Peace is treason in the War Empire

In the US, threatening war (Nikki Haley and Senators Graham and McCain) is praiseworthy but trying to make nice with the Russkies is criminal.  Certainly VFP has no love for Flynn but the contradiction between how he is being treated versus even worse war criminals is striking.

We the People?

Do you go to bed at night fearful of Iran or North Korea attacking you?  Do you sleep more soundly knowing how unstable Iraq and Libya are now that the US made them safe for democracy?  Who is in charge of US foreign policy?  Is it the American people?  If so, and if you really want to make the Middle East safe for democracy, please join the military personally and increase taxes to pay for the meddling, but you may want to think about the consequences and whether you are really making America safer, more free, and more prosperous.  Who benefits from our meddling?

http://forward.com/opinion/383901/that-israel-lobby-controversy-history-has-proved-us-right/

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/10/eric-margolis/iran-must-be-destroyed/

VFP supports anthem protesters

Service member Russell Silver makes a great point:  How many of us signed up to force people to stand up for the anthem?

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2017/09/26/offended-anthem-protests-its-all-matter-perspective/701653001/

VFP national supports this:

https://www.veteransforpeace.org/our-work/position-statements/veterans-peace-statement-support-colin-kaepernick/

How many people have to say the anthem before starting work?  Isn't booing the quiet protesters more disrespectful to the anthem than those quiet players being booed?

Finally, a great list of ways to create unity, through peace.

http://www.targetliberty.com/2017/09/a-few-things-donald-trump-could-do-to.html?m=1

History may not repeat ...

but it sure does rhyme.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/yes-congress-afghanistan-is-your-vietnam/

And it makes as little sense the second time around.

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2017/08/30/fools-errand-time-end-war-afghanistan/

North Korea hates us for our freedoms?

Right.  Or do they hate us for being belligerent toward them?  And no, VFP does not support the North Korean dictator.  If the US pulled its troops out of the South, something tells me the place of the "Forgotten War" will become the "Forgotten Country".

https://theintercept.com/2017/08/25/north-korea-keeps-saying-it-might-give-up-its-nuclear-weapons-but-most-news-outlets-wont-tell-you-that/

With friends like these ...

Being cheeky here.  I am sure our audience is even smaller than his/hers:

https://unboughtandunbossedrepublican.blogspot.com/2017/08/senator-rand-paul-nails-it-on.html?m=1

Who is MAD(der)?

Former Senator Dan Coats, RINO-Northrop Grumman, made sense for the first time.  Maybe pretending like he is not a lobbyist or carpetbagging has cleared his mind, or maybe being the intel chief gives you a little bit of intelligence.  Anyway, he confirmed what most logical people knew:  when you are being picked on by a bully, you can either run or build up your own strength.  Since a physical place like North Korea can't run down the block to Mars, it needs bigger weapons.  Unfortunately, the carpetbagger thinks that preemptive carpet bombing is the answer.  Maybe a better answer is for the United States to consider the rest of the world a DMZ and not threaten every tinpot dictator out there--eventually you run out of tinpots and into Putins.  Which is MAD, rather than just sad.

https://theintercept.com/2017/07/29/dan-coats-north-korea-nukes-nuclear-libya-regime-change/

Worse, they don't even want to gain the knowledge

I quit the Carmel Parade halfway through, partly because one of my children was done but also because there was too much love for militarism.  However, a Vietnam vet marching approached and thanked us for marching.  I said the people have good intent in cheering for the military but no knowledge what they are actually cheering.  His response:  It's even worse, they have no desire for the knowledge.

Times don't change.  A President Johnson staffer wrote to him in response to a December 1965 Harris Poll showing ten-to-one view against Vietnam withdrawal:  "I have a vague feeling that this support may be more superficial than it is deep and committed (many people probably do not even understand what it is that they are supporting)."  From "Enduring Vietnam" by James Wright.

Militarism is Corrosive

Violence by the US military abroad contributes to violence here in the "Homeland".  Is the best defense a good offense?  Maybe in sport, but not when real lives are at stake.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/06/jacob-hornberger/violence-abroad/

Being wrong (and evil) pays

Being a voice for peace doesn't.  The merchants of death keep winning while the rest of us lose.http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2017/05/23/the-war-on-terrorism-isnt-working/

Carmel Independence Day Parade

We will be marching.  Come one, come all peace-minds vets.  Help counter the conventional wisdom that the military needs to be involved in 150 countries to keep us safe in central Indiana.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Further proof that there is only one party in Sodom-on-the-Potomac, the War Party.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/04/09/politics/democratic-leaders-gabbard-syria/index.html

The chickenhawks are too evil to listen to the heroic Iraq vet Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.  What would she know, after experiencing the horrors of war?

