Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
To my mind the greatest movie satire on the idiocy of the Cold War and the fear it inspired in humanity, was Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece “Dr. Strangelove, or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”, released in 1964. The plot in brief was, “An insane general starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop”. For those unfamiliar with one of the best American movies of all time check this link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/
Rent the movie if you haven’t seen it, for it will bring you dark laughter and present you with much to ponder. At the time of its release, some disparaged the movie as being un-credible in its characterizations and not believable in it premises. I hadn’t thought of the movie in years until I came across this article at the website Buzzflash.com titled “The Theology of Armageddon” by Robert Koehler. http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13024 . The article is relatively brief, but well worth your time.
The article deals with a course titled “Nuclear Ethics and Nuclear Warfare” at Vandenberg Air Force Base, given under Air Force auspices. As the Robert Koehler states:
“(I)t turns out that the point of the mandatory course, which was recently canceled by the Air Force after officers of numerous faiths complained to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation about it and Truthout published an exposé in July, was to give officers in the first week of missile-launch training a Bible-verse-studded indoctrination in faux-Just War Theory (cynically known in the ranks as the “Jesus Loves Nukes” training)”.
What got me thinking of the movie Dr. Strangelove was a quote in the article from Dr. Wehrner Von Braun, which makes credible the satiric reality of the movies title character, Dr. Strangelove, hysterically portrayed as a heavily accented former NAZI, by Peter Sellers. Seller’s character was widely denounced as being unfair to Von Braun, at the time, but seeing this quote from him makes me wonder:
“We knew that we had created a new means of warfare and the question as to what nation . . . we were willing to entrust this brainchild of ours was a moral decision more than anything else,” von Braun is quoted as saying. “We wanted to see the world spared another conflict such as Germany had just been through and we felt that only by surrendering such a weapon to people who are guided by the Bible could such an assurance to the world be best secured.”
To me this is post facto justification by von Braun of his choice of the comfort of an honored life in the U.S. mirroring his NAZI lifestyle and providing a sop to detract from the truth that he was an enthusiastic war criminal. Von Braun had developed the V (I & II) guided missiles for the NAZI’s and became the head of the United States Ballistic Missile Program. Von Braun was a NAZI Party member of distinction and it seems dedication. His missiles fell upon Great Britain in the closing days of WW II as an attempt to cause terror within the British people and were random in their destruction. That he then became an honored man in the U.S., rather than a defendant at Nuremburg, is a tribute to our own hypocrisy in prosecuting the Cold War. A similar mindset seems to have infected some in our Air Force as I will show.
The Air Force Academy is located inColorado Springs, Colorado. Not only is this a bustling city, whose primary industry is the Military/Industrial Complex, but it is also the center of a tremendous amount of Evangelical Christian activity.
Although houses of worship of almost every major religion can be found in the city, Colorado Springs has attracted a large influx of Evangelical Christians and Christian organizations in recent years. At one time Colorado Springs was counted to be the national headquarters for 81 different religious organizations, earning the city the tongue-in-cheek nickname “the Evangelical Vatican” and “The Christian Mecca.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Springs,_Colorado
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4287106
In the past decade, the Air Force Academy was shaken by implications that it favors Evangelical Christianity in its institutions, trampling on religious freedoms of non-believers in Evangelical Christianity. http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2011-03-13-Air_Force_Academy_13_ST_N.htm
To me the idea of a military dominated by a particular religious belief is antithetical to the U.S. Constitution and dangerous to the operation of a democratic republic. This becomes especially dicey when that particular religious belief proposes that we are in the “End Times” and feels that Armageddon will be the salvation of humanity. This has nothing to do with the religious beliefs of our troops, which I imagine are overwhelmingly Christian, but with the manipulation of their beliefs by fanatical fundamentalists, given license by some of their Commanders.
The old saying, which I concede has some validity, is that “there are no atheists in foxholes”. When one’s occupation puts a responsibility for the lives of your fellow citizens upon you and concomitantly leads one into life threatening situations, many humans have the need to know that if death comes, there will be rewards in an afterlife. Then in addition, all Americans are constitutionally entitled to be free to practice their religious beliefs. At what point though does the religious beliefs of ones superiors begin to supersede the soldiers own values and become indoctrination? There is evidence as shown above in the links, that this is taking place. Beyond the unconstitutionality of this religious indoctrination, lies the reality that the religion pushed upon the troops is one longing for and that would welcome the quick arrival of Armageddon. That our nuclear arsenal lies within the purview of this branch of our Armed Forces, escalates the possibilities that “Dr. Strangelove” was less a satire and more a prescient prophecy.
