I know most of my readers agree with me about the catastrophic results of 14 years of republican management of our country, topped off with George Bu$h. (For all I know, all you readers from the .mil sites sit there at your consoles saying, “Yeah, you olde farte! Get some!”) And I do mean the last 14 years. When Newt Gingrich’s Contract On America brought a swarm of new r’s into Congress, the machinery of government stopped like a transmission full of sand. Bill Clinton might have been President, but the only legislation that got passed was something the republicans wanted, and that group of people wanted government to fail. If you recall they shut down the government several times by refusing to find it.
Now we’re stuck in a republican-engineered eternal war in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’ve got an exhausted Army with inadequate armor, troops rotating in and out of the catbox * soldiers and officers pulling the pin in numbers not seen in many years, and the divorce rate and suicide rate are up dynamically.
The Air Force has deadlined their entire fleet of F-15s because the damned things are breaking up. They want lots of new expensive planes to horse around the sky at 5 G’s playing Terry and the Pirates until those start to fall apart and then they’ll be back with their hands out for ever more ca$h. (And if they don’t get it, the evil terrorists will slip over our undefended borders and cut our throats in our sleep. The only thing that can keep us safe is $300 million fighter planes that are sort of stealthy!)
Thank any deity you like for the Navy. They’ll keep us safe, right?
Well, maybe not. Meatball One channels the War Nerd:, but first a word of warning.
I’ve mentioned Swedish Meatballs before. No one has a defense/ IO webpage quite like them. Actually, most defense-oriented webpages are work safe. And Meatballs may not be.
The War Nerd discusses the greatest Navy in the world and its chances in the Persian Gulf:
You might wonder, if you were real, real naive, why the Navy hasn't tried to learn from what van Ripen [sic] did to them six years ago in the same waters. Well, the truth is that no big, well-funded armed service learns or changes until it absolutely has to, which usually means when it starts to lose a war. And of all services, navies are by far the most stubborn, old-fashioned, snobby, retarded of all. I don't mean the submarine force, which is pretty much God. I mean the brass in their ridiculous floating targets, aka carriers, frigates, tankers and other dive-sites-in-the-making.
If they had any sense they'd realize that the way to deal with big overloaded targets is to saturate their defenses with a swarm of low-cost attackers. If you've got lives to spend, and the Iranians sure do, you spend lives to sink hardware. It's a good trade, when you consider what a carrier costs, and how little the average Iranian life is worth. They're Shia! These guys can't wait to give their lives away. The Kamikazes were squeamish moderates compared to the Revolutionary Guard. And thanks to Silicon Valley and its Chinese knockoffs, you can fire swarms of unmanned rockets instead of Shia martyrs, so you don't even need to spend one life per blip on the US fleet's little screens. You can even send empty rocket tubes as part of the swarm, because in the few seconds the surface vessel has to react, it can't determine which threats are nuke, which are conventional HE and which are decoys.
Of course the Navy insists their ships are safe, because they’ve got great ship-to-ship missiles and Aegis radar and the Phalanx last-resort close-in defense gun.
Hmmm… yes….
[T]he Phalanx was never meant to handle swarms of low-tech attackers. That's not the clean, temperate-zone war the computer dweebs in the Pentagon planned for. See, the original Phalanx only had 1000 rounds in its magazine. The newer models have 1.550, meaning even the USN realized that it was too easy to saturate the target with decoy attacks and deplete the magazine. But 1550 rounds isn't much at that rate of fire--and the Achilles heel of the system is reloading. It's not that easy to hoist 1550 20mm rounds into position, and I don't think either van Riper or the Iranians would be likely to agree to a 15-minute reloading break.
If it was me, and maybe I'm too "cynical" or something, I'd send all my empty missile tubes and expendable suicide squads in the first wave, all at once like van Riper did. I'd count to 90, because 90 seconds would be enough to empty every Phalanx magazine--and you can bet that those scared Navy computer nerds down in the Operations Room would be holding the red buttons down till the barrels were melting when they realized they were under a real attack. Then, while the grunts below deck were hauling the ammo into position, I'd send the second wave with the real stuff. And that, as they say, would be that. A trillion dollars of US Navy hardware becomes an artificial reef.
