[Peace-discuss] Fw: BBlum commentary

[Jenifer Cartwright]

Wow, Mort, this is really a great idea!!! --Jenifer

--- On Mon, 3/8/10, Morton K. Brussel <brussel at illinois.edu> wrote:

From: Morton K. Brussel <brussel at illinois.edu>
Subject: [Peace-discuss] BBlum commentary
To: "Peace-discuss List" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Date: Monday, March 8, 2010, 6:26 PM

This is the first section:. It would make an interesting op-ed in our local news sheet, or as a hand-out on 1 Main. --mkb 
Informed consentAbout half the states in the US require that a woman seeking an
abortion be told certain things before she can obtain the medical
procedure. In South Dakota, for example, until a few months ago, staff
was required to tell women: "The abortion will terminate the life of a
whole, separate, unique, living human being"; the pregnant woman has
"an existing relationship with that unborn human being," a relationship
protected by the U.S. Constitution and the laws of South Dakota; and a
"known medical risk" of abortion is an "increased risk of suicide
ideation and suicide." A federal judge has now eliminated the second
and third required assertions, calling them "untruthful and
misleading." 1I personally would question even the first assertion about a fetus
or an embryo being a human being, but that's not the point I wish to
make here. I'd like to suggest that before a young American man or
woman can enlist in the armed forces s/he must be told the following by
the staff of the military recruitment office:"The United States is at war [this statement is always factually
correct]. You will likely be sent to a battlefield where you will be
expected to do your best to terminate the lives of whole, separate,
unique, living human beings you know nothing about and who have never
done you or your country any harm. You may in the process lose an arm
or a leg. Or your life. If you come home alive and with all your body
parts intact there's a good chance you will be suffering from
post-traumatic stress disorder. Do not expect the government to provide
you particularly good care for that, or any care at all. In any case,
you may wind up physically abusing your spouse and children and/or
others, killing various individuals, abusing drugs and/or alcohol, and
having an increased risk of suicide ideation and suicide. No matter how
bad a condition you may be in, the Pentagon may send you back to the
battlefield for another tour of duty. They call this 'stop-loss'. Your
only alternative may be to go AWOL. Do you have any friends in Canada?
And don't ever ask any of your officers what we're fighting for. Even
the generals don't know. In fact, the generals especially
don't know. They would never have reached their high position if they
had been able to go beyond the propaganda we're all fed, the same
propaganda that has influenced you to come to this office."Since for so many young people in recent years one of the
determining factors in their enlistment has been the economy, this
additional thought should be pointed out to them — "You are enlisting
to fight, and perhaps die, for a country that can't even provide you
with a decent job, or any job at all."
"I fear for us all, but I especially fear for those
already poor. How much lower can they go without being cannon fodder or
electric chair fodder or street litter or prison stuffing or just plain
lonely suicide?"

  – Carolyn Chute, novelist, Maine USA
For the rest, see http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer79.html
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