Sunday, August 7, 2005

Secret Service intimidation looks like deliberate political action.

My dear husband, Arthur Ruger, himself a veteran, and we are member family of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO www.mfso.org), weighs in;



As an MFSO member and actively involved in MFSO Pacific Northwest, and with two family members trapped in a military situation of vulnerability to the demonstrated foolishness of the republican leadership, I have yet to suffer the kind of loss Cindy has suffered.

But the longer I follow this story in Crawford and share information nationwide through our Texas and national MFSO contacts, the more my own sense of outrage flares up.

If my family is asked - perish the thought - to pay the price Cindy has and is paying now, my reaction would be as hers. But I do and will continue to speak as a father and as a veteran who is totally embarrased that of all the talented baby-boomers of my generation, the shallowest and baddest political apple of my time has risen to the top.

When my political and moral sense were more intertwined in the 90's and I felt embarrased by Mr. Clinton's foolishness with Monica, I also hoped that another boomer would come along to demonstrate more the wisdom that came out of Viet Nam and the sense that an American electorate, when aroused, will replace incompetence with compentence.

In retrospect, I'd drop George and take Bill or Hillary or any other boomer in a heartbeat. In 2008 it won't be hard to find another boomer more capable than George - if the electorate is willing to take a chance on another boomer at all.

This morning we spoke with contacts who were in Crawford yesterday. When we read about Cindy and her veteran companions being forced to walk and stay in a ditch, we are talking about what was called a "barrow pit" in Idaho where I grew up. It's why in wet seasons water will flow alongside the road rather than across.

In Texas, (and I lived in Houston and South Texas for 8 years) it's also where water moccasins congregate.

There's nothing patriotic, considerate or exmpliary of acting in the national interest by sober-staring, earphone wearing suits who are supposed to insure the president's safety with one hand on their earphone, the other on their gun while they watch a woman their mother's age and disabled veterans try to negotiate what really is a ditch and not just a recessed area alongside the road that can serve as a "trail."

There's nothing noble in this situation where a president hides, where his entourage stands guard at the vacation parapets and ventures out in his name with talking points that have gotten to be so dull that they resemble ping pong balls rather than darts of logic.

There's nothing noble in a refusal to step out and meet Cindy face to face, thinking on your feet and expressing the wisdom a president and commander-in-chief is expected to possess.

Except this CIC hasn't demonstrated an ability to think on his feet, off the cuff and respond intelligently without coaching. Cindy would not be a hand-selected audience which makes it doubly difficult.

Cindy is not intimidated nor are the veterans representing the real military victims of republican corruption.

I'm told from Texas today that news media is not required to travel down in the barrow pit but that Cindy, the Vets and her supporters are.

Why is that?

Whoever made that decision owes us a justification.

Don't let go of this ...
Blog blog blog ...

This is the real noble cause.

Democratic Underground - Cindy Sheehan: "The Secret Service is Trying to Intimidate Us"

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