Still here, still disgusted

Well, I am still here, still disgusted. Damned disgusted to be honest.
Again, I ask you all to not call the mess in the Gulf an oil spill. It is NOT a "spill". It IS a disaster. We will be dealing with this disaster for decades to come folks. If you don't think so, do a Google search on the oil spill in Brazil ten years ago. The mangrove swamps there are still dead zones. Oh, and every so often they still get oil washing up on the shore around Valdez, Alaska. Thanks loads Exxon.
Of course BP is telling us all lies about the mess and how much oil has spewed into the Gulf. They need to lie. How so? Well, they might be fined according to the amount of oil that gets into the Gulf from this well.  Since nobody really knows just how much crude has spewed into the Gulf, it is to their advantage for BP to lie, that is under-count/estimate, the amount of oil that has leaked(?) from this well.
Now this all supposes that the law will actually be enforced here. The law has a penalty for such oil "spills" or blown wells. It is an amount of money per barrel of oil that gets into the water. The fine is about $4,300.00 per barrel. Not exactly a small fine even if they had only "lost" a few hundred barrels. This could cost old BP well into the Billions of dollars. Not so good for the old bottom line, even for a multinational oil company.
As I said, it all supposes that the law will actually be enforced. Any bets that it will be? Call me cynical, but just look at the Wall Street gang. They, with their derivatives and other junk "investments" caused the economy to tank, yet instead of getting punished for their own misdeeds, they got a huge government bail-out. We, the tax payers, get the bill for that. So, now tell me, do you honestly think that BP will have to pay a big fine?  Why, it could cause them to go bust. No doubt it will soon be made known that BP is also "too big to fail".
Well, maybe not. They could file for bankruptcy and sell off bits to other huge multinational oil giants. Profits and bonus checks for the investors and the top management. Just like the big banksters. And guess who gets the bill for it all? Aww, shucks, you already knew the answer. Yep, the tax payers. See how predictable life in the old US of A is? The super rich just keep getting richer and the rest of us pay for their mistakes, clean ups and all.
All this AND, we still keep fighting two, count them, two, useless damn fool idiotic wars of choice that we can never "win" in any way.
Notice how the Congress critters refuse to pass any extension for unemployment benefits, A Senator from the elephant gang even voted against any sort of benefit for homeless veterans. Yes sir, "we" cannot afford to help the regular people who are in dire need. BUT, we can still always find the cash to keep the damn fool wars going full bore. Priorities? Congress don't need no stinking priorities.  The new motto, well actually the one they have been using for many years, "Damn the common folks, keep the wars,er,um, uh, profits flowing!"
Also, keep pumping obscene amounts of cash into the racist gang running the Zionist entity. Starving Palestinians? What Palestinians? Remember, it was dear sweet Golda who said "there is no such thing as a Palestinian". This is the gang who want to go and bomb the crap out of Iran now. Hell, we can't kick butt in Iraq or Afghanistan, how will "we" fight the Iranians also?  No doubt "we" would have to resort to using nukes, again. Yes people, America is the ONLY country to ever use a nuclear weapon in a war.
On the subject of war, why not bring back the draft? This "volunteer" military is being worn out, and fast. Being as the country is damn near flat broke, we can't really afford many more of the Blackwater mercenary types. As it stands now, the "volunteer" military is fast becoming the employer of last resort. So, bring back the draft.
For one thing, the draft would surely energize the dormant peace movement. The way things are now, only a very small segment of the population has any direct connection to these damn fool wars. The draft, to include women, "equal rights" you know, would make the military much more "democratic". The middle class and even some upper middle class folks could get drafted and then there would be bloody hell raised here in the US of A for sure. Just look back to the Vietnam war. It was the draft that really got many of the protestors out into the streets to protest that damn fool war.
Personally, I'd rather they just end the damn wars and bring all the troops back home. Since that is not going to happen, no way Go-bomber will let that happen, his masters would not allow it, bring back the draft and give everybody a "chance" to serve. Since these idiot wars will go on for years to come, I'd like to see some of these "brave" neo-con clowns and other "patriot" types have their "opportunity" to serve their country. Hell, you see/hear the neo-cons, Faux Noise talking heads, and their "tea party" pals spouting off how much they "love" America. Let them get drafted, sent to the war zones and they can chant "USA!, USA!" all day long. More likely, they would be in the streets demanding an end to the wars. See how much faith I have in our "heroic" chicken hawks?  Yep, none at all.
In my personal opinion, only those who have never been in a war are so "gung-ho" FOR war. Having seen war up close and all too personal, I think the people who are pushing for these wars and more wars need to get first hand experience of just what war really is. Let them spend a few months out with the grunts, humping around carrying all the gear the rest of the troops carry. Let them have first hand experience of being in a fire fight. Let them see, first hand, just what an air strike or artillery strike does to people. Let them get ALL the sights, sounds, and smells of war.
Do not misunderstand me here. If this country is ever invaded, I WILL be out with my weapons fighting the invaders. Just like what the Pashtuns are doing in Afghanistan. Just like what the Iraqis are still doing, only a bit more quietly than the Afghans are doing. Just like the Iranians will do if "we" attack them.
Go-bomber will keep these damn fool wars going, and going. Just like the Energizer Bunny. Useless wars without end. For obscene profits for the super rich. Keep a close watch on Iraq. Our combat troops are due to start leaving Iraq next month. Yes, August of this year, we are supposed to bring all combat troops out of Iraq. Any bets that will happen? No doubt that is just like the 2011 Afghan withdrawal, it is probably "conditions based". Of course you all know what that means. Yep, the "conditions" will "require" the troops to stay, "just a little bit longer". And no, it will NOT be in any way like the Jackson Brown song, "Stay". It will be much, much worse. Bloodier also.
Some day, I would like it to be in my life time, people around the world will wake up to the fact that people are people. Regardless of what religion they follow, no matter their skin color, no matter their creed, no matter any other "differences" they may have. We are all human beings. We all have the very same needs; food, clothing, and shelter. We all have the same basic desires also. We all want to provide those basic needs for our families. We want a decent home for them, decent jobs for ourselves and our children. We want our children to get a good education and at least as good a life as we have had, hopefully a better one if possible. I also think that we would all like to live in peace and friendship with each other. I know I sure as hell want to live in peace with my fellow human beings. Oh, and maybe a few cats and a dog or two also.
Imagine, we could have such a world, IF we want one. It won't be easy getting there, but nothing worth having ever has been easy to get. We sure have our work cut out for ourselves folks.
semper fi

