NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

This editorial is written from Maine, by longtime peace and demilitarization activist Bruce Gagnon. I first met Bruce in 2010 during a solidarity tour to South Korea. I learned so much from him, as he is so much more involved in international peace and demilitarization work than I am. The stories he shared of his struggles, his travels, the victories that movements he's participated in have garnered were both so educational and inspiring to me. In this editorial he poses something which Guam, as the Tip of America's Spear, as Fortress Guam, as a strategically important base to the US should consider, but rarely does. What if the massive amount of money that the US invests in bases and weapons, was used for something else? Something that didn't destroy, attack or defend, but provided stability in a more direct sense? In Guam we have become so accustomed to the variety of militarism that exists in the US, we constantly forget to ask questions about its nature, and whether t

On days when I am so busy I barely have time to think or learn anything, I appreciate Rachel Maddow and the Maddow Blog on the MSNBC website. Some wonderful person, posts each of their articles to Facebook, and so at moments when I am breezing through peoples' pages, liking random things, I click on the Maddow Blog posts and it updates me on various things involving Democratic/Liberal/Progressive topics in the United States. Ti hu tungo' hayi si Steven Benen, lao milagro gui gi lina'la'-hu. Kada diha mamange' gui' put kosas pulitikat gi sanlagu ginen i inatan Inakague pat Progressive. Fihu an guaha finaisen-hu put este na gayu pat ayu na gayu, umannok chaddek unu na tinige'-na gi i Maddow Blog, kalang esta ha tungo' hafa malago'-hu.  *************** Christie: Americans have a president ‘who we don’t know’ 01/08/16 04:32 PM facebook twitter 3 save share group 29 By Steve Benen http://www.msnbc.c

I was heartened last week to read the article that I've pasted below from two US Congressman, Democrat Barney Frank and Republican Ron Paul. Their article, which I found on the website The Huffington Post and is meant to be a call for reducing the amount of money that the US Government spends on its military. That amount is not only more than the military budgets of most other countries in the world combined, but it is also the majority of the US Federal budget in general (if you include the money spent on current wars). The presence or the absence of this conversation is one of the key indicators as to whether or not a society is militarized. If it is present and not just in faint traces, but is an actual subject of debate or societal contestation, then that means the society is not militarized. It may contain some elements or some tendencies, but the fact that militarization or issues such as war, peace and how much money the military gets are open topics means that the society a