Posted on 02/26/2007 3:21:32 PM PST by RaceBannon
Sunday, February 25, 2007 What If A Gathering of Eagles Fails? Magnum P.I. Answered 'What If!'
Selleck's ability to bring a likeable reality to the small screen was unparalleled at the time, and to this day.
In one of my favorite episodes, the lead character and a small group of friends, all combat veterans of that war, save for Magnum's employer, Higgins, the very, very proper British Sgt. Major who also had seen his share of action across the globe, went back to Vietnam on a rescue mission. In that two-part episode they faced all the demons of the past, but showed America the savage reality of the enemy we had faced and the courage of the soldiers and civilians of all nations who stood up to the communists.
After they return home to Hawaii, each character lists a host of chores undone, people and projects put on hold, and sacrifices that had been made as Vietnam again became a priority in their lives. Finally, the question is raised, "What if we hadn't gone?"
Selleck pauses for a moment, and answers the question of the ages simply, but succinctly.
"We did."
I have been reminded of this episode many times in recent days, as the Gathering of Eagles vigil planned for the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., on March 17 grows exponentially, and efforts to prevent the vigil take on a frantic tone. The gathering is a grassroots call for a vigil at The Wall to ensure that pro-terrorism protesters who are reenacting a 1967 March on the Pentagon that day, don't deface the Vietnam Memorial as they did the Capitol in January.
Pundits and commentators from across the political spectrum are worrying themselves sick, or trying to appear that they are, over the correctness of the Eagles' gathering, or the possibility that it will fail, or that the media will ignore or misportray the veterans (what else is new?), or that the vets may encounter violence from the anarchists.
Their feigned concerns range from political correctness run amok, to a very real fear that the veterans' vigil will take on far more significance than the pro-terrorists' march regardless of what the media reports.
Talk all you want, the vigil is going forward. Individual after individual and group after group are stepping forward and signing up. The organizers are firm that the purpose of the gathering is to stand a peaceful vigil over the wall and prevent any of the anarchists participating in the pro-terrorism march from dishonoring those whose names are listed on it.
By extension, this vigil is for all veterans and their supporters who have stood up for America and freedom.
By any common sense measure, this vigil is necessary, and long, long overdue. I believe that one of the biggest fears behind the negative commentaries is that mainstream America will finally show the pro-terrorist politicians and news media that no matter what they have done to the contrary, we still believe in our country, and are willing to stand up for it.
Some in the pro-terrorist crowd claim that the veterans' vigil is unnecessary. A spokesman from one of the pro-terror organizations claimed recently that the anarchists who defaced the Capitol in January were but a small number of the "hundreds of thousands" who had been at the pro-terror rally on the DC mall in January.
For starters, the best estimates I have seen of the number of people in that demonstration were around 30,000, not anywhere near 100,000 or "hundreds" of thousands as the spokesman claimed. Face it, no one gives a rat's behind what Cindy Sheehan thinks about anything, and Jane Fonda is a schizoid relic of a bygone day who can't decide whether she is capitalist or communist.
The fact is, she is and always was an opportunist with no common sense or morals. Neither Cindy Sheehan nor any of Fonda's multiple personalities can draw a crowd. But for a pro-terror organizer to drastically inflate the numbers who attended a previous pro-terror rally, to give the so-called 'movement' more importance than it rates, tells us plenty.
America may be fed up with both political parties, but it isn't fed up on America, and certainly does not support the pro-terrorists in our midst.
As to the claims that the veterans are over-reacting to the incident at the Capitol, take a look at what the pro-terrorist march organizers are saying on their own website.
"Tens of thousands of people will be gathering at Constitution Gardens at 12 noon near the Vietnam Memorial prior to the March on the Pentagon on Saturday, March 17. ...
The 58,000 U.S. soldiers who lost their lives in Vietnam and the millions of Vietnamese who were killed, died in a criminal war. The connection between Vietnam and Iraq could not be more clear. Iraq is also a criminal war of aggression. ...
Some tiny pro-Bush groups who support the war in Iraq, and who normally mobilize about 25 people to hold signs when massive antiwar protests take place, are now callously trying to manipulate Vietnam veterans by spreading rumors that the March on the Pentagon will defile the Vietnam Memorial. This lie should be treated with the same contempt that people have for the other lies promoted by Bush and his followers to justify an illegal war of aggression ..."
Yada, yada, yada.
Can the issue be more clear? There is no mistaking the pro-terrorists' aims. Once again, America is a criminal enterprise, once again its veterans are war criminals, and once again groups who have no real agenda save for the downfall of democracy are using the very freedoms that veterans fought for to attack and overthrow the country that guarantees those freedoms.
