These Thoughts that I think

NFL DRAFT / NHL Playoffs

2008-04-29T16:56:00.006-04:00

Ive had a prolonged absence from blogging but am going to attempt to make a return with some of the same stuff I had posted on previously as well as some more sporting information as the NFL draft has kicked off the NFL season in my opinion and I am personally in the midst of a very entertaining fantasy baseball season so I am firing on pretty close to all cylinders!

First off the NFL draft, some surprises, some great picks some poor ones. Ill hit on a few of each, no in depth coverage of the Draft for me, Im not Mel Kiper Jr, I dont have the hair for it.

Detroit Lions - Detroit did the smartest thing they could do which is trade out of their pick, unfortunatley Matt Millen still got to draft someone in the first round which is like putting a machine gun in the hands of a baby. He did address a position of need, but in taking Gosder Cherillus who is a fine tackle from Boston College they reached, as Jeff Otah the road grader from Pitt was still on the board, much more valuable as he could play G or T in the NFL. Second round pick was terrible, the LB from Colorado Jordon Dizon, nothing like drafting under sized slow middle linebackers that exist on intangibles in college, lord knows that will carry over to the NFL. Good picks, Kevin Smith, RB from UCF was a very good pick at the top of the third, has the potential to start right away and be an impact player and drafting Caleb Campbell from Army in the 7th round is a good PR move as well as a good player in the final rounds, he could end up playing OLB and be a better player than Dizon in my honest opinion.

Chicago Bears - 1st round draft pick made no sense to me, Chris Williams LT from Vanderbilt. What the Bears needed was Rashard Mendenhall a local kid who played at Illinois and wouldve unseated Cedric Benson at RB. Now they have Forte from Tulane who could take the starting job. Chris Williams isnt a bad player but is a bad fit for the Bears north south running system, he benched 225 21 times at the combine which is terrible for an Olineman. He wouldve been a better fit with a team like the Broncos who emphasize speed and quickness over brawn. Otah is much more of a Chicago style lineman.

Carolina Panthers - Great first round for the Panthers, getting Jonathan Stewart from Oregon in the 1st will give them the every down impact back they have been looking for and pairing him with the afformentioned Otah will only help out both players. Also drafting Dan Connors of Penn State in the third round was a very good pick with the loss of Dan Morgan to massive head trauma over his career.

New York Jets - Not only did Darren McFadden not sliding to 6 let the Jets take Vernon Gholston who should be an instant impact player at OLB in the Jets system and more than likely a double digit sack guy, but it keeps Thomas Jones as a viable fantasy RB option for me! Good things should happen for the Jets with the additions of Calvin Pace, Vernon Gholston and the much improved offensive line.

Kansas City Chiefs - Clearly in full out rebuilding mode at this point and their draft should help expedite the process. Glen Dorsey could be the best player to come out of the draft, DT's are notoriously hard to project but Dorsey has all the tools one looks for in a top level DT, also the ability to play the 1 technique or the 3 technique. Branden Albert should be an instant starter on the Chiefs offensive line which will help Larry Johnson have a better year and Flowers from Virginia Tech is a solid technical player who should have a fairly smooth curve in adjusting to the NFL. The only area KC should have tried to address but didnt was QB, Im an Alabama fan and I will tell you flat our that Brodie Croyle is not the answer at QB.

Some fun things for me from the draft. Mike Hart the little engine that couldnt shut up falling to the 6th was funny for me. However it puts him in a good situation, good system and on a good team. Three Cheers for Adrian Arrington for declaring for the draft early, that one really worked out for you. Kellen Davis from MSU also saw his draft stock plummet and no name TE's rise above him on teams draft boards, I think he has amazing talent but there are character concerns as well as the fact he was a one year wonder much like his teammate Devin Thomas who dropped from a projected 11 on many mock drafts to 34 to Buffalo.

On an NHL note, its nice to see two old school teams playing each other in the playoffs in the Montreal Philadelphia series. Although anyone who watches that series on any channel other than CBC is a moron as a CBC is the only real way to watch hockey. The day another network can come up with someone as awesome as Don Cherry to their broadcast I might be inclined to watch them. Just for fun, heres a clip some good old fashioned Detroit Red Wings vs. Colorado Avalanche acrimony all from 1997 with the two teams meeting again in this years playoffs.

Also, check out a friend of mines new blog Tobacco Juice Sports, I know no one cossmes to this site, but if you do on accident at least check his out as well.

A New Gulf of Tonkin

2008-01-11T11:41:00.000-05:00

As soon as I heard of Iranian speed boats threatening US warships I was skeptical to say the least. Over at Antiwar.com it is explored further, and definetly worth taking a look.

Update

2008-01-04T14:10:00.000-05:00

Long time since I last posted, going on two months. I will be delving into some new stuff in the near future, I need to so that I can feel as if I am putting my vast amounts of free time to good use. First post forthcoming will be a meme that I was tagged to respond to, courtesy of No Third Solution.

Sports Etc.

2007-11-26T21:05:00.001-05:00

Great Penalty Explanation:

Great Hockey Fight:

Great Knockout Shot on a QB:

What is Privacy?

2007-11-12T12:54:00.000-05:00

"Privacy, I would offer, is a system of laws, rules, and customs with an infrastructure of Inspectors General, oversight committees, and privacy boards on which our intelligence community commitment is based and measured."

-Donald Kerr, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence(LINK)

I don't know about you but that's not what I would consider privacy. Privacy means to me that people wont be snooping through my phone records, emails and internet activity. I understand that all of my activity on the internet is recorded and is done so by my ISP and the internet sites which I wish to use. Saying that I am therefore willing to sacrifice that bit of privacy for the services or enjoyment which can be derived. Donald Kerr would have you believe that simply because you have given that information to your ISP that you should be willing to fork it over to the Fed's. In his speech he also went on to cite that you are "perfectly willing for a green-card holder at an I.S.P. who may or may have not have been an illegal entrant to the United States to handle their data." I would much rather do that as the overwhelming majority of web based buisness and ISP's are bound by strict confidentiallity agreements where as the government is only confidential in that it will not reveal what information it illegal obtained about you.

Heres another Gem from Donald Kerr

"Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information..."

You have to love a government that believes privacy means your "security" from the false boogy man threats of "The War on Terror". Trust us though, we are the government, everything we are doing is for your own good and we are making sure that no data goes missing (like the laptops that you consistently hear that the FBI or some other branch of government has lost) . Some people(idiots) may have no problem with something like this as they will say "I have nothing to hide, go ahead and look" but as I have said before "I have nothing to hide so stay out of my business."

Oh and more thing, hes the definition of privacy so you can compare it with Mr. Kerr's idea

Privacy - The state of being free from intrusion or disturbance in one's private life or affairs.

Pirates and Emperors

2007-11-10T11:14:00.000-05:00

10 Easy Steps to Fascisim in America

2007-09-21T01:22:00.000-04:00

As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such a twilight that we all must be aware of change in the air-however slight-lest we become unwilling victims of the darkness.

~Justice William O. Douglas~

Invoking an external and internal threat
Establishing secret prisons
Developing a paramilitary force
Surveiling ordinary citizens
Infiltrating citizens' groups
Arbitrarily detaining and releasing citizens
Targeting key individuals
Restricting the press
Casting criticism as "espionage" and dissent as "treason"
Subverting the rule of law

I find that at least 9 of these are to be true in Amerika today and that it is very possible that all 10 are. The only I am not dead sure about is number 8 because of the very fact that people like me and many others while not the actual press operated on the same medium. For more on this situation click the link below.

RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW

Cmon, whats another 6 months?

2007-09-06T19:54:00.000-04:00

Not much to write on this one, it speaks for itself. Click the link, read the blurb then check the timeline. It is amazing to see that all the US has needed since we entered Iraq is "six more months" oddly enough, the first time this was uttered was in February of 2003, and it has been repeated time and time again by the people in power right up to August 2007.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/08/timeline.html/

Check it out!

Quote of the Year

2007-09-04T18:23:00.000-04:00

I lifted this whole post from Francois Tremblay (Check Your Premises) but it needs to be spread as much as it can.

Here is a man who is obviously insane, and yet he has a column in a newspaper?

ONE MONTH from The Anniversary, I’m thinking another 9/11 would help America.

What kind of a sick bastard would write such a thing?

A bastard so sick of how splintered we are politically - thanks mainly to our ineptitude in Iraq - that we have forgotten who the enemy is.

…

America’s fabric is pulling apart like a cheap sweater.

What would sew us back together?

Another 9/11 attack.

Please tell the paper exactly what you think of Stu Bykofsky. Here was my message:

I am writing to you about Stu Bykofsky, and his article at this URL:
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/stu_bykofsky/20070809_Stu_Bykofsky___To_save_America__we_need_another_9_11.html
Where he advocates the murder of thousands more Americans in the name of politics.

I find this article to be highly offensive, as any reasonable person would. I would think the only prudent thing for your paper to do is to fire this man who promotes terrorism in order to solve political problems, and is obviously not quite right in the head.

US Doles out Millions for Street Cameras

2007-08-16T23:09:00.000-04:00

A recent article I found on STR is quite disturbing. As any sensible person should know, the fear mongering that took place after 9/11 stripped this country of many liberties. Namely the handing over of governmental power to the Executive Branch, but that is another issue. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has doled out43 Billion dollars to US cities to increase their ability to "combat terrorism". In most cases this money has been used to militarize the police forces with the purchase of tactical weapons, equipment, armored vehicles and military helicopters. Needless to say these have not been used to fight terrorism since it doesn't exist as portrayed nor is that what the DHS is concerned with (see previous Homeland Security, How Safe do You Feel June Posting). With this increase in militarism we are seeing a more aggresive and violent police force via SWAT teams being used for almost everything (misdemeanor drug raids), far from the legitimate reasons to use them (hostages and the like).

But anyways, much of this money is also being used for a more intrusive purpose. Many cities are taking advantage of federal funding to install closed circuit surveillance cameras in public settings to keep an eye on the citizenry. Obviously DHS will not tell how much of the money is being used to spy directly on you in public, but a Global search of local newspapers indicates that the amount runs into the tens and probably hundreds of millions of dollars in many cities. This is the case in large cities:

"In the last month, cities that have moved forward on plans for surveillance networks financed by the Homeland Security Department include St. Paul, which got a $1.2 million grant for 60 cameras for downtown; Madison, Wis., which is buying a 32-camera network with a $388,000 grant; and Pittsburgh, which is adding 83 cameras to its downtown with a $2.58 million grant."

As well as in very small cities:

"Recent examples include Liberty, Kan. (population 95), which accepted a federal grant to install a $5,000 G2 Sentinel camera in its park, and Scottsbluff, Neb. (population 14,000), where police used a $180,000 Homeland Security Department grant to purchase four closed-circuit digital cameras and two monitors, a system originally designed for Times Square in New York City."

Now I cannot see any reason why a town of 95 needs to spend any money on surveillance equipment or even a town of 14,000 other than they want to spend money they can get which is another problem with government on all levels. Even larger cities have very little reason for cameras of this like except to spy on and observe the actions of the citizens. Very rarely do these cameras deter crime, and very rarely are they able to identify criminals, they are not the same as the camera in the convenience store.

My main problem with cameras is the fact that I am doing nothing wrong therefore I do not need to be watched. People who say that they are not doing anything so they dont care have it all wrong, that is why it is even worse. A prisoner is under cameras eye, I a free citizen exercising my personal rights have no need to be watched by the government (i.e. Big Brother). Once we begin to make strides towards a society like this we will end up like England, with millions of cameras and listening devices planted all over the country and everyone being filmed numerous times a day. The more we are willing to give up our freedoms under the guise of security the worse off this country will be. Even the founding fathers understood this and I will defer to the words of Benjamin Franklin on this one "He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security" We as a people need to stand up for ourselves and at the very least take the power away from the Boy King (George W Bush) and give it back to the representative legislator to end this criminal series of actions against the people of this country.

Three Cheers for Socialized Medical Care

2007-08-13T08:23:00.000-04:00

A woman who had complained to her GP of severe headaches for almost a year collapsed and died of an undiagnosed brain tumour.

Jennifer Bell, 22, had been told she was suffering from stress but after months of illness had finally been referred to a neurologist.

She then faced a 13-week wait before a 'relatively urgent' MRI scan could be carried out.

Three days before the longawaited appointment she collapsed at home and died later in hospital.

More here: Daily Mail

Fantasy Football

2007-08-11T17:06:00.000-04:00

I am currently involved in a Fantasy Football keeper league which I have participated in for the last 2 years. For those of you not familiar with fantasy football, you pick a team of players they get points based on their performance, add the points up and you have your total score. Anyways I digress, I am currently owner of a team by the name of Tax Free Injuns. Racially insensitive i know, but amusing along with the logo I have. I am debating on a new name for the team and am willing to take suggestions from what meager readers I have on this blog. Please leave a comment with proposed team names and they will be taken under advisement. I will notify of any change in team names as the situation warrants.

Whatever happened to Hearts and Minds?

2007-08-09T00:46:00.000-04:00

"SANGIN, Afghanistan — A senior British commander in southern Afghanistan said in recent weeks that he had asked that American Special Forces leave his area of operations because the high level of civilian casualties they had caused was making it difficult to win over local people."

This is a direct quote from the New York Times regarding an article about how even the British are now opposed to the US strategy of "strategic bombing" along with special forces due to the large number of "collateral damage".

The fact of the matter is that large scale air support and bombing operations are only effective against another organized military with specific targets which can be destroyed. When air power and bombing are brought to bear on a guerilla or an insurgent force disaster is lurking around the corner. The smartest bomb in the US arsenal can not distinguish the difference between the guerilla fighter or the innocent family in the building next to him or even with him. Time and time again we see the failure of large scale mechanized and air forces to eliminate the threat of guerilla fighters. Vietnam, Israels failed attempts at controlling the Palestinians, Israel against Hezbollah and now the US in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Other nations in the current conflicts have take a less aggresive posture with good results, mainly the Dutch in Afghanistan who practice small patrols who aid and assist the citizens rather than intimidate and the British in Iraq who learned their lessons from a bitter conflict with the IRA on their home turf. The US sticks with its heavy handed tactics of Tanks, Armor, Artillery and Air Power only to see the populace of the countries turn against them. As the stated mission in Vietnam turned into winning over the hearts and minds of the people it is supposedly the same now. Yet we continue to see "collateral damage" as a necessary cost of bringing these people freedom. I find the whole concept and practice laughable.

Francois Tremblay over at Check Your Premises raised the issue that the US Military suffers an image problem in its current conflicts. This is an image problem of our own doing and as a direct consequence of our heavy handed and brutal tactics in the name of "freedom" and "liberty" for the Iraqi people. He also offers up some creative slogans for the Military such as:

“US Foreign Policy: Killing Freedom-Loving People, Financing Our Own Enemies and Installing Puppet Dictators Since 1861″

“Sure, We Shoot Innocent Protesters and Bomb Babies, But We’re Here to Help You.”

“Dethroning Hussein Created General Chaos, But At Least You Can Vote Now!”

“Sure Your Whole Family Was Massacred, But Now You Guys Have a McDonalds, So We’re Not So Bad After All.”

These are all apt slogans for our military and its endeavors maybe they should adopt these instead of weak slogans like "Army Strong".

Good Samaritan Arrested for Help

2007-07-30T12:12:00.000-04:00

I cant help but find this to be the most ridiculous charges that I have ever seen someone be arrested for. A New Jersey woman who was walking by the scene of an accident where a woman was hit by a van was asked by the police if she spoke Spanish. They needed her to speak Spanish so that they could communicate with one of the parties in the accident, the woman agreed to help them and was acting as an interpreter for them. Moments later she was arrested, placed in handcuffs and put in the back of a squad car. The charges that she was arrested under stemmed from the fact that she was being "uncooperative" and was arrested for obstruction of justice and resisting arrest. Now resisting arrest is a bogus charge police use all the time and has very flimsy pretenses for using. I really don't understand how she can be arrested fro obstruction of justice for being uncooperative. She entered into the arrangement as a good samartin who would attempt to offer her services to interpret the Spanish being spoken for the officers. At any point should she feel she doesn't want to do this anymore she can walk away she isn't bound by anything to continue helping. Therefore how can she become uncooperative? She isn't part of the accident she isn't a witness she is a passerby who was trying to help and was arrested on what appear to be some bogus charges. For the link to the article and video of the event check out this link.

Drug War

2007-07-18T13:49:00.000-04:00

Here is a great Article I just found a link to on Collegehumor of all sites. It provides some pretty good info on the war and drugs and its fraudulent link to the war on terror by the government. He highlights the history of Marijuana in this country and its use in medicine as far back as 1937 amongst other things the actions of two presidents Clinton and W. Bush who are very vague with their history of drug use but have no problem locking people up for it. Anyways I ramble. Give it a read. Here's the link DRUG WAR.

Freedom

2007-07-18T00:51:00.000-04:00

I apologize to Francois Tremblay over at Check your Premise for stealing his post. But it was just so good I had to put it up for my meager(if any) readers to see. Much apologies and thanks Mr. Tremblay.

From a Rudy Giuliani speech in 1994:

…freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.

You have to love that line of thinking from a man that wants to be your president dont you? According to him, freedom means you cant make a decision for yourself, so let some other guy who cant decide for himself make the decision for you. Stupendous.

Against the Wind

2007-07-18T00:47:00.000-04:00

...And the years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends
Found myself further and further from my home and I
Guess I lost my way...

Yep, that pretty much sums things up for me.

Al-Qaeda = Everybody

2007-07-13T10:36:00.000-04:00

George Bush is on his heels with the current conflict in Iraq. Nothing is going as planned and even some high ranking republican law makers are beginning to turn on him. Only 8 of his 18 bench marks are showing progress and even these are not fulfilled and the troop surge appears to be doing very little to prevent sectarian violence in and around Baghdad and actually is seeing an increase in areas outside the capital. However Bush maintains his stay the course strategy despite the loss of popular support from the people of this country and the growing disdain from politicians. With the loss of support Bush turns to an old friend of his to try and increase his strength on the issue and that is Al Qaeda. Somehow, someday every enemy in Iraq turned into Al Qaeda, no longer is it insurgents or sectarian attacks.

Most references by bush refer to Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia (AQM) which is a Sunni insurgent group in Iraq. Bush would have you and I believe that this group is a direct descendent of the original Al Qaeda. Fact of the matter is that Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia did not even exist until the US invaded Iraq in 2003. At that point AQM made its appearance and became a strong Sunni insurgency force which saw its numbers swell due to the intense hatred for the over 100,000 occupying US troops and the installment of a Shiite dominated government. The American military and American “intelligence” groups see AQM as “a ruthless, mostly foreign-led group that is responsible for a disproportionately large share of the suicide car bomb attacks that have stoked sectarian violence.” This is not in concurrence with the goals of Al-Qaeda but rather is the foundation of an insurgent group bent on removing an occupier and fomenting civil war, not attacking US interests abroad or even in country. Also differing from Al-Qaeda, the majority of members of AQM are Iraqi and the financing is derived from local sources as opposed to other Arab governments. None of these factors show any relation to the actual Al-Qaeda.

The only reason Bush is playing AQM as the same people who attacked us on Sept. 11^th is because the war he has gotten us into is the biggest foreign policy failure in US history. He is distorting facts and trying to play to emotions of a public who at this point in my opinion is not swayed by these tactics. While the overall goal of AQM is to fight America and to make the war impossible for us to maintain because of high political costs, the fact that they are now being compared the Al-Qaeda only reinforces their strength as a terrorist group doesn’t have to kill people to spread terror but rather make people worried which is what Bush’s constant doctrine of fear does.

The main point here is that Iraq is not the main battlefield for fighting Al-Qaeda, but rather a quagmire bogged down in a civil war. Despite our fight with Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, Al-Qaeda itself is back to strength levels it had not approached since 9/11. If we were actually making a difference in Iraq this would not be the case, it would be weakened by our continued attacks. The proof is in the pudding and at this point I don’t see any reason why the war in Iraq should continue, bear in mind that the Iraqis do not see democracy as synonymous with freedom as we do. No Middle Eastern country does and for us to continue trying to impose our beliefs on an unwilling populace with force is just plain wrong.

America is an Empire?

2007-07-11T01:54:00.000-04:00

This is a topic that has been discussed by numerous people at various levels. Im now one of those various people, but I am no doubt on one of the lower levels to discuss this. I dont pretend to have all the info or all the answers but I do have some questions and wonder as to how people cant consider the US an empire.

It seems to me that we are dangerously still wrapped up in the cold war way of thinking which involved establishing satelites in areas where we could strike an enemy (Russia) with ease. Obvious the threat of Russia is moot so this is no longer the case. But let us look around and you will see that we still are occupying numerous countries under the premise of protecting them. From what are we protecting them at this point in history? We still have 38,000 troops in South Korea yet South Koreas military is well equipped and well trained and more than capable of handling the rowdy neighbor they have to the north. We are still in Japan in gigantic numbers with dozens of military bases and why? One answer will be that we are protecting Japan but no one can say from what, the other answer is that we are protecting the rest of the world from Japan. It cant be both if a nation is so strong other countries need protection from it then it does not need to be protected and the facts remain that Japans military also has more than enough defensive capability to repel even an attack from the Chinese. We can also look all throughout Europe for more examples. How silly would it seem to an American to have an Italian army base in Nebraska or some other state, but this is the case with almost all European countries, they have a US military presence right in their back yard when they need no protection. We continue to project our power in the fashion of the Roman empire or more recently the British and the French. If anyone can explain to me the need to have so many active duty troops defending incredibly safe and stable countries I would love to hear it. These troops valiantly defend Germany, Italy and Japan while the US Army tries to press a reservist into a 5th tour of duty, also explain how that makes any sense. Sorry this is a bit of a rambler, im writing it late with no real framework, I promise something a little more organized coming soon.

