Sort of sets the tone for this "post". I cannot even come up with a damn title for it. Well, hang on and let's see where this thing goes. It is most likely going to piss off some people. Well, better to be pissed off than to be pissed on.
I would say that this is going to be a more or less general "listing" of shit that has got me pissed. Off, on, or other wise.
Take the American economy..........somebody PLEASE take it and fix the damn thing! It is broken, maybe permanently, but damn certain broken big time. Oh, but wait folks, it is getting worse. Yes sir folks, this "bust" is not over yet by any means. I am going to give a link to the best yet, article about this current bust of our economy. It was at the Counterpunch web site this weekend and well worth your time to read if you give a shit about what is left of the US economy and our financial future. Here it is; www.counterpunch.org/toussaint01122008.html . Read this and then tell me how all is well with our economy and we can now all sleep tight at night. Yeah, sure.
My persona; views, this whole mess started way back when a "new" investment type made the scene. It is/was called a derivative. Financial derivatives, the main source of our troubles today. When these things first appeared I was watching "Wall Street Week" with good old Louis Rukeyser. He mentioned them during the broadcast and said to all watching that he had no idea what they were. I remember also, that his best advice was to never invest in things or a company that you knew little or nothing about. For example, if you have no idea what a diesel engine is or is used for, do not invest in Caterpillar. Makes sense to me. So, his advice on derivatives back then, don't bother with them. Nobody knew what they were. Well, now we know what they are. A scam. Not quite a pyramid scheme nor a Ponzi scam, but a fraud nonetheless.
Oh, but wait. Now we have even more "unknowable" things to invest in. We have SIV's, CDO's, and others I forget. SIV's are Structured Investment Vehicles. OK, what ever those are. CDO's are Collateralized Debt Obligations, another mouthful but unknowable to the average investor. The way world markets have gone of late, they are also seemingly unknowable to the "investor class" also. These two, and there are others, are just variations on derivatives. In my opinion, they are made up things that have no real value. They are pure paper "assets", if one stretches the definition of assets far enough. Apparently, the stretch wasn't too much for the "big" investors and the big banks.
Now, the CDO's are sort of tied some how to the mortgage market. This is how the housing bubble busting has brought down the rest of the financial markets to some extent. Also the "sub prime" loans did in many of the greedy banks as well. On one hand, the "common" folks might see the banks hitting a "bad patch" and let out a cheer. After all, it does feel good when the "big" guys stumble and have a hard time paying their bills for a change. The only thing is, like every other time the "big" guys get into trouble, it is the "little" guys who will, in the end have to bail them out. Think back a few years to the first time Chrysler almost went bye-bye, think the Savings and Loan scandal. Yes sir, we, the tax payers, will have to pay to save the big bankers. Of course it will somehow be made to be our "national duty" or some other such bullshit.
To me, the one thing America always had over the old Soviet Union, was that in America, a business could fail. That meant that business could take chances, experiment. Now, if the experiment went South, well, so might the business. But THAT is what made our country great. In the old Soviet Union, a failing business was likely to be propped up by the government. It was all for propaganda of course. That way, America could not say, "Oh, see how companies are failing in the Soviet Union". While they could point to America and say, honestly, that many companies here did in fact fail. But it still made America the better of the two, because, as I said, it allowed for and encouraged, experimentation, new ideas and processes.
Well, that worked only up to a point. Back all those years ago, America could not let Chrysler fail. Why, how would that look on the resume of old Lee Iacocca? The guy who gave us the "Mustang" could not be a failure. No sir, the tax payer HAD to bail him out. While that money was repaid in time, it still sent the wrong message. Now, today, Chrysler is in financial trouble again. One small(?) problem for them this time, America doesn't have the cash to help them. We cannot even pay for the Bush wars with our own money. We are fighting two illegal wars of choice with borrowed money. Our biggest creditor, China. Think on that the next time you buy your goodies at Wal-Mart.
I pick on old Wal-Mart just because they sell so much "made in China" stuff and they ARE an easy target and I'm a senior citizen and disabled so I'll take an easy shot now and then. Yes, many other companies,stores, etc, sell tons of "made in China" goods also. As I said, Wal-Mart IS an easy mark.
The way we allow the mess with the Palestinians and Israel to continue pisses me off to no end. Why do we, who claim to be for freedom and democracy, allow this to continue? We let the Zionists who run Israel get away with anything they wish when they "deal" with the Palestinians. The American attitude seems to be that if the Palestinians give up something, maybe the Israelis will give them more freedom. What do the Palestinians HAVE that they could give up? They do not control anything at all. They do not control their own access to any place in the region, they have no airport, no sea port, they cannot use roads that are designated "Israeli Only", they have no economy, they do not control their water supply even. In reality, the Palestinians have NOTHING. Nothing to give up, nothing to lose, just plain simple nothing. Well, sure they do have their lives, such as they are. Anybody want to trade a Palestinian his/her life for yours? I bet not. I sure as hell would not want to live as they are forced to do. Gaza is the worlds largest prison, if not in fact, at least in effect. Who would want to live like that? Why does America continue to, not just allow this, but support the Zionist government that does this? AIPAC? Money? What? Complex deal isn't it? Maybe if America cut off foreign aid to ALL countries, we'd see real change towards peace there. It's a thought. Might even work.
It won't happen though. Why not? Religion. Many so-called Christians see greater Israel as a requirement for the return of Jesus and the end of the world. Well, what about the billions of people on this planet who don't believe in Jesus or Christianity? We get screwed just because some book says this is how things are supposed to be? That sure as hell sucks shit. How does anybody know that the Bible is correct? You do NOT know. You cannot know. There are other books from other religions that make a very different claim. How can anybody know that those books are correct? How can anybody know if ANY religious book is correct? You cannot possibly know with any real, honest certainty. Nobody knows who wrote these books. Most of them were written long after the main characters were dead and buried. Also, many of them are basically a rework of much older stories from earlier civilizations and religions. So, it is impossible to KNOW that any of these books are true or not. It all comes down to what you believe. Also, no "average" human being reads many of these books in the original language in which they were written. The books have been translated, and we all know that things DO get lost in an y translation. Again, you CANNOT know that any of these books are correct.
Religion is all belief, nothing more. My personal opinion. If this upsets you, well, so be it. Did I stub your toes on this one? Well, if you ever come back this way again, wear steel toed work boots. This is MY personal opinion and I am allowed to express it. I am sick of all this "religious" crap of which religion is the "true" religion. None of them are. They have ALL changed over time from the absolute original.
Along a similar line, what gives America the "right" to tell other countries how to govern themselves? Where the hell do "we" get off with this shit? This does fit in with my "bitch" about religion in fact. How so? Well, Americans (at least a good number of them) make the claim that this is a Christian nation.Really? Well I know some little bit about Christianity. I admit that is it nearly 50 years ago that Christianity and I started to part company and by the time I got back from Vietnam in 1971, we had parted finally and completely., but I do remember a few things fromChristianity even today. Now, it may be that I just see the hypocrisy in the way this "Christianity" of America is put into practice, we shall see.
If America IS a Christian nation, why does it go about business in a very un-Christian way? For example, our government runs around the world telling other countries how to do their governing. "We" tell other folks how they should "take care of their own" in their country. Well, we don't do a very good job of that here for our own do we? How can "we" get away with this when there are some 46 million Americans who have NO health care? When there are millions of homeless here in America. Many of those homeless are American military veterans! This is how "we" support our troops?
This is the "Christian" way?
Our government goes off to other countries and kills their people, for whatever reason, it doesn't really matter in the end, dead is dead. Doesn't Christianity teach us to "love our enemies"? Doesn't it tech to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you"? Maybe "we" secretly wish to have foreign troops invade us and go around killing our fellow Americans?
How do you square our national behavior with being a Christian nation? I don't see how it can be done without huge doses of lies and bullshit. If America acts like a Christian nation, I will remain a heathen forever. Hell, at least I am honest about this.
America does NOT have a "mission from God". The only folks who ever had a true "mission from God" were the Blues Brothers in the original movie. Period. America does NOT have such a mission. If this country did have such a mission, we should have universal health care, free education through college level, a decent minimum wage, honest government, and a military for defence ONLY. Then, and only then, could "we" claim to be some shining example of a Christian nation and THEN we might set off to HELP the rest of the world to acieve what we had done. Not one single milli-second before that time. America goes off saying how dirty the other folks house is, while ours is a total mess. What absolute hypocricy! And it is the DUTY of every Christian to change this shit. Take care of your own first. Take care of EVERY American before you start to even try to help the rest of the world. Until you do this, you are fake Christians in my opinion.
Oh, and one more thing. STOP telling ME that I MUST believe in Jesus. Bull crap. I can believe what ever I choose to believe or not believe. If you have found "the one true" religion, great. I am very happy for you. Just don't try to convince me that I must believe it also.
Live and let live. I do NOT try to get anybody to believe as I do, please do me the same favor. Do unto others, etc. I try to live that way, now it is the turn of all you religious folks to do the same.
semper fi
12 January 2008
11 January 2008
Iran and the "real id"
Well, Iran has made it back into the US news again. Yes, I am slow in this reply to the "latest" news(?) about Iran. I figure it is best to wait a few days and let things sort themselves out rather than do a Faux Noise type comment immediately without benefit of really knowing what happened. So, for that, I guess you can call me reactionary or un-American or at least anti-Faux Noise (aka Fox News).
The entire "affair" now seems to have been a manufactured job. Many of the commentaries have pointed out that the audio does not match up with the video. Well, what the hell you folks want? The bloody damn neo-cons want another war, this time with Iran. They will do whatever it requires to get that war. We, who still think for ourselves, must do whatever we can to prevent this from happening.
The neo-crazies are the REAL anti-Americans here people. The neo-cons hate our freedoms. They despise OUR constitution also. Oh, they "talk" about democracy and freedoms, but only if THEY control everything. If we follow their "rule", then all will be well in the world.
Bullshit! The neo-con "plan" is for American dominance of the entire world. With them in charge of it all. They are a lunatic bunch of homicidal maniacs, but they will never do any actual fighting. No sir, the dying and fighting are the "jobs" of the "lower classes" of Americans. The neo-cons are too pure to be involved in the actual goddamn dirty work of actually fighting the wars they wish for. Fucking chicken shits is what they really are. Goddamn school yard bullies, nothing more than all talk and no guts for the job when push comes to shove. Fucking cowards, that is your precious neo-cons. Cheney included as number one coward. No balls at all. Five fucking deferments? You bet, he had "other priorities" during Vietnam. Hell so did ALL the troops in Vietnam. We called those priorities, getting back home in one piece.
Now, I have no problem with an honest coward. Some folks just have no stomach for hard, dirty work. But an honest person will admit this up front. The neo-cons are dishonest. They talk big, but never will get their lilly white hands dirty. Hell no, that is what the kids of the working class and poor folks are for. Clean up the mess made by the neo-cons. Well, time to cut them loose. Let the neo-crazies fight their own fucking wars. Bet there will be way fewer wars that way.
Now this "real id" crap. People born after 1964 are to be looked at closely when they apply for a drivers license, or get one renewed. Us old folks, like me, who were born before then won't see any change for some years down the line.
This is, we are told, to make it harder for illegal aliens to get a drivers license. Oh joy. They are here folks. They have jobs here and kids in our schools. Why the big deal over drivers licenses? Well, Homie Land (in)Security has to do something to justify the huge amounts of funding it gets every year. Building that border fence won't take that much money and won't take too long to build, so, the drivers license deal is born.
Actually, this "real id" is not a new thing. It has been around for some time now. Sort of an "on then off then on again" type of thing.
We should all be against this crap. Do we really want to be like some foreign countries? The kind like in some movies, where every time you go out and about, some fool with a uniform (think your average rent-a-cop) can stop you and ask for "Your papers please"? Do we, in America want that sort of bullshit? I do NOT!
People, we are becoming way too paranoid. This is America. We supposedly love our freedoms. This crap will limit our freedoms. It is more government bullshit and will NOT in any way make any of us one bit safer.
Just my 2 cents for today.
semper fi
The entire "affair" now seems to have been a manufactured job. Many of the commentaries have pointed out that the audio does not match up with the video. Well, what the hell you folks want? The bloody damn neo-cons want another war, this time with Iran. They will do whatever it requires to get that war. We, who still think for ourselves, must do whatever we can to prevent this from happening.
The neo-crazies are the REAL anti-Americans here people. The neo-cons hate our freedoms. They despise OUR constitution also. Oh, they "talk" about democracy and freedoms, but only if THEY control everything. If we follow their "rule", then all will be well in the world.
Bullshit! The neo-con "plan" is for American dominance of the entire world. With them in charge of it all. They are a lunatic bunch of homicidal maniacs, but they will never do any actual fighting. No sir, the dying and fighting are the "jobs" of the "lower classes" of Americans. The neo-cons are too pure to be involved in the actual goddamn dirty work of actually fighting the wars they wish for. Fucking chicken shits is what they really are. Goddamn school yard bullies, nothing more than all talk and no guts for the job when push comes to shove. Fucking cowards, that is your precious neo-cons. Cheney included as number one coward. No balls at all. Five fucking deferments? You bet, he had "other priorities" during Vietnam. Hell so did ALL the troops in Vietnam. We called those priorities, getting back home in one piece.
Now, I have no problem with an honest coward. Some folks just have no stomach for hard, dirty work. But an honest person will admit this up front. The neo-cons are dishonest. They talk big, but never will get their lilly white hands dirty. Hell no, that is what the kids of the working class and poor folks are for. Clean up the mess made by the neo-cons. Well, time to cut them loose. Let the neo-crazies fight their own fucking wars. Bet there will be way fewer wars that way.
Now this "real id" crap. People born after 1964 are to be looked at closely when they apply for a drivers license, or get one renewed. Us old folks, like me, who were born before then won't see any change for some years down the line.
This is, we are told, to make it harder for illegal aliens to get a drivers license. Oh joy. They are here folks. They have jobs here and kids in our schools. Why the big deal over drivers licenses? Well, Homie Land (in)Security has to do something to justify the huge amounts of funding it gets every year. Building that border fence won't take that much money and won't take too long to build, so, the drivers license deal is born.
Actually, this "real id" is not a new thing. It has been around for some time now. Sort of an "on then off then on again" type of thing.
We should all be against this crap. Do we really want to be like some foreign countries? The kind like in some movies, where every time you go out and about, some fool with a uniform (think your average rent-a-cop) can stop you and ask for "Your papers please"? Do we, in America want that sort of bullshit? I do NOT!
People, we are becoming way too paranoid. This is America. We supposedly love our freedoms. This crap will limit our freedoms. It is more government bullshit and will NOT in any way make any of us one bit safer.
Just my 2 cents for today.
semper fi
05 January 2008
At long last, the elections have started.........sort of
Well, yippeeeeee. The election "cycle" has finally had the official start. It seems to me they have been running for president for the last three years, at least.
