AMERICA'S HERO

I'M A SOLDIER TOO.
WAS THE WORDS,
THAT CAME OUT OF HER MOUTH,
THE LITTLE GIRL,
WITH EYES OF HEAVENLY BLUE

JUST A KID HERSELF,
DOING A JOB OF A MAN,
RISE UP AMERICA,
AND GIVE THIS GIRL A HAND.

HER BROKEN BONES WILL HEAL,
BUT HER BROKEN HEART WILL REMAIN,
HER BEST FRIEND DIED BY HER SIDE,
IN HER HEART SHE WILL ALWAYS HAVE PAIN,

SHE DIDNT CLAIM TO BE A HERO,
BUT TO ME SHE WILL ALWAYS BE ,
SHE WAS DOING THE JOB OF A MAN,
AND THAT'S A HERO TO ME.

IT'S TIME TO LET HER LIVE HER LIFE,
AND ENJOY HER WEDDING DAY,
BUT DON'T FORGET TO SALUTE THE FLAG,
AND REMEMBER JESSICA LYNCH ON VETERANS DAY.

CLEO FLENER

AMERICA'S HERO

I'M A SOLDIER TOO.
WAS THE WORDS,
THAT CAME OUT OF HER MOUTH,
THE LITTLE GIRL,
WITH EYES OF HEAVENLY BLUE

JUST A KID HERSELF,
DOING A JOB OF A MAN,
RISE UP AMERICA,
AND GIVE THIS GIRL A HAND.

HER BROKEN BONES WILL HEAL,
BUT HER BROKEN HEART WILL REMAIN,
HER BEST FRIEND DIED BY HER SIDE,
IN HER HEART SHE WILL ALWAYS HAVE PAIN,

SHE DIDNT CLAIM TO BE A HERO,
BUT TO ME SHE WILL ALWAYS BE ,
SHE WAS DOING THE JOB OF A MAN,
AND THAT'S A HERO TO ME.

IT'S TIME TO LET HER LIVE HER LIFE,
AND ENJOY HER WEDDING DAY,
BUT DON'T FORGET TO SALUTE THE FLAG,
AND REMEMBER JESSICA LYNCH ON VETERANS DAY.

CLEO FLENER

"Who is extending NATO to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,Ukraine,Georgia,,etc...?"

Ah, but unlike the Warsaw Pact, NATO membership is voluntary. It is Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic who are seeking entry (I wasn't aware that Ukraine and Georgia had applied). We aren't exerting any pressure on them to join, they want to do it on their own, for the simple reason that they would rather be under American protection than Russian domination.

"Who is surrounding who?"

See above

"Open you eyes and see the real situation.
Just check the sites, you have nothing to lose"

Been there, done that. Now, why don't you set up your own blog and stop spamming the WAPO with your ads?

I wonder when enough will be enough. Current NATO weapon stocks can render the planet unlivable ten times over. I agree that any nation needs to have the means to defend itself against attacks, and have sufficient show of power to deter most common enemies (aka 'showing thy teeth').
It seems to me that spending on planes and bombers should not drop to 0, however the US airforce is more then a match for most countries, and the NATO alliance does mean 98% will leave all it's members alone.

It seems that in conjunction with the war on terror. communication and information exchange is at an all time low. Most equipment is substandard and either out of date, or just not functional enough for the field. Perhaps the boffins would like to sit down and take that essential part into the 21st century. Before the Pentagon will need to revert to the need of postal pidgeons to the frontlines.

The Army Nation...

...the army, taken collectively, eventually forms a small nation by itself, where the mind is less enlarged and habits are more rude than in the nation at large.

Now this small uncivilized nation has arms in its possession and alone knows how to use them.

...the excessive love of the whole community for quiet continually puts the constition at the mercy of the soldiery.

