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This page reflects MY opinions only...and god knows I am opinionated!
Read below: Obama's most famous foot in the mouth quotes and also....
HEALTH PLAN
9-11
Scary times
Gates, Wright, Jackson, Sharton, Du Bois and race cards!
On red hot right wing rethoric pushing right wing nut jobs to violence
Apology tour for what?
Obama's new policies...a continuation of the Evil Bush Empire policies?
Turbo Tax Geithner entertaining the chines...did he pull a rabbit?
Russian newspaper PRAVDA commenting on AMerican "communism"
Swine flu
Beware, don't read it if political correctness and heart bleeding sensitiveness rule your daily life: no, "fat" is not a bad word yet and I don't care if you don't feel like excusing my French...
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Do you feel like your life does not make any sense?
Do you feel like the road kill of the system?
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The "one" is quick to cut his losses and move on.:
On misreading issues (teleprompter vs. Prez Busch tripping over his tongue…what goes around…): the Easter egg roll party he attended, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen reading Obama’s speech, stopping a speech and telling his teleprompter to "move it on up”, the rise of Privacy in Somalia, our constitution is 20 century old….
On reverend Rev Wright: "Our relations with Trinity have been strained by the divisive statements of Reverend Wright, which sharply conflict with our own views”.[...also..."I have been a member of Trinity Church since 1992. I have known Rev. Wright for almost 20 years," he said at a news conference in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "The person I saw yesterday is not the person I met 20 years ago."
On Rezko by Obama: “This isn't the Tony Rezko I knew." ...by Hillary Clinton: "your contributor, Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner-city Chicago."
On the Alaskan “Bridge to nowhere” and other pork barrel: “Others intent on cutting spending have pointed to Alaska's "Bridge to Nowhere" as a wasteful project. I agree and believe that it represents the first type of project we should cut. But it's wrong to single out one state's pork project. If we're serious about shared responsibility, let's eliminate all pork projects in all states.” From Florida, where the stimulus package is being well spent surfaced two bridges to nowhere already: a $3million dollars turtle crossing bridge under a freeway and a DOT plans to build a $128 million bridge between Stuart and Palm City, next to an existing bridge just a quarter of a mile away. Another “stimulus bridge” provided by the federal stimulus package would connect two campuses at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond and cost us $11 million.
On Porculus: denouncing Bush on contracting programs and “fiscal irresponsibility”: “There is a fundamental public trust that we –the government- must uphold. The American’s people’s money must be spent to advance their priorities and not to line the pockets of contractors or to maintain projects that don’t work”…Way to go, mister, how do you spell crooks in your administration, lobbyists, pork barrel, pet project, your agenda vs our lives, etc, etc…Trillions already spent and none for my priorities or fix a broken system, just to line the pockets of your electorate, buddies, and congressional representation!
On creating jobs: “That is how we will achieve the number one goal of my plan—which is to create three million new jobs, more than eighty percent of them in the private sector.” (that means that 20% would be 600.000 jobs in government growth (GM and Chrysler, Gov owned banks?)…and in June 09, when I wrote this, unemployment has reached 9,5% and private sector is still shrinking its workforce!)
On Dascle: I screwed up,” Obama said repeatedly during a series of TV interviews. “I take responsibility for this mistake.”
On AIG: 'It's their fault, the Democrats' fault, the Republicans' fault.' Listen, I'll take responsibility. I'm the president."
On teleprompter: “"You know I had an entire speech prepared for this wonderful occasion, but now that I am here, I am going to try something a little different — I am going to speak from the heart," Obama said jokingly as his teleprompter rose from the floor…Biden said: “"What am I gonna tell the president?" Biden said as a gust of wind knocked down his left teleprompter. "I'm gonna tell him his teleprompter is broken. What will he do then?" Did you notice the difference between his elocution with and without the teleprompter: assurance and magnetism vs. every other word is punctuating with an “ahem” that provides for the selection of the right word, leading to neutral, safe and non-committal rants worthy of a speech impaired person and boring to death. I tried to watch his speech on healthcare yesterday and realized that he never EVER watches you in the eyes, you, the viewer, the person sitting in front of him. He keeps on switching from left to right, to left, reading flawlessly whatever the teleprompters off cameras show him. He is to political speeches what Britney is to singing with lip synch devices: painful to watch!
On his wet dream: “Just as we stood for freedom in the 20th century, we must stand together for the right of people everywhere to live free from fear in the 21st century. (Applause.) And as nuclear power -- as a nuclear power, as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it. So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. (Applause.) I'm not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly -- perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence. But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, "Yes, we can."
On Americans and Muslim countries: "The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their family, or have lived in a Muslim-majority country. I know, because I am one of them." Nota: hundreds of thousands of US soldiers have lived in Muslim countries too…and have been enriched by the knowledge that life sucks there! That is why all these Muslims are coming over here, right?
On war with Islam: President Obama stated that “the U.S. "is not and never will be at war with Islam,"…and portrayed terrorist groups such as al-Qaida as extremists far removed from the vast majority of Muslims. Really? Let’s list the Muslim countries that are friendly to the US, where US citizens can roam freely and exercise their freedom of speech, religion, sexual preferences, etc…: Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt, and West Africa, Lebanon….
On the Swine flu” and containment: “it would be akin to closing the barn door after the horses are out. Because we already have cases here in the United States.”…like in: the boat hit an iceberg and is taking water quickly…sir, sir, we are sinking! Well…water is already in so don’t bother plugging the hole!
On Sotomayor and her racist comment: “"I'm sure she would have restated it," he said…and believe him…he knows about re-stating, over and over again! But she did have a chance to restate it Mr President! Your Ivy League Latina pick actually said the same thing, almost verbatim, three years in a row: in 2001, 2002 AND 2003 and made allusion to her race and gender in about 80 opinions she wrote, according to the news media. She also deeply believes that exams are racists, whatever it means for the people who fail them, white included! But she will get nominated because she does not need talent when the Democrats have the majority, and the majority leader himself, Mr Reid (read optional?!) stated in June .during the love frenzy between lefty senators in various photo ops with Sotomayor: “I understand that during her career she has written hundreds and hundreds of opinions. I haven’t read a single one of them , and if I am fortunate, before we end this, I won’t have to read one of them!” . I wonder if the Prez has read any?
On his economic “Bridges to nowhere” stimulus plan and predictions, by his first man: “Everyone guessed wrong at the time the estimate was made about what the state of the economy was at the moment this was passed," Biden said. Anything else you tried to guess: the cost of healthcare, the cost of GM and Chrysler, the impact of your stimulus, the virtual jobs you saved and the real one that were not created?...
On his manipulating of the free press: “"I know Nico Pitney is here from the Huffington Post," he said "I know that there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet. Do you have a question?" Pitney has been called the day before by the White House and asked to come up with such a question. Obama went on to another pre-planned question to Macarena Vidal representing a Spanish speaking show and went on to crack jokes until he called it a day and walked away despite a question by Mike Allen: "Mr. President! May I ask about Afghanistan? No questions about Iraq or Afghanistan?"
On Congress: “They have hearings, they write white papers, and then suddenly the lobbyists and the special interests start going at it. And the next thing you know, another 10 years has gone by, and we still haven’t done anything.”…no comments! You can trust him: he knows!
On his crashing teleprompter: "Oh, goodness, Sorry about that, guys."…fortunately the other one was still working and he was able to finish his speech. Another American must have become jobless on that day!
On judges and applying the law: Obama has stated that a critical factor in judging was "what is in the judge's heart," and that Judge Sotomayor had been selected for the Supreme Court because of her ability to apply her life experience –as a female minority-to her cases. Unfortunately, grilled on the matter, Sotomayor stated: "I wouldn't approach the issue of judging in the way the president does," she said. "Judges can't rely on what's in their heart. They don't determine the law. Congress makes the laws. The job of a judge is to apply the law."
On his Harvard buddy, the sooo famous Professor Gates: It seems like Henry Louis Gates, the Harvard Professor, was arrested in his Cambridge home for a few good reasons: barking at the officers, hiding behind his oversized egocentric race card and arrogantly refusing to comply with legitimate requests. Was he racially profiled or just booked for being stupid? President Obama, from his high chair and prestigious position became judge and jury by stating on record that the police were "acting stupidly" to arrest his friend. Should he be focusing on important things, like fixing our economy or bailing out Kevin Johnson? He was not there was he? But he knows that all the cops are black killers and every white is a racist. Every black with a NAACP card knows that! I was not there either but I can judge too! I can picture the arrogant old fool trying to turn his pampered stupidity (forced his own door) into a civil right-like struggle . Like most of us whites, he should have complied peacefully and THANKED THE Police for responding quickly. After all, they rushed to protect the property of a rich black man, property that was reported as being burglarized. Does the professor know that at the end of the day he has more chances to fall murdered by another black than from Police brutality? (FBI data: In 2007, 3221 blacks were murdered. 2905 of them by other African Americans).
Ivy league + affirmative action = cry baby: “"I think it's fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry. No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And No. 3 — what I think we know separate and apart from this incident — is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that's just a fact." Maybe they should just stop breaking the laws!
On open debate on Healthcare: We'll have doctors and nurses and hospital administrators, insurance companies, drug companies — they'll get a seat at the table, they just won't be able to buy every chair. But what we will do is, we'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies.” Instead of C-Span, we now have close doors committees and cannot even see the list of the names of health care executives or special interests who visit the White House for closed-door
On the media for not helping: On health care, the media has "a lack of sustained focus on the facts," and it “makes it very difficult” to sell the plan. I guess MSNBC and moveon.org need to cater to the chief a little more…Bad, bad media… not blindly marching to his drums anymore!
On calling the Cambridge cops stupid: President Obama said Friday that he has he used the wrong words calling the action stupid and should have "calibrated those words differently." He stated: "I want to make clear that in my choice of words, I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge police department and Sgt. Crowley specifically. And I could've calibrated those words differently." Eventually, he also called the white police officer to let him know all the good he thought of him….blah blah blah…
On races, last year while campaigning against Rev Wright-Jackson-Sharpton-WEB Du Bois: “That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.” No kidding? “But I have asserted a firm conviction — a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people — that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.”
On the media for making him look stupid on his comment on the “stupid” action of the cops in Cambridge: “it is the media's "obsessions" that are keeping alive his comments about the arrest”
On his $900 billion health care porculus that did not meet his August recess deadline: "We did give them a deadline, and sort of we missed that deadline. But that's OK, We don't want to just do it quickly, we want to do it right." No kidding…they did everything to shove the monster down our throats before going on vacation and now the “delay” (amendments and lipstick on the pig to please more Democrats) is something good…to make it right! Really? Also, what about the accounting gimmicks to keep it under $1 trillion? What about the $245 billion to increase doctor’s fees under Medicare? $1,145 trillion minimum…let’s talk about it in five or ten years.
On the opposition to his healthcare reform: "They run their ads. And let's face it, they scare people," Yet Obama has gathered an incredible mass of supportive special interests groups: "We have the American Nurses Association, we have the American Medical Association on board," Obama told the weekend crowd in Grand Junction, Colo. "We have an agreement from drug companies to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. ... The AARP supports this policy." But Gibbs, the mouthpiece for the administration clarified the situation: White House spokesman Robert Gibbs seemed to understand as much when he said the administration is benefiting from the help of "interest groups," avoiding the more unsavory term "special interests. It'd be sort of odd to go to a town hall meeting and rail against interest groups that are supporting reform ... who have acknowledged that it's time for health care reform," he said. The president's criticism is aimed at "interest groups that are aligned to keep the status quo either because it benefits them or they have a vested interest." Got it! The good special interest groups that can lobby, versus the bad one that are evil!
On AARP supporting his health care plan: Obama recently shot himself in the foot –again- when he said at the town hall that "we have the AARP onboard because they know this is a good deal for our seniors. AARP would not be endorsing a bill if it was undermining Medicare." Unfortunately, he was quickly rebuked and AARP's chief operating officer Tom Nelson promptly replied that "indications that we have endorsed any of the major health care reform bills currently under consideration in Congress are inaccurate." The teleprompter has been fired!
On the media –again- for not supporting him on healthcare and reporting –how dare they- the opposition across the country: "TV loves a ruckus, What you haven't seen on TV and what makes me proud are the many constructive meetings going on all over the country." I guess what makes him proud are the people his lackeys have libeled as Nazi, terrorists, right wing nuts, etc, etc…go figure!
On Washington D.C AND Congress:”Everyone's getting all "wee-weed up'' in Washington?”. According to Gibbs, the White House mouth piece, Obama referred to bed wetting, to the state of mind of the politicians faced with the frustration of the healthcare plan and the plunging approval ratings of the “one we have been waiting for”. (new low-point in the president's public job approval-ratings - down to 51 percent this week in the Gallup Poll, the Pew Research Center's poll and the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released this week. An ABC/Washington Post poll today shows that fewer than half of Americans surveyed - 45 percent - support the health-care reform as it has been explained to date, with 50 percent opposed.)
On his Green Czar, the radical leftist Van Jones, through his White House speaker:” The President "doesn't endorse" Jones's participation to the 9/11 Truth movement (revisionist of the 9-11 events), radical racial and political statements, and his support for a cop killer on death row”. Sort of late to realize that radicals are radical, Mr Prez! How do you spell D.U.M.P.E.D?
On his healthcare plan: He used to hammer around: "I keep on saying this but somehow folks aren't listening: If you like your health-care plan, you keep your health-care plan. Nobody is going to force you to leave your health-care plan," Sept 10, that has become "Nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: Nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have." The word REQUIRE is important because it says that the Government intent is not to have your plan changed –a requirement from the top- but there is not much they can do to prevent it from happening.
On the cost of his Healthcare revamping: "I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits either now or in the future. Period." I guess his plan “will create or save” dollars and won’t increase the deficit…like the jobs and the economy…We have created or saved one million jobs blah blah…safe and final but impossible to prove one way or the other.
And the 17 million uninsured missing in his 9/9/09 speech: "There are now more than thirty million American citizens who cannot get coverage." Up to September, we were hammered with the 47 million uninsured Americans. Now 30 millions? Were the 17 millions now missing not Americans, like illegals? Or by some mysterious process, did these people find some kind of insurance, another miracle by the administration that creates or save? On July 23, he said, "This is not just about the 47 million Americans who don't have any health insurance at all…"
On rapper Kanye West’s way he treated 19 year old white country singer Taylor Swift at some music event: "He's a jackass," . Realizing he might have made a mistake being so candid, he tried to get his comment back and is on record saying. "Come on guys, cut the president some slack. I've got a lot of other stuff on my plate.".
On the ACORN debacle: On ABC, President Obama said that “he does not really follow ACORN much”….sure…they just contributed $800k to his campaign and not only did he represent them as a lawyer but he also helped train the organizers of the association when himself was a community organizer… He never lies…just misrepresent reality! Could have he said: “"The ACORN I saw yesterday is not the person I met 20 years ago."
On his failed Olympic bid for Chicago: “I think it’s always a worthwhile endeavor to promote and boost the United States of America and invite the world to come see what we’re all about,” Totally right Sir! Not much to see in your hometown and people chose skin and thongs over….what is there again in Chicago?On his catering to voters: “we will never forget Katrina”...and how can we forget the “Super Dome” and its refugees beat up, looted, raped, murdered by their own…and the New Orleans police officers looting shops along regular looters,…and the gang bangers taking over the streets and firing weapons at rescue choppers and firefighters. It was so bad that we had to send the national guard to kill these bastards…and the lines of empty flooded buses the city did not even try to use to evacuate its citizens…and the abandonment of the weakest by their own people. How can we forget the incompetent Mayor Nagin or democratic Governor Blanco…she was so good and the Bush administration so bad that she did not even try to run against a conservative candidate that easily won the state (Bobby Jindal). How come she knew she had no chance? How come Alabama and Mississippi were able to recover in a couple of months? How come New Orleans and Louisiana are the only place in America where the worst of the people came up during a natural disaster. I remember the 2007 “five star” treatment of the 20.000 fire refugees in the Qualcom stadium in san Diego…do you! Why such a difference?
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$829 billion!!! Could you run it by me again? We moved to a Government run healthcare system to cover our huge amount of uninsured. Interestingly, the numbers of people that the plan is supposed to help shrunk with time. It was around 50 million people during the campaign and all the way to August 09. Out of the blue, it went down to 30 million in the President’s speeches and now, papers are talking about 18 million people who cannot afford health care. Here is a quick and cheap fix: give 1 million to each of these identified 18 million and turn them into instant millionaires with no excuse not to get healthcare. Also, pass a couple of laws to prevent insurers not to deny coverage for existing conditions, define care that should be reimbursed and cosmetics, cap prices on things like frame for glasses, ambulance rides, X ray or crutches and monitor and punish fraud and abuses on both client and provider side. That would save us $811 billion people!
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On 9 September 2009, like every year since 2001, I got up, put on my “special” T-shirt and went out to display the American flag arguing with my wife that people are forgetting about the tragedy and that we must remind them at work, school, everywhere. I picked up my daily newspaper and sure enough, Rememberance day was not front page news Also, to add amazement to surprise, “Muslims and Holy month of Ramadan” was the Region pages main topic. How sensitive! We certainly don’t want to remind people that there is anti-American evil around and that 3000 civilians were targeted and murdered on that day by 19 cowards not even representative of a nation or its legitimate army. On 9-11-2001, they performed a mass murder. Some of the victims jumped to their death to avoid raging fires, fought to crash a plane or waited powerless for the buildings to collapse while saying their last goodbyes on their cell phones. I remember…do you?. And thank you to the teachers who said that talking about 9-11 is not in the curriculum. It makes sense, like not talking about May 8, July 27, Sept 2, 9-11, Nov 11, Dec 7…Whatever! I made 9-11 part of the curriculum and removed my kids from school for the day. We attended the Rememberance ceremony together in Folsom. My wife was in her United Airlines uniform and I wish I could have worn my Army uniform too. Flags and anthems, 21 shot volley and a Bell, and the Taps and inspiring speeches, prayers and testimonies…that morning, I was especially proud to live in Folsom. I wish we had more children representing our numerous schools and organizations, more teenagers, more people to learn and perpetuate the souvenir. I also wish we had some representatives of our Muslim community that have found a tolerant home in this town. They should have been there too, standing at our sides."I can die now. Heaven will be in the memories of those who remember!". Do not forget!
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Obama’s judgment? Another dumped nominee, another lefty lunatic.
Van Jones’ discreetly resigned on a Sunday morning of a Labor Day weekend. I guess he did not want to be yet another distraction to President Obama –who did not personally comment on that- and wanted to join the club of the previous radical nominees that could not stand scrutiny. The unelected and un-paneled so called “Green Czar” was known since day one for his racial and liberal radicalism. Is hysteric past just caught up with him! In a perfect Obama fashion, Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said that “ Jones didn't realize what he was signing at the time” when he signed a petition calling for “an investigation into possible Bush administration involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks”. Obama would have said: “this is not the Jones I knew!”. Instead, Gibbs, Obama’s mouthpiece t thanked Jones "for his service to the country" and said that the President "doesn't endorse" Jones's participation to the 9/11 Truth movement (revisionist of the 9-11 events), radical racial and political statements, and his support for a cop killer on death row. Sort of late to realize that radicals are radical, Mr Prez! How do you spell D.U.M.P.E.D?
Talking about Czars, what’s up with that unaccountable administration with so many friends and favorites appointed without the scrutiny of Congress, and so little administrators. As of Mid August, 43% of top positions were still open in the administration. America is going empty, with nobody at the helm of crucial departments. Sure, Obama’s nomination process has been such a fiasco that the president is now careful on who will be next: a tax cheat or a pay for play guy!
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Déjà vu! The slippery slope to a declawed intelligence apparatus
“My husband was picked up by the Guatemalan military. He was captured alive in 1992. Then they falsely stated that he had been killed in combat. I found out six months later that he was, in fact, still alive, that they had faked his death in order to torture him long term, with medical assistance to avoid accidentally killing him”
Jennifer Harbury did not want to let go and after almost three years, a 32-day hunger strike in Guatemala and her 1995 14-day hunger strike in front of the White House, she finally attracted the attention of the media, attention that incited a State Department operative (Mr. Nuccio) to leak classified information to U.S. Rep. Robert Torricelli. The latter blew the whole thing into the open: The documents showed that the CIA was running death squads in South America and that criminals on CIA’s payroll were murdering and torturing thousands, even American citizens! Also, it exposed that Jennifer’s husband had been captured, tortured for two years and killed by Col. Julio Roberto Alpirez, a Guatemalan Intelligence officer and CIA operative also suspected of the murder of Michael DeVine, a local innkeeper of US nationality.
Rep. Torricelli drove his point home and showed Congress that the CIA was paying criminals and providing “technical assistance” to a Guatemalan group tasked to “eliminate” dissidents using kidnapping, torture and murder. According to Amnesty International, 110,000 civilians fell victims of the Guatemalan G2 since 1978…and the CIA helped, supported by the various US administrations. He also exposed the fate of about 350 prisoners held in illegal and brutal conditions similar to Jennifer’s husband’s, and the complacency or misleading attitude of both the CIA and some US Embassies.
Toricelli’s quest eventually forced the Clinton administration to reform the CIA and forbid the agency to associate itself –and the country- with shady characters, criminals or terrorists groups. Suddenly, HUMINT –Human Intelligence- took the back seat and clean high tech SIGINT –Signal Intelligence- became the main Intelligence gathering media for the country.
Nota: A few years later Jennifer Harbury took the matter to the Supreme Court but her lawsuit against high officials of former President Bill Clinton's administration –State Secretary Warren Christopher among them- Was eventually rejected. She had accused them of lying to her about the status of her former husband, Efrain Bamaca Velasquez, a Guatemalan guerrilla she had chosen to marry. She lost and America moved on.
When President Clinton chose to cut our military down to 10 active combat divisions from the 20 we originally had, it was just a good political move to reward part of his electorate and redirect money from the Defense Budget to the typical Democrat social pandering. No war in sight and the Cold one done with, it seemed like a safe move. But preventing our intelligence community from hiring informants of questionable morals and ethics was shortsighted. It did change the focus from a balance of “dirty” Human Intelligence (HUMINT)and modern and “clean” Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) to an all SIGINT system. And we now know the long term results (and they are always long term!).
We were not able to foresee the rise of Al Qaeda, the rise of Bin Laden and the 9-11 plot two years in the making before it actually happened. We were also not able to capture or kill Bin Laden, nor confirm or not the status of Saddam’s WMD program.
The Bush administration and other Intelligence or Defense bi-party committees at Congress actually had to rely on “stale” SIGINT pieces of information and incomplete analysis coming from the highly inefficient and politically correct intelligence tool that the CIA had become under President Clinton…and 9-11 happened!
Obama’s second executive order banning torture was reminiscent of the Clinton move of the mid nineties. It is indeed an effective way to please local supporters but it has shown the enemies abroad that they won’t be forced to “cooperate” if or when captured, and it has also neutered again our intelligence community.
Today, the Attorney General of the Obama administration is attacking the CIA based on old memos that were readily available to Congress and most likely read by the past bi-partisan intelligence committees. Officially, the White House wants to move on and has setup new “Interrogation Teams” trained on the Politically correct Army’s interrogation procedures. But it looks like our AG has decided otherwise. Anyways, threatening to take to court, prosecute and eventually punish CIA operatives who have followed the letter and the intent of the former administration’s interrogation legal guidelines would amount to the re-declawing of the agency and its total “neuterization”.
The controversial guidelines went through a legal review, were shared with Congress and approved by the Government of the time until President Obama took power. Maybe some rogue consultants or operatives got over-zealous and must be punished. But globally, revisiting the past will be effectively demonstrating that whatever politics implemented by an administration, can be revisited and condemned by another. In another words: don’t do anything legal today that could take you to jail tomorrow.
At the end of the days, it is not about abuses committed by our agencies –they should be exposed and punished- but about our successive poll driven administrations ran by poll driven politicians trying to please their followers. Blanket policies or blanket solutions don’t work.
The Clinton administration should not have passed a blanket policy banning the hiring of shady people. Instead, it should have reviewed the CIA payroll, kicked out the people we did not want to associate with, cleaned up the house and let them run their HUMINT business under oversight.
The Obama administration should not bag it all up in the same bag and pretend to be righteous (we are still using Blackwater services, using the Domestic surveillance law, applying “extreme rendition”, supporting Guatemala, etc…). Instead, some basic questions should be asked and answered: Were the “enhanced interrogation techniques” legal? Did Congress know? Were they applied correctly? Were there abuses? Are we compliant with the Geneva’s convention’s description of a combatant and of a prisoner of war (chapt 4, http://www.genevaconventions.org/ ).?
Interestingly, the White House wants to separate itself from the AG’s “independent” investigation. Also, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has claimed again and again that the CIA has lied to Congress and to her about the “enhanced interrogation techniques” the left has called torture for half a decade. She told the press again and again that our intelligence agency has misled Congress under President Bush, another “Watergate-like” scandal! But the Democrats killed a bill for an independent investigation panel. Who are they trying to fool? Who would believe that in this new era of coming out clean, “mopping up after President Bush disastrous politics”, the Democrats who control Congress would not jump on yet another opportunity to show the people how evil the Bush apparatus was and get back at Cheney?
President Obama had no clue on what Pandora box he has opened when he played politics with the old CIA memos. Putting a lid on such an issue now would be seen as covering up for the most powerful Democrat in the House. Too late for that! It is time for a total exposure… of the hypocrisy of our politicians, Republicans AND Democrats!
In the meantime, if I were a CIA agent, I would play it safe and draw my salary until retirement without risking a career standing up for politicians and politics.
If I were considering a career as an Intelligence Officer for any of the Intelligence agencies –CIA, FBI, NSA…- I would just grow a brain and do something else, like study law and become a shyster lawyer or a community activist.
If I were to plan a major attack on US soil or against US interests, I would start now!
Sleep well!
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On 9 September 2009, like every year since 2001, I got up, put on my “special” T-shirt and went out to display the American flag arguing with my wife that people are forgetting about the tragedy and that we must remind them at work, school, everywhere. I picked up my daily newspaper and sure enough, Rememberance day was not front page news Also, to add amazement to surprise, “Muslims and Holy month of Ramadan” was the Region pages main topic. How sensitive! We certainly don’t want to remind people that there is anti-American evil around and that 3000 civilians were targeted and murdered on that day by 19 cowards not even representative of a nation or its legitimate army. On 9-11-2001, they performed a mass murder. Some of the victims jumped to their death to avoid raging fires, fought to crash a plane or waited powerless for the buildings to collapse while saying their last goodbyes on their cell phones. I remember…do you?. And thank you to the teachers who said that talking about 9-11 is not in the curriculum. It makes sense, like not talking about May 8, July 27, Sept 2, 9-11, Nov 11, Dec 7…Whatever! I made 9-11 part of the curriculum and removed my kids from school for the day. We attended the Rememberance ceremony together in our town. My wife was in her United Airlines uniform and I wish I could have worn my Army uniform too. Flags and anthems, 21 shot volley and a Bell, and the Taps and inspiring speeches, prayers and testimonies…that morning, I was especially proud to live here. I wish we had more children representing our numerous schools and organizations, more teenagers, more people to learn and perpetuate the souvenir. I also wish we had some representatives of our Muslim community that have found a tolerant home in this town. They should have been there too, standing at our sides."I can die now. Heaven will be in the memories of those who remember!". Do not forget!
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"Before leaving town for a 10-day vacation, Obama met Friday with former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, an expert on health care policy and politics who was Obama's first choice for secretary of Health and Human Services before tax troubles derailed his nomination. A White House statement said the two "agreed that substantive reform that lowers costs, reforms the insurance industry, and expands coverage is too important to wait another year or another administration."
Good job...ask a tax cheat how to fix the healthcare system!
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Do we negotiate with rogue states?
Secretary of State Clinton stating August 2 that North Korea’s missile-launching provocation is the behavior of a brat. She said that “What we’ve seen is this constant demand for attention, and maybe it’s the mother in me or the experience that I’ve had with small children and unruly teenagers and people who are demanding attention — don’t give it to them, they don’t deserve it, they are acting out,” . That is why we have sent former president Bill Clinton to pick up the two journalists that North Korea had already agreed to release, thus allowing Kim Jong a nice photo op with beloved Clinton, and the local communist media to declare that along with the prestigious envoy, came a letter of apologies from Obama. Way to go and reward bad behavior! Of course there was not such letter –I hope- and of course, despite denials from the White House, this was not a private initiative. Korea 1, Community organizer 0.
Soon to come to the surface: what we gave up or exchange.
Question to you: should we bail out at any price all these people who put their lives in danger and the country at risk by ignoring the State Department travel advisories? What good did the female journalists or the Berkeley writers/hikers do to the world of news or intelligence? They took incredible risks to break the glass ceiling of journalism and report on secluded and repressive countries. They wanted to make a name for themselves…they did eventually. But what diplomatic price did we pay? Kim Jong was all smile while treating a former US President with benevolence. For a supposedly dying guy ready to vacate power, he looked energetic and talkative, on top of his game. He brought us to his own negotiation table and had us beg for the two girls. He pardoned them, meaning they are still guilty of all charges but forgiven by the good old man. And all that while Hillary, the State Secretary and wife of the envoy, was taking a firm stand against North Korea and was embroiled in a name calling game with them (she compared them to unruly teenagers and they labeled her a “funny lady, that someteime looks like a primary school girl and sometime a pensioner going shopping” They also said “her words suggest that she is by no means intelligent”.
What the hell is going on out there?
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Do you know or remember the motto of the United States Postal Services? "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds". It looks like what the elements have never been able to do, disrupt the service, is going to happen because past generous pension plans. From Public Service to Self Service….seems familiar?
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Scary times? You tell me.
Michael Jackson died suddenly at 50, reminding us of our human vulnerability and what a talented artist and role model he was. Congress even had a minute of silence and the whole world watched his last performance in a stadium named after a stationary company. President Obama is now considering the permanent wearing of a white glove, in memoriam. And the world cried, and many cashed in, and Al Jackson and Jesse Sharpton –or the other way around- seized the opportunity to make a comeback, and the black community made the final claim for their hero despite the fact that he spent most of his adult life erasing his negritude.
In the meantime, while every single media was covering the circus and deifying the has-been that could never be again, the world has changed and not for the best. While we all mourned that bizarre being that has been mostly known for his freaky side than remembered for his hits of 20 years ago, North Korea ramped up its belligerent attitude and fired seven missile on July fourth, as promised. Our administration took the threat seriously enough to beef up the missile defense of the islands of Hawaii but remained pretty low key and helpless after Kin Jong’s contribution to our national day… The bully has tested us again and we went back to the UN, our tail between our legs.
In Iraq, the withdrawing of the US forces has indeed led to chaos and violence is steadily increasing toward the bloody sectarian violence of the past. So much for victory!
In Iran, the cleric dictatorship has rigged the elections to extend Ahmadinejad’s leadership, and also violently suppressed demonstrations while accusing the West of supporting the unrest. Most recently, America and England have been told to stop criticizing what was happening…or else. Tweeter has become a “regime changer” –scary thought- and Moussavi presented as a great reformer and believed by many to be the “changes Iran has been waiting for”. Unfortunately, the fact that he might have been cheated from his victory does not make him the reformer we are hoping for. At a recent interview with the German magazine “Der Spiegel”, he made it clear for everybody: He believes in Iran getting its nuclear weapons, believes that America must come forward humbly to restore soured relations, believes that Israel is the enemy, believes that the Palestinians need their state back. About the holocaust…well…he said that “something must have happened” for all these people to try to run away…Moussavi is the party, the dictatorship and has shown how efficient he was when “war minister” during the Iran-Iraq conflict, he set up a formidable economy of war and jailed thousands of people. He is Ahmadinejad in a suit. He is to the educated and city dwellers the polished nationalist that could replace the rough and wild Ahmadinejad, the president of the workers and the poors. Anyways, Iran has shown us it true face again and with Ahmadinejad president for another term, and a crushed opposition, we already know what the next years are going to look like: anti Israel and anti-occident rhetoric, finalization of a nuclear weapon system, active support of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine, and eventually active support of the Shiites and Al Sadr militias in Iraq to get rid of the Sunnis.
In Pakistan, the US forces are getting more and more involved at getting rid of the Taliban heavens in the tribal areas. Every day, some drone blows up dozens of bad guys to pieces along with the unfortunate collateral damages that come with such blanket operations. How long until ground forces officially move in too? How long until we discover that US soldiers are already on the ground?
In Afghanistan, the surge is on the way with a massive US offensive to dislodge the Talibans from their various Southern safe heavens.
In Somalia, our money will arm the current regime and support its fight against the local Muslim clans. How long until ground forces are needed to prevent total chaos and also stop the piracy?
In China, Muslim minorities from the North are being repressed for refusing to be oppressed. Like in Nepal, the Chinese government is moving in quickly and strongly without any reaction from the US. Congress and the President were prompt to criticize Iran for its repression of the various “democratic” demonstration but interestingly stays pretty silent with China. After all, China is the backbone of our economy now and since day one, our administration has made it clear that the US would not let some human right issues hinder our economic and financial relationship.( “our pressing on those issues –human rights- can't interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis," Hillary Clinton / 2009).
And Russia generously offering us the Russian sky and ground routes for the logistic support of our war in Afghanistan, after having been instrumental at getting its former Asian satellite republics to kick us out or triple the “rent”.. Because of our support to Georgia in August 2008, Russia literally kicked us out of the Russian airspace and out of our rear bases in the former Soviet Central Asian states of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Suddenly we have lost our critical resupply route to Afghanistan (Nato imports about 70 per cent of its food, fuel, water and equipment from Pakistan via the Khyber Pass, and flies in much of the rest through Russian airspace via bases in Central Asia. -Timesonline UK-). NATO had to choose between a rock and a hard spot, between Pakistan, Russia, or an expensive and nightmarish non sustainable airlift solution! But thanks to President Medvedev-Putin’s “generosity”, and Pakistan’s instability, new Russian routes have been opened and we are back in business. Sure! Now the Russians have full control of the outcome of our war and the bill is coming soon. What will the Obama administration give to “win” its war against Bin-Laden ( the only legit conflict?) A European missile shield? Georgia? Latvia or Lithuania?
And the Saudis releasing 1500 terrorists linked to Al Qaeda after having officially convinced them of the wrongfulness of their ideology. "After several graded sessions with the committee, and having been convinced of their misguided vision, they renounced their erroneous ideologies, including the concept of driving out all infidels from the Arabian Peninsula," No comments. They made the world a safer place and the example should be followed by our administration that is so eager to empty and close Gitmo by the end of the year. Let the inmates swear to us that they saw the light, that drugs and Rock and Roll is the way along with promiscuity and let them go free. Would you? Would we apply that process to our entire prison system in order to save money?
And the US State Department that has just released five Iranians detained since 2007 for their active contribution to the training of anti-American militia and also the providing of the high tech and highly lethal road side bombs built around a shaped charge (EPS). They were suspected of being Quds force members under the protection of a Diplomatic job (elite secret unit of the National Revolutionary Guards). The State Department has denied that the release was a sign of weakness. What do you think?
Stay tuned for more because more will happen and in the meantime, turn on your radio or watch your TV! Brainwash yourself to the tune of “Thriller” while our deficit grows to a multi-trillion figure, along with the unemployment and the economy, while we lose our international standing and any sort of credibility we had left.
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Obama…the wind cone on race or the foot in the mouth disease
On his Harvard buddy, the sooo famous Professor Gates: It seems like Henry Louis Gates, the Harvard Professor, was arrested in his Cambridge home for a few good reasons: barking at the officers, hiding behind his oversized egocentric race card and arrogantly refusing to comply with legitimate requests. Was he racially profiled or just booked for being stupid? President Obama, from his high chair and prestigious position became judge and jury by stating on record that the police were "acting stupidly" to arrest his friend. Should he be focusing on important things, like fixing our economy or bailing out Kevin Johnson? He was not there was he? But he knows that all the cops are black killers and every white is a racist. Every black with a NAACP card knows that! I was not there either but I can judge too! I can picture the arrogant old fool trying to turn his pampered stupidity (forced his own door) into a civil right-like struggle . Like most of us whites, he should have complied peacefully and THANKED THE Police for responding quickly. After all, they rushed to protect the property of a rich black man, property that was reported as being burglarized. Does the professor know that at the end of the day he has more chances to fall murdered by another black than from Police brutality? (FBI data: In 2007, 3221 blacks were murdered. 2905 of them by other African Americans).
Obama: Ivy league + affirmative action = cry baby: “"I think it's fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry. No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And No. 3 — what I think we know separate and apart from this incident — is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that's just a fact." Maybe they should just stop breaking the laws!
On the media for making him look stupid on his comment on the “stupid” action of the cops in Cambridge: “it is the media's "obsessions" that are keeping alive his comments about the arrest” All that while the White house tried to put new words and meanings in his mouth.
On calling the Cambridge cops stupid: President Obama said Friday that he has he used the wrong words calling the action stupid and should have "calibrated those words differently." He stated: "I want to make clear that in my choice of words, I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge police department and Sgt. Crowley specifically. And I could've calibrated those words differently." Eventually, he also called the white police officer to let him know all the good he thought of him….blah blah blah…
The facts: He is prejudice against cop and he exposed racial issues when coming to the rescue of his high profile friend that the press keeps on referring to as “the renown professor” Gates junior. His buddy was arrested for disorderly conduct and the Prez had to pipe in and make it a racial issue, saying the cops acted stupidly adding to the long proven American history of racial discrimination. He had to back pedal, get his staff to apologize, blamed the media, eventually state that both parties were at fault before calling the white cop and apologize in other words, especially after the black officer that was part of the arrest went public and described who is racist and who was being profiled. No comments! Oooopsy…it did not go as well as for the biling out of Kevin Johnson, did it? Anyways…here is what this “renown” arrogant scholar is all about: victimization, bully tactics and race card…affirmative action and ivy league:
Associated Press July 24
BOSTON - The second Cambridge police officer who was inside the home of renowned black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. during his arrest says he and the arresting officer "followed protocols."
Patrolman Carlos Figueroa says he and Sgt. James Crowley were investigating a report of a burglary at Gates' home near Harvard University, and they needed to be sure everyone was in the house legally. He said that's why Crowley asked Gates for his identification. Figueroa said Gates shouted "No, I will not!" He also says Gates was shouting at Crowley, calling him a racist and saying, "This is what happens to black men in America!"
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A black police officer who was at Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s home when the black Harvard scholar was arrested says he fully supports how his white fellow officer handled the situation.Sgt. Leon Lashley says Gates was probably tired and surprised when Sgt. James Crowley demanded identification from him as officers investigated a report of a burglary. Lashley says Gates' reaction to Crowley was "a little bit stranger than it should have been."
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Wright, Jackson, Sharpton, Gates, WEB Du Bois
Du Bois…worth an institute in Harvard…
He described the Imperial Japanese victory over Russia as “colored pride”…hos simple is the world for pampered anti-white racist!
1936, invited by “imperial Japan” to visit Japan and Chinese territories occupied by the Imperial forces of Japan.. He stated that the Japanese/Chinese feud was caused by “China's "submission to white aggression and Japan's resistance." He even told Chinese people to welcome Japanese soldiers as liberators…I guess he did not go to Nanking, right? He also supported the later invasion of Mandchuria.
About Stalin, he wrote: “Joseph Stalin was a great man; few other men of the 20th century approach his stature. He was simple, calm and courageous. He seldom lost his poise; pondered his problems slowly, made his decisions clearly and firmly; never yielded to ostentation nor coyly refrained from holding his rightful place with dignity. He was the son of a serf but stood calmly before the great without hesitation or nerves. But also - and this was the highest proof of his greatness - he knew the common man, felt his problems, followed his fate.”
About the 1956 Russian invasion of Hungary, he stated that the Hungarian revolution was led by Landlords and fascists.
In 1958 Du Bois was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Communist Prague His honorary dissertation was entitled The Negro and Communism
In 1959 the USSR awarded him the International Lenin Peace Prize.
“Mostly Wikipedia, and other online bio”
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Stop it with the cry baby race game from yet another connected ivy league rich black guilt trip facilitator.
With more than 2 million burglaries in 2007, I am glad that somebody called the cops after witnessing two people –that have happened to be black- trying to force a door open. But reporting what seems to be a crime is plain “profiling”.
Of course, when the police showed up, the “professor” had to ride on his high racial horses, pull his well oiled race card out and most likely bark at the officers’ face and call them racists instead of complying, showing proof of ID, explaining what had happened and thanking the officer for responding so fast and willing to put their lives on the line for the property of a black man.
But what can you say…ivy league rich and powerful black men rule the country now…and cops are “stupid” according to our new President.
And the funny thing is that the “ethnic study professor” have more chances to die killed by a black guy than a racist cop. I wonder if he knows it?
FBI statistics from their website:
Do you know that African American are second as offenders in race crimes with 1448 documented crimes in 2007 against 4378 by white and Hispanics?
Do you know that the majority of persons arrested in the US are white with 69.7% in 2007.
Do you know that more African Americans died in the hand of other African Americans than from white racists. In 2007 3221 blacks were murdered. 245 by white murderers and 2905 by other African Americans. Also, 3587 white were killed, 2918 by white murderers. Blacks should fear blacks more than white and Hispanics.
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It seems like Henry Louis Gates, the Harvard Professor, was arrested in his Cambridge home for a few good reasons: barking at the officers, hiding behind his oversized egocentric race card and arrogantly refusing to comply with legitimate requests. Was he racially profiled or just booked for being stupid? President Obama, from his high chair and prestigious position became judge and jury by stating on record that the police were "acting stupidly" to arrest his friend. Should he be focusing on important things, like fixing our economy or bailing out Kevin Johnson? He was not there was he? But he knows that all the cops are black killers and every white is a racist. Every black with a NAACP card knows that! I was not there either but I can judge too! I can picture the arrogant old fool trying to turn his pampered stupidity (forced his own door) into a civil right-like struggle . Like most of us whites, he should have complied peacefully and THANKED THE Police for responding quickly. After all, they rushed to protect the property of a rich black man, property that was reported as being burglarized. Does the professor know that at the end of the day he has more chances to fall murdered by another black than from Police brutality? (FBI data: In 2007, 3221 blacks were murdered. 2905 of them by other African Americans).
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Brainwashed, one neuron at a time:
I wish the MEDIA would have given more coverage than 15 lines in the local paper to this Chico man's attempt to run over an abortion protester. Was it front page material and opinion feeder for the Eugene Robinson of the world? Maybe the article should have stated that the driver was brainwashed by the pro-abortion leftist propaganda that is stirring the crazies of the left and leading to violence: ELF members burning housing developments, animal activists violently intimidating scientists, anti globalization and anti war looting and rioting crowds, Gay activists defacing Mormon temples, anti Jews and Christians National Socialist and white supremacist like movements....When is the Governement going to protect us form the crazy people from the left? Of course I am being facetious! What about agreeing to the idea that there are crazy people all around, all faiths, party affiliations, races, ethnicities or sexual orientations willing to resort to violence to promote their agenda. Vilifying the right or talk shows might be fashionable for now but will not prevent any of you from eventually becoming the victim of a rabid leftist. Extremist news will lead to more extremist violence because leftist and right propaganda are both dangerous! Where does mainstream media stand?
