Thank You, Bill O'Reilly

Looking back over my life, I recall many cringe-worthy moments, mostly composed of ill-informed good intentions.  We're all on that continuum, hopefully learning and growing, but never really "arrived."  I expect plenty of cringe-worthy moments in my future as well, and I'm okay with that, as long as I learn from them, right?  So I can forgive myself for once not knowing what I know now, and for once having been a Fox News viewer. 

In 2003, many of us were watching the war on TV.  "Shock and Awe" was the phrase trumpeted repeatedly on the news, as we flew our yellow ribbons and hoped for the quick "liberation" of Iraq.  The news anchors described the bombings with more than a hint of glee.  They seemed more focused on the technological advances that enabled us to watch the war than on the war itself.   As I watched the dazzling display of pyrotechnics on my TV screen, I couldn't help but notice something missing in the reporting: the Iraqi people.  The light show I was watching was surely connected to painful explosions, death, and destruction of property and lives, yet there was little to no mention of that.  The interviews were largely with U.S. correspondents in deserted streets or motel rooms.  Nobody seemed to ask opinions of the people who actually lived there, but those bombs and missiles were hitting somebody.  I found I just couldn't watch for very long, and an ugly sad feeling was growing inside me, that some fundamental truth was being ignored.  An awareness was growing of an unearned privilege: of not living in a war zone.  I felt a little guilty.

I continued watching Bill O'Reilly's talk show, the "No-Spin Zone," which may well be the most inaccurate description of a show in the entire television industry.  I began to notice that Bill seemed to get lots of kudos for being snarky and mean-spirited.  I noticed that he liked to talk over, interrupt, and belittle his guests.  And it always seemed to be an intelligent, well-spoken guest who was simply trying to complete a statement I was interested in hearing.  I began wondering what he was so frantic to stifle.  It became annoying to hear him refer to anyone he disagreed with as a "pinhead," which seemed more in keeping with the behavior of an unschooled adolescent than a professional commentator.

It was Bill's childish behavior that led me to question his credibility.  The more fact-checking I did, the more disgusted I became with the obscene ways that Bill was spinning and distorting facts.  Bill was lying his tail off, and his cohorts were no better.  I noticed that on Fox News in general, anyone who asked questions that I would ask, such as how liberated the Iraqi people really felt, was ridiculed, yelled over, and roundly dismissed as unpatriotic.

In the course of seeking truth, I rediscovered my old love of reading.  Having always gravitated toward non-fiction, it was a short trip to find articles exposing the truth about the war.  Reading the words of returning U.S. combat veterans and ordinary Iraqi and Afghani people validated my earlier concerns.  My nation had been acting like a bully and I had been unwittingly complicit.  I had always believed strongly in justice and equality, but now I understood patriotism vs. nationalism.  Thanks to Bill O'Reilly, I now also understood news vs. commentary.  There were three t hings to do: quit watching the propaganda machine that is Fox News, keep reading and learning, and speak out against the war machine.

Had he been more likeable, perhaps a little easier to defend, I may have hung around Fox News a little longer, wanting to deny the painful truth and believe them.   So... thank you, Bill O'Reilly, for being indefensible.  Thank you for exemplifying what spin looks like.  Thank you for being rude, arrogant, spiteful, and smug.  Thank you for showing me what laziness in fact-checking looks like, because it made it easy to see the opposite in my sources later.  Thank you especially for being so blatant about it.  Your "news" broadcasts focus mostly on the ego of the broadcaster, rather than actual events, and your buffoonery makes it impossible to take you seriously.  At least it's entertaining if one feels that clowns make great newscasters.  Thank you most of all for re-awakening my love of reading and research, even if it eventually debunked your lies, and created a passionate peacemonger, which I'm sure was not your intention.  In spite of yourself, you managed to serve the higher good for this truth-seeker, and for that I am grateful.

Sincerely, a peace activist who values truth, equality, and justice, or as you would call it, a pinhead.  

Response from Senator Merkley

For anyone interested, here is the response I received today from Sen. Jeff Merkley in regard to my email about Syria:

Dear Romy,

Thank you for your earlier email to me on the violence in Syria and the possibility of U.S. military intervention. I appreciate having heard from you and I want to share with you my thoughts as the situation continues to develop.

