March 24, 2005
HEY DUDE, WHERE'S MY PROTESTS?:
Far too quiet on the homefront (Jerry Lanson, 3/25/05, CS Monitor)
It was the first day of spring, the second anniversary of the Iraq war, the fourth day of the NCAA tournament. At the liberal church I was attending near Boston this Palm Sunday, the minister mentioned the tough winter that had dumped 108 inches of snow on the area. He said not a word about the 1,524 American soldiers killed in Iraq, at last count.As I listened, a guest participant in the choir, he talked of the hope and rebirth that comes with spring and of the pleasure of watching college playoff basketball, with its teamwork, fraternity, and enthusiasm. He never did mention the war that slogs on thousands of miles away.
He wasn't the only one who seemed forgetful this anniversary weekend. Antiwar marches in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston drew thousands, but the crowds were far smaller than a year ago. Many news organizations neither bothered to announce these events in advance nor covered them in anything but the most perfunctory manner.
I can't tell whether America is in denial or despair over events in Iraq, but I suspect it's some of each.
It's over. We won. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 24, 2005 11:00 PM
That Bahston minister commenting on the Bball playoffs may have been thinking of the new head coach for the UMass Minutemen coming from - of all red-state places: Eastern Kentucky University!
Posted by: John J. Coupal at March 24, 2005 11:24 PMI can't tell whether America is in denial or despair over events in Iraq, but I suspect it's some of each.
Does this guy, like, read newspapers?
Posted by: Matt Murphy at March 24, 2005 11:25 PMIf many of the college professors at the campuses still involved in the Sweet 16 had their way, they'd be walking across the courts of the regional sites during halftime with protest banners while harranguing the fans in the stands at the audiece at home about how they're wasting their time watching sports while Iraqi prisoners continue to die at the hands of the brutal American military.
...and then the fans would yell at them to get off the court so they could see the cheerleaders' routine.
Posted by: John at March 24, 2005 11:30 PMI'm in denial and despair. I deny Iraq was a mistake or that we are losing, and I despair of the leftists ever recovering their sanity.
Posted by: jd watson at March 24, 2005 11:43 PMDenial and despair certainly describes Lanson and those who share his cretinous views.
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at March 25, 2005 12:35 AMdenial and despair describes Democrats.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at March 25, 2005 12:50 AMWith one week to go, US casualties in March are the lowest they've been since February '04.
Posted by: David Cohen at March 25, 2005 7:17 AMJohn J - Unfortunately for Travis Ford, it's a lateral move at best.
Posted by: pj at March 25, 2005 8:08 AMJust to review, the people in denial or despair are: Sadam and his relatives, friends, and hangers-on, islamofascists everywhere, Arab oligarchs and tyrants, heretical shiia, EU merchants who lost their tyrant customers, UN parasites who lost their Oil for Food host, the small bore thinkers of the Realist school, the pretentious over-reachers of the newsroom and campus, the moralist preeners, and the callow youth. Have a nice wallow, gang.
Posted by: Luciferous at March 25, 2005 10:13 AMpj: Shhsh.
This is our flyover ploy to get a trusted former Pitino player established in the belly of the beast.
Mass. will be a red state by 2008! Count on it.
Blah, blah, blah. There's no D-R-A-F-T. The yellow-stripers don't need to come up with fantasies about why and how they're against "the" war. There is no "anti-war" movement, and there will be none as long as the little darlings are left to pursue their "other priorities."
Posted by: Lou Gots at March 25, 2005 12:39 PM