The Smarmy Carny

In April, I wrote about the fact that Casey Sheehan's headstone had not yet been installed, even two years after Casey's death.

Just in time for Memorial Day, Casey's headstone was installed on May 25, 2006. Happily, since Casey's father Patrick took over the task a couple months ago, plans for the headstone finally started in motion and the monument is in now place.

The tombstone reads:

Our Casey
Ever faithful, kind, and gentle, good son, beloved brother, brave soldier, dear friend, you loved your family and lived your life serving others to the end.

On the back of the headstone, there are six symbols, presumably notating six things that Casey enjoyed: The military, the theatre, Eagle Scouts, Superman, Van Halen, and the WWF (World Wrestling Federation).

A picture of the headstone can be seen on the site for Vacaville's The Reporter.

Casey's grave

As most of us have heard by now, Casey Sheehan, the mechanic from the Army's First Calvary Division, was killed in combat on 4/4/4. The nation is aware of Casey's death due to his mother, Cindy Sheehan, and her continuous anti-Bush, anti-Iraq ranting in the months leading up to and since the 2004 presidential election.

Despite Cindy Sheehan's continual attempts to "memoralize" her son by denouncing the war in Iraq and anything else (war-related or not) that Bush does, Casey Sheehan's gravesite still does not have a tombstone of any sort.

Why would Cindy not put up a tombstone? First, she blamed the mortuary. When the mortuary director came forward and outlined all he had done above and beyond his expected duties (including the standard payment for a tombstone), Cindy seems to have moved on to a different explanation:

For the first year after Casey was killed, I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to place a TOMBstone on my son's grave. I didn't want one more marble proof that my son was dead. I couldn't even call where he was buried a "cemetery," I had to call it "Casey's Park."

Make of that what you will.

This story does have a satisfactory conclusion, though: Cindy's soon-to-be ex-husband, Patrick Sheehan, has taken over this matter, and a local monument company is constructing Casey's permanent headstone.

Update: Casey's headstone was finally installed on May 25, 2006, in time for Memorial Day.

Get more information on Casey's tombstone at Snopes.

Mark Seavey, an Army seargent infantry squad leader recently released due to an injury, stood up to speak at an Arlington, Virginia town hall meeting. Representatives Jim Moran (D-VA) and John Murtha (D-PA) were taking questions at the time.

Take a look at this video. Listen to Seavey's comments on the troops' morale and note Murtha and Moran's reactions to the questions. More importantly, note their responses (or utter lack of response, to be more accurate). The transcription below was first posted over at the Dawn Patrol/Mudville Gazette.

"Yes sir my name is Mark Seavey and I just want to thank you for coming up here. Until about a month ago I was Sgt Mark Seavey infantry squad leader, I returned from Afghanistan. My question to you, (applause)

"Like yourself I dropped out of college two years ago to volunteer to go to Afghanistan, and I went and I came back. If I didn't have a herniated disk now I would volunteer to go to Iraq in a second with my troops, three of which have already volunteered to go to Iraq. I keep hearing you say how you talk to the troops and the troops are demoralized, and I really resent that characterization. (applause) The morale of the troops that I talk to is phenomenal, which is why my troops are volunteering to go back, despite the hardships they had to endure in Afghanistan.

"And Congressman Moran, 200 of your constituents just returned from Afghanistan. We never got a letter from you; we never got a visit from you. You didn't come to our homecoming. The only thing we got from any of our elected officials was one letter from the governor of this state thanking us for our service in Iraq, when we were in Afghanistan. That's reprehensible. I don't know who you two are talking to but the morale of the troops is very high."

Moran – who is one of the few congressmen supporting Charlie Rangel's call to restore the draft – responded quickly: "That wasn't in the form of a question, it was in the form of a statement. But, uhh… let's go over here." And he took the next question.

Thanks to the Dawn Patrol/Mudville Gazette, Michelle Malkin, Tom Segel, and Rush Limbaugh for further propogating the story, else I might never have heard about it. God knows the mainstream media wouldn't latch onto a comment like this. Wait for Bush to mispronounce one word this week, however, and we'll hear all about it.

I was watching a game show in the cafeteria at work, and someone noted that there was not hurricane-related news on the television. I might as well offer a few thoughts on the events surrounding the hurricane.

• Evacuation — They should do a whole lot more to help get the sick and elderly out of the hurricane regions when an evacuation is in effect. Perhaps an evacuation hotline might make sense, but it might also be too impractical. In the area where I grew up, there were road signs near major strips for evacuation routes in case of problems with the nearby nuclear plant.
• Rooftop rescues — Assuming a better, improved evacuation procedure, they should fine every single person who has to be rescued by helicopter. I see many seemingly healthy people on the news coverage being lifted out via helicopter. Likely, these people were simply of the "We're not going to leave home. Forget the evacuation, because we're sticking it out!" mindset. This stupidity wastes the time of the rescue choppers that could be doing something worthwhile, like aiding ground rescue teams or pulling out any floating corpses that may be contaminating the water.
• Looting — What's the deal with looting? I can somewhat understand the food situation, since the grocery stores aren't open and there aren't many/any other methods for obtaining food. This leads me to a suggestion: If you're dumb enough not to evacuate, then stock up on food! Tulane University's hospital is trying to evacuate because they are experiencing problems with looting. Someone stole the hospital's generator off of one of their command stations. If that weren't enough, one of their ambulances was overturned as well. Smart.

That having been said, I have decided to make a decision and take a stand against hurricanes.

Watching the trailer makes me miss all of the "good" war movies of the past, from Stalag 17 to The Bridge on the River Kwai to Apocolypse Now to Glory to Saving Private Ryan.

Judging by the trailer, this movie may fall into the same ranks, pun intended.

The Great Raid follows the story of the 6th Ranger Battalion during World War II. The Rangers take on a mission to free 500 POWs from a Japanese camp in the Philippines. The movie apparently tracks the stories of the Rangers as well as the POWs in the camp, who have been there for three years by the time the Rangers get this mission.

I suggest that this movie may turn out as good as the other classics I mentioned because, rather than an all out bloodbath war movie, the movie also focuses on dramatic storylines as well. I'd rather not recount the details and get it wrong, though. Watch the trailer, and you'll see.

According to IMDB, this movie was one of the near-casualties of the Disney-Miramax split, as it was originally slated for a 2003 release.

Here's a fun little video titled "Is This the Way to Armadillo?" Apparently, it was made by the boys in the Royal Dragoon Guards at the Al Faw base in Iraq. Of course, you can always get the original song, "Is This the Way to Amarillo" by Tony Christie & Peter Kay.

Either you'll love it or hate it, but either way, you should check it out.