Disqus - Latest Comments for spirasol

Re: If War Breaks Out, Venezuela’s ‘Fifth Columnists’ Will Have to Be Confronted: El Universal, Venezuela

spirasol — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:52:15 -0000

Why Father Time, and they said protest was blase', that no one was listening.....

I guess I shoulda/oughta deliver my complaint from my knees, scribbled on a piece of blood soiled paper, but I would rather stand at the top of the waterfall and hear my own echos bouncing off the walls of the ravine. There is a futility to it, no? The ego frothing up and over the sides like a tall toxic ice cream soda. I'm 18. You are a woman and you catch me flexing my muscles in the mirror. It feels good to hear the echo, to know someone is listening, watching........I unbutton my top buttons to show a little more............

Re: If War Breaks Out, Venezuela’s ‘Fifth Columnists’ Will Have to Be Confronted: El Universal, Venezuela

spirasol — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:38:16 -0000

Well, FT, might be a little country-centric in the sense of maintaining an attitude of other countries existing to serve us, our needs, but I would hardly call the names you are using to describe FT accurate. He is just being selfishly and pragmatically American, -- which is by the way the position of our government.

As for the drug smugglers, I wonder what country is on the consumption side of the equation? Venezuelans? I doubt it. I'm too lazy to do your research for you, but it has been known for a long time that the war on drugs is a total failure and corrupts everyone involved. Maybe Chavez wants to irritate the Columbian President, and maybe he takes a little cut, but compared to the cuts taken by the country that works to both destroy AND to supply the drugs (USA), I believe it is a very small portion indeed.

Finally if you are really interested in drugs........do not look to Columbia......who market cocaine, what is often called the "rich man's drug. It is Afghanistan.....stripped of most other means of making money, the war lords are supplying all of Europe and likely the USA with poppies, Afgani heroin is said to be of high quality and abundant.

Besides, the whole issue of stopping Columbian drug exports, is not the real issue anyway. Read below: "Pentagon budget document that expresses clear regional intentions for the Palanquero air base. The document describes the U.S. presence in Palanquero as an "opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout South America," and confirms the fears of Colombia's neighbors when it discusses the possibility of using the base to confront the "threat" of what it calls "anti-U.S. governments." Here the full link <http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/11-4>

I want to say too, that knee-jerk anti-Chavism doesn't really makes sense........spreading lies about Chavez, and for that matter all the other South American countries that have rejected Neo-liberal policies and chose to finally reject long standing American military bases in their countries. These countries no longer want to be neo-colonies for the USA. They already tried that, it didn't work, was unfair to their populations, and was the underlying cause for so many political deaths-- witness Chili, El Salvador, etc. etc.

Re: If War Breaks Out, Venezuela’s ‘Fifth Columnists’ Will Have to Be Confronted: El Universal, Venezuela

Father_Time — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:24:33 -0000

Why Spirasol, your sedition is showing.

Re: If War Breaks Out, Venezuela’s ‘Fifth Columnists’ Will Have to Be Confronted: El Universal, Venezuela

spirasol — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:28:36 -0000

I wonder how the USA would react if we cut a deal with a neighboring land to allow us (call us the alien fringe) to build and supply 7 military bases. From there we would promise to elevate our host country to odious prominence and harass all the other countries in the region. Yet another failed democracy propped up by your tax dollars, ladies and gentleman. Of coarse this does involve our strategic interests, also known as our ability to get our corporations and way of life inserted into other countries. Why? because that is what the world wants-- to be just like us. right? Wrong!

WAIT, is that not history repeating itself? Cuba? The Russians? All this under the guise of the lost leader, namely the pitifully fought and failed war on Drugs. Let us pray that not everyone in Columbia is not addicted to USA money and unwilling to go on the American dole. Let us pray too that many will join the all night meetings as they whisper in the dim light of their country becoming an American base from which to launch war against so many other latin brothers and sisters. You can bet the discussions about how to fight back are already underway............

Re: GUEST VOICE: Veterans Day 2009, Military Man Does Not “Honor the Troops,” Rather The Person

spirasol — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:00:32 -0000

Thank you FT for saying what the truth looks like for you........I would say it sounds a lot like my brother's experience, a VietVet.

