TALK ABOUT

an uncontrolable habit....

IF YOU LOVE A GOOD STORY

as much as I do read this post at Left In Aboite. If so moved, post your thoughts on it there please.

I also like folk music. On one of his other posts John reminded me of the song "Blue Tail Fly"(some people think it's entitled "Jimmy Cracked His Corn"). Like a lot of songs that we sang when we were children the meaning was not fully understood or lost like so many childhood memories. This was a Burl Ives classic(and what isn't a Burl Ives Classic?).
I tried to find an online version you could hear, but the lyrics will have to do.

When I was young I used to wait
On my master and hand him his plate
And Pass the bottle when he got dry
And brushawaythe blue-tail fly

CHORUS:Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
My master's gone away

And when he’d ride in the afternoon
I'd follow after with my hickory broom
The pony being rather shy
When bitten bythe blue-tail fly

CHORUS:

One day he ride around the farm
Flies so numerousthey did swarm
One chanced to bite him on the thigh
The deviltake the blue-tail fly

CHORUS:
MUSIC

The pony run, he jump, he pitch
He threw my master in the ditch
He died and the jury wondered why
The verdict was the blue-tail fly

CHORUS:

He lay underthe 'simmon tree
His epitaph is there to see
"Beneath this stone I'm forced to lie
The victim ofthe blue-tail fly"

CHORUS:
The Masters gone away

Okay now just what comes out of the back of a horse? Would you like the job of following with a broom to shoo a way the flies? Of course if you were the shooer(is that a word?) in the song you would not have a choice, because you would be a slave.
No choice. Except if you didn't shoo away a particular horsetail fly that was bound to bite the shy horse, that was bound to throw your Master Jimmy, that stood a good chance of cracking his corn. If you didn't, now you know why the singer didn't care that Jimmy cracked his corn.After all the Masters gone away.

note - there are other versions. For a history(and who doesn't like history?)I think in this case Wikipedia is a good start. Be sure to scale down to the History and interpretation part.

ANOTHER MILITARY MEMBER REFUSES TO KILL FOR THE BUSH REGIME

THIS IS THE T-SHIRT IRON ON I MADE(MY 1ST!)AND WORE TODAY(6-27-06)CLICK TO ENLARGE AND CLICK AGAIN TO ENLARGE IT MORE(I WISH THAT WORKED FOR OTHER THINGS)

June 23rd, 2006 12:53 am
War Objector Lt. Watada Refuses To Go To Iraq
(UPDATE ARTICLE AT BOTTOM)
Associated Press

FORT LEWIS - An Army lieutenant who has said he'd rather go to prison than Iraq did not deploy with his unit when it left Thursday for the Middle East, Army officials said.

1st Lt. Ehren Watada, 28, of Honolulu, who joined the Army in March 2003, has said he would be willing to serve in Afghanistan or elsewhere, but has concluded that the war in Iraq is illegal and immoral.

Watada stayed on base in his battalion's headquarters while members of his unit left Fort Lewis by bus at 6:45 a.m., en route to their flight from nearby McChord Air Force Base, the Army said.

About 4,000 soldiers of Fort Lewis' 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division were scheduled to be part of this deployment.

"1st Lt. Watada has been ordered to remain on duty at his unit, with some limitations on his pass privileges, pending further instructions from his chain of command," Fort Lewis officials said in a statement.

No charges had been filed against Watada as of Thursday. "None will be filed until the commander has had a chance to review all of the facts of the case and consult with the Staff Judge Advocate," the Army statement said.

Watada said in an interview earlier this month that he researched the reasons behind the U.S. involvement in Iraq and concluded that the government has violated American law.'

"We can't break laws in order to fight terrorism," he said.

Watada said he believes intelligence on whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was manipulated "to fit a policy that was already implemented prior to 9-11," and he cited "mistreatment of the Iraqi people," saying it was "a contradiction to the Army's own Law of Land Warfare."

He did not apply for conscientious objector status, defined by Army regulations as a "firm, fixed and sincere objection to participation in a war in any form or the bearing of arms, because of religious training and belief." He said he objected only to the war in Iraq.

His attorney, Eric Seitz, did not immediately return a phone call to his office in Honolulu because he is in Europe.

Human says - This brave man needs our support. He has put everything on the line. Visit "Thank You Lt. Ehren Watada" to see how you can help, even if it's just a comforting word. Human family just sent Andrew Jackson to help his legal defense fund.
To see and hear Lt. Watada's statement click here.

