War

America's Chernobyl

Until our citizenry holds the military accountable for its experimentation and demands the full truth about our nuclear testing program as well as chemical and biological warfare, this nation will only be an illusion of liberty.

Intelligence, Sanity, Good, and Evil

An unchecked faith in our intelligence -- just like an unchecked faith in anything -- may be our own worst enemy. It is in the name of intelligence, I feel, that we make some of our greatest blunders.

Hiroshima Day 2004

Today, on Hiroshima Day, the nation faces a choice between an "insane" George W. Bush and a "sane" John Kerry.

A Shakey Prediction

This policy of "Respect through Strength" stands as the greatest American failure in history.

The Politics of Fat and Exercise

It had nothing to do with staying healthy, everything to do with eugenics.

War's Anniversary

I'm for remembering all the dead, American and Iraqi....no more soldier-hating presidents.

Martydom 5: Vukovar, Guernica, and Hiroshima

I refused to take the side of any government, any army in a war.

Martyrdom 4: The Soot in the Fields

To thwart them, we must tell the whole truth. Sixteen million people died in the Holocaust: Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, homosexuals, and "defectives".

Martyrdom 3: Esprit de Corps

Generals such as Patton like to think that they are the high priests of vast congregations called "armies", but from what I have heard and read from grunts the spiritual community is more akin to that of Quakers than to the Vatican or Shinto.

No Further Comment
From a Georgetown University special collection dedicated to British Recruitment Posters from World War I:...

We must urgently go to war against Terriers

I have spoken to Condoleezza Rice in the bathtub last week, re-confirming all this.

The Drum Beat

When I look over Drum's commentary on the war and Kerry's let-Bush-have-his-way-votes, I find ample room for embarassment in both matters.

Spitting on Soldiers

If anyone had this happen to him and can provide witnesses, please let me know. I will say this: it was wrong. If it happened.

Morlocks and Eloi

The Morlock's underground exists today, in the full light of the sun.

Everybody Went for It?

Did George W. Bush fool everybody?

Open Letter to Yule: Violence against Men

The trouble with the men who you describe is that their comments serve to close down debate, not present better solutions that cover all the cases.

A Comment Worth Looking At
A new comment on an old article is worth looking at: War photographer Jon Mills on "Biased Impartiality": Many photographers...

Cruel Talk about Pfc. Jessica Lynch

I do not think it is my imagination when I observe women being among the harshest critics of Pfc. Jessica Lynch.

Pfc. Jessica Lynch & Sgt. Robert Ferriol

To those troops who have fought with their eyes open and their hearts against the Iraq Occupation, I tender my apologies for blanketing remarks that I made last spring.

The Law and Morality

The logic is telling: if the law changes to allow a person to become legitimized, then that person is no longer illegal and therefore no longer morally suspect. The question which must follow is this: if the only thing that has changed is the status of the person under the law and not the behavior, why declare them morally reprehensible in the first place?

What are We Going to DO about Illegal Citizens?

If those who live here without INS approval are "illegal aliens", then those who do not register for the draft are "illegal citizens".

General Smedley Butler: American Hero

Smedley Butler and Rudyard Kipling both knew that there was too much of those guns, far too much of those guns.

A Peace from Hell

Progressives know that this war will not go away, that the troops will not wake up with happy dreams about warm welcomes of the Iraqi people.

Oliver North

At that proud purr of your voice, the war in Vietnam was lost -- by you.

Nagasaki Day: The High Price of WW 2

The blast at Nagasaki should not blind us to the consequences of the other arms race, to the great profits being made off these holocausts in a can.

Hiroshima Denial

To what are we comparing history? Conjectures about "what might have been".

Call to Blogging: Nagasaki Day
Acts of Conscience is calling on bloggers to remember the 58th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki. Blogging about Hiroshima...

Hiroshima Day - August 5, 1945

It was evening in California when it happened in Japan.

Hiroshima Day 2003 - 2

The last survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will be dead inside of ten years.

Overheated in Iraq

So here are our boys in Iraq, frying their brains out in 110 degree heat day in and day out while their superiors sip bottled water in the cool of their trailers.

The Ambiguity of Our Time

Our troops are doing monstrous things in Iraq and they're being undercompensated for it.

Fear of the Fruits of Loathing

If anyone from the DOJ is reading this, I've heard how they've screwed up your investigative powers so that you can't put a stop to terrorism. I'm with you, not against you on this.

The Liberia Trap

Think, Democrats. Think! Don't wimp out on opposing war!

Defining Patiotism

If support for actions is limited to war making, then I am screwed.

Error Page....

Go to Google. Enter this phrase exactly, quotes and all: "weapons of mass destruction". Click on "I'm feeling lucky".

We Are the Borg

The most frightening thing we can say to others is "You will be disassimilated!

The Women in Black

It relieved me to see them; they are the shadow which will not be heard in the blinding conservative sun patch of Orange County unless --

Guess Who's the Joker

Right wing political correctness took a slap in the face.

Everybody point....

Unless liberals and progressives unite for a new vision and say no to the DLC, Bush will be succeeded by a Democratic Nixon who will give us new My Lais and new child casualties

On Open Mindedness: A Pacifist Manifesto

To my pacifist friends: Keep the faith!

Baby Killers?

I still maintain that I while I do not support "our boys" as they ransack Iraq, I also will not fling nasty epithets at them when they return home.

Facing Peace

This may turn into nothing more than a way for the American Stasi to compile an enemies list, but I added myself to the Faces for Peace site.

Free to Criticize?

A very clear case that the guns of our government aren't being pointed in defense of our freedoms but in direct assault against them.

Whoa Joel?

