Matthew Hoh: "I wish people would refute what I'm saying."

On October 29th 2009 the PBS News Hour had a discussion with Matthew Hoh the State Department Official who resigned over the Afghan War.

Ex-State Department Official Explains Exit Over Afghan War Strategy

A few of Matthews points made during their discussion and the video of same:

Matthew Hoh Former State Department Official
I believe it's only going to fuel the insurgency. It's only going to reinforce claims by our enemies that we are an occupying power, because we are an occupying power.

JUDY WOODRUFF: After five months serving with the State Department in Afghanistan, Matthew Hoh became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest against American policies there.

In his September 10 letter of resignation, revealed this week in "The Washington Post," the former Marine captain said: "I fail to see the value or worth in continued U.S. casualties or expenditure of resources in support of the Afghan government in what is, truly, a 35-year-old civil war."

Hoh's resignation was greeted more in sorrow than in anger by the State Department. Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke said -- quote -- "We took his letter very seriously because he was a good officer."

Mr. Hoh joins us now:

MATTHEW HOH: I don't believe al-Qaida will come back.

I believe that, since 2001, al-Qaida has evolved. They have turned into, as I like to say, an ideological cloud that exists on the Internet and recruits worldwide. They -- if you look at the attacks al-Qaida has been successful with over the last seven, eight years, including attacks on 9/11, they weren't conducted by Afghans or Pakistanis.

And a lot of the preparation and training, it took place in Western Europe or even here in the United States. So, I don't think al-Qaida has any interest in ever tying itself again to a geographical or political boundary. I think they're content to exist as they have evolved. And they are a threat, and they should be our priority. We need to defeat them.

But, again, 60,000 troops in Afghanistan does not defeat al-Qaida.

"The idea that we're losing somebody's son or somebody's husband is dying to support a regime that's profiting off of our aid money is criminal. It's wrong."

MATTHEW HOH: Sure. And I wish people would refute what I'm saying. I have seen that criticism, but I have not seen anyone tell me why it's not a civil war.

I have not seen anyone tell me how stabilizing the Afghan government will defeat al-Qaida. I have not heard anyone tell me how keeping 60,000 troops, or 80,000, or 100,000 troops in Afghanistan will stabilize Pakistan. So, I haven't heard the answers to those questions.

As for the criticisms about my age or that I was only there for five months, I was there for five months. I was in two parts of the country. I worked with as many local people as I could. And I listened as much as possible.

At that point, what I wrote -- first off, what I wrote in my resignation letter, there's not a novel or unique thought in that. Those are thoughts shared by military officers and State Department officers as well. My concern is not how are we fighting this war, but why are we fighting this war...>>>Rest of Transcript {and audio & video links} found here

Matthew Hoh's Resignation Letter to the State Department

The Thin Gray Line: Afghanistan



The Thin Gray Line: The Education of Lt. Jake Kerr a U.S. Military outpost in Afganistan on the border with Pakistan.

October 29th 2009 0n NPR's All Things Considered they also have a discussion with Matthew Hoh:

A Sudden Exit Driven By An 'Irrational' War

A former Marine captain who became the first foreign service official to publicly resign in protest over the war in Afghanistan says staying in the country is not in America's interest.

"The losses of our soldiers do not merit anything that comes in line with our strategic interests or values," Matthew Hoh, who signed on as a foreign service official in Afghanistan after fighting in Iraq, tells NPR's Melissa Block.

Hoh resigned last month after spending five working months in Afghanistan. In his resignation letter, he said he had "lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purpose of the United States' presence in Afghanistan."...>>>Rest found here

You can listen with this link which brings up the NPR player.

Toll of War

At Dover, Obama feels toll of war

Hours after a personal encounter with the grim cost of war, President Barack Obama said Thursday the sight of 18 flag-covered cases holding the remains of Americans killed this week in Afghanistan can't help but influence his thinking about sending more troops overseas.

"It was a sobering reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our young men and women in uniform are engaging in every single day, not only our troops but their families as well," Obama said from the White House, reflecting briefly on his surprise middle-of-the-night trip to Dover Air Force Base to observe the return of the fallen Americans to the United States.

Speaking softly and somewhat haltingly, Obama said losses such as these are "something that I think about each and every day."..>>>

Krakauer Explores Pat Tillman's Death And Cover-Up

I did a post the other day about Jon Krakauer and his new book: "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman" with a video report from ABC's Good Morning America and from the ABC World News Tonight.

