think about this:

Date: 2007-04-10, 1:00PM PDT

I’m having the worst damn week of my whole damn life so I’m going to write this while I’m pissed off enough to do it right.

I am SICK of all this bullshit people are writing about the Iraq war. I am abso-fucking-lutely sick to death of it. What the fuck do most of you know about it? You watch it on TV and read the commentaries in the newspaper or Newsweek or whatever god damn yuppie news rag you subscribe to and think you’re all such fucking experts that you can scream at each other like five year old about whether you’re right or not. Let me tell you something: unless you’ve been there, you don’t know a god damn thing about it. It you haven’t been shot at in that fucking hell hole, SHUT THE FUCK UP!

How do I dare say this to you moronic war supporters who are “Supporting our Troops” and waving the flag and all that happy horse shit? I’ll tell you why. I’m a Marine and I served my tour in Iraq. My husband, also a Marine, served several. I left the service six months ago because I got pregnant while he was home on leave and three days ago I get a visit from two men in uniform who hand me a letter and tell me my husband died in that fucking festering sand-pit. He should have been home a month ago but they extended his tour and now he’s coming home in a box.

You fuckers and that god-damn lying sack of shit they call a president are the reason my husband will never see his baby and my kid will never meet his dad.

And you know what the most fucked up thing about this Iraq shit is? They don’t want us there. They’re not happy we came and they want us out NOW. We fucked up their lives even worse than they already were and they’re pissed off. We didn’t help them and we’re not helping them now. That’s what our soldiers are dying for.

Oh while I’m good and worked up, the government doesn’t even have the decency to help out the soldiers whos lives they ruined. If you really believe the military and the government had no idea the veterans’ hospitals were so fucked up, you are a god-damn retard. They don’t care about us. We’re disposable. We’re numbers on a page and they’d rather forget we exist so they don’t have to be reminded about the families and lives they ruined while they’re sipping their cocktails at another fund raiser dinner. If they were really concerned about supporting the troops, they’d bring them home so their families wouldn’t have to cry at a graveside and explain to their children why mommy or daddy isn’t coming home. Because you can’t explain it. We’re not fighting for our country, we’re not fighting for the good of Iraq’s people, we’re fighting for Bush’s personal agenda. Patriotism my ass. You know what? My dad served in Vietnam and NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

So I’m pissed. I’m beyond pissed. And I’m going to go to my husband funeral and recieve that flag and hang it up on the wall for my baby to see when he’s older. But I’m not going to tell him that his father died for the stupidty of the American government. I’m going to tell him that his father was a hero and the best man I ever met and that he loved his country enough to die for it, because that’s all true and nothing will be solved by telling my son that his father was sent to die by people who didn’t care about him at all.

Fuck you, war supporters, George W. Bush, and all the god damn mother fuckers who made the war possible. I hope you burn in hell.

[tags] iraq, George W. Bush, war, soldiers, dead soldiers, orphans, that god-damn lying sack of shit they call a president [/tags]

As many of you know, I attended the vigil and rally at the School of the Americas/Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation back in November. In one of the related podcasts I interviewed Michael Vosburg-Casey about his intention to “cross the line” at the vigil. He and 16 other activists crossed over onto the Fort Benning Military Reservation during the vigil, knowing that this act could result in imprisonment.

Tonight, Michael is in prison serving his three month and ten day sentence at the FCI Jesup Satellite Camp in Georgia.

Our movement to close the School of Americas, and specifically my action, is founded on the ideal of love, sought through the means of non-violent direct action. And, by allowing our voices of dissent, by closing the SOA we can have a safer home, breaking free from at least some of this destructive cycle of violence, emerging into a new way.

