Fix to errors

Some how the links in my latest post didn't print right.
I will try them again for those who stop by here.
The Orwell link is; www.cato.org/research/articles/orwell.html
The link to Ms. Taylor's excellent article on reading is; www.lewrockwell.com/taylor/taylor131.html
I apologize for this error, the links should work now.
charlie

Words and the MCA

Got some things to kick around today. Words, or language is the first one. Then on to the MCA, or as it is officially called, the Military Commissions Act recently passed and signed into law by our "dear leader" W. Gump.
Words or language and the misuse of it really has been a thing that has been wearing on this old fart for decades. Now I enjoy word games or "playing" with words as much as the next person. My Dad was really good at that. It makes you think, exercise for the old brain. It is the misuse of language that is what has got me really pissed off. The reason is that words are the way we communicate. When our language is abused, it makes any true communications very difficult.
I am NOT talking about the way our language has changed,that is entirely different. Our language IS changing and changeable. It is a fluid sort of thing. Meanings change with time, new words come into use, old ones drop from use. That is natural in my opinion.
The abuse of words has been a "sore spot" to me for many years. Those who know me, who have worked with me, my Marine buddies, any others who have any association with me know this. The "politically correct" bull that was on a high in the recent past and still continues somewhat is a good example of language abuse. What passes for communication from the criminal administration of W. Gump and his puppet master, Cheney are the new height of language abuse. Fueled, in my opinion, by the political correctness of the 80's and 90's.
It is my opinion that the political correctness crap let this current gang get away with their language abuse without notice by many. If we had not gone through the PC crap, their word abuse might be more noticeable. I may be wrong here, I did say this is my opinion, I did NOT take any survey or investigation of this issue.
I DID look to see if any "authority" had ever addressed this issue. I had figured that some "learned" person MUST have written a book or at least a paper on this. I found an interesting one on this subject. It is available on the internet for free. It is by George Orwell, entitled "Politics and the English Language". It was written in 1945. OK, so it might be dated, but it IS very good and worth reading. The link is; www.cato.org/research/articles/orwell.html. I recommend this one as an excellent start for those interested in the abuses of our language.
Another great article that is not quite on this topic is also worth your time. This is written recently by a very kind person, she allowed me to post the link here, that is kind in my book. The article is on the importance of reading. Reading? Yes, reading. Americans don't do enough of it. According to the author, our children are not even being taught how to read correctly. The link is;www.lewrockwell.com/taylor/taylor131.html. Ms. Linda Taylor has given us an excellent article on the lack of proper teaching of basic reading skills in America. If we and our offspring don't read, how will we get our information? From the TV? We ALL know that is so biased that it isn't really worth the effort to turn it on if we are looking for anything close to the truth.
Here we are, back to words, language, and reading. I am not much of a writer, but I never set out to be. After the Marines I worked as a machinist. I made parts according to the old blueprints. Writing articles was not a requirement. Reading was required. You had to be able to read to make the parts. Yes, blueprints have actual words on them, not just numbers.
Reading is one of the most cherished things I do. I have always enjoyed reading. It is one way to learn things. Good fiction lets you escape the cares of this world for a time. Reading is so essential to life, or I think it is.
The abuse of words takes away from this as well as confusing communications. The most outrageous abuse of language is "extraordinary rendition". What a term that is. What it really is, in fact, is plain old kidnapping of a person. Kidnapping and taking the person off to some facility for "interrogation", which can mean whatever W. Gump "decides" that day.
The man is president of America, but how is it that he gets to say what words mean? Where is THAT granted in the Constitution? Oh, right, in order to find out, one needs to read! The "decider" gets to "decide" what a word means now. We know he has declared that he can "decide" what law or portion of a law he will follow or obey.
Signing statements, another abuse of language. Why not be truthful there Gump, just tell us all in plain language that NO law applies to you unless you "decide" it does.
What makes this all so disgusting is the LACK of any outrage at this. Does the press ever ask anything about this state of affairs? I do NOT mean some blog on the net, I am waiting for the main stream press to WAKE UP to the language abuse. I am in for a long wait, the MSM hardly notices the physical and psychological abuses of real people. Words are so easy to abuse, and the press just goes along with all the abuses. Oh dear, don't rock the boat. If the "reporters" don't suck up to power, their careers may not advance or may not advance very fast. Abuses, whether of people or words, well, that doesn't count.
The Military Commissions Act. Wow. Now W. Gump got Congress to pass this piece of excrement. How they could do this is beyond comprehension. Senator Specter said it was unconstitutional before the vote. How did he vote? In favor of it! Senator McCain, who was tortured in Viet Nam was against it. How did he vote? He voted FOR it! What the hell you say. Yes, a majority of OUR senators voted for this thing, this rotten piece of crap.
Now this president can declare (decide) that ANY person, anywhere is a terrorist or at least an "illegal enemy combatant". Anyone! It does NOT just apply to foreigners. He can decide any American is an "evil doer", just because he says so. If he does, off you go to whatever hell hole prison they send you to. No way do you get to even SEE a lawyer. Habeas corpus? Forget it! This "law" kills that ancient right. Speedy trial? Maybe, maybe not. The right to see the evidence against you? Maybe, IF the "judge" thinks he feels like letting you see anything. Jury? Nope, just a judge. Oh, the judge can be ANY serving military officer who happens to get "judge duty" that day. They can hold you as long as they like. If they feel like letting you sit in Gitmo for 25 years BEFORE any sort of "trial", well, make a comfy nest, you gonna be there till they "decide" otherwise. Send you to a foreign country for some "aggressive" interviews? Sure. No problem. We "don't torture" anymore. The prez has said so. The Attorney General has said so. The thing is, they REDEFINED what IS torture. Water boarding is NOT torture by the new "rules" according to the "decider". In other words, once they get you, they can place you where they wish and do to you what they wish. For as long as they wish.
Another part of this deal. It is retro active. And the penalties are retro active also. I think they call it "ex post facto". If you WERE an "evil doer" oh, say 5 years ago, but stopped doing evil, they can still bust you and send you off to where ever. It also ABSOLVES ALL the "officials" of any PAST "crimes" that may have occurred since the "war on terror" started. Now this is VERY interesting. Ex post facto laws are totally un-Constitutional! So, basically, Congress passed, and the "decider" signed into law, a law that is completely UNLAWFUL! Well, we USED to live in a Constitutional Republic, welcome to the dictatorship of W. Gump! We are in for one hell of a ride folks.
In all this gloom, there IS one very small bright spark out there. When the current "decider" retires, the next president COULD use this same law to declare W. and his ENTIRE criminal administration to be "evil doers" and lock them all away. The same COULD even be done to those in Congress who voted for this goddamn abortion called the Military Commissons Act. Now THAT would be worth seeing! Would that be irony, or poetic justice? Either way, I think it would be damn good fun to see.
Just my 2 cents.
semper fi,
charlie