Alert, please read this article

Hello all, I read this article and think it is one of the most important things I have read recently. I am including the link to it as I think every American needs to read it.
Thanks for your time.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/25/AR2010062502160_pf.html

More and more disgusting

With every passing day, the disasters facing America get more disgusting.
Of immediate, to me at least, is the huge and growing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.  What we have with this damaged well in the Gulf is NOT an oil spill. More than one comment has said so on other web sites/blogs. An oil spill implies that the oil was in some sort of container and that container was damaged in some way or other and spilled some oil. This is NOT, in any way, a spill. It is an outright disaster. I have no other word to describe it.
Living here in central Louisiana it is the lead story on our news. It is impacting this state and all the states on the Gulf today. OK, maybe not Texas so much, yet. It will begin to have an impact on the rest of the US very soon. Most of the fishing/shrimping areas in the Gulf are shut down. This will, of course, lead to much higher prices for sea food in the entire country. This will in no way be "fixed" any time soon. Even if the oil were to magically be cleaned 100% today, it would still take a long time before the fish, shrimp, and other sea food from the Gulf to recover and be safe enough for consumption.
This disaster will have long lasting effects folks. No matter what is done, no matter how good the clean up is or even how soon it is cleaned up, we will be effected by it for years to come. It will take some time for the sea to recover from this disaster. And I am not even taking into account the damage to birds and other critters that live in or near the Gulf.
We have tropical storm Alex out in the Gulf now. According to the "Weather Underground" web site, Alex is not projected to hit much further North than the Texas Gulf coast below Galveston.  That would spare the Louisiana coast, but I have noticed that this projection has been revised to show landfall further North this afternoon that it was yesterday. This is not unusual as predicting the storm path is never that accurate and the projections always change, some times many times in a given 24 hour period. Alex could take a turn North yet and impact the coast of Louisiana directly. Even if it remains on its current projected path, it will make an even bigger mess of the Louisiana coast due to the high winds and waves it will generate.
Of course a direct hit would be the worst case. Remember, this is only the start of our hurricane season, it runs until November.
I have read one report that said the reservoir this well was drilling into could possibly be a very large one. One estimate was in the billions of barrels potential. BILLIONS of barrels. This means that if this well is not capped, it could dump oil into the Gulf for decades.
There are other reports that say there is possibly a huge methane pocket under this well. This could lead to the release of a huge methane bubble that could sink every ship and rig in the immediate vicinity of this well. Methane is also a much worse "green house" gas than CO2.  Methane also "eats" up the oxygen in the water which is very bad for any sea life. As in very deadly to sea creatures.
No matter how we look at this disaster in the Gulf, it is very, very bad for all living things, people included.
Thank you ever so much for this "gift" BP.

Back to "our" useless damn fool wars of choice.
By now, you all have heard that Stan "the man" McChrystal has "lost" his old job as the top general in Afghanistan.
Well, he and his "Team America" did talk to the reporter from Rolling Stone magazine. They apparently did not care that he was going to write what they told him. That is called insubordination by some. Some of their comments surely were disrespectful to the commander-in-chief.  Being disrespectful to your boss is never a good way to get a promotion, let alone, keep your current job.
My guess is that Stan wanted out. Being the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, he had to know that the war is not going according to plan. He had to know also, that the time table of July 2011 was never going to be met. I think that he just decided that giving the interview with Mr. Hastings from Rolling Stone and letting Go-bomb-them fire him was better than staying until the bitter end and going down in history as the guy who "lost" the Afghan war.
Yes, discretion IS the better part of valor. Rather than admit defeat and quit, he chose to give an "all out" interview and get fired. This way he can retain his "standing" with the wing nuts who still fall for the idiotic endless wars of the empire. No doubt the "tea party" is still in love with Stan "the man" McChrystal.
Before you all stand up and cheer, look at who will take over from Stan. Yes, "king" David Petraeus will now be the commander of the Afghan war.  All that has happened here is that "we" changed the guy running this dog and pony show. We should have changed the strategy.  Instead, we get same war, different general leading it.

I got a request to stop calling the president Go-bomb-them. Instead I have been asked to call him "drone-bomb-them". Well, it does give a nice description of "dear leader" for sure. While it is an accurate description, I don't think it would be proper for me to use that "name" for him. If I were to rename him, I would rather call him Go-bomber. To me, this would be even more accurate. My reasoning is because the president claims he can "take out" anybody, anywhere, including Americans right here in America. Now, if he were to use only some form of air power, the name "drone-bomb-them" might be accurate. I seriously doubt this will be the case. After all, the "special ops" guys would not get any of the "action" that way. No, I think there will be small warms used to "take out" (kill) those the president deems to be "hostile" to the empire. True, a rile bullet is not a bomb, I think Go-bomber is still a better name for "dear leader".
Yes, I do think that Go-bomber is the better description as it includes ALL manner of "taking out" of the "enemies" of empire, by drone or other wise. A more "all encompassing" name for sure. Any opinions?