There’s a good argument to be made that when our Navy ships were teased in the Gulf two weeks ago they were there because someone hoped they would be attacked. Yes, I know – unthinkable. It was also unthinkable that the entire air defense forces of the United States were ordered to stand down on September 11, 2001. It’s a historical fact that they were, but there seems to be no record of who gave the order.
It all makes me wonder just why someone hasn’t had the sense and the testicles to demand these clowns be removed before they cripple us even more.
I know most of my readers agree with me about the catastrophic results of 14 years of republican management of our country, topped off with George Bu$h. (For all I know, all you readers from the .mil sites sit there at your consoles saying, “Yeah, you olde farte! Get some!”) And I do mean the last 14 years. When Newt Gingrich’s Contract On America brought a swarm of new r’s into Congress, the machinery of government stopped like a transmission full of sand. Bill Clinton might have been President, but the only legislation that got passed was something the republicans wanted, and that group of people wanted government to fail. If you recall they shut down the government several times by refusing to find it.
Now we’re stuck in a republican-engineered eternal war in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’ve got an exhausted Army with inadequate armor, troops rotating in and out of the catbox * soldiers and officers pulling the pin in numbers not seen in many years, and the divorce rate and suicide rate are up dynamically.
The Air Force has deadlined their entire fleet of F-15s because the damned things are breaking up. They want lots of new expensive planes to horse around the sky at 5 G’s playing Terry and the Pirates until those start to fall apart and then they’ll be back with their hands out for ever more ca$h. (And if they don’t get it, the evil terrorists will slip over our undefended borders and cut our throats in our sleep. The only thing that can keep us safe is $300 million fighter planes that are sort of stealthy!)
Thank any deity you like for the Navy. They’ll keep us safe, right?
Well, maybe not. Meatball One channels the War Nerd:, but first a word of warning.
I’ve mentioned Swedish Meatballs before. No one has a defense/ IO webpage quite like them. Actually, most defense-oriented webpages are work safe. And Meatballs may not be.
The War Nerd discusses the greatest Navy in the world and its chances in the Persian Gulf:
You might wonder, if you were real, real naive, why the Navy hasn't tried to learn from what van Ripen [sic] did to them six years ago in the same waters. Well, the truth is that no big, well-funded armed service learns or changes until it absolutely has to, which usually means when it starts to lose a war. And of all services, navies are by far the most stubborn, old-fashioned, snobby, retarded of all. I don't mean the submarine force, which is pretty much God. I mean the brass in their ridiculous floating targets, aka carriers, frigates, tankers and other dive-sites-in-the-making.
If they had any sense they'd realize that the way to deal with big overloaded targets is to saturate their defenses with a swarm of low-cost attackers. If you've got lives to spend, and the Iranians sure do, you spend lives to sink hardware. It's a good trade, when you consider what a carrier costs, and how little the average Iranian life is worth. They're Shia! These guys can't wait to give their lives away. The Kamikazes were squeamish moderates compared to the Revolutionary Guard. And thanks to Silicon Valley and its Chinese knockoffs, you can fire swarms of unmanned rockets instead of Shia martyrs, so you don't even need to spend one life per blip on the US fleet's little screens. You can even send empty rocket tubes as part of the swarm, because in the few seconds the surface vessel has to react, it can't determine which threats are nuke, which are conventional HE and which are decoys.
Of course the Navy insists their ships are safe, because they’ve got great ship-to-ship missiles and Aegis radar and the Phalanx last-resort close-in defense gun.
Hmmm… yes….
[T]he Phalanx was never meant to handle swarms of low-tech attackers. That's not the clean, temperate-zone war the computer dweebs in the Pentagon planned for. See, the original Phalanx only had 1000 rounds in its magazine. The newer models have 1.550, meaning even the USN realized that it was too easy to saturate the target with decoy attacks and deplete the magazine. But 1550 rounds isn't much at that rate of fire--and the Achilles heel of the system is reloading. It's not that easy to hoist 1550 20mm rounds into position, and I don't think either van Riper or the Iranians would be likely to agree to a 15-minute reloading break.
If it was me, and maybe I'm too "cynical" or something, I'd send all my empty missile tubes and expendable suicide squads in the first wave, all at once like van Riper did. I'd count to 90, because 90 seconds would be enough to empty every Phalanx magazine--and you can bet that those scared Navy computer nerds down in the Operations Room would be holding the red buttons down till the barrels were melting when they realized they were under a real attack. Then, while the grunts below deck were hauling the ammo into position, I'd send the second wave with the real stuff. And that, as they say, would be that. A trillion dollars of US Navy hardware becomes an artificial reef.
