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Shocked I tell you, shocked!

2007-10-04T17:09:00.000-05:00

I sit back and watch all the commercial media outlets stumbling over themselves in utter disbelief and shock that Ron Paul could raise so much money, and I have a laugh.

This is exactly the reason why there is such a broad base of support for the Paul campaign, because the NY to DC corridor of power is so out of the mainstream of the American mindset. I have watched over the past few months, the scant mention of Dr. Paul’s efforts passed off as fringe, anti-establishment, basement dwelling moonbat spammers, and my favorite, “out of touch” with the realities of the day.

Just who are these people that make such assertions and comments anyway? They are the behemoth of megalomaniac children of fortune that are the participants in the Federal government, they are the K-street lobbyist pushing agenda’s like used car salesmen, they are the pundits who have spent so much time playing newsreaders with the backdrop of catchy graphics that they haven’t a clue as to what the American peoples desires and hopes are. They are the people on the fringe, the ones who are out of lockstep with the national body.

The smell of fear that permeates in the air like a thick fog so dense one would have to use a chainsaw to cut it. These people who stand slack jawed in awe that such a slight man with a message greater than their understanding and the integrity to support it, amaze me that they lived in the bottle with the ship as long as they have. What is worse is that they still don’t “get it”, and if by some miracle they do, they once again try to pass it off as a dark horse anti-establishment fad.

We people that have set aside many of our own pet issues and differences, we conservatives, libertarians, moderates, liberals and independents have been telling you for quite some time but our concerns have fallen upon the deaf ears. Issues that concern those of us, whose backs have been the stepping-stones of the status-quo will be heard. More important than our political background is the quality of our lives. We are the workers in factories, the farmers in the fields, and the soldiers in uniform, we are Main Street.

So don’t act surprised that when a person comes along who actually addresses our thoughts and concerns becomes popular, it isn’t that hard of a stretch. It should however be a wake up call to let you know just how far out of touch with the very people you all are supposed to represent actually are. We see this, even if you don’t.

Whether or not Ron Paul gets elected as the next President of the United States or not, one thing is for certain, and that is the political landscape is about to change so take notice.

Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress: The Media Disenfranchising of Ron Paul

2007-08-16T07:40:00.000-05:00

Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress: The Media Disenfranchising of Ron Paul

Why not Ron Paul?

2007-08-15T05:39:00.000-05:00

Why does it seem each election we average folk are faced with the choice of the lesser of two evils instead of a candidate that you would be proud to say, “yeah, that’s the guy I voted for”? When a candidate that does arrive on the scene that resonates with average people they are often marginalized and touted as having a chance so far removed that even Barry Bonds couldn’t send a ball to them. Often it is that a rouge character, that quintessential underdog outsider always seems so attractive and often makes the most sense when standing next to the three piece Neiman Marcus mouthpiece holding a mouth full of smoke and wearing rubber gloves.

You realize that you are being herded towards a shoot by a cowboy named Rupert Murdoch to meet his other friend named, “thumper” that is there holding a large blunt club. As you fumble forward with an ominous feeling in your gut, you hear a voice in the back of your head telling you to run for it.

Enter today… We have an undeclared war raging in two countries in the Middle East, we are on the verge of a serious economic crisis, we have a health care system that is the mockery of the rest of the free world, we have skyrocketing gas prices, a government riddled with scandal, and a plethora of media snake oil salesmen trying to sell you an approved candidate that wants to keep things the same.

There is of course an alternative to this scenario; there is a way out. Now I normally don’t plug for one candidate or another on this thing, but I feel that it is one of those times when you must promote a good thing when you see it. This good thing is Congressman Ron Paul from Texas. He is a man who has the best voting record in Congress and would like to take America back to its fundamentals and to restore the liberties that others have infringed upon. Since he and I agree on many, but not all things, I am going to tell you why I support him.

In today’s world it is a bold concept to wish to return to the basic foundations and principles that led America from its humble beginnings to the greatest presence in the history of mankind. It is bold because our founding fathers could have never foreseen that their efforts to break away from the tyranny of a king and start a nation of free people would one day evolve into what it is today, an empire of true epic proportion.

Our Constitution laid down the basic laws of how a framework that denotes the citizenry as the primary focus is one that is both bold in concept and noble in principle. It set the example that for much of the 20^th century was the focus of emulation by many of the worlds other nations; it was what much of the rest of the world wanted to be.

The Bush administration, as well as many neoconservatives have used the concept of the Constitution being a living document to also mean that reality itself could not only be altered but entirely created. A recent statement by President Bush as reported in the NY Times:

''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.’’ [1]

This should give pause to anyone, that if our government now believes it can create its own reality without regard, then what possibility of survival do the very laws and rules that have created and govern this nation have?

This egocentric and almost omnipotent view of our current government has left the rest of the world that is still grounded in reality, baffled, befuddled, and resentful towards a nation that it once viewed with admiration. Only a return to the very ideas and principles that created this admiration towards us in the greater world as well as gave its citizenry a feeling of fellowship and importance will restore that which we have lost.

The notion of returning to a stricter adherence of the United States Constitution and concept of, “We the People”, frightens most politicians, power brokers, and those who would seek to steer public opinion for their own designs as it strikes at the core of a system of cronyism and that most basic human element, greed. Ron Paul’s efforts to champion a return to a strict adherence to the Constitution will be met with great opposition as it is in complete contrast to the status quo of the day.

In today’s world, we are blessed with this modern marvel known as the internet. This technological wonder along with instant mobile communications has brought the possibility of a completely free and transparent government as well as the exchange of ideas and concepts of the people it serves. The internet is the only means available to counter an institution that is more concerned with profit and personal interest than it is for the welfare of the people they subscribe to it. It has been through the medium of the internet that today’s press and government have been caught red handed attempting to quash those people who are out of lock step with their view.

It is certainly no secret that the media of the past as well as today have used its ability to guide public opinion in a manner that is in contrast to the needs or desires of the general public. Many Americans still get their information from the mainstream news each night and by use of repetition and use of language it is still a formidable tool use to steer the public to what it chooses. Whatever the reasons may be, it is clear today that Ron Paul and people like him will not be discussed in the same manner or with the same repetition as those candidates that the media chooses as fit for its needs.

Ron Paul is the taxpayers best friend as well as one of the few champions of our founding principles that work on behalf of you and me, John Q Public. Ron Paul should also resonate with those American businesses that want to make money for their stockholders as well as understand that their employees are also their consumers and fellow countrymen.

America did not become great because it had the most missiles, tanks, and troops, it did not become great because it has the greatest economic resources or superior technology; America became great because of its idea’s and its principles that later spawned these things. The idea of a nation of free people bound by a Constitution and rule of law that guaranteed a set of rights that allowed its people to prosper and flourish. It is by this basic original system that our country was founded and one that Ron Paul wishes us to return and why he is so feared by the establishment today.

If you the reader wants to return to an open system of government that adheres to the letter of the law and understands that we the people are the ones they must answer to and you believe in the sanctity of life, freedom, and prosperity, then there is simply only one choice for President, Ron Paul.

[1] Faith, Certainty, and the Presidency of George W. Bush

By RON SUSKIND

NY Times Magazine

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html?ex=1255665600en=890a96189e162076ei=5090

Flip

Fringe

2007-05-08T12:32:00.000-05:00

“The reality on the ground”, this is a phrase you hear often in the press or from politicians that has been borrowed from military speak when trying to describe the difference between theory of policy and reality of what is happening as a result of it. The people in our government and our media still just don’t get it, despite the fact that all one has to do is hop online and see what America is screaming out for.
In a CBS article by David Miller that appeared on May 5th, it was mentioned that Mike Gravel is seen as a fringe or anti-establishment candidate and that Americans seem captivated by him. Of course Americans are captivated by him because he is the only person in recent memory to suggest actually empowering the American people in the political process on a daily basis and giving them some say in their lives. The press and the current offering of top-tier candidates as well as politicians in general will try and frame anyone who wants to change the current system in a poor light. They just don’t understand that mainstream America is now so far removed from their fanciful view of the country that we are seen as the “fringe”.
The average Middle American has to do more with less and less each day. We see our jobs being shipped overseas while hordes of illegal immigrants further burden our paltry services. We watch as politicians talk about being tough on terrorism and yet the Chinese army could march across the border and not be seen. Meanwhile granny is getting strip searched at the airport on her way to play black jack in Vegas. We are getting taxed into poverty which has risen for the 4th straight year while others who are making record profits can park their assets in the Cayman’s tax free while they lecture us. We watch each fall when we are told that gas prices are going up because of winter fuel oil demand, only to hear them say in the spring that gas prices are going up because of the summer driving season.

Our children can barely string together a sentence in English and few will be capable of calculating the interest on their mortgages. They take their chances of getting shot to pieces just getting on a school bus each day, only to get to school and be told they need to be medicated until they drool out of the corner of their mouth. No child left behind has resulted in an entire generation of children being left behind and left ignorant. Our youth are growing up in a world where we have become so politically correct and detached from personal responsibility, that in some instances we can not keep scores in games for fear of hurting their feelings when they lose. Their first experience with the concept of accountability will be when they start their first McJob and get yelled at for leaving the fries in too long.

Meanwhile we watch our government take us to war without end, a perpetual war in which our President and his band of hegemonic fundamentalist have taken great liberty with the liberties of the people. An unnecessary war that will continue to drain the life out of this nation and stain the desert crimson with the children of a people that no longer have a say. We see them, the politicians standing before us polished and smug, talking about a people they no longer even know or understand. So detached are they from the realities of most Americans lives that they still think the Middle Class own winter homes in San Diego.

When you in the press speak of fringe or anti-establishment, you should be referring to the American people. Yes, it is average Americans who are on your fringe, because we know what we want. We want our country back, we want a say and we want the truth. Too long have we sat and listened political system and its enabling media talk as though we don’t understand. We are sick and tired of the same ole same ole, from the department of redundancy department. So to all you media types and to all you cookie cutter plastic politicians, the reality of today is that it is you who are on the fringes of the real America that you no longer understand and have long since abandoned. Middle America is anti-establishment and we are angry, and we are speaking out.

Target Iran and the enablers

2007-02-02T11:18:00.001-06:00

Have you noticed of late that despite the condemnation of the war in Iraq that the press is so eager to promote the grave danger of Iran and show how dangerous it is to the region? The talking points seem familiar to you because they are in some cases verbatim of the reasons we used to invade Iraq. So while they tell you how screwed up the war in Iraq is, they are openly offering vast amounts of airtime laying the groundwork of justification for an attack upon Iran. Was Iran the target of our foreign policy in the Middle East all along and the war in Iraq just the pretext to a larger goal? It has since been publicly stated that the Bush administration had war plans for the entire Middle East before we ever stepped foot in Iraq. Since Iraq was weakened by years of sanctions and a previous war, it would be the first domino to fall as it was the easiest target.

Some five years ago I recall the case being laid for the invasion of Iraq and I was skeptical from the onset. Amid the catchy graphics on the Fox and other news channels as well as the non stop spew of jingoistic rhetoric I was and still am stunned at the ease in which this war began.

During the lead up to the war we listened and watched as the Bush administration escalated the language, the fear and the need for immediate action as Iraq went from a defeated nation to one of immense power and capability. One that could strike the shores of our very nation with nuclear weapons and everyone bought into it. People really did believe that Iraq had WMD’s and was poised to use them, as this administration claimed it had evidence as well as come icing claiming that Iraq had a central role in the attacks on September 11^th. The famous State of the Union speech in which Bush claimed they had evidence that Iraq was attempting to purchase uranium from Niger was hoist before the American people as a fact. Already we were printing off, “support the troops” bumper stickers.

After the invasion and our subsequent victory celebrated on the deck of an aircraft carrier, it became clear that Iraq didn’t have any WMD’s but we discovered that the WMD’s were moved to Syria, another evil Middle Eastern nation. About this time, Paul Wolfowitz, the then Deputy Director of Defense for the Bush administration admitted publicly that the reason the US used the WMD theme was because it was the only thing they could all agree on for a pretext to invasion.

The reasons for our invasion suddenly shifted almost overnight, as we were then told that we were there to free the Iraqi people from an evil dictator. This bought the administration some time to devise another reason as it didn’t take long to capture Saddam and new justification needed to be found. The answer of course was that America was there to bring democracy and freedom to the oppressed people of Iraq and so began the downward spiral into chaos we see today.

During the 2004 Presidential elections, John Kerry asked a very good question during a debate, one that Bush didn’t answer and one that no media outlet has ever followed up on. Kerry asked Bush on national television why we were building permanent military bases in Iraq if we were only there to install democracy and free the Iraqi people. Some of these bases are the largest ever constructed in the region and would seem to indicate that America has intentions of staying permanently in Iraq. Was this the intention all along, and if so one has to ask why the US would want so many large permanent bases?

When we see the rising rhetoric and reasoning for justifying an invasion of Iran, the reasons for having such large bases in the region become a little clearer. If Iran is attacked it is only logical that they will retaliate and a large presence of troops would be needed. Troops stationed in bases in centralized Iraq, buffered by distance and in easy striking range of aircraft.

Do people really believe that a three day air-strike on Iran will make the Iranian people suddenly change their minds, lay down their arms and say, yes America you are right, overthrow their government, install a democracy and welcome us as liberators? This familiar sounding reasoning is being thrust upon us in the press on a daily basis but anyone with any ability for rational thought knows this won’t be the case. The Bush administration knows this, their enablers know this, but will it be enough to stop it before it begins?

I believe Congress knows this and this is why there is one of the greatest power struggles in our nation’s history taking place at this very moment. We have a President who claims to be, “The decider” and a Vice President who retorts his critics with statements like, “Well I’m the Vice President and they are not” in open defiance of Congress and the will of the American people.

We know why the Bush administration is pushing for war in Iran, as all one has to do is read the Project for a New American Century website, as the step by step plans for control of the Middle East are laid out. This leaves one to wonder why the press is so eager to promote a conflict with Iran when the majority of government and the majority of the American people are opposed to it, as it defies logic. Do you not wonder why they condemn the failure of Iraq while shoving Iran down our throat?

If Congress and the American people do not get this ideological zealot and his enablers under control, we will be at war with Iran within two years. If we are to prevent this we must take action and demand the return of sanity to the executive.

Flip

Courage?

2007-01-28T15:18:00.000-06:00

In a rare moment in the Senate, republican senator Chuck Hagel, an outspoken maverick or some may say turn coat in the party issued a challenge to his fellow Senators. He asked all 100 members of the Senate to look into the camera and tell their constituents what it is they actually believe and pleaded them to take a stand on principle. In addition, he publicly admitted being wrong when the vote for the resolution to go to war with Iraq was given to Congress and the Senate, which is the kind of statement we rarely hear in politics.

This may just be grandstanding or the actual voice of a man with a conscience who truly wishes to take a stand that may or may not be political suicide. However, the bell has been rung and all that is left is to see just how many in our government will actually take a stand on the issue of Iraq and then actually follow through with it. Call it delusional optimism but I for one am anxious to see some positive results because I would love to know exactly how these people actually stand outside the polls.

I too would like to make a declaration of sorts and ask that my readers and my fellow Americans also take a stand and decide what course of action should be taken in Iraq. For far too long we have sat back and watched this administration slide directionless into madness while taking the good ship America down with them. If you truly care about whether our government is squandering the blood of our youth, the wealth of our country, or the reputation of this nation, then please do something about it.

We are no longer the benevolent empire that the world wishes to emulate as we have started down the path to the dark side. Our good name and standing in the world has eroded to the point that we can not convince nor bribe third world tin pot dictators to sign on to our agenda, let alone our long time allies. Our nation’s wealth has been squandered to the point that we now place the burden of our indulgence upon that of future generations who have no say in the debts they will receive from us. Our once proud heritage of leading the world in education and technology has been supplanted by the dogma of plutocracy and theocratic driven agenda’s that have us trying to catch up to nations like Brazil. One of the few things we actually do lead the world in is military spending and doctrine, and this is often the signs of an empire in decline.

We can change the direction we are headed and it is not too late to take a stand. Do not fall into the self fulfilling prophecy that you have no voice, because to believe so will only prove to end up true. We are a great nation of decent and well meaning people that have lost our way and come to believe that accountability is a shackle that binds us to embarrassment. Find the courage, take a stand, and most of all speak your mind without fear before fear of being wrong supplants our ability to take action.

