Monday Morning WTFs

It isn't the President who termed it "torture", it was society.  And the law.  Many years before the Bush administration started using it on people they deemed less than human we had prosecuted and executed people for using those same procedures.

Panetta was reportedly upset over plans by Attorney General Eric Holder to open a criminal investigation of allegations that CIA officers broke the law in carrying out certain interrogation techniques that President Obama has termed "torture."

Oh good grief!  No wonder America is becoming dumber by the minute.  Name a holiday that isn't about selling or buying.  If it isn't sheets, furniture or clothes, it's candy and/or diamonds.  While Roman holidays seemed to be about debauchery, American holidays are about money and shopping.  December 7th is barely remembered and April 19th quickly became a mote in the dustbin of history so why should September 11th be any different?

As most sane people know, a good majority of Freepers are off their rocker.  Well, the Freepers are not only rocking to a different beat, they are rocking on a whole different planet.  The "birther" fringe is now preoccupied with whether or not Obama has been circumcised.  The General found this so you don't have to.

hoosiermama:
The only other thing that hit me was that Sinclair said BO was not circumcised. When my son was born in a hospital that was done as a matter of routine without even consulting us. Would the same be for Hawaii? OTOH People born at home or in some other cultures are not circumcised.

Okay, they aren't on another planet, they are occupying a whole different universe. Bizarroland.

I accidentally got bit a few years ago when Shai was playing with another pug.  They were between the couch and the coffee table and got under my legs while they were play nipping at each other and Jack caught me in the back of the knee.  He didn't break the skin but I had a four inch wide bruise for more than two weeks.  And it hurt.

The CDC says adults with two or more dogs at home are five times more likely to get bitten than people with dog-free households.

Please tell me that they didn't spend money to figure that out.

BBB

A Conspiracy For Dummies

After the 2000 election I thought the United States intellectual capital had reached bottom, but I was wrong.  The aftermath of 9/11 and the furious attempt to make someone, anyone pay for the tragedy proved that.  First it was innocent civilians in the country that harbored the soon to be forgotten Osama bin Laden.  But that wasn't enough to soothe the national psyche and so the military and the press were mobilized to attack and invade a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, that had no weapons of mass destruction (but did turn out to be the weapon of mass distraction) and no need for us to disrupt the fragile balance of power that was preventing internecine warfare.  And more innocent civilians paid the price.  To the average American with their yellow bumper sticker that was acceptable for more years than it should have been.

During the Clinton years what passed for public discourse took a serious right turn.  Into the gutter.  With the help of Fox News and a rotund drug addled pundit we were well on our way to becoming a hate nation.  Getting a blowjob from a consenting woman who isn't your wife is front page news for months.  Fraternizing with underage pages of the same sex, consorting with prostitutes while wearing a diaper, carrying on an affair in another country or while living in a Christian enclave, and soliciting other men in bathroom stalls while claiming to have the moral high ground is nothing to be ashamed of or investigated with the same zeal.  As long as you are a Republican.    Unfortunately for the GOP, one Republican did lose his political career over his sexual antics and is indirectly responsible for the president we now have in office. Very few people remember Jack Ryan (not the Tom Clancy guy) and his wishes to have sex with his now ex-wife Jeri Ryan in a public venue.

Having read all of the aforementioned Tom Clancy novels I can say I love a good conspiracy.  I still think there is more to the Kennedy assassination and while I don't believe that George Bush was behind 9/11, I do believe that the arrogance of the crew without a clue contributed to the success.  Underestimating your enemy is a good way for them to succeed.  So does ignoring presidential memos titled "Bin Laden determined to attack in US".  But this latest conspiracy is one I can't even entertain without a grimace and wondering how gullible and desperate some people can be.

 

Joe Heller

When I was in the Army I went to see a JAG lawyer about my citizenship.  I was born in England in a USAF base hospital as it states on the birth certificate I can no longer find but my passport states that I am and American citizen.  My mother was not a citizen at the time (she became one two years later) and I was concerned.  The lawyer assured me that I was a natural born citizen and could run for president if I wanted because my father was a citizen and I was born on American soil even if it was located in England. 

Obama's mother was a US citizen and that should be the end of the matter.  But it isn't.  The State of Hawaii has certified his birth and explained why they release the documents they do and that should be the end of the matter.  But it isn't.  There were birth notices in two Hawaii newspapers two weeks after his birth forty years ago and that should be the end of the matter.  But it isn't.  Obama has traveled on a US passport in and out of the country several times before becoming president and that should be the end of the matter.  But it isn't.  Hilary Clinton didn't find anything and that should be the end of the matter.  But it isn't.  The US Supreme Court has refused to hear the lawsuit and that should be the end of the matter.  But it isn't.  Numerous newspapers and fact finding organizations have found the birther questions to be without merit and that should be the end of the matter.  But it isn't.

No matter what documents get produced, no matter if someone comes forward that attended his birth and attests to his being born in Hawaii, no matter what information is released, there will be no satisfying those people who rabidly believe that Obama was born in Kenya.  Because in the back of their minds there is no way America could produce a black man who could grow up to be president.  They are supposed to be singing, dancing, acting or in jail.  And that's it.  Anything more and they must be one of them foreigners.

We are on our way to becoming a nation of whiners, crying for do overs.  Don't like the governor of California?  Spend millions of dollars the state doesn't have and recall him.  Don't like the current President of the United States?  Make up spurious claims in the hope that he resigns in disgrace, gets impeached with evidence that isn't there (instead of impeaching the previous occupant with evidence that did and still does exist), or hope that someone you don't know enacts the Tiller solution.  Anything but face the truth.  A majority of Americans elected Obama as the lesser of two evils.

