The End Is Near

Chris Hedges' - The American Empire Is Bankrupt

HEDGES: There are meetings being held Monday and Tuesday in Yekaterinburg, Russia, (formerly Sverdlovsk) among Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other top officials of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The United States, which asked to attend, was denied admittance. Watch what happens there carefully. The gathering is, in the words of economist Michael Hudson, “the most important meeting of the 21st century so far.”

It is the first formal step by our major trading partners to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. If they succeed, the dollar will dramatically plummet in value, the cost of imports, including oil, will skyrocket, interest rates will climb and jobs will hemorrhage at a rate that will make the last few months look like boom times. State and federal services will be reduced or shut down for lack of funds. The United States will begin to resemble the Weimar Republic or Zimbabwe. Obama, endowed by many with the qualities of a savior, will suddenly look pitiful, inept and weak. And the rage that has kindled a handful of shootings and hate crimes in the past few weeks will engulf vast segments of a disenfranchised and bewildered working and middle class. The people of this class will demand vengeance, radical change, order and moral renewal, which an array of proto-fascists, from the Christian right to the goons who disseminate hate talk on Fox News, will assure the country they will impose.

I called Hudson, who has an article in Monday’s Financial Times called “The Yekaterinburg Turning Point: De-Dollarization and the Ending of America’s Financial-Military Hegemony.” “Yekaterinburg,” Hudson writes, “may become known not only as the death place of the czars but of the American empire as well.”

“This means the end of the dollar,” Hudson told me. “It means China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran are forming an official financial and military area to get America out of Eurasia.

---- In 2005 the US, along with Pakistan, India, Iran, and Mongolia, asked for "observer status" - the US was denied. If I didn't know better I would have thought the US asked to attend this year's party but was "denied admittance." SCO membership: Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, or basically the same ol' cold war Russia/China alliance.

Another noteworthy event to be held in Yekaterinburg, is the first BRIC meeting (Britain-Russia-India-China), June 16, and to cover issues including the world situation, a global financial system, the financial crisis, energy cooperation and environmental protection. Or ... how world leaders will transition to a global system where a tiny, tiny fraction of the human population will rule over the remaining 6 billion or so little people, and we will call it global cooperation. SCO is merely one bloc of the kumbayah campfire club. I call it the Rodney King Globalization/Can We All Git Along. And those who cannot git along will git their butts kicked.

Hedges believes the US will resemble the Weimar Republic or Zimbabwe - both suffered hyperinflation, one of course gave rise to Hitler. That's clever of Hedges, evoking Hitler without actually using the name Hitler.

This bankruptcy in turn will trigger "rage, hate crimes" and "engulf vast segments of a disenfranchised and bewildered working and middle class" who apparently Hedges believes are quite an ignorant class for they will act out, demand "vengeance, radical change, order and moral renewal" which will be imposed by the likes of Bible bangers and Fox News.

There's the subtle hint that these bewildered lower class folks will turn on one another with a vengeance - "hate crimes". Race-based. Obviously Hedges has no idea that down here in the 'hood, the trailers, the projects, the shanties, the blue collar tracts, and even the mostly white suburbs - there be a lot of race mixin'. Guys like the 88-year-old thug who gunned down a guard at the museum are few and far between, and even his family disown him.

I've disliked Hedges since his asinine article in 2007, Accustomed to Their Own Atrocities in Iraq, U.S. Soldiers Have Become Murderers. All his work is asinine though.

Hedges also states in the article above : The governor of China’s central bank has openly called for the abandonment of the dollar as reserve currency, suggesting in its place the use of the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights. What the new system will be remains unclear, but the flight from the dollar has clearly begun. The goal, in the words of the Russian president, is to build a “multipolar world order” which will break the economic and, by extension, military domination by the United States. China is frantically spending its dollar reserves to buy factories and property around the globe so it can unload its U.S. currency.

Ummmm, suggesting the use of IMF SDR? Would that be the same IMF that Barry O. wants to give a $100+ billion bailout? So ... lemme see ... we are going to fund our own dollar demise?

China "frantically spending its dollar reserves around the world" to unload US currency? Got a link? Because to my non-expert mindset, and reading, China itself has dropped from double digit growth to single digit in the last couple of years, even while spending massive amounts internally on factories and property, etc. According to Gordon Chang's book The Coming Collapse of China ... "There will be a time when China runs out of money to pump into the system."

Beijing spending those dollars to keep China afloat?

Chang also argues that "... the Chinese people are tired of their overtly regulated lives, dictated by a microscopic minority and enforced by crude coercion..."

Running out of money, regulated lives enforced by crude coercion - which is quite similar to where most of the world stands today.

But it makes me wonder, why do writers like Hedges directly or indirectly suggest the US is the world's problem child, when frankly all world powers have built their strength on the backs of their own and other nation's people. Why do these writers push the warm-fuzzy notion of a "multipolar" world where, if the US would just get out of the way, we could all get along.

The ruling class are not suggesting anything new with multipolarity - they want one umbrella to cover several centers of power dictated to by a few acronyms - the "all git along" policy, until the next butt kicking. Nothing new or unique; it's been used by kingdoms and empires since day 1.

So So Sotomayor

Let us hash out Sonia Sotomayor's controversial statement, not that it's worthy or important but does the media ever give us anything that is?

I just saw a clip of Obama in a limo with some pundit, who when asked if he stopped to watch the talking head shows when he passed by the many TVs in the White House, Obama said, no, he doesn't bother listening to the cable chatter. I chuckled, because when passing by the cable TV covering an Obama speech, I too do not bother to listen to his chatter. Although god knows he is slightly easier on the stomach than GWB.

But back to Sotomayor. Some on the right say her comment is racist. Those on the left say it is not. Supposedly she has made the same/similar statements a few times in her career.

SS:"First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

According to Merriam Webster "wise" is having a deep understanding and the capacity for sound judgement, so contrary to the learned folks above - I believe there can be a universal definition. There are different types of wisdom, as in street wise, common sense wisdom, professional wisdom, etc. You may have an understanding of the street, the common, or a profession - that's not indicative of sound judgment though.

Is Sonia saying that she has street smarts, common sense, and professional wisdom? And a preppy Ivy league white man has less wisdom because he was born privileged? Being born of humble beginnings makes one reach a better conclusion because the humble experience is what ... enriching? Not so much enrichment that anyone wants to stay, and usually sounds good only to those who did not experience all the enrichment poverty can bestow.

What deep understanding does Sotomayor believe her humble Latina beginnings give her? What part of a Bronx childhood in the projects makes one capable of reaching a better conclusion than a white male who was born wealthy, or poor?

Sounds to me as if Sotomayor suggests her gender, ethnicity and social class bestow a richness of experience that the white male can never obtain. Would that also mean Sotomayor cannot understand the American black experience or Native American experience, etc. because she has not experienced them? Oh wait, Obama said her experience gave her "empathy." And we all know white men don't have empathy, in contrast to the inner city projects where humble folks empathize with one another (especially if you're seen moving in a flat screen that can be fenced).

Sotomayor is not Thurgood Marshall, neither is Clarence "Coke Can" Thomas for that matter.

Men and women like Marshall truly fought against the odds - opening doors for Thomas and Sotomayor, and even Obama.

Not to detract from Sotomayor's tenacity and accomplishments, but I do think she is of the generation suffering from affirmative action and "identity politics" - educated, employed, and appointed by white men, and now feeling a teeeensy bit superior to those who saddled the horse she rode into town on. (Put your foot in the stirrups honey, not your mouth.)

I once was a staunch supporter of affirmative action, not anymore. I've seen too many incompetents in positions they should not have been in simply because the white company/organization needed to meet a quota. And termination was out of the question as fear of a lawsuit forever loomed. The only hope was the employee would quit. There is nothing worse than a coworker who smugly knows they have management by the cajones. (Of course white folks also hire white idiots, look at George Bush.)

So, let's stop pretending we are led by people of great ability, "high caliber" men and women. It does not matter if Sotomayor is the best pick or not, black or brown, male or female. Her rulings will be geared to please that faction of the powers that be who groomed her ride.

What we have had for 3+ decades, regardless of race or gender or humble beginnings, are mediocre men and women. But the worst has been The Special Olympics of Politics - special because of the "handicap" of being black, brown, female, gay, or whatever politically unique card they can play, which has nothing to do with capability and talent. I know, I know Bubba you want to say - some of us have it harder.

Yes, and no matter who you are there's always someone else who has/had life harder. I have yet to find that one individual who has had the hardest life on earth, although when found he/she should be rewarded with something.

