Terror Ain't Pretty

A long time ago we all watched John Wayne and Henry Fonda go to war, the scenes were bloodless and the action always depicted the U.S.A. as the victors and good guys. But things have changed, terror like it's milder cousin, war are not pretty. They are filled with blood, violence and acts less than civilized on all sides. But this is how you win a war or had we forgotten?
Images stream across the television and internet filled with the horror that people can inflict upon each other. I could write a story about the glory of war or make a film that shows the U.S.A. winning every battle and all coming home but that would be wrong, people must see the horror and feel the pain these brave men and women see and feel everyday.
This nation was born of war and acts of sabotage, were they wrong? No, I believe we did then what we had to be done to win our independence. Now we must do what is needed to maintain the very freedoms people shout about each and everyday. So if you see something that upsets you or offends you, think about the men and women who lived it. Everyday we should all thanks a Veteran, their Family or remember those who died for our way of life.
I know that these images can be upsetting but they are a part of healing. I don't need to see what happened in Beirut on television, it runs everyday in my mind but the people who tell me to get over it or just grow up and be a man need to see what we saw so maybe they will understand what it is that haunts us every minute of everyday.
When I post something that is graphic or upsets you just remember I need to let this out and so do millions of other Veterans, without an audience we will bottle it up and that would lead to our own demise and more widows, widowers and orphans.

Either with me or against me, you decide

If I was to line up 241 flag draped caskets in town I know I ouwld get the media's attention to our plight but since I have so far chosen not to I must walk again. Maybe I walk till I die or drop then maybe people will see that I am serious about waking America up before someone walks into D.C. with a small nuke device, then of course they would all be screaming. I don't know what it takes to get their attention, I had it for about 30 minutes now they are forgetting already but worse than that so are the ones who say "Never Forget".
Now it is time to stand up, speak up, write letters, demand attention or all has been for nothing. Within the next day or so I will quietly walk out and start another walk, this time a silent walk, no media no signs nothing to draw attention. I want to see if people notice, I will carry nothing with me except my clothes and smokes and of course somehting to drink. I will not stop until we get what we deserve, respect, hnor and justice for those who did not come home with us. I guess I am saying you are either with me or against me, now is the time to choose sides.



Peace,
Steve

Local Walk Completed

On Wednesday the 17th of May 2006 I began a 241 "lap" walk around the small downtown area of Sault Ste. Marie Michigan. It was to be 149 miles when completed, I had to reduce the route so I walked 241 laps but only completed 129 miles.
Here is an account of the walk.

Day 1 12:00 PM I am ready to start lap 1 when the local newspapers photgrapher shows up. I was shocked, they do not generaly pay any attention to the human will of the town. So I asked himt to wait so I could start on time and he agreed, after I completed my first lap we set up a photo op and he took a picture of me presenting a Beirut Commerative Coin to Gary Hatch a local businessman and friend. Gary agreed to let me use his store front as a check point.

After the photographer left I went back to walking my laps. My wife and Daughter manned the table we had set up and had our computer running the Beirut Videos my wife made so that people could see what a tragedy it had been.
Many people walked past, few stopped to inquire what we were doing. the ones who did stop were genuine and expressed concern and sympathy for the 241 men who lost their lives on October 23rd 1983. My daughter had made a sign for the front of the table, it told everyone we were here to remember these Heroes and their Families but most who passed looked away, a few even rolled their eyes. But I walked on and my Family stayed their course as well.
As night fell I stopped to allow my wife and daughter to return home and my future son-in-law came out to man the table. After about 30 minutes I resumed walking and the weather tunred cold and rain threatened most all night. Around 02:00 AM it stopped threatening and started to rain. I wlaked through the rain and 40 degree night, not because I am a hero but because I promised all I would not give up. Morning brought only more rain and low temps, but in the early hours of the morning of the 18th David Scott a Representitive of Edward Jones Investments walked across the street and handed me a cup of hot coffee and thanked me. I thanked him in return and explained what Beirut had been about.
About 11:00 AM that same day I began to feel the real pain in my back and legs, I began to have doubts that I would be able to finish this walk. I had walked quick laps earlier that morning so that I could take it easy during the day, less laps meant fighting less traffic. Every lap was a double adventure in well marked crosswalks, yet I was almost run over many times. I began to think that instead of my legs giving out that I would be run over by a school bus or Police car. Well I survived both of the doubts I felt that day and closed in on the last night with excitement and dread.
I felt excitement because I knew that this would be the last night of the walk and dread because I knew this would be the hardest night and 99 laps still remained to be walked. I knew that after 7:00 PM the traffic would lighten up and of course that would make the laps faster and safer. So as dark fell I began walking faster laps. Even though I felt the pain in my body worsen I felt that I could easily complete these laps.
This thought lasted until around 10:00 PM when a pain grabbed my back and kept me from standing upright and my legs were running out of strength. At that time I decided that I would no longer cross the street, but I would instead walk on one side of the street, so I added about 100 feet a lap to compensate for the width of the road twice and limped toward midnight.
I had walked over 200 laps when I reached midnight and the begining of the last day, but I walked slower and slower each lap. I leaned on every object on the street. I knew that at any moment a Police Officer was going to stop and ask me to subject myself to a breathalizer, but this didn't happen and at 02:30 AM I walked lap 240 and sat down. I would wait till my wife and daughter arrived after 10:00 AM to complete the last lap. Becky, my wife had been such a big part of all of this that I would not complete this without her being there. So I sat for a few minutes then I walked slowly home to shower and relax the sore muscles.
At 7:30 AM I returned to Grooves Music and waited her arrival. I sat and reflected on the last 2 days and what I had seen and heard. Most people couldn't care less about this tragedy. I was truly surprised and shocked, what has happened to this country and the people who inhabit this land? Had they all become so apathetic that they lived in little invisible bubbles? Did the murder of 241 men by terrorists not shock them enough to care? Or maybe they just truly don't care about anything unless it directly effects them. It was during this reflection that I met a man who was truly interested. He told me of his sons in the Navy and asked if he could donate to our cause. I told him that we were not accepting donations but he could donate to any charity he chose in the name of one of the men who died in Beirut. He looked through the list of names and chose one, he thanked me for my service and for walking to remember these men and left me thinking maybe I was wrong.
Just then a woman walked by, slowed to read the sign ( The sign at the time had a lap count of 240, this pic was taken earlier the night before)
she looked at me and rolled her eyes, she quickly walked away as if I was a threat to her. I had to assume that my message threatened her and all those who think that nothing bad happens here, that all of the bad stuff happens "over there". I shrugged it off and soon my wife and daughter walked around the corner. I knew that we were close to putting this walk to rest and with it maybe I could put the memories Ihave of that day to rest as well.
I sat and talked about the night before to them and at 09:15 AM I started the last lap. I walked slowly at first, the stiffness and pain not yeilding to my will, but at around halfway I picked up speed and limped my way back to the start/finish line. I crossed it at 09:27 AM and marked down the last lap for W. Zimmerman fittingly enough a Beirut Hero who once lived in Michigan. I watched as becky changed the sign to Completed
and I sat and felt good for the first time in a long time. A feeling of accomplishment and I guess a feeling that I had finally paid my respects to "My Brothers".
I walked home that day with my head held high and a wlight weight lifted from me. I still have a lot of work ahead of me but now I know that I can do anything I need.
You can go to our forum to read about the walk more and see all of the pics and movies. The link is Forum , stop in and say hello, if you have any ideas to help raise awareness please let us know.

