US law officially proclaims Memorial Day "as a day of prayer for permanent peace." However, the US is much closer to permanent war than permanent peace. Corporations are profiting from wars and lobbying politicians for more. The US and the rest of the world cannot afford the rising personal and financial costs of permanent war. No doubt, the USA is number one in war. This coming year, the US will spend 708 billion dollars on war. Our country has 5 percent of the world's population, but accounts for more than 40 percent of the military spending for the whole world.

Article published in Amauta with permission from TomDispatch and the author Source: TomDispatch by Tom Engelhardt When was the last time you saw the headline, “Cost of [Pentagon-weapons-system-of-your-choice] halved”?  Probably never.  Still, the thought came to mind when this recent Associated Press headline caught my eye: “Pentagon: F-35 fighter jet cost doubles.” Here’s the story behind it:  Since 2001, [...]

Article published in Amauta with permission from TomDispatch Source: TomDispatch by Frida Berrigan February 16, 2010 On the relatively rare occasions when the media turns its attention to U.S. weapons sales abroad and shines its not-so-bright spotlight on the latest set of facts and figures, it invariably speaks of “the global arms trade.” Let’s consider that label for a moment, [...]

Source: The Guardian Ten years after the publication of No Logo, Naomi Klein switches her attention from the mall to Barack Obama and discovers that corporate culture has taken over the US government by Naomi Klein January 16, 2010 Extracted from a 10th anniversary edition of No Logo to be published by Fourth Estate on 21 January. In May 2009, [...]

Source: Facing South by Sue Sturgis December 1, 2009 President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech to the nation tonight from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in which he’s expected to announce he’s sending up to 35,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. Anti-war groups are already planning protests against the escalation. United for Peace [...]

by Ryan Grim September 22, 2009 Going after ACORN may be like shooting fish in a barrel lately — but jumpy lawmakers used a bazooka to do it last week and may have blown up some of their longtime allies in the process. The congressional legislation intended to defund ACORN, passed with broad bipartisan support, is written so [...]

A Scorecard for the Future of American Politics by Andy Kroll September 15, 2009 At the end of this summer of discontent, of death panels and unplugging poor Grandma, of birthers and astroturfers and rifle-toting picketers, the halcyon early days of the Obama administration feel increasingly like hazy, gilt-edged memories. The president’s sprawling legislative agenda — a health-care [...]

by Fredreka Schouten August 19, 2009 WASHINGTON – Defense lobbyists spent nearly $750,000 to help honor Obama administration officials during the first six months of the year, accounting for nearly half of the payments made then, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data shows. Lockheed Martin, followed by three other defense contractors -BAE Systems, TriWest Healthcare Alliance and [...]

por Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias 10 de agosto, 2009 Para el año 2009, el Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos invertirá aproximadamente 520 millones de dólares en el Plan Colombia. Más de la mitad de ese dinero va a contratistas privadas norteamericanas encargadas de desarrollar, promover e impulsar la guerra irregular en territorio colombiano y latinoamericano; así [...]

por Eva Golinger 1 de agosto, 2009 * El Presupuesto de la USAID y el Departamento de Estado aumenta el 12% para el año 2010, con 2,2 mil millones de dólares destinados a América Latina * 447,7 millones de dólares son para “promover la democracia” en América Latina * 13 millones de dólares para “promover la democracia” en Venezuela * [...]