Steve Brodner - Person of the Day

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Person of the Day

posted:January 15, 2007

HOWARD ALEXANDER, anguished father of David Alexander, who, in our overtaxed army, is being held a year past his enlistment in his second tour of duty in Iraq. Howard had written countless letters to politicians and army officials, begging them to send his son home. Last Wednesday, after seeing President Bush's speech announcing the escalation of the war, Howard went to bed, suffered a seizure and died. The army is now sending David home. Michael Daly, NY Daily News, 1/14

Thanks to Edel for the great 1967 King speech. It stirs the blood. Here's a section I had selected for today: In 1957 a sensitive American official overseas said that it seemed to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution. During the past ten years we have seen emerge a pattern of suppression which now has justified the presence of U.S. military "advisors" in Venezuela. This need to maintain social stability for our investments accounts for the counter-revolutionary action of American forces in Guatemala. It tells why American helicopters are being used against guerrillas in Colombia and why American napalm and green beret forces have already been active against rebels in Peru. It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken -- the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investment. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.