So much to write about...........first up, Iran

4 Dec 2007. Well sir, there is so much going on in our world today. Where to start the comments? There are so many topics out there today. This might have to be broken up into two or three entries. Just so very much going on. Some of it is even good news! Honest.
Let me start with Iran. Our supposed "next" war of choice. Did you hear the one about the latest NIE ( national intelligence estimate)? Looks like those pesky,sneaky,under-handed, bloody damn Iranians actually had STOPPED trying to develop an atomic bomb way back in 2003. No shit folks, and this is from OUR top level intelligence community. Folks like the CIA and other "intel" and/or spy agencies have determined that Iran DID quit trying to make a nuke in 2003. Wow, poor old Shrubbie, looks like the wheels are about to fall off his tricycle any day now.
Of course this good news isn't all that good. Well, at least to some people(?). The neo-cons are sure this NIE is dead wrong, and they are up in arms (not really, just their word processors/key boards are smoking from all that furious typing) and the leadership in Israel is certain that this NIE shows how "naive" America is if we believe this latest intel.
Yes sir, if you are an ardent Zionist and/or a neo-con, you have to hate this latest report by American intel agencies. Why? Well, because it means that the absolute requirement that America bomb Iran back into the stone age is a load of bullshit. It means there is NO reason for the US of A to go to war with Iran, well, at least NOT over the "issue" of an Iranian bomb.
Sorry to be the "wet blanket" here, but I would guess that it just means that now Cheney, the noe-crazies, and the hard core Zionists will have to find their thinking caps and work out some "other" excuse, er, reason to have another war. Thinking caps? For the neos and Cheney? I wonder if those fools actually ever think.
To me, this latest NIE is damn GOOD news. It means that we will NOT be bombing another country that had ZERO to do with the sainted tragedy of 9/11. Don't misunderstand me here, I do know that that was a tragic day for us all. I do think though that it has been played to death, so to speak, by our "leaders". It has been THE excuse to start two wars, to shred the constitution, to quash OUR civil liberties, and other crappy new "laws", such as the "Patriot(?) Act" and the MCA (military commissions act). It has also been used to "justify the suspension of habeas corpus. This is what I mean about 9/11 being done to death. Just like Pearl Harbor, America will never forget that event. We cannot even if we try. It did shock the living shit out of this country and that will not be forgotten. I just think it is way past time for our politicians to stop using that event as an excuse to start wars and kill off American civil rights. Enough already!
The latest NIE on Iran could even be made into a movie. We could title it; "A Funny Thing Happened On Our Way To War". Yeah, like it lost its "justification! What do the warmongers do now? Their MAIN excuse for war with Iran is dead in the water. Or, as they say in this part of the country, that dog won't hunt. Not to worry, I am 100% certain that the lap top bombardiers are working over time to invent a new,better,enhanced,and brighter excuse for the war they want so very much.
This brings me to another point about the current criminal administration and ALL of those who support/enable them. These folks, who have never worn a uniform, never fired a shot at an enemy, never have been shot at, seem to be in mad, passionate love with WAR. Any veteran of any war, any civilian who was caught up in any war, will tell you there isn't much to love about war. It isn't easy to be a lover while being shot at. Sort of takes the enjoyment right out of things. Talk about your coitis interuptis (sp)!
My suggestion is that EVERY person who is so enthralled with war and killing MUST be among the very first to be on the front lines of ANY future war America gets into. Hell, they ought to all be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan right now. Then, after they complete at least one tour in the war zone, they get to come back and tell us all how wonderful and glorious war is. How many neo-cons are willing to do that? I bet that ALL of the neo-con "volunteers" for such would fit very comfy into an old VW bug with plenty of room left for a cooler for the beer and a good size box for the snacks. Like, the total number would be less than one? Most likely. After all, they need to stay here and keep up the "important" work of informing the American people. Why, if those poor lap top bombardiers went off to war, who would run the propaganda mills? Um,er, I mean the "news" magazines and programs. No doubt they ALL have "other priorities" and just cannot seem to find the time to actually GO to war in person. They will promise to be there in spirit though. Big fucking help that is to our troops. Actually, it probably IS help as they would need to be shot by OUR own troops just for the safety of the troops.
This has certainly got to piss of the pope, I mean dead eye Dick. This PROVES that Mr. Mohamed el Baradei and the IAEA are 100% correct. All along, he has been telling any one who would listen that Iran did not have a nuclear weapons program. He has said, repeatedly, that Iran is enriching uranium for power generation. This is a LEGAL activity under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) which Iran has signed. Holy horrors! Those sneaky,lieing bastard Iranian are living up to the promises they made in regards to an international treaty! Why, how much more underhanded can those "evil doers" get? Why, the next thing you know, people around the world might start asking OUR government to live up to ITS' treaty obligations! Imagine the disaster that would cause! Why such a thing would wreak havoc around the entire globe. America, actually living up to the treaty obligations that it has signed onto over the past years. That is absolutely insane! Don't people know that Cheney does as he damn well wants to do? And don't ALL people in the world know that God has spoken to our "decider"? Why, if god speaks to him, he MUSt be right and we are all dead wrong. And any way, who the hell needs the constitution or that damn Bill of Rights anyhow? Civil liberties? We export "liberty" folks. Do as our government tells you to do, not as they act. Shrubbie talks to god. Makes me wonder if god comes in a six-pack these days. Or maybe a bottle of "Old Crow"? Hell, let him have the cheap stuff, Ripple or Thunder Chicken. Cheap drunk for a cheap bastard. Then he and Cheney can go hunting with Scalia. LOL, now that would be great pay-per-view TV. Of course the camera crew would need flak vests and helmets.
I sort of, almost, feel for old Cheney though. What with the writers strike, there isn't much on TV of late. Not that I'd know, my TV hasn't been on for over 12 days now. Well sir, Cheney knows how "Mericans love their TV, so he figured with the writer being on strike we needed another war. Just to, you know, boost the ratings. Stop those damn reruns, start a new war! Yes sir, give old Wolf Bitzberg something to talk about. I miss old Wolf and Dobbs. Miss them like I miss the plague. Not at all.
Then too, one has to wonder, NIE or not, would China front us the cash for another war? Last I read, China holds close to one trillion(!!!) dollars in US debt. Hell, one trillion. Most folks have a damn hard time trying to comprhend a billion, and a trillion is one thousands times larger! Just as a point of referrence; 1 billion seconds is equal to 32 years. One trillion seconds is equal to 300 centuries! Now that puts those numbers into some perspective. Oh, yeah, we have spent close to one trillion dollars so far on the two wars we are in right now. The "estimated" total costs of these wars is over(!) two trillion dollars. That total includes things like long term medical care for the severely wounded such as brain damaged troops. That is ONLY the projected costs to America folks. What it has/will cost the Iraqis and Afghans is unknown.
War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Well, not quite. It does hold down population growth for a time. Which brings up another "funny" fact. The folks who are dead set (some of them very literally dead set) against abortion, have no trouble with being pro-war. Very interesting, to me anyway. After all, war is just mass murder. And if abortion is murder, why would those folks NOT be rabidly anti-war? You might try asking some of the anti-abortion people you know about that. I would be very curious to hear the answers. I mean, to my simple mind, murder is murder. Or is it? I get curious about these sort of things. One more reason I got kicked out of religion. Asking "those" sorts of questions. Rocking the boat again there charlie. Damn right I am!
Here is one for your preacher/priest/pastor, just where did Cain find a wife? We are told there was Adam, Eve, Cain, and Able. OK, so where did Cain get a wife? Sears?
Beats me. I would like to know. No need to know I guess. Just plain old curiosity is all. Like who wre the first three folks who came out of the tomb of Lazarus? Christ said "Lazarus come forth", so who wre the other three folks? Just curious. No!Skipper, the boat is listing hard to port! Hang on little buddy,we'll make it.
Well, if you are still with me, you now know what happens to a person who has had way too many back surgeries and has constant pain that even the good pain meds don't get rid of and he can't sleep some nights. So, what does he do? Why he does a blog entry, what else? Ain't gonna watch no stinking reruns on TV for sure. Hell, if you are still with me, you are either a glutton for punishment or damn hard core.
Well, I did give fair warning to you all. I did say I would try to do at least one or two entries every week. Told ya. But, did you listen? NOOOOO. Just like them pesky "axis of evil" folks, aren't ya all? LOL.
"Nuther curious thing about this latest NIE. Yep, back to the Iran "thing" again. How is it that so many of the people in this current administration can get so much wrong and still be employed? OK, so Bolton is "out of work" so to speak. Out of a government paid job anyway. He is "working" for one of them "think tanks" now. I wonder, is a think tank in any way related to a drunk tank? (More curiosity.) But, when you stop and think about the last seven years, none of the bastards ever got fired. Well, OK,ok, Brownie was "let go". But, hell, FEMA don't count. And the folks in New Orleans and around the Gulf coast would have lynched him on sight anyway.
I mean, they quit, but nobody ever gets fired. No matter how bad or how much they totally fuck up. Anybody ever work for an outfit like that? I never did. Every place I ever worked for, you did your job according to specs or you were shown the exit door. Not so with our "decider" guy. Some decider. I thought that was why he got paid the big bucks, to make tough decision. Well, I never did claim to be smart. Good thing to.
Same goes for these neo-cons and the war mongers who have real(?) jobs at news organizations. No matter how wrong they are, they STILL have their jobs. Is it just me, or is America some different place from what it used to be? What ever happened to being responsible? Oh, wait, this IS the Bush 2 administration. End of discussion.
Follow the "leader" I guess. When the leader has never taken responsibility for any thing, particulaily any failure, the troops don't do so either. If anybody has other ideas, let me know, curious charlie @ want to know.org. Be damn funny if that is a real web address. Hey, maybe I could get that domain name, register it for me. LOL. Now, don't you wish like hell that I was asleep instead of doing this? Maybe I am, and this is just a bad dream. No, 'fraid not. One of the kittens just bit my finger. Sorry folks. I DID give you all fair warning.
Mother,call the men in the white coats. Tell them to bring the net, charlie is bloggong again!
OK, back to more serious things. If you haven't yet, please go to www.counterpunch.org and read the entry by Paul Craig Roberts on 4 December 2007. Once again, Mr. Roberts gives the straight story on the American economy and job "outlook". He shows again, how outsourcing and off-shoring of what used to be our jobs is making America a third world country. While big corporations cry about ehe "lack" of Americans to fill some high tech, high skilled jobs, they demand that they be allowed to import more foreign workers to the few remaining high skilled jobs that are still available IN America. He shows how this is a total load of bullshit. We have plenty of engineers, but they cannot find work. Some large corporations even have documented plans to NOT hire Americans for the jobs they need filled. Why? Well, Americans with advanced degress don't work for minimum wages, is one reason. Not only is our government out of touch with reality, so are most of our corporations. All in the quest for the cheapest labor costs. America ends up with people with high skills and advanced degrees tending bar, waiting on tables. What IS the use of a good education in America today? Why go to college, when all you will be able to get for work is in a bar or some fast food joint? What happens to our country then? What sort of leaders is this situation going to create? These are questions every American should demand answers for. Our current crop of "leaders" needs to answer these questions. What do the folks running for president have to say on this? Have any of them been asked? By our main stream media? No, but they may have been asked what they think of the parenting "skills" of Ms. Spears. Got to keep the questions to the politicos "real" ya know.
My "left handed" take on America becoming a third world country is this. It is not a really big deal in the long run. Yes, short term, like one or two generations, it will hurt. Hurt like hell I imagine. But, in the long term, the jobs WILL come back here. Once America is reduced to the status of a third world economy, our wages will be among the lowest in the world. Then, the jobs will start to return as we will be competitive based on cheapness of labor here. OK, so this isn't a rosy picture. Nor is it very helpful/hopeful. True, I agree 100%. But, it does seem that this is the way things are going to play out, whether we like it or not. Why? Because America has never been organized! We have way too many artificial divisions to ever get organized. Look at Europe for instance. They have national strikes at various times. Never happen here, because the machinists won't support the truck drivers, who won't support the nurses, who won't support the teachers, etc,etc,etc. My opinion, we have ourselves partially to blame for this shit mess we are in. We should have realized that we are all in this damn boat together and should have acted that way. Nope, we had to keep our "differences", our little "turf wars" for scraps of power. Big damn deal folks. Just look where that shit got us. Into the fucking goddamn mess we are in today. Sure, the government and big business bear the majority of the blame/fault, but WE let this shit happen. WE never could see past our own selfish noses. WE bear some of the responsibility for this mess. WE now have to make due the best we can and try like hell to clean it up. THEN, WE have to do all we can to insure that it never gets this fucking damn bad EVER again. Tall order? Damn right it is. Is it worth doing? Hell, you tell me. I'm permanently disabled and near 60 years old today. So, you COULD say, why should old charlie give a shit? Well, because this is MY country too goddamn it all. I give a shit, because that is how my Dad taught me to be. Thanks Dad, wish you were here, but am glad in some ways you aren't. Think I am pissed? If Dad was still alive, by the gods, you would see what pissed off really is.
He lived through the depression, was "selected" for military service months before Pearl Harbor, fought in World War 2 and was one of the best people I have ever had the pleasure and honor to have known. He was as honest a man as I have ever known also. Man, he could argue, he would have been a great lawyer, had he had the oppertunity to have gone to law school.
Somehow, WE, Americans have to bail ourselves out of the shit hole we are in today. No, I do not have the answers how. I DO think that if WE, the regular people, the workers who make this outfit run, put our heads together, that somehow, some way, we CAN find some answers. Hell, folks, we sure as the devil cannot do much worse than our chickenshit "leaders" have doen thus far. Since at least Saint Woodrow, America has been on a downhill slide. Actually, go back to dishonest Abe and his dictatorial powers and HIS illegal, unnecccessary war for where it all started going horribly wrong. Shit, even Musharraf in Pakistan has used dishonest Abe as a guiding figure in his crack down on civil liberties in his country. Well, Abe DID shut down newspapers, and he DID suspend habeas corpus, and don't forget that illegal war. Hell, I bet Cheney and Shrubbie love old Abe as well.
Third world status, here we come, ready or not folks. America is in the shitter, and Cheney has his fucking hand on the handle.
And on that sour note, I am going to close for now. More later.........honest. Just consider it a warning.......LOL
semper fi,
charlie

