U.S. Arms Deployed in Wars Around the Globe

By Ali Gharib
Published on Friday, December 12, 2008 by Inter Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (IPS) - Pundits these days warn of a Middle East arms race if Iran brings its alleged nuclear weapons programme to fruition, while others fear that missile defence in Eastern Europe could spark escalation involving Russia.

But despite all the fear in Washington, it turns out that the U.S. need look no farther than its own shores to find the greatest single source of weapons proliferation around the globe.

It's the U.S, according to a new report from the New America Foundation, which "is the world's largest arms supplier". And with 23 billion dollars in receipts in 2007 and 32 billion dollars in 2008, including only foreign sales, the U.S. is also cashing in.

From escalating hostilities to encouraging human rights abuses, these arms deals have a plethora of potential negative effects.

"Arms transfers can serve as a U.S. government 'seal of approval' for governments engaged in unacceptable behavior, not to mention being used as tools of internal repression and instruments of warfare with neighboring states," said the report.

But with a change of administration rapidly approaching, and President-elect Barack Obama ready to take the helm of government, the U.S.'s unique and dominant position in the global arms industry could be ripe for a change.

"We are at another moment when we can reevaluate what our role [ought to be]," said the director of New America's Arms and Security Initiative, William Hartung, during a press conference on the report Wednesday.

The last shift, said Hartung, came under outgoing Pres. George W. Bush, who "subsumed [the arms trade] under the global war on terror" so that if a country could make the case of being an ally in the effort, it could get arms and perhaps even subsidies towards their purchase.

"As the size, scope, and sophistication of U.S. transfers has increased during the Bush administration, so have the risks," says the report, especially in the developing world, where most violent conflicts occur and where the U.S. does billions in sales.

While arms sales are usually thought of as a defensive or preventative matter -- lopsided support by the world's preeminent military power should clearly be a deterrent -- the fact of the matter is that U.S. deals play a major role in fighting around the globe.

"U.S. arms and military training played a role in 20 of the world's 27 major wars in /2007," said the report, co-authored by New America's Hartung and Frida Berrigan.

More...http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45081

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"Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed." -- Barry Goldwater

In The Debate Over The Economic Crisis, It's Crucial To Get The History Straight

Capitalist Fools

by: Joseph E. Stiglitz, Vanity Fair

January 2009 Issue

Behind the debate over remaking US financial policy will be a debate over who's to blame. It's crucial to get the history right, writes a Nobel-laureate economist, identifying five key mistakes - under Reagan, Clinton and Bush II - and one national delusion.

There will come a moment when the most urgent threats posed by the credit crisis have eased and the larger task before us will be to chart a direction for the economic steps ahead. This will be a dangerous moment. Behind the debates over future policy is a debate over history - a debate over the causes of our current situation. The battle for the past will determine the battle for the present. So it's crucial to get the history straight.

What were the critical decisions that led to the crisis? Mistakes were made at every fork in the road - we had what engineers call a "system failure," when not a single decision but a cascade of decisions produce a tragic result. Let's look at five key moments.

More... http://www.truthout.org/121008R

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"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

~ C. S. Lewis

Bush Last-Minute Rules Cement Environmental Legacy

Published on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 by Reuters
by Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON - In his waning weeks in the White House, U.S. President George W. Bush is drawing more fire than ever as he presides over a steady stream of environmentally unfriendly regulations meant to last into the Obama administration.

"While the first 100 days of the Bush administration initiated perhaps the worst period of environmental deregulation in American history, the last 100 days of a Bush presidency could be even worse," the staff of the House of Representatives global warming committee wrote just before the November 4 election.

On his first day in office on January 20, 2001, Bush issued an order that blocked regulations to reduce arsenic in drinking water, sulfur in diesel fuel and raw sewage releases generally.

Throughout his presidency, Bush has rejected any mandatory, economy-wide limits on the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, which is emitted by coal-fired power plants and vehicles running on fossil fuels, as well as natural sources.

This has put the United States at odds with other major developed countries, which have joined the carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol and are working at a meeting in Poland on a successor to this international treaty to fight climate change.

The Bush administration is represented at the meeting but, with most attention focused on the future Obama administration, the prospects for solid progress are slim.

In his last months as president, Bush's team has assembled a long list of so-called environmental "midnight regulations" covering global warming, air pollution, endangered species and coal mining, among other issues.