Congress gets away with murder

2007-07-06T22:53:00.000-04:00

I got this from The Onion, I found it to be Hilarious! Give it a look.

Live From Congress: Rep. Ingersoll's Murder of a Hobo

911 on deactivated cell phones

2007-07-05T23:27:00.000-04:00

I was perusing the Chicago Tribune today as I always do, it is one of my 4 online newspaper subscriptions. An interesting article caught my eye of a 4 year old who had made nearly 300 calls to 911. Never was there an emergency and never were the operators able to track the call except to an apartment complex. Using their cunning and wits to outsmart the 4 year old (after 300 calls) they asked what she wanted, she said McDonalds and they asked for her address so they could deliver it. That took care of the calls.

The calls were being made however on a deactivated cell phone. All cell phones, even when deactivated must still be able to dial 9-1-1. As a matter of fact if you have an activated cell phone, you are paying for everyone with a deactivated phone to be able to call 9-1-1. Now I am not saying this is a bad thing I mean emergencies do happen and people should be able to call 9-1-1. I guess my complaint with this is that why does I have to pay for it? I don't have a home phone and I know many people who don't, but in the event you do have a land line home phone, when it gets disconnected you cant dial 9-1-1. Why is it so important for a cell phone to have free 9-1-1 service but a land line not? Do more accidents happen outside of the home than in the home? What is the reasoning, any thoughts are appreciated.

Rules of Engagment

2007-07-03T15:11:00.000-04:00

Now I am no military scholar I am not well versed in all aspects of combat or the rules of engagement. However I did assume that the rules of engagement stipulated that you did not fire until you were fired upon, at least with the US military. Apparently this doesnt apply for the brave(sarcastic) Israeli Defense Forces. While on an illegal raid into the West Bank town of Hebron today, IDF forces shot and killed a 15 year old with a toy gun. Below is the report which I got off of Al Jazeera online.

Palestinian With Toy Gun Shot Dead

Israeli soldiers have shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank town of Hebron, mistaking him for a gunman.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops "saw armed men and fired at one of them", thinking he was holding an assault rifle, but further checks showed that he had in fact been holding a toy gun.

A Palestinian hospital official also confirmed that the 15-year-old boy had been killed by soldiers in Hebron's Loza district on Tuesday.

Seems to me like this action was a shoot first case one which Israel is famous for. Not to mention a military that is also famous for taunting Palestinians with vulgar comments and the like to incite them to throw rocks so they may fire upon them. For more on Israeli crimes you can go here or here. My personal favorite Israeli crime can be found at this link about the USS Liberty. For those of you not familiar the USS Liberty is a US Ship that was attacked by IDF forces in the attack 34 men were killed and 297 wounded, but as Israel said, it was just an honest mistake. I encourage reading it, get the real story.

Transformers

2007-07-02T23:43:00.000-04:00

I just returned home from an early screening of the new Transformers movie and I have to say I am floored by it. It is a great movie from start to finish, plenty of action but there is more to it than that and for a movie based mainly about robots, it has some pretty good humor mixed in as well. I strongly recommend seeing the movie and as a matter of fact I plan on seeing it again which is highly unusual for a guy who never goes to the movie. All of the main characters are there and the CGI they used for them is amazing. I dont want to give away to much which is tough because I want to tell all about it at the same time. Again, well worth the ticket price, well worth the 2.5 hours and it doesnt even seem like that, great great great movie, go see it, do it, do it now. Thats all for me now, I know this isnt in the same vain as most of my posts, but it had to be said.

USPS delivering strange mail monday thru saturday.

2007-06-29T13:04:00.001-04:00

So i just got a strange letter to my apartment in the mail today. It came through the Lansing area postal service as that is where it is post marked. It has no return address. On the inside was a birthday card with picture of Bill Clinton and his dog sniffing his crotch with Hillary standing there and a word bubble saying "I told you not to let Monica train the dog." There was also a bi-folded letter in it. The letter said as follows.

"Preliminary, but as yet unverified, whisperings and reports the the LA. SWAMP SPIRIT GUIDES indicate that the "BALD-EAGLE" is going to South American soon to be involved in intensive and extensive training for position placement in the New World Order Government now being visualized and formatted.

Where he goes, she cannot follow! We are indeed sorry about that! Expect confirmation data (or negation data) soon.

Communique does not originate from Adrian, but in relatively close proximity. And the PRESIDENT is not the "BALD-EAGLE" being reffered to.

Fraternally yours:"

Any thoughts from any readers on what this could be? I do not issue my address to anyone and have no clue or understanding of what is going on with this. I didn't even think that the post office delivered mail without return addresses, but I guess I was wrong. Figured I would share this bit of strangeness with anyone that actually happens to read this blog.

$4.50 for a gallon of milk?

2007-06-26T20:14:00.000-04:00

I cant find the article right now and like a boner I did not book mark it. But yesterday I was reading an interesting piece on the rise of consumer goods due to the push for ethanol. Some areas of the country are already seeing milk at around $3/ gallon due to the increased demand for corn. Corn being the staple for cows in the mid west. What people don't want to see is that oil for the moment is the best route(for vehicles) and that ethanol and its HUGE government subsidies are not the answer. But as always our loyal and trusted public servants in the government are looking for the quick fix as opposed to the real answer.

Why Voting is for Suckers

2007-06-25T12:52:00.000-04:00

The argument has been made time and time again that voting is a duty of a citizen of the United States. I call this “duty” false, as apparently does most of the US, considering the vast majority do not turn out for any election. This is not nearly the same as why I choose not to vote though.

The main problem I see with voting is that it is tantamount to terrorism. Your vote puts a man into a position of unjust power; a position of power that affects all sorts of third parties who have nothing to do with the actual election. If you are willing to vote, then you must also be willing to accept responsibility for any rights that are violated after he assumes his seat of power. I myself do not believe it is my right to impose my will on any other people, therefore it is not right for me to say that I cannot do that but I will allow someone else to do that for me. Voting for an elected official in my eyes would be me saying “I don’t want to take my neighbors money to pay for my child to go to school, so I will have someone else do it for me.” This is what you condone by voting. The question was posed to one Wendy McElroy of if she could cast the deciding vote against Hitler would she? Her answer was no, but her counter answer was brilliant , "No, but I would have no moral objection to putting a bullet through his skull." The logic here is that by putting a bullet through his head you affect a very limited amount of people. However by casting your vote against him you vote for the lesser of two evils and even if it is lesser, it is still evil.

Another question you must ask is if you accept the state as a ruling authority. I myself do not, ours is a country that is ruled by an elite class of citizen who have nothing in common nor any interest in advancing the common man. Our government has become one where big business and big government are one and the same. Especially with the current administration has turned into an Imperial form of government, one which does not follow its own rules nor one which follows the will of the people as was the intention of our founding fathers when this country was established. We need only look at our congress which cow tows to the president on his demands, or our president and vice president who do not believe they are part of the executive branch of government to see this.

On another note I will borrow a quote from a very wise man by the name of Lysander Spooner, he asked “Does choosing your master every four years make you less of a slave?” To this I give a resounding no. All you are accomplishing by casting your ballot is to choose who will be your master and who will make the decision on what is right and wrong for you, what you should and should not do. You do not cast a vote for freedom or for liberty you cast a vote for oppression and for control. By doing so you forfeit all right to complain about government in its decisions, even if you do not vote for the politician who gains power. Arguing that you can complain about his form of oppression and “for the good of the people” decision making is like starting a game and then saying you didn’t want to play if you knew you would lose. You willingly entered the contest but when the results don’t favor you, it’s no fair.

On the other hand by not voting I have put no one in power, nor do I believe that anyone should make my decisions for me. My life and my property are my right and my choice as are the rights of all other people. As Voltaire said “Man is free the instant he wants to be.” Until the citizens of this country stop being blind and voting into the same system that has failed for years they can never be free. There are some however who see this as the only solution and I now county myself as one of them.

5th Sentence Meme

2007-06-19T15:23:00.001-04:00

Merely echoing the 5th Sentence Meme from No Third Solution.

Grab the nearest book.

1. Open it to page 161.
2. Find the fifth full sentence.
3. Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions.

Don’t search around looking for the coolest book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.

Here goes:

"An early medieval Arab traveller describing to his readers the wonders of the mysterious land of China, has a strange tale to tell."

The sentence is from "The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 years"

The American Gulag

2007-06-18T01:10:00.001-04:00

This is the Dawn of the American Gulag...

First it starts with a 'list' that rapidly gets larger and larger with no controls(FBI Terror list at 509,000)...and the original purpose of the list becomes muted and then fades away as the true design becomes clear: as a tool for identifying and repressing potential dissidents to the increasingly authoritarian rule...America is, right now, not anything close to a democracy, nor a representative republic, it is a modern feudalistic state, fueled by corruption on virtually every side, and a drunk with power out-of-control vice-president and a stupid, stubborn, ignorant man who believes he has the Divine Right of Kings as president.

Great Link

2007-06-13T01:48:00.001-04:00

Follow this link to Strike the Root for a great article by Robert Kaercher on the use of force in society as a sickness. It draws some great conclusions about what is going on this country and the indifference of the Amerikan people.

For those of you unfamiliar with Strike the Root, it is a hot bed of libertarian thought and offers up great articles and links on a daily basis. If you are looking for some good reads, this is the place to go. Also, they have a great archive highlighting reasons not to vote, also worth a read!

Whats the difference?

2007-06-13T01:41:00.001-04:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Tuesday advanced legislation aimed at pressuring Egypt to improve its human rights record by withholding some military aid until progress is made.

The House Appropriations Committee approved a wide-ranging foreign aid bill for next year that would hold back $200 million in military funds for Egypt until the close U.S. ally takes steps to curb police abuses, reform its judicial system and stop weapons smuggling from Egypt to Gaza.
For more on this funding cut check out The Arabist.
This makes total sense, lets cut funding to Egypt for having poor human rights records from a government we installed and support through said human rights violations. It must be a pretty bad fall from the high horse when we decide that now after years and years we no longer approve.

The Question also begs, why are we cutting funding to Egypt and not Israel? As has been highlighted by numerous sources Israel has receieved dozens of UN sanctions(that arent enforced) for human rights violations on all levels. However this doesnt bother us or interupt their funding. As of this posting, Israel still receives more direct and indirect US funding than all other nations on earth combined. This willy nilly enforcement idea of who we should take money away from for bad human rights records simply highlights the fact that we work for Israel. It is not the other way around, we are the tool that keeps them afloat in the sea of hatred and resentment they have built. They are the tool that increases the hatred for us because of our horrendous foreign policy in the middle eastern region. I say if we take money from Egypt, we should strip all funding to Israel. It only makes sense seeing as they are a very advanced state with the 4th largest military on earth(from a "country" of 6 million people), of all the places in need of US aid, they are the last.

Preemptive War

2007-06-13T01:35:00.000-04:00

Obviously I have already delved into the issues that I think are happening in Iran and some logical presentations of why Iran is not searching for a conflict with the US. But lets say that in fact they are on the verge of creating and arming themselves with nuclear weapons, there is a great reason for this.

The reason is because there is now a rouge nation on the prowl who preaches and practices the doctrine of preemptive war. This rouge state is none other than your very own United States of America. If you were in a country that had been receiving what I will call threats from said rouge nation would you not proceed with the steps neccessary to possibly discourage any preemptive attack? If you could develop nuclear weapons and deter said attack would that not make logical sense? Please leave some comments and let me know if Im the only one thinking that it makes sense for Iran to develop these weapons.

On a sidenote as I have said short of dropping a nuke in Iraq which is not in their best interest, even if they develop a nuclear weapon they have no means to deliver it to the United States, thus not being the threat they are depicted as.

Whose government is it?

2007-06-11T21:45:00.000-04:00

“They can try to have their votes of no confidence, but it’s not going to determine — make the determination who serves in my government,” Mr. Bush said, adding, “This process has been drug out a long time, which says to me it’s political.” George W. Bush from a NY Times Article.

This is disturbing, he refers to it as serving in his government. It is not his government last time I checked, by the definition it is a government by the people for the people. While this may not completely be the case, it is the intention of our government. Not for some power hungry lunatic in the White House to declare it his government. Lord help us should there be another "catastrophic emergency" which would allow George to invoke Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20 which would bestow upon the president the authority to personally take control of the entire federal government including the judicial and legislative branches for the purpose of “ensuring constitutional government". Sounds to me like a means to an end for an essential take over of the US Government. I for one believe that if there was ever a person in the White House crazy enough to declare himself the sole government and ruler of all people and to eliminate another election it would be young George. This is what democracy has brought us, dont you think we could do a lot better?

“It’s an interesting comment about Congress, isn’t it, that, on the one hand, they say that a good general shouldn’t be reconfirmed, and on the other hand, they say that my Attorney General shouldn’t stay,” he said today. “And I find it interesting. I guess it reflects the political atmosphere of Washington.”

Also from the same article. The fact is that the general not being renewed has overseen the debacle and clusterfuck that is US involvment in Iraq. We are mired in a stagnat pit of violence which no reasonable man would try to say shows any signs of improvement, that is why he is not being renewed, not politics. The attorney general also didnt receive a ringing vote of support, they did receive a majority, but not the 60 votes necessary(That raises the question to me that if it is a democratic vote, then how come 51 votes isnt all they need, thats democracy.). Gonzalez has acted in a manner unbefitting a man in charge of the highest law in the land and has treated it as a partisan play thing. He is yet another whore for President Bush that says yes to any question asked no matter how he may violate the constitution and the rights of the people.

Vietnam part II?

2007-06-11T01:53:00.000-04:00

Early military reports revealed the difficulty that the Soviet forces encountered in fighting in mountainous terrain. The Soviet Army was unfamiliar with such fighting, had no counter-insurgency training, and their weaponry and military equipment, particularly armored cars and tanks, were sometimes ineffective or vulnerable in the mountainous environment. Heavy artillery was extensively used when fighting rebel forces.

The Soviets used helicopters (including Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunships) as their primary air attack force, which was regarded as the most formidable helicopter in the world, supported with fighter-bombers and bombers, ground troops and special forces.

The inability of the Soviet Union to break the military stalemate, gain a significant number of Afghan supporters and affiliates, or to rebuild the Afghan Army, required the increasing direct use of its own forces to fight the rebels. Soviet soldiers often found themselves fighting against civilians due to the elusive tactics of the rebels. They repeated one of the American Vietnam mistakes by winning almost all of the conventional battles, but failing to control the countryside.

**Thanks to Wikipedia for the above info.

Now re-read all of that. But when doing so, replace mountainous with urban, Soviet with American, and Afghan with Iraqi and what does it sound like? Kind of strange what they say, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. This would be the second repeat as Russia in Afghanistan was the first.

The Problem With Police

2007-06-09T22:56:00.001-04:00

Ive posted on this topic before as have many others, and I wont lie Im blatanly copying and pasting this one but I could never explain and give an example this well. This is another case of police all dressed up and playing solider with no intention of carrying through because they may put themselves in danger to stop the victimization of innocent civilians. Despite the fact that this is what they are hired and sworn in to do it is not in severe cases the reality of the situation.

Portion of article lifted from Pro Libearte courtsey of William N. Grigg

Once again, the operational principle was not to “protect and serve” the innocent, but officer safety uber alles.

This is not always the case, of course. There are, I happily and gratefully acknowledge, many genuinely heroic men in law enforcement and rescue units who defy the officer safety dogma to and on behalf of the innocent, despite the fact that the State does not require them to.

He died trying to save a stranger: The heroic Kris Kime (l.) and the memorial plaque in Seattle's Pioneer Square district, where he was murdered (r.).

In fact, that's what happened in the case of Kris Kime, as described in this excerpt from an account compiled by a Seattle law firm:

“Kris Kime was with his friends in the midst of Pioneer Square.... The group of friends became separated. Some of the young women were assaulted. They were in the process of desperately trying to leave when Kris bent over to help a victimized woman who had been knocked to the ground. As he reached out to her, Kris had no idea that [Jerell] Thomas [who murdered Kime] was approaching him from the rear. Massive blows were delivered to the back of Kris’ head and he fell to the ground....

The group of friends and onlookers created a circle around Kris as the mob surged around. A few people tried to kick him.

As he lay dying in the street, the City [police] stood by and did nothing. Friend Louis Dickinson called 911 to get help. The dispatcher explained that the police would not go in to the melee. `He’s hurt bad' Dickinson pleaded. Not giving up, he ran to the perimeter and begged the police directly. In wooden tones they told him that they had heard the dispatch but would not go in. Meanwhile two off duty paramedics came to help and along with a few of the friends were able to drag Kris out of the square. No ambulances or aid vehicles were present, so Kris was placed into the rear of a patrol car and taken to Harborview.”

While the entire police force – commanders, dispatchers, and officers on the street – allowed this murder to unfold before their eyes, it was a couple of off-duty paramedics who risked their lives in a doomed but noble attempt to save the life of the stricken Samaritan.

Perhaps these heroic paramedics were able to see their moral duty clearly because they were off the clock, and thus not working for the State.

The only excuse for putting up with government at all is the assumption that it will protect us from the violence of the lawless: That's the actual import of the much-misused passages in Romans 13 urging Christians to be subject to governments: God has placed the sword into the hands of rulers to defend the innocent against evil-doers.

Where governments do not carry out that function, they have no moral or practical reason to exist.

As we mourn for the innocent dead and wounded, and pray for the consolation of their families, let us also reflect on the unambiguous truth that the State that rules us cannot protect us -- and that only idolatrous fools would permit that State to disarm us.

*****Original Content*****

This seems to be the main problem with any of the numerous yahoos who decide they want to be swat officers. They all want to play army, have the toys, dress the part and fluff their machismo for all to see. However when it comes to nut cutting time, more often than not they sit back and do not enter the fray for fear of endangering themselves in the effort to prevent violence. A prime example is Columbine when numerous swat teams descened on the high school but none entered to confront the gunmen. The reasoning, A.) that they feared seeting off another gunfight. Horrible logic as innocent unarmed students and teachers were being gunned down in a place devoid of protection. This is what a swat team is for but since it didnt involve an early morning no knock raid the situation was to dangerous. Reason B.) They were afraid that since they did not know who the suspects were it would put officers in danger. What the FUCK? How on earth did they propose to find the suspects wait until everyone was dead or sit back as they did, wait until the killers shot themselves and then slap each other on the back for a job well done.

The willingness of these groups to use their arms in situations that dont need them is startling. Below are links the same blog above that highlight some of these occurences. Only when the threat is minimal and a story of danger can be manufactured does it seem that the officers will draw arms or place themselves in "danger".

http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2007/05/another-victim-of-warfarehomeland.html
http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2007/05/biden-gives-his-blessing-to-derek-hales.html
http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2007/05/when-state-owns-your-name.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/bothwell2.html

Check here: http://www.cato.org/raidmap/ and you can find any number of egregious offenses by your hard working boys in blue.

With this body of work and some peoples denial of the second ammendment I must ask, are you really comfortable letting only these over anxious "peace officers" have the guns?

Incoherent Ramblings of a Malcontent

2007-06-06T01:07:00.000-04:00

With everyday that passes, the US puts down more roots into the soil of Iraq. More bases are built, more influence gained, more troops stationed. All under the guise of promoting freedom and peace for the Iraqi people, but last I checked it is a real quagmire where violence and corruption rum rampant with no force being able to check them. The only areas of the country that I would consider safe are the Green Zone and areas that are dominated by certain militias who have been able to control the streets and provide protection the US presence cannot.

With recent talk from the White House and Central Command we now hear that the US is planning a long and enduring stay in Iraq. The likes of what we have in Korea or Japan. There are several problems with this plan.

The first problem is that our mere presence on Arab and Islamic soil is enough to breed hatred. We are forcibly and violentlf defiling countries where the citizens dont want us. It isnt just Iraq, but is Saudia Arabia, Egypt etc. We have a huge problem thinking that everyone wants our help when i reality no one in the middle east wants us there except the weak goverments who suppress their people which we support. Thats one great step to change our image in the Middle East(sarcasm).

The second problem is that Iraq will never be like either of those countries. The reality of it is that in South Korea, tehy wanted us there and need us to stay because of the communist threat(boogie man) in the north. No one in Iraq wants us to stay, hell im pretty sure that as soon as we caught Saddam they didnt want us around anymore. But we persist to tell another country what is in its best interest and how they should live and how thankful they should be. The end result, something that isnt happening in Korea, thats right an insurgency. Last time I checked no US troops were being killed in Korea every day, the people werent rebeling against us and the overwhelming population didnt hate us and want us out.

If George W. Bush can get over this idea in his head that he needs to be saving countries that dont want saving things may improve. You have to wonder if he actually thinks that he can bomb the middle east into peaceful democracies with leaders who love us, because thats the way it looks . That wont happen, he is so conservative and "born again" that there is no doubt in my mind that he views this as a "crusade" of sorts, its almost like he is trying to promote end times because he believes in it. I am rambling and off point but it all just makes no sense.

Our government is a sham, power simply breeds more power, and greed and corruption, find me an honest politician in Washington who is actually looking out for the interests of the people. YOu cant, it wont happen, all our government has become is big buisness, bent on filling their own pockets no matter what ethics they violate, whose wheels get greased and what civil and constitutional rights get trampled in the process. Our founding fathers had the right idea, they knew what tehy wanted but politicians have become so distorted since then that it will never be the same, our democracy now is simply how civilized people loot, opress and murder one another as opposed to the way it used to be with barbarians.

