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Our policy of perpetual war costs trillions in taxpayer dollars, trillions that could have been spent on education, healthcare, expanded social safety net programs, minimum income for all citizens, infrastructure updates, etc. Why not a national poll: would you rather have cradle to grave healthcare like most of the rest of the world, or should your government instead spend the trillions on unending war for profit?
It's our government and our money...... in a democracy the vast majority overrules avarice and the tiny billionaire minority, if not by elected official, then by threat of revolt.
Pope Francis said it well when he described unending war for profit as an "industry of death," and many of those being killed, as in all wars, are impoverished people caught up in a rich man's war. How about those making all the money do all the damn fighting too? Leave the rest of us out of the madness of unending thirst for power and money.
Reply to #12: Bernie is the ONLY person I will even consider voting for the Democratic ticket. He is one of those very rare politicians I actually trust. This is not to say I agree with Bernie on EVERYTHING (i.e. gun control, Israel...). But that man delivers on his promises and he is not up for sale. What we see is exactly what we get. And THAT, my friends, is good enough for me!
By the way, does everyone suddenly find themselves having to "Login" every single time they wish to comment here?! Used to be that I had to login maybe twice a year; now it's every single time I show up. What's with that? I sent the webmaster a message of inquiry; predictably, no response.
It's not difficult to login, but it's irritating having to do it all the friggin' time.
Aliceinwonderland ~ Point well taken. I suppose no one is perfect. However, considering the imperfection with Popes I've seen in my life, in comparison, Pope Francis really rocks.
I only hope you are willing to support Bernie Sanders. Right now, that is the person who needs your support the most for the good of the country. The Pope can take care of himself.
Reply to #5: Marc, when Pope Francis comes out in support of my gender's reproductive rights, then -- and ONLY then -- will he have my support. Until then, he's just another antiquated old patriarch, far as I'm concerned.
On the rising water thing. I have a freind in Singapore which is basically on the equator where there is very little tide. A great plce to measure water levels. The water level is exactly where it has always been. Maybe the tides are just getting higher.
I love this the catholic church is criticizing someone about war and greed. The catholic church is the richest corporation in the world and nothing has caused more wars then religion. Poeple in glass pope mobiles shouldn't throw stones.
We are a species that no matter what the challenge always seem to rise to the occasion, except non violence and peace. You can jeopardize your job, your well being and even your social standing by criticizing our aggression or politics of war. Yes the Catholic Church has a lot of money and material possession over the centuries of accumulation but not as much as Wall Street that supports the industrial military complex that is so deliberately dependent on poverty and unequal distribution of wealth. It seems hatred and murder are intertwined with our competitive nature. We have mass marketing and public relations efforts aimed at every generation from children to senior citizens intended to gain support for wounded warriors, and our heros but no mention of the victims of a system that uses and misuses the world resources for counter productive means. We have a cult of aggression that sees no end to growth and consumption and no ethical responsibility for current or future generations. At this rate I doubt space exploration or technologiy will benefit anyone now or in the future.
The simple truth is, there will never be real peace on earth until the human race has disappeared, by what ever means that might bring that about. It might be peacful if the population is reduced to widely scattered small groups of non-aggresive people, but that would require highly selective decimation.
Any port in the storm? Any truth no matter how inconvenient?
The catholic church survives on poverty and ignorance, while hoarding billions and billions and billions, for a kingdom "not of this earth".
There is a name for this kind of "truth", Thom...can you guess?
Given that we are engaging an ( according to YOU ) an extinction level exercise, one would think that maybe you might express greater expectations? I mean, we're not talking required original thinking from YOU or anybody else.......one simply follows Morris L West's solution in "Shoes of the Fisherman."
And you don't even have to read the book, they made a movie. .( and this was just about famine and war. )
Who knows, this whole "truth thing" might become contagious for you.....then you can expand your "truth" beyond the Koch Bros. to Buffet, Branson, Gates, Bloomberg, etc. Of course, this whole "smarmy" thing you have going will have to stop.....it doesn't fit with the truth very well.....