It's that old, old ploy of the humble public servant, the peanut farmer, the humble actor/comic in shirt sleeves,the blue shirt sleeves rolled up Bush clearing brush on the homestead, fatherless Obama on foodstamps, just like one of us Bubba, and they made it to the top, and by golly even as they gallop away to their new multimillion dollar townhomes or mini mansions and mix it up in New York, Paris, Rome, Brussels, ... in $4000 shoes and limos ... they're gonna do what's best for the commoners ... because they are one of us.

But you know Bubba, in a family as integrated as mine - black, brown, white, mixed, Jew and gentile, atheist and Catholic, millionaires to minimum wage - had Sotomayor made the above comment at the dinner table, we would have laughed long and loud.

Did she just say being a Puerto Rican woman from NY gives her a better understanding of the law? she's joking, right?

Laughing out loud, laughing out loud.

Bailing Out the World Ma

President Barack Obama's plan to give an extra $108bn to the International Monetary Fund was in danger of falling apart yesterday as Republican lawmakers opposed the extra funding and Democrat leaders scrambled to win enough votes without them.

Mr Obama has called for member countries to beef up the IMF to help it combat the global downturn. At April's G20 meeting he promised to increase the US contribution and secured similar promises from others. But he has run into problems in a Congress weary of bail-outs and concerned about the swelling budget deficit.


Ah, transparency. Perhaps you've read that the new era of candor in government spending has arrived. Except, apparently, when it comes to the $750 billion that the Obama Administration and other nations have agreed to provide the International Monetary Fund. In this case, it's all opacity all the time.

At the G-20 meeting in April, the world's big shots promised to provide $500 billion under credit lines to the IMF known as "new arrangements to borrow." The U.S. share was said to be $100 billion, which last week we learned is actually $108 billion. The Obama Administration is now asking Congress to appropriate the cash, except that the Congressional Budget Office is only scoring the cost at $5 billion. How so? Because the transaction is being called an "exchange of assets," which means the U.S. gives the IMF the $108 billion and the IMF gives the U.S. a promissory note. Which raises a question: If it costs so little, why not make it $200 billion. Or a trillion? It's free!

IMF History: The IMF has played a part in shaping the global economy since the end of World War II.

---- And a fine shape the global economy is in, heh?

Right In Front of Your Face

This is probably the most shallow junk I've read all year. From none other than Crooks and Liars, who, while I'm not a regular reader, I was under the misguided notion C&L was somewhat of an objective site. Silly me, I guess their name is appropriate, taken from the famous remark of horseface John Kerry when he was describing his bedfellows in DC.

C&L: Sarah Palin is on a new jag or an old one actually. She's ranting about some New World Order nonsense and while introducing wingnut radio host Michael Regan in Alaska, told the audience that the government wants to control the lives of "the people."

Via CNN: Alaska governor Sarah Palin let loose Wednesday on the Obama administration for enacting fiscal policies that "fly in the face of principles" and "defy Economics 101."

Palin: We need to be aware of the creation of a fearful population, and fearful lawmakers, being led to believe that big government is the answer, to bail out the private sector, because then government gets to get in there and control it," she said. "And mark my words, this is going to be next, I fear, bail out next debt-ridden states. Then government gets to get in there and control the people.

There's something pretty weird hearing the term "Economics 101," being uttered by Sarah because she showed little knowledge of economics on the campaign trail, but that being said...the right wing constantly is reaching out to the far depths of the conservative movement and are trying to instill more and more fear into that base which will only increase the violence that comes out of those merky depths. "People control," really Sarah? She should stop hanging out with nutty talk show hosts.

Just to help her out a little bit, it was under George Bush and conservative---neocon warhawks that the global financial markets melted down and led us down the path of being "afraid." And wasn't it under her governance that she took money from the oil companies and handed it out to her people?

CC's Indecision (Comedy Central blog): It should just sit back and let the free market do its thing and, um, dispense the lucre…

In Alaska, where Palin is governor, natural resources are state-owned, and Alaska residents receive yearly dividend checks from a $30 billion state account built largely from oil royalties….

When home fuel and gas costs soared this year, Palin raised taxes on oil companies and used some of the money to boost residents' checks by $1,200. Every eligible man, woman and child got a record $3,269 this fall.

Even the grammar-challenged Governor knows there's word for that kind of redistributive policy. Starts with S.

---- Hmmm. I don't think the word "starts with S."

To C&L: Michael "Regan" should be Reagan, Ronnie's son. I have never listened to him so do not know if he's a wingnut or not - but then I don't get my news from Colbert or Jon Stewart either, as many "progressives" seem to do. I did google on over to Reagan's website and read a couple of columns. In one he described Boy Bush's era as "big government and wild-spending."

Pssssttt we've been doing that for decades, spending just gets wilder with each president.

As to the sniplet from CNN by way of C&L: "Just to help her out a little bit, it was under George Bush and conservative---neocon warhawks that the global financial markets melted down and led us down the path of being "afraid."

I suppose it's best to blame those "neocon warhawks" (haven't seen that phrase in a while), rather than look aghast at the money Obamasiah is throwing on the flames of those melting markets (and ignore the fact that Barry O. isn't antiwar, he was pandering to the sheople). And if you want to pin blame there's enough to go around at least back to the Clinton era of come one come all for toxic lending. In fact, I would say HUD/Fannie and Freddie were pretty much the Clintonistas damage. And, wasn't the housing market the first domino in this meltdown?

The question asked by CNN blog: "And wasn't it under her governance that she took money from the oil companies and handed it out to her people?"

Are you serious? The Alaskan PFD is not simply "handed out to her people." The Fund has been around since 1976, overhauled in 1982.

The governor Palin replaced in 2006, Murkowski, sought sweetheart deals for oil companies and Alaskan voters put him out of office. Several of the governor's negotiators were later indicted, accused of making back-room deals with the industry. It was Palin who scrapped Murkowski's deals, stood up to big oil, and raised their taxes. But ... " "it would be an overstatement to brand Palin as an enemy of Big Oil. Her husband works as a production supervisor for BP. And her support for drilling in the Alaska Natural Wildlife Reserve, as well as exploiting Alaska's natural gas resources, certainly won't endear her to environmentalists. "Personally, I have respect for the industry," she said in an interview with Fortune last year, "for the contributions it's made to our state ... and great respect for what their CEOs are doing. We know their mission, to take as much as possible and leave as little behind."

I'm stumped I tell you, stumped - why would "progressives" diss a pol who obviously stood up to Big Oil, and taxed them? One who so accurately calls corporate CEO's mission "to take as much as possible and leave as little behind." And isn't that what we've witnessed from both parties in the Halls of Power for the past 3+ decades?

On the other hand some Alaskans believe Alaskan politicians, the Fund managers and their operating costs, the corporations the Fund invests in, all benefit too much from the fund while sending stipends to the people.

Stipends that range from $300-$3200 per year per eligible person. Felons are not eligible, and if you owe taxes, child support, etc. the state will be keeping that PFD. Alaska had a population of approximately 686,000, and a PFD fund of $38 billion in 2008. Even if all residents are eligible, which they are not, the total paid out in 2008 (a record $2080-2100) would be $2.1 billion - around 5-6% of the total fund. Sarah also passed out a $1200 resource rebate check that year because of high energy costs. Sort of like the Bushobama rebates and stimulus checks, except Alaska could afford to do it.

But tell me, how will that work with other states not as fortunate, not sitting on oil and gas? California is struggling even with all the wealth from tourism, energy, agriculture, hi-tech, etc. Will all or only a few industries have their profits placed in a California State fund for yearly stipends to the state's 37,000,000 residents? What about those poor states like Arkansas and Kentucky? What about illegal alie....oops, I mean undocumented workers, would they get a stipend if they meet the eligibility requirements? Will Alaskans be angry when their stipend goes down in order to help stipenders in states like po' Mississippi and West Virginey?

Every state would have funds collected, from State run industries of course, and then BigDaddy Guvmint will dole out the dividend stipends, and it would need to be the same amount for every individual, just as it is in Alaska. So poorer states will get some of theirs from the richer states. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need? I don't think that's called socialism, and the BigDaddy State will never wither away - that happens only in neoprogressive dreams and chat rooms, usually after a little Maui Owie. (And if, as in Alaska, a felon is not eligible - guess what color and rung won't be getting a dividend.)

You know Bubba, there may not even be a word yet for the Government that's coming to redistribute the stipends, but my best guess is ... it will start with a T.