Alexis de Tocqueville
`````````````````````````````````````````

In my opinion the prophetic words of de Tocqueville (written over a century and a half ago), with regard to the military and democrat societies, have come back to haunt us.

Clearly the current Commander-in-Chief, the military and the arms makers have taken on a life of their own and gone off in a direction of their own choosing; and they have done so in deference to the will of the majority of the American people!

What does this portend for the future? We should all be very concerned, lest someday they turn their weapons on American citizens who they view as being non-patriotic (echoes of the past 6 years), as well on their purported enemies - and America's real enemies!

WAR,TORTURE,DESTRUCTION,SLAVERY,SLAUGHTER OF INNOCENTS IS THEIR DEMONIC CREED. THEY WILL SACRIFICE THE MANY SO THE FEW WRAPPED IN THE FLAG WILL PROFIT AS THEIR BLOOD LUST IS UNLEASHED UPON MANKIND! YOU WILL
FIND MANY GENETIC PSYCHOPATHS IN THIS LINE
OF WORK. THEY HAVE NO CONSCIENCE!

"There's no question that the big brains and their weapons-buying counterparts would like China to be the next enemy; it justifies big-ticket items. The Pentagon also needs to have a large conventional "enemy" to plan against."

These two sentences tell you everything you need to know about what's wrong with our imperial military-industrial complex.

Boys and their toys! There is almost no treat that can be addressed by the weapons of the 20th century, if nothing else, Iraq has demonstrated that an AK47 and a black shirt are as effective in urban combat in a country without a government that has popular support as all of our high tech goodies...anyone noticve the parallel with Spain before WWII?
The best security process for the US and indeed the world is to stop all manufacture of ammunition for these millions of AK47, AR15, and other WMD for the rebels of the world. Bombers, nuclear subs, ICBM, MBT, etc. have limited usefulness and probably weaken us more economically than any benefit militarily..and by the way, tell the gumbas in DC that they are the last ones to lead the world in anything. Their enless failures are the real danger to America!

Mr. Arkin:

What would you have the military do? Move backward?

Renovating old ballistic missile submarines that have outlived their original mission, but which still have some useful life in them, to become stealthy underwater headquarters for counter-terror strikes, seems like a very good idea for the current world situation.

Similarly, long-range bombers have, in this age of precision-guided weapons, become some of the most important weapons platforms in the age of terror.

Both these programs strike me as extremely useful for the current world situation, and a relatively good use of taxpayers' money. If you don't have a better plan, I suggest that you are wasting your energies by just criticizing.

Mr. Arkin,

Military threat assessment must include worst case scenario planning; to do otherwise is to be derelict of duty. The continuing operational problems in OIF are an example of inadequate strategic planning.

Conversion of strategic nuclear platforms into tactical standoff weapons able to penetrate anti-access area-denial (A2AD) hostile zones is an essential feature of effective preemptive action, and will be useful as the GWOT continues through the generations..

For uncensored news please go to:

www.wsws.org
www.takingaimradio.info
www.onlinejournal.com
otherside123.blogspot.com
www.globalresearch.ca

http://www.counterpunch.org/wasserman10062003.html

Fourth Reich?
The Bush-Rove-Schwarzenegger Nazi Nexus

By BOB FITRAKIS and HARVEY WASSERMAN

George W. Bush's grandfather helped finance the Nazi Party. Karl Rove's grandfather allegedly helped run the Nazi Party, and helped build the Birkenau Death Camp. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Austrian father volunteered for the infamous Nazi SA and became a ranking officer.

Together, they have destabilized California and are on the brink of bringing it a new Reich. With the Schwarzenegger candidacy they have laid siege to America's largest state, lining it up for the 2004 election.

The Bush family ties to the Nazi party are well known. In their 1994 Secret War Against the Jews, Mark Aarons and John Loftus use official US documents to establish that George Herbert Walker, George W. Bush's maternal great-grandfather, was one of Hitler's most important early backers. He funneled money to the rising young fascist through the Union Banking Corporation.

In 1926, Walker arranged to have his new son-in-law, Prescott Bush---father of President George Bush I, grandfather of George Bush II---hired as Vice President at W.A. Harriman and Company. Prescott became a senior partner when Harriman merged with a British-American investment company to become Brown Brothers Harriman. In 1934 Prescott Bush joined the Board of Directors of Union Banking.

