The best way to counteract the anti-military right

We live in strange times indeed, when it's people on the right who bulldoze rows of memorial crosses dedicated to lost men and women serving in the military. It's people on the right doing opposition research on a woman who lost her eldest son in a war. It's people on the right who elect representatives who vote for cuts in veterans' medical care and benefits.

People on the right love war, but hate those who fight it and their families.

The fundamental mistake the Vietnam era anti-war movement made was in deliberately inflammatory protest methods that did little to effect the end of that war, and sowed the seeds of Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Malkin.

We've learned since then, and now we are well-positioned to make a real difference this time.

On Wednesday evening, hundreds of thousands of Americans took to street corners, parking lots, and public squares, each lighting a single candle rather than curse the darkness. Reports from these vigils reveal NO violent confrontations with the vastly outnumbered, though vociferous, knee-jerk Bush supporters with their signs and their ribbon magnets that order the drivers behind them to "support our troops", rather than proclaiming their own efforts by saying "I support our troops."

This time, "we are gentle angry people", and it's we who are providing the support. One does not support our military by continuing to sit by while the president feeds ever more kids into a meat grinder without having a clue why he's doing it and with no plans to ever stop it. One supports the military by making sure that our troops are only used to defend our nation. And this war is NOT about defending our nation. I'm not sure what it IS about, whether it's about Bush's penis size anxieties and Daddy issues, or getting control of the Iraq oil fields, or funnelling lots of government money into the pockets of corporate executives who are Bush's friends. This is what Cindy Sheehan is trying to find out, and this is what Bush is unwilling, or unable, to explain to her.

To me, the most effective way we have of showing our support, and showing that it's real, unlike the lip service of the 101st Fighting Keyboarders, is to support organizations that provide help to soldiers and their families. A list of groups can be found here.

Let's show them who REALLY cares.

UPDATE: Here's the kind of crap I'm talking about. Where's the outcry from the right about this?