Saturday Night Fever.
A bit of Rap music for you and you can listen to it here, to warm you up for the evening...
Just in case you don't like Rap, I have a romantic Ballad here for you.
Just in case you don't like Rap, I have a romantic Ballad here for you.
Do excuse the not so very politically correct pictures and language of the American boys.
These are your boys after all.
Have a great hot Saturday Night.
P.S: Seems that the music played in Gitmo cells is Techno and heavy Metal, just in case you don't like either Rap or sentimental Country music.Cheers.
Comments
The faces of those that I would refer to as simply boys. I would say it to their faces regardless of military background or training.
I see the young faces of boys which are very similar to the faces of the young boys who fought and died in Vietnam.
Another war where we did not belong.
We had no business to be there and in the end it was proven that the gulf of Tonkin inncident was a sham to start the war.
Same as WMD's.
Same sham.
Same ol' song and dance.
It is war.
Indeed.
Again I mention mans inability to learn from the mistakes of his past.
And again I say that not only are we involved in another Vietnam type conflift, we also have the makings of another Adolph fucking Hitler on our hands.
Its all very real.
As Layla, and others, more closely intwined into the current occupation of Iraq, know sadly.Painfully.Disturbingly.Life affectingly.Mind alteringly.Terribly...real.
I want to say here that one boy.
One boy only.
Was killed in Al Anbar province, and he was from about 25 miles from where I live.
I did not know him. But his face, as well as his widow and two children, and his mother, were posted on the local news for several days...
This one incident brought a lot of reality "home" to me.
I did not know this young man, but he grew up in the same town I did.
He did not look like a bad person?
What saddened me most was the sadness I saw in his mother.
But I see the....
I try to see, the loss for Iraq and the losses the people there have have suffered.
But the number is enormous. Staggering.
It is hard to fully comprehend or digest such suffering as the pains and horrors of WAR, unless you are there, or have been through it before.
I also grow very tired of being all apoligies. I am just one person. I do what I can. But reality shows that I cannot stop a war.
Again I say that one is coming.
Amorica (purposefully mispelled), has not had war on its own land since the civil war.
So as far as I am concerned, I do believe I am going to be part of something? Something IS going to happen to USA. Martial Law, the fall of an empire, most likely a larger scale, STAGED "terror" attack.
Something's gonna happen here.
I just know it.
I just don't know when...
I also want to mention Afghanistan here.
See how ignorant and foolish all of this is?
First we are led to believe that Osama Bin Laden and Afghanistan were the guilty parties for 9/11 and so we need to take them out.
BAM.
That shit DISAPPEARED, and suddenly we were searching for WMD's? Never found any but occupied the country and destroyed both it and it's people. Hanged it's leader.
Meanwhile, Osama is "not a priority" for Bush monkey.
Afghanistan over flows with opium.
Heroin.
Money.
Supposed to "spray" the plant's to eradicate them.
But don't.
Only talk about it.
Meanwhile people GLOBALLY remain chained to their foolish addiction to the drug.
As the people who lead the masses prosper as though they were in a movie and not reality.
Drug money.
Oil money.
Commerce from producing the materials needed for war.
And the leader of the band goes on as though in his own reality.
And he is.
It's just absolute insanity.
I am glad I have met you Layla, as well as others who post here.
The situation is war, and if talking about it virtually is all WE can do at the moment, then at least we are doing something.
Perhaps our writings will do more or lead to more.
I think it all helps, perhaps on an individual level, to an extent, right now.
I feel it helps me.
Because yes, honestly, it ALL damn well concerns me right now.
Guess thats my comments for now...
Ike
Kefik entee? Zeyna iliom, shukran.
These videos are part and parcel of the entire US occupation of your country, they are the face and the music of destruction and greed put on by my own country which I cannot begin to express how ashamed of I am.
Start with this premise from a paper written on domestic violence by Stephen Stosny Phd. (National Fatherhood Initiative, USA)
Science has known for a long time that emotional connection inhibits violence
and that disconnection is a cause of violence...... Even in the other social animals, males
connected to the pack are more cooperative and serve as significant protectors
of the pack, while those driven from it become "rogue" predators.
