If I could twinkle my nose and make it so, 2012 would be the year when humanity wakes up and becomes more humane. The war industry would come to a grinding halt, the rich would give to the poor, corporations would release their death grip on our economy and personal greed would evaporate like a bad dream.

The predictions being bandied about with family and friends are mixed between optimism, pessimism and political speculation. We discussed the danger of manifesting bad juju by casting dire predictions, but I decided to include both the positive and the negative as a matter of record.

2012  Predictions

Increased violence surrounding the Occupy Movement
The people will prevail and succeed in changing the balance of power
The United States will go to war with Iran
Things in Syria will get even messier before getting better
The world will not end when the Mayan calendar runs out, but rather there will be a new beginning
Barak Obama will choose Hillary Clinton as his running mate

2012 Resolutions

On a personal level, I have resolutions, my personal wish list for self-improvement. It’s been a few years since I pulled off a formal list but this year I feel inspired. Here’s what I’ve been chewing on:

Attitude
Find the joy, lose the beleaguered attitude
Generously give approval and support

Communication
Listen to what others are saying without thinking about what I want to say next
Think about what information others may need or want to know and make a point of informing them
Don’t share caustic and potentially offensive opinions

Health
More eating to live, less living to eat
Alleviate stress with activity rather than food
Drink more water
Drop five pounds by May 1st by simply avoiding snacks, sweets and second helpings

Time Management
Get there on time
Set a departure time that more than allows for last minute delays
Stop thinking I have time for just one more thing
Schedule time in my day for having fun

So there you have it. A mélange of hopes, fears, dreams and resolve to kick off a new beginning for 2012!

For a couple of days, many of us held our breath, at least those of us who knew why others might see us as a target. Maybe, our leaders would wake up and throttle down our war machine! Perhaps they would finally realize that violence only begets more violence. Slap me, I’ll slap you back – it only ends when someone stops playing the game.

Within the week, we had our answer. We heard the rattling of sabers and knew that the Commander-in-chief would soon order up more blood to feed the military-industrial-congressional complex.

Ten years later, more than 100,000 innocents are dead and the machine continues to grind on. It’s bigger than us and this is disheartening, but even more distressing is how many of us have bought into war and an astronomical military budget (which, by the way has forced us into debt beyond our nastiest nightmares) as a necessary way of life.

And to that I say, “Forgive and Forget.”  It’s a better way to live.  Less baggage.  I find that forgiveness makes my life easier and makes me easier to live with.  Seems like it would make the world a better place if we all chose to live this way.

An eye for an eye mentality is unacceptable. We are a nation with civil and moral values and we must show the world that. These terrorist attacks were clearly a crime against humanity. What does a democracy do to punish criminals? We put them on trial, if found guilty, we imprison them.

Whatever forms of action we choose must reflect our democratic principles and distinguish us from the mentality of terrorists and destructive violence. Our actions must pursue a path towards reducing violence, not escalating violence. Launching weapons of mass destruction or collateral attacks against innocent civilians would be no different than the terror we have already had brought upon us.

Dennis Kucinich Statement to the House of Representatives “On Authorizing Force On Those Responsible For Recent Terrorist Acts” – September 14, 2001

Sadly, Kucinich’s wise counsel fell on deaf ears.  Sadly, it seems like there’s nothing we can do about the military industrial congressional complex, a ravenous death machine which continually demands more bodies and taxes.  But we do all have a choice as individuals.  Personally, I choose “Turn the other cheek” over “An eye for an eye.”

Here are some things we should never forget:

Violence begets violence.

The United States has been at war with an ever-changing legacy of enemies since World War II.

Close to 100,000 people have died in Iraq as a result of the United State’s quest for revenge.

Think about the perpetual spiral of death and destruction we’ve created and then ask yourself, “Who would Jesus bomb?”

Freedom isn’t free, as they say and here, so close to Camp Lejuene, the 246-square-mile U.S. military training facility, I’m unable to forget it.  The training facility was named after the Commanding General of the 2d Army Division in World War I, Major General John A. Lejeune (luh-JERN.)  The 11,000 acre tract with 11 miles of shoreline is perfect for supporting multiple types of maneuvers.  And support they do, with a population on base of 170,000.