Abu Is Back

Obama's refusal to release more photos of abuse from Abu Ghraib has set the "leftish" folks to either ranting or waxing philosophically or just linking to one another with a reader ragbag of comments which always turn into personal attacks by keyboard warriors who do not know one another but can type words like asshole and troll.

Saw the usual and predictable torture/abuse stories today on Antiwar, PI, Commiedreams, the UK Telegraph, and the ever trusty NYT.

Consensus seems to be that the abuse/torture at Abu Ghraib was rampant, wanton, and no one was held accountable. Actually, a few were punished with prison terms, bad conduct or dishonorable discharges, reduction in rank, fines, etc.: Lynndie England, Michael Smith, Charles Graner, Sabrina Harman, Janis Karpinski lost a bird, Ivan L. Fredrick, Armin J. Cruz, and others.

I know, I know, we want to see Bush and Cheney blood but that isn't going to happen - so the next best thing for the "left" is to continue to fan flames with demands for more torture porn.

I notice most of the recent articles cite Maj. General Antonio Taguba. Be careful Tony, when the "left" embraces you it can be the kiss of death. They embraced Brig. General Janis Karpinski as she claimed she took the Abu fall for BushCo - poor woman. Never mind that the much quoted by the "left," Mr. Taguba, stated in the now famous leaked Article 15-6 Investigation of 800th Military Police Brigade that Karpinski:

"During the course of this investigation I conducted a lengthy interview with BG Karpinski that lasted over four hours, and is included verbatim in the investigation Annexes. BG Karpinski was extremely emotional during much of her testimony. What I found particularly disturbing in her testimony was her complete unwillingness to either understand or accept that many of the problems inherent in the 800th MP Brigade were caused or exacerbated by poor leadership and the refusal of her command to both establish and enforce basic standards and principles among its soldiers."

Or that Taguba also states more than once "Throughout the investigation, we observed many individual Soldiers and some subordinate units under the 800th MP Brigade that overcame significant obstacles, persevered in extremely poor conditions, and upheld the Army Values. We discovered numerous examples of Soldiers and Sailors taking the initiative in the absence of leadership and accomplishing their assigned tasks."

I venture to wager that most of the folks passing around the renewed chant for more torture photos have not read the above Article 15-6 by Taguba.

The "left" also welcomed former Bushista Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, in fact he was tagged the Democrats General after he saw the light. Taguba came to believe that Lt. General Sanchez ... and some of the generals assigned to the military headquarters in Baghdad had extensive knowledge of the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib ... Taguba was aware that in the fall of 2003—when much of the abuse took place—Sanchez routinely visited the prison, and witnessed at least one interrogation. According to Taguba, “Sanchez knew exactly what was going on.”

Seldom, if ever, does the "left" quote Taguba when he says things like "The M.P.s, were being literally exploited by the military interrogators. My view is that those kids"—even the soldiers in the photographs—"were poorly led, not trained, and had not been given any standard operating procedures on how they should guard the detainees."

Their leadership at the time being Janis and Ricardo - who became new best friends of the "left" blogosphere.

(Hmm was the "left" trying for another Ellsberg leak?) In the NYT oped above the author, as so many before him have stated: "Six months later, in April 2004, when the Harman and Graner photographs were leaked to the press, they shocked the world’s conscience."

What conscious world would that be? Anyone who claims their conscience was shocked is either a liar or a useful idiot. Tell me you were disappointed, discouraged, saddened to see our troops degrading and tormenting prisoners - but don't tell me your conscience was shocked (unless you have spent your life cloistered with no contact to the outside world).

If you glimpse any media at all you cannot possibly be shocked by what man does to man, parent does to child, or complete strangers on stranger, random and planned acts of ghastly perversion or brutal indifference in entertainment/news/music/art - 24/7 porno-violence. Don't tell me your conscience was "shocked" by a pyramid of naked males with a soldier giving a thumbs-up, or shocked at naked men with panties on their head, or of dogs growling at or biting a prisoner. Or a hooded man standing on a crate with a bag on his head. And yes, even of rape, a rape Sy Hersh eternally spins as a child but is age 15-16 according to Taguba's report. Yet here at home the "left" have insured that the rapist of a 5-year-old child will typically receive a wrist slap and counseling, soon to be released back into the community with the ACLU fighting for his right to privacy, and crime TV has fodder for more graphic episodes.

Taguba seems to be what most of the troops are: Honorable and decent. Don't let the "left" adopt you Antonio - you will have to denounce the entire Imperialist Army as murdering torturing capitalist swine, which you served loyally for 35 years, and when they're done - they will dump you faster than they did Mama Sheehan (I feel sad for Cindy, her latest crowd draw was 20).

P.S. Also sir, you might not want to repeat what you said in the New Yorker, that "The stress of combat is not an excuse," because the "left" consider such remarks are rightwing code talk for personal responsibility, and the "left" uses "stress" as an excuse for a lot of criminal shit.

Palomita Cuculi

Antologia

Chomping Noam

Here is Chomsky's latest piece, predominantly a rehash on evil Caucasians of American history, particularly Ford to Clinton. Gosh, will the leftists, always big on inclusion, have to include mulatto Obama on the list of American Imperialists pigs?

Noam: "Historical amnesia is a dangerous social phenomenon ..."

Sigh, roll eyes, no - it is the nature of man, collectively taking 2 steps forward and 1 step backward - but hey, "historical amnesia is a dangerous social phenomenon" has the ring of a more ominous intellectual scary-world ooophm!

In a couple of sentences Noam mentioned what Japan did in China, France in Algeria, and the British in India. But, this hit piece was not about evil-doers of Europe or Asia - it is the god awful barbarism of the USA. A barbarism Noam calls American Amnesia.

Noam reminds American amnesiacs of crimes against all the world's colored folk, many in the US : Vietnamese , Blacks, Native Americans, Central and South Americans, and of course Middle Easterners, specifically Gitmo as torture chamber. I say reminding Americans, because we know the masses overseas are not reading Noam in Dong Thap Province, or in Chichicastanengo, nor the Mbuti or Fulani people. (The left's favorite metizo,Thank-You-Bush-War-For-Oil Chavez, does read and plug Noam, and then there was the 2007 Osama bin Laden tape praising Chomsky. If you don't know Chomsky's book sales are pumped/plumped by government funded educational purchases and mandatory academics you must be one of his disciples, and if you told me some intel acronym bought Noam's books to keep sales up, I wouldn't be surprised.)

Phenomenon, amnesia? No. This piece is to remind colored folks here at home, that maybe we should still be pissed about the barbaric practices of the USA - and it is never ending, era after era after era ... Good lord Bubba, is "white guilt" still trendy? Is it payback time?

Chomsky says he supported McKinney in the 2008 election, you remember McKinney. Had no political problems for 12 years as a representative, then suddenly shortly after WTC/911 she changed her hairdo, cried racism in the Capitol, and went Green. I still wonder what sociopolitical "change" Cynthia thinks is coming down the pike. Chomsky also stated that if Ron Paul ran against Hillary Clinton he would support Hillary. Hillary?! Puleeze ... talk about a corrupt career imperialist ... Is there some dementia going on here?

Of course Noam, like all great scholars of his genre, has no viable solution (although the Rodney King Doctrine comes to mind, "cain't we all just get along"), nary a plan, not one word of how-to or remedy for any of barbaric America's past, present or future atrocities (he predicts future US atrocities) - but as always Noam is just reminding us of our own merciless behavior (especially all you white imperialists), like a good Left pundit should. Or the usual solution, consider having the UN or some global body rule the world - which seems to be the favored solution from leftist scholars (hacks/hirelings), who reluctantly are forced to live well under the boot of American imperialism.

Noam has been stirring our memories for 40 years Bubba and look where US society is today - more divided, demoralized, and socially alienated than when Noam began his career 81 senile years ago. How awful it must be for a political activist to look back at a lifetime of lecturing on the evils of America and realize one hasn't politically or socially accomplished diddly spit, unless of course that was the initial goal.

There's only so much you can blame on republicans and neocons and slaveholders and the man - social critics like Chomsky too have played a subtle role in shaping this fractious society we call homeland. Guys like this seemingly don't believe we are or ever were the land of the free and home of the brave. No sirrrree - the US is a 233-year-old arrogant boot stomping on the neck, especially necks of color, of what would otherwise be a world of peace. (If you breathe too hot on the heels of left professional social critics/activists a few will concede a time or two when the US was the good guys, e.g. WWII.)

