Moyers: 'Democracy in America Is a Series of Narrow Escapes,

and We May Be Running Out of Luck'

For all of America's shortcomings, we keep telling ourselves, "The system works." Now all bets are off.

The following is an excerpt from Bill Moyers' new book, "Moyers on Democracy" (Doubleday, 2008).

Democracy in America is a series of narrow escapes, and we may be running out of luck. The reigning presumption about the American experience, as the historian Lawrence Goodwyn has written, is grounded in the idea of progress, the conviction that the present is "better" than the past and the future will bring even more improvement. For all of its shortcomings, we keep telling ourselves, "The system works."

Now all bets are off. We have fallen under the spell of money, faction, and fear, and the great American experience in creating a different future together has been subjugated to individual cunning in the pursuit of wealth and power -and to the claims of empire, with its ravenous demands and stuporous distractions. A sense of political impotence pervades the country -- a mass resignation defined by Goodwyn as "believing the dogma of 'democracy' on a superficial public level but not believing it privately." We hold elections, knowing they are unlikely to bring the corporate state under popular control. There is considerable vigor at local levels, but it has not been translated into new vistas of social possibility or the political will to address our most intractable challenges. Hope no longer seems the operative dynamic of America, and without hope we lose the talent and drive to cooperate in the shaping of our destiny.

You can read the rest of the excerpt Here

Conyers - Now Is the Time to Impeach - VFP

Veterans For Peace Requests Meeting with Representative John Conyers About Impeachment

A national veterans’ organization today sent a letter to Representative John Conyers, head of the House Judiciary Committee, requesting a meeting with him to deliver over 10,000 signatures on a petition to impeach George W. Bush. Impeachment hearings would have to be convened by the Michigan Democrat.

The president of Veterans For Peace, Elliott Adams, wrote Conyers requesting a meeting in early June to deliver their petitions. In it, he pointed out that by invading and occupying Iraq, the Bush administration has violated the U.S. Constitution, domestic laws and international treaties.

Adams’ letter said, “Having taken an oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic, our members take…the obligation to impeach George W. Bush most seriously...we must hold this administration accountable for waging a war of aggression against Iraq.”

The former paratrooper and Viet Nam combat vet reminded the 21-term Representative from Detroit that, “You have taken the same oath, Congressman Conyers, and we expect you will hold it just as sacred as we do and begin impeachment hearings at the soonest possible moment.”

Read More

LOVE and War

Daniel Zwerdling, of NPR, continues his reporting on the Treatment of our returning Military Troops, you know who they are, maybe, those who those 'Support The Troops' magnetic ribbons, now rarely seen, are meant for. Or the significance of those 'Lapel Flag Pins' the politicians and some others harp about, the politicians who Praised a Coming Invasion of anothers little Country but didn't have the the time, nor will, to do their jobs in Oversite, Funding, and simple Investigation!

There's a formidable group of warriors out there — and they're fighting America's military. Spouses of troops who have come back from the war with serious mental health problems have made it their mission to force the military to give the troops the help they need.

In the process, they've transformed themselves from "the silent ranks," as the military traditionally calls wives, into vocal and effective activists.

Why are these wives, and some husbands, Fighting for what is Due, from a Country that Cheered on an Invasion and Occupation of an Innocent Country and People!

Where are the 'Lapel Flag Pin' wearers, the ones Hired to Represent?

Military Wives Fight Army to Help Husbands

It's left to those who understand their Love for their partners who now are battling the demons inside, brought on by the Death and Destruction of War and Occupation. Partners who cannot wage the battles of their memories by themselves, that Love brings on a strenght and focus to do the Fighting Needed, fighting that should have to be done!

You can Listen to Zwerdlings latest outstanding report from NPR's All Things Considered by clicking on the link which will bring up the NPR Player.

Tammie LeCompte meticulously filed every Army document about Ryan LeCompte in chronological order in binders. Senate aides say these bulging binders helped convince them that Army officials were mistreating her husband.

Tammie, and her husband, two tour Iraq Veteran, are the main subjects of this recent report, but they are the voices of the many who are finding themselves in roles never expected!

