13 April 2012

It never stops

Wars and rumors of wars. No, not the "biblical" hash about some "prophecy" or other from some old book of tales, but just a cursory look at the web any day recently.
The latest example being Syria of course. That country looks to be in the midst of a civil war. "Civil" war? When have wars ever been "civil"? OK, that might seem to be a trick question as in my opinion no war has ever been or ever will be "civil". In fact one could make a very good argument that war is the most uncivil thing we humans ever do or have done. Unfortunately, we seem destined to continue to have more wars, not less. That might be a sign that as a species, we humans have not evolved much in our somewhat brief, in geological time  at least, short history on this planet.
And yet, it still seems to me at least, that we should have evolved much further than it appears we have. By now, I think that the human race should have come at the very least to getting closer to have outgrown our "need" for war. What with all the supposed teachings of various religions, one would hope that we no longer went to war for petty grievances and maybe even renounced war totally. No such luck. Does this mean that the religious teachings have not "taken" hold of the human conscience? Could it be that a majority of religious people really do not practice what they preach? 
While these question I just mentioned may be unanswerable, I do not ask them purely as rhetorical questions. Somebody should be able to provide a real answer. By a real answer I mean that I will not accept the standard reply to such questions as we, the human race need to "have faith" or that we just need to "believe" in some god or other. That, in my opinion is a cop out, a total non answer. It is too easy by far, and it has been and continues to be given by the supposed church leadership of the various religions that seem to occupy so many of our fellow human beings. What a crock! I do have faith, faith in the capacity of our fellow human beings to be very kind and caring to others, even those we do not know personally and are not related to by either blood or marriage. Of course I also have faith that our fellow human beings have the capacity to do great harm to other human beings and all non animal species as well. This from personal experience in the imperial war in Vietnam which I was a participant in. I have seen first hand what war does to human beings, physically as well as emotionally and mentally/spiritually. War is a destroyer, period. There are no winners in any war. Of sure, one side emerges "victorious" in that they beat the others into submission or exterminated so many that the capacity to resist further was eliminated. And yet, some call that victory. 
I ask questions that I want answers for. Unlike school days, I do not do as the teachers did, I ask because I do not know the answers. Ever notice in your school days how every teacher asked questions that he/she knew the answer to? Yeah, just what did they learn from asking? OK, maybe I am taking this "line" a bit too far off topic, but just think about it for a minute or so. Why do we tend to ask questions when we already know the answers? Some will say to test or teach others. OK, true, to some extent, but it is more than that I think. In part, at times any way, I think we do so to keep from asking more serious questions. We even ask when we already know the answer to impress others, not always, but some times. Yes, I do this myself at times. Asking the hard questions isn't so easy every time. We tend to stay away from hurtful things. Pain is way we do our best to avoid. I know in some respects I sure do. Take my own life as an example. I take pain medications to keep the pain from getting intolerable. Damn straight I want to avoid real, serious hurtful physical pain. Thanks be to chemistry for the pain meds I am given by my pain management doctor. Personally, I detest taking these medications. They are quite powerful and I don't ant to get addicted to them. After a time, the meds I take no longer control the pain and we need to increase the dosage and/or change to a different pain killer. Ah, there is a misnomer if I ever saw one. The pain killers do NOT kill the pain at all. At best, they mask or suppress it to the point where one can still function as a somewhat normal human being. 
We do our best to avoid psychic pains also. Americans take a great number of medications to relieve mental pain/emotional distress. Yes, I am talking here about meds like Paxil(tm), prozac(tm), and others of that "family" of chemicals. And yes folks, ALL drugs/medications are chemicals, just in case you weren't aware of that fact. You might be surprised at how many people do not know that. I am certain that some don't know that drugs are chemicals knowingly. Hey, we "all" know that chemicals can be bad and the same goes for drugs. By drugs, most people immediately think of "street drugs", or "recreational" drugs. Funny, but I have never seen any drugs out recreating. Has anybody? OK, that may not be a "serious" question. My mind(if I really do have one and it is functioning anywhere near correctly) tends to "think" up odd questions like that.
I think that we do ourselves a great dis-service at times by relying on medications/drugs/chemicals to relieve our various pains. America tends, according to various reports (sorry no links) to over medicate. The USA has the highest number of prescriptions for various "psychic" medications in the world. While these do actually help a great many people function, I wonder about the long term use of these powerful chemicals on us. Read the research, most of the medications like Paxil(tm) and such are NOT intended for long term (more than two{2}years) use. And yet, no doubt all of us know people who have been taking such meds for much longer. Another question that NEEDS a real answer, what is going to happen to all the children who during their school years have been on chemicals like "Ritalin(tm)? When they finally graduate (fewer do now than before) from high school, they no longer get these meds. What does the withdrawal do to these children? Are they supposed to stop NOW, cold turkey as it were? What are the long term consequences of their taking these powerful chemicals for years and then, suddenly taken off them? I have not researched this and maybe it will be one of my own next projects to search out any, if there are any, reports that give any answers to those questions. If any of the readers of this blog have any information at all on this PLEASE send me any links you have. While I do not have any children, I am very concerned about what we are doing to our children. They ARE the future. What sort of future are we giving them? By that, I am not asking about the future occupation or economics wise, that looks fairly certain now, it will NOT be as good as what their parents have had. For the first time in the history of the US of A, the kids graduating high school and college may NOT have life even as good as their parents have had life. They will be hard pressed to even attain the life style the parents have. We used to "know" that the kids would be AT LEAST as well off as the parents and probably better. No more folks. We can all "thank" the "too big to jail" banksters for this. Way to go there Wall Street. You rat bastards.
I apologize for my "bad" language here. I have tried over the last few years to keep my language polite. Well, there are just times when I cannot do so and make my point clearly.  I'll try to keep the rest of this post "nicer", but make no promises. Yeah, I AM hedging my bets......LOL. NO, that does not make me a hedge manager, just human.


