Anniversaries

You know what day it is. A day when we should all be remembering those young men and women that we have repeatedly sent into harm's way, by lying to them, telling them they were fighting for their country, or democracy, or freedom, or some such other bullshit.

A day when we should be weeping over the fact that so many of them come home broken in body and mind to a nation that seems to have forgotten all about them, except when it comes time to buy yellow ribbon magnets from China for a dollar or two. A day when we should be doing something about the fact that SO fucking MANY of our vets are unemployed, or homeless, or struggling to get by.

Today is all those things. If you know a veteran? Give them a hug or a thank you, call them up to say hello, take them to lunch or dinner, offer to help them out with something, anything. It could be something as small as picking up groceries, babysitting their kids, polishing their resume, setting up their computer, taking their damn dog for a walk. Do something. Anything. Just to let them know you appreciate what they went through while they were sweltering in a trench somewhere getting their ass shot off or getting water tainted with decaying corpses and rotting food thanks to George Bush, Dick Cheney, KBR, and/or Halliburton.

If you don't PERSONALLY know a veteran, you can always volunteer with one of the many fine organizations that help our vets in various ways.

These men and women risked their lives and their minds and bodies to do what they saw as their duty to the nation. You don't have to agree with their politics or their service to do them the kindness you would do any other human being. Step up and do your bit for them, and remember, in one month's time, a WHOLE LOTTA them will be coming home from Iraq.

If you're a business owner, you can help by hiring them. If you're working for a big corporation, ask them if they're interested in hiring veterans. If you work at a restaurant or other service/retail business, ask your employers if they will offer vets discounts, then publicize those discounts. Everything you do helps.

And, if you're a voter? Get your ass out there, register to vote, make sure all the vets you know are registered to vote. They don't have to vote for YOUR candidate. Just make sure they vote. Offer to drive them to the polls if they're disabled. Help them register by mail. But make DAMN sure they don't vote for Mittens Romneycare, because that miserable plastic-faced billionaire bastard is talking about PRIVATIZING the VA. After G.W. Bush's disastrous experiment with Walter Reed, I don't EVAH want to hear about veterans lying in pools of their own piss while rats run across the floor and mold spreads from leaky ceilings.

Today is also a very sad day here at La Casa de Los Gatos. It is the anniversary of my father's death. Dad fought in WW II, and was on the losing side, initially, so he spent some time as a POW. He came back from the war deaf in one ear, due to shrapnel, and with an enlarged heart. He lived a long, and mostly healthy, life, but his war stories were enough to give us kids nightmares for weeks. And I know he suffered from PTSD, although he was a gentle man who turned it inward into deep depression rather than outward into beating his wife and kids.

Goodbye, Dad. I still miss you so very much. I think I always will. You loved me and you taught me to love myself, even if the lesson took a long, long time to root itself.

Today is also the anniversary of Zingiber's death. For 14 long years, he was with me every moment, a fat, silly, fearful, neurotic, sweet, affectionate, jealous, possessive, overweight lump of love. I miss him every single day. No one has ever loved me the way that fool did. No matter what I did to him — and here I have to admit, shamefacedly, that there were times when he got on my very last nerve, and I did yell at him and torment him in various small ways — he never, ever held anything against me, not even for a second. I could attribute this to his complete and total brainlessness, I guess, but every night when he put his fat, furry little head on the pillow next to me and breathed softly and warmly into my ear, I realized that he might have been as stupid as the day was long, but that was real love in those big green eyes.

I miss you baby. I wish I could tell you one more time just how much.

Stumble It!

In Memoriam: Veterans' Day 2010

Forever young, all those who fell. Forever wounded, all those who returned.

If you haven't already, do something today to honour your brothers and sisters in uniform. They have freely chosen to give their service to the nation. Many have lost their lives in doing so. Others have lost limbs, or minds.

Today, we have 6,500 homeless female veterans on the streets. That's double the number from a mere decade ago. What's worse is, they represent a mere ten per cent of homeless veterans. There are 65,000 people out there who risked life and limb to serve, and this is how we thank them?

Today, we here at La Casa de Los Gatos want to thank all those who served, in whatever capacity. Special mention to VoteVets founder Jon Soltz, relentless critic of the Iraq War, who learned today that he has been called up for military service. He will be part of the last contingent of American troops in Iraq, closing down our military presence there. Special mention to Roger Greenan, VN vet, now at Fiddlers' Green. Special mention to Pat Tillman, a modern-day Renaissance man cut down by supposedly "friendly" fire. Special mention to Louis Rochat, VN vet, also at Fiddlers' Green, no doubt telling tall tales to the men whose lives he tried so hard to save. Special mention to Warren Leeder, a conscientious objector who nevertheless served as a medic. He didn't carry a gun, nor did he sit on his ass at home. No, he carried his medic's bag into foxholes as bombs rained down around him. Thanks to him, at least a dozen came back who would otherwise be fertilizing some foreign field. RIP, Warren.

Those of you not named here, and you know who you are, you're too precious and important to be named in public. So there.

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Memorial Day 2010

It's that time of year again. And while Americans all over the land rush to the beaches and parks to "celebrate" by eating barbecue and potato salad, others wait anxiously for news of those deployed; visit graveyards, lay wreaths; weep for those who never came home; or wonder why they lost their home, spouse, job, sometimes every anchor that holds them in place in society.

I never understood the "celebrate" aspect of Memorial Day. There is nothing to celebrate in the deaths of men and women, mostly young, of any race, nationality, ethnicity, skin colour, or religion. Rather, it is my sincere hope that all of you enjoying yourselves today will pause for a minute and contemplate this. Or simply bow your heads and think of the young boys and girls we have sent to so many places to be hurt and killed to make our oligarchic owners a little richer.

Today we at this blog bow our heads and think of Louis Rochat (Rocket, to members of the 1/9 Cav), who fought his last fight on Saturday. Rocket risked his life to save his fellow troopers. He lost part of a leg, the vision in one eye, and two fingers for them.

