You have got to hear this
I am listening to The Bob Edwards Weekend on NPR right now. He is interviewing Eugene Jarecki about US military policy and the military industrial congressional complex. You owe it to yourself to listen to it, it's the best piece about US policy I have heard or read in a while.
The blurb on the BEW website about this part of the show says: "There is a lot of thought being put into how things could and should change under the new administration of Barack Obama, both domestically and abroad. For the past few years, Eugene Jarecki has been studying America's foreign policy and the history of our wars. Now Jarecki has written a book called The American Way of War: Guided Missles, Misguided Men and a Republic in Peril. He's also the director of the award-winning documentary Why We Fight, about the military-industrial complex and its relationship with politics. That relationship is great for "war" presidents, weapons manufacturers and the Pentagon, but it's not so good for freedom, liberty and the American people as a whole. In his outgoing address in 1961, former general and president Dwight Eisenhower warned us about the growing power of the military-industrial complex to shape policy. Eugene Jarecki thinks it's a lesson we should all learn."
Check it out. http://www.bobedwardsradio.com/
The blurb on the BEW website about this part of the show says: "There is a lot of thought being put into how things could and should change under the new administration of Barack Obama, both domestically and abroad. For the past few years, Eugene Jarecki has been studying America's foreign policy and the history of our wars. Now Jarecki has written a book called The American Way of War: Guided Missles, Misguided Men and a Republic in Peril. He's also the director of the award-winning documentary Why We Fight, about the military-industrial complex and its relationship with politics. That relationship is great for "war" presidents, weapons manufacturers and the Pentagon, but it's not so good for freedom, liberty and the American people as a whole. In his outgoing address in 1961, former general and president Dwight Eisenhower warned us about the growing power of the military-industrial complex to shape policy. Eugene Jarecki thinks it's a lesson we should all learn."
Check it out. http://www.bobedwardsradio.com/
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do you have a direct link to this particular interview?
January 25, 2009 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
It wasn't up yet when I posted this entry, I was serious when I said I was listening to it "right now." It still isn't up. All of the Bob Edwards Weekend shows are available as streams here:
http://www.bobedwards.info/forum10.html&sid=839ce8943bbca7e1adc4d525dfc612da
It looks like a forum but each thread is just a single post about the show with a stream of the audio at the top. When this show becomes available I will post a link in these comments.
January 25, 2009 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thabks for the heads up on this... It will be worth listening to, I am certain.
January 25, 2009 8:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
So much money in the hands of so few people compared to our population. And all that money going overseas to other labor markets.
And all to make the world better at killing.
January 25, 2009 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
And we're so damn good at it! No one has EVER been able to hurt people and break things like us! USA! USA! USA!
January 25, 2009 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey! Watch those noodly appendages!
Excellent program, BTW. Rec'd.
January 25, 2009 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can't argue that!!
January 25, 2009 4:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just got through watching the documentary and am still trying to digest it all. Even though a lot of what was covered I already knew or at least suspected.
This may sound sacrilege and I mean nothing bad towards Obama or his supporters...but...I almost hope that he is not successful at reviving the economy and that it totally tanks. If for no other reason than to diminish our ability to wage another unjust war. Sleeping in a box under a bridge just might be worth it.
C
January 25, 2009 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
How about we just decide to use diplomacy, thereby avoiding war, and let the economy revive? No reason to wish economic hardship on ourselves with merely the hope it might avert war.
Work for peace. I'll be with you.
January 25, 2009 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah,,, You might be on to something here!!! Let's try talking to them!!!!
How creatively insightful!!! Why,,, we ought to just nominate you for the Nobel Peace Prize for that one!!! Just try something novel like diplomacy!!! Simple but brilliant!!!! I'm wondering now why the human race hasn't tried that before!!! good greif
January 25, 2009 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Peace be with you.
January 25, 2009 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pax Tecum, renaye. Maybe some day you will crawl out from under all that cynicism feel the lightness that is truth...
January 25, 2009 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
A lousy economy increases army recruits. Do we have a lousy economy on purpose?
January 25, 2009 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep!
And on purpose began just before the election. Courtesy of Barny Frank, Clinton and that entire demo lot relentlessly pushing their free house program by coercing banks into loaning the penniless money to buy houses.
I'm aware their purpose was nationalizing the nation's economy, but didn't realize they wished to enhance military recruitment.
January 25, 2009 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
January 26, 2009 12:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
RACISM !!! ???
Now your response is classic liberal!! Textbook case!!!
When logic and truth threaten your preposterous world view, even if the topic is something as mundane as the price of eggs, you evoke racism!!
I wake up every morning thanking dear God I'm not that shallow and superficial!!!
Were I of similar character as a liberal, I'd hit the abuse button. There has to be some sanction against such mind numbing goofiness!!!
January 26, 2009 9:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe you should focus on this part:
"It was a central part of the Bush Administration's "Ownership Society." Bush and Cheney ran on it in 2004. Don't believe me? Read an August 2004 press release from the white house itself here."
January 26, 2009 9:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Renaye it was the lifelong dream of conservatives - adherents of Ayne Rand libertarian philosophy like Ronald Reagan, Alan Greenspan and yes, George W. Bush - to get "government off our backs" who deregulated Wall St. and led us to this abyss.
I suggest you read the following articles. And while you're at it take note of the people who are responsible for this mess. They are lying to you, their policies have caused a system failure in the financial markets and they will do anything to avoid culpability. You can't help solve the crisis if you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what caused it and more importantly what will fix it:
Private sector loans, not Fannie or Freddie, triggered crisis
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/53802.html
Capitalist Fools
Behind the debate over remaking U.S. financial policy will be a debate over who’s to blame. It’s crucial to get the history right, writes a Nobel-laureate economist, identifying five key mistakes—under Reagan, Clinton, and Bush II—and one national delusion.
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2009/01/stiglitz200901
January 26, 2009 7:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's not a conservative/liberal issue.
I know who the thieves are, and as informed on the subject as you seem to be, I'll just bet that if we were at liberty to express ourselves, we'd find ourselves pointing at the same culprits.
Because the gasket of PC is currently restraining free public speech, that's not possible. But that membrane of containment will stretch thinner as widespread economic distress sinks it's teeth in the public's sensibilities. The burst will be as catastrophic as it was in the thirties.
Pogroms seldom erupt due to cultural discords, almost always the root cause is money.
January 26, 2009 9:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is the biggest load of crap I have ever read, and I am no dumber for having read it. I award you no points. And may God have mercy on your soul.
January 26, 2009 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
I just admitting to being so dumb, that I can't get any dumber, even by reading this tripe.
I't wasn't exactly what I meant, but it works just as well.
January 26, 2009 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
I give up.
January 26, 2009 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
On a previous thread, I believe you wrote something like this:
"Too much time spent cleaning up troll droppings. Just step around."
Certainly, you recognize (s)pric's writing style here, don't you? :-)
January 26, 2009 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
If you're alluding to "jooos" with your pogrom comment you evidently don't understand a word of what I wrote or is in those articles I cited.
It's the fools who thought Wall St. would or could police itself in their own self interest who are responsible. The people who have gave us a 28 year experiment in eviscerating government. Once again, you can't begin to understand the solution to the crisis until you have an understanding of what caused it. Your search would better be served by pinpointing the real perps instead of deceiving yourself into believing the American people will accept your choice of favorite scapegoats.
January 26, 2009 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink