I think that the reading of a book called ‘War Is A Racket’ by Smedley D Butler, a former Brigadier General, deceased, should be made compulsory reading for all school students along with ‘The Horror Of It’, illustrations, of the effects of war on individuals, through photography, to bring home to these young people that war is not the glamourous event that some individuals make out, and some of these people should really know better, with a special note to those who never took part in any sort of hostility, unless you can include a row with the wife.
They should always stay silent or be made to enlist and be first up to be sent to the front line.

Part of Grayson’s speech delivering the Bill
to Congress

  “I am not saying that I oppose the wars, and I
  am not saying to stop the wars”

 
  Now back to Diogenes….

All these new lawmakers everyone is trying to get
into office at Capitol Hill…..all got their training

in state legislatures….  thats a change i can believe in

These guys have the power to censor and control the
news about the biggest oil leak in history, no one
really knows whats happening down there, how many leaks
there are, are live feeds live, how much is flowing,

They can control elections tooooooo,.,,

War Is Making You Poor Act…....

What a catchy title,...might work better than

War Is Enabling You To Drive Act….or
War Killed a Million Iraqi’ So You Could Drive Act.

those didn’t work,  they involved some else’s life,
not Americans.

Neither Kucinach or Grayson showed up to make a speech
at any of the major peace rallies

Not one contributor nor one poster on Truth Dig has
tried to organize a mass boycott..

Because that would be action.

To applaud this man as an antiwar hero - even though he slavishly supports Israel,
including Israel’s US-abetted, viciously murderous 2009 Operation Cast Lead in
Gaza, and in general supports a US foreign policy devoted to aiding and abetting
Israel and fighting wars for Israel - is to miss completely the single most important
point about why American foreign policy is so ruinously expensive unjust,and
violent.

He’s a like a “civil rights champion” who’s against ethnic discrimination, except
when it’s based on skin color. Such a “civil rights champion” would be an
incoherent absurdity.

There’s a gigantic, gaping pro-Israel exception in Grayson’s supposed antiwar,
liberal “principles” - and the hole is so egregious as to render him completely
devoid of credibility or effectiveness as an agent for positive change in US foreign
policy.

Shame on me for being a Diogenes cynic

The military budget is shrinking as I speak.

The war machine is deathly afraid of Grayson…

They are retreating as I speak.

The president is apologizing for the at least
two million deaths they have caused in just the two
wars.  I can smeellll this change…its in the air.
Americans are finally humbleing themselves.

Oh, and I forgot ,  the internet has changed everything
information, for everyone, now we are all enlightened.
Robert Scheer even has his own blogging sight to bring
all this enlightenment to everyone.

The Democrats are the ones that set this

Ron Paul libertarian , undefinable thing up,

same with the Tea Bagger thingy,  The democrats set it up.

Go get your progressive democrat candidates lined up

gonna swarm Capitol Hill with leftist, this enlightened

public ready now.

And the theater will go on…..
secret and covert ops…...and they will continue
to throw a Grayson or Kucinach at us.

and load National Guard at the border blaming the Mexicans
and more theater and fish food
while the Big Daddies guide their managers to capture
and steal the nationalized Mexican Oil, and we will sit
back and play that theater.

They will still want to get in the big AIRPLANE and
fly anywhere they want , when they want, no matter that
it is all being paid for by blood money, and enabling
the oil companies.
No, then they will get on these threads and show everyone
just how well read they are…....

Many one these threads still believe we can “change”
without changing our lifestyles.,

I bet everyone that is so appalled by this Oil disaster
haven’t cut back on their oil consumption one bit.

And the same goes with their politics…
NOT ON MY BEACHES…
weren’t real worried what has been going on in Nigeria
forever, or cut back and tried to put an economic
sqeeze on our government and Wall Street even though
they all know we are killing anything that gets in our
way to save this lifestyle.  The “feel good” vote.
The “feel good” demonstrations,.  and on
Nobody wants change…

Many held on to that notion that a few good Democrat’s
common sense would eventually catch on, held this notion
for forty years, Carlin and Diogenes seem to have it
right.

All those that finally woke up during the Bush
Admin that believe elections are going to take the power
out of the overlords hands….well,
many live off hope…..
Carlin say…Fuch Hope….
Electoral hope went down the drain thirty years ago.,
realism and cynicism go hand and hand.

You will be looking and looking,
and carrying around a candle just like his.

RonF, May 25 at 6:00 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

But how many rich folks’ kids join the armed forces Ron? Poor folks come in a variety of colors you know.

Fat Freddy, May 25 at 7:35 am #

C’mon ardee, you can do better than that. Lily white and third world? Thanks for the chuckle. You must really hate freedom. Either that, or you love your new ipad more. Don’t you understand that real wealth, both individual and societal, can only be achieved from savings and investment in production, not from debt and consumption?

C’mon Freddy,“fess up now, no secret that the libertarian screed of ending all entitlements, ending all regulatory power of the federal govt and allowing business to discriminate against whomsoever they wish makes my words as accurate as hell.

Admit it, welfare makes you sick because your tax dollars are helping poor families of various colors, giving children who would otherwise go hungry hot meals in school. How dare we liberals demand such luxuries as that when that money might go for another pool chair or three for your backyard?

Oh, and I own no Ipad, no Ipod, no Iphone either.Though what that has to do with anything at all escapes me.

Commune115, May 25 at 7:26 am #

Ardee, nobody expects perfection,...

Exactly, Commune, exactly. Thus I support Grayson one one issue and do not on another. If you are waiting to find a perfect politician to throw your support to it will be a rather long wait, hell freezing over comes to mind…I deal with issues, not being Diogenes with a lamp.

Here you go liberal Dems, your new savior,
more fish food from the Democrats, swallow down hard.

P.S.
The wars aren’t going to stop
The economy is going to continue to deteriorate
The ecology is going to continue to deteriorate
OSHA will will continue to work for industry
the Food and Drug Administration will too.
and Congress and the Exec will continue to be just
managers for the overlords.
Now go Vote your favorite Dem or Pub.

@RonF-

I would suspect that “most vulnerable” refers to class, not race. What percentage of
the people serving in our armed forces come from rich families?

Postscript:  The best thing about this Grayson bill is its name—“War is Making You Poor!”  Hope it doesn’t get changed because it is a direct hit at everybody’s concern and connects everybody.  It fits on posters and in headlines.  It uses the active voice—This does that!  No passive “you are… blah blah blah ... such as you are a victim of war etc. etc.”  Also the use of the simple one-syllable word “poor” which is understood at the gut level by everybody if repeated often enough. It also offers the possibility of extensiion, such as:  How? By
killing your sons and daughters.  By turning your kids into murderers.  By taking money out of education—both public and private.  By spending enormous sums on hi-tech research, most of which is outdated before it can have a lifetime of use.  By
creating victims and causing hatred and fear.  By ... and on and on.
  Bet you 10 to 1 the name will be changed before the bill ever “hits the streets.” It’s TOO adaptable, too true, too honest.

Fat Freddy:  “Don’t you understand that real wealth, both individual and societal, can only be achieved from savings and investment in production, not from debt and consumption?”

  Rich minorities can get jobs that pay high salaries, a sizeable part of which can be used for savings or investment.  Millions of poor and middle people get jobs that pay wages not high enough to save or invest more than a pittance, which is often consumed by health or accident or helping someone else. 
  So much for “savings and investment in production”—which is a pipe dream for most of us peons who, beyond the age of 62 are totally dependent upon whatever Social Security doles out, all the while the upper crust screams about “getting rid of entitlements” and how we “don’t deserve” anything more because we didn’t work hard enough, or save enough, or aren’t smart enough to invest wisely.”
  What about the millions whose only “savings” was their houses, partially paid-for, which were quickly snatched by banks with no refunds—a total loss.
Not a wise investment?  Too much consumption?  Wrong!
  The prevalence of this snotty attitude is precisely what is ailing the United States of Corporate America.
  (And on the other hand we have that wise investor/producer, British Petroleum!  Invest other people’s money in producing global warming plus destroy the Gulf of Mexico and let thousands of shrimp fisherman eat dirt.  Anybody who is not thoroughly fed up with this extreme pillage should have his/her head examined.)

It’s old news.  War has been making people/countries poor for millenia.  Today, oil, finance and the military/industrial complex are an economic dynasty that’s going to be very hard, if not impossible, to unseat.

Often the goal ([profits) of the ‘dynasty’ is counterproductive to the well-being of the nation over which it rules. Foreinstance, in 2005 the US provided half, $8.1 billion, worth of weapons sold to militaries in the developing world - many already engaged in conflicts.  And now those well-armed militaries are coming back to bite us in our national ass.  Think Taliban.

