Remembering Lincoln's Birthday

     I could never forget the birthday of The Great Emancipator Feb 12. Feb 12 1953,was the day my neighbors summoned me to be examined down at "The Draft Board", once again our Government poked their nose into Asia and found a major War had begun.

    There are differences of opinion on just how that conflict began,lets take the American version. That the North Koreans, trying to unify the two Koreas invaded South Korea and the "conflict "was begun. That is about the story. when my Draft Board called upon me for some assistance. I had a good 

physical exam, and then joined a line (waiting to see the last Doctor, He would give the final ok) My first remarks were, Sir did you see the paper about the Appendectomy that i had only five weeks ago, and don't you think a couple of weeks more of rest should be in order ? and i have worn glasses all my life, he responds "you will do just fine" Please go thru that door.... Inside was a room with about 40 young men, soon we were told "raise your right hand (we were now on the payroll).  We were sent to a Camp in New Jersey Then on to Aberdeen, Maryland for Basic Training for 3 months, then i attended

the Ammo Supply School, also in Aberdeen, with all that training it was time for me to be sent to Germany,Korea,or some base in The U.S.. My Orders were Korea.

     I was given a train ticket New York To Tacoma, Wash. I traded the ticket for a plane ticket (giving me two more days home) and it was my first Plane ride. As usual Tacoma was used to assemble a Troop ship load of soldiers, after a few days orders were cut and soon we were loading aboard a large ship, and we were soon underway, packed four high. There was lots of talk about the war we were about to join, and the closer we got to Yokohama, the more feeling of depression hung over the entire ship. On the morning of our 11th day at sea, a headline in the ship newspaper announced (July 27 1953) a cease fire was declared in Korea. Those troopers who would never smile or talk much, were now talking and joking. The unbearable pressure was relieved ... Perhaps we won't be killed in this bloody War ! ! !

Next installment: Our ship arrives in Yokohama, then a train ride South

                                                   ScribbleMeister

                                                   Jesse E. Kern
Korea 1953-54

Just About Sixty Years Past (i was drafted)

     So hard for me to believe,that about Sixty Years have passed, since i was a Soldier in Korea.

I was part of the Ordnance Corp, trained as an Ammunition Inspector and was on board a troopship, along with a couple of thousand others, all headed toward different locations in the divided nations of North and South Korea. The troop ship having left Tacoma, Washington, expected to make the Northern Crossing to Yokohama in just 11 days. 95% of those on board, were not eager about being sent into what was a killing ground. The other 5% were troops with assignment in Japan.

     As we proceeded on our ocean crossing day by day, we all read in the ship newspaper of the high number of our people still being killed and wounded (no cease fire at this time).  there was plenty of Depression on our ship. On the eleventh day of "our cruise to hell !) We read of a Cease-fire being signed in Korea ! That terrible Depression...just hanging over the ship, was lifted...

We all might live to have a normal family life with children. These same thought (of death at an early age) race through the minds of all Soldiers of all nations. On that day...July 27th 1953 Cease-Fire was declared. That  Intense War  in Korea, lasted about three years.. yet caused the death or injury of several million Soldiers and Civilians, then the United States (wanting to continue to have access to valuable raw materials) tried to block a National Revolution in Vietnam, they tried for seven years but were defeated and as  many troops as were killed in Korea. also perished in Vietnam.

     Next War, "Sadam is a bad man" (he murders his people, with poison gas) plus he's got them W.M.D and he may use them on us. Then we rip apart the Iraqi Army and now Big Oil (U.S.A) has got a secure grasp on the throat of all aspects of Iraqi Oil Production. Afghanistan, passing on to what Washington has been involved that far-away place (The # 1 producer of Heroin) Our Soldiers are being targeted for killings using using cell phones to trigger the bomb, just as they did when Osama bin Ladin was employed by C.I.A.  This aggressive policy that did not begin yesterday.I don't have the complete answer to those difficult questions, I began by joining Chapter 119 in Saint Pete of the Veterans For Peace, its a beginning,

All the above Scribblings are My Opinion.

Scribblemeister

Jesse Kern
Korea 1953-54

Be all that you can be, stay in school !

RALLY TO ENCOURAGE THE MEDIA TO SUPPORT WHISTLEBLOWERS

When: 4:00pm until 6:00pm 
Where: In front of the Tampa Bay Times printing plant, 1301 34 St. N in St. Petersburg 
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/517173505015030/

Is this a protest of the Tampa Bay Times? No, this is a rally to encourage the media to speak out on behalf of whistleblowers and the Constitution, and to reject the false choice of privacy vs. security. We believe the content of what Edward Snowden exposed, namely that the NSA has been spying on Americans, deserves the media's full attention. The rally is also to show solidarity with Edward Snowden (and all whistleblowers like WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning) and to applaud Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia for offering Snowden asylum. 

Organizers, co-sponsors 
St. Pete for Peace, Veterans for Peace, Progressive Democrats of America - Pinellas, The Refuge, Friends of Human Rights, NatureCoast Coalition for Peace & Justice, Peace & Freedom Party of Florida, Occupy Tampa, Tampa Light Brigade. 
FOR MORE REASONS http://stpeteforpeace.org/snowden.html

Statement from Rev. Bruce Wright, from the General Welfare Cabinet position of the Green Shadow Cabinet, Regarding Poverty and the TPP

TPP and POVERTY

The much touted, at least by the Multi-National Corporations and some Governments, Transpacific Partnership agreement, has grave consequences for the so-called poor of the world, including the United States. This agreement, clouded in secrecy, has been characterized as something akin to NAFTA on steroids!  But, what exactly does it mean for the poor and working class of the United States?