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Disinformation at work:
Mr. Robinson, a columnist from the East coast, wrote a nice long piece "a la " Homeland security depicting right wing nuts and yerrorists becoming restless because of the so called "red hot " right wing rethoric from right wing media. What about writing the same thing about lefty nut jobs, something like “Red-hot rhetoric from Liberals may be fueling radical acts”. Here is what you could also write! A good example of the leftist nut jobs is Abdulhakim Muhammad, 23, of Little Rock. Recently, he converted to Islam, went to Yemen, and brainwashed by years of media and leftist propaganda he went on a pre-planned shooting spree aiming at killing as many US soldiers as he could. He fed on the leftist rant that America is bad, war on terror offensive to Muslims, that our soldiers are baby-killers and rapists, and that the Afghanistan and Iraq wars are illegitimate despite both parties in Congress overwhelmingly supporting it again and again. One soldier was killed by the lone gunman. What about the crazies of the Animal Liberation Front and other sympathizers to their cause that go around threatening or bombing scientists working with animals? What about the idiots of the Earth Liberation Front that go around burning housing developments in suburbia to stop the sprawl? What about the violent and destructive anti war or anti globalization anarchist groups? What about the American citizens that are so disgusted by how “evil” America is that they spy for communist countries and disseminate our most sensitive secrets? Bipartisan blindness in both side of the political spectrum, poor education and lack of critical thinking is killing us as a nation. We get the schools, the media and governments we deserve. Rest in peace.
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On this troubled time when our elected President deems necessary to perform another “apology tour” mostly aimed at the Muslim world, I thought it was adequate to publish again this essay I wrote a while back.
It is 98% original and still so frighteningly accurate..
Muslims and peace.
(nota: this paper quickly brushes an (incomplete) overview of the Muslim world complexity and only intends to trigger the need for more research in the reader’s part)
Holy Qur-an
Surate V 92 “Never should a believer kill a believer (…)”
Surate V 93 “If a man kills a believer intentionally, is recompense is Hell (…)”
We have read and heard many time that “Islam” is a religion of peace that has been “hijacked” by bloody terrorists seeking to bring fundamentalism in the Arab world.
These nihilists simplify the “Western world” as an American-led bunch of Christian countries made of crusaders united to annihilate the Muslim faith and fulfill the “Zionist” agenda. In return, we often have a tendency to wrongly simplify Islam as a single religion practiced by the Arab world as a whole.
We do know that Christians are far from believing in the same things and practicing the same way, Christianity only being the common denominator, the name for a family of closely related beliefs. We are also aware that the Christian branches have sorted out their difference in blood and violence some four centuries ago and that Christians are actually pretty peaceful today. We also know better than to claim that the Western world is united when dealing with the Arab world.
On the other hand, and because of its huge Sunni majority (940 million out of 1 billion Muslims), Islam is often (and wrongly) considered as more united than Christianity and Judaism. But that religion also comes in many denominations, sects, and subdivisions, and more often than none, these groups have a hard time recognizing other groups as fellow Muslims, and it is not unusual to see them fighting each other.
To top it up, the Arab world is not only limited to the Middle East and ranges from former Russian republics to China, via Turkey, Africa, and Asia. Actually, the top ten Muslim countries of the world only include a couple of countries making what is commonly perceived as the Arab world (Turkey- 63,000.000- Iran –61,000.000- Egypt – 54,000.000- Pakistan -136,000,000-).
The main Muslim population is mostly spread out in Asia (Indonesia -171,000,000- Bangladesh -106,000,000- India -103,000,000- China -38,000,000), with one big contender in Africa (Nigeria -47,720,000-).
The subdivisions of Islam:
· There are three major groups and many different smaller sects following their own versions of Islam
Sunni Islam: They have chosen to follow Abu Bakr, as the successor of Muhammad. They form the majority in Algeria), Kuwait Afghanistan and outnumber Shiites in Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Libya and Jordan. Historically, Sunnis are pretty traditional believers and oppose Shiite, the US Nation of Islam, Ahmadiyya, and Ismailis.
Shi'a Islam (Shiites): They have chosen to follow Ali, his closest relative, as the successor of Muhammad They form the majority in Iraq, Iran and Bahrain and total about 120,000.000. Shiites mainly oppose Sunnis and Ahmadyya.
Ahmadyya Islam: This clearly dissident branch of Islam was created by Mirza Ahmad in India in the nineteenth century, and includes about 170,000.000 followers (most of them in Pakistan). It preaches a peaceful “jihad” and had seceded in two different groups in the early 1900.
· Two sects that have a lot of influence in the Muslim world challenge these numerous groups:
The Wahhabis: Fundamentalists, they believe that everything that was added to the original religion after the third century is heresy. They only strive in Saudi Arabia that is well known for using its “petrodollars” to finance Coranic schools and spread Islam in third world countries plagued by misery, or in other parts of the world hit by religious based conflicts.
The Sufis: They follow another traditional form of mystic Islam clearly conflictual with mainstream Islam.
· The other numerous sects split from the main currents of Islam throughout time and over disagreements on the choice of an Imam or the choice of what the right Islamic path should be.
The, Zaidis (Imam issue), the Kahrijites (seeking another path), the Ismailis (ex Shiites), Fatimids (ex Ismailis, ruled Egypt for 200 years), the Alawis (ex Ismailis that strayed and are not considered as Islamic anymore), the Nizaris (formerly known as “Assassins” from the Arabic “ashshashsin”, a combination of words meaning “Hashish” and “to slaughter”. The original Crusaders fought that fierce sect known to be KUI (killing under the influence)), the Bahais (not regarded as Islamic anymore), and the Druzes (split from mainstream when believing that God can appear in a prophet or Imam. Druzes factions fought hard in Lebanon).
The inter Arab and inter Muslim wars:
The Arab world we know has been geographically drawn by the colonial powers of the twentieth century and has been plagued since with wars and rivalries. The presence of the state of Israel has been one of the leading causes of the Middle-Eastern wars and switches of allegiances. So were the two Iraqi invasions.
Politically, Arab regimes can be divided in two specific and competing sorts. On the one hand, “Pan Arab” government believe that they have been brought up by a “revolution” when on the other, oil producing countries believe that they are in power because of the richness of their soil. The latter is of course afraid to be forced to share its wealth with the former.
In the past decades, Arab countries have fought other Arab countries for many reasons including territorial disputes, expansion or wealth but not directly religion. Furthermore, many political tensions did not end up in wars but have also stressed the great divide between these Arab countries desperately seeking a European like union. The following confusing list of armed wars and political tensions of the past three decades best describes the complexity of their interactions.
During the Iran-Iraq conflict, Syria sided with Iran, and Egypt with Iraq. Algeria and Morocco are still at odds over the Western Sahara where the Algerian sponsored POLISARIO still fight Morocco’s ruling. Syria took over Lebanon, tried to invade Jordan (Israeli fighter jets saved Jordan form the Syrian armored onslaught), stood against Iraq and Egypt. Iraq and Saudi Arabia had tensions over borders and some war debts. Iraq and Turkey over the Kurds and water rights. Libya invaded Chad (oil). Libya and Syria are still trying to normalize their relationship with Egypt, banned for having supported Israel after the 1967 debacle. Jordan angered Egypt after siding with Iraq over the Arab council’s cooperation funds. Later, Iraq invaded Kuwait (oil), and Muslim countries sided with the UN force led by the US to liberate Kuwait (Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Pakistan, Turkey, United Emirates, Syria, Egypt, Bangladesh). Muslim countries also approved the second US led war in Iraq (Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kuwait, Uzbekistan).
Muslims and “invaders”: how fundamentalist “foreign fighters” take over liberation struggles
When Muslim countries are not too busy fighting each other, they stand up for their freedom against foreign invasions by “crusaders” of another faith. One cannot help noticing that in the past decades, these struggles have been mostly hijacked by a nucleus of international fundamentalists dedicated to getting rid of the “invader”, taking over the country, and imposing their radical views of Islam. The “foreign fighters” movement started in Kashmir, a hot spot between Pakistan and India where international Muslim fighters, supported by Pakistan, were fighting Indian troops (and still do it to a lesser extent), taking and executing hostages and blowing bombs. When Russia invaded Afghanistan, the trend greatly amplified and recruits from all over the Muslim world converged to fight the Russian in a holy Jihad. Instead of lining up at the unemployment line after the Russian defeat, these fighters spread out to more hot spots of the world, from Chechnya to Kosovo, Palestine, or Iraq for two consecutive wars.
The following listing illustrate the trend and shows that all the popular (and legitimate?) uprising against a foreign power of another faith had led to a take over of the struggle by radical Islam with a radical agenda.
Radical foreign fighters are fighting India over the independence of Kashmir. The Palestinian struggle against Israel has been hijacked by radical factions resorting to terrorism and backed up by powers such as Iran. For years, in and from Lebanon, radical Muslim terrorist groups have waged a war against Israel and against other Lebanese factions. In Chechnya, foreign fighters infiltrated the Chechen resistance and are now leading the struggle against Russian troops. The same was also tried in Kosovo. In Afghanistan, and twice in Iraq, foreign fighters joined the regular army to fight the US led invasions. In post Gulf War 2 Iraq, radical international fighters are using terror against occupation forces and other Muslim to fulfill their agenda.
Islam and “wars of religion”:
When fundamentalism takes over, Islam has a hard time cohabitating with another of its branches or another religion. Religious peace and tolerance that had been the norm for decades had been recently broken all over the world, everywhere where new self proclaimed righteous fighters try to impose by force their retrograde view.
In Africa, Muslim warriors, following a long tradition of hunting for slaves in “black Africa” took over or are actively seeking dominance in civil war torn or peaceful countries. Furthermore, a more global and insidious agenda is fulfilled by the Kingdom of Saud that spreads out Coranic schools in poor and remote provinces where young children are enrolled by force by their parents who want to grant them free food and “education”. Commonly, “studies” last about four years, in chains, the time it takes to learn the Holy Qur-an by heart.
Sudan had only been peaceful eleven years since its accession to independence in 1955. The perpetual civil war started as a religious war between the Muslim populated North and the Christian South. In the Darfur province of Sudan, and now in Eastern Chad, the Janjaweed Muslim militias backed up by the Islamic government of Khartoum, keep on carrying out well documented genocide-like military strikes on the Christian black African population, resorting to looting raping, mass killing to chase them away. Sudan is also known to harbor known terrorist groups.
In Ivory Coast, that used to be the “jewel of Africa” and the example of a post-colonial success, the fabric of the population had been eroded by the influx of refugees from neighboring countries, refugees seeking a piece of the success. The more than 60 ethnic groups that make the country lived in harmony until they became the “minority” in their own land, and recession hit. Interestingly enough, the North of the country that is currently held by three foreign backed dissident groups is also made of a majority of Muslim.
In Nigeria, since the 1993 dictatorship of General Abacha, dictatorship that led to corruption, drugs trafficking and ethnic and religious tensions and clashes in the 36 states that form the country, the Muslim of the North have been diligently oppressing their Christian-animist minorities. In 1999, defying the constitution, eleven Northern Muslim states have implemented strict Islamic laws, forced to Islam or persecuted other religious groups, burned and destroy other temples or churches, already accounting for tens of thousands of death and more in displaced populations.
In Somalia, another heaven for terrorist groups, the civil war still rages but if initially it was mostly an ethnic based ancient conflict pitting together nomads against sedentary people, Northern tribes against Southern groups, rural communities against urban populations, the new trend is religious and Muslim armed groups are fighting to get rid of the moderate Mulsim that promote some separation between religion and state.
In Algeria, after having cancelled elections obviously won by the Salvation Islamic Front that had capitalized in the discontent created by the recession of the 1990, the military dictatorship have basically abandoned whole remote regions of Algeria to the Salvation Islamic Army. Furthermore, another group of fundamentalist, the Armed Islamic Group , tried to force Islam on rural Algerians that were slaughtered or raped after their villages were looted. In urban area, and neighboring countries, intellectuals, journalists and officials were also executed by the Armed Islamic Group that found its fame in the many nail bombings that it conducted in Paris between 1993 and 1996. This civil war that still rages today in the name of the war on terror has already cost thousands of lives.
Israel is still the standing symbol of a religious war between radical Islam and Zionism.
Turkey is still struggling between a modern and moderate Islam. As recently as 2002, the country has officially protected other religions and minorities and even allows Christian and Jew organizations to own real estate, that is to say churches and synagogues. Still, fundamental Islam lurks in the background and tries to take over.
As far Iraq is concerned, no comment: Muslims are still killing more Muslims than the coalition force and there is no way anybody would be crazy enough to try to build a church or a Synagogue in today’s Iraq.
In India, foreign Muslim fighters, and also terrorists, are waging a secession war in Kashmir. When in 1947, the Muslim state of Pakistan was created; millions of Hindu Indians moved South while Muslim went north to the new country. That was the direct cause for about 500.000 deaths. At the same time, about to be overtaken by Pakistan, the Indian ruler of Kashmir decided to join the South despite its Muslim majority. Since than, Muslim fighters and/or the Pakistanis army have tried many time to “liberate” the province from “infidel” hands.
In Afghanistan, after the departure of their common Russian enemy, the “freedom fighters” split in many warring factions and started a civil war that led to the Victory of the Pakistan backed Talibans, opposed by a coalition of moderate Muslims, the Northern coalition led by Commander Massoud. After 9-11, and despite the murdering of Massoud commandeered by the Talibans and Al Qaeda, the US backed the North and successfully routed the Talibans. Moderate Islam is still struggling today in Afghanistan, especially since the return of the Talibans. Pakistan does not really appreciate the “birth” of a sovereign and moderate power at its borders, and would rather have it out of sight of the international community in the hands of aTaliban-like regime.
In China, the Muslim western province of Xinjiang, North of Tibet, is one of the two only Chinese province where the majority is not held by the Han ethnic group but by Kazakhs, Uzbecks or Mongols, united with a common language and religion. Islam is predominant there and since 1990, Xinjiang Islamists have resorted to violence to voice their aspirations. Like in Tibet, China used the excuse of the post 9-11 global war on terror to increase its repression.
The Philippines suffers from a communist, a military and a Muslim rebellion. The latter resorts to terrorism and is today the most serious threat to the fragile democracy, with the group Abu Sayaf bragging to its linkage with Bin Laden. Hostage taking is a common tool used by the group that ridiculed the army in 2001 when it captured 200 hostages in a hospital. Since than, the US has been really active along local military forces to hunt down the terrorists.
Indonesia is the biggest Muslim country of the world that had been artificially united by its military ruler for the past 30 years. It is composed of 13,000 Islands occupied by three religious groups, Muslims, Hindus and Christians. Since 1998, the religious war between Muslims and Christians in the Moluccas island of the north East of the archipelago had cost more than 5000 dead and half a million of displaced people.
In Timor, a hilly island whose Dutch part was attached to Indonesia in 1949 (West Timor) while its Portuguese part (Timor East) proclaimed independence in 1975, the population was 90% Catholic. The independent part was invaded by Indonesia in 1975. Islam has been imposed since 1949 on the West part and as of 1975 on the Eastern side. The “Islamization” was conducted by “inserting” 250,000 Indonesian in the Island and by setting concentration camps were about 300,000 Catholics were still reported to be held in 1999. Thanks to international and UN pressure, Timor East chooses independence again later on. Since than, Muslim militias, backed by the Indonesian army, have already claimed thousands of deaths and the forced internment in West Timor of 250,000 displaced people.UN forces are still present there to monitor the situation and put an end the civil war.
In former Yugoslavia, Muslim ethnic minorities were the victim of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and UN forces were unable to stop it. As of today, the ethnic and religious cohabitation of what used to be the people of Yugoslavia under Marshal Tito is only guaranteed by a strong and permanent international military presence.
Conclusion:
Islam, Muslims, the Arab world, moderation, terrorism and fundamentalism…
This paper did not try to bash on the Muslim faith but to describe what has been happening lately across the world, where Islam, has been involved. The author did not even tried to approach the various Islamic laws as applied differently in different countries, laws that would let a Westerner shocked and speechless.
Modern Muslims are struggling today with the return of the more fundamental approach of their religion that has been spreading since the 1979 Iranian revolution. Furthermore, the major Muslim sects and groups have also been fighting each other for the total dominance of the Islamic faith. It is up to the vast majority (?) of moderate Muslims to stand up and protect their “religion of peace that has been high jacked by the terrorists!”
In the meantime, it is a small world and if all Muslims are not terrorists, most terrorists are Muslim. If most Muslims are peace lovers, most Muslim countries are third world dictatorship in or out of a war, supporting or planning some kind of conflict or armed operation somewhere. And finally, if most Muslims would give their left arm to move to a Western country, America included, mostly Muslims would love to destroy these Western democracies to impose their backward laws.
Whether you like it or not, whether you think I am rude or insensitive, these are facts I could debate with you ad nauseam, and happily too. Welcome in the world and Mr Obama is not going to change it.
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Comparisons between what did not work under President Bush and works great under President Obama:
· Drinking in college by Bush is bad but drug use by Obama is cool… the “audacity of dope!”
· For 20 years and under Bush, attending Rev Wright’s church was OK but once Senator running for the White House, Rev Wright became "The person I saw yesterday is not the person I met 20 years ago."
· During previous administration, Rezko was a friend. During the campaign, "your contributor, Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner-city Chicago." (Dixit Sen Clinton). Once Senator running for the White House, Obama said “This isn't the Tony Rezko I knew."
· Tax breaks: they were for the rich under Bush and are OK now that the Obama administration continues them.
· A military surge in Iraq was bad under Bush and the lying General “Betrayus” misrepresented it but it is good under Obama in Afghanistan.
· War on Islam bad under Bush… Muslim countries that are friendly to the US, where US citizens can roam freely and exercise their freedom of speech, religion, sexual preferences, etc…: Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt, and West Africa, Lebanon…. But President Obama stated that “the U.S. "is not and never will be at war with Islam”
· The Domestic Surveillance law was an attack on our constitutional rights and privacy under Bush but it is OK now for Eric Holder to push Congress for its continuation.
· China’s poor records on Human rights issue were encouraged when Bush attended the Olympic games (dixit Sen Clinton or Pelosi) but “won’t hinder” our economic and political relationship with the Obama administration (dixit State Secretary Clinton or Speaker of the House Pelosi)
· Carrying guns in public parks was a bad idea of the Bush administration but has been signed into law by President Obama.
· Torture is an ugly legacy used and encouraged by the Bush administration but US lawmakers “a la Pelosi” who have known about it since 2002 did encourage it by their silence and complicity. They did not know, were lied to, forgot, did not do anything because it was pointless….whatever…. and President Obama said that he was “Seeking to move beyond what he calls a "a dark and painful chapter in our history," a time when executive and legislative worked together to achieve results and win a couple of wars.
· Investigating the Bush administration to restore America’s honor is good but creating a bipartisan committee to investigate the many claims from the speaker of the House, Pelosi, that the CIA has lied to and misled members of Congress is just a disturbance to more critical topics…especially when everybody knows that she has been lying on the matter…and if she has not, can one run by me why it is unimportant to prove that the CIA is actually lying and misleading Congress…a pattern that led us to Iraq…an excuse for Bush? A screen smoke from a lying and self serving politician? Come on, on these time of exposing Bush-Cheney evil side, Democrats would have jumped on the occasion and supported the investigation…unless they know Pelosi is lying!
· Harsh interrogation methods were “legalized” by a bunch of “bad lawyers” of the Bush administration and that was not good, but using lawyers to legitimize the incarceration without trial of hard core Guantanamo inmates on US soil is OK as long as it comes from the Obama administration…
· Pork Barrel under Bush was bad but under Obama it is a good thing
· Lobbyist was the plague under Bush but under Obama it is OK… Interests groups involved in that new Green cash cow have increased their lobbying workforce by 300% compared to five years ago…
· And Hiroshima and Nagasaki used to be good and credited for saving hundreds of Thousands of American AND Japanese lives but according to Obama, guilty America should be leading the world to a total nuclear disarmament because –how dared she- America actually used the evil power first.
· And special funding to finance the war was bad under Bush but seems like a good idea under Obama, even when he used to oppose them when Senator.
· And Blackwater and the privatization of war by corporate America was so bad under Bush but ignored today when Blackwater is still protecting State Department officials under a Federal contract.
· And the special military tribunal that were not good at all during Bush and have been restarted by the Obama administration.
· And the “rendition” process that allows America to transfer prisoners to foreign countries, was bad under Bush but upheld by the new administration.
· And the nomination of buddies and contributors as Ambassadors….come on, even the owner of the Steelers got one of these cozy payback post!
· And the announcement of the 150.000 jobs he saved the day when unemployment fell to another record low…oooops…he saved jobs based on what he said we would have lost without him! That’s good non partisan math!
· And finally, $500 billion Federal Budget deficit and two wars were bad under two terms of Bush but $1.5 Trillion deficit –and growing- in 100 days under Obama is cool.
How do you spell Hypocrisy, disinformation?
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From Reuters: China hlaughs at our Treasury Secretary's attempt to convince them that their investment in American assets are safe!
Turbo Tax Geithner deserves his nickname...lol
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSPEK14475620090601
Reuters:
By Glenn Somerville
BEIJING, June 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday reassured the Chinese government that its huge holdings of dollar assets are safe and reaffirmed his faith in a strong U.S. currency.
A major goal of Geithner's maiden visit to China as Treasury chief is to allay concerns that Washington's bulging budget deficit and ultra-loose monetary policy will fan inflation, undermining both the dollar and U.S. bonds.
China is the biggest foreign owner of U.S. Treasury bonds. U.S. data shows that it held $768 billion in Treasuries as of March, but some analysts believe China's total U.S. dollar-denominated investments could be twice as high.
"Chinese assets are very safe," Geithner said in response to a question after a speech at Peking University, where he studied Chinese as a student in the 1980s.
His answer drew loud laughter from his student audience, reflecting scepticism in China about the wisdom of a developing country accumulating a vast stockpile of foreign reserves instead of spending the money to raise living standards at home.
But later in the day, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said it was important for the two nations to show the world they are working together through their joint economic dialogue.
"We must through our dialogue send a clear signal that China and the U.S. are engaged in practical cooperation to address the crisis," Wang told Geithner, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website (www.mfa.gov.cn).
"This is important for boosting confidence and encouraging global financial stability and economic revival," said Wang.
In his speech, Geithner renewed pledges that the Obama administration would cut its huge fiscal deficits and promised "very disciplined" future spending, possibly including reintroduction of pay-as-you-go budget rules instead of nonstop borrowing.
"We have the deepest and most liquid markets for risk-free assets in the world. We're committed to bring our fiscal deficits down over time to a sustainable level.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the Russian newspaper PRAVDA..and believe me! It was -and still is- the official mouthpiece of the Communist party for haldf a century, so they must know better!
American capitalism gone with a whimper
27.04.2009 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-american_capitalism-0
It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.
True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds were conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.
Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.
First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonald’s burger or a Burger King burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.
Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.
The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.
These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?
These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.
Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.
So it should be no surprise that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.
Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.
So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.
The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.
The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.
Stanislav Mishin
The article has been reprinted with the kind permission from the author and originally appears on his blog, Mat Rodina
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California has just recovered again for the day-after hang over caused by Cinco Di Mayo, the celebration of the onetime victory of a foreign military over another foreign military in a foreign country (on year later the French took Mexico and sat their puppet on the throne). When I look back at the American history, for events worth remembering and celebrating one way or another, May 5th (Cinco di Mayo) does not even make the list. Just consider, to name a few, May 7th (1915) and the tragedy of the Lusitania that caused America to enter WW1, or May 8th, V Day Europe, the end of WW2! About 115000 US servicemen and women died in the first world war, and 300000 during the second. But we just forgot that our present has been defined by our past and the people have chosen margaritas over the sacrifice of their grandparents and parents. Let just open the borders and get done with this nonsense, because our definition of what America is and should be does not measure up to what our ancestors believed. For the kick of it, I polled a couple of GED level teenagers about "Lusitania" and why America should remember May 8, 1945. Most of the tentative answers located "Lusitania' somewhere in Eastern Europe and offered the landing in Normandy on May 8th. No wonder that there is not such a thing as an American Department of culture!
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Nota: Flu deaths are nothing new in the United States or elsewhere. The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States.
Believing the media is a little like dealing with Jehovah witnesses. They have sold us the end of the world so many times in the past centuries that we don’t believe them anymore, even if we know that one day they might finally get the causes and dates right. The Bee, reporting on the so called “swine-avian-human flu”, filled up pages of fear-mongering material while also saying that only 20 of the 149 announced Mexican casualties of the virus were confirmed flu victims. Flop! Like for the West Nile virus and the Asian avian flu, cash strapped “tabloidic” media are playing on our fears. At the same time, Federal , State, Local governments and politicians are afraid of a Katrina-like disaster and backlash for inaction (Louisiana’s governor was kicked out and New Orleans mayor and police force became a national joke). They play safe and add to the hysteria with highly publicized emergency plans and other tips and tricks. Unfortunately, the new flu, like its Asian counterpart a while back, will kill a couple of hundreds of locals in the third world countries that are affected because of a virus spreading traditional home farming of pigs and chickens, poor sanitary conditions and a poor healthcare system. In the US, maybe a dozen will end up dead for having been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Should we be aware? Sure. Should we worry? I have more chances to die in my car on my way home than to get the flu. Just get your priorities right and be cool.
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Obama denouncing Bush on contracting programs and “fiscal irresponsibility”: “There is a fundamental public trust that we –the government- must uphold. The American’s people’s money must be spent to advance their priorities and not to line the pockets of contractors or to maintain projects that don’t work”
Way to go, mister, how do you spell crooks in your administration, lobbyists, pork barrel, pet project, your agenda vs our lives, etc, etc…Trillions already spent and none for my priorities or fix a broken system, just to line the pockets of your electorate, buddies, and congressional representation!
Let see…the latest controversial pork barreled $410 billion budget, “last year business”, 8000 earmarks, 6% increase of funds for the government (crisis does not apply in DC)…and not a single veto yet to come from opur fearless leader that ran a campaign claiming he would read budget proposals line by line and get rid of the pork:
$21 million for research on a “quick peal grape”
$1.7 million for honey bees
$1.7 million for pig odor study
$1 million for crickets control
$800,ooo catfish genetic studies
$650,000 for beaver management
$900,000 to sustain Las Vegas
$2 million to promote astronomy in Hawaii
$200,000 for tattoo removal anti gang program
$300,000 for voyaging society of Hawaii
$200,000 for blackberry studies
Etc,etc..
More interesting are these facts:
$38,4 million co sponsored by Hilda Solis, Labor secretary
$109 million sponsored by Hillary Clinton, State secretary
$31.2 million sponsored by Transportation secretary Ray Lahood
$8.5 million in 16 earmarks by Rahm Emmanuel, White House chief of staff
Etc, etc… and the best for the end:
$7,7 million co sponsored by….Senator Obama while campaigning for the Presidential seat on the nop pork barrel and no earmarks and no biz as usual in DC platform!
Here are the changes we have been waiting for! Lol
Buyer’s remorse yet?
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No comments! Just reporting to you!
ShareThis
By David Goldstein
dgoldstein@mcclatchydc.com
Published: Thursday, Mar. 19, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 15A
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Wednesday abandoned a controversial plan to make veterans use private health insurance to pay for costly treatments of combat-related injuries.
Stung by the angry reaction to the proposal, the administration made the decision after a meeting between officials from 11 veterans advocacy groups and top White House officials.
"Our voices were heard," said Norbert Ryan, the president of the Military Officers Association of America. "They made the right decision on this."
The plan would have reversed a long-standing policy of providing government health coverage for all service-related injuries. Few details emerged beyond its reported savings of $540 million, however.
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Red Cross report states US used torture.
Water boarding, sleep deprivation and various other humiliations are standard practices for Evasion and Escape training for Special Forces (E&E). So is it torture when they are applied on our soldiers as part of a training? Should we just keep on doing it to the bad guy and deliver them E&E certificate of training completion and get done with it? You should read the Geneva Convention and when you read it (you will be one of the few), spend time on chapter 4 that describes what a combatant is and what rules one must follow in order to become a protected prisoner of war (POW). Where do you fit our enemies in the following statement: “Members of other militias (…) must fulfil the following conditions (-to be considered POW-):[ (a) that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates; (b) that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance; (c) that of carrying arms openly; (d) that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war”. Don’t take my word for it, go and check it out, educate yourself because knowledge is power! (http://www.genevaconventions.org/ ).
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Don’t take my word for it!
I know that you are still hanging out by your nails to the Audacity of your unlimited hopes and to the pledges and over-promises of the “one we have been waiting for” and that you have eventually put in the White House.
Just read the Tehran Times of February 21 2009! Reporting on a US TV interview by Stephanopoulos (ABC). The Iranian news media stresses President Obama ’s commitment to “break away from President George W Bush’s policy on Iran and seek a much broader approach with the Islamic state” and quote him stating that ““We are going to have to take a new approach. And I’ve outlined my belief that engagement is the place to start,”. Also, the reader is reminded that the US President ran a campaign saying that “there should be no pre-conditions in discussions with the Iranian leadership”. Add to that an interview with Al Arabya where he basically apologized to Muslim dictatorships and other third world tyrants for the past American intolerant behavior toward Islam and the tone of the new administration has been set: America is going to revive the happier American-Muslim times of 20 to 30 years ago, he said (“We have not been perfect. But if you look at the track record, as you say, America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago”). The problem is that such a statement is wrong and shows a total ignorance of the historic realities of that time, and that 20 to 30 years ago, Middle Eastern terrorists were plaguing our skies or killing our soldiers and citizens all over the world while the cold armed war raged on through Arab proxies. Sure, all of this has happened on “day one”, a couple of days after our country had yet another peaceful democratic change of power that saw the first “black” president elected. But we are the bad guys right? Sure! Try to be a driving woman in Saudi Arabia or a school girl in Afghanistan. Try homosexuality or adultery in any of these Muslim tolerant banana republics. Have Sean Penn film a Harvey Milk movie in Saudi Arabia or organize a Gay pride in Tehran! Or just try to set free election, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to dissent anywhere in the world where Minarets are standing tall and proud, beside Western countries and maybe Tunisia of course. I rest my case.
On day one, America lost its credibility and on day two, Iran had its first official nuclear power plant thanks to the overt Russian help. And why not? Because of our support to Georgia, Russia has kicked us out of Russian airspace and out of our rear bases in the former Soviet Central Asian states of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Suddenly we have lost our critical resupply route to Afghanistan (Nato imports about 70 per cent of its food, fuel, water and equipment from Pakistan via the Khyber Pass, and flies in much of the rest through Russian airspace via bases in Central Asia. -Timesonline UK-). NATO had to choose between a rock and a hard spot, between Pakistan, Russia, or an expensive and nightmarish non sustainable airlift solution! But thanks to President Medvedev-Putin’s “generosity”, and Pakistan’s instability, new Russian routes have been opened and we are back in business….right! Medvedev-Putin have also tested us, and strong armed us into relying on their good will to maintain our forces in Afghanistan, just when Obama plans on reinforcing our combat troops there and on winning that thing. As the Russian ambassador to Afghanistan said: if the Americans stay and win that thing it would be OK but if they lose or run away, we would not be the first one to cry over it! But was it innocent or was it the direct result of Obama’s capitulation personal letter hand delivered to the Russian presidential twins?
On day one, President Obama wrote a letter to the Russian president team (Medvedev-Putin) asking them to support the US regarding the Iranian nuclear research in exchange for the dropping of the US missile defense plan for Europe. The defeated and begging attitude had the predictable effect one gets when trying to appeal to the goodness of a bully. It showed weakness and lack of spine. America had lost its big stick! Within weeks, Russian scientist were openly supporting the Iranian nuclear team and the US were kicked out of their Soviet Central Asian bases. Now you understand why the European military’s effort for the ten next ten years is the development of a European missile shield, early warning satellite detection system, spy satellite system, GPS “constellation”, airborne warning radar systems and other drones that used to be American made and operated for the protection of its allies.
On day one America lost its credibility and on day two even South Korea resumed rattling its saber again while getting closer to having its nuclear weapons thanks to the same tactics used by Iran: delay, negotiate, break up, misinform, blackmail, negotiate, delay, test, breakup, etc, etc…Within Obama’s only term, two anti-American terrorist and unstable dictatorship will become nuclear powers! Also, we are not committed to Somalia, nor are we regarding the genocide in Darfur, nor have we stopped supporting the Ethiopian genocide against its rebelled minorities. We bomb Pakistan, thus accelerating the decaying of its elected government and let the Pelosis state that these bombing are conducted from our bases within Pakistan with the government approval. Way to go! We are going to close GITMO but nobody want the remaining inmates in their backyards, not even our anti-GITMO liberals and they will most likely fall back in Al Qaeda’s arms like so many others we have released (France is actually the only country that takes to court its nationals that are released from US hands!).
And finally, the “coup de grace”, the strawberry on the sherbet, is Mrs Billary Clinton first foreign trip, to Asia! The first trip ever of our new famous -and qualified by marriage- State Secretary representing the new administration to China, a strong economic partner (have you bought anything made in the USA lately?). It was marked, branded with a red iron in the history books, with the strongest signal ever that the US, weakened by its own economic crisis and addiction to credit, will put the issues of human rights to the back burners and will not let them “hinder” cooperation with China. She even stated that " our pressing on those issues can't interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis," Amen. Basically, a new era of unrestricted trade is born and America will not put on the negotiation table the lives of the victims of the Chinese regime. Sure, the next day the US State department released a written report criticizing the Chinese abuses but again, this is not going to “hinder” a good deal, is it? Mrs Clinton did really good and the world is a safest place, especially China.
The echoes of the campaign still ring in my head, the audacity of hope, the changes and the one we have been waiting for, the pledge to cut the deficit by increasing it three fold today to return to its current level in ten years, the pledge to study budgets a line at a time and to cut the Pork out of it, blah, blah.
It took what, ten days, for the new world stage to be set, for America’s new administration to throw its spine down the sewer. Russia, China, Iran and North Korea already got it and there is nothing we can do about it. The paper tiger is begging, meowing for love and understanding, compassion and help. Who has friends with such enemies? We chose the music and now we will have to dance to it, at least for the next four years. I wanted my country to be feared and I wanted my military to be respected. There is a saying stating that a country’s diplomacy is only as strong and successful as its military! Think about the diplomatic disaster of these first week and get back to me! Look above your self-inflicted credit card depts. or overpriced mortgage and imagine a world where Russia and China boss us around and where Iran and North Korea have become nuclear powers and possible nuclear technology “proliferators”. Think of all these people who hate your liberal guts and what you stand for, and after that, get back to me! In the meantime, enjoy the changes! The new Neville Chamberlain administration has promised us “Peace for our Times”.
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Beware, men at work.
The latest issue of the newsletter of the city of Folsom had plenty to say about the Folsom Dam!
First in the news, of course, is the Grand opening of the Folsom Lake Crossing bridge that has been set for March 28th 2009. Sure, again, it does not cross the lake like its name might falsely indicate but it is build close enough to the structure that any out-of-towners will guess where the name comes from, especially if we paint “Folsom Dam” in huge letters on the concrete wall of the dam.. Anyways, this is big news because our dam is finally safe from terrorist attacks (?) while our traffic has conveniently been rerouted away from Sutter street, taking the shopping strip back to its pre bridge closure tranquility…I mean death-like tranquility.
The second piece of news regards something that has started to transpire throughout California and it concerns the driest spell ever to hit our Golden State. The drought is coming and the early signs are alarming with only 61% of the regular snow pack showing and a dried out reservoir good enough for Napa style rejuvenating mud baths. Alert, alert! Stage 2 water alert! All citizen are required to level their front lawns to avoid runs off onto sidewalks. Also, you are mandated to figure out what days you are supposed to run your fully automated and leak free systems. Finally automatic or manual watering is only allowed between 10 pm and 10 am. So, let me see if I got it right: , on the days I take the Grey and the Blue trash bin out, if my house number and my front lawn are even, restaurants are prohibited to serve water and my sprinklers can go manually while I dry clean my car, naked and under the stars around midnight. Or else I will be yelled at, fined or prosecuted so bad that I’d wish I had cheated on my taxes instead.
Interestingly, the missing piece is about the ongoing progress underway to increase the safety and flood-control capability of the Folsom Dam (DS/FDR). The project has been going on since late 2007 and includes a new spillway to bypass the dam consisting of –I quote- “an approach channel from Folsom Lake, a control structure with six submerged gates, a 2,700-foot concrete-lined chute, and a stilling basin.” The work also includes safety related work to mitigate flood, earthquake and seepage risks. Finally, the main dam, both wing dams, and its many levees are also being improved. That is also good and newsworthy, isn’t it? Until I met Big X.
Big X is a conspiracy theorist that walks around with an aluminum hat. He kept on telling me to check the inside work, the roads within the lake, the men with the hard hats, the excavation and transportation of gold laden mud, to seek out there the reason for the disappearing waters! And I eventually did. The levee are being stretched and heightened using borrows from the floors of the lake. Contractors have built temporary roads inside the lake to transport the dugout loot from various collection points to where it is needed. Also, depending on sources, the entire project is forecasted to last about fifteen years because the lake is contained by 12 dams and dykes/levees that need improvements. The whole project was started at the fall of 2007 and is in its second winter in the making. My question to you is as follow: could one make the crazy allegation that for the benefit of the improvements and construction work being done, the dam’s level has been artificially kept particularly low through water releases. Sure enough we are going through the dry years of a traditional ten year cycle (2005 being the wettest year), but the lake has never been that low, it was closed to navigation June first last year and I don’t believe in coincidences.
Today, the low level of the lake often makes the news but nothing is ever said about the need for the safety work to continue, or about the guys with the orange hats. The lake might have actually been drained because of the newly built inside roads that are being used for the repair of the earth dam to be raised and stretched with mud dug out from lower levels. There is no way the Feds, the Bureau of Reclamations, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of water resources and the Sacramento Area Flood control Agency are going to let the reservoir fill to capacity and jeopardize what they see as the 10-15 year $2 billion project that will provide the 200 years flood protection Sacramento needs. When asked, a very nice spokesperson for the project told me that they don’t control the water releases, but would the Dam operators willingly endanger the workers’ safety by letting the natural flow of the American river fill the reservoir? The work that has been envisioned involves the inside “excavation, transportation and placement of 3.5 million cubic yards of material”, the “hauling in and installation” of drill rigs and other “large scale” equipment, the provision for inside batch plants for the enormous quantities of concrete needed, the creation of inside staging and stockpiling area and the use of black helicopters at night to check on the sprinklers. Will the concerned agencies allow any of this to go under water? No way! That is why many believe that the lake will remain low until the construction is completed. In the meantime, what it might mean for us are more water restrictions, the end of the recreational boating activities, Big Brother checking my lawn and the guilt trip for the man-made global warming that has failed to unleash the winter rains and snows the lake needed.
Maybe indeed our regional dry spell is man-made and maybe the lake is being kept low for other reasons aggravating our normal dry years and lack of rain falls. According to Big X, UFOs were siphoning out our water at night and one has crashed inside the lake and got buried in the mud, thus explaining the closure of the roads and accesses and the work being done by the Feds. But who am I to say. I just live here, right?
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It is already hard in good time for former inmates to find a job in sunny California, just think about their chances now! I think releasing around 50,000 of them in the middle of a recession is not going to help improve the crime rate. I am ready to bet that at the end of the day, if this plan takes place, many freed inmates will resort to crime for lack of other opportunities or because it is simply what they like and do. Such a release would at least have a positive impact in one economic sector and gun makers will most likely see a serious increase in gun ownership. After all, less law enforcement vs. more free crooks or potential recidivists does not add up to more security. I would also encourage all future victims of crimes perpetuated by released inmates -many will certainly recidivate- to sue the judges that have freed them for everything they owns. I certainly will do it and this is not a threat, just a fact!.
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The Teheran time, Jan 12 2009, quoted again President’s Obama’s pledge to meet Iranian leaders without any precondition. That campaign pledge marked a major change in the US foreign relation’s policies. Yesterday, Billary Clinton, our Secretary of State, implemented these changes and set the new bases of the new administration’s policy regarding dictatorship and repressive regimes:” Paying her first visit to Asia as the top US diplomat, Clinton said the United States would continue to press China on long-standing US concerns over human rights such as its rule over Tibet. "But our pressing on those issues can't interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis," Clinton told reporters in Seoul just before leaving for Beijing.“( AFP/POOL Feb 21 09) . But what to expect? The Clinton administration had already literally sold our economy out to China and Billary has not been picked for her qualifications but to rally her electorate. Her only qualifications come from following her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in foreign trips and she was nominated to the positions despite heavy froeign Middle Eastern investments to the Clinton foundation (conflict of Interest). The tone is set and we now know what the new America will stand for in the world! United Socialist States of America will be a stronger –and human rights blind- friend of Communist China! lol
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=186639
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Back to the Clinton years?
In his first days of office, President Obama has signed two executive orders to close the prison of Guantanamo within a year –whatever it means- and to put an end to torture as our lawyers see it (what is torture? Is there ever a time when harsh treatment might be necessary, justifiable?).
The move will certainly appease a good part of his electorate and that was a political thing to do but is it the right or the safe thing to do? The 250 inmates left in Gitmo are the hard core terrorists that nobody want interned in his own backyard at home or abroad. They are the unrepentant and martyrdom seekers that our forces have captured on the battlefields of the War on Terror, or certainly kidnapped from the countries that were sheltering them, closing their eyes on their criminal activities or refusing to extradite them because we, the Americans, the Devil, the Yanquis, the infidels, the crusaders, the backers of Israel or other Bushists are the bad guys. In the meantime, in Guantanamo, no inmate has died yet from harsh treatment, and once confessions or information has been obtained from them, they have all been left sitting fat and happy with running hot water, electricity, news, the Koran, praying rugs, health care, laundry, translators, legal advices and all the many other generous amenities we traditionally provide our prisoners nationwide. Quite different anyways from what our prisoners, military or civilian, fighters or aid workers, get when they are captured by say Al Qaeda or the Talibans!
Furthermore, it has also widely been reported that many of our released Guantanamo inmates went right back to swell the ranks of the terrorists they have served before. So, can you run it by me again why we should let them go? Because at the end of the day, that is what will happen with them if we try them in a civil or military court, isn’t it? For most of them, capture and confessions were “illegally” obtained according to the foo-foo suicidal world we live in and no charges would ever hold in a court of law. But if it makes you feel good about yourself, just go ahead, make their day!
