This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Antiwar crowd

  • Vets Today & IVAW

    You guys all remember super-douche Gordon Duff and his merry band of peckerheads at Veterans Today, right? Well, I always figured that they would love the commies and socialists at IVAW and wondered why Vets Today generally avoided a relationship – after all, Gordon Duff wasn’t afraid to marry his publication to Mossad plots against Moscow and other crackpot shit.

    Well, finally one of the less senior wackos (not less wacko, just less senior than Duff) on the staff, Robert Hanafin dragged them out of the non-gay closet today. After complaining that his job is so difficult at Veterans Today (it’s tough trying to link Dick Cheney to zombie sightings, ya know), Hanifin tells us that he discriminates in lending VSO-type aid to veterans who don’t think like he thinks;

    Thus, I must maintain a policy of only providing assistance and advice to Veterans and Military Families who question their wars, have no one else to turn to for advice, and are discriminated against by the mainstream VSOs for their ability to THINK.

    Veterans Today frankly has no Veterans Service Officers on staff anyway, nor do we possess the political clout of mainstream VSOs who are too close to Congress and politicians for comfort. Thus, I’ve made a conscientious decision to refer any Vet or family member unable to question the war(s) onto a mainstream VSO. They should be able to satisfy your needs without discrimination, since you strongly support continuing the wars.

    Then he tells us that we should all go to the IVAW convention in Austin;

    So, a website called “Veterans Today” complains that they’re considered crackpots by nearly every recognized VSO, and then immediately announces their intention to have a political litmus test for the veterans who might seek their help. Of course, their refusal to help certain types of veterans is probably doing those veterans a huge favor. And then highlights the IVAW convention – an organization jam-packed with and lead by non-Iraq War veterans.

    Who’s the real phony here?

  • IVAW links to the ISO

    Someone sent me a set of photos of Victor Agosto, the fellow who went to jail in Texas for refusing to deploy with his unit from Fort Hood to Afghanistan last year. During his one visit here to TAH, he sounded fairly rational. What a difference a year in IVAW makes;

    I don’t even know where to find an heroic poster of Mao leading peasants – yet….

    And it’s a quick change from the IVAW banner…

    To the ISO banner;

    And, oh, he’s pals with Matthis;

  • Matthis’ big weekend

    Mattis went to Detroit for the US Social Forum and hooked up with flag-burning buddy Elaine Brower this weekend. Their big adventure was to post a banner in an abandoned building with some of the chumps from Geezers For Sitting On Our Hands;

    Yeah, he’s afraid of the police, that’s why he stopped to take a group portrait;

    Here’s the lame-ass crowd – they took several photos despite the fact that they were so afraid of the cops;

    If the Detroit police need the picture to identify the trespassers, I can still blow the original up another 200% to help out. Anything to help out Detroit’s finest. But obviously, Matthis and his friends weren’t all that interested in the social forum that was being held in Detroit, well not as much as they were enamored with the idea of childish, useless pranks. Given that the average age of the trespassers was about 90 years old, I think I can safely say “Grow up, Vets for Peace.” At least act half your age.

  • Matthis chases off another IVAW member

    So I got the whiff of another IVAW member leaving (actually, I’ve heard from a couple of folks who are leaving or getting run off) because of the antics of Matthis Chiroux. Someone mailed me this letter of resignation;

    I sit down at this desk and begin to write the hardest letter I have every written. A month ago, I came across a video of the “We Are Not Your Soldiers” stop at a California High School. What I saw was so shocking and devastating that it called into question my very membership in IVAW.

    After the Board of Directors voted not to take any action against Matthis Chiroux for burning the American Flag on March 20, 2010, I became sick of IVAW national politics that did nothing but undermine the work of local chapters. I stepped away from any involvement in the national politics, and stepped into local work, hoping that I might accomplish some real good. Alas, while the local results were encouraging, the idiotic ramblings of Mr. Chiroux found me.

