Anti-Imperialist League
About the Author
A group that seeks to restrain the U.S. from its imperialist inclinations.
The current situation in Mexico merits significant attention. Not only has violence been ravaging the streets of multiple Mexican streets, but the violence is crossing the border into the United States and claiming the lives of innocent Americans. We need to actively pursue a means of securing the borer and ensuring that violence in Mexico does not spill over into our country. Furthermore, if he United States is going to serve as a hegemony, than we need to let our presence be known to our neighbors. We need to increase the pressure on Mexican authorities to better regulate their country and to quell violence. We also need to prevent the sale of guns to individuals who have criminal records, no citizenship, and who have not passed a thorough background check. If we fail to act now, bloodshed will become a reality in American cities.
This demographic is often overlooked, unappreciated, and definitely underfunded. Non-profit and community based organizations carry out the work in the local communities that is most helpful to the residents of the neighborhood. It is these organizations that have the time to provide individual attention for the American citizens in need. It is therefore imperative that politicians take into account the importance of having these institutions working in the community, and provide adequate funding and support. Often, these organizations carry out the work that city and state governments cannot be bothered to do, and the federal government would never undertake. These organizations need better funding in order to continue to provide the vast number of different services that they provide for local citizens. Without adequate funding, the organizations will have no choice but to lay-off employees, reduce available services, and unfortunately some will cease to exist. If this becomes the case, these organizations will take with them the services they provide for the community, and who will then step up to fill that void in our most hard-hit communities?
I hope that the new stimulus plan results in available money for the institutions and the people who are committed to ensuring an economic recovery actually occurs. Handing out money to organizations that refuse to put these finances to good use will only worsen the situation. We need to ensure that organizations like non-profit organizations, are receiving adequate funding in order to maintain the same high level of work in the local communities they service. These are the organizations that merit financial support, for they service the people at no cost and truly believe in helping the individuals who come into their offices. Handing money o these greedy organizations that do not but gobble it up and pay lucrative salaries to employees who serve the wealthy, goes against the intended purpose of this economic plan. I believe that President Obama needs to ensure that money is disseminated and put to use. Lets move away from the notion of "trickle-down" economics and move into the future with social-economic policies that better the lives of Americans and limit corporate greed. Big business cannot be the only concern of America. Whether we are red or blue, the most important color right now is green because it represents food, shelter, and livelihood. This plan needs to get green in the hands of those who need it most, not those who created this problem in the first place.
The U.S. government gives about $5 billion dollars per year in military aid to Israel. We shouldn't give any of it. There are many compelling reasons:
1) Israel's War on Gaza has killed hundreds of civilians
2) This makes them, and by extension us, look extremely bad
3) This image problem is one of the main reasons why we are vulnerable to terrorism.
So Obama, if you really want to make a change, you need to send a message to Israel: disproportionate violence is not acceptable. Break the cycle of violence, or loose your military aid.
How long exactly are we going to remain on the ground in Iraq? Are we ever going to provide the necessary shift of troop strength from Iraq to Afghanistan? When are we going to allow the international community to take a greater role in affairs that are closer to their side of the world?
Essentially, I am interested in knowing if any changes in our foreign policy are going to take place or are we continuing failed policy. If we continue to ignore the issues that exist on a domestic level, choosing instead to focus on the international community, how are we ever going to rectify our problems here at home? Should we resign ourselves to a worldwide "policing" role? The last time I was abroad, which was fairly recent, I didn't get the sentiment that other nations were calling out for our assistance. Those that were, they needed aid, not military presence.
Essentially, I am interested in knowing if any changes in our foreign policy are going to take place or are we continuing failed policy. If we continue to ignore the issues that exist on a domestic level, choosing instead to focus on the international community, how are we ever going to rectify our problems here at home? Should we resign ourselves to a worldwide "policing" role? The last time I was abroad, which was fairly recent, I didn't get the sentiment that other nations were calling out for our assistance. Those that were, they needed aid, not military presence.
The USA gives about $5 billion per year in military grants to Israel. Right now that aid is being put to work slaughtering Palestinians, largely civilian men, women, and children.
This must stop. It's not only wrong, but it's a waste of tax money and makes us vulnerable to terrorism.
