Hurricane Katrina - Peace Takes Courage

Ava, of Peace Takes Courage has a new Hurricane Katrina Video Posted! It is being Hosted by Crooks and Liars!!


I have Uploaded it for a wider audience, these Katrina Video's/Posts must be seen to Remember the Incompetance!!




She also has a Request:

Also please remember that victims of Hurricane Katrina are still struggling to recover almost a year later. At least 1,836 people lost their lives and hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their homes. Peace Takes Courage has put together a list of organizations that are still working to help victims of the storm. Even the smallest amount helps, so please donate.

Please visit Peace Takes Courage - Aid for information on how you can help Katrina victims.

Don't Laugh At Me!!

Video by ' 'Nam Guardian Angel'- Kathie Costos



Kathie Costos
E-Mail Kathie
'Nam Guardian Angel
'Nam Guardian Angel Blog

"You didn't fight Alone than,
You needn't fight Alone Now!!"

"Backdoor Draft"

From: Mike Hastie
To: GI Special
Sent: August 19, 2006

"Backdoor Draft"

The Inactive Ready Reserve (Backdoor Draft) is being called up,
because Uncle Sam doesn't have enough troops in the Soldier
Warehouse.

Now, people can go into the military at age 42.
It's called the Father-Son Buddy System.

It is obvious that the military
is running out of soldiers who are not exhausted.

If the criminals in the White House were to activate the Military Draft, they know the anti-war movement would quadruple over night.

I spent one tour in Vietnam as an Army medic, and that was enough for me and my family.

American soldiers spending two and three tours in Iraq,
are going to have two and three tours of added PTSD, or if you will,
two and three tours of added betrayal.

The American Public Has Absolutely No Idea Of The Long Range Effects Of Post-Traumatic War Stress.

But then again, the American public is not emotionally
connected to the war in Iraq.

When I came back from Vietnam, the
American public didn't care if I had been to Vietnam or Baskin Robbins.

I wish to God this last statement was grossly exaggerated.

I will close
with this bit of borrowed prose from the past, with my added tidbit:

"Uncle Sam needs a helping hand, cause it doesn’t have enough troops
for Viet-nam.

Now Iraq is another war, and the lies keep coming like
they did before."

Mike Hastie
Vietnam Veteran
August 19, 2006

This Weekend - RadioNation

This weekend, RadioNation with Laura Flanders marks the anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by returning to Mississippi and Louisiana with two must-listen broadcasts.
On Saturday, the show will be in Biloxi, MS for a special town meeting sponsored by the NAACP and OXFAM. We'll hear from residents, activists, Danny Glover, NAACP president Bruce Gordon, OXFAM president Ray Offenheiser and many others. Then, on Sunday, RadioNation will be in New Orleans at the People's Hurricane Relief Fund, where you'll hear from the people who refuse to let this city die. Tune in this weekend!
Broadcast each Saturday and Sunday from 7:00 to 10:00pm EST on the Air America Radio Network, and available for listening online, RadioNation also produces a one-hour version, which is provided free to noncommercial community and college stations. If you missed last week, you can still listen online to interviews with Nation columnist Patricia Williams and Nation writer James Galbraith, who elaborated on his online exclusive report questioning the official account of the August 10 terrorist arrests.
And watch this space and The Nation online next week for a special collection of material marking the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Which wars should be prosecuted?

Which wars should be prosecuted?


In researching a story about Saddam Hussein's second trial, OneWorld journalist Aaron Glantz came across a very interesting perspective about what has become known recently as "pre-emptive war." Former Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz calls it "aggressive war" and believes it's the most heinous crime that can be committed because it opens the door to all war crimes. More on that in today's news section,

Bush and Saddam Should Both Stand Trial, Says Nuremberg Prosecutor

Benjamin Ferencz, who secured convictions for 22 Nazi officers for their work in orchestrating the death squads that killed more than 1 million people, told OneWorld both George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein should be tried for starting "aggressive" wars--Saddam for his 1990 attack on Kuwait and Bush for his 2003 invasion of Iraq.

OneWorld US

The Mythical End to the Politics of Fear

Norman Solomon | The Mythical End to the Politics of Fear

Only as journalists stop cowering and start reporting on the basic flaws of the "war on terror" concept will the body politic benefit from the free circulation of ideas and information - the lifeblood of democracy. And only then will there be appreciable media space to really explore why so many people have become violently angry with America.

The Mythical End to the Politics of Fear
By Norman Solomon
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Thursday 24 August 2006

Nearly five years into the "war on terror," it's still at the core of American media and politics.

