While we are now at war, again, this time in Libya, I had a few things that I have found to be some what interesting.
The first, which I just ran across today while reading Tom Dispatch is that at first some of the senior people in the government were opposed to this war. That group included Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Chief of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon, and Counter terrorism chief John O. Brennan. These men were initially against any military action against Libya. At the same time, three of the biggest supporters for the current war against Libya were/are, Secretary of State Hi-Larry Clinton, US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, and Senior National Security Council member Samantha Power.
Very interesting. Now, to my thinking, if I may call it so, it strikes me that while the failed Equal Rights Amendment (the ERA) was not needed after all. We have at least three very powerful women in this administration who are as hungry for war as any man recently. See, this "equal rights" thing HAS worked out just fine in the end. YES, I was being sarcastic/snarky there. Hey, I just call them the way I see them. I have always have a "twisted" view point at times. I "see" things a bit differently, as it were. It just struck me that, indeed, women ARE as capable of war lust as any man can be.
Another "odd" take on the current goings on in the world is this; does anybody else sort of "wonder" how the war with Libya just sort of started shortly after the news started getting very bad regards the nuclear plants in Japan? Now, I do not subscribe to any of the current conspiracy theories floating around the net, but it does seem a bit "convenient", to say the least, that just as some bad news about the "spent fuel pools" and the damaged reactors was coming out, here comes a new war to distract us all.
Call it my own conspiracy if you want to, but just stop for a moment and think about it. While any war is very nasty and brutish, also, usually un-needed, this one just happens to now dominate the news here in the USA. To me, the threat of the nuclear fuel/reactors is much more a lasting long term threat to us all than any war that are currently being fought around the world.
The very fact that the "spent fuel" will be very toxic for decades, possibly hundreds of years is very concerning to all of us. Just consider the long term storage of that "spent fuel". What guarantees can we have that hundreds of years from now, the people who will be living on this planet then, will be able to read the warning signs that we post today? This is something that needs to be considered. Also, the TOTAL cost of nuclear power must be considered. That cost starts with the mining of the uranium ore and goes through the long term storage of the "spent fuel". This is always down played or ignored by the proponents nuclear power. IF the TOTAL cost of nuclear power are ever considered, it will be very clear to all that renewable energy is MUCH more cost effective. We need to start telling our representatives this truth and demand that those who favor nuclear energy must be honest about the TOTAl cost of nuclear energy. There ARE very good alternatives to nuclear power. It is time for us all to realize this.
One further note about the Libya campaign. As of yesterday, Wednesday 23 March 2011, the US has launched 162 cruise missiles to try and "eliminate" old Gaddafi. The cost for each of these weapons is over one million dollars. That makes AT LEAST 162,000,000 plus so far in just cruise missiles alone. Yet, here at home, we have politicians telling us that we must cut back on things like education, Medicare, Medicaid, police, fire fighters, and many other needed social programs. As another quote I ran across this week, when it comes to war, we have all the money we need, when it comes to feeding the hungry, we are broke. America is on the wrong track people. It is up to us all to make our voices heard by those who supposedly represent us. We need for the protests in Wisconsin to spread over the entire country. We the people need to reclaim what is supposedly to be, government of the people, by the people, and FOR the people.
semper fi
