Pope Wants to Emphasize His Solidarity With the Jews

"If they hadn't killed Jesus, I'd be out of a job", opines aged, Austrian, ex Nazi poofter.

Cutting back the Mail Service.

The Postmaster General says that mail delivery on Saturday may be cut.

I haven't sent or received a personal letter in years. I still get a few bills that I can't or won't pay on line. My last magazine subscription recently lapsed. I get tax statements and DMV notices. Once a week mail would be plenty, even twice a month would be OK.

They don't even have to deliver it. I'd be glad to pick it up at the nearest post office, if they'd give me a box or I didn't have to wait too long in line.

Promotion Party

During long home port periods when I was in the Navy, my Chief usually tried to get rid of me, rather than think of jobs for me to do and supervise me while I did them. I didn't mind, we didn't like each other much. I did a lot of different things. Barracks maintenance and management, shore patrol, harbor tugs, supply department, mess cooking, deck gang, TAD to other boats, were all things I did. Some of them were easy, some hard. Some were interesting, some were not. I didn't really care. I was just putting in my time. The hardest and dirtiest to do, were mess cooking and deck gang. My Chief would have had me do those all the time except they involved still being on the boat, where we still saw each other and I could continue to harass and mind fuck him. Relatively quickly he found ways to remove me from his presence as much as possible, whether it meant easy duty for me or not.

During a period when I was working with the deck gang, one of the 3rd class A gangers got promoted to 2nd and his wife gave him a party. All of the Auxillary men, Torpedo men and unrated deck apes got invited. I was a deck ape du jour at that particular time and got brought along, although that kind of gathering wasn't usually my thing. Mostly I was known to spend my evenings drinking, either at the old shore battery barracks, enlisted club, Marine club or the Horse and Cow, out in town. I was not comfortable at the gathering. Wives were present. The Weaps Chief and his wife were there. The Division officer even showed up, a stuffy recently promoted lieutenant. It was the only time I ever saw an officer at a private, enlisted social event while I was in the Navy. Did I mention before that I was not comfortable there?

Anyway, this party didn't go well. There was no hard liquor, which was a good thing. There were several cases of beer for the men, wine for the ladies and soft drinks that only the lieutenant partook of. There were some nasty little snacks on crackers and a dry cake. We were all expected to drink out of real glasses. There was even cheap stemware for the ladies and their wine. Everybody was trying to be refined and high class. I knew it would end badly. I don't usually drink wine recreationally and the stuff they had there was worse than swill but I sat on the couch in the living room, between two of the ladies with my little stemmed wine glass, politely chatting and sipping daintily. The lieutenant sat off in a corner in a rocking chair, with a Seven Up, quietly. The other men in the room began to work on the beer. It was not a warm evening but everybody started to sweat through their clothes, at the armpits. You could see it. You could smell it.

After a while a glass was broken and the men dispensed with beer glasses and began chugging from the can. The polite conversation of the women was drowned out as the men got up on their feet and began milling around speaking more loudly and boisterously. I stayed on the couch, sipping from my little stemmed glass, only rising to go to the kitchen occasionally for a refill and returning to the couch. The hostess was starting to become visibly agitated by the way things were turning out. What a stupid cow. What the fuck did she expect?

The hostess had a little toddler, less than a year old. She was unable to mind him, with the responsibility of managing the party. The other women were passing the child back and forth between them but he was becoming increasingly restive, being held by strange women. At some point, the woman next to me, while taking her turn with the child, got up to go to the can and passed the child to me. For whatever reason, the child quieted right down, happy to sit on my lap. Everybody thought that was cute. I didn't mind, I was determined to stay out of trouble, that night. Things progressed. The stains under every bodies arms got sodden, the din became louder. The party had only been going on an hour. The men were starting to turn mean. The women, nervous. The poor officer looked very apprehensive but obviously didn't think he could leave yet.

The child in my lap kept reaching at my glass. What the hell, I gave him a little sip every now and then, it kept him happy. The hostess didn't notice right away but some of the other ladies were watching. Eventually the hostesses gaze was drawn to me when the child took a little sip. She really couldn't be blamed, she was already in a pretty anxious and agitated condition. She was up like a shot, standing over me screaming. How dare I feed a little baby alcohol along with a stream of profanity that would make any sailor proud.

