Profiting From Peace

Just about everyone out there has an idea about how to bring about Peace, some even include more war, as odd as that may sound.

The situation is, from a realistic point of view, regardless of how gruesome war is, it is intensely profitable. Each bomb dropped, missile launched, shot fired, piece of equipment destroyed, it needs to be replaced, and since the cost of munitions and weapons systems are so high, how is it that an industrialist cannot move away from the near instantaneous profit to be made?

The era of greed has never been far away; those that have great sums of money and other assets want more, that appears to be a simple fact. The other area is that they more fast. When we were more agrarian groups of societies things moved slowly, nature ruled the pace and we adapted rather well. There were still great riches to be made, and the class system was a bit more bizarre, but all things considered, things went relatively well. As we gained more knowledge, we learned that we could take what we could not, or be willing to, purchase/barter. The war machine was born.

Our technical expertise at killing one another has not yet reached it’s zenith. Every day, new technology for “defense” rises up, and inevitably, it is used for offense. Our nation has embarked on a road to empire since it’s inception. It’s taken time to get where we are now, but the future holds, (as it always does), that empires crumble.

Here is where I’m thinking we can profit from Peace.

For one thing, our coastline is ringed with naval stations that are harboring WWI destroyers, not to mention cruisers, aircraft carriers from WWII and Korea and a host of other unseaworthy  ships and vessels. There are a lot of precious metals on board the vessels, not to mention this is some serious steel, which could easily be melted down and reused to rebuild our infrastructure. We’d need architects, engineers, steel workers, transportation, concrete and people to lay and finish it. A whole host of jobs would be created withing 6 months and the job we’re looking at, infrastructure, would take years to complete. Good paying jobs, jobs that trained people for the future in welding, steamfitting, high speed rail, thousands of new jobs and people being trained to carry us into the future.

Agriculture would benefit as these people would need to be fed properly, housing would be enhanced as people need places to stay, we could utilize green technology and wean ourselves off of fossil fuels…just by recycling  junk.

Swords to plowshares in a nutshell.

Once it is discovered that we can make profit, rather quickly without killing and maiming others, we can begin to repair the problems we’ve created. Some of that steel could be used for irrigation in more arid lands, some viable seeds for a particular area and suddenly, a population becomes self sufficient with good nutrition. It takes 7 years from the time an apple seed germinates to the first crop, that’s a little less than half the time we’ve been embroiled in the current “excursions”. Wheat, rice, soy, barley, etc take far less time to establish themselves, fruit trees take a bit, but are well worth it. The price of seeds is low, the price of life sustaining food is low, why waste billions on destruction making enemies, when we can feed people and make friends for life?

Waging Peace is a noble idea, and a workable idea, all it takes is the realistic view that friends are far better than enemies.

It will take a worldwide effort to accomplish what we want to accomplish, there are plenty of “bad guys” out there, but they can be contained. We need not look at everyone as a potential enemy, what we need to do is look at the world, realize we are all human beings, encapsulate those that would continue war, and off we go to a more Peaceful world.

It should be mentioned that Peace is not the end of war, that is but a small part of Peace. Peace is being able feel peaceful withing one’s surroundings and the rest of the world. It is as mental as it is physical, it is a state of mind. We cannot attain Peace without Equality and Justice.

Peace,

Bob

A Week in Dallas for a one day protest of the bush lie-bury

So here it was, a chilly Tuesday morn when I left for Dallas; needless to say, the 85 degree weather changed dramatically and the heaviest thing I had was a sweatshirt. Could have been worse, it got to the lower 40′s w/a slight breeze at night. We prepared for the Big Event on Thursday, going over ground rules, maintaining a peaceful atmosphere, finding out how the Dallas PD would likely treat us, the usual stuff that goes with well advised protests.

We heard from Ann Wright, Leah Bolger, Phil Donahue and others who had boundless energy and were raring to go. Most of us were grey-hairs, but surprisingly, many were younger, and that made my heart soar. For far too long, the youth have been left by the wayside in movements, their ideas discarded, even when validated time after time. We geezers don’t have all of the answers, we can help with what works from our point of view, but we fail when we don’t take into account what the youth of today sees…we can’t fight the last war, we have to be ready to take on new and often complicated problems.

Thursday was the big day, we got most of the press since we showed up early, but we wound up on the cutting floor compared to the mob that showed up at bush’s outhouse/lie-bury. This piece of crap cost $500,000,000, that’s half a billion dollars for a failed president that has difficulty tying his shoes. How many children could have been fed, clothed and prepared for school w/that money? A monument to failure, half a billion dollars, and no mention of the nightmare this jerk brought upon the world.