Re: GUEST VOICE: Veterans Day 2009, Military Man Does Not “Honor the Troops,” Rather The Person

spirasol — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:22:41 -0000

I'm going to cut this one out..............maybe send it round ...........air it out among some friends..... the punch it has is a quiet reasoned one..............not the troops............not the ones who send..........its more about the ones who for whatever reasons end up in the fox holes.........maybe who even know they are not there for the expressed reasons............and stay until something stops them ...... or they just can't do it anymore...........but I don't think Mr. Rodriguez would withhold support from those either.

Bill Moyers had an interesting 3 generation perspective that was interesting, humbling and less about the glory...........here's the link....<http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11062009/profile.html>

Re: 14 Killed at Fort Hood, Not 13 As Reported. Why?

spirasol — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:51:25 -0000

Yes, CP, the tragedy deepens...........and will deepen even more when the shooter, also a victim, is slain by the military. They may not do so, particularly by recent reports, as the powers-that-be seem to have opted on the side of increasing their intelligence rather than protecting their soldiers; that they were well aware of his activities and could have detained or questioned him, thereby preventing the situation from occurring. Maybe they were intending to track his activities in Afghanistan...... ????

While heartfelt, the loss of Velez and the little soul inside her, particularly for her family, I feel it necessary nonetheless to say something about the underlying politics. The issue of whether or not one believes in the need/right for a woman to decide and the question of when, if ever, that should/could be done-- colors the way one reads the story. I know plenty of mothers/fathers who have, for a variety of reasons lost the little life and all its promise, and who set out to mark their hearts and mark the ground of their existence and their passing. It is thought of more normally as a personal matter, and they do this with ritual, photos, drawings, prayer and meditation, among other ways individually determined. The newspapers, however, and large institutions, the military are operating under a different set of rules..........I guess we might call them what science has determined about a new life......I don't think it would hurt us to completely adopt and embrace a new way forward where all life is honored from conception.........but be sure and involve the coroner, the funeral director, the doctors, nurses, insurance companies, etc., etc......

What we are really taking about here is honoring and protecting innocence .........and if you go there with open eyes and open heart you will be crushed to realize what we do to each other as human beings is irreconcilable, unconscionable..........so we don't, we justify-- some killings MUST be done, we say, softly, regrettably......

I wonder if the innocence of the Major's family and friends should be preserved.....and I wonder if any American soldier of Arab/Muslim descent can ever be trusted again. And I wonder of this loss of innocence which I don't believe exists in the mind of the military, but in the mind of that Arab/Muslim soldier who thought, just for a minute, and maybe longer, that they/we trusted him, that he wouldn't have to look over his shoulder at every turn........I wouldn't say it is complete, but how could the soldier not be aware of his birthmark, his origins, and the suffering of his own people, often at the hands of the military he is now serving under.

Re: Iran Charges 3 American Hikers With Espionage

spirasol — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:07:04 -0000

If it's true and we can accept the story at face value then I feel badly for the young people being held. On the other hand, we wouldn't say they were too bright to put themselves in that position. It is the USA that has such strict requirements that people may be "messed with" , deported, or held in detention for months on end. Their Arab American, some with citizenship, some with permanent status, and some on educational permit, are constantly messed with. But their are hundreds more rejected out right. So I would hardly say Iran is guilty of some unprecedented legal foot work to hold foreign students. Hell, anything Iran has done, we have done better, stronger, tighter, sometimes even killing the people we incarcerate. Don't get squeamish on me here...........We do ourselves a huge disservice by trying to sell the wonders of democracy in the middle east, when our actual behavior is actually quite different. We are excellent at doing the raping, pillaging, bombing, destroying part......the rendering, torturing, shoot first ask later part..............If the CIA wanted to infiltrate new recruits would it be possible to send agents posing as students?

Re: Media Wakes Up About the Obama Administration’s Middle East Failure (Guest Voice)

spirasol — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:57:43 -0000

Ah yes, Ron-- now I better understand your post. Yes, take the millions
of military aide, and all the support, including all the stone walling
in UN every time Israel breaks another law. But that would still leave
us with a moral obligation, and moreover, how to lesson one of the major
underlying reasons for the growth of terrorism in the region, --Israeli
intransigence and state terrorism, which kills and imprisons a hell of a
lot more people than the one desperate individual. I have to say I don't
believe it will ever happen. Israel, unbeknowst to most Americans, has
become one of our states, one requiring a budget, military aide, and a
willingness to look away when little brother commits crimes against
humanity.

