That's a terrible analogy and one we shouldn't ignore because the horrific assault by Hamas Militants on October 7th is not going to be met by targeted retaliation but by an open-ended War against every Palestinian and multiple Muslim nations while the people invoking the Terrorist attacks of 9/11 are following the invocation with blood-thirsty calls to eradicate every Muslim. "Flatten Gaza"...
I'm afraid the retaliation and violence won't have any defined end other than, "Defeat the Terrorists". The Global War on Terror returns for another open-ended run. The US is already shipping 250lb "precision" bombs and JDAM conversion kits to upgrade older munitions into so-called smart bombs.
Any time anyone states perhaps the aerial bombardments obliterating entire city blocks should stop, on-line trolls and blood-thirsty keyboard killers will declare you are in league with Hamas and support beheading babies. There is a large contingent which apparently believes Israel gets to drown Gaza in blood and Israel also gets to decide when enough blood has been shed.
"Now, instead of standing by Israel, whose citizens were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists... it preaches to Israel. It is better for the UN to focus now on returning the hostages, condemning Hamas, and supporting Israel's right to defend itself,” Gilad Erdan, Israel's ambassador to the UN.
How is this acceptable? Because 40 Beheaded Babies. How can anyone expect the people to grab enough food, water, medicine, clothing in 24 hours? Because 40 Beheaded Babies. What happens to the people who don't leave? Who cares because 40 Beheaded Babies. Israel's Right-to-Defend Itself and the 40 Beheaded Babies is going to be an all-time Trump card to commit open-ended Genocide against the Palestinian people.
The absolute Righteousness of the Israeli cause will justify everything that follows.
Traitor Trump has declared the intention of American colonization in Afghanistan. While dishonest media outlets like the FTF New York Times and Zero Hedge are still addicted to the concept of Killary Clinton and believe Donald Trump is a dove who will never involve the United States into foreign wars, the truth is and always has been, Trump will use the military capriciously and with little regard to the destruction wrought upon the bodies, minds and souls of the American families least of all to those poor people in countries he whimsically decides to bomb.
Already this year, there have been 4 Naval accidents, under the Trump Misadministration; two of the accidents on June 17th and August 21st resulted in multiple deaths. Additionally, several helicopter crashes, an Army SOC on August 15th and two Marine Corps helicopter crashes one on August 3rd and another a month ago on July10th, have claimed the lives of US service members under Trump's watch. Donald Trump hasn't been bothered to comment on these incidents as he is busy defending his voters; Neo-Nazis and Bigots. Trump Don't Care.
Ghoulish conservatives would at this point under President Obama declared this a crisis of leadership, a result of Obama's Lead from Behind Strategy, demand Congressional hearings and be yammering for Impeachment. Under Trump the only discussion thus far anywhere in the Right-Wing media has been Faux News bringing on noted asshole Ralph Peters to blame Barack Obama.
But, under President Trump? Silence. A shameful silence of a political system and its' adherents who have nothing to offer the United States or the World. Conservatism is treason in defense of power and power for the sake of advancing their agenda of oppression and intolerance.
Conservatives have no moral center. Conservatives have no set beliefs other than pissing off liberals. In fact, conservatives do not adhere to any of their so-called values and beliefs. Conservatives love lies and hate America
Stealing Social Security, Defunding Obamacare and eliminating the EPA. “…[E]veryone but an idiot knows that the lower classes must be kept poor, or they will never be industrious.” - Arthur Young; 1771
The Anti-American Party (Republicans and Pro-Business Democrats) are ready to give the President the Authority to Bomb Syria into Peace(s) in exchange for taking Social Security and transferring it into the coffers of the Warmongering Plutocracy. As a bonus we can kick some lazy poor people who won't join the military to fight to enrich the 1% off of Medicaid and SNAP. And we will necessarily have to eliminate the EPA because Corporations will need to be able to pollute the air and water in order to ensure our military is fighting with the best equipment. Hey!It's the Right thing to do for Our Benighted Job Creators. We All have to sacrifice!
Lower Benefits for the Poor!
Lower Rights for the Working Class!
Lower Life Expectancy for the Middle Class!
Lower Taxes for the Rich!
Lower Regulations for Polluters!
It's only fair we all have some skin in the game. I mean how dare Detroit Mayor David Bing order the Koch Brothers Sovereign Corporation Koch Carbon LLC to clean up the four story tall multi-ton heap of Petroleum refining byproducts left from processing Alberta Tar Sands deposited along the banks of the Detroit River,
"The pet coke, a byproduct of tar sands oil refining, has caused a controversy for months since four-story-high piles appeared along the Detroit River near the Ambassador Bridge. Many local residents protested the eyesore and the potential for the piles to pollute both the air and the river."
Just this week, Koch Carbon apparently moved the petcoke to Ohio, where most likely the high-sulfur toxic pollutant will be burned for electrcitiy and befoul the air of Ohio but, Koch Carbon will not comment on the fate of the pollutants. Of course, with the USA re-entering the Victorian Little Wars Era the only jobs left in America, outside being a Plutocracy Apologist, will be Cogs in the Machinery of War; Bravely opening up Foreign Markets for the Plutocracy to exploit.
"I don't believe in humanitarian wars. I don't believe in humanitarian bombings," Congressman Alan Grayson (D-Orlando).
