The New Road

RE: Ripping up Democratic voter registrations

Your link references America Votes as the company behind this disgrace. americavotes.org is definitely a left-wing deal. It's sponsored by moveon.org. I don't know how the right-wing radicals got in there to do their dirty work. But the FBI is investigating the case in Reno and they probably will in Vegas, too. I'm sure we're not getting the whole story. Hmmm.

RE: Running the Iraq War Around the US Election

It was an unnamed source that the article was based on - nothing official. It has been heavily debated in the news. And personally, I've seen evidence that there have been operations happening every day. In fact, just today, Allawi demanded Fallujah give up Zarqowi. Is he doing that without our support? Hmmmmm.

RE: Was Bush Wired During The First Debate?

If he was, it didn't help. It just confused him. I'm not saying he was. The best line I've heard about it is that the Democrats can't tell what it is - they've never seen a backbone before! :) Kerry pulled something out of his jacket that night. That was against the rules, too, you know. Hmmmmm.

Lying? Treachery? The political process is so ugly. I don't think anyone is running for cover.

Would you mind answering my question that I posed on your blog about the line where anti-war speech becomes aiding and abetting the enemy?

I haven't answered yet because it's a hard question.

Here it is for those of you who don't read my blog:

So all anti-war speech is aiding and abetting the enemy? Is there any good form of anti-war speech?

I think in these times, where technology can get not only the message, but the images and the audio of our protests to the enemy, it all becomes aiding and abetting. I'm sure they derive comfort from seeing us divided.

I can't answer if there is a good form of anti-war speech. War is terrible. There is certainly a reason to protest war in general. And we have every right to do so.

So any time the enemy 'sees us divided' through either audio or video, is aiding and abetting the enemy?

Protestors are definitely giving comfort to the enemy and possibly emboldening them. Yes.

And you have every right to do it.

And there are consequences. You should weigh the risk before you speak up.

Is there a particular comment of mine that was clearly aiding and abetting the enemy?

Here you go again, begging me to call you a traitor. What's that all about?

I beg you for nothing.

I'm simply asking a question which you do not seem inclined to answer.

You said clearly that I have 'aided and abetted the enemy'. That is a serious thing. I'm sorry if you don't take it seriously. I understand that Ann Coulter throws around the word 'traitor' like candy, but I take it very seriously. I am a proud citizen of this country and whether you like it or not I am a patriot. I think that standing up for my country means shouting just as hard when it's going in the wrong direction as I shout when it's going in the right one. In no way shape or form do I think that I have giving aid and comfort to our enemies. But you have stated unequivocally that you feel I have, but have, as of yet, provided no proof or even cause for that statement.

I take this very seriously. I will not back down. As Adalai Stevenson said, "I am prepared to wait until Hell freezes over for your answer, if necessary."

I ask again, please provide some solid proof or substantiation, relevant in particular to my words, that justifies your statement that I am aiding and abetting the enemy.

You are begging. You keep bringing this up from every angle to get me to say something unreasonable so you can blanket all Repbulicans as unreasonable. And you say you'll wait until Hell freezes over for my answer.

The only public instance of your protest that I know of, besides your blog, is the candlelight vigil for the 1000 fallen soldiers (where you, as an athiest, sang Amazing Grace) and were quoted in the paper as being there in protest - except you didn't want it to be a protest - you were there to honor the soldiers. Whatever.

But let me ask you. You assert time and again that you definitely, passionately agree with the cause of the protestors. I'm sure you have ample opportunity to protest in San Francisco. Why have you not? Why have you not shouted hard in public against your president and his policy? Why have you not raised your voice and made a public spectacle of yourself that could be photographed and broadcast to our enemies? If the cause is SO important to you, why have you not participated?

Could it be because those actions could give comfort to our enemies?

I'm genuinely surprised a person with your strength of convictions isn't willing to back up your own words. The value of someone's word is dependent on their ability to justify their word with credible evidence.

What evidence do you present to justify your statement that I am, or was, aiding and abetting the enemy?

When you protest, you are aiding and abetting the enemy. When you "protested" at the vigil, you comforted the enemy. I have never backed down from that. You posted the story, find your own quote. Are you denying it's there? You've been baiting me to call you a traitor, which we established in my blog earlier, as a very serious crime, punishable by death. I have never said you are a traitor, as much as you have begged me to, because I don't believe you are. And I have never questioned your patriotism. I know you love our country.