Some random thoughts

Some of this may be a bit belated. I wanted to get permission from MickeyZ to link to his article before I wrote this. Thanks for the permission Mickey, I hope to do you justice with this.
On the Oct 9 web edition of Counterpunch, Mickey Z wrote an article entitled,
"Who Killed Michael Moore?". This was in response to the brutal killing of a very courageous Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. He basically is asking in this article, suppose the right wingnuts in America killed Michael Moore, what would the reaction be here in America.

I replied to him that such an event might rate all of say 15 seconds on CNN. I also thought that O'Reilly and all of Faux News, the likes of Ms. Coulter, etc, would be an orgasm. Then, it would be forgotten, old news, and that would be it.
The following is a link to his excellent article. Please read it and answer the question for yourselves.
http://www.counterpunch.org/mickey10092006.html
Another article that jumps out is by Jim Lobe today over at Antiwar.com.
The link is http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?
This is about the neo-cons calling for war with North Korea now that they have supposedly tested a nuclear device. I say supposedly, as the "hard" evidence is not in yet. According to some experts it may take days or even weeks to confirm as the yield was quite low, as in, it was a small blast.
The neos wanting war with North Korea is nothing new, nor is it very surprising. They want another war, in fact they love any war they do NOT have to do any actual fighting in. Indeed, they are very willing, too willing for me, to send our children off to fight and die for their lofty goals of world domination.
What with the North Koreans now supposedly having an actual atomic bomb, the Navy sending extra ships to the Persian Gulf, and our two "other" wars failing, it comes as no shock at all that we NEED more war. No shock that is, if you are one of the "great" neo-con "thinkers". If you are a regular working class person in America, it should scare the living shit out of you. Why? Well, our armed forces, ground pounders (of which I am proud to have been one of) are stretched paper thin in Afghanistan and Iraq already. Troops are being extended before the can rotate home. Units that have rotated home are being recalled for deployment sooner than they thought. In other words, we are running out of boots to put on the ground.
Oh, the Navy isn't doing too bad, they may be extending the tour of duty for some ships in the Gulf region, but not that many, yet.
The Air Force seems the only service that has more or less "regular" capacity for more war right now. That may explain why the main "strategy" for an Iran war is to bomb the hell out of them. There is a problem with that however. As has been explained by others who know more about all this sort of stuff than I do, folks called experts, bombing is fine, but to "win" any war, you need boots on the ground. Don't think so. Just look to Lebanon this summer. Israel bombed them back at least the 20 years they set out to do. Israel did not "win" in Lebanon because they didn't put the "boots on the ground". So they withdrew back across the border. Well, this way, both Israel and Hezbollah can claim they "won". Interesting, a war where there are only winners.
Back to Iran. Where will W.Gump (G.W.Bush) get the "boots" to put on the ground so he can "win"? Can't take them from Korea or Japan, it might signal Kim that we are letting him "off the hook". Germany? Britain? Where?
Can you say "draft"? Of course you can. This time around women will be drafted as well, hey, score a point for "equal rights". Yes, that was very cynical and sarcastic. I would also suggest that they MAY lower the minimum age to 16. The upper age is already 42 for enlistments, so make the maximum age for the draft, oh say, 45. That ought to get old W a few more "boots" to put on the ground. Why, with a draft, they may even be able to stop trying to enlist drug users, gang members, and mental patients. Wow!
Having been through Viet Nam, I am very cynical and distrustful of government. I remember Nixon got elected in 1968 because he said "elect me and I will end the war in Viet Nam". Then, he got re-elected in 1972 by saying "re-elect me and I will end the war in Viet Nam." And you folks still trust the government? Wow! What are you smoking?
I also tend to be sarcastic, that is my nature, and experience. I wish like hell I had some GOOD news to pass on. Well, last post, I gave that link to the commentary by Mr. Olberman, that was good, or so I thought.
Until my next post.
semper fi,
charlie

Have they finally gone too far?

Here is a question for you. Senator Arlen Specter says he KNEW the senate bill dismantling habeas corpus was a violation of the Constitution. If he knew this why did he and a majority of other senators vote FOR it?
How in the bloody hell can a US Senator vote FOR a bill that he/she KNOWS is a violation of the Constitution? Does some idiotic party loyalty trump your oath to uphold the Constitution? Does the though of W. Shrub not inviting you over for dinner make you forget that oath? Does Cheney scare you that much? Did Rummy tell you that if you voted against the bill he might have the Air Force drop a bomb on your D.C. area condo? Did Rice say if you voted against the bill she would come to your house and stand in your front yard and call you names?