Now don't you feel much safer with "Homeland Security"?

This was sent to me by a reader of this blog. Yes, he does exist. He also lives fairly close by to my house. He is the same person who alerted me to the KPLC TV station message board regards homeless vets.

He tells me that a mans house and FEMA trailer burnt to the ground. He states that there were adequate fire plugs available, but (always some big but in the way today), they fire plugs were LOCKED. Locked fire plugs? Yes, locked by order of the Department of Homeland Security.

Now, ask yourself the title question. Don't YOU feel safer, knowing that Homeland Security is locking fire plugs to prevent those H2O water stealing terrorists?

Yes, I know there is a severe water shortage in most of Georgia and parts of Florida and Alabama. Here in Louisiana, we do NOT have such a shortage. While we may be behind in total rainfall for the year, I haven't heard such information from the weather reports, we do NOT have a drought condition. If we were in a drought, the news would mention it and it would be a part of the weather report. It sure was back in 2000 when I believe we were in the third or fourth year of a drought, if my memory is correct. If not, let me know and I'll apologize on this blog. I am not always correct, but I WILL admit to any mistakes I do make.

Then, maybe the fire plugs were locked down by Homeland Security because of the drought conditions in Georgia, etc. Never know when those folks from Atlanta might sneak over here in the night with an extra long garden hose and take our water. Bless you DHS, you have saved our water. Now, it would be nice of you to at least allow the local fire departments to have a key for those locks in case of a fire. Or, is it DHS policy to allow our homes to burn to the ground? Hey, maybe if they do that often enough it will allow the newly homeless to occupy all those camps being built in our country. You know, the ones supposedly being built by some division or other of Haliburton. Ah, bless you "Mr. 5 deferments" Cheney and bless your corporation.

And if you think I really mean to bless "Dead eye" Dick and that rip-off company, well, I have this here bridge that I just might be willing to sell. Hey the price isn't all that high. Got Euros anyone?

semper fi,

charlie

Support the troops..........is this how to do that???

WARNING!!! This post contains seriously foul language.

First I need to give a couple of belated "happies". First, Happy Birthday 10 November to the Marine Corps. The Corps is 232 years old this year. Second Thanks YOU All to the US veterans. 11 November, Veterans Day.

Now to the "meat" of this post and some very "bad" language WILL be used. See the above warning and then proceed at your own risk. I will NOT be responsible for hurt feelings or wounded "pride". If that upsets you, well, sue me. Hell, I am on fixed income being permanently disabled. Good luck with those lawyers.

