Dialogues, by Jerry Brown: on Homeland Security
Jerry Brown:
Media colludes with politicians to glorify military killing
I'd like to make a point about the Gulf War and the media. When the troops returned, we started having all these parades and celebrations. I never heard this described as a purification process.
To some people, it seemed that the media was in collusion with the politicians and the military to glorify killing in a very obvious way.
You add up all the casualties of war and the expense of war, and then you look at the polls that show that close to half the American people believe that we shouldn't cut military spending.
You realize how powerful the propaganda and distortion is about the nature of this business called defense, called sending a message, called flexing our muscles, putting force behind foreign policy.
Source: Dialogues, by Gov. Jerry Brown, p.103-7
Oct 11, 1996
George Bush Sr.:
Post-Cold War: fight 3rd World technological sophistication
Take a look at the functioning sectors of the economy--computers, electronics, aeronautics, metallurgy--these dynamic sectors of the economy are very heavily subsidized by the public, and much of it flows through the Pentagon system.
During the Cold War period it was always possible to claim that we do this because of the Russians. Well, now you need other excuses, and it's intriguing that instantly, as soon as the Russians were gone, the excuses changed.
Now we need it, not because of the Russian threat, but as the Bush administration put it in March 1990, because of the "technological sophistication" of Third World powers. That's why we need it. So the Pentagon budget has got to remain the same, or
even go up.This Third World argument doesn't even merit ridicule. In fact, a large part of their technological sophistication is the arms that we sell them. And the public pays for that, too, through subsidies.
Source: Dialogues, by Gov. Jerry Brown, p.222-3
Feb 12, 1996
Heritage Foundation:
OpEd: Pushes to increase defense budget; majority oppose it
There's a little scam going on here. The same people who are drilling into your head that the federal government is your enemy are also saying we have to strengthen it--but only that part of the government that pours money into their pockets.
So the Heritage Foundation, the right wing foundation that, more or less, sets the budget and agenda for the right wing, wants to increase the Pentagon budget--against the will of the population.
The population is opposed to that by about 6 to 1, but the Heritage Foundation wants it because they know something that you're not supposed to know.
That secret is that the system is primarily functioning, and has been for 50 years, to transfer funds from the general public to advanced sectors in high-technology industries.
Source: Dialogues, by Gov. Jerry Brown, p.219
Feb 12, 1996
Jerry Brown:
$265B Pentagon budget passed without much debate
Let's take for example the latest Pentagon budget. I don't recall much significant debate about it at all. Clinton signed it at $265 billion. The only issues that were talked about in the media were the banning of HIV-positive enlisted personnel, and
the banning of abortions at military clinics. In terms of the $265 billion and how that stacks up against other countries, I don't think I saw anything in the mainstream press at all, and I saw nothing about foreign aid.
Source: Dialogues, by Gov. Jerry Brown, p.222
Feb 12, 1996
Noam Chomsky:
Pentagon subsidizes dynamic economy via public funds
Take a look at the functioning sectors of the economy--computers, electronics, aeronautics, metallurgy--these dynamic sectors of the economy are very heavily subsidized by the public, and much of it flows through the Pentagon system.
During the Cold War period it was always possible to claim that we do this because of the Russians. Well, now you need other excuses, and it's intriguing that instantly, as soon as the Russians were gone, the excuses changed.
Now we need it, not because of the Russian threat, but as the Bush administration put it in March 1990, because of the "technological sophistication" of Third World powers. That's why we need it. So the Pentagon budget has got to remain the same, or
even go up.This Third World argument doesn't even merit ridicule. In fact, a large part of their technological sophistication is the arms that we sell them. And the public pays for that, too, through subsidies.
Source: Dialogues, by Gov. Jerry Brown, p.222-3
Feb 12, 1996
Jerry Brown:
War killings make humans tolerate violence
There's so much violence around the world, so much killing connected to governments, to our own government, that it seems like human nature tolerates it. It's as if the outrage we feel as a society at people being murdered is a very selective reaction.
Source: Dialogues, by Gov. Jerry Brown, p. 84-5
Feb 6, 1996
Page last updated: Jul 26, 2015