If liberals won't treat people like me as human beings and talk seriously about our grievances, it will not be our fault if we vote our consciences. That's what a thoughtful and informed voter is supposed to do.

End of the War?

It's arrogance of the highest order, suggesting that if news of an Afghani or Iraqi death doesn't reach us in our comfortable homes it doesn't happen.

A Prediction

You can rest assured that if Bush wants his war against Syria badly enough, he'll get it.

Tax Time Power Dive

Today, all we Americans are expected to put in the forms that document that we've helped to pay for the everlasting war that most of us don't want.

No More an Apology than Deserved

Two weeks ago, I mentioned comments by an unnamed American to the effect that John Komyakevich "got shot because he was an idiot". In fairness now, I must face up to the fact that this war supporter was actually referring to the gun man.

A Rebuttal to Post-War(?) McCarthyism

Pardon me, but I am an American and I am exercising my right of free speech to criticize this adventure. No, it is not preserved by force of arms. It is preserved by using it fearlessly.

The Wishy Washy Middle

The pacifists tend to praise me, but the worst flak I take are from the wishy-washy middles who have dropped me like a hot potato for, crime of crimes, disagreeing with them!

Lies, Damn Lies, and IRC

I never stated that I lit fireworks when Americans die. I want our boys home, not in Iraq. Whoever is spreading that rumor is not to be trusted.

Double Talk

When the sounds of the word "liberation" and bomb explosions coalesce, I cannot sleep: How can you liberate the dead?

George W. Bush: Servant of Satan or Servant of God?

"I'm glad we have a Christian president," said "big_jizo" and I said "We don't."

You Are A Military Target

The moral of the story is think, think very hard about the line of propaganda that you're being fed.

Scene at the Soup and Salad Bar

I'm going to come down hard on you, so hard on you," she yelled.

War Blogging

I'd like to confront an erroneous view that is going around in some circles, one that is epitomized by the folksy saying that there are three positions on every issue: yours, mine, and the Truth. I feel that this is a cop out, a way of avoiding adjusting your take on events when the facts don't support it.

Remember John Komyakevich.

Face it: Americans are now in the habit of rushing to judgement about anyone or anything who makes this war effort look bad. Some shoot to kill.

Blackhawk Clowns

De Genova passes himself off as an ally in the struggle against the Bush Blitzkrieg of the checks against the rampages of the presidency and the sell-out GOPher Congress, but he's a friend I'd rather not have.

Wars at Home/State Terrorism

To those who say that the war in Iraq is a war for the cause of freedom, I echo the famous phrase of Milton: Look Homeward, Angel!

Lexicon for Our Times

False information disseminated for the purpose of arousing public support for a dubious cause, especially a war. A noble exercise calculated to promote the weal of a limited, wealthy class while appealing to the less fortunate by promising them money and status that they will never actually see.

War Blogging

Now that I've again established myself as a demon in many peoples' eyes, I will get on with the bidaily review of war blogging.

"He Had It Coming"

During the "Cell Block Tango" number, I couldn't help but think how George W. Bush and the propagandists belong up there with the Six Merry Murderesses of the Cook County Jail.

A Beautiful, Critical Mind

"No," Picasso snapped. "You did."

Wargasm

Be honest about it: it's for the thrill that you watch the news. So why not go all the way?

Not Proved

"Not proved" means that the prosecution hasn't established sufficient proof of the guilt of the defendant, but the jury isn't convinced of innocence, either.

Reliable Human Rights Reports

Far too many bloggers are jumping to print reports coming off their television sets about alleged atrocities in Iraq. Both those for the war and those against it reprint the latest allegations uncritically.

Puzzled

How could they not have noticed?

Prayer Resolution

Sometimes I think I left Christianity and became a agnostic so that I could better live the words of Christ.

War Blogging

I'm being found by members of the Moral Left (who include Christians, Muslims, New Agers, Humanists, and agnostics). Thanks for the new links!

My Father and the Cruise Missile

The night the cruise missiles rained on Bagdhad in 1991, I lay in my bed. I was desperate; I was in a distinct, determined minority because of my opposition, and I was not at all quiet: I was screaming.

The Question

"Daddy, did you kill anyone in the war?"

A Sensible Way to Help Americans

The grandstanding of some bloggers who are making care packages to send off to soldiers is misplaced. I can imagine the pain in some soldiers as they think of the families scraping by back at home while they eat chocolate bars.

A Personal Checklist for War Activism

Here are some things I intend to devote my time to regarding this war.

Support our Troops? -- The Question is HOW?

Photos of "our boys" show them to be relatively fat and happy compared to these children. They will be in the crucible for a matter of weeks. The children of Iraq were born to this horror and they've been in it for years.

Biased Impartiality

It's time for the media to cut the BS and make it clear to the United States and British High Commands that they don't work as their propaganda officers: their job is to report the news, no matter who looks bad in it.

Molotov Cocktails at Demonstrations

When peace activists saw such people during the Vietnam era demonstrations, they'd surround them with a mass of people and walk them over to the police to be arrested. Strangely . . . they were rarely prosecuted.

Save the People

I joined the civilian side.

A Glossary for the Times

I'm offering this because of the confusion about what it means to be "pro-peace". All these people will claim to be "pro-peace" (though I take the claims of the pacifists to be the most accurate).

From the Friends

This has influenced my agnostic thinking on the issue of war, my faith that in a single standard of Truth we may find peace in our hearts and in our world.

Our "Boys" are Men Who Made Choices

If anyone can devise a program whereby an Iraqi soldier gets one care package for each one I send to an Allied soldier, I will take part.

War

We are at war and exist, in our own minds, under a state of siege.

Where I Went When the War Began

"You never know," said the clerk.