The Charade of Parades, Memorial Day Does Not Honor our Dead

Memorial Day is just another flag-waving bullshit holiday to glorify war while we make believe we give a shit about those we sacrificed to the military industrial complex. If people want to commemorate wars let them get into the head of some of us grunts and hear the real stories of war. Never happen.

Nope we'll make believe my squad leader who threw a grenade into a bunker with women, children and the crying baby I hear in my nightmares was something of a "hero" because a short time later he got killed by a sniper while he was screaming at me to fire my weapon. How's that for a war story?

And then there will be those who think they're being kind by "thanking me for my service". What service were they thinking about.....the times we burned villages down and left a trail of "crispy critter" kids with the napalm strikes we called in? Or the brutal beating of the female prisoner followed by an in the field "water boarding" followed by the eventual killing by Naval Intelligence as we stood around or walked away from the scene? Yeah, those good times of service need a hearty thanks from the American people. If only they could share those good times in the middle of the night with some of us.

I'm writing a piece about cancer. No, not my prostate cancer. The cancer of war that has been killing me long before the recent events of my life. A friend sent me a feel good quote from Buddha suggesting we shouldn't mourn our past but live in the here and now. Good cognitive behavioral health guideline. One of the many things we in psych tell our patients living with horrific trauma because we don't want to "open the can of worms" called PTSD. 

I guess I'd say to Buddha and all others ...if we, the combat veterans, don't mourn the past....who the hell will? I don't see the American public stepping up to mourn the "collateral damage" of our wars. Hell, they won't even accept responsibility for what their government has perpetrated and perpetuated. I heard some old flag-waving bastard on the route of the local Memorial Day parade telling a reporter it's necessary we commemorate our war heroes so we don't repeat the past.

Really? What fucking world does he live in? Oh, yeah, he lives in that revisionist world of veterans and American exceptionalism that conveniently overlooks the war crimes and atrocities committed by far too many "brave" troops. And who is he kidding about not wanting to repeat the history? That is exactly what we've done since the end of World War I. Smedley Butler eloquently speaks about war being a "racket" following his thirty plus years in the USMC after WWI. His words remain as relevant today as then. We've seen war after war and have yet to learn the lessons of history and continued to repeat it. We continue to sacrifice our youth at the behest of old men in politics doing the bidding of the masters of war.... big corporate interests. And it doesn't matter if they're liberal or conservative. They've all sold us out.

These traitors who wrap themselves in the flag make sure they make speeches and show up for press opportunities at these patriotic "holidays". They want us all to believe how much they care. And every day there are 18 suicides of veterans. Every day there are over 50 sexual assaults by military personnel on military personnel. The military hides it using the acronym of MST. What the hell is that? Mountain Standard Time?? No, military sexual assault. Not rape when it is rape but MST. Not sexual harassment but MST.

Let us not fool ourselves Memorial Day means anything to the majority of Americans other than a day that extends a weekend used for trips to tourist traps, mountains, lakes or barbecuing on the back porch. Let us not fool ourselves the American people have any long term interest in the wounded warriors who face a lifetime of pain and medical care that takes far too long to obtain and comes with huge emotional  toll.  Americans don't give a damn about those nightmares running through the combat veteran's brain like a horror movie stuck on infinite rerun mode.

On Monday there will be jet flyovers and uniforms galore hanging out at veterans' cemeteries. And there will be honor bestowed on too many men and women who's only claim to heroism is their deaths in combat. The missing stories for too many are the stories of raping the civilian population, killing innocent men, women and children and hiding behind "I was just doing my job".

War is insanity and horror. Making days to remember the dead of our wars is a sham unless we reflect on why we keep doing  the same thing repeatedly with the same result. Unless we come to accept some responsibility for what we've done to the citizens of other nations we've called "enemy".  Unless we realize we're being played by the racketeers Smedley Butler so eloquently wrote about. When he came to understand the only original thoughts he had came after his discharge from the Corps. 

I no longer give deference to the national anthems, presentations of colors or the contrived holidays merely endorsing and glorifying our immoral wars. I owe the truth about wars to my sons, my grandchildren and future generations. They won't get the truth at the parades and the phony charade of "honoring" those who sacrificed for "freedom" in wars encouraged by the rich to increase their already obscene wealth.

Sorry. Memorial Day is a weekend I have a great burning hate for. It comes from true experiences in a faraway land we had no moral reason to be in. From witnessing the atrocity of war.

