A few blocks from me, on the side of a bodega, a small wall-side billboard always has a poster for the armed forces that is quickly defaced. The latest one I noticed just the other day: a local armed with permanent marker spelled out exactly what he feels about the United States military. Bushwick is a relatively poor, black and Puerto Rican community in Brooklyn, New York, and so is disproportionately beset by recruiters and military propaganda.
Become a war tax resister!! Why the hell pay federal income tax in full when over 50% goes to support the war machine. Saw a figure that something like 40% of the cost of the wars on the middle east is going to contractors…truly obscene!! http://www.warresisters.org
And not in spanish ? eeeek !
If it was me with the marker I’d Print in large
” Killer and Killing Machine “
Just because you have the right to disagree with the government does not give you the right to vandalize other people’s property. Remember, its those people flying the planes, driving the tanks and sailing the ships that keep you free. And its those same people you would run to for help if we ever were invaded. Show some respect for those who wear the uniform, even if you do not agree with the current war.
The ability to kill civilians from thousands of feet up has nothing to do with the preservation of the Bill of Rights, which along with the Magna Carta, are the foundations of liberty which Americans enjoyed for so long.
Military hardware and overseas dominance are not what kept Americans free. Rusty worships the state and the military over the actual principles of freedom and an actual caring for the future of his country, which is going bankrupt from the war spending. War: it’s for the children.
I never once even eluded to any support for the current war, or for any past use of military power by the US since WWII. You need to stop making assumptions about people without ever actually engaging them in debate. The military HAS kept us free in the past, and there will be a time in the future, maybe not in 5 years, 10 years or 100 years, but the military will be called on again to protect YOU from agression from foreign nations that want to destroy our culture. Disagreement with the current administration and the Machiavellian aproach to poitics of the past 5 years is, although not yet universal, is growing.
Attacking the people who serve your country, defaming them and refusing to make the choice to actively protest against the people who are puttin them in harms way makes YOU just as guilty as if you sent them there yourself.
Yeah, yeah another one from the “Im not a fan of Bush but…” scene.
If the military really keeps us “free” wich is a strange term, except Afghanisthan (wich could have been avoided, we had the chance several times) when was the last time we WERENT the agressors? When have we not been the agressors? If the military really keeps us free shouldnt that include the freedom to hate them?
Those in the military must do what they are told, no matter what the consequence to themselves or to the nation. (I know, because at one time I also signed and fulfilled that contract.)
However, when the government that controls the military becomes a rogue government, as it is today, then the military that serves that government serves the rogues and not the people; it thereby becomes a potential danger to us all. If you still trust your government to do the right thing, then fine, you’ll continue to trust the military. But if you, like me, no longer trust that your government will do the right thing, then the power that the military can wield in the service of the government becomes something to fear, not celebrate.
The people that wear the uniform are the ones actually fighting this illegal (under US law)& immoral war of aggression. They are individually responsible for their actions of committing and/or aiding & abetting mass murder. They are doing so IN MY NAME! I am outraged at these moral COWARDS! Lt Ehren Watada is about the only hero in the lot, the rest are, as I said before, MORAL COWARDS.
Need I remind you of what James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers? That standing armies are germ of tyranny, that they begin wars, which begin debts, which are how a free people become enslaved. So, NO! I vehemently disagree with your child-like notion that the US military keeps me free. In fact, they keep me in debt.
I agree with you about vandalizing other people’s property, but I consider use of tax funds (MY money) to shill for the military MISuse. As far as the military keeping us free…well, that’s just a load of crap, the big lie one has to believe in order to submit to a military dictatorship and unending war. I am free by default. The military is force, and therefore antithetical to freedom.
Rusty: “Just because you have the right to disagree with the government does not give you the right to vandalize other people’s property. Remember, its those people flying the planes, driving the tanks and sailing the ships that keep you free..”
Yeah, right free to pay unjust taxes, be spied upon,confined to “free speach zones’ as a protester etc, etc..
Nicolas, you are an ingrate. If that is how you feel about our military and our country, get off your lazy, hypocritical ass, and move somewhere else!
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
They volunteered to go and kill for whatever our masters say. Why do I need to appreciate them for doing a job that in no way benefots me?
Apparently people on antiwar.com think its ok to defame others property.
Rusty may not be correct about the military keeping us free, but writing graffiti on public property (or, rather, government property) just seems childish, as does defending it.
