What Changed in 30 Years, John Kerry ????

What changed in 30 years, John Kerry ?

On October 9, 2002, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry stood on the Senate floor and spoke in favor of the invasion of Iraq. The next day he voted to authorize President Bush to go to war.

Thirty years earlier, Kerry became a leading voice against the war in Vietnam.

Kerry returned from Vietnam in April 1969, having won early transfer out of the conflict because of his three Purple Hearts. He had also won a Silver Star.

The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military.

The Silver Star is the third-highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces. It is also the third highest award given for valor in the face of the enemy.

The Silver Star is awarded for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States not justifying one of the two higher awards - the service crosses (Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, or the Air Force Cross), the second-highest military decoration, or the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration. The Silver Star may be awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity with the armed forces, distinguishes himself or herself by extraordinary heroism involving one of the following actions:

• In action against an enemy of the United States
• While engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force
• While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party

......As a veteran and one who felt this anger, I would like to talk about it. We are angry because we feel we have been used it the worst fashion by the administration of this country.......

.....I would like to talk to you a little bit about what the result is of the feelings these men carry with them after coming back from Vietnam. The country doesn’t know it yet, but it has created a monster, a monster in the form of millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence, and who are given the chance to die for the biggest nothing in history; men who have returned with a sense of anger and a sense of betrayal which no one has yet grasped.

......We are asking Americans to think about that, because how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? We are here in Washington to say that the problem of this war is not just a question of war and diplomacy. It is part and parcel of everything that we are trying, as human beings, to communicate to people in this country--the question of racism, which is rampant in the military, and so many other questions, such as the use of weapons: the hypocrisy in our taking umbrage at the Geneva Conventions and using that as justification for a continuation of this war, when we are more guilty than any other body of violations of those Geneva Conventions; in the use of free-fire zones; harassment-interdiction fire, search-and-destroy missions; the bombings; the torture of prisoners; all accepted policy by many units in South Vietnam. That is what we are trying to say. It is part and parcel of everything.........

.......We are here to ask, and we are here to ask vehemently, where are the leaders of our country? Where is the leadership? We’re here to ask where are McNamara, Rostow, Bundy, Gilpatrick, and so many others? Where are they now that we, the men they sent off to war, have returned? These are the commanders who have deserted their troops. And there is no more serious crime in the laws of war. The Army says they never leave their wounded. The Marines say they never even leave their dead. These men have left all the casualties and retreated behind a pious shield of public rectitude. They’ve left the real stuff of their reputations bleaching behind them in the sun in this country…........

to read more, click here.......

My Response & Thoughts.....Mr. Kerry......for a man that fought for this country and was sent over to fight by our leaders....you went.  You were proud to fight for what you believed in, for our country....BUT that soon changed when you were there and realized what was going on, when you came back you SPOKE OUT against the leaders that sent you there, the country you no longer trusted.....it is a VALID point - they made men do the unthinkable, had no thought of what it was doing to the individual human that would have to live with what they did for the rest of their lives......the violence you now had with you...was it too much to think of every day?....you were part of and participated in the inhumane acts of HATE through VIOLENCE.....you talk of RACISM....you recognized among your men who you fought should to should with....it did not sit well with you.....You came back to MAKE CHANGE, to have a VOICE to let the PEOPLE know .... WAR is WRONG.....But not thirty years later....what changed your mind?

You spoke in favor to President Bush to go to WAR.....what changed your mind ... was it now where you stood in congress???? with the leaders??  the leaders that are fighting for change back in the USA...while you help send men & women over to a foreign land to fight against terrorism.....what changed in your thoughts?? do you not realize you were the terrorism in Vietnam?  Now you think your OK will made everything better in 2002?

What amount America's PEOPLE and what they want.....when War was declared on Iraq, I and many other Americans were not back home in our native land; we were abroad....did you think of the horror and terror you aided in for those Americans not to forget.  To not be home, in the midst of the unknown, WAR.....shame on you.  How can you lay your head down at night....and close your eyes...the demons will always be with you no matter what you tried.

Why is it that America cannot act proper and show their ways in a manner, that they don't support in WAR.....when you are young and fight with a sibling...you are asked or made to make up...whether a kiss, a hug, an I'm sorry, or just talking things out.....leaders should talk....not put the gloves on.  WAR is just another form of business.....making and spending money....not for the PEOPLE but the leaders that now have a larger monopoly board game to play on....the Soils of Nations.  

Why do the leaders of today allow this war to go on for so many years??? 

Remember......

Peace,

Michele

John Kerry addresses Congress (1971) - Winter Soldier's Testimonies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlNuwFaAUCI

A Psychological Comparison of War & Disease, by Michele Karas

Link:  A Psychological Comparison of War and Disease

Click the link above -- BHCC/Week 6: we discuss War & Protest -- I have posted my research paper.  It is a psychological comparison of other people's stories, their encounters with war, their wars -  their feelings of despair, fear, uncertainty......
Peace,
Michele

Vote....Vote....For Dennis Medina --- Go BHCC !!!!

BHCC Student, Dennis Medina

Take America to College Finalist

Vote Today!!!

Congratulations Dennis, we support, our vote is yours.

You stand for all fellow community college student all over the US, especially for BHCC.....

Everyone...... Spread the Word !!! Vote TODAY, for your fellow BHCC student....

Dennis Medina

Bunker Hill Community College, a policeman, tried college unsuccessfully before he was ready, then couldn’t afford it, now committed to getting a degree one class at a time, including midnight classes.

Click Here to Vote for your fellow student, Dennis Medina - BHCC

Good Luck.

Your supporting fellow BHCC student friend, 

Michele Karas

Help Guides....How to Get Your Legislator to Listen ......

Please log on to down load these information packages that I received at a conference, ones I feel will help us with our class work now and us in our future endeavors .....

Click Here to go to my Google Group: Karma of the Dragonfly

Blessed Be,
Michele

Hope....An Old message ..... We ALL still strive to reach the Dream ....

Harvey Milk

I watched the movie - "Milk" and felt a deep connection of a person who lived, breathed, and loved in a world full of Hope.  He was a positive role model.  It is a shame that he was killed.  I feel many people who have spoke for "all" have been killed by a selfish individual, a person that is only thinking for themselves and not the whole world.  It saddens me to realize, that the world has lost out of what they had to offer us.  These great leaders were taken away from everyone's future.  Their guidance, their leadership, their great thoughts, dreams and visions - all taken away by someone that did not believe in what we did.

If that is the case -- if you don't like what you are watching on tv; then get up and change the channel - if you don't like what you are hearing in a conversation; then walk away or tune yourself out - if you don't like something -- someone will say change it - but taking it away from everyone is not your choice to do so.  Your choice in the matter of change is to reflect on yourself - may be change your way of thinking by being open minded, by learning and understanding the other side -- you don't always have to agree with everything but at least if you try to understand -- you may be enlightened to learn that we as people all want the same .... we may just go about trying to get it in a different manner -- that does not mean it is a wrong way but a different way.... Understand yourself so you can then better understand others and how you and they can live together as one. 

I posted a picture of Omaha because of the MESSAGE that Shepard Fairey - a great artist portrays for his vision and his followers' vision -- the world has HOPE and we need to share in that message.  It is THE SAME MESSAGE - of HOPE......................

Harvey Milk walked and talked for the people; not for himself.  He envisioned a world that we all can live in -- one of harmony.  

H - Happiness

O - Oneness

P - Peace & Unity for

E - Everyone

I am a SURVIVOR not a victim........

Kalinka blogged about domestic violence...I continue to fight for people to recognize and realize that domestic violence is an issue and it is in your own community...your backyard...it may even be happening right next door.

Domestic Violence is not only physical, it is mental.  Most often it starts with mental abuse...once the perpetrator has mastered their craft...it can escalate into physical abuse.

There are many reasons why a person can rip themselves from the grip of their perpetrator...fear, financial, refusal to admit there is anything wrong.....