There's plenty of stories among troopers of the 9th Cav, that elite group of helicopter pilots who flew missions in VietNam. Most of them portray Rocket, fairly accurately, as an ornery SOB with courage and class, and a willingness to lay down his life for his fellow troopers. He was just a lad when he arrived in VN, and a wreck when he left, leaving behind pieces of himself. In his own words:

I was twenty years old and just married when I left for Vietnam, and I couldn’t wait to get there. I didn’t even think about the feelings of my folks or my new wife. . . . She watched a twenty-year-old, six-foot, 175-pound Army warrant officer gunship pilot, full of piss and vinegar and a will to live life to its fullest, leave for a place she had heard nothing but bad things about. She got back a 102-pound, dark hollow-eyed, morphine and Demerol dependent, shrapnel and nine times gunshot-wounded, nine-month and two-day Vietnam veteran, who barely knew where he was, much less that he was facing two years in the hospital and thirteen surgeries.

Despite his injuries and the horrors he had seen, Lou pulled himself together and went on to make a long and happy life with his doubtless-horrified young wife. And he took his time to say all his goodbyes when, wrecked by the horrors of that war, his body failed him. He found a new vocation and a voice as a writer, with passion reverberating in his stories. Here is his wonderful description of the sacrifice one of his fellow Troopers made for him.

Louis Rochat, you were a class act. You made the world a better place and showed how to live and how to die. Rest in peace, trooper, you've earned it.

So stop for a moment today and think about how you can make your fellow citizens' lives better. Send a letter to someone deployed out there, telling them you care. Put together a package for a trooper on the front lines. Volunteer for a couple of hours a week or a month with any organization that works with vets, especially the VietNam vets who didn't have the many opportunities we provide for troopers today.



As for all those people who wear flag shirts and "support the troops" with tacky crap made in China? Go read this. And then get off your fucking ass and do something. Other than flapping your gums, that is.

Stumble It!

Politics: Supporting The Troops

You know how we're always shooting off our mouth here at La Casa de Los Gatos, about how we should be doing more for our troops?

Because, you know, it's like the conservatives, ReUglycans, and teabaggers seem to have co-opted that issue right out from under us.

And we don't like that one fucking bit. All kinds of people end up in the military. Some of them are very rightwing, some of them are pretty fucking leftwing. As far as we here at La Casa de Los Gatos are concerned, their politics ain't the issue. Face it, you can't get most people to whistle a tune in fucking harmony, how the hell are you going to get an entire fucking military to have a single point of view on politics?

No, for us, the issue is, when you ask someone to go get killed because their Commander-in-Chief said so, then you owe them something. Maybe you don't need to wipe their fucking ass for the rest of their natural-born days. But you sure as hell don't kick them to the curb and treat them like bumwad, either.

Because once these guys join the military, the only way they can disobey orders (regardless about how they might feel about the righteousness or justice of those orders) is to risk the loss of their career, their benefits, few as they are, and jail time.

And you know how anxious the world is to hire a jailbird, especially these days when you're lucky to be underemployed, at best.

So it turns out that there's an organization that builds homes for vets who are severely injured in the line of duty.

And it warms the cockles of our shriveled black heart to hear that they're doing this for one Frank Pierson, who lost one leg and a significant part of another in Iraq. And the most touching part?

"Many people who volunteer to work on these homes are Vietnam veterans," Thomas said. "They said they've sworn that they wouldn't have another war where veterans were treated as they were when they returned from Vietnam."

Kudos to those VN vets who, after all they went through, still found room in their hearts to help their fellow soldiers out.



You know we don't support the war in Afghanistan, we didn't support the war in Iraq, we were opposed to the bombing of Serbia, and we utterly despised, resisted, and demonstrated against the war in Vietnam. But these guys who get their asses blown off and their heads fucked up? They're not the ones who are getting rich off any of this. They're not the ones making the decisions. Just like the rest of us working stiffs, they got hired into this organization which pays them in "pride" and "honour" rather than, you know, filthy lucre, aka money.

It suckers them into this whole ethos of "serving the nation" (even though that hasn't been an issue since WW II, the last "righteous war"), and then pays them squat to go out and be cannon fodder. It imposes a strict training system that creates lifelong bonds between these people who, depending for their very lives on their comrades, are more tightly tied to them because of shared danger and trauma than most people are to their spouses and children.

If they make it back less than whole, it does its best to deny them care for any suffering they might have undergone.

And those same assholes of the rightwing who scream the loudest about "Supporting Teh Troops" are the same motherfucking pig-diddlers who vote against any funding for the VA, for educational opportunities for vets, for any improvement in servicemembers' lives. They're the assholes who won't volunteer, who find ways to vote for every war that every existed and ways to avoid getting their own worthless asses shot up. Those are the same dicksuckers who piss and moan about how "the troops volunteered, they need to suck it up."

Well, suck this, assholes.



As for the rest of youse, if you want to lend a hand, donate money, supplies, or labour, get your ass over there and do your thang. You'll find them here.

Stumble It!

Politics: Forgotten "Heroes" of a Forgotten War

It's heartwarming, to say the least, that despite the unpopularity of both the Iraq and the Afghanistan wars, the troops who are doing the fighting have not faced anything like the hostility and condemnation that Vietnam veterans faced when they returned from that unfortunate military episode. Despite the fact that the Vietnam "war" was never actually a war (that is, Congress never actually declared war) and that it was originally sold to the public and the military as a noble attempt to "contain" the "communists," it was, at least initially, quite popular with the American public.

It was not until later in the prosecution of this terrible adoration of Moloch that the American public, seeing their sons come home in body bags, turned against the war that was not a war. Some 58,000 dead sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, and friends later.

The legacy of that military orgy remain with us today. It'll be gone soon enough, when we sweep the last of the bodies under the rug and continue with the foolish militarism that Eisenhower's warned-of "military-industrial complex" continues to indulge in, at the expense of minds and bodies worldwide.

