Second, there ARE connections between what the US is doing (?)12,000 miles away and what is happening in Phillips. The hundreds of billions of dollars wasted on the war machinery to invade countries 12,000 miles away needs to be directed at the problems in our inner-cities. Imagine how much a small portion of that money could do to improve housing, stimulate economic development, provide job training, drug treatment, etc.
I agree. Let me first expand on my agreement, and then suggest a more meaningful alternative to the city council issuing a statement about Iraq.
I do agree that our money is being sucked up by the military-industrial complex. The Gulf War cost about 61 billion dollars, Afghanistan has cost us many billions more. The intended war will cost 100 billion, and the cleanup of Iraq will cost about 50 billion if all goes well. Add this to the cost of policing Afghanistan.
Add this to the cost of creating new generations of terrorists who are themselves terrorized and full of hate for a country that uses dirty nuclear bombs (DU weapons) which will cause cancers and other illnesses for hundreds of years in their cities, towns, and villages. Add this to the cost of treating our own soldiers who become ill and die from exposure to the radioactive fallout from DU munitions, which are manufactured right here in the metro area. (Note that NATO troops have demonstrated to be transferred out of Kosovo due to the alarming rise in leukemia amoung troops there, and the USA has told them to shut up...)
So, to sum up the connection between our town and towns and villages in Iraq, we are losing much needed funds which could be directed to making life better here but which are being misdirected kill, maim, destroy, terrorize other people around the planet in pursuit of empire for a few cronies who drape their fascism in falsehoods. "Democracy" means installing the next franken-terrorist who will toe the line. "Free Market" means "Free for me but not for thee." And "capitalism" does not mean that those who actually work to make life better are rewarded, but rather those who suck up to the corporate aristocracy.
Written small here in town, this culture of empire-masquerading-as-Democracy means that rich people will ultimately tax the poor to build a new stadium, new and bigger highways, and other projects made with no imagination, but simply to project the status quo into the future.
What is the status quo? The poor pay and the stratospherically wealthy play while the geopolitical and environmental price grows ever greater.
The powers do not give a damn about poor people killing each other in Phillips neighborhood. Rather, they see poor neighborhoods as the necessary, growing third world in our country. A desperate human scrap-heap from which to draw wage-slaves is a fundamental requirement for any empire.
Meanwhile, the shrinking upper classes live increasingly inside the bell jar bubbles of clearly defined developments.
Our city council must address city problems within the context of the larger political and economic environment in which they work.
I suggest that the city council pass a formal resolution in light of the War that King George will have (and will tax the poor mightily for). This resolution should be a True Patriot Act, and should recommend to those legislators representing us in the Minnesota State Legislature that we become energy independent within 10 years, taking advantage of the renewable resources our region boasts.
Such a plan would stimulate development which benefits all for generations, would encourage a culture of old-fashioned American strength, ingenuity independence, a sense of common wealth, and economic development as well. The less we depend on terrorists for our energy, the more we will avoid becoming terrorists to get the energy "fix" we so desperately crave.
It is good, in my opinion, for the City Council to help shake our oil-addicted culture out of denial, and to set us on a path of true American vision and industry. The challenges are great, and already we lag far behind the EU on wind, solar, and hydrogen development. We need a Minnesota Marshall Plan for energy independence.
Any others have suggestions along this line?
-Gary Hoover
King Field
