Fifty Years Later - August 28, 1963

Thinking back fifty years to the March on Washington brings sad memories of a dream lost. Or more accurately, a dream stolen.  The dogs and water hoses have been replaced by the Patriot Act, pepper spray and tear gas. The faces of the new police force are obscured in riot gear. Often they hide their names to avoid their victims complaining about their brutality.  At least we all knew it was Bull Connor perpetrating the brutality in the ‘60s.

The war on poverty has been lost to the rich bankers and Wall Street hedge fund brokers. Democracy has been lost to Citizens United, the Koch brothers, the political action committees not having to reveal their identities and politicians too afraid to vote against the money men who fund their campaigns.

Activists like Malcolm X, Daniel Ellsberg and even Martin would likely be labeled as terrorists and be “detained” in today’s world.  The “freedom riders” would be serving long prison terms in the “prison industrial” complex. The soldier reporting the My Lai massacre could face the same treatment Bradley Manning has faced.

Christians, Muslims and other religious types have forgotten the messages of love and tolerance and replace them with fanaticism, intolerance and hate towards any group unlike them. Their charity comes at a price. Their hope of spiritual afterlife requires the secret handshake. All others are the enemy. All others must convert or pay the price for their heresy.

The patriarchal rule must be protected even if it means the rape, battering and enslavement of mothers and daughters. Religions remain the flame that fans the global wars killing billions. They are the self-appointed keepers of morality professing their love of life while using violence to thin the herd.  Their leaders feel entitled to worshipping flocks and immune from prosecution whenever they violate a member of the flock.

America elected a black President and got one more puppet of the rich.  The “hope” has turned to despair. The reality has been, even as the man carries out the bidding of the masters of war, masters of money and masters of power, his color has caused the overt return of Jim Crow. Voter suppression laws flourish in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling the Voting Rights Act is no longer needed. The bigots openly talk about the need to have fewer voters come to the polls rather than encourage full participation in the alleged democracy.

The media has long ago been bought by corporate interests to carry out their agenda. Independent media may have more outlets but lives in relative obscurity as mindless reality programming and constant violence permeates every home via the television, internet and Androids. All no longer made in this nation but made and assembled in nations fostering poverty wage workers.  In truth they are slaves of corporations without souls.  The media has indeed become as Marshall McLuhan predicted. It’s the message, doctored as the power brokers demand.

Americans look forward to the first female president but pin their hopes on the wife of a President who pushed hundreds of thousands, if not millions, from government assistance and created the labor killing treaties such as NAFTA. But, she has become her own person. Acting as Secretary of State she directed the continuation of foreign policy highlighted by immoral occupations and escalation of drone attacks. She continued the gutless pandering to AIPAC and Zionism while ignoring the apartheid of the Palestinian people.

If Martin and his group of civil rights workers attempted their march today they might very well be denied a permit in many cities just as they were in Selma and Birmingham. They would look out on a nation still taking part in illegal wars, a nation still singling out people of color in its policing and incarceration, a nation with an ever increasing level of poverty….a nation still full of racial hate.

There have been no voices to fill the void left by Martin and Malcolm. No voices to carry out the dream. Only rhetoric without actions. Those who do speak out lose out to concerted efforts to destroy their reputations by a state controlled media.

My generation was going to bring great change but was coopted by the material world and fear. The apathy and hopelessness filters down to the following generations. Basic rights are given away for a false sense of security.  Happiness is a warm gun and popping a pill for whatever causes stress. Kids are not allowed to feel disappointment, lose a game or walk home with friends. Playing must have adults supervising and interfering with every aspect.  Stranger danger and other fears are imposed. Tests are more important than actual learning.

Some say we are the wealthiest nation on the planet. At what price? Most of us are one check away from financial disaster. Debt servitude assures the corporate masters unions will not prevail. Poverty wages and multiple jobs just to survive are no longer the exception. They are the norm. Now our children will either have the doors of colleges shut to them or be in so much debt on graduation they will join the ranks of wage slaves.

This is a dire outlook. And nothing has been said about global warming, pollution and environmental disaster because denial is easier and more convenient. Fifty years ago Martin Luther King talked about a dream but if we don’t wake up that dream will only be a nightmare of delusions and foolishness. I believed in the dream in 1963. After participation in my immoral war, the dream took a big hit. But I thought it could be rescued. 

