PBS's NOW: How Does A Democracy Wage War?
How does a democracy decide to wage war? At 8:30 pm (check local
listings) on Friday, December 7 - the very day Pearl Harbor was attacked
by Japanese warplanes 66 years ago - David Brancaccio interviews
filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick and the Rev. James Forbes Jr. about
Burns and Novick's epic World War II documentary "The War". Looking to
the past as a mirror to the present, the four discuss how the waging of
war intersects with our notion of democracy."It's incumbent upon a democratic society to evaluate what the
arithmetic is -- the cost of war," Burns tells the group.See the full show on the NOW website
In addition, in a web-exclusive interview, NOW speaks to BeliefNet's Dan Gilgoff, who shares his insight into the effect of Mitt Romney's speech on religion, the role of faith in the 2008 presidential race, and how America's faithful are reacting. And take note, all you Ron Paul fans: NOW is focusing on Paul and his campaign next week.
I just read this breaking story, looks like this administration is going into total recall ;)
US President George W Bush has said he has "no recollection" of the existence of video tapes of CIA interrogations and the plan to destroy them.
Bush 'cannot recall' CIA videos
.
IMPEACH CHENEY FIRST!
.
sounds like a good episode
The anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor gives us an opportunity to remember our tragic loss that day, and reflect on the almost unimaginable sacrifices that generation of Americans made to protect the liberty of all who followed. But as I first suggested in 2005, our observance now includes a new ritual. With each passing year President Bush dishonors the memory of Pearl Harbor, misappropriating its meaning and lessons to support his partisan political purposes and his war in Iraq.
For the details, see:
"Bush Dishonors the Legacy of Pearl Harbor."
Gekke @ 1:
Isn't this what they do before they resign? As I recall that was Gonzo's pattern.
Durbin and Kennedy spoke on the senate floor today about the destroyed CIA tapes. They want the new AG to look and see if laws were broken. This will be a test for the new AG. Is he bush's lap dog or is he a real AG?
We won't see the program tonight because we are going to a small town America Christmas parade. It's tradition and kind of fun. :)
Don't forget committing economic genocide against your own countrymen.
I offer a quiet salute to all those who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor 66 years ago this morning. And extend that to all those brave Americans who lost their lives as a result of that attack.
May they all rest in peace and may we all in the here and now find a similar courage to rise to the current circumstance and do the right thing, by their memory and legacy, by the constitution, by our own futures which also surely hangs in the balance now days..
JD
I wish to offer a quiet salute to all those who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor 66 years ago this morning. And extend that to all those brave Americans who lost their lives as a result of that attack and fought that war.
May they all rest in peace and may we all in the here and now find a similar courage to rise to the current circumstance and do the right thing, by their memory and legacy, by the constitution, by our own futures which also surely hangs in the balance now days..
JD
Referring to the interview with Dan Gilgoff, he mentions that Romney does not use the evangelical catch phrases like, ' Jesus is my personal savior'. Aside from any Mormon differences from evangelicals in viewpoint about salvation, I consider this a point in Romney's favor. That statement in particular I find very off-putting. Though not religious myself, I like to respond to that by saying "I thought that Jesus was everyone's savior", meaning that in the view of real christians Christ died to save ALL mankind, not just the biblethumpers. I find the statement presumptuous, and quite frankly a bit defamatory, as if saying 'Jesus is my personal trainer' or 'Jesus is my personal shopper'.
Re: NOW speaks to BeliefNet’s Dan Gilgoff...
I just want to make sure that everyone has heard the BeliefNet was just purchased by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
This alert brought to by News Corpse, The Internet's Chronicle Of Media Decay.
Huh.... how'd that happen... sorry folks....JD
It's hard to say how a democracy wages war; it's easy, however, to give a laundry list of ways in which a democracy does not wage war. At the head of that list are:
1) A democracy does not wage war based on nothing more than the whim of the executive;
2) A democracy does not wage war under false pretenses for the personal gain of military contractors and those they bribe;
3) A democracy does not wage war for reasons overwhelmingly opposed by the population absent a legitimate existential threat;
4) A democracy does not seek to initiate war when diplomacy will suffice to achieve legitimate objectives.
