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What Makes Us Do It?

by Jeff Mario Smith, Guerilla Reporter, Leftington, KY

This morning, as I sat at my PC, that ever-important information gathering tool I use to access real information as opposed to the mind-control drivel, which emanates from within the folds of all of our local papers, I was struck by an article from an alleged “journalist” in New Haven, CN denigrating the POW MIA Flag.

I was struck, not only by the depth of the negativity from this liberal media elitist; not only by the sheer audacity to attack this symbol; but also by the total lack of research this buffoon engaged in. The extent of the misinformation in his article clobbered me with sadness.

Here is a person, the journalist, who has the responsibility to dispel myths, not strengthen them. He has a bully pulpit that the rest of us do not enjoy, and with that privilege comes responsibility. I have no problem disagreeing with someone who writes an opinion editorial, that being most of them, but when that op-ed is based upon a mythical foundation, it is not worthy of the ink and paper it wastes. Unfortunately, it has to be responded to so the myth can be dispelled, as it rightly should be , but is this not a shame, and a waste of valuable resources?

There may have been a day when columnists were expected to do research to back up what they wrote and that research was checked for accuracy and integrity of source by a seasoned and honest veteran writer, but that is not something I have witnessed since I have had the ability to digest information with an open and skeptical mind. Far too often, columnists and reporters are given a free hand to write what they see fit, regardless of truth or facts. Need I remind everyone of the Jason Blair scandal at the NY Times, that bastion of Marxism from the liberal blue Northeast, or the Rather-biased fake memo scandal at the blue Communist Broadcast System?

I am not going to go into the many foolish and uninformed things that the columnist in New Haven wrote, or present the truth which dispels the myths he promoted, but I would like to discuss something that keeps coming up in my mind when I pray for our POWs, MIAs, KIAs and their families, and all families that serve. That is the question I keep asking myself over and over. If we are to expect young people to step up to the plate and serve as many of us did, how do we look them in the eye and tell them that America “leaves no man behind”, that we “got their backs”? That is the question!

Indeed, as I prepare a big breakfast for my Airborne Soldier Son this morning, his last meal at home for a while as he ships out to Alaska, his new post Iraq assignment, I will be asking myself why I encouraged my only son to serve his country, a country that knowingly abandons its warriors to the enemy for political expediency. I have to live every day in the knowledge that, like Lt. Col. Earl Hopper, like WO William P. Milliner, like PFC Matt Maupin, like Commander Michael Scott Speicher, or over 90,000 other heroes, my son could likewise be left behind and become a hidden number on a government chart.

What makes us do it? What makes us serve when we know our government may not be there when we need them most? What will future generations do as more and more people are awakened to the POW MIA cover-up? This travesty has the capability to destroy the morale of our troops already serving, and to destroy our capability to convince others to serve. I pray for America.

"It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence
of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His
benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favors."
-- George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 3, 1789.

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