Flip

Reprieve?

2007-01-23T13:36:00.000-06:00

After the last Presidential speech in which Bush admitted to mistakes being made in our policy and methods in Iraq, I noticed a deeply disturbing focus on his statements concerning Iran.

I watched as the our engagement in Iraq morphed from weapons of mass destruction, to containment of Islamo-fascism, to liberation, to bringing democracy and a plethora of other various rationale. Amid statements of, “mission accomplished”, and “they will welcome us as liberators”, I have heard every possible angle on this war from this administration but sadly, not one single statement they have issued has proven to be true thus far. Yet our congress failed to take action and the people were slow to rise up and take note. Republicans out of political tradition just simply would not do what is right if it meant bucking the party line. Democrats used their minority status as a means of escaping the use of moral character and simply capitulated to the whims of the party in power. Meanwhile, the people steeped in jingoistic fashion, soaked up their nightly dose of Fox and CNN before turning back to the golf channel to see if Michelle Wie was going to attend Stanford in the fall.

Half a world a way, the war was grinding on, American soldiers were being stretched to the limits of human endurance, and the civilians of Iraq were caught in the middle of a wholesale slaughter of their fellow countrymen, some who resisted the will of the United States and others who were just faceless victims caught in the middle of a failed American policy that had no plan, direction, or goal. As time has marched on, the position of the public has changed and even though most Americans still feel that we should fix what we broke, many are coming to the sad realization that all the kings horses and all the kings men, may not be able to put Iraq back together again. Still, change was in the air.

After the people spoke and offered “their mandate” during the last election cycle, this administration still insisted its plan will work, even though there is growing evidence that no plan ever existed in the first place. Then President Bush finally stood up and admitted to America what we all already knew; that mistakes have been made and in the most gross of manners. Yet still, Bush now insists that Iran must be dealt with and my head began to swim. Is it possible our President is truly this ignorant or is he under the influence of medications unknown or maybe even the ideology of a bunch of zealots who are bent on widening the Middle East conflict to regional or even global proportions in order to satisfy the desires of our one alleged tiny ally in the region?

Thankfully there was a breath of fresh air yesterday as Senator Warner, a long supporter of this administrations effort, jumped ship and publicly begged that our President reconsider his position. In fact, in the past few days we have witnessed a growing number of the Republican Party in open criticism of this administration, many of which are even offering to sign non-binding bi-partisan resolutions supporting a freeze on deeper involvement and some even advocating de-escalation.

This turn of events makes me ponder a few things such as, are republicans doing this in hopes of salvaging something in 2008 or possibly that they too are so deeply concerned by the madness of king George’s statements on engaging Iran, that they are doing this out of preventative measure? It may be simply that they are concerned with expenditures which are now about 8 billion a month or a running total of 1.2 TRILLION dollars thus far. Who knows, they may actually even be concerned with the growing loss of life that this civil war of attrition has tolled upon the American solider. Whatever the reason or reasons, at least they are doing what appears to be what they should have been doing all along, their jobs.

Will we engage Iran in a military fashion and widen the Middle East conflict or will Bush do like Nixon did with China, Reagan did with Russia, and Jimmy Carter did in the Middle East and engage them in a diplomatic manner? We can say that former Presidents who opened dialog with adversaries had varying degrees of success, but all one has to do is look at Iraq or Vietnam to see the results of failing to do so. Amid the latest cries of nuclear weapons programs, I must say that I don’t wish to hear about our intelligence anymore, I want to hear and see the evidence for a change. Keep speculation, conjecture and theory in the realm soothsayers, mediums, and bookies and show me something a little more concrete. Americans are not buying this bovine excrement anymore so spread it on a different field.

flip

The Twisted View of the American Press

2006-07-22T09:36:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday, July 12^th two Israeli soldiers were captured as they entered the town of Aitaa al-Chaab inside the Lebanese border. This may come as a shock to you since no one in America watching CNN, Fox or MSNBC has heard this, as it is being reported as a kidnapping and is being used as the pretext for all out war. The mere use of words and perspective are guiding American opinion in a direction that leads us further down the oubliette.

Scarce mention is made of two men captured by the IDF who were brothers, Osama and Mustafa Abu Muamar, sons of Hamas activist Ali Muamar. The raid in the village of Umm al-Nasser, near the Rafah refugee camp and only one kilometer from the Israeli border, Palestinian sources say. An eyewitness, Ali Muamar told Reuters news agency he awoke to see Israeli troops scaling down his wall. The Israeli Defense Forces claim they were members of Hamas, yet Hamas denies this adamantly.

The unintended consequence of spreading democracy in the Middle East is that groups like Hamas and Hezbollah have gained positions in government through open and free elections in an effort to legitimize their movements. This is a point I have stated in several articles, that if the Middle East were to become democratic that the state of Israel would be at war before sundown, and it seems this is the case.

There have been a growing number of articles and news pieces suggesting that our being tied to the hip of Israel not only has a profound effect on our foreign policy but in facts is one of the primary drivers of it. This week on CNN’s Paula Zahn show, they ran a piece stating exactly this yet Paula Zahn, CNN, and any other news organization always fail to mention the biggest reason for our lopsided support of Israel is the very news they present to the American people.

The language used is quite obvious anymore, referring to captured Israeli soldiers as “kidnapped” and referring to captured Hamas leaders as “suspected terrorist”. In a completely non scientific study, I made note of a single day of television news guest concerning these latest events and found a striking disproportion of approximately 12 to 1 Pro Israeli or Israeli governmental officials to Palestinian or Lebanese guest. The bias being displayed in the American press is so nauseating that it is beyond being merely repugnant.

In addition to the presses portrayal of this event, few ever ask why Israel has bombed the airport in Beirut blocking one of the only egresses from the nation for civilians and dignitaries alike. Why has Israel bombed a power station; to what purpose will this advance the Israeli cause for fighting these people they have labeled “suspected terrorist”? Why has the rest of the world denounced Israel’s actions as extremely overboard at the risk of being labeled anti-Semitic while the United States is fully in favor of Israel’s invasion in which hundreds of civilians lay dead already with only escalation in sight?

Israel has the right to defend herself, then again so do the Palestinians and the free sovereign nation of Lebanon and our support of single side can not advance the goal of peace in the region. Thomas Jefferson warned us oh so many years ago about our tangling ourselves in alliances with foreign nations, as their problems become our problems and now we have a great big problem.

America has invested very heavily in our efforts in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and all the money, all the blood, all the lives spent thus far are in vain as the actions of Israel have completely undermined anything we have done so far. We have to ask if our overwhelming support and attachment at the hip with Israel is in America’s best interest. We have to ask if Israel’s powerful lobby, now the second most powerful lobby in Washington, D.C. should have as much influence as it does in our government. Until we start asking these questions, we will witness further bloodshed, loss of life and enormous financial cost in a perpetual state of war that exist today.

Flip

On the edge

2006-07-13T00:04:00.000-05:00

Today I saw a nation go to war with another nation over two captured soldiers, and although this seems a noble cause, is it worth an entire nation going to war over, considering that civilians have been dying by the thousands in a ceaseless cycle of violence that began in 1948.

Ok, so the Middle East sucks, even grandma’s in Buckskin, Montana know this but we are soon reminded that North Korea is building more weapons, has been implicated in electronic sabotage along with China, and has a basically idealist nut job on an ego trip running the show. Oh I feel so much better now that I know that the place where all those cheap goods that fill Wal Mart shelves comes from may be engaging in cyber warfare with us and is using our own hard earned technology against us. Why not rape auntie Emm while they are at it.

Anyway, let’s not look to the east at all, nothing but trouble out that way. Oh hell, I nearly forgot that Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin responded to remarks made recently by our other cowboy while he was in Lithuania by saying, “Cheney’s remarks were an unsuccessful duck shot”.(Dick will never live that one down) Seems a little strange that Cheney would be so critical of Russia when we need their support and vote on the Iran nuclear issue at hand in the UN. Wonder why Dick just didn’t call Putin a pussy and challenge him to a 3 ring cage fight? Well ole Dick was never much of a diplomat since he always gets his way; give my regards to Ken Lay.

Well I guess there is Africa, then again maybe not. Well I guess as long as we don’t look at Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Burundi… oh never mind, just don’t look there. Let’s see, India; no had a bus bombing there today. Maybe Europe, yeah, Europe. I am sure the French, uh, ok the Germans, no, the Spanish… hummm I know there is someone over there that still likes and supports us. The UK, too bad Tony Blair is on his way out, we almost had Europe.

So here we all are on a Wednesday watching either war or tensions nearing war in nearly every single corner of the globe. Our only ally in the Middle East has been accused by, well, by every other nation on the planet of genocide, human rights violations and basic savagery. Good thing gasoline is still so cheap huh. At what point do people say, damn enough is enough, something isn’t working here. On September 12, 2001 every nation on the planet save three, was behind us and supported us for the brutal acts which took the lives of nearly 3000 of my fellow countrymen. Today one has to ask, what went wrong, where went wrong, and why went wrong as the world has become polarized and has begun to choose camps. Our camp has become thin on men, money and hope and yet still we allow ourselves to listen to men who see nothing wrong.

I implore those people who see a broken system to act and to make the effort to fix it. This is not about Republican or Democrat; it is about doing what is best for each other and making a change in a broken machine by exercising your right to vote. We have become fodder for men with calm speech and icy hearts, men who have become so far removed from the life of the average American that they may as well be from another world and treat us with even less regard. I don’t wish to see the day my nieces stand before me in fatigues telling me how fast they can clean their rifle, I would much rather see two kids turn to women worrying about making a mortgage payment in suburbia.

Your vote does count; do not ever think it doesn’t. If you are not in to politics and don’t know who to vote for then find the guy who is in office and vote against him because the bone heads who are in there now are not acting on your behalf, so show them how you feel.

Flip

Enough already

2006-05-16T14:06:00.000-05:00

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." --Declaration of Independence as originally written by Thomas Jefferson, 1776.

So just when and at what point do the people say that enough is enough? At what point do we determine that our government no longer represents the people in such a manner as outlined by the Declaration of Independence? How much does it take for people to declare that they can no longer accept a government that is steeped in corruption, paranoia, greed, and contempt?

Have we as Americans become so numb to the almost daily reports of impropriety, scandal, and corrupt nature of our government that we no longer have the will or the courage to say, enough? Are we merely conditioned to the point where we only see the world as the limits of our own sight and have we regressed to the point were conformity and political correctness are valued more than legitimate dissent and discourse?

I, as an American who happens to cherish the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution which followed, as well as the principles and ideals in which our founding fathers laid out, have had enough. I am through with supporting a massaged and intentional dual party government, where ones party affiliation and politics have become more important than the people they were supposed to represent. I am done with my naive belief that the current political players support or uphold those documents that were meant to guarantee and provide for the well being and growth of all citizens of this great nation.

I am willing to be chided, labeled, ridiculed and denounced for my convictions and for my dissent as for me, the future we create today is more important than the next fiscal quarter or any discomfort I may experience. I happen to care about the world our children and grandchildren will have to live in and the legacy of that which we leave them. Although I grow weary from choking on the bile that is regurgitated from those daily reports of corruption and scandal, as well as the pressure exerted upon me to conform to the mass think, but I still have the courage to live with the consequences of my beliefs.

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago and the next best time is now. Now is best time we have to act and begin a difficult journey down a dangerous road. Now is the time to shrug off apathy and indifference, to break from more of the same and demand something better than a sequel. The foundations that the Constitution and the Declaration provide are sound, but the contractor delivering our building blocks must be replaced with one that is less concerned with profit and is willing to live under the same roof.

All I ask is that those still left that are aware and have within them the courage to seek change, is to do so as our future depends on it.

Flip

The Democracy Crusade

2006-02-21T11:54:00.000-06:00

Religious fulfillment through political foreign policy?

Not long ago, Condoleeza Rice stated that the U.S. foreign policy for the past 50 years has been a mistake and that the U.S. needs to break from its support of even complacent dictatorships and pursue the instilment of Democracy throughout the world.

This is a noble concept for most people; I mean who in America would argue that Democracy is not a grand thing that has brought a level of enlightenment to our society that much of the world only aspires to? It is this democratic model which works so well for us that is being used to justify much of America’s foreign policy today but is this from genuine want to improve the lives of other people in the world or justification of a modern crusade wrapped in a pill that most Americans can swallow?

Lately we have been subjected to constant repetition of “spreading democracy” much like we heard the term “weapons of mass destruction” during the lead up to the invasion of Iraq. This notion of spreading our democracy is reaching an almost rapturous pitch that often closer resembles a sermon from a Baptist Minister than the formulated policy of a powerful nation. One has to wonder, why the sudden shift in view of our foreign policy that has kept its general outline for five decades and was it the right thing to do?

In the past the United States has often supported non democratic societies and even tin pot dictators because the truth of the matter is that it is economically and strategically effective way to manage our interest abroad. When you are supporting a dictator or like government, the amount of people and funds needed to sway interest in that nation are quite manageable. However should you support a democracy in a nation where the general population views you with vile contempt, the cost and effort to maintain influence over that nation rises to huge proportions if you can manage to have any influence at all.

In the case of the Middle East, you might think it a grand idea to instill democracy; however the consequences of such actions are just now coming to light. Haamas has recently won a stunning victory in open and free democratic elections, yet the United States and Israel are reeling over the implications of this. What if all of Israel’s neighbors were to become democracies where the vast majority of the people are willing to strap a bomb on their bodies and claim revenge? There very well may be war by sundown.

Trying to bring democracy to much of the Middle East is more than likely bring to power radical Islamic clerics who have great contempt for the west and towards the United States and Israel in particular. It has been said that if Saudi Arabia were to hold free open democratic elections that Osama Bin Laden would end up a write in candidate that would win in a landslide. Is this what we are trying to accomplish in the Middle East?

What has become almost laughable of late is the denouncement of Hugo Chavez the populist and leftist President of Venezuela. Chavez has been elected not once, not twice but three times in open elections, as well as the people coming to his aid when the military attempted a coup. It was the people of Venezuela that pulled Chavez butt out of the fire yet Condoleeza Rice has the audacity to say that the United States needs to encourage democracy in Venezuela, is this woman serious or is she just jealous at the level of support Chavez musters from his ludicrous and often humorous remarks towards this administration?

The case of Haamas, is nearly as laughable since Israel has rejected many of the grievances of the Palestinian people based upon their lack of effective and legitimate democratic government, yet now that they have elected a government through this process, we find that Israel and the United States really meant was “their approved democracy”. Does the saying “be careful for what you ask for you just might get it”, ring a bell?

China on the other hand is far from democracy and although it is moving forward it is moving closer to the old Soviet style of Socialism than anything. This however does not seem to bother the Bush administration who were more than happy to stand in front of the world an put their arm around Hu Jintao and denounce the democratic efforts of Taiwan.

Are we now only supporting democracy in the Middle East, and then only supporting democracy to selected states, and then are we only accepting democratically elected governments that have our seal of approval? When we look at the broader implementation of this democratization policy it smacks more of a holy war wrapped in the guise of a political package than anything else. Then again, maybe this is the plan all along?

Flip

Iran, I ran so far away.

2006-01-23T17:11:00.000-06:00

Iran has been pretty much all the news lately concerning our foreign interest. I am sure by now that everyone that is not in a Soma and Wild Turkey induced coma has heard at least a few of the arguments.

What is generally discussed is that Iran is seeking to put online a nuclear power plant and join that tight little club of other nuclear nations. What is also debated is what else Iran may try to produce with a nuclear capability, namely weapons. Depending on whom you ask concerning Iran’s potential nuclear capability you will receive a wide range of answers. For instance, some of our own intelligence analyst state that Iran is 10 years away from developing a nuclear weapon and a few more years from developing a nuclear device and a means to deploy it. Ask Dick Cheney or any Israeli and you will find that Iran is nearing completion of an entire arsenal of nuclear capable ICBM’s.

While everyone has been focusing on the “potential” nuclear threat that Iran may pose in the future, little is mentioned of the real weapon that Iran is about to deploy. This weapon in stark contrast is ready to roll and has the potential for much more devastation than any military weapons program. This weapon is cold hard cash; yes that’s right, money!

With nearly a scant mention in the press, Iran is on the verge of opening up its own oil exchange. (Bourse) Why is this threat to the United States is rarely mentioned is for the reason that it shows the current weakness of our finances and practices. Iran plans on selling their oil for Euro’s instead of dollars and this is not a good thing if you are the United States.

