The other day I "woke" to an incredible distaste in my thoughts. I remembered when the word "woke" was used primarily by black Americans to signify racial intolerance, injustice and daily life in the communities of color. The daily life of police rousting, beatings and racial profiling. Jim Crow. Lynching. It's found in black culture dating back into the 1920's at least. Marcus Garvey and Lead Belly used the word to reference repression in Africa and the Scottsboro Boys. Erykah Badu included woke in one of her songs in 2008. 

But as always, the crackers and racists like the Trumps and DeSantis' coopted the word to use as their own. But let's not let James Carville off the hook either. This racist disguised as a white liberal went on a CNN diatribe against wokeness that gave fuel to the neo-Nazis of the GOP. Rather than defend a word that spoke truth to power, Carville showed himself as a keeper of the white, male dominant culture in American politics.

I remember hearing Carville going off on "wokeness" and feeling he'd betrayed the values of social justice for his view of political expediency. Rather than defend the values and dismiss the hate of the right wingers, he provided them political ammo for the unforeseeable future. He helped the wedge issue, culture haters create the nihilistic view of critical race theory. He helped racists parents and politicians claim educating Americans about the holocaust of American slavery would do damage to their children. Learning the true history of the American people might cause their children irreparable guilt. He helped those wanting to ban books that showed diversity in school textbooks, libraries and public libraries.

I also remember Carville's hateful rant and feeling my skin crawl in watching the fake progressive, liberal white man being allowed to go unchallenged for his racist comments. The political narrative of America has been dictated by the dominant culture of the white European settlers who brought slavery to our shores. Rather than set the record straight and consistently challenge the hateful speech and thinking of the ultra right and faux liberals, the Democratic party has remained passive and inept. This party, that claims to represent the communities of color, the disenfranchised and poor, is in fact, an extension of America's racist history. They are wolves in sheep clothing betraying the very constituency they claim to protect. 

Carville, Trump, McConnell, McCarthy, Graham, Clinton, Biden, Shumer, Pelosi, Bobert, Taylor-Greene all represent the founders of a racist, unjust, repressive system meant to keep power for the Euro-centric culture that has continued to ignore those not white. Or continued to repress, kill and incarcerate them at alarmingly disproportionate rates.

Wokeness bashing has become the daily battle cry for the MAGA crowd and the Tea-Party, Don't Tread on Me white patriots. Patriots who push conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory. Who find it quite acceptable to attack their own Capitol if they don't like outcomes of elections. They would have us believe they are the victimized and ignored white American exceptionalists. They refuse to accept or are unable to understand the history of repression in this nation of white entitlement since its founding days. They literally want to "whitewash" all history their children will be taught in their schools. They'll bully teachers and educational boards to get their way. They'll go on book burning witch hunts to "weed" out anything they feel may subject their kids to the truth.

They claim cancel culture when their lies are rejected or speakers for them are opposed. And yet, they have an entire television networks pumping out lies and misinformation against the truth tellers. Tucker Carlson and other Fox Network stooges of Rupert Murdoch and ass kissers of Trump have a daily hit list of "woke" opponents they want to cancel. And networks trying to go even darker than Fox. 

They, however, want to cancel voting rights and civil rights They want to cancel the truth of slavery. They want to cancel the reality of gayness, lesbianism, transgender humans, same sex marriage, women's right to control their bodies or any concept they feel may expose the diverse reality of the world. 

This rhetoric has led to violence against blacks, Latino, Hispanic, Asian, Jewish and LGBQT communities. It has led to violence against women wanting to control their bodies. Violence against doctors helping women do so. 

They claim to love children but cut programs to help feed them. To provide them healthcare. To house them. To protect them from shootings in their school.  

These are the 2nd Amendment defenders. The NRA crowd refusing to allow laws to control the proliferation of deadly assault weapons and guns leading to daily mass killings. There are radicals pushing for a violent civil war to create a safe haven for the victimized Anglo-Saxon martyrs. Anyone or anything not recognizing their viewpoint are targets both figuratively and literally

They claim to be victims as they arm up with their AR-15's, Glocks and large capacity magazines. Victims seeking prey along the Mexican borders. Victims infiltrating Black Life Matters rallies to perpetrate violence and chaos. Victims who consistently get fair trials, Victims getting slaps on wrists for their violence, Victims free from consequences when they kill black kids in hoodies simply walking 
"their" streets. Victims populating all big city police forces that brutalize communities of color.

But being woke is their greatest fear. Of course it is. And the more they rail against wokeness, the more those seeking justice and diversity must stay truly "woke". They have revitalized wokeness if we choose to challenge their absurd and deliberate ignorant use of the word . And demonstrate its true meaning.

My dad used to tell me about growing up during the "Great Depression" and being hungry much of the time. Millions of Americans were getting only minimum amounts of food. Not enough for bigger families. My dad talked about the hunger pains, the actual pain of not eating for a few days after the rations had been consumed and none were coming until the next week. Hunger for him was a very real trauma. My dad had three brothers and his mom to look after. He was the oldest son in his teens and he often didn't eat so his younger brothers and mom could. His dad had long been out of their lives. He scrounged around for anything he could find that was edible. And made sure the rest of the family was fed before him.

It was a very hard time for millions. For my dad, it left him always in fear of being hungry again even when he worked and made good wages. He was always a "soft touch" whenever someone approached him about being hungry.

Today they call hunger "food insecurity". Millions of Americans are still hungry. A large number are children. Maybe the greatest majority are children. In this time of CEO compensation reaching record levels, of the rich getting richer and the disparity of income becoming the largest in recorded history, Americans go hungry. More kids in our public schools go hungry than most of us realize. Some kids can't wait for holidays away from school. Kids who are hungry aren't so happy. It means they lose any school breakfast or lunch program while school's out.

Every hour of every day kids and families are hungry in this nation while almost two or three times each hour on network or cable television there's commercials displaying food. Most of us go to bed without hunger and may well fool ourselves into believing we live in the land of plenty. Food from households, restaurants and fast food sites is thrown away on daily basis. Grocery stores often toss absolutely good food if not picked up on their markdown counters or picked up by food banks. 

How does a nation touting itself as the greatest nation on earth have so many families with children going hungry? We can look at the insanely ineffective federal and local governments filled with partisan hacks for a lot of the answer. Today the Congress is debating the need for keeping a tax credit for families that has proven to reduce child hunger. Some want a work requirement as part of the deal. Some want to lower income thresholds. At the same time Congress is quite willing to increase the military budget to record levels and allow the arms industry to reap record profits.

Outside of families and children, hunger is prevalent for the elderly living Social Security check to Social Security check. They have to choose between life saving medications and food. They have to worry if their rents will increase making things worse. They have to worry if the power companies will increase rates to make things worse. They have to worry if huge retail food stores will gouge them more and more for the cost of any food they might buy at their stores. Stores that may be the only site selling food other than exorbitantly high cost convenience stores. 

And while the hungry worry where they might find relief, where they might find the next meal, conglomerate stores like Kroger, Wal-Mart and Target reap record profits. Huge energy companies like XCEL continue unabated in doubling and tripling their bills while reaping record profits. They claim they need the extra costs to upgrade the infrastructue but never ask their stock holders to take less of the record profits. 

And while the Fed screams out about inflation and raises interest rates almost weekly, it is the poor and lower middle class who will suffer the greatest amount with those increases. And what they fail to admit is inflation post pandemic has more to do with price gouging by huge corporations than anything else. The Fed is more concerned with propping up the "market" than propping up those going to the markets.

