Greetings to all who stop here and read. Thank you for your time.
Yes, drones are back, or rather, still in the news and therefore the topic here at the old corner. I am not a "fan" of these tools (drones), nor do I enjoy posting about them and their uses. OK, so why keep ranting on about the drones then? Well, they seem to be the number one "weapon of choice" for "dear ;eager" Gobomber (aka DOBO/Obama-fay).
Many of you will have read how our (assuming you live in and are a citizen of the USA) president is personally responsible for maintaining his personal "kill list". How he and his special side-kick a certain Mr. Brennan, "agonize" over the choice of target for the drone force to "take out". By "take out" I refer to killing and not to a Chinese menu/meal. Take out can and does have various meanings, depending on where in the world one happens to be.
Some of you good people may have seen the article in the New York Times by a Mr. Scott Shane regarding the use of drones in the war OF terror. (It is not a war ON terror any more, but a true war OF terror. Or so it must seem to those who are on the receiving end of the drone strikes.) In truth, even the "special forces" raids in the dead of night must also seem a war OF terror to those whose homes are broken into by heavily armed foreigners, aka US/NATO troops.
Full disclosure; I have not read the article by Mr. Shane. The reviews of it so far have basically said his article is a "justification" for the use of drones. He tells us that government officials, mostly un-named of course, believe that drone use is more "moral" and a "nicer" way to kill other people. Yeah, sure thing sparky. Dead is dead, no matter how one ends up dead. I doubt the surviving family members of the drone strikes feel any relief that their family member(s) were killed by drone rather than an actual human being at relatively close range. As I said, dead is dead, no matter how you end up dead. "Our" killing of "suspected"(!!) militants just increases the number of people who will now hate and despise the USA/NATO for the rest of their lives. Yes, we make enemies even faster than we kill them. Not quite how I'd go about trying to win the "hearts and minds" of other people, but then, I am just an old working class guy who is now unemployable due to disability and not some high ranking governmental official or military type. After all, why should any form of common sense enter into the foreign relations the USA has with other countries? No reason at all it seems, as our recent and current leaders seem to have little or no use for any form of common sense. At least they do not display any such common sense by way of their public statements and policies. Funny thing about that common sense, it does not seem to be so common of late here in the USA. Maybe we no longer teach it in schools, the way the Texas Republican party wants to eliminate the teaching of critical thinking in all Texas schools. Yes, that IS a real position that the Texas elephant gang made public. They may have pulled back from that, but I have seen nothing to indicate any such pull back. I know, that means that critical thinking will, if the elephant gang wins, no longer be taught to Texans. Hell, I was wondering if they ever were taught the subject.
Another article or three popped up after the last rant here regards drones. It seems that the US Air Force(farce) WILL be awarding medals to the drone "pilots" after all. Yes, they will be eligible to be awarded such medals as the Distinguished Flying Cross among other possible awards for their "bravery". Yes, "bravery" IS in quotes. Just how "brave" does one need to be to kill from a distance of hundreds, if not thousands of miles, by remote control? You all can debate that among yourselves if you wish, for me, there is NO bravery at all involved in such killing. And as a combat veteran, I will go out on my limb and say that remote control killing is cowardly. There, I said it. The drone killers are cowards. If you think other wise, OK, but you will never convince me you are correct and I am wrong. No way, no how.
On an unrelated note, a list of "code" words has made the rounds recently. While a few seem to treat this list as new, I beg to differ. I have a copy of these words from an article posted at the Activist Post dated 28 February 2012. Yes, the same list as has recently popped up on the web. Why it made so little "noise" back in February I do not know. Odd in a way. Any way, a Mr. David Lindorff had an article recently on the web where he "incorporates" many words from said list into his article. Personally I think he did it wrong. OK, who the hell am I to be critical of his work? Well, nobody actually, just an old working class guy. I do think he could have, should have for a "professional" writer, done it much better. All he did was inject at random, in various places in an article that did not deal with the word list. He just "sprinkled" various words from the list at random all throughout the article. It made for a very odd read, as the "code" words would pop in like this power with no rhyme or reason and did not add to the sentence they were stuck into. See, the word power did NOT add to the last sentence. Why not do like this; then we have the power grid to deal with.....? At least it would have read better or easier. But, again, who the hell am I to be critical of an "accomplished professional" writer? Again, nobody at all, just an old guy from the working class, not an "educated" person with "credentials". OK, I need to stop picking on poor Mr. Lindorff. Hell, he might sue me if he ever read this post. Oh well, what the hell, if he can't take a joke or handle criticism he needs to be less public. Yes, I am still being somewhat snarky. Somewhat? OK, ok, I'll stop.
An experiment with "listed" words follows. Hope it doesn't totally suck on toast.
The street gangs in the town recently discussed an attack on the local power grid. The leadership said it would be an exercise for the newest members. It would allow the top members to see who among the new members might take the hostage with the fewest shots fired during the evacuation of the complex. They may also have the opportunity for looting and explosion recovery. The participants would try their skills at making pipe bombs and chemical fire during the routine. They may also try to collapse power lines and also computer infrastructure as an extra credit portion of said exercise in breaking the National security.
Well, how was that? Please do let me know what you think of the above "experiment" as I would like feedback on it. All the words in italics are on the "watch" list or "word list" that the Feds are supposedly monitoring the entire net for. Yep, this post may get me "noticed" by DHS or the FBI or who knows what alphabet soup outfit. Well, like I give a flying rats hind end. Actually, if any of you have a spare flying rats hind end please let me know, we are rather short on them here at this time. Any reasonable offer will be considered. Honestly.
OK, my point is this; go to Information overload and after you read the article, just take a few seconds to compare with my experiment above. I promise to not ask such in the future, or tallest not for some time as I understand that I am imposing on you all. Hey, you do not have to follow the link unless you wish to. I would never even try to "order" or "boss" anybody, particularly not any readers of this old corner stop. I may try again at some future time to do more with the "listed" words in a post. No, I am not even considering a move to pure fiction writing. I have little enough talent for ANY writing as it is. For some excellent story telling, check the site and link here for Bill the Butcher. There is a man who can write! He is very inventive and always a very good read. Warning, at times he does weave in a moral or three, but still a very good read. Damn good read actually. Check his site, you will not be sorry.
Thank you all for you valuable time with this post. Again, I promise to not ask your help like I did this time, at least not for some lengthily period of time. Honest. Really.
As always, thank you for stopping by and for your time.
semper fi
