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2008-06-02 Fifth Column

Garrison Keillor Sneers At Patriotic Bikers

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Posted by Anonymoose 2008-06-02 09:36|| || Front Page|| [7 views ] Top

#1 Lileks did a righteous fisking of Keillor in today's "Bleat."

Next time if we could get some thin people who show up for Memorial Day and have a bumpersticker that says I BRAKE FOR AESTHETES on their Segways, or even ASK ME ABOUT MY RUMINATIVE RESPOSE TO AN ENIGMATIC OIL PAINTING WHOSE DRAMATIC CONTORTED FORESHORTENING EMPHASIZES THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MYSTERIES, that would be nice.

Posted by Mike 2008-06-02 10:06|| 2008-06-02 10:06|| Front Page Top

#2 Typical lib. Saying you can't express your right to free speech while claiming you are infringing theirs.

Hateful little trolls.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2008-06-02 12:07|| 2008-06-02 12:07|| Front Page Top

#3 In the tasty bit o' irony category, I ran across a sticker on a car over the weekend that said:
"If only closed minds came with closed mouths."

Posted by Grenter Protector of the Geats4975 2008-06-02 12:19|| 2008-06-02 12:19|| Front Page Top

#4 lileks is too soft on keilor on one thing though.

he says they are like Bush in that they are veterans of the armed forces. Yeah, I suppose. But they are UNLIKE Bush in that most actually served IN Viet Nam. Which makes Keilor even sillier about OP Rolling Thunder, if it fails to make the point about Bush that Lileks wants to.

Posted by liberalhawk 2008-06-02 14:53|| 2008-06-02 14:53|| Front Page Top

#5 he says they are like Bush in that they are veterans of the armed forces. Yeah, I suppose

I dunno, LH. As a combat vet, I don't look down on somebody who spent their service, say, as a postal clerk in Kansas.

What matters is that they served.

Posted by Pappy 2008-06-02 16:44|| 2008-06-02 16:44|| Front Page Top

#6 thats your opinion and youre free to hold it, pappy.

When I was a kid during VN, we knew a neighbor who volunteered cause that way he was able to pick a specialty, and he picked something involving tactical nukes. he spent his enlistment in Germany. He was as pleased with how he avoided the walking point in the jungle as anybody with a student deferment, or anything else that got them out. If his wearing a uniform was good enough for you, thats fine. I personally am not sure the moral distinction is that strong, but I can see why vets dont want to get into nitpicking about who served wear - thered be no end to it.

Posted by liberalhawk 2008-06-02 17:58|| 2008-06-02 17:58|| Front Page Top

#7 In Keillor's Memorial Day "tributr" he said that people join the Military and put on the uniform and become anonymous. They are not anonymous, every single one has a name and a history. They may be anonymous to Keillor but not to most other people. Especially me. I'm not sure what point he was trying to make. He did say they did their duty (most, anyhow) but that they were unsure about why they were there. That's when I called BS. In Vietnam that may have been true but not for any other military action.

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2008-06-02 19:00|| 2008-06-02 19:00|| Front Page Top

#8 As a (mostly peacetime) veteran who spent all of twenty years in the safe confines of a radio studio, very much in the rear with the gear - I don't want to get into one of those "who's got a bigger pair because of what they volunteered for" pissing contests. I knew too many older Vietnam-era vets who said quite plainly that they volunteered for the Air Force because they didn't want to to be in the Vietnam boonies as an Army infantrymen.

And I knew of a couple of Army Air Corps veterans who volunteered for the Air Corps because they didn't want to do the same. One of them is a dear friend, who served a nearly a full combat tour as a B-17 ball-turret gunner in 1944. (Until sidelined by a bit of flack.) The other is my uncle James Menaul, who was killed over Schweinfurt in 1943 at the age of 19. He wanted to serve - but not as an infantryman. And he was in an essential civilan job, so he could have sat out WWII if he wanted to. No, this sort of "my combat balls are bigger than yours" is not a useful concept.
Military veterans have served in all sorts of useful fields, in a variety of wars. A contest regarding who has the bigger pair in that regard is not all that rewarding.
In respect to this particular story - Garrison Kiellor is still a total d**k. Reputedly, a lot of the Rolling Thunder riders are veterans. Which also makes Mr. Keillor look like more of an ignorant, intolerant a**hole.

