i haven't lived one day not loving you only
Today's poem:
Poem of Absence
by Frances Horovitz
to be alone for a month is good
I follow the bright fish of memory
falling deeper into myself
to the endless present
the child's cry is my only clock
yet your singing echoes in corners
who clatters the red tea-pot
or opens the door with a bang
to look at the evening sky?
your typewriter lies silent
it is reproachful
I cannot make it stutter like you
I sit in the woods at dusk
listening for the sound of your singing
there are letters from a thousand miles
you wrote a week ago
like leaves from an autumn tree
they fall on the mat
it was your voice woke me
and the absent touch of your hand
***
Okay, so, after a second watching of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I feel like I still need to see it a few more times to catch everything and also maybe to stop being SO OVERWHELMED WITH FEELS (spoiler: I will NEVER stop being OVERWHELMED WITH FEELS), here are some things I didn't mention in my first post about the movie:
Things which I didn't notice/put together until after I read other people's reviews/saw the movie a second time:
1. YOU CAN SEE THE WATERGATE FROM THE TRISKELION ELEVATORS. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, MARVEL.
2. The first line of the movie is "On your left." STEVE ROGERS IS ALWAYS ON THE LEFT. If you move him rightward, you are missing the point of the character. I mean, he wasn't straight up textually a New Deal Democrat, but that is what he's basically saying. I mean, even given how much thought was put into this movie - AND IT CLEARLY WAS A LOT - I'm not sure they actually mean that? But oh, I am taking it that way. ("No polio - that's good. And the food is better. We boiled everything." THAT IS BECAUSE YOU WERE (LIKELY) SHANTY IRISH, STEVE. I'M SURE YOUR NEIGHBORS FROM PALERMO AND POLAND WERE DOING A LOT MORE DELICIOUS COOKING.)
3. I missed it again in squeeing over Danny Pudi's cameo, but other people have said that he says, "Barton's still in Afghanistan" (or something similar) and the other guy says, "You could have mentioned that." (or something like that?) So while I'm not one of the people who needed to know why Hawkeye wasn't in this movie (it's not his story! He has no place in it! If they couldn't give him something to do, better to leave him out!), I think it is ever-so-briefly addressed. Of course, I also don't have a problem with them not calling Tony - for all Steve knows, he's compromised, since he was involved with/consulted on Project Insight. Do I believe Steve thinks Tony is HYDRA? No. Absolutely not. But he doesn't know who at SI might be, or if he can get a secure line. Also, I just don't see them having the sort of relationship in the movies where they call each other up and stuff. *hands* (Also also, timeline issues? But I'll get to that.)
4. Also on the Clint front, I guess - this time I looked closely and yes, Natasha is wearing an arrow necklace.
Timeline things:
1. Steve gets the serum on June 22, 1943. The date on the newspaper from the next day that Senator Brandt shows him is June 23, 1943. I always assumed (which, I know, I should know better) that he was with the USO tour for the rest of 1943, hit Europe in early 1944 and then he and Bucky "die" within days of each other in early spring of 1945 (March-ish). But then Bucky's dates at the Smithsonian are listed as 1917-1944, so I figured he died in late December 1944, maybe even right at the end of the month/over the New Year, since I believe Steve goes into the ice in 1945.
2. And then Steve SAYS in THIS that movie he rescued Bucky from a HYDRA lab in 1943. And there's snow on the ground when he breaks into the HYDRA compound to rescue Bucky and what will become the Commandos. So. Let's say he's with the USO for the summer and part of the fall - June - October maybe, and then he heads to Europe where he gets booed off stage, runs into Peggy, and rescues Bucky. (It still never fails to make me laugh that Col. Phillips is like, "James Barnes, yes, I recall that name." Because there were probably like, 30 guys in the ETO named James Barnes. It's not an uncommon name!)
3. So, I was revising my mental timeline thusly: Cap and the Howling Commandos wipe HYDRA bases off the map from December 1943 - December 1944, and then Bucky falls, and there's a really quick 2-4 day turnaround from that to when they raid the last HYDRA base and Steve goes down (Zola tells them 24 hours, according to the first movie). But then Steve says in this movie that Bucky fell off a train in 1945, confirming my original hypothesis! (I will always take what a character says over what a prop says, unless something else proves them wrong, mostly because the props can be haphazard with things/not aware of changes in the script etc.). Someone at the Smithsonian *cough* screwed up on that Bucky Barnes display. And if you can't trust the Smithsonian, who CAN you trust?