I handed her my glass and said, "Here, taste it". It was from a big can of comshaw grape juice I found in the fridge.

All the men started to laugh. They were in on the joke. They had seen me pouring the grape juice into my glass in the kitchen and knew I had chosen not to drink, that night. They said as much. Loudly. Over and over again. Big joke on the stupid women.

I should have just laughed it off, made a little joke and peace with the hostess. Instead, I passed the baby to one of my couch mates, stood up thanked the hostess for the evening and walked out the door. I had never been so grateful to get out of a place in my life.

The episode was frequently talked about on board for weeks afterwards. Since a chief and an officer were there the story quickly spread to the goat locker and wardroom. My shipmates all thought it was hilarious. The wives all hated me with a vengeance, from that day forward.

Libertie, Egalitie, Fraternitie

After the previous administration instituted programs which pumped trillions into the top of the American economy through bailouts and loans to the financial and corporate sectors, President Obama is readying a new stimulus package, One that will, as well as continue this top loading of money into the system, also begin vast new spending on public works, local government bailouts and entitlement programs, that will start to push money into the bottom of the economy. Is this complete folly? Nothing more than throwing more bad money after money already wasted?

That would be one way to look at it. On the other hand, it ought to be obvious to everybody, by now, that the American economy is in an irreversible decline. A large percentage of the jobs that exist today, will disappear soon. Tax revenues will shrivel. Debt will skyrocket no matter how much or little we spend. Very soon, the government will need the good will of the struggling masses. By that time the monetary system will be collapsing and there will be nothing to offer them, as the lights go out, the heat goes off and their children start to whine with hunger in the cold, dark night of a new age. It might be a good thing for them to be able to remember, that Barry O gave them what he could, when he still had something to give. The ghost of Therese Defarge knits in a darkened corner and the shadow of the guillotine lies across the land.

Happy meals for everyone. Cheap gas. Free digital cable. Unlimited weekend minutes.

VFW-Sons of Liberty

The President wants to shut down Gitmo. I don't have a problem with that. The previous administration built the prison camp at a remote Naval enclave on the soil of a Communist country where US citizens are forbidden to travel because they knew there would be no oversight. That they wouldn't have to abide by the laws of this nation. That legal representation and the justice system could be circumvented. They have held prisoners there, incommunicado for the better part of a decade. They have denied them any rights what so ever. They have tortured, humiliated and kept them in isolation. They knew when they set it up that the military wouldn't argue and would collude with them. If the government wants to keep political prisoners, they need to follow at least some basic rules of both international and domestic law. If they do that there is no reason to keep them on foreign soil, without outside oversight.

The prison camp at Guantanamo wasn't even enough for the previous administration. They set up a network of secret prisons in hellholes all over the World, where no records at all needed to be kept. If someone died under torture or mistreatment at one of these facilities, there would be no record that they were ever there and thus no accountability or threat of prosecution for crimes against humanity later.

The VFW says that Guantanamo, "is well kept, well run and respectful of human rights". They demand that the President rescind his order to close down the prison camp.

Fuck the VFW for the chickenshit Nazi bastards they are. If we want to keep it open we should use it to incarcerate George Bush, Dick Cheney, Michael Hayden and all of the rest of the criminals that perpetrated so many crimes in the name of the American people.

Do You Have New Car Fever?

Say you are looking for a small, economical commuter car. For $12,000 to $13,000 you can get a Dodge Caliber, a Chevy Cobalt or a Ford Focus. You can get something from one of the second tier Japanese companies for about the same money. If you want a Toyota Yaris or Honda Fit, more or less the gold standard for this type of vehicle, you'll have to pay a thousand or even two thousand more.

The Japanese car will get a little better gas mileage, since the engines are usually a little smaller. You are likely to get a few more bells and whistles on the American car. The Japanese cars will generally offer very good long term reliability and low maintenance costs. The Caliber and Cobalt will start to fall apart immediately, while the Focus is likely to be a little better.

If you hold the car for 3-5 years, you will make the extra money you spent on the more expensive Japanese cars back on the resale price. If you hold the car for 10 years, the advantage of having bought the Japanese car will be not so much in the resale price but do to the fact that it is still likely to be in good running condition while the American model will be sitting in your driveway, under a tarp and you will have had to purchase another car to get around in.

