Quote of the Day -- On War, and Preventing It

1919

Link:  Frederick Barton Maurice - Wikipedia

The Nightmare That Is US Military Spening

Americans, you think you're a "peace-loving country", don't you?




Contact your Congressional Representatives and the President. Tell them to get the Defense budget cut. It's bloated, it's wasteful, it's unaccounted for, it's immoral, it's downright obscene.

Contact the U.S. Congress and the White House 

Tell them, not in our name. Not any longer.

We Americans don't really know just who we are

It's my contention Americans don't know who we really are, given what we do, collectively, as a nation.

For one, we have, far and away, THE MOST EXPENSIVE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN THE WORLD, bar none. The most expensive. It's obscene. Because of it, because it's tied to profit, more people go bankrupt due to health care costs and bills than any other source or reason.

Second, WE OUTSPEND EVERY OTHER NATION ON THE PLANET WHEN IT COMES TO SPENDING ON WAR. We spend more than any other nation, many times over, for spending on bombs and bombers and bullets and guns. Immoral. Highly immoral. Again, obscene.

Finally, we IMPRISON MORE OF OUR OWN CITIZENS THAN ANY OTHER NATION, per capita.  Check out these statistics:

Quote of the day -- on War and our "War on Terror"

True then, true today:

"Our country is now geared to an arms economy bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and an incessant propaganda of fear."

~General Douglas MacArthur

America's "War on Terror"

"You cannot win a War on Terrorism. 

It’s like having a war on jealousy."

~David Cross

Memorial Day 2014

Thoughts. On the world

The problem with most humans is that in order to live and be able to hopefully understand or make sense of it--life--is that we anthropomorphize it.

We give life and/or the universe human characteristics. We anthropomorphize our worlds and so, the universe.  We give the cold, uncaring, ever-progressing--however slowly--universe a personality and rules.  And we do this so much so we name it.

For a lot of us, it can be merely “god” or “God.” For others, a lot of others, we take it further than that, even. We give, usually him, a specific name. Some examples are, of course, Jesus, Yahweh, Mohammed, Allah, or any number of monikers. We complicate things, the world, the universe and so, our lives and our own worlds.

The only real rule is love.

Love everything. Be kind. Share. Smile. Help one another.  All good stems from one rule, this one rule.

Love.

"The world is over-armed and peace is under-funded"

To prove UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's statement, check out the world's spending.
(click on picture for easier viewing)

Quote of the day--Martin Luther King, Jr Day

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The costs of war

The cost of war - Another week:

6758 - Number of Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn casualties as confirmed by U.S. Central Command.

4 more dead since Dec 17th. 
- Marine Sgt. Daniel M. Vasselian, December 23, 2013 - 27, of Abington, MA.
- Air Force Capt. David I. Lyon, December 27, 2013 - 28, of Sandpoint, ID
- Marine Sgt. Jacob M. Hess, January 1, 2014 - 22, of Spokane, WA
- Army Sgt. First Class William K. Lacey, January 4, 2014 - 38, of Laurel Hill, FL

Another $2 Billion spent in Afghanistan. Total bill to U.S. Taxpayers = $1,505,178,618,274

How long are you going to tolerate this, America?  How long are WE going to tolerate this?

We've been at war in Afghanistan 12 years.

This is crazy.  Insane.

They don't want us there and we don't want to be there.

Let's get out.  Let's end this nightmare.

Stop the endless wars.

America's priorities

Welfare ruins nations?

We've heard it repeatedly, right? Welfare--for the people--makes them weaker?

And what countries also aren't outspending the rest of the world for war, bombs and planes, investing so much of their GDP on death and war?

Yeah, them, that's who.

And then there's this, added to it all:

I think it's all important to know.

And repeat.


 

The American Empire

America:  The World's Warmonger

Quote--and fact--of the day

Quote of the day---on America's wars

One talented, brilliant man.

Terrific points/questions and food for thought about Syria and a possible attack (guest post)

From Robert Reich:

Cliff notes on a potentially disastrous decision:

 

(1) Were Syrian civilians killed by chemical weapons?

Yes.

 

(2) How many?

Estimates vary.

 

(3) Was Assad responsible?

Probably but not definitely.

 

(4) Should the world respond?

Yes.

 

 (5) What’s the best response?

Economic sanctions and a freeze on Syrian assets.

 

(6) What are the advantages of bombing Syria with missiles? (a) Highly visible response, (...b) no American troops on the ground.

 

(7) What are the disadvantages?

(a) Syrian civilians will inevitably be killed,

(b) it will fuel more anti-American, anti-Western sentiment, thereby increasing the ranks of terrorists in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East,

(c) our involvement will escalate if Assad or others use additional chemical weapons or engage in retribution against the us or Israel,

(d) we have no exit strategy,

(e) most of our allies aren’t with us, and we can’t be the world’s policeman everywhere,

(f) it will distract us from critical problems at home,

(g) the Syrian rebels are not our friends.

 

Question from me: 

 

Don't economic sanctions first, make sense?

 

 

Links:  Robert Reich | Facebook

 

Robert Reich - Wikipedia

 

 

Quote of the day--on more (or another) possible war

In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers. 

--Neville Chamberlain

Two thoughts on a possible Syrian war

Number one:



Number two:



Wish us luck.

We're going to need it.

The real question today, as we consider attacking yet another nation

"...have we learned nothing?

Time and again over the last half century American presidents have justified so-called surgical strikes because the nation's credibility is at stake, and because we have to take some action to show our strength and resolve -- only to learn years later that our credibility has suffered more from our foolish and brazen bellicosity, that the surgical strikes have only intensified hostilities and made us captive to forces beyond our control, and that our resolve eventually disappears in the face of mounting casualties of Americans and innocent civilians. We and others have paid an incalculable price.

On Labor Day weekend we should rather be testing the nation's resolve to provide good jobs at good wages to all Americans who need them, and measuring our credibility by the ideal of equal opportunity. And we should strike (and join striking workers) against big employers who won't provide their employees with minimally-decent wages. We need to commit ourselves to a living wage, and to providing more economic security to the millions of Americans now working harder but getting nowhere. Yes, Mr. President, a lot of people think something should be done -- about these mounting problems at our doorstep, within America. We can have more influence on the rest of the world by showing the rest of the world that we live by our ideals, than by using brute force to make points."

--Robert Reich,  American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator.

And the answer, I believe, a lot of us believe, is no, no we Americans have learned nothing. We haven't learned from Korea, we haven't learned from Vietnam, we haven't learned from even the still painful, actually not-ended 2nd Iraq War.

It was writer Gloria Emerson's take from the Vietnam War that a) we learned nothing from it, after the fact, and we nearly refuse to learn anything. If you haven't already, you might pick up her book:  Winners & Losers: Battles, Retreats, Gains, Losses, and Ruins from ...

It was poignant then and still resonates today.

Links:

Robert Reich

Robert Reich

Robert Reich | Facebook

Gloria Emerson

Gloria Emerson, Chronicler of War's Damage

When your only tool is a hammer...

...every problem looks like a nail:

America, the world's warmonger.


Link to watch "War Made Easy" (2007): http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/war_made_easy/