Der Struwwelpeter Ins Zimmer

According to Giggle, total global military spending in 2016 was US$1.7 trillion, and that's just the above-board, budgeted, audited amount.  Who really knows how much we humans spend on killing each other?  That's roughly US$243 for every man, woman and child on the planet.

That'll buy a lot of death, that will.

Add to that the costs of burials, medical care, relocation, rebuilding, and lost productivity and pretty soon, you're talking real money here.

Suppose we took that money and gave it back to the folks it was stolen from.  I know, I know, governments never give it back.  More realistically, suppose we took all that stolen loot and...say, irrigated otherwise unproductive land for farming?  Built houses and produced clothing at subsidized prices?  Provided global health insurance?  Mounted an international effort to colonize other planets?

Keep in mind that a fair chunk of the, let's say, US$2 trillion spent on destruction never gets used.  It just sits in a barn as a deterrent to other folks from using their war money.  For the sake of argument, let's assume constant dollars since 1960...that's about US$112 TRILLION that could have been put to much better use.  The real number is anyone's guess, but I'm willing to believe this is a fair estimation in 2017 dollars, and we are not even counting the cultural losses of historical items and landmarks to future generations.

Multiply that money by all of recorded history and we are probably looking at being decades, if not centuries ahead of where we are now.  The actual damage to humanity is incalculable.  Hell, just the destruction of the Library at Alexandria due to war set our species back at least a hundred years.

Let's narrow the focus a bit.  Let's take the US$112 trillion since the Dawn of the Space Age.  We know the Apollo Moon Program cost about US$20 billion at that time.  Whether the world got what it paid for is another discussion.  Let's just take it at face value for the time being.

That US$112 trillion would have bought the Apollo program a little over 50x.  That's a hell of a lot of space exploration.  We;d be vacationing on the Moon and Mars about now.  Braver souls would be spelunking on Ganymede, or hiking the ruins on Iapetus.  With that kind of money, we might even be preparing the first interstellar trip to Proxima Centauri.

We would likely be harvesting food in the Gobi and Sahara deserts.  Most people who wanted one could have a nice little house with a picket fence and a postage stamp-sized lawn.  The only naked people would be those who like it.  Most diseases would just be scary bedtime stories for children to warn them of the evils of military spending.  The 110th birthday party would actually be a full section of the Hallmark greeting-card rack.  Amputees would be regrowing limbs.  Dogs and cats living together, for gods' sakes.

There are somewhere in the neighborhood of seven billion people on this Earth, with maybe two or three million actively involved in destroying humanity.  Without doing any actual calculations, that's around 300-to-1 odds in a fist fight to stop those evil bastards.  So why do we put up with this crap?

As Franklin Roosevelt reminded us in his first (of four) inaugural addresses, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."  That is exactly what the evil bastards keep selling us...FEAR.  As long as we are all quaking in our boots at imaginary Struwwelpeter, we will never stop this insipid madness and get on with real human achievement.

One reason I am so disgusted with so-called Social Justice Warriors is that they waste so much of our collective resources on tiny self-defined minorities and half-witted balderdash like pronouns, when there are so many bigger fish to fry.

We have the power not only to control the Masters of War, but to refocus our efforts on meaningful and beneficial issues.  It's high time we take back what is ours from those who kill for greed and control with fear.  It's time to re-task our species' efforts and dedicate our resources toward advancing humanity, rather than continually resetting it to factory defaults.

Just a little daily effort - two or three minutes - to harass the Powers That Be and let them know WE are in charge would have astounding benefits in a generation.

Which would you rather do?  Pick up body parts and scrounge for family heirlooms in rubble heaps?
 Or pack the family bags for that week-long excursion to the ruins on Mars?

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Truth Be A Harsh Mistress

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If people not worshiping soldiers pisses you off, you may want to click away now.  I guarantee today's column will piss you off.

Today is Memorial Day in America.  It started in 1868, with an informal observation called Decoration Day to honor slain soldiers.  Of course, it was originally only for Union soldiers and pretty much spit on the graves of the Confederates who died in the same conflagration.

