Let’s mourn the real American heroes
My column below memorializes some true American heroes whose funerals won’t get wall-to-wall cable coverage. But first I wanted to share an e-mail from reader Noelle, who wrote me yesterday:
We spent a nailbiting Sunday wondering if one of the men killed at [Combat Outpost] Zerok in Afghanistan on July 4th was our son. God bless the Casillas and Fairbairn families in this hour of grief over futures that now will never come to pass. The privates who died were mortarmen, the guys who go outside and return fire. I’m sorry about Michael Jackson’s totally wasted life, but he’s not worth the national crying and hair pulling that will never be done for the two young mortarmen. My son is a third tour “listener” and 33 years old. The base is very small and he said they bond quickly under these circumstances and are bent over with grief as they have to carry on in hostile territory…He called us late evening on Sunday after the Casillas and Fairbairns had been notified about the deaths. He said it was a July 4th the survivors will never forget. There’s always a news and communication blackout until families have been contacted. We live in dread of being the ones to get such news. Thanks for honoring a couple of boys worth the effort.
***
Let’s mourn the real American heroes
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2009
Flags flew at half-staff this week in California’s state capitol. No, not for Michael Jackson. For Private First Class Justin Casillas.
Pfc. Casillas died in a jihadi suicide bombing attack on his Army base in eastern Afghanistan on the Fourth of July. While Americans enjoyed fireworks and Hollyweird mourned the “King of Pop” with wretched excess, the family of Pfc. Casillas learned that the 19-year-old paratrooper with the U.S. Army’s Alaska-based 509th Airborne had given his life for his country. His father told the Woodland (Calif.) Daily Democrat that Justin just “wanted to do his part.”
The family has a legacy of service: Casillas’s grandfather served in the Pacific theater during World War II; his father served in Vietnam. But the death of Pfc. Casillas didn’t make front-page headlines. His funeral won’t receive wall-to-wall coverage on cable TV.
Instead, it’s been all-MJ, all night and day: Nurses! Nannies! Doctors! Drug raids! Custody battles! Casket rides!
Jacko fever spread to the Beltway, where the House of Representatives held a moment of silence for the entertainer. President Obama sent a highly-publicized letter of condolence to the Jackson family. And topping them all, Texas Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee drafted a 1,600-word congressional resolution that “recognizes Michael Jackson as a global humanitarian and a noted leader in the fight against worldwide hunger and medical crises; and celebrates Michael Jackson as an accomplished contributor to the worlds of arts and entertainment, scientific advances in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, and global food security.”
Jackson-Lee laundry-listed every charitable act and donation by Jackson in the House resolution – and would have included all the times he said “Thank you” and “God bless you” if there had been more room. Is it too much to ask our lawmakers to restrain themselves from acting like Entertainment Tonight spokesmodels and Tiger Beat correspondents?
I stand with GOP Rep. Peter King of New York, who rightly skewered these celebrity-worshiping warped priorities as “an orgy of glorification.” Michael Jackson could sing and dance. But he was no American “hero.” In a YouTube video over the weekend, Rep. King lambasted the media circus:
“All we hear about is Michael Jackson. Let’s knock out the psychobabble. He was a pervert…and to be giving this much coverage to him, day in and day out, what does it say about us as a country…I just think we’re too politically correct. No one wants to stand up and say, ‘We don’t need Michael Jackson!’ He died, he had some talent, but fine, there are people dying every day. There are men and women dying everyday in Afghanistan, let’s give them the credit they deserve.”
Yes, let’s do that. Another soldier died with Pfc. Casillas on Independence Day at Combat Outpost Zerok in Afghanistan’s Paktika province. He was 20-year-old Pfc. Aaron Fairbairn. Fairbairn’s stepfather, David Masters, took to social networking service Twitter to spread the word and keep Fairbairn’s legacy alive. “On Independence Day, a few hours ago, they killed my son Aaron in Afghanistan,” Masters wrote. According to the Department of Defense, both Fairbairn and Casillas died from “wounds suffered when insurgents attacked the outpost using small arms and indirect fires.” The Taliban claimed credit for the complex rocket and mortar attack involving a reported 8,000 kg of explosives.