My poem named First explains that happened when I put my self first....loved myself first....realized that I was being mentally abused...when I stood up for myself....I walked away being a stronger woman, knowing that I would never let anyone tell me what I liked, what I was to do....I am my own person...I am a person that has my own likes and dislikes, my own thoughts, my own reasoning....

I find it funny (not in a laughing matter) the way people try to change you after they have been in a relationship with you whether it is a friend, lover....  My comments to them are " you fell in love with me and why are you to trying to change me ... you never knew me ... or you are threatened by me. "

I have been told that I intimidate people... a man told me this .... he said that I intimidate both men and women ... My response to him ... was that was too bad, I feel bad for them .. I have never set out to have people feel that way and that he should have them look to themselves ... I feel they are PROJECTING .... they are projecting their own faults toward me... maybe they see something in me that they thought they had or wish to have.  It is a form of jealousy and I am not going to feed into it.  I am sorry they feel that way.  He then understood that I am not a bad person like they were trying to imply....I accept people for who they are...I don't look for fault or lay blame ... who am I to do that?  I wish people could learn to be that way to others......

I would like to share some of my writings pertaining to domestic violence....and I am not ashamed of what happened to me so ....I share and talk about it with whomever wants to talk...it has helped me heal and continue to heal .......

I have created this google group to share:
http://groups.google.com/group/karmaofthedragonfly

People should wear their Veil of Ignorance every day!

John Rawls' veil of ignorance is what first entered my mind when listening to MLK's speech, I Have a Dream....this method of determining the morality of a certain issue (e.i. not having equality of all men, not having civil rights for all humans) is based upon the principle of be unbiased - think if I put you behind a curtain and then brought into the room many people from all walks of life, from many different nations...and I asked you to judge them, make assumptions of what type of person they are, or if they are rich/poor, beautiful/ugly....you would not be able to because that curtain stands between you from making such statements or judgments.  It is the "curtain" that should always be their.    Also imagine if societal roles were completely re-designed and redistributed among its population, and that from behind your veil of ignorance you do not know what role you will be reassigned. Only then can you truly consider the morality of an issue. Put your veil over your head...then think when I pull it off, would you be the same person, or would you be MLK....think deep and hard about it.  Would you want have lived in his shoes; would you have been such a strong leader like MLK.....................

Remember - under your veil .... you don't get to keep any aspects of who you are currently, no traits that make you...you.

I quote, ..."no one knows his place in society, his class position or social status; nor does he know his fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities, his intelligence and strength, and the like" (Rawls, A Theory of Justice).  Since you may occupy any position in the society once the veil is lifted, this theory encourages thinking about society from the perspective of all members.

Do not let the title of his theory, veil of ignorance fool you.  A veil is more often than not transparent... almost see through but with a blurring vision....but don't let his words confuse you...it is the metaphor of remembering this veil over your eyes and the way you think...and to maintain that way of thinking, even when that veil is removed.  The word, "ignorance" is used to represent a childlike way of thinking, believing, and living...their innocence is what we think of when we think of a child ... their ability to not judge, to not hate, not to see difference.  I feel Rawls used the word "ignorance" to represent a child's trait of not knowing such evil ....... WE are not born that way.... a babe can only be taught to hate, to judge, to see differences as faults rather than having the ability to accept those differences as a way to love, to grow, to learn....having ones innocence taken away from them is a crime.

MLK vs. Public Enemy

MLK's speech, I Have a Dream, analogy of cashing in a promissory note that was issued by our republic is a strong statement to America that the people that they have written a check that has no value, no backing of what America stands for...is going to be questioned, going to be challenged.  To cash in a check....no one knows if the issuer has the money to back it...we hope...we hope that they are good for promise.  A check is cashed and of value only once the receiver receives the cash in hand....the black Americans will only have value of freedom and of all the offerings America has for its people only when they too can share in that all that America has to offer ... being equal, receiving equally what the white people have been given.  To state that they are no longer going to accept what America is saying...they don't care that there is no more to give, bankruptcy is not an excuse...not going to be accepted.  There are children being brought into the world every day...whites still receiving what has be held from the black man...and what about the black babies....there will only be less for their future if the people don't stand up NOW.  We all have dreams....to wake up and have them come true is what we all wish for.