1. The media in the US gives us a cleansed sense of war's victims except our own casualties, and in the case of this war, even the coffins are protected from photographers. Unless you are an internet maven and seek out the pictures of the carnage our military is reeking in Iraq, there ARE NO pictures offered of this to the public. Hence, our media gives us pictures of young boys/men (reference to Ike's statement) who have lost their lives in a far-away war which tug at the heartstrings of Americans. We are "disconnected" because we do not "see", and in case we "see" we are given suplemental information (propaganda) to undermine any empathy we might feel, telling us that these are "insurgents", "rival forces", "unfortunate collateral damage", even "poor children caught up in the throws of a civil war" (well, be careful of using that term, wouldn't want the American public to insist on withdrawal)
2. Our military is a VOLUNTEER military. The psychology behind enlistment is a whole topic unto itself but upsurges in enlistment always follow "attack". Hmm, is that only true for Americans who are certainly a higher form of human being than all others, especially those "Islamofascists" who are "seeking to undermine our freedoms and the freedoms of the Iraqi people" (please make sense out of this statement to me, because the last time I checked these "terrorists" who supposedly attacked us (911) have no standing army in order to invade and take over. Just how were they going to "undermine OUR freedoms" and take over? Woops, that's our own government doing that in order to "protect" us from those seeking to undermine our freedoms!!) AND, let's not forget, the US was the one to "take the war over there so we don't have to fight them here", aka what I call throwing a "terrorist tea party". Too bad the Iraqi people weren't asked first if they minded if we "could rent the hall for free". (don't forget it's rude to not pay the cleaning deposit)
3. And here is the most important truism, WHAT IF THET GAVE A WAR AND NOBODY CAME. Our "boys" would not be dying if they were not half a world away VOLUNTEERING to KILL Iraqis. Just how is a killer trained? Well, the military has the finest tools available to do just that. "Pack mentality" mixed with ignorance and lack of any form of empathy for your victims (and encouraged hatred of your "enemy") makes for one heck of a war machine. I'm going to break with the political correctness (because it's pure BS) and go straight to the chase. It is next to impossible for me to conjur up any remorse over our fallen soldiers. They went and signed up, and they are the ones implementing our dastardly foreign policy. This war is quite frankly an ILLEGAL WAR per the Nuremburg Principles and ANYONE participating in it should be judged and tried accordingly.
4. Every single military mother, wife, relative wants to think their son is an "upstanding soldier". Well I have news for you, the mere fact you are a soldier means you are a trained killing machine. Would I want my son (I have three daughters, no sons) to VOLUNTEER for the military? HELL NO!!! If there were ever the occurance of an attack on our own soil that would be a different story altogether. In that case we would be behaving EXACTLY like the Iraqis are against us now on THEIR SOIL.
5. And last, every single person on the face of this earth, EVERY ONE OF THEM, is a child of the same creator. They were born innocent, and it was up to the parents and society to raise them to remain that way. (not naive, but innocent to hatred and bigotry) When we as a society here in America create "phantom enemies" out of others who differ from us in culture or religion, it is US with the problem. Get a grip America, LEARN the truth!
Layla, this video DISGUSTS me but it does not surprise me whatsoever.
These "boys" are someone's son here, and believe me, every excuse under the sun would be given for their behavior. Here we have a new peace group called "Military Families Against the War" It is groups of families working to end the war here while their sons are still enlisted (either waiting to be deployed or already deployed) Sorry to be un-pc again, but isn't "military"..."againt the war" while still serving an OXYMORON. Every single one of them make my skin crawl!! If they are against the war, THEN WALK THE HELL AWAY!!
There just has to be a way to make my fellow Americans see this and there just has to be a way to reach across the divide (which only exists if you insist on it's existance) to bring peace. God help us all if we don't each and every one of us spread this peace in the solidarity we share as the children of our creator.
Ma'salama Layla, asafa, ana wajid asafa.
I told my wife, if I did not have responsibility here at home, I would have went to this demonstration myself.
Wahington D.C. is only about an eight hour drive from my home.
