I'm of two minds on this letter. What do you think?

You may recall a post I did a couple days ago.  Same person wrote this.  What do you think?

~randy

:

DYING VET’S ‘FUCK YOU’ LETTER TO GEORGE BUSH & DICK CHENEY NEEDS TO BE READ BY EVERY AMERICAN

To: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
From: Tomas Young

I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. I write this letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and psychological, have destroyed their lives. I am one of those gravely wounded. I was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City. My life is coming to an end. I am living under hospice care.

I write this letter on behalf of husbands and wives who have lost spouses, on behalf of children who have lost a parent, on behalf of the fathers and mothers who have lost sons and daughters and on behalf of those who care for the many thousands of my fellow veterans who have brain injuries. I write this letter on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on average, a suicide a day. I write this letter on behalf of the some 1 million Iraqi dead and on behalf of the countless Iraqi wounded. I write this letter on behalf of us all—the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief.

You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.

I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.

Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character. You sent us to fight and die in Iraq after you, Mr. Cheney, dodged the draft in Vietnam, and you, Mr. Bush, went AWOL from your National Guard unit. Your cowardice and selfishness were established decades ago. You were not willing to risk yourselves for our nation but you sent hundreds of thousands of young men and women to be sacrificed in a senseless war with no more thought than it takes to put out the garbage.

I joined the Army two days after the 9/11 attacks. I joined the Army because our country had been attacked. I wanted to strike back at those who had killed some 3,000 of my fellow citizens. I did not join the Army to go to Iraq, a country that had no part in the September 2001 attacks and did not pose a threat to its neighbors, much less to the United States. I did not join the Army to “liberate” Iraqis or to shut down mythical weapons-of-mass-destruction facilities or to implant what you cynically called “democracy” in Baghdad and the Middle East. I did not join the Army to rebuild Iraq, which at the time you told us could be paid for by Iraq’s oil revenues. Instead, this war has cost the United States over $3 trillion. I especially did not join the Army to carry out pre-emptive war. Pre-emptive war is illegal under international law. And as a soldier in Iraq I was, I now know, abetting your idiocy and your crimes. The Iraq War is the largest strategic blunder in U.S. history. It obliterated the balance of power in the Middle East. It installed a corrupt and brutal pro-Iranian government in Baghdad, one cemented in power through the use of torture, death squads and terror. And it has left Iran as the dominant force in the region. On every level—moral, strategic, military and economic—Iraq was a failure. And it was you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences.

I would not be writing this letter if I had been wounded fighting in Afghanistan against those forces that carried out the attacks of 9/11. Had I been wounded there I would still be miserable because of my physical deterioration and imminent death, but I would at least have the comfort of knowing that my injuries were a consequence of my own decision to defend the country I love. I would not have to lie in my bed, my body filled with painkillers, my life ebbing away, and deal with the fact that hundreds of thousands of human beings, including children, including myself, were sacrificed by you for little more than the greed of oil companies, for your alliance with the oil sheiks in Saudi Arabia, and your insane visions of empire.

I have, like many other disabled veterans, suffered from the inadequate and often inept care provided by the Veterans Administration. I have, like many other disabled veterans, come to realize that our mental and physical wounds are of no interest to you, perhaps of no interest to any politician. We were used. We were betrayed. And we have been abandoned. You, Mr. Bush, make much pretense of being a Christian. But isn’t lying a sin? Isn’t murder a sin? Aren’t theft and selfish ambition sins? I am not a Christian. But I believe in the Christian ideal. I believe that what you do to the least of your brothers you finally do to yourself, to your own soul.

My day of reckoning is upon me. Yours will come. I hope you will be put on trial. But mostly I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live. I hope that before your time on earth ends, as mine is now ending, you will find the strength of character to stand before the American public and the world, and in particular the Iraqi people, and beg for forgiveness.

—Tomas Young

Dedicated to my Friend Scottie. For a laugh.

What does it mean to live a dignified life?  

Does it mean that we can have a dignified death?






http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/14/us/anti-war-vet-suicide/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

Here is the article.  You may want to simply go to the linked page and see the original - it is easier to read there.  -randy

(CNN) -- Tomas Young's life nearly ended nine years ago when he was riding in the back of a water truck in Baghdad's Sadr City. Two rounds from a sniper's AK-47 hit him; the first severed his spinal cord and the second shattered his left knee.

Modern-day medicine saved him. A critically acclaimed 2007 documentary, "Body of War," made his injuries -- and objections to the Iraq war -- widely known.

Now, he lies again on the verge of death.

This time, he is not in a bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center but on a futon in his home in Kansas City, Missouri. This time, no one is trying desperately to keep him alive. Young wants to die.

Tomas Young attended the premiere of "Body of War" at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007.

He is tired of nine years of suffering. Of sitting paralyzed from the chest down in a wheelchair, of losing dexterity in his hands, of slurred speech, skin ulcers, nausea, urinary tract infections and, most of all, the constant pain. He cannot eat on his own, and a while ago he decided he would reject his medications and feeding tube and allow himself to waste away.

2008: A look at 'Body of War'

Young, 33, might have died quietly in the privacy of his home, with his wife of one year, Claudia Cuellar, and his mother, Cathy Smith, by his bedside. Except that in February, he announced his intention to end his life.

He appeared via Skype before a Connecticut crowd gathered for a screening of "Body of War" and told them of his decision.

It was a night that Joseph Consentino will never forget. As founder of the Ridgefield Playhouse Film Society, Consentino, himself a documentarian, had arranged for Young to answer questions after the film was shown. Former talk show host and "Body of War" co-director Phil Donahue was also on hand.

The audience was stunned, Consentino recalled Friday. "But the amazing part was everyone seemed to understand why he was doing this."

His intention became more widely known about a month later, on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war, when Young penned a scathing letter to former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney. Written at the behest of the progressive online news website Truthdig, Young's letter laid out the circumstances of his life and blamed Bush and Cheney for all the casualties of the war.

325 army suicides in 2012 a record

"My day of reckoning is upon me. Yours will come. I hope you will be put on trial. But mostly I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live. I hope that before your time on Earth ends, as mine is now ending, you will find the strength of character to stand before the American public and the world, and in particular the Iraqi people, and beg for forgiveness."

The letter went viral. Young's life was again out there for millions to see. If they had not known of the wounded-vet-turned-activist before, they knew his story now.

He was 22 when he watched Bush stand at ground zero and pledge to avenge the killing of Americans in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Young called a recruiter, and two days later he was enlisted into the Army. He stood ready to fight in Afghanistan and hunt down Osama bin Laden, but instead, in spring 2004, he found himself with the 1st Cavalry Division in Iraq. He had not been in Sadr City five days before he was ambushed.

"I did not join the Army to go to Iraq, a country that had no part in the September 2001 attacks and did not pose a threat to its neighbors, much less to the United States," Young wrote in his letter.

"On every level—moral, strategic, military and economic—Iraq was a failure," Young wrote. "And it was you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences."

"Body of War" captured his anger about Iraq. It also showed how difficult his life had become. In one scene, Young's mother struggles to insert a catheter while they are in a car. They turn it into a moment of dark humor. It was Young's verve for life portrayed in that film that struck viewers. They were left perplexed when Young announced he'd had enough of watching his body deteriorate.

Since the movie was made, the quality of Young's life has spiraled downward. In 2008, a blood clot traveled to his lung and affected his brain. Then last year, doctors removed his colon in hopes of relieving pain in his abdomen.

These days, he can hardly move. A pump at his side helps him inject painkillers. His speech is so slurred that it's difficult to understand him. His hair and beard are thick. He seldom leaves his bed; his bedsores eat at his flesh. He takes a dizzying assortment of more than 30 different pills every day.

On the front line of our communities

Sometimes, Cuellar, 43, sees a vacant stare when she looks into her husband's eyes.

On the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war, Young penned a scathing letter to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

"He was catatonic, exhausted after all that treatment," she said.

He hoped to reach his first wedding anniversary on April 20. After that, he planned to begin to die.

He said Thursday that he now wants to live through one last baseball season -- he loves the game and is excited that his hometown Kansas City Royals are in first place in the AL Central. He also wants to see the Jackie Robinson biopic, "42," which opened in theaters Friday.

Really, said Cuellar, the family just needs more time together, away from the spotlight.

John Carney, executive director of the Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City, has been following Young's case and said it is not uncommon for people who make such a serious decision to delay it.

Young doesn't want to implicate anyone else in his death, so his plan is to stop nourishing his body.

The law gives him that right. The Patient Self-Determination Act of 1990 says that a competent adult can refuse medical or surgical treatment.

"I think it is unfair, in his case, to characterize it as he is killing himself," Carney said. "He has made the decision to stop treating himself. It's a quality of life decision that is within his right."

Young has never described his plans as suicide, but some are concerned that his actions might send the wrong signal to other struggling veterans.

Hundreds of thousands of war vets still waiting for health benefits

There are some good things in my life, but they are small in number compared to the bad things I go through.
-- Tomas Young

"I do worry that it will send a message that you can give up," said Kim Ruocco, director of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.

"Part of what I am hearing him say is he no longer has his voice or his purpose, which was talking about the war and his injuries," she said.

In that role, he found meaning in his life, which Ruocco hopes will inspire veterans.

"I am hoping that they can see he has been able to do a lot," she said.

Jason Hansman, head of health programs of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, described Young's case as exceptional.

"I think his story altogether is unique, from the time he entered Iraq to coming home," Hansman said. "It is very much about the circumstances and the severity of the situation."

Young's story is unique also in that it has been deeply personal, political and public all at once.

Cuellar said not a single day has passed without outside intrusion since the publication of her husband's letter. There has been a flurry of media interviews. Some people call or show up because they want to show their support. Some want to dissuade him from what they say is suicide. Still others think he's a bit crazy or staging a publicity stunt.

Young says after a series of medical setbacks, he has lost his will to live.

"He is dying and wants to blame someone else for his decisions," wrote a commenter on an online forum.

Another said Young "should have faded away in another dark alley instead of going drama queen in his last moments."

In Cuellar's mind, no one has the right to criticize her husband's actions except maybe another disabled veteran.

"We've been shocked by anyone who would question Tomas," Cuellar said. "It's disrespectful to a war veteran."

Young can understand why some people might be critical, but he said they don't understand his pain.

"I know I might seem to some people like a whining baby," Young said from his home Thursday. "There are some good things in my life, but they are small in number compared to the bad things I go through."

The woman who gave birth to Young has come to terms with her son's decision.

Crisis hotline saves suicidal war veterans

"A lot of what Tomas was and who Tomas was is gone now anyway," said Cathy Smith. "I have already mourned that. So I will just pick up the pieces."

Phil Donahue, who first met Young at Walter Reed and decided to make "Body of War," said Young gave him a front-row seat to catastrophic injury. He understood when Young called him in February and told of his wish to die.

"He's been trapped in his body for nine years," Donahue said. "He wanted to live. He rallied from everything that hit him."

Young, Donahue understood, had reached his limit.

Donahue plans to visit Young in Kansas City later this month. He knows it could very well be their last time together.

Young and Cuellar said they just want to fit in quality time with close friends and family before Young dies.

"This is a roller-coaster. This is an impossible journey," Cuellar said. "Much harder for him than it is for me, but I have to simply bear witness, which is very hard."

When the time comes, she will be prepared to let her husband go.

"It's a privilege to be around someone who is dying," she said.

Ultimately, she believes Young will die vindicated for speaking out against a war that more and more Americans have come to oppose.

"My husband's story is of many people who will come home this way. It's not going to be singular," she said.

Young said he didn't really know what people might say about him after he is gone. He just wants to be remembered as a guy who was nice to be around.

In the Grab for Power, Souls are Rendered, Lives Destroyed, Money Made....

Hello Friends;

  I've been working through another of my reoccurring depressions.  I only mention it for those who wonder about dry posting, my lack of response to comments, etc.  I am fortunate that I deal with a very minor form of depression, but I find that it comes upon me more often.  So, it is one thing I have learned to work around and I've even learned that responding to sadness with laughter has a curative effect.  My very good friend in Florida is great medicine for me.

  In reading this article (following), I am reminded again of my own experiences.  I have struggled with my own identity.  I have too often had such desire to be liked, to be accepted, and yet I have repeatedly failed.  It is strange for me that when I am working with the animals, just being me, that I feel so incredible at the privilege.

  As a younger man and teen, I studied the Bible.  Not to the extent of being an expert, not anywhere close, but I know what it says.  If one is looking closely, the Bible is an explanation to the Hebrew nation that their struggles are all explainable and understandable as a plan of God.  We all need that, I guess; that belief that there is more to life than the pain and heartache that life sometimes brings to us.  We all need to feel that we are important, cared for, and that there is hope.  And, to a great extent, we need to know that whatever we are doing it is the right thing.

  Religion is great for this.  Religion gives structure.  Religion tells us what to do in what situation, and where we will be at the end of it all.  As a person who studied psychology and sociology, I get that.  As one who studied the Bible, I also feel that pull, that need for a loving God who will hold me and tell me that I am forgiven, that I did ok, that I am welcome.  And, yet, as a gay man, I am dismayed to find that others who call themselves by the same religious identification I have regard me as evil, destined for hell and damnation.  And, as a one-time christian, I am shocked and embarrassed by the judgemental and hateful words coming from those who were commanded to love.

  I have stumbled upon a strange understanding of life; I want so very much to be Christ-like, and I want so very much to never be thought of as christian.

  Please read the following article if you wish.  I found it heartbreaking and far too real.

Hugs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/books/review/does-jesus-really-love-me-by-jeff-chu.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=review

Hello Friends;

  I was sent this today.  If you may recall, the Michigan republicans decided to put wolves on the list for hunting after decades spent on the endangered species list.  I guess having just barely reached 700, that was sufficient.  What was actually sufficient is that someone is trying to make a dollar on hunting wolves.  And, republicans seem all for decimating anything to get their greedy hands on that dollar.

  Please read the below, follow the link, send a letter to your senator or the Michigan senate.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me.  I am too angry right now.  I was one who helped with the signatures noted below in paragraph 2.  The republicans have decided that the voice of all us voters matters for naught!   jerks!  Sorry, still angry!

Please speak up!

hugs;

randy

Speak Up for Your Right to Protect Wolves

In an appalling power grab by politicians in Lansing, legislation (S.B. 288) has been introduced that could undo all the work we've accomplished so far for wolves. And even worse, it would undermine Michiganders' longstanding right to have a say in what happens to all of our state's wildlife!

Just last month, thanks to the hard work of volunteers across the state, we turned in more than 250,000 signatures of registered Michigan voters to place a referendum on the ballot that would protect our wolves. But now in a stunning assault on our voting rights, some politicians are trying to pass a bill to undermine the hard work of our volunteers.

Senate Bill 288 would put all power in the hands of politicians and the Natural Resources Commission, and prevent voters from having a say on these issues. The agency bureaucrats could open a new hunting season on any species without public input and there would be no way for voters to intervene.

We need your voice to stop these politicians. Please make a brief, polite phone call to your state senator and your state representative today and urge them to vote NO vote on S.B. 288.

After all of our hard work in this campaign to protect wolves, we can't let politicians undermine our role in the democratic process

https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=6021&autologin=true&s_src=em_ha041013

Michigan Lawmaker: Transgender Protections ‘Violate The Privacy Rights Of Women And Children’

By Zack Ford on Apr 9, 2013 at 2:27 pm http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/04/09/1842701/michigan-lawmake

The city of Royal Oak, Michigan was on track to become the 22nd city in the state to establish LGBT nondiscrimination protections, but that measure is now being challenged at the ballot through a citywide referendum. State House Rep. Tom McMillin (R) issued a news release explaining why he thinks the protections would “violate the privacy rights of women and children”:
MCMILLIN: Why the city would want to force places like schools, businesses and fitness centers to allow men to use a women’s restroom or locker room – and allow boys to access girl’s restrooms and locker rooms in schools, is beyond me.
It certainly violates the privacy rights of women and children. At the very least, the council should have also included a requirement for warning signs on women’s and girl’s public restroom and locker room doors saying that women and girls may be confronted there by men who think they are women.
Like Arizona state Rep. John Kavanagh (R), McMillin seems to be afraid that women and children might see a transgender woman’s penis. But transgender women are not “men who think they are women,” they are women. They are not predators, nor does anybody need to be warned that they might be in the same space. Indeed, McMillin seems to have little concern for transgender people’s same right to privacy or for their basic dignity and safety to use a gender-appropriate facility.
McMillin’s statement also claimed that requiring Christians not to discriminate against LGBT people is tantamount to “bullying”:
MCMILLIN: The discrimination and coercion this ordinance supports — that a Christian photographer or baker must, if asked, offer their services to a so-called ‘gay wedding’ or face a $500 per day fine is wrong… Bullying Christians is wrong, too.
Tom McMillin has previously said that homosexuality is a “lifestyle” and a “choice” that people have “come out of.” In 2011, he proposed a bill to ban any Michigan municipality from extending LGBT nondiscrimination protections.

Hello My Friends;

  I have never been Transgendered, so I am speaking out of ignorance.  Unlike that pompous fool above, I realize that I may not have all the answers.  But, as mentioned in the article, a person who is transgendered is not someone just dressing up for fun.  These are people who are caught in the nightmare of not living in the right body.  They are men who identify as a woman, and women who identify as a man.   In all liklihood, these folks would be dressing gender identity appropriate.  So, the only way a person would know the difference, the only way one would know a person is not physically (ie: has a penis or vagina) a man or woman is to engage in considerable ogling.  

  So, here is my question Mr. McMillian:  Are you simply protecting the right to stare and intrude into another's personal space without risk of "surprise"?

  In regard to Mr. McMillian's statement that expecting businesses to NOT discriminate against LGBT people is, in fact, "discrimination and coercion"; I am guessing that this person is also saying that if it is against one's religion to serve "whites", "blacks", Latino, Italian, Polish, Irish, Native American, Slavic, etc... that that's ok, too.  I'm sure there are people in extreme groups that would love that.  Why, I remember reading a series of historical records in which Christians were hunted, killed, treated as second class citizens.  It was not only a religious question, you see, but a cultural allowance to kill Christians.  How about we go back to that Biblical Historical Tradition Mr. McMillian?  Would that be good with you?

  

  

Anytime You Need a Friend

Listen to this with your eyes closed and relax...

Hello My Friends;

  I hope you have about three and a half minutes - turn off the tv.  Get your dog or cat in your lap, or snuggle with a favorite someone and just relax as you listen to this.  Hugs.

Scared!

Hi Friends;

  I'd like to tell you about a moment in my life recently that had me very frightened.  A few weeks ago, during a normal shower washing, I found a lump on my scrotum.  Scared me to no end.  I, of course, immediately decided it was nothing, didn't exist, figment of my imagination.  Still, I couldn't concentrate at work, couldn't sleep at home, couldn't handle stress.... Finally, a coworker asked me why I was so uptight.  Now, this isn't someone who I would call a good friend.  He's more an acquaintance, but a decent person and one who has seen a few turns of this world.  So, I told him.  That, for me was the opening, the strength I needed to not just deny it but to have it checked out.
  Two days later I'm in my doctor's office and she's got my balls in her hands.  Good news:  Cyst.  No danger.  I was so relieved!  You see, my mother, my mother's mother and aunt, my dad's father - all had cancer.  Was I next?  Well, so far - no.
  But, this does bring up this important post.  Check them, guys!  If you don't know how - I'm including a little pic down below to give instruction.  If you are really cute, give me a call - I'll check them for you :)