Our fearful leaders of all stripes keep telling us to "Support our troops". OK, I support the troops, having been one of those troops at a time (1968-72) and even having been to one of their imperial wars, Viet Nam, 1970-71.
I support our troops by wanting them to get their asses back home, ASAP. Then they will be safe and able to rest and recoup from the wars they are currently fighting. After a rest and recreation period (R&R) of say, one year, they will then be able to start to DEFEND America. That is to say, to do their primary mission, defend OUR country. Our "leaders" don't seem to support the troops this way. Funny that they don't. They think(?) that by keeping the troops in two shooting wars and sending them their paychecks on time that is "supporting" them. I don't think the troops see things the same way. Maybe our "leaders" might ask the troops. No, that won't do, they might not get the answers they want. That is leadership?

How else do our "leaders" support our troops? Well, under funded, under staffed Veterans Administration hospitals for one. Not enough trained medical personnel to help the returning vets with PTSD for another. Not enough money to provide proper care, disallowing claims for combat stress. Approximately 1500 Iraq and Afghanistan war vets currently homeless, and that is JUST an approximation. One in every four (4) homeless persons in America is a veteran of the US military! Now THAT should get your attention. Is THAT how "we" support OUR troops? After they do the bidding of our "leaders" we allow them to be homeless? Some support there folks. Does that fact piss you off? If not..........WHY the fuck NOT? Just because we currently have an all "volunteer" military? Because your kid hasn't been drafted? What the fuck?

Many of our "volunteer" military are not "true" volunteers. In hard economic times, the military becomes the employer of last resort. Times like, oh say, the last six years. Thank you Shrub for your "economic miracle" here in the old US of A. Yes sir, that brilliant idea to out source all those blue collar jobs was just a stroke of genius. Horse shit! It is just another way to help America on the down hill slide to third world status. Out source the skilled jobs that Americans used to do and then offer big bucks to join the military. Well, you then have young people with limited choices, work for minimum wages at some dead end job or join the military. The second choice isn't that great as you might end up permanently disabled or dead before your first enlistment is over.

Well, you might say, jobs like the military, fire fighter, or police are dangerous occupations. Sure they are, no argument there. My point is that you usually make a choice to be a fire fighter or a cop. The military isn't a top choice for most people, never really has been either. Now days it is not a popular option. Yes, I know, the Army has claimed that they met the recruitment goals for the current year. But, they have lowered the standards for new recruits also. They have been issuing moral waivers for more and more new recruits and have even lowered the "educational" requirements again. Add in the fact they they are offering quite large cash signing bonuses to the mix. Signing bonus? Now that sounds like some sort of contract for a professional ball team for whatever sport you like best. Signing bonus. Shit. I do remember that re-enlistment bonuses have been offered to those they wished to keep past the enlistment date even when I was a Marine, but a signing bonus for a NEW recruit? That is a new twist on things indeed.

Now, considering the above, how exactly is it that we have an all volunteer military? Oh, because we don't draft them? Well, not yet at least. Somehow, I still don't buy this volunteer shit. I live in central Louisiana now. I am about 25 miles from Alexandria, way out in the woods as it were. I look around and I don't see very many high paying jobs out there for recent high school graduates. Not many high paying jobs for any skilled occupation of any sort. There isn't much industry around here. So, what is a young person going to do for money, job, etc? Join the military? Work at some burger joint for minimum wage? There do not seem to be that many choices today. This tends to make the military, the employer of last resort. That isn't, in my opinion, really volunteer. You enlist because it beats being homeless? Is that actually being a volunteer? I would like to hear your replies to that. I would like for some "leader" or more than one(yeah, right) reply to that. Don't worry, I am NOT holding my breath waiting for an answer. Life is still worth living, for the moment anyway.

A very kind reader of this blog, yes there really is at least one, directed me to an online discussion of the treatment of our veterans this week. This was a message board type discussion on the web site of a Lake Charles TV station. I found that most of the comments were shocked at the treatment of our returning troops. Seems to me that the "regular" people are more concerned about how we treat our veterans and troops than our supposed "leaders" are or have been. Warms this old guys' heart! Honest. It restores my faith in the REAL American people. Hell, I have so very little faith in what passes for leadership today. I would say my faith in our "leaders" extends to the faith(?) I have that given a problem, they will do all they can to make damn sure they totally fuck things up even worse than how things were when they found out about the problem. As Greg Palast wrote, we have the best government money can buy. If I was buying, I'd damn sure want my money back, and fast. If this is the "best" we can dig up to put in positions of leadership, well folks, we are no longer scratching the bottom of the old barrel, we have kicked the barrel over and over turned the rock underneath the barrel. And look what crawled out from under that rock! Our "leaders"! Holy fucking shit.

Let me make a personal comment here about the VA. I am not knocking the folks who work at the VA hospitals. I have not had much to do with them either, so I might be giving them too much benefit of the doubt as it were. In my personal opinion, the folks who work there are trying to do the best they can within the system they have to deal with. If I am wrong here, please let me know and I will post your comments, name with held if requested. When I moved here in 2000, I applied for care at the VA hospital in Alexandria. I figured since I am a veteran, I might as well try the VA hospital. It took some time for them to process me into the system as I had never entered it before. I used to have medical insurance through work, after becoming disabled, I had a medicare supplement when I lived in California. When I moved here, I lost that "extra" as the company which I had the policy with does not do business in Louisiana. I was finally processed and told I could use the facility but I would have a co-pay for every visit. The co-pay wasn't that high for me, and I didn't mind having to make a payment for "services" as I figured, hey, I have an income, even though it is fixed and not very high. I have never minded paying my fair share for services/treatments/etc. Hell, I even pay my taxes...........beats going to jail, for now anyway. Well, I called to make an appointment to see an orthopedic doctor at the VA hospital, my main medical "problems" are orthopedic. To my surprise, I was told that they no longer had any orthopedic doctors at that VA hospital!! What! A great many disabling wounds involve some sort of orthopedic injury. Broken, shattered,crushed bones. No orthopedics! Wow. I could still use the facility though. I wondered what for? When I get my bad cold/flu once every four years or so, I just take large doses of vitamin C and aspirin and lots of liquids and try to get enough rest. If I do this, it usually passes after a week. If I go to any doctor when I am sick like that, I do as he/she tells me and I usually am better in seven days. I still need an orthopedic doctor. I have found a pain management doctor in the mean time and things are getting better in that respect. Thanks Dr. Dole. I wonder if he likes pineapples?

One outfit I DO support with real cash when I can is the DAV. I have seen their mini vans around the area taking disabled vets to and from doctor visits and where ever else they provide vets with transportation to. They actually do something for the vets. I wonder how many organizations that claim to be working for veterans actually DO something for them and not just talk about it. Anybody know? Let me know and I'll pass the information along. I am sure there are other groups out there who really do help veterans, I just don't know them.

This brings me more or less up to date. Now we start to get highly pissed off. Have any of you seen where our government has billed veterans for their bonuses? The government wants the money back! Why? Well, because some of these vets have been seriously wounded, as in permanently disabled, or even killed, before they completed their enlistment! That's right folks. Our government wants their(?) money back from vets who were paid a bonus and then were seriously wounded while on duty in a war zone! This is the biggest piece of goddamn fucking horse shit EVER!
What the fuck are they thinking? Do they actually think at all? What do they use for brains? Christ of a fucking crutch! What sort of low life asshole thought up this cluster fuck program? We need the name of this asshole and his/her personal phone number so we can all give him/her a call and verbally kick some ass! Oh, and we need to know who hired this jackass also, as that person needs some serious hind end adjustment also. Son-of-a-bitch! These "people"(?) must have their heads so far up their asses that all they can see are various shades of brown!
Shit, when I was with 5th Marines in Viet Nam, we used to "joke" that our "great leaders" in DC said; Nothing is too good for our troops. Unfortunately we can't figure how to give them less than nothing." Well, sir, NOW they HAVE!!!!! What a goddamn fucking load of SHIT!!! This sort of thing just about takes the whole fucking cake, hands down. And they wonder why enlistments are down???? No shit? They can't figure out why young people aren't beating down the doors at the recruiting offices trying to enlist?? If that sort of shit doesn't piss you off, well, in my opinion, you are brain dead! Yes, I am very anti-war. Damn right. But, shit, WE have a duty to the kids in uniform who enlisted, for a pay check or out of some sort of patriotism. We should DEMAND that they get HUMANE treatment from our own goddamn government! Imagine, that it was your family member who enlisted/re-enlisted, got a big bonus payment, went to Afghanistan/Iraq and gets killed. You get a letter from the fucking goddamn government demanding you pay back that bonus money! Well, after all, the VA does provide a nice grave marker to veterans. They want the money back because your family member had the audacity to die BEFORE completing his/her enlistment contract! FUCKING goddamn BEYOND stupid!!! I don't have that worry, as they don't want the cats, at least not yet. If it were MY kid, and I got one of those "notices", I'd send a reply. It would be to the effect, come and get it assholes. But, you best wear a flack jacket and come armed and ready for a goddamn firefight! FUCK!!!!!!
And, to add to this SHIT, same thing can happen if that person is seriously wounded and unable to "complete his/her contract". No shit! Seems that there is on the order of $1.5 million in such uncompleted contracts outstanding. Big damn deal. How many BILLIONS do these two wars cost us each MONTH?? BILLION per month, and some goddamn asshole bean counter is "worried" about 1.5 million???????? Talk about screwed priorities!
Now, I admit that to me, 1.5 million is more than I'll ever see. Big deal though when the wars cost in the billions each and every damn month! That 1.5 million won't pay for a goddamn HOUR of these fucking wars. And they want it back! Now. Sure, bud, no worries, the check is in the fucking mail. Fuck. This is way beyond even mother fucking horseshit, This is god damned FATHER fucking bull shit!