If you want to give out financial aid, give it to struggling students, not the Israeli war machine.
I haven't been able to get to this site for a while now . . . great to be back!
Look, this Israeli operation in Gaza has to stop. It's just killing a bunch of civilians. The USA is giving around $5 billion in military grants to Israel every year. That should stop too.
The Gaza rockets are deplorable but we all (should) know this conflict has been going on a long time.
Two wrongs don't make a right. Send Gaza food and medicine, not bombs. Revenge leads to more revenge, it's like pouring gasoline on a fire . . .
I have to laugh when I read coverage of the recent incident where an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at George W. Bush at a press conference. They almost always say something like "in Arab culture throwing shoes at someone is considered an insult".
I'm pretty sure it's considered an insult in American culture too. Maybe a little rare, but solidly in the insult category.
The question is: how long does Obama want to be in Bush's position? Sustaining an occupation that the Iraqis don't want is beyond foolish, it's shoe-throw-worthy.
In the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, pressure is mounting in India to respond in a "tough" way, similar to that of the United States. Accusations are flying, and many are being directed towards Pakistan, India's twin state with which it has been fighting on and off since the states became independent of British imperialism after WW2.
It's too bad that we have set a precedent that will result in an escalation in the cycle of violence that will only make things worse. India, like us, has two choices: respond to the attacks by fighting a war and creating plenty of fresh victims. Or, pursuing the better path, to treat terrorism like the crime that it is. Of course that means that state terrorists should be treated as such and prosecuted (e.g. George Bush).
Treating terrorism like a crime instead of like a war is better because it implies a narrow, appropriate scale of force that will create a minimum of innocent victims, and hence a minimum of new terrorism as a result.
I decided to estimate the interest payments on our $10 trillion national debt. Let's say our creditors are charging us 5% (which is a pretty good rate). That means that every year our national debt grows by . . .
$500 billion! Just from interest!
That's $1,667 for every man woman and child in America per year (all 300 million of us)!
The recent bank bailout will add $35 billion per year to our interest payments! ($117 per person per year).
So, whoever says the national debt doesn't affect us should think twice. In 2009 about $535 billion of our hard-earned tax dollars will go towards paying down the interest on the debt (we aren't even touching the principal) instead of buying us health care, education, and green technology. All to pay for war, and corporate welfare, on the installment plan . . .
When you're in a hole, stop digging.
"A true revolution of values would lay hands on the world order and say of war: this way of settling differences is not just."
"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1967)
If MLK were alive today, would he still be our hero? He spoke these words during the Vietnam War, but they resound through the ages and touch on our wars today.
"Don't ask, don't tell" is a shameful policy that should be eliminated immediately. The military must be open to all who want to fight regardless of sexual orientation. If people are willing to risk their lives for the military, the least the military can do for them is allow them to openly be who they are.
After 9/11 it became clear that the policy actually resulted in gay Arabic translators being fired, RIGHT WHEN WE NEEDED THEM THE MOST!
It all goes back to the fact that we bash gays as a society. We need to get over that and give them equality, respect, and an apology.
After 9/11 it became clear that the policy actually resulted in gay Arabic translators being fired, RIGHT WHEN WE NEEDED THEM THE MOST!
It all goes back to the fact that we bash gays as a society. We need to get over that and give them equality, respect, and an apology.
What if CA passed a law banning heterosexual marriage?
People would be rioting in the streets because that would be a stupid, discriminatory idea that nobody would stand for.
People might realize how ridiculous it is to take a minority group, like gays, and ban them from getting married. It's the same thing, except gays are a historically persecuted minority group. Multiple religions and secular bigots owe gays an apology for bashing them into closets.
So, when can gays vote on your marriage?
People would be rioting in the streets because that would be a stupid, discriminatory idea that nobody would stand for.
People might realize how ridiculous it is to take a minority group, like gays, and ban them from getting married. It's the same thing, except gays are a historically persecuted minority group. Multiple religions and secular bigots owe gays an apology for bashing them into closets.
So, when can gays vote on your marriage?
"General, a man is quite expendable.
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect:
He can think."
