tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post7024962893915071712..comments2024-03-28T19:18:40.387-04:00Comments on Northern Reflections: The Price of EmpireOwen Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-88598891862729881252010-08-24T06:44:49.538-04:002010-08-24T06:44:49.538-04:00Puns are welcome here! As one of Shakespeare's...Puns are welcome here! As one of Shakespeare's fools said, when speaking of a monkey, "thereby hangs a tale."<br /><br />Unfortunately, the tale of turning swords into plowshares has always been a long and unfinished saga. <br /><br />But one needs to remember that War and Peace is a very long -- and a very great -- book.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-90853429678786979702010-08-23T22:54:43.571-04:002010-08-23T22:54:43.571-04:00Identity and economy enmeshed in the industrial mi...Identity and economy enmeshed in the industrial military complex - doesn't bode well for the future, and as everyone seems to know, it is so difficult to change direction.<br /><br />I do believe there is enough energy technology development to power up the switch to a new economy (sorry, I couldn't resist the puns even though they are lame!)ChrisJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-67754080381508504962010-08-23T16:23:26.646-04:002010-08-23T16:23:26.646-04:00Sadly, I fear that you're both -- along with J...Sadly, I fear that you're both -- along with Johnson -- correct. But think of the soldiers who returned home after World War II to the great economic expansion.<br /><br />Government invested in their education and then built schools, hospitals and roads. Aircraft plants -- with a little help from C.D. Howe -- began producing cars; and contractors began building homes for baby boomers.<br /><br />Without a doubt, government planners wanted to avoid the labour unrest which followed World War I. They did not want to face another Winnipeg General Strike.<br /><br />As romantic as such a vision appears to be, we need to ask a fundamental question: to what ends should we direct economic activity?Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-66873769742322841902010-08-23T15:46:24.988-04:002010-08-23T15:46:24.988-04:00great food for thought...but just think of the dis...great food for thought...but just think of the dismantling and how much money and jobs that go into the Industrial Military complex and how much strife would happen when all the soldiers and arms makers were unemployed? <br /><br />Unless there is a way to simultaneously begin a new way with new technology that provided new jobs...it seems it is always easier to continue on the same well worn path than to break off to new territory. <br /><br />Hopefully for all of us on this orb they will have the courage to wade into uncharted territory.Colette Ameliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03442660605798634154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-54812257505499008072010-08-23T14:03:50.475-04:002010-08-23T14:03:50.475-04:00Until Americans dismiss the notion that they'r...Until Americans dismiss the notion that they're the "World's only super power" and stop trying to maintain a military force which equals twice the combined forces of any two of its closest rivals, any president who attempts to scale down American armed forces or weapons production will do so at his own peril. <br /><br />Shifting national resources away from American arms production alone would not merely have a huge effect on 25% of the country's GNP;it would be seen by most Americans as an unpatriotic attack on their most intimate identity.<br /><br />And giving up bases across the world, symbols of empire and an important underpinning of its super power status? <br /><br />Republicans, should they be in opposition, would have a heyday.<br /><br />It will be a long time before anyone has the courage to act upon the lessons of Iraq and(sure to come), the lessons of Afghanistan.Zeronoreply@blogger.com