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Author: Advantage Empire

How a “Typo” Could be Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize

How a “Typo” Could be Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize

Garnering a Nobel Peace Prize in Four Easy Steps: Step 1: Mix together some red and blue dye.  You’re left with purple, which represents the future and calming emotions.  Step 2: Next, dye a white hat purple. Step 3: At your local arts and crafts store, type out your lettering stencil.  Hit the “M” key. Type the letter “A.” Reach for the “G,” but accidentally tap the “R” key. Type the letter “A.” Step 4: Affix the letters onto the…

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Peace is Coming to America

Peace is Coming to America

As the Secretary of State arrives home from his fact-finding mission in the Middle East, let’s remember the wisdom of Shakespeare. “What’s past is prologue.” Or, if Elizabethan pentameter isn’t your thing, how about a riff on The Who: “Don’t Get Proofed Again.” (Aluminum tubes or yellow cake, anyone? “Wolf! Wolf!”) In order for peace to come to America, we need to make a choice–again. Do you trust the sellers? Or the buyers? According to 64% of the veterans surveyed…

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An Open Appeal to President Trump

An Open Appeal to President Trump

Sir, congratulations on ridding the White House of Iago.  Though your nod to President Lincoln in surrounding yourself with a team of rivals has some merit, clearly Mr. Bolton advocated for an aggressive foreign policy that completely contradicted your nature and–more importantly–your campaign promise to the American people to stay out of military adventures.  Mr. President, you are a man concerned about your legacy as commander in chief, which is fine.  I challenge anyone to name an American president who…

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Three Thoughts for Today

Three Thoughts for Today

Thought #1:“Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” – Joe Biden Thought #2: The U.S. spends 66% of its discretionary budget on the military.  Thought #3: The 2018 World Happiness Report is out, and the US ranks the lowest that it’s even been, dropping from 18th place to 19th place.  Connections, anyone?

What I Would Have Said in 1972

What I Would Have Said in 1972

When I turned 18 in 1972, I had the chance to cast my vote for the first time. I opposed the Vietnam War and was honored to cast my vote for the most principled person to ever run for President of the United States: George McGovern. He didn’t win–by a landslide, as we all know–but that doesn’t change my feeling of pride for having done the right thing. What would I have said on video about Sen. McGovern in 1972?…

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Our Vets Need Our Help!

Our Vets Need Our Help!

Fellow Peacemakers: After proposing an obscene, bloated $750 billion military budget, the federal government is planning to cut the annual cost-of-living increases for our Veterans. Shame on the government! Come on my friends–Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Conservative, Democrat–we’re united on this, aren’t we? Will you stand up for our Vets and join me by signing this petition? No more money on endless wars; pay our vets what they deserve!!! https://www.change.org/p/department-of-veterans-affairs-increase-the-disabled-veteran-benefits

Let’s Celebrate Our Independence . . .

Let’s Celebrate Our Independence . . .

From the Korean War! Happy 4th of July, Fellow Peacemakers! I know you’re out there: Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Progressives, Libertarians, Conservatives, Liberals . . . I have friends from all political backgrounds who have had enough of war, and I hope you are one of them. Just send an email to your Congressional Representative and support “House Resolution 152” calling for a formal end to the Korean War. Yes, it can be done–TODAY! Let’s go beyond just feeling patriotic this…

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Imagining Groundhog Day as Memorial Day

Imagining Groundhog Day as Memorial Day

Would that it were Memorial Day every day.  For we could be continually reminded of the deeply tragic costs of war.  As I watch the images and read the words of those who would have us believe that “this was a good war” and “that was a brave battle,” my antenna detects a trap.  When we fall prey to the glorification of war—any war—we are being set up. “For what?,” you may ask. “For the next war,” I answer.  There…

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Memorial Day Message for 2019

Memorial Day Message for 2019

As the embers fade on the briquettes from our holiday barbecues, I am curious how many know the answer to a question a good friend just posed. (I didn’t.) “How many Americans have died in all of our wars?” Answer: 1,100,000 (1.1 million). I’m sure you join me in honoring and mourning each of those tragic American losses. As this Memorial Day comes to a close, I wonder if you are willing to courageously look forward as well as backward…

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Pompeo at Work: A Neo Con Job

Pompeo at Work: A Neo Con Job

I have been involved with helping Veterans in my community for a number of years. On a recent visit to a local Veterans’ Office, I was struck by a famous WWI poster which reads: “The War to End All Wars.” That was made in 1917. A century later, while many of our Vets are sleeping under bridges, politicians continue to do the same thing over and over again, ginning up for the next war to end all wars, all the…

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