Tag: peace
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Congress gets schooled in some liberal religion
At present the “golden rule” of many in Congress is he who has the most gold is the most to be loved and pandered to, so it was no doubt a bit of a shock for our representatives in Washington, D.C. to be reminded of the Christian Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them […]
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An Anti-War Dog Speaks Out
(Photo in the public domain in the United States: Hulton Archive/Getty Images. “American actor Gloria Swanson (1899 – 1983) stands on tiptoes on the prow of a motorboat while Teddy the dog sits with his paws on the steering wheel in a still from director Clarence G Badger’s film Teddy at the Throttle (1917)”. ) By […]
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“Becoming Our Enemy”
Becoming Our Enemy Sometime we’ll have to risk Becoming our enemy. It will take some warming up, Eyes and teeth offered Shyly, arms unarmed. No words at first to blur The strange exchange, just Purest greeting: a bow That looks away from Betrayal towards the common ground. By John Kaufman
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“The Poem to End All Cruelty”
The Poem to End All Cruelty For many years she wanted to write a poem To end all cruelty. But always she failed to start Or finish because she thought: Who am I To try to change what many holy people Failed to do? And how could one poem Accomplish what entire books Said to […]
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Sappho on love, not war
By John Kaufman (Translated by Julia Dubnoff via The Divine Sappho) Some say an army of horsemen, some of footsoldiers, some of ships, is the fairest thing on the black earth, but I say it is what one loves. It’s very easy to make this clear to everyone, for Helen, by far surpassing mortals in […]
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The courage not to be brutal
Torture and war are intimately related. Torture is a subset of war: brutality directed at an individual and justified in the name of “defense.” What was the justification across the Bush administration for the CIA’s recently revealed program of brutal “enhanced interrogation”? The “war on terror.” Torture is the intentional inflicting of terror on someone judged, without a fair […]
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For the Season: Longfellow’s poems of peace
Here are two poems by the 19th Century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who was, for the record, a Unitarian pacifist who reluctantly supported the Civil War as the only way of ending slavery. Before the war, in 1845, he, along with his wife, Fanny, visited the Springfield Armory where guns were built and stored […]
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War as Spectator Sport
Islamic State militants being driven out of #Kobane, Kurdish commander tells BBC http://t.co/JRe0aQuyYD pic.twitter.com/FdX6de7Fpa — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) October 16, 2014 I was struck yesterday by this BBC-tweeted photograph of people on the border between Turkey and Syria watching the fighting for the Syrian city of Kobane. Because of the topography of the area and the proximity […]
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The Right to Peace on the International Day of Peace
On this International Day of Peace , as the United States and other nations have returned to war in the Middle East, it is appropriate to read again the United Nations’ document “Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace”, this year celebrating its 30th anniversary. The United Nations Security Council has itself approved war […]
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No Joke: Pres. Obama Sends WI Sen. Ron Johnson to the U.N.
Showing the nation that he still has a sense of humor, Pres. Obama nominated Wisconsin’s foreign policy firebrand , Sen. Ron Johnson, to attend the 69th United Nations General Assembly. Johnson, who is not a great fan of what the United Nations does, accepted graciously and issued a statement: “I intend to use this opportunity to gain insight […]
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Good Advice for U.S. on Russia/Ukraine
An opinion piece worth reading via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by Jeffrey W. Sommers of the Institute of World Affairs at UW-Milwaukee. — JK
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U.S. Wrong to Choose War Again
Back in May of this year, in a speech at the West Point military academy, President Obama spoke of confronting foreign terrorists not with military violence but with strategic cooperation among nations: “For the foreseeable future, the most direct threat to America at home and abroad remains terrorism. But a strategy that involves invading every country that harbors […]
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David Giffey: Chuck Goranson’s legacy: working for peace and helping vets : Ct
Via The Capital Times of Madison, WI and writer David Giffey comes this fine opinion piece on Vietnam War vet and peace activist Chuck Goranson. –JK David Giffey: Chuck Goranson’s legacy: working for peace and helping vets : Ct.
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The “Way Forward”: More War?
“Nonviolent resistance, at the very least, practices what it preaches.”
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Opposing More U.S. War in Iraq, Middle East and Ukraine
I’m breaking my summer silence once again to declare, for what it’s worth, my strong opposition– to the United States’ new bombing campaign in Iraq, the return of military hostilities between Hamas and Israel, and the ongoing war in Ukraine which is increasing the likelihood that Putin will order Russian troops to invade Ukraine, possibly […]
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Breaking Silence: A Few Words on a Fine Summer’s Day
(Today I’m breaking my vow of summer silence on this digital domain. Silence until September will resume tomorrow.) The violence of war in Gaza/Israel and Ukraine has reached new, ever more appalling heights while routine gun violence in the United States continues at a summer peak. Nothing like warm, pleasant weather across the world and access to deadly weapons to help […]
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