There’s a good argument to be made that when our Navy ships were teased in the Gulf two weeks ago they were there because someone hoped they would be attacked. Yes, I know – unthinkable. It was also unthinkable that the entire air defense forces of the United States were ordered to stand down on September 11, 2001. It’s a historical fact that they were, but there seems to be no record of who gave the order.
It all makes me wonder just why someone hasn’t had the sense and the testicles to demand these clowns be removed before they cripple us even more.
It seems America is in a lot of economic trouble. The economy is suffering, and we could all sit around and play the blame game, or we could do something about it. (I know, I know, throw out the r’s and vote in Democrats.) That always used to work, and might work this time. But that will put off the recovery until sometime late in 2009, or maybe even 2010.
We need to do something now. Right away. So Mr Bu$h has decided that he’s going to give everyone some incentive- some walking around folding ca$h to just go out and spend, just like he wanted everyone to do after 9/11. We sure showed them Saudis then, didn’t we? We spent like drunken sailors, but somehow the economy got overheated and we have this recession thing – that’s the second one for Mr Bu$h’s occupation of our White House, but as I said this is the time for action, and we can do all the recriminations later.
He’s going to send out these checks - $300 for single people, $600 for couples, and as I understand up to $1600 for people with children. So I decided to write Mr Bu$h and suggest a better plan.
Dear Mr Bu$h,
I know Presidenting is hard work. I’ve watched you now for seven years and you’ve made a royal fuckup of the job. Now, I know you’ve been to college, and to graduate school, so I know you’re a smart guy. So to have a smart guy like you screw up the job is surprising, but I’m not here to lay blame. As I said we need to fix the country and we can do the recriminating later.
I just wanted to point out that, as a widower I’m only supposed to get $300, hut here’s the deal: I’m retired, and don’t work, so I have lots of free time on my hands, and I’m a real patriotic American.
So I want you to send me a check for $3,000. Since I don’t work, I’ve got lots of free time to go shopping and I’ll do everything I can to help you end this second recession of yours.
No need to thank me. I figure it’s my patriotic duty, now that so many multi-millionaire CEOs are out of work, what with the catastrophic collapse coming our way because of the unregulated mortgage things causing our unregulated banking system to fall apart.
The sooner you send me my $3,000 check, the sooner I can get started saving the country.
Your friend,
Lurch
PS: what kind of stuff do you want me to buy? I could use a new TV. Should I buy a TV made in Japan or one made in Korea? I could also use a new computer. I guess they're all just about Japanese now. Should I buy one of those computers the Chinese are making? You know, the ones an American company sold to China? I hear those are pretty good, even if they do have that special doo-dad in there that sends a recap of my day's work overseas every night while I'm sleeping.
Faced with a possible collapse of the world’s banking system brought on by the greed of Wall Street bankers and money grubbers, the Feds have demanded some sort of rescue operation (paid for by the taxpayers, of course.)
Ever eager to grovel before George Bu$h, Nancy Pelosi and her spineless cohorts in the House have agreed to a proposal that will soften the edge of the greedheads' panic by reducing the Fed interest rate in two steps: ¾ of a point was stripped off the Fed interest rate the day before yesterday, and there will be an additional cut, perhaps half a point, signed off on next week.
Wall Street reacted exuberantly yesterday, with the Dow-Jones Industrial average finishing the day up more than 150 points from the start. We can confidently expect another bog jump next week when they Feds give their best friends another bog wet kiss.
Just to pretend that this recession won’t hurt the middle class and the poor there’s even something in it for you and me: we’ll get token tax “rebate” checks, which are actually part of our 2008 tax return payments/credits. That means you have to pay these rebates back next year. But in the meantime you’ll think Nancy loves you.
WASHINGTON — House leaders and the White House on Thursday announced a tentative agreement on an economic stimulus package of roughly $150 billion that would pay stipends of $300 to $1,200 per household, and more for families with children, plus provide tax incentives for businesses to encourage spending.
The accord was announced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. at a Capitol news conference and hailed minutes afterward by President Bush as the fruit of “patience, determination and good will” in both parties.
By now you should understand that if George Bu$h compliments the Dem “leadership” that means he’s laughing at what’s on their chins. And it’s a big load this time.