Re: Media Wakes Up About the Obama Administration’s Middle East Failure (Guest Voice)

ronbeas — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:00:06 -0000

The thing that Friedman left out is that when we leave we need to take our military aide with us.

Re: Media Wakes Up About the Obama Administration’s Middle East Failure (Guest Voice)

spirasol — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:51:04 -0000

While I might agree with the title of your article that's about it....... Everything else you say is an insult to anyone who tries to track what goes on in the middle east and especially with those intransigent Israeli's.
The rest of what you say is pure poppycock and no serous 1st year student of the middle east would agree with you. As for Tom Friedman, the journalist most hated by other journalists, his big solution is to walk away........ not to finally put pressure on Israel, just walk away..........which actually would play directly in to Israeli hands............with no one watching at all they will put not just their hand but their whole arm in the cookie jar.........

Re: Veteran Suicide: Witness To The Isle of the Dead

spirasol — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:28:12 -0000

Edward Tick, a clinical psychotherapist, presents some healing techniques that could prove salutary for veterans of our many wars. Here is an excerpt on shadow.
"Worldwide, 3.6 million people have been killed in wars since 1990, many in the fifty-five civil wars during that period. Nearly half of the dead have been children, 'reflecting the fact that civilians have increasingly become the victims in contemporary conflicts.'
"In a personal communication, Vietnam War air force veteran Jim Helt writes: " 'For me "collateral damage" is one of the most insidious phrases in the English language. At first brush it seems rather innocuous, but it means dead and wounded noncombatant women, children, men, elderly. It sanitizes death.
"The technology of destruction has progressed so far that, even if a combatant or civilian survives physically unscathed, he or she is bound to be gravely impacted by the terror it evokes. Richard Gabriel, a former intelligence officer in the Pentagon's Directorate of Foreign Intelligence and an expert on combat psychiatry, states, 'War has simply become too stressful for even the strongest among us to stand for very long.' Every participant in modern war inevitably experiences some degree of psychological, moral, or spiritual breakdown. William Manchester, a marine veteran of the Pacific theatre in World War II, comments regarding combatants in particular, 'No man in battle is really sane. The mind-set of the soldier on the battlefield is a highly disturbed mind, and this is an epidemic insanity which afflicts everybody there, and those not afflicted by it die very quickly.' Gabriel says bluntly:
" 'The simple fact is that men are crushed by the strain of modern war . . . All men are at risk of becoming psychiatric casualties and, in fact, most men will collapse given enough exposure to battle stress. There is no such thing as getting used to combat .. . . Studies of World War II soldiers revealed that about 2 percent [did] not collapse. But these men were already mad, for most of them were aggressive psychopathic personalities before they entered battle. It is only the sane who break down.'
"The archetypal dimensions of war — legends of heroic deeds, divine mentoring of the warrior inspired by elders, and battle conditions where these patterns could be lived out sufficiently to shape the soul — have been handed down through the generations to our present day. Yet modern conditions make the realization of these ancient and proven archetypes anachronistic, if not impossible. In modern war, combatants cannot become larger-than-life heroes. Rather, they are miniscule globules of armed protoplasm hurled at enemies in uncountable numbers. Massive death numbers, a scorched earth policy, and the technological weaponry to accomplish both are the hallmarks of modern war.
"In the moral and spiritual vacuum caused by this much destruction, the only meaning that remains is mere survival. And survival, now reduced to an accident in the midst of global carnage, is laden with a sense of unworthiness and guilt. As Manchester said about the battle for Okinawa during World War II, 'The fact remains that more than seventy-seven thousand civilians died here during the battle, and no one comes out of a fight like that with clean hands.' Under such conditions, the ancient mythic heroism, spirituality, and initiatory values of warfare are canceled out.
"Yet the mythic dimensions of war remain very much with us as universal patterns in the human psyche that we attempt to replicate in every epoch of history. Young men, and now women, too, still march off as individual combatants striving to live out the model of the mythic warrior-hero. Whether enlisted as recruits for official or paramilitary, military or insurgent, guerilla or terrorist forces, they are taught, and still believe, that their wills, values, and small arms can stand as Excaliburs against evil. But into what kind of arena do they carry their patriotism and their impulse for heroism and initiation? We are trapped in a terrible tension between the soul's craving for realization of the warrior archetype and the realities of a warfare that devastates the soul who seeks it."

