Taking Back Texas Episode 5

On The Difficulty Of Writing, Or, The War Hits Home
by: fake consultant

I do not want to write this story, and I have been stuck for about ten days because I do not want to face the reality of this particular situation.

But here it is.

Last Friday was the day The Girlfriend and I had to travel to Fort Lewis, Washington, to attend the military departure ceremony for one of our two godsons.

He enlisted in the Army National Guard, and now it’s time to go to the Middle East.

There was no mystery or great surprise that he would be going, and the news is not all bad.

He is not in a Stryker Brigade; thank whichever deity you support, nor a military policeman. It is theoretically possible that the support role he will be filling will actually be moderately safe, which is about the best spin I can offer considering the circumstances.

He and his brother are our two godsons, and we have literally been looking out for them since the days of their birth. To illustrate the point more clearly, I was his birth photographer.

The Girlfriend and I attended Lamaze-twice-to allow us access to both deliveries, but circumstances caused us to miss his older brother’s birth by eight hours.

We have been the “bad” godparents ever since-the ones who introduced them to Beavis and Butt-Head, and Ren and Stimpy, and Skittles and Jolt Cola and Archie McPhee.

It isn’t as though I didn’t try to nip this in the bud.
I suggested the Air Force (a subject I can speak about from personal experience), but I was clearly not as persuasive as I could have been.

Which is how we found ourselves at Fort Lewis.

The families assembled in a hangar on base, a small band offered up patriotic music, important officers offered up inspiring words, and an award was presented to the officer who managed the required paperwork that made the deployment possible. Finally, with a clanging of warning bells, the hangar doors were opened to reveal the soldiers we were there to honor, standing in formation.

Nobody reacts to the officer who says: “This is the last time I will have the chance to address all of you...”

Everyone wants to look brave, soldier and family alike; but there is no way to sit in a room with small child noises filling the space, and not know the future will likely be so, so tough for some of those little children.

Goodbye Cindy Sheehan
by: lightseeker

In what she described as a ''resignation letter,'' Sheehan wrote in her online diary on the ''Daily Kos'' blog: ''Good-bye America ... you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it.

''It's up to you now.''

[snip]

''I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called ''Face'' of the American anti-war movement,'' Sheehan wrote in the diary.

How Courage is involved
by: Stewart True Courage

In all the *fuhrer* over the House Speaker's machinations this weekend, it may seem a trifle pollyanish to bring up my own organization's recent action to bestow awards on legislators. But there really is a relationship here.

In case you missed it, the True Courage Action Network recently ran a poll and asked everyone who follows the Lege which senator, rep, and advocate demonstrated the greatest courage defending Texas from the kleptocrats who are fighting right now to hold on to power. The poll winners are:

Best State Senator: Rodney Ellis
Best State Representative: Mike Villarreal
Best State Advocate: ACLU of Texas (represented by Will Harrell, Sonia Santana, and Kat Dean)

In addition, TCAN's own members chose to honor:

Sen. Mario Gallegos for: Defending Voting Rights in the Senate
Rep. Rafael Anchía for: Defending Voting Rights in the House
Sen. Royce West for: Promoting Ethics Reform
Rep. Jim Dunnam for: Delivering a Passionate Floor Speech
and
Craig McDonald of Texans for Public Justic(continued)