Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Memorial Day & more
The General says it better than I can. He let his Inner Frenchman write today’s Memorial Day post. Snippet:
I watched the documentary, Control Room, again last night. One of the scenes featured an Al Jazeera reporter, Hassan Ibrahim, discussing the run-up to the war with a number of Iraqi intellectuals. He told them that he did not believe that the American people would allow the war to happen. He said that we were a rational people and a people who revered justice above all else. I once thought that too. With all of our faults, I believed that we were a people who truly believed in reason, justice, and the principles of democracy, and maybe we did, but it is no longer true.
We became vengeful and bloodthirsty, striking out against the innocent and the weak to ease our groundless fears. We are now Fox News. We are a nation of Malkins, Hewitts, and Charles Johnsons, frightened of everything that is different or alien to us and reacting violently.
My America is dead. Or perhaps more accurately, The America I believed in, and the people Ibrahim thought he knew, never existed. As saddened as I am at this realization, I now understand that I must fight even harder to ensure that we do not lose our way again.
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Elsewhere in the ‘osphere . . .
I’m not quite sure what to make of Huffington Post‘s prominently featured link to a Yahoo News story on William Shatner. The headline reads: “Shatner: ‘Therapeutic [Horseback] Riding’ Can Help Middle East Peace . . .” Seems sarcastic, mocking. Look at what our silly celebs are doing now. But if you read the story, what Shatner is doing isn’t all that unreasonable:
Shatner said that placing injured people on horseback has been shown to improve their conditions. “We know that the use of a horse in their therapy takes them beyond their handicapped body, their injured body, and into another area of health,” he said.
Shatner has long been involved with “Ahead for Horses,” a Los Angeles charity that works with physically and mentally disabled children through horseback riding.
He hopes his new fund, launched with the nonprofit Jewish National Fund, will contribute to Mideast peace. He stressed that every citizen of Israel, as well as Palestinians, Jordanians and Egyptians, will be encouraged to participate.
Does anyone see anything wrong with that? Any reason for mockery? I don’t.
I promised my muse I’d write today . . . about anything she wants. I had better make good on the promise.
D.