"Governments are not real. Rice is real."

From Senator Jim Webb's semi-autobiographical Vietnam War novel, "Fields of Fire".   The words of a local farmer who was forced to fight for the VC, quit, and then had his family murdered by the VC.  He started working for the Americans, but remained deeply opposed to both sides.  He needed to eat, and the Marines had food.

"God and War" book review

We try to keep our promises around here, so were able to attain a copy of Professor Raymond Haberski's excellent book God and War:  American Civil Religion Since 1945 though Indiana Interlibray Loan (this copy came from his old stomping grounds, Marian University).

http://veteransforpeaceindianapolis.blogspot.com/2017/02/americas-nationalist-religion.html

The title says much, but here are a few things that struck us.  President Carter was the most pro-peace president of recent vintage; for instance, he seems to have understood that money used to build better nukes could better be used building schools.  Haberski said this about Carter:  "A gut-level explanation for his failure suggests that Americans don't like to face unpleasant truths about themselves and their nation, but they do like to traffic in grand illusions that, at times, get them mired in tragedies like Vietnam."

Quoting historian Michael Sherry, regarding the Panama invasion:  "It presumed that Americans found purpose only in war, that their state functioned effectively in a warlike mode, and that the nation knew triumph only in warfare, with World War II still their model in that regard."   Hence, "wars" on drugs, AIDS, cancer, obesity ...

Finally, reading the actual words of Rev. Jeremiah Wright of President Obama fame/infamy in this book may help some that are blind see the light, just like this excellent book does.  Those of us that are prayerful can pray that many other Americans' eyes are opened, which this book helps do.

Here is Dr. Haberski's page at IUPUI:

https://liberalarts.iupui.edu/directory/bio/haberski

Means or Ends?

This father is only criticizing the means--drones, bombs, or "boots on ground".  Why not criticize the ends as well?  Should the US be involved in any way militarily in Yemen?  If American lives are not worth risking, should the lives of Yemenis also not be put in the crosshairs, whether of an M-4, F-16, or Predator Drone?  May his son RIP and the US learn that the policy is also flawed, not just the process.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article135064074.html

Third and Fourth Rails of Politics?

Israel and Warmongering:  where the two "different" parties come together for bipartisanship.

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/24/key-question-about-dnc-race-why-did-white-house-recruit-perez-to-run-against-ellison/

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/23/the-increasingly-unhinged-russia-rhetoric-comes-from-a-long-standing-u-s-playbook/

Americans are hopefully waking up to it though:

http://original.antiwar.com/lucy/2017/02/23/believing-that-war-has-consequences/

Department of Offense?

Very little defending was done by us vets.  It couldn't even defend its own Pentagram HQ on 9/11.  If not DOO (doo), at least be honest and go back to the original name, Department of War.  DOW is who they prop up anyway, the banksters and contractors sucking at the teat with a record DOW Jones average.  War is a Racket, as Smedley Butler told us.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/bankrolling-nato/

Down the Memory Hole?

Yet another book curiously not available at the local library.  Don't worry, we fellow Veterans for Peace will never forget.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/02/laurence-m-vance/commemorating-crime/

https://m.facebook.com/197728380237894/photos/pb.197728380237894.-2207520000.1481575173./1390567664287287/?type=3

#FakeNews?

Or do they think you just can't handle the truth?  Or is it being withheld from you for more sinister reasons?

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/18/why-do-so-many-americans-fear-muslims-decades-of-denial-about-americas-role-in-the-world/

Presidents' or Emperors' Day?

Judging by this, the latter is more appropriate:

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176227/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_special_ops,_shadow_wars,_and_the_golden_age_of_the_gray_zone/

Politics over Principles?

Or is the Democratic Party on the same team as the Republican one, and truly at its core the Unified Warmonger Party?  Its treatment of Congresswoman and fellow vet Tulsi Gabbard indicates ...

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/02/david-gornoski/sacrifice-tulsi-gabbard/

America's National(ist) Religion?

War?  Certainly not Peace, though Jesus is often referred to as its Prince.
On our reading list, by a fellow Hoosier.

https://www.amazon.com/God-War-American-Civil-Religion/dp/0813552958/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435858122&sr=1-1&keywords=God+and+War%3A+American+Civil+Religion+since+1945.%2

Unfortunately, not at my local library, but celebrations of that religion are more than readily available, even for the children!

I'll have to rely on this in the meantime:

http://original.antiwar.com/srichman/2017/02/10/isolationist-trump-rattles-his-saber/

Spy vs. Spy?