Fifty years after the march on August 28, 1963 I take solace in those who never quit the struggle for human rights. Despite all the negativity there remains a flame inside that can’t be extinguished by those who have chosen the path of greed and excess because there are humble souls who doggedly carry on.  Despite the despair there remains hope Martin, Malcolm and Gandhi were right to stand up against the riptide of the powerful oligarchy. Or, as Bob Marley sang, “stand up for your rights”.

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.

Suffer The Children....Shame on Adults

"Something's happening here.
What it is ain't exactly clear.
There's a man with a gun over there.
Telling me I got to beware." -Buffalo Springfield

What it is ain't exactly clear but what is clear are the lies and hypocrisy of adults professing to give a damn about the children of this world. From abusive parents, neglectful schools, uncaring social services, eager recruiters for war, Congressmen/women more worried about large stakes contributions to the Pope it is clear children have little importance other than using them as public relations tools.
We can make believe we care about children but why do we continue to allow them to be victims of killers with guns? Why have we failed time and again to implement even the most reasonable and less intrusive forms of gun controls that pale in comparison to the controls in the rest of the world? Why do we continue to allow old men and women to take us to war and sacrifice our youth to failed policies and immoral goals of our wars? Why do we allow children in far away places to be enslaved in sweat shops so we here in America can wear stylish clothing?
We know the sacrificial offerings of children adults implement but turn our eyes away in guilt and shame. Or apathy and the desire not to know about what we do to our children of this world. Since my time in Vietnam I've witnessed the sacrifice of children to the sins of adults. I personally saw death by bombs, death by napalm, death by mortars and artillery, death by gunfire and death by chemicals in a war lacking moral reason.
Since my personal witness I've viewed thousands of photos and videos of the casualties of wars that inevitably include a huge number of children's bodies mutilated by adult implements of death. After so many dead bodies it numbs the mind to the real stories of each individual child killed. The question "Why?" continually runs through my head. Why do we allow this to happen?
The classic adult response to the carnage of children occurred just recently when the families of children killed in the Newtown grade school went to Congress to plead for gun control. They were handing out photos of their beloved children to remind Congress of the moral mandate to do something to control the sale of high powered guns to anybody who wants them. A female Congress person quickly passed the group with the statement, "I'm good" as she refused to take the photos of the dead children the parents were handing out as a reminder of our failure to protect all children.
"I'm good"? How can she be good with the daily carnage of kids from the shores of America to the shores of Africa and Asia? But she represents a culture that's ok with daily violence against children and one that encourages our young to be violent. She represents a culture where those that can afford a good education live in gated communities, go to sheltered schools and have little interaction with those living in stark poverty. The poor get the worst school buildings, largest classes and most out of date learning materials. They're graded by inane political tests meant to "measure" teacher efficiency. They only measure the obvious. If you're poor, hungry and living in gang afflicted neighborhoods learning doesn't occur easily. To add insult to injury the rich school districts doing well in the proficiency tests get rewarded with extra tax dollars while the poor districts get punished.
In war torn nations, ripped apart by sectarian strife, 15th Century type culture keeps young girls and women from going to school. India has daily stories of young women raped by gangs of adult men who seldom face prosecution for their crimes. In fact, the families of the victims are more often ostracized than the predators. One of the latest rapes involved a five year old girl. The response from authorities remains unconcerned.
In Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and numerous other nations the American need for consumer goods leads to child slave labor. The esteemed Apple computer company has most of it's computer hardware put together in such sweat shops. The Jordanesque Nike athletic shoe company has long used the slave labor in nations outside the U.S., the largest buyer of their expensive shoes.
Even in the religious community we find the hypocrisy of concern for the child. The Roman Catholic Church has become notorious for its constant refrain of the intrinsic evil of abortion but continues to back peddle and evade responsibility for pedophiles posing as priests. The new pope, Francis, recently reaffirmed the Church's position against American nuns who he feels put too much emphasis on social justice issues and not enough on the abortion issue. Maybe the good sisters have a clue about the one out of every five children being malnourished and want to do something about it? Maybe they see poor children in every city they serve living without homes, adequate clothing and going to over populated classes?
If the Catholic Church is righteous why haven't they looked at the fact this planet can no longer sustain population growth at the rate it's going right now. The Church's response to this has been loud opposition to all forms of contraception leading poor families to have more children than they can sustain. Leading to hunger and starvation. But at least they didn't prevent child bearing or commit abortion.
The Church also shows its social consciousness by not allowing its relief workers to distribute condoms in HIV ravaged nations. Children born with AIDS seems more important than protection against the HIV virus.
The truth about the Church remains the ugly misogyny it practices in most everything it does. Its obsession with controlling the sex lives of the people, especially women, has reached obscene levels. Its total wealth, hidden around the world and in the Vatican itself, belies the piety and righteousness the Church claims to have . How many children the Church claims to love could the Church feed, clothe and house if it only followed the teachings of Christ? It's clear the Church loves power much more than children or social justice. It's clear the issue of abortion is one way of exerting power over women who still remain faithful to a failed institution.
But, we should not just point fingers at the Catholic Church. We need only look around the world at most of the alleged followers of Christ and other prophets to see their wealth. Huge shrines in forms of cathedrals and mosques rise up in the skies while on the ground millions starve. Money, money, money seems to be the first tenet of the religious communities. Their NGOs coerce and ignore cultures impoverished by violence, drought and the rape of natural resources unless "their way" is followed. Too often the alleged charity work being done has hidden agendas. Too often there are strings attached. The overall results continue to affect the children of the world most.
It's a damn lie the adults of this world care about children. We need only look at the conditions of children around the world to affirm this dirty little secret. The care for children professed by far too many is simply lip service. Ask the people of Haiti. Ask the continent of Africa. Ask the parents in our nation's poor urban areas.

