In The Things They Carried, a compelling condemnation of war every American should read, Vietnam veteran Tim O’Brien describes the physical and psychological burdens young American soldiers had to carry for 365 days and nights, through the rice paddies and hamlets of a foreign land 10,000 miles from home, haunted by the knowledge that sudden and violent death might be just one heartbeat away. . .    

They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die.  Grief, terror, love, longing-these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight.  They carried shameful memories.  They carried the common secret of cowardice . . . Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to.

Because refusing to kill other human beings would have been so embarrassing, 50,000 young Americans went off to boot camp and came back in body bags from the Ia Drang Valley, the Central Highlands, the streets of Hue, or a sandbagged bunker at Khe Sanh.  The killing went on and on, because losing that shameful war was a consequence politicians in Washington wanted to avoid as long as possible.  Sitting in their plush offices, they concluded that 50,000 slaughtered Americans and 2,000,000 slaughtered Vietnamese was a bargain basement price to pay for Peace With Honor.

America’s shameful occupation of Iraq is being prolonged by politicians in Washington with the same craven disregard for the sanctity of human life.  Instead of Impeaching the criminals responsible for five years of war crimes, they deny the harsh realities staring them in the face, and tell America “uplifting” war stories about that “heroic battle against terrorism” they sent the sons and daughters of other people off to fight in a country where 40 percent of the world’s oil just happens to be, instead of in Afghanistan and Pakistan where all the terrorists are.                    

Tim O’Brien doesn’t tell uplifting war stories.  There is nothing uplifting about human beings killing each other so politicians can parade around as patriots and war profiteers can get rich . . .  

If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie.

As we honor Martin Luther King Jr., it is also fitting to honor the unknown men and women across America who shared his dream and took a stand for justice and equality in the 1960’s.  A promise lived within them, a promise of justice and equality in a land of injustice and prejudice.  They believed in that promise and redeemed it with their courage, determination, and sacrifice.            

We will never know their names, but they deserve remembrance and gratitude too, for even the most inspiring leaders can accomplish nothing if people like you and me do not transform inspiration into real change in our own lives, in our own families, in our own neighborhoods, and in our own communities.  Leaders talk the talk, it’s up to us to walk the walk.                

During the civil rights movement of the ’50s and ’60s, many courageous Americans fought for justice and equality in the face of hostile resistance.  Among the bravest of them were a small group of men and women who boarded a bus in May of 1961 and headed south in the name of freedom.  With nothing but idealism, courage, and their belief in justice to shield them from harm, these Freedom Riders rode into racist Alabama to show Alabamans what human dignity looks like.  

Human dignity was not welcome in Montgomery, where the Freedom Riders were met by a mob armed with chains, lead pipes, and hammers.  They were badly beaten and their bus was firebombed:

Human beings can be beaten, buses can be firebombed, but human dignity cannot be beaten or firebombed into submission by racists or anyone else.  The ordeal of the Freedom Riders awakened the conscience of America:

The Freedom Rides were a central part of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s that fought to win equal rights for African Americans. It was a bloody and difficult battle. It was fought on one side by policemen and private citizens who used dogs, fire hoses, guns, and burning crosses. It was fought on the other side by protesters who used marches, songs, signs, and nonviolence.  It was a battle the Freedom Riders helped win.

According to the latest CBS News/New York Times poll, “Assessments of the current state of the nation are grim as Americans have begun to choose who will vie to be the country’s next president. 75% of Americans think the country is off on the wrong track, matching the highest number ever recorded in the CBS News/New York Times Poll.”  These results are echoed in the latest ABC/Washington Post poll, which reports that 77% of Americans believe America is on the wrong track, the most scathing indictment of America’s “leaders” ever recorded by ABC/Washington Post pollsters.

Well, it looks like Morning in America isn’t as popular as it used to be.  In 1980, Americans were so impressed with the former host of Death Valley Days and his happy grin that they elected him President of the United States.  They empowered a clueless cowboy to lead them to a brighter future, but he led them into Death Valley instead.  

Go figure.        

As millions of low income and middle class Americans trudged back and forth across Death Valley for 28 years, looking for some way out, Reagan/Bush globalization expanded corporate control over national governments, the global economy, and the media to such a pervasive and destructive extent that permanent residency in Death Valley is going to be the fate of most of humanity if we don’t get up off our knees, empower ourselves, and give our oppressors a taste of Death Valley to see how they like it . . .

In the aftermath of Hillary Clinton’s narrow win over Barack Obama in New Hampshire, there are indications that voter backlash against the Beltway pundits and media hacks who take such delight in savaging her may have played a role in producing this unexpected outcome.  We’ll never know with any certainty why Hillary won, but the results in New Hampshire provide further evidence that the contempt of Americans for the corporate media is intensifying.

It’s about time.    

Glenn Greenwald:

The very idea of discussing issues, examining the candidates’ positions, or even analyzing voter preferences does not and cannot even occur to Chris Matthews.  That–the most elementary nuts and bolts of standard, healthy journalism–is way, way beyond the scope of what our media stars are able to do or want to do. Petty personality-based gossip and speculative, worthless chatter is all they know.

It’s not just Tweety.  On every network, in every major newspaper and magazine, day in and day out, corporate media hacks display “every repellent attribute that defines the Standard Modern Political Journalist”:

*Jaded, bitterly cynical coolness masquerading as sophistication (no emotion, no passion, is even real)

* Vapid, shallow stupidity (political matters judged exclusively by Drudge-like personality distractions)

* Mindless recitation of idiotic, Kristol-like right-wing talking points (we need manly Tough Guys, not Girly Crying, for our Wars)

* The basest and most glaringly obvious strain of sexism (no mention of the endless crying episodes from GOP Warrior-Cheerleaders)

* Their self-absorbed and almost-always-wrong belief that their own insulated biases are how the Regular Folk Think (hence, Hillary’s “crying,” which voters apparently either appreciated or ignored, was going to doom her candidacy, just as Huckabee’s press conference would doom his in Iowa)

* Herd-like adolescent malice rituals directed towards the Hated Loser (NYT reporters grouping together to chortle and cackle oh-so-knowingly at the Wicked Witch).

On progressive blogs, we’ve been telling the truth about the corrupt media and political establishments for years. We’ve told the truth in our diaries, we’ve told it in our essays, we’ve told it in our comments. We’ve told it time and time again, only to be ignored time and time again.  Most Americans aren’t even aware of our existence, and tens of millions of others are still dismissing us as radical partisans unworthy of their attention.

In his haunting song, “Devils and Dust”, Bruce Springsteen observed, “We’re a long, long way from home . . . home’s a long, long way from us.”

As usual, The Boss knows what he’s talking about.  Americans have never been so far from home. Our “leaders” have taken us all into a bizarre Twilight Zone America where torture is patriotic, civil liberties have been erased, and proclaimers of endless war are sanctified.  Treason is rewarded, justice is waterboarded, and the truth dies unreported.

In the America we used to know, a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty welcomed the world to our shores with this guarantee:

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

That guarantee has been replaced with this disclaimer:

“Helter Skelter.  She’s coming down fast.  Yes she is.  Yes she is.  Coming down fast.”  

The RePug establishment is desperate.  They’ve been destroying everything in sight with such reckless abandon that Americans are finally noticing that something’s not quite right with the Republican Party.  RePug candidates are pathetic, their voters are disillusioned, and the massive Democratic turnout in Iowa is an ominous indication that the hunted are energized, inspired, and about to become the hunters.  

RePugs are facing an electoral blowout of historic proportions at every level of government in November.  The big money thugs who control the GOP are desperate to smear Mike Huckabee out of contention and anoint their former smear target McCain as the latest GOP Messiah, but if they do the evangelicals will grab their torches and burn that heretic at the stake.   Another slight problem for the GOP and their Anointed One is the likelihood of a nationwide insurgent offensive across Iraq during this presidential election year.  That’s assuming of course that the insurgents for some reason might realize that massive coordinated attacks would have a decisive political impact this year, just like the Viet Cong/NVA Tet Offensive had on the 1968 election.

Who’s toast if when that happens?  John “Let’s Stay in Iraq 100 Years” McCain, that’s who.        

No matter where we live or what language we speak, we are all vulnerable human beings trying to survive in a world of uncertainty and danger.  From the first breath we take in this world to the last, we don’t know what the next moment will bring.  For too many of us, the only certainty is more fear, more suffering, and more despair.  

