BlackFive

With the latest round of Lt Governors and movie star activists getting their chops busted, I've gotten some really terrible email.  However, I'm not going to post those today.

Instead, I'll post two emails from the field (received yesterday).  We need some positive energy around here.

From Keith in Baghdad:

...I am deployed with boots and have discovered a whole new world of pissed off.  Every day I read your posts and get smarter.  Every day I read your posts and get stronger.  Thanks for your time and service.

From John in Mosul:

greetings from hell    pissed off but motivated, dedicated, educated    good to now that people care    tell you're readers...thank you   my xo says he knows you from...thank you for having my back.

I really should share everyone of these that come through - it might help if you know that you're making a difference.  I know they motivate me.  I  don't post them because, most times, they need to remain private.

First, the post gazette reports that Knoll appeared in front of television cameras outside of the funeral home during or after the funeral for Staff Sergeant Goodrich.  Follow the link to see a picture of her talking on camera.   But, she and the governor try to make it clear that she was not campaigning or seeking political points...right.

And, of course, Michelle Malkin has more including links to the acceptance of the apology and other news organizations carrying the story.  Including this from the Washington Post:

...Knoll said in her letter that she arrived too late to offer her personal condolences. That rankled Rhonda Goodrich, who said she believed Knoll came to get publicity.

"She didn't have time to be with Amy or Joe's parents, but she made time for the TV cameras," she said. "That's where I'm still a little bitter."...

Me, too.

An eight year old sends a message to Soldiers in Iraq...It's a must read.

This NY Times op-ed is really another indicator of academia's distance from main-stream American society.  Stanford History professor David M. Kennedy writes about our mercenary army.  He is as clueless as he is pompous.

The Best Army We Can Buy
By DAVID M. KENNEDY
Published: July 25, 2005

THE United States now has a mercenary army. To be sure, our soldiers are hired from within the citizenry, unlike the hated Hessians whom George III recruited to fight against the American Revolutionaries. But like those Hessians, today's volunteers sign up for some mighty dangerous work largely for wages and benefits - a compensation package that may not always be commensurate with the dangers in store, as current recruiting problems testify.
<...>
Some will find it offensive to call today's armed forces a "mercenary army," but our troops are emphatically not the kind of citizen-soldiers that we fielded two generations ago - drawn from all ranks of society without respect to background or privilege or education, and mobilized on such a scale that civilian society's deep and durable consent to the resort to arms was absolutely necessary.

Leaving questions of equity aside, it cannot be wise for a democracy to let such an important function grow so far removed from popular participation and accountability. It makes some supremely important things too easy - like dealing out death and destruction to others, and seeking military solutions on the assumption they will be swifter and more cheaply bought than what could be accomplished by the more vexatious business of diplomacy....

Okay, I'm going to violate a few language rules on this blog...so I'll put those in the Extended Section.

Hanoi Jane is planning an anti-war tour next Spring.

Actress and activist Jane Fonda says she intends to take a cross-country bus tour to call for an end to U.S. military operations in Iraq.

“I can’t go into any detail except to say that it’s going to be pretty exciting,” she said.

Fonda said her anti-war tour in March will use a bus that runs on “vegetable oil.” She will be joined by families of Iraq war veterans and her daughter...

I predict that the sales of Hanoi Jane urinal stickers will rise significantly, while sales of her book plummet.  Outside of the coasts, I don't think she'll get much attention or support.

Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss of TC Override is back in the saddle and blogged his first post since being wounded in Iraq.

Jack Kelly, columnist, veteran and all-round good guy, has the scoop today in his first column of the week and on his blog Irish Pennants.

Pennsylvania Gov. "Fast Eddie" Rendell says he plans to apologize for the faux pas his lieutenant governor committed at the funeral of Marine Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich...

More at Kelly's blog.

Update:  More at Michelle Malkin's blog.  Michelle speaks for me and for many of you here:

...This is not enough. Where the hell is Knoll to apologize publicly to the family and explain her noxious behavior?..

Update 2: Michelle Malkin receives Knoll's letter of apology to Joseph Goodrich's widow.  Here's part of it:

...As an adored member of your family and one of Pennsylvania’s sons serving with soldiers from across the commonwealth, SSGT Joseph Goodrich, is one of this nation’s heroes...

"One of Pennsylvania's sons"?  Guess that makes the Lieutenant Governor the Wicked Step-Mother...

"I swore to myself that I would not let them down. They sacrificed and gave to me something that I could never repay; freedom." - Staff Sergeant Joe Goodrich in an email to his wife from Iraq about making the ultimate sacrifice.

Baldilocks just sent this article of one politician's visit to a funeral that was selfish, tactless and in poor taste.  The more I learn about Marine Staff Sergeant Goodrich (he was one good man), the angrier I am becoming over this event.  Joseph Goodrich, a second generation Marine and former Police Officer, was killed in Hit, Iraq, on July 10th.

Lt. gov. crashed Marine's funeral, kin say

Saturday, July 23, 2005

By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau

The family of a Marine who was killed in Iraq is furious with Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll for showing up uninvited at his funeral this week, handing out her business card and then saying "our government" is against the war.

Rhonda Goodrich of Indiana, Pa., said yesterday that a funeral was held Tuesday at a church in Carnegie for her brother-in-law, Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich, 32. She said he "died bravely and courageously in Iraq on July 10, serving his country.
<...>

"Our family deserves an apology," Rhonda Goodrich said. "Here you have a soldier who was killed -- dying for his country -- in a church full of grieving family members and she shows up uninvited. It made a mockery of Joey's death."

What really upset the family, Goodrich said, is that Knoll said, 'I want you to know our government is against this war,' " Goodrich said.

She said she is going to seek an answer from Gov. Ed Rendell's administration if it opposes the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan...

You can also contact Governor Rendell and ask him that question.

More on Sergeant Goodrich here.

Update:  More being added in the latest post.

Jay B. alerted me that Marine LtCol Dave Bellon posted a final message at the Greenside....

Michael Yon has the details in his latest dispatch - The Devil's Foyer.

...Nearly every home in Iraq has an outer wall, so the soldiers parked the Strykers a distance away to isolate. The soldiers had silenced their gear, team leaders and squad leaders checking their men by making them jump up and down until they could hear only boots hitting the concrete. The men slipped out of the Strykers and crept quietly through the darkened streets...

This is one of the best posts from Yon.