At more than $740 billion this year, the Pentagon budget is more than 100 times the budget of the CDC — and more than 1,800 times the U.S. contribution to the World Health Organization that the president has promised to cut.
militarism
Voices from the Grave:
So Proudly We Fail
In “So Proudly We Fail,” James Agee looked at war films to explain the “unutterable dislocation” between soldiers and civilians, what he described–in 1943–as a destructive “chasm” that veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan describe with equal anger today even as the nation goes through the motions of marking its Veteran and Memorial days.
Questioning War Is No Disrespect to Veterans. It’s a Civic Duty.
Americans remain unconcerned about wars the U.S. is currently fighting (at last count, we’re bombing at least 7 countries) though they foot the bill both in tax dollars and lives.
Voices From the Grave
Maj. Sullivan Ballou’s Last Letter to His Wife
Maj. Sullivan Ballou’s letter to his wife, written a week before he was killed at Bull Run in 1861, is one of the great eulogies of sorrow and divided duty to nation and family. As a memorial to the victims of war, who include survivors, especially civilians, the letter has few equals.
Ranks of Notorious Hate Group Include Active-Duty Military With Advanced Weapons Training
A Marine who took part in the violent assaults in Charlottesville last summer underscores involvement of current or former service members in white supremacist groups, long a concern.
Are Drug Addicts Less Valuable Than Students? Florida Says Yes, Wrongly.
Politically there may be a big difference between students’ safety and drug addicts. Ethically, there is none, and financially, addicts are being lethally short-changed.
Military Inferiority Complex:
Dear Leader Wants A Parade
The military doesn’t need parades. It needs to come home. Worshipping it in time of endlessly losing wars only locks and loads more cannon fodder.
Jacksonville Air National Guard Base a Finalist to Receive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in 2022
The F-35 is the most expensive fighter jet–and weapon system–ever built. The program, now seven years behind schedule, has been mired in cost overruns, delays and performance failures.
Paying for Patriotism: The Pentagon’s Crass, Misguided Stunts
The Pentagon has been buying and choreographing patriotism at NFL, baseball and NASCAR events that are made to look spontaneous and voluntary. They’re anything but.
America’s Pious Embrace of the Police State
The easy worship of the use of force abroad for the past 15 years is coming home to roost in an escalation of police-state tactics and violence a majority of the public dangerously accepts if not condone.