If God made a mistake would he tell us?

Last OT post then I'll shut up...Hi TL: I just wanted to say I completely agree with Zephyr's comments concerning the rise of Executive branch warmaking capability at the expense of Congress. In spite of the War Powers Act (which was one attempt to address this), Congress has allowed (and the Executive has taken advantage of) the erosion of its "checks and balances" function in this area. Although not specifically addressing the issue, a fairly good (and relatively readable as these things go) book tracing the evolution of US military and strategic policy is Russell Frank Weigley's "The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy". You should be able to find it at a library if you're interested. I think it provides a very good background into how we got from a nation that had a real bad feeling about permanent standing armies to the "let's go beat up a random Third World country this week " currently in existence. Unfortunately, it doesn't cover events of the post-Cold War era (it's a tad dated), but does cover the post-WWII era (where most of the Congressional erosion has taken place) pretty well.Besides, it tickles my funny bone a bit to think what your fellow parishoners would say about one of their spokespeople reading a book on warfare...

My deepest apologies. I lept to a completely unwarranted conclusion. I did get the impression from previous posts that your group rejected violence (all the references to Ghandi), so perhaps I might be forgiven. OTOH, the more I hear about the "community" (using the term in its fullest sense) you have created, the more impressed I become - well, except for the spiritual bits , and even there you are wholly consistent. I hope you enjoy the book.Off topic: I concur with your comments inre "LOTR", especially about Faramir.