The following are segments of an Associated Press article about the demonstration.
"Tens of Thousands Demand Iraq Pullout
By CALVIN WOODWARD and LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press Writers
Convinced this is their moment, tens of thousands marched Saturday in an anti-war demonstration linking military families, ordinary people and an icon of the Vietnam protest movement in a spirited call to get out of Iraq.
Celebrities, a half-dozen lawmakers and protesters from distant states rallied in the capital under a sunny sky, seizing an opportunity to press their cause with a Congress restive on the war and a country that has turned against the conflict.
The rally on the Mall unfolded peacefully, although about 300 protesters tried to rush the Capitol, running up the grassy lawn to the front of the building. Police on motorcycles tried to stop them, scuffling with some and barricading entrances.
Protesters chanted "Our Congress" as their numbers grew and police faced off against them. Demonstrators later joined the masses marching from the Mall, around Capitol Hill and back.
About 50 demonstrators blocked a street near the Capitol for about 30 minutes, but they were dispersed without arrests.
United for Peace and Justice, a coalition group sponsoring the protest, had hoped 100,000 would come. They claimed even more afterward, but police, who no longer give official estimates, said privately the crowd was smaller than 100,000.
At the rally, 12-year-old Moriah Arnold stood on her toes to reach the microphone and tell the crowd: "Now we know our leaders either lied to us or hid the truth. Because of our actions, the rest of the world sees us as a bully and a liar."
More Hollywood celebrities showed up at the demonstration than buttoned-down Washington typically sees in a month.
Actor Sean Penn said lawmakers will pay a price in the 2008 elections if they do not take firmer action than to pass a nonbinding resolution against the war, the course Congress is now taking.
"If they don't stand up and make a resolution as binding as the death toll, we're not going to be behind those politicians," he said.
Protest organizers said the crowd included people who came on 300 buses from 40 states."
The bad new's: As I said once before, we need MORE people.
I know I did not even go, but 100,000 people are not enough.
We need more than just talk as well because, again, this is the kind of "protest" activity that we saw during Vietnam.
They spoke of storming the capitol building with 300 people.
We need to do it again, but do it with 3,000 people and actually do as they said they would do.
When they are forced into a corner with the barrel of a gun maybe then they will use more than words and actually be aggressive.
That's what it's going to take...
Ike
Thanks for the solidarity.
Marhaba. You hit it right on the nail Robin. You understood perfectly well the dynamics of it all on a psychological and personal level.
The word Volunteer is the key word here.. And yes they did volunteer.
And yes there is emotional disconnection because the main crux of the matter is a deep racism that cuts any links with the other and you pointed out beautifully well in your comment.
Best
I am sorry to say , but too little too late!
Then the chickens will come home to roost, including the "screaming chickens" of the 101st airborne.
Wait until they start satisfying their urge to kill on the american public.
i agree. I don't think it will be limited to the 101 either. there will be the psychological problems from the soldiers who don't have the 'protection' of a military base or the social structure it provides to fellow soldiers. many will be returning to civilian life. a life where trying to "act like nothings wrong" is going to be face to face with a society thats hasn't had war in its face. I've said it before, they'll be hell to pay in the future for what american soldiers are doing now. psychologically, physically, emotionally, all of it.
for those of us on the outside looking in, its just a matter of time before the door opens onto us and we have noone but ourselves to blame.
mando..
I caught myself in tears..just stopping to listen...stopping to mark the day...
All around me no one else responded to the announcement, or at least not in appearance...people just kept on going about their lives as if nothing had been said....a blip on a screen ignored. I felt numb...and continued walking down the stairs....i didnt know where I was anymore...who I was any longer...what people these were..or I was.
I remember the day that Shock and Awe was announced....I remember how, in anger and frustration I was grabbing my house mates shirt in tears crying ' dont they see dont they see'...He looked at me equally as dumbfounded....
I was oh so angry...but more...I was crying my guts out..desperately pleaing to God..so desperate to do something I'd offer anything...but I was powerless to affect...powerless to stop it..to act....made powerless by a system that siphons Love Hope and Beauty and Dignity...shredding them into bloody self indulgent cesspools of sacreligous mud...