As a last note I would like to remind our serivce men and women out there what they should be defending. Your oath of service did not say that you would defend the United States against all foes foreign or domestic. It stated that you will defend the United States CONSTITUTION against all foes foreign and domestic. Last I checked the Iraqi insurgency is not violating the constitution. Rather it is our goverment who sent you off to an illegitimate war who has raped and defiled your constitution, looks like the fight should be at home.

Iran vs. US, lets apply some logical thinking.

2007-06-01T22:55:00.000-04:00

There is alot of sabre rattling by the US these days towards Iran. The administration is already actively painting the picture that Iran is a serious and legitimate threat to the security of the United States. Again this falls in line with the pattern of ruling by fear. The fact of the matter is that neither country would have anything to gain by going to war, least of all Iran which begs the question, are they even posturing for a conflict?

First off let’s look at the alleged ace in the hole of the Bush administration, the nuclear program (which the US actually helped Iran start in the 1950's). There are two schools of thought on this issue, the first being the Bush School of thought that Iran is developing and already has the capability to produce nuclear weapons. Based on "intelligence" the administration claims this is the case. Bare in mind this is the same "intelligence" gathering that led us into the Iraq war under false pretenses. The second school of thought is that Iran is not allowing inspectors in to see their nuclear program because they have failed to produce anything close to nuclear weapons grade plutonium yet. I would say that this is more than likely the case with Iran. Also, why on earth should Iran not be allowed to develop nuclear energy and weapons, I know for a fact if I was any other country in the Middle East that I would be trying knowing that the militaristic regime in Israel has nuclear weapons. The countries surrounding Israel would be stupid not to be developing these technologies. Then there is also the chance that Iran is using the nuclear program to actually develop energy sources to use other than Oil which would be a great thing for any country.

Next, let’s look at this from a Military stand point. The US, although short on manpower due to Iraq is the strongest military in the world. We are vastly superior to Iran in terms of Naval and air power in any conflict and despite all the showing off that Iran has done recently with their naval and ground forces they know this. This leads to the understanding from Iran that their Navy and Air force would not stand for 24 hours in the face of what would be an overwhelming attack by US forces (which would be another illegitimate mass murdering in a preemptive war). After the initial attack there is no doubt that much like Iraq, Iran's infrastructure would be in total ruins setting the country back years. This is not what the government in Iran wants or needs. For the US the initial war would go quickly and smoothly much like Iraq, but the aftereffects would be devastating. If we think that we are seeing a powerful insurgency in Iraq then there is no way that the US would have the stomach for what would occur in Iran. The elite military units of the Iranian military would no doubt disband and meld into the insurgency that would begin. There would be much more sophisticated and advanced IED's** as well as military tactics overall and unlike Iraq, the people in Iran are not living with the hatred of their government so there goes the "lets free them" idea.

Another interesting thing to look at is that Iran has not started any military conflict in decades, especially not since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Whereas the US in the same time period has started numerous conflicts and has intervened in many others (this is the new US imperialism).

So logically who would appear to be the instigator of this potential conflict? I think when you add up the realities of the situation that Iran knows that they have nothing to gain with open conflict with the US. George Bush and Cheney no doubt see this as another just cause no doubt supported by their twisted and ideological world view. The fact is however that it would result in another conflict that US would have no chance in sustaining with troop levels and like Iraq that they would have no chance in actually achieving victory. If anyone who reads this can tell the last time a western army went into the Middle East and was actually able to conquer and replace a regime I would love to hear it. Western thinking cannot realize the overwhelming role of religion and religious classes in Middle Eastern life; we cannot understand that democracy is not what these countries want. The sooner we change our foreign policy and the sooner we realize that we have nothing to gain by trying to influence the affairs of countries that don’t want our help the better off we will be as a country.

On a side note I’m sure many people aren’t really paying attention to the events that unfolded in Lebanon recently; the rise of Sunni insurgent groups against the Lebanese government . I’m sure also that many people don’t know how this all occurred. Here is what went down. After Hezbollah stood up to the might of the Israeli onslaught and proved themselves a very capable guerilla organization the United States became a bit worried. In an attempt to counter this Shiite militia that lives in Lebanon the US began to fund and equip various Sunni organizations to act as a counter to Hezbollah (look there, encouraged sectarian violence). Well as a result there are now well equipped and funded Sunni groups who have decided that they aren’t the biggest fans of the Lebanese government so they took actions. So lets see how our actions worked there, we armed Sunnis to fight Shiites, instead they fight a democratically elected government. Looks to me like we lose on both counts and have only created more problems for ourselves in the Middle East. It is very similar to what occurred in Afghanistan in terms of arming one group to support our cause only to find out that our causes are not the same. Gives great credence to the quote "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it" good job George W, you've made some great decisions in your two terms so far, lets see how many more lives you can cost this great nation and how many more conflicts you can create you are hands down the worst president in the history of the United States.

For a further example of the US not practicing what it preaches in terms of exporting democracy (which Bush actually was opposed to in his first campaign as well as using our troops for nation building.) we need only look at our close ally Pakistan. Pakistan is governed my a military dicator in "president" Musharaf who took power in a coup. Simply because he attached the word president to his title doesnt make him democratically elected. Yet we supply this military dictatorship with millions and millions of dollar of aid as he continues to supress the rights of his people. If our foreign policy doesnt help to breed hate I dont know what would. If you are one of the Americans who think the Arab world hates us for our freedom, I suggest you stop watching TV and pick up a book.

**Interstingly enough, despite the Pentagons best efforts to better protect US troops from IED attacks, they are killing soldiers with more regularity than ever. A great example of a guerilla movement out thinking and outpacing a multi billion dollar militart industrial complex.

Homeland Security, how safe do you feel?

2007-06-01T12:35:00.001-04:00

With the events that occurred on 9/11 we ushered in a brand new era of powers to the executive branch of government. We saw George W. Bush institute new reforms to violate our personal freedoms and trample on the amendments. One of the biggest violations that occurred was the formation of the good old Department of Homeland Security. This was an organization that was created to prevent terrorists and the threat they pose of attacking us on our home soil.

One of the claims made by the DHS is that by clamping down on all forms of immigration they have made it virtually impossible for terrorists to come to the United States. Unless you are a total idiot, then you can see through this we have very loose borders even after 9/11 and the flow of immigrants has not ceased. Look at what was happening in NJ with the threat of an attack on the Army base they were foreign immigrants yet they were here. Our system of keeping track of immigrants was so flawed when 9/11 occurred that the attackers had been in our country for some time illegally and no one knew, yet they were all on a watch list. The current watch list is no better with many innocent civilians being placed on the list for having similar names and even when showing they are not who the government thinks they are, have no recourse to get themselves off the list.

Another startling statistic of the DHS is that of 800,000 plus individuals charged, only 114 have been charged with terror related offenses. That comes up to less than .01% for those of you keeping track at home. Are we to believe that this organization is necessary when after all its work and all its charges only .01% of the people it has charged are even linked to terrorism? What then is the DHS doing? Are we to believe that there are either no terrorists, or that DHS is just terrible at catching them, which do you think it is? I’m betting on a combination of the two. The threat of domestic attack and terrorism in this country is drastically overblown by the Bush Administration who rules purely by fear. If the White House can’t keep the majority of lemmings I mean citizens afraid of a terror that doesn’t exist how can they continue to suppress our rights?

Two Links/ Articles to consider:

Since 9/11 the PATRIOT Act has been used in numerous cases involving American citizens, including strip club owners, toy store proprietors, the homeless, owners of websites, writers, internet users, artists, journalists and photographers.

Maybe in order to find more terrorists the DHS should investigate itself. In 2004 the DHS employed former East German Stasi head, the 'Silver Fox' Markus Wolfe who had previously been denied entry to the US as he was considered a terrorist. In addition, the DHS also hired Ex-head of the Soviet KGB, General Yevgeni Primakov.

Lets all salute the new world order of the Bush Administration. To think like a police state it only helps if we hire those who are from the police state, this is your new America.
Special thanks with this piece to this article at Infowars.net.

I work with a person who I would describe as fairly right wing and who is supportive of the current administration. We were discussing some of the steps taken under the Patriot Act etc. the other day while driving from one job site to the other. I brought up the idea of illegal wiretaps, and of email checking and other forms of spying by the US government on its citizens. His response was the "because I’m not doing anything I don’t care". I was the complete opposite and I think many people would agree with me, it is precisely because of the fact that I am innocent that I object so much to the idea of being spied on by my own government. If I have done nothing then why should I be watched? It is the idea that innocence should mean compliance that is flawed thinking by many Americans today. It has been said that people should not fear their government, but the government should fear its people, I don’t think we could be further from that point.

There is no government like no government

2007-05-20T23:01:00.000-04:00

Reading some posts and interesting tidbits over at A Stitch in Haste I came across this interesting article which covers Montgomery County Marylands decision to outlaw trans fats. First off this an absolutley ridiculous notion as the government has no right to tell me what foods I should or should not consume. Whehter or not i want to cram my face full of french fries and dounts soaking in trans fats is of no concern to the goverment as it is my life and also as the government should be dealing with many more important issues even on the county level. The root of this problem lies in the fact that people in the United States 1.) will not accept responsibility for their health and eating habits (as noted by people who sue fastfood restraunts for "becoming addicted to the food") and 2.)have no willpower of what they choose to eat. Ill be honest I weigh a bit more than I should and like most people I succumb to the vices of the fast food industry now and again. BUt this is strictly my perogative, no one from Burger King holds a gun to my head and makes me eat a whopper more often than not it is due to laziness and the desire for something fast(hence fast food). I know it isnt healthy, hell anyone who doesnt has to be an idiot(Morgan Spurlock). As for the government of a county or country saying to its people "this isnt healthy so we are taking it away" far oversteps the bounds of what should comprise goverment.

This isnt the only area where the goverment oversteps itself, you can also look at no smoking laws. Im not one who smokes or enjoys smoke, but I understand that when going into a bar or restraunt chances are im going to smell the smoke. If a buisness chooses to make itself smoke free, more power to them. But more and more these days we are seeing goverment intervention (ohio most recently) which bans smoking in restraunts and other establishments. Am I the only one who sees the huge problem here? The government is banning you from smoking in private places. IF anything the goverment should be telling you that you cant smoke on the sidewalk, because that is the public property where the government has some form of credible jurisdiction. But to tell an independent and private bar owner that people cannot smoke in an establishment is not what the government is there to do.

These are jsut ramblings on two things I found. Sorry about the inactivity lately, there have been several things I have wanted to write about but have not been able to come up with a way to voice my feelings best. My main topic that I would like to cover is the use of para military police units in society and why and how this is wrong on so many levels. I have grown disgusted with alot of what I have read and would love to post something on this, but its going to take some time to word and put together to say the least.

7 Rules to be an Obedient American

2007-05-14T17:11:00.000-04:00

George Bush's 7 rules to be an obedient American. I took this nice little number from a link over at Strike the Root. I'm sure its supposed to be humorous, but it really follows with his time in office.

Two Sides of the Army Coin

2007-05-10T23:09:00.000-04:00

To begin this article I am going to preface by saying that I support the works our troops do overseas, putting their lives on the line for the country. I recognize the sacrifice that is made by the few who never return home and those who do return home, but not in one piece.

In my limited experiences with members of the military, I have now in my life seen two sides.

On one side was my very close friend Adam Malson. Adam and I attended high school together and were very close, he went away to Michigan State after graduation, I had one year of high school left and then went off to Adrian College in southeastern Michigan. Needless to say we did not see each other very often after this, he was busy with various activities and I was busy with football. We did talk frequently over instant messenger and this allowed us to maintain a fairly close relationship. Adam was the last person I thought would join the Army but did so for a noble reason that he legitimately wanted to help people. He and his future wife were both in ROTC, Adam graduated from MSU with a 3.97. He and his wife then both joined into the Army entering as officers, his wife was in the Military Police and Adam was in Airborne. Both have served tours in the hotspots, Adams wife serving in Afghanistan and Adam serving in Iraq. Sadly Adam did not come back from Iraq; he was killed by a suicide bomber while helping a woman from the burning wreckage of a vehicle. I know that Adam joined the Army to help people, and to serve his country. Any monetary gain that may have come with his enlistment was purely secondary. He was in my eyes what this nation’s army should stand for. Proud, educated people who go in for the right reasons, I have no doubt that if Adam were still alive, he would be serving proudly and would be in a position of great leadership and would have had a great military career. His death touched me in a very real way as he sacrificed his life for a greater good, that of his men, never mind that he was 23 years old buy leading more seasoned men because he was the best. I was a pallbearer at his funeral which hundreds of people attended, a 4 star general eulogized him and many of his soldiers offered up words on how great of a solider he was. Adam Malson Article and Here

On the other side of the coin another friend of mine recently joined the Army and it appears to be for the wrong reasons. I cannot say for sure as when I have asked her the answers have been somewhat vague about why she joined just that "it’s something I want to do". She will also be joining the Army and leaves in 19 days. Today I spoke with her on the phone and she was sure to let me know that she received a 25,000.00 signing bonus, with 10,000.00 of it up front in cash. She also has a mountain of student debt from college which the US government will now be repaying. The decision for her to join the Army came quite suddenly, she actually had bought a 7 week lab about a month ago which will now be pawned off onto various family members. A person who has thought about joining the military seriously does not buy a dog when they know they cannot care for it (I don’t think). Her stint in the Army will be served as a Nurse. No doubt the Army needs nurses, but she had mentioned before joining the army of being a nurse in the private world. This is the aspect of our military that bothers me.

There are a select group of individuals who before and even after 9/11 join the military for the monetary benefits, the signing bonus, the loan repayment. Many of these soldiers (mercenaries) serve their 4 years and then use their military training for profitable private careers immediately after. Another friend of mine was a mechanic in the marines, discharged after 4 years and returned to Iraq to be a private military contractor as a mechanic and was making 160,000.00 of tax free money courtesy of the government and his military paid for training. To me this might as well be robbery, its part of the problem with the military industrial complex that allows such blatant profiteering from the soldiers that it trains. About a year ago I was greatly offended by an article referring to the US Military as a mercenary force. Now I have to say this seems to be the exact case. We have an army that is getting paid 25,000.00 to join up and serve 4 years. What other country on earth offers signing bonuses to their service members? I don’t believe there are any. The enlistment of this friend touched me as well, but in a different way. How can people look at the military as such a for profit venture while so many have died doing what they knew was the right thing? How can one person see it as a noble profession worth dying for and others see it as a means to profit?

I understand capitalism fully and recognize that this is a prime example of how the system works; you take what you can get for a certain job. But in my eyes people that join the military for this reason cheapen the sacrifice made everyday by the soldiers who join for the right reasons. The ones that aren’t trying to just get paid collect a paycheck and get out after 4 years. I as a taxpayer am mortified that I will now be paying off my student loans as well as my friends and thousands of others and then watching many of them going on to lucrative careers at the benefit of the training that tax payers provide. The Army and the military in general used to stand for something, I can’t say that it stands for nearly as much anymore sadly, I wish it did.

You Are Missed:
Adam Michael Malson
11/7/81 - 2/19/05
"Without a sign his sword the brave man draws, And asks no omen but his country’s cause."
- Homer

Define a surge...

2007-05-09T16:28:00.000-04:00

So the Presidents Surge strategy which initially was onyl supposed to be 20,000 troops but has now well surpassed 30,000 troops is now calling 35,000 more troops for replacement duty to maintain the surge. Now we have 35,000 troops who can look forward to 24 hour combat with no safe zones and 15 months tours. Add this all up and you have a combat situation much worse than Vietnam, as Vietnam at least had safe areas in country and down time for soliders whereas the Army in Iraq is subject to 24 hour combat situations where everyone is the enemy. Because of this there is a rise in post traumatic stress disorder which the Bush administration is trying to have redfined to limit how much they need to pay veterans affected by it. But thats another story for another time. The main question is, what defines a surge. In my eyes a surge is a quick and decisive measure taken to ensure security and promote safety. This isnt necessarily the case as now all the militas and deat squads seem to be laying low while suicide bomings are on the rise and US soldiers are dying at a higher rate. It doesnt quite seem like the security is there nor is safety promoted. On top of this, the surge which is a quick decisive move is now going to have to last "into the spring of 2008". As I have said this does not sound like a troop surge but rather troop escalation, much reminiscent of how Vietnam and the troop buildup began.

The other main problem I have with the conflict is that it is an occupation, not a mission to free the Iraqis anymore. A force fighting for the freedom of a people does not evict citizens from their homes to turn them into garrisons and that is exactly the actions being taken by the US military. We really need to take stop and reexamine the situation and how we are conducting ourselves if we ever want this to work.

Did You Know?

2007-05-03T22:22:00.000-04:00

Did you know:

- There are more private contractors employed in all branches of government than there are actual employees of the federal government?

- Only 1 out of 8 contracted projects in Iraq are functional after 6 months.

- That Haliburton was awared a no bid contract to construct a 22 million dollar Army base in Iraq that has now run into the cost range of 4 billion dollars?

- That there are 30,000+ private defense contractors operating in Iraq who are not bound by US law or Iraqi law(thanks Paul Bremer)?

- The ex-chief of the Global Fund says that reconstruction in Iraq is doomed?

- Congress has allowed the war in Iraq to continue unabated for despite the fact that they approved the war under what some say is false information?

- That the former number two in charge at the justice department has gone on record as saying that only 1 of the 8 fired prosecutors was underperforming?

- That the escalation in Vietnam started with a troop surge? Sure we just need 30,000 more to do the job. Give an inch, they take a foot.

- Iran might be the biggest help to solve the problem in Iraq?

- Iraq has only been formally recognized as a country since after World Ware I and before that was basically a region of three autonomous states?

- To help our image in the Middle East we fund Israel to the tune of 3.4 billion dollars of defense money per year, while refusing to sell or supply advanced weapons to any other countries thus to allow Israel an edge in the region?

- The Iraqi government has shown no signs of meeting any benchmarks so far and has shown a great deal of similarity with our own government in terms of playing partisan politics?

- That the people of our two main allies in the Middle East Saudi Arabia and Egypt hold us in more contempt than the people of Iran or Syria?

- That an overwhelming number of German citizens polled said that the US was more of a threat to global peace than Iran(I agree)?

- Before the US invasion of Iraq, there were no terrorists groups operating out of the country?

- The fledgling Iraqi "Democracy" is already asking out of 85 billion dollars of debt?

- Iran is not an Arab country but rather Persian?

- In the early stages of the Iraqi invasion we destroyed much of the infrastructure necessary for post war plans?

- New Orleans is still in shambles, yet no one seems to care?

- Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki seems to think he is actually in a position of power depsite the fact that we put him there and he is only there still through American force of arms.

- According to the international Red Cross the standard of living has gone down in Iraq each year for the last 4 years?

- The only way to police Iraq is with Iraqis who know the demographics and religious tensions, not a 19 year old from Iowas who only knows to yell "shut the fuck up"?

- This is how our troops conduct themselves in Iraq(picture below)? Sure are winning hearts and minds.

Iraq is the ZANIEST nation in the whole middle east! (from CollegeHumor)

Just wondering if you knew?

Baskin Robins

2007-05-03T22:04:00.000-04:00

Why is it that in this country we have Baskin Robins which offers over 30 flavors of ice cream, yet all we can have for politics is two parties? Its not that there are not any other parties, there are plenty and they have great ideas. However the people of the US dont feel the need to look at anything but the two main parties, both of which have been mired in ineptitude for years.

Lets be honest, there are no differences between the Republicans and the Democrats, if a Democrat sent us to war, the Republicans would be doing the same thing that the Democrats are right now. The only real difference between the parties is their mascot, a donkey or an elephant fitting because both are slow to change and are full of jackasses.

If the people(ostritches) of this country would pull their heads from the sand just once and take a look at the other candidates they would see their are better people with brighter ideas to lead this country. The fact of the matter however is that Americans as a whole would rather vote for the lesser of two evils. Its not a matter of voting for the best candidate but voting for the one who isnt quite as bad, we have seen this time and time again. They either take this avenue or wander down the "the only way my vote counts is if i vote for the winner" line of thinking. The idea that voting for the winner somehow validates your vote is absurd and it is sad that an educated country like this falls to the depths of ignorance when performing our most vital public service which is voting.

Lets face it, Democracy is a wonderful idea but the way this country practices it is not working. We have an electoral college which does not have to in theory follow how the majority of their states voters vote. They are not bound by the votes of the state, but rather can vote of their own free will and own accord. On top of this we have a "representative" body that does not represent what the people of this country want, but rather play the game of partisan politics. Clearly there are over 2/3 of the country don't support the war, but we cant get a majority of our congressman to vote in such fashion. If the republicans were not in such a rush to back Bush and his failed pet of a war then they could step back and see what the people who put them in office want.

Is this what you want out of your government, for them to wheel and deal for their own gain? To work as lobbyists for powerful contractors of the government both before and after their terms thus making them tools of coroprate America rather than the voter? Is this what the system has come to and if it has, what can be done to fix it other than an overhaul either in how government is practiced or in how the public treats it, that is the question I pose to you. Can you answer it?

Curious George goes to war

2007-04-24T13:10:00.000-04:00

“A lesson of 9/11 is that allowing terrorists to find a sanctuary anywerhe in the world can have deadly consequences on the streets of our cities,’’ the president said. “It would embolden our enemies and confirm their belief that America is weak… It would be an invitation to the enemy to attack America and our friends around the world.’’
-George W. Bush

Last time I looked, before we went into Iraq the only threat we had to deal with was Saddam Hussein and that threat was relativley benign. He ran a secular government and yes inflicted damage on his own people but did not allow for terrorists in his country. Once his government was removed we saw the rise of fanatical Islamic groups on both sides, something not found prior the US invasion. Now Iraq is a hotbed of terrorists and is home to a branch of Al-Qaeda which it was not previously. It seems by removing an older and more predictable evil we have invited a newer and more volatile enemy into the mix.