But you're safe......you don't read this stuff either.....or respond to it.
Tuition was free when I went to college plus work to pay for room, board, books was doable. Also, student medical was free, too, even the dentist. If it weren't for Reagan, the state college system would still be free. There was no such thing as a student loan when I went to college. What appalls me is that present student loans come with such a high interest rate....that's what's REALLY outrageous as is the salaries of athletic directors. Boggles my mind.
I always loved Pope Francis. There are few Popes who I can say that about. Unlike others, and a huge chunk of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis obviously takes Christ's teachings and telling the truth seriously. It is quite refreshing whenever a leader comes along that speaks truth to power. We are very fortunate to have people like Pope Francis and Bernie Sanders fighting for us.
Whenever someone like Pope Francis or Bernie Sanders comes along it is the duty of every responsible citizen to rally around and support them. An opportunity is knocking that we have been waiting and praying for now for many years. We must answer the door. Especially now when the powers of evil threaten to take so much away from so many. Apathy is a luxury we cannot afford.
mathboy ~ That is a very good idea. However, convincing the current crop of conservative Corporate cronies to invest a dime in proving sea level rise due to global warming is real, in and of itself, would be quite a feat. Besides, as a lifelong coastal dweller I can assure you that if the sea starts to rise, we will know soon enough. There are already quite a few markers in place that people who are familiar with the coastline will notice a change in. For instance, the SF Bay coast has many piers built on it for both docking boats and fishing. People who routinely use those piers are quite aware of the typical water height at both low and high tides. Various other areas of the bay, during low tide, expose the ground underneath for several yards off the main shore. The shore line itself is lined with rock breakwaters that have the normal sea level sketched into the surfaces with water marks, mussels, and barnacles. In Oakland, the ocean and bay drain directly into Lake Merritt in the center of town; which, is delicately balanced with the the water level at high tide hitting 1-2 feet below the bank surface. Here alone, a 1 foot rise in sea level would cause the lake to spill over it's banks. Something a great many people would notice. I seriously doubt any appreciable rise in sea level would go unnoticed for very long; at least, around this area of the coast.
I might favor the possibility of capital punishment if we had a justice system that worked. But since we do not, capital punishment in the US is a crime against humanity. Today the US justice system could be improved by basing verdicts on the flip of a coin.
Roland
mathboy -- I like the idea of 200 ft pillars. I wonder if we could convince any government to build them. They need to be very well built to withstand the ever more powerful hurricanes created by global energy capture (AKA global warming).
Coping with rise sea level will make the problem invisible to people that continue to live near the ocean.
Coastal cities should erect ornate, 200-foot-tall pillars just off-shore (for now) with markings for distance above AD 2000 sea level, so that as sea level changes over the coming decades and centuries, everyone can see it written plainly.
Sen. Lindsey Graham's declaration that he would drone-strike anyone thinking of being a terrorist (even if they're a U.S. citizen and resident, presumably) is completely in line with his declaration a few months ago that he'd use the military to force the Congress to pass a budget.
Yes we should ban the death penalty. Use of the death penalty has the pyschologocial affect of instilling barbarism and violence and hate into our country's collective psyche.
Richard, you've totally omitted from your opinion any suggestions that address nuclear waste. In Washington state there is a major catastrophe happening - that's been happening for years - where the waste was placed into metal drums and buried underground. Unbeknownst to anyone was the fact that the drums eventually leaked causing death and destruction all around the area, from cancer to flora and fauna deaths. And it's still happening. What about the cleanup? What about the cost of "proper" storage. And we may as well prepare for the Fukashima happening here since Oklahoma has become a hotbed of earthquakes thanks to fracturing, yet plans are to build another nuclear plant not far from there. No thanks, I'll place my bets on renewables.
"Cruel and unusual" was seen by the Founding Fathers to apply to torture, and we know that individuals such as George Washington did have individuals executed. While execution should be used sparingly, it should be a potential recourse for the most violent of crimes.