The bank helped Hitler rise to power. It also helped him wage war. As late as July 31, 1941---well after the Nazi invasion of Poland---the U.S. government froze $3 million in Union Banking assets linked to Fritz Thyssen. Thyssen was noted in the American press as a "German industrialist and original backer of Adolph Hitler."

Loftus writes that Thyssen's "American friends in New York Cityâ¤|[were] Prescott Bush and Herbert Walker, the father and father-in-law of a future President of the United States." That would be the current president's father, George Herbert Walker Bush, also the former CIA director.

On October 20, 1942, the U.S. government ordered the seizure of Nazi Germany's banking operations in New York City, which were under the direction of Prescott Bush. The government seized control of Union Banking Corporation under the Trading with the Enemy Act. The liquidation yielded a reported $750,000 apiece for Prescott Bush and George Herbert Walker. The book, The Splendid Blonde Beast: Money, Law and Genocide, goes into exhaustive detail on Bush-Harriman Nazi money laundering. More recently, Michael Kranish covers the same Bush-Nazi relationships in The Rise of the Bush Family Dynasty published in the Boston Globe. Loftus documents that "Prescott Bush knowingly served as a money launderer for the Nazis. Remember that Union Bank's books and accounts were frozen by the U.S. Alien Property Custodian in 1942 and not released back to the Bush family until 1951."

Often ignored are the Bush family's post-World War II dealings with former Nazis. John Foster Dulles, who had worked with the Bush family in the Harriman Company in laundering money for Nazi Germany, was Dwight Eisenhower's Secretary of State. His brother Allen became CIA director.

As Martin Lee documents in The Beast Reawakens, American intelligence recruited numerous top Nazis to spy on the Soviets during the Cold War. Many established connections to the Bush family that had helped finance their original rise to power. In 1988 Project Censored, in its top award, noted "how the major mass media ignored, overlooked or undercovered at least ten critical stories reported in America's alternative press that raised serious questions about the Republican candidate, George Bush, dating from his reported role as a CIA 'asset' in 1963 to his presidential campaign's connection with a network of anti-Semites with Nazi and fascist affiliations in 1988." Investigative reporter Russ Bellant established ties between the Republican Party and former Axis Nazis and fascists.

In 2000 and 2001 the Columbus Alive published a series of articles documenting further links between Bush, Sr. and the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his own fascist networks in Japan and Korea.

Karl Rove has parallel ties. The shadowy Rove serves as "Bush's Brain" in the current White House. He is the political mastermind behind the California coup, and is now in the headlines for outing Valerie Plame, the CIA wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson. A consummate strategist, Rove may have outed Plame in retaliation for Wilson's failure to back up the Bush claim that Saddam Hussein was buying nuclear weapons materials in Africa. According to some published reports, as many as seventy CIA operatives have been put at risk by Rove's retaliatory strike.

According to Wilson, and to Retired U.S. Navy Lt. Commander Al Martin (www.almartinraw.com), Rove's grandfather was Karl Heinz Roverer, the Gauleiter of Oldenburg. Roverer was Reich-Statthalter---Nazi State Party Chairman---for his region. He was also a partner and senior engineer in the Roverer Sud-Deutche Ingenieurburo A. G. engineering firm, which built the Birkenau death camp, at which tens of thousands of Jews, Gypsies, dissidents and other were slaughtered en masse.

Rove, who has been based in Utah and associated with the Mormon Church, is widely viewed as the chief engineer of the current Bush administration. He and Tom DeLay are attempting to force the Texas legislature to redistrict its Congressional delegations, adding seven sure seats to the Republican column. By controlling the state houses in New York, Florida, Texas and California, the GOP would have a lock on the four largest states in the union, and thus the ability to manipulate vote counts and strip voter registration rolls in the run-up to the 2004 election.

Rove is a prime behind-the-scenes mover in the Schwarzenegger campaign. On May 1, 1939, a year after the Nazis took control of Schwarzenegger's native Austria, his father Gustav, voluntarily joined Hilter's infamous Strumabteilung (SA), "brown shirt" stormtroopers. This was just six months after the brown shirts played a key role in the bloody Kristallnacht attacks on Germany's Jewish community.

