Monday, May 25, 2009

Memorial Day 2009

A few shots from Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma, the southward jutting peninsula that separates the San Diego Bay from the Pacific Ocean.



The news at the end of last week, of course, was full of the competing speeches of President Obama and Dick Cheney, who still insists on advocating waterboarding terrorism suspects (not convicts, mind you, suspects!) and that that is not torture. That egoistical sadist ought to put his money where his mouth is and have himself waterboarded to get the taste of what he is wishing on others (who have not been proven guilty of anything). Especially, seeing how a bit of real experience can really make some talkative naysayers do a 180 turn in a flash when it comes to whether waterboarding is torture or not (the libertarian Christopher Hitchen had done it, the conservative radio head Erich Mancow Muller had done it, isn't it about time Cheney does it?).


How many of the vets entombed at cemeteries like Ft. Rosecrans had had to endure torture in the line of duty because the people they were fighting against can hide behind the excuse of retaliation against our own use of it? How many of them died in combat believing that the US has the moral high ground when it comes to torture? And that we do know the difference between justice and vengeance (and care more about getting the right perpetrators of crime rather than just getting a neck to hang the charge on regardless of whether it is the right neck or not)?

And for Cheney, who has never served a day in the military, to go around doubting the honor and loyalty of someone like General Colin Powell, the non-diva-like guy who served 3 distinguished tours in Vietnam and, with one big spot when he worked for Bush 43 and Cheney, has always done his best for the men and women in uniform, is a travesty. And that there are people who would take Cheney's utterly unreliable words (how many lies has he told while looking straight into the camera already?) over Powell's is sheer madness. Beware of people who loudly demand loyalty at street corners like a bunch of scribes and pharisees... They are the ones who don't get it that it isn't enough to ask someone 'are you loyal?' without clarifying 'loyal to WHAT? Country or You? I have no doubt about where General Powell's loyalty lies. I have plenty about Dick Cheney's... Too often have he and his stooges prioritized their own political agendas over the best interest of the country and the troops!

3 comments:

Georg said...

Hallo Smorgy,

Well, I won't comment on Dick Ch., I'll leave this to others, there are enough ready to spill it out.

However, those WWII cemeteries inspire me. When living in Paris, I frequently went to Normandy for paragliding and the D-Day Cemeteries are nearby. So I visited once or twice the American one and a little more frequently the much smaller German cemetery not far away.

There is a striking difference and I often wondered why. Sure, the USA won that war and we lost it but I don't think that explains everything.

I'll send you some photos and a YT link so that you can see for yourself.

Cheers
Georg

Geisslein said...

Smorg, I wanna thank you for you always most loveliest comments at my blog! Wish you a beautiful day full of nice things happen and a lot of kisses! Sunny greetings from germany, geisslein!

Smorg said...

Hallo Georg and Geisslein!
Thanks a bunch for stopping by and for kind words, too. :o)

I'd love to visit the Normandy cemeteries one day. I guess you're right about the fact that the Allies won WW II that caused them to make smaller cemetery for the German soldiers, Georg. :o( Somehow I tend to think that the people who actually fought the war don't hold grudge as much as those who didn't do (at least they don't when they write about it in war memoirs, you know... 'I did my duty and he did his' sentiment seems to the norm).

In recent years we have the same polarizing mentality with the fallen US soldiers and the fallen everybody else in the Iraq invasion & occupation. I keep seeing scenes from war films where the American soldiers are praying to god in their fox holes while the Germans were doing the exact same thing in theirs... Then I felt sorry for a god (if one exists) for the dilemma of having to listen to all the prayers from all the parties. ;oP

Anyhow! Thanks very much for the photos and link to the youtube clip! I'm working on a proper email for ya'.

Best wishes to you both from cloudy San Diego!

Smorgy :o)