Harvested

[Exterminator]

I went to a fight once and a hockey game broke out!   

[Exterminator]

Tom Magliozzi, co-host of NPR's Car Talk...harvested!

[Exterminator]

A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran

I write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. I write this letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and psychological, have destroyed their lives. I am one of those gravely wounded. I was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City. My life is coming to an end. I am living under hospice care.

I write this letter on behalf of husbands and wives who have lost spouses, on behalf of children who have lost a parent, on behalf of the fathers and mothers who have lost sons and daughters and on behalf of those who care for the many thousands of my fellow veterans who have brain injuries. I write this letter on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on average, a suicide a day. I write this letter on behalf of the some 1 million Iraqi dead and on behalf of the countless Iraqi wounded. I write this letter on behalf of us all—the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief.

You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.
I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.

Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character. You sent us to fight and die in Iraq after you, Mr. Cheney, dodged the draft in Vietnam, and you, Mr. Bush, went AWOL from your National Guard unit. Your cowardice and selfishness were established decades ago. You were not willing to risk yourselves for our nation but you sent hundreds of thousands of young men and women to be sacrificed in a senseless war with no more thought than it takes to put out the garbage.

I joined the Army two days after the 9/11 attacks. I joined the Army because our country had been attacked. I wanted to strike back at those who had killed some 3,000 of my fellow citizens. I did not join the Army to go to Iraq, a country that had no part in the September 2001 attacks and did not pose a threat to its neighbors, much less to the United States. I did not join the Army to "liberate" Iraqis or to shut down mythical weapons-of-mass-destruction facilities or to implant what you cynically called "democracy" in Baghdad and the Middle East. I did not join the Army to rebuild Iraq, which at the time you told us could be paid for by Iraq's oil revenues. Instead, this war has cost the United States over $3 trillion. I especially did not join the Army to carry out pre-emptive war. Pre-emptive war is illegal under international law. And as a soldier in Iraq I was, I now know, abetting your idiocy and your crimes. The Iraq War is the largest strategic blunder in U.S. history. It obliterated the balance of power in the Middle East. It installed a corrupt and brutal pro-Iranian government in Baghdad, one cemented in power through the use of torture, death squads and terror. And it has left Iran as the dominant force in the region. On every level—moral, strategic, military and economic—Iraq was a failure. And it was you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences.

To read Chris Hedges' recent interview with Tomas Young, click here.

I would not be writing this letter if I had been wounded fighting in Afghanistan against those forces that carried out the attacks of 9/11. Had I been wounded there I would still be miserable because of my physical deterioration and imminent death, but I would at least have the comfort of knowing that my injuries were a consequence of my own decision to defend the country I love. I would not have to lie in my bed, my body filled with painkillers, my life ebbing away, and deal with the fact that hundreds of thousands of human beings, including children, including myself, were sacrificed by you for little more than the greed of oil companies, for your alliance with the oil sheiks in Saudi Arabia, and your insane visions of empire.

I have, like many other disabled veterans, suffered from the inadequate and often inept care provided by the Veterans Administration. I have, like many other disabled veterans, come to realize that our mental and physical wounds are of no interest to you, perhaps of no interest to any politician. We were used. We were betrayed. And we have been abandoned. You, Mr. Bush, make much pretense of being a Christian. But isn't lying a sin? Isn't murder a sin? Aren't theft and selfish ambition sins? I am not a Christian. But I believe in the Christian ideal. I believe that what you do to the least of your brothers you finally do to yourself, to your own soul.

My day of reckoning is upon me. Yours will come. I hope you will be put on trial. But mostly I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live. I hope that before your time on earth ends, as mine is now ending, you will find the strength of character to stand before the American public and the world, and in particular the Iraqi people, and beg for forgiveness.

Tomas Young 11/30/79 - 11/10/14

[libby]

So sad for him.   

[The Troll]

  Yes, it is a sad thing and there are people who thinks that George W. Bush will go down in history as one of the best presidents America has ever had. And there are several here on the Zone.     Dick Cheney is just a evil son-of-bitch who is now living with someone's heart which he is now turning to coal.     

[Palehorse]

I expect to be posting of Gordie Howe's harvesting soon. The 86 year old Hockey Legend suffered a pretty good stroke this last Sunday. He has lost a significant level of functionality in his right side and has severely slurred speech. . . 

Seems like Gordo's health isn't getting any better. . .

http://www.si.com/nhl/2014/11/16/gordie-howe-stroke-health-worse

[Exterminator]

Riff West, bass player for Foghat and Molly Hatchet...harvested!

[Palehorse]

Jimmy Ruffin  HARVESTED @ 78.

https://www.youtube.com/v/cQywZYoGB1g&spfreload=10

[me]

Bobby Keys, who played saxophone with the Rolling Stones among others, has died aged 70.

[Palehorse]

Ian McLagan  HARVESTED @ 69.

(Keyboards-Small Faces, Faces, and Rolling Stones.) Keith Richards - NOT HARVESTED!