Tens of thousands of our men and women are in Iraq and Afghanistan to combat the jihadi threat. Army 1st Lt. Brian N. Bradshaw gave his life on June 25, the same day Jackson died. Bradshaw’s aunt, Martha Gillis, blasted the silence over her nephew’s sacrifice in a letter to her local paper, the Washington Post:
“My nephew, Brian Bradshaw, was killed by an explosive device in Afghanistan on June 25, the same day that Michael Jackson died….Where was the coverage of my nephew or the other soldiers who died that week?” Gillis wrote that Lt. Bradshaw “had old-fashioned values and believed that military service was patriotic and that actions counted more than talk…He was a search-and-rescue volunteer, an altar boy, a camp counselor. He carried the hopes and dreams of his parents willingly on his shoulders. What more than that did Michael Jackson do or represent that earned him memorial ’shrines,’ while this soldier’s death goes unheralded? It makes me want to scream.”
Please do not despair, Mrs. Gillis. While the Rev. Al Sharpton screamed “Thank you, Michael! Thank you, Michael!” at the grotesque Staples Center memorial on Tuesday, many of us whispered in prayer: Thank you, Justin. Thank you, Aaron. Thank you, Brian. The real American heroes won’t be forgotten.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Trackbacks
- Saying Goodbye to Michael Jackson « The Clampdown
- Offering It Up » Why do we glorify a pervert and child molester?
- News And Views 07-08-2009 | FreedoMedium
- American Heroes: Sorry, MJ, You Don’t Measure Up! « Get Clued
- Kerfuffles :: Congress Honors Michael Jackson, Disses Fallen Soldiers :: July :: 2009
- Let's mourn the real American heroes, Michelle Malkin - Conservative Republican Discussion Forums
- Honoring Our Heroes « Just Americans Making Ethical Statements Weblog
- Michigan Taxes Too Much » Principles And Foundations And Death
- Appeasement « NEOAVATARA
- Never forget the real heroes « A Solitary Conspiracy
- Bizarre Anti-Michael Jackson Sentiment From Michelle Malkin Who Joins With Peter King to Sing “Smear The World” « The Gholston Post
- Obama Doctrine - Trading terrorists for political prisoners is a good thing.
- A Solitary Conspiracy » Never forget the real heroes
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Categories: Afghanistan, Hollyweird
Riehl World View
» Bet: Ratings Fail - Oprah/Obama Christmas Special
Mudville Gazette
» The five-year planNewsBusters.org
» Oprah To Do Primetime Christmas Special With The ObamasRiehl World View
» Dowd: Dem Elites Displeased With Obama As Palin RisesStop The ACLU
» SEALs Charged With Assault for Arresting Top TerroristGay Patriot
» The O So Hip Obama
I’ll not be silenced by the race baiters and I’ll never forget the sacrifices our American citizens are giving for my personal freedom! Let their sacrifices not be made in vain.
(sigh) It is hard to celebrate Independance Day when our leaders are shredding the constitution faster than they can get in line for MJ funeral tickets. And now the news of the deaths of these fine young men. They didn’t die in vain, but they sure as hell didn’t die for MJ 24/7 excess, either! To the grieving families, thank you for your sacrifice. You raised good men.
So many give their lives for the cause of freedom and liberty…so that their fellow Americans can continue to worship at the alter of hedonism and idolatry, circling the drain of the only life they are given.
Amen, Michelle. Sick to death of the Jackson coverage. Even sicker of the fact that they are making him out to be such a great person. Thanks to every service member, police officer, and fire fighter. They are the ones who really worth praise.
Thanks MM. As I went about my routines yesterday, I remembered the fallen heroes and mentioned that to my colleagues as they zombie-like stared at MJ-TV. Some agreed and acknowledged how messed up our hero worship is, but most of the zombies just ignored my comment and kept watching the circus at Staples…
Sad day indeed when we forget that ones who have died for this country and replace that with a man known to have slept in the same bed with little boys.
