Thanks, Cindy

In response to this story, I just want to pay tribute to a woman I consider to be determined and courageous who stood up and said that the Iraq war was wrong at a time when way too many people thought it was just dandy and while we’re sorry for her loss why the hell doesn’t she just sit down, Shut Up And Clap Louder anyway.

I can’t imagine the pain she lives with every day, and though she has my sympathies, I hope I never do. On top of that, I’m not sure I can imagine what it took for her to persevere as long as she did, including carrying on despite disgusting, cowardly episodes like this.

Before approximately 70 percent of this country realized at long last that the Iraq war was wrong, there were people like Cindy Sheehan and The Dixie Chicks standing up and saying so despite the threats and the name calling.

I thank them for that, and I hope Cindy Sheehan can find some measure of peace in her life. And though she would have chosen to pass up all of this celebrity and recognition to have her son back, she should realize somehow, somewhere, someday, that she stirred the slumbering conscience of this nation to life so that everyone could understand what she already knew.

To say that this country owes her a debt is a huge understatement (and a dishonorable mention goes to the congressional Democrats whose cowardly endorsement of Bush’s tragic folly made her finally give up).