Friday, December 14, 2007

Neither Summer Soldier nor Sunshine Patriot

How do you spell relief?



I.M.P.E.A.C.H.M.E.N.T.

________

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

--Thomas Paine in 1778

7 comments:

Jeff Gillenwater said...

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that the soldiers just have their guns pointed in the wrong direction.

If they were truly fighting for democracy, they'd be marching down Pennsylvania Avenue.

John Gonder said...

bluegill:

You're absolutely right. People...Did you hear that Roger Clemens was one of the guys gooned on the juice? ROGER CLEMENS. What's happening to us?

Christopher D said...

The guns of our soldiers point in the direction ordered by the officials so few of us elect.
While thousands of our men and women in our armed forces are dying in third world countries to give the precious gift of voting to elect their leaders, so many of us here DO NOT use that gift, but sit back and complain.
(NOT, repeat, NOT directed at either of you guys)

John Gonder said...

The intention of the picture of was, "how do we citizens, metaphorically represented by the Statue of Liberty, spell relief for our Democracy, which is well on its way to morphing into fascism?"

The summer soldiers are those memebers of the House of Representatives, Democrats and Republicans alike, who choose to defend the Constitution when it is convenient or comfortable. Nancy Pelosi took discussion of the matter "off the table". We, citizens of Southern Indiana, don't have to look too far to see summer soldiers in our midst. Their bet is that we are summer soldiers too, and are more likely to choose the easy path. They fear the backlash which sprang from the Clinton impeachment. Clinton's misbehavior is galactically distant from the crimes of George Bush II. Failure to hold him to account sets a dangerous precedent.

The fluff mongers of the news media are perhaps the greatest enablers of "sunshine patriotism".

An objective measure of column inches or broadcast minutes would, I am certain, show more time and energy devoted to steroid use in baseball than to the destruction of video of torture carried out by the C.I.A..

Remember Anna Nicole Smith? What undermining of the nation was occuring, or being revealed during that festival of distraction?

The days are short and the nights are cold. What does that tell us?

... said...

The Daily Show covered it so well when they had a reporter in the middle of a serious report and the White House rolled a big shiny ball of aluminum foil onto the front lawn, totally sidetracking the correspondant.

We get snow reports, Anna Nicole, the high schooler in Aruba and steroids.

Just no news.

John Gonder said...

CHDO:
Isn't that also the secret to successful mushroom growing?

... said...

Yes: In the dark and eating dirt.

Thank goodness for Amy Goodman.