[libby]

Bobby Keys, who played saxophone with the Rolling Stones among others, has died aged 70.

The Washington Post features some very interesting obituaries. Here's Bobby Keys' :

Bobby Keys, longtime saxophonist with the Rolling Stones, dies at 70

By Matt Schudel December 2 at 7:47 PM

Bobby Keys, a Texas-born saxophonist who spent decades performing as a sideman with the Rolling Stones, supplying high-energy solos to "Brown Sugar" and other hits, but whose undisciplined behavior became too outrageous even for the fast-living rockers, died Dec. 2 at his home in Franklin, Tenn. He was 70.

The Rolling Stones confirmed his death in a statement. The cause was cirrhosis of the liver, according to the Nashville Scene newspaper.

A self-taught musician who never learned to read music, Mr. Keys brought a full-bodied, open-throttle sound to everything he played. He first worked with the Stones in 1969, during the recording of the "Let It Bleed" album, and was immediately drawn to the raw spirit of the band's music. He became a frequent musical partner in the Stones' recordings and concerts for more than 40 years.

His powerful tenor-sax solo on the 1971 hit "Brown Sugar," which Mr. Keys recorded in a single take, became an indelible part of the Stones' musical legacy. He made major contributions to dozens of other tunes, including "Honky Tonk Women" and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking," and appeared on many of the band's most celebrated albums, such as "Sticky Fingers" (1971), "Exile on Main Street" (1972) and "Some Girls" (1978).

Mr. Keys had the same birthday as Keith Richards, the Stones' guitarist and founding member, and the two shared an interest in other activities besides music. In his 2010 autobiography, "Life," Richards called Mr. Keys "my closest pal. A soul of rock 'n' roll, a solid man, also a depraved maniac."

Besides his hard-hitting saxophone performances, Mr. Keys became known for his unabashed indulgence in the rock-and-roll life. In 2010, he recalled to the Observer newspaper in Britain the scene in France while the Stones were making "Exile on Main Street."

"Hell, yeah, there was some pot around," he said, "there was some whiskey bottles around, there was scantily clad women. Hell, it was rock-and-roll!"

Mr. Keys and Richards were infamously captured on film in 1972 when they threw a television out of a hotel window. But Mr. Keys's heavy drinking and addiction to heroin made him undependable on stage, and he missed rehearsals and other engagements. The final straw reputedly came when Richards found him lounging with a woman in a bathtub filled with champagne when he should have been ready to play. He was dismissed from the Rolling Stones in 1973.

He made occasional appearances with the band, but it wasn't until the 1980s, when Richards sneaked Mr. Keys into a rehearsal, that the reunion was complete. While the band ran through "Brown Sugar," an unseen Mr. Keys wailed his barn-burning solo. According to Richards, Mick Jagger's jaw dropped as he turned and said, "What the . . . ?"
From that point on, Mr. Keys was back with the Stones.

Robert Henry Keys was born in Slaton, Tex., on Dec. 18, 1943 — the same day and year as Richards. He was raised largely by his grandparents.

He often visited an aunt who lived in Lubbock, Tex., near the home of the rock guitarist and singer Buddy Holly. Mr. Keys recalled hearing Holly and his band, the Crickets, playing for the opening of a gas station.

"That did it for me," he told Texas Monthly in 2012. "Rock and roll was calling, and I said, 'Here I am.' "

Inspired by King Curtis, the saxophonist on the Coasters's hit "Yakety Yak," Mr. Keys taught himself to play the saxophone and was working professionally by age 15.

" 'Cause I can't read music," Mr. Keys told Rolling Stone, "I have no idea what's gonna come out of that horn half the time. . . . I come strictly from feeling, and that feeling comes from rock-and-roll."

In the early 1960s, Mr. Keys toured with singer Bobby Vee. Over the years, he recorded with B.B. King, Joe Cocker, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Who, Eric Clapton and all four members of the Beatles after their breakup.

Mr. Keys reportedly was married at least five times and had two children. A complete list of survivors could not be confirmed.

After serving as the music director in the late 1980s at a nightclub in Miami Beach, Fla., owned by Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood, Mr. Keys settled outside Nashville. He published a memoir, "Every Night's a Saturday Night," in 2012 and continued to perform with the Stones and other groups until this year.

Mr. Keys admitted that he was "a devout pothead" who had been smoking marijuana since his teens.

"I never let a day go by," he once told Rolling Stone magazine, "unless I'm in jail."

matt.schudel@washpost.com

[Palehorse]

Ken Weatherwax  HARVESTED @ 59.

(Pugsly)

[me]

Joe Cocker has died after a battle with lung cancer

http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update/2014-12-22/joe-cocker-has-died-after-a-battle-with-lung-cancer/

[Henry Hawk]

Joe Cocker has died after a battle with lung cancer

That is sad.....he is a legend! 

[me]

That is sad.....he is a legend! 

Yes, he is.  This is one of my favorite songs he done.

https://www.youtube.com/v/OXShowpN9DY