Tag Archives: military

Bombs and Bishops

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The following article is interesting mainly for the comments found below it.

American
bishops and Ronald Reagan

Catholic bishops share in the charism of infallibility when they speak on faith
and morals, in conjunction with the Holy Father. That is part of the magisterium,
the teaching authority by which we know the pure truth of the Gospel. That magisterium
cannot be broken because it comes from God himself (Mt 16:18).

When they stray from faith and morals, bishops are no more likely to be free from error than any other well-informed people. On many important subjects in the 1970s and ’80s, American bishops brought their prestige to bear against many policies Ronald Reagan favored.

Setting Sun?

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Benjamin Franklin declared the sun on the back of President Washington’s chair to be rising. I wonder now if it is setting. Some nuggets of wisdom from G.K.Chesterton:

On ethics: "We are learning to do a great many clever things. The next thing we are going to have to learn is not to do them."

On morality: "The next great heresy is going to be simply an attack on morality: and especially on sexual morality. The madness of tomorrow is not in Moscow but much more in Manhattan."

On nationalism: "There are three stages in the life of a strong people. First, it is a small power, and fights small powers. Then it is a great power, and fights great powers. Then it is a great power, and fights small powers, but pretends that they are great powers, in order to rekindle the ashes of its ancient emotion and vanity."

Related to the last point:

Where Does Iraq Stand Among U.S. Wars?
Total Casualties Compare to Spanish-American, Mexican and 1812 Conflicts
By Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 31, 2004; Page A16

"With more than 800 U.S. military personnel killed and more than 4,600 wounded, U.S. casualties in Iraq over the past 14 months now compare to those of several of the smaller wars in the nation’s history."

Who’d Have Thunk?

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Amazing. I actually agree with Al Gore on something. *shudder*

Gore: Rumsfeld, Rice, Tenet Should Resign
Wed May 26, 5:35 PM ET
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer

“NEW YORK – Al Gore delivered a blistering denunciation Wednesday of the Bush administration’s ‘twisted values and atrocious policies’ in Iraq and demanded the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and CIA director George Tenet.”

Doomed to Repeat

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“He who does not learn from history is doomed to repeat it.” – Anonymous

Torturous
History
May 19, 2004
Scott Paulsen

“History. It’s, like, deja vu all over again. I can’t tell you the number of times I have heard this statement in the past couple
of weeks: We shouldn’t treat the prisoners of war like that because we’re Americans
and Americans don’t do things like that. We’re better than that.”

“That’s a nice sentiment. And if it makes you feel better, keep saying it to yourself. But the fact is that, no, we’re not.
We’re not better than that. Never have been. It’s history.”

Science (and Budget) Fiction

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In yet another feeble attempt to copy Reagan’s policies (like trickle-down economics),
Bush is trying to create his own version of the Star Wars (SDI) program. The first
one was science fiction created to scare the Soviet Union into spending itself to
death. This one might spend us to death.

Current Status
of Missile Defense Program, May 2004
Author: John Isaacs

Administration’s latest budget request

The request for fiscal 2005 is $10.2 billion, the largest single Pentagon weapons program and a 13% increase over the fiscal 2004 program. About $3.2 billion of that would go to the ground-based mid-course system (GMD) that is slated to be deployed later this year. If the Space Based Infra-Red System-High (SBIRS-high) is included, the total request for missile defense for the next year is $10.7 billion.

Go to National Priorities and check out the budget trade-offs related to SDI.