Chalmers Johnson published a scathing, dead-on column on TomDispatch regarding the Wall Street bailout and the massive military spending bill passed by Congress during the chaos. Some excerpts: …This is pure waste. Our annual spending on “national security” — meaning the defense budget plus all military expenditures hidden in the budgets for the departments of [...]
Archive for September, 2008
Wall Street and Hell’s Bottom*
Posted: September 30, 2008 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, bin Laden, Jesus, nonviolence, Pentagon, Wall Street
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But Who’s Counting Anyway?
Posted: September 28, 2008 in UncategorizedTags: Congress, defense, Pentagon
The U.S. Congress continues to burnish its pro-militancy credentials. They just passed a “record” budget for the Pentagon, which included a 6 percent increase from last year, according to the AP. This huge defense bill was, apparently, barely a blip on the Congressional radar: Such a huge bill usually would dominate the end-of-session agenda on [...]
Defense Contractors: “What Economic Troubles?”
Posted: September 26, 2008 in UncategorizedTags: defense contractors, defense spending, Jesus, nonviolence
Wow, so…my bank failed yesterday! Ouch! It won’t actually (I think/hope/hear) affect my finances in any concrete way, but the shockwaves from the economic meltdown are starting to rattle my windows, at least. What a mess. Here’s a succinct description of the cause of the crisis: Instead, we’re getting a Wall Street bailout not of [...]
This Sunday: A Bunch of Pastors Get Ready to Tell You Not to Vote for Barack Obama
Posted: September 25, 2008 in UncategorizedTags: Jesus, McCain, nonviolence, Obama, politics
The aptly named Alliance Defense Fund (presumably concerned with defending the alliance of Republicans and conservative churches) convinced several pastors to risk serious financial consequences for their congregations by “speaking about politics” from the pulpit, meaning they will act as surrogates for the McCain campaign and use scripture to do it. Here’s a sample: “I’m [...]
Mission Creep into Pakistan and the Problem of Violence
Posted: September 23, 2008 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Jesus, nonviolence, Pakistan
A while back I wrote a post on the liabilities inherent in the use of violence in our conflict with terrorist networks. One of the sources cited warned the parties involved that the worst strategic mistake the U.S. and NATO could make would be to give Pakistani groups a reason to unite with terrorists and/or insurgents. Whoops: [...]
It’s Nice to Know…
Posted: September 22, 2008 in UncategorizedTags: conscientious objection, ethnic cleansing, Iraq, Jesus, nonviolence
It’s nice to know that the “results of ethnic cleansing = success!” theme remained on display today: There have been fewer than 200 attacks a week over the past four months, which Austin described as “phenomenal,” and in the city of Baghdad, there have been fewer than four attacks a day, on average, he said. [...]
Today is the International Day of Peace
Posted: September 21, 2008 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, International Day of Peace, nonviolence
Go get involved! Info from the site: Along with being designated by the UN as the International Day of Peace, September 21 is also a day of Global Ceasefire. By acknowledging a unified day without violence, a Global Ceasefire can provide hope for citizens who must endure war and conflict; it proves that worldwide peace [...]
America is no “Christian Nation,” and Afghanistan is no “Good War”
Posted: September 21, 2008 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Jesus, McCain, nonviolence, Obama, Pailin
First, a meditation on the nature of whom Christians are called to imitate, emphasis mine: This is a great mystery: that the one before whom every knee must bow should become a human being, who would kneel to wash the feet of fishermen and tax collectors — and of the one he knew would betray [...]
