They are at it agin folks

Well, the "too big to fail" gang of greedy banksters are at it agin folks. They are trying to get rid of Social Security and Medicare. They are using the current federal debt to try and push through a way to dismantle the social safety net in America.
There are three excellent articles that you all should read, as they explain this back room deal much better than I can.
These are the links to the articles that I find to be very informative.
www.counterpunch.org/cooke03022010.html

www.counterpunch.org/brown03022010.html

www.counterpunch.org/whitney03032010.html

I highly recommend all three of these articles. These people write on the financial mess in the US often and I have come to trust their work.
America is being taken over totally by the "too big to fail" greedy banksters and their bought and paid for politicians. The super rich of this country want even more of what little those of us in the working class and the middle class still have. They seem to have no limit to their absolute greed. Just how rich to the super rich need to be? How many mansions, airplanes, yachts, and luxury cars do these folks really need to own? How bloody damn poor do the rest of us need to be for them to have way in excess of any reasonable toys?
The moronic "tea party" folks are supposedly "up in arms" over the way our country seems to be heading. Trouble is, the "tea party" gangs don't protest what really needs to be protested. From what I have read on the "tea party" folks, they don not understand economics at all, they don't even realize they are protesting against their own good. Some "tea party" people have even held up signs at their gatherings telling the government to "stay out of my Medicare"!! What the hell??  Just who do they think runs Medicare? Some goddamn insurance company?
This brings me to another "gripe" I have with the "tea party" gangs. How can they support even more placing our health care in the hands of the rip off health insurance companies? The main reason that health care is so expensive in the US is due to the insurance companies. The overhead for the health insurance companies is on the order of 30$. The overhead for Medicare is more like 3 to 4%.
This country NEEDS a true national health care system. We need something like Medicare for all. And I do mean ALL human beings who live here.
The "tea party" ought to be asking the politicians why is it that America is the only industrialized country that does not have national health care for all the citizens.  Instead, they seem to be loyal followers of clowns like Beck and Limburger.
I firmly believe that the only reason the "tea party" groups exist at all is due to the skin color of the current occupant of the White House. How so, you ask? Well,look at the policies that G-bomb-them has had since he took office. What is he doing that is so different from what Shrubbie was doing? What wars has Go-bomb-them ended? Answer, none. In fact, Go-bomb-them has escalated the "war" in Pakistan. In his first year in office, our new president has authorized more drone attacks in Pakistan than Shrubbie did in eight years. How is Go-bomb-them anti-war?
The foreign policies of the current administration are so close to those of Shrubbie that many commentators have said that this administration is more like a third term for Cheney/Bush.
On the economy, things are not much different either. Go-bomb-them is looking for ways to dismantle Social Security and Medicare, the very things Shrubbie wanted to do but failed. What difference is there? Answer, skin color. When there is hardly any noticeable difference between the policies of Shrub and Go-bomb-them, what else IS so damn different? The only thing would be that the current occupant of the White House has a better tan than the last one had. Yes, I do believe that the "tea party" gangs are racist. They also need to go back to school and learn a few basic things. They tend to call our current president a Marxist, Nazi, communist, fascist, socialist, and many other things. Now, one cannot be a fascists and a communist. These folks have listened to the likes of Limburger and Faux Noise for far too long. It is a classic case of the blind leading the blind. Except this time, those doing the leading are not quite so blind. While I doubt the "presenters" on Faux Noise know this, their paymasters are the ones who are calling the shots and will dump any of the on air "talent" in a heart beat if it made them higher profits. If Rupert decided one morning that he was tired of Beck, the guy would be on the streets before he knew what hit him. Any "protest" by his followers and the "tea parties" would be useless.
America needs to wake up the the fact that we do have a class war going on here. The super rich and their paid for politicians are doing all they can to screw the working class, the poor, and even what is left of the middle class.
This current assault on Social Security and Medicare is just more proof of that.

Strange times

Are we living in strange times or what?
We get old "Mr. 5 deferments" Cheney telling the world how he was all for water boarding any of the captured "illegal enemy combatants" and the guy is still walking around free. Well, OK, the latest is he is in some hospital with "chest pains". Why, he obviously doesn't have a real heart? Maybe that mechanical one is acting up. Tough crap Dick, just suck it up and get on with your miserable life.
We have some clown who owed back taxes AND an airplane and a nice house decide that it was unfair that he should have to pay those back taxes. What is his "solution"? Why set fire to his house, then get into HIS own airplane and fly it into the nearest IRS building. So, suicide is now an option to paying taxes? I don't recall ever having been taught that in any school.
If he could afford to have that airplane, why couldn't he pay his taxes? Hell, if I owed back taxes and owned an airplane, I'd sell the damn plane and pay the tax. NO, I do not enjoy paying taxes of any kind, but if I honestly owe them, I do pay. I have personally been in a position of owing more tax than I could pay off at one time. The IRS set up a payment plan for me. It wasn't even very hard to do that. Couldn't this clown have done the same? Or did he feel some compelling "need" to "make a statement"?
Whatever, I consider him to be a coward and a fool. Disagree? Fine, it doesn't change my opinion of him and his cowardly act. I did notice that the far right was very quick to call this coward a "hero" and some sort of "true"(??) patriot. Bullshit! 
Now, today, I see where Go-bomb-them is on another "push" for health care reform. Almost makes me wish I believed in some sort of god. At least that way I could pray for us to be saved from the bullshit from the White House.
America will not get anything like the national health care that we need. Every other industrialized nation has some form of national health. Most of them have had such a system for decades. Not America. No sir, the "land of the free" gets some crap doled out by the goddamn insurance companies. All in the name of higher and higher profits for them and nearly useless "coverage" for the people.
What this country really needs is something like Medicare for every American. Period. We also need the right to have the government negotiate for lower prices for medicines. The very same meds sell for much less in other countries. Why? My reply, greed. And the fact that "our" elected representatives allow the goddamn insurance companies to continue to make huge profits. Same goes for the drug makers. They are allowed to make obscene profits from us, while they continue to push "off label" usage of their meds. All the better to get the doctors to write more and more prescriptions for their meds. The fact that many "off label" uses result in unforeseen and harmful side effects matters little. Even when these drug makers are caught and made to pay fines for the violations, they happily pay the fines as their profits are so large, the fines are at best, a drop in the ocean.
One other thing caught my attention. At the CPAC meeting, Glen Beck told his audience that they should not have anything to do with those who talk about revolution. Really? I don't own a TV set, so I do not watch this clown Beck, I do catch bits of his act on video on the net at times, but doesn't HE talk about revolution? Maybe he doesn't use that exact term, but seems to me he is pushing for a violent change of some sort here in the old US of A. 
I think that coward who flew his own airplane into the IRS building in Austin had something to do with that comment about avoiding revolutionaries. 
Note to Beck, and the rest of the clowns like Limburger, O'Really, etc, be very careful of what you stir up. You clowns have created this monster of the "tea parties", now it looks like your creation is getting away from your control. It would be very ironic if the "tea parties" turned on the clowns like Beck. Personally I do not see how any sane person can stand this guy. When I try to watch video of him, I can only stand about 2 minutes tops. The guy is seriously sick unless it is all an act. 
We no longer teach our kids critical thinking at school. I believe that is one of the main reasons why such crap as Faux Noise, Limburger, and the rest are so popular today. Far too many people do not have the ability to honestly think for themselves. So, yes, I put a good bit of the blame on the school system for this. Of course BOTH wings of the war party are also to blame. The elephants and the donkeys share equal blame for the sad state of America. They are both totally owned by the corporations and no longer represent the actual people of the country. 
It is going to be fun watching how the elephants try to control their "tea parties". It will be equal fun watching the donkeys try to explain it all away. It is an election year folks, get set for lies, lies, and more lies. 


America, what a country.
semper fi

Great article

Hello good people.
I want to direct you all to a very good article by Tom Engelhardt. His latest Tomgram is titled "Fear Inc" Subtitled "Hold onto your underwear. This is Not a national emergency". Basically, he points out how low the odds are for any of us to be the victims of terrorism here in the US of A. We still kill far more of our own on the streets, roads, and highways every year then were killed even on 9/11. It is an excellent article on the over hyped terror threats that we get most every day since that time.
My opinion on it all, it is all designed to make control of the population easier. If the government can get us all to be very afraid and keep us like that, they will be able to better control us all. Keep the majority fearful and they will bow down to the "rulers" and give up what little freedom we still have for some false sense of security. It brings back a quote supposedly from old Ben Franklin; those who would give up liberty for security deserve neither.  I may not have that 100% correct, did it from memory, but you get the idea.
In addition to keeping the masses afraid and under control, this terror scam keeps the "homeland" (that vile,nasty term again) security industries rolling in the profits. Just as we have had a military-industrial complex for decades, we now have a "homeland security industrial complex". Yes sir, there is big bucks in all the new toys for "screening" airline passengers and other such useless items. The "new" scanners that are now "highly needed" at all major airports will not detect everything. No security measure is 100% failure free.  For every new security measure, there is very soon, a new counter measure.  In fact, if the company that is making the new security device doesn't think ahead to ways to defeat it, there IS somebody out there who will be on that job as soon as the specifications for the "new" device are known.
It is all about controlling the masses and raking in huge profits, any actual security is an afterthought.
In my opinion, if we really want to be secure and have real freedom and peace, we would pull all of our troops out of every foreign country. Bring them all home. OK, I have said this before and will again, the Marines who guard our embassies could keep that job. They do provide some measure of real security at their posts and from what I was told when I was a Marine, embassy duty is very good duty.
By closing our nearly 1,000 foreign bases, we would be showing the world that we feel secure here at home. We would end the idiot wars of choice we are currently in and stop all planning for more war in Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, and Iran. As to closing the bases, the Japanese want us out of Okinawa for sure.
We are spending obscene amounts of money on these useless damn wars of choice. We cannot win them, just as the British could never have "won" here in the 1770's.  The Afghans and Iraqis are fighting for their homes and families. We are the invaders in those countries. Another question pops up, why does the rest of the world have to "be like us"? How would we like it if some foreign army invaded America and demanded that we be like they want us to be? I doubt that many of us would be very happy with that situation. Yet, we send our troops off to other countries to impose our "values" on them.  Other people do see the hypocrisy in our actions folks. Just because most Americans seem to have little or no knowledge of history doesn't mean that all people are as dumb.
We need to stop being so foolishly afraid every time somebody tries to blow up something. Hell, this latest "attack" on Christmas day failed. Why should we be so damn scared of a failed attempt?
We keep killing innocent civilians in foreign countries and yet we want to be totally secure. Now that is just plain old stupid. Like old Newton told us, for every action there is a reaction. With our foreign policies, it is called blowback.
Our country needs to stop treating the Zionist entity as something special. Treat all countries the same. I think it was George Washington who said that we should have fair trade with all countries and entangling alliances with none. Words of wisdom that we should put into practice.
The link to Tom Dispatch is on the right side here on this page. The link does work. Also, I have added a link to my photos.
semper fi

state of the war

This is an addition to the state of the union post.
In his speech, fearful leader said that the troops "will" start to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2011. Yep, according to the "plan" he mentioned just before the latest "surge".
Funny, but every Pentagon "plan" has troops in that country until 2015/2016 at a minimum. The Air Force has plans that call for them to be there until 2015 for training and maintenance. 
The Army is there at least until that same time or longer. Again, for training and building up the Afghan Army.
No doubt this administration just might actually "pull" some troops out of Afghanistan and bring them home by 2011. Yep, they'll do just what old Nixon did back in 1971.  I was with 5th Marines in Vietnam 1970-71. We had a radio link with an Army until a few kilometers from our regimental base. Every so often we'd drive over to drop off mail and check on our guys who kept up the radio link with the Army.
One day, we enter the Army base and saw they had a different unit insignia on the main gate. When we asked about it we were told that the "old" unit we had known went home. Now, all the Army troops we had been working with were still there. They were now in a new unit. All that had "gone home" were the regimental flag, some paper work and maybe a few men. It was all smoke and mirrors, but it made the news back in the states as the unit coming home.
IF our troops come out of Afghanistan in 2011, I would be willing to bet this is how they will be "coming home".
I just do not, in any way, trust the government. So, I guess you can call me a doubter in fearful leader and his ability to get things done. 
But, damn, he sure used lots of pretty words in that speech. Didn't he?
semper fi

state of the union

OK, I tried, I really tried to watch the entire speech. Honestly, I did on the net. To be totally honest, it is still going on in a different window.
What got me was one statement our fearful leader made. He said he didn't want America to be in second place. Well bud, as far as health care goes, America is not in second place. Nope, America is, wait for it.............#37. Yep, number 37. That means that 36 other countries have better health care than we do. And that is before this health care "reform" he is still pushing.
Now, our Congress critters have a gold plated health care plan. Give the same they get to ALL Americans. 
Can't afford it? Well, hell, just END the goddamn wars of choice we are stuck in. We spend over $190,000.00 each minute in Afghanistan alone! Holy crap people. How mush more of this horse shit will we take?
No, I do not have a solution. If I did, I'd either be very rich, or there would be a "contract" out on me. 
We all know that not one damn thing he talked about in this speech will see the light of day.
He says there should be less involvement of the lobbyists? Now that would be something. Unfortunately it will never happen.
ENOUGH!!!!! Enough of the bullshit and lies. Enough of all the goddamn wars.
I should apologize for my language, maybe. Damn these moron politicians can get a guy very pissed off.
They treat us like mushrooms, keep us in the dark and feed us bullshit.
Note to self; do NOT eat before listening to any political speech.
semper fi

Important new article

Hi again folks. 
Very unusual, a second post here in one day.
Please go to Tom Dispatch and read his latest article titled "Our Wars Are Killing Us". In my personal opinion, it is one of the most important articles in recent times. He explains quite clearly the obscene amounts of money going to just the Pentagon for our "defense". In reality, the monies are for war, not the defense of America.
Remember as you read his latest Tomgram that he is ONLY talking about the money going to the Pentagon. He does not include the funds that go the the Department of "Homeland" (that vile term again) Security, the Department of Energy ( they work on the nukes) nor the various Veteran Departments.
America spends an obscene amount of money for our "defense", yet we are no more secure than we were on 9/10.
We spend as much as the rest of the world combined! And we are in no way "safer" since 9/11.
Of course the "tea baggers" do not protest this. The elephant gang will never ask for any cuts in this funding, nor will the donkey gang. It is a scam folks. We are being ripped off to continue to fund endless wars for endless profits.
Time to tell the "security" outfits enough. They need to re-enter the real world of very tight budgets. They need to come back to reality.
semper fi

Poor folks and drones

Well, I got a very interesting email the other day. It came from a highly recommended site. The link to it is on this page, but I'll give it here also.http://unsilentgeneration.com.
The article in the email alert is about the "wonderful" Lt. Governor of South Carolina and how this guy thinks of poor people.
Now keep in mind that this guy, Andre Bauer, claims he is a "good Christian". He is running for the office of governor in his state also.
This "wonderful" person is on record as saying that we should treat poor folks like stray animals and not feed them. You see, according to this "good" guy, the poor folks will just come back for more if you help them. We should, I suppose, just let them fend for themselves, and if they die, well, so much better for the state. Yep, that way there would be fewer poor folks to clog up the system. Oh, and more for those who aren't poor.
It amazes me how these miserable damned jackasses can run around America claiming to be "good Christians" and then say crap like this and the media just lets them walk away from this sort of comment.
Here again is another "fine" example of what I continue to call an Xtian. There is NO Christ in the Xtianity they practice. There is none in what they preach either.
Now, some will jump on me as I am an old heathen, but I do know some bits of the Christian story. Jesus mentioned helping the poor at different times in the New Testament. He did not, that I remember, say to not feed them and just treat them like stray animals. In one story Jesus even went so far as to show socialist tendencies. I refer to the story where he told the rich man to sell all his belongings and give the money to the poor. Not being a follower of any religion, I do not have the chapter and verse in front of me. Any real Christians who might be reading this can look it up I am sure.
I just cannot understand how we allow any politician who claims, as the elephant gang has, to uphold "family values" to run around spouting this sort of bullshit. Have we all become immune to this? Don't we get angered at the hypocrisy any more? Do we just sit back and take all the manure that is dumped on us daily? When will people wake up and email, write, call, etc the offices of the politicians who make these outrageous statements? If we just sit and do nothing, we will lose even more of what little are left of our constitutional rights.
A second item came past me recently that ties in with the above. Over at Tom Dispatch, again, the link is on this page and it does work, there is an article by Nick Turse. Mr. Turse is a trusted commentator, trusted by me at least. He writes in his recent article about the drones we are using in our current wars and the future of these drones in, of course future wars.
Yes, folks, we are in for endless war. Endless wars for endless profits, but that is something I have said before, so, no with this post.
Mr. Turse points out how the drones are being used in increasing numbers in the current wars "we" are fighting. He has very good information as to how these weapons are being upgraded and the new types of equipment that is being planned for future wars.
Now that is all worth reading, but what I take from all of this "technological" breakthroughs and improvements is that the US military is increasing their use of these systems.  Now, you may say this is good as it keeps our pilots out of harms way. Yes, it does do that, but, it also now makes war even more like a video game. Currently, many of the pilots of the drones we use "work" out of an Air Force base in Nevada. They come in at the start of their shift, fly the drone by remote control, preform the mission, and at the end of shift, they go back home. War by remote control, just like some video game.
And there is the danger to all this. As war becomes a video game, our "leaders" will be less inclined to stop and even try to reason with anybody before they start another war.  Since the majority of the pilots won't even be in the actual combat zone, the Air Force losses could drop to zero. All drones, all the time.  But, making war into a video game removes reality from what war actually is. War is a goddamn dirty business. Don't think so? Ask anybody who has been in a war zone just how "clean" war is. One historian, I can't recall his name just now, said in an interview some years ago that wars were fought in garbage dumps. He spoke the truth to some extent. The battlefields are littered with trash, just plain old "normal" trash and all the cast-off trash of war, empty shell casings, discarded rations, etc. You do not ever see any signs saying "keep our battle zone clean". War is nasty, brutish, vile, violent, bloody, on and on. I'm doing my best to keep this polite. War is not a damn video game. With the increased use of drones to carry on our wars, we are in danger of making war more attractive, more of an option than ever before in human history. There lies the danger of these new weapons systems.
War should always be the very last resort.
I am going to close this entry with some comments from General Smedley Butler. He said there were only two reasons for war. To defend OUR homes, and to defend the Bill of Rights. All other reasons for war are a racket. After 33 years as a US Marine and having been awarded the Medal of Honor twice, he knew what he was talking about.
In his short pamphlet "War is a Racket" he states;" Three steps must be taken to smash the war racket. We must take the profit out of war. We must permit the youth of the land who would bear arms to decide whether or not there should be war. We must limit our military forces to home defense purposes."
He ends his pamphlet with this final comment. "So....I say, 'To HELL WITH WAR!'"
I agree 100%.

Oh joy

Well, we can all bow down and thank the supremes.
Yep, they went and decided that there can be NO limits on what a corporation may spend to influence (buy) a Federal election now.  Of course there will now be new legal battles in state courts to make sure they can do the same at the local and state levels.
Remember folks, corporations are people too. Yes indeed. American corporations have had official "personhood" for some time now. This week the Supreme Court decided that as persons, they can not be limited in what they spend to influence (buy) our elections.
We can now expect to get even more propaganda and bullshit from our wonderful corporations come the election this fall. No doubt we will be flooded with "news" and "views" all thanks to the judges who just could not allow some "people" to be restrained. You see, this is all a "first amendment" issues, free speech you see. Well, with this decision, speech won't be all that "free" any more.
Actually, this should not be a surprise. It even should not have been unexpected either. Once the corporations were granted "personhood" status, this was just a natural outcome.  Disgusting? Damn straight it is. Disappointing? Well, not when you consider the make up of the court. Just look who the nine judges are. They are all bought and paid for, that is a given also. We do have the best damn government money can buy. And the corporations have plenty of money.
semper fi

A request to readers

Hey good people.
I have a request to ask of you all. If you read the last entry here you know that I am totally disgusted with the Nazi/Soviet term "homeland" to describe OUR country.
Well, I want to get something going with this.
Starting now, ask everybody you talk to to NEVER ever use that damn term "homeland" when they talk about OUR country.
Tell them they can call it America, the United States of America, the United States.  Hell, I call it 'Merika most days now. I don't care what they call this country as long as we get everybody to stop using that goddamn term "homeland".
As I said in the last posting here, to me it sounds like something from either Nazi Germany or the old Soviet Union.
If we all do this, maybe, just maybe, we can get OUR country back again. Hell, we might even scare the shit out of the "too big to fail" banksters. And that sure as hell would be worth it alone.
I'd like this to take off to the point that the only morons who use the term "homeland" will be "talk radio", Faux Noise, and the goddamn politicians. 
Please give it a try folks. Hell, we don't have very much left to lose. Everybody, give it our best shot. We just might make that miserable un-American term history in our life times.
Thanks for any help you all can give with this.
semper fi

Why "they" attack us

This is getting tiresome. The idea that "they" attack us because "they hate our freedoms". What a load of crap.
Why am I back on this topic? Well, I saw a video of one of the very few honest journalists left in America. I am talking about Ms. Helen Thomas of course. Over at the web site Common Dreams they have a video of her asking our security folks about the real reasons why "we" keep being attacked. The non-answers she is given are amazing. After trying to get an answer, the "leaders" just move on ignoring her question.
Another thing that comes across in the video, the continuing use of the term "homeland" by "our"(?) government types.
Let me get right to the main point here. "They" attack us for the miserable foreign policies of "our" government. The Jordanian doctor who blew himself up in Afghanistan killing a number of CIA people made his final video where he made it very clear that his suicide attack was a response to "our" previous actions in Pakistan and that region of the world.
Go back to shortly after 9/11, bin Laden sent out a video where he mentioned many reasons for the attacks on America. Our freedoms were never mentioned. What were mentioned were various aspects of US foreign policy. He made mention of our stationing troops on "the land of the holy places", Saudi Arabia. He mentioned the US governments' continued support for the Zionist entity, Israel and our aid in suppressing the Palestinians.
These groups keep attacking us because of the foreign policy of our leaders. They do not attack us for our freedoms. Yes, some of them are very radical and have delusions of some sort of world wide religious rule, but that is not what motivates the vast majority of them. They attack us for the continued US support for the Israeli aggression against the Palestinians, our invasion of Muslim countries, Iraq and Afghanistan. They object to out attacks against Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia in addition to those already mentioned.
Yemen? Somalia? You ask about these countries and wonder. Well, we have launched cruise missiles at both Yemen and Somalia in the recent past. We have had special ops types in Yemen for a number of years already. We send missiles and/or gun ship attacks against various people in Somalia when we feel the need. This is not something new folks. It has been an ongoing thing for many years now. It just doesn't make the news in America very often, if at all.
Another thing about the video I mentioned above, the use of the term "homeland" by the government types. I know this started with the Cheney/Bush gang, but why do we continue this? We never have used that term to describe America before. It would have seemed very out of character for Americans to use such a term to describe our country. To me, it still sounds very odd, very wrong. In fact, it sounds down right like the sort of thing that the Nazis or the Communists would have used to describe Hitlers' Germany or the old Soviet Union. America was never mentioned as our "homeland", and I don't think any of us even thought of it that way. It was America, the United States, or  "our country", but never ever the "homeland".
Call me paranoid, but to me, when this term was first used by the Bush gang an alarm went off in my head. "Homeland"??  Homeland sounds so damn foreign. It sounds very un-American to me. Homeland, it sounds so, Nazi or Soviet.
And yet, the leadership of America keeps using this term to describe America. Why? Is this the new "correct" way to describe the country now?
I would like to ask every reader of this blog to do a big favor to all of us. Please, please do NOT ever call America the "homeland". Call it the United States, the United States of America, or even just plain old America.  But, please do not ever refer to our country as the "homeland".  This may seem like a very small thing, but we need to end this vile use of the term "homeland" in reference to our country.
I finished high school in 1966, I enlisted in the Marines in 1968 and went to Vietnam in 1970. In all that time, nobody ever referred to America as the "homeland". No, not even the Marines. It was America or the United States, but never, ever "homeland".
So, I am asking all who read this blog to never use the term homeland when talking about America. This term was first used by the previous administration and is being continued by the current one. We need to get back to how we used to be. We need to get back to being real Americans, not some subjects of some homeland.
Thank you for your time.
semper fi

Prize peace?

Oh happy, happy, joy, joy.
The United States has just closed our embassy in Yemen. The British have done the same. According to some analysts, this could be a sign that there is some sort of large military action in the planning.  Wonderful news.
What? You don't see military action in another country as good news? Why, what sort of 'Merikan are you? Watch or listen to the likes of Beck, Hannity, O'Really, etc. I left out Limburger as he is/was recently in hospital for "chest pains".
Also, listen to Go-bomb-them on military actions. Our dear leader has recently won the Noble Peace Prize. Any further military actions (other wise known as invasions) are just in the interest of "peace" of course. We should not question the actions of such a wonderful person as the winner of the "peace prize". Why, it would be down right cynical to think that Go-bomb-them was not acting in the name of peace.  He will bring peace to Yemen no matter what.  It would also be quite foolish to even imagine that he would have "consulted" with the government of Yemen about any military actions. Why would he need to do such a thing? Didn't he just receive the "peace prize"?  How dare any of us peons question his motives. Just who do we think we are? Our "job" as tax payers and citizens of 'Merika is to pay our taxes, send our children and grandchildren off to what ever wars our leaders deem necessary, and to keep our mouths shut.
The possible military actions in Yemen fit right in with the "plans" of the neo-cons and the Pentagon. Remember the gang of W. Shrub? We are in a "long war" now. The idea of a long war implies more war.
We "need" more wars. The war industries want more profits. The fearful leaders in the Pentagon want more wars so they can justify more funds for new weapons and weapon systems.
Senator Joe LIEberman wants more wars. He is from Connecticut where there are still jobs in the "defense" industry. Joe has never met a war he was not for, except when it was his turn to go to war. Like his pal Dick Cheney, LIEberman did all he could to stay out of the Vietnam war. He was successful in that, he never has worn a uniform. And yet, he seems to love wars, as long as it is not any member of his family that do the fighting and dying. I think Joe should move to his favorite country, the Zionist entity, as he is an Israeli firster. Actually, he is just like many of the neo-cons in his love of the Zionist entity first and his never having served in the US military.
Just my opinion, but every person who wants war should have to have been to war themselves. They should at least spend some months with the wounded and disabled from our current wars. They should have to spend months giving aid to these troops who have been severely wounded and will need life long medical care. In fact, the entire American public needs to see, in full color, the results of war. There should be full color pictures and video of what war does to human beings on the news, every day. It is not pretty, there is no "glory" in war. I speak from personal experience in the Vietnam war.
It is so easy for the Congress critters to send the children and grandchildren of other people off to war. If they are for war, let them enlist and lead the war. At the very least, have their children or grandchildren enlist and serve in the wars they are for. Maybe then they might stop and think about just what the hell they are doing.
Yemen is just the latest country to be placed in the sights of the US military. Actually, we have been in that country giving "advice" to the Yemeni military for some years now. According to some sources, we have had "advisors" in Yemen since about 2004.
We are already at war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and sort of in Pakistan. I say sort of with regards to Pakistan as we have yet to put "boots on the ground" in Pakistan. Now we have been making noises at Somalia, Yemen, and of course Iran. This is how the "long war" works. Endless wars for endless profits.
One has to wonder how much longer the country can keep this up. We are currently fighting these wars on borrowed money. How much longer will China continue to loan us the money to keep on with these wars?
We have fallen right into the trap bin Laden has set. What makes it even more stupid of us, is that he stated his goals back around the time of 9/11. He said he wanted to get America to invade Muslim countries and then get us stuck in wars with Islam. Well, he has won that part. Oh, and yes, Yemen is a Muslim country.
Go-bomb-them made a very nice speech in Cairo in 2009 where he said that America is not at war with Islam. The actions of America seem to belie his words. Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan,Somalia, and Yemen are Muslim countries. So is Iran. What other countries are we threatening? They all seem to be Muslim countries that are in the military sights of the Pentagon. When every country you are at war with and those you are threatening are all Muslim, how can you say that you are not at war with Islam?
I certainly don't know the answer to that, but then, I did not win the "peace prize".

The system did work

After the failed attempt to blow up an aircraft on Christmas day, Janet Napolitano, the head of Homie Land Insecurity went before the news media to tell all of us that, "the system worked".
That statement of hers has set off a barrage of comments from all sorts of folks. The storm of protests and commentary even got her to retract that comment.
Well, it was very wrong of her to retract that statement. The system DID work. In fact it has worked exactly as it was set up to work.
How so you ask? Didn't this "mad bomber" board an aircraft headed to America while he was supposedly on a "watch list"?
Of course he was allowed to board that plane. And YES, the system worked just fine thank you.
The system worked in that now there will be more physical "pat downs" of all airline passengers. There will be countless billions spent for the full body scan machines. You have seen or heard of these new machines. They give the TSA folks something like the "x-ray eyes" that Superman has in the comics and the movies. These machines can see right through our clothes. The machines make it very difficult to hide any weapons or other contraband on our bodies. Loose clothes will no longer be a method to "fool" the TSA.
The time required to get through this new security will increase of course. No doubt passengers will now be required to arrive at the airport at least 3 or 4 hours before their flight is scheduled to leave. All in the name of security.
Since every new method of deterrence always sets off new methods of defeating the new security, no doubt, in the future there will be total strip searches and body cavity searches for all passengers.  It would be the next "logical" step for the TSA to take folks. They are doing all this to make you feel safe while flying.
The comment that the system works also fails for another reason. It was a passenger and the flight crew who subdued the latest "bomber".  Apparently there was no Air Marshall on board that flight. So, the system now depends on the passengers and flight crew to catch any "terrorist" that some how passes through the elaborate security measures at the airports.
Well, OK, fine. If that is the case, and it seems to be so, then a question needs to be asked. If the passengers are now a vital part of the security measures, shouldn't every member of the flying public get at least a discount on their ticket price? After all, if you, as a paying passenger, are also a part of the "security team" shouldn't you be compensated for your "service"? Does the TSA really expect the public to do their jobs and assist in doing the work they are paid to do for free? They get paid to provide "security", so if the passengers are now part of this security team, they should be paid for their service also.
Since the failed Christmas day bombing incident, we have new security measures in place now. Our president has said there will be reviews of the security procedures. He even went so far as to say that there were "systemic failures".  Well, isn't that special?  I still believe the system worked just as it was set up to work. Since Christmas day, the flying public are now more afraid than they were until then. There are and will be more intrusive "pat downs" and security measures at every airport. The level of fear is now highly increased. The system worked because the goal of the system is to make people fearful and keep them very afraid.
The system worked.
semper fi

2009......what a year

Well here we are, getting close to the end of another year. Around this time of year, we usually get those "look back" type of TV news programs. I haven't had a TV set for over two years now, so I wonder if they still do those types of programs. Well, this post will look at some of the things I learned this year.

One thing I learned early this year is that an "historic" event can be a dud.

How so? Well, the American presidential election of 2008 gave us the "historic" moment. For the very first time, a black man was elected as president.

OK, historic for sure. How was it a dud? Well, less than one week into the new job, the "new" president ordered the bombing by drone aircraft of targets in Pakistan. In his first year in office, Go-bomb-them has dropped more bombs on Pakistan than W. Shrub did in four years on the job.

We also learned in 2009 that the Nobel Peace Prize can be awarded to a person for "expectations" rather than any actual work towards peace. How else does one explain how Go-bomb-them was even nominated for this "prize"? The nominations for the "prize" closed in late February. He took office on 20 January. So, after being on the job less than two months, he was nominated for this "prize". What peace did he help to make in that short time? Did he bring peace to Iraq? Did he end the war in Afghanistan? Did he bring peace to the Palestine/Israel conflict?

Sadly, the answer to those questions is a resounding no. What he did do in that time was to bomb Pakistan. He also made no comment about the brutal invasion of Gaza. The "excuse" for the no comment on the Gaza disaster was that he had not yet assumed the office. True, yet at the same time, a very weak excuse to me.

So, just what had our president done in his short time in office to warrant the "peace prize"? Well, he got elected on the slogan of "yes we can". He was billed as "change we can believe in". He had raised the expectations of people all over the world.

Oh, so he was nominated for the "prize" based on the expectations people had of him? OK, but by that sort of standard, why not give a high school diploma to every child on his/her first day in kindergarten? We could tell them they were getting it for our expectations of them. Why not? If it works for a "peace prize", what limits do we apply to "regular" people? Do we hold a child to a higher standard than we do a president of a world power? Inquiring minds want to know.

I also learned that when is finally awarded this "peace prize" that it is A-OK to dismiss those who have really worked for genuine peace. You know, people like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.. They were described as "naive" by Go-bomb-them in his acceptance speech. In that same speech, he told the world that peace requires war. Was that a "1984" type moment? War is peace? Slavery is Freedom? Oh bother, he really did make it seem that war makes for peace. I had no idea that when giving a speech while accepting a "peace prize" that it was OK to tell the world how war is such a necessity. I never have claimed to be very smart, but somehow it just doesn't seem right to give a speech on how two very well know people who worked hard to achieve real peace were "deluded" as it were. I never would have thought it proper to give a speech accepting a "peace prize" while you tell the world how war makes for peace. Call me stupid, but somehow that just doesn't seem right to me.

Yes, dumb old charlie sure would have figured that if you were being awarded a "peace prize" you should talk about peace and other peace makers. I don't think talking about how "good" can come from war is the right thing to do at that time. Then, maybe I do need some "educating". Yes, I must be very damn stupid at that. I mean, if the president of the US of A makes the sort of "peace prize" speech where he puts down genuine peace makers and reminds us all how "good" war can be, well then, it must be OK to do that.

Is it just me. or does Go-bomb-them look more and more like W. Shrub every day? Sure, the guy still talks in complete sentences, but, well, just what is he really saying?

Before he even got on the plane to fly off to get his "prize", he announced that he would be sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. OK, now, here I might need some help. He sends more troops to a war, thereby escalating a war. Then he goes off to pick up a "peace prize"?

No wonder the elephant gang likes him. Toss in that "prize" speech and they may dump the moose burger bimbo for Go-bomb-them.

By the way, I saw on some web site where one of the late night comics, I think(?) it was Leno, said that Go-bomb-them was nominated for an Academy Award. He got the nomination for a Democrat acting like a Republican. No matter which of the TV guys said it, it sounds damn close to right to me.

I also learned that if you claim to be a "student" of the Great Depression and happen to be the chairman of the Fed, you can be named as the "Time" magazine person of the year. And not just because of those two "qualifications" either. Nope, you can be Fed boss and a "student" of that economic mess and do everything possible to not do what should be done and still get that magazine cover. Not being an economist, I may not have the "clout" to tell Ben his job, but had FDR and his folks done what Ben and his crew have done, that depression of the 1930's would not have ended even with World War Two to bail them out.

I am not a "student" of that time period, but I have read where the government tried to end the depression by creating jobs for those who had none. There was massive federal spending on all sorts of projects. Jobs were created. OK, some were just "make work" jobs, but, they did get people back to work with a regular pay check. What has Ben done? Well, he gave huge, some might even say obscene, amounts of money to the very folks who caused the current economic mess. Yes, folks, old Ben gave Trillions to the "too big to fail" banksters. Now, here again, I show how damn stupid I am. To me, a regular old dumb ass if there ever was one, a "student" of the Great Depression would have gone for things like government spending on jobs to repair the infrastructure. He would have set the money for construction of our aging roads, bridges, and other projects that need to be done. In fact, many of those items have been in great need of money for repairs for years. It was not that long ago that we had a bridge fail in Minnesota. Remember that one? We have many more bridges that are in very bad shape. We have millions of people without jobs. Skilled people without jobs. We have an aging infrastructure. Seems to me, any real "student" of the Great Depression would be able to see that granting the money for those jobs would have been the way to go. But, that would just help the working class. I suppose that is why Ben chose to help those "poor" under paid banksters. Yep, help for the working class might sound like socialism to the elephant gang. Might get Limburger, Beck, O'Really and that crew all hyper. Faux Noise might raise some crap over that sort of thing. Dear me, we can't get those folks upset now.

So, maybe being a "student" of something now means that when a situation comes along that is very close to what you have studied so much, you do just the very opposite of what the folks you studied did. And, then you can be the "person of the year" and have the whole cover on "Time" magazine. No doubt that magazine cover and $5.00 will get you a small, plain coffee at Starbucks. Big damn deal.

We have also learned that one can get elected to the US Senate and not act like any sort of decent American. Yes, I bring up Joe LIEbermann now. Old Joe used to be a member of the donkey gang. He and they didn't get along so good, so Joe quit to be an "independent". LOLMAO!!!!! Sorry about the laughter, but Joe has never been independent. He has been, and always will be, a tool of AIPAC. He is a forever "Israel Firster". On the health care bill grinding its way through Congress, Joe has threatened to hold his breath till he gets his way. Screw him. Let him do it, I dare him. He is a little coward. The other day, Senator Franken got old Joe. Joe was giving some yammering yack or other and asked for an extension on his time. Senator Franken said "no". Poor joe, nobody has ever dared to say no to him before. He said he didn't take it personally. Bullshit! Everything is personal with that rat bastard. Let the little weasel stew in his own shit for now. I never have cared much for Al Franken, but he sure did one decent thing this time. I still think Franken is a pompous ass and never thought he was funny, but I give him a thumbs up for this. Just proves that because I may not like the guy that he can't do something good now and then. Nice move Al.

It may be nasty of me to pick on "poor old" Joe, but he has been doing everything he can to make sure that regular Americans never get a decent health care plan. All the while, he enjoys a gold plated health care package at our, tax payer, expense. Sort of an,

"I got mine. Screw the rest of you." That is what we call an attitude folks. And Joe has a very nasty attitude. Past time that somebody slapped his ass down. Just wish it had been a much harder slap.

The folks who spent two weeks in Denmark learned something also. They learned that Go-bomb-them was not going to ride in like the old US cavalry to "save the day" for them. He did show up the day before the end of that climate meeting. He had some back room meetings with China and some other folks. He did sign on to a statement also. Um, well, big deal. That "statement" isn't really much of anything, as the folks who had been there for the past two weeks found out real soon. The compromise that Go-bomb-them signed onto does not set goals, does not set time limits, doesn't really do much of anything.

One comment from the busted Copenhagen meeting was, "Yes we can, but no, he won't". Sort of sums up a whole lot about the president of the old US of A. I'd say that applies to a great many things. Things like peace and health care for starters. HEalth care? Yes we can, but no, he won't. Peace? Yes we can, but no, he won't. I say that we Americans have first "dibs" on being damn disappointed in Go-bomb-them. We elected him, and he is an American. The rest of the world is upset over this climate deal? Too damn bad, he screwed us even more, and we are stuck with him for at least three more years. Denmark this week just showed the rest of the world what he has shown us for the past 11 months.

So that is my look at the year 2009. A look at a few of the things I have learned this past year. Oh, and guess what? We still have 11+ days left in the year! That means we might even get to learn a few more neat things before we say goodbye to 2009. I'm not sure if that makes me happy or just wary.

semper fi

dopenhagen? brokenhagen? (fill in the blank)enhagen

Well, somebody once told me that it is not polite to rub it in. Screw polite.

The "climate summit" or whatever the hell was "supposed" to have happen in Denmark is now officially over, finished, done.

And man alive, are some folks highly pissed off about it all. And I am not talking about Al, not my pal, Gore. Some of the countries who thought that Go-bomb-them would arrive, fresh from the "peace" prize deal, and "save the world". Yeah, sure he would. Well, guess what happened? Go-bomb-them arrived alright. He then proceeded to have "closed door" meetings with China and maybe somebody else. When he "emerged" from the back room deal making, there was a "consensus". Yes boys and girls, our "dear leader" has made some back room deal with China, India, and maybe Russia and Brazil to "help" those poorer countries "mitigate" the effects of climate change. You heard where Hi-Larry told the world how "we", the US of A, is going to put up $100 billion for this. More borrowing by us now. Well, what will that $100 billion get those poor folks? I don't know, but if I had money to invest in this "help", I'd put some money into inflatable air mattresses or rubber life rafts. You know, the sort of item that folks who are about to be flooded might find useful.

I really shouldn't joke about this, but the whole truth is, global warming is NOT happening. No, I do not refer to the "leaked" emails that show how the data has been doctored. REAL science shows that, if anything, the globe is cooling. Just look at the climate in the old US of A recently. We have had record low temperatures and early snow falls. Record early snow for many areas in fact. Also, the real data show the the globe is not warming. The doctored data also did away with the "uncooperative" Medieval Warm Period. Well, hey, that didn't fit the "model" so, the data HAD to go. Isn't that how you "do" science? Toss out any data that does not support your pet theory? Oh, you don't do that? Oh, dear, well, back to the old drawing board then. Also, Al, never my pal, Gore is the big loser here.

But, back to Go-bomb-them. He says the "deal" that was made in Denmark is a good start. Well, maybe, maybe not. If you are Al, never ever my pal, Gore you don't like it much as the spotlight is now off you. Maybe that is permanent, then the deal will be good for sure. Gore has been riding this "global warming" for way too long. He and his pals now have to figure how they will scam us out of all that money they were going to make from "cap and trade" which is carbon trading. Carbon trading, which needs to die a very swift and painful death, is just the new derivatives for the stock market and the banksters to get even richer off of. Gore was dead sure to be very rich from that scam as well. After all, Gore has set himself up as THE guru of "global warming". Maybe now he will just go home to Tipper and sulk for the next 30 years.

OK, NOW, back to Go-bomb-them. Sorry about that detour. Sort of sorry,maybe. Maybe not.

Many other world leaders are very disappointed with Go-bomb-them. They were certain that the new "peace" prize winner would be on their side in this "global warming" deal. He sold them out. Like any sane American could not see that coming? How many of you are surprised that Go-bomb-them sold out the "poorer" countries on this deal? Come on, be honest. How many of you are really surprised about it? How could any American who has been awake and sentient this past year be surprised that he "sold out"? He has done that to America since the inauguration. Now, the other world leaders get to feel like those Americans who voted for him. Screwed. Hey, what can I tell you/them? The guy is just the typical American politician. He knows who pays his bills. Yep, the big banksters. They don't want to waste money with global warming. They don't want to waste money on global cooling either. they just want MORE money, any way they can get it. The more, the better. Legal means or any other way, as long as they get tons more money, that is all they care about.

OK, so the average, sane American should have seen this "sell out" in Denmark coming. Well, so should those world leaders who are so surprised. Why? Did they read or listen to the "prize" speech? I have only seen portions of the damn thing. I said recently here that I decided not to read it. I have not read the entire speech yet and may not. I have seen enough of it and I have read some analysis of it by others to know that it stunk to hell and back. After hearing or reading a speech by a person who won a "peace" prize use the acceptance speech to praise war, well, they have no excuse to say they are surprised now.

This brings up another point. One reader of this corner asked if I heard the speech. I told him no, I didn't listen to it. He said I should read it and then blog on how pissed off it made me. Well, I still didn't read it, see above. BUT, I have seen enough of it to be pissed off to a degree. So, here ya go buddy, my "pissed at the "prize" speech rant".

Go-bomb-them "won" the Nobel "peace" prize this year. For what, nobody really knows. The nominations closed in February. He took office in mid January. Within his very first week in office, he authorized drone air strikes on Pakistan. OK, now before the nominations closed, he was nominated. For what? What peace did he achieve in, oh be generous, and say six weeks in office? He didn't have a peace plan for the Palestinian/Israeli mess. He didn't end any war. He DID escalate the sort of war in Pakistan. I say sort of war as we are not "officially" fighting there, yet. It is a sort of war in Pakistan from our side of things. More like our Afghan war sort of "spills" over across the border into Pakistan.

OK, so, he was nominated for the "prize". Fine, even though we still do not really know why. Later, we find out, lo and behold, he has WON the "prize". How? Beats the hell out of me, ask the Norwegians. THEY voted on the damn thing.

Now the rant regards the "prize" speech. Parts of the "prize" speech that I have seen get this old veteran highly pissed off. NOT as angry as I might be if and when I ever read the entire yak-yak. It wasn't JUST that during the "prize" speech he dismissed BOTH Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. No, now that alone was bad enough. BUT, he didn't stop there. He went further. He made the remark that war is necessary to achieve peace!!!!!! What the HELL!!!!!! We "have" to have war in order to have peace???? Since when?? YES, sometimes, after a war there is a period of peace. Wars do not bring peace however. Negotiations bring peace. War and blood shed, slaughter, rape, and all that comes with war is NOT needed to have peace. Peace only requires the opposing sides to sit down and talk like sane, rational human beings.

And to think that SOME Americans actually thought the guy was a "peace" candidate during the 2008 campaign! Well, if anything, the "prize" speech sure as hell ruled him out from being a "peace" person to me. I did not believe the guy when he was running for this current job he has. I voted for Ms. McKinney. THAT would have been real change. A black woman as president of America. Wow, that would be history for sure.

This "prize" speech just shows that Go-bomb-them loves was as much as W. Shrub. Go-bomb-them, I think, actually enjoys being a "war president". Just as W. Shrub did. Some commentators have said that we are now in the third Shrub presidency. I am not 100% certain of that, but this "prize" speech sure goes a long way to convincing me of that.

So, cheer up folks. Go-bomb-them did not sell us to Gore and the "greenies". Not by a long shot. Am I happy about the outcome of Copenhagen? Not really. I am glad that they did not get a legally binding document from it. That would have been disaster in my opinion. What they got, is a "deal" where each country can set their own goals as to reducing "green house gases" and it is NOT legally binding in any way. The "poor" nations did not get the huge handouts of money that they still want to comply with the agreement. Well, they don't need much money now. They can set their own goals, and why would anybody pay them for that? You can also bet the farm that the $100 billion Hi-Larry mentioned, well, that will sort of "evaporate". Hey, global warming can do that to money uncle Sam "promises" you know.

In the end, yes, I am gloating a bit. Al, never to be my pal, Gore lost out. Hopefully he lost big time huge. If we never see or hear from him again it will be too soon. Go back to his mansion and sulk. And don't forget to pay that electric bill there Al.

The warming crew lost out also. Well, maybe now we can get the real, honest science on climate.

As to the climate, I do think it may be changing. But, if anything, it is getting cooler. Back in the early 1970's that WAS the big worry. The coming ice age was in many science magazines at that time. Maybe they were right then, just off with the timing. I also believe that conserving our natural resources is a very good idea and we all ought to do what we can to conserve. Using energy efficient appliances and vehicles just makes good sense. It is also good for the personal "economy" (personal finances) as well. If you need a new ride, buy one that gets better mileage than what you own now. You will save money every time you fill up and save on resources as well. That is a good thing to do, smart even. There are all sorts of tips on how to save energy and other resources that do not cost much to do. It just makes sense that to be good stewards of this planet that we use the resources wisely. Leave some for the kids. Don't be wasteful with what we have. Everybody and the planet will thank us for that.

Oh, one last comment on what drives global warming, even global cooling for that matter. It is seen most every day by most people. Yep, right out there in the sky. The sun. That is what drives our climate. When solar activity is looked at along side climate data, well, let me just say that it all falls into place. And, we have accurate data on solar activity, sun spots, that go back hundreds of years. There IS a correlation folks. Some scientists know this. I even remember reading about sun spots and climate way back in grade school. How many of you remember back in the 1950's a school

magazine" the "Weekly Reader"? I know that the grade school I went to in Illinois had us get it. In 1957, it was IGY, International Geophysics Year. There were all sorts of interesting science articles in that little newsletter/magazine that year. I do not claim to remember much of what I read then, but the solar activity and climate stuck with me. There were articles on the connection during the early 1970's and talk of global cooling/ new ice age also. The idea of solar activity driving our climate is not new.

Aha, so, you ask, then why all the fuss on global warming? Well, you cannot make huge piles of money if the sun drives the climate. BUT, if people are causing "global warming", well, hell, there are tons of money to be had from that. We make them stop what they have been doing for years and have them do something new. See how the scam works? Well, it was supposed to work.

Poor Al, never ever my pal, Gore, he was set to be richer than Bill Gates.

semper fi

nothing much

Wow! I got actual comments posted here. That is odd as it is unusual for me to have comments posted at the corner. I usually get an email or three, sometimes. Often times nothing at all. Now that is OK by me. I don't expect any sort of response. In fact, I don't really know if anybody reads this blog. Well, not quite true, some folks tell me they read it.

Either way, this isn't to gather any sort of "following". That would be the worst thing that could happen, my opinion. I am not a leader. I was a very good worker before the old back gave up. I did good work, and never had any problems with the quality of my work. That even held up for some hobbies I had and one I still have. I refer to my photography. No, it isn't "professional" quality photography, but I did not set out to be a professional photographer. I do it because I enjoy it and I do a fair job of it. It is a hobby and nothing more.

Same holds here with the old "corner". This blog is a sort of hobby as well. It is my little soap box where I can write about whatever I feel like writing about. This also explains why the new postings here are very irregular. I do not write on any sort of schedule at all. I only post here when I feel like it or if I read something that I want to comment on beyond just an email reply to the author of an article.

Why am I putting all this down today? Well, it is a long winded, my usual "style" of a reply to a comment posted here.

The nice person who posted the comment mentioned that my posts are not very frequent. Exactly. And it will continue to be so. At 62 I doubt that I am going to change much, if at all in any way. I don't see any "need" for me to post here even once a week. Sometimes I might do one a week, or even more. That has happened, but don't count on it.

I doubt that I have much to say that often. I also doubt that my opinion is needed on any topic with any frequency. Who the hell am I anyhow? Nobody of any great importance is who.

The same person mentioned not being in agreement with all I write. Great! To be totally honest, if you agree with all I write, you are, in my opinion, in need of some serious intervention. Again, I do not set out to get any following or group. I do not want to, and will not be any leader of any group of any sort. No way. I don't know where I might be going, so follow at your own risk. Better yet, just sit back and watch and laugh when I fall flat on my ass.

This blog is not to get anybody to agree with me either. It is where I post my opinions and ideas. I am not trying to get people to agree with me, just maybe to get people to think about the possibility of another view point.

One more comment before I end this for today. It was mentioned to me that maybe I should read the "prize" speech that Go-bomb-them gave the other day and then comment on it. I have thought about that and decided that there are already enough comments on that speech already. Also, those who have commented on the speech did a much better job of it than I could, so there won't be any comments by me on it. Sorry, I just don't feel like doing it. I will get around to reading it later this week. Right now, I just don't give a flying crap what he said. From what I have seen of it, the whole speech is just the usual political crap anyway. Why would anybody "need" my comments on it?

Well, if I don't make it back here before then, Happy Holidays" to one and all. Have a safe holiday season folks. Remember, do not drink and drive.

semper fi.

A Clarification

I guess I should try to make a clarification here.

The last few posts here have been a bit "hard" on a certain "group" of people. No, not politicians, THEY deserve all that I give them and more. I am talking here about xtians. What I mean by that term are the fakes, not REAL Christians in any way.

I do my best to respect the beliefs of all other people, within reason of course. I have no respect at all for those who "believe" that sex with children is OK. I have no respect for those who believe it is OK for them to beat their wives or children either. I DO think some kids need a spanking at times, but that is not a beating.

I also have no respect for hypocrites. Here is where the xtians come in. To me, these are the folks who preach about Christ, yet do not in any way, live what they preach. They are coming out of the woodwork at this time of year. That is what we get every year around late November and on into December in particular. You all know them. They are the ones who go around talking about "peace on earth" or even "goodwill to men", that gang. They sure do talk a good one don't they? Yet they do not put their words into practice. While they are off shouting "peace on earth" they are also praying for "victory" for our troops.

They must have never been to war, actually, they probably have never even been in the military. "Victory" implies death and destruction. How is that compatible with "peace on earth"?

Peace on earth, goodwill to men implies, actually means, just that peace. It does not mean "victory" or wars or killing or making other people homeless.

I detest the hypocrites and anything they "stand for". They are just liars. They "say" they worship the "prince of Peace" yet they pray to their god for a military victory. They are NOT Christians at all, they are xtians.

I use that term in much the same way some use xmas. There is NO Christ in either. As to xmas, that is totally commercial, you can be a total atheist and enjoy xmas, no "god" of any sort there. Just like the xtians, no Jesus, no "prince of Peace", no joy, just hypocrisy.

I do respect the real, true Christians and wish them well. Same with any other true believer. I respect their beliefs. I only ask that they not demand that I believe what they believe. If my non-belief means I will spend eternity in some "hell" or other, well, that is MY choice. Thank you for your concern, now, let me live my life as I choose. I try to live my life by doing no harm to others. I do not try to convince anyone to follow what I believe. I just would like the religious folks to show me that same respect.

I don't think that is too much to ask for. Mutual respect. Now, that is a concept that could actually lead to real world peace.

Happy holidays to all.

hockey sticks?

Well, it sure looks like the meeting this week in Denmark is going to be very interesting.

The "hockey stick" graph for climate change is coming under pressure. The "leaked" emails from England have only added to the fuel against drastic, made made, climate change.

Things are so bad that Al, not my pal, Gore has backed out of even attending this meeting. He was supposed to give at least one speech on this topic. What with his now tow books, his Oscar winning movie, and of all things, a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on the man made climate change, his no show leaves many folks wondering about the whole topic.

While this "disaster" of the emails gives fuel to the "deniers", it should make any sane, rational person stop and ask questions. One thing that really needs to be addressed, from my point of view, is why have the people who have been pushing the "hockey stick" data been so very slow, if at all, in sharing their data? As I understand things, the way science is supposed to work is you share all of your data with any other researcher who asks for it. In this way, they are able to use your data and see if they came get the same results that you have obtained. By not sharing this data, or being very slow to share it, they give the impression that they may have something they wish to keep secret. By not sharing the data, or in being very slow to do so, they make other researchers wonder why they are doing this. If you are an honest researcher, you should be willing to share all of your data with any other competent researchers. That is how new discoveries are validated. The with holding of data gives the impression of having something to hide.

And, it would seem that some of the "hockey stick" people did have things they wanted to hide. At least one researcher who finally got access to the original data has not been able to confirm their "hockey stick" conclusions. In fact, he has found that the "Medieval Warm Period" was even warmer that the temperatures we are experiencing today. This does not show in the hockey stick models. In fact, the "Medieval Warm Period" drops out completely in the "hockey stick" conclusions. Amazing.

Some of the "hockey stick" data only include tree rings from 10 (ten) tree ring samples. Also, those ten samples were not random samples. Not exactly a representative sampling in any way at all.

I do not claim that there is no climate change. The climate of planet earth has been changing for the last 4 billion years. Yep, ever since the planet formed. It will continue to keep on changing until the sun burns out.

The climate has undergone many periods of extreme climate change. We know there have been more than one ice age. We also know that it has been much warmer than it has been in our life times. During the age of the dinosaurs the climate was much warmer. Humans did not drive any of the previous climate changes.

I seriously doubt that the current climate change is driven by human activity also.

That being said, I see no reason why we should not do our best to conserve our natural resources. That just makes good sense to me. The less we use of them, the more there will be for future generations. Saving energy, by using high efficiency appliances, cars and truck that get better fuel milage are things we ought to do. It will save us money in the short term and it will help to insure that those resources may be available for the next generations.

What is very worrying to me is this "idea" of "cap and trade". This sounds like another scam for the very rich to get even richer and for the poor to get even poorer. As I said, just another scam. Actually, to me, "cap and trade" is not unlike those emails you get that inform you that you have "won" some lottery or other. Sure thing, by "random drawing" you have just "won" a huge sum of money. Now, you "only" need to send the "keeping fees" to "insure" the delivery of your prize. Just another SCAM, as is "cap and trade".

Bottom line, we all need to do our part to save our resources fro future generations. What we do not need to do is to tax the poor people of the world. We do not need government mandates to force conservation. While a few nice "carrots" could be useful in this, big "sticks" of higher taxes on the poor will not make things any better for any except government tax collectors and the speculators who will get rich off the idiot "cap and trade" schemes.

Just my 2 cents on climate change.

semper fi

and now it just keeps getting deeper

Oh boy, have we been had!

I don't know if I should laugh or cuss. I just caught some news on al-Jazeera. Herr Gates has stated to Congress that the president has given him the "leeway" to send an additional 3,000 troops to Afghanistan. That is OVER the 30,000 that Go-bomb-them told us the other night that he will be sending to that cluster f**k.

Yes, you did the math properly there, a total, so far, of 33,000 new troops to the killing fields of Afghanistan. And you voted for Go-bomb-them because you "thought" he was anti-war? Well, he sure as hell fooled you, didn't he?

I could sit here and say, "told ya so". But just because I voted for Ms. McKinney, not the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in D.C., I won't do that. It isn't polite, and those who honestly believed this guy might be anti-war have enough grief to deal with. So, no, I won't rub it in.

Now, another question for you all. Do you really think that he will start to draw down the number of troops in Afghanistan in the summer of 2011 as he said he would the other night? Can you still trust this guy? Is it that hard for you to see that he is just another liar, a typical politician? Come on people! Wake up! The guy said whatever he needed to say to get elected. He is not a savior nor is he in any way anti-war.

Hell, if he was truly an anti-war person he never would have made it out of the primaries, IF he would even have been allowed to run in the first place. This is America, anti-war people do not get elected to office, at least not to any office with real power behind it. Not today for sure. Maybe someday, but dreaming won't help just now.

We need to protest this damn idiot war of choice. It matters not at all that a member of the donkey gang occupies the White House. Hell, LBJ was a member of that gang and he "suffered" all sorts of protest demonstrations. Why not picket Go-bomb-them? What has he done for America?

Well, he has escalated the stupid, idiotic war in Afghanistan is what. For that he should be picketed and protested against. Email the White House, email your Congress critter. Call them. Tell them to end the goddamn stupid wars of choice. These wars are not making AMerica safer. In fact, they are insuring that we now have more enemies than ever before. Every time we kill a civilian (collateral damage) we create more "terrorists". Every dead Afghan has family, they will demand revenge. It is in their culture to do so. Not unlike America. What you say? America wants revenge? Damn right! We invaded Afghanistan and then Iraq because Shrub and crew said they were behind the attacks in New York city and the Pentagon. Revenge was what motivated this country to go half a world away to "kick ass and take names". Pure, simple revenge. And we just create more enemies by killing more innocent civilians.

We are stuck in two idiotic wars of choice. There is no end in sight for either. The SOFA (status of forces agreement) with Iraq is not worth the paper it is printed on. Why? Because it is baed on "facts on the ground", just as the 18 months and out for the new Afghan troop deployment is. And those "facts on the ground" are very much subject to change. Can you honestly believe that when summer 2011 gets closer that old McCrystal will not say, well, things have "changed" and we "need" to keep the troops here longer? Think he won't say that? If you really believe he won't, I just might have a nice bridge for you to buy. Or maybe some nice beach front property in, oh, Arizona.

We are in these wars for the long haul people. There is no "exit strategy" for either. There won't be either. This is the "long war" the Pentagon has been lusting for since the Soviet Union fell apart. The "long war" has NO end. That is the "beauty" of it all. Endless war for endless profits for the likes of Boeing, Lockheed-Martin and the other "defense" corporations. These wars have nothing at all to do with "democracy" or "human rights", those are just smoke screens to keep us in line with our "leaders" wishes.

The country is being run by the war profiteers and the "too big to fail" banksters. They all make obscene profits from war. Way back in 1933, General Smedley Butler wrote a pamphlet entitled "War is a Racket". He was 100% correct then and even more so now. War is a business, and the profits are great. Not for those who do the fighting and dying however. They are expendable. Mere cogs in the machine.

Notice how those who cry the loudest for war are those who have never been to war. Most of them have never even worn the uniform of any military.

We have been lied to for years people. We all need to protest against these stupid, illegal, damned idiotic wars of choice.

we knew this was coming

Well, the war lovers should all be happy now.

Yep, Go-bomb-them has "decided" to send more troops to the disaster of Afghanistan. Thanks loads there bud. I keep looking for that "change" we were supposed to be able to believe in. Some change there Mr. President. Just what we didn't need, more body bags filled with our dead troops. More money down a rat hole. Merry goddamn xmas to you too there in the White House.

No doubt the idiots like Limburger, Beck, and the rest of that crew will howl that we aren't sending enough troops off to war. Anybody else ever notice how those who cheer the loudest for war and more war are those who never saw war in person. In fact, most of them never even wore a uniform of any military. How is it that some people actually listen to the likes of Beck, Limburger and that bunch talk on and on about war. Those morons never even were in the military. Beck could not pass the mental tests to enlist and Limburger got a medical deferment. How is it that some people actually think these fools know anything about war? What the hell do they even know about the military? They never served. Why listen to somebody who has no experience with the military or war? Is America that goddamn stupid? Enough of the country must be, these fools get the ratings, so somebody is watching/listening to them. Holy shit! Well, go follow those jack asses, see where it gets you. Oh, and when it blows up in your face, I WILL laugh at you. Damn right I will. Don't ever stop to listen to anybody who has actually been in a war. Nope, just follow the bloody loud mouth fools.

And then we have our(?) cowardly, bought and paid for Congress critters who tell us how "free" we are. Yeah, sure we are, free to kiss the hind end of zionism.

First thing to do, ban AIPAC.

Second thing, close every military base we have in every foreign country and bring ALL of our troops home. I'd let the Marines stay on guard at our embassies. They do provide security and they look good in dress blues. They have a tradition of embassy guarding also. Plus, I was told that embassy duty is very good duty.

Third, we shut down the war profiteers. Yep, the defense(?) contractors. Put the money into what we really need, like a decent national health plan that covers ALL Americans. Something like the Congress critters give themselves at OUR expense. Why do they get to have "socialized" medicine and we don't?

Then we break up those "too big to fail" banks. Also, we bring back Glass-Steagal, with even better oversight.

After that, we have real elections.

We might actually be able to restore the old Constitutional republic.

Just my Xmas wish list. And yes, I use Xmas. Why not? This IS America where the only thing that matters is profits.

Oh, one more thing, NO Xtians allowed in government. ALL religions will have to register as agents of a foreign power. Put some real separation between religion and government. Anybody who says he/she is a member of any religion first and an American next is out of any government position.