you're doing what we all should do, not participating in the madness, protesting as best we can, Showing the stupidity.
Thanks.
We need you here. Had all the adults who were called up had said "fuck no" we might be in a different place now.
As a Vietnam Era war resister I second the NO concept.
Right after that, we need to keep asking the question: "Why are we in Iraq?" until we aren't there any more.
I did visit Iraq Today, Jesse.
I just don't accept that studying the details of a corrupt Empire's adventure will do much to end the adventure.
But I liked your post anyway.
i second dave & RC...it sucks & it blows, but there's not a whole hell of a lot anybody can do at this point but what they're doing, as in keeping the heat on our "representatives" to wise the hell up & pull the hell out...i have no doubt that everybody on this board tried, really tried to make a difference back when it seemed a difference could be made, but what was the will of the people compared to the will of the powers that be? might as well have been standing in the rain protesting thunder & lightning...the greatest tragedy to me is that so many people knew how badly this would go, could see right through the lies & deceptions during the whole run-up, tried everything they could think of to forestall this catastrophe, &...& nothing...fast forward 4+ miserable, bloody, Orwellian years later, no end in sight to the carnage in Iraq, no justice in sight for the criminal villians Washington, just more lies, death, insanity, & the most horriffic injuries in the world...i had 3 good friends go over to Iraq, they're all back now, all in one piece (thank God), & only one of them (the army medic) completely lost it & had to be institutionalized because of what he saw over there...my other two friends, both once zany, imperturbable, obnoxious & fun...now just drink alot more & laugh alot less 
& i will surely be damned, because i just don't have & for the life of me can't come up with, a friggin clue what to do about it...
I know that it's really of no comfort to realize that lots of people feel this way. What can we do about this damn war, anyway? America now lives in a perpetual rock and a hard place.
But grappling with concepts of finding meaning in the world and wanting to identify at least your place in the sun is at least a start. I believe that we are of one consciousness and the more people who at least begin to think along similiar lines, the sooner we'll see a united effort toward change for the better.
ITM, I believe in the power of the written word. Look at what Steve accomplished. This blog exists because of him. The News Blog was a magnet for some interesting comments/talk and it built a community rich with a thought-provoking mindset , so much so, that I was floundering until this new blog got started.
Sure, this pales in comparison to what the troops are experiencing second by second. But I refuse to believe that we are without some value.
Given the current climate in this world, anything that helps retain one's sanity is a pretty huge deal.
So please accept my deepest gratitude....
Jesse: I didn't know how to deal with your post. it is the thoughts it provokes that chill me. It is the weight of worlds that have ended on our shoulders.
It is the weight of worlds. When I let myself see the suffering, (cursing the luxury of choice), every breath I take is more precious and more painful because of that weight. Every bit of knowledge I don't want, but have to let in (like Iraq Today), every morning of knowledge...every evening of knowing that the war(s) go on, spiraling down...
I have to offer my sorrow at your loss, and to thank you for putting words to this. Although I don't (as you know well) have your blessed and hard-earned ability to process endings and move to peace.
much love,
Just as there are chickenhawks those who believe in the war but refuse to fight in it, there are even more chickendoves, those who recognize that the war is evil but refuse to do anything to end it.
If anything is clear in the confusing mess of Iraq, it is that our political elite will do nothing to end this war. They laugh at your pathetic letters asking them to cut their own throats by ending it. It is their wisdom as a political elite that is on the line here, and they are not about to admit defeat.
Instead our political elite will respond to calls to end the war with more "bread and circuses", the one thing our elite excel at providing.
The way to end the war is for average Americans to use the one source of power that they have--their wallets. All Americans against the war should immediately go on a consumption strike, that is refuse to buy anything beyond the bare essentials. That new iPhone – forget it. A new DVD box of some stupid sitcom – not if you don’t want to be a chickendove.
Because that is the only hammer we hold against the political elite. Yes it is a broad brush, what has Apple actually done to cause the war? But targeting any economic protest will dilute its power. And asking the question about causing the war is reversing things. What has Apple done to end the war? Fuck all as long as you keep buying their toys. But stop buying and all the Apples (which just represent any company dependent on consumers, I have nothing against Apple in particular) will start laying some serious pressure on the backsides of our political elite.
And on the political side I would never again vote for either of the two main parties as long as this war is continuing since again they are equally guilty of causing and extending this war.
Jesse, you've done your time on the front lines. At our age, we are needed elsewhere. Like here on this blog, teaching the next generation the things they need to know. And home with our families, doing the essential work of making sure civilization will continue. And, as I wrote in the post above this one, fighting the good fight on those other front lines that run through our own neighborhoods. Those were, after all, the lines where the Iraq war was first started -- and originally lost.
You are where you need to be, doing what you're supposed to be doing. Do not doubt that; and don't mourn it. Every generation does what it must, and our childrens' generation will sacrifice more than most. They'll also be remembered as heroes as a result -- all in due time, which has not yet come.
Don't worry, though: Our time is still ahead of us, too. Our sacrifice is that we'll be forgotten as the sturdy shoulders the younger ones stood on, the ones who will raise them up within reach their glory. It's not a bad gig, and I'm sort of looking forward to getting on with it.
But first, we need to end this damn war. There is indeed a epochal battle to be fought -- but it's not going to be won (though it may well be lost) while we're mired in Iraq.
The News Blog was a magnet for some interesting comments/talk and it built a community rich with a thought-provoking mindset , so much so, that I was floundering until this new blog got started.
I was wandering around cyberspace like a fly over a pile of cowshit and trying to make do with reddit.com. Fucking reddit.com, for pity's sake!
Good post. I too feel that we, alleged heirs to the Spririt of '76, should do something... more.
But, what are we willing to risk and give up? Just the DVDs we don't have yet?
The DVDs we already have?
Our good credit scores?
Our careers?
Our freedom?
What will it take, and what are we willing to do?
There's a special place in Hell for Bush, Cheney and all their cronies who unleashed all this misery in the world.
It takes time, money, organizing, writing and effort to turn the imperial juggernaut around. The hardest is time, because anyone with any degree of honesty and empathy wants the bloody crime stopped right now. If 2006 is repeated and as many people act in 2008, and awful as it sounds, 2010, to get in early and fire another few war supporters in Congress than the corporate hierarchy will see their expensive political investments go for naught. This year is what 1968 was in Vietnam. The people have started to wake up to the fact that the American war leadership forgives terrorists who cooperate with American oli companies and their British and Dutch partners: Libya's Ghadaffi (Pan Am 108 and Lockerbie) and Iraq's al-Dawa (200 dead US Marines in Beirut). Make sure enough people don't forgive the Republicans, too and the Liebermans and this occupation will end in less than five years.
Of course I meant oil companies, doh.
There is more wrong with the US Ship of State and the popular culture aboard it than just Iraq. Perhaps media induced ignorance would be a good starting point for some correction.
Whatever the real answers, I hope we address them all the time here, and get them geared up and into the message mix by next summer.
And isn't it already time to encourage voting registration?
We can do that now, it is very simple.
great post Jess. Just found this site, since I hadn't visited the News Blog sine early June when I heard about Steve. God bless those of you who've picked up the torch, I know Steve would be proud. has anybody talked to or heard from Jen? She's in my prayers...
We can try to stop more people from meeting the same fate. That is what we can do.
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