A comment left here got my attention. Regarding the "Matthew Shepard Act", Mr. Lee said it provides for criticism of Zionism as a "hate crime".  It also gives "any enterprising local prosecutor access to limitless federal funding to prosecute such 'hate crimes' and to start their own career as enforcer for The Lobby."  Well, I need to thank Mr. Lee for this information. I was unaware of the "Matthew Shepard Act", my mistake in not keeping up with things better.
While it now seems that being the least bit critical of the Zionist entity can now be considered a "hate crime", I will continue to voice my opinion on any topic. To the best of my knowledge, the first amendment has not been repealed, yet. We still have the Constitution, though that may be subject to change.
How it can ever be considered a "hate crime" to be critical of Zionism is way beyond me. This goes even beyond "political correctness" and delves into the realm of totalitarianism. Shades of the old Soviet Union in the 40's and 50's when it was unlawful to be critical of "uncle" Joe Stalin.  It also tells me, that the Zionists are running scared. Well, after the "raid" on those ships trying to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza on 31 May of this year, they just might have reason to be frightened. World opinion is not at all on the side of the rabid Zionists. Imagine, the illegal boarding of ships in international waters and killing at least nine unarmed civilians and the "pirates" who carried out this crime are not getting any sympathy. That the criminals were from the Zionist entity makes this "lack" of sympathy even more news worthy. Of course this does not include any of the US based main stream media, they, of course follow the Israeli line 110%, as always.
Well, I am too damn old and stubborn to quit my ways. I will continue to state my opinions and take the consequences.

Finally, I have one more comment to comment on.
Again, from Mr. Lee; "The bottom line is that we the people are allowing this to happen. We all know that it will continue and grow unless we put an end to it. Our political machine is a drone itself.
Yet we do.....nothing."
Well sir, I do what I can. Being an old, disabled guy, there isn't much that I can actually DO about much. I don't have much money to contribute to outfits like the ACLU. I DO try to give money to the local food bank as I know where it goes and I know the need. I write here at the old "corner" and will continue to do so until I no longer have anything to say. I would join a protest march if there were any in the area. New Orleans is a bit beyond my driving range these days. About the farthest I am comfortable driving is just a bit over 100 miles, then I need to rest the old, broken body. Also, with diesel climbing back towards $3.00 per gallon here, New Orleans is nearly out of my financial range as well. Events in central Louisiana, no problem, I'll be happy to help any way I can with that. I also talk to anybody who will listen to me. True, I have not had many "takers" of late, but I am willing to talk to any who have the courtesy to listen and not get into a shouting match. Beyond that, I am not sure what else I can do.
I do know that I refuse to just give up and roll over. I will continue as long as I can, doing what I am able to do.

Free speech?

Once upon a time, Americans had the Constitutional right to freedom of speech. Wait a minute you say. What do I mean, "once upon a time"?
Well, we no longer have that right. Just go and read about the latest "decision" by the US Supreme Court. The case is Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project.  With this "decision", the majority have told us all that it is now illegal to even offer to teach people how to make peace with their adversaries.  Yes, even teaching the Palestinians to try to make peace with the Zionist entity is now considered "material support" to a terrorist organization. If we protest against the war crimes, crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity being perpetrated every day by the Zionist entity, well, those are no doubt now illegal acts as they provide "material support" to supposed terrorists.
That may even mean that the very act of writing this entry is illegal now. It may even mean that by your reading this post, you could be prosecuted for giving "material support" to a terrorist.  How so? Well, by extension, as I am against this new abuse of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights by this "decision" I am probably damn close to being labeled a "terrorist". Does that sound "far fetched" to you?  With what has happened to America since 9/11 I would not be so sure.
The phrase that "9/11 changed everything" seems to be more true that anybody would admit. Since then, our Constitution has been run through the shredder. First by the Cheney/Shrub gang, and now continued by the Go-bomb-them crew.
This administration won the last presidential election by giving the people the illusion of "hope" and "change". Well, this just shows how very little hope we have left. It also shows just how much change we got from that election.
e still have the same wars going that we had in 2008. We still continue to give total, blind support to the Zionist entity. We have even increased the number of countries that we are fighting in. Yes, we have added military "actions" in Yemen, Somalia, and greatly increased our "strikes" in Pakistan. In fact, in his very first week in his new job, Go-bomb-them authorized drone aircraft  strikes in Pakistan. In his very first week on the new job. Well, no doubt he wanted to "assure" us all that he was a macho tough guy. This president has authorized more drone strikes against Pakistan in his one and a half years on the job than Shrubbie did in eight. And you all thought that this guy was an "anti-war" candidate? Fooled us all, big time.
This latest "decision" by our(??) Supreme Court is going to make for some very interesting times for us all. How long will web site and blogs be allowed to speak out against war crimes? How soon before many of them, including sites like Wikileaks, be allowed to continue? I might even wonder if this little "corner" of the net will be shut down. Well, if they decide to do so, it will get done I suppose. Whatever comes, well, I'll deal with things as best I can. No, I refuse to get paranoid about it. They can call me whatever they wish. Hell, I spent four years in the Marines, I have been called just about everything and anything you can imagine. Just ask any one who has been through Marine Corps boot camp about what the drill instructors call the recruits. Not many of the names used are acceptable in "polite" company.
All this "decision" does for me is make me even more disgusted at what passes for leadership in this country. This court case did not have to ever get to this point. In my opinion, it should never have even gone to trial at any court level. How can the act of trying to teach people to act peacefully be considered any sort of "aid" to terrorists? What the hell was the government thinking in even taking this case to trial in the first place? Have our rights to freedom of speech been flushed down the old toilet without letting us know? Apparently that seems to be the case.
Well, screw that shit! The following is exactly word for word, the first amendment to the Constitution.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.
Copied, exactly, from my pocket copy of the Constitution.
In MY opinion, this "decision" is not valid. It is un-constitutional. Maybe the ACLU or some other group will mount a challenge to this crap. Maybe.
One more rant for today. Both governor Bobby and senator Vitter want Go-bomb-them to lift the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf. Yep, these guys want to "drill baby drill" right now. They claim to be "concerned" about the loss of jobs for the folks who work on the drill rigs in the Gulf. Well, I also share that concern for those folks. They will not have jobs for six months under this drilling ban. That is not a good thing for them and their families. BUT in my humble opinion, until they know just what went wrong to get us into the current mess, they should not drill any more wells.
Now, remember, I never have worked in the oil industry, but, it just seems to my old brain, that until you figure out why you have this huge mess, you don't just go on with "business as usual". The fact that a good number of people will be unemployed for a few months does not, to me, out weigh the need to understand why this well has failed. Hell, this probably makes me guilty of providing "material support" to some terrorist or other.
America, what a country.

