Fellow Legendaire, artist, writer and creator of Gapo the Clown (see his site for more), Tony Miello, has pieces on his site referencing a special tribute book for the troops serving in the Middle East. Additionally, he's running an auction of the page he's submitted for use in the book, as the tribute book is a not-for-profit venture intended to be distributed free of charge to the troops and needs donations to turn it into a reality.
This is one of those situations where I'm convinced that all involved are doing this in the purest and noblest spirit - much like the troops themselves - but I keep drawing back because I cannot morally support the "mission" they've been sent on. Also, I strongly expect that many of the pieces submitted for this book (a series of single and multiple panel pages in a variety of comics art styles, intended to convey a "thank you" message to the troops) will be unable to steer clear of glorifying the invasion of Iraq. If even one page in the effort does that, I couldn't in clear conscience be a part of it. (Tony, to his credit, has kept it straight, strong and simple, as you'll see by clicking on his auction link in the paragraph above.)
To clarify, project initiator/coordinator Larry Stanley included this in his pitch:
"No Bush-bashing foot stomps and swinging fists nor any other political messages will be accepted. The overall message of this project is that our troops are on our minds and in our hearts; that we understand and appreciate their pains in the field: missing their families, dealing with war and destruction, living in fear for their lives and the lives of their comrades, and so on. "
So, while I cannot take a firsthand place of support in this, I want to help spread the word about this project because, once more, I believe that it's been instituted and generally supported with the best of intentions.
For now, the most supportive thing I can think of doing is to work hard to get the current regime in Washington out of office, because people who'd toss lives into harm's way this cavalierly, and then turn around and cut veteran's benefits while digging the rest of us into a financial hole that will be a dark legacy left to our children if it isn't reversed -- soon -- are a danger to us all.
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