Month: January 2015

Where To Die?

My God!  What shall we do?  It is winter and it is snowing in NYC……The HORROR!

Flash!  If it is winter it will snow north of the Mason-Dixon.  This is news to no one but someone that has to navigate in NYC…..so since it is snowing in NYC I will not work today…..because it is just that important to the world and the situations we are ignoring.

Now that I have pointed out the ignorance of the American people…..I shall move on to REAL news…..

My regulars know that I spend a lot of time on the Middle East and war and basic economics with a little history thrown in for good measures……but from time to time I do depart from my norm and post on things that I would like to share with my readers and get their opinions……..this post is one of those times………

There has been a PR blitz when the Obamacare thing was brewing and one of the issues that was used to try and defeat it was the treatment of the elderly……some said that it was a death notice to seniors……basically it was counseling that was at odds…..

I recent read a piece about a new “treatment” for lack of a better word at this hour that is being proposed…….

Seniors had better brace themselves: Some US hospitals are now administering the “death test,” which estimates their chance of dying over the next 30 days. Invented in Australia, the test weighs 29 different criteria—including blood pressure, respiratory rate, and medical history—to determine whether hospitalization is worthwhile or the patient should return home or go to a hospice, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The idea is to prevent needless and expensive procedures while allowing patients to spend their last days with loved ones. “Most terminally ill people want to die at home, but in fact three quarters end up dying in acute hospitals, often after intrusive, expensive and ultimately pointless medical procedures,” says study author Magnolia Cardona-Morrell, the Independent reports.

The test also aims to take pressure off doctors and nurses to prolong patients’ lives “at all costs,” the Telegraph reports. “I had lots of nurses and doctors standing there saying, ‘We have been waiting for a tool like this for years, when can we start using it?'” says Cardona-Morrell, whose work was presented recently at a US medical conference. “To me that is an indication there is a need out there.” She says the test takes just five or ten minutes, and helps doctors have a more “transparent” conversation with patients. Called CriSTAL, it’s now being tested to see if it would have predicted the future of patients who have since died. Then it may be used in more hospitals.

If you have read this then please let me hear your opinions…..may make for a lively dialogue……

The Epochal Consequences Of Woodrow Wilson’s War | David Stockman’s Contra Corner

Since August of 2014 we have been celebrating the beginning of World War one…..and most historians will agree that the war began the world of today….there are so many things that happened during and after the war that the world would never be the same…..

this article by Stockman defines how Pres, Wilson contributed to that change……

 

The Epochal Consequences Of Woodrow Wilson’s War | David Stockman’s Contra Corner.

ISIS Coalition SITREP #68

Good day and welcome to the briefing.  Events are still not important enough for the MSM to pre-empt the SAG awards because we Americans need to know…..we cannot live without such knowledge…..SAD but true!

Item 1–New US base opens in Iraq……..

The fourth US military training camp has become “operational” in Erbil, Kurdistan Region to train 100 Peshmerga troops, Pentagon Press Secretary said Friday.

“But the fourth one (military site), which became active today, was in Irbil, and there’s about 100 Peshmerga forces right now there that are beginning — just beginning to do some training,” Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters.

The US has three other military training camps, including Ein al-Asad in Anbar province, Camp Taji and Bismayah near Baghdad where American military experts train Iraqi security and Sunni tribal forces to counter the Islamic State (ISIS).

Our involvement becomes more and more entangled in the future of Iraq…..yet again.

Item 2–US continues to taunt the successes in Iraq and Syria…..but they seem to ignore the elephant in the room……

Five months and 1,800-plus strikes into the U.S. air campaign against ISIS, and not a single civilian has been killed, officially. But Pentagon officials concede that they really have no way of telling for sure who has died in their attacks‚—and admit that no one will ever know how many have been slain.

“It’s impossible for us to know definitively if civilians are killed in a strike. We do everything we can to investigate. We don’t do strikes if we think civilians could be there. But we can’t have a perfect picture on what’s going on,” one Pentagon official explained to The Daily Beast.

Stuart Jones, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told al Arabiya that U.S. and coalition strikes in Iraq and Syria have killed 6,000 ISIS fighters. That no civilians could be among that figure strikes observers and even military officials as all but impossible.

Why ignore civilian deaths……the propaganda war is in full swing…..cannot keep support if there are reports of women and children being killed…..ask Israel!

