Tag Archives: Dan’s War

Earth Day blues and smiles

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earthOkay, so it’s Earth Day, again, and you have done nothing to sustain our wonderful blue and green marble.

 
You’ve got the blues because oil is still the dominant energy source, along with the other fossil fuel, coal, polluting the land, the air, the water, and you see no cure in the near future. You just bought a gun because, well, because. Now you might have found a use for it: thy own cranium. You have children whom you know will not be able to enjoy the wilderness as you have, a grandson who will likely be mining coal from someplace in the Yukon for a job, or fracking in the Arctic, once the polar ice cap melts a bit more. Plenty of energy jobs. Yup. But they might not be what you thought. Ask these girls in North Dakota.
http://www.onearth.org/article/growing-pains-scenes-from-the-north-dakota-drilling-boom

Hell, I was so down I wrote a book, you might have heard–or seen if you happen to look at other parts of the website–about how we can cure global warming by getting rid of all the oil; do it in two weeks and we have to go green. It’s actually pretty funny. Think it can’t be done? Well, think again. If nothing else, my twelve years of post-high school education and thirty years as a physician have taught me a few things about research. Yeah, there is someone out there who can likely pull it off if they have a little help.

Now for the bright spots. Time to turn that frown upside down. There are enough of the non-fossil fuels that if we started right now, developed the heck out of them, we would never have to raise the global temperature another two tenths Celcius in the next five years. Don’t believe me. Watch this video. It takes a little time, but well worth it. The other thing is to buy the book, Post Carbon Reader, or check it out of your library and you will be amazed. You will be able to take that gun back, throw out the Zoloft, actually sleep for eight hours and wake up happy you are alive. The Earth can be saved.

Now, go out and replace your lawn with rocks and a few low-water plants, or start biking to work or school a few days each week, or mow your lawn with a push mower, or make sure you never, ever get plastic bags at the supermarket, or … there are so many things, pick two or three and just do them. It’s not the big things. Everyone needs to do a few little things and a lot will happen. You’ll see. Please try.
Thanks.

Milt

Fathers and sons.

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These excerpts from “Dan’s War” witness a soliloquy by Dan Trotter, the main protagonist, a man who has a hard time with emotion, sees prime numbers the same way he sees his loved ones, in pastel colors. Yet, he does feel for his son, Jeff, as you will read.
I’ve included this video again as I think it is so powerful and adds so much to the book.

[This is Dan speaking.]
“What is a father’s love for a son? I’ve had some time to think about this … ”
“You might say it is, at first blush, the love of a name–my name, carried past death; a celebration of his birth realizing the continuance of a line, a pedigree. How stupid is that, right? It’s only a name.”
[Then Dan watches a little boy (whose name I will keep secret here) fall, not cry, but push up and run and smile at Dan.]
Dan grinned. “Yep, the boy-things I loved next. We were both guys, so we did rough and tumble things, testosterone-enhanced, like football, rugby, baseball–pitting strength, one against another.”

It was a long hike, but we got there! Lawn Lake

[Dan follows the little boy around a garden, a garden that is special to Dan and this book.]
“The next part is a bit complicated, but bear with me.”
[The little boy gazes in an open-mouthed smile, dimples and all.]
“I hoped he would be better–in the areas I failed, he would excel. So I pushed to make sure that my failures did not become his, that his life abounded in new opportunities. Then it happened, he grew into himself. I had to accept him as his own person: a different contribution, not only to the daily human conundrum and the DNA of life, but to the future. Whether I liked it or not, he traveled in his own direction; he was the future, and he would do it his way.
[The little boy does some things that make Dan cry, something he has done maybe twice in his life. The toddler then shows how smart he is.]
“You’re as smart as he was. After I accepted Jeff him as Jeff, not Dan’s son, it was cool to see him puzzle a scenario in Resident Evil, show Katie how to solve an algebra problem, and feel his strong arms hug me. I didn’t always lik hugs, you know. Or him caring enough to show affection in public.”

The next bit will give away too much, so you’ll have to read it in the book.