As it stands right now, every drop of oil bought and sold on the planet is sold in US dollars, thus giving us the advantage, because other nations have to have huge stock piles of US dollars in order to buy their petroleum. However if places like Europe could buy their oil in Euro’s, they would end up with more oil for the buck as would those nations selling oil in Euro’s. The Euro is not burdened with huge national debts on the scale of the US dollar and right now is a very attractive currency for most other foreign nations.

The last time that someone tried to set up an oil exchange (Bourse) was just before the invasion of Iraq, when Saddam Hussein made the attempt. In the current context of what is taking place it is almost deja’vu 2002 all over again.

Iran has already moved a great deal of their assets out of European banks and moved them into Asia and is working hard to strengthen its ties with China, Russia, and India as we speak. Sen. Trent Lott recently told CNN that, "We cannot be intimidated by economic threats from their side," in the wake of the largest downturn in the stock market in three years over Iran’s recent moves which sent the price of oil climbing higher.

"India must not allow itself to be dragooned into joining the Washington-led nuclear lynch mob against Iran," The Hindu, one of India's most influential newspapers, cautioned Thursday. "Aside from the lack of any legal basis for threatening Iran with sanctions, India should consider what the U.S. pressure on Tehran will do to international oil prices as well as to the overall security scenario in West Asia."

So as you can see, there is a great deal more at stake than just the US verses Iran, as there are many other interest that are directly affected by our decisions over the course of these next few months. If the past is any indication of what to expect, I suggest you start storing a little extra gas in the garage. There is growing concern that this latest escalation which involves nearly the entire globe will not turn out well for us, as the line in the sand is being drawn and we all await the first man to flinch.

Flip

By my definition, you are just wonderful

2006-01-17T16:28:00.000-06:00

Think they will notice?

Not a chance.

How the process of definition takes place is fairly obvious, or at least it was at one time. Through out our history we assigned descriptions and meanings to objects and concepts and created language. As time has gone by, our descriptions for many things have changed because various reasons such as culture mixing or newly discovered objects and concepts. However in the past few years, the US government has decided to redefine the entire English language.

They started out even before they took office under a brand new shiny thing called “Compassionate Conservatism”. A calm, soothing and inviting sounding term, that calls out to those middle of the road folks like a sirens song. People had enough hanky panky in the White House for a while and decided they would try out this salt of the earth group of Republicans.

Little did many people realize that these were not your usual conservatives, these were a group of “new conservatives” that were fittingly labeled neoconservatives. Odd that no one bothered to ask themselves what a “new conservative” actually was. Since it was new, then it must have been something different before, or even nothing at all and just created out of thin air.

Something seemed a little off from the norm, but on September 11^th, things changed. Almost immediately from that day forward the new conservatives began to show why they were new, and things started to get a little fuzzy. Suddenly there were calls for the government to expand and create whole new departments of government, new agencies and new spending practices. Indeed these new conservatives were something never seen before.

At the time this new group was redefining what a conservative was by proceeding in a most liberal and progressive way in the wake of the attacks on our country, most Americans didn’t pay much attention because we were in fear for our lives. We didn’t notice that our government had transformed while we were busy catching our breath.

Since then we have seen a few other new definitions change and spring forth from the English professors in the White House. In the wake of Abu Gharib we saw a brand new word enter the English language and that word was “Enemy Combatant”. Now an enemy combatant wasn’t really a soldier, wasn’t a civilian, it was something we labeled anyone we perceived as a threat.

Being a new term, enemy combatant wasn’t really defined before so there was no precedence and people weren’t sure what it really meant. To this day they are still trying to define what it actually means.

Due to this, there are people being detained in prisons who have no definition as to what they are, so the legal system awaits for a definition so it knows what to do with these people. Some of these people are probably guilty and some are not, but we will never know because there is no proper legal system in place while we wait for the English professors to actually decide.

We have even recently redefined the term “Bankrupt”, which should come as no surprise since we decided to engage in “No new nation building”, and invade two other nations with an eye on a third. We can’t very well have people with no debt running around, while there are newAmerican troops on the ground, that would be very un-newAmerican. The people are going to pay, one way or another and to be biblical about it, there is no escape for your number, and you are now part of the system.

It is the future I most worry about, because no matter what we are expected to pay our debts and so binding us to our government, and its ability to manage finances. If our government fails because they can’t keep their books in order, the only ones that have to pay for the mistakes are you and I which have little or no control over how it is managed. Talk about new banking practices, and I thought indentured servitude went out with Beethoven.

Strong economy is yet another term that has come to be redefined. Strong economy is most puzzling to people because we have to wonder, if this is a strong economy, then what is a bad one? You can repeat that new term strong economy over and over, and you can look at the charts in the paper and see signs of good things, but oddly enough, you can’t seem to live in this new economy unless you are either a Washington lobbyist, a stock holder in the Carlyle Group, or creative writer for the White House.

Here lately we are redefining what our own constitution really means, which is fine when it is discussed in open forum and debated over with great ponderance. However when you act in contrary to current accepted laws and practices, and then try to redefine what those laws and practices are after the fact, I think most people have a problem with this for obvious reasons.

Then one of the most horrific new definitions I have come across is that of nuclear bombs. There has been a great ad campaign to the public that as long as nuclear bombs are smaller than those used in WWII, then its kosher because not only are these tiny little itty bitty nukes, they also explode underground. So since they reduce collateral damage they could conceivably be used, thus making them a deterrent against places like Iran or North Korea. Are you following this insanely twisted logic?

So there you have it, compassionate conservative means militant liberal. It’s a good economy for the investors of off shored companies. Enemy combatant means, well, anyone they see fit to label since it hasn’t been defined yet. Bankrupt means nothing since it don’t really exist anymore. Nuclear weapons, tactical nukes, big bombs, tomorrow, dirty firecrackers.

No need to go to war to change the world. No need to stimulate the economy. No need to concern yourself with personal rights or thoughts of nuclear destruction all that is needed now is to merely redefine the words you use to describe objects and concepts. Who would have thought that a small group of English professors could so change the world?

Flip

Can you hear me now?

2006-01-05T15:15:00.000-06:00

Says it all huh?

Are we so apathetic as to not even care what is taking place in government at the moment or are we simply just too damn lazy to do anything about it?

I am of course talking about yet another scandal to hit the beltway, and this one exposes the system of greed and corruption that we call the lobby system. Jack Abramoff as most Americans now know is the uber lobbyist who pleaded guilty to several felony charges in a plea agreement in exchange for a lighter sentence and the terms that he cooperate with prosecutors in an expanding investigation that so far involves at least 20 other members of government.

What is even more sad is that Jack is likely to end up as this generations Ollie North, who will fall upon his sword, take a few with him, get pardoned, and end up on the lecture circuit making 100k an hour talking to kids at Vasser college.... puke

It seems that Americans are now so used to near daily announcements of scandal, corruption, and total lack of morals and ethics from out government that we have become numb and almost expectant of continual misuse of power. Unless people get off their lazy asses and rattle a few cages, this will simply continue as business as usual. Most career government type’s count on Americans lack of participation and attention to their actions after an election is over, as this nation suffers from the largest case of mass attention deficit disorder to ever hit the planet.

We have an administration in office that has the benefit of holding a party majority in both the House and the Senate, giving them pretty much a free ticket to do as they please, and they have used it like a drunken sailor in a whorehouse with a fist full of fifties.

Scandal after scandal after scandal, yet complacency. Infringement and manipulation of the very Constitution that gives our basic laws and structure to our society, yet complacency. Exposed and corrupt system of lobbying that has led to widespread abuse, cronyism, and disregard for the people, yet we yawn, pull back then handle on our lazyboy chair and watch the grieving families of lost miners.

What is needed for people to take action and demand transparency and higher ethical standards in government? Do we have mention that a truck load of puppies were exterminated due to the actions of Abramoff? Do we have to say that Brittney Spears was responsible for the evidence brought before Congress to authorize war? Would it make you more interested if I told you that Bush sits in the Oval Office in a diaper with a beer sitting on his bible, a pile of cocaine three feet high, and a bb gun he uses to shoot White House staffers who don’t agree with him?

I will continue to speak out to others, and write my congressman and representatives because now that personal privacy isn’t worth a shit anymore, I know they are listening, because our government fears its own people more than they fear those who wish to do us harm.

Flip

Music review: Rush’s 30th anniversary tour

2005-11-27T19:47:00.000-06:00

Rush’s 30^th anniversary tour

The sound that emanates from this three man Canadian band is one that has captured the imagination and the hearts of fans around the world for 30 years and has again delivered in a great big way.

From the complex rhythms of Geddy’s bass, to the wild licks of Alex’s guitar, to the seemingly impossible beats of Neil’s drums, this anniversary edition DVD set from Rounder Records is simply a must have for both the casual music lover and the devout Rush fan. This compilation of music and interviews spans the bands history from their humble beginnings with a microphone on a lamp stand to sold out stadiums across the globe.

This set includes band interviews spanning from 1979 to current, musical excerpts from the past 30 years, the full 30^th anniversary concert in Germany, a photo book, and signature guitar picks from Geddy and Alex. All this packaged in a quality set that would honor any bookshelf but deserves first place in the DVD player.

From the first interview in 1979 with Geddy Lee, one gets a sense of a band trying to find its own style and beat in a sea of cookie cutter rock bands that permeated that era. A group that from day one was a little unlike any other band of its day, a band that would go on to create an entire niche and devout fan base that others would attempt to merely mimic.

Always with a hint of mysticism and social statement, Rush’s music has grown, changed, and matured over the years and this DVD set captures this growth and change leaving one with a renewed sense of respect of what Rush has accomplished throughout its history. Unlike many bands that have succumbed to the old adage of “Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll” and band members growing weary of their group, Rush has managed to not only to stay together but thrive in a way that gives one the sense that the trio are really but a single entity, both on and off the stage.

To music fans I say, this is a must have work of one of the greatest rock and roll bands of our era as no music collection should be without, period!

To Alex, Geddy, and Neil, thanks for all the years of traveling down your own path and bringing to the world such wonderful music that is sure to resonate for years to come. What a great ride it has been so far!

Flip

Occupation of apathy

2005-11-18T13:44:00.000-06:00

As we enter into the 60^th month of the occupation there are grumblings of lucidity beginning to emerge from the over medicated, asleep at the wheel population known as greater America. Question now is whether or not we awake, put our shoes on and see why the dogs are barking outside, or whether we roll back over and go back to sleep.

I recently performed an experiment of sorts, one that is hardly scientific or definitive in any way, but an experiment on a very general level. I spent a few days trolling various online BBS sites, blogs, and chat rooms to get the view from a very general cross section of our population. What I found was more striking than I would have guessed.

Bush and his administration are about as popular as Lyme disease at the moment, but I suspect by the end of the month that their popularity will fall to about the level of Herpes. Some of you are saying to yourself that this is irrelevant, as I suspect many in the Bush administration are doing at the moment; consider that the current theme from most Bush supporters is along the lines of “At least he doesn’t have the worse ratings in history”, which is a far cry from only two years ago.

What is even more striking is that most people have avoided gravitating to the Democratic side of the isle. One would think that with the Republican Party in near chaos that the Democrats would be thrusting their stickman out there selling his snake oil, but for the most part there is little more than deafening silence.

The incoherent babbling that is normally heard when the issue of politics comes up is being replaced by honest to goodness bitching and complaining. We are still a long way from throwing tea in the harbor and pouring into the streets against the latest tyrants in office but the sentiment is growing. What makes this interesting is that this chorus of dissent is not emanating from a single political position but from the whole spectrum of America.

Will this recent rise in temper of the American people effect any real change in government, I doubt it. The division between those who govern and those who are governed has become great and the short term looks pretty bleak. I only hope that those in office will take notice that Americans don’t want Christians Mullah’s thumping their brand of extremism any more than they want some coastal Liberal egg head pushing the manifesto of egalitarianism while singing show tunes on top their battery powered Escalade.

Save your charts telling me how good the economy is, save your speeches about how much safer we are now that Saddam is in jail and show me real tangible evidence of policy. So while Cheney is spreading freedom and Democracy through torture and thumb screws and Hillary is on her knees in Israel, the rest of America is busy shopping at Wal-Mart for garden hose so they can siphon the gas out of their neighbor’s car, remember mid term elections are just around the corner. So get off your duff and end the apathy that has led to the occupation of America.

Flip

Focus focus focus

2005-11-03T14:49:00.000-06:00

Focus man focus!

Being a bit of a pessimistic centrist, I see this whole Libby, Plame, Cheney, CIA, blah blah blah scandal getting buried soon. Why, because of Supreme Court nominee Alito.

All the hubbub lately about Democrats using filibuster to try and block the nomination of Alito is very well likely to detract from the pressure that needs to be exerted on the current administration over its actions to take America to war with Iraq.

I have been doing some research on Mr. Alito and to be frank, I don’t see this man as the diabolical ideologist that many seem to. Personally I would prefer a more conservative type mindset sitting on the bench so long as they remain judges instead of preachers.

Considering how ineffectual the Democratic leadership has been over the past three years this latest move to call article 21 was pretty smooth and about the only thing they could do in order to keep this issue in the forefront. However the resonance that this has at the moment won’t last as many of the anti-war folks remember the Democratic leadership tucking tail and headed out of town when they marched on the Capital.

While trying to be as effective as they can while they have everyone’s attention, they will likely try to address too many issues under the same umbrella instead of staying focused on the Plame scandal that has wounded White House. In doing so they are more than likely to lose the little bit of effectiveness they have left.

A suggestion to give to the Democratic leadership would be to let the Alito nomination go and stay focused on the issue of the evidence to take the United States to war with Iraq. Alito is all but in anyway, so put forth the effort into the greater need. If it is found that the Bush administration deliberately falsify the evidence used to take us to war then the grave injustice that has been done to the American people and our reputation as a nation must dealt with first and in the more harsh of manners.

Remember, America suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder and has all but forgotten about the Downing Street Memo’s. Don’t make the same mistake again and fail to put out a full court press in order to drive home the importance of the Fitzgerald investigation. Focus man focus.

Flip

Screw the poor

2005-11-01T08:34:00.000-06:00

Screw the poor!

This past week in the in the Senate while everyone was fixated on the indictment of Libby, a vote took place which reminded me of a scene from a Mel Brook movie. That movie of course was History of the World Part I, and the scene was during the Roman era and the Senate was in session deciding what to do with revenues. The choice was, “shall we continue to build palace after palace for the rich, or give to the needy and the poor”, where by then the Senate stood up in unison and said in a most vulgar manner “F*ck the poor!”

Well I doubt few Senators stood up and said exactly that, but one could certainly envision doing it. In a 51 to 49 vote the Senate decided against raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.25 for the working stiffs.

Now I am not one of those who people who think that raising the minimum wage is going to be the answer to a growing financial crisis but there has not been an increase the minimum wage since 1997. Meanwhile during that same period of time the Senate had no problem giving themselves several pay raises that amounted to about 28,000 dollars a year.

For the fifth straight year the poverty level in America has risen and it looks like this year, the blue collar folks will just have to suck it up again. To those 37 million Americans who are below the poverty level, I guess look on the bright side, the price of gas dropped .04 cents this past week; Exxon must be a little guilty.

Considering what Senators do, their salary of $162,100 dollars and all those wonderful perks that ride along with it, are not really too outrageous. On the other side of that coin, not raising the basic minimum wage so that it at least keeps up with the cost of living in over eight years is outrageous.

Just keep that in mind people as the mid term elections roll around.

Flip

Book Review: Degunking Windows, Second Edition

2005-11-01T08:31:00.000-06:00

Published on November 01, 2005
By Flip

Degunking Windows, Second Edition is a great companion book for those computer users who are beginners or are entering the intermediate level. This book is a very quick and easy read, providing the details of how to maintain a computer that is free from the daily gunk that accumulates with use.

It discusses how to keep your files organized for ease of use, how to clean up the clutter associated with internet surfing, and the often unknown clutter from installing and deleting programs in Windows that build up over time. In addition to how to just keep your Windows computer clean and free from gunk, it discusses the need for firewalls, antivirus, and anti-spyware that have become the modern-day scourge of web surfing. In combination, the safe practices of better securing your computer system and the benefit of keeping it free of gunk help speed up your system and offer a greatly reduced risk of infection from spyware, viruses, Trojans, hackers and script kiddies.

However, Degunking Windows attempted to discuss some things such as editing the Windows registry in a manner that was for the beginner, yet failed to go into any detail on the structure of registry keys or their function. Instead, it offered a cursory discussion into one of the most complex aspects of the Windows operating system, then suggested the use of third party software as a means of cleaning it. For the beginner or slightly advanced user, I personally don’t suggest even mentioning the editing of the registry due to the consequences that a simple mistake can have.

This book also suggests the use of third party software to aid in cleaning and degunking Windows, which for many beginners is the best route to go. However some of the software they mention are memory resident programs that will only add to the clutter of the Windows, resulting in a counter-productive outcome.

I consider myself a Windows power user, so from this perspective this book fell well short of what I expected. The book failed to detail that third party software can be of great benefit as well as a great hindrance when addressing portions of the Windows operating systems that were not addressed by Windows themselves.

However, for the beginner or slightly advanced user, this book is very well written and details many great suggestions that I not only endorse but that I myself use on a daily basis. So if you are a user that is at a level who is comfortable with changing Windows default settings and wants to learn how to keep it clean and healthy, then this book will not disappoint you.

Plame, Niger documents, and the Office of Special Plans

2005-10-28T16:29:00.000-05:00

"Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost." -Arthur Schopenhauer

Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff I. Lewis Libby has now been indicted on five counts for perjury, obstruction of justice and making false statements to the grand jury, by the federal grand jury investigating the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame.

It has been reported that a last minute deal has given Karl Rove a reprieve for the time being concerning this investigation. The continued investigation into Karl Rove’s involvement hangs over the White House casting a deepening shadow over the rest of this administrations term.

Sources close to the investigation say the probe will continue, and are likely to expand to include other elements, including forged documents that purported to show Iraq had sought uranium from Niger. As this investigation of key White House officials is taking place, little is mentioned that Cheney's National Security Adviser John Hannah and his Middle East advisor David Wurmser, are cooperating in Fitzgerald's probe. Both David Wurmser and John Hannah are now working for UN ambassador John Bolton and are said to have played a role in disseminating Plame Wilson's name to the press.

Concerning the origins of the forged Niger documents, Patrick Fitzgerald’s office has recently received information and documents relating to this case from the Italian government. Yet there has been almost no investigation into some of the key players such as Rocco Martino, the Italian “security consultant” who attempted to sell the forged documents to a reporter in Rome in late 2002.

Rocco Martino has yet to be interviewed by the FBI because they claim that the Italian government has not allowed them to interview him, yet Mr. Martino has traveled to the United States twice in 2004 and still the FBI has not attempted to interview him.

One thing that is more baffling than FBI’s failure to investigate what should be a key person in this case, is that few people in the media are tying together the Plame investigation with the forged Niger documents or the broader scope of how this all ties together with the Downing Street Memo’s and a little known place called the OSP or Office Special Plans.

The Downing Street Memo’s as we all know are the minutes from a meeting that show how the Bush administration used certain pieces of information to back up the reasons for going to war with Iraq. Part of this evidence is the forged Niger documents that our own intelligence agency’s deemed unreliable and likely to be false.

It was the Office of Special Plans that was responsible for getting this information used, and in fact Dick Cheney used the basis of these forged documents on three occasions as evidence of Iraq seeking nuclear material for weapons. It was Dick Cheney’s staff at the OSP that overruled the CIA and State officials that the famous 16 words remained in the State of the Union address. As Bush later blamed the CIA for giving him “bad intelligence”, it was in fact the Office of Special Plans that was responsible for the intelligence.

As Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski who at the time worked in the Office of Special Plans at the time stated that they made up the facts and then report them as "intelligence.", seems to be validated. She went on to state that if one wanted to know why the State of the Union address kept the famous 16 words or why the post Iraq invasion has been one of confusion and of false steps one need look no further than the process inside the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

She was referring to Rumsfeld’s aide, Douglas Feith, deliberately altered the methods of intelligence communication that the Pentagon routinely sent to State and CIA. She also stated the between Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, information and critical issues were decided upon outside the normal bureaucracy, this of course reinforces the Downing Street Memo’s minutes.

The first indictment of Lewis Libby is a mere drop in the bucket to what is growing into a much broader look into a Presidential administration that has put itself above the principles and laws of this nation. This issue of the Plame leak is only one aspect of a government that manipulated information in order to get Congress to vote on the authority to go to war. The time for accountability for this administration is at hand, the music has stopped, and there are no chairs left. Time to tell the soldiers in Iraq, the families of the fallen, and the American people the truth.

Flip

Declaration of Dependence and the fall of the American empire

2005-10-26T20:50:00.000-05:00

Let us never forget that, "Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." -George Santayana

228 years ago a great experiment was undertaken that has since shaped the world in a way never thought possible by mankind. A small group of colonists decided to break away from their king and empire and declare themselves an independent nation and free from the tyranny and unjust treatment of that empire. What started out from most humble beginnings would eventually encompass the globe with its power and influence. Like all empires before it, it too will one day cease to remain at the height of its glory and will eventually succumb to its excesses and egocentric view.

When looking at past empires one must of course look to the ancient past and see that Rome has some striking parallels to our own current empire. The Roman Republic began as what historians call a “Hegemonic Empire”. This early beginning was one where Rome used its military legions to control small areas of land directly. The surrounding regions became client states. The client state system worked well because in exchange for trade and tribute to the empire, the client states received the protection of Rome and its military legions and were for the most part left to govern themselves with little more than guidelines.

As Rome entered into its zenith, it surprisingly kept its legion strength fixed at 28 legions for the sake of economics It often ignored advice from some of its more brilliant intellectuals and former legion commanders, such as Gaius Cornelius Tacitus. The brilliance of Tacitus, regarding the use of the military and the need to keep it flexible and adaptable in accordance with the growth of the empire was later largely ignored. In addition to changes in its military structure, the leadership in Rome was struck with constant infighting, corruption, and paranoia that led to a succession of leaders who, along with their citizenry, began to hoard money leading to severe deficits and lack of economic circulation.

By the time of Antoninus Pius, who ruled from 138 to 161 AD, the Roman bureaucracy was all-encompassing. Naturally, too, as benevolent paternalism and bureaucracy took over, personal freedom tended to disappear. All the while, the middle class was squeezed out of existence by a constant rise in taxation in order to bear the burdens of civil projects, and the poor were made into serfs both leading to dissent among the populace.

In addition to the Roman empire, when we look to the Spanish colonial empire of the 16th and 17th centuries, as Spain grew increasingly dependent upon external supplies of wealth from its colonies. This dependence on external wealth led to a decrease in domestic production and technology, that when added to its increasing levels of consumption, eventually resulted in the collapse of the Spanish empire.

Then with the Soviet empire of the late 20th century, an exceedingly disproportionate amount of the economy was placed into military expenditures that led to diminishing social condition, a spiraling debt, and a reliance on militarism. In addition to its inflexible domestic policy which placed greater hardship on the people; an expansionist foreign policy and war with smaller states outside its borders led to further social and economic decline. The failure of the Soviets to predict the resistance of bloc states to assimilation is something that should be noted in the current examples with the wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

Like empires of the past, the United States is indeed an empire in both scale and influence. Unlike any other empires before it, however, the United States is one that spans the globe and even reaches out into space. The reasons that our nation has risen to such power and influence in such a short time scale are many and varied, but a few need to be noted in particular, as they are some of the key elements of our nation that have been the most changed.

The system of government in the United States was born out of great deliberation and effort, borrowing ideas and concepts from several previous systems of governing and government that eventually culminated into what we see today. A framework that denotes the citizenry as the primary focus is one that is both bold in concept and noble in principle. We enjoy a system of economy that was meant to benefit and encourage forward thinking, hard work, and freedom from most governmental control. We were the first nation that by our very design has encouraged not only a melting pot of people, but a mix of ideas that would eventually result in the world’s greatest system in nearly every aspect of how a civilization is measured.

Unlike the empires of Rome and the former Soviet Union, the United States does not rely upon satellite states for the purpose of buffering from invasion or as its primary means of economic well being. However the United States does most certainly have a de facto system of host states. It should be noted that, according to a publication from the Department of Defense [i], the United States currently has a military presence in 192 nations and troops stationed in 135 of them. This means the United States has a military presence in just over 70% of the world’s nations, making the United States far more influential and widespread than any empire before it.

The 2006 United States military budget is slated at 441.6 billion dollars which is as much as the next 17 largest nations combined. This means that the United States has spent nearly as much money as the entire rest of the world on military expenditures and six times as much as Russia, which is the world’s second largest military budget. This does not include the additional “supplemental” monies already requested by President Bush for Iraq and Afghanistan to the tune of 81 billion dollars. Nor does it include money in the budget devoted to military spending for Defense/Civil programs ($44.5 billion);, Homeland Security ($33.3 billion);, and Veterans Affairs ($68.3 billion), all pushing the total closer to 668.7 billion dollars. In addition when we add in the fact that a good deal of this money is borrowed and comes with interest, which of course is rarely considered publicly in budget requests, this adds approximately 130 billion to the bill, making a round about figure of 799 billion dollars. In essence the United States is realistically spending about 30% of its total government funding on the military, which is a little higher and more realistic than the published 17% in the budget report.[ii]

Despite these huge amounts of monies being spent on the military, we are bogged down in another series of guerilla style wars against people who by most western standards are still just a notch above third world status, which makes one take serious note of the prudence of our endeavors. It would appear for the time being the world will be engaged in a series of small scale regional bouts of warfare instead of the global scale of warfare such as WWII and that of the Cold War. This also makes one think about the large sums of money that are spent on the maintenance of our nuclear arsenal that is intended to deter other nations against warring with the United States, but which has little effect in our current global climate.

As the face of global warfare changes it seems that for once the United States is lagging behind, not because we have the world's largest military but in spite of it. The future of global warfare is not one of bullets but one of dollars. This is one commodity we are starting to fall behind in as we are financially leveraged all the way up to our grandchildren. As the economies of the European Union, Russia and especially of China are surging forward with greater and greater growth, the United States is running up trade and budget deficits that offset a greater portion of our own growth. Using history as a guide, it becomes very clear that the United States, like many empires before it, has turned to militarism as a means to cling to its current hegemony.

Aside from the focus on the military aspects of our society today, we also should look at the parallels between our economic views and practices and those of former empires. Of particular interest here we should look at our level of consumption as opposed to our level of production and specifically how it has changed since Word War II. In the years following the Second World War, the United States produced approximately 53% of the manufactured goods purchased worldwide, which is a stark contrast to today where we only produce about 9.6%, second behind Germany. [iii]

As America has switched from a manufacturing economy to a service based economy, the numbers speak for themselves. Manufacturing jobs have decreased from 34% in 1950 to just 13% currently, in contrast, service based jobs have increased from 59% to 82% during the same time period.[iv] Industries hardest hit by this change in our economic base have been the textile and steel manufacturing sectors which have been traditional staples of the US economy. Boeing has been surpassed by Airbus as the worlds leading manufacture of aircraft. Ford and Chevy stocks have been relegated to junk status as Toyota now leads the world in the manufacture of automobiles. The United States is once again poised to become a net importer of food, something that has not been the case for over 50 years.

Our consumption in relation to the rest of the world is well documented. The United States, with less than 5 % of the global population, uses about a quarter of the world’s fossil fuel resources—burning up nearly 25 % of the coal, 26 % of the oil, and 27 % of the world’s natural gas. As of 2003, the U.S. had more private cars than licensed drivers, and gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles were among the best-selling vehicles. New houses in the U.S. were 38 % bigger in 2002 than in 1975, despite having fewer people per household on average.[v] According to an article in Scientific American, if the rest of the world were to rise to the same level of consumption as that of the United States it would require the resources of four more planet Earths.

During this decline in the US manufacturing base, and our subsequent change to a service based economy, countries such as China, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia have all taken greater shares of the general manufacturing sector. Meanwhile the European Union, (mainly Germany and France) and Russia have increased their share of manufactured durable goods and technology products, including such things as steel and textiles. The decrease in US manufacturing and the continued rise in consumption are leading America in an ominous direction.

US budget and trade deficits are often scoffed at as meaningless items because the United States economy is so massive that it can absorb massive debts and expenditures. This is true to some degree, but it is a fatalistic view as debt burden has been one of the leading causes of failure in nearly every previous empire before us. As private and public debt expansion keep increasing faster than growth levels, it only becomes a matter of when, not if, the system will no longer be able to sustain itself. The debt further burdens our growth and ability to compete in a tightening global market place and the effects of this are being felt by most middle and lower class Americans as we speak.

The standard of living in the United States has declined as a direct result of our continued globalization efforts through our economic and foreign policies, and that of the world banking system. As a growing number of other nations begin to compete for of resources, materials, and technology, their standards of living have risen, and as a direct result ours has declined as there are only a finite amount of resources available globally. To use a metaphor, “Water seeks its own level”, and ours is currently pouring into Asia.

The social condition of the United States at current has begun to resemble that of previous empires in the respect that the views of those who govern and those who are governed are growing further apart. Over the last several administrations, our government has been plagued with a growing number of scandals, investigations into impropriety and misuse of power, and general lack of morals and ethics. At the same time, and like previous empires, the middle and lower classes are being required to bear a greater portion of the financial burden of the nation. In addition, the very fundamental rights guaranteed to its citizenry are slowly diminishing.

The current administration in office has been one of the nation’s most prolific violators of the very principles of what the nation was founded upon. We now have a government in place that by its own admission will keep to its course of actions regardless of the will of its people. A great number of people in these United States now have a sense of hopelessness that their voice no longer matters and that their vote no longer counts. This is reflected in the numbers of voters who turn up to cast their ballot, which is one of the lowest among western nations. As the voices of the people call out for changes in our nation’s direction, they are falling on deaf ears; and in a slow but growing manner the people are becoming more angry as theirs voices are ignored.

In comparison to nearly all previous empires, the United States has fallen into a nearly identical pattern of diminished self-reliance, massive consumption, huge debt burdens, poor leadership, militarism, decreasing rights of the citizenry, and ultra-nationalism. Yet in spite of all these things, we still believe that the past fate of others will not befall us. It is this very denial of facts, and our belief that we are somehow superior to every other nation or culture before us, that will ultimately lead to our demise as the world’s sole superpower.

The inevitable fall of the United States empire will not be the last chapter of its history but a fresh start to the next era. Because of our size, our technology base, the education of our people, and our capacity to be prodigious producers as well as consumers, we will not fall into complete destitution. Although the transition into the next phase of our society’s future will be tumultuous at best, we will also have the benefit of our past experiences to better guide our future.

Considering the global nature and scale of the world today, I can no longer see a future where a sole empire or nation will come to dominate the landscape. Instead I see a more balanced structure to the global community, where by the next era will be shared between the United States, the European Union, Russia, and China respectively. I also have taken note that Asia, South America, and the Middle East have been moving towards a more unified position, much in the same way Europe has in the past ten years, but in varying degrees.

When we look to the past or to the natural order of the world around us, we are reminded daily of its cyclical nature. As every single empire before ours has risen, peaked, then declined or fell, so too will ours, as we are subject to the same set of circumstances that led to the demise of others. Many will scoff and rebuke at such a notion, as many in the past have done, and I suspect that it is this disbelief in our own fallibility that will further along the process of decline. This may well happen within our lifetime as a great many of the things that have led to the fall of other empires are currently in place. The fact we have maintained a hold on our power and influence for this long in a modern and complicated world is a testament to our tenacity. Hopefully we will approach the future with the same fortitude that lead to our rise and greatness, but tempered with the wisdom of experience that led to our fall.