The Only Thing to Fear is Fear Itself...Not Anymore

When did it become ok to shut down an  entire metropolitan area of a U.S. city to hunt a murder suspect? Are Americans now supposed to fear for our lives everytime a murder takes place. Even one as widely publicized as the Boston bombings?
Descriptions came from citizens in Boston metro of military style occupation of their neighborhoods. There was even mention of tanks being used. Seriously? In a nation that just days ago allowed its Congress to shoot down the benign background check law we're supposed to quiver in fear whenever a murder occurs? This nation that relishes the violence of gunplay and shoot-outs wants the citizens to stay indoors, don't let anybody but an uniformed officer enter, close your blinds, hide, live in fear?
The "Prince" has won. Or rather princes. We're all supposed to suspend life because two idiot terrorists chose to murder at one of the iconic sporting events, the Boston Marathon. So, the terrorists have won the infamy they sought for themselves and whatever cause they claim to represent. They win, we lose. Big governmental surveilance and policing wins. If we thought we lived in a police state before we've not seen anything yet.
Which makes me wonder, where's all the policing and surveilance been in the neighborhoods of Chicago and others that have daily body counts? The neighborhoods of color should be so lucky as having the security shown in the pursuit of two murderous fanatics. Wouldn't it be nice if parents in these neighborhoods could feel their children are safe?
And it astonishes me the mass media has been allowed to perpetrate the scare tactics, false rumors and just plain awful journalism. Almost like they've become complicit in keeping the citizenry terrified for the militaristic police forces and federal agencies. We witnessed an alleged expert in criminal behaviors come on the air spouting his "sources" told him the bombers were men with brown skin, the code for Arabic terrorists. Turns out the bombers were as lily white as the racist commentator. But now there is said to be Islamic connections. There's supposed to be more than one bomb in the city. Does this make them different from Timothy McVeigh?
So all sporting events, all train traffic and even all air travel is shut down. We're supposed to believe the two are so sophisticated in their criminal activity they have to shut the city down. So why were they so easily spotted on video? Why has every action they've taken seemed more like hate filled amateurs violently acting out than a terrorist cell planning on the destruction of the entire city of Boston?
In the past Americans were told not to allow fear to overcome us. Told the criminals win if we allow them to keep us from carrying on our daily lives. Now every time there's a threat we're supposed to hide in fear and trust our militarized police forces will protect us. And pray their stray shots during fire fights don't kill one of us. Or their high speed chases don't run us over.
Living in fear is living only a part of life. The world is dangerous and there are numerous predators lurking in all parts of our world. I witnessed Vietnamese villagers carry on living their daily lives in spite of American and Viet Cong/North Vietnamese troops constantly intruding on their safety. They kept living their lives in spite of daily bombings. The same was witnessed by troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fear is crippling and leads to dependency on "others" to protect us. Especially those who wield far too much power over us already.
I don't give a damn about the two killer brothers responsible for their heinous acts of terror on children and innocents. I don't give a damn about their motivations. They won't get any of my sympathy. No, instead, it angers me that a nation would allow two killers with hate in their heart to cripple a major metropolitan area the way these two were allowed to do.
It angers me they've given the para-military police and federal agencies constantly wanting to usurp our rights more opportunity to do just that. And it gives me a strange feeling when I watch a largely white neighborhood told to stay out of their streets for the entire day cheering the hundreds of heavily armed police, federal agents and others to take down one single person once they finally do. I thought of the word "lemmings" as I watched that scene.
It angers me that the same strength of force can't be brought to the poor neighborhoods of gang and drug activity to bring justice to the moms and dads who stare helplessly when their children are shot down by stray gunfire of the gangsters. It angers me that we should applaud the forces of police power but do nothing to condemn the politicians that leave us all vunerable to the gunfire of fanatics and criminals because they fear the power of the death dealers like the NRA. It angers me to see Obama talk about the grief of the dead from such crimes as these but how little he says about the dead of the neighborhoods of color living through decades of war brought to them by gangsters armed by the death dealers associated with the NRA.
Our fears are only increased by what we perceive as terrorism but we hardly blink at the larger causes of death brought on by our own neglect of those less "worthy" of our attention. We hardly blink at the stripping of our basic rights as citizens every time there's one of these highly publicized crimes. There should be terror in our minds at this prospect of constantly living in fear of gangsters, terrorists and politicians more than willing to take our rights.
There will be no freedom when we allow this fear to rule us.