Bravo, Michelle, bravo!
Thank you, Justin, Aaron, Brian and every person who has ever served in our armed forces.
All gave some. Some gave all.
And a majority of America is thankful for, and appreciative of, your service.
As Christ died for all that we may have life.
Amen
Thank God there are enough of our young people that see the rest of us worth dying for. Can’t thank them enough. As far as I’m concerned, Michael who?
I was watching Fox News Channel last night and one of those brilliant pundits made the remark soldiers die everyday but Jacko was a celebrity. They can spend two weeks mourning a freak, but not one damned minute for American heros. The moral decay of this country knows no depths. Maybe that’s why we have the government we have.
I pray daily for those who fight to defend freedom. I just pray we do not continue to forsake those very same freedoms right here at home.
Savage – I believe it’s a small manority who are the squeaky wheels. I do not for one minute believe the MSN NOR Fox news represent the majority in this nation. I also believe the worst thing to happen to us is 24/7 news – they fill time with the dumbest stuff!
I truely believe in my heart that the USA is being judged on many issues (abortion, idolatry, etc.), so God is giving some over to a reprebate mind and this is the end result. It’s the only explaination of the insanity in DC that we all scratch our little wooden heads over daily.
hollywood seriously needs to quit intermarrying and having progeny, they are showing definite signs of mental defectiveness brought on by inbreeding.
jangar – we wouldn’t be the first society to have this happen and we certainly aren’t “more special” than those people or societies from ancient times. People are people, we haven’t thought up any thing new – it’s just new to us. Pray, pray, pray…
Actually, if you read the Greek and Aramaic Scriptures (The New Testament) You will see many references to what will happen in the end days. Judgment? I hope … but punishment? Only because it is the dark before the dawn I think.
Just my two cents.
This is our unfortunate reality. It is not unlike the coverage of Diana’s death, or her wedding to Charles. And, they aren’t even American citizens.
More unfortunate reality. Sports stars make millions, and teachers make far less.
Even here on MM’s BLOG, there have been far more comments on the Post about Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, than there were comments on the Post about the fallen soldier, Pfc. Casillas.
Yep, that is our unfortunate reality.
It goes on and on.
I have been kinda ‘bummed’ lately, and one reason is that I had a spiritual epiphany, sort of seeing the spiritual war that is going on, for only a minute. It is not pretty, and both of your comments are correct.
Amen and amen.
The Bible says, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:13-15
That applies to “His people” not to the immoral and corrupt (not referring to just Democrats here). So I would suggest that we take God at His word and at least start our part. Then stand back and watch God fulfill His promise.
Finally, those brave young men are heroes. I thank God for them and pray their family finds the comfort and peace that only Jesus can give. They deserve our respect and rememberance.
MJ was a freak.
In the words of the very talented John Prine:
The MJ coverage has been ridiculous. He was no hero. He was a troubled man who was dealing with personal demons and who used his celebrity to fund his excesses. The MSM’s obsession with this type of pop culture illustrates its superficiality.
The true heroes today are not only our military but others as well. There are children who are fighting courageously against cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. Since MJ died, there are several children I know of who have lost their battles. They had no celebrities mourning their loss or media coverage of how they handled side effects of chemo and radiation with courage and grace. At times they had to wear face masks – not to hide from people, but to protect their immune-suppressed bodies from common germs.
I sure wish people were as willing to spend money on research to find a cure for cancer as they are to spend money buying MJ memorabilia.
I sure wish the “news” organizations were as willing to use their influence and resources to give attention to our real heroes as they are to laud a man who wasted his talent and wealth on mostly frivolous and selfish pursuits.
I hate to admit it, but I am beginning to dislike the US greatly. The US is becoming a people of depravity, sloth, and indifference. Land of the free, home of the brave. What nonsense! Any people that allow themselves to be finger-f***ed just to get on an airplane in neither free nor brave. I spent yesterday afternoon tramping around Juarez, Mexico. Those people were working so hard just treading water, barely keeping their head above the water. I’m afraid Americans are going to be treading water sooner than any will admit.
me too.
