The US and Where the Republican Party Wants to Take Us (Guest Post)

Great questions--and facts--on our United States today, from one Wayne Stiles  out on Facebook earlier.

Since when did it become acceptable in this country to toss the weakest of us overboard?

There is a political party dedicated to castrating the poorest among us.

It started out by refusing to extend unemployment benefits at a time when we were hemorrhaging 800,000 jobs a month.

Then it was cutting off food stamps to these same families. Taking food off the tables of the hungriest and poorest families.

Then the GOP showed how truly despicable they were.

Laws were passed to keep people from feeding the homeless. People were being arrested for feeding homeless families.

Laws passed to make it illegal to sleep ANYWHERE outside. Homeless people were being arrested.

Then the GOP sank to its lowest depths.

It began cutting off help to our veterans and seniors.

Veterans committing suicide at a rate of 200,000 a year. Seniors deciding whether to eat or pay bills. Denying healthcare to them all.

But the worst atrocity is while doing this, the GOP is taking that money and giving it away wholesale to the wealthiest.

Do we change this or not?

A Poem: From an Iraq War Veteran

Maybe a poem for the American people:

I Hate: A Poem

I hate being a veteran of war

I hate the constant triggers

I hate the never ending avoidance of emotions

I hate the constant reminders of what I’ve lost

I hate that I’m not alone in my pain

I hate that people say “Thank you for your service”

I hate that the VA does little to help the people they serve

I hate that Americans still crave war

I hate that our children play war video games

I hate that every day is a day of pain and anger

I hate that so many of us take our own lives because the pain is too much

I hate that there are no reparations I can make to fix my faults

I hate that I cry whenever I think about Iraq

I hate that I can’t fully express the anguish and resentment I feel

I hate that this poem may only get read once before you close your laptop and move on to something less painful

--published by Jennifer Cole on 01/23/15 10:31am

posted to: 

New York City

. I wrote this poem this morning after trying to fill out even more VA compensation paperwork and seeing one too many commercials for preventing veteran suicide and for the new film "American Sniper". Life just becomes so overwhelming at times, and poetry is one of the few ways I can express my feelings in a way that is safe for me. 

We must never forget.

Link:  Iraq Veterans Against the War

Soldiers and Veterans in need

Funny thing about soldiers.

We take these young people, put uniforms on them and then think that, somehow, they are no longer from middle- or lower-class families which, in fact, they typically were.

Then, on top of that, they've likely, frequently seen and/or done horrible things to other humans and/or gotten head or other bodily trauma.

Then, they get back out of the military and we don't think they'll have any problems.

And that they somehow have money and education and all they need to survive and succeed.

Crazy.

An important movie for America, made by our military veterans

A movie made by American military soldiers and veterans for the American public. It's an important, vital film, I think. Please watch for it and when you can, see it. We owe to them. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to the country. We owe it to humanity. Link: www.thisiswherewetakeourstand.com

More brilliance from the Iraq War

I was just given more reasons to bang my head against a wall when I saw this: After destroying Iraq's army, US retrains former foe by Jacques Clement; Ten years ago the military machinations of Saddam Hussein were a security obsession for the United States, but American forces in Iraq now aim to make the army of their former foe stronger than ever. The US army has the right to self-defence and has already used it, despite Washington's declaration that "combat operations" are officially over, but the bulk of America's military might is now focused on a training mission. US money has paid for hundreds of workshops at Iraqi military bases, in the wake of the American-led invasion that ousted Saddam from power in 2003, part of the estimated trillion dollars that has been spent on operations here. Just one example of the stupidity of the George W. Bush's administration, in handling this war they chose and created: US training of local forces started in 2004, just months after the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the post-invasion governing body headed by American diplomat Paul Bremer and charged with running the country, disbanded the Iraqi army. Although the army was suspected as a refuge for Saddam's allies, its break-up is seen as one of the CPA's biggest mistakes as it made tens of thousands of armed men unemployed and left Iraq's borders unguarded, allowing insurgents to pour in and wreak havoc in subsequent years. Then, Lieutenant General Michael Barbero, the deputy commander for Operation New Dawn said this: "In December 2011, I am convinced the ISF will be fully capable of internal security," Barbero said, noting that the Iraqi navy will protect coastlines and oil platforms. "But they will not have the capability to provide air sovereignty, to fully protect the skies over Iraq, because they will lack a multi-role fighter," he added. Now, it also sounds like we've set ourselves up to be the supplier (read: salesperson) of the Iraqis for the fighter jets our corporations can supply. Hopefully they'll never use them on us, right? Once again, I'd like to take a moment to thank Former President George W. Bush and Former Vice President Dick Cheney and that administration for the ignorance, tragedy and waste that is and was this Iraq War. It can't be said enough. I will never forget. Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100909/wl_mideast_afp/iraqusmilitarytraining/print

The President's address and our situation in Iraq

What happened to confident and eloquent? Confession: I didn't see President Obama's address last night on TV on Iraq. Forgive me. I usually never miss these things. (Perhaps I'm getting a life?) Anyway, several sources said he seemed clumsy or uncomfortable. How odd. He probably knows he can't win on this one--Republicans are going to say he's either screwing it up or that they were right about it all along while the Democrats and Left are going to complain a) he didn't get us out soon enough and b) we still aren't completely out, what with 50,000 troops still over there. It's a rock and a hard place, for sure, only made made worse and more complicated by neighboring Afghanistan. What a mess. But what really gets me, today, is a report I found on Think Progress showing that now-ex Bush appointees and employees are saying they want "credit" for the Iraq and Iraq War "success". EXCUSE ME?? Right. Let's see. 4415 American soldiers killed. 30,182 wounded. Untold thousands of Iraqis dead and wounded. Millions, I believe, homeless or displaced. The war was internally, nationally illegal and internationally illegal as well. It was unprovoked. Saddam Hussein was cooperating. Then, there's the fact that we broke, virtually destroyed this country. We shattered Iraq. It's a mess--physically, structurally and in terms of governance. It's a mess. Finally--though the list could be much longer--there's the fact that it helped us, largely, to go from budget surpluses as a country, to huge and gross budget deficits. You just can't say enough of how wrong, wrong-headed and blatantly stupid this Iraq War was and is and yet these clowns have the unmitigated chutzpah to say they deserve "credit" for its "success"? Tell that to all the family members, friends and loved ones who lost those soldiers. Link to original post: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/09/01/iraq-war-architects-credit/comment-page-2/#comment-6349275

More proof: If you're not angry, you're not paying attention

It was bad enough when our government--the George W. Bush White House, to be precise--took us into an unnecessary, murderous, wreckless, unnecessary and both nationally and internationally illegal war. The Iraq War, of course, to be specific. That was bad enough. To date, 4415 American Soldiers have given their lives because of it, while at least 31,907 American men and women have been wounded. If that isn't enough to make you angry right there, I don't know what will. But now, after the Supreme Court's ruling earlier this year which made legal unlimited quantities of money they can contribute to any political campaign, here's another one--another reason to be angry and, hopefully, for us to do things about it. Get this: News Corp., the media company controlled by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch, gave the Republican Governor's Association $1 million in June. The floodgates of unlimited money to politicians and political campaigns have been opened, folks, and your democracy isn't just for sale. Your democracy and your vote has been sold. It's been given away. And the corporations bought and sold it. Angry yet? You'd better be. And we'd better start doing something about it all. Links: http://antiwar.com/casualties/ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-16/republicans-set-for-gains-in-u-s-governors-races-as-funding-sets-record.html