There Is No Justice with American Exceptionalism

How does anyone justify killing an eight year old child? Or a 29 year old woman loved by many? Or a college exchange student from China? Or the maiming and wounding of nearly 150 humans?
The bombing at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 13 is one more atrocity committed by criminals with hate in their hearts. No  cause justifies these type of actions. And the President is right to demand justice for the victims and survivors of the bombings. We need to capture the criminals responsible and bring them to justice.
On the same day there were 55 humans killed by bombs in Baghdad. A day before there were numerous dead from a bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia. The victims and survivors of these bombings also deserve justice.
And if we truly want justice in this world shouldn't we seek justice for the children killed in Baghdad, Fallujah, Basra, and uncounted villages throughout Iraq from the years 2003 to the present day? Or the innocent humans killed in Afghanistan from the year 2001 to present day? Or the innocents killed by drones for years in both countries and other nations we have allowed deadly drones to search out targets?
Where is the justice for the dead children of Palestine killed by a Zionist government armed by American weapons cheaply priced? Or the dead children of Israel killed in reprisal attacks? Where is the justice for idealistic young people like Rachel Corrie, ran over by an Israeli Caterpillar as she attempted to stand up for justice?
Where is the justice for the children of Sudan, Kenya, Uganda and all the many African nations under the spell of tribal genocide? Many killed by criminals securing weapons sold by American arms manufacturers.Where is the justice for children killed in Serbia, Estonia and all the other divided nations of the former Yugoslavia? Or the children of Vietnam still suffering the effects of American Agent Orange dropped in the 60s and 70s?
Since September 11, 2001 the millions of humans killed as a result of American wars seem exceedingly more than enough retribution for American lives lost in the terrorist attack of that day. We Americans fail to see the dead of other nations killed in our name for no good reason. We demand justice when it's our citizens, our brothers and sisters killed. We think an American life to be exceptionally more important than any other life.
The American people are mostly good people. They have the same desires of peace and security for their families as most people in the world have. Unfortunately, American exceptionalism blinds us to the true suffering of most humans outside our borders. Especially "third world nations". Nations populated by people of color in the majority.
The tragedy of Boston scars us all but pales in comparison to the tragedy of bombs falling on populated neighborhoods of Baghdad and Fallujah. The Aurora theatre massacre, the Newtown massacre and all the repeated atrocities over the past 20-30 years in this nation are nowhere close to the ongoing tragedies of nations most Americans can't find on a world map. Americans are so prone to PTSD because our traumatic events happen so infrequently compared to the majority of the world. Haitians live in a constant state of trauma. The "lost boys" of the Sudan had culture shock when they migrated to the U.S. because they didn't face daily trauma.
These thoughts don't mean to diminish the loss of American lives to criminal acts such as Boston or Aurora. But American exceptionalism has blinded us to the larger perspective of the world's suffering. We've been blinded to how much of the suffering our own governmental policies cause. Perpetual wars for phony justice are sold to us like car commercials. Only our troops matter. The collateral damage of our wars is hidden from us by the media that seems to be at the beck and call of the government.
To bring justice to our dead children we must bring justice for all dead children killed by the violence of wars, greed and power. We can't allow borders or national flags to prevent us from being citizens of the world first. Christ and all other prophets didn't see borders and national flags as barriers to justice for all. We simply need to follow their teachings for the justice we seek.

