Give it up for CoCo county political awareness

More progressive and critical thinking from the other side of the tunnel...

Here was something I read in the Times this weekend about the crosses on the hillside on Deerhill Road in Lafayette. These crosses are meant to symbolize the fallen American soldiers that haven't made it home. The crosses have been causing quite a stir in the community, which isn't known for its political activism. The piece is also showcased online. I've presented a portion here. Check out the whole column, which was written by Andrew McGall.

War has no blinders: It strips artifice from human life. It is blood and bone, steel and sinew, comrades and death. We at home cannot afford to turn our attention from that reality. Our silence is assent. Silence dishonors the dead who cannot speak. Respect for the troops also means:

• We don't send them into meat-grinding fake wars based on lies, deception and outrageously misguided, cynical ideologies.


• We send troops in sufficient numbers to dominate an enemy whom we can identify, isolate and defeat. That's war. Any lesser situation should revert to peaceful, if tense, politics and diplomacy.


• We send them fully equipped and trained for the war at hand.


• We maintain an Army that controls its own supply line, giving no role to the war profiteers feasting like vultures in Iraq.


• We do not privatize war, we do not create a profit motive for waging and prolonging wars. War is not a no-bid payoff to our dues-paying buddies.


• We bend our whole will to bringing the troops home.


• We never stint in our care and support of those who return crippled in body or mind.

I get a little hot under the collar when I make critical statements about the war, and how people seem to instinctively link the criticism to the troops serving in Iraq. It was nice to see someone so clearly articulating the difference of being critical of an unjust Presidential administration, and respecting and supporting the men and women representing U.S. interests by putting their lives in harm's way every day of duty.