The Vienna daily Der Standard noted recently that "Gustav, a high-ranking Nazi, brought up the bespectacled, rather frail boy with an iron fist and quite a few slaps in the face." Arnold's father favored a Hitler-style mustache in photos.

On October 3, ABC News broke the story of Schwarzenegger's 1977 interview in which he was asked whom he admired. Schwarzenegger replied, "I admire Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power. I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it."

To cover himself, Schwarzenegger has made substantial donations to the Los Angeles-based Wiesenthal Center, which tracks down ex-Nazis. Arnold has also renounced Hitler.

But he has not renounced his friendship with fellow Austrian Kurt Waldheim, the one-time head of the United Nations with known Nazi ties. The book Arnold: An Unauthorized Biography, documents Arnold toasting Waldheim, who had participated in Nazi atrocities during World War II, at his wedding to Maria Shriver. "My friends don't want me to mention Kurt's name, because of all the recent Nazi stuff and the U.N. controversy," Arnold said. "But I love him and Maria does to, and so thank you, Kurt."

On May 17, 2001, Schwarzenegger also met with Kenneth "Kenny Boy" Lay of Enron at the Peninsula Hotel in Los Angeles. Through the utility deregulation plan signed into law by Pete Wilson, Schwarzenegger's chief advisor, California was destabilized, bankrupting the state government and opening the door for Tuesday's recall election. Lay has been George W. Bush's chief financial backer, and a close associate of Karl Rove's.

According to Bob Woodward's Bush at War, Bush attended a New York Yankees game soon after the September 11 World Trade Center disaster. He wore a fireman's jacket. As he threw out the first pitch, the crowd roared. Thousands of fans stuck out their arms with thumbs up. Karl Rove, sitting in the box of Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, likened the roar of the crowd to "a Nazi rally."

He would know.

Bob Fitrakis's Spooks, Nuke & Nazis is now available at www.freepress.org. He is co-author with Harvey Wasserman of The SuperPower of Peace v. Bush et. al.. available November 1.

Harvey Wasserman is author of Harvey Wasserman's History of the United States and co-author (with Bob Fitrakis) of The Superpower of Peace v. Bush, et. al., soon available from www.freepress.org.

Wasserman can be reached at: harvey@freepress.org

What the Weapons Makers Want...

they always get. Conversely, what the Peace Makers want is considered by some to be nothing more than dribble. Some writers have never seen or heard of an American-made weapons system that they did not like. The fact is that America does not work for peace, America works to dominate!

If the persistent creation and upgrading of weapons and weapons systems is all that we can look forward to in the future in order to secure a lasting American peace (for buying enemies off hasn't worked either), then 'we are of men and women most miserable' and we will be of men and women still miserable decades from now.

Just consider the amount of American dollars that have been spent over the past 50 years to buy more bullets, and to upgrade and build new weapons systems in order to secure peace. Now compare that to the amount of peace that we have had over the past 50 years. We could use the money for something else folks.

And er herm in case you haven't noticed- we still do not have even a modicum of peace on the horizon - we are already planning to mitigate or neutralize China, a country that has not threatened the U.S.A. in any way either. I suggest that there is another way, but how do you rid the country of warhawks!

I agree with Putin, America does not develop these systems and shields for defensive purposes, we build them in order to dominate - if you don't agree with Putin, just ask the people of Iraq!

Shame, shame...!

There has been some good comments on this subject, but the Missile Defense System is a waste of money and no real threat to any one except the people who launch it. It may not get off the ground, or go in the right direction.
How do Palestinian militants make homemade rockets out of house hold items, that,at least, get off the ground and go in the general direction they are suppose to go, but Boeing" Missiles cannot do either on a consistant basis.

What the Weapon's Makers Want...

they always get. Conversely, what the Peace Maker's want is considered by some to be nothing more than dribble. Some writers have never seen or heard of an American-made weapons system that they did not like. The fact is that America does not work for peace, America works to dominate!

If the persistent creation and upgrading of weapons and weapons systems is all that we can look forward to in the future in order to secure a lasting American peace (for buying enemies off hasn't worked either), then 'we are of men and women most miserable' and we will be of men and women still miserable decades from now.

