11 January 2010

A request to readers

Hey good people.
I have a request to ask of you all. If you read the last entry here you know that I am totally disgusted with the Nazi/Soviet term "homeland" to describe OUR country.
Well, I want to get something going with this.
Starting now, ask everybody you talk to to NEVER ever use that damn term "homeland" when they talk about OUR country.
Tell them they can call it America, the United States of America, the United States.  Hell, I call it 'Merika most days now. I don't care what they call this country as long as we get everybody to stop using that goddamn term "homeland".
As I said in the last posting here, to me it sounds like something from either Nazi Germany or the old Soviet Union.
If we all do this, maybe, just maybe, we can get OUR country back again. Hell, we might even scare the shit out of the "too big to fail" banksters. And that sure as hell would be worth it alone.
I'd like this to take off to the point that the only morons who use the term "homeland" will be "talk radio", Faux Noise, and the goddamn politicians. 
Please give it a try folks. Hell, we don't have very much left to lose. Everybody, give it our best shot. We just might make that miserable un-American term history in our life times.
Thanks for any help you all can give with this.
semper fi

39 comments:

Tao Dao Man said...

LOL, ya, what ever happened to that [color coded] terror attack thermometer that we had. I guess we are now at eternal code red.

charlie ehlen said...

Code red forever. Wasn't there a movie "Code Red" or was it a song. I also believe there was a 1/25th scale model, a Chevelle I think, race car that was named Code Red.
Either way, yes sir, we are on a permanent war footing now. Well, as Jeff Huber has said, the "long war". I suppose the "long war" requires we stay at "Code Red" until such time as the "bad guys" give up. Fat chance of that.

Tao Dao Man said...

The sad thing is that our generation might just be the LAST generation to complain about the endless wars without borders. The younger generation is joining the military instead of working at ChinaMart, or not working at all.
Our MSM is in with the Govt. SO no true reporting is available.
The military has become an employment agency. Or, should I HAVE SAID DEPLOYMENT AGENCY?

charlie ehlen said...

The military as employer of last resort.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for telling it like it is. I appreciate the definition of the working class. Even though I am currently unemployed, you give me hope as I am working to find employment.

Jay Diamond said...

Really glad I found you Charlie while I was reading Joe Bageant. Got ya bookmarked and will check in every day.

Along the lines of this "h
Homeland" bullshit, how is it that Ike, Patton, Bradley, Beedle, MacArthur, et al, did just fine with one bar on their chest, whereas this prick McChrystal and the other one Petraeus look like Fulgencio Battista with 20 pounds of metal on their chests !

And what's with the CAMO as the standard uniform !

Why do they have to wear CAMO in Fort Dix !!?

Why is McChrystal sitting in Air Force One with CAMO !?

What happened ?

Jay Diamond
NY

charlie ehlen said...

Anonymous,
Thank you. I cannot remember anybody ever telling me that I gave them hope before. Thank you for that.
Best to you on finding work in what is left of the US economy.

charlie ehlen said...

Jay Diamond,
I have no idea what has happened to America. When did it all start? A lot of commenters say it began with old Ron of Ray-gun. That was a "fun" time wasn't it? Spend our way to prosperity as I remember from back then. I never did figure that one out.
Yes, camo is the "new" uniform of the day now. Unless Air Force One was in a war zone, he should have had on a dress uniform. Just the "old" way I think. I know I must be out of place today. Used to be there was a certain "proper" uniform to wear when you met with the president. Well, this is a new century, things change, or so they tell me.
Change is always going to happen, but it isn't always for the better.
You noticed all the ribbons and crap also? Man that IS funny to me. Go back and look at old clips of the Soviet Army, the generals always had full set of ribbons, badges, and medals. We seem to becoming more like that.
Or am I way off base?
What do the generals get all that for? Being able to dress themselves?

Kulkuri said...

Found you thru "Deer Hunting With Jesus".

As for the "homeland" bullshit, it kinda pissed me off from the git-go.

