Posted by The Sticker on April 6th, 2008
The Republican presidential campaign of John McCain is getting itself worked up into a fury about the statement by radio show host Ed Schultz. Schultz said on Friday that John McCain is a warmonger.
Irregular Times points out quite simply that the the definition of the word monger is “a person who seeks to bring about or promote war” (source: Oxford Modern English Dictionary).
By that standard, and the standard of four other well-respected dictionaries Irregular Times cites, John McCain is clearly a warmonger. John McCain worked hard to help George W. Bush bring about the war in Iraq, and has spent a great deal of time since promoting the continuation of that war. Also, John McCain has promoted the idea of going to war against Iran (Remember McCain singing, “Bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran,” last year?
Of course John McCain is a warmonger. He’s a powerful politician who has spent the last seven years promoting war. This isn’t a point that can be intelligently argued about. It’s just a fact. John McCain has consistently sought to bring about war. By definition, that makes him a warmonger.
If the campaign of John McCain for President is so upset about John McCain being called a warmonger, perhaps they ought to examine McCain’s pro-war policies, rather than blaming the messenger for the blunt message of truth. If John McCain doesn’t want to be called a warmonger, he ought to stop being a warmonger.
Posted by The Sticker on March 25th, 2008
One of the strongest criticisms of war is that the causes that lead people into war are often betrayed through the course of war. When I use the word “causes”, I’m not talking about things like an effort to recapture a piece of territory. Those are tactics, not causes.
A cause is referred to in the Republican language about the current constellation of military actions: The War On Terror.
The implied cause in this war is an end to terror.
The obvious irony is that the tactics used by the United States government include the infliction of terror. The strategy for the invasion of Iraq, for example, was called “shock and awe”. The idea was to cause so much fear amongst Iraqis that they would give up hope and end resistance to the American invasion and military occupation almost immediately. Five years later, Iraqi resistance is continuing. The tactics of inflicting terror haven’t worked, but they were the admitted tactics of the United States nonetheless.
Then, of course, there’s torture. The Republicans continue to insist that they need to torture, or as they say “use extreme interrogation methods”, in order to defeat terror. They don’t appear to grasp the irony that the very purpose of torture is to increase terror, not to defeat it.
How can you fight terror by torturing people? You can’t.
Posted by The Sticker on February 5th, 2008
Some people say that the time for peace is later, after we get what we want. After we defeat the enemy, there will be peace. After we protect our interests, there will be peace. After we build stability, there will be peace.
The problem with that philosophy of peace is that there’s always one thing more, just another thing that needs fixing. For those who always grasp for that one more thing, the blunt instrument of war becomes an addictive and deceptive tool.
What if what we want is peace itself? If that’s so, then the time for peace is not later. The time for peace must be now, and the only way that we will achieve peace is by pursuing peace in itself. Now, not later. No excuses. No more wars for peace.
The time has come for peace. Say it with this beautiful bumper sticker, which features a flowing trail of melting snowflakes, symbolizing the end of the icy winter of war.
Posted by The Sticker on December 19th, 2007
Republicans fret and bother and spend trillions of dollars to do what they call “winning the war on terror”, and still they haven’t won it. In fact, there’s no victory in sight. They talk about fighting the “war on terror” for generations to come. That’s not not really winning the war, is it?
Well, progressives have a simpler way of solving the problem, something akin to the action that Alexander the Great took when he undid the Gordian Knot by cutting it in two with his sword.
You want to win the war on terror? Okay. Don’t be afraid.
That’s all that’s required, and the war on terror will be over. It could happen tomorrow. It could happen on Election Day, 2008, if we make the right choice.
Posted by The Sticker on December 16th, 2007
Wake up, America! It’s less than a month now until the presidential primary elections of 2008 begin, and this is where it gets really important what particular people do to get involved in the process where they live. This is the time when even national politics is local. It’s up to you to play a part, of support the continuing national obsession with apathy.
It’s time to pick a candidate, and support that candidate in your state. Voting in the primary is important, but it’s even better if you help your chosen candidate by promoting that candidate to your friends and neighbors before the election.
A yard sign is a great way to do that. But for which candidate?
Let me suggest Barack Obama. I don’t mean to slam the other Democratic presidential candidates too hard, but the fact is that many of them supported George W. Bush in starting the Iraq War.
Bill Richardson did.
Hillary Clinton did.
Chris Dodd did.
John Edwards did.
Joseph Biden did.
