Category: War

This will be a quick one. We’re putting together a public action kit for Thursday. It will be something that anyone can use anywhere to start up a dialog with strangers, find out what their concerns are, share yours and hopefully send out some positive, activist ripples.

All the fixings can be had at Staples and no doubt Office Depot or any office supply store. The final bit of work is to fine tune the content of the presentation. We have some eye-catching art work on the way (fingers crossed on the file size).

First sheet is issues/survey. What are the bullet point issues that get you most worked up? Personally, I’d need an UZI to list all mine. The survey is the premise for the discussion. People in general love to have their opinions asked. Ever stay on the line for a robo-poll?

Second list is a contact sheet – legislators, etc (we’ll be covering MA)

Second/third sheet is LTE contact info and talking/venting/screaming points.

Third/fourth sheet is a list of links to progressive sites. It’ll probably be a three sheet effort. And that’s not to the wind.

Back in January Ilona Meagher, of PTSD Combat-Winning The War Within posted about a Justice Court being set up in Buffalo NY to help Veterans who get into legal trouble you can read her post Here

This Court came together with the help of the local Buffalo chapter membership of Vietnam Veterans of America:

The following came in on a google news alert I have on Nadia McCaffery who’s son, Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey, was killed nearly five years ago in Iraq. The reason I use the alert is that Nadia, and her Daughter-in-Law have been slowly growing the dream of helping other Veterans returning from the Theaters of War suffering from PTSD and TBI, her son was a medic. Their dream, in her sons honor, is called Veterans Village

This report doesn’t cover ‘Veterans Village’ but Nadia was asked about her thoughts on this Congressional Bill.

A group of Marines ogling a pinup girl outside their bunkers in Khe Sanh, South Vietnam, in January 1968

Targetting Congressional Pages or Toe Tapping in public bathroom stalls is just fine and dandy, as well as giving male prostitutes seemingly unlimitted access to the White House Press Room and only rove knows where else, and the other numorous sex related adventures of mostly republican congressmen, bet the women have a few little secrets themselves.

But shockingly, once again, after being the Lead Cheerleaders, along with their equally sex confused talking heads, o’really are you listening, you to fatboy cyst, to the extremely failed policy of Wars/Occupations Of Choice we get this:

I don’t need to add anything to the below, one: I’m not there, two: what’s below says it all, three: this Country put it’s Military Through All This Before to my Brother ‘Nam Vets and followed up with Every Deployment Since!

How many know what’s happening with the Gulf War I Vets!

The candy and flowers that you envisioned, thrown at your feet as you walked through the streets of Baghdad as the Savior of the Middle East and the Man your Daddy never thought would amount to anything has turned to shit and dead bodies thrown at your feet, you incompetent dolt.  

Not only did you turn the tide from fighting the REAL terrorists in the War against Terror, you decided you were such a damned fine cowboy that you could pull our troops and fight the War for Oil instead.  

Incompetence be thy name.

Not only did you screw the pooch by your warmongering, balls to the wall (not your balls, of course) ridiculous attempt to make YOURSELF look like the bestest President since Abraham Lincoln, you bought into the lies and spin that was placed in front of you on a Silver Platter by the boot-licking-psychotic-thinking cronies that had your ear.  

Arrogance be thy name.

Posted, with sadness, anger and frustration:  A just released study from RAND reports more about the costs of our continuing wars.  The mounting cost of war include this:   Study: 300,000 US troops from Iraq, Afghanistan have mental problems, 320,000 brain injuries:

“…Some 300,000 U.S. troops are suffering from major depression or post traumatic stress from serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 320,000 received brain injuries, a new study estimates….Only about half have sought treatment, said the study released Thursday by the RAND Corporation.”

There’s more….

MAKE MAYDAY A “NO PEACE, NO WORK HOLIDAY”!

The following was written by Jack Heyman a longshoreman who works on the Oakland docks

Longshoremen to close ports on West Coast to protest war

Sign up for their Newsletter or just save their site as a favorite and visit each week to find just abit of the Real History that helps bring about needed Change and Corrective Direction of a Country, World, and Democracies, forcing Democracies to become so and maintain their Freedoms.

You can find this weeks newsletter here of which I’ve borrowed a few moments of to pass on to you, below.

Is Iraq about to Blow Wide Open, 19 U.S. Killed so far this week, and it might be just the beginning.

I’m hoping some Sense comes into play here, or it’s back to what it was or Worse!

Sadr says US will always be enemy

I got a notice a couple of days ago about the shortlist for a photography competition. One of the photographers shortlisted has taken some pretty gripping photos of soldiers in the Middle East.

Given the recent Petraeus hearings I thought these were very topical, and deserved wider viewing.

The photographer is Peter van Agtmael. Click here to see his work.

His work can also be found at the  Photolucida web-based photo competition called Critical Mass.

Note I want you to visit his site and so have not copied any images etc.

This was posted earlier at DailyKos and I was encouraged to also post it here by TexasDem.

Hope you find these image illuminating….

This is (a small part of a) cross-post (excerpted by permission) by THE ENVIRONMENTALIST‘s Managing Editor:

In her recent speech at the Conference on World Affairs, Rachel Maddow cited James Madison’s warning about the unitary executive, the propensity of an unchecked executive branch to lean toward war, whereas the legislature would be more likely to debate the issue before moving toward conflict.

Maddow’s supposition, that the Bush administration’s seeming incompetence, its torture memos, its rush to war, was by design — Bush and Cheney’s direct effort to shift power to the executive and, thereby, to shift the entire country to a more warlike stance — does have historical precedence.

I’m not referring to Madison, though he did warn of this, or Jefferson, who raised prescient concern about undue influence, but earlier in history to the systems that Madison and Jefferson used as the inspiration for their grand experiment: The Roman Republic of Caesar’s time and the Greek democracy of Solon.

This is not to say that George W. Bush is Julius Caesar or that any of his lawgivers (like the ones who approved that torture memo) are Solon. But there are interesting parallels to the way Caesar and his contemporaries used war to further their wealth and political ambitions, as well as to the actions that Solon’s contemporaries took to undermine codified law…

Highly recommend you link to link to the whole essay for the point it makes about Bush and McCain’s wars.

Illuminating and frightening.