BAE All That You Can Be

Nov 29, 2006 "BAE Systems saw its shares climb 2.3% in London on Wednesday after the weapons company announced a deal with the U.S. Army.

The company confirmed it had received contract modifications worth $1.16 billion from the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command -- one of the force's largest weapon systems research, development, and sustainment organizations -- to remanufacture and upgrade 610 Bradley Combat System vehicles and to provide spare components.

Media reports said that work on the contracts will begin immediately, with deliveries scheduled to begin in April 2008 and run through April 2009.

BAE purchased United Defense Industries, the maker of the Bradley fighting vehicles, in June 2005 to become the U.S. Pentagon's seventh-biggest contractor. In September, BAE said first-half profit rose 28% on sales of Bradleys to the U.S.

"Bradleys have been delivering excellent capability to our war fighters since March 2003,'' said Andy Hove, BAE Systems' director of Bradley Combat Systems, in a statement.

Shares of BAE Systems fell 4.4% on Monday on reports it might lose a Eurofighter deal with Saudi Arabia if a fraud probe was extended to the Saudi royal family. The Sunday Telegraph newspaper said the Saudi government would scrap its Eurofighter Typhoon agreement with Britain and give the jets contract to France if the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) poked their noses into Swiss bank accounts allegedly linked to members of the Saudi royal family."


--- War ! huh ! yeah what is it good for ....

FSLN El día que Nicaragua triunfó daniel ortega presidente

Did you do this when Clinton or Bush or Reagan won?

Don't Make Kate Angry, You Wouldn't Like Kate When She's Angry

Subtitle: Auchi Still At It

Received an email today from Harjinder Obhi, London based attorney for Google, with fuzzy threats of lawsuits, forcing my identity be disclosed, potential shutdown of Kate/A/Blog, etc. etc.

I'm working on a post and scanning today's documents although above lawyer used an extra brain cell and marked his email communication as "LEGALLY PRIVILEGED" I suppose in hopes I'm so scared I will not scan and publish. Oh ye of little faith in Kate's nerve.

Mr. Obhi politely tells me if Auchi files suit, Google will be forced to produce information about me, emails, IP addresses, ISP information, etc. etc. etc. and that once my identity is known I will be formally added to the lawsuit.

And Mr. O. was nice enough to make it easy on me, by suggesting I send him my phone contact information and the best time to reach me to discuss this situation. Hahahaha. Do I look like I just fell off the turnip truck? Sure honey child, here's my phone number, address, SSN, banking info, weight, and dress size.

Oh, and Carter-Ruck did not at all like my response posted to their first threat. Geeze, you just can't please some people.

Now my eldest daughter suspects I am withholding information, wants to know what I know that I'm not telling, that may get us all killed.

50,000,000+ blogs around the world and they walk into mine. The story of my life.

:)

Background posts: September 2005 and November 2006.

Snakeoil Investment on the Rise

(AP) LONDON "Within the next 25 years, AIDS is set to join heart disease and stroke as the top three causes of death worldwide, according to a study published online Monday. When global mortality projections were last calculated a decade ago, researchers had assumed the number of AIDS cases would be declining. Instead, it's on the rise."

(Bloomberg) -- "The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has more money to spend fighting AIDS and other global health menaces this year, partly because of better returns from its investments in U.S. drug companies. The gain illustrates a symbiosis between the foundation and drug companies. In backing programs to fight disease, the charity is, indirectly, a buyer of medicines. It boosts the fortunes of drugmakers -- and how they fare, in turn, helps determine how fast the foundation grows."

LONDON March 2006 - "Former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday called for mandatory testing for HIV/AIDS in countries with high infection rates and the means to provide lifesaving drugs. Since leaving the White House Clinton has devoted much of his attention to getting anti-AIDS drugs to poor countries at the cheapest possible prices through the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative."

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is poised to issue new recommendations for testing for HIV in adults, adolescents, and pregnant women. Frustrated that more than 25 percent of Americans with HIV infection are unaware of their status and that almost 40 percent of those with newly diagnosed AIDS discover that they are infected less than a year before diagnosis, officials have proposed that HIV screening be routinely offered in all health care settings.

