Posted in seeker, tagged taxes, war on March 19, 2008 | 3 Comments »
It’s the fifth year of the USA’s latest war. It’s also the fifth year that Emma and I have been living below the poverty line so our taxes won’t help to kill strangers. I don’t talk about that often, because it’s not an option most people have—we don’t have children, and some of the things [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged war on January 15, 2008 | 6 Comments »
We Own The World by Noam Chomsky has many smart bits, but this one especially struck me, and not for the reasons Chomsky mentions (though I agree with him):
NPR then had a discussion — it was like being at the Harvard faculty club — serious people, educated, no grammatical errors, who know what they’re talking [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged taxes, war on December 6, 2007 | 3 Comments »
Since I’ve been thinking about taxes, I checked to see how the US currently spends its money. From here: 51% goes to current and past military expenses.
War and taxes are more intimately linked than people may realize. The first time the US tried to impose an income tax? During the war of 1812. The first [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged taxes, war on September 14, 2007 | 19 Comments »
Poll: Civilian death toll in Iraq may top 1 million
How should we respond to news like that? This is what our government does with the money it gets from our taxes.
Thoreau had one answer. Speaking of the Mexican-American War, he said, when “…a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged peace, war on December 31, 2004 | 1 Comment »
The End of War is a good little essay that starts off with a fascinating incident that, if it’s true, makes me wonder if the world really would be a better place is we just killed all the war-mongering assholes. Um, not really. I do believe that you teach with deeds, not words, and if [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged war on November 17, 2004 | 1 Comment »
Bob Franke has a Mark Twain quote in his sig file right now:
“Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged war on November 16, 2004 | 1 Comment »
American Options in Iraq by William R. Polk. It’s very short, and it has many good things to say about Iraq in particular and wars of national self-determination in general. One bit:
The first option has been called “staying the course.” In practice that means continued fighting. France “stayed the course” in Algeria in the 1950s [...]
