An Open Letter to Sen. Gordon Smith
T.A. Barnhart
Dear Senator Smith
I write to you father to father, and from a common perspective. I'll explain that in a moment, but first I want to tell you what I did this evening.
I joined several hundred residents of Corvallis to stand in support of and in solidarity with Cindy Sheehan. Our vigil was organized and hosted by Bart and Leah, husband and wife, both retired military officers. Around 300 of us stood in the cool, clear evening and listened to parents speak of their children, one young woman speak of her year serving in Iraq, a Marine "grunt" vet of Vietnam speak of how he still suffers 32 years later, and many others speak their opposition to this war and their sorrow for Cindy. We held candles that shined brighter as the night grew darker -- funny how that works. We sang "We shall overcome," as if it were the good old days when that song was unambivalent in meaning. We blew out our candles, smiled warmly at one another, and we returned home.
Cindy Sheehan will not be returning home for a long time; that was the point of the 1,600 vigils across the country tonight. She is taking a stand in memory of her son and, from her perspective, on behalf of all the other sons and daughters who have died, been hurt, and remain under threat in Iraq (and may I add, that includes Iraqi sons and daughters). To walk downtown and stand in front of the beautiful Benton County Courthouse was a simple and easy thing to do; the rest of what needs to be done is terribly difficult, but still, it is quite simple. We must stop this war.
Gordon, you know what it's like to lose a child tragicially. The way your son died is too horrible for words, and I come close to understanding. About the same time your son's attempt at suicide was successful, my son's attempt was not. Thankfully, he made a pretty poor job of it, for which I will always be thankful. But the horror of what my sweet child tried to do to himself was overwhelming. I am still coming to grips with the enormity of it; I still am overcome with terror at times. I find it impossible to believe he is over "it," whatever it was that pushed him in that direction. I hope to God he is past it, that he has no desire not to live out his days fully and naturally. I hope so. I am more sorry than I can say that you were not as blessed as I was. It's so wrong that this happened to your family, just absolutely and utterly wrong.
And I hope you don't think I'm speaking inappropriately of our children, but Gordon, you stand in a privileged place in our nation. You are a United States Senator, and a member of the majority party; your voice carries weight few of us possess. That weight, the power of your voice and your office, in not inherent in you as a person, of course; it derives from your position as a representative of the people of Oregon. And as our chosen representative, one of only two such people we get to choose to serve in that office, you have a duty to care for the people of Oregon, to put their welfare above other considerations, especially above party politics.
This is why you must demand that this president end his foolish war in Iraq immediately -- and there are ways to do that without capitulating to the insurgents. You must demand that he bring our children home now. 1,800 of them are already dead, and for what? Could you in all honesty go to Cindy Sheehan and tell her that Casey, her beloved son, died for an honorable cause? That his death was worth it? Could you look her in the eye and unwaveringly tell her, "Cindy, Casey's death was necessary for our country's peace and freedom" -- can you do this? After what you have suffered, the pain you know of a child dead far too young, if you cannot look her in the eye and speak those words honestly, Senator Smith, then you must tell your president that his war is wrong and he must end it now.
And God help you, Senator Smith, if you can tell her that -- Cindy, your son's life was required for this just and noble cause in Iraq -- then I wonder what you have learned in this life. Please show us that you have learned the value of each and every human life. This is something of which your president appears to have no understanding. Perhaps, Gordon, you can explain to him the pain Cindy Sheehan has suffered. And then perhaps he will walk down his dirt road and talk to her with true understanding; then perhaps he will open his eyes to options that value life and not ideology.
Thanks for listening, and God bless you.
in peace,
todd barnhart
corvallis, oregon
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Aug 18, '05
She is taking a stand in memory of her son
More like ON the memory of her son.... I think she lost valuable credibility when she linked up with the likes of Michael Moore and Moveon.org, and called the President a "murderer".
Aug 18, '05
Oh Jon...this is a woman whose son is dead from a war she deeply opposed. Does anybody have a right to be critical of her? I don't think so.
Mr. Barnhart's letter is interesting, but of course it will likely draw no response. I think it would be more compelling to challenge our other rather silent Democratic representation in Washington, people like Sen. Wyden or Reps. Hooley or Wu, about their position(s) on Iraq.
With Sen. Feingold's bold proclamation in today's press, there is finally a Senator leading on Iraq (with a deadline). Now what other Dems will be brave enough to follow, and make us an "opposition party" once more?
Here's to all of the patriotic Americans who took to the parks, with candles and prayers and share concern last night. Hopefully our leaders (at least some of them) were paying attention...
Aug 18, '05
Heya GOP Jonnny,
If you support the war, go fight it, you CHICKENHAWK! And take the tubby twins too.
