The world had better wake up and get with the program. The age of criminal governments controlling populations, so that they can unjustly enjoy undeserved privilages not commensurate with their contribution to society, is rapidly coming to an historical close. The new age of awareness, brought on by the interconnectedness of societies, necessitates that war be abolished so that the cooperation among peoples is able to iron out the injustices in individual societies and harmonize all societies according to universal rights as pertaining to a world society.

The world armaments industry, which is impeding scientific and societal progress, will continue to develop ever more complicated and destructive weapons so long as they are the dominant world industry. That is simply a matter of their capitalist function without which they could not survive. The moment that the armaments industry is forced to atrophy, even for a brief period, is the presage of the end of them, and, consequently, in this age of intellectual enlightenment, the end of war.

The future, in these days of exponential development of scientific advancement, meaning that period of time that includes our own lifespan, is going to be as historically relevant, or even more so, than the appearence on this Earth of Jesus Christ in it's relevance as a change event which affects the future society.

Oh, but there is a precedent:

Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it.

--60 Minutes (5/12/96)

_____________________________________________

After all, didn't Thomas Jefferson observe that the Tree of Liberty must be constantly refreshed with the blood of innocents? Or am I confusing him with Ba'al?

But what does Israel care.....they will keep on committing their atrocities as they are "God' Chosen People". And they have the US to veto any condemnation against that apartheid nation.

Hillary apparently voted AGAINST banning cluster bombs recently. I think she should be asked about her vote.

Here's an example of Hillary Clinton putting the interests of her "political friends" ahead of common human decency. Senator Feinstein introduced an amendment to last year's defense appropriations bill to ban the sale of cluster bombs to any nation that refused to stop using them in civilian areas.

Clinton joined the Republican neo-con chorus and a small number of misguided Democrats and voted against the amendment.

The amendment stated:

No funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act my be obligated or expended to acquire, utilize, sell, or transfer any cluster munition unless the rules of engagement applicable to the cluster munition ensure that the cluster munition will not be used in or near any concentrated population of civilians, whether permanent or temporary, including inhabited parts of cities or villages, camps or columns of refugees or evacuees, or camps or groups of nomads.

The Clinton campaign likes to talk about all the good things Hillary has done for children.

From the article above:

Ms Johnson spoke of 12-year-old Hassan Hemadi, who in 2006 picked up an object outside his home in southern Lebanon while he was watering the family garden.

"'I saw a metal object,"' Johnson said, quoting Hemadi.

"'I did not know what it was and so I picked it up. I started playing with the ribbon on the end, twirling it around. Then I don't know what happened, it exploded. Now I have lost the fingers on my hand."

Next time you see Hillary waving to her followers at a campaign event or shaking hands with them, take a good look at her fingers ... and think of that kid.

Has Israel turned over the maps of all the locations where they dropped the cluster bombs in Lebanon? So the deminers can clear? Or is that still a state secret to "protect Israel's security" while the children of Lebanon pay the terrible price? And the US taxpayer goes right on subsidizing the Israeli military!

Only the countries with superior air forces can use weapons of mass destruction effectively. And simple firebombs or cluster bombs can, then in my analysis, become WMD.

Why is the wanton killing of innocent people only called a massacre if it is done with AK-47 or machetes?

Dixie:

Thanks for the reminder.

It's not too difficult to see through Hillary's happy fascist face animated by endless calculated lies.

Even when she's smiling, she has the charm of an undertaker !

LITTLE BRO -- Ba'al is quite happy, and promises to increase the stock (and profits) of all involved.

