This new film seems like a must-see, for everyone but particularly for
those Americans who've never served in the military.
http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2005/03/04/gunner/index.html
Inside "Gunner Palace"
Soldiers in the new documentary, and Iraq war veterans, discuss how
filmmaker Michael Tucker captures the real terror and craziness of
their lives and service in Iraq.
"Filmed in late 2003 and early 2004, 'Gunner Palace' delivers a vivid
snapshot of the period after Saddam's Baghdad fell but before the
insurgency really began to metastasize. Although insurgent attacks and
roadside bombs were already taking a toll -- three soldiers from the
group were killed in the period between Tucker's two month-long stints
of filming. The security patrols through the restive streets of
Baghdad, he says, were frightening. 'Riding around in a Humvee without
any cover around you is a horrible feeling. You're so exposed, and an
attack could happen any second. It gave me a huge amount of respect for
what those guys do.'"
Also want to mention as well that a number of my friends returned home
this week aboard the USS Lincoln.
They provided aid to the people of Banda Aceh after the tsunami, and
their stories are horrifying and heroic. One friend, who led the relief
teams for 3 day stretches, says they worked themselves to exhaustion
bringing food and medicine to the people. He said that the devastation
was unbelievable, and that a river he saw was choked with bodies. He
also said that contrary to some news reports the people were very
thankful and appreciative for the assistance.
Additionally he pulled sailors from a helicopter which spun out of
control and crashed into a rice paddy.
These guys are good, brave people, with a respect for other peoples
that America's chickenhawks could learn from.
Eric
http://www.alternet.org/peek/
From "Peek", a blog of blogs....
*More rightwing goose-speaking (see next bit about Sen. Byrd below,
too, since this jibe is quite intentional on my part)....
* Republicans pay-off their credit card company donors with a
bankruptcy bill- and no exemption for the elderly, those bankrupted by
medical bills (common, as noted in a previous link), or those serving
in the military (who are often reservists and Guardsmen pulled from
well-paying jobs).
*Torture, yaaawn. Cuss words- GASP!
http://bigeddieradio.com/news.view.html?newsItemId=1626
Sen. Byrd's speech
Excellent speech and the rightwing's hypocritical reaction has been
hilarious. Folks like Limbaugh repeatedly characterize their opponents
as "Nazis" (e.g. "feminazis"), year after year, yet the right is
nonetheless expressing outrage that Byrd cited historical parallels
between Republican efforts and those of the right in pre-WW2 Germany.
"He's calling us Nazis!!!!"
It's made more hilarious by the fact that many figures on the right
were supporters of segregation- including one of Bush's Presidential
Advisors on the Implementation of Theocracy, Falwell- and yet the
Squawking Parrots (like weak kids in the schoolyard insulting the kids
that the bullies pick on) are predictably raising Byrd's membership in
the KKK 60 years ago, rather than addressing the issue. Joe
Scarborough, whose vicious political sleaze exceeds anything that
Howard Stern rolls out (though his show opens with heartwarming images
of kids and families), whose service to the country wouldn't qualify
him to carry Byrd's jacket, kept a graphic on the screen referring to
"Sen. KKK"- ah, the rightist Hate Screen up again. Not odd that they
never refer to Falwell's past when he and Bush are hand in hand,
hypocrisy and politics is their norm- nor is it odd that the left
doesn't continually raise such old issues against Bush supporters when
they aren't of relevance.
Meanwhile, one Republican Congressman recently suggested that the
millions of anti-war Americans should die as "human shields" and
another advocated the use of nuclear weapons on the people of Syria.
Cool to wish death on people- if you're a Republican- but most uncool
to point to historical precedents if you're not one.
Welcome to modern America, where the Republican Noise Machine and its
Squawking Parrots turn every issue into violent rhetoric and hatred
against anyone who isn't in step with their repressive militarist
agenda, hatred which only increases in stuttering fury when they are
called to task or reap a bit of what they have long sown.
How long until their hateful rhetoric gets someone killed?
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/5056/Links.html
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