I have a comment or three about it, of course. I also have one observation to pass along. First off, the "observation" as it were. Earlier today I caught a quick glimpse of a headline to the effect, Is America color blind? It was referring to Obama winning the Iowa caucus.
My short answer, NO. Why? Well, I read a very good commentary about Senator Obama on Counterpunch the other day. Of course I cannot find the article to give you the link, I'm still looking for it.
Basically the article had the premise that it was time for a change and as Obama is not of the "boomer" generation, he is younger, the young voters were energized by his candidacy. Well, I hope they are. Honestly. Having more Americans involved in the election process has got to be a good thing. If none of us bother to vote, then we will be stuck with whatever the "powers that be" decide to stick us with. Yes, I KNOW that things aren't really much different than that today. I keep hoping we will get REAL change, and having the young people joining the process is a plus in my opinion.
I even have a cousin, whom I email regularly who told me this past summer that he was leaning towards Mr. Obama. My cousin is a few years older than me, so even us "boomers" like him.
I have yet to decide who/whom to back for president. By the time Louisiana has its primary the field will probably be quite a bit smaller than it is now. And, we have had Senators Dodd and Biden quit already.
Getting back to the Counterpunch article, the writer said that it was time for the "boomer" generation to step aside and let the "kids" (my words here) take command.Well, this is how I felt (bet many "boomers" felt this way also) when Billy Bob Bubba Clinton ran back in 92. We were tired of the World War Two generation (in the person of papa Bush) running things. Hell, I was so wrapped up in "one of us" running for president that I even voted for him instead of for the candidate from the "Peace and Freedom Party". Big mistake, but, heck, I'm only human.
Now one could say that "our" generation has "only" run the show for going on 16 years now. Eight years of Billy Bob and now going on eight years of the Shrubster. Not a very long time in power. But, one must also ask, and be damned HONEST about the answers here, just what have "we" done with our "turn" at being in charge.
OK, what have "we" done? Well, we had the first lady "chair" a secret gathering to set national health care policy. It went nowhere fast. We bombed in Bosnia and Kosovo. Two small countries in the Balkans that America has no business messing with. Thanks Billy Bob and Hi-Larry. Yes, Ma Clinton pushed Bill to bomb. And of course Mad-ass Albright asked old General Powell why we had that big army if "we" weren't going to use it. Of course old Mad-ass also said she thought it was "worth it" that our sanctions after Gulf Wart One (thanks papa Shrub) had killed an estimated 500,00 Iraqi children. Worth it? The un-necessary deaths of 500,000 children was worth it? Who the goddamn fuck is this bitch? Oh, she was our damn-bastard to the UN and Secretary of State. See who preceded Condi? Holy shit! Where do we get theses assholes from? Granted Mad-ass was born in what was Czechoslovakia, so maybe her ideas of a constitutional republic may differ from ours. Maybe human suffering, in her opinion, is different from my idea of it. We cut and ran from Somalia on Bill's watch. We continued to kiss the ass end of Israel, of course. We bombed Iraq on a regular basis. There were those "no fly" zones, remember? We fired a few cruise missile at Sudan, we thought bin-Laden was there. We fired a few cruise missile at Afghanistan, we thought bin-Laden was there. We had old Greenspan as head of the Fed, setting the stage for the dot com bubble and our current housing/credit bubble.
We invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. We have threatened to bomb/invade Iran. We have made Pakistan even worse. We have allowed Palestine to degrade even further, how much worse can that poor country(?) get?
Those are just a few of the things that my generation has done while "running the show". Maybe it IS time to have the next generation step up and have a shot at running things. I don't think they could do much worse.
OK, now for another "take" on the Iowa "election". I caught a glimpse of that headline asking if America is "color blind" because Obama won. I do not think so. I wish it were, but I really think he won because people DO want change and there was not very much else to choose from in the donkey gang.
Poor Hi-Larry. The ONLY group that she really won was with women over 60. Poor Hi-Larry is having a hard time of this election. The majority of the establishment types was that she would have a "cake walk" into the nomination. Oooops! Not to be by the looks of things. Apparently the folks in Iowa didn't think very much of her "experience" as first lady and her short time as a US Senator from New York. Well, bless her little heart. Sorry Hi-Larry, but you are toast. Go back to New York, suck up to the bankers, corporate big shots and the defence contractors.
Obama HAS connected with college kids at least. It has been reported that they went back to their home towns for this caucus and voted for him. This is unusual as the college folks don't usually do this sort of thing during their school breaks. We tend to think of them having one big party while on break. This winter, in Iowa, they voted! Outstanding!
For democracy to truly function, we NEED and engaged, informed citizenry. Looks like we have that in Iowa. No we will see how it goes in the next primaries.
Look for the Clinton gang to take every cheap shot in the books, and some that aren't in the books, at Obama. This is going to get very nasty. Hi-Larry hates to lose.
On the elephant side, Huckabee won. Yep, the Baptist preacher beat the Mormon business guy. Both are former governors, if that means much. I have a very hard time trying to imagine either as leader of more than a pack of demented cub scouts, but that is me. One could always vote for Dr. Ron Paul. He is still running as a Republican. Of course, he has been excluded from the TV debates set for tomorrow on the Faux Noise Nutwork. No surprise there. The establishment does NOT want him to have any real shot at the nomination.
Any way you look at this deal, it is going to be fun for those of us who sit back and watch it all open up. You can bet the farm that both gangs will be throwing tons of mud at each other, if they haven't started already. Make sure you wear your rain gear while watching this election process folks. As Justin Raimondo says, get out the popcorn and find a comfy chair, it is going to be fun watching this one.
semper fi
I have a comment or three about it, of course. I also have one observation to pass along. First off, the "observation" as it were. Earlier today I caught a quick glimpse of a headline to the effect, Is America color blind? It was referring to Obama winning the Iowa caucus.
My short answer, NO. Why? Well, I read a very good commentary about Senator Obama on Counterpunch the other day. Of course I cannot find the article to give you the link, I'm still looking for it.
Basically the article had the premise that it was time for a change and as Obama is not of the "boomer" generation, he is younger, the young voters were energized by his candidacy. Well, I hope they are. Honestly. Having more Americans involved in the election process has got to be a good thing. If none of us bother to vote, then we will be stuck with whatever the "powers that be" decide to stick us with. Yes, I KNOW that things aren't really much different than that today. I keep hoping we will get REAL change, and having the young people joining the process is a plus in my opinion.
I even have a cousin, whom I email regularly who told me this past summer that he was leaning towards Mr. Obama. My cousin is a few years older than me, so even us "boomers" like him.
I have yet to decide who/whom to back for president. By the time Louisiana has its primary the field will probably be quite a bit smaller than it is now. And, we have had Senators Dodd and Biden quit already.
Getting back to the Counterpunch article, the writer said that it was time for the "boomer" generation to step aside and let the "kids" (my words here) take command.Well, this is how I felt (bet many "boomers" felt this way also) when Billy Bob Bubba Clinton ran back in 92. We were tired of the World War Two generation (in the person of papa Bush) running things. Hell, I was so wrapped up in "one of us" running for president that I even voted for him instead of for the candidate from the "Peace and Freedom Party". Big mistake, but, heck, I'm only human.
Now one could say that "our" generation has "only" run the show for going on 16 years now. Eight years of Billy Bob and now going on eight years of the Shrubster. Not a very long time in power. But, one must also ask, and be damned HONEST about the answers here, just what have "we" done with our "turn" at being in charge.
OK, what have "we" done? Well, we had the first lady "chair" a secret gathering to set national health care policy. It went nowhere fast. We bombed in Bosnia and Kosovo. Two small countries in the Balkans that America has no business messing with. Thanks Billy Bob and Hi-Larry. Yes, Ma Clinton pushed Bill to bomb. And of course Mad-ass Albright asked old General Powell why we had that big army if "we" weren't going to use it. Of course old Mad-ass also said she thought it was "worth it" that our sanctions after Gulf Wart One (thanks papa Shrub) had killed an estimated 500,00 Iraqi children. Worth it? The un-necessary deaths of 500,000 children was worth it? Who the goddamn fuck is this bitch? Oh, she was our damn-bastard to the UN and Secretary of State. See who preceded Condi? Holy shit! Where do we get theses assholes from? Granted Mad-ass was born in what was Czechoslovakia, so maybe her ideas of a constitutional republic may differ from ours. Maybe human suffering, in her opinion, is different from my idea of it. We cut and ran from Somalia on Bill's watch. We continued to kiss the ass end of Israel, of course. We bombed Iraq on a regular basis. There were those "no fly" zones, remember? We fired a few cruise missile at Sudan, we thought bin-Laden was there. We fired a few cruise missile at Afghanistan, we thought bin-Laden was there. We had old Greenspan as head of the Fed, setting the stage for the dot com bubble and our current housing/credit bubble.
We invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. We have threatened to bomb/invade Iran. We have made Pakistan even worse. We have allowed Palestine to degrade even further, how much worse can that poor country(?) get?
Those are just a few of the things that my generation has done while "running the show". Maybe it IS time to have the next generation step up and have a shot at running things. I don't think they could do much worse.
OK, now for another "take" on the Iowa "election". I caught a glimpse of that headline asking if America is "color blind" because Obama won. I do not think so. I wish it were, but I really think he won because people DO want change and there was not very much else to choose from in the donkey gang.
Poor Hi-Larry. The ONLY group that she really won was with women over 60. Poor Hi-Larry is having a hard time of this election. The majority of the establishment types was that she would have a "cake walk" into the nomination. Oooops! Not to be by the looks of things. Apparently the folks in Iowa didn't think very much of her "experience" as first lady and her short time as a US Senator from New York. Well, bless her little heart. Sorry Hi-Larry, but you are toast. Go back to New York, suck up to the bankers, corporate big shots and the defence contractors.
Obama HAS connected with college kids at least. It has been reported that they went back to their home towns for this caucus and voted for him. This is unusual as the college folks don't usually do this sort of thing during their school breaks. We tend to think of them having one big party while on break. This winter, in Iowa, they voted! Outstanding!
For democracy to truly function, we NEED and engaged, informed citizenry. Looks like we have that in Iowa. No we will see how it goes in the next primaries.
Look for the Clinton gang to take every cheap shot in the books, and some that aren't in the books, at Obama. This is going to get very nasty. Hi-Larry hates to lose.
On the elephant side, Huckabee won. Yep, the Baptist preacher beat the Mormon business guy. Both are former governors, if that means much. I have a very hard time trying to imagine either as leader of more than a pack of demented cub scouts, but that is me. One could always vote for Dr. Ron Paul. He is still running as a Republican. Of course, he has been excluded from the TV debates set for tomorrow on the Faux Noise Nutwork. No surprise there. The establishment does NOT want him to have any real shot at the nomination.
Any way you look at this deal, it is going to be fun for those of us who sit back and watch it all open up. You can bet the farm that both gangs will be throwing tons of mud at each other, if they haven't started already. Make sure you wear your rain gear while watching this election process folks. As Justin Raimondo says, get out the popcorn and find a comfy chair, it is going to be fun watching this one.
semper fi
30 December 2007
Follow on to the Pakistan entry
A few things that I forgot to mention in the latest entry here. Some day I intend to get the "hang" of this writing thing. You know, such items as making a rough outline, a list of "points" to make in an entry, and maybe even some sort of flow pattern for the entry. All that to add some sort of "logic", no, not necessarily to my "thoughts(?)" or rants, but to the overall "flow" of the entry. Trying to add any sort of "logic" to my rants is a total waste of time and energy. At a now official 60 years of age, trying to make my rants/thoughts/opinions contain logic, well, lets just say you might have an easier time of herding cats. By the way, I have heard of cats..........but that IS another story.
One of the things I should have added to the latest entry is in regards to how America has been trying, at least since the end of World War Two, to get the entire world to conform to the "wishes" of Washington D.C.
Now, to me at least, this is quite interesting in a perverse sort of way. Look at it this way, who the bloody damn hell are we Americans to tell the world how to live? Are "we" so pure of motive? Is our own history so squeaky clean? Are we the shining example of the "best" there is?
Let's examine these points. Bear with me, this could be long.
Who are "we" to go around telling others how to live? Well, that is one very good question. Anybody have an easy answer? Hey, even a hard answer will do. Well, "we", supposedly have a democratic republic. There aren't very many of those in the world. Does that give "us" some special "duty" to compel others to do as "we" wish them to do? Maybe, once upon a time, it MIGHT have been. If that time ever did exist. "We" no longer have much left of that democratic republic folks. No, this is NOT going to be a "blame Bush/Cheney" rant. This current administration is just the latest in a long line of crooks who have slowly eroded our liberties and freedoms over the years. One comment on this, remember the "Patriot Act"? Of course you do, it IS the law now. Ever wonder how this massive "bill" was produced so quickly? Easy, it had been written by the Clinton administration. The Bush gang just pulled it off the shelf and dusted it off.
Now, you might wonder, if Clinton had this travesty produced during his term(s) in office, why didn't he push it through Congress? They needed the "right set of circumstances" is why. What was "needed" was a "new Pearl Harbor" to ram this piece of shit through the legislative process. The attacks of 9/11 provided such justification for this to be fostered on the unsuspecting American public. Now, I do NOT claim that 9/11 was an inside job. I do not subscribe to any of the so-called conspiracy theories regards 9/11. To me, there are many unanswered questions about that attack. Until more information is available, I try to keep an open mind. It MAY have been an inside job, or it may not have been. Either way, it shook America and Americans wide awake, for a few months at least. Unfortunately, Bush told everybody to go shopping, so off most of us went. Do you see something odd here? I sure as hell do, but then, who the hell am I?
Our "motives" is up next. Well, to keep it simple, I will stay with our Iraq motives. Simple? More like simple minded.
There really isn't very much that is simple here. First, it was "pay back" for 9/11. But Iraq wasn't involved in the terror attacks. Oh, the neo-cons tried like the devil to force a connection. Meetings between Iraqi "security" officials and al-Qaeda representatives in Prague and other failed attempts. Then it was WMD! Yes sir, old Saddam had chemical and biological weapons! He was trying to make a nuke! We cannot wait for the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud!!! Oh, wait, the UN inspectors said he didn't have any. They had found NO evidence of any, in all of Iraq. Sure, Iraq did have them, once upon a time. Like during the war with Iran in the 1980's. Back in the days when Saddam was a "good buddy" to Ron Ray-gun. Why old Ron even sent his representative Donny Rumsfeld to meet with our buddy Saddam. Yes, that "famous" or is it infamous photo.
Well sir, after we invaded Iraq, we looked and looked, but never did find any of those WMD's. And for all those non-existent weapons of mass destruction, a covert CIA operative who was involved in keeping nuclear weapons OUT of the hands of some very nasty people, got "outed" and lost her cover and job. So, for not one goddamn thing of substance, America lost an experienced intelligence agent. Not a very good bargain in my opinion.
