http://home.earthlink.net/~proudvietnamveteran/americans_working_together/id39.html
The appearance of sites like the one above looks like an open door and a major opportunity related to the VetSpeak mission. I will be following up with ideas on how we can strategically deal with this. But for now, here are a few thoughts:
WHO IS BUD DAY? Nixonite Bud Day is an old right winger from the POW/MIA "movement" at odds with Kerry's POW Committee. The group also supported the findings of Nixon's cronies (like McNamara and BigBush who was then the CIA Ops man for SEA and the snake Kissinger) to write off unaccounted for POW/MIAs. Day has made a fortune from his Medal Of Honor and former POW status acting as a political operative for right wing Neocons.
I suspect that TrueBlue is right about the re-release of Winter Soldier being a major motivator for this new site. But, I also believe that the VVAW and Swifties Face Off at TTU last March put a hurt on them, too. Add to that the dialogues happening at our very own VetSpeak.com, and at blogs and forums throughout the nation, such as the Star Telegraph "Should We Leave Iraq," face offs many of us are familiar with.
We, and many others who are showing up online with our shared Objective to shine the light on Political Truth, are creating a stir that requires the Swifites and other Right Wing Neocons to think up new strategic initiatives. The operations of this "Proud Americans" group is just another use of the incredible amounts of money that the Right spends to steal the Flag and drain the resources of us who have only truth and experience on our side.
Those "Proud Americans" are also attacking Jane again. And that is one topic I am personally very well prepared to discuss. Much of what occurred with Jane back then happened on my watch as regional coordinator of the California/Nevada VVAW. I worked with Jane on "Coming Home," and I consider her a friend. Scurrilous lies, rhetorical BS and character assassination aimed used as fodder for political, personal, or capital gain (or, any other reason, for that matter) is indefensible. One Repubicon myth that we have definitely exposed to the masses during those days was that "Lefties ain't all sissies." These new attempts at smearing committed political activists and distorting the truth didn't work then and it won't work now. So I say to the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation (i.e., Swifties): Bring it on. Truth is on our side.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Monday, July 18, 2005
WHERE DID THOSE LONDON EXPLOSIVES COME FROM? COULD IT BE...IRAQ?
By PeaceVet
What kind of high explosives were used in London?
No one is talking specifics. I have started watching and
asking, and they don't want to talk about it. They are even
pissed at the French for confirming they are "military
grade".
Why is it that the farther in time that we get from the
London 7-7-05 bombings, the less certain are the official
descriptions of the high explosives used, and the more
muddled is the identity of the explosives? Yet, they were
so certain just 48 hours after the bombings.
On July 12th, the officials and media talked about
explosives found in cars, in bathtubs, and C4 “like”
explosives, rather than saying what kind of explosives were
used. Tell me they didn't already know what the
explosives' chemical make up was and if there were
taggents (biological or chemical paper additives that can
be used to verify the origin or validity of a document). I
watch CSI.
One reason to avoid discussing what kind of explosives
were used is that their source will be embarrassing to Blair
and/or Bush. Could it be that these explosives are from
the 350 tons of Iraqi explosives that the UN told the USA
about; but they were fumbled by the USA, and looted?
PEACEVET
What kind of high explosives were used in London?
No one is talking specifics. I have started watching and
asking, and they don't want to talk about it. They are even
pissed at the French for confirming they are "military
grade".
Why is it that the farther in time that we get from the
London 7-7-05 bombings, the less certain are the official
descriptions of the high explosives used, and the more
muddled is the identity of the explosives? Yet, they were
so certain just 48 hours after the bombings.
On July 12th, the officials and media talked about
explosives found in cars, in bathtubs, and C4 “like”
explosives, rather than saying what kind of explosives were
used. Tell me they didn't already know what the
explosives' chemical make up was and if there were
taggents (biological or chemical paper additives that can
be used to verify the origin or validity of a document). I
watch CSI.
One reason to avoid discussing what kind of explosives
were used is that their source will be embarrassing to Blair
and/or Bush. Could it be that these explosives are from
the 350 tons of Iraqi explosives that the UN told the USA
about; but they were fumbled by the USA, and looted?
PEACEVET
Monday, July 11, 2005
IS IT POSSIBLE FOR ANY VET TO HEAL FROM THE VIETNAM WAR -- OR ANY WAR?
What follows is an inspiring (and to some, controversial) email written five years ago by Calixto Alfredo Cabrera to Diane Ford Wood. Back in The Day, Diane witnessed Alfredo's powerful rage over the war in Vietnam and the effects it had on America, the world, and his personal life. Although his actions as a VVAW member remained peaceful, his presence made Diane fearful; his eyes were continually dark with rage and grief. She always wondered what would become of him.
CALIXTO CABRERA, a veteran of Vietnam and the USMC, is a former member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. His photo is posted on the VetSpeak.com home page. An edited version of this email is included in Camouflage & Lace: My Journey with a Windbender.
Subject: WHAT'S IT BEEN? 28 YEARS? (Full-Text)
Date: 11/11/2000
From: Calixto Alfredo Cabrera
To: Diane Ford Wood
Dear Diane;
Wow, you're a voice from my distant past. Yes it has been 28+ years. I am 51 now and Sage was not conceived when we met. I will try and update you on the metamorphosis that I have undergone in this period of time.
