Memorial Day 2011

Did anyone catch the news today or where we all too busy taking out our white clothes? 

Memorial Day Weekend: The beginning of summer. Let the BBQing begin!!!!

Oh. Wait. It’s time for us to remember those who’ve died or been maimed for our freedom and buy that bedroom set on sale.

***

Last night, after coming home from a BBQ with friends and our kids, I plopped down on my sofa to pay the family bills. I flicked on the tube, switched to PBS and there was Forest Whitaker performing a monolog. A first person narrative of a young man, returned home from Iraq, after several tours of duty, no longer the man he was when he left. 

An Improvised Explosive Devise¹ blew up his truck and did permanent damage to his brain. It was truly a horrific story of this young man’s struggle to find peace with his new self and at the same time not lose his wife and child. It brought tears to my eyes. 

Cut to the young man and his family in the audience.

Cut to a long shot. A stage with the Capital in the background.

Cut to Diane Weist performing the first person narrative of a mother whose son is dead. 

Her son, a Marine originally stationed at Dover Air Force base as an honor guard for our returning dead. After seeing the returning bodies of guys he knew, he volunteered to go to Iraq. He was a squad leader. His squad was sent on patrol in a town near the Syrian border. They were going house to house, kicking in doors looking for Bad Guys. Rather than order one of his squad, he took the point. On the last house, kicking in the door led to a machine gun blast to his face. He was only 22 years old.

Cut to the Mother.

Cut to the Capital.

Cut to the Flag.

Cut to Colin Powell.... WHAT! This man, with blood on his hands, is telling us that WE need to help our wounded and their families.²

FUCK YOU Colin. But it gets worse...

Cut to the closing PBS sponsorship bumpers.... 

This Memorial Concert was brought to you by.... 

General Dynamic
Lockheed Martin³

Are you fucking kidding me!

***

How long will the dishonorable feed off of the honorable?

We are stuck in a vicious twisted place. The very real and honorable citizens who truly believe that they are serving their country, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the idea that we are free, are being used by scum who profit off of war. 

And then it’s turned back on us. First we are told of the danger that must be addressed with extreme force (Shock and Awe) but then, once our nations men and women start getting killed and maimed, it’s becomes about them. They say,” We can’t stop now, or their sacrifice will have been in vain!” and “We have to win it for them.” And who doesn’t get struck by that. 

Yes! We do not want their sacrifice to be in vain. 

And yet.... Where were the weapons of mass destruction? Where has that 3 trillion dollars gone? It certainly didn’t go into Walter Reed Hospital to take care of our maimed men and women.

General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin⁴.... Halliburton. It went into their pockets and those politicians who in their heartless climb up the political career ladder are willing to shill for these scum.

As my buddy John said when I was ranting earlier today... Same as it ever was.

Yeah... Just ask the thumbless Civil War Veterans.

***

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE 

words and music by Pete Seeger
performed by Pete Seeger and Tao Rodriguez-Seeger

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young girls gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young girls gone?
Taken husbands every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone for soldiers every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Covered with flowers every one
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

©1961 (Renewed) Fall River Music Inc
All Rights Reserved.

1 What we used to call a bomb.
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2 This show was high on platitudes and flags. There was a much more powerful piece done on CSPAN where they went from one family to another and allowed them to tell the story of their lost children, fathers, mothers, husbands and wives. There was no politics. There was just the stories. It was heartbreaking. All of them told of how their communities came to them in need.
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3 The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts - The liberal bastards!
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4 Pop quiz:

Who founded the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq?

A. A prominent Iraqi political exile.
B. Bruce Jackson, former Lockheed Martin vice president
C. Neoconservatives William Kristol and Paul Wolfowitz.

Answer: b
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0823-28.htm
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