The funeral of Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King Jr., should have been a solemn occasion marking the passing of a woman who was at the heart of the civil rights movement in America.

Instead Mrs. King got this:

LITHONIA, Georgia (Reuters) - Speakers took a rare opportunity to criticize U.S. President George W. Bush’s policies to his face at the funeral on Tuesday of Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Civil-rights leader the Rev. Joseph Lowery and former President Jimmy Carter cited Mrs. King’s legacy as a leader in her own right and advocate of nonviolence as they launched barbs over the Iraq war, government social policies and Bush’s domestic eavesdropping program.

Lowery, former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King helped found in 1957, gave a playful reading of a poem in eulogy of Mrs. King. "She extended Martin’s message against poverty, racism and war / She deplored the terror inflicted by our smart bombs on missions way afar," he said. "We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there / But Coretta knew and we knew that there are weapons of misdirection right down here / Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war billions more but no more for the poor."

The disgusting display of disrespect has detracted, intentionally or not, from the honor due Mrs. King, as at least part of every news story is now devoted to Democrat antics. The Clintons added their special talents to the event, and the entire affair took on a “Wellstone Memorial” air, reminiscent of a political rally rather than a funeral.

Thankfully, President Bush and his father rose above the pettiness.

Bush, speaking before his critics, said, "By going forward with a strong and forgiving heart, Coretta Scott King not only secured her husband’s legacy, she built her own."

Apparently the Democrat legacy will be one of non-stop politicking. Attack, attack, attack, never stop attacking.

Tales of Hollywood moviemakers and stars pushing their anti-American views on the public are not new. Dislike of American policies or military presence overseas is not new either, but what about a combination of the two?

According to this Chronicle/AP story, actors Billy Zane and Gary Busey have starred in a Turkish movie which portrays American soldiers in Iraq as cold-blooded murderers.

… a Turkish movie shows American soldiers in Iraq crashing a wedding and pumping a little boy full of lead in front of his mother. They randomly machine-gun dozens of people to death, shoot the groom in the head and drag those left alive to Abu Ghraib prison — where a Jewish-American doctor cuts out their organs, which he sells to rich people in New York, London and Tel Aviv.

Nice. Where other actors have been content simply to take verbal potshots from abroad at the country where they made their fortunes, actors Zane and Busey have taken things one step further with this film. The movie is based on a best-selling Turkish novel and television series, and casts the American actors in key roles.

Valley of the Wolves: Iraq, which opened in Turkey on Friday, feeds off the increasingly negative feelings many Turks harbor toward their longtime allies: Americans. It stars Billy Zane as a self-professed "peacekeeper sent by God" and Gary Busey as the doctor.

What’s a little “Americans are murderers” movie among friends? The story also cites an opinion poll to demonstrate those increasingly negative Turkish feelings.

One recent opinion poll revealed the depth of the hostility in Turkey toward Americans: 53 percent of Turks who responded to the 2005 Pew Global Attitudes survey associated Americans with the word "rude"; 70 percent with "violent"; 68 percent with "greedy"; and 57 percent with "immoral."

Where would Turks have gotten such ideas? Could a combination of Bush-hating biased Left-wing media, Bush-hating Hollywood trash culture and Bush-hating Michael Moore have obscured real America in the eyes of the rest of the world?

According to typical media reports, “global warming” caused by evil American capitalism is accepted scientific fact. Surprisingly, this United Press International story actually presents a different view.

Khabibullo Abdusamatov of the Pulkovo Astronomic Observatory in St. Petersburg said Monday that temperatures will begin falling six or seven years from now, when global warming caused by increased solar activity in the 20th century reaches its peak, RIA Novosti reported.

Dramatic changes in the earth’s surface temperatures are an ordinary phenomenon, not an anomaly, he said, and result from variations in the sun’s energy output and ultraviolet radiation.
[Emphasis added]

No mention of Karl Rove and George Bush intentionally melting the polar ice to flood coastal areas and kill off poor blacks. Not a word on the Republican Wacky Weather Machine that Bush, Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Halliburton use to whip up destructive hurricanes. No diatribe on American greed and pride raping the world for resources and leaving pollution and global warming in their wake.

