Month: January 2013

Remember Colin Powell?

He was the head of the Joint Chiefs during the 1st Iraq excursion and secretary of State under GW…….who was pretty much hung out to dry during the last Iraq excursion by the very people that he trusted……if anyone should be pissed about partisan BS it is he….and yet he has remained a Republican to this day……a man of principle?  IMHO, yes and something that is sadly missing in American politics……..

I do not agree with much Powell has to say but I respect the man for his stand……..and I am not alone……

Colin Powell’s criticism of the GOP Sunday did not go over well with many members of his party—but Joe Scarborough thinks moderate, electable Powell is exactly what Republicans need. As the late William F. Buckley put it, conservatives need to take reality into account. Or as Scarborough puts it on Politico, “History casts an unforgiving eye on political parties that don’t adapt to changing times.” So the GOP is doomed if it can’t “keep pace with the rapid change in demographic realities.” That means voting for someone electable, if moderate, rather than continuing to champion far-right candidates (or, as Scarborough puts it, “idiots”) who will never win a general election. Powell is that electable-but-moderate choice. Sure, Scarborough used to scoff at him back in the ’90s, but he now understands that Republicans are actually lucky Powell still considers himself one of them. “This war hero with historic accomplishments … should still be one of the leading voices of my Republican Party, especially since it faces demographic trends that could spell its doom,” writes the MSNBC host and former congressman. If the GOP actually starts listening to and using Powell, it could also start winning elections again. If not, the party may not survive. Click for Scarborough’s full column.

I believe that Joe is right about Powell and the GOP……….the party needs more people like Powell and then maybe they would have a better showing in national elections………I want a person with balls in office….a person with the determination of their convictions…….not a whack-a-doodle that will say anything to get elected……before some right wing troll lambasts me….I am speaking of both parties not singling out the GOp as a party without principles…..dems are just as guilty……….

A War In Mali–What Could Happen?

I know that there are many people that care about the situation taking place in the African country of Mali…..but that should change…..the US is about to enter into the fray in support of our ally, France………

Just in case you do not know where Mali is located…….allow me to help……..

Our French brethren have commenced a ground assault on the militants in Mali….in the North of the country……could this be a 6 day war or will it continue to fight on and on?  And what could be the results of the fighting?

………… the military action was expected to be “difficult” for France.

“Ansar al-Dine and other armed rebel groups that have control of the area know the terrain very well, and they have very sophisticated weapons,” she said, referring to the rebel-controlled northern part of Mali.

She said the first Nigerian contingent of about 190 soldiers was due to arrive in Mali on Thursday.

The parliament in Niger was waiting for approval to send its own contingent of more than 500 soldiers, currently waiting at the border, Al Jazeera’s Moshiri said.

For those who care — and we suggest you do — the democratically-elected government of Mali was thrown out in March by a faction of nomadic people living in the north of the country called the Tuareg. But the separatist Tuareg got more than they bargained for when they asked a local Islamist militant group, the Rebels of the Ansar Dine, to help. They helped all right: they called in their friends, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which swiftly moved to displace the Tuareg, imposed a strict interpretation of Sharia law on the moderate Sufi Muslims there in the north, and rendered Timbuktu — an ancient, bustling center of trade and tourism — a “ghost town.”

By the way, according to reports, the Ansar Dine and AQIM are apparently “flush” with weapons, thanks to the looting that occurred after the U.S.-led regime change in Libya. Furthermore, the leader of the Tuareg military coup, which opened the doors to what Bruce Riedel calls al Qaeda’s largest foothold “since the fall of Afghanistan in 2001,” was none other than Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo, who came to the United States several times for “professional military education, including basic officer training,” according to The Washington Post.

“Three things emerge from the haze. First, fierce fighting in the North and the East, with French forces in the lead, will open up a whole new set of dangers. With Islamist forces on the attack, foreign intervention was necessary, and many Malians at home and abroad welcomed it enthusiastically. Still, this remains a dangerous moment all around.

“Second, while the latest crisis might not break the political deadlock in Bamako, it has already changed the dynamic. And third, despite the sorry state of mediation efforts to date – both within West Africa and beyond – savvy diplomacy is needed now more than ever.” – Gregory Mann, commenting on January 14 on the situation in Mali.

For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on Mali, including in 2012, see http://www.africafocus.org/country/mali.php

For a recent article with additional background on previous U.S. counter-productive support for Mali’s military, see “French Strikes in Mali Supplant Caution of U.S.”, New York Times, Jan. 14, 2013 http://www.nytimes.com / direct URL – http://tinyurl.com/boxv8va

For an article with background on the U.S. role past and present, see “U.S. Prepares Support for French Military Intervention in Mali” IPS, January 15, 2012 http://allafrica.com/stories/201301150071.html

For a pair of articles from last fall, by Gregory Mann and Simon Allison, respectively supporting and opposing military intervention, appearing in African Arguments and in the Guardian, now moot but with much useful background, see http://tinyurl.com/cofaqvv and http://tinyurl.com/clh4bnt

Mali is a hop skip and jump from Nigeria and Nigeria is home to many oil fields which the US gets oil…….if Islamists are successful in Mali, it will be only a matter of time before they start looking South……..and then the US will certainly have just cause for intervention…….