So here we are, crying and begging our leaders to be keepers of world peace, while hanging onto the words of old professorial farts telling us who to blame as the leaders/keepers fail time and again, war after war - but hey, we now have many learned folks to tell us who to blame - blame the US. You know Bub, world atrocities are about the only thing dumbed down, doped up, poverty-stricken Americans accept personal responsibility for - and it only took a generation to get there.

We've become an undulating mass of petty philistines choosing one or another famous social critic to mimic; a pastime for halfass activists who think, in between sips of Cha tea, that verbally bashing the Government is really living on the edge - don't let the hardcore "left" know you don't swallow - they will claim your IQ is double digit (considered a high insult), especially if you're not impressed with Chomsky's finger pointing.

But Bubba, the stumper is this - I don't know how Noam's career as America's most influential leftist intellectual ever lasted 4+ decades under the jackboot of Imperialist Amerika.

Evolution of Math

Teaching Math In 1950s: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

Teaching Math In 1960s: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

Teaching Math In 1970s: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?

Teaching Math In 1980s: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

Teaching Math In 1990s: A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it's ok.)

Teaching Math In 2009: Un hachero vende una carretada de madera para $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?

Star Spangled

Granddaughter Cate (guitar) and her band for this year's high school talent show are doing the anthem (last year was Another Brick in the Wall.). She likes this version from Laiyouttitham.

Increase Your Money

The Money Manager
To show the increase of money on the international market.

Wa-tada! Revisited

In February 2007 I blogged a post on Ehren Watada:

Not to pee on the parade - but it could be this whole officer-takes-a-stand scene is a staged op from the other faction of the ruling elite. In an environment of national news dominated by celebrity lives/death and sex junk – any anti-Iraq war "news" or personality, is questionable. Remember too, it's not that the other "faction" of the ruling elite are good guys when in power, they just prefer the appearance of legal slaughter.

This past week's mistrial in the Watada case has been hailed as a "blow to the Pentagon." It's not the Pentagon getting this blowjob folks. Don't look for any retrial; this will end as it began, nice and neat.

It now seems likely Ehren will resign his commission, receive a general discharge, and find other arenas in which to fight whatever he is fighting (right after the probable book deal) – or he could show up in 30 years as a heavy medal-chested planner in the Pentagon. But more likely a civilian political office is at the top of his to-do list.

--- I was under the impression that the 2 conduct unbecoming charges had been dropped in January 2007, but according to this story today, 05/06/09 "Fort Lewis leadership is still mulling how to handle two remaining allegations of conduct unbecoming an officer against Watada." But, as I more or less predicted, the Justice Department asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss the matter which they did yesterday. Obama will receive credit for not pursuing the matter, his administration being kinder and gentler.

And today, his attorney says Watada, "... plans to return to civilian life and to attend law school."

So .... guess that political office is on the to-do list. Maybe Ehren will study contract law, show folks how to get out of contracts/oath without any serious consequences; he may be real pol material.

In some ways, Watada is the male version of Sheehan - both "found" a conscience that catapulted them into new careers because they had the "courage to resist" Bush's Iraq war and the evil neocons or something like that.

Ft. Lewis is "mulling," which is code for the pseudo-left has finished with these two bullshit distractions. Hmm, catapult, an ancient military device for hurling missiles. Sort of like Ehren and Cindy were thrown at the public as icons of courage, although neither of them have shown any mental or moral strength.

Oh lord Bubba, are they this generation's Jane Fonda and John Kerry? Will our grandchildren have to suffer through their careers and appearances as I have Jane and John's?

Evolution Elixirs

Grade Government

Rate your representatives here. I have to wonder just who is grading as the bottom, F's, all seem to be democrats (although they probably deserve the grade).

Sample:
531. T. Bishop (D) NY-1st F
530. M. Capuano (D) MA-8th F
529. T. Childers (D) MS-1st F
528. J. Cooper (D) TN-5th F
527. J. Crowley (D) NY-7th F
526. H. Cuellar (D) TX-28th F
525. K. Dahlkemper (D) PA-3rd F
524. S. Davis (D) CA-53rd F
523. A. Davis (D) AL-7th F
522. B. Ellsworth (D) IN-8th F
521. S. Israel (D) NY-2nd F
520. H. Johnson (D) GA-4th F
519. M. Kilroy (D) OH-15th F
518. R. Kind (D) WI-3rd F
517. L. Kissell (D) NC-8th F
516. R. Larsen (D) WA-2nd F
515. J. Larson (D) CT-1st F
514. N. Lowey (D) NY-18th F
513. B. Lujan (D) NM-3rd F
512. D. Matsui (D) CA-5th F
511. J. McGovern (D) MA-3rd F
510. M. McIntyre (D) NC-7th F
509. J. McNerney (D) CA-11th F
508. G. Meeks (D) NY-6th F
507. G. Moore (D) WI-4th F
506. C. Murphy (D) CT-5th F
505. R. Neal (D) MA-2nd F
504. B. Pascrell (D) NJ-8th F
503. D. Payne (D) NJ-10th F
502. C. Pingree (D) ME-1st F
501. J. Polis (D) CO-2nd F
500. E. Pomeroy (D) ND F
499. S. Rothman (D) NJ-9th F
498. L. Roybal-Allard (D) CA-34th F
497. C. Ruppersberger (D) MD-2nd F
496. L. Sanchez (D) CA-47th F
495. J. Sarbanes (D) MD-3rd F
494. M. Schauer (D) MI-7th F
493. A. Schiff (D) CA-29th F
492. J. Serrano (D) NY-16th F
491. B. Sherman (D) CA-27th F
490. A. Sires (D) NJ-13th F
489. A. Smith (D) WA-9th F
488. J. Speier (D) CA-12th F
487. B. Stupak (D) MI-1st F
486. B. Thompson (D) MS-2nd F
485. J. Tierney (D) MA-6th F
484. N. Tsongas (D) MA-5th F
483. T. Udall (D) NM F
482. P. Visclosky (D) IN-1st F
481. T. Walz (D) MN-1st F
480. D. Watson (D) CA-33rd F
479. P. Welch (D) VT F
478. C. Dodd (D) CT F
477. N. Pelosi (D) CA-8th F
476. B. Frank (D) MA-4th F
475. R. Burris (D) IL F
474. S. Kosmas (D) FL-24th F
473. D. Moore (D) KS-3rd F
472. B. Rush (D) IL-1st F
471. H. Waxman (D) CA-30th F
470. B. Filner (D) CA-51st F
469. B. Boxer (D) CA F
468. H. Reid (D) NV F
467. D. Scott (D) GA-13th F
466. C. Wilson (D) OH-6th F
465. J. Murtha (D) PA-12th F
464. M. Waters (D) CA-35th F
463. D. Obey (D) WI-7th F
462. D. Feinstein (D) CA F
461. P. Murray (D) WA F
460. D. Stabenow (D) MI F
459. C. Brown (D) FL-3rd F
458. L. Capps (D) CA-23rd F
457. B. Markey (D) CO-4th F
456. G. Peters (D) MI-9th F
455. M. Watt (D) NC-12th F
454. C. Rangel (D) NY-15th F
453. H. Teague (D) NM-2nd F
452. H. Kohl (D) WI F
451. R. Menendez (D) NJ F
450. B. Lee (D) CA-9th F
449. A. Specter (D) PA F
448. M. Bennet (D) CO F
447. C. Schumer (D) NY F
446. C. Carney (D) PA-10th F
445. K. Castor (D) FL-11th F
444. J. Costello (D) IL-12th F
443. D. Halvorson (D) IL-11th F
442. B. Miller (D) NC-13th F
441. J. Olver (D) MA-1st F
440. A. Schwartz (D) PA-13th F
439. V. Snyder (D) AR-2nd F
438. N. Velazquez (D) NY-12th F
437. D. Wu (D) OR-1st F
436. J. Kerry (D) MA F
435. J. Jackson (D) IL-2nd F
434. X. Becerra (D) CA-31st F
433. D. Boren (D) OK-2nd F
432. S. Kagen (D) WI-8th F
431. Z. Lofgren (D) CA-16th F
430. J. Shaheen (D) NH F
429. J. Rockefeller, IV (D) WV F
428. M. Udall (D) CO F
427. J. Boccieri (D) OH-16th F
426. K. Conrad (D) ND F
425. L. Davis (D) TN-4th F
424. C. Gonzalez (D) TX-20th F
423. J. Himes (D) CT-4th F
422. R. Holt (D) NJ-12th F
421. C. Maloney (D) NY-14th F
420. M. Thompson (D) CA-1st F
419. T. Harkin (D) IA F
418. R. Grijalva (D) AZ-7th F
417. G. Napolitano (D) CA-38th F
416. B. Etheridge (D) NC-2nd F

Buffoonistas

Who are the world's biggest debtor nations?

1st place goes to Ireland - 811%
External debt (as % of GDP): 811%
External debt per capita: $549,819

2nd United Kingdom - 336%
External debt (as % of GDP): 336%
External debt per capita: $153,616

3rd Belgium - 327%
External Debt (as % of GDP): 327%
External debt per capita: $155,362

4th Hong Kong - 295%
External debt (as % of GDP): 295%
External debt per capita: $93,539

5th Netherlands - 268%
External debt (as % of GDP): 268%
External debt per capita: $145,959

6th Switzerland - 264%
External debt (as % of GDP): 264%
External debt per capita: $171,478

7th Austria - 191%
External debt (as % of GDP): 191%
External debt per capita: $100,787

8th France - 168%
External debt (as % of GDP): 168%
External debt per capita: $78,070

9th Denmark - 159%
External debt (as % of GDP): 159%
External debt per capita: $107,026

10th Germany - 137.5%
External debt (as % of GDP): 137.5%
External debt per capita: $63,767

11th Spain - 137.5%
External debt (as % of GDP): 137.5%
External debt per capita: $57,091

12th Sweden - 129%
External debt (as % of GDP): 129%
External debt per capita: $73,245

13th Finland - 116%
External debt (as % of GDP): 116%
External debt per capita: $62,579

14th Norway - 114%
External debt (as % of GDP): 114%
External debt per capita: $118,353

15th - United States - 95.09%
External debt (as % of GDP): 95.09%
External debt per capita: $44,358

Is it just me, or are most of these leading debtor nations also the countries the US left-leaners often claim are icons of social success stories, and we should yearn to imitate their "free" stuff programs?

Bubba, the left-leaning buffoons will claim their debt is the fault of Americans who are sinking the US dollar, at the expense of the above nations, and has nothing to do with the failure of socialist styled governments. But don't listen to 'em Bubba - these folks will cut off their own nose to spite their face.

This Is Your Brain

I am not a supporter of the legalization of marijuana, but I have had a few laughs lately reading the standard arguments of pro-weed supporters; arguments that seem logical only if you are smoking some very good weed (or dream of a future in farming, production, sale of same). But, this latest claim making the Internet rounds has to be the most hilarious - weed cures cancer.

Rick Simpson, a Canadian, has made a name for himself, and a following, with the claims that THC cures cancer. Simpson has a free video on the how and wherefore titled Run From the Cure, and a website Phoenix Tears. Simpson claims to have cured himself of skin cancer. In this video, at approximately 1.45 minutes in, Rick gives you the method of making "hemp oil," the miracle cure. "He's a healer, not a dealer" as supporters like to refer to Rick.



Got that? Place good weed, preferably the buds, with a solvent, mix and stir with either pure naphtha or 99% isopropyl alcohol (naphtha is a petroleum product used in lighter fluid, paint stripper, etc.). Mix well, drain the liquid, take to a well-ventilated area, turn on the fan, use rubber gloves, keep away from flame, boil in a crock pot, pour in container, cool. You have just cooked up in your home lab - the cure for cancer.

Folks, this is the best laugh from Internet follies I've had in a while. Rick has basically just made a potent hashish. I need a rolling on the floor laughing emoticon.

The Struggle Continues: The Phony Revolution

From Cindy Sheehan : "Myth America: 10 Greatest Myths of the Robber Class and the Case for Revolution."

Remember Cindy? The great white progressive peace hope? She is selling a $10 booklet by the above title, listing 10 myths:

Myth One: America: Greatest Nation in the Universe!
Myth Two: Elections Matter
Myth Three: There's a huge Difference Between Dems and Repubs
Myth Four: It is Noble to Die in Robber Class Wars
Myth Five: The Central Banking System is good for the Robbed Class
Myth Six: It's a Privilege to pay Income Taxes to the Robber Class
Myth Seven: Housing, Health Care and Education are Privileges, too
Myth Eight: America has a Free Press
Myth Nine: The Environment, Who Needs it?
Myth Ten: 19 Muslims with box cutters were responsible for 9/11

Cindy divides us into the Robbed and the Robbers, with most of us on the Robbed side. The Robbed are essentially the working class, people who have to struggle for healthcare and higher education.

---- Let me tell you a story, one of many, many stories of the typical struggling working class "Robbed" folks of which I have firsthand information. This segment of the "Robbed" are the folks Sheehan and friends attempt to pander to.

The story is Oleta and Bill, both in their early 40s, with 3 sons ages 4, 6, 8. Oleta constantly feels robbed. She recently applied for foodstamps and bitched outrage for a month because she was not eligible. Bill has a decent job for unskilled labor, bringing in about $35,000 a year. Oleta performs clerical work off and on bringing in another $15,000, and the 2 older children bring in $14,400 from SSI disability (they were preemies with learning disabilities and asthma).

Bill has healthcare at work and the State also covers medical care for the 2 "disabled" kids. At the local health and dental clinic Oleta can have $600 worth of dental work for the sliding scale fee of $25 - and still complains, it should be free because she pays taxes. But, the $200 of Bill's $1400 partial denture, not covered by work insurance - really angered Oleta - she was robbed.

They own their home and somehow Oleta manages to qualify for every program that doles out dollars to low income homeowners, for repairs, upgrades, insulation, a new furnace, etc. Still, she feels robbed when events like the Fema funded cleanup crew after last winter's ice storm did not prune her trees. She might have to pay for that unless Bill decides to do it with help from Oleta's brother who has his own handyman cleanup business - unless she convinces her church she qualifies for free tree trimming, now that those faith-based grants are coming in to help robbed folks like herself.

Oleta has an associate degree - a degree for folks who attend college for 2 years but do not like school and really have no driving ambition or the brains to be higher educated; in the 'hood though an associate degree confers immense bragging rights and status, it's the ghetto PhD. Oleta's 2-year degree took 3-1/2 years to complete and was paid for by affirmative action and grant programs, which would have covered that BA if she had just had the oomph! to go for it. She was robbed again, not because she didn't delay having children for another couple of years, but because the State wouldn't pay for their maintenance while she took her time trying for that BA degree. Oh well, such is the unfairness perpetuated on the robbed class.

Of course Oleta expects her children should have State funded higher education, whether or not they have the mindset or ability is not important. If any of her "disabled" sons are fortunate, they will throw off the label of disabled and get a life, if not, they will draw checks the rest of their life - floating around the 'hood, having kids, brushes with the lawman, smoking the soon to be legalized marijuana and feeling robbed like mom and dad.

Last month Oleta felt robbed because the non-profit local community organization refused to throw some under-the-table work her way - robbed, because she could have used $400 which the organization could have paid her to mop and wax the community room - instead a couple of members volunteered to do it for nothing. Oleta's attitude is how can a righteous woman make a few bucks if some people are ignorant enough to work for free.

Oleta and Bill do not pay actual taxes to the Robber class - they receive $5000-6000 each year in refunds along with any other stimulus/rebate the Robbers deem applicable. Oleta has her own non-profit consulting "business" on the books, on paper, but it never makes any money, other than writing off everything remotely possible as an expense at tax time, computers, cell phones, a portion of home expenses for an office, etc. It was a little scheme she learned in those business courses toward that associate degree.

Oleta and Bill vote once every four years and then forget about it. They don't read much so are unconcerned about whether the press is free or not, besides if it is on CNN then it must be true - but most of their news comes from church bulletins, quasi-Rev. Wright pastors, social program pamphlets, or the uniquely garbled grapevine of Black political interpretation from local community leaders with associate degrees.

If concern for the environment is going to cost them out of pocket or create any inconvenience - forget it, they will feel robbed.

They know there is little difference between democrats and republicans - but they believe democrats always initiate a few more social programs - in fact, Oleta is eagerly awaiting to see if her home-based business qualifies her for a paid consultant position regarding a local low-income housing project. She believes she knows exactly what the "robbed" class here needs - but eeewww weeeee girl! if you could hear her regular gossip about the thieving, low-life lazy bums in the 'hood you would think she couldn't be paid to help them.

Oleta and Bill believe 19 boxcutters are possible because Oleta's cousin Jammer stole 6 cars in 1 day and the cops still don't know where the chop shop is located. Oleta and Bill have never served in the wars of the Robber class - nor have any of their immediate or extended family members - soldiering is for poor folks and fools and why serve when receiving is so respectably easy, especially if you have an associate degree and are slightly smarter than most of the other Robbed folks.

