In These Times

Latest Comments view all 9

• • 21 Sep 07
  • 8:09 am

  Hey, I might agree that "hastening that happy, inevitable outcome" was poorly written, but it still makes sense if you overlook the poor wording. The part I think is poorly worded is that it implies that a catastrophic collapse with lots of death would be okay, which I disagree with-- but some empires collapse catastrophically (the Mayans, the Aztecs) and some collapse quietly to the benefit of the home population (Britain). I for one would be very much in favor of it collapsing like the British Empire-- that is to say, turning back to spending its money on maintaining its domestic, …

  Posted to Chain Stores, Picket Fences and Tanks

• • 17 May 07
  • 11:01 am

  I agree wholeheartedly with the notion that the armed force's recruitment tactics are atrocious, misleading, manipulative, etc. But I really wonder whether declaring that being 18 is a brain disease is the best expression of our liberal selves. I mean, you mention the army lying to mothers and manipulating teachers too. Maybe the problem isn't "impressionable youth" (although some youth certainly are), but the fact that all of us are impressionable sometimes and that is why lying and manipulating are bad behaviors across the board. I'm 35, and I remember well the decisions I made when I was 18. They were …

  Posted to America's Child Soldier Problem

• • 14 Mar 07
  • 10:31 am

  "You will know them by their fruits" -- Matthew 7:16. Therefore, as a non-Christian, I went to the Woodland Hills Church home page (the one in St. Paul, Minnesota, since I live in Minneapolis) to see how they act on their revolutionary impulses. The sermon you mentioned was reported in July, according to the NY Times, so maybe they need more time to put up revolutionary activities on their web page. Or maybe they have to go under the radar, like the pastor telling high-income members to pay their workers more or something. That having been said, Wooddale Hills Church's home …

  Posted to Preaching Revolution

• • 26 Jan 07
  • 10:09 am

  I have a mixed reaction to this article. On the one hand, I definitely believe that the Internet relationship is one more step Americans are taking in distancing ourselves from everyone, with the possible exception of the One True Life-Partner whom we are encouraged to invest our entire emotional selves into. Did you know that the *dictionary definition* of friendship in 1755 was "the highest form of intimacy"? Or that today's American Heritage Dictionary, in its word history for the word friend, says "a friend is a lover, literally" because it was derived from a form of an Old English verb …

  Posted to In You More Than Yourself

• • 22 Jan 07
  • 12:24 pm

  If individuals within the military enjoy celebrating New Years' with cute kids and handing out food to the hungry, and that is why they joined the Army (as suggested by another article I read in Harpers a few weeks ago), and they were simply unable to do peacetime public service because all the slots were taken by middle-class progressives, then we need to expand Vista/Americorps and the Peace Corps with all deliberate speed. They must be really desperate to do charity work overseas if they're willing to take the risk not only of being killed but also of being ordered to …

  Posted to Love the Warrior, Hate the War