The recent message on Ralph Smeed's Reader Board in Caldwell has sparked responses from all over the nation. The committee that manages the messages thought it appropriate to respond.
Let me begin with a point of clarification. The reader board is the sole property of the Smeed Estate (co-executors Dan Symms and Maurice Clements). It is not part of the Ralph Smeed Private Memorial Foundation.
The left side of the sign showed a picture of James Holmes, with the words :Kills 12 in movie theater." Caption below his picture reads "everyone freaks out".
The right side of the sing shows a picture of President Obama, with the caption "Kills thousands with his foreign policy." Below Obama's picture is the caption "wins Nobel Peace Prize".
The aim of the message was to point out that the nation was outraged by the massacre in Aurora, Colorado and rightly so. And yet there seems to be no equivalent outrage for the thousands of American Soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan and the countless innocent civilians who have perished as collateral damage of these wars. Our nation has tuned out to the massacre in the Middle East and seems to have become numb to the carnage occurring there.
When President Obama promised to bring the troops home during his campaign of 2008, someone should have asked him in which decade he intended to make good on that promise.
Our Nation has been led into illegal wars for years by presidents. We are told what the given reasons are but the real reasons are not clear.
Our Consitutition says only Congress can declare war. Yet presidents including Harry Truman (Korea), John Kennedy (Vietnam and Bay of Pigs), Lyndon Johnson (Vietnam), Richard Nixon (Vietnam and Cambodia), Ronald Reagan (Lebanon and Grenada), George Bush (Panama, Iraq and Somalia), Bill Clinton Somalia, Kosovo and Hati), George W. Bush (Iraq and Afghanistan), and not Barack Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize winner with the wars in Libya and Syria and the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan all have violated Article 1, section 8 of our Constitution.
We have become a nation with perpetual wars, a long list of dead and maimed American soldiers and millions of innocent civilians sacrificed as collateral damage. And for what purpose? Give me a break.
Our message on the reader board was designed to elevate the outrage for this worldwide slaughter. To that purpose, I think we have been somewhat successful.
I agree we migth have said it better. Hindsight is always 20/20. To the extent our message to attention. I think it was a tremendous success.
We respect the loss and grief suffered by the families in Colorado. Our intent was to encourage some critical thinking and create a discourse on how to put an end to the perpetual state of war that our politicians, regardless of party, seem to perpetuate.
Maurice Clements, Nampa, Idaho
Ron Paul has it right...what are we doing with over 900 forward bases all over the world when we are BROKE! We need to stay out of places where we have no possibility of "winning" and stop intruding in countries where we have no interests.
ReplyDeleteWent to the dollar store the other day and they quit selling Helium ballons due to the worldwide shortage of Helium. Wonder if we have yet another war to face over that element.
I find it a sad comment on todays world that most people feel they should never be offended by any thing. Heaven forbid that something such as a sign or an opposing opinion actually makes you stop and think.I guess its easier to go through life and let someone else tell you what to think rather than doing some research and forming a reasoned opinion of your own.
ReplyDeleteThe real problem with the sign was not the anti-Obama message but the inclusion of the Colorado deaths. I remember the saying..."hey hey LBJ.. How many kids did you kill today" and it took years for the American public to wake up to the fact we were not going to win the Vietnam War no matter how many lives were lost or bombs dropped.
ReplyDeleteThe clarification of the message by Mr. Clements is a welcome message and I thank him for this effort.
GW started the mess in Iraq and Afghanastan despite warnings by Colin Powell not to start an ill conceived war. Pottery Barn Rules was what Powell called it ... you break it you own it.
ReplyDeleteNow we are faced with trying to get the hell out of that god forsaken place.