Day: September 17, 2014

Congress: Everybody Needs A Good Laugh

The US Congress has been a gutless, spineless and none productive organ of government…..it has sunk to its lowest approval rating EVER!

They are concerned about the gridlock….and they now have an answer……..wait for it!

A bipartisan group of over 90 congressmen today announced the formation of a caucus, expressly created to answer the burning, difficult question of our time: How can Congress solve problems?

For real, The Hill actually reported that the group announced its existence at a No Labels summit this morning, and vowed to find bipartisan ways to solve some burning problems, such as energy independence and budget-balancing, since it is so very hard for Congress to solve a problem.

There you have the big joke of the day…….Congress has formed a caucus to find why nothing is getting done in the Legislative Branch……..

And that is the humorous story of the day………the problem will find a solution…….yep, and your check is in the mail!

The Clucking Of War Hawks

War is a terrible thing and everyone has an opinion……..it is an obscenity that should not be pushed into without considerable thought……….as we start our latest endeavor that involves a region that the Us has invaded on three separate occasions……..some people are telling the Us to go slow and sure and then there are the wart hawks that want us to throw caution to the wind and immediately send in troops on the ground…..yep, those people would be John McCain and Lindsey Graham and they are singing their usual duet for war……

First it was Graham on, where else(?), FOX news……..

“It’s going to take an army to beat an army, and this idea we’ll never have any boots on the ground to defeat them in Syria is fantasy, and all this has come home to roost over the last three years of incompetent decisions,” said Sen. Graham, noted RawStory.com (video below) .

“It’s delusional in the way that they approach this,” added Sen. Graham, who strongly supported the failed invasion of Iraq by President Bush.

Later in the broadcast, Sen. Graham grew irate, “This is a war we’re fighting. This is not a counter-terrorism operation. This is not Somalia, this is not Yemen!”

“This is a turning point in the war on terror, our strategy will fail yet again. This president needs to rise to the occasion before we all get killed back here at home!” warned Sen. Graham. “They will open the gates of hell to spill out on the world. This is not a Sunni versus Sunni problem. This is ISIL versus mankind.”

I would have expected him to use a tried and true war hawk tactic….FEAR!  And it us very successful tactic to use on FOX viewers….these people live on fear it feeds their ego and their blood lust.

Then came McCain…..he has been having a back and forth with Rand Paul….and McCain went on the offensive.

“I’ve vetted a number of them because I know them,” McCain asserted on Fox News Saturday morning. “Hundreds and even thousands of them have been killed and slaughtered with these barrel bombs and tortured to death by Bashar Assad. They can be trusted. There are groups of them to be trusted.”

I think is pointing to the trip he made back when to a Syrian town on the border with Turkey where he met with some “rebels”……..he dashed across the border for a photo-op and then ran back to Turkey.  These are the ‘rebels’ he met……..

Image via YouTube

The problem with McCain’s ‘rebels’ were that they prove to be kidnappers that were preying on journalists and such….so much for this vetting process.

Then he went on FOX and made these assertions……

“Hundreds and even thousands of them have been killed and slaughtered with these barrel bombs and tortured to death by Bashar Assad. They can be trusted. There are groups of them to be trusted.”

“Obviously, there are some risks, but what’s our other option here? If someone who says they can’t––they don’t want to do it because we can’t trust the Free Syrian Army, then what is your option, sir and ma’am, in how we are going to attack ISIS in an effective fashion?”

“Has Rand Paul ever been to Syria? Has he ever met with ISIS?” McCain fumed, certainly meaning to say the Free Syrian Army instead of ISIS.

He still puts his faith in the ones that he vetted wrong…….he has been wrong on foreign policy for 30 years and I guess I would like to know why he is still considered an ‘expert’……..

CNN was asked that question and their answer is………

“He has appeared for decades on cable news programs, network news programs,” Feist told Wemple. “He’s articulate, he knows what he’s talking about and he has strong positions. He represents the views of millions and he represents them effectively. He’s a veteran and is loved by many veterans and he’s not just a senator; he’s a former Republican presidential nominee and a war hero.”

Twenty years ago I trusted CNN with reporting the news….apparently those days are gone……a war hero does not make one a responsible analyst on foreign policy……and his lack of concern for the American soldier is astonishing…….he is willing to throw American troops at Georgia (country not state), Ukraine, Syria, Iraq (again)………. he and Graham are spineless war hawks that not once think about the troops they are trying to condemn….some one needs to step up and call McCain on his bullsh*t…………for that is exactly what his views are…BULLSHIT!

Iraq: The Great Beltway Freak Out!

In the past I have been none too kind to the media…..basically I think most are nothing but extensions of corporate America……they stopped being “fair and balanced” many years ago.  Yesterday all the players in our war on ISIL were on Capitol Hill to testify before Congress…..it was the usual theatrics but then the Joint Chief of Staff had something to say….

President Obama has been adamant that American military intervention against ISIS will not involve US ground troops. But as it turns out, the people who will be doing the actual intervening aren’t so sure about that. In testimony today before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey said he’s all for the international coalition that the US is assembling, reports the New York Times, but:

  • “My view at this point is that this coalition is the appropriate way forward. I believe that will prove true. But if it fails to be true, and if there are threats to the United States, then I of course would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of US military ground forces.”

