By Jeff Hackman

September 7, 2009

I read this 1969 novel over our 4-day Labor Day weekend. I can’t remember reading any novel that fast (besides a Star Trek paperback). Obviously it kept my attention. Speaking of Star Trek, Billy Pilgrim’s leaping through time reminded me of Captain Picard’s experience in the Next Generation finale. Sci-fi fans will love Five.

I think Vonnegut was trying to make a statement about the constancy of human behavior. “So it goes” was his mantra. He often wrote this after casually mentioning a tragedy. For someone who saw first-hand the firebombing of Dresden, it seems a strange reaction. I suppose it is one way of coping with horrendous truth. After all, what are the alternatives?

As a social studies teacher, my work deals with horrific events. How do I respond? One could be overwhelmed into paralysis. One could be overcome by grief. Vonnegut, at least on the surface seems to have simply accepted that “these things happen”, and we should just focus on the pleasantries of life.

To put the work in context I’d need to read more of Vonnegut, and I believe I will. His writing is dense with meaning and symbolism (though my speed of reading was probably a detriment to getting the full impact of his prose).

I was pleased with how he integrated some commentary of current events of his time (the Vietnam War) into the novel. He did this very deliberately toward the end of the book, and had I read the book in 1969 (though I was only eight years old then, and not quite ready for the R-rated aspects of the novel), I’m sure there were additional connections not seen in 2009.

It was a very good book, one I need to read again sometime. If only there were more four-day weekends … so it goes.

by Jeff Hackman

Item: 18-year-old Pfc. Matthew E. Wildes, of Hammond, La., was killed by an IED on Aug. 27.

Item: The commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan will ask for 20,000 more international troops.  This of course is in addition to the Obama surge of 17,000 additional US troops already sent this year.

Item: The Taliban has taken over parts of two northern provinces from which they were driven in 2001, threatening to disrupt NATO’s supply route from Central Asia and expand the war.

Item:   August 2009 is now the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan, despite nearly 8 years of fighting the Taliban.

Item: Each year the US has been in Afghanistan, its casualties increased over the previous year.

Item: The Karzai administration can not be called a democracy, as it is awash in corruption, waste and incompetence.

Item:  Recent polls show a majority of Americans no longer support the Afghan War.

Item:  US bombing continues at record pace.  During 2009, seven out of ten civilians killed by NATO have been women and children. 

Item:  Let’s remember, we are an occupation army.  Afghan fighters have thrown off British and Russian occupiers in the past.  What makes us think we are any different?

I could go on, but you get the idea.  This is a major war, costing over $225 Billion so far.  Some budget experts say spending on Afghanistan is now outpacing spending on Iraq.

I have opposed this war from day one.  I do not believe that lashing out at the country that harbored al-Qaeda is a moral, or even a pragmatic, way to fight terrorism.

But even if I had supported the war, looking at the situation today, can anyone say with a straight face that this war is being won?  Analysis of the situation using strategic, public relations, human rights, or humanitarian metrics point to a rather obvious conclusion:  this isn’t working!

About the only conceivable reason I can think of continuing, indeed expanding, the war in its current shape is…Democratic party politics.  Obama doesn’t want to be the one to “lose” Afghanistan.  He can’t afford to look “soft” on terrorism.  (Ironically, the harsher we try to be in this “war on terror”, the more enemies we will create!)  Another possible motivation is to give NATO something to do, but that would be another post.

And don’t give me that: “well we started a job, so we have to finish it” argument.  If the problem gets worse the longer you work on it, doesn’t that tell you that it is time to do something else? 

Afghanistan is a mess.  It always has been.  There is a reconstruction role for the US there, but the minute we start raining “Hellfire” on them, we will be seen as an enemy–after all, wouldn’t you?

America, it is time to come home.  Our best defense against terrorism is the Constitution and global good will toward the US.  This war goes against both.

By Jeff Hackman

August 14, 2009

With six weeks left in Fiscal Year 09, it looks like the Federal budget deficit will be about $1.7 or $1.8 Trillion (what’s a hundred billion to us anyway?). This monstrous number that numbs the brain is over four times the previous worst-ever deficit.

