Yes, our technical, scientific and pragmatic knowledge overshadows our moral and spiritual evolution. But that second path is one that the individual must embark upon alone and pray that at some point the collective force of that inner power will reach critical mass and true change will occur in the culture of the mind and spirit of society.

Yes, he is a moron.

Nora, ashamed is an understatement. Each of these quotes is more disturbing then the next. It really leaves many of us not only disgusted but speechless.To describe what we have done in Iraq, and will continue to do, as something done in the name of Peace is an abomination.

War gives people meaning and a government unbridled control over the destiniy of a state and its populace. It is "health" for a state as it is what creates its prosperity and perpetuation, although I do agree that it represents the reverse for people who are thinking clearly.

Perhaps the truth in this comes from the inherent stagnation of instituionalizing any dogmatic theories, and then the need to perpetuate them in order to sustain their justification. Religions and political systems are certainly lacking in the organic transformative nature of intellectual inquiry that requires constant reevaluation and change.

Look at the current situation to see the truth in this. Want war, need war?--makes no difference, it will come to you and be brought to you by the supposed leaders that you elected who are supposed to act to carry out your wishes.

So true, but who need words when there are no big ideas to go with them?

Sadly our hi-tech wars have an element of the moral discontent that paint wars would allow. Our children/soldiers who play and are trained with video games to fight an enemy that goes poof at the press of a button is right up there with the fact that there is no draft--americans cannot fathom what this war is like on the ground for most Iraqis and are lulled into a moral indifference to suffering and our responsibiltiy for it. Will Rogers' political wit was really amazing, a mid century version of Chris Rock.

Oh to know latin...Byron defines the fear of living in a reality that defies diversity, complexity, multiplicity-anything can seem an ideal when language itself is so distorted.

This today from the Union Of Concerned Scientists: The Bush administration is proposing to rebuild the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal, recreating the type of design, development, and production capability for nuclear weapons used in the United States during the Cold War. Fortunately, a mandatory environmental impact review of the Bush administration's so-called "Complex 2030" proposal allows you to submit comments on this dangerous plan.

This is a perfect companion quote to the previous one by Spinoza. In Peace Studies, yes, there is such a thing, there is a concept of Peace being a non static process, an ongoing transformative dynamic that must be cultivated and constantly nurtured. It is in contra-diction to conflict and violence, which like a cancer must always be fought and attacked again and again as hatred based conflict has an agressive tendency to return. To completely eradicate it takes dedication and an acceptance that peace is never permanent. This is why we call initiatives like resolving the Israel Palestinian conflict the Peace Process. It is hard work, requires patience, resilience, presistence, and sweat!

There are many who have never experienced war directly and have been able to formulate a clear opinion against the use of violence as a means of resolving conflict. And I am in total agreement that many who have tasted it have become addcited to the taste of blood and profit that can be had from it.

Brandeis raises an issue with huge ripple effect. In our time this precedent has been so abused with the cliche that any expression of dissent from presidential policies aids and abets the enemy. The neocons mastery of discrediting dissent with an attack on ones patrioticism was only topped by the practice of imbedding the media in military units so there reporting turned into feel good stories about how great our troops are. Of course they are great, but hardly the point in covering the war. At this moment the only real victory we might be able to salvage is to act in our own self interest and bring out soldiers home and let Iraq have its own civil war.That would be true patrioticism.

It is also well known that some of the most eloquent anit-war statements have come from the mouths of warriors-MacArthur, Lee, Powell, Eisenhower and more.

The horror of the extreme point we have arrived at where we are about to witness an escalation in the Iraq War can only elicit the parody of interpretation that Logan so passionately delivers. The height of absurdity that Bush's "one thought" is to grow our troops there after both the mandate of the voters and the considered and serious input of the Iraq Study Group could be summarily ignored is reason for impeachment and leaves the observer (we are certainly not participants) with the only counter position which is one of cynicism and sarcasm.

In the last century we have rolled one war or military action into the next so that we do now find ourselves in a place where the Executive has gained an inordinate share in this triad of a supposed governmental balance of power. Aggrandizement will reach new levels of understatement if the new Congress votes to let Bush escalate this tragic war.

??Then why in God's name does the Congress currently act as if it is the president who gets to declare war?? Would one of our constitutional scholars please enlighten me?

I must agree with the outrage that Robert feels in response to Anonymous' equating America with Nazi Germany. As people who have read my opinions know, I have serious issues with the current administration. But as a photo journalist and author I have traveled to the previous Soviet Union, Latvia, Croatia, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, Lybia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar...many countries that are in serious violation of every human rights violation one can and cannot imagine. America has issues, but honestly, if you have ever experienced totalitarian police states in all their glory you would know that we have freedoms here that some can only dream of and for which we must not only be grateful, but fight with passion to protect.

I give this five stars more becasue of its importance historically than its total accuracy. So much can be taken apart and analyzed here. But I will only comment on the first sentence, "why of course people do not want war." There is a psychology deeply imbedded in mankind that indeed makes them want war and they are thus totally vulnerable to the observations that Goering contends. Sadly war continues to give a still primitive species of homo sapien levels of purpose and meaning which it is incapable of finding in the subtle, the beautiful, the transcendant options inherent in the life of the mind and the spirit.

Robert's comment is quoteable.

The pathetic thing is that the war mongers believe their own propaganda. They even think that history will eventually justify their actions, at least this week this was the light in which W. equated his convictions with Gerald Ford.

As long as excessive nationalism exists this will be the raison d'etre of thos in power.

Well, that is certainly something to think about.

The writings of Marcus Aurelius are superb for those who have not read him I recommend it,

If we had a healthy fear for war we might actually refrain from its use until circumstances warranted it.