“Last November, the American people said they were frustrated and wanted a change in our policy in Iraq… I listened,’’ Bush said, pointing to an increased deployment of forces announced in January and which is still amassing in Iraq. “The American people did not vote for failure, and that is precisely what the Democratic leadership’s bill would be.’’
- George W. Bush

The American people were frustrated and did vote for a change in policy and what they have received so far is more of the same. The troop surge simply continues George W. Bush's military strategy in Iraq that is accomplishing very litte rather than approaching the problem diplomatically and forcing the Iraqi government to honor its pledges. The bill will not be for failure but rather for accountability from people whom we went there to help who appear to have no desire to help themselves.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste:

"This important legislation sets a new direction for Iraq. It acknowledges that America went to war without mobilizing the nation, that our strategy in Iraq has been tragically flawed since the invasion in March 2003, that our Army and Marine Corps are at the breaking point with little to show for it, and that our military alone will never establish representative government in Iraq. The administration got it terribly wrong and I applaud our Congress for stepping up to their constitutional responsibilities."

And retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton:

"This bill gives General Petraeus great leverage for moving the Iraqi government down the more disciplined path laid out by the Iraq Study Group. The real audience for the timeline language is Prime Minister al-Maliki and the elected government of Iraq. The argument that this bill aides the enemy is simply not mature - nobody on the earth underestimates the United States' capacity for unpredictability. It may further create some sense of urgency in the rest of our government, beginning with the State Department."

Last time I checked, despite Bush being the "commander in chief" it doesnt mean he knows anything about how to go to war. That has been proven true with his strategy, his ouster of generals who dont believe in it and his appointment of military yes men. I'm guessing these two life long military men might have had a bigger clue than curious George on capitol hill.

Stop Looking for Someone to Blame

2007-04-22T11:14:00.000-04:00

The articles I read about the Va. Tech shootings continue to sicken me. As I have said it is a not a situation where blaming someone else is going to help especially when everyone wants to blame the law enforcment and campus administration when by almost all accounts they acted in a manner consistent with the initial events that occured. Here are some quotes from people that know alot more about this situation.

Steger and other top administrators declined to be interviewed. The chiefs said the criticism benefits from information police did not have at the time.
Shutting down the campus -- keeping everyone in place -- was not a legitimate option, they said. By the time police had secured the dorm, the school day was well underway. Thousands of students had slung backpacks on their shoulders and were on their way to school. There was no way to contact them all. In a briefing to the school's Board of Visitors last week, police also said a lockdown could have trapped an angry Cho inside his dorm, making things worse.
"Trying to lock down a college campus with over 25,000 people in over a dozen buildings spread across acres and acres presents monumental challenges. It is like trying to lock down an entire city," said Kenneth S. Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a consulting firm.(Washington Post)

The above seems logical, the steps require to lockdwon a city are immense and with a campus police department that has 55 members, not all working each shift it becomes virtually impossible.

For almost 2 1/2 hours after the initial alert at 7:15 a.m., a rapidly swelling team of law enforcement officers took steps that Flinchum and other top police officials say were appropriate to investigate a double murder. But in fact, they were witnessing only the first act of the most deadly mass shooting by an individual in U.S. history. While police pursued what they expected to turn out to be a crime of passion, Cho mailed his violent manifesto and headed for Norris Hall.(Washington Post)

This makes sense as well they handled the situation as most murders are handled, by looking for someone that knows the victims and woul have motive, a boyfriend would make sense. There is no way to know that what happened would lead to the killing of 30 more people, no police force on earth could have seen that and for people to use the "hindsight is 20/20" logic is wrong. With a dorm of over 900 students and only two dead there was no reason to believe this was anything more than a domestic triangle gone wrong, for people to make accusations otherwise is wrong.

USA = ISRAEL????

2007-04-20T23:58:00.000-04:00

In my nightly browsings online due to an intense boredom I came across an interesting and troubling article on the NYtimes.com. The article highlights the United States plan to build a 12 foot high 3 mile long security wall to quell sectarian violence in Baghdad. Is this what the troop surge is for, so they can construct a wall rather than actually effectivley make Baghdad safer?

The reason I relate the US to Israel in this case is because it appears they both want to seperate a nation with walls for security. For those of you not aware Israel has been building a 20 foot high security wall to pretect its settlments many of which are in Palestinian territory but that doesnt stop Israel from evicting Palestinians and building the wall around where there homes used to be as well. The strategy in Israel no doubt works and that is because Israel is an apartheid nation. They seperate the Palestinians with walls, require ID cards everywhere and assign them all seperate license plates so they can be idenitifed. Not to mention they completely restrict their economy and trade as well which is nice of them. If thats not blatant and illegal segregation from a nation that in the eyes of international law(and myself) shouldnt exsist. This wall and apartheid in Israel creates more enemies than it saves Israel from by alienating a population and subjugating the palestinians to second class citizens.

Obviously this wall will be immensley popular with the Iraqi people for the same reasons the wall in Israel is so popular. By seperating the Sunni's and Shiites with a wall the US will more than likely not eliminate the sectarian violence. What they will do is create more animosity towards the US troops already in country for segregating the population. What comes next are we going to tattoo the different sects to tell whose who, we already right on them in marker to tell whos been searched and treat them like they arent people. And why is that? Its because the US army is not trained to do police work nor is it capable and that is what we are asking them to do. The key fact being overlooked here is that the majority of Shiite and Sunni's are not killing each other. It is a small segment of the population that is performing these killings and in many cases appears to be involved with the Iraqi police or army that we created. By building a wall it is almost as if the US is hiding the problem rather than solving it. But hey, George W Bush seems pretty good right now at pretending problems dont exsist. Just look at how hes dealing the the Justice Department issues, there aren't any, just ask him, just like his plan works in Iraq.

Free Advice

2007-04-19T13:47:00.000-04:00

This is some free advice to the nation after the tragic events at Virginia Tech. I cannot stress this advice enough, STOP LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO BLAME. The stories that seem to be pouring forth now all realte to the university knowing of the students mental state and the response to the tragedy by law enforcment officials. Dont look to blame the university for not having done something with the mentally fragile student. They are not in a position to force an unwilling studnet to receive help all they can do is offer the services. Second what are they supposed to do with the student, have him on 24 hour watch, that is not feasible or realistic in any way. As I said in my previous post the law enforcment officials acted in a manner at the time that made sense to a murder and that was to look for a suspect who knew the victim, not a random studnet who was unstable. Virignia Tech is larger than many small towns, it is larger than the one I live in and it is impossible to provide ever present security or video cameras as my brother has commented due to financial reasons. The college campus is one of the safest places to be, it is rocked by a one in a billion occurence and all of a sudden the campus police are supposed to automatically know how to respond to the situation of a mass murderer? This line of logic does not make sense. Again, stop looking for someone to blame, the one to blame is dead and took the cowards way out. The only thing that we as a nation and the community of Virginia Tech can do is heal, it is a long process with many questions that lack solid answers at this point. So for one last time, stop looking to blame someone other than the murderer who comitted these acts, that is where the responsibility lies and that is whom is to blame.

Virginia Tech Response

2007-04-19T09:48:00.000-04:00

As outsiders not involved with the Virginia Tech shootings, we obviously have no clue what occured or how the events were handled. All that is being offered at this point is speculation on wether or not the situation was handled properly by the University. I am on the side of the university with how this was handled. The campus police at the time treated the shootings in Ambler hall as a domestic event, which in the overwhelming majority of murders is correct. Most people who are murdered are murdered by someone they know, not by a crazy person who will go on to kill dozens. At the time the only lead for the police was the boyfriend of the girl who was killed who ent to Radford. At this point the dorm was locked down and police were there as well as looking for the suspected shooter. No one gave evidence to lead in the direction of Cho Seung-Hui. What occured next was not something that could be anticipated or expected it was an event that happens not even once in a lifetime and there was no way to anticipate. The actions of the university will be investigated, Im sure findings will take quite a while to come out and when they do we will know the true story. As for right now lets not overlook the fact that the campus police are not to blame, there is only one person to blame and he took the cowards way out and is dead.

Baghdad Surge

2007-04-18T22:41:00.000-04:00

No doubt the events that occured at Virginia Tech are overshadowing anything else in the media these days and rightly so. But not to let it get lost in the shuffle the situation in Iraq is not getting any better despite the efforts of the troop surge.
Today in 4 waves of attacks, 171 people were killed. The car bombings have only stepped up and at this point appear to have become more lethal as well with todays attacks being the most deadly day since the new security measures took place(NY Times). The alleged success that is being pointed to by the Bush administration is the lack of sectarian killings. Despite the fact that many of the militias and insurgent groups have simply decided to lay low and avoid the surge. The strategy doesnt work it is simply pouring fuel on the flames and unless tactics and treatment of civilians change no progress will be made. As I've said time and again, this situation has to be solved by outside diplomacy and internally by Iraq and its security forces. Only the Iraqis can police Iraq and until they realize we wont be there there is no incentive for them to put their lives on the line in a law enforcment capacity if someone else will do it for them. Whats the old saying, who boys the cow when you get the milk for free?

Its bigger, its more expensive, it must be better right?

2007-04-18T15:36:00.000-04:00

Several days ago the US Marine Corps unveiled its newest and apparently most useless piece of military equipment. For years the Marines have been flying and maintaining a fleet of aging helicopters that have no doubt served them well and been a cost efficient use of funds. However with the urge to have new toys, they are unveiling the V-22 Osprey, a half airplane, half helicopter monster that costs 80 million dollars.
In what has been a 25 year process of the Marines developing an aircraft that they can call their own, all with a budge so far of 40 billion dollars and an allotted budget of 54.6 billion dollars, all while the helicopter has been working fine for years. Now I’m not one to have a problem with the military making advances in technology, it’s the way things go and has helped keep this country as it is.
However, in the testing of the V-22 to this point, 26 Marines have lost their lives as well as 4 other individuals and many other accidents not involving losses of life related to fires and engine failure. It is an aircraft that has numerous flaws, the main problem being its propellers causing it to get caught in its own turbulence during landing which results in the plane/copter rolling over on landing and heading into the ground. It also in many cases cannot land but have to land troops with a rope ladder because the propellers can cause a brown out because of all the dirt kicked up.
The other problem is that even though it can attain much higher speeds than a helicopter it must lowers it speed immensely to land, going as low as 8-9mph which exposes it to much more fire. It also does not have the ability of a helicopter to make evasive maneuvers necessary in combat actions due to its unwieldy prop design or to perform a hard landing.

“Should the V-22 lose power, it can not “autorotate” like a helicopter and allow the updraft of air to rotate its propellers for a hard, but survivable, landing. Because of this, according to the 2005 Pentagon report, emergency V-22 landings without power at altitudes below 1,600 feet “are not likely to be survivable.”

As a result the V-22 osprey has been classified by the pentagon as “suited only for low- and medium-threat environments” and is not “operationally effective” in high threat environments like Iraq and Afghanistan which we have today.
Reports by the pentagon also indicate that the V-22 does not have adequate space to carry 24 marines as it is supposed to and that the windowless cabin can promote airsickness and that leg numbness can also occur.
The Marines counter that it can fly higher and faster than a helicopter and in situations of wounded evacuation claiming that it can save vital time during the “golden hour” following injury. The downside of this is that if it has to go 8 miles an hour to land chances are you are still in trouble once you’re in and taking off. Its pluses are that it can fly five times as far and carry three times the payload.
For further evidence of what a bad idea this is the war hawk of all war hawks, Dick Cheney 4 times as the secretary of defense of George H.W. Bush tried to cancel the funding for the program but was stopped by congress.

Here is one last ringing endorsement from the pilot of a V-22 Osprey.

“Safety is a big issue,” wrote one V-22 crew chief, in a questionnaire filled out for the Pentagon’s 2005 operational evaluation. “If we had went down in the water we would have most likely lost at least 24 troops because of restricted egress. I felt like I was in a coffin.”

That sounds like the type of aircraft I want to fly in, sign me up!

How much is a life worth?

2007-04-18T15:08:00.000-04:00

How much is a life worth, that’s the question and the

government in

Iraq

, thinks it has the answer. Obviously with any war there will be what is called collateral damage that is the damage to buildings and the loss of life of innocents. The

military in

Iraq

knows this all too well although some of the incidents that have occurred are not quite in that definition.

The Army, on a daily basis answers claims made by Iraqi citizens regarding losses of property and losses of life. After an incident has occurred where an “accident” may have happened the soldiers leave a claim card with victims that tells them how to file a claim for compensation. This process is anything but perfect operating in the lawless vacuum that is Iraq, where the military appears to not be accountable to anyone. In all so far the US has paid 32 million dollars worth of these claims, and this does not include condolence payments that are made on the decision of unit commanders. In its grand wisdom, the US military has decided that an Iraqi life is worth 2500.00 and includes no admission of guilt or admission of fault. Just pay the man and he will go away seems to be the line of thinking.

In some cases that have been deemed “combat cases” innocent civilians have been killed while doing things such as fishing and the majority appear to be related to confusion at checkpoints. In one case a brother and sister were killed after the military dumped 200 rounds of ammo into their car for doing something as vague as “approaching the checkpoint to quickly” this claim was actually one of the highest paying, the military shelling out 10,000.00 to the victims family. In this case the soldiers were found to violate the rules of engagement. In the case of the fisherman who was killed, was shot for leaning over to turn of his boats engine after holding up fish and yelling “fish, fish!” The military in this case compensated the victim’s family for his boat and equipment which drifted down river and were stolen, but did not compensate for the loss of life. In this case, it was deemed “combat activity”, that’s a hell of a combat situation, man in boat v. men with guns.

Take a long look at actions in Iraq, from the cheapening of a life to the heavy handed tactics used in patrols of evicting families from their homes for up to 48hrs to use as operations bases. This is not how you make friends which is a key to winning this war, the old philosophy of “winning hearts and minds”. None of these actions would be acceptable in the US, the deaths would be subject to lengthy and likely multi million dollar wrongful death suits and if you refer to the third amendment you will see that the quartering of soldiers in such a manner would not be allowed. The war is going in the wrong direction and has been for years, the troop surge won’t work and if you listen to the politicians, at least the ones in power, there is no plan B. The answer to this problem is diplomatic, not military and until we and the Iraqi government realize this, there will be no progress.

Virginia Tech

2007-04-18T15:05:00.000-04:00

Obviously much like the rest of the nation I was shocked and saddened to see the events that unfolded at Virginia Tech yesterday morning. A college or school of any sort is a place where the students should feel safe and secure and 99.9% of the time this is the case. Every once in a great while a incident will come around that will completely shake ones faith in an institution. I don’t believe that the students at Va. Tech are any less safe after this event, but I do believe that the feeling of security has been shattered and it will take a long time if ever to repair. As it is I can only wish the students the best for the rest of their year and send out condolences to the families who have lost loved ones because of the actions of a sick and what appears to be very emotionally troubled young man.

On a side note I can only wonder what may have occured if one student had been carrying a gun. Due to college gun laws, this is not possible and I am not saying that it would have prevented the problem, but Im not saying it wouldnt have either. As I have made the case for numerous times in arguments, the only thing that gun laws do is create a zone where the victims are defenseless and the attakcers have no fear of reprisal. For more on this issue check here. Link

Dick Cheney

2007-04-13T20:26:00.000-04:00

Dick Cheney today blasted the war funding bill put forth by congress and the senate as "irresponsible". Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isnt shooting one of your hunting buddies in the face irresponsible? Last time I checked someone that shoots someone else in the face on accident should never be telling me or anyone else about the definition of responsibility.

I have a real post in the works at the moment regarding the US's ridiculous monetary compensation towards victimized Iraqis. At the moment though I am studying for the MTTC history test, which oddly enough at this point appears to be more like a social studies test than a history test as 68% of the material is either "Connections among social science disciplines" at 34% or "Social Science Perspective and Skills" at 34%. Tell me why I have to take a social studies test to, how does this not take care of both?

Emails dont get lost, they get deleted.

2007-04-12T11:54:00.001-04:00

Lost emails? Emails don’t get lost, they get deleted or moved somewhere else, they don’t get lost. But that’s what the administration wants you to believe. The White House said today that what could amount to thousands of emails have been “lost” through a private email system used by Karl Rove and fifty other top officials. Oddly enough these emails are directly related to the firing of eight US attorneys.

The White House claims that they are now trying to find these emails, but it is my guess that they can’t find something that isn’t there. Bush is standing by his attorney general Alberto Gonzalez despite the fact that he has been exposed so far as having conflicting statements regarding his knowledge of the firings. The loss of these emails raises serious legal issues as the White House has an obligation to disclose all information that it has. Not to mention the fact that the “loss” of emails could create a problem for the Bush White House as he will not fall in line with the Presidential Records Act of 1978 which calls for all presidential papers to be preserved.

Obviously the Bush administration is not too concerned with its public image as it is terrible nor are they worried about the public perception of Bush appointees as many have called for Gonzalez’s resignation. This all comes after Karl Roves office has allegedly had prosecutors removed for not falling in line with Bush White House policies and pursuing matters such as voter fraud. Voter fraud being an issue that has been found to be irrelevant and extremely rare over the last 5 years(Link). But I'm sure Bush would rather have the US attorneys work on voter fraud rather than prosecute the likes fo Scooter Libby who was prosecuted by Chicagos US attorney and convicted. Oddly enough the justice department wanted to fire the afformentioned attorney because he was "undistinguished". Even in states where cases have been brought for voter fraud for example in Wisconsin, prosecutors have lost twice as many cases as they have won and many voter frauds are tied to confusion on rules, not conspiracy. Heres my favorite example that I could find of confusion linking to voter fraud and a ridiculous consequence:

"In Pakistan, Usman Ali is trying to rebuild his life after being deported from Florida, his legal home of more than a decade, for improperly filling out a voter-registration card while renewing his driver’s license."

Gotta love George and his great priorities dont ya?

The Bush White House has been operating for 7 years now as an entity that does not have to answer to any other branches of government or the people. Don’t think for a minute that Bush would not appoint himself dictator for life if he could, let’s hope we can avoid that. Thank god there is one year left of this debacle and hopefully new ideas and a cooperative White House will be in place.

Heres a link: Bush Advisers’ Approach on E-Mail Draws Fire

Iraqi Security?

2007-04-12T10:05:00.000-04:00

The surge of troops again shows itself to be incredibly effective and efficient as a bombing has now taken place in the Iraqi parliament. You would think that of all areas in Iraq, that the parliament would be the safest, but apparently not as a bomb ripped through the cafeteria while parliament was at lunch. The result was one dead Sunni lawmaker and one Shiite. This is a clear example that insurgents can penetrate through the high levels of security in Iraq as the streets are teeming with Iraqi and US troops in the latest defense surge. This attack comes shortly after a rocket attack that was aimed at the UN secretary general on April 1st which missed its mark and harmed no one. This was one of the rare attacks which takes place in the heavily fortified "green zone" of Baghdad. It will undoubtedly not be the last either.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, this "war on terror" is being fought all wrong. A war on terror is not fought by the regular army by occupying a country. A war on terror is fought by Special Forces operating in a country, and police and security forces of the country. To handle a terrorist threat, you must have an innate knowledge of the country and its people, something that the US does not have and does not appear to want with Iraq. The heavy handed and unilateral policies in Iraq have backfired and have turned into an occupation. One that will likely stretch for years unless checked and unless the Iraqis are given firm dates to begin meeting goals and having US troops gradually phased out. Accountability is something that the Iraqi government does not seem to have, they want the US out, but do nothing to make that happen. Until we cut the proverbial cord on Iraq it will be a problem that does not go away.

Parliament Bombing Article: NY Times

Duke Lacrosse

2007-04-12T10:03:00.000-04:00

Looking back at my post on the Duke lacrosse case in April of 2006, I think I have been validated in my thoughts on the case. Clearly Mike Nifong, the district attorney who was in charge of the case (and up for reelection) pressed forward in a case that had little validity. Not only did he proceed with the case, but purposely had the accuser change testimony to incriminate the 3 lacrosse players when things didn’t go his way.

Now, all charges have been dropped against the 3 lacrosse players. This is after the initial rape charges were dropped by Nifong, but he kept sexual assault and kidnapping I believe. After this gaff, he allegedly removed himself from the case and turned it over to the state attorney general. The attorney general unlike Nifong conducted a good case, examined evidence and decided there was no basis for charges. The attorney general did not have much good to say about the case, including that “There were many points in the case where caution would have served justice better than bravado. And in the rush to condemn, a community and a state lost the ability to see clearly.” This hardly seems to back up the idea that Nifong acted properly, but rather acted in a way to make himself look better.

Not only did he decide that there were no charges, but he went as far as to proclaim the innocence of the three players, not just say there was not enough evidence for the case. This is a stunning blow, and it shows me that the country in the way the players were vilified lost sight of the fact that our court system is based on the presumption of innocence. That is not how this case played out. Cooper, the attorney general went as far as to “portray Nifong as a "rogue prosecutor," Cooper called for the passage of a law that would allow the North Carolina Supreme Court to remove a district attorney where justice demands it. He declined to say whether he believes Nifong should be disbarred.”(ESPN.com)

Now he question is what will the lacrosse players do, how do they get their dignity back and how do they get their good names back after being dragged through the mud for so long. There are reports that indicate that these players had issues prior to this, but the fact that a state attorney general would go as far as to proclaim their innocence speaks volumes for this case. The option of a civil suit against Nifong and Durham County, but rarely in a case like this can you win. The best action would be to fully investigate Nifong and all the inaccuracies in his case as well as how he handled all the evidence.

