Vets Link Clean Energy to Security

Tom Friedman has written about how the money we pay for oil finds its way to terrorists and Middle Eastern dictators.  Now, veterans are speaking out on the subject:

Xe or is it eX?

Here’sthe  latest in a long line of Blackwater (now Xe) humiliating the US, subverting the truth, killing indiscriminately in our name and then lying their behinds off about it.  Blackwater’s MO: keep employees quite by gag provisions in contracts, keep foreign officials quiet by bribing them, keep experts quiet by hiring them, keep US politicians quiet by legally bribing them, and keep victims  (and maybe witnesses) quiet by making sure they’re dead.

Bribing Iraqi officials – your tax dollars at work.

Recommended reading here.

In an example of change we can believe in, Xe is being “X-ed” out in new contracts.  The question is whether new contractors will be better.  We celebrate our veterans today because our military serves honorably and courageously without profiteering.

Thanks Vets.

The History of Veterans/Armistice Day

Veterans’ for Peace reminds us today of the full significance of the holiday.

Fort Hood

To the mass media’s credit, it has been covered that the Fort Hood gunman was carrying a “cop killer” handgun, which he bought from Guns Galore, a Texas gun gallery.  Why such guns are legal is the bigger question, but the coverage of the issue itself is a step in the right direction.

The shooter was a man who the gun lobby made sure could obtain a cop killer gun.  They’ve fought every limitation on guns proposed for decades, pouring some of their blood money profits back into the political system that makes the business so lucrative in the first place.  How anyone can support a system that allows this jihaddhist lunatic to buy a gun is beyond me. 

And no matter how many soldiers had been carrying, any return fire would’ve been just that – return fire, which means innocent people have probably already been shot.  Had only one soldier at Fort Hood have been murdered, it would have been one too many.  Rather than taking the first hit, let innocent people live their lives without the threat that they’ll be walking into a gunfight at any given moment simply because the NRA thinks it needs another transfusion.

Those who say talking about gun control after such a tragedy is disrespectful are merely trying to silence debate.  Whether it’s 9/11, a space shuttle disaster or H1N1, finding causes prevents future tragedies.

Canada has much stricter gun laws than the US and 67% of US murders in 2008 were committed with guns, as opposed to 32% in Canada.  The FBI reported 2 months ago that  2008 US homicide rate was 5.4 per 100,000, which is 300% higher than Canada’s.  Similar studies have been around for decades. 

Given the clear record that gun control saves lives, it’s clear that while guns don’t kill innocent people, they make it a lot easier.