In the interim, what we have are incidents like these:



The elderly man in this clip is one Thomas Bruso, known throughout the Bay Area as "Tom Slick," or "Vietnam Tom." He is apparently well known throughout the Bay Area, having been involved in at least one other videotaped altercation. He swears like a fucking longshoreman, and as you visitors and friends at this fine blog can testify, that makes him exceedingly popular with los gatos de mi casa, given as we are to the fine art of fucking swearing.

Mr. Bruso is, some say, 62 years old, or perhaps 67. Nobody seems to know exactly. The other incident that brought him to the attention of the authorities involved an A's game. Mr. Bruso apparently brought his own alcohol to the game and sat in a seat that he was not entitled to deposit his arse in. Some irate motherfucker or the other called the police, and multiple pigs descended on this elderly gentleman and proceeded to taser the fuck out of him.

To the credit of the fine people of Oakland who were watching the game, the crowd pretty universally booed the pigs, and they have been forced to defend their use of a taser on an elderly man whose only apparent crime was to flip them a finger for interrupting his enjoyment of the game.

Of course, Mr. Bruso may be elderly but he is a motherfucking big guy, and apparently scares the shit out of a lot of people when he starts cussing. Buncha fucking pussies, if you ask me. Actually, los gatos de mi casa would like to repudiate the use of that term and refer you, our fine readers, to cats of your own acquaintance who, in the middle of a fight, have been known to call each other things that would make a longshoreman faint dead away.

In the event, it is not clear to us that Mr. Bruso actually *is* a vet, or actually served in Vietnam, but it appears to be the case, and we take the man at his word. As for his encounter with this dumbass, some people — a lot of people, sadly — are trying to make this about race.

To that, and to those people, let me just say a hearty "Fuck you." Black, brown, and white, all of us who saw this saw an idiot messing with a guy that he should have left alone. And he got his fucking ass kicked, and that's fine by me, and, apparently, by a huge honkin' slice of Oakland's nonwhite community. So don't try to make this about no white people's shit, because it ain't. Kudos to the black lady who tried to calm everyone down and keep the situation from escalating. And a heartfelt kick in the ass to the bitches who kept egging the parties on.

It's about acting tough and trying to fuck people over and getting what you deserve.

The people who videotaped this whole escapade apparently stole (as seen on the video clip) Mr. Bruso's bag, and although police returned it to him some time later, it was missing the money that had been it. I hope the thief develops the world's worst case of crotch rot that will only be alleviated by returning the money.

The upshot of this little incident is that Mr. Bruso was taken by the police to a psychiatric facility to be evaluated. Apparently, he had gone off his medication.

In the event, it ended reasonably well for Mr. Bruso. He was released, and his assailant has refused to press charges. I guess it's just too embarrassing to admit that someone your granddad's age fucking kicked your ass even though you were armed with a knife. It should keep the idiot, at least temporarily, from pulling knives on elderly bus riders.

Here is Mr. Bruso telling his story:



You can tell from listening to him that something is not quite right with Mr. Bruso. He might be developmentally disabled or delayed; he might be mentally ill. Nothing has been confirmed as yet. But there was no call for that bratty little thug to treat him the way he did, and I'm glad that Mr. Bruso escaped unhurt.

In the meantime, he's become an Internet sensation. Apparently, a lot of people are really really pissed off about the thug shit they see going down every day, and the unfortunate characters involved in this YouTube episode have attained the status of a meme. Mr. Bruso is now Epic Beard Man, although I'm not sure he understands any of it. Whatthefuckever, yaknow?

Just please note that if he actually is a Vietnam vet, Mr. Bruso represents a generation — some 3 million young men (mostly) and a few young women — who answered their country's call and (mostly) volunteered to serve in Vietnam because their leaders told them that they were protecting America and keeping her safe. And many of those who fought in that "war that was not a war" came home to a lukewarm welcome at best. More to the point, many of them came home severely fucked up, to a country that did not seem to want to address what they had gone through.

It's too late, probably, to fix whatever went wrong with most of the boys who were shipped over there with their young heads stuffed full of lies. But it's not too late to help the men they have become. If you know a vet who served in that war, thank them for their service. Give them a little respect. Understand that they've seen things, and lived through things, that would have you screaming from nightmares for the rest of your life. They didn't ask for it and they didn't know, but they and their families have had to deal with all kinds of toxic fallout — physical, mental, and emotional — for decades. So give them the kindness of your attention and your respect.

Note: As always, the jackals and vultures are already hovering. Someone's selling "I Am A Motherfucker" teeshirts and advertising it via YouTube, claiming they'll give some of the money to Mr. Bruso. I kind of doubt that. But who knows? We'll try to follow up on Mr. Bruso's story. In the meantime, if anybody tells you this is about race and white people kicking black folks' ass, or black "thugs" owning public transportation, please tell them to just go fuck themselves. The man is not quite right and I hope no one takes advantage of him.

That is all.

Stumble It!

Health: Kidney Donations and Transplants

Today's health story is about a kidney donation.

I can't use the real names of the people featured in this story, so I'll call them R1 and R2. They served together in Vietnam as young men forty years ago.

As young draftees, they were part of a tight-knit group that repeatedly risked life and limb in the course of duty.

Yes, we all have strong opinions about that "war" that was never declared a war, about the millions of Vietnamese peasants and farmers who lost their lives, their homes, their farms, their families, their limbs; and the 58,000 Americans who came back in body bags. But the young draftees were not to blame for any of this, even if a few of them went on to commit war crimes. By and large, they were serving in the military for a myriad of reasons and most of them conducted themselves decently.

They are now in their sixties. Silver-haired men who continue to stay in touch, forever connected by the ties that bind, watching friends and old comrades drop away due to the ravages of old age.

So R1, a man who suffered many grievous wounds in the course of service, suffered a recent insult to add to all his injuries: his kidneys started shutting down. For close to two years now, he's been on dialysis. If you have healthy functioning kidneys, you probably don't know what dialysis is. Thank your lucky stars. It's not for the faint of heart.

