Mission:1)Advance the principle that Pacifism, Liberalism, Environmentalism, + membership in the Democratic Party are not sins nor of which one need be ashamed. 2)Move us in the direction of a political culture which would enable public persons to proudly proclaim their leftist tendencies, just as those on the right may do at present.
ADDENDUM: TO VIEW ARTICLES JUST SCROLL DOWN. DON'T FEAR SCROLLING; NO INJURIES HAVE RESULTED, JUST ENLIGHTENMENT. ;o) PEACE PLEASE.... STEVE
She most certainly requires no additional commentary from me
However I refer you to this Q & A I did with Weather Channel Climate Expert
Stu Ostro I did a week or so ago:
UL) Many people object to the use of the term "Global Warming" when speaking of the "Climate Change" phenomenon. Is the global climate warming due to human carbon and other atmospheric emissions in your opinion?
Stu Ostro): There’s a lot of short-term year-to-year natural variability superimposed, but the overwhelming evidence is that the longer term temperature trend, which is one of warming, is primarily the result of human activities.
UL) Besides climatic temperature changes, what other Climate Changes do you see happening in the past century due to human carbon and other emissions?
Stu Ostro): A serious trend of Arctic sea ice loss, changes in atmospheric circulation patterns, and changes in the nature of precipitation extremes.
UL) What weather phenomenon outside North America of note would you attribute, if any, to the Climate Change phenomenon, and what weather events in our country would you say have been affected by climate change over the past century?
Stu Ostro): Some of the temperature anomalies and precipitation extremes we’ve seen in recent years likely have a climate change component to them.
UL) Are human injuries, deaths and/or property damage occurring due to weather anomalies produced by Climate Change or is that impossible to assess?
Stu Ostro): If climate change is affecting the day-to-day weather including extremes, which my assessment indicates it is, then there are injuries, deaths, and property damage which have occurred as a result. What’s impossible to assess is exactly how much of those impacts would have occurred without these changes in climate.
UL) Environmentally, what damages have occurred or are occurring world-wide and here due to Climate Change, and are you aware of any species (whether single-celled, plant or mammal) which have become extinct or endangered primarily due to climate change?
Stu Ostro): The frequency of devastating floods worldwide, and the nature of the 2003 Europe and 2010 Russia heat waves, and the kind of topsy-turvy patterns that have produced odd snow extremes, have a signal to them suggesting an influence of climate change. [N/A on the species question – outside my realm.]
UL) What public policies should be highest on the agendas of the state governments, the U.S. government and the U.N. and the international community and which policy initiatives would accomplish the most in an expeditious manner and are ones you would advocate?
Stu Ostro): An increased focus on adaptation to climate change, given that it’s already happening and affecting us regardless of what is done to mitigate the causes.
I can't overestimate the seriousness of one of Stu's comments. Please remember this one from an expert who has been at this for decades:
"If climate change is affecting the day-to-day weather includingextremes, which my assessment indicates it is, then there are injuries, deaths, and property damage which have occurred as a result."
Weather Channel Climate Expert Dr. Heidi Cullen Details Much
In Her Public Information Efforts, Including This Great Interview
ONE FRIEND, TWO LOVES AND A GUY BEARING FLOWERS (Part 3)
By Aurelia Blue May 10, 2011
Aurelia sat on the sands of yet another post card perfect Key West beach, the letter, that was not from Boden, fluttering in her hand. The scenery around her was breathtaking, yet she barely noticed. Her skin was deeply bronzed from a month of paradisiacal sun worship. She'd learned to surf. She’d had unscripted swims with a pod of young dolphins nearly every day. And had Unskinny Bopped in more clubs than she could count. Her companion Sabrina, the daughter of affluent friends of the family, lay beside her snoring, clearly embracing the blessings of party life.
After weeks of Aurelia's constant moping beside the telephone that never rang, her parents had encouraged her to take a sabbatical from all the summer classes, work on the farm and her job at a local restaurant, to join Sabrina and her family on their yearly pilgrimage to the keys. She'd picked up the receiver one more time before she'd left, her packed suitcase waiting by the front door, and dialed his number. A young man's voice came on the line, filling her with momentary hope, which faded as she recognized the voice of Boden's younger brother, Jud.
