ThinkingBlue: A PICTURE THAT SAYS A 1000 WORDS, all true!

A PICTURE THAT SAYS A 1000 WORDS, all true!

Today I came across a blogger's sarcastic take on anti-war protesting. He goes out amongst the anti-war protesters, takes pictures and makes fun of them and their signs. What a silly hobby. I had to comment on his work (below) and also thank him for the Picture that says a 1000 words. All true (at least I am hoping it will become true!)Thinkingblue

Dear Age of Hooper, Why do you have nothing better to do with your time, then go out amongst the anti-war protestors and make fun of them and their signs? Why aren't you over in Iraq fighting in Bush's war since you think it funny to protest against it. But I do want to thank you for this picture on the right. Which you sarcastically commented:
"Contrast that (literally) with this one. Grayscale. Hard to read. Much too busy. Are those chains on Bush? You really have got to get close to this one to get much out of it. The message is murky ... too much being said. What is this, an essay? It's a protest sign for cripes sake. Keep it simple. Aren't these people supposed to be the "smart" and "creative" ones? Sheesh."

I am posting this on my
thinkingblue.blogspot.com today.
IT
SAYS IT ALL!
Thanks again, thinkingblue

PS: I had to append Cindy Sheehan's eloquent recent words of truth to this posting. She, losing a son or rather knowing her son murdered by Bush and his merry band of Neocons, is and should be so offended by Bush's scandalous WORDS, DEEDS AND ACTIONS... making the above picture project an even greater return to reality if it were to be actualized. Please read the below article of grace and wisdom written by this corageous woman, Cindy Sheehan.

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Volunteers for Endless War By Cindy Sheehan t r u t h o u t Perspective
Thursday 23 March 2006
Being on the road constantly and being in the trenches for peace leaves me little time (and, if truth be told, little inclination) to keep up with George's dishonest and often incoherent ramblings; nonetheless, this week, two of his more calculated comments caught my attention.
The first comment was on the White House lawn on Sunday, March 19th, the 3rd anniversary of the invasion. By the way, the White House website has entitled this speech "The President's Remarks on the Third Anniversary of the Liberation!!!! (italics and exclamation points added by me) of Iraq." A few sentences in his short remarks were:
Ours is an amazing nation where thousands have volunteered to serve our country. They volunteered to - many volunteered after 9/11, knowing full well that their time in the military could put them in harm's way.
Notice how many times George says a variation on the word "volunteer:" three times in one sentence. This caught my eye because right-wing warniks who don't want to take any responsibility for supporting George's war of terror and it's accompanying mayhem are always reminding me that Casey "volunteered." And you know what? The warniks got me there! Casey did volunteer. He volunteered in May of 2000, to, first of all, serve his country and, second of all, get the benefits that his recruiter deceived him about. The biggest lie that Casey's recruiter told him was that "even if there is a war, you won't see combat ... you scored so high on the ASVAB test, you will only go to war in a support role." The tragic thing about this false promise is that Casey, a Humvee mechanic, was killed in combat five days after he arrived in Baghdad. The truly alarming and upsetting thing about the false promise made to Casey, though, is that recruiters are using that same lie today to potential volunteers while our country is in the middle of an occupation where many of our troops are being deployed for their third and fourth tours of duty.
I believe another aspect of George emphasizing the word "volunteer" so many times in one sentence is that he would love to absolve himself of the mortal sin of sending our troops to die and kill innocent people immorally, while still reaping (in his mind) the so-called benefits of being a "war president." George Bush wants to play-act at commander in chief, but thinks he can wash the gore of over 2,300 brave human beings off of his hands by resting assured that they "volunteered."
I have so many other problems with this volunteer rationale, too. For instance, if one volunteers to be in the military why can't one just "un-volunteer" if he/she doesn't find the lifestyle suitable; or say, if they don't find the mission compelling enough, or legal and moral enough, to go fight, perhaps die and kill innocent people for?
What about the people who volunteered after 9/11? Whatever reason they volunteered for: revenge, patriotism, a sense of duty, a sense of hopelessness - they all volunteered to protect America - not be sent to die for the war machine. They volunteered to wear the uniform of our country, which most of them didn't know or realize is the identical uniform of the war profiteers, and that they would soon be asked to invade and occupy a country that was no threat to the USA, and neither did they truly comprehend that the very thing they enlisted to prevent was being engineered by the neo-cons.
Even more exploited than our regular military are our states' National Guard units, which comprise almost 40 percent of the forces in Iraq and a disproportionately high amount of the casualties. I have spoken to many of our families who have had a national guard soldier killed in Iraq and they feel so betrayed because their family member did not sign up to go to Iraq - they volunteered to guard the nation.
In my opinion the most loathsome piece of George and the warniks who support the immorality in Iraq, while pardoning themselves for the deaths without doing any penance, is that what they are saying is essentially this: your loved one got what he/she deserved for volunteering to join our armed forces. If we want to have a military to defend our country, then it is our responsibility to elect leaders that the entire world can depend on to use our military as an absolute last resort to protect America - not as a first option to solve invented problems to fulfill their lust for mammon.
The solution to the problem of our troops being sent to die for George's war is obvious and simple: no one should volunteer to be cannon fodder for this cowardly commander in chief and the war machine. Soldiers who don't want to go to die for George should also volunteer to stay home. According to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a soldier does not have to obey an unlawful order. The occupation of Iraq is unlawful by all standards, including our own constitution.
I don't know what the American public expected when a silver spoon failure was "elected" to be our leader: a sub par student who failed at every business attempt he made and who had to be bailed out of his failures and the Vietnam War by Daddy and his friends over his entire lifetime. We are all human and make mistakes or do some things that we aren't proud of. I don't have a problem with George being a failure, as long as his mistakes are localized - as most people's are.
Now George, who as the head of the corrupt and failed ship of our state, has failed in Iraq in huge, D.W. Griffith epic proportions and has left the solution and the bail-out to some "future" president. Recently, George said in his last, unfunny stand-up comedy show, which he likes to call a "press conference," in response to a question about some undetermined, future, non-timetable-ish day when there will be no American troops in Iraq:
That, of course, is an objective, and that will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq.
This is another way for George to be bailed out of his failures and to again wash his hands of the flesh and blood that he is up to his elbows in. We should all be appalled, horrified, angry and up in peaceful arms about this statement. George just admitted that the occupation of Iraq is lasting at least almost another three years.
The answer to this problem is glaringly obvious: we need a new president, ASAP. We need someone else who is willing to ask directions and change course when it is so apparent that the course is not only wrong, but damaging our country in palpable ways. Only a delusional, self absorbed, irrational person would stay such a misguided and murderous course.
It is also conspicuously evident that even if George had the will to leave Iraq, he doesn't have the tools to get out of the chaos he has gotten everybody into there. The bull can't put the china shop back together again and the destruction won't stop until the bull gets out of that china shop.
We can't wait for future presidents. We can't wait for November 2006: people are dying every day for volunteering - and the innocent men, women and children of Iraq did not volunteer to be liberated by being killed by the thousands.
George, and every person in his administration that lied to us, needs to be impeached, removed from office and held accountable for the crimes of Iraq and the crimes against Americans.
We can't allow them to get away with murder.

