Whaa? or "Hey, You've Got Your 'Ceremony' In My 'Ritual'!"

On the PBS News Hour this wet Friday evening one of the featured segments concerned the newly available photos of flag-draped caskets coming back to the U.S., and how the Bush administration has thus far been preventing such images being available to the public.

At one point during the commentary regarding this story on PBS, the apologist for the White House took issue with the terminology being used to describe what the (living) soldiers partake in at Dover Air Force Base when they stand at attention in their full-dress uniforms, etc., as the bodies come back in their coffins and are brought out of the transports. He said that what happens at the base when the caskets are brought out of the aircraft is not a "ceremony", but, rather, a "ritual".

Oh, Jesus H. This is the kind of "parsing" that would make President Clinton blush, except that this time it isn't about ejaculative stains on a dress, or about whether the phrase "have sex" includes nonpenetrative activities between consenting adults. It's about why Americans are being denied images of our war dead coming back, and what happens during the ceremonial process they're given by our government. Ceremonial. If I didn't know any better I would think you folks in charge, especially those who never served in any sort of combat duty, were somehow ashamed of this war. Well, Mission Almost Accomplished.

This is the sort of language exception that Dr. Rice was taking throughout her testimony on Cap. Hill, recently. It was as if every damned phrase and question had to be constantly contradicted and qualified and dicked with by her - especially if it came out of the mouth of a Democrat panelist, or from the press. Damn it.

What's the essential difference, in the context of whatever it is the domestic soldiers do when our war dead's remains are returned to us, the people, between a "ritual" and a "ceremony"? But, okay. Just keep it up. Keep insulting our intelligence.

It isn't up as of yet, but you should be able to read or see or hear the discussion from Friday's program on PBS.org when you go to their NewsHour (their spelling) section, presently. This is a program, incidentally, that anyone with any discernment ought to be checking out regularly. It's generally on PBS at six or seven p.m. throughout the nation, and you don't need cable to get it - some television is still broadcast, you know. It calmly devotes almost an entire hour to current events, each weeknight, without commercial interruption once they really get started, and without too much flashiness and distracting graphics or pretentious mood music (yeah, that's right, I said pretentious. Some heavily-used words are being used a lot for a reason, and that's one that needs to be on a lot of tongues, these days). The core staff of The News Hour are bright people who aren't there because their teeth are blindingly white, or because their hair is always nice and big and fluffy and full, or because they have no wrinkles. None of them seem at all like fashion models hired to read the news out loud. You're already paying for public television, so take a look. The guy who hosts is the guy you saw presiding in the televised debates connected with our most recent presidential contest, Jim Lehrer. Go, Jim!

Have a nice weekend.