MichelleBenthamOkay… I did this really stupid thing that I knew would be a burr under my saddle if I did it… But, you know how it is… Curiosity Killed the Cat. (I’m not advocating killing cats… so please NO ANIMALS WERE HURT DURING THE WRITING OF THIS POST… I’m just sayin‘.)
I saw that Josh Brolin was playing the title role in the movie W. while seeing Fireproof last month.
[W. is controversial director Oliver Stone’s most recent hatchet job biopic that is getting sorely mixed reviews.]
The acting was good as far as acting goes… but… those who say that Brolin did not play Bush as a caricature are sadly mistaken. He played him as a gutsy, wayward, ignorant, mannerless oaf. the portrayal was DISRESPECTFUL in one word.
Intriguing… maybe… Out there – like JFK and Natural Born Killers and Alexander… (don’t ask, please don’t ask) The movies of Oliver Stone seem to become more absurd by the minute. He has a skewed perspective, a warped mind and a vivid imagination to say the very least. He thinks he’s funny. I don’t.
W. was a painful portrayal of an often misunderstood and well-intended President. If you don’t agree with me – so-be-it. I am not writing this post to defend President Bush or to persuade anyone he has made 100% good and right decisions as President. However, I believe that President Bush acted with the best discernment and wisdom he had at the time to do what was in the best interest of this country – even by going into Irag to dethrone Saddam Hussein. Perhaps, we have been there too long… But, pulling our troops home now and allowing Iraq to implode would be even more disasterous than staying the course and seeing this through to the end. People protest because they have an audience. And since Iraq’s citizens… who apparently are persecuting Christians based on this week’s reports in the news… Maybe letting Babylon Fall would not be such a bad thing.
I would just like to say – that FDR did not have to contend with a Post-Vietnam riotous, anti-war sentiment when the Japanese Bombed Pearl Harbor. He also had a clear idea of who ordered the attack and how to find them. He vaporized two cities in his own retaliation that effectively ended the war and made American Soldiers heroes at home and in the world perspective as well. No talk of brutality – GOOD GRAVY PEOPLE – IT IS WAR! Do you think King David said, “Oh No… We have to kill people, someone might not like that…” ??? How about King Saul? God actually took away King Saul’s kingdom because Saul had a soft and greedy heart… He didn’t kill Haman’s ancestor King Agag the way God told him to when they were at war and that led to not only the demise of King Saul but also the future wrath that came against the Jews in Persia.
Back then, service and protection of God, Country and Freedom meant something to people – today, it only means something as long as no one has to die to preserve it. Thank God our Founding Fathers did not feel that way. I suppose, we could have lay down after 9/11 and allowed the likes of Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong il, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to run amuck with their Yellow Cake Uranium and refining (See these two articles on the issue from JULY of THIS YEAR about 550 Metric Tons of Yellow Cake Uranium that was discovered after the first gulf war but not disclosed during the second because the US wanted to safely get the Uranium out of the Middle East… NO WONDER PRESIDENT BUSH did not point to the yellow cake — they had to protect it from the likes of Iran and North Korea who would have come after it to be sure.)
There is a whole world of people, people who call their god Allah and some of these people are so consumed by hatred toward anyone who does not call on the name of Allah that they will kill themselves to kill us. THEY FLEW PLANES INTO BUILDINGS IN NEW YORK CITY AND WASHINGTON DC killing thousands and injuring many more.
The emotional wounds and scars from these events seven years ago may have diminished for some, but for me the thoughts and the emotions and the reality of the unseen war and threat against us suddenly become visible and painfully real will never… never… leave me. My baby girl was afraid to go to school because she believed the terrorists were going to bomb here next. I felt crushed and frightened all at the same time – and I felt guilty for taking the freedom and relative safety afforded us for so many years by our Soveriegn God for granted. I will never forget the words I whispered as first one tower and then the other collapsed… “But, God. What about all those people.” The tears streaming down my face. Are we really going to leave our world to those kind of terrorists and lawless war mongers who seek to destroy every shred of the Western Culture and Civilization because it honors and trusts in God Almighty, and is a friend to Israel.
9/11’s death toll represents nearly the entire casualty count since the US invaded Iraq in 2003. These soldiers, men and women alike, take an oath to defend their country and its interests to the death if necessary – they are trained and if they are like my Marine ex-husband are chomping at the bit to get over there and put their training to good use. They know the risk they are signing up for, and the honor associated with the duty – it is the American and Global Publics at large who have reduced battle service and wartime duty to little more than glorified murder. Are you kidding me? If not them, we would be defending ourselves right here in our own borders.
But more than that… I see a trend in this nation of anarchy. Bred by a failure of an older generation to teach a younger generation the value and responsibililty of honor and respect. They have opened the First Amendment to include the desparaging of public officials and openly chastizing them in public forums. An act that has long been held as treason in other countries – an act punishable by death runs rampant at Kitchen Tables, in Blog Posts and Newspapers, around the office and YES, EVEN on the NEWS. This infectious contagin knows no boundaries – the neo-conservatives are just as derelict in this responsibility as the neo-liberals.
The liberal media villifies those who seek and pursue to live by moral values – and they canonize those who are morally vacant and deficient as heroes and saints. A good orator can outwin a good man. Even Senator Obama has villified the conservative, faith-based community by labelling those who “cling to their guns and their religion.” Some even go so far as to say not voting for Obama for moral differences and based on these types of issues would actually make one a “racist.”