Happy Memorial Day
It's Memorial Day, a day in which we remember and honor those men and women who died in the military service of this country. It's a day I mourn my brother who died of Alzheimer's hastened by the chemical exposures he sustained in Viet Nam. It's a day in which other families mourn the deaths of their lost soldiers, some dying as recently as a week or so ago.
And for what?
To say they died to preserve our democracy just doesn't cut it with me anymore. The last ten years I've come to realize that what my brother and others died for was to keep the 1% fat and happy and, unfortunately, in control.
That democracy has been sold to the highest bidders, from the White House right on down to the local dog catchers. Our Congress can't get even the tiniest bit of gun control passed, although an overwhelming majority of Americans want at the very least background checks for those who would purchase guns. Our president has continued the shredding of those rights guaranteed by the Constitution carried out by his predecessors. And our courts have tilted, nay careened, to the right to protect corporate interests to the detriment of we-the-people.
And I don't see an end to any of that.
So I mourn.
Labels: Corporate Welfare, Corporatocracy, In Memoriam, Reflections
posted by Diane at 2:30 AM
8 Comments:
It may not give you much comfort, but you are not alone.
You are so right, from the White House on down. What should have been a big wake up to people was the cast of characters this 'Democratic' president appointed to his administration. Especially this final slap in the American taxpayers face, the nomination of Penny Prtizger for Commerce Secretary.
I agree that there's no end to it all. Every day it's some new crime. And I do mean crime - deliberately undermining any economy, an individuals or a nations, by fraud is definitely a crime. And when the administration of the President of the United States tells you that they're too big to punish, well you know you're screwed. And just when you think it's over, this administration allows them to do it again, and again, and again.
Some of us have lost everything. Some of us are in the process of losing everything (like me). When there are enough of us out there in this position, it might not bode well for the thieves, liars, crooks and thugs. Because a people with nothing to lose become a people you cannot control.
Excellent three hour series on the Vietnam War on History2 today. It made me realize that reporters and photographers had access to troop actions, so the American people were treated every night on the news to images of wounded and dead American soldiers and mangled Vietnamese bodies. This probably hastened the end of the war finally.
In WWII their access was carefully monitored so the American people couldn't see the horror our troops were enduring or causing, and during the Iraq "war" they were "embedded" in troop missions where they could be monitored so as not be to be able to record the horrifying destruction we were causing over there.
I think there would have been a lot more anti-war protests if we could have seen what our bombs and bullets were doing to the civilian population and our soldiers.
Thanks, Anon and Amanda.
And Wagonjak, there might have been more protests indeed, but I'm wondering if that alone would have been enough for Iraq and Afghantistan.
Congress capitulated by passing the Authorization to Use Military Force, given Bush/Cheney free rein. It's clear that the press gave the same free rein, much as it is giving some of Obama's more serious attacks on the Constitution and international accords.
I guess I mourn my loss of innocence as well.
I no longer mourn my 52,568 comrades. I don't forget them - I don't need a tattoo to never forget. I'm not sure they'de be happy to see what we've become. Alas, the vast majority of we who remain are drunk on Kool'Aid and I a silent voice in the wilderness. I don't their passing, or any other.
It's all a lie. A big ass lie
Ten Bears, you are right on in your choice of words: "kool aid" and "dead ass lies" captures it all nicely.
How sad that we have come to this.
The last time an American soldier died defending our freedom was almost 70 years ago.
Coincidentally, I recently heard Slaid Cleaves sing the song "Hard to Believe", part of which goes:
Here comes another
Blown up kid from over there
Making the whole world
Safe for the millionaires
The same old swindle hides
Behind a fresh new coat of lies
It's no time to be naive
It's hard to believe
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