"Oh hey, Aurelia, no, I don't know where he is. Sorry, honey. I will leave him a note though. I can't expect he'd want to miss a call from his number one girlie. Hey, doesn't Axl Blue live out there in the cornfields by you? If you see him, would you say the Judster's been looking for him at the tracks? Avilla is going off this summer. You like fast cars, honey? Avilla is the place to be!"
"I'll do that..." Aurelia had said hanging up. Judster.
Aurelia sighed now as she returned to the letter. It was from her friend Dominic.
Hey Raley,
'Sup, girl? I've missed our breakfasts at the diner! Best five bucks I ever spent on biscuits and gravy. You work cheap girl! You should raise your rates. I got a B- for my final Gov&Econ grade! Couldn't have done it without you, Shug. I owe you, big time. Don't know what I can do for you though, since you clearly don't need me to write your current events reports, Miss Got 102%, The Highest Grade In The Class! Damn girl, why'd you even take summer school, it's not like you need to! Well I hear there are even more reports if you take it regular senior year. So maybe you, like me, just wanted to get it outa the way, so's you can party hardy senior year. SENIOR YEAR! Yeah! We're gonna fight for our right to partay! Am I right or am I right? Yeah, I'm right!
Ok. Ok. I gotta go. I have sixty acres to irrigate if I'm gonna get my ass up to Tipdango's tonight for line dancing. If you were here, girl, I'd take you wit' me, as long as you didn't get in my action, ha ha. But that's ok. 'Cuz we’re friends, right?
Sending you big hugs and kisses for wherever you want to put them. Love ya, Doom-inic the Seniorator, baby!
Aurelia couldn't help a small smile. Dominic was just that kind of guy. But if only, she lapsed back into the unhappy thoughts again, if only this letter could have been from Boden. She'd written him one a week before she'd left for Florida.
At first they were just newsy missives about summer school and how much she missed him. That she was sorry to hear band camp had been scheduled at the new middle school campus, so their paths wouldn't be crossing. Later, as the weeks wore one, she wrote pleading letters, begging him to call. Imploring him as to why he was so obviously ignoring her. Finally, in her anguish, she'd sent one final letter from Florida, taking the silver filigree friendship ring her grandparents had given her for her sixteenth birthday, off the fourth finger of her left hand. Tying a green piece of embroidery thread around it, she slid it in the envelope with her final words.
Darling,
Would that I could, I would tear out my own still beating heart and place it in your cold selfish hand. Since I cannot, I am sending you my last token of fidelity. I give you this ring in the spirit of love and friendship in which is was given to me and with this emerald token, I pledge my lifelong love. Will you not do the same for me?
Faithfully,
Your Darling
She'd crept out of bed and slid it in the mailbox outside the condo door in the middle of the night, afraid she'd lose her nerve and resolve by morning's light. Sabrina was waiting for her in the big bed they shared when she returned.
She smiled. Beautiful with her long blonde hair glimmering in the moonlight, she welcomed Aurelia into her embrace.
"Oh just fuck him, Raley. He doesn't deserve you," Sabrina said giving Aurelia a giant smooch on the lips.
Aurelia closed her eyes and let the sensations of being loved and held seep through her. How welcome it was to feel them again!
Sabrina had proved to be a wonderful diversion over the past few weeks. She was lively and outgoing, making friends everywhere they went, scoring them invitations to parties all over the keys. She was athletic as well, making her an ideal swimming and surfing partner. And she was outstandingly liberal with her affections with both men and women alike. Something the desperately lonely Aurelia did not underrate.
"Letter not from him, then?" Sabrina was awake now on the beach rolling over and pushing up on her elbows.
"No. From Dominic. The guy I wrote all the papers for," Aurelia said lying back on the sand.
"Oh," Sabrina said as she rubbed lotion on Aurelia's bare tummy. "Well did he pass?"
"Yep. With a B minus," Aurelia sighed.