They do sometimes believe the #1 myth though - America the greatest nation in the universe - depending on how much free stuff they qualify for in a given year.

Oleta just returned from an Easter cruise to the Bahamas - her fake hair and nails need to be done after a week on the water and buffet dining, and she is broke until the boys checks come in this month. But even after a vacation Oleta is in a bad mood - always feeling robbed.

As to the case for revolution my dear defenders of the Robbed class - you better have lots of funding, because folks like Oleta and Bill aren't going to do anything unless there is money or a voucher attached.

Arrr Me Matey

You are being lied to about pirates - or so says Johann Hari. According to Hari these people (pirates) "have an extraordinary story to tell - and some justice on their side."

The defense of piracy by the criminal elements of the progressive movement claim pirates are pirating because bad people are dumping toxic waste and trawling in Somali waters - hence justice is on their side. Hari and ilk give new meaning to the word poopdeck.

I read AllAfrica regularly and have not seen anything on toxic dumping as the excuse behind multi-millionaire ransoming Somali pirates. Nigeria did have a group threatening to shut down an Italian oil company for dumping waste in their community, and Uganda protested e-waste being dumped locally. Kenya, Somalia, and Ghana have officially complained to the UN about illegal trawlers. Somalia worked out a deal with Yemeni fishermen who were often caught trawling in Somalian waters. It seems most of the Somali coastal poaching has been by fellow African fishermen.

Hijacked ships are usually hundreds of miles out, not the 12 mile coastal territorial limit for Somalia, although initially hijackings were closer to shore, and blow me down, they were not fishing boats. Yachts and cruise ships are also targeted now. I guess success breeds escalating and expanding business. In the last 24 hours these extraordinary pirates have hijacked in the Gulf of Aden a Lebanese cargo ship, a Greek bulk carrier, and 2 Egyptian fishing ships (Egypt has to go through the Aden Gulf to get to the Indian Ocean, poaching or not).

Part of Captain Phillips Maersk Alabama cargo was food aid for Kenya. How does that pertain to dumping/trawling?

Where has the $100 million (preferably paid in crispy U$D) from piracy fiscal year 2008 been spent? Given to Somali officials for the cause or given to the Somali people? Me thinks not me landlubber friends.

Johann also says "Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively. "

Yep Bubba, pirates were egalitarian, socialists. Never mind that such notables as Laffite, Hawkins, and those Barbary Johnny Depps also dealt in the slave trade, they were democratic rebels amongst one another, and a historian or two claim some pirates "took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals." Mighty white of 'em, aye Bubba matey?

And what would excuses be if not the usual 400 or 500-year-old excuse of "What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirating to live." Surely the gentleman o' fortune Bernie Madoff and lily-livered bonused executives feel the same way today - they were just forced to go a-livin' higher than ye average perishing pirate.

Try as I might me barnacle encrusted biscuit eaters, I cannot make the connection between kidnapping for ransom and legitimate "protest".

Reminds me of brothers in the '60s who robbed armored trucks and claimed it was for the "cause," or the SLA who kidnapped Patty Hearst and demanded $2 million in food ransom for the poor of LA. Many poor had enough sense to be horrified and refused the food because they valued human life more than a sack of ill-gotten groceries.

But, my spongy Bubba baggy pants, that was in the days before so many folks bought into the liberal/progressive idea of criminality is okay if committed by po' folk against rich folk. Yo ho ho.

Progressive Love

The idiocy of youth. Busting a few windows and hurling insults to topple the "capitalist" system - whoo hooo. What do these folks really want? I believe their motto is "social justice." Hmmm. Now what would a more just society entail?

A national healthcare system? Direly needed with the approaching 70% overweight/obese citizenry and associated health problems appearing at a younger age than ever before. The large number of drug seekers and hypochondriacs are plentiful. And the growing numbers of lifestyle "disabled" folks, addicts, slackers, octomoms, etc. who have floundered around their entire lives expecting others to pick up after them and clean up their messes. Not that the global corporatocracy will pay for all these sickly folks, no sirreeee, they will not. The shrinking middle class is expected to generate the tax dollars to cover these folks, for a more just society.

Quality education for one and all? Hmmm, how long has the government been promising quality education? This year alone our local high school has 3 times caught students having sex in the bathroom, 6 blowjobs on the bus, 25 sexting, 5 locker drug busts, and needing more tax dollars to enlarge the nursery for teen mommies (thank you Medicaid) who think they look so cute bringing infant carriers to school. Those teens who behave really badly are sent to the "alternative" school. Lesson? My 16-year-old granddaughter (who happens to be a virgin) can sit between 2 pregnant classmates discussing heartburn and frequent urination while she's trying to grasp the concepts of algebra. Can you see who is sacrificing here my pussface lemming brain comrades?

Human rights and equality. Oh Bubba, that's a hairy one. What are basic human rights/equality? Lets condense that to meaning: The right to personally pursue anything that does not harm others, and equality before the law - and you have these rights/equality simply by virtue of being human. The old right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And if your pursuit happens to cost me directly and indirectly?

Well, don't worry, according to progressive philosophy I'm not allowed to name it, blame it, or shame it - because that would be politically incorrect, however, I can be forced to contribute to the programs to aid whatever slovenly self-destructive pursuit you pursue, as long as you do not rob, beat, mug, maim, or murder me, it's not causing direct harm to me and mine. Right? And if you are incarcerated for anything I can sign a petition to free you because jails are full of guys and gals who didn't do it because cops frame everyone, and some who did commit the crime did so only because they were born in poverty, which is the 40-excuses-and-a-mule card.

We are all free to make our own anti-social bone-headed self-destructive choices and then demand and receive gratuitous pity from those in swanky offices doling out dollars to the slovenly and slattern living in squalor, and call it " social justice." Right?

Other platforms you must support somewhat to be a progressive: Gay marriage, single motherhood, gun control, save the planet, legalization of marijuana, be against capital punishment, and for many, many more programs from BigDaddy Guvteat - to furnish you all the milk of justice and equality you can stand.

Squeeze me again Uncle Sam, harder, harder.

No Volunteer Left Behind

Text of H.R.1388, Obama's Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education, (GIVE) Act.

The NEA (National Education Association) is pleased as they believe the act will:

* Strengthen existing service programs and create new innovative programs to help improve student achievement and graduation in low-income schools, including expansion of mentoring programs to help disadvantaged youth.
* Provide new incentives for middle and high school students to volunteer in their communities, and allow them to earn a $500 education award to be used for college costs.
* Increase the number of AmeriCorps volunteers and increase the education reward they receive to match the maximum Pell Grant scholarship award.

Yessiree Bubba. Now teens and tweens can volunteer for $500, which, if they utilize that benefit, could someday purchase a couple of college textbooks. Perhaps these teeny tweeny volunteers will go on to serve AmeriCorps and get a matching $4700 a year Pell Grant, if they qualify.

Some day Bubba, we'll be bumping into corps alumni all over the place. Sort of like the 1964 LBJ War on Poverty JobCorps program - which has attempted to help 2 or 3 generations of at-risk 16-24 y/o youth live at government funded facilities to get a GED, a "skill", and find a job - something parents should have could have done, if they were interested in their children.

GIVE will also target senior citizens for volunteering. Something many seniors used to do for free, but volunteering for free is so passe, so last century.

Speaking of JobCorps, their centers are operated for the Department of Labor by private companies through a competitive contracting process, e.g., ITT Industries; BDM International/Vinnell; ResCare, Inc. Privatizing welfare is nothing new of course. But the potential problems of profit motivation to minimize costs is always there. Competitive contracting with ITT, winky wink.

Let's see, we have JFK Peace Corps, LBJ Job Corps, Clinton AmeriCorps, now Obama GIVE corp. The GIVE package will give to so many more dot.orgs though Bubba. AmeriCorps NCCC ((National Civilian Community Corps) will triple its numbers to 275,000 invigorating volunteers. Learn and Serve America , another Giver nursing freely on the public teat will benefit, as will Campuses of Service, Clean Energy Corps, Investment for Quality and Innovation, Healthy Futures Corps (which may or may not address abortion) and a host of other corps and their affiliates, to be extended or created, including ACORN. No corps left behind. All promising to bring the poor out of poverty.

KAB interpretation? For a mere initial GIVE package of $6 billion the government will teach you to caulk windows, pick up park trash, hammer a nail, mow a lawn, plant a tree, ladle soup in a kitchen, empty bedpans, and hopefully do something on the p.c. other than porn and games.