--- There's discussion in my state of mandatory AIDS/HIV testing to acquire a driver license, at an "affordable" fee of course. REVENUE and mo' money for TPTB. It's time for that bird flu epidemic too.

Geeze, I can remember when cancer was the disease they swore to conquer and cure. Aren't we overdue for another "breakthrough" miracle drug that doesn't live up to its promise? That reminds me, I've never had a flu shot - and have never had the flu. Go figure.

Eating Their Own

The poisoning death of ex-Soviet KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko.

"Litvinenko, 43, a Kremlin critic, died Thursday night of heart failure from what doctors said was poisoning from polonium-210 — a radioactive element usually produced in a nuclear reactor or particle accelerator. Litvinenko had told friends and family he was poisoned because he was investigating the killing in Moscow last month of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a vocal Kremlin critic.

In the 1990s, he alleged that the FSB was involved in executing businessmen and other public officials opposed by the government. After a nine-month stint in prison in 1999 for abuse of office, he moved to Britain."

--- Polonium-210 is also seen in the urine and blood of heavy tobacco users. And what exactly is meant by "abuse of office"?

Falling Out With the Kremlin
"Like a plot straight out of the Cold War, the poisoning death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko has put a murky spotlight on Vladimir Putin. Fiercely critical of the Kremlin, Litvinenko had said publicly that he once refused orders to assassinate business tycoon Boris Berezovsky."

--- Berezovsky is alive and well with a 30 million dollar home in the south of France and offices in London. According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta "The killing of Litvinenko could have been orchestrated by his associate Boris Berezovsky in order to discredit Russian authorities."

Is that any way to treat someone who refused to kill you?

But, we know oligarchs eat their own when need be. Litvinenko was little more than a gnat on Putin's porkchop, and his death much more useful to the Russian Euro-exiles who wannabe ruling.

Cui bono?

Letter to Moore Dumbshit & Similar Piles of Useless Compost

From an open letter of Michael Moore: "Tomorrow marks the day that we will have been in Iraq longer than we were in all of World War II.

That's right. We were able to defeat all of Nazi Germany, Mussolini, and the entire Japanese empire in LESS time than it's taken the world's only superpower to secure the road from the airport to downtown Baghdad."

--- The above meme has to be the most stupid yet of this decade. (Moore goes on with other talking points for simpleminded folks but I won't bother listing them all today, i.e. he fails to mention that we did indeed stay in German, Italy, Japan and "help" them set up governments to US liking.)

We have fought in Iraq longer than we fought WW II but we have not fought in the manner of which we fought WW II :

Total Axis Powers dead (them) : 8,268,000
Total Allied Powers dead (us) : 40,000,000 give or take a few million.

Perhaps if the Moore-ish memesters want to compare length of winning WW II they should also compare methods used to win it ...

National Service on the Global Plantation

Rangel's argument for a military draft seems to be the belief that it would curb the government's taste for war, and spread the burden to all classes of society. Charlie's leadership in the War on Drugs has gone so well (hahaha cough, cough) he's been selected to lead the Fight For More Fodder.

The last 60 years of history says differently about mandatory military service but perhaps Rangel is hopeful that this war is different, this time the draft will equalize, this time the social pecking order of the pragmatic ruling elite will send the dimmest of their sons en masse (all 10 or 12 of 'em) to the Middle East for the "cause".

The affluent class will continue to purchase "get our of war free" cards for their spawn, or safe duty stations around the globe. The "burden" will still fall to the poor and working classes, with a couple of big-namers to trot out as proof that the higher-ups are doing their duty too. Mandatory service will never end corporatoguvnment's appetite for war profits, if anything, more fodder will only increase it.

I am not against a draft, however. I see too many youths whose future is little more than a lifetime on momma's couch or a cot on cell block C. (Engineered that way?)

But, are the social peckers higher on the ladder aware that more than half of the future fodder to be targeted can't pass a military physical? A couch potato generation of recruits will need to be starved on fat farms before boot camp. And being forced into unwanted service how many would be whipped into shape? A hungry person can be quite cranky and obstinate.