Flip

[i] Department of Defense publication: Department of Defense ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY PERSONNEL STRENGTHS BY REGIONAL AREA AND BY COUNTRY (309A) September 30, 2003
http://www.dior.whs.mil/mmid/M05/hst0309.pdf

[ii] Highlights of House Armed Services Committee Action on the Fiscal Year 2006 Defense Authorization Bill (H.R. 1815) May 24, 2005
http://www.armscontrolcenter.org/archives/001658.php

[iii] I. World Trade Organization, World trade in 2003 - Overview
http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/its2004_e/its04_overview_e.pdf

[iv] USA TODAY, Money/Economy By Barbara Hagenbaugh
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2002-12-12-manufacture_x.htm

[v] World Watch Institute, The Rise and Spread of the Consumer Class
http://www.worldwatch.org/features/consumption/sow/trendsfacts/2004/02/04/

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Book review: Commercial Photoshop Retouching second edition

2005-10-26T13:24:00.000-05:00

Commercial Photoshop Retouching second edition

Written for the professional Photoshop retoucher in a production environment, the goal of this book is to help photographers and artist who are under a tight deadline turn out superior work in using advanced techniques developed by Glenn Honiball. This is not a book for someone new to Photoshop CS2, but instead a very detailed manual for those who already have some proficiency in using the advanced features available in Photoshop CS2. Honiball who is a long time veteran of the graphical environment has compiled a no nonsense approach that has been developed over the past 20 years, saving the production artist or photographer many hours of trial and error.

This book goes into great detail on to use shadowing, color management, lighting, and effects to produce some truly awesome and realistic work. In addition to various techniques used to speed up and streamline the work load in order to let ones creativity prevail, this book also discusses setting up your equipment in a manner to better manage your work and get more accurate results when it comes time to print. So for those of you in the digital darkroom who are looking for a way to improve your bitmap manipulation skills and take them to the next level in creating images that don’t look “touched” then this is a must have book for you!

Flip

Book Review: The eBay Survival Guide

2005-10-11T15:30:00.000-05:00

The eBay Survival Guide is a very well written and comprehensive book that is sure to please both beginners and expert users alike. Written by Michael Banks, a man with over twenty years of writing skill to his credit, and it shows from page one of his book.

The book is very detailed yet it is written in such a manner that even beginners can understand and appreciate. In addition to its easy and quick to read pages, it places pictures that coincide with the text in a very thoughtful and clear manner. If you are already consider yourself an avid eBay user, this book offers not only a good review of what you may already know but offers good advice that you probably just didn’t think of.

From page one; this book makes it evident that the author is speaking from practical experience that only comes from someone who has been involved with the online auction process for a good many years. The culmination of many years of practice have led to tips and practices for buyers and sellers to get the very most from their eBay experience and to avoid some of its pitfalls.

Everything from how eBay works, to buying and selling, marketing your products, completing a sale, and how to avoid getting taken by a scam, are covered in these pages. I was particularly impressed with the sections dealing with avoiding the scams and bad practices that you may encounter on eBay. This valuable information alone makes this book worth every penny and may save you from losing your shirt.

This is a must have book for anyone who may be thinking about using eBay, as I not only recommend it but I will keep my copy handy for future reference.

Flip

Brother can you spare a dime

2005-09-27T22:30:00.000-05:00

Finally the first rumblings of criticism from the Republican party in regards to the Bush administrations fiscal suicide. Maybe this could be a sign that the Republican Party has been slapped in the face by a storm that uncovered the one of the biggest expansions of government and government spending in our nation’s history. Have traditional Republicans returned with a voice of true concern?

When we exclude even military spending and that which is being set aside for the rebuilding in the wake of hurricane Katrina, government yearly spending has increased 300 billion dollars in the past four years making the national debt grow by more than two trillion dollars. The recent release of the transportation bill that is loaded with over 6,000 pork-barrel projects and it seems like our government is spending as though it were waiting to cash its winning lotto ticket.

Bush has recently asked Americans to drive only when needed and to conserve our nation’s fuel supplies, which reminded me of when former President Jimmy Carter asked Americans to put on a sweater to save energy. Someone suggested that the Bush administration seek to suspend the government’s tax on fuel for a few weeks, since it sees tax cuts as the holy grail of economic stimulus, a notion that was of course deemed “ludicrous”. So instead we will curtail the education of America’s children which is already ranked only 9^th worldwide in order to keep the pistons of economy pumping.

In case you were watching the news about hurricane Rita’s addition to the national deficit you may have missed Greenspan’s recent warnings about the spiraling deficits and how they will affect the long term. Now when Greenspan raises and eyebrow this is near the equivalent of somebody else jumping up and down, and Greenspan all but slammed his fist on the desk. What was most startling about his most recent comments was his attack upon fiscal discipline that has since been in decline after the budget surpluses of the latter 1990’s. National debt in addition to the falling dollar left Greenspan to finally trumpet what only two years ago he barely ever mentioned.

During his speech on rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast areas, Bush wore the face of Ronald Reagan, yet he spoke like FDR and the only thing he left out was how he intended to pay for it all. One might at first think of rolling back tax cuts particularly those for the wealthy, but that was not to be the case. One might also think that trimming the fat from the budget would the primary focus, but that is not the case either. The current solution, pass the cost to our children, after all the current administration and Congress will no longer be in office to take the heat. The now cliché’ saying of “borrow and spend in favor of tax and spend” is probably the most irresponsible handling of economics of our time.

It will not be the war in Iraq, nor will it be the cost to rebuild from recent hurricanes that may doom the US economy in the course of the next decade but they will add to a much greater erosion that is taking place. These things if nothing else have helped to bring to light a fiscal policy that is indicative of this administrations failure to accept responsibility in the here and now. This policy of passing on to future generations that which we have sown through reckless and arrogant abandonment will ultimately be the mark this administration leaves to history. This sure isn’t the fiscally responsible party of Republicans I remembered from days of old.

Flip

The spin of the week

2005-09-24T13:24:00.000-05:00

The spin of the week

Ok, after watching this story of the two British soldiers in Basra evolve and contort over the past few days it has become apparent that mainstream media is now a branch of the United States government.

Al Jazeera had issued commentary prior to this incident, about coalition forces being responsible for some of the bombings that were taking place against the civilian populace. This of course was met with not only skepticism but indignant incredulity. No sooner did skeptics pause to take a breath and two British military personnel were captured with just such materials and disguises.

These two British soldiers were identified as Special Forces by the British government but no reason given as to why they were wearing local Iraqi garments and wigs, or even why when they opened fired on Iraqi police forces when they were asked to stop. After killing one police officer they were subsequently captured and detained while the Iraqi police discovered that the car they were driving contained explosives and a detonator. The Iraqi Ministry of the interior asked the local police to free the two British soldiers but The provincial governor, Mohammed Walli refused, and in turn the British military used at least a half dozen armored vehicles to break into the jail to free the soldiers.

Since this incident occurred I have seen just about every possible suggestion as to why these soldiers were there doing what they were doing; anything from a special mission to local insurgents infiltrating the Iraqi police force in Basra. The one thing that the press dares not say is that these two soldiers were spies who going to actually bomb the local populace in an attempt to discredit and remove support from the growing insurgency.

According to the Geneva Convention, [Chapter II, article 29]

“A person can only be considered a spy when, acting clandestinely or on false pretences, he obtains or endeavors to obtain information in the zone of operations of a belligerent, with the intention of communicating it to the hostile party.
Thus, soldiers not wearing a disguise who have penetrated into the zone of operations of the hostile army, for the purpose of obtaining information, are not considered spies. Similarly, the following are not
considered spies: Soldiers and civilians, carrying out their mission openly, entrusted with the delivery of dispatches intended either for their own army or for the enemy's army. To this class belong likewise persons sent in balloons for the purpose of carrying dispatches and, generally, of maintaining communications between the different parts of an army or a territory...”

Now I will not go so far as to say that is what these two soldiers were doing but one has to at least take that possibility into consideration and this is something the Press has failed to do. The fact that these men were in violation of the Geneva Convention, much as the Iraqi’s who used white flags to surrender then fired upon coalition forces seems to not even be considered. The overwhelming force that was used to free these men from a local police station would suggest that these two soldiers were either of some importance or the information pertaining to their mission was. So why has this story morphed as it has?

If the chaos created by the Abu Ghraib photo’s or the condition of prisoner treatment at Guantanamo Bay are any indicators then we may have the most plausible answer. The fact that the Press has done everything in its power to shy away from such assertions should make bells ring but the only thing ringing at the moment is the anti-coalition sentiment that is growing more each day.

As it has been seen countless times over the past two or so years, our government and its side kick Tony Blair will do just about anything under the sun to deny the overwhelming evidence that Iraq is falling into the abyss. No parades with flowers, no cheap oil, and of course, no weapons of mass destruction, only words telling us how well things are going. The obvious spin from this latest tall tale out of Iraq only shows the desperation and great lengths that the pro-war effort will go to in order to coat the pill of deception.

Results are in!

2005-09-21T16:50:00.000-05:00

Ok, one month ago I asked all those people who so adamantly support the war in Iraq to put their money where their mouth was and enlist.

In a stunning announcement I have to report that not one single person asked for an enlistment form which I could happily provide.

So there you have it folks, the armchair pro-war freepers have spoken.

Why people still support Bush.

2005-09-19T12:28:00.000-05:00

Why people still support Bush.

I am bewildered by the magnitude and extremes of which Bush supporters will come up with in order to try and justify or excuse the most pathetic lack of leadership in America in the past generation. This of course has lead me to wonder why, as even a rat knows to leave a sinking ship.

After doing a little cursory research on this subject I have found some most interesting things. People who often feel strongly about an issue and back it so forcefully will tend to remain fixed to the issue regardless if the concept is found to be completely flawed. Reason being, that if people are to admit that a concept, issue, or subject that they so strongly supported were flawed then it would be an admission that they were wrong for supporting it. So why is it so hard for people to admit when they are wrong?

I have come to believe that our society encourages fluidity, herd mentality, politically correctness to the extreme that it is now seen as impolite to disagree with others. Psychologists call this a "comfort zone" bias based on research suggesting that breaking from the status quo is, for most people, emotionally uncomfortable. It requires increased responsibility and opening oneself up to criticism. The desire to conform to the beliefs and behaviors of others is recognized by psychologists as a fundamental human trait. It's reinforced by fear of regret—a disproportionate concern over being placed in a situation in which it is apparent to others that we have failed.

Another point is our attachment to emotional response as oppose to a rational one. An example might be on your TV any given night during a news broadcast where the commentator asks the guest, “How do you FEEL” instead of “What do you THINK”. The first time I realized I had heard this was the day after September 11^th when on CNN, Paula Zahn asked a guest, “How bad do you feel about this”, and needless to say I wanted to hurl at such a stupid question. One of the critical elements in our past educational system was that of logic and rational argument, which seems to escape more and more people each day. I am reminded of a scene from Gone with the Wind; where during a party the men and women divide and go about their own discussions. The men are standing around with glasses of Brandy and Cigars discussing the up and coming Civil War and its potential consequences and then I remember the saying, “It’s not polite to discuss, religion, race, or politics.” I can’t help but think I might know how Galileo felt when he was imprisoned for claiming that the earth revolved around the sun.

However I will admit that all the blame should not fall upon the shoulders of one man, as no man could bear such a burden. The whole of the Bush administration should be treated as a single entity as though all the individuals were just mere parts of a greater animal. This beastly animal was not the product of evolution, but a creation of a hideous monster from some genetics lab that was seeking the perfect killing machine. A creature programmed not to feel compassion, admit fault, or to allow rational argument to stand in the way of its goal of global hegemony. This neoconservative version of a modern day Frankenstein has but a single purpose and that is the institution of a Platonist oligarchy with no less than global aspirations.

Neo-conservatism is eroding the foundations of the Republican Party with its Liberal Trotskyite belief system, and if it is not stopped soon, it will burst the party like the levees of New Orleans. I half believe the biggest reason for lack of opposition from the Democratic Party is that they don’t know how to attack a system in which they too embrace, and does in fact share many of the same expansionist policies. The only real opposition to this parasitic infestation is coming from conservative Republicans, conservative Democrats, and Libertarians, and currently this falls far short of voices needed to drown out the joyous cries of Dr. Frankenstein’s “It’s Alive”.

Flip

Oubliettes, dark holes, and other forgotten places

2005-09-11T13:26:00.000-05:00

I can’t help but think of the line from a song, “If you aint got nothing, you aint got nothing to lose”, and more and more this is beginning to emphasize our times.

As I write this I feel as though I and my country have been tossed into an oubliette to be forgotten for all times, as each day seems to be nothing more than a free fall into they abyss. This despair comes from some of the recent reading about our countries founders and framers and what they envisioned our country to be, and how it has now come to be. Our constitution is said to be a living document that has the ability to change with the times and with trends in our society, something a group of pretty sharp fella’s realized would need to take place. However this ability to change is also a double edged sword as change has become more important than the core of the document. This ability to change and adapt has been hijacked by a government that is fraught with cronyism, corruption, and contempt for the people and the people who now feel that they no longer matter continue to allow its demise.

The most serious recent attack upon the documents, principles and ideas that formed and mould our country have came from this group known as the neoconservatives. This group which oddly enough has been embraced by the Republican Party has its origins based in the militant Trotskyite Liberal left. William Kristol, a vicious lap dog for this most dangerous group of people was noted as saying during the Democratic National Convention that, “The neoconservatives should embrace their Liberal roots”, needless to say my jaw dropped to hear such a public and bold proclamation. These types of statements issuing forth from the supposed right wing of American politics has shown me that no longer does it matter if you are Republican or Democrat, you are getting the same ilk.

There are still a few voices of moderation in national politics but they have been so over shadowed by those who embrace a lust for greed that they no longer can be heard among the chorus of special interest groups, lobbyist, and corporate kick backs that infect the halls of government. Your vote only counts when your name is John Haliburton, Bob Enron, David Brown & Root, Tom Exxon, or Jane World Com.

A recent example might be that the United States can help fund a large if not majority portion of a wall in Israel that is 455 miles long, 50 feet high, and cost 1.6 million dollars a mile to construct, and yet it can’t seem to find the funds to add a few feet to, or improve the levee’s around New Orleans. Then again, Israel has the second largest lobby in America and issues forth more money than any other lobby to your government officials making one wonder just which group of people our government represents; the people of America or those in Israel. Another example might be that the United States is also funding reimbursements to Israeli settlers who had to move from the illegal land they built their homes on. The US government decided to give them on average about 300,000 dollars each to relocate, meanwhile citizens down in Louisiana were offered 2,000 each then a few days later received nothing. Then to top it all off, many in Israel decided to start calling the United States an enemy of Israel since we supported the peace efforts and the withdraw from the Gaza; of course they said this right after they asked the US taxpayers for an additional 2 BILLION dollars, which they will no doubt receive.

On the home front, and for the fifth straight year in a row, the number of Americans below the poverty line has increased and amid an economic boom to boot. Then again our new “fuzzy math” takes care of the numbers game by only counting those who have not exhausted their unemployment benefits in turn creating a statistical chart that makes all in the kingdom appear right as rain. This only goes to show that those enjoying the fruits of this oh so good economy are not the majority of Americans but those with diversified portfolios, a Hummer in the driveway, and a vested interest in seeing Haliburton stocks go through the roof. This is a direct result of a fundamental shift in America from a Democratic Republic to what is fast becoming a fascist state where the interest of corporate contributors becomes more important than that of the people at large.

What is most worrisome about the recent failings of President Bush and his administration is that due to his complete ineptitude and moronic bungling of the worst national disaster in America’s history, is for the people to then gravitate towards the opposite end of the spectrum. Much like when the Clinton legacy that made many Americans shift towards what they thought would be a more moral and conservative side, so now will Americans shift back to the side of ecowarriors, tree huggers, and special interest groups that feel that issues of gay rights and the six toed lizard are more important than mainstream America and that drilling for oil on a piece of land the size of a modern airport in an area the size of South Carolina at Anwar is a bad thing. This ping pong game that is played on the American public will continue until Americans wake up and decide that it is no longer acceptable to merely chose the lesser of two evils during an election. This game will continue until more Americans realize that it is an intentional effort to dumb down the American educational system and produce more hamburger flippers than engineers as we are no longer producers of anything but merely consumers of everything.

The one thing this game misses is that the rate of change is progressing faster than can be managed, leaving behind a lot of people singing “If you aint got nothing, you aint got nothing to lose” and this is what lead to the storming of the Bastille as the people no longer had anything to lose and everything to gain by the removal of a system that no longer concerned itself with the people.

Flip

Quis custodiet ipsos custodie

2005-09-06T14:18:00.000-05:00

You know the saying, “who watches the watchman”, but have you ever considered its meaning?