@Tobysgirl:  Those comforts you mentioned (maybe with the exception of
feeling connected to the earth) are all comforts that require resources in order
to successfully do, and so they are inherently limited.  That is, they are not
automatically in supply.  For example, if you want freedom from ill-health, you
generally have to maintain a relationship with a physician, and that costs
money.  If you want freedom from debt due to education loans, then you either
have to avoid taking the loans out (which has an opportunity cost) or avoid
going to school at all (which also has an opportunity cost, assuming you want
to go to school).  This is due simply to the fact that school is a business service,
and people do not offer the service for free.  They charge you in order to make
their own living educating you.  Since the ability to do the things you want to
do costs money, you must operate within the framework of some economy in
order to maintain the ability to do those things.  You’re right that capitalism is
not the only model, but in any economic model certain things will hold true,
such as the fact that resources are limited.  This is due to the quantity of
average consumption (determined by population size) versus the quantity of
resources, and so it is an empirical measurement.  This means that the idea of
scarcity is empirically valid, just as gravity is empirically valid.  It is physically
true to say that two fish cannot feed a crowd of people, for example.  It is not
possible to imagine any scenario in which inadequate resources could provide
for an unlimited number of people.  It’s physically impossible.  What I’m driving
at is the fact that you’ll find that a great deal of economic theory is not as
arbitrary as you might expect.  It’s less normative than it seems on the surface,
because at base it’s responding to empirical facts and patterns, and modeling
its theories on those observations.  In this way its similar fundamentally to the
physical sciences.  The main difference is that the more superficial variables in
economics are harder to measure, so it becomes sloppy as a science when you
try to apply it to real economies and markets.  But fundamentally it’s empirical,
and some of its tenets that are not the result of a specific heuristic are being
refined, such as when economists interact with cognitive psychologists to try to
determine if people actually make rational economic choices, and under what
circumstances they may deviate from rational thinking, and how this can effect
the mathematical models underlying economic theories.

re:By Commune115, May 25 at 4:00 am:

OK, Commune; I didn’t know about Grayson’s being a total whore for Israel. That
completely negates him as a force for good in US foreign policy. Oh well. It’s
Israel uber alles, as usual in our Israeli-occupied Congress.

I was not a Grayson fan after the “Republicans want you to die quickly” fiasco. 

This bill, however, makes perfect sense.  It is absolutely correct that a lot of the bullshit stuff we do has become invisible to us, and to drag it out of the shadows and shine a light on it is a perfectly legitimate thing to do. 

I am in favor of dragging everything out of the ahadows and the back rooms, which if Obama had done as promised, I would hvae given him great credit for.

There may be times when war is necessary in the defense of America and the American people.  Helping to defeat the Nazis, I believe, may have been one of those times.  But America should stop sacrificing American lives, and to a lesser extent, American money, for the benefit of questionable international agendas, no matter whose they are. 

It is now time to pull all the troops back and reevaluate our motivations, not in back rooms, but out in the open. 

I will support this bill as a strong step in the right direction, and I will give Grayson credit for coming up with it. 

But anyone who purposely targets non-combatants for any reason at all, be they political, religious, ideological or economic reasons, should be universally condemned to the highest degree possible.
If you must declare war, then at least go after your enemies warriors and war machinery exclusively.

The laws of economics are writ in the universe? HA HA HA!!!!! Only human beings can come up with this stuff, thinking some economic system is as real as the stars. No, for all you literalists, I know he didn’t say economics are writ in the universe, but he equated the “laws of economics” with the “laws of physics.”

And my idea of real wealth has nothing to do with capitalism, state capitalism, the markets, or any other bullshit dreamed up by twisted human minds. Real wealth is working at what you love, having time and energy to play, feeling connected to the planet, being grateful for what you have, and then some little freedoms: freedom from fear of ill-health, freedom from fear of job loss, freedom from fear of debt incurred for education, and, most of all, for all those people we have bombed, freedom from war.

Wow!  I haven’t had the time to comment on Truthdig for months but this bill is the best idea I’ve heard in ages. 

I don’t have any knowledge or opinion on Grayson’s positions on anything else and frankly I don’t care.  I thought the idea was that a vote for a bill was about the bill not the proposer.