Even if a small percentage of drafted obese/overweight fodder can be physically fitted, there's the accompanying health damage that must be dealt with : asthma, high blood pressure, damaged joints and cartilage, flatfeet, and more often than not the emotional problems that created the fattest generation for corporate products and goods. Maybe Big Pharma has a solution.

Rather like TPTB have created a nation of fatted Frankenconsumers and now need to press their monster into service. We all know how that story ends.

By The Way

The latest phrase for discussing the Iraq War, per the ruling class and the media they own, is to refer to such murder and mayhem as finding/working "a way forward".

A way forward. Positive sounding.

A way forward. Sounds favorable, certain, hopefully expectant. Onward soldiers marching ... forward.

Some folks would have sworn before elections they heard talk of "withdrawal" and "redeployment" and "ending" the war. But dear leaders really meant to say working "a way forward".

Could that be considered blowing smoke up your butt?

Urban Dictionary: Giving a gratuitous and insincere compliment, possibly to deceive. (Can be my, your, his, or her ass, but probably not plural, as in their asses.) Most literally translating to "trying to get a reaction" out of somebody. Originated from a 16th century technique to determine death by literally blowing tobacco smoke into someone's anus (through a long pipe) - where a reaction indicated that the person was still alive.

Your Documents Please

WASHINGTON (AP) - "Nearly all air travelers entering the U.S. will be required to show passports beginning Jan. 23, including returning Americans and people from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere.

The date was disclosed Tuesday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in an interview with The Associated Press. The Homeland Security Department plans to announce the change on Wednesday.

The Homeland Security Department estimates that about one in four Americans has a passport. Some people have balked at the $97 price tag.

The Sept. 11 Commission said in its report, "For terrorists, travel documents are as important as weapons."

The commission recommended strengthening security of travel documents. A 2004 law passed by Congress mandated the change to require passports as the only acceptable travel document, with few exceptions, but the exact date had been in question."

--- Now before yelling about fascism and tyranny and all that – remember the foremost reason the government does anything - REVENUE. As a side note, or question, you didn't really believe all that hype about USA Ronnie winning the "cold war" did you?

Hollowwood Gladiators

If Michael "Kramer" Richards at his age can't handle a heckler he should stick to pre-written lines on sitcoms. This may shock a few, but I, Kate, have never seen an episode of Seinfeld. I feel so alone.

The hecklers were correct. Kramer Michael is not funny. A washed up has been comic, made wealthy by Hollywood writers where onscreen talent is the least requirement of what makes a star a star.

Many Richards fans will twist and parse the tirade and excuse it, justify it. He was provoked and lost his cool, etc. Richards can play dumb, or play heckling victim, announce he's bipolar and off his meds, claim temporary insanity – but even the dullest nitwit knows the Laugh Factory tirade was a glimpse of the real Richards.

That's "what happens when you interrupt a white man, pal."

Let's broadcast "Stick a fork in it" Richards, OJ "If I Did It", and "Jews Cause All Wars" Gibson together in small hut with Ka-Bar knives discussing race, religion, and crime for a few weeks. Call it reality TV.

It Me Psychobabble - Arggg Ahhh Ummm

SAN FRANCISCO Nov 19, 2006 (AP)— Two peace activists have planned a massive anti-war demonstration for the first day of winter. The Global Orgasm for Peace was conceived by Donna Sheehan, 76, and Paul Reffell, 55, whose immodest goal is for everyone in the world to have an orgasm Dec. 22 while focusing on world peace.

"The orgasm gives out an incredible feeling of peace during it and after it," Reffell said Sunday. "Your mind is like a blank. It's like a meditative state. And mass meditations have been shown to make a change." The couple have studied evolutionary psychology and believe that war is mainly an outgrowth of men trying to impress potential mates, a case of "my missile is bigger than your missile," as Reffell put it.

By promoting what they hope to be a synchronized global orgasm, they hope to get people to channel their sexual energy into something more positive.

--- Some folks have their hands on too much time.

Sounds to me like Donna and Paul have studied evolutionary bellybutton babble and are in a constant orgasmic state of mind which by their own definition is – peacefully blank. Poor woman, who's gonna tell her if she feels "peace" during an orgasm that's not an orgasm.

