[Buddha-l] Jayarava's Raves - Lest We Forget

[jkirk]

"at least in the case of the Iraq war we can be reasonably sure
that they lied about the reasons for starting the war"-- 

Not reasonably sure, 100% sure. There is NO doubt.
Buddhists need to think deeply about our war propensities and the
industries that support making war.  Thanks for devoting one of
your blogs to war politics and the delusions of us all in falling
for it, time and time again. "The political arena is particularly
unsuitable for taking up the spiritual life because it is
popularist, combative and materialistic."  Too depressingly true,
but we shouldn't give up just because it's all depressing. We can
continue as you suggest to try to foster real as opposed to
fraudulent education about the realities of politicians and
governments.

Joanna


==========
Harry Patch. 

In Britain last week 'we' were saying farewell to 111 year old
Harry Patch. Although most of us had never heard of him a month
ago Patch, and 113 year old Henry Allingham who also died
recently, had fought in World War One. Patch had been the last
British man alive to have seen active services in the trenches,
and had been very critical of war. "It wasn't worth it" he said.
He had kept quiet about his wartime experiences until quite
recently, but felt compelled to speak out when he realised that
he was one of the very few left with first hand experience and
that the rest of us were in danger of forgetting just how stupid
is all was. 
[more in the blog]