BAWK! BAWK! BAWK!
p.s. Cindy Sherman (and her son) have bigger stones than you could even dream of, pal.
9:45 a.m.
Aug 18, '05
Jon,
In WWII grieving mothers did not blame the President because they did not believe that he was responsible for the war. In Vietnam the mood shifted over time and Johnson was blamed. Many Mothers reacted the same as Cindy. It is too easy for the President's supporters to attack the mothers who speak from their heart and say it is partisan. This is past partisan. The country has shifted its view and it isn't because of Michael Moore or Moveon. It is because this was a war of choice that never had deep support of the nation and now has become terribly unpopular due to the callousness of the President and the incompetence of the Rumsfeld team.
Bush partisans want to paint Cindy as just another partisan like them, but they will have trouble making that stick today given the country's mood. The deaths of the Ohio Reservists is an echo of Tet. The mood has changed. Cindy is simply the catalyst for a country ready to react.
Aug 18, '05
Jon,
How can Cindy Sheehan's pain and search for answers lose "valuable credibility" just because people with whom you don't agree have come out to support her, and she has welcomed that support? Sheehan and many others at "Camp Casey" have lost children in Iraq.
I find it more than a little offensive that you would even question her motives under these circumstances. Would you similarly smear, and question the motives of a mother who holds up photos of a son she lost to a drunk driver?
Aug 18, '05
Excellent Letter I doubt that it will have anymore impact on Mr. Smith than Cindy's vigil will have on Mr. Bush.
Aug 18, '05
Sid- Sorry, but Im not a "GOP" member. As for fighting the war, you are right to a point, I cant say much because I am not in the military. But my brother is going back there, so I do have some feelings on the situation.
John- This is "past partisan?" Please see Sid's post above. The sad truth is anything Moore or MoveOn.org attaches themselves to becomes STRICTLY partisan, because of their blind hatred of Bush and GOP in general. They are using her and her son, and that's what pisses me off the most.
Aug 18, '05
How about Cindy just ask to see the WMD's that Saddam was developing?
Have YOU seen the WMD's, Jon?
I am not quite understanding how being lied to, seeing a generation of men (and now some women) decimated, and having a president who doesn't understand the meanings of "truth" and "honor" can be considered partisan.
Or perhaps you feel more kin with Malkin and her ilk: ooooh, lie to me baby! Lie to me!
Disclaimer: If anything, I am on the right of most of the columnists here, and I think MM is a putz who has trouble getting his facts straight.
Aug 18, '05
I'm sure it was all very pleasant, moving and polite in a suburban liberal whitebread PC drama-queen kinda way when Mr. Barnhart and his 300 friends held candles and sang "We Shall Overcome".
However, I would like to remimd them all that people waving signs and singing Bob Dylan songs off-key didn't end the Vietnam war. That's a romantic 60's notion but far from factual and accurate. Do you think GW gives to yanks of a nag's ass about protesters?
And if you think either Dubya or the corrupt joke that the Democratic Party has become care about 300 candle-wavers, then I'd wager you've been huffin' crack. Sheehan is pimping for www.moveon.org and the Bush regime are humpin' their agenda. The media has become a harlot without any standards whatever and both sides are regular customers.
Statistically, if all the people that liked to stand in the street waving protest signs and singing "Kum-By-Yah" actually went out and registered to vote and actually voted and then went and bought legally registered guns so that they weren't just voters but were ARMED REGISTERED VOTERS you can bet your ass that the pimps, skeezers and greedheads that run Washington, DC would sit up and listen for a change. But fast! You can believe that!
Mr. Barnhart, if you and your well-intentioned but ineffectual friends really want to end the war and regain control of America's heartland, step up to the plate and start a new liberal NRA-type gun-owners group for leftwing liberal Democrats and Independents.
Mark my words all you well-meaning polite PC leftwing Democrats, you wanna REALLY get Bush out of office?, ...then start a liberal NRA-style pro-gun pro-meat pro-American manufacturing foundation! Organize free outdoor pro-gun pro-meat public shooting events & BBQ's. Set up public shooting ranges & BBQ pits to teach gun & grill safety. Seek the support of the beef and pork industies. Seek the support of American manufacturing and workers. Then ditch the "We Shall Overcome" jive and get yourself a guitar-slinging gonzo rockstar maniac in black leather pants with a liberal pro-gun agenda and an ear-splitting mega-decibal sound system and has slept with both Pamela Anderson and Courtney Love to counter Ted Nugent's God,Guns&Guitars juggernaut. And free stickers! Lots and lots of free stickers with catchy pro-gun pro-meat liberal slogans...and free mp3 tunes for download from your new website ....armedbbqeatingvoters.com
Son, you pull that off and you'll have Bush, Cheney and even Walmart running for the hills like whipped egg-sucking mongrel dogs!!!
