in Baker City, so 12.75 is pretty respectable.

As far as Muslims go, I don't trade my Rights and Liberties to the government of any nation for anything. Period. I don't let the rat bastard terrorist win by turning my country into a 3rd rate tin pot lawless dictatorship. I ain't easy to kill and neither are Americans. So quit trying to scare me.

Anonymous said...

Ted Kulongoski has been there for grieving families of fallen soldiers, whereas the President has avoided them like the plague lest he have to take any responsibility. Ted is a role model.

The world was a threatening place long before the 9/11 attacks, and only a coward and a fool would expect that everyone should repudiate their heritage and "assimilate into western society" so they would no longer hate us. Indeed our military adventurism post-9/11 has done little but make us more enemies.

Anonymous said...

The fact that your not "scared" scares me!

But HEY, your distributor is an has alaways been in the wrong place.

Your ignorance and lack of a plan to fight terror is sick, hope you pay for it before I do.

Anonymous said...

12.75 ???? eighth mile right!

Chuck Butcher said...

The car's performace has something to do with politics??? If that's about Bowtie, I think we both can count the makes in the Staging lanes and in 1/4 finals in Pro Bracket.

Um, Woodburn @2850 DA, 1.72 60', 13.01 @ 104 on 8.25 TreadWidth DOTs, full exhaust, full interior, air cleaner, blah blah, year around daily driver street car. 15mpg in race tune, 92 Octane pump.

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