Reducing the misery of the world to a few seconds of cum. No food, don't have shoes, dodging bullets and mayhem, children dying - here - have a global orgasm. How self-indulgently Californian.

Namu-myoho-renge-kyo.
Namu-myoho-renge-kyo.
Namu-myoho-renge-kyo.
Namu-myoho-renge-kyo.
Are we there yet?

Victory Poem

Henry Kissinger, permanent member of living liars club, tells us military victory is no longer possible in Iraq. Or at least that's ABC/AP's interpretation of a recent Kissinger interview. (Foto Kissinger, Michael Bloomberg)

"A dramatic collapse of Iraq whatever we think about how the situation was created would have disastrous consequences for which we would pay for many years and which would bring us back, one way or another, into the region," he said.

Kissinger, whose views have been sought by the Iraqi Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James Baker III (one of Poppy's errand boys), called for an international conference bringing together the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, Iraq's neighbors including Iran and regional powers like India and Pakistan to work out a way forward for the region.

Basically - nevermind how we got into Iraq, it's win now or come back later or second choice (same as the first), and the current method being tried, force the Iraqi people to accept that Iraq as they knew it is over, gone, finished.

Iraq will be one large oil well with "regional powers," Iraqi elite exiles, and international whitetrash forevermore disbursing and distributing the oily payoffs . And it will be called VICTORY goshdammit. The ruling elite dream too. And threaten with subtle statesmanship : win now or you coalition of little grunts will be back here shitting in the sand again instead of on these bases the nice American taxpayers built.

Pulling Kissinger out as expert advisor, former "architect of the Vietnam war," is like asking Charles Manson to give advice on family dynamics, indicating the powers that be (TPTB) have intermarried and bred for far too many centuries. Dumbed down doesn't apply just to the little sheople.

"Enter into dialogue with Iran" Kissinger tells us. Duh. Was that the plan all along? Global white power prefers and protects, even creates, oppressive regimes, and as I've said before, Poppy Bush and crew have long appreciated the Iranian government's "help" in the region.

If the situation works out the way Kissinger and his kind dream of - then the US/Euro bosses and dons will eventually play good guys in history and on TV (as usual); Arab lackeys in the region will regularly transfer the agreed upon monies to royal accounts; jet to visit one another to wine, dine, and laugh at the little people who do whine incessantly about a world of profitable chaos.

Joe Average Iraqi will retire to his mud hut with a TV and cell phone and accept his fate. Drugs from the Afghani 'hood, porno of blonde girls, and killing for playstations will replace jihad ideology. Some day, the customer service voice setting up your DSL will be a former "insurgent" working a 12 hour shift for Microsoft, ATT, etc., or a bill collector wanting that $5000 plus interest and fees on the defaulted Visa card your wife maxed out while you were serving in the Green Zone.

"Progressive" folks can earnestly get back to demanding marriage for gays and rights for illegal aliens – oops, 'cuse me, no human is illegal, just immigrants here for the declining American way of life and "to do the jobs Americans won't."

Or worse, "progressives" can waste thousands of hours and millions of dollars trying to punish a couple of members from the ruling class, and call it VICTORY for the little people.

God, it all reads like winning poetry to the global elite.

KAB Prescription

Regular readers are aware I am anti-medicating, when possible. However, I will vouch for this one, used sparingly. Please heed precautions and possible side effects though.

Still Carrying Water

"News" just seems so repetitive, different name or two and face, but same old same old business as usual.

Therefore, I'll repeat myself.

Only You :)

The Platters 1956

Get New Writers, Please

Al-Qaeda in Iraq Claims to have mobilized 12,000 fighters.

Abu Ayyub al-Masri, al-Muhajir the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq also claims:

"The American people have put their feet on the right path by ... realizing their president's betrayal in supporting Israel" the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader said. "So they voted for something reasonable in the last elections," he said.

"We call on the lame duck (Bush) not to hurry up in escaping the same way the defense minister did," he said, referring to the removal of Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary following the Democrats' victory in Midterm elections.

"They are getting ready to leave, because they are no longer capable of staying," the al-Qaeda leader said.

