{"id":21096,"date":"2018-03-17T22:53:02","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T06:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=21096"},"modified":"2018-03-18T00:50:11","modified_gmt":"2018-03-18T08:50:11","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-ws-the-fire-eyed-maid-of-smoky-war-all-hot-and-bleeding-will-we-offer-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-ws-the-fire-eyed-maid-of-smoky-war-all-hot-and-bleeding-will-we-offer-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: WS–“The fire-eyed maid of smoky war All hot and bleeding will we offer them.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

We Say Fight Back!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On the Anniversary of My Lai<\/p>\n

www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3nPJgeg6hpA<\/a><\/p>\n

Congratulations on the publication of:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On the early morning of March 16, 1968,<\/strong> American soldiers from three platoons of Charlie Company (1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division), entered a group of hamlets located in the Son Tinh district of South Vietnam, located near the Demilitarized Zone and known as “Pinkville” because of the high level of Vietcong infiltration. The soldiers, many still teenagers who had been in the country for three months, were on a “search and destroy” mission. The Tet Offensive had occurred only weeks earlier and in the same area and had made them jittery; so had mounting losses from booby traps and a seemingly invisible enemy. Three hours after the GIs entered the hamlets, more than five hundred unarmed villagers lay dead, killed in cold blood. The atrocity took its name from one of the hamlets, known by the Americans as My Lai 4.<\/p>\n

Military authorities attempted to suppress the news of My Lai, until some who had been there, in particular a helicopter pilot named Hugh Thompson and a door gunner named Lawrence Colburn, spoke up about what they had seen. The official line was that the villagers had been killed by artillery and gunship fire rather than by small arms. That line soon began to fray. Lieutenant William Calley, one of the platoon leaders, admitted to shooting the villagers but insisted that he had acted upon orders. An expos\u00e9 of the massacre and cover-up by journalist Seymour Hersh, followed by graphic photographs, incited international outrage, and Congressional and U.S. Army inquiries began. Calley and nearly thirty other officers were charged with war crimes, though Calley alone was convicted and would serve three and a half years under house arrest before being paroled in 1974.<\/p>\n

My Lai polarized American sentiment. Many saw Calley as a scapegoat, the victim of a doomed strategy in an unwinnable war. Others saw a war criminal. President Nixon was poised to offer a presidential pardon. The atrocity intensified opposition to the war, devastating any pretense of American moral superiority. Its effect on military morale and policy was profound and enduring. The Army implemented reforms and began enforcing adherence to the Hague and Geneva conventions. Before launching an offensive during Desert Storm in 1991, one general warned his brigade commanders, “No My Lais in this division–do you hear me?”<\/p>\n

Compelling, comprehensive, and haunting, based on both exhaustive archival research and extensive interviews, Howard Jones’s\u00a0My Lai<\/em>\u00a0will stand as the definitive book on one of the most devastating events in American military history.\u00a0 www.counterpunch.org\/2018\/03\/16\/the-tip-of-the-iceberg-my-lai-fifty-years-on\/<\/a><\/p>\n

www.youtube.com\/watch?v=l_p5sQHNw2g<\/a><\/p>\n

My Lai Massacre–The original documents<\/span><\/h1>\n

An Atrocity Is Uncovered: November 1969<\/span>
\nSeymour M. Hersh\/St. Louis Post Dispatch<\/span><\/p>\n

[Here for the first time in electronic form are the unabridged original dispatches by Seymour Hersh on the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam. The articles are relevant again in light of the revelations of the Marines massacre of twenty-four Iraqi civilians<\/a> at Haditha<\/a> last November (as detailed in today\u2019s New York Times account<\/a>) for several reasons, among them the parallels between the two massacres<\/a> in terms of methods, motives and the U.S. military and government cover-up\u2014until the press got a hold of the story. At My Lai as at Haditha, the killings were planned, deliberate and executed with leisurly cold-bloodedness. At My Lai as at Haditha, revenge was the motive. At My Lai as at Haditha, the military had the evidence early on, lied about it, covered it up, and, in the My Lai case, may have been involved in murdering a helicopter pilot who threatened to go public with the story. Hersh\u2019s pieces were originally published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on November 13, 20 and 25, 1969. Hersh won the Pulitzer Prize in 1970 \u201cFor his exclusive disclosure of the Vietnam War tragedy at the hamlet of My Lai.\u201d\u2014pt.]\u00a0 pierretristam.com\/Bobst\/library\/wf-200.htm<\/a>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Jersey City’s 4,000-member teachers union strikes for first time since 1998<\/h1>\n

Jersey City’s public-school teachers\u00a0walked off the job for the first time in 20 years<\/a> today, leading to confusion and some chaos across the 29,000-student district as teachers led boisterous protests outside city schools.<\/p>\n

Students all over Jersey City\u00a0skipped class to join their teachers on the picket line. A loudspeaker outside School 20 blasted Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” Teachers at McNair Academic High School yelling “scab” tried to block substitute teachers from entering the school.<\/p>\n

The work stoppage comes after months of failed negotiations\u00a0between the Jersey City Education Association — the\u00a04,000-member union representing the teachers and\u00a0other school employees\u00a0— and\u00a0the Jersey City Board of Education. A late-night effort to come to a deal failed at last night’s school board meeting.<\/p>\n

