Prove your commitment to the cause, George.

This week I attended a funeral service for another Idaho hero. As I am still trying to process my emotions and feelings about this poor family's loss (as well as America's loss), I continue to hear Bush promote the war in Iraq and his commitment to victory. I find myself thinking yet again how easy it must be for him to risk the lives of our American troops... when none of his own are willing to sacrifice for his cause. I posted the following eight months ago... I doubt there has been any recent developments (i.e. enlistments).

March 22, 2006
I received this via e-mail from a member of the Gold Star Families for Peace. In case you didn't know, there is only one requirement to be a member of a Gold Star Family: Your loved one is killed as a result of war. As I've mentioned previously, my family has paid those dues.

How many Americans are willing to pay those dues? NOT GEORGE. He can't even talk his OWN family into "sacrificing for the cause". I guess they don't need the money (enlistment bonuses) enough or they are not worried about getting a higher education (another selling point for recruiters) or they don't care about defending America's freedoms (one of the so-called reasons for this war) or they don't care about democracy in Iraq (another so-called reason for this war).

How can he continually attempt to sell this war to Americans when his own family doesn't buy into it?

Either the Bush Kids Put Their Lives on the Line for George's "Noble War"...

...or the Troops Need To Come Home!

Like George did, the new generation of Bushes let other Americans die for them.

Bush has derided the mothers and fathers of our nation's war dead for not wanting any more young American men and women to die in Iraq. "We owe them [the already killed and wounded soldiers] something," he told veterans in Salt Lake City (even though his administration tried to shortchange the veterans agency by $1.5 billion, according to Maureen Dowd). "We will finish the task that they gave their lives for."

Yet, not one -- not one -- of any of Bush's children or his nieces and nephews have volunteered for service in any branch of the military or volunteered to serve in any capacity in Iraq. Not one of them has felt the cause was noble enough to put his or her life on the line.

Here is the full list of the children of Bush and his siblings who have chosen to let other young men and women -- mostly poor, rural and minorities -- die for them, because they have no desire to die for George W. Bush's alleged "noble cause" (assuming an eligible age of 17 with parental consent to join the military):

Military Service Eligible Children of George W. Bush
Jenna Bush
Barbara Bush

Military Service Eligible Children of Jeb Bush
George P. Bush
Noelle Bush
John Ellis Bush Jr.

Military Service Eligible Children of Neil Bush
Lauren Bush
Pierce Bush

Military Service Eligible Children of Marvin Bush
Marshall Bush

Military Service Eligible Children of Dorothy Bush Koch
Samuel LeBlond
Ellie LeBlond

Furthermore, not one of George's siblings served in the military when they were eligible, and Bush got a cozy stateside position in the Texas Air National Guard to avoid risking his life in another "noble war," Vietnam.

Why do George W. Bush, his siblings, and their children think that the war is "noble" enough for kids like Casey Sheehan to die in, but not them?

If it's not "noble" enough for the Bush family to risk their lives fighting for, it's just a disastrous graveyard for poor and middle class Americans, dug deep to advance Bush's partisan agenda.

Bush can be brave with other people's children, because he has nothing personally to risk. Instead the cost is paid in the lives of the real Americans who are not born into the lap of privilege and risk-free lifestyles reserved for the elite.