A soldier's response to being called part of a cult

This was the letter I read on the show from Major Joe DeCree in response to Jacqueitch's blog post on Wednesday of this past week. I hope it means something to you. It did to me. GS

I was not able to listen to the guest spot that he responded to but I heard your reading of his blog and I then read his post to make sure that I got it right. I read his blog comments and I am sitting at my desk shaking.

I at first got angry, of course. Such talk is outlandish and even dangerous. How dare that man who clearly aspires to little make light of a brave Navy SEAL who yesterday was awarded a posthumous medal of honor when he blew himself up to save his buddies.

Cultists do not die for their fellows. They certainly are not concerned with saving their fellows. How dare Jacque Itch diminish that man. I find such a man who would say those things as a man without honor. It's one thing to think of something in a moment of anger it is quite another to take the time to craft a lengthy message which is delivered anonymously and in cowardly fashion on a blog read by hundreds. Jacque Itch is such a man it would seem.

Jacque Itch, if you are out there you are a man without honor and I hope never to make your acquaintance. You cannot apologize enough for your statements. I can give nothing else you say credence perhaps in perpetuity.

The second feeling I experienced after reading that was overwhelming despair. I made the military my life. I read the Constitution regularly because I swore an oath to uphold it. I re-read my oath of office frequently for the same reason. I missed my families birthdays. I missed my anniversary every year because I married in June and the Army is always in the field in June. I missed a few Christmases. I missed retirement parties, I do not know my brother's children because I was always gone. I missed my oldest daughter's last 3 years of high school because I was overseas for almost that entire period. The deployments nearly cost me my marriage. And , oh yeah, I got shot at -- a lot.

Why did I and thousands like me go through all of that? I did it for the Republic. I did it for my brother's children, I did it for my own children. I even did it for Jacque Itch. I did it so that we get to be what we want.

I did not care about Usama bin Laden. I knew I would never see him in the flesh so any personal attachment to that man is pointless. I did it for my men who under 8 years of the Clinton's went from a proud fighting force to buying the diesel fuel for military vehicles with their own money so we could make training exercises. Doesn't sound much like a cultist to me.

But today Jacque Itch set me straight. I spent 22 years being an automaton. I spent 22 years not trying to teach young men and women how to be better than what they were, but simply brainwashing more automatons. I did not defend the Republic. I instead apparently wasted my life and lived a lie. Words fail me, I cannot describe what I am feeling right now I only hope never to feel it again. Screw you, Jacque Itch.

-- Maj. Joe DeCree, US Army (Ret.)

Apologizing for slavery

There is another movement in the United States Congress to apologize for slavery in this country, that last I checked ended in the 1860’s .

Why? Because politically words are a lot better than actions and makes those who sponsor such divisive, yes, I said divisive bills, feel a little more caring than those who are already past that trivial moment. Check me if I’m wrong on this, but shouldn’t an apology be made to those who have been wronged? If there are any slaves yet today, I would hope that our government would apologize to them. Problem is , there are not. Have you noticed anyone lately spurring this conversation by suggesting that slavery was a darn good thing, and heck Goober, why don’t we re-instate it. Haven’t heard it either.

Was there a time we apologized to those of color we had wronged?Hmm. Let’s check and see if that apology came in the form of action which in my book, was much more powerful. How about if we start with the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves while in the midst of a civil war fought at least in part over the rightness or wrongness of slavery. A big reparation was paid in terms of lives spent there.

Move ahead to the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments put together specifically to grant rights denied. In 1964, the U.S. Congress passed a Civil Rights Bill which made sure we enforced the application of those rights, and Brown vs. the Board of Education in the 1950’s said “separate but equal” would not go in this country. Does that not constitute an apology through continued and sustained action?

If there is an apology owed, it should be from a politically- motivated Congress which continues to divide while the rest of us want to unify. I’m Gary Sutton.

Choose: Underdog or favorite

The never-ending campaign continues, and while it's the gift that keeps on giving for us all, finding angles that keep it fresh are, well, exhausting!

Anyway, I thought that I would toss it your way in another form of a question that can apply to each of us as well as the candidates:

Would you rather be the slight favorite or the slight underdog?

Whether it's you in a competitive situation, or your observations on the present race for presidential nominations, have some fun. GS