Those of us who had to suffer through eight years of a presidency that we thought was stolen know how you feel and you are going to have to do just what we did.  Wait for election day.  November 6, 2012 is your next opportunity to set things "right".  Until then, quit demeaning yourselves by ranting and raving about an issue that has no merit.  And no proof.

BBB

The Fourth Estate Continues To Fail

There isn't a doubt in my mind that the national press are incompetent at best and bordering on treasonous at worst.  An independent Fourth Estate they most definitely are not.  For the last fifteen years they have persisted in reporting one side of the story, the GOP side, no matter what the circumstances and no matter what the story.  Fair, balanced and objective no longer seem to be the operating requirements for "journalists".  In depth reporting has gone the way of the dinosaur and bloggers have had to take up the slack.

The press, along with what passes for Congress for that matter, breathlessly reports in glowing terms or jumps to do the bidding of anything that the GOP wants.  Virtually without exception and definitely without question.  There have been a few that haven't followed the party line but it's more like throwing a few slices of bread to the masses and then they "see the light" and fall back into line.

I've watched in amazement and with quite a bit of disgust as they hang on to every word that anyone named Cheney utters, determined to anoint them as the second coming of the GOP.  Torture? Not a problem for anyone except what they term the liberal left or foreigners that don't know what they are talking about because they didn't suffer through 9/11 and therefore don't know anything about the effects of terrorism.  Heaven forbid that they should accurately report what torture is or that it is against the law in the United States and around the world and that it doesn't make us safer but it does make us less trusted.

If the press had done their job objectively before the 2000 election the outcome would have been much different.  If they had done their job after 9/11 the United States would not have been hoodwinked into invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 (I'm sorry but I can't use 9/11 twenty five times in one article), had no weapons of mass destruction and wasn't a threat to the United States.  But they didn't and as a result hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children either died or are suffering miserably.  And that includes citizens and taxpayers of the United States.

If the press were doing their job objectively today, Cheney and his family would not receive the exposure they are getting and it most certainly wouldn't be as positive.  Last week there were not dueling speeches between the President and a former Vice President, there was a Presidential speech (that I didn't bother listening to because it wasn't necessary) and a rant from an angry, fearful coward who knows he broke the law and doesn't want to go to jail.  But not to the press, not even remotely.  Cheney is being held up as the man who has our national security interests at heart and Obama doesn't.

When I was a young girl in the sixties, the New York Times was the paper of record and in the seventies the Washington Post was the leader in exposing the Watergate scandal.  Today neither one can be depended upon for objective reporting and then they wonder why newspapers are folding for lack of readership.  They can blame it on Craigslist or Twitter but the truth of the matter is that the press doesn't do their job of reporting the news, they are too busy trying to make the news into something that pleases their masters.   Which amounts to inane babble that informs no one and prevents the truth from being revealed.

The press spends their time carrying water for people who only care about themselves and their so-called legacy and refuse to see that they are repeating the mistakes that got us into the Iraq debacle in the first place.  Once again while the US is preoccupied with straw men, North Korea is not only rattling it's saber, it's testing nuclear weapons and threatening its neighbors.  And the press?  They are concerned with how wonderful Cheney is and why the Obama administration relies on background briefings instead of giving them every name, rank and serial number of their sources.  As if the Bush administration was as open as possible.  Is Jennifer Loven serious?  I don't remember any complaints when Bush and Cheney quoted unnamed sources stating that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction or when Jeff Gannon was masquerading as a reporter.  If I was President Obama I would start calling on the smaller news outlets exclusively and ignore the hypocritical Cheney ass kissers such as the AP, NY Times and the Washington Post.  And that isn't arrogance, it's common sense since the press is going to make up the story they want anyway.  Just like they have done for the last fifteen years.

BBB

Into The Breach One More Time

I am so tired of hearing that Bush kept us safe for seven years and four months after 9/11.  If you look at the statement logically, the US was safe for 225 years and one month from terrorism (unless you count the actions of those dudes McVeigh, Nichols, and Rudolph) before Bush ignored warnings of an imminent attack on the United States by a known terrorist and 2,572 people lost their lives while he held a book upside down and the "Vice President" hid in an undisclosed bunker for several hours.  And since when do two wrongs make a right?

Keeney in 1962 covertly set up a CIA front called MK-ULTRA, which used the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies to conduct tests on unwitting federal inmates, the overwhelming majority of whom were black, to chart the effect of hallucinogenic drugs.

All of this is reprehensible, horrible stuff. But it was generated by well-meaning American officers from what has been called “The Greatest Generation” to keep America safe.

I doubt that it was to keep America safe but if it makes you feel better to believe that, then you are no better than Josef Mengele  and have no business having contact with normal people. And equating the release of the torture memos to the possibility of another attack on the US shows that one has trivialized and ignored the reasons why the terrorists hate us.

They don't hate us because of our freedoms, they hate us because we interfere in their beliefs, have no respect for their religion and willfully ignore their requests to remove ourselves from areas they consider to be consecrate. Oh, and that torture thing?  Not helping our reputation but reinforcing the terrorists will to punish the oppressors.

Torture is wrong, it will always be wrong and saying that the end justifies the means is short-sighted and foolish.  That's like saying that lying about a blowjob is worse than ordering people to be treated like animals and have their basic human rights removed.  And Americans aren't really like that, are we?  Because last time I heard, torturing animals was one of the early signs of antisocial personality disorder and maybe the people who wrote the memos, followed the memos or defend the memos should be evaluated and treated before they harm their own families.