What the hell could have made U.S. Senators vote FOR a bill that is a violation of the U.S. Constitution? Can somebody out there give me an answer? What trumps the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? Hell, I took an oath to defend that Constitution against ALL enemies, foreign AND domestic when I joined the Marines. When I was discharged, I was NOT asked to revoke that oath. Who got these senators to revoke their oaths? How did that happen? Goddamn it, I DEMAND an answer. So should every other American who has the least little bit of respect for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We need to know how OUR senators could vote a majority for a bill that VIOLATES the Constitution.
I want to give a HUGE shout out to Mr. Keith Olberman at MSNBC. Back when he was doing the sports report on KNXT/KCBS in Los Angeles, I would never have guessed that he had such an eloquence and satirical wit. I am providing a link to an article of his, it has a lot of advertising on it, but, as the person who sent it to me said, well worth reading. I second that! Very well worth reading indeed. In it, Mr. Olberman takes W. Shrub to task and does so in a style that is way beyond my ability. Then, I never did set out to be a writer. I was just a dumb kid who joined the Marines in 1968 (very dumb kid) and then spent my working life as a machinist. An honorable trade, but not the sort of thing that would tend to make a writer of a person. Notes to the engineers do not count as writing.
Here is the link; http://www.msnbc.com/id/15147009/
Another bit of news here, the Foley mess. Well, of course he has at least an excuse or three already lined up before he could admit to anything. After all, he is an American politician, AND a Republican. This is coming from a man who is trying his best to be a political atheist. I don't trust the donkey gang any more than I trust the elephant gang. Which is to say, not at all.
Look, they are both animals, neither is house broken, they both just tramp through the flowers and shit in the yard. Where is the big difference? Oh, right, Senator Kerry and Senator Hillary Clinton could fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan BETTER than W. Shrub has done. Sure, they could, and we have some very nice beach front property to sell you folks from the mid west. Yes sir, right down here along the good old Louisiana gulf coast. Prime real estate it is too. And the price, well, let me tell you, it can be had for a song. Just don't spit into the wind, keep your car gassed up at all times, and if it looks like a storm over the gulf, well, run like hell for Arkansas.
OK, back to Foley. Yes, what he is supposed to have done is despicable. It is not the sort of thing you would think your elected representative to the House would be engaged in. Well, it is probably not what you would want him/her doing. You might, if as cynical as I am, think he/she might be into that sort of thing, but you would not want them to be.
NO, I am NOT gay bashing. Personally, I think he is claiming to be gay as a "way out" (is that a pun?) of his troubles. Just as I think the being molested as a teenager and being an alcoholic are just "excuses" as well. Gay men are NOT pedophiles. Pedophiles are not gay. OK, they can be gay and gays can be pedophiles, nothing is 100% certain, not even the "divine" speaking to W. Shrub. Most gays are not pedophiles and most pedophiles are not gay. There, does that satisfy the "PC" crowd, or the "thought police" or whomever you are supposed to keep happy? If not, please write to your congressperson, in triplicate, using NO carbon paper, and do NOT tape,staple,or fold to your payment slip. Send the complaint to the said congressperson by pony express or your local chapter of the Hell's Angels.
Foley, back to him, would appear to be a very sick person. Those who use authority to "get something" from folks further down the "pecking order" are sick. I don't care if the power is abused for sex, money, position, whatever. If it is an abuse of power, it is wrong. When you throw into this mix, young, impressionable persons and an older member of Congress, the abuse is very bad. We are taught in high school civics that our members of Congress are honorable people. OK, so the school books got it wrong. Congress members are folks who are looked up to, in more ways than one apparently. Sorry, I can't stop the sarcastic remarks just now.
Let me stop for a while with this comment. If Foley is guilty as claimed, he should suffer the same punishment as if he were an "average" citizen, and NOT as a "respected" member of Congress. Do not let him use any excuse or rehab clinic to get off with a lighter punishment. Treat him equally as if he were just "Joe Citizen" and caught in/after the act.
As to all of the above, my wonderful German born grandmother used to have a little phrase she said when she had seen or heard something very bad, I think it applies to all the above. Here is what my Grandma Welke would have said to this mess; "For shame, all of you, for shame." That about sums it up quite well for me also. Of course having been a Marine, my language tends to be more "colorful" as it were.
Oh, before I stop for this post, some personal comments. W. Shrub is a damned coward! Dick Cheney is a goddamn draft dodger shithead who can't shoot straight, unless his target is a Republican lawyer. Take that you bastards!