4. But also, they just totally played fast and loose with things, because we see Bucky's flashback of being found in the ravine and a Russian soldier is standing over him, but then we see him with Zola. Except Zola was already in US custody at that time, and even if HYDRA doesn't have internal ethnic squabbles or factions (which, let's be real, I'm sure they do), I can't see Zola being allowed to travel in and out of the USSR in the fifties - I can't see the non-HYDRA US or Russian authorities allowing that! But his file is in Russian! Natasha gets it from Kiev. So I don't know what-all happened there.
5. Amy and I decided last night that while it's sad we no longer having bonding at the orphanage Steve/Bucky, we do have knowing each other since early childhood Steve/Bucky instead, from the playground to the future. Ugh, I need all the fic about wee!Steve and wee!Bucky, and how Bucky was older and naturally fell into the protective role when people picked on Steve, and they had sleepovers at the Barnes house when Sarah Rogers had to work nights etc. ALSO, ALL THE GRIEF-STRICKEN CUDDLING AFTER STEVE'S MOM DIES.
6. I also don't know what to do with Natasha's birth date being given as 1984. Even if you say okay, the Red Room wasn't dismantled when the KGB was, it doesn't really fit her characterization, though I guess she identifies more as a mercenary pre-SHIELD than a KGB agent. I feel like she of all people needs the Cold War backstory. So I'm choosing to think that she was someone else before and only became Natalia Alianovna Romanova in 1984, and was mind-wiped so she doesn't remember the rest. *hands*
Questions:
1. So was the general who was questioning Natasha at the end (along with Haffley from West Wing! Bastard!) the same dude who was in IM3? I'm trying to figure out the IM3-Cap2 timeline (given that SHIELD is supposed to be in the same universe, Thor 2 has happened already, and given that they talk a lot about Extremis and how it's been modified etc. by Centipede, it must be after IM3 as well, so is it all happening in real time, sort of?).
2. We see Sharon qualifying on the gun range with the CIA, and the FBI arresting Garry Shandling, but how have those orgs been cleaned out? Was the info dump that Natasha did not just SHIELD's secrets, but HYDRA's as well? Nick Fury goes off to Europe to stamp out lingering HYDRA cells, and Strucker says he'll feed other HYDRA cells to Cap to keep him off their trail, but given how deep HYDRA was into everything, how can anyone trust anybody in any position of power? (Which of course, is a question the movie is asking. I've seen complaints that by making it HYDRA inside SHIELD it's taking away SHIELD's accountability by going, oh yeah, it's really EVIL NAZIS, but I disagree. Thousands of SHIELD agents who weren't also HYDRA seemed A-OK with a lot of the sketchy stuff SHIELD does, AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ELECTED THESE FUCKING FASCISTS. They're not a fake government or false security organization. THEY ARE THE GOVERNMENT. Which again, is the whole point! giving up liberty for security! And how it slowly becomes security with no civil liberty.)
Other things:
1. I realize they wouldn't get RDJ to do such a small cameo, but he totally strolled into Maria Hill's Stark Industries interview and made her take that lie detector test. This I believe.
2. Speaking of Maria Hill, people should write Sam/Maria, just so it call be called SAMHILL. I AM JUST SAYING.
3. Sam needs to HUG EVERYONE. I bet he gives awesome hugs. And also make breakfast for them. I am totally calling it that he lures Bucky in slowly with pancakes and then hugs him at the table.
4. BUCKY NEEDS ALL THE HUGS. I NEED ALL THE FIC WHERE HE GETS ALL THE HUGS.
5. Ugh, I don't even know where to put this in this post, but the complete gutpunch, the way Steve is completely out of it when he's being arrested and almost assassinated in the street because BUCKY IS ALIVE AND HOW DID HE NOT KNOW AND IT'S ALL HIS FAULT. ALL STEVE'S BUCKY FEELS. ALL MY STEVE AND BUCKY FEELS. *sobs*
I also want ALL THE FIC where Steve and Sam tromp around Europe being completely not stealthy, chasing after Bucky while he tries to find himself and rogue Hydra agents are trying to kill them so Bucky just eliminates all threats. He might not really believe he's Bucky Barnes (yet) but nobody gets to kill Steve Rogers while he's around (unless it's him; he's still conflicted about that). STEVE IS HIS MISSION -> PROTECTING STEVE IS HIS MISSION.