Bob and I drove past troops in full camo gear working around their tiny tents in the sweltering North Carolina heat along the stretch of I-24 known as Freedom Way.  My heart cried out in protest at the sight.  I felt like I was looking into a hopper of human flesh.  I wanted to get out of the car and do something but there was nothing we could do and so we kept on driving towards the beach for a few days alone at the shore.

Minutes later we arrived on beautiful Emerald Isle.  We settled in our comfy room and shared a beer.  We walked down the beach to the pier and back and frolicked in the surf until we were salt-saturated and worn out from riding the waves.  Then we sat in our little blue beach chairs and drank in the wonderful sounds and smells and felt the breeze take turns on our skin with the sun, the shade and the little droplets of rain.

Later, we showered and made love and got dressed in our clean clothes and drove to a nice restaurant where we had dinner with friends.  I thought about the camo’ed kids in their hot little tents and wondered what they were going to eat for dinner.

I love everything about my life but I don’t think for one minute I owe it to the MICC (Military Industrial Congressional Complex.)  Our armed forces are not sending young people to war to keep me safe and free but rather to feed a firmly established industry which voraciously devours taxes, life and limb to protect their own interests.

In fact, ever since 1941, when the MICC came into existence it has been feeding itself and gaining power.  Not so coincidentally, construction was approved for Camp Lejune in April 1941.

Bob and I are not alone in our belief that we are being had by the MICC.  Robert Higgs, Senior Fellow in Political Economy at the Independent Institute and editor of Independent Review wrote:

During that period [between mid-1940 and late 1941] Congress appropriated $36 billion for the War Department alone — more than the army and navy combined had spent during World War I. With congressional authorization, the War and Navy departments switched from using mainly sealed-bid contracts to mainly negotiated contracts, often providing that the contractor be paid his full costs, however much they might be, plus a fixed fee. Contracts could be changed to accommodate changes in the contractor’s circumstances or poor management in performing the work. In these and other ways, military contracting was rendered less risky and more rewarding. As Secretary of War Henry Stimson said at the time, “If you are going to try to go to war, or to prepare for war, in a capitalistic country, you have got to let business make money out of the process or business won’t work.”

Businessmen worked, to be sure, and they made money — far more than anyone had dreamed of making during the Depression. Much of the more than $300 billion the government spent for war goods and services ended up in the pockets of the contractors and their employees. According to a contemporary study, rates of return on net worth ranged from twenty-two percent for the largest companies to forty-nine percent for the smaller firms — extraordinary profits given that the contractors bore little or no risk.

From “World War II and the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex”
by Robert Higgs” May 1995

Higgs is also as outraged as Bob and I are about the present day carnage being wrought at the hands of the war industry.

The common thread [in my 2005 book, “Resurgence of the Warfare State”] is my outrage against the U.S. government’s exploitation of the 9/11 attacks to launch the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq and to occupy these countries thereafter. I cover the period from September 2001 to December 2004, devoting much of my commentary to exposing the scare tactics, illogic, lies, distortions, and other propaganda the Bush administration used to sell the Iraq war to the public and Congress.

From “Robert Higgs: Free-Market Thinking & the Impact of the Internet” – May 2, 2010

And we also agree with Higgs that we are not buying freedom with our bloated $500 billion defense budget and trillion dollar wars.

In fact, Bob and I were so upset at the turn of events during this period of time that we left the country in December of 2004 to avoid supporting the war with our taxes.  When people find out we lived on Maui for four years and left they are incredulous.  “Why did you leave Maui?” they all ask and if we know them well enough, we tell them why.

So, no – I don’t for one minute think the young men and women I see down here by Camp Lejune are keeping me free and safe.  I see their lives being wasted just like our taxes – resources that could be put to good use growing food, building community, providing public education and making healthcare available to everyone.

But even if it were true that my lifestyle depended on continued war, I would happily give up my American lifestyle in exchange for peace – in a heartbeat!