Carissa Picard, founder of a national group called Military Spouses for Change, has never met Tammie LeCompte, but she recently launched a Web site {their recent interactive blog} specifically to teach spouses how to pressure the military to give proper care to returning troops with health problems. Picard says Tammie's own battle reflects how wives across the country have transformed themselves into advocates in order to save their own husbands.

Any military/veterans wives, husbands or family members feel free to visit the Blog Link and sign up to use and view, Carissa and the others would Welcome you.

By the time Ryan LeCompte was transferred to Walter Reed Army Hospital in late 2007, he was hardly walking or talking — or even eating on his own. He spent most of his time slumped, staring at the floor.

Click on the link above to listen to how Ryan, through neglect of the Military, VA, and Country, got to the point of this description of what Zwerdling found when visiting Ryan.

Click on the link above that to visit the NPR page to read more and find the backlinks as well.

By late last year, Tammie seemed on the verge of a breakdown. She says she was borrowing money from relatives and friends. She looked and sounded exhausted, as she juggled raising their children and fighting the Army — and serving as a full-time nurse for Ryan. "I've got too many worries," she said at the time, fighting back tears. "I'm worried about my husband. I'm worried about my kids. And there's not 10 of me. I'm only one person."

Olbermann Talks To The bush

"This War Is Not About You...Shut The Hell Up!"

Tonight, 5-14-08, Keith Olbermann unleashed what may well have been his angriest, most blistering Special Comment yet, aimed squarely at his favorite target: President Bush. Olbermann was responding to Bush's claim that he had given up golf in honor of the Iraq war — and his assertion that a Democratic president withdrawing from Iraq would "eventually lead to another attack on the United States"

Olbermann Talks To bush

Winter Soldier on Capital Hill to Listen/View

Here's a Link to listen to the testimony from earlier today At the KPFA Site

You can listen on the site player of KPFA at above link.

KPFA broadcasts the Winter Soldier hearing on Capitol Hill, where Iraq war veterans will speak to members of Congress about the hard realities of the US occupation of Iraq. The special hearing to the Out of Iraq Caucus will be hosted by Aimee Allison and Aaron Glantz, part of the team that recently was nominated for a Project Censored award for KPFA's coverage of the Winter Soldier gathering in March.

Or you can use other ways to listen:

Play mp3 Stream:
Uses your computer's media player (24kb/s mp3).

Download this File (mp3):
Download this program to your hard drive (this file is about 10.27 megabytes).

This is a four hour report on KPFA

IVAW has the C-Span Link To Watch up at their site and should have their own video soon.

PEACE Is A Political Statement?

TWO CHAPTERS BEING BANNED FROM PARADES

Chapter 139 (North Olympic Peninsula) and Chapter 016 (Washington D.C.) have both been banned from parades! In both cases, being too political was the reason cited for the ban.

WASHINGTON D.C - CHAPTER 016
On April 14, 2008 Veterans For Peace, Delwin Anderson Memorial chapter of Washington D.C. was officially accepted to join the National Memorial Day parade on May 26, 2008. On April 28 Veterans For Peace received notice that the organization did not meet the criteria to participate. This notice was sent by the American Veterans Center which is the organizer for the parade.

Please help get the word out about VFP DC's recent acceptance to and later disqualification from the National Memorial Day parade on May 26. Please share this link far and wide as well as the message below and the attachment.

It has a place for taking action and leaving comments. Go to this link now to send notice to Congress and local newspapers.

TAKE ACTION: Contact the Parade Director with the National Memorial Day Parade and CALMLY INSIST that Veterans For Peace be allowed into the parade!

Mackie Christenson - Parade Director
National Memorial Day Parade
mchristenson@americanveteranscenter.org
wvamackie@aol.com
Office: 703 302 1012 x 227
Cell: 703 350 0184

NORTH OLYMPIC PENINSULA - CHAPTER 139

The North Olympic Peninsula Chapter marched in the Armed Forces Day parade last year, but this year their application was rejected by the Bremerton Chamber of Commerce.

See the news story from Bremerton, WA
TAKE ACTION: To help Chapter 139 get back into the parade, contact the Bremerton Chamber of Commerce. CALMLY INSIST insist that VFP be allowed back into the parade!