Then our motive became the spreading of democracy in the Middle East. Yes sir, don't you remember how democracy came to America? Why those sneaky Brits forced it upon us! They even fought a war with us to make damn sure America became a democracy! We still call it the "American Revolution", because the idea of democracy is so revolting to the political "leaders" of America even now more than 200 years later.
No, that won't wash as a motive any longer. Unspoken motive? Well, supposedly making that region of the world safer for the Zionist entity. Er, um, yep, Israel. Well, holy crap folks. Israel has the most modern, highly trained military force in the region. What more do they need? The Israelis even have nuclear weapons. Of course nobody is supposed to know that as they have never declared they have them. It is sort of an "open secret". No one is supposed to know about the Israeli nukes, but everybody knows they exist. Funny how things work in this crazy world.
I have NO idea what our motive in Iraq is today. I did not mention oil for a reason. The reason is, oil is NOT talked about in context with Iraq, except when the news is released that production has finally met the pre-invasion levels. Or when a pipeline is blown up, again. Personally, I do not think we went to Iraq to get the oil for America. It sure was NOT to keep us in cheap oil. Now, it could be we went to Iraq to control the flow of oil in the region. Also to have permanent bases, as the Saudi government (ruling family) wants us out of their country. All this leaves us with permanent bases in Iraq plus, the largest embassy in the entire world, right there in Iraq.
Our history. Here "we" get into some difficulty when "we" proclaim how righteous "we" are. First off, there is the genocide of the native peoples of what is now the United States. This of course is still ongoing. The poor (literally and figuratively) peoples who live on the Indian reservations are some of the worst off people in the entire world. A national shame is barely scratching the surface of that tragic mess. OK, keeping it short(?, we'll let the natives be for now. How about the Africans? "We" imported them here. We went out looking to "buy" them and then bring them here and put them to work. Slavery, it was called. Yes, it is in the Bible, so is sodomy and many other things we frown upon. Just because something is in a particular religious book does NOT make it right. Oh, but old charlie IS a heathen of course. Yes, I am, and damn proud of it.
"We" treated those poor Africans like shit. Not all of us. Even many slave owners were somewhat kindly toward their slaves. They had to be. Slaves were an investment. Like a new piece of machinery. You don't pay good money for a new tractor or slave, then go out and just totally abuse it/him/her. That makes no sense at all. No, I am not trying to justify slavery, I personally think it is a crime against humanity. I do not have slaves, obviously, as nobody in America really "owns" another person. Many of us are/were wage slaves, but this is getting off track. My grandparents didn't have slaves either. They came to America in the early 1900's as teenagers/young adults. I do not believe they would have owned or even wanted slaves anyway. Even if they had been slave owners, that would not make me guilty. I refuse to be punished for any "sins" of my ancestors. Now, for my own "sins"/crimes? Sure, they would be mine and I would take responsibility for them. Well, we sure didn't "do right" by our imported Africans.
Well, this short and very incomplete "history" review doesn't help with "our" wanting to "lead the world" by example now does it? Our "track record" doesn't look so good.
Now I am NOT anti-American. Hell, I served (honorably) in the Marines. I did my tour in Vietnam. I love America, I just think our government is out of control, and in no way able to demand that the world do as we tell them to do.
How about today? What is our example to the world of "good behavior" to be followed? Well, I already mentioned the "Patriot Act". To this we can add the abuses at Abu Ghraib, Bagram air base, and of course the one in the news the most, Guantanamo. The old "we don't torture" crap is very stale and there are very few "believers" for that line of bullshit today. We can't forget the "Military Commissions Act", which makes hash of the Constitution and civil liberty here in America. The "Homegrown Terrorist" bill that I ranted on a few entries ago is in there also. The abuses here at home alone are too numerous to mention. Hell, it is hard to remember them all! So much bullshit, and all in just about seven years. Seven years? Time flies when you're having fun. Maybe that is why it just seems like Bush/Cheney have been in power our entire adult lives.
Pardon me, but I fail to see how having the Constitution shredded, our civil liberties trampled upon,our mail and email read without a warrant, our phone calls tapped, our banking records monitored, even the books we check out of the library monitored can be anything remotely like fun. And believe me, I have an odd sense of fun. I was a Marine, remember.
All in all, I fail to see how "we" are any sort of example for the world to emulate. If anything, America today serves as a bad, indeed a very bad, example. More like a "what NOT to do sort of example. And somehow "we" feel it is our duty(!) to lead the world, to show the people the way forward!??? Good grief! Even old Charlie Brown would NOT try to kick that football.
America, it is way past time for action. WE, the people of America, need to restore our democratic republic while there is anything left of it to restore.
semper fi
One of the things I should have added to the latest entry is in regards to how America has been trying, at least since the end of World War Two, to get the entire world to conform to the "wishes" of Washington D.C.
Now, to me at least, this is quite interesting in a perverse sort of way. Look at it this way, who the bloody damn hell are we Americans to tell the world how to live? Are "we" so pure of motive? Is our own history so squeaky clean? Are we the shining example of the "best" there is?
Let's examine these points. Bear with me, this could be long.
Who are "we" to go around telling others how to live? Well, that is one very good question. Anybody have an easy answer? Hey, even a hard answer will do. Well, "we", supposedly have a democratic republic. There aren't very many of those in the world. Does that give "us" some special "duty" to compel others to do as "we" wish them to do? Maybe, once upon a time, it MIGHT have been. If that time ever did exist. "We" no longer have much left of that democratic republic folks. No, this is NOT going to be a "blame Bush/Cheney" rant. This current administration is just the latest in a long line of crooks who have slowly eroded our liberties and freedoms over the years. One comment on this, remember the "Patriot Act"? Of course you do, it IS the law now. Ever wonder how this massive "bill" was produced so quickly? Easy, it had been written by the Clinton administration. The Bush gang just pulled it off the shelf and dusted it off.
Now, you might wonder, if Clinton had this travesty produced during his term(s) in office, why didn't he push it through Congress? They needed the "right set of circumstances" is why. What was "needed" was a "new Pearl Harbor" to ram this piece of shit through the legislative process. The attacks of 9/11 provided such justification for this to be fostered on the unsuspecting American public. Now, I do NOT claim that 9/11 was an inside job. I do not subscribe to any of the so-called conspiracy theories regards 9/11. To me, there are many unanswered questions about that attack. Until more information is available, I try to keep an open mind. It MAY have been an inside job, or it may not have been. Either way, it shook America and Americans wide awake, for a few months at least. Unfortunately, Bush told everybody to go shopping, so off most of us went. Do you see something odd here? I sure as hell do, but then, who the hell am I?
Our "motives" is up next. Well, to keep it simple, I will stay with our Iraq motives. Simple? More like simple minded.
There really isn't very much that is simple here. First, it was "pay back" for 9/11. But Iraq wasn't involved in the terror attacks. Oh, the neo-cons tried like the devil to force a connection. Meetings between Iraqi "security" officials and al-Qaeda representatives in Prague and other failed attempts. Then it was WMD! Yes sir, old Saddam had chemical and biological weapons! He was trying to make a nuke! We cannot wait for the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud!!! Oh, wait, the UN inspectors said he didn't have any. They had found NO evidence of any, in all of Iraq. Sure, Iraq did have them, once upon a time. Like during the war with Iran in the 1980's. Back in the days when Saddam was a "good buddy" to Ron Ray-gun. Why old Ron even sent his representative Donny Rumsfeld to meet with our buddy Saddam. Yes, that "famous" or is it infamous photo.
Well sir, after we invaded Iraq, we looked and looked, but never did find any of those WMD's. And for all those non-existent weapons of mass destruction, a covert CIA operative who was involved in keeping nuclear weapons OUT of the hands of some very nasty people, got "outed" and lost her cover and job. So, for not one goddamn thing of substance, America lost an experienced intelligence agent. Not a very good bargain in my opinion.
Then our motive became the spreading of democracy in the Middle East. Yes sir, don't you remember how democracy came to America? Why those sneaky Brits forced it upon us! They even fought a war with us to make damn sure America became a democracy! We still call it the "American Revolution", because the idea of democracy is so revolting to the political "leaders" of America even now more than 200 years later.
No, that won't wash as a motive any longer. Unspoken motive? Well, supposedly making that region of the world safer for the Zionist entity. Er, um, yep, Israel. Well, holy crap folks. Israel has the most modern, highly trained military force in the region. What more do they need? The Israelis even have nuclear weapons. Of course nobody is supposed to know that as they have never declared they have them. It is sort of an "open secret". No one is supposed to know about the Israeli nukes, but everybody knows they exist. Funny how things work in this crazy world.
I have NO idea what our motive in Iraq is today. I did not mention oil for a reason. The reason is, oil is NOT talked about in context with Iraq, except when the news is released that production has finally met the pre-invasion levels. Or when a pipeline is blown up, again. Personally, I do not think we went to Iraq to get the oil for America. It sure was NOT to keep us in cheap oil. Now, it could be we went to Iraq to control the flow of oil in the region. Also to have permanent bases, as the Saudi government (ruling family) wants us out of their country. All this leaves us with permanent bases in Iraq plus, the largest embassy in the entire world, right there in Iraq.
Our history. Here "we" get into some difficulty when "we" proclaim how righteous "we" are. First off, there is the genocide of the native peoples of what is now the United States. This of course is still ongoing. The poor (literally and figuratively) peoples who live on the Indian reservations are some of the worst off people in the entire world. A national shame is barely scratching the surface of that tragic mess. OK, keeping it short(?, we'll let the natives be for now. How about the Africans? "We" imported them here. We went out looking to "buy" them and then bring them here and put them to work. Slavery, it was called. Yes, it is in the Bible, so is sodomy and many other things we frown upon. Just because something is in a particular religious book does NOT make it right. Oh, but old charlie IS a heathen of course. Yes, I am, and damn proud of it.
"We" treated those poor Africans like shit. Not all of us. Even many slave owners were somewhat kindly toward their slaves. They had to be. Slaves were an investment. Like a new piece of machinery. You don't pay good money for a new tractor or slave, then go out and just totally abuse it/him/her. That makes no sense at all. No, I am not trying to justify slavery, I personally think it is a crime against humanity. I do not have slaves, obviously, as nobody in America really "owns" another person. Many of us are/were wage slaves, but this is getting off track. My grandparents didn't have slaves either. They came to America in the early 1900's as teenagers/young adults. I do not believe they would have owned or even wanted slaves anyway. Even if they had been slave owners, that would not make me guilty. I refuse to be punished for any "sins" of my ancestors. Now, for my own "sins"/crimes? Sure, they would be mine and I would take responsibility for them. Well, we sure didn't "do right" by our imported Africans.
Well, this short and very incomplete "history" review doesn't help with "our" wanting to "lead the world" by example now does it? Our "track record" doesn't look so good.
Now I am NOT anti-American. Hell, I served (honorably) in the Marines. I did my tour in Vietnam. I love America, I just think our government is out of control, and in no way able to demand that the world do as we tell them to do.
How about today? What is our example to the world of "good behavior" to be followed? Well, I already mentioned the "Patriot Act". To this we can add the abuses at Abu Ghraib, Bagram air base, and of course the one in the news the most, Guantanamo. The old "we don't torture" crap is very stale and there are very few "believers" for that line of bullshit today. We can't forget the "Military Commissions Act", which makes hash of the Constitution and civil liberty here in America. The "Homegrown Terrorist" bill that I ranted on a few entries ago is in there also. The abuses here at home alone are too numerous to mention. Hell, it is hard to remember them all! So much bullshit, and all in just about seven years. Seven years? Time flies when you're having fun. Maybe that is why it just seems like Bush/Cheney have been in power our entire adult lives.
Pardon me, but I fail to see how having the Constitution shredded, our civil liberties trampled upon,our mail and email read without a warrant, our phone calls tapped, our banking records monitored, even the books we check out of the library monitored can be anything remotely like fun. And believe me, I have an odd sense of fun. I was a Marine, remember.
All in all, I fail to see how "we" are any sort of example for the world to emulate. If anything, America today serves as a bad, indeed a very bad, example. More like a "what NOT to do sort of example. And somehow "we" feel it is our duty(!) to lead the world, to show the people the way forward!??? Good grief! Even old Charlie Brown would NOT try to kick that football.
America, it is way past time for action. WE, the people of America, need to restore our democratic republic while there is anything left of it to restore.
semper fi
Pakistan .........of course
Well, poor old Pakistan is back on the front pages of American newspapers again. All it took was for a political assassination to get there.
This murder was not a surprise to anybody who has any knowledge of that country and the relatively recent history of it. In fact it could have been seen coming by a blind man.
The "big question" of the moment is; who is responsible for her death. Well, one candidate, indirectly, is the US of A and the criminal Bush administration. Bush and crew had worked out some sort of deal between Ms. Bhutto and the current leader of Pakistan, Mr. Musharraf for her to return to Pakistan and run in the up-coming elections. This "deal" included, among other things, dropping the corruption charges pending against her. During her two terms as prime minister, she is alleged to have "skimmed" close to $1 billion dollars from the national treasury. Being leader can pay quite well for some. Her husband had earned(?) the nick-name of "Mr. 10 Percent" as all government contracts apparently had to have his approval, which included a 10% fee, paid to him of course. Not a bad deal, keep it in the family, ya know.
America and the policy makers in the government had to have know all this before they set up any sort of deal. Hell, I knew some of this and I do not make it a point to study current events in Pakistan. I just had paid attention to news in the past, oh say 45+ years of my life. Why only that time period? Well, I am just 60 years old is why.
If I can pay attention to news, even what passes for news in the America of today, one would think(?) that the high ranking members of our government would do so as well. Hell, shouldn't our State Department people be "up" on the world news? I sure as hell think it would be demanded of them. Why else do they have a job in the State Department if they don't have a clue to what is happening in the world. Among other qualifications for employment in the State Department, I would think knowing world history would be right near the top. Of course, I only have an Associates degree from a community college, so what the hell do I know? Not enough to have a government job. Or, maybe I DO know enough to not work for the government.
Either way, the Bush administration has some responsibility for the death of Ms. Bhutto. No, it is not enough for them to be taken to court for it. I do not even accuse them of being involved with her death. Only to point out that by brokering a deal for her return to Pakistan, they were, indirectly perhaps, but still doing so, setting up the circumstances that did lead to her death. Had she remained in self-imposed exile, she would not have been killed as she was. She may have lived to a ripe old age. I would guess that the idea of returning to power was too much for her to pass up. I guess having power, then being out of power makes one crave to be back in power again. I wouldn't know, I never had any power to lose, thankfully.
Another thing being said about the late Ms. Bhutto is that she was the "last best hope" for democracy in Pakistan. Bullshit! She was not a democrat by any means. She was NOT a woman of her people either. She cared about as much for the average Pakistani as Bush cares for the average American. She, like Bush, craved power and money. Period.