The United States has entered a Ultra-Reactionary Period in which the Plutocratic Elites aided by their Media and Government Lapdogs are attacking every Progressive gain.
"You know, if one day a kid doesn’t have lunch, right, maybe that’s a teaching moment when that kid doesn’t have lunch. That may sound harsh saying that, but we’ve got to get people to start being responsible for themselves." - Thomas Kersting on Fox & Friends
Oh yes, it's a teaching momement. We have to teach the Poor that they are here to toil and suffer to enrich the Plutocracy. Like Republican Congressman Stephen Fincher, who while voting to eliminate SNAP assistance for poor children and do away with subsidized lunches has raked in over $3,500,000 USC in free money from the Federal Government. Much of it for NOT growing certain crops.
But when the despicable Rich Lowry of NRO is on Faux News stating,
"[G]overnment has gone out and deliberately eroded the natural sense of stigma Americans feel about being on the dole in any form and that's a disgrace."
He isn't talking about Stephen Fincher or Michele Bachmann and the millions they've received or the Trillions of Tax Payer Dollars which have been stolen by the 1%. A figure so large its' scope alone make people dismiss the theft because it's easier to believe the 1% aren't robbing Us into servitude and penury. But, Rich Lowry is a paid apologist for Power and Plutocracy. It's his job to defend the 1% and attack the Poor and Working Class.
What's making this so successful for the Plutocrats is the multiple fronts approach they've adopted. Instead of allowing Working Class resistance to build up to fight one battle, the Plutocracy is going after everything ensuring that resistance will be local and or fragmented.
So, while Republicans seek to dominate and subjugate women in Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin other Republicans are going after Social Security and Medicare. “You want sequester relief? Then let’s talk about a reduction in entitlement spending,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell in July. "Now, it’s time to deal with the mandatory side,” Speaker of the House John Boehner told the crowd at a fundraiser for Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) in Boise, Idaho. “I’ve made it clear that we’re not going to increase the debt limit without cuts and reforms that are greater than the increase in the debt limit.”
"What we need to have happen is leadership on the part of this president and the White House to … say we’re going to fix the underlying problem that’s driving our deficit … the entitlement programs and the unfunded liability that they are leaving on this generation and the next.” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said earlier this month.
The 1% are satisfied with just Paying No Taxes, they also want to eliminate programs which aid the Working Class, they want potential opposition (Unions and Collective Bargaining) to their Dominance destroyed and they want all government spending rerouted to the Military-Industrial-Complex.
I'm so mad at President Obama for signing that Evil Patriot Act back in October 26, 2001 after he ignored the August 6th CIA Memo about Osama Bin Laden and allowed 9/11 to happen.
The more I reflect and read about Edward Snowden's revelations the more I want to be clear I have no desire to engage in a character assassination of him. Sure, he's got some short-comings and some sketchiness but, let's look at what his message contains.
The Obama's Department of Justice working inside the "legal" framework established by the FISA Courts, the Patriot Act, going back to Harry Truman and the 80th Congress' 1947 National Security Act felt entirely comfortable in going to multiple Internet/Phone Companies and pressuring them/serving them with Court Orders allowing the NSA to collect data.
Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and others have stated (whether one believes it or not) that no direct access and no backdoor servers were created allowing the NSA et al unfettered access. Facebook Legal released a statement claiming that only 9000-10000 user-data requests were made by all levels (muncipial, county, state, federal) of Government pursiuant to about 20,000 FB accounts.
This is important to note because Glenn Greenwald's initial assertion was the NSA had direct access regardless of warrants or any other constraints. However, it's unimportant to the overall point of this post.
Now, if there is one thing Libertarians get correct it is that the Power of Government is different than other types of power. Facebook, Target Stores, Google Inc. may collect data on me but if I refuse their services I am free of their yoke*. The Government has the "legal" authority to collect information to detain or incarcerate me.
What makes Snowden's claims all the more troubling is that he wasn't a sworn Government employee but was working for Booz Allen Hamilton, a Corporation which made $1.3 Billion in Government contracts for "Intelligence Work. MotherJones has an analysis of the steady infestation of Private Contractors into the Intelligence Analysis side of the MIC.
It appears the data collection/analysis wasn't being done by nefarious Obama Bureaucrats looking for dirt on Teabaggers but, because of the Republican Legacy of Outsourcing and Privatization is being done by Corporate Stooges who work for the MIC.
The biggest Coup pulled off in US History has been the outsourcing of Government functions to Private Contractors. And those Corporate employees seem to have access to the information easier than Government Workers.
What's been going on for the last 33 years has been the steady erosion of the Progressive Advances of the 20th Century Government by the Reactionary Neoliberals and Warmongering Neoconservatives to be replaced by the Neo-Feudalist State controlled by the 1% and interested only in using Government Power in Quelling Domestic Dissent and Opening up Foreign Markets for Exploitation.
So the words about noble deaths and sacred blood and honor and such are all put into dead lips by grave robbers and fakes who have no right to speak for the dead. ~ Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
Republicans are cheap suits and grave robbers. That despicable right-wing generation who currently infest DC came of age by being spineless cowards. They actively avoided service in Vietnam in order to advance their political careers at home. Now they are only too ready to Use Dead Veterans as Props for their Campaigns and to smear living War Veterans.