This nation has been one that consumes and consumes, allows the military budget to take over half our national budget and refuses to adopt sensible healthcare for all. It spends obscene amounts of money on elections where only the rich can be elected rather than adopt election reform. It loses citizens on a weekly basis to mass shootings and refuses to do anything about controlling the availability of weapons meant to do only one thing, kill other humans. The stress of these senseless killings on local and federal budgets means less money for feeding those who are hungry.

We refuse to address homelessness where hunger is epidemic. We prefer to look at the homeless as the addict or alcoholic. Refuse to think of them as families sending kids to schools hungry. Refuse to think of them as working for poverty wages at large corporate run businesses. Refuse to understand the wage scale in this nation has been pathetically inadequate to keep up with the true cost of living. Politicians posture about balancing budgets and how a living wage as the minimum wage will kill businesses. They posture as they live opulent lifestyles totally out of touch with most of their constituents.

The capitalistic system has failed most of us because it promotes greed and consumption. It promotes continued destruction of the environment. And that destruction and consumption eventually causes more hunger. The heating of the planet created by the greed of industries emitting toxic wastes or destroying water supplies leads to horrific drought and massive wildfires killing farmlands and creating more refugees in the grips of food insecurity.

We can choose to ignore the hunger all around us or the escalating events that will increase hunger. As long as we have food we can choose to think all is well. We can look through the homeless population in our neighborhoods. Ignore children who go to school hungry. Ignore the elders who lack income and are in failing health that go hungry. We can choose to ignore but we will not be able to escape the ultimate effects of our ignorance. 

Apparently we have mass killing, mass shooting, daily shooting fatigue. We pass each day with some violence perpetrated by someone carrying a gun or semi-automatic/converted to automatic assault rifle. Yeah guns and rifles don't kill people. People do.
So, why is it the violence from weapons we so cherish in our constitution only at an epidemic level in this nation? Why does no other nation come anywhere near the death rate of this nation from the use the weapons we so cherish and are willing to literally fight for?
We witness the same ritual almost weekly. A shooter enters a safe haven, kills multiple innocent victims and either kills himself or is quickly arrested with a cache of weapons and ammunition.
Immediately newsrooms around the nation jump on the story with interviews of first responders, victims that survive and family and friends of victims and perpetrator. A shrine of flowers, teddy bears and other well intentioned items build at the site as a memorial.
At times it feels like some of those who gather to honor the victims try to insert themselves into the narrative rather than respect quietly the humans who have lost lives or been horribly traumatized. And the press covering the story is so rabidly in competition with one another to get a new angle they allow a ghoulish scene to happen.
Night after night the press continues with the story of the tragedy. Politicians typically give vapid and cliched quotes of thoughts and prayers for the victims. Pressed into questions about the availability of assault rifles and the frequency of mass killings, politicians will say, "now is not the time".
Inevitably the next mass killing occurs, leaving the previous one behind as old news. The circle of violence and public response continues like an uncontrolled merry-go-round of hate, anger, disaffection and ignored etiology.
The NRA and its apologists cry out about mental illness causing the slaughter. They tell us if we arm our teachers and ourselves we will be safer. Maybe one of the many free carry gun owners will take out a potential killer. And, maybe they will get into a fire fight and kill innocent bystanders.
The easy access to weapons has been left out of the reasons for mass killing. The streets of America are glutted with guns and rifles to kill other humans. Anyone suggesting a restriction of guns and rifles are quickly shouted down. There are so many weapons in the hands of people who are a danger to others it would take at least a generation of gun control before our culture of violence shows signs of slowing down.

There are some common threads to the mass shootings besides the possession of firearms. The motivation of a shooter that is usually male often turns out to be founded in hate and disaffection, Hate being normalized by politicians and religious zealots have unintended and intended consequences. 

The recent shooting at a LGBTQ nightclub exemplifies what can happen when the seeds of hate are used by the politician and zealot. Fake and jaded leaders tell us what they think appropriate and encourage shaming and assault of those who don't get in line.

Churches telling their congregations and school officials to bar men and women who may love one another 

Pam and I are in the grips of a refresher course in grief and mourning. Our son, Isaac, died of an overdose on September 19th but we weren't informed of his death until October 15th. It wasn't a shocking development. He had a long struggle with addiction that he was unable to control. But, it was a shock to our spirits, a punch to our thinking process. 

We went through the motions required when one makes arrangements for their dead 47 year old son. It sapped our strength. Just a week before we heard of his death we had hiked for six straight day in the Telluride area. Our hikes were difficult and we persisted to reach our goals. So, we had strength, even at our ages. But hearing he had died was a physical and emotional train wreck. 

We pushed on and gained a small amount of perspective. Managed to talk about good memories of him growing up. We spent years of compartmentalizing our dread. We couldn't allow his addiction's destruction of his mind and body to overwhelm us. 

Being a combat vet during a tour with the USMC in 1968, I had an ingrained defense mechanism of depersonalization when death came into my life. But it's impossible to think "it don't mean nothing" when it's my kid.

On November 9th, Pam wanted to go visit her older brother south of the Pueblo area. He was about to have an 80th birthday but he had prostate cancer and it had spread throughout his body. He had just recently entered into home hospice visits.

Don was frail, cachexic and needed assistance to move to the bathroom or bedroom. He had an oxygen cannula in his nostrils.

We Don't Give a Damn About Education

Most Americans don't really give a damn about the education of their children. If they did they wouldn't tolerate the dumbing down of the public schools. They wouldn't tolerate the closing of neighborhood schools in the urban areas and the underfunding of the impoverished school districts. They wouldn't tolerate true education being sacrificed by insane achievement testing that only measures the obvious....the richer the school district the better the education. In truth, the testing requirements are a ploy to destroy teacher unions and privatize schools with lower wage and benefit packages. The truly insane part of the testing in Colorado is extra reward funding goes to the schools with the higher test scores. In other words the richer schools get extra money while the poorer districts already struggling don't get the needed help to educate their children in modern school buildings with the needed equipment and materials to keep pace.
But we must also condemn the way most educators educate. Every child, every human is unique in the way they learn. Some learn through the imposed verbal presentation of material most public and private schools use as their primary form or education. But many children learn from experiential ways of learning. They learn by doing things themselves. So how does this translate to writing a paper or doing math? Educators need to figure it out.
The truth about American education is it's about regimentation and being non-questioning of authority. It's about conformity. I vividly remember starting every day pledging my allegiance to the flag. I remember being punished as a very young student for "doodling" while a teacher droned on about a subject I couldn't find interest in learning about. My sons were exposed to the same conditions. One son during his first grade was punished for rocking his chair and figdeting. I asked the teacher when she called me if she'd ever studied the growth and development of children at the first grade age. Young boys and girls want to be active. Asking them to sit through hour after hour of classes is confining and numbing.
Asking children to take test after test that measure only rote memorization is a sham. Where are the tests that measure abstract thinking? Where are tests that measure creativity. Art and music have been phased out in many districts as being irrelevant. Is it testing that takes their places?
The truth about the educational system seldom comes up in discussion. We pay starting teachers less than cost of living salaries and think they'll somehow be motivated to become great teachers. We pay experienced teachers less than they can make in other fields. And yet we claim we care about education of our children.
The truth about the evangelical, Tea Party, right wing politicians is they want to impose their agenda on all children. They want their values, and only their values taught to children from kindergarten to graduation. Education to them is indocrination to their system of oligarchy where children are the future wage slaves to their economic model of the rich getting richer and the rest of the population staying under control and fearful of resisting and rebelling.

