My letter to Hugh Hewitt

My letter to Hugh Hewitt, conservative LA talk-radio host regarding Joel Stein's article in the LA Times Op-Ed section reads as follows:
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Dear Mr. Hewitt,

I was recently exposed to your talk show via RadioBlogger.com where your interview with LA Times columnists, Joel Stein was posted both as an MP3 audio file as well as a typewritten transcript. Unfortunately, I don't get your show up here in the San Francisco Bay Area, so what I know of you and your show is limited to what I read from your blog and heard from the excerpt. Nevertheless, I wanted to make a few observations about Mr. Stein's point of view that I think you might find interesting at worst – challenging at best.

First, let me give you a little bit of background about me. I am a conservative that strongly supports the military and our Global War on Terror in Iraq and… well, wherever it might take us. I am not some radio talk show Jihadist who claims to be a conservative, Red State, gun-toting Republican in order to get past the phone screener, just to blow myself up via your great big red 'eject' button after I spew some leftist rants. (There is no Paradise after getting dumped from the radio, is there? Perhaps this is a metaphor with lessons the Muhajideen can take to heart; acting crazy and getting yourself 'blown up' will not bring others to your system of beliefs – it will only make people think you are crazy and blew yourself up. I digress…)

To further my point that I am not some leftist punk trying to undermine your mostly right Right point of view, you can see my personal blog at andrewhsu.blogspot.com where many of the featured links and articles serve evidence for my conservative views.

Assuming that you believe that I am a pro-military, pro-war, conservative, Christian, immigrant, minority small-business owner, I'd like to see what your thoughts are on my take on Mr. Joel Stein's column (I'm not the most articulate speaker nor am I the most creative writer, but I speak best in analogies so bear with me):

Stein says that he does not support our troops because he does not believe in the War in Iraq. He says that dissenters of the war do no small harm to our soldiers by 'supporting the troops' via bumper stickers and other means of trite, overly simplistic 'symbols of support' and unnecessarily prolong the war. In fact, he likens this behavior to hypocrisy1.

Now, is it an insane stance to say you DON'T support our troops? Most of the ire stirred by Stein's article comes from this camp. "How can you not support soldiers that are risking their lives for you?" they'll ask*. Well, that's not really a valid question because the supposition here is that the soldiers ARE risking their lives for you and that their cause is virtuous. However, if you don't believe that they are, then what is the support all about?

Hypothetical: Suppose our troops were engaged in a military take-over of Taiwan or something equally absurd and criminally wrong. Neither you nor I would support our troops in a campaign such as this. Regardless of how many of their lives are being sacrificed or risked on "our behalf". Why is this scenario different from the War in Iraq? Well, you and I both see that it is because the War in Iraq, in summary, is good and this hypothetical takeover of Taiwan as our relations currently stands would be nothing but "Imperialism".

Another hypothetical: What about the militants in the Earth First movement or the extremists on the far left spectrum of the Greenpeace folks? Suppose they launch a campaign to blow up fuel tankers as they cross our nation's highways in an effort to press congress into writing legislation furthering the development of solar and alternative fuel sources. Would those of use who think their cause is already a little bit nutty support their "troops" just because they're putting their own lives in danger for what they assume is the betterment of America and Americans? Of course not. We would condemn their actions as criminal and send them off to break rocks somewhere. Even those who DO support the environmental cause would probably still think the enviro-terrorists are criminals and muster no support for their actions. Likewise, if an individual like Mr. Stein strenuously disagrees with the War in Iraq (a stance worth debating on it's own and admittedly so by Mr. Stein himself2) we should not expect him to "support the troops", should we?

So the REASON why the troops are doing what they are doing is paramount in determining one's heartfelt support. To blindly support the troops isn't really what we're all about. In fact, by endorsing the idea of "supporting-the-troops-no-matter-what" we've marginalized what they are doing and taken their risk for granted by minimizing or totally disregarding why they are there. Besides, I don't really want Mr. Berkeley Liberal telling me Bush is a war criminal but that he supports the troops as much as I do. It steals the strength and conviction away from those of us that really do love and support our Armed Forces.

So summarize – or rather, to reiterate – I love our troops. I love that we are smashing first those who would try to smash us. But if our troops engaged in a cause that I strongly disagreed with - as Stein claims to about the War in Iraq - I wouldn't support our troops either. And, I suspect, neither would you. The REAL question here is why Stein would view our efforts in Iraq with as much distain as he does (or claims to, anyway. After all, it is kinda trendy to be anti-war in the circles he runs in, so who knows how sincere or educated his position on the war is anyway?)

