Memorial Day Muse

Yeah, I did Nam two tours and the purple hearts to prove it. A Marine on the DMZ "65-67. Today, I think back on those days and those who died or just got a fucked up life for it all. Granny, Frenchie, Tolley( hot girlfriend pic!), Sgt. Psycho( he was corporal), Ding Dong, the grumpy gunny, officers came and went, no nicknames. Some of those boys are gone now, lives snuffed in their early spring. I think too of Vietnamese like Lt Chao who introduced me to the talents of a very pretty Co Minh, to the VC POW I knew in a small prison compound, who etched tranquil scenes of Vietnames ladies and sampans on the Perfumed River, on metal ammo discs with a rusty nail. He earned his cigarettes. Wonder if anyone saved his art, sorry I didn't. The kid who was sleeping by a truck and had a dud mortar round roll off the hood on his chest. He wandered thru mortar fire holding the round like a baby, while we screamed for him to drop it and get to a hole. He finally tossed it and we pulled him down to safety, then the round went off. Wonder how that guys head is today, hope he can laugh at it, cause it sure was funny. There's a million Nam stories and most of em good. Its our legacy, our history, our pay for those years. It makes us special, a secret club.. WE KNOW. We know Sherman was right when he said war is hell, we know Robt. E.Lee was right when he said he was glad war didn't happen too often, he might get to enjoy it. We've seen shit ya'll can't imagine and the world looks different thru those glasses. To the ones that are gone, I say" Urrah! Semper Fi Muthafuckas ya'll was the SHIT!" I pause to remember those men and brothers today.
Then on the CNN website, I see that Karl Rove has cast his support with Rush Limbaugh in his "debate" with Gen. Colin Powell and it makes me wanna puke. Powell did 2 tours in Nam also. Rove, Limbaugh,Cheney Wolfowitz, Perle, Rumsfeld and the rest of the neocon nazis never served a day in war. And I suppose we should include other war criminals like NcNamara and the rest of Nam policy makers in that group. Never fought but gambled with lives of American boys for their own personal gain. Almost 60,000 dead in Nam, 4,000 in Iraq. Countless wounded, physically and mentally. Sacrificed! For what? "National security??" Bullshit. Today, when I read of Rove and Limbaugh, I shed a tear for the parents of those honored dead. Some of them must see how fucked up this whole thing is. That realization is going to be tough on them. Today, they deserve our thoughts,honor and prayers along with their brave sons and daughters.

WHY???????????????

62% of white evangelical Christians approve of using torture in certain instances! Amazing! Most Vietnam era POW's like John McCain, who have experienced torture, are against the use of it. Jesus, who,according to the bible anyway was tortured and crucified would certainly agree with the POW's. And these fundamentalists call themselves Christians.

Solving the economic crisis and bailout bucks

America should use Zimbabwe bucks!
And you think you've got problems, this banknote is worth about 25 cents American.

CLOSURE or do the right thing,George

America is a mess. Two wars, neither finished nor won continue to take her youth. The economy is in a shambles. The environment tortured and the nation divided. Osama is still on the loose, taunting us from his secret undisclosed location( Gee, Dick, you must know where that is). Obama struggles heroically to rebuild, while neocon bullies try to divide the nation further. George W. Bush is silent. He wants Obama to succeed. I think he is glad its over. I think Bush was used, big time by his Neocon mafia of Cheney, Wolfie,Rummy, Condi and Rove. Maybe Bush has figured this out. He claims to be a spiritual person. He is a recovering alcoholic like myself. I know many alcoholics in recovery can get really spiritual. George is writing a book( or dictating it, anyway). Wouldn't it be nice if he came thru with some reality and truth. Gee, did I screw up listening to these idiots. I'm sorry. Please don't listen to this Neocon,Nazi,nation bullying,world destroying gang. They ruined America, they ruined me and they'll mess you up too. Wouldn't that be wonderful. It certainly would change his historical legacy, heal a nation and save lives. He could sleep again. I know i'm dreaming, but it is possible. His silence is a message.

