Scott Walker John Doe Probe Leaves Veterans Questioning Many Things

These days there are more questions than Scott Walker seems to have answers for.   The round of news stories and blog posts underscore the reason veterans are feeling dismay over the actions of Walker .  

The John Doe probe has produced charges that Walker’s political confidante and frequent appointee to positions of public trust Tim Russell embezzled $20,000 from a charity intended to assist families of Wisconsin soldiers who were killed in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The charity had been run by a local Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Milwaukee County, with no complaints.

But Walker took control of the “Operation Freedom” charity away from the VFW and handed it over to Russell.

Russell, who now faces multiple charges of misconduct, stands accused of diverting money to himself that had been intended for veterans.

Walker put Russell in charge of the charity.

Walker was in regular contact with Russell as the alleged thefts took place.

And Walker has hired a team of criminal defense lawyers to help him respond to questions and allegations related to the John Doe inquiry.

There are, as well, allegations that Walker and his political allies may be paying for Russell’s defense.

Veterans have every reason to ask whether Walker is trying to protect a longtime aide who stands accused of stealing from the widows and orphans of Wisconsin soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Just as they have every reason to ask: “Why?”

Every Soldier Is Not A Hero

I wish to comment about the controversy surrounding MSNBC’s Chris Hayes saying on his show Sunday that he feels “uncomfortable” calling fallen soldiers “heroes”.

For the record the following post comes from March 2006 on an old blog I use to write, but feel in light of the many thoughts about Hayes’  comment I would repost the following.

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Our language is so often misused that I think we are losing the real meaning of certain words, to the point that we abuse them and twist the meaning of our nation’s history.

When I was younger, a superstar in the entertainment field would need to match the likes of Elvis, Sammy Davis Jr., Dolly, or Frank Sinatra. Today, if someone has a slick public relations team and nice physical characteristics such as a healthy smile with broad shoulders or busty chest (as the case may be), one can claim the title of ‘superstar’. Following that pronouncement, the person is then treated to his or her own reality television show or recording contract. In a few years they will be forgotten by the public but still were able to cajole their 15 minutes of fame.

The bottom line is, those many wannabes were never superstars, and they should not be termed as such in our culture.

Now consider the word hero and how it has been used since 9/11, and it seems like everyone these days can lay claim to the word. The stock trader that happened to go to work on time and was killed in one of the World Trade Towers was labeled a ‘hero’. The waiter in a restaurant at the top of the Towers who was tragically killed is also called a ‘hero’.

But if one only needs to show up to work on time and, as a result, die at the hands of a terrorist to be termed ‘hero’, then what do we call the firefighter who enters that same burning building with flaming jet fuel falling all around him, in an effort to reach his fellow citizens? The firefighter in this case is the true definition of the term hero and the worker who came to his office is a victim. The whole scenario is tragic but the difference in their roles is important to note and, for history’s sake, to recall accurately.

Now to the trickier topic of calling all soldiers heroes. I understand the emotional need for some to do this as it allows families to feel their child did not serve, and possibly die, in vain. In this rhetorically driven political climate, I certainly understand the political requirement that every elected official cite the word over and over while talking of soldiers. But in reality, the word hero doesn’t apply to every person just because an individual enlists and wears a uniform.

When a solider is killed by friendly fire or falls off the back-end of a supply truck and is run over, the word hero is not the first thing that comes to my mind. Sad though it is that they died, these cases resulted from situations that did not meet the definition of the word hero, which is defined as being distinguished by exceptional courage, nobility, and strength. If being shot by friendly fire makes one a ‘hero,’ then what would we call the forces that stormed the beaches of Normandy?

Clearly we have become fond of the term hero for all sorts of overly nationalistic and political reasons that have ill-served both our country and our language.

Guitar Man From Russellville, Arkansas

I really like this story.

Pickin’ and a grinnin’ O.D. Lewis of Russellville has been doing both for more than 70 years.

As Lewis picked up his guitar Tuesday, tears quietly and slowly rolled down his cheeks as he sat down to play a few songs.

His emotions grew stronger with each of the three songs he sang. The first, “Cherokee,” was one he wrote to honor his great-great grandmother, a full-blooded Cherokee, and had a sound similar to that of ones by country legends of the 1950s and ’60s. Lewis also sang a gospel song he wrote about Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the writers of the four Gospels, and then he sang another country and western gospel song.

As he strummed his treasured guitar with a bird’s-eye maple back, the Grand Ole Opry came to life in a little house on State Highway 124.

Lewis was born in the Dover area on June 13, 1930, and received his first guitar at the age of 11 from his father.

“He bought me a $2 flat-top,” Lewis said of his first guitar. “I still have it and it’s still a good guitar.”

By age 13, Lewis was playing guitar and singing tenor in a band with older boys who sang weekly on KXRJ, Arkansas Tech University’s radio station. Lewis said he and the band would play for about 15 minutes each Saturday.

“There was this one old boy, if w’’d catch him sober he was sure a good violin player,” Lewis said with a smile on his face. “We couldn’t catch him sober too often, though. T.A. sang lead and I sang tenor. We had a pretty good band.”

While the family was picking cotton in Eastern Arkansas, Lewis’ dad bought him a new guitar for $32.50 from a local drug store. Lewis still owns both guitars and said they both still play good “real good.”

Music was something his entire family enjoyed. Lewis said his family always encouraged him to play guitar and sing.

“They wanted me to do it and I loved it,” Lewis said of his passion for playing guitar. “I love music and that’s what I wanted to do. My baby sister (Arlene Simpson) is a whiz on the organ and piano.”

While vacationing in Nashville with his wife, Louise, in the 1960s, Lewis purchased a new flat-top Grammar Guitar for $500 from Little Roy Wiggins, a famous steel guitar player. Lewis said that was quite an expenditure for him in 1960, and the same guitar would cost approximately $2,500 today.

Lewis recorded 45 records more than 140 of them at John’s Recording Studio in Russellville. He recorded gospel and country music with that special “”Nashville sound.”

Lewis said his life has been a good one and music especially his guitars have served him well.

“I wouldn’t take anything for that guitar,” Lewis said. “It made me money for many a year.”