6. I don't get the reviewers who feel the Winter Soldier reveal came too late in the movie, since Bucky's absence was palpable throughout and the Winter Soldier loomed large over everything despite not being around a lot (and most everyone knew who he was anyway, so it was STEVE'S reaction that was important, and we got that in spades). ALSO. THE WHOLE POINT WAS A GOOD MAN VS. A PERFECT SOLDIER. YOU HAVE TO STRIP AWAY ALL PERSONALITY AND SELF-DETERMINATION AND MAKE SOMEONE AN AUTOMATON TO MAKE THEM A PERFECT UNQUESTIONING SOLDIER.
This is also why it's so important that Steve ASKS all the SHIELD agents to fight with him, and the ones who aren't HYDRA respond to the call - first that tech guy who says no, who makes the right choice even though it'll probably get his brains splattered across his console, and then Sharon and everyone else. I really liked that it wasn't everyone at SHIELD, even though of course Steve is right and the whole apparatus has to come down, it can't be salvaged. but people MADE THEIR CHOICES. Rumlow even says it - You chose the wrong side. And Sharon says, Depends on where you're standing. BABY AGENT SHARON MADE ME HAPPY. Marvel, please don't fuck her over the way you've fucked her over in the comics!
7. BUCKY AND NATASHA AND SAM ALL SERVE AS FOILS FOR STEVE:
- WINTER SOLDIER IS STEVE'S SHADOW SELF, THE THING ERSKINE DIDN'T WANT TO CREATE, EVEN IF THAT'S WHAT THE ARMY WANTED.
- Natasha is secrets and stealth, but she doesn't know who she is without that; Steve is the guy with the big target on his back, and everybody's following him. She does the dirty work, the way Bucky did with the Commandos, while Steve is the public face. Steve rescues hostages while Natasha rescues secret information. etc. etc. HOW PERFECT IS NATASHA IN THIS MOVIE? SO SO PERFECT. PLEASE MAKE OUT WITH STEVE SOME MORE IN BETWEEN SHOOTING BAD GUYS.
- Sam is the guy who does what Steve does, only slower. He's also a returning soldier who can't quite put his life back together, though he was managing a bit better than the others until Steve came along. He's who Steve could have been had he made it back after WWII.
I stand by my assertion in my original post that in addition to the security v. freedom theme, this movie was also about trust and identity.
Ugh, I have spent most of the day writing this post and I feel like there is still so much more I could say about this movie.
I've been reading all your reaction posts, even if I'm not commenting, but link me, just in case I missed yours! I just want to squee endlessly, is what I'm saying.
Anyway! Before I went to see it, I finally finished off the Steve/Bucky/Natasha SPY PUPPIES story, which I started back in July and stalled out on for so long:
with your pockets full of rain (@ AO3)
Avengers (2012); Steve/Natasha/Bucky; adult; no Cap 2 spoilers; 9,650 words
In which Steve loves puppies and freedom and Russian assassins. Not necessarily in that order.
It's less the long slow-build to the OT3 I originally planned than it is shenanigans with puppies, but I really wanted to get it done before the movie opened here, and I did. *hands* I'm glad it's no longer hanging over my head, and also I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, for all that it once again featured my patented "let's rush to the end" style of writing. Sigh. One day I will fix that. *shakes fist at self* ONE DAY.
Though now I kind of wish I'd made Sam the one to whom they turned over the therapy puppy trainees.
--
Thomas Paine and John Kerry quotes so I can find them again:
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. The American Crisis, Thomas Paine
We who have come here to Washington have come here because we feel we have to be winter soldiers now. We could come back to this country; we could be quiet; we could hold our silence; we could not tell what went on in Vietnam, but we feel because of what threatens this country, the fact that the crimes threaten it, not reds, and not redcoats but the crimes which we are committing that threaten it, that we have to speak out. a quote from John Kerry's testimony during the Winter Soldier investigation in 1971, which was all dredged up again in 2004 when Kerry was running for president.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/652758.html.
people have commented there.
