10.12.2005

friendly fire

Remember Pat Tillman, the NFL player who met a "hero's" death in Afghanistan? First we discovered he was killed by his own compatriots. Now I've learned he opposed W and the invasion of Iraq. Read this amazing story about him, which I found through In Cold Blog.

I am always interested in why more athletes don't speak out, and in those times when they do. Both those wmtc posts link to good essays on sports and politics.

This Pat Tillman information is amazing. Can you imagine how their wingnuttified heads would explode if they knew Tillman was cozy with the radical critic Noam Chomsky? Of course, as Redsock points out, they've forgotten all about Tillman by now. But still.

8 comments:

Rognar said...

I am always interested in why more athletes don't speak out, and in those times when they do.

Steve Nash on the Iraq War:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0325-09.htm

Unknown said...

That story hit me more than anything just because I saw Pat play football during his high school years in San Jose. We were the same age and someone I recognized. Sad story and certainly not the first of its kind. There is a lot the US hides from it's citizens. It's only until you leave the country that you are given half the truth and learn about the world.

laura k said...

It's only until you leave the country that you are given half the truth and learn about the world.

Thank goddess for the internet. Now we don't have to wait, and can learn more than what we're "given". I hope you've already read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the U.S..

Rob, thanks for the link!

Sass said...

Ann Coulter, who called him “an American original — virtuous, pure and masculine like only an American male can be.”

Ann Coulter is such a fucking cum dumpster. She's so awful, its almost not worth my time hating her. Almost.

allan said...

Former Blue Jay Carlos Delgado was also outspoken about the invasion.

laura k said...

Ann Coulter is such a fucking cum dumpster.

Sassy, you have such a way with insults!

Former Blue Jay Carlos Delgado was also outspoken about the invasion.

Yay Carlos, he is awesome. He also protested the US's "practice" bombing in Vieques, in his native Puerto Rico. Refused to stand for the US national anthem and God Bless America in protest. Impressive for a professional athlete in the current climate - or at any time, really.

Sass said...

Sassy, you have such a way with insults!

Thanks, I consider it a gift.

laura k said...

Thanks, I consider it a gift.

You're an evil genius.