Mitt Romney revived his Benghazi Hit Job on the President by invoking the name of Glen Doherty. Republicans love dead Veterans because they can stick their words into the mouths of the dead. It's awful and it's been the standard MO of Right-Wingers, especially cowardly pukes like Romney, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove.
Well, Barbara Doherty, the mother of the slain Former SEAL, ordered Romney to stop using her son's death for his political gain.
"I don't trust Romney," she said. "He shouldn't make my son's death part of his political agenda. It's wrong to use these brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama."
Mrs. Doherty is correct in her opinion of Mitt Romney's character, the cowardly Romney has made his entire career and fortune on using people. It's what the Plutocrats like Mitt Romney do.
However, here in Illinois my Congressman Joe Walsh found things a bit more difficult as he faced a living Veteran and found out his tawdry smears only highlight his cowardice.
During the debate between Congressman Walsh and Tammy Duckworth, Walsh head up a photo and stated,
"I was marching in a parade in Schaumburg (IL), Sunday, two days before the Democratic convention, when Tammy Duckworth was on a stage down in Charlotte (NC) — if you can look at the picture — picking out a dress for her speech Tuesday night.”
Duckworth, merely retorted,
"I do sometimes look at the clothes that I wear, but for most of my adult life, I’ve worn one color — it’s called camouflage.” Adding, "My opponent has attempted to criticize me for talking about my military service. But I served — and he didn’t."
Joe Walsh isn't your standard Republican. He's been trying to carve a niche for himself over at Faux News since his whisper thin victory over Melissa Bean in 2010.
Mainly, Walsh has accomplished this by yelling out that President Obama is black, by screaming at his constituents, by telling Postal Workers in his district he's going to vote to eliminate their jobs and by getting sued for over $100,000 in child support. But, nationally, Republicans have made Troop Worship a Fetish. But, let a Veteran speak out against them and Right-Wingers will no more honor you than Iraqi insurgent or Al Qaeda operative would.
Veterans and those slain in war mean very little to Republicans. George W(orst President Ever) Bush gave 6 Gold Star Families a "Special" Presidential Coin when they visited him since he couldn't be bothered to show up for their funerals and admonished them; "Don’t go sell it on eBay.”
Republicans don't care about Veterans.
Republicans love war. Republicans love the acclaim that comes with waving the Bloody Shirt and talking about Freedom from the comfort of their stateside offices. Republicans love the Trillions of Dollars and thousands of lives they feed the rapacious War Machine.
That is what Mitt Romney represents. Mitt Romney couldn't care less for individual military members,
"I didn’t use the word troops, I used the word military, and I think [giggles] they refer to the same thing.”
The Military-Industrial-Complex are people, my friend! Romney only cares for the Military-Industrial-Complex and how best to use dead Veterans to advance his Campaign.
Update: According to a friend of Doherty's, Elf Ellefsen, Romney introduced himself to Doherty four separate times during the gathering. “He said it was very comical,” Ellefsen said, “Mitt Romney approached him ultimately four times, using this private gathering as a political venture to further his image. He kept introducing himself as Mitt Romney, a political figure. The same introduction, the same opening line. Glen believed it to be very insincere and stale.” Ellefsen said Doherty remembered Romney as robotic. “He said it was pathetic and comical to have the same person come up to you within only a half hour, have this person reintroduce himself to you, having absolutely no idea whatsoever that he just did this 20 minutes ago, and did not even recognize Glen’s face.”
"As you know, you go to war with the Army you have. They're not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time." - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Dec 8, 2004.
To be more clear the Republican Party loves the Military-Industrial-Complex (MIC). Republicans do not see individual soliders, they don't exist in the Right-Wing mind. What the Republican Party believes in is the "Military".
As such, when the shameless, gutless Congressman Paul Ryan said, “We don’t think the generals are giving us their true advice. We don’t think the generals believe that their budget is really the right budget.”
Note the use of We. Ryan is not speaking just for himself, he's speaking for the Party. The Party which views the individual solider as a prop, as an asset, as a piece on a strategic map of resources.
Paul Ryan felt he had a free hand to call "the Generals" liars because he is the perfumed dandy attack poodle of the Plutocracy. Ryan's status as the Architect of the Path to the Penury will never cost him the support of the 1%, what he is defending is the Massive Transfer of Wealth from the American People (and the Iraqis or the enemy du jour) to the MIC.
Congressman Joe Walsh is running against Tammy Duckworth. Walsh is a pure opportunist. He's a man, "the guy who sleeps in his office", without a useful trait or accomplishment to his name, but, Walsh felt safe belittling and slandering Tammy Duckworth. When asked about Duckworth, he off-handedly dismissed her incredibly grievous injures as "Ehhh... Let's move on..."
This wasn't the first time Tea Party Republican Joe Walsh felt comfortable bashing Veterans. Walsh called Veterans who participated with #Occupy and OWS "anti-American". And why? Because he's a Republican it's understood that in the Budgetary circles he will vote the Right way for more money to the MIC.
Conservative Champions of the MIC loved Pat Tillman, until it was learned he was anti-war and wanted to meet Noam Chomsky. Then right-winger chicken hawks Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter ignored or off-handedly smeared Pat Tillman and duped conservative war-mongers could attack anyone who dissuade them of the easy stereotype of the Warrior Pat Tillman.