I thought 'Code Red' was a flavor of Mountain Dew!!

charlie ehlen said...

Kulkuri,
Thanks for your comment.
It never "set well" with me either. I still don't know why it took me this long to say something about that crap term.
Good to know I am not the only one who finds it disgusting.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this blog post. I HATE the Nazi-sounding term "Homeland". What the hell is wrong with the people who came up with that?

Read2Think said...

Nice to read you Charlie.
Found you from Joe Bageant's - good letter!

Bookmarked you and I'll be back.

Nan said...

Found your blog through Deer Hunting with Jesus. Count me as another person who's been annoyed as hell with the term "homeland" since the first time I heard it used in reference to the U.S.

The most recent issue of Parade had an explanation of why the military is in fatigues all the time now, no matter where they are. It's to demonstrate solidarity with and support for the troops who are in combat areas.

Beverly said...

Saw your letter in Joe Bageant's post today, and it was truly a surprise to see that you are from Pineville! I was born and raised in the Pineville-Alexandria area; have been out in California now for 32 years. Last summer I joined Face Book, thinking to reconnect with my past. To a large extent, it's been dismaying to discover that so many of the people I went to high school with (BHS class of '71) are now for the most part so uninformed, complacent, and even reactionary. What a kick and breath of fresh air to discover a kindred spirit living in "Cenla"!

sagesmoke said...

Hey Charlie! Thanks so much for writing to Joe Bageant...it's geat to find another kindred spirit out there'; I can't say you 'give me hope' because hope was pretty much (as a word, and a concept) destroyed for me during the Obama Campaign; it gave "hope" a bad name; for me anyway.
I'm 68...and part of the underclass. I'm on the way to getting lockjaw these days, because people hate it when I just can't stop myself from speaking some small bit of truth..Oh, they say, with disgust, "Why are you so Negative"! I live (sadly) in Berkeley CA. Where it's a misdomener to be anything except a "progressive" (now there's another word I'd like to see disappear...Anyway, I really appreciate your blog...like Joe Bageant, it helps me keep going...!

1 Va Dem said...

Charlie, I found you on Joe Bageant's site. I can't say you are wrong, I just wish you were. Now I am a follower too.

uzza said...

Totally with you on "Der Homeland."

James Pannozzi said...

Charlie, I've read your comments and your excellent recent Usenet post and I agree with much of what you say, and I respect your opinions.

I'm the same age as you, spent 32 years programming computers as a software engineer and then watched my career get exported to India in 2004. Hell, I even had to help them out, via conference phone, in my last job. I lucked out with that last compnay, I had 10 years in so they gave me a half pension as they politely thanked me and kicked me out the door.

I guess I'm one of the types you look down on. My pop was working class but he wanted me to go to college and be middle class. So I did. But I remained in the trenches, liked writing software too much and hated to write reports. Never went into management.

I think a lot of your criticisms, particularly about this "homeland" stuff are right on the mark. By referring to our country in that manner, it is indeed a kind of Bismarckian elevation of the nation-state above the people which is exactly the OPPOSITE of what our founding fathers intended.

These kinds of attitudes are compounded by, I believe, an ongoing and insidious media campaign which had its origins in the creative lies which were gradually accepted as normal from the advertising and marketing industries and later entrenched in our psyches by incessant media programming.

I believe much of our current congress is under the control of corporations who, freed from serious government oversight, have been responsible for many of the very serious ills which have now befallen us. I call them the corporatists and the banking crisis, health care crisis, education crisis, wall street crisis and jobs crisis (a subset of the neo-con immigration policy and exportation of industries overseas) are all directly attributable to them.

By the way, regarding the education crisis, I must strongly urge you to read a book (the entire book is available online, google for it) entitled "The Underground History of American Education" written by a teacher of 30 years experience John Taylor Gatto. The book is about much more than education and underscores many of the points I made with a detailed historical explanation of how our country came to be this way, by design, and the special interests and foundations that were behind it.

