Do Not Forget

[drazz]

"DO NOT FORGET"

I sat in a movie theater watching "Schindler's List," asked myself, "Why didn't the Jews fight back?"

Now I know why.

I sat in a movie theater, watching "Pearl Harbor" and asked myself, "Why weren't we prepared?"

Now I know why.

Civilized people cannot fathom, much less predict, the actions of evil people.

On September 11, dozens of capable airplane passengers allowed themselves to be overpowered by a handful of poorly armed terrorists because they did not comprehend the depth of hatred that motivated their captors.

On September 11, thousands of innocent people were murdered because too many Americans naively reject the reality that some nations are dedicated to the dominance of others. Many political pundits, pacifists and media personnel want us to forget the carnage. They say we must focus on the bravery of the rescuers and ignore the cowardice of the killers. They implore us to understand the motivation of the perpetrators. Major television stations have announced they will assist the healing process by not replaying devastating footage of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers.

I will not be manipulated.

I will not pretend to understand.

I will not forget.

I will not forget the liberal media who abused freedom of the press to kick our country when it was vulnerable and hurting.

I will not forget that CBS anchor Dan Rather preceded President Bush's address to the nation with the snide remark, "No matter how you feel about him, he is still our president."

I will not forget that ABC TV anchor Peter Jennings questioned President Bush's motives for not returning immediately to Washington, DC and commented, "We're all pretty skeptical and cynical about Washington."

And I will not forget that ABC's Mark Halperin warned if reporters weren't informed of every little detail of this war, they aren't "likely -- nor should they be expected -- to show deference."

I will not isolate myself from my fellow Americans by pretending an attack on the USS Cole in Yemen was not an attack on the United States of America.

I will not forget the Clinton administration equipped Islamic terrorists and their supporters with the world's most sophisticated telecommunications equipment and encryption technology, thereby compromising America's ability to trace terrorist radio, cell phone, land lines, faxes and modem communications.

I will not be appeased with pointless, quick retaliatory strikes like those perfected by the previous administration.

I will not be comforted by "feel-good, do nothing" regulations like the silly "Have your bags been under your control?" question at the airport.

I will not be influenced by so called,"antiwar demonstrators" who exploit the right of expression to chant anti-American obscenities.

I will not forget the moral victory handed the North Vietnamese by American war protesters who reviled and spat upon the returning soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines.

I will not be softened by the wishful thinking of pacifists who chose reassurance over reality.

I will embrace the wise words of Prime Minister Tony Blair who told Labor Party conference, "They have no moral inhibition on the slaughter of the innocent. If they could have murdered not 7,000 but 70,000, does anyone doubt they would have done so and rejoiced in it?

There is no compromise possible with such people, no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: defeat it or be defeated by it. And defeat it we must!"

I will force myself to:


-hear the weeping
-feel the helplessness
-imagine the terror
-sense the panic
-smell the burning flesh
- experience the loss
- remember the hatred.

I sat in a movie theater, watching "Private Ryan" and asked myself, "Where did they find the courage?"

Now I know.

We have no choice. Living without liberty is not living.

-- Ed Evans, MGySgt., USMC (Ret.)
Not as lean, Not as mean, But still a Marine.

[Devilman]

http://www.wtfrank.com/icetribute.jpg

[PencilVillian]

Cool.

[muthmaniac]

Drazz, are you the author of this "letter"? If not, I would think that you ought to quote where you got it from.

Just a thought, and that's all that I'll say about this.

-John

[drazz]

damn...did you read the name at the bottom dude....ED EVANS....why cant some of you just read the damn post ...stupid ass

[shinolahead]

*edited out my previous sarcasm*

"stupid ass"?
Is there maybe a way to correct him without resorting to namecalling and put downs?

[drazz]

well...he was close to being called a peckerhead....but he didnt quite make it....close...but not close enough...maybe with his next post he will get lucky...:D

[penciljack]

I think you're going to want to shape up really quick, Drazz. There's no reason to be insulting folks like this. Especially since it basically ruins the poigniancy of what you posted to begin with.

[legend of 8]

I think I understand where Drazz is coming from, if only a little bit. This is a rant in the extreme, I will admit. But, some things are better left unsaid. There is a certain way things MUST be done, even if we don't understand it. Yes, we knew, but, on the same token, we also knew about many others, and they were merely pranks. We cannot, repeat CANNOT jump up at every single little threat. That is why people prank: they wanna laugh at us looking for something that isn't there. And the threat that they got was pretty outstanding. Think, would you have thought that they would actually been able to blow up the towers? I didn't.