It makes one a little uneasy when police and snipers are scoping you out from the rooftops, a sort of “nazi” feeling to all of this.

Anyway, here is a link to my FB Page w/a collage of various photos, enjoy: https://www.facebook.com/rfunke2

Peace,

Bob

A small example of waste in the Army

I was stationed for while in Weisbaden Germany, with the 3/60 Armor, 4th Bde Forward 4th ID. Our mission was to close any holes if there was a breakthrough in the Fulda Gap, a primary route of attack and strategically, very important.  We would go to Baumholder for various training missions, bore sighting and the like. Baumholder was OK for about a day, but there was little for us to do most of the time.

On the Training Schedule, the BN CO had put HQ’s Company in for the grenade range. Myself and two other Medics dutifully went to the ammo dump and drew 144 grenades and fuses. I have no idea what the thinking was in having Medics sign for a gross of grenades, but who am I to question a Lt Col?

The three of us took the munitions out to the grenade range, sat on a knoll and fused the grenades, bent pins, to ensure they would not “pop off” inadvertently once the safety clips were removed. In the Army, if you sign out something, you’d better use it, especially when you sign out anything that can blow up, be shot or burns things to the ground. The last thing you want to do is repackage the munitions and try to turn them back at the ammo dump or arms room. The only thing that comes back are the pins, as “proof” you used the grenades you signed for.

So here we sat, waiting for deuce and a half’s to bring out mostly staff and support personnel to toss grenades at old tire “targets”  placed about the range, and wait we did…for 3 and a half hours. I tried reaching anyone from the unit by radio to no avail. A “permanent” landline was dead, (that will happen when tanks drive over the conduit 1000 times), so wait we did, being the good soldiers we were.

About 4 1/2 hours into this situation I could hear the whine of a jeep coming up the hill. “Aha! Finally, we can get this show on the road!” , thought I, however, as usual, something was going to go wrong…it’s the Army way. The HQ’s Co Commander, an odd ball Captain, came up to our position and after the usual military courtesies, we were told that the grenade training had been cancelled and we were to “dispose” of the grenades, it averaged out to 48 grenades apiece that needed to be tossed, lobbed, rolled or whatever else we needed to do to pop them off.

48 grenades lined up in neat little rows in the pit is an interesting sight to behold, we had 3 pits with 48 grenades and one Medic in each, what could possibly go wrong?

To those who have some experience with the M67, it’s nice to know that it weighs in just under a pound at 14 oz’s, those lost 2 oz’s can prove crucial when tossing 48 of these little monsters. The average soldier can toss an M67 about 30-40 meters on a really good day, most of the time the grenade used at closer ranges, and after you toss 10 of these things, that 30 meters creeps back about 5 meters with each grenade lobbed. With a 3 second fuse, you can actually “cook off” a grenade by letting the spoon fly, then, about a second later toss it, this is not advised however, except in circumstances where you are actually in combat and need to ensure the enemy can’t toss it back at you.

Of course, we’d take little breaks but the reality was, we eventually had to toss all 144 and bring the pins back to supply. So, there we stood, in the pits, each having to pop the safety off, pull the pins and simultaneously toss the grenade and crouch down until we heard the tell-tale 3 explosions so we could get up and examine our prowess with the little bombs.

The first 5 were easy, and actually pretty cool, even Medics like watching things blow up, as long as no one gets hurt, what the hell. So in just under 4 minutes, the first 15 were off, not bad, everything was going according to the alternative plan. To be honest, looking at 43 grenades is not much different than looking at 48, it’s a mere dent in the can so to speak. One realizes this not going to be “fun” anymore, but it’s actually work  that requires precision to a degree to ensure the safety of those engaged in this type of behavior.

With each grenade tossed, the level of accuracy and distance decreases. It is important to focus on what you are doing, it’s easy to get, “creative” in these kinds of situations. At one point, a rabbit came out on the range and immediately became a target, it scampered away, unharmed, but certainly seemed to grow exponentially as it’s fur was standing on end, a big puffball of thing hopping like hell, ears laid back…I’m glad we didn’t harm it, didn’t even come close actually. We were down to about 25 grenades, apiece, to go at that point. Just over half of what we had started out with.