The debate on torture

It's everywhere, the debate on the morality and expediency of torture. As long as war exists, torture will continue. As long as police arrest suspects, torture will exist. Apparently military and law enforcement officials feel that law,morality and human rights are not guidelines they need to follow in their quest for "justice". I have been in two wars, a little one and a big one, I have been arrested and jailed both in America and the Middle East, so I have some experience, albeit limited on this subject. Torture is part of the madness of war, but law keeps it limited and underground. In Vietnam, I saw torture, amongst many other crimes, but was not the norm. I have experienced police brutality, but again, its a few cops, not the majority. The post 9/11 mindset of the Bush administration opened the door for more abuses and gave the definition of torture( and genocide) to the lawyers, which guarantees no answer for a long time. But they tolerated more it, to obtain answers, than previous American administrations. Like I said,we can't end torture until we end war, and we are long way from that.
In world affairs, America has always taken the high moral ground, standing for freedom,justice,equality,human rights and tolerance. That, at least, is the offical doctrine, beneath it plenty of these fine values are ignored. But as long as America talks the talk, she needs to attempt to walk the walk. America has institutionalized hypocrasy as a form of diplomacy.How can we expect the world to come to her aid in the many fine things done by America, if she so blantantly puts her self above the rules of order she expects others to follow. It has been proven by the FBI and others, that torture doesnt work. Col. Bui Dinh, a Viet Cong leader was tortured for 10 years with no results. Torture is a tool of anger and selfishness rather than a tool of interrogation. America shoild not tolerate torture by her institutions. She has made a mockery of the Geneva convention and turned UN sanctions( OK for those she is against, Iraq,Iran and not valid for Israel) into a joke. Being the world's only superpower, she should rather be a role model than a bully.

Its still a mystery

For at least 40,000 Homo sapiens has speculated as to the nature of the universe. Aurignacians and their successor cultures gave us cave art and lovingly buried their dead, Grave goods appeared, perhaps signifying a belief in afterlife. Shamans tried to understand by penetrating the human mind and journeying into the spirit world. Later on in Neolithic times we created the god concept, one or many, but omnipotent. Revealed religions, which are basically codified laws and legends appeared to try to explain things to a more sophisticated audience. We are still in that stage of developement now. Peope talk about the end of times, judgement day, the coming of Jesus, the Madhi or the Buddha of the future to set things right. We really haven't progressed from the shaman stage too much, infact there may be more validity in shamanism than the Abrahamic faiths. Today I talked to a man about the Middle East and what might be done to stop Jews and Palestinians from killing each other. There is nothing we can do, he said, it's predicted in the bible.
Mission specialist John Grunefeld, currently in space repairing Hubble said""We discovered in fact that all that stuff we thought we knew about accounts for only 4 percent of the known universe," Grunsfeld said. "Most of the universe is made up of what's called 'dark energy.' Nobody could have anticipated it. It's the largest constituent of the universe. We still have no idea what it is."
Dark energy, huh Very cool and we have no idea or only a 4% idea. of course fundamentalists will probably say the "dark" is Satan and it means the end of times is coming, probably find some quote in a holy book to vaguely back it up.
For me, its Glory be to God in the Highest, Alhamdulillah,....... we don't know shit.

