Today's Today

All the great soldiers that cannot get older

Today's Today

The Americanization Of Emily

"We wear our widow's weeds like nuns, and perpetuate war by exalting its sacrifice."

Today's Tweet

Sound on please - for Guterman's reply.

SPEAKERS ON, PLEASE
Trump lays one at Arlington National Cemetery on #MemorialDay. pic.twitter.com/gh8uHBHBSc

— Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) May 25, 2020

Today's Today

"I will not change my mind."

--

"Then you will die stupid."

(Dr Who - The Zygon Inversion)

Mike Prysner - 2009

John Kerry - 1971

MLK - timeless

Kill For Peace - The Fugs - 1966

Everlast - 2009

Today's Today

Sam Stone - John Prine:

Today's Today

It's not just about the shitty things the other guys do to our kids.

And it's not just about the shitty things our kids do to the other guys.

In the end, it's mostly about the shitty things that happen inside all of those kids because of what we teach them to do to each other in a war.

Today's Today

What they teach us to think it is

Daylight again, following me to bed
I think about a hundred years ago, how my fathers bled
I think I see a valley, covered with bones in blue
All the brave soldiers that cannot get older 

Been askin' after you

Hear the past a callin', 

From Armageddon's side
When everyone's talkin' and no one is listenin', 

How can we decide?

Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground
Mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down

Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground
Mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down

 What it actually is

Today's Tweet

@aquintinilla
Compassion for service disabled #Veteran
is treatment
and support;
NOT punishment. pic.twitter.com/yukdSHtvHs

— Amphitrite Plays (@Pamela_O_Plays) April 24, 2016

Today's Today

It's said that every one of us is unique; that we all see the cosmos differently, and exist in it in our own way.  Some of those differences are slight and some are vast; but different, and personal and one-of-a-kind. So in a very important way, every time somebody dies, an entire universe dies with them. 

We should prob'ly keep that in mind when we're fixing to kill somebody; when we're sending people out to kill our "enemies".  

Remembering that all those universes are connected and intertwined - one with all the others, without even knowing who those others are - we're asking those people to kill part of us, and part of themselves as well.

And on the continuing theme of personal responsibility - holding ourselves ultimately accountable for our own actions:

You don't have much of a war 
if nobody shows up to fight

World War Something --Marc Wilson:

At some point, we have to start to wonder - what was all the fuss about?  Politics?  The color scheme of a flag?  Imaginary lines on a paper map?   

I See You And I Love You Still

Still --Alanis Morrisette

I am the harm which you inflict
I am your brilliance and frustration
I'm the nuclear bombs if they're to hit
I am your immaturity and your indignance

I am your misfits and your praised
I am your doubt and your conviction
I am your charity and your rape
I am your grasping and expectation

I see you averting your glances
I see you cheering on the war
I see you ignoring your children
And I love you still, and I love you still

I am your joy and your regret
I am your fury and your elation
I am your yearning and your sweat
I am your faithless and your religion

I see you altering history
I see you abusing the land
I see you, your selective amnesia
And I love you still, and I love you still

I see you averting your glimpses
I see you cheering on the war
I see you ignoring your children
And I love you still, and I love you still

I see you altering history
I see you abusing the land
I see you, your selective amnesia
I love you still, and I love you still

I am your tragedy and your fortune
I am your crisis and delight
I am your profits and your prophets
I am your art, I am your bytes

I am your death and your decisions
I am your passion and your plights
I am your sickness and convalescence
I am your weapons and your light

I see you holding your grudges
I see you gunning them down
I see you silencing your sisters
And I love you still, and I love you still

I see you lie to your country
I see you forcing them out
I see you blaming each other
And I love you still, and I love you still

I see you holding your grudges
I see you gunning them down
I see you silencing your sisters
I love you still, I love you still

I see you lie to your country
I see you forcing them out
I see you blaming each other
I love you still, I love you still, I see you

Songwriters
MORISSETTE, ALANIS / SHEARER, JOEL

Today's Tweet

Remembering #TommyYancy and all the brave fallen #veterans on this #MemorialDay #RollingThunder pic.twitter.com/V40PVlyRs8

— A Anderson (@Ward4Anderson) May 29, 2016

A Poem For Memorial Day

"You Have No Fucking Clue" 
by Vietnam War veteran Joe Depaoli

A bunch of young men in their late teens riding a bus to MCRD San Diego,
“Get the hell out of the bus and on those yellow footprints, you fucking Maggots”.
You have no fucking idea

Congratulations Marine, 
the pride one has.
You have no fucking idea

On our way by ship to Vietnam, 
riding out a two day typhoon on an old WWII troop transport.
You have no fucking idea

Off the coast of Vietnam, 
watching flairs, tracer rounds flying, shell bursts.
You have no fucking idea

Getting on a Mike boat 
and setting foot on enemy land - locked and loaded,
You have no fucking idea

An officer comes and says we can’t fire on the enemy until they fire first,
You have no fucking idea

The first night in enemy country,
You have no fucking idea

Short round, several Marines wounded,
"Corporal, take those two new Marines out about 3 clicks and set up an LP."
Night, dark as hell, seeing movement, fire M16 full auto, 
hear yells of, "I’m hit, I’m hit - cease fire", 
we just fired on or own ambush.
You have no fucking idea

Not on point today, 
Why am I flying in the air, trip wire and a grenade;
You have no fucking idea