BBB

Torturing The Truth

Naughty, naughty. The crew without a clue continues to make the news long after they should have ridden off into the sunset. Condieliesalot gets caught in a biggie and is the first one being thrown under the bus, who could have foreseen that?  Oh well, you lie down with dogs, you're bound to get a few fleas.  Can you shop for shoes when you're in jail?

In written testimony she lied to the Senate Armed Services Committee and stated that she couldn't recall any specific details about the CIA requesting permission to use alternative interrogation techniques when she had already given verbal permission for waterboarding. 

According to the new narrative, which compiles legal advice provided by the Bush administration to the CIA, Rice personally conveyed the administration's approval for waterboarding of Zubaydah, a so-called high-value detainee, to then-CIA Director George Tenet in July 2002.

Last fall, Rice acknowledged to the Senate Armed Services Committee only that she had attended meetings where the CIA interrogation request was discussed and asked for the attorney general to conduct a legal review. She said she did not recall details. Rice omitted her direct role in approving the program in her written statement to the committee.

A spokesman for Rice declined comment when reached Wednesday.

I'll bet they have a comment, it just can't be printed.

It's a good thing we defeated the Taliban when we did.  Otherwise they might have gotten stronger and be on the verge of taking over Pakistan and its nuclear weapons.  Does anybody really think that getting Saddam Hussein and the mythical WMDs was more important than getting Osama bin Forgotten?  Or that it made the world safer for democracy?  I think not and no matter how many times Cheney, who should be waterboarded until he STFU, says that Obama is making the United States less safe it will not change the fact that Bush and Cheney didn't capture bin Laden, they didn't defeat the Taliban, they didn't secure Afghanistan and now Pakistan is tumbling into the abyss.  Good job boys, I feel safer already.  Not.

Excuse me?  Somebody needs to reread the definition of evil.

Releasing the Justice memos opened a door and the contents repulsed many people. But these were not evil men who drafted the memos. These were not evil people who carried out the methods authorized by them. They were our fellow citizens who were trying to protect us from the real evildoers.

And they did a bang up job, didn't they?  Too bad they didn't start working until after the damage was done.  Perhaps if they had paid attention to a briefing memo entitled "Bin Laden determined to strike in US" or followed up on either of the two Clinton plans for al-Qaeda instead of dismissing their concerns as "chicken little" alarmists or ignoring the warnings from intelligence agencies all around the world we wouldn't have traveled to the dark side and compromised everything that America stood for.

I want my country back, with its head held high and our ethics intact.

BBB

American History

It is frightening to me how many people who have served in government wouldn't be able to pass my high school American Government class.  From the idiocy that is Michele (we're running out of rich people in this country) Bachmann to the sinisterness of Karl Rove, the dumbing down of political discourse continues.   Mr. Rove worries about President Obama's reputation for competence because the White House only suggested $200 billion of the stimulus plan instead of line by line requests.  I guess he missed the part in civics class about it being the House's job to initiate revenue bills.  Something about them being more representative of the people since they have a smaller constituency and are more likely to understand what the people who elected them need.

While the Democrats may have tax problems, as if Republicans haven't done the same things, the Republicans have a sex problem.  They rail about homosexuality being being immoral while indulging in the same activities behind closed doors.  Or stalls.  And that shows more of a lack of judgment than not paying the taxes that Republicans are always trying to cut. And is Mr. Rove really trying to convice people that Bush didn't wing it on a daily basis?  On second thought he might not have if The Pet Goat being upside down is any indication.  Man, that's hard to watch.

BBB

After, After

Did the Wall Street Journal just call Gore smart?  It's amazing how when you don't like someone new you can wax poetical about someone you disliked many years ago.

Mr. Obama's troops palpitate with excitement at the prospect of $1 trillion in "stimulus," though any net benefit to the economy likely will be incidental. Al Gore has thrown out the window any unpopular carbon taxes in favor of direct subsidies to his green energy investments. He sees the moment for what it is -- alarm about global warming has degenerated into a pretext. Billions will be diverted from useful purposes to create "green jobs" that deliver no meaningful impact on climate or the accumulation of atmospheric carbon.

And Malkin said that Bush allowed the subprime crisis to fester on national Fox TV?  The world is definitely changing if these two examples are any example.  See what happens when you stop drinking the Kool-Aid?  If only it had been sooner.   Like eight years ago.  Unfortunately,  it's more likely they changed the flavor for the new guy.

Coincidence?  I think not.  Sales are up to 75% off and 75% of the American populace are glad to see Bush go.  And not a moment too soon.   Too bad it isn't off to jail for crimes against humanity, but there's always some sort of hope.  Even the futile

I have always loved Eartha Kitt.  From the first time I saw her playing Catwoman on Batman to hearing her sing "Santa Baby", she was always a favorite of mine.  I even used to have part of "Santa Baby" as my outgoing answering machine message durin the holidays, at least until Madonna screwed it up.  Eartha you had a long life, if not a particularly happy one, but I will miss you and your talent.  If I could sing I would say you were my inspiration.  Rest in peace and thank you for all the happy memories.

Pull a prank, get sent to jail.  That's where kids now get to learn the really good stuff like how to steal cars, break into homes and how to set up a successful street drug operation.   Just as every crime is not the same, neither is every criminal.  And now states that didn't want the rich to suffer by paying a few taxes that they wouldn't even notice, we will all suffer the results of kids learning to be hard core criminals instead of learning how to compete in the global market.  As if there was nothing wrong with the economy that a little jail time couldn't fix.  But those criminals are too busy spending their bailouts on things that will do nothing to improve the economy of the have nots and much more to insulate themselves as the have mores.