I don’t think we recognize this enough. I lost friends in the Viet Nam war. Was it in vain? I don’t know, but I do know that they did their duty.
Who out there in Liberal LaLa Land will recognize this Truth, and admit it?
If Bush was in office, we’d be hearing more about war casualties. Now that the war is “good” under the current administration, it’s on auto-pilot.
Don’t like this at all. Never do the MSM recognize sacrifice by our military. Our volunteer military were “victims” under Bush. Under the current administration, they don’t seem to care at all. Shameful.
I thank God everyday that our powerful volunteer military defends our freedom.
Thank you, Michelle, for keeping these stories out in front.
OK, I get it. There is jealousy among people who want the same coverage MJ got when they die.
I wouldn’t give Rep King any more publicity for this than he wants. The rant against MJ was his most popular even though he’s done many. So he’s using his hatred to gain popularity. I wouldn’t celebrate that either MM.
People here underestimate Jackson’s worldwide admiration. In America, all we talk about was the trial (but people don’t want to remember that he was found NOT GUILTY). He was NEVER FOUND GUILTY. . . NOT ONCE!
People here don’t care. They want to get their licks in just in case Jackson isn’t dead enough for them. Jackson represented America to a lot of the world. . . like it or not – he did.
Here was the first time anyone saw a successful black person – EVER! He was an American. The international community had to look at him and know that America is the land of opportunity. If Michael Jackson can be a black man in a racist America and make hundreds of millions and even BILLIONS of dollars singing and dancing. . . surely anyone can do anything in America.
We mourn every single dead soldier. But none would be recognized internationally – for better or worse.
Hating Jackson is pointless.
Seriously, let me repeat.
Hating Jackson is pointless.
I would hate to be the representative who was famous for hating dead people. That’s Rep King now. All hail our glorious political leaders. Let’s celebrate wannabe King for hating a dead guy. That will show how truly civilized we are in America.
no, you don’t. But honestly, it’s not that important that you do.
What a Holiday. Yep, the MSM (even FOX) took a holiday from reporting worth while news and shoved MJ down our tubes all week. Sure beat reporting on Crap and Fade, or universal Death Care. What the heck, they, the MSM, have to stand for something. Cult Worship.
JDS
***
Hi BURNEDOUTHIPPIE #22. I’m glad you made it back O.K. from Ciudad Juarez–12 miles from my El Paso, Tx. home. 100 degree hot day, and a lot of AK-47 packing gang members there.
***
Many times more people were murdered in Juarez last year than the U.S. Military lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. My wife is from Mexico–we used to visit family there until the last few years–too many deaths, robberies, and kidnappings now–we stay home.
***
One of her distant nephews was kidnapped there last year. Her poor family had a small car lot–they sold all their cars at a loss. They and other family members scraped up the $15,000 ransom and got their son back unharmed–after a month selling all they had.
***
Watch your back there–it’s like Chicago in the Al Capone days. The old Mexican saying PLATA O PLOMO (silver or lead) applies–the military and police can work for the drug lords at 10X their poor pay–or can take a full load from an AK-47 if they don’t want to work for the drug lords. And a lot of the hoods do “free lance” robbery and kidnapping in their free time. A patriotic Mexican ELLIOTT NESS approach is needed there.
***
John Bibb
***
For our family we hold dear all the branches of the military, hold them high, higher than the media and all the fools whose priorities are so out of whack it’s sickening. My grandchildren will follow suit and there grandchildren so on and so on…
The United states wasn’t built on “pop singer drug addicts” but by all the brave souls who protect her and have died for her.
I live in LaLa Land and understand there is only one truth in this life: That Jesus Christ was the Son of God and died for my sins.
So there are true believers out here in LaLa land. What happened yesterday at Staples was a shameful display honoring a man who perversed himself and his life.
Wow, so many people thinking this is all about Michael Jackson.
