[Peace-discuss] From "The Real News" a worthwhile article
Stuart Levy
salevy at illinois.edu
Thu May 11 17:10:36 UTC 2017
(removing Peace from the Cc list, leaving peace-discuss)
What I've heard identified as the largest aggregate contributor to CO2
emissions is not the DoD itself, but the DoD combined with the whole
military industry.
On 5/11/17 11:37 AM, Karen Aram via Peace-discuss wrote:
> So the science is wrong. Is it so far off that “climate change”
> deniers have a case to make in respect to the data? My purpose in
> posting this article from a website known and supported by some within
> AWARE is to point out the lack of “concern” across the nation, in
> respect to war. It is I believe a result of too many serious issues
> today.
>
>
>> On May 11, 2017, at 08:02, Brussel, Morton K <brussel at illinois.edu
>> <mailto:brussel at illinois.edu>> wrote:
>>
>> Insofar as CO2 emissions and climate change, yes.
>>
>>> On May 11, 2017, at 6:24 AM, Karen Aram <karenaram at hotmail.com
>>> <mailto:karenaram at hotmail.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Mort
>>>
>>> Are you saying that he is wrong, the Pentagon isn’t the number one
>>> polluter of the Earth?
>>>
>>>
>>>> On May 10, 2017, at 21:36, Brussel, Morton K <brussel at illinois.edu
>>>> <mailto:brussel at illinois.edu>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Pretty good, but weak on the science, as, for example in the
>>>> statement: The Pentagon is the number one consumer of fossil fuels
>>>> and the number one polluter of the Earth.
>>>>
>>>> He lets his antiwar feelings mislead him on the science of global
>>>> warming and what it is due to.
>>>>
>>>> —mkb
>>>>
>>>>> On May 8, 2017, at 7:38 AM, Karen Aram via Peace-discuss
>>>>> <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>>>>> <mailto:peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> *
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Jobs <http://therealnews.com/t2/about-us/mission/740>
>>>>> * Log In
>>>>> <http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=822>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Earth Day Denial that War Causes Climate Change
>>>>>
>>>>> FRIDAY, 28 APRIL 2017 06:55
>>>>> 0 Comments
>>>>> <http://therealnews.com/t2/component/content/article/170-more-blog-posts-from-david-william-pear/3132-earth-day-denial-that-war-causes-climate-change#disqus_thread>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> By David William Pear, April 26, 2017
>>>>>
>>>>> The liberal-middleclass is brain dead about the wars. They do not
>>>>> want to hear about war, speak about war or see war protesters.
>>>>>
>>>>> The liberal-middleclass has emotionally numbed out. They have a
>>>>> complete lack of empathy for the millions of people that the USA
>>>>> has slaughtered, the nations that the USA has bombed to piles of
>>>>> rubble, and the suffering the USA has caused to tens of millions
>>>>> of people.
>>>>>
>>>>> Out of sight and out of mind, the USA has destroyed millions of
>>>>> minds, bodies, homes and lives forever. The indifference of the
>>>>> liberal-middleclass is mind boggling. Some sadistically see the
>>>>> war images as entertainment and even beautiful displays of power.
>>>>>
>>>>> I am still reeling from Earth Day and the March for Science.
>>>>> Where was the message that war is destroying the Earth? The
>>>>> Pentagon is the number one consumer of fossil fuels and the number
>>>>> one polluter of the Earth. Why was the Pentagon given a pass on
>>>>> Earth Day?
>>>>>
>>>>> Do scientists deny that war causes global warming? The
>>>>> liberal-middleclass should not feel superior to Republicans and
>>>>> Donald J. Trump about climate change. They have their heads stuck
>>>>> in the sand too. At least the Republicans are honest in their
>>>>> stupidity of denial about climate change.
>>>>>
>>>>> The liberal-middle-class’s dishonest stupidity is to lie by
>>>>> omission and not confront war as the number one polluter. The
>>>>> Pentagon and militarism are the greatest danger to the Earth and
>>>>> every living creature on it. The world is racing headlong towards
>>>>> nuclear war and the liberal-middleclass is in deep denial.
>>>>>
>>>>> Earth Day and the March for Science were more hypocrisy and feel
>>>>> good faux solidarity of concern for the Earth. Earth Day was
>>>>> carefully stage-managed to not offend or affect any change.
