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March 22, 2008

$3-Billion A Week, That's All We Ask

By Eric Malone

"We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction."

-- Douglas MacArthur
Dear friends, as we have recently witnessed the 5th anniversary of the sacking,
looting, and colonization of Iraq, let us heed these immortal words of one of our great
generals from the "good" war, Dubyuh Dubyuh Two. Just like we did at the end of
Vietnam.
I know, you're going to tell me that you too heard our Plunderer in Chief being his
usual cheery arrogant optimistic self, gushing effusively about "how well the surge is
working" even though it isn't, except to allow Bechtel and Halliburton to put the
finishing touches on the Grecian marble columns around the McDonald's in the Green
Zone and the flourishes to the trim in the cabinetry in the Permanent Military Bases
that will remain there longer than a herpes virus.
I wish I could share his optimism, but fact is, we have killed at least 89,760 innocent
civilians in the Mesopotamian crescent, and some estimates go as high as 600-
thousand (because not all deaths are reported, and there are many mass graves
from Sunni death squads, kinda like Serbia and Darfur, only they don't get reported
either).
3,992 American soldiers are now fertilizing Forest Lawn, and more than 29,395 (some
say 100-thousand) have come home missing vital pieces of their bodies, including
parts of their brain, legs, arms, and reproductive organs. This disingenuous number
doesn't even take into account the thousands of civilian PMCs (Private Military
Contractors) who have died and were never reported because they didn't have Army
dog tags.
And then there is the appalling Sticker Shock. We are now spending $3-BILLION
DOLLARS on this horror EVERY WEEK. And it's all on America's bad credit cards. The
war can also be blamed for the ever-increasing cost of gas, which increases inflation
on all fronts, from heating our homes to eyeglasses, from pizza to DVDs. This
combined with the really evil predatory sub-prime loans has destroyed our economy.
We are coasting on our laurels at this point, with a Collection Agency sword of
Damocles hanging over our heads.
And it all comes back to the war.
So 75% of America opposes the war, just as we did back in 1971, but the damn thing
won't stop. What's a patriot to do?
Well, obviously peace demonstrations aren't cutting it. Although I continue to go to
them, as I do every March 19, the anniversary of the invasion in 2003. (March 19 was
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also my 20th Wedding Anniversary; my wife Janet and I have been demonstrating on
our anniversary since 2003; this is how we celebrate until the war ends.)
A group on the East Coast has asked people in every time zone to stop for 3 minutes
at 6:00 pm Pacific Time (9:00 pm Eastern) to pray, meditate, and to send positive
thoughts for peace, every day starting today until the war ends. I'm doing that too.
But honestly, I think the best thing we can all do is to vote with our pocketbooks and
our ballots to get a True Majority in the House and Senate who will bring the troops
home, along with a President committed to ending this war and not starting another
new one in Iran, as the current bloodthirsty horde seems bent upon doing. The
problem we have right now is, if we cut off funding for the war, The Oligarchy
Corporation currently in charge of our Armed Forces would just leave the troops
there, stranded without food, clothing, weapons, or transportation, and then use the
media that they own and control to blame this shameful debacle on the Democrats.
You know they would.
So what we have to do (besides demonstrate, pray, and meditate) is to vote in large
enough numbers that they cannot discount the people's will with voter fraud, as they
have done lo these past 7 years.
I hear you arguing, "Well, we voted the Democrats back into power in 2006 and they
haven't done diddly. They haven't stopped the war, and they haven't impeached the
war criminals."
True enough. But we don't have those 60 votes in the Senate, nor do we have a 2/3
majority in the House. And with a Justice Department run by the GOP, we can't even
prosecute these bastards, nor can we even serve a simple subpoena without
contempt. (See Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten.)
We need to take this country back, and the only way to do it right now is by
overwhelming force at the ballot box. In numbers big enough that any Diebold ballot
theft would be obvious.
And at the shopping mall. Although they are not quite up and running yet, a web site
called http://www.buyblue.org/ is gathering information to help us vote with our
money by buying good products from companies who do not endorse the war, nor
policies that are bad for the environment. They also tell you which companies to
boycott, those whose policies are not in our best interest. (You decide what those
are--if the company has ties with contractors with business in Iraq, or if they are
polluting the earth, the web site spells it out for you.)
So to sum up:
1. War is going great, surge is working like a charm.
2. You can fool all of the people some of the time, but it helps to own the TV
networks.
3. $3-BILLION A WEEK
4. Missing fingers, toes, penises, brains.
5. Demonstrate. It may not change the course, but people will see that not everyone
has bought into the bullshit.
5. Pray, meditate, think thoughts of peace at 6:00 pm PST (9:00 pm EST).
6. Vote for peace candidates who will stop the war and the hemorrhage of blood and
money.
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7. Buy from companies who support peace, don't buy from those associated with war
profiteers.
Edwin "Stop the war. Now." Starr