E-Mail I Got From A Republican Friend, For Now Anyway

[Dinger]

Don't know whether you heard about this but Denzel Washington and his family visited the troops at Brook Army Medical Center, in San Antonio, Texas (BAMC) the other day. This is where soldiers who have been evacuated from Germany come to be hospitalized in the United States, especially burn victims. There are some buildings there called Fisher Houses. The Fisher House is a Hotel where soldiers' families can stay, for little or no charge, while their soldier is staying in the Hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base, but as you can imagine, they are almost filled most of the time.

While Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC, they gave him a tour of one of the Fisher Houses. He asked how much one of them would cost to build. He took his checkbook out and wrote a check for the full amount right there on the spot. The soldiers overseas were amazed to hear this story and want to get the word out to the American public, because it warmed their hearts to hear it.


The question I have is why does:

Alec Baldwin,  
Madonna,
Sean Penn and

other Hollywood types  

make front page news with their anti-everything America crap and Denzel Washington's Patriotism doesn't even make page 3 in the Metro section of
any newspaper except the Local newspaper in San Antonio.


She's a nice, soft-spoken person who is actually a moderate, and evidently she got this and forwarded it. I want to send her an e-mail and tactfully explain why it's fucked up. Suggestions anyone?

[rooboy]

1. That email would have to be AT LEAST 18 months old. n/t

[AussieDave]

5. Correct - I received it a long time ago

Washington DID make a donation, but not in the manner described in the e-mail:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/denzel.asp

[villager]

2. start out with the fact that it isn't true:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/denzel.asp

Denzel only made a *contribution* to the Fisher House project.

Then ask why Al Franken's volunteering to go on USO tours in Iraq never makes front page news. Then ask if Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly have been on as many USO tours as Franken.

[NMDemDist2]

7. bingo, you beat me to it! n/t

[SpiralHawk]

14. Ask why Commander AWOL has not been to one funeral

of the soldiers he sent to Iraq based on a pack of WMD lies, to boost profits for his oil and munitions cronies?

[deadparrot]

3. snopes.com

While I'm sure Mr. Washington is an excellent human being (and the object of my mother's affection), the "whipping out his wallet" part simply isn't true. :)

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/denzel.asp

[Beaverhausen]

4. Try snopes for one thing

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/denzel.asp

and how does she know Madonna and Sean Penn aren't also donating money, since that isn't reported on the front pages?

[maxsolomon]

6. who says Patriotism is good?

you can see Nationalism from there.

if they took a minute to learn WHAT Sean Penn did while in Iraq, they might change their minds.

nah, their minds are closed. tell them to go fuck themselves, just like President Cheney would.

[Ariana Celeste]

8. I got this from my gramma. my response...:

(First, I get sent this crap all the time and have been getting tired of it. So this reply may seem harsh but honestly I don't think she even read it because she sure as hell hasn't stopped sending them. I'm thinking of blocking her address at this point- I never get a personal hello, it's always fundie and/or rightwing crap)

It's not in the media because it isn't true. Yes he visited. No he did not write a check on the spot. His visit was in the local news there. The whole "check on the spot" thing is a total fabrication. He made a donation several months later, and while sizeable, wasn't nearly enough to construct a new building.

As far as those other celebrities and their "anti everything America crap".... at least their stories aren't made up. Being anti-war doesn't make somebody anti-American. I'm so tired of hearing that. That's just insulting, and not just to these celebrities (who I support, by the way) but it's insulting to millions of Americans, as well. Every reason the Bush Administration has given for this war has been consistently proven to be lies. And how is that pro-America? Why is it that we have to support bombing innocent people and hijacking their government in order to be considered American or patriotic? Why is it that we can't support our troops and have a problem with this war at the same time? Here's two quotes from one of our founding fathers.

"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."
-Thomas Jefferson

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."
-Thomas Jefferson

Bush and his Administration lied about every reason we are in Iraq. Afghanistan was fair game, but Iraq did nothing to us. We have lost over 1500 men because of these lies. We have killed tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis. Many more will die. Where's the outrage?

I support our troops. I have family out there. <my SO>'s step-dad, <name>, is out there. Risking his life over lies. Anyone who tells me I'm anti-American doesn't know what they're talking about. They don't have to cry over <name>, who may not come home. They don't have to cry for <name>, who had to spend Christmas in a desert hauling fuel, thousands of miles from his family. I have two close friends that recently joined the military. I respect, support, and love, our military. What I don't support is our corrupt President, his corrupt Administration, and their lies that killed far too many of our men and continue to kill them everyday. And same goes for millions of other Americans, including some celebrities that make it into the news.

I am all for defending our country, but we aren't defending anything other than pride. The downfall of every great civilization.

[DFLer4edu]

9. Well first of all he should get more coverage for doing that

but you could point out that putting the story on page 1 would underline the lack of appropriations for aid to military families in striking contrast to the massive appropriations for any number of DOD pet projects(missile defense comes to mind).It would only serve to inforce the fact that we are not truely footing the bill for the war in Iraq, but instead passing it on to the next generation (my generation). Talk about body armor or lack or proper funding for VA services. As for why the others get on the front page, no one ever lost anything, and especially an election bashing hollywood. Liberal hollywood icons make the news a lot because they are admonished for getting into politics by the right. On the other hand I wouldn't vote for anyone who ripped Washington (the actor, not the sea of corrupt politicians) for writing a check for a good cause. It was a patriotic thing to do. Maybe he can help us get body armor for the troops (I don't mean this as a joke). You could also point out that although hollywood liberals are in the news a lot for supporting left wing causes, they are hardly on the front page. They are however peppered through stories about great causes to undermine the integrity of the causes supported by liberals. I think it is fair to say that hollywood liberals are in the news as often as the Republicans in Washington admonish them.

[stopbush]

10. Pathetic. The RW recycles this long-debunked crap

over and over again. How is it that none of them got it the first 300 times it made the rounds? The answer: they did! They're just too dimwitted to realize it's a rerun...or they're being willfully ignorant and spamming it into cyberspace over and over again.

BTW - don't buy Coke/Dr Pepper/Mr Pibb...they all hate the Pledge of Allegiance/Star-Spangled Banner/whatever...

Oh, and remember when we attacked Germany, even though it was the Japs who attached us at Pearl Harbor, not the Germans? Just like boosh attacked Iraq, right? Whaddaya mean Germany declared war on us on 12/9/41? Fuck you, lib'rul history revisionist!!

[spuddonna]

11. Perhaps Denzel didn't want the public acknowledgement for a good deed...

... just like Al Gore - who personally organized the evac of approx 120 patients from New Orleans - didn't want a big press hoopla about his heroic actions? :shrug:

(BTW - According to Snopes.com, this letter you got from your friend is circulating widely. Denzel did give a large contribution, but didn't give them enough for a 'new one'. http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/denzel.asp )

[Jacobin]

12. If you're a republican all you have to do is get a yellow ribbon

proclaim 'support the troops' I love George Bush^ and you are done!!

Dems have a harder time of it because they want to deal with the reality of it

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. How many rightwing Americans had the nerve to go to Iraq to see....

...the country for themselves before our invasion as did Sean Penn?

Answer: None.

I'll also bet that most rightwingers give nothing to charity as do Baldwin and Madonna, unless they're trying to beat potential charges in the Abramoff scanadal.

[Rainscents]

15. Move a long, nothing to see... very old story and had been debunked!