Our neighbor’s yards are abloom with daffodils  and the mocking birds start yodeling at dawn.  Bob is starting tomatoes and peppers under lights in the back bedroom and has planted carrots and peas in the garden, with onions and potatoes going in next week. I’m having a high time pruning back the pampas grass and washing windows.  Our CSA boxes are overflowing with arugula, carrots, turnips, spinach, chard and lettuce.

Ironically, yesterday was also the seventh anniversary of the day the United States invaded Iraq.

During the past seven years our country has spent about $700 billion dollars in Iraq destroying infrastructure and killing people.  In addition to wounding hundreds of thousands of people, we name among the dead over 4,000 American soldiers, 9,000 Iraqi soldiers and an estimated 100,000 civilians.  And that’s just in Iraq.

Nearly 100,000 American troops remain on the ground in Iraq, with another 68,000 in Afghanistan.  And President Obama is sending another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan this spring in hopes of winning the war there.  A war that has raged for over 8 years, killed over 7,000, wounded more than 11,000 and cost $740, billion.  A war that is logistically un-winnable.

At least one person in Congress is actively pushing to put an end to these wars.  Congressman Dennis Kucinch believes we need to replace the Department of War with a Department of Peace.  Kucinch recently pointed out that according to our Constitution, Congress, not the president, should be deciding when we go to war and when we stop.  He is at the front of an effort to encourage Congress to vote on whether to withdraw our troops from Afghanistan.  He also points out that squandering tax dollars on the war in Afghanistan is something we cannot afford to do.

Afghanistan Debate Begins in U.S. House Early This Afternoon – March 10, 2010

“And it should also be of interest to people that we can’t afford this war. When you consider the fact that you have 47 million Americans who don’t have any health care, they don’t have it because they can’t afford the premiums. You have 15 million Americans out of work. You have another 10 million Americans, at least, who could be losing their homes this year due to foreclosure. You would think that we have other priorities. You would think that it would be time for us to focus on things here at home.” – Dennis Kucinich

With so many reasons for us to bring our soldiers home, it seems like a no-brainer.  That is, until we consider the real reason why we’ve continually been at war since 1945.

After World War II, it was decided that we needed to create an industry dedicated to manufacturing armaments and machines for defense and the Military Industrial Complex was born.

In his farewell speech to the nation, January 17, 1961, president Eisenhower described the transformation and cautioned the American public that abuse of the new system was a possibility.  In other words, we might simply keep ourselves at war in order to keep the industry alive.

“Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United State corporations.”

“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence-economic, political, even spiritual-is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.” – Dwight D Eisenhower

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

What Eisenhower warned could happen came to pass.  The U.S. now has a complex which keeps our defense budget in the hundreds of billions compared to other countries with budgets in the billions or at most, fifty billion.  In fact, if you look at the defense budgets of all other countries and sort them by amount, it takes the top twenty countries budgets to add up ours.

The military-industrial complex, on an annual basis, accounts for 47% of the world’s total arms expenditures.  We not only fuel our own wars, we provision the rest of the world for wars and conflicts of their own.

It’s been a long winter of destruction indeed, and many of us are itching to see it end.  I’d like to see the makers of swords get busy making plowshares.  I’m ready for spring and I’m ready for peace.

Peace
Health care
Civil Liberties
Fair Trade
Solar Energy
Electoral Reform
Instant Run-off Voting
Impeachment for Bush and Cheney
A Foreign Policy based on Diplomacy
A Wall Street Securities Speculation Tax

I voted “No” to:
Militarism as a way of life
A Foreign Policy based on War
The Bailouts
Nuclear Power
Clean Coal
Free Trade
Corporate Crime
Anti-Union Laws