The second executive order banning torture is an effective way to show the enemy abroad that they won’t be forced to “cooperate” if or when captured, and to neuter our intelligence community, again. When President Clinton cut our military down to 10 active combat divisions from the 20 we originally had, it was also the good political move to reward part of his electorate and redirect money from the Defense Budget to the typical Democrat social pandering. When he also prevented our intelligence community from hiring informants of questionable morals and ethics, he changed the focus from a balance of “dirty” Human Intelligence (HUMINT)and modern and “clean” Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) to an all SIGINT system. We know the results and they are always long term. We were not able to foresee the rise of Al Qaeda, the rise of Bin Laden and the 9-11 plot two years in the making before it actually happened. We were also not able to capture or kill Bin Laden, nor confirm or not the status of Saddam’s WMD program. The Bush administration and other Intelligence or Defense bi-party committees at Congress actually had to rely on “stale” SIGINT pieces of information coming from the highly inefficient and politically correct intelligence tool that the CIA had become under President Clinton and Mr. Tenet, unfortunately kept in place by the new Republican administration.
Anyways, what is torture? I guess it is a matter of interpretation. As a former Special Forces operator, I know that water boarding, sleep deprivation and various other humiliations (tied naked to a pole, bag over the head, sensory deprivation, “good cop-bad cop”…) are standard operating procedures for Evasion and Escape training (E&E). When such a treatment is applied to a soldier by his mates, without any actual physical violence and with the knowledge that he won’t actually die, it takes a couple of days to finally break the individual into submission. So is it torture when the same treatments we applied on these guys in Gitmo is applied on our soldiers as part of a training? Or should we just keep on doing it to the bad guy and deliver them E&E certificate of training completion and get done with it?
I guess we must go and read the Geneva Convention to find the answer….but at least when you read it (and you will be one of the few), have the honesty to also read the chapters describing what is a combatant and what rules of war one must follow in order to become a prisoner of war protected by the convention. Actually, Article 3 and 4 of the convention are pretty clear about and say it all, but don’t take my word for it, go and check it out, educate yourself because knowledge is power! (http://www.genevaconventions.org/ ).
The articles accurately state:
“Art. 3. In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each Party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions: (1) Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria. To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons: (a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; (b) taking of hostages; (c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment; (d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples. (2) The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for. An impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict.
The Parties to the conflict should further endeavour to bring into force, by means of special agreements, all or part of the other provisions of the present Convention.
The application of the preceding provisions shall not affect the legal status of the Parties to the conflict.
Art. 4. A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:
(1) Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict, as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.
(2) Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:[ (a) that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates; (b) that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance; (c) that of carrying arms openly; (d) that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
(3) Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power.
(4) Persons who accompany the armed forces without actually being members thereof, such as civilian members of military aircraft crews, war correspondents, supply contractors, members of labour units or of services responsible for the welfare of the armed forces, provided that they have received authorization, from the armed forces which they accompany, who shall provide them for that purpose with an identity card similar to the annexed model.
(5) Members of crews, including masters, pilots and apprentices, of the merchant marine and the crews of civil aircraft of the Parties to the conflict, who do not benefit by more favourable treatment under any other provisions of international law.
(6) Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units, provided they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war.
B. The following shall likewise be treated as prisoners of war under the present Convention: (1) Persons belonging, or having belonged, to the armed forces of the occupied country, if the occupying Power considers it necessary by reason of such allegiance to intern them, even though it has originally liberated them while hostilities were going on outside the territory it occupies, in particular where such persons have made an unsuccessful attempt to rejoin the armed forces to which they belong and which are engaged in combat, or where they fail to comply with a summons made to them with a view to internment.”
Also, one has to note that the terrorist groups and armies we fight are not even legal governments and have not signed the Convention anyways. So, does the Convention apply to them?
This is typical Asymmetric warfare, a warfare when one party is held to higher standards than the other. The war on Terror is all about asymmetric warfare and the US or Israel, as the most common examples, are permanently held to higher standards than the terrorist they fight, a good recipe for defeat. Just this morning, our local newspaper serving the city of Sacramento titled the following “Israel strikes Gaza after militants fire rocket” instead of stating the facts :”After terrorists in Gaza broke the truce again and fired a rocket, Israel had to strike back in retaliation!”.
President Obama has made a huge mistake and the consequences of his orders will be felt in a couple of years only, maybe when another unlucky Republican administration will take over. In the meantime ask yourselves these two questions:
Would you rather be a prisoner of our forces in Guantanamo or the prisoner of Al Qaeda in Iraq or Afghanistan?
Why do you think that you have been safe since 9-11? Because we have stepped up to the plate and fought or because the enemy has grown to love us, our life style, homosexuality, women’s right and Democracy, and all the other twisted Hollywood values we spread out?
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Yes he can…look at us seriously and criticize Wall Street employees for more than $18 billion in bonuses paid in 2008 while the financial market was collapsing. He called it "the height of irresponsibility" while sitting next to his newly nominated Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, well known for evading taxes, but also recipient last year of $434,668 from the Federal Reserve Bank he was quitting to join Obama’s team at the White House. Yes he can and his most generous contributors were all the failing financial institutions that have been bailed out with my money. Yes he can, drop them now like he has dropped every single of his former associates that were “tainted”. Is anybody ever going to question his judgment, his association, is truthfulness or does he get a free pass. Anyways, it is OK…while Wall street was pouring money in his campaign coffers and cashing in bonuses, Bush was in charge and you can blame it on him while writing checks in adoration, goo-goo eyed in front of the ultimate political beast ever to serve in Washington. Discovered and trained by the best, he is delivering! Hail to the chief!
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OK guys…Porky has been fed and nothing will happen until the “pork barreled” bill has served all the special interests that barely elected the “Gifted one”…Cannot wait to see what the hundreds of millions of “neighborhood rehabilitation activities” are going to translate into…it also seems like ACORN and the other will get some of it! Go for it: YES YOU CAN!....but only for now …
Also note below the $2700 per every man and child in my district and remember that not all of them pay taxes.
Who should I write a check to? Can I opt for an IOU? After all California is going to send me one instead of the extra money they owe me for over paying my taxes! (I Owe You: IOU (debt), an acknowledgment of debt)
Dear Friend,
Yesterday I cast a “no” vote for the Democrat proposed $819 billion stimulus bill which passed 244-188. The 647 page bill was a virtual laundry list of government programs, most of which will do nothing to stimulate the economy. The cost estimate for residents of the Third Congressional District comes to $2,700 for every man, woman, and child.
Yesterday, we had an opportunity to take action that would have an immediate effect on our ailing economy. However, when you look at the frivolous spending in this bill, along with what it will cost you, there is no way I could vote for it. A lot of these programs have nothing to do with creating new jobs or bringing relief to families and small business. I believe if we had focused on things like tax cuts – which have been shown to have an immediate effect on our economy and accelerate the appeals processes for local “shovel ready” projects, these areas would show immediate effect. When our economy is sinking in a sea of red ink, the only job Congress has is to concentrate on economic recovery. We face difficult circumstances and let’s not allow the current economic situation to be an excuse to engage in a reckless spending spree which will add to a growing mountain of debt.
I would like to draw your attention to Martin Feldstein’s Op-Ed in today’s Washington Post, "An $800 Billion Mistake."
Sincerely,
Daniel E. Lungren
Member of Congress
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BILL CLINTON REVISITS HIS ECONOMIC LEGACY.
At a meeting with progressive bloggers and journalists at the Sheraton New York Monday night, Bill Clinton, preparing for the opening of his Clinton Global Initiative conference, spoke freely about the financial crisis, and re-examined his own administration's economic legacy in light of the meltdown.
"I have thought about that," Clinton told me when I asked whether he was reconsidering any of the deregulatory economic policies his administration pursued under Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. Earlier this year, Rubin downplayed the extent of the mortgage crisis, and implied more of the blame could be placed on American consumers than on the excesses of Wall Street. But Clinton's assessment was quite different.
"I actually called Bob Rubin," Clinton said, relaying their recent conversation about what could or should have been done differently during the 1990s to help prevent today's crisis. Clinton said he has two regrets: First, not pursuing more aggressively an aborted attempt to provide stricter oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to Clinton, the move was stymied by Democratic and Republican members of Congress and by mayors, who saw the lending giants as "the New Jerusalem" and "pure" because of their role in increasing homeownership to historic levels. But "it just didn't feel good," Clinton said of Fannie and Freddie's outsized political influence.
Clinton also said he should have subjected derivative trading to more public oversight. "We would have failed, but at least we could've sounded the alarm."
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=09&year=2008&base_name=bill_clinton_revisits_his_econ
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Sir, Madam (to Congress!)
You have already wasted hundreds of millions of hard earned money in the bailing out of the financial institutions, all these banks and other mortgage companies. No strings were attached, no controls imposed and no “heads” have fallen. But what to expect? The Fanny May and other Lehman or Freddy Mac have been the biggest contributors to your political campaigns, left and right.
Now that the public has become aware of the waste, and of the arrogance and wastefulness of the institutions that we have allowed to help, our new president is talking about reinstating the financial safeguards that had been put in place after the great depression and conveniently abolished by the Clinton administration, also creator of the Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac parking garage for fallen Democrats. Now it is time to revisit the plan McCain unsuccessfully tried to implement two years ago and fix Wall Street!
You people in DC are so predictable….no wonder the approval rating rate of Congress bottoms around 11%.
But it is a wonder that we, The People, believe that you can actually fix the crisis next time you try, with another $1,2 trillion of our money. How desperate or gullible can we be?
Anyways…this note is about the recovery packages assigned to the States.
California is expecting a $26 billion freebee from the Federal Government. We have been without a budget for months and the State is going down the hole with a minimum of $40 billion deficit. The legislature is deadlocked in its partisan approaches and none of the offered solutions are really aiming at fixing the many problems, but at raising money to lower the debt. Providing any kind of money to the State is going to have the same effect as giving money to the banks. Instead of looking for the problems, fixing them, making hard choices, cutting the waste, restructuring, etc, California, the recipient of your “social check” will just use it to resume a lifestyle of waste, irresponsibility, revolving doors and golden parachutes. Why should money from taxpayers from fiscally conservative and responsible States be used to bail out wasteful, corrupted and fiscally irresponsible California? Whatever money coming from outside will be wasted, rerouted, diverted, raided for more pet projects, more new six figure positions made up for politicos on standby, more wasteful commissions to promote the sale of the Californian avocado or Californian milk, more service cars, per diem, credit cards, stupid projects…
Furthermore, if the Feds take over infrastructure, why should I pay State taxes for the roads and bridges?
We, The People, are so fed up and We know that the legislative is there to balance executive and judicial. What were you doing in the intelligence committees when stale intelligence was sold to us and led us to the war? What were you doing in the various economic and financial committees? Was anybody awake when the signs of a catastrophic crisis were written on the wall? How many dot.com and other artificially inflated economy based on wind –literally- do you need to do what you have been elected for?
I have a joke that you don’t have a crisis as long as you have taxpayers to milk!
So go ahead and keep on repeating the same mistakes over and over hoping sometimes to get different results (definition of insanity) The People don’t approve of you nor trust you anymore and will hopefully remember how bad you people perform now that they don’t have President Bush to blame anymore. President Obama is the good guy now and all the scrutiny and blame is going to come to you.
I wonder if you can fall below a 10% of approval ratings. I am sure you will and even the media will start picking on you. Remember that 57 million people did not vote for the current administration.
We will see soon
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Has King’s dream come true? On the one hand, for almost forty years, Marin Luther King’s legacy has been affirmative action, the legalization of racial discrimination. So much for the dream and “the force of the character and not the color of the skin”. Poor MLK must be turning in his tomb with his name reduced to some Burger King’s meal appellation and his dream totally perverted with the full support of the people he stood for. On the other hand, the first “black” president will take the oath tomorrow, something Martin Luther King has always dreamed of, an achievement showing that race indeed can be an opportunity. But for whom? Race still being an issue for the world’s media and for the majority on the left that have forever cashed on the “victimization” of the minorities (money for special programs, and votes), our new president has become a symbolic figure, not of “multi-racialism” but of African American achievement. For some reason, Barrack Obama is an African American, a black president. Not half black of half white, just hundred percent black. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (currently unemployed!) might disagree and have always claimed loudly that Obama was not black enough, nor was he African American enough to serve the black cause (of entitlement and self victimization?). So for now, let us enjoy our first elitist “black” president that would have made MLK proud. But remember that if and when he does not meet the high expectations (political, racial or economic) put on his shoulders by voters who bought his rhetoric of changes, he is going to be dropped like an old sock and will most likely become the first half white US president.
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“California's Supreme Court ruled that the state's Good Samaritan law only protects people from liability if they are administering emergency medical care”. So people, out there, in a wrecked smoldering car, or laying down with your bike on a busy intersection , or drowning in a pool, choking on gas leaking from a stove or carbon monoxide infiltrating your car, or certain to suffer of a sun stroke in your closed van in summer…two words for you: tough luck! I won’t try to protect you from an inevitable fate. I will stop, try to prevent the situation from getting worse, call 911, and look at you burn alive, be run over again by a speeding car, drown, choke, die…My last words to you, begging for help, will be: “The Supreme Court said that you are going to die”. I already changed my first aid kit in my car for a bag of Marshmallows. While the car burns, with you in it, I might grill some and offer you one while awaiting 15 minutes in urban area, and up to hours in the wild, for “trained professionals” to show up. How long can you hold your breath?
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The fox in the henhouse! I quote the Bee: Obama's camp defended Geithner. "He made a common mistake on his taxes, and was unaware that his part-time housekeeper's work authorization expired for the last three months of her employment," Now people, you know why we are in the financial and illegal immigration mess we are in! I would not pay taxes and be caught hiring illegals, I would get a fine and maybe jail, not a job as a Treasury Secretary. Why on earth would Geithner need any qualification for his job in the new administration? After all, look at the Caroline Kennedy and other Valery Jarret that were pushed for the senate. And what about Richardson? Is anybody ever going to question Obama’s judgment regarding his past and present sulfurous or insipid associations? Oooops…what am I thinking: scrutiny by the media is only reserved to Republicans and Conservatives.
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Two years ago, the Folsom lake was closed for navigation July first. Last year, we ran short of water June first and water use was rationned by the city of Foslom around september. Rafting the American river is now hundred percent dependent of dam releases and there is no more excess of water. Predictions reported by the Bee forecast a three year drought because of El Nino. There is no more water guys! Our consumption and waste has overexceeded our resources and there is no dam, nor canal, nor desalinization that will change that. The South is thirsty so desert can be turned into green grass around LA, lakeshore artificial development in Palm Springs or agriculture in the valley. Game is over! Whatever gimmick is used won't work because too many people have been invited to the party and the cake is too small. It is not time to re-route or store the little water we have but time to re-evaluate its use.
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FUNNY! The changes we have been waiting for are finally coming…Amazingly, the same people who attacked Sarah Palin are now supporting a “politically green” Caroline Kennedy (real co-author of many books with no voting records and no political experience, but with the name recognition of Paris Hilton) and whatever made the former “unqualified” for a VP job makes the latter “fresh” for Senate. The same way, the people who voted out Hillary at the primaries because they were tired of the Clinton dynasty are now applauding Obama’s Clintonite cabinet and the perpetuation of the Kennedy senatorial line at all cost. Also, experience counts, President Elect Obama was considering appointing his old politically inexperienced friend Valerie Jarret as senator of Illinois, but she “removed” herself once the “Bribojevich” scandal erupted and she got a cozy job at the White House instead. And finally, Biden, away from the flood lights, has secured “his” senatorial seat by temporarily putting a faithful “seat warmer” in charge while waiting for his son Beau to take over once he retires from the military.
Talking about changes also brings forward the Obama’s camp dealing with the Bribojevich scandal. Obama needed an internal investigation by “impartial” incoming White House attorney Greg Craig to prove to us that he, himself, did not have any direct contacts with the crook, and that the part of his staff that was interviewed did not have any “inappropriate” contacts with Blago either. So the Messiah was right…no direct contact, just through his staff, right? But what about “inappropriate”? What about the one that evaded investigation? How does Obama’s camp defines “inappropriate”? I quote the AP: “Emanuel had one or two conversations with Blagojevich and four with Harris on the subject of the Senate seat, according to the review. The report said Obama authorized Emanuel to pass on the names of four people he considered to be highly qualified to take over his seat — Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes, Illinois Veterans' Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.“ and also “The report said that earlier, Emanuel recommended Jarrett for the Senate seat without Obama's knowledge, and Jarrett later accepted a job as a senior White House adviser.” and also, later on “Craig revealed his findings into a memo to Obama. The memo was dated Tuesday (Dec 23), but a transition official said an initial copy was given to Obama on Dec. 15. On that day, Obama announced that the report was ready but that he was withholding it from public release for a week at the request of the U.S. attorneys still conducting their investigation.“
What a bunch of crooks…and the report was conveniently released when OBObama was on vacation in Hawaii and Emanuel in a “long planned vacation in Africa”, at the time when a Hollywood photographer –not one of the thousands of paparazzi swarming Hawaii- was strolling the beach by himself, camera in hand, and stumbled upon a beefy shirtless OBObama…and the picture made the news, the web, the searches…and put the report on the sideline. Tell you what guys; your man is a politician to the core, a smart one, a real one. He knows all the tricks of the book and has already applied them on you, the gullible. I decided to rename him OBObama “the gifted”!
Yes he can and yes they can, with or without experience! Should I put pinky filters on to look at the new world of changes coming to D.C?
For the past six months I have only tried to show you that “The gifted” is a real politician, deep pocketed and self serving as his mentors from Illinois. He learned from the best after all! I wish him success in fixing what Bush has never really broken and at mopping after the financial mess and “no strings attached” bail outs congress gave us. I am glad that he is smelling the coffee, awaking to the real life…Afghanistan needs more troops; middle class needs the new administration to continue with the tax breaks implemented by Bush; financial institutions need to be safeguarded against Clinton-like deregulations in the spirit of the failed Republican attempt to do so two years ago; failing companies might/should fail and reorganize or go; no matter how black a potential senator from Illinois could be, a “Bribo” backup stinks; Israel is doing what he claimed there he would do if people were launching rockets at his daughters, etc, etc…”The gifted” is drifting center…Boo Hooo!
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Happy New Year 2009 and may Peace be with you!
India and Pakistan:
The aftermath of the terrorist attack of Mumbai are scary because of the increasing military tensions between two nuclear powers that have regularly been at hot and cold war since 1948. Of course you have all heard about the Mumbai terror attacks and proven Pakistanese links to training camps and local officials and Islamic groups. There is a saying in India that all states have an army but in Pakistan, the army has a state, and the current government of Pakistan does seem powerless in the hands of its military. Furthermore, Pakistan today is afraid not just of Indian reactions (surgical strikes and so on) but also of a likely international community's backlash especially US, and maybe also of some sort of Israeli revenge strike for the brutal killing of Jews in Mumbai. To escape political, economic or military retaliation, the Pakistanese military seems to be willing to create a war hysteria, which they hope will divert the attention of the international community. India is not keen to start a war but may be inclined to somehow retaliate against the terror infrastructure in Pakistan, with international support if they can garner it. Of course such an action would most likely mean some level of war for Pakistan and tension is growing. As far as the military buildup at the Indian/Pakistanese border goes, it is fooling the west for now but also weakening the Pakistanese military presence in the tribal and Al Qaeda areas at a time when it is also reported that Islamic groups are spreading and conquering more provinces by force and terror, imposing Islamic laws and parallel governments to the local people that did not flee. The Talibans and the Pakistanese army have never been really enthusiast at fighting each other and creating a war hysteria that relegates India’s justified anger to the side line is helping both unlikely allies in Pakistan. But in the long run, Pakistan is the losing party! In the meantime, the Allied task in Afghanistan will become tougher because the Taliban and terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan has been left alone and unchecked. I wonder who will win that one: the “sane” or the terrorists? I wonder if America will fill the vacuum and resume the necessary surgical strikes in Pakistan, with India, under the “cover” of an “international alliance”.
Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas:
The title is not a mistake! Israel is not finally retaliating against the Palestinian people but against Hamas, a terrorist and mostly foreign organization paid, trained and armed by a foreign country (Iran) that has hijacked a democratic process to take over the land and manipulate its people. Hamas, Iran, don’t want peace in the region, don’t care much for the Palestinians. Hezbollah, in Lebanon, is another terrorist and mostly foreign organization paid, trained and armed by a foreign country (Iran) that has hijacked a democratic process to take over the land of Lebanon and manipulate its people. Hezbollah, Iran, don’t want peace in the region, don’t care much for the Lebanese. Sounds familiar? Same story different place and same goals! Hezbollah is currently flexing its muscles again, stirring the anti-Jew hatred pot in Lebanon and getting ready to open a second front against Israel. The Palestinian and the Lebanese people have historically been the unwilling pawns of the self serving anti-Israel policies of neighboring countries that took turns leading the charge. Syria, Libya, Egypt, Jordan and Iran have always been involved, together or alone, at one time or another. Using Lebanon or the land given to the Palestinians (Gaza strip) as the starting point for terrorist or military attacks has been a traditional sport of the Arab powers since the state of Israel was created... War by proxy and to hell with the people they claim to protect: they don’t care much about them and they should die for their cause too. Israel has hammered down again and again the recent Hezbollah’s rearming policies and provided worrisome figures for the world to ponder with. Hezbollah is allegedly a 14,000 fighters strong force and could also assemble 10,000 reservists. Its arsenal could include Russian made anti aircraft portable missiles and about 30,000 rockets (short range, 107 and 122mmm, many of them provide by Iran and Syria). Hezbollah, Iran, must feel secure in Lebanon, hiding among the civilian population while setting home-made rocket launch pads on timers along the Israeli border. But thinking that the next Israel offensive will be as politically correct and weak as the 2006 “Second Lebanon War” could be a fatal error. The February 2009 Knesset Elections are looming in Israel and the weaklings, led by Olmert are on the way out. Olmert is still the acting leader of a caretaker government despite his resignation but watch out for the tough rising star, Tzipi Livni!
Somalia and Piracy:
Civil war: The United Nations are currently debating about the stabilization of “The Horn of Africa” and considering again the creation of another multinational force of “Blue Helmets” to intervene in Somalia against the Islamist militias that are holding most of the country and waging a brutal civil war that has been a long lasting humane tragedy. President Abdullah Yusuf has resigned and fled the country with his followers upon learning that the Ethiopian military that was fighting the Islamists for him was bound to withdraw (by the way…read an older newsletter of mine talking about the US Congress financed genocide in Ethiopia and the US complacency toward it as long as Ethiopia fights the terrorists in Somalia!). Somalia is now left in a vacuum the Islamists are quickly going to fill unless something is done. Sure, 2600 African Union soldiers are already there under the banner of the UN but they have not been effective at all. A new UN resolution, #1831, is going to renew for six months the mandate of that force with a wishful clause for some country to show up and provide them with “logistical, political and technical reinforcements”! The financial cost and the total lack of security in the country is less than appealing and financial aid to help sustain 3,5 million starving Somalis have been steadily decreasing. Also, many Non Governmental Organizations have left the country, unable to safely provide a much needed medical help for the locals. Somalia seems like a lost cause and the UN is basically trying to jump start some kind of international interest in the fate of the victims of the long lasting civil war. A 10,000 strong UN force with a clear mandate might be able to lower the “tensions” between neighboring Eritrea and Ethiopia, both respectively providing support to the warring factions, Islamic militias for the former and local government for the latter. But we all know that the UN is as strong as the modern Western country that makes and finances the bulk of its force, and as successful as its will to win the thing is strong. Who on earth would want to go back there? America? Been there, been kicked out. France: been there, done that, wasted lives, time and money, left…Anybody out there?
Piracy: In April 2008, Somali pirates captured a French luxury cruise boat, “Le Ponant”, and took thirty people hostage. On April 11, the government agreed to pay the two million Euros ransom and recovered boat and hostages. In the meantime, the pirates were tracked leaving the boat with the money and boarding a SUV. They took off through the desert until ambushed by French combat helicopters that destroyed the engine of the truck. 6 terrorists were captured along with the ransom and two killed. In September 2008, the 15th, the French sail boat “Carre d’As” is captured by Pirates around the tip of the “Horn of Africa”. 30 French Special Forces operatives and Marines assaulted the boat, killed the terrorists and recovered the hostages. The night assault was “book perfect” with high altitude air coordination and intelligence, close air support helicopters on standby, a Malaysian hospital boat at the ready, a speed boat for diversion and an assault boarding party on a secondary vessel. Technology (Night vision devices, radio transmitters…), intelligence, discretion, skills and speed made it possible. Do you think that the Pirates have gotten the message not to attack French boats anymore?
And Georgia (Russian military punishment and aftermath: Cold War?), Ukraine (Russia and port of Sebastopol), Dagestan (rebels vs. Russia), the US missile shield in Eastern Europe vs. Russia, the Philippines (Muslim separatist threat), Northern Ireland (extremist cell splitting from IRA resuming the war?), North Mali…and North Korea, Thailand, China, Tibet, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Myanmar…
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Child Maid trafficking, California, Dec 28th
Yes, it is true: white Westerners did not invent slavery and have long abolished it. But in 2008 Africa, the Middle East and Asia, slavery is still doing good. From time to time, the issue makes the news and for us, the "junk news" addicts (bad news quickly), it becomes true until a Kennedy runs for office or a Spears goes panty-less. Sweat shops, chained students in Coranic school (Chad), sex slaves, Pilipino maids for Arab sheiks, Russian girls for catalog sale, underage girls and boys for the brothels of Thailand or Cambodia, stolen or purchased children all over the third world (for everything from paid adoption, mining to prostitution or body parts harvesting), ...you name it! The world is a nasty place to live in and most of the people don't have the rights nor the freedom the Western Democracies enjoy. If there is one lesson for 2009, it is the following: Freedom is not free and every day, you should thank a God, your parents and veterans for living in America.
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Calif. Court: Would-be Good Samaritan can be sued Dec 19, 2008
“California's Supreme Court ruled that the state's Good Samaritan law only protects people from liability if they are administering emergency medical care”. So people, out there, in a wrecked smoldering car, or laying down with your bike on a busy intersection , or drowning in a pool, choking on gas leaking from a stove or carbon monoxide infiltrating your car, or certain to suffer of a sun stroke in your closed van in summer…two words for you: tough luck! I won’t try to protect you from an inevitable fate. I will stop, try to prevent the situation from getting worse, call 911, and look at you burn alive, be run over again by a speeding car, drown, choke, die…My last words to you, begging for help, will be: “The Supreme Court said that you are going to die”. I already changed my first aid kit in my car for a bag of Marshmallows. While the car burns, with you in it, I might grill some and offer you one while awaiting 15 minutes in urban area and up to hours in the wild, for “trained professionals” to show up. How long can you hold your breath?
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Obama review clears staff in Blagojevich case
The changes we have been waiting for are coming. President Elect Obama needs a lawyer and internal investigation to figure out if he, himself, has had direct contact with the corrupt Governor of Illinois. Furthermore, he guarantees the public that the members of his staff that have been interviewed did not have any “inappropriate” contacts related to the sale of the Illinois’s Senate seat. Clinton did not have sex and Obama’s staff had only appropriate contacts with “Bribojevich”. Were they related to Valery Jarret, candidate #1? Was Emanuel Rahm involved? I just wonder why would Obama’s staff dodge scrutiny and questions if their only “wrong doing” was to reward an inexperienced but supportive friend with a senatorial job. No matter the wrapping, a politician is still a politician and one month only from taking office, President Elect Obama is showing that changes should be deeply rooted in continuity!
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Caroline Kennedy seeks senate seat,
The changes we have been waiting for are finally coming…Amazingly, the same people who attacked Sarah Palin are now supporting a “politically green” Caroline Kennedy and whatever made the former “unqualified” for a VP job makes the latter “fresh” for Senate. The same way, the people who voted out Hillary at the primaries because they were tired of the Clinton dynasty are now applauding Obama’s Clintonite cabinet and the perpetuation of the Kennedy senatorial line at all cost. Finally, experience counts, President Elect Obama was considering appointing his old friend Valerie Jarret as senator of Illinois (but she “removed” herself once the “Bribojevich” scandal erupted and she got a job at the White House instead). Yes they can, with or without experience! Should I put pinky filters on to look at the new world of changes coming to D.C?
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Arab World Embraces shoe tosser
Good…Iraqis, Saudis, Libyans and other in various Arab “open democratic societies” are saluting the arrival of Western values in Baghdad. Only in a Western democracy can a citizen throw something at a president or other leader without being thrown alive into a wood chipper along with three or four generations of his/her relatives. The cowardly Arab world applauds something that would be just comical in our side of the world while at the same time, realizing deep down inside that there is no way they would survive doing the same to any of their leaders. It reminds me of the old cold war joke: a Russian and an American are talking Democracy. I can go in front of the white house and call president Reagan names, said the American. And the Soviet to reply: We have Democracy too…I can go in front of the Kremlin and call president Reagan names too.
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How low can interest rates go?
Interest rates should never be lower than what we pay when we borrow money on the international market. If Chinese money comes at a 6% rate, it should also be at a minimum of 6% when the Federal Reserve provides it to the domestic market. Does it make sense to any but me? Foreign prime rate range from 2 to 13%. In the past ten years, while our own interest rates fell down, the “Net foreign ownership “of American assets was multiplied by five. America has sent more and more money and interest abroad, allowing foreign countries and institutions to buy even more US assets in return, and cash in more dividends. The final outcome of such a downturn spiral is easy to foresee: Bankruptcy!
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The world through Pinky glasses
“Rezko may be spilling the bean”. That was the title of an article ran by my local and lefty only paper a couple of months ago, during the electoral campaign, while OBObama was severing his links to all the people that made him. The article was describing Rezko, how he raised millions for local politicians, his links to the PE (offered him his first job after law school, funded his early political career, helped launch is senatorial career, bought a house nearby and gave/sold a piece of the land, etc, etc…) and his relation with the administration of Illinois governor Bribojevich. The article was predicting “explosive political fallout”, a possible “October surprise” that could hurt the Democrats, and the upcoming fall of Bribojevich. It took two extra months to convict the latter and in view of his character, I cannot wait to see who is next on the list. Already, Jesse Jackson Jr is trying to save his career and many more are already coming forth while others are certainly keeping a low profile and praying that they won’t be exposed. With both Rezko and Bribojevich potentially singing like birds or trying to blackmail their way out of jail, God only knows what the next bomb is going to be. Is it just me or OBObama is gifted in picking the wrong people to associate with. Look at his speech writer…suddenly the picture groping is not a biggy and sexism is not in Billary’s mind anymore. Look at the difference of treatment between Bush and his drinking when young and the PE’s drug use and smoking. The changes we have been waiting for are coming…corruption is not corruption, sexism is not sexism, drug use is not alcohol, people who have been attacking Palin are now supporting a completely “politically green” Kennedy and whatever made the former “unqualified” makes the latter “fresh”, and the people who voted out Hillary at the primaries because tired of the Clinton dynasty are now applauding OBObama’s Clintonite cabinet and the perpetuation of the Kennedy dynasty at all cost. Put your pinky filters on and look at the new world….and remember, he did not have any sex with that lady!
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California near financial Armageddon!
Good try Governor…35 days of the “legislature failing to act”, really? I have been here nine years already and have never seen the state’s legislature do anything but waste time and money, fill deep pockets, cater to generous “special interest groups”, practice the revolving door dance and the inter agency “piggy back” salary scheme, grant regular raises, surrender to unions, issue bonds, and throw to the people’s vote everything that is too risky politically. Is Armageddon worse than that? Not sure. What about California filing Chapter 11? Judges and auditors would be reevaluating salary and perks, would repossess the free cars and per diem for idling days, would make sure that legislators are totally kicked out when they are voted out, would scrutinize expenses and reimbursement, “political contributions” that smell bribes, second careers that feel like payback, conflict of interests and mismanagement. A bankruptcy court would also track every cent of our money and might even be able to solve the budget crisis by adding common sense and sanity to the Capitol. Let’s go for it Governator! Drastic time call for drastic measures… or let’s lease California to China...they could use the extra space.
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After “The day without the Mexicans”, here comes the day without the Gays! It was a good idea but a little misplaced on the calendar. I wish the freaky fringe of the Gay community - the leather and butt in the air and biker looking crowd- would skip the Folsom street parade or that the gay community would take a day off during the gay pride. That is when we would notice their absence –favorably- and not miss a public indecency that would put anyone else without a rainbow flag in jail. But who am I to judge, right? I am not “sensitive” enough, nor fair enough to understand why people need to walk around half naked, drag each other by leashes like obedient dogs, or wear pink bikinis when male, forty and overweight. It is all about love, equality and rights….morals and decency are sooooo outdated, me square-minded conservative me!
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I am so tired of foreigners coming here and trying to make this country exactly like theirs after escaping a dirt poor and often intolerant place. A Sikh wanted to become a prison guard (and that is commendable). The prison rules facial hairs to guarantee that the mandatory gas mask will work in case of a prison riot and the use of tear gas or smoke. He did not like it for religious reasons, refused to shave, sued for discrimination…and won. Why change my lifestyle when I can change America, right? And what is next? The beard will prevent his protection for any gas or smoke often used in cases of riots. Should the Californian Department of Correction accommodate him with a cozy special job away from inmates and risks of riots? Is he going to sue if he gets exposed to gas or smoke and get physically affected? What if hundreds of Sikh apply for the CDC jobs now, get hired and sheltered? Who is going to conduct riot control? Your “innocence” is killing me and will soon kill you anyways. But what do I know? I am a foreigner, from Europe doing in America what Americans do!
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Presidential Order, WWII internment camps to be part of national monument
When are we going to stop with the guilt? When the country is supposed to celebrate the “Day of Infamy”, the day of the Japanese treacherous attack on Pearl Harbor that led America to WW2 in Europe and in the Pacific, President Bush turned part of a WW2 Japanese internment camp into a national monument. I feel sorry for the internment but war is war, the Japanese enemy was merciless, and America eventually paid reparations ($20,000 check per survivor or remaining families of the WW2 internment camps). Why not also focus on the active heroes, the survivors of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army, a unit composed of Japanese Americans who fought in Europe? Japan never paid any war reparations, Hirohito stayed in power (just think of us letting Hitler in power at the end of WW2) and the war criminals of his family were pardoned. The Japanese armies enslaved the non-Japanese populations of their Chinese and Pacific conquests, experimented on human beings (Unit 731 researched biological warfare and conducted human experimentation), and slaughtered, raped, and murdered everybody from POWs (read/watch “The Great Raid”) to civilians (read/watch “The rape of Nanking”:300.000 people slaughtered, raped, massacred in six weeks) while dragging around forced sex slaves from Korea. I am still looking into the history of WW2 in the Pacific for a single example of compassion shown by the enemy. Have you found any?
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What’s next on war on Pot?
What was the Bee thinking, running a long front page piece on pot legalization in California? Did the millionaire George Soros, the perseverant advocate of free pot, sponsor it? In a completely unrelated article, page A18, the Bee also reported that Amsterdam, the famed city of illegal pot but legal “coffee shops” and prostitution was going to modify its highly criminalized social experiment and clean its city center from its crime generating brothels, pot bars and other sex clubs.
The answer to the question “What’s next on war on Pot?” might be found in the reason why Amsterdam is reconsidering its landmark activities: legal gambling, prostitution and drugs bring organized crime and criminality and the former tolerant and crazy city is now becoming famous as a “free zone for criminals.”
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Obama vows massive work program.
I am getting worried when I hear that the bankrupt Federal government plans on taking over the responsibilities of the States regarding infrastructure and schools. Does it mean that we are not going to pay State taxes toward roads and bridges anymore? Does it mean that our failed expensive Californian education system will cost us less that the $50 billion it costs us today? Or does it mean that our Federal taxes are just going to increase while our local taxes will stay the same? The Federal government should just stick to what it is responsible and paid for and Obama should not be considering entrusting our worst Congress ever with more money to waste and programs to mismanage. Furthermore, it is most likely that all these FDR like gimmicks will create low wage jobs, adequate for waves of illegals that will come back to benefit the foreseeably uncontrolled huge and wasteful programs. Have you seen any cheap and efficient program coming from Washington lately, beside throwing good taxpayer’s monies on top of bad? Get a clue!
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$11 billion deficit? Who are we kidding? If I remember well, we were already $15 billion in the hole last year. Furthermore, a Federal judge has imposed the state to pay $9 billion -rain or shine- to fix the prison’s medical system. That is a total of $24 billion. If we add the $10 to $25 billion “gap” predicted for the 08-09 budget alone, we end up next year with a $34 to $50 billion deficit! That is the equivalent of the cost of our failed education system, or half of what the State needs to function every year! Next year, sunny California would need $150 billion to make it through this fiscal year and plug its “structural” hole. But with a predicted 2009 tax income of only $85 to $75 billion, we can expect the state to practice deep cuts in services, borrow more money at an insane interest rate and increase taxes while awarding its yearly raises and wasting our hard earned dollars. During the dot com, and the housing bubble, when money was flowing, they spent like drunken sailors and today they need more. Is it time to move out of here and let them pay the bills?
I am so tired. I wish I did not care, nor have TV or newspapers.
I might just go back to my native island of Corsica!
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No bailout
The automaker bailout comedy is pathetic. The CEO of Ford pledging no salary for 2009 when he piled up $50 millions in the past two years alone…and their private jets…and now taking the train…Pathetic.
Congress is also confirming its 12% approval rating with questions that are completely out of touch with reality…why do you build and make Hummers. Because they sell and automakers are in the business of selling what sells and not saving the planet.
Finally, I don’t believe it is up to the government to tell private industries what to build and sale. What do you want to impose: an East German Trabant like universal car? I would buy whatever I feel, foreign if the US automakers cannot provide.
If bailing them out we do, the strings should be on exec salaries and parachutes, restructuration, consolidation, controls…
There is a cheap way out of the problem: tell automakers to sell here what they build for Europe or in Europe. Smaller cars, small engines, 35/40 mpg average, lots of diesel turbo that is cleaner than gasoline and very low emission (cars are taxed on emission levels). Let them do it, make them!
Go and check out Ford France or Germany. Check out Opel, that is GM in Germany. Look at their cars and the range….Amazing!
And they get awards every year for green car or environmental innovation.
The European security and pollution tests are even harder than ours and bringing the cars over here should be easy.
Ford and GM know how to build fuel efficient and environmentally responsible cars. Opel (GM) is coming up with a revolutionary hybrid car that runs on an electric engine and has a small gasoline motor that only start to recharge the batteries.
Bring here what they sell in Europe!
Go check it out by curiosity, get educated and challenge them: they have the skills, experience and know how…they don’t need much money…just a kick in their fat unionized and anti business behinds!
http://www.ford.fr/
http://www.opel.com/
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This is too funny. I have only been away for three weeks, on vacation back home to Corsica, and the Clintons and their administration are already back in the White House. I could not believe it when my folks at home told me Billary would be State Secretary…no way, not after the vicious things the Clinton said and did to OBObama! And she has no experience beside trailing her Hubby on official trips and drinking tea with the other wives. What about Health? At least she has some experience if she learned from her failures…LOL…You guys wanted change and you got the “same old, same old” Washingtonite elite. What was it again: “I am the one we have been waiting for!”, “change we can believe in!”…yeah right! Show me changes!
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We have seen what is wrong with the political system today: the increasing role of money and the obsolete electoral system. The FEC website shows that the campaign have cost $1,5 billion(all candidates included). Obama has disclosed $639 million against $335 million for Mc Cain. Money talks and the traditional somewhat controlled public funding has lost against the Obama’s money machine and its unlimited and uncontrolled “small donations”, mainly from the same big corporations that have also fueled MacCain. Furthermore, we must move away from the obsolete 1845 “winner takes all” electoral college and adopt a modern direct democracy system. People should make a president! Not money games and corporate America. People, not elected representatives, should make a president, especially when these elected officials have the lowest approval ratings ever in the history of the country. $1,5 billion spent on disinformation and negative ads by a two party political monopoly to ensure that the Lehman bros and other Fanny May stay in power! A joke. Tomorrow, along with a new President, we will wake up to the real world again, disenchanted and with a big headache. Elections are on Tuesday…a good thing! Why waste a perfectly good weekend?
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I think prostitution should be decriminalized across the whole state and I admire San Francisco for trying. And also gambling out of Indian land. And drugs too...Everything legal!
We would build a wall around California and would elect Kurt Russel as our next governor. Illegal immigrants would not make the news coming in anymore -beside Mexican drug cartels- and the nation headlines would only cover "Escapes from CA".
Come on. Money has no color, flavor, odor, morals or panties. Just think on how much taxes could come in through state paid pimps, drug and card dealers. Even food stamps would be accepted to buy a joint, play roulette or get some VD. I love it. When do we start? Where do I sign? When do we vote?
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Prop 8
I am tired of reading that Connecticut has joined the “forward” thinking states that have allowed same sex couples to marry. The Supreme Court of Connecticut has spoken, not the people. October 28th, Connecticut will indeed join California and Massachussets as the third state were a couple of judges have decided that their interpretation of the constitution is the law and that the people should not even be consulted or listened to. Prop eight will most likely pass on Nov fourth in California, like it did a couple of years ago. Nov fifth, the losing parties will start their lawsuits. Soon after, again, our judges will overturn the vote of the people. Next year, like for the two past years, a few gay activist groups will lobby to amend our school curriculums again in order to integrate the contribution of famous gay Californians to the history of the state or celebrate –and discuss at school- a “Harvey Milk” day, the collateral murder of an openly gay San Francisco supervisor in 1978 (Arguably, Mayor Moscone was the target). Please, report the facts and try not to contribute to social engineering.
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November 4, 2020. A new Prop 8 is on the ballot and reminds us all the 08 “civil right” struggle, when gay marriage was the issue. The few Californians who remained after the state’s bankruptcy of 2009 are listening again to their octogenarian Senator, Barbara Feinstein. She says that Prop 8 is again about discrimination and that she has seen it too often in her lifetime. She says that "Proposition 8 is a mean-spirited effort which will hurt so many Californians. I urge my fellow Californians to vote no on Proposition 8." A “No on prop 8” is about equality and basic rights, and it is good to California because it will prevent the modification of the constitution to punish loving and consenting adults in a strong relationship.
Yes, adult, loving and consenting incestuous couples should also have the right to marry in a state where prostitution, gambling and drugs have become legal and taxable to pay for education.
Vote NO on prop 8 2020!
