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(28 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 19, 2013 Civil Disobedience: The Only "Weapon" We Have Remaining?
Activists must continue to demonstrate, petition their representatives, and make speeches condemning injustice even though the police will attempt to stifle their voices. Activists should continue to violate the law if accepting personal risks of severe reprisals from an NDAA-empowered presidency remains a personal moral obligation in response to immorality and injustice.
(9 comments) SHARE Monday, November 6, 2017 Rethinking the Vietnam War Experience
This essay will be less critique and more discussion of the issues and concerns that occurred to me, and I believe are shared by many veterans, as I watched, perhaps endured is better, the 18 hours of archival film, much of it gut-wrenching combat footage, and the testimony of a myriad of participants and observers.
(3 comments) SHARE Wednesday, February 9, 2011 The Fairness Draft
Given war's extreme profitability for the privileged and the wealthy (the corporatists, bankers, politicians -- the military industrial Congressional complex) and the fact that with the AVF, they and/or their children will never step onto the battlefield and suffer war's deleterious effects, it is not surprising, therefore, that our nation is embroiled in quagmire, the longest and most expensive war in American history.
SHARE Sunday, October 9, 2011 The Invisible Wounds of War
In this article I will consider what has been accurately termed the "invisible wounds of war" and three perspectives on healing, e.g., the Clinical Model,the Normal Response Modeland my Combat Injury Model, where such injuries and veteran readjustment difficulties are regarded as the wounds of war, specifically Combat Related Psychological, Emotional, and Moral (PEM) Injuries.
(15 comments) SHARE Wednesday, April 28, 2010 Atrocity and War
The American servicemen in the Wikileaks video who so nonchalantly "engaged the target" --" slaughtering some 12 human beings --" are no different from the pilots and bombardiers from the "greatest generation" who with equal nonchalance, incinerated millions of civilians during the terror bombings of Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, etc
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, August 23, 2017 Protected Speech?
To describe what the Klansmen, Nazis, White Supremacists, etc., say and advocate as protected speech and merely as an expression of their beliefs and ideology is to mischaracterize and diminish the severity of what they advocate and how they behave.
(4 comments) SHARE Tuesday, October 6, 2009 Is All Fair in Love, War, and Journalism?
Whether to take and then to publish photographs of injured, dead, and dying American Servicemen and women remains a deeply troubling and hotly debated issue. The most recent incident involved the Associated Press's decision to release, against the wishes of his family, a photo by Julie Jacobson showing a mortally wounded Marine, Lance Corporal Joshua M. Bernard, being administered to by his comrades.
(10 comments) SHARE Friday, March 25, 2011 Pedagogism -- War on Teachers
Though it has been endemic in this country for a number of years, prejudice against and hatred of teachers,has increased to a level where the very survival of our educational system and the well being of our children are threatened.
SHARE Wednesday, May 6, 2009 Deadly Games
It is clear that the military has realized the value and effectiveness of video games in enticing young men and women to enlist. In this article, using the Army Experience Center as an example,Dr.Bica argues that a moral society and concerned citizenry should not stand idly by while its children are being manipulated into making choices they may not otherwise have made, choices that will affect them for the rest of their lives
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, October 22, 2012 The Missionary Equivalent of Military Service
Whoopie Goldberg questioned Ann Romney regarding her "qualifications," should she become First Lady, for consoling the bereaved family members of the fallen given that her husband never served in the military but, rather, spent the Vietnam War as a Mormon Missionary in France. A-1 In response, Mrs. Romney equated Mormon missionary work to military service.
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, May 1, 2017 Conscientious Objection to Military Taxation
If the Trump Administration wishes its tax reform to be inclusive and truly great, it must recognize that requiring pacifists to pay taxes that support war and the bearing of arms in any form is unlawful and include a provision for the Conscientious Objection to Military Taxation.
SHARE Thursday, March 7, 2013 What If a Drone Attacked in the US?
This account of an Iranian drone assassination in the United States and the release of an Iranian white paper justifying the attack are fictitious. What is not fiction, however, is the legal and moral justificatory arguments offered in this illustration as they accurately mirror the reasoning, arguments, even the language used by the United States Department of Justice to justify targeted assassinations.
(6 comments) SHARE Saturday, May 29, 2010 Memorial Day: Celebrating Militarism and the Weapons of War
Memorial Day is not about sales at the mall, barbecues, and picnics. Neither is it a time to celebrate militarism, the machinery of war, or entice young people, through highly manipulative and deceptive practices, into enlisting in the military. Most importantly, it is not about exploiting patriotism and the sacrifices of our young Servicemen and Women for purposes of commercial marketing and corporate profit.
(4 comments) SHARE Wednesday, November 10, 2010 No Cause for Parades
As we mark Veterans Day 2010 with parades and sales at the mall to "honor and recognize" the sacrifices and service of veterans and of our troops, perhaps we might consider postponing these celebrations and marketing strategies to another more appropriate occasion and shift our focus from mythologizing war to understanding its realities and consequences, both as it impacts upon our soldiers and veterans and upon our economy.
SHARE Thursday, January 26, 2017 A Time for Vigilance
While many factors probably contributed to the unexpected victory of Donald Trump, much of the blame has been attributed to the alleged hacks by the Russians and the release of the emails by Wikileaks. What is of greater relevance, however, to our current predicament and to the integrity of our electoral process is whether the hack and release actually did affect the outcome of the election and if so how?
