Hey, Man! It’s Super!

B’Man: I wrote this in June of 1998 and was the first thing actually ever published in a newspaper (accidentally, at that). I was thinking about Super today and thought this little dedication to him would be a good way to introduce this crazy bastard to the Blog.

Hey, Man!

How many times did Super say hello this way? Countless times- almost never failed. Over the years all the “Tree Gang” picked up the salutation and have used it many times ourselves. To this day, it is a common ‘hello’ from me.

You could alway count on Super coming up with some “off the wall” comment or nickname. You could always count on Super coming out to see you at the “Tree”. He would walk over and say, “Hey, Man!” and then it would begin- some story about the lake; or, the latest gossip spread around town (darn, if he didn’t know everything before it became ‘public’); or, Lord knows what he might dazzle you with next.

You could count on things from Super that would amaze many people. Super would do anything he could for you when you needed help. Super suffered many trials and tribulations in life, but always had a kind word for you, no matter how tough life had been for him that day. During some of the toughest times of my life, Super was there for me.

A mutual friend told me last night, Super was one of the few people that ask about his children, every time he saw him. He genuinely cared about his friends and their families.

As a teen (Super was 6 years older than I), I used to wonder what made this guy “Super”. I thought he was “trying to be cool”. Over the years, the “Tree Gang” began and I was welcomed as a member. Although I had been an acquaintance of Super’s for a while, I never truly knew him. Over time, Super had “Hey, Man’d” me enough to warm up to me. This is when I became his friend and started understanding him.

You see, “Trying to be cool” was not the issue. Super was being Super! Anybody that knows Super (and there are many that knew Super better than I) knows that Super was himself- there will and can never be another one like him. This is what Super taught me: Cool is just being yourself. No airs are necessary, no lies, and no misunderstandings. If you like someone, enjoy his or her company, if you don’t, don’t associate with them.

Super opened his home to friends. Super opened his grand old oak tree to the “Tree Gang”, furnishing a meeting place; a place to get a good laugh; and a place to ‘rest’ from the gruel of cruising “The Strip” (back then the Strip went all the way to the Spur station). You could always find folks to socialize with at the “Tree”. If you were down and out, you could find solace at the “Tree”.

Many of the “Tree Gang” met under the “Tree” the night Super died- we were all sort of drawn to it. Several members were not there physically, but we felt them there nonetheless. We talked about Super washing a car, us pulling up and Super walking over and saying “Hey, Man!”. We remembered when Super put the picnic table underneath the “Tree” so Dog, Elmo, L.P., and all the rest of the “Tree Gang” would have a place to sit and eat lunch. We sat there and told story after story of the “Tree” and the Spur parking lot happenings late at night.

Super truly gave us a home away from home with that “Tree”. It will always be a source of comfort, laughs and stories of the Good Ole Days. There have been several generations of the “Tree Gang”, a few frequent it today. That night was a gathering of representatives from all these genrations and the common thread is that we all loved Super and his “Tree”. He was a good friend and I will miss him dearly. All the “Tree Gang” will.

Hey, Man! We love you!

B’Man: Super was 45 years old when he died. I knew him at least 20 years and became pretty close the last two after a mutual friend died of cancer (Dog, in my memorial: I intend to write about him, too… I great friend and human being).

We lived in a small town close to Pickwick Lake (TN) and on this lake is a waterfall that we had grown up jumping and, if brave enough, diving from. It was multi-leveled (approximately 20′, 28′ & 35′ with the bravest climbing trees and diving from the very top (50′, maybe). We had grown up diving from the lower levels, but “Super” thought he was still Super Man at 45, dove off from 35′ and wasn’t seen again, until divers found him a few hours later.

The Waterfalls are located in a cove that is over run with boats during the summer. Hundreds of boats tied together having a blast… one huge party.

That day there was the usual party and Dog’s wife was with Supe’ (that’s what I called him) and Lessie (Supe’s wife). When he dove and didn’t come up, there were many friends and onlookers freaking out and kept diving for him for 2 hours, but couldn’t find him. None of us could believe it. I swear he had gone off that same place 100’s of times.

He had a rep in town, which, if you knew him, you knew it was a joke. I’ll share some stories about Super some day. He was a crazy character. I miss him.

B’Man’s Sabbath Watch: US Military’s Middle East Crusade for Christ

B’Man: Everyone has heard of the Marine caught trying to convert Muslims to Christianity with some sort of coin. Proselyting is nothing new to Bush supporters and the Christian right win , but to endorse its usage by service members in the middle of Iraq, who questions our every motive is beyond stupid.