So, in all fairness, we must accept and adhere to certain things. Drazz, I sincerely hope that you have calmed down now.

Devilman, that is a great pic. You may be snide, you may be mean, but you also know when to say (so to speak) the right thing.




And, PJ? Every time I look at your avatar, I see the bulldog, and then, it vanishes. Did you ever get that full pic up? (laughs) Sorry, but I just had to lighten the mood a little. ;)

[shinolahead]

I'm in the military. I will be taking an oath this Friday to re-enlist for another 5 years. It wasn't an easy decision.

There are 2 factors that go into my decision - my family and my belief in freedom.

I will not be happy on Friday. I am re-enlisting with a heavy heart. I continue my service out of a sense of necessity. I'm not filled with rightousness, nor do I have a need for revenge or a desire to show anyone the might of America. I feel it is necessary to take action against those that take action against freedom.




While I agree with alot of the points made in that speech, I find the judgment, stereotytping and loaded jargon contained in that speech to be counteractive to any kind of peace - and most of the negativity is aimed at americans. I don't find it hard to imagine similar propoganda being used to recrute those that would fight against us.
Do you honestly believe that there's a whole hoard of "evil doers"? An army of heartless demons fighting against us righteous angels?
I find it much more likely that there are a handfull of powerfull and influential ringleaders recruiting on army of people desperate for answers. I'll bet that they feel just as justified as we do.

Does this mean I condone their actions? No - not one bit. If called, I will cary a gun against them.
But because they threaten the lives and freedom of my family, of liberals and conservatives and dumbasses and heroes and people who like Jerry Springer and those who watch the Pet Psychic and those who still by Leifeld comics and those that think John Devilman is a sexy sumbitch.
I think to go into this with any sense of rightousness or superiority will only create more divisions.

I'm sure people disagree with this and that's fine. Please keep it civil.

[MC Fumunda]

Originally posted by drazz
damn...did you read the name at the bottom dude....ED EVANS....why cant some of you just read the damn post ...stupid ass

there's a good way to introduce yourself to a new community. :mad:

how was i s'posed to know ED EVANS wasn't you??


"stupid ass" :rolleyes:

[muthmaniac]

Oh, say can you see (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0904-02.htm), by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly (http://www.msnbc.com/news/805847.asp?0cl=c3&cp1=1) we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight (http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0909-02.htm),
O'er the ramparts we watched (http://www.sundayherald.com/27572), were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2002/09/06/notes090602.DTL) red glare, the bombs (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2116942.stm) bursting in air,
Gave proof (http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0910-04.htm) through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0911-01.htm) yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? (http://www.thedailycamera.com/bdc/opinion_columnists/article/0,1713,BDC_2490_1366797,00.html)

Happy Patriot Day...

-John

[drazz]

first off....every time i post something here...penciljack..you always have some smart ass remark.seems like if its your opinion..it ok..but if its anyone elses...they are wrong.
muthmaniac...all i wanted was for the post to be read...nothing else...but like most people...you had to try and make yourself bigger than anyone else and try and shoot something good down.damnit...just red the post...how hard can it be?oh yeah...did you think devilman made the snowman?or did you use your brain and realize it was a pic he found?he didnt give credit to the sculptor did he?at least i have the dudes name that wrote my post at the end..go figure.
legend of 8..i was never in an uproar....maybe you didnt get it when i used the :D sarcasm man...sarcasm...sheesh :D
shinolahead...if you cant give yourself to this country and fight for it....please for gods sake...dont relist....the military is bad enough since the clinton administration....we dont need someone like you serving the country.i feel like from your post...that if you didnt feel like our government was sending you into a country to fight...and you didnt agree...you would do what alof of people did in the vietnam war....run to canada.and probably be one of the first to spit on the ones who went.i say dont re-enlist....make room for a real american that will fight for the USA.
mc fumunda....how didnt you know its wasnt me..one word...profile.my name on my profile is vince....the author is ed....ummm....damn genius you are!:D
now....this is really sad...here is a decent post i put up...or so i thought....but look what it has turned into...no wonder we cant get along and other countries are chipping away at us.

[Chris Piers]

So... because you treat other members like crap, there's some correlation hidden within regarding world peace? Because your comments, especially the ones you directed at shinola are just completely asinine.

[MC Fumunda]

oh, sorry i didn't think to check your profile.


happy birthday.

[Ra Havok]

It's a good thing muthmaniac posted what he did. Never black or white, folks, only shades of gray. Not that I want to diminish the tragedy that took place a year ago...



Drazz, -if I haven't said it before : Welcome to PJ- however, if you keep that attitude up I *think* the PJ administration will do something about it.