Yeah, I've seen the recent polls showing a drop in public support for President Bush's "war on terror" claims. And I've read a spate of commentaries this month celebrating Bush's current lack of political traction on the terrorism issue, like the New York Times piece by Frank Rich last Sunday triumphantly proclaiming that "the era of Americans' fearing fear itself is over."

That's a comforting thought, hovering somewhere between complacent and delusional.

Reflexive fear may be on vacation, but it hasn't quit. The "war on terror" motif is fraying - but it remains close at hand as a mighty pretext for present and future warfare.

The US war effort in Iraq is, if anything, more horrific than it was a year ago. Back then, in late summer, Frank Rich wrote a Times column - under the headline "Someone Tell the President the War Is Over" - mocking Bush's assertion on August 11, 2005, that "no decision has been made yet" about withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Responding in print days later, Rich concluded: "The country has already made the decision for Mr. Bush. We're outta there."

A year later, are we "outta there?" Only via the intellectualizing gymnastics of punditland.

More Americans are aware that the "war on terror" - as an umbrella excuse for making war - is a bunch of lethal baloney. But can anyone point to a falloff of active US militarism as that realization has dawned? Did the Pentagon's warfare dissipate in the slightest while disdain from mainstream anti-Bush pundits went through the roof?

Looking ahead, does anyone credibly think that Democratic Party leaders can be relied on to stand up against rationales for a huge air assault on Iran - in the face of predictable claims that a massive attack has become necessary to forestall the development of nuclear weapons by a Tehran regime that supports the "terrorist" Hezbollah organization and has pledged the destruction of Israel?

In late summer 2006, all you've got to do is read the news pages of the New York Times to see systematic agenda-building for an airborne assault on Iran. Right now, in front of our eyes, the propaganda blitz is rivaling the kind of war groundwork laid by the same newspaper four years ago, replete with endless coverage of the US government's supposed "diplomatic" efforts.

"The era of Americans' fearing fear itself is over?" Don't make me laugh to keep from crying.

A war against a defined enemy can end; a war against an undefined threat can't.

In late November 2002, appearing on the "Washington Journal" program, retired US Army general William Odom told C-SPAN viewers: "Terrorism is not an enemy. It cannot be defeated. It's a tactic. It's about as sensible to say we declare war on night attacks and expect we're going to win that war."

Continuing his heretical comment, Odom said: "We're not going to win the war on terrorism. And it does whip up fear. Acts of terror have never brought down liberal democracies. Acts of parliament have closed a few."

The Bush administration, of course, has bypassed - and frequently vilified - any such insights. Meanwhile, few Democrats on the national stage have gone near challenging the themes of the "war on terror(ism)." And while some journalists have grown to express skepticism about the nonstop "anti-terror" rhetoric from the White House and its supporters, the overall stance of news media has involved routinely embracing the assumption that the USA is at war with terrorism. Along the way, that means ignoring how American firepower has been terrorizing civilians - directly in Iraq and Afghanistan, indirectly in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

The movie "Good Night, and Good Luck" dramatized Edward R. Murrow's decision to (finally) take on Senator Joseph McCarthy's red-baiting tactics. For those who wonder why so many journalists hung back and declined to directly challenge those tactics, which ran roughshod over the American political process for years, we can look around the US news media of 2006 and get a partial answer.

Yes, we can point to quite a few journalists who have gotten tough on Bush's refusal to address substantive criticism without reverting to the anti-terrorism pitch to tar his critics. But on the whole - and most egregiously in routine news coverage on front pages and news shows - the reporting accepts and propagates the basic world view of the Bush administration.

Typically, under the headline "Number of US Troops in Iraq Climbs," an August 23 story from Associated Press reported matter-of-factly: "No more than 2,500 Marines will be recalled at any one time, but there is no cap on the total number who may be forced back into service in the coming years as the military helps fight the war on terror." But the assertion that the US military is fighting a "war on terror" amounts to rhetoric, not fact.

Only as journalists stop cowering and start reporting on the basic flaws of the "war on terror" concept will the body politic benefit from the free circulation of ideas and information - the lifeblood of democracy. And only then will there be appreciable media space to really explore why so many people have become violently angry with America.



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The paperback edition of Norman Solomon's latest book, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death, was published this summer. For information, go to: War Made Easy.
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"VFP" by Tom Chelston

Wether a 'Veterans For Peace' member, or a Veteran, or still on Active Duty, and you Understand the 'Military Oath of Service' you took this is a Must See Video. If a Civilian this is a Video to pass on to a Vet, you All know at least one if not many!

My young Veteran Friend,Tom Chelston, also a VFP Member, has written a New Song called "VFP" and now has put it in Video Format.

