WARNING - What follows is Bushwood's first foray into a quasi-political issue. What I say may anger you, upset you,or make you laugh. However, take note that I am simply EXERCISING MY RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH.
Sadly, the current (political,media,social,whatever) climate is now managed by folks who seems to have forgotten that the first amendment applies to ALL Americans (as my man Ice T once said "freedom of speech,just watch how you use it) - regardless of whether they are in vogue or not. That means Wanda Sykes or Wanda at WalMart, David Feherty or David Brinkley, Tom Cruise or Tom Sawyer - ALL have a right to express their opinions.
Last week,news of some comments that David Feherty made to D magazine surfaced. In case you have been under a rock since then, Fehertry made some colorful (humorous,I thought - others say disrespectful)comments about a couple of politicians who are (presently) in leadership positions within their political party. In essence, he said that based on his actual experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan,our soldiers don't think much of these two people (Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid). Subsequently, David was widely criticized and skewered by the media for his fact-based observations. Sadly, this criticism failed to give much consideration to two important facts:
- He was exercising his 1st Amendment rights.
- He based his comment on FACTS gathered in discussions with US Soldiers - thus,he was simply reporting accurate information (I suppose one could allege that hewas just lying,but then he is not running for office, so what are the odds of that)
In an effort to verify #1, I checked - and thankfully, no one has managed to amend or delete that provision in the constitution. To check out #2, I emailed 3 friends who are serving active duty at this time. Without exception, they expressed a, um, "no confidence"(that's being pretty damn mild,btw) vote in Pelosi and Reid - no big surprise, since these two elected officials have been anything BUT supporters of our troops.
Personally, I think both political parties have anything BUT the interest of the average American in mind - so this is not a politically biased commentary. However, it IS sad when someone gets chastised for simply speaking the truth. As for Mr. Feherty, I hope he does notlet this in any way impact his great golf reporting OR his full and complete support of our brave soldiers. They are, after all, the ones who help ensure that we get to keep our rights as promised by the framers of the Constitution.
Now,if David had asked me the question...well, lets just say that the world would be a better place after those elevator doors opened...regardless of how many people got off.