Like all the programs which have come before - GIVE will give excessive amounts of tax dollars to overpaid administrators and contractors who will in turn dole out stipends to the serfs who in turn will engage in useless tasks while being told they are noble because they are performing in the name of national service.

No volunteer left behind Bubba, but you're gonna get a big wedgey with your own bootstraps.

Devalued

I would like to hear a similar speech in the US congress.

Global Capos

US backing for world currency stuns markets.

US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner shocked global markets by revealing that Washington is "quite open" to Chinese proposals for the gradual development of a global reserve currency run by the International Monetary Fund.

The dollar plunged instantly against the euro, yen, and sterling as the comments flashed across trading screens. David Bloom, currency chief at HSBC, said the apparent policy shift amounts to an earthquake in geo-finance.

"The mere fact that the US Treasury Secretary is even entertaining thoughts that the dollar may cease being the anchor of the global monetary system has caused consternation," he said.

Mr Geithner later qualified his remarks, insisting that the dollar would remain the "world's dominant reserve currency ... for a long period of time" but the seeds of doubt have been sown.

The markets appear baffled by the confused statements emanating from Washington. President Barack Obama told a new conference hours earlier that there was no threat to the reserve status of the dollar.

"I don't believe that there is a need for a global currency. The reason the dollar is strong right now is because investors consider the United States the strongest economy in the world with the most stable political system in the world," he said.

The Chinese proposal, outlined this week by central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan, calls for a "super-sovereign reserve currency" under IMF management, turning the Fund into a sort of world central bank.

----- Get it Bubba? Washington is "quite open" to Chinese proposals for the gradual development of a global reserve currency run by the IMF. Timmy's "quite open" to the idea, but Barry says "don't believe there is a need for a global currency." Liar. And you thought Obama was your new best friend.

The IMF is quite famous for its practice of Lending to Support Dictators - Pinochet, Duvalier, Suharto, Stroessner, Marcos, Barre, Mobutu, S. Africa apartheid, etc etc.

The IMF has done great work around the world, affectionately known as the international "lender of last resort" - sort of like Vinnie "Two Guns" down at the Social Club. Yea yea let's put IMF in charge.

The Bright Side

Python

Video Iraq

#2 Son First Video From Kirkuk

Make Mischief

This morning I have news on as background noise as I do laundry, sweep, dust. I catch bits or bytes: "... leftwing groups unite to push White House agenda ..." good grief, it is Karl Rove speaking, the former Bush brain according to leftwing groups.

On the web I read "... rightwingers unite to kill more brown people in Afghanistan, Gaza, Obama frees Gitmo ..."

Here we go - the us/them political mischief as usual, with little truth or importance in any of it, nor do these loud and fake pundits represent the thinking of anyone I know; please note - I said "thinking" people - not people who simply seek out those who reinforce their ideas, ideas which may be based on nothing more than someone told them it was a good idea.

Recently, it seems to me that most folks are under the mistaken impression that the "battle" for our hearts and minds, is the fight between Capitalism and Socialism. Contraire Pierre, I believe we are now watching the fight between Socialism and Communism - yes, the "c" word few want to mention. Sneaky folks are still arguing and politely calling it the push to socialism.

But lets look at the bare bones using the reasonable definitions of O'Sullivan:

Capitalism, defined as a system where most ownership is private, social objective is individual freedom, economic objective is efficiency, a system predominantly democratic and ruled by a few.

Socialism, defined as ownership is both public and private, the social goal is "equality", the economic objective is "fairness," and the system is predominantly bureaucratic, ruled by a few.

Communism, defined as ownership by the public, social objective is equality, economic objective is fairness; the system ruled by dictatorship.

Not much of a choice have we?

Using the above, it would appear the US seriously entered the socialist phase in the 1960s. The ideals of equality and fairness, run by bureaucrats, ruled by a few. Although one could argue serious socialism began under Roosevelt and the New Deal.

Using the above definitions, where do you think the US is at the moment? We have seen individual freedom curtailed - from being forced to alter personal habits - smoking, seat belts, helmet laws, sin taxes, etc. to BigDaddy Gov feeding the kids breakfast under the notion that it is social compassion, pretending that it's not mama won't get her butt out of bed to feed the kids Quakers instant oatmeal.

Individual freedom has been curtailed, socially and legislatively, by both Democrats and Republicans; whether bailing out big business or welfare mammies. Some call it the "nannie state." Good term for a nation of grubby incorrigible adults.

Over the past 40 years we have seen a great deal accomplished in the quest for "equality" and "fairness" - much of it earned by the blood and tears of an honorable generation willing to demand human dignity. But life is never completely equal and fair - and although we can all sit at the front of the bus, attend the same schools, live in any neighborhood we can afford - the ideal of equality and fairness pushes forward - but no longer honorably, for the push now is not to level the playing field - but to level the finish line.

To level the finish line the US powers-that-be give us Obama as step one to Communism or whatever future terminology they tag it: Government ownership, and equality/fairness as defined by a dictatorship. Or, if you prefer your reality wrapped in warm-fuzzies - call it a global village, mankind living as one, even if a few billion have to be forced into the village at gunpoint, the enforcers claim it's for their own social and economic good.

The State/public ownership of production seems viable to many, and so far has been gradual - through the heads of state and corporations rutting in the same bed, to State ownership via controlling shares of important business sectors. Those Joe Averages who are ignorant of reality will believe they "own the means of production" etc. The truth is the State will be the CEO and it will be business as usual - enriching corporate heads and government bureaucrats, with the added assurance and insurance that when greed and corruption intentionally drive businesses into the red, the public (you) will be forced to bail them out, after all, why shouldn't you since it is your company too (remember, you are the State).

Unless there is a catastrophic event (world war, big terrorist attack, extraterrestrial invasion;) the move to communism will likely take 1-2 generations. We already see a generation or two without a healthy "self" - devoid of self-motivation, no self-starting, no self-esteem - such qualities replaced with self-absorption, self-degradation, self-destruction - the result of folks who are convinced that doing what they want, when they want, where they want, is only "fair" because they are "free," with no concern for the social blowback and political fallout, and why should folks be concerned - the State "fair" safety net will take care of everything, and you are "free" to babble someone else is at fault for your failures.

Got Slavery?

Republican SC governor, Mark Sanford, chief resister to Obama's stimulus said this week he'd reject $700 million of his state's $2.8 billion share of stimulus money unless he can spend it to pay down debt, and compared Obama's fiscal policies to those of Zimbabwe, saying the U.S. economy could collapse if it keeps spending money.

Along comes Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., who said Sanford's remark was "beyond the pale" and could have racial implications. Yesterday he said Sanford's request to use stimulus money to pay down debt "flies in the face" of Obama's intent that it be used to create or save jobs.

Sanford reasons that if "... you're buying into the notion of we just print some more money that we don't have, send it to some states, we'll create jobs. If that's the case, then why isn't Zimbabwe a rich place?" Sanford says elsewhere the stimulus package is "predatory lending" by the feds - true, as eventually we and future generations are gonna pay for being stimulated.

(Zimbabwe has been in economic meltdown ever since the South African nation began a chaotic land reform program. Its official inflation rate topped 11 million percent in 2008, with its treasury printing banknotes in the trillion-dollar range a.k.a. spending money you don't have.)

Clyburn comments that Sanford, "... happens to be a millionaire... he may not need help for the plantation his family owns, but the people whose grandparents and great-grandparents worked those plantations need the help" ... in the form of federal money.

Clyburn further says that Sanford is comparing Obama to Zimbabwe's Mugabee, is insulting Blacks, and the usual "progressive" (white) bloggers have rallied around also claiming the Sanford's remarks are racial.

So, who is Jim Clyburn? He's majority whip in the House, first elected in 1992 after South Carolina's 6th district was redrawn as a black-majority district. I searched high and low for House bills by Clyburn in his 17 year career, and found one bill he sponsored to preserve and interpret the Gullah/Geechee culture ($10 million over 10 years), a worthy cause if the money goes for what it says it will.

I did find Clyburn cosponsored 224 bills - nearly all frivolous (most of congress is), such as AIDS awareness, commemorative postage stamps, recognizing the contributions of Black basketball players, a bill to establish a Caribbean heritage month, and a bill recognizing the 100th anniversary of the founding of LasVegas.

Personally, I find Clyburn's "plantation" analogy more insulting than Sanford's Zimbawe reference. I don't believe Sanford was referring to race, but to out of control economic policies. Clyburn, on the other hand, is blatently race-baiting with the usual "you owe us" plantation mentality.