Posted by Sgt. Mom">Sgt. Mom 2008-06-02 19:40|| http://www.celiahayes.com]">[http://www.celiahayes.com] 2008-06-02 19:40|| Front Page Top

#9 As a (mostly peacetime) veteran who spent all of twenty years in the safe confines of a radio studio, very much in the rear with the gear - I don't want to get into one of those "who's got a bigger pair because of what they volunteered for" pissing contests. I knew too many older Vietnam-era vets who said quite plainly that they volunteered for the Air Force because they didn't want to to be in the Vietnam boonies as an Army infantrymen.

And I knew of a couple of Army Air Corps veterans who volunteered for the Air Corps because they didn't want to do the same. One of them is a dear friend, who served a nearly a full combat tour as a B-17 ball-turret gunner in 1944. (Until sidelined by a bit of flack.) The other is my uncle James Menaul, who was killed over Schweinfurt in 1943 at the age of 19. He wanted to serve - but not as an infantryman. And he was in an essential civilan job, so he could have sat out WWII if he wanted to. No, this sort of "my combat balls are bigger than yours" is not a useful concept.
Military veterans have served in all sorts of useful fields, in a variety of wars. A contest regarding who has the bigger pair in that regard is not all that rewarding.
In respect to this particular story - Garrison Kiellor is still a total d**k. Reputedly, a lot of the Rolling Thunder riders are veterans. Which also makes Mr. Keillor look like more of an ignorant, intolerant a**hole.

Posted by Sgt. Mom">Sgt. Mom 2008-06-02 19:56|| http://www.celiahayes.com]">[http://www.celiahayes.com] 2008-06-02 19:56|| Front Page Top

#10 Sgt Mom loved the: "Which also makes Mr. Keillor look like more of an ignorant, intolerant a**hole." line, that she repeated it. I concur ;-)

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2008-06-02 20:11|| 2008-06-02 20:11|| Front Page Top

#11 I was NAVY, didn't do much, mostly kept the Ship's engine running (Steam turbine,It never gave much trouble) Mostly I scrubbed and cleaned.

Posted by Redneck Jim">Redneck Jim 2008-06-02 21:57|| 2008-06-02 21:57|| Front Page Top

#12 A 'Veteran' -- whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve --
is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made
payable to 'The United States of America,' for an amount of 'up to, and
including his life.'

That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country today,
who no longer understand that fact.

Posted by Muggsy Gling 2008-06-02 22:13|| 2008-06-02 22:13|| Front Page Top

#13 "If his wearing a uniform was good enough for you, thats fine. "

Actually LH thats your weakenss - you disrespect the service.

Even Germany service involved doign a lot of crap someone else is telling you to do whether you like it or not, going throught he rigors of boot camp, and if he was workign with nukes, then he had to deal wihtthe hassles that reach FAR Into your private life of the PRP, as well as maintaining proper clearances.

And then there is the constant risk that the Soviets might decide to roll, and all most of USAEUR would have been (prior to about 1984 and the Reagan rebuild) is grease for Soviet tank treads, being tripwires so that the nukes would then fly.

Bush flew one of the toughest interceptor aircraft in the US air defense inventory, and to get past the pilot trianing, plus maintain a solid flight record, you do put your life on the line every time you strap into the aircraft, even today with far safer aircraft.

That is not somtething to belittle and you look like a shithead lefty when you talk like that.

Flying an F-102 in the Guard, or serving as a nuke tech in Germany still takes more guts than running to Canada or burning a draft card or protesting with hippy chicks in a park or university campus.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-06-02 22:28|| 2008-06-02 22:28|| Front Page Top

#14 I didn't serve, and that is my flaw, and disallows me from ever questioning the level of another's >honest service. Note that doesn't include John Fn Kerry's, although the ever-promised release of his records could shut me (and others) up. Why doesn't he? So many SwiftVets's stories could be put to rest. The answer is; because he can't, and still maintain his "story"

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2008-06-02 22:43|| 2008-06-02 22:43|| Front Page Top

#15 You know, it occurs to me that a job like "repairing nuclear weapons" would be the sort of stress-filled task that I'd want to walk point in the jungle to avoid.

Posted by Abdominal Snowman 2008-06-02 23:36|| 2008-06-02 23:36|| Front Page Top

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