As a long-time anti-war activist, I feel the need to speak out against our current wars. That's what I did Monday evening with four friends in the cold rain at 2100 South and 700 East with a banner reading, "Stop Obama's Wars -- Troops Home Now!"
Interestingly, some people yelled from their cars, "They're Bush's wars!" I wonder what is their reasoning. While in the Senate, Barack Obama consistently voted to fund the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. While president, Obama has maintained the occupation of Iraq, escalated the war in Afghanistan and extended the war into Pakistan with drone attacks that kill numerous civilians. It is Obama's requests to Congress to fund these wars. It is Obama who signs the letters to American families of troops who are killed. The blood is on Obama's hands (as well as on the hands of the congressional leadership and Utah's entire congressional delegation).
Bob Brister
Salt Lake City
That's a letter to the Salt Lake Tribune and if you doubt how deep the denial is, check out the comments that have been left. But grasp what you're seeing in these comments, the Cult of St. Barack unable to relate to the left. That's the reality.
They can't have conversation with the center because they're so unhinged they honestly believe that Bill Ayers is a 'typical' friend for a US president and that there's nothing wrong with ACORN workers attempting to help conceal child prostitution. I was talking to a friend who hosts a TV show and he was saying that he couldn't believe how "crazed" Katrina vanden Heuvel (editor and publisher of The Nation) had gotten and how she used to be so spineless as she attempted to follow every MSM trend but now she's gone "ape s**t nuts." So true. They have no idea how ridiculous they look to the outside world. Which leaves the right and the left.
But they're too busy screaming "racist" at the right to have a conversation with them.
And they're such self-liars that they can't get honest with the left. They're as bad as they used to say the Clintonistas were in the 90s.
So Bob writes his letter and the Cult descends. He must be a Republican, he must be a Johnny Come Lately, he's stupid, blah, blah, blah.
They 'gather' all of that from his letter and being a member of the Cult of St. Barack requires that you do not live in the real world, you leave the reality-based universe. So you no longer do research.
If they weren't Cult Members, it would have taken them five seconds to learn that not only does Bob have a long history of activism to end the Iraq War, not only is he not a Republican, but he's run for public office on a platform to end the illegal war. From his 2006 campaign profile:
Bob Brister, long-time Green Party activist, has been nominated to run for the 2nd Congressional District in Utah. A resident of Salt Lake City for 5 years, Bob is originally from Memphis, Tennessee. Bob earned his masters degree in social work from the University of Michigan in 1978. He has used his organizing skills to promote nonviolence, social justice, grassroots democracy, and ecological integrity for over 25 years.
Public interest organizations with which Bob served as staff include:
* Memphis Urban League
* American Friends Service Committee
* Austin Peace & Justice Coalition
* National Wildlife Federation
* Southwest Forest Alliance
* Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign
* Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA)
Bob resigned from SUWA effective May 1, 2006 to devote full attention to his congressional campaign. In his role as Outreach Coordinator at SUWA, Bob took slideshow presentations around the country for five years, educating and advocating for the protection of our spectacular public lands wilderness in Utah, most of which is in the 2nd Congressional District.
Bob has been active in the Green Party since the first national Green Gathering in the U.S. was held in 1987. That same year, he attended the Institute for Social Ecology in Vermont to study the burgeoning "Green Movement." In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bob was a prime organizer of the Florida Green Party. In the mid-1990s, Bob organized the Austin Greens in Texas. In the late 1990s, he founded the Madera Greens in California and served on the Green Party of California council.
Bob campaigned for Ralph Nader for President in 1996, 2000 and in 2004. Since moving to Salt Lake City in 2001, Bob has been active in the Green Party of Utah. This is his first run for elected office.
Bob Brister's campaign focus is:
U.S. Out of Iraq Now!
National Health Insurance for All
Living Wage, Not Just a Minimum Wage
Protect the Earth That Sustains Us
Bob lives near Liberty Park, in Salt Lake City, with his partner Whitney Zack.
That's Bob Brister. Not a Republican. Not someone trying to pretend to care about ending the illegal war. He is a longtime activist and he's calling out the powerful and holding feet to the fire and the only thing the Cult can 'think' to do is to attack him.
In the reaction to his very basic, very logical letter, you see it all.
As Joni Mitchell once sang, "There's the hope, there's the hopelessness, I've witnessed thirty years" ("Hejira"). Instead of the Cult lashing out (as its leaders have taught), they might try getting honest. They might try asking themselves why the (lie of) Iraq War ending in 2012 is fine under Barack but it wasn't under Bush? They might try asking themselves if they meant to be such hypocrites? But doing that might mean they'd have to stop blaming Hillary or blaming Rahm or blaming anyone else for what they don't like about Barack's policies. Doing so might mean they had to leave their insulting image of Barack as a helpless man-child and admit that he's a grown up, the most powerful government leader in the world and fully aware of what he does. In other words, they might have to admit that Barack has all the power. But then they'd have to confront why they're so miserable? Every revelation would lead to another day and, by the end, they might actually experience some form of enlightment. They prefer to huddle and pray in the dark.
It's over, I'm done writing songs about love
There's a war going on
So I'm holding my gun with a strap and a glove
And I'm writing a song about war
And it goes
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Na na na na na na na
I hate the war
Oh oh oh oh
-- "I Hate The War" (written by Greg Goldberg, on The Ballet's Mattachine!)
Last Thursday, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war was 4343. Tonight? 4344.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
iraq
i hate the war
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joni mitchell