Regarding your comments on foreign policy, they are right on the mark. Right now we are supporting a dictator in Yemen who derives his support from the al Quaeda factions there (!!) Yet somehow, our policy makers pretend like we are striking a blow against al Quaeda, while giving this bum hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money; because a few terrorists were killed by some remotely controlled drone plane, this policy is considered a success. What a joke.

And Haiti! Don't get me started on them - they've had our foreign aid for decades in the hundreds of millions of dollars - yet they have no medical supplies, no food, water, the roads are falling apart and the buildings were all made with non-reinforced concrete. WHERE THE HELL DID ALL THE MONEY GO??
Does our state department and treasury even bother to check on these things?

Well, I'll keep reading your blog. You make some damn good points. And one good thing, with your fine record in the serivce, NOBODY is ever going to question your patriotism, as Shrub and Sheny did when anyone dared to speak out about the obvious inadequacies and even stupidities, of the "war" on terror. Keep up the good posts and thanks.

Anonymous said...

I have never heard anybody call our country the "homeland" that wasn't on tv. I am glad to see somebody else repulsed by this fascist term for our country.

Edwardo said...

I liked the rant, and have been busy with own about the flim flam being perpetrated in MA presently.

mistah charley, ph.d. said...

Hi charlie - another Joe Bageant reader here - I have always been disgusted with this "homeland" talk and in conversation I refer to it as the "department of FATHERLAND security" to point out how un-American it really is.

Eisenhower hit the nail on the head when he pointed out the dangers of the military-industrial complex - at my website you can read why I call it the MICFiC -

M ilitary
I ndustrial
C ongressional
Fi nancial
C orporate media complex -

a conspiracy to use, abuse, and confuse the people, to "milk, shear and slaughter the sheeple", figuratively speaking - except the SLAUGHTER is literal.

May the Creative Forces of the Universe stand beside us, and guide us, through the Night with the Light from Above -

and have mercy on our souls, if any.

Tao Dao Man said...

Mistah charley phd. re;

M ilitary
I ndustrial
C ongressional
Fi nancial
C orporate media complex -

I like that. May I use it?

Tao Dao Man said...

And yes, may the Gods of the Cosmos bring us the enlightenment that we need to over come these times.

mistah charley, ph.d. said...

about the MICFiC term - yes, of course, anyone can use it - just remember that the second "i" is a small letter

and about the REAL enemies of America - the country, the people, the ideas [but NOT the "homeland"] - see the latest column by William Astore at TomDispatch -

http://tinyurl.com/ykbq8za

SpiderWoman said...

I'm another of those people who found you through your comment on Joe Bageant's site.

I remember the first time I heard the word homeland coming from ol' prez bush's facehole. Sickened me then. I couldn't believe that people didn't see that it's identical to the Nazi Germany term.

That's when I knew there was no hope whatsoever for Muricans.

M. L. said...

How refreshing to find your blog on Joe Bageants blog page. I'll happily stop calling it "the Homeland".

Glad to get the name of an honest journalist too - I'll be researching more about her.

Hey if you visit my blog dont be thrown off by the bling bling I'm as working class as the next waitress you meet.

Weaseldog said...

I hated the term, 'The Homeland' since Bush first coined it. I was surprised that 'Conservatives' took it up so readily, when it was clearly meant to refer to the USA as a fascist state. And in a fit of wry irony, they call Obama fascist, for continuing the traditions laid down by Bush.

It's the United States of America, not the 'the Homeland'.

I grew up thinking that if you had a mortgage and a car, you were middle class. I guess I was mistaken.

medialeft said...

Charlie?

Your assessment of the middle-class is on target but remember what built that "teenager complex"; good ole yankee blood sport called anti-communist wars. You did your time in that and all that anti-commie stuff was a lot of crap too because when you look below the rhetoric, they were there for money. Americans cannot choose sides or identify with their interests because they are afraid; afraid of being called a commie, a socialist, a democrat, a person with a brain. The USA is heading where it always was. A plantation economy run by an elite. You cannot change anything without an ideology and a force, which we have neither.

