Why?

[AggieDave 6]

I walked through a county courthouse square
On a park bench, an old man was sittin' there.
I said, "Your old court house is kinda run down,
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town".
I said, "Your old flag pole is leaned a little bit,
And that’s a ragged old flag you got hangin' on it".
He said, "Have a seat", and I sat down,
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town"
I said, "I think it is"
He said "I don’t like to brag, but we’re kinda proud of
That Ragged Old Flag

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there,
When Washington took it across the Delaware.
and It got powder burned the night Francis Scott Key sat watching it,
writing "Say Can You See"
It got a rip in New Orleans, with Packingham & Jackson
tugging at its seams.
and It almost fell at the Alamo
beside the Texas flag,
But she waved on though.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville,
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee and Beauregard and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on
That Ragged Old Flag

"On Flanders Field in World War I,
She got a big hole from a Bertha Gun,
She turned blood red in World War II
She hung limp, and low, a time or two,
She was in Korea, Vietnam, She went where she was sent
by her Uncle Sam.
She waved from our ships upon the briny foam
and now they've about quit wavin' back here at home
in her own good land here She’s been abused,
She's been burned, dishonored, denied an' refused,
And the government for which she stands
Has been scandalized throughout out the land.
And she’s getting thread bare, and she’s wearin' thin,
But she’s in good shape, for the shape she’s in.
Cause she’s been through the fire before
and i believe she can take a whole lot more.

"So we raise her up every morning
And we bring her down slow every night,
We don’t let her touch the ground,
And we fold her up right.
On second thought
I *do* like to brag
Cause I’m mighty proud of
That Ragged Old Flag"

--Johnny Cash



I thought that this might make sense to some people here. I have a feeling it's true meaning will fly clear over quite a few people's heads.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Brains 2]

Very cool Dave. Not many stations play that one anymore. I think i need to go find my cd that has that song on it and throw it into the changer. Thanks man

Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.

[Gravitymaster 0]

Thanks Dave, you just made my day better.

[Plummet 0]

So, my question is why is Johnny Cash walking into a small town and immediately start cutting down the place ??

-Jeff.
http://www.iplummet.com

Common sense and common courtesy are NOT common.

[skybytch 259]

Quote

I have a feeling it's true meaning will fly clear over quite a few people's heads.

Was a great post until you added that, Dave.

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

Was a great post until you added that, Dave

I'm just a little raw with the pro-Iraq stuff (read:anti-war) and all the damned war debates, so I had to say that.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[skybytch 259]

Quote

I'm just a little raw with the pro-Iraq stuff (read:anti-war) and all the damned war debates, so I had to say that.

Funny. I had to say that because I'm a bit raw with the warmongerers and all the damned war debates.

I'm against the war. But I understood those lyrics just fine... Just because I don't agree with the president doesn't mean I'm not proud of my country and our flag, nor does it mean I'm not very happy that I'm an American. Even now.

[AggieDave 6]

A lot of the rhetoric I've seen over the past week or so has been leaning fairly Anti-USA, Anti-Military, thus the angry line at the end of my post. Just my take on things here.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[SpeedRacer 1]

Well, AggieDave, I protested the war, but I do love my country. But we have passed the point of no return, and now I just want it over with and Saddam booted out of office. Now that the invasion has happened the troops have my full support.

So as a counterpoint to all my anti-war posts, let me post another point of view.

In january there was a very large protest vs. the war in Washington DC. Aziz Al-Taee is the current chairman of the Iraqi-American Council, and he made the following speech there. It is an interesting point of view, especially coming from a Shiia Iraqi:

January 18, 2003
Contact: Aziz Al-Taee

Text of Speech Delivered by Aziz Al-Taee January 18, 2003, Washington, DC

Good morning. My name is Aziz Al-Taee from the Iraqi-American Council, a non-government organization that promotes democracy and human rights in Iraq.
We stand here today at this war memorial sacred to the memory of those heroes who gave their lives defending the same American values that we all share.
We stand on this hallowed ground as peace-loving Americans. I am proud that I became an American by choice and not by birth.
Like many American citizens born in Iraq, I am also a victim of Saddam Hussein's Regime of Terror. My family and I were forced to flee for our lives because of who we are--Shii'a Muslims.
Saddam's evil genius lies in dispensing death. My cousin was delivered to his mother in a plastic bag, cut up into little pieces. My aunt was charged for the price of the bullets used to kill her son.
Saddam and his thugs executed my brother-in-law, my best friends and my relatives. He tortured some of them to death and poisoned the others-like Dr. Abdul Majeed Hakki and Dr. Salawa Al-Bahrani.
Still others were melted in acid baths or were burned to death by Saddam's chemical weapons, like the Kurdish people in Halabja and Anfal.
HALABJA…ANFAL…these names will join AUSCHWITZ and DACHAU as part of the lexicon of genocide.
Just imagine yourselves, and the tens of thousands of anti-war protesters gathered here, as suddenly all dead, and the number of dead would not even equal the number of victims of Saddam's chemical gas attacks.
I am speaking on behalf of the 22 million people held hostage by Saddam inside the world's largest prison, called the country of Iraq.
I am speaking for the souls of the three million victims of Saddam's death machine.
I am speaking for the four million Iraqis forced into exile by 34 years of Saddam's persecution.
I ask these marchers here--which war are you marching against?? The Chemical War waged by Saddam against the innocent Iraqi People or the War To Liberate them from the Hitler of Baghdad?
My Brothers and Sisters, we are NOT here to rally for a war on Iraq. We are here to rally against Saddam's continuing war of terror against his people and all the free nations of the world.
Saddam IS the Supreme Master of Biological, Chemical and Nuclear Terror.
My friends, since we can no longer save the hundreds of thousands of young men already disappeared and dead at the hands of Saddam and his henchmen, the World Community has a MORAL AND LEGAL OBLIGATION to free the Iraqi People-the old men, women and children--from the Butcher of Baghdad.
We must help them establish a democracy under United-Nations-sponsored elections, based on UN Security Council Resolutions 688 and 1441.
In a post-Saddam Iraq, only a democratic government, and not another dictatorship, can prevent terrorists from acquiring Weapons of Mass Destruction and using them against the American people.
My Fellow Free Americans, you are the True Peace Movement and Saddam is the Enemy of Humanity. He is a clear and present danger to peace in the world.
Saddam has attacked his own people and his neighbors. Saddam's sons have institutionalized the rape and public beheading of women as a means of political coercion.
Saddam has upset the balance of nature by destroying the environment-by torching the oil fields of Kuwait…by draining the marshlands of Iraq and displacing thousands of marsh Arabs lost without their historical habitat.
He is violating all of the human rights agreements by his campaigns of ethnic cleansing against the Kurds and his racist discrimination against the Shii'a Muslims, Christians, Jews, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Kurds, marsh Arabs and other ethnic minorities.
He is in daily Material Breach of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions protecting the human and civil rights of the Iraqi people.
The UN weapons inspectors need look no further than Saddam. Saddam is the real Weapon of Mass Destruction.
He and his lieutenants must be brought to justice before an international tribunal for war crimes and crimes committed against humanity, just like Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia.
I thank all those who care about the future of the American people and the right to freedom for the Iraqi People. We in the Iraqi-American Council will be at the forefront to free the Iraqi people.
If Saddam imposes a war on us, this war must be a war of Liberation and NOT Occupation.
This will not be a war between two nations, but, rather, a war of Humanity Against Brutality, A WAR OF THE FREE WORLD AGAINST THE FORCES OF DARKNESS, A WAR OF OUR TWO NATIONS AGAINST THE HITLER OF THE 21ST CENTURY.
LONG LIVE AMERICA, LONG LIVE IRAQ, AND DEATH TO THE WAR CRIMINAL SADDAM HUSSEIN.
GOD BLESS YOU.
THANK YOU.

Speed Racer
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