The BIG Picture:
Foregoing REAL news while historic changes are taking place to celebrate the life of ANY celebrity is just plain wrong. It does not matter if it was Michael Jackson, Karl Malden, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays or anyone else who may have died during this period. The fact of the matter remains that there are very real and much more lasting concerns that the people should be made aware of lest they rot in ignorance while the world passes them by.
By all means, feel free to celebrate the life and/or death of anyone you see fit to but do not use it as a means to allow historic changes to take place under the radar. There are still other things that people need to be made aware of. A little perspective may be prudent.
You are very much mistaken. Ray Charles, B. B. King, Chuck Berry, Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, all walked through that door long before even the Jackson 5, just to name a few. And that’s just in the world of musical entertainment.
Me too. For a real taste of bitter irony, try going through the security checkpoint at the Statue Of Liberty.
The government has turned our ideals into a series of slogans, and they uncannily resemble Orwell’s 1984 vision: the slogans mean the opposite of what they represent.
You’re right, Michelle, not by us.
But remember, the players at the Staples Center circle-jerk have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s another world.
lgm said:
‘I don’t get it’.
lgm never will.
Prayers up for the Casillas and Fairbairn families and heartfelt thanks to all to who serve and sacrifice.
Over at IMAO, there is talk about a MJ clone.
http://www.imao.us/index.php/2009/07/the-michael-jackson-comeback/
Funny.
These Americans who gave their last full measure of devotion are being honored and remembered by the people who truly care and who count.
Do you really care if the people cheering at the freak show in the Staples Center on Tuesday care about our dead?
They don’t, they won’t, and they never will. In the words of my generation, “Don’t mean nuthin.” Drive on. Such people are uttlerly unimportant.
There are two kinds of people in American today; those who cherish freedom and those who do not mind being slaves to receive some degree of security doled out to them in exchange for their unalienable rights.
OK, I get it. All of those guys earned enough money to buy the rights to the Beatles collection, right?
I’m defining success in DOLLARS here, not talent.
Anyway, I’ve wasted enough time on this already. You people love to hate and condemn. It’s America’s favorite past time. I won’t rain on any more parades celebrating an American singer’s death.
Get back to me when you ‘civilized’ people here decide to discuss important things. Thanks. . .
Again, I DID NOT WATCH THE FUNERAL. WHY DID YOU? I watched Fox Business and they never mentioned Jackson except for the daughter Paris at the end.
Maybe all of you and Rep King can go visit Paris and tell her how terrible her daddy was. . . he was just an awful awful man. So awful that we all must waste our time talking about what an awful man he was. . . we need to let his kids who loved him know that.
I expect if something ever happened to MM, we’d get some of the same vitriol from the left. But keep it up you holier than thou people.
Unbridled arrogance! Unbelievable.
This doesn’t apply to me, but OKIE DOKE.
This tells you all you need to know.
ThackerAgency said:
“OK, I get it.”
You are so far from “getting it” it is pathetic. This isn’t about hating Michael Jackson at all, it is about being completely disgusted with our infantile celebrity obsessed so called culture.
MJ was an extremely talented and very disturbed man. Where were all his “friends” when he was clearly suffering tremendous indentity and self worth issues?
“Here was the first time anyone saw a successful black person – EVER!”
Yes, too bad that Martin Luther King fellow didn’t amount to anything.
How can you possible think that MJ was a role model for black people in America when he did everything in his power to not be black? You think he was a hero because he made a ton of money? You really need to rethink some things.
Aaaah, the ploy of the moving goalposts.
How about defining success as success?
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/success
By your definition, comparing dollars to dollars, then MJ was among the first successful men ever, regardless of race.
lemme tell you something!…wait..
Crap, I forgot…and it was gonna be really holier than thou…
In my town, every May since 2003 a temporary memorial of gratitude and honor is erected in a local park by some citizens (not the government)to recognize those who have fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This year 4,995 patriots were listed with their picture, name, rank, and service with a short article about how they perished. These listings filled 150 posts arrayed around the American flag. Each post was decorated with a flag, artificial flowers and a candle holder.