Scraping my wounds and the wounds of guys next to me out with a brush, 
no anesthetic, 
until they are clean and bleeding,
You have no fucking idea

On the hospital ship USS Sanctuary, standing on the railing, 
watching a CH46 attempting to land on the flight deck, 
it suddenly pitches right and 19 folks are in the water… only 5 survivors.
You have no fucking idea

Alfa Company is gridded in by the NVA, 
only 26 non casualties out of 115 marines, 
rescue effort to pick up the dead and wounded, 
place dead and wounded on tanks.
You have no fucking idea

Take the wounded and dead off the tanks, 
some flesh remains on the tank exhaust, 
the burning flesh of Marines, so hastily loaded aboard,
You have no fucking idea

Back at Con Thien, only a couple of hundred incoming today, 
buddy hit twice by shrapnel, 
blew my radio away and part of one of my fingers, 
got to get him to the chopper,
You have no fucking idea

Med evac buddy, 
he lost one eye, 
at the hospital in Da Nang, 
someone yells, everyone that can get under your beds - incoming,
You have no fucking idea

On a C130 flying over the South China sea, 
finally feel a little safe,
You have no fucking idea

One month later landing at Travis AFB,
the cheers of all aboard resound as we touchdown back in the world,
You have no fucking idea

Seeing my mother and father, 
round eyes, 
no smell of cordite, 
no smell of burning 55 gallon drums of shit, 
no orders to lock and load, 
no sound of incoming, 
no dead bloated maggot infested bodies of the enemy on the ground, 
no one screaming "I’m hit - medic up", 
no more shredded jungle fatigues, 
no more dumping of enemy bodies in town squares,
You have no fucking idea

I look at my mother and father, 
dad has a fucking idea because he was in WWII, 
and my mother has a fucking idea because of being in an occupied country in WWII, 
nothing is said or needs to be said other than, “Glad you're home son.”

My wife, 
my children, 
my grandchildren, 
most of my family and friends,
You have no fucking idea

Dear Lord, 
Dear Ancient ones, 
how I wish I had no fucking idea.

hat tip = The Rude Pundit

On Memorial Day Eve

Relax and be mellow - and melancholy if you've been reflecting at all on the extraordinarily shitty reasons for feel-good bullshit celebrations on a day intended to memorialize lives cut short in service to the venal ambitions of politicians bent on conquest driven by corporate profit.

Freedom rings loudly now
Listen up, hear the sound
Screamin’ as the shots ring out
That’s what freedom sounds like now

Beating drums, fathers’ sons
Teach ‘em well to kingdom come
Steal the daylight from the sun
That’s what freedom has become

Stand over the shadow of a man
Starin’ at his lifetime with blood-stained hands
What had you planned to say?

Underground, out to sea
Bodies come to rest in peace
Fighting for the right for more
That’s what freedom has in store

Asphalt burns the un-soled feet
Vacant eyes in defeat
Lost the thread on every dream
That’s what freedom’s come to mean

Stand behind the handle of a gun
Starin’ down the future, darin’ time to run
Like time could run away

Freedom’s blowin’ sadly now
Listen up, love came ‘round
Candles burn in memory
Freedom is a fading dream

Today's Eternal Sadness

"We wear our Widow's Weeds like nuns, and perpetuate war by exalting its sacrifice."



Memorial Day is actually the one day I wish we could forget.  But as long as we seek  retribution while mistaking it for justice; as long as we see the extreme cowardice of brute force and insist on calling it gallantry; as long as we're willing to cover the stench of corpses rotting on the battlefield with dress uniforms and neatly folded flags, then we'll continue to have wars - which means we'll continue to have the dead and broken warriors that go with it, which means we'll continue to pretend there's something noble in sending people we love to fight and to bleed and to die in some shit-hole halfway around the world in order to get some dickhead politician re-elected so he can make sure ExxonMobil and Pfizer and Halliburton and Grumman and Goldman Sachs can add a few extra pennies to their quarterly earnings per share, which makes sure those companies have lots of extra cash to contribute to other dickhead politicians so we can keep this parade of war porn cranking along smoothly and efficiently.

In the meantime, maybe we could take just a moment away from our little celebratory circle-jerk and try to focus on a few of the reasons for this particular day.

One lousy fucking day - 0.3% of the year.

Anyway, take a look at this from Addicting Info:

Twenty-Two: the estimated number of veterans who commit suicide every day.

Three hundred and fifty: the number of active-duty military members who killed themselves in 2012.

Eight hundred and forty-one: the number of active duty troops who attempted suicide one or more times in 2012.

Eight thousand: the estimated number of troops who die by their own hand each year and that is a low estimate.

Military Crisis Line: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Military One Source: 1-800-342-9647

Wounded Soldier And Family Hotline: 1-800-984-8523

For Memorial Day

Anticipating that special feeling of sappy desperation from all the Facebookers and emailers who get really geared up to send and/or post all that drippy maudlin crap that often takes honest-to-god people in uniform and turns them into fetishized plastic effigies that resemble real human beings in practically no way at all:



And just as a reminder:  Way too many of us are way too fond of saying something like this:

"The warriors are not to blame for the war".  

Bullshit.

The ultimate responsibility for every war is borne by the individual soldier.

You don't have much of a war 

if nobody shows up to fight.