As it was presented on Thursday afternoon, the package calls for workers who paid income taxes to receive $300 to $600, and couples to receive up to $1,200 — plus $300 more for each child. The stipend, which some lawmakers were calling a “tax rebate,” would be subject to income limits so that the wealthiest taxpayers would not receive it. Payments would go to individuals with adjusted gross incomes under $75,000 and couples with adjusted gross incomes under $150,000. (Late Thursday afternoon, the White House corrected an earlier statement that the $75,000 and $150,000 ceilings applied to taxable incomes.)
Just remember that even some of the politicians are telling the truth. These are “rebates.” If you can remember back a few years when Mr Bu$h fraudulently sent out “rebates” everyone danced for joy. “Oh,what a wonderful kind man he is! He’s giving us our own money early.”
And then we all had to account for it in next year’s tax returns. Watch for the same thing for your 2008 returns.
And even the republicans like this one because not only does it give more tax breaks to businesses, it screws the poor and needy.
[I]t was unclear how the package, without extended unemployment benefits or increased food stamps, would be received by Democrats in the Senate, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, who have said that those proposals offered the best prospects for quickly injecting added spending into the economy. [emph added]
Just to be clear, Nancy couldn’t find it in her to fight for the Americans who need the help the most. If you’re out of work, or need help to feed your kids properly, toughski shitsky, as they say in the Polish Army.
One of the great dreams of the Osprey was that it would deposit Marines with their own organic support weapons, ready to support the assault. It looks as if the Marines might be able to assault with the Osprey, but without mortar support.
When the Marines shipped their V-22 Osprey aircraft to Iraq last year, they had to leave behind the assault vehicles and mobile mortar system that fit inside the planes.
The Marines' new mortar system can't safely carry its ammunition.
That conclusion, from a government audit, is the most recent bad news for the Marines' attempt to ferry firepower inside the Osprey. The Defense Department inspector general is investigating the program, which is two years behind schedule and $15 million over budget.
The system consists of a jeeplike vehicle called the Growler that pulls trailers carrying mortars and ammunition.
Infantrymen who’ve made a combat assault, or dealt with a swiftly-developing meeting engagement, understand just how useful organic mortars can be. They’re right there, on the spot, and can provide the artillery support you need, usually much dater than tubes or heavier artillery, at a distant fire base.
That Growler sounds like a jim-dandy little gadget to schlep round your tubes and ammo. Looks kind of cute, too. Doesn’t it remind you of those Jeeps your grampaw used to drive waay back in “the big one” ? Looks like kind of a short wheelbase, though, doesn’t it?
The Growler, made in Robbins, N.C., costs $127,000 each and cannot safely pull its ammunition trailer, according to interviews and the report from the Government Accountability Office. The trailer has a tendency to bounce or tip over, which could crush a Marine riding in the back of the Growler. A Growler, not pulling a trailer, was reported to have tipped over last summer when it swerved to avoid a turtle in the road.
Oops.
One of the reasons the Army sent away their little Jeeps, and went with the Hummer was the wider stance, thereby ensuring a more stable platform.
Should I infer from the article that the Marines are buying the puppies at $127,000 per, just because they’re tiny enough to fit inside the Osprey?
Didn’t they – you – know – test-drive them first?
Apparently not.
The problems were predictable, said Philip Coyle, who directed the Pentagon's weapons testing from 1994 to 2001. The Marines decided to start production before testing the vehicle and mortars, Coyle said.
"It is a sign of rushing to failure," he said.
Some sailor-boy in green landed on shore with a pocket full of ca$h and said “Now I need me a ride.” And an obliging salesman was right there to show him this cute little go-cart with the macho name.
“Son, what do you do?”
“Sir, I’m a mortarman.”
“Well, son, I’ve got just the thing for you. You know how heavy those mortar tubes are? And how hot and nasty it can be some places? Son, you’re gonna love this unit. It’s got a small wheelbase, so you an turn around in tight corners, and it’s narrow enough that you can fly this thing anywhere you want to. And look! It’s got a trailer hitch so you carry around trailers for your tubes and ammo! And I gave it this great name, ‘Growler.’ Chesty would have loved it.”
“Gee, that sounds great, Sir. How much is it?”
“Well, son, how much have you got?”