Cris Larsen - Chairman of the Armed Forces Festival
(360) 479-3579
chamber@bremertonchamber.org
Fax: (360) 479-1033

The Bush Legacy Tour

Now here's an Idea that Needs not only Support but a few more Buses!!

This just came in to my in-box, and I had to share!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:

DATE: May 15, 2008

Editors Note: High Resolution Photos and a Rendering of the Bus Are Available Upon Request. Bus Fact Sheet Attached.

With Republicans Reeling Due to their Association with President Bush, Americans United for Change Announces Bush Legacy Bus - Museum on Wheels Holds Bush, Conservative Allies Accountable for Failure

Tour begins in June, travels Coast-to-Coast Featuring Exhibits on Bush and Conservative Policies That Have Harmed Our National Security, Sacrificed Domestic Priorities

Click Here to View New Bush Legacy Tour Homepage

Washington D.C – With Republicans reeling due to their association with President Bush, and amid what supporters of the President have dubbed his “legacy year,” Americans United for Change announced the upcoming national tour national tour of the “Bush Legacy Bus.” This latest chapter in AUFC’s ongoing Bush Legacy Project, which will cement into history how two terms of failed conservative policies – supported by Bush and his allies including Sen. John McCain - have weakened America’s security abroad while neglecting and undermining important priorities here at home. Click here to view AUFC’s new Bush Legacy Tour homepage

This 45-foot long museum on wheels, powered by biodiesel, and weighing in at 28 tons, features interactive exhibits on the worst policy failures that grew out of the conservative agenda. Visitors will be given the chance to reflect on the Administration’s tragically inept response to Hurricane Katrina, mismanaged and endless war in Iraq, ‘trickle-down’ economic policies that favored the wealthiest Americans and more. The tour kicks off in Washington D.C. in late June and travels from coast-to-coast throughout the summer and fall stopping in the hometowns of Bush’s allies in Congress, both national political conventions and symbolic and historic locations like New Orleans and Crawford, TX.

“The Bush Legacy Project is not just about Bush – it is about the conservative ideology he and his allies in Congress, including John McCain, represent,” said Brad Woodhouse, President of Americans United for Change and founder of the Bush Legacy Project. “It’s time to stick a stake in the heart of conservative ideology, which is a failed governing philosophy. The Bush Legacy Bus is just one piece in an ongoing effort to redefine American political values and to create an enduring progressive majority in America. The bus will serve to educate Americans about how the conservative polices President Bush and his allies in Congress have pursued have failed America and why progressive approaches to healthcare, the economy, foreign policy and other issues provide the solutions Americans are looking for.”

The goals of the “Bush Legacy Project” are threefold:

· Remind American voters why they have lost faith in President Bush and his conservative agenda.

· Tie Bush and his agenda directly to the conservative brand and its followers.

· Shift the center of the political debate toward progressive solutions to our nation’s most intractable problems by demonstrating the failure of Bush’s policies and conservative ideology.

A number of groups have sponsored or partnered with AUFC on the Bush Legacy Bus, including Center for American Progress Action Fund, AFSCME, SEIU, AFL-CIO, VoteVets.org, MoveOn.org Political Action and American Rights at Work, among others to be named later.
Brad Woodhouse, President
Americans United for Change

Visit the bus link, You Can Add Your Voice to the Legacy Bus!

Get E-Mail Updates About the Buses Travels!

Donate to offset the expenses!

And Where It's Goin!

NO LIES RADIO will broadcast LIVE the Winter Soldier hearing on Capitol Hill

Thursday May 15th at 6am Pacific - 9am Eastern - 01:00 GMT Repeated this Saturday May 17th at 9am Pacific - 12 Noon Eastern - 16:00 GMT Click Here to Listen and or save for thursdays hearings, also on graphic below.

NO LIES RADIO will broadcast LIVE the Winter Soldier hearing on Capitol Hill, where nine members of Iraq Veterans Against the War will testify under oath before the Congressional Progressive Caucus about rules of engagement, the killing and abuse of civilians, the use of drop weapons, and the true consequences of the troop "surge". The coverage of the special hearing to the Congressional Progressive Caucus will be hosted by Aimee Allison and Aaron Glantz of KPFA, part of the team that recently was nominated for a Project Censored award for KPFA's coverage of the Winter Soldier gathering in Silver Springs, Maryland this March.

