I was 12 years old forty years ago, but at fifteen I was arrested in Washington D.C. by the very nasty D.C. Park Police for attempting to participate in the May Day demonstration where protesters from various cities were assigned traffic intersections to block in acts of civil disobedience. On arriving at our assigned intersection a transit bus pulled up and riot police jumped off and arrested everybody, including students from Georgetown trying to get to their finals. Imagine how pissed off they were at both the cops and the protesters. I even saw an innocent granny dressed as for church being rousted like some common pinko snot.

At ages six, seven and eight I often played army with my friend whose dad had served in Korea. The TV shows “Combat” and “McHale’s Navy” were very popular with us. I remember being about eight years old when I watched the ABC evening news with Harry K. Smith, or a very very young Peter Jennings, and saw coverage of the Gulf of Tonkin incident. I remember being in awe as I realized the U.S. was actually involved in a real military action. I spent the next ten years waiting to face the draft. I affiliated with the Quakers in an effort to make a credible attempt to file to C.O. status, but the draft ended the year I became eligible.

I was very conflicted about living the principle of conscientious objection which I tried to embrace as I was regularly assaulted in school for being a long haired “faggot”. I should have duked it out but one day as the biggest loser among a crowd of greasers in P.E. had me in a head lock to impress his friends, I asked him if he understood the implications of committing assault and battery. It was weird how quickly he let go of me.

It never occurred to me to insult or spit on a returning veteran. I understand that Joan Baez stated that she did feel those who served had made a moral transgression in not taking the path her husband David Harris took in going to jail. I guess, singing songs about Joe Hill does not magically imbue a person with more than a superficial sense of class consciousness.

#23 I am totally certain that the soldier deeply appreciated the president recognizing his service which is in part what makes the image so bewildering.

2. It is possible that GWB used Veterans’ Day for political purposes.

3. It is possible the GWB chose to honor wounded soldiers on Veterans’ Day because he thought that it was the right thing to do.

All three of the above can be true or false, but one can still despise (or love) GWB regardless.

Thanks for confirming my interpretation of your original post Mark I.

What were you protesting 40 years ago? Ah, I remember those days well. I had just returned from two tours in SE Asia and was enrolled in Cal Berkeley. The GI bill was paying part of my tuition costs but with a wife and two kids I had to work nights instead of protest.

I tried to get most of my classes in the morning because it was a well known fact that the protesters didn’t get up until noon. Those were the days. Fellow students trying to get me to burn my draft card not knowing I’d volunteered and had already served my time in the Vietnam. Police on campus every day, the smell of tear gas in the afternoons. Harry Krishna singers, Country Joe and the Fish vying for audiences on upper Sproul hippies dancing in lower. That dorky guy Joan Baez married, what was his name, Harris? He used to have group talks by the fountain. Dwinelle being invaded by protesters every afternoon (we had to finally move our class off campus because some of us were actually there to learn). Remember the Blue Meanies (Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies)? They were actually mean! Highway Patrol officers were the easiest.

Great times. But they’ve past and now we have other things to protest.

It is accurate to infer distain from my use of “Dubya”. I am unmoved.

It is one thing to ask a soldier to sacrifice his body, mind and/or soul for a cause. It is another thing to compound the injury with the insult of turning it into some petty political theater. If the soldier in question is a true believer, perhaps the moment may understandably have been an apex and great morale boost for him, but to the critical observer it is very difficult not to be cynical about the political opportunism on behalf of the other party in almost any act in which he partakes.

Emotionally, I can understand making the association you make, but intellectually it is a leap. In fact, the point of my statement was to high light the dilemma of taking seriously the idea of supporting the troops, no matter what their personal political views, in the context of this administration’s policies, which on top of dubious behavior in getting us involved in this conflict to begin with, hands out no bids contracts to cronies while short changing veterans in about every way imaginable. What better focus on Veteran’s Day or even Memorial Day for that matter?

Jack, inferring my hate, or even disdain, for this soldier is really grasping at straws to justify your own disdain or hate for me and my opinions. I would expect the soldier in the pose, and some other veterans as well, to have hurt feelings over the fact that people like myself are compelled to vocally disapprove of the image, but I don’t see that on Veterans Day or any other day, that alters the equation or should somehow make my dissent equivalent with hating the troops.

There seems to be no shortage of “my-country-right-or-wrong knuckleheads”, but one would have to be singularly uncharitable to confer that mind set on this soldier simply because he supports his president. Especially after his obvious sacrifices.

Jack, if you find the office of president itself sacred, no matter the sins or even crimes of the person holding that office, then I am sure you can not be satisfied by anything other than silence from this quarter.

A running joke about activism in the 21st Century is that where we protested in the streets forty years ago, now we simply “blog about it”. I don’t care what the venue, I mean to make it count.

p.s.- appreciation to dave for your support and will to speak up.

Roberto, please, do not confuse me with a Republican. I certainly wouldn’t confuse you with a Democrat.

Re. 16

notadave, I absolutely don’t agree with your “best way to honor vets”.

Re. 15

Alameda NayTiff has it right, in my opinion. A soldier’s duty is to complete the mission.

Dave, what do you call the intentional misspelling of someone’s name if not to denigrate his person or status?

I haven’t heard from Mark (unless you’re him) so I do not know what his “Dubya” word’s intent was. However, I have a hard time believing the misspelling of the President’s name, in the context where he used it, was an “evaluation” so in my book it was a slur. On the other hand, your thoughtful words describing the President’s person and administration would qualify as an “evaluation” because you didn’t juxtapose the slurred President and the honored soldier on veterans day in a poignant image. Though, I guess, Mark’s slur could have been a term of bewildering endearment.

I don’t understand your last sentence. Who else but me would my words, “say much more about”?

btw, the SOB “p”resident does not have any Constitutionally granted immunity against criticism on Veterans Day (or any other day).

I do not see any inconsistency in honoring a soldier’s service, having that soldier be honored by his president and disliking the person who holds that office.