Last night I received my copy of The Kingwood Observer. I love the editorial pages because that is where we get the spirit of our community when the editors allow it to be expressed. I was first ecstatic to see Kingwood Area Democrat Deborah Mowrey’s article Whose “facts” do you believe. It was a long overdue article that needed to be expressed especially in our community where misinformation has been allowed to take hold because of the unavailability of unbiased local coverage as well as the affinity of those in this area to the most effective misinformation engine in our time, Fox News.
After reading Deborah’s article I continued reading and the article below, Grossly ill-equipped by Amanda Dunn, completely touched me. I have many friends that have served in Iraq and while I know for a fact that the military wants to do the best for their soldiers, unfortunately many of the politicians, especially those that favor tax cutting at all cost, consider our soldiers disposable even as they use them for PR purposes. They are summarily forgotten afterwards.
When I woke up this morning Amanda’s letter was still on my mind. Here was a proud mother that is worried about her Soldier, her West Point graduate, her 2nd Lieutenant daughter serving our country being deployed to Iraq while ill-equipped. She contacted her congressman, Ted Poe, whose reply was just a form letter followed by complete unconcern.
Well, I called Amanda this morning and had a very long conversation about her wonderful daughter, about her worries about the unnecessary risk an ill-equipped daughter is confronted with, as well as the sense that her cries went unheard. She told me that since the letter was printed, she was contacted by Ted Poe’s office. In other words when the cameras or the media puts the spot light on Ted Poe, he is willing to give the semblance of concern.
Ted Poe loves to play the “glory, glory hallelujah” card in the local papers and on the floor of Congress. But what is his real record to our brave soldiers and their families. It is easy to have a press conference and vote to support war and direct military budgets which mostly goes to our military industrial complex. The question is, will Ted Poe vote for policies to support our soldiers’ healthcare, the education of our soldiers’ children, and the reintroduction of our soldiers into our local economies. Have they not sacrificed enough?
