The Business of the U.S. Is War and More War!

A Reflection for the 4th of July while eating hot dogs and apple pie!

Former President and General, Dwight David Eisenhower, issued a warning on Jan. 17th 1961 in his farewell address to the nation. “….we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

Today, more than 50 years later, the military industrial complex has grown immeasurably to include not only a vast military establishment and arms industry, but now includes Congress, the mass media, religious institutions, education, every state house and local council. Militarism infects every aspect of life in the U.S. In essence the U.S. has become addicted to war. And like any drug addict, the war addict is controlled by the drug and on a path to self destruction.

Today the U.S. wages war against Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya and Yemen. In truth, these are imperial wars of domination for control of resources, and strategic regions of the world, but disguised as noble causes.

Look at the facts: See http://alturl.com/yxnvh article by Steven Lendman
DOD is the world’s largest landlord with over 539,000 facilities (buildings, structures,) located on nearly 5,000 sites, covering more than 28 million acres in America, its territories and overseas. They include over 1,000 overseas bases in 150 or more countries. Congressional Research Service data says active duty US military personnel worldwide, National Guard, and Selected Reserves, total 1,683,000.

U.S. Military spending: the grand total likely exceeds $1.5 trillion annually, a figure rising most years while popular human needs go begging. Economists cite the unreliability of official numbers, suggesting it’s more accurate to take the “official” Pentagon’s basic budget and double it because as much as 40% of it is black or hidden, plus there are add on supplementals for the ongoing wars. Hidden items that are militarily related include such things as debt interest of $126.3 Billion on military outlays.

What about Hawaii? According to a RAND report released on June 1, 2011 military spending in Hawaii totals more than $6.5 billion annually; $12.2 billion in cumulative effect; 101,533 jobs. Not a word about the COSTS of military occupation of Hawaii, the poisoning of the land, water, etc.

The big news: Governor Abercrombie wants to to move tens of thousands of Marines from Okinawa to be based on Hawaii Island at Pohakuloa.
See > http://blogs.hawaiibusiness.com/2011/06/02/abercrombie-pohakuloa-vs-guam/

End the War Addiction!
Military Clean-Up NOT Build-UP!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc. 5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622. Email ja@interpac.net http://www.malu-aina.org
Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (July 1, 2011, – 511th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

PLANS FOR a Hilo VIGIL this week if Israel attacks the Gaza Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human.

·         Longer opinion from the Center of Constitutional Rights http://www.ccrjustice.org/files/Center%20for%20Constitutional%20Rights%20Legal%20Analysis%20September%202010.pdf

·         And one from Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights The Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and International Law http://www.lphr.org.uk/FlotilliaIL_QA/LPHR_FlotilliaIL_QA.pdf

·         Maritime boundaries expert Ambassador Craig Murray says boats have a right to sail

Posted at my blog workforjusticenow.com

The State Department would not say whether Israel’s blockade of Gaza’s denizens was legal (or not)  http://mondoweiss.net/2011/06/reporters-hector-state-is-the-blockade-legal-what-right-does-israel-have-to-defend-itself-from-humanitarian-aid.html

Rep. Dennis Kucinich and five other courageous Congresspersons appealed last week to Secretary Clinton  http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/949

“Flotilla passengers, like the Freedom Riders of a half-century ago, want to bring international attention to illegal government actions and unjust treatment of human beings….The Freedom Flotilla riders want to end an unjust system that deprives Palestinians of their human rights, respect and freedom of travel.

“Fifty years ago, government officials in the American south called the actions of those on the buses challenging segregation of facilities in the south ‘provocative’ http://mondoweiss.net/2011/05/gaza-flotilla-is-the-freedom-ride-of-this-era.html

Please take a glance at the photos and short bios of all the passengers. A large number of the passengers are Jewish, and more than half are women (including octagenarian Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein and Pulitzer winning author Alice Walker)  Two passengers are Israeli-American (one is the boat’s captain, a decorated IDF pilot)  http://ustogaza.org/passengers-on-the-audacity-of-hope/

Videos as to why some are sailing at http://ustogaza.org/latest/us-boat-to-gaza-passengers-explain-why-theyre-going/

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/69293

You’ll have to create an account at Smashwords, and it may or may not be clear, then you just click buy link and then pay $0.00 for the free download, which is being offered in honor of this current flotilla. You can purchase it at a later date!

