Month: May 2014

A Populist Behind Every Tree

Today I would like to drop out of Hyper-space and into the reality of the nether world of American politics….no matter how hard I try to avoid writing about it…….I cannot escape the pull of the force……..

Okay, in today’s political climate there is not much that the two sides can agree on…….we know there is NO consensus on immigration or healthcare or …….well just about anything……but believe it or not there is an exception to the rule……that’s right…..while you were jumping up and down about Benghazi or keystone of the ACA…….the two sides are closer together on one subject……economic populism.

We need to establish a new group…..economic freedom fighters…..and you can take that any way you would chose……this new found consensus has 6 principles that bind the two sides together…….

This list is from commondreams.org…….written by Robert Reich, the former sec of labor………

…………the rhetoric that’s converging. Populists on the right and left are also coming together around six principles:

1. Cut the biggest Wall Street banks down to a size where they’re no longer too big to fail. Left populists have been advocating this since the Street’s bailout now they’re being joined by populists on the right. David Camp, House Ways and Means Committee chair, recently proposed an extra 3.5 percent quarterly tax on the assets of the biggest Wall Street banks (giving them an incentive to trim down). Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter wants to break up the big banks, as does conservative pundit George Will. “There is nothing conservative about bailing out Wall Street,” says Rand Paul.

2. Resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act, separating investment from commercial banking and thereby preventing companies from gambling with their depositors’ money. Elizabeth Warren has introduced such legislation, and John McCain co-sponsored it. Tea Partiers are strongly supportive, and critical of establishment Republicans for not getting behind  it. “It is disappointing that progressive collectivists are leading the effort for a return to a law that served well for decades,” writes the Tea Party Tribune. “Of course, the establishment political class would never admit that their financial donors and patrons must hinder their unbridled trading strategies.”

3. End corporate welfare – including subsidies to big oil, big agribusiness, big pharma, Wall Street, and the Ex-Im Bank. Populists on the left have long been urging this; right-wing populists are joining in. Republican David Camp’s proposed tax reforms would kill dozens of targeted tax breaks. Says Ted Cruz: “We need to eliminate corporate welfare and crony capitalism.”

4. Stop the National Security Agency from spying on Americans. Bernie Sanders and other populists on the left have led this charge but right-wing populists are close behind. House Republican Justin Amash’s amendment, that would have defunded NSA programs engaging in bulk-data collection, garnered 111 Democrats and 94 Republicans last year, highlighting the new populist divide in both parties. Rand Paul could be channeling Sanders when he warns: “Your rights, especially your right to privacy, is under assault… if you own a cellphone, you’re under surveillance.”

5. Scale back American interventions overseas. Populists on the left have long been uncomfortable with American forays overseas. Rand Paul is leaning in the same direction. Paul also tends toward conspiratorial views about American interventionism. Shortly before he took office he was caught on video claiming that former vice president Dick Cheney pushed the Iraq War because of his ties to Halliburton.

6. Oppose trade agreements crafted by big corporations. Two decades ago Democrats and Republicans enacted the North American Free Trade Agreement. Since then populists in both parties have mounted increasing opposition to such agreements. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, drafted in secret by a handful of major corporations, is facing so strong a backlash from both Democrats and tea party Republicans that it’s nearly dead. “The Tea Party movement does not support the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” says Judson Philips, president of Tea Party Nation. “Special interest and big corporations are being given a seat at the table” while average Americans are excluded.

Since the Right and the left are close to agreeing on these……it would be a great place to start the change that this country desperately needs……….but then the aftermath would be dazzling…..talk about a divide……will be worth the price of the ride………

Your thoughts, please.

The VA Saga: Broken And Discarded

Opinion from the desk of the Editor……

I have waited awhile to see if my right wing brethren would have any opinion at all on the problems developing at the VA…..so far all we got from them was some rants about a new federal monument and some pathetic plead to help some D/bag “patriot’ militiaman for cash so he can cover his legal expenses……I guess the treatment of veterans is just not important enough for them to form an opinion.

There is a major tap dance in washing to to assign blame for the mess ups at the VA…..but assigning blame will not repair the problem….all it will do is make someone feel good about what they are doing….all the while the problems continue…

This situation has been called a “national embarrassment” by some…mostly pundits.  A National embarrassment?  What a good one liner and a slogan for the next election….but an embarrassment?  The embarrassment is that military bands get money cash than the VA.  AN embarrassment that nothing has changed since 1975.  An embarrassment that all the Congresspeople are all outrage…….but most of them voted down a veterans benefit bill.  An embarrassment that the soldiers are venerated for their duty and are then treated like a broken tool….and discarded as soon as their usefulness is gone.  An embarrassment that veterans need outside help to receive the help they are owed.

Back 2003 I wrote an open letter to the US soldier and told them what to expect once they returned home…….I told them that the country would turn their backs on them first chance they got and the only thing that would be certain is that they would be used as a recruiting tool especially if they won some sort of accommodation.

And then there is the American people………they will thank you for your service and then support morons that care less about the health of our veterans…….they will donate to the charities that help vets basically to soothe their conscience.  If the veteran were truly appreciate it then ALL Americans would want to see that all guarantees to the vets are honored…….but instead they focus their tiny brains on mundane crap like a birth certificate or some bloated freeloader in Nevada or some other ginned up crap.

I am not saying that vet groups do not do excellent work…….I am saying there should be NO need for these organizations if the American people truly cared about the plight of the American veteran.

By all means have your witch hunt and assign blame after wasting money and time…….and then tell us how that will repair a sick system that has worked the same for 40+ years.  Viet vets are still waiting for the help they need…..so explain to the American people just how all this will fix the problem.

 

Send In The Clowns–2014

Our Congress is a study on how NOT to govern a country…….and when they do something it is “send in the clowns” because no matter what it is, the issue that is, it will degrade into a political circus…….

Now in the center ring of the DC circus, the greatest show on earth…..we have our latest act and as usual it is not even a professional act in any stretch of the imagination…….the actors are set and we can now begin……BENGHAZI!

After weeks of internal debate, reluctant House Democrats chose Wednesday to engage in the GOP-led Benghazi select committee and seat a full roster on the 12-member panel.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said it was the only way to ensure that the latest congressional investigation — the ninth — into the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission was not a one-sided review of what transpired. Four Americans died in the attack, including including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.

The panel has a 7-5 split in favor of the GOP. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has already tapped the seven Republicans who will serve on the panel. It will be chaired by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.

Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland will act as ranking member. He is also the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Relations Committee, which has spearheaded contentious Benghazi inquiries under chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif. Adam Smith of Washington, Adam Schiff and Linda Sanchez of California, and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois were also tapped to serve on the panel.

There you have it….the last of the players have signed on……

Let the comedy begin!

Does War Return?

Inkwell Institute

World Desk

While most Americans were glued to their tellie watching and listen for the buzz words that would send them into a political frenzy….Benghazi……Benghazi…..and Benghazi……….the amusing point of the this whole silly stuation….it is so damn important but less that 30% of Americans could find Benghazi on a map…..I digress……while Americans were otherwise distracted the world’s largest democracy had a national election.

Yes, I am talking about India and its 500 million voters…….since 1947, the year of their independence from the British Empire the politics have been ruled by the Gandhi family and the Congress party…….but all that influence and power came crashing down around their ears……..a man named Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)………..which in most cases would be an improvement over a single party rule….but in this case I have my doubts.

Why?  Modi and the BJP are ultra-nationalistic Hindus……..in the past he has made some disturbing comments…….Modi’s warnings that Muslim immigrants in the east better have their “bags packed” seem especially ominous when one considers his administration oversaw the 2002 Gujarat riots, which saw the deaths of at least 790, and by some accounts nearly 2,000, Muslim civilians……….Modi’s provincial cabinet ministers were accused of direct involvement in the riots, and while Modi himself was never firmly implicated he has since 2005 been denied entry to the United States. Despite this, the US says that it “looks forward” to working with Modi’s government.