" Not your best papers then," giggled Sabrina. "No. My best is gone with my muse I'm afraid."
"Oh, Raley. You've got to change that." ...
"What the hell do you mean you have mono, Dmitri? I thought that went out with the plague," Aurelia cried into the phone.
"Apparently not, dear Deborah," Dmitri croaked into her ear. "It seems the kissing disease is still alive and well, and within me," he gave a short giggle, "I wish I'd gotten it from kissing some handsome sailor who was within me."
"Oh God, yuck, Dmitri."
"I know, sorry, my Latin love, I'm just so jealous of your month in the land of endless oceans. I can't believe you didn't have even one torrid night with a hot sailor."
"Dude! I'm taken. I can't be banging sailors, really," Aurelia sighed.
"Taken shmaken. He's gone, Deborah. We don't know why but he is. So move on."
"Move on?"
"Move on!"
"How? How do I do that?" Aurelia broke down in sobs. "You wont even be there with me the first day."
"Yes," Dmitri sighed. "But you can't let that stop you, beautiful Deborah. You will simply have to gloss your little tanned ass up in some Who Gives a Damn! high heels paired with a nice white dress and just strut right in there! Don't even look at him. Walk right by. Don't even let on that you know he doesn't know what the hell just hit him."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that!" ...
The first day of Senior year. Zero hour.
Aurelia pulled up to the school in her '73 Jeep Wagoneer and parked in the Senior lot.
"Nice car, Raley!" Dominic's voice boomed out from four spaces away. "Nice tan too, baby!"
Aurelia smiled broadly and waved as she stepped out of the car in her six inch heeled woven sandals and body hugging, white eyelet sun dress. As she passed by Dominic she couldn't help but stare at the gorgeous olive green '63 Mercury Monterey he was leaning against. It was stunning in the sparkling sunlight.
"Like what you see?" Axl Blue spoke softly as he leaned out the driver's side window.
For a moment he stared at Aurelia's long tanned legs with nearly the same intensity with which she had regarded the car. Then with just a hint of a wink, he turned back to Jud Bowdean who was in the passenger seat. Jud stared open mouthed after Aurelia as she quickly walked away.
Her heart was beating so fast she almost couldn't breathe. Was it the sight of Jud that had thrown her? Yes. Probably. That made sense, she thought.
David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young
OHIO
A link is provided here to the NY Times report on Mubarek's prosecution: (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/world/middleeast/25egypt.html?_r=1&hp) The New York Times is reporting that ex-dictator Hosni Mubarek, overthrown in a peaceful revolution by heros throughout Egypt earlier this year will be prosecuted for murders he schemed and masterminded while in charge of police units and military members, thugs who killed primarily when out of uniform so as to avoid their institutions being blamed for the slaughter of unarmed protesters in an extreme demonstration of cowardice and inhumanity. This clearly indicates that the political power of the heroic pacifist revolutionaries is strong enough to compel the interim government to announce this prosecution.
Like Murderer Mubarek, Other Self-Serving Dictators In The Past Century Have Included:
Hitler
Stalin
Mao
Saddam
And Recently Killed Wannabe Thug Bin Laden
Resigned And Pardoned Felon U.S. President Nixon
Please, let's not forget that Ohio State happened in 1970, not very long ago at all and our dictators of the day were a second-in-command felon who copped a plea to greed charges for taking kick-backs as Maryland Governor, the first Vice President to resign in disgrace, Spiro Agnew and the first President (Richard Nixon-Republican) to resign in disgrace and avoid prosecution only because of a Presidential pardon from his hand selected successor and who had the nerve to imagine that his morality allowed him the privilege of sending our own heros overseas to fight for himself as President and the likes of Agnew.
