"it's a number"

White House press secretary Tony Snow said today "It's a number." He was referring to the 2500 American military personnel dead.

Meteor Blades, over at The Daily Kos has written a spectacular diary on the subject. I wish that every newspaper across the nation would print it in their paper.

Read about what he (I think "he") did 40 years ago, and what he is going to do this weekend. Here's a short excerpt:

In 1966, President Lyndon Baines Johnson set the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Not coincidentally, it was the same weekend that twenty of us chose to read aloud the list of the American dead in Vietnam from the steps of the state capitol building in Denver. There were, at the time, 5000 dead from that murderous, useless war, dating from December 1961 by Army count. Nine Father's Days later, there would be nearly a dozen times as many. On that cusp-of-summer weekend, forty years ago, one name I read out was of my close high school friend: Manny Miller, aged 19, killed in action October 19, 1965.

Complete diary here.

There's no way I could come close to doing this justice, so just read it.

Update: Because the list is so long...not all of the names can be posted in one diary on DKos. So, several diarists have taken up the cause. There are now four diaries (by different people) to list all the names...it's not just 'a number'. I hope Tony Snow regrets that comment for the rest of his life. If you are interested: Diary 1 (also linked above) Diary 2, Diary 3, Diary 4. Diary 4 lists the names from April 26-June 9, 2006. A very long list for less than 2 months. I'm told there will be a diary 5 (not sure exactly what it will include)....and when that comes out I will update once more.