My Morning Music and Walk Motivation

Rhapsody Playlist: "1. Red Skies - The Fixx
2. One Thing Leads To Another - The Fixx
3. Less Cities, More Moving People - The Fixx
4. Are We Ourselves - The Fixx
5. Stand Or Fall - The Fixx
6. Screen Kiss - Thomas Dolby
7. I Scare Myself - Thomas Dolby
8. She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby
9. Europa And The Pirate Twins - Thomas Dolby
10. Taxi - Harry Chapin
11. Sequel - Harry Chapin
12. Simple Man - Lynyrd Skynyrd
13. One Of Our Submarines - Thomas Dolby
14. Hyperactive! - Thomas Dolby
15. Saved By Zero - The Fixx
16. Gimme Back My Bullets - Lynyrd Skynyrd
17. That Smell - Lynyrd Skynyrd
18. Renegade - Styx
19. Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down


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Noam Chomsky; Traitor? or Visionary?

Noam Chomsky the famous US intellectual anti Israel and US foreign policies visits Hezbollah's Headquarters and meets Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in the South suburb of Beirut which was once called by the former US Secretary George Shultz as the plague of the Middle East.

No doubt that the meeting was striking. Noam Chomsky the US intellectual disregards US warnings of its nationals not to go to Lebanon, and goes to southern suburbs of Beirut the stronghold of Hezbollah, which is on the US terrorist list and meets its Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah. Chomsky, a wild critic of US foreign policy, said Hezbollah's insistence on keeping its arms is justified.

CHOMSKY clearly stated "I think Nasrallah has a reasoned argument and persuasive argument that they should be in the hands of Hezbollah (the arms) as a deterrent to potential aggression, and there is plenty of background reasons for that. So until, I think his position reporting it correctly and it seems to me reasonable position, is that until there is a general political settlement in the region, the threat of aggression and violence is reduced or eliminated there has to be a deterrent, and the Lebanese army can't be a deterrent."

When asked about the US list of terrorist states, he said if the US was to stick to the clear and precise definition of terrorism in its code of laws, it would be the leading terrorist state.

Chomsky said "... I've been writing about terrorism for the last 25 years, always using the official US definition, but that definition is unusable, and the reason is when you use that definition it turns out not surprisingly that the US is one of the leading terrorist states. And other states become terrorist or none terrorist depending on how they are relating to US goals."

He added "So for example Iraq was a terrorist state up until 1982. In 1982 it was removed from the list of terrorist states and the reason was that the Reagan administration wanted to provide Saddam Hussein with aid: means all equipments of mass destruction, weapons, and so on and therefore it was removed from the list of terrorist states. It was no longer a terrorist state. And the same goes for Syria. Syria has been on the terrorist list for a long time. But in 1994, I think it was that Clinton offered to remove Syria from the list of terrorist states if it agreed to US-Israeli proposals for the settlement of Golan Heights issue. Well Syria wanted to get its territory back so it stayed on the list of terrorist states."

Chomsky said he got what he expected from this meeting: a reasoned and intelligent analysis of the Lebanese situation and the international situation. He said he learned a lot of things that he wouldn't have known. Chomsky also visited Shatila camp of Palestinian refugees, the scene of the Israeli-led massacre in 1982.

At what point does free speech stop and the act of being a traitor begin?
I say when a citizen of a country sits down with an enemy without government sanction then something must be done, if you or I sat down with Hezbollah and talked freely about matters such as these we would be arrested.
If I were to sit down with Hezbollah there would be headlines and a much different outcome. I have never hidden my distain for these murderous jackals.
Hezbollah kills at will and we have yet to stop them, even our old enemy Walid has said they must disarm.