As I wrote in my previous message to you and have said in my public comments, I have had serious reservations about the proposed military action in response to Syria's chemical weapons attack on its citizens.  I have spent hours meeting with the President, Vice President, and officials from the Pentagon, State Department, and intelligence services, and those discussions have not resolved my concerns about the wisdom of the proposed plans. If the Senate votes on the resolution (S.J.Res.21) authorizing that proposed plan, I will oppose it.

I share the President's belief that the use of chemical weapons by Syria is horrific. But it demands a strong international diplomatic response incorporating an array of political and economic actions. The goal should be to deter any additional use by Syria or any other nation. The international community should hold Syria to its promise to transfer its chemical weapons stockpile to international control. While achieving this goal will be challenging, I applaud the progress the administration has made towards its goal in the last few days.

Thank you, again, for sharing your thoughts with me. I hope that you will continue to reach out to me about the issues that are most important to you.

All my best,

Jeffrey A. Merkley
United States Senator

Write your legislators!!

I recently wrote to Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley with my concerns about possible U.S. military action in Syria.  He wrote me a well-reasoned response, while still leaving room to consider military action.  To me, this is not acceptable.  As his tax-paying constituent, who has seen an overwhelming lack of support for U.S. military action, I think he needed to hear a stronger message.  Therefore, here is my reply to his email:

Good evening, Senator Merkley,
Thank you for my response to my concerns about Syria.  It sounds like you have been very diligent in exploring a very complex situation.  My views on this are less complex.  I was against military action in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and everywhere else, and am now against military action in Syria.  I am not some Johnny-come-lately who is anti-war because "it was Obama's idea."  To be fair though, this is not a partisan issue; I literally have not heard a single one of my friends on either side of the aisle defend the idea of attacking Syria.  The concept of "limited strikes" leaves me with the same sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as the image seared into my brain of G.W. Bush in his ill-fitting flight suit, proclaiming "Mission Accomplished."  I'm not buying it for one minute.
Our military was founded to protect our country.  It was the clear intent of the founding fathers to wisely mind our own business.  Since then, the war profiteers have convinced decision makers otherwise, much to the horror of the people in the countries we occupy.  I have yet to hear exactly what attack Syria has launched on us that we need to defend.
I currently have a young friend, an Iraqi refugee, who has traveled to Syria to support the people.  The people of Syria DO NOT want us there.  Since they are the proported victims of the attack (and there is contention about who exactly used the chemical weapons in the first place), shouldn't the victims have a say as to whether or not they will be further victimized?  The people of Syria are being used as human shields; any attack on our part will merely further the corrupt agenda of the current regime.
Why is it that force is our first option instead of our last?  What have we gained by this?  I can tell you, sir, what we have lost... we have lost our standing and reputation internationally.  We have lost generations of young men and women to combat, suicide, chronic disabilities and illness, exposure to deadly chemicals, PTSD, broken families, and ruined lives.  Sadly, the children are watching, and our society's children are being raised on war, and learning that force is the way to solve problems... gee, I wonder why we have so much violence!  We have destroyed our economy, while people are jobless and homeless in the streets.  In Tillamook, our local Salvation Army Food Bank is shutting down, another victim of the war economy reality.  Last Saturday, I spoke to a friend of mine, a middle aged woman raising grandchildren, who was in tears, because she doesn't know how she is going to survive without the food bank.  We don't have the dollars to feed Oregonians, but we have them to send missiles to strike innocent people?!  As your constituent, while I respect your research and willingness to see all sides, I am also waiting for you to condemn any military action in Syria, or anywhere.
We have sprayed chemical weapons such as white phosphorus, in violation of international law, near civilian populations such as Fallujah, causing some of the most horrific birth defects imaginable, not to mention the soaring illness rates in those areas.  We use a drone program with an 80% accuracy rate.  Would 80% be accurate enough for you if it were in your neighborhood?  We have bombed villages, killed countless innocent people, destroyed schools, hospitals, entire neighborhoods, in our bloodthirst for the "terrorists."  Then as the children's bodies are buried, we call it "collateral damage."  Can you imagine, for one moment, trying to raise children in one of the places we invade?  The horror is unthinkable.
Enough is enough!!!!  Please speak out against this newest threat by the U.S.  It is becoming increasingly obvious to the entire world who the real terrorists are.  The Syrian people don't need our kind of "intervention."  Better yet, let's provide the war dollars to the agencies who are actually reaching out and providing food and medical care.  The profiteers will be mad, but they are obscenely wealthy already.  It's not our job, and never was, to police the entire world and play God in the process.  I am in full agreement with you that the international community needs to join together to address human rights abuses in Syria; I just think for once we need to be creative and find a non-military way to do so.
I am against all war, I am against this war, and, to quote a bumper sticker, I am already against the next war.  Please join me in opposing more death and destruction. 
Thank you for your time, again, and your willingness to hear all sides of the issue.  That is why I voted for you.
Sincerely,
Romy Carver