He's since been on at least two NPR shows one being All Things Considered which is about a seven minute discussion of the book and the Pat Tillman military service story that was propagandized by both the cheney/bush administration, the pentagon and the military!

Krakauer talks to NPR's Melissa Block about his investigation into Tillman's death by friendly fire — and the Army's subsequent effort to cover up the circumstances of that death.

A Spray Of Bullets

At least half the members of a platoon traveling through Afghanistan on April 22, 2004, had never been in a firefight before. But on this day, the enemy attacked. In response, the American soldiers sprayed thousands of rounds from their machine guns, M4s and grenade launchers..........Read Rest Here

The second show was the Diane Rehm show, with a much more indepth discussion and some call in's, on Sept. 16th, he was the second half hour.

Jon Krakauer: "Where Men Win Glory" (Doubleday)

Pat Tillman walked away from a multi-million dollar N-F-L contract to fight with U-S special forces. He was killed in Afghanistan two years later. How the Army tried to keep his family and the public from learning the truth about his death.

Guests
Jon Krakauer, author of "Into the Wild", "Into Thin Air", and "Under the Banner of Heaven," "Eiger Dreams," and editor of Modern Library Exploration series.

You can listen in with Your Real Player or with the Windows Media Player

Jon Krakauer's book: "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman"

Revisiting Vietnam: Vietnam's MIA's

US OFFICIALS STILL ARE SEARCHING for the remains of roughly 1,500 American soldiers who never came home from the Vietnam war. The government of Vietnam says it still can't find 300,000 of its own soldiers. With 25 years gone by, the Vietnamese are turning to unconventional methods to trace the missing in action.

Every Sunday night, people across Vietnam tune their televisions to their country's version of Unsolved Mysteries. This program searches for the remains of North Vietnamese soldiers who disappeared while fighting against the South Vietnamese and the United States..........Rest Here

Listen to report, brings up real player

The number of walls the size of the Vietnam Memorial it would take to list all Vietnamese who died in the war: 69 Source

Army Trains For Battle For Mental Health {UpDated}

Sunday, NPR Morning Edition, 08.23.09 {4min 5sec.}

Daniel Zwerdling, of NPR, continues his outstanding research into and reporting on the Army's, and the Military's, care of returning soldiers suffering from PTSD and other possible mental problems developed as to serving in these wars and occupations.



Top link brings you to the transcript, and if you do a search at their site under Daniels name you'll find the many previous reports by him and related on these issues.

They can try all the training idea's that pop into their heads, extreme trauma situations bring on post traumatic stress, be it combat, living in combat theaters, or in someone's life, that's the reality.

You can't 'train' against trauma's that haven't happened yet, the individual experiences seen and done, unless you want to develop ways to turn intelligent humans into living robots or develop, as we already have with flying drones, robots that destroy other's in our wars of choice.

It's not 'before training', it's finding the best ways to take care of those who have developed what once wasn't within them, be it from war or in civilian experiences, but now exists in different levels in those we send to invade and occupy.

War's are the total opposite of anyone's upbringing, especially in civil societies, hell military training is in the preparation of turning one into a soldier to defend ones country. Traumatic experience of combat, and even living within, of all that happens, and the stress of 24/7 possibility of what's coming taxes the minds and the reality humans live in and by as intelligent beings. Mental problems develope from those experiences, being lived over and over in ones mind. They don't only happen to someone considered not strong of mind, even those we would least expect, the so called strong, develop the stressor's that can trigger the reliving of these experiences, sometimes fatally.

War's should not be fought of choice, choice of a few we have as our leaders, civilian and military, not by civil societies! War's should be as we have always stated but rarely followed in our modern history, fought as an Absolute Last Resort! And the results of War's, physical and mental problems of, not only as to the soldiers who we send but those we invade and occupy, should stand right alongside the Absolute Last Resort we should have as our policies as a Leading Nation on this Planet!

If this society and country wants to Cheer on these War's of Choice then be Ready to Pony up the Extreme Costs of the Failed Policies Followed!! And that doesn't just mean in monetary costs but also in the cost of a weaken security to it's citizens, no matter where they are or go, from the blowback!

Veterans forsake studies of stress

Stigma impedes search for remedies

Researchers testing ways to treat the psychological wounds of war among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are encountering a serious roadblock: a shortage of willing study participants.