So, sure, write to Rodney and Vitter. No need to write to Miss Mary, she never has even acknowledged ever receiving anything from me yet. Of course the other two will reply. They will give me a wishy-washy crap about how they "support the troops" and all that crap. I wonder just how thick they try to lay it on in public. Bet they have to use a trowel. Or a snow shovel!

Oh shit, I'm tired now. This ranting takes it out of you. And then some. Folks, we have to demand decent,humane treatment of our troops. We need to give them medical care. We need to help them as best we can. These people have earned that much. One thing, PTSD sticks around forever, or so it seems to me. Even after all this time, I came back to the states in September of 71 and still, this shit (Iraq & Afghanistan) gets it all stirred up again. Some would tell me, don't follow that in the news. What? How can I turn away? We who have been through war KNOW first hand the long term affects it has on a person. Just how can any of us turn away from the new veterans? We CANNOT. We will not.

semper fi,
charlie

The Return.........

Greetings folks.
I am trying to get this old blog of mine re-fired. It has been too long since my last entry and for that I have only myself to blame. Well, me and getting a house ready for sale. Damn hard work when you had been renting it to "family" who were supposed to be such great carpenters,electricians,plumbers, etc.
As the REAL electrician I had redo things to code told me, every carpenter thinks(!) he is an electrician. And Shrub thinks he is world decider. But that is another thought completely. More on that to follow.
Anyhow, that house got finished and SOLD! Whew! One less burden and two credit cards paid off. Got to be ready for the coming recession/depression.
Speaking of which, I have an old,rather tired definition of those terms for you. A recession is when your neighbor is out of work. A depression is when you are out of work. OK, so neither applies to me, disabled is NOT out of work. It is being unable to do real work for wages. That makes permanent disability a form of permanent depression. And don't tell me they have meds for that! Those meds have some very serious side effects.
I come back to this blog just in time to see the Shrub "convene" an Israeli-Palestinian "peace conference". Oh, sure, that will do the trick. Shrub and Ms. Rice will get a peace deal that no other US president has been able to get. It will be a permanent, lasting peace as well. OK, do NOT bet the farm on that. Hell don't even bet your neighbors' money on it, even if he IS working/employed. The loss of that cash would piss him/her off for sure. It would me, if it were my money. Oh boy, I tell you, this being broke, but with very few bills to pay is great.
One less bill now as well. I stopped the satellite TV hook up. I now get very good reception on one channel. It happens to be the local affiliate of the Nothing But Crap network, but they do have a very good weather forecaster on the news. Of course I can get his forecast on the net, so, the old TV might just be needing a new home soon. The old 'puter plays DVDs very nicely also, so that is one less "need" for a TV set. Yes, one more big box of furniture that I can do without.
Oh, you say, but how do I keep up with the news and world events? Why the Internet! That has been my main source of news and staying "current" for many years now. Damn nice thing, that Internet. You can get all sorts of news and views on the net. Much more choice than any TV deal. As Bruce Springsteen sang; "57 channels and nothing on". Describes the TV situation very nicely. And I mean even when the writers are NOT on strike. Any how, I prefer the radio/CD player/tape player. Music to sooth the soul. OK, so maybe classic rock isn't all that soothing to you, listen to your music, I'll listen to mine. There, that was easy. No harm, no foul.
Back to Annapolis, and the Shrub. This is another "deal" that even Monty Hall would not open the door on. It is a scam from the start. Bush has no plan. Rice has no clue. The Zionist gang running Israel do not want peace with the Palestinians. They do want the little bit of land that the Palestinians still occupy. Can you say, land grab? Of course you can. Can you see Bush/Rice putting any "real"pressure on Israel to abide by international law and human rights? Of course you can't. Neither can the Zionists nor the neo-cons, nor the majority of both houses of congress.
What you CAN see, is very much real pressure being put on the Palestinians to "give in" or, rather "make compromises" with the kindly Zionist regime in TelAviv. That gang now demands that the Palestinians recognize the "right" of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. Whoa now. NO country has the "right" to exist. Not Israel, not America, not Germany, not China, not Japan, NO country has the "right" to exist. Period. People have that right, NOT countries.
Also, this "right" of Israel to exist as a Jewish state means that ANY non Jew living in Israel would be a, at best, second class citizen. Of course that allows that such a person living there would be allowed ANY sort of "citizenship" at all. Can you say, ethnic cleansing? Of course you can. Too bad Shrub, Rice, and most of congress cannot see the facts for what they are. Even a large number of Israelis see this scam for the lie that it is. In fact, there are a large number of very religious Jews who see the present state of Israel as an affront to their god. Honest. Many fundamentalist Jews are very much anti-Zionist. They don't speak out much here in America about that. Why? Well, because here in "free speech" America, to be anti-Zionist is to get your self called an anti-Semite! Not many folks like being called that. I am NOT an anti-Semite. I AM an anti-Zionist. Big difference there. Semitic peoples are, not only,
Hebrews and Arabs. Zionism is a political philosophy. In fact, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, an anti-Semite would hate Jews AND Arabs, as BOTH are Semitic peoples! Try to get that through to Bill O or Rush the drug addict. Bet you get cut off ASAP for even thinking it on their "programs".
No, this "affair" in Annapolis is just for show. It is a photo op for Shrub. He is trying to build on his "legacy". Legacy? Like the two (count them) FAILED wars he started and cannot ever finish? That legacy? How about the financial mess from the sub-prime mortgage fallout? Another Shrub legacy! Do we count the "patriot"(?) act, and the Military Commissions Act, and the NSA spying on Americans IN America without ANY sort of warrant? And those are just the "little" parts of his "legacy" that I can think of right this moment without looking up any more of them. No, wait, the two(yes 2) directives that he signed, one a national security directive, the other a presidential directive, that allow him to declare martial law in the event of an emergency. What sort of an emergency, you ask. Well, nobody really knows for sure, since both of these directives define said emergency as being defined by............wait for it...........the "decider" himself. Yep, HE gets to decide(?) what constitutes an emergency in order to declare martial law, right here in old America. Ain't that one sweet deal? Well, it might be, for him any way. For us, well, he gets the mine, we get the shaft. How far can you bend forward? It won't hurt............much. Don't worry, it is just big brother checking for hemorrhoids.
One more thing I want to pass along. I have come across another outstanding blog. You might want to read this mans' work, check it out please. It is http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com. Warning, he does NOT sugar coat anything.
Well, that is all for this edition. I'll try to do more entries more often. Even if nobody else reads this, I get some enjoyment out of putting my "thoughts" to computer screen. Until next time.
semper fi,
charlie

Loss.....They were just kids!

