Military
It has begun to dawn on even the most ardent of President Obama’s supporters that there is a gap between what he said he would do as a candidate in 2008, and what he has done since his election. “Gap” might not be the right word. It is a chasm in which you could lose a continent.
He promised to close Guantánamo Bay. It is still there, along with who knows how many secret “rendition centers” where U.S. laws against torture do not apply. Worse, his administration has produced a new rationale for indefinite detention without trial.
He promised to clean out the lobbyists, but they still own Washington.
Candidate Obama promised...
The following blog entry is by Sarah at the Healthy Home Economist. Thanks, Sarah!
The vaccine industry went home with its tail between its legs after suffering an enormous and...
Finance, Business, Economics, Foreign Policy, Elections, Military, Politics, Environment, Energy
Europe may soon be choking on that plat du jour of government a la Hollandaise with the side of chopped Greek salad. The whole world, in fact, has got something like a giant hairball stuck in its craw. The hairball is composed of filaments of lies wound over a core of supernatural indebtedness. The lies are promises that the debt will be paid back.
For two months the financial markets have gone sideways on a cushion of the European Central Bank's Long term Financing Operations and the hot air of austerity chatter. The illusion of remaining airborne may dissolve now with the Hollandaise denunciation of Franco-German team...
MONTPELIER- A rainy Tuesday morning was not enough to deter the huddled masses yearning to breathe free as more than 500 people marched on the state Capitol to collectively demand that legislators “Put People First.”
Organized by the Vermont Workers’ Center, a coalition of organizations such as Migrant Justice, 350.org, the Vermont...
I was surprised to see in my Washington Post this past Wednesday morning an eight page "advertising supplement" commemorating "100 Years of Marine Corps Aviation." The material shown was a little interesting: interspaced among sections hyping contemporary USMC drones and, of course, the V-22 and the F-35B, there was some bio material on the Marine Corps' early aviation pioneers.
The latter material had some interesting assertions about what the Marine Corps says air power is for; it is best summarized by the quote on page two from pioneer Major Alfred A. Cunningham: "The only excuse for aviation...
Replicating post-WW II occupations is planned for Afghanistant. Sixty-seven years after war's end, US troops still occupy Germany, Japan and Korea. They're part of America's growing empire of bases.
Status of forces (SOFA) agreements establish the framework under which US forces operate abroad. The Department of Defense Technical Information Center calls them agreements "that defines the legal position of a 'visiting' military force deployed in the territory of a friendly state." They delineate:
"the status of visiting military forces (and) may be bilateral or multilateral. Provisions...
Divestment. What does this mean? It means Dis-investment. Some divestments in the past and the reasons include:
- Denies the validity of the Geneva convention
- Won't sign the 1997...
Dear friends of the US constitution and international law, and unwilling participants in the US Empire. As long as you give the US government your tax money, they don't have to listen to a word you say. As Alexander Haig once said, "Protest all you want, as long as you pay your taxes." Here is my latest letter to the IRS:
IRS PO Box 9052 Andover, MA 01810-9052
Dear IRS employee that is reading this letter (no responsible person was given),
I recently received the revised “Amount due” forms from your office. They state that I owe $7,144.77 for 2006 and $1,476.88 for 2007 (see enclosed copies). I do...
The arguments surrounding the secession issue in Vermont are both moral and economic. While I will address the moral issues briefly at end, the focus of this essay is the economic issues. More specifically I will address the notion that it pays to stay in the Union because Vermont gets back more in federal spending than it gives up in taxes. Vermont gets an ongoing fiscal stimulus that raises the state’s Gross Domestic Product and hence, presumably, the well-being of the people. The questions are then, “is Vermont, in fact, the beneficiary of such a fiscal stimulus, and is it sustainable” and, if so, “is the benefit worth the moral consequences of affiliation with the morally compromised and decaying United States Empire.”
The...
I spoke with Steve Zind yesterday about the F-35 coming to Burlington. Please have a listen!
New F-35 Jets Likely To Bring More Noise To Burlington Area
We had a long conversation and I've done my best to rescontruct what I said and I've elaborated on some points that I missed:
One of the prevailing sentiments expressed by supporters of having the F-35 based with the Vermont Air National Guard is that it represents a show faith in the exemplary service of this unit and I don’t think anyone can...
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