A strong stigma in the military associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is blamed for the reluctance of combat veterans to take part in a pair of treatment programs being evaluated by staff from the Veterans Administration in Boston at facilities in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, study directors said................

This doesn't help, especially as the country was extremely slow in even listening to our brother's returing from 'Nam and the veterans who started coming forward from WWII and Korea over these many years!!

UpDate: This just hit my inbox

PTSD Compensation Rules

Secretary Shinseki Moves to Simplify PTSD Compensation Rules

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki announced the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is taking steps to assist Veterans seeking compensation for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

“The hidden wounds of war are being addressed vigorously and comprehensively by this administration as we move VA forward in its transformation to the 21st century,” said Secretary Shinseki.

The VA is publishing a proposed regulation today in the Federal Register to make it easier for a Veteran to claim service connection for PTSD by reducing the evidence needed if the stressor claimed by a Veteran is related to fear of hostile military or terrorist activity. Comments on the proposed rule will be accepted over the next 60 days. A final regulation will be published after consideration of all comments received.....................

Great advancement on this issue and once again long overdue!!

1979: Afghanistan

1979: Recalling The Soviet Invasion Of Afghanistan

As part of a series of conversations marking 1979 as a seminal year in the Muslim world, Afghan-born Amin Tarzi talks with Steve Inskeep about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Tarzi is director of Middle East studies at the Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia. He was 15 when the Soviets attacked the presidential palace in Kabul, which Tarzi witnessed from a short distance away.

The link will bring up their player to listen in.

Sen. Webb: On Myanmar

Sen. Webb: U.S. Can Help Myanmar Move Forward

NPR: This morning, 8.19.09, link should bring up their player to listen. He makes some real important points, and for me clears up some as to questions of where he was going with his stand. Thought he was looking at it like we should have with Vietnam and once we did reality developed!

Pete's brother Mike, RIP Mike

Folk Music's Mike Seeger Dead At 75 : NPR

Seeger was a leading figure in the 20th century resurgence of American traditional music and a noted field collector of rural southern music. He recorded hundreds of musicians in their homes and local performing venues...........Read Rest Here

Read An Appreciation Of Mike Seeger's Life and listen in:

Seeger Still Strumming After Hard Knocks

Seeger's 90th Birthday Bash - Backstage on CBS Sunday Morning show 8.02.09.

On a May night, backstage at Madison Square Garden, more than 50 musicians warmed up for a birthday party.

Folk hero Pete Seeger was turning 90, and the occasion brought out, in the words of the honoree, an "extraordinary guest list," including Dave Matthews and John Mellencamp.

"One of the first songs I would play on the guitar was a Pete Seeger song, 'If I Had a Hammer,'" Mellencamp said..........Rest Here

The Video above isn't the full Video from the CBS Sunday Morning Show, hopefully they'll put that one up as they talked to Pete.

Live From The Newport Folk Festival

Fifty years ago, a folk festival took root in Newport Rhode Island. This weekend, NPR Music, WFUV, Folk Alley and mvyradio will explore the legacy of the legendary festival and present live coverage of this year's musical offerings. Listen live all weekend to performances by Pete Seeger, The Decemberists, Joan Baez, The Avett Brothers, Neko Case and many more.

Sunday, August 2: Live From Fort Stage
11:30 a.m. Josh Ritter
12:30 p.m. Campbell Brothers
1:35 p.m. Neko Case
2:55 p.m. Arlo Guthrie
4:15 p.m. Joan Baez
6 p.m. Pete & Tao Seeger & friends with special guest Judy Collins

If you missed yesterday, 8.01.09, and todays, 8.02.09, all day shows, allot of the Concerts will be archived at the site, to listen to or download, Enjoy!

"As You Were"

The NPR Diane Rehm Show 7.09.09

A reporter embeds with a Virginia National Guard unit as it heads to Iraq. He offers an inside account of the challenges citizen-soldiers face preparing for war, facing combat and returning to civilian life. Guests Christian Davenport, reporter for the "Washington Post."

You can listen with this link in Windows Media Player

Christian Davenport: "As You Were"

Military Stress Clinics:

Treating Troops At War

Neal Conan talks with Tom Tarantino, legislative associate for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, who served with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, and Bryan Shea, a psychologist at St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center in New York who served three tours in Iraq as a military psychologist seeing soldiers in the field........