Just consider the amount of American dollars that have been spent over the past 50 years to buy more bullets, and to upgrade and build new weapons system in order to secure peace. Now compare that to the amount of peace that we have had over the past 50 years. We could use the money for something else folks.

And er herm in case you haven't noticed- we still do not have even a modicum of peace on the horizon - we are already planning to mitigate or neutralize China, a country that has not threatened the U.S.A. in any way either. I suggest that there is another way, but how do you rid the country of warhawks!

I agree with Putin, America does not develop these systems and shields for defensive purposes, we build them in order to dominate - if you don't agree with Putin, just ask the people of Iraq!

Shame, shame...!

What the Weapons Makers Want...

they always get. Conversely, what the Peace Makers want is considered by some to be nothing more than dribble. Some writers have never seen or heard of an American weapons system that they did not like. The fact is that America does not work for peace, America works to dominate!

If the persistent creation and upgrading of weapons and weapons systems is all that we can look forward to in the future to secure a lasting American peace (for buying enemies off hasn't worked either), then 'we are of men and women most miserable' and we will be of men and women still miserable decades from now.

Just consider the amount of American dollars that have been spent over the past 50 years to buy more bullets, upgrade and build new weapons system to secure peace. Now compare that to the amount of peace that we have had over the past 50 years. We could use the money for something else folks.

And er herm in case you haven't noticed- we still do not have even a modicum of peace on the horizon - we are already planning to mitigate or neutralize China, a country that has not threatened the U.S.A. in any way either. I suggest that there is another way, but how do you rid the country of warhawks!

I agree with Putin, we do not develop these systems and shields for defensive person, we build them in order to dominate!

Shame, shame...!

Viewing China as the next "enemy" is far too crude and in fact misses the point entirely. China is not an enemy in the same sense that the Soviets or the nazis were, rather they are a global rival and competitor who will soon begin to challenge the US in a very significant way. True, China's transformation into a quasi-capitalist state has been remarkably successful, due in large part to massive foreign investment, a depressed currency, and ridiculously poor labor and wage standards. However, China's GDP is nowhere near that of the US and China is a crude manufacturer who imports nearly all of its technology, rather than inventing it, the way Western countries usually do. China's ability to rival the US will be dependent on its growing ability to control resources and access to them, particularly in the third world. In this regard, retooling our subs and developing new aircraft in order to better secure American interests abroad, and therefore retard the influence of China, is precisely what our Defense Department should be doing. Nobody in their right mind considers open or cold war with China a likely scenario. What is quite possible is China's growing ability to enforce its will and protect its interests abroad, something we should be doing everything we can to prevent.

Trust always in Reason

Archimedes

Yes, Gorbachev did a horrible thing to the USA by removing the Soviet Union as an enemy. Since then all the Fascist's came out of their holes and started treated the American people as their enemy. How many manufacturing jobs have we lost, how many people have been outsourced and how much has our National debt increased. Yes, of course we have to throw in a never-ending unjust war in Iraq. Now, the Fascist's want to create Cold War 2 so they can have a never-ending gravy train.

Yes, Gorbachev did a horrible thing to the USA by removing the Soviet Union as an enemy. Since then all the Fascist's came out of their holes and started treated the American people as their enemy. How many manufacturing jobs have we lost, how many people have been outsourced and how much has our National debt increased. Yes, of course we have to throw in a never-ending unjust war in Iraq. Now, the Fascist's want to create Cold War 2 so they can have a never-ending gravy train.

Yes, Gorbachev did a horrible thing to the USA by removing the Soviet Union as an enemy. Since then all the Fascist's came out of their holes and started treated the American people as their enemy. How many manufacturing jobs have we lost, how many people have been outsourced and how much has our National debt increased. Yes, of course we have to throw in a never-ending unjust war in Iraq. Now, the Fascist's want to create Cold War 2 so they can have a never-endinf gravy train.

