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MAF Blogger Danny
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Okay, sit tight everyone; we’re almost caught up to today here. I still have a lot more I want to write about but there’s just no time. I want to do something and write about the Bin Laden Tape and Patreus’s report. But there’s just so much other stuff going on I am having a tough enough time keeping track of the Fight For Victory Tour

In Oklahoma City we had a great little rally; it was right between the Coca Cola Brick House convention center and the Bass Pro. One thing that was awesome about Oklahoma City was that we had plenty of cameras there! The crowd was good, not huge but a good size for these tours, but the tv stations were around in more numbers than they usually are. I wasn’t sure if I thought this meant that the tour itself is getting more coverage or if perhaps there was just not much going on in Oklahoma City that night. Either way it was really great to have the cameras there and all the people from the community who came out to support us.

One thing that was hilarious though was that one of the camera men stuck their camera right in Diana’s face and she says she almost smacked him or pushed it away. I guess things get interesting when you throw a couple news cameras in the equation. I notice that people act different because they want to be on TV of course. I noticed that a lot during the time I spent campaigning in Montana. I always tried to act normal and just worry about myself and my job whenever we had TV cameras around but I know it was difficult to just mind your own business. That’s how you know when you have someone who really puts the cause above themselves, when they aren’t chomping at the bit to get in front of a camera or do an interview. I kind of had a little experience with this obsession myself the last few days.

You know, shortly before our kickoff in Carson City and on the morning of our San Diego trip I had the opportunity to do some radio interviews, mostly impromptu. I know that it isn’t really a big deal but at the same time it is really exhilarating and kind of fun. I think that Debbie and Deborah are pretty used to it by now though, and it seems like TV cameras don’t seem to faze them.

I think about what would happen though if I or Ryan had to get in front of a camera and talk about what was going on or say something on behalf of Move America Forward. First of all, for that to happen we would have to actually know what’s going on, which usually is not the case. As the situation currently stands though, we just take orders, and there isn’t anything I see wrong with that, I am here for Move America Forward and for the troops, not Danny Gonzalez.

I guess it’s tough not to get a little excited though. How can you expect anyone not to?

Debbie Lee just got off the phone with BBC. Apparently she was on a show with someone from another group and they were having a debate about the war. The girl who represented the other side was really bumbling her questions and just not comfortable on the air. It’s unfortunate that we put so much emphasis on media and media coverage that we run the risk of losing what the real issues are, and that’s getting more grassroots support for our cause. That’s why I love this internet thing, we have so many supporters who are internet based or learned about us through the internet. I feel like we have to find a way to get more interactive and bring the community of people who visit www.moveamericaforward.org together and get them active in helping out their local area.

Well besides all this rubbish about the media, I had the chance to talk to some really amazing folks in Oklahoma City. One man was captured and became a POW in the Korean War. He talked with me a bit about his story, but unfortunately I was not taking notes and have forgotten most of it. Our conversation was brief too because the rally was starting and we couldn’t be talking over Buzz’s talking or Diana’s singing. I have a poem to share with all of you that this man brought to me and it honors those who fell beside him and never came home from the POW camps.

The poem was written in Pyuckton “Camp 5” North Korea. Over 1800 men died n this camp. In the spring of 1951 we saw over 1600 Dog Tags that were taken from these men. This poem is submitted by Theo Baudoin Jr. Many of the prisoners at this camp contributed to the words of “The Sixteen Hundred”

The Sixteen Hundred

Not a bugle was heard, not a funeral beat,
Or even a drum sounding retreat.
As over the ice the corpse was carried,
To the hill where those GIs are buried.

Six foot by two foot by one foot deep,
On a Korean hillside they sleep.
Both young and old, perhaps one wonders why?
These 1600 had to die.

No little white cross with their name,
But then they are not buried in shame.
Although they are in unknown graves,
“Sixteen Hundred,” American braves.

No useless casket enclosed their breast,
It is GI clothing for their last rest
All colors of men: Blacks, Browns and Whites
Now “Sixteen Hundred” faded Lights

A pill, a powder, medicine of any kind,
Or, should we say a stronger mind;
Could have saved them from yonder hill,
Those “Sixteen Hundred,” now laying still.

In their illness, tossing and turning,
Most of them knew there would be no returning,
Some went easy, some with pain
Did these “Sixteen Hundred” die in vain?

When we go home to enjoy our fill,
They are still there on that lonely hill.
Forgotten by some, yet remembered by most,
They will be “The Sixteen Hundred” in their last post.