The Old Eighteen

Why we fight

Posted below are two more videos that caught my eye recently.  The first video is from the Rick Noriega campaign.  I'm not sure if it's meant as a campaign ad, and it looks like it's only being aired on YouTube at this point.  In the video, Noriega and a few of his fellow veterans call on John Cornyn to stop filming stupid promos of himself playing dress-up and pretending to be a cowboy, and to support the New GI Bill.  After you've watched the video, you can click here to sign a petition telling Senator Box Turtle to take his head out of his shell and change his vote:

The other video is an ad from Moveon.org directed at John McCain, that's getting airplay on MSNBC (or at least, that's where I saw it - I assume it's also beng aired on the other cable news channels, at the least).  This is a pretty simple but effective ad that sneaks up on you - it's a powerful illustration of what the stakes are in this election and why we're fighting to defeat McCain.  You can click here to make a contribution so this ad gets as much airplay as possible:

Grandpa John, why do you hate the troops?

This is video from Keith Olbermann's special comment on last night's Countdown in which he annihilates McCain for saying that the timing of when American troops come home from Iraq is "not that important" to him:

Here's a link to the video and a transcript on the MSNBC web site if the embedded video above isn't working.

D-Day

D-Day
June 6, 1944

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We gave the wounded their morphia - and then we had to leave them. The thing that sticks in my heart was the fact that as we set off they all gave us a cheer. An hour later there was nobody left alive.

James Hill

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The thing you remember most is the terrific noise. Our own tanks firing and of course the opposition. That tremendous noise, it never ceased.

Ian Gill

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We began leading the first wave into the beach as the bombardment began. The large projectiles flying overhead looked like footballs. We recovered the bodies of numerous soldiers who had drowned because the sea-swells sank their DD tanks.

Robert Louis Curl

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I was sent out to one of the hospital ships to look for our missing men. Bodies were stacked like cordwood on the beach. The bowels of the hospital ship were crowded with the wounded and dying. I saw one doctor standing in the doorway of a stateroom, which was being used as an operating room. The floor was covered with blood, as were his clothes.

Vincent E. Baker

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Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force:

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have
striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The
hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.
In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on
other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war
machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of
Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well
equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of
1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats,
in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their
strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home
Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions
of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.
The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to
Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in
battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great
and noble undertaking.

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower

One for the road

National Symphony Orchestra: "Salute to the Services"

Noriega condemns Cornyn for voting against 21st Century GI Bill

This Memorial Day, as many of us have our thoughts on those who never made it back from their tour of duty, Rick Noriega is thinking about those who do make it back.  In today's Houston Chronicle, he took John Cornyn to task for voting against the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Act, or the "21st Century GI Bill" as it is being called by some, and promised to be a Senator who will support the troops in deeds, not just words:

Today is Memorial Day, and I can think of no more fitting tribute to commemorate those who serve in the armed forces than the ratification of this new GI Bill.

As a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, I have seen countless acts of valor and heroism performed by our troops. They risk their lives for us daily, asking nothing in return but the benefits they have been promised. The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Act was proposed by Sen. Webb as a means of protecting and increasing the educational benefits for those who have served in the military since Sept. 11, 2001. Like the GI Bill enacted after World War II, this 21st century GI Bill will ensure that our soldiers are able to pursue the American Dream for which they have put their lives on the line to defend.

[...] Today's veterans deserve the same sort of benefit that World War II veterans enjoyed. It's not only good for the troops and their families, it's good for our nation as a whole, strengthening our economy and our military recruitment.

Unfortunately, my opponent, Sen. John Cornyn, failed to stand up for our troops. Cornyn was one of only 22 senators to vote against the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Act, continuing his history of turning his back on veterans. Adding insult to injury, Cornyn went so far as to condone and encourage a presidential veto of the bill. Webb's GI Bill passed with the support of 75 senators, including Texas' senior Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Texas needs two senators fighting for our veterans and our families. It is reprehensible that Cornyn supports keeping our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan but refuses to provide for our soldiers once they return home. As a public servant, as a soldier and as a Texan, I am ashamed of Cornyn's continued efforts to deny our troops the benefits they earned defending the United States.

Sen. Cornyn argues that financing higher education for veterans would encourage soldiers to leave the military to attend college. The notion that we should limit benefits to force our troops to stay in the military is morally repugnant. The knowledge I gained while attending college is instrumental in the work I do as a member of the Texas House of Representatives and as a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army National Guard. I believe that higher education should be a reality for any American who wants it, and I am disheartened by Cornyn's desire to deny this valuable right to the honorable men and women of the armed forces. A stronger GI Bill will help military recruitment, attracting America's most capable and gifted volunteers to the military during a time when we need more troops than ever.

While we take today to honor the sacrifices made by the American soldiers who put their lives on the line to protect this nation, let us not forget their dedication and sacrifice every day of the year. Our armed forces deserve our support while they are in service to America and after they return home.

We call these young men and women the "next greatest generation," and given the opportunity to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate, I will do everything in my power to make sure they are treated that way.

By voting against the 21st Century GI Bill, Senator Box Turtle has proven himself to be nothing more than a sock puppet for George Bush.  Unfortunately for him, while Texans will forgive a lot of shortcomings in their politicians, they won't forgive someone who doesn't support our men and women in the military.  I have a feeling that John Cornyn is going to seriously regret voting against this bill when the poll results begin coming in on the first Tuesday in November.

Memorial Day, 1945

Remembering the fallen - Iraq (2003)

Iraq War
March 20, 2003 - present

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Laurence Binyon

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Remembering the fallen - Iraq (2004)

Iraq War
March 20, 2003 - present

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These heroes are dead. They died for liberty - they died for us. They are at rest. They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines. They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in the windowless place of rest. Earth may run red with other wars - they are at peace. In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death. I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead: cheers for the living; tears for the dead.

Robert Ingersoll

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Remembering the fallen - Iraq (2005)

Iraq War
March 20, 2003 - present

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The young dead soldiers do not speak.
Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:
who has not heard them?
They have a silence that speaks for them at night
and when the clock counts.
They say: We were young. We have died.
Remember us.
They say: We have done what we could
but until it is finished it is not done.
They say: We have given our lives but until it is finished
no one can know what our lives gave.
They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours,
they will mean what you make them.
They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for
peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say,
it is you who must say this.
We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died; remember us.

Archibald MacLeish

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Remembering the fallen - Iraq (2006)

Iraq War
March 20, 2003 - present

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The last sunbeam
Lightly falls from the finish'd Sabbath,
On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking,
Down a new-made double grave.

Lo, the moon ascending,
Up from the east the silvery round moon,
Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon,
Immense and silent moon.

I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming full-key'd bugles,
All the channels of the city streets they're flooding,
As with voices and with tears.

I hear the great drums pounding,
And the small drums steady whirring,
And every blow of the great convulsive drums,
Strikes me through and through.

For the son is brought with the father,
(In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell,
Two veterans son and father dropt together,
And the double grave awaits them.)

Now nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive,
And the daylight o'er the pavement quite has faded,
And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

In the eastern sky up-buoying,
The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumin'd,
('Tis some mother's large transparent face,
In heaven brighter growing.)

O strong dead-march you please me!
O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!
O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial!
What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love.

Walt Whitman, "Dirge for Two Veterans"

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