1. If the government backs it, you're probably getting it.
2. If you're bent over and you feel something creepy crawling up your leg, you're had.
3. If your boss says you'll get a raise sometime in the undefined future, I hope you're not smiling.
4. If a minister comforts you by saying you'll get your just reward in Heaven rather than here on Earth, you been had.
5. If they tell you we're going to war for "truth, justice and the American Way," you better make sure they're using a condom.
6. You're screwed if you think the rich will ever give you a break.
7. Gas prices are up. So are they.
8. If you think the attack on 9/11 was a clear-cut case of terrorists attacking the U.S. out of the blue, you not only been screwed, but you must be blonde.
9. With a President like we got, we're pretty much all screwed.
10. Being screwed is only half of what we're getting. They want us to smile.

Why, in this lifetime, would someone sign up for the military at this time in our illustrious history? Since the beginning of time, the poor have fought our wars while the rich sit on the sidelines, making more money than ever. It ought to give you a clue, when you don't see the rich rushing to get in on the action. When Bush sends his daughters, I'll send my son.

The hippie generation. Another baby boomer phenomena. I've often wondered what a hippie was, and I'm pretty sure I was one. Wikipedia defines a hippie as, "a member of a specific subculture that began in the United States in the 1960's. Hippies, along with The New Left, and the American Civil Rights Movement, were considered the three dissenting groups of the American 1960's counterculture." For me, on a more personal level, it was dissent against the traditional values coming out of the WWII generation; the opposition to nuclear weapons; opposition to the Vietnam War; protesting a lying and increasingly distant President; embracing all religions, not just Judeo-Christianity; and championing the cause of love, peace, personal freedom, and rock & roll, pretty much in that order.

Being a hippie in the Midwest was considerably different than being a hippie, in, say, San Francisco. The scene was not nearly as widespread, or as exciting. The following is probably a dismal attempt at summarizing my years as a hippie:

1. My politics became radical. I was schooled by a Marxist sociologist as an undergraduate. He was my mentor and adviser. I have always combined socialist ideas with democratic ones. I don't think a lot about this, it's just the way I think.

2. I actively protested the Vietnam War. I was in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic Convention. We took over the office of the President of Southern Illinois University the day of the Kent State murders. I remember sitting at his desk, thinking we had done something really big. Time seems to have trivialized it. I campaigned for Robert Kennedy in Illinois and Nebraska. I was involved in numerous protests in Chicago in 1971-72 while I was in seminary. I did some work for Clergy and Laymen Concerned About The War. I've never equated my anti-war stance with not being patriotic and loyal to the country. That makes absolutely no sense to me.

3. Drugs were a minor issue with me. While I would not want to say that I never inhaled, I was never much of a drug user. I wasn't very good at it.

4. I became a pacifist and advocate of non-violent social change. This was primarily due to my attending a Church of the Brethren Seminary in Oak Brook, Illinois, in 1971-72. One of the world's leading authorities on pacifism and non-violence was a professor there. Dr. Brown profoundly influenced my life. For the first time I came to understand that killing someone or acting in a violent way towards them was categorically against Christs teachings. I proceeded to become a conscientious objector and after three attempts, was granted CO status. It was the first, and I believe only, CO the local draft board issued.

5. I did not become a vegetarian. I never could pass up a good T-bone steak.

That gives you a short synopsis of my hippie life. I left out a few details, but it's best that way. Not a lot of frills, but a time I wouldn't trade. We felt like we were doing something. Like we were making a difference. In hindsight, some of the things we did were pretty foolish. Others innocent, youthful idealism. But we did what we thought was right, and in the end, not a lot of it proved to be too far off base.

I'M JUST ABOUT HALF-PAST GIVE A SHIT.

Being a pacifist for over 35 years, people sometimes think of you as a coward, a wimp, a weenie, trying to get out of something. Unwilling to pull your weight. It's not that your a coward. You're willing to die for what you believe in. It's just that you're not willing to kill for it.

This is why I am so opposed to our President. That he has been allowed to get away with what he has is beyond my wildest imagination. That the Democratic politicians in Washington cannot reel in this lying, deceitful son-of-a-bitch is a major blow to anyone calling themselves a Democrat. Worse, I think it is a major blow to humanity. I go to bed at night wondering how this has happened. How Americans could have allowed this man to take us down such a destructive path? My heart gets deeper with sadness each day this horrible death goes on. I thought we would have learned by now: You can't kill your way to peace.