As the new Iraq enjoys the spreading "democracy" brought to it courtesy of George Bush and the United States department of defense, radical Islamic fundamentalists are enforcing stricter and stricter religious practices. Women are being made to cover themselves, music shop and liquor store owners are being told to shut down or die and foods containing pickle juice are being banned, lest the pickle juice ferment into alcohol which can foment into revolution, I suppose.
Sadly, this growing intolerance is not limited to Iraq. In Somalia, according to an AP News story, radical Islamic militiamen opened fire on a crowd of teenagers. Reason? They were watching World Cup soccer on television and refused to disban when ordered to do so. Result: two killed. (Number wounded not mentioned.)
Well, who can blame the Islamists for trying to "protect" their people by shooting them? One need only look at TV and its corrupting influence in the U.S. Fortunately, however, we don't shoot people for watching it. Not yet anyway. Besides, TV--if used properly--is a great propaganda tool and when not being used as such, can serve to anesthesize people's sensibilities.
But we, as Americans, should give thanks we are not subject to such surging tides of intolerance. We should, shouldn't we? Or wait. It was brought to my attention over the weekend, during celebrations of our independence that a former veteran of the current Iraq war was pulled from a parade because of his support of anti-war demonstrators. As a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, he was initially pulled from the parade by police because they didn't want him to march in the parade with his message. But when he once more rejoined the parade, he was again pulled out by police and shot! (Just kidding! Actually, he was arrested.)
Well, it was this story on Democracy Now! this morning that lends creedence to a story forwarded to me from a Taos member of the group, Veterans for Peace. At first I had grave doubts as to its credibility, but now I believe. I strongly urge those who have read this far, to read what follows. It lends credibility to the idea we, the great defenders and propogators of democracy worldwide, are not that different from Iraqi or Somali radical extremists.
Here's Mike Ferner's story. He's a former Navy corpsman during Vietnam, now a member of Veterans for Peace.
"Yesterday afternoon, drinking a cup of coffee while sitting in the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center on Chicago's south side, a Veterans
Administration cop walked up to me and said, "OK, you've had your 15 minutes, it's time to go."
"Huh?", I asked intelligently, not quite sure what he was talking about.
"You can't be in here protesting," Officer Adkins said, pointing to my Veterans For Peace shirt.
"Well, I'm not protesting, I'm having a cup of coffee," I returned, thinking that logic would convince Adkins to go back to his earlier duties of guarding against serious terrorists.
Flipping his badge open, he said, "No, not with that shirt. You're
protesting and you have to go."
Beginning to get his drift, I said firmly, "Not before I finish my
coffee."
He insisted that I leave, but still not quite believing my ears, I tried one more approach to reason.
"Hey, listen. I'm a veteran. This is a V.A. facility. I'm sitting here not talking to anybody, having a cup of coffee. I'm not protesting and you can't kick me out."
"You'll either go or we'll arrest you," Adkins threatened.
"Well, you'll just have to arrest me," I said, wondering what strange
land I was now living in.
You know the rest. Handcuffed, led away to the facility's security office past people with surprised looks on their faces, read m rights, searched, and written up.
The officer who did the formalities, Eric Ousley, was professional in his duties. When I asked him if he was a vet, it turned out he had been a hospital corpsman in the Navy. We exchanged a couple sea stories. He uncuffed me early. And he allowed as to how he would only charge me with disorderly conduct, letting me go on charges of criminal trespass and weapons possession -- a pocket knife -- which he said would have to be destroyed (something I rather doubt since it was a nifty Swiss Army knife with not only a bottle opener, but a tweezers and a toothpick).
After informing me I could either pay the $275 fine on the citation or appear in court, Ousley escorted me off the premises, warning me if I returned with "that shirt" on, I'd be arrested and booked into jail.
I'm sure I could go back to officers Adkins' and Ousleys' fiefdom with a shirt that said, "Nuke all the hajis," or "Show us your tits," or any number of truly obscene things and no one would care. Just so it's not "that shirt" again.