I just UpLoaded it to my 'YouTube Account', so here it is in the Player:



This is a part of what Tom wrote me in sending the links:

I just finished a new song, "VFP", (I performed it at the Veterans For Peace Conference in Seattle on August 10th.....wrote most of it during the 4 hour delay/TSA "no liquids" shakedown on the way up) and recorded it /built the slideshow this week. I'm planning to perform at Camp Democracy September 10/11th.

You can also get the MP3 of "VFP" HERE

Or Download The Slideshow version, same as above, of "VFP" for the Windows Media Player HERE

And Visit Tom Chelston's Site-Tom Songs to find out more about this young Veteran and Listen/View some more of his songs.

'Living With War' - "Families"

AND:

After the Garden

Who the hell is JonBenet Ramsey??

My Thoughts Exactly, along with So Many Others that are FedUp with these, while tragic stories, are Puff Pieces that go along with the many others that Most Of Us Don't Give A Damn About As The MSM, of this Country, 'Totally Ignore' what is going on as to Our Military Personal in Iraq and Afganistan, the Deaths get a few second mention, the Maimed get same, and Little Mention of those returning, after Mutiple Tours who are Popping Pills for PTSD, some not getting treatment needed, with those still in getting ready to Return, once again, to one of the Conflicts Theaters!!!
Nor Any Mention of the Dangerous World Situation these Conflicts have created as they Build More Hatreds towards Us and other So Called Western Nations, with all the Deaths and Destruction we have UnLeashed on The Innocents and their Countries!!
My 'Kudo's' to georgia10, over at Daily Kos with the below Diary and DeRosier, of the Times Union Blogs, for the Political Cartoon speaking the 1000+ words only a pic or drawing can!!

Priorities and Perspective

Allow me to introduce to you to Staff Sgt. Michael "Chad" Lloyd. His name is not John Mark Karr. He died recently while on foot patrol in Baghdad. His flight to the United States won't be in business class, and reporters won't scramble to sit next to him. His body's journey across the Atlantic won't be traced with flashy graphics or estimated time of arrivals. Flag-drapped coffins, you see, aren't as sexy as murder suspects.
Meet Trinette Johnson. Her name is not John Mark Karr. I doubt that her story will capture headlines in 10 years. Since returning from Iraq two years ago, she has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. "She's not the same mommy," her children say. No one, save her troubled family, really gives a damn what she had to eat today, or how she's dealt with her pain these years. No one is asking "Who is Trinette Johnson?" and no one--especially not the press--seems to give a flying fuck that there are thousands of Trinette Johnsons out there, living (if you can call it that) with PTSD.
Meet U.S. Army Col. Dirk Spanton. His name is not John Mark Karr. He survived three tours in Iraq, only to come home and find out he has six months to live. Symptoms of his cancer were masked by the stress on his body in Iraq. No one, save those who have the honor of knowing him, are interested in the type of life he had growing up, the experiences that have shaped him into the man he is today.
Meet Sgt. Steven P. Mennemeyer. His name is not John Mark Karr. He joined the armed forces after 9/11, and was killed in Iraq in August. He was 26 years old and is survived by his young son. He earned 13 military honors, including a bronze star that was given to his girlfriend at his funeral. There's 19,100 Google hits for this fallen soldier. There's 9,530,000 for John Mark Karr.
Meet Pfc. Javier Chavez Junior. His name is not John Mark Karr. At just 19 years old, he married days before shipping off to Iraq, where he was killed. Seven others from his division were also killed, including Staff Sgt. Raymond Plouhar, who "left behind a poem for his family in the event of his death: 'I have given up many things for you to be free/Do not feel pity for me, for this is my choice.' I guess only ransom notes, not death notes, are worthy of wall-to-wall coverage.
Memo to the media: I. Don't. Care. About. John. Mark. Karr. Like so many others charged with a crime in our nation, he's presumed innocent and he will have his trial. I don't care about his childhood, or whether he asked for an extra pillow on the damn plane, or what color his jail cells walls may be. I don't care what he was doing in Thailand, no matter how many reporters you place "on location" there. I simply don't care.
Maybe our soldiers don't have big blue eyes and perfectly curled hair or the face of an angel. And, I suppose, in the conventional sense, their deaths aren't a "mystery." War killed them. Case closed.
But what is a mystery, a mystery that needs to be investigated, is just why we let the victims of this endless war pile up, month after month, year after year.
Or how about this great unsolved mystery: how can a room of so-called "journalists" sit back and yuck it up as the President makes light of war? How can they hear the President declare that we will stay in Iraq at least until 2009 without asking any follow-ups? And what mysterious ailment has turned the brains of these so-called journalists into a vast wasteland of nothingness, has rendered them incapable of uttering a single question of accountability, and has transformed them into vacuous stenographers of the Propaganda Presidency? Why this obsession with a single man who killed a single girl, yet no obsession with a three-year war set to kill 3,000 of our own?
That is the thriller, the unexplainable, the infuriating, and the gravest social crime. And that is a mystery that only the press itself can solve.
by georgia10 -- Mon Aug 21, 2006 at 02:39:35 PM EDT