A simple breakdown of every leading Republican and conservative shows they don't serve in the military [See my post, CPAC=Chicken Hawks United] but, they all sure wave the flag proudly and talk tough and loud about attacking Iran from the safety of their posh air-conditioned offices.
The Republican Party's shameful disregard towards returning Veterans isn't just confined to slandering individual Veterans like Duckworth or Tillman, but extends all the way up to their cutting off of funds and shameful mistreatment of wounded at Walter Reed and and the epidemic of homelessness and joblessness [See my post: Republicans Piss on Veterans where Senate Republicans couldn't find any money in the Budget to aid homeless Vets] the Republican seem content to ignore in the ever increasing escalation war against the President.
The Walter Reed Scandal was known as early as 2004 but it took until 2007, when the Democrats regained control of the House and Senate for anything to be done to alleviate the suffering of those whom the Republican Party and Conservatives view only abstractly through the lens of Right-Wing jingoism.
This is the heart of the Republican Party, it only supports military members who pledge blind allegiance to Right-Wing Dogma. Anyone who dares express a different viewpoint of the Trillion Dollar Plus Yearly Budget allocated towards the DoD is ostracized and cast out as Anti-American so that the Military Contractors can continue to inflate their budgets and steal hundreds of Millions of Dollars from the American people, while the Neo-Cons and Right-Wingers send the poor off to die in far away lands for the enrichment of the 1%.
Chicago based Boeing...Wait, why should we call Boeing "Chicago-based"? Yes, they have a nice skyscraper (it won the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois' "Most Innovative" Design Award) located along the River in downtown Chicago which they moved into in 2001. Boeing still retains their sprawling massive facilities along I-5 north of SeaTac International Airport.
But, the reason Boeing moved their International HQ to Chicago was a for millions in a tax dodge. Illinois gave tax breaks for the $170,000,000 million dollar building at 100 North Riverside Plaza and a special rate for their Corporate profits so they can engage in some special bookkeeping because nowadays the thing American Corporate leaders manufacture is legerdemain and accounting tricks to hide and obscure "their" money.
In 2008, Boeing asked Kansas officials to help win a $3.5 billion contract for 18 Air Force tankers. Wichita's Mayor Carl Brewer says Kansas had a long history of coming through for Boeing. In fact, Axelrod notes that Boeing received 650 tax breaks over the last 30 years and $3.5 billion dollars in bonds.
Boeing would have failed if it had to face the Free Market and only exists today as a Company because of the Trillions of dollars it has received in government assistance. Of course, when you're a Corporate Criminal like Boeing getting free money from the government just... isn't... enough... Boeing, the Corporate Criminals, admitted to stealing $644 Million via fraudulent contracts. That would be called stealing if you the regular person did it but a Corporate person named Boeing gets the nomenclature of fraud.
Boeing is a company who could never succeed except for Billions of tax payer assistance. As such, Boeing is basically a middleman. Their Corporate charter should require they abide by the the NLRB and all of the Government's rules but that would be SOCIALISM!
Democratic Illinois Senator Dick Durbin tried to pass an Amendment to S. 1867 the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2012. The Amendment was defeated 38-60. The Amendment was to stop the bill's proposal to declare the United States a battleground in the Phony GWoT. 43 Republicans voted against the Amendment. That is they voted to keep the language in the Bill which allows the US military to indefinitely detain suspected Al Qaeda members and anyone else the Government deems an "enemy combatant".
And here you thought the Bush/Cheney Torture/Extraordinary Rendition/With-Us-Or-Against-Us language would only apply to them damn Terrorists.
Welcome to the Republican Vision of Freedom. Too bad you didn't listen to the Leftists and Anti-War crowd when they raised the alarm about the most corrupt, most anti-American Administration and then choose to blame it on the black guy. The Republican Party is equivalent to Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard. Only 2 Republican Senators, Mark Kirk and Rand Paul, chose to stand for the US Constitution and Freedom.
What's next in the Republican Plan of Attack; a Bill entitled House-a-Soldier in Your Home to help offset the Budgetary costs of the DoD?
"And I would apply the $600 billion [in cuts] that were anticipated being imposed upon the military, I would take those and apply them to other parts of the federal budget. One of them, of course, would be to take something like Medicaid, which is our health care program for the poor, and return that program to the states."
Of course, now we can see why the Republicans are in favor of declaring the United States a war zone. After they steal Social Security, eliminate health care for the poor, stop funding Pell Grants, and impose Slavery Measures err... "Austerity" Measures on the American People they are going to need the military to quell the Domestic disturbances they are engendering.
Of course, even if the Republican Plan to use the US Military to quell Domestic disturbances falls through Blackwater (Xe) and Erik Prince have made it clear they will eliminate Democratic Opposition to the Republican Guard. Erik Prince, now hailing from parts unknown, let it be known he would "eliminate" Jan Schakowsky for her daring to question his Mercenary Army and the Billions Blackwater stole through no-bid contracts pushed through by the Bush/Cheney Presidency.
So, get used to America. The Plutocracy wants the Middle Class destroyed and the Republicans are the just like Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard ready, willing, and able to accomplish the mission.
In order to be part of the totalitarian mind-set, it is not necessary to wear a uniform or carry a club or whip. It is only necessary to wish for your own subjection, and to delight in the subjection of others. ~ Christopher Hitchens, from god is not Great pg. 232, sums up the Republican Party and their conservative fanatics use of Government in order to subjugate the Poor and Middle Class.
