Musical interlude for peace

This video leaped out from DailyKos today among tributes to David Cline, the second prominent veteran peace activist to die recently. Those of us at the impeachment rally on Saturday heard Sam Feldman announce Cline's passing. He was a leader of Vietnam Veterans against the War, like Bill Davis, who also died recently. Someone had the brilliant idea of posting a link to Cat Stevens' live performance of "Peace Train." Here it is. Enjoy.

Click here for more on David Cline.

Wikipedia reveals that "Peace Train" was released in "Teaser and the Firecat," 1971.

Dying man recaps life of activism and service

Here’s how to win. You have a super message. You campaign as hard as you can.

Is that enough to win? No, I don’t think so. You also have to show you care.

This lesson came home to me today after some quiet time pondering the life of Bill Davis, who died Sept. 5. He was one of the early leaders of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Lucky me, I’m a Vietnam Vet, too. Lucky me, I was in Chicago a month ago for the YearlyKos bloggers’ convention -- held at the same time as the VVAW’s convention. I went to a VVAW social event one night and got on their membership and email roster. I don’t believe I met Bill Davis, but since his passing I’ve come to know his thought. Today, in rolled an email from VVAW with the full list of YouTube videos from speeches and interviews he gave in recent years. It took an hour or more, but I watched all the way through as a dying man summarized a life of activism and service.

This link is to the VVAW press release that has links to the YouTube videos. Take 15 minutes and listen to Parts 1 and 2 of his talk at the VVAW Activists Panel in August. His passion comes through the obvious pain of his illness. Sample some of the older videos, when his voice was stronger.

VVAW seeks to help people. That’s one reason it still is a strong organization -- well, there is an unjust war under way, but that’s not all. “VVAW has never stopped working to protect the welfare of those who served their country,” is part of its mission statement.

Davis said veterans kept coming to VVAW because it set up counseling centers and lobbied fiercely for veterans’ benefits. “We will provide for others, we will serve the people. We are activists, and activism means work,” he said. The organization’s goal was “peace and benefits for all veterans.”

That’s why I liked the Miami-Dade Democrats' recent (but lightly attended) work day to clean up North Shore park in Miami Beach. We were doing something to help -- and it was great to hear the thanks we got from park visitors.

Can we do this more often? In fact, we should get ready, as the Florida budget crisis may lead to less cleaning of the beaches.

I'm reviving the slide show from that day of beach cleaning, at least for a while.

Vietnam Vets also convening in Chicago

Eugene Cherry, war resister, expresses gratitude to VVAW members.

Too much going on to do any real live blogging, so here is a link to the New Yorker’s blog on YearlyKos.

One of Hertzberg’s posts there ends with a lament that there’s no revolution in the air at the YearlyKos convention in Chicago. I had a different experience by getting away from the grand McCormick Place convention center where the Kossaks are meeting. Being a Vietnam veteran in addition to blogging, I spent Friday evening with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. (Let's stop here for a second to warn Bill O'Reilly that there are some rude words in this report, but we learned them in the US Army.) It’s the VVAW’s 40^th anniversary meeting, and on Friday night a happy crowd of old and young vets enjoyed Vietnamese food at the Thai Binh restaurant in an Asian neighborhood north of the Loop.

Here the atmosphere was more to the revolutionary mood unfound at YearlyKos. The “open mike” format for speakers was perhaps more liberating than the formal VVAW sessions scheduled for Saturday at Roosevelt University; present were not only the around-60 age group of Vietnam Vets, but also the young generation of Iraq veterans, including resisters.

Eugene Cherry, 24, stood at the microphone and expressed gratitude for the help he’d received from VVAW and like-minded anti-war groups as he fought to get discharged from the Army – the Chicago native is finally free as of July 13. Click here for background on his case.

Others from the younger set wore T-shirts with “Support War Resistance” on the chest, and some of the youth fashions would have pleased Hertzberg’s desire for something more defiant that the bloggers’ look.

“Remember to reach out to other veterans,” one speaker said. (Do you hear that, Kossaks?)

A Vietnam vet led a cheer-leader’s chant: “Give me and F! Give me a U! Give me a C! Give me a K!” A big “FUCK” roared out, and what’s it for? “Fuck You!”

And who’s that for? The answer came from Carl Rogers of Los Angeles, the first vice president of VVAW when it formed in 1973. He recalled the event back then when so many Vietnam vets threw away their medals earned in that war, and said it was the perfect “fuck you” gesture of the day. His lament for our present circumstance was that we’ve yet to find the perfect “fuck you” gesture for the Iraq war.

So there was some defiant, revolutionary atmosphere to be had in Chicago. Just not at McCormick Place. Where we’re blogging like crazy – and maybe that will turn out to be the factor that helps turn this country against another wrong war. Without all the misery of revolution. Nor homeless veterans in the streets.