For reasons I myself don't quite understand, I want to take some time to talk about loss. In particular the loss of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Combat losses. Our young Americans in particular, but this applies to every loss, regardless of nationality,religion,race,creed, or any other such "division" we choose to apply.
I only know of three people who are very public about their own personal sense of this loss. Ms. Cindy Sheehan, of course many people around the world know of her loss. Professor Bracevich, and Missy Beattie.
Professor Bracevich has recently spoken of the loss of his son in Iraq in an op-ed in the Washington Post. Missy Beattie has written a number of articles regarding the loss of her nephew in Iraq. I have read her commentaries on "Counterpunch.org" web site. She continues to speak out against the war and the criminal acts that started it.
These three people are quite brave in sharing their loss with us. They have lost sons and/or close family members. I can tell you from personal experience that this is a hurt that never goes away.
My second wife Sherie and I lost our only child. Jennifer was born premature and only lived six weeks. She would have turned 24 this month of May. Sixteen years later, Sherie died from brain cancer.
The loss of a child is probably the worst loss a person can face in this life. We are somewhat equipped to deal with the loss of our grandparents, and then parents. Sure, they were older and had lived a long, full life. Or so we hope. A child, that is quite different. A child has never had a full life. When they die, there is all that potential that is just gone. We can never know how they would have turned out. What sort of person they would become. What sort of job/career would they have? Would they have a family? Would they find happiness? All those questions go unanswered for the rest of your life. You never forget them, no matter how short your time was with them. You always wonder.
I saw the interview Ms. Sheehan gave on "Democracy Now" on Link TV Wednesday. I am amazed at how strong she still is. Not only did she have to deal with the loss of her son, her marriage broke up and her health was quite bad for a time since she began her protest. The marriage thing may not be related to the protest, none of my business.
She knew going in she would get flak from the "right wing" nuts and politicians. When she spoke out about how the Democrats are not doing all they could/should to end the war, she caught hell from the "left wing" as well. Poor woman, she actually thought there were two parties in America. Some of us could have told her that we just have two sides of the same coin. The "war party" as Justin Raimondo over at Antiwar.com likes to call it.
One good thing to come from her interview is that she will be back. She must be in great need of rest. So many people made her into a symbol. That isn't fair. She is just a normal human being, and I think way too many people put way too much pressure on her. She also found that MoveOn.org is just an arm of the DLC. Not very useful. She should have, and did go more towards folks like "Veterans for Peace". There is a true anti war group. Old warriors who do not want our young warriors to die for a lie. Ms. Sheehan also said that after she is able to regroup and come back, it will not be with any political party. Good for her, as today there are no real alternatives. The Greens are not worth the effort. They basically "gave" their votes to Kerry in 2004. Some party. More like Democrats in disguise. Well, pin a tail on that donkey.
America DOES need a real opposition party. Dean Velvel was looking into that at one time. I think the effort has stalled out. Lack of support is my guess.
As Ms. Sheehan has said, America today cares more about who the next "American Idol" will be than the wars we are fighting still today. She is correct and it is a sad commentary on our country that she is correct. Hell, give me a beer and turn on the ball game.
General Smedley Butler was right. There are only two reasons for war. To defend OUR homes and the Bill of Rights. All other reasons for war are a racket. This from a man who spent 33 years in the Marine Corps and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor TWICE. A real patriotic man if ever there was one.
Who do we get? Well, our "decider" aka "commander guy" went AWOL from the Texas Air Guard. The UCMJ says that after 30 days continuous AWOL, the AWOL person is now a deserter. Nice job there Shrub. We also have old "dead-eye" Dick Cheney. He had "other priorities" during Viet Nam. So, he got himself 5 deferments. A class A coward and total chickenshit. Now the military lets this asshole Cheney give speeches on board an air craft carrier in the Gulf. They even let him into West Point to give a speech to the graduating cadets! Well, that is the Army. Glad I was a Marine.
There is hardly a member of this criminal administration who ever served in the US military, let alone ever faced combat. Shooting an old lawyer in the face with bird shot does NOT count Dick.
What we need are more people like Professor Bracevich, Cindy Sheehan, and Missy Beattie. We need leaders who will not be so goddamn free and easy with sending OUR young people off to war.
Hell, I turn 60 later this year. That makes every one younger than their mid 40's a kid to me. We are sending OUR kids off to die for a lie. We are allowing our criminal administration to do this. We are allowing this same gang of criminals to shred OUR Constitution. This criminal gang is violating OUR Bill of Rights. This gang of criminals are destroying habeas corpus! That right goes way back before America was even a colony!
We are fighting these wars with borrowed money. Japan and China hold more than one trillion!!!!! dollars in US government notes. If they decide to cash in, or trade dollars for Euros, our economy is in the toilet and it is being flushed down the drain. And don't forget the housing bubble. Things could get to where 1929 will look like a walk in the park. Wait, no, a better(?) analogy, a "cake walk" to use the language of this criminal gang. I can just see old Babs Bush, "let them eat cake".
Well, I sure am not much of a writer. I love music, most any kind of music. My favorite is classic rock. I had wanted to somehow work some musical bits into this. The Moody Blues. In many of their albums, just before the first song, there is some spoken word. From the album "To Our Children's Children's Children" I wanted to use the first few lines. They go like this; "Blasting,billowing,bursting forth with the power of ten billion butterfly sneezes. Man with his flaming fire has conquered the wayward breezes".
I just can't quite seem to make that fit this entry. Sorry about that folks.
To our children, and to our children's children's children, WE owe it to them to defend OUR Constitution, OUR Bill of Rights, and OUR country. We need to be rid of the current crop of political "leaders". Save for Dr. Ron Paul, he at least respects the Constitution.
semper fi

Just curious........

I was just thinking about doing more on this blog. I got to wondering, it is something I do a lot of. Being permanently disabled, you have nothing but time to read,think,play games. Not very much money to do some things, like drive around, just for the sake of riding with diesel at $2.80 at the lowest price in Alexandria last time I was in town.
Anyhow, the old mind got to pondering some rather obscure things. My old mind does lots of obscure wondering. That is not due to any disability, it just comes naturally to me.
One thing I am a bit curious about, does the Shrub and his immediate family invest in hedge funds? One wonders about this at odd times.
Also, when the Shrub, aka little Bush, gets looking a bit scruffy, do they call in one of those $400.00 per hair cut stylists or do they just get one of the illegal Mexican gardeners to give him a trim?
I don't know about the rest of you, but this old man is curious about these sorts of things.
Well, off to ponder more improbabilities. I'll be adding to this again soon.
semper fi

Randon rants

Well, it has been some weeks since I last did anything on this blog. It isn't all that easy to come up with something worth being posted here. I suppose I could try a daily journal entry, but who would care? Hell, I wouldn't, and I write the crap on this blog.
No, trying to pick a topic for a blog is not as easy as it seemed once. You want to say something, but you want whatever you say to have some sort of meaning. Not just odd rants about the war or whatever happened on your trip to the gas station. To me, my blog entries ought to be worth more than just bullshit or rants against whatever has pissed me off on that particular day. So, for this old man, blog entries become less frequent. I would say that most days I either have little wroth saying, or just cannot quite figure how to say what I might want to say.
Not to worry, I will try to keep posting something here, just don't set your calendar by my posts, it may be quite some time between them. Remember folks, I was never a writer. I was a machinist and made things from metals, using a variety of machine tools. This business of writing is quite new to me.
I want to make some mention of Cindy Sheehan and her decision to quit the Democrats and all other activity, at least for a while.
First off, the donkey gang. I could have told her, before she became an activist that they would disappoint her. Contrary to popular belief, and the high school civics text books, we have but one party in America. Yes, it is the one old Justin Raimondo at Antiwar.com calls the war party. Oh, it has two wings to it, donkey and elephant. Just two sides of the same coin. Some choice you get there folks. You can have the donkey or the elephant. Neither is house broken. They both tramp through the flowers and shit in your yard.
The donkey gang recently gave in to the Shrub on the war funding. The removed any and all mention of timetables or other such things. Why? Well, Shrub didn't want those things in his war funding. So, the donkey gang, being the "fine upstanding" folks they are, caved in. Yes sir, nice to see some spine there in DC. Well, you have to look real hard for it, and either "party" is not the place to look. Nope, our politicians have no spine. Hell, mine has had to go through three major surgeries and is never going to be as good as it was before, but I still have more than any of those spineless, gutless, piss-poor examples of humanity than our "great" political "leaders" have.
The donkey gang is as much for war as the elephants are. They just do it a bit differently. They tend to put a "humanitarian" face on their wars. The elephants just do war for fun and profit, without the "window dressing" of the donkey gang. Less talk, more bullets, you could say.
Cindy, they never were going to end the war. Nor can any of them tell you that your son did not die for a lie. I wish like hell that I could offer you more comfort than that. But, then, I wish for the wars to stop also. Old warriors do not always wish to see newer, younger warriors go off to new wars. Ask a vet and see.
As to Ms. Sheehan quitting her activism, all one can say is that she has earned a rest. The woman has been going full speed for a long time. Anybody ever hear of burn-out? Sure you have, and I can imagine she must be totally burned out by now. Then add to that, her trials of being called all sorts of nasty things by the war-mongers, and now even by the donkey gang. What, the donkey gang is against her? Yes, because she dared to be critical of them. Aha! So, she "bit the hand" and all that. No, she spoke the truth. She also found out that neither side of the war party coin have any use for truth tellers. They bit, and bit hard.
I really do understand her burn out. That is one reason this blog has so few entries on it. I get burned out and have trouble coming up with topics that I feel are worth the time to post here. And I do not do any way near the amount that Ms. Sheehan has done. Hell, she did more in a week than I could do in nearly a year. OK,so I can use the excuse that I am disabled and all. Still, one does get burned out after a while. Even more so when so many people oppose you, as she found out. Hers was a public protest and we all should be thankful for her efforts. She wanted answers, but did not get them. Now, she has decided to step back and regroup. I say, good for her. Take some time off, figure out where you want to go next, then do it. According to the interview she gave today on Democracy Now, that is just what she is going to do. She did mention that she will not be working with either political party. Good for her again. It is not worth the horse shit to try to work with either of those two gangs.
Funny thing, she is not too happy with MoveOn.org either. Hell, I never did trust that group either. I replied to at least one commentator some months ago that in my opinion, MoveOn had best mover over as they were just blocking the road. MoveOn seems to be tied closely to the DLC, and that can never be a good thing.
Well, I guess I have done enough for now. Got to get back to reading more on how old dead eye Dick Cheney is itching for more war, with Iran this time. Seems he and his pals the neo-cons and certain folks in Israel want to bomb Iran before Shrub is out of office. We shall see.......
semper fi

More random thoughts (?)

I want to pass along some good reading to you folks.
First off, regarding the shootings at Virginia Tech, check out the excellent commentary by Mr. Greg Perry at the Lew Rockwell web site. the url is;

www.lewrockwell.com/perry/perry33.html

In my humble opinion this is just about THE best commentary on this event.

Next up on the reading list is a book. Ms. Jennifer Van Bergen has given us a great little book regarding the "PATRIOT ACT" and the way America seems to be headed towards fascism. The book is "The Twilight of Democracy". In this she shows us in very plain language just how we are being screwed by this rotten law. Ms. Van Bergen supports the Constitution! My goodness me, what a concept! Well, no doubt our "esteemed"(?) Attorney General will tell us all, very soon, that the Constitution is a "quaint" and "out dated" piece of paper. Excuse me, but EVERY government official, such as Gonzales, Cheney,Shrub, and the rest took an oath to uphold that document. So did every person who ever served in the United States military.
Just one old (nearly 60) former Marine who went off to the Imperial War in Viet Nam (1970-71), but maybe it is time for a new American revolution. Maybe they even still have some tea over in Boston.
On to more current things. It sure looks like poor old Gonzo, aka Attorney General Gonzales, is about done for. Why even old Newt has come out against the poor little feller! And here we thought Newt only attacked Democrats. Ha,ha,ha. Wonder how Shrub took having the Newtster dis his old pal from Texas, Gonzo. Does this mean that Newt won't be getting a dinner invite from Mr. & Mrs Shrub any time soon? Poor Newt. Well he looks like he could stand to miss a few meals. The boy is looking more like Al,not my pal, Gore. In other words, they are FAT. OK, so sue me for being politically incorrect. Hell, there isn't much you would win. Yes, being on disability means the legal actions will net you less than zero.
Interesting how some of the elephant gang are pissing on old Senator Reid for saying what is so obvious, a blind man can see it. We have LOST the war in Iraq! Now according to my personal pocket sized copy of the Constitution, amendment number ONE, states that among other rights, we have the right to freedom of speech. I would venture to guess that this freedom of speech even applies to a US senator. But, then, when the Speaker of the House gets critical comments for a trip to a foreign country, maybe the Constitution does NOT apply to members of Congress. This is, after all Amerika in 2007, and Shrub still is president. Maybe it was in the fine print in that there "patriot" act.
sempoer fi

more random thoughts

A couple of things have got me to wondering about this country of ours. Some oddities from the latest "news" on CNN among other "news" outlets.
First up, Imus. Yes the idiot made some strange and hurtful comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. His comments have distracted from the great post season run they made towards the championship. It also has way over-shadowed the winning team from Tennessee.
While Imus did make racist remarks and generated a storm of protest, I keep finding myself wondering about him. First up, does anybody actually still listen to that jack-ass? I would guess so, as there is this uproar about his comment.
Now, I agree that his comment was racist and sexist. I agree that he should be fined or maybe fired for this. It is not the first time he has run afoul of some group or other. What he said about those women basketball players was shameful. Actually, they are all nice looking young women. They also have way more class than Imus could ever hope to have.
I still keep wondering why anybody listens to his crap radio/MSNBC TV show. I tried once to watch his program on the satellite. Why? Well, many folks kept telling me about this Imus person. I figured, if the guy is so popular, I might as well check this program out. I actually made it through about 25 minutes of his "entertainment" before I had to switch the channel, hell, even an info-mercial was a relief after Imus and his crap. Not as gross as Howard Stern, but almost as intelligent. My personal opinion, Imus is a waste of my time to watch or listen to. How anybody with a functioning brain can stand to listen to his crap is beyond me.
Next up, according to CNN, Shrub wants a "war czar" to oversee the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq! What the hell? This is very odd indeed.
First, it is a new government position. It probably will require a staff and much office space. More big government. But, wait! Shrub claims to be a conservative. It used to be (heavy emphasis on used to) that conservatives, particularly Republican party members, were for small government. How can a "real" conservative be in favor of MORE government?
Next, our "decider" is also the commander in chief during wartime. He already has a Secretary of Defence also. There are numerous other national security personnel already in the White House and Pentagon. Can't any of them do this job?
According to CNN, an hour ago, the job has supposedly been offered to three retired generals. They have all turned it down.
W. Hey bud! Ask me. Hell yes, I'll take the job. I can start this coming Monday even. I was a Marine, I did a tour in Viet Nam. See, I have military experience as well, something you and dead-eye Dick lack. Now before any of my friends get all pissed at me for being willing to take this job, let me explain a bit.
I would take the job because disability doesn't pay much. I could use some extra money to finish the remodeling job on the house. Also, I won't need a very big staff, nor much of an office. Actually, I would be willing to work from home. This could save big bucks right away as there would be no need to move.
The other reason I would take the job is that before the 4th of July, I would no longer need the job. Yes, by early July, I would have finished the job, mission accomplished as it were.
How could I do this, you ask? Well, it is quite easy. My first order would be for all the active duty and National Guard troops who are getting ready to re-deploy to either of those countries would have them stand down and take 30 days leave. When they return from leave, the Guard troops would go back to their civilian jobs. The active duty troops would report to their regular duty stations in the US of A.
Now, as for the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Easy as pie. I would issue orders for ALL of them to start packing their equipment and be prepared to re-deploy back the the old US of A. Yes, by god damn it, I would bring them ALL home. Screw the damned wars. Just say, piss on this bullshit, come on home troops.
See, easy as pie. Now if I can just get my resume to W before some jack-ass applies for this short term job.
semper fi

My curiosity and our language

This post is just me ranting about language and definitions of words. This is something I have been curious about far many years. I have most likely done postings on this before. I know I have commented on this to other writers in my replies to them over the years. I may be whipping a dead horse as it were, but it just is something I decided(!) to post here.
This all stems from the events of yesterday and today regards the British Marines and sailors who have been released by the Iranians and are now back home in the old UK.
I have no negative things to say about those folks, they were doing their job and were captured by the Iranian navy. I want to state up front that I am very happy to see that they are home and safe and, as far as I have heard, unharmed. For that I and many others are very thankful. Yes, even a person (me) who has no religion can be thankful for various reasons.
My "problem" is with how they have been characterized, especially by the American media. They are being called heroes by CNN among other "news" outlets. Excuse me if I fail to see how they are/were heroic. They were preforming their military duty, inspecting ships in the gulf, and they were captured by the Iranian navy. What the hell is heroic about being taken prisoner? What actually constitutes heroism today? Anybody have an idea?
This goes back many years also. Our senator from Arizona, McCain, is called a hero. Why? He got shot down over North Viet Nam and in doing so, lost a very expensive aircraft. Yes, he was held as a prisoner of war for some years and suffered as a result. The question still remains. How is being shot down heroic?
Another incident happened during Billy Bubbas' "war" in the Balkans. An Air Force pilot, I think his name was O'Grady (if I got his name wrong, please let me know and I will post an apology), was shot down and lost his very expensive F-16. Yes, he did evade capture and after some days was rescued by the highly trained and very brave Air Force commando troops. I was very happy to see that he was safe and returned to the good old US of A. Our news media insisted on calling him a hero. There was much talk of making a "movie of the week" of his heroism. Now, to his great credit, he declined the hero label. He said, as I remember, that he was on his mission, got shot down, bailed out, and his survival training kicked in and he was glad he was able to evade capture. He also, as I recall,said the real heroes were the commando troops who rescued him. He gets my full credit for being honest.
Maybe I am being the "grinch" here, but I fail to see how being captured is heroic.
Here is an idea for our troops in Iraq, it will get them hero status and they will be able to get back home. Just cross the border into Iran, get taken prisoner. Our great media will call you heroes, and you will be flown back home. Great way to end the damn war. All the troops will be welcomed home as heroes and the war will be over as there will be no American troops to get shot and or killed.
Maybe this hero stuff can do our troops some good after all.
I for one would welcome all of our troops back home, as heroes, or just as survivors. Stay safe troops.
semper fi

An Easter gift from Shrub?

According to a report leaked by Russia, the Shrub may start bombing Iran on 6 April, 2007.
It has not made much news here in the old US of A, but did merit an article on Counterpunch by Professor Leupp.
Now an interesting thing with this is, 6 April is Good Friday. As I am not a member of any organized religion, I needed to check the old calendar to verify that date. That makes Sunday 8 April Easyer Sunday.
Now maybe it is just cynical old me, but isn't it a bit strange that our "decider" claims to be a "good Christian", yet he just may start a third war(!) during the Easter season. It is my understanding that this is one of THE two high holy days for the Christian church. Is this really a good way to prove how "godly" he is? I really do wish to understand this, as I said, I am not religious and am curious about this. I mean, I respect the rights of all peoples to their religious beliefs, but this does seem a bit odd. If anyone could explain this to me, feel free to do so.
It is a bit odd in another way as well. Think about the facts as we have them. We have two(!) failed wars right now. Afghanistan, yes, we are still there and fighting is ongoing. Iraq, well, not much else need be said, it is going very bad for us so far. Now, having two failed/failing wars, would any SANE person decide(?) to start a third war? Or is this new war with Iran supposed to take the overtaxed American brains away from the failed wars? Just curious.
I guess it would be like trying to build a deck and making two miserable attempts then deciding to build a third deck on another side of the poor, broken down house. OK, maybe that isn't a good example. Got any that are better? Any that make sense?
Any way, it looks like our great "decider" may have a new(?) and wondrous "gift" for the whole world this Easter season. Have fun kids. Don't overeat the chocolate eggs. Please don't shoot the bunnies this year.
semper fi

Our National Shame

The crisis at Walter Reed Army hospital is a National Shame. It is a disgrace to ALL of our troops and veterans. How dare we send our military off to fight in totally bullshit wars of choice, then give them substandard facilities when they return home wounded?
Congress has started making some noise about the sorry state of affairs at Walter Reed. Shrub has appointed a commission to "study" things. That is a certain guarantee that not much will be done. How many "blue ribbon" commissions have ever accomplished anything? Our great(?) government and our fearful; leaders run to the ultimate do-nothing tried and true method of establishing commissions to "study" the problems. They will study and study, finally releasing a report at some future date. In the meantime, our brave troops and other military veterans will continue to suffer neglect. If this isn't a National Disgrace, well, then I have no idea what could ever constitute a National Disgrace. Maybe an illegal war? Wait, we already have two of those going on right now. With a third damn near ready to be started. What sort of "treatment" will those troops get? Same old shit? Most likely.
Shrub and his evil puppet master dark Dick Cheney use our troops like they were their personal possessions. They treat our troops as if they alone "decide" to have them put in harms way. Congress? Well, just overlook the fact that the United States Constitution gives the power to declare war to Congress, NOT the "decider in chief".
Shrub and his crew are the most disgusting, piss poor examples of leadership yet. When I was in the Marines, I went to NCO school for two weeks after I returned from Viet Nam. One of the main lessons we were taught about being a leader was to never ask your troops to do what you would not do yourself. Hear that W? How about it Dick? Neither of you had the balls to see combat during Viet Nam. W got off with Texas Air National Guard duty and then failed to serve out his contract. Cheney got plenty of deferments, he "had other priorities". Hell so did every Marine, soldier,sailor, and airman in Viet Nam. We called our "other priorities" staying alive to get back to the States!
Fucking goddamn cowards have sent our troops off to fight, die, and suffer in two illegal wars. Chickenshit Democrats will do nothing except pass non-binding resolutions saying we ought to keep supporting the troops. Hell yes, I support our troops! I support them by saying that we need to get them ALL back to the States, NOW!
Oh, they say, if we quit Iraq now there might be a civil war there! What a load of horse shit. Iraq IS in a civil war now. Shia against Sunnis against Kurd violence has been and continues to be ongoing. Our being there just gives all sides more targets. How could our troops stop a civil war in Iraq? To do so, we would appear to be choosing sides. Well, we have done that already. Of course we change sides when ever it suits W's political purposes. Today we back the Shia, tomorrow we back the Sunnis. What total hypocrisy!
What total bullshit!
Support the troops, demand they end the war in Iraq and come back home.
Afghanistan? Well, NATO isn't doing much good there either. Now Blair is telling other NATO countries to "step up" and deliver more troops to that mess. Looks like NATO is starting to get involved in intra-mural(sp) infighting. Poor old NATO, an organization that has outlived its purpose.
Since the USSR broke up, what IS the reason for NATO? Is it now just a quasi military club? What is the purpose of an organization started to defend against a now, non-existent foe? Looks to me like an "old boy" club for want to be military people who award themselves all sort of ribbons and medals. Glory be!
God knows we sure "need" more of that bullshit also.
The war on terror is almost as smart as the war on drugs. Neither can ever be won. The real solution for either is to eliminate the need, for terror, or illegal drugs. Prevention is the key. Ah, but prevention is NOT sexy! The local cops getting on TV and showing the "biggest (drug of choice) bust" in history IS sexy. It sells newspapers, it leads the TV news. Prevention, that doesn't make the news at all. It also takes hard work and dedicated effort, NOT military style guns and hardware. Notice how in recent years, even in the smallest towns, the cops all LOVE the new "toys" they have to play with. Yes sir, they sure do love those new guns, helicopters, and other goodies. Hell, most cops even dress like the goddamn mercenaries from Blackwater!
America, where are you now? Don't you know that we need your help to fight the monster?
Almost makes me wish I believed in some religion or other. At least that way I could ask some god or the other for help. Looks like we are on our own with this shit.
semper fi

Do we get "real" news in America?