“Ummmmm….. about $17 million, sir.”
“Son, you just bought yourself a bunch of go-carts. Your buddies are gonna love them. No need to dirty your nice clean greens test-driving this now. I’ll send it on to your base. No you go have a nice time on shore leave.”
Now I can’t guarantee the conversation went exactly like that, because I don’t really know. Sure, there might have been a bit of poetic license. And the Marines aren’t talking because the Inspector General is really interested in the entire purchase.
The Marines won't discuss the program, known as the Expeditionary Fire Support System, because of the Defense Department's investigation.
Now, that DOD IG might not say anything harsh about the whole matter. That office has a spotty record, after all.
But they probably can’t miss this:
The contract award was controversial because the founder of Carolina Growler, Terry Crews, is a retired Marine colonel with strong connections. The Defense Department received an anonymous complaint claiming that Crews was a close friend of Brig. Gen. William Catto, who headed the agency that awarded the contract, Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va.
The complainant, who identified himself as a career procurement professional, said Catto steered the contract to Carolina Growler and General Dynamics.
After demonstrations from three companies, the selection committee recommended the contract go to a team of United Defense, which supplied the mortar, and Rae-Beck Automotive of Michigan, which built a new vehicle from scratch. According to the complaint, the United Defense bid was technically superior and cost less, while the Growler flunked crucial tests and was coupled to a much more expensive mortar system.
Gasp. Shocking, simply shocking. I also liked the part about buying a mortar system from General Dynamics, because, you see, the Marine Corps apparently doesn’t own any mortars.
There was a time when laws in the United States protected the weak and innocent from predators and warranted that criminals will be punished. That calculus has been reversed in the Age of Bu$h. Now we are all victims and George Bu$h, Dick “dick” Cheney and their criminal partners see us all as sheep to be fleeced.
The latest FISA atrocity, S2248, is due to expire by sunset provision on February 1st. This bill not only allows George Bu$h to have everybody in the US eavesdropped upon, it releases the telecoms from breaking the law (which they did) when they agreed to start wiretapping a month after Messers Bu$h and Cheney stole our White House and then took office in January 2001.
What we now have seen of the Bu$h malAdministration and its policy is that everything it does, says, plans, or initiates has only one basic function: achieving domestic political goals. It requires no stretch of the imagination to understand that the first targets of electronic information capture were Democratic politicians and those journalists and reporters considered unfriendly to the republican Party.
Considering that over the last seven years the Democratic “leadership” has gone out of its way to grovel and bootlick for George Bu$h those first few heady months of listening in on their landline and cell phone calls and emails must have been remarkable. During the height of the Cold War, the heads of GRU and KGB would have killed their mothers, wives, and children for the chance to learn one-tenth of the intelligence data that fell to Mt Bu$h in those first few months. I fail to see why anyone who has thought this out is surprised at what the Democrats have acquiesced to in order to keep their secrets from the public.
And now Mr Bu$h has demanded that they not only immunize the telecoms from legal liability, but also himself and others of his criminal gang.
And the Democrats, desperate to hide their privacy from their employers, the citizens of this country, will grant him what he wants, yet again.
Senator Chris Dodd has pledged to filibuster this bill. Why not contact his office and thank him for this effort?
If you think this is the wrong way to run a country, call your Senators.
In fact, it might not be a bad idea to call Harry Reid because he’s the one who’s most anxious to accommodate Mr Bu$h. Despite the fact that he’s in this Bu$h enabling up to his scrawny turkey neck he’s still a US Senator, and it’s appropriate to be diplomatic and polite when talking to his staffer.
Senator Harry Reid Harry (R - NV) (202) 224-3542 [OK, he's not officially an "r" - he just acts like one. as I said, I'd love to know what George Bu$h heard about his phone calls early in 2001.]
You could probably ask Senator Reid’s staffer why republicans are allowed to just say they want to filibuster and that’s good enough to kill a bill, but he’s going to force democrats to actually do the filibuster.
Senator Harry Reid Harry (R - NV) (202) 224-3542 [OK, he's not officially an "r" - he just acts like one. as I said, I'd love to know what George Bu$h heard about his phone calls early in 2001.]
You could probably ask Senator Reid’s staffer why republicans are allowed to just say they want to filibuster and that’s good enough to kill a bill, but he’s going to force democrats to actually do the filibuster.