Uncle Tom and the KKKongress

I hesitate using derogatory terms that are widely known as racist but dammit, Barack Obama is about as much an Uncle Tom as I've ever come across in my life. Just look at his record of kow-towing to the white dominated financial sector of this nation.Look at his proposed cuts in Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. This is a President that has done just about everything the Klanish likes of Mitch McConnell and John Boehner could ask for. He's responsible for more violations of human rights than his hawkish predecessor, Dubya Bush. He's lied time and again on the campaign trail only to do exactly the opposite once elected. He first ran on the concept of "hope" and ended up making those who fervently supported him look like "dopes".
In my days of rage and activism I aligned myself with black brothers and sisters including members of the Panthers. I came to understand how harmful the term "uncle Tom" could be but also understood why some came to be called a "Tom". When you're doing the bidding of the white power structure at the  cost of communities of color and the poor and disabled in this society as a person of color, you are a "Tom". The term originates from the servile character in the rewrite of Harriet Beecher Stowe's book UNCLE TOM. In the book Tom was a hero saving other slaves from the oppression of slavery but once Hollywood got hold of the book it turned Tom into the servile character doing the bidding of his "master". A typical white revision of a black hero into the acceptable white version of a black man.
It's difficult to call Obama a Tom because the man has been the target of such racist hate. There have been ten times the number of threats against his life than any other President. No other President has faced the number of Senate filibusters as Obama's administration has. No other President has had judicial and other appointments refused as often as Obama has. From the beginning the hate mongers and racists such as McConnell and  Boenhner, Lindsay Graham, Michelle Bachman and so many others have publicly stated they intended on blocking anything Obama proposed that would make him look good and enhance his re-election. The only things that seems to be missing are the white hoods and burning crosses. The new Jim Crow is real and Obama has become the symbol of the reason why the racist white oppressors have come out of the wood work.
So what's Obama's response to the racists? He meekly offers compromises that throws the baby and all other weak members of the American society under the bus to appease them. He's become a well educated tool of the white masters. He's become the epitome of an Uncle Tom.
I have worked with the poor for over 25 years. They struggle to buy food, stay in livable housing and get the health care they need. Their entitlement is poverty under Medicaid or Medicare. These are not the people who are ripping the system off. We need only look to Wall Street and the banksters that caused the financial crash of 2008 to find the true entitlements. Too big to fail and free of prosecution these criminal with the complicit Congress and Presidency continue to practice the same toxic practices that led to the 2008 crash. They just moved from housing to other areas.
If we want to find the welfare queens/kings we need only look to the criminals in the medical field who work the Medicaid and Medicare systems to fraudulently take millions in fees for care not given. We need only look at the monstrous end of life industry that puts the elderly through tortuous procedures having no chance to enhance the quality of their lives but certainly enhance the banking accounts of the frauds who claim to be care-givers.
Who's to blame? We must look at the Congress and President in collusion with the Supreme Court allowing the corporate world free rein while continuing to oppress the poor and middle class. The Congress remains an exclusive white male club that only allows token representation of women (making up 51% of the population) and people of color. Looking at the hateful words and the faces of the weekly news shows on Sundays, we constantly see the ugliness of our Congress. Far too often we hear code words of racism. Far too often we hear lies and misrepresentations of why this nation is so much in debt. Far too often we don't hear anything about the spending on wars and the military. And far too often we see racist white men who could easily be mistaken for Grand Wizards of the KKK.
So it baffles me why the good 'ol boys hate OToma. He has given them 90% or better of what they and the corporate bosses want. It simply comes down to the color of his skin in the Presidency. It doesn't sit well with the racist base of the Congress and the corporate boards. Look at the CEOs of the largest corporations and there are very few people of color. Very few women.
The sad conclusion is Barack is an "uncle Tom" that has overlooked the racists and sold out people of color, the impoverished, liberals, progressives and activists hoping to bring true change. He's overlooked the Klanish types who somehow got leadership in Congress to be a token in a powerless Presidency. His theme of hope has turned into a sad discouraging hopelessness for those in need. He has betrayed those who are most in need of hopeful progress.