Book Review - a must read

I just finished an incredibly important book, and hope others will read it.  The book is called, “The Invisible Wounds of War: Coming Home from Iraq and Afghanistan” by Marguerite Guzman Bouvard.  I figured it would be interesting stories about returning veterans, but it was so much more than that.  It was really a call to action for all of us.  

Military spouses and family members, and the vets themselves, will feel validated and heard as their see their lives reflected in the pages of this book.  And it’s a story that needs to be told. 

The first chapter gives a detailed explanation of the timeline, and many of the intricate politics involved, in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  While this is important information, I have to admit I skimmed it and will need to reread it later, because I was anxious to get to the stories of the vets themselves.

One of the many factors in the high rate of veteran suicides (18 per day) is the understandable reluctance of vets to ask for help.  Military culture discourages vets from seeking the help they need, not only by characterizing those who ask for help as “weak” or “failures,” but also by penalizing those who come forward with denial of promotions, even in some cases dishonorable discharge.  Over and over the author heard fear of reprisal from vets who desperately needed life-saving help.  When they finally did ask for help, they were shrugged off, put on long waiting lists, or just handed sleeping pills.  We as a society have a responsibility to challenge the mindset that stigmatizes PTSD, or face even more suicides. 

The book is also a reminder that we have a war going on right now, which many people have managed to tune out.  Military personnel are only 1% of the population (yet 20% of suicides), and they tend to be ignored by the media.  This is seen as a huge betrayal by military families, who are resentful that deaths rarely merit more than a mention on the ticker at the bottom of the TV news.  They are also sick to death of hearing how their loved one “volunteered,” as if that somehow invalidates the suffering and the need for treatment of PTSD, traumatic brain injury, hearing damage from IED’s, etc.  

Prepare to be outraged at the lack of services and support for these people who stepped up to serve their country.  Prepare to be horrified and saddened by their stories, their poetry, and their pain.  Prepare to be deeply touched by the determination of their families to advocate for their loved ones and for all vets.  Most of all, prepare to feel a deep sense of compassion, and a responsibility and commitment to spread the word about these injustices.  The book is filled with resources, and the names and information about many programs which are working innovatively to help our vets.

Every young person who is even remotely considering a military career should read this book, especially young women.  It should be required reading for high school students to help counteract the lies told by recruiters.  They deserve to know what they are really getting into.

Tomorrow I’m reluctantly returning this book to the library, but its words will echo in my mind for a long, long time.  I plan to buy the book, and reference it frequently.  Most of us really want to support vets; this book shows how.  It claims to be neither anti-war nor pro-war, but any logical person with an open mind could not be pro-war after reading it.

This song kept running through my mind as I read:

"Hero of War" by Rise Against

On Civil War

There is a war taking place today in Oregon. Sides have been chosen, and changing sides is tantamount to treason. Uniforms have been donned, and participants have geared up for battle. And like other recent wars, many will watch this war from the comfort of home on a TV set, far removed, and numbingly remote, from the reality.
This “war” is a college football game here in Oregon, between two rivals, called a “civil war.” I hate the term “civil war” when it is used to describe something as trivial as a college football game. It trivializes the true horrors of war itself. To anyone who has actually been in combat, or lived in a war zone, it’s no game. There’s no buzzer sounding the end of “play.” I admit that “civil war” sounds catchy, but there has got to be a better term than this. It’s insensitive and socially irresponsible.