This Latin phrase goes to a much deeper question of self accountability and to the responsibility of each and every one of us has to watch and keep in check those who govern or watch over us. This phrase came about during a time when the people had no say over who governed them, they had no say who was their watchman, but they knew that it was still up to the people to keep an incredulous vigil in order to prevent being fodder for tyrants. Since those days we have formed a government and a society that has unprecedented freedoms and liberties that the ancients would marvel at and yet, at a most fundamental level we have failed one of the most basic themes of all, we stopped watching the watchman.

Americans, and our great consumer society that we have created, has encouraged a government, a media, and an educational system that tells the people what to think instead of how to think and it now dominates every aspect of our daily lives. We have abandoned civic duty, honor to education, and accountability in favor of an old system that dominated societies of ancient men, a system of faith. Faith that those in charge will govern wisely, faith that those who inform us will be credible, faith that all wrongs can be fixed by legislation, a wave of a wand, or a reach in a hat, or a prayer that divine intervention will ensue. This belief that faith will manage all has created a society of people that is no longer capable of acting on its own or in its best interest as the people have become so dependent upon those who are offering faith instead of action that they have become ineffectual in managing their own lives. This system of faith allows for the people to become lazy, complacent, and numb to reality because we believe that what is needed is not action but belief that someone else will do the job.

People say that they don’t vote or are not active in politics or current events because their vote or their opinion does not any longer matter, so this again reinforces a dependency on a system of faith, in hopes that someone else will do the right thing. We place our children in day care and after school programs with the faith that those watching them will do what is necessary to help prepare a child for later in life, yet many of those who watch over the children are from the lowest median of educational standards. We place faith that our government will act wisely on our behalf when acting as agents for the American people abroad or here at home when issues of health care, infrastructure, economics, security are at stake, yet time and time again, they fail with nothing more than a few choice words from the public. However, fret not as opportunity is at hand.

In the wake of the latest catastrophic disaster to hit America, it is becoming clear that there has been a total and utter break down of government and of society in general. A breakdown that I believe is at least in part due to a people who placed more faith in a system than they did themselves. People knew things were going to be bad but they believed that those who governed and protected them would release them from their misery, and when help did not arise, the people became angry and rightly so. This storm has shown us more than anything that we can not rely upon our government to act on our best behalf, we can not believe in a system that reinforces faith instead of personal action and involvement. We as Americans will have to rely upon each other and on ourselves instead of the current system if we ever want to see positive change in our lives.

Since this storm it has been shown that the American people have dug in their pockets, they have rolled up their sleeves in spite of the inaction of government and have proceeded to do what they can. Churches, charities, common everyday people who don’t have a pot to piss in have chipped in, in addition to all the tax dollars they have already spent on their faith based hope that government will save them and I hope people never forget this. Now, more than ever is the time for the people to watch our system as the belly of the beast lay exposed for the hollowed shell of teeth that it really is; the curtain has been pulled back on the Wizard. You can choose to keep your faith or you can become one who watches the watchman.

Flip

The true color of madness.

2005-09-02T17:18:00.000-05:00

Our nation has struck an iceberg and the question now is, did the captain ignore the obvious dangers in order to bring himself prestige by setting a new speed record?

Our nation, the once golden beacon of light to the rest of the world has now succumbed to long history of ill conceived practices and policies that for the first time has even the flag wavers wondering how we ended up on this shore. Policies enacted to fill the pockets of corporate machines and people of influence, policies that have all but abandoned any thoughts of the average American. For the fifth straight year the poverty level in the United States has increased, a first since they began tracking such things. Yet we are told the economy is good and strong, and if you are poor you should have invested your unemployment check in more diverse funds instead of trying to eat. Much like Marie Antoinette said: "If the people have no bread, let them eat cake", is how our government views its people.

Criticized for failing to put in place a meaningful energy policy, our President decided to release some of the strategic oil reserves, a move which Wall Street and the people knew was merely a political gesture that did nothing to help ease the recent price spike. Europe has offered to release some of its reserves to help the United States in the wake of hurricane Katrina and this only brings to light the failed policies of this Presidency despite its growing rhetoric to the contrary. The US has not built a new refinery in nearly 20 years despite the fact that for the past four years we have been at 95% of capacity and now with several refineries damaged from the hurricane, we are faced with a real dilemma. Any sane and rational person would ask why didn’t we learn anything from the gas crisis in the 1970’s that ground the nation to a halt and why did we so ignore the obvious?

In New Orleans, a modern contemporary city in the south, chaos reigns as the city and surrounding areas fall into utter anarchy as governmental officials attempt to come up with a means of dealing with the problem. However, there was one person who was not worried or even moved by the horrific human suffering taking place, and that would be President Bush who decided to go on a bike ride and as he himself put it, “Get on with my life.” Always good to know the President is such a strong man that something like a little hurricane would even bother him, after all there are important things to do like search for weapons of mass deception. The complete and total disconnection from the people that our president has shown should be an indicator of where his future concerns will lay and I am willing to bet it isn’t with you or me.

If this seems to be a bit of a scathing and vicious article designed to attack the President and his policies it is because that is what it is. I am sickened to the core watching the scenes of devastation while those who are meant to protect us are halfway around the world in a war that was based on utter lies and deceit. I am sickened to watch a woman’s baby die on national television as many of our helicopters that could be used to bring food and water to people in the middle of town are instead being used to try and stop a civil war in a nation on the other side of the globe. I am sickened because it was known days ahead of time that the worse possible scenario was about to take place and yet here it is days later and the people continue to die. I am sickened because funding that was supposed to shore up levies, add and maintain pumps, and become better prepared was cut because it was instead used in a war that is a lie. I am sickened because there are airboats from Florida with private individuals who want to help but are not being allowed to. I am sickened because despite all this devastation and human suffering on a scale that is beyond imagination our President wants to “get on with his life” and go for a bike ride. I am sickened most of all because George W Bush is still the captain of this ship and no one seems to care that there are more people than lifeboats.

Flip

Cindy Sheehan, a clear and present danger

2005-08-28T20:13:00.000-05:00

You are asking yourself right now… how is Cindy Sheehan a danger? You might think I was talking about her being a danger to the Bush administration and to the pro-war freepers but that is only half the story. Cindy’s biggest threat is to the spineless Democrats who have pretty much remained silent since Congress gave the President the power to go to war. Yes there have been the occasional rumblings from the likes of Conyers and company but by and large the Democratic Party has been utterly ineffectual in the anti-war movement.

I believe the Democratic Party is in fear right now because these grass roots anti-war movements have began despite almost no help from even liberal Democrats, and this fear lies in the fact that many in the anti-war movement have seen this lack up support from the supposed opposition to the Bush administration and to the Republican party in general. These people, now more than ever are likely to turn to more independent sources to represent their view since thus far there has been little opposition to the war from the left in government. There has been more support for the anti-war effort from the Buchananite conservatives than there has from the whole of the liberal Democratic collective and this should speak volumes to people. People are taking notice.

I have stated in previous articles that our supposed liberal press is in fact neither liberal or even relevant at this point as they, just like the Democratic Party are just as guilty for helping lead America into an war that is not only unnecessary but unjust. Already this has been reflected by plummeting viewer numbers for most of the mainstream press, as more and more Americans are turning to independent sources of media for information. So too will the people eventually gravitate towards independent sources of governmental leadership as it is quite obvious at this point that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have most Americans views in their best interest.

This anti-war movement found its fire in an average lady who took it upon herself to make a statement and to see it through. She had neither the support nor the blessings of the Democratic Party, the press, or even most people, but what began as one ladies protest has now grown into a movement. Only now do the press and the Democrats stand up and take notice and even then only reluctantly; as they know that the truth of the matter is that both supported the war from its inception. Many are joining the ranks of opposition to the war in Iraq but only after others have made the stand and have took the brunt of being labeled unpatriotic and un-American. Started by both parties in Congress and by the press who gave it a seal of approval, the war of mass deception has changed faces many times already, and will likely end up being finished by American’s who are fed up with being fed up.

Flip

Onward Christian Solider

2005-08-24T13:07:00.000-05:00

Recently Pat Robertson made the comment that we, the United States should assassinate Hugo Chavez because Pat Robertson sees him as a threat to the United States. I guess the 10 commandments were lost on Pat; then again Pat’s 10 commandments very well may only apply to other Christians. Maybe someone should tell Mr. Robertson that Chavez is a Christian as well? Ann Coulter stated on the day after 9-11 that the United States should invade every Muslim country and put to death all those who opposed us then convert to Christianity all who remained, then again Ann and Pat don’t have family in this war as I do, so for them, the only casualty they will have to face is their own words.

The fundamentalist right and pro-war types have also been engaged in a full scale assault on Cindy Sheehan for her vigil outside the ranch of George Bush, using tactics that would have made any brown shirt Nazi in 1940 proud, as the Nazi’s quoted religious scripture but at least wouldn’t run over crosses identifying fallen soldiers. I don’t even agree with many things Cindy Sheehan says, but I do believe that she has the right to say them and state how she feels, after all this is America isn’t it? After all, I don’t agree with Fox news either but it has its place in a Democratic society as well.

Bush just stated that the anti-war movement is threatening America and I for one would like to know how one comes to this conclusion. As one of the tenants of Democracy is freedom; Freedom of speech, freedom of choice, freedom to disagree and to engage in dissent, but then again, Bush does not read much by his own admission. Maybe we could send Iraq our Constitution since Bush no longer sees any need for it? As the English Philosopher, Herbert Spencer once said, “The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.”

Army Reserves Lt. Col. Alice Bell, 46, who spent 10 months in Kuwait in support of the Iraq invasion, said she has heard nothing but praise since returning home. "It's not like in Vietnam, when they spat on troops coming back," she said. "Some people don't agree with the mission itself. But even if they're against the war effort, they're for the troops. They realize we're doing what we have to do, what we've been ordered to do, whether we agree with it or not." Similar statements have been made by a growing number of veterans, as they see that the anti-war movement is more about being against the policy of the government that not supporting their efforts. Jason Crawford, a Purple Heart recipient who was shot in the face by opposition forces in December 2003 while in Iraq even went so far as to say he feels protests are a vital part of American democracy.

"As long as they're not defiant against the troops or the president, then I think it's actually healthy for our society and government,"

Maybe Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Pat Robertson, and even President Bush should talk with some of these young men and women who have a better sense of what Democracy is actually about. Better yet, if they feel the war to be a just and noble cause then I suggest they enlist in the military and support it in a very personal manner, or does the cat have their tongue? Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has come under serious criticism from his comments about opposition to the Bush administrations handling of the war, just going to prove that not all Republicans live in the fantasy world of neoconservative doctrine. In case you are wondering, I happen to have US military enlistment forms for all of you who want to join the military and support this war; I will post the results in 30 or so days.

Flip

SLAVE

2005-08-21T11:14:00.000-05:00

Well during one of President Bush’s campaign speeches he spoke repeatedly about lowering America’s dependency on foreign energy. However despite the last energy bill that was passed, it seems our foreign policy is where we will find the real action in supplying our energy demand.

This week Hugo Chavez and the Venezuela government announced that they may turn the oil tap off to America if America does not stop its alleged attacks upon Venezuela. America get 13% of its imported oil from Venezuela, so this amounts to a serious issue that demands immediate attention as the consequences would be profound. This same week Iran is openly speaking about OPEC nations using an oil embargo against the United States for its unilateral and imperialist attitude towards the Middle East and Venezuela would surely support this. In addition to Iran’s statements about oil embargo, they have signed a deal with Russia to be supplied with the nuclear material for their power stations. With Russia and China working in closer cooperation both economically and militarily, and with Iran coming on board, it would seem that America’s hegemony in the region is threatened more and more each day. In addition, if the Chavez government decides to sell its oil to other nations instead of the United States then the immediate future of the US economy seems more precarious than ever, further weakening the US position.

America is in essence a slave to those nations who have vast oil reserves as America’s demand for foreign petroleum has continued to increase despite this administrations statements to lower our reliance on foreign sources of energy. Nothing effecting real change has yet taken place in our energy policy making one wonder what the Bush administration has planned in order to meet our energy needs. The neoconservative’s expansionist and forceful policy measures have not lessened the risk to our country but has only exaggerated it. America’s war in Iraq has not only destabilized the Middle East region, but has had the effect of turning away many countries who have formally supported us and in the end, leaving us fewer and fewer options for sources of energy. The neoconservative policies are a direct result of why the Chavez government and that of Iran are using their petroleum as a means to force changes in US foreign policy and this is leading the US economy down the road to destabilization.

The globe is becoming more and more polarized each day and there is a growing threat to America’s ability to remain a global power. With a good deal of our military forces tied up in Iraq and our treasury bleeding funds by the minute, the rest of the world is going about the business of commerce and becoming stronger. This administrations policy of unilateralism has isolated us in a way that will be felt for the next decade and beyond as we are fast becoming not only a greater target for terrorism but also a target of economic policies that will take advantage of our slavery to petroleum.

Flip

Iraq, what’s next?

2005-08-17T19:29:00.000-05:00

The war grinds on to an uncertain future.

Recent reports have suggested that the level of military sophistication of the insurgent forces has been growing steadily and remarkably and the increased rate of killings of U.S. soldiers certainly bears this out. With comments from people like Senator McCain stating that American troops could leave once it was safe to drive from the US military’s green zone to the government building. If it is not even safe to do that now it does make one question how effectively we are waging this war.

The constitution of Iraq has recently hit a few snags with the largest debate over how much of the fundamentalist Islamic ideology to incorporate into it. Leaving many people, mostly women facing the stark reality that the once more secular state of Iraq where women could own land, vote, and hold positions of authority are in serious jeopardy as a return to a more fundamentalist state would certainly be more oppressive towards women. In addition to this, there is talk of leaving out the Sunni population in order to avert the more fundamentalist type of leadership in the Iraqi government, and of course this may very well lead to a civil war among the population.

Despite the efforts of the US military and enormous sums of US tax dollars spent on the rebuilding of Iraq, many of these funds have either turned up missing, or have been ill spent as Iraq today has a lesser standard of living than it did prior to the invasion. Making many of Americans who are paying for this wondering where is their efforts and money going? If you doubt this, feel free to do a google search for images, and look at the disparity between the ravages of war and the noble efforts of war, they are in fact in stark contrast.

Recently General George Casey stated that it would be possible to draw down troop levels by nearly 30,000 US troops, this was then followed by a serious dress down by President Bush and the Pentagon who stated that this would not happen because the Iraqi security forces were not able to manage their own security. To use a metaphor here and suggest that if you give a child a homework assignment and you give that child two weeks to complete it, that it will take all of those two weeks. It may in fact only take two days but those days won’t be spent productively until the time the assignment comes due. So thus the same assignment could be done in a week or a month or whenever, but it would take however much time you give it. In Iraq we have no time limit, no end game, no set goal, so thus we will never finish our assignment as it stands currently.

President Bush is in a no win situation at the moment, with plummeting poll numbers, fellow Republicans making public statements against the party line, and a disillusioned public that is beginning to wonder when the time will come for our troops to come home. If Bush withdraws troops now it may give the appearance that he has given up or that he was as wrong in his assertions about the outcome as he was about the reasons for going to war in the first place. Either way, Bush is incapable of admitting he has failed or even that he may be wrong, so for the sake of pride, America’s sons and daughters will bleed in the deserts for an unstated goal scheduled to end at an undetermined time.

Flip

Bush- "glad I am not middle class"

2005-08-14T23:02:00.000-05:00

Bush- “Glad I am not middle class”

As President Bush toured the nation to spread the news of great economic turn around, many are left wondering what country he is talking about.

Then a not so shocking report that most average Americans already knew: "The economy is good, but it hasn't improved for everybody," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Economy.com, an economics research firm. "The gains have predominantly gone to higher-income and higher net-worth households. Lower net-worth households are still struggling." The recently passed energy bill will provide 14.5 billion dollars worth of tax breaks for energy companies over the next 10 years but provides no real long term solutions to our dependence on foreign energy. Right now America imports 60% of its oil, and with provisions in the bill such as extending daylight savings time by one month, one can almost see the latest energy bill as the script for a stand up comedian. It is neither bold nor innovative and despite being over 1700 pages long, it seemed more than anything to show a Congress who wanted to get to their vacations in the Hamptons, than it showed a concern government trying to find solutions, which of course was one of President Bush’s key points during the elections. I guess now the elections are over, his job is done, time to hit the ranch.

