War preparations in themselves cost lives

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, From a speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16, 1953
34th president of US 1953-1961 (1890 - 1969)

Swheatie of the KUWG writes:

President Dwight D Eisenhower — former WW2 Commander of American armed forces that he was — became cynical toward 'the Defence industry' during his Presidency of the United States. He referred to the dangers posed to society by a "militaryindustrial complex."

Now in the UK with a Cabinet of millionaires, there is a reactionary drive toward war while poor people are being blamed for their/our own poverty, and American left-wing luminary Noam Chomsky has referred to what Eisenhower called the 'militaryindustrial complex' as welfare for the rich.

Lobbying of government by megabucks corporations is one thing; public protest another. My knowledgeable friend Noel Lynch has told me that at the height of the Vietnam War, President Johnson admitted to the value of protest when he told his generals who wanted to 'nuke Hanoi', that demonstrators would respond to such a ploy by going from demonstrating outside the White House to climbing the walls.

The following comes from People's Assembly Against Austerity:

No to NATO protests

60 world leaders, including Barack Obama, meet in the UK for the NATO Summit on 4-5 September to plan their war on the world.


At this year's summit the US will be pressuring Western powers to increase their already huge military budgets at a time when poverty and inequality are soaring. The world's 85 richest people have as much as poorest 3.5 billion. Money into war is money out of our communities.

In the UK, 500,000 people had to resort to food banks last year. None of the cuts would be necessary if the sums Britain spends on its military and armaments were invested in social need instead of the war machine.

From 30 August protesters will flock to South Wales for international actions including a national demonstration, counter summit, and week-long peace camp. Transport is being arranged from across the country. Full details...

Fibromyalgia and government priorities

The Daily Mail is not known as the disability benefits claimant's friend, but the ME Association carries information from the Daily Mail that can be more illuminating than the 'Atos therapy' idea that fibromyalgia and such conditions are 'all in the patient's mind'.

Fibromyalgia is a painful condition affecting the muscles, tendons and ligaments – it occurs as a result of an abnormality in the patient’s central nervous system. There is no obvious physical cause – rather, the sufferer’s nervous system misinterprets pain.
Give most people a friendly prod and they’ll hardly notice it, whereas someone with fibromyalgia may well cry out in pain.
"Sometimes it feels like you’ve done a really heavy gym workout when you haven’t been for ten years – or it can feel like someone is stabbing all your muscles," says Sharon.
"Sometimes you can’t bear to feel the clothes on your body because your skin feels bruised and hurt. The worst part is the fatigue.
"It can come on suddenly, as if someone’s put a syringe into me and drained out my energy."
People with fibromyalgia also often find they rarely enjoy deep, refreshing sleep. About 2 per cent of adults – just under one million people in the UK – have the condition, says the self-help group Fibromyalgia Association UK.

— http://www.meassociation.org.uk/2007/08/daily-mail-28-august/

 Of course, as the date information given in the above source points out, that piece from the Daily Mail was written before the 'Work Capability Assessment' administered by Atos came in on 27 October 2008 and Daily Mail etc delighted in publishing the figures of what Atos therapy regarded as the number of benefit fraudsters 'faking it'. And of course, by sad coincidence, the investment banker led bank collapse came in in October 2008, and £billions of taxpayers money went into salvaging investment banking. And disability benefit claimants etc got the blame for Britain's economic perils.

UK Government as it stands would rather blame people living with a condition for 'skiving' than dare to acknowledge that the person might be telling the truth. If Government admitted that the person might be telling the truth, that might imply a need to shift economic direction from applying Atos therapy or its successor from Crapita.

But what about you and your priorities, dear reader? How about asking or demanding that UK Government seek a real cure for fibromyalgia? The following is from care2 petitions website.

action alert! Millions of people like me have fibromyalgia -- but the government is doing very little to help find a cure. I started a Care2 petition asking for better research for a cure. Will you sign it? Tell the Government to Fund Research for Fibromyalgia please share it helps!     My name is Diane Bradley, and I suffer from an illness called fibromyalgia. For me and the millions of other sufferers, it is a struggle just to get out of bed in the morning. Every day we endure chronic widespread pain -- it feels like a flu that never goes away. And there is no help on the way. I have been living with this illness for many years. I often wish that I could have my life back, but I have been told by several different doctors that there is no cure for this condition. They say that all they can do is try to relieve the pain, to make my life tolerable. I have tried many different medications and none of them have helped. All I want is to make sure that someday there will be a cure to relieve this constant pain that so many people suffer from. I have started a campaign, not just for myself, but for the millions of fibromyalgia sufferers out there. We get a really raw deal: the medical world and the government have basically turned their backs on us. We have to fight for every bit of help we get, whether that is medical or financial. I know that many people will never understand the pain that we endure, but everyone can help us get the recognition and help we deserve. I want to make sure the government starts taking this disease seriously and invests in finding a cure. To get that we need research -- and the government needs to start funding that research so millions of people can get relief. Please sign my petition to ask the government to give fibromyalgia the funding it deserves. If enough of us speak up, we can show them that this is an issue that people across the country care about. Thank you for taking action, Diane Bradley Care2 Member PS. This message is from a Care2 member like you who started a petition. Click here to start a petition about something that matters to you.