But the sad truth is that most of those above mentioned protesters are more likely to own a bong and a pound of semi-firm tofu than they are to become registered gun-owning voters. And as much as it pains me to realize it, Mr. Barnhart's well-meaning intentions are likely to have as much real effect on the situation as words scrawled in feces in a urinal stall in one of those seedy out-of-the-way public restrooms that deviants, pedophiles and sodomizers like to frequent.
Might I suggest the first bumpersticker?
"GUNS,GUITARS & BBQ'ed TOFU! - GET SOME!!!"
Deo Vindice,
Homer S. Thompson
Aug 18, '05
I'm sure it was all very pleasant, moving and polite in a suburban liberal whitebread PC drama-queen kinda way when Mr. Barnhart and his 300 friends held candles and sang "We Shall Overcome".
However, I would like to remimd them all that people waving signs and singing Bob Dylan songs off-key didn't end the Vietnam war. That's a romantic 60's notion but far from factual and accurate. Do you think GW gives to yanks of a nag's ass about protesters?
And if you think either Dubya or the corrupt joke that the Democratic Party has become care about 300 candle-wavers, then I'd wager you've been huffin' crack. Sheehan is pimping for www.moveon.org and the Bush regime are humpin' their agenda. The media has become a harlot without any standards whatever and both sides are regular customers.
Statistically, if all the people that liked to stand in the street waving protest signs and singing "Kum-By-Yah" actually went out and registered to vote and actually voted and then went and bought legally registered guns so that they weren't just voters but were ARMED REGISTERED VOTERS you can bet your ass that the pimps, skeezers and greedheads that run Washington, DC would sit up and listen for a change. But fast! You can believe that!
Mr. Barnhart, if you and your well-intentioned but ineffectual friends really want to end the war and regain control of America's heartland, step up to the plate and start a new liberal NRA-type gun-owners group for leftwing liberal Democrats and Independents.
Mark my words all you well-meaning polite PC leftwing Democrats, you wanna REALLY get Bush out of office?, ...then start a liberal NRA-style pro-gun pro-meat pro-American manufacturing foundation! Organize free outdoor pro-gun pro-meat public shooting events & BBQ's. Set up public shooting ranges & BBQ pits to teach gun & grill safety. Seek the support of the beef and pork industies. Seek the support of American manufacturing and workers. Then ditch the "We Shall Overcome" jive and get yourself a guitar-slinging gonzo rockstar maniac in black leather pants with a liberal pro-gun agenda and an ear-splitting mega-decibal sound system and has slept with both Pamela Anderson and Courtney Love to counter Ted Nugent's God,Guns&Guitars juggernaut. And free stickers! Lots and lots of free stickers with catchy pro-gun pro-meat liberal slogans...and free mp3 tunes for download from your new website ....armedbbqeatingvoters.com
Son, you pull that off and you'll have Bush, Cheney and even Walmart running for the hills like whipped egg-sucking mongrel dogs!!!
But the sad truth is that most of those above mentioned protesters are more likely to own a bong and a pound of semi-firm tofu than they are to become registered gun-owning voters. And as much as it pains me to realize it, Mr. Barnhart's well-meaning intentions are likely to have as much real effect on the situation as words scrawled in feces in a urinal stall in one of those seedy out-of-the-way public restrooms that deviants, pedophiles and sodomizers like to frequent.
Might I suggest the first bumpersticker?
"GUNS,GUITARS & BBQ'ed TOFU! - GET SOME!!!"
Deo Vindice,
Homer S. Thompson
Aug 18, '05
1+ for what Homer said regarding the party to defeat Bush & co.
Aug 18, '05
and there are ways to do that without capitulating to the insurgents.
and just what is that way? He and Cindy and the ant-war crowd are advocating for the US to admit defeat and go home but they won't say that. They give us the nebulous sentences like the one above and think that's enough. And the reason they do is that they are unwilling to admit that's what they are in fact advocating...admission of defeat.
Which is fine... I can live with a defeat. I want our soldiers to come home too. Today. Right now. But stop telling me that it isn't an admission of defeat and won't be seen as such by Bin Laden, Sunnis, et. al. It will be seen as a victory for them and a defeat for America, plain and simple.
The Democrats need to stop hiding behind a mother's pain and stand up on their own. But they won't because they don't want to be seen as advocates for the defeat of Pax Americana.
I am not a democrat (nor a republican). I don't want Pax Americana. But I don't need Cindy Sheehan to say it for me.
