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Rants, Rates, Slags, Slates. Manic-depressive posts from Red Wright-Hand. Because there are thousands of worthless blogs out there and who am I not to add to their number? Total US troop deaths in Iraq to date (09/01/07) since 03/20/03: 3739
From 05/02/03 through 06/28/04: 718 Myeloma (etc.) Blogs
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Monday, December 15, 2003
TWO FACES (AT LEAST) OF THE UNITED STATES: 1. At about 9:45 AM on Saturday, December 13, I left Philadelphia International Airport for Charlotte, NC, en route to my final destination of Knoxville, TN. On this flight was a large number of Philadelphia Eagles fans, themselves ultimately bound for Miami, FL, in order to attend Monday night's impending game against the Miami Dolphins. Even if their licensed Eagles-team-player jerseys and caps hadn't given them away, their affections would have been evident from their steady cheering ("E! A! G! L! E! S! Eagles!"), hooting and whooping, shot through with loudly proclaimed insults about the Southern U.S. (often in broadly faked hillbilly accents), all fueled by rounds of Saturday-morning Heinekens. They were disgusting and embarassing, not least of all due to the sight of their round doughy bodies encased in green jerseys blazoned with the names of actual athletes, and I felt, as rarely before, how people overseas must view us Americans: with loathing, condescension, and the anger reserved for the antics of spoiled, arrogant children. 2. On Sunday morning, December 14, I woke (in Athens, TN) to the news that Saddam Hussein had been captured by US soldiers outside Tikrit, Iraq, and I will not deny the happy jolt that went through me, nor the joy at seeing the cyclical footage of Hussein being handled like an animal at the veterinarian's office, nor the pride I felt in belonging to the nation that had run him to ground. |