When Tomas Got His Gun

The story of Tomas Young is one of the forgotten warriors of American wars of occupation.Wars that are illegal and immoral and do nothing to bring honor to this nation. Wars that disgrace our concept of democracy and the false belief that we give a damn about the troops.
Americans want their troops to come home to waiting families, all smiles and joy. They want to hear how it was an honor to "serve" their country. And now they're expected to ease back into civilian life and pick up where they left off.
Remember all those yellow ribbons on the bumper sticker with the words "SUPPORT THE TROOPS"? What did they actually mean? They mean about as much as someone coming up to a combat veteran, tortured by the memories of carnage, to say "thank you for your service". Do you really think that's what they want to hear? Do you think a veteran of combat wants thanks for killing other humans, for witnessing the death of children and other innocents, for seeing good friends killed and maimed? Maybe Americans could ask us how they might help. What we need. Patronizing bullshit slogans do nothing for the welfare of returning troops. Parades last an hour or so and then what?
For all those who think men like Tomas Young are going to be taken care of because it was part of the nation's promise, get real. I always ask the patriotic flag waving war mongers if they're going to be there for the troops paralyzed or missing limbs in twenty years. Will they still be around to cheer the veteran with a TBI and the nightmares of PTSD?
Tomas Young is the new Johnny Got His  Gun. If we could we would put him off in some obscure room hidden away from the rest of us. He reminds us of what we have done in our zeal for wars. He reminds us there are horrible costs to the glory of war.
Tomas enlisted just days after the attack of 9-11. His intent was to go to Afghanistan to fight against those who attacked his country. Instead in 2004 he went to Iraq. He went to a war based on lies and illegal and immoral. Only a short time after entering Iraq he was shot with his spine severed. He was paralyzed from the waist down. On his return to his country he found inadequate and overwhelmed care at the VAMC. On one occasion he went to a VA ER with a swollen and painful arm. He was given narcotics for the pain and sent home. The swelling was caused by a clot that dislodged and caused a stroke. That caused Tomas to lose control of his upper torso. He could no longer feed himself or clothe himself. His life went from bad to worse.
Today Tomas has stated he will "go away" in the near future. He's tired of the struggle that will be unchanged for the rest of his life. His doctors give him no hope of improvement. Tomas intends on refusing nutrition and fluids. He intends on killing himself.
There will be some who will condemn this decision. Let them be in Tomas' situation for a week. Let them face the hopelessness of a body they can no longer control and pain that is constant. I understand his decision completely. I've spent the last 40 years with one foot in the here and now and one foot living and reliving the 13 months of my war. The images are horrific and they never change. What I did and what I saw will never change. There were many times I thought eating a gun was the best way to end the moral and emotional agony. Now, my body has started to fail me and those thoughts are back. I can only imagine the agony Tomas has had to endure. I can understand his decision. I wish him peace.
For those who have failed to carry through on the promises made to the sons and daughters you sent to your senseless wars, I curse you. From the Congress and Presidents to the comfortable rich and middle class ....I curse you. All you who have let yourself forget the veterans of your stupid wars deserve to burn in hell. Many of you consider yourself righteous and spiritual but you lie to yourself. Like Dylan sang in his masterpiece, MASTERS OF WAR, I will rejoice the deaths of all you who have been part of the killing fields of war. And those who remained silent are as guilty as those who demanded the wars go forth in all their death and destruction.