Probably just an oversight.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following was emailed to us by KSEV morning talk-show host Edd Hendee, who is currently on his "second-tour" embedded with American troops in Iraq, and is joined this year by nationally syndicated talkshow host Laura Ingraham.

Friday, February 03, 2006

A year ago this week I had witnessed the birth of democracy in Iraq.  Election Day January 30, 2005 in Baghdad was euphoric as millions of Iraqis openly defied the terrorists to vote in their new nations first free election in over 40 years.  Iraqis proudly waving their purple ink stained index fingers proclaiming their vote was an image that stunned the world.  All of the media experts had said it wouldn’t work…the turnout would be minimal and the elections illegitimate.  Their negative stories already written before the election dissipated like smoke in the wind.

The past 12 months have seen success and failure in Iraq.  The insurgency has continued its attacks on US Military, Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police, and Iraqi civilians.  We have lost some of our best and brightest who would stand for freedom in a land that is not their own.  

Despite significant US Military success in training and standing up Iraqi Army forces the stability of Iraq is threatened daily by these attacks.  I wonder what the Iraqi people have to say now.  A year ago I found them to be quite the opposite of what had been shown on the national news.  I found no protests & no “Yankee go home” demonstrations.  Instead the first 5 Iraqi men I spoke to at 6 am on election day dawn wanted to tell me “Thank you!” for freeing them from Saddam and giving them an opportunity to be free.

The rest of the day dozens and dozens would have the same tone, message, warm greetings, hand shakes, and intoxicating hope for their new Iraq.  In the months to come a second and third national election would result in even greater turnouts culminating with December 2005 approaching 70% of registered voters participating in a free election to choose who would govern their lives.  

A year ago I took a photo of an election judge doing something he hadn’t done before in his lifetime – count votes in a free election.  The power had gone off that night in that little elementary school which served as a polling place.  By candlelight these exhausted men and women painstakingly counted ballot after ballot making the day a huge victory for all – Iraqis & American service men and women who gave them this chance.

Now America asks how does this end.  Are we handcuffed to this struggle for years or can Iraq provide for its own defense against the murderous forces of terror whose goal it is to snuff out this light of freedom in the Middle East?  When will our sons and daughters, husbands and wives come home in victory?  

Some have stated that they should be brought home right now forsaking the sacrifices of those who fought next to them.  This dysfunctional atmosphere of political bickering has brought a few to openly question if victory is even possible or worth pursuing.  While the majority of America supports the troops, there is not a clear consensus of how and when this victory can be finally claimed.

Last year I had the honor of bringing the individual stories of our Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen to our radio station and web audience via live broadcast on satellite phone from Iraq.  It was clear that radio can cover this event in such a thorough and personal way that television and newsprint cannot duplicate.  

A few weeks ago nationally known talk show host Laura Ingraham announced she was going to Iraq for a week of broadcasts.  This would be the chance of a lifetime to get this message out to 220+ radio stations nationwide to a daily audience in the millions.  Later that day when she called to ask for some insight about doing radio in Iraq the opportunity to join her team for this trip was presented – I knew it was the right thing to do.  

Last year my precious wife was understandably concerned but supportive of that first trip to Iraq.  Over the last year she had seen how those shows gave hope and comfort to families whose loved ones were serving or soon would deploy.  This time she was adamant that I go back.  Together you and I will see firsthand if there has been progress in Iraq since we all were there together one year ago this week.

Sunday February 5, 2006

My wake up call at 0200 (2 am!) jumpstarted this day early as our adventure began.  Laura, Aaron (engineer extraordinaire), and I spent the night in Kuwait at a great hotel in the downtown area.  Their flight came in about 6:00 pm Saturday night from the States and we met with our military escorts briefly to plan this day.  

Embedding with the Military and catching a C130 from a remote airbase in Kuwait into Baghdad would take most of the morning and an inordinate amount of planning and paperwork so we were on site at the airfield by 0400 to get manifested onto that aircraft.  After a briefing, ID check, and a bomb dog going over all of the luggage, we were cleared to fly.  A bus took us to the DFAC (Dining Facility) on base for breakfast and we got our first look this trip at the day to day life in our military.  

