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Worse Than Worms

War Culture Hates the Ethical Passion of the Young

Original at Tom Dispatch

Persisting in his support for an unpopular war, the Democrat in the White House has helped spark a rebellion close to home. Young people — least inclined to deference, most inclined to moral outrage — are leading public opposition to the ongoing slaughter in Gaza. The campus upheaval is a clash between accepting and resisting, while elites insist on doing maintenance work for the war machine.

I wrote the above words recently, but I could have written very similar ones in the spring of 1968. (In fact, I did.) Joe Biden hasn’t sent U.S. troops to kill in Gaza, as President Lyndon Johnson did in Vietnam, but the current president has done all he can to provide massive quantities of weapons and ammunition to Israel — literally making the carnage in Gaza possible.

Civilizational Unity, Not Clash: How Gaza Challenged Samuel Huntington's Fantasies

Identity is fluid, because concepts such as culture, history and collective self-perceptions are never fixed. They are in a constant state of flux and revision. 

 For hundreds of years, the map of the Roman Empire seemed more Mediterranean and, ultimately, Middle Eastern than European - per the geographic, or even geopolitical demarcation of today's Europe. 

 Hundreds of years of conflicts, wars and invasions redefined the Roman identity, splitting it, by the end of the fourth century, between West and East. But, even then, the political lines constantly changed, maps were repeatedly redrawn and identities fittingly redefined. 

Republic Steelworkers Got Pensions Because of Sherrod Brown

Sherrod Brown

I’m a 75-year-old steelworker, with real mobility problems from decades of hard work, especially as a steelworker. I’m living on a good, United Steel Workers (USW) negotiated pension, like thousands of my fellow steelworkers, thanks to Sherrod Brown. 

I worked at Lorain Works, USX, in Lorain, Ohio and, like thousands of my fellow steelworkers, looked forward to the day that I finally could retire, take it easy, and enjoy a decent life supported by a good Union (USW) Steelworker pension. 

Hiring, then retirements, go in large waves in steel mills as the company puts on or takes off whole “turns” of workers.” So, when I prepared to retire when I hit my 30-year anniversary in 2002, I was part of a big wave of retirements. 

Tell Congress and Governor DeWine to Abolish the Death Penalty

Protester with sign saying You Shall Not Kill

From the American Friends Service Committee
For decades, AFSC has worked to end the use of the death penalty as well as life and long-term sentences.

Please join us in urging Congress and state governors to end the death penalty once and for all. The death penalty flies in the face of moral values, common sense, and history. Death sentences do not deter crime, are disproportionately handed to people of color, and have been given to numerous individuals who were later exonerated.

Earlier this year, the state of Alabama put a man to death using the untested execution method of nitrogen hypoxia. The execution was carried out despite U.N. experts warning that the method could lead to excessive pain and constitute torture.  

Killing anyone—by any method—is immoral and should be outlawed.  In recent years, the use of the death penalty has declined sharply across the U.S. Since 2019, three states—Virginia, Colorado, and New Hampshire—have abolished the practice completely.

Now it's time for the federal government and all states to follow suit. 

Nancy Pelosi does not deserve Presidential Medal of Honor

Last Friday, President Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 individuals at a White House ceremony. Among the recipients were Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Al Gore, Elizabeth Dole who served as the head of the American Red Cross, media personality Phil Donahue, and former Secretary of State John Kerry to name few.
 
The Presidential Medal of honor should be reserved for those whose risk their lives and whose work and contributions help positively impact the quality of life for others and enhance the image of their country. Giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Nancy Pelosi, the Lady who ripped up a SOTU speech in full view on national TV, is a disgrace.
 
Let's face it, Katie Ledecky being an Olympic swimmer with multiple golds for the U.S. was the only person I saw deserving of the honor. But Nancy Pelosi, give me a freaking break!

Man Vs. Bear

Cluster Bombs vs. Open Hearts

Mine! Mine! Mine! Praise God . . .

This is perhaps the worst thing human beings do: They take their deepest values — connection, love, empathy — simplify them down to a religion, a name (Christianity, let us say, or Judaism, or whatever) and suddenly they have a flag to wave and a “cause” to go to war for. And the blood flows. Kill the savages! Kill the non-believers! Kill the enemy! (Take their land.)

Here’s the question of the day, as Israel continues to inflict hell and starvation on Gaza, as brutal conflict and murder rage across the planet: How do we reclaim — and maintain — the integrity of our deepest values? Acting in love and connection with an “Other” is, or can be, remarkably complex; declaring the Other to be an evil being who doesn’t deserve to live not only simplifies things enormously, but allows part of humanity to connect with itself, in fear of that enemy.

Big Father Watching

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