This is presidential?

Well, maybe I am just an old, cynical, sarcastic son of a bitch. Maybe, but somehow I cannot accept that Go-bomb-them is acting "presidential" in any way.
Yes, this is my take on his latest speech. You may have seen/heard it this past Tuesday. You know, the one where in he basically had nothing to say, but, he said it very nicely. The one where he ended it by asking us all to pray to some god or other to help us fix the mess in the Gulf.
Yep, he talked for a while and said nothing that is at all useful. Oh true, some of his loyal supporters, he still has a few I am told, think he gave a great speech. Well, those folks have access to drugs that the rest of us don not have. How any sane, rational person could say this speech was "great" is beyond me. The guy had no answers to give us. He still has not been told why this blow out/disaster happened. And he is the president, but he has not been told why. He also offered no solutions, except the afore mentioned prayer.
OK, some honesty here. I do not believe that prayer does anything at all to solve any problem. Yes, I am just an old heathen and do not pray to any sort of god critter. Those of you who do, well, if it makes you feel good, great. Personally, I have never seen any results, positive or negative, from praying to any god.
This is the very same president who has capitulated to the elephant gang on just about everything. Remember, he is all for some pie-in-the-sky bipartisanship. The very same "leader" who basically gave the "health" insurance industry nearly everything they wanted and passed it off on us as health care "reform". The same guy who would NOT even consider any sort of a true national health care policy, not even the most basic of a "public option". The same guy who will not even ask for Medicare to negotiate with the drug makers for better prices for those on Medicare.
This president does not appear to be "on top" of any issue. Why did it take him nearly two months after this well blew out before he addressed the people? What was he waiting for? It obviously was not to get the reasons for this disaster as he told us in this speech that he still does not have those answers. And he is the president of the US of A? The supposedly "most powerful man in the world"? And he still(!!) has not been told why this well is such a disaster?
I admit that I did not watch this speech, just read it and I have followed the commentary on it. After watching his earlier "performances" why bother to watch any more of his speeches? The guy talks nice, that is a given. But, what does he ever actually say? This is also not new. I remember back in early 2008 as the primary campaigns were just getting started, a cousin of mine emailed me to say that he "liked what Obama was saying". I replied and asked my cousin just what Obama had said that he liked so much. There was a long time before I got a reply to that, and when I did, it was to basically tell me that "he speaks well". No kidding? Hey, after eight years of trying like hell to figure out what Shrubbie was trying to say when he gave a speech, even I had to admit that Go-bomb-them does have a good speaking voice. The man does speak the English language in an understandable manner. But, his speeches are very, very short on actual substance.
Now that he is president, I am even more critical of him. Not only do his speeches lack in substance, his actions, what few there are, do not match the hype of the speeches. Where was the "actions" on health care? Where are the actions, much needed now, on this oil disaster?
Another comment on Go-bomb-them. In my opinion, he lacks, near totally, in any emotion. When does this guy get pissed off? If he ever did, how would we know it? His speeches lack in any emotion. Always the very same, level, measured tone. No fist banging the desk/podium. No raising his voice. No shouting, in short, no emotions at all. Therefore, no passion. No convictions. No leadership.
We are staring down the absolute worst oil mess in the recorded history and his "answer" is for us to pray to some god or other. This is leadership?
He mentioned a few things from our past that had caused this country to "rally around" on. He made reference to World War Two and the moon shot as examples of what this country can/could do. And yet all he can offer by way of leadership is for us to pray? How does he expect the country to rally around that? Does that work for any of you? It sure as hell leave me flat and very, very unimpressed.
Our country was able to rally around to fight the Nazi menace because we had real leadership. Yes, I agree that World War Two, like World War One, was unnecessary, but that is a very different topic. We also rallied to get the moon landing done because we had real leadership then also. Where is that type of leadership now? JFK did not ask the country to pray that we would send a man to the moon and bring him back safely. He challenged us to get the job done. FDR did not only ask us to pray to defeat the Nazis and the Empire of Japan, he challenged us to do it. Those presidents provided the leadership to meet those challenges. Where is Go-bomb-them and his "leadership"? My guess is that he is still waiting for some dreamed of bipartisanship to bail him out. Well, that ain't gonna happen folks. Nope, the elephant gang will never back him up. No way, no how. If he didn't get that message from the "health care debate", he never will. Every time he reaches out to them, they just slap his hand. The man is NOT a leader, no way. And right now, this country is in dire need of real leadership.
This mess in the Gulf has the potential to be spewing oil into the water for decades if some people are right about things. According to one article I have read, this could change all life on this planet. Very few people know just how big the oil deposit this well tapped into is. The reason is that oil companies are very secretive about the wells they drill to keep the competition guessing. One wonders just how much the government has been told about the potential of this well.
The only things that we know for sure are, BP is not telling the public all they know about this well, and the government is not telling the public all that they know about it.
As usual, the people of America are left in the dark. Also, we, the tax payers will be the ones who end up paying for the clean up. What I think is that this will be something our grandchildren and possibly even our great, great grandchildren will be dealing with.

