tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post3590676301955331879..comments2023-10-17T08:19:58.196-04:00Comments on FreeThinke: FreeThinkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-34948819379496824712015-11-13T22:29:06.816-05:002015-11-13T22:29:06.816-05:00"We veterans have seen horrible things that c...<i>"We veterans have seen horrible things that can never be unseen. You are not teaching us anything by posting such pictures..."</i><br /><br />I was not trying to teach <i>you</i> anything, sir. I was attempting with powerful, carefully considered WORD IMAGES to help others who have not experienced combat understand and possibly empathize with the kind of gruesome experiences combat veterans have been exposed to.<br /><br />I'm sorry, but the more I've thought about this the more persuaded I am to believe that you harbor a tremendous amount of free floating hostility and therefore carry a big chip on your shoulder. <br /><br />That means you have developed a predominantly negative view of life and are always spoiling for a fight.<br /><br />"Addicted to dispute" would be another way of putting it. You're not alone. Rage addiction and the concomitant desire to strike at others seems almost universal in the blogging community.<br /><br />I'm sorry, but I am not responsible for your rage, and there is nothing I can do, apparently, to alleviate it. If you weren't taking umbrage at my post, you'd be royally pissed off about something somewhere else.<br /><br />PS: The images I selected were entirely incidental to the poem. I was not particularly satisfied with them, myself, but after searching in vain for over an hour for something better, i had to give up and use what I found. FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-79587751635170545372015-11-13T19:31:15.590-05:002015-11-13T19:31:15.590-05:00______ A Backward Glance ______
I gaze now in pe...<b>______ A Backward Glance ______<br /><br /><i>I gaze now in perpetual wonderment, grief <br /> And sorrow at the jagged, rotting stump <br />Of the once-vital, arcing grandeur<br /> Of the dear and familiar tree <br />That gave me shade and comfort, <br />While all around me weeds, thorns <br /> Strange, stunted saplings, and bitter fruit <br />Litter the parched stony soil <br />Beneath a pitiless, gray wintery sky.</i></b><br /><br />~ FreeThinke<br />FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-55633744621204021942015-11-13T11:15:31.948-05:002015-11-13T11:15:31.948-05:00Possibly in the short term, but doesn't the bi...Possibly in the short term, but doesn't the bible say, <i>"A corrupt tree bringeth forth corrupt fruit?"</i><br /><br />A house built on sand or boggy ground is doomed to collapse sooner or later.FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-11303516305876424702015-11-13T11:09:00.009-05:002015-11-13T11:09:00.009-05:00My opinion has been formed over a 35-year period o...My opinion has been formed over a 35-year period of close observation, Anita. It is unlikely to change, unless I see evidence that might cause me to doubt my perceptions –– always a possibility –– but I am anything but a weather vane, and have no desire to win popularity. Ah jess calls 'em as I sees 'em. ;-)FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-75105806789209659212015-11-13T07:55:13.303-05:002015-11-13T07:55:13.303-05:00FT,
FT,
If that is true, then perhaps the USA real...FT,<br />FT,<br /><i>If that is true, then perhaps the USA really HAS acted as "The Great Satan" </i><br /><br />Or, the Great Benefactor for preventing something even worse from happening.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-84748873389408068032015-11-13T07:53:13.285-05:002015-11-13T07:53:13.285-05:00FT,
