Sunday, June 29, 2014

Uncle Scam

One nation for profit, with liberty and justice for some.
That's my take on "Independence Day."
So let's all get out our flags and celebrate!
 John Boehner says he's going to sue the president. My first thought was that the Speaker of the House was actually going to do something. It appears to me that Congress can't do a damn thing. So it will surprise the hell out of me if he actually follows through with his threat. Notice Boehner's language, “We elected a president, Americans note; we didn’t elect a monarch or a king"  Using this language right before "Independence Day" is no accident.
George W. Bush had a grand total of  291 executive orders. No one threatened to sue him.
The Bush dynasty is never questioned.
It's not lost on me that right before the July 4th weekend that John Boehner pulls a lawsuit out of his ass. The US is a joke to the rest of the world and it's wierd to me that anyone would want to immigrate here. It's been suggested that the reason for the lawsuit is because President Obama gave Boehner a deadline to pass immigration legislation.
 Nothing will get done.
 It's getting to the point where I am used to it. As a matter of fact, it seems like we just keep going backward, soon we'll all be decked out in Pilgrim gear, that seems like where conservative's are headed. Reading Bibles and stealing land from Native Americans, that's what makes America great!
So far the only thing Boehner has managed to do is shut down the government, costing Americans billions of dollars. So I wonder how much suing the president will cost the taxpayers? Not that it matters. Because taxpaying citizens don't matter. Corporations and non-existent "job creators" matter. This whole thing is laughable and a big distraction, like fireworks and apple pie.
                                  Let's all have a big parade, but really, what are we celebrating?



Sunday, June 22, 2014

American Dreams

Sometimes I wonder how many countries the U.S. has influenced and infected?
We've ruined Iraq and President Obama says they have to get their political shit together.
Our own country is in something of a dilemma as we cause chaos around the world and then tell other countries to "man up" even though we don't. This week we have seen Iraq taken over by ISIS and act like that's a big surprise. The NSA is collecting innocent Americans conversations and we are expected to think that what happened in Iraq is a big shock, like we don't have operatives over there who know what's going on.
Then there's the migration of tens of thousands of children fleeing El Salvador, Guatamala and Honduras. We have supported regimes in these countries for years. Then we are taken by surprise as people swarm into our country, we have an immigration crises and our leaders act like it just suddenly happened.
Meanwhile we have homeless children in our own country that we don't take care of.
 It looks like we are going to send $250 million dollars to Central America, in a desperate attempt to solve the refugee problem, then we blame gangs in Central America for telling people America's streets are paved with gold.
 Meanwhile we have spent $1 TRILLION on Iraq, a country that is now in shambles. Why are we so quick to spend money in other countries and no one bats an eye? Imagine if President Obama said he was going to spend $1 trillion on a domestic jobs program or education? I can't imagine what would happen if the President said he was going to earmark $250 million for food stamps. Congress and the Senate would be outraged, then they would do everything in their power to cry socialism and call on the free markets to save us.
It seems like there is little hope and even less political will to find common ground when it comes to taking care of our own people and our own country. It is more profitable to go elsewhere and dabble in other countries in order to extract some kind of profit, then we act shocked when things don't go our way. When are we going to "man up" and take care of America? Why do we cry about having sane gun control laws and we turn a blind eye to the carnage going on around us? We bail out banks and GM only to see that a completely ineffective company can't stop defects in the products it produces causing economic devastation and loss of life. There's always plenty of money to throw at other countries, or corporations, are any politicians going to argue with that? Or are they only interested in keeping ordinary Americans from having a decent life? 
 When are we going to find the will to say enough is enough and stop allowing "job creators" to offshore their profits? We have millions of Americans struggling and doing without, but all that's ok. It's the "American dream" to work two jobs, go without healthcare, never mind being able to afford going to the dentist. Whatever you do, don't complain and don't ask why.
This week, in yet another scandal that will go nowhere, Paul Ryan (R-Wis) told the I.R.S. commissioner that nobody believes the I.R.S lost thousands of emails. Americans are expected to save their records for seven years but it's ok for the I.R.S. to  just say "whoops"? The craziest thing is that I actually agree with Paul Ryan. If we could find some way to unify and demand that America starts taking care of it's own people and stop meddling in other countries, that would be an American dream come true.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Pieces Of Iraq