It's the modern plantation mentality because too many Black Americans choose to stay on the plantation - exchanging the master's chitlins for foodstamps, the slave cabin for section 8/projects, and instead of master choosing which slaves will breed, most of whom would not know their daddy, today's black men/women willingly breed for the master's prison industry, many never knowing their daddy, or momma.

Guys like Clyburn are overseers - patting your nappy heads like a Sunday preacher and whipping you with the chains of your own thinking.

Michelle Feels Our Pain

(Subtitle: How to Mimic the Clintons Without Even Trying)

Underscoring her commitment to the plight of America's military families, Mrs. Obama used a trip to Fort Bragg as a stage for her first television interviews since the inauguration. One, with ABC's "Good Morning America," aired Friday morning.

In the interview she said she wanted military families to know they have a friend in the White House.

"It hurts. It hurts," Mrs. Obama said of hearing about military families on food stamps. "These are people who are willing to send their loved ones off to, perhaps, give their lives — the ultimate sacrifice. But yet, they're living back at home on food stamps. It's not right, and it's not where we should be as a nation."

Michelle, Michelle, could you not find some other dire-need "cause" to lend your attention to? Gang violence, deadbeat dads, ghettos, political and corporate corruption? Oh, I forgot, the progressives reamed you guys when Barack made his infamous Father's Day speech last year, some called it the Black Men Are Lazy, Stupid, Violent Junkies Speech or Obama Catering to the White Folks Speech. Wouldn't wanna go there again.

GIs on foodstamps is an old gimmick Mickey. Gore and Bush used that sound byte almost a decade ago, back in 2000. Even at that time the number of troops receiving foodstamps was 0.45% of the 1.4 million, or 6300. The need for foodstamps is usually due to average GI Joe having a large family, one income, a lot of credit card debt, and flawed spending habits.

The average enlisted soldier does not expect to get rich on military life, or even live upper class without several years on duty. The lowly E-3 earns $35,105 per year; that includes housing, medical, the px, etc. Not a fortune but not poverty unless spending fast and frivolous.

Progressives/liberals have convinced two generations of Americans that foodstamps are nothing to be ashamed of - unless you're in uniform and then it's shameful. If the Obamas have their way, that shame will be worth $40/month more in military pay. Whooo hoo.

What's shameful (and "hurts") is not teaching our young people, in and out of uniform, how to make responsible choices, to save and spend wisely. What's shameful is 6000 troops on food stamps is not a real issue, but merely fills the air with pseudo-support the troops rhetoric.

What's shameful is the First Lady using old campaign spin as a platform and photo-op for "change." She made the same promises to Norfolk military wives in August 2008 - stumping for votes.

Michelle, as all polcats do, is simply stumping ahead to the next election.

Nancy Fancy

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that the federal government may have to spend even more money to shore up the nation's ailing economy, on top of the more than $1.6 trillion so far approved by Congress.

Pelosi's remarks came after senior House Democrats met behind closed doors with four prominent economists, who praised the actions taken by Washington to ease the effects of a recession that threatens to be the most severe since the 1930s. The $787 billion stimulus package, a $700 billion bailout for the U.S. financial system and President Obama's proposal to stem the tide of residential foreclosures are all sound policies that should begin to make a difference in the coming months, they told lawmakers.

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from the Department of Defense (DOD) detailing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's multiple requests for military air travel. The documents, obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), include internal DOD email correspondence detailing attempts by DOD staff to accommodate Pelosi's numerous requests for military escorts and military aircraft as well as the speaker's last minute cancellations and changes. The following are a few highlights from the documents, which are linked in full below:

* In response to a series of requests for military aircraft, one Defense Department official wrote, "Any chance of politely querying [Pelosi's team] if they really intend to do all of these or are they just picking every weekend?...[T]here's no need to block every weekend 'just in case'..." The email also notes that Pelosi's office had, "a history of canceling many of their past requests."
* One DOD official complained about the "hidden costs" associated with the speaker's last minute changes and cancellations. "We have...folks prepping the jets and crews driving in (not a short drive for some), cooking meals and preflighting the jets etc."
* The documents include a discussion of House Ethics rules and Defense Department policies as they apply to the speaker's requests for staff, spouses and extended family to accompany her on military aircraft. In May 2008, for example, Pelosi requested that her husband join her on a Congressional Delegation (CODEL) into Iraq. The DOD explained to Pelosi that the agency has a written policy prohibiting spouses from joining CODEL's into combat zones.
* Documents obtained from the U.S. Army include correspondence from Speaker Pelosi's office requesting an Army escort and three military planes to transport Pelosi and other members of Congress to Cleveland, Ohio, for the funeral services of the late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Pelosi noted in her letter of August 22, 2008, that such a request, labeled "Operation Tribute" was an "exception to standard policy."
* The documents also detail correspondence from intermediaries for Speaker Pelosi issuing demands for certain aircraft and expressing outrage when requested military planes were not available. "It is my understanding there are no G5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable...The speaker will want to know where the planes are..." wrote Kay King, Director of the House Office of Interparliamentary Affairs. In a separate email, when told a certain type of aircraft would not be available, King writes, "This is not good news, and we will have some very disappointed folks, as well as a very upset [s]peaker."
* During another email exchange DOD staff advised Kay King that one Pelosi military aircraft request could not be met because of "crew rest requirements" and offered to help secure commercial travel. Kay King responded: "We appreciate the efforts to help the codel [sic] fly commercially but you know the problem that creates with spouses. If we can find another way to assist with military assets, we would like to do that."

--- Gulfstream V, designated C-37A in U.S. Air Force service, the Gulfstream V fulfills missions for government and Defense Department officials. The US Navy also operates one C-37A.

The aircraft has a flight management system with a worldwide satellite-based Global Positioning System. The C-37A is capable of cruise at 51,000 feet. Features include enhanced weather radar, autopilot and head-up display for the pilot. Safety features include Enhanced Vision Systems that allows increased visibility in adverse environments. The aircraft is also equipped with commercial and military communications equipment to provide secure voice and data capability. The U.S. Air Force equips the C-37A with a basic crew of two pilots, one flight engineer, one communications systems operator, and one flight attendant.

--- Apparently, the "ailing economy" has absolutely no effect on government perks.

Gnarly Charlie

Until today I have never heard of Jason Mattera, the reporter in the video below. Apparently he's a roving reporter out to expose liberals/democrats, etc.



One comment on that page claims not to support this "particular tactic" - you know, the tactic of going up to Rangel like a regular Joe Friendly Fan and then asking embarrassing, although true, political questions.

That's right folks, you must immediately inform pols so they know which class face to put on and which side of their mouth to speak from. Rangel would never have said "mind your own goddamn business" to ... to ... hmmm ... well, he was tricked, that's right Charlie was tricked into exposing his bad side.

Pics From Kirkuk

Freddie & Fannie

The Obama administration's new mortgage relief plan, launched Wednesday, aims to help up to 9 million borrowers qualify for more affordable mortgages and stay in their homes.

It has two parts: First, it makes refinancing easier for those who are able to make their payments but pay a high interest rate and would otherwise not qualify because they do not have enough equity. Second, it encourages lenders to make loan modifications by providing $75 billion in incentives to alter the terms of loans.

Who qualifies?

For the refinance plan: Borrowers with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — generally, those with loans of less than $417,000 — who are current on their payments and who owe no more than 105 percent of the current value of their home, and no less than 80 percent. (That means a homeowner whose home is worth $400,000 only qualifies if her loan balance is between $420,000 and $360,000.)

For the loan modification program: Borrowers with loans of up to $729,750 who are having difficulty paying their mortgage. Reasons for the difficulty, the government says, can include a drop in income from the loss of a job, a medical hardship, or a spike in the mortgage payment. Applicants will be required to document their income and provide an "affidavit of financial hardship," which the government will verify.

How will loans be modified?

Lenders will change the terms of the loan so payments, including taxes and insurance, amount to no more than 31 percent of a homeowners' income. They may lower the interest rate to 2 percent, extend the term of the loan to as many as 40 years, or forgive some principal, although it must be repaid if the house is sold. The government will subsidize some of the cost and provide cash payments to banks as an incentive to work with borrowers.

Not everyone who has a hardship will qualify. Banks will determine whether it makes financial sense to modify a loan.

---------- Government largess to the little people? No, it's politicians funneling money to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The banks will determine which loans make sense to modify. The same banks who thought it made financial sense to make the loans in the first place. I guess the Bush administration's bailout last year was insufficient. Keep throwing bad money after bad money.

Sweet Deals