Range became a factor about this time. Think of tossing a baseball from far out in right field and trying to get it to the catcher, the first two might get there, even if bounces, but after that, it’s going to bounce a lot more, eventually, if you throw it back enough, most of it will be a roll to the catcher. Without the adrenaline rush of actual combat conditions, one’s arm gets pretty tired, I tried two as a lefty, but gave up on that after neither went more than 5 meters, which put me in the killing radius of the grenade should something go wrong and I don’t focus precisely on what I and my comrades are doing at the time.  We needed a break, but only two of us at a time could leave the range, someone had to stay to watch the cache of yet to be tossed grenades. We traded off timing, getting the ear plugs out was relief enough. We went up a small knoll to do a little damage assessment. It appeared to us, we had done little more anyone prior to us had done. This had been a range since WWII, small stubs of what were once trees, and a little grass was about all there was, and tires, plenty of tires to be “aimed” at. I wondered if some of them were close, deliberately setting up a disaster scenario, where a grenade could actually bounce back at the person who lobbed it. Not a pleasant thought, focus….focus.

Out of my 48 grenades, I don’t think any of them fond the center of a tire, even a relatively close one. In fact, I don’t think anyone came all that close to one. That’s what happens when Medics not Infantry are tossing grenades. I had prior Infantry training, but the “art” of grenade tossing was a thing of the past, I was older now, not in my prime, I felt like an aging pitcher in the World Series, but there was no bullpen to call back to for relief. It took us just over 3 hours to toss all of the grenades, 144, a gross of grenades, 3 hours of time and energy spent and only the first 5 minutes were “fun”. Tossing that last grenade was more like rolling it downhill. We collected the pins, I counted out 144 and was happy. We got into the jeep tired but relieved we had accomplished our “mission”. Considering the wait time, the actual toss time, policing the area and returning the pins, we spent about 10 hours of a single day essentially doing nothing of any great importance.

What we did that day was a small waste of taxpayer dollars, but it is typical, and when you add all of these “typical” situations together, it all adds up. In the Navy, items are just tossed into the sea. Desks, helicopters, planes, fuel, you name it, it goes overboard. It’s the system, if you don’t use every nickel in the budget, you get cut the next time around. Rather than reward practical use of what you have, you get penalized if you don’t actually use, often waste, what you have access to. Perfectly good equipment is wasted every day, just to keep budgets rolling along and increasing the numbers.

Have a great day and please perform a random act of kindness today.

Bob

Hundreds of Milions Dead, and for what?

 

Over our history, hundreds of millions have died horrible deaths and been maimed beyond repair, and for what?

Riches? Territory? Religion? A host of other items?

Point of fact no one had to die, the wealthy are the only ones who gained here, certainly no of those who gave life and limb, blood and sinew to whatever the “effort” was for. War is nothing more than industrialized murder on a scale we can hardly fathom. It begs the question, “Is war ever justified?”

Throughout time, this question has been asked, and wars have been fought regardless of the consensus of people the world over that war is a terrible thing, the very essence of insanity. Many religious groups have discussed this time and again, Peace activists have come to the conclusion that there are better ways to resolve conflict. Those who have seen the ravages of war know of of it’s horrors question the need for armed conflict. With all of these questions being asked, and often answered that war is not the answer, why do we still have this cloud of war over us?

First and foremost, it’s empire built on greed. Leaders of one entity want what another entity has, the base question is, why pay for it if you can just take it? Of course, this means that someone is going to lose, either the invading nation, or the people that own said resources. During the “Banana Wars”, Dole wanted the fruits of the Caribbean and other places, in order to get at and maintain those resources, they called upon the US government to “protect” them and their interests. Thousands upon thousands died as their way of life changed dramatically, all so that Dole could make obscene profit over the cost of human life. Corporate interests can actual find ways to ensure that military power, our young men and women, will defend private interests.

Today, we are seeing the same thing in the Middle East, we are embroiled in hostilities that should never have been fought in the first place, but bush, cheney and others were more than willing to sacrifice our soldiers, sailors, airmen ans Marines so that corporate profits would soar, damn the rest of the world and especially those people who have a right to their natural resources. We’ve done things like this throughout our history; to Native Americans to the Moro’s in the Philippines and many others. We’ve invented occasions to go to war, USS Maine brought us the Spanish American War, we fought the Mexicans so the would cede a good portion of their country to us, we had the Banana Wars, and a host of others when none of them were necessary, all we had to do was pay the going price for the goods.

The first casualty in war is the truth; USS Maine was thought to have been the target of Cuban “insurgents”, the truth is, there was a smoldering fire that eventually reached the power magazine. “Give me headlines, I’ll give you the war”, there is a lot of truth to that, there need be no facts behind the event, just make it look “good” and here we go. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution is another example of how we were dragged into war on lies and obfuscations; Johnson used a fake attack to escalate our presence in Vietnam. Reagan, while talking Hollywood bullshit about our “national pride” and how we had to have an overwhelming military presence worldwide, ran like a cur with his tail between his legs after the suicide bombing in Beirut at the Marine barracks. He made up for that in Panama and Grenada, two “earth shattering events”, he was as cowardly as Hitler in 1939, (who, by the way, could have been stopped if the Allies came together and put down the German army at the time, it was no where near ready for full scale war at that point).

