Or, at least, my little, tiny corner of it...
I wonder about the rationality of people who think it's okay to go trillions and trillions of dollars into debt to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq without blinking an eye. But they freak out about healthcare reform here at home. Those who oppose this most strongly are usually those who are supposedly "prolife". Where is the prolife in this rationale?
A friend post this today on her Facebook: "is pondering a comment I heard this morning, "How are you going to rebuild Afghanistan while New Orleans is still not restored?" Hmmm.
I cannot find any resources out there in the virtual world that will tell me what the different bills really have in them, what the reality is vs. the fiction. Maybe, if I can get my addled brain to function (seriously, I can't think clearly these days), I can comb through some of these issues and get to the truth, write about them, do something. I'll work on that. But first, I have to get my brain jump started again somehow.
About the Fort Hood shooter: Much has been made about the fact that he is Muslim. If he had been a Jew or a Christian, would that conversation even be happening? He should not have ever been sent to Texas, of all places, for goodness sake. Texas is a hotbed of rednecks and idiots who are ignorant of what Islam is. They react to fear and do not ask the questions to get to truth. On the other hand, if the shooter was so opposed to going to Iraq or to war, he should have applied for conscientious (sp?) objector status. What he did was wrong no matter how you look at it.
Peace,
Amy
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Friday, November 06, 2009
Fort Hood
In memory and to honor those whose lives were taken so tragically and needlessly at Fort Hood yesterday. I have no words...
Sunset at Fort Hood, Texas, seen through the eyes of my son, Sgt. Jeremy Smith, who was stationed there when he died.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Bin Laden Death Coverup, Politics and Tragedy
WITH BIN LADENS DEATH CONFIRMED BY TOP SOURCES, FBI, PAKISTANI INTELLIGENCE, IS THE "ZOMBIE BIN LADEN" HOAX A "WEEKEND AT BERNIES" BY KARL ROVE OR A TRAGIC SCAM THAT HAS KILLED HUNDREDS OF ELITE TROOPS SEARCHING FOR A GHOST?
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor
Back in December 2001, newspapers in Pakistan announced the funeral of Osama bin Laden. After that date, nobody talked to him, took orders from him, followed him, emailed him for autographed photos or sent him gifts.
Since that time, we only heard from him on days Karl Rove, political advisor to President Bush, managed to find tapes and messages, almost as though Osama bin Laden was Rove's private zombie or mummy, to be dragged out as another Bush campaign worker when the polls were sagging or for that pre-election blitz in 2004.
The oddest of the long debunked "Weekend at Bernies" phony bin Laden videos was the one showing bin Laden claiming responsibity for 9/11. Before his death in December 2001, bin Laden made 4 very public statements denying any responsibilty for 9/11. The Rove "zombie" bin Laden had a different story.
This bin Laden, the one working for Bush out of the spirit world, had no qualms about, not only contradicting himself, but doing so "on cue" for the Republican party. All of this could be considered fair game in the crooked realm of American politics except for a few minor problems:
The second newspapers in Pakistan, back in December 2001, announced Osama bin Laden's funeral, shouldn't the US have spread the word everywhere and claimed victory? Then if bin Laden showed up, we could claim he was a fake and his followers would melt away. Why would we do the opposite, when it could only hurt us? Were we actually trying to recruit more terrorists?
Hundreds of special operations troops, Navy Seals, Special Forces, DELTA, Marine Force RECON, CIA and others spent 7 years hunting for someone we knew was dead. Dozens of these people died on missions that were ordered to provide cover for political campaign tricks.
These missions put small units into the most hostile combat environment on Earth, cost hundreds of millions of dollars and wasted massive military resources better needed elsewhere.
Intelligence agencies were ordered to lie to Congress and the military for entirely political reasons by the White House, a pattern that could have begun well before and could still be continuing to this day.
Our entire counter-terrorism system was designed to combat an organization commanded by a man we knew was dead for years. Every decision we made, every alert, every operation was based either partly or entirely on falsified information, many operations being totally "wag the dog" political games. Was keeping operational decision makers misinformed the most effective use of command prerogative?