It's looking more and more like the border between Iraq and Syria has probably disintegrated, ISIS may get as far as Baghdad. Iran is a major player in trying to broker some sort of peace agreement. Even more ironic is the U.S  George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier being sent to the Persian Gulf, "just in case." I thought they were supposed to solve their own problems, even after we've caused most of their problems.
Bush And Bandar
ISIS wants to create a Sharia ruled state, meanwhile there is a Sunni population that is in the minority, in Iraq, though, they are a majority throughout the Middle East. There are the Shia and then there are the Kurds and the prediction is that Iraq will split into three pieces.
One things for sure, one U.S. military intervention after another doesn't seem to be anything other than setting up another crises so that those in power can profit. the Carlyle Group is at it again and now Tony Blair is a member, in case you're wondering why he's so set on another go round.
Does anyone think it strange that this groups name is Isis, but nothing like the Goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility? In the spirit of the Goddess Isis, I hope some magical humanitarian aid is on the way to Iraq instead of bombs or drones.
I'm not sure why we are still on this Global policeman kick like we have any business in Iraq or anywhere else, unless it's for humanitarian purposes and even then, I'm not sure we'd do such a great job.
Prince Bandar bin Sultan, anyone remember this name? Kerry had the nerve to tell him to stop funding the fighters overthrowing the Assad Regime, which is where ISIS is getting it's money from. We need to stay out of this. Nothing positive can come of our presence there. I think that's been proven. Here's something that should make us all feel better. Bush-Era Advocates Of Splitting Iraq Into Three Parts Say: I Told You So


Sunday, June 15, 2014

A Run For The Border

I don't get real personal on this blog, but something happened the other day. There was a conversation about immigration, and illegal aliens, specifically Mexican immigrants. Then a woman I know asked two questions
"Why do Mexicans need Social Security numbers?"
"Don't they have Social Security in Mexico?"
Yeah, That actually happened.
The reality that immigrants may need an AMERICAN Social Security to is obviously foreign. (Pun intended)
This kind of ignorance is why this country is going down the drain. Mexico does have a Social Security Institute, but you can't just use that number in this country.
I am guessing the day that the New Deal or Franklin Roosevelt came up at school she was absent.
 Either that or they don't teach it anymore, because the social safety net that happened after the Great Depression, is being discarded and we are being told that we don't have any money for "entitlements."
I have been reading about the refugee children pouring into our country. *38,000 children last year, that  number is expected to double this year. They are fleeing their country because things are so bad, this is the option left to them.
 Leaving a third world country, because things are better here. I don't expect it to last too long. What they are running from, we are turning into.
Maybe they still believe in the "American Dream" and conditions here are more humane, depending on where you live.
But the kind of stupid that I encounter daily is rampant.. I really just have given up hope that things will ever get better and then you take into account that helpless children are desperate enough to come here, tells you a lot about America's escapades south of the border. Looks like things are turning into chaos, much like the spectacle we are witnessing in Iraq.
What I am witnessing for the most part, with people I see daily, is a breakdown, people are completely disconnected. They act like they are in their living rooms when they are in places like movie theaters and libraries. I don't know anyone who has a passport, let alone experienced another culture. Our architecture is crap, everyone is in a frenzy of busyness, working 2 jobs, trying to survive. The truth is that America is dying and I thought I was the only one who noticed what was happening, but no, Morris Berman, author of Dark Ages America is way ahead of me. This book actually made me feel like I wasn't alone in my observations, its a good fast read.
 I am guessing by the time I leave this earth, this country won't be completely like the fall of Rome, but I'm sure it will accelerate. When you have a bunch of illiterate people asking stupid questions like "Isn't there Social Security in Mexico?" Because these programs in her mind are interchangeable, and there's a worldwide Social Security number everyone just has. You better believe this isn't going to get better. My only hope is that this woman, will swim across the Rio Grande in an effort to collect when she retires, and maybe win the Darwin Award.
 Mexico does have a Social Security Institute, I imagine you would have to be a Mexican citizen to obtain benefits, or some kind of documentation. Mexican Social Security Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
*70,000 Kids Will Show Up Alone at Our Border This Year. What Happens to Them? | Mother Jones
 