Some debate who’s responsible for this red ink, but that’s not the purpose of this post. It’s there and it’s not going away. We may be seeing deficits over $1 trillion for a number of years to come, even if the economy does wake up again.

I have my economics students look at the details of the federal budget, and I challenge them to cut the deficit. It’s relatively easy to do—on paper anyway.

So I gave myself this challenge: to cut the deficit by $1 Trillion. I think it can be done. However, real change would only happen in the context of revitalizing our democracy, our energy policies, and our addiction to violence. That’s all.

The following is a list of what needs to happen, with all-too-brief explanations. Many of these changes are structural, so they’d have to be phased in over a period of years. Assuming it did happen, total savings per year after implementation are listed.

1. Close down most of our overseas military bases. Savings: about $100 Billion.

2. Stop production of all new weapons systems. This would include, but not be limited to, the F-22, F-35, C-17, new submarines and aircraft carriers. I figure this would amount to a 1/3 cut in the DoD budget: Savings: about $300 Billion.

3. Pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan—totally: Savings: about $150 Billion.

4. Investigate, prosecute then recover hidden corporate assets—found in overseas tax havens and loopholes in the tax code. Savings: about $200 Billion. (The IRS estimates there’s about $300 Billion in uncollected tax revenue each year. Let’s assume we could cut that by 2/3.)

5. Slash the nuclear weapons arsenal by 90% unilaterally. Savings: about $40 Billion. (This would still leave enough nukes to vaporize several countries. I’m not so naïve as to think Congress would totally disarm nukes.)

6. Make the tax code more progressive. Increase the tax brackets for millionaires to about 50% (during WWII it was even higher, and the government didn’t collapse). Also, increase the Social Security withholding ceiling to $500,000. (I realize SS is supposedly a separate trust fund, but it is being raided every year for operational expenses anyway). Closing tax loopholes for the wealthy, maintaining the estate tax (maybe even increasing it) and other reforms could, I think, increase tax revenues by about $200 Billion (a modest amount).

7. Appoint a blue-ribbon commission to search out more waste, fraud, corruption and inefficiency in every single government program. Let’s be realistic—probably could save $50 Billion there.

8. End Congressional earmarks: Savings: $20 Billion.

9. End corporate welfare and subsidies. Of course the affected industries and farmers would need help in transitions to other activities, but the net savings here could be in the range of $50 Billion. If you would include reforms in the financial sector that would prevent bailing out those “too big to fail”, the savings could be in the hundreds of billions. That’s one key reason this year’s deficit is sky high.

When you add up those numbers, we are slightly over $1 Trillion. The Federal budget is approaching $4 Trillion a year, so while saving a trillion initially sounds impossible, as a percentage it’s not so crazy after all. The benefits would be generational, since spending $1 Trillion less each year is that much less debt, saving us billions in interest. My kids would find that cool.

What is crazy is thinking these changes could happen without a complete overhaul of the culture in Washington, the lobbying world, our carbon-based, meat consuming habits, and our electoral system.

There are some new items we’d have to invest in as part of this rebuilding of democracy. Some of these are the following:

1. Invest $100 Billion a year in alternative energy and energy conservation for a transitional period (about 10 years or so). Yes, that’s a big chunk, but think of the benefits to our health costs, pollution reduction, and finally getting off our imported oil dependence. We would no longer need a drop of Middle East oil, therefore no need to spend billions each year propping up their despotic regimes or garrisoning hundreds of thousands of troops there. Think of how much we’d save by having fewer PTSD cases to manage! That alone is worth a lot, don’t you agree?

2. Improve our own security by improving the security of the world’s poor. Wipe out the national debt of the poorest countries. We’d also have to quadruple our overseas development aid (which is so low now as to be a crime against humanity). Not only would this improve the global economic situation, better conditions overseas would reduce the flow of refugees and migrants. This would probably cost about $100 Billion, but if it prevents wars, it would save money!