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 3, 2020 Whether to Remove and Rename
The murder of George Floyd has reignited the debate whether to remove statues and rename military bases memorializing historical figures accused of treason, racism, owning slaves, and of committing genocide. Though the furor has subsided somewhat, the debate continues. What I will attempt in this essay, is an analysis and exploration of the character, behavior, and where relevant, the accomplishments of several often memoriali
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, October 18, 2011 A Witness to History
On the recent National Student Walk-out day, I was to teach two classes at a college not very far from Liberty Square, the site of the Wall Street occupation. Despite my doubt whether many if any of my students would answer the call, I decided to pre-empt the boycott and hold my classes at Liberty Square.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, May 23, 2008 On This Memorial Day
Camillo "Mac" Bica argues that Memorial Day is not about parades, air shows that celebrate the instruments of war, picnics, or sales at the mall. Rather, he challenges his fellow veterans, at least those who know war, to use this day to remind all Americans of the tragedy, futility, and waste of war.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, July 9, 2010 We Who Advocate Peace
They wage preemptive war, occupy and bomb sovereign nations, utilize robotics to murder and then dehumanize hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children as collateral damage. We who advocate peace and justice say that such acts of war and occupation are illegal, immoral and a barbaric and paranoid response to contrived evil; and they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
SHARE Saturday, March 19, 2016 Psychological, Emotional, and Moral Injuries of War
What has become apparent over many years and many wars is that remaining silent about the experience is neither curative nor patriotic. Nor is the nation's obligation to its veterans satisfied by an expression of appreciation and thanks. For healing to occur, trauma, guilt and shame must not remain static - the veterans' personal and private burden. Rather, trauma and moral pain must be "communalized."
(4 comments) SHARE Saturday, March 27, 2010 On the Duty to Conscientiously Object
Selective Conscientious Objection, then, is the claim by non pacifists first, that a particular war fails to satisfy the just war criteria, second, that it is illegal and immoral, and third, that all moral agents are obligated not to abide by the decisions of government and to refuse to participate in or to support the prosecution of this particular war. Consequently, in an unjust war, law and morality are in agreement.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 23, 2009 Hell No, We Won't Go . . . Again
The intent of this article is to respond to those on the left, to antiwar and peace activists who, disappointed by an obdurate and unresponsive political leadership and frustrated by the apathy and indifference of the vast majority of American citizens to the death and destruction prosecuted in all our names, advocate reinstating the draft to make war more inclusive - personal and relevant to a greater number of people.
SHARE Tuesday, February 2, 2010 March of Folly
Tell me again what it is we are accomplishing in the antiwar/peace movement?
(4 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 31, 2008 Warrior to Warrior: Welcome Home
A rather grim but realistic "welcome home" and call to action from a former Marine officer who served in Vietnam to members of the military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 20, 2007 Beyond PTSD, Part Three The Moral Casualties of War: War Crazy
In this installment of Beyond PTSD, in the hope of providing a more complete picture of the psychological, emotional, and moral impact of war, Professor Bica offers, not theoretical analysis, but personal observations regarding the aftermath of war. In doing so, he will ask the reader not to think so much as to feel.
(5 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 9, 2009 Revitalizing the Anti War Movement
If it is truly our intent to revitalize the anti war movement, we must begin a dialogue to redefine our goals and to re-evaluate and clarify our tactics and strategy. That is, we must become more focused on ending American militarism and imperialism, war and occupation, and we must build a coalition of voices by practicing tolerance and understanding for a diversity of views and opinions.
SHARE Friday, January 8, 2010 A New Strategy for America
In the face of escalating violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen, and with continuing acts of terrorism targeting America and our allies, it is time for President Obama to effect real and meaningful change by acting reasonably, rationally, responsibly, and in accordance with the mandate of a Nobel Peace Laureate to not only end war and violence in the world but to foster peace and understanding.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, March 7, 2008 Deconstructing Winter Soldier
In this article, Dr. Bica argues against any misconception regarding the upcoming Winter Soldier, Iraq and Afghanistan hearings.
SHARE Sunday, February 26, 2012 War Crime or the Crime of War
To those struggling to survive the next improvised explosive device or suicide bomber, war's negative effects are pervasive and cumulative. Everyday living in a war zone is a netherworld of horror and insanity in which respect for life and for the dignity of humankind loses all meaning. Life amid the violence, death, horror, trauma, anxiety and fatigue of war erodes moral being and undoes character.
SHARE Sunday, December 16, 2012 We Have Become Death
To bring attention and awareness to the suffering of ALL innocents is not to be insensitive to or diminish the suffering of some. Children are children, each as important and as valuable as the other and murderers are murderers, each as despicable and reprehensible as the other.
SHARE Wednesday, March 3, 2010 Law, Morality, and Conscience in War
The Truth Commission on Conscience in War will take place place on March 21st at the Riverside Church in New York City. At a time when our nation is engaged in wars and occupations in at least four countries, this discussion of the profound moral and legal dilemmas faced not only by members of the military but by all American citizens in whose name these wars are conducted, is both a timely and important undertaking.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, May 27, 2007 To My Fellow Veterans on Memorial Day
Memorial Day is for most the traditional beginning of the summer season. It is, as well, a wonderful opportunity to purchase that much needed lawnmower or television set during the many Memorial Day sales down at the mall. With our eagerness to put the drudgery of the winter season behind us, we often forget what Memorial Day is truly about.