Secondly, and this is just a personal observation, I would have little concern whether the indivdual facing immenent execution for committing some terrible crime "suffers" or not; be it whether they feel pain went stuck with a needle or apperhension at seeing the machinery designed to send them to oblivion. It is likely a far cry from the fear and pain their victim(s) felt.
Nuclear in the USA would not exist if it was not subsidized by the Price Anderson Act. We the people pay the insurance for these plants. We the people are also paying for the long term temporary storage of the spent fuel in casks next to the plants. The plants have bloated staffs that make the plants too costly to operate, Indian Point alone has about 400 security guards. It needs this kind of security because of terrorist threat, Yet it has no protection from aerial attack. The industry has had 50 years to solve the waste problem and has done nothing. Decommisioning costs for the plans that have been recently shut down are going through the ceiling, They have 40 year schedules for decommisioning pawning the problem off to the next generation. The bad outweighs the good.
I scratch my head as I read the comments that look to nuclear power plants as the ulitmate solution--there are other alternatives, no? Some people are already using them, all over the world. The Dutch use wind, people in the American Southwest use solar power, and there are other sources. The question is you can't make as big a profit on those alternatives as you do on nuclear. Some of those alternatives are available to people "on their own", so, other than some arrangement with local utility to cover shortfalls, and in some cases "sell" the surplus to the utiltiy in the even that occurs. I can understand why the corporate media isn' encouraging the other alternatives. What you don't know enables the billionaires to stay rich.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, in announcing his announcement to run for President, says he's "been more right than wrong on foreign policy."
Great! Let's have a President with a 49% failure rate on half the government's job!
Thom, your campaign against nuclear power needs to end and end now. The damage to the health and welfare of mankind from nuclear power is miniscule when compared to burning fossil fuels. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates 4.6 million people die every year as a result of using fossil fuels for power, transportation and heating. Since Chernobyl the WHO claims 100 million people have died as a result of fossil fuel pollution vs 4000 officially from the Chernobyl accident. Why aren't you campaigning equally hard for elimination of fossil fuels?
Its time to acknowledge that nuclear energy is the only source of energy that can replace fossil fuels. I'm not talking about current technology but a technology discarded 50 years ago. That technology is the Liquid Fuel Thorium Reactor. America abandoned mining rare earth metals used in most electronics devices because we didn't know what to do with the Thorium waste so now we import over 90% of rare earth metals from, guess who, China. Thorium is so abundant that unlike fossil fuels and uranium (that will also be used up this century) the earth will never run out of Thorium for thousands of years. Were we to begin again to mine rare earth metals a by-product would be enough Thorium to power the world for centuries. BTW, guess who is now building LFTR's using our abandoned intelectual property, China. I'm, frankly, surprised that you aren't aware of these facts. Search Youtube for Thorium and you will find ample support for LFTR technology.
Secondly, Elon Musk announced recently the Powerwall, a solar charged 10KW battery power pack (expandable in 10KW increments up to 90KW, more than enough for most residences. Oh, a 10KW pack costs just $3500. He is taking orders now for delivery next year. Musk claims he is gearing up to manufacture these units by the thousands. He also announced a much larger megawatt power unit for industrial use. There appears to be many competitors emerging in the battery business, enough so that I am convinced that the technology is real and ready for mass implementation.
These two technologies I believe can provide a fossil fuel free future if only you and your peers will get on board and stop the perpetuation of the myths regarding nuclear energy. Granted, the present LWR's need to be phased out as quickly as possible and replaced by safe LFTR's that produce no pollution or spent fuel. There are also technologies that can use the spent fuel from LWR's and solve the waste problem.
In conclusion, I urge you to stop your scare mongering about the present nuclear energy technology. Rather spend your time reviewing and reporting on future technologies that show promise for the long haul. In summary, they are battery power, nuclear power (LFTR) and fusion power.
Given these facts, I believe the worlds energy future holds enormous promise if we can convince politicians and corporate interests that there is no long term future for fossil fuels and our focus must be on developing battery and LFTR technologies in the short term with fusion power down the road, that is, if mankind has any expectations of surviving the damage we have already caused.
David E. Myhr