I caught actor Robert Conrad on FOX news this afternoon, talking about the University of Washington student senate furor. (Previous posts here, here and here) The discussion covered the initial failed resolution, and some of the reported comments made by students.
I turned on the TV after the interview started, after I received an email tip. So I may have missed key discussion points. Mr. Conrad was very unhappy about the whole situation, expressed his concern over the lack of respect shown to "Pappy" Boyington and other war heroes. As I write this, I cannot locate an video for the interview, but if anyone finds a link, feel free to leave it in comments, and I will update this post.
One thing I did not hear anything about was the new resolution proposed last week, to honor not just Boyington, but all of the UW students who were awarded the CMOH. I've been scanning the student senate discussion forum, and it seems likely that this second resolution will have fairly broad support.
Also, one of the points that I, and others, neglected to emphasize in the initial posts is that the vote was very close. In fact, the initial resolution was a 45-45 tie, broken by the deciding vote of the senate student president. This bodes well for the new resolution, and I hope to see progress made.
On the flip side, I missed seeing Scarborough Country on Monday. On the show, Joe talked with several students, as well as my favorite radio host, Kirby Wilbur. I wish that I had seen it, but I think I might have thrown something at the TV in places. Here's the complete transcript of the show, with the UW discussion falling about in the middle.
One excerpt to highlight:
BAPTISTE: Let's talk about heroes. A lot of people—obviously, a lot of young people nowadays don't see war as a heroic sport. It's not an adventure. It's a brutal, really inhumane thing. And...
SCARBOROUGH: Well, you think the Marines...
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: ... over in Iraq right now? You think that they think it's a sport when they're getting their legs blown off? Do you think they're over there to have a thrill?
BAPTISTE: No, I'm not saying that the soldiers are—I'm not saying that the soldiers think that. I'm saying people who whip up nationalism, and try to whip up support for the war, and try to convince people to sign up and go fight in wars like the Iraq war, they think—a lot of times these people think it is some sort of a sport, some sort of a rite of passage for people in our society, like I have to go fight a war because my father and my grandfather fought a war.
So, we just invented a war to go fight so our young men could have a 'rite of passage'? Of all the ignorant and silly thoughts on reasons for war ... that has to take the cake.
By the way, Andrews Dad researched Mr. Baptiste a little bit. Seems he is a member of the group SocialistAlternative-dot-Org. Think back to the recruiting protest last May in Seattle. One of the main organizers ... SocialistAlternative. He may not (Please, Lord, I hope Not) represent the majority of the students at UW, but students like Andrew Everett, the author of the Memorial resolutions (R-12-18 and R-12-26) represent my hope for the future! Andrew ... should you ever run for office here in Washington, let me know - I'll help!
H/T to Ry for the link ... thanks! |
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