I voted for issues, not rhetoric. I voted for people, not corporations and their rich CEOs.
I voted to cut the huge, bloated, wasteful military budget to a level needed to protect the country.
I voted to reverse U.S. Policy in the Middle East, including a rapid withdrawal of troops from Iraq and an end to support for the militarists in Israel.
I voted to adopt single payer national health insurance that would save $350 billion and apply those savings to comprehensively cover all Americans for all medically necessary services.
I voted to end Corporate Personhood. See Licensed to Kill.
I voted to stop subsidizing entrenched oil, nuclear, electric, coal mining, and biofuel interests and to invest heavily in solar and wind and in more efficient homes, automobiles, businesses and government facilities.
I voted for a first-class, high-speed passenger rail system that will save more than it costs.
I voted to tax the buying and selling of blocks of derivatives for profit so as to help lower income taxes on the working class, reduce speculation in the markets and increase stability in the oil and mortgage industries.
I voted against NAFTA and the WTO, which make commercial trade supreme over environmental, labor, and consumer standards.
I voted against the winner-take-all election system which often pushes voters to vote their fears and not their beliefs – or to simply not vote at all.

I voted with my heart, with my brain, and with my values. I voted for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez.

“There are those that are gonna say that what we’re doing is gonna take votes from other candidates. Let me just emphasize this: There’s nothing that we do that can force anybody to vote for us, but we very much want the opposite not to be true – that anybody that wants to vote for us should not be forced to vote for other candidates.

If there is any candidate that fears what we’re trying to do here, then I invite them to go out and earn the votes that would otherwise be cast for us. We are in a democracy, that’s how it works. Candidates with different opinions put them forward and go compete for votes.” – Matt Gonzalez

“she had changed her mind about the war in Iraq. She said, “It’s no longer worthwhile” as if talking about hanging her laundry >snip< she had exposed >snip< the violence of the American mind: We can kill at whim. We can waltz into other countries with our guns loaded when we feel like it. >snip< war can be as easy a choice as which flavor ice cream you prefer. This week I feel like fighting, maybe next week I won’t. >snip< It is vile to promote the war, vote for it, support it with your flags and stickers, and then, because the violence continues, >snip< or that it might be ruining the economy, >snip< decide it is not “worthwhile”.

The devastation of Katrina pales beside the horror American armed forces are creating in Iraq. To date, there are 1,896 dead American soldiers, a minimum of 30,000 dead Iraqi soldiers, and reported civilian deaths of at least 24,000 at an estimated cost of over $193 billion US dollars.

It was the perfect day to sit at our desks and work on all those little projects sunny days keep us away from. We accomplished three satisfying tasks:

-Bob gave our Blog a facelift
-I updated our Photo Album
-We took and submitted the following photo to Sorry Everybody.

As Mark Morford puts it,
“The site proves that countless Americans still not only care enough to apologize for our country’s massive errors of judgment, for our blind mistakes, but also are concerned about the effect those mistakes will have on others.”

It breaks my heart to believe that roughly half the people I encounter each day believe that might makes right, that outright carnage will somehow lead to peace, and that the United States, after little more than 200 years experience has somehow achieved enough wisdom to rule the world.

There seem to be two kinds of people in America at this time; those who feel the ends justify the means and the idealists. Those who are pleased to see strength and resolve, and those who are horrified. Count me on the side of the idealists.

I am mystified by the motives of those who support such a brutal regime. I find myself obsessed with the need to understand. “What can they be thinking?” I keep asking myself.

My guess is that they are thinking we have a great life here – let’s keep it that way. That this is the greatest country in the world. That god loves us or he wouldn’t have given us all this wonderful stuff. That the TV wouldn’t lie, and that supporting the president makes us good patriots. America, love it or leave it.

My guess is that they really don’t want to think bad thoughts or make waves. That the easiest thing is to go along and believe the best of our leaders. How can liberating Iraq be a bad thing? What about those poor women there? Aren’t they better off now? Won’t they all be voting for democracy soon? Certainly, Mr. Bush has the best interests of everyone in mind.

My guess is they are thinking that we have no choice. That our national security depends on making a strong statement. That those 100,000 dead civilians are an unfortunate accident, or that many of those deaths are not our fault, or even, that the newspapers made this number up.

And that if we don’t get them, they are surely going to get us. God Bless America.