Another thing for you to think on. Ms. Bhutto helped the Taliban government in Afghanistan. In fact, during her reign as prime minister, Pakistan was one of the very few countries in the world to officially recognize the Taliban government.Her government also aided the Taliban with money and arms, so I find it hard to call her a democrat, or an anti-terrorist leader. Then, as with our own government, your terrorist just might be my freedom fighter. It all seems to depend on who is naming the "terrorists".
For the record, I want to add that I am saddened by the death of Ms. Bhutto. While she may not have been a great democrat, or any sort of democrat. While she may well have been guilty of theft of huge sums of money from the Pakistan treasury. While she may not have done much, if anything for the people of her country. One fact remains, she did NOT deserve to die as she did. Any death diminishes us all, and hers will play out on more than just the Pakistani stage, it will play out on the world stage. The fallout from her violent death is just beginning. It is going to be one hell of a bumpy ride folks.
semper fi
This murder was not a surprise to anybody who has any knowledge of that country and the relatively recent history of it. In fact it could have been seen coming by a blind man.
The "big question" of the moment is; who is responsible for her death. Well, one candidate, indirectly, is the US of A and the criminal Bush administration. Bush and crew had worked out some sort of deal between Ms. Bhutto and the current leader of Pakistan, Mr. Musharraf for her to return to Pakistan and run in the up-coming elections. This "deal" included, among other things, dropping the corruption charges pending against her. During her two terms as prime minister, she is alleged to have "skimmed" close to $1 billion dollars from the national treasury. Being leader can pay quite well for some. Her husband had earned(?) the nick-name of "Mr. 10 Percent" as all government contracts apparently had to have his approval, which included a 10% fee, paid to him of course. Not a bad deal, keep it in the family, ya know.
America and the policy makers in the government had to have know all this before they set up any sort of deal. Hell, I knew some of this and I do not make it a point to study current events in Pakistan. I just had paid attention to news in the past, oh say 45+ years of my life. Why only that time period? Well, I am just 60 years old is why.
If I can pay attention to news, even what passes for news in the America of today, one would think(?) that the high ranking members of our government would do so as well. Hell, shouldn't our State Department people be "up" on the world news? I sure as hell think it would be demanded of them. Why else do they have a job in the State Department if they don't have a clue to what is happening in the world. Among other qualifications for employment in the State Department, I would think knowing world history would be right near the top. Of course, I only have an Associates degree from a community college, so what the hell do I know? Not enough to have a government job. Or, maybe I DO know enough to not work for the government.
Either way, the Bush administration has some responsibility for the death of Ms. Bhutto. No, it is not enough for them to be taken to court for it. I do not even accuse them of being involved with her death. Only to point out that by brokering a deal for her return to Pakistan, they were, indirectly perhaps, but still doing so, setting up the circumstances that did lead to her death. Had she remained in self-imposed exile, she would not have been killed as she was. She may have lived to a ripe old age. I would guess that the idea of returning to power was too much for her to pass up. I guess having power, then being out of power makes one crave to be back in power again. I wouldn't know, I never had any power to lose, thankfully.
Another thing being said about the late Ms. Bhutto is that she was the "last best hope" for democracy in Pakistan. Bullshit! She was not a democrat by any means. She was NOT a woman of her people either. She cared about as much for the average Pakistani as Bush cares for the average American. She, like Bush, craved power and money. Period.
Another thing for you to think on. Ms. Bhutto helped the Taliban government in Afghanistan. In fact, during her reign as prime minister, Pakistan was one of the very few countries in the world to officially recognize the Taliban government.Her government also aided the Taliban with money and arms, so I find it hard to call her a democrat, or an anti-terrorist leader. Then, as with our own government, your terrorist just might be my freedom fighter. It all seems to depend on who is naming the "terrorists".
For the record, I want to add that I am saddened by the death of Ms. Bhutto. While she may not have been a great democrat, or any sort of democrat. While she may well have been guilty of theft of huge sums of money from the Pakistan treasury. While she may not have done much, if anything for the people of her country. One fact remains, she did NOT deserve to die as she did. Any death diminishes us all, and hers will play out on more than just the Pakistani stage, it will play out on the world stage. The fallout from her violent death is just beginning. It is going to be one hell of a bumpy ride folks.
semper fi
25 December 2007
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to one and all.
Old Beau, my little dog and the two calico kittens are asleep on my recliner, the rest of the cats are outside on the porch napping. It isn't quite time for our Christmas pizza yet, so, I figured a blog entry might be in order.
We were just resting here today, instead of watching the TV, which has not been on for at least two weeks now, we had the stereo on. Yep, listening to cd's of good old classic rock and roll. Up comes the live album of "Steppenwolf", the fourth track, "The Monster" just finished. Wow, amazing, the song was done for the Vietnam war, but it is still appropriate for today. One thing since then, the monster has grown quite a big bit larger in the intervening years. I do not think that even the guys in the band could have imagined how much the monster would grow. I actually think they felt the monster could be stopped. Well, it can be, but it is up to us do stop it.
America, where are you now? Will you join us in the fight against the monster?
Now for another book review. Man that old SOB charlie sure reads a hell of a lot, don't he? Well, yes, I do. Being permanently disabled means I have the time to do so.
I just finished a very good book, a "MUST READ" book, are there others? Well, yes there really are. Some books are just for "fun" as it were. Or maybe just "special" interest books, like, oh another I am working through. "Maverick Marine" about a Marine Corps hero, General Smedley Butler.
Back to the must read book though. It is "The Coming Balkan Caliphate" by Chris Deliso. This book IS a must for any thinking American, or any thinking human being on this planet. In the book, Mr. Deliso, shows how the Balkans is NOT a "done deal" by any means. He shows what is going on there now and how we got into this mess.
It started with Billy Bob Bubba Clinton and the "intervention" in Bosnia. Just like the shit house mess in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation of that country. In fact, many of the "troops" we helped get to Bosnia were veterans of the Afghan campaign against the Soviets. Yes, America imported radical Islam into Europe through the "back door" of the Balkans. But, we did this for "humanitarian" reasons. We wanted to stop the "evil" Serbs from ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population when the former Yugoslavia broke up.
Clinton, with his "humanitarian" intervention got "our" jihadis into Europe. Thanks loads Bill. Oh, and for the record, Hi-Larry was all for bombing the Serbs to hell and gone. And you were surprised at her votes for the Iraq mess? Ha! She is more pro-war than Bush. Hillary has received more campaign funds from the military contractors than ANY other candidate for president from either party (er, wing of the war party that is). Yes sir, she has raked in more funding from the military-industrial complex of rip-off artists (aka defense establishment) than any other candidate. And she is a Democrat? Funny, I had thought it was the Republicans who were pro-war and the donkey gang was "supposed" to be anti-war. Well, what do ya know? Things DO change!
Back to the book, again. Mr Deliso points out how the radical Islamic groups, the Saudi backed Wahhabis and even al-Qaeda have been given assistance from the US government. How these groups have formed alliances with the Albanian mafia and other criminal gangs in the region. He shows how our neglect of the region since 9/11 has lead to further radicalisation of the Muslim population of the Balkans. This is a very serious matter as the "native" Muslim population is European. They "look just like us" and blend into the rest of the European or North American population. Some security people refer to them as the "white devils". This could prove to be a very serious security matter. Can't "detect" them by their appearances. They do not look like the typical Middle Eastern types, they ARE European and of course blend right in. And we have let this happen. Not only let it happen, our government has set the stage for it to happen. We backed the Islamic government of Bosnia, we back the radical Muslim Albanians who want to have an independent Kosovo. We have set up this entire mess. Just as we did in Afghanistan in the 1980's and again with our current "invasion" of that country. Just as we have created a terrible mess in Iraq.
We chase the Taliban, and our own tail, through Afghanistan. We made a situation in Iraq where al-Qaeda could enter Iraq and flourish. Our government and "leaders" seem to never learn from past history. And to think that our "decider" is supposed to have been a history major in college. Maybe they teach history differently at Yale and Harvard. The man sure as hell didn't learn very much in my opinion.
The Balkans is a powder keg, just waiting for some fool to light the fuse, again. Remember, it was in this region where World War One got its "official" start. It all began with a political assassination in 1914.
The entire history of the Balkans is quite fascinating and well worth reading about, just as pure history. Since the region has been important for the rest of Europe, it is very worth reading and learning about. With the involvement of America in the region, think Camp Bondsteel, it is vital for Americans to know at least some of the history of this area. We are still there with American troops, and we are not yet done with the region.
Mr. Deliso also shows the connections of the Balkans with 9/11, the bombings in London and Madrid as well. Our "old pal" bin Laden and his group have been and still are, quite active in this region. Yet, when do you ever get any news coverage of the Balkans on America TV or in our newspapers? Not very often, and when we do get some bits of news from there, it isn't much and there is no follow up or analysis of events there. Not "sexy" enough for the talking heads of American TV I suppose.
Be on your watch folks, this region is going to be making headlines in my opinion.
semper fi,
Old Beau, my little dog and the two calico kittens are asleep on my recliner, the rest of the cats are outside on the porch napping. It isn't quite time for our Christmas pizza yet, so, I figured a blog entry might be in order.
We were just resting here today, instead of watching the TV, which has not been on for at least two weeks now, we had the stereo on. Yep, listening to cd's of good old classic rock and roll. Up comes the live album of "Steppenwolf", the fourth track, "The Monster" just finished. Wow, amazing, the song was done for the Vietnam war, but it is still appropriate for today. One thing since then, the monster has grown quite a big bit larger in the intervening years. I do not think that even the guys in the band could have imagined how much the monster would grow. I actually think they felt the monster could be stopped. Well, it can be, but it is up to us do stop it.
America, where are you now? Will you join us in the fight against the monster?
Now for another book review. Man that old SOB charlie sure reads a hell of a lot, don't he? Well, yes, I do. Being permanently disabled means I have the time to do so.
I just finished a very good book, a "MUST READ" book, are there others? Well, yes there really are. Some books are just for "fun" as it were. Or maybe just "special" interest books, like, oh another I am working through. "Maverick Marine" about a Marine Corps hero, General Smedley Butler.
Back to the must read book though. It is "The Coming Balkan Caliphate" by Chris Deliso. This book IS a must for any thinking American, or any thinking human being on this planet. In the book, Mr. Deliso, shows how the Balkans is NOT a "done deal" by any means. He shows what is going on there now and how we got into this mess.
It started with Billy Bob Bubba Clinton and the "intervention" in Bosnia. Just like the shit house mess in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation of that country. In fact, many of the "troops" we helped get to Bosnia were veterans of the Afghan campaign against the Soviets. Yes, America imported radical Islam into Europe through the "back door" of the Balkans. But, we did this for "humanitarian" reasons. We wanted to stop the "evil" Serbs from ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population when the former Yugoslavia broke up.
Clinton, with his "humanitarian" intervention got "our" jihadis into Europe. Thanks loads Bill. Oh, and for the record, Hi-Larry was all for bombing the Serbs to hell and gone. And you were surprised at her votes for the Iraq mess? Ha! She is more pro-war than Bush. Hillary has received more campaign funds from the military contractors than ANY other candidate for president from either party (er, wing of the war party that is). Yes sir, she has raked in more funding from the military-industrial complex of rip-off artists (aka defense establishment) than any other candidate. And she is a Democrat? Funny, I had thought it was the Republicans who were pro-war and the donkey gang was "supposed" to be anti-war. Well, what do ya know? Things DO change!
Back to the book, again. Mr Deliso points out how the radical Islamic groups, the Saudi backed Wahhabis and even al-Qaeda have been given assistance from the US government. How these groups have formed alliances with the Albanian mafia and other criminal gangs in the region. He shows how our neglect of the region since 9/11 has lead to further radicalisation of the Muslim population of the Balkans. This is a very serious matter as the "native" Muslim population is European. They "look just like us" and blend into the rest of the European or North American population. Some security people refer to them as the "white devils". This could prove to be a very serious security matter. Can't "detect" them by their appearances. They do not look like the typical Middle Eastern types, they ARE European and of course blend right in. And we have let this happen. Not only let it happen, our government has set the stage for it to happen. We backed the Islamic government of Bosnia, we back the radical Muslim Albanians who want to have an independent Kosovo. We have set up this entire mess. Just as we did in Afghanistan in the 1980's and again with our current "invasion" of that country. Just as we have created a terrible mess in Iraq.
We chase the Taliban, and our own tail, through Afghanistan. We made a situation in Iraq where al-Qaeda could enter Iraq and flourish. Our government and "leaders" seem to never learn from past history. And to think that our "decider" is supposed to have been a history major in college. Maybe they teach history differently at Yale and Harvard. The man sure as hell didn't learn very much in my opinion.
The Balkans is a powder keg, just waiting for some fool to light the fuse, again. Remember, it was in this region where World War One got its "official" start. It all began with a political assassination in 1914.
The entire history of the Balkans is quite fascinating and well worth reading about, just as pure history. Since the region has been important for the rest of Europe, it is very worth reading and learning about. With the involvement of America in the region, think Camp Bondsteel, it is vital for Americans to know at least some of the history of this area. We are still there with American troops, and we are not yet done with the region.
Mr. Deliso also shows the connections of the Balkans with 9/11, the bombings in London and Madrid as well. Our "old pal" bin Laden and his group have been and still are, quite active in this region. Yet, when do you ever get any news coverage of the Balkans on America TV or in our newspapers? Not very often, and when we do get some bits of news from there, it isn't much and there is no follow up or analysis of events there. Not "sexy" enough for the talking heads of American TV I suppose.
Be on your watch folks, this region is going to be making headlines in my opinion.
semper fi,
14 December 2007
More ramblings and rants.......what else?
Well, here I am again. The current "flap" over the NIE on Iran has taken up way too much time, in my opinion. Yes, on the one hand it IS good news of sorts. At the very least it means that our intelligence agencies do NOT support the idea of an Iranian nuclear weapon as a cause for America to start a war with Iran. Very good news to be sure.
It HAS distracted though, in my opinion, from other news. It is a type of distraction even. Sort of like old Billy Bob Bubba bombing Kosovo just as the Senate was deciding if they wanted to impeach him for the "Monica thing". It distracts from other news. I see this NIE in that way to a certain extent. While it is very welcome, it takes the heat off other things for now. It lets some things slide on by.
Where is the uproar over the "Homegrown Terrorist" Bill in the Congress? Forgot about that didn't you? Yep. Bet ya did. I didn't, but it DID get pushed aside.
I'll come back to this in a bit. First I want to give a shout out to Professor Stephen Zunes who has two (2!) commentaries over at Antiwar.com today. Both are quite good and I would say go read them both. My favorite is the one titled "Hillary Clinton's Illiberal Belligerence". If you lean toward voting for Ma Clinton, or even if you just think she is a "liberal", read this one, now! Actually, Hi-Larry started out in politics as a "Goldwater girl" way back in the mid 60's, so some of this wasn't a bug surprise to me. Also, if you can get it, check the print/email editions of Counterpunch, they did a series on Hillary's political background that is well worth the read. Very informative. they also show how she got her start "pushing" for Goldwater in the 60's and "became" a democrat after meeting Bill. This is the link to the Zunes article, well worth your time reading it. WWW.antiwar.com/zunes/?articleid=12051. Check it out.
To me Hi-Larry is a democrat for the same reason she is still married to Billy, it helps HER career and furthers HER ambitions. Period. IF she were elected president, and IF she wins a second term, look for her to dump Bill after the second inauguration party, if not sooner. If she does NOT get the donkey nomination for the 2008 election, look for the divorce to start this fall. Just my 2 cents worth. It is MY opinion, that Hi-Larry is a conniving,political,liar,schemer,and a true bitch in every sense of the term. But that is just my opinion, yours may vary, as is your right, still in America.
Now, back to the "homegrown Terrorist" bill.
This piece of crap was "presented" to us by..........wait for it...............a member of the donkey gang! Yes sir, a democrat has given us this piece of shit. And here you all thought it was just those nasty old republicans who were set to destroy liberty in America. Nope, this turkey came from Ms. Jane Harman, a democant. Wow, how about that?It means that Hi-Larry is NOT the only female democrat who is a warmonger bitch today. There ARE others out there! OK, I suppose that now I am sounding "sexist". Well, tough shit. I refuse to be "politically correct"! In the book I recently finished reading, the author made repeated claims that "political correctness" is just a way of suppressing freedom of speech. Since I agree with him on that, I will speak my mind and to hell with any form of "political correctness". It is all bullshit anyway. And ALL of you know this, you may not say so out loud, but dammit, you KNOW that PC is bullshit. So, do like I do, call bullshit bullshit and not some "fancy" stuff like "bovine excrement", which it IS, but damn, Bullshit sounds so much MORE real. Bovine excrement has to be imagined, bullshit is readily there and in your face real. No imagining needed
Enter the donkey gang. Maybe they feel the "need" to show they are "tough on terrorists", I don't know, but this "bill" from Democrat Jane Harman reeks of pure bullshit and guts OUR constitutional rights.
I am talking about the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorist Prevention Act". Big name for a bill that screws US. This piece of crap HAS passed the House by a vote of 405 to 6! Some representation we have in that branch of congress. This turkey is now off to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, headed by.........wait for it..........old Joe Lieberman. Yes, good old Joe the "independent" aka Republican in Democrat shirt.
This "legislation" (aka; piece of shit) will create a congressional commission that will be empowered to hold hearings, conduct investigations, and designate whomever they decide(!) as "homegrown terrorists". How will "they" decide(?) who is a homegrown terrorist? Well, now THAT seems to be the $64 million question. This "bill" does NOT define what terrorist behavior is, nor does it define what "extremist" views might be. See, they leave this all very vague on purpose. Why, you ask do they do such things? Well, that is all too easy to answer. They leave the definitions ( when they actually do try to define some ting) very vague for the reason that then, ANY behavior or belief they don't like at a particular time, will "fit" the definition of "extremist" or "terrorist". See, this way, what might pass for accepted behavior or thought today, can suddenly become a crime tomorrow if a particular member of this new commission happens to wake up that day and "decide" that he/she doesn't like something. Yes, it IS that goddamn simple. When the "crime" is vaguely ill-defined, nobody can know with any certainty what MIGHT be a crime at any given moment. It is all done just like "political correctness", to maintain CONTROL. Same as the reason for invading Iraq, control. The Iraq deal is to CONTROL the flow of oil. It is not/was not, to insure that America got cheap oil, hell no. It is to control the flow of the oil, of course the neo-cons and their pals get first shot at getting the oil, but it is all about control. In my opinion, that IS the goal of the entire neo-con plan, control. Control over as much of the entire globe and world population as possible. Think Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Napoleon, or any other "world conqueror" from history. These people want control, for the sake of having control. Period.
This new bill, as mentioned, provides for the setting up of a commission that will have ten members. These folks will travel around the country holding hearings, obtaining testimony, even swear witnesses to oaths, much like a court room. These ten members may act independently, meaning there could be as many as ten separate hearings going on around the country at any given time.
The "members" will of course, be "selected" for their expertise and appointed by our wonderful Congress. Now of course these good folks on this new commission will be paid, with our tax dollars naturally. They will NEED to have their own staffs and offices, and all sorts of other equipment and "goodies". Think, new beurocracy here folks. A new government agency.
Now, an interesting bit in not defining just what terrorism is, leaves this up to the members of the commission to define terrorism. Sort of like pornography, I may not know what it is, but I know it when I see it. That should be a very worrisome bit regards this "bill". It means, as I said before, the definition can change on any given day, or hour. It is a very flexible, too flexible, definition. It does partially define "homegrown terrorism" as "planning" or "threatening" to use force to promote a political objective. In other words people, just THINKING about something could be considered an act of terrorism! Thinking! As in "thought crimes"! Now, I realize thay thinking is not one of the things most Americans do best, or even do at all here of late, but, holy shit people, thinking as a crime!???!!! What the fuck!
This turkey also "defines" violent radicalization (?) as promoting an "extremist belief system", but it does NOT define extremism. Again, it is up to the individual commission member to "decide" that issue.
In my opinion, this entire mess is way too vague. It is too light on any definition of terrorism or extremism. It gives way too much power discretion to the member of this commission, who will be appointed by Congress to this commission. It attacks OUR basic rights and freedoms. It further helps shred OUR constitution and OUR Bill of Rights. It limits freedom of speech,press,and association, among others. It gives too much power to unelected people, who will have the power to decide what is or is not lawful. It makes the act of thinking(!!!) a crime!
We are already being spied upon by our own government. Our Congress has rolled over and played dead for the Cheney/Bush war machine. We voted the Democrats into a mojority in BOTH houses of Congress, not to keep "business as usual" going. We voted them into a majority to CHANGE policy. Well, we have not received value for our votes. All we have to show for our "election" of 2006 is same old shit, different people. Business as usual, this Congress has never seen a military funding bill that it did not pass. Thanks for nothing there Democrats.
We have government out of control, a president who acts as if he is above the law, and a Congress that refuses to do its job, refuses to stand up to this abuse of power. And do NOT tell me that all will be better if Hillary wins the election in 2008. Bullshit! She will NOT roll back any of the power acquired by Cheney/Bush. I think this is why the Democrats do not challenge Bush on his power grabs, they think they will win the presidency and then THEY will have all that power. Hillary is a power hungry person, period. She would LOVE to have the powers Bush has amassed for the office of president. Power for the sake of having power. That is where America is today. Leaderless, floundering in a sea of debt, and bogged down in two un-winnable wars of choice. Health care? Just don't get sick. Highways and infrastructure? Be very careful where you go. Jobs? Move to Chin, India, or some other foreign country.
A Grateful Dead song goes something like...........I may be headed to Hell in a bucket, but at least I'm enjoying the ride. Well, America IS headed to Hell, bucket or no, but very, very few of us are enjoying the ride.
Well, enough of me for today. No, I will NOT stop this blog. I will continue to keep having my say until they pry my cold dead hands from the keyboard, along with my weapons. Hell YES, defend the Bill of Rights! Defned free speech. Defend AMERICA.
Maybe we DO need a new American Revolution. Time will tell.
semper fi,
charlie
It HAS distracted though, in my opinion, from other news. It is a type of distraction even. Sort of like old Billy Bob Bubba bombing Kosovo just as the Senate was deciding if they wanted to impeach him for the "Monica thing". It distracts from other news. I see this NIE in that way to a certain extent. While it is very welcome, it takes the heat off other things for now. It lets some things slide on by.
Where is the uproar over the "Homegrown Terrorist" Bill in the Congress? Forgot about that didn't you? Yep. Bet ya did. I didn't, but it DID get pushed aside.
I'll come back to this in a bit. First I want to give a shout out to Professor Stephen Zunes who has two (2!) commentaries over at Antiwar.com today. Both are quite good and I would say go read them both. My favorite is the one titled "Hillary Clinton's Illiberal Belligerence". If you lean toward voting for Ma Clinton, or even if you just think she is a "liberal", read this one, now! Actually, Hi-Larry started out in politics as a "Goldwater girl" way back in the mid 60's, so some of this wasn't a bug surprise to me. Also, if you can get it, check the print/email editions of Counterpunch, they did a series on Hillary's political background that is well worth the read. Very informative. they also show how she got her start "pushing" for Goldwater in the 60's and "became" a democrat after meeting Bill. This is the link to the Zunes article, well worth your time reading it. WWW.antiwar.com/zunes/?articleid=12051. Check it out.
To me Hi-Larry is a democrat for the same reason she is still married to Billy, it helps HER career and furthers HER ambitions. Period. IF she were elected president, and IF she wins a second term, look for her to dump Bill after the second inauguration party, if not sooner. If she does NOT get the donkey nomination for the 2008 election, look for the divorce to start this fall. Just my 2 cents worth. It is MY opinion, that Hi-Larry is a conniving,political,liar,schemer,and a true bitch in every sense of the term. But that is just my opinion, yours may vary, as is your right, still in America.
Now, back to the "homegrown Terrorist" bill.
This piece of crap was "presented" to us by..........wait for it...............a member of the donkey gang! Yes sir, a democrat has given us this piece of shit. And here you all thought it was just those nasty old republicans who were set to destroy liberty in America. Nope, this turkey came from Ms. Jane Harman, a democant. Wow, how about that?It means that Hi-Larry is NOT the only female democrat who is a warmonger bitch today. There ARE others out there! OK, I suppose that now I am sounding "sexist". Well, tough shit. I refuse to be "politically correct"! In the book I recently finished reading, the author made repeated claims that "political correctness" is just a way of suppressing freedom of speech. Since I agree with him on that, I will speak my mind and to hell with any form of "political correctness". It is all bullshit anyway. And ALL of you know this, you may not say so out loud, but dammit, you KNOW that PC is bullshit. So, do like I do, call bullshit bullshit and not some "fancy" stuff like "bovine excrement", which it IS, but damn, Bullshit sounds so much MORE real. Bovine excrement has to be imagined, bullshit is readily there and in your face real. No imagining needed
Enter the donkey gang. Maybe they feel the "need" to show they are "tough on terrorists", I don't know, but this "bill" from Democrat Jane Harman reeks of pure bullshit and guts OUR constitutional rights.
I am talking about the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorist Prevention Act". Big name for a bill that screws US. This piece of crap HAS passed the House by a vote of 405 to 6! Some representation we have in that branch of congress. This turkey is now off to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, headed by.........wait for it..........old Joe Lieberman. Yes, good old Joe the "independent" aka Republican in Democrat shirt.
This "legislation" (aka; piece of shit) will create a congressional commission that will be empowered to hold hearings, conduct investigations, and designate whomever they decide(!) as "homegrown terrorists". How will "they" decide(?) who is a homegrown terrorist? Well, now THAT seems to be the $64 million question. This "bill" does NOT define what terrorist behavior is, nor does it define what "extremist" views might be. See, they leave this all very vague on purpose. Why, you ask do they do such things? Well, that is all too easy to answer. They leave the definitions ( when they actually do try to define some ting) very vague for the reason that then, ANY behavior or belief they don't like at a particular time, will "fit" the definition of "extremist" or "terrorist". See, this way, what might pass for accepted behavior or thought today, can suddenly become a crime tomorrow if a particular member of this new commission happens to wake up that day and "decide" that he/she doesn't like something. Yes, it IS that goddamn simple. When the "crime" is vaguely ill-defined, nobody can know with any certainty what MIGHT be a crime at any given moment. It is all done just like "political correctness", to maintain CONTROL. Same as the reason for invading Iraq, control. The Iraq deal is to CONTROL the flow of oil. It is not/was not, to insure that America got cheap oil, hell no. It is to control the flow of the oil, of course the neo-cons and their pals get first shot at getting the oil, but it is all about control. In my opinion, that IS the goal of the entire neo-con plan, control. Control over as much of the entire globe and world population as possible. Think Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Napoleon, or any other "world conqueror" from history. These people want control, for the sake of having control. Period.
This new bill, as mentioned, provides for the setting up of a commission that will have ten members. These folks will travel around the country holding hearings, obtaining testimony, even swear witnesses to oaths, much like a court room. These ten members may act independently, meaning there could be as many as ten separate hearings going on around the country at any given time.
The "members" will of course, be "selected" for their expertise and appointed by our wonderful Congress. Now of course these good folks on this new commission will be paid, with our tax dollars naturally. They will NEED to have their own staffs and offices, and all sorts of other equipment and "goodies". Think, new beurocracy here folks. A new government agency.
Now, an interesting bit in not defining just what terrorism is, leaves this up to the members of the commission to define terrorism. Sort of like pornography, I may not know what it is, but I know it when I see it. That should be a very worrisome bit regards this "bill". It means, as I said before, the definition can change on any given day, or hour. It is a very flexible, too flexible, definition. It does partially define "homegrown terrorism" as "planning" or "threatening" to use force to promote a political objective. In other words people, just THINKING about something could be considered an act of terrorism! Thinking! As in "thought crimes"! Now, I realize thay thinking is not one of the things most Americans do best, or even do at all here of late, but, holy shit people, thinking as a crime!???!!! What the fuck!
This turkey also "defines" violent radicalization (?) as promoting an "extremist belief system", but it does NOT define extremism. Again, it is up to the individual commission member to "decide" that issue.
In my opinion, this entire mess is way too vague. It is too light on any definition of terrorism or extremism. It gives way too much power discretion to the member of this commission, who will be appointed by Congress to this commission. It attacks OUR basic rights and freedoms. It further helps shred OUR constitution and OUR Bill of Rights. It limits freedom of speech,press,and association, among others. It gives too much power to unelected people, who will have the power to decide what is or is not lawful. It makes the act of thinking(!!!) a crime!
We are already being spied upon by our own government. Our Congress has rolled over and played dead for the Cheney/Bush war machine. We voted the Democrats into a mojority in BOTH houses of Congress, not to keep "business as usual" going. We voted them into a majority to CHANGE policy. Well, we have not received value for our votes. All we have to show for our "election" of 2006 is same old shit, different people. Business as usual, this Congress has never seen a military funding bill that it did not pass. Thanks for nothing there Democrats.
We have government out of control, a president who acts as if he is above the law, and a Congress that refuses to do its job, refuses to stand up to this abuse of power. And do NOT tell me that all will be better if Hillary wins the election in 2008. Bullshit! She will NOT roll back any of the power acquired by Cheney/Bush. I think this is why the Democrats do not challenge Bush on his power grabs, they think they will win the presidency and then THEY will have all that power. Hillary is a power hungry person, period. She would LOVE to have the powers Bush has amassed for the office of president. Power for the sake of having power. That is where America is today. Leaderless, floundering in a sea of debt, and bogged down in two un-winnable wars of choice. Health care? Just don't get sick. Highways and infrastructure? Be very careful where you go. Jobs? Move to Chin, India, or some other foreign country.