Whenever you watch a Sunday Political Show and a Republican bureaucrat talks about Shared Sacrifice watch out it means the Middle Class is in for a beating. The Republican Party has spent the last 30 years dismantling the Federal Government in an effort to destroy the Poor and subjugate the Middle Class.
When Wall Street engaged in furious gambling aided by the blind eye of Republican de-regulation it meant the Middle Class would sacrifice by being on the hook for the debts incurred. Of course, the Wall Street hoodlums know this because they've been pulling the same scam for 30 years ever since Ronald Reagan and John McCain gave them the nod, with the Savings & Loan Scandal, that Corporate theft would be protected with stolen Tax payer dollars.
Shared Sacrifice means a Federal Worker pay freeze on Middle Class government employees while helping Goldman Sachs funnel Billions of Tax Payer dollars into bonuses for the Bankers whose profligate "investment" gambling was aided and endorsed by President Bush and the Republican Party and the cause of the 2007-2009 Republican Party recession.
When Republicans start wars, as a means of a gigantic transfer of wealth from the Nation to the blood sucking War Profiteers, for instance Halliburton and Blackwater (Xe), it meant the poor and middle class would bear the brunt of the suffering and sacrifice, while Republicans profit off the blood of dead Americans in wars they will never serve in for Republicans eschew military service due to their inherent cowardice.
When Republicans talk about shared sacrifice in terms of cutting Federal spending it means an elimination of regulatory bodies, like the FDA, the EPA, OSHA and MSHA which keep Corporate monstrosities from poisoning our food water and air or from working Americans in dangerous slave conditions. It also means Republicans will continue to strive to steal from pensions and social security as detailed in Paul Ryan's plan to eliminate Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
It means Billions of dollars physically lost in Iraq as the price of Warmongering and Trillions of dollars stolen from Social Security and transferred to the Republican War Profiteers off-shore banks in the Cayman Islands and UBS Switzerland. It means the end of Regulation on Banks, it means apologies to Oil Companies who destroy our lands and defense of Rich Mine Owners who kill their workers, it means an increase of Taxes on the Poor, while Taxes on the Rich decrease.
"They can tell their unions that they have to accept cuts now or face a much more dire fate in bankruptcy court.”
And the Sham Tea Party Hateriots have allowed themselves to be conditioned that Unions are always to blame. The $30K-a-year garbage man in New York City is to blame for the economy and not the recklessness of real estate "moguls" who leveraged and repackaged billions in junk investments in order to make big scores on the Republican housing bubble scam. Conservatives blame dead Chicago Firefighters and not Harry Macklowe whose, as pointed out in the New York Times Real Estate section, "$7 billion gamble on seven Midtown skyscrapers at the top of the market almost cost him his entire empire, is out looking for new deals."
And while thousands of Americans have been fast-tracked into bankruptcy and home foreclosure,
the truth is that there have been surprisingly few career fatalities among New York developers, even though they have lost billions of investor dollars on overpriced real estate and have littered the city with unfinished apartment buildings. While a homeowner who lost a house to foreclosure would find it difficult to borrow for years, developers who defaulted on enormous loans have still been able to attract money.
Nope Republicans are busy browbeating their conservative slaves into believing the Middle Class is to blame.
Shared Sacrifice means the realization of the Republican Goal of Neo-Feudalism, wage slavery and cutthroat Capitalism for the Poor and Socialism for the Rich and their undying Corporate monsters.
Related: EPA Reminds Republicans Cap-and-Trade Used to be GOP Idea - and it Worked for Acid Rain [The Center for Public Integrity]
Republicans aren't content with merely seeing Americans die, they relish in having Fallen Soldiers Never Returning Home.
The NPR story, MIA Remains On Verge Of Disappearing Forever, on The Joint POW/MIA Accountability Command at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, and it's race to try and account for those 1763 brave men left on foreign soil.
However, back in 1995 it took a Democratic President Bill Clinton to normalize relations with Vietnam and begin the somber task of retrieving those brave men and it wasn't until the Democrats regained control of the Congress that funding for the JPAC missions to Vietnam was increased. From the NPR Story:
Four to five JPAC teams currently deploy to Vietnam each year, but Congress is pushing for more. It boosted JPAC's budget 20 percent - up to $68 million this year and directed them to double their recovery and ID efforts by 2015.
During their 12 year control of Congress Newt Gingrich, Tom Delay and other Republican Cowards were busy stealing money and starting new Wars in which they could send Americans to their death while the Chicken Hawk Republicans and Conservatives enlarged their Swiss Bank Accounts with Government funds.
But, Republicans say they are pro-troops as if their empty hollow statements make it so, when their actions clearly show Republicans are Pro-War and the only thing they care about is using Veterans to enrich themselves and the Death Merchants and War Mongers whom they represent and serve.
But, while Republicans might have hated Fallen Vietnam Veterans because it reminds them of their Cowardice and Deferments present day Conservatives Hero Sean Hannity uses current Dead Veterans to buy himself champagne and back rubs.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington have filed complaints with the IRS and FTC against the Ollie North and Sean Hannity Freedom Alliance and Freedom Concerts "Charities" because it has come to light that Sean Hannity has pillfered millions in funds donated for helping wounded soldiers and used those stolen funds for chartering Private Planes and Sexy Fox News Parties. Hannity has stated, “Every penny, 100 percent of the donations are applied to the Freedom Alliance scholarship fund.”
But Conservatives can justify Hannity's brazen shameless theft of Charity Funds because Hannity is a Home Front Culture Warrior. That's the name the Chicken Hawks use justify their cowardice. Conservatives lie to themselves that they are needed to defend Republican ideals in the US so that others can fight overseas. Conservatives are Scum Incarnate.
"I want justice. And there's an old poster out West that says, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive.'" ~ President Bush 09/18/2001
Lost amongst the Obama Afghanistan War Surge was the tacit and quickly ignored conclusive proof that President Bush purposely allowed OBL to escape from Tora Bora.
The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations finally got around to telling America that President Bush ordered the US Military to allow his buddy Osama Bin Laden to get away. I don't know if John Kerry got a copy of Kill Bin Laden by Dalton Fury but the Senate Report references Fury's book extensively.
[O]ur nation has never been closer to killing or capturing bin Laden as we were at Tora Bora. As uncomfortable as it may be to accept, we have now known for years that bin Laden was not killed or captured at Tora Bora ~ Kill Bin Laden, pg. 291
But, this is okay to the Terrorist Teabaggers and to their REMFpublican Fondlers, who don't care about and hate Americans, for wars make them big profits and win them elections. Therefore, the conclusion is easy; President Bush is a traitor who forced his way into operational decision making and stopped America's Special Forces from killing Bin Laden because Bush needed the specter of UBL to scare Americans win elections and use the power of the Federal Government to channel Trillions of Dollars to his handlers and controllers.
As to Obama's acceptance of more war... There is a difference between starting 4GW Wars of Choice like Bush/Cheney did and inheriting the cluster fuck of guerilla wars from Republican Chicken Hawk Cowards but I had hoped for more from President Obama than to be subsumed into the Pentagon's Warmongering Military Industrial Complex.
Hillary Clinton has always been a warmonger, ready to use the military for National Interests but I thought National Security Advisor and Former USMC Commandant James Jones skepticism may have carried the day and convinced Obama to not escalate but begin the draw down and exit.
Jones explained: "You can keep on putting troops in, and you could have 200,000 troops there and Afghanistan will swallow them up as it has done in the past. We need a better plan with the allies to gradually turn over responsibility for the country to Afghan institutions and organizations in as short a time as possible."
But, besides the REMFpublicans and the Neo-Con Warmongers the other group which is extremely happy about expanded War in and around Afghanistan are: The Fucking Mercenaries... Afghanistan is big business for DynCorp.
"We expect to see relatively steady growth in our business in Afghanistan largely because we have a pretty broad portfolio of services at work in the country today," DynCorp Chief Executive Bill Ballhaus said
So those who profit off of Death and Destruction continue to use America and when it comes to Using the Troops and kowtowing to the MIC it doesn't matter who's President.
Despite Bush's utter incompetence and Cheney's evil ignorance, Obama's Decision will go a long way in tying Afghanistan to his name...
But, despite Obama's Decision what will remain constant is the continuing Unconditional Terrorist War being waged on Obama by the Conservative Punk Ass Bitch Fox News-led Lunatic Extremists... [more to follow]
"I must say, I'm a little envious," President Bush said in March 2008 to soldiers in Afghanistan. "It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger."
Yesterday was not the day to make any post on the futility of war or perhaps it was the exact day... But, I'll not show any disrespect to the memory of those who gave the last full measure overseas for "American Interests". Even though those in power seem to have no problem continuing the Bush Regime's policy of using and discarding Marines and other Troops for Interests.
9/11 is just another day now, thankfully, I'm not one to celebrate defeat. You reflect on it and try to ensure it doesn't happen again but how?
Well the REMFpublican Chicken Hawk Party of Deferments invoked 9/11 time and again to support their policies. Everything was tied to 9/11 including the necessity of keeping them in office. While the Bush Administration was in power, those who profited off of death made Trillions of dollars and anyone who questioned the Iraq War was accused of hurting the Troops and Treason against a sitting President. That second part is of course ignored now that Barack Obama is in office, "questioning" him during wartime and bringing loaded guns to rallies decrying his Presidency is now the height of Patriotism, of course, the money still flows to the architects of fear and death.
Lost in the homeland political squabbles is that average Marine. The Bush Regime and his defenders sought to quash all dissent by hiding behind Marines, Soldiers, Airmen and Sailors they also fought to shield the American people from the sight of any blood. Lest the people knew what their pilfered tax dollars were actually buying them.
The shielding from sight the cost of war was one of the lessons REMFpublicans Bush, Cheney, Tom DeLay and the Pentagon learned from Vietnam; to control the message coming from the battlefield. You can't let the American people see the consequences of the Warfare State. But, merely restricting official media members did not stem the flow of the ugliness and evil of War. Bans on cell phone cameras and soldiers blogs (until the blogs, like through amber lenses were silenced forever) were tried at various times while unceasing war propaganda was spewed by Chicken Hawk REMFers on Fox, CNN and every other news agency in order to ensure you Don't Mention the War!