Under Nixon's direction, his campaign committee, CREEP (Committee to Re Elect the President, if you're young, I am NOT making this up) broke into Democratic Party offices at the Watergate complex, burglarized the property and then Nixon covered up the botched felony. He resigned after naming Gerald Ford president and Ford pardoned him, then Ford left office a bit more than 2 years later. OMG. And 4 young unarmed peaceful protesters, college students, killed at Kent State University in Ohio by armed militiamen because of Nixon's endless and totally botched prosecution of an unjust war that he managed to lose, and lose big-time by expanding it illegally to Laos and Cambodia, and losing in those sovereign nations as well as losing South Vietnam. And more importantly nearly 60,000 U.S. uniformed military heros who died futilely because of him, and all those Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian deaths. :( Plus laying the groundwork for a horrible dictator to take power, and planting the seeds for the genocidal killing fields of Cambodian dictator Pol Pot. Mubarek can happen here again. Nixon was Mubarek and vice versa. Make no mistake!
Pol Pot
Nixon/Kissinger
Enabled His Genocide
Mubarek Will Now Face Trial For His Crimes
I Don't Support Capital Punishment For Anyone
But This Cartoon Depicts The Position This Dictator's Own Actions Have Placed Him
And Members Of His Own Family In
(They Got Involved And Are Being Prosecuted Too)
He And They Face The Death Penalty Under Egyptian Law
Megalomaniacs Only Would Put Their Own Flesh And Blood At Such Risk!
The good news is that peaceful change is possible in 2011, a la Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Desmund Tutu, and Nelson Mandela. I take heart in that and in the fact that we have an inspirational and well-motivated family man of a leader in our own nation today in President Barack Obama. I thank God for that blessing today.
President Of The United States Of America Barack Obama
This is the latest installment in our series on sanitary conditions at Wallingford Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart, as well as corporate greed in general. Elsewhere at examiner.com/government-in-hartford/stevenalexander are articles relevant to this particular discount retail outlet where photos and reports of grossly and routinely unsanitary conditions in the Men’s rooms and the bottle redemption area have been reported upon as well as documented with photos and reported to the Wallingford Health Department, located at City Hall on Main Street in downtown Wallingford.
One of those articles was recently linked to Forbes list of the 100 richest billionaires in the world, their S. Robson Walton biography. That link is http://www.forbes.com/profile/s-robson-walton.
S. Robson Walton.
Happy Unabashed Saturday Rob!
;-D
S. Robson Walton is currently (March 2011) worth $21 billion and the 22nd wealthiest individual worldwide according to Forbes’ list. His father, Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton died on April 5th, 1992 and before funeral arrangements were complete, “Rob” Walton moved in as CEO and board Chairman of Wal-Mart on April 7th, 1992, just two days following his far more moral father’s death. Rob’s brother, James Carr Walton resides solidly at number 20 on that same Forbes list with a net worth of $21.3 billion, interesting given that James is on the Wal-Mart Board of Directors, but not in the capacity that his brother is, who remains Chairman of that Board more than 17 years following his takeover immediately after his Dad’s demise.
Wal-Mart Board Member and Rob Walton's brother is
Jim Walton.
Not even CEO, but wealthier than his CEO and Chairman brother Rob.
How exactly does that work, Jim? :-)
The unsanitary conditions were also documented in two articles elswhere here on unabashedleft.blogspot.com.
Palm Sunday as celebrated at Wal-Mart!
Makesya wanna celebrate doesn't it!
Two day after Palm Sunday. Yes, it's fecal matter.
The next day the toilet was overflowing with feces and more.
When we visited the Wallingford City Hall following a second day in a row of filth observed at the Wal-Mart facility (we went again a third day that week to see the bottle and can bins full and unsanitary again, and a toilet overflowed and disgusting in the extreme) on April 17, a sanitarian was to be dispatched and a follow-up report given. No such follow-up report was given, and the sanitarian sent to investigate reported in a personal visit that when she visited she found nothing objectionable. Having a past career with ServiceMaster as a housecleaner and as a janitor for Premier Maintenance Services I discussed with the Sanitarian (Wallingford has been ruled by Republican Mayor William Dickinson for more than 16 years despite a 7200 to 5000 edge in Democratic voter registrants over Republicans who has run the municipal departments with an iron fist) the nature of filth in facilities. She said that she observed no problems.
