Lucille
11-12-2012, 03:48 PM
Armistice Day Remembrance (http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/125984.html)
But alas war was not finally defeated. As we should get used to when we study history: we lost, we all lost. Civilization lost. Decency lost. And in many ways the world ended.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/126076.html
As the media and other voices of the state continue to twist Armistice Day into another War-Lovers holiday, I am reminded of a genuine hero from World War I. A man who was later to become a very good friend, Howard Moore, had been ordered to report for military service in that war. He refused to do so, declaring himself conscientiously opposed to war. He was prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to a 25 year prison term. Throughout his ordeal — even while in prison in Utah — he was given the opportunity to recant his peaceful dispositions, but refused to do so. In prison, he refused to participate in any ordered activity, for which he was beaten, tortured, and made to sleep on a concrete floor. After the war was over, the conscientious objector prisoners had their convictions commuted, but Howard was one of the last to be released (due to his insistence upon being a peaceful, self-owning person). While Howard had been born two months prematurely, and with a defective heart, and had been so badly maltreated by the state, he lived to the age of 104. He was one of the kindest and most thoughtful persons I have ever known.
Veterans Day: Honor the Soldier ... Scorn the Chickenhawk
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-11-12/veterans-day-honor-soldier-scorn-chickenhawk
Honor the Veterans
We honor the brave men and women who have served in our armed forces.
Some of the most generous, dedicated, brave people we have ever met are veterans.
But the government scorns them …
Veterans returning from the front lines are labeled “potential terrorists”, to the horror of both the Republican and Democratic leadership.
Veterans receive horrible health care.
Veterans who exercise the freedom of speech which they fought for abroad are harassed, beaten, and then denied medical treatment. (It’s been that way for a long time.)
And the big banks – which are continually being bailed out and otherwise enabled by the government – have been cheating veterans on their mortgages, and the government isn’t doing much about it.
War is a Racket
“War is a racket“, according to one of the most highly-decorated military men of all time (and the hero who stopped a coup against FDR ).
Top economists say that war is horrible for the economy. It benefits a handful of elites, while levying a tax on the vast majority of Americans.
President Eisenhower - formerly a top general - tried to warn us:
[...]
The Founding Fathers also tried to warn us.
But we didn’t listen.
[...]
The Real Meaning of Veterans Day
David Swanson notes that Veteran’s Day began as a pledge to end all wars:
Believe it or not, November 11th was not made a holiday in order to celebrate war, support troops, or cheer the 11th year of occupying Afghanistan. This day was made a holiday in order to celebrate an armistice that ended what was up until that point, in 1918, one of the worst things our species had thus far done to itself, namely World War I.
***
A ten-year campaign was launched in 1918 that in 1928 created the Kellogg-Briand Pact, legally banning all wars. That treaty is still on the books, which is why war making is a criminal act and how Nazis came to be prosecuted for it.
“[O]n November 11, 1918, there ended the most unnecessary, the most financially exhausting, and the most terribly fatal of all the wars that the world has ever known. Twenty millions of men and women, in that war, were killed outright, or died later from wounds. The Spanish influenza, admittedly caused by the War and nothing else, killed, in various lands, one hundred million persons more.” — Thomas Hall Shastid, 1927.
Many active-duty service men are opposed to the endless wars, which only weaken our national security and increase terrorism. See this, this, this, this, this, this and this.
The troops want to come home, and the American public want them to come home as well.
It is only the elite who want war. As Nazi leader Hermann Goering famously said:
Why of course the people don’t want war … But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship … Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.
But alas war was not finally defeated. As we should get used to when we study history: we lost, we all lost. Civilization lost. Decency lost. And in many ways the world ended.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/126076.html
As the media and other voices of the state continue to twist Armistice Day into another War-Lovers holiday, I am reminded of a genuine hero from World War I. A man who was later to become a very good friend, Howard Moore, had been ordered to report for military service in that war. He refused to do so, declaring himself conscientiously opposed to war. He was prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to a 25 year prison term. Throughout his ordeal — even while in prison in Utah — he was given the opportunity to recant his peaceful dispositions, but refused to do so. In prison, he refused to participate in any ordered activity, for which he was beaten, tortured, and made to sleep on a concrete floor. After the war was over, the conscientious objector prisoners had their convictions commuted, but Howard was one of the last to be released (due to his insistence upon being a peaceful, self-owning person). While Howard had been born two months prematurely, and with a defective heart, and had been so badly maltreated by the state, he lived to the age of 104. He was one of the kindest and most thoughtful persons I have ever known.
Veterans Day: Honor the Soldier ... Scorn the Chickenhawk
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-11-12/veterans-day-honor-soldier-scorn-chickenhawk
Honor the Veterans
We honor the brave men and women who have served in our armed forces.
Some of the most generous, dedicated, brave people we have ever met are veterans.
But the government scorns them …
Veterans returning from the front lines are labeled “potential terrorists”, to the horror of both the Republican and Democratic leadership.
Veterans receive horrible health care.
Veterans who exercise the freedom of speech which they fought for abroad are harassed, beaten, and then denied medical treatment. (It’s been that way for a long time.)
And the big banks – which are continually being bailed out and otherwise enabled by the government – have been cheating veterans on their mortgages, and the government isn’t doing much about it.
War is a Racket
“War is a racket“, according to one of the most highly-decorated military men of all time (and the hero who stopped a coup against FDR ).
Top economists say that war is horrible for the economy. It benefits a handful of elites, while levying a tax on the vast majority of Americans.
President Eisenhower - formerly a top general - tried to warn us:
[...]
The Founding Fathers also tried to warn us.
But we didn’t listen.
[...]
The Real Meaning of Veterans Day
David Swanson notes that Veteran’s Day began as a pledge to end all wars:
Believe it or not, November 11th was not made a holiday in order to celebrate war, support troops, or cheer the 11th year of occupying Afghanistan. This day was made a holiday in order to celebrate an armistice that ended what was up until that point, in 1918, one of the worst things our species had thus far done to itself, namely World War I.
***
A ten-year campaign was launched in 1918 that in 1928 created the Kellogg-Briand Pact, legally banning all wars. That treaty is still on the books, which is why war making is a criminal act and how Nazis came to be prosecuted for it.
“[O]n November 11, 1918, there ended the most unnecessary, the most financially exhausting, and the most terribly fatal of all the wars that the world has ever known. Twenty millions of men and women, in that war, were killed outright, or died later from wounds. The Spanish influenza, admittedly caused by the War and nothing else, killed, in various lands, one hundred million persons more.” — Thomas Hall Shastid, 1927.
Many active-duty service men are opposed to the endless wars, which only weaken our national security and increase terrorism. See this, this, this, this, this, this and this.
The troops want to come home, and the American public want them to come home as well.
It is only the elite who want war. As Nazi leader Hermann Goering famously said:
Why of course the people don’t want war … But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship … Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.