Media darlings and ignored heroes

In every city, in every home town they grew up in, they are mourned. When the flag draped casket carrying their body to rest passes thru the streets, total strangers turn out to comfort the families but above that, they turn out to honor the life gone for the nation's sake. Regular people prove the men and women serving in the military do matter to us. You'd never know this if all you've been getting your news from has come from cable news stations.

These men and women are heroes but the cable news stations would rather make celebrities our of people like Sarah Palin. What makes her deserve such attention? Wouldn't you think that a man or woman serving in the military risking their lives everyday would be more worthy of that kind of attention?

When they come home wounded, as they wait for claims to be approved, neighbors step up to help alter homes to be able to fit wheelchairs into tiny bathrooms. They step up with contractors and build homes for them when they have no home to call their own to alter. They may not know all that is going on in Afghanistan or Iraq (because the news doesn't cover it) but they do know what has happened to one of their own neighbors. They also care when it happens to a soldier clear across the nation.

The American people do care about the men and women serving as well as veterans of past wars but they are not being provided with the information they need to know what is happening to them and this is the fault of the cable media stations. You'd think with 24-7 coverage to fill they'd find some time between reporting on Sarah Palin and Tiger Woods, but then they would have to care enough to find the time and honor these real heroes instead of making celebrities.

Luke Sharrett/The New York Times
Marine Sgt. Frank J. World of Buffalo, N.Y., was carried from the back of a C-17 plane to a mortuary truck at Dover Air Force Base on Easter Sunday.

As Families Gather at Dover, Efforts to Ease Pain
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: April 9, 2010


DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — Shortly after 4:20 a.m. on Easter Sunday, a pair of flag-covered cases with the remains of two Marines, both killed the previous week in Afghanistan, were carried out of the belly of a C-17 into the sight of their waiting families.

As two mothers, a widow and a knot of other kin watched from the tarmac, the bodies of Sgt. Frank J. World, 25, of Buffalo and Lance Cpl. Tyler O. Griffin, 19, of Voluntown, Conn., were loaded into a large van. Marines in white gloves and camouflage fatigues gave a final salute in the dark chill, then marched in formation behind the van as it rolled slowly toward the base mortuary, the largest in the nation.

In the past year, as the remains of 462 service members along with nearly 2,000 relatives have passed through Dover, the experience on the flight line has become as common as it is excruciating. Now, to meet the demand and to accommodate what Dover officials expect to be increasing casualties from Afghanistan, the military has embarked on a building surge at this main entry point for the nation’s war dead.

read more here

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/us/11dover.html?src=mv

They matter to a lot of the people in this country.

Rochester Marine Remembered

ROCHESTER, MN---Friends, family members and strangers alike are remembering a Southern Minnesota Marine.

"It's hard to stand here and watch when somebody that young comes home like this," said Allen Larson of Rochester as he stood across from Bethel Lutheran Church on 3rd Avenue South.

He and dozens of others watched a small army of American flag carrying Minnesota Patriot Guard members help line up in front of the church and help to bid farewell to a Marine for his service and sacrifice.

It's really good to see the Patriot Guard and all the flags and everybody showing up just to honor him," said Larson.

Larson said he served 26 years in the Army Reserve and also served in Desert Storm.

"I'm standing here getting choked up you know it’s hard to see somebody come home like this," said Larson.

Lance Corporal Curtis Michael Swenson died from the wounds he received when his Humvee hit a roadside bomb in Afghanistan last week.
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Rochester Marine Remembered

They should be important to the cable news stations enough to report on them instead of what they have been focused on. In the words of Charles Lewis "It makes me mad" too.

“I don’t watch cable news,” he said. “I’ll be honest with you. It makes me mad.”

Cable news shows a waste of time, veteran journalist tells Naples audience
By ELIZABETH KELLAR
Posted April 10, 2010 at 10:39 a.m

NAPLES — Veteran investigative journalist Charles Lewis described his journey from Watergate-era intern to government watchdog as a “long, strange road.”

Lewis addressed the Forum Club of Southwest Florida on Friday at an afternoon luncheon event at the Naples Beach Hotel. It was the final speaker event of the Forum Club’s annual series.

Lewis is now the executive editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University in Washington, D.C. Raised in a Republican household, he was interning for Delaware Sen. Bill Roth at the time of the Watergate scandal.
read more here
Cable news shows a waste of time

Once in a while they will cover some story about what is going on but minutes of footage from Iraq, when they forgot all about Afghanistan, did not make up for the lack of reporting. Now it is the reverse. They forget about Iraq for a few seconds spent on Afghanistan.