Despite the fact that names may have been tarnished for the accused, they will all almost certainly bounce back, coming from affluent families with the means to defend them. The biggest victim of this case is the North Carolina legal system and the way that it failed because of one prosecutor. Congrats Mike Nifong on the blundering and biased job you did of vilifying three young men and in the process failing the alleged victim. Perhaps if the case had been handled in a more consistent professional manner then some charges may have stuck. I fully believe that some violation of this women did occur, but the fact that the case was mishandled in such a way will leave that question unanswered.

Bush is a Liar

2007-04-11T18:44:00.000-04:00

Hey, looks like George Bush is a liar after all. Despite his saying that the lack of a war funding bill that met his approval would be the reason that troops would have to serve longer tours of duty, it appears that isn’t the case. As is clearly show in this article the tours have already been extended to 15 months from the normal 12 month tour thus exposing our troops to another 3 months thus increasing their risk of death obviously as well all the other fun side effects of this ill conceived war.
Now I doubt that with this increase that the down time at home for training and re outfitting will also be extended. These wars are taxing the US military beyond its capabilities and the ruling elite (that’s what they are) do not care. They simply sit in the Whitehouse and decide that extending the tours is good because the war they started is not going as planned due to their mismanagement.

For another great example of how Bush's war is not going well check out this article. This article highlights how George W Bush is seeking to appoint a "war czar" to lead the efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. First of all, who even has a czar anymore is this pre World War I Russia? Obviously the war is going swimmingly as the top 3 choices for the post have all turned it down. With one commander, Retired Marine Gen. John Jack Sheehan, a former top NATO commander who rejected the White House overture, told the Post: ''The very fundamental issue is, they don't know where the hell they're going.''(New York Times). Obviously this war is being led right from the top down as he is alluding to the fact that the administration has no clue what its doing.
But hey, as long as we "stay the course" everything will be alright. Seems to be we've been hearing the same line of crap for the last 4 years and all it’s gotten us is over 3000 good Americans dead and creating many new enemies for us based on our heavy handed unilateral strategy to take care of a problem. I bet Bush can’t wait to get out of office and hand this problem off to someone else.

Granholms Ideas make Sense

2007-04-11T11:53:00.000-04:00

I know that I have done plenty of Bush bashing on this blog in recent days, but I'm not anti republican, I don’t want you to think that. I'm more anti stupid politicians and to highlight that, let's take a look at democratic Michigan governor Granholm. Despite the fact that her government is running at a 1 billion dollar deficit for this year, she is backing a great idea to buy every student in Michigan schools Ipod's.

First off I'd like someone to explain to me why students need Ipod's? I never had an ipod, from elementary through college, nor was there ever a need for an Ipod. I guess the entire education system has changed so much that it is impossible for students to get by without that new technology. Despite the fact that with all the schools I have seen and all the schools I know of, most don’t even have enough computers or multi media resources to begin with. Despite this, it isn’t frivolous at all to buy all the students Ipods so that they can put god knows what on there instead of the pod casts of class that they are supposed to provide. This idea is terrible it gives students the ability to not pay attention in class but then not suffer because the teachers are now putting up pod casts of their lectures and what not. Not only does the plan waste money, but it wastes student’s brains by teaching them its okay not to pay attention.

Granholm has done a horrible job running this state and her ideas are ridiculous. Let’s help Michigan’s economy by raising taxes, that makes sense right? No, none of her ideas do. My favorite part about her is that she is pro choice, but is a devout catholic? How the hell is that even possible, talk about pandering for votes on both sides of the fence.

The 36 million dollars that are proposed for this stupid idea could be much better served to try and prop up the states stagnant economy. The auto industry is not in good shape, but there doesn’t seem to be any attempt to encourage growth or to create new industry. As a matter of fact based on some of the taxes being levied against business to "fix the economy" those very businesses are leaving. Use the 36 million to provide incentives for new business or small business, but do something to fix the state, not to rot brains.

George Bush knows what works

2007-04-10T20:11:00.000-04:00

Again, george Bush is in the news for giving the Deomcartic congress a lecture on how they should be doing their job. Bush was quoted again with this gem.

"Congress’s failure to fund our troops will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines. Others could see their loved ones headed back to war sooner than anticipated. This is unacceptable.”

As I already pointed out in my previous post about Bush and his great ideas, this is already happening and has been happening since he began this ill conceived war. He is falling back on lies at this point to try and shift his problem to the congress and senate rather than having it reflect poorly on himself. I dont know why he is so afraid of it reflecting on him as he is already the worst president in US history, so how can it get worse??

The real balls of his speech is that he is trying to tell congress how to do their job which basically consists of "do what I say". Thats not what congress is for, it is there to enforce the will of the people, which it rarely does, but is trying to in this case. This war is wrong and poorly executed and has been from the begining the people of the US want out. Not immediatley, not in a fashion of abandoning, but in a phased withdrawl that will allow the Iraqis to take control of their country. Until that phased withdrawal happens nothing can be accomplished.

For further evidence of how well Bush's surge strategy is working in Baghdad check this article at the New York Times.

Imus in the Morning

2007-04-09T22:18:00.000-04:00

Recently Don Imus has come under attack for comments which he made on his nationally syndicated radio show last week. In a conversation Imus and his producer were having, discussing the appearance of the Rutgers women’s basketball team, Imus referred to the women as “nappy-headed ho’s”. Now every African American group in the country is calling for the firing of Imus and for his show to be off the air. No doubt that what Imus said was insensitive, no doubt he may have gone too far, but a fireable offense, I think not.

Don Imus, if you are not familiar with his program makes the lowest comments possible about everyone on earth, family, friends anyone. It is part of the unique character of his show and no doubt any number of groups in this country could call for his dismissal because of comments he has made. I am not one to say that acting this way on the radio is wrong, hell I think its funny and an amazing amount of people do as well based on his ratings.

The main problem I have with this issue is the fact that all of a sudden when anything is said about an African American it is automatically exponentially worse than if said about any other ethnic group in America. Despite the fact that great strides and concessions have been made in the area of civil rights and also in amending for past wrongs, for some reason the African American community still feels slighted. It is the classic situation of a double standard. There are certain words that are “their words” that other ethnic groups cannot use. Apparently “nappy-headed” on that list as there is nothing racially motivated about the word “ho’s”. Never mind that two of Rutgers players are white, apparently they are not in the equation. The decision has to be made that certain words that are offensive are offensive no matter who uses them. Not just when a group who those words don’t belong to use them.

I believe it also must be looked at as to how the women of Rutgers basketball represent themselves in terms of appearance. The fact of the matter is that with collegiate sports at the Division I level these days, whether the players are white or black there seems to be an overwhelming prevalence of tattoos and clothes that are associated with the ghetto. I understand that this is how some of the athletes are used to dressing but I believe it comes down to representing the university that pays you to play and also the NCAA in a positive light. Based on what I see in the women’s NCAA tournament (which is very little) Rutgers team was very rough looking in comparison to the other teams (UNC, Duke, Tennessee). Not to say they are “nappy-headed ho’s” but, as they say first impressions are everything.

Imus has done nothing but apologize for his comments and no doubt has suffered already, in terms of pulbic image, embarassment and of course sponsors. It is not as if everyone is laughing it off and saying "Oh Imus." The fact is that despite apologies that appear to be heart felt and appearing on the Al Sharpton show only to be bated and harrased by the host, people still want blood. His apology is not enough for the people who claim that he "has set this country back many year". He didnt firebomb a church, he made a comment, simply words which he acknowledged were wrong and which he has attempted to atone for, not to mention receiving a two week suspension of his show.

To sum it up this is much ado about nothing in my eyes, the comment was made in jest in a joking fashion, Imus has never displayed racial overtones on his show. The calling for firing by some groups in my eyes is a call for publicity especially with Al Sharpton. If you can find me a problem that he has ever been the solution to as opposed to part of the problem I’d love to hear about it. The African American population of this country as well as all others need to look at the real issue at hand. That is certain words that are used and when this is decided that the words shouldn’t be used, all parties should abide, not just certain segments of the population should have to. Well, that’s what I think and now I’m probably a racist to.

Happy Easter

2007-04-08T10:26:00.001-04:00

Hide your eggs, Jesus is coming hes been dead for three days and he wants breakfast!!

Do as I say...or its your fault.

2007-04-07T19:39:00.000-04:00

So more news on Iraq and our fearless leader. The all wise and all seeing president of the United States George W has decided that unless you do what he says it is your fault that American troops are at risk.

In recent news the senate and congress have decided that they don’t want to fund President Bush’s war unless he can set a time table for withdrawal. Not to mention that Bush has decided that all the “pork projects” which are attached to the bill are completely unacceptable. Despite the fact that the pork projects are bogus and shouldn’t be attached to any bill, this is something that the republicans had been tagging onto their war funding bills the entire war. What it comes down to is that President Bush now wants to shift the blame for the war and if something should go wrong. Despite the fact that this legislation more closely resembles what the people of the United States wants, that is no concern to George W Bush who has flatly said that he will veto this bill when it crosses his desk, thus make under funding the congress and senates fault, not his.

Now let’s look at some of President Bush’s comments and see what the reality behind them is.

"When Congress does not fund our troops on the front lines, our military is forced to make cuts in other areas to cover the shortfall," he said. " . . . By mid-April, the Army will be forced to consider cutting back on training, equipment repair, and quality of life initiatives for our Guard and Reserve forces . . . By mid-May, the problems grow even more acute."

If funding for the war is delayed much longer, Bush said, "some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines. And others could see their loved ones headed back to war sooner than they need to."

The reality of this situation is that the aforementioned events are and have been happening already. Because Bush entered the war unprepared units have been forced to stay in the field longer than normal and soldiers have had their service length made longer even after their discharge dates. On top of this soldiers are not receiving the appropriate amount of downtime, usually 18 months for a year of service but many have been returning to Iraq with as little as 7 months of recovery time with some guard and reserve units serving 3-4 tours. We can also look at the fact that the last military funding bill was not passed through until June and the soldiers didnt suffer, Bush is reaching for straws and having a hard time finding one to hold onto.

Training and equipment is a whole issue in and of itself. Because of the shortage of equipment from day one with our brave leader’s new war, training has lagged. There is a shortage of training tools, equipment and vehicles because the US was unprepared for the conflict and had to ship much of it to Iraq rather than train. Lastly Bush wants to claim the congress and senate are putting troops in harms way? This is the worst accusation of all as it is Bush who sent US troops into combat action without the proper body armor; it is Bush who decided that putting sufficient armor on Humvees was not a priority to the point where troops were using old Iraqi tank armor to put on Humvees. The same armor that is toxic due to uranium depleted ammo used by the US in the first Gulf War.

The real problem lies with the leader, not the congress or senate. They are doing the right thing and following the will of the people, not their misguided dreams. If he wants to blame anyone for problems in Iraq, from the top down he needs to look at himself and realize not only has he failed the Iraqi and American people, but he has also failed the US fighting men and women by constantly short changing them. The congress is trying for a solution; Bush is the hurdle that needs to be overcome.

Washington Post article: Here

European Union, Not so United...

2007-04-06T14:24:00.000-04:00

With the release of 15 British hostages by Iran, the tensions between the nations are somewhat put to rest, but what remains are some serious questions about the EU and UN.

There is no doubt that Iran illegally seized the British sailors and marines in an attempted power play to assert themselves in the region and the world stage, to flex their muscle and to gain influence. This is exactly what occurred, Britain limps away with its tail tucked between its legs and Iran comes away after illegally seizing hostages with no negative effects, rather it would appear they came out well ahead. It is not just coincidence that after the release we find out that an Iranian “diplomat” who was held for two months in Iraq was released, nor can it be considered coincidence that 5 Iranian “officials” held by the US have now been granted visitation. These concessions clearly are a tool in the process of release, none of which should have occurred.

The fact of the matter is that two key institutions failed in this hostage situation, they are the European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN).

The sailors captured were not just British citizens but as defined by the EU, they are European citizens and fall under the protection of the EU. However, Britain went as far as to ask the EU to freeze trading with Iran in an attempt to have its hostages freed rather than fall to the Iranian power play. However, the EU who does 18 billion dollars of trade with Iran each year decided that it was not in their best interest. Despite the fact that Europe claims to stand united they will not link arms to bring back their own. Money would be lost on both sides and the European attitude seems to be that if it is not our citizens it is not our problem. Kudos to you Europe on being embarrassed by Iran.

The UN was the other guilty party who did not aid the release at all. This lies in the fact that the UN is a horribly ineffective body. With Russia and China serving as active veto powers on the UN nothing can ever be accomplished against Iran or a variety of other countries. China will veto and hard sanctions against a nation with whom it can receive oil or other energy assets. Russia, especially with Putin seeming to reestablish the old KGB style of operations sees Iran and supporting it as a way to prevent overwhelming US power in the gulf nations. The UN would not even put together a harshly worded statement denouncing Iran’s piracy, but rather said that they “deplored” the actions. No threat of sanction (which is useless thanks Russia and China). With the obvious problems of having Russia and China as major players in the UN we still have the Darfur issue as well as the Iranian nuclear problem and North Koreas nuclear testing. Way to flex that muscle UN.

In the end some unilateral actions may be necessary. Not in cases of preemptive war, but in a case of securing release of hostages from illegal piracy. In terms of supporting an ally in the same quest. What Iran did was illegal by international law, and the TV footage of the captured goes against many conventional rules of war etc. In the end Britain seems in my eyes to be the only country in Europe that isn’t a slave to smaller and less powerful countries, but with no backing there is no way that they could take the real forceful steps necessary to solve the problem.

The Surge is working....trust me

2007-04-06T11:32:00.000-04:00

As many of you certainly know, there was a large troop surge that has been taking place in Iraq thanks to the orders of our fearless leader George W. Bush. Now initially this was supposed to be a 20,000 troop surge, but has already exceeded that and is over 30000 so right away we have some misrepresented facts. On top of this it was supposed to quell the rising tide of sectarian violence that has been sweeping through the country. As evidence indicated it hasnt, violence is still at high levels, troops are still dying and the strategy is still ineffective. On top of this we now see evidence of chemical attacks in Iraq. Just today in the New York Times there is evidence of a car bomb attack with chlorine gas which is the sixth such attack in the last 2 months which has killed 20 people. What Bush wants you to believe is that he knows how to fight this war, even though all signs point in the opposite direction. He also wants you to believe that the terrorists arent getting better at what they do as is clearly the case. This is not the tank warfare that the US needs to be in, but rather urban combat that needs to be fought by people who know the country and its people. Until George sets a date for withdrawl and makes the Iraqi government responsible for their safety(they havent reached any of their self imposed benchmarks for success) than he will contin ue to cost many Americans their lives in what can best be described not as our second Vietnam, but rather our Afghanistan as the Russians found out. These middle eastern islamic countires cannot be conquered and cannot be made western, history has proved it time and time again, all you have to do is open a book.

I think it truly speaks volumes that the only real safe area in Baghdad is the area controlled by the cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr. This is a good area, hospitals are running well, children receive an education and food is to be found. But none of this is from the Iraqi government. It is from Sadr who uses his power to dole out aid to the needy citizens of Baghdad. It will be very difficult for the US to win hearts and minds with George Bushs strategy when the government we have installed is completley inept at what it is trying to do and cannot or will not help its people. For more on the safe haven in baghdad read here, its on the Washington Post.

Call the zoo!!!

2007-04-05T12:41:00.000-04:00

In browsing online today on freep.com I couldnt help but notice the wonderful article about Detroit shutting down 34 schools. Of course there is an amazing amount of outrage from "concerened parents" who dont want their schools shut down. This is a problem, but not a gigantic one, in looking at the diagram of schools closing many appear to be small money drainers with 250-500 students or in some cases less. The term closing might not be the best, it may be better called consolidation in an attempt to right the sinking ship that is Detroit and its finances. I believe that only around 60% of Detroits citizens even pay their property taxes which has helped to result in the lack of funds for the city and the educational system.

Of course another part of the problem is the school board itself which is as inept and corrupt of an organizational body as could be found. It is amazing to me that the state nor federal goverment have not stepped in to solve the problem that is the Detroit Public Schools. Each election they elect the same members to the board and every time they strive to line their pockets and do nothing to help schools and the students, that is where the true disservice lies. The fact of the matter is that now there are the same number of schools for 119,000 students as there were for 180,000 students ten years ago. The other aspect that concerned citizens seem to overlook is that Detroit is losing its population base day by day, this is not a growing city that needs more schools, it is a declining city that needs better schools. By elminiating some of the underperforming or under populated schools they can better alocate fundsfor the schools that are left.

Why do the parents of Detroit take no blame for the poor education of their children. The schools are there but students arent going, this is a city with a 51%, thats right 51% dropout rate. Parents dont know about this, are they schocked? If the parents truly cared they would be taking an active role in the childrens education themselved rather than not acknowledging the fact that there is no financial ability to keep the schools open so that their freshman can drop out the next year and leave just one more empty seat in the school.

The most embarassing aspect of the whole closings is the action of parents. The way that the parents at these meetings conduct themselves is absurd. With parents shouting and humming with all sorts of carrying on to interupt the meeting and needing securtiy officers to maintain control. This last meeting was highlighted by the throwing of grapes at council members. Not that I feel the council members do a good job, but by the same token that is no reason to assault the members or embarass yourself or the city.

Lastly the City of Detroit, its citizens and politicians need to look at themselves. The mayor is and has been corrupt since Archer left office, essentially admitting he is a crook which is a far cry different than Coleman Youngs reign pre Dennis Archer. They city was on a steep and steady decline with Young in charge but the citizens kept reelecting him. It is as if the city doesnt care what happens to it and doesnt care who leads it as long as they know who they are. The police department is in shambles with a terrible chief and underfunded. The problems lie within and until the citizens of Detroit take the initiative and care what happens to their city the people of the suburbs and surrounding areas are going to continue to turn their noses at the city and wonder what went wrong.

Language and what not

2007-04-05T10:03:00.000-04:00

Why is it that through all the years I always hear how good Japanese people are in terms of speaking english. How they take classes for years and years and learn it as soon as possible. How it is a key part of their education system and success on the world stage. I say bullshit on this. Eveytime I see a Japanese baseball player come into the major leagues, they need an interpreter. I was just watching ESPN and this Matsuzaka guy has a crib sheet for his arm and its all in japanese, how can these guys converse with their teammates when they dont know the language. All im asking is to see one of these japanese players come over and speak english at his press confrence and do it will as opposed to being paid 100million dollars as Matsuzaka(Boston Red Sox) is and having the team hire an interpreter.

Also why does bilingual in America only mean American and Spanish? Are there no other nationalities in the country who dont speak the language. Oh wait, there arent, because all the rest of the immigrant population has managed to assimilate. God forbid the spanish speaking immigrants learn to do the same. They never will until we cut the cord either, that would be great. Same way Iraq will never take over its own problems until they know America will be leaving at some point. ITs a matter of motivation.

What to do???

2007-03-24T14:52:00.000-04:00

So I recently had an interview with Cintas about taking a managment trainee position with their company. Cintas is an amzing company with some amazing oppurtunities for growth and advancement with a solid training structure set up. At the same time the position requires at least a two year commitment of working 50-55hours a week. The hours do not scare me away from the job but rather the fact that I will be locking into a job that works me every day of the year. The other option is to pursue the teaching certification program I have already been accepted to. The benefits of this are that it pays close to the same amount and also would still afford me the ability to coach football, which after some questions asked in my interview Im not sure Im done with yet. On top of that with teaching you are looking at about a 9 month work year, not a bad gig even if the pay is less as you can work in the summer and make more money. The benefits and negatives are there, its just up to me to decide what course of action seems to be most logical. The ability to work with people and help them grow is evident in either position but I feel that the connections and bonds of working in a school and teaching/coaching young people is far more lasting.

Any thoughts or comments are welcome, please leave some I could use other opinions.

Job News

2007-03-20T15:45:00.000-04:00

So its March 20th and Im still unemployed. THe good news is I have a part time job in the works right now that I should know about in a couple days, and I jsut got a phone call today abotua full time job. The full time job is obviously the most appealing and is with a well established company in Cintas. I will be trying to gain employment as a managment trainee with the hopes of making a career for myself and maybe having enough money some day to be debt free. That is all for now, all you congratulations are appreciated.

Still Unemployed

2007-03-19T12:39:00.000-04:00

Unemployment Update:

Still unemployed, but do have a lead on a decent stop gap part time job with Pepsi Bottling Group. Its not a career but it will fill the time. Also havent received any unemployment compensation as of yet due to government organization processing paper work. Heres some fun stuff in the meantime.

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Oh the wonders of a college degree

2007-03-02T14:11:00.000-05:00

Well, I write this post now three weeks and three days into my journey of being unemployed, and oh what a wonderful journey it has been so far. In case you are not aware I was dismissed from my demanding yet somewhat cushy job of coaching football at a small liberal arts college for my use of an analogy. Being released under such flimsy pretenses is one thing but to be cast out in such an egregious manner is another.

The odd thing about being unemployed is that yeah, im bothered because Im not collecting a paycheck but even more so, is what am I supposed to do with all my free time? I have been doing the job hunt, which I will cover later, but in the other hours of the day what is there to do? I have found myself reading much, more, finishing three books in the last eight days alone. I also have developed the nasty habit of sleeping in, this is not something I am to keen on. I wake up at normal hours, 8am usually but there is little to no incentive to get out of bed as the day will repeat the previosu trend, job search, reading, some tv, working out. Its not all bad I guess, but for someone who was used to working about a 60 hour week, it is a bit strange to now be working none. I am open to suggestions on how to kill my free time if anyone has some.

