Letter to the editor on the tenth anniversary of the beginning of the Endless War

A friend and I edit a news aggregator/discussion site called EndlessWar at reddit.com. One of the site's participants, Mr. blobbohen commented that we need to do more than grumble about the NeedlessWars and do something. He wrote the letter that you see below.

Why don't you copy this letter onto Word, edit it to your liking, print and sign it, put it in a stamped envelope, write the address of your local paper's letters to the editor on the front of the envelope and send it in. How many letters can we get printed in one weekend?

Please let us know if you get this letter (with or without your edits) published and send us the link if you do.

Thanks

Chris Ferrell

September 4th 2011

To the Editor

Memory fades. The September 11th attacks will be a decade old next week, but they continue to affect the fate of the United States to this very day. The wars of the United States continue to rage on in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they appear to have left the minds of most Americans. I rarely hear of anyone my age (or any age for that matter) speak of our presence in our Middle Eastern wars. This letter seeks to break the current attitude of indifference that now spans this country regarding its foreign occupations.

The United States government, pondering to stay in Iraq possibly beyond 2011 and in Afghanistan as long as 2024, appears poised to fulfill in an even greater capacity the role of a military industrial complex, a vast system grimly warned of by Eisenhower in his final address. It is at this point that certain questions beg to be asked: can our country afford this? Can we rationally put more money and soldiers' lives into two wars without any clear sign of an end? These are the kind of questions that matter when you are talking about something like the debt ceiling. These are the kind of questions you ask when you're talking about what kind of country you live in: one that cares about where it's money is going and what kind of danger that its soldiers face, or a country that is indifferent and disinterested about both subjects. Which one are we supposed to be?

I am not concerned about sounding depressing or unpatriotic because those are accusations that are to be leveled at the apathetic and politically oblivious. From what I understand of this country's history there was a time when, during the Vietnam War, there were body counts on the news every night. We were very aware of the death that was occurring where the gunfire was, with protests against being drafted and jail-time for those that refused to go when their number was up. But that is not the case now. We are at war, one of which is the longest war we have ever waged in our entire history, and absolutely no one is talking about it- outside of government officials, anyway. That is not an unfair generalization because it is true. Bleakly true.

Countries like Egypt and Tunisia have shown that they can liberate themselves. So I know where I stand on these issues of war: the combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan must end, now and in full. Ignoring our military is the best way to demoralize it- so I refrain from doing that. I support soldiers by demanding that they be brought home.

Our country is broke and bankrupt of innovation whether you blame Obama, Bush, or Congress as a whole. But it is not beyond redemption. Endless war need not exist if this country does not want it to.

Sincerely

Jon Stewart Comments on the Media's Attempts To Make Ron Paul Invisible

It is truly incredible how the mainstream media has decided en masse to completely ignore and marginalize Ron Paul. Watch Stewart rip the media to shreds. And donate to Paul's campaign, because he certainly can't count on the media to spread his message of fiscal responsibility, non-interventionist foreign policy, sound money and personal liberty.

Here is Dr. Paul's new campaign ad. Your donations will put this on TV around the country.



Update - Has the Media Suppressed Ron Paul's Coverage?

Immediately after her noteworthy victory in the Iowa Presidential Straw Poll August 13, Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann managed to book herself on all five major Sunday national television political talk shows. But Ron Paul, who finished in a virtual statistical tie with Bachmann — just 152 votes and less than a one-percent difference — was booked on none of them. Zero.

Then there was the Politico.com headline on the straw-poll results that — when moved over to blogrunner.com — became this: "Michele Bachmann wins Ames Straw Poll, Tim Pawlenty gets third."

Umm, isn't something missing there?

Read the rest of the article

Each one of us is a perfect creation

"God beholds you individually, whoever you are. He calls you by your name. He sees you and understands you, as He made you. He knows what is in you, all your own peculiar feelings and thoughts, your dispositions and likings, your strength, your weakness.

He views you in your day of rejoicing, and your day of sorrow. He sympathises in your hopes and your temptations. He interests Himself in all your anxieties and remembrances, all the rising and failings of your spirit. He has numbered the very hairs of your head and the height of your stature.

He compasses you round and bears you in His arms; He takes you up and sets you down. He notes your very countenance, whether smiling or in tears, whether healthful or sickly. He looks tenderly upon your hands and your feet; He hears your voice, the beating of your heart, and your very breathing.

You do not love yourself better than He loves you. You cannot shrink from pain more than He dislikes your bearing it; and if He puts it on you, it is as you would put it on yourself, if you would be wise, for a greater good afterwards....

God has created you to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to you which He has not committed to another. You have your mission -- you may never know it in this life but you shall be told it in the next.

You are a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created you for naught. You shall do good, you shall do His work. You shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in your own place while not intending it if you do but keep His commandments.

Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me -- still He knows what He is about.

May the Lord support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done.

Then in His mercy may He give us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last."

John Henry Newman