You can listen to the discussion from the site or click this link to bring up the NPR player to listen in.

"Engaging the Muslim World"

Diane Rehm NPR show 3.23.09

Juan Cole: "Engaging the Muslim World" (Palgrave Macmillan)

In a video message to the Iranian people and government, President Obama said the U.S. seeks engagement based on mutual respect. Historian and blogger Juan Cole discusses what that might achieve and why he’s pushing for a broader campaign to engage the Muslim world.
Guests

Juan Cole, professor of modern Middle East history at the University of Michigan; his blog is "Informed Comment"

To Listen:
Real Media Player

Windows Media Player

A 'Nation' Honoring It's Fallen, Past Due

This started out as just a 'to be comment', with the NPR report just below, updating the reports surfacing about the revisit of the policy on our returning soldiers killed in action in the two combat theaters. I kept finding abit more so included, along with an upcoming HBO presentation, this coming weekend, of a documentary on the journal written by an officer as he accompanied a soldier back to his family and community.

Rethinking Media Coverage Of Fallen Troops

Talk of the Nation, February 17, 2009 · President Obama has indicated that the Pentagon will review a policy banning the press from photographing the remains of U.S. troops returning to the states in flag-draped "transfer cases" at Dover Air Force Base. The ban has been in effect since the Gulf War in 1991.

John Barry, national security correspondent for Newsweek, once attended the unloading of the coffins from a C-17 at Dover. He writes that witnessing "an event so moving in its intimacy and restraint" made him feel like an intruder.

Listen In

Below is an earlier discussion right after President Obama made his statement as to the new Administration looking in to this policy of hiding the return of our fallen.

Ban On Media Coverage Of Military Coffins Revisited

All Things Considered, February 11, 2009 · A longtime Pentagon policy bars the media from covering the arrival of coffins carrying the military's dead. But that may change under the Obama administration.

Listen In

At the University of Delaware, professor Ralph Begleiter, a former CNN correspondent, has fought unsuccessfully in the courts for the release of government photos taken at Dover. He says it's an important element of the story of any war.

"What I'm about to say, I say with the fullest respect of the family members who have made that sacrifice by giving up their family members," Begleiter said. "I would say the people who die make that sacrifice not solely for the families but also for the nation. So it's not just a matter of privacy for the families. It's a matter of national grieving."

This is also an earlier NPR show and discussion on this important topic:

After Death, a Soldier's Journey Is Not Over

Talk of the Nation, April 7, 2008 · Writer Chris Jones followed a soldier's body from Baghdad to its final resting place in the soldier's hometown of Scottsburg, Ind. Jones discusses the long journey in "The Things That Carried Him," a detailed article in Esquire magazine about the transfer of remains.

Listen In

Esquire magazine "The Things That Carried Him", By Chris Jones.

When we joined the Military, along with all the papers to sign and more, we took an Oath, and Oath that stays with all who serve, wether one stays in or finishes his or hers enlistment, the Oath and the Experinces never leave:

I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. { So help me God }

This is the same Oath but for the officers who serve:

I, [name], do solemly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State (Commonwealth, District, Territory) of ___ against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the Governor of the State (Commonwealth, District, Territory) of ___, that I make this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the Office of [grade] in the Army/Air National Guard of the State (Commonwealth, District, Territory) of ___ upon which I am about to enter, { so help me God.}

You serve for Country and Constitution and deserve to be Honored, right or wrong the decisions of the civilian and military leadership, by the Country, and they must know the true cost of that service especially after being sent into conflicts far from home!

Grief for War Dead Shrouds Casket Photo Ban
Military Families Want Sons' and Daughters' Stories Told -- but Privacy Respected

Insets, from left to right: A1C. Elizabeth N. Jacobson, LCpl. Justin Mark Ellsworth, Pfc. Brandon Sapp and Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey. Back, in this Department of Defense photo soldiers drape U.S. flags over the caskets of members of a Black Hawk helicopter crew killed in Kuwait in 2005.

"His life was the American middle-class dream," said his mother, Nadia McCaffrey, 63, a veterans' rights activist who lives in the house her son left in Tracy, Calif. "He didn't realize war could happen."

The family was besieged by the press nonstop for 10 days, and because they had so many unanswered questions about their son's death, they allowed the media to join them when Patrick's body arrived in Sacramento.