Item 3–More US troops to Iraq…….
This week, 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne will be sent to Iraq on what is being called a “training mission” for the Iraqi Army. The troops will join 250 from the same brigade already there.
This deployment was announced back in December as part of the 1,500 additional troops President Obama approved for the ISIS war at the time. Officials have refused to say where these troops will exactly deploy.
More to come….watch this page!
Item 4–US Senator call for special forces ops in Middle East………
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN: The American people do not want another war. There’s been two Iraq Wars, one Afghan war, they don’t see it, it is in a foreign land, it is far and apart from them, so this is very difficult. I do think that we need to look more deeply and br.ly into what we’re doing and how we are doing it…I don’t know whether 6,000 ISIS people have been killed or not, but that is the figure that has been floating around, but that isn’t going to do it. So where McCain is right, I do think we need some special operations in these countries on the ground, more than just advisers. I think we need to protect our allies: Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan. And be more pronounced about it.
Her main concern is the protection of Israel…..the others are for show…….
Item 5–Finally some good news from the battle front……Initial reports coming out of Syria is the the Kurds fighting in Korbane have taken control of the city and pushed out the last remaining ISIS fighters……
Thanx for your time and attention….
Turn The Page!

Saudi Arabia, US Strongest Ally!

The official statement coming from the State Department is ….”Saudi is America’s strongest ally and the strongest supporter of the fight against ISIS”…….seriously?

There has been much in the media of just how important Saudi Arabia is to the US…..endless reporting for what reason?

The American people need to know that the facts on TV have little to do with reality…Few realize that the atrocities committed by ISIS are NO different than the “justice” handed out in Saudi Arabia…………Let’s look at the differences in Saudi Arabia and ISIS….Can you find the differences?

 

Crime and punishment: Islamic State vs Saudi Arabia | Middle East Eye.

Is This The World Of Tomorrow?

If you are an avid news junkie and depending on the source of your news…..you see a change happening in the world…..to some it is an inevitable change and to others it is the “end of days”….the beginning of “Mad Max”…..again where you get your information will make a difference…..

Me? I see a change coming that some may not appreciate but me I think it is a good idea…..a change in political thinking…..

AQ began this thinking and it has progressed to ISIS and now Greece may be leading the charge again….after about 2000 years……..

A Greek state TV exit poll is projecting that anti-bailout party Syriza has won today’s parliamentary elections—in a historic first for a radical left wing party in Greece. But it’s unclear whether Syriza has won a decisive enough victory over Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ incumbent conservatives to govern alone. For that, they need a minimum 151 of parliament’s 300 seats. The centrist Potami (River) party is battling for third place with the Nazi-inspired, extreme right-wing Golden Dawn, whose leadership is in prison pending trial for running a criminal organization. Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras has promised to renegotiate the country’s $270 billion international bailout deal. He has pledged to reverse many of the reforms that creditors demanded in exchange for keeping Greece financially afloat since 2010.

Depending on how he forms a coalition to rule…..this could be the first state to exit the EU……and the beginning of a push back to job killing and economic killing austerity.

Could this be a new form of political thinking?  Will it spread?  What will be the outcome?  All opinions welcome.

Boehner, Netanyahu and George Washington’s Farewell Warning | Nomadic Politics

BiBi the puppet master will come to DC and get to lie and bang around to our Congress, hopefully they will stay awake long enough to get in the cash line after the speech…..

Ike warned about the power of the Military-Industrial Complex   (M-IC) and NO one heeded his words……and then there is Washington, the man not the town, that all Americans, especially the Right wing, loves and adores as a Founding Father…..but he made some predictions that hold true today…..and NO one heeds his words either……

Why is that?

Please check out this piece and comment….I want to hear your thoughts.

 

Boehner, Netanyahu and George Washington’s Farewell Warning | Nomadic Politics.

Media Shouldn’t Be Fooled By Fake Neutrality Bill Backed By Broadband Industry | Research | Media Matters for America

There have been many a post about the attempt to control the internet……but there is a new attack and the claims that it will protect the internet are BS!…..most of them are put forward by the broadband industry like Comcast, the owner of NBC/MSNBC/CNBC…….funny I have not heard much reporting by those on this new attempt to control the internet….I wonder why?

 

Media Shouldn’t Be Fooled By Fake Neutrality Bill Backed By Broadband Industry | Research | Media Matters for America.

Teenagers With Poor Body Image Are More Likely To Become Obese

It is the weekend and I want to touch on a subject that worries me……that is massive attention to body image that some Americans cling to at all cost.

This self-absorbed egocentric and shallow mode of thought is dangerous……especially for our teens.

Please read attached and let me know your feelings…..

 

Teenagers With Poor Body Image Are More Likely To Become Obese.

Franklin: What A Guy!

I did my grad work on early American political history and I came to love Ben Franklin……..of course most will think about his inventions like bi-focal and such or his Almanac and  for others it will be his womanizing ways both here and in France…..but for me it was his extreme sense of humor

This piece is about his essay on the problem of flatulence….

 

In 1781, Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay about farting – Vox.