America Between Iraq and a Hard Place

0 Comments | Insight on the News, April 27, 2004

Byline: Helen Lee, INSIGHT

America Between Iraq and a Hard Place

Rush Limbaugh, The Excellence in Broadcasting Network, Southern Florida, www.RushLimbaugh.com

We keep hearing every half-hour that 12 Marines were killed, and I want to emphasize that it's one group of 12 Marines. It's not 12 every half-hour, as the breaking-news icons and graphics would have you believe.

Yes, we are taking casualties. It is a war. But we've got a snail-darter crowd out there throwing out their arms in disgust and dismay. These are the people that can't stand for a kangaroo rat to be run over, and they're carrying the day.

Alan Nathan, Radio America Network, Washington, www.radioamerica.org/ Program2003/battleline.htm

According to Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez [the top general in Iraq], anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has lower ties with the Sunni insurgents who have been steadfastly attempting to destabilize America's efforts for peace in that region. The irony of this is unfathomable in that before the arrival of the U.S. forces, it was the Shiites who were subjected to wholesale slaughter and torture courtesy of the Sunni regime of Saddam Hussein. Clearly, our propaganda machine is in need of a repair-shop visit. At some point soon, the following must be said to these people: Look idiots, here's the deal. You get to do whatever you want with your lives providing you reciprocate that same courtesy to others. The former is contingent upon the latter, schmucks.

Marriage Under Siege At Home and Abroad

Jesse Lee Peterson, Information Radio Network, Los Angeles, www.bondinfo.org

Why is Coretta Scott King so intent on destroying her husband's dream? At a recent speech, Dr. King's widow denounced the proposed constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage, calling it a "civil-rights issue" and any attempt to limit it "gay bashing."

Dr. King believed that we should be judged by our character, yet his wife suggests we should make no such judgments. Mrs. King is already reportedly selling the King estate piece by piece. Now she is selling out her husband's moral legacy.

Fortunately, most blacks reject Coretta Scott King's views on homosexual marriage, proving Dr. King's dream is not yet dead.

Mason Weaver, American Freedom Network, Johnstown, Colo., www.masonweaver.com

We all wonder if there is really an attack on marriage or if we are just surrendering to madness. We now have laws in this world that legalize sex between humans and animals. ... And now we have legalized marriage between a live person and a dead person.

I do not mean a live person and a person in a coma. No, I mean a marriage between a live person and one that has been dead for months.

There is a story out of France that a woman who was engaged to a policeman sought and won permission from the French president to marry her fiance after he was killed back in September 2002!

Marriage is no longer for the children, family or community. Marriage is now being used for therapy. Marriage has become a selfish act to benefit our own feelings and needs.

According to French law, marrying a dead person is very legal if you follow some simple rules. Included in the French law is a requirement to get the permission from the French president. If you stand for anything, anything will do.

'I Pledge a Grievance ... '

Laurie Morrow, True North Radio, Waterbury, Vt., www.TrueNorthRadio.com

Most people don't realize how significant it is that the origins of the current Pledge of Allegiance "under God" issue lie in a custody battle not in cool reflections over the subtleties of constitutional law. Michael Newdow's goal is to score points in a nasty custody battle over his daughter, by creating a problem where there was none, with seeming disregard for the damage to his child or his country.

Recognizing this controversy's "root cause" as a selfish salvo in a custody battle makes one wonder whether Newdow's allies in law, politics and the media are similarly using this issue mainly to score career points, without regard for the child or the nation that may be damaged in the furtherance of their personal agendas.

Helen Lee is an associate reporter for Insight magazine.