Every Memorial Day, my inbox(es) is stuffed with email reminding me to worship the fallen soldiers of the US, who died in the various wars that country has committed.  My father and uncles were all veterans of WW2, and I honor them.  My grandfathers were veterans of WW1, and I honor them.  But, when it comes to any war since WW2, I draw the line.  Why?

Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States Constitution, sometimes referred to as the War Powers Clause, vests in the Congress the power to declare war, in the following wording:

[The Congress shall have Power...] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

That's why.  There has not been one single war declared by the US Congress since WW2.  Under the terms of the US Constitution, the adventures in Korea in the 50s, Vietnam in the 60s, and every single military intervention in the doings of sovereign countries since then have been illegal.  I don't care if you call them "police actions" or "military advisors," the result was lots of soldiers and materiel were expended in events that looked a whole hell of a lot like wars to me.  We even call them the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Grenada and Panama invasions, the various Desert Storm Wars, etc.

What's more, every US soldier said these words at some point:

"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed ...Jun 15, 2011

Therefore, every soldier who has fought on orders from the government of the US, has violated their oaths to "protect and defend the Constitution."

If all this isn't enough for you, then how about Article I, Section 8, Clause 12, of the US Constitution?

 The Congress shall have Power To ...raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years....

So, only Congress can declare war, and it hasn't done so since WW2 (you can argue all the subtleties you want-means nothing), the soldier's oath requires him or her to support and defend the Constitution, and right after the Constitution grants Congress war powers, it says that the US may not raise and support an army more than two years (no standing army).

Under the very terms of the Constitution soldiers are sworn to defend, every soldier that has been drafted or joined the US Armed Forces since WW2 has violated the Constitution and is a war criminal, as are all the presidents who have sent armed soldiers into sovereign countries to fight since Roosevelt and Truman.

It's not like any of those folks couldn't read the Constitution.  Most Americans read it at least once in school, and if you are swearing an oath to defend it, you should probably read it again at least once.  In any case, every representative, officer and government employee who supported the various military adventures since WW2 are complicit in war crimes and treason.

Sorry if that seems harsh to you and you don't think your grandfather, father, brother, or son who served in the US military since WW2 is a criminal, but the facts speak for themselves.

So, when it comes to Memorial Day, I don't get all teary eyed and go around laying wreaths on soldiers' graves.  I don't honor those men and women who violated the founding document of the US government and their oaths.  I don't honor the people who can't read rather simple text that is widely available and has been since the founding of the country.

You can pick nits and get all patriotic and jump up and down about the sacrifices of these fine men and women, but none of it changes the nature of their crime.

Memorial Day is just another state-worshiping holiday that glorifies death in the name of a flag.  It's time for folks to extract themselves from the deep conditioning that has led them into blind obedience to symbols and not ideals.

I do honor those men and women who served in WW1 and WW2.  You did your duty under terms of the Constitution and your oath.  Thank you.

For the rest of the fallen, sorry for your empty (and illegal) sacrifice for the glory of empire.  Too bad you didn't stand up for what's right, not what's expedient.

INTERVIEW - Paul Craig Roberts on Radio Far Side

Changing alliances, parallel financial systems, the emerging BRICS nations, Vladimir Putin leader of the free world, the collapse of the Anglo-American empire.  All this and much, much more on this installment of Radio Far Side.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts has been Asst. Secretary of the US Treasury, editor for Business Week and the Wall Street Journal, a syndicated columnist, and member of the Cato Institute.  He has written numerous books on economics and politics and has a worldwide audience for his regular online columns.

Dr. Robers joins Radio Far Side to discuss the sobering but fascinating trends in global events.  From the fall of the dollar to the rise of Russia and China, we explore the Mid-East wars, Germany's next moves, the use of NATO to start a new Cold War, and the deep claws of the Military-Industrial Complex.  Where does Indonesia stand in all this?  What are the likely outcomes of current events over the next few months, and what of the American people caught between opposing allegiances?

Join us for an hour with one of the most respected commentators on economic issues.
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Additional links and information:
Paul Craig Roberts website
Texas Railroad Commissioner Talks Independence 
Break-Up of America?
Fracking and Burning Tap Water
Putin Polls Better Than Obama in US

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