Bastards of War

The masters of war never give up. Even the thought of diplomacy or negotiation with a designated "enemy" fails to stop their bloodlust. AIPAC, the Republican congress, the Israeli prime minister and all the other followers of the war cabal could never accept talks with a nation like Iran. Every week it seems the consumate war purveyor, John McCain, has a pulpit on the Sunday national talk shows of main stream media.
Why is the media so enthralled with John McCain? Simple. He's a "war hero" who spent time in a POW camp in North Vietnam after he deliberately went off mission on a bombing run over Hanoi and was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. No one can question the torture or pain of his time as a prisoner of war. But, do we have to pander to his foolish and misguided view of the world that dicatates constant warfare? Apparently many of us think we do and the corporate masters make sure we constantly hear his destructive messages.
Then there's the Zionist, Benjamin Netanyahu. A blustering relic of times past that has revealed his racist nature time and again. He's never met a Palestinian he didn't hate it seems. Or maybe it's just "Arabs" in general as was seen in his recent re-election that included him crying out in the press the Arabs were trying to steal the election. He never bothered to mention the Arabs in question were legitimate citizens of Israel entitled to vote along side the non-Arab population. But the racist message seemed to work.
And Netanyahu has demonstrated his contempt for the black President time and again with numerous attempts to sabotage any possibility of peace talks with any Arab or Islamic nation or faction. Why have peace when an American financed military, including nuclear weapons, can be used to eradicate the indigenous people of the region that is now called Israel?  This has been the plan since the time of Ben Gurion in the early part of the 20th Century.
To question Israel's Zionist government always brings out the cries of "anti-semitism". We cannot question Israel in this nation without that outcry. Having a family history that includes my grandfather being forced out of Russia during the pogroms, I don't have a problem separating Judaism from Zionism. And there are millions in Israel that would concur but their voices will never be heard as long as the old guard Zionist governments continue. As long as the mainstream media fails to provide a balanced viewpoint of our world.
It saddens many of us to see the ghettos created by the Israeli government. They are strikingly similar to those created by the Nazis in Warsaw and throughout Europe during the lead up to and throughout World War II. I hesitate to make that analogy because it seems so vile but the reality of the West Bank and the lives of the Palestinians makes a compelling argument.
The bigger picture, however, is what and who is behind the constant hatred and violence. We can't believe the fanatics aligning themselves with the Muslim faith were created in a vacuum. The imposition of constant poverty, constant wars of imperialism that often took on the appearance of crusades by alleged Christian nations and the obvious plundering of natural resources by the rich oil barons surely has some role in creating these hate groups.
A century or more of occupation and colonial governments by the alleged Christian nations cannot be denied or overlooked as a source of hatred and discontent.
The Zionists constantly rant about "never again" but impose the very conditions they claim they don't want to occur again. And, they're forgetting their own history of being victimized, hated and killed for simply being who they are. Their repeat of such atrocities toward groups like Palestinians foments the fanatic backlash of suicide bombers and terrorist attacks around the world targeting them and their friends.
Using the creed of "an eye for an eye", or as Moshe Dayan once remarked there would be ten enemy killed for every Israeli killed, is a recipe for perpetual war.
For every action there will be a reaction and it all plays into the favor of the masters of war who reap the profits of humans killing humans in the sale of more and more destructive weapons and all that it entails in supplying armies of young cannon fodder.
When it comes to war the masters do not discriminate. They will sell to all sides to continue their profits. They simply see the individual warrior as a chess piece in the game of war which brings them huge profits.
Some might say this view is a twisted one. They actually believe the generals and politcians are running things. And that's what the masters of war in the military-industrial complex want us to believe. They hide in plain sight going about their destructive ways. They are the shadow government that owns the elected government by using their immense wealth to influence every election. They own the courts that have allowed them to throw even more money into buying the elections.
Their is a myth the American government has the interests of the citizens of this nation as the primary focus of their duties as elected officials. The not so hidden truth is their first priority is pleasing the masters who paid for their elections and will pay for their defeat should they not do as they demand.
The grand scheme in the modern "information age" has been to blitz the people with so many lies that the lies become the truth in the majority of the people's minds. Looking back to the Nazis we can find the seeds of this plan in the propaganda of Himmler and Goebels.
The grand scheme is to feign a desire to educate the people but actually create mindless followers of the masters' plan. The "dumbing down" of the American child has been under way for years. College freshmen more and more need remedial classes in writing, math and science in order to take prerequisite classes leading to a degree. The American educational system has fallen off a cliff. The American system trails far behind the top educational systems of the world in all areas.
But this is the plan. Keeping us consuming and stupid allows the masters of war to carry out the senseless wars with the majority of the people quite willing to sacrifice their sons and daughters in the spirit of patriotism. The majority of the population will cheer and wave flags as the preparation for one more war begins. They'll decorate their cars and homes with yellow ribbons and red, white and blue bunting to show their approval.
The other great tool of the masters is FEAR. They skillfully manipulate the media to present the world as a place to be afraid. There is always a threat to the "homeland". There are always demons who hate us because we are "free". And it goes back to the imposition of violence, poverty and occupation in far away lands perpetuated by the masters of war. Iraq in 2003 is a perfect example of how they took a nation that had an American imposed dictator in charge. But at least the people of Iraq lived without sectarian violence and hatred so evident today. Sunni married Shiite and lived in the same neighborhoods with each other.
Enter the masters of war under the guise of the American President, George Bush. The disruptions of economy and infrastructure, the devastation of "shock and awe" killing families, killing children and the imposition of an overseer like Paul Bremer led to the total disruption of the Iraqi society. Anarchy prevailed. Sectarian hatred and violence was promoted by the American handling of the occupation that came after the bombing and cruise missile attacks.
It was a familar strategy. The Phoenix  Program used in Vietnam was the model the masters of war followed. Create division and chaos that leads to violence and hatred among the occupied people. The hatred for the occupiers was a secondary gain that kept the American fear going. You kill a family's children, you create an insurgent or terrorist.
The masters will exploit every facet of poverty and the resulting violence to subdue the masses. They want total power and use their military and militarized police forces to enforce their power. Occupy movements, peace movements and free speech movements are bullied, infiltrated and destroyed if at all possible. Trying to globalize or nationalize protest is made nearly impossible.
My thoughts are my own but over 6 decades on the planet I've seen the patterns repeat themselves so many times I'm convinced there are no coincidences. We are at the mercy of the bastards of war. And failing to resist is failing our children and the future generations that follow us.

The Hate of Coulter's Christ

Ann Coulter is quoted saying "the left" hates Christianity. She's right if she's referring to her brand of Christianity.
Coulter's Christ is a purveyor of wars immoral, a elitist oligarch that cares little or nothing about the poor and beleaguered and a hater of anybody that refuses to toe the line of the oligarchy's fanaticism. The Christ she and those she represents is not the prophet that walked with the poor, the radical who included whores and tax collectors and the person who spoke of loving one another as we would ourselves.
The bastardized version of Christianity preaching hate and vile racism, homophobia, sexism and disregard for all but the rich can only be hated by the true believers of what Jesus actually taught in his time on Earth. This form of Christianity is in actuality a fascist attempt by the elite to control the masses of people they want to exploit. They use Christianity as a sledge hammer to dictate behaviors they want to enslave the masses into becoming wage slaves and mindless consumers.
The use of Christianity for the wars of justice and freedom are no more legitimate than the fake Muslims calling for jihads against the infidels. Neither group cares about the truth or the intent of the religion they profess to represent. They care only about power and influence. These are the new Gestapo and Huns attempting to gain world domination and control of us "minions".
So, yeah, Ann, my left wing friends do hate your Christianity. Just as much as we hate all those who try to inflict injustice and bigotry on the world around them. Your provocative statements may get you another book deal, Ann, but it can't hide the hateful person you really are.

Cindy Sheehan, Loving Mother, Heroine

Mixed emotions about this day. Today Cindy Sheehan mourns the death of her son, Casey, eleven years ago. Cindy took her grief, her anger and depression and decided she wasn't going to just be the "good" mother of a "hero". Instead she resuscitated the American peace movement by going to George W. Bush's summer retreat in Crawford, Texas to demand he explain the death of Casey and so many others for an illegal and immoral war. Veterans and activists all over the nation heard her message and joined her. Cindy never turned back from her activism. She had herself arrested countless times in civil disobedience against a government that has perpetually kept us at war and disregarded the lives of those they send to be slaughtered. Or to slaughter others.
Cindy Sheehan has honored Casey and all us veterans who went to foreign lands thinking we were patriotic but discovering we were duped and mere pawns of a rogue nation stolen from the people by the rich oligarchs. She has never gotten her answer from Bush or any other President.
But today is that terrible day that has come around eleven consecutive years now. And will come around for as long as Cindy lives. Today is the day a mother grieves for a child taken from this life in the beginning of his life. Today is the day a mom remembers the notification and all the other details of the horror she prayed and dreaded would never occur. The day her son became forever young.
Cindy is not alone in her experience. There's memorials, walls and statues all over Washington D.C. making it clear we are a nation that sacrifices its young for the racketeers and gangsters of the military-industrial complex.
No, Cindy is merely a personification of every parent who has had a son or daughter in one of those wars and dreaded seeing a stranger approaching their homes. She's an elegant example of a parent who loved her child and refused to go softly into the night when he was taken from her by a senseless war. She's every child's mother that sees through the lies and corruption of the masters of war.
I can only imagine how she feels today. I know I feel grief for her loss and never met Casey. I can only think of my two sons and how I would feel if I lost one of them in such a way. I truly hope Cindy can find some comfort today from all those who are thinking of her, care for her and send their love her way. And think of all the other moms and dads who suffer silently for the same reason.
Will we truly find the cost of freedom buried in the ground? Or in the faces of parents like Cindy?
Blessings to you on this day of sadness, Cindy.

Why Care

Ah, my blog!
Been a long time since I've entered anything. Seems social media has taken the place I once had for blogging. Does anyone still blog?
The world has changed very little since last time. The politicians remain the bought off whores of the Koch brother types. The rich get richer while the middle class is rapidly becoming a myth. The poor are chastised and cast out for being a drag on the "system". The heartless, vacuous "system" where success is measured by the accumulation of wealth and material things. Starving families, homeless humans, never-ending war, slaughters around the world, school shootings and police brutality all flourish in this "system". We seem to have a "systemic plague".  A plague of disparity of wealth. A plague of the rich being able to ignore the incredible wasteland they leave in their paths to accumulating more and more.
Polarization of ideas and ideologies keep the people from acting against the true villains. Main stream media is the tool of the rich and powerful to subdue the masses. We have become narcotized and desensitized to the reality of life's horrors. Created by those we allow power.
But, no one seems to care. Why should I? Why should you?

Sick of Religion

Sick of religion. Sick of the priests, ministers, deacons, rabbis, mullahs and all “leaders” of churches claiming their god is the only god. Claiming their god is the god of peace of love. Sick of the pontificating, self-righteous men who teach our daughters sickening dependency and self-loathing. Sick of the self-appointed, self-aggrandizing moral leaders who push the children of the world into violence and hatred toward all who disagree with their religion’s “morality”.

Sick of Zionists armed by this “Christian” nation’s deadly weaponry maintaining apartheid in Palestine. The alleged “chosen people” claim they will never forget the holocaust, the ghettoes and brutality inflicted on them. But their actions of brutality, killing of children and deliberate and systematic purge of the indigenous population of Gaza and the rest of their apartheid ghettoes clearly show they have forgotten. They claim self-defense when they kill children who throw rocks in defiance of occupation. Children facing automatic weapons and armored vehicles. Zionists forget the Jewish resistance in the ghettoes of Warsaw and other European cities.  They claim the right of an eye for an eye but refuse to look in their moral mirrors to see the foolish tyrants they have become.

Sick of ayatollahs claiming they are the guardians of Islamic belief and morality while they plot to kill innocent children of each other’s followers and the “infidels” they alone define. Sick of their hatred of women. Their fear women may try to become equals of men. Sick of the Sharia law being used to oppress and degrade. Sick of fanaticism leading the young to sacrifice themselves in suicidal killings of others. Sick of children being indoctrinated to hate.

Sick of the holy wars and jihads in the name of the gods and saviors the religious masters claim to be moral. Sick of the hate and evil carried out in the name of the gods. Sick of the false idols being used for deviant acts of brutality, oppression of the weak, racism and discrimination against gays. Sick of evangelicals using Christ’s words to justify their malevolence.  Sick of Catholics crying about discrimination when five men on the Supreme Court carry out the Catholic agenda through overt distortion of justice. While they continue to endorse their Knights of Columbus and overlook the symbolic insult of Columbus to the indigenous peoples of the Americas.  

Sick of the cowards who hide behind their “love” of god to carry out their evil acts against other humans. Sick of politicians using their gods to enrich themselves and impoverish the already impoverished. Sick of them closing each deceitful speech with “God bless America”.

Sick of this “Christian nation” constantly falling back on their god and Jesus to justify the perpetual wars and attempts for world domination. The American exceptionalism, manifest destiny and god’s will does not exempt “we the people” from the responsibility of the evil done in our name. Citing “In God We Trust” doesn’t forgive the atrocities done in his name.

Sick of religion. Sick that it has been the driving force behind history’s worst atrocities. It has wreaked more havoc and chaos in the name of gods and idols than the evil of nationalism and capitalism. Sick of religion’s attempt to control rather than enhance the world it claims to love.

If I were a praying man, I would pray all the false prophets and their mindless followers get to meet their “kind and loving” gods and saviors. I would pray they meet their maker and true judgment and justice is meted out to them for all their sins against the world they have lived in. I would pray they get to journey to the hell they so fear and have caused so many to endure on this earth. I would pray for final justice to be given to those who have so bastardized the teachings of the true prophets.

These are the thoughts of a true heretic and infidel who reject the teachings of false messengers of the religions of this world I live in. Someone who has a palpable dislike for the disease called religion.

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Write On

As I review my blog I see I repeat the same sentiments over and over. I guess it seems an effort of an fool who should give more energy to other things in life. I guess it's just a fruitless waste of keystrokes. I've been doing this for a long time and things seem to have gotten worse. Oppression has grown. The rich have gotten richer. The poor, poorer. Wars still rage on despite promises they will come to an end. So where will be the next place we send our sons and daughters to die?
I write so I don't act out the anger that boils inside me. Writing is one way to resist. Who care who reads this. I know it's not going to be read by more than one or two people, if that many. But resistance each day is necessary. We can't allow the oligarchy to overrun the rest of us. We have to speak out. We have to protest the obvious injustices and oppression of so many. We have to keep pointing out their isn't a democracy when only two parties funded by the super rich are our only choices. We have to point out corporations AREN'T people despite what the justices of the sham court of the US tells us. We can remain silent or speak out. Writing is one way for me. And so I'll continue to do so.

