OVER THE TOP: THREE EXAMPLES
Amazing as some may think, on occasion I’m almost at a loss of words to describe some current events. I present three examples: one in San Francisco, one in Washington DC, one in Tennessee.
CASE ONE: The zany city supervisors of San Francisco cast an 8-3 vote to ban the battleship USS Iowa from becoming an historic exhibit and permanent home by Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco Bay! This is the proud World War II battleship that helped fight America’s battles from World War II, to Korea, to the Persian Gulf, and the same vessel that carried President Franklin Delano Roosevelt home from the Teheran conference of allied leaders. In 1989, during a training exercise, 49 sailors were killed aboard the ship. The USS Iowa in San Francisco would have provided a place for veterans, history buffs, and students to walk the teak decks once trod by sailors dodging Japanese machine gun fire, and to see the sixteen inch guns that fired at the enemy throughout the South Pacific.
And why, I hear you ask, did the San Francisco City Supervisors bar the USS Iowa from San Francisco harbor? Because they are opposed to the war in Iraq, and the military’s stance on gays. What, pray tell, does this venerable battleship have to do with either of those issues? Nothing.
CASE TWO: The patients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC now include hundreds of our honored wounded service men and women who suffered their injuries, earned the Purple Heart, and honored their nation by their service and their sacrifices on the field of battle. God Bless these heroes, and their families.
The war in Iraq is an issue, and reasonable people can disagree on the subject – but whatever the side one takes on the issue, our service people deserve our respect, and assuredly deserve our solace while they are recuperating from wounds sustained in battle.
Sadly, these fallen American heroes at Walter Reed Hospital are being used by anti-war protesters to advance their agenda. The protesters display mock caskets, and wave anti-American and anti-war signs in front of veterans, some with prosthetic limbs, entering and departing the hospital. A wacko woman named Medea Benjamin, co-founder of a group labeling itself as “Code Pink,” organizes the protests. Ms. Benjamin has supported the Viet Cong in Vietnam, and dictator Fidel Castro in Cuba. She schedules most demonstrations for Friday evenings, when family members of wounded soldiers usually visit the hospital.
A hospital for wounded American soldiers is not a place for such demonstrations. The protests at this venue are inexcusable and shameless. Wounded soldiers don’t need more torment. There are other places to protest against a war, if one feels the urge, right or wrong – but a hospital for wounded American soldiers is out of bounds. Go somewhere else, if protest you must.
CASE THREE: In Symra, Tennessee, protesters are attending funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. They were even issued demonstration permits. And the reason for the grotesque protests? No, not the war. Because the protesters allege that the United States is, according to the Associated Press, “a nation that harbors gays.” Incredible.
“Over the top” is the kindest description I can use in describing these ridiculous and despicable protests – one in San Francisco, one in Washington DC, one in Tennessee.
CASE ONE: The zany city supervisors of San Francisco cast an 8-3 vote to ban the battleship USS Iowa from becoming an historic exhibit and permanent home by Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco Bay! This is the proud World War II battleship that helped fight America’s battles from World War II, to Korea, to the Persian Gulf, and the same vessel that carried President Franklin Delano Roosevelt home from the Teheran conference of allied leaders. In 1989, during a training exercise, 49 sailors were killed aboard the ship. The USS Iowa in San Francisco would have provided a place for veterans, history buffs, and students to walk the teak decks once trod by sailors dodging Japanese machine gun fire, and to see the sixteen inch guns that fired at the enemy throughout the South Pacific.
And why, I hear you ask, did the San Francisco City Supervisors bar the USS Iowa from San Francisco harbor? Because they are opposed to the war in Iraq, and the military’s stance on gays. What, pray tell, does this venerable battleship have to do with either of those issues? Nothing.
CASE TWO: The patients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC now include hundreds of our honored wounded service men and women who suffered their injuries, earned the Purple Heart, and honored their nation by their service and their sacrifices on the field of battle. God Bless these heroes, and their families.
The war in Iraq is an issue, and reasonable people can disagree on the subject – but whatever the side one takes on the issue, our service people deserve our respect, and assuredly deserve our solace while they are recuperating from wounds sustained in battle.
Sadly, these fallen American heroes at Walter Reed Hospital are being used by anti-war protesters to advance their agenda. The protesters display mock caskets, and wave anti-American and anti-war signs in front of veterans, some with prosthetic limbs, entering and departing the hospital. A wacko woman named Medea Benjamin, co-founder of a group labeling itself as “Code Pink,” organizes the protests. Ms. Benjamin has supported the Viet Cong in Vietnam, and dictator Fidel Castro in Cuba. She schedules most demonstrations for Friday evenings, when family members of wounded soldiers usually visit the hospital.
A hospital for wounded American soldiers is not a place for such demonstrations. The protests at this venue are inexcusable and shameless. Wounded soldiers don’t need more torment. There are other places to protest against a war, if one feels the urge, right or wrong – but a hospital for wounded American soldiers is out of bounds. Go somewhere else, if protest you must.
CASE THREE: In Symra, Tennessee, protesters are attending funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. They were even issued demonstration permits. And the reason for the grotesque protests? No, not the war. Because the protesters allege that the United States is, according to the Associated Press, “a nation that harbors gays.” Incredible.
“Over the top” is the kindest description I can use in describing these ridiculous and despicable protests – one in San Francisco, one in Washington DC, one in Tennessee.
posted by Blogs by Rep Bob Lynn | 11:00 PM
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