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keeping things in perspective

Posted on March 15, 2007 | Filed Under politics, war 

The blood is in the water. Democrats (joined now by Republican John Sununu) want Alberto Gonzales dismissed from his job as attorney general for his abrupt firing of eight US attorneys.

There may well be justification in condemning the political nature of the firings, but it is hard for me to get too worked up about this issue. An attorney general motivated by politics? And that is a revelation? It may be sad, but true, that the US attorneys do work at the whim of the executive branch and decisions about hiring and firing will be politically motivated.

It is hard …

a better way to deal with iran

Posted on March 1, 2007 | Filed Under war 

From a piece in The Washington Post by Bill Richardson entitled: Diplomacy, Not War, With Iran

Saber-rattling is not a good way to get the Iranians to cooperate. But it is a good way to start a new war — a war that would be a disaster for the Middle East, for the United States and for the world. A war that, furthermore, would destroy what little remains of U.S. credibility in the community of nations.

A better approach would be for the United States to engage directly with the Iranians and to lead a global diplomatic offensive to prevent them …

love and war

Posted on February 25, 2007 | Filed Under arts and culture, beauty, war 

We were visited by a major winter storm in Iowa this weekend, and our Saturday and Sunday plans (which were many!) were cancelled. We enjoyed some good down time, a fire in the fireplace, and we watched two movies, two among the list of movies we have been wanting to preview. The two movies could not have been more different!

The one was about beauty: the beauty of love, of loyalty, of humility, of service, of human creativity, of the smallest details of the natural world. The other was about ugliness: the ugliness of war, the ugliness it does to …

ehren watada: true patriot or dangerous subversive?

Posted on February 7, 2007 | Filed Under war 

Ehren Watada is a lieutentant in the United States Army. He refused to deploy to Iraq with his unit, claiming that the war in Iraq is illegal. He is currently being tried by a military court on charges of abandoning his unit and of conduct unbecoming an officer.

Is he a good man, a brave man, a conscientious citizen for refusing to “go along” with an action that he considers illegal and immoral, even when such a refusal subjects him to censure and dismissal from his job?

Or is he a disgrace, an opportunist, a dangerous threat to the chain of …

more of the same

Posted on January 27, 2007 | Filed Under war 

Robert Gates says the congressional resolution opposing the dispatch of additional troops to Iraq will “embolden” the enemy.

Maybe so …

But the fact that we are in Iraq in the first place, that we invaded a sovereign nation without provocation, has “incited” the enemies we already had and created many new enemies.

Which is worse?

Maybe we need to move in an entirely different direction. More of the same is likely to produce just that — more of the same!

so we will not forget …

Posted on November 18, 2006 | Filed Under war 

The images are disturbing, heart-breaking, horrific … but we cannot forget, we cannot ignore, the human cost of war, the cost to those who are not on any “side,” but find themselves caught in the middle.

well said …

Posted on September 20, 2006 | Filed Under spirituality 

A Christian View of War
By Oliver “Buzz” Thomas

“Pray for our troops.”

Millions of signs and bumper stickers carry the message, and part of me likes it. But part of me keeps waiting for another bumper sticker — the one I still haven’t seen. Whether Jesus would drive an SUV, I’m still not sure. Truth is he’d probably ride the bus. Or the subway. But if he had money for a car and didn’t give it all away to the hookers and the homeless before he got to the used-car lot, I’m pretty sure that his bumper sticker would say “pray …

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