Back to the wars. Useless, damn fool wars of choice. Again. And again, and again, ad infinitum. "We" preach tolerance and "good will to all" and yet, we maintain the biggest military force ever along with the largest  number of nuclear weapons on the planet. The US out spends every other country on this rock. The last I checked, the US accounts for at least one half of ALL military spending for the entire world. We outspend the top 20 or so of our closest "competitors" combined. 
Oh we are told, the weapons and weapon systems "create jobs". Yes, but not as many as the politicians would have you believe. There are numerous reports/studies that show how much the country could accomplish for the benefit of ALL Americans for the cost of a single weapon or weapon system. Take for example the new F-35. This "fighter/bomber" aircraft is the costliest weapon/weapon system ever. It is extremely way over budget and it under preforms by a large margin. It is no way near as fast as originally planned. Its "mission" has increased to the point of nearly being the "one tool that does many jobs". Yes, just like the old "Jack of all trades, master of none". This aircraft fits that description to a tee. Almost as if that definition was coined to describe this over budget, under performer. 
There I go again, off on another tangent. Sorry about that. My mind is wandering across a wide range of topics and I can't seem to hold onto one before another pops in and demands its own "say".
Poor Syria, the country is in the midst of what looks to be a civil war. Yes, it is not all just Syrians fighting other Syrians. There ARE many outside forces at work there. Not just jihadis from the Iraq, Afghan, Libyan wars either. Reports have stated that there are various "special ops" types from Britain and France there along with the al-Qaeda types. No doubt there are a few mercenaries as well, hey, they fight for the highest bidder, yes, even Blackwater or whatever that outfit calls itself today. Mercenaries have no loyalty to any country/flag, just to who pays the best for their services, that is why they are called mercenary. Look it up in the dictionary. The "goal" of the "West" is regime change of course. Apparently the current leader is no longer of use to the US/NATO types. Also, the zionist entity would love to see the current regime go the way of Saddam and Gaddafi. Chaos is what they are giving that country. Just as they did in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Serbia, Kosovo, Vietnam, Korea.......the list goes on and on folks. Another reason  is that there is oil under the sands of Syria, and we all know how "we" must control that oil, determine who gets to buy it and at what price. Add to the invaders of Syria the GCC, as Pepe Escobar calls it the Gulf Counter-revolution Club, called by the West, the Gulf Co-operation Council. Members Qatar and Saudi Arabia are the prime members of that gang, having supported the elimination of Gaddafi from Libya, they now want to eliminate al-Assad. Poor Syria, the people there do not deserve such "attention" from the US/NATO. Syria is not any threat to the US or Europe. Yes, they do allow the Russians to have a naval base on Syrian territory. So what? Is Syria a "sovereign" nation or not? 
On to Iran. Trying to keep from boring the reader. 
I saw another article today that said the the zionist entity is making demands on the talks between the 5+1 and Iran. he 5+1 being the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany as they attempt, I hope they DO, discuss with Iran, the nuclear program that Iran is running. From the reports and web sites I have read, the Iranian nuclear program is entirely for civilian use, in short, to generate electrical power with one smaller reactor being used to make medical isotopes. There is NO evidence whatsoever that Iran is doing ANY work towards making a nuclear weapon. The Supreme Leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei  has stated publicly that the possession of such a weapon is a sin against Allah. This from the highest authority in Iran. Yes, we all know the president of Iran has been accused of making ridiculous, outlandish statements. Well, big deal, he does not have the final authority, that is where the Ayatollah Khamenei comes in. Only the Ayatollah has the final say on the matter, if he says no nikes, the no nukes is what will be. The US "media" in particular needs to stop paying such close attention to what the president of Iran says and pay more attention to what the Ayatollah says. Listen to the REAL power in that country. 
