[Pen-l] Sheehan's 4th of July message

[Dan Scanlan <coolhanduke1029@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ask Not What…
Cindy Sheehan

"There is no challenge greater than the defense of our nation and our  
values. The men and women of our military --- have signed up at a time  
when our troops face an ever-increasing load. Fighting a resurgent  
Taliban. Targeting al Qaeda. Persevering in the deserts and cities of  
Iraq. Training foreign militaries. Delivering humanitarian relief. In  
this young century, our military has answered when called, even as  
that call has come too often. Through their commitment, their  
capability, and their courage they have done us all proud.

"But we need to ease the burden on our troops, while meeting the  
challenges of the 21st century. That's why I will call on a new  
generation of Americans to join our military, and complete the effort  
to increase our ground forces by 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines."



The above excerpt is from a speech that the "peace" candidate, Barack  
Obama gave in Colorado on the 2nd of July. To be sure, he also called  
for other service to our country but I feel these two paragraphs  
highlight the continuing subservience the so-called public servants of  
the USA have to War, Inc.

The only reason that our military is under such a great "burden" is  
because politicians like Barack Obama have voted consistently for  
billions (some award winning economists estimate, trillions) of wasted  
dollars to continue BushCo's abominable occupations of Iraq and  
Afghanistan. Instead of increasing the Pentagon's already bloated  
budget, a true peace candidate would be calling for immediate  
withdrawal of forces from these countries so our military can begin  
the healing processes that need to occur to rejuvenate our broken  
military so we can have a true defense force and not an imperialistic  
ready response team to be on constant alert to storm any country at  
the whim of the emperor to spread corporate imperialism (what  
politicians call: Democracy) at the end of an M-16 or bombs bursting  
in air.

President John F. Kennedy, whom Obama is trying to emulate by calling  
for increased service to the USA, famously said in his first and only  
inaugural address:

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your  
country.

President Kennedy also said, less famously, in that same address:

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the  
power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life.

Since President Kennedy uttered those words almost 50 years ago, the  
USA has become very adept at ending all forms of human life and has  
also, unfortunately, become experts at increasing human poverty and  
all this is because we have not heeded Kennedy's predecessor, Gen.  
Dwight D. Eisenhower when he warned the nation of the military  
industrial complex which has expanded over the years into the Military  
Industrial Congressional Media Complex.

I would like to enhance Kennedy's famous words on this 4th of July  
when the country sets off on another celebration of gross militarism  
and the deaths of millions of people while we never pay tribute to our  
First Nation peoples who were exterminated so white Europeans could  
despoil a beautiful land. My new proposal for the 21st C. is:

Ask not what humanity can do for you, but what you can do for humanity.

A great beginning for the new surge of taking care of individuals  
instead of taking care of the pigs of War, Inc, would be to start  
withdrawing our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and don't forget to  
pull out the independent contracting companies and oil companies who  
through their No-bid Dick contracts are raping the region.

Since every aspect of humanity is being destroyed by our sometime  
unconscious and sometimes active denial of War, Inc's profound, multi- 
tentacled cancer, we need to drastically reduce the size of our  
military and "defense" budget. Yes, we have a new world, but the  
response to violence can never be "shocking and awful" more violence,  
especially since Iraq and Afghanistan were OVER reactions to the  
filthy imaginations of BushCo.

To encourage the reduction of violence and poverty, state education  
and health care should be free for all of our countrypersons, not just  
the ones who tragically, and for what ever reason, got sucked into  
being paid assassins for Uncle War, Inc. The need for the VA system  
would be eliminated, because a new-improved USA would not be creating  
damaged vets faster than they could (or even want to) fix them.

WE need to open our eyes and not blindly follow politicians because of  
the letter that goes after their names on the ballot. In almost every  
case this election season since the presumptive nominees have been  
declared, it has been very difficult to distinguish the D from the R.  
WE should be demanding more from politicians and not allow the lowest  
common denominator to grovel and pander his way into the oval office,  
again. Haven't we had enough?

What WE can do for humanity right now is break our individual ties to  
War, Inc. WE have to educate our children that politicians like Obama  
just want them to do the dirty work of War, Inc and have no feelings  
or compassion for their cannon fodder or the families of the cannon  
fodder who will be mourning instead of celebrating this weekend.

Fireworks are pretty and if you can afford the gas, go see a show. But  
never allow your mind to wander far from what our Republic has  
degenerated into over the past 232 years.

www.CindyforCongress.org




_______________________________________________
pen-l mailing list
pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l