"Remain steadfast in the battlefield you coward," he called on the U.S president.

--- Ya really think Abu Ayyub doesn't know the Dems support Israel as much as the Reps? Has Abu not studied the democrats voting record on all things Israel, the campaign contributions and attendee lists to Jewish pac-parties and events? The same bootlicking democrats who have voted nearly unanimously for BushCo policies and appropriations for years?

American people smart, democrats reasonable, yea. Bush supports Israel, betrays American people. Sounds like Abu Ayyub has been reading the American "alternative" webworld.

Can you see Abu Ayy using the term "lame duck"?

Who writes this Hollywood B movie shit? There really should be an oversight committee on these scripts.

(And note, Abu Scriptor includes a taunting talking point for republican American cowboys, i.e. remain steadfast, as cut and run from the battlefield makes an incompetent coward, do you wanna be seen that way America?)

Seismic Bullshift

A few headlies (headlines):

Democrats Take House!
Democrats Given Mandate!
Democrats sweep House, Senate hangs in balance!
Midterms: Democrats Celebrate Victory!
Hillary Declares "We"ve Taken Back America"!
Bush, Stung By Election Loss!
Seismic Shift in DC!

One guess as to who really gets shifted and stung.

Don't you trust the voting process now; is not your faith in the election process restored? The election was so close in some areas that political analysts were analying and white-knuckling returns all night long. A cliffhanger. Rah rah rah, red, blue, red blue, and a Black guvnor too.

Nancy Pelosi tee-heeing all the way to the House tells us "the people have spoken" while reminding everyone impeachment talk is not on the agenda. She and her compadres will bring back integrity, and fiscal responsibility to government, and do it with bipartisanship (hail hail the gang's all here). She says it's a new direction.

It's the other cheek on the corporate ass. Hooyah.

Negotiating For Fonda

Deandre Brunston, age 24, shot at 81 times by the police, struck by 22 bullets. The policemen's bullets also struck a police dog, the dog died after being airlifted to a hospital. Brunston bled out at the scene. The incident took place in August 2003 in Compton. Brunston was unarmed and according to reports was holding a flip-flop he had found on the porch. Brunston had said he would surrender if he could speak to his pregnant girlfriend Fonda.

Fotos From #3 Son

Chuckie in Iraq.



Somewhat clueless, but he's mine.


What a mess!


Iraq sunset.

Venezuela Backs Panama

"Latin American and Caribbean nations unanimously endorsed Panama on Friday as their candidate for a two-year U.N. Security Council seat after weeks of deadlock between Venezuela and U.S.-backed Guatemala.

The deadlock was broken on Wednesday after Venezuela and Guatemala agreed to withdraw their candidacies for the coveted seat and threw their support behind Panama."

Hmmm. So the anti-imperialist anti-Bush Hugo Chavez backs Panama, the little Columbian drug smuggling conduit and money laundering nation that Daddy BushCo took possession of in 1989, after capturing good buddy turned arch enemy, Manny Noriega.

Columbia, Panama, Venezuela. I think they got another trifecta.

Under the Big Tent

Back in April of this year I watched the cliched, painfully gushing speeches and ribbon cutting dedication of GWB's "fully restored" childhood home in Midland.

Mom and dad Bush, and Laura were there, along with some of Midland's finest. And I thought, George W. Bush, the teflon bonesman, will enter history as a good guy, just as all presidents have before him, more or less.

Bush spent a long 5 years in the Midland house – now it's a holy shack/shrine, to be kept as an eternal tribute to #43 where the public can tour and touch history. Just thinking of the mindset of the sheep who would want a tour makes me queasy.

Junior couldn't be there but the little woman Laura made a brief speech, mentioning that "George didn't like to think of his childhood home as historic, yet" (laughter, applause). The dedication was sheer tacky tripe. I couldn't believe I watched. I may have been mesmerized by the aging and evil Poppy and Barb Bush, hypnotized by counting their liver spots.

But it all reminded me of my dad's disgust for the politics of his era. In particular, I now understand his firm, life-long contempt for one man. Harry Truman.