Hearing participants will include CPC Co-Chairs Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Lee, and Maxine Waters.

This broadcast is another program in NO LIES RADIO/KPFA/Pacifica's recent coverage of returning veterans' issues, including "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan" and "The Crisis in Veterans' Healthcare."

IVAW Testifiers: Jason Lemieux, Former Marine Corp Sergeant Scott Ewing, Former Army Cavalry Scout Geoffrey Millard, Former Army National Guard Kristofer Goldsmith, Former Army Sergeant Vincent Emanuele, Former Marine Corp James Gilligan, Former Marine Corp Corporal Adam Kokesh, Former Marine Corp Sergeant Sergio Kochergin, Former Scout/Sniper Marine Corp Luis Montalvan, Former U.S. Army Captain

Iraq War Vets to Testify in Congress

Viewing the Hearing Live:

IVAW is still in negotiations with CSPAN to cover the hearing live. Check Capital Hearings for the schedule. IVAW will also post the video of the hearing shortly after its conclusion.

"Palestine Hotel; Killing The Witness"

* EXCLUSIVE: Fmr. Military Intelligence Officer Reveals US Listed Palestine Hotel in Baghdad as Target Prior to Killing of Two Journalists in 2003 *

Last month marked the fifth anniversary of the US military shelling of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. The attack killed two journalists: Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk and Jose Couso, a cameraman for the Spanish television network Telecinco. The Pentagon has called the killings accidental, but in this broadcast exclusive Army Sgt. Adrienne Kinne (Ret.)reveals she saw secret US military documents that listed the hotel as a possible target. Kinne also discloses that she was personally ordered to eavesdrop on Americans working for news organizations and NGOs in Iraq.

Listen/Watch/Read

Winter Soldier '71, Winter Soldier '08 Testimony, Congress May 15th

I was still in 'Nam, counting down the days, real short, in returning back to 'The World' and my discharge after 4years of service, when 'Winter Soldier Investigation '71' took place.

The Congressional Testimony than would follow the Detriot testimony of my brother 'Nam Vets who had already returned from that Debacle and Occupation!

Sadly the Country that said, almost as one {many of us 'Nam Vets said we would never allow again} we would remember the lessons of, We Didn't, and history repeats!

Winter Soldier Investigations '71

The soldier who saw hell

Winter Soldier is a harrowing film in which Vietnam veterans confess to atrocities. How did it come about? John Patterson finds out

Shattering testimonies... Winter Soldier

His testimony was shocking, yet he still believed in the war. The year was 1971 and Scott Camil, a marine just back from 20 months in Vietnam, wanted to talk about what he had seen and done there: "My testimony involves burning of villages with civilians in them, the cutting off of ears, cutting off of heads, torturing of prisoners, calling in of artillery on villages for games, corpsmen killing wounded prisoners ... "

In agonising, often sickening detail, Camil talked about these things for a long time. David Grubin, whose camera was filming the marine, was stunned. Grubin had come to Detroit, Michigan, to film three days of testimony by soldiers, marines and airmen who had recently returned from south-east Asia and were anxious to speak publicly about war crimes and atrocities they had both witnessed and committed. Named in homage to a Tom Paine remark about "summer soldiers and sunshine patriots", the Winter Soldier Investigations were organised by Vietnam Veterans Against the War, in which future Senator John Kerry was a leading figure. "Camil's testimony was a total shock to me," Grubin recalls. "I was so innocent and naive. I went along with strong political convictions, and it became a profound emotional experience."
Winter Soldier - the documentary about the investigations that Grubin was helping to make - would have a profound effect on Camil, who later wrote that it was "more pivotal to me than any experience in my life except for Vietnam". He added: "It was the way the film-makers conducted their interviews that made me think, look at the big picture, and understand that the Vietnamese were humans. They asked the right questions, and I owe them a debt of gratitude."

We, a Nation who's inhabitants come mostly from immigrants of other countries {we tried our damdest to exterminate the natives of this land}, mostly europe, at first, but now from all over the world, are roots are everywhere, seem to think that because we were born in this country we are somehow Superior to those who live everywhere else. We Aren't, we are the same Human Animals as all the others that exist around this planet! And we most certainly are not any more moral nor tolerant than others.