"The day my son left for Iraq he was hoping to make a difference," his father, Bob McCaffrey, told ABCNews.com. "He left behind his children, his wife and his own life. We are not going to hide him when he comes home."

The McCaffrey's decision defied a longstanding military ban on photographing the caskets of America's war dead -- a policy that had been enacted in 1991 during the first Gulf War. Many mistakenly believe that it was President George W. Bush who enacted the ban.

"It's like they're hiding the service members killed in action," said McCaffrey, 64, of Bella Vista, Calif. "It disgusted me from the beginning."

Below is a part of a previous post:

Film tells story of final journey for soldier

We as a Nation, for these past 7plus years, have not been allowed to Honor the Returning Soldiers killed while serving this Country in these Two Theaters of Occupations, and because of that few know or even think about the real cost of War, especially Wars of Choice!

President Obama has now said he will be revisiting that policy, set by those who sent our Military into both Theaters.

GILLETTE, Wyo. — It was just one soldier’s story. Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps, 19, was killed in an ambush outside of Baghdad on Good Friday 2004. Within the next week, his body would be escorted from Iraq, across the Atlantic Ocean and across most of the United States to his hometown of Dubois in northwest Wyoming.

To national audiences, it was one more military casualty.

But like every soldier felled in battle, Chance left behind a world of connections: family, friends and a small Wyoming town devastated by his loss. The man who accompanied his casket from Philadelphia to Dubois, Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, provided a glimpse into that world by journaling the cross-country trip.

Premiered at the Sundance Festival on January 16th 2009, and will air on HBO in February 2009.

A ‘behind-the-scenes’ clip from the Sundance premier of Taking Chance.


"Taking Chance" trailer


Chance Phelps Foundation

HBO airing dates and times, airing through the 1st of March.

Veterans go Online for Help..........

Veterans Turn To Online Strangers For Financial Help

Morning Edition, January 22, 2009 · When Robert Sprenger's Humvee blew up in Iraq, the Army specialist was burned black over large swatches of his body.

After the Army transported him to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, Sprenger spent months lying in his bed, wrapped in gauze, almost like a mummy.

When he was released, he moved back home with his mother to the farm town of Sleepy Eye, Minn., where they made a troubling discovery.

You Can Bring Up Player To Listen

More On Aid For Veterans
Organizations and other Web resources for veterans seeking financial assistance:

Click link for a list of the programs mentioned in the audio and the written report at site.

NPR Journalists Narrowly Escape Car Bombing

Ever wonder why we get so little actual reporting from the streets of Baghdad or the rest of Iraq and even Afghanistan, this may explain the reality of why!!

NPR.org, November 30, 2008 · An NPR correspondent and three members of NPR's Iraqi staff narrowly escaped an apparent assassination attempt in Baghdad on Sunday after a hidden "sticky" bomb exploded underneath their parked, armored BMW.

The car exploded in a pillar of flame and was totally destroyed. No one was injured in the attack.

“I was supposed to die here, but it seems my life is longer than this. I will be back, habibi.”

NPR videographer Ali Hamdani

Watch a video shot about 30 minutes after the bombing.

Listen: Ivan Watson reports on the neighborhood and bombing on 'Morning Edition'


Listen: Ivan Watson Discusses The Attack On 'All Things Considered'


Photo Gallery

Bob Dylan's 'Tell Tale Signs': The Bootlegs

Thought folks might enjoy this, wether a Dylan fan or not, some good stuff and a free listen as well as downloads


It comes from the NPR Music Notes - All Songs Considered newsletter and site.


Exclusive Preview: Bob Dylan's 'Tell Tale Signs'


NPR.org, September 30, 2008

For the legions of fans who still can't get enough, Dylan's longtime label (Columbia Records) has been releasing a series of "bootleg" CDs from the singer — a vast collection of rare recordings and outtakes spanning five decades. The series began in 1991 with the first three bootleg volumes, covering the first 30 years of Dylan's career. Now, 17 years later, Columbia is about to release the eighth volume. Tell Tale Signs covers Dylan's past 20 years, a period that produced the albums Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, Modern Times and Oh Mercy. Tell Tale Signs offers a rare glimpse into Dylan's creative process, with alternate takes that show the evolution of his work, as his songs take shape lyrically and musically.

You can also visit this NPR blog post All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen remembers the original Bob Dylan bootlegs.