>>>>>
>>>>> Earth Day was just a fun day. Those that attended appeared to be
>>>>> mostly liberal-middleclass families, couples, singles and
>>>>> students. It was a sterile showing of solidarity, with the bonus
>>>>> activity of hugging science. Science is worth hugging, but
>>>>> scientists were mum on Earth Day that the Pentagon, militarism and
>>>>> war are the number one threat to the Earth.
>>>>>
>>>>> There were very few speeches, posters or demonstration against
>>>>> war. None of the “Top Ten Posters” were antiwar. Talking about
>>>>> war was a conversation stopper and spoiled the fun for others who
>>>>> just wanted to enjoy organic snacks, browse among sustainable
>>>>> gadgets and grandstand.
>>>>>
>>>>> George Orwell wrote about the mind control effect of conformist
>>>>> demonstrations. They let the public blow off a little steam
>>>>> without any risk, and they reinforce the status quo. It also
>>>>> gives the Thought Police an opportunity to take names of anybody
>>>>> that does not conform.
>>>>>
>>>>> Earth Day was like Orwell’s two minutes of hate. Climate Change
>>>>> is the liberal-middle-class’s hated Emmanuel Goldstein. Big
>>>>> Brother and the main stream media know how to co-opt dissent and
>>>>> make it meaningless, while letting the people feel relevant and
>>>>> powerful. Real protests and real power of the people are brutally
>>>>> crushed by the police state.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any act considered unpatriotic was discouraged during Earth Day.
>>>>> There was no mourning for the millions of people the USA has
>>>>> slaughtered in the past couple of decades. There was no mention
>>>>> of the USA poisoning South Asia with uranium and burn pits
>>>>> billowing out a smorgasbord of carcinogenic chemical pollution.
>>>>>
>>>>> There was no scientific discussion of the poisonous ingredients in
>>>>> the Mother of All Bombs and the pollution caused by war. No
>>>>> discussion of nuclear winter, radiation sickness, and mass
>>>>> starvation from a nuclear war. Nor were there any pledges by
>>>>> scientists not to work for the military industrial complex.
>>>>>
>>>>> Like Mark Twain said about the weather: everybody talks about
>>>>> climate change but nobody does anything about it. And they won’t
>>>>> until there is a stop to war. Until then there will be no budget
>>>>> for doing something about climate change. Nor will there be any
>>>>> budget for healthcare, education, mass transportation and
>>>>> relieving suffering and ignorance. Lacking is a massive anti-war
>>>>> movement.
>>>>>
>>>>> I had the personal experience of being a spoiler on Earth Day. I
>>>>> belong to St. Pete for Peace in Saint Petersburg, Florida. It is
>>>>> an anti-war group that has been able to survive the peace drought
>>>>> after the USA invasion of Iraq in 2003. We thought it would be a
>>>>> good idea to take an anti-war rally to Williams Park in downtown
>>>>> St. Petersburg where there was an Earth Day fair. Our reception
>>>>> was anything but warm. It was like a cold bucket of Agent Orange.
>>>>>
>>>>> We were warned not to take our anti-war posters into Williams
>>>>> Park. It was not the police that warned us, it was the organizers
>>>>> of St. Pete Earth Day. They told us to stay on the corner across
>>>>> the street and out of sight or they would have us arrested.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thinking that I had a Constitutional right to do so, I walked
>>>>> through the park anyway with an upside down American flag as a
>>>>> freedom of speech statement. I was immediately accosted and told
>>>>> that no demonstrations were allowed. I thought Earth Day was
>>>>> supposed to be a demonstration, and a protest against the
>>>>> continued destruction of the Earth and all its living creatures.
>>>>>
>>>>> Florida is one of those “Stand Your Ground” states. So we stood
>>>>> our ground with open carry of anti-war signs. We were not going
>>>>> to go quietly. As we walked through the fair with our anti-war
>>>>> signs we said “Happy Earth Day” to the vendors and attendees.
>>>>> Their responses were a few polite “thank you’s”. Mostly we got
>>>>> cold stares or avoidance of eye contact. My upside down flag of
>>>>> distress got a few hoots and confrontations. But few people
>>>>> wanted any dialog about war.