3:45 p.m.
Aug 18, '05
I don't see us leaving Iraq as a defeat. Many who supported the war did so because they supported the removal of Saddam and his regime. That's complete. The war is over-- it ended months and months ago.
Now all we have is one country occupying another.
What needs to happen is we need to be removed as the "United States military occupying Iraq". Peacekeeping organizations then should move in to help the people of Iraq continue to rebuild their country, give them advice on setting up their government, etc. It would be really good to get other Middle East nations involved in this-- you can't have everyone coming from westernized countries as we're from completely different cultures.
That is quite different than what we have now-- we're in there making deadlines, setting how things should be done, picking who will lead, etc. That's occupying a country and you're going to get backlash.
The stage that Iraq is in now can't be handled by the military. As long as the military is there, people will see their country as occupied and react accordingly.
Sure, many of us dislike Bush. But what would we do if another country came in, removed him, and then made us follow their rules, guidelines, etc. for rebuilding our government/country?
Aug 18, '05
Back to the basics. As George Galloway said, we went to war on a pack of lies and more than 70% of American people were gullible enough to fall for the con job that anyone with just street smarts could have seen through. And almost 80% of US senators either knowingly supported the lies that were being told or - like Hillary and Kerry - checked the polls and went with the majority for their own political viability. Last poll indicates over 40% either can't see through the BS or can't bring themselves to admitting they were wrong in supporting this war - the one based on a pack of lies. Anyone still believing in this war, check the yellow pages for your nearest recruiting office. The military is hurting for recruits and being dumb is no problem when it comes to enlisting.
Aug 19, '05
JJ- Hey, I am with you on the WMD thing, but remember, it wasnt Bush alone who thought Saddam was developing them. He didnt just pull it out of his hat one day. And there is still a chance Saddam moved them to Syria. (albeit a pretty remote one) I also think removing Saddam & his regime was the right thing to do.
But I think the "cut and run" strategy these people want is wrong as well. We have to finish what we started, or our soldiers will have died for nothing.
Homer S- Well said! I like your thinking. Except for the tofu thing, I cant eat that crap. ;-)
Aug 19, '05
Dear Jon,
Don't feel bad, I have an aversion to the beancurd myself. Well, unless it's fryed in enough bacon grease that is. (grin)
I know my post had a comical element, but I really honestly and sincerely feel that the Democratic Party has lost it's soul and the only way to defeat the Red State monster is to level the playing field a bit. As both a "social liberal/fiscal conservative" and a lifelong NRA member, I know how fiercely the NRA stumped for the Bush/Cheney ticket and how relentless they were at it. It galls me to no end that a portion of my NRA dues are paying for it, but I staunchly advocate the premise/purpose of the NRA as much as I have begun to abhor and find increasingly distastefull the degree to which the NRA has gotten in bed with the Republican Party. I also hold the Democrats equally to blame because if they had not gone in the other direction so heavily in their anti-gun zeal - that only takes guns away from honest people and buts them in the hands of crimminals - then all those Heartland red states would not have swung so heavy to the Right.
The Left needs to wake up, smell the coffe and embrace the gun! If it was good enough for George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson ...it damn well should be good enough for them!
Put down that protest sign and pick up a legally registerd revolver!!!
Buy a gun for peace today! What a concept: Gunowners For Peace!
Locked & loaded,
Homer S. Thompson
Aug 19, '05
I gotta admit Homer got me to thinking about guns again, and he made a good point, though as someone who has handled hunting rifles and small firearms, I might not be on the same page as he is. My feeling is that the fewer guns we have loose in the world, the better off we will be.
And so, if you believe in gun control, my suggestion is this: go buy some guns, learn how to use them. Buy rifles, handguns, some automatic weapons. Get really good at the firing range. Then go find out where the local lobbyists for the NRA live (could this be Mark Nelson or John DiLorenzo?). Cruise by, stitch a nice NRA pattern in the side of their house, or on their SUV. Shoot the family dog. Take the same game to some waffling legislators. No, don't kill anyone on purpose, just scare them a bit. Fight firepower with firepower.
Aug 20, '05
Dear Gil,
In the words of the late author Hunter S. Thompson, who's ashes will be blasted from a 153' ft tall cannon shaped like a peyote-clenching gonzo fist at sunset tonight high atop the Rockies at Owl Farm in Woody Creek, Colorado;
"I hate to advocate alcohol, drugs or violence, but they're always worked for me!"
And Gil, ...if those voices tell you to stay home from work and clean the guns again, ...don't listen to them, just put a John Lee Hooker CD on the stereo, turn it up loud and keep on keepin' on! (grin)
Mahalo,
Homer