[Peace-discuss] NG on New Mascot Search:"Blood and Soil"

[David Swanson]

Illinois State Capitol Hit by War Disease Epidemic

By David Swanson
http://davidswanson.org/illinois-state-capitol-hit-by-war-disease-epidemic/

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The state capitol of Illinois is ground zero of a contagious outbreak of
war fever. The origins, I’m afraid, may lie in part in a resolution I
drafted that was passed, with various modifications, by numerous cities
around the United States and by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The resolution <http://worldbeyondwar.org/resolution/> did educate some
people, create some good discussion, generate some attention for antiwar
organizing, and bring some peace groups together in a coordinated effort to
advance a number of similar resolutions. But its demand that Congress move
money from the military to human and environmental needs, rather than the
other way around, has not yet been met. In fact, Congress has given the
military even more money than Trump had proposed.

The text of the resolution is apparently safe for urban dwellers to handle.
But evidence suggests that it may be toxic to genetically modified state
legislators. I thank Robert Naiman for alerting me to a video
<https://www.ilnews.org/news/state_politics/lawmaker-scolded-for-proposing-anti-trump-military-spending-measure/article_afeeb350-bb59-11e7-88e5-5fc70a58dcd9.html>
of what happened when it came into contact with Illinois state
representatives.

In watching the video, at first the virus seems to produce no reaction.
State Rep. Laura Fine describes the resolution accurately and notes the
polling that indicates its agreement with the public at large.

Very quickly, however, Rep. Jeanne Ives suffers clear cognitive impairment.
She yells out that she does not want her son to fly an “unfit” plane, as if
a reduced military budget would produce just as many airplanes but ones
even more likely to crash than the F35.

During her rant, Rep. Ives appears to suffer a worsening of symptoms. At
one point she denounces the government in which she is yelling incoherently
as “the worst run state in the union.” In the same breath she says that
state legislators should not have opinions on federal spending, says that
especially those with no family in the military should have no such
opinions, and gives her opinion — which is apparently for unlimited
military funding.

By the time Ives has run out of breath, the virus has clearly spread
through the chamber. Rep. David Harris wobbles to his feet to declare
entirely falsely that the resolution calls for a complete elimination of
the military budget, and just as falsely that military spending is for the
benefit of soldiers, and then — way over the top into the ludicrous — that
all these wars are “protecting our freedom.” Yet no medical personnel
appear on the scene and no alarms are heard.

Rep. Carol Ammons, with no mask or other protection, seems entirely
unaffected by the disease. She praises the resolution as opposition to the
threat of cuts to Social Security.

Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer quickly takes over, however, with contagious puss
oozing from his mouth and nose. Clearly in a state of delirium, he
announces that if Trump were cutting the military to fund human and
environmental needs then supporters of the resolution would rewrite it to
say the opposite. The politician comes out against politics before
collapsing in his seat.

Rep. Allen Skillicorn coughs out his fervent opinion against having any
opinion, and, recognizing the danger at hand, Rep. Fine withdraws the
proposed resolution and sprints out of the Capitol, heading toward the
Emergency Room.

The video cuts off before the ambulances and police arrive to begin the
now-famous quarantine.
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