Cindy Sheehan is the proud mother of Specialist Casey Austin Sheehan, who was KIA in Iraq on April 4, 2004, and Carly, Andy and Janey who hold down the fort; founder and president of Gold Star Families for Peace and author of Not One More Mother's Child.

Ever-Growing Number Of Iraq Veterans Campaign Against The War Wednesday, March 29 2006 00:15:48 PST Posted by Intellpuke http://freeinternetpress.com/
Intellpuke: "They are a publicity nightmare for the U.S. military: an ever-growing number of veterans of the Iraq conflict are campaigning against the war. To mark the third anniversary of the invasion this month, a group of them marched on Katrina-ravaged New Orleans. Guardian correspondents Inigo Gilmore and Teresa Smith joined them. Their report follows: "If you start looking at them as humans, then how are you gonna kill them?"
At a press conference in a cavernous Alabama warehouse, banners and posters are rolled out: "Abandon Iraq, not the Gulf coast!" A tall, white soldier steps forward in desert fatigues. "I was in Iraq when Katrina happened and I watched U.S. citizens being washed ashore in New Orleans," he says. "War is oppression: we could be setting up hospitals right here. America is war-addicted. America is neglecting its poor."
A black reporter from a Fox TV news affiliate, visibly stunned, whispers: "Wow! That guy's pretty opinionated." Clearly such talk, even three years after the Iraq invasion, is still rare. This, after all, is the Deep South and this soldier less than a year ago was proudly serving his nation in Iraq.
The soldier was engaged in no ordinary protest. Over five days earlier this month, around 200 veterans, military families and survivors of hurricane Katrina walked 130 miles from Mobile, Alabama, to New Orleans, Lousiana, to mark the third anniversary of the Iraq war. At its vanguard, Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), a group formed less than two years ago, whose very name has aroused intense hostility at the highest levels of the U.S. military.
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