A major ceremony is held on Memorial Day and again on July 5th, each attended by hundreds. On the 55 evenings in between, an every changing handful of citizens spontaneously gathers to freshen the site, place and light new candles, read aloud the stories of 5 who were killed, read poems, say a prayer and the Pledge and listen to a bugler play taps. For those 55 days we mourn on behalf of all Americans.
The memorial is dismantled for another year. We have plans for a permanent memorial to be built by the city on this site by next Memorial Day. If it isn’t done, we will be back again as individual citizens to build another temporary memorial because honoring our fallen patriots is what matters to us.
In 2003 an independent film maker made this short video: http://www.northwoodmemorial.com/MediaGallery/2003GDProductionsDocumentaryVideo/tabid/56/Default.aspx
God Bless all our service men and women.
Jesus Derangement Syndrome? Yeah, there’s been a lot of that going around lately.
MM cares about fallen soldiers only when it’s convenient. Now it’s a convenient way to try to get Michael Jackson off the front page. It’s not patriotism, it’s JDS.
The New York Times cares about the fallen all the time. It publishes their names every day. MM railed against this practice. Our previous Republican President (what’s his name again?) prevented photographs of caskets of the fallen. They were a constant reminder of the cost of the unnecessary war in Iraq.
Also perception is reality. No matter how much evidence proving his innocence the public opinion is that he is guilty.
I personally believe that he was just a child in that never grew up. What 40 + old man climbs trees, and other things that normal men would never do. His lack of judgment on many matters reflects that of a kid. He was a genius at music and dance but at life he was a simpleton.
The best thing is to remember our fallen heroes and their families. Their honor and courage is what makes the fabric of this nation. MJ was just a color in it.
Couldn’t his success then be measured to something around $400M in debt?
I don’t hate Michael Jackson, but I suppose I’m counted among many that believe the media has lost its mind over the man. He certainly wasn’t a hero. A celebrity with talent, sure, but since when does that equate to being heroic?
Regardless of which side of the fence you might land on the pedophilia charges, even the most ardent Jackson supporter should admit that he lived an eccentric and very strange life.
I wasn’t watching the “All day, All MJ”.
It was an honor to escort 1LT Bradshaw home to his final rest, and help carry him out of/into the funeral coach for his final days before being interred at Tahoma National Cemetary on Monday.
People who cared, even those of us who didn’t know him life, were there for these last few days.
May G_d bless these young heroes.
“Daylight”
Ride Captain
PGR of WA State
You lie. MM covers the war and its cost often.
We have no power over the satanic display going on there.
Thank you Michelle for putting things in perspective.
And thank you to all the REAL hero’s: the men and women who are sacrificing all to defend our country and way of life.
You are in our thoughts and prayers each and every day.
Aren’t you the one that pretends to harp about facts? Does this “ring true” to you, lgm? Or are you just being callous in some strange defense of the media’s response to Jackson’s death?
In one paragraph you managed to fit it all in. While you harp about JDS, you let your BDS flag fly. Sure, you were coy about it, but you still did it. Of course, maybe that’s also because the initial prohibitions on photographing flag-draped caskets were set by George H. W. Bush and not George W.
Since you’re fond of pointing out that caring for soldiers is a matter of convenience, why is it that the NYTimes cares most about them only after they have fallen? Why were they the paper that allowed the “Betray us” ad in their paper? Shouldn’t care for the soldiers include the soldier that leads them?
The casket story has been debated on other threads. The family of those fallen should have the right and dignity not to have the press use photos of their loved ones for their own political gain. In your very last sentence, you underscore the very reason why those photos were prohibited and how you would intend for them to be used. I’m extremely skeptical that you really believe that those photos would serve the families of the fallen rather than your own political idealism.
Salt, of course you know they do. Under the new policy, any family can opt to not allow photos or media coverage.
The difference between our military deceased and MJ? Our beloved military didn’t have to pay 22 million dollars to the parents of a child in order to shut them up!!!