My personal position is that I feel strongly that religious belief can be uplifting and positive, but I consider Fundamentalists of any religion, including my own, to be dangerous to humanity. This is because the hubris of being convinced of your own correctness of belief, leads to intolerance of differing beliefs, which ultimately leads to repression and violence. There is much in the varied religious beliefs of our fellow humans that is uplifting to us all, but once those beliefs become stultified, unquestioned by fanatical followers of narrow vision, danger ensues. It is easy to question Islamic Fanaticism in the wake of 911, but how many would put that same spotlight on their own religious leanings?
If the injection of Fundamentalism is a trend in our Armed Forces, I personally find that frightening and disturbing. What do you think?
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
ekeyra, Those are only a few of the criteria, but even in the context of those three, what circumstances could possibly justify launching a nuclear attack?
The correct answer is LIES. Remember Georgie-Porgie?
Also just to get back on the topic of the article for a second, you guys dont really think the army will somehow become less violent or aggressive simply because they eliminate the christian fundamentalism? The goal is obedience and unquestioning loyalty. The fact that christian fundamentalism achieves this goal is incidental. If scientology were the predominant religion, I garuntee you the army will be indoctrinating with xenu’s thoughts on nuclear warfare.
Besides all that, if they actually taught christian just war theory, noone would ever launch a nuke.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_War
It must be in retaliation
It must be proportional.
It must be a last option.
Those are only a few of the criteria, but even in the context of those three, what circumstances could possibly justify launching a nuclear attack?
“YouTube cannot truly suppress coverage because of competition from other video outlets”
You mean market mechanics actually make people freer and better off? You dont say…
Lotta,
That is a disgusting video. This country is in trouble if this abuse of civil liberties is allowed to continue.
“New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman takes a hard line”
AN,
I met Eric years ago and someone I’m very close to works for him. Eric Schneiderman is what you would call the real deal. He believes in what he fights for and principle is more important to him than just getting elected. A terrific, idealistic man, who is adept politically. I know I’m gushing but his stance on this issue has made me very proud of him.
Thanks for the video, lottakatz. We’re a crisis-oriented lot… A few protesters will probably have to die at the hands of the police before the NYC protests get MSM coverage.
I read about the G-20 lawsuit last night. I agree that local cops are probably not the best candidates for military grade weapons. Again, once there are some serious and/or obvious injuries which translate into lawsuits…, this issue may get some real attention.
PEACEFUL FEMALE PROTESTORS PENNED IN THE STREET AND
MACED!
While on a peaceful march near Union Square in downtown Manhattan, multiple female protestors were penned up in the street by orange mesh baricade, then maliciously maced.
The women were peaceful and unarmed. They were secured by barricade with an overwhelming police presence. And they were then sprayed directly in the face with pressurized mace…
WeAreTheOther99 continues to peacefully occupy Lower Manhattan to begin a dialogue with the Top 1% with the goal of a peaceful transition of power back to the People.
This can no longer be stopped. But be advised, this will not be televised… comment/upload by theother99%
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moD2JnGTToA&feature=share
Then there’s this from a couple of days ago. Maybe putting weapons developed for the military in the hands of local cops isn’t such a good idea:
Woman claims police device damaged hearing during G-20
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A Missouri woman sued the city of Pittsburgh today, claiming that she suffered hearing loss due to police use of the Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, during the G-20 Summit.
The LRAD was mounted on a police truck that deployed to encounter protests during the two-day summit of world leaders in September 2009. It emitted disorienting noises and orders to disperse.
“Police departments should not be using weapons built for the military on civilian protesters,” said Witold Walczak, legal director of the Pennsylvania ACLU, which is representing Karen Piper. “As this case shows, the LRAD cannot be controlled to prevent serious harm to innocent bystanders.”
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11264/1176410-100.stm
Sunday, Sep 25, 2011 10:01 ET
What no-drama Obama could learn from no-hysterics Eric
With mild manners, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman takes a hard line
By Nina Burleigh
http://www.salon.com/news/wall_street/index.html?story=/politics/feature/2011/09/25/schneiderman
“In pursuing his own investigation, Schneiderman has irritated the administration and the bankers, but he hasn’t buckled. He says that to believe there is any other possible way to resolve things is misguided.
“Look, this [the AG’s deal] is fraying at the edges. I don’t know at what point this thing actually ends.” He admits pressure from the Obama administration to get on board: “There were sort of calls made to friends,” he said without naming names. “But my take is people who are concerned about this, borrowers, unions whose members’ pension funds got some of the bad paper, they are all very supportive.”
