Time: 45 years, and images still haunt me…

I’ve learned to live with them, realizing that at times I am reliving a past that could have taken a better path, or perhaps a worse path, depending on how one looks at things. Point of fact, I did what I did and now have to live with it. Slowly, the memories drift away, become dislodged in the framework, places, names dates all get mixed together in a stew of musty memories.

Some things stand out because of the sheer violence of the situation, others stand out because of the uncommon calm, that made me think I was in my old neighborhood. I met many a man who was barely literate, nothing like having to print, “THIS SIDE TOWARD ENEMY” on the container that held 500 steel balls, C-4 and a plastic case, even though it had a slight curve to it, when an individual is literate, they can get you killed.

I met men who received their first set of clothes that were not hand-me-downs. At Ft Polk LA, one individual from GA was literally forced to wear combat boots and dress shoes, his feet were so calloused they were stronger than leather, “I don’t wear shoes, they get in my way.”  He could climb a rock face with his toes, put boots on him, he could barely march on the parade ground. So it goes, these tidbits of useless information. How to kill another human being; actually, you have to  look at that person as something subhuman, vermin, a rat or a cockroach, if you saw a human being, you hesitated, and that could cost you life or limb.

We were told we were stopping Communism, little Vietnam was the linchpin of all of Communism, not the USSR or China, but a small stretch of land on the South China Sea. Since the McCarthy years, everyone believed a communist or Socialist was behind ever tree, stone or mailbox, waiting to pounce on the suspecting citizen and “brainwash” them into betraying their country. McCarthy and his acolytes did more to bring this nation to the brink of annihilation than anyone before or since, to put it succinctly, he was a drunken asshole; but lives were ruined, as children in NYC, (needless to say a prime nuclear target), we were told if we saw a flash or heard the warning sirens, we were to hide under our wooden desks. Considering there were huge glass windows right next to me, I wondered about the wisdom of having shards of glass tear through my body while I got under my desk, which was about to ignite in the thermal blast of some 4500+F. Charred children, ripped to shreds, a wooden desk their funeral pyres.

Perhaps MAD, (Mutually Assured Destruction) actually kept us out of nuclear war; after all, the US was the only nation to use nuclear devices on the offense. Vaults of films are still archived from when the Signal Corps went in, deemed too horrible for the public to see, what could be much worse than seeing JFK being shot in the head, MLK lying lifeless on  patio, RFK being hustled out of a kitchen after being shot in the head?

We should see the horrors of war, perhaps the demons would go away if we realized that war is rarely, if ever the answer.  Two things moved Smedley Butler into a war stance after he retired: a direct attack against the nation and the defense of the Bill Of Rights. No more death so that “the few profit, while the many pay.” Smedley D Butler, MG (retired, USMC.

End war now, it’s easier than one thinks, for starters, we can stop selling arms to our potential enemies.

Peace,

Bob

The 1st Activist Ball in Jamaica Plain Jan 30,2014

Welcome one and all,

I would like to invite everyone to the 1st Activist Ball, a chance to meet new Activists and rekindle old friendships, all in the warmth of camaraderie for Common Causes; Peace, Justice and Equality. Veterans For Peace  has rented a table and we will have several items for sale as well as some freebies.

Where:

Spontaneous Celebrations,

45 Danforth ST, Jamaica Plain

When: January 30th starting at 7, going to 11 pm

Chis Faraone will be out DJ for the night, playing a wide variety of music. There will be food and  a cash bar; (we even have a youth floor just below us so those under 21 have a place to meet up. There will be food served.

Here is a link to the particulars, remember, put VFP in the Promo Code for $10 off the regular price:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-1st-annual-activist-ball-of-boston-tickets-9262842411?fb_action_ids=629149487126358&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

See you there!

Peace,

Bob

How Much More Can We Spend On The Military?

Think about this for just  a second, we are the most protected nation on earth, the most powerful militarily that the world has ever known, yet we have no enemies that are capable of attacking us, either conventionally or nuclear. No one has the capability to conquer us in the conventional sense, where we are vulnerable  is in the financial sector, essentially because we spend far too much on “defense”, (which is actually “offense” since we are the provocateurs in most conflicts around the world).

The US has, through direct and indirect military intervention, created a worldwide net of enemies. Our clandestine branches of the government has done more to destroy relationships between nations that could ever do us any harm, beginning a spiral that comes back to haunt us. Our forays into Iraq and Afghanistan are outstanding examples of just how we can create hell on earth for not just those we attack, but for ourselves as well. There was no need to attack either of these countries, much less Libya or any place else. The course we have set has created great animosity toward this nation, boots on the ground are bad enough, but drone attacks are completely unnecessary and the “collateral damage”, (read death and maiming civilians and non-combatants), is inexcusable.

The base line is, there is a lot of money to be made in creating and deploying, then using, the arms we build. When a bomb is dropped, it’s a single use object that does damage. It must be replaced by another; the more we use, the more must replaced with an attendant rise in price and bombs to offset ordinance used. Ultimately, the American taxpayer must pay for all of this, at a premium no less because we are borrowing immense amounts of cash from China and elsewhere. The idiocy of this is so blatant, while the people who are making millions/billions off of the arms merchants and builders, we go further into debt while the “upper crust” sheds crocodile tears and complains about their rate of taxation. While none of these people ever wore a uniform, much less faced any danger, they insist that others go on being killed and maimed while their profit margins sky-rocket. It’s all about money, bloodstained money raked in over the bodies of our troops, innocent victims such as civilians and non-combatants.

A “War on Terror” is an absurdity in the first place, it is a war that can not be won and it is immoral for the simple fact that none of the people who are being slaughtered had anything to do with the attack on 9-11. The entire scenario is little more than a smokescreen to gain the mineral wealth of the countries we’ve invaded…without a declaration of war.

Then there is the “Homeland Security” issue, where police have gained unimaginable power over the citizens of this nation. Billions have been pumped into law enforcement to upgrade and enhance their capabilities. Much of this is military grade offensive weaponry; someone needs to explain to me and the rest of the country just why law enforcement needs such high-grade devices that can bring down buildings, stun or kill hundreds of people and degrade our Constitution.

We need to stand up and ask the right questions, beginning with, “why” any of this is happening. We need to question  those in authority at every turn if we are to keep, no enhance, our freedom. At one time we were a beacon for all those who searched for a better way of life; we have lost our ability to see long-range the big picture of our actions. There have been many sacrifices to our Liberty, we must put an end to the sham and demand accountability of those who are destroying our nation.

Equality+Justice=Peace

Bob