>>>>>
>>>>> Normally I do not write about myself, but Earth Day has been
>>>>> eating away at me. It left me angry and dumbfounded. I keep
>>>>> asking myself, “is the liberal-middleclass braindead?” Is it
>>>>> possible for people to want to do something about climate change
>>>>> and not see the connection to war, militarism and empire? They
>>>>> just don’t get it: war, climate change, war, climate change, war…
>>>>>
>>>>> The liberal-middleclass is as stuck in the American mythology as
>>>>> conservative Republicans. They still think that capitalism is the
>>>>> best of all possible worlds; that America is the best country in
>>>>> the world; that America cares about democracy and human rights;
>>>>> and that being anti-war is unpatriotic.
>>>>>
>>>>> The liberal-middleclass are too comfortable in their isolated
>>>>> world of high rise condominiums and SUV’s. What will it take to
>>>>> bring them down from their ivory tower in the mostly white
>>>>> Northside of St. Petersburg? Do they ever think about the mostly
>>>>> black Southside of St. Petersburg and its lack of basic social
>>>>> services?
>>>>>
>>>>> During the rainy season in Florida, the Southside is flooded with
>>>>> raw sewage because the city closed the Albert Whitted sewage
>>>>> treatment plant for lack of funds. The city saved $32 million a
>>>>> year by letting raw sewage flood the black neighborhood and
>>>>> flowing into Tampa Bay where it pollutes the water.
>>>>>
>>>>> What has happened in St. Petersburg has happened in cities all
>>>>> over America. It is called austerity. Funding that should be
>>>>> going to education, housing, mass transportation, healthcare,
>>>>> poverty programs and infrastructure are being sucked out of the
>>>>> economy. The money is going for militarism, war making and war
>>>>> profiteering. The money spent by the Department of Defense,
>>>>> Homeland Security and the Police State are making us less secure,
>>>>> less safe, and less free.
>>>>>
>>>>> Empire building, imperialism and war are perverting the domestic
>>>>> economy, sucking out its resources and denying citizens of the
>>>>> socialist programs that the Bernie Revolution talked about. Even
>>>>> Bernie Sanders does not take on the military industrial complex.
>>>>>
>>>>> Either Bernie is just another politician or he suffers from
>>>>> cognitive dissonance. His supporters made excuses for him that
>>>>> being anti-war during his 2016 presidential campaign would be
>>>>> “political suicide”, and that secretly Bernie was anti-war.
>>>>>
>>>>> If being anti-war would be political suicide, then how did
>>>>> Bernie’s supporters think that the country could pay for popular
>>>>> social programs like healthcare for everyone and free college?
>>>>> There is not enough money for Bernie’s boondoggle F-35 that
>>>>> doesn’t fly right, never ending wars that cannot be won and
>>>>> popular socialist domestic programs?
>>>>>
>>>>> In a recent CNN interview Bernie said: "Assad has got to go. ISIS
>>>>> has got to be defeated, but I do not want to see the United States
>>>>> get sucked into perpetual warfare in the Middle East.” Bernie is
>>>>> part of the problem, not the solution.
>>>>>
>>>>> “Assad has to go and ISIS has to be defeated” is magical thinking
>>>>> without “getting bogged down in perpetual war”. Thinking so is
>>>>> unconsciously letting the warmongers continue the status quo. It
>>>>> is saying more war, more destruction, more death and more climate
>>>>> change. Bernie’s revolution has melted like the Arctic ice.
>>>>>
>>>>> Nothing. Absolutely nothing of significance is going to improve
>>>>> in America until the dogs of war are leashed. Education will not
>>>>> improve. There will be no single payer healthcare, no mass
>>>>> transportation, no free college, no antipoverty programs, no
>>>>> reparations for the oppressed, and no progress made against
>>>>> climate change until we stop the wars. Foreign wars and empire
>>>>> mean more austerity at home.
>>>>>
>>>>> We can be relevant, powerful and do something about climate change
>>>>> and save millions of lives. We can hit the streets with mass
>>>>> protests against war. Support whistleblowers and those that
>>>>> refuse to obey illegal orders. Refuse to cooperate. Be
>>>>> disruptive. Use non-violent civil disobedience to sabotage the
>>>>> war machine.
>>>>>
>>>>> Otherwise, wars have doomed us to the ravages of climate change.
>>>>> Nuclear war is a real possibility that the public is in denial
>>>>> about. A group of scientists just advanced the Doomsday Clock to
>>>>> 2 ½ minutes until midnight at which time we are doomed
>>>>> permanently. Is anybody listening to these scientists?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Peace-discuss mailing list
>>>>> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>>>>> <mailto:Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>>>>> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
>
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