Tell me again why we should bail out the American automakers.

All They Will Call You Will Be Deportee

I got a friend, a few years older than me, his name is John. He was born in Long Beach, California. He looks pretty much like a Mexican. He can speak Spanish very well and also English, like many people of Mexican descent. He is not a Mexican. His family never came from a Hispanic country, unless you want to count California.

His family descended from the Gabrielano band of Mission Indians, which is no longer extant. They were more or less feudal peasants, forcibly tied to the land in the California Mission system by the Grey Friars and enforced by the Spanish Army. This went on for about 100 years until California was annexed by the American government. During this time the Indians interbred with the Spanish soldiers garrisoned around the missions and truth be told, many of the Grey Friars, as well. In the end, they didn't look much like Indians or have much Indian culture left. They looked and acted pretty much like rural Mexican Peasants.

So, anyway when John was little his father was a book keeper and his mother was a store clerk. They lived in a Mexican neighborhood. About 1950, John's family was kidnapped by Border Patrol agents and deported to Tijuana, Mexico, where they became Mexicans. There wasn't much for them to do in Tijuana, so they moved to Mexicali, about 80 miles East. Directly across the border from Mexicali is the California town of Calexico. There were jobs in Calexico. Then, as now, almost everyone living in Calexico is Mexican. John's father figured they couldn't deport the whole town, so he moved the family to Calexico and he and John's mother easily obtained good jobs, better than in Long Beach. They weren't sure if they were illegal immigrants or not but since they had birth certificates, high school diplomas, Social Security cards, drivers licenses and verifiable work histories, it was pretty easy.

John went to school in Calexico and got straight As. When it was time to go to college it was no problem. They let him into Long Beach State. He had lots of family in the area to stay with. He got lots of grants and loans that nobody ever made him pay back. He stayed in college for more than a decade. He ended up with a bachelors in biology, a masters in sociology and another in English. Did I mention he was a good student? Somewhere along the way he had picked up a Psych Tech certificate, which is what he was working off of when I met him. It's a nice job, easy, secure, good benefits and full retirement, which he can take any time he wants now.

John or Juan as his Latino friends insist on calling him, has had a pretty good life. Even if it has had a Twilight Zone aspect to it. He still is officially an illegal alien. He has papers to prove he was deported as such, even though he has copies of mission documents that trace his lineage in California back more than 200 years and is related to some of the oldest families in the State, though also the least luminous. The Immigration and Naturalization authorities still insist on his status as a nefarious interloper. The beauty of it is that he has a Mexican and American passport and both are perfectly legal. Cool.

36th Annual March for Life

Yesterday was the 36th annual March for Life on Washington, since the Supreme Court decided Roe vs Wade, in favor of a woman's right to make her own reproductive choices. The anti abortion movement is about more than just limiting women's rights. It's about forcing women to bear children even if the babies are severely disabled or certain to not survive. It's about forcing a woman to bear children even if she has no resources to raise them. Even if the father is her rapist, grandfather, father or brother. It's about not allowing women access to birth control, even for protection against diseases that could kill them, in situations where the person coercing them into sex might be the only one providing them with shelter and sustenance or may even be her legal guardian. It's about requiring sexual abstinence from women, even when abstinence is not one of the choices available to her.

The anniversary of Roe came the day after the Presidential inauguration this year. The organizers of the March for Life wanted a good turn out. Huge numbers of students at religiously affiliated high schools and colleges were given a few days out of class to attend. Transportation, lodging, food and even entertainment was provided. They got a good turnout, needless to say.

Some of the students turned the tables on the organizers. Alden Woodhull a sixteen year old girl who attends a Catholic high school, organized a group of her friends to stand outside the Supreme Court building with signs supporting the right to abortion, reads a story in the Washington Post.

"I just want people to know there's another side," she said. "Personally, I would choose to not have an abortion if I was pregnant. The point is, it would be my choice."

People's beliefs about reproductive rights in this country fall into a spectrum. A majority believe that a woman has a right to make decisions pertaining to reproductive function at all times. Some others believe that there should be limits placed on a woman's rights to some degree, large or small, depending on circumstance. Almost everyone believes women should have access to a wide range of birth control options. Almost no one, with the exception of leadership within the Catholic clergy, a small percentage sub Saharan Africans and George Bush, believe that access to barrier methods of birth control that also are vital to preventing the spread of sexually transmitted disease should be restricted.