That was the day my world turned upside down...the entire world turned...there was no comming back.
I bent back inwards to myself in shame, grief and agony....I heard the voice of many songs within reminding me what we are...
I knew what was comming....and couldnt wont and wouldnt believe they didnt see it and know it too.
I know..they knew...we all know.
I remember the day the first footage of DU babies came through the 'silent railroad'... how in desperation and anger I logged into every blog and oped log, every war site every western and eastern newsline and independant wire, every friend every person I have known since childhood....sending like spam pictures of DU malformed babies and burnt men into mailboxes across the world...getting them out, the truth in the pictures, undeniable, raw and uncensored....
to no reply...not one...not for nearly a year...they could not see...
I slowly started to see...that they cant see...they dont know how....they have forgotton...they are asleep.
I remember the day I walked into the psych unit...a year of academic pressure and core groups and war opposition and freeway blogging and writing without let up...a year of cold dull non response..that left me doubting my sanity and drwoing in pain.
Drugged up to the nines and nearly insane in the paradox of lies we are forced to live in....I was utterly incoherent....finally..totally surrendered to the no thing ness I could see looming on the horizon of the western world.
For a little while I drowned in the numbness..the shame and the disbelief and the pain....the ineffectivness..the overwhelming empathy...and the despair of the sad cold acceptance of futility.
I saw in those three days..on the front of a shirt of a woman muttering to herself more insane than I, scrawled in red ink was written:
'Love struggling to survive'
i understood.
i finally understood.
We are not all alike Layla..we 'westerners' that is..not all of us have lost our souls or ever did fall asleep...we just lay hidden to ourselves and from them.
We who have Love...are able to BE Love..Love in the most unusual and sacred and unconditonal of ways and natures. We who Love..have suffered every single step of Life without Love, with you.
We have born the shame..of inaction and silence..as much as action and deed....we have howled our indignation..we have voiced our despairs and opinions..we have stamped out feet in anger and we have shamed them...we have worked..we have cried....we have, died.
Where we cannot fight on the battlefeilds to protect you we have sung the songs of healing and restoration..with the Great Spirit.
We have carried the message of Truth along side you, seen or not.
Truth, one born in the belly of resistance and solidarity...to what is right...not just what is convenient.
We have sung from our wombs..and risked all in the attempt...that the songs would be carried on the winds of Soul.
That wind..all we have left now at our disposal..carries the Love of all who are able to Love, from the ancient to the present...to you.
Seen or not.
It is bearing, and it has borne, since the first intrusion, all of our longings for you..all of our prayers and emotion, for and from us and from all of our Mothers...to you and your countrymen and women.
With all our hearts we hoped you'd somehow hear us...not loose yourself to the pain and grief..to the resentment...
We are trying so very hard to be heard above the noisy people.
We are here for you.
We hoped that somehow you'd understand that we are trying to do..to 'catch the wind'....and we hope that you will understand why we cannot make the dance in light of the pain...but we do sing....we wont stop singing...and as we sing we close our eyes and hold Their little hands in the darkness...with humility grace, and in hope of trust between us one day.
So we sing the songs...and we send out our hearts..and the strength of Knowing..that the power of the Spirit of Truth will prevail.
Our hearts and songs are all we had and all we have left today....they are yours.
We, who are made doubly powerless - among the powerless....understand better now, how to understand.
And I would want you to know..if only as a fellow academic writer..[ though not, for me, today obviously ] that if it were possible....if it would stop one more baby dying...one more woman being raped..hold back one more man from needing to seek venegence..that I *would* stand in your place in an instant.
But it wont stop them...
We know that.
So I will keep singing old songs.....and keep hoping.
I'll keep breathing....
I walk now..dont drive..the price of oil is too high.
They will learn..eventually.
Though each step is still often a painridden and sorrowful one...I will continue to send pictures and to tell the Truth.
I hope that means something to you.
Yes...I would die for it - the Truth....but more..I will LIVE for it and with it...so maybe one day..you will overcome, and be there to sing for us and our babies...when our candles are low.
blue sky lady