You continue to catagorize me as a mean-spirited right-winger who thinks you are a bad person because you are a liberal democrat. I don't think you're bad. I just think you're wrong. I have said many times that we have ideological differences.

Now, why haven't you protested? Where is the courage of your convictions?

I see. So it was my going to the vigil that was aiding and abetting the enemy. According to the article:

'Jack Herrington left his 2-year-old daughter at home in Union City. He came to the vigil to protest the war and mourn the dead, he said. But he wanted to make sure he wasn't politicizing the fallen soldiers. "I didn't want to carry a sign other than (one that said) '1,000 dead,'" he said.'

This is how I was giving aid and comfort to the enemy?

So everyone there, or who was ever protested a war is aiding and abetting the enemy? Can we ever be against a war? Is there a good form of protest that does not give aid and comfort to the enemy?

That I don't know.

Why won't you answer my question? You say you have not "protested", though not for lack of sympathy with the cause. You inwardly protest the war, and it accidentally slips out while you mourn the soldier's deaths in public. Why don't you protest? You have motive and you have opportunity?

Despite what you think about the "left coast" there aren't really a lot of opportunities to protest here. In addition, with a young daughter, as you well know, time is tight. If I had the opportunity I would. That being said, I have taken the time to help out in efforts the support our troops.

In order to understand that something is wrong you have to understand why it's bad. If that bad thing were eliminated then it would be good. So what is the bad component of a protest? If it's dissent, then how do you justify that dissent, a core founding principle of this country, is akin to giving aid and comfort to the enemy?

Speaking of which, your position on protest leads me to believe that you completely supported all of our wars, including Clinton's war in Kosovo. Correct?

I don't know much about Kosovo. I wasn't paying a lot of attention at the time. So I went online to research a little. Looking at the timeline, I was seriously preoccupied. Mark and I got engaged and planned our wedding and I started a new job during that time. Anyway, I found this site with a letter from Michael Moore about the Kosovo war.

http://www.zmag.org/crisescurevts/colokos.htm

It's good to know he's anti-American-establishment regardless of the president.

I read a few of the other pieces, too, and it looks like Clinton thought he was doing the right thing and a lot of people were against the war. And a lot of people felt that the US and NATO were abusing their power and were bullying the rest of the world.

Now, to get back to my question - you still dodged it. Time is what is keeping you from protesting? I don't believe you. If I'm passionate about something, I make time for it. You are very active. You have time for lots of activities - I read about them daily. I would think you could make time to protest at any given opportunity if it were that important to you.

I'm all for the political protest. I have done it here in Nashville. I protested against an income tax - several times. The legislature was trying to push, force or sneak it through over a period of several years. Every time we were alerted, hundreds, or thousands of us (it depends on who was counting) showed up downtown, honking our horns or standing in front of the legislative plaza with signs. I was there at least three times - either before work, on my lunch hour or on the way home. I did it because I believed in the cause. (By the way, TN does not have an income tax).

I have explained again and again why I believe the war protesting is harmful. You have every right to do it, but it comforts and emboldens the enemy and ultimately puts our troops and us in danger. Do what you will. I won't be part of it.

You seriously think that I'm not going to protests because I think the war is correct, or that I think by going to a protest I would harm our troops. I've said before when you are on target that you were, on this one, you are way off target.

Fact of the matter is that I'm hooked into Democratic channels and they don't do the anti-war thing. So if there were protests I would have to go find them myself, and frankly, I don't see many.

Here is my week. I get up at 5:30 then it's a solid block of work and then home stuff until at least 8:30. After that I am pretty wrecked and it's all I can do to drink coffee and try to work on some side projects or articles to bring in a little extra money. On the weekends at least one day is dedicated to managing Megan alone so that Lori can have a break. And the other day is often a family day where we all take a trip. And usually Sunday night is booked. So, no, I can't just pick up and do anything I want at any time.

That being said, if I knew where are protest was and it was protesting the right things, I would go. Honestly, at this point all I know is that the war is wrong. I'm still open to possible solutions. I used to prefer a total pull-out and in some ways I still do. On the other hand I think correctly managing a retreat could work as well.

What I know for sure is that Bush, and his supporters, are completely out of touch with reality when it comes to Iraq. They think that the war is actually going well. Which is just simply ignoring all of the information coming out of Iraq, not just the news but also the factual policy shifts.