We Need to Give Peace a Chance...

We need to give peace a chance in the 21st century...

"Arcturus Coma" by Tom Korpalski (ca 1970's)

The poster above, entitled "Arcturus Coma" by Tom Korpalski (ca 1970's), hung in my childhood bedroom under a black light until I left home to start my life in 1972. The peace movement travels with me...

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Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

~ Max Ehrmann (1927)

Max Ehrmann (1872-1945)

Independence Day

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

~ John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr, Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr, Thomas Lynch, Jr, Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Petrus van Uhm: Guns and Peace

Gen Petrus van Uhm's speech that follows is a persuasive admonition about why the world needs people with guns to protect the peace.

The Economic Consequences of War on the US Economy

Given that the US has been in a constant state of war since 9/11, and given that the US has maintained hundreds of thousands of troops on foreign soil since World War II, the historical economic benefits of military spending for the US economy are worth considering in detail. A recent report published by the Institute for Economics and Peace entitled Economic Consequences of War on the US Economy (2011) addresses this gap specifically:

The higher levels of government spending associated with war tends to generate some positive economic benefits in the short-term, specifically through increases in economic growth occurring during conflict spending booms. However, negative unintended consequences occur either concurrently with the war or develop as residual effects afterwards thereby harming the economy over the longer term.

Read More

Source: Economic Consequences of War on the US Economy (2011), Institute for Economics and Peace.

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Gold to Silver Ratio Widens Dramatically

The markets are apparently reacting to the US debt downgrade last week by fleeing into gold, which is reaching record valuations. However, silver prices have remained static (thus far), which has resulted in a 43 to 1 currrent price ratio between gold and silver. Either gold is overvalued, or silver is undervalued at these ratios. Either way, silver appears to be a bargain right now.

US "Peace" Silver Dollar

Learn More

The Good Cause...

The American Legion
Preamble to the Constitution

For God and country we associate ourselves together for the following purposes:

• To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America;
• To maintain law and order;
• To foster and perpetuate a one hundred percent Americanism;
• To preserve the memories and incidents of our associations in the Great Wars;
• To inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state and nation;
• To combat the autocracy of both the classes and the masses;
• To make right the master of might;
• To promote peace and goodwill on earth;
• To safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy;
• To consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness.

The American Legion Preamble has been the beacon light of The American Legion for more than 90 years. It has been amended only once in all that time. That amendment consisted of adding the letter "S" to the word "war." It makes the Preamble read today "Great Wars," so as to embrace all wars.

I am proud to be a member (paid up for life) of the American Legion. Follow the link below to learn more.

The American Legion

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Finding Peace Within...

Main Hall of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum (新加坡佛牙寺龙华院), Singapore

I would like to visit the Buddhist Temple shown above again sometime. My last visit was in 2008...

I Hate War...

Andrew Exum (also known as Abu Muqawama) of the Center for a New America Security (2011) makes a good point about the cost of war to US taxpayers:

A Tomahawk Missile cost $569,000 in FY99, so if my calculations are correct, they cost a little over $736,000 today assuming they are the same make and model. The United States fired 110 missiles yesterday, which adds up to a cost of around $81 million. That's twice the size of the annual budget of USIP [US Institute of Peace], which the House of Representatives wants to de-fund, and is about 33 times the amount of money National Public Radio receives in grants each year from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which the House of Representatives also wants to de-fund in the name of austerity measures.

I would add that here in my part of the world, Gov Corbett of Pennsylvania has recently proposed to cut state funding for my alma mater, Temple University, by about $80 million, which is what the US spent on a single night of bombing in Libya. Certainly, I regret the onogoing plight of innocent Libyans and others in the Arab world. However, I likewise regret that Temple University is having to endure a 50% cut in its public funding during these difficult times in America. A national debate regarding the endless costs of war to US taxpayers is urgently needed.

Source: Center for a New American Security

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas to all my readers, colleagues, and friends around the world -- may peace and happiness find their way into each of your lives and our world -- always.

The Bugler of the Guard standing attentively outside my front door for the holidays...

Well Said...

"An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry."

