From today's "News & Views" from Chuck Muth...
PUBLIC SCHOOL DISSES MILITARY HEROES
"Vets for Freedom is a nonpartisan organization established by combat veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," explains the group's website. "Our mission is to educate the American public about the importance of achieving success in these conflicts by applying our first-hand knowledge to issues of American strategy and tactics in Iraq."
To that end, the organization - led by its executive director and Bronze Star recipient Pete Hegseth - is in the midst of a national bus tour featuring decorated military veterans, including:
* David Bellavia, recipient of both the Silver and Bronze Stars for valor, and the Conspicuous Service Cross, New York State's highest award for combat valor. Bellavia has also been nominated for both the Distinguished Service Cross and the Medal of Honor for his actions in a fierce urban hand-to-hand fight in the battle of Fallujah in November 2004.
* Marcus Lutrell, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and Petty Officer First Class who was awarded a Purple Heart and the Navy Cross for combat heroism on the front lines in Afghanistan. If you haven't yet read his book, "Lone Survivor," get it today. Absolutely unbelievable.
* Marco Martinez, the first Hispanic American since the Vietnam War to be awarded the Navy Cross, the second-highest honor awarded a U.S. Marine. He was recognized for his heroic actions in Iraq where, oblivious to his own safety and armed only with a grenade and a rifle, single-handedly took out a building and the enemy forces within it because it posed a threat to his squad.
* Jeremiah Workman, who lead three assaults to extricate Marines trapped in a besieged building in Fallujah, Iraq, during clearing operations on Dec. 23, 2004. For his actions, Workman was awarded the Navy Cross, an honor second only to the Medal of Honor, for "extraordinary heroism."
I bring this up because the group was scheduled to stop at Forest Lake High School in Minnesota yesterday, the school from which Pete Hegseth graduated in 1999. "The stop in Forest Lake was supposed to involve about 150 social studies students and was going to be closed to the public but open to the media," reports the Star-Tribune. However, "the school had received several phone calls from parents and others, some of whom indicated that they may stage a protest if the event took place."
So the school's principal bowed to the anti-military pressure and told these American heroes to take a hike. That's right, Principal Steve Massey cancelled the event, saying it was too political!
"I think it's extremely unfortunate that a school would bow to the political pressure of outside groups and not bring in a veterans organization," Hegseth told the Star-Tribune. "Are we saying that patriotism and duty and honor have no place in our public schools?"
Geez, Pete. With all due respect, where have you been?
Oh, that's right. Fighting a war and getting shot at. Never mind.
Yes, patriotism, duty and honor apparently have no place at Forest Lake High, where Dr. "Blood-and-Guts" Massey, threatened with phone calls and protest signs, as opposed to bullets and grenades, headed for the hills with his tail tucked firmly between his legs, leaving a yellow streak a mile long behind him.
Well, it's too late for the students of Forest Lake to meet some of our greatest modern-day American heroes, but it's not too late to tell Steve Massey exactly what you think of his heroic stand against "several phone calls from parents and others." Here's the contact information.
Forest Lake Area High School
6101 Scandia Trail N.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-982-8400
Principal Steve Massey
[email protected]
Forrest Lake MN, Shame! Shame! Shame!
by hillbilly 5 Replies latest jw friends
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hillbilly
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hillbilly
what? none of the Neo-libs want to show how this is the cream of culture rising to the top....
Hill
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ColdRedRain
They didn't have the guts to deal with the protesters so they folded up. Pitiful. This is kind of amazing too, since Forest Lake is sort of a conservative area.
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hillbilly
bttt
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Gopher
Chuck Muth's views in the original post are typical grandstanding from someone who wants to push an agenda.
Forest Lake (there's one "R" in Forest) is a patriotic, conservative town which supports veterans. The school was aware that the "Vets for Freedom" had a pro-war political agenda, but agreed to the visit if they were to have just a non-political classroom discussion and a "meet the vets" type event. Once the school agreed, then Vets for Freedom surprised the school by calling a press conference ON THE SCHOOL'S CAMPUS to drum up support, and then it became political. Then the anti-war protesters reacted by calling their own press conference, and the hijinks were on. If VFF hadn't pulled that stunt, then the event would have gone on as scheduled and the students would have had a chance to meet these veterans.
Forest Lake High School employs veterans and supports the troops. To call them unpatriotic is nonsense. But it's an election year, and we can expect oversimplification, stunts and demagoguery.