How can we justify the invasions of Panama, Grenada, Afghanistan, Iraq? None of these nations were a threat to the US. I can not see Afghan airborne dropping into the fields of Nebraska or Oklahoma an wreaking havoc on the citizens of this nation, it’s all about who controls the oil and it’s transportation in the region that makes any difference, it’s corporate greed at the expense of our sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, nieces and nephews. How can this be called justified?

Bottom line, we are on a mission to build an empire. History shows us all empires fall, why waste the time and energy to make others even more wealthy at the expense of our men and women in the military? I’m all for protecting the nation from invasion, but I am against empire building, I am against our youth being sacrificed on the altar of war and am against civilians and noncombatants losing their lives and being displaced in the drive to gain another dollar for big oil. There has to be point  where we will stand up ans shout, NO MORE!”

I hope I live long enough to see that day.

Peace

The Ultimate Price

There are many ways to come home from war, this is one we rarely see.

Since the beginning of the current hostilities, with few exceptions, we do not see the cost in human terms.

We honor our dead, but what about these:

See the faces of war, the power we have unleashed; see the nightmare, and REMEMBER, we were lied to to get us into  this insanity.

10 years now, and it should never have happened.

Peace is Possible, but it takes more work than war

War is easy, you just go out and kill and maim; dislocate noncombatants, generally, create mayhem.

Peace on the other hand takes a lot more work. For one thing, it is imperative to know who a potential enemy may be, then learn about their culture and generally figure out what to do to reconcile differences, (which are often miniscule in the greater scope of things).

There is far too much hatred, ignorance and fear in this world. Taking the time to find our commonalities and then building upon them takes effort, but it is well spent, for we all breathe the same air, drink the same water and share theonly place in the universe where we are positive there is life. We spend far too much time seeking out differences and using them to create enemies as opposed to extending a hand to help those in need, those who would live, if given the chance.

There is profit in war and there lies the rub; Peace is not profitable at the fast war profiteering. Grasping for any reason to create new and terrible weapons that kill and maim is a waste of time and energy…how many children go to bed hungry every night because of what we waste?

Can we, as a species, continue on this course and not expect global ramifications; using up every resource at our disposal, leaving the future for the next generations bleak at best?

The iconic photo, by Kevin Carter, shows what can happen during famine, often caused by war, we should never allow this to happen. How easily could this child have been saved if just a slight portion spent on arms was spent on food?

May we enter an age where this will never be the future.

 

Part of a piece by Chris Hedges has been etched into my conscience…

Tomas Young is a quadriplegic who’s story is exceptionally compelling. Shot in the spine, he became a paraplegic, eventually the process brought him near complete paralysis. He is starving to death, so as not be a burden upon his family. He is conscious of his effort and determined to maintain his dignity and integrity.

“Young will die for our sins. He will die for a war that should never have been fought. He will die for the lies of politicians. He will die for war profiteers. He will die for the careers of generals. He will die for a cheerleader press. He will die for a complacent public that made war possible. He bore all this upon his body. He was crucified. And there are hundreds of thousands of other crucified bodies like his in Baghdad and Kandahar and Peshawar and Walter Reed medical center. Mangled bodies and corpses, broken dreams, unending grief, betrayal, corporate profit, these are the true products of war. Tomas Young is the face of war they do not want you to see.”

Chris Hedges.

The faces of war, unseen, unknown, except by the few that care for them.

May there be Peace on earth, no more Tomas Young’s.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_crucifixion_of_tomas_young_20130310

Mayor Menino takes a slap at Equality

On Wednesday 3-13, VFP took a suit to the City of Boston regarding the street sweepers behind the “official” St Pat’s parade,  thereby creating the allusion the days events were essentially over. Since the VFP St Patrick’s Parade for Peace follows by a court ordered 1 mile, and is expected to be near 4000+ participants this year, the events of the day are far from over.

The Mayor sided with the AWVC, and the street sweepers will follow the initial parade, creating large clouds of dust and debris as they circle the area in a rather interesting pattern, much like figure 8′s as opposed to the normal way street sweepers conduct themselves. There is also the question of sand, salt and small projectiles being strewn into the crowd, if the crowd remains during this self created mini-storm. The chances of someone being hurt are very real, considering there are many children who will be exposed to dust and other contaminants as they await the VFP Peace Parade.

