I’m old enough to remember bits and pieces of the Vietnam War. As a young child, I had frequent nightmares of soldiers hidden in the shadows of my back yard, wearing little green helmets and camouflage fatigues, with bayonets poised for attack. I had close family members and friends fighting over there. Some came home with purple hearts for their injuries; but scores of our soldiers didn’t come home at all. Far too many who did make it back alive were met with disdain and vicious disrespect by many of their fellow Americans. Currently, 58,261 names of those killed in Vietnam are enshrined on the Vietnam War Memorial. Lest we forget.

Last week, Jane Fonda appeared on a program discussing that infamous picture of herself laughing and singing with Charlie, the very army our troops were fighting against, a photograph she willingly posed for, immortalized for all eternity. That photo outraged our nation. Ms. Fonda declared, “I made one unforgivable mistake when I was in North Vietnam, and I will go to my grave with this.”  Decades later, the pain her actions inflicted, the “mistake” she made, remains an open wound. She’s dead-on about her treason being “unforgiveable.” Many of us won’t be offering any.

Never mind that Ms. Fonda, or most any other “courageous” Hollywood Liberal, would never summon the bravery to take up arms and fight for her beliefs. What Jane Fonda, Sean Penn, and the newest Communist-sympathizer, Dennis Rodman fail to comprehend is that, while they are entitled to their First Amendment rights, just as we all are, the soldiers they’ve taken up sides against are the very ones fighting, and dying, for their right to spew their hatred of America. The Jane Fondas of this nation are cowards who deserve neither our forgiveness nor our respect. They are not simply run-of-the-mill protesters of war, but rather actively holding the hands of those who would seek to destroy us. In my mind, that makes them no less than traitors to our country. I have but a few words for Hanoi Jane and Friends: Shut the *bleep* up. You owe our soldiers that much.