A Grateful Dead song goes something like...........I may be headed to Hell in a bucket, but at least I'm enjoying the ride. Well, America IS headed to Hell, bucket or no, but very, very few of us are enjoying the ride.
Well, enough of me for today. No, I will NOT stop this blog. I will continue to keep having my say until they pry my cold dead hands from the keyboard, along with my weapons. Hell YES, defend the Bill of Rights! Defned free speech. Defend AMERICA.
Maybe we DO need a new American Revolution. Time will tell.
semper fi,
charlie
11 December 2007
Iran, of course, and other things as well
Well, I suppose I need to mention the new NIE and Iran. So far, just about every web site I visit on any regular/semi-regular basis has had at least one comment on this topic. So, here is my "take" on it.
First off, the NIE is good news. I see it that way because it eliminates at least one "reason" for Shrub/Cheney to start a war with Iran. No nuclear weapons program. What weapons program they did have was ended in 2003 and has NOT been re-started as of now. Very good news, because our "leaders" cannot use the Iranian nuclear bomb, or very near to having an Iranian nuclear bomb as a reason to attack Iran. Very good news, in my opinion.
Now the not quite so good news on this. It just means that Shrub/Cheney will have to actually work at trying to come up with another reason to attack Iran. I have no doubt that they have been at this since they had a preview of the NIE this past summer.
Notice that the "leadership" of Israel has stated that OUR intelligence services have got the Iran nuclear weapons thing all wrong. According to some Israeli sources, Iran could still have "the bomb" by some time in 2008! Wow, we never figured they were that close, or did we? I would guess that Benny Nutty-Yahoo (misspelled incorrectly ON PURPOSE) is hopping mad about the NIE regarding Iran and a nuclear weapon. My guess is that he and "Mr. 5 deferments" Cheney still want a war with Iran no matter what excuse they need to manufacture to get that war. It never fails to amaze me how some folks are so damn gung-ho for war. It is usually people who have never worn the uniform of any military. Have never fired a shot in anger/self defence. And they have never been shot at or had their buddies killed or wounded while standing or sitting right next to them. They are people who have never experienced war "up close and personal". Yet, they are some of the loudest "cheerleaders" FOR war, any war, or even every war. Where in the hell do these damn fools come from? Are they born with this brain damage or did they suffer some very traumatic injury during early childhood? There has to be a valid reason for their adamant fervor for war. In my opinion, it is totally irrational. But hell, I am just an old, former Marine and a veteran of the imperial "adventure" in Vietnam. Guess that disqualifies me and my opinion from this war "debate" thing.
OK, that is all I have to say on that issue. I will just add that I really hope that we will be able to avoid any war with Iran, not just for the remainder of the Shrub administration, but for the foreseeable future as well, no matter who gets "elected" in 2008. If I were religious, I might even pray to some god or other for that wish to come true. Perhaps if anybody who reads this and IS religious might pray to her/his god for that wish to come true. All of the world would thank you for that prayer.
This next topic has a sort of tie-in to the Iran deal, but not quite a direct one. I just finished reading a very interesting book. It it "Homo Americanus: Child of the Post-Modern Age" by Tomislaw Sunic. It is quite interesting and only about 200 pages long. He presents some very interesting ideas in his book. He also mentioned something I have been curious about. This is where the tie-in comes about. He mentions that there COULD be a backlash of real anti-Semitism in America from the propaganda of AIPAC and the Christian Zionists. This is something I have been wondering about for some years now. Not obsessively mind you, but more of a curiosity to me. Sort of an "I wonder if......" type of feeling I have had. The reason is based on life experiences. We have all seen how when we are constantly told/lectured one way on a particular topic, after some time, we rebel against those "teachings". This does concern me, in that we really could see the rise of a very violent anti-Semitism here in America. I hope we never do, but we have been force fed so much propaganda (aka crap and bullshit) about how Israel is the only democratic country in the middle east. How poor little Israel is surrounded by hostile forces set on the absolute destruction of Israel. How Israel is an indispensable ally to America.
Well, my opinion is all of that is just a cart load of bullshit. Oh, and we give/pay Israel about $3 billion every year for them to be our "indispensable ally" as well. What sort of friend is it that you have to pay to be your friend? Maybe somebody will let me know the answer to that one.
Israel is not very democratic if you are not a Jew living in Israel. Non Jews do not have the benefits of living in a democracy if they live in Israel. Israel is a Jewish state. Even one of the Israeli news outlets had a story on the racism in Israel. The results surprised even the Israelis. They hadn't realized how really racist they are. That doesn't sound very democratic to me.
Israel is surrounded by Arab countries, but, Israel has approximately 200 nuclear bombs. Not just old atomic bombs either. They have hydrogen bombs, aka thermo-nuclear weapons. These are much more powerful than "regular" atomic bombs. Don't take my word for it, Google thermo-nuclear weapons and atomic bombs. Check Wikipedia also. Now Israel has never admitted to having these weapons. Israel has never signed on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty either. Their nuclear facilities have never been inspected by any "outside" source, such as the IAEA. Now, Iran DID sign the NPT and Iran HAS been inspected, many times, by the IAEA. It was the IAEA, that found, along with ALL 16 US intelligence agencies, that Iran is NOT working on a nuclear weapon.
Israel also has the most powerful, best equipped, and best trained military in the entire mid east. There are no countries in that region that are a credible threat to destroy Israel. If any of them did mount a full scale attack on Israel, and if Israel felt their survival was at stake, Israel could just launch a few of those "undeclared" nukes and that would end any "threat" to Israel.
One other thing. The Zionists claim that the country of Israel has a "right" to exist. Wrong! NO country has the "right" to exist. Not even America. PEOPLE have the right to exist. Countries do not. Israel also demands that it is and shall be a Jewish nation. Well, OK, but that doesn't make it a democracy. It makes it a theocratic nation. It also tends to make it racist, in my opinion. It enables the leadership to revoke the "rights" of any non Jew who lives in Israel, just because they are non Jews.Freedom, but only for Jews. OK, but don't tell me how "democratic" the country is, because I don't think it can be when the rights of some residents of the country are denied civil rights because they are not the "correct" religion.
I'm going to keep this entry short. My back is hurting very bad tonight. I do want to close with another book that I just recently started to read. It is "Delusional Democracy" subtitled "Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government"; by Joel Hirschhorn. I would recommend this book and I am just on page 79 out of a total of 255 pages. So far, it is very good, though much of it to now I knew. Still I have learned a good bit even at this early stage of the book. Very well written, easy to read, good sized print for old eyes even. He doesn't use specialized terms or $15 words either. Simple language and easy to understand. If I remember, even with shipping as a single book order from Amazon.com it was still less than $20. Makes a very good Christmas present for any American who want to help save our country from both of our two party duopoly. Or, maybe your local library has it on the shelves. Check it out.
semper fi,
charlie
First off, the NIE is good news. I see it that way because it eliminates at least one "reason" for Shrub/Cheney to start a war with Iran. No nuclear weapons program. What weapons program they did have was ended in 2003 and has NOT been re-started as of now. Very good news, because our "leaders" cannot use the Iranian nuclear bomb, or very near to having an Iranian nuclear bomb as a reason to attack Iran. Very good news, in my opinion.
Now the not quite so good news on this. It just means that Shrub/Cheney will have to actually work at trying to come up with another reason to attack Iran. I have no doubt that they have been at this since they had a preview of the NIE this past summer.
Notice that the "leadership" of Israel has stated that OUR intelligence services have got the Iran nuclear weapons thing all wrong. According to some Israeli sources, Iran could still have "the bomb" by some time in 2008! Wow, we never figured they were that close, or did we? I would guess that Benny Nutty-Yahoo (misspelled incorrectly ON PURPOSE) is hopping mad about the NIE regarding Iran and a nuclear weapon. My guess is that he and "Mr. 5 deferments" Cheney still want a war with Iran no matter what excuse they need to manufacture to get that war. It never fails to amaze me how some folks are so damn gung-ho for war. It is usually people who have never worn the uniform of any military. Have never fired a shot in anger/self defence. And they have never been shot at or had their buddies killed or wounded while standing or sitting right next to them. They are people who have never experienced war "up close and personal". Yet, they are some of the loudest "cheerleaders" FOR war, any war, or even every war. Where in the hell do these damn fools come from? Are they born with this brain damage or did they suffer some very traumatic injury during early childhood? There has to be a valid reason for their adamant fervor for war. In my opinion, it is totally irrational. But hell, I am just an old, former Marine and a veteran of the imperial "adventure" in Vietnam. Guess that disqualifies me and my opinion from this war "debate" thing.
OK, that is all I have to say on that issue. I will just add that I really hope that we will be able to avoid any war with Iran, not just for the remainder of the Shrub administration, but for the foreseeable future as well, no matter who gets "elected" in 2008. If I were religious, I might even pray to some god or other for that wish to come true. Perhaps if anybody who reads this and IS religious might pray to her/his god for that wish to come true. All of the world would thank you for that prayer.
This next topic has a sort of tie-in to the Iran deal, but not quite a direct one. I just finished reading a very interesting book. It it "Homo Americanus: Child of the Post-Modern Age" by Tomislaw Sunic. It is quite interesting and only about 200 pages long. He presents some very interesting ideas in his book. He also mentioned something I have been curious about. This is where the tie-in comes about. He mentions that there COULD be a backlash of real anti-Semitism in America from the propaganda of AIPAC and the Christian Zionists. This is something I have been wondering about for some years now. Not obsessively mind you, but more of a curiosity to me. Sort of an "I wonder if......" type of feeling I have had. The reason is based on life experiences. We have all seen how when we are constantly told/lectured one way on a particular topic, after some time, we rebel against those "teachings". This does concern me, in that we really could see the rise of a very violent anti-Semitism here in America. I hope we never do, but we have been force fed so much propaganda (aka crap and bullshit) about how Israel is the only democratic country in the middle east. How poor little Israel is surrounded by hostile forces set on the absolute destruction of Israel. How Israel is an indispensable ally to America.
Well, my opinion is all of that is just a cart load of bullshit. Oh, and we give/pay Israel about $3 billion every year for them to be our "indispensable ally" as well. What sort of friend is it that you have to pay to be your friend? Maybe somebody will let me know the answer to that one.
Israel is not very democratic if you are not a Jew living in Israel. Non Jews do not have the benefits of living in a democracy if they live in Israel. Israel is a Jewish state. Even one of the Israeli news outlets had a story on the racism in Israel. The results surprised even the Israelis. They hadn't realized how really racist they are. That doesn't sound very democratic to me.
Israel is surrounded by Arab countries, but, Israel has approximately 200 nuclear bombs. Not just old atomic bombs either. They have hydrogen bombs, aka thermo-nuclear weapons. These are much more powerful than "regular" atomic bombs. Don't take my word for it, Google thermo-nuclear weapons and atomic bombs. Check Wikipedia also. Now Israel has never admitted to having these weapons. Israel has never signed on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty either. Their nuclear facilities have never been inspected by any "outside" source, such as the IAEA. Now, Iran DID sign the NPT and Iran HAS been inspected, many times, by the IAEA. It was the IAEA, that found, along with ALL 16 US intelligence agencies, that Iran is NOT working on a nuclear weapon.
Israel also has the most powerful, best equipped, and best trained military in the entire mid east. There are no countries in that region that are a credible threat to destroy Israel. If any of them did mount a full scale attack on Israel, and if Israel felt their survival was at stake, Israel could just launch a few of those "undeclared" nukes and that would end any "threat" to Israel.
One other thing. The Zionists claim that the country of Israel has a "right" to exist. Wrong! NO country has the "right" to exist. Not even America. PEOPLE have the right to exist. Countries do not. Israel also demands that it is and shall be a Jewish nation. Well, OK, but that doesn't make it a democracy. It makes it a theocratic nation. It also tends to make it racist, in my opinion. It enables the leadership to revoke the "rights" of any non Jew who lives in Israel, just because they are non Jews.Freedom, but only for Jews. OK, but don't tell me how "democratic" the country is, because I don't think it can be when the rights of some residents of the country are denied civil rights because they are not the "correct" religion.
I'm going to keep this entry short. My back is hurting very bad tonight. I do want to close with another book that I just recently started to read. It is "Delusional Democracy" subtitled "Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government"; by Joel Hirschhorn. I would recommend this book and I am just on page 79 out of a total of 255 pages. So far, it is very good, though much of it to now I knew. Still I have learned a good bit even at this early stage of the book. Very well written, easy to read, good sized print for old eyes even. He doesn't use specialized terms or $15 words either. Simple language and easy to understand. If I remember, even with shipping as a single book order from Amazon.com it was still less than $20. Makes a very good Christmas present for any American who want to help save our country from both of our two party duopoly. Or, maybe your local library has it on the shelves. Check it out.
semper fi,
charlie
05 December 2007
So much to write about...........first up, Iran
4 Dec 2007. Well sir, there is so much going on in our world today. Where to start the comments? There are so many topics out there today. This might have to be broken up into two or three entries. Just so very much going on. Some of it is even good news! Honest.
Let me start with Iran. Our supposed "next" war of choice. Did you hear the one about the latest NIE ( national intelligence estimate)? Looks like those pesky,sneaky,under-handed, bloody damn Iranians actually had STOPPED trying to develop an atomic bomb way back in 2003. No shit folks, and this is from OUR top level intelligence community. Folks like the CIA and other "intel" and/or spy agencies have determined that Iran DID quit trying to make a nuke in 2003. Wow, poor old Shrubbie, looks like the wheels are about to fall off his tricycle any day now.
Of course this good news isn't all that good. Well, at least to some people(?). The neo-cons are sure this NIE is dead wrong, and they are up in arms (not really, just their word processors/key boards are smoking from all that furious typing) and the leadership in Israel is certain that this NIE shows how "naive" America is if we believe this latest intel.
Yes sir, if you are an ardent Zionist and/or a neo-con, you have to hate this latest report by American intel agencies. Why? Well, because it means that the absolute requirement that America bomb Iran back into the stone age is a load of bullshit. It means there is NO reason for the US of A to go to war with Iran, well, at least NOT over the "issue" of an Iranian bomb.
Sorry to be the "wet blanket" here, but I would guess that it just means that now Cheney, the noe-crazies, and the hard core Zionists will have to find their thinking caps and work out some "other" excuse, er, reason to have another war. Thinking caps? For the neos and Cheney? I wonder if those fools actually ever think.
To me, this latest NIE is damn GOOD news. It means that we will NOT be bombing another country that had ZERO to do with the sainted tragedy of 9/11. Don't misunderstand me here, I do know that that was a tragic day for us all. I do think though that it has been played to death, so to speak, by our "leaders". It has been THE excuse to start two wars, to shred the constitution, to quash OUR civil liberties, and other crappy new "laws", such as the "Patriot(?) Act" and the MCA (military commissions act). It has also been used to "justify the suspension of habeas corpus. This is what I mean about 9/11 being done to death. Just like Pearl Harbor, America will never forget that event. We cannot even if we try. It did shock the living shit out of this country and that will not be forgotten. I just think it is way past time for our politicians to stop using that event as an excuse to start wars and kill off American civil rights. Enough already!