Essentially, because your kidneys can no longer filter harmful wastes and extra fluids out of your body, you have to go to a location (a clinic or hospital) where you get hooked up to a machine that slowly filters your blood for you. This is called hemodialysis. Because only a few ounces can be filtered at a time, the procedure takes up to five hours. And you have to do this three times a week.

In addition, you don't get to eat tasty stuff anymore. No bacon, no salt, no cheese, no ketchup, no crackers, no chips, limited quantities of potassium-containing fruit and vegetables, or items high in phosphates (like chocolate), or protein (meat, dairy products, whole grains, nuts).

Fun, huh?

In the event, R1, after suffering through this and waiting patiently for a kidney donor, was finally told he didn't have much time left if he couldn't get a kidney replaced. So he put out the word to his old buddies: can ya spare a kidney for a fellow trooper?

Unbelievably, to this old cynic, at any rate, replies came pouring in. Yes, they would spare a kidney if they could, said his brothers in arms. Dutifully, they submitted to the tests required to determine if any of them qualified — and if they didn't make a perfect match, they'd donate anyway, if they could, just to bump their old buddy up to the top of the list so he could have the next kidney that did match his needs.

There is a special deity for old soldiers, methinks, and s/he lent a hand. After much trading of insults (which, really, is just another way of saying, "Hey, man, I fucking care,") one of his brothers in arms was found to be both in good enough physical shape to spare a kidney and to be a match for R1. So R2 (the trooper with two good kidneys and a clean bill of health) signed up to give one of his to his fellow serviceman, R1.

Sometime in January, the swop takes place. R2 goes home with one less kidney, and R1 emerges with one working kidney, to a life of, hopefully, no more dialysis. Send some good thoughts their way, peeps. Just because it's so fucking heartwarming that somebody would give up a vital organ for someone else, in commemoration of bonds forged four decades ago.

The deity of old soldiers would like both these fine men to know the following information, published in Science News (175:5):

The Jan. 29, [2009] issue of NEJM (the New England Journal of Medicine) has reported that Hassan Ibrahim and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis have found that kidney donors have the same probability of survival over several decades as the general population, including adequate kidney function and — surprisingly — even less risk of severe kidney disease. The data was derived from studying kidney transplants performed at U.Minn between 1963 and 2007, including selecting 255 of the donors to undergo kidney function tests. The test results were then compared with similar tests on individuals with two functioning kidneys, and donors were matched for race, gender, body weight, and age.

So, R2, for your great generosity in donating one of your healthy functioning kidneys to R1, the deity of old soldiers wants you to know that you're giving away nothing but your love, man. Power to you both, continued health and long life.

ICHC

And as for those who are all, like, supporting the troops? Consider donating an organ. Especially you rich young Republicans who don't ever plan to sign up for military service but support all wars with your mouths. Now you can show that you *really* support the troops. Sign those organ donor cards and carry them at all times. And if you have two healthy kidneys, go see if there's someone who could use one.

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Politics: Supporting Teh Troops

ICHC U NO WUT

You know how the 82nd Chairborne support teh troops? They caterwaul about how the VA is a total waste of money (ignoring the fact that it's a socialistic, government-run health care system that gives teh troops teh "best health care" available). They complain that Walter Reed hospital is typical of the VA hospitals (ignoring the fact that the Bushies turned it over to private, "for profit" profiteers who took it to egregious new depths, leaving injured and helpless soldiers lying in pools of their own piss, exposing them to mold and dirt and disease in the interest of making one extra buck or twoi). They fight people like Jim Webb who created the new GI Bill that will acknowledge and reward those who lay their lives down when their country calls, and put their minds and bodies in the line of fire in the name of duty. They try to overturn such legislation while buying enormous American flags (made in China) or those stupid little yellow ribbons (also made in China). They attack vets who might not agree with wars of choice. They attack these people, their homes, and their families. From the comfort of their airconditioned offices.

They think it's totally OK that Blackwater, that crusading Christian bunch of bloodthirsty child rapers, shot and killed Iraqis "for fun" while making tons more money than the troops who volunteered to serve the nation. They think it's totally OK that Kellog, Brown, Root and its parent company Halliburton got "no-bid" government contracts and supplied the troops with rotten food and water while spending taxpayer money on luxuries for themselves.

You wanna know what "supporting the troops" looks like? This is supporting the troops. Friends of this soldier, who served two tours of duty as a medic in Iraq, rebuilt his classic car for him as a welcome home present. FTA:

One of them volunteered to rebuild the rig while Chad was serving his country as a medic, the second of two tours to the Middle East. Chad also served as an active duty member in 1991 during the first Gulf War.

Chad's friends and family spent weeks re-wiring and re-building the 66 Chevy, then surprised him when his deployment ended.

To the 82nd Chairborne: That's supporting the troops, motherfuckers. Not threatening them and trashing them and criticizing them. Fixing the car they left behind. Helping out their parents, or their spouses, or their kids. Sending them things they need. Raising money to buy them decent body armor when Dick "Dick aka Satan" Cheney pulls strings to award taxpayer money to military contractors who give these poor guys and gals body armor worth less than shit. Adopting their pets so the soldier can leave with an easy mind and look forward to coming home to a friend who will probably console them better than most people could.

That's fucking supporting the fucking troops. Sign up, you chickenshit motherfuckers, before attacking those who have the guts to do so. Let's see you slog in the desert heat, live on contaminated supplies, and get your ass shot off a couple of times. Then come tell us about "supporting teh troops."

Stumble It!

R.I.P. Roger Greenan

Roger Alan Greenan

Roger Greenan died of a heart attack a week ago. He was a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam Conflict (as my friend, a VN vet, reminds me, it was not a war).

I met Roger in Singapore, when he was working in Indonesia, some years after his time in Vietnam. He was a neighbour, an acquaintance, and later, a friend. A very valuable friend. In fact, it would be no exaggeration to say that I would not be here today if not for Roger.

I lost touch with Roger long ago — he was a very dynamic individual, and moved around a great deal, and I — well, I was young and rootless and fairly directionless, as well, moving around a great deal myself.