The shattering testimony continued: beheadings, heads on pikes, ears traded for beers, disembowelment, mass rapes, the murder of children for throwing stones at troops, of the elderly, of anyone in the so-called "free-fire zones". The long-haired, bearded vets look like hippies, not soldiers, but they have seen and done things that have put them way beyond peace and love, or tears of regret.

When sent to Create Hell we do as we readily accuse others of, make that Hell Worse and True to it's Meaning!

After a few arthouse showings in 1972, Winter Soldier simply disappeared. When the movie was rereleased in the US in 2005 - partly in response to attempts, in the 2004 election, to smear John Kerry over his war record - a special screening was held, with the crew and the vets. "We didn't realise that the theatre was also filled with Afghanistan and Iraq vets," says Kopple. "The Iraq guys got up and spoke with the Vietnam vets, and their stories were so similar, the cadences of their voices were exactly the same. It was remarkable."

War and the Warrior never change, just the bodies that are sent to invade and occupy!

In March this year, Winter Soldier: Afghanistan and Iraq was convened in Silver Spring, Maryland. Much of the testimony, from 200 veterans, offered a chilling echo of its Vietnam forerunner. It was filmed by David Zeiger - who directed Sir! No Sir!, an extraordinary history of insubordination, mutinies and troop rebellions in Vietnam - so it should be in good hands. The only mainstream news outlet that bothered to show up was the Washington Post.

·Winter Soldier is out now!

VFP E-Bulletin - Winter Soldiers Testify Before Congressional Progressive Caucus

On May 15, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War will testify under oath about the realities of the illegal occupations in Iraq - providing the Congressional Progressive Caucus with an important and critical tool to make their long-standing promise{PDF} to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq a reality now.

Congress will have the opportunity to hear the testimony first offered publicly in March of this year at Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan, when over 45 members of IVAW shared eyewitness accounts of the occupations before their peers, their families and the American public just outside our nation's capitol at the National Labor College. Over 30 hours of testimony was made available live online, over the radio and via cable television that weekend, and remains available in broadcast quality footage at the IVAW website.

By bringing Winter Soldier finally inside the Capitol, IVAW hopes to further encourage veterans to tell their stories to Congress and the public at large. Congress has heard from their fellow politicians, from the pundits and the generals, but not until now have they heard from the average boots on ground soldier who has been asked to fight this occupation largely alone. Bringing Winter Soldier to The Hill will bring the voices of constituents too long silenced before their elected representatives, while Congress debates (more than likely for the last time during the Bush-Cheney administration) the funding for the Iraq occupation.

Please support the Winter Soldier testifiers by calling Progressive Caucus members today!

There are Progressive Caucus members in nearly every state. Urge them to listen carefully on Thursday and show their support for the troops by bringing them home now. Call yours today and ask:

(1) What are you doing to insure a timeline is created that will bring all the troops home, and when do you expect that clock to begin?

(The Caucus released a statement in September of 2007 in opposition to any future bills or amendments that would not include a 6-month timeline for the removal of all troops.)

(2) What are you doing to increase funding and ensure universal access to adequate health care for all returning veterans?

(3) How are you informing your constituency about the Winter Soldier Eyewitness accounts?

If you are interested in attending, please read this {PDF}

The Earthquake in China

NPR's All Things Considered Hosts Melissa Block and Robert Siegel were in China doing a series to air next week when the Earthquake hit, they were some 60miles away from the epacenter of the quake.

This is the mainsite story page High Toll Feared as Earthquake Jars China that started todays broadcast.

There are a few other reports, at the site page above, but also live coverage as the quake hit and than what they saw.

Melissa Block was in the process of recording an interview when Monday's earthquake hit. She then fled the building and reported on the scene in the city's streets.
Later, she headed to the scene of a collapsed middle school where children had been pulled from the rubble.
Listen: Melissa Block at a shattered school

Listen: Robert Siegel at a crowded hospital

They also had a diary started about the initial reports quickly changed now to their own personal experiances about the quake, Chengdu Diary

Corrupt Government - Totally Corrupt!!

What is this Country waiting for?

This is Our Government, those in Washington work for Us!

Little georgie likes to say "His Government", it ain't his, He Works For Us, as do everyone appointed and hired to federal jobs!

The Government we have isn't just Incompetent, It's Totally Corrupt!

And it isn't only those hired to Represent that have no Backbone, it's this Whole F**cking Country!

What's got my dandruff up, I just caught this: Ex-State officials allege corruption in Iraq

Something we've already known, And Done Absolutely Nothing About, only this gets abit deeper than the War Profitteers:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration repeatedly ignored corruption at the highest levels within the Iraqi government and kept secret potentially embarrassing information so as not to undermine its relationship with Baghdad, according to two former State Department employees.

Coming from two civil servants who seem to understand who they are working for, one Arthur Brennan and James Mattil.

Brennan said that a congressional staffer visiting Baghdad couldn't talk with staffers because they were too busy.

What were they busy doing in Baghdad:

the staffers were watching movies at the embassy and on their computers. The staffers' workload had been cut dramatically because of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's "evisceration" of Iraq's top anti-corruption office, he said.

And Condi is still around?

The State Department's policies "not only contradicted the anti-corruption mission but indirectly contributed to and has allowed corruption to fester at the highest levels of the Iraqi government," Brennan told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.

Want to find out about the Office of Accountability and Transparency, there's a few sentences about this as well as Iraq's Joint Anti-Corruption Committee

"Since we have done so little (to undercut corruption), it's easy to see why the government of Iraq has not done more," said Mattil, who left the accountability office last October after having served for a year as its chief of staff. "We have demanded no better."

And how much has this cost our kids, hell the treasury was emptied way back, this comes to the tune of some 18 Billion, all on the credit card the Occupation is running on!

"One would have expected that our own government would have been doing everything it could to support" Iraq's anti-corruption efforts, said Dorgan, D-N.D.
But "that was simply not the case. On the contrary, our own government contributed to the culture of corruption," he added.

Hey everyone, just go shopping with the bailout monies, for retailers and credit card companies, you think is a tax rebate, that's on your kids dime as well, and don't forget to tune into your favorite reality show, after that stick head back up a**hole, where it's been since allowing your Country to Crash!!!!!

As those who Serve are Killed and Maimed, as the country We Destroyed suffers more Destruction, Death and Maiming, In Our Names!

On Recovering Without PTSD - CBS Sunday Morning‏

Kimberly Dozier Was Almost Killed By A Car Bomb In Iraq; Now She Tells How She Went Past Mere Survival

What does it take to recover from a traumatic war injury? CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier knows the answer firsthand. In fact, she's now written a book about it, "Breathing the Fire".



In this commentary, CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier reflects on her experiences as a trauma patient and the important steps to take in order to overcome post-traumatic stress disorder.

*********

Kimberly has taken a good track in handling the trauma she experianced but the triggers will always remain. By doing what she is now it will help her cope with the future.

Final Salute

Remember this photo? I'm sure you've seen it a dozen times as it's made it's way around the web. Her name is Katherine Cathey and she's a mother, a mother of a son who never met his father Marine 2nd. Lt. Jim Cathey. Katherine mentions this photo in a video, of which I'll give you the link to in a moment, one you should view.

Recently NPR's Fresh Air aired an interview with journalist Jim Sheeler who won a Pulitzer Prize for his series about Marine Colonel Steve Beck and the families of the fallen soldiers. Katherine Cathey was one of those families that Col. Beck helped. The interview was called A 'Final Salute' to Fallen Marines and you can read abit at that link, as well as listen to, or you can click here to bring up the NPR player to listen in, it's abit over 31min. long and well worth the listen.

Jim Sheeler followed Beck for a year, writing about the experience in a Pulitzer Prize-winning Rocky Mountain News series Final Salute. Sheeler's new book, Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives, is a continuation of the series.

There's an excerpt of his book at the Fresh Air interview link. This aired on the 30th of last month, I passed it on to a few folks but didn't use it in a posting untill I caught a video, over at the News Week magazine website a few days ago.

The video is one you should view, it's short but very moving, the link is in the quote below:

Maj. Steve Beck was charged with notifying families that their loved ones wouldn't be coming home from Iraq. How one widow received the news.

Katherine Cathey is featured in Sheelers book, in the Video she makes this statement: "That's reality, there should be over 4,000 pictures like that that everybody has to look at!".

