tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2023556716422736970.post3527038687832584139..comments2024-03-29T03:26:59.485-04:00Comments on BSO: Fun Memorial DayTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900475514170268904noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2023556716422736970.post-50217050718710785072008-05-28T10:00:00.000-04:002008-05-28T10:00:00.000-04:00Yeah, I just don’t get it. The July 4’th Parade ...Yeah, I just don’t get it. The July 4’th Parade has been taking fire for as long as we have been doing it for not allowing anti-war signs. And although I keep pointing out we have a “no politics” rule that would also ban abortion, gay rights, or free Tibet signage as well, the ONLY group we ever hear about or from is the anti-war folks.<BR/><BR/>BUT…on a day when America specifically remembers and memorializes its war dead these folks stay in the shadows. What better way to protest sending troops in harms way in a far off place like Iraq then to bring it up on a day when we pause to remember their (continuing) sacrifice?<BR/><BR/>Twenty-two years ago I was taking a course with Umass Journalism guru Howard Ziff and he had as a guest speaker, the editor of the Concord Monitor--Christa McAuliffe’s hometown newspaper.<BR/><BR/>This was only a month or so after the Challenger disaster and I could tell he was still bummed as he had interacted quite a bit with the “teacher in space”. I was pretty bummed too, as I had fought Ron McNair a couple times in the Boston area (NASA was not to happy about an active astronaut fighting in karate tournaments)<BR/><BR/>So I asked him “What if you knew--what if you really, really knew those o-rings were going to fail? What would you have done?”<BR/><BR/>He looked me right in the eyes and said: “I would have stood naked in town center with ‘Stop the Flight’ tattooed to my ass” to get peoples attention.Larry Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.com