Callous and foolish.

From The Smirking Chimp, worthy of a late Sabbath Watch post:

U.S. Military’s Middle East Crusade for Christ

by Robert Weitzel

“They are proselytizing not on behalf of the Constitution of the United States . . . but rather on behalf of some sort of fanatical view of end times. And they are using our army to affect that.”
 -Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson-

Last August the watchdog group, Military Religious Freedom Foundation, foiled a Pentagon plan that would have allowed the shipment of “freedom packages” to soldiers and Marines in Iraq. The parcels were put together by the fundamentalist Christian ministry, Straight Up, and contained Bibles, proselytizing tracts in English and Arabic, and the apocalyptic “Left Behind” computer game, in which Christian Tribulation forces convert or kill infidels—nonbelievers, Muslims and Jews.

On May 1 the Senate approved the promotion of Brigadier General Robert L. Caslen Jr. to Major General. Currently the commandant of cadets at West Point, he will become the commander of the 25th Infantry Division. He is also president of the stridently fundamentalist Officer’s Christian Fellowship, whose vision is a “spiritually transformed military, with ambassadors for Christ in uniform, empowered by the Holy Spirit”

General Caslen was promoted despise the Defense Department’s recommended disciplinary action against him and several other senior military leaders because they had “improperly endorsed and participated with a nonfederal entity while in uniform” by participating in a promotional video for the Campus Crusade For Christ’s Christian Embassy, an evangelical organization that ministers to Beltway politicians and sponsors weekly Bible studies at the Pentagon.

According to the DoD Inspector General’s report, one of the generals involved “asserted that Christian Embassy was treated as an instrumentality of the Pentagon Chaplain’s office for over 25 years, and had effectively become a ‘quasi federal entity.’” Arguably, he believed his participation in the video was in the line of duty.

Considering both the Pentagon’s evangelical proclivity and a 2006 Pew survey which found that of the major religious groups in America, evangelicals have the most negative views of Islam and Muslims, the U.S. sniper who was recently caught using the Quran for target practice in the Baghdad neighborhood of Radhwaniya might be excused for thinking the book was a legitimate target upon which to perfect his craft . . . excused for thinking he was acting in the line duty.

And is it any wonder that with evangelicals and fundamentalists at the very top of the military’s officer corps —to say nothing of their Commander in Chief—that an enlisted Marine was passing out Christian “witnessing coins” inscribed in Arabic at a checkpoint in Fallujah? One side of the coin asked, “Where will you spend eternity?” An evangelical favorite, John 3:16, was on the flip side.

Sheik Adul-Rahman al-Zubaie, a tribal leader in Fallujah who was outraged by the Marine’s proselytizing said, “This event did not happen by chance, but it was planned and done intentionally.”

While the Marine’s proselytizing is not the official policy of the predominately Christian force occupying the predominately Islamic Iraq, it was done “in the line of duty” with a wink and a nod from his chain of command. Think Abu Ghraib!

From Fort Jackson, the Army’s largest basic training facility, where trainees are encouraged to attend Campus Crusade’s weekly “God’s Basic Training” programs, to the U.S. Air Force Academy where students are pressured to attend the Crusade’s weekly “cru” (short for crusade) Bible study, American military personnel are, as Campus Crusade’s Scot Blom gloats, “government paid missionaries” when they complete their training.

As the demands of fighting a perpetual war against “radical Islam” begins to strain both the military’s resources and the country’s resolve, the Pentagon has begun outsourcing larger chunks of the war to private contractors. Predictably, our “government paid missionaries” have become more expensive and much less controllable or accountable.

The Bush administration’s favorite contractor, Blackwater, is the most powerful private army in the world. It commands thousands of mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan, has over a billion dollars in government contracts, and enjoys complete immunity from prosecution for its theater of operations’ conduct.

Blackwater’s founder, Erik Prince, a staunchly conservative Catholic, has also served on the board of directors of Christian Freedom International, a crusading missionary organization operating in the overwhelmingly Islamic countries of Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Prince envisions an evangelical “end time” role for his warriors, “Everybody carries guns, just like Jeremiah rebuilding the temple in Israel—a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other.”