But there is that trifle of a matter of collecting your eternal souls and 1st born … … …

This is directed at Israel, obviously. Meanwhile, the muslims continue to banter that Israel must be wiped off the face of the map, that Israel (code word basically for all jews) must be destroyed and killed. Hamas, Hezbullah with training and assistance from Iran and Syria continue to intentionally aim their missles directly at Israeli school children and neighborhoods and no protests are lodged.
Muslims in Arabia aren't the down trodden oppressed minorites as you believe the non white population is in this country. They are an intolerant population who make nazis and the ku klux klan look like Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition. Arabian muslims cling to notions of submission (to either Allah or the strongest and most brutal group that claims Allah has blessed them with their strength and brutality). These people will kill their own children when attacked by placing them in the way of bombs and bullets and claim Allah blessed them for this. This is why arabic children seem to always be near or with arabic muslim soldiers.
Israel is attacking only the armed terrorists who bring these children with them and act as if no one has figured this out. Israel has every right to defend itself against these terrorists. In our country, if kids are placed in harm's way, they are taken from the families. In muslim countries, putting children in harm's way is a heroic and deeply religious act which is rewarded by the culture.
In other words, if cluster bombs were not being used, arabic muslims would throw their children in the way of another weapon just to blame Israel and America. Aside from this, muslims are generally fun loving people which is why Hillary, Bill and the Bush family will always take their money and make USA a subservient servant state for muslim policies, like Kosovo, Albania, not killing Bin Laden, etc...

What the average humane and liberal person doesn't get is the mindset of those who rule us. They think that they are defending the greatest civilisation ever against barbarians - "them" over there, in the dark. They think this is a mortal battle for the preservation of our culture. Of course, when they say "our" they don't mean us ordinary people, or minority groups, or the impoverished or anyone except those of their own class: the empowered and influential rich. That's who they want to survive. And they are prepared to sacrifice anyone to do it. Children are being killed by cluster bombs? Very sad. But the long term gain is the preservation of this Great Civilisation they believe we have - despite the fact that it is as cruel, as ruthless, as inhuman as any dictatorship this world has ever seen.

The above post from ToleranceNow, is very misguided.

Why can't we just admit that cluster bombs are bad? There are great people in Israel who were against this practice. All of Israel does not support the brutal cluster bombing.

The US drops Depleted Uranium bombs which cause cancer, leukemia, and birth defects in its `victims well after the initial blast has gone off. The strategic value of a bomb is to take out an enemy or its resources immediately. Cluster Bombs and Depleted Uranium Bombs kill the innocent people that occupy the war zone after the battle is over. There is no strategic logic behind it. It is blind murder.

Should I defend this abominable US practice just because I am a pattiot? No.

Stop defending the inhumane practices of your country, no matter which country you defend. That will get you more sympathy than pointing out the inhumanity of your enemies.

You are knowingly killing children. There is no way that you can say that all cluster bombs that explode kill the "children of terrorists". They are simple cruel explosive devices. There is no morality meter in its detonator.

That is reality.

to tolerancenow
Oh boy your knee jerk rightwing statements are filled with FALSEHOODS from the book of limbaugh, hannity and savage. All of your statements about islam and everything else are wing nut hatred distilled. yes the article refers to israel, who placed the cluster bombs in lebanon. No one has said that killing anyone is justified neither mortars over borders nor israeli occupation forces killing palestinians at 10-20 times the rate of israeli casualties and robbing and humiliating the population as they drive around like blackwater barbarians.

The cluster ban vote was Hillary's ace in the hole. When her campaign ran out of money, she made a phone call and AIPAC coughed up the needed funds. I'm sure the $5 million loan was repaid out of it, but since she's not releasing her financial information we can only assume that. Without that cluster bomb vote, she might have been on shaky ground with asking AIPAC for money.

Her accusing Obama of plagiarism reminds me of a drowning person grabbing wildly at anything afloat. Hope I'm right. I do wish more people could see her for what she really is. Someone on another post devastatingly detailed her "greater" experience over Obama. Voting for a was while he was saying we shouldn't be in it; unable to admit to a mistake; voting for the bankruptcy bill - well, the list was long, and showed that she may be long on experience, but short on judgment and overly attached to corporate interests.

