NJ Today

Stark Raving Mad

I would like to point out, for all those feeble minded politicians in Washington who are prancing and complaining about Congressman Pete Stark's remarks, that the courageous men and women of our armed forces are putting their lives on the line for our freedom to make statements that are not pleasant and welcome by everyone.

That's the right to free speech and it is important because if not for outrageous remarks, nobody would have rebelled against a king in 1775. You don't need to fight for the right to say, "Have a nice day," but sometimes you do with comments that end with the phrase, "and the horse you rode in on."


Hopefully you are sitting, because this is exactly what Congressman Stark said: "You don't have money to fund the war or children but you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq, to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."

Now let's examine the statement.

"You don't have money to fund the war or children." With deficits in the range of $500 billion, the federal government is spending far more than it has. This would then be right on the mark.

Part two is: "you're going to spend it, to blow up innocent people" -- and again, that is correct. Many of the war casualties are not terrorists or even combatants. Two million people have been displaced and starvation is common in war zones.

I have said before that George Bush is a murderer and a thief and I stand by that so I am going to have to concede the congressman is 100 percent correct on this statement as well.

Part three: "if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq" is obviously related to the notion of children's health care. By his veto of the SCHIP legislation, President Bush is throwing sick American children out into the street. Clearly some of those kids may die from illness or injury because their families lack funds to pay for medical care.

I suppose there will still be plenty of young Americans to send off to war, even though there appears to be no end in sight to Bush's folly in the middle east. Not necessarily on the money, but fair enough in the poetic realm of legislative debate.

Part four: "to get their heads blown off..." Congressman Stark might be reminded that some of the dead and wounded soldiers lost legs, arms, parts of their torso and so on. It's not just heads that get blown off in war, but despite being imprecise this remains accurate as a descriptive phrase meaning 'to be killed.'

President Bush is not just a murderer of Arabs, but many American military personnel have lost their good reason.

Finally, "for the president's amusement." That's about as good a reason for this war in Iraq as I have heard so far. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq since President Bush's father's administration ended the Reagan-era policy of supplying such devices to Saddam Hussein. They don't like to hear it, but it is the truth. Iraq has nothing to do with al Qaeda or 9-11 and efforts to connect them were lies propagated to get us into this war. I could make a long list, but there was no legitimate provocation for this war.

Until President Bush stops lying, I am going to have to give credence to suggestions that the war is for his amusement or for oil or for any number of things.

Anybody in the military should feel insulted that the war is for President Bush's amusement, but not merely because someone acknowledges this concept.

Nancy Pelosi said Congressman Stark's remark was inappropriate, but I have to disagree.

Inappropriate would be getting control of Congress with a mandate to end the war and stop George Bush's crimes, then immediately taking impeachment 'off the table' and continuing to fund more unwarranted death and destruction.

Pelosi, drunk with power, is concerned only about the 2008 presidential election and its impact on her continued (lack of) leadership. No matter who wins the election next year, I want to see action to end this conflict now.