And use the following two links to listen in to the Dylan Bootleg Cuts, they bring up the NRP Player:


Hear Disc One of 'Tell Tale Signs'


Hear Disc Two of 'Tell Tale Signs'


Haven't listened to any Dylan songs in awhile and the two links above give some great listening pleasure.


Stop over to Dylan's Web site for a visit with an old friend as well.


And you can visit the next link for another show of:


NPR's All Songs Considered, did a show on September 22, 2008 of the Fall Music Preview covering the Dylan bootlegs as well as other artists releases with reviewers, visit the site to listen to the show.



And an added treat, some of you know about Tom Chelston of Tom Songs a young ex-marine medic, some may not, Well Tom sent out an e-mail with an announcement and a few links, the announcement was:

I was invited to record my interpretation of Willie Nelson's Peaceful Solution and I added a video as well.

The link takes you Willies Peace Research Institute site page, where you can find Toms' Video and much more. But I'm bringing the Video, with song, to you here:


A Peaceful Solution Tom Chelston



You can visit Toms' site, linked above, for some great sounds as well as video productions and more, or you can visit the Tom Songs YouTube site


Enjoy all the above!!

Make Peace, Make Jazz

The subject title is from a page at NPR Music sent in an NPR Newsletter giving us Five Artists with Five JAZZ Cuts.


You can visit the link above to Listen or purchase the cuts, but I'm going to bring the page here, sans the purchase links.


KPLU, September 8, 2008 - In 1982, the UN began observing "Peace Day" every September at the opening of its General Assembly. In 2002, it officially declared Sept. 21 as a permanent date for the International Day of Peace. In preparation, here are five beautiful jazz performances that celebrate the spirit of the occasion.

Horace Silver
Album: Blowin' the Blues Away
Song: Peace

Over his long career, Horace Silver has worked with many great musicians. In a recent interview, the pianist was asked to name his favorite collaborators, and he replied, "One of the greatest bands I ever led was the Junior Cook-Blue Mitchell band with Louis Hayes on drums and Gene Taylor on bass." That's the band you'll hear with Silver on this 1959 recording of one of his most enduring compositions.

Listen

Norah Jones
Artist: Various Artists
Album: Ultimate Jazz Christmas
Song: Peace

In 2000, Norah Jones was one of many young musicians gigging around New York and hoping to get a record deal someday. Toward that end, she recorded a six-song demo which resulted in her storied contract with Blue Note Records and included this beautiful vocal version of Horace Silver's song. The demo recording eventually saw limited release as a six-song EP titled First Sessions, which is now out of print. Luckily, though, her version of "Peace" still survives on a few collections of holiday music.

Listen

Bill Evans
Album: Everybody Digs Bill Evans [Keepnews Collection]
Song: Peace Piece

Piano genius Bill Evans first recorded this solo piano piece on his second release as a leader, 1958's Everybody Digs Bill Evans. Apparently, Evans originally conceived "Peace Piece" as an extended introduction to Leonard Bernstein's song "Some Other Time," but soon saw that it was strong enough to stand on its own. It has since become a jazz standard, but nobody plays it like the man who wrote it.

Listen

Pat Metheny/Brad Mehldau
Album: Metheny Mehldau
Song: Make Peace

In 2006, two of the most important musicians in contemporary jazz (guitarist Pat Metheny and pianist Brad Mehldau) finally got together for a recording session. Metheny/Mehldau was the result, a CD of primarily duet performances widely regarded as the finest jazz guitar/piano pairing since the Jim Hall/Bill Evans recordings of the 1960s. Metheny's composition, "Make Peace," stands as one of the CD's highlights.

Listen

Abdullah Ibrahim
Album: Water From an Ancient Well
Song: Water from an Ancient Well

Although the word "peace" isn't in the title of the song, peace resides in the heart and soul of this transcendent music, written and performed by South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim in a septet setting that includes Ricky Ford (tenor sax), Charles Davis (baritone sax), Carlos Ward (flute), Ben Riley (drums) and David Williams (bass). At various times throughout the group's gorgeous performance, the music reflects serenity, yearning, hope, healing, melancholy and joy. But the overall effect of the song is a deep, ancient and abiding sense of peace.

Listen

Enjoy, I certainly did, Great Songs, Great Jazz!