    On the evening of May 24th, I was sent the link to a video of the “We Are Not Your Soldiers” Tour stop on May7th, 2010. In the video, there was one speaker, a woman, whom I did not recognize, and Mr. Chiroux. From the context, it appeared that they were speaking to high school classes about the video Collateral Murder. While some of what Matthis said regarding the fear that war instills was right, there was a slew of half-truths and exaggerations that offset any grain of truth he was trying to communicate. First there was the terrible editing job: interspersed video of US, German and UK soldiers with extremely graphic photos of dead and wounded people from Iraq, Israel, Afghanistan and violent street riots in the US and England. Then there was a stream of generalizations, over simplifications and half-truths about war that were laughable coming from a veteran who spent a week in Afghanistan. Even as a non-deployed veteran, I can tell when someone has never actually seen war.

    The final portion of Mr. Chiroux’s talk was the most shocking. After a short tirade about slavery to the American flag, Mr. Chiroux states that must not support the troops. I have to admit that this was quite a shock to hear, even from Matthis. Not support the troops? How does that work with being the leader of an organization that is of the troops and for the troops? He made it very clear that any soldier who deploys is committing genocide and should NOT be supported. He told the civilians in this class that they need to let soldiers know that they do not support them and that they should not honor the warrior or the war.

    At this point in the video, I was sick. I had been told of people like this: activists who attack all soldiers without regard for their humanity. Nevertheless, to actually see someone talk about soldiers like Mr. Chiroux did, was socking. I could not believe I was hearing. As a Conscientious Objector, I am keenly aware that not every soldier is opposed to the war. I understand that the decision to get out of the military is a very personal and very serious decision that no one can force a soldier to make. It is an absolute necessity that we support the troops while opposing the wars. While Mr. Chiroux makes no distinction between these two ideas, one can support a soldier without approving of the war he is taking part in. I have sent care packages, helped family members of deployed soldiers – I have even helped soldiers who have chosen to stay in the military! We can support and help soldiers even if we disagree with their decision to remain in the military and deploy.

    I am quickly running out of options with regards to IVAW. Over the last few years, members have left the national scene to focus on local work. Others have gotten more and more involved in the internal politics of IVAW. Neither option has proven very successful at either ending the wars or changing the problems within IVAW. For me, more involvement with the national scene has led to heartburn and stress, while just focusing on local work has been hindered by the national ravings of Matthis and his ilk. Thankfully, I have been given some very unique opportunities to focus more on reaching out and building relationships with soldiers, regardless of their position about war. I feel that IVAW will only hinder these efforts.

    I do not leave in protest. I do not expect IVAW to change to keep me as a member, nor am I demanding that. I am not leaving activism – I leave to free myself for more direct and personal involvement in reaching out to soldiers without the hindrance of IVAW.
    Signed,

    Daniel

    At some point, IVAW has to start taking into account that this is not the 1960s, that the membership of this organization is more mature, more rational and more intelligent than the smelly, illiterate twits of VVAW and VFP. Time and again, members of IVAW have made it clear that they have nothing against this country or their comrades who remain in the service, but the International Socialist Organization-affiliated members of IVAW are the ones who drive the organization away from it’s members.

    I have nothing against opposing the war, but I do oppose the far Left moonbats who want to manipulate that opposition into a Marxist revolution, and apparently some of the members feel the same way. Some of them are honest enough to admit that they don’t want to belong to an organization that is being used by radical extremists in the RCP and World Can’t Wait.

    The ISO members and their useful idiots as well as the dinosaurs of the VVAW/VFP are scrambling to mitigate the latest damage to their propaganda machine and I’ll have more on that tomorrow.t

  • History repeating itself.

    So, once again the group “Rethink Afghanistan” is doing it best to display that nothing has gone right in Afghanistan since 2001 has put out a video showing the comments from the General McCrystal’s aides.

    Some of the better quotes so far.

    The problem is it is an unjust war.Taliban stopped poppy growth. NATO protects the poppy.Bush never proved Bin Laden guilty. Taliban asked for proof he did 911. Democracy demands proof of a crime. The war is plain terrorism.

    Or this one that suggested that the General was thinking about killing the President.