Until the previous Friday, there was an agreement with the city that the sweepers would follow the VFP parade, they  reneged on that agreement at the last minute, which is what prompted the law suit. At Monday’s monthly  VFP meeting, members agreed unanimously to take this to court. Judge Collins ruled that at the time, (1995), there was but one parade, there was no issue with the sweepers. However, he left it up to the city to decide what to do. Mayor Menino, bowing to the AWVC made his decision, the issue is far from settled yet.

One of the last overtly bigoted groups of individuals have not heard the last from VFP or other groups in the Peace Parade. It seems that those whose forefathers were the victims of bigotry have yet to learn what they should have learned long ago, hatred breeds discontent. One of the “big” things discussed in South Boston is how there were signs, “Irish need not apply”, barring individuals of Irish descent from employment except for the most menial of tasks. Today, the heirs of those who faced bigotry have become the bigots, hypocrites and reprehensible in how they treat others. Their main contentions are that the word “Peace” should not be used with the word veteran and that the GLBT community simply, “not apply”. So many years ago, when the Irish were looked “down upon”, it is somehow appropriate to bring back and maintain such fear and loathing to other groups?

This reeks of hypocrisy to the point where the sulfur of hell is breath of fresh air. To denigrate portions of any population is odious enough, but to be so overtly demeaning to the GLBT community is particularly pathetic. I am not gay, but I will stand with my brothers and sisters if for no other reason than they are just as human as any of the rest of us, deserving of respect and dignity as any one else. Years ago, I would have stood by the Irish to end the bigotry agaisnt them, just as I stand by every other group who has had to face the hatred born of ignorance. Today, I stand against the Allied War Veterans Council because of their bigoted attitude, their self-serving, ego driven attitude that for some reason, the GLBT community is less deserving of respect and dignity than any other person or group of people. The AWVC may have the law on their side, but they lack any sense of moral decency. They are a decaying entity that, fortunately, is crumbling under the pressure of  a more enlightened generation, something the Irish of  old Southie would have understood as they drew themselves up and away from the hatred.

I call the AWVC what they are, cowards, bigots, hypocrites and a scam of an organization that uses it’s political clout to deny fellow human beings their inherent Right to be Equal. This skirmish may have been won by the bigots, but this battle is far from over. We will continue to ensure that those of who swore to protect the Constitution will win, we are veterans, we’ve faced more fearsome enemies than the miscreants  called the “Allied War Veterans Council”.

 

 

When Children Weep

In the distance, there is a “buzzing” sound, a drone is in the area looking for a target. Once found, either an individual or a group of individuals vanish in a flash, vaporized by a $160,000 missile fire from thousands of miles away, they never had a chance, never knew what hit them. The children of the stricken men weep, the wives weep, if they are still alive.

War has always been an atrocity, the very definition of insanity and we have taken it to a lower level than ever before. Being one of the Boomer generation, (no pun intended), I thought nothing could be worse than the catastrophe of WWII and it’s ensuing horror of death camps and millions dying in vain attempts to take warfare from the horrific to the hellish. The thought that industrialized warfare and countless millions of non-combatants killed could get any worse was beyond my comprehension. Living in NYC during the Cold War, ducking under wooden desks in practicing for a nuclear strike seemed the height of absurdity. To me, the burning desk would only add fuel to my already burnt to a crisp body. Fear, McCarthy, more fear, death in a split second, Commies behind every bush and tree. But I did not believe the Soviets at the time would touch off a nuke and incinerate the world.

Now, a couple of generations later, death comes swiftly to some, no notice, no rhyme, no reason. The signature of the president can, and does, destroy life as the ink dries. In a split second, a group of human beings becomes little more than splotches of blood and bits of tissue strewn about the area. Fire from the sky, there is something Biblical about that, and not in the good sense.

A group stands and talks, perhaps about the price of bread or how much feed is necessary for a camel to go a certain distance. Perhaps the discussion is about the wedding party that was struck by a Hellfire missile or the need to gather more small pieces of linen to wrap the bodies of the children killed before they are buried in shallow, dry graves.

We have become no better than those we condemn. We are no better than the warriors of old, who told great tales of bravery and how they slew their enemies with the swiftness of a sword; the difference is, we now use missiles that travel at Mach 2 and we do not have to look into the faces of those we kill. It’s push a button and death comes from the sky, and children weep as their fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters are vaporized before their eyes, the last clear thing they see, before the tears well up.

War is agony, it is the very definition of insanity

The following comes to you from Afghan Info War’s Photo Gallery: http://www.facebook.com/AfghanInfoWar/photos_stream

There are nightmarish scenarios vs the pearls: