I agree with NuLiForm about Reg’s writing however!
Peace,
Jesse - Editor, TvNewsLIES.org

But, alas, arrogance blinds and science becomes a sword of death both for its purveyor and anyone who stands in his way.

Coming to this post, which happens to be a damn good one, and the comments, which are equally enlightening, I think Richyrich hit the nail on the head.

All this death and destruction (apparent conflict) is born from the subtle conflict of interest weaved into our laws that allows companies to profit from war.

The same can be said about the entire financial industry which is encouraged to profit from exploiting others - extracting ‘interest’ from borrowers all over the world, or speculating on misfortune with wads of funny money.

The same can be said of corporate law, another area rife with conflicts of interest, as well as lobbying, health law, etc. - the list goes on.

In short, as long as the law of every land MANDATES that one man can profit from another man’s misfortune then we will continue to see conflict, over and over and over again.

It’s these subtle conflicts that, in principle, must be eradicated before we can expect TRUE change.

That said, our government is in power because the people accept their authority. If hundreds of thousands of Americans camped out around the White House for days and weeks on end, their tune would change.

So, yes - we must ACT, not just write (although writing is helpful, albeit only nominally). And the first step is raising awareness - not just among people who already know (on the internet), but among those who don’t (on the street).

So, how many people on the street have you talked to today? Let’s get cracking.

This conflict MUST BE RESOLVED to fix the Iraq War. We need to stop feeding the domestic and international Israeli war machine. It’s got to stop.

Read Carter.

This is the problem.

The ONLY world leader who supports and condones the Iraq War is Israel’s Olmert. He praised Bush for fighting it four weeks ago, for ’staying the course’. His Vice PM, Avigdor Lieberman, is in DC right now trying to get the USA to bomb Iran, with our children fighting this proxy war. Presidential hopeful Clinton was at the Brookings Institute last night to listen to this ex nightclub bouncer Vice PM make his argument. Lieberman is a vile extremist who wants to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians; as he puts it: “send Hamas to heaven.” His preferred method? Drive the Palestinians to the sea and drown them. A democratic presidential hopeful is party to this?

This is the problem. This is why there is inaction or tepid support of the American people’s increasing disgust with this war.

Had Murtha won the Majority Leadership, he would have roared to the rafters by now and stirred the silent majority who dont have a voice in either the D or R parties.

The guy above me said it best: “All the letters faxes emails and protests have shown their value… Zip.”

This is the problem.

YOU GOTTA ASK YOURSELF WHY? WHO? WHO? WHO, or what, is causing this extraordinary congressional inaction? What are our congressmen afraid they wont get if they speak up in protest? Who benefits from their silence?

Certainly not the people of the United States.

This is the problem.

Yes, Do write and call, and Take it to the Streets, because those faces do change from time to time, and some are comming over to our side, but..don’t expect them All to care. Many never will. Greed is a powerful master.

IF you want to fight them, what we need to do is :
#1. Educate ourselves on the Actual governmental history from day one right up to current policy. Knowledge is our Best Weapon and Only Protection.
Be prepared to learn things that will horrify you, this country has never been Great in a good way, but it has always been Terrible.
#2. Educate and Motivate the General Public, light fires under their apathetic bums. We will never get them all on their feet, but all it takes is a Majority. People forget..We Do Outnumber our advisaries. A Mass movement will get their attention.
and
#3. get ready for an all out Revolution, as it must to come to that IF we want our country back. (As if we ever had it to begin with.)

This American Democracy ideal most people believe in, unfortunately has been a Carefully crafted illusion, lasting for centuries, but it is still Possible..if the Will of the People is strong enough.
NJB

Well, I’m a veteran of the anti-war movement when Vietnam was the wizz-bang of the moral crusade against the communists, who were going to over run all of SouthEast Asia, and lots of Congressmen then were also making lots of money on the war then too.

It is not so easy to stop a war economy on the march.

None of this is new to me. And, while the time frames are likely going to be sped up, this war won’t be stopped by writing letters, voting, marching in the streets, or praying either.

I’ve seen it all before.

I read recently, the Vietnam War wasn’t ended until Congress cut off funding and Dick Nixon was forced to pull out the troops because they didn’t have the hardware to continue fighting. This is true, and to get to that stage then took years.

The heart of the matter is WHY did Congress cut off funding? It certainly wasn’t because Dick Nixon won the WHite House on a promise to end the war in Vietnam, which he did in fact.

It happened because the anti-war movement had been radicalized to the point where bombs were going off in this country, kids were getting killed at Kent State, the universities were being sht down, and the anti war sentiment was starting to hurt enough monied interests in this country in the pocket so THEY put pressure on enough Congressmen so that they then pulled the plug on the whole dirty mess.

Vietnam was a lie too. These people in politics are born liars. You know that.

Let me tell you how much of a lie this war is now.

When John Kerry stood up at the DNC and said, “When I was a young man, I defended my country.” this was the biggest lie he could have uttered all these years later. He knew full well no one in Vietnam was defending this country, any more than anyone in Iraq is defending this country.

All those soldiers are pawns in a big game that is played with real hard cash being made by the barrel full, and much of it going into the pockets of those whom the author is encouraging us to write letters to in an effort to get this thing stopped.

Believe me when I say, no matter how much can be put at the feet of Bush & Company, they’re heroes inside the beltway in Washington, heroes who are making all of those Congressmen very rich right now as it is their companies or companies in which they have an interest that are supplying the materials for the war effort through government contracts.

And the Democrats are absolutely not going to stop this war as long as it is their own personal cash-cornucopia, which is what it is since they took the midterm elections by storm. They have a mandate. And as far as they’re concerned, that mandate is to get a bigger piece of the war profiteering pie.

Don Robertson, The American Philosopher
Limestone, Maine

An Illustrated Philosophy Primer for Young Readers