I pointed out to her that if, for example there just happened to be no overflow in the toilets, the trash cans or fecal matter strewn about at the time of her inspection, accumulated crud in corners and along the base of fixtures was evident to me. She took great offense and became argumentative and abusive, in fact. Among the other things she said was the clear report that she “likes” Wal-Mart store manager Doug Yeakey, has had other “dealings” with him and finds him affable and a “friend.” When I returned to Wal-Mart later that week, the accumulated crud of which I had spoken was still there. As well as the overflowing toilet riddled with fecal matter, the trash can overflowing again and the floor again littered with filthy papers replete with all forms of bodily wastes. Store staffing cutbacks have caused the sanitary health hazard to the community that is Wallingford Wal-Mart at present, despite denials from Mr. Yeakey. Doug Yeakey's own former managers and managers as well as staffers, who must speak off the record for obvious reasons, confirm these facts.
I returned to the Wallingford Health Department that same week, April 23rd and filed yet another complaint regarding the front and back men’s rooms as well as the bottle/can redemption area, this time requesting that a different Sanitarian, one without the “friendship” with Store Manager Yeakey doing the inspections, and filed photos, articles, dates, times and names of managers with whom complaints were filed and was assured that the Health Department Director would call me back either by the end of the business day or the next. That return call did not occur.
I'll admit, this gal's kinda cute, but greed most definitely is NOT as cute as she is
Rob and Jim!
Not at ALL!
Yesterday I visited Wallingford City Hall yet again and stopped by the Health Department. I once again introduced myself to a woman at the desk, and a different woman came out of her office and started to ask me questions and defend their Wal-Mart inspections. I interrupted her to say: “Hi, my name is Steve. And yours is?” She informed me of her name and continued with her diatribe. I interrupted once again to ask, “And your title is?” And she said, “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m the Director.” I said, “You might want to be sorry. That was rather rude, I had no knowledge of who you are and I want to inform you that at this point I am not happy with your office, this City Administration or the culture in this City Hall. Nice weather today, huh? I’m here to buy a fishing license actually and just following up. I accept your apology.”
Be good Wallingford Municipal officials.
Please.
Greed could be your downfall!
She informed me that, despite having been informed at my last visit to the Health Department, that other Sanitarians were on staff and available, that no others were presently on staff and available. One is on FMLA, and the other retired. I pressed her as to when she had received the retirement information, but she would only say that the retirement ‘took effect’ last week, and wouldn’t say when she knew—pertinent since her staff was unaware that no other Sanitarians were available when I was promised that another was available to inspect. I discussed with her the importance of having at least two Sanitarians available since conflicts of interest such as in this case, wherein her Sanitarian is friendly with the individual being inspected (Wal-Mart Manager Yeakey) are always likely to occur and having a second reduces the chances that a taxpayer will have unfair treatment as this Examiner has had in this case. She assured me that she was doing her utmost to fill one position a.s.a.p. Early in our discussion I spoke of accumulated chronic crud and filth and evidence of it, vs. acute situations as I’ve documented and filed with her office.
I told her of my own ServiceMaster experience and pointed out the corners of her carpet, which were spotless and without dirt nor fuzz, and said to her that she could plainly see by such types of observations whether maintenance was happening on a routine basis. I assured her this was not the case at Wallingford Wal-Mart and that I suspected her home bathroom was much more sanitary as was mine, and that this evidence of basic sanitary maintenance is what her Sanitarian with the admitted conflict of interest had failed to document. The Director at the beginning of our discussion failed to pick up on our requests that, especially since she has no other inspectors at present, that she, herself, go and visit Wal-Mart to inspect the facility. By the end of the conversation she had committed to doing so, doing so unannounced and reporting back to us next week. We will hold her to this. Be assured.
Let's consider Peace and Love,
Love of the Unconditional variety
as the criterion for all our decisions.
Hear that Steve?
Hear that Robson?
Hear that James?
Hear that Wal-Mart?
Hear that BP?
Hear that Exxon, TD, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch....?
Doya?
Especially you, Steve?
Unconditional Love.
Not selfish greed.
Way to go!
Get back on track guys, especially me.