Gee, I hope it isn't the same group that determined the air was safe in New York after 9/11.  Just because all the fish are dead is no reason to worry.

BBB

The Founding Fathers Go Down In A Hail Of Bullets

All that fighting and dying during the Revolutionary War was for nothing. The new boss is just like the old boss that they risked everything to get rid of.

Amendment One

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. We can complain about being screwed and the Government will stop the bad behavior. Wow, what a cool idea.

Amendment Two

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. A militia is no longer necessary, shoot at will. So what if innocents death by gunfire increases? It isn't as if Virginia Tech, Columbine or Charles Whitman were isolated instances. It's much more important that some gap toothed, banjo playing idiots have the right to own a gun even though murder is illegal and very few people hunt for their dinner. You just know they'll be out celebrating and shooting their guns into the air with no concept of gravity.

Amendment Three

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. How quaint. I'm sure that the Supremes will find some way around that. Maybe political officers to make sure that you don't complain about the government while in your own home.

Amendment Four

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures , shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. That's been toast for a while and the new telecom bill will ensure that you are monitored from birth to grave. I guess they won't need those political officers after all.

Amendment Five

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. Starting with making kids pee in a cup in school to the political prisoners in Guantanamo, the only part of this amendment that is still valid only useful if you've done something wrong and have to testify before Congress.

Amendment Six

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. Unless you are in Guantanamo or have the misfortune to be either brown or poor. Then you're guilty because the prosecutor said so, so there's no need for fair trial.

Amendment Seven

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. Since when?

Amendment Eight

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Unless you are a person of color or a child molester. Bobby Jindal could give a flying crap about those who rape women, but he wants to chemically castrate child rapists since the Supremes said you can't kill them.

Amendment Nine

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. But 9/11 changed everything, didn't it? Our rights need to be constrained because we need to be protected from the latest bogeyman and the little people would only get in the way of bringing "justice". Besides, if you haven't done anything wrong you have nothing to worry about, do you? And if the government says it's wrong tomorrow, well you should have known better.

Amendment Ten

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Unless it imperils the drug companies.

Freedom of speech has been restricted, we practice cruel and unusual punishment, the rights of the people to hold assemblies is being limited, the press rolls over bet than Fido, the government doesn't listen to the people who elected them and the average American neither knows the rights they used to have or why they were written down and ratified in the first place. What a fucked up country we have become.

BBB

We Should Be Ashamed Of Ourselves

What a major load of crap. Someone needs to grow a pair. Only despots and dictators imprison people and deny them the right to a fair trial and the opportunity to prove their innocence. We are supposedly a nation of laws, not frightened little children afraid of the bogeyman.

As Benjamin Franklin so artfully stated,

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

While I may be accused of having a pre-9/11 mindset for my views on equality and justice, at least I'm not quaking in my boots at the thought of my country being destroyed by outside forces. I reserve that for watching my country being destroyed by crybabies and bedwetters on the inside. But then I'm a veteran and having volunteered to give my life in service to my country probably gives me a different perspective. One that is based on pride, not fear.

The United States is the third largest country in the world and is located on the North American continent. It is bracketed by two large bodies of water on the east and west and by Canada and Mexico to the north and south. While we might lose a city or two, mainly due to incompetence, this country is in no danger of being destroyed by external enemies. It isn't like we are the size of Vatican City, Monaco or Lichtenstein, all of which could be destroyed in an instant with very little effort on the part of the aggressor. Lichtenstein doesn't even have an army and they have managed to survive while world wars were raging around them.

We need to find our "stones" and reattach them lest we be known as the country that became emasculated by the threat of men wearing beards and turbans thousands of miles away.

Live free or die; death is not the worst of all evils. Tyranny is.

3Bs

Sweetest Line Of The Morning

Not because of what he did but because now almost every news story can start in much the same way.

"Bush will lay the wreath at Arlington National Cemetary for the last time."

May there be more last times for Bush, he's caused enough of them for everybody else. 4082 families from the useless war in Iraq. So far. And how the heck can Americans remember their war dead if he keeps hiding them from public view? Bush only trots out the proper sentiment on holidays, the rest of the year he is too busy making sure that the survivors have no benefits when they get out, that they can't afford college or a home, and that they have no other choice but to stay in until they die.

Then while they are out doing their duty, Bush cuts food stamps for their families, closes hospitals near their homes, refuses to help with the foreclosures caused by severe decrease in income for the Reserves and the National Guard, and at the same time eviscerates the education system for young people in the hope that they will have no other choice but to be the next sacrificial victims veterans in the "war on terror".

Bush is a president that has ignored the will of the people; let a major U.S. city drown while he vacationed and that was after he let New York and Washington D.C., the supposed seat of our government, be attacked; regards the Constitution as "a piece of paper"; illegally spies on American citizens; flaunts his stupidity on a daily basis as he condones torture and asks people to go shopping instead of rebuilding our country's infrastructure and reclaiming our place in the world by fixing ourselves first before trying to remove a perceived splinter from countries who haven't asked for our "help". He's a colossal failure who continues to make things worse in an effort to leave behind a legacy without realizing he has already done so.

It's Memorial Day and the only person I want to be remembering is Osama bin Laden, swinging from a gallows pole.


He should have some company, like those who could be convicted of war crimes but will likely escape any earthly penance and continually wonder why history (if we have one) is so unkind to them.

