Picking Up The Pieces
Frank Anthony Ph.D.
The headlines continue to tally up dozens of dead Marines and hundreds of Iraqis as the bill-o-fare of war. Watching an interview of one of the professors at Stanford, who is considered a foremost “brain” of the country, one is amazed by the total simplicity of this mess we have been drawn into. As a scientist, he is disturbed by the lawsuits against science as the understanding of life. This challenge of religion can only: “erode our position in the world by intimidating future scientists of the US”.
Then he goes on to say this attitude is much too expensive. To keep up our standard of high wages, there is only one alternative way (to being honest about science and life) to make the money for high wages in the US that is “to have another war”. This is teaching “from the gut” (the way I would teach) coming from Ivy League Stanford the land of Bechtel, Haliburton and subsidiaries Brown and Root, companies who manage wars. The alternative, preaches the professor, is to make money having another war.
War, in the name of patriotism, has been the way to inflate the national treasury for several hundred years. Even in the 17th century money was “made” by “taking” land from Native American owners. Then huge chunks of 18th century land were expropriated via manipulation and European political deals. A dozen wars, of the 19th and 20th centuries resulted in the military-industrial might of the US making us the “most powerful nation on earth” Now we have military presence in dozens of foreign countries and at least ten fleets of aircraft carriers to “protect our interests”.
Where we go from here is the question. Our national debt is out of control, twenty thousand dollars owed by every American and growing. We are owned by China and Japan. Iran and Israel play chess for the balance of Nuke power: We bankroll Israel and Russia does Iran. Mother nature waits for the spoils!
