Month: June 2013

A Proxy War?

My loyal readers know that I am concerned with the direction some politicians want the US to travel in the Middle East……..I believe that it is a fool’s errand to push too hard on support for the rebels…..since not many people can tell you who the rebels are other than they oppose Assad……..caution is needed…..

John McCain was just in Syria…..what a guy, what a guy……he has been a vocal proponent for the US to dive into the civil war with both feet……his idea along with a couple of his posse is to arm the rebels……now think about that……..(pause here for reflection)……we armed the rebels in Afghanistan and that was a disaster…..we armed the rebels in Libya and the country is awash with weapons and we lost an ambassador and these dipsticks want to add more arms to yet another conflict……..does anyone see the folly here?

The conflict has spilled over the borders of Syria……Syria into Turkey….then Syria into Lebanon and then Israel into Syria…..and it will only get worse……and the border violations will just get into the realm of a major international situation……Iran is arming the government…..Russia is in the pockets of Assad and then there is the US and EU who feel that throwing weapons at the conflict will somehow make all right in the Middle East…..and finally there is Iran who has given Assad its undying support…..weapons and I would not be surprised, people……

This is quickly becoming a proxy war being fought between world powers and emerging powers and those that want to be a world power…….this situation is leading nowhere good.

To illustrate the complexity of this situation……

Russia will not cancel plans to deliver an air-defence system to Syria despite Western opposition in order to help deter foreign intervention in the two-year-old conflict, according to the country’s deputy foreign minister.

Speaking in Moscow on Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also accused the EU of “throwing fuel on the fire” by letting its own arms embargo on Syria expire.

“We think this delivery is a stabilising factor and that such steps in many ways restrain some hotheads from exploring scenarios in which this conflict could be given an international character with participation of outside forces,” Ryabkov said.

The rebels are trying to exert their dominance in the area…….

The questions of the Syrian Civil War spilling over into its neighbors have long since been answered, but the situation in Lebanon looks to be escalating rapidly, with a pair of missiles, fired from Syrian rebel positions, pounding the outskirts of the capital city of Beirut today.

The attacks only wounded four in a residential area, but point to the rebels’ pledges of hitting Lebanon as retaliation for Hezbollah’s involvement in their war. Rebels had been saying that they were planning attacks on Lebanon for “several weeks,” and officials said the strike today was a “warning” to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to withdraw.

Turkey is thumbing it’s nose at Iran……..

Thanks to Turkey’s meteoric economic rise over the past decade, the second part of that vision has been, for the most part, fulfilled. Turkey today is the Middle East’s dominant economy; surpassing runners-up Iran and Saudi Arabia by a wide margin. Turkish businesses are rising in the Middle East, and Turkish cultural products, from television programs to schools, are in demand across the region.

But, Turkey’s plan to be a stand-alone power in the region is nowhere near fruition. The war in Syria has forced Ankara to revise this policy, and this has meant re-appraising the value of ties with the United States. Since 2011, Ankara has moved close to the United States, looking for shelter once again under the NATO umbrella.

Those are just the most recent example of how the situation in Syria is beginning to spin out of control…….regardless of what McCain and his bunch of lip flappers say, the US needs to tread carefully or we could be butt deep in another Iraq……..

The American people need to keep a vigilant eye on their clowns in Washington……I do not trust them….how about you?

Addendum:  After I wrote this draft news broke that the US will be sending arms into Syria….it seems that the government has crossed that invisible “red line”…..God bless us all!

One Good Sucker Deserves Another

I guess my fascination with breasts came from my younger days as a breast fed baby…….since then I cannot get enough of the boob…..I know that makes me a male chauvinistic toad…..but I am what I am (to quote Popeye)………so is there a line that I will not cross?  Yes and here it is…….

This from the WEEK magazine……..

If you’ve ever woken up in a cold sweat longing for the warm, familiar ambrosia stored in your mother’s teat, we’ve got some good news for you: An Austin-based candy-maker called Lollyphile is now selling breast milk–flavored lollipops for adventurous adults looking to indulge their oral fixations.

The lollipops don’t actually contain any breast milk — they’re vegan and mostly made of sugar — but were created by taste-testing real breast milk generously donated by four new moms. “Can you imagine armies of pumping mothers?” Lollyphile founder Jason Darling says in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “Managing that would be a logistical nightmare.”

As for what these Oedipal confections actually taste like, the flavor is “sort of like almond milk,” says Darling, “but sweeter.” Since debuting the pops on the Lollyphile website on Monday, the company says it has already sold a few thousand treats.

But maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised by the candy’s overnight success. After all, there are already communities online solely devoted to developing recipes from nutrient-dense, human lactate — everything from cheese to strawberry buttercream cupcakes.

“These lollipops won’t bring back childhood memory,” write the lollipop’s creators at their website. But they are “quite possibly the most inherently satisfying flavor of all time.”

Give the breast milk–flavored pops a try here.

Okay everyone reading please weigh in on this…….thanx

In Search Of The Big “O”

My weekend and a much deserved mental break……once again it is all about the sex…..that driving force of nature that makes us all perk up a bit……..

For years women have been in search of the elusive orgasm………and now there is a way….but what extremes would anyone go to for that moment of “YAHOO”?

Newser) – Good news for those of you dreading childbirth: It doesn’t have to be all pain and agony. There have long been stories of so-called “orgasmic births,” and now a new study by a psychologist looks at the actual numbers. The study author surveyed French midwives, some of whom in turn questioned mothers they had helped; 109 of them completed his questionnaire. The results: In 668 cases, mothers reported orgasmic sensations during birth to their midwives; in 868 cases, midwives saw signs of pleasure from birthing mothers. Nine mothers also reported having an orgasm during birth. All in all, the midwives reported witnessing orgasms in 0.3% of births, LiveScience reports.

These results have “established the fact that obstetrical pleasure exists,” the study author says, though some are still skeptical. But one professor of psychology explains that it makes sense from an anatomical perspective: “It’s stimulation of the birth canal, stimulation of the cervix, the vagina and the clitoris and uterine contractions,” he says, adding that he’s done studies finding that orgasms can reduce pain sensitivity. A childbirth educator who made a 2009 documentary on orgasmic births says they’re probably even more common than this survey finds, and wants the stigma to go away: “People see ‘birth’ and ‘orgasmic’ together on paper, and it pushes all their buttons on sexuality,” she explains.

Was it worth it?

Betrayal in Syria – Opinion – Al Jazeera English

Everybody is looking for a way to end the conflict in Syria…..but not one of these chest thumping morons have given any thought to what will happen if and when Assad takes it on the lamb…

An objective piece that bears consideration before the US goes all in…..could be making a terrible mistake……

 

Betrayal in Syria – Opinion – Al Jazeera English.

Cry For Syria

Inkwell Institute

Middle East Desk

Crap!  Just when I thought it was safe to go to a couple doctor’s appointments…..all Hell breaks loss!

I mean a guy cannot go to the doc for a finger wave without the world going into overload….I mean I had much rather stayed at the office reading news instead of hearing….”turn your head and cough”………

But I digress…….

This is what I found when I returned to my office……

Newser) – The Syrian war seems to have tipped lately in favor of Bashar al-Assad, but here’s one development with at least the potential to change things: The US has concluded that Syria used chemical weapons on a small scale multiple times, reports the New York Times. President Obama has long said that would be a game-changer—he called it a “red line”—though he never spelled out exactly what the consequences would be. That is now the subject of fierce debate within the administration, says the Times.

The new finding comes from US and European intelligence analysts citing a slew of evidence, including sarin found in the hair samples of dead rebel fighters. The memo estimates that up to 150 people have been killed by chemical weapons, and the analysts found no evidence that anti-government forces used any.

So far there has been NO evidence offered other than someone’s word…….but this gives the excuse to use….”Assad has crossed the red line”….which will open up the flow of American arms and such…….

(Newser) – Now that the US has determined that Bashar al-Assad’s regime used chemical weapons, the Obama administration intends to help arm Syrian rebels, officials tell the New York Times. The US will send light arms and ammunition; antitank weapons are also a possibility. Rebel leaders have called for antiaircraft weapons, but Washington currently has no plans to send those, officials say. “The president has said that the use of chemical weapons would change his calculus, and it has,” a top national security official tells the Washington Post.

“Suffice it to say this is going to be different in both scope and scale,” adds Benjamin Rhodes. President Obama won’t, however, send ground troops, and he has “not made any decision” on strategies like a no-fly zone. The CIA will be in charge of delivery, with weapons likely flown to Turkey or Jordan then taken via rebel-controlled routes into Syria, the Post notes. The US remains in favor of political negotiation to end the violence, Rhodes says. But many in Washington fear that Assad now has a clear upper hand and the military aid is coming too late, the Times notes; some in the State Department are urging airstrikes against key Assad sites.