Also the French have embarked into the same situation that sucked in the US in Somalia…..this could be disastrous in the end results…..

As I have said……..I want to be optimistic……but I am too old to be so……

What Causes Violent Crime?

We all have heard about the massive shootings in the last couple of months and that Chicago had 500 murders last year and daily we hear about more and more violent crime…..this is not an anti-gun post so take your Valium and read on………is there any one thing that can be targeted asa cause for some violent crime?

(Newser) – Violent crime has fallen in the US for years, but why? Experts have floated theories ranging from police techniques to the “crack epidemic” to the legalizing of abortion, but none quite fit the facts. One, however, does: lead poisoning. In Mother Jones, Kevin Drums reports that the rise and fall of leaded gasoline directly mimics the arc of violent crime in America, on a 23-year time lag. In fact, studies show the same correlation in countries around the world, six US cities, and even a New Orleans neighborhood. “When they overlay [lead concentrations] with crime maps,” says one researcher, “they realize they match up.”

The science fits, too: Many studies link lead intake with lower IQs, delayed development, and a propensity to commit crimes later in life. Of course millions of children who inhaled lead from car tailpipes between the 1940s and the 1970s didn’t become criminals, but those on the margin “were pushed over the edge from being merely slow or disruptive to becoming part of a nationwide epidemic of violent crime,” writes Drums. The clincher: Lead molecules still lurk in our soil and an estimated 16 million US houses. Cleaning them up would cost billions, but save far more in the long run, Drums writes: It “could turn out to be the cheapest, most effective crime prevention tool we have. And we could start doing it tomorrow.”

Okay, this is just a work in progress but at least there is a possible link between lead and crime……..worth the study or not?

And how do I get on the list for some of that grant money?

Clap If It Hurts!

The weekend and I breath a sigh of relief…….I can post on things other than the Drama Of Obama………

Back in my military days I recall going to sick call one morning and they call out xrays, couple people go off…….shots, a couple more…….and then the orderly calls out for venereal clinic….a the rest of the waiting room got up and stood in line for their clap treatments…….why do I bring this up today?  A good question.

(Newser) – There’s a new reason to stock up on condoms. An “incurable” (or at least, antibiotic-resistant) strain of gonorrhea has made its way across the pond to North America, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. At least nine Canadian patients have failed to respond to the typical dose of cefixime, one of the last antibiotics able to treat the STD. “We’ve heard of such cases in Asia and Europe,” one CDC doctor tells NPR. “It’s very concerning.”

The WHO started warning of the dangers of drug-resistant gonorrhea back in June, predicting that in a few years gonorrhea might be able to resist any available treatment. That isn’t the case yet however; all nine Canadian patients were, eventually, cured, most with an injectable antibiotic, CBS News reports.

If that does not put the limber in your Johnson…..then you are celibate or a eunuch…..

Some stories are just scary.  Any thoughts?

Both Sides Of The 2nd

Well the gun debate has begun and if you write about it you will be lambasted from all sides……you will be a survival nut or some Leftist that wants all guns……..but I recently found sides of the debate and thought I would give both to my readers….without taking sides……

(Newser) – The debate over gun laws brings renewed attention to the debate over the Second Amendment, with two very different takes today from the left and right:

  • Noble intent: Erick Erickson as RedState offers a history lesson. “On April 19, 1775, British regulars marched on Lexington and Concord to seize the guns of American colonists that had been stockpiled in case of revolution,” he writes. “It may be an abstract concept for us. It may be distant. But when the 1st Congress of the United States met in 1789, the memory of 1775 was fresh.” The amendment is all about protecting citizens from the abuses of their own government. Full post here.
  • Awful intent: Nope, writes Thom Hartmann at Alternet. The Second Amendment was written to protect slavery. The slave states needed militias to keep rebellions in check and were worried the federal government would disband them. That’s why the line about a “well regulated militia being the best security of a free country” got changed to “free state” in the final version. Read the full post here.

I know that this will not change anyone’s mind on where they stand on guns…….it is not my inyention to try and make a case for one side or the other…..all I wanted was to try and put both sides of the debate in one place and maybe people would read the two and see that there is common ground for the hard core people on either side of the issue…….

Remember these are opinions and not one of them is mine………..(like that disclosure will make a difference)…….