Peace.

UPDATE ARTICLE -
To Refuse To Serve
By Ret. Col. Ann Wright
TomPaine.com
Tuesday 27 June 2006
Today, is the National Day of Action in support of U.S. Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, who, on June 22, refused an order to deploy with his unit to Iraq.

Watada said he could not participate in an "illegal and immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression. My oath of office is to protect and defend America's laws and its people. By refusing unlawful orders for an illegal war, I fulfill that oath."

Watada's refusal to deploy to Iraq raises ethical, moral and legal questions, not only for him, but for other military personnel as well as for civilians. He believes the war on Iraq is a violation of international and domestic law and is therefore illegal. Watada says that as a military officer of honor and integrity he must refuse an order to participate in an illegal act.

Watada joins 10 other members of the U.S. military who - as a matter of conscience - have refused to either go to Iraq or to return there and have been court-martialed for their actions. Two are currently in prison for their stands. In addition, over 200 U.S. military personnel have gone to Canada to avoid being sent to Iraq, nine of whom have gone public with their war resistance. There are over 6,400 U.S. military are absent without leave (AWOL), while thousands who have returned from AWOL have been given administrative discharges instead of courts-martial. The military has not provided information on whether those who have turned themselves in were AWOL due to opposition to the war.

For Watada and those other military volunteers who have chosen to go public with their dissent from the war on Iraq, the path of conscience is not easy. By their actions, they challenge an administration whose policy of aggressive, pre-emptive war has placed those volunteers, the institution of the U.S. military and the nation itself in danger.

Refusing to obey an illegal order is a time-honored tradition in the U.S. military, but that refusal carries incredible risk. If the order is found by a military board of inquiry to be lawful, then the soldier is will be brought before a military court for trial.

Watada's public refusal to deploy to Iraq puts the military panel who will sit in judgment of his actions in a dilemma. The military has extraordinarily talented military lawyers who are well-versed in the laws of land warfare, the Geneva and Hague conventions and the Nuremberg principles. Indeed, military lawyers were the strongest opponents of the decision by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez to throw out internationally agreed to protections for prisoners of war and instead create a new, illegal term called "enemy combatants." This legally meaningless phrase provides no protections for those detained on the battlefield and jeopardizes U.S. military personnel who end up in the hands of opponents. Now, these military lawyers must decide whether protection of an administration's illegal war of aggression is more important to the national security of the United States than recognition that, by the Nuremberg principles, military and civilians have a responsibility to stop their governments from committing illegal acts.

As a retired colonel with 29 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves, and as a U.S. diplomat for 16 years who resigned in March 2003 from the State Department in opposition to the war in Iraq, I strongly support Watada's decision to publicly challenge the illegality of the war.

I hope that on June 27, as part of this National Day of Action, Americans will find ways in their communities to "Stand Up with Lt. Watada." We should discuss the important moral and ethical issues that he and the other brave and courageous men and women have raised in their refusal to participate in the illegal war on Iraq. See www.ThankyouLt.org for a list of communities and activities scheduled for June 27.

As civilians, we also have a moral responsibility when we see an administration committing illegal acts. We cannot be silent and let this illegal war continue. Stand up for Watada and our country.

Human says - (LAST PARAGRAPH I PUT IN BOLD) ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE It links to other important sites.
--------
Col. Ann Wright served in the U.S. Army for 13 years and in the U.S. Army Reserves for 16 years. She also served for 16 years in the U.S. diplomatic corps, and in that capacity helped reopen the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan in December 2001. She received the State Department's Award for Heroism as the acting U.S. ambassador during the rebel takeover of Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1997.

SATURDAY NIGHT COMIC

A LETTER THAT CONSERVATIVE NEWSPAPERS REFUSED TO PRINT

The following is a letter I sent to a whole bunch of newspapers across America in mid 2003. I targeted Red States and "close" States. Many in the Midwest. Some were Newspapers online and others print. As far as I know it was never printed. I guess they were afraid others may read it. It's time to correct that oversight.

Hello, our names are xxxx and xxxxx.
My wife and I recently had to make a very personal decision on whether to end a pregnancy. This personal crisis did not possess any of the watchwords of the debate on abortion, such as unwed, teen, partial birth or rape. The deep spiritual and personal concerns facing my wife and I were just too complicated to be struck with any knee jerk label.

My wife and I, along with a Medical Doctor and Staff, who provided us with professional advice and support made the right decision.