Frankly, we continually trivialize war in our culture. We declare war on drugs, crime, poverty, and homelessness, but it hasn’t gotten us far. It seems when we “declare war,” there’s an implication that the “experts” (soldiers) are in charge, leaving us to cheer them on. There is no sense of societal responsibility. Compare the concept of “declaring war on poverty,” to “working together to end poverty,” or even “to eradicate” or “to dismantle” poverty. We don’t change norms or better society in any way by “declaring war” on anything. All that does is declare that it’s bad, not proactively work together to fix it.

As George Carlin accurately observed, “we are a warlike people.” Some tribal societies that we smugly refer to as “primitive,” are far more peaceful than we. Even the games their children play are based more on cooperation than competition because they understand that working together ensures their survival. In our society, we not only win, we “beat” the other person or team, we “kick ass.” We crush, kill, annihilate, destroy, and defeat the other team. I bet you can come up with at least a half dozen violent verbs of your own. That mindset of might seems to permeate our foreign policy as well.  As a result, other than a few isolated terror incidents, we are the aggressors. We spend more on weapons of death than all other countries combined, and attack other nations with impunity. We also have tens of thousands of handgun related deaths annually in our country, as compared to a few dozen at the most in other countries. It’s not the guns that are the problem; it’s us.

It’s easy to trivialize something that isn’t in our faces on a daily basis. Right now we are at war in the Middle East. For the majority of Americans, it’s entirely possible to tune out this fact, other than brief (and slanted) updates on the evening news. After all, our houses are not being bombed; our loved ones are not being killed with drones, and generally we can send our children to school in the morning with a reasonable expectation that they will not be killed in a school bus bombing that day. Our houses are not being razed, and loved ones not being dragged out in the middle of the night and detained. Nope, that’s all happening somewhere else. That makes it very easy to see war as something much smaller than it is, even as we fund the carnage with our tax dollars.

As for the Civil War, after which these college rivalry games are often named, there is no history book or movie that can adequately describe its horrors. Men died at the end of bayonets held by their own brothers. It is arguably the most shameful, grisly, horrific period of U.S. history, along with the slave trade which characterized that era. A disproportionate number of those fighting and dying were poor, many of them newly freed slaves. Referring to any game as a “civil war” glorifies this national tragedy, while trivializing its lasting impact. War is not a game, and a game is not war.

It’s a slap in the face to our veterans, to survivors of war crimes, and to those who have been killed, maimed, displaced, raped, orphaned, or trafficked because of war. I’ve studied this topic extensively, enough to be ashamed at the minimization of the suffering by the mainstream media. If everyone saw the pictures, and read the stories of the magnitude of the human suffering caused by our need to dominate, we would not be calling anything war that isn’t war.  And don't even get me started on video games that glorify war, and desensitize kids to violence.

I realize that some will read this with rolling eyes. This may be seen as some liberal, overly sensitive, overly PC, whining rant. If that is your perception, I would like to remind you that where the REAL war is happening, there aren’t party snacks and tailgate parties, no “after-game” celebrations. Just the groans and screams of the wounded and the grieving, and the silence of death.

War is Not a Game by Bill Durston

Veteran's Day

I intended for my first blog post to be about the new blog. But Monday is Veteran’s Day, an important day to me. The main theme of my blog is peace, and for too many veterans and their families, there is no peace; not when the fighting stops, not ever.

Eighteen veterans commit suicide each day in the United States. A staggering number for a population that was promised that they would “be all that you can be,” that they were “the few and the proud,” and that they would get an education and career, see the world, etc. Seems like such a group would be anything but suicidal, doesn’t it… yet eighteen per day choose to escape their pain by taking their own lives.

I can’t imagine the disillusionment they must feel. They enlist in the hopes of having a better life, then find out what war REALLY looks like, and I’m sure they must question why, in the big scheme of things, taking the lives of fellow human beings is going to make us a better country, or somehow freer.

Then they come home, many of them psychologically and/or physically wounded. And to what? Broken marriages and families, very little governmental or societal support, even foreclosed homes. A recent statistic shows 25% of them have serious PTSD; it is believed that this is a low number, because the culture of the military does not encourage people to reach out and ask for professional help.