The policies of supply side economics are being felt across America as housing starts are down nationwide due to increasing interest rates and soaring gas prices. The price for crude hit an all time high of over $66.00 dollars a barrel, a 47% increase over the past year and it is starting to be felt across the board. There are rumors of truck drivers across the nation going on strike in protest of the rising prices putting fear into retailers that they may have to increase the prices of goods by a marked amount. In addition to the rising price of crude, Saudi Arabia has announced it will be lowering its production amounts because it says that the demand was not as great as expected. Now one has to wonder, if they are scaling back production because of lowered demand, then it would seem only logical that prices should fall, yet they are starting to soar leaving one to wonder what is really going on. Are the OPEC nations at peak production now, as some have claimed that the OPEC production output capacity is way over estimated and this latest move may just be a confirmation of that.

Pollster Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, said Americans are far more negative about their personal finances than the government data cited by Bush would suggest. This of course is just another example of how out of touch the Bush administration is with the American people, then again most of those in the current administration base their assessment of average Americans as those party faithful with six digit incomes, and not people who shop at Walmart. Someone may want to remind the President and his administration that soaring gas prices had a great deal to do with the fall of Jimmy Carter, and that the impact of high gas prices are something that is felt in the pocketbooks of average people.

Those Republicans who do no prescribe to the neoconservative caste may want to advise the President to get in touch with the people again, because unlike George W Bush who does not have to worry about reelection, many other Republicans do. The people are starting to grumble about the situation as a whole, with the cost of the Iraq war, both in dollars and lives having an impact, the rising cost of fuel, rising interest rates, soaring health care cost, and a President who seems more like King Louie than the leader of a democratic republic, the stage is set and the mid term elections will surely show the sentiment of the people.

Flip

Gen X space program

2005-08-12T05:10:00.000-05:00

America now has 65,000 technical and engineering graduates each year and sadly with current trends in outsourcing and declining manufacturing there are fewer and fewer places for them to go. That is until Elon Musk entered into the picture and has recaptured the out of the box visonary thinking that once dominated our space program. Although his name may sound unfamilar to you, I am willing to bet you have not only seen his work but have in fact used it as Elon Musk was the co-founder of Paypal which is used by millions of people around the world each day. His latest venture called Spacex is nothing short of a David and Golith tale that is changing the way we do space. Scheduled to launch this October the Falcon I rocket will go down in history as the rebirth of the American space program. In order to keep cost down and reliablity up, the Falcon rocket was concieved from an idea lost in todays space industry, the idea of simplicity.

The Falcon rocket is a very simple design as far as rockets go, with only two stages to orbit and using a very simple single injector kerosene motor they hope to be able to launch 1,400 pound payloads for a cost of 6.5 million dollars. A drop in the bucket compared to the next competitors price of 30 million dollars. The rocket is 80% reusable making it all that much more cost effective and reducing cost further by increasing turn around time between launches.

The next generation Falcon V rocket will have five of the simple kerosene Merlin engines and be able to launch into orbit 10,000 pound payloads for a mere 15.5 million, which is very cheap for space vehicals. Considering that the space shuttle uses technology that was developed during the early 1970's a time of ever increasing buraucracy in our space program, this approach of using modern materials, machining processes, and computers to construct and operate a simplified rocket, it is sure to be a success. With nothing less than his own personal money at stake, Elon Musk and Spacex is boldly going were no one has gone before.

Déjà vu all over again

2005-08-10T19:48:00.000-05:00

Have to love these Bush fans!

Just heard old Donald Rumsfeld gave a press release stating that sophisticated weapons are now pouring across the border from Iran into Iraq. Now where have I heard that before, it is like déjà vu all over again? Last time I heard that it was Donald saying something to the effect of "We know where [Iraq's WMD] are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south, and north somewhat.” A statement he made back on March 30, 2003 to the press. Does Donald and the Neoclowns really think the American people are going to fall for that song and dance again?

It seems that the further that Shrub’s poll numbers fall, the harder the neoconservatives are pushing for action against Iran, all the while ignoring statements such as this from their own military advisers such as Sam Gardiner, a retired Air Force colonel who has run war games at the National War College for the past two decades. Col. Gardiner summarized the outcome of these war games with this statement, "After all this effort, I am left with two simple sentences for policymakers: You have no military solution for the issues of Iran. And you have to make diplomacy work." Oh well what does Col. Gardiner know anyway, after all Donald Rumsfeld gets his advice from Neoconservative think tanks that have seen tons of pictures of tanks in books before.

Now one might just turn off the tube, change the radio station and forget about the ever increasing ranting of Donald Rumsfeld and minions but there is the Dick Cheney factor to contend with. According to a Washington Post story this week, the Pentagon is creating it’s first ever plans for military actions inside the United States should there be another terrorist attack. These plans include a state of Marshall Law no less, giving military rule over the entire country and suspending each and every right you have as an American.

Makes you really wonder what is going on as the “flip-flopping” nature of this administration is ever increasingly brought to light. On Monday Condi Rice stated that the insurgency in Iraq was beginning to slow, yet last month was one of the most bloody of the entire war thus far. In addition to that we have Donald Rumsfeld stating that weapons are pouring across the border from Iran, so tell us Bush and Klan, which is it? Are things improving or are things getting worse, because we Americans would like to know, and by the way, try and stick to a story for more than eight hours this time.

Well see you folks again real soon, that is if Marshall Law hasn’t been imposed and we end up having to communicate with fax machines like the former Soviets did under Communist rule.

Flip

What is George up to?

2005-08-07T22:07:00.000-05:00

Well the past days have been anything but dull to say the least. George and his administration have pulled a hit and run and headed south for the ranch. His recess appointment of Bolton was of no real surprise, as just about everyone expected it, including the Easter bunny. Bolton’s appointment however has wrought grumblings from both Democrats and Republicans not to mention pretty much the entire United Nations. However Bolton is not exactly “in” yet, as he may face a Credibility council in the UN which may deny him. I however doubt the UN will do this formally but I do expect some saber rattling and general grunts from the audience.

Moving right along, we have Dick Cheney who has pretty much raised the hair on back of the neck of just about every rational human being who has read his latest little announcement. According to The American Conservative magazine “The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons.” WOW, no kidding! No we have plans to attack Iran in the event of any 9-11 style of attack upon the United States regardless if we know they are the cause or not. This is some pretty audacious stuff here. What is more chilling is that this statement was made at nearly the same time as an article in the Washington Post, which reported that the most recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) of Iran's nuclear program revealed that, "Iran is about a decade away from manufacturing the key ingredient for a nuclear weapon, roughly doubling the previous estimate of five years."[12] This article carefully noted this assessment was a "consensus among U.S. intelligence agencies.” Maybe Dick is feeling a little like Harry Truman in the wake of the Hiroshima anniversary?

Back down here on planet earth another startling possibility has emerged; that the boss of CIA leak probe prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is likely to be replaced by a former Bush classmate at Yale. Being this administration is neck deep in what is appearing more and more each day as the next version of Watergate, they have a set of brass ones to think they can pull this stunt and not catch proverbial hell for it. Already in a recent opinion piece to the editor of The Reporter, a reader made the comment "Rove being wrongly persecuted by jealous liberals," I have to laugh at this as he is not being persecuted, he is being investigated, and after Americans having to listen to Slick Willy Clinton stand in front of America and ask to define “is”, we now have to listen to the spin doctors of this administration use the same blather with Rove saying that he didn't say Valerie Plame's name; he stated "Wilson's wife". When will these people learn that it didn’t work for slick Willy, it sure as heck won’t work for the very uncharismatic Rove.

Meanwhile, China and Russia have become best buddies and are even having joint military exercises complete with tea and crones. China has removed its peg of the US dollar threatening to further devalue the dollar even more, as if it weren’t already having a tough enough time against the Euro. Speaking of that funny sounding currency, the Euro, it seems that Iran is now planning on selling its oil in Euros instead of dollars, and being that the Euro is about 30% more valuable than the dollar, it is going to take more dollars to purchase each barrel of crude. Some suspect that what did Saddam in was the fact he switched to the Euro over the dollar, but that’s another story. In addition to this, a recent envoy to Saudi Arabia had such a positive effect that Saudi Arabia has recently stated it will pull back 360 BILLION dollars in assets from abroad, from that about 60% which are located right here in the United States or about 216 billion. I wonder what the envoy said to piss them off. Either way, I am sure pulling 216 billion worth of investments in the US will help the economy.

Then there is this little human interest bit down in Crawford where the mother of a solider who was killed in Iraq has asked to speak to the President. Now granted, I can understand that the President does not have time to speak to everyone, but he was at least kind enough to send out some of his advisors who stated that “Mr. Bush wants you to know he cares.” Not long after that, several of the people who showed up were promptly arrested for walking in the road instead of the ditch. Good thing there wasn’t a sewer pipe for them to crawl through. Oh the humanity.

So, we have crying mothers of slain soldiers catching hell from the law for not walking in a ditch, we have Saudi’s pulling out substantial investments in the US, we have the Chinese and Russians getting awfully buddy buddy, we have Iranians who are changing their currency and also making friends with Russia and China as they try to get enough cash scraped up to have a nuclear capability that our own intelligence says is about 10 years away, we have an administration neck deep in an expanding investigation that has grave implications, we have a Vice President who in his bunker is barking orders for a nuclear response to a country that don’t have a nuclear capability or at this point even a reason to attack the US. We have a man appointed to represent the US to the world and the only problem is that the rest of the world like most of the people here in the US can’t stand the guy. So we have all these things going on this week and these are not little things, these are huge things, so what is a President to do? Why go on vacation of course.

Flip

2005-08-04T13:44:00.000-05:00

Parallel Thought Train

I have noticed that the press is reluctant to state that there maybe parallels between the Vietnam War and the War in Iraq, and I find this a little odd being that the press is allegedly a liberal institution. I can understand that many of today’s writers, journalist, pundits, and even bloggers have a hard time seeing any similarity but what I find most striking is that those editors who were clawing their way up the ranks during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s can’t seem to come out and say something.

Now before you liberals start to hyperventilate and you parasitic neoconservatives have that vein in your forehead pop out, I want to take a second and say that the similarities I see have nothing to do with the numbers of dead, wounded, and maimed soldiers or civilians but instead goes to our perspective and to our past which we seemed to have forgotten. After all, Vietnam was a jungle and Iraq is a desert…. See not at all alike!

Let’s take a look at that mindset for a moment with a few statements from our glorious and wise leaders shall we.

“If we don't stop the Reds in South Vietnam, tomorrow they will be in Hawaii, and next week they will be in San Francisco.” – President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966

“Our military is confronting terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and in other places so our people will not have to confront terrorist violence in New York or St. Louis or Los Angeles.” – President George W. Bush, 8/26/2003

Whoa, what a coininkidink, you think the people will notice? Probably not and if they did, they wouldn’t care anyway. However this is merely one example so lets take a look at one or two more.

“It has characterized the United States as a paper tiger and has insisted that the revolutionary struggle for 'liberation and unification' of Vietnam could be conducted without risks by, in effect, crawling under the nuclear and conventional defense of the free world. Peiping thus appears to feel that it has a large stake in demonstrating the new strategy, using Vietnam as a test case. Success in Vietnam would be regarded by Peiping as vindication for China's views in the worldwide ideological struggle.” – Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, 4/13/1964

“Do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly and bloody battle with significant American casualties?” asked Tim Russert. “I really do believe we will be greeted as liberators. I’ve talked with a lot of Iraqis in the last several months myself, had them to the White House. The president and I have met with various groups and individuals, people who’ve devoted their lives from the outside to try and change things inside of Iraq.” – Vice-President Dick Cheney, 9/7/2003

“[t]he willingness and determination of the United States to employ increasing force in support of… an independent and stable non-communist government in RVN and a free and neutral Laos.” – Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, 3/2/1965

"[o]ur choice: Iraq will be free; Iraq will be independent; Iraq will be a peaceful nation; and we will not waver in the face of fear and intimidation." – President George W. Bush, 4/16/2004

Well as you can see, sometimes what we learn from the past is not so much learning from our mistakes, but learning how to better present a red herring for the public to feast on. This administration has no concept of the notion that those who fail to remember the past are doomed to repeat it. In fact they don’t even bother to heed the words of their fathers let alone those who show more wisdom from experience such as these two men.

“Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq… would have incurred incalculable human and political costs… The United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land.” - President George H.W. Bush, 1998

“We are the strongest nation in the world today, and I do not believe we should ever apply that economic, political or military power unilaterally. If we'd followed that rule in Vietnam, we wouldn't have been there. None of our allies supported us. If we can't persuade nations with comparable values of the merit of our cause, we'd better re-examine our reasoning.” - Secretary Of Defense Robert S. McNamara, 2003

We have not spent the lives in Iraq that we spent in Vietnam but the day is young. We have not spent the money in Iraq that we spent in Vietnam but the day is young. We have not spent the days in Iraq that we spent in Vietnam but the day is young. What we do have is a mindset of politicians that when faced with any objective criticism of engaging in war are quick to ostracize those will real understanding of war, even members of their own cabinet and generals. I will in fact leave this for now with words of one of those generals who has actually fought a war, ret. Marine General Zinni.

"Our feelings and sensitivities were forged on the battlefields of Vietnam, where we heard the garbage and the lies, and we saw the sacrifice," Zinni told an audience filled with war veterans. "I ask you, is it happening again?"

-Flip

A Liberal Media, huh?

2005-08-01T08:44:00.000-05:00

"In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell." - NYT vs. US, Justice Black.

Do you realize that there are about the same number of people who think that the media is Liberal as there are people who think Fox news is a fair and balanced presentation. I say to both groups of people, “Step away from the crack pipe”, because you have been so hopped up on the rock so long you still think Flock of Seagulls is a top 10 band. I am not suggesting that the media is right wing establishment either, in fact the closest description I can come up with for the media is yellow, the color of the coward, and even that is nearly too good a description because to be honest I find them down right treasonous.

A liberal media would have held some opposition to the war in Iraq and possibly even to Afghanistan, but they were not only silent they were complicit in its propagation. Now you may have found an objection piece in the Toledo Blade or something from Seymour Hersh, but as a whole each and every televised media outlet pushed the war in Iraq in the same manner that Nazi rags spewed propaganda after the Riechstag fire in 1933. The cute little screen animations of American flags waving in the corner, screen marquee’s in red, white and blue feeding the American public a simple basic message: “WMD’s are coming to get you!”, over and over again, 24/7, nonstop. The press was happy to sit in White House press briefings and be spoon fed nonsense such as Saddam showering New York in 45 minutes with chemical and nuclear destruction, only to turn around, grab a microphone and get on air and say “America, death is coming for you so be afraid as we have this information from the best of sources, the White House”. What is even worse is that the press all patted themselves on the back for being such good journalist and doing such a fine job and being a service to their country…blah, they should be shot.

Since the advent of Fox news network’s view from the far right, they are able to point at CNN and MSNBC and say… “Look it’s the liberal media, run for your life, unpatriotic traitors!” it is all I can do to keep from laughing to death, as anything more than two degrees away from Nazi propaganda is now considered liberal. Now to show that I am not completely harsh, I will give Fox news credit in one aspect, if they are talking about the Hollywood insider, people in the news (usually an actor), or Tom Cruise jumping on Ophra’s couch as the reasons they are liberal, then I will give them that. Somehow CNN and MSNBC still think that Harrison Ford’s love life constitutes actual news; excuse me while I hurl. I will even go so far as to say I support Fox news as a legitimate point of view that has every right to be heard, and it should, but so should an opposition point of view, and sadly there are none. Do anyone of you recall during the lead up to war in Iraq any news broadcast media stand up and say “This is just wrong”, no there were none, so much for being liberal or having a backbone.

I can almost for the most brief of moments see why the media was in full support of this administration after the events of September 11^th, 2001 as it was a time of confusion, madness, and coming together for the American people in time of tragedy, but that time has come and went. One of the greatest stories of the 21^st century is laying at their feet and yet they are seemingly afraid to touch it, and I am talking about the Downing Street Minutes. This single aspect of this administration should be enough to haul in a good many before a grand jury, yet our supposed liberal media won’t touch it with any vigor. There is an ongoing and expanding spy investigation by the FBI into AIPAC members stealing state secrets from the Pentagon and giving them to Israel, an investigation that leads back to the doorstep of the Vice President of this country, yet only the most scant of mention has ever been given. I remember when America used to shoot spies, now they get better treatment than Tommy Chong. There are several BILLION dollars of missing American tax payer dollars from the Iraqi rebuilding fund that just vanished, yet not a peep from the media. The very borders of this country are so full of leaks and holes that the Chinese national army could march several divisions into northern Montana and no one would even notice. American tax payers are going to have to pay with their own hard earned dollars to compensate Israeli settlers for land that they stole in order for them to give it back. All these things and so many more that it would take me at least a week to list that is never reported by the supposed liberal media.