~ T S Eliot

Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965)

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Willie Minor (1922-2011)

Willie Minor (1922-2011), formerly of Exton, PA, recently passed at age 89. As a young boy growing up in Downingtown, PA back in the 1960's and 1970's, I vividly remember Willie joyfully riding his bicycle around town and through our neighborhoods. Everyone in Downingtown knew Willie from frequent chance encounters and seeing him riding his bicycle along the roads and highways. The photograph below shows Willie with his infamous bicycle and accessories just as I remember.

Willie Minor (1922-2011)

According to Willie's obituary:

From the 1940's through the early 1990's, Willie could have been dubbed Exton's Ambassador. Frequenting locations that are now just memories for Exton long-timers, Willie welcomed and conversed with folks at the Guernsey Cow, Exton Drive-In Theater, Downingtown Farmers' Market and Felix's Farm Market. His smile and laughter lightened the hearts of all who knew and loved him. A most beloved Exton resident, he will be remembered for his bicycle adorned with horns, lights, fenders, racks, flags and baskets heavily laden with old newspapers and many spools of string. Most Saturday's, Willie rode his bike through Marchwood and Whitford Hills where children gathered to greet him, admire his bike, and hoped to hear the toot of his bike horn.

By the way, the Guernsey Cow, Exton Drive-In, Downingtown Farmers' Market, and Felix's Farm Market were all places I frequented as a boy. Willie touched so many lives. Rest in peace...

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Professor Richard Stites (1931-2010)

Professor Richard Stites passed away on Sunday, March 7, 2010, in Helsinki, Finland. He will be buried at Uspenskii Sobor in Helsinki, in view of one of his favorite places, the Slavonic Library. Professor Stites taught Russian and Soviet history at Georgetown University for over 30 years, and will be greatly missed. Professor Stites was my favorite professor during my studies at Georgetown. He once observed during a lecture that "you can't read peoples' minds, but you can read their hearts..."

Rest in peace...

Imagine a Garden...

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

~ John Lennon (1971)

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The Vantage Point

James Malcolm McKibbin: An American Hero

Remembered on this Memorial Day...

General Orders No 21, WD, 1919

McKibbin, James M
Captain (Medical Corps), US Army
306th Machine-Gun Battalion (Attached), 77th Division, AEF

Date of Action: October 14, 1918

Citation: The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to James M McKibbin, Captain (Medical Corps), US Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Chevieres, France, October 14, 1918. During a very heavy artillery barrage, which lasted for approximately two hours, Captain McKibbin displayed great coolness and courage in dressing and administering first aid to the wounded. Informed that a sergeant had been wounded and was lying between our lines and the enemy's line, he went to administer first aid to him. While in the performance of these duties under intense fire, he was wounded by machine-gun fire and later died from the effects of the wound.

Hometown: Buck Valley, PA

The Distinguished Service Cross, US Army

Dr James Malcolm McKibbin, my great-uncle, graduated in 1896 from Pennsylvania State University, and earned his medical degree in 1899 from the University of Pennsylvania. He is buried in a military cemetery near Cheviers, France. Rest in peace...

Source: US Army Medical Department Regiment

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I Hate War...

I hate war, and I want the US to stop making war. The US has been at war with troops stationed somewhere overseas now for over 70 years. Ironically, China maintains no forces overseas, and look who has the top economy. There's a lesson here for the US.

At this point, I am more terrified of the warmongering military-industrialists in Congress than I am of al-Qaeda. All US troops overseas should be returned home immediately, and the capacity for Presidents to wage war overseas without a Congressional declaration of war should be outlawed.

Again, I hate war, and I want whomever is my President to hate war as well. Anyone who is a warmonger in the US should be held in severe public contempt by society. Here's my line of contempt: I hate war and I hate the warmongering military-industrialists in Congress.

Let's give peace a chance...

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The Wind of Change

Such hopes in 1991 -- our world desperately needs a peace movement to light the way...

Well Said...

"Many powerful people don't want peace because they live off war."

~ Pope Francis

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio (1936- )

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Well Said...

"When we feel, a kind of lyric is sung in our heart.
When we think, a kind of music is played in our mind.
In harmony, both create a beautiful symphony of life."

~ Toba Beta

Artwork by Emily Balivet

Sublime...

Hat Tip: Hippy Peace Freaks

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Well Said...

"I am just absolutely convinced that the best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas."

~ Ron Paul

Hon Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul (1935- )