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When Most of America are Veterans

I have this memory of my mother, when I was a kid, and its not the clearest of memories, but this is how it sits in my mind:

My mom was finishing her masters degree in social work, I must have been in the 5th grade. I remember because I would tell my 5th grade teacher sometimes, “My mom is getting her masters degree.” No idea why I needed to tell her that. Hopefully she had asked otherwise, what a little showoff I was.

Regardless in my memory she had a job or some kind of internship as part of her degree, at some counseling center in a city like Elizabeth, NJ. I can almost remember dad dropping her off at that place. I think alot of veterans went there.. vietnam vets. Mom would never, and has never been one to discuss people’s private details, I’m sure it wasn’t something she’d want to relive at home anyway. But I remember, and its still true, if you bring up life for Veterans trying to pick up the pieces back in the US, she has quite alot to say, and experience counseling them as her qualification to speak on this topic.

I thought about those days, which I’m sure my mom does as well as we watch hundreds of thousands of people being shipped off to a war zone… to a disaster.. and asked to do inhumane things such as kill or torture. I thought about it because I was cleaning the boat and listening to Radio Open Source’s program entitled “Coming Home: Iraq Veterans”. Now I wouldn’t say anything about it if it hadn’t reached into my heart and squeezed when I listened to these veterans speak.

Speak about the violence. What it was like to live that horror and follow orders to shoot people, and then come home and try to just be a friendly well adjusted neighbor again. At one point, one soldier is asked how people would act if they knew the types of things he had to do and what soldiers were required to do in Iraq.

The soldier replies…

“If they knew… they wouldn’t do it…. If people knew what war was about, war would stop. If my family knew, if people on the street knew, war would stop… if people knew, they would be alot more cautious about when war needs to happen.”

I listened to this show and I hit repeat to hear it again. I looked down at my dirty hands and the canal water.. I worried about what kind of future the US could possibly have with so many people damaged in such severe and not visibly detectable ways. I finally gave the engine a few pulls and listened to the engine reawaken after winter slumber, as Iraq veterans talked about their experiences in my ears.

Please listen to the show. Because besides the struggle to bring troops home and end this illegal and politically orchestrated war, the next biggest struggle that will effect the country for generations.. is how to help veterans deal with what they’ve been through, and handle the future as healthy civilians.

Todays Bigots

The by-line of the article reads as follows:

In an effort to close a chapter in America’s history of race hate, Washington is bringing elderly Klansmen to justice for killings carried out up to 60 years ago

Well now thats just a bit misleading and well… wishful thinking. The part about closing the chapter on race hate I mean, and the Klan.

Nope… that book isn’t even close to closed. Yet the Guardian isn’t alone when it talks about the civil rights struggle and racial violence in the US in the past test. You hear it all the time; I wonder how teachers are teaching the children in elementary schools?

See the KKK isn’t past tense. It is alive. Not only that, I learned recently that membership is at its highest levels since the 70’s! Yes… we’re talking about a membership boom in an era where some people would like us to believe racism and violent groups like the KKK are all done.

What causes a boom? Well we can deduce that one. The two very popular issues that drive today’s bigots to violence and organized oppression against specific groups: xenophobia and homophobia. By focusing on those two issues, as the Klan has apparently, they can count on all the immigrant haters and the gay marriage oppenents… ready to dawn the sheets and burn some crosses.. or whatever their modern day methods are. (buy a congressperson and rig a local ballot?)

Oh and one final note to all my blue state-northeast friends. If you’re like me you’ve often had the illusion that our states are much more open minded and forward thinking. Well, for the record, the active and growing KKK chapters are located in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. So much for what I thought was my forward thinking state-of-birth.

Humans Arise from Amsterdam Caves

Although my mind is on my journey to New Orleans, which is just one week away, it is impossible to ignore Amsterdam these days.

Yes, the city I call my wife is in bloom. I guess we skipped winter this year, because our first string of sunny and cool days is here, and it seems any human that can move on something or be moved in something is out on the town. They have emerged from the Dutch winter slumber, and by god… they’re everywhere.

As I rode to Krizu’s, to continue her new apartment painting, I zigzagged between runners, skaters, stoners, seniors, and wheelchair racers. Or so I think. Maybe they zigzagged around me as I struggled to snap shots from my fancy camera phone thing.

And of course, in the great tradition of Amsterdamers, I’ve also found time to work in the garden. Mostly cursing the neighborhood cat for using my garden as a litter box. Things are budding and Ive cut back the perrenials and shrubs. Now I can begin construction of a security system to scare the crap out of cats who are not welcome in my garden. Now the neighbor’s rabbits, they’re always welcome, cause they have nice attitudes.

Anyway what was I saying, oh… its suddenly spring and this is the part where you remember why you love this city and endure the bleak grey winter.

Tomorrow I’ll get back to global concerns and social justice… for now as I continue to plot the course from New Orleans to North Florida, here’s me covering the magical Lloyd hotel for Trippist.com.

I have Two and Im proud

WEll, there’s a new cabinet running the Netherlands now, and as per tradition, they’re already arguing about bullshit.

See, the coalition government has two ministers from the Labour Party who are muslim. Or perhaps more importantly in this case, one who is Turkish and one who is Moroccan, both – mind you – Dutch of course. So they have dual nationalities. As do countless others, not to mention probably millions in Europe, myself included.

Yet the parliament, which Im convinced is made up of some of the most racist, ignorant, hateful neanderthals the country has to offer.. have kicked up a big fuss about the ministers and their dual nationality. I believe the quote was “They have questionable loyalties” And they’re (on the right) talking about changing laws or god-knows-what in order to force people to have only one nationality.

Yes they continue to try to put more nails into the coffin of what was once a very progressive and exciting country. With each year they dig up yet another hatemongering distraction of an issue that targets we “the foreigners”.

But the jokes on them; all those reactionary dinosaurs in parliament. I’m younger then you are. And so are my immigrant bretheren. And we will live on long after you’ve decomposed, and we will keep our two passports, and we’ll speak whatever languages we like on these streets, and you’ll just have to roll around in your grave and try and get used to it.

To their credit, I believe one of the “accused” ministers said something to the effect of “Some of the worst crimes in the history of this country were commited by Nazi collaborators who only had ONE nationality.”

Dam right. I’m an Amsterdamer and this city is my home and you’ll have to pry my two passports from my COLD DEAD HAND.

More on Russian Oligarchy

As I periodically do on this blog, today I’m writing about how more and more obvious it becomes that the Russian Federation is run by an oligarchy.

Not that its so unique, lots of nations are run by oligarchies, but let’s stay on Russia today. Last weeks news that yet another person who was going to testify that the Russian secret police were responsible for the poisoning of that guy in the UK, once again threw an even brighter blinking red warning sign that not only is Russia run by an oligarchy, the oligarchs are willing to do whatever it takes to stay in power, and that includes the occasional murder.

Oligarchy: (according to webster) 1 : government by the few
2 : a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes; also : a group exercising such control

Radio Open Source had one of their must-listen-to programs the other day regarding Russia and just what has happenned to the country since their so-called adoption of the market system. Among the things that the interesting guests pointed out:

Anyway there’s plenty more where that came from, but the concern remains the same. Huge inequality continues to grow in Russia while a small group of people plunder its natural wealth. The population is decreasing while the rest of the world pretends Putin is a nice guy and nothing is wrong because they are so addicted to the fuel Russia will provide for the forseeable future.

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The following vlog entry is made specifically for Brooklyn College and the students of Prof. Brian Dunphy’s class. (brave souls!) The internet is welcome to watch as well, of course. This is about why I do what I do, the inspiration behind my little media career.