More Random Thoughts from Facebook

I've been absent from my blog while posting way too much on Facebook. So, here's some of those thoughts over the last months since I last posted. Still far left of left but that's who I am. Peace

Memorial Day 2014
1. Face it veterans, you got suckered into wars that you want to believe meant something in providing freedom for the people of the world and protecting your homeland but once they used you left you to your nightmares and wounds like a hitchhiker on a lonely road. Your family and friends may care but are constantly frustrated and infuriated at the maze of bureaucracy meant to drive you and them away. The care-givers care but are so overwhelmed they become casualties themselves.
Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Independence Day are what you get along with statuary and walls in DC glorifying all the wars that killed and maimed so many humans. And what lessons have we learned? We have learned to make better weapons and contrive better ways to kill one another. We've learned to ignore history and repeat the same insanity over and over.
Every time I see a politician using his/her military experience as a gimmick to get elected I want to vomit. It's the callous act of sociopaths that glorify the violence of war to garner personal gain. But what the hell, I'm just one of those tools of war they want to shut up or hope dies so they can forget the reality


May 24,14
2. I wake up early and listen to smug economists tell me the job market is improving while all around me I see the older worker get laid off simply because they earn too much and might use health insurance too often. Never mind their vast experience. I see kids with college degrees burdened with huge debt working for Wal-Mart and other service industry jobs. They are encouraged to use state and federal benefits to meet the essential needs their jobs fail to finance. I see infrastructure crumbling all around the empire while the rich claim there's no money. But they pony up for the Pentagon, Big Oil (aka as Big Polluter), Big Pharma and the healthcare system so atrociously dysfunctional. Oh for the day these smug talking heads have to subsist on the same finances as one of my mental health patients. Oh for the day the politicians have to search for a place to stay on a cold night, homeless and without food. My angry mind constantly contrives such scenarios for the rich and clueless. Maybe I should take a pill.

May 23, 14
3. As the "memorial day" approaches the stores bombard our mailboxes with sales. The grocery stores put out ads for grilling and gluttony ...isn't that every holiday...and the flags will fly in the baseball parks and other sporting events. Some teams will wear fatigue uniforms to "honor" the "heroes".
I just wonder how the Vietnamese celebrate the upcoming weekend. I wonder how the Iraqis commemorate our memorials. How do the Afghans see us? How do the Palestinians see this nation that has fallen lockstep behind Zionism and provided so many weapons to kill kids throwing rocks or people encamped in the ghettos of the Israeli apartheid?
We want to believe the fairy tale of democracy and justice being the hallmarks of this nation. But we allow elected stooges bought by the likes of the Koch brothers and ultra-conservative groups of whites to rob us of our freedom. We allow a "supreme" court to call the most predatory corporations "people" so they can buy our government and keep us enslaved with debt. We don't care we're spied upon every day in every way. NSA, CIA, FBI are allegedly the "good guys". Cops with hate and malice in their hearts protect and serve who?
Call a demonstration of democracy and see how much freedom you get. You get the freedom to have chemicals sprayed in your eyes and have pain holds used to "subdue" your "violence" of actually acting out your "free" speech.
As the old blues song said, "If you're black get back. If you're brown, stick around. If you're white, alright." Jim Crow is alive and doing well today every bit as much as he was in the days of MLK and Malcolm X. It's just manifested in different and maybe more subtle ways. Subtle, if you're freaking dense.
Do I hate my country? No, I want it back. I want the real peace and justice promised. I want us to be honest and understand why "they" hate us. The highest form of patriotism has to be citizens who question leaders that fail them and fail the world.
Citizenship has responsibilities. We can't accept the notion we lack power. We can't accept the "dumbing down" of our children. We can't allow our foods to be manipulated chemically for profit. We can't accept the continued dependence on the internal combustion engine and fossil fuels that kill the planet.
We have become narcotized by media and the pharmaceutical companies. Every emotion and feeling of discomfort and anger isn't a disease to be treated. Our children acting like children isn't a mental health issue requiring a pill.
And war is pure and simply the failure of a nation's elected officials to do the right thing. And there isn't any indication Americans are any more exceptional than any other human on the planet. We are simply more blessed and we waste our blessings in pettiness and gaudy consumerism rather than share with those who are in dire straits and lack the essentials needed to live their lives.
As brothers, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, say ...."actions must match our words". Or if we choose to be religious, we must ask if Christ would follow the path of "American Exceptionalism"?
There.....I'm done.

May 22, 14
4. If veterans and their advocates think the VAMC scandal is anything new, they forget history. From the public hangings of vets demanding to get paid by George Washington to the Bonus Army to Agent Orange to Gulf War Syndrome to the current veterans treatment at the VAMC this nation has shown it can cheer and wave flags for those about to go to war but turns a deaf ear and blind eye to the carnage and suffering the wars create. Don't tell me "thanks for your service" or "welcome home"!!! Those platitudes ring hollow given the failure of this nation to prevent wars and their tendency to constantly desire violence and force. Our history shows war after war being politically inspired and without merit. Again, I refer to Smedley Butler's words ....."war is a racket". The winners have never been the veterans or the people of this nation. No, the winners have always been big corporate interests of the military-industrial complex. Always. So, for memorial day this year as I do every year I'll remember the senseless deaths of veterans and innocent victims of wars. Don't thank me for being part of this. Don't memorialize the war dead if you don't intend on working for an end to war.


May 22, 14
5. One thing guaranteed about Memorial Day and Veterans' Day....the corporate world will use veterans to sell anything while claiming to give a damn about veterans and politicians will wrap themselves in the flag and claim to give a damn about veterans. Neither group gives a damn. The corporate world continues to benefit from the wars the vets die in and the politicians use veterans as political fodder for reelection. Take a close look....the care of veterans is a can that has been kicked down the road by both parties since Vietnam and beyond.
Mumia Abu Jamal commented when Obama was elected Obama would become the "black guy they blame all the white guys' problems on". He didn't see Obama being a revolutionary or a change agent. Not a big fan of Obama but blaming him for the decades of neglect toward veterans' care post war is absurd. The pious Tea Party types, the old school GOP and all the other right wingers have wrapped themselves in the flag for years while screwing the vets at every turn.
Congress has constantly underfunded the VA and the benefits for new vets. They're always one or two wars behind. But, by God, on these days of memorializing wars and those who took part, these flunkies are always proclaiming their thanks for service and welcome homes.


May 22, 14
6. I'm making no excuses for the current VAMC lacking in the care of vets but I've tracked the bureaucracy since the 70s. For the same people who ignored the veterans returning from the current wars to express their outrage today is total hypocrisy. Where the hell were they when Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld were treating veterans as interchangeable parts to be disposed of when broken? Where were they when Jeff Lucey and so many others couldn't get adequate care early in the wars? Where were they when a VA nurse kept sending letters about Walter Reed's atrocious care and condition? It took an ABC reporter more than a year later to expose Walter Reed. Bitch all you want about the current VAMC but put the responsibility where it belongs. It took years of neglect and underfunding by the Republican Senators and Representatives for the VAMC to continue the failing of all veterans. And the old blowhard, John McCain, claims to care about vets but he was just as culpable as any in DC for these failings.

To add to the VAMC commentary....where are all the yellow ribbons now that 2.5 million young vets have been deployed and returned to the US? It was all good when we sent them off to the phony Bush wars but now all that cheerleading is a forgotten memory. Now more people care about the next Voice winner or who's doing what in the celebrity world. Mark Twain's WAR PRAYER always comes to mind as we head into Memorial Day, the phony holiday of a war addicted nation.

May 21, 14
7. A professor friend told me about a student who planned on joining the military for the "adventure".. I say he should join Dr. Gino Strada in Sudan to help with the kids having heart failure because their strep throat goes untreated. Or the other EMERGENCY hospitals treating kids losing limbs because they pick up an American cluster bomb-let that failed to detonate. Fuck adventure....try humanity!

May 20, 14
8. The oligarchy want us to believe the choice between one plutocrat of one party over another plutocrat of the other party is democracy. They stir us up about gay marriage, abortion and contraception, Benghazi and sex scandals by one or the other sides while they steal our pensions through 401ks and other market based rip-offs. They steal our kids through their foolish wars. They steal our homes through their own corruption and their unwillingness to pay their fair share. They steal our jobs by exporting them to slave camps around the globe. They steal our souls through mind numbing media that tells us nothing about the rest of the world and little about our own nation or communities. They steal our bravery through constant fear mongering of terrorism or some other bogus attack upon our way of life. They steal our voices with militarized cops trampling basic rights of assembly and free speech. And they steal our courage with oppression against any who might expose them for the true terrorists, criminals and frauds they are.