Nor did dad think much better of Franklin Roosevelt (pres. 1933-45). As Frankie was rewarded for pretending not to notice Euro-America corporatedom supporting, aiding, and abetting Hitler's Germany, today's globbed together corporations will reward GW too - by ensuring he is not remembered as a war criminal, but as the president who stopped Saddam. The War on Terror president. The devout Christian and family man president. The sometimes misunderstood president.

Franklin fell suddenly ill and died of a cerebral hemorrhage in April 1945 and a very nobody hick vice-president Truman, came into office to do the wet work for the global elite. Three months after taking office from a dead prez Truman dropped atomic bombs on Japan.

Cerebral hemorrhage or whipped by a pretzel – the PTB will have their way.

Forty or so years from now, per government's SOP, un-redacted reports will be released to "prove" the Bush administration were the good guys. (Why it takes so many years to create historical vindication is beyond me.)

My dad would rant and stride through the house using words and phrases a child shouldn't hear. The only time I heard him swear was in connection to Truman. For a while, as a child, I thought Harry Truman was a boss or co-worker of dad's as his contemptuous rants toward the man seemed quite personal. And now I have my own "truman" (Bush).

Truman and Roosevelt bedded with the Harrimans, Prescott Bush, Poppy, Rothchilds and Rockefellers, and dozens of others, as they are today. Behind the scenes the ruling elite stand in solidarity, passing knowledge and power from one generation of the selected few to the next.

The sheeple feed on television and state education and think they're knowledgeable, passing on the doctored history they're given; collective experience and wisdom lost on the next generation fortunate enough to be consumers, save a few who re-learn the same lessons as the few before them.

When scandals break the people believe it's higher-ups seeking to enlighten the masses – but it's just middlemen clearing out competition for their own climb upward. When pundits and eggheads say what fans want to hear – fans think it progress, but it's all carefully designed, a fancy meal fed to those who might be sharp enough to find a clue. And everyone thinks the political dumbass is not him, it's the other guy.

Sometimes I think, overall, we're getting exactly what we deserve.

Now Is The Time

To pull Ousama off ice to give the American sheeple a morale boost.

Cut & Run, Stay The Course, or Take The Money & Run

Busily counting up the billions last July the folks at Halliburton were nonchalant when Iraq contracts were not renewed. Replaced with domestic deals.

Now Bechtel is leaving Iraq, their contract expired on Tuesday. "Some employees remain to finish the paperwork, but essentially, the company's job is done." Or, more appropriate, a job not done - but paid for.

Congress Tells Auditor in Iraq to Close Office. "Investigations ... have sent American occupation officials to jail on bribery and conspiracy charges, exposed disastrously poor construction work by well-connected companies like Halliburton and Parsons, and discovered that the military did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraqi security forces.

... tucked away in a huge military authorization bill that President Bush signed two weeks ago ... order comes in the form of an obscure provision that terminates ... the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, on Oct. 1, 2007. The clause was inserted by the Republican side of the House Armed Services Committee over the objections of Democratic counterparts during a closed-door conference, and it has generated surprise and some outrage among lawmakers who say they had no idea it was in the final legislation."

(They could attempt reading the final legislation, if not so busy with continuous campaigning and lunching with no lobbyists left behind.)

== Sounds like the criminals are cleaning up evidence, wiping off fingerprints, stashing the cash.

What became of the bourse of Iran to crash the dollar? Where's the housing market crash? For all the doom and gloom there's a global cash glut fueling an investment boom. Bad news is, it's not a boom for America's Joe Average. Remember, one man's bust is another man's boom.

"The cash glut is reheating the U.K. housing market, while in Japan companies plan the most investment since 1990. China's biggest bank this month attracted orders for more than half a trillion dollars with its initial public offering of shares."

As I've ranted before, most of Iraq's resources are for China and other Asian worker bee colonies. You know, those countries that actually have a manufacturing base, the one that used to be Made in America. Those factories that once fueled the US economy before Reagan/Poppy Bush convinced the sheep that American labor was destroying corporate America's "competitive edge" with wage demands.

And, according to the Iraqi oil minister, in attempts for more investments in the country, Iraq is working with China to revive an oil deal first signed in 1997. Officials will confirm the details of the $1.2 billion deal next month, which involves developing an oil field called al-Ahdab, in Iraq's southern region.

