The month of May proved 'interesting' if nothing else. Here's just a sampling of... happenings which occurred.  (I'd wager,most Americans know nothing about any of this.)

 1) Congress voted down an Amendment to the NDAA which would have ended the governments right of indefinite detention = which includes American citizens.

2) The O'Bama administration is pushing Congress to renew FISA. The administration is 'specifically' asking for authorization to continue wire-tapping U.S. citizens.

3) A Malaysian Tribunal reluctantly agreed to hear charges brought by American activist groups - charges of War Crimes and Crimes against humanity by the Bush Administration. Using their own words (as published in their books), Bush, Chaney, Rumsfeld and others were found guilty. Of course, the Tribunals decision will have no effect on Bush or others. Symbolically, however, it's a step in the right direction.

4) 250,000+ Canadians stepped out onto the streets to protest Canada's new 'Anti-Protesting' law. (Go Canadians!)

5) Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans threw their medals away at the NATO Summit in Chicago.

6) Protests against Government austerity measures have grown across the world, but have been ignored by both Media and Governments.

7) AFROCOM (the U.S. Military Command operating in Africa - an initiative of Mr. Rumsfeld) is initiating a Troop build-up - which includes a Division of U.S. Combat Soldiers. When AFRICOM first started it was said their primary goal was to aid humanitarian efforts (digging wells and building schools). Now, however, the stated primary goal is to protect American investments and interest. (Ah, that 'noble' first foot in the door...)

8) Drones will be used by Police Departments in major cities in America by 2015 according to Senior Officials in Washington. It was stated that the move is a cost-effective one 'to ensure public safety'.

The California Public School System is now ranked as one of the worst in the nation. A sad, sad thing considering it was one of the best just 30 years ago. Yet Gov. Brown continues gutting the funding for education (and Social Services). He said it was the only way to get the state out of debt. I might have more confidence in Mr. Brown if he (and the Legislature) actually knew what the debt was. They don't. The number changes every time the subject is raised. And, the figures given are only estimates. As a graduate of Berkeley and Yale, I would hope Mr. Brown understands the value of education - I would hope. As a recent California Graduate told me just today, "I'm no Economist, but I can count to potato". Huh?   Oh the future looks bleak.

Major General Smedley Butler, USMC

WAR is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.

How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?

Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few – the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.

And what is this bill?

This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations.

For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.