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to find Roger again. And, ironically, too late. Because the one thing I wanted to do was thank Roger for his kindness to me. He took it upon himself to talk to me about life and the art of living. For reasons unbeknownst to me, he worked to get past my rudeness and hostility towards him, and in so doing, made me understand that I had to make a choice, and spiraling downwards into depression and suicide was not a choice, but a renunciation of choice. It takes a little work to make a choice. Lying back and letting things happen is not making a choice, it's abdicating from one's responsibilities.

Other things Roger taught me: A person's first responsibility is to themselves. You, and you alone, are responsible for figuring out your life and living it. Only after you have discharged that essential responsibility are you in a position to take on any additional responsibilities. Life is a struggle, and a body has to do whatever they need to in order to survive. Survival is more important than dignity.

I'm sorry I never got to say thank you, Roger, but I've thought of you constantly throughout the years. So here's my public acknowledgement: Thank you, Roger Greenan, for all that you did for me. You were a good man, and generous to a fault.

Details of Roger's life and death are available here. As you can see from reading it, my high opinion of Roger was shared by many.

As an atheist, I feel the loss of Roger more keenly than those who might believe in some deity that ensures further contact with the dead. I'm not sure what "R.I.P." means, really, for people like me, except that, as Shakespeare said, so long ago,

Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Fear no more the frown o' the great;
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning-flash,
Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan;
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.

No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renownéd be thy grave!

He was only 67 — rather young to have gone. My mother was 84 when she popped her clogs, and Dad is in his mid-nineties, and still with us. Undoubtedly, being sent to VN and serving in the frontlines of that conflict shortened his life. As it will shorten the lives of all those still among us, who served. Goodbye, Roger. Trouble will trouble you no more. Thanks for all you did, for so many. You were a good and courageous man.

Renownéd be thy grave.

Stumble It!

Caturday!

ICHC Cattitude Center

Wish I could get into that position, but I'm at 90+ degrees flexion? extension? on the old knee, which isn't too shabby. That's OK, I can still kick ass, and intend to.

Dear nonblogger friend McBlogget, who often lurks to comment, points out that a one-legged ass-kicking would leave me without a leg to stand on, so to speak. Pfft! We can kick ass leg or no leg. Besides, given the number of potential victims who are just begging to get on my butt-booting list, how can I possibly rest now? There'll be riots, I tell you, RIIIIOOTS!!

For example, take the U.S. Army. No, really. The Republicans spent over a decade staining their pants with piss about how no one in the whole Yooniverse was more patriotic than they because they Supported Ahr Troops. What means this, "I support our troops" crap? Does this mean "I support the USAF, no matter what it does"? That if tomorrow our brave soljahs were told to rape your wife and kill your kid and knife your octogenarian nonna in her bed, you would wipe away a tear and press a hand to your heart in support of their actions?

Of course not. What it means is, "We're not those dirty fucking smelly hippies our parents (or their friends) were, and to prove it, we're going to parrot this slogan." That's all. Because you can't support the USAF when that benighted bunch of moneygrubbers in the Pentagon does this to one of their own employees. Sending a sergeant to get his ass shot off and then billing him for the honor is beyond scummy. While the generals and bigass hotshots suck corporate dick by the bucketful, they walk free when the grunts whom they left to mind the store fuck up. Those poor schmoes, already at the bottom of the ladder, are getting shat upon, spat upon, spooged upon, and screwed. All without the benefit of protection or lube. They're promised bonuses which are never handed out; they're promised health care which ends up with the tragic sight of wounded men and women lying in pools of their own piss under moldy walls and leaky roofs; the only thing different between Vietnam and Iraq is, we're not spitting on these sods for doing their jobs.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't question why those motherfuckers at the Pentagon keep sucking up taxpayer money and spitting back the broken bodies of our children. Like John McCain, who turned his back on POWs, attacked, verbally and physically, relatives of MIA servicepeople, and refused to support basic health care and benefits for veterans, everyone on the Hill needs to qualify what exactly they mean by "support the troops," because charging this guy $3 GRAND to fix a leg that got broken because you ballgargling yambags sent him out there to get shot at does not cut it in my book. So bend over and grab your ankles, you pathetic chum-swizzlers, because the ass-kicking's about to begin.

And while we're at it, the Republican schmuck who has the gall to say stuff like this needs to get stuffed. Preferably with a hedgehog (not a live one; we're thinking metal, with tiny sharp needle spikes). For those unwilling to click teh link, teh speaker is one Nasser Kazeminy, Iranian-born douche and beneficiary of our previous meddling in middle-eastern politics. Here he is flapping his gums:

According to the transcript, Thomas was asked, "In that conversation that you had with Mr. Kazeminy, did he tell you, quote, United States senators don't make shit, close quote? Or words to that effect?"

Oh, is that right, Mr. Kazeminy? Guess what? Most Americans don't make shit. Whereas most senators make over $100K p.a. If you think that kinda money is "shit," you need to be stripped of all your assets and most of your clothes and given a little "free" government housing in the East LA projects, or someplace, where you can experience life on a rich diet of Doritos and soda pop.

Feckin eejit.

Enough with the mad already. I'ma gonna sit outside in the sun for a bit and think of what we all can DO to put paid to this sort of crap and move the country, and ourselves, back towards recovery.

It's Caturday! Enjoy your day! Hell, enjoy the whole damn weekend.

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A Good Sex Life

Sex is a very important part of an adult's life, don't you think? Intimacy, closeness, love, affection, warmth, appreciation, those things are all important too. But there's something about fucking someone else, preferably someone you love but in a pinch, anyone who wants to make like a bunny with you, that really gets the old happy juices (and other juices) flowing.

And if you've had the pleasure of getting it on with someone, maybe a partner, maybe a spouse, maybe just a Friend With Benefits, it's hard to accept that that part of your life may not exist any more. Or may be changed forever.

What about injured veterans? Raw Story carries an interesting article today about badly-injured veterans and their sex lives.