Dear Odysseus,

Who is extending NATO to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,Ukraine,Georgia,,etc...?

Who is surrounding who?

Open you eyes and see the real situation.

Just check the sites, you have nothing to lose:

www.wsws.org
www.takingaimradio.info
www.onlinejournal.com
otherside123.blogspot.com
www.globalresearch.ca

"For uncensored news please go to..." Anywhere gut Russia, where Putin has returned to the old KGB style of dealing with dissenting journalists, namely the bullet behind the ear. Claiming that a strictly defensive weapon threatens Russia's interests only makes sense if Russia plans to act offensively against its neighbors. Far-fetched? The former Warsaw Pact members don't seem to think so, but then, they've lived under real tyranny and censorship, so they know what they're protecting themselves against.

For uncensored news please go to:

www.wsws.org
www.takingaimradio.info
www.onlinejournal.com
otherside123.blogspot.com
www.globalresearch.ca

Putin's censored press conference: The transcript you weren't supposed to see

By Mike Whitney

Last Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an hour and a half-long press conference that was attended by many members of the world media. The contents of that meeting -- in which Putin answered all questions concerning nuclear proliferation, human rights, Kosovo, democracy and the present confrontation with the United States over missile defense in Europe -- have been completely censored by the press. Apart from one brief excerpt that appeared in a Washington Post editorial, (and which was used to criticize Putin) the press conference has been scrubbed from the public record. It never happened. (Read the entire press conference archived here.)

Putin's performance was a tour de force. He fielded all of the questions however misleading or insulting. He was candid and statesmanlike and demonstrated a good understanding of all the main issues.

The meeting gave Putin a chance to give his side of the story in the growing debate over missile defense in Eastern Europe. He offered a brief account of the deteriorating state of US-Russian relations since the end of the Cold War, and particularly from 9-11 to present. Since September 11, the Bush administration has carried out an aggressive strategy to surround Russia with military bases, install missiles on its borders, topple allied regimes in Central Asia, and incite political upheaval in Moscow through US-backed "pro-democracy" groups. These openly hostile actions have convinced many Russian hardliners that the administration is going forward with the neocon plan for "regime change" in Moscow and fragmentation of the Russian Federation. Putin's testimony suggests that the hardliners are probably right.

The Bush administration's belligerent foreign policy has backed the Kremlin into a corner and forced Putin to take retaliatory measures. He has no other choice.

If we want to understand why relations between Russia are quickly reaching the boiling point; we only need to review the main developments since the end of the Cold War. Political analyst Pat Buchanan gives a good rundown of these in his article "Doesn't Putin Have a Point?."

Buchanan says, "Though the Red Army had picked up and gone home from Eastern Europe voluntarily, and Moscow felt it had an understanding we would not move NATO eastward, we exploited our moment. Not only did we bring Poland into NATO, we brought in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, and virtually the whole Warsaw Pact, planting NATO right on Mother Russia's front porch. Now, there is a scheme afoot to bring in Ukraine and Georgia in the Caucasus, the birthplace of Stalin.

Second, America backed a pipeline to deliver Caspian Sea oil from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey, to bypass Russia.

Third, though Putin gave us a green light to use bases in the old Soviet republics for the liberation of Afghanistan, we now seem hell-bent on making those bases in Central Asia permanent.

Fourth, though Bush sold missile defense as directed at rogue states like North Korea, we now learn we are going to put anti-missile systems into Eastern Europe. And against whom are they directed?

Fifth, through the National Endowment for Democracy, its GOP and Democratic auxiliaries, and tax-exempt think tanks, foundations, and "human rights" institutes such as Freedom House, headed by ex-CIA director James Woolsey, we have been fomenting regime change in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet republics, and Russia herself.

U.S.-backed revolutions have succeeded in Serbia, Ukraine, and Georgia, but failed in Belarus. Moscow has now legislated restrictions on the foreign agencies that it sees, not without justification, as subversive of pro-Moscow regimes.