As a Marine brother put it recently, the pro-terrorist march is organizing "Within spitting distance" of the Vietnam memorial. Their web site makes their intentions all too clear.
But there is a solid truth at work here that will prevail, as truth always does. This is the communication age, and mainstream America is communicating. We who were spat upon when we came home from Vietnam were not organized, we were not in large-scale contact with each other, and we did not have anywhere near as much information available to us as we do now.
This time we are organized and we are talking to each other constantly. We have seen what happens to our allies if we leave them helpless. To somehow claim that the millions of Southeast Asians who died at the hands of the communists after South Vietnam fell in 1975 did so because of America or its veterans is despicable, dishonest, unsupportable and outright false.
The millions who died were killed by the communists. The allies of the communist forces in the 60s and 70s are in many cases the same people who are supporting the terrorists today. History does repeat, and to follow this concept to its logical end ensures that millions more innocents will die at the hands of terrorists if the pro-terrorist forces prevail. This time, millions who die will be Americans on American soil.
There is no question that the vigil is necessary, and for it to succeed, it needs only to occur. Whether the vigil is attended by 50 veterans, or 500 or 5000, is not relevant. That we go, and stand shoulder to shoulder to defend our memorials and the honor and dignity of the Americans who died defending our freedoms is all that matters.
Regarding the possibility of violence, it is likely only if it is used by the pro-terrorists and their anarchist brethren. But I would caution those prone to violence to think twice before attacking a solid mass of people who are the all-time masters at improvisational combat. The media can rewrite history all it wants, but we have defeated every enemy we ever faced, regardless of how vicious the tactics they used.
We have improvised, we have adapted and we have overcome every single time. I wouldn't recommend violence against this group, especially from people who are attempting to shield their true pro-terrorism agenda from the public by claiming to be marching for "peace."
We will stand our vigil, peacefully, but firmly. Attacking us would be foolhardy and counter-productive on many fronts.
I realize that the hand-wringers and worry warts will continue to chew on this issue right up until March 17, and probably even afterwards. That is their nature and it won't change.
But there is a simple and succinct answer to the question "What if we don't go?"
"We will!" posted by Ron Winter at 8:44 AM
ping to all my lists.
Let's all make an effort here.
Nice last pic:
Reminds me of one of the things I chant when the BS meter pins the red-line:
When in question, when in doubt,
Run in circles, scream and shout.
Jump up and down, soil your pants,
Do the "I don't get it" dance.
that is Hilarious!!!
On a few website bulletin boards, I have used the term PEACE NAZI to describe the peace movement in general, and one person asked me for an explanation as to what the term means and why I say it. Here is my answer:
It is intentionally derogatory, and I use it because I believe it has to be said.
It has to do with the foundation of the PEACE movement in the US and abroad and their Communist foundation, and how the majority of the signs held and slogans chanted are not about peace or genuine concern for the people of two warring countries, it is about the anti-American attitudes and the violence-inducing signs and slogans calling for violence against American Troops and President Bush.
Carrying signs calling on troops to kill their officers, to bomb Texas, for Bush to choke on a pretzel and die, for troops to shoot their officers, signs that call for communist revolution, starting fights with people who disagree with you while carrying a peace sign, trying to steal my money in Boston while carrying a peace sign and then telling me because you were shamed into giving back the money that means you are ok after all...
Things like that.
I will NOT stop using it. It is intended to make the peace protestor think.
After all the horrors we found in Iraq, you should all be thankful we went in and invaded to remove that madman. Yet, the mantra has changed, it is now against occupation and most recently a call for early withdrawl without any victory!
Repeatedly, information comes out of Iraq proving the terrorist connections of Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda.
Still, not one PEACE NAZI has apologized and admitted we were right. All they did is complain that a people that were under slavery for 30 years were looting after Saddam was overthrown, and who do they blame? Why the US!! We did nothing to stop it! Maybe because we stayed out of the crowd because the PEACE NAZIS would have complained we didn’t let them vent their anger??
(As a side note, people who are now called PEACE NAZIS didn’t call on the LAPD or Federal Troops to stop the LA riots after the Rodney King riots, did they? They told us all to step back and let them vent their anger, yet all of a sudden, we were supposed to go in and use force to stop rioters in Iraq?)
And to top it off, we are flushing out the terrorists in places like Fallujah, the places where the Murderous Mullahs all take refuge, and the PEACE NAZIS have not ONCE held a rally to decry the beheadings of Americans or Iraqi CARE workers! Not one PEACE NAZI rally held to call for justice for the Killers of Daniel Pearl or any foreigner killed in Iraq!
