Thousands of young people have died in the past seven years fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today we honor those who have served.
Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Lillard, of Lincoln City, Ore., canvases Arlington National Cemetery as he places American flags at headstones in honor of Memorial Day. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
I think the public has the responsibility to do its job, especially when our government has killed, orphaned, maimed, and turned into refugees well over 1 million human beings, all based upon lies, greed, and arrogance, plus ruined military and our economy and brought us to the brink of bankruptcy. I think historian Howard Zinn says it best in his logic to our opposition to the Iraq invasion and subsequent occupation: “When a social movement adopts the compromises of legislators, it has forgotten its role, which is to push and challenge the politicians, not to fall in meekly behind them. We who protest the war are not politicians. We are citizens. Whatever politicians and profiteers may do, let them first feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not for what is winnable, in a shamefully timorous Congress.”
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WARNING: Due to presidential executive orders and signing statements, and provisions passed by the previous Republican-controlled Congress, the National Security Agency may have read this posting, as well as and any other private correspondence of mine, and may listen to my private phone conversations without warrant, warning, or notice, and certainly without probable cause. They may also arrest me without telling me of any charges against me, even transport me outside the United States, and hold me secretly and indefinitely in an undisclosed location without notifying my wife or relatives, and deny me access to an attorney. They may take my property under the executive order of July 17, 2007, never to be returned. They may torture me without fear of penalty or repercussions to them for their actions. They may do all these things to me, or to you, with little or no judicial or legislative oversight. This danger became ever more apparent, and ominous, on Sept. 19, 2007, when the U.S. Senate failed to reinstate habeas corpus as an inalienable right of American citizens. I/We have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current president and vice-president, and voting to remove all rubber-stamp Republicans and neocons from office, as well as other elected officials acting only in their own interests instead of those of the People and the Constitution, be they occupying local, state, or national positions of authority.
~Bruce Freeman; PROUD FOUNDER: Veterans Against Torture; PROUD MEMBER; Veterans for Peace, Veterans In Action, Disabled American Veterans, Patriot Guard Riders, Veterans and Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for America, Veterans Defending the Bill of Rights, VoteVets.org, Veterans For Common Sense, Rural Organizing Project; (PROUD SUPPORTER: Gold Star Families for Peace; Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America; Military Academy Graduates Against the War)
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I think the public has the responsibility to do its job, especially when our government has killed, orphaned, maimed, and turned into refugees well over 1 million human beings, all based upon lies, greed, and arrogance, plus ruined military and our economy and brought us to the brink of bankruptcy. I think historian Howard Zinn says it best in his logic to our opposition to the Iraq invasion and subsequent occupation: “When a social movement adopts the compromises of legislators, it has forgotten its role, which is to push and challenge the politicians, not to fall in meekly behind them. We who protest the war are not politicians. We are citizens. Whatever politicians and profiteers may do, let them first feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not for what is winnable, in a shamefully timorous Congress.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WARNING: Due to presidential executive orders and signing statements, and provisions passed by the previous Republican-controlled Congress, the National Security Agency may have read this posting, as well as and any other private correspondence of mine, and may listen to my private phone conversations without warrant, warning, or notice, and certainly without probable cause. They may also arrest me without telling me of any charges against me, even transport me outside the United States, and hold me secretly and indefinitely in an undisclosed location without notifying my wife or relatives, and deny me access to an attorney. They may take my property under the executive order of July 17, 2007, never to be returned. They may torture me without fear of penalty or repercussions to them for their actions. They may do all these things to me, or to you, with little or no judicial or legislative oversight. This danger became ever more apparent, and ominous, on Sept. 19, 2007, when the U.S. Senate failed to reinstate habeas corpus as an inalienable right of American citizens. I/We have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current president and vice-president, and voting to remove all rubber-stamp Republicans and neocons from office, as well as other elected officials acting only in their own interests instead of those of the People and the Constitution, be they occupying local, state, or national positions of authority.
~Bruce Freeman; PROUD FOUNDER: Veterans Against Torture; PROUD MEMBER; Veterans for Peace, Veterans In Action, Disabled American Veterans, Patriot Guard Riders, Veterans and Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for America, Veterans Defending the Bill of Rights, VoteVets.org, Veterans For Common Sense, Rural Organizing Project; (PROUD SUPPORTER: Gold Star Families for Peace; Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America; Military Academy Graduates Against the War)
— Bruce Freeman - May 29, 06:39 PM - #