Star Jones: 'We have the freedoms we have because of what those guys do'

[StellaBlue]

She is talking about her new husband, I think - just turned the channel over. Sounds like he's being shipped to Iraq. She said something about Al (her husband), and then said, 'Well, I have to remember, we have the freedoms we have because those guys do what they do.'

I have a problem with this. Does anyone else? Smacks of thoughtless jingoism to me. How is what those guys in Iraq are doing giving us any freedoms? I guess I don't 'support the troops'.

[Arkana]

1. Sounds like it to me

but at least she didn't say anything about wearing a burqa.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I have a problem too

since I see the illegal Iraq war and the whole phoney "war on terrorism" has done nothing but take AWAY our rights and freedoms.

[tgnyc]

3. Like Star fuckin' Jones is some learned pundit.

Who gives a fuck what she thinks?

[1monster]

27. Star Jones is no dummy. She is a lawyer and a former prosecutor.

It strikes me that she is telling herself that as a form of comfort.

Most military families (as well as those serving) are told that as justification for sending them off to war.

Perhaps, for many of them, it is the only way to bear sending loved ones into the path of flying bullets, suicide bombers, and RPGs...

[nvliberal]

30. Nancy Grace is a lawyer and former prosecutor.

I rest my case.

Being a lawyer doesn't mean one is automatically brilliant.

[1monster]

33. Who's Nancy Grace?

:shrug:

[NoSheep]

45. Exactly!

[RebelOne]

46. You must not watch CNN. She has a her own program.

She is a former Georgia prosecutor.

[1monster]

53. I used to be a television news junky, but that has been a long time ago...

I kept getting this surrealistic feeling when I watched the news that, somehow, I'd landed on Babylon 5 and was watching ISN (or something like that) news, where all the news was completely backwards from what really happened.

Since I didn't like the "Through the Looking Glass" feel feeling, I stopped watching all of the news shows. In fact, I rarely watch television at all. Maybe an hour every week or two.

[goclark]

4. Al is going to Iraq? I just fell on the floor!

Something doesn't sound right to me.

[Missy M]

9. I agree, something doesn't sound right. She must have been talking...

about someone else.

[Generator]

38. No no no it's a Nephew o f Al's

I have pretty much stopped watching that damn show but I heard her say this a few weeks ago when dear old Star "just found out" from watching an old 60 minutes that our troops don't have enough armor and now that it "affects her" she cares.

[FreedomAngel82]

48. Oh of course

Damn every one else there. :eyes: I'm the only one that matters! :sarcasm:

[teenagebambam]

5. Al's going to Iraq?

I thought the Army wouldn't take gays?

[goclark]

10. Is he in the National Guard?

Is there an article in the paper.

Maybe he will be there on assignment with Gannon.

[Carni]

55. Maybe he enlisted to get away from her EOM

[asjr]

19. At this point in time the military would take little

green frogs if they could hold a rifle and swear fealty to Shrub.

[Midlodemocrat]

6. That was true in previous wars, but certainly not this one.

Illegal from the get go and profoundly immoral.

[wtmusic]

7. We will have the freedom to drive our SUVs to the ends of the earth

thanks to her husband's courageous occupation and plundering of other's resources.

[rodeodance]

8. it is--as it is said over and over. creates a chilly climate.

..Does anyone else? Smacks of thoughtless jingoism to me. How is what those guys in Iraq are doing giving us any freedoms? I guess I don't 'support the troops'.

[leftchick]

11. "freedom isn't free"

it is hollow jingoism to rationalize the unthinkable.

[Ravenseye]

12. Idiotic

You know, I agree that we have our freedoms because of our military. They protect us from tyrants and invaders. Who would invade us? Who knows, if we didn't have a military though somebody would.

Yet that doesn't equate to every usage of the troops. Sending them to Iraq doesn't protect our freedoms. Hell sending them anywhere doesn't protect our freedoms.

We don't need to spend 455 Billion dollars a year on defense for our country when other countries do it for a tenth of that. We spend it because we use our military not for defense but for protecting our corporations global interests.

Star Jones might as well say "We have our Coca Cola because of what those guys do." It'd be far more accurate.