    I actually read the Rolling Stones story today, do you know when McCrystal was at West Point and wrote for the newspaper there he wrote a fictional story on assassinating a US President in the Oval office. Now, tell me how the Obama Administration missed that one. Let’s not forget the Pat Tillman (hero) mess where the General wrote that … See MoreTillman died at the hands of the Taliban when it was friendly fire that killed him. Oh, and talk about torturing prisoners in Iraqi. He would actually visit the prisons and oversaw the illegal acts against war prisoners. Yes, he is an effective military first strike man who knows how to kill better than any of the rest, but he needed to go. You don’t out TOP SECRETS just to embarrass the President’s Administration. GET OUT of all wars in other countries unless we are attacked or an attack is being planned on the US and its interest.

    But for the most part it can be summed up in this cartoon.

  • VFP calls for impeachment of Obama

    The organization known around these parts as Geezers For Sitting On Our Hands have decided to petition for the impeachment of the President. Warning: There are some pretty gruesome pictures in this video;

    Of course, this is the group who still put “Impeach Nixon” stickers on their car.

    Impeach Nixon

    I don’t think there’s been a president other than Jimmy Carter they haven’t wanted to impeach. They also rely heavily on Smedley Butler’s image and quote that “War is a Racket” in the video. Butler has been dead since 1940, so I guess they want to impeach FDR, too. Who knows why they think that a guy who died seventy years ago would have anything useful to contribute to today’s discussion and would support impeaching the President.

    Basically, they just dust off the charges against Bush and try to make themselves seem relevant today. Actually VFP hasn’t had a relevant moment in their 25-year history.

  • Hippie circle jerk in Detroit

    Someone sent me a link from World Can’t Wait this morning describing the important work that the smelly hippies are doing in Detroit this weekend at the misnamed “Social Forum”.

    Gathered in Detroit today for the US Social Forum, anti-war leaders will address Barack Obama’s replacement of General Stanley McChrystal with General David Petraeus and condemn his strategy of expanding the U.S. presence in Afghanistan.

    Yeah, what that has to do with anything “social” is beyond me. But, from my experience, the anti-war movement takes up which ever issue is in the headlines to make themselves appear relevant. So who is attending the “forum” (it’s not a forum, either – it’s an echo chamber)? According to WCW, all of our lovable clowns;

    William Ayers, Elaine Brower, Matthis Chiroux, David Swanson, Debra Sweet, Sunsara Taylor, and Ann Wright.

    Sweet – all of our little fuzzy buddies in one place. But you can bet none of the above named people were soaked by lthe rain storm the other night;

    As the rain pelted and the runoff threatened to uproot their temporary nylon homes, the young adults huddled in the US Social Forum’s Tent City confronted some challenges Wednesday night.

    Some tried to weather the weather inside their tents, but others took shelter in the adjacent veterans center at Woodward and Temple.

    Yeah, you can bet that the hippie luminaries above were sacked out in a hotel somewhere paid for by donations from the clods stuck in the rain. After all, some animals are more equal than others.

    Amy Goodman, an activist who tries to convince us she’s a journalist, describes the event;

    Far larger than any tea party convention, it has gotten very little mainstream-media coverage. Not a tightly scripted, staged political convention, nor a multiday music festival, the U.S. Social Forum defines itself as “an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences.”

    In other words, it’s a bunch of hippie sheep being herded from place to place and told how to think about certain issues. 10,000 from “throughout the world” is not an impressive event, Amy. It’s the usual suspects gathered in Detroit for the world’s largest circle jerk. It doesn’t get media coverage because it’s the same old bullshit we’ve heard for the last nine years – that’s not news.

  • Elaine Brower and irony

    Here’s your morning blood pressure check sent to us by someone. It’s from Elaine Brower’s Memorial Day visit to Coney Island. I profiled Elaine once before here, and posted her video of her shouting “Baby killers!” at some other Marines on Coney Island;

    She calls some Marines “murderers” while they’re putting on a demonstration for the tourists. In between the name calling, Brower shouts that her son did three tours in the war so I suppose that somehow she thinks she has some kind of absolute moral authority to call other mothers’ sons murderers.

    Brower with Chiroux

    That’s her with Matthis. He burned the flag while she shouted “This is what we think of this country”. In my opinion, she’s just waiting for someone to punch her in the throat so she can play a victim on a whole new level.

    The one time she summoned the courage to come to TAH, she threatened that her son would set us straight – we’re still waiting, Elaine.