As for the job hunt, I thought "hey, i'll be able to find a job, I'm a college grad". Wrong again, the job market in Michigan is to begin with sparse and based on the degree I earned it appears im almost unemployable. I obtained a bachelors degree in history three years ago with a minor in criminal justice. Not the most ambitious combo, but my academic advisor in college was to say the least apathetic towards my education. Dont get me wrong he was a good guy, but he was more interested in teaching his courses, big surprise right? At no point was I guided by my advisor that I may want to puruse a teaching certificate with my degree after all he was a history major and he was doing alright. Nor was I ever told that I might want to look into a more useful major if I was not going to teach. As it is, none of that was said and the career services at my college like Im sure they are at other schools are about as useful as a bent dick. So now I am applying to places like Family Video and Lowes Hardware along with Human resources at Borders books. My resume is on monster.com and I have some great experience in a variety of fields and job categories but i have received but one inquiry and that was a owkr for free insurance position.

Now I ponder my return to academia, it would appear I am either going to be entering an accelerated teachers education program in may or trying to find a job and pursue a masters degree of some sort. Thoughts and input on this matter are welcome as well. I would like to find a nice job that i can just work m 9-5 collect the honest paycheck and move on with my life.
I'll keep you posted on the results, this is going to turn into a kind of unemployment journal for a while, lets hope its not to long.

Adrian College Hockey

2007-02-21T21:58:00.000-05:00

Anyone in the Adrian area may know that the new administartion has decided that it will be a very useful addition to the college to add Ice hockey as a sport. As an alumni of Adrian College I cant see this idea making sense in any way. The coach which Adrian sought out and hired, Ron Fogarty who no doubt is an excellent coach, with a Division I pedigree does not seem to have any intention of playing DIII hockey for very long, but rather leads one to believe that it is only a 2-3 year bandaid before the program can go Divison I. This is an issue in and of itself as the new adminstrations big puish is for enrollment and the money that comes with. Hockey is all well and good but it is simply attracting canadian students who at most will pay half the tuition since there is a 14,000.00 Canadian scholarship. Thats right a scholarship just for being canadian that covers of half the tuition of the college. Right off the bat it wont bring in nearly as much money in terms of tuition as other sports, but it is already being treated as the crown jewel of the college. The new president is no doubt a hockey fan and makes no secret of it, thus the addition of the program. If and when this program goes to an actual athletic scholarship level it will make even less sense. Instead of bringing in even half tuition , they will pay students to come here, thus making a negative dent in the schools budget. Not to mention that they are building a 6 million dollar ice arena, which everyone knows is the most expensive facility to build, and also maintain. All for a seasonal sport that doesnt even last all that long. Not to mention the fact that Adrian has joined a conference that plays teams in minnesot and wisconsin, they wont be bussing, they will be flying and dont think for a second that wont cause the budget to soar. This is not a good idea for the college or the area. Hockey is not that big of a sport is southeastern michigan not to mention the fact that Adrians student body can best be described as "apathetic" when it comes to sports. With pour turn outs for all athletic events and even when they show up they do nothing. This has all the makings of a failed investment for the college, one that it cant afford to make. Just go two hours down the road and ask Findlay how hockey worked out for them. In this alumnis eyes, I just cant comprehend why so much money and time is being devoted to hockey when so many other facilities are lacking. Look at the academic buildings on campus, they are in sore need of repair. A science building would help, as would any other number of academic services. This school needs to look at the needs of the student before it looks at the wants of the president.

Book Meme

2007-02-21T20:27:00.000-05:00

One Book That Changed My Life: A book that had a significant impact on my life and the way that I view the world was "Pity the Nation". Great book and a powerful read.

A book I have read more than once: Ive read lots of books more than once, sticking out in my mind are East of Eden and Zen and the Art of Motorcylce Maintenance

One book I would want on a desert island:

One book that made me laugh: Mad as Hell

One book that made me cry: Flowers for Algernon or maybe Of Mice and Men

One book I wish I had written: Friday Night Lights

One book I wish had never been written: Self Matters by Dr. Phil, hes an arrogant clown.

One book I am currently reading: We the Living and Omnipotent Government

One book I have been meaning to read: What has Government Done to our Money

Someone to be tagged:

On Iraq, the troops and the military.

2007-02-05T10:22:00.000-05:00

The situation in Iraq continues to grow worse, with the largest suicide bomb attack yet, killing 135 and wounding 300. And of course it is our fault for disbanding or attempting to disband a militia that ran death squads. It is not the Iraqi armys fault for not supplying the troops they were supposed to in the first place to secure baghdad. If the Iraqi people wont fight for their country, why should we? Of course it isnt up to their police with street level knowledge who just turn a blind eye. It must be our fault for not stopping it, just like it would be if we werent there. You cant win for losing if you are the U.S.

In watching some footage of US military action in Iraq I am disgusted with the way some of our servicemen are conducting themselves although I understand they are undera tremendous straina nd performing a job for which they werent trained. It seems in watching them at raids of homes and traffic stops that the only thing they were trained to do is tell the Iraqis to shutup. What we are currently having our troops do is act as police, soldiers who were not trained to deal with people on that level or ask the right questions now respond with shutups, yelling and cussing. ALl of which is not condusive to good investigations or gathering any info, let alone winning over hearts and minds.

Lastly I have been watching alot on the military channel on a show called Weaponology. If your not familiar with the show, it highlights all sorts of new technology and advances it also mentions the cast of said technology and advances. I can help but be blown away by how much is spent on high speed long range bombers and massive tanks and artillery pieces. Does the pentagon not see that the wars of today previoulsy the wars of the future are nto fought like they used to be. It seems as if we still have the cold war idea that the most bombers and most armor will win the war. Clearly this is not the case in Iraq which is how wars are going to be fought in the future, full scale land wars are a thing of the past it is all aobut covert ops now, small units and precision bombing. The best exampls is the Abrams tank, the best tank in the world, the only tank that can destroy it is another Abrams. Thats all well and good, but the Iraqis dont have tanks to destroy it with, instead they destroy 50 million(a guess) worth of american armor and technology with an IED that probalby has 15 dollars worth of material.

The focus needs to change and the bulk of US military spending needs to be reassesed. We cant keep fighting a cold war that no longer exsists and until we do our troops will go into combat without what they need. With vehicles deteriorrating and in disrepair due to sand, with home units not having equipment to train and with humvees and other vehicles not armored because instead we had to invest money in building an artiullery piece so big that not even our cargo planes can move it. Good spending by a great administration, gotta love it.

Civil war...whose responsible.

2007-02-02T18:33:00.000-05:00

In looking at coverage of the war in Iraq which is undoubtedly turning into a Civil war certain questions must be asked. The main question is, who is responsible for this, and the most common answer is the United States. This is the simple answer, America got rid of Hussein so they must be responsible, I must disagree. I must say that although I am not a fan of the climate in Iraq or the way the conflict has been handled, the blood is not on our hands.

The blood and the blame lie squarely on the hands of the Iraqi people. Why you ask, simple, because of years of unchecked hatred among different sects of the same religion. The United States did not inspire this hate, it had always been there oppressed by the strong arm tactics of Sadaam Hussein. Once we liberated the people of Iraq they simply couldnt contain themselves. The animosity being displayed by the Iraqi people with the US is simply that the soldiers are getting in the way of their killing sprees. Wether it be Sunni insurgents or the responding Shiite deat squads we did not create either side. The narrow minded and highly religious ideology of the middle east did. These are groups that have always been in conflict and that cannot behave like human beings. Killing people in markets with bombs for being Shiites and torturing with drills for being Sunni is no human act, but the act of something much less.

This is not to say that the Iraqi people are all like this, but as in any case, the small amount who are, are ruining the country for the rest. The violence simply spurs more violence and in such a religiously divided country the United States ample amounts of firepower cannot counter the street level intelligence and ability to blend in that the trouble makers have. This is not our civil war, it is the Iraqi peoples. We accomplished the objective, remove the former regime, replace with deomocratic government. What the Iraqi people choose to do with said government is their perogative, not ours.

Until the government of Iraq(predominantly Shiite) decides to rein in the death squads and put teeth into its justice system there will be no end. Conversely there is no reason that we should embroil ourselves in a countrys civil war, the fight on terror should and will continue, but the policing of a nation should not. The war on terror is not fought by the regular army, but special forces and police services until the US recognizes the nature of this conflict which more closely resembles police actions scatteresd throughout the world rather than the battlefields of old, there will be no progress. All the fancy tanks and aircraft carriers we have cant defeat the cell of terrorist...only good intelligence and precision strikes can.

Kidnapping

2006-08-07T09:54:00.000-04:00

The entire conflict in the middle east right now, whether it is the stepped up involvment in Palestine or the illegal and immoral actions in Lebanon all stems from the "kidnapping" of Israeli soldiers. This is a big enough deal for Israel to displace thousands upon thousands of Lebanese, destroy their homes and buisness's and to cripple their nation. It is a crime frowned upon by the entire world.

Why then is it acceptable for Israel to continue kidnapping memebers of the Palestinian parliament? They now hold over 4o memebers with the majority being Hamas politicians. Last time I checked being a politician associated with a certain party did not make you an enemy combatant. Not to mention that Israel crosses their border with Palestine to kidnap these men. They are not citizens of the Israeli state so this is no police action it is a knowing and willful act of aggresion in the form of kidnapping members of an opposing countries government. Why is this acceptable for them and not for others?

I dont get it?!?!?

2006-08-07T09:15:00.000-04:00

This conflict in Lebanon has been going on for over 4 weeks now and there seems to be no sign that it is going to stop. What began as a campaign to rescue two captured soldiers has now turned into a massive bombing campaign to eliminate Hezbollah. When was the last time you even heard mention of the two soldiers. They have been lost and buried under the onslaught of Israeli bombing raids. On top of this Israel claims to be meetings its objectives and eliminating Hezbollahs ability to strike Israel with rockets. Why then did over 200 rockets hit Israel on 3 of the last 4 days. The highest total nubmer of rockets to land in Israel since the conflict began. It seems to me that if you are eliminating their ability to fight and attack then the rocket attacks should diminish, however they are getting stronger and larger by the day. Israels army and military might is being exposed here. Their sabre rattling is wonderful and they are meeting their objectives...if those objectives are to kill as many civilians as possible and destroy the infrastructure and residential areas of Lebanon in the sake of "fighting terror". They are breeding more terror than they eliminate and have not reached any objectives. Hezbollah is as strong as ever, killing 15 Israelis yesterday, 12 of them IDF soldiers yet the military power of Hezbollah is getting weaker, if you ask me its seems stronger, more focused and more effective. This cease fire resolution is looking more and more like it is going to save Israel. Not from being destroyed, but from further embarassment, their military is being coutnered by a militia and the world is seeing them for what they are. Yet everyday on the news we still hear their praises being sung, I dont get it. When is the world going to open its eyes and see the true terrorists in this equation, the true occupation?

Great Sites to check out

2006-08-01T09:56:00.000-04:00

Two great sites to check out, not jsut for Israel Lebanon news, but jsut in general.

http://www.transparentgrid.com/wordpress/

Great site, great piece on the main page about the Arab view of this conflict and what it is causing. Also calls into question how terror can be condemend while war crimes go unpunished, great question.

http://arabist.net/

Also great site covering many issues, Iraq, Lebanon being two primary right now. Indepth and accurate looks at Hezbollah and what is going on in the Arab street, even how christian groups are swaying to support Hezbollah.

THings to look at, things to consider, great way to get the other side of the story that the republican media isnt reporting on.

http://makesomenoise-zazou.blogspot.com/

Even more info to show the other side. All great sites, check them out!!

Israel, supported by US and media, why??

2006-08-01T09:16:00.000-04:00

I was watching CNN the other day, or Fox News I can never remember which a day later when I am trying to so I can wirte these posts. On the program which was a live program a female interviewer was interviewing the Consulate from Lebanon. She was incredibly rude and was trying to make him look like A. a liar and B. a terrorist sympathizer. This was the most shocking and one sided interview I had ever seen with her asking questions of him, him giving a response and her defending Israels actions and then trying to pigeon hole him with circlical questions.

She claimed that Hezbollah had been unprovoked in their actions. He fired back and made some very good points that the world does not want to hear. He brought up numerous issues, from Lebanons occupation by the Israelis, to their constant special ops and Moosad(spelling) incursions, to kidnapping and imprisonment for people wit no charges for up to 28 years. She called him out and claimed that Hezbollah was opearting rockets from very close to Qana and that was why the building was destroyed. He made a great point, why had no Hezbollah fighters or rocket launching equipment been found, only women, children and the elderly? He made the assertion that Israel targeted the facility purposely and the interviewer asked how he thought that Israel could and did target civilians intentionally, his response being that they have all along that he had seen over 600 innocent country men killed, thousands injured and still over 200 missing that they targeted civilian areas and despite the fact they had precision laser guided bombs and munitions that they still "made mistakes". His claims are true and his story holds up, Israel consistently and routinley makes many "tactical errors" that result in the loss of innocent life. This is not a one time thing, look at Qana ten years ago when they shelled a UN Post and killed 100 civilians, look at their shelling of a UN post this year where they killed 4 UN monitors despite warnings repeatedly to stop firing on their position. These are not nice people.

I also believe that Israel wants a larger war, trying to draw Syria and Iran into the mix. The intnetion is there they are just trying to figure out how to get it done. Just yesterday on the news it was announced that Israel was calling up 15000 more reserve troops "in case there was an accident that would draw Syria into the conflict." That would have to be one helluva an accident and I dont know how you could make an accident big enough to draw another country into a conflict. They are amazing.

My other beef with both Israel and the US on this whole Hezbollah issue is that we and Israel want Lebanon to be able to remove and disarm a milita like Hezbollah. Again their democracy is only 6 years old, they are not in a position to do this. The United States who has the greatest army on earth cant root out militas in Iraq, thats right Im calling Bush out he cant get his shit done with the best toys on the block but Lebanon is supposed to. Israel doesnt appear to have much luck rooting out Hezbollah either. All of their strategic bombing and precision attacks have not reduced the number of rockets descending on their country every day. What they do appear effective in doing is killing large numbers of civilians and alienating an entire population. It is only a matter of time before Lebanon turns its back ont he US for good and I cannot blame them. We deserve whatever we get from them as we have turned our back on them and let their country be destroyed. Supporters of democracy my ass. It speaks volumes that after the Qana attack the Lebanese Prime Minister said that Condoleza Rice was not even welcome in Lebanon so that she could just keep flying. I think we see the true feelings here.

Lastly I leave you with this. Israel's 48 hour ceasefire on bombing, which lasted a whole 12 hours before picking up in full force. This is a nation of liars and muderers at least at the high levels of politics and military. Israel can claim all they want to the fact that they let people leave areas after dropping leaflets, but why then do they bomb and destroy any vehicles moving on the roads, how are they supposed to leave. It was only with that 12 hour break that many of Lebanons citizens were able to leave any area as that was the only time it was safe to travel the roads or whatever was left of them. In closing I agree with the Lebanese representative on CNN(or Fox News) last night. I do not agree with Hezbollah completely but I do support anything they do to fight against the aggresion of a zionist state and anything they do to offer resistance to Americas pet army in the middle east. Lets see how long Israel is allowes to commit its war crimes and massacres this time, its a dark chapter for all of the world who stands idly by.

Arab Unity

2006-07-28T09:22:00.000-04:00

With the conflict in Lebanon dragging on day by day and the vaunted Israeli army running into such staunch resistance, the Israelis may well have awakened the entire arab world.

Not since 1967 has there been such a strong anticipation and pride in armed conflict with the Israeli state. The fact of the matter is now that a militia, albeit a highly organized, well equipped and well trained militia is giving Israel all it can handle in unfamiliar terrain. Inflicting casualtie numbers higher than the Israeli military has seen in years and drawing a conflict out that Israel Im sure hoped would be over by now. In the process of this the entire Arab world is changing tides.

At the beginning of the conflict Arab governments were opposed to Hezbollahs actions and felt that they had unnecessarily provoked the attacks by kidnapping Israeli soldiers. Governments were quick to speak ot against Hezbollah, Saudia Arabia, Egypt and Jordan all came out against the actions. Now they are changing tunes praising Hezbollah for its actions denouncing the Israeli terror campaign with deaths of over 600 people the overwhelming majority civilian casualties. Israel and the US took the negative response initially as a ticket to pick up the bombardment and continue now the Arab governments are distancing themselves from Washington, speaking out against the bombing and land grabbing campaign of Israel.

Peace Plans are being pulled off the table the comment has been made by the Saudi Royal Court that “If the peace option is rejected due to the Israeli arrogance,” it said, “then only the war option remains, and no one knows the repercussions befalling the region, including wars and conflict that will spare no one, including those whose military power is now tempting them to play with fire." These do not seem like the words of people who wish to sit idly by and watch.

The concern should be that in most eyes Hezbollah has already won a victory over Israel. They have been able to hold back the greatest military in the Middle East. The bombing campaign has not weakened their ability to strike Israel as noted by continued rocket attacks, it has also not taken down their fighting ability or leadership capabilities as noted by the fierce resistance they are offering in face to face conflicts. Not to mention that Hezbollahs ability to withstand the onlsaught of Israel and to continue to lob rockets into Israeli territory has exposed other Arab states with more resources. As Mr. Rabbani of the International Crisis Group said “Public opinion says that if they are getting more on the battlefield than you are at the negotiating table, and you have so many more means at your disposal, then what the hell are you doing?”

In the process of all this Hezbollahs leader Sheik Nasrallah has been turned into a folk hero amongs the people of the Arab states. While governments seek to stem the tide of Islamist ideology it is gaining speed on the ground. People are buying posters of Sheik Nasrallah, paising his actions and praying for his cause. It speaks volumes that Hezbollah has been able to turn even Al Qaeda to their cause as the two islamic groups (shiite and sunnis) seldom agree on anything.

Cluster what?

2006-07-26T11:09:00.000-04:00

Got an interesting message from my brother today directing me to a website and what I found was quite interesting. Ive copied and pasted the articel I will also include a link.

Israeli Cluster Munitions Hit Civilians in Lebanon

Israel Must Not Use Indiscriminate Weapons

(Beirut, July 24, 2006) – Israel has used artillery-fired cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said today. Researchers on the ground in Lebanon confirmed that a cluster munitions attack on the village of Blida on July 19 killed one and wounded at least 12 civilians, including seven children. Human Rights Watch researchers also photographed cluster munitions in the arsenal of Israeli artillery teams on the Israel-Lebanon border.

“Cluster munitions are unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable weapons when used around civilians,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “They should never be used in populated areas.”

According to eyewitnesses and survivors of the attack interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Israel fired several artillery-fired cluster munitions at Blida around 3 p.m. on July 19. The witnesses described how the artillery shells dropped hundreds of cluster submunitions on the village. They clearly described the submunitions as smaller projectiles that emerged from their larger shells.

The cluster attack killed 60-year-old Maryam Ibrahim inside her home. At least two submunitions from the attack entered the basement that the Ali family was using as a shelter, wounding 12 persons, including seven children. Ahmed Ali, a 45-year-old taxi driver and head of the family, lost both legs from injuries caused by the cluster munitions. Five of his children were wounded: Mira, 16; Fatima, 12; ‘Ali, 10; Aya, 3; and `Ola, 1. His wife Akram Ibrahim, 35, and his mother-in-law `Ola Musa, 80, were also wounded. Four relatives, all German-Lebanese dual nationals sheltering with the family, were wounded as well: Mohammed Ibrahim, 45; his wife Fatima, 40; and their children ‘Ali, 16, and Rula, 13.

Human Rights Watch researchers photographed artillery-delivered cluster munitions among the arsenal of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) artillery teams stationed on the Israeli-Lebanese border during a research visit on July 23. The photographs show M483A1 Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions, which are U.S.-produced and -supplied, artillery-delivered cluster munitions. The photographs contain the distinctive marks of such cluster munitions, including a diamond-shaped stamp, and a shape that is longer than ordinary artillery, according to a retired IDF commander who asked not to be identified.

Pallets of 155mm artillery projectiles including DPICM cluster munitions (center and right with yellow diamonds) in the arsenal of an IDF artillery unit on July 23 in northern Israel. Each DPICM shell contains 88 sub-munitions, which have a dud rate of up to 14 percent. © Human Rights Watch 2006

The M483A1 artillery shells deliver 88 cluster submunitions per shell, and have an unacceptably high failure rate (dud rate) of 14 percent, leaving behind a serious unexploded ordnance problem that will further endanger civilians. The commander said that the IDF’s operations manual warns soldiers that the use of such cluster munitions creates dangerous minefields due to the high dud rate.

Lebanese security forces, who to date have not engaged in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, also accused Israel of using cluster munitions in its attacks on Blida and other Lebanese border villages. These sources also indicated they have evidence that Israel used cluster munitions earlier this year during fighting with Hezbollah around the contested Shebaa Farms area. Human Rights Watch is continuing to investigate these additional allegations.

Human Rights Watch believes that the use of cluster munitions in populated areas may violate the prohibition on indiscriminate attacks contained in international humanitarian law. The wide dispersal pattern of their submunitions makes it very difficult to avoid civilian casualties if civilians are in the area. Moreover, because of their high failure rate, cluster munitions leave large numbers of hazardous, explosive duds that injure and kill civilians even after the attack is over. Human Rights Watch believes that cluster munitions should never be used, even away from civilians, unless their dud rate is less than 1 percent.

