Heartless in the face of grief

Today I want to share with you another article by Ed Naha - this one entitled, "The Heartland gets the heartless treatment". In it, Naha talks about the president's tanking poll numbers, Cindy Sheehan's protest in Crawford and an interview on Chris Matthews' "Hardball" in order to paint a picture of where the mood of the country just may be headed.

What I want to call particularly to your attention is Bush's behavior when he met with the Sheehan's after the death of their son in Iraq. Here's the pertinent excerpt:

Sheehan's family was one of fifteen who met with Bush a little over a year ago. She expected comfort, perhaps even a chance to reflect on her son's life.

"He wouldn't look at the pictures of Casey. He didn't even know Casey's name," she told CNN, Sunday. "Every time we tried to talk about Casey and how much we missed him, he would change the subject."

In another article, I read that Bush disrespectfully called Ms. Sheehan "Mom" throughout that interview.

Sheehan has made a trip to Crawford to protest the war. She is camped outside the president's ranch - as close as the secret service will let her get. She says she will stay there until Bush comes out to talk to her.

[S]she boarded a bus painted red, white and blue, with the words "Impeachment Tour" on it and began her journey. She pulled up at a house run by peace activists in Crawford, where she hooked up with local anti-war folks. The bus led a caravan of about 20 vehicles down a winding road towards Shrub's brush-clearing enclave, filled with veterans, moms of slain GIs and ordinary citizens. The caravan was stopped by Sheriff's deputies. The anti-war folks were advised that, if they wanted to proceed to Dubyaland, they would have to get out of their vehicles and walk in a ditch along the side the road.

The protesters did as they were told. They disembarked and began to walk in the sweltering heat. They walked about a half a mile. Then, deputies stopped them, saying that they had violated their instructions by walking ON THE PUBLIC ROAD ITSELF INSTEAD OF STAYING IN THE DITCH.

Sheehan, accompanied by several other mothers, insisted she had not walked on the road. The deputies said she could not go any farther, as protesters began chanting "W killed her son."

The deputies broke up the mobile protest. Sheehan and several others vowed to sit vigil in the ditch until Bush met with them.

Now, gang, fascism begins slowly, in incremental ways. When did it become illegal to walk down a road? When did it become necessary for you to have to walk in a ditch because of your political views?

At least the news media is reporting this protest. After all, they're pretty much camped outside the president's ranch themselves just waiting for some news while the president enjoys his five week vacation.