Glad you realize you had a good life, despite your hardships. Saw that on Bageant's site. More good life to you.

Lincoln Hunter said...

Charlie, I have never used the word. Didn't like it the first time I heard it..I am just glad they don't call the National Security Council the Homeland Security Council.
But, hey, maybe that will be next. Best to you and Joe Bageant.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for articulating this. I find "Homeland" to be incredibly kitsch and 1930's, as well.

It's good to know others feel the same way.

scotts said...

I'm agreed with ending the use of 'homeland'. It reeks of dumbass fascism.

You could see why Bush would use it. You knew we were in real trouble when the Democrats picked it up.

Anonymous said...

Just linked in from Joe Bageant -

Homeland?

I hear ya... but it disturbs me less than "Czar."

That last one is intended to elicit fear all mighty.

Supposed to anyway.

But ya, homeland is right in there with Fatherland and Gestapo.

We already have the last one, we just don't call it that yet.

Weniger Gottquatsch said...

"Homeland Security" has a comical ring, no? It's wimpy. It carries no connotations. It's just not imposing or scary. It's silly.

For those who speak Deutsch, the phrase works much better in the original German:

Heimatsicherheit

Now there's a menacing, threatening sound of jackbooted thugs breaking down your door in the middle of the night.

Anonymous said...

All due respect, America is a part of the world, consisting of North and South American continents. United States calling themselves "America" is like if Russia was calling itself "Eurasia". How much more Orwellian could it be?

Anonymous said...

I agree, "Homeland" always struck me as something out of the mouth of Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels.

It is part of the program of trying to infantize people, turn them into children: homeland - home - mommy - daddy - government - as - parental protector. It is insulting.

Use color-coded fear tactics to regress people and then use the term "homeland" as a mental play pen.

Anonymous said...

Also regarding homelands have you noticed they're never really where you might expect them to be? The homeland is not the land you call home, it's the geographical point of racial origin, which for the Germans (as they erroneously traced it in the Nazi era) meant the Polish and Lithuanian Baltic coast. For all Americans without peace pipes and feathers in their ancestry, your heimat is just about anywhere else but here. The South Africans infamously used "homelands" to ghettoize their black population. Being a post-Zionist I am not aware of a positive application of the term.

Anonymous said...

Amen on the Homeland comment!!!
From the moment I heard that was the name of a new Department, my stomach churned.
Whenever anyone mentions Department of Homeland Security, I say something to the effect of, "This is not our goddamn homeland. We've been living here for a couple hundred years, and just happened to bump into this nice chunk of terra firma while trying to find a new westward route to Asia. We killed most of the natives, and the rest we quarantined, more or less, to reservations. We stole this land from the people who were living here and if it's anyone's homeland, it's the Indians homeland."

wolfgang said...

hey, I have to congratulate you for being a sharp dude. I was born in Germany, speak German, been living in the States for 50 years, never read much German history, but have a sense of the language, and when I heard "homeland security" for the first time, wanted to stick my finger down my throat and barf. "Homeland" is straight out of the fascist phrase book. What I find curious is that none of the media people have enough guts to point out the obvious. Where is the press when our government officials start channeling Herman Goering?

Lowell said...

Really glad I found you Charlie while I was reading Joe Bageant. Got ya bookmarked and will check in every day. Along the lines of this "h Homeland" bullshit, how is it that Ike, Patton, Bradley, Beedle, MacArthur, et al, did just fine with one bar on their chest, whereas this prick McChrystal and the other one Petraeus look like Fulgencio Battista with 20 pounds of metal on their chests ! And what's with the CAMO as the standard uniform ! Why do they have to wear CAMO in Fort Dix !!? Why is McChrystal sitting in Air Force One with CAMO !? What happened ? Jay Diamond NY