Methinks We Protest Too Much

Here's one that may have slipped past your wire service: In Smyrna, Tennessee, the God-fearing members of a small church say God is punishing American soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays, and they brought their anti-gay message to the funerals Saturday of two Tennessee soldiers killed in Iraq. Add this to the already terribly sad story of Cindy Sheehan, and I find it difficult to imagine how different these times are from the 1960's. No, wait - this is much more surreal.
The members of the Westboro Baptist Church are solidly exercising their First Amendment rights. There were the inevitable counter-demonstrations, and here's what one local man had to say: "If they were protesting the government, I might even join them," Danny Cotton, 56, said amid cries of "get out of our town" and "get out of our country. But for them to come during the worst time for this family — it's just wrong." Thanks for the perspective, Danny.
Here's the phrase that keeps rattling around my head: "Crazy with grief." Maybe that's what is happening all across the United States these days. We are all so incredibly sad for the situation that we find ourselves in as a country that we are acting like pinheads. Agree or disagree with the foreign policy of our country, you've got that right (we finished our constitution in record time - over a four year period in the late eighteenth century - read all about it!) The part I have a problem with is when those constitutionalprivilegess get pounded over other people's heads. Imagine that there is a difference between your right and your responsibility. We have passed the 1,800 mark for American casualties in our war in Iraq - approximately 1,700 since "Mission Accomplished." The most recently revised death toll for 9/11 stands at 750. I'm losing track of the logic here. Number of U.S. servicemen killed in combat in Vietnam 47,072. This really is crazy, isn't it? Maybe some of this is necessary for some national catharsis for our country. Are we destined to repeat history in twenty year cycles if only for the opportunity to ask ourselves if this is the way we want to be in the world?