There was a time in this country when peoples beliefs about social issues such as abortion were personal. They might have even been the kind of beliefs that were not shared casually. That is no longer the case. Abortion has become one of the litmus test issues between the left and right. We use it the same way dogs sniff each others asses to tell the good guys from the bad guys. This is no more or less true for the right than for the left. It just is.

A Couple of Old Assholes, Over in the Corner. Smoking that Last Cigarette though Their Tracheostomies

I'm 57 years old. I don't consider myself ancient but I have to admit, I'm not young or even in the prime of life. Even so, I don't know anyone my age or even older, who would join the American Legion.

They are assholes. Mostly racists. Dinosaurs left over from a long ago and better forgotten past. While they officially desegregated in 1948, when Truman desegregated the Army, what minorities exist within the membership, mostly belong to segregated chapters located within their own neighborhoods or communities. Minority membership is not much represented at regional or national gatherings. You go to American Legion halls today, you see more sons and grandsons of dead legionnaires than you do younger veterans who have joined after recent service. Most recent veterans are not racists. Most aren't asshole xenophobes. They want nothing to do with the Legion or it's ilk.

The American Legion sponsors a ball at the Presidential inauguration every four years. Barry O didn't go to it. What the fuck? Why should he. He got no support from the Legion and probably damn few votes. The Legion tries to dress up their affair as in support of Medal of Honor recipients and paralyzed veterans. Lipstick on a pig. They also support amateur baseball leagues for young adults and are a major impediment to young African Americans trying to break into professional baseball due to the de facto segregation of the organization.

The American Legion has everything to do with racist, sexist, exclusionary politics of a reactionary nature in this country and nothing really to do with honoring men who served their country in the military.

Politicians have been pandering to the prejudices of the American Legion and other similar odious groups for generations. It's time they stopped. The Right Wing wants to make an issue of Barry O not going to the Legion Ball. Let them. The American Legion are scum. Who says so? I say so.

Look Out Below

There can be little doubt that the American equities are in an extended bear market. I am not a big technical analyst but technical analysts would tell us that in order to make a bottom in a bear market it is likely that there would be an extended rally, during which as much or more than half of the previous losses would be regained, followed by a resumption of the down trend that would test but not go too much deeper than the previous lows. For months now, since experiencing the lows this fall, the market seems to have been trying to rally but has not had the strength to do so in any substantial way.

This leads me to believe that the equities markets have not truly reached the lows that they ultimately seek. This seems to be borne out by the fact that the economic news continues to be all bad, with no light or promise of light at the end of the tunnel.

I look for the equities markets to continue their nosedive through the previous lows for continued and substantial losses before again trying to establish a baseline low. This may happen soon or later in the Spring. I do not expect a substantial rally at this time. Do you?

Smells like Lapel Pin Patriotism

The United States economy is fucked up. It's been fucked up for forty years. That's how long we have consistently had large government budget and balance of trade deficits. The way it works is we buy most of the stuff we need from overseas and the government pumps enough money to pay for it all into the economy in the form of deficit spending. This worked for a long time. Longer than anyone expected. Most people ignored that it was happening and just expected it to go on forever.

So, now that the system has finally started to come apart at the seams, what is the solution that we have come up with to make things work again? Stop spending so much and start to pay back what we have borrowed? Wipe the slate clean and start all over again? Not even. The obvious answer is to increase spending and borrow even more because anything else would require effort and sacrifice on our part. America is such a great country. Land of the free and home of the brave.

Many Big Stars Like Bush

I don't know why people are always complaining that celebrities within the American entertainment industries are overwhelmingly supportive of liberal causes and politicians. Just in the last few days Gary Sinise and his Lt Dan band have gotten a lot of publicity about a new movie that documents their efforts to entertain the troops and ease the suffering of the hundreds of thousands of children made homeless and their lives disrupted by the Middle Eastern Wars. Also in the acting community there are well known conservative boosters like Kelsey Grammer and Jon Voight. I believe that within the Country Music community, almost a majority support conservative American values. I have heard that many actors on daytime television dramas vote Republican, at least some of the time.

Now we get word that another major movie star is speaking out in only marginally qualified full support of President Bush and his handling of the Global War on Terror. A legend of stage and screen that many have hailed as the new Brando.

Home Cruise

It was nippy over the holiday season and we got some rain. Over the last month I even turned on the heater early in the morning. Some years I don't use it at all.

Sometimes, around this season, I book a cruise down to Mexico for my wife and I. All the lines run a one weeker out of San Pedro or Long Beach down to Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. This time of year it's very nice there. It would be nicer to fly down and spend a week at a resort but you can get last minute tickets for the cruises God awful cheap and don't have the expense of plane tickets. A couple weeks ago I saw one cruise they were blowing out at $299 per. For that, you almost can't afford not to go.

Turns out I can save my money. It has warmed up over the last week and a half. An air mass is moving over to us from the Mojave. A little breezy. Dry as a bone. Yesterday was in the high eighties. Today was in the nineties. Good surfing weather. Off shore winds hold the break up for a nice high curl.

Stupid Coner

I decided to join the Navy over the course of just a few days, in early October of 1975. I needed a place to go. Someplace out of the rain. Where they'd feed me regularly. Someplace where they didn't ask too many questions. About how much I drank every day. About what I had been doing for the last few years. The Navy fit the bill. I got a 3X6 enlistment. 3 years active duty and 3 years active reserve. In return, I got a guaranteed Quartermaster A school and the Opportunity to try and make it through sub school. Also, on completion of A school, I got a guaranteed advancement to PO3. I could have just signed up for 2 years active duty, with no guarantee of anything. What I got seemed like a good deal at the time. I never regretted that deal. Sometimes I wondered why I enlisted at all. Living on the street wasn't all that bad and something might have come up.

The training took about 6 months. I reported to the boat in the Spring of '76. Seems to me it was about the middle of March. That gave me 2 1/2 years to experience Submarine life. It seemed like more than enough time. Turns out, it was.

The term coner wasn't in general use at that time. This is what nuclear trained personnel call non nuclear trained personnel on submarines because those not nuclear trained go about their business and have berthing spaces forward of the reactor compartment. I don't think the rift between nucs and non nucs was as pronounced at that time as it later became or as it is now. The nuclear submarine culture was still developing, for one thing. For another, most of the really senior enlisted on nuclear subs were, at that time, still old diesel boat veterans. They were a proud bunch. Also mean, unstable and prone to violence if they felt they were being maligned or slighted in any way, while nuclear technicians, with some notable exceptions, tend to be geekish weenies who listen to their officers as far as physical violence is concerned and in truth, have no real stomach for it. I don't have any stomach for it myself and if you gang up with the sock and soap on some guy that turns out to be the butt boy of some high strung JO, bad things can happen. Still, things were different then. We all made an effort to get along.

I don't want to slight Navy trained nuclear technicians. They go through long, intensive training before they get to a sub. The attrition rate is significant. They work them like dogs, both in port and at sea, under the most junior of officers, who themselves live in a constant state of high stress, during their first rotation at sea. Advancement for junior nucs has little to do with performance but rather how many years you are willing to extend or re enlist for. They make more money than stupid coners but it's a shitty life.

Nucs sign up for 6 years. To get more training and early advancement in rate, as well as a monetary bonus, many nucs extend for 2 additional years after completing the initial didactic training. After 6 years in and still with 2 more to go, they are pressured to re enlist for the full second 6 years. 12 years is a large chunk out of a young man's life. About that time a lot of these guys have married and had a kid or 2. The guaranteed advancement and bonus money look good, especially since they have already obligated themselves for the first 2 years of the second 6 year hitch. After they do it and the bonus money is as gone as the guys they went through training with who never extended, they can get pretty depressed. Too late then.

I always wondered, from my vantage point in the cone, with only a couple years to serve, why the nucs looking at 12 total, working like dogs at jobs they hated, thought they were so much fucking smarter than me. I guess it's all in the way you look at it. I had a pretty good time in the Navy. It wasn't so long. I never thought I was a stupid, useless coner.

