As if you even needed more reason
I love Jon Stewart. From Reliable Sources:
Tuesday’s USO-Metro awards dinner was about as old-school patriotic as it gets: Miss America 2008 Kirsten Haglund singing the National Anthem, tenor Daniel Rodriguez performing “God Bless America,” 34 Medal of Honor recipients in the audience, and a giant American flag hanging in Pentagon City’s Ritz-Carlton ballroom.
And at the center of it all: Jon Stewart.
The Bush-bashing “Daily Show” host, equal-opportunity satirist, sultan of snark? That Jon Stewart?
Turns out the comedian has been quietly visiting soldiers at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals, trips he began in 2004 to better understand the Iraq war. “I felt that I was living in a world of theory,” he told the audience, “but I hadn’t touched the reality and the humanity of it.” The first patient he met was “funnier than I was” — and Stewart’s been a regular ever since.
“I certainly get a lot more out of it than they do,” a subdued Stewart said after dinner. His visits with the troops hasn’t softened his position on what he calls a “dopey” war: “If anything, it’s made me angrier. . . . You can be for the war, against the war, but you can’t be uninformed about it. To see the human cost is part of the equation.”
Stewart was presented the group’s Merit Award by Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Tuesday’s trip also included a stop at Arlington Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. The one thing he hasn’t done? Go on a USO trip to Iraq. “I would go there but I’m chicken [poop],” he said.
Hi Citizen Jake, I enjoyed this post. Maybe John Stewart should find out more of where our military needs help and get active. Hollywood types could be real heroes if they would just get with the program. Check out our post on Veterans Burial Benefits http://www.cemeteryspot.com/blog/?p=86. There is so much that John Stewart cpould get involved with that would really make a difference.