These last-minute rules overwhelmingly favor industry over human health and welfare, Bush's environmental opponents say. And they are moving through the federal bureaucracy at a pace that will ensure they are in effect when President-elect Barack Obama takes office on January 20.

This means the new rules will be more difficult for the next administration and Congress to undo.

'THE WORST WE'VE EVER SEEN'

"They (Bush administration officials) have been relentlessly opposed to clean energy solutions, climate change responsibility and basic safeguards for air and water and land across all of their agencies over eight long years," said John Walke of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

For Patti Goldman, of the environmental advocacy group Earthjustice, the Bush administration's failings fall into three categories:

-- exploitation of public resources, especially oil and gas development on public land;
-- a refusal to address climate change domestically or internationally;
-- the reversal or delay of public health protections from environmental dangers.

"It's the worst we've ever seen," Goldman said by phone, noting that she has watched environmental policy since the Reagan administration in the early 1980s.

More... http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/10-6

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"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root." - Henry David Thoreau

This is great! - A New and Expansive View of Joe the Plumber

Thank you to my friend, Dawn, who sent this great piece to me from her home in Michigan. For me, labels are not what really matter - such as liberal/conservative, Democrat/Republican, left/right - and often such categorizations polarize and impede finding common ground. And if I am going to use a label, I would personally often prefer, for instance, to use something like what Thom Hartmann refers to as being of the "Radical Middle". What is much more important to me than any labels are actions, such as who is standing behind what and who is truly walking their talk.Yet, I found in the below piece exactly that message of who actually stands behind what and who is truly walking their talk. I found it brilliant in how it overlays the paradox, the hypocrisy, and the myth of our seeming differences with the much more expansive truth of our shared values, interests, needs, and interconnectedness. I feel great gratitude for all who have worked, lived, fought, and died so more and more of us can live in a more caring and peaceful world. While war and soldiers are often given largely exclusive credit for "our freedoms", there is obviously a vastly larger picture of who we also need to celebrate, emulate, thank, and honor. Peace ~ Molly

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A new twist on Joe the Plumber

JOE THE PLUMBER

Joe the plumber gets up at 6:00 am and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for reasonable water quality standards.

With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised. All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance & now Joe gets it too.

He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and the amount of the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Joe dresses, walks outside, and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some wacko environmentalist liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

He walks on the government provided sidewalk to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays, and vacation because some big city liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job, or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FDIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government might be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe also forgets that in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state funded university.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the taxpayer funded roads. He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans.

The house didn't have electricity until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine drinking, cheese eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on Rush Limbaugh. Rush is talking about how liberals are bad and conservatives are good.

He NEVER mentions that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.

Joe agrees: "We don't need those big government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have!?"

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Peace may sound simple - one beautiful word - but it requires everything we have, every quality, every strength, every dream, every high ideal. -- Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999)

All works of love are works of peace. -- Mother Theresa (1910-1997)

NRDC - Mobilizing America For Our Environment

A message I received today from Robert Redford speaking for the Natural Resource Defense Fund and the urgent work they do:

No one voted on Election Day to hand over Utah's Redrock wilderness to oil companies.

But the Bush Administration cynically chose that very day to advance an outrageous plan that will sell off leases for some 300,000 acres of spectacular Utah canyonlands to oil and gas speculators.

While America was voting for Barack Obama and his vision of a clean energy future, Bush and Cheney's underlings were conspiring to plunder one of the crown jewels of our natural heritage for their fossil fuel cronies.

Please register your own opposition right now.

The auction of Redrock country will take place on December 19. At stake are world-renowned vistas near Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, as well as near Dinosaur National Monument. The highest bidders will earn the right to turn vast tracts of pristine wilderness into industrial wastelands.

It's bad enough that Bush officials went behind the backs of the American people with this disastrous scheme. But what's worse, they didn't even tell their own National Park Service until after the fact.

In my mind, this theft of our heritage goes beyond the cynical -- it's criminal. What will be left to give to our children and their children if we allow this administration, in a parting shot, to destroy our legacy of public lands for short-term gain?

I hope you're as angry as I am about this blatant land grab, because we've got to stop it -- and we have to act fast. The NRDC Action Fund is mobilizing more than one million Americans in an outpouring of protest over the coming days.

