Some have taken to calling it Armistice Day instead of Veterans Day, remembering when it was a day to celebrate the end of wars on this planet.
Since then, war racketeers have cynically puppeted their spineless DC government to return to glorifying equipment and marching men in uniform; back to dreary parades of fascist vintage.
They want their version of "Veterans Day" to serve as a recruiting device and photo op.
However, some elders still remember president Eisenhower's warning, that these Business Plot types would bring death and suffering to a post WW2 America, and that's exactly what they did.
Smedley "fighting Quaker" Butler also called it as he saw it in War is a Racket.
And they're still eagerly going about their business to this day, these war-mongering uber-cowards.
Hunting them down is a full time job for many in the intelligence community (such as there is one) as a part of its ongoing Countdown to Zero campaign. This "world game" has lots of computer power at its disposal.
Reading Human Smoke is edifying. Movies really do make a difference, judging from how the Nazis hated certain films and banned them.
WILPF has taken to honoring an obscure treaty that nations signed, the US included (Senate ratifying), that buried the hatchet after WW1.
That particular treaty has not been rescinded, just relegated to obscurity, but then the US, like many sovereign nations, has a habit of breaking treaties whenever it feels like it.
Veterans gathered at Pioneer Courthouse Square to wave their banners and ring their bells. Carol joined with her oxygen tank, representing WILPF (Barbara was there too, and some others). I took some pictures.
Later, at the Quaker meetinghouse, some vets got together to watch a fellow vet on screen, plus he was there in person for the Q&A. Wray Harris, a private in the US Army, honorable discharge etc. is not afraid to speak his mind.
I was reminded of the patriots during the Vietnam War who refused orders and packed the jails. Thinking for yourself is more courageous then letting others do it for you. Muhammad Ali told the DoD where to put it. I admire his courage.
Thanks to AFSC staff for logistics / equipment. I was out of the building after intermission for awhile, as was Wray, each handling our respective business (he said more about that during the Q&A).
I hadn't known Simeon, one of our members, was acting headmaster at Phillips Academy in Andover. I snapped some pictures of a biographical account during intermission.
Then I took off down the block, seeing the tow truck get loaded etc. I left Joanne & Co. to close up, after using the office computer to post to the Math Forum.