So please, let's start as many stories about Bush as we can with for the last time.

BBB

Almost Funny

China is becoming the world's shipyard. The land that has recently given us lead toys, tainted animal food and other assorted unhealthy goods, is now poised to become the leader in seagoing transportation. One certainly hopes they have better quality assurance programs than they do for their airplanes.

For anybody who is not familiar with a jet engine, a jet fan blade should be perfectly smooth.
A pilot for a Chinese carrier requested permission and landed at FRA (Frankfurt,Germany) for an unscheduled refueling stop. The reason became soon apparent to the ground crew: The Number 3 engine had been shutdown previously because of excessive vibration, and because it didn't look too good. It had apparently been no problem for the tough guys back in China: as they took some sturdy straps and wrapped them around two of the fan blades and the structures behind, thus stopping any unwanted wind-milling (engine spinning by itself due to airflow passing thru the blades during flight) and associated uncomfortable vibration caused by the suboptimal fan.

Note that the straps are seat-belts....how resourceful! After making the "repairs", off they went into the wild blue yonder with another revenue-making flight on only three engines! With the increased fuel consumption, they got a bit low on fuel, and just set it down at the closest airport (FRA) for a quick refill.
That's when the problems started: The Germans, who are kind of picky about this stuff, inspected the malfunctioning engine and immediately grounded the aircraft. (Besides the seat-belts, notice the appalling condition of the fan blades.) The airline operator had to send a chunk of money to get the first engine replaced (took about 10 days). The repair contractor decided to do some impromptu inspection work on the other engines, none of which looked all that great either. The result: a total of 3 engines were eventually changed on this plane before it was permitted to fly again.

I checked with Snopes and the status is still undetermined but it does make you think. And no, I don't think the seat belts were there during flight, it's probably to hold them together during the inspection.

Still, it makes for a different conspiracy theory than 9/11 or whether or not martial law will be declared before the presidential elections.

Mission Unaccomplished

The global war on terror isn't nearly as successful as the war of terror. The war on terror kills innocent civilians and restricts the peoples rights in a futile effort to outsmart the desperate, meanwhile the war of terror claims important victims, one right after the other. I had a bad feeling about her return from the beginning. Now Benazir Bhutto is dead (they had an obituary ready for a 54 year old woman), at the hands of one of those suicide bombers that are so popular in the Middle East. What a freakin' shame. Hopefully the damage can be contained otherwise this could be one of those World War starter situations since fanatics always prefer the extreme solution.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (Christmas at Camp David, New Years in Crawford. Tough life.), the usual confusion ensues. My Pet Goat all over again. Nobody could have foreseen, yada, yada, yada. Please don't tell me that the fall back plan isn't to leave the Middle East as a flaming ball of goo and hope it doesn't spread to our shores. But it probably is.

What exactly has the war on terror accomplished other than spending money we don't have? According to Ted Stevens, currently the Republican Senator from Alaska, the physical war is costing us 15 billion a month. Which is more than the Congressional Research Service (CRS, with obviously poor memories) estimates. You would think that our soldiers lives were as precious as those who perished on 9/11, but you would be wrong. Most of that money is being spent to buy or repair war toys because they don't think they are going to get as much money next year. I don't know why, they've gotten everything they've asked for so far.

3Bs

Different Day, Mostly The Same Crap

Over a year has gone by since we changed the deck chairs on the Titanic, also known as the Demowienies taking "control" of Congress. As most people have noticed, nothing changed. Absolutely nothing. Bush is still running the country into the ground; his cronies are still increasing their portfolios at phenomenal rates; the poor are even poorer and now have even more competition for the bottom of the economic ladder; New Orleans is being remade into a city that the former residents can't afford; and even more corruption, lying and cover-ups have been revealed. See what you get when impeachment is off the the table? If we do have an election next year, they all need to be replaced with people who really will represent us, not rage and cave, or even worse, bluff and fold.

Anybody who thinks that the tapes were the only thing withheld from the 9/11 commission, is not dealing with a full deck. And people wonder why conspiracy theories abound. No matter what Bill Maher believes, I come from the school of if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it ain't a goose.

The little Christmas tree that could...bring a tear to my eye. That was a great story. How many Americans would have kept a tradition that long and under such difficult circumstances?

My family knows this one well. Dad died on the Fourth of July and mom had her stroke on Christmas Eve. Don't you just love the holidays?

I've been following this study since I was in school in the nineties. We have learned so much about Alzheimer's from one guy's need to do a thesis.
However many kids these nuns may have terrorized in their youth, what they have done for the rest of us is very much appreciated.

Bigger. Faster. Better. No, it's not the Bionic Woman or the Six Million Dollar man. It's the collection and collation of biometric data on people who haven't done anything wrong, they're just breathing and they might be a little brown. Will this information be put to good use? Somehow I doubt it. What I don't doubt is that we are at 665 and aren't aware that a really bad number comes next.

3Bs

Two For Tuesday

Watching America change into the scared kid from a teenage movie that keeps sucking on his inhaler, has been really hard on me, both personally and professionally. People watched the money shot from 9/11 over and over again until it froze the logic circuits in their brain. Surprise and horror gave way to sustained fear. Fear of everything and everyone. I'll never forget the guy who was stripped naked and hosed down on a San Jose runway because some woman freaked out for no reason.