The Breakfast line at 0530 was forming fast with Army, Marines, Air Force, Navy, and Australian soldiers as well.  One Navy Senior Chief in line with us was there to train Iraqi Army recruits.  Even the “blue water” Navy was working to stand up Iraqi units to stabilize their own country!  

A year ago everywhere I went the focus was on the election – the key to the transition to democracy.  Now the effort is shifting to prepare Iraqi forces to take the place of our US forces in fighting the terrorist threat and stabilizing this nation.  For our service men and women it means their ticket home.  Laura Ingraham surveyed the hundreds of faces in the dining facility and said what was on all of our minds:  “These guys are so professional, so focused.  It just makes you proud.”  

The C130 base is huge with a dozen or more of these 4 engine propjet cargo planes on the ramp this morning.  This flight crew is from Alaska and is preparing for their first daylight flight into Baghdad.  Two of the pilots are huge Laura Ingraham fans and invite her to sit on the flight deck in the jump seat for the 1.5 hour flight to Baghdad.  She didn’t hesitate.  The interior of the plane is 4 rows of bench seats on nylon webbing with 2 huge cargo pallets loaded last in the back hatch.  

At 0800 we lift off to Baghdad.  The first hour or so is a normal flight and most people catch a nap since there are no windows on a cargo plane.  But it’s the last 10 minutes or so that make this flight memorable.  All aircraft approaching Baghdad Airport (BIAP) must make steep descents and very tight turns to fly evasive maneuvers as the aircraft descends within range of small arms fire and rockets.  The eyes of the first timers were open wide as the C130 banked and dropped onto the runway in Baghdad.  Laura came off the plane with a grin from ear to ear.  I hope we can bring that same sense of adventure and thrill to the listeners this week.

The 4th ID has the Area of Operations (AO) of Baghdad and 50 or so miles south.  Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington gives us a briefing on their operations.  Fort Hood Texas is home to this Division and it is enormous.  7 Brigade Combat Teams, Mechanized Divisions, Air Operations, and 2 attached divisions comprise their force of some 33,000 soldiers.  That’s just almost 25% of all the military personnel currently in Iraq.  Their tasks include patrols, training of Iraqi Army, rebuilding infrastructure, and support construction of public buildings such as schools and hospitals.  

Just the coordination of the movements, supplies, and support for these troops is mind boggling.   On our walk to lunch Col. Withington explained that every vehicle on patrol is fully armored, the troops are wearing the best body armor, and the medical support of injured is second to none.  The humvees are indeed fully factory armored and now include armor protection for the top gunner and bullet proof glass on 3 sides of his turret to give him visibility and protection.  The third humvee we looked at has 3 bullet splatters on the top turret glass right where the gunner would be situated.  I’m sure that soldier appreciated the additional armor.

Tonight we catch a short Blackhawk Helo jump to Camp Taji for an overnight visit.  Taji is enormous and is the primary training camp for the Iraqi Army.   I’ll plan to do my show Monday from Taji so we can get some of our Texas Soldiers on air back to Houston.  Laura will cover the broader story and I’ll focus on the Texas “home town” flavor with interviews of the soldiers and phone hookups on air to their families back home.  The smiles on their faces when they get the chance to talk to their loved ones back home make the trip worthwhile.    

Monday, February 06, 2006

I now have the distinction of having slept through Super Bowl XL because the five hours of rest we grabbed just happen to coincide with the Steelers victory over the Seahawks.  We hadn’t slept in 22 hours so when I remembered the kickoff was at 0230 hours here in Iraq I decided to get some sleep. Today we were scheduled to see Camp Taji, US Army training Iraqi Army, Army Air Support and so much more and I didn’t want to miss a moment of it.  We walked into the DFAC for breakfast at 0730 just as the post game coverage wrapped up as a reminder that our servicemen and women do their job half a world away where your day is their night.