3. Changes to the tax system would take a whole separate post (or more). A few ideas to start: end the income tax for the poorest 60% of the population. Their increased spending and charitable contributions would have huge benefits. Of course this change would have to be offset by higher taxes on the wealthy, perhaps a national sales tax on certain luxury items (like meat, gas, tobacco, etc.). Increase tax incentives for charitable contributions. We all know private charities are more efficient than government-based programs. With churches and private groups helping more people, the overall cost of social programs would decrease—fairly dramatically I should think. There’s billions more in savings.

4. To the skeptics out there who assert “there’s no way the vested interests in DC would allow such revolutionary changes”, I say “you’re right!” The key to turning this around is lobbying and electoral reform. Of course those are separate posts too, so at this point I simply recognize that and estimate that the costs of those changes would be in the range of $20-40 Billion (initially, then decreasing).

Even with these added expenses to get a real democracy, net savings are still about one trillion. I come away from this challenge with hope. Change would certainly be difficult, and not without setbacks. But it is not incomprehensible.

As a follower of Jesus, my primary allegiance is to a King and a Kingdom that is “not of this world.” However, like the Hebrew exiles who were told to “seek the welfare of the city” in which they were placed, we too need to help the secular society we live in survive and thrive. We also need to witness to the Kingdom ways we’ve learned, which also—if implemented—would be the very best way for people to live.

A little over 100 years ago, the robber barons controlled Congress and the White House. Many then would have said that it would be impossible to wrest power away from them. Thankfully, a handful of reformers both inside and outside of government didn’t give up. They enacted reforms that we still benefit from. It is NOT too late to turn this ship of state around. This time the stakes are even higher—the fate of civilization itself is on the line. Let a new progressive, pro-democracy movement begin!

Celebrate! A small bite was taken out of the Military-Industrial Complex last week when the Senate voted against more F-22s.

It seems those of us working for peace usually just speak and write about bad things that happen, so I think we really need to celebrate victories, even if they seem really small.

Not building more F-22s will save about $1.7 billion. What to do with the extra money? That depends on your philosophy of government. Some would re-direct the money to civilian programs that would create jobs, etc. Others would want to simply not spend it and lower the deficit a little (very little: $1.7 billion out of an expected $1.7 Trillion deficit this year—let’s see, that’s 1/1000^th of a cut. Better than nothing I guess.).

I wrote my Senators to thank them. Let’s congratulate Congress members when they act with sanity.

Most honest people will admit the nation and world are heading in the wrong direction on many fronts.  But what are the signs of hope?  Where should we be putting our precious time and resources?

This summer I’m catching up on my reading, and some things seem clearly needed, if indeed civilization is going to continue.  Here they are, in no particular order:

1.  Divorce money from politics.  This probably won’t happen unless we move toward a multiparty system, and probably electoral reforms such as preferential voting, proportional representation, public financing etc.  Many of the other 9 items will not happen until those with a vested interest in the current regime are disempowered by this change.

2. Dismantle Christian Zionism.  Some believe up to 70% of all political violence in the world is related to the Israel-Palestine conflict.  The US enables Israel’s daily humiliation of the Palestinians and nuclear monopoly in the Middle East.   Much of this blind support is due to Christian Zionists.  We must hold Israel to the same moral standards as all countries.  Palestinians who are working for justice through just means must be supported.

3.  Discover alternative energy.  We must stop burning coal.  Solar, wind and other non-fossil fuel ways of generating electricity must become dominant.  See this website:  350.org.  New energy is is also where the new jobs are.

4.  Disassemble the American empire.  Close most of the overseas bases.  They are inefficient, redundant and simply ridiculous.

5. Downsize the Military-Industrial Complex.  End the wars now!  Cut in half US military spending.  End all new weapons programs in their tracks.  Fund transitional programs to reintegrate military personnel into the civilian economy.  Turn the defense industries into ones that have a holistic definition of security.

6.  If a corporation is “too big to fail”, it is too big to exist.  Re-energize anti-trust legislation.  Regulate Wall Street to save main street.  Oh, how about have the rich and corporations pay their fair share of taxes?  That could take care of the deficit.

7.  Quadruple humanitarian and economic aid to other countries, especially in empowering programs like microfinance.  Cancel the debt of most developing countries.

8.  Put down those flags!  Begin to think globally, especially you Christians who claim to follow the Lord of the universe.  Nationalism is so 20th century.

