i was sitting in a local coffeeshop about a month ago with an elderly friend of mine named zan. this guy is pushing 90 years of age, but he's still got a lot of gumption. he's a veteran of the military, and maybe that's what keeps him soldiering on. he will stand out on the sidewalk during the oscar show in hollywood with signs protesting israel's role in world events. a frail-looking octogenarian, he has been physically attacked. can you imagine? but there's nothing frail about his spirit.

on this particular morning at this particular coffeeshop, ironically a couple days after veteran's day, zan and i were discussing the controversial subject of chemtrails, a subject which i've found very difficult to get a handle on. a man at a nearby table overheard our conversation for a time and then introduced himself and joined us. he was curious about chemtrails too, but after a bit, it became apparent he wanted to talk about his experience in the military. he looked to be around 50 years old.

he had served, from what i gathered, in the first war against iraq. i can give you a direct quote here, because i don't think i'll ever forget what he said.

"i'm ashamed of what i did. there was a village of 1,200 people, and they told us to go in and kill everyone, and we did."

when that sort of thing happened in vietnam, it eventually got on the evening news. walter cronkite made a career for himself reporting it, but he retired to his yachting and stopped paying close attention. poor lieutenant calley had to take all the blame for the my lai massacre.

nowadays, folks back home never hear all the details about all the "good" america does, and, because our military has so cleverly become an all-volunteer affair, no one pays attention to the "reasons" for the fighting, since johnny is likely to be in junior college and the guys in uniform are often named manuel or ernesto. as an aside, you may be interested to know that the first marine fatality from los angeles in the last iraq war had been an illegal alien from guatemala two years prior to joining up.

our friend at the coffeeshop had a bit more to say. several years after his stint in the military, he was approached to serve in iraq in a civilian capacity. the pay offering was extraordinary: $35,000 a month. he asked why they just didn't have the regular military do the work, which involved basic logistical support. came a two-word reply: depleted uranium.

do you know about that? you should. they say the cancer rates in the basra area, for those who still dare live there, are off the chart. there are also reports that american tank personnel developed rectal cancer by sitting on armor which uses the stuff. when you join the military, you may find yourself giving your life for your country in unexpected ways.

Can a man who engineered so much death, suffering and destruction Rest In Peace?

Some of you here are as bad as those whackjobs that picket soldiers funerals.

Well hes ten thousand times more a man for doing what he did that our current president.