May 17, 14  9. Sometimes it seems our arrogance lets some think Western medicine will surely find a cure for dying of old age. Or could it be that Western medicine has made it an industry to maintain life regardless of its quality?. The problem of this great desire to live a long life is the total disregard for elders in a youth obsessed culture. And, we baby-boomers can't complain since we are the generation most responsible for the obsession. Now we ask why ageism is so prevalent? Maybe we set that stage as well. As for me, I'm incredibly surprised I'll make 65 this month unless the random hand of death gets me first. Always figured I'd never make 30. I was a prime candidate to off myself. Then I met Pam. But I sure as hell don't want to stick around as a test tube for the end of life industry!



May 15, 14
10. Was thinking back on some songs of my generation that have really made me think or struck an emotional chord. One by Crosby, Stills and Nash, FIND THE COST OF FREEDOM, is a five or six stanza song that sends me back to my war almost every time I hear it. Another by Dylan, MASTERS OF WAR, captures my rage. Thinking about this because a student wants to write a song about a presentation I gave on my war experience. It led me to thinking about the music that helped keep me going during the years. So many folks like Seeger, Phil Ochs, Edwin Starr, Marvin Gaye, Gil Scott-Heron, Woody Guthrie, Country Joe, Richie Havens, Odetta, Buffy Saint Marie, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary....et.al. gave voice to dissent and protest that so many of us needed for inspiration. Thanks to the musicians and artists who give expression to the noble causes.

May 2014
11. So, one tragic incident occurs with an edible pot product and the entire US corporate media blows it up out of all proportion but every day there are deaths by DUI, violence stemming from over use of alcohol and the chronic effects of addiction to alcohol. And, yet, we still get a constant bombardment on how cool it is to drink booze?? And fear tactics that reckon back to that oldie but goodie, REEFER MADNESS. One more example of governmental and media stupidity.

April 2014
12. So, here's the way things work in police departments. First they get beacoup money to arm themselves with military style weapons and body armor to fight that ever mysterious war on drugs. Then for every call they have their SWAT or whatever they call their goon squad on standby. If it's a mentally ill or homeless (often one in the same) person they encounter, they immediately fear for their lives and after one or two commands confusing the person about what they did, they use that person for target practice. Or a vet with a gun to his own head threatening to off himself is considered a danger to cops so they logically have a sniper shoot him or just open fire point blank. Then, once word gets around about their murders, protesters come out and .....yippee ki ay MF....time to shoot pepper spray from behind the turtle suits of body armor at the protesters. It's damn hard being a cop nowadays with all the lowlife homeless and crazy ass vets and protesters.

March 2014
13. Amerika Inc., which has sucked 50 billion plus in handouts from tax payers, would rather destroy the economy and people's lives than give an increase in minimum wage. Not even a living wage. They'd rather give jobs to slave camps overseas to demonstrate they won't share their obscene profits with the workers who toil in fear and poverty. The truth is giving more salary to workers means more spending and a stimulus to the economy but the idea increased wages will cost jobs is only true because the "bosses" don't want workers having power or a living wage. The loss of jobs is due to the traitorous corporations, using handouts and tax breaks to enrich themselves, refusal to share their wealth. Imagine a well paid workforce. It could mean workers had the ability to alleviate the onerous debt that enslaves them!!


14. Jan 2014   
You know there is a story about the swinging lifestyle in today's DENVER POST. I suppose it should bother me but I really don't care. No more than I care about a husband or wife cheating on one another. At least the swingers are up front with their inability to maintain a monogamous relationship rather than lying and keeping their spouse in the dark. I've been married over 40 years. I obviously like monogamy. I was lucky to find my soul mate. But those who need to swing or practice polyamory or whatever to feel completed don't bother me. I see them as searching for love and intimacy just like the majority of us. And let's face it...monogamy is about a 50% failure if divorce rates are any measure.
I see the religious fanatics, the duck callers and all the right wingers appalled about men loving men and women loving women but they're fine with spending trillions to kill other humans because they have a strange notion some group or the other is going to come here and steal their way of life. They hate the gays but don't blink a bit to see children starving or workers losing any semblance of financial support when they've lost jobs to slave labor.
I'm just too old, I guess, to throw stones at humans trying to find ways to love one another or just enjoy the acts of love without ever imposing on me. Yeah, I know the Bible sez all that stuff while Kind David had how many wives??
I'm not naïve enough to think some are coerced into the swinging lifestyle. I'm sure 99% have been women. I'm sure the porn trade is rife with coercion and terrible abuses. I worked with adolescent girls and boys for a number of years. The sexual abuse they reported when I did the initial evaluation with them kept me up at nights. Sex is always going to be used as something to control someone Something to exert power over someone. And the idea that some terrorized victim is showing love by means of sex is an absurdly vile notion. But, the same terror is found in monogamous relationships. I've also worked with battered spouses on many occasions. Their stories in their own ways are just as awful and disturbing as any that have kept me up at night wondering how we humans can do these things to one another. And usually I end up thinking of my own actions when I was 18 and 19. I end up thinking of the ultimate evil thing a human can carry out. Take a life. How twisted is it to train young people to hate groups of other cultures in order for them to kill them?
I guess this whole post is rambling but I want to boil it down to the notion I can't be upset with those folks looking for love and intimacy when I put it in perspective of all the evil carried out in our world. Sorry, just can't.

15. Strange how we'd be violating someone's freedom of religion by calling them out for their hate-speak against gays. The righteous phonies lambast the critics using words like "political correctness" but use their own "Christian correctness" to excuse their hate. Let's not be misled. It was in my lifetime the same alleged followers of Christ called miscegenation a sin against God and excused their racism as a religious freedom. The righteous Christian seem to always have the answers for all of us whether we want them or not. And if we don't want their "righteous" answers then, by God, we're all going to hell. Let me tell you....if I had the choice of being in the heavenly sanctum of the "righteous" like Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal and the Quack Dynasty leader or the choice of hell with the likes of Mark Twain and other atheists and anarchists there would be no choice. I'm going to hell!



16. December 20, 2013  While spending the last four days in a flu driven psychosis a weird thought came to me. How many females have taken automatic weapons, shotguns, bombs and other lethal items to a school with intent to kill innocent kids? Or to shopping malls, Naval Yards, churches, military bases, Afghanistan villages or movie theaters? Is that a relevant thought or just part of the flu??


17. November 26, 2013 The politicians say food stamp programs are unsustainable like all other entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid?). But they never mention the unsustainable wars, the unsustainable corporate welfare in form of tax breaks and tax-payer giveaways to corporate farms. The entitled few always look upon any program meant to demonstrate humanity or actually paid for and earned by the average worker as excessive government. And then they go off to their villas and mansions in gated communities paid for by their often illegal or unethical dash for cash. Subsidized and bailed out by the taxes actually paid by that average worker. They cry wolf whenever they're called out saying those who do so are trying to start a class warfare. That's the thing about the true entitled few.....they accuse any opposition group of us lowlifes of the exact thing they actually do and are.


18. November 17, 2013 An example of being a slave to debt is working in the healthcare system and knowing every day, no matter how caring you try to be, no matter how much you try to use your skill as an advocate...you're still participating in the big pharma-medical treatment plan putting profit above prevention and recovery. It's working in a profession where you realize every day how stupidly insane it is to worry about someone's insurance coverage paying for necessary care. How stupidly insane it is every man, woman and child doesn't have the right to medical care. How stupidly insane medical professionals don't focus full attention to medical care. And going to work every day is a struggle. Not because of our patients but because of our broken system.