Now I’d agree with the suggestion someone made about cutting the military budget in half but that would make people feel unsafe in the short-run.  The genius in this bill is not the cost saving anyway, it is the direct application of the budget saved to individuals through their tax break.  I’ll even forgive him for making the tax break regressive. 

Now every American who hears about this bill and doesn’t contact their local representative demanding that it be supported is accepting the opportunity cost of tax on $35k to support a few more F-35’s. 

Who knows, pass it and the military industrial lobby might start agitating for peace!  They wouldn’t want the cost of war cramping their annual bonues…

ardee

I can’t change the laws of economics any more than Hawking can change the laws of physics. You and your liberal Keynesian believing ilk (along with monetarists and supply-siders) laugh at and ridicule Austrian economists. But you know what, we were right. Peter Schiff predicted the housing meltdown in 2006. Palyi predicted the stagflation of the 70s. When will you people wake up and realize you can’t get something for nothing. Still laughing? Wait until the dollar crashes. People don’t realize how close the dollar was to crashing in the 70s, when we really were an economic world leader. It is not Austrians that will turn us into a third world country, it is the Keynesians who are turning us into a third world country.

Peter Schiff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

C’mon ardee, you can do better than that. Lily white and third world? Thanks for the chuckle. You must really hate freedom. Either that, or you love your new ipad more. Don’t you understand that real wealth, both individual and societal, can only be achieved from savings and investment in production, not from debt and consumption?

Here’s more Alan Grayson, on the Federal Reserve:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE3oiKuU8UI

Ardee, nobody expects perfection, but what exactly is the worth of Grayson’s proposal if he doesn’t want the US public to bankroll the war in Afghanistan yet he’s happy to have us all pay for Israeli weapons and wars in Gaza, Lebanon, possibly Iran? We’ve become a society that is so politically inactive that we prefer half-measures to real progress.

ardee, May 24 at 6:19 pm #

I like this guy! I wonder how long it will take to either corrupt him or oust him?

Well, at least a portion of that question is quickly answered by the comments of both Fat Freddy and commune115.

Ive no response, frankly, to Freddy, he is immersed in his libertarian views and deaf to any deviation from said desire to make this nation lily white and third world ( the ultimate goal of that philosophy, sadly).

As to the bile poured upon Grayson by commune115, well, you keep looking for the perfect hero, I wish you much luck in your search. Meanwhile would you mind very much getting the heck out of the way while the rest of us try to make progress?

Grayson’s all show and no bite. This isn’t going to go anywhere. He’s also a major supporter of the Israeli occupationa and openly supported the war on Gaza. The guy’s a total AIPAC tool as Max Blumenthal reports here:

http://maxblumenthal.com/2009/12/progressive-hero-alan-graysons-secret-life-as-an-aipac-tool/

Progressive Hero Alan Grayson’s Secret Life As An AIPAC Tool

Since defeating an incumbent in Florida’s Republican-heavy 8th congressional district, Rep. Alan Grayson has emerged as one of the progressive movement’s most vocal champions. His attacks on Republican obstruction of healthcare reform and staunch opposition to escalation in Afghanistan have earned Grayson effusive praise from many liberal bloggers and activists.

Even before his election, Grayson gained recognition from the Wall Street Journal for being a “fierce critic of the war in Iraq” who sported a “Bush Lied, People Died” bumper sticker on his car. Recently, Grayson boasted to CNN, “People want to see a congressman with guts. And America likes to hear the truth.”

Grayson has battled for the public option and opposed the wars Obama has inherited from Bush, but these positions are upheld by a broad swath of congressional Democrats and, at least in the case of the public option, are supported by a majority of Americans. But when it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Grayson is fully programmed by AIPAC and the pro-war, pro-settlements wing of the Israel Lobby.

In an interview in March with the Philadelphia Jewish Voice, Grayson revealed two meetings he held the previous week with AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr. In the interview, Grayson explained how Kohr helped to “educate” him about Israel-related issues, then misquoted the Abba Eban line, “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”

GRAYSON: I met with Howard Kohr, the head of AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee], twice last week.

PJV: And what was the gist of the conversation?

GRAYSON: The gist of the conversation was that Iran is a tremendous threat to Israel and needs to be stopped. And I agree with that.

PJV: And what about what is going on in the Gaza Strip; was there any conversation about that?

