Day: May 18, 2016

House to debate repealing 2001 war authorization

Finally!  Someone has grown a set and stepped up to do the right thing……

After the 9/11 attacks the US Congress passed the 2001 war authorization…..and ever since it has been used for the constant wars that we are fighting for the last 15 years.

The House will debate an amendment on Wednesday whether to repeal a 2001 authorization for use of military force that the administration is using for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The amendment, introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), would take effect 90 days after the defense bill is passed, and force the administration to seek new authority from Congress to wage its military campaign against ISIS.

Source: House to debate repealing 2001 war authorization | TheHill

The debate does not mean that it will be repealed…but at least it is a start to control the endless wars that we are now involved in fighting.

What’s Killing the American Middle Class?

For decades I have been watching the middle class slowly disappear…..for me it was most pronounced with the election of Bill Clinton and the leadership of the DLC……I admit it has been in decline before he was elected but with that election the downward spiral became more pronounced…..NAFTA was a horrible idea for the working class of the US and yet we are doing similar agreements almost every administration……

So the question should be…..What is killing the American middle class?

Richard Eskow: Americans work more hours than citizens of any Western European country, a burden that keeps them away from their families, friends, and personal activities.

A new study by the Pew Research Center spurred a rash of headlines last week about “the dying middle class.” But the word “dying” might be more appropriate if we were watching the regrettable but inevitable effects of natural forces at work. We’re not. We’re seeing the fruits of deliberate action – and sometimes of deliberate inaction – at the highest levels of power.

The great American middle was never large enough, even at its height. It always excluded too many people – sometimes, shamefully, merely for their skin color. And now, instead of growing and becoming more inclusive, it’s fading away instead.

It’s true that the middle class is dying, but not from natural causes. It’s being killed. What – and, for that matter, who – is responsible for its slow death?

Source: What’s Killing the American Middle Class? – LA Progressive

Sadly I do not see the situation improving much no matter who is elected….but as usual we Americans will soldier on and make others rich…..it is the American way.

Anti-war Is Pro-American

Yes Irene I am an unapologetic anti-war supporter…..my days in the service of my country in Vietnam has taught me the folly of war.  It is an obscenity that needs to be experienced to understand.

But these days to be so is not as popular as one would think……these days we see “bad guys” behind every international incident…..and some seem to think that if you oppose war that you are some sort of traitor to the country.

Even the “god child” of the conservatives, Thomas Jefferson, was not a big supporter of war….

Thomas Jefferson declared the American way of interacting with the world to be “peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none.” However, over the course of at least the past seven decades, the US government has turned this admonition on its head. Peace? The US government has waged wars of […]

Source: Anti-war Is Pro-American – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

You see people anti-war is pro-American no matter what the supreme nationalists want you to believe……

I bring this up right now because the US is poking Russia in the eye….yet again…..and I am afraid in these days that it could escalate beyond the rhetoric of the original Cold War…..

If the United States ever ends up stumbling into a major conventional or nuclear war with Russia, the culprit will likely be two military boondoggles that refused to die when their primary mission ended with the demise of the Soviet Union: NATO and the U.S. anti-ballistic missile (ABM) program.

The “military-industrial complex” that reaps hundreds of billions of dollars annually from support of those programs got a major boost this week when NATO established its first major missile defense site at an air base in Romania, with plans to build a second installation in Poland by 2018.

Source: Escalations in a New Cold War – Consortiumnews

Contrary to the words of Jefferson the US….is neither searching for peace or commerce (other than making the toads in the M-IC wealthier than they are now) or avoiding international entanglements….

And then there is the Russian reaction to the new NATO missile shield…..

Source: Official Russian Campaign Against NATO’s Ballistic Missile Defense System In Europe – Part II

Sorry but all this sounds like the beginning of the original Cold War……

With the problems in the Middle East….and now this…..how can it all end?

With my last breath I will still say that there are better ways to solve problems and situations than going to war.

Sanders’ Potential Foreign Policy

I know I harp on the importance of foreign policy in this election…..and I will admit that I am a non-interventionist…..I do not think that going to war can solve the problems in the world….I do say that there are times when war can be justified….

To say that I am not impressed with the foreign policy of Hillary or Trump would be an understatement….they are both neocons regardless what they would like to label themselves.

Likewise with Bernie….but I do not think that he is a neocon and his lack of any foreign relations experience could bite him in the butt if he were to be elected……

I am always look for articles about the candidates foreign policy positions to help my readers understand why this is so important…..

I found an article that presses the issue that Bernie’s lack of substantial experience in foreign policy could be a plus and a positive sign……

Progressives like LA Progressive editor Dick Price have indicated many domestic reasons why progressives prefer Bernie Sanders to Hillary Clinton. A recent New York Times editorial also emphasizes his domestic stances but concedes that “Mrs. Clinton outflanks him on both knowledge and practice of foreign policy.” This essay, however, will argue that we voters should pay more attention to Sanders’ dovish approach to foreign policy, as contrasted to the more hawkish and belligerent positions of Clinton and Trump. As president, he would be less likely than Clinton or Trump to involve us in foreign entanglements that would cause more human and economic pain and divert attention and resources from important domestic problems.

Source: Sanders’ Potential Foreign Policy: An Ignored Strength? – LA Progressive

I do not know for sure if I can agree with this position….for one, Bernie would have to deal with a Congress that is mostly neocons and neo-liberals….in other words pro-war…..that alone would prevent any sound and rational policies almost non-existent…..

What say you after reading the piece…..is it a positive or a negative?

The Civil War Inside the US Military

I have been writing a blog now for 10 years and I have always kept with my beliefs that we should not rush into conflict for any reason short of an attack on the nation proper……I can justify the invasion of Afghanistan but not the occupation for 14 years…..in all that time I have also been a keen observer of the budget battle especially the money that will be earmarked for the military or what we call the defense budget…..

This year is no different……I have been watching the battle for the budget on the Hill…..I have watched the propaganda machine go into full tilt boogey…..The Russian are coming seems to be the war cry…..

In early April, a battalion of senior military officials appeared before a Senate panel and testified that the US Army is “outranged and outgunned,” particularly in any future conflict with Russia. Arguing for a much bigger budget for the Army, they claimed that, absent a substantial increase in funding, the Russians would overtake us and, even scarier, “the army of the future will be too small to secure the nation.”

The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! And before you know it, Brooklyn will be renamed Putingrad.

Source: The Civil War Inside the US Military – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

It will be interesting to see where this budget, the final budget, will lead our military….will the armed conflicts continue to rise or will calmer heads prevail?

Any bets?

America’s Long War to Control the Middle East

The US has had its eyes on the Middle East for decades…….and its policies turned sour after they decided that Israel should be recognized after the announcement by the Jews.

Of course the necessity for oil also has the US struggling to keep oil producers like Saudi Arabia, UAE and others in their pockets.

Nothing undermines the American belief in military force. No matter how often its galloping about results in resentment and mayhem, the U.S. gets up again to do good elsewhere.

The conviction that invasion, bombing, and special forces benefit large swaths of the globe, while remaining consonant with a Platonic ideal of the national interest, runs deep in the American psyche. Like the poet Stevie Smith’s cat, the United States “likes to gallop about doing good.” The cat attacks and misses, sometimes injuring itself, but does not give up. It asks, as the U.S. should,

Source: Andrew Bacevich and America’s Long Misguided War to Control the Greater Middle East

An interesting piece……the US has been massaging the “rulers” of the various countries since the beginning of the Cold War…..actually longer but that would require me to go into a long historical perspective and we all would rather I not do that, right?