As for Public Enemy's words in the song Fight the Power, it sent a message of confrontation, of an agitated mob,  of a people that is fed up with waiting and no longer going to stand for the world to wait.  It was very rowdy ... it was a picture of chaos ... people ready to fight for their rights ... fight with fists, with violence.  For him to sing that he was fed up waiting for change, that MLK's way of doing things was in the past, it did not work, it was to soft....no one listened....now, PE was going to make them listen.  Watching the people walking in PE's video ... I saw them being hyped up by noise and anger which can lead to violence.  Very standoffish ... very confrontational ... very taunting.

MLK's walk was one of peace, of unity...men, women and children (all ages) together walking tall and strong together, blacks, whites, and other nationalities....together.  Peaceful...open-mind discussion to come together for a solution.

PE's walk was one of only black Americans....where were the white people....why did we not see unity if that is what they are fighting for, singing for, speaking of.

The other prominent message PE displayed was that violence is the only way through the use of the black men dressed all in black, the image of the Black Panthers.  He used this image to promote negativity.  The Black Panthers were a group established to protect the black man from the police brutality....their confrontational, militant and violent ways hurt all that they may have worked for, the good for the black population (i.e. feeding the children before school).  They did use violent tactics, they used force, they used power towards compliance.  The way the men in black with black  hats danced...symbolized militant walk, but through dance.

PE sings the words of the Black Panthers... he sings, "got to give us what we want, gotta give us what we need."  The Black Panthers spoke, "What we Want, What we Believe."  PE is saying it is NOW to give us what we NEED, because you have not giving us what we believe...we now demand it...we need it.  They are tired of waiting.

This strong use of words by PE, is POWER, to force change....I know if I am forced to do something, I do the opposite.  His words are too strong...it can work against him, and everyone else he is fighting for.

One last observation that gave me doubt in PE's words...it his display of the men who also were mixed with the men dressed in black with the black hats, the men that had the red hats on.  I felt they symbolized peace, the Guardian Angels.   Although PE's words rang of change through power (violence)...the men with the red hats were intertwined -- woven into the pattern of men, there is non-violence and it will always be present and be used to combat violence.

Words - Observe and Honor them...Give them Meaning...

The words of Bob Marley's song War cry for peace as does where these words first flowed from, Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.  These words were spoken in 1963 at the U.N. Conference in NY City.  It cries for equality.  It cries against war which is everywhere.  The fight is for good over evil....not black against white, nor white against black....but the fight against ignorance or tolerance but a fight for acceptance and peace. Singing about war tells the story of violence and blood shed...but I believe Marley's words spoke of a war internal in his heart as well as others who find it hard to understand why everyone is not equal, why can't the world love one another.  I felt that his words were not singing about what has happened but what is happening and continues to happen...even though the world thinks they have made progress....it has not.

Strange Fruit by Abel Meeropol

Listening to this song, sung by such an amazing singer and strong black woman, Billy Holiday gives it a deeper meaning...a sadness that needs to be recognized.  Her voice echoed the pain and sadness that still hung within their hearts & still rings true to this day.  This poem sung by a black American gave it the voice it need to ring out across the land...to all people...how America was allowing racial injustice to exist.  The impact of a photograph gave life to Meeropol's reaction towards lynching.  Holiday gave it a soul, life, a way to hear their pain...to remember.  If one was to read the poem, I am sure that I would not have been able to understand what it was to be a black American during that time...but listening to it....the song lives in my mind, my heart...to reflect upon, to remember, to make sure that history is not forgotten and to never have it repeat...for the world to work towards civil rights always, forever.