And than we have this Diary of Reality and little or no mention, except for their families and friends, but just a number to the rest of us which we cannot even 'Honor' unless we search out their information of their lives:

Beautiful Dead Girls

by hrh
Mon Aug 21, 2006 at 11:19:05 PM EDT

We hear a lot about beautiful dead girls in the US media. Here are some that we haven't heard about much. Their smiles haven't been plastered over the supermarket tabloid press, and they're not likely to be. One of the reasons is that they don't fit the popular stereotype of beautiful-woman-as-helpless-victim. Another reason is that many people still haven't focused on the reality of women in the military. Even here on DKos, I see comments about "sons and fathers" who have been killed and maimed. Almost NO MENTION of women in the military.

Here, in no particular order, are some American heroes who were killed in combat in Iraq:

Army Sgt. Amanda Pinson, age 21, killed in mortar attack, March 15, 2006.



Air Force Airman 1st Class Elizabeth Jacobson, age 21, killed by roadside bomb, September 28, 2005.



Marine Lance Cp. Juana Navarro-Arellano, age 24, killed by small arms fire, April 8, 2006.


These are but three that the Diarist has placed with a few more photo's and very brief remarks on each.

We All should be asking the Question 'Why Are These Deaths Not Being Reported As Extensively, and Why Do We Know So Little About Each, if Anything?'!

Who, if anyone, will be charged with the killings of these young Beautiful Women, who Died Horrible Deaths in the service of their country, though with no definitive reason or 'Noble Cause'! In an Invasion of a Small Country that didn't deserve the Destruction and Devestation where thousands of their Military Comrades have been Killed and Maimed while Tens of Thousands of Innocent Iraqi's have Suffered Same!
Who should be charged, Those that sent them into an Illegal Conflict Based on Lies and Greed for Power and Wealth!

Coming Out Of The Dark

Video by ' 'Nam Guardian Angel'- Kathie Costos

Kathie Costos
'Nam Guardian Angel
'Nam Guardian Angel Blogspot

"You didn't fight Alone Than,
You needn't fight Alone Now!!"

The Breaking of a Marine

by ilona
Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 06:34:22 AM EST
ePluribus Media Post

I learned early that war forms its own culture. The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug, one I ingested for many years. It is peddled by mythmakers - historians, war correspondents, filmmakers, novelists, and the state...War exposes the capacity for evil that lurks not far below the surface within all of us. And this is why for many war is so hard to discuss once it is over. - Chris Hedges, veteran war correspondent and author of War Is a Force That Give Us Meaning

We're fighting them over there they tell us.
We sent our nation's finest young men and women over there, so we won't have to fight them over here. They promise us nothing will touch us. As if we can be insulated from war and everything that flows from it. As if our troops will come back undamaged and whole after their third, fourth, fifth deployments to hell and back.
They lied. The war has reached our shores.
The vessels of war are those service men and women who return to us broken, beaten, and hypervigilent. Sooner or later, even the best and brightest if pushed long and hard enough arrive at their breaking point.

SNIP You Can Read Rest HERE or at above link.

~~~~~

Ilona, and the group at ePluribus,{alot of their work is listed under the PTSD Header at the right, along with a link to ilona's PTSD Blog} have been Incredible Advocates on Getting The PTSD Message to the Public, Which Should Have Been There All Along!! They are also focusing on the DU Contamination our Ordinance Unleases. She has a Book coming out, sometime around September, on the Research, Subject Of and Debilitating Consequences of what War does to the Human Mind, i.e. PTSD, Watch For It!! {I'll be passing the information on as soon as she lets me know it's in Publication.}

~~~~~

And This:

Iraq war first hard look at women's level of combat post-traumatic stress disorder

- Donna St. George, Washington Post
Sunday, August 20, 2006

(08-20) 04:00 PDT Washington -- There are times when Trinette Johnson's life seems to stall, when she finds herself staring at the ceiling fan in her bedroom, watching the blades spin, her mind hung on nothing -- not her receptionist job, not her fiance, not her ailing father or her four children.

Not even the war.

The war, of course, is always there, she said, an unseen force in her life, sometimes producing moments of blank detachment, sometimes stirring up anger like nothing she has ever known.

SNIP Read Rest HERE

~~~~~

And over at Rocketboom vlog Paul Reickhoff of IAVA gives a stellar interview on the Contractor Issue in Iraq