Poem of Absence
by Frances Horovitz
to be alone for a month is good
I follow the bright fish of memory
falling deeper into myself
to the endless present
the child's cry is my only clock
yet your singing echoes in corners
who clatters the red tea-pot
or opens the door with a bang
to look at the evening sky?
your typewriter lies silent
it is reproachful
I cannot make it stutter like you
I sit in the woods at dusk
listening for the sound of your singing
there are letters from a thousand miles
you wrote a week ago
like leaves from an autumn tree
they fall on the mat
it was your voice woke me
and the absent touch of your hand
***
Okay, so, after a second watching of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I feel like I still need to see it a few more times to catch everything and also maybe to stop being SO OVERWHELMED WITH FEELS (spoiler: I will NEVER stop being OVERWHELMED WITH FEELS), here are some things I didn't mention in my first post about the movie:
Things which I didn't notice/put together until after I read other people's reviews/saw the movie a second time:
1. YOU CAN SEE THE WATERGATE FROM THE TRISKELION ELEVATORS. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, MARVEL.
2. The first line of the movie is "On your left." STEVE ROGERS IS ALWAYS ON THE LEFT. If you move him rightward, you are missing the point of the character. I mean, he wasn't straight up textually a New Deal Democrat, but that is what he's basically saying. I mean, even given how much thought was put into this movie - AND IT CLEARLY WAS A LOT - I'm not sure they actually mean that? But oh, I am taking it that way. ("No polio - that's good. And the food is better. We boiled everything." THAT IS BECAUSE YOU WERE (LIKELY) SHANTY IRISH, STEVE. I'M SURE YOUR NEIGHBORS FROM PALERMO AND POLAND WERE DOING A LOT MORE DELICIOUS COOKING.)
3. I missed it again in squeeing over Danny Pudi's cameo, but other people have said that he says, "Barton's still in Afghanistan" (or something similar) and the other guy says, "You could have mentioned that." (or something like that?) So while I'm not one of the people who needed to know why Hawkeye wasn't in this movie (it's not his story! He has no place in it! If they couldn't give him something to do, better to leave him out!), I think it is ever-so-briefly addressed. Of course, I also don't have a problem with them not calling Tony - for all Steve knows, he's compromised, since he was involved with/consulted on Project Insight. Do I believe Steve thinks Tony is HYDRA? No. Absolutely not. But he doesn't know who at SI might be, or if he can get a secure line. Also, I just don't see them having the sort of relationship in the movies where they call each other up and stuff. *hands* (Also also, timeline issues? But I'll get to that.)
4. Also on the Clint front, I guess - this time I looked closely and yes, Natasha is wearing an arrow necklace.
Timeline things:
1. Steve gets the serum on June 22, 1943. The date on the newspaper from the next day that Senator Brandt shows him is June 23, 1943. I always assumed (which, I know, I should know better) that he was with the USO tour for the rest of 1943, hit Europe in early 1944 and then he and Bucky "die" within days of each other in early spring of 1945 (March-ish). But then Bucky's dates at the Smithsonian are listed as 1917-1944, so I figured he died in late December 1944, maybe even right at the end of the month/over the New Year, since I believe Steve goes into the ice in 1945.
2. And then Steve SAYS in THIS that movie he rescued Bucky from a HYDRA lab in 1943. And there's snow on the ground when he breaks into the HYDRA compound to rescue Bucky and what will become the Commandos. So. Let's say he's with the USO for the summer and part of the fall - June - October maybe, and then he heads to Europe where he gets booed off stage, runs into Peggy, and rescues Bucky. (It still never fails to make me laugh that Col. Phillips is like, "James Barnes, yes, I recall that name." Because there were probably like, 30 guys in the ETO named James Barnes. It's not an uncommon name!)
3. So, I was revising my mental timeline thusly: Cap and the Howling Commandos wipe HYDRA bases off the map from December 1943 - December 1944, and then Bucky falls, and there's a really quick 2-4 day turnaround from that to when they raid the last HYDRA base and Steve goes down (Zola tells them 24 hours, according to the first movie). But then Steve says in this movie that Bucky fell off a train in 1945, confirming my original hypothesis! (I will always take what a character says over what a prop says, unless something else proves them wrong, mostly because the props can be haphazard with things/not aware of changes in the script etc.). Someone at the Smithsonian *cough* screwed up on that Bucky Barnes display. And if you can't trust the Smithsonian, who CAN you trust?
