We are closing in on 2,000 names! The petition advances. Signatures are piling up at a quickening pace. The comments of the signers give clear evidence that this issue is reaching a remarkably broad spectrum of folks on the political continuum. The reason for its wide appeal is that it is a simple plea for fairness. It has stuck a note with every one. Here are some of my favorite comments that people have left with their signatures:
Noga Emanuel, Canada, who looks to me like a fairly moderate conservative, quotes Benjamin Franklin, “Any opinion that cannot be amended by the introduction of new facts is not an opinion but a prejudice.”
Christine Beaumont, clearly a bit more aware of the culture war, writes, “We all need to stop supporting Muslim terrorists, because of the dangers that they pose to Europe.”
Sharon Pinsley of Jaffa, Israel, who is a classic liberal, with what appears to be a strong multicultural bias, still finds the clarity to opine, “I heartily concur with the wording of this petition. As a Jaffa Israeli, I have long worked for equal rights of all citizens of Israel, for the improvement of the plight of Arabic youth, and striving to raise the fund to found a Jewish/Arabic dance company- proof of the dream of coexistence through this universal language.”
Rabbi Tuvia Bolton of Kfar Chabad, Israel “The truth will benefit the entire world, lies will destroy the liars.”
Sal Odierno speaks from a profound but simple common sense, “The Israelis could have killed hundreds, who were within spitting distance, but they didn't. It makes no sense for them to have shot at, much less killed, Muhammad al Durah.”
Mr & Mrs. Scott Romano of Los Angeles, CA The media must STOP manipulating people by spinning, twisting and ignoring the news. Tell the truth. THE WHOLE TRUTH. It's not your job to protect or indict people. Just tell the whole truth. The truth shall set you free.
And my Favorite:
Fatima Sayeed, Michigan “As a Muslim woman, the truth about lies and the hijacking of my religion must be exposed if we are to have peace. Hiding the tapes only makes the whole situation look worse.”
This is clearly a petition for an idea that reaches across many of the barriers that ordinarily separate us into political ghettos so, if you have hesitated to forward it to your nutty Aunt Millicent or your angry Uncle Fred because you don’t know how they will react, hesitate no longer! This on appears to be a unifier- not a divider. Get the word out!
Forward it to all your crazy and diverse friends, family and aquaintances!
3 comments:
Nice, Yaacov. This is heartening. Thanks.
Every September, I recall that is more than half a century (62 years) since I landed at Nagasaki with the 2nd Marine Division in the original occupation of Japan following World War II. This time every year, I have watched and listened to the light-hearted "peaceniks" and their light-headed symbolism-without-substance of ringing bells, flying pigeons, floating candles, and sonorous chanting and I recall again that "Peace is not a cause - it is an effect."
In July, 1945, my fellow 8th RCT Marines [I was a BARman] and I returned to Saipan following the successful conclusion of the Battle of Okinawa. We were issued new equipment and replacements joined each outfit in preparation for our coming amphibious assault on the home islands of Japan.
B-29 bombing had leveled the major cities of Japan, including Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, Yokosuka, and Tokyo.
We were informed we would land three Marine divisions and six Army divisions, perhaps abreast, with large reserves following us in. It was estimated that it would cost half a million casualties to subdue the Japanese homeland.
In August, the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima but the Japanese government refused to surrender. Three days later a second A-bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. The Imperial Japanese government finally surrendered.
Following the 1941 sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese admiral said, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant..." Indeed, they had. Not surprisingly, the atomic bomb was produced by a free people functioning in a free environment. Not surprisingly because the creative process is a natural human choice-making process and inventiveness occurs most readily where choice-making opportunities abound. America!
Tamper with a giant, indeed! Tyrants, beware: Free men are nature's pit bulls of Liberty! The Japanese learned the hard way what tyrants of any generation should know: Never start a war with a free people - you never know what they may invent!
As a newly assigned member of a U.S. Marine intelligence section, I had a unique opportunity to visit many major cities of Japan, including Tokyo and Hiroshima, within weeks of their destruction. For a full year I observed the beaches, weapons, and troops we would have assaulted had the A-bombs not been dropped. Yes, it would have been very destructive for all, but especially for the people of Japan.
When we landed in Japan, for what came to be the finest and most humane occupation of a defeated enemy in recorded history, it was with great appreciation, thanksgiving, and praise for the atomic bomb team, including the aircrew of the Enola Gay. A half million American homes had been spared the Gold Star flag, including, I'm sure, my own.
Whenever I hear the apologists expressing guilt and shame for A-bombing and ending the war Japan had started (they ignore the cause-effect relation between Pearl Harbor and Nagasaki), I have noted that neither the effete critics nor the puff-adder politicians are among us in the assault landing-craft or the stinking rice paddies of their suggested alternative, "conventional" warfare. Stammering reluctance is obvious and continuous, but they do love to pontificate about the Rights that others, and the Bomb, have bought and preserved for them.
The vanities of ignorance and camouflaged cowardice abound as license for the assertion of virtuous "rights" purchased by the blood of others - those others who have borne the burden and physical expense of Rights whining apologists so casually and self-righteously claim.
At best, these fakers manifest a profound and cryptic ignorance of causal relations, myopic perception, and dull I.Q. At worst, there is a word and description in The Constitution defining those who love the enemy more than they love their own countrymen and their own posterity. Every Yankee Doodle Dandy knows what that word is.
In 1945, America was the only nation in the world with the Bomb and it behaved responsibly and respectfully. It remained so until two among us betrayed it to the Kremlin. Still, this American weapon system has been the prime deterrent to earth's latest model world- tyranny: Seventy years of Soviet collectivist definition, coercion, and domination of individual human beings.
The message is this: Trust Freedom. Remember, tyrants never learn. The restriction of Freedom is the limitation of human choice, and choice is the fulcrum-point of the creative process in human affairs. As earth's choicemaker, it is our human identity on nature's beautiful blue planet and the natural premise of man's free institutions, environments, and respectful relations with one another. Made in the image of our Creator, free men choose, create, and progress - or die.
Free men should not fear the moon-god-crowd oppressor nor choose any of his ways. Recall with a confident Job and a victorious David, "Know ye not that you are in league with the stones of the field?"
Semper Fidelis
Jim Baxter
Sgt. USMC
WW II and Korean War
Job 5:23 Proverbs 3:31 I Samuel 17:40
http://www.choicemaker.net/
Yaacov,
Apparently the petition has succeeded:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=27122_Court_Orders_France_2_to_Hand_Over_Al-Dura_Tapes&only
Eric.
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