19. November 9, 2013 I thought about the vets parade but couldn't manage to do it. What in God's name deserves a parade? Which war should we choose as righteous? We should be reflecting on the insane losses of our brothers and sisters because they, like we who survived, believed we would serve a higher cause. We were betrayed by the masters of war, the captains of capitalism who drained our blood and efforts to fuel their greed and corruption. Don't fucking thank me for my service this weekend. None was provided. My participation didn't further the cause of democracy or the betterment of the world. If anything, it helped bring the anger of others against this nation for the blood lust of the leaders we allow to be elected time after time.


20. October 8, 2013 I can't remember a time during my 65 years on this planet when so many traitors were allowed to have the power of governing this nation. It speaks to how we've become U.S.A., Incorporated. How we've allowed the foxes to guard our henhouses. Think the term "traitors" too strong? How else can the betrayal of all the values this nation allegedly stands for be described? How else can we describe the betrayal of hope and freedom for the vast majority of humans around the world?


21. September 21, 2013 Obama complains about the GOP holding his party hostage like it's something new. But let's be realistic, both parties are held hostage to their rich corporate daddies dictating what they should do if they want reelection. And the poor, middle class and upper middle class are held hostage to these heartless, gutless immoral politicians who love to wave the flag and have us sing "America the Beautiful" to assuage our worries. But, in truth, if we're to define traitorous we only need look at what's happening in Washington D.C. in the halls of the alleged government. They are the puppets of the rich and elite who have only one allegiance. Greed. And, apparently, it will take a total collapse of the economy and government before the people of this nation are willing to march on the bastards to throw them out. When the mainstream rag, TIME, has a cover suggesting there will be another financial collapse the time of reckoning could be very soon. Sadly, if past history is any indication, there will be a large number of people taking up arms and making it a Darwinian struggle of survival and selfishness. Or put simpler ...."I got mine, fuck you". Hope I'm wrong.

22. Sept 11, 13 
 On Jan 31, 1968 I was a first hand witness of children killed by chemical warfare, Mr. President. They didn't writhe in pain at the time my company reached them. No, by then they had become "crispy critters"....humans charred beyond recognition by napalm dropped by U.S. jets. On that Jan '68 day my company commander decided a village would be destroyed even if it meant those kids were to die. Is that part of the 7 decades of American stability throughout the world?
And when people think of Vietnam they should think of DOW Chemical's Agent Orange still inflicting pain on the Vietnamese people generations later. That agent was part of that American stability.
And on this day, September 11, we will remember the Twin Towers being destroyed, killing over 3000 lives in New York City. But will we remember the overthrow of Allende and imposition of Pinochet in the 70's caused by the arrogance of Henry Kisssinger? A coup fully supported by this nation against a democratically elected leader that didn't bow down to the American exceptionalism. A coup leading to tens of thousands killed or tortured.
Watching the overt hypocrisy and outright lies of an American President is getting old for me. Being in my 60s, I've seen it so many times I've almost grown desensitized to it. Almost. I'm glad to say it still outrages me to see a country I love be the bully and most violent nation in the world over the last 7 decades of what is described as American stability by the current liar-in-chief.
There's an old folk song with the refrain, "when will we ever learn, when will we ever learn?". It seems to never grow old.


23. June 13 If we live in the greatest nation in the world why is it reflected in being the largest provider of military weaponry in the world? Why not the nation that exports peaceful interventions? Why does the greatest nation have 50 million citizens without healthcare benefits and probably another 50 million with inadequate healthcare? Why do we put 52% of our budget into the military and continue to cut programs that educate our children, feed the poor here and around the world and protect the most vulnerable? It seems greatness as measured by the government, selected by big corporate interests, is who's the greatest bully on the block.


24. December 18, 2012 If we want to honor the children killed by the insanity of violence, we must connect their deaths to the social conditions fomenting that violence. It isn't just about guns, it's about a culture of violence we've allowed to percolate for decade after decade. It's about failing the oppressed, the addicted, the mentally ill while providing obscene amounts of tax money on militarism and prisons. Year after year mental health budgets are cut while year after year the military budget grows. Year after year prevention programs disappear while more and more prisons are funded.
To those who prefer calling the mentally ill wackos, nuts or loons, I say shut the fuck up until you understand psychosis, mania, major depression, auditory and visual hallucinations, delusions and personality disorders. You have no clue how parents of children struggling with mental health issues have to fight to get treatment. How some professionals tell them to give up parental rights in order for their children to get placed with social services. Or allow them to be imprisoned because jails and prisons provide more care than any other institutional entity in most states.
It's the failure of a culture when time after time children are slaughtered. A government that condones killing children as collateral damage of their wars shouldn't be surprised when there are mass killings at home. A culture that allows childhood to be tainted on a daily basis with images of brutal killings from television to movies to video games shouldn't be surprised children grow up with violent tendencies. Proliferation of weapons intended only to kill other humans can only lead to the horrible fact this nation has more gun deaths than any other nation in the industrialized world. By far.
If we want to honor the children, maybe we should think about changing their role models.....us adults.


25. December 15, 2012 I don't want to diminish the deaths of 20 young children and 6 adults to another American madman toting semi-automatic weapons to shoot his prey. I have grandkids close to the age of the children killed. I'd be enraged and bereaved beyond description.
I do have to agree with a young veteran friend who asks the question why these children warrant so much of our attention when there's been so many thousands upon thousands killed by other American armaments. Where was the outcry when our bombs killed entire villages and whole blocks that were inhabited by far more children?
Where was the outcry for the children of Fallujah, a city battered by multiple American assaults of artillery and bombs? Where's the outcry for the children killed all too often in drone attacks by American and Israeli military?
Where's the outcry for the youth sent to the failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Oh people will say there's a difference between all those I mention and the children in Newtown, CT. No, there's not. They all have one thing in common. Far too many victims are children and the weapons used are predominately sold by American arms companies.
If it is people who kill people then we need to look at the means by which they are killing them. And, without a doubt, there is a culture of violence that permeates this nation from the time of childhood until we die prematurely or of old age.
The enduring image of my war was the day I walked through a village the day after a napalm bombing. There was a smell of ham from the incinerated pot belly pig but there was also the smell of burned human flesh. As I found out as I got deeper into the village, it was primarily the burned flesh of infants, young children and mothers. How does another human grasp such a scene? How do we reconcile the dead children with our sense of morality?
At least once or twice a year, we find ourselves asking the same questions. Why do we allow the children to be killed without acting to change the culture of violence we've allowed? And that goes without asking why we allow the children of foreign lands to be butchered at the hand of those using "our weapons".
All the cretins and apologists for the NRA will try to justify the continued availability of assault weapons as a right of all Americans under the Second Amendment. They decry any attempt to control deadly weapons used to kill our children. And we refuse to identify them as the terrorist organization they are. They don't give a damn about our rights. They only care about further promoting the violence culture so their masters, the weapons industry, continue to reap huge profits on the backs of those massacred by their implements of death.
If the past is any indication, the deaths of the 20 children and 6 adults on December 14, 12 will only join the massacres at Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora's theatres and all the other tragedies caused by a person, usually male, who has some deranged or psychotic impulse to kill and ready access to weapons to carry out that impulse. There will be weeks of reaction but when it comes time for courage and action very few will stand up in the halls of Congress, the White House or state legislatures.
And that makes us a nation willing to sacrifice the potential of young lives simply to maintain the means to carry out the violence so deeply steeped in the American psyche.