The revolution as I understood it to be for me is dead and gone. It died a timely death. My awareness of social injustice and man's cruelty toward everything is still acutely high. I no longer see the system or some people as my enemies. As a matter of fact, I am trying in my heart to see no enemies at all, only people in pain. That is a big change from the person who wanted to join the SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) that kidnapped Patricia Hearst so many years ago. I look upon those days as my days of rage.
You are right in your assessment that I was the angriest person that you or I have ever met. There is a long story behind all of this that I will not trouble you with, but it had a lot to do with the countless murders and destruction that I heaved on Viet Nam and of my spiritual path. I look upon Viet Nam and the post years as "The best of times and the worst of times." I do not mean this in a literary sense, but in a spiritual sense. Toward the end of my political activism, I became a big time (it took some time to build to this) drug dealer. Finally got sick and tired of doing that, too. I ended up feeling as head and heart sick about dealing dope as I did being in the Marine Corps. I knew that I had to get out of it and I did.
My heart sickness from what I had done in Viet Nam was still with me, still driving my anger which seemed to have an insatiable appetite for growing. I had a chip on my shoulder the size of Canada and the weight was getting very burdensome. I started dickering with metaphysics and it proved to be the way out of a quagmire that had become the long nightmare.
It took me 24 and 1/2 years to heal from the war. I am both happy and proud to tell you that I have done so. To date, I am the only Viet Nam veteran that I know of (I have heard of others, very few) that can say, "I have healed from the War." I believe that you, of all people, may appreciate that statement coming from me, as you knew me when my madness was deepening. I have two children now Sage, 25 (you know him), and Amber, 17 (thinks she's 25). I love them both deeply and thank God for them.
I still have healing to do on many levels about a great number of things. My life now is my spiritual path and the seemingly long path to Christ consciousness (presumptuous of me isn't it?) I am striving to find a way to love all people in my heart as I already do all children. It is a daunting task for I find it very easy to judge and to think ill of others even to this day. It's easy to speak courteously to another, it's quite another thing to see the divine spirit in them. My heroes are no longer Che, Mao or Lenin, but Jesus, Buddha, Allah, Mother Theresa and Gandhi.
My Love to you and your family. Please keep in touch.
Calixto
calixto@vetspeak.com
Camo & Lace
CALIXTO CABRERA, a veteran of Vietnam and the USMC, is a former member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. His photo is posted on the VetSpeak.com home page. An edited version of this email is included in Camouflage & Lace: My Journey with a Windbender.
Subject: WHAT'S IT BEEN? 28 YEARS? (Full-Text)
Date: 11/11/2000
From: Calixto Alfredo Cabrera
To: Diane Ford Wood
Dear Diane;
Wow, you're a voice from my distant past. Yes it has been 28+ years. I am 51 now and Sage was not conceived when we met. I will try and update you on the metamorphosis that I have undergone in this period of time.
The revolution as I understood it to be for me is dead and gone. It died a timely death. My awareness of social injustice and man's cruelty toward everything is still acutely high. I no longer see the system or some people as my enemies. As a matter of fact, I am trying in my heart to see no enemies at all, only people in pain. That is a big change from the person who wanted to join the SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army) that kidnapped Patricia Hearst so many years ago. I look upon those days as my days of rage.
You are right in your assessment that I was the angriest person that you or I have ever met. There is a long story behind all of this that I will not trouble you with, but it had a lot to do with the countless murders and destruction that I heaved on Viet Nam and of my spiritual path. I look upon Viet Nam and the post years as "The best of times and the worst of times." I do not mean this in a literary sense, but in a spiritual sense. Toward the end of my political activism, I became a big time (it took some time to build to this) drug dealer. Finally got sick and tired of doing that, too. I ended up feeling as head and heart sick about dealing dope as I did being in the Marine Corps. I knew that I had to get out of it and I did.
My heart sickness from what I had done in Viet Nam was still with me, still driving my anger which seemed to have an insatiable appetite for growing. I had a chip on my shoulder the size of Canada and the weight was getting very burdensome. I started dickering with metaphysics and it proved to be the way out of a quagmire that had become the long nightmare.
It took me 24 and 1/2 years to heal from the war. I am both happy and proud to tell you that I have done so. To date, I am the only Viet Nam veteran that I know of (I have heard of others, very few) that can say, "I have healed from the War." I believe that you, of all people, may appreciate that statement coming from me, as you knew me when my madness was deepening. I have two children now Sage, 25 (you know him), and Amber, 17 (thinks she's 25). I love them both deeply and thank God for them.
I still have healing to do on many levels about a great number of things. My life now is my spiritual path and the seemingly long path to Christ consciousness (presumptuous of me isn't it?) I am striving to find a way to love all people in my heart as I already do all children. It is a daunting task for I find it very easy to judge and to think ill of others even to this day. It's easy to speak courteously to another, it's quite another thing to see the divine spirit in them. My heroes are no longer Che, Mao or Lenin, but Jesus, Buddha, Allah, Mother Theresa and Gandhi.
My Love to you and your family. Please keep in touch.
Calixto
calixto@vetspeak.com
Camo & Lace
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