Re: Veteran Suicide: Witness To The Isle of the Dead

spirasol — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:26:55 -0000

The Warrior's Path by Edward Tick

Our troops do not enlist because they want to destroy or kill. No matter the political climate, most troops seek to serve traditional warrior values: to protect the country they love, its ideals, and especially their families, communities, and each other. If they must kill or be killed, they need transcendent reasons to do so. Throughout history, the only reason for fighting that has survived moral scrutiny is a direct attack with real, immediate threat to one's people. PTSD is, in part, the tortured conscience of good people who did their best under conditions that would dehumanize anyone.
Almost all cultures, past and present, have had warriors. They have also had complex stories and rituals to help them recover from combat and guide them through the life cycle. The occurrence of warriors is so universal that depth psychologists understand Warrior to be one of our foundational psycho-spiritual archetypes.
In traditional cultures, boys and men studied a "warrior's path." In these societies a warrior was not the same as a soldier; not merely a member of a huge, anonymous military institution used for the violent execution of political ends. Rather, warrior was one of the foundational roles that kept societies whole and strong. Warriors were fundamentally protectors, not destroyers.
People respond to the same call today. Michael, a Marine who served in Afghanistan, proudly declares that at age 18 he was the first in his state to enlist after 9/11. Nick, an army officer who served in Iraq, enlisted because of a lifelong desire "to be like Hector defending the gates of Troy."
Warriorhood, however, is not so valued or nurtured in modern society. "Warrior" is not even a recognized social class. A veteran, especially one with disabilities, appears to many, and sometimes to him or herself, as a failure in terms of normal civilian identity. Michael fears that, as an experienced combat veteran, the only place on the planet he now fits is in the French Foreign Legion.

Re: The Ultimate Sacrifice

spirasol — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:25:26 -0000

Sorry General Austin, whatever your personal history, whatever your opinion, -- your are so rigidly incredibly positioned, exposed, why a loose projectile could find its way to loosen by dint of the hopes of many and find its way to land on your head. In the Vietnam war the soldiers might have visited your tent late at night.......

People may sign up or been lied to and signed up, or been bamboozled and signed-- no matter. When a soldier, many are incredibly young people, determines that what they are doing has no meaning and perhaps may even be immoral, they have choices before them...... the unhealthiest, the ones who already have deficits going in likely just get worse....... the healthiest probably choose sociopathic means of escaping (stay drugged or drunk- it's a way of dissociating)-- though it means one loses touch with what they did, their own behavior, sometimes crazy, and then sobering up stateside can bring on a lot of nightmares.. In the biz we call it healthy narcissism, they do what they have to, to put themselves out of the crazy situation (like the soldier who recently shot himself in the shoulder to avoid being redeployed to Afghanistan). There are also the honorable ones who try to face down the military, but more often then not they are made to eat crow, thrown in the brig, and shamed out of service as if they lost their minds, -- they didn't, but are often further wounded by trying to stand up for themselves. There are those who are able to go out honorably, resigning with protest, like Captain Hoh recently did and like Erin Watada, though somehow they too are tainted by their experience.

Perhaps an arm chair tactician or a simply rigid heartless, perhaps inexperienced soul could label them all to be cowards. I would vouch that it takes a hell of a lot more courage than imaginable to go up against the status quo, even though by training they are supposed to refuse illegal orders. Those who do protest in whatever way they do, likely get the benefit of having stood guard on their own soul and attempted to follow its deep counsel. I suspect the ones that come home most messed up are the one that pitted duty against their own sense of right and wrong. In that case the duty they did does not protect them from their own conscience, thus they suffer and sometimes take their own life, tragically.

I also believe the biological model is only one way to look at depression and should be noted that PTSD is not a mere depression, however debilitating. Science does not have the instruments to measure "soul loss" likely Dr. E, could do a more credible job of explaining that if she cared to. I do know that the ones who espouse a bio-medical model as an explanation for depression often find bio-medical and pharmacological solutions too. Many have rejected this as a singular solution to the problem.