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If my mathematics is correct, we were already $15 billion in the hole last year. Furthermore, a Federal judge has imposed the state a $9 billion bill to pay -rain or shine- in order to fix the prison’s medical system (universal healthcare for inmates!). That is a total of $24 billion. If we add the $10 to $25 billion “gap” predicted for this budget alone, we end up next year with a $34 to $50 billion deficit! That is the equivalent of the budget for our failed education system, or half of what the State needs to function every year! Sunny California would need a mere $150 billion to make it through the 08-09 fiscal year and plug the “structural” hole. With a predicted income of $85 to $75 billion, we can expect the state to increase the “structural” deficit, practice deep cuts, borrow more money at an insane interest rate and increase taxes. During the dot com, and the housing bubble, when money was flowing, they spent like drunken sailors and today they need more. Is it time to move out of here and let them pay the bills?
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Barack who?
For someone who “wants to reclaim the American dream”, he is the living proof that the dream exist and is well! He attended private and expensive colleges still discreet about his records. He became a “civil right” lawyer, the attack dog used by “civil right” law firms and organizations to enforce social engineering, promote political and social correctness, get taxpayer’s money for entitlement programs. Groomed and trained in corrupt Illinois, he was made Senator with Rezko’s money and Ayers endorsement. Paid by financial institution, mortgage industry, Universities and health care lobbies (the core of his plan for America is to “socialize” them), he has surrendered himself with the same people he runs his campaign criticizing, from shady characters to old career politicians. Ultimate sleek political machine, he rebounds each time he his attacked, quickly severs exposed connections to crooks, brandish the racial scarecrow and comes back telling us what we want to hear, but riding the wave of the same people and special interests that are harming this country, and us. Should we think of him as a polished and Harvard trained Sharpton or Jackson. Maybe! Look at his life, his achievements, his “civil right’ crusades, his goals. Is he innocent, so different from the Washingtonian political machine he belongs to. No!
Vote Barack! Vote Goldman Sachs, Lehmans bro, Countrywide, Fanny and Freddie…vote corrupt CEOs and failed politicians in office. We need more milking of the few that pay taxes and more wealth redistribution and entitlements (“rights”) toward the majority of the Americans that believe that the government should provide them with everything.What on earth has happened to “Don’t ask yourself what the government can do for you, yada, yada…” and “I have a dream that one day my children would be recognized for the force of their character and not the color of yada, yada…”. Obama is all about the color and what the government –taxpayers- should do for you. So go ahead freeloaders, the majority! Vote Obama….but always remember that politicians like entitlement programs are voted in by the majority but paid by the few. We hold the strings to the money. Come and get more of my, just try!
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I am tired of reading that Connecticut has joined the “forward” thinking states that have allowed same sex couples to marry. The Supreme Court of Connecticut has spoken, not the people. October 28th, Connecticut will indeed join California and Massachussets as the third state were a couple of judges have decided that their interpretation of the constitution is the law and that the people should not even be consulted or listened to. Prop eight will most likely pass on Nov fourth in California, like it did a couple of years ago. Nov fifth, the losing parties will start their lawsuits. Soon after, again, our judges will overturn the vote of the people. Next year, like for the two past years, a few gay activist groups will lobby to amend our school curriculums again in order to integrate the contribution of famous gay Californians to the history of the state or celebrate –and discuss at school- a “Harvey Milk” day, the collateral murder of an openly gay San Francisco supervisor in 1978 (Arguably, Mayor Moscone was the target). Please, report the facts and try not to contribute to social engineering.
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Barack who?
We have learned more about Sarah Pailin in a couple of weeks than about Obama in years and despite the supposed scrutiny typical of such a high profile campaign, I did not get all the answers I wanted and I am still wondering who is Senator Obama. Sure, I could use his own biographies to figure out what he is made of, but talk about possible bias and re-written history! He is a politician and I have to assume that as a good and successful politician, he is good at distorting reality and truth to fit his needs.
Also, the mainstream media is obviously so much in love with the phenomenon that investigative journalism has been turned into a thing of the past, replaced by shameless adulation and promotion of the new “Messiah”.
So here I am, a couple of weeks before the elections, still wondering who on earth Barack Obama really is and resorting to known facts, pretty safe allegations and other fact based hypothesis to frame the character of the guy that does not want to be judged by his race while playing all the cards available, race included. That is why he has maybe escaped the traditional treatment of traditional politicians. To question Obama, criticize him, and wonder about his past actions or associations, one must be a racist, right? After all, isn’t he “the one we have been waiting for?” So maybe before asking such disturbing and troubling things, just maybe, one should ask himself if it is only because Obama is black.
So I did….Eric, is it because Obama is Black? And I honestly replied to myself: nope!
It is because Obama passes for a saint, a straight arrow, a poor for the poor, a multicultural icon because he is multicultural and other bull I forgot. Also because he is full of himself and tries to convey that image of an anti-Washington knight in a white robe and on a white stallion. Finally it is because of race indeed, because only Democrats and Black civil right activists can talk about him, question affirmative action or call him the N words, unpunished. When other people question him, the outrage and the immediate sentence come: Racist. And I don’t want to be called a racist…so I won’t ask, right? Don’t ask, don’t tell…ask, deny!
It was the same thing when I questioned Hillary: male chauvinist pig! What about you guys: anti white geriatrics! I just want him known for what he is because he is a corrupt politician too! Just a new gifted one. Vote him in, but vote him knowing who he is and who’s puppet he is! Who has his hand all the way up, make him talk and move…Morgan, Countrywide, Freddie, Fanny, Goldman, Lawyers, Universities, Healthcare, old Washingtonites….
The few blogs I animated or visited lead me to look up some of the claims made by supporters of both parties. I started at Wikipedia and pulled the string, Goggling or Yahooing around, names and places, allegations and innuendos.
Here is what I found that could be interesting to ask the candidate of change with the audacity of hope and some fullness of himself (“I am the one we have been waiting for” and “We I am”)
Obama: poor, rich or the fruit on entitlement and affirmative action?
He attended the Occidental college in Los Angeles for two years (a small private coeducational liberal arts college, 6% African Americans, Tuitions not available online), Columbia (one year?, $32,000 a year) and Harvard from 1988 to 1991 ($55,000 a year), Ivy league places of higher education by excellence. How did he pay his way through that? Loans and grants? One needs money to borrow money…the mortgage debacle has proven it!)
Obama: Poor for the poor? Rich backed up by the rich … for the poor? (really?) As corrupt as his DC peers? (maybe more?)
His top ten donors by industry include lawyers and law firms (his peers), securities and investment (his historical piggy bank), Business services, Real Estate (a house is a right, not a privilege one must work his buns off for and pay for), Universities (Higher education is a right, not a privilege one must work his buns off for and pay for) and Health professional (Health care is a right not a responsibility). Interestingly also, is the fact that for a man of change that wants to separate himself from the business as usual his peers practice in DC, he has been cashing in big from various famous institutions such as Goldman Sachs, City Group, JP Morgan & Chase, Lehman Brothers, and Morgan Stanley. Do some of these names ring a bell/ What about Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac? In three years in the Senate, Barack ended up being the top senator benefiting from the two financial institutions largess. I quote: ‘A review of Federal Election Commission records back to 1989 reveals Obama in his three complete years in the Senate is the second largest recipient of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae campaign contributions, behind only Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., the powerful chairman of the Senate banking committee. Dodd was first elected to the Senate in 1980.”
Obama: a bright young guy or a political back-alley smart cat?
I quote: “2008 boosted Obama into the position of the most successful presidential fundraiser ever, in addition to this election's presumptive Democratic nominee…In November he'll face Republican John McCain, who has indicated he’ll accept public financing in the general election, while Obama has opted out of the system. He's the first major-party candidate since the system was created to decline taxpayers' money for the general election.”
Since it has started, despite the FACT that his top contributors are big corporations, legend had it that small Internet donors made the bulk of the monies…that is exactly how many corporations including Freddie and Fanny have paid Obama….through small contributions from their employees! Genial!
Also remember that Freddie and Fanny were created by the Congressional Democrats and President Clinton (– known as government-sponsored entities or GSEs –) to make mortgages available to more people, even people who couldn't afford them! Yes….the same companies that McCain wanted to regulate and that Obama –that one- voted to support. Remember that –I quote- “Instead, Democrats in Congress have sought to preserve the quasi-governmental status of the mortgage giants, seeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as places to locate former top Democratic Party operatives, where they have earned millions in compensation, despite a continuing series of financial Enron-like scandals.”
Freddie and Fanny his big small donors!
Obama: a man of change…advised and guided by the same old, same old guys he criticize?
For a man of change targeting every day the way the old corrupt men and women do business in Washington, it is interesting to note that Barack has just hired these same men and woman he attacks to “groom” him, advise him and run his campaign.
Biden is one, of course, part of the very old Washingtonites, part of the problems Obama decries. Biden is such an old icon of D.C that each time Obama attacks McCain on how long he has served, not done anything, perpetuating the same culture of corruption, yada yada…I think of Biden, believe he is talking about his Veep.
Rubin is another interesting fellow! Robert Rubin, is a former Clinton Treasury Secretary who has been touted as a possible appointee to a cabinet post for Senator Obama. Rubin is one of Obama's economic advisers. Under Clinton, he was the architect of the law that was promoted and passed to kill the regulations put in place on the financial institutions after the great depression (recently Bill Clinton, in a TV interview confessed that he was not so proud of that one). After that he went to support Enron and to work for Citigroup (Obama’s big donor) for $40 million a year to "advise on strategy."
Paul Volker is another one. He was the financial economist for the Chase Manhattan bank until he joined the Treasury Department in 62. From 1969 to 1974 Mr. Volcker served as under-secretary of the treasury for international monetary affairs and his best achievement was his critical role in the collapse of the Bretton Woods System thanks to his decisions to drop the Gold Convertibility of the US dollar. Logically, after such a good move, he ended up Chairman of the Federal Reserve under Carter in 72. Under Reagan, he is credited for limiting the stagnation of the economy by increasing the inflation, thus leading the country to the serious recession of the early 1980s, which provided for the highest unemployment levels since the Great Depression. He is a member of the G30, an international group of financiers and supports Obama.
James A. Johnson was in charge of digging out a suitable Vice President for Obama…Old time Democrat and presidential campaign operative (Mondale, Kerry), he naturally ended up helping out. But Johnson had some embarrassing corpses in his closet, and once exposed, was dumped by an Obama known for quickly severing gangrenous limbs for the safeguard of his message of change and integrity. Johnson got huge freebees from Countrywide (rings another bell?). He is also a board member of KBhome (interesting….they build homes!) and Golden Sachs (rings a bell?). From 85 to 90, he was a director at Lehman Brothers (rings a bell). From 1990 to 1998, he served as Johnson was chairman and chief executive officer of Fanny Mae (91-97), the quasi-public gig setup by leftists utopian and sponsored by greedy financial institutions organization to turn home ownership into a universal right, money or not, good credit or not!
Franklin D. Raines basically took over from Johnson’s job at Fanny May and cashed in the same way selling utopia to suburbia. "The first black man to head a Fortune 500 company." Has been in and out of Fannie Mae from 91 to 99 were he finally resumed his position as a CEO. In 2004, he took an early retirement and he is still investigated by the Feds for “alleged’ accounting frauds such as setting up gimmicks to increase his bonuses (total: $50 million). He also got $3 million in favorable loans from Countrywide. Obama denies he is an advisor but it was reported twice in the Washington Post that he was without any denial by his campaign (July 16th and August 27th).
Obama: tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are!
Reverend Wright: Okay. Obama attended his sermons for 28 years, got married by the man, got his children baptized by him too. He sat there for hours but never realized what kind of Anti-American and black supremacist racist things were going on there. It took some talk radio shows to wake the Messiah up to the realities of the United Church of Christ! (“It is not the Wright I knew!”)
Paul Ayers: Ayers was one of these pathetic anarchists of the 1970ies. Lived underground, planted bombs, believing he was something else than an idiot. Anyways…Obama and Ayers both lived in the same hood for a while; both worked on political reforms (education) and served on the board of an anti-poverty group committees. Both often had lunch together, Ayers hosted a party for Barack’s first run to Senate, Close relationship? maybe not but one can argue that he maintained a working relationship with a known shady character. You judge, keeping in mind what would have happened to McCain if he had met once the Unabomber?. (“It is not the Ayers I knew!”)
James Johnson: see above (“It is not the Johnson I knew!”)
Raines: see above (“It is not the Raines I knew!”)
Tony Rezko: Rezko is a typical American fundraiser, corrupted to the bone, he corrupts everything he touches, He is currently in jail and about to spill the bean about his dirty financial deals with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich . He has helped make Obama and was his first contributor (Wikipedia: “The first ever political contributions to Obama were $300 from a lawyer, a $5,000 loan from a car dealer, and $2,000 from two food companies owned by Rezko.).In 19997, Obama helped Rezko get more than $14 million in taxpayer funds. From 2003, Rezko raised $14 million for Obama's U.S. Senate campaign. He threw parties, raised money and Obama has acknowledged that about $250,000 in current campaign contributions came from Rezko. In 2005 Rezko's wife and Obama purchased adjoining properties from the same sellers in the Kenwood District of Chicago. Obama’s had a house on it and he paid $1.65 million ($300,000 below the asking price!) (“It is not the Tony I knew!”)
The extreme left fringe of his party: Obama is mostly scary for the crazy extreme leftist minority groups he appeals to. He catered to them (anti war, global warming stances, pro green, anti-rich….) but never tried to rein them in when they went on a violent rampage to disrupt the Republican conventions. Cars were burnt, shops looted, delegates beat up, “conventioneers” all ages violently extracted from their buses, denied access to the convention, etc…Do you remember Obama calling his red storm troopers back, or criticizing them?
ACORN “The country's largest grassroots organization working for the empowerment of low and moderate income people”: The old friends. ACORN has endorsed Barack for president. Obama was forced into disclosing that he has paid ACORN $800,000 to register new voters. Interestingly, in his FEC disclosure, the payments were hidden as payments to a front group called Citizen Services Inc. for “advance work.”). Furthermore, Obama was the executive director of ACORN’s voter-registration branch in 1992 and he lead the voter registration program that helped elect Carol Moseley-Braun to the Senate that year. In 1993, Obama sued the state of Illinois for ACORN to implement the federal “Motor Voter” law, which the GOP governor of the time refused to implement because it would lead to voter’s fraud.
ACORN is also dedicated to democracy and a universal right to vote for everybody and everything, illegals, dead people and cartoon characters included. The organization is under investigation for nationwide voter’s fraud allegations and one guy came forward stating he registered 72 times for cash and cigarettes….Democracy in action people!
So what will you ask? Well, it is sort of disturbing that all these shady and corrupt characters, businesses, banks or groups, have made or are making Obama’s entourage. They are all making the news today, or have in the past and not for good deeds. What would that tell you about Obama’s judgment? You tell me. I think it is disturbing and I think we deserve clear answers and facts. Actually, and it is true, with such known even remote associations, I could not even apply for the Green card or the citizenship. But he can be your next Prez!
Obama: the ultimate politician: a wind cone blowing with the wind!
Who is Obama? A civil right lawyer for the lawyers, a taxpayer’s money pumping machine for special interest groups, an Illinois mobster groomed by the crooks for the crooks, the left wing socialist nut that appealed to the fringes of his party during the primaries, or the Middle Class conscious middle of the road social-conservative he has become since he won the nomination? He can certainly not pay everybody back. How is he going to be if or when he wins?
Obama who?
So go ahead….deny, deny, deny and believe that the new Messiah is innocent of all charges and has not done anything wrong, directly or by association. Claim that all his long term dark religious, political or lobby associations are not showing poor judgment and political opportunism but are merely accidents, glitches of his life. Believe if you want that he is by the poor and for the poor and that he will fix all the ills of the universe. Everything I talked to is public information and you just have to Google Obama + a name or a scandal to find tons of data, most of it from legit sources. Pull a string and it will lead you to all these things I have talked about. He might be your next President, so make the effort to go over the nicely polished and carefully crafted image and at least, try to debunk my claims. I Dare you!
The way I see him he is the fruit of affirmative action (but he somehow wants to reclaim the American dream according to his book when is the living proof the dream is still here and well!) He went through expensive college (note that Columbia still refuses to this day to release his records when we know everything about McCain in Annapolis!). He became a “civil right” lawyer, the attack dog fused by law firms or “civil right” organizations to milk the system, enforce social engineering, promote political and social correctness, make tons of money for entitlement programs based on taxpayer’s money. Groomed and trained in Illinois, synonym of corruption, he was made Senator with Rezko’s money and Ayers endorsement. Paid by financial institution, mortgage industry, Universities and health care lobbies, he has surrendered himself with the same exact people he runs his campaign criticizing: shady characters, lawyers, former CEOs of financial groups, mortgage institutions or other special lobbies and old politicians that have been there forever, some known for ruining the country a couple of time. Ultimate sleek political machine, he rebounds each time he his attacked, quickly severs exposed connections to crooks, and comes back all well dressed and well spoken telling us what we want to hear but riding the wave of the same people and special interests that are harming this country, and us.
Should we think of him as a polished and Harvard trained Sharpton or Jackson. Maybe! Look at his life, his achievements, his “civil right’ crusades, his goals. Is he innocent, so different from the Washingtonian political machine he belongs to. No!
No past but a big future…You have been warned! So now, just go ahead with your social experiment, blindfolded and naïve. Vote Barack! Vote Goldman Sachs, Lehmans bro, Countrywide, Fanny and Freddie…vote corrupt CEOs and failed politicians in office. We need more milking of the few that paid taxes and more wealth redistribution and entitlements (“rights”) toward the majority of the American that believe that the government should provide them with everything.What on earth has happened to “Don’t ask yourself what the government can do for you, yada, yada…” and “I have a dream that one day my children would be recognized for the force of their character and not the color of yada, yada…”. Obama is all about the color and what the government –taxpayers- should do for you. So go ahead freeloaders, the majority! Vote Obama….but always remember that politicians like entitlement programs are voted in by the majority but paid by the few. We hold the strings to the money. Come and get more of my, just try!
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This is what I wrote last week to my President, “representatives “and other Senators…
Madam, Sir
A quick common sense suggestion to get out of the impasse and get rid of the pork barrel laden plans setup to rewards bad behaviors from major financial institutions (that have their hands deep into the pockets of our past and current candidates to the presidency and many more of our elected officials) and irresponsible borrowers that have believed YOUR utopian idea that owning a house was a universal right and not the privilege of the hard working, hard saving, accountable few with the well deserved good credit that goes with responsible banking.
Post depression regulations ruling banks and loaning industry were erased under President Clinton and many Federal, state and local attempts to regulate the lending industry after the crash of the dot.com were systematically ignored or defeated thanks to the amount of “protective” money spent by the financial institutions that primarily benefited from the “universal housing” dream that you have all preached at one time or another.
There is not such a thing as a governmental bail out because the US government does not have any money….It can only print more, devaluating the national currency to the status of Monopoly game currency.
America is a “free market” society and “free market” should regulate the matter. People will lose their over priced homes and foreclosures and auctions will allow others to acquire a cheaper dwelling. Banks will go bankrupt and other banks will grow. Lessons will be drawn at all levels and things will naturally even out.
Half of the American people pay taxes (unfortunately) and finance the country, the non tax payers, the free loaders, the illegals and other “undocumented”. Give a $5000 tax refund to every taxpayer in America instead of bailing out greedy corrupting machines that have collapsed our economy! 140 million taxpayers….$5000 each…do the Math!
If I put my $5000 in the bank, it creates liquidity, banks can invest or loan money. If I put it toward the new roof or the new car I need, it will create jobs and consumption, will re-circulate the money. If I put it toward an IRA or 401k, a college fund, or buy gold, it will consolidate investment, secure commodities.
This would be a win-win situations and taxpayers would be rewarded for being the good citizens they are, the economy would be re-energized and the bad bankers, loaners, buyers would learn from their failures.
Still, at the end of the day, as a taxpayer, I demand a full investigation and public hearings and trials of all the people who have directly or indirectly milked the system or benefited from it. Politicians, Bankers, loaners, CEOs, board of directors, investors….assets should be seized and frozen, repossessed. Too many “smart” people rode the “house.com” wave and made tons of money knowing that it was all about a scam, inflated and artificial prices, entitlement, “housing affirmative action”. It is time to pay back!
But what do I know? I just have an excellent credit score, bought my house the old fashion way after a lifetime of working and saving, know that equity loans must be paid back, know what I can afford, know what the real value of my house is and knew that the whole scheme was wrong. Today I know that people should stop whining “Katrina-like”, stop holding their hands out and blaming everybody else for their problems. I also know that I am done being financially and emotionally milked by the free loaders or the greedy of our society. I am done.
As a taxpayer that does the right thing every day, I am done. And I am also done with D.C or the State legislature. We, the taxpayers, are paying you. We might not put you to office –free loaders do that too- but we are the one paying you and for some reason we woke up to the reality: your are not really out there to watch out for our best interests. I wonder why so much mistrust? What is the approval rating of Congress again? Is it lower than that of a President considered by so many as the worst President ever? Get a clue!
What is it going to take to stop the charade and take the lead, all of you in D.C? Leadership has nothing to do with winning a popularity context. Pleasing everybody is not leadership…might get one elected by the many and paid by the few, right, but that is it! Being elected does not make anybody a leader. Leadership means making the right choices, showing example and competence, staying in touch with its base, sometimes punishing but often loving, and watching out for the best interests of those under. What kind of a leader have you been lately? What kind of a leader are you? Did you cash in from Fanny Mae and Lehman bros? Should I bother and look it up? You tell us? You show us!
This week, I am going to take my children -10 and 11 y.o- to the capital city of America. I think I will spend more time meditating with them on the war memorials covered with the names of people what knew the price to pay to make that country what it is than trying not to be sarcastic and cynical on the steps of the Congress, the gate of the White House, or the entrance of the Supreme court, institutions founded to serve and protect the people of America, provide checks and balance, institutions supposedly manned by people better than us dedicating to SERVING the country and not their self interests. What should I tell them? How politics should works or how it really works? What would you tell them?
Nota: The taxpayer’s bailout plan was eventually voted and passed. Pork Barrel made its way through too and as long as our legislators could take our hand, they just ripped off the arm, Washingtonian politics at its best by self serving and self centered arrogant and power hungry ELECTED officials, both aisles included. The President and the two Presidential candidates approved and signed on, showing the audacity of continuity and the Mavericanism of status quo. $25 billion were also given to Ford and GM last week because the two automakers cannot compete in a market of fuel efficient cheap quality cars….mostly thanks to their rigid unions entrenched in the audacity of entitlement. For most Americans, it does not really matter because it is not THEIR money. For the 140 million tax payers, it just shows where we are heading: the many voting free loaders and self serving politicians are getting a stronger grip on our wallets and will milk us more in years to come. Nobody will try to fix the system and it will eventually run short of us (taxpayers), short of money. My trip to DC went well and the Capitol is already being prepared for the 2009 inauguration. Indeed, I was loudly cynical and sarcastic while walking the polished stones of the seats of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial powers of America. Indeed I was respectful in front of the war memorials. Freedom is not free and this country was built on sweat, blood, hard work, not on entitlement and freebies. How far and low have we gone…
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I am done now…That pathetic “bailout” was the last rusty nail on my coffin of hope….hope of common sense, hope of some kind of decency and honesty in DC, hope in the three balancing branches of government, hope in two balancing parties…The audacity of my hopes has been shot down…your new messiah is as corrupt as the most corrupt of the old timers he criticizes and the old guard has lost its sparks. Voters are ignorant (did I mean stupid?), party-aligned and blind and deserve everything they get. The Government is bankrupt and printing money. As good American entities, Federal and State agencies run maxed out credit card, pass bonds (6 out of 10 Californians polled knew bonds must be re-payed), and borrow more than they can pay with bad credit….Does it reminds you of anything? Like the morons who bought huge expensive houses with bad credits, zero down or interest only , our Federal and State institutions are biting on more than they can chew and running us toward the cliff, the ultimate meltdown. Such a young country with so much potential! Too sad to see it go…from the Frontier spirit to universal affirmative action and entitlement….Way to go!
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Is Biden a new voice or same old Washingtonite professional profiteer? Has Obama cashed millions from Fanny Mae, Lehman bros and other ailing financial institutions before he started to point fingers at them? Is Obama running the same type of false misguiding old time politics ads as McCain? Who did it first? Who was there first, the chicken or the egg? Who was there first: political career or Obama? Has Obama preached a totally different way to the libs during the primaries and changed his positions on many things now that he is the nominee? Is Obama really connected to the poor and struggling or is he another filthy rich lefty politician? Is he or not a lawyer financed and backed up by lawyers? Does he spend more time at home with his kids than Pailin? Does his wife? Is he a better parent? Was he a better community organizer than she was a mayor or governor? Is he what he is because he says so? Is his only audacity his race and is only hope that Hispanics will vote a black guy as a Prez? Is he only going to be elected for the force of his character or for the skills of his campaign? Is he a frigging lying in your face politicians like the other one and at the end of the day, is he going to screw me and this country more or less than the other candidate!
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The state found a genial solution to fix the budget: borrow from taxpayers! No kidding? Where else could the money come?
Income taxes: we pay! Taxes on businesses: we pay through lower wages, meager benefits, higher prices of the products, lower 401k matching plan, or unemployment when the businesses relocate! Bonds: we pay and our kids too! High price of education: we pay through taxes, lottery, high tuitions, volunteering, donations, purchase of stationary! High perks and salaries of the legislature, the prison guards, police officers, University staff, and other unionized special interests groups or redundant state workers manning obsolete systems in an inefficient, complicated and overcrowded organization: we pay! Special elections to promote the pet projects of the many special interest groups: we pay! Recall elections: we pay! “Regular” elections to vote on issues that are political suicide for lawmakers: we pay! Dot.com crash: we paid! Housing bubble that burst: we are paying! Sterile stem cell research: we pay! Demagogic “feel good” politically correct school curriculum: we pay by constantly scoring last of the nation! Lack of vocational school, lack of discipline,, lack of parenting: we pay with an increasing number of school drop outs! $15 billion in the hole: we will eventually foot the bill! $9 billion more for the prison health system: we will pay too! All this because they say living here is priceless….Tell you what: not anymore if you are a taxpayer!
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California found a genial solution to fix the budget: borrow from taxpayers! No kidding? Where else could the money come?Income taxes: we pay! Taxes on businesses: we pay through lower wages, meager benefits, higher prices of the products, lower 401k matching plan, or unemployment when the businesses relocate! Bonds: we pay and our kids too! High price of education: we pay through taxes, lottery, high tuitions, volunteering, donations, purchase of stationary! High perks and salaries of the legislature, the prison guards, police officers, University staff, and other unionized special interests groups or redundant state workers manning obsolete systems in an inefficient, complicated and overcrowded organization: we pay! Special elections to promote the pet projects of the many special interest groups: we pay! Recall elections: we pay! “Regular” elections to vote on issues that are political suicide for lawmakers: we pay! Dot.com crash: we paid! Housing bubble that burst: we are paying! Sterile stem cell research: we pay! Demagogic “feel good” politically correct school curriculum: we pay by constantly scoring last of the nation! Lack of vocational school, lack of discipline,, lack of parenting: we pay with an increasing number of school drop outs! $15 billion in the hole: we will eventually foot the bill! $9 billion more for the prison health system: we will pay too! All this because they say living here is priceless….Tell you what: not anymore if you are a taxpayer!
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Sarah Palin: a good choice?
Mc Cain’s campaign stole Obama’s Thunder last Friday morning when announcing early morning that a complete unknown female governor had been picked as a Veep for the Republican ticket. What was supposed to be the day when every media outlet was to dissect “ZE Speech” by the MLT wannabee new Messiah, became the day for “Sarah who?”
I thought that it was funny! Suddenly the convention of the Democrats was old news, and so was Obama’s performance in front of 84,000 people. Too bad.
I also predicted that she would make the news and magazine covers, kick the Obama couple out of the flood lights, and she did.
Finally, I explained why it was a grandiose idea unless….she had skeletons in her closet.
I was right…. (Am I not always right? J)…so right!
The idea is grandiose because:
She is younger than Obama
She is “newer” than Obama
She is as cute as Michelle
Obama chose an old “Washingtonite” for VP, one of the people he criticizes for the problems, and McCain chose an unknown successful “Maverick”
McCain chose a woman, a mom, when Obama sent Billary back home, humiliated.
McCain chose a woman and the Obama campaign has to be really careful on how she is going to be treated (not to alienate voting women)
McCain chose a conservative mom
McCain chose a governor that stood for her state against oil companies and had them pay billions in taxes (Alaska is flooded with cash while most states are in the red)
McCain chose somebody who fought corruption in both parties, old politics and self serving “earmarks”
If the ticket wins, she will be the next Republican candidate to face Obama and Billary in 2012….but with four years experience as a VP
The skeletons are popping up thx to our tabloidic media and audience:
“Trooper gate”: did she or not directly pressure her administration in order to get her brother in law fired?
Pregnant 17yo daughter: suddenly it is an issue (not political yet and thx Obama for wanting to keep kids out of the way)….obviously the poor 17yo won’t have the free pass other celebrities “a la Spears family” get!
Husbands double decade old DUI.
Anything else? McCain campaign says it is all there is and they expected it! We shall see.
So what do you think? Good choice or desperate political maneuvers?
Also, what about the Democrats and democracy?
Nobody from any right wing fringe of the conservative/republican aisle has tried to derail the convention of the Democrats, attacked delegates and burnt and loot properties. You know: the gun and bible totting moron Obama dislikes!But the left and its Democratic values was again shown in action at the opening of the RNC…like usual…protesters, slogans, public disruptions, attacks on citizens and properties, disruption of a legit political process, etc, etc…It just reminded me that it is how it has always started with the world dictatorships of the left: intolerant brown shirts sturm troopers marching in the streets and imposing their Democratic views via violence and intimidation, the first steps to re=education or concentration camps! You guys must be so proud of your activists! Just keep it up and you will scare the American people away from your “tolerance”.
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Our kids don't need any fancy strategy to enter active life and succeed. Nor are they all entitled to a high school or a college degree. There is a wise saying that states that some kids are born to write symphonies and some to carry the piano. It is up to our failing school system to get its act together and orient to vocational education the Middle school children that show a "learning challenge". That would indeed put an end to the monetary scams run by our public and private institutions of "higher learning" that act more and more like loan providing banks than schools preparing youth for the challenges of life. Is it finally time to end the charade and shake a system that costs us more than half the total budget of the state ($50 billion for K12 + $10 billion for higher ed) and continuously shows poor results despite highly paid employees (salaries and perks) and tons of costly demagogic and self serving special education pet programs (the more special program a school has and the more money it gets)? The bad worker always looks for excuses while the good one looks for solutions. Let’s fix that thing!
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Interest rates are at the lowest and realtors are reeling in the homebuyers they are luring into giving another shot at home ownership. I hope we have learned our lesson and stop loaning to people who cannot afford the payments. The concept might shock many but home ownership is not a right! It is the privilege for people, who saved all their lives, have a stable work history, have maintained a good credit and also generate an income that provides for every other household expense. As far as equity goes, I am tired of hearing that it is some kind of wealth and that billions of dollars of home equity have been lost. Home equity is only real money when one sells high. Beside that it is just plain virtual money, monopoly dollars. It is just an untapped potential value and should not be accessible. How can one seriously consider borrowing real money against virtual money? Well….that is what we have been doing for the past five years. Artificially, the home prices went high and people were made to believe that they could borrow against them. They did and are now stuck with high payments, in real money! Think!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Voting for race instead of ideas?
There is a question going around in the news regarding a possible deep laying racism in white people. Basically, the media are asking themselves if white America is ready to elect a black president in 2008 and if many who are claiming support for Obama are actually unconsciously kidding themselves and will eventually cast a “white” vote when ballot time will come.
The question is fair because indeed, racism and prejudice affect the way some people vote. Take a look at the African American community to illustrate my propos: it seems like as of today, about 90% of the African American voters polled will vote for Obama. Just remember the democratic primaries and it is the percentage that the black candidate has already obtained in many states…Is Racism preventing African Americans from voting for a lady in a Mao suit or an “old wrinkled white man” and is racism, above ideology, politics and agenda, steering so many toward a black only vote? Some high level black conservative have strangely enough already announced that they will support Obama against logics and political convictions….Again, is race a factor? At least, to stand up for the “Caucasian” side, I can make a case that racism is lesser there because a bigger percentile of White will vote for Obama compared to the percentage of blacks that will vote for a McCain. So here is the question again: is race a factor? Will African Americans vote for the color of a skin or for the force of a character? Will guilt ridden white voters vote for the color of a skin or the force of a character? Will race be the decisive factor?
Why is America so obsessed with labels that it cannot go beyond the many prejudice and stereotyping of its self induced tabloid culture of diversity? Lieberman “Jewiness” was an issue when he ran for VP, and Romney’s “Mormonism” was also an issue. Add the sex of Billay and the race of Obama, the age of McCain and the “pastority” of Huckabee. Sharpton a moron, Gore a nerd that invented the Internet and Bill Clinton a perv. What is it with the obsession Americans have for labels? Maybe we should let People magazine vote for us….and MAYBE Paris Hilton should be a VP. After all, my governor is a celebrity from Hollywood and look at the good job he has done! (Sarcasm!)Tell you what….a confession….listen carefully and don’t repeat it because it is sort of embarrassing …”I have known forever that Hillary was female, Obama black, Romney Mormon and McCain white…”! Didn’t you notice too?
Now let’s get back to facts, agenda, platforms, ideas, you now, further behind the picture or the video, where it hurts your brain when you use it trying to figure out how bad you are going to get screwed next year depending on who will move to DC!
And before bashing me, just remember the wise words of somebody who knew better and stated that if it has to be about something, sex should be it:
“I am not holier than thou. I am not perfect by any means. But there are events in life that you learn from, and which remind you what this is really all about.” John Edwards from a speech on October 29, 2007
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Georgia: Pathetic but typical story of abandonment.
Since its accession to independence in 1991, Georgia has been heavily courted by America that wanted to make it the foremost Eastern outpost of NATO. Georgia entered the Northern Atlantic alliance through the side door, the Partnership for Peace, and was supposed to be made a full member in 2009 despite a strong Russian opposition. Georgia really improved its state institutions since the so-called “Rose revolution” in 2003 and the young representative democracy has achieved high improvements in reaching the political, military, economic and humanitarian goals set by NATO and the European Union in order to be considered for a membership, especially as far as corruption was concerned.
Georgia is a fairly small country of 45,000 sq/miles (70,000 square kilometers) and about 5 million “Georgians” living in nine regions spread out between the Black Sea on the West and Azerbaijan on the East. Turkey and Armenia form its Southern border and Russia watch from the North. George Bush is the first American president to visit the country, stressing the importance it has for the West, NATO and the E.U. Since the beginning, the Western contribution to Georgia has mostly been a “Train and Equip” military assistance program and the help to build a pipeline to transport crude oil from Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea oil fields to the Black sea, in direct competition with the quasi Russian and Iranian monopoly. Georgia has also been made to believe that it was benefiting from an unconditional support from the West –especially America- and has felt confident in ignoring and sometimes challenging Russia’s belligerent talks or active “bullying”. Georgia is the third force contributor of the “coalition of the willing” with 2000 soldiers manning check points in Baghdad and its “Green Zone”.
Despite the stabilization of the post “Rose Revolution”, Georgia had to deal with its secessionist states of Adjara (South West on Black Sea), South Ossetia (Russian border, North, center) and Abkhazia (North West, on the Black Sea). Eventually, Adjara quickly “dropped” its separatist agenda but the two other provinces, made of non Georgian ethnic minorities, found active help and support from a sympathetic Russian “Big Brother” eager to step forward with a “peace keeping” military force and “protect” the separatist and pro-Russian province from the potential aggression of a “militarist and pro-Western” Georgia. Through the use of the legitimacy of the U.N. and the “manipulation” of OSCE observers, Russia has had the upper hand over the conflict since the early 1990ies when the separatists started the ethnic cleansing of Georgian from Abkhazia and when many South Ossetians left Georgia to Russian’s North Ossetia.
Since then, while Georgia was trying to become a model democracy worthy of integration to NATO, Russia has fueled the separatist movements of the provinces and escalated the provocations. The more involved the US and NATO, the more Russia sided with the two seceding provinces. Russia unilaterally created military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, provided Russian passports to the local minorities, ordered its peacekeepers to use force to protect the province from Georgia, increased its peacekeeping force and eventually also backed up or engineered many destabilization operations, that is to say bombings or attacks against Georgian forces or assets. Russia set up consulates and bilateral defense agreements with the separatist governments and only stopped short to recognizing the independence of the provinces despite U.N, E.U and American appeals for a peaceful path to a referendum or other democratic solution.
In the meantime, maybe emboldened by what was perceived as a strong American backup and European concern, Georgia have stepped up to the plate and matched every Russian moves with confidence and aggressively while developing and modernizing it’s military. Georgia has also forcibly responded to every single provocation in the field or diplomatically to any Russian controversial declaration. Of course, both sides were pointing the finger at each other in a skillful blaming game that has confused the U.N and European observers since the beginning of the crisis. 2007 saw a tale telling escalation that culminated a couple of days ago when Georgian troops entered in strength in South Ossetia to submit its capital and get rid of its separatist movement while the whole world was focused on the Olympics. Since April 2008, the situation has seriously deteriorated in the field with many air space violations from both sides (unmanned surveillance Drones from Georgia and Russian fighters), terrorist like attacks against Georgians or separatists, Russian military buildup in the separatist province of Abkhazia, bombings, clashes, mortar and artillery exchanges in South Ossetia and a spying allegation made by Russia. Eventually, throughout July 2008, bombings and military clashes affected all sides while tensions rose to a boiling point with saber rattling declaration from all the parties. Finally in August 2008, Georgian soldiers backed up with tanks, artillery and airplanes invaded South Ossetia and its capital and started a direct Russian military intervention that has involved heavy bombings of Georgian troops and targets both in South Ossetia and Georgia, the landing of fresh troops in Abkhazia and the locking of its Black Sea ports and accesses, and the declaration that the Russians will only stop once the Georgian government has been toppled and its armies defeated.
Putin left the Olympics and China right away and was seen the very next day, close to the front line talking to its generals while the West and the UN released diplomatic notes and sent more observers. In the meantime, President Bush attended Beach Ball trainings and was offered to slap the cute bottom cheek of a Miss Misty something, showing Georgia that there is a difference between talks and actions. The President would have flown to DC right away it would have sent another kind of message to Moscow! But what do I know?
I can only remember…
I remember Poland in World War 2 and how the Western powers abandoned it to its fate despite multilateral defense agreements.
The West Germans during the cold war, asking France to move non-NATO military units in Germany because they were not sure of the American commitment to die in a nuclear winter against the Red Army in order to preserve Western Europe. France was –and is- an independent nuclear power with more at stake at the time. To defend France, France would have to defend Germany, eventually with its own nuclear weapons! The Germans skillfully bet on France too!
I remember the Kurds and the Shiites during the first Gulf War…They were encouraged to open a Northern and Eastern front in Iraq to distract Saddam’s armies, and led to believe that the dictator and its Presidential Guard would be dealt with. The invasion stopped short of Baghdad for short term political reasons and the Kurds and Shiites were left to die in the hands of the Presidential Guard we conveniently allowed to move around to facilitate their punitive tasks.
I remember the death of Tito and the splitting of Yugoslavia with Croatia running for its independence, soon unilaterally recognized by Germany (a WW2 ally!) despite international calls for caution. That is when the war started with the Serbian majority trying to cement the now collapsing country with blood and bullets.
Georgia has just learned the hard way that there is not such a thing a partnership or agreement when you are small and when the invader is Russia.
The West just realized –hopefully- that Russia is not an ally, will never be and has its own agenda in its zone of influence.
America, hopefully, will get the message that one cannot go around meddling in other people’s strategic playground without eventually stirring the pot and generating new crisis….The path to hell is paved with good intentions but obviously, ignoring the Russian reservations for so many years while building a NATO outpost at its direct Southern border and threatening its oil business was not a good idea….and the price for that is going to be huge in blood and long in civil wars.
Hopefully, European nations that have disarmed since the collapse of the Russian Empire and buried the “cold war” for more social programs will get to their senses and finally realize that there is still a giant aggressive military power in Eastern Europe. It is well armed, holds the controls for oil and natural gas supplies, and is switching back to a semi-dictatorship status.
Finally, a new conflict has started in Eastern Europe and world observers will again judge the international community for its actions. The US will also be judged for its inactions and Putin has shown for now that he has the upper hand and that there is not much that the US can do for its poor ally….beside maybe shipping back the 2000 Georgian combat ready troops from Iraq right into the battlefield before Georgia becomes again another Russian puppet government.
Good luck Georgia!
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It has been two days since I have written the article above, and five since the beginning of the conflict. Today, August 12, Russia has announced the end of the hostilities against Georgia stating that the aggressor had been punished, that its armed forces had suffered a terrible blow, and that the Russian citizens and peacekeepers in the seceding provinces are now safe.
Ironically, one of the main excuse for the Russian intervention was the Russian constitution mandated demand for the protection of Russian nationals at home and abroad…and we know that Russia had unilaterally taken steps to recognize the legitimacy of the separatist regions and has issued its citizens Russian passport. When Georgia made the unthinkable mistake of using force to retake South Ossetia, the Russian government had a constitutional excuse to move in, on top of the official need for protection for its so-called peacekeepers.
In the meantime, France took the lead with its foreign minister landing in the war zone right away and the French president meeting with European leaders and disclosing his plan to meet with the Russian president before actually flying into Georgia.
President Bush just came back while Mrs. Rice sent a “nobody” from her department to the Georgian capital, and the charade has finally ended with a strong military and diplomatic Russian victory!
De facto, Russia now owns the separatist provinces and Georgia can write them off. Russia also sent a clear message to its former republics: don’t mess up with us and don’t trust the good words of the West.
The message to the West and NATO is even stronger: don’t interfere with MY business in MY backyard. Russia has been made a fool for too long and Russia is finally back, oil rich, standing and kicking, maybe not as a world power anymore but as the regional undisputable power.
In a few chosen words, Russia basically told America, the U.N, the E.U and the rest of the world: blah blah blah….what are you going to do about it?
Interestingly, Russia stopped short of taking over Georgia and installing a puppet regime there….(darn…I lost a bet and it is going to cost me lunch!). For some reason, it looks like the Bear has just flexed its new muscles but is still eager to keep its options open regarding Europe (its customer for oil), the U.N and the G8 (used to be G7: seven industrialized nations. Became 8 with Russian addition.
