SUDDENLY, THIS SUMMER...

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By Sheila Samples (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)

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"Certainly Sheehan has caught a wave, and the ranch stakeout was very clever," Washington Post's Dana Milbank remarked on Aug 18 in an online discussion. "But she has been seeking publicity for more than a year ... and for the most part, the media ignored her." Milbank admitted it is "possible" for Sheehan to have ignited a movement that will continue, but added he believed "Sheehan's story will fade after the Roberts hearings start." Milbank also quipped that the only citizen who has a right to take a grievance to the president is -- Laura Bush.

In his own online chat the day before, Milbank's cohort at the Post, Jim VandeHei, yawned, "The White House thinks this whole story is a silly obsession of bored reporters with nothing better to do during the slow August."

The blase' attitude of Milbank and Vandehei is shared by the majority of their peers, with the exception of far too few editorial writers such as the Atlanta Journal-Consititution's Jay Bookman and the New York Times' Paul Krugman and, of course, Frank Rich -- who has no peer. While waiting for August to end, Milbank and Vandehei could perhaps amuse themselves and their readers with a rollicking account of the travails endured by a pack of their fellow reporters and photographers who accompanied Bush on a 17-mile bike ride on Saturday, Aug. 13.

Or not. I mean, after spending hours cycling through the Texas Johnson grass and loco weed with the leader of the free world, a "bonding" adventure if ever there was one, what's there to talk about -- the 1,868 butchered US citizens in Iraq, one of whom was Casey Sheehan, whose mother is camped out at the front gate?

No? Well maybe the bikers thought to ask Bush why he stubbornly continues to remain in a bloody IraqNam quagmire that continues to suck our sons and daughters under at more than three a day, continues to add more wounded and maimed Americans to the already 45,000 whose lives are shattered forever, continues a murderous rampage against innocent civilians in two countries whose existance on this planet is so trivial their deaths are not worthy of counting.

Too much hard work? Well, I'm sure those stalwart journalist cyclists were just bubbling with questions about the "nobility" of a cause wherein a president is willing to sacrifice his nation's citizens, its money, its very existance on an illegal, immoral, grandoise crusade to spread freedom and democracy -- only to back off at the last minute and support the creation of an Islamist state. Surely they are curious about such shuddering hypocrisy. For Bush to change horses in the middle of the Democracy stream is the most deadly flip-flop of all time. Bush's cowardly retreat screams an answer to Sheehan's question and to questions of all mothers who are waking up and realizing that their children have died -- will continue to die -- in vain.

Milbank flippantly opines that when this August non-story is over, Cindy Sheehan will be viewed as either "Rosa Parks or Lyndon Larouche." I have news for Milbank and his fellow MSM holograms -- this is not last August nor the August before and, as Yogi Berra once earnestly opined -- "it ain't over till it's over.

The people have Karl Rove in hiding; they have smoked Bush out and have him on the run. Bush is so rattled that he shouts "9-11!" to any question posed to him, calls out "9-11!" to questions not posed to him, and holds up a sign heralding "9-11!" to passers-by on the street.

The search for answers began with a single woman stumbling along through a tangle of weeds in a ditch beside a dusty Texas back road, with a single question to ask the president of the United States. She was ignored by the president, yet her presence ignited a movement that roared across the country at an astonishing rate, almost instantly becoming larger than one dead soldier and his heartbroken mother.

And it is not over.

The people are coming, and George Bush knows it. They want answers. They want the truth and they will not stop until they get it from Bush and his neoconservative handlers, from the heartless and destructive religious right, the corporate military-industrial jackals, Congressonal whores and cowards, from the hollow virtual media complex. And from the murderous Donald H. Rumsfeld.

When that happens, this nation will experience its own terrible and awesome "Suddenly, This Summer" moment.

Then, and only then, will it be over.

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[1] Local media across the nation did an admirable job of covering candlelight vigils that lit up the entire US landscape last week. Great photos and coverage here -- where attendees are encouraged to post photos from vigils in their area -- and here.

[2] The Internet is literally pulsating with minute-by-minute reports from reporters at the scene -- reports that cannot be spun, watered down or scrubbed by the administration or the MSM. There are far too many to mention here, but check out Democratic Underground, TruthOut, Huffington Post, The Iconoclast, Bush's hometown paper, and Air America Radio.

Sheila Samples is an Oklahoma writer and a former civilian US Army Public Information Officer. She is a regular contributor for a variety of Internet sites. Contact her at: rsamples@sirinet.net. © 2005 Sheila Samples

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Sheila Samples is an Oklahoma writer and a former civilian US Army Public Information Officer. She is a regular contributor for a variety of Internet sites.

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.