Send your own message of opposition immediately. Tell the Bush Administration that you will not allow it to destroy one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

We'll automatically send copies of your message to your two senators, your representative and to the Obama transition team, which has signaled their opposition to this disastrous attack on our Redrock heritage.

The Bush Administration is racing to complete the auction of our lands before Inauguration Day, which will make sales difficult to reverse.

We must fend off this land grab now -- before the oil and gas companies can lay claim to the spoils.

Those spoils include stretches of Desolation Canyon, which has been proposed for national park status. Bush's own Interior Department describes the canyon as "a place where a visitor can experience true solitude -- where the forces of nature continue to shape the colorful, rugged landscape.

"The very idea of oil and gas operations invading these remote sanctuaries -- which have remained untouched for millennia -- is deeply upsetting. Once the dirty deed is done, our wilderness can never be restored. That's why I'm asking you to help us sound the alarm and organize now.

Tell the Bush Administration to cancel the Redrock auction. Remind them that we the people are the rightful owners of this majestic wilderness and that we won't stand for its destruction.

And thank you for joining with me and the NRDC Action Fund to save these beautiful wildlands for all future generations.

Sincerely,

Robert Redford
NRDC Action Fund

P.S. After you send your own message of protest, I'll let you know of an easy way to spread the word to your friends and family. With only 10 days to mobilize one million Americans, I'm counting on you to rally everyone you know to speak out and save this precious wilderness from destruction.

* * *

The NRDC Action Fund is mobilizing hundreds of thousands of concerned Americans to speak out in defense of our environment. The four campaign areas span the most urgent environmental challenges of our time, focusing on flashpoint battles where online citizen action can make a critical difference. These include Wildlife, Wildlands, Oceans, and Global Warming. For more information, or to get on NRDC's mailing list (if you already aren't), please go here: http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/campaigns/mobilizing-america-for-our-environment.html. Thank you.

Watch & Listen & Support! -- Music For Human Rights

Heartfelt & Inspired Greetings!

I just received this message tonight from AIFC (American Iranian Friendship Council - http://www.aifcpdx.com/) in honor of International Human Rights Day -- which is on December 10th. This is an amazing film, song, project, global coming together, and just deeply heart-touching experience... at least it was for me! Wow!! I hope you will also consider supporting this project and/or sharing with others! Brightest blessings ~ Molly

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Music For Human Rights: Music Videos With a Message

_______________

Proceeds Go To Amnesty International

"The Price of Silence"

Created in 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) set forth the basic rights of every human being, yet 60 years later in places the world over, violence, poverty and oppression hold sway.

To commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the UDHR, and to remind the world that violations of Human Rights are unacceptable anywhere, at any time, Link TV has produced a video, "The Price of Silence" for Amnesty International.

Set in the United Nations, the artists appear on the stage of the General Assembly, flanked by huge screens whose images reflect the lyrics, or project performances from foreign locations. Starting with just Stephen Marley, the performance grows until a full band occupies the stage, singing and rapping, and the delegates are out of their chairs, cheering and dancing.

"The Price of Silence" is a true labor of love, the result of generous donations of time and talent on both sides of the camera. The song is based on "Cancion Protesta" which was donated by Aterciopelados and Nacional Records, produced by Andres Levin through Music Has No Enemies, and performed by an all star cast of international artists who have added their own lyrics. All of them are human rights activists and several are refugees. The video was directed by Joshua Atesh Litle, and although everyone looks like they are performing at the U.N., in fact all the artists and delegates were composited in through the visual effects wizardry of The Syndicate in L.A., Phoenix Editorial Designs in San Francisco, and a team of NY-based artists.

http://www.linktv.org/silence

It makes me cry.

Another world is possible!

"There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they grow up in peace." -- Kofi Annan

The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die

Warmest Greetings

I want to thank my friend Sharif Abdullah, who just wrote from Sri Lanka

to share this link which is a "4 minute flash movie, taken from

(fellow Berrett-Kohler author) John Izzo's bestselling book,

The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die" --

http://www.bkconnection.com/thefivesecrets/

It's an extraordinarily beautiful film which deeply highlights the question

of whether we are moving to live our lives more

"through FEAR or through LOVE?"

As Sharif suggests - choose wisely.........