Since Schneiderman left Tom Miller’s pack, he has garnered the support of other AGs. Delaware’s Beau Biden (in whose state, like New York, most of the trusts were registered), Massachusetts’ Martha Coakley, Minnesota’s Lisa Swanson and Kentucky’s Jack Conway have indicated they support his tack of investigate first, negotiate later.” (end of excerpt)
We are 99 per cent! We are 99 percent!
I enjoy this explanation from JeanneNYC:
http://gothamist.com/2011/09/20/adbusters_accuses_yahoo_of_censorin.php
JeanneNYC
It’s not too difficult to see what happened: idiot protesters spammed everyone they knew with a deluge of protest garbage. The recipients were annoyed and marked the e-mails as spam. Google filters are set up to filter e-mails that numerous recipients have marked as spam. Protesters can’t accept that people don’t find them fascinating and complain that there must be a conspiracy.
In this case, s/Google/Yahoo/
!Los email, unido, jamas sera vencido!
I have a comment in moderation right now, perhaps someone will let that through.
It’s basically an expansion of the below:
I sent an email from a brand new yahoo account to one of the participants at this forum, as well as to occupywallstreeet@mailinator.com.
http://www.mailinator.com/maildir.jsp?email=occupywallstreet
Mailinator will delete the above email in an hour or so, but it’s there.
@OS: How is a bad view count, which is also a well known and long complained of bug (see my google search above), how is a bad view count suppression?
What actual evidence do you have, not just complaints, that YouTube or anyone was slowing uploading of these videos?
As you say, how likely is it that would succeed in NEW YORK CITY!?
How could such do anything but backfire?
What is Occam’s Razor’s suggestion regarding this!?
@Elaine, that second video you posted was interesting up until the technogarble and conspirobabble explanation of how this bad spam filter was actually suppression now and could be exploited in the future to suppress the people.
!Los email, vencido, jamas sera vencido!
YouTube cannot truly suppress coverage because of competition from other video outlets, but for a while users found their ability to upload stuff directly related to the protests being blocked or slowed down The workaround was to use bogus tags and then blog the links so people could find the videos (who would think to look for protest videos with searches for pumpkin carving).
It seems that YouTube is now letting stuff through, but the views counters appear to be under-counting.
Otteray Scribe, you’re telling me that in New York, NEW FREAKING YORK of all places. Home of Silicon Alley and its many Internet media startups, home of the Gray Lady, home of Improv Everywhere, home of many many many many many Internet videos and films presented on YouTube and Vimeo and many other sites, New York, with a trillion blogs and bloggers, that in NYC, YouTube has any chance of suppressing coverage?
YouTube is censoring the wall street riots? You mean Google? WHY?
Do you have any other evidence of YouTube suppression than some dude at Kos complaining the counts on the video are not being updated in realtime?
In fact, he’s not complaining the video has been taken down, his grief is that the counts are inaccurate.
THAT’S SUPPRESSION!?
http://www.google.com/search?q=+site:google.com+youtube+video+view+count+wrong
The “liberal” media would prefer to cover Tea Party gatherings of twenty or thirty people. There weren’t that many folks protesting on Wall Street!
raff, the only reason I can see anymore to watch the MSM “newscasts” or to read the newspaper is to see what is happening in sports or check the classified ads. For the most part, they still do that competently. Hard news reporting? Not so much.
If you want to find out what is going on is to read the blogs–a lot of them, because to read only one or two is also limiting. I worry that the big ISP are now getting into the act of protecting their turf by shutting down users. Yahoo, Twitter, YouTube and others appear to be getting into the censorship business as well.
Yahoo is dirty and censorship has become a corporate process as normal as getting coffee and doughnuts in the morning. The main stream media have to report this truth or it will get worse.
“Is this still our country or have we, as a people, already signed over the deed?” -Blind Faithiness
From my perspective we’re in the process of signing, if the ink isn’t already dry… I agree with the entirety of your comment, Blind Faithiness. As you rightly say, “Shame on our nation’s press.”
——————-
On “60 Minutes” (CBS) tonight, I believe…“a lead story on the police department’s methods and an interview with Commissioner Ray Kelly.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/23/ap-keeps-investigating-nypd-spying_n_978128.html
Good Americans are being surveilled and harassed in communities all across this county. What’s transpiring is a sort of COINTELPRO on steroids. The whole truth is unbelievably ugly. The press is aware and does little to nothing. The police are aware and participate. The intelligence “community” is running the show. Informants and snitches are being used in unprecedented numbers and ways…
(Another great article, Mike S. Regarding your question, I agree.)