There are those who strive to take away our decision. There are those who would kill the Doctor and Staff who provided us with Medical Care.

There are those who say we can't be trusted with this decision and want to make it for us, because they think they have a just right to do so.

Are these the same trusting people who see every issue in such a stark black and white prism that their political leaders can loudly proclaim "You're either with us or against us"?

Are these the same trusting people who's religious leaders loudly proclaim "This is a War against Islam", and have Sabbath Day War Briefings complete with Battle maps?

Are these the same trusting people who's Economic Leaders loudly proclaim, "It's a fair market, put your money here?

Are these the same trusting people who scream "Support the Troops" to the Mothers of the Born and Unborn children to be sacrificed on the Altar of Patriotism?

You know they are the same people. You see their catatonic inducing images everyday.

Give up our Right to make informed personal decisions to these people?

Give up our Right to squeak a dissent?

Give up our Right to Sneak and Peak through the blood stained glass adorning the Temple of Democracy?

It's our decision.

The answer is no.

THE GRAND OLD PERVERT PARTY

Add another pervert to the ever growing list of Republicans who molest children.
And maybe another?

I posted this list at various places and it never fails that some Bushusefool says something like "Anybody could make such a list of Liberals/Democrats." In response I always challenge them to do just that. Strange the list is never forthcoming.

I don't call them The Sick Far Right for nothing.

Safety Rules to teach the children -
1)Don't talk to strangers.
2)Stick together.
3)Stay away from the local Republican Party office.

GREAT NEWS! X 2!

UPDATE - IN ADDITION TO THE LINK BELOW WHERE YOU CAN SEE "AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH" YOU CAN GO HERE TO SEE KEITH OLBERMANN INTERVIEW PRESIDENT GORE. IT'S ALMOST 15 MINUTES LONG.


The other Great News is, well just an Inconvenient Truth. Get the popcorn. On second thought, don't expend the fossil fuel. Eat a carrot. After you watch it please tell me what your review is please.

Peace, your fellow Human

MASSACRE OF THE BUFFALO SOLDIERS

Just where is the Democratic Party Leadership when African Americans need them?

This is just another reason in a long list of reasons I'm not a Democrat anymore.
They just don't share my values. I'm a Liberal.

Peace.

SOME PEOPLE SPOUT

Some people think and spout(me?). Then there are people like this guy.
The linked article was sent by Roundearther. THANKS ROUNDEARTHER!

What a

Busy week for the Human family. If all works out we will be moving next month. In a feeble effort to ready the house for sale, I have not been online as much as usual. I say feeble becuse Lil Joe has taken to waking up every couple of hours. Every night. All week. I finally got to sleep at 5 this morning. On the couch downstairs. I in the main took the job of calming the wee one all week so my beloved could sleep enough to go to work. After 4 this morning she took over with him. I went downstairs to get away from the screams. Woke up at 1 this afternoon. With my back screaming.I gotta go pick up the Sleep Stealer in a 1/2 hour. I think I'll try to work on the room next to his when we get home. If he will self entertain himself while screwing in more drywall. Yeah, right. Well as I learned when he was new and waking up every 3 hours to be fed, it is an art of the possible raising the Lil guy.The difference now is he ain't screaming for food. He's pissed that he's alone in bed. Well that's my whining for the day. What's yours? But, before you lay it on, watch this short vid.

Have a great weekend!

Peace.

TA DAAAA!!!!!

INTRODUCING A NEW FRIENDLY! ELLIE OVER AT POLITICAL HOT SPOT HAS IT GOING ON FOLKS.
HER LATEST POST(LAST SATURDAY) IS ABOUT A NEW THIRD PARTY. YOU SHOULD CHECK IT OUT.
AND YES I AM SHOUTING. NOW GIT YER HINEY OVER TO ELLIE'S!

JOSEPH GOEBELLS WOULD BE PROUD

American Self Portrait









Meet Bush's New Chief Domestic Advisor Karl "The Spin Meister" Zinsmeister.

More Canned Goods. (see my May 18th article "How Did He Do That" for context).

I know, I know, their only lying to us for our own good, and paid political hacks posing as "Grassroots" organizers are like Daddy playing Santa.

It's all just another Conspiracy Theory really.Like any good Parent Bush just wants to protect us from bad influences. All you need to know is Daddy works hard, bringing home the Oil er I mean Bacon. Daddy would never hurt us. Would he?

Now, finish your Organophosphates and then you can have your favorite dessert.

That's a good Baby.