America is going to push for a quicker access to the NATO membership for Georgia….and what? Would the West ever go to war against Russia for Georgia, or Latvia? Not a chance! Russia made sure that the whole world knows it…
So what are we going to do for now to safeguard emerging democracies in the Russian strategic area of interest? I think a post war Berlin-like setup could work. Maybe we should permanently position a symbolic multinational force in each of these countries. A military aggression against the country would mean international casualties, an act of war against all the represented countries. The deterrence worked well during the Cold War and could work again. Furthermore, I do believe that if the West would have followed the French foreign minister’s example and flown high level diplomats to the war zone, Russia would have stopped its military operations for fear of damaging collateral damages such as the death of a well known political figure. Instead, we sat on our thumbs and made strong declarations…
Finally, we need to be cautious and take our time to make sure that we don’t directly threaten Russia and its strategic interests, nor embolden our partners into making a foolish military statement. We did not like it when the USSR tried to make Cuba, right in our backyard, an outpost of communism and a nuclear launch pad. Well…think about it…Half a century later we are trying to set a NATO military outpost and an Anti-Russian Defense missile system right at Russia’s Southern border….and we hope it will work!
What are we thinking?
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The 2008 French White Book on Defense and Homeland Security.
The French government has just released its 2008 White Book on defense and homeland security, the first extensive official French threat assessment and forces reorganization plan since 1994. The book was commissioned in July 2007 by President Sarkozy and the extensive reforms it details are the result of no less than 40 audits involving 52 personalities from 14 different nations. Senior officers of the French Armed Forces, representatives of every French political party, CEOs, European politicians, journalists, representatives of the major religions, and respected “strategists” took part in the debates that are fully reported in the second volume of the document.
It would be difficult to cover the wide ranging reforms in detail, as the thousand or so pages of the two volumes are heavy reading, even in English. However, this paper presents the gist of the recommendations and presents some of the reactions.
For the first time the White Book has addressed French security concerns globally without limiting them to defense or military issues. It redefines a National Security Strategy involving the implementation of a defense policy, a Domestic Security Policy (global domestic security), a Civil Security Policy (security of individuals, civil order), and also, to a certain extent, a Foreign and an Economic Policy.
Because the world has undergone deep changes since 1994, new threats have emerged and called for reorganization. The White Book details how “globalization” has given birth to a faster exchange of information, goods, and people that have both positively and negatively impacted the international and domestic, economic, social, and politic environments. It lists what it describes as the European continent’s “direct vulnerabilities” to terrorism and to weaponry such as ballistic missiles being developed by emerging powers such as Iran. It also lists new threats such as possible crises in Asia; medical, sanitary, or ecological disasters; mass migrations of people; and cyber attacks. It presents a strategic analysis covering the next 15 years.
The results of that analysis define the 2008 National Security Strategy built around five combined strategic functions that defense and security forces must master. These functions are: Knowledge and Anticipation, Protection, Prevention, Intervention, and finally, Deterrence. Knowledge and Anticipation: Intelligence is described as most critical since it provides the first line of defense in preserving France’s strategic initiative. It is anticipated that Intelligence will be obtained via a wide spectrum of new and modernized media such as ballistic missile launch-detection, early warning surveillance satellites, and radars. This national missile defense system might become the first component of a more global European initiative. The role of unmanned aerial vehicles will be increased (UAV) to complement traditional air combat equipment. Signal intelligence assets will be extended to space (CERES satellite program). New all-weather all-time satellites will replace the current Helios imagery systems (MUSIS program). The whole array of satellites will fall under a new Joint Spatial Command under the control of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. An intelligence academy will also be created.
Protection: New threats such as terrorism stress the need to refocus on the domestic protection of the population and of the national territory. France needs to be protected from major disasters and its resilience needs to be nurtured. In this case, the document describes the term “protection” as “the capability for the public administrations and civilian population to react to a major crisis and quickly restore normal processes.” To achieve these goals, the White Book recommends adapting the current and future intelligence gathering network to domestic intelligence needs, the development of a better response capability from the various public administrations, the implementation of a national alert and information network, and stronger cooperation between the military and the civil security organisms. Twelve sectors of national vital activities have been defined and will be the focus of special protective measures that France would like to promote at the European level for a more global approach (energy, food supply, water management…). Finally, defense against cyber war, the possible hacking of communication and computer networks, has been made a priority; offensive and defensive technologies and systems will be developed to protect France’s information systems.
Prevention: The White Book recommends concentrating conflict prevention capabilities and possible intervention to a vast geographical area of critical strategic importance for both France and Europe. Roughly contained between the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, this wide zone of interest includes Asia, which has become increasingly important to the world’s security. France will also revise its defense agreements with its African partners and shift them toward a new European/African partnership for peace and security while keeping all its options open for prevention and/or action along the occidental and oriental coasts of Africa, the Sahel region included in-between. France will also maintain a significant military presence in the Antilles-Guyana area, mainly to benefit its space facilities at Kourou.
Intervention: The White Book provides a variety of scenarios regarding the use of the military. It defines three major types of intervention: military domestic operations, military operations (abroad), and joint military and civil operations abroad. Domestic military operations would be exceptional and limited to such national emergencies as natural or technological disasters or major terrorist attack. The military forces would be required to support and/or complement other public or civilian agencies. Military operations would most likely be conducted abroad and fall into two major categories: stabilization operations (1000 to 5000 men plus support) and high intensity operations. Stabilization and high intensity operations are not mutually exclusive and one could precede or follow the other. Joint military and civil operations may also precede, complement, or complete military operations, especially in a reconstruction or a “peace consolidation” phase. France recognizes the predominant role of the United Nations but also deplores the lack of coordination among its components. The paper stresses a new concept: international military operations must be followed by international civil operations! It is all about a “Crisis Exit Strategy” that requires the full involvement and tight collaboration of civilian specialists, such as administrators, economists, magistrates, financial and legal counsels, who are left behind to support emerging local political institutions, manage international aid, and assist in economic development.
Deterrence: Nuclear deterrence will remain the cornerstone of France’s national strategy and its role as the ultimate guarantor of the national security and independence is stressed again in the newly released document. France defines it nuclear deterrence as a unique tool to prevent aggression by a foreign state against the vital interests of the country. To face emerging threats and to maintain its credibility, France will upgrade its two nuclear components composed of ballistic and airborne missiles. The White Book provides for the development of four to six new stealth nuclear attack submarines capable of carrying and launching new long range cruise missiles. These high precision missiles will also be compatible with other naval and airborne assets. At the same time, France pledges that it will take an active role in proposing and supporting nuclear disarmament and anti-proliferation measures.
The White Book also reiterates France’s commitment to the European Union and to NATO. It proposes steps for the European Union to finally become a major international player when it comes to managing international security crises. These steps include the creation of a global permanent European intervention force of 60,000 and the development of a European planning and command structure for military and civil operations. The paper also calls for four critical actions aiming at the security and protection of European citizens (cooperation against terrorism and organized crime, implementation of European civil protection assets, coordination against cyber war and protection of the energy grid and strategic supplies) and for the redaction of a “European White Book on Defense and Security.”
NATO is turning sixty years old and since the early 1990, Europe and the alliance have undergone many major changes. France sees a need for a renovation of the alliance and will seek a new balance between the American and the European influence within the organization. France sees both the European Union and NATO as complimentary and is committed to fully participate in the alliance as long as its nuclear forces remain independent and no French military force is placed under permanent peacetime NATO command.
Again, there, France underlines principles expressed by General de Gaulle: France is and shall remain independent, preserve its freedoms of analysis and decision. That concept is also reflected in a new approach to the military industry.
No European country can master, develop, and maintain the defense related technological capabilities necessary for total independence. France will focus on the “first industrial strategic circle,” on domains that are critical to its strategic and political autonomy – nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, nuclear attack submarines, Information systems security - and will give the European market, the “second circle,” top priority for other military equipment – aircraft, UAVs, cruise missiles, electronics. The remaining exterior world would become a “third circle.”
To achieve these revolutionary goals, the government intends to begin with a wave of restructuration that will involve the dissolution or relocation of major units and the laying off of about 54,000 defense personnel or employees. The relocated units will be regrouped by affinity to maximize their efficiency and support. The money saved by these measures will be entirely funneled toward new equipment. All together, by the year 2020, the government is planning to spend $580 billion toward the defense effort (377 billion Euros). Furthermore, while obsolete or redundant agencies will disappear, new ones will flourish from the top level of the French government down: Defense and Homeland Security Council, National Intelligence Council, Information Systems Security Agency, Inter-ministry Committee for the Coordination of the Defense against NBC Threats, Inter-Ministry Center for Crisis Management, European Center for Civil Protection, Space Joint Command, Defense Financial Committee, Intelligence Academy, Mixed (Civil and Military) NBC Training Center, etc. The White Book stresses the need for highly professional soldiers, the extensive use of the traditional reserve, as well as the “enlistment’ in the active reserve of highly qualified civilian human resources (reservists will be able to serve up to 200 active days a year), and the adhesion of the nation to the new National Security Strategy. It also addresses the opportunity for a voluntary “Civic Service” for young adults.
In raw numbers, the future French Army would be composed of an operational force 88,000 strong and almost as many support personnel. This Ground Operational Force (FOT: Force Operationnelle Terrestre) would be able to simultaneously deploy and support a 30,000 men force over six months, while maintaining 5000 personnel on permanent alert and dispatching 10,000 to intervene in a major domestic disaster. By 2020, that army will be completed with about 650 new armored combat infantry vehicles (VCBI), 25,000 new “digitized” infantry combat systems “Felins”, some 200 IED proof vehicles, and single rocket launchers to comply with the ban on cluster bombs. The Air Force will manage both Air Force and Navy aircraft and the total combat fleet of 300 will be entirely made of Rafale and upgraded Mirage 2000.
On top of its new Nuclear Submarines, the Navy will also be outfitted with four new “Projection and Command” frigates (Mistral type) and 18 intervention frigates. Satellites, UAVs, Offensive and defensive cyber warfare systems, missile defense systems and other Intelligence assets will provide the government and its forces with the information necessary to guarantee France’s independence within Europe and NATO.
President Sarkozy disclosed the White Book June 17 2008. The next day, a group of senior officers, signing the name of a famous French corsair “Surcouf,” wrote anonymously to a major paper and sharply criticized the plan, describing it as “amateurish” and saying that it literally abandoned European military predominance to Great Britain. Other general officers also came public and said that while the US and British have learned with blood that ground components should be increased, France was shamefully going the opposite way. If everybody seems to agree with the geopolitical assessment and the future threats to France, it seems that the emerging debate is concerned with the future. While the White Book does not provide funding prior to 2012, it does propose immediate major money- saving measures that would directly affect the forces. Around 400 military bases are going to be closed or moved in the biggest consolidation project ever and about 54,000 defense jobs are going to be lost. Experience has often shown that the geographical relocation of bases often ends up costing more than it saves. Experience has also shown that politicians have always had a tendency to cut military positions and preserve unionized civilian defense positions. The French army’s nickname is “The great mute” because it has always endured critics or cost-cutting reforms silently while other state employees have taken it to the streets with large and long lasting union backed demonstrations and strikes (teachers, transportation, power companies).
The question today is about how operational the French military forces are going to be in the next few years while enduring a huge geographical and structural reorganization and losing tens of thousands of personnel. French forces are still heavily committed in Africa, the Middle East, former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan and also must be ready to quickly react to any new international or domestic crisis.
Politics and economics are also at play now that the reform plan is out there. Local officials who see their cities or districts directly affected by the loss of a lucrative military base (average of 800 personnel and dependants per base) are bringing it up to Paris and strings are currently being pulled by power players trying to preserve what they have, or trying to get more. For now, the debate has changed and until the list of the 400 “dissolved” or displaced garrisons has been finalized, it is not going to be about soldiers, equipment, alliance, strategy or defense but about politics, regional economy and money.
“You French only fight over money…we fight for honor!” said the defeated British officer to a bunch of French Corsairs.
“People always fight for what they lack!” replied Surcouf.
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I am already done with the presidential race.
Both camps are resorting to stupid TV advertising to cater to their stupid bases of ignoramuses while pointing fingers at each other for running a “negative campaign”. I was expecting, hoping for a better debate!
It is far too early for this junk to start and I am done already. YOU, people, will get the President YOU DESERVE! Not the best one or the one you voted for (for half of you)….just the one you deserve.
As far as I see it today, both candidates are incredibly neck to neck despite totally different agenda and media appeal. Think of it: while the “Kennedy to be” was attracting up to 250,000 Germans at a monument dedicated to Prussian military supremacy, the other one was visiting a German grocery store in the middle of nowhere, America. Still, Americans are still divided and undecided between the old guy that look and feel like other we have had and a new guy with a noisy and well orchestrated media machine but little to offer beside radical “changes of heart.”
Again, I would have not closely followed the Democrat party’s primary, I could have liked OBObama (Or Best Offer Bama) for what he says he stands for…but I did follow the fight between is camp and the Clintonites, heard what he had to say and ran from his crazy liberal agenda….until he won and became more of a conservative (pro guns, death penalty, more gov power for Domestic spying, business exoneration for cooperating with gov, off shore drilling despite what his base and liberal congress says…).
Who is OBObama? We still don’t know! No resume, a change of mind every two seconds (campaign funding, town hall meetings, support and dump his embarrassing friends and relations, supports and dump his ultra liberal base now that nomination is granted, support and dump anti-oil drilling concept and crowd…), a messianic icon pushed down our throats by the enamored media, a guy largely financed by the same despicable good old businesses he criticizes.
Is he just one of these professional politicians, one of these guys blowing with the wind like the “wind cones” I mention so often on these blogs: colorful, empty, blowing with the wind?
How can he, with a straight face, go around and tell us today that offshore drilling is part of the solution to become energy independent within 10 years, when he had, along with his base and other Arnold and Pelosi’s, argued before that it was not even part of a solution? How can he gather a crowd of believer today and get incensed and applauded after saying he believes in “Red”, when a week ago he got the same results saying “Blue”?
He is just another of these cynical “Washingtonites” he denounces every day “as part of the problem”. After all, the successful politicians “a la senator Kennedy” all started young and had to do whatever it takes one day to get the long lasting position they have held for so long! That is why, maybe, they spend millions for a job that only pays a couple of $100k a year! J
Mc Cain…kind of old….kind of reassuring when listening to the crazy leftist agenda. Sure, he goes slow, fumbles around and looks and feels like the good old familiar establishment…he does not show any audacity but for now, for sure, he seems to carry the hope of 44% of the voters! Will he be elected to defeat arrogance and extreme audacity? Will he be elected by people frightened by a media made phenomenon?
Why is OBObama still dragging in the polls? Is it really because of Mc Cain’s “negative campaign” or just because he is too much, all over the place and full of himself?
Finally, I cannot even believe that the “race card” is also suddenly becoming an issue when I honestly think that nobody really cares about it. I mean, Mc Cain is often referred as our typical American old white politician, from the political establishment! Did you notice that he was white? In the meantime, the Clintons were the one who brought race in the race (http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-01-24-sc-bill-clinton_N.htm ), and Jackson the one saying OBObama was “acting White” ( http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/19/jackson.jena6/index.html ) or using the “n” word when referring to him ( http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/16/jackson.nword.ap/index.html ). His wife is the one who stated that the country had done nothing that made her proud of and in 2007 Sharpton said that “"just because you're our color doesn't make you our kind." ( http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003566724_blacksummit11.html?referrer=digg ).
Today, Mc Cain is pointed out t as the racist because he compared OBObama as a tabloidic celebrity loved by the media…Bringing the race card against Mc Cain, and us, white voters, is not a good idea for one simple reason: The Republican campaign has not (yet?) talked about race and only Democrats and black activists have so far been guilty of doing it. Would Mc Cain get a free pass for repeating Bill Clinton’s statements or calling OBObam a “N” or threatening to “cut his nuts” (Jackson again!)? I doubt it! That would be political suicide.
Tell you what, all of you the thin skinned professional victims and hypocrites: you don’t have to remind us! It has been more than a year that OBObama has been “groomed” for the job! We have noticed that he is black…don’t insult our intelligence and trust us….and trust us when I say we don’t really care…and trust us when I say that if he makes it an issue and starts hinting that he might not get elected because we are racists, that will do it…piss us off…and he won’t be elected!
He will be judged like MC Cain, the old white guy, for the force of is character, his agenda and his flip flopping, not for the color of his skin. Amen!
For readers who don’t master English, even as a second language:
This blog talks about:
Presidential race
McCain and Obama 44% each despite what the media does
Obama flip flops too often
McCain “reassuring” because conventional old white guy
Racists: Democrats and black activists are racist!
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Sanctuary cities…Are heart bleeding liberals going to learn?
Sanctuaries for illegal immigrants were created in the seventies by priests who sheltered South American aliens running away from civil wars or dictatorships.
Churches were turned into “sanctuaries” and their occupants protected from the police, immigration enforcement and American laws.
Later whole cities became sanctuaries and started to break the state and federal laws they are supposed to enforce.
San Francisco has been one of them since 1989 and its extreme liberal drunk play-boy turned mayor has just been forced to put an end to the madness after the city fell under the media radars for its crazyness.
Prior to a triple murder that has exposed the ill placed pride the city establishment has put into providing haven to illegal immigrants, things were going smoothly for the wackos of the bay:
· City employees are requested not to ask about any immigration status and demanded not to volunteer resources or assistance to federal enforcement agencies
· $83,000 were spent early this year to inform illegals that the city was open to them.
· Illegal immigrants convicted of small crimes were not turned to the authorities but sent to remote facilities in San Bernardino for some re-eductation.
· Illegal immigrants were also flown back to their country of origin at taxpayer’s expense.
Not long ago, in the city of the bums, a whole family was coming back from a picnic when their car ended up in the way of a well known gang member from El Salvador. The father and two sons were shot on the spot.
The gang banger was arrested and is awaiting sentence. In the meantime, his criminal history has surfaced (felony weapon charges, gang activities, multiple arrests but no convictions)) and also the fact that the crimes should have never been committed because the city should have turned him to the federal authorities the first time he was arrested.
San Bernardino county officials also complained when they discovered that San Franfreako recently sent juvenile Honduran crack dealers to group homes in their city of Yucaipa and that half a dozen of them just walked out, back to the streets where crime has been steadily increasing.
Ideology over public safety to the rising displeasure of the city: 79% of the polls show that residents want laws to be enforced.
Mayor Newsom made a recent about face against these policies after they had been exposed. But that might be because he has a gubernatorial agenda and does not need to support the crazy liberal agenda of the city elites anymore. Furthermore, the city is about $350 millions in the hole and taxpayers are starting to scrutinize the millions that are spent in the crazy Sanctuary agenda such as the $3 million future city ID card program for illegals without US identifications. They should also take advantage of the many city benefits, shouldn’t they?
When is the federal government going to raid these places and jail these city, county and state workers that are breaking the laws based on ideology instead of living by them and enforcing them. Isn’t it why taxpayers elect them and/or pay them? What about no religion NOR ideology in public places….the Law, just the Law!
Nota for the English learners:
This short essay is ONLY about the following:
Laws of the country versus Illegal immigration
Government role to enforce the laws and not make them out…at every level
When good intention turn really bad
The path to hell is paved with the best intentions
Criminals not given to the Feds….but “deported” in somebody else’s backyard
Taxpayer’s money to protect criminals
Ideology vs public safety
San Francisco and the effect of its water to the brain
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No accord on High speed rail, July 15, sacbee
Our adored legislature crafted a 10 billion rail bond in 2002, pushed it off the ballot in 2004 and 2006 and just discovered July 14th that it needs an amendment before July 15th to qualify, the day Senate took off!. Last year, Mehdi Morshed, director of the High Speed Rail Authority, went public after his budget was cut to $14 million from $103 million. He stated: "There's really no public purpose for me and my staff to be in the office unless you want to move forward with the project. If you don't want (…) then close it down and save yourself some money." In 2007 it was also said that the rail bond would likely be shelved anyways to facilitate the passage of a 2008 $30 billion bond dedicated to union-protected pet projects. Nothing new! Business as usual in California: the budget is late, senate is off, and the bullet train killed again. In the meantime the wasteful charade continues and we are supposed to pay to keep that thing alive. I am so disgusted with our elected officials that I cannot type anymore. July 14th, Bastille day! Let’s build one and lock all these crooks up….freedom at last!
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I love it when the rich and the famous -- Al Gore, Gov. Schwarzenegger, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other celebrities -- tell us that they won't even consider offshore drilling while fueling their private jets. How dare we, the stupid commoners, push for nuclear power or the offshore drilling of our untapped resources? That would most likely ruin the picture-perfect ocean sceneries they enjoy from the bay windows of their exclusive beach.
I wonder where were these environmental concerns when they started to privatize so much of our coastlines. Basically, they oppose the drilling because "it is not a quick fix," not because it is not a solution, and of course, they have yet to come up with any fix! It is like them trying to persuade us not to invest more into some cancer research because it could take up to five years to show some beneficial results.
Finally, they are referring to a one and only catastrophe that happened 40 years ago. Do you think that we might have the technology to do a better job today? What about the other platforms that have been pumping nonstop for 40 years without leaking? Think!
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Ooooops…The State of California just overspent its 2006-2007 $107 billion budget by $4 billion. Now you understand why we are somewhere between ten to twenty billion in the red, owe tons of borrowed money and have a credit rating down the gutter. Irresponsible legislators and movie actors turned “Gobernator” just flushed down the toilet the lifetime salary of 2000 average Californian households, did not say “I am sorry” and went on with their dysfunctional life at the capitol: budget is late as usual, deficit is structural and booming, special interest groups have their hands in every pockets, and bonds or tax increases can always solve the problems. The average Californian household earns around $50.000/year and will work for about forty years. That totals around $2 million. Time it by 2000 households and you will get your $4 billion waste. Way to go…we overpay a bunch of self serving irresponsible politicians to run the government via referendums, waste our money, borrow like maniacs and tax us more instead of fixing the problems. Remember: there is no crisis as long as you have taxpayers. Keep on milking us!
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California is on fire thanks to the tree huggers!
We just got a health warning because of the smoke from 1200 wildfires, and the State Air Resources Board voices its goal of slashing emissions by 30 percents by 2020. The scheme is based on increasing utility bills and on blackmailing businesses. Often, in the morning, when my kids fight over the newspaper’s weather page, I tell them to look outside. Look at that smoke!
Every year, wild fires destroy millions of oxygen generating trees because some believe in the unconditional protection of the forests. As a result, sanctuaries are not regularly cleaned; fuel packs up below the trees, waiting for the right spark that will turn everything to ashes before the erosion of the charred sterile soil begins. It is not nuclear science: trees transform carbon in oxygen while fires generate smoke and carbon; eventually, rotting dead trees will also release carbon. The board should focus on fire prevention and forest maintenance and protection. Human activities and fuel fossil burning have historically been presented as the main responsible for the Green house effect that causes Global warming. Last year, the fires in San Diego released in one week 25% of the CO2 that the whole of California releases in one month. In 2002, 7 million acres of forest burnt to the ground and in 1997, the Indonesian fires were credited for the tens of thousands of tons of CO2 that made that particular year the worst ever in co2 emission. While we point fingers at fossil fuel for Global Warming, we conveniently avoid talking about these wildfires that have become more destructive than ever in human history because of the laws put in place to protect our forests: no logging, no cleaning, no access at all in sanctuaries, fuel amassing on the ground…These restrictions have caused more damages ever and for the first time in century, fire resistant forest have burn to the ground, literally gone in smoke.
It is easy to remember, and so logical:
Burning forest in America release about 10 tons km-2 of CO2 annually.
Burnt trees stop processing carbon.
Dead biomass (dead trees and plants) rot and release more CO2
The whole cycle releases as much CO2 –if not more- as fossil fuel burning.
Extra C02 increases the Green House effect.
Increase of the Green House effect increases the dryness of our forest.
Extra dry forest –whatever is left- burn just looking at it.
CO2 emissions from wildfires are predicted to increase by 50% by the year 2050… Where will your children be?
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Wildfires and Greenhouse effect: a vicious circle.
Officially, fossil fuel burning and other human activities cause Global Warming. But it has been conveniently omitted by the SUV-bashing tree-huggers that CO2 is also generated when wood products are burned. Just look through your window! Actually, the amount of atmospheric damages due to fuel burning is similar to the effect of plant matter burning (Lindesay et al., 1996). In 2002, seven million acres of forest went in smoke (NIFC, 2003). That is seven million acres of terrestrial vegetation that stopped absorbing carbon dioxide, that released unwelcomed CO2 in the atmosphere while burning, and again while its dead biomass decomposed afterwards. Wildfires release about 10 tons km-2 of CO2 annually in the American West and Southeast (emissions that could increase by 50% by 2050.) Basically, human activities and wildfires create the green house effect that contributes to the global warming that dries our vegetation that burn just by looking at it. To put an end to this disaster, we need to switch our focus on the short and long term impact of the wildfires, quickly reverse our crazy protective policies and replace them with preventive measures such as controlled burns and “environmental” preventive logging, maintenance and clean up.
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Prepaid anonymity: a danger?
In the mid nineties, in France, one could buy a prepaid cell phone without having to show any picture ID or register any addresses. Talk about a “no strings attached” plans! The convenience was great and anybody could get a cheap cell phone and really pay-it-as-he-goes! Unfortunately, a too common occurrence when extreme freedoms are granted, the convenient and simple system was soon to be abused by gang bangers, drug dealers, criminals of all kind and terrorists. Think about it: stealthy portable communication devices were sold everywhere without any control! Phone numbers were assigned to the phones….but the phones not attached to anyone, thus preventing the eventual listening or tracking of the devices, of the owner. The phones were of course coming in every style, color and technology possible, and prices ranged high. Only the credit card size “minute cards” were standard. Soon, kids and adults were aggressed in the streets and their working and anonymous cell phones forcibly removed from them, to be used until the exhaustion of the remaining time, or to be sold as upgrades. The whole concept of “string free” had obviously become a bad idea, and by 1999, when I left, prepaid cell phones as they were designed, became more “secured”, regimented. One had to show a picture ID and proof of lodging (utility bill….) in order to buy a cell phone that was registered to a user.
2007, California. I went to get a prepaid cell phone for my French au pair. The local cell phone shop has a couple to offer and I picked one plus a $20 dollar card for 200 minutes. No ID control, nothing. I could have paid the total $40 cash and gone without a trace. The activation was a formality, on the phone, no question asked. Welcome Jane Doe! So here I am, 9 years later, discovering that the wheel is yet to be discovered again….the hard way! Prepaid phones are currently sold without any “strings attached” and can become untraceable communication and detonating devices for home grown terrorists or abroad. It also appears that their reselling value in developing country is triple the US price because most of them work internationally. All in all, it looks like those freedoms we enjoy just facilitate crimes. Again, I must ask you why even when voting, identities are not checked. What’s up with Americans and checking IDs? What is wrong with documenting that you are who you say you are? Freedom is a privilege one must earn and our freedoms have been paid in blood throughout time, earned for us by better men and women than us. Freedom is not a right and is not unchecked. Common sense, laws and courts have defined what our freedoms are and are still regulating what they consist of, trying to balance common good and personal rights. Freedom is something that can be legally taken, and re-instated. Freedom comes with a price….and these prepaid phones should come with a couple of safeguarding strings!
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We just got a health warning because of the smoke from 1200 wildfires, and the State Air Resources Board voices its goal of slashing emissions by 30 percents by 2020. The scheme is based on increasing utility bills and on blackmailing businesses. Often, in the morning, when my kids fight over the newspaper’s weather page, I tell them to look outside. Look at that smoke! Every year, wild fires destroy millions of oxygen generating trees because some believe in the unconditional protection of the forests. As a result, sanctuaries are not regularly cleaned; fuel packs up below the trees, waiting for the right spark that will turn everything to ashes before the erosion of the charred sterile soil begins. It is not nuclear science: trees transform carbon in oxygen while fires generate smoke and carbon; eventually, rotting dead trees will also release carbon. The board should focus on fire prevention and forest maintenance and protection. Anyways, the rich and the famous don’t want oil platforms to ruin their ocean-view from their beach mansions and the same environmentalists that reject oil or nuclear have found excuses to fight wind mills and solar farms in their backyards. Think…if you can!
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In 2001, from her mansion, Barbara Streisand told us to save energy and dry laundry outdoor. Today, the rich and the famous hypocritical figures of the country, tell us that they won't even re-consider off-shore drilling. Sure, Arnold, Gore, Pelosi and other “Santa Barbarians” can afford to fuel their own jets and global warming does not apply to them. How dare we, the stupid commoners, push for nuclear power or the off-shore drilling of our untapped resources? That would most likely ruin the picture perfect ocean sceneries they enjoy from the bay windows of their multi-thousand square acres exclusive beach properties. The Californian coastline is either protected or owned by millionaires. The latter will soon make the headlines against off-shore drilling in the name of environmental concerns! It is plain disgusting! Tell you what, 9 June 08 the Crude Oil was $3.20 and retail $4.43. Distribution, marketing, refinery, cost of operation and profit was 53 cts/gal for the Oil companies. State storage tank fee, state and local sales tax, state excise tax and federal excise tax totaled $0.70/gal. OPEC is enjoying higher demand, mainly from China and India. Oil companies are processing everything from extraction to delivery. Governments are…taxing! Think!
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The 2008 puppet show, brought to you by big businesses
During World War two, in France, the local mafia had a good scam going on: part of it joined the government of Vichy and collaborated with the Germans while the other part joined the Underground, the French resistance. At the liberation, the “collaborators” were caught and tried….but bailed out by the Free French Forces mobsters of the underground who testified that the one in the German side were actually working underground and provided a lot of good intelligence against the Germans. By keeping a foot on both camps, the mafia came up as a winner and that was a smart move. The Germans would have won, the process would have been inverted with the same results.
It is like playing roulette and gambling on red and white, even and uneven, or betting on the only horse left in the race….you cannot lose!
Why do I mention this historical sideline to you today? Well, presidential elections are on the way and the candidates are all telling you guys how things are going to change, telling us that the other are corrupted and bought out by corporate money, and that they are going to change the way D.C does business.
The three top candidates are voicing different point of views, representing different parties, claiming radical ideological and ethical differences…while “eating from the same eatery!” For one of them, it does not really matter anymore because she is about to be kicked out back to the senate where she has been supposed to represent her electorate from New York (disenfranchised voters through lack of representation?)…but still, it is interesting to look at the pattern in the “contributions” they got, at their top donors.
First, as mature and reasonable adults, I believe that we can all agree that there is not such a thing as a “free” donation or campaign contribution, a free innocent vote. Whenever we vote, or donate as individuals or as corporations, we are always expecting something in return, an agenda we support because we are somehow going to benefit from (Universal or private health care, less or more taxes, more or less food stamps, higher or lower minimum wages, Internet for all, foreclosure bail-out plan, reparations, open or closed borders, tax rebates….). Stating otherwise would be hypocritical because we also know that part of being a politician it to have deep pockets tailored in the suits!
So here it goes. I did some little research to see who have shoved their hands up the behind of the 2008 presidential candidates and make them move and talk.
Are you sitting? Brace yourselves!
Among the 20 top donors for each candidate, we find five that are contributing to all of them. Again, as mature and reasonable adult, we can agree that neither political ideology nor political agenda and candidate’s personality can motivate such a strange move that remind us of the little WW2 story I told you as an introduction.
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase & co and Lehman Brothers are these opportunistic “contributors”. Now you understand why the US of A is a country by the lawyers and for the lawyers!
Four other contributors are also donating across the aisle but mostly to the “old Washingtonians”, Mac Cain and Billary. Again, as mature and reasonable adult, we can agree that neither political ideology nor political agenda and candidate’s personality are behind that opportunistic behavior.
Merril Lynch, PricewaterhouseCoopers, UBS AG and Greenberg Traurig are the culprits betting on both parties.
www.opensecrets.org is a good place to start looking at who is behind the scene….if you care at all, of course!
A simple search on presidential campaign contributions would also bring mostly the same things….the results only vary because of the twisted and complicated way campaign financing is regulated…PACs, coded vs non coded…everything to ensure that WE THE PEOPLE are totally screwed by the shrews!
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China and the Asian stereotype of duplicity!
Recently, China has been trying to restore its “virginity” on human rights and democracy because of the looming Olympic Games that are going to be held there.
The attention-deficient occident vaguely remembered something about safran-robed monks and oppression in Tibet and there was a couple of pushes to boycott the openings of these Games that are heavily sponsored and backed by western companies that have outsourced their manufacturing there, taking the work to the slave labor because slavery has been abolished on our shores. Remember: China must look good and respectable!
The boycott started with the Olympic torch that was eventually targeted wherever it showed, stolen, blown off, and re-routed! Way to go people!
Anyways, China is still China and most of the country is rural and undeveloped, forgotten by the “industrial revolution” that has blessed a few places there. The country is also communist, secretive and belligerent. Finally, China is also a local bully with little democratic values and armed with the power to block the UN for it has been given the veto rights of the members of the General Assembly. In a nutshell, China does not care about political lobbying, tree huggers, chanting peaceniks or any other free speech advocate.
But China needs the Olympics to refurbish its tainted blazon and in order to do so, the Chinese government has bowed to the international pressure and started “talks” with Tibetan representatives….who cares anyways! In Asia, everything is long term and the repressions can resume once the Games are over, right?
In the meantime, China has also been proven guilty of bad judgment by supporting corrupt and extreme governments in order to secure oil and gas resources. And I won’t even mention North Korea!
It took a Genocide in Africa and a recent Asian hurricane and human tragedy to expose more of the Chinese government’s self serving lack of compassion.
We have already talked about Darfur and an ongoing genocide in this newsletter. Not only is China the preferred customer for the oil of Darfur, but China is also providing all the necessary military hardware to Khartoum, the capital, so the country – and its oil- can be secured. Is China indirectly arming the genocidal arms of the Arab militia called the Janjaweed? You bet, and as a result, about 1600 villages that have been burnt, looted, population displaced, raped, and slaughtered. 200.000 dead, 150 to 200.000 refugees in neighboring Chad and Central African Republic… this human tragedy has been happening under the Chinese watch for the past four years and we might want to add it to our list of grievances, just below the Tibetan mass repopulation drama.
Also recently, a massive earthquake hit China and brought the country to the fore of the news for the extent of the drama, the scope and quality of its humanitarian reaction, and the help provided by foreign nations. Forgotten is Tibet for now: China is mourning, and China is standing and fighting. China has become “decent”.
But at the same time, China has also been exposed for its double standards when a devastating hurricane hit and ravaged the coats of what used to be Burma.
How convenient for China to accept and ask for more foreign help to cope with its own natural disaster, and deny dirt poor Myanmar the same things by defending the corrupt and inefficient military Junta’s position not to allow anything to flow to the victims of the hurricane. According to Chinese officials, the world must respect the country’s decision to deny more help to the 2.5 million victims that are at high risk of more floods, diseases and hunger because “Myanmar” is a sovereign nation...under Chinese control! Myanmar is a backward military dictatorship similar to North Korea and has also conducted an active genocidal policy against its Karen minority. The country has been closed to world scrutiny for decades thanks to its Chinese big brother that regularly blocks the UN from investigating human rights abuses. Furthermore, it is also an ally of India in its fight against Indian insurgents hiding in the Burmese jungle. Finally, and most importantly, Myanmar’s junta has recently granted China the right to buy its natural gas and that also explains why China is not eager to see the Junta fall: more natural gas will diminish the Chinese dependency in oil, and lower its energy bills! Is it worth ignoring the human tragedy, the shortcomings and inefficiency of the military junta? You bet! .
To summarize, China buys more than half of the Sudanese oil output and wants Sudan to access the underground crude reserves of a pacified Darfur, pacified by Muslim militias armed with Chinese weapons. China also wants to access the gas reserves of Myanmar and won’t interfere with the corrupt and inept Junta at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives. That is China for you folks! Welcome to geopolitics one-o-one: Money talks, the torch runs and people die!
Nota: I wrote “China has also been proven guilty of bad judgment by supporting corrupt and extreme governments in order to secure oil and gas resources” and I already see among you people thinking that America is no better and that I could have written “America has also been proven guilty of bad judgment by supporting corrupt and extreme governments in order to secure oil and gas resources”. Here are our providers in order of importance: “The top five exporting countries accounted for 69 percent of United States crude oil imports in March while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 88 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports. The top sources of US crude oil imports for March were Canada (1.727 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.535 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.232 million barrels per day), Nigeria (1.138 million barrels per day), and Venezuela (0.858 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Iraq (0.773 million barrels per day), Angola (0.375 million barrels per day), Algeria (0.232 million barrels per day), Ecuador (0.231 million barrels per day), and Brazil (0.188 million barrels per day).”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.htmlThe US needs oil….well let me rephrase it: you guys out there are energy guzzlers and we need to import oil anyways because you won’t let us pump our own. No democracy would ever survive the direct supporting of a genocide to secure or protect its energy sources (Iraq is not really paying off as far as oil goes, or for the Bush administration’s approval rating?!...and it is not even genocide!). If we were to get rid of all of our tainted sources for oil (or food, electronics….), we would be stuck with Canada and the UK because all the other countries still have a lot to learn about Democracy…and we would also be stuck with an Amish-like lifestyle! No more Hybrid car, Starbucks and other latte, American idol and credit cards…we would all become Amish and live happily ever after! China on the other hand can get away indirectly killing hundreds of thousands of people while you sleep at the helm, focused on your navel!
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How convenient for China to accept and ask for more foreign help to cope with its own natural disaster, and deny Myanmar the same thing by defending the military Junta’s position not to allow anything to flow to the victims of the hurricane. According to Chinese officials, the world must respect the country’s decision to deny more help to the 2.5 million victims that are at high risk of more floods, diseases and hunger because “Myanmar” is a sovereign nation...under Chinese control! Myanmar is a backward military dictatorship similar to North Korea and has also conducted an active genocidal policy against its Karen minority. The country has been closed to world scrutiny for decades thanks to its Chinese big brother that regularly blocks the UN from investigating human rights abuses. Furthermore, it is also an ally of India in its fight against Indian insurgents hiding in the Burmese jungle. Finally, Myanmar’s junta has recently granted China the right to buy its natural gas and that also explains why China is not eager to see the Junta fall. More natural gas will diminish the Chinese dependency in oil, and lower its energy bills. Money talks, the torch runs and people die!!!
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Recently, Tim White left Indiana for a $325,000 job at the University of Riverside (plus $25,000 for relocation and a $9,000 annual car expense). Mark Yudof - Texas Universities system- was given a $925,000 annual package and an $11,000 monthly house allowance to lead the University of California. According to some they walk on water and lay golden eggs. In 2005 the salaries of the UC employees were posted online (key words: sfgate special 2005 UC salary) and showed how one could end up with a 600k paycheck on a 40k salary. The perks are just incredible and cover overtime, bonuses, housing and relocation allowances, stipends and other revenue sharing. Instead of being the places of “higher learning” where our students are trained for the future, Californian universities have become symbolic images of inefficiency and corruption. Last year, “Higher Education” has cost the State 11 billion, on top of the $52 billion dedicated to “regular education” (for a total budget of $101 billion that also included $28 billion for salaries). Still, tuitions go up, results go down and taxpayers end up footing the extra bills. Am I the only one shocked by this never ending self serving scam?
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Last year, “Higher Education” cost the State 11 billion. But University salaries are so high that tuitions are increased, often leading angry students to march to the capitol demanding fair prices. California runs through referendum and Legislators put out purposely confusing duplicate bills that exonerate them from their job responsibilities. Often tricked, misinformed and uneducated on the issues at hand, voters buy into the scams and repeatedly shoot themselves on the foot. More money flows, tuitions are lowered, perks increased, money runs short, tuitions are upped…blah blah. Furthermore, it seems like there is no resource for administrators in California. Recently, Mark Yudof - Texas Universities system- was given an $828,084 annual package to lead the University of California. According to some he walks on water and lays golden eggs. He is even said to fly! That is not all. Salaries are topped with Perks that also include overtime, bonuses, housing and relocation allowances, stipends and other revenue sharing. Online 2005 salary reporting on UC employees show how with a 40k salary you end up with a 600k paycheck (key words: sfgate special 2005 UC salary). It works for the universities, the schools, legislators, state workers salaries….nothing new…keep on milking us!
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By the way….for the cry baby who cannot drive their stupid Sport Utility vehicles, trucks, Sport light utility trucks (SLUT), and other gas guzzler and don’t like where we are going with the gas prices and how much profit oil companies made….and think the latter are responsible….I have news for you:
Cost of gasoline break down according to the liberal Californian government
http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/margins/index.html
Refiner Margin - Refiner Margin (costs and profits) is calculated by subtracting the market price for crude oil from the wholesale price of gasoline. The result is a gross refining margin which includes the cost of operating the refinery as well as the profits for the refining company.
Recent example:
9 June 08:
Crude Oil Cost: $3.20
Retail prices: $4.43
Refineries:
Distribution Costs, Mayketing Costs and Profits: $0.02
Refinery Cost and Profits: $0.51
Total for the profit and cost of operation: 53 cts
State Underground Storage Tank Fee: $0.01
State and Local Sales Tax: $0.33
State Excise Tax: $0.18
Federal Excise Tax: $0.18
Total: $0.70
Result: Governments win 70 to 53!
If the oil companies made billion in profit and that makes you mad, just think of how much your governments (Federal and local) are piling up…and you are pissed at the oil industry and want to raise their taxes…They do the work, find it, drill it, run the risks of losing it all in foreign countries (nationalization of the oil industry has been common from Mexico to Venezuela, not counting all the Arab countries), re-invest in other risky places like Afghanistan, Georgia, Darfur or Colombia and hope things will get better….while the government sits on his butt and cashes in –chin chin- to give to Katrina’s victims while the survivors of the massive fires and exodus of San Diego last year or of the massive floods in Iowa now, just move on with their lives without tears, looting, rapes, murders and shooting at firefighters or other red cross employees….
Way to go….grow a brain and think, and imagine what would happen if OBObama listen to is crooked acquaintances such as rev Wrong, Tony Rezko, or Jim Johnson and raises the taxes on oil companies?
Business one-o-one: businesses don’t pay taxes. The cost of operation is included to the price of the product! You would have a job, you would know!
Sleep tight now! We are watching out for you!
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For sale, top job in the US of A.
Some force of character might be required, OBO!
Unlimited Private financing welcomed and could compensate for inexperience and lack of judgement regarding spiritual leader choices, donors or lead for VP hunting team.....
Offices located at following address:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Falls Church, VA 22042
Whole place would go to highest bidder. No low balling tolerated.
If you are looking for honest offer, moral, straight and fair dealers, you got the wrong posting!
Everything goes for core values are outdated and must sell!
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What does it cost Obama NOT to make Billary a VP or drag the Ctintons around: $10 million bucks!
I would have known it was so cheap to get rid of the gang, I would have collected money myself!
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Breaking news:
Gas prices go up: go blame Billary, Obama and Mc Cain’s major contributors!