Who defended it? Jeremy simply noted it. (And the word you’re looking for is “deface,” not “defame.”)
You might ask yourself: How many of the people of Bushwick REALLY CARE about the defaming of the billboard, beyond the advertiser and possibly the space owner? Not many I’d wager.
Think of it this way: if somebody or group paid for a billboard IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD that depicted Hitler and following in Nazi garb saying “Die Jews, long live the Aryan race. Sieg Heil” — something blatantly offensive to at least your local folk — and it subsequently gets defaced, would you still as passionately take up the banner of private property? If so, at least you show principles.
Fact is, the billboard is advertising to a hostile audience. The real story is the fact that the locals aren’t bothered and even agree with the grafitti.
If you were to place a bilboard or other sign on your property, with a cuase you felt strongly about, and I came and defaced it, that would be just as wrong as it depicted in the above pic
I doubt you would bother to post an expression of indignation about it were such a case posted about it in a blog though.
It is interesting to note that since 9/11, just about all military service members who enlisted at that time or before have finished their enlistment time.
Stop-loss orders notwithstanding, anyone left in the military right now is there by choice, whatever their reason. Even people who enlisted on 9/11 have served their duty or are very close to finishing it, if they enlisted for six years instead of the normal four.
So, anyone who re-enlists under the current conditions either agrees with what the military is doing or for some other reason prefers to stay in.
As an ex-service member myself, I have absolutely no respect for anyone joining the military right now to fight an illegal war for the Bushies and the Neocons/Israel. Either you’re joining up specifically to kill (as in the words of a business acquaintance “…I’m goin’ over to kill me some ay-rabs….”) or you’re just incredibly stupid thinking this activity makes us safer.
Bushwick is getting stuffed to the gills with hipsters, somehow i’m guessing some dopey recent college grad from the midwest did the damage, not a local hispanic of black kid.
As for Rusty, who cares?
In an article entitled “The men planning America’s next air war”, Eric Margolis informs us of a cabal of “20-30 young, high energy officers…” of the USAF, calling themselves the Checkmate team, along with their senior civilian advisor, a certain Dr. Lani Kass, conspiring in the bowels of the pentagon to unleash a most devastating attack on Iran. We are also informed that this Lani Kass is an ex-officer of Israeli military intelligence! (The men planning America’s next air war)
These insidious people, drunk with power are planing to attack a third world country like Iran without any legal or moral justification and visit untold violence and horrors upon its people. Who are these new barbarians who would incinerate the Middle East and its people in order to satisfy their limitless greed for oil?
It is nothing short of the twilight zone to learn that an Israeli official (security clearance anyone?) is sitting in the bowels of the Pentagon, planing the destruction of yet another middle-east country to ensure Israel’s supremacy in the area. It is obvious that the US navy, unlike the air force, does not share its top secrets with the Israelis since an American citizen, Jonathan Pollard is sitting in jail for passing nuclear submarine data to them. Does that not seem strange? Something is rotten in Denmark.
But the great power of the USAF is only impressive when confronting third or fourth rate powers. How would it do against a real adversary like Russia? Could it penetrate the A-400 air defense system? Could it prevent the Russian strategic bomber fleet from peppering Guam or Diego Garcia with hypersonic cruise missiles? Or is their perceived awesome power only good for bullying defenseless peoples? More countries have been victimized and more civilians killed by USAF bombings since WWII (overtly or covertly by unmarked aircraft) than by all other air forces in the world combined. Let me just enumerate a few of these countries “visited” from the air : Korea, Guatemala, Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Nicaragua, Grenada, Lybia, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan. During the same period, only Afghanistan was bombed by the “evil Soviet empire”.
In any case, for all their vaunted power, the USAF never achieved air supremacy in Vietnam, not even in air-to-air combat. Their losses were staggering, over 2300 fixed-wing aircraft along with some 5000 helicopters were destroyed. The barbaric Christmas 1972 carpet bombing of Hanoi resulted in 14 B-52’s being shot down. They prevailed only because the vast industrial power of the US kept them re-supplied. How would they do against a first-world power?