Traitors of the Beltway

The traitors in Congress, the Presidency and the Supreme Court continue their ruthless path to subject the American people to tyranny and the American people continue to sleep walk. Much is being made of the IRS investigating special interest groups with conservative backgrounds, the spying on news agencies already in the pocket of the mainstream politicians and the failure to stop a terrorist act in Libya killing an ambassador touring a volatile region of a country in chaos.
These aren't burning issues in the world beset with poverty, hunger and life threatening issues of daily living. These are diversions by politicians unwilling to do what's right, what's moral and what's needed. People die of reasons related to poverty every three or four seconds and what do these fools focus on? Their  continued oppressive tactics have been going on well before Obama, well before Bush and dating back to the days of Washington and Jefferson. Spouting the words freedom and justice the three branches of this government give only lip service to the true ideals of freedom and justice. These stooges wouldn't understand either if they were slapped in the face with them. What they do understand is maintaining the oligarchy.
The phony outrage of ultra-right politicians and their well funded organizations such as the Tea Party and Karl Rove's shadow political action groups is laughable and total hypocrisy. They conveniently forget recent history when the Joint Terrorist Task Force harassed young activists prior to the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. They conveniently forget the thug tactics of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI to destroy the Black Panther Party, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and several other groups demanding social and political change and the end of a disastrous war.
I have personal memories of phone tapping because I was a local organizer of VVAW. The FBI went to a friend's home in Billings asking about my whereabouts when I left Denver. The friend reported them having a recent photo they took from a file folder. They attempted to have me arrested for being AWOL from the USMC. I was discharged six years before their visit to my friend's home in 1976.
The spying and harassment of citizens by governmental agencies intent on preventing dissent is as old as this nation. Those in power will always attempt to keep the citizens from protest. Their purpose is to stop freedom of speech and call it law enforcement. Ask Martin Luther King's family about their tactics. Ask the Civil Right's Movement leaders about this law enforcement.
The suppression of dissent is a very important issue but we should not be fooled by the current outcries because the obvious political action committees empowered by the Citizen's United decision and plenty of money from those intent on stealing elections have no intention of protecting free speech. The outcries and hearings are diversionary attacks on the black man in the Presidency. The fanatics who have taken over the GOP are traitors who only want to block any progress this nation needs to better life for the poor and the working class in the country.
The phony outrage of AP about intrusion into their reporting is actually coming from a news agency quite willing to allow the "embedded" reporters during the Iraq occupation. Where was their outrage when the Bush administration stomped on the freedom of speech for the press at a time of an illegal war? Where was the outrage when Rumsfeld and Cheney called any news agency questioning their policies traitors?
Where was the outcry to prosecute the thieves of Wall Street and the "too big to fail" bankers? Where is the call for the IRS to go after corporations evading taxes while they make record profits year after year? Record profits while at the same time the wealth gap reaches record levels between the richest 2% and the working class, the poor and the disappearing middle class. Even the squeaky clean image of Apple, Inc. can't avoid the tax evasion on 42 billion dollars profit in a three year period. The 42 billion was only a partial profit the company gained thanks to tax laws skewed toward the rich. At the same time the Congress has plans to make "small cuts" to the food stamp program. For those denied food stamps because of the cuts there's nothing small about them.
If we doubt our government has become the terrorists and the traitors compare the harm of Bradley Manning's revelations of war crimes in two wars of occupation to the constant tyranny of the minority in the US Senate and the obstructionism of the House of Representatives. Consider the harm done to the electoral process caused by the Supreme Court's Citizens United case. Consider the routine revocation of  basic freedoms by the alleged "liberal" President Obama. Consider the ever growing "unmanned" killing and spying via drones.
While the manufactured scandals consume the government, jobs, crumbling infrastructure, increased poverty, disastrous environmental events caused by climate change (created by failure to reduce our carbon imprint) and a litany of other problems go unattended like they have far less importance than the beltway scandals touching few lives.
If we define traitor as betrayal of our nation, we can only conclude our own government fits the description. All three branches. The irreparable harm done to the American people and people around the world by the actions and decisions are stark evidence. But, if the American people want an end to  the betrayal, they must step out of the shadows of fear and stand up for themselves

A Note to My Grandson on Your Graduation

You have reached one of life’s milestones. You are a graduate of your high school and now move on to the next path of your life’s journey. Congratulations for all the work and time you’ve spent to get where you’re now at. And may you find the future bright and hopeful.