What interesting times we live in

What a fine mess we have now. The Senate voted on SB 3930 the other day. It passed. This is the so-called "torture bill". I am including the link so you can see how your Senators voted. Both Senators from the state I live in, Louisiana, voted in favor of it. Shame on them both.
To check how your Senators voted, go to http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00259#state.
Thanks to this bill, anyone can now be picked up and held for as long as "they" wish to hold you. If(!) you get a trial, it will be in front of a military tribunal. No defense lawyer, no knowing the evidence(?) against you, just you before some military officers, accused of being an "unlawful combatant".
How so, you say? Easy! If you are the least bit critical of Cheney/Bush and their imperial wars, you MIGHT be an unlawful combatant! If you put such thoughts into the written word, even more so, I would venture.
Free speech isn't quite so free anymore folks. Under the "rule" of the "decider", everything comes with a price, including speech. Blessed be the Shrub. And blessed be his master, Cheney. Blessed be his number one servant, Rummy. Blessed be his favorite clown, Rice. Screwed be the people of America.
I still wonder if there might not be some "incident" before election day. Just a "little something" to help the "decider" decide that we cannot afford to have an election. Then, well, you know, sort of declare martial law, for the "good of the country" of course. It will just be a temporary matter. Oh, and since we cannot have the election, well, the "decider" will need to be made "president for life". All for the "good of the country" of course. Just the thing needed to keep them "terrerists" off the streets of 'Merica. Best to fight them there, rather than here, ya know.
Course we got to "fight" that "fifth column" here at home also. Therefore the need for martial law. Marshall Dillon and all that cowboy, gunslinger stuff that our "decider" likes to play at so much. Yes sir, it's cowboys and Ay-rabs. Boy howdy! Shoot from the hip and ask questions in the next episode!.
And to think I once believed in what we were taught in high school civics. Hell, I even joined the Marines and fought in Viet Nam. Just so I could see our country devolve into this shit hole we are in today. Almost makes me wish I believed in some god or gods, at least then I could ask that god(s) for help. Well, we got ourselves into this shit, it is up to us to get ourselves out of it.
Now, let's start making a ladder and try to climb out of this hole.
semper fi