What a world

Well, I finally have made it back to the old corner. I apologize for the laps in my postings here. I have been very busy of late and didn't have the time or energy to post until now.
I have moved and that took most of the energy I could find. Moving is not something for older, disabled people to do without paying a fairly high price for. Add in to this a nasty sinus infection and an unscheduled trip to the dentist and there just wasn't the time or energy for this blog for some time.
Much has happened in this wacky world since my last entry here.
Where to start? Well, since I live in the now polluted state of Louisiana, the BP oil spill comes to the fore front.
As far as I have read, it seems that the oil giant(?) BP had little or no plans at all to deal with a blow out on the deep well they were drilling in the Gulf. Now I may be just an old, disabled machinist who never worked in the oil industry, but it would be my own personal view that when you are drilling at depths never before drilled that you would have taken the time to plan for some sort of disaster.  When you do something for the very first time, how can you not plan for some sort of failure?  How often do any of us do something new and have it go 100% according to plan? Unless one is very careful, not very often does a new project go according to the plans.
BP was drilling in water depths never before drilled in. They were also drilling at depths, from the ocean floor to the oil pocket, deeper than before. OK, there are two, count them, two (at least) new depths and they had no plans for any sort of problems? Who is running BP? The Keystone Cops could not have had worse plans for any possible troubles with that well.
This disaster, and it IS a disaster, will haunt the US and in particular, the Gulf coast for decades and maybe even longer. The cost of the clean up will, of course, fall to the American tax payers.  It will cost us all directly at the gas/diesel pumps, that was a given as soon as the news that the drilling rig exploded. If you think the tax payer will not get the final bill, just ask the folks in Alaska who finally paid to clean up the Exxon Valdez spill. Ask yourself how the price of gas/diesel went up after that spill.
Remember folks, this is America, where the tax payers always pay for the messes and crimes of big business. Just as we are paying for the bail out of the "too big to fail" banksters, we will be paying for the Gulf oil disaster.
In fact, our children, grandchildren, and I bet, their grandchildren, will still be paying for it. The economic impact of this disaster is unknown and will be so for years. The "well" is still spewing crude into the Gulf even now as I write this. Every "attempt", and I use that term very loosely,  has failed so far. The "ideas" being floated on how to stop this gusher sound to me like the people who are supposedly in charge of this are grasping at straws. Nobody seems to have any real idea of what to do. Just go back and review the previous "ideas" that have failed. Everything so far except the damn kitchen sink, and that came close to being tried with the "junk shot" idea. Well, this is what the "planning" by BP has given us all. An ecosystem that is fouled for years if not decades. The entire Gulf coast, with the exception (so far) of Texas is now polluted and it will affect tourism. How many people want to go to the beach when it is covered in crude oil? No doubt one can smell the mess long before you get close to the shore. I have not been near the coast since this mess and do not wish to do so.
People who work hard to make a living from fishing and shrimping are now unable to make a living. The "offer" by BP to hire them to assist in the clean up is more of a joke than a truly decent offer. I have been told that they are offered a flat payment that just barely covers the cost of fuel for the boats and these "volunteers" have to provide their own safety equipment, such as respirators and chemical protective suits.
Of course there will also be some winners in this disaster. The main "winners" will be lawyers. So far there are already more than 200 law suits over this disaster, with many more to come. As Robert Bryce said in an excellent article at the Counterpunch web site on June 10, the Deepwater Horizon disaster could be called the "Trial Lawyer's Full Employment Act". As is often the case in America, it will be lawyers who will profit hugely from this mess.
Expanding our view beyond the Gulf, we have seen the Zionist entity attack and kill unarmed civilians in the Mediterranean.  This attack has been described by some as an act of piracy. It is not. It is even worse, as it is a crime against peace. It could be an act of war as the ships were under the operation of Turkey.  One wonders what the reaction would have been had Turkey, a member of NATO, had invoked Article 5 of the NATO charter, which states that an attack on any member state is an attack on all of them. Would the USA, Britain, France, and the rest now be threatening the Zionist entity?
This is a serious question folks. We need to remember that NATO is in Afghanistan because of Article 5.  The good old US of A said that Afghanistan was behind the 9/11 attacks in the US. We invoked Article 5 to get NATO into Afghanistan to help fight al-Qaeda and the Taliban.  Could not Turkey also invoke Article 5 against the Zionist entity? Of course they could in theory, but who would support such a claim? Definitely NOT the US of A. No sir, old Uncle Sam would never stand for its "best pal ever" being held responsible for their crimes. Nor would the "main stream media" of America allow such a thing to be said out loud. To the "ruling class" of America it seems to be, as usual, Israel uber-alles.  No American "leader" will dare to be critical of that gang, not if they wish to get elected/re-elected.
On that thought, I highly recommend that you all read the following article regarding "our" current vice-president, good old Joe "Israel first" Biden. You can find that at;www.counterpunch.org/blankfort06112010.html. After reading this excellent article one gets a much better understanding of how our(?) country continues to allow the racist gang who run the Zionist entity to get away with murder. Yes, murder, actual murder. That is what happened during the highjacking of the Gaza peace ships. At least nine people were murdered by the commandos who dropped onto the ships.
Even though one of those murdered by the Zionist commandos was an American citizen, our(?) president will not condemn the the brutal attack and the murders of innocent civilians.
The occupation  and continued blockade of Gaza and the West Bank are crimes against humanity.  While public outrage has increased recently, the US government continues to support the Zionist entity. The people who were part of the Gaza flotilla are portrayed as terrorists by the Zionist media even most of the MSM in the US. Our(?) "leaders" will not hold the real criminals responsible for their crimes. Go-bomb-them refuses to issue anything more than the very weakest of comments to date. What? An America citizen is killed in international waters by what amounts to a criminal enterprise and "our" president is silent?  Well, that should not be that huge a surprise, remember that LBJ allowed the even more brutal attack on the US Navy ship, the USS Liberty, to go totally unpunished. Therefore it would seem that Go-bomb-them is just following in the tradition of our former president when it comes to what the Zionist entity may do to its biggest benefactor.
No, there will be no calls in "our" Congress to suspend or cut off any financial and/or military aid to the Zionist entity. That would be unthinkable. Why it could even be seen as a "sin" by the nut balls of the "religious" right and most of the "Tea Party" crowd.
This all just proves the words of the founders of America. We should have fair trade and friendship with all nations and entangling alliances with none. America is so tightly tied to the Zionist entity that "our" supposed "leaders" seem unable to see that there is a huge difference between the needs of America and those of Israel.
How long will the people of this country allow their children and grandchildren to fight and die for the lies we have been sold? Will it take even more wars, the next most likely with Iran to wake up the people? How many more of our children have to die before the people wake up and finally say ENOUGH?

Worse than murder

Today, 5 April, 2010, Wikileaks released a video they had obtained. It is helicopter gunship video of an attack in Iraq. To this old Vietnam vet, the video is absolutely disgusting. This "brave" air crew seems to be enjoying the killing of what look to be unarmed civilians. I have watched this disgusting video three times now and still cannot see any weapons being carried or used by the people on the ground.
The air crew laughs at the destruction they are dealing out to these human beings. That is absolutely disgusting. In Vietnam, we Marines, I was one, at least had a grudging respect for the VC and NVA. This air crew have no such feelings from the audio on this video. The continue to ask for further permission to shoot again and seem to want to shoot even more. The video gives the appearance of a video game. Perhaps that is what the air crew are "thinking", that it is all just a big damn video game.
If this is what we are now training our troops to do, if this is now the "standard" behavior of "our" troops, then I have a very hard time having any respect for "our" troops.
Here is the link to this video.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3GO&feature=player_embedded

I also want to include a link about our use of drones in our current wars. It is at the following address;www.counterpunch.org/rattansi04022010.html
A very huge hat tip and thank you to John Francs Lee for placing the link in his comment here at the old corner. As some of you may know, I am a regular reader of the Counterpunch web site, but always appreciate a good link to any web site.
I want to thank all of those who posted comments here on the drone post. Thank you all for your comments.  I feel very fortunate that you took the time to read my rants and then left comments. And yes, I even like those comments that don't agree with me. Sometimes I think I learn as much or more from the negative comments as from the positive ones.
Again, thank you all for your comments.
I think this helicopter video does tie in with the use of drones. It shows how the wars of America are becoming more like video games. Both also show the absolute immorality of war. Yes, with the drones, we don't have the pilot and gunner shouting and laughing, or do we? We have yet to see any video of the "pilots" who fly the drones, safe in their nice air conditioned bunkers at an Air Force base here in the old US of A. I have no doubt there are cheers when they complete a bomb run or missile strike.  Also, for the drone "pilots", the war is more like a video game. They are remotely piloting these air craft. They are in even less danger than the air crew in the above video. At least that crew was in the war zone personally..
YES, I am disgusted at the use of these drones.
Again, I refer you to a comment made by Mr. Lee here at the corner. He mentioned being shocked at the idea of one man beheading another.  Well, until the advent of fire arms, that is how wars, all wars were fought. Very up close and very personal. It took real bravery to fight in the days when swords and knives were the high tech weapons. All very up close back then. With fire arms, war became a bit more distant. Air craft made war even more distant. Now we have missiles and even drone (remotely piloted) air craft. War becomes ever more distant for the "combatants" today. But as we keep our "pilots" safe here at home, the civilians who happen to live in or near the war zones become more of a target. By making war so easy and relatively "safe" (for the drone pilots at least), we make war all too easy for the politicians to get us into. War becomes even more dehumanized than ever.
I personally believe that war is the most pornographic thing we humans have ever devised. I have said so here more than once. I know I have stated that to many people over the years. With the use of remotely operated war machines, we make it even more pornographic than ever. War made easy, is war made far too often in my view.
I have also observed that for the most part, those who are the loudest supporters of wars are those who have either never worn a uniform or they have never been in any war zone. We call those people chicken hawks. I call them bull-shitters and worse.
Another comment before I end this post. Just how "brave" does one need to be to drop a bomb or fire a missile by remote control? And yes, the very same question does apply to some one who detonates a road side bomb by cell phone or some other remote way of detonating it.
Thank you for your time reading this.

p.s. If you have trouble with my link to the Youtube video, please look to the right side of my blog and click on the link I have to Reality Zone. He has posted the entire video at his excellent blog. A very huge hat tip (thank you) to Reality Zone for that excellent service to us all.

