There is no known gene for aggression.  Indeed, there is no known gene for any of the common forms of human behavior (I am allowing the possibility that a genetic defect of the brain might make a person more violent, but the very fact that it is a defect means it is not a normal trait).  The science of genetics, the study of that hereditary material carried in the forty-odd chromosomes in every human cell and transmitted from one generation to the next, knows a good deal about genes for physical characteristics, very little about genes for mental ability, and virtually nothing about genes for personality traits (violence, competitiveness, kindness, surliness, a sense of humor etc).

- Howard Zinn – Declarations of Independence

Wondering what has changed? Read about it here.

The evidence today is overwhelming that an invasion of Japan was not necessary to bring the war to an end.  Japan was defeated, in disarray, and ready to surrender.  The U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, which interviewed 700 Japanese military and political officials after the war, came to this conclusion:

Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and supported by the testimony of surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey’s opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated.

After the war American scholar Robert Butow went through the papers of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the records of the International Military Tribunal of the Far East (which tried Japanese leaders as war criminals), and the interratation files of the U.S. Army  He also interviewed many of the Japanese principals and came to this conclusion: “Had the Allies given the Prince (Prince Konoye, special emissary to Moscow, who was working on Russian intercession for peace) a week of grace in which to obtain his Government’s support of the acceptance of the proposals, the war might have ended toward the latter part of July or the very beginning of the month of August, without the atomic bomb and without Soviet participation in the conflict.”

- Howard Zinn – Declarations of Independence

Wondering what has changed? Read about it here.

There is the same limited choice in public policy.  During the Vietnam War, the argument for a long time was between those who wanted a total bombing of Indochina and those who wanted a limited bombing.  The choice of withdrawing from Vietnam altogether was not offered.  Daniel Ellsberg, working for Henry Kissinger n 1969, was given the job of drawing a list of alternative policies on Vietnam.  As one possibility on his long list he suggested total withdrawal from the war.  Kissinger looked at the possibilities and crossed that one off the list before giving the list to President Richard Nixon.

- Howard Zinn – Declarations of Independence

Wondering what has changed? Read about it here.

The idea, which entered Western consciousness several centuries ago, that black people are less than human, made possible the Atlantic slave trade, during which perhaps 40 million people died.  Beliefs about racial inferiority, whether applied to blacks or Jews or Arabs or Orientals, have led to mass murder.

The Idea, presented by political leaders and accepted by the American public in 1964, that communism in Vietnam was a threat to our ‘national security’ led to policies that cost a million lives, including those of 55,000 young Americans.

The belief, fostered in the Soviet Union, that ‘socialism’ required a ruthless policy of farm collectivization, as well as the control of dissent, brought about the deaths of countless peasants and large numbers of political prisoners.

Other ideas – leave the poor on their own (‘laissez-faire’) and help the rich (‘economic growth’) – have led the US government for most of its history to subsidize corporations while neglecting the poor, thus permitting terrible living and working conditions and incalculable suffering and death.  In the years of the Regan presidency, ‘laissez-faire’ meant budget cutting for family care, which led to high rates of infant mortality I city ghettos.

We can reasonably conclude that how we think is not just mildly interesting, not just a subject for intellectual debate, but a matter of life & death.

- Howard Zinn – Declarations of Independence

Wondering what has changed? Read about it here.

That’s probably why the stuff at the River Market tastes so good… or is it because it’s super cheap?

Damn, i cant keep that stuff straight….