The confetti incident, a true classic, occurred Saturday morning on United Airlines Flight 1669 from Chicago to San Jose, Calif. When the plane landed, with area hospitals on full alert, local and federal emergency teams stormed on board to grab the hapless passenger who caused the in-flight emergency by opening a greeting card from his girlfriend. Inside the card was some star-shaped and heart-shaped confetti glitter that spilled out and terrified a fellow passenger, who decided the plane was under bioterrorist attack.

Emergency workers ''stripped the man of his clothing, hosed him down, dressed him in a protective suit and removed him from the plane, hands behind his back,'' according to The Mercury News of San Jose. About 80 passengers were quarantined and questioned on board until health officials sounded the all-clear three hours later.

Hardly anybody remembers anthrax anymore, but we are still scared of the dark. People that is.

Good grief! Does this man ever shut up? It's hard to believe he's still babbling with his feet in his mouth. Every time Bush opens his mouth he reveals ever deepening layers of immorality, cluelessness, outright stupidity and sheer evil. This man wants to go to war at any cost and he doesn't care who gets hurt. Actually, the more the merrier. He wants World War III and uses every opportunity to try and accomplish his goal. I said he was the AntiChrist in 2000 and absolutely nothing he's said or done since then has changed my mind. Only confirmed my suspicions.

Six Years On

It's that day again. The one where people gnash their teeth, rend their clothes and cry over people they never knew while mewling about how terrible the world is and how we should be monitored from birth to death to make sure it never happens again. For the families and friends of the victims, my heart goes out to you. The rest of you need to get a life and quit using a tragedy to prevent you from enjoying what is here. Too much television has pickled the national brain into believing that this was the defining moment of our nation's history. It wasn't.

Our defining moment happened hundreds of years ago and it wasn't televised. When the signers of the Declaration of Independence gathered, they knew what they were doing and what the eventual cost could be. Many of the believers paid with their lives in order to give future generations freedom from the tyranny of an out of touch leader who felt that the colonies were his personal line of credit. Nathan Hale, John Paul Jones and Patrick Henry fascinated me as a fifth-grader. Their reported sayings energized my interpretation of history, inspiring me to believe in the freedoms that were later written down as our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The current generation is willing to give up everything that these people fought and died for, because they are scared that something bad might happen to them. Some people need to get a grip on reality. Do people honestly believe that there that many terrorists who could destroy us? Do people honestly believe that there that many terrorists who could destroy us? There are more than 300 million of us spread out over 3.7 million square miles. If you live in Ottumwa, IA, the only people coming to get you are people who didn't like Radar. Why are we running around scared of every little shadow and any dissent from the official line is called treason? Americans are supposed to be braver than that. And smarter.

What the heck happened to my country?

Crossposted at Big Brass Blog.

Stuck On Stupid

Robert Baer of Time leaps headfirst into the gaping maw of stupidity this morning with his article entitled "Bin Laden Fights to Stay Relevant", proving that some people are still determined to drink the kool-aid. Even after it's been proved to be tainted with Caliciviridae. He thinks Bin Laden was "maundering" when he brought up corporations, global warming, and the inability of the Democrats to do what the American people want, which is to end the war. Bin Laden sounded like he was more on top of things than the crew without a clue and their pathetically clueless enablers.

Not content to leave stupid alone, Baer then proceeds to blame Bin Laden for the destruction of Iraq and the displacement of Muslims. Que? Now that's the equivalent of a drunk's best roundabout reasoning. One should never argue with a drunk or a fool, but sometimes I just can't help myself.

So, let me get this straight. Bin Laden inspired terrorists to pull off a successful attack on American soil, the US attacks Afghanistan in retaliation in what was presented as bringing Bin Laden to justice, supposedly "dead or alive", but then gets distracted from this goal by invading a country that had nothing to do with September 11, deposing its ruler because he was a "bad man" and had something called weapons of mass destruction which turned out not to exist, destroying everything in the country up to and including its quality of life by wrecking the fragile stability that had been maintained for years and having nothing to put in its place but continued violence, and now it's Bin Laden's fault that the country is in explosive ruins. And that's only paragraph three of the propaganda article.

According to Baer, Bin Laden has failed to change anything in the Middle East, because Saudi Arabia isn't a caliphate and Iraq isn't a supranational Islamist state. That's okay, they aren't democracies either and that was supposed to happen when we liberated a sovereign country of its rightful ruler. Democracy was going to spread through the region like a popular YouTube video. Instead it turned into a fatal form of the norovirus.

Baer goes on to blame the internet for the availability of bomb making materials and the ability to find religious guidance, no matter how suspect. I wonder if he's been to Fred Phelps (no link, those people are certifiable) page lately? Europeans are not going to blithely sweep away their objections to secret prisons, no matter what happens. They aren't as easily terrified by the boogeyman as Americans are, England and Spain have both shown us that. Germany just proved that police work is an extremely valuable tool against terrorism and you can forget the Swedes, Norwegians or the Finns suddenly giving up freedoms that they treasure.

Yeah, Bin Laden is a bad Muslim. He practices a fringe branch of the religion, somewhat along the lines of what Jim Jones or David Koresh (batshit crazy) did for Christianity, but I wouldn't be so quick to describe him as irrelevant. It's interesting how he is able to wave hello at all, but then he doesn't look like he's been missing as many meals lately. Or showers. He just sent us his three finger anniversary wave and he's wondering if we can read between the lines. Baer needs to go back to huffing and puffing in a retirement home.

3Bs

How Roman Of Us

Last year PSoTD posed the question "what does Labor Day mean to you?' I missed that one and haven't a clue as to how to answer this year's, so I thought I'd combine Random Flickr Blogging with my feelings on the subject.

IMG_4159, originally uploaded by skiltondennis.

