Entertainers and the USO - giving to our troops

In the discussion of Iraq, Afghanistan and U.S. military forces there have been many things said over the years. During the early part of the Primaries, particularly the Democratic Primaries, it was a focal point of public interest as well as political campaigns. But for all this commentary one of the things that was often missed were the troops themselves.

I must admit that I too failed on this point. So much discussion focused on the how and when of ending the wars little was spoken about how the troops were and what was being done for our returning soldiers.

I was reminded of this most recently when I received information about an ongoing USO tour. The USO gives back to our troops that are stationed overseas and fighting on behalf of our nation. No matter the political interests of all of us here at home, we all should appreciate the voluntary service that our troops provide for us.

This USO tour is a small piece of that appreciation, but for our troops it is an important one. And in this tour Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Marine General James E. Cartwright, the Ying Yang Twins, model/singer Mayra Veronica and comedians Gabriel Iglesias and Edwin San Juan are all taking part.

“It’s incredibly difficult to be stationed far away from family and friends,” said General Cartwright. “The goal of this USO tour is to bring a touch of home to those serving around the world, to put smiles on our troops’ faces and to provide great memories that will last a lifetime.”

In addition to appearing in the USO tour, the Ying Yang Twins will also be releasing a new song on i-Tunes – Wild Out. Proceeds collected from the sale of this song will be donated to the Brooke Army Medical Center, to help veterans.

I for one am glad to hear of these entertainers and their efforts to give to our troops. The above group joins a long line of celebrities and entertainers that have met our troops, overseas and at home, for decades via the USO. Some recent entertainers that have joined USO tours include:

Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Trace Adkins, Baby Bash and Anna Kournikova, Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, Boyz II Men, Gary Sinise, Brad Garrett, Dennis Haysbert, Michael Irby, Max Martini and Robert Patrick, Toby Keith, Tichina Arnold, Miss USA 2007 Rachel Smith, Miss Teen USA 2007 Hilary Cruz, Scarlett Johansson among many others.

Celebrating and honoring our troops is not a political act but one of honest appreciation and thanks. For that I think every entertainer that joins a USO tour needs to be acknowledged. I don’t have space for that here but you can go to the USO’s website to learn more. www.uso.org

And I should mention one other thing. The USO is at its core made up of volunteers that give their time to support our men and women in uniform. They work 24-hours a day, seven-days a week, and the majority of them are not as visible as the celebrities and entertainers mentioned above. It is through that work, and the donations of people like you and me, that events like the above are possible.

The odd and dumb before the holiday - 12.21.2006.2

Usually I have found that the odd and bizarre tends to appear throughout the weekend, but last weekend there really wasn’t anything. Now this week seems to be making up for that and may well take care of the holiday weekend as well. The odd and dumb are in abundance, so much so that I’m not sure where I will start.

Well perhaps the news that a Komodo dragon is capable of virgin births. Yes it’s true; the big lizards can reproduce without any help from a mate. Nature is just way smarter than us, as scientist had no clue this was possible. But like it was said in Jurassic Park Nature always finds a way. I doubt this spontaneous birthing is as big a deal for Komodo dragons though, and I’d imagine a whole lot less fun.

With the pleasant news done, Miss USA is up. The thing I don’t understand is how this took up so much time. Coverage by news stations was enormous. Almost as much time was given to whether this girl would lose her title as was given to cover several forest fires. Seriously, this was a full day of news with coverage of Mr. Donald Trump giving the girl a second chance. Now compare that to how much attention is being to the letter by Rep. Goode about Muslims. If that’s not odd and sad I’m not sure what is.

For the record, Mr. Trump should have removed her. All this has proven is that if you can bat your eyes enough and cry well you can get away with anything. That is if you are a pretty girl. Not drop dead gorgeous just pretty and young. Try that in the real world and see what happens. It’s not like she did anything to deserve a second chance. All she had to do was show up at events and look pretty, maybe say a couple of words. Tough job.

Millions of women (maybe not that many) move to the city every year. Many are form smaller, well all of them are from smaller cities now that I think about it and they don’t go berserk drinking and allegedly doing drugs and missing work. At least they don’t if they expect to keep their places and have food to eat. She made the choices; she should have reaped the consequences.

Before I mentioned that the attention given Miss USA was sad and what could be worse. I thought about it. The ongoing name calling by Ms. Rosie O’Donnell and Mr. Trump is worse. It deserves even less time that the Miss USA slap on the wrist that sparked it. This is simple, Ms. O’Donnell is wrong. She attacked Mr. Trump on a personal level. She questioned his morality (which was never an issue nor involved in what he was doing) and fidelity (also totally off subject). There was no call for it.

Mr. Trump responded more harshly than needed. But I can understand. She made a personal attack and it hit him. I wouldn’t stand for something like that myself, if I were a celebrity or entertainer. And of course she had to respond. Do we really need hourly reports on this? Is this so important that it all couldn’t be summed up during the evening news?

I’ll say it again, where is the coverage of important items? If the news about a politician essentially claiming that only certain religions should be allowed in the nation, and that only European immigrants should be allowed in this nation, is too real or serious perhaps something else could be covered in this time. There’s always the news that Mr. Stephen Colbert ‘won’ the guitar solo greenscreen battle against the Decemberists. Of course he got a bit of help from Mr. Peter Frampton, but I feel the truthiness of it was all the vindication Mr. Colbert needed. And there would be enough time left over to mull the impact of a tell-all book on Oprah, like it really matters. Or maybe another chance to view the basketball fight and mention the pitiful ‘penalty’ issued to the irresponsible NBA players. Or is that too serious again?

This is what I think, what do you think?