What a cluster screw….

I’ve been off the “net” for a bit and I can tell you one thing. Your warriors are kicking ass and taking names across the water ponds (oceans for you smart ones). Why doesn’t it surprise me that our nation is attracted to MJs death like bugs to a light but as in the below article and like the thousands that have paid the ultimate sacrifice before him, we have a warriors death glazed over as he was killed the same day as MJ…..I got to be honest, this apart of what’s freaking jacked with our country.  MJs accomplishments were greater than this warrior? Barf…..I’m glad I’ve been off the radar for awhile, I feel like I’ve missed all of the MJ bullshit and feel pretty good about that. God Bless the warriors who pay the price and are never recognized for their sacrifices. It’s a damn shame we take them for granted.

Time for a cigar for Lt. Brian Bradshaw and the many other warriors like him…..

A day before New York Rep. Peter King called Michael Jackson a “pervert” unworthy of nonstop media coverage, the aunt of a U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan on the same day Jackson died asked why her nephew's death went virtually unnoticed while the King of Pop got memorial shrines across the country.

"Mr. Jackson received days of wall-to-wall coverage in the media," Martha Gillis wrote to the Washington Post. "Where was the coverage of my nephew or the other soldiers who died that week?"

Gillis' nephew, Lt. Brian Bradshaw, 24, died in Kheyl, Afganistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Bradshaw, of Steilacoom, Wash., was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division in Fort Richardson, Alaska. He was one of at least 13 U.S. soldiers to die in Afghanistan since Jackson's death on June 25.

Bradshaw's mother, Mary, said she agreed with Gillis, saying the nonstop coverage of Jackson's death has become "totally ridiculous" and laughable.

"I can watch the news many nights and there's no mention of what's going on in Afghanistan or Iraq and there's boys dying over there," Bradshaw told FOXNews.com. "Oh God, I can't talk."

Gillis, of Springfield, Va., could not be reached for comment. In her letter to the Washington Post, she described Bradshaw as a "thoroughly decent person with a wry sense of humor" who loved history, particularly the Civil War.

"He had old-fashioned values and believed that military service was patriotic and that actions counted more than talk," Gillis wrote. "He wasn't much for talking, although he could communicate volumes with a raised eyebrow."

Bradshaw, who graduated from Pacific Lutheran University, was the product of a military family. His father, Paul, is a retired National Guard helicopter pilot, and his mother is a retired Army nurse.

"He was a search-and-rescue volunteer, an altar boy, a camp counselor," Gillis' letter continued. "He carried the hopes and dreams of his parents willingly on his shoulders. What more than that did Michael Jackson do or represent that earned him memorial 'shrines,' while this soldier's death goes unheralded?"

Gillis said the only media outlets that covered Bradshaw's death were in his hometown of Steilacoom, Wash., and those where he was stationed before his deployment in March.

Gillis' sentiment echoes that of King, the Long Island, N.Y., congressman who called on society to stop "glorifying" Jackson in a YouTube video posted on Monday.

King said Jackson had been excessively praised in the days after his death while society ignored the efforts of teachers, police officers and veterans. In the two-minute video, King called the "day in and day out" coverage of Jackson's death "too politically correct."

"Let's knock out the psychobabble," he said in the video, which was taped outside an American Legion Hall in his district. "He was a pervert, a child molester; he was a pedophile. And to be giving this much coverage to him, day in and day out, what does it say about us as a country? I just think we're too politically correct."

King, who is among the possible Republican contenders to run against Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, acknowledged that Jackson "may have been a good singer" and "did some dancing," but he blasted the King of Pop as someone who could not be trusted around children.

"There's nothing good to say about this guy," King continued. "But the bottom line is, would you let your child or grandchild be in the same room as Michael Jackson?"

 

 

Comments

[Peter Desrochers]

Greetings,

If you haven’t already, please check out Last Journey: A Father and Son in Wartime, by Darrell Griffin Sr. His son, Staff Sergeant Darrell "Skip" Griffin Jr., was killed in action on March 21, 2007 during his third tour in Iraq. At the time of his death, Skip was writing a personal account of the war in an effort to rationalize the havoc surrounding him and his fellow soldiers.