[triguy46]

13. Don't think so.

What these guy do over there is independent of our freedoms. The bigger threat is the neo fascist/christian jihad/repug agenda. If there is ANY link at all, it would be that the terrorists have won: given the bushistas sufficient rhetoric to convince the populace of impending doom and the ONLY chance we have is to sacrifce our bill of rights.

[Connie_Corleone]

14. I don't think the army takes gays.

She must be talking about someone else, not her husband.

[Neshanic]

32. Correct. She must be talking about someone else. He's ...you know.

[Tomee450]

Star Jone's husband is gay?

I've never heard that. Was she unaware of that fact when she married him? All of this is news to me.

[truebrit71]

15. It's total bullshit.

What those guys are doing in Iraq is making us LESS free....

[Book Lover]

16. That may be true occasionally, but

the armed forces did not protect my freedom when, to give the most minor example, my sophomore homeroom teacher forced me to say the Pledge under threat of punishment back in the 80's. My mom took care of that.

This lie, that the armed forces is the only thing that stands between the citizenry and dictatorship, is hardly working out today; what has any army/navy/marine done to stop the PATRIOT Act?

[orion9941]

17. OMG I can't stand those clucking hens!!!

Talk about overly opinionated, vapid, self important, morans.

[sui generis]

24. buk buk buk buk ga BAWK!!!!

:evilgrin:

[goclark]

18. I just did a search for info and came up with "0"

As much as Star loves publicity, something doesn't sound right.

What did the other Babble Girls say when she said that...?

[MacGregor]

25. I think it's a relative she's referring to, maybe a brother.

I saw it mentioned in a commercial for one of the tabloid-entertainment shows as I was flipping channels the other day. (I'm Googling blanks, but maybe it's a testament to how little anyone cares.) Certainly couldn't be Big Gay Al, though I could forgive anyone for reaching that conclusion since that vapid harpy won't shut the hell up about him. If it were, I shudder to think at the volume and ceaselessness of the preemptive wailing and rending of garments she would no doubt engage in.

[slaveplanet]

41. whomever it was

Her main beef was they were being shipped 8 days before the 40th birthday when they would've been deactivated...after going through that bit ...she brought up the protecting our freedom apologist BS....at that point Joy's jaw hit the floor, but she bit her tongue...would have been nice to hear her chime in...

[expatriot]

20. only inasmuch as they defend our national sovereignty....

but militaries of dictatorships, monarchies and other autocracies also protect the sovereinty of their respective nations. I came up with an anology to the whole "we owe our freedoms to the military."

Just because a turtle has a strong shell, doesn't mean it's alive inside of it. Democracy is a living organism and must be kept going through the internal organs of this metaphoric turtle. What prompted me to think of this analogy is that damned evil poem that goes something like this: it is not the lawyer that protects our right to a fair trial, it is the soldier.... and it goes on.

[_ed_]

21. Nonsense

I'm a former soldier. Unless she's referring to Revolutionary War Vets or possibly WWII Vets, this is just silly.

Our Constitution gives us freedoms. There's no way the Iraqi Insurgents will subvert our Constitution somehow.

[Dora]

22. We have the freedoms we have because there was a goddamn revolution

Remember the American Revolution, Star? That's why we have the freedoms we have. We don't have rights because an army of young adults too young to legally drink in most states are dying due to insufficient armor in a war engineered by corporate interests back when Clinton was still president.

[shadowknows69]

23. We can use this...

"We have freedoms because of what these guys do(military, indisputably true) but not because of what they're doing now." Bring the troops home where they're needed most now (defense, hurricane relief whatever). This message brought to you by The Democratic Party (i can dream right?)

make this our "support the troops" cry.

[AzDar]

26. Star Jones is an idiot ... she is the only person in the country who

hasn't yet realized she married a gay man. Just sayin'....

[cantstandbush]

28. Our 'freedoms' have been reduces since the Iraq invasion.

We can't even criticize the war without being labeled as unpatriotic or arrested if we speak out in public.

[nvliberal]

29. Actually, we are LOSING the freedoms we have

because of the excuse of going over to Iraq to "fight terra."

