Playing the fear card

When I started speaking out against this administration and this war, I didn't know what I would face. I knew I had already had the worst day of my life, so how bad could it be? Nothing has been as bad as May 31, 2004, the day I was notified my only child, Lt Ken Ballard, was killed in the Iraq war turned occupation.

I've been called un-American, a traitor, a freak, disrespectful of my son and other such insults. I was told my son was "Doing his job" and "Everyone Dies!" while I spoke. Not only is it mean, it is wrong. Apparently those folks never heard the wise words of Abe Lincoln, Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. Or they didn't listen to their mother when she told them, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

Respect seems to be one of those attitudes that is dying in this country. When someone has lost a child, there is no need to be mean. Anyone who thinks that is okay is a bully; we already know they are mean, junior high mean! Whether you agree or disagree with their politics, a good response when a Gold Star family member is talking would be "I'm sorry"

The day after Ned Lamont won the election in Ct, the first thing I heard on the radio was that the Democratic party is the antiwar party and are unAmerican. what? A fair and reasonable properly held democratic election in the United States of America turns ALL members of the Democratic party into people who are unAmerican? I don't think so and while I'm pretty sure that ALL Democrats are not anti war, it's nice to hear a Democratic voice question the war. It's about time, guys, and welcome to my world!

I thought that would be it, but of course, it only got worse. The VP of this land, Dick Cheney, said that the Lamont victory might encourage "the al-Qaeda types" who want to "break the will of the American people in terms of our ability to stay in the fight and complete the task."And Tony Snow, the president's press secretary said a vote for Lamont was a vote for another 9/11. Snow said that Connecticut voters who backed Ned Lamont (and the 57 percent of Americans who support his position on Iraq) were choosing to "ignore the difficulties and walk away." That is the same approach, he said, that led Osama bin Laden to the conclusion “that Americans were weak and wouldn'’t stay the course and that led to September 11th."” And because of 9/11, then we had to go to war in Iraq? oh geez!

I've got "fear fatigue" and the more this administration plays that card, the more I see it as the little boy crying "Wolf". If we ever really need to believe them, what are the chances that we will?

What did this country do to deserve these people?