I am pleased to report that Michael Crook's reprehensible website is gone - hopefully for good.

There appear to be no lengths to which he won't go, including, apparently, faking his own death.

He is, however, alive and still twisted.

The sad irony in all of this is that our troops protect his right to slam them.

While I have been reluctant to post about his site, not wanting to generate any more traffic for the weasel, I think that this is an opportunity - it can serve as a reminder that people like him are out there.

During the Vietnam War, there were troop-haters who called the families of those fallen to rejoice in their deaths. My father-in-law, who served in Vietnam, can tell you first-hand about how some "free thinkers" treated returning troops. Now, often, the troop-hating is a little more subtle. It's found in major media outlets who zealously cover alleged mistreatment of murderers, and yet cover precious few of the incidents of kindness, courage, and outstanding honor displayed by our troops on a daily basis.

It's found in the anti-war demonstrators who cry out against the presence of US troops in Iraq because of the plight of the masses, yet did nothing when Saddam Hussein killed hundreds of thousands - or more - of his own people.

It's found in politicians who demand explanations for every vague rumor of misconduct, yet stall on funding for those on the front lines.

It's out there.

My father doesn't agree with me on quite a few things, one of them being my viewpoint on supporting the troops. During the Gulf War, he told me I couldn't wear my American flag / yellow ribbon pin to work (where he worked, too). I told him the pin was staying on until the last of the people I knew there came home. When he tried to force the issue, I told him there was NO WAY I was taking that pin off, and basically to bring it on if he wanted to fight me on it. To tell you the truth, I haven't really talked to him in quite a while, for a number of reasons - one of them being the fact that I don't trust myself to be civil if we have the war discussion again. Especially since my involvement with Soldiers' Angels, it just isn't a topic I'm willing to wade into with him.

Fortunately, unlike in the Vietnam days, the American people support our troops. But the mindset hasn't faded completely, and we should remain vigilant. September 11th has largely faded from mainstream media; the terrorists are largely considered to be "over there." But the danger of attacks by zealots who hate us is still present. And the danger posed by those who hate the men and women who defend our freedoms, who go where they are sent and fight when they are called, is still there too.

It is up to those of us here at home to watch the backs of those who watch ours wherever they are needed.

They are the best of all that this country is. They are our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines.