Covert war in Yemen

According to a news report in the Seattle Times on August 14 of this year, we are bombing people in Yemen. I tried to post the link to this story but could not get it to work. 

To access this news report, please check the Counterpunch web site. Under their links for today, the link works, it is "The US war in Yemen" link. It is well worth your time to check this report.

Of course we "need" this deal in Yemen. After all, the two current wars, Iraq and Afghanistan are not going very good for us. Combat troops are supposed to be leaving Iraq soon and the "deadline" is for troops to start leaving Afghanistan next year.

Now we all know that these two "dead lines" are "conditions based", which means that they may not go as we are being told. The troops just might not leave as planned, since at any time, the "bad guys" might make our staying necessary.

The war in Yemen, and Somalia are just what the war lovers need and want. The goal, the real goal, is for America to be stuck in endless wars. Endless wars for endless profits. Obscene profits true, but endless profits for the "too big to fail" crew. Endless profits for the war industries. Endless profits for the mercenary companies. And endless pain and suffering for the troops and their families. 

All the secret wars are needed by the war profiteers. They will remain secret until one or both of our currently "public" wars in Iraq and Afghanistan actually end. 

No doubt outfits like "talk" radio and Faux Noise will be cheering these secret wars and demand that they stay secret. The folks who buy into such "news" will cheer the attacks when they are reported and demand that "we" bomb more "terrerists". The far right will also demand ever more killings of the "bad guys". And all the time "we" are off in more secret wars, the infrastructure here at home crumbles. Unemployment rises, health care at home declines, and people in America go hungry.

Now, I would like the "loyal" Democrats who tell me that I "must" vote for that party to explain just how Go-bomber is NOT as bad or worse than Shrubbie was. 

We have a Democrat as president, the Democrats have majorities in BOTH houses of Congress and we are in more wars, secret and open, than when Shrubbie was president. How are we, the American people, any better off? Why should we ever vote for another Democrat?

A pox on both of the "animal" parties.

semper fi

Just my opinion

I have a bit more to add to the story, or non-story, as it may be, regards the pouting of little Robbie Gibbs the other day.
As you recall, little Mr. Gibbs called out the "professional" left over them not being fully supportive of our "dear leader" Go-bomber.
I was told the other day, by a friend of mine via an email on this topic that I am a part of that very same "professional" left! Imagine that! Yep, old, disabled, former US Marine/Vietnam vet as a "professional" lefty!  It struck me as odd and I had to email her back for why I might be considered such. Her reply was, basically that as I am not, nor have I ever  been, a member of the elephant gang. Also, not being a member of the donkey gang plus the fact that I have been critical of Go-bomber, that I am a part of what Mr. Gibbs terms the "professional" left.
Well, OK, if that is what a "professional" lefty is, then I am such a critter. I still cannot quite accept myself as being a professional anything now days. I was a professional machinist, well I was a real journeyman machinist, having gone through a valid apprenticeship. This blog is in no way "professional" in my own opinion. I have not taken any classes on how to write except for what we may have had back in high school. Yes, they did have high school when I was a kid, and yes, I was young once.
This blog is just an outlet for my opinions and rants, it was not, nor is it intended to be "professional".
I fail to see how Go-bomber and Gibbs can be so upset with any of us who look at this administration with a critical eye and then not be in full support of it. Just what has Go-bomber done for us, the working class people?
The "stimulus" bill that passed? Just what did that stimulate? If the stimulus had been effective, I would think the economy would be better off than it is. I would think that an effective stimulus would have cut unemployment rather than seeing unemployment rise, as it has done.
Can the administration think the health care "reform" is something the working class should applaud? Why? Who benefits the most from that "reform"? Answer, the health care insurance companies is who benefits the most. What is really needed is a true national health care system. Either a Medicare for all or something like they have in Canada. What we get is more profit for the insurance industry, with little to no real benefit for the people.
Can the administration expect the working class to cheer the Wall Street "reform"? What reform? As far as I can tell is still business as usual. We still do not have anything like the old Glass-Steagal Act. The "too big to fail" banksters are still in charge of things. Just where is that "reform"?
If any of you good people who read this blog have any ideas, please feel free to comment and set me straight on these matters.
As to Mr. Gibbs saying he thinks that the "professional"left should be drug tested, well, how about the same for the entire administration? What is good for us ought to be good for them also.
Does Mr. Gibbs realize that the polls show that support for Go-bomber has dropped around 20 points since he took office? Can he really think that is because of the "professional" left and people like me? Does this administration honestly think that my little corner of the internet is why the popularity of "dear leader" has fallen?
Just why should we support this administration? Please do not come back with the very tired and very old bit as how the elephant gang would be worse. We know that already, after all, we suffered through eight years of Cheney/Shrub. We catch the crap being spewed by the right wing, by Faux Noise, and talk(?) radio. Just saying this gang is better than the last is not exactly something to be so proud about.
Mr. Gibbs objects to some of us saying that in some ways, Go-bomber is no better, and in some ways, even worse than Shrubbie was. Well, Mr. Gibbs, then why does your boss, Go-bomber, continue with the very same damn fool wars of choice? Why has he not closed Gitmo, as he promised to do within one year of his being in office? Why has Go-bomber not repealed the worst parts of the vicious "Patriot Act"? Why has he not only continued, but increased the "national security(?)" system?
How is it, that with clear majorities in BOTH houses of Congress, has Go-bomber not really pushed needed legislation? Why does he continue to cave in to the far right wing of the elephant gang? Why has he not made use of the bully pulpit of the presidency? Why does this administration allow the elephant gang to set the agenda?
What we have is not a pro-active administration, but a reactive one. Our president has done next to nothing of real benefit for the working class. And yet, his chief spokesperson demands(!!) that we all get drug tested!
No matter what Mr. Gibbs or his boss think I should do, I will continue to read and then think for myself. I will read and try to learn all I can on a wide variety of topics and then give my opinion on them. It is still a free country and the Bill of Rights still guarantees free speech. I will continue to exercise that right, among others.
If this president does something worth cheering about, then I will cheer them. Whether they do or not, I will continue to voice my opinions, at this corner and in person.
I do not accept comments I have run across from some die hard Democrats who say that Go-bomber has been high-jacked, or that he has no other options. Bull crap! In my opinion, he sold out long before he even ran for his current job.  I do not think he ever really cared about being a pro-active president in any way. In my view, he just wanted to be president to be able to say that he held that job, period. Much like what I thought and still think about old Billy Bob Bubba Clinton. For the rest of their lives, they both can say, "I was the president of the United States of America".
This president has had a clear majority in BOTH houses of Congress, and yet, he continues to cave in to the right wing elephant gang. He allows the far right to set the agenda.
In my opinion, this president has no vision at all of what he thinks the country could be or should be. Other than that we, the working class, should bow down before the "too big to fail" banksters and the war industries/oil conglomerates. We should all cheer this guy for everything he does, even though it has little or no benefit to us. He serves the ruling class of the country, just like the other "professional" politicians who populate the Congress and most every state house in the country.
While I know there are many who feel cheated by this president, those who swallowed his campaign crap and thought they were voting for real change, I don't feel that way. Early in 2008, one of my cousins emailed me that he liked what Go-bomber was saying. I asked just what it was that he said that was so "great". The reply was that Go-bomber spoke in sentences that my cousin could understand. In short, he basically said nothing, but he said it very nicely. I voted for Ms. McKinney, THAT would have been real change.
While the left rattles on and on about how the far right has "drunk the kool-aid",  they also seem to have done the same. When I hear/read them telling all that "we" MUST vote for the donkey gang, I am unsure if I should laugh or throw up. The donkey and elephant gangs are just two sides of the very same war party gang. Actually, they are the two wings of that war party. The donkey gang is just a little bit sneakier about their true motives than the elephants are.
I hope that the people wake up to this soon. This coming election, I will not vote for either a donkey, nor an elephant. As I have said before at this old corner, neither are house broken. They both tramp through the flower beds and shit in the yard. A pox on both of them. We have the option, in many states, to vote for third party candidates. If you trust a candidate from either wing of the war party, well, then do so. Just don't cry to me when that person throws you under the bus.
This country needs to end the idiot wars of choice. These wars do not make us any safer. In fact we just create more enemies for every person we kill. The country needs real, well paying jobs. We need a true national health care system that covers ALL Americans. We need to end the domestic spying and either cut back or better yet, eliminate that vile "Patriot Act". We need to seriously reform Wall Street and then put in place rules and monitors to enforce the rules to prevent more abuses by the "too big to fail" banksters.
Those are just the immediate needs of the country. To me they are the top priorities. Any other suggestions are always welcome here. But, rather than tell me, tell your representatives.
semper fi

New day, new rant

Well a few things have got this old guy set to rant again.
Lately there have been a few former military types on the Maddow TV show on MSNBC. Now, I don't watch any program on that channel very often, and when I do catch any of them, I usually don't watch the entire program. "The Ed Show" seems to be half way tolerable, at times. Ms. Maddow is still a bit fresh and new, but old Keith is just plain old boring. I say this because I remember back when he read the sports scores on the Lost Angeles CBS channel some years ago. Back before he went off to ESPN even. I never cared much for him or his "style" even then. I think he is just very much in love with himself and not worth much of my time.
Getting back to Ms. Maddow and her show. She had some guys who had been kicked out of the military under the "don't ask, don't tell" crap. To me it is very foolish to boot out anybody from the military if they are doing their job as a professional and not breaking any rules. I don't consider being gay and in the military to be breaking a rule.
Consider also, the military has been having a hard time recruiting people to their services. Some of the people who have been forced out of the military have skills that the military really needs. Skills like being fluent in Arabic or Farsi. The military needs those people. Forcing them out because they are gay is very foolish. Actually, it is damn stupid. In my opinion, homosexual people can be good troops. If they can follow orders and do their jobs, keep them as long as they want to be in the military.
Opposing views are welcome. Just do not expect to have me change my opinion. And yes, I would have served with a gay in the Marines when I was a member of that outfit. I may have done so any way. When I was in the Marines, 1968-72, there was no DADT(don't ask, don't tell). So, we may have had gay Marines, we just didn't know it. In Vietnam, all we really cared was wether or not, we could trust other Marines. We did trust each other and I don't think it would have mattered if any of the guys were gay.
Another "new" thing that gets me to laugh is the flap over the comments by Mr. Gibbs about the "professional" left. I am asking any readers the following. Is there a "professional" left in America? If so, who are among this "professional" left? Any ideas?
As I said some time back, every so often I check out the blog "Crooks and Liars". They are up in arms over this flap. I find it very, very funny reading some of the comments there on this topic.
Some sound almost like the "Tea Party" clowns to me.
Yes, I find people who are always critical of others who are, themselves, unable top take any criticisms. Funny how some on the "left" can dish it out, but cannot take it. They rant on and on about the elephant gang and the "Tea Party", yet when anybody makes a critical comment at them, they get totally freaked out and go on the war path, well, they rant on their blogs. I doubt they have the courage/guts/balls, to do much more than that. I will go so far as to say, I doubt they even email or write those who are critical of them. That would require too much effort and, they may get a nasty email/letter in return.
Yes, I do think many on the "left" are gutless wimps. Disagree? No problem. I didn't say they ALL are gutless, just a good many of them seem to be.
The idiot wars. Go-bomber and the rest of our political "leadership" are in big trouble with the current idiot wars of choice. No, they are in real serious trouble. No kidding. The last few days I have talked to some folks who don't follow events the way I and many of you folks do. They may catch a headline or three in a given day, but they don't really follow events around the world very closely at all.
Well, more than a few have come right out and asked me, just why are we still in Iraq. Now, when you have folks who don't keep up with events ask why we are still in Iraq, you know things are not going well for the "leaders". Some have even seemed to be taken aback by the fact that we are still in Iraq. No kidding. Some thought that war was over and the troops had withdrawn from Iraq. Seriously.
I have been asked what we are doing in Afghanistan also. When the regular folks wonder why we are still in these countries, it shows me that the administration and the media are failing, big time.
My reply is, as per my cynical/sarcastic way, to tell them that we are at war for one and only one, very good reason. The reason; obscene profits for the war industries. Oh, and to control access to the resources of those countries.
Iraq is not in the news much of late, which may help explain why some folks find it hard to believe we are still there. The old "out of sight, out of mind" game being played on the public. People are still being killed daily in Iraq. That poor country is not safe in any way yet. "We" have not transplanted democracy there. That never was the real goal any way though.
I do understand some how these folks cannot keep up with events. There is so much on TV to distract them. You know, important things like that Lohan gal going to jail and all. Or maybe it is the "summer" TV season or that the NFL pre-season is about to start. Important things, you know.
Iraq hardly ever gets a mention in the local newspaper now days. About the only time it comes up is if a local trooper is killed or seriously injured in that war. Then Iraq gets a mention. Afghanistan gets a bit more mention, but even then, not very often.
Well, neither war is going very well from the stand point of the "leaders", so it makes sense that it isn't in the news much. Why advertise failure?
What does make news is the miserable state of the economy. That is what folks around here are concerned with. Jobs, pay checks, things that really matter as the banksters continue to rip us off.
The country is going down and still the Fed and the administration keeps pumping money into the big banks. More "quantitative easing". That will do nothing to stimulate the economy.
Hell, if they want to get consumers back into stores spending money, just declare ALL credit card debt to be paid in full. Every credit card holder has their credit card balances reset to zero. THAT would get the people back into stores, spending again.
Or, how about a REAL mortgage negotiation plan? Try to really reset the home value to real world values and then reset the mortgage to suit? I bet that those would get people to spend again.
Old "helicopter" Ben cannot expect folks to take on even more debt. Many people are maxed out with debt. They cannot take on any more debt as they are having serious problems making the current minimum payments today.
The clowns at the Fed and Treasury still want to save the "too big to fail" banksters. They tell us how the banks having this money is good for us. We can go apply for new loans. How can we get any more loans? We are buried under crushing debt, and all these idiots can come up with is for us to borrow more? And this is the best(??) our "leaders" can do?  That right there tells me we are in very serious trouble. Oh, they say, the "market" is up. Big deal! The stock market is no longer any gauge of the working class economy. When companies lay off workers, the market goes up. The market is all about profits, greed, NOT the workers or decent wages. Wages are to be cut to the bone. That is what drives up share prices, increases profits.
The country is in serious trouble and the "leaders" don't seem to have a clue about how to fix things.
We need to elect people who want to help America. We need to stop electing those who care more about other countries than our own. We need to rebuild the infrastructure in America, before we go running around the world, making other people be "like us". Also, before we make others "be like us", we need to ask them just what they DO want from or of us. Not everybody wants to be "like us".  Good for those who do not want to be like us. All people should be allowed to be as they choose to be. We have no right to make anybody be like us. We also need to get our own country in order before we go around getting others places "in order". There is something in the Christian Bible about this. I remember a parable(?) about making sure your house is spotless before you criticize your neighbor for his/her messy house. IF, and it is very big IF, America thinks of itself as a Christian nation, we had best start to put that story into practice, now.
semper fi

Some possibilities and some more disgust.

Well I actually found an article that gives me some encouragement. I have read many articles by Mr. Garcia. I always find him to be a very intelligent person. In my opinion, he would make an excellent teacher. His latest article is well worth your time to read. It can be found at the following link;www.counterpunch.org/garcia07272010.html.  He has captured my feelings about the old donkey gang even better than I have done. Well, he does it so nicely, politely actually. This old former Marine would most likely cuss the donkey gang for a few weeks before I got to being half way polite to them.
That is another reason I like Mr. garcia, he is so polite when telling the politicians off. A skill that I am trying to acquire. Somehow it is so mush better to stay polite while you shred the opponent/target.
It is up to us people. WE need to be the engine of change in this country. WE have to decide to stop the blind support of the status quo. If we want things to get better, then WE have to work hard at making things better. WE have to email, write letters to, and make actual phone calls to the current Congress critters and demand real change.  If enough of us actually do this, the critters will take notice.
The disgust comes from Mr. Roberts. No, he is not why I am disgusted. It is the subject of his latest article. Yes, the Afghanistan war "leaks".  In truth, it is not the leaks that is the problem. As Mr. Roberts states, it is the damn war that is the problem. It is the continuing of the idiot wars of choice and NO explanation of just what the hell we are doing in either war.
What is the goal in Afghanistan? What would "victory" look like in Afghanistan?
So far, we have not been told the answer to either of those questions. Personally, I think we are in the current damn fool wars for the obscene profits made by the war industries and the "too big to fail" banksters and oh yes, the oil giants. BP makes a huge amount of money from selling fuel to the US military. Yes, even though the blown well in the Gulf of Mexico is still not capped and maybe leaking still/again, the company is making nice profits from supplying fuel to the idiot wars.
If you want another view of the war in Afghanistan and the "leaks", please follow this  link;www.counterpunch.org/roberts07282010.html
The subtitle of Mr. Roberts article says it all. Deaf, dumb, and blind. No kidding, just like the story of old Nero fiddling as Rome burned. It looks as though our politicians, up to and including Go-bomber, are just fiddling away as the country breaks down.
We are fighting these damn fool, idiotic wars of choice with borrowed money. The thing is, our national credit card is maxed out. We are, as a country, broke. Flat broke. States are cutting budgets to the bone, the infrastructure is crumbling all around us, and yet we keep spending money we don't have to continue these damn fool wars. this is madness people. It goes way beyond foolish. It even surpasses stupidity. I'll go so far as to call it criminal.
semper fi

Just ranting

OK, I admit it, I am getting old. Also very tired, tired of having to deal with physical pain every damn day. Tired of needing pain meds to manage each day. Big deal, there are many people in this world who are way worse off than I am.
What has really got me pissed off of late has been the attitudes of a seemingly majority of the "left" in the old US of A. I check in at the web site "Crooks and Liars" every day or so. The prevailing attitude there and some other "left" leaning web sites is that no matter what, we all need to vote for the donkey gang this coming November. Well, my reply to that is, bull shit! Absolute bull shit in fact.
Why would any sane human being just blindly vote for the donkey gang?  They are not very much better than the elephant gang. I see them as being just the "opposite" sides of the very same coin. It used to be said that there was "not a dimes' worth of difference" between them. I don't see that much difference. True, there may be some members of either party who do not follow the "party line" totally, but between the two parties, there is very little difference today. In my opinion, they have both sold out to the big money interests. The "too big to fail" gang has bought both the donkey and the elephant gangs. Lock, stock, and both barrels.
If the donkey gang really cared about the working people, as they supposedly once did, why, when they had majorities in BOTH houses of Congress AND the presidency, didn't they push for and get a real national health care plan? Why are they going along with the idea that "entitlements" (read Social Security and Medicare for starters) need to be cut, while they make permanent the Shrubbie tax cuts for the super rich? Why do the donkey gang continue to vote ever more monies, that we don't have, for the damn fool wars of choice we are bogged down in?
An article today at Counterpunch really set me off on this. It has been bothering me for some weeks now, but the article by Mr. Brain Foley really got me to vent on this. The article is great and I highly recommend it to you. Here is the link to it;www.counterpunch.org/foley07212010.html
After you read his article, let me know if you are also "spitting mad".
Actually, I have to wonder why any working class person would be tempted to send money to either of the animal gangs.
Another question, why would any working class person ever vote for either of the animal parties again? Once upon a time, it seemed as though the donkey gang cared about the working class. They once counted on support from the unions. Of course that isn't very much now days. How can the unions matter now that most of those jobs have been sent off shore? Fewer union jobs means fewer union members and that means less political clout for the unions. Well, that was a pretty "easy" way to break those unions wasn't it? Yes sir, just send all those high paid, skilled union jobs to Pakistan, India, or some other country with very low labor rates. And where are the donkey gang members in all this? Please, you should not have to ask, remember, Billy Bob Bubba pushed for and got NAFTA! Yep, a "democrat" got that "free trade" bill pushed through Congress and he signed the damn thing. And now they want us to give money to that "party"?  Do they really think we are that damn stupid?
There are alternatives to the animal gangs. You can vote for a third party candidate. I do not think that such a vote is a "throw away" vote. I also do not believe that Nader "cost" Gore the 2000 election. Gore and his "pal" Joe lost it themselves. And then they didn't even fight for a true recount. Looks like they really didn't want to win that bad after all. Just how I see it.
A good start to making a change in the old US of A might be over at the following web site.www.uspvp.org. They have a very interesting proposed amendment. Well worth looking into.
Some how things must change in our country. We are broke. Our infrastructure is falling apart. We have high unemployment. Most of the skilled jobs have been sent off shore. The political clowns in D.C.want to cut Social Security and Medicare among other social programs. They want to make the tax cuts for the rich that W. Shrub signed as permanent. They keep spending borrowed (!!) monies on idiotic wars of choice that do not make us safer. They funnel obscene amounts of money into the "too big to fail" banksters who caused the economy to collapse. And they keep trying to scare us all with new "terror" threats.
We are bombing people who have never had any intention of harming us. We kill by remote control people who probably could not have found the US on a map, let alone have any ill feelings towards us. Oh, they hate our guts now, because we killed members of their families. Hell, if some foreign army killed your family members, you'd hate the country who sent those troops also. America is the invader in Iraq and Afghanistan and we are fighting those idiot wars with borrowed money! Just like the oil disaster in the Gulf, paying for these wars will fall to our great grand children and maybe even beyond that generation.
We are spoiling our own nest, killing and maiming people who never had any ill will towards us before we invaded their countries. We are damaging the ecology of the planet and yet the "liberals" say we need to elect more "democrats"? WHY?
What war has Go-bomber stopped? What prison in Cuba has he closed? (He did make that a campaign promise to close Gitmo.) How will anybody except the insurance companies benefit from the health care "reform"?  How long will these "democrats" continue to spend borrowed money on useless wars?
Do not tell me how the elephant gang is the "war party". BOTH the elephant AND the donkey gang are the war party. America does not have a "peace party", we have two wings of one war party.
My suggestion, if you get a letter asking you for money for either the elephant or the donkey gang, don't send any, of course. However, do NOT throw the return envelope away. Nope. Send it back to them, empty. That way they have to pay the return postage. Sending them an empty envelope at their expense is just about what they deserve. After all, they give us empty promises each election cycle. Maybe we should return the favor. Just my opinion.
semper fi

It just gets worse

More disgusting things have come to light recently.
First off, the report that a "new record" number of suicides by our military personnel has been reached. Yes, our own troops are killing themselves in ever growing numbers. Part of the reason for this is undoubtedly due to the extreme stress of multiple tours in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan. Being in a war zone, the constant heightened state of being alert to the dangers at all times, the snipers, the road side bombs, the not knowing who is friend or foe among the local population takes a huge toll on the troops. It was much the same in Vietnam. Even if we had had a "score card" it would have been near impossible to tell the "friendlies" from the "bad guys".
The internet may have some bit to add to this. No doubt the troops log on and check the news sites. While the military may try to limit the sites the troops have access to, it isn't all that hard to get past the fire walls and get to any web site the wish. I am sure that the troops have figured out that they are being lied to by the government. They do come home after their tour is up. No doubt they make use of the unrestricted access to the net when they are in the states between tours in the wars. Oh, they see the "support the troops" bumper stickers, but that isn't really very much. It does not mask the truth, that more and more Americans are beginning to see both the Afghan and Iraqi wars as useless.
How do you keep fighting a war that has limited or no support from the majority of the people back home?
War is not at all "pretty" or in any way "fun". No matter what the new CentCom commander may say or have said, war and killing/shooting people is NOT fun. No way, no how. If shooting/killing other human beings is in any way "fun", the person who sees it as such, is in my opinion a totally sociopath. Having been in a shooting war in Vietnam, I do not see how anybody can say that it is "fun" to shoot other people. It is what one does in war, but it is not "fun". To say that shooting/killing another human being is "fun" is beyond disgusting and the person who thinks it to be "fun" is in serious need of mental health intervention.
The "rules of engagement" also must contribute to the stresses the troops endure. They are told to keep civilian casualties to a minimum. Good idea, as the deaths of the innocent does not endear the troops to the local populous.  The thing is, when the troops are attacked, they don't have the time to always figure out who the "good guys" are from the "bad guys" who just attacked them. This is true of sniper attacks or a road side bomb (IED).  When you are in a fire fight, you don't have the luxury of making that decision. You just shoot at anybody in the field of fire. \War is nasty and brutal.  The "best laid plans" never go off as planned.
In war, you see and do things that no human being should even dream of. The memories do not ever go away either. Memories last a life time and not everybody is able to live with them. You see humanity at its very worst in war. The things one sees are beyond any decent imagination. It is a real challenge to live with those memories of what you see/do in war. Not everybody is able to put the past behind them and get on with life. The troops who go off to war on their first tour in the war zone never come back the same people. War changes a person almost beyond recognition. Go to war and I promise, you will never be the same person again.
When they come home from the war, family and friends do not, cannot, understand why their loved one is so very different. It is because of what they have seen/done.
I still believe that if more people in America were able to see the real results of war, the dead and dying, and the smells of war, they would not be so free and easy with allowing themselves to be lead into such a damn miserable mess as war by the supposed "leaders" ever again. We in America have been and still are, very insulated from the realities of war. The last time there was a real war in America, it was 1861-1865. Americans have not known war the same way much of the rest of the world has since then. The old saying "out of sight, out of mind" comes into play here. We do not see war up close and personal. Even the TV "news" does not come close to showing us war today. During the Vietnam war, there was footage of some fighting on the evening news. No more. In fact, we don't even have photos of the caskets returning the dead.  True, Go-bomber has loosened the "rules" regarding such photographs, but how often do you see this on TV?
War is vile, nasty, and should not be gone into unless we are attacked in force. The events of 9/11 do not justify an all out war. What should have been done was to use special forces troops and gone in after the supposed perpetrators with small groups. We should have used diplomacy and more of a police type tactics. Going in with guns blazing and full combat regiments was the wrong thing to do. Of course it was not meant to capture or kill bin-Laden. Both of the current damn fool wars of choice were, I am convinced, meant to be for the huge, nay obscene, profits of the war industries. The "too big to fail" banksters make obscene profits from wars. Even the companies that make socks and underwear make money from war. The troops need clothing you know.
General Smedley Butler had it 100% correct. War IS a racket. There is big money in war and until we eliminate the obscene profits of war, there will be more wars of choice. More useless killing and maiming of fellow human beings. Less real peace in this world, more conflict, more death and destruction. More misery. More suicides among the troops and other victims of war.
If you support the troops, really support them, you would demand that they ALL come home, now. These wars are doing nothing at all to make the country safer. The wars are putting us all more at risk of retaliation. Even the recently dismissed General McChrystal said that for every militant we kill, we create ten more new enemies.
If we want to end the suicides of our troops, we need to end the goddamn useless wars.

One more topic for this rant. You may be aware of the video out on the net of "Bibi" Nutty-yahoo telling some "settlers" how he was able to manipulate Clinton into thinking that he would actually honor the Oslo accords. This is just the most blatant example of the low regard the Zionist entity has for America and our "leaders". That this continues to be the norm for our government is outrageous. That the "news" media in America is a constant cheer leader for the Zionist entity is beyond disgusting.
"We" are being lead to our destruction by the  worst elements of the Zionist right wing. What they want, we give, no questions asked, no limits. This is certainly the tail wagging the dog.
A comment on one web site discussing this video asked a very good question. Since we are in Iraq and Afghanistan to defend Israel, why don't they have their troops in these wars zones? The British, Australians, and other allies have troops in the war zones, why not the IDF?
It was the Zionist entity and their supporters here in the US who cheered on these wars. It was the Zionist entity that demanded that Saddam be removed. Why aren't there IDF troops fighting along with American and NATO troops?
Nutty-yahoo says he will always put the interests Israel first. When will the "leaders" of America put American interests first? It is in no way in American interests to be at war in Iraq or Afghanistan.  It is not in American interests to be at war with Iran either.
Link for the video and commentary at;http://realityzone-realityzone.blogspot.com/2010/07/netanyahu-leaked-home-video-2001-with.html
When will Americans wake up to this truth that we are being used and abused by the Zionist entity and their supporters? When will American leaders put America and American interests first?
America, where are you now? We need your help to fight the monster.
semper fi

Oh joy, not

I have read two articles that I want to share with all who stop by this old corner. I don't know if you all check the Counterpunch web site, but I do every day and found two that I think are very important.
The first is by former US Senator James Abourezk. After you read the article you will probably understand why he is now a former senator. The number one "rule" in US politics, do not ever be critical of the Zionist entity. His article is at; www.counterpunch.org/abourezk07122010.html
The second article is by Jonathan Cook. Mr. Cook is a writer and journalist who is based in Nazareth, Israel. The article is at;www.counterpunch.org/cook07132010.html
While both are very important, my opinion, it is the second that causes me the most worry. It is about the remote control machine gun system that the Zionist entity uses on the Gaza border "fence". Notice, they use young women as the operators of this weapon system. Partly they do this as they seem to have a shortage of men for the combat units. Also, it keeps the women safe from getting shot or physical harm.
To me, it just makes killers of the young women. Killing, by remote control or in person, is still killing. The system uses a video monitor and a "Play station" type joystick. Just like the typical video game in most homes today. Yes, killing real people has now been reduced to a damn video game. While this system is only in use by the Zionist entity now, no doubt other militaries (the US included) are no doubt wanting to get such a system themselves.
In case you were curious, they have a remote control armored vehicle being used on the border with Lebanon and are developing a remote control ship for naval use.  War is fast becoming a total video game.
This is just killing made easy. No muss, no fuss. And, you can be home in front of the TV set in time for supper!
Of course it will be very hard, if not impossible, to stop this sort of thing. The generals and politicians will tell us that these vile systems will "save lives" of our military. This may be true, but what they will never do is to stop the senseless damn killings. They will not end the useless damn fool wars. Too much profit there to stop.
It is up to us, the people of this world to demand that our "leaders" stop these damn fool wars of choice. We must demand and end to these idiot wars and demand that our so-called leaders live in peace with other people.
The only people I know who have been to war who are in favor of more war are few and then only if our country is invaded. The only people I know who are for war are those who either never wore a uniform or if they did, they were never in a war zone in combat.
War is not pretty. It is nasty, vile, dirty, and a total waste of people and resources. War does only one thing, it destroys.
General Smedley Butler said that war is a racket. How very true. War has big profits for those who make the weapons and all the rations and other gear for the troops. He also said that there are only two reasons for war. One, to defend OUR homes. Two, to defend the Bill of Rights. He was right in the 1930's when he said these things. He is still right today.
War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!
Wake up America, end war now.
semper fi

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.