No one in the last decade has contributed more to end time, apocalyptic evangelism than John Hagee, a televangelist seen by millions of viewers weekly and pastor of the 19,000-member Cornerstone Church. Hagee preaches that in order to bring about the Second Coming of Christ and the Rapture of true believers, Islam first has to be destroyed.

In a 2006 interview with National Public Radio’s Terry Gross, Hagee told her, “Those who live by the Quran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews.” He went on to claim that there are 200 million Muslims waiting for the chance to attack Israel and the United States. From his pulpit, Hagee makes it clear to his congregation and the radio and television audience what they can expect from American Muslims if such an attack ever took place, “While American Muslims live in America, 82 percent are not loyal to America and are not willing to fight and defend America.”

In his book, “Jerusalem Countdown – A Warning to the World,” Hagee warns that the war between Islam and the West “is a war that Islam cannot and must not win.”

John Hagee is not just a mad evangelizing prophet. He is “the” mad evangelizing prophet who is courted by a war president, a hawkish presidential candidate and members of Congress from both parties. His Islamophobic bilge has trickled down from Capital Hill, through the labyrinthine corridors of the Pentagon, and into the chamber of a sniper’s rifle and the hand of a Marine guarding a checkpoint in Fallujah.

Officers in the military are expected to lead by example. Enlisted personnel are expected to follow that example. If the recent incidents at Radhwaniya and Fallujah are not just the acts of renegades, then the chain of command seems to be working the way it was designed.

Nader Writes Obama and McCain a Letter

Senators Obama and McCain:

We were reading the other day about the tobacco legislation you both support that is making it’s way through Congress.

The bill would give the federal government the authority to regulate tobacco.

And it would ban flavored cigarettes – like strawberry and chocolate.

Flavoring makes tobacco smoke more attractive – especially to young people.

So, we agree – flavoring should be banned from cigarettes.

Here’s the curious thing, though.

Under the bill, all flavorings would be banned.

Except for menthol.

Menthol cigarettes make up fully a quarter of the more than 375 billion cigarettes consumed in the United States every year.

And 75 percent of African-Americans who smoke smoke menthol cigarettes.

We know you’ve both been busy on the campaign trail.

So, maybe you missed it last week when a bipartisan group of seven former secretaries of health sent you and other members of Congress a letter protesting the menthol loophole and demanding that menthol be banned along with all other flavorings.

Citing studies that show that an estimated 80 percent of African-American teenage smokers pick menthol brands, former health secretary Joseph Califano said that the menthol loophole was “clearly putting black children in the back of the bus.”

The letter that was sent to you says that the loophole “caves to the financial interests of tobacco companies and discriminates against African-Americans – the segment of our population at greatest risk for the killing and crippling smoking-related diseases.”

“It sends a message that African-American youngsters are valued less than white youngsters.”

Just wanted to make sure you saw this letter.

And the New York Times article about the letter.

We also noticed that the National African-American Tobacco Prevention Network at first supported the legislation, but now opposes it because of the lethal menthol loophole.

So, here’s to the hope that both of you will be able to make a change we can all believe in.

What say you to the youth of America?

Onward

The Nader Team

PS: We invite your comments to the blog.

Your contribution could be doubled. Public campaign financing may match your contribution total up to $250.

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land: Israel and Palestine

The hypocrisy is sickening, but a sure sign of how manipulative Big Money control of the media is on Americans’ perception of things in the world.

I doubt that most rednecks even understand the happenings in the Isareli/Palestinian conflicts, much less how hypocritical our invasion of Iraq is compared to actions with Israel. The first Gulf War was supposedly conducted because Saddam invaded an adjacent land. Israel did the same thing in 1967 after their war with Syria, Jordan and Egypt.

Basically they invaded the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. The United Nations Security Council passed resolution 242 which called for Israel to withdraw from what they now call “The Occupied Territories”. Yet, they have not withdrawn in all of these years and seem to keep creeping out and gathering more and more.

The hypocrisy is heightened by the second Iraqi illegal invasion, which has been justified by every one of the Bushie lying assholes, since they continue to suggest that since Iraq “refused” to adhere to the Security Council resolution 1441, we could invade even without full authorization (and established a coalition of the willingcompelled with strong arm manipulation).

The MSM is complicit in brainwashing America (as is always the case, as long as they are owned by those who profit most from these conflicts) and this video does a great job explaining the situation in a synopsis form.

Another video presented by ChallengingMedia. The official website for the movie “Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land: US Media and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” pppl.org

Filed under B’Man’s Hypocrite Watch.