Teachers here have worked under an expired contract since Sept. 1 and are demanding lower health care costs. They say Chapter 78, New Jersey’s 2011 law that revamped how public employees pay for their health benefits, has sharply curtailed their take-home pay.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been in the system for 20 years and I’m finally making a decent salary and now I’m paying $1,400 a month for premiums,” a 53-year-old physical education teacher at McNair told The Jersey Journal this morning.\u00a0 www.nj.com\/hudson\/index.ssf\/2018\/03\/jersey_citys_4000-member_teachers_union_strikes_fo.html<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018This is our future\u2019: Oklahoma teacher sends pay stubs from last 9 years to\u00a0lawmakers<\/h1>\n

A teacher from Oklahoma, one of the lowest-paying states<\/a> in the country when it comes to educators, is sending letters \u2013 pay stubs included \u2013 to lawmakers in hopes of getting a raise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I work two jobs after school, and I have a roommate who shares my house expenses,\u201d Lilli Lyon, a Spanish teacher at Moore West Junior High School, told KFOR.<\/p>\n

She said she hasn’t received a noticeable raise since she moved to Oklahoma from Indiana 10 years ago.<\/p>\n

Lyon compared her net pay from 2009 to now and realized she has barely received any additional compensation in almost nine years.\u00a0Any raise she has received in the past she said has been taken by the rising insurance costs.<\/p>\n

“It’s like $47, every two weeks, more. I mean, literally nothing,” Lyon said.<\/p>\n

She’s seeing more and more of her former colleagues move to other states, including two who just went to Dallas.\u00a0 wgntv.com\/2018\/01\/25\/this-is-our-future-oklahoma-teacher-sends-pay-stubs-from-last-9-years-to-lawmakers\/?platform=hootsuite<\/a><\/p>\n

www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GtJnbJ_TfGk&feature=youtu.be<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

I Walked 40 km With the Farmers in Maharashtra, Here’s What I Learnt<\/span><\/h1>\n

This is not a staged protest. Try not to let any IT cell mar the credibility of this challenge. Bolster these farmers. They are courageous women and men fighting a difficult battle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"I<\/p>\n

\u201cMeherbani nakko! Hakk Havet!<\/em>\u201d The farmers marching into Mumbai today<\/a> are asking for their rights, not favours. An expected 30,000 of them, under the banner of the All India Kisan Sabha, decided to cover a distance of roughly 180 km from Nashik to Mumbai on foot to protest a number of issues ranging from loan waivers to land allotment.<\/p>\n

The \u2018long march\u2019, as the Kisan Sabha has termed it, began on March 6. Today, the marchers plan to picket Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan until their demands are met.\u00a0Right at the front, you can see Jiva Pandu Gavit, the CPI(M) MLA from Surgana and Kalwan constituencies, and Ajit Navle, general secretary of the Kisan Sabha along with other leaders. They\u2019re followed by some farmers holding a banner which reads \u2018Maharashtra Rajya Kisan\u2019. Then starts an endless queue of farmers holding placards, water bottles, bags and packets of biscuits. The procession also includes some mothers holding their kids, undeterred by the searing heat or the distance. Slogans and songs blaring out from speakers accompany them as they walk.<\/p>\n

I walked almost 40 km with the march on Saturday, March 10 before the heat took a toll on me and I had to return to Pune. But these superhumans, accustomed to toiling hard on the field, showed no signs of slowing down. In the midst of all this, some old ladies still took the time to remind me, at least thrice, to cover my head to protect myself from the heat.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Water tankers arrived at regular intervals and the farmers promptly ran towards them to fill their bottles. One of the most astounding aspects of the Long March is the level of discipline these farmers have maintained throughout their journey. They\u2019ve nearly managed to complete their long journey without any instances of violence. The same level of discipline can be seen in their arrangement for preparing and distributing food as well. Before each meal, a team of farmers breaks off from the larger procession to find a clear ground and cook food (from resources collected largely by themselves) before the rest of the group arrives. There are no large tents and farmers eat khichdi under the harsh sun. Musicians play traditional songs and some farmers even dance, somehow still energetic after their gruelling journey.<\/p>\n

This is not a staged protest. This is a real protest by a sad farmer community. They are working hard for their demands.<\/p>\n

The Little Red Schoolhouse<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fight Over Teacher Salaries: A Look At The Numbers<\/h1>\n

The teachers strike in West Virginia may have ended last week when Gov. Jim Justice signed a law giving educators a 5 percent pay increase, but the fight in other states is just warming up.<\/p>\n

“You can make anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 more by driving 15 minutes across the state line,” said Dale Lee<\/a>, president of the West Virginia Education Association. “We’re having trouble keeping and attracting young teachers.”<\/p>\n

And this refrain is not new or unique to West Virginia.<\/p>\n

The ink had barely dried in West Virginia before teachers in Oklahoma made it clear they too could walk out if lawmakers don’t find a way to raise their pay and school spending.<\/p>\n

In recent years, thousands of public school teachers in Oklahoma have crossed state lines for better pay.<\/p>\n

“It’s gotten so bad that the state Department of Education has had to issue emergency teacher certifications to replace teachers as quickly as possible,” reported Emily Wendler<\/a> of member station KOSU in July. “Across the state, textbooks are out-of-date, electives have been eliminated and support positions are being terminated left and right.”<\/p>\n