Modi is a member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a cultish paramilitary group of ultra-nationalist Hindu activists founded in the 1930s and modeled along the same lines as various right-wing ethno-nationalist groups in the ascendant at the time: the Italian fascists, the German National Socialists, and the right-wing Zionist followers of Ze’ev Jabotinsky. Gandhi’s assassin was an RSS militant, and the group has been at the center of the anti-Muslim riots that have wracked India in recent times.

At the core of RSS-BJP ideology is the idea of Hindutva, which idealizes Indian ethnicity and upholds a mythology that portrays Indians as the first pure “Aryan” race, which supposedly sprang from the Arctic region eons ago. Partisans of Hindutva adopted the swastika – an ancient Indian symbol – as the emblem of their movement, and the constitution of RSS specifies that the leader of the cult must be a blue-eyed Sarasvat Brahmin.

I bring all this up for one simple reason….Kashmir.

An area of India that is claimed by Pakistan and to a small portion of China…….the region is predominately Muslim and has been in contention since independence in 1947.  Several small wars have been fought in the past over this region…..and because of the conflict both sides of the situation has nuclear weapons….mull over that for  bit.

Since Modi is linked to anti-Muslim sentiments will this become a major sticking point now that he is in “control”?

Maybe not right away…..he needs to time to consolidate is power base and then the real Modi will surface……..either for good or bad.

There is more at stake in the world than who knew what in northern Libya.

Benghazi Makes “Real” News

Inkwell Institute

North Africa Desk

Yes, Benghazi is in the news….but it has little do with the accusations coming from the Right’s mental midgets….McCain, Graham and Ayotte…..there are others but these give the air of respectability…..not many can claim that……

There is lots going on in Benghazi…….for one….some randomly unidentified army officer is leading an attempted coup…….there has been a lot of violence in the past between the government and  extremists and Eastern Libya….this is the first one that seems to be well rehearsed…..there has been some sort of confrontation brewing……

The Libyan government maintains that it is still in control after a weekend that saw its own parliament building stormed—though whether that is the case remains unclear, reports Reuters. What happened, and what’s happening, in the tumultuous country:

  • Yesterday’s attack on parliament: Loyalists of retired general Khalifa Haftar stormed the building in Tripoli, with local media reporting that roads in the capital were made impassable by men who commanded truck-mounted heavy weapons.
  • How it’s being reported: The Washington Post describes yesterday’s events, which killed two, as “some of the worst fighting the capital has seen since the 2011 revolution.”
  • What they want: Haftar’s allies say the goal of the attack was to eliminate Islamist hardliners from Libya, the BBC reports. The AP reports that the Haftar-aligned troops yesterday declared they had suspended the Islamist-dominated house, blaming it for empowering Islamic extremists, and was replacing it with a 60-member constituent assembly that was elected earlier this year to create a new constitution for the country; Libya’s interim government brushed the announcement off.
  • Background on the breakdown: As per the Los Angeles Times, “lawmakers are divided among Islamist and non-Islamist elements, and the swearing in of a new Cabinet led by an Islamist-leaning prime minister, Ahmed Matiq, has been repeatedly delayed by political infighting.”
  • Who is Haftar? He’s described in US media reports as a “rogue,” “mysterious,” and a “renegade,” with the LAT describing him as having a prominent role in the 2011 uprising against Moammar Gadhafi, who he helped bring to power in 1969 and severed ties with in 1988. Prior to that he lived in … Falls Church, Va., having sought exile in the US in the ’80s. His immediate whereabouts are unclear.
  • The trouble didn’t start yesterday: Forces loyal to Haftar attacked bases in Benghazi controlled by Islamist groups Friday, and 70 reportedly died. Commandeered military aircraft were reportedly used, and officials implemented a “no-fly” zone over the city in an attempt to ground such planes. The LAT notes that some of the country’s military units appear to have defected to Haftar’s side; Reuters says it’s unclear how much support his side has “within Libya’s nascent regular armed forces.”
  • What’s happening today: Islamist-led militias have been deployed to Tripoli on orders of the country’s army chief. The AP reports this could set the stage for a “possible showdown.”