The latest NIE on Iran could even be made into a movie. We could title it; "A Funny Thing Happened On Our Way To War". Yeah, like it lost its "justification! What do the warmongers do now? Their MAIN excuse for war with Iran is dead in the water. Or, as they say in this part of the country, that dog won't hunt. Not to worry, I am 100% certain that the lap top bombardiers are working over time to invent a new,better,enhanced,and brighter excuse for the war they want so very much.
This brings me to another point about the current criminal administration and ALL of those who support/enable them. These folks, who have never worn a uniform, never fired a shot at an enemy, never have been shot at, seem to be in mad, passionate love with WAR. Any veteran of any war, any civilian who was caught up in any war, will tell you there isn't much to love about war. It isn't easy to be a lover while being shot at. Sort of takes the enjoyment right out of things. Talk about your coitis interuptis (sp)!
My suggestion is that EVERY person who is so enthralled with war and killing MUST be among the very first to be on the front lines of ANY future war America gets into. Hell, they ought to all be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan right now. Then, after they complete at least one tour in the war zone, they get to come back and tell us all how wonderful and glorious war is. How many neo-cons are willing to do that? I bet that ALL of the neo-con "volunteers" for such would fit very comfy into an old VW bug with plenty of room left for a cooler for the beer and a good size box for the snacks. Like, the total number would be less than one? Most likely. After all, they need to stay here and keep up the "important" work of informing the American people. Why, if those poor lap top bombardiers went off to war, who would run the propaganda mills? Um,er, I mean the "news" magazines and programs. No doubt they ALL have "other priorities" and just cannot seem to find the time to actually GO to war in person. They will promise to be there in spirit though. Big fucking help that is to our troops. Actually, it probably IS help as they would need to be shot by OUR own troops just for the safety of the troops.
This has certainly got to piss of the pope, I mean dead eye Dick. This PROVES that Mr. Mohamed el Baradei and the IAEA are 100% correct. All along, he has been telling any one who would listen that Iran did not have a nuclear weapons program. He has said, repeatedly, that Iran is enriching uranium for power generation. This is a LEGAL activity under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) which Iran has signed. Holy horrors! Those sneaky,lieing bastard Iranian are living up to the promises they made in regards to an international treaty! Why, how much more underhanded can those "evil doers" get? Why, the next thing you know, people around the world might start asking OUR government to live up to ITS' treaty obligations! Imagine the disaster that would cause! Why such a thing would wreak havoc around the entire globe. America, actually living up to the treaty obligations that it has signed onto over the past years. That is absolutely insane! Don't people know that Cheney does as he damn well wants to do? And don't ALL people in the world know that God has spoken to our "decider"? Why, if god speaks to him, he MUSt be right and we are all dead wrong. And any way, who the hell needs the constitution or that damn Bill of Rights anyhow? Civil liberties? We export "liberty" folks. Do as our government tells you to do, not as they act. Shrubbie talks to god. Makes me wonder if god comes in a six-pack these days. Or maybe a bottle of "Old Crow"? Hell, let him have the cheap stuff, Ripple or Thunder Chicken. Cheap drunk for a cheap bastard. Then he and Cheney can go hunting with Scalia. LOL, now that would be great pay-per-view TV. Of course the camera crew would need flak vests and helmets.
I sort of, almost, feel for old Cheney though. What with the writers strike, there isn't much on TV of late. Not that I'd know, my TV hasn't been on for over 12 days now. Well sir, Cheney knows how "Mericans love their TV, so he figured with the writer being on strike we needed another war. Just to, you know, boost the ratings. Stop those damn reruns, start a new war! Yes sir, give old Wolf Bitzberg something to talk about. I miss old Wolf and Dobbs. Miss them like I miss the plague. Not at all.
Then too, one has to wonder, NIE or not, would China front us the cash for another war? Last I read, China holds close to one trillion(!!!) dollars in US debt. Hell, one trillion. Most folks have a damn hard time trying to comprhend a billion, and a trillion is one thousands times larger! Just as a point of referrence; 1 billion seconds is equal to 32 years. One trillion seconds is equal to 300 centuries! Now that puts those numbers into some perspective. Oh, yeah, we have spent close to one trillion dollars so far on the two wars we are in right now. The "estimated" total costs of these wars is over(!) two trillion dollars. That total includes things like long term medical care for the severely wounded such as brain damaged troops. That is ONLY the projected costs to America folks. What it has/will cost the Iraqis and Afghans is unknown.
War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Well, not quite. It does hold down population growth for a time. Which brings up another "funny" fact. The folks who are dead set (some of them very literally dead set) against abortion, have no trouble with being pro-war. Very interesting, to me anyway. After all, war is just mass murder. And if abortion is murder, why would those folks NOT be rabidly anti-war? You might try asking some of the anti-abortion people you know about that. I would be very curious to hear the answers. I mean, to my simple mind, murder is murder. Or is it? I get curious about these sort of things. One more reason I got kicked out of religion. Asking "those" sorts of questions. Rocking the boat again there charlie. Damn right I am!
Here is one for your preacher/priest/pastor, just where did Cain find a wife? We are told there was Adam, Eve, Cain, and Able. OK, so where did Cain get a wife? Sears?
Beats me. I would like to know. No need to know I guess. Just plain old curiosity is all. Like who wre the first three folks who came out of the tomb of Lazarus? Christ said "Lazarus come forth", so who wre the other three folks? Just curious. No!Skipper, the boat is listing hard to port! Hang on little buddy,we'll make it.
Well, if you are still with me, you now know what happens to a person who has had way too many back surgeries and has constant pain that even the good pain meds don't get rid of and he can't sleep some nights. So, what does he do? Why he does a blog entry, what else? Ain't gonna watch no stinking reruns on TV for sure. Hell, if you are still with me, you are either a glutton for punishment or damn hard core.
Well, I did give fair warning to you all. I did say I would try to do at least one or two entries every week. Told ya. But, did you listen? NOOOOO. Just like them pesky "axis of evil" folks, aren't ya all? LOL.
"Nuther curious thing about this latest NIE. Yep, back to the Iran "thing" again. How is it that so many of the people in this current administration can get so much wrong and still be employed? OK, so Bolton is "out of work" so to speak. Out of a government paid job anyway. He is "working" for one of them "think tanks" now. I wonder, is a think tank in any way related to a drunk tank? (More curiosity.) But, when you stop and think about the last seven years, none of the bastards ever got fired. Well, OK,ok, Brownie was "let go". But, hell, FEMA don't count. And the folks in New Orleans and around the Gulf coast would have lynched him on sight anyway.
I mean, they quit, but nobody ever gets fired. No matter how bad or how much they totally fuck up. Anybody ever work for an outfit like that? I never did. Every place I ever worked for, you did your job according to specs or you were shown the exit door. Not so with our "decider" guy. Some decider. I thought that was why he got paid the big bucks, to make tough decision. Well, I never did claim to be smart. Good thing to.
Same goes for these neo-cons and the war mongers who have real(?) jobs at news organizations. No matter how wrong they are, they STILL have their jobs. Is it just me, or is America some different place from what it used to be? What ever happened to being responsible? Oh, wait, this IS the Bush 2 administration. End of discussion.
Follow the "leader" I guess. When the leader has never taken responsibility for any thing, particulaily any failure, the troops don't do so either. If anybody has other ideas, let me know, curious charlie @ want to know.org. Be damn funny if that is a real web address. Hey, maybe I could get that domain name, register it for me. LOL. Now, don't you wish like hell that I was asleep instead of doing this? Maybe I am, and this is just a bad dream. No, 'fraid not. One of the kittens just bit my finger. Sorry folks. I DID give you all fair warning.
Mother,call the men in the white coats. Tell them to bring the net, charlie is bloggong again!
OK, back to more serious things. If you haven't yet, please go to www.counterpunch.org and read the entry by Paul Craig Roberts on 4 December 2007. Once again, Mr. Roberts gives the straight story on the American economy and job "outlook". He shows again, how outsourcing and off-shoring of what used to be our jobs is making America a third world country. While big corporations cry about ehe "lack" of Americans to fill some high tech, high skilled jobs, they demand that they be allowed to import more foreign workers to the few remaining high skilled jobs that are still available IN America. He shows how this is a total load of bullshit. We have plenty of engineers, but they cannot find work. Some large corporations even have documented plans to NOT hire Americans for the jobs they need filled. Why? Well, Americans with advanced degress don't work for minimum wages, is one reason. Not only is our government out of touch with reality, so are most of our corporations. All in the quest for the cheapest labor costs. America ends up with people with high skills and advanced degrees tending bar, waiting on tables. What IS the use of a good education in America today? Why go to college, when all you will be able to get for work is in a bar or some fast food joint? What happens to our country then? What sort of leaders is this situation going to create? These are questions every American should demand answers for. Our current crop of "leaders" needs to answer these questions. What do the folks running for president have to say on this? Have any of them been asked? By our main stream media? No, but they may have been asked what they think of the parenting "skills" of Ms. Spears. Got to keep the questions to the politicos "real" ya know.
My "left handed" take on America becoming a third world country is this. It is not a really big deal in the long run. Yes, short term, like one or two generations, it will hurt. Hurt like hell I imagine. But, in the long term, the jobs WILL come back here. Once America is reduced to the status of a third world economy, our wages will be among the lowest in the world. Then, the jobs will start to return as we will be competitive based on cheapness of labor here. OK, so this isn't a rosy picture. Nor is it very helpful/hopeful. True, I agree 100%. But, it does seem that this is the way things are going to play out, whether we like it or not. Why? Because America has never been organized! We have way too many artificial divisions to ever get organized. Look at Europe for instance. They have national strikes at various times. Never happen here, because the machinists won't support the truck drivers, who won't support the nurses, who won't support the teachers, etc,etc,etc. My opinion, we have ourselves partially to blame for this shit mess we are in. We should have realized that we are all in this damn boat together and should have acted that way. Nope, we had to keep our "differences", our little "turf wars" for scraps of power. Big damn deal folks. Just look where that shit got us. Into the fucking goddamn mess we are in today. Sure, the government and big business bear the majority of the blame/fault, but WE let this shit happen. WE never could see past our own selfish noses. WE bear some of the responsibility for this mess. WE now have to make due the best we can and try like hell to clean it up. THEN, WE have to do all we can to insure that it never gets this fucking damn bad EVER again. Tall order? Damn right it is. Is it worth doing? Hell, you tell me. I'm permanently disabled and near 60 years old today. So, you COULD say, why should old charlie give a shit? Well, because this is MY country too goddamn it all. I give a shit, because that is how my Dad taught me to be. Thanks Dad, wish you were here, but am glad in some ways you aren't. Think I am pissed? If Dad was still alive, by the gods, you would see what pissed off really is.
He lived through the depression, was "selected" for military service months before Pearl Harbor, fought in World War 2 and was one of the best people I have ever had the pleasure and honor to have known. He was as honest a man as I have ever known also. Man, he could argue, he would have been a great lawyer, had he had the oppertunity to have gone to law school.
Somehow, WE, Americans have to bail ourselves out of the shit hole we are in today. No, I do not have the answers how. I DO think that if WE, the regular people, the workers who make this outfit run, put our heads together, that somehow, some way, we CAN find some answers. Hell, folks, we sure as the devil cannot do much worse than our chickenshit "leaders" have doen thus far. Since at least Saint Woodrow, America has been on a downhill slide. Actually, go back to dishonest Abe and his dictatorial powers and HIS illegal, unnecccessary war for where it all started going horribly wrong. Shit, even Musharraf in Pakistan has used dishonest Abe as a guiding figure in his crack down on civil liberties in his country. Well, Abe DID shut down newspapers, and he DID suspend habeas corpus, and don't forget that illegal war. Hell, I bet Cheney and Shrubbie love old Abe as well.
Third world status, here we come, ready or not folks. America is in the shitter, and Cheney has his fucking hand on the handle.
And on that sour note, I am going to close for now. More later.........honest. Just consider it a warning.......LOL
semper fi,
charlie
Let me start with Iran. Our supposed "next" war of choice. Did you hear the one about the latest NIE ( national intelligence estimate)? Looks like those pesky,sneaky,under-handed, bloody damn Iranians actually had STOPPED trying to develop an atomic bomb way back in 2003. No shit folks, and this is from OUR top level intelligence community. Folks like the CIA and other "intel" and/or spy agencies have determined that Iran DID quit trying to make a nuke in 2003. Wow, poor old Shrubbie, looks like the wheels are about to fall off his tricycle any day now.
Of course this good news isn't all that good. Well, at least to some people(?). The neo-cons are sure this NIE is dead wrong, and they are up in arms (not really, just their word processors/key boards are smoking from all that furious typing) and the leadership in Israel is certain that this NIE shows how "naive" America is if we believe this latest intel.
Yes sir, if you are an ardent Zionist and/or a neo-con, you have to hate this latest report by American intel agencies. Why? Well, because it means that the absolute requirement that America bomb Iran back into the stone age is a load of bullshit. It means there is NO reason for the US of A to go to war with Iran, well, at least NOT over the "issue" of an Iranian bomb.
Sorry to be the "wet blanket" here, but I would guess that it just means that now Cheney, the noe-crazies, and the hard core Zionists will have to find their thinking caps and work out some "other" excuse, er, reason to have another war. Thinking caps? For the neos and Cheney? I wonder if those fools actually ever think.
To me, this latest NIE is damn GOOD news. It means that we will NOT be bombing another country that had ZERO to do with the sainted tragedy of 9/11. Don't misunderstand me here, I do know that that was a tragic day for us all. I do think though that it has been played to death, so to speak, by our "leaders". It has been THE excuse to start two wars, to shred the constitution, to quash OUR civil liberties, and other crappy new "laws", such as the "Patriot(?) Act" and the MCA (military commissions act). It has also been used to "justify the suspension of habeas corpus. This is what I mean about 9/11 being done to death. Just like Pearl Harbor, America will never forget that event. We cannot even if we try. It did shock the living shit out of this country and that will not be forgotten. I just think it is way past time for our politicians to stop using that event as an excuse to start wars and kill off American civil rights. Enough already!
The latest NIE on Iran could even be made into a movie. We could title it; "A Funny Thing Happened On Our Way To War". Yeah, like it lost its "justification! What do the warmongers do now? Their MAIN excuse for war with Iran is dead in the water. Or, as they say in this part of the country, that dog won't hunt. Not to worry, I am 100% certain that the lap top bombardiers are working over time to invent a new,better,enhanced,and brighter excuse for the war they want so very much.
This brings me to another point about the current criminal administration and ALL of those who support/enable them. These folks, who have never worn a uniform, never fired a shot at an enemy, never have been shot at, seem to be in mad, passionate love with WAR. Any veteran of any war, any civilian who was caught up in any war, will tell you there isn't much to love about war. It isn't easy to be a lover while being shot at. Sort of takes the enjoyment right out of things. Talk about your coitis interuptis (sp)!