Another aspect of the Oligarchs: manipulation ...FT,<br />Another aspect of the Oligarchs: manipulation of the financial markets so as to line their own pockets. In the process of lining their pockets, many others have benefited via investments.<br /><br />I happen to believe the the markets have been manipulated for a very long time now. <br /><br />I have benefited from that manipulation -- as have many others. Call it "trickle down economics" (not in the Reagan sense, but in the sense about which I'm speaking in this comment.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-3094192772828862312015-11-13T07:41:32.565-05:002015-11-13T07:41:32.565-05:00If that is true, then perhaps the USA really HAS a...If that is true, then perhaps the USA really HAS acted as "The Great Satan" and really DOES deserve to be vilified and condemned by the rest of the world.<br /><br />But perhaps you misunderstand what I mean by "The Oligarchs?" I do NOT mean those who have grown rich by inventing and successfully marketing a "better mousetrap." <br /><br />Success in business is a wonderful, highly desirable thing. I am anything-but a starry-eyed, feather-brained egalitarian who believe the janitor should make as much money as the president of the corporation <i>et al.</i>, and I certainly do not believe any arm of the GOVERNMENT should have the power to LIMIT the earnings of ANYONE or decide HOW they ought to spend their own money. HOWEVER, when rich people –– like George Soros, for instance –– become megalomaniacal and start ABUSE their privileges in order to push people around in unprincipled ways, and exploits them to serve a corrupt, nefarious, subversive POWER AGENDA, I think their efforts should be forcibly curtailed.<br /><br />What is so terribly terribly WRONG with the way we are running things at present is that these very very rich megalomaniacs have been able to suborn most members of the U.S. Congress by PAYING them to do the Oligarch's bidding. These Oligarchs have been effectively able to BUY most of the judgeships as well. <br /><br />The RESULT?<br /><br /><b>A government OF the Oligarchs, BY the Oligarchs and FOR the Oligarchs, where the PEOPLE are LEFT OUT almost completely –– exactly the kind of situation the Founding Fathers sought to END once and for all.</b>FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-19828938011530190422015-11-13T07:10:27.781-05:002015-11-13T07:10:27.781-05:00Factually correct, AOW, but The Charge of the Ligh...Factually correct, AOW, but The Charge of the Light Brigade –– like all good poetry and literature –– is about much MORE than any specific historical event. It is a condemnation of systems and situations that result in the gruesome unnecessary death of multitudes of young men because of callousness, stupidity, arrogance, and pride of inept leadership.<br /><br /><b>I do not believe we should ever engage in military combat unless we are attacked first</b>. <br /><br />Once we are attacked, however, I do not believe in staging a "measured," "proportional" response. I believe we should always seek to ANNIHILATE aggressors with whatever vicious, appalling tactics it may take to liquidate the danger they represent.<br /><br /><b>I also believe in decisive, no holds barred PEREMPTORY strikes against obvious threats BEFORE they get big enough to do us harm.</b><br /><br />Imagine the millions of lives that could have been saved, if we had sent in a commando squad or elite cadre of hit men to ASSASSINATE HITLER and break up the cabal of thugs surrounding and supporting him BEFORE he invaded Poland and the Sudetenland.<br /><br />There could be nothing more idiotic and self-defeating than trying to be "fair" to one's known enemies.<br /><br />That said ,war for the sake of war and profit is the WORST policy imaginable, and those who engage in it should be stripped of their power, stripped of their fortunes, publicly disgraced and sent to prison.FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-37841857281709801532015-11-13T06:05:40.291-05:002015-11-13T06:05:40.291-05:00A Veteran,
Not on this day.