Human Rights Watch conducted detailed analyses of the U.S. military’s use of cluster bombs in the 1999 Yugoslavia war, the 2001-2002 Afghanistan war, and the 2003 Iraq war. Human Rights Watch research established that the use of cluster munitions in populated areas in Iraq caused more civilian casualties than any other factor in the U.S.-led coalition’s conduct of major military operations in March and April 2003, killing and wounding more than 1,000 Iraqi civilians. Roughly a quarter of the 500 civilian deaths caused by NATO bombing in the 1999 Yugoslavia war were also due to cluster munitions.

“Our research in Iraq and Kosovo shows that cluster munitions cannot be used in populated areas without huge loss of civilian life,” Roth said. “Israel must stop using cluster bombs in Lebanon at once.”

Human Rights Watch called upon the Israel Defense Forces to immediately cease the use of indiscriminate weapons like cluster munitions in Lebanon.

Background

Israel used cluster munitions in Lebanon in 1978 and in the 1980s. At that time, the United States placed restrictions on their use and then a moratorium on the transfer of cluster munitions to Israel out of concern for civilian casualties. Those weapons used more than two decades ago continue to affect Lebanon.

Israel has in its arsenal cluster munitions delivered by aircraft, artillery and rockets. Israel is a major producer and exporter of cluster munitions, primarily artillery projectiles and rockets containing M85 DPICM (Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munition) submunitions. Israeli Military Industries, an Israeli government-owned weapons manufacturer, has reportedly produced more than 60 million M85 DPICM submunitions. Israel also produces at least six different types of air-dropped cluster bombs, and has imported from the United States M26 rockets for its Multiple Launch Rocket Systems.

There is growing international momentum to stop the use of cluster munitions. Belgium became the first country to ban cluster munitions in February 2006, and Norway announced a moratorium on the weapon in June 2006. Cluster munitions are increasingly the focus of discussion at the meetings of the Convention on Conventional Weapons, with ever more states calling for a new international instrument dealing with cluster munitions.

Human Rights Watch is a founding member, and a steering committee member, of the Cluster Munition Coalition: www.stopclustermunitions.org.

http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/24/isrlpa13798.htm

Theres the website, theres the info. Great targeting, Im sure that 60 year old women and the children that were hit really psoed a huge threat to the safety of Israel and its citizens. Also popping up are reports again about the use of white phosphorus shells on civilian targets, if your not familiar with this substance it burns and you cant stop it. Very effective, very painful and also against all war crime laws but that doesnt effect Israel cause they are jsut defending themselves. I suppose they were also defending themselves when they destroyed a UN observers post and killed 4 UN observers to, they were probably hiding rockets in there also. I would give Israel the benefit of the doubt if I hadnt read Pity the Nation by Robert Fisk. In the book Fisk highlights a situation where he was embedded with a Canadian group of the UN who was coming under Israeli rocket fire. When they called the Israelis they were told by them that they were not under rocket fire and they must be mistaken. The Canadians countered with the noise of rockets exploding around them and were again told they were not under fire and that the discussion was over. Strange how even when they could see the fire coming from an Israeli position and notified the IDF about it they were told it didnt exsist. I guess its like burying your head in the sand, if I dont see it it cant be happening.

*****UPDATE*****
2:31pm

From the New York Times as of this afternoon upon returning from lunch.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast-ireland-warning.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Irish officer with the UN advises Israelis 6 times that they are in danger of costing UN peackeepers lives. You tell me what the deal is there, they cant be oblivious it is no big accident. It is a target they fucked up and they will not admit it, but there is a huge problem here that needs to be addressed here and the world would rather follow suit with Israel and bury its head in the sand. Kudos to you rest of the civilized world.

****UPDATE****
4:30pm

Two more websites catching on to the whole Israel as war criminal idea. Highlighting the use of cluster bombs and white phosphorus yet again by our noble Israeli "Allies"(sarcasm). Both sites are well worth taking a look at.

http://www.transparentgrid.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2006/07/25/1781/

http://arabist.net/archives/2006/07/25/cluster-bombs-used-against-civilian-population-areas-hrw-says/

Debunking Two Israeli Myths

2006-07-21T10:25:00.000-04:00

Found this on a link my brother sent me today. Great site dealing with Palestine and the Israelie occupation. THe site also has lots of facts that you may not know such as the fact that palestinians have to have seperate license plates, they cannot buy or lease land and that yearly U.S. Aid to Israel a developed country exceeds all aid given to the entire african continent. Anyways heres the two that I found and thought rang true.

Heres the site if you want to take a gander. FREE PALESTINE

1. No moral equivalence

"There is no moral equivalence between suicide bombings on the one hand, and Israel's killing of Palestinians on the other because while suicide bombings deliberately target civilians, Israeli forces do not.

Suicide bombing is a reprehensible and unacceptable tactic. These attacks should stop immediately. What needs to be added, and what is almost always missing in American media commentary is a similar condemnation of Israel's deliberate targeting of Palestinian civilians.

Since the Palestinian uprising started in late September 2000, more than 1,500 Palestinians, and 400 Israelis have been killed (as of April 12, 2002), the vast majority on both sides being unarmed civilians. Most of the deadly violence against innocent civilians, therefore, has been committed by Israeli forces and has been directed at Palestinians.

Israel and its supporters claim that while Palestinian suicide bombers deliberately target Israeli civilians, Israel tries to avoid harming Palestinian civilians and that those who have died are "collateral damage." Hence, they argue, there is no moral equivalence between the killing of civilians by Israel and Palestinians. This defies both common sense and all the available evidence.

On the one hand, Israel wants us to believe that 400 of its own civilians were deliberately targeted, while more than three times as many dead Palestinians all somehow just got in the way of what Israel claims is its humane and disciplined army. It is, in essence, an argument that 1,500 people all died by accident.

Every human rights group that has examined Israel's practices has documented systematic and deliberate use of violence targeted at unarmed Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces. Physicians for Human Rights USA which investigated the high number of Palestinian deaths and injuries in the first months of the Intifada, concluded that:

"the pattern of injuries seen in many victims did not reflect IDF [Israel Defense Forces] use of firearms in life-threatening situations but rather indicated targeting solely for the purpose of wounding or killing."

[Source: PHR USA, 22 November 2000]

This finding was based on "the totality of the evidence" the investigators collected about:

"the high number of gunshots to the head; the volume of serious, disabling thigh injuries; the inappropriate firing of rubber bullets and rubber-coated steel bullets at close range; and the high proportion of Palestinian injuries and deaths."

The findings of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch confirm this pattern. Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has documented and condemned the targeted use of violence against Palestinian civilians and has found evidence of systematic torture of thousands of Palestinian detainees, including children.

What has been confirmed by human rights groups has also been observed directly by journalists.

In October 2001, Harper's magazine published the "Gaza Diary" of journalist Chris Hedges. Hedges' entry for June 17, 2001 provides even more shocking evidence of the wanton and deliberate killing of Palestinian children by Israeli soldiers at Gaza's Khan Yunis refugee camp.

Hedges writes:

"I sit in the shade of a palm-roofed hut on the edge of the dunes, momentarily defeated by the heat, the grit, the jostling crowds, the stench of the open sewers and rotting garbage. A friend of Azmi's brings me, on a tray, a cold glass of tart, red carcade juice."

"Barefoot boys, clutching kites made out of scraps of paper and ragged soccer balls, squat a few feet away under scrub trees. Men in flowing white or gray galabias -- homespun robes -- smoke cigarettes in the shade of slim eaves. Two emaciated donkeys, their ribs protruding, are tethered to wooden carts with rubber wheels."

"It is still. The camp waits, as if holding its breath. And then, out of the dry furnace air, a disembodied voice crackles over a loudspeaker."

""Come on, dogs," the voice booms in Arabic. "Where are all the dogs of Khan Younis? Come! Come!""

"I stand up. I walk outside the hut. The invective continues to spew: "Son of a bitch!" "Son of a whore!" "Your mother's cunt!""

"The boys dart in small packs up the sloping dunes to the electric fence that separates the camp from the Jewish settlement. They lob rocks toward two armored jeeps parked on top of the dune and mounted with loudspeakers. Three ambulances line the road below the dunes in anticipation of what is to come."

"A percussion grenade explodes. The boys, most no more than ten or eleven years old, scatter, running clumsily across the heavy sand. They descend out of sight behind a sandbank in front of me. There are no sounds of gunfire. The soldiers shoot with silencers. The bullets from the M-16 rifles tumble end over end through the children's slight bodies. Later, in the hospital, I will see the destruction: the stomachs ripped out, the gaping holes in limbs and torsos."

"Yesterday at this spot the Israelis shot eight young men, six of whom were under the age of eighteen. One was twelve. This afternoon they kill an eleven-year-old boy, Ali Murad, and seriously wound four more, three of whom are under eighteen. Children have been shot in other conflicts I have covered -- death squads gunned them down in El Salvador and Guatemala, mothers with infants were lined up and massacred in Algeria, and Serb snipers put children in their sights and watched them crumple onto the pavement in Sarajevo -- but I have never before watched soldiers entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport."

There can be no doubt that Israeli troops have been targeting innocent Palestinian civilians for death from the beginning of the uprising. This understanding was also reflected in UN Security Council Resolution 1322, passed on October 7, 2000, which

"Condemns acts of violence, especially the excessive use of force against Palestinians, resulting in injury and loss of human life."

In making the moral superiority claim, Israel's apologists are either shamelessly denying the irrefutable evidence cited above and are simply lying, or they are asserting that some forms of murder are morally superior to other forms of murder.

2. Self-defense

"Israel's invasion of Palestinian cities and refugee camps is self-defense against suicide bombings. No country can tolerate its citizens being blown up in streets and cafes and Israel has to act."

The Israeli claim that its attacks on the Palestinians constitute "self defense" ignores the fact that its posture in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip is, by definition, not defensive. Since 1967, Israel has maintained tens of thousands of heavily armed troops outside its borders for the purposes of stealing land from the Palestinians and forcing them to live as non-citizens under a foreign military dictatorship.

Seized Palestinian land has been used to build Jewish-only settlements linked by a network of Jewish-only roads, in flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention. This colonization is, and can only be, carried out by the violent suppression of any and all Palestinian resistance to the occupation.

Throughout the years of the "peace process" during the 1990s, Israel continued to construct settlements, doubling the number of settlers in the West Bank from about 100,000 to 200,000 according to the Israeli group "Peace Now." At least 34 new settlements have been built since Sharon took office.

The settlement colonization policy is, and can only be carried out by the violent suppression of any and all Palestinian resistance to the occupation. Throughout the years of the "peace process" Israel continued to construct settlements, doubling the number of settlers according to the Israeli group "Peace Now."

The entire international community has recognized that Israel's military occupation must end, and that its continuation, along with the settlement policy, and the massive repression they entail is a guarantee of continued bloodshed. Israel's brutal actions in the occupied territories are designed to consolidate and entrench the occupation and expand Israeli colonization, and are therefore, by definition, not defensive in nature.

FREE LEBANON

2006-07-21T09:59:00.000-04:00

The crisis over in the middle east jsut keeps getting worse, with yesterday being the deadliest day so far in terms of Israels terrorist missle and bomb attacks on the Lebanese people.

A ceasefire needs to be reached but thats not possible because only one side is doing all of the firing in this conflict, Lebanon itself is standing still. Israel is fighting to destroy Hezbollah but it continues to attack bridges, ports, airports, villages, well drilling equipment and Lebanese army positions. Why, what is the logic behind this? Israel claims to want stability from Lebanon, to not have to worry about its shared northern border. IF this were truly the case then Israel would not be intently destroying the infrastructure of the Lebanese government and society and targeting the military which will play a huge role in a stable Lebanon.

The United States is looking at a double edged sword here, on the one hand we work for Israel, lets not be foolish and think its the other way around. We claim to want to establish a cease fire but we want to give Israel at least another week to bombard the Lebanese people. In another week there wont be any chance at saving Lebanon. The country is in shambles now, the airport is closed, ports are being attacked and major highways and bridges are destroyed. This will be no short term turnaround, this will take years and years to fix all because Israel was targeting a terrorist group by blowing up everything but terrorists. Let us not forget this isnt a conflict between two nations, but a nation and a militia uncontrolled by a government that has been hamstrung in the past to where it cannot stop them. To punish the nation to destroy what they have built is criminal. But then again when you are talking about a nation that was established by criminally stealing land from others than I guess thats what you can expect.

Proprtiante force is another issue, I keep hearing the term that Hezbollah rockets are "raining down on Israeli civilians" yet there are 15 Israeli dead. There are over 300 dead in Lebanon the overwhelming majority civilian and over 1000 wounded. I would think indiscriminate firign of missles would result in more casualties than would laser guided smart bombs but hey I guess not. Especially when the smart bombs and their operators know they are attacking civilians.

Washington Post Coverage
'To Save a Revolution"
"Left Here to Die"

Three Cheers for Hezbollah

2006-07-17T14:05:00.000-04:00

I jsut got back from lunch which was actually walking a dog and was greeted with what I found to be some cheerful news on the Israel v. Lebanon front. Hezbollah has recorded a pretty substantial rocket strike in the Israeli town of Haifa gutting a building with one of their rockets. I am not advocating violence in either direction, but I cant help but feel good that Hezbollah has actually done some damage to the mighty nation of Israel.

Of course this prompts Israel to step up its own bombings of suburban areas, targeting a resort town today and killing 6 candians in the process. Way to go Israel, those Canadians were really fucking around with you. Glad you could take them out as they posed such an imminent threat to your sacred right to exist.

The main difference between Hezbollahs attack and Israels is that Hezbollah doesnt ahve guided missles and warplanes, but rather ground launched unsophisticated rockets. And with all of Israels bombings they dont seem to be getting the sites they are launching rockets from, but rather the innocent civilians, way to breed more hate. Not to mention that Israel wants the Lebanese authorities to rein in Hezbollah, so whats the natural bombing there, lets blow up the Lebanese govt's infratstucture and attack their military bases, good choice slapdick.

Way to condemn a group you made stronger by meddling in Lebanese afairs from 1975-1990 and creating the civil war that ruined the countries government. You created the unrest, you created the militants, they formed to force you out of the country, they were the resistance. Whether you like it or not you have made the bed you are now trying to sleep in, it might not be the most comfortable and your unilateral way of dealing with it isnt solving any problems but breeding new hate. Congrats on showing you are a bully with no real way to stop the problem, carpetbombing isnt gonna cut it and neither is your continued campagin of violence and religious hatred with your zionist agenda. Israel, you are a disgrace to advanced countries everywhere with your continued bungling of your affairs and your sole reliance on overwhelimgn and disproportinate force. I hate you.

Free Palestine and Free Lebanon!!!

Money Talks

2006-07-14T15:04:00.000-04:00

Ben Wallace, traitor I still cant get over it. If the Pistons handt got him he wouldve been another Adonal Foyle, a nobody. He talked all sorts of shit about not needing to be the highest paid guy, all lies he tore the foundation which Detroit made him out of a franchise. Will Detroit be okay, yes. Will Ben Wallace ever be the same hard hat guy, No. Thats why ever since that day I've been like Fuck Ben Wallace!

Heres a nice Mitch Albom article about the lying sack of shit.

Free Press

Why arent we rooting for the underdog?

2006-07-12T09:44:00.000-04:00

Recent events in Palestine have only made my stance on Israel even more confirmed in my head. Israel is a bully in the truest sense of the word from its very begininngs to its current use of unilateral force in the recent abduction of three of its soldiers. First off I shouldnt call it abduction as the media is, they are combatants in a war and are thus prisoners of war, if Israel can capture thousands(estiamted at around 9000) arabs many of whom are children and women then who are they to get their feathers ruffled over three P.O.W.'s?

In the case of the United States, we are demonized by the world for taking unilateral actions and flexing our military muscle in many cases. We are dragged through the mud anytime an errant missle or bomb hits anyone other than its intended target. Israel is a lauded and we always say "they have the right to defend themselves". Well are tehy defending themselves when they shell beaches with artillery fire killing whole families or when they drop a bomb on a house at 3am killing a family of 8 inside, those sure are some dangerous enemies to defend themselves against. Lets not forget that Israel's Shin Bet is supposed to be the best intelligence organization in the world, how come no one questions them and their sources? This current unlawful invasion by a bastard state is simply another power grab to secure more territory for the good of Zionism.

What we are truly seeing is a vicious ploy by both Israel and the United States attempting to topple the newly formed Hamas led government of Palestine. We in the United States like to toot our horn about promoting democracy but when the Palestinians held what was widely recognized as one of the best democratic elections ever int he middle east, but we dont get the party we want in charge we have huge problems. Nevermind what the people of Palestine want, not that they really want their land or their family homes that were stolen formt hem in 1948 back. What they want is to be independent and how can they be independent when we dont even let them have their own government that they elect? When they have no economy because of the illegal and apartheid like wall built by the Israleis and monitored and closed at will for sometimes no reason? They have no right to self defense, they have nothing because it is stripped by Israel.

I can do nothing buy sympathize with the Palsestinian and the Lebanese people who are pushed under Israels thumb. I can do nothing but be disgusted by the fact that we the United States are so willing to support and coddle the bully on the block. It is odd that Israel has the 13th largest military on earth, to defend an area the size of New Jersey. They repeatedly flex their muscle and endanger thousands of lives, ruin homes and breed more hate than they can ever hope to solve. They are the problem not the solution and the world needs to understand that.

Americans have always liked the underdog, well, open your eyes because theres a very clear underdog in all this and its not Israel. Its the palestinian people who are being cheated and held captie by a foreign occupier who stole their land while the world stood idly by. Lets also not forget that Israle punishes the whole not the guilty party. This is clearly seen by saying that Lebanons government will be held accountable for Hezbollahs actions. How are you going to hold them accountable Israel? YOu plunged Lebanon into civil war and completely destroyed all goverment they had, they might as well be starting from scratch, all these attacks and the finger only points back to you.

One Weekend, Two Faces.

2006-07-05T10:12:00.000-04:00

If you live in Detroit, or the Detroit area this was a pretty eventful weekend, outside of the 4th of July holiday and the fireworks the retirement of Steve Yzerman and the departure of Ben Wallace made big news.

It is amazing to me how different they both seem in my eyes now as at one point they were both the face of the city and its sports teams. Ben was the blue collared workhorse down low who did everything you wanted to win games. Yzerman was more of an evolutiuon, going from top center in the NHL to gritty two way player who not only had the skill but the untangibles.

The difference begins there, Stevie Y played his whole career for Detroit, 20+ seasons and he never complained, never said he was underappreciated and this was from a star, not just a one way star but an overall star. He was the guy on this team even when teh Red Wings were bad he played his heart out week in and week out. A truer captain has never played in the NHL many others have worn the C, but none have filled it out so completely.

Then there is Ben, one of thebest defensive players of the last 25 years, a game changer on defense when that is incredibly hard to do. However he was one sided, there was no offense coming from Ben, only defense he was half a player. When his contract came up he hired Arn Tellem and then opened negotiations at 20 million a year. This shows you how overinflated his own selfworth was. Not only that but in the last year he did things a leader wouldnt do, puted on the bench, called out his coach in the playoffs etc. THe man who was the face of the Pistons championship team now let his eyes be blinded by money, leaving a 64 win team to go to a 41 win team. All for 8 million more or as he says because he didnt feel appreciated in Detroit. He was the rock, the cornerstone if he was looking for more pats on the back I guess hes better off gone.

As a close it was a pleasure to watch Yzerman play even when injured and his skills began to fade, because he was our guy there was no doubt about that. Ben will not be fun to watch deteriorate and it will happen soon, his leaving may actually have helped the team. So farewell Steve Yzerman I and all the rest of Detroit wish you the best in retirement!

Why I Love Hockey

2006-06-27T12:18:00.000-04:00

Say what you want about Hockey, Im not saying you need to love it, Im not saying you even need to like it but man are there some good reasons to like it. As far as Im concerned it might be the perfect combination of speed, phyiscal play and skill. Other sports are faster or more physical but not at the same time that and the fact these guys go out there and play the game 3 or more times a week makes me respect the hell out of them. From break away goals to open ice checks its a great sport.

For my money though you have to love hockey for the fights. NAme another sport other than boxing where two guys can stand face to face and beat the hell out of each other and no one cares, I mean they arent even suspended from the next game or anything. Guys like Rob Ray, Tony Twist, Joe Kocur, Bob Probert, Tie Domi, Stu Grimson I mean these guys are badasses or were badasses. They are standing on a slick piece of Ice on two metal blades and still manage to throw amazing power punches and knock people out. Hell Tony Twist once won a fight in one punch, knocked the guy out and broke like three bones in his face you dont see that happen in the UFC let alone boxing. How they maintain the balance and absorb so many bare knuckle blows to the face is beyond me, they are tough sons of bitches no doubt. Add to that the fact that these guys take fists, sticks and pucks to the face and still play that game. No other sport do you get your face split open go get stitches in between shifts and then come out ready to go.

In closing you can say what you want about Canadians, but as a whole watch some hockey, they can whoop some serious ass and I dare you to tell them otherwise.

You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?

2006-06-20T11:01:00.000-04:00

You know what really grinds my gears?

- The Carolina Hurricanes winning the Stanley Cup. Its just not right, Hockey shouldnt even be played down there its a disgrace to the game I mean for gods sake they actually ahve hurricanes down their...Ridiculous!

- People who drive 25 in a 35mph zone. Now first things first Im the best driver on earth so everyone else on the road pisses me off but why drive so slow? Its not safer cause then I tail your ass like no ones buisness, speed up grandpa. The only thing worse is getting stuck behind the dreaded "Oldman with a hat".

