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Tuesday, June 28, 2005
The Dead Will Not Applaud
With El Presidente in Ft. Bragg tonight to use the obedient military as pawns, the N&O has some bad news to greet him: "Our statewide poll shows a dip in Tar Heel support for the war -- and Bush's handling of it."
"42 percent of active voters agree the war has been worth it, but 49 percent say it has not." Notice the target group here as a possible predictor of future elections: they asked "active voters."
Wonder if those hundreds of hand-picked soldiers who will provide El Presidente his patriotic pep squad are to a man/woman convinced that their Commander-in-Chief is the same brilliant tactician he believes himself to be?
Wouldn't it be liberating if just one strong voice was heard to utter, "Mr. President, Sir, I was just wondering..."?
But ... not gonna happen.
"Of Van Wettering I speak, and Averill,
Names on a list, whose faces I do not recall
But they are gone to early death, who late in school
Distinguished the belt feed lever from the belt holding pawl."
--Richard Eberhart, "The Fury of Aerial Bombardment" (Eberhart was already 37 years old when the U.S. entered WWII, but he enlisted anyway in that just war and became a Navy gunnery instructor, training soldiers in the operation of the 50-caliber Browning automatic. Eberhart died a few days ago on June 9th, aged 101.)
"42 percent of active voters agree the war has been worth it, but 49 percent say it has not." Notice the target group here as a possible predictor of future elections: they asked "active voters."
Wonder if those hundreds of hand-picked soldiers who will provide El Presidente his patriotic pep squad are to a man/woman convinced that their Commander-in-Chief is the same brilliant tactician he believes himself to be?
Wouldn't it be liberating if just one strong voice was heard to utter, "Mr. President, Sir, I was just wondering..."?
But ... not gonna happen.
"Of Van Wettering I speak, and Averill,
Names on a list, whose faces I do not recall
But they are gone to early death, who late in school
Distinguished the belt feed lever from the belt holding pawl."
--Richard Eberhart, "The Fury of Aerial Bombardment" (Eberhart was already 37 years old when the U.S. entered WWII, but he enlisted anyway in that just war and became a Navy gunnery instructor, training soldiers in the operation of the 50-caliber Browning automatic. Eberhart died a few days ago on June 9th, aged 101.)