In Jesus' precious name I pray.
Amen.
She also apologized for her failure to call back as her staff had promised, saying “I’m sorry you fell between the cracks.” Unfortunately under Mayor William Dickinson’s reign the “cracks” are more like the Grand Canyon and the victims are all of the residents of Wallingford who get tossed into those cracks if we seek redress of our grievances and the exercise of our rights. Too many of his Administrative staff, especially at the top levels are way beyond entitled and are not only unresponsive to the needs of the community, there are serious questions regarding their relationships with the firms they are supposed to regulate and with the companies from which they are accepting uncompetitive bids.
Still doing awesome work following the BP Oil Spill of catastrophic proportions is the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for Louisiana, so get out those credit/debit cards and donate today to:
John Lennon's "Freeda People/The Nutopian National Anthem"
The most 'touching' memorial in the world.
The Vietnam Memorial in Washington, District of Columbia,
United States of America.
I couldn't do it at first.
It touched me first.
From about 200 yards away.
Been there.
Done that.
OMG.
From 200 yards or more away what hits you are not the individual names,
as in the photo above.
What hits you from afar is how big it had to be
to contain 58 or 59 thousand names of the American dead.
OMG.
I cried.
And cried.
Then I slowly approached.
I saw others touching the wall, crying and tracing their loved ones' names.
I spoke with a woman who was grieving.
Only then could I touch the wall back.
It's the only wall that touched me first.
THANK YOU TO ALL THE SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN AND CIVILIANS
IN THE INTEL AND OTHER COMMUNITIES
WHO PLACE THEMSELVES IN HARMS' WAY
BELIEVING IN THE DEFENSE OF THEIR LOVED ONES
AND THEIR FRIENDS AND BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
GOD BLESS YOU WHO HAVE FALLEN AND YOUR FAMILIES.
GOD BLESS THOSE IN SERVICE OF A UNIFORMED OR NON-UNIFORMED
VARIETY AND THEIR FAMILIES FOR THEIR SERVICE.
ESPECIALLY THEIR MOMS.
THE MOMS.
YES.
TY
SO
MUCH.
I'm sorry to report that Osama Bin Laden has been killed. 'Sorry?' you may ask! Yes, very sorry. Any premature death or killing is a sad and unsatisfying story to report. Yes, I celebrate the end of his reign of terror. Yes I celebrate the masterstroke of President Obama giving CIA Director Panetta the number one priority of isolating Bin Laden and bringing him to justice. Yes I celebrate the muted response of extremists in these early hours following the revelation of his demise. But reporting on death is not fun. Reporting on the tragic necessity of anybody, including a nation, to defend itself with force is sad, indeed, but a reality that must be reported. Cave-man revenge mentality is not the solution. Evolution and the moral development of the species will change that in time, I have faith. I am not vengeful, and I regret Bin Laden's decisions and the sick, unhappy and tortured mind and hardened ill-heart that he possessed causing him to imagine that slaughtering innocents was something Allah would desire. The poor sick, but unfortunately financially funded, fool. He had inherited a financial fortune and utilized it for his sick ends. That cash is why he became the 'leader' of this twisted and distorted perversion of Islam that was (and I emphasize the past tense here) Al Quaeda. Al Quaeda is done. There are overseas sickos utilizing the brand name now, but Bin Laden's rag-tag band of well-funded thugs is done. The Afghan gang will not have a 10th reunion gala in Kabul this year.
I choose my words carefully, he was an irrelevant sick-minded mentally ill guy, born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a bank account. Without the bank account he would have been dismissed as a fool. No scholar of the Koran was Bin Laden. Neither a Biblical scholar. Not a clergyman, an Imam, never published and didn't give great speeches to massive audiences. Just a bankroller. A fool as the photograph above accurately characterizes him.
It fell to Commander-In-Chief Barack Obama to end this pathetic man's reign of personal tyranny, since his predecessors allowed the success of "Osama's Big Day With 19 Guys And Plastic Box-Cutters" to occur making him the superstar of violent extremism and terrorism that he became. Enabling the Cheney Administration to declare a worldwide "War on Terror" and sink trillions into killing and reaping huge oil profits as well as causing hundreds of thousands of deaths in irrelevant wars as well.