You (hell, all of us, except the vets) probably never thought about what injuries might do to a body's sex life. Because, let's face it, most of us go through life not expecting to get so severely injured that we can no longer get it on with our sweet patootie. Right? Who walks around thinking, "Hell, wonder what I'll do if I lose my leg/arm/half my face?" Nobody, that's who. Nobody in their right mind, anyway.

Of all the grievous harms that have come to the people who signed up thinking they would be defending their country, thanks to the lies of a small group of wealthy, powerful, manipulative motherfuckers, this has to be the worst. And you don't even have to lose an arm or a leg to be affected. You could be one of the 600,000 or so vets suffering from TBI (traumatic brain injury) or PTSD, and still find that your sex life might be fucked (so to speak) for a long time.

Psychological and neurological disorders can interfere with behaviors necessary for successful intimacy, such as experiencing and expressing emotion and understanding someone else's needs, the study noted. And anger and aggression, including domestic violence, have been associated with mental disorders.

According to the Veterans Affairs Department's National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, sexual dysfunction tends to be higher in combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder than in those without.

How do we evaluate that kind of stress and pain and suffering and loss? All we can say is, if our sex life got put on hold for reasons not within our control, we'd be one crabby motherfucker, and wherever we lived, they'd better have some damn good gun control laws.


Meanwhile, in other news, that miserable draft-dodging "I had other priorities" POS chickenshit chickenhawk Dick "They call me Dick for a reason" Cheney had the gall to tell Coast Guard graduates today, about the war into which he and his millionaire buddies dragged us:

"The war on terror is a lengthy enterprise, but it does not have to go on forever [,..]".

[...]

"More than that, quitting would be an act of betrayal and dishonor. And it's not going to happen on our watch."

Do these fuckwits have even the first notion of shame?

Crossposted over at Out of Iraq Bloggers Caucus

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The Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright

Over at his site, Buzz Daly publishes a lengthy defense of the Reverend Dr. Wright, for those interested in the issue.

As a rank atheist (or perhaps we mean a ranking atheist?), we tend to stay away from god-botherers of any stripe, and we're grateful to Ms. Manitoba for publishing a brief defense of Dr. Wright on this blog.

However, we agree with Buzz that the issue is not whether Dr. Wright is right or wrong about anything. We believe the issue is that the vultures of the rightwingnutjobs and the media are doing their usual distract-attack shenanigans in a test of the strength of Obama and his supporters and the left in general and progressives and Democrats.

Therefore, all of us need to step up and point out that this is just a distraction. America was founded on the Constitutional principle of free speech. Those who threaten to attack and kill Jeremiah Wright for speaking his mind are violating the Constitution. They need to be told firmly, "Not this time!"

Not this time, you don't distract us. Not this time, you don't get us to take our collective eye off the ball. Not this time, you don't smear a decorated veteran who served his nation honourably during a time of war. Not this time, you don't get to smear the people's choice of presidential candidate for the remarks of someone else. Not this time, you don't get to attack our collective right to free speech and expect us all to fold like cheap card stock and baa in agreement like sheeple.

Not this fucking time. We don't give a shit about what you think about Reverend Wright. It's a free country. Think what you like and say what you like. But stop trying to divide us, and get us to take our eyes off the prize.

We recognize your tactics, you vultures. You sat quiet when the swiftboaters attacked another decorated veteran, and then you piled on, or crept away. If you don't have any respect for your own fucking Constitution, you don't deserve its protections. Stand up! Stand up on your hind legs, everyone, and remember the saying of Evelyn Beatrice Hall, Voltaire's biographer: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

That, people, is the essence of free speech. That is America's strength. We defend free speech, and we reject any attacks upon it. Our Constitution says we have the right to speak freely. Our Founding Fathers and Mothers built this country on the right of the people to have their say. That is a precious right, bought with blood. It is ours, and we're not giving it up, and every one of us must fight against the attack on free speech and the Constitution, disguised as an attack on a single person who may have said something we don't like or don't agree with or don't want to hear.

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World: Poodle Clipped

Keresaspa tells it like it is

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Sorry, people. After the most recent and really depressing post, we had to find something to take our mind off the tragedy, and Tony "T3h P00DL3" Blair obliged so obligingly, we gotta give him two thumbs up! (Up what, we refuse to say.)

The Guardian finds that much of Europe is violently opposed to the idea of Pretzelnitwit McChimpyDunce's favourite lapdog heading the EU. We couldn't agree more! In fact, we hope someone in the U.S. creates a web site much like the European Stop Blair site. That kneepadded lickspittle Tony Bleargh deserves to go down in infamy.

What's the matter, Tony? Your attempts at bringing your own IraqWarLike brand of peace to the Middle East showing the same kind of "success" the Iraq War did?

Glob-a-log Shows Us Tony's Work For MidEast Peace

That fat bank gig that Dimwit McPretzelChimp arranged for you run out of money? What?

We'd really like to know why that pathetic bastard of a war criminal needs another job. His bank job is a part-time advisory gig that pays over $1 million a year. Here's the Times' analysis of the son-of-a-swine's fiscal picture:


Meanwhile, the soldiers he threw into Iraq to suffer injuries and die have a very different financial picture. Here's an excerpt from the Times:

Iraq veteran Colonel Tim Collins discovered after leaving service that he was entitled to compensation for neck and ankle injuries sustained in a parachuting accident. It took him six months to arrange monthly payments of £114.

He said: "This Government mistreats soldiers and wants the cheapest Army it can get. Even the largest payments available to service personnel are barely a living wage.

As for his attempt to polish the stinking turd that is his legacy to the world, The Guardian says, in part:

A "Stop Blair" website run by pro-Europeans has launched a petition against him; a transnational, cross-party caucus in the European parliament is forming to campaign against a Blair presidency; senior officials in Brussels are privately dismissive about the new post going to a Briton; and senior diplomats in European capitals also doubt that Blair is the right person for the post being created under Europe's new reform treaty.

[...]

"But more generally the German political elite would be puzzled by the idea of Tony Blair. His track record on EU matters is not so great. There is unease about a Briton at the top in that job. And then personally with Blair, there's the Iraq thing."