Recent statistics released by the Census Bureau of the Federal Government indicate that half of the United States is now at or below the poverty line. This is a very serious and startling statement. At no time in the history of the United States has such a statement been true. Add to that the fact the gap between the rich and poor is also the widest in US history! With that you have one of the most serious situations of poverty in the so-called “developed Nations”.

Along with these statistics, add to it the ever increasing situation of homelessness, as well. We have the highest rate of homelessness or people without homes since the Depression. Additionally, our rate of homelessness is the highest in the “developed” world and in some “developing” nations. In my own state, Florida, we have the 2nd highest rate of homelessness in the US. In the Tampa Bay area, where I live, we have 25,000 individuals and families that are homeless. This is the highest rate per capita in the country! This is along with Florida ranking among the highest in real unemployment and foreclosures, as well as low wages.

So what has all this got to do with the TPP? The so-called “Transpacific Partnership” is at trade agreement attempting to be brokered for all the nations with waters on the Pacific Ocean, as well as Asian and Pacific Nations. The intent is to remove all “Trade Barriers” between Nations and Corporations so that trade becomes easier. These “Trade Barriers” are considered barriers to the movement of goods, services, and “commodities “  between countries.  Major multi-national corporations such as big Drug Companies, Walmart, Nike, Chevron, etc. support this because “these” trade barriers inhibit and sometimes prohibit some goods from going to and from countries.

These “trade barriers” include environmental safeguards, fair labor practices, inexpensive and generic drugs, safety regulations, indigenous sovereignty, national borders, regulations on GMO’s, and input from the public. If this were passed it would deeply impact the poor of the United States and the World.

Specifically, it’s implications to the poor and working class of the United States are grave and serious. This trade agreement, from information gathered thus far, would drive down wages even further, it would further eliminate safety regulations, it would ship more jobs overseas, including the service industry that employs many  working class and poor in electronically driven and telephone oriented work, it would also make it difficult to get necessary medications at affordable prices. Particularly, it would diminish significantly the use of “generic” drugs, of which are the most affordable to those with low income.

It would make foreign investment in real estate domestically easier to do and drive up prices, thus making affordable housing more difficult to obtain. Thus, in the end, the resulting effect of all this would be a continued and potentially dramatic increase in poverty, unemployment, and homelessness due to decreasing wages, further joblessness, and increased health costs. This only be true domestically, but internationally as well. A Race to the bottom!

It is with these very serious issues in mind, that we must resist at all levels the passing of the TPP! We must be involved in campaigns of resistance! We must inform each other and the general public of the dangers of this agreement. We must be willing to resist with our voice and actions, including disruption and direct action.

As a member of the Green Shadow Cabinet, I, as is the rest of the cabinet, am committed to a campaign of resistance. To allow this to pass, only strengthens the greed and avarice of the Multi-National Corporate global Fascist Capitalists and the Wealthy elites. It opens the doors to the Atlantic Trade agreement of the same nature.

We must and can resist this evil! We can and will resist this horrific trade agreement!

Rev. Bruce Wright , MA, DMin. , CPAC

www.greenshadowcabinet.org

Meet the Elite Business and Think-Tank Community That's Doing Its Best to Control the World

Meet the Elite Business and Think-Tank Community That's Doing Its Best to Control the World

http://www.alternet.org/occupy-wall-street/elite-business-and-think-tank-attempts-control-world

There's a New Fascism on the Rise, and the NSA Leaks Show Us What It Looks Like

There's a New Fascism on the Rise, and the NSA Leaks Show Us What It Looks Like

http://www.alternet.org/media/understanding-latest-leaks-understanding-rise-new-fascism

Letter to the Editor

I am one of the 43% of veterans who applied for and used the GI Bill to work my way through college. You’ve read that right: 57% of the veterans who applied for the Montgomery GI Bill did not receive their benefits. According to the article “Military Money for College: A Reality Check” based on the research by Sam Diener and Jamie Munro, this means that 1.35 million veterans lost out on their education benefits. As an educator, this breaks my heart because much of the training and education that veterans receive while in the military does not translate to the civilian world. In fact, an article on http://www.healthcarejobsite.com/ states that many combat medics think that their medical training and experiences in the military will help them land a good job in the civilian medical field, but even though the veterans have saved lives and treated wounds under the most stressful conditions their opportunities are limited and are at the lower levels of the medical field.

Imagine my dismay when just this week the Coast Guard, Army, and Marine Corps suspended new enrollments for the popular tuition assistance programs to meet the cost-cutting demands of the sequestration process. Beyond this suspension, each of the nearly 250,000 military personnel enrolled in college courses will be considered new applicants once they complete their current courses, and they will be ineligible for assistance. It is beyond my scope of comprehension how we can take more away from military personnel while asking them to continue to execute impossible tasks, especially while Congress is frivolously spending money. A CNN report just last October states that Congress is forcing upon the military new tanks worth $181 million—there are currently more than 2,000 inactive M-1 Abrams tanks sitting at an Army depot in the California desert! The Army's chief of staff, Rep. Silvestre Reyes—who, since 2001, has received $64,000 from General Dynamics (the company that will likely receive the contract to build the tanks)—played the national security card, saying "we don't want to play Russian Roulette with the national security of this country." But I say that our destruction will come from the lack of education of our nation, at every level. This includes the men and women that we have trained to bring warfare around the world. It is true that we are welcoming these veterans back into our society, but we are doing so without aiding many of them to regain their humanness or educating them beyond those skills that cannot exist outside of the military without calling those skills criminal.

Mark Joseph Runge
Specialist, 5^th Combat Engineer Group during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm
Veterans for Peace, Saint Petersburg Chapter 119