I hope you will always take the path of your heart. There seems to be a notion the world is bad because it often seems we see only bad in the media. Evil, violence and the outrageous gets headlines. I hope you see past this notion and understand there is more good in our world than the evil so often represented in mass media.

I hope you will find your own truth and not allow the many false truths others may try to impose upon you. This will demand you listen to your heart and determine what is morally acceptable. Remember Howard Zinn’s history tells stories conveniently dismissed by others unwilling to admit the flaws we Americans have had throughout our history. Patriotism does not mean blind acceptance of the actions of our government. We have the responsibility to be informed citizens. We need to question the actions of those who buy the power of government.

Mark Twain is an author who questioned the things we do in the name of patriotism. I hope someday you will read his WAR PRAYER.

I hope you understand Rosa Parks and so many others fought long and hard to reach equality. In my childhood the truth was blacks, Latinos and women were less than equal to the white male establishment. Rosa Parks did much more than just sit in a “white only” bus seat. Her entire life was one of following her heart and objecting to oppression.

As I watched your graduation I noticed the large number of Latino, Chicano and Hispanic names of students graduating. Besides the family history of my family you have a family history of Hildalgo. Keep in mind even today people of color face incredible hardships because of racism’s discrimination. As Zinn points out it was the Europeans who stole the lands of the indigenous peoples and the people long residing in Spanish speaking areas of North America.

Cesar Chavez and Corky Gonzales are only two voices for your brown brothers and sisters of the past and present. Their truths are different from  the ruling culture of this nation. And their struggles continue today with the young people of your class of 2013.

I hope you have come to realize heroes aren’t athletic men hitting game winners. Heroes and heroines are people who put the needs and welfare of others before themselves. They’re people who follow the moral path. The path of their heart. I’ve met many heroes and heroines. Not one of them played professional sports. How could we compare highly paid athletes to a woman like Kathy Kelly who has spent her entire life as an adult working for peace and justice for all people? How does a touchdown compare to her going to Iraq with medical supplies and other life saving supplies in defiance of our government’s irrational sanctions which were causing hundreds of thousands to die? Most of them children.

I hope you won’t allow those in power to paralyze you in their attempts to make us fear our world. Courage is not being without fear. It is recognizing fear but still doing what is right and moral. Again, the path of your heart. Governments promoting fear hope to create willingness to give up essential freedoms and rights. Beware of giving up your freedom to be safe. Benjamin Franklin once said doing so will result in having neither one.

I hope you have come to realize the joy of the material things you have and will get is only temporary joy. The joy of loving friends and family will bring you true wealth. Falling in love with a soul mate will make you rich. This isn’t saying we should allow the wealthy to continue the economic injustices they perpetrate. Poor wages, sweat shops and enslaved children and adults making our shoes and clothes are symptoms of the injustices imposed by the wealthy. The gap between the wealthy and the working class and poor has reached record levels because of criminal actions by Wall Street brokers and too big to fail bankers. The chase for money and wealth is a disease causing much of the evil we have in our world. War is one of the major symptoms.

I don’t say you and all working people shouldn’t aspire to have security and a living wage. But life is more than material bounty. Look at the mountains to the west. They represent the grandeur of nature. And to live the path of our hearts we must commune with nature. And to commune with nature means we have to cherish our environment and stop the abuse of nature through pollution and destruction. Abuse that will lead to the destruction of Earth. It’s abuse fueled by short-sighted tycoons who refuse to change. Instead they deny there’s a problem and continue the rape of the environment for resources that can’t be sustained.

I apologize that my generation failed the generation of your father and your generation. We once said we would bring a change that would bring peace and justice. Instead we sold out to materialism and apathy. We allowed corrupt politicians and the rich who fund them to have power that goes unquestioned and without significant challenges. But there remain many of my generation who have idealism and live that path of the heart. They just need more help to challenge those who have power and abuse it.

I know this time of your life is to be celebrated, grandson. And believe me I do celebrate your life! You are part of the hope we have in our world. Go forward with joy and determination, my grandson. You are loved and admired. Work to be strong. Learn from failures and make them opportunities to change. Question the accepted knowledge and accept others with unconditional love in your heart.

Love yourself so you can love others. Forgive yourself so you can forgive others. If there’s only one part of the Christian Bible you decide to read, make it the Sermon on the Mount. It summarizes the path of the heart.

Wishing you great peace and with love,

Your grandfather.