Once again the the link to the News Week Video

Katherines statement, in the video, is the reality that this country should be living as those who die in it's service are brought home, but these pictures are kept well hidden from an apathedic society that's easily controlled and brought to the fear level, and we seem to like it that way.

We should be viewing the over 4000 pictures of the flag draped coffins, with family members included, 4,075 confirmed as of today from Iraq, and the 499 killed in Afganistan to date.

But what about the hundreds, possibly thousands, of potential deaths that are directly related to these conflicts, suicides, related to physical and mental injuries from these theaters of occupations, unknown causes........................etc., they to, though not counted, should be embraced and remembered in our countries concious!

The physical and mental injuries don't just stop happening when those we send into Wars of Choice return, they continue taking there toll for the years left, not only for those military personal but also their families and those who live in the countries invaded who suffer the most!!

There was also a recent report at Stars and Stripes, Four names added to Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The names of four U.S. servicemembers who died years after they were wounded during the Vietnam War are being added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial this week.

Stoneworker James Lee holds the paper as Priscilla Mason makes a rubbing of her husband's newly-engraved name on the Wall. Lance Cpl. Raymond C. Mason, wounded in Vietnam in 1968, died of causes related to his wounds in 2006.
See more photos here

"I can't even put it into words," Priscilla Mason, from Riverside, R.I., said after watching Lee at work. "My first reaction was, he's finally home.
"They were able to put him chronologically where he would have been if he had died Feb. 28, 1968, when he was shot. My first thought was, I wonder how many of those names (on panel 41E) did he know.
"I'm sure he feels he's home, too."
Raymond Mason, confined to a wheelchair since he was wounded, died May 28, 2006.

There is a Video at the end of the report as 'Nam Brother Raymond Masons wife Priscilla speaks about him and his and her comfort in bringing him home to 'The Wall'!

And what about those who live in the countries invaded and occupied, we think even less of them than we do our own, some even consider All of them our Enemies, and in todays age some already are or will quickly turn into seeking the retaliation for what we've done.

Among Iraq’s Children, Orphans Suffer Most

Windows Media Video

Quicktime Video Player

Flash Video

The number of Iraqi orphans increased in the last few years due to the war. According to official Iraqi government statistics released in December 2007, the number of Iraqi orphans had reached at least five million over the last three years. Many due to the Sunni-Shia conflict. There are several social organizations caring for a small number of these Iraqi orphans, such as Child Aid International. There are approximately 26 orphanages that Alive in Baghdad has been able to locate around Iraq. Eight orphanages are in Baghdad and another 18 are distributed all over Iraq and generally they accept kids between the age of 6 and 18 years old.

One of the biggest scandals that happened in the history of the Iraq conflict is the one that happened in Al-Hanan orphanage. There were many pictures distributed online and by television of Iraqi orphans lying on the floor naked, with no food for weeks, sick and nearly dying. After this the Iraqi government began to show more attention for the orphans, there were many stories being reported regarding Al-Hanan Orphanage, like sexual abuses and bad treatment of the kids living there.

Al-A’ssal House is one of the rare orphanages that still take care of the young children who have a dead father or who are orphans due to losing both parents. The house has a special method and it’s opposed to the toy guns due to Iraq’s situation and the reason behind it, which is the constant conflict that Iraq is undergoing. Another organization was also created by this house, and it’s called the Sazan organization. This organization is taking in orphans for free, with no payment at all. Also this house employs Iraq widows in order to help the Iraqi women support themselves during the war. Despite all their hard work, this orphanage has not yet received any funding from the Iraqi government or sponsorship by a bigger humanitarian aid organization while other orphanages such as Al-Hanan orphanage received funds from the Iraqi government without oversight.

Ask yourself, as I did,

this orphanage has not yet received any funding from the Iraqi government or sponsorship by a bigger humanitarian aid organization

with all the monies being spent, and the War Profitteers reaping, especially on our Private Merc Army and the rest of the No-Bid Contracts, Why The U.S. Is Not Funding This and Other Orphanages along with So Much More!

There's much more to feelings than title says, 'Final Salute'!

Not only for our Fallen but also for the Innocents who have lost so much and it will continue!!

And thinking of Burma as well!

Happy Mothers Day?