Last week I linked to an op-ed by Jon Voight with the caveat that I generally don't really care about the opinions of celebrities.  Today, I want you to meet one of the few exceptions to my rule: Mike Farrell.  I had the honor of meeting Mike at a death penalty protest several years ago and he truly does walk the walk of his values and there's no way to do anything but respect him for that and for the dignity he brings to activism and this important topic.  He and his friend Don McCartin contributed this op-ed, originally in the LA Daily News, but here for you from Truthdig: 

We are an unlikely pair-not "The Odd Couple," but close. Forty-five years ago, one was a successful lawyer practicing in Orange County, the other an aspiring actor living there because his new wife taught at Laguna Beach High School.

The lawyer had lawsuits to handle, papers to be filed, people to be found, summonses and subpoenas to be served.

The actor, unable to count on work in show business, ran an attorney service that took care of the lawyer's business.

Both former Marines, we thus knew each other, if casually, for years.

Two decades later, the lawyer, then a judge of the Superior Court, had sentenced more men to death than any other in his jurisdiction. He was known as "the hanging judge of Orange County."

The actor had gotten lucky, becoming a member of the cast of "M*A*S*H," one of the nation's most beloved TV shows, and was an ardent and outspoken opponent of the death penalty.

Today, while coming at it from vastly different perspectives, the now-retired "hanging judge" and the actor, who chairs Death Penalty Focus, find themselves working together again, this time to close California's death chamber.

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Mr. Bush claims that rumors of plans to attack Iran are ‘baseless gossip.' So why am I still worried?

Five years ago we established Artists United to Win Without War because of concern about the veracity of Mr. Bush's claims about Iraq. We were alarmed at the hawkish tirades from Washington portending a clear intention to launch an unprovoked attack against a nation that had done us no harm. And we were appalled at the bellicose ranting of the mainstream media that acted as Bush's megaphone, drowning out the few lonely voices trying to add a touch of reason to the mix. So we released a call for restraint, signed by celebrities, military officers, diplomats and foreign service professionals, asking him to honor our country's historic opposition to a "first strike" and to support the UN inspection teams checking to see if Saddam was actually hiding WMD.

The media, of course, ignored the professionals on our list and attacked the upstart celebrities in an attempt to divert the discussion away from whether we were being told the truth to whether actors have a right to an opinion.

I'm worried today because the "thousands of lives" we warned might be lost in Iraq became hundreds of thousands. The millions of dollars we worried might be wasted became hundreds of billions. The international respect we feared might be damaged has instead been shredded. And the elected representatives we felt had shirked their duty have not yet shouldered it.

In our naiveté, we did not know that our Constitution and Bill of Rights would be sundered and America would become a nation of torturers.

So I'm worried because the same media that turned Saddam into Hitler despite the fact that he had no meaningful army and no weapons of mass destruction, now confers the title on the hapless tool Ahmadinejad, who has no power over Iran's military and little political standing in his own country, except that rejuvenated by the blundering president of Columbia University.

I'm worried because although General John Abizaid, former chief of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), doesn't believe "the Iranians intend to attack us," saying, "Iran is not a suicide nation," he is now retired.

It's reassuring that Admiral William Fallon, the current head of CENTCOM, refused to send a third naval carrier task force to the Persian Gulf because it would signal a preparation for war. He's said to have vowed there would be no war against Iran on his watch and implied he would quit first.

But I worry that Mr. Bush doesn't care what military leaders say when Mr. Cheney sets his mind to doing something. General Shinseki, General Zinni and General Batiste opposed his policies in Iraq. They're now gone, as is much of Iraq.

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(guest blogged by Mike Farrell)

Just who the hell do they think they are… or were?   How dastardly, how evil, how utterly asymmetrical!

How low can they stoop… okay, they weren't actually stooping, you have to stand up to hang yourself.  But all the same, it's stooping pretty damned low to attack a country that's only trying to defend itself against people who… people who look like the people who we think may be the ones who attacked us.

How low can they stoop...okay, they weren't actually stooping, you have to stand up to hang yourself.  But all the same, it's stooping pretty damned low to attack a country that's only trying to defend itself against people who...people who look like the people who we think may be the ones who attacked us.

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Mike Farrell on "Baghdad ER"

Mike Farrell, who most of you know from the TV series "Mash," allowed C&L an exclusive to publish his review and feelings about HBO's documentary, "Baghdad ER."

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I saw "Baghdad ER" on HBO last night (Sunday, May 21). I'd heard that the Defense Dept. had issued warnings urging servicemen and women back from Iraq to be wary of watching as it might trigger PTSD symptoms.  Perhaps they hoped those about to go wouldn't watch as well, for fear they might not show up.

"Baghdad ER" is a documentary about a "CASH," a Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad. I recommend it for every American, but the queasy be warned: it is excruciating. I cringed at the gore, was sickened by the death, wept at the frustration and resignation of the medics, at the faith of the chaplain, at the simple, shocked, blank expressions on the faces of kids younger than my son – victims of this fool's war.  Listening to the bravado of some, aching to comfort those who came in knowing they were hurt but not how badly, made me want to scream. Watching this horrifying, endless process, the tears on my face kept drying from the heat of my anger. Glorious, generous, talented, dedicated human beings forced to be part of this circus of carnage made me so furious I couldn't speak at the end.

I loathe the people who have created this monstrosity. I want the criminals who lied and cheated and pretended and twisted and perverted reality - and those who rationalized their crimes - so they could send over 2400 servicemen and woman to their death, nearly 18,000 to come home torn - some never to be whole again - thousands more to suffer mental damage, and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians to be swept into the garbage can of "collateral damage," to pay. These bastards and their apologists should be stripped naked and forced to walk the main streets of America, allowing every city and town that has lost a loved one to injury or death in this shameful catastrophe to heap on them the scorn they deserve.

John F. Kennedy said America would never start a war. Well, it has now, and its architects have damaged our character, poisoned our standing in the world and soiled the soul of what was once the greatest nation in the history of the world.

---by Mike Farrell