Our military deceased died with honor defending the rights of the loony left to hate them! MJ just died and saved millions of children from “sleeping” with a fifty year old man! ( when you say it even the sound is just disgusting…)
Fu@#ing PEDOPHILE PERVERT!!!!
Chapoutier, I was not so much speaking about the revised policy as lgm’s comment about the one established in ‘91. The implication was that by enforcing the policy, the administration “didn’t care” about the soldiers.
I’m amiable to allowing families to choose. That’s assuming that they’re finding out about their loss from the government and not the press.
A lovely tribute to the soldiers and families, Michelle. I’ll make sure to forward your article to many.
Gotcha. Fain enough. In that vein, he did conveniently fail to mention Clinton kept the same policy.
One of the most sickening aspects of the whole Jackson circus was the desperate need of Jesse Jackson to claw his way back into the limelight. Barack Obama has rendered J. Jackson irrelevant in the African-American community. Jesse can not stand it. So he flew out to LA and gave interviews to anyone who would listen to him. Michael Jackson was washed up as a major presence on the music scene long before he passed. The sales of History were minimal and his obsession with children had removed him altogether as a force in the industry. Similarly Jesse Jackson is totally washed up in the political scene. He has nothing to run for and, in light of an African-American president, has nothing meaningful to complain about. His last remaining audience is the superannuated Larry King, where Jesse is always welcome as a guest. The ratings for Larry King are in the toilet but that is the way it should be. I am waiting for Jesse Jackson to announce that he is conducting his own investigation into the death of Michael and he will have an audience of Larry King, Mike Wallace and just maybe Keith Olberman.
Excuse my lengthy post, but this story just feels appropriate. My husband was deployed to Iraq in May 2003 (we were stationed in Germany). I worked at a small daycare on post which was rough because all of our spouses were deployed and most of the fathers of the kids were deployed. Every day you just held your breath and prayed that everyone was safe. On July 3, 2003 we noticed that two of our preschoolers (siblings) did not show up. This was odd because it was only part day three days a week, and the father was an E-5. For her to spend that money, well, she wanted her money’s worth. She was a beautiful and sweet woman with three young and adorable children. We had heard through the grapevine that it was a soldier out of Friedberg (which was a small post) and sure enough one of the officers wives with children in preschool came and gave us the news that it was SGT Parson. We were all devastated and things hit home pretty quickly. Needless to say she had to eventually come in and collect the things that the kids had at the center and she requested a refund for the month of daycare. It was against policy, but obviously I gave her the money back. It pains me to think of this to this day. Her husband died defending our country and the money was so tight that she needed this money back. Not only that, but she had to deal with all of this in a foreign country.
Sorry for the long story, but I just felt compelled to tell it.
RIP SGT David Parson
Meant to add and RIP to each of our fallen heroes.
Sorry, but MJ was no hero compared to these men and women!
Don’t be sorry, NDgal. It wasn’t that long of a story. Your remembrance is directly on topic. Thank you, thanks to your husband for his service to our country, and thanks to all the heroes, including Sgt. Parson, for giving their lives for the sake of the United States.
My take was that Dr. K was trying to explain why the media went wild…not dissing soldiers.
Another pundit – Juan Williams – wasn’t happy with Rep King, but also went on to wonder why all the politicians were there, and he named Sharpton and Jessie Jackson as two who had very little to do with MJ but were there making speeches. He referred to the “carnival” atmosphere and his face showed his utter disgust with the whole thing.
This is utterly false.
O’Reilly had Mark Lamont Hill on. Man, the depths he will go to in order to blame whitey are mind boggling! You’ve got to put some serious thought and a lot of mental gymnastics into the ideas he comes up with. He managed to blame the entire white race, but not MJ’s own father a bit.
I can’t get anything right today, the date in my previous post should have been July 7th not the 3rd. Don’t want to dishonor him by getting the date wrong.
Don’t apologize, after listening about MJ for twelve very long days, your story perfectly sums up the theme of this thread. Thank you. God Bless all those who give the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom of others.
lgm don’t you DARE try to make out that anyone here are using the dead to push thier own agenda.