Sixth, America conducted 78 days of bombing of Serbia for the crime of fighting to hold on to her rebellious province, Kosovo, and for refusing to grant NATO marching rights through her territory to take over that province. Mother Russia has always had a maternal interest in the Orthodox states of the Balkans.

These are Putin's grievances. Does he not have a small point?"

Yes -- as Buchanan opines -- Putin does have a point, which is why his press conference was suppressed. The media would rather demonize Putin, than allow him to make his case to the public. (The same is true of other world leaders who choose to use their vast resources to improve the lives of their own citizens rather that hand them over to the transnational oil giants, such as Mahmud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez) Even so, NATO has not yet endorsed the neocon missile defense plan and, according to recent surveys, public opinion in Poland and the Czech Republic is overwhelmingly against it.

Unsurprisingly, the Bush administration is going ahead regardless of the controversy.

Putin cannot allow the United States to deploy its missile defense system in Eastern Europe. The system poses a direct threat to Russia's national security. If Putin planned to deploy a similar system in Cuba or Mexico, the Bush administration would immediately invoke the Monroe Doctrine and threaten to remove it by force. No one doubts this. And no one should doubt that Putin is equally determined to protect his own country's interests in the same way. We can expect that Russia will now aim its missiles at European targets and rework its foreign policy in a way that compels the US to abandon its current plans.

The media have tried to minimize the dangers of the proposed system. The Washington Post even characterized it as "a small missile defense system" which has set off "waves of paranoia about domestic and foreign opponents."

Nonsense. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As Putin said at the press conference, "Since if this missile system is put in place, it will work automatically with the entire nuclear capability of the United States. It will be an integral part of the U.S. nuclear capability.

"For the first time in history -- and I want to emphasize this -- there are elements of the US nuclear capability on the European continent. It simply changes the whole configuration of international security . . . Of course, we have to respond to that."

Putin is right. The "so-called" defense system is actually an expansion (and integration) of America's existing nuclear weapons system which will now function as one unit. The dangers of this should be obvious.

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2075.shtml

For uncensored news please go to:

www.wsws.org
www.takingaimradio.info
www.onlinejournal.com
otherside123.blogspot.com
www.globalresearch.ca

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=9891

Filmmaker Moore, nurses rally for health-care bill

By Bobby Caina Calvan / Sacramento Bee

Nearly a thousand nurses, some from as far away as Massachusetts, descended on the Capitol today to join filmmaker and provocateur Michael Moore to push for guaranteed health care.

Members of the California Nurses Association swarmed the west steps of the Capitol to urge passage of Senate Bill 840, sponsored by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Barbara, which seeks to provide every Californian with affordable health care.

It was also an opportunity for Moore to publicize his movie "Sicko," which is due out for wide release in theaters June 29 in his latest film to jab at one of America's most powerful institutions: the health-care industry.

Two screenings of the film were being organized Tuesday; the first scheduled for this afternoon at the Crest Theatre Nurses Associations. A second showing is set to be held tonight and will be hosted by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.

Addressing the crowd, Moore railed against a health-care industry that he said denies coverage to millions of Americans.

"There is no room for the concept of profits when taking care of people when they are sick," he said. He asked the crowd: "What kind of sick, cruel system is this?"

The crowd responded with "Sicko."

"It's the real sicko, isn't it?" Moore said, referring to the health-care industry.

He called for the elimination of for-profit insurance companies, leading the crowd in a chant: "It's time for them to go." The crowd enthusiastically took on his mantra.

Several times he alluded to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at one point joking that "Even if you are form the country of Austria, you are guaranteed health care."

Later he beseached the governor to "do the right thing" throwing his support to SB 840.

Before the rally with nurses, Moore appeared before a briefing hosted by Kuehl. She hailed him for his efforts to bring attention to a health-care dilemma faced by thousands of Californians, some of whom have no health insurance and others who may be insured but are often denied health insurance.

