Not being a huge fan of his show but keen on this man's rapier wit, I was happy when my wife's uncle sent me his column from Salon.com
May 21, 2008 | The Current Occupant tossed Nazis into a speech last week, something he rarely does since it only reminds people of Dick Cheney. He likened those who would negotiate with terrorists to those who tried to appease the Nazis, an awkward comparison, since Nazis were self-defined and wore the swastika proudly, and terrorists are anybody we nominate to be terrorists, who may include terrorists, people who know terrorists, people named Terry, or people with wrists.
I think Al Franken would welcome an endorsement from Mr. Keillor. Garrison gets in a nice shot at Mr. Franken's opponent:
In Minnesota, a man is up for reelection who sat on a Senate committee with oversight responsibility for the rebuilding effort in Iraq and who showed no keen interest in the billions of dollars disappearing down rat holes. He is now starting to recover some memory.
But the most intriguing graf is from the words of a soldier stuck in that Hell-hole:
I got a letter from a U.S. Marine in Fallujah ("trapped in this heat and smoke ... running in circles that won't change anything") who, though a "right-wing social conservative," asks, "Where are the protests from my contemporaries in America's colleges? Why do I not detect an appropriate sense of urgency from our citizens and elected officials?"
To hell with the bastards who put our men and women there. To hell with the people who insist we stay there.
Rachel Maddow was talking about Iraq yesterday (as she does everyday at the beginning of her show) regarding Sadr City, a city the size of Houston (2.5 Million people). We currently have a wall bisecting Sadr City. Half the wall is controlled by American/Iraqi forces, while the other half by the bad guy, Sadr of course (since it's called Sadr City--duh). Well, as Rachel told it, after negotiations between us/Iraqis and Sadr the wall between the sides was opened in a few places during the dark of night. Yesterday the Iraqi forces rolled into Sadr City. Without incident. Peacefully. After N-E-G-O-T-I-A-T-I-O-N.
So...I place the question on the table...
Why
do
we
need
to
be
THERE????
If the locals actually can do this thing, why do our people need to get their asses blown off?
Back to Garrison for the final couple heartbreaking grafs:
Meanwhile it's almost Memorial Day and here is a vet on television talking hopefully about his dream of making a good life who has been horribly burned and grafted back together, his head looks like a candle stub with a mouth and blinking eyes. Your heart goes out to the brave young man. And what choice does he have other than to be brave? It's either that or the life of a potato. But who did this to him?
On Memorial Day we'll hear about men who gave their lives for their country, but many lives were not given, they were taken, and taken stupidly and carelessly. And there has been great public piety about those men and their "sacrifice" on the part of politicians who blithely sacrificed them.
Stupid, blithe & careless indeed.