Thats what the anti-american troop hating liberals like you do.
You mean, except for the fact that it’s exactly what you are doing? This whole thread is based on a article La Malkin wrote, thumping her drum about dead servicemen not getting enough attention for your detested “MSM”… Did you even read it, or did you just jump right in here with the rest of the Hillybilly Crusade to rip on anyone who disagrees?!
Hillbilly Crusade?
Be afraid, be very afraid. We’ve got our guns and bibles and we’re on our way.
No, no, NDgal. It’s the Hillybilly crusade led by someone named “La”.
#51 lgm said:
Another slow day? Because that’s really, really lame…even by your standards.
Love and concern for the Fallen by their close friends and family is true care. Liberals, sniffing around the coffins of those they never knew for the sole purpose of photographically promoting a personal agenda, is pornography.
Sen. Grassley made a very impassioned tribute to a coach from a town in Iowa who was recently murdered. Now that is time I don’t mind him taking..This coach worked with kids for 37 years in a small town that was hit by an F-5 tornado a year ago…
Ugh, I’m glad I didn’t watch. Dr. Hill is one of the few regular guests on that show that I truly cannot listen too. I can just hear him saying “But, but, but, but, Bill…”
Any who, thank you for sharing your story, thanks to your husband for his service, and thanks to Justin, Aaron, Brian and the rest of our service men and women.
Thanks for this column, Michelle. Though it will mean nothing to the left, it’s wonderful to remind those who have loved ones who gave their lives in defense of America and the free world that the sacrifice is not forgotten even as the MSM is obsessed with it’s constant orgy of celeb-worship.
You know, lgm? The shorter your quips become, the more profound they get.
Why, I bet if you wrote nothing at all, you would be like a god around here!
On July 8th, 2009 at 6:28 pm, Salt said
I’m sorry Hillybilly, well that just changes everything.
Amen!!!
Thanks, Michelle, for writing the truth.
RIP. Prayers for your families.
sonofdy said (#72):
How dare you, sir, presume that you care more for our troops than someone else. Your whole lying cheating scumbag Republican party has less honor than one single soldier.
See? Long answer, no profundity (or question mark). Ad hominem generalizations just ruined the whole thing.
You had your chance…
No, sir, lgm never stood a chance.
It’s tragic how so many cannot comprehend the concept of, nor appreciate, self-sacrifice, NDGal. They got the idea of celebrity worship downpat, though.
Well if MM is “pushing her agenda” by suggesting that perhaps we honor our fallen servicemembers at least as much as a fallen pop star (the latter fallen is an alternate definition for the word) I guess I’m pushing her agenda as well.
1. This blog belongs to MM. We are just guests allowed to comment on what she believes is an important enough subject for her to blog about.
2. As guests, we need to appreciate her blog for the content and not attack her for what she thinks is important enough to blog about.
3. If MM has an agenda that involves appreciation for the men and women that are fighting and dying for our right to sound like idiots then I, for one, think that such an agenda is not only appropriate but deeply appreciated! Her right to blog about the thoughts she has are why I went to Vietnam and had friends that gave their lives too!
I SAY “GOOD ON YA, MICHELLE!!! You rock, girl!!!”
I won’t point fingers at any commenter, but I believe that we all know those that this comment is aimed at.
The sickest reaction I’m gleaning even beyond stung “MJ” fans about the lack of coverage for our fallen is that our military casualties “deserve it”‘; i.e. “they had no business being over there” and being “stupid enough to volunteer” into the services. This is a despicable mindset, like teachers giving my grandkids the “suggestion” that it’s far more noble to save whales and polar bears than “make war on poor people far away”.
This country’s moral priorities are truly warped as a pretzel.
James Greenidge
Queens NY
I haven’t been able to watch TV news for over a week, it’s been so permeated with Jackson crap!
Having just returned from my grandson’s boot camp graduation, I know who the real heroes are; he’s going to AIT to become an interrogator, and will be shipped out shortly thereafter. I couldn’t be more proud.