"Zombie bin Laden" was kept alive in spirit to scare Congress into supporting illegal wire tapping, torture, secret prisons and laws violating constitutional rights. Billions were pushed into the pockets of "political friends" running "counter terrorist" organizations funded under false pretenses.
The massive bureaucracy put together to protect American from a dead man was used, as we are now finding, etensively in domestic political spying operations.
Intelligence briefings to our miltary leaders and those of our allies were continually falsified, putting the focus on an opponent with an operational command structure that we knew couldn't exist. With bad intelligence as the basis, hundreds of useless operations were run, causing the death or serious injury of hundreds,perhaps thousands of American soldiers.
There is a school of thought, denialism, that says, "prove bin Laden is dead." The announcement of his death, something that would totally destroy his power and influence, is compelling. Disappearing entirely from any of the struggles that he dedicated his life to is another.
More compelling, of course, is the handy, election time appearances of the "zombie tapes" showing a "clowned up" version of someone in makeup saying things bin Laden would never say, things meant only to help one person on Earth, George "W" Bush.
Bin Laden's death can be proven by searching for a small grave outside Tora Bora. 7 years of silence and 7 years of invisiblility along with 7 years of eluding the most massive manhunt in the history of the world, the most expensive and the most costly, could be considered proof also.
Bin Laden, were he alive, lost everything when all of his followers mourned his death. Not one word was ever said to the hundreds of millions who remember, some with fear, some with reverence, but all remembered him, and all believe in his death. "Hey, I am alive, follow me to Jihad against the great Satan!"
But this word was never spoken.
If one American soldier died because of a political lie, it is murder, it is treason.
Bin Laden is now remembered more for 9/11, a crime the FBI says it can't prove bin Laden had a single tie to and for his work on Bush elections. Who bin Laden really was, warrior against Russia, US ally, devout Muslim or terrorist fanatic, needs to be examined very carefully. When the lies began, nothing could be believed any longer.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE FROM AMY:
This is a source I trust and I have talked with the author, with whom I have worked with for a long time over at Veterans Today. There are other stories put out about the same time as this one, and I think the idea/thought is worth considering.
Peace,
Amy
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor
Back in December 2001, newspapers in Pakistan announced the funeral of Osama bin Laden. After that date, nobody talked to him, took orders from him, followed him, emailed him for autographed photos or sent him gifts.
Since that time, we only heard from him on days Karl Rove, political advisor to President Bush, managed to find tapes and messages, almost as though Osama bin Laden was Rove's private zombie or mummy, to be dragged out as another Bush campaign worker when the polls were sagging or for that pre-election blitz in 2004.
The oddest of the long debunked "Weekend at Bernies" phony bin Laden videos was the one showing bin Laden claiming responsibity for 9/11. Before his death in December 2001, bin Laden made 4 very public statements denying any responsibilty for 9/11. The Rove "zombie" bin Laden had a different story.
This bin Laden, the one working for Bush out of the spirit world, had no qualms about, not only contradicting himself, but doing so "on cue" for the Republican party. All of this could be considered fair game in the crooked realm of American politics except for a few minor problems:
The second newspapers in Pakistan, back in December 2001, announced Osama bin Laden's funeral, shouldn't the US have spread the word everywhere and claimed victory? Then if bin Laden showed up, we could claim he was a fake and his followers would melt away. Why would we do the opposite, when it could only hurt us? Were we actually trying to recruit more terrorists?
Hundreds of special operations troops, Navy Seals, Special Forces, DELTA, Marine Force RECON, CIA and others spent 7 years hunting for someone we knew was dead. Dozens of these people died on missions that were ordered to provide cover for political campaign tricks.
These missions put small units into the most hostile combat environment on Earth, cost hundreds of millions of dollars and wasted massive military resources better needed elsewhere.
Intelligence agencies were ordered to lie to Congress and the military for entirely political reasons by the White House, a pattern that could have begun well before and could still be continuing to this day.