Humanity has been sailing stormy waters these past seven years.  Many of us have been sailing them alone, through dark nights, with no hope of better days ahead.  Because our governments exploit our differences in order to expand their power, we tend to forget that we all have the same human needs and aspirations, no matter where we live.  We all long to be loved, to be respected, to be heard, to be free.  But the corrupt governments of this world have little if any respect for human rights, and are ignoring our appeals for peace and justice.

It’s time to reach out to one another, across all borders, and empower ourselves before our governments destroy this world and all of our futures.  It’s time for democracy activists of all lands to unite on progressive blogs, to support each other, and sail these stormy seas together instead of sinking alone . . .      

At midnight on Christmas Eve, bells will ring across America to celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.  But for Americans of compassion who try to stand up for justice as he did, there’s not much to celebrate.  For us, those bells will not be ringing in celebration, they’ll be tolling in grief for a land broken by deceit and hypocrisy, lost in the darkness of Christianist hate, and shamed by the mendacity, corruption, and betrayal of warmongering politicians.    

During his life of activism and compassion, Jesus of Nazareth lived among the poor and the powerless. Because the ancient world was so much more primitive and unenlightened than our highly civilized modern world, he lived in a land that was seething with political and religious turmoil, mired in chronic poverty, plagued by political corruption, occupied by foreign soldiers, and ruled by an arrogant, lying, incompetent puppet king with a 25 percent job approval rating.  

For advocating justice and speaking truth to power, Jesus of Nazareth was slandered, arrested, tortured, and executed.  Since his death 2,000 years ago, other activists have known they would suffer the same fate if they dared speak truth to power.  But they spoke truth to power anyway.  In every era of humanity’s long and bloody history, in every land where oppression crushed the human spirit and fear silenced entire societies, a few brave souls managed to overcome their fear and summoned the courage to take a stand, alone if necessary, for human dignity and freedom.

Human dignity and freedom are worth taking a stand for.  Every time.      

Prominent progressive bloggers always emphasize that we should be polite when contacting Democrats in Congress.  With good intentions, they write their “action” posts, list contact numbers, and send us on our way with instructions to be respectful.  In addition to providing this assistance, our well-intentioned Netroots leaders include handy links in their posts which provide pertinent information, so I’m returning the favor with a handy link for them to ponder.

I hope the next time they feel the urge to advocate politeness, they wait until the urge passes and advocate something actually useful.

Good intentions and polite appeals to Democrats are not going to get us off this road to Hell we’ve been on since 2001.  It’s not going to end this ordeal, it just paves another mile of that damn road. And then another mile.  And then another one.  When BushCo Republicans actively betray us every chance they get and Democrats passively betray us by never doing anything about it, limiting ourselves to polite expressions of concern is not a solution, it’s part of the problem.  It just empowers these refugees from reality to take us one more humiliating, flag-waving, fascist-enabling mile closer to Hell.  

Dignity is very hard to come by for Americans in this seventh year since the corporate merger of Rubber Stamp Congress, Inc. with Bush & Cheney Planet Exterminators, Inc.  There’s plenty of debt, disgust, despair, depression, death, destruction, and denial, but there’s not much dignity.  America’s dignity vanished in Florida in 2000 and hasn’t been seen since.

Good luck, Christmas shoppers!  Get out your VISA card one last time, purchase some mistletoe at The Dollar Store, bend over with it, and get ready to kiss your ass goodbye . . .

Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It’s expanding by about $1.4 billion a day – or nearly $1 million a minute.  It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States. Even if you’ve escaped the recent housing and credit crunches and are coping with rising fuel prices, you may still be headed for economic misery, along with the rest of the country. That’s because the government is fast straining resources needed to meet interest payments on the national debt, which stands at a mind-numbing $9.13 trillion.

$9,130,000,000,000.78 in debt . . .

For concerned citizens keeping score at home, I admit in front of Santa and everybody that I still owe our fiscally responsible government 78 cents in back taxes.  I’ll send the IRS a check as soon as the criminal politicians responsible for this economic holocaust are prosecuted, convicted, and hauled off to prison cells.

Back in January, when our national debt was only $8,780,000,000,000.78, many Americans traveled to BushCo World Headquarters because wars of aggression and years of oppression hell bound on our way to the next Great Depression does not even remotely resemble compassionate conservatism.

They were not in a very forgiving mood . . .