Is this a good thing or just another push for power by some other demented toad?

Or could this be an American covert operation to gain some sort of control over Libya?

Well let’s look at the person leading this violent uprising……..

Gen. Hifter got his start, and his generalship, as a close ally of Moammar Gadhafi, but changed sides when he was captured during the failed late 80′s invasion of Chad. Released at the behest of the US, after which he was set up as a military leader in the National Front for the Salvation of Libya (NFSL), a rebel faction based out of Chad which was backed by the CIA.

The NFSL didn’t last much longer in Chad, however, as a takeover of Chad by Gadhafi ally Idriss Deby led the US to evacuate the rebels. Hifter quietly relocated to the DC suburbs after that, and lived there through 2011, when he left to declare himself a rebel leader during the fight that ousted Gadhafi.

Gen. Hifter has bragged about his US backing in the past, though exactly where he stands with the US at present is as unclear as where he stands within Libya’s military command. Anticipatory actions ahead of the coup, however, suggest that whatever prompted Hifter’s attack, it was not a surprise in the US.

Just how will this play out?  That is the $64 million question…..will there be an investigation on whether the CIA had any part in this conflict against an established government?……a government we may not agree with too damn often…..but a legitimate one none the less.

There will be NO Congressional investigation into this right now…..it would serve No political purpose….after all that is all it is about…..the next election.

All this is setting the stage for yet another civil war in the region………

Is It Blind Consumerism?

There are certain days in American history that stand out among others and they hold a special place in our memories…..days like July 4, December 7 and 9/11…….and then we have personal dates that we hold in our historical memory like anniversaries, birthdays, etc…..mine is 14 October 1967…..my first day in country in the Republic of South Vietnam….means nothing to anyone but me……..

I recently wrote a post on the opening of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum…..it was not met with much enthusiasm….I had a few that disliked it so much that I was accused of being unfeeling and callous…..you see I wrote that in my opinion it was an experiment in profitability not one of remembrance…..that consumerism was invading the whole situation.

But since I wrote my original post the site has had its grand opening……and guess what?  Some of the families were not too impressed with the policies…….

The National 9/11 Memorial and Museum opened last week to survivors, first responders, and relatives of victims—and some of them were shocked to find a gift shop on the premises hawking things like mugs, mousepads, and key chains. At the shop, which will help fund the museum’s operating cost, visitors can buy a “Darkness Hoodie” printed with an image of the Twin Towers for $39, “Survivor Tree” earrings for $64, or silk scarves printed with 1986 photos of Manhattan for $95, the New York Post finds.

“To me, it’s the crassest, most insensitive thing to have a commercial enterprise at the place where my son died,” says Diane Horning, whose 26-year-old son’s remains were never recovered. (Thousands of unidentified remains are in a repository in the museum building.) She calls the museum “essentially our tomb of the unknown,” and slams the gift shop as “a money-making venture to support inflated salaries.” Other visitors, however, say they understand the museum’s need to raise funds, reports Gothamist, which notes that even the Holocaust Museum has a gift shop. NBC News reports that it’s expected to take $63 million to operate the site each year, a cost that will also be defrayed by its $24 entry fee.

My suspicions have been realized……the site should be a remembrance of the casualties not how much money can be made off off the endeavor…..but then that is just my thoughts.  I think this is far more disrespectful than anything that I wrote….

I do not expect those that took offense on my previous post to pay much attention…..after all they have their little brains full of Benghazi bullsh*t and that is more important than this blind consumerism!

How the NRA Rewrote the Second Amendment – Michael Waldman – POLITICO Magazine

This post ought get the blood to boil……..we know what some think……an interesting piece of historical events…..

BTW, will the morons please stop telling low IQ Americans that the government is coming for your guns……it is pure bullshit and lies……sad but appears that some are secretly hoping it is true so they can say….”see told ya so”………..(where’s that chip when we need it)…….

 

How the NRA Rewrote the Second Amendment – Michael Waldman – POLITICO Magazine.