wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Thank you for the wonderful interview!

Great work, Sen. Gravel, Mr. Lauria and Mr. Lopate.

To Jack

fun video http://truemajority.org/oreos/

and a nice pie chart

http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp

by the way we get the democracy that we want.

Eisenhower caved to the pressure but warned others not to, example of weak leadership.

USA spends money for war to protect trade, at the expense of infrastructure and education, example of a (soon to be) former superpower and 2nd world member.

I caught part of this segment and I understand and agree partially with what I heard but aren't they benefiting from 20/20 hindsight? I'm ok with a strong military but for defensive purposes, the world isn't a giant commune unfortunately. I think Iraq was a huge mistake.

JT, please re-read my post. I noted that there was a draft under Eisenhower, and that was in peacetime, no less. My point is that many people focus on his "military-industrial complex" statement, but they don't look at what he did in office.

meant no ideas (in comment 20)

Please bring Mike Gravel back--soon! This is the most responsible political/ military reporting I have heard in too long. It is also indicative of the job (if you can call it that) that the mainstream media has been doing the last 15 years.

Brian
legislators? the ones who have left the nation a the brink of collapse. or the ones with now ideas?

Alvin,

There used to be a draft. There no longer is one.

libertarians showed their true gop colors, picking barr, a right winger, instead of gravel, a free thinker.

Empower the people? Are these the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, anti-semitic, people? Let's leave law-making to the legislators.

You're wrong Leonard. People don't jump on Gravel for what he's saying. They find it refreshing. The only people that jump on what he's saying are people in power, those interested in preserving the status quo.

This link shows us at ~49% of the world's spending in 2005:

http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp

I've seen similar numbers from previous years.

Eisenhower wasn't quite the anti-militarist he's portrayed as these days. Never mind his farewell speech warning of the "military-industrial complex". Why did the U.S. have nearly twice as many people in uniform in fiscal year 1955 than it does today (nearly 3 million, vs. 1.5 million)? In 1955, the U.S. was not at war, and we were in the process of withdrawing from our occupation of the losers of WW II. By the way, we had a peacetime draft under Eisenhower.

Unfortunately a period of self-reflection for the legislative branch does not appear imminent. They could not even vote to examine the details of the telecom companies transgressions before releiving them of liability. The legislative branch is looking to sweep things under the rug and they are hoping it will go away.

Great discussion. Please keep up the good work. Keep spreading this message. We need to take our country back from these people who have hijacked it and used it against our interests. You are the true American Patriots. Our Founding Fathers would be proud.

Gravel is enormously refreshing. It's a shame that most people wrote him off during the campaign.

marco
"idiocy of European policy over the last 100 years." clearly before ww2 and before the end of the colonial era. can you reference anything post 1980 that you would call idiocy

The owners of those country makr too much money from war. Nothing will change.

Great guest delivering a tough truth. I love the passion in his voice. Should have given Mike a double segment.

pls spend a few seconds on his "crush on obama" response video. it was very funny (and possibly the first introduction to the senator many people had). do politicians have a sense of humor anymore or is it all calculated?

Americans - both within and outside of government - are dangerously naive about the rest of the world. While American foreign policy is often misguided it cannot compare with the idiocy of European policy over the last 100 years. Recently the Russians began to cut off oil from the Czechs...plus ca change..

This is the most rational discussion of the militarization of the US society I have heard on mass media at least since 9/11.

Bush's concept of militarizing the response to 9/11 was not only using that tragedy to further an agenda that preexisted 9/11, it turned criminal mass murderers into warriors...and made them heroes too an extent that they could not have achieved themselves.

corporate authoritarism rising

Outside of the rightwing circles of people like Dick Cheney or Niall Ferguson, there is near universal agreement that the Soviets never had _any_ interest in attacking the US. And this is clear from what they did do (attack immediate neighbors).

Russians of the time said emphatically that they did not want another WW2 (in which they lost 25 MILLION people).

It is the US that has worked to manufacture most of the "evil empires" of the past 50 years.

Messrs. Gravel and Lauria are absolutely right. The US is a Nation of Fear. More so than any nation since Nazi Germany.

Can you ask Senator Gravel about his work in opening a new investigation to 911 and why?

Is that true? We spend more on defense than the rest of the world combined? Where's the data?