…, Sudan, Afghanistan, Serbian Krajina (Croatia), Serb Republic (Bosnia), Serbia, Montenegro.
thank you for completing the list. And those are the ones we know about…
Few Americans know the air force was chosen by many starting during the Korean War as a safe retreat from being drafted into the army. The Air Force took advantage of this by insisting on a four year committment compared to being drafted for three years in the army. They knew from the history of World War 2 that those airmen who flew over Europe suffered some of the worst casualty statistics of any service. However, the only action most of the ground crews stationed in England,for example, were the race riots in the nearby towns fighting over the local girls. Much of our war machine cannot fight a continental power successfully unless using nukes. This is the reason that most of our adversaries since the end of World War 2 lacked a viable retaliatory capability. Modern navies are also obsolete, with the possible exception of the submarine force, as we have yet to faced an enemy which possessed a naval force with the ability to respond in kind. Steve, USN, WW2
Our pilots summed up the weakness of the enemies our leaders picked, “Like shooting fish in a barrell.”
Indeed I really respect people who resist joining the U.S. Air Force. Maybe it would be wise if all of us resist having children, until our government lets us have a republic, not an empire here in the USA.
Not to mention that it’s not “private property” – the sign holder might be, but the sign is paid for by the US government. I don’t see any damage to the sign holder, and since the company posting the sign has been paid, they probably don’t care either.
What a loathsome sight! If you don’t believe in the war, fine. If you think we spend too much money on the military or you want to pursue peace and are a pacifist, that’s fine too. But to disrespect our men and women in uniform like that is abhorant!
I’ll tell you something, I was in lower manhattan on 9/11/01 and when we finally saw that the United States Air Force was protecting the skies above us we thanked our lucky stars!
For those who love to bash the military, just remember, if it were not for them you would not be here. They protect you and put their lives on the line so that you can sit behind the comfort of your computer screen and exercise your 1st Amendment right to lambaste them.
The people who put that sign up should be ashamed of themselves. A Bunch of thankless wretches and ingrates is what they are!
Tim R.
I find the killing of people for no justifiable cause abhorrent. I feel on inclination whatever to respect those doing the killing. Those who claim they respect the troops fail to show any respect for them when they allow them to be so grossly misused by the Bush administration. “To Hell With The Troops” is my motto. Paradoxically, that may show more benevolence toward them than the position that are blameless and deserve our respect. It must be very confusing for the solder who have developed the strong sense of disgust for what they are doing in Iraq to constantly hear from the folks back home that they walk on water.
Let me get this straight. With 2 buildings down, another one coming down later in the day, and thousands of people dead and injured, you were thankful the air force was protecting the skies? Exactly how many terrorist attacks did the USAF prevent that day?
Tim R, do you do bar mitzvahs? That was really really funny about the USAF protecting the skies on 9-11, and you being happy for it. If you were in Manhattan, how could you have missed what went on? The idea that I would not be here except for the US military killing people overseas is also a real ripper. Where do you come up with this stuff? It’s people like you who give the military a bad name, no, a worse name, and I encourage to continue using inarticulate reverse psychology so that the autistic drones who listen to conservative talk radio can feel they are part of the scene.
Can someone PLEASE answer the following question for me?
(And try as hard as you can to just stick to answering the actual question, rather than spouting 3rd grade level insults ok?)
So many people have expressed deep hatred and resentment for the United States Military and our civilian leadership. The question is, if you hate our military and our government so much, why on earth do you live here? There are 180 other countries you could go to? But yet you remain here. Why? Are you not just a parasite, biting the proverbial hand that feeds you?
If that is how you feel, why not stand up for your convictions and move out of this horrible, militaristic and imperialistic country? Maybe you could go to Cuba or Iran?
But is it not the height of hypocracy to spout such hatred for our armed forces and still live here?
Please explain. Thank you.
Tim,
Because my forefathers were here first. I am a Native American, and as far as I’m concerned the US Government is the one that needs to leave.
Tim R.
I don’t think you really want an answer to your question. You mainly want to express your “America: Love it or leave it” position.
Exactly what has the US military done for us lately that should cause us to want to strew flower pedals in their path? They did not protect us on 9/11. Whatever protective functions they are currently providing are nullified several times by the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Moving to another country is certainly a consideration. If Benito or Hitlary become president, finding that other country will become a top priority.
Tim, you need professional help.
Gregario, we did not know what was happening on 9/11 and people were scared. It was a great comfort to know that the United States Air Force was protecting the skies from more attacks and that we had naval ships and an aircraft carrier heading toward New York Harbor.
Tim R.
It has been over 6 years since 9/11. The “people” should have figured out by this time that 9/11 was about Blowback and learned that those same aircraft that were flying overhead then are the same ones being used now to help create more Blowback.