Iran has the LEGAL right to possess nuclear power for generating electricity and to make medical isotopes, in short of non-military/commercial use. ALL countries in the whole world have that RIGHT. It is stated so in the agreements/treaties of the United Nations and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). EVERY country has that right, including Iran. What would be almost comical, if it were not so awfully serious, as in life or death serious, is that the ONLY nuclear weapons holding country in the Middle East is demanding that Iran not be allowed to have ANY nuclear power of any sort. Sort of a "I got mine, but you can never have any". What I call, for lack of a more polite term, chickenshit and cowardly. Yes, I know about the holocaust and World War Two and all that. Iran has not attacked another country in more than 100 years. During the Iran/Iraq war in the 1980's Iraq invaded Iran and Iran naturally fought back. That miserable war, during which the USA supplied Saddam and the Iraqi forces with in tell and weapons, was finally fought to a standstill after the loss of more than one million of both sides. In short, another damn fool war of choice that may have been instigated by the USA in retaliation for the take over of the US embassy in Tehran during the Carter administration. 
Now the US and the zionist entity want to punish Iran for doing what they have a legal right to do. Can you say double standards? Of course you can, but, will you? Yep, there is the question to ask yourself. So far our(?) congress looks to be all set for yet another damn fool, useless war of choice by making threats to Iran to stop what they have every legal right to do. Of course the biggest war mongers in congress are all for a war with Iran, you know the "top" ones, McCrazy, LIEbermann, and Graham(bone). As one commentator called them, the "three Amigos". I bet they never saw a war they didn't favor, particularly if they didn't have to do any fighting. The (ig) Nobel Peace Prize winner, Gobomber, keep making disgusting comments like the old standby; "nothing is off the table". Yes, apparently that means that he would use nuclear weapons against Iran. 
A bit of history here folks. The USA is the ONLY country to ever use a nuclear weapon in war. You remember that "we" dropped two such vile weapons on a basically defeated and undefended Japan in 1945. No other country has ever used these weapons in a war............yet. Would the zionist entity use any of their estimated 200-300 such weans on Iran? Personally I would not trust "Bibi"Nutty-assed-Yahoo to refrain from that, but at the same time, no doubt he would prefer the US to use its nukes instead. All the "better" to save their own and let us do their dirty work.
If I have bored any of you good people, I apologize for that. It was not my intention to do so. Honestly. It is just there are so many things to rant about. So many negatives in this world. Notice, I have not even mentioned Africa in this post. That alone could be its own long post even if I don't mention the "viral video" from the Invisible Children group. Or poor Somalia or South Sudan and the oil that may be there. From just a casual glance across the internet or a major newspaper, one can see that the US military/intelligence community is always at work with war or rumors of war. As to any possible connections to any religion with regards that last comment, just when in human history has there ever been a time when there were NO wars or rumors of wars? Yeah, I thought so. That sort of puts a lid on that "prophecy" in my opinion. We humans seem to have never enjoyed a time where there were no wars or rumors of wars. How very sad and disgusting that this is still true today in the early part of the 21st century. Will we ever learn to actually live in relative peace and harmony with our fellow human beings? For the lives of the children and their children I sure hope that we find a way to do so, the sooner the better for all.
One last comment on war before I end this post. This comes from good old Tom Paine and his writings on the rights of man and common sense. He says:"....taxes were not raised to carry on wars, but that wars were raised to carry on taxes".
One final quote from the good Mr. Paine. This one I particularly like as it seems to give some small measure of hope to me.  "Ignorance is of a peculiar nature: and once dispelled, it is impossible to re-establish it. It is not originally a thing of itself, but is only the absence of knowledge; and though man may be kept ignorant, he cannot be made ignorant." That gives me some hope for the future. Now, go and spread some knowledge so that we might end some of the ignorance out in the world.
semper fi

