[BARC-List] [Fwd: Stand Up for America Rally Speech]

[steve boylan]

Reply-to:  senator@kennedy.senate.gov,john_kerry@kerry.senate.gov

Yes.  Let's stand up for America.  Let's also stand up for the warriors
who dedicate thir lives to defending this country and our freedoms.  The
warriors who fought to bring this country into existence.  The warriors
who defended this country in 1812-1815.  The warriors who fought to save
and reunite a nation in 1860-1865.  The warriors who fought for freedom
and justice in 1914-1918.  The warriors who fought for the same goals in
1941-1945.

Let's not throw away their dedication and their sacrifice in a war for
conquest and oil in Iraq.

Today - another day which will live in infamy - I, like so many other
Americans, cannot support the evil being perpetrated in our names by
George W. Bush and his administration.  Let's all join together and tell
George Bush that this war is NOT justified;  that Iraq did not attack New
York - the killers came from Saudi Arabia;  that we join with all the free
nations of the world to pursue a peaceful solution to the threats posed by
Saddam Hussein, not a slaughter of Iraqi people by the U. S. military.

Make no mistake here:  I do not hold the soldiers and sailors of the U. S.
armed forces responsible for this.  That responsibility clearly belongs to
George W. Bush and his administration.  Yes, this country has indeed been
forced into a war - but what Chapman neglected to mention is that Saddam
Hussein had nothing to do with it.  This war was started by a small
minority of Americans who believe they have a God-given right to impose
their will on the rest of the world - and who believe they also have the
right to sieze whatever their economic and military might allows them to
steal.

The author of the diatribe you quoted ponders how someone can oppose
killing people in Iraq, yet not oppose killing unborn children.  This
brings up an even more glaring question:  How can someone who opposes
killing unborn children support killing innocent children, women, and men
in Iraq?

During World War II, even movie stars and pop musicians fought and died to
defend freedom and democracy.  Today, people who stand up for freedom, for
democracy, or for justice are demonized by an axis of hatred that runs
through this country, and extends deep into the White House.  People who
fight to make America's streets safer, our water and skies cleaner, our
food healthier, our courts more fair, our society more civil - are branded
"liberals", "commies", "anti-gun", or "un-American".

Let's go back to basics here:  Freedom and democracy are fundamentally
liberal ideals.  The soldiers and sailors who fought and died to defend
freedom and democracy were fighting in a liberal cause.

So let us indeed honor and acknowlege the dedication and courage of our
soldiers and sailors, and not let their lives be in vain.  Let us NOT send
them as storm troopers to kill and plunder for the benefit of a small
number of greedy bastards - especially the greedy bastard who hid behind
his daddy's skirts instead of fighting for what he believed in.

Dick, I like and respect you, but I cannot let the lies and hatred buried
in the message you quoted go unchallenged.  I also don't want this list to
devolve into a political forum.  We have a job to do as radio amateurs to
serve our country and our communities.  But let's not do it for the wrong
reasons.

				- - Steve Boylan, KE1KF