I just re-listened to that podcast, and am reminded of my time at Koinonia, and what it was like to be surrounded by people who found it perfectly reasonable to make huge sacrifices in order to live a life in line with their beliefs. Specifically, I am thinking of Michael and his humble, intelligent spirituality. I am going to write to him this evening. Here’s his address if you would like to do the same:

MICHAEL E. VOSBURG-CASEY #92955-020
FCI JESUP
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
FEDERAL SATELLITE LOW
2680 301 SOUTH
JESUP, GA 31599

[tags]SOA,WHINSEC, Michael Vosburg-Casey, School of the Americas, Koinonia, Activism[/tags]

Last night Eve and I went to see Zoo, a rollicking documentary about a Seattle man who died after having anal sex with a horse. Strange as it sounds, the film was really beautifully filmed and moving. There were some scenes that were hard to watch, but as a whole it did a great job of presenting the subject of Zoophilia in a very human, non-sensational and even sympathetic way. It would have been easy to portray this guy and the people that surrounded him as a freak-show of perverts, but instead the subject is treated with grace and a sense of curiosity. Most interesting is the journey that the main investigator made from judgement about the act to beginning to understand. Totally worth seeing

Duncan Pflaster 
Admit Impediments
Cross Eyed Bear Productions
songfight.org
Ukulele Cabaret
The Artist Formerly Known as Jane Siberry

Featured Music:
God Is My Friend- Bob Schneider iTunes
Good Bad Man (demo)- Duncan Pflaster from Admit Impediments
Blueberry Hassle- Level Nivelo

direct download
mikeypod.com
myspace

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I have been tearing through Shane Claiborne‘s The Irresisible Revolution again. I read most of it while I was at Koinonia, don’t know why I never finished it, but I was borrowing it and didn’t have the cash at the time to buy my own copy. I have been wanting to get it again, and my amazon order for it just arrived Friday. I am about three quarters finished and twice as inspired as I was before. Inspired and confused.

Since I have arrived in New York, I have been in a state of general grumpiness and dis-ease, and through reading this book, I am begining to understand its source. I remember a conversation I had with Bren Dubay one morning at The Open Door Community in Atlanta where I said I didn’t know if I could go back to living a life of materialism. Living as a part of a community provided a number of freedoms that i have come to miss. One of them was time, and a space in my spirit that was normally taken up by scurrying about worring about paying rent and bills and getting here or there on time. is this the way “the man” keeps us quiet? This cycle of wanting more and more causing us to work more and more so much that we become complacent and closed off to the fact that things are pretty fucked up in our world.

So yeah. Now I am in New York City, and I love this city, but I see my life filling up in ways that will keep me from doing what I feel called to do, but then, what exactly is it that i feel called to do? Living at Koinonia was the closest I felt to connecting with my activist/spiritual needs. But even though I felt so connected spiritually there, and so close to the members of the community, I had a hard time with feeling disconnected from the rest of the world. Here in New York, it’s the opposite….so far. I am really connected and surrounded by people of all types, but I am rapidly losing the time and energy to connect with what my spirit needs because of the overriding need to find work.

The grumpiness? How in the hell do I get both of these extremes fed?

Claiborne makes such a strong case for Jesus in this book, which is saying alot for me to say something like this. I was sitting on the bus yesterday and had a crystal clear understanding about Him: “When I look past my judgements about Christians, following Jesus seems like a pretty reasonable thing.” I twittered it in that moment, and a couple of people responded in negative ways. Why is it so un-cool to have repspect for Jesus? The Jesus that people like Claiborne, Clarence Jordan, Dorthy Day and company speak of is so different from what our culture would lead us to believe. I think this is all I can put into words about any of this right now, but I will continue. I really want to pay a visit to The Simple Way community in Philly. For the first time ever, I am feeling open to Christianity.

Hey everyone,

Not sure if I will actually get to do a podcast this week, which is actually a strange way to begin a post about how excited I am about podcasting, once again. This is my last week at the coffee shop, and my show just opened to rave reviews. This week is time of endings and beginnings and just kind of getting caught up with myself.

Last week I spoke to Russell Holliman at Podcast Ready about sponsoring the purchase of the Marantz PMD660 Solid State Recorder and he gave the go ahead! I should get the recorder early next week. YAY! So look forward to the new Podcast Ready Soundseeing/Interview Series starting within the next few episodes. Thanks Russell!

Next week my schedule is wide open, so if I don’t manage to squeez out a podcast before then, rest assured that Mikeypod will once again be going strong soon with some interviews with some new and old friends. thanks for all of your great feedback and support!

Well, I just recorded a lovely podcast but it seems that iTunes and Garageband are not getting along well today so I lost the whole thing. Rather than pitch a fit as I might usually do, I shall simply try again tomorrow.

Have a lovely day.

do it now, kids! More on MikeyPod84, but do it now! Listen later!