There are, of course, many other ways in which a democracy does not wage war and which are ways in which the Bush administration has waged war. Which just goes to show that once you have an unchecked executive, you no longer have a democracy. Democracy requires more than just elections; it requires elections designed to demand accountability and adherence to the rule of law, otherwise all elections do is to legitimize undemocratic institutions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCollum_memo
*Sigh* It'd be nice to live in a democracy, however, America lost that title when a handful of judges stopped a vote recount and appointed the pResident.
The nail in the coffin was surrendering the voting process to machines owned by private corporations who tallied the votes without any way to verify it, and this was somehow acceptable.
America is now a good example of how a fascist government goes to war. Perhaps the country needs a new name, like the United States of Exxon-Halliburton?
god lives up on kolob
and satan is jesus' brother
beyond that what's the difference
between mormons and the others?
baptists would throw stones at you
for crimes against the torah
catholics too would feel their wrath
be sure, faith and begorrah
mormons took the older tale
that jesus left no bones
and turned that tale with a new twist
found with seer stones
the problem with declaring jews
the american indians became
is the dna contradicts
so that version comes up lame
yet religion is so sacrosanct
no question should be asked
fabulist assertions
are never brought to task
is romney crazier than mike?
are mormons nuttier than baptists?
none of this will matter when
we go to hell in their handbaskets
++++
NOW is usually a good show -thought-provoking at the least.
Ron Paul, however, is no savior.
We need a REAL LEADER - an honest, intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate, secular, no-aligned, grounded person to be president of our nation. Not a recycled, so-called libertarian, Ob-gyn. We need someone with new ideas, with a fresh prespective. Someone who can really be a uniter, not just another divider. Oh, where art thou??
HOLY GONZO!!!!!
Don't tell me it was contageous or did Bush develop his own strain?
Romney said: "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind."
I have always asked: "Saved From what?"
Amitola @ 16:
thy name is kucinich!
In the Washington DC area, none of the four PBS channels is carrying this particular NOW episode. I'm wondering what the reason is...
I could not find it either, so I went and watched at their site
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/349/index.html
tyree @ 19:
As much as I like Kucinich, he can't compete with the pro-corporate pro-war hacks that are Obama, Clinton, and Edwards. I'll vote for a conservative who sticks to his guns before I betray the Democrats by promoting a Republican-lite. If you want an end to the war, you're better off voting for Paul than you are a Democratic front-runner.
John @ 13:
War with Japan was inevitable, just as war with Hitler was inevitable.
The reason was NOT FDR or Churchill or anyone else among the Allies, though it would have been nice to bust the isolationist Brits and U.S. Republicans in the mouth for the suffering they caused in tolerating Hitler's rise.
No liberal should be stupid enough to vote for anti-liberal Ron Paul.
Ron Paul does not support warcrimes trials for U.S. personnel.
Ron Paul does not support the UN, the ICC, the Geneva Conventions, the Convention Against Mercenaries, or any other international body or treaty law (including counter-proliferation treaties).
Ron Paul supports intensification of usage of oil, nuclear, and coal -- he does NOT support attempts to ameliorate global climate change. He does NOT support pollution controls. He does not support Federal standards for your environmental rights.
Ron Paul does not believe in a woman's medical rights.
ronhohn @ 18:
They call it 'Original Sin.'
greg white @ 14 "It'd be nice to live in a democracy, however, America lost that title when a handful of judges stopped a vote recount and appointed the pResident."
Any country can have a coup. That doesn't stop America from being a democracy otherwise. Which is how we took back the Congress in 2006, even against great criminality by local officials. Which is how California replaced crooked SecState MacPherson with solid gold honest Debra Bowen, who just blocked the initiative to change the EC voting in CA, and who is suing the largest of the votefraud companies for $15 Million.
"The nail in the coffin was surrendering the voting process to machines owned by private corporations who tallied the votes without any way to verify it, and this was somehow acceptable."
Which system is defunct in CA and on the run elsewhere, due to activist work. I went to meeting tonight on moving forward to a nationwide effort to expose the crooked officials who caused this. Senator Whitehouse's bill will bar any use of touchscreen voting in the United States by 2012.
"America is now a good example of how a fascist government goes to war."
A fascist clique has used the amorality of ONE of the parties to hold a genocide. That's not 'America' -- that's the SAME mfers who have been doing it to us for years, and --once again-- America will survive, and this time we're going to be getting even with that clique -- with or without your help.
question: how does a democracy wage war?
answer: do the exact opposite of what the current administration has done.
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