It's too bad the public doesn't know more about her. And she would sink the Democratic ship come November. She would bring out too many Anybody-but-Hillary Democrats, Independents and Republicans in November. Including me. I don't vote for warmongers who choose to blow up children for political gain. At some point a person has to draw a line in the sand.

kathyodat

The best definition of ethics I have heard: If there's a deal going, you should be willing to close your eyes and pick either side of it at random.

Those who defend cluster bombs would instantly change their outlook if it was them or their child who lost their arms or legs or lives.

No "solution" to any problem that involves the indiscriminate maiming and killing of people is a solution at all... it is more of the problem, a guarantee that the violence will continue.

The "realists" are truly the fantasists here. Reliance on military hardware is profoundly impractical, a game of diminishing returns. We have more weapons than anyone else, yet we cannot impose our will, cannot control events.

It's time for anyone who cares about the future of the U.S. to accept that security is in relationships of interdependence, not the ability to hurt and kill.

tolerancenow, if you obtained your information from any source besides the corporate media, you would know that Israeli soldiers AIM their guns at children. It isn't safe for them to go out and play. Maybe the soldiers have the mindset of US soldiers during the Indian Wars. Kill the children and they won't grow up to fight.

kathyodat

muggles5, that was a wonderful post. From beginning to end. Thank you.

kathyodat

In his recent article entitled What Do We Stand For?, former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury, Paul Craig Roberts, asks the following: Do we Americans have any honor, any humanity, any integrity, any awareness of the crimes our government is committing in our name? Do we have a moral conscience?

The 'we' from whom the answers are demanded may remain unsure enen now, but, for the rest of the world, the questions are purly rhetorical.

You stand for nothing. You stand still for every evil imaginable. You stand fully exposed before all of mankind and (for you deists) before God as well. The latter's mercy may be infinite. The former's may be less assured.

jmacneil, well said, and worth repeating:

The world had better wake up and get with the program. The age of criminal governments controlling populations, so that they can unjustly enjoy undeserved privilages not commensurate with their contribution to society, is rapidly coming to an historical close. The new age of awareness, brought on by the interconnectedness of societies, necessitates that war be abolished so that the cooperation among peoples is able to iron out the injustices in individual societies and harmonize all societies according to universal rights as pertaining to a world society.

The radical liberalism and related philosophy that enables the flourishing skulduggery will have to be banned along with most of the behaviors and production, to make way for the universalist values, localist economics, populist politics, and the rest of the progressive platform. The philosophical debate is over. It's implementation time now.

dixie: Hillary apparently voted AGAINST banning cluster bombs recently. I think she should be asked about her vote.

The way to communicate with Hellary, and all of her capitalist network, is through your own personal vote, at the polling booth and in your general exchange/association. Go to the polls and register your conviction by writing in third party progressive candidates, hang around and talk to a dozen, or two or three about why you cast that vote, and practice localism in all of your exchange/association. This is how you do your part to starve Hellary's capitalist network into submission to the public will.

Israeli troops have killed a 10-year-old boy during a raid into central Gaza, Palestinian medics say.

More American 'freedom' to butcher the innocent?

tolerance now,
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahhahha, sorry, I can't stop laughing at your name "tolerance" hahahahahahahahahahahh, I guess it must mean tolerance for the killing of innocent Lebanese children, or tolerance to be racist and call all Muslims terrorists.

Dear tolerancenow,

What was the date of the AIPAC press release you were quoting from?

Do screeds like this make you eligible to join the 'Swiftboater Hall of Fame'?

There is no honor bombs. There is no honor in theft. There is no honor in torture. This country was founded on the backs of good honest people who were not counted as an entire human being either, in the constitution the rich white men wrote for the country they stole and forced slaves to develop for free for them.

Those rich white men want their slaves back and have decided this country of fools and lazy fat slobs, er, citizens, will do just fine. Debtors prisons are not far off the horizon.

Welcome to 1984 - it just took them longer to accomplish than they expected given how easy it was in the beginning.

May your God bless you and keep you from the prisons they've built for people just like you - and me.