My suggestion is that EVERY person who is so enthralled with war and killing MUST be among the very first to be on the front lines of ANY future war America gets into. Hell, they ought to all be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan right now. Then, after they complete at least one tour in the war zone, they get to come back and tell us all how wonderful and glorious war is. How many neo-cons are willing to do that? I bet that ALL of the neo-con "volunteers" for such would fit very comfy into an old VW bug with plenty of room left for a cooler for the beer and a good size box for the snacks. Like, the total number would be less than one? Most likely. After all, they need to stay here and keep up the "important" work of informing the American people. Why, if those poor lap top bombardiers went off to war, who would run the propaganda mills? Um,er, I mean the "news" magazines and programs. No doubt they ALL have "other priorities" and just cannot seem to find the time to actually GO to war in person. They will promise to be there in spirit though. Big fucking help that is to our troops. Actually, it probably IS help as they would need to be shot by OUR own troops just for the safety of the troops.
This has certainly got to piss of the pope, I mean dead eye Dick. This PROVES that Mr. Mohamed el Baradei and the IAEA are 100% correct. All along, he has been telling any one who would listen that Iran did not have a nuclear weapons program. He has said, repeatedly, that Iran is enriching uranium for power generation. This is a LEGAL activity under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) which Iran has signed. Holy horrors! Those sneaky,lieing bastard Iranian are living up to the promises they made in regards to an international treaty! Why, how much more underhanded can those "evil doers" get? Why, the next thing you know, people around the world might start asking OUR government to live up to ITS' treaty obligations! Imagine the disaster that would cause! Why such a thing would wreak havoc around the entire globe. America, actually living up to the treaty obligations that it has signed onto over the past years. That is absolutely insane! Don't people know that Cheney does as he damn well wants to do? And don't ALL people in the world know that God has spoken to our "decider"? Why, if god speaks to him, he MUSt be right and we are all dead wrong. And any way, who the hell needs the constitution or that damn Bill of Rights anyhow? Civil liberties? We export "liberty" folks. Do as our government tells you to do, not as they act. Shrubbie talks to god. Makes me wonder if god comes in a six-pack these days. Or maybe a bottle of "Old Crow"? Hell, let him have the cheap stuff, Ripple or Thunder Chicken. Cheap drunk for a cheap bastard. Then he and Cheney can go hunting with Scalia. LOL, now that would be great pay-per-view TV. Of course the camera crew would need flak vests and helmets.
I sort of, almost, feel for old Cheney though. What with the writers strike, there isn't much on TV of late. Not that I'd know, my TV hasn't been on for over 12 days now. Well sir, Cheney knows how "Mericans love their TV, so he figured with the writer being on strike we needed another war. Just to, you know, boost the ratings. Stop those damn reruns, start a new war! Yes sir, give old Wolf Bitzberg something to talk about. I miss old Wolf and Dobbs. Miss them like I miss the plague. Not at all.
Then too, one has to wonder, NIE or not, would China front us the cash for another war? Last I read, China holds close to one trillion(!!!) dollars in US debt. Hell, one trillion. Most folks have a damn hard time trying to comprhend a billion, and a trillion is one thousands times larger! Just as a point of referrence; 1 billion seconds is equal to 32 years. One trillion seconds is equal to 300 centuries! Now that puts those numbers into some perspective. Oh, yeah, we have spent close to one trillion dollars so far on the two wars we are in right now. The "estimated" total costs of these wars is over(!) two trillion dollars. That total includes things like long term medical care for the severely wounded such as brain damaged troops. That is ONLY the projected costs to America folks. What it has/will cost the Iraqis and Afghans is unknown.
War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Well, not quite. It does hold down population growth for a time. Which brings up another "funny" fact. The folks who are dead set (some of them very literally dead set) against abortion, have no trouble with being pro-war. Very interesting, to me anyway. After all, war is just mass murder. And if abortion is murder, why would those folks NOT be rabidly anti-war? You might try asking some of the anti-abortion people you know about that. I would be very curious to hear the answers. I mean, to my simple mind, murder is murder. Or is it? I get curious about these sort of things. One more reason I got kicked out of religion. Asking "those" sorts of questions. Rocking the boat again there charlie. Damn right I am!
Here is one for your preacher/priest/pastor, just where did Cain find a wife? We are told there was Adam, Eve, Cain, and Able. OK, so where did Cain get a wife? Sears?
Beats me. I would like to know. No need to know I guess. Just plain old curiosity is all. Like who wre the first three folks who came out of the tomb of Lazarus? Christ said "Lazarus come forth", so who wre the other three folks? Just curious. No!Skipper, the boat is listing hard to port! Hang on little buddy,we'll make it.
Well, if you are still with me, you now know what happens to a person who has had way too many back surgeries and has constant pain that even the good pain meds don't get rid of and he can't sleep some nights. So, what does he do? Why he does a blog entry, what else? Ain't gonna watch no stinking reruns on TV for sure. Hell, if you are still with me, you are either a glutton for punishment or damn hard core.
Well, I did give fair warning to you all. I did say I would try to do at least one or two entries every week. Told ya. But, did you listen? NOOOOO. Just like them pesky "axis of evil" folks, aren't ya all? LOL.
"Nuther curious thing about this latest NIE. Yep, back to the Iran "thing" again. How is it that so many of the people in this current administration can get so much wrong and still be employed? OK, so Bolton is "out of work" so to speak. Out of a government paid job anyway. He is "working" for one of them "think tanks" now. I wonder, is a think tank in any way related to a drunk tank? (More curiosity.) But, when you stop and think about the last seven years, none of the bastards ever got fired. Well, OK,ok, Brownie was "let go". But, hell, FEMA don't count. And the folks in New Orleans and around the Gulf coast would have lynched him on sight anyway.
I mean, they quit, but nobody ever gets fired. No matter how bad or how much they totally fuck up. Anybody ever work for an outfit like that? I never did. Every place I ever worked for, you did your job according to specs or you were shown the exit door. Not so with our "decider" guy. Some decider. I thought that was why he got paid the big bucks, to make tough decision. Well, I never did claim to be smart. Good thing to.
Same goes for these neo-cons and the war mongers who have real(?) jobs at news organizations. No matter how wrong they are, they STILL have their jobs. Is it just me, or is America some different place from what it used to be? What ever happened to being responsible? Oh, wait, this IS the Bush 2 administration. End of discussion.
Follow the "leader" I guess. When the leader has never taken responsibility for any thing, particulaily any failure, the troops don't do so either. If anybody has other ideas, let me know, curious charlie @ want to know.org. Be damn funny if that is a real web address. Hey, maybe I could get that domain name, register it for me. LOL. Now, don't you wish like hell that I was asleep instead of doing this? Maybe I am, and this is just a bad dream. No, 'fraid not. One of the kittens just bit my finger. Sorry folks. I DID give you all fair warning.
Mother,call the men in the white coats. Tell them to bring the net, charlie is bloggong again!
OK, back to more serious things. If you haven't yet, please go to www.counterpunch.org and read the entry by Paul Craig Roberts on 4 December 2007. Once again, Mr. Roberts gives the straight story on the American economy and job "outlook". He shows again, how outsourcing and off-shoring of what used to be our jobs is making America a third world country. While big corporations cry about ehe "lack" of Americans to fill some high tech, high skilled jobs, they demand that they be allowed to import more foreign workers to the few remaining high skilled jobs that are still available IN America. He shows how this is a total load of bullshit. We have plenty of engineers, but they cannot find work. Some large corporations even have documented plans to NOT hire Americans for the jobs they need filled. Why? Well, Americans with advanced degress don't work for minimum wages, is one reason. Not only is our government out of touch with reality, so are most of our corporations. All in the quest for the cheapest labor costs. America ends up with people with high skills and advanced degrees tending bar, waiting on tables. What IS the use of a good education in America today? Why go to college, when all you will be able to get for work is in a bar or some fast food joint? What happens to our country then? What sort of leaders is this situation going to create? These are questions every American should demand answers for. Our current crop of "leaders" needs to answer these questions. What do the folks running for president have to say on this? Have any of them been asked? By our main stream media? No, but they may have been asked what they think of the parenting "skills" of Ms. Spears. Got to keep the questions to the politicos "real" ya know.
My "left handed" take on America becoming a third world country is this. It is not a really big deal in the long run. Yes, short term, like one or two generations, it will hurt. Hurt like hell I imagine. But, in the long term, the jobs WILL come back here. Once America is reduced to the status of a third world economy, our wages will be among the lowest in the world. Then, the jobs will start to return as we will be competitive based on cheapness of labor here. OK, so this isn't a rosy picture. Nor is it very helpful/hopeful. True, I agree 100%. But, it does seem that this is the way things are going to play out, whether we like it or not. Why? Because America has never been organized! We have way too many artificial divisions to ever get organized. Look at Europe for instance. They have national strikes at various times. Never happen here, because the machinists won't support the truck drivers, who won't support the nurses, who won't support the teachers, etc,etc,etc. My opinion, we have ourselves partially to blame for this shit mess we are in. We should have realized that we are all in this damn boat together and should have acted that way. Nope, we had to keep our "differences", our little "turf wars" for scraps of power. Big damn deal folks. Just look where that shit got us. Into the fucking goddamn mess we are in today. Sure, the government and big business bear the majority of the blame/fault, but WE let this shit happen. WE never could see past our own selfish noses. WE bear some of the responsibility for this mess. WE now have to make due the best we can and try like hell to clean it up. THEN, WE have to do all we can to insure that it never gets this fucking damn bad EVER again. Tall order? Damn right it is. Is it worth doing? Hell, you tell me. I'm permanently disabled and near 60 years old today. So, you COULD say, why should old charlie give a shit? Well, because this is MY country too goddamn it all. I give a shit, because that is how my Dad taught me to be. Thanks Dad, wish you were here, but am glad in some ways you aren't. Think I am pissed? If Dad was still alive, by the gods, you would see what pissed off really is.
He lived through the depression, was "selected" for military service months before Pearl Harbor, fought in World War 2 and was one of the best people I have ever had the pleasure and honor to have known. He was as honest a man as I have ever known also. Man, he could argue, he would have been a great lawyer, had he had the oppertunity to have gone to law school.
Somehow, WE, Americans have to bail ourselves out of the shit hole we are in today. No, I do not have the answers how. I DO think that if WE, the regular people, the workers who make this outfit run, put our heads together, that somehow, some way, we CAN find some answers. Hell, folks, we sure as the devil cannot do much worse than our chickenshit "leaders" have doen thus far. Since at least Saint Woodrow, America has been on a downhill slide. Actually, go back to dishonest Abe and his dictatorial powers and HIS illegal, unnecccessary war for where it all started going horribly wrong. Shit, even Musharraf in Pakistan has used dishonest Abe as a guiding figure in his crack down on civil liberties in his country. Well, Abe DID shut down newspapers, and he DID suspend habeas corpus, and don't forget that illegal war. Hell, I bet Cheney and Shrubbie love old Abe as well.
Third world status, here we come, ready or not folks. America is in the shitter, and Cheney has his fucking hand on the handle.
And on that sour note, I am going to close for now. More later.........honest. Just consider it a warning.......LOL
semper fi,
charlie
29 November 2007
Now don't you feel much safer with "Homeland Security"?
This was sent to me by a reader of this blog. Yes, he does exist. He also lives fairly close by to my house. He is the same person who alerted me to the KPLC TV station message board regards homeless vets.
He tells me that a mans house and FEMA trailer burnt to the ground. He states that there were adequate fire plugs available, but (always some big but in the way today), they fire plugs were LOCKED. Locked fire plugs? Yes, locked by order of the Department of Homeland Security.
Now, ask yourself the title question. Don't YOU feel safer, knowing that Homeland Security is locking fire plugs to prevent those H2O water stealing terrorists?
Yes, I know there is a severe water shortage in most of Georgia and parts of Florida and Alabama. Here in Louisiana, we do NOT have such a shortage. While we may be behind in total rainfall for the year, I haven't heard such information from the weather reports, we do NOT have a drought condition. If we were in a drought, the news would mention it and it would be a part of the weather report. It sure was back in 2000 when I believe we were in the third or fourth year of a drought, if my memory is correct. If not, let me know and I'll apologize on this blog. I am not always correct, but I WILL admit to any mistakes I do make.
Then, maybe the fire plugs were locked down by Homeland Security because of the drought conditions in Georgia, etc. Never know when those folks from Atlanta might sneak over here in the night with an extra long garden hose and take our water. Bless you DHS, you have saved our water. Now, it would be nice of you to at least allow the local fire departments to have a key for those locks in case of a fire. Or, is it DHS policy to allow our homes to burn to the ground? Hey, maybe if they do that often enough it will allow the newly homeless to occupy all those camps being built in our country. You know, the ones supposedly being built by some division or other of Haliburton. Ah, bless you "Mr. 5 deferments" Cheney and bless your corporation.
And if you think I really mean to bless "Dead eye" Dick and that rip-off company, well, I have this here bridge that I just might be willing to sell. Hey the price isn't all that high. Got Euros anyone?
semper fi,
charlie
He tells me that a mans house and FEMA trailer burnt to the ground. He states that there were adequate fire plugs available, but (always some big but in the way today), they fire plugs were LOCKED. Locked fire plugs? Yes, locked by order of the Department of Homeland Security.
Now, ask yourself the title question. Don't YOU feel safer, knowing that Homeland Security is locking fire plugs to prevent those H2O water stealing terrorists?
Yes, I know there is a severe water shortage in most of Georgia and parts of Florida and Alabama. Here in Louisiana, we do NOT have such a shortage. While we may be behind in total rainfall for the year, I haven't heard such information from the weather reports, we do NOT have a drought condition. If we were in a drought, the news would mention it and it would be a part of the weather report. It sure was back in 2000 when I believe we were in the third or fourth year of a drought, if my memory is correct. If not, let me know and I'll apologize on this blog. I am not always correct, but I WILL admit to any mistakes I do make.
Then, maybe the fire plugs were locked down by Homeland Security because of the drought conditions in Georgia, etc. Never know when those folks from Atlanta might sneak over here in the night with an extra long garden hose and take our water. Bless you DHS, you have saved our water. Now, it would be nice of you to at least allow the local fire departments to have a key for those locks in case of a fire. Or, is it DHS policy to allow our homes to burn to the ground? Hey, maybe if they do that often enough it will allow the newly homeless to occupy all those camps being built in our country. You know, the ones supposedly being built by some division or other of Haliburton. Ah, bless you "Mr. 5 deferments" Cheney and bless your corporation.
And if you think I really mean to bless "Dead eye" Dick and that rip-off company, well, I have this here bridge that I just might be willing to sell. Hey the price isn't all that high. Got Euros anyone?
semper fi,
charlie