Here's a local editorialist's take on it: http://www.startribune.com/local/17035406.html
A political agenda hid behind a talk with heroes
Tuesday's cancellation of a visit to Forest Lake High School by Iraq War veterans in a giant bus labeled "Vets For Freedom National Heroes Tour" produced a bonanza of outraged media reports.
By NICK COLEMAN, Star Tribune
Last update: March 27, 2008 - 2:52 PM
Tuesday's cancellation of a visit to Forest Lake High School by Iraq War veterans in a giant bus labeled "Vets For Freedom National Heroes Tour" produced a bonanza of outraged media reports:
"Heroes banned by School! Minnesota hates the Heroes!"
Or maybe a Minnesota school was just trying to keep its students from becoming pawns in a political game.
There would not have been much outrage if that big bus, instead of saying "Heroes Tour," had been painted to say "Republican Tour to Shore Up the Pro-War Vote." But that would have been an honest paint job.
And it would have made clear why Forest Lake Principal Steve Massey -- now vilified by right wing radio and TV -- did what he did.
Massey and Forest Lake -- a patriotic small town with a Fourth of July parade where spectators stand and doff their hats and put their right hands over their hearts every single time an American flag goes by -- are getting a bum rap.
The visit to Forest Lake was worked out by Massey and Forest Lake alum Pete Hegseth, an Iraq veteran who heads Vets for Freedom. VFF says it is nonpartisan, but the liberal watchdog group the Center for Media and Democracy said it began as a Republican front group managed by White House insiders.
Their plan? According to the Center for Media and Democracy, the plan is to drum up support for the war. The group's political bent was clear last year when it bought TV ads to thank Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., for supporting the war.
Hey, folks: It's an election year. Things may get ugly. They sure were in Forest Lake.
Permit me to say something: Vets for Freedom are real vets, their heroics are authentic (but not all heroes support the war) and their right to their opinion is unquestioned.
But uniforms and valor should not hide a political agenda. On that, they must be questioned. Even in a school. Especially in a school.
The veterans' visit was planned as a low-key classroom discussion about patriotism and service to country. Massey said school officials were aware that Vets for Freedom has a political agenda, but the visit was planned as a non-political classroom discussion. Then Massey says Hegseth's group decided to call a press conference at the school and alerted media. That caught the eye of anti-war activists, including veterans of Iraq who oppose the war. They called their own press conference and rally.
A social studies discussion was turning into a street fight.
"We had been excited about the vets coming," Massey says. "Then, lo and behold, they schedule a news conference on our campus. Time out. We had to step back in a context of (worrying about) safety. The last thing we wanted was a political presentation. We had the makings of a disruption."
Massey had little choice. He called off the visit, forcing the "Heroes" to move to a Legion club and opening the gates to a flood of misleading propaganda about a hero "snubbed" by his Alma Mater and vets turned away by cowards.
Massey has received 1,200 e-mails and 250 phone calls from people -- many far from Minnesota -- calling him a coward, a Communist or a spineless America Hater. You're getting a free history lesson, kids. Google "Dissent in America."
Most of the angry calls were generated by right-wing talkers who used the Forest Lake story to whip up manufactured outrage and reinforce the effort to keep Americans who support the Iraq War from abandoning ship and joining the large majority of Americans who don't think the war is worth more lives.
But all of the abuse hurled at little Forest Lake is nonsense.
"Our school employs many incredible veterans," Massey says. "We celebrate them and hold them up as role models and heroes. So to criticize our school as unpatriotic..."
I'll finish his sentence: It's ridiculous; it's demagoguery.
"You pay a high price to stand up and do the right thing," says Massey, who met with the VFW and American Legion commanders on Wednesday to try to repair some of the damage.
The Forest Lake fight turns out to be more than you could handle in a one-day discussion in Social Studies.
What is a hero? What is patriotism? What if you oppose a war supported by the public? Or want to fight one opposed by most people? Can a patriot be against the war? Why not? Are most Americans un-American?
Maybe it's un-American to say so. But I think high school kids should discuss all of this.
After all, they may soon be in Iraq, or Iran, themselves. But if they hear from Vets for Freedom, they should hear from Iraq Veterans Against the War, too. Or see "Body of War," a documentary about a soldier named Tomas Young who volunteered after 9/11 and was paralyzed in Iraq.
"Many of us volunteered with patriotic feelings in our heart," he says. Until he was "sent into the wrong country," to fight in Iraq, not Afghanistan.
Forest Lake shows how badly we need to talk about this war. And how very hard it is to do.
Nick Coleman [email protected]
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hillbilly
Thanks Gopher... I was looking for some local insight on this. Forest (as in woods) is one r....
Hill