-Bertolt Brecht
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So why has Obama promised to imitate George W. Bush's surge strategy in Afghanistan? I thought they were supposed to be totally different. So, we've been over there for seven years and we're still not done eh? When do we get a timetable for withdrawal from that war?
I wouldn't mention it except that in war, people die. And in humanity's recent wars civilians do most of the dying. Also, I thought we were supposed to be better than terrorists. Terrorists have no regard for civilians, they think everybody in America is guilty. Guilt by association. We wouldn't stoop to that would we?
Oops, we already did . . .
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect:
He can think."
-Bertolt Brecht
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So why has Obama promised to imitate George W. Bush's surge strategy in Afghanistan? I thought they were supposed to be totally different. So, we've been over there for seven years and we're still not done eh? When do we get a timetable for withdrawal from that war?
I wouldn't mention it except that in war, people die. And in humanity's recent wars civilians do most of the dying. Also, I thought we were supposed to be better than terrorists. Terrorists have no regard for civilians, they think everybody in America is guilty. Guilt by association. We wouldn't stoop to that would we?
Oops, we already did . . .
A new report contains convincing evidence that Gulf War Syndrome is real, affects around 175,000 soldiers, and was caused by anti-nerve gas treatments and pesticides that soldiers were exposed to by the U.S. military during the 1990-91 Gulf War.
The LA times reported this news today:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-gulfwar18-2008nov18,0,7557540.story
The government has been denying that the syndrome, which causes neurological problems, is real since the early 90s. I guess it's more important to deny incompetence than to help veterans get the health care they need.
The LA times reported this news today:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-gulfwar18-2008nov18,0,7557540.story
The government has been denying that the syndrome, which causes neurological problems, is real since the early 90s. I guess it's more important to deny incompetence than to help veterans get the health care they need.
America is a violent place with a violent culture and a violent history. Given this, it's hard to work for non-violent solutions to problems in this country. Too many people assume that peaceful solutions are not solutions, that they are "weak".
Look at where violence has gotten us in 8 years. Nowhere.
We aren't safer.
Hundreds of thousands of people have died.
We are going broke.
But at least we can feel tough.
It's time to grow up. Politicians love to talk about violence as a last resort, but they don't really mean it. They turn to it whenever it can distract people from their real problems or please their corporate masters, who make a killing off the killing. You want a change? Have the courage to stand up for peace.
See how quickly you get shouted down by angry ignorance. Finally, to all you so-called Christians out there: who would Jesus bomb?
Look at where violence has gotten us in 8 years. Nowhere.
We aren't safer.
Hundreds of thousands of people have died.
We are going broke.
But at least we can feel tough.
It's time to grow up. Politicians love to talk about violence as a last resort, but they don't really mean it. They turn to it whenever it can distract people from their real problems or please their corporate masters, who make a killing off the killing. You want a change? Have the courage to stand up for peace.
See how quickly you get shouted down by angry ignorance. Finally, to all you so-called Christians out there: who would Jesus bomb?
Check out this story Al Jazeera just broke:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/11/20081117143940228385.html
The Taliban refuses to negotiate peace while foreign troops are in the country. Gee, maybe we should leave. Finding Bin Laden is police work. We don't need to take over whole countries to do it, and doing so makes us more enemies.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/11/20081117143940228385.html
The Taliban refuses to negotiate peace while foreign troops are in the country. Gee, maybe we should leave. Finding Bin Laden is police work. We don't need to take over whole countries to do it, and doing so makes us more enemies.
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."
-Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945), Hitler's Minister of Propaganda
Our great lie is that a violent response to terrorism is making us safer. Every innocent person killed in our wars leaves behind a family filled with grief and, often, hate. This is the root of new violence. We must stop the cycle of violence and hold ALL of the criminals accountable in international court. This is about Afghanistan and Iraq. We must end both wars now.
-Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945), Hitler's Minister of Propaganda
Our great lie is that a violent response to terrorism is making us safer. Every innocent person killed in our wars leaves behind a family filled with grief and, often, hate. This is the root of new violence. We must stop the cycle of violence and hold ALL of the criminals accountable in international court. This is about Afghanistan and Iraq. We must end both wars now.
What's more shocking? The word "fuck" or the unseen innocents who have paid the ultimate price for our revenge?
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