In the end last month, the Wichita City Council voted 7-0 to place the Vietnamese-American community’s memorial near but not in Veterans Memorial Park, separated by an earthen berm and the lack of a sidewalk between them. The issue caught the attention of the New York Times, which published an article about the memorial dispute. Among the Times’ quotes:
“How could people now separate us with a wall? Why the need?” asked Nga Vu, whose brother died in Vietnam War.
“This doesn’t have anything to do with being Vietnamese,” said John Wilson, a U.S. Army veteran. “This is about serving in the American military. That’s it.”
“This has divided us, our American community, and we don’t want to make this a thing that will divide us,” said the Rev. Kenny Khanh Nguyen. “But I hope that it will look silly to our children and grandchildren. I hope that the next generation will take down that berm. And I hope that the relationship can heal later on.”
Protests of health care reform organized by Americans for Prosperity and other conservative groups have turned a bit ugly. At a town hall meeting Sunday in Pennsylvania, some audience members heckled and booed Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Other members of Congress have had meetings ambushed by chanting crowds. Americans for Prosperity is disavowing such disruptions and is urging its protesters to act in a civil and courteous manner. “We never condone disruptive behavior,” wrote AFP president Tim Phillips. “It is disappointing to hear reports of some individuals acting inappropriately at some of the congressional events.”
“The red-blue contrast is often overdrawn. But it’s a sensible way to understand Obama’s summer struggles,” wrote columnist Ross Douthat. “On health care, energy, taxes and spending, he’s pushing a blue-state agenda during a recession that’s exposed some of the blue-state model’s weaknesses, and some of the red-state model’s strengths.” Douthat noted how Texas has survived the national recession pretty well while California has been a fiscal disaster area. “In state capital after state capital,” he wrote, “the downturn has highlighted the weaknesses of liberal governance — the zeal for unsustainable social spending, the preference for regulation over job creation, the heavy reliance for tax revenue on the volatile incomes of the upper upper class.”
Many Americans had forgotten about Navy Capt. Michael “Scott” Speicher (in photo), the Gulf War pilot shot down and variously presumed missing or killed in action. But Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., never stopped seeking answers about Speicher, who grew up in Kansas City, Mo. The Pentagon announced Sunday that Speicher’s remains had been identified as those found buried in an Iraqi desert. “My thoughts and prayers are with the Speicher family,” Roberts said in a statement. “The perseverance of the Navy brings closure to Scott’s family and all of us who have worked on his case after a long ordeal. As a fellow Marine, I am proud these Marines followed every lead and fought all the way to the end. This proves a military member cannot be listed as killed in action without actual evidence. I call this the ‘Speicher Law’ for that reason. Thank you to the Department of Defense for not giving up on Scott, a true American hero.”
