Thursday, February 14, 2008

What are the Standard-Examiner Editors Smoking?

Perhaps Std-Ex subscribers should donate a few more kilos of whatever strange shrub it is

By Curmudgeon

OK, the situation now requires some serious investigation. What have they started putting in the water over at the Standard Examiner? Or, more likely, what have they stopped putting in the water? Because for the second time in less than a week, the Std-Ex has a truly fine editorial up, this time taking to task Sen. Buttars and his ilk who support his bill to make police disciplinary records into secret records unavailable to the public. [I am ashamed to admit that Mayor Becker of Salt Lake City, a Democrat, has endorsed this proposal on grounds that his police chief recommends it, and he is deferring to the chief's expertise on the matter. Wrong. Flat wrong.]

But two excellent editorials within a few days? In the Standard-Examiner? What are they smokin' over there in Mr. Porter's shop these days?

In the early days of the War of Southern Treason, when Lincoln proposed promoting one of his few successful generals, U.S. Grant, there were objections that the General drank more than he should. Mr. Lincoln is reputed to have replied "Find out what he drinks and I'll send a barrel to all my generals." If we can find out what they're smokin' at the Std-Ex Editorial Board these days, I propose we all chip in and send some over at regular intervals. Maybe it will help keep the string going.

Well...?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

NEW YORK, NY - Dozens of U.S. military veterans, many of them homeless, will gather in front of the FOX News office tomorrow afternoon for a rally protesting Bill O'Reilly's disparaging comments about homeless vets. The vets will demand that O'Reilly stop denying the problem of homelessness among former servicemen and women, quit referring to homeless vets as drug addicts, and set the record straight on the challenges veterans face when they return from military service.

"Everyday, I'm fighting for my life," says Nestor Cabrera, a Korean War veteran. "I'm currently waiting for a liver transplant and my housing situation is never 100 percent secure. The last thing I need is O'Reilly saying on TV that I don't exist and that the homelessness that I and my veteran brothers and sisters have to suffer is not real."

Last month, in response to speeches by former presidential candidate John Edwards highlighting the daily struggles of 200,000 homeless vets in the U.S., conservative FOX News commentator Bill O'Reilly claimed that there are in fact no homeless vets in America. In a later program, O'Reilly conceded that some homeless vets do exist, but charged that they are mostly alcoholics and drug users.

Responding to O'Reilly's absurd claim that there are no homeless vets in America, Brave New Films compiled an online video of interviews with homeless vets and circulated an online petition demanding an apology from O'Reilly. A delegation of homeless veterans from Fitzgerald House, an organization that provides housing and assistance to veterans, visited FOX News two weeks ago to hand deliver the petition, signed by over 18,000 people. There they were confronted by O'Reilly's producer Jesse Watters, who ridiculed them for not having watched O'Reilly's program on television in spite of the fact that these were people without a roof over their heads, much less cable TV. The next day, O'Reilly, who had not come down to meet with the delegation, went on air to call the vets "confused," saying that he felt "sorry for those guys" and that they were being "used."

"For someone who has never served a day in the military, it's unfortunate that [O'Reilly] chose to make these comments, especially since he's always saying that we have to honor the soldiers," said Gregory Rollins, an Army veteran and member of Fitzgerald House. "His refusal to meet with the organizations that serve this vulnerable population, the thousands of men and women who've risked their lives for their country is not putting his heart in the right place."

Anonymous said...

It's da ganja, mon! Same stuff I bin smokin'

Minor Machman said...

Sometimes it is hard not to agree with O'Reilly. And then when he comes out with crap like what O'Reilly said, it gives me pause to think..."I am not perfect. And I realize it more when some stupid bozo says something like this. I'm not perfect. And I am not sure I even want to be. The last perfect person on earth we nailed to a cross." I am veteran of the unpopular Vietnam War and one spit upon when I returned in more ways than I can count. I have struggled through every emotion any warrior has ever had to deal with. And believe me when I say it is a long and difficult struggle to deal honestly and morally with having taken more the five thousand lives. There is no compensation nor emotional repayment conceivable which can mitigate that reality.

I say this only to make the point that for many who, for whatever reasons, did not come equipped with the tools to deal with such trauma and emotional stresses it is entirely understandable why so many wander aimlessly in search of relief in any form they can find. Whether drugs, alcohol, or similarly situated brothers of the night and streets, to demean the thousands...to express such disdain for those who gave more than Bill O'Reilly and all his ilk combined can ever conceive, is simply hard to get my mind around.

Let O'Reilly (or anyone who buys into this crap) tell it to the man marching in place in the rain calling cadance through his grizzled beard and schizophrenic mind, lost yet still searching for a blade of grass so he will not fall off the earth. Let him say those words down at the Ogden Rescue Mission or St. Anne's.

No Mr. O'Reilly. You are so wrong on this issue you need to fall to your knees asking for forgiveness for having advocated distrust and a total lack of compassion. Compassion for the very people who simply chose to serve their Country, even if she is wrong, since she has so much good going for her.

These are citizens who although lost, are brave and were dedicated enough to enable "Ivory Tower intellectuals" to do their thing in freedom. There is a special place in heaven for these veterans and a special place in hell for those who mock and show no compassion for them.

My apologies for the rant. MM

Anonymous said...

Curmudgeon

Don Porter looked into his top hat at his peep stone and saw the light. It doesn't happen too often, but when it does he has some great revelations.

Anonymous said...

In my neck of the woods down south, we call it "The War of Northern Aggression"

Minor Machman said...

Actually we (in the Delta) called it "The War for Southern Independance". Still do. And the way "war" is pronounced sounds more like "Whoror".

Post a Comment

© 2005 - 2014 Weber County Forum™ -- All Rights Reserved