December 18, 2003
Dean wants you to help support our troops.
Got this email from Governor Dean, who asks me to help support those who are serving in the American military overseas. Personally, any assistance I can give will go to the victims of their violence, since it seems to me that the soldiers already have plenty of help and support. But I thought I'd post his email in case you happen to agree with him. I'm against Bush's policies, not against the troops themselves. I realize it's a difficult task.
Dear Friend,
Our troops are in harm's way this holiday season. Hundreds of thousands of American soldiers won't be home for the holidays -- but we can still let them know how proud we are of the finest military in the world. There are two ways you can show American troops how grateful their fellow citizens are for their sacrifice.
Many Americans want to send care packages to the troops, but have no idea how to do it. By visiting this site you can get information about sending a care package to one of our troops in the field:
www.anysoldier.us.
The site provides information about what our troops need us to send and where we can send it. Many of our men and women in uniform endure the harshest conditions -- even the most basic food items or personal hygiene products can make a huge difference. They also need help with supplies like gloves and flashlights to help them complete their missions. Click here to send a soldier the supplies she or he needs on the ground:
Some soldiers will almost make it home for the holidays. Each day more than 470 soldiers arrive home on short notice for two-week R&R stints -- but the military only takes them part of the way. Servicemen and -women are flown to Germany or one of three airports in the United States -- from there they are on their own to get home.
You can donate your airline frequent flyer miles to Operation Hero Miles to bring them all the way home. Twelve major airlines will accept donations as part of this program, started by Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, Democrat of Maryland:
Because the last-minute notice the troops receive, they are forced to pay very expensive fares to finish their journey. Your miles can bring an American soldier home to his or her family for the holidays:
www.heromiles.org.
Many of you, like me, did not support a unilateral war in Iraq. But the brave women and men of the U.S. military deserve our support and gratitude even as we seek to change the policies that put them in danger. Please join me in supporting our troops this holiday season -- and in wishing them a safe return home.
Yours sincerely,
Governor Howard Dean, M.D.
I have to challenge this assumption that just because they're "soldiers", that automatically makes them "heroes." The two are not synonymous in any way. You can be one without being the other, and vice versa. Happens all the time.
Mostly though I think that it's folks within the US who need help much more. Much, much more. I see a M.D. after his name. Does he have any suggestions for the American children who don't have medical care this winter? Where do people send money to help them? And what about the over two million people in American prisons? How's their holiday season shaping up?
Yes, I realize it's just a political thing, but I really don't understand what these people are doing over there or why I should support them. They certainly aren't helping me in any way, or making me feel any safer. On the contrary, they just seem to be creating a great deal of hatred and fear of the US, which can only hurt us in the long run.
I'm hearing a few too many platitudes from Dean lately. The other day he sent me an email asking me to read Thomas Paine's "Common Sense." I've already read it guv, even have the
complete text in my
ebook library, along with the
US Constitution, the
Federalist Papers, and several other works.
I really don't see that they are very relevant to the problems of today. Not in any way. I don't live in the 18th century, I'm very glad I don't, and I think it's time we stopped pretending that we all do so. Those ideas were useful in their time, but they are quite archaic at this point. Suggesting that they are still relevant seems to me to be mostly a way of avoidinig confronting the realities of the 21st century.
We need specifics Doctor, not platitudes. We already know where we want to go. The problem is how we get there. And most specifically, what do we do about the people who are blocking the way?
