Melanie Morgan

This weekend I had the opportunity to meet celebrated wit, lawyer, pop icon and political satirist, Ben Stein, who was in Sacramento to speak at my alumni dinner, the Pacific McGeorge School of Law Gala.  In addition to the expected humor and entertaining story telling, Stein also made everyone take note of our great country and the heroic men and women in the military.

He started his presentation with a story detailing how much he thanks God every day for the privilege of being an American, the greatest county on earth.  I wondered if the liberal audience might moan some disapproval, but was grateful that a handsome round of applause followed.  For some perverse reason, many liberals seem to have problems saluting America and our military, and Stein made every liberal in the place recognize where he stood.

Stein is a frequent visitor to Walter Reed Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital to meet with injured U.S. military men and women.  He spoke with great compassion of these wounded warriors, and the heartwarming stories of their strength and character came through loud and clear.  It also came through what a great man Ben Stein is, not only for what he does, but for the fact that he makes his audiences pay attention too.

Too often petty politics and political differences have made opponents of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan confuse their political differences with their respect for the military men and women who are in harms way to defend our freedom and democracy.  There is simply no excuse for anyone to disrespect our military, and Stein made that abundantly clear.

During a recent trip to Iraq that I took with Move America Forward I had the opportunity to meet with some of our troops there, and it was difficult for me to maintain my composure listening to these bright, articulate, capable, honorable and decent young men and women.  They are the best that America has to offer.  It is hard to comprehend how much we owe them for their dedication to freedom and America.  Most of them have enlisted after 9/11 because they WANT to defend America from a real threat.  They are all heroes and they should always be treated as such.

Stein made another good point about his life in Beverly Hills and star-studded Malibu.  He said that people often ask him about the "stars" in his midst.  He correctly pointed out that these weren't the stars; the real stars were the men and women serving our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ben Stein is a powerful speaker, as well as being quite funny and entertaining.  Unfortunately, his appreciation of our troops stands in stark contrast to many in Hollywood.  I am reminded of how different Hollywood uses to be when they championed the cause of freedom and democracy.  Today, so many of these celebrities are instead celebrating with tyrants like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.  How we wish that Ben Stein can be the guiding light to make Hollywood realize again that we are the "good guys."

TIME IS SHORT, PRO-TROOP
HOLIDAY TOUR EFFORTS

I want to leave you with one quick reminder - we are working very long days at the Move America Forward headquarters to put together the giant "Honoring Our Heroes at the Holidays Tour."

We're collecting 100,000 Christmas, Hanukkah, and holiday greeting cards to send to our troops in Iraq and Afgahnistan.

We're embarking on a national cross-country pro-troop tour with 41 pro-troop rallies/events all across America.

We're organizing a magnificent pro-troop holiday concert "A Song for Their Service" that takes place on Friday, December 14, 2007 at 8:00 PM in the historic Lincoln Theater in Washington, DC.

The work that must be done for all of this is staggering, but we are committed to pulling this off in a grand and successful way.

Please look for details on how you can help get involved at our website: www.MoveAmericaForward.org

And as always, these activities come with a price tag, and we rely on you, our members and supporters to help us raise the funds to pay for these efforts.

We have about $194,000 to raise in the next 3 weeks, and I know that with the generosity of our great supporters we will be able to raise these funds.

You can contribute online - JUST CLICK HERE

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