Ask a vet who has suffered from the effects of Agent Orange how long it took the government to stop sweeping it under the rug. Victims were pooh-poohed, reports were suppressed, and every effort was made to avoid accountability for what they were suffering. We have seen a repeat with Desert Storm vets; what a sad irony that our own chemical weapons are killing our own soldiers. We seem to have plenty of money to kill and maim people, yet our veteran’s services providers continue to work in shabby little back offices on a shoestring budget. It is our national shame.

Since only 2% of the general population is psychotic and actually enjoys killing, it stands to reason that most people don’t enlist so they can leave their loved ones behind and go kill people. There are many reasons people enlist, but it seems a big factor is the “poverty draft,” in which people enlist because they feel they have no other economic option. You don’t see a lot of wealthy people joining the military; that's someone else's job. If legislators and their families were required to do military service, you would see a skyrocket in services to vets.

To be fair, some people build a good career in the military, but even then, there are challenges translating their combat experience into civilian job skills. I recently watched an interview with two combat medics who couldn’t get a nursing job in the civilian world, because they didn’t have the certifications. These are folks who had performed life-saving surgeries and worked triage in the most extreme of circumstances. The fact that our government has not adequately addressed this is another example of not supporting the troops.

As a peace activist, I am often questioned about whether I support our troops, and of course, my patriotism has been questioned. I think often about what it means to “support the troops.” For me, “the troops” includes my grandpa, my dad, the ones currently fighting, and the ones who are now stateside, still fighting their own very real demons, as well as their families. It includes all those enlisted who wish they hadn't, all those who have died, and left behind loved ones who have never been given answers.  I support the troops in the way I would support a wayward child running with a bad crowd. I wish they didn’t make that sad choice to enlist, but I do understand why. I don’t like what they are doing, but I want them to be okay, and will do whatever I can to help. Once the choice is made, they are often changed forever and need all the support they can get. Supporting the troops does not mean supporting war,contrary to popular belief. I’d like to see our lawmakers start supporting our troops. And how does trying to create peace NOT support the troops?

While Veteran’s Day ceremonies are nice, and make everyone feel good for an hour or so, they don’t do a whole lot for that scruffy homeless guy with an empty stomach who is standing in front of Fred Meyer. Maybe he didn‘t have a ride to the ceremony, or maybe didn‘t want to watch while people waved flags and glorified the war that destroyed his life… who knows. But he served his country too. He is just trying to get through the day. As a community band member, I played patriotic music at many of those events, and I always left feeling empty. It also does NOT support our troops to keep dreaming up more wars to send them to. So how can we support our troops? I have a few ideas:


Bring them home.
Better services and resources for their medical, housing, counseling, and other needs.
Deprogramming and support around learning to reach out for help and assimilate back into their communities after trauma.
Thank them! (and that includes that scruffy, homeless guy in front of Fred Meyer, and not just on Veteran's Day).
End the wars.
Fight to have our bloated military budget (58% of federal discretionary spending) reduced, and those monies re-allocated to programs that help vets and their families, and those in poverty to be self-sufficient without having to enlist.
Talk with them, but also respect their right not to talk about it.
Work for peace, so our military can protect our country here at home, which by the way, was the intention of our founding fathers.
ASK THEM what they want.
Vote out of office those who do not support bills that support vets.
Sign petitions and stand with vets whose homes are being foreclosed.
These are just my ideas; I'm sure my veteran friends have more.  I don't presume to speak for them.  But I like my list better than just lip service.  What do you think??

Right now in my community, there is a program that is directly helping vets (and their families) who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. For more information or to help, call CARE at 503-842-5261. CARE is also seeking volunteers for their warming center, which gives those living outside a safe, warm place to sleep during inclement weather.

There are Veterans For Peace chapters all over the place, including right here in Tillamook County. You don’t have to be a vet to join and support. Most vets are not beating the war drums, despite what the media may tell you, because they have already lived the horror and know the truth.

My son has a young friend who enlisted, basically due to the poverty draft. I stand peace vigil every Friday night on a street corner in my hometown, and whenever he drives by, he cheers for me and thanks me. I have stood with veterans at peace vigil and they know the truth: that true patriotism is wanting what is best for our country, and working to obtain it, not blindly blasting cannons at every problem at the expense of our young people.

This Veteran’s Day, let’s remember all the vets, honor them in the ways they wish to be honored, and make it a goal to improve the quality of all veterans’ lives by ending the wars.