Yes….the messiah too is taking oil stained money and wants more since he flipped flopped on the campaign financing issue…After his links to Jim Johnson and the subprime mortgage companies was exposed
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/11/obama.vp/index.html
here comes the next one: senate is investigating possible and likely speculation on the oil prices….involving major donors to the presidential candidates……that have made major donations to the Democrats!
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/moneyweb.php?cycle=2008
I quote:
“The crux of the matter goes back to January 2006, according to the Asia Times’ William Engdahl in a May editorial.
“Then, apparently to make sure the way was opened really wide to potential market oil price manipulation, in January 2006, the George W Bush administration’s CFTC permitted the Intercontinental Exchange, the leading operator of electronic energy exchanges, to use its trading terminals in the United States for the trading of U.S. crude oil futures on the exchange in London - called “ICE Futures.”
The editorial takes the position that “how today’s oil prices are really determined is done by a process so opaque only a handful of major oil trading banks, such as Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley, have any idea who is buying and who is selling oil futures or derivative contracts that set physical oil prices in this strange new world of ‘paper oil.’”
Ties exist between Phil Gramm and investors, including Goldman Sachs, who helped move regulation of WTI offshore, with the ICE Futures Europe purchase.
For example, the top five contributors to Gramm in the 1997-2002 cycle of fundraising were Credit Suisse First Boston, $45,500; Morgan Stanley, $40,500; JP Morgan Chase & Co, $36,250; Security Traders Assn., $32,500 and Goldman Sachs, $29,000 — a list that includes four major oil-trading banks and a traders association, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
“A major contributor to high oil prices is the rise in speculation,” Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. said in May, estimating that speculation has added about $35 to a barrel of oil. “This is not a supply and demand issue.”
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/JE06Dj07.html
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In 2001, from her mansion, Barbara Streisand told us to save energy and dry laundry outdoor. Today, the rich and the famous hypocritical figures of the country, tell us that they won't even re-consider off-shore drilling. Sure, Arnold, Gore, Pelosi and other “Santa Barbarians” can afford to fuel their own jets and global warming does not apply to them. How dare we, the stupid commoners, push for nuclear power or the off-shore drilling of our untapped resources? That would most likely ruin the picture perfect ocean sceneries they enjoy from the bay windows of their multi-thousand square acres exclusive beach properties. The Californian coastline is either protected or owned by millionaires. The latter will soon make the headlines against off-shore drilling in the name of environmental concerns! It is plain disgusting! Tell you what, 9 June 08 the Crude Oil was $3.20 and retail $4.43. Distribution, marketing, refinery, cost of operation and profit was 53 cts/gal for the Oil companies. State storage tank fee, state and local sales tax, state excise tax and federal excise tax totaled $0.70/gal. OPEC is enjoying higher demand, mainly from China and India. Oil companies are processing everything from extraction to delivery. Governments are…taxing! Think!
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The 2008 puppet show, brought to you by big businesses
During World War two, in France, the local mafia had a good scam going on: part of it joined the government of Vichy and collaborated with the Germans while the other part joined the Underground, the French resistance. At the liberation, the “collaborators” were caught and tried….but bailed out by the Free French Forces mobsters of the underground who testified that the one in the German side were actually working underground and provided a lot of good intelligence against the Germans. By keeping a foot on both camps, the mafia came up as a winner and that was a smart move. The Germans would have won, the process would have been inverted with the same results.
It is like playing roulette and gambling on red and white, even and uneven, or betting on the only horse left in the race….you cannot lose!
Why do I mention this historical sideline to you today? Well, presidential elections are on the way and the candidates are all telling you guys how things are going to change, telling us that the other are corrupted and bought out by corporate money, and that they are going to change the way D.C does business.
The three top candidates are voicing different point of views, representing different parties, claiming radical ideological and ethical differences…while “eating from the same eatery!” For one of them, it does not really matter anymore because she is about to be kicked out back to the senate where she has been supposed to represent her electorate from New York (disenfranchised voters through lack of representation?)…but still, it is interesting to look at the pattern in the “contributions” they got, at their top donors.
First, as mature and reasonable adults, I believe that we can all agree that there is not such a thing as a “free” donation or campaign contribution, a free innocent vote. Whenever we vote, or donate as individuals or as corporations, we are always expecting something in return, an agenda we support because we are somehow going to benefit from (Universal or private health care, less or more taxes, more or less food stamps, higher or lower minimum wages, Internet for all, foreclosure bail-out plan, reparations, open or closed borders, tax rebates….). Stating otherwise would be hypocritical because we also know that part of being a politician it to have deep pockets tailored in the suits!
So here it goes. I did some little research to see who have shoved their hands up the behind of the 2008 presidential candidates and make them move and talk.
Are you sitting? Brace yourselves!
Among the 20 top donors for each candidate, we find five that are contributing to all of them. Again, as mature and reasonable adult, we can agree that neither political ideology nor political agenda and candidate’s personality can motivate such a strange move that remind us of the little WW2 story I told you as an introduction.
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase & co and Lehman Brothers are these opportunistic “contributors”. Now you understand why the US of A is a country by the lawyers and for the lawyers!
Four other contributors are also donating across the aisle but mostly to the “old Washingtonians”, Mac Cain and Billary. Again, as mature and reasonable adult, we can agree that neither political ideology nor political agenda and candidate’s personality are behind that opportunistic behavior.
Merril Lynch, PricewaterhouseCoopers, UBS AG and Greenberg Traurig are the culprits betting on both parties.
www.opensecrets.org is a good place to start looking at who is behind the scene….if you care at all, of course!
A simple search on presidential campaign contributions would also bring mostly the same things….the results only vary because of the twisted and circonvoluted way campaign financing is regulate…PACs, coded vs non coded…everything to ensure that WE THE PEOPLE are totally screwed by the shrews!
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China and the Asian stereotype of duplicity!
Recently, China has been trying to restore its “virginity” on human rights and democracy because of the looming Olympic Games that are going to be held there.
The attention-deficient occident vaguely remembered something about safran-robed monks and oppression in Tibet and there was a couple of pushes to boycott the openings of these Games that are heavily sponsored and backed by western companies that have outsourced their manufacturing there, taking the work to the slave labor because slavery has been abolished on our shores. Remember: China must look good and respectable!
The boycott started with the Olympic torch that was eventually targeted wherever it showed, stolen, blown off, and re-routed! Way to go people!
Anyways, China is still China and most of the country is rural and undeveloped, forgotten by the “industrial revolution” that has blessed a few places there. The country is also communist, secretive and belligerent. Finally, China is also a local bully with little democratic values and armed with the power to block the UN for it has been given the veto rights of the members of the General Assembly. In a nutshell, China does not care about political lobbying, tree huggers, chanting peaceniks or any other free speech advocate.
But China needs the Olympics to refurbish its tainted blazon and in order to do so, the Chinese government has bowed to the international pressure and started “talks” with Tibetan representatives….who cares anyways! In Asia, everything is long term and the repressions can resume once the Games are over, right?
In the meantime, China has also been proven guilty of bad judgment by supporting corrupt and extreme governments in order to secure oil and gas resources. And I won’t even mention North Korea!
It took a Genocide in Africa and a recent Asian hurricane and human tragedy to expose more of the Chinese government’s self serving lack of compassion.
We have already talked about Darfur and an ongoing genocide in this newsletter. Not only is China the preferred customer for the oil of Darfur, but China is also providing all the necessary military hardware to Khartoum, the capital, so the country – and its oil- can be secured. Is China indirectly arming the genocidal arms of the Arab militia called the Janjaweed? You bet, and as a result, about 1600 villages that have been burnt, looted, population displaced, raped, and slaughtered. 200.000 dead, 150 to 200.000 refugees in neighboring Chad and Central African Republic… this human tragedy has been happening under the Chinese watch for the past four years and we might want to add it to our list of grievances, just below the Tibetan mass repopulation drama.
Also recently, a massive earthquake hit China and brought the country to the fore of the news for the extent of the drama, the scope and quality of its humanitarian reaction, and the help provided by foreign nations. Forgotten is Tibet for now: China is mourning, and China is standing and fighting. China has become “decent”.
But at the same time, China has also been exposed for its double standards when a devastating hurricane hit and ravaged the coats of what used to be Burma.
How convenient for China to accept and ask for more foreign help to cope with its own natural disaster, and deny dirt poor Myanmar the same things by defending the corrupt and inefficient military Junta’s position not to allow anything to flow to the victims of the hurricane. According to Chinese officials, the world must respect the country’s decision to deny more help to the 2.5 million victims that are at high risk of more floods, diseases and hunger because “Myanmar” is a sovereign nation...under Chinese control! Myanmar is a backward military dictatorship similar to North Korea and has also conducted an active genocidal policy against its Karen minority. The country has been closed to world scrutiny for decades thanks to its Chinese big brother that regularly blocks the UN from investigating human rights abuses. Furthermore, it is also an ally of India in its fight against Indian insurgents hiding in the Burmese jungle. Finally, and most importantly, Myanmar’s junta has recently granted China the right to buy its natural gas and that also explains why China is not eager to see the Junta fall: more natural gas will diminish the Chinese dependency in oil, and lower its energy bills! Is it worth ignoring the human tragedy, the shortcomings and inefficiency of the military junta? You bet! .
To summarize, China buys more than half of the Sudanese oil output and wants Sudan to access the underground crude reserves of a pacified Darfur, pacified by Muslim militias armed with Chinese weapons. China also wants to access the gas reserves of Myanmar and won’t interfere with the corrupt and inept Junta at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives. That is China for you folks! Welcome to geopolitics one-o-one: Money talks, the torch runs and people die!
Nota: I wrote “China has also been proven guilty of bad judgment by supporting corrupt and extreme governments in order to secure oil and gas resources” and I already see among you people thinking that America is no better and that I could have written “America has also been proven guilty of bad judgment by supporting corrupt and extreme governments in order to secure oil and gas resources”. Here are our providers in order of importance: “The top five exporting countries accounted for 69 percent of United States crude oil imports in March while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 88 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports. The top sources of US crude oil imports for March were Canada (1.727 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.535 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.232 million barrels per day), Nigeria (1.138 million barrels per day), and Venezuela (0.858 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Iraq (0.773 million barrels per day), Angola (0.375 million barrels per day), Algeria (0.232 million barrels per day), Ecuador (0.231 million barrels per day), and Brazil (0.188 million barrels per day).”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html
The US needs oil….well let me rephrase it: you guys out there are energy guzzlers and we need to import oil anyways because you won’t let us pump our own. No democracy would ever survive the direct supporting of a genocide to secure or protect its energy sources (Iraq is not really paying off as far as oil goes, or for the Bush administration’s approval rating?!...and it is not even genocide!). If we were to get rid of all of our tainted sources for oil (or food, electronics….), we would be stuck with Canada and the UK because all the other countries still have a lot to learn about Democracy…and we would also be stuck with an Amish-like lifestyle! No more Hybrid car, Starbucks and other latte, American idol and credit cards…we would all become Amish and live happily ever after! China on the other hand can get away indirectly killing hundreds of thousands of people while you sleep at the helm, focused on your navel!
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How convenient for China to accept and ask for more foreign help to cope with its own natural disaster, and deny Myanmar the same thing by defending the military Junta’s position not to allow anything to flow to the victims of the hurricane. According to Chinese officials, the world must respect the country’s decision to deny more help to the 2.5 million victims that are at high risk of more floods, diseases and hunger because “Myanmar” is a sovereign nation...under Chinese control! Myanmar is a backward military dictatorship similar to North Korea and has also conducted an active genocidal policy against its Karen minority. The country has been closed to world scrutiny for decades thanks to its Chinese big brother that regularly blocks the UN from investigating human rights abuses. Furthermore, it is also an ally of India in its fight against Indian insurgents hiding in the Burmese jungle. Finally, Myanmar’s junta has recently granted China the right to buy its natural gas and that also explains why China is not eager to see the Junta fall. More natural gas will diminish the Chinese dependency in oil, and lower its energy bills. Money talks, the torch runs and people die!!!
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Recently, Tim White left Indiana for a $325,000 job at the University of Riverside (plus $25,000 for relocation and a $9,000 annual car expense). Mark Yudof - Texas Universities system- was given a $925,000 annual package and an $11,000 monthly house allowance to lead the University of California. According to some they walk on water and lay golden eggs. In 2005 the salaries of the UC employees were posted online (key words: sfgate special 2005 UC salary) and showed how one could end up with a 600k paycheck on a 40k salary. The perks are just incredible and cover overtime, bonuses, housing and relocation allowances, stipends and other revenue sharing. Instead of being the places of “higher learning” where our students are trained for the future, Californian universities have become symbolic images of inefficiency and corruption. Last year, “Higher Education” has cost the State 11 billion, on top of the $52 billion dedicated to “regular education” (for a total budget of $101 billion that also included $28 billion for salaries). Still, tuitions go up, results go down and taxpayers end up footing the extra bills. Am I the only one shocked by this never ending self serving scam?
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Last year, “Higher Education” cost the State 11 billion. But University salaries are so high that tuitions are increased, often leading angry students to march to the capitol demanding fair prices. California runs through referendum and Legislators put out purposely confusing duplicate bills that exonerate them from their job responsibilities. Often tricked, misinformed and uneducated on the issues at hand, voters buy into the scams and repeatedly shoot themselves on the foot. More money flows, tuitions are lowered, perks increased, money runs short, tuitions are upped…blah blah. Furthermore, it seems like there is no resource for administrators in California. Recently, Mark Yudof - Texas Universities system- was given an $828,084 annual package to lead the University of California. According to some he walks on water and lays golden eggs. He is even said to fly! That is not all. Salaries are topped with Perks that also include overtime, bonuses, housing and relocation allowances, stipends and other revenue sharing. Online 2005 salary reporting on UC employees show how with a 40k salary you end up with a 600k paycheck (key words: sfgate special 2005 UC salary). It works for the universities, the schools, legislators, state workers salaries….nothing new…keep on milking us!
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Finally ID check for voters in half of the nation
Finally America came to its senses and the Supremes have upheld the State of Indiana’s law that requires registered voters to show proof of identity. Since I have been in the States (99) I have been amazed at the fact that there is no real ID but the driver’s license or a credit card with your mug on it if you opt for the option. Of course, liberal conspiracy theorist are talking about a right wing conspiracy (that ensures that only American citizens can actually perform their highest responsibility and right ever???), saying that voters are going to be disenfranchised, the poor and the elder, and minorities, and the many many people who don’t have any ID, nor idea, nor business in the US of A.
The big right wing brother is watching….and Bush is going to steal the elections!!! Boo hoo!
The ID card in Indiana is free….tell you what: if the elder are able to cash their retirement, find their way through Medicare, drive to the shopping center, renew their driver’s licenses, smog their cars, use a credit card, go to the local casino or play bingo , they can go and get a free ID.
If you are poor but able to walk to the nearest church to get your free canned food, to a state agency to get your food stamps, to the next curb to hold a “would not even work for food stamps” sign, to a Democrat party meeting or the ER for medical assistance, you can go get your free ID.
If you are legal minority, victimized and disenfranchised for life but able to attend Democratic Party meetings, go to “civil right” marches, listen to reverend Wright, register with “La Raza”, open a French restaurant, or run a 7-11, you are able to get your free ID card.
If you are illegal, able to figure out how to cross the border, get a social security card, cash unemployment checks, lobby politicians to stand for you and get pamphlets from Mexico telling you what your rights are in America, you can get your ID card.
Basically, if you can make the effort to register to vote, you can also get a free ID….unless you are a Democrat from Dale County in Florida!
So what is your problem with the protecting of YOUR MOST IMPORTANT RIGHT?
Billary is angry because she will lose an important share of her Latino votes…Obama is just OK and “will make sure every rightful voter is voting”….good….the ID requirement will ensure that!
As for me, I am against because I won’t be able to vote anymore, again, and again, and again!
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Sue Wilson: Federal rules give corporation-backed conservative radio all the local voices
Sacramento Bee, Sunday May 11 2008, Opinions: KSAC radio "killed" the last "progressive radio show and replaced it by Christian music. Sue will lose her job and tries to make the case that the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE needs to be brought back to provide listeners with the opportunity to hear something else than the "conservative conglomerates" that have put her and many other like her before, out of work. What is "fair" in the fairness doctrine?
A problem with her piece: radio is something that one must chose to actively listen to! Brain washing from the right or the left can go on without affecting anybody that has not actively tuned on a specific station. Like TV, bad shows get low audience and bad ratings and good shows get audience, attract advertizing, get ratings and generate tons of money. If classic music, christian music, minority radios, hard rock or country make it without any governement intervention, why should "progressive talk" be protected by a "fairness doctrine", an affirmative action law that denies the rules of free market and competition and actually limit freedom of speech.
Below my comments to her:
Every year the same stuff comes over and over again, most of it pet projects of the left that have been “discarded” one way or another (ballot box, bill…). The so-called “fairness doctrine” is one of them and the cry-baby excuses are always the same lame one.
I understand that Sue Wilson is mourning the end of her job and wishes that some government program such as a “Fairness Doctrine” would guarantee her decades of secure airwave time “balancing” opposite radio shows. But right now, I guess she can only vent, and complain, and seek a job in a left leaning newspaper or Californian campus.
I am still amazed at the way “social engineering” works in America. In the name of equality, we have divided our society in self conscious entitled groups (sexual, religious, racial, ethnic….) and in the name of Fairness, some want to impose an artificial system that would override the market economy and legalize a limitation of free speech.
Radio, like TV, is pretty cool….nobody can force you to tune in, to select a station…free will at his best, the American dream.
But according to Sue Wilson, it is not fair, because there are more conservative, Hip Hop, and Christian radio shows than “progressive” (whatever that word mean to describe Democrats and Liberals). Of course, not to offend people, she does no mention Hispanic, Russian, Vietnamese or other ethnic shows, even classic music, hard rock or country features that are still successful out there. What are their excuses to be successful enough to survive the “evil conglomerates”? Who finance them? Nope….it is unfair because her business model, the industry she works in, is basically faulty….but at the end, making it political eases the pain of failure….it is all about politics…and her!
Let see….Could we agree on the following:
- If 90% of the talk shows are “conservative” it is because most people CHOSE to tune in “Conservative” talk!
American freedom of CHOICE!
American free market: up or out!
People don’t tune in because they cannot listen to liberal –sorry, “progressive”- speech. People chose to tune in, therefore listening indexes go up, stations become successful, success attracts advertisers, advertisers mean money, and everybody makes money! These are the basics of the business out there, for everybody in the radio business! Why is American Idol more successful than 20/20? Because it is trun by FOX or because people just like it better and TUNE IN?
- If 90% of the talk shows are “conservative” and doing good, it is because they sell advertizing and make bundles of money, not because they are protected by a federal plan or agency, by a law. But according to Sue Wilson, Liberal talk should be somewhat protected, right! Actually we could also agree that the first amendment was not written to protect the politically correct speech on harmless foozy-woozy subject aiming at making people feel good, but that it was written instead to protect “offensive “and divisive speech! Again, should we come up with a sort of affirmative action program to give special preferences and protections to “progressive” radio?
- If KSAC cannot afford a bigger transmitter, that is tough luck…I’d love to own a Rolls and live in Monterey….cannot afford it and won’t cry over it!
- If KSAC was happy with 32000 listeners a week, I am happy for them! One has to be content with what he has! The blog I contribute to has more drive-by bloggers….a day. I wonder if the “Fairness doctrine” should also extend its rules over the Internet, and TV, and movie theatres, and schools, and Universities, and daily speech, and bumper stickers, newspapers, personal websites, school papers, match boxes…? Why not? What is FAIR?
- Sue Wilson also states that businesses would never advertise in “progressive talk” because “liberals never miss an opportunity to bash corporations as evil and crooked”. So we have to believe that the Obama and Clintons of the world are not getting any of their “contributions” from businesses, right, that all corporations are evil and none would ever contribute to the left side? Furthermore, may I suggest her to listen to Armstrong and Getty, Ron Arrnie and Don, Michael Savage…. if she wants to hear some really hard and crude bashing of the President, his administration, his secretaries, and big corporations…they do it daily…and get funding…and more listeners every day!
- If “the broadcasters must serve the public interest – the public interest of all of the people,” why is “progressive radio” guilty of only preaching for its “church”, the same way “conservative” radio is accused of? Should moveon.org open its pages to conservative, Christian, or anti-abortion crowd too? This is getting too funny…and sad.
- If the 1700 “conservative” radio “starved independent stations of revenue”, it is indeed good business, the good old fashion American way, the way the Wall Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, Ford, Gm, ATT…etc, etc….have starved their competition. Up or out….unless of course, we also implement the “fairness doctrine” to everything around.
Who are we kidding?
First of all, most of the politicians of the left side of the aisle are millionaire running -or contributing to- big corporations (maybe the speaker of the house could ask her husband to donate some of the profit made from the defense contracts she awarded him?). Furthermore, market economy “oblige”, corporation always spend money across the spectrum to ensure a return in investment. Finally, Sue Wilson want us to believe that NO US corporation is run by a left leaning or independent CEO that would invest some money in “progressive talk radio” if it were profitable, ENTERTAINING, and not a waste of resources. No way!
To the question “Why are corporate dollars the sole arbiter of what information we the people get to hear on publicly owned airwaves?” the answer again is simple: free market, everything is for sale and MONEY TALKS. Why are corporate dollars also the sole arbiter of what information we the people get to hear FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES on publicly owned airwaves? Why anything in America, even the presidential seat, depends on “corporate money” from the left (like Mr Soros) or the right, or just from “neutral corporations” with a big financial agenda (and not political)….this is your country Sue, you answer that! But that is the way it runs….
Again, people need to tune in, dial around and seek something they relate to, something they like, set it on their radio, and just listen to if afterwards.
There is no room for “progressive” talk radio the way it is and Sue Wilson should go and apply her talents where “progressive” talk works: Moveon.org, political campaign staffs, free speech.org, Schools and Universities… would be a good start!
If the “fairness doctrine” is re-implemented, besides guarantying the Sue Wilson of the world with a lifelong career, it would need to be enforced to grant some listeners to the liberal media. What would FORCE listener to tune in order to get “the equal time”, the material for a democratic “balanced view”.
Would brown shirt and stick toting “Fairness doctrine Implementation Police forces” be created to force us to listen to the “progressive” voice?
That would be highly progressive indeed, along with re-education camps and self criticizing….
Sue Wilson should not ask the government what it is going to do for her but ask herself why nobody wants to tune in –or invest- in her business model. “Progressive” radios have popped up and gone for a decade while “conservative” radio has strived. Personally, I think that the shows I listen to are fun, highly entertaining, and dynamic and often echo my convictions. When I browsed through “progressive” radio, I have always felt like listening to a boring bunch of condescending self-congratulatory University teachers that think that the rest of the world is a bunch of illiterate gun totting, god fearing red-necks. I never felt like belonging to their audience and the last thing I want to do while I commute is die of boredom, or fall asleep.
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Why pushing for Colombia! The US government and its strange bonds with a really unstable country.
For almost three decades, the US government has been involved in an anti narcotic war in Colombia.
Officially the main goal was to help the local government put an end to the culture, refinery and export to America of the cocaine from that poor country. There, peasants had to resort to the illegal culture for lack of alternate crop and source of income.
The Colombian elite was made of drug lords and Pablo Escobar was the top dog, the one and only – and also one of the richest men of the world- until his violent death in 1993. For the poor, he was a sort of Robin Hood, providing them with a source of income, lodging, schools, and health facilities in exchange for a total loyalty. For the Pro US government and anti-drug forces, he was a merciless killer heading the Cartel of Medellin, the man that got thousands of people executed, from government officials to cops and lawyers.
His death eventually created a vacuum that was immediately filled by the Cartel of Cali (his top contender) and many smaller and rival organizations. Despite millions of dollars, years of “deforestation”, electronic warfare and active military actions against all the smuggling means the drug lords have used (airplanes, submarines…) the production did not stop at all, and the production of cocaine even increased, unbridled and uncontrollable.
Today, drug lords, guerillas and Colombian paramilitary forces supposed to fight them are cashing in with the white powdered gold. Did the US lose….or not?
Colombia is also a country that has been plagued by a civil war for half a century. Pablo Escobar did try to get rid of the communist guerilla movements that competed with him for the drug money, but he did not succeed and eventually sided with them so everybody got a cut of the drug deals. If you cannot beat them, join them! These guerillas owned the jungle and the FARC group is actually the real American target today (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).
Considered as a terrorist group by almost everybody but Castro and Chavez, the group was born in the forties and controls about 20% of the country. Composed of about 15 to 20 thousand fighters, armed and equipped like a regular army, they are led by the septuagenarian Manual Marulanda. The group eventually lost its communist affiliation when it started dealing drugs in the eighties.
The FARCs are still making the news today and you might have heard of the most recent events linked to them. To better finance their struggle they have also resorted to revolutionary taxes, gold digging and hostage taking. One of these hostages is the famous Ingrid de Bettencourt, a dual citizen of Colombia and France, and a former presidential candidate. She has been held since 2002 and her failing health came fore recently when rumors of her imminent death made the news. Furthermore, in March 2008, the Colombian army raided a FARC camp in Ecuador and killed their second in Command and spokesman, Paul Reyes. Tensions arose between the two countries and Hugo Chavez even started to mobilize its military forces in Venezuela.
Drugs coming to America, Marxist guerillas, and corrupted governments…the US had many reasons to get involved and to stay. That is why the “Plan Colombia”, “a Marshall plan for Colombia” came up!
Brewed in 1999 by Bill Clinton and the Colombian president of the time, Pastrana, and signed in August of 2000, it was aiming at pacifying Colombia and generating prosperity.
One of the goals was to promote substitution crops in Colombia and lower US import taxes so these crops would have a market.
Suddenly, the culture of coca would be replaced by flowers or other textile related greens and America would be buying it all. It made sense but not to the republican lead congress that vetoed it (and today Bush is pushing it and the Democrat lead congress might reject it! Go figure!).
In order to achieve that objective, the Colombian administration directly dealt with the FARC and granted them part of the country as a free roaming demilitarized zone in exchange of the dropping of the drug trafficking. The Colombian military leadership reacted strongly, supported by the US congress, and they strong-armed Pastrana into ending his dialogue with the rebels. The only deal left for the Clinton administration was the more traditional one: the arming and training of the Colombian forces to get rid of drug dealers and guerillas. $7 billion of US help over a couple of years were allocated, translated in top notch military hardware and US advisers. Satellite systems were designed and implemented to detect the fields of coca, and chemicals used to destroy them (Roundup from Monsanto!). On the paper, the combination of the two seemed unbeatable but nobody was wise enough to foresee the real results of these massive destructions;
- Growers –poor peasants- lost the coca but also their small gardens as a collateral damages. All means of surviving gone, they eventually joined the FARC seen as the good guys.
- As far as the jungle goes, it was an environmental disaster
- For the coca, it is easy to grow and the fields were moved deeper under the cover of the jungle and the output actually increased
- Small spraying airplanes were destroyed because of their vulnerabilities
All in all, it was a mistake, an expensive failure….but…
War, total war became the new adopted solution by the Generals in Colombia who wanted a share of the $7 billion budget, and by the American government that saw war as a way to invest that same money into the national economy. The satellite system and its maintenance and operation, secured communication, latest US helicopters (18 Blackhawk for $237 million + $120 million for additional heliborne support if necessary), Monsanto chemicals sprayed by Dyncorp airplanes and crews (some pilots were even caught using and dealing the cocaine they were supposed to destroy)…
The Bush administration continued the policy in 2001, despite its failure to achieve the official goals or eradicating coca. President Bush even got more money for the plan and the full support of the new Colombian president.
Alvaro Uribe was elected in 2002 on one platform: the end of the guerillas, the end of the FARC that have killed his father and tried to kill him a dozen times. He was highly motivated to side with the US government and suddenly, Colombia became one of the three countries the most heavily subsidized by America, with Israel and Egypt. The war switched from drugs to anti-guerilla and with presidents Uribe and Bush, the use of the American equipment and personnel for the destruction of the FARC became the official policy. Colombia was put under the total control by the army and the police tasked to crack on the rebels. This state of emergency and virtual dictatorship of Uribe (that granted himself the power to bypass its congress), led to the creation of an illegal and bloody right wing paramilitary groups tasked to do the dirty job, groups quickly matched by the FARC that created the “Bolivarian militias” of urban combat, bringing the civil war to the streets of Bogota. Despite the fact that this paramilitary force under Carlos Castana became even worse than the FARC (human rights violations, rapes, illegal taxes for “protection”, torture, violence, drug trafficking…), and despite the fact that they were eventually added to the US terrorist list, their “good” results against the FARC granted them immunity, as long as they recovered land from the rebels…and secured oil supplies.
Yes….you read it right! OIL with a big “O”…again!
Colombia accounts for close to 1 million barrels a year (up from 100.000 in the eighties) and the US relies more and more on South American oil to keep its gas guzzlers on the road and limit its dependency on the Persian Gulf. Knowing that the FARC have been pretty good in the past at disrupting the Colombian oil production (in retaliation to the American push to destroy them) and because many US companies have been granted exploration and exploitation rights on the yet undiscovered and untapped reserves that sit in FARC held territories, you understand now why the war on the drug lords and their revolutionary accomplices has totally switched to today’s open war on the FARC. For ever, the US administrations, from Clinton to Bush, have tried to secure and develop a new source of oil in Latin America, and the war on Drugs was just a lame excuse, a minimal part of a bigger and longer well orchestrated plan!
Key words: Plan Colombia, Pablo Escobar, Farc, Colombian oil….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Colombia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501555.html
http://www.alternet.org/story/9111/
http://www.colombiajournal.org/colombia198.htm
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8209584922518474909
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Wake up people…no wonder Ritalin is a fast growing drug! You anti-torch guys must suffer from permanent attention disorder and should focus more on your health and less on bay events. Repeat after me: China has never ever had good human records. China does not care about being nice, polite, politically correct, nor does China care about pleasing American Buddhist, and/or Katmandu lovers. And repeat after me again: China will not let Tibet go, ever! You can blow the torch, pee yourself, roll and cry, climb the Golden Gate or jump from it, China does not care. Furthermore, the Olympics will be held anyways and all the nations will smile and cheer while American and other Western corporations in the business of exporting our jobs and manufacturing facilities to the 25 cents an hour Chinese slave workers will inundate the airwaves with expensive ads. The same applies for the Darfur lovers. China does not care about your lobbying, hunger strikes and chaining yourself to a tree. China buys more than half of the Sudanese oil output and wants Sudan to access the underground crude reserves of a pacified Darfur, pacified by Muslim militias armed with Chinese weapons. Welcome to geopolitics!
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I respect Hmong veterans for their long struggle at the side of the French, and the Americans afterwards, in what used to be Indochina. We know about their plight in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. But should we dedicate them a special chapter in our school curriculum? I went through my son’s fourth grader “Social study” book on opening day at school and asked the teacher if it was coming with a whip and if there was anything there that he should be proud of…Chinese building railraods, depossessed Mexican immigrants, Japanese camps, and the native we slaughtered. Today we are going to add the Hmongs to the curriculum and the tale of our abandonning them to the Vietnamese and Laotian revenge. Question: Should the books cover the history of all the minorities that make the framework of America? Should our schools be responsible for the transmitting of cultures and traditions from one silent generation to a passive one? What is next? The Italian contribution to the American Pizza, the Middle Eastern love story with 7-11, the French improvement to American wines and kisses? The casino success story of the the Cache Creek, Thunder valley and other Jackson Rancheria foreign nations? Our kids are failing in Math and English. They cannot spell SCIENCE and think Tibet is a sushi. Leave specialized history to higher places of learning and focus on the basic and general necessary skills our kids need to master.
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The Steam train operator and his city’s sustained lifestyle: is he a millionaire?
I wish I had more time to take a look at Folsom’s finances. My only hope is that we are not like Vallejo, flirting with bankruptcy because 80 percent of its general fund covered salaries or because it pre-spent future housing income.
I literally blew up after reading about the racketeering of our Steam train operator by the city. Is Folsom so desperate for money that it can go after a landmark business and increase its rent by 100% overnight? If the answer is yes, other businesses should beware. The lame excuse is that when “The city’s paying for the (park events),” the operator is getting more business for free. Since the housing “bubble” began around 2001 and reached its peak in 2005, the city has added 12,703 consumers, 3494 detached houses, 1758 multi-family housing units, and also delivered about 210 commercial permits (city website information). Property taxes went from roughly seven million in 2002 to ten in 2005 and almost twelve (proposed) in 2006. And I am not counting garbage, waste disposal, water, sewage, park fees and whatever other income the city collects, such as the mysterious “Landscaping and Lightning Districts” taxes for vague neighborhood improvements (Surplus should be carried forward as a credit against the following year: when is the last time that you got an L&L credit? Is the city keeping surpluses?)
Where did the money go? Into, the library, the levees, or the grandiose repaving of our streets (already cracked and pot holed, not mentioning all these annoying little rubber pellets)
I know: Global Warming, that’s it!
From the top of your head, beside the library, what exactly did we get back from the city since 2001? A positive balance?
If the city is what it is today, it is because of us, the residents, a specific demographic exception made of above-average wealthy, educated and paid residents. It is because of its clean, competitive and attractive businesses, the tree lined neighborhood we tend, the streets we keep clean, the laws we abide, the steam train we ride and the Zoo we visit. Somehow, Folsom is still a little caring community with its landmarks, events and businesses that the Folsomites traditionally support. The city must recognize that the Steam train has been a park event by itself for 18 years, a feature associated to the Zoo and recently to the new library. Did that park make the train or did the train make that park? “All we’re trying to do is give the city its fair shake! (…) These are tough economic times and the city can’t keep sustaining his (train operator) lifestyle without getting anything in return.” Boo Hoo, blah blah!
I think it is time for us to take a look at the city’s lifestyle during “these tough economic times” and give it its fair shake-up. Where did the money go and how much?
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Nancy Peligrosa is willing to risk the US already delicate situation in Iraq in the name of the appeasement of a powerful Armenian lobby that has been pushing again and again for the recognition by the US of the Armenian genocide conducted by the Ottoman Empire about a hundred years ago. Turkey is a critical NATO partner and a much more critical ally in the war in Iraq. The US uses Turkey as a rear logisitic base for its supply and air lift operations. One third of the fuel used by our military transits through Turkey 9so much for the people who claim we went in for Iraqi oil!). Angered by the Democrat led effort to officially recognize the genocide, Turkey is threatening to stop any active support to the US for the war in Iraq, review its position within the NATO alliance, and, worth of all, move into the Kurdish part of Iraq to conduct a retaliatory strike against the Kurd terrorist group (PKK) that has become emboldened by the US support for the Kurds in Iraq and resumed attacks against Turkey’s military (just slaughtered 13 border guards). If the resolution on the genocide passes, the Democrats will be responsible for breaking whatever balance exist in Northern Iraq, pushing the Turkish military into conducting military action against one of the active American ally in the war against terrorism in Iraq. The US government will have tough choices because of Nancy’s catering to her lobbyists: side with the Kurds or with Turkey, or jeopardize its military operations in Northern Iraq, or jeopardize NATO’s Southern flank, right when Putin is taking all the steps to resume the cold war.
The genocide has happened and has been recognized by many nations already. Genocide should not be encouraged and should be denounced…but is it the right time? The risk are so high for the future of America’s war in Iraq, NATO, the region…If the resolution passes and the situation goes as predicted (Turkey banning US operations from within its borders, military incursion in Northern Iraq, NATO loss of its Southern flank), the Democrat will bear the responsibility of the total collapse of that region of the world, our war effort, and NATO coalition.
Way to go! I wonder what Billary-ous and Osama are thinking of this backstabbing?
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Political correctness has become such a “natural” part of our American life that one cannot oppose Billary’s candidacy without being tagged as a male chauvinist misogynist pig. In the same way, saying one does not support Obama is racist. Here is a question for you all, from the far left to the far right, Jerry excluded: should we just vote for Billary because she is the first woman ever to run for President? Should we only vote for Obama because it is about time we have a black President to make up for slavery, segregation, lack of reparation, profiling, etc, etc…? The danger of being so much in tune with our feelings, instead of our brain, is that we react emotionally to issues and not with logics. One should not vote for his party, or his guy, a gender, a race or a religion but for ideas, leadership, agenda, experience…anything but the looks, in pants or Mao suit. Political correctness is preventing the exchange of ideas and a healthy debate. Lawsuits and overstretched so-called “Hate crime” laws are daily muzzling freedom of speech as it was intended. Remember that Politically correct speech does not need to be protected by the constitution. The first amendment was written to protect “insensitive” speech….such as mine
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How does Folsom fare?
Today Vallejo is flirting with bankruptcy because 80 percent of its general fund covered the salaries and benefits of its union backed firefighters and police.
This is also what is happening at State level.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) reported that when benefits are included, compensations for State employees amount to about $28 billion. Other available LAO tables also show that since 1991, state civil service employees have had a raise every single year (When is the last time you had one?). Other interesting figures are as follow: State legislators (120): a 42% raise since 2000 (while the General funds only increased by 32%); Highway patrol since 2003: 2.7% in 2003 up to 12% in 2004, and about 6% a year since. Correctional officers since 2003: from 5.2% to 10.3%.
Last year, it was reported that it costs taxpayers about $3 million per lawmaker per year in order to have the two legislative houses waste our surplus revenues on good days and raise taxes and sell bonds on bad days (actually, salaries and benefits make 80% of the money allocated to the Assembly or Senate.) And I could go on and on with all these depressing numbers available to anybody willing to look them up.
As for the education, the state general fund and local property tax revenue for education went from $35.6 billion in 1998 to about $50 billion for 2005-2006 (half of the total budget of the State). All this money is awarded to a funnel like broken system with only some of it trickling down to the already overcrowded classrooms. Look at the results: California ranks 46th in the nation. Furthermore, according to recent dramatic advertizing, the budget cuts applied on education are going to harm my kids and their classes might reach the 30 student per teacher...good….that will be an average of two kids less per classes and my daughter and my son will now have a full two minute per hour of one on one with their teachers! That is what: 10 to 15 minutes a day? Way to go.
So let me sum it up for you: $50 billion on education plus $28 billion on salaries added to about $3 billion in waste (2007 California Piglet Book), out of a $100 billion budget equal 19 billion left for everything else (roads, repaying bonds, transportation, infrastructure, bills….). All in All, this is the business model of the 7th economy of the world, with its bankrupt lottery and corrupt Indian gaming to round up the numbers. Maybe it is time to legalize prostitution and have the State sell drugs in our schools to finally balance this mess! But who cares? Really? Just remember that there cannot be any crisis as long as you have taxpayers…Happy cows come from California (sometimes on a fork lift.) Keep on milking us!
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Fierce faceoff likely as Johnson, Fargo vie for Sacramento mayor, March 6 2008
Do you want to know what Sacrament will look like under another term of Democrat Mayor “Wealth” Fargo: Go drive around Sac. Start from J and spread out…the streets, the slums, downtown, the homeless. Just imagine more of it!
Do you want to see what Sacramento will look like under Democrat Kevin “Magic Slumlord” Johnson: drive around Sac. Start from the empty properties in disrepair he owns in Oak Park district and move center… just imagine a slum-downtown, more of what he could do! “Cow Town” is doomed!
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I just love it. For the past 8 years, the Reps have been demonized as the Swift boaters, mud slingers, dirty politicians, election robbers, name callers, not fair popular vote does not count, etc, etc....
And here we are with the two last top Dems resorting to third world dirty politics to win the main price, the nomination, the trip to DC.
Nothing has been dirty enough, from taking to court casino workers union to prevent them from voting to racial innuendos, dug out 5th grader essays, poll station mob style attitude, lawsuits and sarcasms....and Billary camp has been really good about that....and these people want to give "conserrvatives" lessons on Democracy? Are you all kidding me? It is like sipping a good old cognac....just seating here and keeping score....and the wife of Monica's lover is not done....she will resort to anything to get what she thinks she is entitled to...even take the party down! I cannot wait....Champagne is in the fridge, ready for the Grand Finale, the ultimate moment of infamy by and for the one that claim that they stand for you...
I am too poor to be a Democrat and working too hard to be a liberal burning cars and smashing windows in the main streets of America.
Keep up the good work, Billary and other Obama, singing drunk Kennedy and filthy rich Code Pink picketed Pelosi! There is nothing on TV and we love to see you guys in action.
The worst congress rating in US history and the filthiest campaign ever in the Dem side!
2008, a year to remember...
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Keep on milking us.
80 percent of Vallejo's expenditures covered salaries. This is what is happening at State level.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office reported that benefits and compensations for State employees reach $28 billion. Other tables also show that since 1991, state civil service employees have had a raise every year (from 1.4% to 4.3% since 95). Other figures are as follow: Highway patrol since 2003: from 2.7% to 12%. Correctional officers since 2003: from 5.2% to 10.3%. As for the education, the state general fund for education went from $35.6 billion in 1998 to about $50 billion for 2005-2006 (half of the total budget of the State...and we rank 46th in the nation for academic achievements). Finally, since 2000, our 120 State legislators got a 42% raise and it costs taxpayers about $3 million per lawmaker per year in order to have the two legislative houses waste our surplus and sell bonds. And I could go on and on. This is the business model of the 7th economy of the world (10th according to the CIA). There is no crisis as long as you have taxpayers! Happy cows come from California, sometimes on a fork lift. Keep on milking us!
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The last contenders to the American throne have vowed to lower our dependency from fossil fuel and our contribution to the green house effect. Mrs Clinton would bring 55 mpg cars to us by 2030 and would spend $50 billions in alternative fuel research. Obama would dedicate $150 billion for the next decade. McCain claims that he would focus on other “exotic” fuels and nuclear power. Let’s throw more of our money for things that are already out there, viable or not! Do you know that a basic European Fiat Punto Turbo diesel gets 50 mpg compared to 53 mpg with a Prius that cost about twice as much? Do you know that new diesel runs cleaner than gasoline and that a European green car is a turbo diesel car? Do you know that American automakers commonly get 30 to 50 mpg on their European models? Take FSAF for example. The American giant in Europe is known for its Ka, C-max, S-max, or Tourneo that average 40 mpg, and also run on Flexifuel that lowers emissions by 70%. FSAF has even imposed itself as the Green champion of the automakers, touting innovations since 2001. Flexifuel, a mixture of ethanol (85%) and any grade gasoline (15%), has been so widely adopted all over Europe that FSAF had a couple of their cars go from Bodo (Norway) to Paris (France….why do I have to say that?) via Stockholm and Copenhagen (just figure it out!) using the existing Flexifuel-providing gas station infrastructure. Another US giant, Opel, has a revolutionary working hybrid car for 2010. The Flextreme system, or E-flex, is a car that is 100% powered by an electric engine. The batteries are charged by a 1.3 liter turbo diesel engine that only starts when they are low. In this case, emissions again are lowered to incredible low levels. We already have the technology but will let Washington or Detroit waste billions in biofuels that are going to change our agricultural landscape, contribute to more deforestation across the world and therefore increase the Green house effect (i.e. Oil from Palm tree: forests in Indonesia harvested for the 25ct/gal B100 biodiesel). We have the exotic power but wrongly focus on hybrid cars. When the technology will become cheaper and most of the car on the roads will indeed be hybrids, what is going to happen to the batteries? A typical lead battery is made of 3 pounds of plastic, 1 gal of sulfuric acid, and 21 pounds of lead that mother earth has a hard time digesting. I know! We will ship them to deforested China, Africa, India or Bangladesh….along with our E-trash, anywhere but in our backyard! Stop driving main battle tanks and tell automakers to sell now and here what they build for Europe…that will do it for a while! Also, change your driving habits and save gas to lower both consumption and prices. Just do the right thing!