Like a drunken ex girlfriend, just wanting to say goodbye one more time

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Bush Proud

Bush said on Fox News Sunday yesterday that he is proud of his Presidency and that he didn't have to sacrifice his principles to govern the country. I'm sure we're all happy for him about that. His principles are so important to us all.

He said he hopes a new young generation of Republican leaders rises up to take the baton from him but was unable to name any potential worthies other than his own younger brother. Finding new leadership is not going to be the problem for the Republicans. We all are now familiar with Sarah Palin. There are also leaders like Bobby Jindal in the deep South and Heather Wilson in the West.

The problem is going to be finding new young supporters for basic Republican values. The black dirt ignorance of Christian fundamentalism. Free reign for criminal corporate giants. Jingoism. Suppression of women's reproductive rights. It's the same problem presented by a huge pile of steaming, wet dog shit. If you shovel enough Mom, apple pie and little flag pins on it, you can cover it up but what can you do about the smell and the maggots?

The Treasury and Federal Reserve have become a PushMePullYou.

I'm not going to go into a big tirade about this. Anybody likely to read this blog is likely to know how I feel about US monetary policy.

Up until this point the US has been expanding the monetary supply and funding it's deficit spending by selling Government bonds. The market for bonds is now unable to keep up with projected spending. The US will now buy it's own bonds as a way to fund the growing debt, projected to increase by multiple trillions of dollars in the next few years.

This policy will massively increase liquidity in the system. It will greatly decrease the likelihood that the debt will ever be paid off. It will change the way current debt holders regard the value of the bonds they hold. It will eventually lead to a holocaust of hyperinflation.

We are still being told to expect deflation.

Science in the Life of the Church

I found a link to this story at one of my favorite inflammatory religious sites, cathlete.com. If you want to read it, it's here. This story states, among many other things, that the products from birth control pills, released into the environment cause male sterility. It infers that there have been some sort of studies that at least suggest this may be true.

What's interesting is that it is a complete fabrication. It doesn't state that these products would likely be the metabolites of either estrogen or progesterone. It doesn't specify which. It doesn't state that these metabolites would be released into the environment via the urine of women taking birth control pills that eventually cycle into potable water supplies. It doesn't cite any studies or the agency or institution that did them.

In fact, estrogen and progesterone are some of the most common hormonal types found naturally in the environment. They are produced by nearly every plant or animal complex enough to possess a discrete reproductive system. In fact, you can drink all the urine your birth control taking girlfriend produces, if that's your thing and it won't affect the vigor or quantity of your spermatozoa.

That's not to say that birth control pills don't have their downside. They can contribute to stroke and cardiovascular disease and may be carcinogenic. It's typical of religion to need to make up even more reasons that they are dangerous.

What this shows is that the religious do not not engage in empirical reasoning. They do not understand the scientific method. They prefer to deal with scientific fact the same way that they do with religious dogma. They just make it up as they go along.

Anybody who is religious and not seriously developmentally disabled, needs to re evaluate their relationship with the church.

Larry Live

I watched Larry King. I don't usually. Apparently Oprah is depressed because she's back up way over 200 pounds.

If you ask me, she's a fine looking woman. She looks better than she did when she had lost all that weight a few years ago. She doesn't look unhealthy. She looks like she'll live to be a hundred. What's unhealthy is going up and down a hundred or more pounds several times during your lifetime.

Relax, Oprah. Have a pigfoot and a bottle of beer. Enjoy life. Live to be a hundred. You got enough money to do it.

Do Any Of Them Really Even Exist?

The Jews keep saying that there is no such thing as a Palestinian. Whatever they are, they've killed more than 600 so far this week and it's early yet. I wonder how many Jews the non existent Palestinians have killed since the last time the Jews had to "protect" themselves, in Lebanon, last year. I bet not anywhere near 600. I wonder how many of the 600 non existent Palestinians that have died so far this week were women and children or old and infirm. I bet a lot.

If there are no real Palestinians, I wonder if there are any "real" Israelis? If these phony Palestinians have no "right of return", then why do the Jews? Israelis don't only live in Israel. They're all over. There are a shitload where I live. How long does a regular Jew have to stay in Israel to turn into an Israeli? There are a lot of just regular diaspora Jews where I live, as well as Israelis. I know the Jews and Israelis think they are different from each other. They don't seem to like each other at all.

I can't tell the difference.

Panetta.