Faces of America - PBS Show - A "hyphenated American" Story

Click Here to go to Website: Faces of America PBS Show

What it means to be Japanese-American: Kristi Yamaguchi

Yamaguchi’s heritage can be traced back to the Wakayama and Saga prefectures in Japan. Kristi’s paternal grandfather, Tatsuichi Yamaguchi, immigrated to Hawaii in 1899, making his way to the United States a few years later. Over a span of five decades, he persevered time and time again, living through the changing restrictions on immigrants from Japan. He finally was able to naturalize just four years before his death. During World War II, most Japanese-Americans served in the segregated, all Japanese-American, 442nd Regimental Combat Team. But Kristi’s maternal grandfather, George Akira Doi, served in the 100th Infantry Division, an otherwise all-white unit. He saw combat in Europe and was decorated as “unquestionably the company’s best soldier,” even as his wife and family spent the war years incarcerated in concentration camps.

Watch her video clip:
Click Here to watch her video clip


The next showing of this can be viewed:

Sunday, February 14 — 4:30 pm
Channel 2 - WGBH
The Promise of America
Utilizing genealogical and genetic tools, Henry Louis Gates Jr. unearths the family histories of 12 prominent Americans in this series, beginning with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, director Mike Nichols and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

Click Here to go to Website: WWII Japanese Internment Camps in the USA

My thoughts:

I first learned of the WWII Japanese Internment Camps in the US in my history class at BHCC back in 2003. Prior to that I was unaware of these camps existed in the US. Shame on my elementary schools for not teaching this. Kristi too stated she was not taught that in school. Plus her family did not talk about it....so how is able to know who she really is.

I recognized Kristi as a great American figure skater. I felt for her when she was told about her maternal grandfather. She and her family miss him dearly. He was a great man to them. He was a great man to me, to us, to America. What great honor of having such a man who believed in America to fight for it...against the Japanese. He was among an all-white unit and they fought together....as brothers. I could never image what went through his every waking moment..knowing his family was in such a place of hatred, the concentration camps....they lived the war too...just a different battle field. I am proud of Kristi's grandfather...may her family talk about him, their past so others don't forget...so they don't forget...their heritage, what makes them who they are.

No School - Bummmmmmmmer

Was looking forward to tonights discussion......be safe in the snow and make many snow angels.

First

Margaret Sanger, "The Morality of Birth Control" - Ethically Moral or Not

Margaret Sanger - "Morality of Birth Control"

I feel as a woman, I have the right to "choice" of how and what I do or have done to my body....that is as well as my mind and soul.

Ethically I have "rights" as does every other human being does. Human Rights/Moral Rights - the right to life, simply by virtue of being human. We all have rights which are entitlement to possess; something due you. We have legal rights, for example, to own property (entitlement) or voting (negative right). Our negative rights are those we respect of "autonomy" and "equality" - that humans are in thier free pursuit of their interests (yes, western mindset of ethics).

Sanger speaks that society claims to support the notion that "every mother in this country, either sick or well, has the right to the best, the safest, the most scientific information." It is these moral rights she touches upon - that it is the right of women to have information to best be able to make decisions based upon - ones that affect her life, the future of humanity.

Sanger proclaims - "We claim that woman should have the right over her own body and to say if she shall or if she shall not be a mother, as she sees fit. We further claim that the first right of a child is to be desired; the second right is that it shoudl be conceived in love; the third, that it should have a heritage of sound health."

These are what both men & women, husband & wife, fathers & mothers hope and pray for - a healthy baby.....and that is being brought into this world with the desire to be loved and cherished. But that chance that a family, a women has a baby that has a sickness or disability .... that does not mean that the human is any less than any other human...that it would be loved any less because someone feels that it is different or not up to the standards of perfection....what are they measuring against?

Plato believed that everthing had two parts - The Form & The Matter. The soul was abstract, the invisible component of the person; the form was not corruptible; but the body (the matter) could be. If it got sick, it decays. Is this what Sanger meant when she described the "desire to stop at its source the disease, poverty and feeble-mindedness and insanity which exist today, for these lower the standards of civilization and make for race deterioration." She is preaching an inferior race.