 

This Time

I find it ironic that there's all this controversy over the return of Bowe Bergdahl. That we traded detainees from Guantanamo Bay, for this man who probably shouldn't have been sent to the middle east to fight in a war, we had no business being in and now what do we hear? More war.
John McCain is all in.
 I wonder why?
  • Raytheon 
  • Honeywell 
  • General Dynamics C4 Systems 
  • The Boeing Company 
  • Northrop Grumman
  • Orbital Sciences
  • United Technologies – includes Goodrich, Hamilton Sundstrand
  • L3 Communications
  • Standard Aero (MRO)
  • Bombardier
  • Nammo Talley
All located in Arizona, hey, isn't that the state that McCain represents? When President Obama says "no boots will be on the ground" he means drones.
Iraq may be disintegrating, that's our fault.
Tony Blair says it's time to go back. Tony Blair: west must intervene in Iraq | Politics | theguardian.com
Not sure who "the west" is....      
I wonder what George W. Bush has to say about his spectacular success? 
George W. Bush Won’t Weigh In on Iraq - ABC News 
That's right, crickets.....
Opinion: Bush's toxic legacy in Iraq - CNN.com
Oh really CNN? Where were you when we invaded a country on the basis of lies? 
                                             
This time, we need to stay out of engaging in any war in Iraq, not that I think we'll be going in there any time soon. We've extracted everything we could from that country. In the future, I'm sure we'll be going to a country where they have something we need, then we'll sprinkle our democracy all over them.
   
                      
 

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Don't Cry For Cantor

K street, here he comes.
Cantor won't be out of work for long.  A bummer for business lobby,
Eric Cantor’s Departure a Bummer for Business Lobby | TIME
may well be a boon for Eric Cantor.  Politics is big business and Cantor can always call up Boehner for whatever his new employers want. It's not much a of a stretch going from your corporate masters while you are the majority leader, to outright being employed by them.
How about The Blackstone Group? A multinational that offshores all their profits.
 Rep. Eric Cantor: Campaign Finance/Money - Summary - Representative 2014 | OpenSecrets
He's got lot's of options, unlike others who get pink slips.
Former revolving door member of congress Jim Mccrery, will totally hook Cantor up and show him the  ropes. Lobbying Spending Database Mccrery, Jim, 2014 | OpenSecrets
As the shock wears off, the doors will open, welcoming Cantor where the money really is.
Adviser groups open their wallets to reach members of Congress
After all, he's got plenty of favors to call in.
I guess it's not surprising that,  "From Jan 2001 to Jun 2014, Cantor missed 386 of 9,515 roll call votes, which is 4.1%. This is worse than the median of 2.4% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving." 
Considering he had 239 days off last year, I can see why It would be hard to get to work.  Well worry no more, now those grueling nights, crafting legislation are over for you, Wining and dining congresscritters will be your future. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Mission NOT Accomplished

If the mission was to turn a country that was NOT a terrorist threat into one, then I guess, Mission Accomplished in Iraq. Insurgents in Iraq overrun Mosul provincial government headquarters | Reuters