Well, the last few days here have been most curious. It would seem as though America no longer is allowed network access to "REAL" news stories.
How so? Well, take this Anna Nicole mess(PLEASE take it, as in very far away). How is it that a bleached blond bimbo, whose only claim to "fame" is being a Playboy playmate and marrying a very rich old guy. Old enough to have been her grandfather, gets so much coverage for being dead? Her death has been the lead on much of CNN and this morning on CNN Headline news, nearly one half of that half hour "news" program was devoted to squabbles over DNA testing of her remains. That is nearly 15 minutes of a 30 minute "newscast" given to some dead blond bimbo who, as far as I can tell, never did much to help anybody except herself.
Notice, that Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran had to be held until we got plenty of trivial crap about this dead bimbo. Other than her lawyers and those of the estate of her dead(old and very rich) husband, who the hell cares?
It would seem that as the wars are going badly for us, divert the public with spectacle. Anna Nicole fits that profile to a "T". Spectacle for sure.
More on the two wars going bad. As Iraq sinks further into chaos, and Afghanistan gets less and less news coverage on the networks, Bush and crew are beating the drums of war with Iran. Well, sure, when you have a war (or two) that go quickly to hell, start another war with another country, this way the public won't focus on the mess in Iraq! What strategy! Why, it is near brilliant! If only Johnson had done this he might have run for re-election in 1968. Maybe he should have started a shooting war with Cambodia. Oh, wait, Nixon did that. Well, even Nixon was capable of a mistake or three.
A comment or more on Congress. The good news from the November 2006 elections, the Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress. The bad news on those elections. The Democrats won control of Congress.
What ARE the donkey gang doing? They make some noise in front of the TV cameras, then go and vote on non-binding resolutions! Big damn deal. Almost like telling the dog that you will beat his ass if he shits on the rug and when he does, you just bend down and clean it up, end of story. Our "wonderful" Democratic controlled Congress is almost as useful.
Some bits of good news. First off, the Dixie Chicks won some Grammy awards. Good for them. The crap they took for saying they were ashamed that the president was from Texas was stupid. Hell, this current criminal administration makes some of us ashamed to call ourselves Americans. Take that you non-music lovers.
More good news. For those of us who like our race cars to run short and dead on straight, the NHRA season started last weekend. Some really good racing was seen at the Winternationals. Ah, 22 more races left in the new season. Next drag race for them, 23 to 25 February at Phoenix, AZ.
Good news for folks who like long distance (400 to 500 miles) racing with only left turns, NASCAR gets going at Daytona this week. Some of the qualifying races were held today. No, I don't have the results at hand now, sorry. The Daytona 500 is this Sunday. The truck race is Friday and the Busch race on Saturday. So, while the two Bush league wars may be going down the toilet, at least racing is started again at home. Race fans, enjoy. War fans, go to hell, do not pass "GO", do not collect $200.00. As General Smedley Butler said, there are only two reasons for war. To defend OUR homes and the Bill of Rights. All other reasons for war are a racket. No wonder Cheney likes war so much. Racketeers love their rackets.
Which brings me back to the "dark lord" Cheney. That draft dodger is damn quick to send our kids and grand kids off to fight and die in war. The son of a bitch didn't have the balls to even serve in the military himself. He would NOT have made it through Marine Corps NCO school. The Marine Corps taught me in NCO school that a good leader should never ask his troops to do something he was unwilling to do himself. Such is the "leadership" of the criminal administration we have in our country today. Gutless bastards who were too damned chickenshit to serve in the military sending our young people off to do what they were too damned scared to do themselves when they had the opportunity. Screw Bush and Cheney and the sheep they rode in on.
semper fi
charlie

New Year, same old shit

Well, it is now 2007, a new year. I had put off posting during the holidays to wait and see what the Shrub would do about his wars.
The Baker Hamilton report has been discussed by many. It did seem somewhat reasonable in the recommendations, of course that meant that Shrub would ignore it out of hand.
Now we are told that the "decider" has the urge to surge. More than 21,000 more troops will be sent to Iraq. He also wants to increase the Marines and Army by some 92,000 new troops as well. More recruits will need to be found among the population. Good luck on that. I hadn't checked on this lately, but for many months they were not able to meet the recruitment quotas in the past years, how are they going to increase the size of those organizations now?
Being anti war, myself, I hope they will not find any willing people to meet this new increased Army and Marine Corps. If it was truly for national defence, they would be swamped with willing volunteers. Hell they would even find veterans of past wars ready to enlist to fight off an invasion of our country. All the Shrub thinks of is his "legacy". Ha! His legacy is already insured. He will go down as the absolute worst "leader" we have had up to this date. Yes, there may, in the future, be an even worse president. I know, that is almost beyond belief, but it IS possible. How so? Well, I am constantly amazed by the stupidity of some of our fellow human beings. Every time I think I have seen the worst or the stupidest, some one will do something that tops what I had seen before. Our species seems to have an unlimited capacity to do stupid things.
Back to the surge. This increase of 21,000 plus new troops to Iraq just means 21,000 more targets for the Iraqis. It is too few to control the country, and way too many new targets.Even the Shrub admitted in his speech that with the troop increase the violence and killing will continue. So why send more targets? He still keeps on with his idea that we(?) must succeed in Iraq. OK, but what IS meant by success in Iraq today? I have yet to hear any true measure of this "success". The goals in Iraq keep changing. First it was WMD, then to topple Saddam, then to install democracy. What is the current "idea" of this "victory"?
If any one knows, please share it with the rest of us.
One thing I have noticed, on a very personal level, this war is waking up old memories. Things that were "put away" in the darkest closet of my mind. They were put there and left to be untouched in this life. Now, thanks to the constant war we are in, they have come out to haunt me. The bad memories of the fighting in Viet Nam have resurfaced. Not in the last weeks, but many months ago. I had not spoken of this before, but feel the need to do so now. If only for my own personal benefit. Yes, some times talking about "bad experiences" helps. The flashbacks and nightmares have returned. Some would say, stop watching the news, quit reading the web sites that report the war, stop following it on the net and the TV. Would that it were that easy.This war is like the old saying about the train wreck. You don't want to see the carnage, but feel compelled to look anyway.
If the veterans of other wars,looked away, or tried to ignore the current war, they would find that it is not possible.Those of us who have been to war feel compelled to stay informed on this one. We cannot turn our backs on this disaster. Hell, our children are fighting this war. How could we choose to ignore that?
Lucky me, in that respect. I have only one child living. She is 36 years old and has children of her own. Many other veterans have children who ARE in the military and are in Iraq or Afghanistan. Will they be in Somalia next?
The scar of war run deep. They are not easily healed. Even time does not lessen them very much.
Somehow, someway, we the people MUST put and end to war.
semper fi,
charlie

Election results

Well, the elections are over. The pundits have had their say on how it all turned out. They have "spoken from on high" to tell us riff-raff why we voted as we did. "They" always have to explain how and why "we" do what we do in these matters. We cannot be trusted to give our own opinions, it all has to be dissected by the pundit class.
Well, from my lowly point of view, we the people, just were damn tired of the bullshit coming from the White House and Congress. Of course I am not a member of the pundit class. I am just a lowly citizen of this once great country. Oh, I am also a Viet Nam vet and a former Marine, but that doesn't count for much among the pundits. Funny how so few of them ever wore any uniform, not even a Cub Scout uniform. The same holds very true for the neo-cons as well. The war lovers have very seldom ever been in an actual war. Odd how that works isn't it? It is one of those "life mysteries" I guess.
OK, the donkey gang seems to have won enough seats in BOTH houses of Congress to hold majorities in both. Wow! Well, OK, they won, they had their "victory" parties and the paper cups have been picked up and the floors swept. Now what? Will they hold W. Gump and his side kick old "Dead Eye" Dick Cheney to account? Will they repeal that evil Patriot Act? Will they repeal that even more evil Military Commissions Act? Will they start(!) to bring the troops home? Will they ENSURE that the Gulf States get HONEST rebuilding efforts?
Just what will "THEY" do now that they are in control of Congress?
Hey! Democrats! The nation wants some direction from you. You folks have the "power" now, what are you going to do? Do you folks HAVE a plan? If so, what is it? Hells bells, you KNEW there was a chance you could get control of Congress (or at LEAST the House) before the election. You SHOULD have had at least some sort of IDEA of what you might want to do with that power. Let us in on the plan. You DO have one, don't you?
Me? Well, I do NOT look for much change in the way things are. The Democans are just the other side of the same coin as the Republocrats to me. I voted for the Independent candidate in my district. Yes, the "big two" would say I wasted my vote. Well, it was MY vote, and therefore mine to "waste" if I decided to do so. My vote, my choice. At least I deprived the War Party of one vote here in central Louisiana. It didn't matter, Mr. Alexander won any way. So, he could care less if he got my vote or not. So be it, that is how we operate. I can still send him emails and such. He IS my representative and I will continue to let him know my opinions. Bet he won't like that. Actually, he doesn't seem to care. I never even get a form letter reply from his office. How nice of him and his staff. They must know I never cast my vote for him. LOL!
One other reason I don't hold much hope for real change, the neo-cons are jumping ship and returning to their origin, the Democratic Party. Yes sir, most of them started out as "Scoop" Jackson Democrats. You can look this up on the net, or just google it. The neo-cons didn't lose the war either. They blame old Rummy. Nice to see him gone, but Gates is tied to the Iran-Contra deal plus much more from the Bush 1 administration and even that of old Ron Ray-gun and Nixon. Nixon called Rummy "that ruthless little bastard". Nice bit of character analysis there Dick! Hell, the description still fits today. Bye, bye Rummy. We won't miss you. Oh, and don't let the door hit your ass as you walk out.
Now if we can just bring him up on war crimes charges. Then get Cheney to quit and charge him also. Then get the rest of this criminal administration when they try to sneak out of Dodge. Put them ALL in orange jumpsuits and have them making little rocks from big rocks. For life.
We need to keep the heat on the Democrats to restore OUR Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the rule of law.
The election is over. The Democrats won. Now WE the people must hold them accountable for their actions.
semper fi