Friday, August 12, 2005
Cindy Sheehan
When I was an undergraduate at Stanford, a near ice age ago, one of the engineering professors there, a Nobel laureate in physics named William Shockley (1/3rd of the team that invented the transistor) was talking about race in a frowned-upon way. I was interested in race at the time (less so now that the late Stephen Jay Gould has set me straight) and I didn't know if what he was saying about intelligence and race was true or not. Those who wanted to say Shockley was wrong couldn't say he was stupid (Nobel laureate); so they said he was out of his comfort zone of expertise. He may well have been.
Cindy Sheehan, to my knowledge, does not have any pedigree as a political analyst or a connoisseur of modern history. All I know is that she lost her son. I seriously doubt that grief gives one any greater insight into current politics, indeed, it may have the opposite effect. It certainly ups the emotional output and if Ms. Sheehan was talking about her grief and how she overcomes it just to get out of bed in the morning, etc., I would probably listen to her. Byron York over at NRO has some quotes that make her sound as foolish as any tinfoil-hat-wearer at Democratic Underground. Tell me again why I should listen to her.
Most of the rest of the family sounds positively sane by comparison. Here is their press release via Drudge.
The Sheehan Family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country, and our President, silently, with prayer and respect.
Sincerely, Casey Sheehan's grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins.
Cindy Sheehan, to my knowledge, does not have any pedigree as a political analyst or a connoisseur of modern history. All I know is that she lost her son. I seriously doubt that grief gives one any greater insight into current politics, indeed, it may have the opposite effect. It certainly ups the emotional output and if Ms. Sheehan was talking about her grief and how she overcomes it just to get out of bed in the morning, etc., I would probably listen to her. Byron York over at NRO has some quotes that make her sound as foolish as any tinfoil-hat-wearer at Democratic Underground. Tell me again why I should listen to her.
Most of the rest of the family sounds positively sane by comparison. Here is their press release via Drudge.
The Sheehan Family lost our beloved Casey in the Iraq War and we have been silently, respectfully grieving. We do not agree with the political motivations and publicity tactics of Cindy Sheehan. She now appears to be promoting her own personal agenda and notoriety at the the expense of her son's good name and reputation. The rest of the Sheehan Family supports the troops, our country, and our President, silently, with prayer and respect.
Sincerely, Casey Sheehan's grandparents, aunts, uncles and numerous cousins.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 7:14 AM 
