Angry in the Great White North

Why?

Because she says things thinking most people won't point out the inconsistencies. She's right. Most people won't.

But I'm not most people.

So, we have a new post on MichaelMoore.com (August 22):

I have received dozens of emails with this heading: Go Home and Take Care of Your Kids. I think of all the name calling and unnecessary and untrue trashing of my character, this one offends me the most. What do the people who send me this message mean?

What do they mean? They think Cindy Sheehan should be listening to messages like this one:

Surviving son Andy, 21, supports his mother in principle but recently sent her a long e-mail imploring her "to come home because you need to support us at home," he says.

and that she should reconsider what she is doing:

Unfortunately, I [Cindy Sheehan] am not able to help them [my children] that much because of my pain, and because I feel so compelled to fight the injustice and bring the troops home.

Well, her first response is the standard feminist line:

First of all, it offends me because it is so blatantly sexist. Would anyone think of emailing George Bush when he is out and about (now he is going on a vacation away from his vacation to make speeches in Idaho and Utah defending his killing policies), telling him to go and take care of his kids? Does anyone write to ANY man and tell him to go home and take care of his kids. I have news for all of these people, my children are adults and their dad is home to take care of them if they need any taking care of.

Nice the way she aims the feminist thing at George W Bush, and not at men in general. Always political, this woman, even when she's talking gender issues.

She admits her children are adults. Interesting. Her whole protest has had the effect of treating volunteer soldiers as infantile fools instead of grown men and women making an adult decision. Maybe it's because Andy and Janey and Carly are adults that she feels she can ignore their pain. Well, as she puts it, it's Patrick Sheehan's problem now.

She's too busy.

(Notice something else? No more talk about how the family is behind her, philosophically or otherwise.)

Busy with what? She reminds us that she's out to save the world:

The second reason this command from the self-righteous right offends me is that I believe that what I am doing is for my children, and the world's children. I think that the strategy of eternal baseless war for corporate profit and greed is bad for all of our children: born and unborn.

Eternal war? Well, yes, in that between hot wars these are periods of vigilance. Often wars get hot when that vigilance is allowed to waver and the enemy becomes emboldened. For instance, many point to the policies of the Clinton administration as key to the mess we're in today.

We as mothers need to stop buying into the load of misogynistic crap that our children need our constant presence in their lives so they can thrive and grow. What we need as families are strong support systems that allow each family member to grow and achieve his/her full potential as human beings.

I always thought indentifying mothers as the most important role model for their children was a compliment of the highest degree, not an insult.

Hey, do you think Cindy Sheehan thinks that it's "misogynistic crap" because she failed to be the most important role model in Casey's life? Do you think that the fact that Casey enlisted (and then re-enlisted after the war had started) despite her anti-America politics, or perhaps because of them, is at the root of Cindy's fury? Do you think she thinks, deep down, that she failed as a mom because Casey decided to fight to defend the country she finds "morally repugnant"?

I take responsibility partly for my son's death, too. I was raised in a country by a public school system that taught us that America was good, that America was just. America has been killing people, like my sister over here says, since we first stepped on this continent, we have been responsible for death and destruction. I passed on that bullshit to my son and my son enlisted.

Well, maybe not so deep down.

What better way to avoid the self-loathing of being a "failed mother" than by minimizing and even mocking the institution in the first place.

But in her self-admitted failure as a mom, she has advice for the rest of us:

It is up to us Moms to make sure our children are whole and safe. We can start doing this by always opposing the wars that bury our kids before us. So what I am saying to the people who want me to go home and take care of my kids: I AM taking care of my kids, and yours, too.

Putting aside the oh-so-subtle call to join her Gold Star Families for Peace, that's quite a few kids to take care of. Is she sure that she is qualified?

Carly the oldest has coped by throwing herself into school. Andy is coping by becoming Casey. Janey is coping by drinking and partying.

Um, I think most moms would be happy to take of their own children without Cindy Sheehan's help, thanks anyway. Maybe Cindy Sheehan needs to reconsider those "Go Home and Take Care of Your Kids" letters. Trashing her character? Maybe. Maybe not. Sounds like concerned parents trying to give good advice, one parent to another.