Purposeful peace-keeping

My primary work is with homeless people. Peace-keeping is my "hobby."  But there is a direct link between my work at Operation Nightwatch, and the true cost of war.

We never really understand the cost of sending young men and women to kill people.  Here's a story from Thursday night:

It was about 10:30. My friend Evan and I stopped by one of the shelters where we hang out. I wear a clerical collar in the normal course of doing my late-night homeless work.  I'm not there to pound people or evangelize. Of course, I say that, but when you walk into a shelter wearing a collar, people want to talk.

Last night, a very-drunk shelter resident saw me. "Hey" he growled. "Read me something from my Bible."  He staggered around the room, found his Bible. I opened it up to Isaiah 25, read something about fine aged wine, and thought I could have done better.

He flipped over to Romans: "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved," he slurred. "Now you read something." I read something, then he read something, back and forth.

Suddenly, his boisterous gravelly voice grew quiet.  Tender.  "I graduated Catholic. Went to Penn State.  Went to war.  Now this," pointing to his Bible, "is all I've got."

The damage we suffer when we go to war doesn't end when the bombs stop.

War's impact

The dog of slain Petty Officer Jon Tumilson refused to leave his side during the Navy SEAL’s funeral earlier this week in Rockford, Iowa. The heartbreaking photo taken by his cousin, Lisa Pembleton, shows Tumilson’s dog Hawkeye lying by the casket. 

Navy SEAL U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jon T. Tumilson was among the 30 American troops killed August 6 when Taliban insurgents downed their Chinook helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade. At his funeral in Iowa, his dog Hawkeye paid his last respects, walking up to the casket, lying down in front of it, and heaving a sigh.

Pembleton wrote on Facebook that Hawkeye was Tumilson’s loyal pet who wouldn't leave his master’s side during the funeral in Rockford, Iowa.

“I felt compelled to take one photo to share with family members that couldn't make it or couldn't see what I could from the aisle,” Pembleton wrote.

Tumilson's family and/or friends also posted this looping, time lapsed video of Hawkeye at the service...commencing application of kleenex tissues now...... 

Day-after Memorial Day

The price of war is much greater than we think.

Returning veterans are profoundly marked for life. All the flag-waving and hoo-hah cannot make up for the lack of adequate support for our veterans.

Read about the inadequacy of our response here.

Just how much money?

A friend handed me this brochure, based on President Obama's 2012 federal discretionary budget, sent to Congress in February 2011. Percentages are rounded.

Military, Department of Defense, War, Veterans Affairs, and Nuclear Weapons programs = 60%
Health and Human Services = 7%
Education = 6%
State Department = 5%
on down to
Transportation = 1%

Dwight D. Esienhower said: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

$715 Million for a wharf in Bremerton, WA

"Eight Trident subs are based at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. The subs carry 24 missiles. Each missile can carry eight warheads."

Eight x 24 x 8 = 1,539. Whoa. Each of those 1,539 nuclear warheads can be launched at a separate city, with a range just short of 5,000 miles.

The $715,000,000 wharf is for loading and unloading the missiles.

America's Ruling Class is Letting us Down.

"If the ruling class were as worried about the deficit as it claims to be, it would accept that the wealthiest people in society have a duty to pony up more for the very government whose police power and military protect them, their property and their wealth."

It doesn't take a genius to figure out how we've managed to bankrupt ourselves. Meddling comes at a price, in human suffering and added debt. We still are spending about what the rest of the world combined spends on the military.

For the rest of the editorial, click here.

Military Spending and Homelessness

The National Coalition for the Homeless tells us these sad facts:


The President’s Budget request for FY10 suggests giving the Department of Defense a budget of $533.7 billion. (Wait, it gets worse!). Another 130 billion is designated for the current actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The total is more like 708 billion, when you add in the Department of Energy spending which is Defense related.

Want to know how much they're going to spend on homelessness? This is for 2010.

$1.7 billion for homeless assistance grants.

The biggest expenditure for housing in the Federal budget goes to middle class home-owners, who get a tax break for the interest they pay on their homes. Billions of dollars are given away in this way. And yes, we would squawk if we had to give that up.

Woe to us. Judgement coming.