There he is last evening announcing the heroic and swift action of our defenders outside Islamabad! Harry Truman kept a plaque on his Oval Office desk which said "The Buck Stops Here." Agreed. In this operation, Barack rearranged the CIA's priorities as soon as he took office. Only the Commander-In-Chief could claim credit for coordinating the civilian authorities, the intel and diplomatic personnel and bureaucracies and ultimately the Department of Defense in order to make the demise of Osama Bin Laden happen. So... THANK YOU MR. PRESIDENT!!! This guy IS a keeper. Let's renominate and re-elect the most amazing and accomplished President of my lifetime. On national security alone the President has done wonders. 100,000 U.S. troops out of Iraq. Perhaps a number 1) National security accomplishment might be: The Afghan war being prosecuted far more successfully, and a negotiated agreement likely soon via diplomacy. 2) Perhaps: The utilization of unmanned drones to decimate the Al Quaeda leadership in Pakistan. 3) And how 'bout: That killing of Osama Bin Laden. 4) Possibly on the national security hit parade: The successful negotiation of a Strategic Arms REDUCTION Treaty with President Medvedev of Russia. 5) Maybe you'd consider this not bad: A successful summit meeting and signing of that treaty and 6) getting that same treaty through the U.S. Senate in a not-so-lame lame-duck session of Congress last year. 7) On that list of national security accomplishments for Barack might be: In that same Congressional session he also put an end to codified and organized military discrimination agains gays and lesbians by outlawing such discrimination via legislation finally putting an end to the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy! Wow. We discuss domestic matters elsewhere and this President's massive accomplishments in just 27 months in office. But, WOW! What a dude! Barack Obama!
Barack's done what all the Cheney Administration's horses and all their men could not do.
Cheney was an oil company exec, President and CEO of Haliburton (along with BP, primarily responsible for the Gulf oil spill beginning one year ago) when George W. Bush was approached to name him his VP nominee in 2000 (Bush himself the governor of the most oil-dependent state in the nation, TX and having oil holdings himself).
We should not forget that as in George Orwell's books such as 1984, having an enemy
and an ongoing 'War' to fight can work to a government's advantage.
In addition, the largest sector of the U.S. economy and largest interest group is the
Defense industry. So getting Bin Laden wasn't necessarily a high Cheney/Bush goal.
Bush is NOT a very bright guy. We all know that by now. He honestly did not know how to either spell nor pronounce the word "nuclear" frequently misstating it as "nucular," just for example. And that's one huge example for a so-called "Commander-In-Chief." He was manipulated by Cheney, a former Defense Secretary under Bush's father, the oil industry AND by Bin Laden himself. He allowed Bin Laden to create an atmosphere of domestic fear; remember red, orange, yellow color-coded alert levels? He was tugged by Bin Laden for 7 years and in that time Cheney actually ran the U.S. government primarily, that's well-known and well documented now.
I still get sick feelings in my abdomen when I think back to two-time failed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (his first stint was as Gerald Ford's DOD chief, remember the fall of Saigon?) putting on his grandfatherly pretense in the Defense Department briefing room, beginning Press briefings with talk of being "at War" and the "gravity" of the situation, then giggling and laughing while letters were in the United States Postal Service notifying Moms of dead service men and women. OMG! His incompetency renders Rumsfeld the most incompetent Defense Secretary in U.S. history, despite having the best, the most highly funded and the most technologically sophisticated military in the world, as well as the bravest and most dedicated troops! He couldn't beat rag-tag bands of thugs like Saddam and the thugs following him, the Taliban, and Bin Laden's camel-gang (all of whom possessed not one naval ship, a single military aircraft, or anything really but box-cutters and side-arms at the time of our attacks post-9/11) for 7 too-long years (well, Robert Gates deserves some of that credit, yes--thank God he's finally seen the gate).