4. But also, they just totally played fast and loose with things, because we see Bucky's flashback of being found in the ravine and a Russian soldier is standing over him, but then we see him with Zola. Except Zola was already in US custody at that time, and even if HYDRA doesn't have internal ethnic squabbles or factions (which, let's be real, I'm sure they do), I can't see Zola being allowed to travel in and out of the USSR in the fifties - I can't see the non-HYDRA US or Russian authorities allowing that! But his file is in Russian! Natasha gets it from Kiev. So I don't know what-all happened there.
5. Amy and I decided last night that while it's sad we no longer having bonding at the orphanage Steve/Bucky, we do have knowing each other since early childhood Steve/Bucky instead, from the playground to the future. Ugh, I need all the fic about wee!Steve and wee!Bucky, and how Bucky was older and naturally fell into the protective role when people picked on Steve, and they had sleepovers at the Barnes house when Sarah Rogers had to work nights etc. ALSO, ALL THE GRIEF-STRICKEN CUDDLING AFTER STEVE'S MOM DIES.
6. I also don't know what to do with Natasha's birth date being given as 1984. Even if you say okay, the Red Room wasn't dismantled when the KGB was, it doesn't really fit her characterization, though I guess she identifies more as a mercenary pre-SHIELD than a KGB agent. I feel like she of all people needs the Cold War backstory. So I'm choosing to think that she was someone else before and only became Natalia Alianovna Romanova in 1984, and was mind-wiped so she doesn't remember the rest. *hands*
Questions:
1. So was the general who was questioning Natasha at the end (along with Haffley from West Wing! Bastard!) the same dude who was in IM3? I'm trying to figure out the IM3-Cap2 timeline (given that SHIELD is supposed to be in the same universe, Thor 2 has happened already, and given that they talk a lot about Extremis and how it's been modified etc. by Centipede, it must be after IM3 as well, so is it all happening in real time, sort of?).
2. We see Sharon qualifying on the gun range with the CIA, and the FBI arresting Garry Shandling, but how have those orgs been cleaned out? Was the info dump that Natasha did not just SHIELD's secrets, but HYDRA's as well? Nick Fury goes off to Europe to stamp out lingering HYDRA cells, and Strucker says he'll feed other HYDRA cells to Cap to keep him off their trail, but given how deep HYDRA was into everything, how can anyone trust anybody in any position of power? (Which of course, is a question the movie is asking. I've seen complaints that by making it HYDRA inside SHIELD it's taking away SHIELD's accountability by going, oh yeah, it's really EVIL NAZIS, but I disagree. Thousands of SHIELD agents who weren't also HYDRA seemed A-OK with a lot of the sketchy stuff SHIELD does, AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ELECTED THESE FUCKING FASCISTS. They're not a fake government or false security organization. THEY ARE THE GOVERNMENT. Which again, is the whole point! giving up liberty for security! And how it slowly becomes security with no civil liberty.)
Other things:
1. I realize they wouldn't get RDJ to do such a small cameo, but he totally strolled into Maria Hill's Stark Industries interview and made her take that lie detector test. This I believe.
2. Speaking of Maria Hill, people should write Sam/Maria, just so it call be called SAMHILL. I AM JUST SAYING.
3. Sam needs to HUG EVERYONE. I bet he gives awesome hugs. And also make breakfast for them. I am totally calling it that he lures Bucky in slowly with pancakes and then hugs him at the table.
4. BUCKY NEEDS ALL THE HUGS. I NEED ALL THE FIC WHERE HE GETS ALL THE HUGS.
5. Ugh, I don't even know where to put this in this post, but the complete gutpunch, the way Steve is completely out of it when he's being arrested and almost assassinated in the street because BUCKY IS ALIVE AND HOW DID HE NOT KNOW AND IT'S ALL HIS FAULT. ALL STEVE'S BUCKY FEELS. ALL MY STEVE AND BUCKY FEELS. *sobs*
I also want ALL THE FIC where Steve and Sam tromp around Europe being completely not stealthy, chasing after Bucky while he tries to find himself and rogue Hydra agents are trying to kill them so Bucky just eliminates all threats. He might not really believe he's Bucky Barnes (yet) but nobody gets to kill Steve Rogers while he's around (unless it's him; he's still conflicted about that). STEVE IS HIS MISSION -> PROTECTING STEVE IS HIS MISSION.