I hope a vigil isn’t needed, but thanks in advance if it is

(PS — if you’ve not yet done so, please sign these two online appeals, one to Pres Obama http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1439/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3956 and one to Secy Clinton http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/audacityofhope/hillarypetition
to protect the flotilla passengers)

And if you’re inclined, make a few calls:

President Obama: 202 456 1111

State Department: 202 647 4000

The toll free number to the Congressional Switchboard: 1 866 338-1015

The phone number for the Congressional switchboard is 202-224-3121

—
Jim Albertini

Aloha Peace friends,
This is a reminder about a peace organizing meeting on Monday, June 27th from 7-9PM at the Keaau community center.  Please mark your calendars for the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the Month.  Future meetings are: July 11th and 25th and Aug. 8th and 22nd.
Among items for discussion at this Monday’s meeting:
1.  The citizen online http://www.radiationnetwork.com  website with real time radiation readings now in Puna, as well as Maui and Kauai on the network.  Check it out. Update on Fukushima.
2.  Update on drones used in warfare and training in Hawaii, including at Pohakuloa.
3.  Plans for Hiroshima/Nagasaki days –Aug. 6-9.
4.  Plans for major Oct. 6th protests in Washington, DC and possibly solidarity actions in Hawaii.
5.  Malu Aina challenge to new Army General of the pacific for testing and monitoring for DU at PTA, Makua and Schofield.
6.  Update on Fukumoto property.
7.  Gaza flotilla US boat “The Audacity of Hope” with two Hawaii passengers: Retired Colonel Ann Wright and Dr. Carol Murry, both of Honolulu.
Your ideas for education & action?
Please pass the word.  Mahalo.
—

Jim Albertini

The Big Lie!

(Sunday, June 19, 2011 Hawaii Tribune-Herald front page)

General Wiercinski knows the art of propaganda very well: “When one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it … even at the risk of looking ridiculous.”

Someone needs to tell General Wiercinski that he looks ridiculous.  In truth, the U.S. military is the world’s largest polluter and destroyer of the environment and culture the world has ever seen.  U.S. military documents say over 14 million live rounds are fired annually at PTA alone.  Hundreds of thousands of acres in Hawaii are littered with live explosives.  The military secretly tested chemical and biological weapons at various sites, including deadly Sarin nerve gas in Hilo’s watershed.   And General, please explain how bombing the land and waging wars for oil is protecting the environment.

General Wiercinski, if you want to be taken seriously, our organization challenges you to support and fund comprehensive, independent testing and monitoring with citizen oversight led by Dr. Lorrin Pang, MD (retired Army Medical Corps) to determine the full extent of radiation contamination at PTA, Makua Valley, and Schofield Barracks.

Finally, our organization does not appreciate your attempt to pit one island’s opposition against another.  We do not want the U.S. training anywhere to do to others what the U.S. has already done to Hawaii: overthrow and occupy its government and nation, desecrate its sacred sites, and contaminate its air, land, water, people, plants, and animals with a wide range of military toxins.  We want the U.S. to stop bombing Hawaii and clean up its opala (rubbish).  Justice demands an end to U.S. occupation and the restoration of the Hawaii nation.

Aloha ‘Aina! — Stop the Bombing!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc. 5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
 Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622.  Email ja@interpac.net   http://www.malu-aina.org
Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (June 24, 2011, – 510th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Obama needs to end all U.S. imperial wars and bring all the troops and war dollars home now!

Press release Tuesday June 21, 2011
further contact: Jim Albertini 966-7622
email ja@interpac.net

Obama needs to END all U.S. imperial wars –in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, and Yemen.  He needs to bring the war dollars home as called for by the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Monday, June 20th in their first anti-war resolution passed since 1971.
Drawing down troops in one country while escalating wars and the use of drones in other countries is not the path of peace.  It’s more of the same pea under the shell “war is peace” deception.  The U.S. needs to end it’s imperial ways and live in a more just (not dominating) relationship with the rest of the world.  The gap between rich and poor needs to be narrowed, not widened, at home and abroad.

Jim Albertini