Nota: FSAF stands for Ford SAF (Societe Anonyme Francaise) and Opel is GM!
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At the end, is gender, race or party line going to be the only criteria for the People to figure out who is best suited to “save America”? (from what? The only recession I see have been “media induced”…gas is cheaper than anytime in 2k7, Christmas shopping was higher than 2k6 –and just lower than expected-, house bubble was to burst for it was not a sustainable nor sane system and the one paying the price are many who bet on a quick money making turnover)
Am I a racist if I don’t vote Black?
Am I a misogynist pig if I don’t vote skirts? (oooops…pants for Billary…is she really a she? I thought she was the one with the pants on in the couple, and Bill the one with the pants….down! J)?
Am I a “senior hater” if I don’t vote McCain?
Should Oprah run so we would have a senior black female in one candidate? :-0
What about voting for the best qualified candidates? That would be new.
Tell you what: I would rather vote Obama over McCain or Billary! That is how bad it is….between three Democrats, I would give a shot to Obama because he looks good, sounds smart, promotes hard work and education among the Black community, reject self-pity and entitlement, and like any other Prez, would eventually realize what the real world looks like on Day one and go the necessary moderate conservative way. Oh….yes….and because I hate her!
The rest is just political rhetoric, fairy tales! You don’t really believe what they tell you, do you?
Billary…the Clintons? Are you kidding me…Billy Boy back in the house, Prez or unofficial VP in the shadow of the Mao suit wearing chipmunk? Alone with the pages and other Interns? Code Pink in the Lincoln bedroom for free? Tainted cigars and dirty carpet? No way. We had 8 years of it already.
McCain…a “social conservative”, too much to the left.
What would we get with a dem?
We would withdraw from the Middle East as already announced by the Democrats, Al Qaeda would be proclaimed a winner and would come back here for more butt kicking, more tax payers money would go to waste toward education, illegal immigration and some unrealistic socialized medicine reform while more billions would be wasted toward the greens-for-gas biofuel utopia: harvest trees and harvest crops for biofuel…increase global warming by cutting the trees (cf Indonesia and Malaysia destroying their Palm tree forest for a $0.25 / gal palm oil bio diesel!). We would surrender our guns and the military would be de-financed, and de-balled. All public building would be retrofitted with the third “not comfortable with your sex” bathroom like at Target. Like in Berzerkley, recruiting stations would be banned, and cities like San Franfreako would chose what Federal law to go with or not…Tell you what, I feel safer already!
I think we are going to have a lot of fun in the years to come…the campaign has already been really interesting, showing me, a foreign observer, the US democracy in action…vive la republique…
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The Clintons are desperately resorting to negative politics now that they are losing ground to Obama. Give it a week or two and you will see Billary telling Obama that he is black (indeed he is) while he will reply to her that she is a woman (is she?). I love to watch the slug fest on the Democrat side. They claim so often that we are the bad guys…it is pure poetry to see over funded Democrats tearing down other over funded Democrats (with the money they spend destroying each other, they could have provided health care to a couple of hundred of thousands of their constituents J), making up destructive innuendos, resorting to dirty politics, using third party mouth pieces to do the dirty work, digging out and distorting things, slinging mud, belittling each other, suing each other in court to block voters from voting…I love to see Democrazy in action… (not to mistake with Democracy!). You guys are Bad!
Now that they have exposed their true colors, perverted the voting process, divided their electorate to better conquer, made Race an issue (Thank you Billy boy), promised more of my hard earned money for a medical scam, and told the enemy that if they are elected, America will officially be defeated in 2009 and will withdraw home to wait for another kick in the butt, (just to name a few items they preach), let us get ready to use it all and more against whoever is going to be their nominee!
If it is good to use by a Democrat against a Democrat, it is good for us against them too, right….So guys, out there, please lay low when McCain will take on the survivor of your social experiment.
The last piece, the candle on the cake, the star of the Christmas tree will be coming soon to us, delivered at home during their convention: are the Super-delegates going to follow the will of the people, and how! I can hardly wait to see how the Democrazyc process works!
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Virgin Airlines, partnered with Boeing, is test flying the first biofuel powered jetliners running on a mixture of coconut and babassu oil (Palm tree nut). Recently, the Bee reported that the Palm forest in Indonesia was harvested to generate palm oil for a cheap Biodiesel. Open your eyes people. Biofuel is not the solution! Because of this new environmental hype and money making frenzy (a gallon of third world produced B100 biodiesel costs 25cts/gal) we are going to let the world’s agricultural landscape change to profit the fuel making crops on top of encouraging the harvesting of natural forests. Short term, money is flowing. Long term, the whole process will contribute to more desertification and an increase of the Green House effect. Your Hybrid car is not the solution either! Green European Turbo Diesel cars get the same mileage for half the price! Furthermore, a typical lead battery is made of 3 pounds of plastic, one gal of sulfuric acid, and 21 pounds of lead. How about recycling yours? Would it make everybody feel better if they were sent to the soon to be desert third world, along with our E-trash, asbestos- laden ships to salvage, bio-hazard trash, etc, etc…
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Letter from Africa.
Sudan has been under pressure to clean its Human right records in its Darfur province. Still, despite a permanent state of civil war, the country that has once been in the US sights for having hosted Bin Laden and terrorist camps, has shown a 10% growth in 2005 and 2006. How can a mostly war torn and dirt poor country come up with such an economic growth? Sudan, the biggest country of the continent, possesses one fifth of the proven oil reserves of Africa and oil concessions have been awarded over half of the country. Three active one in the South, already provide half of the Sudanese total output that is sold to China (40%), Malaysia (30%), and India (25%). Most of these concessions are still unexploited and many are located in the Shamal Darfur area, north of the long neglected, drought and famine plagued desert Darfur province. In Sudan, thanks to oil, the longest lasting civil war of the continent ceased in 2005 after the death of 2 million and millions of refugees. Since the 1956 independence, the South, mostly black and Christian, have fought for auto-determination. To break from international isolation imposed by America after 9-11, and to exploit the Asian thirst for oil, the central Muslim government brokered a successful peace agreement with the Southern rebels and created a National Union government while opening a path to a greater autonomy of the South by promising a referendum in 2011. In Darfur, North West of the country, because of inter ethnic tensions (Arabs vs. non Arabs) and the unwillingness of the central government to redistribute wealth and develop the area, two local rebel groups chose the armed struggle in 2003 (The Sudanese Liberation Army -SLA- and the Justice and Equality Movement –JEM-). The government has since been using an Arab militia called the Janjaweed to fight them and in four years, more than 1600 villages have been burnt, looted, population displaced, raped, slaughtered. 200.000 dead, 150 to 200.000 refugees in neighboring Chad and Central African Republic…is this a genocide? While Western politicians and bureaucrats discuss to figure out if it is (the conflict is not just ethnic or religious but historical, political and economic), people die, unprotected by the U.N. African-only interposition force sent there because the West bought the threats of a massive and global Jihad if white “crusaders” (i.e. soldiers of Peace) were sent to “invade” (i.e. interpose, help, protect) yet another Muslim country. Eventually, when the conflict spilled over to neighboring Chad (recently oil rich too), the European Community decided to deploy its forces that are now about to secure the Chad/Darfur border along with the refugee camps that are also being raided. When poor countries, money, oil, and politics mix, the poorest die! In the meantime, not only China is the preferred customer, but China is also providing all the necessary military hardware to Khartoum, the capital, so the country – and its oil- can be secured. Is it why America is so silent?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Ghosts of the Capitol
Do you remember last year when the redistricting bill was lost between the Senate and the assembly in Sacramento, and only resurfaced when it was too late to add it to the 2008 ballot? That redistricting bill was specifically written to balance the Perata-Nunez sponsored term limit bill that contains a special clause that would actually extend their term (both should be termed out in 2008)! Exposed, the two manipulators were “forced” to also support a redistricting bill in exchange of running theirs. Unfortunately, for some “obscure” and unexplained reason, one bill made it while the other got lost long enough to be disqualified for the February ballot. The Indian Compacts disappearance issue that has recently been uncovered is the 2008 “Encore” provided by the career scam artists that run the state. It was recently reported by a major media that after our Governator had approved the Indian Gaming compacts, he had the paperwork sent to the Californian Secretary of State’s office for quick processing. The US secretary of the Interior is the next step and has 45 days to review the deal and accept or reject it in view of pros and cons, opposition build up, etc…Once these 45 days are over without an outcome, Federal law says that the compacts gain automatic approval. Well, guess what? In this charmed time of tooth fairies and red fat man delivering toys, the paperwork was allegedly “misplaced” for about 80 days before it miraculously re-appeared in the in-box of some “big-feathered-wig” at Indian Affairs. Basically, it seems that the compacts have already been ratified and published in some Federal register, and the tribes are already preparing to challenge the voters if the compacts are rejected. In the meantime, Prop 94, 95, 96, and 97 are still in the February Ballot for us to ratify, or not (“to confirm by expressing consent, approval…”). They offer to increase State and local government revenues by allowing four tribe operated casinos to increase their number of slot machines by the thousands in exchange of millions of dollars in pay back to be deposited in General Fund. Are we going to waste our votes on a done deal? If we listen to our Governor, he does not really know. He stated that he was not aware that once published, the compacts would become valid even if the good people of California voted against them. But he also told us a year ago that the budget deficit was all gone, vanished, puuuufff, just like the redistricting bill and the Indian compacts. Talk about the ghosts of the capitol! They all reappeared after a while and without any explanations! And now they haunt us! How come our beloved legislators never go puuuuf, disappear for good? Just think of it: a day without the Capitol, a day without representation! You are right….we already have it, almost everyday. In February, let’s show them that we are not stupid!
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Are our legislators wasting our time? ABX1 –the Democratic leadership’s health measure for uninsured Californians- has just been killed by one part of our legislature, after having been passed by the Assembly Health Committee. It was filled with holes, over-optimistic, under-funded and plain crazy. Furthermore, five of the seven propositions in the upcoming ballot are done deals. 91 closes a financial loophole….that has already been closed. 94 to 97 ratify Gaming Compacts already approved at Federal level. To top it up, 93 is the shameless self serving Nunez-Perata term extension bill and 92 another money shell game. Furthermore, last year, the redistricting bill (crafted to balance the Nunez-Perata scam) disappeared during the approval process and only re-appeared too late to be added to the February ballot. Also, the Compacts got Federal approval after escaping the scrutiny of the The US secretary of the Interior by “disappearing” far beyond the 45 days evaluation limit and re-appearing in time to be approved. I have monitored the democratic process of some third world countries. They would have put California to shame! But who care? We just get the governments we deserve.
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In the Navy, Nuclear submarines are the most critical pieces of the inventory because they are totally part of our nuclear deterrence policy. The latest subs have top secret propulsion systems, top secret power plants, top secret communication devices, etc, etc.
Is the Navy paranoid, no! Our deterrence is based on the fact that our submarines are 24/7 cruising the bottom of the ocean, undetected and undetectable, and permanently able to carry a huge nuclear strike, offensive or defensive, on any enemy. MAD, mutual assured destruction! If you hit me, I will still have the power to destroy you thanks to the stealth of my submarines, and to their nuclear payload.
In order for the deterrence to work, our nuclear vector carriers need indeed to be stealthy, undetectable. Everything has a “signature” nowadays. It could be the cavitations created by a propeller, the specific humming of a power plant, the burst transmission of a radio message, the water displacement…
In order for these vital characteristics to be kept secret, well, they need to be classified, and critical pieces of equipment kept away from satellites or people who can take pictures, film or record them.
The USS Virginia is one of our latest nuclear submarines, the crème de la crème. It has been around for about a decade already, or more, and sports such a revolutionary propeller that grants him stealth and credibility...
Because this propeller has a specific design that allows the sub to move undetected from surface ships during its stealthy patrols around the world, it is common for the Navy to “wrap” it up when the submarine comes to dry docks after a mission. Actually, the wrapping of top secret technology has been a common procedure since World War 2, since the two major powers had started to junk space with spy satellites.
Dan Twohig is a lucky guy, because he discovered something that could have cost him his life in China or North Korea. He lives in North Bend in Washington State, about 25 miles from Seattle. Sick of his commute, he was looking for a closer place to move in last June, and stumbled upon top secret military technology while scrolling over Seattle using Microsoft Virtual Earth program, an application pretty similar to Google earth. The picture is a 2003 caption of the USS Virginia on dry dock at the Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington State, also known for housing the largest nuclear weapons arsenal, the Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific. On this picture, depicted for all to zoom in, lays the sub with its unwrapped high tech propeller. Dan, a marine buff, posted it on his blog and the news took off and spread on the Internet.
So much for top secrecy, naval deterrence, and trust on your government to do the right thing to protect you!
These applications that allow you to “virtually fly over” towns and country are a blessing for all the bad guys.
With such a detailled picture, I can figure out point of entry, security, targets, vulnerabilities…I am not a terrorist, so you are fine.
Tomorrow, I can follow you home, get your address, pull out an aerial view of your house, zoom in, and figure out point of entry, security, targets, vulnerabilities for my next home invasion, or to steal the nice Ferrari or the Lexus you were driving…but I am not a robber, so don’t fear me.
How do you like to have everybody and his sister able to peek in your backyard, zoom-in on your house, pull you credit history and interest payments, our Nuclear secrets? I don’t feel good at all.
Just take a look at the pictures and detailed floor plan and financial information on your house www.zillow.com
And by the way….the sub is still there for our pleasure! Can you believe it?
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=ryqjnb4s57d5&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=10352732&encType=1
Have a nice day and sleep tight. Big brother is looking after you.
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Democracy in action.
Recently, ABC decided for us which candidate was TV worthy and Kucinich filed a complaint with the FCC. In Vegas, the Billary’s camp sued to prevent Casino workers from voting because they support Obama. In Nevada, a mini encore of the Bush-Gore election, Billary harvested the most votes while Obama got the delegates. In California, five of the seven propositions in the upcoming ballot are done deals. 91 closes a financial loophole….that is already closed. 94 to 97 ratify Gaming Compacts already approved at Federal level, and the tribes are ready to sue if they are rejected at the ballot box. 93 is the Nunez-Perata term extension bill (no comment) and 92 another money shell game. Furthermore, last year, the redistricting bill that was crafted to balance the Nunez-Perata scam disappeared during the approval process and only re-appeared too late to be added to the February ballot. The Compacts got Federal approval after escaping the scrutiny of the The US secretary of the Interior…they just “disappeared” far beyond the 45 days evaluation limit and re-appeared in time to be approved. Now I know why we vote on Tuesdays. Why waste a weekends?
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I love third world politics.
2008 just started and the so familiar looking paperwork is already here announcing yet another whole set of ballot issues our deep pocketed and incompetent legislators want us to make a decision on. I opened it and was surprised to discover that it was missing the pages containing the full text for propositions 94 to 97. But don't worry! A separate supplemental ballot guide has also been printed...and might be delivered before absentee ballots are mailed…or after. The four propositions are related to Indian compacts and offer to triple the number of slot machines the four richest Indian tribes on earth are operating in Southern California. You already know how much the State is going to benefit from such a deal, so I won’t go there nor promote the legalization of State run prostitution for profit. But I still wonder why would the State want us to ratify (“to confirm by expressing consent, approval…”) a prior agreement? Are we wasting our votes on a done deal? It was recently reported by a major media that after our Governator had approved the compacts, he had the paperwork sent to the Californian Secretary of State’s office for quick processing. The US secretary of the Interior is the next step and has 45 days to review the deal and accept or reject it in view of pros and cons, opposition build up, etc…Once these 45 days are over without an outcome, Federal law says that the compacts gain automatic approval. Well, guess what? In this charmed time of tooth fairies and red fat man delivering toys, the paperwork was allegedly “misplaced” for about 80 days before it miraculously re-appeared in the in-box of some “big-feathered-wig” at Indian Affairs….Basically, it seems that the compacts have already been ratified and published in some Federal register, and the tribes are already getting ready to challenge the voters if the compacts are rejected. Do you remember when the redistricting bill was lost between the two chambers in Sacramento last year, and only resurfaced when it was too late to add it to the 2008 ballot? The redistricting bill was specifically written to balance the Perata-Nunez sponsored term limit bill that contains a special clause that would actually extend their term (both should be termed out in 2008)! Exposed, they were “forced” to also support a redistricting bill in exchange of running theirs. The Compact issue is the 2008 “Encore” provided by the career scam artists that run the state. Third world politics: bills appear and disappear, rotten politicians strive, and bribes flow.
We know all about the corruption in Sacramento, and how the State’s credit card is "maxed up", its interest rates through the roof and credit down the tube. So maybe it is finally time for “We”, the voting tax payers to make it clear and loud once and for all at the ballot box: we are not stupid, we don’t buy it anymore and stop milking us! Use common sense and do what is right!
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Do the right thing: shut up and pay!
I am so sick of rewarding the bad behaviors of the few, up and down, left and right. It looks like there is no accountability, no personal responsibility anymore….it is always somebody else’s fault, never mine. And I always end up footing part of the bill!
When we think war, torture, or health care, we go in a bipartisan mode. The way our Union is set up with the balance of powers between the Executive, the Legislative and the judicial, We, the people are supposed to be the power, directly or not. Instead, we are complacent, elect them and trust their lies…they never knew, they don’t support, they don’t agree, oh my! Pelosi and torture, the Reps and global warming…you name it! While the two big parties take turns to rule and fill their pockets, we just sleep, all ritalined up to our noses, giving away our power and responsibilities! We let the few milk us and we reward them with our souls.
When we think New Orleans, we think Katrina and about fifty thousand people who stayed despite the warnings, encouraged by the inertia of the local administrations (a conservative Republican candidate was elected governor afterwards…How do you explain that?) We know the results, the deaths, the lootings, murders and rapes, the guilt trip, and the “charity” still going on almost three years later, on our dime. Just compare it to the recent fires in Southern California with about 750,000 people self evacuated, FEMA told they were not needed, 10,000 refugees –already forgotten- in a clean stadium for two weeks of solidarity, everybody un-entitled and just dealing with the drama, on their own. Think about Florida and its hurricanes and regular evacuation of the coast by the thousands. Think of the Northwest and winter disasters…no moaning and no looting…nada! We have let the few milk us and we rewarded them with our money...
When we think credit cards, we think of Americans living “in the red” with debts in the tens of thousands of dollars, spent equity and filed bankruptcies. Wrong! Not only it seems that the majority of U.S. households have no credit card debt but according to the Federal Reserve, about 30 percent of them pay off their balances monthly. Compare it to the mere 8.3 percent of households that owe $10,000 or more on their cards (MSN Money), or the few without home or car insurances, with Emergency Room as the healthcare provider, with frivolous lawsuits…Somebody must pay for them or protect oneself from them, right?. Again, we let the few milk us and we bail them out with our generosity…and indirect taxes by the Feds, the State, financial institutions, higher fees.
Think of the “.com” (dot com) bubble from 1997 to 2001! It was the over evaluation of the stock of thousands of companies with the same business model competing for the same services. California piled up –and spent- billions, believing that this new economic model would never collapse.2001 saw the “.com burst” that possibly turned real estate into the only place left for speculators to invest in. Politicians pledged they will never get caught again and will save every extra income instead of spending it….Mea Culpa. At the same time, their pockets filled with lavish gifts from mortgage companies, they killed bills designed to safeguard the lending industry and prevent “predatory loans” and Subprime mortgages. The Housing bubble started. People were easily convinced that they deserved a house, even when poor, with bad credit and no money down. Buyers thought home equity was a pile of cash in the attic, something one uses and does not to pay back, like bonds (???). And again California piled up –and spent- billions. And again when the bubble collapsed, politicians claimed innocence while passing yet more unbalanced budgets. They gave each other raises and paid off the special interest groups and other unions before telling us that we are in a 7 billion hole…duh no, make it 14 billions…and that it is going to hurt! Us? The same us that always try to do the right thing, are never bailed out but always taped, you and me, working our sorry behind off to make ends meet?
Don’t you think that common sense, laws, and morals are just inconveniences for law abiding, god fearing people who always try to do the right thing? I do.
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We were 7, than 10 and now $14 billions in the hole. How much more next?
But who is counting? Obviously not the State!
Furthermore, the Bee also reported that billions in contractual pension plans for State workers were never funded, but are owed!
Arnold also promised not to raise Taxes and here they come...the state grew...its expenses too...hot issues are thrown at "the people" for them to vote on (half of the people polled recently did not know bonds must be repaid!)...bonds are a way to pay the bills...
I have been here long enough to understand that deep pockets are tailored in legislators’ suits while mine must be kept inside out so every penny can subsidize utopian or self serving pet project.
Is there anybody up there, or out there? Anybody???ere is what is going to happen next year: more taxes, more bonds, more raises for unionized power groups while we, the tax payers, will be working our behind off,. Furthermore, every dollar we will earn will be less valuable than the previous one, and already earmarked for some crazy wasteful irresponsible project. Great! Cannot wait!
We are in the hole but that does not prevent State official from granting each others raises, nor prison guard from getting a 7.5% raise...After all, who is counting? As long as we have taxpayers, we have money, right?
2008...bonds for transportation, bullet train, bonds to cover the debt, price of gas going up, countries switching to the Euros and great depression like inflation here, tobacco taxes (already done?), car tax, Internet sales tax, yard sale tax, children lemonade stand tax, wood fire fines in Sac county, universal health care (I pay for the uninsured for my car, why not for health care...and we could also create a mandatory program so taxpayers would have to adopt a retired state worker, move him/her in his house and pay for his/her care and expenses...car too…)…
I am also supposed to switch to the “curly” light bulbs to save the earth while –to save money- the State is considering the release of 22,000 offenders in our streets (time to buy a couple of guns and lots of ammos?)…makes sense!
I don’t know anymore. Is it in the air, the water, the food??? What are they on? Should State worker and legislators be tested for common sense impairment drugs?
Here is what I foresee for 2008: I am going to sell my house (still tons of equity), take my family, my four cars, my skills, my wife’s registered business, all our volunteer work, our incomes, savings, bank accounts, credit cards, perfect credit, taxes, car insurances, purchases, direct and indirect contributions, etc…and move them someplace else where we won’t be milked dry.
And unless there is HOPE (and I see none), more like me are going to do it…we will leave behind the illiterates, the unemployed by choice, the illegal, the married gay couple, the 22,000 criminals and other unions, the uninsured, The Indian “sovereign” nation meddling with State’s policies, its casinos, the bankrupt, the bribers and the “Bribees”, Aids and TB in the rise, the homeless and the welfare addicted…
From far away, we will see how the State is going to tax them! That is going to be entertaining, so fun!
I have been here 9 years...that is how long it took me to lose faith.
Good job! Well done!
Whatever…
I hope the legislature is going to enjoy the emission credits provided by Fabian Nunez …after all, they are what they are, the expression of a loophole that allows gross polluters to keep on polluting instead of investing money into cleaning up their emissions.
Basic economics: they still exist because it is cheaper to buy them to pollute than to modernize!
Basic hypocrisy: by maintaining the system of emission credits, we actually make sure that the gross polluters will never invest in clean air.
Basic corruption: who is behind the scheme? How much did it pay?
Basic showbiz distractive effect: look at me, look at me (Fabian!)?
And I am supposed to change my light bulbs,,,,right!
Anyways, like all the State employees, rain or shine, it is the Holiday recess…a couple of weeks?
More at Christmas, for the teachers, than for me in a whole year? Right again!
On my dime….RIGHT AGAIN!!!!!
Merry Christmas.
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I wonder how the place of “higher learning” that UC Davis claims to be is going to fit its “more diversity for more equality” concept in the famous line from Martin Luther King’s speech “I have a dream”. In the name of social engineering and to find new ways to divert money from classrooms programs to promote the new American dream of victimhood and entitlement, they have written the next chapter of the book on how to destroy America as one nation. Let’s offer a new translation to that great speech that had no room for affirmative action: “I have a dream that my children will live in a nation where they will be judged by the color of their skin and by their ethnic group of origin, whether they come from Vietnam, the high plains or China, whether they come from Ghana or Morocco, Iran or Turkey, whether they are non White Hispanic from Mexico or San Salvador, whether they are Pacific Islanders, African Americans or Native Americans from the Thunder Valley, the Jackson Rancheria or Cache Creeks tribes…(list in not inclusive. European countries don‘t apply).” What about promoting the concept of hard work?
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What to call people who believe that bonds are money trees that bloom billions? What to call people still ignoring that taxes make the state's largest revenue and that education is the biggest spender? What name to call adults who were made to believe that owning a house is a right, even without money, with bad credit, no past and a foreclosed future? Again, and again, everything goes back to EDUCATION, morons! With EDUCATION, you know your history, know the meaning of Memorial Day or why you should celebrate Ocho Di Mayo and not Cinco. With civic EDUCATION, you learn who you are, where you belong, what to stand for when you claim that you are American, how it works and why it should be protected. With EDUCATION, you don't need sexual harassment lawsuit nor loitering fines because you learn to respect the other and your country. Are we witnessing the results of two decades of failed policies applied by the politically correct and equalitarian moron factories called schools? Maybe people should take a test before voting, a control of their knowledge on the issues. But that would not be nice to the morons, would it?
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The Folsom City October’s Newsletter stressed the need for water conservation, echoing California’s demand for a more responsible use of a limited resource. For that purpose, meters are being imposed on residents to prevent “waste” despite the fact that any possible “waste” (run off waters) will eventually flow back to the river anyway, and go south to be sold so deserts can bloom and artificial lakes can be filled in Palm Springs or Riverside. Let me think about it! I pay for my water and whatever runs off or is eventually re-treated, comes back to me to be billed again, or is sold to the South…limited resource and unlimited income! That is the ultimate scheme because the more I waste of the same water, the more I can be billed for it…But will it solve the supply problem (of water, not money)? Another solution offered to us is to switch back to the water-saver toilets…you know! The one you must flush two to three times…unless you process dry pellets like a rabbit! Let’s replace our oversized efficient water-guzzling bowls for new water saving models that treat a better “incheage” per gallon of water. Let’s buy bricks! That is a good idea too…but will it solve the supply problem? “Reducing our consumption is responsible stewardship of our rivers and it benefits the entire region” said a Utilities Department Engineer, who also claimed that people actually realize how much they use once they pay for it! It sounds all good to me but somewhere my cynicism tells me that there is more to the conservation-billing-selling issue than saving mother earth and raising my awareness on the daily waste of our modern society. Dig out the dirt, the lack of planning by our elected officials throughout time! We have a cake, our regular water supply provided by Mother Nature through winter snow and rain falls. We have the users of the cake, mostly farmers and urban dwellers. We have an unequal repartition in California with most of the supplies here, in Norcal, and most of the users south, in the Central Valley and the ever growing big cities. We also have an increasing unplanned population. And remember….the cake is still the same….but every year the thirst grows! Global warming is a good scapegoat for everybody, but what about the impact of the housing boom on our reserves? Just in the past four years, how many houses have been built? How many more people, bathrooms, swimming pools, sinks and water heaters, lawns, dish washing, flushes, and drains? Our threatened Californian water supply has already lost about one million acre feet of reserve and we add more consumption to whatever is left! It does not make any sense, does it? Build more dams they also say… that would fix it? But will it solve the supply problem? What are the new dams going to fill up with? We would just end up with the same resources split between different storage areas. Recently, the media reported a one time event in Georgia that has been plagued by the worst drought ever since 1986: the desperate governor and her staff were finally taking it to God almighty, praying together at church, for the rain to come and save their constituents left with a mere 60 days of water supplies -especially in the five million residents Atlanta area served by an almost dry lake-. The poor governor had already done everything she could, from imposing drastic water conservation measures to reducing the water distribution to Alabama and Florida, and condemning protected species of mussels. Many years of unplanned growth have actually led to that incurable current situation. And now what? What can be the next step, if any? In California, the nanny, like the Horn of Plenty, is getting dry, her now sagging breast finally sore from the estimated 37 million thirsty and often wasteful mouths that are mercilessly sucking them dry (26% of the Californians were born abroad). Sacramento legislators might recommend a silicon implant to restore the figure of our aging lady, but that would never replace the milk, would it? The desalinization of the Pacific or the melting of the world’s fading iceberg resources could also solve the supply problem. And than, what? Planning and adaptation of the growth to the available infrastructure and resources? That would be revolutionary and innovative! That would also not be nice to the millions who still want to come live here while the grass is greener, the houses nicer, the laws friendlier, etc, etc…The control of water will be a major reason for war in the decades to come. Turkey, for example, is currently damming the sources of major rivers that feed other belligerent countries. Again, the war between the “have” and the “have not”! What about California in forty years: the North vs. the South? Make good choices!
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Pakistan leader to quit army this month
Benazir Bhutto is no hero nor Democrat, nor salvation for Pakistan. She has been kicked out of two governments already for corruption. The main charges have been presented by the Swiss government (money laundering) and by Poland (bribes in a tractor deal). Other documented corruption cases were related to shady deals with France (bribes in a fighter plane deal) and the Middle East (gold smuggling). Interestingly, she only came out of exile recently and was a guest at the White House in January 2007. After the Red Mosque massacre, in Pakistan, the world media made her a contender for a power sharing government to "humanize" the dictatorship of Musharraf! Nice plot guys, but in a typical self serving and long term thinking middle Eastern way, she has out-played her handlers in D.C and the scheme just blew up in America's face with Lady "10%" (actually the nickname of her husband) now seeking full power, backed up by Islamists parties (also self serving long term thinkers) that usually place women between the dog and the pig in their society. We feared Iran and its future nukes? Just wait for the collapse of Pakistan!
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$9.8 billion hole seen in state budget
After extra months of “labor” to cash extra Per Diem income and deliver a late “balanced” budget, state officials first task was to quickly raise their salaries, the salaries of their cronies and other special interest groups such as the prison guards or University staff, before telling us, boo hoo, that the budget is already in the red and that "All the easy solutions are gone"…for us taxpayers?
What on earth has happened to all the direct and indirect windfalls of four years of housing boom? After the dot.com disaster, legislators have pledged to save the money generated by extraordinary rewarding circumstances in order to have it to pay for unexpected downfalls…Shame on you for spending like drunken sailors and helping yourself with our money! Shame on us for letting it happen, year after year, one of their raises at a time, at the price of yet another increase of our taxes. Let us save money and start with our “rulers”! The 2007 California Piglet Book (look it up on the Internet) accounts for more than $3 billion of waste such as $300.000 each for six non-functioning multilingual toilets in L.A. or Pet Care benefits for Shasta county employees. Are you mad yet?
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Nancy Peligrosa is willing to risk the US already delicate situation in Iraq in the name of the appeasement of a powerful Armenian lobby that has been pushing again and again for the recognition by the US of the Armenian genocide conducted by the Ottoman Empire about a hundred years ago. Turkey is a critical NATO partner and a much more critical ally in the war in Iraq. The US uses Turkey as a rear logisitic base for its supply and air lift operations. One third of the fuel used by our military transits through Turkey 9so much for the people who claim we went in for Iraqi oil!). Angered by the Democrat led effort to officially recognize the genocide, Turkey is threatening to stop any active support to the US for the war in Iraq, review its position within the NATO alliance, and, worth of all, move into the Kurdish part of Iraq to conduct a retaliatory strike against the Kurd terrorist group (PKK) that has become emboldened by the US support for the Kurds in Iraq and resumed attacks against Turkey’s military (just slaughtered 13 border guards). If the resolution on the genocide passes, the Democrats will be responsible for breaking whatever balance exist in Northern Iraq, pushing the Turkish military into conducting military action against one of the active American ally in the war against terrorism in Iraq. The US government will have tough choices because of Nancy’s catering to her lobbyists: side with the Kurds or with Turkey, or jeopardize its military operations in Northern Iraq, or jeopardize NATO’s Southern flank, right when Putin is taking all the steps to resume the cold war.
The genocide has happened and has been recognized by many nations already. Genocide should not be encouraged and should be denounced…but is it the right time? The risk are so high for the future of America’s war in Iraq, NATO, the region…If the resolution passes and the situation goes as predicted (Turkey banning US operations from within its borders, military incursion in Northern Iraq, NATO loss of its Southern flank), the Democrat will bear the responsibility of the total collapse of that region of the world, our war effort, and NATO coalition.
Way to go! I wonder what Billary-ous and Osama are thinking of this backstabbing?
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The convoy could have been seen anywhere in Washington D.C. Four to five black armored SUVs with tinted bulletproof windows zooming in and out of traffic with flashing lights on…a VIP and its secret service escort! The only visible difference from the video made from inside the third vehicle is the place. Streets are mostly dirt roads crowded with the unruly traffic of everything and anything, from donkey carts to overloaded buses, mid size cars and two-wheelers. Buildings are sun-bleached third world country looking and sidewalks are crowded. Men also wear robes. The place is Baghdad, Iraq, and today, again, like so many times, a high value target is being convoyed from A to B with armed security contractors in charge of its protection. The video –downloaded from the Internet, something you will never been shown by the major media outlets- shows a chaotic and swarming environment, and the nervous sound bites of the alert armed men in charge of the security can be heard in the background. Suddenly, the roar of an explosion covers all noises and the SUV ahead seems like it has been crushed by a side blow. It crumple and skids sideways across the street, smoldering. The windshield of the car the video is made from cracks. Gunfire can be heard and the bulletproof windows are hit. Security contractors scream…”floor it”, “pass the wreck”, “go, go, go!” The SUV speeds up, bypasses the now burning car, hitting it in the process and spinning it with their colleagues and friends most likely dead within. The car rushes through a busy cross road and catches up with the first SUV of the convoy. While taking evading actions, the security detail returns fire in the general direction where the RPG or roadside bomb attack, and small arms fire came from.
This is an almost regular day for these civilian contractors we call mercenaries, security personnel in charge of the protection of people and facilities in the war zones the US has been involved in.
In February 2007 it was estimated that about 800 civilians contracted to the Pentagon have been killed and more than 3,300 wounded. We also remember the fate some of them endured and how their bodies have been desecrated, dragged behind pickup trucks, slashed and sliced, burnt and hung from a bridge.
A mercenary is 1. One who serves or works merely for monetary gain, or, 2. A professional soldier hired for service in a foreign army. What is the difference between these security contractors working for private security entities, and let say, the TSA that has been contracted to secure our airports, your security guard standing in guard at the entrance of your gated community, or the armed security officer patrolling around our office at night. Are they really mercenaries? What about a H1 visa employee? Is he/she some kind of mercenary?
Again, asymmetric warfare is at work with the recent Blackwater scandal and its alleged shooting of civilians. Suddenly, “collateral damages” are new and innocent civilian casualties are newsworthy? What has happened in DC and at the headquarters of our major biased media outlets?
Since the beginning, since Somalia, we have been fighting an enemy that has commonly used civilian has a human shield, kids to pick up under fire the arms of its fallen fighters, women to push forward while firing weapons from under their arms, hospitals, Mosques, cemeteries and schools to fire weapons from, crowded places to conduct attacks from. Since the beginning, the enemy has been given a free pass by everybody, even the most vocal anti-war and anti-Blackwater groups and individuals. The enemy can hide in civvies, act among crowds, mutilate civilians and non-combatants for no other reason but religious intolerance and hatred, and get away with it, often with various “badges of honor” such as the “freedom fighter” title. And since the beginning of this politically correct war on terror, our side has been paralyzed, blamed for everything, accused tried, convicted…If the new rule out there is that you cannot shoot back in the general direction of the enemy to accomplish your mission or just save your life…you are right! Let’s get the hell out of there and save what we can of the last real man this country has. We are going to need them here to stand against this suicidal fuzzy-woozy liberal junk that is spreading out like the plague and killing us as a nation. Most of the time the civilians that end up being the so-called “collateral damages” are whether unwilling victims unaware of an imminent attack, threatened to act normal, or indifferent passer-bys that see the armed men in position, the RPGs, the ambush, and just hang around to see how it will end up, and maybe take part of some good old corpse dragging and mutilating afterwards! I am not advocating the shooting of unarmed civilians, of course, but forever, I have been advocating the fighting of these stupid wars like we meant to win them. The TV series “The War” reminded us of Dresden, Tokyo, Manila, Berlin, Nagasaki, Hiroshima…Civilians always pay the highest price in war. Should have we spared them all in the forties, and lost the wars? Would the world be a better place now with an allied defeat in WW2? Caesar took over Rome. On his way to the coffer room a Senator stopped him and in the name of the freedom of speech granted to him by the Republic, told him he was not allowed to take any money. Caesar replied that war had no need for freedom of speech. He also added “Speak again and I kill you. I need the money to fight in Spain”, and concluded with a “It is hard for me to threaten you, harder that it would be for me to actually kill you!” (Plutarch fall of the Roman Republic) Hail Caesar!
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“The war” is not about the minority groups that fought in World War two. It presents as many live testimonies as possible from the survivors of a disappearing generation. In the name of some twisted notion of diversity and entitlement, the documentary is called biased because soldiers of Hispanic origins that made the biggest fighting minority of the US Army don’t have the second biggest “air time” in the movie. This is not affirmative action and nowhere is it written that anything that is displayed, filmed or written should embrace every single thin skinned citizen that makes the angry fabric of our society. What is next? The Gay community is going to call for a boycott of the movie, women, Italians, war dogs? What about the proud 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army, a unit uniquely composed of Japanese Americans who fought in Europe and never got reparations? Maybe the “Latino” community –and others- should make their own documentary to preserve their heritage. I made my mind up and won’t watch “The war” because it completely ignores the US soldiers from French ancestry. I know racism when I see it and this is as anti-French as it could be!
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Tell me what you drive!
My part of Oak Avenue Parkway has become the most recent victim of the Band Aid gang that has already patched so much black top around our town, Northern California, and the State. My commuting road was so familiar to me, uniformly faded by the sun, with grass growing in its cracks delimiting the lanes and making up for the lack of paint markers. But no patches! Some ups and downs, some rattling, some shaking, some wiggling, but no bumpy patches!
Until a couple of weeks ago! For some reason, a Band Aid agency showed up with orange cones and started to cut squares and rectangles, L or T shaped sizes, here and there, according to a design and obscure reasons they were the only one to know. The backhoe, replacing an obviously missing compacter, drove back and forth on the filler without much success while a finisher stood ready for the touch up, the final black top layer. Now, my grassy little stretch of road has become even more like the rest of our roadways: randomly patched and bumpier.
I drive small…just because my first –and last- American car was a SUV made by Ford! You must remember the late nineties series of Exploder, do you? They were literally pieces of junk on under-pressured Firestone tires, plagued by roll over and recalls.
Anyways, it takes small cars to realize that American roadways have been designed for big trucks, SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles), SUTs (Sport Utility Trucks), SLUTs (Sport Light Utility Trucks) and other SHUTUPs (Sport Hybrid Utility Trucks Unlimited Power), or Minivans. Or maybe it is the other way around…I am not sure! Maybe it takes bad roads to realize that small cars are not welcomed and that huge trucks are necessary. When you drive small, you can sense how uneven the roads are, even the new one. A simple pot-hole makes you feel like you are going to lose a wheel or tear your front end. Add to that all the junk that is always encountered, mostly on freeways, and yes, you understand why big cars still have a future in the US. I drove everywhere from Tahoe to Monterey in my little 10 by 5 feet 43 years old Fiat (have you seen Luigi, in Cars?). A palette on the freeway seemed like a building to me; a bouncing rock like a falling mountain, a pot hole like a crater my car was the plug for. Sure, the little size allowed the zigging and zagging around the obstacles, while staying in a single lane, mind you. But at the end of the day, a 200 mile trip ended up being 300 for the extra distance caused by the extra swerving. Defensive driving they rightly call it! Defensive indeed….for lack of any other option but to buy giant wheels like everybody else to make up for the road conditions, to accommodate ever enlarging drivers and passengers, to make up for bad driving skills, and -some also say- for lack of personal confidence and to compensate substandard mojos.
The Smart is coming next year! It is a small zippy car made by Mercedes-Benz and Swatch, sporting an 800cc engine, and built as tough as a Nascar race car (don’t take my word for it and go see the actual 70 mph crash tests on Youtube)….and the Smart is already condemned because our roadways and urban streets are in such state of disrepair and because the the average American derriere won’t fit its European sized seats!
Take San Francisco as an example! Have you ever driven away from the tourist attraction area? Just try Mission and drive it from the financial district to the 101…you literally need a tracked vehicle to go there!
Anyways….the choices are ours:
- bouncy uncomfortable defensive driving in small fuel efficient commuters or offensive driving in huge gas guzzlers mounted on fat wheels
- laughable patched roadways re-sprayed with liquid tar from time to time or real fat black topped surfaces made with the right equipment and technology that can build flawless smooth landing strips for airports
What is it going to be? We already know the answer, don’t we? Ford and GM know how to build smaller cars that are highly fuel efficient for the European market. But as long as they can sell here bigger ticket items, why would they bother with low priced, small-margin, reliable and cheap cars? The technology is also here to build decent roads but for some reason we are cheap and resort to companies that don’t use the right equipment the right way and we lack the long term planning that could avoid the ruining of new surface streets to provide for some overseen sewage or electrical underground passages (but what do I know: I just spent 10 years of my life in the road construction industry!).
My heroes are the small cars drivers that get out everyday amidst angry driving monsters. My heroes are the few bicycle riders that try to commute everyday to a nearby job without being killed by “offensive” drivers when they cross a road. My heroes are the Crossing Guards that literally jump in front of high speed traffic to secure a safe passage to the other side for our kids, despite the cars that still try to sneak in any possible opening.
Tell me what you drive and I will tell you who you are and you how you drive!