The sad news just keeps coming as we learn that 5 NATO members were killed in friendly fire in Afghanistan.
There's not much aknowledgement that these events are happening. No one I know talks about it. It's like for most people the wars are already over, if they ever noticed they started.
 The fact that we were duped into this senseless carnage by fictional WMD's and threats of Al Queda in a country where they didn't exist, just makes it that much harder to see more death and chaos going on.
We have seen the results of  this violence play out in the VA scandal where a system is swamped with the wounded and retired vets seeking care from a system inadequately staffed. And so it goes.
So what exactly was the endgame here? Why did we want to go to war in the first place? Because I don't see any benefit of it. What I do see is a country willing to go along with a war of choice and then dump the soldiers into a system where they could very well die waiting for treatment. Then the big idea is to give veterans vouchers or privatize their healthcare and lets pretend that it won't be even more expensive for them.
These veterans are going to be living with the consequences of this corporate war for years. The shock and awe of it all? These corporations are the real WMD's. They are the ones behind the lies to get us into these wars. Then they want to bury the soldiers with vouchers so the health insurance industry can extract more profit out of them.
Meanwhile we have a government that does nothing but talk. Too bad they didn't leave it at that, when they started 2 wars in the Middle East.
                                               

Sunday, June 8, 2014

"Thought Work"

Everything we see, Everywhere you go, we are being marketed to, comodified, surveilled, watched  or followed. Construction of our culture has been taken over by corporations. The consequences of this is that our very thoughts and ideas are being influenced by "brands" and "touch points," consumer behavior has value. Your only value as a person is as far as you purchase, consume, buy or spend.
We have become a society that is market oriented, without any goal that is for the common good or making anything better in this country.
 Public concerns, care of it's citizenry is only useful if people can be manipulated into voting against their own interests, so corporations can profit.

Politics has been comodified to such an extant, in one article in Al Jazeera, explains that there is little difference between left and right when it comes to war. What I think is that there is little difference between them whether it's about war or anything else. I don't know if things were always this corrupt but it seems like the post 9/11 gravy train of surveillance has become a mash up of marketing to consumers worldwide. It's not about your safety.
 Politicians are raking in the cash, while doing nothing concerning the public good.
 I wonder what George Orwell would have to say about our post-terrorism age? Now we have ever more intrusive models of televisions and iPhones, taking Big Brother wherever we go. I don't know about you, but I don't feel any safer.
Corporations receive more subsidies, bailouts and tax breaks than the average citizen because of their hallowed "free market" status. Offshoring their profits, bleeding our country dry, while everyday Americans continue going to Walmart, knowing that the workers there live in poverty and think nothing of it, that is "thought work". It sure is working.
Keeping us "thinking" we live in a Democracy and watching us wherever we go, in our brave new world seems at odds with freedom. Because freedom isn't free, it's bought and sold, by slavish politicians devoted to corporate masters. Sooner or later this corrupt pyramid will crumble, when we stop being goose stepping flag wavers. I don't know about you but I don't need or want the right to buy low priced junk.
When in the past has their been this kind of wealth inequality and a spy state existed?  When "The goal of economic policies was to build up the state, especially in an age of incessant warfare"  Louis XIV of France - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 I doubt we will be seeing anything on a French Revolution level. Not in a country where the incessant marketing and realty shows keep Americans sated and tranquil. Keep eating the cake, made by Mosanto, blissfully unaware that you are purchasing your own poison. When the biggest controversy in a week is about whether we should have traded "detainees" for a "soldier-deserter," not why we went to war in the first place and torturing of our own prisoners. That is "thought work." Marketing by the media suggests many things, rarely the truth. Context is gone in our culture, because everything is now. We can't look back. But we can gather every bit of information we can on citizens, going about their business. The cameras are on us all the time and we have accepted it. That is "thought work." 
Whatever you do just don't think about it.


