Draft Dodger Memorial to be Built in British Columbia Canada........

[Joanne98]

Draft-dodger memorial to be built in B.C.
Last Updated Wed, 08 Sep 2004 11:27:18 EDT
NELSON, B.C. - B.C. activists plan to erect a bronze sculpture honouring draft dodgers, four decades after Americans opposed to the Vietnam War sought refuge in Canada.

The memorial, created by artists in Nelson, B.C., ties into a two-day celebration planned for July 2006 that pays tribute to as many as 125,000 Americans who fled to Canada between 1964 and 1977.


"This will mark the courageous legacy of Vietnam War resisters and the Canadians who helped them resettle in this country during that tumultuous era," Isaac Romano, the director of the Our Way Home festival told a news conference in Nelson Tuesday.

The event will honour people who came to Canada and resisted war efforts, from burning their draft cards during the Vietnam War to leaving the army to protest the war in Iraq, Romano said.


http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/09/08/draft_dogers040908.html

[Hand]

1. Har har...

Pile that on top of gay marriage, marijuana decriminalization (which Martin better quit waffling about), no troops to Iraq, winning the NAFTA fight over softwood lumber... Thay hate us for our freedom!

:evilgrin:

[Joanne98]

2. I thought it was kinda nice.........

I doubt Martin had anything to do with this though. I didn't really like the headline. They should have put war resisters instead of draft dodgers. Anyway the point is that it takes just as much courage to resist an illegal, immoral war as it does to fight in one. I think it's a good idea to honor them too.

[Hand]

7. It certainly is...

Sorry, wasn't disagreeing at all--I just forgot to mention that I'm Canadian, too!

:hi:

[clydefrand]

3. But will Bush's likeness grace the sculpture?

Just asking...

[ohiosmith]

6. Why would it? He didn't have the balls to take a stand for or against

the war. He chose to use his wealth and power to avoid making the tough decision.

[olddad56]

14. I agree. It took big balls and a strong conviction

to go to Canada to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War. I remember the media portraying those who took that route as cowards, but I think it took more courage to leave your family and friends for what you believed in. At the same time, it took courage to join the military and go off to fight in Vietnam, if you did it because you believed in what you were doing. I was an 18 year old kid who joined the Navy because it seemed like a more sane choice than the Army or the Marines. For those who weren't around during that era, young men grew up with the draft for as long as they could remember and the term 'military obligation' was etched into their brains. And, at that time, most felt that joining the national guard was a cowardly thing to do. I ended up in Vietnam, and knew the war was wrong, but I did my time and came home. Then I became a 'Vietnam vet against the war', just like Kerry. I felt I had earned the right to protest that war, and I don't think that Kerry should back away from his service to his country or to his work as a war protester. He earned the right to protest, he knew first hand what was going on in that war.

[Drifter]

16. Welcome my friend ...

and thank you.

Cheers
Drifter

[Drifter]

15. No way ...

Draft dodging is much less serious than AWOL.

A Draft dodger is firm in their stance to not go to war.

A person who is AWOL (especially in Bush's case), is looking for the glory of serving without the actual risk.

I'll take a draft dodger over someone AWOL anyday.

Cheers
Drifter

[Spazito]

4. I was reading that 200 Americans living in this area registered...

to vote absentee and they are democrats! This is very telling given that they obvious they realize how important the upcoming election is. To have 200 registering in this area, 100 of them from the Nelson area tells me that there is going to be a groundswell of absentee ballots from Canada from the 1/2 a million Americans currently residing here.

[OneBlueSky]

5. well . . . in the spirit of the occasion . . .

Draft Dodger Rag
by Phil Ochs

Oh, I'm just a typical American boy from a typical American town
I believe in God and Senator Dodd and a-keepin' old Castro down
And when it came my time to serve I knew "better dead than red"
But when I got to my old draft board, buddy, this is what I said:

CHORUS
Sarge, I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen
And I always carry a purse
I got eyes like a bat, and my feet are flat,
and my asthma's getting worse
Yes, think of my career, my sweetheart dear,
and my poor old invalid aunt
Besides, I ain't no fool, I'm a-goin' to school
And I'm working in a DEE-fense plant

I've got a dislocated disc and a wracked up back
I'm allergic to flowers and bugs
And when the bombshell hits, I get epileptic fits
And I'm addicted to a thousand drugs
I got the weakness woes, I can't touch my toes
I can hardly reach my knees
And if the enemy came close to me
I'd probably start to sneeze

I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen
And I always carry a purse
I got eyes like a bat, and my feet are flat,
and my asthma's getting worse
Yes, think of my career, my sweetheart dear,
and my poor old invalid aunt
Besides, I ain't no fool, I'm a-goin' to school
And I'm working in a DEE-fense plant

Ooh, I hate Chou En Lai, and I hope he dies,
One thing you gotta see
That someone's gotta go over there
And that someone isn't me
So I wish you well, Sarge, give 'em Hell!
Kill me a thousand or so
And if you ever get a war without blood and gore
I'll be the first to go

Yes, I'm only eighteen, I got a ruptured spleen
And I always carry a purse
I got eyes like a bat, and my feet are flat,
and my asthma's getting worse
Yes, think of my career, my sweetheart dear,
and my poor old invalid aunt
Besides, I ain't no fool, I'm a-goin' to school
And I'm working in a DEE-fense plant

[Joanne98]

8. Wow. where did you get that? Is it new? n/t

[OneBlueSky]

9. not hardly . . . from the album "I Ain't Marching Anymore" . . .

which I believe came out in 1965 . . . I still have a vinyl copy somewhere . . . now out of print, although you can get the song on a CD called "The Early Years" . . .

[saigon68]

10. Phil Ochs

A very interesting man who died tragically way before his time.

[Krupskaya]

11. Don't forget the Flying Burrito Brothers:

MY UNCLE, by the Flying Burrito Brothers

A letter came today from the draft board
With trembling hands I read the questionnaire
It asked me lots of things about my mama and papa
Now that ain't what I call exactly fair

So I'm heading for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be just my kind of town
Because they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground

A sad old soldier once told me a story
About a battlefield that he was on
He said a man should never fight for glory
He must know what is right and what is wrong

So I'm heading for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be just my kind of town
Because they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground, yeah now,

I don't know how much I owe my uncle
But I suspect it's more than I can pay
He's asking me to sign a three-year contract
I guess I'll catch the first bus out today

So I'm heading for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be just my kind of town
Because they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground
That tends to keep a good man underground

[olddad56]

12. Lets not leave out Country Joe and the Fish.

Yeah, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Well, come on generals, let's move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Gotta go out and get those reds —
The only good commie is the one who's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Huh!

Well, come on Wall Street, don't move slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go.
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of the trade,
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

Well, come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Vietnam.
Come on fathers, don't hesitate,
Send 'em off before it's too late.
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.

And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

[saigon68]

18. Brings back memories

The more things change the more they remain the same

[Eloriel]

13. I LOVE this

Thanks, B.C.!!!

I think it's 100% appropriate that we honor those who "served" on BOTH U.S. sides back then. Hooray.

[ilovenicepeople]

17. Your Welcome!

:toast: :hi:

[cprise]

19. This couldn't come at a better time