Ashamed of strength

By Jeremy Reynalds
web posted December 8, 2003

Radical anti war liberals are less than pleased with me.

Let me explain. A few days ago I attended a meeting of the Albuquerque City Council in reference to a topic totally unrelated to this current outbreak of liberal angst. Entering the council chambers my curiosity was piqued to see flyers on display promoting a "Big Rally" pushing for the removal of a nearly 70-foot ballistic missile from Albuquerque's Old Town.

Some speakers at the council meeting also speaking out against the missile display further increased my curiosity so I did a little research. I found out that the controversy all got started about a couple of months ago when the National Atomic Museum set the missile up across the street from the Albuquerque Museum.

Although the National Atomic Museum obtained all the necessary permits and neighborhoods were notified about the display, museum officials told local media they did not hear from any neighborhood associations until the project was underway.

However, resident Jennifer Hix huffed to the Albuquerque Journal that when museum officials made a project presentation to the Plaza Vieja/Old Town Neighborhood Association it was done "in a way that emphasized only the missile's use as a rocket in the U.S. space program with no mention of the word ‘missile' nor its origins as a carrier of 6,000-pound warheads."

Almost as quickly as one of the ballistic missiles she hates so much can be detonated, Hix wrote to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson asking for his assistance to "remove this deplorable object from our city's horizon."

Information contained on the release promoting the upcoming rally was just as vitriolic. It said in part "The Redstone Missile was created after World War II with the help of Nazi war criminals...(It) became the first ballistic missile to detonate a weapon of mass destruction. We do not need monuments that glorify war anywhere in our city. We make other countries destroy their WMD delivery vehicles. This one should also go to the scrap yard, not to the culture center of Albuquerque."

I'm sure it's no surprise to you that foolish comments like this are typical of the appeasement policies propagated by radical liberals everywhere. Appease, appease, appease and soon the tyrants overtake you. Radical liberals forget that sometimes a temporary war is necessary to have a lasting peace. Sometimes they also forget to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

The individual who wrote the press release for the upcoming rally apparently chose to forget (and giving credit where credit is due at least Jennifer Nix remembered) that while the Redstone was used in the Cold War, that was not the extent of its service.

A Redstone missile in flight

"Because of its unmatched reliability, the REDSTONE was chosen at the booster for America's first two steps into space. On January 31, 1958, the free-world's first satellite, EXPLORER I, achieved orbit with the help of an enlarged REDSTONE missile. Two years later, after many adjustments for man-rating and exhaustive testing at the interim test stand, the MERCURY-REDSTONE propelled the first American astronaut, Navy Commander Alan. B. Shepard, into space on May 5, 1961." (www.redstone.army.mil/history/teststand/welcome.html)

That notwithstanding, it is obvious that the placement of this important piece of our history is causing the anti-war crowd some more than anxious moments. With that in mind, even though liberals routinely promote the idea that conservatives are cold hearted and callous we don't want to raise their blood pressure so much that they end up dying from a stroke and not the nuclear war that they are so determined to believe we are trying to cause.

So because I am a kind hearted sort of guy I issued a press release inviting the National Atomic Museum to bring the missile to Joy Junction, the homeless shelter I founded and direct. That would end up being a win- win situation for everyone. The missile would be away from those who deplore its very existence and would find a home with those who care about it and are proud of our history.

I also figured that perhaps we could even charge for admission, then the homeless would be benefitting from such a "deplorable" war machine. The release I issued read in part, "We'll place it on a portion of the 52 acres that Joy Junction owns – subject of course to getting permission from the appropriate county officials. I think it is an important part of our nation's heritage and definitely not something about which we should be ashamed."

How could a liberal get mad at such a good idea, right? Wrong! I sent the release to the address on the rally flyer, "Stop theWarMachine@hotmail.com" and quickly began receiving responses from people my release had been forwarded to.

In typical Clintonesque doublespeak Eric Rajala wrote in one response:

"I am deeply offended by your attitude, Mr. Reynalds. How dare you assume that I am ‘ashamed' of this missile, simply because I don't want it staring me in the face everyday. As a matter of fact, my own father worked on such devices and attended some of the early tests in the Pacific. My employer sponsors exhibits at the museum. As saddened as I am by the history behind this device, I am certainly not ‘ashamed' of it."

So while Rajala is not "ashamed" of the missile, he is "saddened by the history" behind it. "Reasoning" like that adds up to some tortured verbal gymnastics that only liberals can figure out.

Rajala continues his dislike for the missile display and apparently everything for which it stands. "It is rudely flaunting America's military might to every tourist that walks through Old Town. Of that, I am ashamed."

That is the problem in a nutshell. It is America's "military might," of which Rajala is so ashamed, that allows him to so strongly despise the conservative values that made and keep America great. Sir, I am ashamed of you!

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico and is pursuing his PhD in intercultural education at Biola University in Los Angeles. He is married with five children and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His work can be viewed here and weekly at www.americasvoices.org. He may be contacted by e-mail at reynalds@joyjunction.org.

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