Month: February 2018

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Reverse the “burden of proof” for joining military vs. applying for Conscientious Objector status

February 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

For many decades it has been easy to join the military:  Just sign up and go through the process. But if you are a Conscientious Objector, it has been VERY HARD to get the federal government to recognize your human right — whether you are facing the military draft or whether you had previously enlisted in the military and now discover that you are a Conscientious Objector. We should REVERSE THE “BURDEN OF PROOF.” Our nation should recognize:  Of course a mentally healthy and morally healthy person would not want to kill other people.  This should be the default assumption. […]

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Trump’s 2018 “Nuclear Posture Review” document is reckless and frightening!

February 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

See links to articles about Trump’s 2018 “Nuclear Posture Review” document at the end of this information about it: On February 2, 2018, the Trump Administration released its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which lays out how the Trump Administration and its Pentagon (which wrote the document for Trump) understand the role of nuclear weapons. Previous Nuclear Posture Reviews were issued in 2010, 2002, and 1994. Trump’s 2018 NPR does significantly change U.S. policy regarding nuclear weapons. A significant break from Obama’s NPR (which stated that the U.S. would not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear countries that had signed the Non-Proliferation […]

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Both parties in Congress lavishly funded the Pentagon in CURRENT YEAR’s budget

February 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Today I posted to this blog’s “Military Spending” category some information about Trump’s proposal for the Fiscal Year 2019 budget.  But Congress has been so dysfunctional that they were very late in finishing the decisions about the CURRENT YEAR’s budget. BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES have lavishly funded the Pentagon and military violence. See this article:  https://inkstickmedia.com/congress-went-bigly-budget/    

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Trump’s federal budget proposal urges more military violence, less diplomacy

February 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S.’s horribly violent foreign policy has long had bi-partisan support.  No matter which party is in the White House or which party dominates Congress, they have been funding the U.S. military threaten and dominate the rest of the world.  Also, they have typically treated various kinds of international issues as needing the U.S. military to seek violent solutions rather than understand what’s really going on and solve the problems.  For example, people really do have legitimate interests in national self-determination, in opposing their U.S.-supported dictators, in gaining farm land for self-sufficiency, etc. Trump’s proposal for the next Fiscal Year’s […]

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URGENT! Tell WA State House Rules Committee to pass SB 6052 to abolish the death penalty!

February 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Oops! In my haste to alert you to this urgent opportunity, I made typographical errors in four of the e-mail addresses.  Now I have corrected the typos in the list below, so you can copy and paste the entire list. Good news! Today the House Judiciary Committee passed SB 6052, the bill that the Senate has already passed to abolish the death penalty in Washington State. The bill now moves on to the House Rules Committee, where that committee can either kill the bill or move it to the House floor for a vote of all 98 House members. We must […]

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Widely held values actually OPPOSE Trumpism’s cruelty, etc.

February 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Many people assume that Trumpism’s cruelty is more widely accepted by Americans than it actually is.  In truth, the vast majority of Americans hold better values.  In order to organize the public to oppose Trumpism, let’s tap into the better values that the vast majority of Americans hold. In order to push against the right-wing extremist agenda of Trumpism, we need to help ordinary Americans recognize that Trumpism seriously violates our nation’s best values. Ordinary Americans support truth, justice (fairness), human rights, the rule of law, science, preventing governmental corruption, etc. Trumpism violates these cherished American values. Exposing Trumpism’s violations […]

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Watch “Solutionary Rail” TV program for creative solutions!

February 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Use your computer (the December 2017 episode of the “TV Programs” part of www.olympiafor.org or any of several relevant topic links on this blog,  www.parallaxperspectives.org) to watch Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s December 2017 TV interview about Solutionary Rail, a fascinating and attractive “win-win-win-win” for fuel efficiency, the climate, local communities, workers, and more. This interview is online now and forever. Also, you can read a thorough summary of what we said during the interview. “Solutionary Rail” Olympia FOR’s December 2017 interview program explores a remedy for several of our nation’s problems that is both creative and exciting. This remedy would […]

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TV series “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” is consistent with this blog

February 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

This blog, www.parallaxperspectives.org, covers a wide range of issues. The TV series “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” on TCTV cable channel 22 in Thurston County WA also covers this wide range of issues.  Cable TV subscribers in Thurston County WA can watch each new program on channel 22 every Monday at 1:30 pm, every Wednesday at 5:00 pm, and every Thursday at 9:00 pm for a full month.  Programs are posted to this blog before the end of the month when they’ll air on TCTV, and they remain posted on this blog long into the future.  Programs are posted to the “TV […]

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The U.S.’s long-standing “cult of ignorance” is growing

February 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

For a very long time the U.S.’s culture and political live have included a strong anti-intellectual tendency.  Half a century ago I bought Richard Hofstadter’s 1963 book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life.  When Adlai Stevenson ran for president in 1952 and 1956 he was criticized and scoffed at because he was a very smart person.  Educated “egg-heads” are often criticized for being smart.  The list goes on and on. This anti-intellectualism seems to have gotten much worse.  The right-wing and Trump and the anti-science crowd and the anti-evolution crowd and the climate deniers are part of this. The editorial on page […]

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The welfare states (“nanny states”) are better for business investors too.

February 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Conservatives like to denounce the “nanny states” that take care of people’s health, invest in good education, and serve the broad public interest in other ways. Conservatives instead prefer neoliberal “free-market” governments that do NOT invest in those, but rather keep governments small and weak so businesses can dominate those nations. Actually, an article from the very “free-market” and “free-enterprise” business-oriented Forbes magazine (cited on page 15 of the Jan-Feb 2018 issue of the economically left Dollars & Sense magazine (www.dollarsandsense.org) reported some important economic findings. “[I]n 2016 Forbes ranked Sweden number one on its list of the top countries […]

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“Nuclear Weapons Updates: Dangers and Opportunities”

February 13, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The March 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” brings us up to date on the rapidly changing crisis of nuclear weapons. We are facing some seriously increased dangers. But also, the people working against nuclear weapons have made some great progress. During this hour we’ll bring you up to date on both the dangers and the opportunities. Glen Anderson interviews three knowledgeable guests.  All four of us are very active members of the new Olympia Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. We share information about several aspects of nuclear weapons, including these facts: • The U.S. plans to replace our entire […]

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Trump’s latest behavior reveals dictatorial mindset

February 5, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

After many Democrats failed to applaud or show other support during his January 2018 State of the Union speech, Trump called them “treasonous.” His statement is what we’d expect from a dictator, not the president of a constitutional democracy with freedom of expression. We could expect North Korea’s leader to denounce people who don’t praise him. Trump keeps showing that he thinks of himself as a dictator who must dominate his subjects. Abuses began during the 2016 presidential campaign, and the abuses have been escalating. They will continue until the American people force Trump out of office through impeachment or […]