12 comments:

Tao Dao Man said...

Excellent piece of work.
BRAVO - BRAVO - BRAVO - as the crown cheers.
I have nothing to add.
I will be cross posting this.
If you are not ok with this let me know and I will take it down.

Nan said...

The only mission most of those overpriced weapons systems, the F-35 included, are meant to perform is enriching shareholders of companies like Lockheed and Boeing. The idea that they should actually work is so passe, a quaint notion that died about the time Kelly Johnson passed on several decades ago. Remember Northrop and the ICBM guidance systems that didn't work? The corporate defense at the time was that they figured the missiles would never be used so why worry about if they could be aimed right? Or the stealth bomber (the B-2) that cost about a billion each but lost its stealthiness as soon as it got rained on? It's all a massive boondoggle.

What I noticed in the news today was the nifty way we keep playing damned if you do, damned if you don't with various nations, like North Korea. As long as that country appears to be trying to develop weapons that scare their neighbors, we'll go through the motions of negotiating with them, usually be dangling food aid as an incentive. As soon as they stop or screw up (like if a rocket blows up), we tell them to fuck off and starve. If they act peaceful, the politicians here claim the countries are just faking it and are hiding things. If they act belligerent, the politicians say, see, can't trust them.

It's way past time for us peasants to grab some pitchforks and torches, but unfortunately the collective will just isn't there yet.

charlie ehlen said...

RZ,
As with any posts here on my corner, you are free do use it any way you wish. I have no intention to copyright this site. Maybe I might with some of my photos, but not the writing.
I am flattered that you think my writing is worth posting at your site.
I really like the picture at the top of your site. It is very interesting.

charlie ehlen said...

Nan,
Excellent comments.
I agree with all you said here. Yes, the actual operations of the weapons is secondary, at best. Getting paid obscene amounts of money is job one for the "defense" industries.
Yea, the stealth bomber also suffers under the weather conditions of Iraq/Afghanistan. Sandstorms are hell for them as is any real moisture i.e. rain. What a joke to play on the poor old taxpayers. And yet, these weapons are portrayed by the "media" as the best things since sliced bread.
You have our "foreign relations" down pat my friend. Ever work for the State Department? Some other government agency? The Marine Corps taught me a great deal how things work.
Thanks again for your comments.

john francis lee said...

I'm like Reality Zone on this one Charlie... I posted it as well

http://robinlea.com/pub/It_never_stops.html

and commented too

http://www.robinlea.com/wordpress/2012/04/14/it-never-stops/

Good stuff. Please keep it coming.

charlie ehlen said...

John,
Thank you my friend. A appreciate all your comments.

Tao Dao Man said...

Blackwater Watch picked it up from my site.

http://www.blackwaterwatch.com/

charlie ehlen said...

RZ,
Thanks for the "heads up" on the link. I have never been to that web site until you sent this link.
Do they just basically track and post about Blackwater? Do they have a position regarding that gang and mercenaries in general? From reading their "about" statement, I get the impression that they post articles about Blackwater and allow comments. May need to read some of the articles they have posted.
Thanks again.

david g said...

Hey, Charlie, I thought I was reading the first chapter of a good book. Well done.

Why don't you consider writing about the Vietnam War. You write well and you have all the experiences, I'm sure.

It might be painful, but it could do some good, perhaps turn some gullible young people away from the military option.

Take care now!

charlie ehlen said...

David,
Thank you for the compliment.
I don't think I have enough ability/talent to write a book.
I would have a very difficult time putting some things in writing. Some of what I saw during that war I have never told anybody and don't think I ever will. Some may think it needs to be told, but I don;t know if I would be the best to tell those things. Even though it is nearly 41 years since I left that country, some things are still too fresh. It is hard to find how to describe some feelings even now.
War, it never stops "giving".

Bill the Butcher said...

Superb article.

About drugs, I've been saying this for years: the WHO defines a drug as any chemical intended to modify the physiological state or course of a pathological process of an organism. That means any drug will cause changes in the organism from the natural state. Ergo, just about any medication, excluding not even placebos, are drugs. And the fact that these drugs cause physiological changes as a part of their mechanism - precisely why they are drugs - means that they should be used with extreme caution.

About Syria, Iran and so on, you know my views already.

charlie ehlen said...

Bill,
Thank you for your comments.
I agree on using drugs, in particular, prescription drugs/meds with caution. Having to deal with chronic pain, I take pain meds daily. I do not like taking them but the alternative is more pain than I care to have. One finds often that life becomes a series of trade-offs. Take the meds to keep the pain manageable, or don't take them and suffer all day.