Digest 34: Delivered Straight to Your “Door”
The Scourge of War
The Good and the Bad News about the Bush Wars
On the one hand, The War on Terror hasn’t become entirely like total war in WW2, yet there still isn’t much of a mass movement to unseat the imperialist genocidsts occupying positions of power right now.
This piece is so powerful and dares to refer to the death inflicted by American forces in Iraq as genocide.
Airstrikes Hit Civilians in Pakistan: Hundreds Dead In Latest Round Of Terror War By Proxy
I have one slight quibble to make with this comment:
“That analogy and its bloddy-minded “moral” were seriously flawed for two reasons. First of all, the U.S. couldn’t stay on and fight in Vietnam, even if it wanted to, because increasingly after 1968, the soldiers on the ground were refusing to fight, and in many cases were in passive or even open revolt against their officers, and besides, they were losing to the infinitely more motivated Viet Cong and North Vietnamese. And secondly, Iraq’s insurgents are not coming from another part of the country that is sheltered from attack by US troops, the way North Vietnamese regulars were coming down to help their brothers and sisters in South Vietnam,. Iranian troops aren’t fighting and dying, or even being captured, in Iraq. It is the Iraqi people who are living in and around the U.S. forces that are fighting them.”
I have heard from a credible person that the head North Vietnamese general was surprised that the Americans pulled out because the NVA/Vietcong were not militarily winning the conflict, and had lost a lot of their strength in the infamous Tet Offensive of 1968. Of course, it’s undoubtedly true that the Tet Offensive was a political victory since many Americans or Congress people did not wish to further continue the U.S. role in the conflict. It’s common practice for anti-colonialist forces to wear down a larger and better equipped imperial power rather than to outright win the military conflict.
An Antiwar Defense of Blackwater
If you or I didn’t have to pay the costs of war, then would there be as much of it? Is military state socialism a positive or a negative? I like to see it as a negative, and wish I could end all finical support for the U.S. standing armed forces tomorrow without risking jail time. I only registered for the selective service after they sent me a “nice” letter reminding me of the 250,000 fine or jail time for not doing so. I was just ignoring them up until then 
Isolationism and the Foreign New Deal
Murray Rothbard delivers a good explanation of isolationist sentiment in WW2. It’s the fifth chapter of his The Betrayal of the American Right.
The Holidays of American Culture
A very balanced perspective on Columbus day that points out the horrors of both the man and the native peoples.
Unhealthy Ideas on Health
Drug Money and the Clinton Campaign
Clinton’s proposed healthcare reform plan is to universalize the Massachusetts policy of compulsory health insurance. Yes, you heard that right. In the alleged land of the free, you’ll have to put money into the coffers of the health insurance companies or face a tax penalty/fine.
I had to wonder about how much money the Clinton campaign was receiving from insurance companies, so this article caught my eye. Check out this part:
“Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler supports Hillary Clinton for president. This is an abrupt departure from the path taken by Kindler’s predecessor, Hank McKinnell. McKinnell was a Bush Ranger and right-wing Republican who repeatedly asked Pfizer employees to support Presidents Bush’s reelection campaign.”
Insurance policies help pay for drugs, so it would be perfectly logical for a CEO of a major drug company to support a candidate whose policy was to mandate the purchasing of health insurance. They will get guaranteed profits in the situations where people rely on insurance to purchase the medicines they need.
You could make the same point about President Bush’s prescription drug plan for seniors. The drug companies get customers they might not have otherwise had, since the state takes the money via taxation and then hands it over to the drug corporations.
In other words: this is the operation of the corporate state we’re seeing at work.
Civil Liberties to Hold Onto
Coming Soon to an Antiwar Demo Near You?
For anybody who plans to attend a protest in the future.
And this too: Unguarded Moment: Another Brake on Tyranny Stripped Away
Economics to Oppress
Cheap HIV Drugs More Important Than Patents
A recent conversation with someone showed me just what a price difference patents can make. They buy a generic brand — thus competition in the manufacture of that drug has been allowed — of a drug that costs 4 dollars while the name brand would be 50. I can’t remember whether that was after insurance paid for part of it or not though.
Laughs to be Had
Reaganomics Finally Trickles Down to Area Man
Supply-side economics worked after all. You just had to have patience.
Sex and Romance to Be Inspired By
A Review of the Movie Flirting
I can’t find this movie anywhere! May be time to sign onto Netflix instead of hunting around video stores for movies.
A Review of the Erotica Collection Called Animal Attractions
For the bestiality inclined. A taboo breaking sentence
By the way, some may have noticed that Lady Venus is my name at the moment. I’ve decided to undergo a sex change after returning to a pondering of transgenderism I had done a while back. I haven’t really settled on it yet though, so anyone who has a neat suggestion is welcome to offer one.
Natasha | LeftLibertarian.org, My Net Digests