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

31. Every time I hear that...

They usually mean: "SHUT UP! Don't you dare say anything critical of America, you liburl America-hatin' commie-nazi!!!!!"

[StellaBlue]

34. Two items to add:

1) To her credit, Star did say later, 'I do think, though, that it would be better if all those guys were building New Orleans, where we need them now' or something to that effect.

2) http://www.starandal.com/index.cfm?fa=welcome

Please look at this site. I dare you.

[StellaBlue]

36. hahahaha

:puke:

Deleted. Just realized Star might want to sue me for copying text from her site. You'll have to go read it yourself. Highly recommended.

[StellaBlue]

40. AND

She had 16 bridesmaids!!!!

:rofl:

[Mob Mama]

35. It's her BIL going to Iraq, not her pretty-boy dh.

on one hand, I can sympathize, because my BIL is currently over there, too.

But I hate that term. The iraqi's didn't attempt to take any of our "freedoms" away. That's a stupid argument.

[triguy46]

37. Well lah di dah. n/t

[mondo joe]

39. Isn't her husband a big queen? n/t

[Mr Rabble]

42. We have our freedoms because of our constitution.

And the BOR.

In the last 50 years, our military has done NOTHING at all to give us freedom. I would argue that our military has done more to help curb our freedoms than to help them.

[July]

43. I blame the Constitution myself. (sarcasm)

My point is that "America" is not the flag, is not the troops, is not the president. "America" is not just the physical territory or the people, but the freedoms, rights, and democratic institutions first set forth in the Constitution (and the Declaration of Independence). Troops can defend the United States, but the freedoms don't come from them, and in the Iraq misadventure, they are not fighting for our freedoms at all, even if that's what they want to be doing.

[Hobarticus]

44. Star Jones has no headline for ten days, desperately seeking attention

Give it up, newly-unemployed Star Jones.

[FreedomAngel82]

47. Yes, I do

We have the freedoms because of the Constiution of the United States and not because of them going to Iraq. They aren't protecting us our or freedoms. The Senators and Congress members we elect are supposed to uphold and protect it. The soliders are in Iraq for oil and money and nothing else.

[ComerPerro]

49. We have freedom because those guys are willing to serve, yes

which is more than I can say for most freepers. Hell, they are the ones who most passionately allege that the invasion is protecting our freedoms. But they won't enlist, to protect freedom? WTF?

However, I completely agree with you when you say that the Iraq invasion isn't doing a damn thing to protect our freedom.

[Straight Shooter]

50. They aren't helping our freedom and damn sure not helping our security.

Not their fault, absolutely not, a soldier's job is a soldier's job. But freedom has as much to do with Iraq as a palm tree in Antarctica.

[noonwitch]

51. Her statement applies to the war in Afganistan, but not in Iraq

9-11 was an attack on our country and, by extension, the freedoms that flourished in our country prior to that attack. Therefore, as the parties responsible for that attack were living in Afganistan, under the protection of the Afgan government (Taliban), our soldiers are defending our freedoms there as long as they are successful in rounding up terrorists (especially catching bin Laden) and helping to establish order and democracy there. I just wish that we had fully committed to that effort, rather than starting an unnecessary war in Iraq.

[CornField]

52. This is exactly why we are accused of not supporting the military

Here's the deal: "Those guys (and gals)" are there to protect our freedom. They are there to protect our nation and to protect us. We should support them (provide them benefits, pay them enough so they don't have to live on welfare, make sure they have what they need to stay as safe as possible in dangerous situations)

DOING THOSE THINGS DOES NOT MEAN THAT WE SUPPORT THIS PARTICULAR USE OF THE TROOPS! It just means that we believe in our military and we are thankful that we have men and women among us who are willing to sacrifice their lives to protect us (and our freedoms).

Each day I thank, appreciate and honor our veterans as well as our existing men and women in uniform. I do not, however, appreciate or honor this use of their skills. The war is wrong... not the soldiers.

[goclark]

54. I agree...the war is wrong!

Everyone supports the soldiers!

Cindy supports the soldiers that's why she wants them home.