Drone dangers

Hello good people.
I got a very good comment on the last post here. While I just made mention of the obscene amounts of money that are being wasted on the idiotic wars of choice we are stuck in today, the commenter brought up another reason to be very angry about the current messes. 
The topic of this post will attempt to address that concern. As I said in my reply to his comment, this topic needs its own posting. So, here goes.
One of the very huge dangers we have created for ourselves regards the use of drone aircraft to carry out air strikes in Iraq and in particular, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
These "pilots" who fly the drones "fighting" the war from the comfort of air bases right here in the good old US of A. They drive to the base and clock in to start their shift, fly the mission, and can be safe at home in time for their evening meal. A good part of the air war in Afghanistan and Pakistan is being fought by remote control. While the drones have very sophisticated cameras and sensors, there is still a big risk of "pilot error" in targeting just who or what they are shooting at or bombing. True, there is pilot error when the plane is flown by an actual pilot, so any error of this sort is not native to the remote controlled air craft.
What IS bothersome, frightening in fact, is that by using remotely controlled air craft to carry out the air strikes, we making war more like a video game. The "pilots" who fly these drones only see the video screen in front of them. They do not see the surroundings the same way a real human pilot would.  The entire operation is very much like a video game that one might play at home on any of the current gaming platforms.
There is the worrying bit. By removing the "fighter" from the actual combat arena, we have taken the element of personal danger out of war. By making it so very easy to drop bombs on a target, with no personal danger to the pilot, it becomes just another video game. War made very easy. Too easy in my opinion. As we make war less dangerous and easy, we also make war much more likely.  
Why not bomb any country at any time? If there is no personal rick to the pilot, we make it all too easy to just bomb any where, at any time.  Wars are very messy, nasty, brutish affairs. Just ask anybody who has been in a war. They will tell you it is noisy, dirty, confused, and frightening. Wars are messy folks. 
As we make it safer to bomb a target, we make it easier for the leaders to just send a drone off to bomb anybody they decide to bomb. After all, there is no pilot who could be shot down and/or captured, so the risk is very minimal.
Wars should never be this easy. War should always be the very last resort, and then only for defense.  By using these remote controlled vehicles to fight wars, we are making it way too easy to fight more useless wars.
Unfortunately, I see no way to stop the use of drones. I do agree that using them for surveillance is a good idea. But, as soon as the brass saw how that worked, it was a very small step for them to put bombs on the drones and use them for air strikes. 
In my personal opinion, the only way to end the use of the drones to fight wars is to stop having wars. We are currently involved in three wars of choice. Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. We were lied to in order to drum up support for the first two. We just "needed" to add Pakistan as the Taliban were crossing the Afghan/Pakistan border, so bombing parts of Pakistan was just a "natural" progression of the Afghan war. Or so we have been told. 
The stated "goal" of invading Afghanistan was, or so they said in 2001, was to kill or capture bin Laden. Well, that didn't work out very well. The Taliban had even offered to hand him over to the US before we began our bombing and invasion IF we would provide evidence that he had been behind the 9/11 attacks here. For whatever reason, our "leaders" refused this offer. Why? I have no idea. Maybe we did't/don't have any real proof that bin laden was the force behind the 9/11 attacks. 
In truth, the Taliban have never threatened the USA. They have no air force, no navy, and basically no means of sending a large force to attack us. Also, for the most part, the Taliban are Afghans. Yes, there are some foreign fighters who side with the Taliban, but basically, they Taliban are Afghans, and as such, they will continue to have the support of many of their fellow citizens. In some respects, the Taliban are not unlike the old Minutemen of the American Revolution. They are fighting on home soil for their land and families. We are the "red coats" in their country. Much as we were in Vietnam and Iraq.
The best thing to do, is to stop the wars and bring our troops home. We call it the Department of Defense. OK, then close the over 700 US bases on foreign soil and bring those troops home also. Let them defend America for a change. We could station them at the ports and borders here. Then they would be actually defending America.
The use of drones to fight our wars is making war all to easy. Fewer casualties this way. The pilots even get to be home in time for the evening meal and have time to watch TV with the family. By making war so easy to fight, we insure that we will continue to have more useless damn fool wars of choice.
Just my 2 cents worth.
semper fi

Are you angry yet?

