From The Babylon 5 Newsgroup: Straczynski reminds us of Eisenhower's Warning:

JMS: The pattern (used to be): you build up your military at time of war, then you reduce the military during
times of peace, keeping enough of a force in readiness so that you're not
caught betwixt and between when something starts.

That's supposed to be the peacetime boom, when the defense budget is reduced
and that money is redirected toward the civilian sector in creating jobs,
fixing the infrastructure, building highways and cities and the like.

Now we're on a nonstop parade of military spending, no matter peace or war.
Which was exactly what Eisenhower (a republican) warned about decades ago. He
was either the one who coined the term "military-industrial complex," or he
came along shortly afterward. He saw the alliance as a bad one, one of too
much reliance at the cost of taxpayers, and was concerned that it would lead to
this.

He was right.

This is what this Republican said in January, 1961:

--------------------------

"Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of
my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or
Korea.

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments
industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make
swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of
national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments
industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and
women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on
military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry
is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political,
even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the
Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet
we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and
livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial
complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and
will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or
democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and
knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial
and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that
security and liberty may prosper together."

Food for thought.

God save us from these supposed "Christians"...

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in particular. This is the man who had the gall to put a substantial statue of the Ten Commandments in the foyer of the state courthouse in Alabama. He claimed a constitutional right to do so. The state and federal courts told him he was wrong, and that the monument must be removed. At this hour, it has not yet been removed. And the Judge and his supporters are trying to paint it as a mythic battle representing the modern world's attempt to tear God out of US government.

Please.

Judge Moore and his followers have twisted the constitution the same way they've twisted the scriptures. The Bill of Rights does guarantee freedom of religion. The judge has been throwing this up as if it bolstered his cause. Quite the opposite. We have a constitutional obligation to maintain a separation of church and state.

The attempt in their rhetoric by these fundamentalist christians to paint the founding fathers as fundamentalist christians is laughable to anyone who knows their American History. Too bad the American public doesn't know their history.

My worry is that the public believes these people when they say that our constitution is based on the ten commandments, that the founders were men of God. This is far from the truth. Secular Humanism was the order of the day among the intellectuals during the revolutionary period. Hammurabi's Code and The Magna Carta were also major influences, so too the Greek philosophers, as well as contemporary thinkers like Locke and Rouseau.

These men were far from fundamentalist christians. Do yourself a favor and look them up. Read a little. Then come back and tell me this country is based on the fundamentalist christian's concept of God.

Nope. In fact, oh short term memory driven americans, let's remember this current strain of "fundamentalism" in Christianity is a product of the 20th century. These current fundamentalists have a much shorter history than they admit or most people realize.

Another history Americans would do well to read is a history of the Ottoman Empire, the Islamic Empire that at its height controlled from Baghdad to the gates of Viennna, along with much of Northern Africa. We as a culture are so ignorant of history we don't know our own, never mind the history of a thriving, vibrant empire that lasted 600 years, right up until 1918. Yes, an empire that ended less than a hundred years ago. Turkey is all that is left of this once grand empire.

The Arabs and others who populated and ran the Ottoman Empire were Muslims who tolerated independent Christian and Jewish communities in their midst, as Muhammed had said to do for the other "peoples of the book." The Book being the Bible, BTW. The Ottomans were highly advanced in mathmatics and science. But as time wore on, Islam became more "fundamentalist." Nationalism began to appear. The empire crumbled. The state of the Arab world today is a direct consequence of the death of the Ottoman Empire. We see in the headlines every day the violence that this sort of ignorant fundamentalism breeds.

The assertions of Judge Moore and these fundamentalist christians make me worry that the US is heading down this road. In the face of the advances of science, even more traditional churches, like the Roman Catholics, are becoming more conservative. Instead of allowing christianity to breathe and live, they've killed it, and ressurrected it as myth and magic.

The Ten Commandments do contain a great moral code. They also contain the first line, "I am The Lord Your God. You shall have no other gods before me." Any Agnostic, Hindu, Buddhist or follower of another religion is inherently threatened by this. This is the reason the constitution has provisions creating seperation of church and state. The very reason!! This so-called "justice" is using the constitution to the opposite ends of its intention. This power play of placing this monument in the courthouse is gross judicial misconduct. Judge Moore's right to practice his religion does not extend to the foyer of the public building where he works. If Judge Moore were Taoist and wanted to put up a monument of the Tao te Ching, that would be too bad, it would never have happened.

This monument is really a monument to the EGO of Judge Roy Moore, not to God. It needs to go.

Where were you when the lights went out?

What lesson did we learn when the lights went out? Perhaps there are some things we should not leave to greed. Perhaps there are some things we need to take care of as a society that we cannot make money on. The "grid" is outmoded and outdated because private companies bought up utilities, then milked the infrastructure for all it was worth without reinvesting in the grid.

Deregulation removed much of the oversight of power companies. Many power companies saw deregulation as a signal that they could make as much money as they wanted without having to worry anymore that anyone would call them on their dangerous, greed-driven practices.

Thousands of Americans have lost jobs as a result of electric utilities being bought up by companies with no qualms about firing long time workers in the interest of "streamlining". There was no one there when the lights went out because they had been laid off. Alarm systems didn't work because they hadn't been maintained properly. Cascading power failures began because energy companies in the US have been treating the old and aging energy infrastructure like a cash cow. And now they've nearly sucked it dry.

Let's remember Enron was one of these companies. The power companies in this country have fallen into the hands of the greediest breed of capitalists. Men (and, yes most are run by men) who are at best amoral, at worst hypocritical. Men who will kill you indirectly, offering the comforting phrase, "it's nothing personal. It's just business." Men who live only for short term personal gain, with little loyalty to company and none at all to those who work for them. Men who may go to church but who truly only worship money, greed and the power to make more money. Brutal hypocrites.

Businessmen and Politicians on the right often cloak themselves in the trappings of religion. They pretend to believe in man's better nature, basing deregulation and laissez faire capitalism on the idea that most people will do the right thing. They don't really believe this. They certainly don't "really" practice it. But if they get enough other people to buy into it, those people become ripe for exploitation. Roger Waters just came to mind, lyrics from "Dogs" on the Animals album: "You have to be trusted/By the people that you lie to/So that when they turn their backs on you/You'll get the chance to put the knife in." The right wing politicos and CEOs pay lip service to God and Christianity, then make their cash off the "suckers" who actually believe.

We optimistic Americans so want to believe people do things for the right reasons that we don't notice they're ripping us off. We don't notice as they keep charging us the same or more, while spending less and less to keep up the infrastructure we rely on and putting more and more into their own pockets.

Maybe if we want to keep power generation and transmission affordable we can't make a huge profit. Perhaps there are some things we should not leave to greed. Perhaps there are some things we need to take care of as a society that we cannot make money on. And while we're awake, how about we look at how greed is helping the health care industry in this country? Just a thought...