Cluster bombs are called anti personnel weapons, meaning people killers. And in this case little people, because the cutely named "bomblets" get strewn around in places where children play and they look like toys, or something strange and different that needs to be picked up and looked at. Human rights people have been trying to get them outlawed since Vietnam, maybe before, without success. I do know how our military loves weapons and bombs of all kinds, but I sincerely do not understand why they are so stubbornly attached to these things, which obviously target little kids. If they are doing this knowingly and on purpose- as clinton and albright and the war department clearly were in the case of the sanctions- ..... sorry, i can't find a way to finish this sentence. They are all war criminals.

This is really simple: no one should be allowed to make the damned things.

Then there wouldn't be any stupid arguing about where they can and can't be used.

Tolerance now is using the age old Zionist tactic of when Israel is in the hotseat point the finger at the Arabs that way you don't have to deny what Israel is doing (cause you can't) you simply distract and sidetrack the reader! Sorry but we are all familiar with this pathetic tactic and the others by now.

Americans are pissed at the AIPAC crowd and I think they know thier days of buying off our gov't are numbered. Keep up the pressure everyone let's take our country back!

Opportunity to help

http://www.nomorevictims.org.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5E6Z2zQdI0
thanks

J.MacNiel, I posted your comment above at
http://www.machiventa.org/CAP/Canadian-Action-Party_WP-Political-Tyranny.htm

A Truth well spoken, and a vision of what will be.

Thank you for putting to words what is in the heart of the worlds peoples.

Paul Kemp
http://www.PaulKemp.info
http://www.PaulKemp.ca

I second that motion PaulKemp.

In my mind "killing children" is "killing children" and I see this as a threat to our own. It is our responsibility as parents and grandparents to put an end to it.

Bluesky,you are correct the war is still ongoing.

BeForKids (kathyodat): I wish the entire world had a heart like yours. Thank you.

Along completely unrelated lines, many of you might appreciate the humor of this little webcomic installment: xkcd: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

Haven't we all lost a little sleep in such pursuits?

This is a global problem, not just an issue between Israel and the Middle East. Undetonated land mines (left over from our big-dick competition with the USSR) are still blowing apart innocents in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Kenya, South Africa, etc.

Yet another charming hangover from the neo-colonial rape.

tolerancenow.....

You are a pathetic piece of kosher crap.

tolerance now, you are right. All these children just grow up to be terrorists anyway, so killing them when they are young is God's Will, have I got that right?

I know the Master Race/Chosen people, don't target children, oh wait-I forgot Khiam, where ISRAEL TORTURED CHILDREN.....one's they had not yet turned to red mist with f-16's. Shucks, wait! Electrocuting a child's genitals while he is shackled-that is targeting children! Go Chosen People! Exterminate The Inferior Race!

Has the Jewish state released data yet about where these unexploded 'bomblets' were dropped? Still refusing? Let the kids find them!

Shove the rascist charge, many beautiful Jews are as sickened by ZioNazism as the rest of the world, and I respect them no end.

Google 'Khiam' Anyone interested in Israel's Torture Of Children. "Khiam" "intolerancenow"
!

HeartVirtueâ„¢:"I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation"

What is the experience we desire from war? Is it Freedom? Peace? Joy? Happiness? Security/Safety? How does war/violence committed against anyone, be they armed combatants, their children, their surrogates or their political leaders, result in the opposite experience? If someone attacks you, physically, verbally or in print, is your natural reaction to embrace their point of view, their philosophy, their way of life? Or, is it to react either in kind or in fearful submission?

What seems so obvious to me does not apparently make sense to others who see military action and coercion as the way to achieve their goals of security and prosperity. The real question I ask is: how do I(or we)persuade people who practice violence as a strategy to achieve their purposes that there are more effective means to the end of security and prosperity? By listening to another's deepest desire, I may learn more about her/him and what motivates them. There is a great deal of information, and there are experiential tools to create the experience of understanding and transformation. One may choose another way when one reaches the conclusion that what they have been doing is not producing the experience they say they desire.

It is an Inside-Out process; not Outside-In. Explore the heart before concluding that change is possible from the Outside-In.

peace,
st john

tolerancenow,

Using cluster bombs is a criminal act, period! And that goes for land mines as well. The facts speak for themselves. After the so-called 'battle' or' war', civillians casualties continue, whether picked up by a child thinking the bomb is a toy, or farmers and ranchers stepping on a mine planted many years before. I remember reading stories in the newspaper (back in the 50's and 60's) about European farmers killed or maimed by a buried land mine in WW2. It's not like, "well, the war's over, let's retrace our steps and retrieve all the mines we buried and search the area for the untold amount of cluster bombs not detonated." This my sound absurd, but the "war victor" doesn't clean up the mess.

On the question of Israel, I think your bias against the Arabs and Muslims is evident. I suggest you read the book, 'The Case Against Israel', by Professor Michael Neumann, who is Jewish. There are enough quotes in his book by prominant Jewish/Israeli politicians, militarists, religious leaders and whatever about getting rid of the Palestinians and Arabs in general.

Two wrongs don't add up to one right.

thewonderingyou, thanks for your kind words, and also for the cartoons. I was never officially a scientist, but my insatiable curiosity has led me down that path.

I guess my focus on peace and healing has a lot to do with all our grandkids. My parents' generation tried to make this a better world for their children and the present adult generation has not passed that along. Time to change things. I hope Obama means what he says. I'm not voting for him out of conviction, as I would Kucinich, but out of hope, and the reality that there is no other viable option for change. Considering the alternatives, I'm willing to take a chance on being fooled. And this is my first venture into mainstream politics since 1972. In 44 years of voting for president, this will be my third vote for a Democrat. I'm actually having a good time watching the rout.

kathyodat

BE FOR KIDS -- You have the answer "with a focus on peace and healing".

Our love is now empowered to change the world through our belief, hope, and trust in creating an unprecedented future of possibilities. Obama is connected in this endeavor, and through our "uploaded" vision and hope, he can achieve even more then he even imagines. We each have the miraculous power to create through him and participate actively in this every moment, if we so chose to.

Let us chose this exuberantly and joyously, and continue to pay mindful attention now (now)∞.

I see that your choice of a screen name as an awesome and powerful statement, while also being an affirmation, and likely being as well how you have been living and committed your entire life.

It is a wonderful thing to focus on the future, as our children are that.

Let us all chose KINDNESS over being RIGHTEOUS, whenever we can, to propell out kindred of Amerikind forward.

Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed »
« We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself » — ML King

It is like a giant billboard when you see the pictures of these children, and it is screaming out, this is what you do to each other. Those leaders who seem to think it is alright to use these munitions, along with DP munitions have very little conscience or moral character. They are weak, cowardly, fools.

paulbk1977: "this is what you do to each other"

Wow. That line really hit me. How many SciFi films feature that impression tendered by aliens viewing our species? But they're [in the movies] intelligent. Nature is not. It doesn't need to be. Infanticide is a rather common feature among the various species on this planet. So strange that ours practices it for reasons other than the survival of our species.

I'm an English teacher. I taught the adjective "strange" tonight to one of my classes. Would that I could have seen your post before going to work...

One last comment before this thread and article becomes overwhelmed by the ongoing feed of issues highlighted by CD. I would like to respectfully offer a movie quote to anyone out there who is pursuing or is contemplating pursuing a career or even a short stint in politics or the armed forces. This is from the third film in the Bourne trilogy:

"Do you even know why you're supposed to kill me?"
[pause, no answer]
"Look at what they make you give!"

From the infantry to the pickler, from the voter to the elected official, it's something to think about. Something very important to think about.

The 3rd Bourne movie created the possibility of a new Senator Church (damn skipped only two generations) railing into the 'wet works' department of the CIA (et al.).

Let's all envision a similar real life scenario,
where those that should be held accountable,
actually are !