Is this Battle of Flynn really just the opening salvo of a war between military intelligence "realists" vs. civilian intelligence neo-cons?  Either way, VFP supports peace with all, including Russia.  Scoring political scalps by risking a new and unnecessary Cold War benefits no one but the Military-Industrial Complex.  Why do Republicans claim to hate socialism yet support the most socialistic endeavor, a huge standing army?  Why do Democrats properly speak-ill of fascism yet acquiesce to its most pernicious aspect, a hyperactive military?

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2017/02/14/a-win-for-the-deep-state/

Update:  From the left, to bolster Mr. Raimondo's view from the right, and to demonstrate national security overreach is where true leftists and rightists should have common ground.  The muddled middle is the problem, whether Clinton or Bush.

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/14/the-leakers-who-exposed-gen-flynns-lie-committed-serious-and-wholly-justified-felonies/

We can get rid of TSA, NSA and CIA

The terrorists very openly tell us why they do it, and it ain't because we are infidels.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-09/911-mastermind’s-letter-obama-here’s-why-we-attacked-america

Is US exceptional?

In light of Trump's recent response regarding Putin, the US may only be exceptional in trying to use an unwarranted moral high ground to perform immoral acts.  The US is also exceptional in its military bases around the world, its military budget, and the number of invasions performed by its military.

http://bionicmosquito.blogspot.rs/2017/02/the-pathetic-new-york-times.html?m=1

Are all Vets Heroes?

Or does throwing that term around too casually serve a different purpose, besides undermining those truly heroic who served in the ranks?

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2012/05/31/are-soldiers-heroes/

Is your local library wittingly or unwittingly contributing to the potential problem by carrying books like these?

http://enterprise.carmel.lib.in.us/client/ccpl/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:464189/ada?qu=Hero&qf=ITEMCAT2%09Audience%091%3AJUVENILE%09Juvenile

Is there a children's book that could reinforce the message in this book, which explores the value of progagandizing children to accomplish the war goals of the state?  The War for Peace starts young and locally.

http://www.childrenwarandpropaganda.com

Pottery Barn Rule ...

should be in effect.  You break it, you buy it.  The best course for everyone in the long-term is to have the US government stop breaking things.  Instead, everyone will get misty-eyed Sunday night when Old Glory covers the football field of battle and a Pentagram-supplied winged machine of death roars overhead fittingly drowning out the sheeple yelling "Land of the Free!"

http://original.antiwar.com/lucy/2017/01/27/banning-refugees-from-countries-america-destroyed-is-wrong/

Meet the new boss, same as the old one ...

and the one before that, and the one before that ...

https://theintercept.com/2017/01/30/obama-killed-a-16-year-old-american-in-yemen-trump-just-killed-his-8-year-old-sister/

This War for Peace is a Long one

Very little to be optimistic about in the short-term here:

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2017/01/trump-says-military-more-important-than.html?m=1

Reason for optimism in the long-term?

Not endorsing any of the specific points, but generally this is worth considering. At this point, the reality is Trump is the president and it is better for peace seeking humans to see the potential positives instead of being consumed by the potential negatives.  Negativism itself is war on yourself and does not help us in this War for Peace.

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2017/01/24/taking-the-long-view/

Is US militarism to blame for climate change?

The US military is one of the largest users of fossil fuels and energy in the world.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_usage_of_the_United_States_military

Reducing the size of the US military should be able to unite Americans across the political spectrum:  conservatives who want less government spending and conservationists fighting global warming.

Or is this hope of unity a lot of hot air?

http://www.ogdenonpolitics.com/2017/01/2016-ends-with-yet-another-hottest-year.html?m=1

Is US militarism to blame for terrorist attacks?

Professor Robert Pape believes terrorist activity is a reaction to military intervention.  If the US and the west stopped invading other countries those invaders might not then be the targets of terrorism.  If we control what we can control by stopping the bombing, we might also be able to control the seemingly uncontrollable:  terrorism.  It's at least worth a try since the current option tried hasn't worked.

https://www.thenation.com/article/heres-what-a-man-who-studied-every-suicide-attack-in-the-world-says-about-isiss-motives/

Is US militarism to blame for the European refugee crisis?

Our ally Germany seems to think so.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-16/angry-germany-slams-trump-criticism-urges-us-build-better-cars-accuses-washington-ca

Yo, yo Ma!

Does invading other countries hollow out your own Heartland?

https://www.rt.com/business/374289-alibaba-us-jobs-military/

Does bombing other countries Trump America First?

We can only hope that the new president continues the positive recent action of his predecessor of commuting Chelsea Manning's sentence by commuting America's wars around the world.