The love a father for a son can be as strong as any emotion on the planet. Of course the love of a daughter is just as strong, only different. And yet we still send our sons and daughters into battles to save our asses.
Why is that?

Two days old.

I remember singing this song to my son, my daughters. That was way before Cat Stevens became Muslim. But it still applies. Maybe more so after 9/11 and so much hate has erupted between us and Muslim countries. Now I sing it to my grandson.

Hug your loved ones, today, now. DO IT! They may not be here tomorrow.

Milt

On Kindle Prime now–Amazon:

REVIEWS: http://tiny.cc/mt6b7

$1 of each book goes to Veterans

Who Would You Be?

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I guess we all, at one time or other, maybe every minute, want to be someone else. You don’t like your body, your mind, your job, your very being. Maybe you could be as svelte and smooth-skinned as J Lo,

as rich as Buffet (Jimmy or Warren-who cares? Well, I like Jimmy),

as witty as Jimmy Kimmel (especially with kids)

have a job that you love, and you were always happy. Or maybe you just want a pet bullfrog that tap dances on ice. Oh yeah, in the middle of winter at Vail. There are ways, you know. You just have to be persistent. So I’m told.

 

I always wanted to write stories that people loved. I wanted them to get away from this difficult, sometimes depressing world, and have fun, while at the same time learning something new. Then I had an eighth-grade English teacher who told me I could not write, and would never grasp the English language, or something to that effect. So what do I do? There was a favorite class at Annapolis called Underwater Basket Weaving. No, I didn’t take that, though it sounded tempting. I took Creative Writing. Yeah, you can guess how many guys were in that class. In a trade school for boat drivers—not many. Who wants to spend time writing a journal when you have to study for EEE exam? That’s when the stories started, though. And they are still going.

 

You can become a different person, change your brain power, your body, your job, even save the world—in fiction. There’s a lot of serious shit that goes down every day, every place, so why not escape. At least for a few hours. It’s not like you’re going to end global warming or start world war three or something. Then again . . .

Dan’s War is an award-winning techno-thriller with literary heart, about the end of world oil . . . in two weeks. Cajuns and one lone computer geek try to save us against an ecofanatic and his army. There’s love between a geek and a hottie Marine, a father trying to save a son, nanobacteria eating oil, and weird characters that will take you on an adventure to far away lands, and keep you turning pages wanting more.

On sale now–Amazon:

REVIEWS:  http://tiny.cc/mt6b7

$1 of each book goes to Veterans

Barnes and Noble:http://tiny.cc/htmrb

Smashwords for all other e-book formats:http://tiny.cc/o0nh3

New Short Story only a buck! All proceeds go to US Veterans More at my Facebook Author Page:http://tiny.cc/sumdo

Contact me at www.miltmays@gmail.com

What is an American Patriot?

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Are you flying your flag? Are you planning hot dogs, hamburgers and apple pie on the 4th? Did you fill your SUV with $100 worth of gas and pull your camp trailer to Rocky Mountain National Park, wade with your grandson in an ice-cold, gin-clear mountain river, hike with your daughter to a high mountain waterfall and catch a few cutthroat trout?

Okay, yeah, I did that. Been there. It was fun, too. And I’m ready for the next tee shirt.

Maybe you did much more. You believe so much in your constituent’s cause that you allowed their lobbyist to pay for a guided trip for superb bone fishing in the Bahamas, dinner at Café Matisse and after-dinner cocktails watching the sunset over the Nassau. So what if that constituent is Big Oil, who despite making billions of dollars of profits every quarter wants you to continue their government subsidies? After all, without oil, how would we ever defeat all those terrorists? Those pack of jackals waiting to take over the USA.

Or maybe you decided to give up something that no one else has, or ever will, something so dear that there have been debates for centuries about its price, something you are willing to sacrifice for all those who want to enjoy a walk around the block without a bullet creasing their hair, or a night of rest without worrying about being whisked to a concentration camp because they didn’t agree with a clause in the constitution, allowing them to sit with family and enjoy fireworks over a lake whose black mirror reflects deaths of millions and a celebration as old as our country, and something your wife and son may never understand—you were willing to give up your own life.

