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This and That
by James Glaser
"What Makes A Hero?" Every time the media starts talking about Senator John McCain, they call him a true American hero. Nothing against Senator McCain, but what they sight at his act of heroism is the five years he spent in a prisoner of war camp in North Vietnam. I don't know how that makes him a hero. John McCain was in a jet over North Vietnam, and he got shot down and was captured. I know those years in that camp were horrible and terrible, but I don't see them as heroic. When I think of our true American heroes, I think of men and women who either risked or gave their lives to save another. The guy who covers a hand grenade with his body to save those around him is a hero. The Corpsman or medic, who runs out into the middle of a battle to give first aid to a comrade is a hero. The fireman, who enters a burning building to save a child, is a hero. The prisoner of war, who suffers at the hands of the enemy, has a horrible time of it, but in my book, he is not a hero for enduring the suffering he is exposed to. I would say John McCain had a lot of courage to last those five years, and I do feel bad that he had to suffer for a war that was started with the lie of the attack in the Gulf of Tonkin, but over 58,000 Americans died for that lie. Dying for a government's lie or suffering for a government's lie, does not make you a hero. If you are a Vietnam Veteran, you might think that it makes you a chump. I think in a few years, those troops fighting in Iraq will feel that same way. A lot of American troops have suffered and died for the lies that came out of Washington Titles I saw Newt Gingrich on television the other day and the person interviewing him kept calling him "Mr. Speaker." Newt was Speaker of the House from 1995 until 1999. All I can remember about the guy is that he told his wife, who was in the hospital for cancer treatment, that he was dumping her for his mistress. It just kind of bugs me that anyone who has ever worked for our government in any job that had a title, gets to keep that title for the rest of their life. If a guy was the Ambassador to Ice Land back in 1937, he is still referred to as Mr. Ambassador today. I think there is something in our Constitution about not having titles, but then in this day and age the Constitution is passé. Impeachment The Republicans went after Bill Clinton because he lied about his marital infidelity. That is a bad thing to do, but it really is something between the women, Bill Clinton, and his wife. Last year there was all sorts of talk from Democrats about Impeaching George Bush. I guess you could put it in a nutshell and say. "George lied and our Soldiers died." Along with over 3,000 of our troops, tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians have died for George Bush's lies. I would have to say that sounds impeachable to me. Our Last Election It seems to me that the election we had back in November was all about the war in Iraq. The American people didn't like the war, so you might say, they threw the rascals out. Today we aren't even talking about ending the war, all we are talking about is if we should expand it with another 21,000 troops. That wasn't what last November's vote was about. In fact this troop "surge" wasn't even on the table back then. So we now know, electing Democrats is a waste of our vote. |
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