[penciljack]

first off....every time i post something here...penciljack..you always have some smart ass remark.seems like if its your opinion..it ok..but if its anyone elses...they are wrong.
I don't censor anybody's opinions. And I happen to find a lot right with your initial post, and disagree with a lot of those who want to blame America for everything. For example, I disagree heartily with a lot of Muth's post. That Web site itself is dubious.

But I won't condone you acting like an ass towards others. Since you were so "nice" I'll just lay it out for you - clean up the attitude and lose the insults or ship out. Clear enough for you?

[drazz]

thanks mc..helluva day for a b-day huh?last year was worse...

pj...the track runs both ways....i give respect when its given to me...he didnt have to act like an ass towards me...all he needed to do was read the post.....the whole thing...not skip around like i think he did.....like i told mc....if you pull my profile...he could have seen that ed wasnt me...i guess i should have put up in big letters .....THIS WASNT WROTE BY ME....THIS ISNT ME....
but i guess some where i thought maybe everyone kinda knew it wasnt wrote by me..my bad i guess.
so for those who dont know...i didnt write the post...it was ed evans....
and now...without further interruptions.........BACK TO THE POST>>>>>>>>
:D

[muthmaniac]

All I said was that you should quote where you got the message from if you weren't the author...Which you aren't and you still haven't said where you got it from.

As a matter of fact, I DID read the entire thing, and I DID look at your profile before I posted. I just wanted to know, where the message came from. That was all...I stated that I wasn't going to comment on the content of the letter, which in itself was enough of a comment I guess.

Good luck to you.

-John

[Steampunk]

Originally posted by drazz

shinolahead...if you cant give yourself to this country and fight for it....please for gods sake...dont relist....the military is bad enough since the clinton administration....we dont need someone like you serving the country.i feel like from your post...that if you didnt feel like our government was sending you into a country to fight...and you didnt agree...you would do what alof of people did in the vietnam war....run to canada.and probably be one of the first to spit on the ones who went.i say dont re-enlist....make room for a real american that will fight for the USA.


well, on behalf of canada, we'd be glad to have matt up here...but i think you should count yourself lucky that he's doing it at all, looking after YOUR ass, whether he agrees with politics or not...

i think muth's original comment was fine, the *least* you could have done was throw some quotations marks around it ;) why would you think we'd want to click on your profile to check if your name was ed? we're all lazy people, obviously teh case with your lack of including quotations marks ;)

[shinolahead]

Originally posted by drazz
shinolahead...if you cant give yourself to this country and fight for it....please for gods sake...dont relist....the military is bad enough since the clinton administration....we dont need someone like you serving the country.i feel like from your post...that if you didnt feel like our government was sending you into a country to fight...and you didnt agree...you would do what alof of people did in the vietnam war....run to canada.and probably be one of the first to spit on the ones who went.i say dont re-enlist....make room for a real american that will fight for the USA.


Please - show me were I said that I was doing anything BUT giving myself to my country or resolving myself to fight for it.
I'm just disgusted with self-rightousness and propoganda.
I didn't realize you held such things as sacred. My apologies.

[drazz]

got it from ed evans....no website...just ed.
and i dont need him to look after me...my uncle who served in the navy and was at the bombing of pearl harbor....my uncles who served in the air force in vietnam and was spit upon when they came back..and my dad...who served in the national guard during vietnam....my brother in law....who served in the gulf war....i think i have enough of real americans who fought for this country taking care of "my" ass...thank you very much.:)

[HMG]

This is a day for mourning not bitching... Shut up and show some respect. At least till the twelth.

[shinolahead]

Let me say that the chances that I would be called to actually carry a gun and fight are slim. There is a very real chance that I could be called to hostile territory to perform my job, but I would more than likely be some distance from frontline combat.
This didn't make my decision any easier but I wanted it known that, while service to your country might be commendable, some soldiers are carrying a greater burden than others.

[GuardianOdin]

HMG I would have to agree with you.

[Devilman]

Originally posted by drazz
did you think devilman made the snowman?or did you use your brain and realize it was a pic he found?he didnt give credit to the sculptor did he?



I dunno about that. DId i SAY I didn't sculpt it? I don't know if you've had the majestic opportunity to witness some of my divine art, but it is nothing less than breathtaking. Who's to say I didn't decide to build a snow-fireman? oh... yeah, probably cause there's a FREAKING LINK at the bottom of the pic. Moron.

[drazz]

moron?bite me!
thanks for the respect....i was just using that as an example....and i have seen your art...it bites to.