We never intended to occupy a country like SYRIA had the last 20 years, and where were the PEACE NAZIS and their signs calling on SYRIA to leave Lebanon? They are non existent. The Syrians killed tens of thousands, chasing little children into bedrooms and shooting them point blank.
Did you know there was a Christian Community in Beirut before 1985? Now, they are almost either all killed or fled from the Syrian backed Junta, and not a peep from the PEACE NAZIS, only against American forces sent to Beirut to keep peace. Why aren’t the PEACE NAZIS arguing for the return of the Christian Community back to Beirut where they lived for 2 Millennium?
Where were the PEACE NAZIS when Israel was blockaded in 1967?
Where were the PEACE NAZIS when Israel was attacked on her Holy Day of Yom Kippur in 1973?
Where were the PEACE NAZIS when the PLO was shelling Katyusha rockets into Israel in 1982?
Oh, Yeah, I remember, they were telling Israel to stop defending themselves!
In fact, there is not a single country that we ever went to war with that we stayed as the governing power for more than 10 years! We always returned it to the people.
And that brings up another point: PEACE NAZIS are NOT against war, they are against wars that the US is engaged in to overthrow pro-Communist or PRO-radical Islamic regimes or PRO-Maoist/PRO-Stalinist regimes.
My point here, is simple: These COMMIES are not for peace. If they were, they would have been screaming about Clinton killing innocents to keep his sexual scandals off the tv;
they would have been screaming for the Palestinian Liberation Organization to stop killing Jews;
they would have been screaming for Hamas and Islamic Jihad to stop killing Jews;
they would have been screaming for the Hutus and Tutsis to make peace;
they would have been screaming for that madman Saddam to stop killing Kurds or Iranians;
they would have been screaming for the Turks to stop killing Kurds or Greeks;
they would have been screaming for the Chinese to stop killing Vietnamese in 1982;
they would have been screaming for the Angolan Army to stop killing with the help of the Cuban Army in the 1980's;
they would have been screaming for the Muslims to stop killing and beheading school age children and other Christians in Indonesia, Malaysia, and China and North Korea;
They would have been screaming for the Sudanese to stop the torture and slave trade which continues today in Darfur;
They would have been screaming when the Syrians invaded Lebanon in 1985 and have continued an occupation of Lebanon since the 1980's;
They would have been screaming when Pol Pot started a genocide in 1975;
They would be screaming now about Mugabe killing all the white farmers in Africa in Zimbabwe;
They would have been screaming at the murders caused by the African National Congress and their necklacing of prisoners and at Winnie Mandela who was convicted of murder, yet the communists are silent;
They would have been screaming about Tiananmen Square, but they are silent;
They would have been screaming about the repression in Cuba and why so many people have chosen to flee in rickety little boats, but instead they lionize that dictator, Castro;
They would have been screaming about the invasion of South Vietnam in 1975 where the north started a genocide campaign in direct violation of the Paris Peace Accords of 1973 and caused over 2 million Vietnamese to flee in little boats that got picked up by ships like the one I was on in 1981;
They would be screaming at the Palestinians for their suicide bombings that intentionally target innocent school age children;
They would be screaming at the Palestinians for their suicide bombings that intentionally target innocent people on buses, or pizza parlors, or weddings, or wheel-chair bound invalids on cruise ships, or Olympic hotels;
They would have been screaming at the rioters in France, except Peace-Nazis do not scream when Muslims kill people or destroy things.
Except, the only time they scream is when the US is at war against a tyrant who is support by Russia or France.
In much of the world, the antics and policies of these PEACE NAZIS would result in jail – or worse. Cuba, China and many socialist countries routinely eliminate protests – and protesters – against the government and its leaders. It seems ironic that the ultimate goal of these protesters is to transform America into the kind of government that tolerates no dissent.
And since NAZI is one of the most vile insults you can give someone in our last two generations, I call them PEACE NAZIS, for they are not for peace, they are for war, they are for the overthrow of my country and into communism and anarchy, and they are a violent bunch who base their foundation on lies and the telling of lies and the repeating of lies.
March Madness will be going on that day...
MUST SEE Race's Rant.
basketball can wait.
Our national war memorials are more important than who throws a ball into a peach basket.
It's an oldie but goodie.
By the way, Ron Winter is an aquaintance of mine from Connecticut.
Quite a guy, used to write for the Hartford Courant, hard to believe!
Glad you have your priorities straight.
?
I going to protect the wall. I won't fail.
Semper Fi
Best I ever heard, but don't tell Winter ; )
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