Now for anyone in the media that is reading this piece, I suggest to you to rethink what it is you consider news and to give the American public a little more credit as not all of us want to watch Hollywood insider with the label of news. You can keep trying to focus the people’s attention away from real news but all it will do is to lower your own ratings as the people are on to your shell game. Like biting the ear of a virgin to distract her, your tactics of diversion are no longer as effective as they once were as people are becoming wise to it. You are either the largest group of traitorous cowards or you are complicit in promulgating the war parties agenda, either way, you are fast becoming insignificant as a viable means of relevant information. The media’s contempt for people as evidence by statements such as these is becoming clearer each day:

"Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have."
-- Richard Salent, Former President CBS News.

So I leave this with parting words from the author Herman Hesse: "The more individuals capable of watching the world theater calmly and critically, the less danger of monumental mass stupidities - first of all, wars."

Flip

Don’t you understand, this is WAR!

2005-07-28T23:25:00.000-05:00

Ok, I am about overcome with the vile taste left in my mouth after chatting with one of the anti-war crowd, as they just don’t seem to get it. For those of you who are of the position that the war in Iraq is wrong, or that job off shoring is unhealthy to the economy, or that religious fundamentalist and extremist pose more of a threat to the country than terrorist from Togo or Iceland, I say suck it up. Why do most of these people operate as how they see an end result; a nice peaceful paradise where everyone is singing kumbya and eating smores? I have nothing against anyone who wants to see a world where everyone gets along, the world is at peace and tomato’s just taste better, but in order to get there one has to realize that blood must be shed on the battlefield.

In this manner I have to admit that I admire the Bush administration, not because of what they have done but because of how they have done it. Karl Rove, like him or not has a take no prisoners attitude and those who oppose him are denounced, crushed and disposed of in a very tidy manner. Does not matter if they dig up some old piece of dirty news about you when you were 17, does not matter if they have to dig through garbage cans to find a credit card receipt for a Hustler magazine that you didn’t burn, they will use it and they will use it effectively. Karl and Klan understand that they are in a war, a war to promote their view as the only safe and viable view for all of us, and for the past five years they have pretty much done this unopposed.

Now granted September 11^th occurred and the nation threw itself behind its leader with the attitude of “damn the torpedos, full speed ahead” and this played very well into the Karl Klan’s reshaping of the globe in their views. In addition to this there is another part, the complicity of the American press. Now I am not entirely sure as to why it has moved from being the fourth estate to the fifth column, but it most certainly has. At first I figured it was because they feared to appear as unpatriotic in the face of the attacks on the World Trade Centers, but here we are now a few years later and the press is fighting over who can lick this administrations boots the fastest.

With the latest bit about Karl’s Klan being the center of the whole Valerie Plame issue, people seem to forget what is most important, and that is that the whole war in Iraq was a media marketed circus for a spoiled boy from Connecticut who moved to Texas to play cowboy and wanted to show his pops he had the frijoles. People are falling right into the trap of diversion, focus on a leak, and while behind them the dam has already burst. Damn Karl and Klan are good, damn good.

So you have a mainstream media that is not in your favor, you have one of the most brilliant political strategists on the planet against you, you have a government that is not a majority in your favor and the odds are basically against you. So stop playing nice, it is time to start playing hardball, time to get dirty, and time to think of the challenges that lay ahead as a war, because that is what it is. Do not delude yourself with notions that you will defeat the imperialist, crush the empire, or thwart radical fundamentalist, as they will always and for all times be a part of the make up of our country. The only way you will be able to measure victory is the continuation of our ability to write, speak, and think as we wish without fear of ending up in Gitmo. So suck it up, stop being a panty waste and get to work.

Flip

Abu Ghraib a Year Later-

2005-07-26T19:36:00.000-05:00

Abu Ghraib a Year Later-

I know it is difficult these days to sort through the steaming piles of bovine excrement that make up our nightly news on the TV these days and actually find something that constitutes real news. Yes it is sad that a little blonde girl is missing in Aruba, and yes it is a great thing that the space shuttle finally got off the ground again (albeit with a few extra parts falling off again). However, since most Americans that are truly concerned with what is actually going on in the world are out surfing that vastness of the internet, here is an interesting foot note that took place today.

Now folks, I understand that there will be some who think that the mere mention of this constitutes heinous acts on the order of the Jane Fonda bomb dropped oh so many years ago, but I don’t really give a shit, because it needs to be discussed. Today the Pentagon blocked a federal court order to release the pictures and videos of the acts of torture that took place at Abu Ghraib last year and stating that the reasons offered are contained in a sealed brief. However as one Pentagon lawyer has argued that “they should not be released because they would only add to the humiliation of the prisoners”. Let me see if I have this right… If I take your daughter out behind a dumpster of a bar and rape her until she in unconscious, that we should not tell anyone because it would humiliate her? OOOOKKKK if you say so bubba. What the hell kind of twisted reasoning is that?

Now, I for one can understand that during war, terrible things happen to all peoples concerned and involved, because war is not pretty and war is not nice, simple as that. However the atrocities that occurred at Abu Ghraib, no matter how much of a blight upon our nation, need to be brought to light so that this type of activity will cease and desist, as we are a civilized nation of decent people and it is just the right thing to do. This is not going to be an easy pill to swallow either, because as Donald Rumsfeld told Congress last year, after viewing a large cache of unreleased images: "I mean, I looked at them last night, and they're hard to believe.” They show acts "that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhumane," he added. In addition to that, a Republican Senator suggested the same day they contained scenes of “rape and murder.” No wonder Rumsfeld commented then, "If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse."

No I don’t like it, I don’t’ like it one bit but it has happened and instead of burying this thing in the sand and committing it an oubliette to be forgotten for all times, lets show courage and deal with it like a civilized people should. I end this with a quote from Chuck Skoro, Deacon, St. Paul's Catholic Church “If the truth is that ugly -- which it is -- then we do have to be careful about the way that we tell the truth. But to somehow say that telling the truth should be avoided because people may respond badly to the truth seems bizarre to me."

Flip

Friend or Foe

2005-07-25T11:17:00.000-05:00

Friend or Foe?

Judith Miller the self proclaimed martyr of the first amendment and the darling child of the press, but is she as her attorney portrays her; a champion of free speech? Well that would be a resounding NO, nadda, no way. In fact is sitting in jail right now to avoid doing one of two things, if not both; trying to keep her own backside from serving a real prison sentence for leaking the name of an active CIA operative, or keeping her mouth shut in order to protect someone in the White House from serving time in prison.

In case any of you folks missed it, Judith Miller was one of the media’s biggest proponents of the invasion of Iraq, something she pursued with a rabid conviction as though Saddam were some childhood baby sitter who used to make her chipped beef on toast. She often quoted from her anonymous source now known to all of us as the wonder Mr. Ahmed Chalabi, the man wanted for banking fraud in the nation of Jordan, the man not trusted by our own government for “questionable” accounting practices as a member of the Iraqi National Congress and a man accused of being a spy for of all places, Iran.

Now this makes us wonder what kind of deal was cut by Robert Novak, because unlike Judith Miller, he did go public with his story which by all accounts reeks of a cheap trick to discredit Valerie Plame’s husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson. So is Judith Miller sitting in jail to keep herself out of prison or is she sitting in jail to keep favor as the White House to remain their propagandist? We shall see.

Flip.

Have you ever wondered?

2005-07-21T19:04:00.000-05:00

Have you ever looked at something and said: "Now wait a minute, how in the heck... this just isn't possible".

Well I was sitting on my porch this mornning having coffee with a few hummingbirds and a rather large herd of dogs. After filling the feeding trough and letting the food transmuters that make up my herd finally settle back into their daily routine of sleeping and my mind started to wander a bit, again. Then it dawned upon me just how lucky we as humans are. Here in the good ole U S of A, we are particularlly fortunate in my opinion because we have the absolute greatest group of sleazy, egotistical, sweet talking sycophants who ever graced a pair of legs working in our government. We all laugh when we pass road crews and see one guy on a shovel, four of his co-workers standing around the hole offering advice, and three guys in white shirts off in their own group in the distance discussing how efficent they are working on the placement of the next hole. Well no different when you work for the government as a Congressman or Senator, or, or even President. Now as we all know, down here on earth it is the road commissinor and a group of fella's he calls his "base" that always seem to have the nicest drivways, curbs, and well maintained sewers. Well, here again, once you reach the level of President, not much changes, well other than who is cleaning the sewers.

Now the folks that live in this great land (and it is), have settled into a comfortablly apathetic life where as egocentrism is rewardwarded with frequent flyer miles and a chance to win a free latte' at Starbucks. Afterall, we really don't care that there are nine men standing around watching one of them scrape roadkill off a remote country road. Nor do we seem to care that our government garnishes smug chuckles when you mention what a crooked dirtbag __<insert politicans name here>___ is when they engaged in one of countless borderline illegal activites, let alone ethical. Now knowing the nature of man, and being that there are more different kinds of lobby groups throwing money and favors at these men than there are grains of sand on Clearwater beach, that it would take a person of solid character to resist temptation and to do the right thing. Add all this on top of the fact that they are bombarded on a daily basis with request from the people for things like,action for the bad service at the drive thru at Arby's or the need for disability for those with split ends and bad hair. Then to top it all off, politicans have to be concerned with getting their parking validated when they speak at the Witchita Falls Moose Lodge.

Now let me see if I have this covered, despite the fact that politicans are basically used car salesmen with better tailors, many are lawyers who golf on Wedsndays so they can all gather to decide how to split up the spoils from fleecing the American public. We have a public that don't really give a nickle that these men act in this manner, and this was evident by the stunning turn out of the last general election where just over half the folks cast a ballot. Now I know not ALL politicans are nasty vile little trolls, because I once heard of a pretty decent fella in office over in Horses Crack, Idaho but he is in danger of losing the next election to a hairless badger since he voted to raise the tax on beer.

Now you are asking, so how come you think we are so lucky Flip, well its like this. As I drank my coffee and considered that somehow we manged to make it for some 229 without destroying ourselves despite the fact we run our country the way we do, and I am not even taking into account of that jerk who nearly ran me off the road yesterday either. We are all lucky that we live in a time where things like the internet and blogs serve the cause of democracy through nothing more than the exchange of thoughts and ideas. We are lucky that because of this, the truth is becoming harder to obscure through nothing more than curious conversation. Time for another cup of coffee.

Flip

Reminiscing

2005-07-19T15:30:00.000-05:00

A little reminder of the events in past few years that have lead us here.

"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." – President Bush, Jan.28, 2003, in the State of the Union address.

FACT: This whopper was based on a document that the White House already knew to be a forgery thanks to the CIA. Sold to Italian intelligence by some hustler, the document carried the signature of an official who had been out of office for 10 years and referenced a constitution that was no longer in effect. The ex-ambassador who the CIA sent to check out the story is pissed: "They knew the Niger story was a flat-out lie," he told the New Republic, anonymously. "They [the White House] were unpersuasive about aluminum tubes and added this to make their case more strongly."

"The Iraqi dictator must not be permitted to threaten America and the world with horrible poisons and diseases and gases and atomic weapons."
– George Bush, Oct. 7, 2002, in a speech in Cincinnati

We are all familiar with these and a great many other claims that are too numerous to list here but it gives you an idea of the mindset of this administration, just in case you were hermetically sealed in a box for the past 4 years. Now with these kinds of statements issued and the press backing it up 100% (the so called liberal press) repeated many times over on a minute by minute basis; America said, well lets invade Iraq before mushroom clouds appear in New York. Now in order for this to happen, the President had to ask for permission from our congress in order get the green light and send our troops to remove this man who was allegedly going to destroy America.

From Section three of the resolution to go to war:

“This joint resolution may be cited as the `Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq'.”

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.

(a) AUTHORIZATION- The President is authorized to use the Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to

(1) defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and (2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.

(b) PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION- In connection with the exercise of the authority granted in subsection (a) to use force the President shall, prior to such exercise or as soon thereafter as may be feasible, but no later than 48 hours after exercising such authority, make available to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate his determination that

(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic or other peaceful means alone either (A) will not adequately protect the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq or (B) is not likely to lead to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq; and

(2) acting pursuant to this resolution is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations or persons who planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorists attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.

So with this, congress granted the President to go to war against Iraq. However, make note that Iraq posed no threat to the United States according to our own CIA and even statements made by Colin Powel and Condi Rice only a few years previous. I guess the WMD fairy just showed up one night on Sept 12^th 2001 apparently. Now also note that in this resolution that it is stated that we can take action against terrorist organizations, and nations that attacked the United States on Sept 11^th, 2001, suggesting that Iraq was somehow behind this, which as we all know is not really a lie, just a failure to tell the truth.

So now we have come to the point where nearly every single reason that was given to go to war against Iraq has been proven false, including the reasons stated to congress in order to get permission for this war. We are no embroiled in a tangle of lies that has lead to the exposure of an undercover CIA agent who job it was to find WMD’s or evidence there of, and an administration that is quite simply steeped in controversy on a daily basis. America voted for Shrub back in 2000 in part because after Clinton gave America a black eye for his misdeeds, the people wanted someone with integrity and sincerity. Instead we have ended up with a dog and pony show that gives the American government the appearance of slimy weasels and snake oil salesmen that have squandered the good name we once had. Time for Congress and the Senate to do its job and show some backbone and make the hard choices. Time to use the “I” word.

Flip

American pie, eaten with chopsticks

2005-07-18T15:33:00.000-05:00

America as we speak is being held hostage, but not by Islamic terrorist, or Chechen separatist, or even French wine peddlers, it is being held hostage by our outrageous economic policy with China and Asia. I have heard countless times the blather of how off shoring brings us cheap and affordable goods that make consumer dollars go further than ever before. Have we really considered the effect this has in the long term? Our trade deficit with China is larger than that of all of Europe combined and twice the size of that with Japan, you know those folks making all those Toyotas, Nissans, Toshibas, and well, just about every electronic gizmo in your home.

People seem to have this notion that China is little more than a country with vast amounts of cheap labor, poor peasants, and factories that produce rubber doo doo and fake wax teeth. Nothing could be further from the truth and a trip to China today would make most Americans stand up and take notice at how far developed it really is. Democrats seem to always point to job loss in the manufacturing sector and that would not be accurate, as the jobs are still there, they are just made by American companies that have relocated to China where they are employing Chinese workers in Chinese cities. The Bush administration has encouraged American corporations to take advantage of this unique situation that has expanded share holder profit margins at the expense of American manufacturing jobs. Nearly 70% of China’s new costal cities are made up of primarily American corporations and factories.

Two things are keeping things in check now, China keeps its currency pegged to the dollar, so when the dollar falls, the Chinese currency falls with it and there is no adjustment. The other factor is the dollar’s role as world reserve currency. The reserve-currency role means that every country has a demand for dollars in order to pay its oil bills and settle its international accounts. The world demand means that the U.S. can run large deficits for many years before the chickens come home to roost. In the meantime Asian countries are massing huge reserves of US dollars for which they have little use for and basically making them America’s banker. With these vast reserves of money they are making from their exports to America they are in turn purchasing U.S. government bonds and American companies, real estate, and corporate bonds, buying up America at every turn.

Having accumulated huge reserves of US dollars gives China and Asia a precarious hold over America, for if they decided to sell off some or all of their assets this would send interest rates in America skyrocketing and making US dollars worth less when purchasing foreign goods, making a trip to Walmart seem like a trip to Sax Fifth Ave. instead. With the latest bid from China for Unocal and the lack of action from the Bush administration on the danger China represents we all may be eating Apple pie with chopsticks.

Welcome to Flipped Out Dot Com blogosphere

2005-07-18T14:47:00.000-05:00

You have come to the right place to be totally flipped out! This is a forum for Politics, Current events, and Human nature. This blog is slanted and biased and that is that. I welcome postings, both postive and negative, since both boost my ego, one for being a brown-noser and the other for being such a dork that you just don't get it and provide me with laughter. Have a seat at the table and lets eat steak.