Susan Campbell on the real meaning of supporting the troops

Question for the Hartford Courant: why is Susan Campbell's column so damned hard to find in the web version of your newspaper. Click on "columnists" and her name is absent. Search in vain for the online version of the, ahem, Living Section, and it's absent. Each Wednesday morning as I scan the site from the radio station computer I have to enter her name as a search item to find the column (So you know, I'm a subscriber, but the paper doesn't reach the house, or the honor boxes in my neighborhood, until well after I leave at 4:50 a.m.)

Once you find the column today, you'll also find it's well worth reading, and reading aloud to any semi-literate, tunnel-visioned, conservative radio talk show host you think will listen.

Campbell is on the money about the pathetic way our country, and our government, treat the men and women who serve dutifully, and then return, not as whole or sound as they once were.

Suicides, homelessness...hail the conquering hero

I was just thinking that I don't see quite as many yellow-ribbon magnet bumper stickers anymore. I guess the Support the Troops cult has turned to other priorities, and those magnets are so easy to remove.

I'd be embarrassed too. After all, the whole Support the Troops meme, was about shaming people like me who oppose the war, and not ever really about supporting the troops.

Otherwise, we wouldn't have the homelessness reported Monday on MSNBC, or the suicides reported last night on CBS. We wouldn't have vets scrambling to get medical and psychological coverage.

Would we.

So, here's an idea. Pull those yellow ribbon magnets from the glove department, and add an inscription.

Support the troops. Bring 'em home.

Now that's what I mean by "support our troops"

This is just the beginning of the number of ways our government, our patriots, our nickel-pinching conservatives will demean the sacrifice our troops have made for this shameful war.

Lip service is cheap, so conservatives seem to dispense it readily.

Shove this in your "support our troops" pipe and smoke it

I can hardly ever bear to hear right-wing, war-mongering, chickenhawks talking about how the only way to support the troops is to support the war in Iraq.

It's finally becoming clear that supporting the troops means something altogether different.