Bobby Sent Me a Human Ear in the Mail

[kpete]

Bobby Sent Me a Human Ear in the Mail
by idahospud44
Sat Nov 15, 2008 at 08:27:09 AM PST

The grand kids were all in the living room watching Scoopy Doo Laugh Olympics when a commercial came on asking for donations to Africa orphans, with sad music and graphic pictures of suffering. Grandma sprinted over to the television to turn the channel. "Why do they show this stuff on television?' she asked to nobody in particular. That's us folks. We can't be bothered with anything unpleasant,and our Big Brother media now controlled by only five major corporations "protects" us by focusing on a dazzling loop of distractions from O.J. trials to John Edwards affairs to the latest Simple Sarah Palin crap. We fall for it and we should all be ashamed. Especially me. I should know better

.................

Bobby and I were starting guards on our high school basketball team and had known each other since kindergarten. So when I opened up a package from him that contained a bloody human ear I knew I had lost him forever. Yeah, he made it back from Vietnam but was a skeleton of himself. He was welcomed back to our small town with an article in the newspaper, and a series of keg parties. He looked the same to those who had only slightly known him but when I, one of his best long-time friends, looked at him I didn't see Bobby anymore. He had gotten addicted to opium while in southeast Asia and starting shooting heroin when he returned home. He died in the corner of a Christmas party at around 3 am. Nobody noticed that he had quit talking and didn't attend to him until he turned blue and the vomit that suffocated him began dripping from his mouth. My wonderful Bobby -a funny kind kid and a teenager who was reading his beloved comics just days before being shipped to hell was dead.

Oh, sorry, I am probably boring you and you may be ready to go to the next Sarah Palin article.

I guess I am an asshole for talking about war. After all, we are winning in Iraq and gas is too high, I don't have as much money to spend on Wal-Mart trinkets as usual and I maybe in the beginning stages of the heartbreak of psoriasis. The clothes I just took out of the dryer had some serious static cling, I have to make my son happy with a pair o $120 Nike basketball shoes and promised my neighbor to help decorate his house for his daughter's important and required sweet sixteen party coming up this weekend. I have real pressures and don't need anyone to remind me of unpleasant things, like how my tax dollars are still being used to blow off the legs of six year old Iraqi girls. Well, Fuck You, Fuck the War, Fuck Sarah Palin, Fuck the media but mostly Fuck Me. I should know better.

We are an entire society suffering from mass ADHD. What is important in a few news cycles dominates and then we move on to the next distraction. The cable news is always rushed, someone makes a good point on a serious subject and then we hear, "You have the last word, we only have 30 seconds in this segment." The news moves from the crying victims of a hurricane to a cute little feature on how a WWII vet saved Aunt Bee's pet ferret that was stuck in a tree. We watch the next feature on how a church group had a coat drive which somehow means that you we no longer have to worry about homeless people, because a couple of them just got coats. Issue solved!

much more, please read the rest (very worthwild):
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/15/14522/489/761/661316

[annabanana]

1. The pain doesn't really ever end for so many.

People who have seen and done things that no human being was ever meant to see or do. . .And yet we allow our "leaders" to continue to make them do and see. .

[The Traveler]

2. Kick. Recommend. (n/t)

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

3. K&R. Fast food, pharmaceuticals, and corporate media sound bites...

...that's what we live on -- we're not well, not well at all.

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." (Krishnamurti)


http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=zeitgeist+addendum&emb=0&aq=f#


Everyone should see this video.

[Karenina]

7. A favorite quote!

:fistbump:

[phusion]

9. thanks!

I didn't know there was a new Zeitgest film out...The original blew me away.

[Greyhound]

4. Excellent post and point.

As a veteran of 3 wars once told me, "the casualty rate of every war is 100%".

This is why I do not support anyone that supported or supports the latest crimes against humanity, they are all mass murderers, and we tolerate their presence in society.
:kick: & R

[bertman]

5. Thanks for the reminder, kpete. We are forgetting the war.

And the other war. And the black ops. And the CIA-sponsored assassinations all over the world. And the ruthless dictators we prop up. And on and on.

Please support the IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War), Veterans for Peace, Vietnam Vets against the War. Our new President must hear our voices loud and clear.

[Tigress DEM]

6. Many people endure the Hell of war without ever stepping foot on foreign soil.

I know you are more concerned about Bobby's pain and how his life ended so ignobly, but KPete, unfortunately I never knew him. YOU however are a DU regular and my heart is breaking for you right now.

I am SO sorry this happened to someone you knew since kindergarten.

I hear you. Air hug, man.

AND DU is about getting the VETs who return home the rights they deserve, so you really have an audience that can stop the presses and grieve with you no matter what else is going on.

Maybe you can find some new holiday tradition that isn't about money to share with your son in honor of your friend.

I know about the shoes and the darn kids grow out of them every 2 months at a certain phase. I don't know what I would have done without Marshalls or TJ Maxx where you can buy the expensive shoes at a discount.

AND no matter how much we do it is never really enough, but it's better than nothing.

Ever seen the comic about the kid throwing starfishes back into the sea?

There are hundreds along the beach washed up by high tide and an old man approaches him asking why he bothers, it won't make a difference.

Kid picks up another starfish and undaunted lobs it into the water, "Made a difference to THAT one."

Keep that part of yourself alive, KPete. You make a difference to us.

[mcg]

10. So much money is spent locking those who do drugs,

but so little money is spent caring for our veterans (and others) who are addicted to drugs.

That is a crime.

The only "social programs" that the republicans seem to want are those that hurt people,
including unnecessary wars and incarcerations.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. A stark reminder of what it is all about....

[riverwalker]

11. Cheney, Feith, Wolfowitz

WE will NEVER forget your war and the blood on your hands. NEVER. N-E-V-E-R.

[bluesmail]

12. WTF ever happened to Truth In Advertising. Never mind

it's gone the way of The Constitution and The Rule of Law. Great read.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. Great thing about Obama: new paradigm for society: No drama, cool focus, no mass ADHD/hysteria.

One of the greatest things about Obama (many to choose from) is that he is setting a new paradigm for society: No drama, cool focus, no mass ADHD/hysteria. By being calm under fire and never flustered, he is a new kind of role model to counteract all of the maniacs who think that in-your-face rage makes them stronger and tougher. They are fools and Obama is wise.

With less drama in society, we can de-escalate from armed confrontations and start working on what really works in the long run, the only thing that truly solves problems: winning hearts and minds.

[paparush]

14. Do you want a toe? 'Cause I can get you a toe. I can get you a toe before 3 o'clock.

with nail polish.

[Buzz Clik]

15. Sam Stone was alone when he popped his last balloon.

kpete, a lot of us know exactly what you're talking about.

[spag68]

16. Nam

I was old enough to be in and out of the service before nam got going. To my great horror my friends came back, one after another with that same look. It changed me from a go along get along type to an activist, but it did no good, they kept coming back either dead or dying. I am haunted to this day about it and it is happening again. The young come back with that vacant stare and the vampires that sent them there don't care. We will be taking care of these young people for many years to come. Please remember who did this and never let anyone forget.

[DeeDeeNY]

17. "our Big Brother media now controlled by only five major corporations"

This has got to change. We do not have an informed electorate anymore.
http://antiwar.com/casualties/
http://www.antiwar.com/glantz/?articleid=10262