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9-11
In the Horn of Africa, a desert country is suffering from what could amount to crimes against humanity. Villagers are brutalized by governmental troops, women gang raped, civilians killed for no other reason than being at the wrong place at the wrong time, houses and huts burnt to the ground. The culprit is Ethiopia and its American backed government ruling over a dirt poor country of 77 million souls! We train and arm its armies, provide them with intelligence so Islamic movements can be rooted out of the region (especially Somalia), and we also conveniently ignore the exactions that have been committed there since 1994. Ethiopia is a country that is becoming more and more violent and Ogaden is the province where the exactions are committed to prevent its secession, and to punish its people for the armed activities of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). Deemed as terrorists because they resorted to violence after their failure to secede legally by following a process provided by the constitution, the soldiers of the ONLF have been blamed for bombings and murders, for the recent attack on an oil field and capture of 9 Chinese workers. Nice! And even nicer when you know that all these government led abuses are paid by US taxpayers in the name of some twisted political alliance against people that are supposed to be worse. Last year, we gave Ethiopia almost $300 millions and our legislature is currently debating whether to get them around $500 millions for 2008. We kill today’s terrorists while breeding the anti Americans of tomorrow!
Welcome to the Global world of geopolitics!
This was a quick preventive introduction to mute the isolationists among you. Leaving other people alone does not work anymore, especially for a country that depends on Middle Eastern oil to operate gas guzzlers, China for its cat fish and polished river rocks, and Argentina for its roses. Think about it next time you travel abroad: one cannot just go around and impose working conditions, standards of living, culture and junk food without generating some deep cultural, religious or political resentment.
9-11 happened six years ago already. My kids were four and two. My wife was in her United Airlines uniform ready for another international flight. The planes were crashing live on TV and she saw her friends and co-workers incinerated in the balls of fire. My birthday is September 12th. Should we turn the page and forget? Should we go on with our lives? Should we also forget Pearl Harbor, May eighth, July fourth, November eleventh, the assassination of President Kennedy or Martin Luther King? The attacks on 9-11 changed us and the way we live, and letting them be forgotten would cut current events from their past rational and emotional roots. Tens of thousand of people were directly affected by the loss of 3000 relatives or friends, casualties of a new kind of war waged on American soil. About 4000 US service members and thousand more contractors have already lost their lives in two different wars that are still being fiercely waged on foreign soil. Tens of thousands were wounded or crippled while hundred of thousands of indigenous civilians were also slaughtered, mostly in sectarian blood baths. It has happened, it is happening and it is still affecting our daily lives. On September eleventh, my wife cried softly. It is a recurrent sad day for her, sad because she lost friends, sad because her job lost its glamour and because she became a front line defender with some self defense tricks, pass codes to the armored door to the cockpit, and other law enforcement agency like procedures. It is also a sad day because during training she got to hear the real sound bits of what had really happened in the airplanes, all the things that were quickly removed from our screens by the media “that did not want to upset the American people”. Funny how every day for the past six years we have been exposed to the collateral damages of wars and other pictures of foreign innocent victims, but systematically denied our people who had to chose between burning alive or jumping to their death from the World Trade Center, the screams of the crew members being executed in the airplane to paralyze passengers into inaction, the executions and live beheadings of foreign hostages in the hands of the animals who hate what the Western world stands for. On 9-11, I remind my children what it is all about, why I fly a flag outside my house, and why I watch again the hundredth of pictures I saved to keep my memories sharp and my anger alive. On 9-11 2001, it could have been my wife, or me, or my kids, or all of us….or you. And tomorrow, it could happen again like in Madrid or in London. Dozens of attacks have been prevented across the world since that day when the war hit the American soil. The bombs did not go off in a German commuter trains, liquid explosive was not boarded in 15 transatlantic flights from London, and the shoe bomber had his butt kicked by alert flight attendants. It is not a matter of “if” anymore, but “when”. It is going to happen again here or there, in Paris while you are vacationing, or in the mall in Roseville. Remember that it is always easier to destroy than to build. In that war, they will always have the upper hand and you have become a front line soldier! You don’t have to like it….just get used to it and never forget 9-11 because tomorrow, it could be you!
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RACIAL GAP IN EDUCATION?
A Californian State report on State wide results in California schools showed that the origins of the “racial” educational gap is more cultural than financial (“Tests show racial achievement gap. State results shed new light on wealth vs. poverty debate” Article by Laurel Rosenhall – Sacramento Bee Staff Writer). Basically, it demonstrated that across the State, poor white and Asian students were even faring better than their affluent African American and Hispanic peers. Now that the myth of poverty is out of the pictures when we talk about education, it is time to systematically include the higher achievement rate of poor and wealthy Asians in all types of studies (school performances, jobs, salaries, parent involvement, success….) to get the white man guilt out of the picture and show that education, like anything else, is a matter of culture indeed, but also of parental involvement and personal will to succeed. A kid that has been permanently treated as a victim of a system cannot succeed in that system! Low income white or Asians are attending the same schools as low income Americans of African and Hispanic ancestry. The people who succeed in a poor environment are facing the same challenges and deficiencies as their failing kin. Some say the tests are biased because oriented to the white American culture. Would the kids fare better if African history and Mexican geography was addressed? And what about the failure in math? It looks like despite their being the wealthiest African and Hispanic communities in the world, presented with the most opportunities, they end up toping the lists for failure at school, chances of contracting HIV or getting diabetes, ending up in gangs, in jail. It is more than racism, lack of money, lack of opportunities. Is Bill Cosby right when he criticizes minorities “who put higher priorities on sport, fashion, and “acting hard” than on education, self-respect, and self-improvement”.
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No column: August recess!
Come on. You were not really expecting a column from me, right? Nobody is working!
Federally, the Prez is at Camp David for a well deserved time off. After all, it is tiring to be the US president with the lowest approval ratings ever (33% Aug 2007 Gallup ).
Congress is on vacation. Remember, it is this time of the year when they drop everything (even hot matters like deficient bridges) in order to get a primary house remodeled, or to count packs of dollar bills neatly stacked in a freezer, or whatever else they do for a living when they don’t vote to finance various wars or Big Brother laws while claiming they don’t support them. Remember, it is tiring to be the US Congress with the lowest approval ratings ever (29% Aug 2007 Gallup ), even lower than the Prez.
On the Race 08 front (and Race is indeed the issue!), we have “wartime senators” raising money on our dime to get a grander job instead of sitting in DC to do what they were elected for, proving again that term limits would replace “prostitution for duration” by “hard work for a legacy.” Furthermore, Billary showed some cleavage and finally took the lead declaring that she would take donations form special interest groups but will never bend over backward for them (can she roll?). She also stated that she can walk on water but declined to prove it.
Statewide, the assembly cannot pass a long awaited budget but crave for vacations too. After all, it is time for the Nunez and Perata to fine tune the future term limit bill that would actually extend their terms, and for all to cater to the Indian Nation (foreign entities meddling in State politics), to get a primary house remodeled, or have a dinner and sleepover with special interest groups. Basically, they just do whatever else they do for a living to divert taxpayer’s money and propose bonds for critical things that got neglected. Nothing new: divert the money for infrastructure; propose a bond Californian cows vote for. Divert the money for levees maintenance; propose an emergency bond. Divert the money for bridges maintenance….You know the song by now…Happy cows come from California ! Keep on milking us, we deserve it!
Locally, Tsakopoulos tries to sprawl a resisting Democrat and prominent Davis in exchange of some stem cell lab, while stem cell money is slowly dilapidated by a mostly anonymous commissions -mandated by the people- that have been debating for years on how to jumpstart stem cell research. Talking about genetic enhancement also reminds me of Pluots or Graples, and chemical enhancement “a la Tour de France”, Schwartzenegger, or Garry Bond. It also brings fore the scare of chemical poisonment from most of the Chinese goods we purchase, from toys to pork, tooth paste to cat fish.
At home, I write for free, and deal with the nastymail and other anonymous letters and voicemails. You know…the price to pay…freedom of speech….as long as it is politically correct!
So for August, nothing, nada, niet, rien! Vacations!
I am going to enjoy the coldest days in California since the 1900th (new Ice Age), while crying over the increasing loss of our forests to fire (Global warming or lack of cleaning of the undergrowth and dead wood in the name of the utopist idea of a fire-free natural state of the forest?).
I am going to pull out my three colored garbage cans every Tuesday because I gave up trying to remember which day is for what, and because the neighbor I copied got it all wrong…
I am going to dig out the old car that must be still attached to the fender I already located in the dirt that fills my front yard because the run off water pours rust and oily shinny liquids on my sidewalk.
I am going to install a fake waterfall in my house and decorate it with these nice little polished river rocks made in China that I saw in my local handyman warehouse.
I am going to relax in my backyard and drink some Dasani tap water I have paid a buck a bottle.
I am going to join you, soccer-moms, and express myself with positive clapping or in silence when we renew with the “silent Saturday” tradition! Sport without counting, sport without screaming, sport without taking sides, equal time for all, a ball per kid, all winners.
I am also going to have a little thought for the hundred thousand kids that played every year at the almost defunct Basketball town in Rancho. After all, a settlement hungry shyster lawyer and a paraplegic should have their own elevator to attend a birthday party in a warehouse of sports for kids! I wonder what lessons children will learn from that. I wonder if they will become more compassionate when they will be aimlessly roaming our streets for lack of healthy activities.
I am just going to take it easy, not get angry or upset, and for one month only, step down and remodel my soap box with my own money, on my own dime… and get it ready for September.
No column today. I am closed for a well deserved summer recess!
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McClellan, the self-proclaimed pedophile under strict Californian restrictions, will leave us and what he calls his new "Orwellian" life conditions. Poor guy....now I feel bad! Twenty years ago, when we had more guts, common sense and morals, he would have at least been taken to the border on a rail, with tar and feathers. This outstanding citizen was just in the business of attending family events, taking pictures of little girls and posting them on the Internet for predators to better find them. He was eventually routed out of Washington to live in his car in the LA area where, I quote him: “There seem to be plenty of family events down here every week for me to attend,” he said, “and of course the weather is nice all year.” That was in June. It took us two months to figure out how to deal with him. 60 days to chase him around, to another state, to make him somebody else's problem until he ends up shot or he does molest a kid. Way to go! Still, a question remain unanswered: was he using public libraries to maintain his website? After all he is innocent until proven guilty, right?
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While Hamas runs a Disney Channel type TV show promoting hatred and brainwashing the future Palestinian generation of anti-Semite and suicide bombers, the American Muslim community is dead silent. It might be to busy suing the State in order to remove any offensive mention of the nationality or religion of the 9-11 terrorists from school books to prevent the Arab world and Islam from looking bad. In the meantime, a May 22 2007 Pew Research Center poll of American Muslims showed that only 5% of the American Muslims support Al Qaeda, openly enough to state it for the poll. Only 5%? That is five potential homegrown terrorists for every hundred Muslims. The religion of Peace is in action, at home, or on TV!
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I hate inconsistencies!
My family and I went to France three weeks ago and I forgot to take my hard earned and expensive Green Card with me. I did not think twice about it and really had a great time in Strasbourg and around Tours, on the Loire River. I never drink here, but back there, in these two wine counties famous for their Gewürztraminer or Vouvray, I don’t even recall drinking water! Anyways, the time to leave came too soon, again, and we boarded a 200mph bullet train from Tours to the Roissy Airport train station. That is when things got complicated.
The security screener for United Airlines asked for my Green Card. He was adamant: a US address on the French passport means the mandatory presentation of a Green Card. I was to go back to Paris, to the US embassy and get the matter sorted out ASAP! My wife hugged me and left me with a last “Kids, kiss your daddy good bye. We don’t know when we will see him again!”
I took a cab and quickly ended up at the gate of what is supposed to be America in a foreign country, a place where help is at hand. The bunker looking centuries old building lost all its Parisian charm. Concrete blocks, high fences, and Police officers everywhere, visitor screened on the sidewalk, no bags allowed…the whole scene makes you wonder how much safety there is abroad for Americans. Anyway…twelve noon…the staff is having lunch….come later. I found a guy to look after my bags for some Euros and finally made it inside the building through thorough security screenings that would put airports to shame. Get a ticket… and wait…three walls…about ten armored windows per wall….most of them with screens down…it is Friday after all! Finally, my number comes…it is four pm already…”Sorry sir. You need two Letters of transportation; and we need to check your name against State and Homeland Security databases…and anyways, we closed four hours ago…fill the paperwork and come back Monday”
The good news is that I got to spend two days in Paris. The bad news is that I didn’t really budget for that and I was supposed to start with my new job on Monday. Oh well, carpe diem!
Monday came and I was there bright and early to get my two letters. 9.30, the screen of window twelve opened and I was delivered two thick super-stamped envelopes, one for the airline to let me go, and one for my port of entry to let me in. Taxi, airport, 2pm flight to DC….Thanks God, I made it…or so I thought!
After snailing around for about 50 minutes through the non-citizen lane at the immigration control in Dulles airport, I got “detained” for another 4 hours by Immigration and Border control officers. I was finger-printed, digitally photographed, asked about size and weight, why I was not a citizen yet, etc, etc…I missed all my connections (of course) and they did not stamp my passport until the whole terminal was empty. It is good to be back!
Frustration ran high…sure it was initially my mistake but come on! The year is 2007…French passport were changed to be optically read two years ago under the pressure of the US government. High speed Internet, digital databases, secure connections, no-fly lists, most wanted lists, terrorist lists, good guy lists, bad guy lists, Freedom Fries list, war on terror and list compatibility, consolidated lists, federal agencies integration…Just revisit what I had to go through in order to get a re-entry stamp! And I shortened the ordeal because I am limited in words.
In the meantime, from Friday afternoon to Monday morning plus four hours in Dc, thousands of people came unchecked through our open northern and southern borders without any finger printing, with no document, US employment, tax or police history.
A Homeland security census states that 1.3 millions illegals were apprehended in 2005. That is 3561 a day! Let’s assume, playfully, that for one arrested, only one comes through…that is 3561 illegal a day that enter the country, 148 per hour. While the consular employee and the immigration officers spent about eight hours trying to figure out if I was who I said I was (Computer files, passport, driver’s license, credit card….), a minimum of 1184 illegal and unchecked modern time slave workers had already entered the US to mow your lawns, pick strawberries, or do whatever they do here, good or bad! Way to go! Now I feel safe.
Where do we go from there? I don’t mind strict rules…I just mind being the victim of inconsistencies and hate to think that next time I should just come in through Canada or Mexico, with or without a Green card, TB, or radioactive material!
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Crime against humanity in the Horn of Africa.
In the Horn of Africa, a desert country is suffering from what could amount to crimes against humanity. Villagers are brutalized by governmental troops, women gang raped, civilians killed for no other reason than being at the wrong place at the wrong time, houses and huts burnt to the ground. I know that names are popping up in your heads already. Darfur, no, too far from this geographic area! It must be Djibouti, a French territory, one of the last bastions of its colonial empire…or better, Somalia and its raging civil war between warlords, hard core Muslim militias, and a puppet government backed up by one of our allies in the “war against terror”, that is to say Ethiopia.
Sorry, you are wrong and being kept in the dark for the culprit is an American backed government ruling over a country of 77 million! We train and arm its armed forces, provide them with intelligence so Islamic movements can be rooted out of the area, and we also close our eyes in front of the exactions that have been committed there since 1994.
Ethiopia…it is a country that is becoming more and more violent, and Ogaden is the province where the exactions are committed to prevent its secession from the country and to punish its people for the armed activities of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). Deemed as terrorists because they resorted to violence after they failed to secede legally by following a process provided by the constitution, the soldiers of the ONLF have been blamed for bombings and murders, for the recent attack on an oil field and capture of 9 Chinese workers.
The government of Ethiopia wants them added to the US terrorist list and denies any wrong doing but the ONLF claims that they were pushed to the armed struggle, and eventually had to conduct high profile armed operations, in order to attract foreign scrutiny over what is happening in Ogaden.
And the tactics are working. From the US government to the European parliament, the killings documented by humanitarian agencies, are starting to be the main topics of heated debates. Ogaden is a forbidden area for news-media and foreigners, but watch groups from outside Ethiopia have already brought up thousands of cases of torture, mass rapes, executions, and illegal detentions that literally amount to “crimes against humanity” according to Human Rights Watch that labeled Ethiopia as “one of the most repressive countries in Africa”.
Since 2005, when the opposition parties were about to win the majority of seats in the parliament, the central government has made sure to repress opposing political forces with the use of force, political murder and illegal imprisonment that have eventually sent surviving opposition leaders abroad. Furthermore, to strengthen its grip over the country, punitive lethal expeditions have also been regularly sent against ethnic minorities and the people of Ogaden.
Nice…all this is also paid by US taxpayers in the name of some twisted political alliance against people that are supposed to be worse.
Last year, we gave Ethiopia almost $300 millions and our legislature is trying to get them around $500 millions in 2008. Sure, new roads and buildings are appearing there, and crime is lowering while cut flowers and coffee are selling high on the international market. But most of our financial help has nothing to do with these “improvements” because these millions are labeled as “non humanitarian help”.
Geopolitics at its best…side with the devil to destroy a bigger devil!
But payback time will eventually come! What do you think? What should we do?
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Fairness doctrine. Monday 7/9/2007
Is “progressive talk” radio a constitutional right? Liberals in D.C, in the name of fairness, want to implement an affirmative action-like program that would legally impose radio “Liberal talk” content on Americans. Conservative programs are blamed for their success and finger pointed for raising the awareness of their active listeners. Conservative talk shows are run by private companies for profit. They are successful because people actively dial in to listen to them. They are successful because they sell lots of advertising. They are successful because they are entertaining. Also, they are not force-fed on radio listeners who have the choice to turn them on or off. Have any of you listened to Air America once, while driving. Liberal radio is boring, a driving hazard that should be made illegal. We used to have it in Sacramento until KCTC Sacramento switched to ESPN Sports from Air America (Air America filed chapt 11 10/13/06). Get a clue! I cannot wait to see how Democrats are going to make the “Fairness doctrine” fit the First Amendment. But they already sold us on legal racial discrimination to end racial discrimination, didn’t they? Where is the ACLU in this case?
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It all gets back to education Re "C'mon, we can't be all that dumb," June 2: What to call people who believe that bonds are money trees that bloom billions? What to call people still ignoring that taxes make the state's largest revenue and that education is the biggest spender? What name to call adults who were made to believe that owning a house is a right, even without money, with bad credit, no past and a foreclosed future?
Again, and again, everything goes back to education, morons! With education, you know your history, know the meaning of Memorial Day. With civic education, you learn who you are, where you belong, what to stand for when you claim that you are American, how it works and why it should be protected. With education, you don't need sexual harassment lawsuits nor loitering fines because you learn to respect each other and your country.
Are we witnessing the results of two decades of failed policies applied by the politically correct and egalitarian moron factories called schools? Maybe people should take a test before voting, a control of their knowledge on the issues. But that would not be nice to the morons, would it?
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A West Sacramento 10 pm curfew and ban on the gathering in public of about 350 gang members also prohibited them from possessing “graffiti tools”, weapons, drugs or alcohol. Does it make sense to try to clean a gang plagued area of the capital city of the fifth largest economy of the world? Well, according to the three Californian Justices, it is not fair to punish “alleged” criminals. After all, we would not want to deprive them of any of their constitutional freedoms, do we? The men in robe disregarded testimonies stating the great benefits of the curfew for the local community and businesses and solemnly declared that there were not enough evidences of “gang criminality plaguing West Sacramento”. Sure….what do you expect them to know about such a thing as bad neighborhood and criminality. They must read the Time, watch CNN, and live in gated communities with security mercenaries palliating the “de-policing” of our law enforcement officers. Way to go! Here two suggestions for these three dreamers in their ivory towers: move their office and housing in West Sac and send them a free subscription to the Bee.
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A recent survey of Californian adults, voters, have shown that most of them have no idea on what a bond is or how it is repaid, what the term limits are, what is the first revenue of the State or the top spending agency. And the same people vote, again and again, on every single bill the legislature throws at them. They even elect representatives, Presidents!
What to call people who believe that bonds are money trees that bloom billions? What to call people still ignoring that taxes make the state's largest revenue and that education is the biggest spender? What name to call adults who were made to believe that owning a house is a right, even without money, with bad credit, no past and a foreclosed future? Again, and again, everything goes back to EDUCATION, morons! With EDUCATION, you know your history, know the meaning of Memorial Day or why you should celebrate Ocho Di Mayo and not Cinco. With civic EDUCATION, you learn who you are, where you belong, what to stand for when you claim that you are American, how it works and why it should be protected. With EDUCATION, you don't need sexual harassment lawsuit nor loitering fines because you learn to respect the other and your country. Are we witnessing the results of two decades of failed policies applied by the politically correct and equalitarian moron factories called schools? Maybe people should take a test before voting, a control of their knowledge on the issues. But that would not be nice to the morons, would it? So where do we go from now….watch the movie Idiocracy and have a glimpse!
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/202950.html
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For the Spanish version, go page three.
When I drive around Folsom, I see more and more signs in Spanish trying to lure potential Hispanic customers to spend money. At the DMV, manuals are also written in Armenian, Chinese, Korean, Punjabi, Russian, Tagalog, or Vietnamese. On the phone, TV or Radio, in the voting booth, at the bank, at church, or at the self checking counters of local stores, customers are asked for the language of their choice. Finally, soon enough, to add to the towering and shinning Golden Mausoleum-looking Mormon temple, we will commute everyday under a seven story high minaret that will remind me of the good old days when I lived in Chad.
When I drive around my town today, I get this strange feeling that I am quietly being assimilated, slowly but surely amalgamated to other foreign cultures that “de-me” a piece at a time while keeping their cultural identity, and shutting me up with political correctness. I happen to be white, Christian and Westerner. When I decided to move abroad, I chose a country I could relate to, a place that I thought was built upon “values” similar to mine, with a language I could speak. I would have wanted Spanish, I would have gone to Spain or Mexico….Minarets, Morocco or Tunisia!
Today, my “whiteness” seems to carry all the guilt of the world! Ask my fourth grader…she has already learned about how bad Americans can be! She knows everything about the discrimination against the Chinese that built the railways, and about the Mexican immigrants that do the work we don’t want to do, and about the Japanese that were interned during WW2. Social studies it is called…and she still has enough time left to talk about Native Americans, African Americans, and Muslims in the post 9-11 world. That is for sure making your kids proud of their heritage, right? And you wonder why they need Ritalin! In the meantime, Christmas, Pearl Harbor, and V day Europe are not in the curriculum….but Hanukah and Cinco di Mayo are! Go figure.
Christianity also seems to be something I should be ashamed of thanks to a global agenda to cure the West of its Judeo-Christian traditions. Forever, groups of other cultures and faiths have freely practiced their religions in America, in Folsom. But today, our guests feel like they can make the town look a little more like one of theirs? Am I intolerant? Should I join their faith or learn their language to make them feel really comfortable in my town, in YOUR country? I am sure that a seven story-high project of a cross somewhere downtown Folsom would draw more media attention and legal challenges than the project of the Mosque and the Mormon temple combined ever did. I also believe that these edifices are more like a statement than places of devotion. But what do I know? I must be a bigot, maybe racist, but certainly intolerant individual.
Or maybe I am just cranky…Again, California just recovered from its Cinco di Mayo celebrations, the short lived victory of a foreign army over another foreign army in a foreign country. Again, California ignored Ocho di Mayo (oooops….May 8th, V day Europe….no biggie!) like we have already mostly ignored Siete de Deciembre (Pearl Harbor). But what to expect from one of the three states of the union where Hispanics, La Raza, form the new majority?
For some reason I am not sure of what an American is anymore. Is America still the strong culture and model that used to assimilate worldwide waves of immigrants? Has something irreversible happened to the American model, something that makes all the different ethnic and religious groups live side by side in their traditional ways without displaying any will to melt in? Is there such a thing as an unrestricted right to “Americanship” for foreigners? Can society be multicultural and work? Can a country have no immigration policy or forgo to enforce them?
From the melting pot to the salad bowl! Diversity in the name of equality for the American quilt, the patchwork of different bits and pieces legally sown together to create a fuzzy woozy country! Is it a failure? Is the American culture the weakest? Where will America be in twenty years?
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Headline: California’s bullet train stuck in traffic
“There’s really no public purpose for me and my staff to be in the office unless you want to move forward with the project. If you don’t want to move forward with the project, then close it down and save yourself some money.”
When Mehdi Morshed, director of the High Speed Rail Authority, learned in January that his 2007 budget would be cut to $14 million from his proposed $103 million, he publicly exposed the state’s hypocrisy regarding the California High Speed Train project.
To further add insult to injury, it appears the projected $10 billion 2008 rail bond will likely be shelved to facilitate the passage of a $30 billion bond dedicated to union-protected pet projects.
Way to go, California, especially at a time when Fiona Ma (San Francisco) became the fastest American Assemblywoman on rail when she rode the French bullet train that hit the 357.2 mph mark!
Ten years ago, a Californian Bullet Train project was presented as the solution to easing traffic on our congested highways and to contribute to a cleaner air.
Ten years ago the High Speed Rail Authority was created, and for these past ten years, it has aimlessly spent money, secured lands, planned railroads and crossings, budgeted phases, and studied “hardware” options.
Why the charade has gone on for so long is still a mystery. It looks as though there is no end to this tunnel!
Thirty-five years ago, France witnessed its inaugural high speed train ride at a commercial speed of 200 mph “in comfort conditions similar to an airplane” as the Transport Secretary of the time described it.
Yes, you read it correctly…that was 35 years ago, only five years after a fast train feasibility study, in France mind you and at the same time as the only ever commercial supersonic plane (the Concorde) and the Minitel (French “internet” workstations attached to every phone subscriber’s telephone).
In the meantime, America was blacktopping railroads, relegating trains and tramways to museums and promoting transportation by cars.
Did Detroit, tire manufacturers, oil companies and major airlines kill the Great American rail system that spider-webbed the continent from coast to coast, serving big cities as well as prairie towns?
Today, in France, people commute 400 miles a day, to downtown Tours or London, or to downtown Paris, for example, in two hours! Super-commuters are not a California exclusivity! Super commuters take the train, often with their automobiles loaded on the rear cars when the Train-Auto option is opted.
Just think of it: Downtown Sacramento to downtown San Diego in 2-1/2 hours (500miles)!
One could literally commute in style and work anywhere in the Golden State, instead of following along behind humongous gas-guzzlers snailing along our maxed-out derelict, over-crowded, and expensive highways.
Today we have been made to believe that bullet trains are expensive, that building a dedicated railroad will be long and painful, that mass transportation will never work, and that the money should be spent on improving our roads.
What roads? There is no room to expand any of our major highways, gas prices and emissions are going up, and millions of dollars in idling time stuck in traffic are wasted every day.
What is a long time? In four years France went from an idea, to production and exploitation. When there is a will…!
And what is expensive? California-expensive, like so many other things, like a bridge on a Bay?
Last year in Millau, France, the world’s most beautiful and innovative viaduct was built. Three world records were shattered in four years for a total price of $544 million. Beautiful, Innovative, within budget and on time….words that have long disappeared from the language in California.
In San Francisco, the East span of the Bay Bridge is a typical piece of work done by agencies that have no problem spending and wasting our time and money. After the Loma Prieta earthquake, the double-decker, which had been built in 1933, needed to be retrofitted. Studies showed that it could be done for about $200 million, but additional studies in 1999 claimed that building a new bridge with the same number of lanes (real smart, hey?) would take only take a couple of extra hundreds of million with the added benefit of a 100-year life span.
The choice was a “no brainer” and the new “Signature Span” concept got the green light in 2002 with the completion originally planned for 2007 at a price of about $2.6 billion!
As you know, completion is now set for 2013 and the final price as of 2005 has already reached the estimated $6.2 billion.
I wonder what the estimate will be in 2010. In the meantime, the toll went up $1. This increase pays for the madness while the completion of the project (and its reliability) was awarded to the lowest bidder!
Keep on milking us, please! As long as taxpayers and bonds are around, there is money!
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A deeply disturbed animal just got his five unnecessary days of fame -by bored blood thirsty media- for the slaughtering of 32 students and teachers in Virginia. (I already forgot his name and won’t glorify him more by saying it….like the other before him, he does not deserve to be called anything but names. His rotting carcass should be hung in a webcam accessible open cage on the campus of the university, to show any copycat what we do to them after they come in the open!).
Way to go Political Correctness! Since 2005, this moron has shown many tale telling disturbing signs of mental problems, so bad that the attendance in his classroom went from 70 to seven, and that his teacher threatened to resign!
He was arrested twice after female students worried for their safety reported him to the authorities. He was tutored one-on-one by the head of the English department after his crazy gory “creative writings” were exposed. He was sent to a psychiatrist and was even shortly interned in a mental institution. Still, no red flag showed on his Police records when he went and legally bought a couple of handguns.
Guns don’t kill people but people kill people! We, society, are partly responsible for what has happened there. We did not call him “weird”, say he was kind of sort of “demented”, label him as crazy, lock him up for some good old fashion electroshock treatment that would have fried his disturbed brain and turned him into a harmless veggie…no!
We are better than that! Our society is opened to everybody, all sorts of creeps, weirdoes, perverts that we would never dare discriminating against!
Was he left alone because of PC, because of his race and fear of a financially punitive lawsuit from the ACLU?
Who is the overpaid psychiatrist that diagnosed him as harmless? Is he going to be sued and held responsible for his costly mistake?
Was the little refuse on some anti-depressant drug known for murderous or suicidal side effects on 10 to 15% of the patients? After all, we need to know….because the killings happened on the day the FDA told us that anti-depressant are cool to use!
Should you worry about all these time bombs, these legally Ritalined children that are pharmaceutically neutered in our schools? 10 or 15% among them will end up taking their own lives….or others!
Have a nice politically correct day and get the head of the principal of the university, even the Police chief’s….that won’t solve anything but make everybody feel better.
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Texas law…Common sense and Justice rule!
A married man came back home late at night to discover his wife having sex in a car in front of his home. The surprised woman started to struggle and screamed “rape”. Her lover kicked her out of the car and tried to drive away while a ballistic husband –believing that he was protecting his wife- pulled out a gun (concealed arms permit) and shot to death the run away “rapist”. The husband was arrested for voluntary manslaughter until the investigation showed that his wife lied to him, that it was not a rape. The judge ruled in favor of the husband and his wife was charged for the manslaughter. Way to go….I am moving there!http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4675987.html
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Parents beware!
My 10 year old daughter asked me if she could lookup some pictures of the Californian town of Folsom on the Internet. I told her to Yahoo “Folsom” and select “images” on the menu. A couple of minutes later, obviously embarrassed, she asked me for a private talk and told me it did not quite work. In her own words, she described to me the weirdest things and I had to see it for myself. Guess what? Searching for images of Folsom pulls out photos of Folsom Street in San Francisco, a place where the Gay-Lesbian-Transsexual-transgender crowd holds their “Folsom Street Fair”, a legal freak show that has more to do with vice and perversion than advocacy for a mainstream gay life, “not that there is anything wrong with that!”
For the past decade, and too many times already, the Supreme Court has been unsuccessfully coping with the issue of the protection of our children against the Internet porn industry, and /or the unbridled dissemination of electronic adult content, versus our “freedom of speech”. In the meantime, while these nice little old people in robes debate the extent of our Freedom of Speech, we, the parents must protect our children.
It makes sense right? We would not want to infringe on the freedom of speech of that thing displayed on one of the pictures, a fat 50 year old male weirdo that wants to be remembered wearing a wig and a tiny red bikini under the folds of his sagging belly. We would not want to restrict porn webmasters. We would not want to limit their freedom of speech by imposing an easily filterable “.XXX” extension to their domain names.
No way! That would really hurt my kids in the long run because it would eventually limit one of their basic constitutional freedoms tomorrow by denying them the right to fully express themselves as mature citizens…if they embrace a career in porn!
In the meantime, the porn industry can actually come into our homes and freely display offensive images on our computers. Whether we want it or not, they are forced upon us everyday and can appear anytime, even searching for Folsom!
Megan’s law is another good example of the institutions failing to protect us. A year ago, I was attending a class on Megan’s law and confessed that I had never visited the website. Candidly, I also asked a wide-eyed audience what I should do if I discovered that a register sex offender lived in my street, and if killing him/her, or driving him/her out of town on a rail, with the tar and feathers thing, were my possible options.
The institutions have failed us because some unaccountable lawyers or psychiatrists have given up their responsibilities to protect the public, and released potentially dangerous sexual offenders in our street (and more than 50% will become recidivists according to statistics). I was innocently raised under the assumption that the prison system only releases people that have “paid their debts to society”, that are no longer a threat to the public, and that prison is a place one does not want to go back to. So my question has always been the same: why the need for the registration, the mapping, electronic anklets and public disclosure of “reformed” sex offenders? If they are still a threat to us, what on earth are they doing in our streets, and what are we supposed to do with the information?
Furthermore, to make things a bit more disturbing, a loop in the law allows some of the offenders to avoid registration on the public website, and one has to actually go to the Police station to check a full listing after a formal request and a non-disclosure agreement.
And you thought you were safe with the public display of 20 sex offenders in Folsom, some with no address and some “in violation”….And you thought that you were safe because your neighborhood showed none! Tell you what, we might have 30, or 40 in town, and a couple of them in your street!
Right now, I don’t really want to know that our system is so broken that potentially dangerous people are released in our streets, and that you and I have become responsible for protecting our families. I was half secure in my belief that we only had to fear criminals we don’t know about yet!
So here it is, your call again…What can you do?
I could provide you with some personal suggestions but they are not nice, so I will just leave it to you!
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Do prison psychiatrists lay Golden Eggs, cure cancer, re-grow hair when hovering by, and convert convicts? Like in the cult movie “Office Space”, I want to be the consultant hired to “streamline” the process. I want to ask a Prison Psychiatrist to describe what he does at work, to convince me why he deserves a $250.000 salary on my dime on top of other State perks. I want to replicate the process with a “Psyche” from the Health Department and ask why he thinks $144.000 is not enough. State workers have it all figured out: one category uses its union to blackmail legislators into a round of raises. Once it has been done, the same category of workers in another department uses its own union to complain that their wages are not competitive anymore, and threaten to transfer for the better pay. Everybody cry, moan etc…Raises are finally allocated to the latter. Next door, another category sees the above raises and starts lobbying/blackmailing for “competitive” and fair wages, for their raises... And so on! When are we, the tax payers, going to put an end to that madness?
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The Californian school system is standing out for its incredibly high cost of operation, and for its dramatic inability to educate. The excuses for trailing behind most States of the nation are many, race or income based and always the same despite the dollars and remedies applied years after years. Some kids are born to write symphonies and some are born to carry the piano. Instead of lowering our standards to ensure that the “learning challenged” graduate, shouldn’t we honor the one who overcome the handicaps others use as excuses for their failures? Let us cut the fat, find where the money goes, develop vocational schools, and prepare our children for the competitive world ahead of them. Learning and sports are competitive activities and neither “affirmative action” nor “positive clapping” is going to turn any kid into a genius or an Olympian. Our children deserve a system where they can all excel at their own level, not a one (small) size fit all that neuters hard work and gift in the name of sensitivity. How could we function if we were all PhD? How would we function without a Paris or a Britney and their real life “Blonde” jokes?
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So much to say….so little time!
I am depressed….literally! So much got me going since I wrote my last column that I could not make up my mind on what to talk about.
I wanted to talk about the grand opening of our magnificent library and promote the importance of reading, the beauty of books, and the necessity of self “edutainment” through the discovery of history as written on paper, in serious or embellished fashion. I wanted to promote the critical thinking that can only be acquired by people who don’t take what they see, hear, or read for granted but make a personal effort to do some fact finding, conduct the researches across a wide range of medium and idea to build their own independence of thoughts. I wanted to promote the touch, feel and smell of old books, the exhilaration of reading decade old original hard cover books.
I wanted to talk about education and money, and how we throw more and more of it into a broken system. Have you realized yet that our school system is remarkable by its high cost of operation (it receives about 40% of the state’s revenues every year, plus the lottery, home taxes, bonds, parental participation with money or labor), and by its tragic failure to educate, with California still trailing most states of the nation. Actually, it is just another typical example of our Californian “tragi-comedy”: by the time the allocated monies flow down to the places and people that need it, most of it has been sucked dry by the “overhead.” In this case, the cost of educating our children as no correlation at all with what California is spending in education and the question remains: where does the money go?
I also wanted to talk about the “stupidization” of our societies; we have replaced the un-sensitive elitist laws of nature by a semblance of political correct equality in front of our human laws. We have replaced reproduction by sex, food for hunger by “the pleasures of the table,” common sense by lawsuits, work by entitlement (one out of six Americans was getting a “social” check in 2006), and fitness by fatness. That is progress….or is it? While the educated get smarter, they also get older and fewer, having the luxury to postpone reproduction for longer stints in college, ski trips to Aspen, a career and some retirement. The same applies to the so-called conservative, the new married minority, vowed to extinction by those who want to cure the Western world from its white and Christian traditions. In the meantime, the poor and the less educated of the globe breed earlier and longer, only postponing reproduction for their own versions of the WWF: to wage war in a neighborhood country they will be able to loot, rape and burn to the ground. Do you really believe that we are getting any smarter as a specie? Do you believe that we are going anywhere?
I wanted to talk about races, and especially about American of African ancestries, and how they stand divided between the Jackson/Sharpton/Poitier/NAACP entitled crowd and the successful one they derogatory refer as the "house slaves" such as Senator Obama, Whitaker, Condoleza, Cosby, etc, etc… Isn’t it interesting that the latter are the good students, businesspersons, police officers, artists, or politicians that have succeeded despite all the handicaps "the race card flashers" use as excuses for their failures? To make my case, Jackson and Sharpton were even recently quoted saying that despite his skin color, Senator Obama is not one of "their kind" because he does not fully embrace "their agenda" (of charity, victimization and entitlement?). Way to go so close to Martin Luther King’s dream of his children being judged by the content of their characters….and only that!
I wanted to talk about the Americans of Japanese ancestry getting a $20,000 reparation check per survivor or remaining families of the WW2 internment camps, monies that the survivors of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army, a unit composed of Japanese Americans who fought in Europe, will never even dream to see, ever!. I wanted to talk about the movie “Letter to Iwo Jima” and the depiction of the Japanese fighters as the victims of the American inhumane destroying machine, another way to re-write history for our politically correct grown children addicted to Japanese goods. I wanted to ask you if you knew that Japan never paid any war reparations, that Hirohito stayed in power (just think of us letting Hitler in power at the end of WW2) and the war criminals of his family were pardoned. I wanted to tell you that they literally enslaved the non-Japanese populations of their Chinese and Pacific conquests, experimented on human beings (Unit 731 researched biological warfare and conducted human experimentation), and slaughtered, raped, and murdered everybody from POWs (read/watch “The Great Raid”) to civilians (read “The rape of Nanking”:300.000 people slaughtered, raped, massacred in six weeks). I wanted to unveil for you the cargo of the German submarine U235 that was shipped out of Germany on May 25, 1945 in a last mission to deliver to Japan, the last standing Axis country, the goods necessary to deliver the nuclear edge and the total control of the airspace. Overall, three crated revolutionary aircrafts (two jet fighters, a rocket-propelled fighter, a glider-bomb), 10 canisters of uranium oxide, and over 3 tons of technical drawings, plus other pieces of technology (torpedo, fuses, armor piercing shells, etc.), were on their way to Japan when the war ended in Europe. I let you imagine what could have happened.
I decided not to even approach any of the above. Instead, I will just talk to you about my 9 years old son suddenly becoming a Vegetarian on a Friday, feasting on celery, banana slices, and applesauce. Fortunately, on the next Sunday, he returned to the good old meat-eating habits better suited to the specie that tops the food chain…he finally realized that -I quote him- veggies were “boring.” Way to go son!.
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You know our electoral system is broken when:
- Only rich corrupt people run
- Only paid activists get involved
- Campaign contributions are legal
- Bribes are illegal and contributions aren't
- Only crooks run for office according to the opponent
- Voters keep rotten candidates
- Taxpayers are cows that politicians milk
- Happy cows come from California
- With cows, there is no deficit
- Deep pockets are tailored in politician's suits
- Their depth varies with the office
- State worker invest millions for "their" candidates
- Only State workers get raises
- "special interest groups" don't expect paybacks
- Did I say that?
- Working people work on Tuesdays
- Free loaders don't and vote to improve their freebies
- Voting happens on Tuesday not to ruin a weekend
- Whatever was voted on is always challenged by the loser until it passes
- Elections are an investment, not a waste
- Elected official are assets, rarely a waste
- Lt Governors are a waste and should be insurance commissioner
- A civil servant serves us
- Did I say that?
- Did I tell you that campaign contributions are not bribes and that cows pay taxes?
- Special elections are not "special"
Maybe and only maybe:
- Only productive people should vote on spending money
- 5 years should go by before any bill is challenged
- Alleged misconduct should be investigated
- Over 50% abstention should get the elections cancelled
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Recently, America reached two important milestones.
The first one is that our population reached 300 millions. I am assuming that the figure accounts for the legal citizens only - documented dead voters included - and does not take into account the millions of illegal immigrants – undocumented “legal” workers included – that actually live openly within our open borders. Knowing now that the Census bureau cannot even account for its laptops, I am still kind of questioning the accuracy of the reports it trumpets all around….Okay, so in 2006, America actually reached around the 300 millions mark!(plus or minus a couple of millions?).
The other report that I thought was more interesting was an analysis of new census figures by The New York Times claiming that married couples were making less than 50% of the American households (49.7 percent, or 55.2 million, of the nation's 111.1 million households in 2005 were made up of married couples)
The Good!
Finally, It has happened, and that, married brothers and sisters, IS good news. I came here in 1999 and something I learned quickly is that there in no more Melting Pot, no more identification to a nation, borders, a culture, a language or a religion. Nope, nada! In the name of equality, the American people have been divided in minority special entitled groups. In the name of diversity, Americans have been made aware of their differences and separated, by origins, races, languages, religions, sexual preferences, weight, health, income, wealth, region, political preferences…
You are not Americans anymore but African American or White non Hispanic, middle class or/and disenfranchised, heterosexual or out of the closet gay-lesbian-transgender-cross-dressed, rich (starts at middle class) or left behind, Republican or Democrat, red or blue, or a combination of all of the above.
I always joke that I wished I were a minority disabled female veteran with some native American blood, or something similar that grants you a state employment for life or preferential treatment wherever you go! Well….it finally happened! I am minority now….officially!
It is time for the 55.2 million of us, married couples, to unite, find a lawyer (that is easy) good enough (that is harder) to get us a slot in the official list of the entitled protected minorities, a special parking sticker so our pregnant wives don’t have to park miles away from the shops, a permanent pass to the Diamond lanes, priority and preferential bids for married couple’s owned businesses, free tickets to Disneyland, the full attention of the ACLU and other “civil right” groups, and a national recognition for our contribution to the survival of American values with the erection in D.C of a statue depicting a married couple racing against the clock, the husband in business attire beating his wife to the door –she is munching a slice of pizza while she runs-, followed by a kid in soccer gear, and another one in diapers swallowing a rattle while a wiener dog chews on a Teddy Be |