Sources close to Merkel confirmed her opposition. "He made a lot of fine speeches about Europe but, essentially, stood on the sidelines when it came to concrete steps forward," they said.

HAHAHAHA!!! Oh, this is rich! The Europeans are, once again, proving that they actually pay attention to politics, unlike the morons that seem to form the bulk (yes, we do mean bulk) of the American voting public.

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War: Suicide Rates For Veterans

Pic from the official site of the 1st Marine Corps District

Via Raw Story comes a report that CBS News has found veterans are committing suicide at twice the rate of the civilian population.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) estimates deaths from suicide in the civilian population aged 10 - 24 at approximately 4,600 in 2004, making suicide the third leading cause of death. Suicide deaths rose by 8 per cent from 2003. CDC reports that is the largest increase seen in 15 years.

The report on military suicides appears to be based on a study funded by the NIH (National Institutes of Health) that shows male veterans in the general U.S. population are twice as likely as their civilian peers to die by suicide. Results of the research by Mark S. Kaplan, DrPH, and colleagues from Portland State University and Oregon Health & Science University were published online June 11 in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health and will appear in the July issue. The study also reported this intriguing fact:

... 75 percent of veterans do not get their health care through the VA ... .

A larger study, a joint effort between the Department of Veterans' Affairs and the University of Michigan, reports that veterans receiving treatment for depression are no more likely to take their own lives than are civilian patients, according to the New York Times. The report cautions, however, that because most former servicemen and women with mental problems do not seek treatment in the Veterans Affairs system, the results should not be applied too widely. Hmm. There it is again. That disturbing fact.

Numerous studies have shown that war has detrimental effects on the mental health of civilian and military populations.

Among the consequences of war, the impact on the mental health of the civilian population is one of the most significant. Studies of the general population show a definite increase in the incidence and prevalence of mental disorders. Women are more affected than men. Other vulnerable groups are children, the elderly and the disabled. Prevalence rates are associated with the degree of trauma, and the availability of physical and emotional support. The use of cultural and religious coping strategies is frequent in developing countries.

and

"Almost one-third of U.S. soldiers seeking government health care after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are diagnosed with a mental problem, researchers said on Monday in a study calling for more emphasis on the mental wounds of war."

And, from researcher Dr. Karen Seal of the University of California and the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center:

... the prevalence of mental problems among veterans threatens "to bring the war back home as a costly personal and public health burden."

"Our results signal a need for improvements in the primary prevention of military service-related mental health disorders, particularly among our youngest service members,"

Seal wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Seal reports that 31 percent of the 100,000+ veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were diagnosed with at least one mental health problem. These people are not getting the help they need. The cost to their families and society is huge and burdensome. Meanwhile Awol McChimpface continues to slash spending on veterans' health care, even as he accuses everyone but God of "not supporting teh troops."

The worthless blivet needs to be impeached.

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War: Veterans' Day

Fixer already said it, and so much better than I could have.

That is all.

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Veterans: Supporting The Troops?

Words from the therapist who taught us about toxic parents: If this is love, then I don't want it - could be slightly adapted for our poor veterans, who are suffering unbelievably at the hands of the thugs and crooks in Bush's administration. If this is "Support The Troops," then stick it up your keisters and give us what we need, you worms.

According to the Spring 2006 newsletter from Another Mother For Peace:

More than 260,000 veterans who applied to receive health care at the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2005 were turned away!

Since January 2003, the Bush Administration has barred access to VA care to veterans who do not receive monetary compensation for service-connected disabilities and whose incomes were above an arbitrary threshold. The VA estimated that from January 2003 to September 2005, eligibility requirements barred more than 500,000 veterans from services they are entitled to. In 2005, the income threshold that would bar an unmarried veteran from VA services was $26,902. To add insult to injury, the VA has started to charge an annual fee of $250 to new veterans who apply for care!

Excuse me? WTF is this about? $26K for a disabled person is rock-bottom survival money, to begin with. Such a person could barely survive in most cities in the U.S. (which is where accessible health care is located). They'd be eating stone soup and beans and rice to do it. If they're not getting free health care, they're in bad, bad shape - suffering. We don't think - and we'll bet you don't think either - that it's right to treat people like that whose only "mistake" in judgment, as conservatives might label it, was to serve their country. And charging them $250 to apply for care? That is bloody outrageous.

We do not support the illegal and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq. But we'll be damned if these shoddy schmucks get to ride this thing out on the backs of the working men and women who volunteered to serve their country.

And now, the NYT tells us that 1 out of every 8 veterans is uninsured! What the hell does that mean? We don't care if they're insured or not, that's just a way for the insurance companies to get richer bleeding taxpayer dollars out of the treasury. We want them to have health care - the best health care, not the rags and tags and crumbs off the table. The same kind of healthcare that Mr. Colonoscopy got earlier this year when taxpayer-funded doctors were sticking probes up his bung. One out of eight! That's scandalous!

According to the article:

Researchers at Harvard Medical School projected that about 1.8 million veterans overall lack health coverage. That's an increase of 290,000 since 2000. The researchers said most uninsured veterans are in the middle class and are ineligible for VA care because of their incomes. Still others cannot afford their copayments, or lack VA facilities in their community.

''Like other uninsured Americans, most uninsured vets are working people -- too poor to afford private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care,'' said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, an associate professor and a physician at the Cambridge Health Alliance.

The study is based on an analysis of government surveys released between 1988 and 2005. Veterans do fare better than the overall population when it comes to obtaining health insurance. Still, the Harvard researchers said the rising number of uninsured vets points to the need for more funding for the VA. The best solution, they said, would be for universal health coverage in the United States.

For a scathing analysis of what the bushies' budget is doing to veterans' health care, drop by at VA Watchdog.

Meanwhile, Raw Story informs us that Li'l Boots plans to govern by fiat, since Congress is no longer his personal rubberstamp. When the hell did this great nation turn into a dictatorship?

It's enough to curdle the milk in your morning cuppa tea.