9. Let your dollars speak:  buy fair trade, buy local; don’t buy at all when possible.  Start saving more.  Reduce debt.

10. Discover your spirit, and the Spirit.  See all persons as children of God, even the ones with a different color, language and religion.  Turn off the media, go offline and put more time into people and listening to the Still Small Voice.  Then you’ll be able to make your own list that’s better than mine!

by Jeff Hackman

June 25, 2009

If any of you thought we’d see change after Obama’s election, well here it is: higher military budgets than Bush, larger military than Bush and more F-22s than Bush.

Those are some of the changes in new defense (sic) bills working their way through the Democratically-controlled Congress.

Even Sec. of Defense Gates admits the F-22 program has run its course, saying we have enough.  But for the M-I Complex, as RJ in Over the Hedge says: “Enough is never enough”.  Now they want to build 12 more (we already have 187).  Not a single one of those planes has seen action in Iraq or Afghanistan because they weren’t designed for that type of war.  They were designed to fight the USSR.

This will cost $2 billion more dollars.  While building these planes could be considered a make-work jobs program, it is a very inefficient one.  Production is spread out over 40 states. 

“Before the very first week of the new Congress ended, 200 House members had already signed a letter calling for more of these planes-to-nowhere to be built. Almost all of them had a piece of the plane being built in their Congressional District.” (1)

I’m going to email my Representative right now and tell her that that $2 billion is needed elsewhere.  What will you do to resist the insanity?

(1) Tom Andrews. Common Sense vs. the Military-Industrial-Political-Complex on the Floor of the US House Today. June 24, 2009. published on Commondreams.org.  See also: www.winwithoutwar.org

A CIA-operated spy plane over Pakistan on Jan. 23–a full three days into the Obama administration–fired three Hellfire missiles on the property of Haji Khalil Dawar, killing 10 people and injuring several others. 1

Each Hellfire missile that the drones fire in the wars costs more than what my wife and I make in a year:

$77,358.49

Obama wants to buy 742 more Hellfires next year. That will cost $57,400,000.

Overall, the first Obama wars budget is only 9% less than the last W wars budget. 2

Is that the change America voted for?

More importantly, when did God delegate to the US the right to rain Hellfire on people?

SOURCES:

1. Yusufzai, Mushtaq. Thousands attend funeral of drone victims. January 25, 2009. The News.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=19872 A total of 22 persons were killed in two attacks that weekend. US claimed some of the dead were militants, clerics at the funerals said all were civilians.

2. Leys, Jeff. President Obama’s War Budget: Analyzing the Numbers. May 4, 2009.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/04-7

The economic meltdown is hard to understand–take it from an economics teacher.

But, I found another teacher who helps me with it.  Bill Moyers interviewed Bill Black on his show recently.  

This is the place to find it out.  And, more importantly explore some possible solutions.

If the above link doesn’t work, simply search in YouTube for it, or go to Moyers’ show’s site on pbs.

By Jeff Hackman

Have you ever had that experience when you thought something, but you couldn’t find anyone saying what you thought? It makes you wonder if you’re on track. Then, out of the blue someone else confirms what you thought!

They call economics the dismal science. Of course these days it is more dismal than usual. However, as I teach economics to high school seniors, I have been encouraging them to think of the multiple crises—while full of very real pain—also provide a chance to question assumptions we’ve held, and perhaps an opportunity to start something new. And, perhaps the new could be even better than the old that is being deconstructed.

Recently I read this by veteran journalist William Greider:

But he’s [Obama’s] trying to govern by convincing people that we will be able to get the old good times back. And my view is that the good times ain’t comin’ back. For lots of reasons – including the ecological crisis and global warming and the weakness of our economy.

“This is the hard part. The sooner the country comes to terms with that, acknowledges it as fact, not just fear, then we can start this great era of reform and revitalizing the country and society.”

In his new book, Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (and Redeeming Promise) of Our Country, William Greider sees the public’s anger as good news for the country – “America the Possible,” he calls it.