The other lesson Young and Old REMFpublicans learned from Vietnam was let other people do the actual dangerous fighting abroad because their valuable pasty pampered flabby asses were needed to fight the propaganda battle at home convincing the American people of the costs, necessities, consequences, and benefits of war, while ensuring they would never fear having their balls blown off by an IED...
However, the Bush Administration did only a semi- effective job of hiding the costs of the war from the American people. Anti-war rallies were strong yet marginalized (Two-Thirds of the American people are against the war? So?) and the collapse of the US economy in 2007 was tied directly to the profligate war profiteering and Bush tax cuts for criminals who hid the money they siphoned off using Bush's government power into Swiss bank accounts. Of course, anyone who questioned Bush's competence was attacked as a traitor and faced daily Fox Attacks even while "The Decider" bungled Afghanistan, Iraq, the response to Hurricane Katrina, the economic collapse, the shrinking and battered American middle class, justice and the years from 01/20/01 to 01/20/09...
Now, Afghanistan is on everyones mind... Again. It's a fucked place. The area hasn't been effectively controlled since Tamerlane bestrode the land like a whirlwind of primal destruction. Since then it's been a crossroads of battle as time and again countries have moved into Transoxania in the pursuit of National Interests and the people have used the Panjshir Valley as a center for resistance against whomever the occupiers have been. But, controlling and administering the land should never have been our mission. It should have been Destroying AQ and killing Bin Laden and letting the Multi-Ethnic Peoples of Afghanistan figure out the rest. When it cam e to the kill/capture of Bin Laden the directed incompetence from the Bush Regime in failing the trigger pullers was detailed by the nome de guerred Delta Force Commander Dalton Fury who was given that mission, in his book Kill Bin Laden.
Delta developed an audacious plan to come at bin Laden from the one direction he would never expect.
"We want to come in on the back door," Fury explains. "The original plan that we sent up through our higher headquarters, Delta Force wants to come in over the mountain with oxygen, coming from the Pakistan side, over the mountains and come in and get a drop on bin Laden from behind."
But they didn't take that route, because Fury says they didn't get approval from a higher level. "Whether that was Central Command all the way up to the president of the United States, I'm not sure," he says.
The next option that Delta wanted to employ was to drop hundreds of landmines in the mountain passes that led to Pakistan, which was bin Laden’s escape route.
But they didn't do that either, because Fury says that plan was also disapproved. He says he has "no idea" why.
"How often does Delta come up with a tactical plan that's disapproved by higher headquarters?" Pelley asks.
"In my experience, in my five years at Delta, never before," Fury says.
Getting (Getting In, Getting Bin Laden, Getting Out) would seem to have been a better choice. Sure that plan may have failed and Afghanistan could have turned into another Somalia, or the Taliban could have reclaimed power or Gulbuddin Hekmatyar would have emerged as the next Dictator in the area but those things could happen even with American and ISAF forces in the country and we would be spared cowardly screes from Ralph Peters enticing the Taliban to kill captured US Soldier Bowe Berghdal.
And lest we forget Iraq is still festering threatening to burst forth with renewed violence after having been "won" so many times over the last 5 years just as Afghanistan has...
They suck my body out But friend there is no doubt I'm gonna pay the devil his dues Cause I'm sick of being abused
Eat the rich, eat the rich Don't you know life is a bitch Eat the rich, eat the rich Out of the palace and into the ditch ~ Eat The Rich, Krokus
A dozen or so Americans are suing the Swiss Banking Giant UBS to keep their names secret. Why? Well, this stems from UBS agreeing to turn over information to the US Justice Department last week. Switzerland has always been a natural destination for pilfered funds.
But, this lawsuit is happening because those who put Tipsy Canoe into power did so to use the federal government to funnel Billions of dollars into their hands. That was the whole point of ensuring an ignorant patsy like Bush got into power.
Does anyone not connected to the victim care? Blog posts are meaningless. I can't name a single soldier who took his own life.
I'm sorry they didn't receive the help they needed but even those words taste as a chalky hollow platitude. Like something a Chickenhearted Warmonger would say; while not contemplating the underlying causes or questioning his rabid support for the murder of innocents in far away lands by the American Military and the toll it takes on the minds and bodies of those who never truly return home.
Earlier this year over and Democratic Underground the DU had a similar purge of hatred as the Obamabots and Hillirites fought each other for months and months over the nomination.
It's clear Party Idealogy is more important to most of these people than Individuals. Getting their power player into control of the vast Apparatus of Government is paramount. Because once that person is in power they can exert control over other Americans.
This is why I have little faith Obama will change anything. Under his regime the Plutocratic class will still control America and individuals will still be the property of the state.
To paraphrase Emma Goldman, If voting could change anything, it would be against the law.
Listen up. Zach, Tom, Tim and Brad get it. Know the Real Enemy.
"I suspect some of the police may actually even be fans of Rage Against the Machine. I suspect some of the police come from working class and middle class backgrounds like we do and like you do. I suspect the Cops here today have much more in common with this band, with you people than with the people of the RNC." - Tom Morello addressing the People
The Controllers of this Nation do not represent you, they don't like you. You are to be controlled, You are to be used for their interests, You are to submit to their will. You are their cog in the machinery of War and Industry.
But, unfortunately there's an underlying problem. While emotionally unstable bloggers, rabid Warmongers and Freeper supporters of Bush will attack Keith, those high level persons controlling the Apparatus of Government don't really care.
Why? Because the Federal Government controls you utterly.