March 19, A Day of American Shame

What was accomplished? Ten years ago today George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Colin Powell started the war in Iraq after blatantly lying about Saddam Hussein having "weapons of mass destruction". Nearly 4500 Americans died by the time the war was declared over. Millions of Iraqis have been killed as a result of the war starting. Most died as a result of American arms, many died due to the sectarian violence the American occupation created. Thousands upon thousands of the Iraqi victims have been children.
American occupation of Iraq was a matter of the Cheney Cabal wanting to control the oil in the ground of Iraq. It has the second largest oil reserves in the world and Cheney and his stooges were salivating. The largest American embassy was built. Schools and hospitals were built and paid for by American taxpayers but never used. Billions after billions were spent every month to support the war. Paul Bremer lost approximately 8 billion dollars in cash sent to Iraq for expenses to work with local Iraq leaders. He also decided native Iraqi seeds should be replaced by American seeds courtesy of companies like Monsanto. Depleted uranium has left a trail of health problems wherever we used it. And we used it everywhere. The symptoms of radiation poisoning were among the signs found in local areas of Iraq where the weapons of DU were used. Childhood cancers and birth deformities skyrocketed in number wherever the DU was used.
We can't understand the cost to the Iraqi people unless we have family in Iraq. Dr. Dahlia Wasfi has family there. She saw the costs up close the two times she journeyed to Basra to visit family. She continues today speaking about the costs of this unnecessary and illegal war. This immoral war.
We can understand the costs to American troops who faced multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. PTSD, TBI, MST and horrible physical wounds are the costs. Poor care due to lack of funding is the cost. The military hides behind the acronyms. They don't like to say MST (aka Military sexual assault) is rape perpetrated against female and male troops by troops in their own branch of the military. The don't like to say post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will cost this nation in multiple ways costing billions of dollars. They don't like to say traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the signature wound of the two wars and will affect the lives of young men and women for the rest of their lives.
At the time of the war's start millions marched in the streets around the world in protest. Once it started the bulk of the American peace movement seemed to wilt away in a depressive state. Only a mother, Cindy Sheehan, seemed to revive the movement temporarily. Young veterans like Kelly Daugherty and Garrett Reppenhagen saw the truth and organized to oppose the war. Old veterans like Bill Perry, Stan Goff and Dave Cline spoke out and organized opposition. The religious community failed to respond with few exceptions. Student movements were non-existent with few exceptions. The immorality of the war was seldom challenged by most Americans.
The mainstream media followed along like pet dogs to be the megaphones for the American occupation. They got in bed with the military by means of "embedding" themselves with units. But only units the military wanted them to be with. Their reports were boosterism and jingoism. Dhar Jamail was the true voice of the war. He reported on Fallujah and other atrocities of the war. He refused to  embed. Dhar and a few brave whistle blowers exposed the torture chambers of the American government. Water boarding was highly publicized but rapes and brutal physical assaults were hardly mentioned except by reporters such as Dhar. Water boarding was not new. I saw it used on a patrol in Vietnam against a female informant who balked in taking us to a suspect enemy hiding place.
Americans have been told our war is over in Iraq. Ask the Iraqi people if that's the case. We left behind a puppet government afraid to leave the security of well entrenched compounds. In the streets there's chaos with lack of security, lack of electricity, lack of potable water and an ever increased risk of danger to women. Sectarian violence and fanaticism by religious zealots makes it dangerous for any female to journey outside the home without male companionship and without her head covered.
The tragedy of our war in Iraq hits hard here in this nation but it hits much harder in Iraq. Iraqis can truthfully say they were better off under the boot of Saddam Hussein than under the alleged democracy we imported. A people that once loved the American people now look at us with suspicion and anger for what we brought them. And reports from criminals like Dick Cheney stating they'd "do it again" and admitting they wanted Iraqi oil can only make this nation seem criminal and immoral. This nation will never admit the war was illegal just as it never admitted the illegality of Vietnam.
March 19th should be a day of shame for Americans. Not a day to look back in triumph and satisfaction.