Summer Reading: A Childrens Book for You Adults

As we wait for the many coming books, I'm sure more will be surfacing, as many try to cleanse their souls, of these last eight years plus, in seeking their higher kingdom, we might have the time to take this seemingly telling descriptive tale into the fold of good reading. We could even make the copies a collective item reminding us, in a comfortable way, of what we've been put through, us and the rest of the world. Comfortable because it might not enrage as we read and study the pictures, like the hard reality of the history will.

And I give you the title right off, Intriqued?

I didn't catch this when it aired, but while a visit to the NPR site, to relisten to another report, I caught this little tidbit in their list.

All Things Considered had it on yesterday, July 8.

The full title is: Goodnight Bush: A Parody.

It's a riff of the Margaret Wise Brown's classic children's book Goodnight Moon and satirizes the Bush administration.

But look closer and you'll see that the painting over the fireplace shows an oil derrick with stealth bombers flying around it.

In the fireplace, there's a ballot box burning that says, "Florida 2000."

And snaking around the side of the fireplace is a tiny microphone.

In place of the bunny rabbit character in the children's book, a childlike George Bush is tucked safely in bed "surrounded by toys that represent different facets of the Bush administration's legacy," Golan says.

A tiny Osama bin Laden peeks out from many of the pages, and a shotgun-toting Dick Cheney whispers, "Hush."

"The book obviously isn't for children," Origen says. "At the same time, it lets us look at the past eight years through the eyes of a child.

And it lets us see how far Bush's reality is from the reality anyone would want for their children."

The authors say the book is illustrated with "naked simplicity" to show respect and sensitivity.

You can take a listen in with this link to bring up their player

I just ordered my copy before writing this, I'm Intriqued, it looks like a fun, but serious, look at the state we find our country, and our world standing, today and for the forseeable future, at 59 that future should cover any time I have left, plus!!

Nuclear Disarmament and the Global Trade of Small Weapons

The present administration, as we all know, have done a totally distructive job in the policies it has set forth, with the help of those in congress that fall under the same political umbrella, or at least say they are, Republican and Conservative, as they tried to set about to enforce an Imperialist Presidency!

One has been the total destruction of the Nuclear Disarmament Table of discussion and diplomacy on ridding the Planet of Nuclear Weapons. Instead they threaten other countries with their fear propaganda and than act surprised that these countries start to seek their own defense under the Nuclear Umbrella, and attempt to put fear into the American Public, and others, on the growing Nuclear threats which they themselves have been forcing on others! As the United States developes other uses of Nuclear Weaponry and uses it!

The Ploughshares Fund has been front and center in the attempt to make a Peaceful World without Nuclear WMD's

Their spokesperson was interviewed on NPR's Talk of the Nation today, that spokesperson is actor Michael Douglas.

You can visit the Talk of the Nation page to read a short writeup, which includes this:

"The sight of the ruins left by the nuclear explosions in 1945 may seem a part of old history," Douglas said in an address to the United Nations. "Yet the fact is that the instruments of possible global annihilation ... many on high alert, remain a part of our contemporary history."

As well as listen to the 16min interview, with phone calls, or you can click here to listen

.
He was in Washington to talk to Lawmakers on behalf of The Plowshares Fund.

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."

NPR - Talk of the Nation - Veterans Court, Buffalo NY

5-07-08, NPR's Talk of the Nation had a followup to a previous NPR Report on this, a Veterans Court setup in Buffalo NY. I previously did a post on the first report, and that report can also be found at todays Talk of the Nation site page, in the link below.

Vets in Legal Trouble Find Help in Buffalo Court

Talk of the Nation, May 7, 2008 · Earlier this year, Robert Russell, a judge in Buffalo New York, decided to address the increasing number of veterans he saw entering the criminal justice system. Russell established a special court that considers the experience of war before sentencing and helps former soldiers find treatment.

Guests:

Hank Parowski, project director for Buffalo City Court

Libby Lewis, NPR's national desk correspondent {who put together the first report}

Tom Berger, national chair of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Abuse for Vietnam Veterans of America

This link brings up the NPR Player to listen to report

And an Update to the Conditions found at the Fort Bragg Army barracks that returning Afganistan and Iraq Military personal were living in:

Army Secretary: barracks repairs to cost $248 million

Army Secretary Pete Geren said today that the military will commit $248 million to repair dilapidated barracks around the world.

UpDate Video - MSNBC