For example, Dempsey said that airstrikes might not be effective in heavily populated areas such as Mosul, Iraq. In that case, he might recommend what he called “close combat advising,” in which US special forces work on the ground with Iraqi military leaders and help them ferret out ISIS troops, reports the Guardian. He also said US “advisers” might have to be on the ground to direct airstrikes. Obama, he added, seems prepared for such requests. “At this point, his stated policy is we will not have US ground forces in direct combat,” said Dempsey. “But he has told me as well to come back to him on a case-by-case basis.”

With that statement the MSM went wild….CBS, ABC, FOX, WaPo, Politico…..their headline was that US general sez US troops will be used on the ground…..the freak out began………….and social media exploded………. as they pointed out Obama had said that there would be none…….it was breaking news for most of the afternoon as the MSM dashed to get their experts on to talk about this……..all it was was a slow news day and they decided to sensationalize this statement…….

Someone in the media forgot to point out that the general does NOT make policy…….all he can do is make a recommendation and the prez will either agree or not…….that is why were have a civilian commander in chief…..please return for a remedial training in Civics.

Is It ISIS? Or ISIL? Or IS?

Let’s have some fun shall we…..what is life without a little whimsey?

Some call the terrorist organization ISIS for Islamic State In Iraq and Syria……the prez and his boyz want to use ISIL…..and the ‘bad guys’ want to be called IS, the Islamic State…….me?  I call them DA’ISH.  That is the acronym for their name in Arabic……al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi Iraq wa al-Sham, but only when I am corresponding with friends in the region.  For me ISIS works.

If the organization was not such an evil and brutal group it would be almost funny at the acronym problem….we Americans love our acronyms……..but why the massive confusion?

You’ve likely seen different names thrown around this summer in reference to the group that beheaded twoAmerican journalists and wreaked havoc in the Middle East. But which is the right one? Jonah Blank, formerly of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tells NPR‘s Steve Inskeep that the Islamic State, the name favored by the group itself, isn’t it. “They’re claiming to represent all Muslims everywhere—they have declared the establishment of a new caliphate,” he says. “So if they are to actually own this term, that’ll be a huge propaganda victory for them.” Plus, the “Islamic State” name gives members the impression that they’re not terrorists but “freedom fighters,” fighting for something that “has a real meaning” to Muslims, Blank says.

Some women who are named “Isis” aren’t big fans of “ISIS,” the short form for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, either, CNBC reports. Plus, that version of the name also spouts confusion. Syria is a direct translation of the term “al-Sham” within the group’s Arabic name. However, that term actually means “Greater Syria,” or “Syria, Lebanon, parts of Turkey, parts of what are now Jordan,” Blank says. A little confusing, no? “The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” is less so, since the Levant is another name for the large region, Blank says, which is probably why President Obama favored “ISIL” in his prime-time address this week. However, as the region’s borders have shifted over the years—once including Israel and Cyprus—that term, too, can be a bit hazy.

The Levant?  What the Hell is that, right?

No matter what one decides to call this organization the fact is it does not matter……it is a brutal, bloodthirsty and evil entity…..which cannot go out of existence soon enough.

No reputable group will call it the Islamic State for that would give it some an air of respectability……few will acknowledge it as a true “state”.

In conclusion….call the pricks whatever you like……everyone has an idea who they are and what we will do to them….so it matters not what they are called.

America To The Rescue

America is fighting so many bad guys that it is a bit confusing at times……we are fighting a do nothing Congress, and China over trade and Russia over Ukraine and ISIS just because and then there is the big one…..the Ebola outbreak.

The battle against the Ebola virus is a fight that needs to be fought……if we can keep it in Africa then the US and the rest of the world will be safe from the pandemic that some are predicting……if you think that was a callous statement on my part then I will agree…it was….but everything we are doing appears to be just that….keep it in Africa.

As part of his promised “scaled-up response” to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, President Obama is expected to announce during a visit to the CDC today that the US will be sending 3,000 military personnel in an effort that could cost up to $750 million over the next six months, the Washington Post reports. The American contingent, which will take about two weeks to set up, aims to build 17 health care facilities with 100 beds each and train up to 500 health workers a week, the AP reports; the US will set up headquarters in Monrovia, Liberia. “This is a really significant response,” one global health expert tells the Post. “This is really beginning to seem like a game-changer.”

The US announcement comes as the head of Doctors Without Borders warns that the international response is “dangerously behind,” adds the AP. The military workers will also help distribute home health-care kits and educate locals on how to handle the disease, according to the AP. “This humanitarian intervention should serve as a firewall against a global security crisis that has the potential to reach American soil,” says Sen. Chris Coons, who has been pushing for increased US intervention. The UN Security Council will hold a rare emergency meeting on Thursday to talk about the public health crisis.

Sounds like we are trying to keep the virus in Africa, at least to me, it does.

My next point is….where do we find an “extra” $750 million to fund this operation?  Was it between the cushions on the Oval Office couch?

We should work to help with the control and the cure, if possible…….but it appears that the US will once again be doing the heavy lifting on this issue……