Why are we ignoring Iran

When Americans think Iran, they think crazy Ahmedinejad, cussing Israel, denying the holocaust, building a nuke. But it all is a finely crafted device to turn our attention away from the fact thatIran is fact winning the Middle Eastern War big time. Gee, didn't even know we were at war with Iran? Iran has been at war with the US since Khomeini came to power in 79. Remember the Iran hostage crisis, Desert 1, Marine barracks in Beirut in 83. Yep Iran was engaging in terrorist war.
Sometime in the 90's Iran made the switch from terrorist state to regional superpower and America never took notice. America deals with Iran as a rogue state, like North Korea, but Iran is player.
Iran is well on its way to winning dominance over the Middle East and oil. We took out her biggest enemy, Saddam and handed her Shia Iraq and its oil on a platter. Why isn't
oil flowing from Iraq? It is , it's flowing to Iran. The Shia dominated Iraqi government has let Iran control oil, the Shia south and the police. Do you think the surge worked? Wrong, Iran just called back her proxy warriors. When Iran wants chaos in Iraq again,it will happen. Iran is interested in keeping the Americans in the 'quagmire". Actually two quagmires, Afghanistan too, where Iran grealyt influences western Afghanistan. Herat is essentially an Iranian city.
While Sunni Arabs, the Egyptians, Jordanians, Saudis,Syrians, PLO etc have failed to do anything about Israel with any success, Iran has sponsored both Hizbollah and Hamas, provided cash, weapons and guidance. Hizbollah and Hamas, with Iranian guidance, have made the jump from terrorist to politically viable organizations. Hizbollah defeated Israel, forced them out of Lebanon. The Sunnis havent forced Israel out of anything. For alot of oppressed Muslims, Sunni and Shia don't make much difference anymore, a winner does.
Most of the population of the oil rich Gulf are Shia, including those Saudis in al Hasa, where the oil is located. Iran is supporting those Shia and it may not be long before Bahrain, Qatar and UAE fall under Iranian influence. Iran controls the straits of Hormuz, a 12 mile wide choke point where the oil flows thru in tankers. Their side of the gulf is laden with Silkworm antiship missiles in hardened and underground bunkers. They can shut the Gulf down as easy as turning off a water tap.
Iran has been a power for over 2500 years, a country with Imperial pretensions. She is the strongest, and most stable state in the Middle East and she WILL have a say its future. If America continues on its present course of military startegy, we will lose the Middle East, bankrupt the nation and become a third world country. We need to treat Iran as an equal, simply because she is one.
Someone once said that American Middle Eastern policy is a table supported by four unstable legs. The first is Pakistan, an army not a state, not much different from the Iraq of Saddam.
The second is Saudi Arabia, rich with oil , but with no will to fight or defend its borders with a royal family more interested in spending money rather than being a mover/shaker in regional politics.
The third leg was the Shah of Iran,but that leg collapsed already.
The fourth, of course, is Israel, which has nothing to give America besides the Jewish vote at election time. Israel is no different from many other Middle Eastern nations, it flirts with terrorism. The occupation of Palestine is brutal, and human rights have no meaning for Arab Israelis. Israel is an embarrassment we cant't control, and has NO oil.
Boy, is America set up for a fall.
Iran doesn't need a nuke, she is already winning the Middle East.

Undrstanding Islam 101.1

Imagine all legal aspects of society, justice,courts,constitutions etc where in the hands of a unified "church" Supreme court justices would be senior Ulema,Muftis, Ayatollahs, federal judges would be Qadis , and circuit and county judges would be Imans and Mullahs. I have used both Sunni and Shia terms for religious legalists.

It isn't all about Osama

Consider this. Pres. Obama is spending alot of time, energy and money in Afghanistan. As we speak, he meeting with both Karzai of Afghanistan and Zardari of Pakistan to come to an understanding for the region. Obama is too forward looking a visionary to be hung up on revenge for 9/11. There's much more at stake, including Pakistan's nuclear capabilites. Turkmenistan has the 5th largest natural gas deposits in the world. also a sizeable oil production. Turkmenistan's pipeline outlets are controlled by Russia and quite limited. For years, especially before 9/11 a pipeline thru western Afghanistan and western Pakistan to the Indian ocean was debated. The instablity of the area and 9/11 put all that on hold. Obama's administration is interested in alternative energy. Gas certainly isn't the total answer but a good stop gap as the oil runs dry and alternative energy sources slowly come online. It is surprising that Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Turkmenistan's leader, doesn't see this and offer to play an important role in the process. of course all Central Asia(the Stans) worry about Islamic fundamentalism. The Muslim republics have yet to find a form of government close to democracy and ar4e only slowly emerging on the world scene. I am sure Turkmen gas is an important part of this equation.

What happened?

I thought she was so hot in the early 70's. saw her in concert once, she was a bitch and wouldn't do an encore. Anyway the gods have not been kind.