Barack Obama didn’t. Barack Obama opposed invading Iraq from the start. He’s not had to offer any apologies on this issue. He got it right from the start. Obama never caved in to the pro-war pressure from the Republicans.
If that matters to you, then consider putting this Barack Obama campaign lawn sign out in your yard, to encourage people in your state to vote Obama for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 2008.
Barack Obama 2008 Yard Sign
Posted by The Sticker on December 8th, 2007
The cause of peace has finally reached the status of a top political issue now, as we approach the 2008 presidential election. However, the political party that many had hoped would champion peace in the 2008 election has turned out instead to be, taken as a whole, a party of wafflers, or worse, apologists for war.
Many propose the Green Party as an alternative, as this bumper sticker does: Vote Peace. Vote Green.
Is it a fair message? Given the overall failure of the Democratic Party to work effectively for peace, yes, I think that the message is fair.
However, this fair message must be considered alongside the objections. Barack Obama opposed the war in Iraq back in 2002 and 2003, when it was politically risky to do so. Dennis Kucinich did the same, and actually voted as a member of Congress not to allow George W. Bush to go to war in Iraq.
There are many paths to peace. The Green Party is one of them. Selecting the better Democratic candidates is another.
Posted by The Sticker on November 1st, 2007
Hyperbole is the nature of the Internet. The t-shirt you see here has been nominated as the best t-shirt ever.
I don’t think that there’s ever been that kind of award given before.
I’m not in a position to judge what the best tshirt ever is, but this one would be among my top picks, to be sure. It features a handsome young boy, giving us the peace sign with his right hand, and a slogan written as a definition, “Pacifist: Someone with the nutty idea that killing people is a bad thing.”
I’m glad that this t-shirt is out there, because, on consideration, it’s absolutely nuts that so many advocates for war out there are trying to make pacifism out to be an extreme ideology. In fact, pacifism is the heart of true moderation. War is not moderate. It’s violence that’s the true extremism.
Posted by The Sticker on September 25th, 2007
Forget what Joseph Lieberman and his pro-war friends in the United States Senate say, with their non-binding limp-wristed resolutions encouraging a beligerent American foreign policy toward Iran. We the people of the United States of America know the truth. The truth is that Iran has engaged in no new actions to warrant this escalation of saber rattling from Congress and the White House. The IAEA reports that Iran is, in fact, complying with its requests, and there is new reason for hope that the nuclear energy program Iran has can be effectively managed.
Iran is making progress with the international community. Why is the American government trying to hide that fact?
It’s time for a people’s resolution, a Sense of America statement: We Americans are sick and tired of being pushed by our leaders into war, and we aren’t going to take it any more!
We the American people say no new wars. It’s time for peace, and it’s definitely time to say no war on Iran!
Posted by The Sticker on September 16th, 2007
There’s an old saying out there that goes, “You can run and run for a long time before you realize that the thing that you’re really running from is yourself.” If ever there has been a politician who epitomized that saying, it has been George W. Bush. Everything that George W. Bush says he’s for, he ends up working against. Everything that George W. Bush says he’s against, he ends up working for.
That basic truth about the political identity of George W. Bush is recognized by this bumper sticker, which reads, “George W. Bush is the Weapon of Mass Destruction”. Bush says that he’s against weapons of mass destruction, but he presides over the world’s largest arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Bush is also a recklessly pro-war President, wreaking destruction wherever he can.
Posted by The Sticker on May 28th, 2007
If you’ve opened a newspaper, turned on the radio or television, or gotten online over the last few days, you’ve been blasted by a consistent, relentless message valuing the things that warriors do. Listen to that selective message of Memorial Day, and you’ll likely feel your heart stirring in pride when you think about people rushing off to war with guns loaded, ready to fight.
Isn’t that odd? Think about how effective the propaganda of Memorial Day has become, that the mainstream message becomes pride in people who go en masse to kill each other.
Murder is the most serious crime there is. When it takes place in the course of war, however, we’re supposed to believe that murder is an honorable thing. Stealing is a crime, but in war we steal homes, territory, and sovereignty. Destroying someone else’s person property is a serious crime too, but we applaud it in war.
Come to think of it, war gives people permission to go out and commit a huge number of crimes. The crimes of war take place on such a scale, with such a steady consistency, that war itself becomes a crime. War can be defined as a time during which people are allowed to behave as criminals.
Heck, let’s be honest about it, and stop all this mushy language about “those who serve” and “fighting for our freedom”. War is a crime