Unless you have proof otherwise, you have to believe what the outgoing President tells you. As far as national security and intelligence is concerned, either the very highest officials in our defense, security and intelligence are liars, criminals and traitors or the current President and Vice President are. I think it's probably both and that they should all be tarred, feathered and deported to the farthest reaches of the territories and held under guard for life.

We went to war not once but twice and nearly more, on the strength of intelligence that proved grossly wrong. The military, intelligence and diplomatic communities within our government have much to answer for and so far have not. Many within these communities are right wing, crypto fascist fanatics, some are Israeli operatives, many undoubtedly have substance abuse problems which cause them to function in bizarre and unexplainable ways.

President Obama needs someone he trusts to run national security and intelligence. He doesn't need anybody from the community, likely already tainted. He has no choice than to go with Panetta.

Obama/Military Rift

There is an article in the Army Times about a perceived apprehension within the ranks of the military about Obama taking over as Commander in Chief. You can find the original article or follow my title link to a rant about it in The Huffington Post.

The Army Times piece is pretty despicable. First they infer that the majority of Army personnel have misgivings about the new President, then they get all warm and fuzzy about how comfortable they have been with the leadership of George Bush. Neither of these things is demonstrable, even from their own survey, which they admit, halfway through the article is not representative of the Army as a whole, but leans to senior service members.

To stir up controversy as to the level of support that the duly elected President is likely to receive from the military is irresponsible.

Revved Up Like a Deuce, Another Runner in the Night

Let's talk about the Middle East a little bit and let's start with the Muslims. Nobody likes the Muslims. Nobody. Try and name anyone outside of The Islamic faith that has even the least affinity for them. You can't do it. They had a brief Renaissance, in the distant past but no Reformation. For all intents and purposes they have made no social progress in well over a thousand years. They have no tolerance or understanding for anyone with values or beliefs other than their own. They subjugate, enslave and mutilate even their own women. They don't just kill them when they disobey. They bury them up to their shoulders and then throw rocks at them until they are dead. They make other women do it, in public. They have no concept of universal human rights. Any charity on their part must be accompanied by abject surrender to Islam. A thousand years ago, when they were active geopolitically, they were a worse scourge upon humanity than any force before or since. Worse than Genghis Khan. Worse than the Huns. Worse than the Nazis. Nobody wants to see them out and about again.

What cut their balls off the last time was the Crusades. For hundreds of years, the West sent armies into the heart of the Holy Land to fuck with them. It didn't beat them but it disrupted the culture in a major way. Universities shut down. Science languished. Communication was disrupted. Trade diminished. Middle Eastern society was forced back into a subsistence mode. Out on the fringes of Islamic expansion, Spain, North Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia Minor and South Asia, the Empire became brittle and eventually disintegrated, lacking a strong heart.

With the twentieth century, the break up of European colonialism and the advent of unlimited petroleum wealth, the stage was set again for the rise of Islamic culture. Nobody was happy about it. Only one thing has kept the rise of Middle Eastern Islamic culture from becoming a major problem for the World. The Jews.

Israel keeps everything off balance in the Middle East, all the time. There are no wars of consolidation, only wars against the Jews. There are no plans to expand outward, only plans to destroy the constant irritant within. The young do not learn science and industry, they only learn to hate the Jews. No matter how hard the combined forces of Islam tries to destroy them, the Jews keep kicking their ass. The West is very happy about this and for the Jews, so far so good.

At some point, the Jews are going to have to ask themselves, what do they get out of this deal. The ideal of Zionism is all well and good but it is becoming clear that the Jews are never going to be allowed to live peacefully in their own State among Arab neighbors. The best and brightest of the Jews are inexorably drawn to the fight in Israel. In the meantime, a large portion of Jewish society has devolved into traditionalist sects like the Lubavitcher, who are about as militantly ignorant, brutal and primitively backward as most Muslims. Among Jews who remain in diaspora, if they support Zionism, they are viewed as an unfriendly foreign presence in the countries where they reside and become subject to resurgent anti Semitism. Those who deny Zionism, cease to be regarded as Jews by their coreligionists and rapidly assimilate into the native population. Zionism shows every sign of being the wedge which, even in Israel itself, will irreparably shatter the cohesiveness of Jewish culture.