Politics has its place...

The funeral of a fallen Marine is not it though. I was disturbed to read today that the lieutenant governor of the state of Pennsylvania, Catherine Baker-Knoll, decided that a crowd of mourners would be the appropriate location for highlighting her anti-war opinions. I understand there are 2 rules of politics:

1. Politicians are publicity whores.
2. Any crowd of people numbering more than about 6 represents a publicity opportunity.

My issue is not necessarily with the anti-war stance. If that is her belief, then I applaud standing up for your convictions. Showing up uninvited to a funeral for a fallen hero only to rail against the very thing that Staff Sergeant Goodrich was willing to fight and unfortunately die for crosses several lines of human decency.

The governor of Pennsylvania and several other prominent political figures have expressed their outrage at Baker-Knoll's actions and issued apologies to the family. As for the Lt. Governor, a spokesperson stated that the office would release a statement later today. Heartfelt apologies never come in carefully crafted public statements. If suspicious that this may turn into an 'I apologize if anyone was offended' apology rather than a true acknowledgement that there was an offense committed.

That's all for now. My usual more trivial rants will return to form later today.