Re: The Ultimate Sacrifice

kathykattenburg — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:11:04 -0000

I know. I fully realize that. I didn't mention it in my post, but I did allude to it in my answer to vbk's question.

I'm sorry, I'm writing this right after reading AR's comment, and my heart feels like it's turned to frost.

Re: Obama Then and Now

dduck12 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:11:09 -0000

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. But, too many of them lead to your characterization.

Re: Obama Then and Now

spirasol — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:05:08 -0000

There are many things to be glad for Obama about...............but the country was/is ready for someone more willing to grip the steering wheel of change..........Candidate Obama was a lion, President Obama seems timid.... so okay ............not the embarrassment of Bush, but, but......What?

Re: The Ultimate Sacrifice

spirasol — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:01:13 -0000

Kathy, I encourage you to look up how many Vietnam vets have taken their own lives...... I believe that they have never stopped taking their own lives............the number is likely astounding, sadly....

Re: What’s Lieberman’s Problem?

spirasol — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:58:44 -0000

Funny how the more he feels relevant the more I feel he is irrelevant...........

Re: Political Koans…

spirasol — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:07:26 -0000

This from Ariana Huffington:

What would candidate Obama make of President Obama? and what would President Obama make of candidate Obama?

Re: Political Koans…

spirasol — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:09:38 -0000

2nd try......What if we had the opportunity to peel back all the layers and found that at the center there was only an idea that flew away the minute the cage door was left open......

What if all the mortgages and holdings and stocks and portfolios and unpaid debt revealed that America was really owned by those who live outside her boundaries?

What if the dead soldiers returned in dreams to advise the seekers of peace?

What if as a prerequisite of war it was necessary to send members of your own family?

What if democracy were a creature or a plant slated for extinction?

What if democracy were a woman and we saw her standing naked before her wardrobe trying to decide what to put on today: the glittery trappings of consumer capitalism personified in the sleek sharp lines of a business suit, the loose fitting throw-on with its colorful integrated group-think social pattern which really asks only one question: what is best for all, or the drab gray dusty gown already rejected by all the most ambitious hunters (but embraced by most wolves), a wall flower guarantee, but in which she knows she feels elegant.

What if capitalism had a soul and it became lost ......

Re: Political Koans…

spirasol — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:39:39 -0000

What if capitalism and socialism and democracy could be blended?
What if stockholders suddenly became naked and their bodies showed the rise and fall of their investments?
What would it feel like for a lobbyist to be lobbied on behalf of the people?
What if the world realized that the torch of democracy no longer burned from America?
What if the hypocrisy on the inside and hidden could be psycho-surgically removed?
Who is it power does not corrupt?
What if everyone set out to find the lost soul of America? Where would you look first?
What if politics was enshrined with nobility and Joe lieberman was banned from participating?
what if arrangements were made for us all to be paid in barter without taxes?
What if all those working full time insisted on working part time so that the unemployed could work beside them?
What if the congress was lobbied by heart workers who plead the case of the voiceless?
What if the powerful were made to go begging and the weak and infirm inherited all they had lost?
What if they gave a war and nobody showed up?
What if the war dead could speak? What would they say?
What if a politician got elected on the promise of transparency and reneged on his promise?

Re: Fred Hiatt Praises Agreement to Restore Zelaya to Office

AustinRoth — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:02:14 -0000

The Military's role, which they overstepped, was to secure the ex-President. No one denies removing him from the country was illegal. But it was the Legislature and the Supreme Court that that removed him as President. The Military was not involved in that decision.

Re: Fred Hiatt Praises Agreement to Restore Zelaya to Office

dduck12 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:01:43 -0000

Read the Library of Congress Report.

Re: Fred Hiatt Praises Agreement to Restore Zelaya to Office

spirasol — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:27:17 -0000

"unambiguous".... C'mon. So there are two parts to it. The first part says "available sources" which does not sound clear or exhaustive and "indicates" would appear to point but not underscore the so called "facts" of the government case. And based on the above I would say that these questionable "democratic" moves were then followed by a completely illegal move of kidnapping the president and transporting him out of the country.

In what democratic hell, can a military and a plotting judiciary simply remove a sitting president?