No Agenda Here!

Give me a friggin' break.

Hundreds of anti-nuclear protestors rallied Saturday at US nuclear test or weapons sites as Hiroshima Saturday marked the 60th anniversary of the world's first atomic attack.

About 400 people demonstrated in a weekend event not far from the Nevada Test Site
where hundreds of nuclear tests were held up until the 1990s, said Paul Colbert, spokesman for the pacifist group Nevada Desert Experience.

The Thursday-through-Sunday protest event includes conferences, workshops and concerts, organizers said.

And there's more.

A Japanese survivor and a former US prisoner of war in Japan urged an end to nuclear arms as they marked the 60th anniversary of the world's first atomic attack at Hiroshima near US President George W. Bush' Texas ranch.

As other protests around the US echoed their sentiments, Hiroshima survivors Satoru Konishi and Paul Ritthaler recounted their experiences in Crawford, with Konishi branding the Hiroshima bomb an "atrocity" which killed mostly civilians.

"Only one percent of the dead were soldiers," said Konishi, 76, a shipyard worker in the Japanese city when the bomb fell on August 6, 1945.

Notice that this Satoru Konishi character was a shipyard worker. Surprise, surprise, Hiroshima was an industrial city that was involved in the Japanese war effort.

Look, nuclear weapons suck, but they're part of warfare in the modern world. I know it sounds backward, but they're necessary for the continued stability (if you can call it that) of the world. Nuclear technology is here to stay, and no amount of jerkoffs parading around at Los Alamos or Crawford or Hiroshima is going to change that fact.

I don't know about you, but it reminds me of this instance from the annals of hallowed antiquity...

Stan: Uh, excuse me. Excuse me, can I have your attention please? What are we doing? It's been nine days! Doesn't it seem like we should accomplish something?
Hippy: We're using the power of rock and roll to change the world! Woo!
Stan: Maybe instead of complaining about corporations being selfish, we should look at ourselves. I mean, is there anything more selfish than doing nothing but getting high and listening to music all day long?
Singer: He's right. It's time for all of us to focus our energy and get this hippy jam into full swing!

Full swing, indeed. Honestly, is there anything more pathetic than trivializing the memory of people whose deaths, while tragic, saved hundreds of thousands of American and Japanese lives in the long run? And, in a related story, what about this lady?

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- The angry mother of a fallen U.S. soldier staged a protest near President Bush's ranch Saturday, demanding an accounting from Bush of how he has conducted the war in Iraq.

Supported by more than 50 demonstrators who chanted, "W. killed her son!" Cindy Sheehan told reporters: "I want to ask the president, 'Why did you kill my son? What did my son die for?"'

Did you read that? "W. killer her son!" Bullshit. Some terrorist, who we were fighting as part of the War on Terror, killed her son.

Sheehan, 48, didn't get to see Bush, but did talk about 45 minutes with national security adviser Steve Hadley and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin, who went out to hear her concerns.

Appreciative of their attention, yet undaunted, Sheehan said she planned to continue her roadside vigil, except for a few breaks, until she gets to talk to Bush. Her son, Casey, 24, was killed in Sadr City, Iraq, on April 4, 2004. He was an Army specialist, a Humvee mechanic.

Earth to lunatic lady who's trivializing her son's death, President Bush has much more important things to do than talk to some nut job who doesn't know jack about international politics or terrorism who unjustly blames him for her son's death.

"They (the advisers) said we are in Iraq because they believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, that the world's a better place with Saddam gone and that we're making the world a safer place with what we're doing over there," Sheehan said in a telephone interview after the meeting.

"They were very respectful. They were nice men. I told them Iraq was not a threat to the United States and that now people are dead for nothing. I told them I wouldn't leave until I talked to George Bush."

Interesting. So, not only does this lady not care at all about Saddam Hussein's public support for international terrorism, but she also completely ignorant of the extensive justification and reasoning behind the invasion. And, to top it all off, she thinks that liberating twenty-five million people and fighting against people who intentionally target civilians, including children, is "nothing".

She said Hagin told her, "I want to assure you that he (Bush) really does care."

"And I said if he does care, why doesn't he come out and talk to me."

Maybe because you're an ignorant lunatic who's using your son's death to press some agenda? This absolutely astounds me, folks. Does it truly not occur to people like this that their children volunteered for the military? What do they think the military's job is? Providing security for gay pride parades and building modern art sculptures? Their job is to fight wars and protect Americans from terrorists and malevolent despots like Saddam Hussein. They get hazard pay because they've volunteered for dangerous jobs. And President Bush gets to make the decisions about what the military does because he's not a complete tool, and because he was elected by people who understand how the real world works.

Sorry. I'll stop now.