There are patriots, and there are those who call themselves patriots. If you call yourself a patriot, examine your reasons. Is it to get a pat on the back at a veteran’s pancake breakfast? Do you want to be handed thousands of dollars from our government for twisting your back in boot camp? Do you think because you have lots of friends in Big Oil that you must have the government give them more money so we can fight a better war?

I suggest that if you want to be called a patriot, you are not one. A true patriot gives up without asking for thanks, gives up for those he’s never met, gives up for an ideal most of us have never really thought about.

What are you willing to give up for the freedoms that we all enjoy?

If you want to give up driving that SUV for six months of the year, lighting your home for 2 hours a night, or keeping the AC at 70 instead of 74 all summer, then maybe you can do something to keep more soldiers from sacrificing their lives in war.

The wars we have experienced in the last two decades have mostly been about oil and energy. We want to drive our cars to work, without anyone else inside carpooling. We want to never sweat a drop in our own home in summer. We want to watch our TV, run our computers, listen to our stereos into the wee hours of the morning.

We want, we want, we want.

When will we start giving, giving as much as a true patriot? Probably never. But we can try to prevent them from giving their lives for us by giving at least something that causes us some pain. Every day.

Or, then again. Maybe not. Fly your flag, eat your hot dogs, have a little more ice cream on that apple pie, and drive your SUV. Patriot.

Milt

Buy it now–Amazon: Kindle e-book on sale now for SUMMER BEACH READ

REVIEWS:  http://tiny.cc/mt6b7

$1 of each book goes to Veterans

Barnes and Noble:http://tiny.cc/htmrb

Smashwords for all other e-book formats:http://tiny.cc/o0nh3

New Short Story only a buck! All proceeds go to US Veterans More at my Facebook Author Page:http://tiny.cc/sumdo

Contact me at www.miltmays@gmail.com

Fire, Wind, Water. Can Disaster Change Your Life for the Better?

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In the midst of what will likely be the worst forest fire in the history of Colorado, The High Park Fire, I think of Hurricane Ivan in Pensacola, the disaster that brought us here, and my first post on this blog.

Those suffering from this fire: These are times that will not only test you, but can break you.

Don’t let it.

Can disaster change your life for the better?

September 16, 2004 I awoke at two a.m. to pitch black, wind howling outside, and a curious sound in the bedroom: my dog lapping water. But our wonderful blond lab, Maggie, lay at our feet, sleeping. The sound was swamp water percolating under the baseboards. Rolling off the mattress, my wife and I waded into stinky water, floating Purina Dog Chow and paper shredder confetti–welcome to the parade.

I’d had a great year: both daughters got married, I caught a 150 lb. tarpon on a fly rod, started a promising practice with great docs, and my son had orchestrated a surprise fiftieth birthday party. I was writing my first novel, a horror, techno-thriller about fictional events after 9/11, sure to outsell Steven King.

The day before the water came, the news said it was a monster: Hurricane Ivan, Cat 5 in the Gulf. I smashed one thumb and nearly fell off the ladder boarding up the second story windows. This made the inside a tomb of darkness, the garage door the only exit. Lynn and I discussed leaving the state. We filled the bathtubs, organized canned food and peanut butter (I could live off peanut butter and honey sandwiches for weeks), then moved the computer upstairs along with the important papers, dog food, fresh batteries in flashlights, etc.

At 7 p.m., in purple-olive twilight and paltry wind and misty rain, I played fetch outside with Maggie. No big deal. The news announced Ivan would weaken to Cat 3 at landfall. We decided to stay. Yes! No waiting for a week after the storm to get back over the bridge while looters had a field day, or water leaks went from tiny to disastrous.

We hunkered down—that’s hurricane talk—in our upstairs bedroom. The wind howled, trying to tear off the roof … right over our heads. No thank you. We trundled everything back downstairs, including a mattress, to the bedroom our son vacated last week. After all, our neighborhood had never flooded in recorded history. Who needed flood insurance? Our house had survived two other Cat 3′s with piddling damage. No prob.

Right. We’d never been in the northeast quadrant. Apparently we forgot.

For weeks afterwards we survived in a post-flood environment that reminded me of Sarajevo: feral dogs, fetid piles of rubbish, no water or AC, roving, camouflaged National Guard Humvees, and Red Cross water and food tents. I nearly lopped off a leg chain-sawing shattered trees, screwed up a knee replacing wallboard, and continued to work forty-hour weeks, sitting in rubbish-removal traffic jams for hours.

It shook our hearts and souls like a dirty rug. But we couldn’t get clean. The neighbors had the first, and last, Tiger Point trailer-trash party in their camper on their driveway next to the POD that held all their worldly goods. Their home was unlivable.

We sang, we drank, but we all knew: Never again.

The biggest lessons we learned? Things can be replaced. Loved ones cannot. Go after your dreams. Now.

My wife and I moved to Colorado, closer to roots and family. I wrote and guided fly fishing. She became a hooker—wool art hooking, okay. We camped in Yellowstone with Maggie. Then I realized I was not Steven King; gas prices skyrocketed; the adult kids moved back; guiding fly fishing made no money.

Time to go back to what I knew best, doctoring. I went to work for the VA.

Hurricanes and fire are nothing compared to war. War crippled our best, their bodies and minds. But not their souls.

Veterans taught me disaster can change your life for the better. My next novel, Dan’s War, was born.

Dan’s War is an award-winning techno-thriller with literary heart, about the end of world oil . . . in two weeks. Cajuns and one lone computer geek try to save us against an ecofanatic and his army. There’s love between a geek and a hottie Marine, a father trying to save a son, nanobacteria eating oil, and weird characters that will take you on an adventure to far away lands, and keep you turning pages wanting more.

Buy it now–Amazon:
Kindle e-book on sale now for SUMMER BEACH READ

REVIEWS:  http://tiny.cc/mt6b7

$1 of each book goes to Veterans

Barnes and Noble:http://tiny.cc/htmrb

Smashwords for all other e-book formats:http://tiny.cc/o0nh3

New Short Story only a buck! All proceeds go to US Veterans More at my Facebook Author Page:http://tiny.cc/sumdo

Contact me at www.miltmays@gmail.com

War, Oil, and Family

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(No one came up with an answer to my last blog. So I will keep trying.)

 

In my life, War and Oil are intertwined like a crown of thorns and thistles around Family. They make my love bleed. The biggest thorns are war, causing untold injuries the results of which I see and weep over, every damn day: Agent Orange causes diabetes, coronary heart disease, all of which blossom into strokes, heart attacks, stents, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc., etc., etc. Every war breeds mental disabilities, PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury, leading to alcoholism, other addictions, cigarettes, depression, suicide . . . etc., etc., etc. There is no end.

Really?

Yeah.

The last decade of wars aches for more oil. Please, we must have it. Oh, and keep the oil companies in profit (Billions a quarter? No prob.). Who cares if us lowly peons have to pay more and more for gas? Grow that crown of thorns, war, by ensuring the thistles, oil companies, are as healthy as possible. Those two weeds are choking our priorities of life right off the planet. Soon, flowers, trees, wilderness will be merely another challenge to overcome in order to feed the weeds. Well, actually, they already are. Don’t look now but a fracking well may be moving in next door.

 

Then there is family, our loved ones, those who support us when we fight for our country, defend freedom. They support us and cry blood for years after we come back. If we come back. Are we defending freedom, or ensuring the continued survival of an overwhelming machine of war and support for oil. Can we tolerate $10 a gallon, or will civil war result in son fighting father? Sister killing brother? What is the price we are willing to pay for driving our cars to work? Mowing the golf course twice a week? Four-wheeling for fun over wilderness terrain?

 

We are the most powerful nation the world has ever seen and we act like adolescents in conservation, peaceful negotiations, and putting love before violence. Can we survive? That is why I wrote Dan’s War, to ask some of these questions, and get people to think. Every word, action, and evolution in Dan’s War is not only possible but becoming more probable every day. It can happen. Tomorrow. And the only thing left will be our humanity—if we haven’t destroyed that, too, with war. In Dan’s War humanity may save the hero. May. We must find a way to make humanity work, to rid beauty and peace and all those creations that make us laugh and cry, from the most destructive and ugly force in history: War.

 

As long as we are at war, ugly things happen, like killing children, massacring villages, virginity checks. Who knows, we might even drop a nuclear bomb or five that kills millions, “To Save More.” How can war not cause bad things, when war sucks out love and preaches kill thy enemy, and do it now, and move on; kill more. Can you find a way to stop it? Please.

 

I know you have hope. We have a whole generation of new fodder for war that we can save with that hope. Do it. Find a way to prevent another war.

Maybe even a cookie?

Milt

REVIEWS:  http://tiny.cc/mt6b7

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More at my Facebook Author Page:http://tiny.cc/sumdo

Contact me at www.miltmays@gmail.com

Kony 2013

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Kony 2013

Yes, I know, the big deal is the Kony 2012 video.

My question: Where will this be in 2013 and how will we get there?
The YouTube/Facebook video, now over 50 million views, touts getting rid of Kony, a warlord for LRA who kidnaps kids in the night, has them run his “revolutionary” army, disfigure his enemies, kill their own parents. This travesty must end, and the Invisible Children supporters, including the great guy who made the video should be applauded.

But, and this is a very BIG BUT, are we waging another war against another boogie man instead of finding peaceful solutions? The video wants us to support military “advisers” to the African Army so they can find this monster and bring him in. What exactly is their “advice?” Hint: They are military. The video wants us to make Kony famous, so we can get everyone to be against him. Got it.

Historical rewind: We all wanted to do the same for Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, bin Laden. How many lives were lost in the War on Terror because of one man—bin Laden. Bin Laden was famous in an instant—9/11. Our country tried to end his continued reign of terror worldwide, not just of a small part of Africa, like Kony. How much money was spent on this same War over the last ten years? But, we finally got him, right? Was it worth it? Did we work hard on peaceful solutions during those ten years of war? How much money went into peaceful ideas vs. new Humvees, tanks, drones, jets, soldiers, soldiers, soldiers, etc., etc., etc.???

So, in 2013, if we still don’t have this guy, Kony: What then?

My pessimistic side says probably we won’t get him, though my optimistic side hopes for a quick capture, using a “surgical strike” (that means only a few get killed in the “tiny” attack—Right.). And if we do get him, will his methods, his LRA end?

My plea is: Let’s find peaceful solutions to make Kony go away. Any ideas?

Come on! Did you just want the social media to be a video fest, or actually do something useful?

Milt

Dan’s War is an award-winning novel about the end of world oil . . . in two weeks. Cajuns and one lone computer geek try to save us against an eco-fanatic and his army who want to get rid of OIL to end global warming.

It’s about WAR, true, but also about family struggles with teenagers serving their country vs. college, and a computer genius with near-Asperger’s and desperate to be a hero at his job, but most of all in his son’s eyes.

REVIEWS:  http://tiny.cc/mt6b7

Buy it now–Amazon:

Barnes and Noble:http://tiny.cc/htmrb

Smashwords for all other e-book formats:http://tiny.cc/o0nh3

More at my Facebook Author Page:http://tiny.cc/sumdo

Contact me at www.miltmays@gmail.com

Techno-cure for the Fragile Human

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Gotta be Facebook, or Twitter or Google Plus. They’re the cure for our deepest desires, the wine for our fish. They’re the REAL world, right? We can connect with the world and feel needed and wanted and . . . Ignore real people when they need us most.

Video of ignoring car jacked injured veteran

Are you kidding me? Did you forget life? You know, the one with grass, snow, trees, rivers, mountains, sky–what about talking to the PERSON (PERSON=Human being) sitting across from you while you eat instead of Tweeting to someone you’ve probably never seen, never touched, and the only laugh you got from them was LOL. You can’t even hear it!


Lawn Lake, RMNP

The TV commercial: “Do you realize how much data you use?” advertises for unlimited data plans, showing a very busy woman constantly looking at her smart phone while she sits in a beautiful park, waits at the busstop (next to real live people), or eats at the table in a restaurant (Does she know what she’s eating? Is she actually tasting it? Did she ever consider talking to those other human beings surrounding her?)

She may have all the data she needs for her smart phone, but life just passed her by.

How sad that we have become a nation of texting rather than eye to eye, mouth to mouth, touch to touch communication. Humanity is dying.

If Kurzweil is right in his book, The Singularity is Near, and we will soon have implants in our brains to do our jobs faster and better, what have we lost? If ever there was a soul, I believe that will kill it forever.

Talk to people, see them, touch them, hug them. In a few years, we may all be part robot. Enjoy the real people while you can.

At the very least, smell the flowers. They may be gone soon.

Milt

Dan’s War is an award-winning techno-thriller with heart, about the end of world oil . . . in two weeks. Cajuns and one lone computer geek try to save us against an eco-fanatic and his army. REVIEWS:  http://tiny.cc/mt6b7

Buy it now–Amazon:

Barnes and Noble:http://tiny.cc/htmrb

Smashwords for all other e-book formats:http://tiny.cc/o0nh3

More at my Facebook Author Page:http://tiny.cc/sumdo

Contact me at www.miltmays@gmail.com

How to End War

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After the last post, I got to thinking. My anger at war is getting too much. So here’s a different approach.

If you make a funny face you'll feel better

The Power of Numbers(Oh goody, says Dan)

It’s not so hard, really, to end war. You just have to make that your goal, every day. Get rid of hate and rage; make it your goal to push for love and peace. War is an act of hate. If all of us get rid of our own hate, how can war start? Every day ask yourself what you can do to get rid of any hate or rage and do something that shows your love. You will feel the peace. Others will notice, too. It will catch on. Then one will become many. I need to try this. The other way isn’t working. (So, where’s the numbers? asks Dan. They’re coming.)

Examples of How Love can End Hate:

I’ll bet when your kids won’t do their homework you get angry. So get in there and help. It shows how much you love them, and all those angry arguments will not happen. They will love you for it.

Maybe you hate it that your mother is dying of cancer. Take her places she loves; play games; hug her. Hating the cancer won’t take it away, but loving her more will take away her fear of dying alone.

Are you pissed the bank is going to foreclose on your house? Sit in the rooms you love and talk to the house, tell it how much you will miss it, and what great times you had. Talk to the banker. Ask her how you can help her to make the transition easier for both of you. It’s likely she will fight to keep your home.

You’ve got PTSD from the Iraq War and hate the thought of war? You, most of all, must embrace what has happened to you, realize it was not your fault, that what you feel is natural, but can be turned off. Remember the comraderie of your service, and talk with the men and women you served with, making plans to celebrate peace, and plan for a future of peace. You are our best envoys of peace.

The Economic Cost of Hate: (Finally, numbers! But their not even primes, says Dan.)

Wars have cost the USA over $1.2 trillion since 2001.

http://costofwar.com/en/

If you saved $1 every second (that’s $31.536 million per year-Hello, Mitt Romney),  how many years would it take to pay off $1.2 trillion? 38,051 years (Dan studied that number for a microsecond. Why couldn’t it have been 38053–that’s a great prime!)

However, if 100 million people paid $100 per day, it would take 120 days to pay off $1.2 trillion. The power of numbers works. Hence taxes.

Hate Can Destroy Humanity, Tomorrow

Could hate at sometime cancel out all the love and destroy the world? All it takes is one super hateful person with a few nuclear bombs, a very bad virus or bacteria, or the right wind and poison gas. How about spiders with nanobacteria that eat oil? Surely you jest.

What You Can Do

Show a neighbor how to make love and peace destroy their hate. If everyone does it in the world–7 billion people now–that’s a lot of numbers. Now we’re talking. (Dan beats his fist. Could you at least make it 7 billion and 1–that’s a prime! Yeah, I’m sure we’re there now.)

Bring it to the attention of Congress and the President. Ask them to make a law that compels them to debate ending any war we are in, not once a year, or once a month, but every day we are at war.

Is it possible?

I don’t know if I can do it every day. This peace, love stuff may be too much. What about you. Could you at least start? Would you email your Congressman and the President about passing this law? Is this possible? What do you think?

Dan (Dan’s War) would say, My grandson is worth it. I say the same.

Have a cookie. It will help.

mm

Dan’s War is an award-winning techno-thriller with heart, about the end of world oil . . . in two weeks. Cajuns and one lone computer geek try to save us against an ecofanatic and his army.

All E-book formats on Sale.

Amazon Kindle:http://tiny.cc/5sxjm

Barnes and Nobles Nook:http://tiny.cc/dsiho

Smashwords for all other e-book formats:http://tiny.cc/o0nh3

REVIEWS:  http://tiny.cc/mt6b7

More at my Facebook Author Page:http://tiny.cc/sumdo

Contact me at www.miltmays@gmail.com

Sanitizing War

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So, you think by building schools, hospitals, and training all
those soldiers to respect Muslims you can erase all the drilled-in
depersonalization of the enemy, precise killing techniques, and subtle (well, maybe not so subtle) building-up of their anger after 9/11.

I have read the books on war, Sun Tzu to Clausewitz, and more recently, Lt. Col Dave Grossman and Captain Paul K. Chappell,. I have studied war at the Naval Academy. It all sounds very chess-like, until you are there, killing people. No matter how you cut it, war is not kind, not filled with etiquette for the other side. Gentlemen (or ladies) don’t wage wars; barbarians do. If you call the enemy Krauts, Nips, commies, gooks, chinks, or ragheads it allows you to depersonalize it, and keep it okay. And make sure those soldiers know the easiest, quickest, and most lethal way to kill the enemy, and that they actually do it. We don’t want them aiming high to avoid killing another human being. We have to drill that out of them. They must understand that the enemy is not a real person like you and me. They are Yellow Devils, or the Axis of Evil. God does not bless them, like they do Americans. We are right, and always will be.

Cut off and take one of their dead ears and spit on their face. They deserve it. And those ragheads who killed all those innocent people at 9/11? Piss on their dead bodies.

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/the-urination-video-and-pressures-of-battle/

http://www.mediaite.com/online/howard-stern-on-marines-urinating-on-dead-taliban-fighters-so-what-dave-navarro-agrees/

But go ahead and build your hospitals and schools, and try to help their culture believe that we are right and they are wrong, after you’ve starved them for a decade with an embargo and killed half their neighbors. Spend billions of dollars a month training our soldiers to kill “targets” with machines that are the most lethal in history. You will surely be able to change all those killing habits you’ve cemented in your soldiers, those same soldiers who have tried so hard to do the right thing, preserving our freedoms, but have nightmares and lose families over recurring visions of buddies blown to bits by those @#$& targets.

You think there might be a double message there: Kill those people, but don’t you dare call them a name or piss on their bodies. Double messages don’t mean anything, right? (Except to politicians!) Just do what you are told, soldier. Don’t think about it. Besides, we have psychiatrist who can treat our soldier’s messed up mind.

But, you politicians should try not to focus too much on stopping wars, or keeping them from happening. War is our heritage, our children’s future. Without wars, patriotism would wither. Oh yeah, and where would we spend those billions of dollars?

And the death of all morality? Who cares. If you think you can make war moral, you are indeed a true politician. You think this is the only amoral thing that has happened in war, and that court martialing them will cure it? They just won’t video tape it. First rule of the Naval Academy: You rate what you get away with. Don’t get caught.

No, it’s not the right thing to piss on a dead enemy, rape his daughter, or cut off the breasts of his wife. If we must be at war we should at least kill quickly, and treat the enemy with respect. We are not barbarians, after all. Are we?

Why isn’t there a law passed that states: If the US is in a war, there MUST be a daily debate in Congress about how to get OUT of war, as fast as possible?

Talk about getting priorities straight.

mm