General Stanley McChrystal looks tight-lipped in this photo but was anything but tight-lipped
when bar-hopping around Europe when volcanic ash grounded air traffic for a few days
and he and his staff routinely dissed the civilian authorities of our OWN government including his own
Commander-In-Chief Barack Obama
while of all people a Rolling Stone reporter was travelling with him as he had agreed.
President Obama promptly dimissed this guy who also lost wars for years under Cheney/Bush.
General David "Curveball" Petraeus
President Obama made a smooth move just last week putting him into the civilian
CIA role below the radar so as to stifle his political ambitions and to get him
out of the picture militarily. His "counterinsurgency"
payola strategy has been a failure and his personal ambition and political strength within the
uniformed military makes him the most powerful DOD staffer, moreso than Rumsfeld, Gates and
Joint Chiefs' Chairman Mullens combined. His base is now undercut.
He took a demotion when McChrystal had to resign at
Barack's behest! Good job Mr. President!
So the Cheney/Bush national security team included subordinates like Petraeus and McChrystal who disdain civilian rule. Petraeus has a clear desire to run for President and has yet to win a war in a clear manner and can claim no responsibility for any significant military successes. In Iraq, within 5 years, likely sooner, chaos will ensue, unfortunately following our departure and is unavoidable. Petraeus' counterinsurgency 'strategy' was to pay off the heads of the opposition with hard U.S. currency, American taxpayers' tax dollars for Baghdad green-zone bombers claiming to be mullahs, who are already clearly indicating their intent to return. There is no way out following this absurd and deadly 'stategy' of the Cheney security fools like Petraeus and McChrystal. 3000 died on 9/11 and maybe 5000 Americans since. OMG. 8,000 American dead and climbing. Over 100,000 Iraqis by any measure since our misguided attack and occupation following the Bin Laden box cutter day. And tens of thousands of Afghan and Pakistanis. :(
Omg. Dead Afghan kidz.
TY Osama Bin Laden.
TY Dick Cheney,
George W. Bush,
Donald Rumsfeld,
Stanley McChrystal
and
David Petraeus.
:(
Now let's really heighten our efforts at diplomacy world-wide. President Obama has shown his ability on a personal level to let by-gones be by-gones and so has our awesome Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The President's and Secretary Clinton's friendship following their bruising 2008 primary campaign is genuine. Secretary Clinton has masterfully run the State Department in such a manner that the State Department is now ascendant within the National Security bureaucracy. The reality of any Administration is that they Administer huge bureaucracies, and changing them takes time and requires internal changes that don't make headlines. Petraeus demoted and in Intel now. Gates has seen the gate. McChrystal swiftly out as soon as he goofed publicly. Thank you Secretary Clinton!
She's given a relatively free hand to this man to do what's necessary both in terms of allowing the Intel people and the military to do what they need to do in order to facilitate the safest solution with minimal casualties in this post-Cheney mop-up operation. OMG. What Barack walked into. Bin Laden. The Great Recession. Banking out of control. Two failed wars. Unemployment and deregulation of every corporation. But Barack and Hillary have enabled this guy to handle things in a very competent manner and are now supreme to the Defense Department. The guy?
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke is making the arrangements necessary for a negotiated settlement to happen in Afghanistan. Mark my words. It'll be announced in the not-so-distant future. The only non-signatory to the treaty will be our own government more than likely because of the Party of Hell-No's lack of loyalty and political opportunism and the unlikely prospect of a treaty to be ratified by Mitch McConnell's U.S. Senate. :(
A truly historic day as far as U.S. history goes. Osama Bin Laden is dead. I won't even publish clown "The Donald" Trump's photo. President Obama rendered him clearly the fool that he is at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner last week. "Birtherism" is nonsense. So is the Tea Party. So is the Tan Man. And McConnell and that whole current brood of 'candidates' in the opposition party for President. That's good. Landslide. Yes. Landslide in 2012. RE-ELECT THIS DUDE! RE-ELECT PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA! YES WE CAN, SIR. YES WE MOST CERTAINLY WILL!!!
John Winston Ono Lennon; Freeda People: "Stop the killing, stop it NOW! Do it, do it, do it NOW!"