And just for the record? I'm not paying the fine. I'll see Adkins and Ousley and Dubya's Director of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, if he wants to show up, in United States District Court on the appointed date. And if there's a Chicago area attorney who'd like to take the case, I'd really like to sue them -- from Dubya on down. I have to believe that this whole country has not yet gone insane, just the
government. This kind of behavior can't be tolerated. It must be
challenged.
***************
Did I mention yet, already, how great it is to be back? Da~
4 comments:
Here is my politically incorrect question of the day: Why do we even bother celebrating Independence Day any longer? Who needs to be reminded of our independence? It's not like anyone forgets with all of the publicity the war in Iraq is getting. We are there in the name of freedom and independence, aren't we? I mean, come on!
Independence Day is supposed to be a day of rememberance for all those who worked so hard to get us a nice, free country to live in, not glorify our current government. I was plagued by the question of why we still celebrate it all day on July fourth. I suppose it is our government's wy of reminding us whose big toe we are under.
dada, I caught the Dem Now! rerun interview with Mr. Ferner. Unf*ckinbelieveable! But, I guess we should've expected this rough treatment after C.Sheehan was removed from Bush's sacred speech zone for her t-shirt because its message contained the obscenity of the dead soldier count which apparently upsets our tough guy prez. This is the kind of freedom we're trying to export, perhaps in an effort to help balance our trade deficit.
gag ... pickle juice can ferment into alcohol? ... how long does THAT take & wouldn't it be rendered lethal from the germs of each unclean hand that had grabbed one out of the barrel ... kind of a death-by-dill-revolution (sorry).
Nina re: independence celebration, perhaps you're right, maybe we should take a cue from the native american's scoffing at Columbus Day. But just like xmas has devolved into a shopping spree, July 4th HAD been safely reduced to a family picnic & sparklers (trust me, I remember it well) ... until this whole spreading freedom empire thingie.
And this year, I actually saw little kids lighting up realistic hand grenade-shaped fireworks! WTF? Afterwards, the neighborhood was littered with what looked like battle detritus. Oh, Il Bushie would be sooo proud of these future military unfortunate sons. D.K.
Hi guys! Well, as you know, my access to blogger was denied during the lead-up to the Fourth. I had updated my Fourth of July blog from last year, "Tis the season to blow up shit" which I'd intended to upload here the morning we departed Taos, June 30. But that's when I discovered I was locked out.
Well, in that vein, I just got off the phone with my niece in Oregon. She and her husband live on a cul-de-sac. Behind there house is a park. But fireworks are illegal in the park. So her neighbors brought their kids down to the end of the cul-de-sac in front of their house to "blow shit up."
Well, the next morning--very early-- my niece and her husband were awakened by their door bell ringing. Seems an early morning jogger discovered some embryonic smoke in the brush in front of their home trying to give birth to a potential wildfire smoldering there.
Extinguished with their garden hose, they then discovered expended remnants of fireworks on their porch and property.
Ah, yes, in some small innocuous way, the Fourt is an analogy for the bigger spent fireworks that litter distant landscapes elsewhere daily in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and (soon-to-be?)Iran. But instead of the burnt out hulks of sparklers, cherry bombs and faux grenades, those in our subverted states of empire retrieve the burnt out remnants of bodies.
God bless America and the pyroclastic maniacs!
The fella in Chicago probably got in trouble because others complained about his t-shirt. As they certainly have a right to do.
However, as long as my own land-lubber civilian taxes pay to finance the military, I expect our vets to be able to have a cuppa unintimidated. ESPECIALLY in a VA canteen.
I understand the active enlisted personnel are muzzled on expressing opinions (to an extent); I kind of wish I wasn't unemployed at the moment -- I'd buy that old boy a "worst president ever" t-shirt and see if he could get 15 minutes to drink his coffee with that on.
When rich boys who've never heard a shot fired in anger can have vets harrassed like this, you have to really understand what you stand for: The rule of law, or the weasel of fear.
Will arbeit macht frei, or will truth do a better job?
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