Friday 15 September 2006

Lately, I've watched very little television and none at all on 9/11/06. My husband likes to watch the news when he comes home in the evening and, if I'm sitting in front of my computer in another room of our small apartment, I can hear the palaver. The other night, a couple of blather heads were pontificating on the November elections. I heard one say that if people vote on the issues of security and morals, the Republicans will be victorious.

I had to dig deeply into the recesses of my memory to recall an almost forgotten practice - Lamaze exercises, the breathing procedure to control the pain of childbirth, which seemed not very dependable years ago when I was in labor. I'm sure it has helped millions but, for me, the method was inadequate to handle discomfort. Still, as these political "experts" spoke, I attempted, in desperation, to retrieve the application and the relief that the Lamaze technique is supposed to provide. Frankly, though, if I were forced to choose between the pain of childbirth and having to listen to propaganda, I'd opt for childbirth. And this is why:

Security: Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, has stated that antiterrorism programs, covering all our vulnerabilities, would soon bankrupt us, which according to Chertoff is al-Qaeda's goal. As he testified before a Senate committee, not one person challenged him with: "The war in Iraq had nothing to do with the terrorist attack on our soil, but it is bankrupting us." Most of our leaders are too incredibly lame and unprincipled to do anything but mull over the easiest path to re-election.

Morals: Apparently, Democrats will never overcome the indiscretions of William Jefferson Clinton, who lied about sex (gasp!) and mentally undressed every woman in every room in every situation in which he found himself. The public is still more concerned with the stain on Monica's blue dress than the immorality of depleted uranium, cluster bombs, "Shock and Awe," and the killing of perhaps half a million Iraqis who had nothing to do with 9/11. (Were there any Iraqi hijackers in the cockpits of those planes used as weapons?) And don't forget the almost 3,000 coalition troops we've lost in this war that had nothing to do with the attacks. Furthermore, how moral is it to send soldiers into battle with insufficient armor? For that matter, how moral is war? But back to a poorly-equipped military.

On CNN's web site (Lou Dobbs's page) is a show announcement called "Operation Helmet." This is a plea for donations because our government doesn't supply enough necessary lifesaving gear for our men and women in uniform:

The number of upgrade kits requested continues to increase. Unfortunately, the donation amounts are laggingÖ. Please help! The need for added protection from IEDs and the like won't last forever; neither will the opportunity to make a difference in a trooper's survival. Act now, please.

These helmet upgrades do three primary things:

Protection - Shock-absorbing pads keep the helmet from slapping the skull when hit with blast forces, fragments, or being tumbled along the ground or inside a vehicle. This decreases the chance of brain injury from bombs, RPGs, vehicle accidents, falls, etc.

Comfort - If it is more comfortable, it will stay on troop's head longer and more often.

Stability - Keeps the helmet firmly on the head and out of the eyes.

The life you save might save another!

For shame!

The betrayal of our troops by the Bush administration is immoral. The betrayal of each of us by a president who talks tough on issues of security but who has done little more than nothing to enforce protection and, instead, invaded a country with no WMD and no ties to al-Qaeda is immoral. Bush's colossal lie and mantra that "Iraq is the central front in the war on terra" is immoral.

If Osama bin Laden's objective is to bankrupt us, he's succeeded. And our leaders are complicit. I'm not writing merely about the staggering bill for war. All the mudslinging and turd tossing that pass as party politics contribute significantly to our decay and, especially, the Bush worshippers' smear that Democrats and those opposed to the war in Iraq are protecting the terrorists.

This isn't just Swift Boating; it's Titanic sinking, sentencing us to moral bankruptcy - a belly-flop to the bottom of civilization.

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Missy Comley Beattie's nephew Chase was Killed in Iraq in August of 2005.

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