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!