Wednesday, June 4, 2014

War Is Hell

Dear Bowe Bergdahl,
Welcome back.
 I don't care if you deserted, I'm sorry you were captured. I don't know what you went through and I have no right to judge any of your actions. I see on Wikipedia, that you studied martial arts and spent time at a Buddhist monastery.  It seems to me that you have been on a spiritual path for some time.
"Bergdahl wrote emails to his parents that he was disillusioned by the war effort and bothered by the treatment of the Afghan people by the American soldiers."  I think you were a peaceful warrior.
Dude, if you walked away, no one could blame you. This was a war of choice. This was a war for PROFIT.
I don't give a damn about the criticism of President Obama. He did the right thing. I dare anyone, who said it was wrong to bring you back, to sign up for the military right now and go there.
Hey, John McCain and your duplicity.
John McCain Position Switch On Bergdahl Deal-Is He The Most Disingenuous Member Of Senate Or Simply Unfit To Serve?
John McCain, served his country honorably. But enough is enough.
Every politician, who voted for the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, well, they voted for Blackwater,
 John Ashcroft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yep him, profiteer.
While Bowe Bergdahl, rode a bike everywhere and never owned a car.
 Dick Cheney? "Halliburton Brown & Root Services Corp was awarded at least $2.5 billion but is believed to have spent considerably less to construct and run military bases, some in secret locations, as part of the Army's Logistics Civil Augmentation Program."
This is just scratching the surface.
 Anyone who doesn't understand the profit of war, doesn't understand.
 The lobbies and the corporations are in charge.
"In November 2002, KBR was tasked to plan oil well firefighting in Iraq, and in February 2003 was issued a contract to conduct the work."
Really?
The irony is that a man who never owned a car and rode a bike, went to war  for oil, amongst other things.
George "Worst President Ever" Bush got a free ticket, joined the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group of the Texas Air National Guard on May 27, 1968, during the Vietnam War. He committed to serve until May 26, 1974, with two years on active duty while training to fly and four years on part-time duty.
But no one has a thing to say about that, Draft dodger.
However, the son of a truck driver, not a President, actually had the balls to go to war.
Oh, he might have deserted?




Sunday, June 1, 2014

"We Support Our Troops"

 
  Barack Obama 2008: "Fulfilling a Sacred Trust with our Veterans"
"FIX THE VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION
Reduce the Claims Backlog: There are currently over 400,000 claims 
pending within the
Veterans Benefits Administration, and over 800,000 claims receipts
 are expected in 2008 alone.
 VA error rates have also grown unacceptably high: 
over 100,000 cases each year."
This is just one example of why I can't vote anymore.
I don't listen to any politicians promises of what they are going to do, 
because they don't. 
Now Eric Shinseki has stepped down, oh goodie, because 
now the problem will finally be addressed. Right.   
According to what I've been reading the VA problems were a "known known" 
since 2005.
Like the gun massacres that occur too frequently, despite Americans outrage,
nothing gets done. 
 Would it be too much to ask to put someone with some medical knowledge 
in charge?
 Maybe someone experienced with healthcare systems? The system is 
broken and it probably wouldn't help.
 
 General Shinseki's resignation won't fix this problem and all of the apologies are meaningless. 
We have had two major wars that we never paid for. Does anyone think that part of the economic
 problems in this country have been because we just put these wars on the tab?
 The same with veterans healthcare.
We can keep the banks going with $85 billion a month, but we can't take care of our veterans. 
Let's see, how many scandals now? The NSA spying on us all and probably on wounded
vets as well. The unbelievably flawed rollout of the ACA, the IRS controversy, investigating 
Tea Party groups along with the Occupy movement. Why can't the government keep it's 
promises at the very least to these people willing to serve this country?
 Just keep downgrading the budget and hold up funding, 
or just keep cutting, which is only part of the problem. Having a corrupt system where it was
 KNOWN that the VA was cooking the books, lying about veterans wait times is just vile.
 But what is worse is that no one acknowledges the traumatized soldiers
with severe wounds, physical and mental. How stressed they must be trying to get basic care.
 How depressing that must be for them. 
Any politicians outrage about this scandal is a bunch of hypocrisy. 
They've known about this for years. 
They're too busy carrying water for their corporate masters. They should all resign, not just Shinseki. 
The problem is the system, Shinseki resigning isn't going to fix it. 
I guess we all go back to not giving a damn about veterans until the next time. Keep it up with 
the meaningless yellow ribbons that's a billion dollar industry for someone to profit from, 
probably made in China. 
These veterans were sold a bill of goods and went to war for the profit of giant corporations.
 Just wait till the next war that comes along, follow the money and the free market will win the day
 and rake in the cash,
meanwhile vets go homeless and without care.