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Tombstones across from the Liberty Bell to honor the fallen
by
Rich Gardner | 05.25.2008
We have many more tombstones than we have room to put them, even if the front part of the lawn was made available to us, so many have died from the Iraq War.   Very beginning of setting them all up. We were restricted to using the lawn in back of the sidewalk that stretches from the street all the way to the middle entrance of the Independence Visitor Center. The tombstones are all small wooden slabs affixed with a photo of a dead US serviceperson and a quick set of facts about them.  Marking out where the tombstones would be. The careful measuring pays off when we see the final product with its neat rows and columns.  It's all too easy for people to hear the number 4081 (The latest count of US military deaths as of May 24th as per http://icasualties.org/oif/ ) and to have a very clean, abstract picture of that many casualties. We're hoping to bring it all a little more "home" to people. To make it all a bit more real.  A particular tombstone is located.  And yes, we have many more tombstones than we have room for. As far back as they all stretch, we could put even more in.  Of course, what would really make our day would be for us to be able to pay for it all. Please send $20, $30, whatever you can afford, to: Dr Jon Bjornson
6904 Wissahickon Ave #3
Philadelphia, PA 19119
 Naturally, some families stop by and personalize the tombstone of their family member.
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Comments
Progressive Bullshit
Submitted by Old Vet (not verified) on Sun, 05/25/2008 - 8:05amThis is not to honor the dead military, it is simply to make a fucking stupid political point. The honored dead would spin in their grave if they knew that anti American pieces of shit like you were "honoring" them in such a way.
Re:Progressive Bullshit
Submitted by Monique Frugier (not verified) on Wed, 05/28/2008 - 11:18pmTo honor anyone who gives his life in trust of doing the right thing is patriotic. To lie and send anyone to die for a political goal deserves facing criminal court. In this case, facing an International Criminal Court. Like it, or not.
If you read the Watergate
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 9:23amIf you read the Watergate Tapes, Nixon was seeking Vietnam Vets to counter the protestors who were anti-war.
Haldeman tells Nixon: "We can't find any pro-war vets!"
Case closed!
Hundreds of thousands of Vietnam Vets homeless! Died of Agent Orange which their own government sprayed on them!
Wake the Hell UP! You were used bigtime!
Sfren123
But wasn't that the famous question?
Submitted by Rich Gardner on Sun, 05/25/2008 - 6:34pm"What WAS the 'noble cause' my son died for?" As I remember, President Bush never did answer that question.
Rich Gardner
http://www.prawnworks.net/
Hey Gardner, Cindy Sheehan
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 05/25/2008 - 11:42pmHey Gardner,
Cindy Sheehan stood on stage with Hugo Chavez when he closed his speech with "Socialism or death, we will win!"
The only thing that's win or die is war.
Had Casey Sheehan died in Chavez's war for socialism, would that have been a noble cause?
My heroes have usually been Americans
Submitted by Rich Gardner on Mon, 05/26/2008 - 6:25amNot because I have anything against foreigners, but their causes usually aren't mine. I can't for the life of me imagine why American soldiers would be fighting for Chavez and his dream of socialism.
States tend not to fight for vague and glorious causes. States tend to fight for their interests, which are not always, but largely tend to be economic in nature. The reason neither Bush nor any other conservatives can identify the "noble cause" that Bush vaguely referred to, but that Cindy Sheehan called him on and that Bush couldn't really specify, is that the Iraq War is and always was about oil.
Rich
Gardner, It's a simple
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/26/2008 - 10:05pmGardner,
It's a simple question, "Is Chavez's Socialism a cause worth dying for?"
All you posted above is a long winded dodging of the question.
It depends
Submitted by Rich Gardner on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 6:42amon whether one is a Venezuelan. If you're from Venezuela and you've had problems with capitalists, then yes, socialism is worth dying for. If you're an American like ourselves, then not so much, as capitalism's been pretty good to us.
My point is that Sheehan's question "What IS the 'noble cause' my son died for?" is very deeply relevant. If we who constructed the above display are being condemned because we're failing to honor our soldiers and their sacrifices properly, but the best you guys can do is to launch an ad hominem attack on Casey Sheehan's mom, then we're convinced that you guys don't have an answer to her very good question.
If the Iraq War is about nothing more than oil, then how are we dishonoring anyone by pointing that out?
Rich
"hominem attack on Casey
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 11:09am"hominem attack on Casey Sheehan's mom"?
LOL, Cindy is an attack on Cindy. On the bus to Crawford, she said she regretted allowing Casey to be buried with military honors and in uniform.
Yet when she craves attention, she holds her rally outside Arlington Cemetery. To do that makes he a grave robbing ghoul. She's stealing the goodwill that the public feels towards the fallen and the respect that Arlington conveys, yet she rejects that herself. You have to admit, it's a big lie whan she does at Arlington.
Pictures by fellow DelValVet Peter Brunner
Submitted by Rich Gardner on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 1:15pmPics by Brunner
Oh, and Mark Twain's War Prayer. Classic poem!
I'd respond to the latest message, but there's really nothing to respond to as Cindy Sheehan's question to Bush was really the whole point of bringing her up in the first place.
Rich
reality ain't bullshit.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/28/2008 - 3:03pmthis is a very touching display, and i'm grateful for the thought and recognition that went into it.
Piece up at OpEd News
Submitted by Rich Gardner on Fri, 05/30/2008 - 5:42amCheryl Biren-Wright, with photos by Jack Kline & Peter Brunner, put up a piece at OpEd News on our display. It includes comments from Bill Perry.
Cheryl works for the Progressive Democrats of America S. Jersey Chapter Impeachment Team and co-leader of the New Jersey Impeach Groups.
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