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Iraq - CNN Kisses Preznitential Tuchus

Image from All Hat, No Cattle

What else can one term this disgustingly sycophantic report? Why aren't they asking why the Preznitwit has to sneak in and out of Iraq, if the surge is so workingly working? Why no mention of the number of dead, the number of wounded, the vets who come back to homelessness and bankruptcy and failed marriages and ruined family life? About the skyrocketing suicide rates and PTSD undiagnosed and untreated cases?

And what does this mean:

President Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq Monday, saying fewer U.S. forces may be able to maintain security there at its current level.

Is this the end of "Teh Surge?" Is this the beginning of the phased withdrawal that Commander AWOL von Bunnypants assured those (cretinous 25%) who still support him would never happen?

And why doesn't CNN bother to mention that the military is, essentially, broken, that Stupie McPoopie can't deploy any more soldiers without instituting a draft, because everyone's been deployed up to the very limit? Context is everything, you dumb motherfuckers.

How about some real journalism, CNN, you miserable assholes? Oh, right, that wouldn't serve your corporate masters and advertisers. Nobody wants to hear or read about the suffering that the average military enlistee goes through, that the average Iraqi goes through. Instead, Commander Bunnypants gets to ponce around with a handpicked audience of mouthbreathers and never has to meet with people who might disagree with him.

We are sowing the wind and we will reap the whirlwind. Thousands of troops returning from the Iraq conflict are suffering from PTSD, often undiagnosed and untreated. When they snap, they'll be taking out civilians all over the country, beginning with their families, friends, and neighbours.

Gads, this whole thing makes me sick to my soul.

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War - The Disappearing 'Mainstay'

It really makes me glad to read this news from NBC, via Raw Story. Glad, and at the same time a little sad. African-American parents are doing their best to stymie military recruiters, says the article, and here comes the sad part:

NBC News on Sunday examined the "disappearing military mainstay" of African-American recruits, who in recent years had provided about 1/4 of military enlistments.

Once seen by young black people as "a sure way to climb the ladder," the military is increasingly being shunned because of the Iraq War. "Nearly 3 in 4 blacks oppose the war," NBC stated, and the percentage of active-duty black soldiers in the Army "has plunged by a third since 2001."

For an ethnic group that totals approximately 10 to 15 percent of the total population to provide 25 percent of the military is sad.

That said, I don't think the reason behind the disproportionate number of black and brown soldiers in the front lines is racism so much as classism. If you're poor or working class, the military does represent a good way out of the grinding futility of your life. You might even be able to go to college and get a real job someday. At the very least, you could get decent medical care, and training and a skillset that could give you greater options in the real world.

Still, I'd like to see peace run rampant in the world, and training programs like the Peace Corps and the Conservation Corps offer young people a way out of the deadly grind.

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cannon fodder!

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War - The Death of Pat Tillman

Little by little, details have been trickling out about the suspicious death of Pat Tillman, erstwhile football star and Army Ranger, and scandalously abused poster boy for Bush's wars. They haven't been satisfying details, on too many levels. People have alleged a conspiracy, a murder, a vengeful Rummy. I wanted to hear from someone who has actually been on a battlefield, who knows the armaments used, the effects they produce, and can speculate with a factual basis on what might actually have occurred.

Of course, there's no way to find a trusted voice any more. The entire misadministration lies, every one of their associates, confederates, candidates, employees, appointees, and hangers-on is a liar and a puppet and a shameless whore.

But I did find this article, written by one Stan Goff and published in Counterpunch. I really liked the way he ended his article.

They pissed on our legs and told us it was raining. Liars, every goddamn one of them. Liars, con-men, and criminals. Based on the evidence, this is what I believe. Someone has to say this out loud. Dannie Tillman has been trying to tell us this for three years.

Read it for yourself and tell me what you think.

Meanwhile, has anyone begun an inquiry into the suspicious death of LaVena Johnson?

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Politics - The Romney Boys

Well, draft-dodger Mitt Romney has certainly proved to have a tin ear. When questioned recently by a woman whose brother is serving in Iraq about why his five military-age sons have not volunteered for a war he supports unequivocally, Mitt's response was:

BETTENDORF, Iowa -- Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Wednesday defended his five sons' decisions not to enlist in the military, saying they're showing their support for the country by "helping me get elected."

More here. Meanwhile, Jon Stewart defends the Mitt.

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Politics - How To Disembowel A Hypocrite

Verbally, of course. If you haven't seen/heard David Shuster's interview of Fouad Ajami on Hardball, rush over to Crooks and Liars forthwith. When Ajami's remarks regarding Scooter Libby ("fallen soldier?" Rising draft-dodger is more like it) were published, I had another aneurysm-inducing paroxysm of rage, shock, horror, and disgust. Where do these babbling mouthpieces come from? How can anyone say what this professional sycophant - who, incidentally, teaches at Johns Hopkins, reducing my respect for that heretofore venerated institution - said about Libby? Libby lied under oath. He swore by whatever he holds sacred to tell the truth, and then he fucking lied! And by that immoral act, he prevented many important truths from seeing the light of day. He subverted truth, justice, the law, and democracy. Is that an act equivalent to soldiery? I don't like war and I don't much like the military as an institution, while recognizing nonetheless that it is an unavoidable evil in an overcrowded world where we must compete for limited resources. But to become a soldier, one must swear allegiance to principles that require one to lay down one's life and limb for another. The crux of the matter is, of course, how one defines the "other."

Libby "laid down" not his life nor his limb, but merely the possibility of losing, temporarily, his freedom. And he did so for no motive, no dedication to an ideal greater than himself, no overarching morality or humanity, no noble cause. He did it because his boss promised him there would be no consequences. His letter to Judith Miller of the New York Times was creepy and vaguely threatening, I thought:

"... the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work—and life."

It sounded to me as if he was warning her against telling all she knew. In other words, like witness-tampering. Hard to prove, no doubt. And this lying creep is likened by Ajami to a soldier! I am pleased to say that David Shuster verbally disemboweled him, with Paul Rieckhoff of Iraq and Afghan Veterans Against War adding the flambe effect at the end. Aiyah!

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