Col. Jim Pasqarette is the Brigade CO for 1st Brigade 4th Combat Div.  We had the privilege of sitting with him at the morning brief shown on center plasma screen with maps, incident reports, and real time video shown on the other screens filling out the wall.  It looked as sophisticated as any NASA control room as he explained that the 4th ID is the Digital Division with state of the art communications, tracking maps in vehicles showing all units as well as foes, and live video feed from optics on aircraft over the battlefield at 20,000’ that can show a clear picture of anyone within range – day or night.  

IEDs are the weapon of choice of the insurgents and in this last year this area has had 817 IED incidents.  However he points out that the soldiers on patrol have become experts at finding IEDs by observing any change in their environment – new dirt, disturbed rocks, even a change in the color the dust on the trash on the side of the road.  Of 10 IEDs placed – 6 are found before they can be detonated, 2 explode and cause no damage, 1 will cause only physical damage to the vehicle, and 1 will damage the vehicle and cause injury to personnel.  In short only 10% of the IEDs placed result in harm to personnel.  

What’s changed in the last year?  First Army has become extremely adept at discovering IEDs with by training the troops to recognize them.  We walked through an IED display this morning where 4 different IED systems were displayed.  The left side of the display showed the captured IEDs as they would be disguised on the side of the road and the right side showed them uncovered.  They have become substantially more sophisticated in the last year including hidden video cameras operated by remote control set about 20 yards away from the blast to capture the damage for propaganda purposes.  

Second the vehicle armor is substantially improved as all of the 4th ID Humvees are fully factory armored with more powerful engines and suspensions to handle the weight of the armor.  

The third factor that has changed in the last year may be the most encouraging and significant:  The Army is getting a significant number of tips on their “tip lines” set up to allow Iraqis to tip locations of weapons caches and the identities of those who set the traps themselves.  In this last year the Iraqi people have begun to claim Iraq as their own nation – it is theirs – their election turnout is a clear demonstration of that change.  They don’t want the insurgents in their country killing Iraqis and the best way to rid themselves of this threat is to tip the Army of who they are where their weapons are.  IEDs remain the biggest threat but there are indications the battle has shifted.

ABC Reporter Bob Woodruff and his cameraman Vogt were severely injured just 10 days ago on a patrol that left from this base.  They had received all the briefings of the danger and exposure to IEDs but wanted to report on the Iraqi Army participation in this war since that is the new story in Iraq. Kudos to Woodruff for wanting to come out and get the story as opposed to sitting safe inside the green zone in some hotel doing TV updates.  

But the details of that patrol reveal how this event unfolded.  They left Camp Taji and somewhere down the Main Supply Route – MSR Tampa – he and his cameraman switched to the lead Iraqi vehicle and began taping a report with both of them standing head and shoulders out of a hatch while the vehicle was driving down a very dangerous stretch.  When the blast occurred they were totally exposed to the force and the shrapnel.  It’s a miracle that they both survived.  

But the rest of the story has been overlooked as the insurgents executed a complex attack with small arms fire coming from 2 or 3 sides.  The trailing vehicles were Iraqi Army and they performed brilliantly surrounding the damaged vehicle and suppressing the fire from the insurgents.  That allowed Woodruff & Vogt to be extracted from the vehicle and med-evaced to a near by hospital and then onto Balad where they underwent life saving emergency surgery.  The Iraqi Army was targeted in this attack with the insurgents knowing that if the new Army succeeds that they war is over.  

The best part of this trip is watching Laura Ingraham discover the story of our military operations and success in Iraq.  The honor of being with these fine men and women is intoxicating and throughout the day she received briefings, demonstrations, got to talk to the top Colonels and Majors down to the Private First Class soldiers.  

At one point she remarked “These people are so different from the people I’m surrounded with in Washington DC – they are honorable and humble…they are simply the best.” 

I had the pleasure of that discovery on my first trip – it’s great to watch her embrace this story and the people who make this happen every day.  

Heh, I’ve always wanted to start one of these . . .

You have a keyboard, a monitor, and a big ol’ empty comments thread beckons . . . have at it boys and girls.

And play nice.