She clearly catigorizes society into classes; three groups:
1. Intelligent and wealthy members of the upper class (ones that have already
practiced and seen the success of Birth Control by regulating the size of their
families);
2. A middle class that is equally intelligent and responsible; one that desires to
control the size of their families, but are unable to obtain knowledge or to put
such available knowledge into practice; and
3. The Irresponsible and Reckless ones having little regard for the consequence of
their acts, or whose religious scruples prevent their exercising control over
their numbers.

She is bold to say that the procreation of the third group should be stopped - they are not able to support and care for themselves - how could they care for another?

She proclaims that it is society's right to step in and take the corrective course of action to save society - "We do not believe that filling the earth with misery, poverty and disease is moral."

Morality are the standards that an individual or a group has about what is right and wrong, or good and evil. When Sanger spoke of "WE" she is stating that the group of highly educated and wealthy members of society to which she is a member knows best for the less fortunate. That they have the moral rights to chose for them. She contradicts herself in her speech....she proclaims that women have the moral right to be left to freely persue and choose over their body -- "If opposed, the progressof women on the ground that her freedom would lead to immorality." She states, "speech and choice" belong to the "people" and that the subject can be discussed with "dignity and with intelligence." If that is so, why does she discriminate and reject the lesser class to be in such a discussion -- they are "people" too!!??!!

I do agree that "motherhood should be the function of dignity and choice, rather than one of ignorance and chance." But, when one thinks of ignorance and chance, it is that one is acting not responsible for their actions - not thinking of the outcomes, the consequences.....and WE ALL do that from time to time....So are we too categorized with them....people are human and we all do things without thinking sometimes....should we all be categorized as a lesser human that cannot make responsible decisions for us and society?

I feel that she practiced negative eugenics.

I would like to share some YouTube video (they may be propaganda but after watching...I have mixed thoughts about Sanger):

Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood's Racist Founder

Sir Francis Galton - Father of Eugenics
Mass Sterilization in the US

Remebering We are All Equally Human

When I chose my readings for this week, I chose ones by reading the title - reading the ones I felt connected with - my inner feelings – either I was familiar with the author, i.e. Winthrop – a connection the home town I work and reside in or there was something else drawing me to them.

With, “On the Dedication of the Bunker Hill Monument” - I chose this because it reminds me of BHCC. A place I also have a connection with – a place that feels warm and welcoming; accepting and supportive. Much like the feelings humans long for -- and get from their home or their family…..

Richard Rodrigquez’s memoir gave great insight of being bi-lingual. I always wished I was…my dad was Italian (grandma right from Italy) and Greek (grandpa right from Greece); mom – Irish, English, Scottish and somewhere Native American……I wish my dad spoke either Italian or Greek at home … but he was not well versed in the language…….

I was drawn to Rayna Green’s writing I feel because I have a longing desire to know more about “Who am I” – “Where do I come from” – “What great legacy do I inherit to carry on”?? I felt this connection with her title for a reason I cannot put my finger on. But I do feel that it drew me to it because I have a deep sense that I am of Native American heritage.

As I read “The Museum of the Plains White Person,” I was ashamed to be categorized “white.” When a Native America looks at me they would see what she saw….people with no respect for others. What disruption people have caused to the Native American lives, their living and deceased - used as an object of display – for what – they are just like “us” – PEOPLE. They are human – we are human – what right does one race have to do to another such sadness.

Yes, I want to know more – but I would rather find out through my family’s stories that are passed down – rather than disrupt others’ lives. We should respect everyone. There are no differences of what we are – we are all living souls wanting the same things – love, life, liberty, freedom, belonging, respect. But for some reason to make sense of this vast world we live in – one must compartmentalize.

As I think of what I called my BLOG page – “Karma” – I know the importance of being mindful of my actions. I know that I too like many others set out to be humane but sometimes need to be jolted back to reality. There is a moment in time where realization has to be presented to us because people “forget” – such a bad trait – Reminders (such as the Bunker Hill Monument) need to displayed to cause us to stop and remember. It is sad we need such objects to remind us to be human. Is that what it means to be American?

Namaste - Michele Karas