Our entire counter-terrorism system was designed to combat an organization commanded by a man we knew was dead for years. Every decision we made, every alert, every operation was based either partly or entirely on falsified information, many operations being totally "wag the dog" political games. Was keeping operational decision makers misinformed the most effective use of command prerogative?
"Zombie bin Laden" was kept alive in spirit to scare Congress into supporting illegal wire tapping, torture, secret prisons and laws violating constitutional rights. Billions were pushed into the pockets of "political friends" running "counter terrorist" organizations funded under false pretenses.
The massive bureaucracy put together to protect American from a dead man was used, as we are now finding, etensively in domestic political spying operations.
Intelligence briefings to our miltary leaders and those of our allies were continually falsified, putting the focus on an opponent with an operational command structure that we knew couldn't exist. With bad intelligence as the basis, hundreds of useless operations were run, causing the death or serious injury of hundreds,perhaps thousands of American soldiers.
There is a school of thought, denialism, that says, "prove bin Laden is dead." The announcement of his death, something that would totally destroy his power and influence, is compelling. Disappearing entirely from any of the struggles that he dedicated his life to is another.
More compelling, of course, is the handy, election time appearances of the "zombie tapes" showing a "clowned up" version of someone in makeup saying things bin Laden would never say, things meant only to help one person on Earth, George "W" Bush.
Bin Laden's death can be proven by searching for a small grave outside Tora Bora. 7 years of silence and 7 years of invisiblility along with 7 years of eluding the most massive manhunt in the history of the world, the most expensive and the most costly, could be considered proof also.
Bin Laden, were he alive, lost everything when all of his followers mourned his death. Not one word was ever said to the hundreds of millions who remember, some with fear, some with reverence, but all remembered him, and all believe in his death. "Hey, I am alive, follow me to Jihad against the great Satan!"
But this word was never spoken.
If one American soldier died because of a political lie, it is murder, it is treason.
Bin Laden is now remembered more for 9/11, a crime the FBI says it can't prove bin Laden had a single tie to and for his work on Bush elections. Who bin Laden really was, warrior against Russia, US ally, devout Muslim or terrorist fanatic, needs to be examined very carefully. When the lies began, nothing could be believed any longer.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE FROM AMY:
This is a source I trust and I have talked with the author, with whom I have worked with for a long time over at Veterans Today. There are other stories put out about the same time as this one, and I think the idea/thought is worth considering.
Peace,
Amy
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Catch Up
This will be the last personal post I put on this blog. From now on, it will be strictly articles and subjects related to the military, government or veterans issues. That is, if I decide to continue with it at all.
A lot has changed in my life since I started this clear back in 2005. At that time, I was very active in trying to end the war and I wrote a lot. My writing was published online and around the world, even though I didn't get paid for it. I didn't care. It was something I felt compelled to do at the time and could not stop myself from doing the writing that I did. I am proud of what little difference I made in politics and helping to change the way Americans thought about the war in Iraq and about President Bush.
Sometimes, though, I realize those words were not my own. They came from some other source, through my heart and into my fingers. When I go back and read some of the articles I wrote, I don't remember them and I cannot believe it was me that wrote them!
Anyway, a lot has changed since then. I quit protesting and I don't write much at all anymore about politics or the war. There were several things that contributed to that, including my health, and I had to make some life-changing decisions. One of the decisions I made was that I do not want my life to be defined and only about being the Mother of a dead soldier. That does not mean I don't love him any less or miss him any less today than I did in 2005 or even the day he died. The pain is still there. I miss my son every single day and I think about him every single day. I have just learned to live without him in my life.
I have not, however, stopped writing. I've just turned it to a more creative focus, one that is not so serious -- most of the time. I'm still writing about the things that happen in my life, my thoughts and sometimes, even my fantasies. Sometimes I post it here. But most of the time, my writing is private and I do not share it.
There have been other things that have changed in my life and, for personal reasons, I am basically going to go underground with my writing and will be starting a new blog to post it on. If you are a regular follower, please email me at amybranham@comcast.net so I can tell you where to find me. I have made some very good friends through my blog over the years and I don't want to lose touch with you!