Labor Day has become one more of an endless and worse than that, meaningless, string of holidays trivialized to evoke artificial happiness but in reality designed to market wares that people can't afford and don't need, at a so-called discounted price.

When I was a little girl, the holidays had individual atmospheres, they all looked, felt and smelled different. The great part was you occasionally got a day off on odd days of the week, which was a big thing to a kid. It broke up the monotony of school, sort of like a snow day. Then they combined Lincoln's birthday with Washington's and it became President's Day, occurring only on Mondays, no matter what the real birthdays were. Now everyone that wasn't a boss could have an occasional three day weekend. Wasn't that thoughtful? It also meant that everyone was now competing for for the same vacation spaces at the same time. At that point all the holidays started to run together into one big yearlong shopping extravaganza.

We start with January, a month that was barren until it got its token holiday a few years ago. February has the delicious shopping whammy of Valentines Day ($ and guilt), closely followed by President's Day. They can hardly switch the ads fast enough, six o'clock on Valentines Day and now you're looking at the linens on sale instead of diamonds. March has St. Patrick's Day with Easter making an occasional appearance. April starts with Othe Fool's Day, which technically doesn't count. Yet. It's getting bigger every year.

Advertisers would prefer it if Easter showed up about the second week of April because depending on a holiday that is based on the first full moon after the vernal equinox, has a little too much variance and the distance to Mother's Day in May can be almost two months. That's a long time in the advertising world. Now, I'm rather fond of May since it contains my birthday, but that is the weekend that all the prices for everything from vacations to movies increases in price. No discounts for me.

Memorial Day kicks off the summer with the first big barbecue, not that anyone remembers why, but you can wear white shoes without Miss Manners getting upset. Flag Day used to be a big thing before it was discarded in favor of the shopping highest day for collect calls opportunity called Father's Day. But it's okay because they get to wave the flag a few weeks later on July 4. Independence Day is one of the big three, it gets celebrated on its day. Like it was Christmas or New Year's except there aren't as many parades and you get hot dogs.

August has no individual holidays, it's considered the vacation month, but that would have changed if it had been August 11 instead of September 11. A new national holiday would have been created because they had the space. Have no fear they are able to market the back-to-school sales without a disguise. It used to be just clothes and supplies but now it includes expensive electronics and new cars. Plus as a bonus, they start with the not so subtle pre-Christmas sales such as artificial white trees with orange and black decorations.

Oh my, it's Labor Day. The holiday that is supposed to celebrate the "common" workers and all they have done to make this country great. Well, since the majority of the people don't "labor" and even after watching the recent coal mine tragedies they still don't comprehend the work that goes into keeping this country on its feet. It has become the excuse for the end of the summer party and the last official day for those white shoes. And nothing else. Labor is for those who get dirt under their nails and if they know their place, they aren't seen in town.

It's a long time until the next holiday which isn't all that big, imagine what could happen if Ramadan and Rosh Hashana counted. Oh, the opportunities they are missing. Instead they have to wait for six weeks until the kids celebrate Columbus Day, a fake holiday if there ever was one. Meanwhile, the adults rev up for Halloween. It used to be a kid's holiday, but now it is more of an excuse for adults to run around in costumes all day long since it isn't safe for kids to go trick-or-treating and nobody gets home at five anyways.

On to the buffet, otherwise known as Thanksgiving. Yes, I know that Veteran's Day is in between, but it doesn't mean as much as it used to, it's just an excuse for banks and school kids to play hooky. Besides those veterans are dying off and since they don't have any money to spend it isn't really a holiday anymore. Support those troops. Back to Thanksgiving, where families get together and stuff themselves with rarely the slightest thought as to how precious that food would have been to the original settlers.

Finally! It's the last big push towards Christmas. Shop till you drop. Diamonds, toys and car commercials everywhere you turn. Everyone you know must receive a gift, Santa says so. Never mind that it used to be a religious/pagan holiday, now it's the holiday that determines the retailers whole year.

Only seven more days, which now include a new holiday called Kwanzaa, until the last/first holiday of the year. Guess what? There are still the end-of-the-year sales before you start drinking champagne. Everything that hasn't sold needs to go because they don't want to count it for tax purposes and they want to downsize all the extra help they brought in for the shopping season.

Just like the guy who used to operate the equipment above.

Random Flickr Blogging is a project of If I Ran The Zoo.

Crossposted at 3Bs.

Man Up, Grow A Pair And Stop Sniveling

The first two articles on this morning's reading list reinforced just how little of the American spirit is left in its citizens. From the war that must not be mentioned, to trying to justify basing a world view based on fear, is to continue down a well trodden path. One that the world has traveled before but the lessons have been forgotten.

The WaPo has an article about the conservative Democrat, Dan Boren (D-OK) and the patriotic silence that his district suffers from. Even though fifteen of his constituents lives have been lost in the debacle that is Iraq, nobody wants to speak out because they don't want to be unpatriotic. The Republicans noise machine certainly did its job well. When people who have suffered the most, understand the least and are willing to continue suffering emotionally and spiritually, that isn't patriotism. It's brainwashing. While a person doesn't have the right to yell fire in a crowded theater, one does have the right to point out that the nation has lost its way, the compass is broken, the flashlight's batteries are dying and the guide has other goals besides the survival of the troops.

