The following is from an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal:
Ron Silver died on Sunday of cancer, at age 62, having starred in movies, theater and politics. As an actor, he won a Tony Award in 1988 for his performance in David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow," and more recently he was better known for his role as a hard-bitten political consultant on "The West Wing" on television.
But Silver's most notable legacy was his real-life political activism. A self-described life-long liberal, Silver rallied to the defense of his country and his hometown, New York City, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Three years later, he spoke at the Republican National Convention in New York, reminding his audience that "This is a war we did not seek. This is a war waged against us. This is a war to which we had to respond." He had held similarly hawkish views during the Cold War, and he rebutted those who see America as little different than its enemies: "History shows that we are not
imperialists."
By his own account, he suffered professionally for those convictions, but he sought no sympathy for whatever price he may have paid in Hollywood for his stand on the war on terror or his vocal criticism of the United Nations, about which he made a documentary in 2005. In "Broken Promises," Silver held the U.N. to account for its failure to live up to its stated ideals, even as his acting colleagues derided President Bush for using military force against tyrants. His brother, Mitchell Silver, told the New York Times that Silver's politics "were not shared by anyone he knew." His politics, in other words, were born of conviction, not convenience, which is one way to describe an honest patriot.
The Obama Administration will not use the words "THE WAR ON TERRORISM" or "ENEMY COMBATANTS" seeking instead to convert it into a criminal justice matter and will not use the words "TERRORIST ATTACK" but now call it "Man made disaster." How can we win if they will not even call it what it is? We are in a war on terrorism against Islamic Fascist and their attacks are not some negligent man made flood but the acts of evil men who have to be killed one by one! The Holocaust was not a "man made disaster"and neither was 9/11! Whether we like it or not they want to kill us! Putting our heads in the sand will only lead to another 9/11 and those who let it happen will be held accountable.We will live to regret the closing of "Camp Gitmo." Ron Silver understood that. We have lost a warrior and a patriot and we will not forget.
He came home on his shield!
"Besides its primary function as a protective device, the shield also
had symbolic meaning. A Spartan mother would warn her son to "return
either with your shield or on it" (Spartan shields were large enough
to serve as stretchers or funeral biers). If a Spartan soldier returned home
alive without his shield, it meant that he had thrown it away while
running for his life (its weight made it a formidable obstacle to fast
running), an act of cowardice