The ADS Microwave Ray Gun as shown on the CBS 60 Minutes story was demonstrated on persons carrying Peace Signs. The story doesn't tell me it's going to be used in Iraq for dispersing snipers but in the US for Crowd Control.
And it doesn't matter what you or a Keith Olbermann say because the Government continues to get it's steady flow of money from the people. Taxes (or Protection Money), taken from you under threat of force keep the Empire solvent. As long as the government gets it's blood money it can do as it pleases. But, money represents only one of the pillars holding up the edifice of control. The other pillar is manpower.
The Government does nothing to stem the rising fuel prices, offers trifling aid to the poor or those who've suffered natural disasters, works to subvert help for those facing home foreclosures, treats drug users as criminals instead of sick persons, constantly imports the foreign poor to undercut the poor citizens of this nation, and has produced and nourished an education system which inculcates fervent Nationalism and a lack of critical thinking. What this accomplishes is a pool of Manpower ready to be exploited by the controllers of the Imperial Empire.
And even when a group rises up and gains some influence they are quickly co-opted and assimilated into the system. Becoming merely another special interest group attempting to gain control over the apparatus of Government and utilize it's awesome power. In reality as Gore Vidal correctly observes we have One Party in America the Party of Property.
And some of the saddest evidence involves those who have allowed themselves to believe Bush and His Merry Band of Miscreants represent or care about the interests of the American people, for example this post at Think Progress Watch is particularly depressing:
It’s obvious, Think Progress wants the US to lose and for troops to die. They have expressed support in the past for Iranian interests, the Mahdi Army and Al-Qaeda in Iraq. I’m calling them out on this. They support our enemies and their silence over our recent success speaks volumes.
This is a standard refrain. Peppered with the false dichotomies of "US" and "Them" which indoctrinated Americans have accepted because it's easier than thinking. They are Evil, We are Good. America is our Country... And they Love and Worship the Nation-State. And that Worship can be used to get Americans to do almost anything...
**- I was at the Chicago October 27 March and saw the Government's answer to peaceable assembly. Row after Row of state Troopers, equipped in Riot Gear with 3 Foot Long Riot Sticks prominently displayed along the route.
Some of our fellow citizens wonder whether the mission in Iraq is worth the cost. I strongly believe it is. And here is why: The enemy has made clear that Iraq is the central battleground of the great ideological struggle of our time. This is a struggle between those who murder the innocent to advance their hateful objectives and those of us who love liberty and long for peace. We saw that these enemies -- what these enemies intend for our country on September the 11th, 2001 -- and we must do everything in our power to stop the enemy from attacking us again.
I'm going to write about the Anthrax attacks after 9/11 and the non-FDA approved vaccines forced on Service Members.
First, the talking point that War President Commander Guy Bush has been so awesome he has protected us from hundreds of Terror Attacks and NONE have occurred on US Soil, since 9/11. Well, it's not true. The Amerithax attacks happened in America, after 9/11, Americans died and whomever was responsible for the attacks has never been captured.
In 1998, Clinton demanded all US service members receive the anthrax inoculations. The company BioPort (created solely to win the government contract) acquired the vaccination making contract. Coincidentally, just prior to the Amerithax attacks, in June 2001 the DOD halted vaccination due to non-FDA approved changes in BioPort's manufacturing process. Well, the stoppage created a stockpile of vaccinations.
After the attacks the US Government had a clear and present danger! Bam now US Service Members can be forced to take shot after shot after shot! So, using it's coercive power that's what the US Government did. It forced it's cogs to begin the anthrax vaccinations program. Then the maker of the vaccination could be free to make more of the vaccinations and was ensured of a buyer in the US government. The Free Market at it's best!
Well, in Camp Lejeune North Carolina new marine Grung_e_gene and others were brought into a hall were a Navy Doctor began a telling us why the vaccine was so safe, how long the vaccine had been in use, why the inoculation procedure was needed and how good this would be for us.
A few innocuous questions were asked and then I got the nerve to ask the Doc if any long term trials had been conducted. Doc answered derisively, "Testing on humans is unethical." and moved on... Somewhat taken aback, but still standing in the Q&A session I replied, "I know but have any long term studies, or follow on contacts been made with those who've received the shots?" "I'll have to get back to you on that one, marine."
Some of the accounts the government has admitted to conducting. Although it usually waits until those they've subjected to unethical tests are dead and buried. But, I'm sure the Officials who green-lighted testing on unsuspecting and unwilling humans ( under they're dominion) understood and justified their actions under the all-encompassing creed; For the Good of the Nation.
Anyway back to Camp Lejeune 2002, SSgt and Gunney were told by our Captain who heard from BN Lt Colonel who heard from I don't know that in no uncertain terms any Marine who refused to submit to the inoculations would be charged with disobeying a direct order and would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the UCMJ. Which would mean a Court Martial, brig time and a Big Chicken Dinner.
So, I have no idea if the crap they shot into my body did anything to me. Whomever made the vaccines made alot of money from Government contracts. But worst of all the Inoculation doesn't protect the person from inhalation anthrax but, only skin-contact. So if a GeorgeWBush Terrarist happens to get an anthrax bomb everyone who received the hot doses is screwed anyway. But, if any soldier decides to go cow tipping and rubs some cow shit on his arms well he'll be safe...