Yes, that's my po...A Veteran,<br /><i>Not on this day.</i><br /><br />Yes, that's my point.<br /><br />Analogy, albeit imperfect: on Christmas Day we shouldn't be "commemorating" the day by discussing the atrocities perpetrated by the Christian church. That kind of discussion can wait until another day.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-36008156815494824442015-11-12T18:07:07.529-05:002015-11-12T18:07:07.529-05:00Hindsight makes the Korean War look a lot more pal...Hindsight makes the Korean War look a lot more palatable. The Koreans themselves built what they have today. We kept them safe. Korea is a very peculiar and particular place, however. It's not a good analogy for anything or anywhere else.<br /><br />JMJJersey McJoneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15426560061830038806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-62030551545122301342015-11-12T18:01:28.776-05:002015-11-12T18:01:28.776-05:00It is gratuitous. War is gratuitous. It is a sta...It is gratuitous. War is gratuitous. It is a state of things far outside what the average civilian could ever understand. For those who haven't experienced it, the vast majority of people, you have to use gratuitous language. How else would you describe such a thing to someone who's never seen anything like it?<br /><br />I've never been to war. The closest thing to it I can imagine is to be involved somehow in a violent crime - on a continuous but irregular basis. When you look at the great writers, poets, filmmakers on war, you see some really stark, vivid, highly critical and snarlingly angry, gratuitous works.<br /><br />To be honest, it reminded me of my old music days. It' the kind of thing I would have put to heavy metal! ;)<br /><br />JMJJersey McJoneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15426560061830038806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-64891496200442248802015-11-12T17:04:00.607-05:002015-11-12T17:04:00.607-05:00Veterans Today says: Veterans are everywhere. In h...<a href="http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/11/12/rt-international-duff-on-veterans-glorification-once-a-year/" rel="nofollow">Veterans Today says:</a> Veterans are everywhere. In homeless shelters, mental hospitals and even on death row. <br /><br />They are celebrated and glorified one day a year ... to keep skin in the game, I guess.Waylonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08533895509055020394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-2611639567853755842015-11-12T15:34:38.431-05:002015-11-12T15:34:38.431-05:00FOR THE RECORD
As I tried to explain, I was not t...FOR THE RECORD<br /><i><br />As I tried to explain, I was not thinking of the veterans when I wrote that poem. I was thinking of the dirty rotten bastards who USED them as PAWNS in an international chess game that has had little or nothing to do with protecting AMERICAN interests at home or abroad.<br /></i><br /><br />I think that you should rethink thatDandy Lionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05730616915999478860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-78185791228161353872015-11-12T14:42:11.084-05:002015-11-12T14:42:11.084-05:00We in the colonies of the of the once great Britis...We in the colonies of the of the once great British Empire don't celebrate Veterans Day. Here we celebrate Remembrance Day (formerly Armistice Day) which commemorates the signing of the peace agreement at the end of World War I (11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. And I'm not sure if there is any subtle esoteric Masonic meaning to those numbers, but is was supposed to be the war to end all wars. <br /><br />Obviously that was a mistake or an outright blatant lie since it was only the end of the beginning as later conflagrations would prove. Somehow I feel more sympathetic toward those who went off innocently to fight in World War I actually believing they were doing the honorable and patriotic thing to fight for God and country and the King.<br /><br />The United States came late to this fight. Was there a clear reason to involve America in this war? The theater of war was across the sea far from the shores of the country and what was unfolding "over there" was more of a bloody family feud that was about to rearrange the world in many ways that still remain with our world today. <br /><br />It may have set the precedent for today in which more time is spent "over there" breaking countries, lives and homes of many innocent people ... for little apparent reason, other than because it's us, because we can and we are "the free world" (supposedly).Waylonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08533895509055020394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-28728407954891561312015-11-12T14:09:28.777-05:002015-11-12T14:09:28.777-05:00Yes, General George Patton suffered an unfortunate...Yes, General George Patton suffered an unfortunate demise after the war was over and the peace was being enforced. He had witnessed sub-human behavior after the war was over and the voracious greed and inhumanity of those "victors" that outdid those atrocities attributed to "The Hun".