Stella Comments Three Posts Down

Stella stops by once in a while and even though we have very different outlooks on life and politics.....she is reasonable and literate.

The post was a link to one of the Phibian's hellish posts on the conditions on the ground in Africa. In particular about the black market in albino skin and body parts. Good God! Just to type those words pains me.

Stella's comment is in black, my responses are in red -
Bostonmaggie. This is beyond politics. I am, like you, horrified. I thank you, but you leave me speechless.

Then again, I firmly believe that Abu Ghrab and Guantanamo these are two things that could not more clearly be apples and oranges - Abu Ghraib was an aberration. Yes, soldiers perpetrated these crimes, but who turned them in? Soldiers. Who prosecuted them? Soldiers. When someone in our society does something wrong, we do something about it. 99% of the military is made up of decent, honorable, men & women. They are more upset than you over Abu Ghraib. As far as Gitmo.....a) those prisoners are by and large treated better than any other prisoners in 99% of the world. b) Where would you have us put people who try & sometimes succeed in killing Americans? c) We need that information being obtained in Gitmo. Our President's foremost responsibility is to "provide for the common defense". That's what's happening when we interrogate terrorists. undermine the goals of Western Civilization. Again I disagree, we can not be undermined by a few backwoods hicks from West Virginia hazing prisoners or bad press out of Gitmo. Does it hurt? Yes. Does it undermine Western Civilization. No. Also, in my opinion if anyone undermines us, it's the main stream media and the circus they must constantly perpetuate to keep their readers entertained. The other day I participated in a Department of Defense roundtable. The speaker, Col. McGrath told us about building a military hospital in Kandahar and training Afghan police. Did you hear about that in the MSM? No. Why? Well to quote my friend from Southie, Col. McGrath it's "nothing really too sexy". No, not too sexy, unlike made up stories about soldiers urinating on Korans, or Korans in toilets. Stories that are debunked later....after their damage is done. So instead Col. McGrath is stuck with having the likes of me to push his good news with my tiny nonsensical blog. THAT undermines Western Civilization. The thousands of Iraqi children who died for no reason is a disgrace, also. We have not killed thousands of Iraqi children. AQ in Iraq, the Mahdi army, insurgents......people who place no value on human life, much less special value on innocent life killed those children. Our military takes extraordinary measures to avoid collateral damage. More than any other time in the history of mankind. We have to recognize that there are good people and fanatics in all cultures. Sorry, no sale. I can't take an Islamic fanatic who is suicide bomber, a Congolese witch doctor trading in human flesh, and some West Virginian inbreeds who put underwear on someones head and say "Oh well, there are fanatics in every culture." Abu Ghraib was not good. It was bad. It was handled. But comparing it to the others is like comparing a papercut and a sucking chest wound.

I am neither ignorant of nor embrace evil just because I am a liberal. No, you, Stella as a person, you are not ignorant of evil. But throwing in Abu Ghraib tells me that we are in very different places on our views of evil. We are a great culture in many ways, but that doesn't mean we don't have room for improvement. No where in the posts do either Salamander or myself try to say we are perfect.

A president who jokes about not finding WMDs about our soldiers out there dying for no reason I can't even come up with something here. Is he supposed to sit in a dark room and cry all day? Did Truman get to make jokes? Wasn't their a famous pic of Clinton laughing at Ron Brown's funeral. I mean, for Pete's sake, the guy's just human. and cut Veterans' benefits six years in a row, is clearly ignorant and/or evil. My source is solid: the federal budget. I must be missing something here because the FY '06 budget proposed a 2.7% increase, FY '08 proposed a 9% increase, and the FY '09, another increase. I could look for more, but I think they'll reflect the same answer. Soldiers who put their lives on the line deserve all the benefits we can offer in thanks. Of course they do and as much as some want to believe that, "W" knows that better than anyone. Making a joke doesn't change that. Most people I know who have deployed in support of OIF and OEF thought it was a funny joke.

I reject the Phibian comment about, "Self centered, narcissistic female leaders" in the Navy. Many male militaryr leaders are also self-centered and narcissistic. I find the statement misogynistic. If you delete the word "female," then we move into misanthropy, which is seems a more appropriate description for humanity as a whole.

But that's another post... a post I didn't read.

This liberal likes visiting you and learning a perspective that differs from mine. Your posts make me think and I firmly believe that to heal this nation, conservatives, moderates, and liberals need to communicate without rancor. Your visits are welcome.

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself. ~~Thomas Paine LOL, this is the best one yet, Stella! That's what we are doing over the ME - securing everyone. Do you read Barnett? The answer is to pull more people out of the Gap and into the Core. That's what we are doing in Iraq. Did we do it perfectly? No. Could it have been done better? Sure. But we are doing it and the world is better for it. Paine is to be read, and contemplated. Then you have to fit him into the big picture. You need to temper his radical aspect with Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and others.