Peace & blessings,

Molly

"... the most interesting thing I uncovered is that being a loving person, the choice to give love, is even more important in determining happiness than getting it. These people talked to me about the importance of choosing love and kindness as your way in the world. They taught me that when we choose to be a loving person we find a deep sense of meaning in life." ~ John Izzo

Please go here for Sharif's website: http://www.commonway.org/.

Portraits from Iran: "Pictures of You"

Warmest Greetings

I am on the mailing list of AIFC - American Iranian Friendship Council @ http://www.aifcpdx.com/ - and recently received this link from Goudarz Eghtedari who added:

"The video shows that there is still hope for peace as long as there are people like the producer of the event described in the attached video. We really hope to be able to bring this to Portland."

Please go here and see if you are as moved as I was by the beauty and life and stories that emerge through these images:

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/12/01/portraits-from-iran.html

I am so excited that this may come to Portland. This amazing video and powerful project deeply touched my heart and obviously also touched the hearts of others. I am constantly inspired, and my hope and passion ignited, each time I am witness to the phenomenal creativity and diversity of ways in which human beings are working to create a more peaceful world. This project brings the humanness of Iranians to America, creating the opportunity to replace some of our ignorance, fear, and prejudice with greater understanding, compassion, caring, and connection. Since 9-11 we certainly even today, over 7 years later, continue to need this help to shake us out of our distortions and bigotries amidst the continuing plethora of propaganda which is still in our midst trying to overtly and/or subtly communicate to Americans that Iranians, Muslims, Arabs, etc. are among those "Others" who are out to destroy Americans, our way of life, convert us all to Islam, etc., etc. What better way to nourish our higher selves and feed that which reminds and awakens us to what we may have forgotten - that we are all sacred, we are all connected, we are all in this together.

Please watch "Pictures of You: Images from Iran" and help spread the word. Thanks so much!

Connecting heart to heart to heart is what will help heal our world.

Tag, we are all it! :-)

Molly

"The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain

other sets of people are human."

--Aldous Huxley

The only fear we have to fear is fear itself.

-- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.

-- Buddha (560-483 B.C.)

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained

through understanding.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

This Brave Foundation

About the Brave New Foundation:

The vision of Brave New Foundation is an open democratic society that encourages rigorous debate, opportunity and justice for all.

Our mission is to champion social justice issues by using a model of media, education, and grassroots volunteer involvement that inspires, empowers, motivates and teaches civic participation and makes a difference.

Please go here for more information: http://www.bravenewfoundation.org/about.php.

You can go here to watch the video: http://bravenewfoundation.org/honorlist. If you wish, you can also make a donation today in honor of the person that inspires you in your life. Your donation goes toward supporting Brave New Foundation projects, such as In Their Boots, which examines the daunting challenges facing our returning Iraq/Afghanistan war veterans and their families.

Peace,

Molly

Rosa sat, so Martin could walk. Martin walked, so Obama could run.

Obama is running, so our children can fly.

- Ed Welch, quoting a text message from a friend,

on NPR's All Things Considered, 10/28/08

This Brave Nation

This Brave Nation is a unique video collaboration between The Nation, America's oldest weekly magazine, and Brave New Foundation, one of the country's newest multi-media producers. The series consists of six video dialogues between two well-known figures featuring charged conversations about loves, lives, politics and history. Each conversation is both a five-minute viral video and a 30-minute mini documentary.

The shows features: Pete Seeger, Dolores Huerta, Majora Carter, Tom Hayden, Naomi Klein, Anthony Romero, Carl Pope, Ava Lowery, Bonnie Raitt and Van Jones.

Please go here for more information and to view any or all of these amazing conversations: http://bravenation.com/. Many courageous, hopeful, heartfelt, and extraordinary things are happening in our world and in response to the enormous challenges which face humankind and all life on Earth.

Peace & Gratitude & Blessings,

Molly

Just take what you love doing, and

do it with enough people to make it the future."

- Carl Pope, Sierra Club's Executive Director

"Another Dopeless Hope Fiend"

- my exceptionally brave, funny, and big-hearted friend

Dave's button that he wore yesterday as

countless others came to celebrate his birthday and his life,

and who even with pancreatic cancer, is able to

maintain vision of a larger picture and more loving world.

What a role model for us all.

Thanks, Dave!