I waited to see or hear what the warhawk McCain and his wing man Graham had to say…..and I did not have to wait long………

Two leading Republican senators called for the United States to establish a no-fly zone to aid Syrian opposition rebels following word that Syrian President Basher Assad has used chemical weapons multiple times during the conflict.

The White House confirmed Thursday that Assad had crossed a “red line” established by President Barack Obama under which the United States would be willing to become more involved in the conflict.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called for Obama to establish a no-fly zone, which would aid the rebels without having Americans put boots on the ground.

McCain secretly entered Syria in late May 3 to meet with opposition leaders and has been calling on the White House to get involved because he said the fight is growing into a regional conflict.

“This isn’t just a bunch of demonstrators being beaten up. This a regional conflict. It spilled over. Jordan is destabilized, Lebanon is about to erupt into sectarian violence, jihadists are falling in from all over the Middle East. This is erupting,” McCain told CNN.

“The goal is to end the war. And the only way this war is going to end quickly and on our terms is to neutralize the air assets that Assad enjoys,” Graham told Politico.  “We can crater the runways. There are four air bases he uses. We can stop the planes from flying. We can shoot planes down without having one boot on the ground.”

Everybody wants to do something…..but “no fly” zone will cost over $50 million…..and McCain is for an ever expanding US roll…….but what can we look forward to if and when Assad leaves or is destroyed?

The factions will vie for power and the killing and refugees suffering will continue…….and the country will be awash with weaponry…..does anyone remember Afghanistan in the 90’s?  What happens if an American made weapon is used to bring down an Israeli commercial jet filled with passengers?  Who will McCain and his cronies blame for that?  Certainly not themselves for demand more weaponry for the rebels.

No matter what decisions are being made Syria has many years more of this civil war…..and America’s intervention can only make it longer and more bad……

The question should be…..If the US gets more involved in Syria, will it be a game change or a quagmire?

Could Not Happen In Days Gone By

We all are well aware of the knee jerk reactions of those ditterheads on the Right……remember back in the good old days when the Tea Party was having all their protests around the country?  All the “Don’t Tread on Me” rhetoric and flags……(is there a reason that flag has a YELLOW background?) We got a front row seat thanx to the MSM……and we got to see the gun nuts show up with their loaded handguns and assault weapons…….and they were allowed to demonstrate their particular grievance……all the while carrying a loaded weapon…..

All this got me to thinking back in the days when I was a strong radical and protester……I got to thinking what would have happened if anyone of us had showed up with loaded weapons while protesting the war?  Would we have been met as some sort of hero?  Very doubtful!  And yet these same people are protesting the government and threatening to carry out some sort of armed resistance….Is that not what you were worried that us “pinkos” were trying to do?

                

Why would I bring this up today?

(Newser) – There’s a pretty disturbing result in a new Fairleigh Dickinson University poll on gun violence out today: 44% of Republicans say they believe that “in the next few years an armed revolution might be necessary to protect our liberties.” To be fair, Republicans aren’t alone—27% of independents and 18% of Democrats agreed with the statement as well—but the GOP was the only group in which more agreed with the sentiment than didn’t.

The poll raises some “disturbing” questions, writes David Sirota at Salon. Like, how many Republicans “are buying weapons to arm themselves in order to foment an armed revolution? Maybe none, but maybe a lot. I don’t have an answer, but this poll suggests the question should at least be aired.” Second, can democracy even exist “when almost one-half of one of the major parties seems to support the concept of violently thwarting it?” You could argue that these people are only hypothetically supporting a revolution “to protect liberties.” But then, in the “incendiary language” the conservative media uses, “everything in the Democratic/liberal agenda is an assault on ‘liberty.'” Click for the full column.

And now there is a plan for thousands of gun “people” to show up on the Mall in DC on the 4th of July with loaded guns as a protest against the government…..

When is enough enough?

sorry I could resist this image…..

What would these douche bags have said if a Leftist had showed up with a gun?…..would they have accepted the 2nd amendment argument?

These people are making me sick.  They are the sole protectors of so-called “liberty”….a term that few understand or embrace…….it is a con job, one that has been used numerous times in history to do what is unpopular……a dangerous game is being played by the NRA and others and in the end innocents will pay the price……