Hello good people.
Well, here I go with another rant. Please read the article at the following link.
http://amconmag.com/article/2010/apr/01/00030
After you read it, ask yourself this question. Are you angry now? Are you pissed off at these obscene amounts of money are being spent on this? Do you think these people will actually land a drone aircraft on a rolling, pitching deck of an aircraft carrier without crashing over 95% of them? Are you disgusted with the fact that since 2001 the military contractors have suckered us, the tax payers, for more than 295 Billion dollars? That is 295 Billion dollars just since 2001 alone! In less than 9 (nine) years we have over paid that much and more. That alone should get every American tax payer highly pissed off. 
We continue to pay ever more money for fewer and less useable weapons and weapon systems. In short, we now get even less "bang" for our bucks. Sounds to me like we are being ripped off here folks.
What to do? Well, write your Congress critters. Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper, if you still have one. Talk to everybody you know. Hell, talk to people you don't know about this rip off. Then, go read another article by an email friend of mine. She always has a very good article for us all to read. She has not suffered a close personal loss from the current idiotic wars. She did lose a nephew to the Iraq disaster, close enough in my book for it to be personal. I stated her loss was not a "close personal" one because it was her nephew who was killed in Iraq. I know that some folks don'e see nephews or nieces as "close" and "personal", but some of you may see it as close and personal. To me, any loss in some damn stupid war of choice is personal. Nobody should have to fight and die for the damn lies we were told to drum up support for the current wars of choice.
The article I am directing you to is at; http://www.counterpunch.org/beattie03052010.html
After you read her latest, ask yourself another question. Ask yourself if YOU are awake yet.
We need to wake up to the scam that is being pulled on us here at home folks. The super rich, the top 1% of the people in our country are very greedy. As much as they have, they want even more. It seems that they can never be satisfied. They never get to the point where they have "enough". Always, they want, demand even, more. They are taking our money to build over priced weapons that do not deliver the goods per the specs. They take our money, and even borrowed monies, to fight idiotic, useless wars of choice. They take our kids and grandkids to fight and die in those damn fool wars. They take ever more of our monies to fund worse than useless "health" insurance. They have the best of everything that money can buy. Yet, we, are supposed to tighten our belts ever further and "make do" with what little crumbs from their tables they "allow" us to have.
The monies that have been, and are being spent on the useless wars of choice could fund true Medicare for all Americans. Those monies could rebuild our old, decrepit infrastructure. Our highways, streets and bridges are in serious need of repairs. So little of that work gets done because the money is not available. The levees in America are in very sad shape. Not just here in Louisiana, but all the levees in the entire country. Just look at Sacramento, California and see how bad the levees there are. Some are in even worse shape than those in Louisiana. Other states have similar needs for infrastructure repairs. The states have very little money for that work. The Federal government doesn't have much more money for it either. The money that could be used for the repairs is being wasted in the bottomless pit of war. The money needed for education is also being dumped into that same pit.
We need to wake up folks. We are being screwed by our own government. This country is using borrowed money to fund the goddamn wars! If that doesn't get you pissed off, well, I have no idea what might. Borrowing money to fight a goddamn war. That has to be a new high in stupid. 
We should bring all the troops home from every foreign country. We have more than 700 bases in foreign countries. The only US troops that should be stationed overseas would be the Marine guards at our embassies. The Marines have a long tradition of guarding our embassies and when I was in the Marines, I was told that it was very good duty. 
We call it the Department of Defense. OK, bring our troops home and have them defend America. Let every other country defend itself. It is way past time for America to stopplaying at being some sort of global cop. Wake up people. We are running out of time.
semper fi

We need to speak up, NOW!

People this is getting down right serious.
Old Bernanke is telling the idiots in Congress the same fool story that Wall Street is pushing. That story is that they need to cut Social Security and Medicare to "balance" the federal budget.
Bullshit! What they need to cut are the obscene amounts of money they give to the goddamn banksters. They need to end the useless wars of choice that are now projected to cost in excess of three trillion dollars. Three trillion!??!!
Let me put this into some perspective for you all. One million seconds (seconds as in time, 60 per minute) is equal to 11 1/2 days. One billion seconds is equal to 32 years. One trillion seconds is equal to 32,000 years. As you can see from this, one trillion is a very large number. 
The government has told us that the cost for one soldier or Marine in Afghanistan is $1,000,000.00 per year. One million dollars per troop for a year. And our "dear leader" has just sent 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. 
We keep spending obscene amounts of money that we don't have on these damn fool wars of choice. We have also given huge amounts of money to the nasty banksters who caused the financial melt down. And now they want to take away the small amounts that are paid out for Social Security and Medicare to make up for their idiot spending sprees on useless and worse than useless crap.
Everybody needs to contact their Congress critters and demand they leave these needed programs alone. Just how are the folks who depend on Social Security supposed to live? This year there was no cost of living increase for Social Security, yet the cost of food, fuel, and other items has gone up. This puts the folks on Social Security at a disadvantage right from the start. Now the big banksters want to take even more from those who can afford it the least.
Please contact your Congress critters and tell them that we cannot cut these programs.
Thank you for your time.

Just curious

Hi folks,
Yep, I am back again. A friend of mine sent me an email with this link and now I am curious about it.www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/03/rush-limbaughs-penthouse_n_483065.html n


What has me curious is this. Doesn't this place look more like the home of, oh, say Liberace, than that of a "rough, tough" sort of guy that Limburger tries to make himself out to be? Yes, he DID get a deferment to stay out of the draft and thereby the military. The guy tries to come off as somebody who is so damn tough. Maybe this penthouse just shows the "inner" person that he really is just a "pussy cat" at heart.
One thing for sure. This place does not look like he is just a "regular" person at all. Very fancy and expensive looking place to my old eyes. Also, those books in that one photo look very new and unused. Maybe having to read those scripts every day just takes so much of his reading time that he just cannot bring himself to read at home that much.
Anyhow, check the photos and just imagine what living there must be like. Also, imagine the monthly cost of living there. Old Rush is no "working class" person for sure. 

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".