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2009
Soap Box Archives Lest We Forget We are currently doing the Sean Hannity Freedom Concert Tour with Michael W. Smith, Lee Greenwood and Billy Ray Cyrus. It involves eight concerts all across the country and the money raised goes to the Freedom Foundation to pay for collage educations for the children of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the military service of America. You can never tell who is going to show up at one of these events. The other night in Las Vegas, Rich Little came by and did a bit on stage, and last year in Atlanta, Ron White came by. The shows are fun and entertaining and the crowd has a great time, as do the performers, but the essence of the whole thing is the bottom line, the money that is raised to help educate children who have given a parent to keep America free. Every night we have Gold Star families and I can tell you from being around them that the hurt never quite goes away. They come backstage with pictures of the loved ones they've lost, mothers, fathers, parents and children who are still grieving for a son or daughter, a spouse or parent they've lost, but still taking pride in the fact that they died heroes, doing what they believed in. Every time I hear some scumbag politician open his or her mouth and belittle our troops and the job they are doing I want to stuff an oily rag in it. Every time I read something derogatory some self-inflated newspaper reporter has written about the war from the safety of their desk it makes me want to put him in battle gear and let him experience first hand what these young men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan are going through while he sips his chardonnay with the rest of his Bolshevik buddies. When I see what Janet Napolitano is trying to call the War On Terror I want to take her to Iraq, put her in a Humvee and let her take a ride outside the wire where she'll never know from minute to minute when the pavement is going to blow up in her face or huddle in a shelter while a base is being mortared or have somebody pop off a couple of rounds at a helicopter or plane she's riding in. If she can come back and tell me she wasn't terrified maybe I'll pay attention to her stupid misnomers. I know I write about the military and my respect and support for them a lot, but in my book it is one of the most important issues in America today. We train young people to go to war where they daily carry a gun and take their lives in their hands and they do it because they want to, not because they were drafted, the world's finest military force, made up of volunteers. These men and women, and I'm not talking about just the ones on active duty now, but all our veterans, our National Guard, our reserves, all of them deserve the respect and support of every American. There should be no question about a college education being provided for the children of someone who died protecting our nation and since the federal government had rather spend our money buying and destroying "clunkers" it falls to people like Sean Hannity, Ollie North and company to see that it's done and my hat's off to them. After tonight we have two Freedom Concerts left, Cincinnati on the 21st of August and Atlanta the next day on the 22nd. If you get a chance and want to experience something real special come to a Freedom Concert. You will have a great time, and be supporting a worthwhile cause. What do you think? Pray for our troops, and for our country God Bless America Charlie Daniels
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