- The people at baseball games who sit behind homeplate and talk on their cellphones while waving to someone at home. Great asshole you are talking to someone watching the game and your on TV. No shit your behind home plate your gonna be on TV. I propose a man law that would allow anyone to stand up take away their cell phone and smash it on the ground if they catch one fo these bastards in the act.

- Townies that give you the up and down all the time. Just cause I walk into a place doesnt mean that you can look me up and down as if you want to fight me. Id kick your ass and you know it, fuck you townie.

- People that think they know all sorts of shit about politics and what not. They watch one thing that Ann Coulter is on and all of a sudden they are the top person to talk to about whats wrong with the country. YOu dont know shit, your a fucking retard get over it.

- People that think working at a restaurant is actual work. Its not work, its a job. YOu want work go carry drywall around for months at a time, go work as a construction bitch carrying concrete block and digging holes thats work and until you do it dont complain about how hard your job is.

- The kid that always asks questions he knows the answer ot in class. It doenst make you look smart ass face it makes you look like an idiot for wasting everyone elses time, including the proffesor.

- Little Johnny son of a bitch who is with his mom at the store whining about what he wants all the time. No one cares you little son of a bitch get over it, maybe you should go out and get a job instead of being a leech off your parents. Ive seen kids like this that were 23 years old, its disgusting.

- The cost of all things abercrombie and fitch and all that other shit. People that buy jeans that have holes in them and pay 80 dollars for them deserve to have their ass kicked, these are also the same people who pop their collars. Quite possibly the stupidest thing Ive ever seen, yeah you look great with your plaid shorts and pastel collared shirt with the collar popped. No, you dont look like an asshole at all and I bet your really tough. Newsflash, you arent tough and you look like a huge combination of an asshole and a douechebag....kudos to you sir for pulling that shit off and not looking good while doing it.

- People who visit my site and dont leave comments. I mean I dont need one everytime, but once in a while throw me a fucking bone. Get with the program let me know what you think or maybe what youd like to hear about your input would be great

Several other things

- Ticking and clicking noises
- High prices on food
- high prices on clothes
- high prices on gas
- Your mom

Camp Cobra

2006-06-19T16:41:00.000-04:00

Found this while taking a stroll on the web the other day. For lack of anything else to post, thought Id just throw this out there.

http://www.thebootytrap.com/camp%20cobra.htm

Gino's Cheese Steaks with a side of truth

2006-06-14T19:45:00.000-04:00

Watching CNN or Fox news or one of those news channels, I cant remember off the top of my head I saw a great piece on how Ginos Cheese Steaks in South Philly is making all customers order in english only. Of course the city of philidelphia is charging them with discrimination based on nationallity or ethnic background. The owner of Gino's whose name escapes me made a great point that is more often than not overlooked, why does bilingual mean english spanish. He pointed out the fact that the germans, italians, irish etc were not given special privelige when they came to this country, they learned the language to assimilate or else they got nowhere. He like myself doesnt see why we are affording this immigrant group rights unparalleled to any other group in the history of the world. THis is still true today, you need to learn the english language to get ahead or else you can count on that nice 5 dollar an hour day labor job for the long haul and if that is the land of oppurtunity that the immigrants who dont want to speak the language then they are better off gone.

As for the owner, he made another great point "How hard is it to learn how ot say cheesesteak?"

Detroit = Whore

2006-06-14T13:08:00.000-04:00

Its been a long and steady decline for what was once a great city in Detroit. Houses abandonded, downtown boarded up and only looking alive during special events(superbowl, mlb allstar game etc.). The problem doesnt lie with the people, it doesnt lie with the economy as everyone would have you believe; it lies with a corrupt and dysfundtional city government from the top to the bottom.

For years this has been okay with the citizens of Detroit, it has to be as they continually elect poor leadership and allow it to run amok. The great decline started and was hastened by the late great Coleman Young, corrupt as all get out and the city slid from greatness every year he was in office but he was elected again and again. Only after he left office and Dennis Archer took over did it look like there may be some sort of resurgence. And for a brief while there was but in Archers final years he sounded like a tired and beaten man. Beaten down by inefficency in city hall. He brought some great things to the city but was blocked from doing much of what he wanted to accomplish. Now we have Kwame Kilpatrick, there has not been a greater case of corruption, abuse of powers and nepotism that I can think of. So many of his staff memebers are family memebers with fraudulent degrees and resumes yet tehy are being paid six figure salaries. Thank you Kwame for continuing to ruin this city.

Kwame is a huge problem the city is miles in the red and it doesnt appear there is any way to pull it out and there is no one to fall back on for help. The federal government doesnt fix the problem of cities going down the shitter, just ask around Buffalo, NY being a prime example. Kwame says he wants to fix the budget, he proposes wild ideas that have no merit or backing. The first gem he dropped on residents of the city and suburb alike was shutting down the Detroit Zoo. You cant jsut shut it down, its not something you own, its not your right that is a treasure to the state of michigan and his idea was widely criticized and rejected eventually, but the city counsel was all for it. Kudos to you citizens of detroit for electing such great leadership.

Now Kwame proposes to fix the budget by selling the Rackham Golf Course. In and of itself this doesnt seem like a huge issue, its the cities he should be able to sell it for 5 million dollars to developers right? Wrong. THis 120 acre plot of prime real estate was donated by the Rackham family in 1925 with the stipulation that it always be a pulbic course. This sale flies in the face of that stipulation, developing it to residential property is not a pulbic golf course. So what if the deal was brokered 81 years ago, it is still valid and if the city of Detroit isnt worth its word anymore what is it worth? If the Rackham heirs are not willing to sit idly by while the city violates their commitment then we can look forward to a lengthy court case to decide the right of sale. Detroit does not have the deep pockets a city needs to go tou court like this on what amounts to a whim. They project to finish this fiscal year 60 million dollars in debt, thats a helluva hole. The city does not have the right to this land to sell for a profit if anything the profit would in my eyes would need to be split with the family itself and then what benefit do you gain? None.

Let the course be, stop whoring the city and wasting moeny to gain money thats a wash. Restructure the bastard tax system that forces people with moeny out of the city and actually encourage growth as a whole not in isolated areas. This problem doesnt have a quick fix, but I can guarntee that the fix requires someone other than Kwame Kilpatrick. Im sure he has better things to do like hold coke parties at the manoogian mansion with strippers all over the place and cavort around with his security detail larger than that of the governor, secretary of state and state attorney general. Theres where the moneys going Kwame, up your nose and in your coffers. I guess it always is the last place you look huh?

Free Press Coverage

United Nations....United for what?

2006-06-08T09:34:00.000-04:00

Watching both CNN today and reading on the Washington Post, I was startled to see a verbal and political attack on the U.S. by the UN. Deputy Secretary General Malloch Brown of the UN used a recent speech to lambaste the people of the United States for their criticism of the United Nations. Not only were his remarks out of line, but the support he is receiving from the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, is also surprising. Mr. Annan stands by the comments and even agreed with the thrust that the United States needs to become a more active and involved member of the organization. One of the quotes from Mr. Brown was this

“The prevailing practice of seeking to use the U.N. almost by stealth as a diplomatic tool while failing to stand up for it against its domestic critics is simply not sustainable," Mr. Malloch Brown said. "You will lose the U.N. one way or another.”

Well the real question I believe that should be asked is are we more worried about losing the UN or is the UN more worried about losing us?

Not only do we go at it alone in most cases, spited by members of the UN to begin with. Two notables are France and Russia who both object to any tampering in the Middle East due to the amount of illegal oil contracts those countries have had with nations such as Iraq in the past. Contracts which make the countries many millions of dollars which violated UN sanctions and embargos god forbid the French lose their contract for the greater good.

I may sound as if I am tooting the horn of the U.S. and I guess I am; we are the nation that provides the overwhelming monetary and military support to this organization. We continually lead the UN in technological advances and gain negative reviews for them because it doesn’t allow the other countries to fully participate in many operations due to lack of technology. Not only do we supply the UN with most of its money and troops but all of these countries owe their ass to the United States. Many of those owing their ass to us date back to the Second World War where we came in and bailed out France, Germany, England, Russia and many more. Not only did we save those countries the fate that was marching through them at a rapid pace, but we then rebuilt their entire countries. Yes that’s you France, England, Germany, Japan, and Russia, all of you. We rebuilt you and what thanks do we get….that’s right none. Not only do we garner animosity from you now the likes of which allied people shouldn’t have for each other but have the other countries ever even attempted to repay their debts to us…as far as I know they have not.

I say the UN needs to shut its hole recognize who the big dog is, recognize who pays the bills. No shit the people of the U.S. aren’t thrilled with your little club, you do nothing for us. The old saying goes as I have been reminded by my father numerous times “He, who pays the piper, calls the tune.” Well we pay the piper and if you don’t like the tune, then I suggest you start ponying up.

George Bush...What the hell are you thinking?

2006-06-05T23:51:00.000-04:00

George Bush, I was a fan I thought he was doing things right then the tide began to turn and he started to show through that he might be inept and a bumbling moron. Well things went that way for a while, he stayed the course, saved some face said the right things at the right time, like a good lap dog. Now though his desperate attempt to win over votes and try to demonize a group of citizens of the U.S. is repulsive. Im not one to sit here and trumpet the glorys of gays and gay marriage, but Im also one not to sit here and say it is evil and against what this country was founded for and should be illegal. The fact that Bush is proposing an ammendment to the constitution that would outlaw gay marriage is laughable. There is no legal ground at all to deny gays the right to marry, legally it is not against any laws, it is not a violation of anything. Whether or not you feel that it is religioulsy right, or morally right is another matter. But you cannot make a law to outlaw gay marriage because it violates your moral standards thats no basis for a change to the constitution of the United States. Im sure that our forefathers did not design for the laws of the land to be changed for this purpose.

What Bush needs to do is fix alot of his messes. He needs to find the fix in Iraq, clean up the mess that is going on and get the right people in charge to run our forces and to aid in the creation and evolution of a new Iraqi government and find a fix and exit strategy so that we can get our troops home. The next thing he needs to do is get over the Iran situation, let them have their nuclear energy. We let countries on the verge of war on a second by second basis(India) have nukes, but Iran cant because of their governments rhetoric. Nevermind that their country is like 65% under 30 and that most of the residents dont even remember why to hate america(i.e. 1979 Iranian Revolution). The people love the U.S. the goverment talks shit, eventually the people will get sick of the government and things are going to change.

FIX YOUR CURRENT PROBLEMS BEFORE YOU GO SEARCHING FOR VOTES BY BRINGING UP A DEAD ISSUE THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE COUNTRY HAS NO PROBLEMS WITH AND WILL NEVER MAKE IT THROUGHT THE SENATE.

But hey, what do I know Im just a dude.

The Wingman

2006-05-31T09:56:00.000-04:00

The Wingman, you know him, you love him hell you might even have been him but never did you think the Washington Post would do an article on him. Here it is a sign of the times, click the link to be amused. WINGMAN!!

And heres an interesting little quote I found that relates to a wingman, I enjoyed it, I hope you do too.

"My brain's wingman is my penis. My penis will be like, "yo, lets see what she's got goin on" and my brain is like, "are you serious...look at that girl, you're unbeleivable."

The Bandwagon

2006-05-25T21:59:00.000-04:00

How quickly people hop on and off the band wagon.

Upon the Detroit Pistons dispatching the young and tough Cleveland Cavaliers everyone decided that they were the pick to win the Eastern Conference championship over the well rested adn rebuilt Miami Heat. The overwhelming majority of analysts on all the sports networks had the Pistons chosen as their team. Then Detroit and Miami played game one. A tough game in which Miami came out well rested and rolling and the Pistons looked the part of a team that had played to game 7 and arrived in the conference finals on weary legs putting up a terrible performance(39% shooting as a team) and losing by 5.

After the loss many in the media wrote Detroit off, some even suggested that they may get swept, well as I sit and watch game 2 as there are two minutes left in the third quarter and the Pistons are up by 18 with Sheed knocking down two cbig three pointers they look pretty good. Hardly the type of performace that you expect from a team about to be swept. Add to this that even the announcers sound like they are rooting agains the Pistons as I just watched Chauncey make a great steal at the end of the third to hear the announcer grudgingly say "yeah, thats a good play." Everyone wants to hate on the Pistons jsut like with all Detroit teams, god it must hurt to see them step it up year after year.

The Pistons are a high energy team and as such expelled alot of that energy in game 7 of the semis. No one wanted to accept that after game one, but the question now is that Detroit coming out rested and energized, looking like the Pistons everyone has come to know over the last 4 years how many analysts will call for a five game series for the Heat now and how many of them are gonna sprain their ankles switching band wagons. Although this is a potential 7 game series either way, I still like detroit to take it and I will even say tehy will do it in 6.

On a sidenote Id like to send out a big FUCK YOU to all the new "Tigers Fans". You dont like the Tigers assholes, you like a winner. Sure its easy to say your a Tigers fan when they have the best record in the Majors, but where were you for the last 10 or more years. Ragging on the team on the organization on everything Tigers. Now that they are rolling everyone wants to be part of the ride and everyone wants to make the claim. Dont get me wrong I love seeing the crowds and the enthusiasim for the team, but dont tell me youve always been a fan and dont act like you've loved the team every step of the way. A real Tigers fan can tell a fairweather fan from a mile away, theres no real joy in your eyes to follow all of the years of sorrow. Rejoice, its a good day to be a Tigers fan, let the good times roll and lets stick with the team. Remember a real fan doesnt dissapear at the first losing streak or when it gets tough. For this team to keep it up the fans need to stay behind it and keep packing the park...every little bit helps.

Post was written during third quarter of the game, man did Miami make it interesting there, but the post still holds true.

Israel and Apartheid

2006-05-25T21:26:00.000-04:00

Israel, what we consider a modern state and a great ally. With views similar to ours, a friend to turn to in a pinch that will offer support.

Reality, an apartheid nation full of segregation and human rights violations.

Sure, everyone sees the rosy side of Israel, everyone sees their brave fight for exsistence, but no one wants to look past the rosy veneer and see the real country. I have railed against the Israeli "state" numerous times, I dont really care for it and I think they do alot of things wrong that bring trouble to themselves and those who support them. However we the United States stand blindly by an ally that has become more of a liability than a resource.

The most recent bone I have to pick with Israel is their policy on marriages between Israelis and arab citizens of the west bank. In any normal country when you marry somone, they can move in with you share a home and sahre a life, thats the whole big thing with marriage. However in Israel you cant do this, you marry a non israeli, there is a very large cahcne you cant even live with your spouse in Israel because its to much of a threat. This is bullshit, there isnt a group of people on earth more kept an eye on than the Palestinians, they have seperate licenses plates, select border crossings controlled by Israelis and no freedom of movement. Not to mention their wonderful security wall which is for their own defense, but stretches well into the Gaza Strip and West Bank to secure isolated Israeli settlements as well as take huge swaths of land from the palestinians. The last time I checked the last country to build a wall for purposes of seperation was East Germany and we had a huge problem with that. If all the policy by Israel is really that much different from what used to occur in South Africa, I'd like to know how.

This whole U.S. Israel alliance has cause much animosity between the U.S. and the rest of the middle east. No one wants Israel there, it is a bastard state created illegaly by eviction of its natural citizens. It has time and time again stirred the pot of the middle east and would no longer even be there if it were not for U.S. and other european arms. We allow them to have nuclear weapons as a detterent we allow them to run willy nilly over anyone else and we congratulate them for their efforts in the war on terror. The real question is how much do Israels pre-emptive raids and bombings and attacks help to creat new terrorists and further strengthen and embolden terrorist groups such as Hamas(who is a legit government now) and Hezbollah. Hezbollah which is in Lebanon even hates Israel, why A) because they are a bastard state and B) becaause Israel invaded lebanon in the efforto to eliminate a terrorist threat and instead prodded along the makings of a civil war and killed innocent civilians with questionable military moves(using white poshoprous shells on malls, restraunts and hospitals and also rebombing bomb sites 8 minutes after the first impact to eliminate support and rescue personel). Lets also take stock of the fact that more Palestinians have been killed in the "conflict" than Israelis and the Israelis have more sophisticated and accurate weaponry, kind of makes you think...which group of people should actually be living in fear? What a great ally to have, Im sure we wont have any reason to worry about our undying support for such a class act of a nation.

Post Script
Dont get me wrong I have no problem with the Jewish people, but one must understand and draw a line between identifying something as Jewish and something as Zionistic. I can do this and that is what I dont approve of, should the Jews have a homeland Im not the one to say and neither were the U.S. and British in 1948 when they made their move. We really need to take stock of the entire situation and decided what is worth sticking your neck out for anymore, is the cost of U.S. lives and resources really worth propping up a country that does nothing but create animosity?

Mexico and fairness???

2006-05-25T21:21:00.000-04:00

Mexican president Vincente Fox has recently been paying his U.S. neighbors a visit and has some ideas of his own on how we should handle our immigration policy.

He urges the U.S. to give his people fair treatment, my question here is what are we doing that is unfair? SHould we erect a fence along the U.S. - Meixcan border how is that not treating people fairly. Is it unfair for us to prevent the unfettered flow of mexican immigrants crossing our borders illegaly everyday? Is it unfair to make it a much more difficult process to enter our conutry illegaly, like it or not a fence(if a good one) is a strong deterent. As Vincente Fox is quoted as saying

"We don't put up walls, that's not the way you're going to fix the problem. Walls that pretend to solve the problem only provoke distance between two peoples."

Well, last time I looked that is the exact reason we are putting up a wall, to cause some distance between these two peoples. If mexicans want to enter the U.S. they should be forced to do it legally, yes we should improve the process of citizenship by speeding it up, but a slow process is no reason to skirt laws, if it was I would rob a bank cause I'm broke. Apply for citizenship, learn the language and assimilate to the culture/country. We certainly need unskilled labor in an economy like ours, but we dont need it illegaly.

Dont wake the dragon

2006-05-25T21:12:00.000-04:00

China, long seen as a potential rival to the U.S. on an economic and military level has now made that potential a reality.

With the recent Pentagon annual report on China's military capability, we the U.S. the power of all powers has been caught lagging behind. Never did we think that China would be able to exapnd its military so quickly or efficently. While on face value there is little reason to fear an armed conflict with China, there is one sticking point that looms in the near future. That point is the island nation of taiwan which China merely sees as a rebellious province. For years our naval presence in the area had been enough to deter any possible conflict between china and their friendly neighbor. However at this point with a highly sophisticated navy and 700 missles positioned across the sea from Taiwan that deterent is slipping. On top of that the Chinese have devoted much time and resources to their destroyer fleets now equipped with antiship cruise missles and a newer fleet of subs in the area, the Aegis class cruisers and destroyers which were long dominant still are, but are now operating with much less of a safety net.

With these huge advances in the military we can only expect that it is a matter of time before China which has ties across the globe begins to have its navy involved in all the 7 seas, not just off their border. They much like us have huge interests in the middle east(oil) and have as much of a right to protect their waterways as we do, this is not a case where we can bully an opponent down should they choose to send ships into the region.

While I find it almost impossible to believe that any large scale conflict or conflict at all with china likely, it is most certainly a huge potetntial problem. There need to be decisions made on what is worth defending is Taiwan should the Chinese decide they want it back worth starting a war that would more than likely turn into World War III really worth it? Are they that much of an ally, I think not. It is possible for two juggernauts to exsist, they both must be careful however, not to step on the others toes.

David Blaine and False Promises

2006-05-19T11:44:00.000-04:00

David Blain...Ass Clown.

I mean yeah hes a "magician" or "illusionist" or whatever the fuck you want to call it and thats great, he probably scores lots of ass with his cheap little parlor tricks. But some of the stuff he does is stupid mainly this whole endurance stunt stuff. Hes all like "Hey look at me I can stand on stuff for a long time." who fucking cares? Then there was his whole "I'm gonna hold my breath for 9 minutes to break a world record." Well this whole thing was advertised and pumped up as a 2 hour event, first of all why when it jsut lasts nine minutes. I dont care about him or what he does. Secondly it was billed as the whole he will hold his breath for nine minutes or die trying. Well last time I looked A. He made it 7 minutes B. He didnt die. He lied on two accounts and the worst one is he didnt die. That was the big promise, break the record or "die trying" what a fucking liar way to mislead a trusting public who thought your shennaigans were going to come to end.

So, David Blaine now that your alive, go back to your stupid card tricks and stay out of the media. I dont care about you and I dont want to see you on my TV.

Comcast and False Promises.

2006-05-12T17:53:00.000-04:00

I recently moved into a new apartment and as such was needing to get some cable lest I go insane. On tuesday of this week I went down to Comcasts Adrian office and signed up for their standard cable package. I was told that I would have my service connected on Friday between 1 and 5 pm.

Well, I am a trusting indvidual, when someone tells me they will be there at a certain time I believe them. Needless to say Comcast doesnt get this concept as I sat in my apartment for 4 hours and the cable guy never showed up. Not even when I waited until 5:30pm did they show up. This got my blood boiling and I went down to the office to inquire. Well the office is closed. I found the phone number for the office cause I could see there were still people inside but that was automated and of no help. In previous posts you will see that I hate talking to people on the phone, however this was a time I needed to.

What it comes down to for me is that Comcast screwed me over and essentially wasted half of a day for me. This is a very considerate company apparently. Not to mention that they are the only cable provider in the area which allows them to say "hey, you can be pissed all you want but we're all you've got." Well I say Fuck Comcast. If there was someone else I coudl get cable through I would as would alot of people I know but instead the have a monopoly in the area. Kudos to you comcast way to find a way to fuck the american consumer over. Not only do you not show up even if you do you charge 50.00 a month for basic service, your really good people.