Then from the Guardian comes a story where the author (Andrew Anthony) offers up the specious assumption that many on the liberal left side of the political equation, got to be that way because we felt that America was always the culprit on the world stage. Excuse me? I'm a liberal because I care about people, not things and I certainly don't wallow in angst and self-pity trying to reassess my perspective because I'm scared. Which is what he is doing. One moment in time, albeit the most tragic and revenge inducing, should not be responsible for turning a grown man into a whiny, hormonal (he uses mid-life crisis as an excuse), defensive, mewling ball of quivering baby bleats.

He assumes quite a bit in his hit piece, not the least of which is how fast someone can put together a reasoned argument under pressure. He must have spent a long time on this article because he uses lots of big words to make his arguments sound logical but all they do is reveal a man who waited until his forties to see the world as it really is, not just as a foil for him to have a good time. Once he saw that reality includes the terror that millions have lived with on a daily basis, he wants us to believe that he has grown up and that the other side has the right view and that everything he believed before that point was wrong and we should listen to him because now he has wisdom on his side. What a crock.

In Chinese medicine terms he lost a lot of Kidney qi due to fear on September 11 and no longer has enough water to rise up and cool the Heart which can lead to cloudy or irrational thinking. In regards to Hugo, OK, the grief (Lung) has smothered their voice, leaving them unable to speak up and fearful of authority. If we had had a different leader on 9/11, one who was capable of seeing the larger picture, this country could have continued forward into the future instead of retreating into the darkness of the past.

Terror is the world's problem, not just white people being killed by brown skinned people. Germany had the Baader-Meinhof, the US had Timothy McVeigh and Eric Rudolph, Japan had the Aum Shinrikyo and now we all have a problem. One that needs to be addressed on an individual and global scale. Why can't governments all over the world coordinate their efforts and decide on a moment in time and use that moment to arrest suspected terrorists all over the world? Let the court system sort it out instead and at the very least the terrorist networks will have been disrupted and it might be possible for the Bauers, Bonds, Bournes and Plames of this world to infiltrate suspected groups. Law abiding citizens rights are being eliminated in a futile attempt to control terrorism, so it would have to a one-time only deal, leaders shouldn't have that much power on a daily basis, that leads to the bad examples (Stalin, Hitler, Pinochet) we've seen previously.

Instead what we have is the death and destruction of our military, forced to keep fighting the wrong target and ensuring that there will be an endless supply of people willing to die for what they believe in. And take others with them. At this point there are very few innocents left, because our silence has allowed the atrocities to continue.

Crossposted at Big Brass Blog and If I Ran The Zoo.

Stating The Obvious

When I first started reading this article I thought "what a barking moonbat" as if I'm not one myself. Once you get past the beginning she makes a lot of sense and she has the background to back up her assertions. Blood for oil, now where have I heard that before?

Ever since September 11 I have been fascinated by the lack of imagination in the Pentagon and the Defense Department. Everybody was so stunned that they had to call Tom Clancy for help. Too bad they didn't read a little Patrick Robinson along the way, then China might not be such a surprise. Yes, while we have been busy getting bogged down in Iraqnam, the Dragon has been busily at work building her economy ...and her military. While Bush, Cheney and the rest of the crew without a clue mistakenly pride themselves on the extremely mythical defense of our country, the rest of the world has actually been bolstering their defenses, not wasting them in a massive clustermuck that can't possibly have a positive outcome.

Does anybody actually believe that Bush has any intention of bringing the troops home during his reign? The NY Times is printing what the White House wants to see. Again. Survey says, whatever the surveyor wants. The only way those troop numbers are coming down is because of an increase of the dead and injured. Sigh. Are we ever going to have true investigative journalism again? Or does the press only investigate sex stories?

Freedom

The America of my youth is gone. I'm not scared of dying (much) from a terrorist incident, but from being caught up in a police state where a badge and a gun (not necessarily from a police officer) signifies justice and authority, while help for the common citizen is naught.

As time goes on, more and more of what made this country great has been lost, either sold to corporations who shipped the jobs offshore, eliminated services under the guise of tax reduction, used the National Guard and Reserves and wasted them and their equipment in a foolish war and now privatizing the police force without all those pesky protections that the Bill or Rights used to afford the common man. It still does, as long as you are melanin impaired and can afford the service.

This article in the WaPo highlights the changes in law enforcement and how the police are outnumbered by private security officers. And what a frightening picture it is. I guess if you're one of the 25% who believe Jesus is returning to Earth this year you don't have to worry about anything.

Jolly Roger is also on top of this, he found another article about how the chaplaincy of the military is 50% composed of radical Christians and the influence they are beginning to have. Maybe that little slip of Herr Bush right after September 11 wasn't really a slip at all. Maybe it is a Crusade.

It's absolutely fascinating in an abstract way to watch America become a fundamentalist society. Knowing that they will have to and are prepared to use, force, to achieve their goal of returning us to a time of female subservience, a very restrictive economic structure and a segregated society. The younger generation may be waiting for the old people to die off so they can have a more liberal society, but I don't think that strategy is going to work. If they don't stand up before the takeover is complete, it could be generations before freedom returns to America.

The freedom to express yourself. The freedom to travel within the country and not just your neighborhood, or to and from work. The freedom to feel that your thoughts and beliefs, whatever they may be, may be expressed in the privacy of your own home without fear of government intrusion. The freedom to change your mind. The freedom to choose; lifestyle, career, religion, or whether or not to have children. The freedom to require that your government honor the Constitution, not treat it as an old piece of paper.

Brave men and women have died for us to have those freedoms and in some instances still do. From our Founding Fathers to the soldiers and journalists of today, they have paid the ultimate price for us to have those freedoms, maybe we should exercise them before they're gone forever? Hmm?

3Bs