In honor of his son, Mr. Griffin Sr. traveled to Iraq to witness for himself the lifestyle of a soldier. Combined with his son's sensitive, at times philosophical correspondence, Mr. Griffin Sr. provides a unique and intimate perspective on war that is unknown to many Americans.

For your convenience, I've enclosed a link to a featured review from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/books/01garner.html?_r=1&ref=books and another review from Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Last-Journey/Darrell-Griffin-Sr/e/9781934633168#TABS. Take a moment to consider this book. We hope you will share our tremendous enthusiasm for this work that commemorates the life of a patriot.

Best regards,

Peter Desrochers

[Elliot Astur]

I just learned about Lt. Bradshaw and I think the media is disgraceful for ignoring our true heroes. I wrote a song for our troops which was supposed to be featured on CNN's Nancy Grace show...the same night Michael died. Of course, the piece on my song was cancelled, and has not been aired. It was rescheduled for Thursday July 2, and again was cancelled for no apparent reason.

You can hear the song at www.elliotastur.com and the CNN video is posted there as well. All sales of the song are donated to Homes for our Troops, a charity that builds handicapped accessible homes for severely injured veterans.

I'm hoping to send the song and video to Lt. Bradshaw's family, so they know that while the media only focuses on Michael Jackson, there are folks out there who are overwhelmingly thankful for heroes such as Lt. Bradshaw.

[Elliot Astur]

Quick follow-up on my above post: I'm grateful to Nancy Grace and CNN for producing the video to begin with, and perhaps at some point they will air it. They do a tribute every night to a soldier who has left us, and I certainly commend them for that.

I simply share the frustration of the Bradshaw family. You are in my thoughts.

[Ed Skinner]

Fear not: some of us back here in the states are ignoring MJ.

And we know you are there, we know what you are doing -- not saying, not protesting, not carrying signs -- but *doing*.

Thank you.

[anon]

“Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are.”

Thomas Carlyle

[Maj pain]

All coments above are "spot on"...plus we all know the true musical KING is Elvis....thankyouverymuch...

[mindy1]

I just read about this on another milblog, and I so agree with the sentiment, they should be honored. I honor them and thank them

[Love Barton]

Thank you very much for echoing the sentiments I have being thinking & could not express with half your eloquence. Thank you also for being where you are, for being who you are, and for making the extra ordinary efforts you are make every day. It is more than appreciated. It gives worth to my life. If my son grows up to be in the corps I'll know I did one thing right ;)

[Kelli]

Amen-I have nothing to add but THANK YOU to all those who make the sacrifices half a world away every single day.

[Arrow]

Steel on Target Major. This should never be that evil personified be glorified while our most precious gift, America’s finest, bleed and die on foreign soil far from their loved ones for a nation gorging on the vomit of pop culture.

Just know there are millions of us that honor the sacrifice of America's best and couldn't forget you if we wanted to. We were cut from different cloth and learned early on (from men and women just like you) the high cost of our freedom was paid in blood by our Warriors and the heart break of their families left behind.

May you all be in the company of covering Angels sent from the throne of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords as you go forth and do battle.

[Boom]

Screw the Main Stream Media. Real Americans know who our hero's are and mourn the loss of each and every one of them. God Bless and Thank You for your service!
As for MJ, I quit watching the first day.

[julian]

Actually, the latest word is that they are going to bury MJ in the same box as Walter 'Commie Bastard" Crunkite so that the lefties and Hollywood types can all line up to figuratively kiss the arses of both at once.

[wt259]

LOL Julian. Yeah, plastic man and Walter the Leftie. What a pair. Can anyone imagine, back then, Pres. McGovern, and VP Cronkhite?

[LacyWilder]

Different people in the world get the loan in different banks, because that is easy and fast.