<br /><br />He was about to make public this despicable behavior that may have had a severe detrimental effect on the upcoming Presidential aspirations of Isaac Eisenhower. He ultimately met his maker in the loving care hospital staff after being involved in a car "accident" while out for a Sunday afternoon of pheasant hunting.<br /><br />He's now revered as a good soldier and sneered at posthumously as an anti-Semite by some folks that may think he'd come too come too close to the real truth of what was really behind the two World Wars .. as we are learning today, as we speak.Waylonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08533895509055020394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-80963986977756842422015-11-12T12:30:52.470-05:002015-11-12T12:30:52.470-05:00I meant no insult. I was speaking frankly from on...I meant no insult. I was speaking frankly from one man to another.<br /><br />May I sum it up by repeating, <b>Not on this day.</b>A Veterannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-89630589468444687842015-11-12T12:18:02.550-05:002015-11-12T12:18:02.550-05:00I can only REPEAT:
Naturally, I'm glad about ...I can only REPEAT:<br /><br />Naturally, I'm glad about your good experience with Korean students and all that, but <b>why THEIR well-being should have to have been purchased with the gruesome deaths of FIFTY-EIGHT THOUSAND of OUR young men and the intense suffering of hundreds of thousands more, when those battles accomplished no GAIN whatsoever for the wealth and well-being of the USA or the rest of the free world I can't imagine.</b><br /><br />In my view our good men, and now women, have been and continue to be be ruthlessly EXPLOITED by those remote figures in high positions of PRIVILEGE, POWER and CONTROL.<br /><br /><b>I think we have been busily wasting energy, blood and treasure fighting the WRONG SET of DEMONS since the onset of the Korean War.</b><br /><br />Ask yourself what our immense sacrifices in these various armed conflicts have gained –– for US as a NATION ––, and you'll come up with BITTER DEFEAT, HUMILIATION, LOSS of PRESTIGE, MILITANT DIVISIVENESS at HOME, and INCREASED RATES of POVERTY and DEPRIVATION.FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-27954556127944824192015-11-12T12:03:35.750-05:002015-11-12T12:03:35.750-05:00Naturally, I'm glad about your good experience...Naturally, I'm glad about your good experience with Korean students and all that, but why THEIR well-being should have to have been purchased with the gruesome deaths of FIFTY-EIGHT THOUSAND of OUR young men and the intense suffering of hundreds of thousands more, when those battles accomplished no GAIN whatsoever for the wealth and well-being of the USA or the rest of the free world I can't imagine.<br /><br />In my view our good men, and now women, have been and continue to be ruthlessly EXPLOITED by those remote figures in high positions of PRIVILEGE, POWER and CONTROL.<br />FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-51233372699395922632015-11-12T11:56:31.316-05:002015-11-12T11:56:31.316-05:00I'm very sorry you feel that way, whoever you ...I'm very sorry you feel that way, whoever you are, but it's simply not true. <br /><br />Your churlish insults and haughty exhortations are gratuitous and normally would be unacceptable, but because I believe everyone is entitled to his feelings, –– as long as they are sincere and not disingenuous ––, I shall let your remark stand.<br /><br />Life is always full of surprises. It's a shame that most of them turn out to be unpleasant.<br /><br />I blame this on the avid urge always to find reasons to take offense, then chastise, castigate, counsel, and condemn. Most regrettably this has emerged as THE dominant characteristic of the Human Condition.<br /><br />Instead I greatly favor making every effort to take Walt Whitman's sage advice:<br /><br /><b>"BE CURIOUS, NOT JUDGMENTAL."</b>FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-65555765334099766172015-11-12T11:09:44.794-05:002015-11-12T11:09:44.794-05:00FT,
I do not believe it was worth even ONE Americ...FT,<br /><i> I do not believe it was worth even ONE American life to make a better experience possible for THEM.</i><br /><br />I must interject that some of <i>THEM</i> are among the finest American citizens whom I know. I'm speaking of people whom I personally know -- not of the anonymous <i>THEM</i>.<br /><br />Gotta go! Long workday for me today!Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-29501397061584343952015-11-12T11:07:38.712-05:002015-11-12T11:07:38.712-05:00BTW, when I typed in Not all believe that it is a ...BTW, when I typed in <i>Not all believe that it is a lie</i>, I also mean that other nations will never sign on to the better angels.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-81741756065130010122015-11-12T11:06:58.948-05:002015-11-12T11:06:58.948-05:00FT,