6. I don't get the reviewers who feel the Winter Soldier reveal came too late in the movie, since Bucky's absence was palpable throughout and the Winter Soldier loomed large over everything despite not being around a lot (and most everyone knew who he was anyway, so it was STEVE'S reaction that was important, and we got that in spades). ALSO. THE WHOLE POINT WAS A GOOD MAN VS. A PERFECT SOLDIER. YOU HAVE TO STRIP AWAY ALL PERSONALITY AND SELF-DETERMINATION AND MAKE SOMEONE AN AUTOMATON TO MAKE THEM A PERFECT UNQUESTIONING SOLDIER.
This is also why it's so important that Steve ASKS all the SHIELD agents to fight with him, and the ones who aren't HYDRA respond to the call - first that tech guy who says no, who makes the right choice even though it'll probably get his brains splattered across his console, and then Sharon and everyone else. I really liked that it wasn't everyone at SHIELD, even though of course Steve is right and the whole apparatus has to come down, it can't be salvaged. but people MADE THEIR CHOICES. Rumlow even says it - You chose the wrong side. And Sharon says, Depends on where you're standing. BABY AGENT SHARON MADE ME HAPPY. Marvel, please don't fuck her over the way you've fucked her over in the comics!
7. BUCKY AND NATASHA AND SAM ALL SERVE AS FOILS FOR STEVE:
- WINTER SOLDIER IS STEVE'S SHADOW SELF, THE THING ERSKINE DIDN'T WANT TO CREATE, EVEN IF THAT'S WHAT THE ARMY WANTED.
- Natasha is secrets and stealth, but she doesn't know who she is without that; Steve is the guy with the big target on his back, and everybody's following him. She does the dirty work, the way Bucky did with the Commandos, while Steve is the public face. Steve rescues hostages while Natasha rescues secret information. etc. etc. HOW PERFECT IS NATASHA IN THIS MOVIE? SO SO PERFECT. PLEASE MAKE OUT WITH STEVE SOME MORE IN BETWEEN SHOOTING BAD GUYS.
- Sam is the guy who does what Steve does, only slower. He's also a returning soldier who can't quite put his life back together, though he was managing a bit better than the others until Steve came along. He's who Steve could have been had he made it back after WWII.
I stand by my assertion in my original post that in addition to the security v. freedom theme, this movie was also about trust and identity.
Ugh, I have spent most of the day writing this post and I feel like there is still so much more I could say about this movie.
I've been reading all your reaction posts, even if I'm not commenting, but link me, just in case I missed yours! I just want to squee endlessly, is what I'm saying.
Anyway! Before I went to see it, I finally finished off the Steve/Bucky/Natasha SPY PUPPIES story, which I started back in July and stalled out on for so long:
with your pockets full of rain (@ AO3)
Avengers (2012); Steve/Natasha/Bucky; adult; no Cap 2 spoilers; 9,650 words
In which Steve loves puppies and freedom and Russian assassins. Not necessarily in that order.
It's less the long slow-build to the OT3 I originally planned than it is shenanigans with puppies, but I really wanted to get it done before the movie opened here, and I did. *hands* I'm glad it's no longer hanging over my head, and also I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, for all that it once again featured my patented "let's rush to the end" style of writing. Sigh. One day I will fix that. *shakes fist at self* ONE DAY.
Though now I kind of wish I'd made Sam the one to whom they turned over the therapy puppy trainees.
--
Thomas Paine and John Kerry quotes so I can find them again:
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. The American Crisis, Thomas Paine
We who have come here to Washington have come here because we feel we have to be winter soldiers now. We could come back to this country; we could be quiet; we could hold our silence; we could not tell what went on in Vietnam, but we feel because of what threatens this country, the fact that the crimes threaten it, not reds, and not redcoats but the crimes which we are committing that threaten it, that we have to speak out. a quote from John Kerry's testimony during the Winter Soldier investigation in 1971, which was all dredged up again in 2004 when Kerry was running for president.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/652758.html.
people have commented there.