All my life, the cries for War have come from the privileged.

[Faygo Kid]

It was so with Vietnam, where Mitt Romney "served" in France, Rush got by with a boil on his butt, W. had connections and Dick Cheney had better things to do. But they sent my peers to the slaughter, happily (caveat: draft #247, second year of the lottery. I was lucky, but then I didn't cheer for that war. Instead, I protested. Had hair then).

Skip forward to now: The drumbeat for attacking Iran is growing, and it's the same privileged class that is front and center to send the children of other folks to die (see, Afghanistan). Mitt Romney's five sons will, of course, continue to live their lives of unimaginable privilege.

These are the same folks who insist on more tax cuts for themselves while cutting Medicaid and ending Medicare and Social Security for the rest of us. The same warmongers who would cut food stamps, end unemployment benefits and double the tax burden on students while cutting taxes for the Kochs. And don't get me started on the environment or the Supreme Court.

They are Killers. "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."

I have never seen a more concerted, boiling cauldron of hate in all my years. Thank you, DU, for being an oasis of sanity in this unraveling world. Stop the wars. I have seen enough.

[yellerpup]

1. Kick.

In the old days, the men of my tribe had to make their case for war to a council made up of mothers and grandmothers. The women made the decision whether to go or not go to war. If they said 'no' the men stood down. Makes me miss the old days.

[Faygo Kid]

2. Thank you. Worth discussion, I think.

Moms and grandmothers making the decision. I like it.

[HiPointDem]

3. They're the ones who profit from war, one way or another.

[dana_b]

4. that's right. They have a vested interest in

sending other people's children off to war.

[Initech]

5. Since the 60's we've literally had no reason to go to war.

And the only reason was obscene profits for military contractors - who continue to rob us blind. Our wars have been nothing more than thinly veiled, empty threats with no goal than to fight a limitless enemy so it keeps going. And they brainwash us at home through our idiot talking points media and AM hate radio. It's just a big circle jerk between us and the war contractors.

[TBF]

6. Someone is profitting off war -

follow the capitalism ...

This is not confidential information:

Top 10: Largest Government Contract Awardees
Washington Business Journal
Date: Tuesday, January 17, 2012, 2:32pm EST - Last Modified: Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 8:25am EST

Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT) won more than 22,000 federal contracts in fiscal year 2011. Those translated to more than $40 billion in sales for the year.

Other major defense players — Falls Church-based General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD), Falls Church-based Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) and McLean-based SAIC Inc. (NYSE: SAI) — each pulled in more than 10,000 contracts for the year.

More here -- http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2012/01/17/washingtons-largest-government.html

[TomClash]

7. Iran is a bit more complicated dynamic

The Privileged have an ally in their lust for war.

[malaise]

8. The national intereest has always been their interests

We do not count because we allow them to brainwash us about patriotism from the cradle to the grave. Until we stop buying their bullshit nothing will change.

[lonestarnot]

9. K & R!

[lpbk2713]

10. They have always rationalized it real easy.

They have no problem with starting and escalating wars as long as it is somone else's kids who have to fight
and die. It's real easy for them to rationalize after they put the "Support the Troops" sticker on their SUV.

That part will never change.

[Faygo Kid]

11. "someone else's kids." Always the truth.

I am sickened by the Reich Wing's enthusiasm for killing off someone else's kids.

If there is one thing I have learned in 60+ years, it's that someone else's kids are always expendable.

[Amster Dan]

12. Everyone who Advocates War should be Required to have a Kid in the Military.

[felix_numinous]

13. Every time there is a threat of war

I hope and pray that people will wake up this time and not fight for the privileged classes. But over and over people fall for the propaganda--that takes advantage of young people's love of their homeland and every thing they stand for, or they just cannot find work anywhere else.

[Octafish]

14. Test House

"I have become death, the destroyer of worlds," J. Robert Oppenheimer spontaneously said upon witnessing the first detonation of a nuclear bomb on July 16, 1945. The statement is a slight mistranslation of a passage from the classic Hindu text the Bhagavad-Gita. It is hard to imagine that Oppenheimer's declaration is even an overstatement. The bomb has one purpose: to destroy. But even something as seemingly straight forward as the atomic bomb never remains clear for very long and soon enough the questions begin to arise: What does it mean? Why do we feel compelled to build them? Is it protection for ourselves or from ourselves? In a direct way, by looking at Ashland artist's Robert Beckmann's new paintings that are part of a group show at Jim Kempner Fine Art in New York, the viewer is able to come to grips with some of these questions in their own way. More...

Posted by Arcy Douglass on June 13, 2008 at 10:07 | Comments (0)

Painting by Robert Beckmann

[Faygo Kid]

15. +1

I fear for the remaining years I have left, and for those who will be owned by the likes of Mitt Romney and Fox News.