GRAYSON: Yes, we talked about that. I think what AIPAC often tries to do is to educate Members of Congress who frankly follow this a lot less closely than I do. In my case, I read Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post online four or five times a week, so I am pretty familiar with the circumstances and why the war took place. As a famous Israeli once said, the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Grayson’s January 8th statement explaining his vote in favor of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip read like a mimeograph of those released by other AIPAC-friendly members of Congress. However, its introductory line stood out: “Congressman Alan Grayson, one of three incoming Jewish members of Congress, issued the following statement on the situation in Gaza.”

Why did Grayson feel compelled to advertise his religion in a statement in favor of a war that would ultimately kill 1400 people, including at least 400 women and children

Ya gotta love this guy; go gettem Alan!

OK, this guy gets my money. This is brilliant!

hello. i am shocked that he wants to force them to
stay within their own outlandish budget, instead of
cutting it in half. Golden Sacks is preparing our
military entry into Yemen, on behalf of natural gas
contracts; with a kidnapping by a couple tribesman
(since that underwear incident was bungled); as we
decifer the truth about whom may have launched the
‘North Korean’ torpedo, at the South Korean ship. the
Korean conflict is a different beast, involving
Chinese debt elimination (if they can be sucked into
war), but to pretend the slaughtering military
Congressional complex is both unnoticed; and the
costs rendered invisible: insults every American tax
payer. reduce all our global bases to skeleton crews,
and bring the troops home to our southern border. we
are not a country of warmongers, alike the complex
would have the world believe. if someone attacks us,
then we should use everything we have; and more. this
just points out how much we are not in control.

The Pentagon is the largest “entitlement” program ever!  In 2009 it amounted to $782 billion.  Social Security costs LESS—at $678 billion.
  If Grayson’s bill passes —and it will if enough people get on the stick and advocate and educate for it—think of the savings in lives, in money, and in the shift of the job market from war to peace.

Let’s just do what we can to get this bill made into law. It’s the most honest thing I’ve ever heard a politician say. He brings up an intersting point about us being on a war footing for so long that we no longer seem to notice it. I’m still “hoping” for some “change” in our government’s policies. All we’ve gotten from our current regime is more of the same ol’ stuff we’ve always gotten: lies.

Grayson is one of the few bright lights left in the American political spectrum. Let’s hope that he is not a shill like so many others are.  As others have noted previously,  we can only hope that he is not corrupted - and used and abused - like all the rest.

Take note. This is what politicians are supposed to look and act like when they are working for the people and not the corporations. And, yes. Sooner or later the corporations wind up getting what they want anyway. It’s just the way the system works.

Enough bullshit, America.
Paul/Grayson 2012.

Attorney General: Bill Black

Supreme Court Justice: Judge Andrew Napolitano

ardee

Are you aware that Alan Grayson teamed up with Ron Paul to draft the Paul/Grayson amendment to the House Financial Reform Bill? The Paul/Grayson Amendment requires a complete, recurring GAO audit of the Federal Reserve. Rep Mel Watt (D-NC) attempted to water down the Paul/Grayson Amendment in subcommittee, but was eventually overturned. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a similar amendment in the Senate version. However, under pressure from Chris Dodd, “Helicopter” Ben Bernanke and “Toxic” Timmmaaayyyy Geithner, watered it down himself to reflect the watered down Mel Watt version. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) reintroduced the original Sanders amendment, and it was voted down. Thank you, Mr Socialist Democrat Sanders. We now know whose best interests the Socialists have at heart.

Bernanke is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in greenbacks.
He leadeth me beside the still economic waters.
He inflatheth my dollar.
He leadeth me in the path of fiscal righteousness in His name.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of bankruptcy,
I will fear no destitution: for thou art with me.
Thy prime rates and thy T-Notes, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my Chinese, Saudi, and Japanese enemies.
Thou anointest my head with snake oil; my accounts runneth over.

Surely solvency and low interest rates shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Fed forever.

Author unknown.

60% of America’s annual budget is spent on the military and related areas such as veteran’s care where those with no arms, no eyes, no legs and no minds are patched up. Those who can be sent back to combat are sent back and on it goes. To infinity.

I like this guy! I wonder how long it will take to either corrupt him or oust him?

Grayson has become my favorite politician over the last year.

Buh-Yah!

What a refreshing proposal! Somewhat corrects my opinion about the sanity of Americans.