Social Justice Magazine
We have been back in the United States about two weeks now but I immediately realized why I had “opted out” of this system. I had not fully unpacked from our trip to Vietnam when my e-mail was flooded with messages from my conservative friends reminding me that the president was “black”, not really from [...]
Hans Johnson: Provoking some of the growing anger against Tea Party Republicans is the tone of callousness toward people of color, women, and the sacrifice of veterans who voice frustration at the toll of cuts and barriers in the democratic process itself.
Mario Rivas: The VA now estimates 10% of the 16 million veterans that served in WWII are still alive. The VA also estimates that between 2015 and 2021 more than 650,000 will die.
Mary L. Dudziak: As Americans become more isolated from the costs of war, military engagement no longer seems to require the support of the American people. Their disengagement does not limit the reach of American military action, but enables its expansion.
James Rhodes: Several Agent Orange activist groups, many of which were involved in the Second International Conference of Agent Orange/Dioxin recently held here in Hanoi, are calling for protests at Monsanto’s annual shareholder’s meeting 24 January in St. Louis, Missouri.
Tina Dupuy: Expert at living in tents, some veterans are finding new purpose in the streets. It was a surprise to meet Iraq war vets at these protests. There are only, after all, around a million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan in what was once dubbed the War on Terror.
Ed Hooper: The recent proposals to cut military retirement benefits by $42.5 billion as part of the deficit reduction program are an abandonment of a promise this nation gave to its career soldiers.
Mario Rivas: Bell will forever stand as a stark reality of what can happen when too much trust and power are given to small government in the hands of the corrupt.
Thirty U.S. American troops reported killed Saturday in an Afghanistan helicopter crash emphasizes the need for the U.S. to end operations sooner rather than later in that theatre of war, according to a Iraq/Afghanistan U.S. Marine veteran, who now is chair of the Veterans Caucus of the California Democratic Party.
Jeff Norman: Now that the FBI is investigating a homicide committed on VA property, federal authorities may also investigate shady land use deals the VA made.
State legislation that would provide returning Iraq, Afghanistan and other veterans exclusive opportunities to become state-certified firefighters has received the endorsement of the chair of the Veteran’s Caucus of the California Democratic Party.
Jeff Norman: There has to be some reason – and probably not a good one – that the VA has been making secret land use deals with private enterprises.
Lawrence Wittner: And so it appears that the “Golden Rule” will resume the long journey it began more than half a century ago. Rebuilt by U.S. military veterans, it will “renew Bigelow’s and Veterans for Peace’s mission — to abolish war and promote peaceful diplomacy.”
Dick Price: Amir Bar-Lev’s powerful documentary, “The Tillman Story,” fleshes out the tragic arc of Pat Tillman’s life in what becomes less an anti-war movie and more the story of one indomitable family’s struggle for truth and justice in the face of arrogant indifference by our nation’s top military and civilian leaders, abetted by a cheerleading press.
Wayne Karlin: As the grave filled, as Dam was brought to rest, we knew that we were burying the war. We had accomplished what war stories needed to accomplish. We had not left the dead restless in their mass and anonymous graves, and in doing so we had attended to all the wandering souls, Vietnamese and American, dead and still living, that could not come home from the war.
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