26. November 8, 2012 My wife's best friend won't go out with her this week because the election has shown Americans have become "faithless and immoral". WTF??? My wife is the kindest person I know. She believes in Catholicism but isn't a zombie that accepts the dogma without thoughtful consideration. She stayed clear of politics with the friend to maintain the friendship. But because of my willingness to oppose the Church the friend knows we are two of "those people".
The zombie Catholic sect that believes the dogma of the misogynists is willing to elect a man who is a blatant liar, a ruthless job-killer, a war-monger and truly immoral. Why? Because he and his Opus Dei running mate are saying they will oppose all abortion, gay marriage and the right of "moral" employers to refuse insuring women who choose to use "THE PILL".
The local archbishop sent a letter wailing freedom of religion is in jeopardy if certain politicians are elected. And the zombies all fell in line. Apparently including the "friend".
This thinking is why I will not return to the Catholic church. Yeah, I know there are the progressive and liberal groups in the Church but they refuse to directly oppose Papal authority. I tell my patients to leave abusive relationships if the abuse has no chance of stopping. Why think the abuses of the Papal authority will ever stop? Yeah, I am a heretic.
This is the sad fact of political debate in this nation. We can't talk with one another. We propagate hatefulness instead. We see whites at "Ole Miss" riot when the black guy wins. And had he lost would there have been riots from the other side?
Most folks dismissed the poignant thoughts of a man horribly abused by police, Rodney King. When the cops were found not guilty of their crime riots began. Rodney appealed to all of us when he asked "can't we all get along?"

27. October 6, 2012 Saw a bumper sticker saying "I'm Catholic and I vote". Next to it was a Romney/Ryan sticker. On a Cadillac with an elderly woman getting out of the car.
I couldn't help wonder if the elderly lady was a recipient of Medicare. Then I thought about how many of the "greatest generation" I know that seem to think they have "theirs" and don't give a damn about the young.
Spent time down in The Villages in Florida for a family funeral. It was filled with well off whites who hated Obama for irrational reasons. They seemed oblivious to the suffering of others as they rode their golf carts out to the multitude of courses or to the array of expensive restaurants. Their greatest fear seemed to be "socialism" as represented by Obama. They feared they might have to share.
My dad was a blue collar member of the "greatest generation". He'd give anyone the shirt off his back. He died as a result of his work's toxic conditions many years ago. He was a union stewart. He walked picket lines. He worked hard for companies who failed to return his loyalty.
I look at those people in the Villages and think my dad would be ashamed to be included in their version of the greatest generation.
As a former Catholic, the elderly lady in her Romney Cadillac represents all the reasons I left the Church. Mindless devotion to the dogma doesn't make it moral.

　

28 October 5, 2012  
Dammit! Once again I find myself defending Obama because of the overt racist comments coming from Romney's campaign. Code words like "lazy" coming from bigots like John Sununu. Code words insinuating and directly saying Obama doesn't have the intelligence. Inferences by Rush Blowhard he used affirmative action and other racially motivated devices to get into Harvard and get passing grades. These cowardly racists use their bullypits to spout hate against people of color and where is the mainstream press calling them out? I lived during the days of lynching and Jim Crow. During the Civil Rights movement. The level of racial hatred then was much more overt and accepted but what is happening today is an insidious and none too subtle attempt to return to those days using the "black Presidency" as the way to do it. While I will never be an Obama supporter, I am sickened by the racist attacks. And we have to know the racism directed toward him certainly "trickles down" to all people of color.
It's one thing for ignorant crackers living in the hateful cesspools of community bigotry to be saying these things. But, the calculated and cynical use of race-baiting by the likes of Rove and Romney, Sununu and Blowhard to access power is even worse. They rant about Obama being un-American or a threat but it is they who are the traitors who have allegiance only to the "white brotherhood" of American elitists. They may not wear hoods or burn crosses but they are only a more sophisticated group of Klansmen with the grand wizards men like the Koch brothers.
I deplore the policies of Obama but the use of his Presidency to bring the ugliness of racism into public view without objection makes us complicit in the hate.          

























                




 
 
 
 
 
      
    




  














    

A Sad Irony

Terry Leichner

August 28 near Denver

It seems appropriate to ask today where the new freedom riders will come from? Where will the voices cry out against the despair of disparity and hate come from? Who will do more than march and rally? Where will those who think the dream possible come from? Where will the opposition to continual wars come from?

 Obama will go to the anniversary gathering and speak with his usual eloquence but his words will pale to those of Dr. King. They will pale because once again we look at using weapons of war to enforce our nation's dominance. They will pale because poverty, incarceration and hate have prevailed as politicians continue to strip human rights from us.

 

The irony of the first black President speaking is he intends to start another military action at the same time he comes to honor Dr. King.

 

 

We Know This - Kerry Sold Out

The people of this nation should reflect on our history before we declare a moral high ground that John Kerry just attempted. His repetitive "we Know" about the occurrences of nerve agents used in Syria may be a good oratory gimmick but Kerry forgets his very own actions in a war killing over a million Vietnamese. A war he used his oratory to condemn at a Congressional hearing in the spring of 1971.

Kerry knows this nation used Agent Orange to defoliate jungles. He knows Agent Orange has affected generations of Vietnamese with birth defects and cancers. He knows countless brothers in arms have been affected by Agent Orange. He knows our government denied, denied, denied those effects making it too late for many of the veterans to survive.

John Kerry knows first hand this nation used napalm not only against enemy combatants but also against civilian populations in the villages that erupted into flames burning bodies of children and their mothers. He knows the American troops referred to the bodies as "crispy critters".

John Kerry knows the American troops carried white phosphorous rounds in grenade launchers and they were used against enemy combatants and any civilian populations that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He knows "willie peter" rounds were commonly used. He knows the effects of those rounds burning through skin and bone and the difficulty of treating the wounds.

John Kerry knows these weapons were used despite Geneva Convention legalities. He knows first hand as an officer in the American military. He knows first hand from the stories of his fellow troops in Vietnam Veterans Against the War and those without any affiliation. He knows and he found it immoral to continue. And he spoke out against it in front of the Fulbright Committee of the U.S. Senate.

John Kerry also knows troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are exposed to depleted uranium rounds fired by their own military. He knows the chemical path of DU in every region of the world it has been used. He knows white phosphorous and a rebranded form of napalm has been used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
 
John Kerry knows the loss of innocent lives from American drones and gunships. And he knows he has been complicit in covering up the horrific visions of those attacks. He knows this President has intimidated and imprisoned any whistle blower daring to bring the truth of atrocities to the attention of the people paying taxes to carry them out.

John Kerry knows the US is the only nation to use atomic weapons against civilian population centers. He knows the results of radiation poisoning that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Effects every bit horrific as the images he references in his pleas to use military force in Syria for "moral" reasons. John Kerry knows these things are irrefutably fact. He knows but doesn't recall them in his rush to violence and more war. He says he's sick of war but he pimps another military action by this nation saying we can't allow fatigue to keep us from acting. 

John Kerry knows there are hidden agendas beyond the moral call for action he requests. But he won't tell the American people what they are.

John Kerry knows children go hungry and starve in his nation.

He says it's common sense...because he says it is. Members of the American military's leadership don't all agree it is.

Americans must decide who the"thugs" are. They must decide if we truly have a legacy of a moral high ground or if we are culpable for similar atrocities against humanity.

John Kerry knows we stand on shaky moral ground as a nation with a history of continuous wars and occupations lacking legality and morality. And he knows we are a "party to turning a blind eye" over and over again whether it's the US or the Israelis in Palestine.

John Kerry knows but fails to accept responsibility.

John Kerry knows the nerve gas used against Iran in a war against Iraq was supplied by his own nation. And a blind eye was turned as our dictator in Iraq used nerve agents against Iran and later against his own people in Kurdish areas.

What John Kerry doesn't seem to know is the meaning of hypocrisy.

What Kerry does know ...he sold out for power and fame.