I some how typed in the wrong link ,But if you click on " Did you mean" it will redirect.   

I agree... War *is* a racket.... But so is Global Warming...

(I know I am going to get an messagboard beating for this)

Oh... racket as crime syndicate.
I thought he was just complaining about how loud the guns and bombs were...

   Yes ! exactly,but this crime - War is so far beyond any other crime that counts as a racket,it destroys everything,kinda like religion.

In terms of "Crimes against Humanity"... it can't... I will concede that waging war for political leverage and to appease Conservative lobbyists is far more of an atrocity than exagerating, if not tampering with scientific data about our impending doom in order to gain political leverage and to appease Liberal lobbyists... 

But still... Acknowledging that the War profiteers are bigger douche bags than the Climate profiteers is like acknowledging that Moe was the smartest stooge... I hope that Dick Cheney and Al Gore both need life saving bone marrow transplants, and the only matching donor they can find is each other...

OK, I just watched that video. Very interesting, to say the least.

Normally, the brasscheck links are way over the top for me but that one simply did not go far enough in my book.

Sure, one can view the military industrial complex as a racket waiting for the next opportunity to rake in some huge cash. However, I prefer a rather broader definition of a racket. Basically, any time someone with the power to stir the shit up is in a position where the fix is in for them to come out on top, then you have the makings of a racket.

Allow me a moment of digression: What was it that he said WW1 cost? 50 billion dollars? And today everything costs about 500 times what it did back then. Geeze, by that standard, nobody should worry about the half trillion or so that we have poured through in the past eight years in the middle east. My “back of the envelope” math is coming out to over 25 trillion in today's money.

Anyway, back on topic.

To my mind, any time a war is started because someone has a fix on how they can come out on top, then it is a racket. While it is true today that profit is the common theme, what about a political gain? Or a religious gain? Social engineering? Basically, if there is a goal and that goal equates to more power for you and your friends, then there is a racket.

The Crusades? Well, they cemented the position of the church in Europe and helped to siphon off some excess aggressive male population. When they were done, passive farmers who gave the church a cut of personal profits was rather more common.

The American Revolution? Being from the USA, the other issues are important to me but it remains a fact that it was the biggest land grab since the reformation.

I could go on but you ought to get the idea.

own life, over development and unplanned development have shattered ecosystems and ruined many unspoiled areas I once knew. If there's anything that shits me it's that skepticism over climate change has derailed the fundamental truth that we stupid, short-sighted human fuckers need to take care of the only planet we will ever have. If that's solar panels and pushbikes well, whatever it takes. We are going to run out of go juice anyway and relying on the arabs to supply it right up to the last squirt is unappealing to me.

I've read a fair bit on both sides of climate change and my conclusion is that ultimately it doesn't really matter. Even if the science is bad or blown out of proportion (and there is no conclusive proof of that) maybe a scare is what we need to change direction. We can't go on bleeding the earth dry forever. We will have to find a balance. It's important we look after at least some of our forests and oceans and rivers and furry little marsupials and golden bell frogs and whatever the fuck else because living in global rubbish dump with only cows, sheep and theists for company is going to seriously suck. 

War is just the ruling classes using us "peons" to expand their profits. It's been that way since civilization started. As long as the working classes of different nations see their interests aligned with the richest and most powerful people in their country, and not those in the exact same boat as themselves across some border, asshat politicians and generals are going to keep exploiting that imagined national division. As Crass was quoted, "Fight War, Not Wars!" Or else we find ourselves in some nasty Nagasaki Nightmares!

I SECOND THAT!