Until the majority realizes the truth of Wilfr...FT,<br /><i>Until the majority realizes the truth of Wilfred Owen's extraordinarily moving poetry based on his hideous, real life EXPERIENCE in the battlefields of WWI, NOTHING is EVER going to IMPROVE.</i><br /><br />Here's how I see it....<br /><br />It's not the majority that need convincing. It's the political leaders! And now only <b>our</b> political leaders, but also the political leaders of other countries. <br /><br />I don't think that we the majority can get through.<br /><br />I lean non-interventionist. Always have leaned that way. <br /><br />But I have come to wonder if non-intervention won't have its own terrible cost -- perhaps a higher cost in human lives lost. <b>American lives lost!</b> <br /><br />Lives can be lost in ways other than on the battlefield. <br /><br />Lives can also be lost because of a failing economy, and there's no way around the fact that a strong military doesn't help to guarantee a strong economy.<br /><br />As American diminishes on the world stage as she has done the past several years, our economy has contracted. Yes, I do see a relationship between that contraction and the loss of military power. <br /><br />And there is also the terrible reality that much of our economic interest now lies outside our borders. That economic interest does indeed affect our domestic economy. <br /><br />If our economy continues to contract, taxes will rise, income; wealth will be redistributed.<br /><br />A strong military force doesn't mean that there will be no challenges to that force. Victory is the only option. To the winner go the spoils.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-63971601485391906682015-11-12T10:21:12.681-05:002015-11-12T10:21:12.681-05:00That's a pity. Until the majority realizes the...That's a pity. Until the majority realizes the truth of Wilfred Owen's extraordinarily moving poetry based on his hideous, real life EXPERIENCE in the battlefields of WWI, NOTHING is EVER going to IMPROVE.FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-62235842234713215422015-11-12T10:17:46.400-05:002015-11-12T10:17:46.400-05:00FOR THE RECORD
As I tried to explain, I was not t...FOR THE RECORD<br /><br />As I tried to explain, I was not thinking of the veterans when I wrote that poem. I was thinking of the dirty rotten bastards who USED them as PAWNS in an international chess game that has had little or nothing to do with protecting AMERICAN interests at home or abroad.<br /><br />In my view virtually everything we've done militarily since the end of WWII has been a tragic waste of blood and treasure.<br /><br />I am, and always have been, a NON-interventionist. <br /><br />I am surprised anyone would take "QUESTIONS," which I wrote in 2011, as an indictment of VETERANS. I've published it before, and it received no attention whatsoever that I can remember.<br /><br />As for Koreans –– or any other foreign victims of the brutality and stupidity of their leaders –– <b>I do not believe it was worth even ONE American life to make a better experience possible for THEM.</b><br /><br /><b>Sorry, but that's the way I feel, and it's unlikely my feelings will ever change. As a people we have loused ourselves up to a fare thee well trying to mind OTHER peoples' business at home and abroad "for their own good." I'm sick of it, the world is sick if it, and it's long past time for it to STOP. <br /><br />There is nothing to honor or celebrate about having been deceived and manipulated into dying or being maimed for some politician's STUPID MISTAKE.</b> <br /><br />I feel the same about the Civil War. It was entirely UNNECESSARY, and Lincoln should be memorialized in the Hall of Shame, instead of lionized as "Our Greatest President." <br />FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145653764764266444.post-67791497759587347442015-11-12T09:38:20.919-05:002015-11-12T09:38:20.919-05:00I concur with Always on Watch. This blog post is ...I concur with Always on Watch. This blog post is gratuitous, morbid, and cartoonish. It stands as an insult to Veterans everywhere and a blasphemy against this special day set aside to remember those who have fought and died. We veterans have seen horrible things that can never be unseen. You are not teaching us anything by posting such pictures. The last picture may be real, but the aspect of it makes it look like something out of a poorly-produced 1950's horror movie. You are not teaching anyone else anything, either. I was going to urge you to read "Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," but I see you've already posted it. Now, go off and study it! Learn some subtlety of protest while still respecting the subject matter. This is a new low for this blog. You dishonored Veterans Day with this post.A Veterannoreply@blogger.com