“We’re at a break point in our history,” he said. “And it’s not just the financial system, although that’s front and center. It’s the deteriorated economy, it’s militarism looking out in the world, trying to find the next war. It’s a lot of things coming at us, all at once. I believe, on the other side of all of these adversities, we can become a better country.”(1)

This week I watched the Nova special Extreme Ice, in which scientists turn up their warnings about climate change another notch. Ice is melting even faster than predicted just a few years ago. It the next few decades several countries will literally disappear beneath the waves.

Also this week, an F-22 fighter jet crashed in California. Tragically, the pilot died. The other loss is a $339 million airplane. We had 183 of those, now it is 182. My question is: do we really need those planes? Even if I wasn’t a pacifist, I think the answer is NO. The advantages of the F-22 are irrelevant in the conflicts the US is in. In economics we talk about opportunity cost—that is, what you give up in order to get what you got. I found out that the private high school I teach at has an annual budget of $6 million. If you do the math, you realize that you could fund my school for 56 years with ONE of those $339 million F-22s! We educate about 400 students each year. Our school will be 56 years old next year. What a tragedy that our nation values unnecessary jets more than it does education!

Some people are beginning to question the sacred cow that is the military-industrial complex. Pennsylvania’s own Rep. Joe Sestak (a career Navy man who achieved the rank of three-star admiral) says enough is enough. That kind of sea change, if it really takes hold, will be part of the solution. This country can no longer afford the sprawling global military occupying over 700 overseas bases.

It seems these walls we’re ramming into: financial, political, military, health care, environmental—all result from moving in directions that are detrimental to the long term survivability of our planet. I haven’t read Greider’s book yet, but I bet he’d say we’ve been un-American too long. It is time to “redeem the promise” of America. I prefer to look at these crises through global as well as spiritual lenses, but I also like to believe that the ideals of America can still be pursued in a way that reaffirms the commonwealth.

Next week the G-20 get together to discuss the global crises. Will the powerful catch the spirit of de-centralization, de-carbonization, de-industrialization and de-globalization that will lead to a future for all the children? Let’s hope and pray they do, or this verse from Bruce Cockburn’s song They Call it Democracy may come true:

See the loaded eyes of the children too
trying to make the best of it the way kids do
one day you’re going to rise from your habitual feast
to find yourself staring down the throat of the beast
they call the revolution

Actually a revolution of some type is fast approaching. It’s just a question of what type it will be.

(1) http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/032709a.html Michael Winship
March 27, 2009. Also, watch Bill Moyers’ interview with Greider at www.pbs.org/moyers

by Jeff Hackman

The horrific events in Gaza these past three weeks have been hard to ignore, yet easy to ignore.  But I came across a story that hit me hard. 

Suleiman Baraka is a Palestinian astrophysicist.  He works here in the US.  He had an 11 year old son named Ibrahim.  I love astronomy, and I have an 11 year old son.  This helped me see the humanity of the suffering.

His house in Gaza was hit by the Israeli war planes on December 29, and his son died of his injuries on January 5.

Suleiman was not able to go to his son’s funeral.  His house was destroyed, his wife and three remaining children are now homeless.

In his interview with Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman, he emphasized one of the worst parts of this tragedy is the loss of his telescope.

Here is an excerpt from his interview:  “I used to take my children on the roof and show them Venus and Jupiter and the sky, because typically, if you ask any Palestinian children, a child, ‘If you look at the sky, what you see?’ he will say, ‘I will see Apache and F-16 jet fighters.’ So I wanted just to show them that there is something beautiful behind these stereotypes. I wanted to help not only my children, but the Palestinian children. And I did lots of public lectures on astronomy just to create a sort of hope and expanding the imagination of our children that there is something beautiful than this cocoon, what’s called Gaza, which had been closed for two years.”

I too have a small telescope.  I too have shown Venus and Jupiter to my children.  I can’t imagine what Suleiman is going through.  But hearing this father’s story helps to see the common humanity.

It is time to tell both sides, but especially Israel since we finance them, that the time for posturing and the unending cycle of violence must come to an end.

Please pray to that end.  Please write your member of Congress.  Please pray for Suleiman–this mourning father who is just like you and me.  And please pray for the other 1,100 families–many of whom can tell stories like Suleiman’s.