Archive for the ‘war’ Category
Torture doesn’t work
Not only does torture run counter to national law, international law, and our internal moral compass, it also doesn’t work. But don’t take my word for it, here’s a former FBI interrogator on the subject:
Filed under politics, war : Comments (0) : Mar 26th, 2008
Torture Talk
Jon Stewart is at it again. In some ways, if feels like humor is the only way to process the fact that our government is openly admitting to torturing detainees.
Filed under politics, war : Comments (0) : Feb 12th, 2008
Gaza crises
Here’s a quote from Israeli PM Ehud Olmert:
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Egypt ‘won’t force Gazans back’ via kwout
Nothing says Peace Process like forcing a whole population to live in near-crises mode because a small fraction of extremists are using violence to try to force change. And nothing discourages violence like cutting off food, supplies, and energy. . . er, wait.
Glad to see that Egypt is treating the situation like adults. Shame on you, Israel. (I’m not letting you off the hook either, Palestinians!)
Filed under culture, politics, war : Comments (0) : Jan 23rd, 2008
War Society
I saw a fantastic bumper sticker at work:
This triggered another thought I’ve been rolling around in my head for awhile: Why are we such a war-happy culture?
The phrase “war on x” is so common that we use it without thinking about its meaning. For anyone who as actually lived through a war and been personally impacted by it, war is literally hell on earth. It destroys families, ruins countries, and is felt for decades to come. In short, not the sort of word you would expect a healthy society to throw around carelessly.
To prove my point, let’s do a little thought experiment: How do you feel about the phrase “Let’s start a holocaust on drugs” or “The liberals have started another genocide on Christmas”?
Not such a friendly expression. Yet why should these be any different than “war on drugs” or “war on Christmas”?
Digging down a layer, you’ll find the problem is even more pervasive than it seems. The national media outlets love using violent analogies for non-violent events. Politicians don’t simply debate or argue, they “take the gloves off” (suggesting a rowdy fist-fight). It’s not merely a race or a contest for the Whitehouse, it’s a battle. We simply love using war/fighting/violence in our analogies.
Of course, the irony is that when there’s a real live war to report on, that same national media gives it only passing mention. The Iraq War is now the second longest war in US history, it has claimed north of 150,000 lives, and yet Britney’s personal meltdown gets more coverage.
Here’s the hook: we’ve gone a little screwy in our culture and with our lexicon. War is overused as an analogy and woefully underused to describe current events. Does anyone out there even bother to consider the use of peace as a conceptual tool? Do we really need to relearn the consequences of militarism? Have I gone off the deep end?
Filed under culture, war : Comments (1) : Jan 20th, 2008
Shame upon us all
This really makes me feel ashamed to live in the U.S. right now. I know that it’s going to get better, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that we’ve allowed a president to install the policies of torture. We should be better than that.
BBC NEWS | Americas | Canada puts US on ‘torture list’ via kwout
The history books will not look favorably upon us.
Filed under culture, politics, war : Comments (0) : Jan 17th, 2008
Waterboarding
It’s been the subject of many congressional hearings, media exposes, and it’s a key phrase to define the policies of our current leadership: waterboarding.
There is no question that the U.S. employs the waterboarding technique while interrogating alleged criminals. This has been openly sanctioned in Justice Department memos and confirmed by numerous sources within the federal government.
The impossible contradiction facing the Bush Whitehouse, and our country at large, is that we openly use this technique, and yet “we don’t torture”. I won’t tell you what I think of waterboarding, because now you can decide for yourself.
Please, go read about the technique at waterboarding.org and decide whether this constitutes as torture. This is the United States of America in 2007. We know too much information to pretend otherwise.
[Update Nov 6]
Here’s Jon Stewart’s take on the issue. (And provides some context for the first comment)
Filed under culture, war : Comments (1) : Nov 6th, 2007
U.S. Funding Priorities
It’s a sad day when you can’t pay for children’s health insurance because you’re too busy killing children:
$35 billion is too much to spend on children’s health, because since some of the children covered weren’t poor enough!
Bush Requests $46 Billion for Wars
$46 billion, on top of $142 billion in February, bringing the grand total north of $1 trillion. The purse is bottomless when you’re spending to kill.
This isn’t rocket science here, folks. You can’t run a platform of low taxes and small government when you increase spending for the military at every turn. Just think what [a small portion of] $1 trillion could have done to invigorate the green energy industry in the U.S., revolutionize education, or transform our aging infrastructure into something to be proud of.
And let’s not forget that since we started this military spending adventure in the middle east, our precious tax dollars have lost 30% of their value against the Euro.
To put it another way, the 2003 dollar that Bush so courageously refused to collect as taxes is now worth €0.70. Gee, thanks.
Filed under economics, politics, war : Comments (1) : Oct 22nd, 2007
More Ron Paul
Here is the single best response regarding the Iraq war by any politician on either side of the aisle:
I really like this guy. Especially because he makes his fellow Republicans (especially Giuliani) extremely nervous.
Filed under politics, war : Comments (0) : Oct 14th, 2007
Thank you, Ron Paul
One of the only voices in politics today who is willing to say what’s right, even if unpopular.
Say it, Ron!
Filed under politics, war : Comments (2) : Oct 13th, 2007
Navy ad
I was cruising around the ‘nets today and I stumbled upon an ad for the US Navy. I don’t know about you, but I’m terrified that this is the recruiting tactic they’ve resorted to. Who exactly are they trying to recruit? 15 year old slackers?
I knew that our military was stretched pretty thin, but this is ridiculous.
Filed under culture, war : Comments (2) : Sep 2nd, 2007