As some of you may have noticed, I have a stat counter on this blog. It is tied to a log of everyone who visits this site. It has come to my attention that there are a couple of people that I really don't want knowing my business and have asked that they not ever contact me again. I have blocked emails, instant messaging and even Facebook. Somehow, it feels like I am being cyberstalked and, even though I don't feel physically threatened, I need to make as complete a break with these people as I possibly can. My relationship with them was never healthy for me and, out of respect for myself, I need to make this break as thoroughly as I possibly can.
In peace,
Amy
A lot has changed in my life since I started this clear back in 2005. At that time, I was very active in trying to end the war and I wrote a lot. My writing was published online and around the world, even though I didn't get paid for it. I didn't care. It was something I felt compelled to do at the time and could not stop myself from doing the writing that I did. I am proud of what little difference I made in politics and helping to change the way Americans thought about the war in Iraq and about President Bush.
Sometimes, though, I realize those words were not my own. They came from some other source, through my heart and into my fingers. When I go back and read some of the articles I wrote, I don't remember them and I cannot believe it was me that wrote them!
Anyway, a lot has changed since then. I quit protesting and I don't write much at all anymore about politics or the war. There were several things that contributed to that, including my health, and I had to make some life-changing decisions. One of the decisions I made was that I do not want my life to be defined and only about being the Mother of a dead soldier. That does not mean I don't love him any less or miss him any less today than I did in 2005 or even the day he died. The pain is still there. I miss my son every single day and I think about him every single day. I have just learned to live without him in my life.
I have not, however, stopped writing. I've just turned it to a more creative focus, one that is not so serious -- most of the time. I'm still writing about the things that happen in my life, my thoughts and sometimes, even my fantasies. Sometimes I post it here. But most of the time, my writing is private and I do not share it.
There have been other things that have changed in my life and, for personal reasons, I am basically going to go underground with my writing and will be starting a new blog to post it on. If you are a regular follower, please email me at amybranham@comcast.net so I can tell you where to find me. I have made some very good friends through my blog over the years and I don't want to lose touch with you!
As some of you may have noticed, I have a stat counter on this blog. It is tied to a log of everyone who visits this site. It has come to my attention that there are a couple of people that I really don't want knowing my business and have asked that they not ever contact me again. I have blocked emails, instant messaging and even Facebook. Somehow, it feels like I am being cyberstalked and, even though I don't feel physically threatened, I need to make as complete a break with these people as I possibly can. My relationship with them was never healthy for me and, out of respect for myself, I need to make this break as thoroughly as I possibly can.
In peace,
Amy
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
I DO believe in miracles
and that some of us have someone watching over us. How else would the son of a VERY good friend (that's not actually quite right, she's much more than a friend) of my family have survived an accident that should have killed him?
Thank the Gods or Goddesses or whoever was there, watching out for him.
Peace,
Amy
Thank the Gods or Goddesses or whoever was there, watching out for him.
Peace,
Amy
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Wreathes Across America -- Houston
Wreaths Across America is currently accepting donations for the wreaths to be laid at Houston National Cemetary to honor those who served our country. The picture above is from my son's grave last year where a wreath was laid.
Please, click on the title for a link to WAA Houston.
They could also use volunteers to help lay the wreaths on December 12. http://www.waahouston.com/sponsorawreath.html
I can tell you from my own personal experience, it means a lot to the Gold Star families when those we love and lost are remembered by others.
In Peace,
Amy
Monday, October 12, 2009
My Brain
...it's missing. Seriously, since I came back from vacation, I haven't seemed to be able to find it. If it's still in my head somewhere, it's been disconnected from the rest of me.
So, please be patient with me when weird things come out of my mouth and strange sequences of letters come through my fingers whjile I look for my brain, which seems to be MIA.
Peace,
Amy
So, please be patient with me when weird things come out of my mouth and strange sequences of letters come through my fingers whjile I look for my brain, which seems to be MIA.
Peace,
Amy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)