Please tell me what you think of my line of reasoning. As much as I enjoyed listening to the excerpt of your show and as much as I like to instill reason into those who have none, I have a hard time drawing a line in the sand that says, "you MUST support our troops and honor their sacrifices – NO MATTER WHAT."



*Except for the Americandigest.com article that makes fun of and accurately describes Stein's and Gen-Xers' inability to grasp reality and maintain passion for anything of virtue.

1"Yeah, I'm just simply saying that as a person whose against the Iraq war, I think all these I support the troop statements, I support the troops magnets, are a little hypocritical."

2 "Whether I'm wrong about not suporting Iraq or not is a legitimate question, and maybe I can be convinced that I was wrong about not supporting Iraq. But I think if you're not going to support Iraq, you shouldn't support the troops."

Caffeine gum now in Army supply channels

Caffeine gum

Dude. I've never been a gum kind of guy, but for this I'll become one.

Each piece of Stay Alert chewing gum contains 100 mg of caffeine, which is about the amount found in a six-ounce cup of coffee. “Because it’s chewed, it delivers caffeine to the body four to five times faster than a liquid or pill because it’s absorbed through tissues in the mouth -- not the gut, like in traditional formulations.”...

Revenge, brain study finds, is a male partiality

Not that we needed a scientific study to prove this, but here it is anyway. Men like revenge. Women are more empathetic. oooh big surprise.

"In the study, published online Wednesday by Nature, subjects witnessed people whom they perceived as wrongdoers getting zapped by a mild electrical shock. When male subjects saw this, their MRI scans lit up in primitive brain areas associated with reward; the brain's empathy centers remained dull. "

SF Wedding Fair

I just got back from a great wedding show in SF.
Here are two ads that I debuted there. A new promo for MSV regarding our iPod wedding video and a free iPod giveaway.

Iraq war may cost US trillions

Iraq war may cost US trillions
This headline made me sick. I don't want American tax dollars spent to improve the infrastructure of some second-world country across the ocean. I want to see those dollars spent on my kids' education. I want to see those dollars spent on my health care.

However, Joseph Stiglitz, the co-author of this study has taken great steps to exaggerate the expense of the Iraq War. He claims that the Pentagon's estimates ($250 billion or so) are inaccurate because they fail to include expenses like health care for combat wounded soldiers and other things like depreciation on war machines.

Though this might be a reasonable consideration, convention dictates that those elements and elements like those, should not be counted into wartime budgets. If a speculative 'ripple' economics were to be applied to WWII, for example, we'd see that WWI was far more expensive than the Iraq War would ever be. Just about every industrial resource in America was funneled into the war effort. There were war bonds being purchased; canned goods were specially made for soldiers; and GM stopped producing cars and started producing tanks, for crying out loud! The effect on the American economy was absolutely startling.

Besides, what doesn't the Iraq War affect? When do you stop measuring costs of the war? Perhaps many people stopped going to the movies and King Kong wasn't as popular as people predicted it would be because of the Iraq War. Maybe people are less likely to eat at the Muslim Restaurant on Grimmer Boulevard next to Tri-City Sporting Goods Store because of anti-Islamic sentiments and the local Fremont economy is also suffering. Calculate that, Stiglitz!

J. Grant Swank, Jr.: AUSTRALIAN FLAG COULD OFFEND MUSLIMS

J. Grant Swank, Jr.: AUSTRALIAN FLAG COULD OFFEND MUSLIMS

A Sydney beachside council reached its illogical conclusion. The Australian flag cannot be flown over the Bondi Pavilion.
Why?
Because the country’s flag might offend Muslims.
Naturally this is another example of political correctness gone bonkers. But what is new in today’s confused world with persons either wising up regarding the Islamic killers international or bowing to kiss their feet.
At the same time Indonesian Christians try to cope with Muslim murderers global throwing a bomb loaded with nails and ball bearings into a market filled with Christians shopping for New Year’s celebrations. Seven are left dead, scores of others wounded.
At the same time New Delhi Hindus try to copy with Muslim murderers global throwing a bomb into a market filled with thousands buying foods for the festival of light. Fifty-five are left dead, scores wounded. In another location, Pahargani, another Islamic tossed explosive leaves 155 dead in India.

Expatica's German news in English: New special test for Muslims seeking citizenship

Expatica's German news in English: New special test for Muslims seeking citizenship