"The insurance companies are the problem, " said Rose Ann DeMoro, the executive director of CNA, at the briefing. She held the companies responsible for what she called "terrible atrocities."

The hearing was broadcast on large-screen TVs in tents pitched outside the west steps of the Capitol.

Straw Man,

Neither a beefed-up Polaris or Trident class submarine could have done anything to stop the latest terrorist scare that took place in the United States a month ago, or the actual attack that took place on 9/11.

So what does the government do in order to justify future expenditures? The government creates another strawman in order to justify new expenditures.

I have an idea that would save the government a lot of money. The Federal government should simply arm every American with guns and artillery equipment, and let each of us defend ourselves. [Please don't tell the bishop that I said that]. In fact I would like to have an old F117 of my own.

That would be a lot cheaper, however, than buying or upgrading billion dollar boats!

Or on the other hand, the government could stop creating new enemies; then the government would not have to continue the pretense of needing to add or upgrade older, or existing systems.

Why don't we turn Osprey into an AWACs while we are at it?

If the children and grandchildren of these military contractors had to face the consequences of their parents' endless pursuit of profit (i.e. a military draft), I suspect they might be more circumspect.

If the children and grandchildren of these military contractors had to face the consequences of their parents' endless pursuit of profit (i.e. a military draft), I suspect they might be more circumspect.

If the children and grandchildren of these military contractors had to face the consequences of their parents' endless pursuit of profit (i.e. a military draft), I suspect they might be more circumspect.

I am very leary of Defense contrators and proposals for new weapons systems. I have no doubt that hyping China as a military threat is designed to sell more "expensive" sytems that do not work, i.e. Missile Defense Systems. I know enough about China not to regard them as a military threat. Economic threat is another matter.
We need close air support aircraft. I believe the A10 and Harriers are doing a good job, and, while you might want some ungrades on those airframes, they basically work. These contractors are greedy blood suckers, and I do not trust them or members of Congress who get campaign money from them.

If you recall the warning that President Eisenhower made at the end of his second term in office, regarding the development and influence of the 'military - industrial' complex. I believe now that the dangers he raised in the political power or influence of the military - industrial complex has turned full circle. We have de-industrialized as a nation, becoming dependent upon imports for even the most basic of products, clothing and foodstuffs. Our national debt is skyrocketing and the in-balance of payments on trade due to our trade policies is enormous.

Perhaps, if we utilize the military - industrial complex as a means to reverse the disastrous national policy of de-industrialization, the export of high paying jobs and the lower standard of living and national credit card mentality.

A start would be to rebuild our armed forces as Admiral Mullan has advocated the rebuilding of the Navy. We could start with a service life extension program for ships that have been prematurely retired to the reserve fleet with substantial life left in the hulls through a modernization program.

The re-opening of the production lines of both the F-15E and F-14 Super Tomcats would provide the nation with relatively cheap, proven aerial platforms as cost effective alternatives to F-22 and F-35 programs.

The military seems always to prepare for the last war in its procurement programs. Now it would be Iraq instead of forward looking towards future threats to our national security as Thomas Barnett advocated in his recent best selling book.

Perhaps, Mr. Arkin's column and his voice on national security matters will be heeded by the next administration. Hopefully, that administration will be more enlightened than the current Bush administration.

My personal view is that our national security is more likely to be threatened by challenges to our economic security triggered in a large part to our reliance upon a international trading policy predicated upon exporting jobs rather than products.

I would hope that we as a nation could enact a trade policy, a tax policy and a national security policy that would eliminate the threat of another future war even as we enhance our defensive capabilities should this nation face a future situation of armed conflict.