RANGER AGAINST WAR: Dumb and Dumber <

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Dumb and Dumber


People only see

what they are prepared to see
--Ralph Waldo Emerson


A man willing to work, and unable to find work,
is perhaps the saddest sight
that fortune's inequality exhibits under this sun

--Thomas Carlyle


Let me tell you

You are no exception to the rule

--Boogie Oogie Oogie
, A Taste of Honey
_____________

People hear what they want to hear and see what they wish to see. Ranger is no exception.

When he read,


U.S. officials recently have warned that the nation's recession and global financial crisis were top security concerns. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair has said the economic weakness could lead to political instability in many developing nations.

Ranger thought Blair was saying that the economy was so bad it is obvious that the U.S.'s elective wars must be reined in, with the resultant savings redirected to the domestic economy. But as the article progressed, it was clear that what he actually meant was the
dead opposite.

Though President Obama has proposed a 4% increase in defense spending over the next fiscal year, "many defense analysts believe that Pentagon budgets, one of the largest shares of government spending, are likely targets for cuts," which could "create the perception of American weakness," said Dov Zakheim, a Defense Department comptroller.


You may say the 4% increase is small, but put into perspective, remember how hard it is to raise the minimum wage, or to have a Veterans Administration health care budget ready before the start of the fiscal year (it has only happened 3 times in the last 22 years, according to
DAV Magazine.) Federal money is always hard won, but it is always there for the lean, green killing machine.

It is foolishness to further militarize an economy which cannot sustain a civilian sector, let alone a military one. As for weakness, that is not a perception, but a fact. Strength is not determined by the fact that the U.S. can dust the world over with our nukes.


We cannot win a conventional war against any major power.
We can't even secure the street corners of Kabul and Baghdad. Throwing more money at the Department of Defense will not change this fact.

Analysts said,
"Russia appears to be continuing efforts to modernize its military, especially its nuclear forces, which could pose a problem for a U.S. government that may slash defense spending." Does anyone see the contradiction: When the U.S. beefs up its military, that is good and necessary; when Russia does it, it is a bad thing.

The best course of action would seem disarmament, rather than perpetuation of the futile arms race. Arms races never have winners.


However, on a brighter note, economist Richard Cooper testified that not all is gloom and doom.
"Cooper said that a tighter job market could drive more recruits to the military. . ."

This seems like a return to economically induced indentured servitude. Slavery may be illegal, yet this is a back-door enslavement. So, broken banks and a failing economy turn out to have a patriotic lining, after all.

It is time for America to become a real world player by abandoning the war policies that dictate every aspect of our national life. The U.S. is not the sole remaining superpower, but it is the last nation stupid enough to embrace war as a way of life. in his Army Echoes essay, General George Casey wrote we are in an era of "perpetual conflict."

He is correct, but he fails to mention the conflict is of our own making.

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4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

When I read what he said it was Oh S*^) here we go again. Yes the real anwser is stop the foolish wars you can't win and try employeeing people here and everywhere so they have some hope for their families. There would only be the really small fringe groups that would have to be delt with. I'm 60 and I don't see this and corp. greed being stopped in my live time. Sad.
jo6pac
Everything is on schedule, please move along.

Saturday, March 14, 2009 at 7:15:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger Juan Moment said...

When the U.S. beefs up its military, that is good and necessary; when Russia does it, it is a bad thing.

Gotta love it. We pay spies in other countries, but when one of us spies for the opposition its called the high crime of treason. The hypocricy could not be more in your face. We bomb civilians and its called collateral damage, they do it and its called terrorism. Get me outta here.

The best course of action would seem disarmament, rather than perpetuation of the futile arms race. Arms races never have winners.

I know what you mean Ranger, but where there is war, there is profit, there are winners. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon.

You know, when comparing themselves with other species, humans believe they are more intelligent. But are we? A rat would never dream up the need for rat poison.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed."
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 12:23:00 AM GMT-5  
Blogger rangeragainstwar said...

Juan,
I benefit financially from the war since the Congress passed Combat Related Special Compensation in 2003.This would not have happened if there were no war.
I find myself in a strange place as all my income is from US gov't sources.I bite the hand that
feeds me.It's disconcerting for me.
jim

Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 12:50:00 PM GMT-5  
Blogger The Minstrel Boy said...

Until the philosophy which hold one race superior
And another
Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned -
Everywhere is war -
Me say war.

That until there no longer
First class and second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes -
Me say war.

That until the basic human rights
Are equally guaranteed to all,
Without regard to race -
Dis a war.

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace,
World citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never attained -
Now everywhere is war - war.

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
that hold our brothers in Angola,
In Mozambique,
South Africa
Sub-human bondage
Have been toppled,
Utterly destroyed -
Well, everywhere is war -
Me say war.

War in the east,
War in the west,
War up north,
War down south -
War - war -
Rumours of war.
And until that day,
The African continent
Will not know peace,
We Africans will fight - we find it necessary -
And we know we shall win
As we are confident
In the victory

Of good over evil -
Good over evil, yeah!
Good over evil -
Good over evil, yeah!
Good over evil -
Good over evil, yeah! [fadeout]


bob marley (from a speech at the united nations by haile selassie, great lion of judah)

Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 4:56:00 PM GMT-5  

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