Technology and capital and energy pour into China, India, etc., lured by cheap labor, nonexistent enviromental laws, and deals so investor friendly that Wall Streeters have wet dreams while awake. But hey, you don't want to be called an "isolationist" right?

In case you thought China was communist, it's not – it just plays one in the history book. China is capitalist, State owned capitalism. Not all that different from US, Inc. where most of the wealth is owned by the few who own the State, although Americans have more freedom to bitch about it.

So, haul in the gangplank me hearties, looks like the pirates will technically end Iraqmire in a couple of years (in time for 2008). NATO/UN forces and mercs can handle the war from here, with continued US funding and strategically located militarized "embassies."

The democrats will be installed and America's "ruling class" will turn their attention (and contracts) to domestic issues (woe is we), and our favorite fearmongers will continue to shout about such things as the "Civilian Inmate Labor Program" (began under Clinton) which will enslave us all to compete in world labor markets - or list us as enemy combatants, forced to mow weeds and spear cigarette butts on roadways.

Sy Hersh Sex, Lies, & Video Tapes = $ale$

Continuing right along with demonizing US troops, Seymour Hersh lectures that there's a video in which American soldiers massacre a group of people playing soccer. "Three U.S. armed vehicles, eight soldiers in each, are driving through a village, passing candy out to kids," he began. "Suddenly the first vehicle explodes, and there are soldiers screaming. Sixteen soldiers come out of the other vehicles, and they do what they’re told to do, which is look for running people."

Never mind that the bomb was detonated by remote control," Hersh continued. “[The soldiers] open up fire; [the] cameras show it was a soccer game."

"About ten minutes later, [the soldiers] begin dragging bodies together, and they drop weapons there. It was reported as 20 or 30 insurgents killed that day," he said.

(Psssssst Sy, cops call it a "throw down" whether gun or drugs, and it works well, ask Black and brown folks in prison.)

Hersh has reportedly personally viewed the video of the soccer massacre. And apparently has inside info on tapes and photos of children being raped at Abu Ghraib. The ACLU has recently won access to those tapes and photos. Odd isn't it that the Pentagon encourages the troops to document material for their own court martial and hanging. Odder still that Sy gets private screenings.

But, I am appalled I tell you absolutely appalled, at the ignorance of a Pulitzer Prize journalist as Hersh, not knowing American military history.

HERSH: If Americans knew the full extent of U.S. criminal conduct, they would receive returning Iraqi veterans as they did Vietnam veterans, Hersh said. "In Vietnam, our soldiers came back and they were reviled as baby killers, in shame and humiliation," he said. "It isn’t happening now, but I will tell you – there has never been an [American] army as violent and murderous as our army has been in Iraq."

Sy, Sy, what orifice are you pulling info out of? I personally have ancestral documents and letters of long dead grandparents and cousins writing of the Civil War. One a survivor of Andersonville. The ungodly atrocities the Confederate Army committed upon captured Black Union soldiers and slaves would make Vietnam and Iraqi veterans look like boyscouts. And the Union Army was little kinder to the Confederates.

God I can't decide who's dumber these days, red or blue.

Hot Tamales

CARACAS, Venezuela Nov 2, 2006 (AP)— Flush with oil profits, President Hugo Chavez handed public workers $3 billion in Christmas bonuses 1 1/2 months early, angering opposition leaders who called it part of a cynical pattern of public handouts ahead of a December presidential election.

The "spending spree" includes free train rides, a rock concert, and a propaganda machine that painted pro-Chavez slogans on buses and handed out T-shirts with the image of the former paratrooper, known affectionately as "El Comandante.

Chavez uplifting ... his peoples.

Olbermann Wan Kenobi Sitcom

Keith Olbermann relentlessly pursues the source of his country's woes - GW.

With lightsaber drawn, Olbermann makes a Special Comment : "There is tonight no political division in this country that he and his party will not exploit, nor have not exploited; no anxiety that he and his party will not inflame. There is no line this President has not crossed — nor will not cross — to keep one political party, in power."

- Hahahahahahaha. Olbermann thinks we have more than one political party.