UPDATE: Erroneous link fixed. I am a sloppy man sometimes.
This morning’s NY Times has a classic hit piece written by Michael Powell and Chris Bluettner that excoriates Presidential hopeful (heh!) Rudy Giuiani. It seems Mr Giuliani practiced the Bu$h method of political control while mayor. A vengeful, petty tyrant who uses his underlings to punish anyone who dares speak against his “greatness.” And most surprisingly, he’s a republican!
We learn that he went after a whistleblower complaining about some sort of police department sting at a Bronx Zoo traffic light, and the cops were sent to his house to arrest him on a 13-year old traffic warrant which was thrown out of court. The man won a $290,000 settlement for being treated illegally. A case worker revealed the city had made mistakes in assessing and handling a child’s danger in a domestic manner and the child died as a result. The case worker was fired.
The list goes on and on.
[F]ar more than his predecessors, historians and politicians say, his toughness edged toward ruthlessness and became a defining aspect of his mayoralty. One result: New York City spent at least $7 million in settling civil rights lawsuits and paying retaliatory damages during the Giuliani years.
That’s not toughness; that’s being a bully. An outraged man would consider the very long list of Americans publicly crucified by Mr Bu$h's Renfields.
There’s been a lot of recent commentary in blogtopia (y!sctp) about Mr Giuliani being a “small man in search of a balcony” and other such comparisons with Benito Mussolini, along with some very imaginative (and cruel) photoshopping of the late Mr Mussolini and Mr Giuliani, who, it appears has a political career that could be described as “late.”
Bloggers will be bloggers. There will always be people who will point fingers and keyboards in derision at political figures. That goes with the glamour of being a public figure. If you don’t want to be vulnerable to public scorn pick a trade that doesn’t put you in front of cameras.
The thing that bothers me most about today’s Times article is its applicability.
Where were you clowns six years ago, when a democracy slowly being strangled needed people other than Democrats held up for ridicule?
Paul Bogosian is a lifetime US government bureaucrat. He graduated from college in 1972, enlisted in the Army and then got a Master’s degree. He has been working for us since 1976. He recently gave a talk at Association of the U.S. Army's (AUSA) Aviation Expo in Arlington, Va., Jan. 10th and discussed the future of Army Aviation.
U.S. Army Must Reinvigorate Future Rotorcraft Design, Aviation PEO Says
As the U.S. Army begins to shape its future concept of operations for vertical systems, the service needs to begin thinking more creatively about new designs and technology if it is to advance its rotorcraft capabilities, aviation program officer Paul Bogosian says.
"The concern is...we're fielding essentially the same kind of aircraft" with the same characteristics as in the past[.]We've contributed to behavior in the industry where we've invested heavily in existing platforms or building new versions of existing platforms."
A Teal Group study on the world rotorcraft market essentially said the same thing in August 2007, calling the nature of Army procurement "completely derivative." The study pointed out Sikorsky's newest offering, the upgraded UH-60M, is a modernized Black Hawk, and Boeing's CH-47F is a modernized version of an aircraft from 1962. Army Aviation wants to "reawaken" a drive for new designs and technology, Bogosian said. "Compound helicopters, more speed, what kinds of requirements for lift are associated with a future force?" He added that it is important to answer those questions and then "align science and technology investments to pursue those needs."
Bogosian had hoped to make "a more dramatic impact" on Army aviation science and technology (S&T) spending in an upcoming Program Objective Memorandum (POM), but Army Aviation lacks the "clarity and force to do that" right now. Which, he said, is "not a bad thing, considering DOD's consideration of the Joint Heavy Lift," which could have the effect of defining the next set of technologies for the industry. By the 2012-2017 POM, Bogosian added, "we'll see a dramatic realignment of aviation S&T."
It sounds to me as if Joe Taxpayer is going to be asked for $ome $erious money to keep Bell-Boeing and Lockheed Martin afloat as heavy combat in Iraq slowly recedes into the history books with a Democratic Administration.
I'm fine with giving the troops the best equipment possible. I just resent paying for it with carloads of $1,000 bills.
Some quick computation on the back of a napkin tells me Mr Bogosian is about ready to retire, too. I’ll just bet he’ll want to find a new job in some industry he knows something about.
After a prolonged period of imprisonment, a deranged blogger has finally broken free of his captors. Advise the FBI to call off the search. (Unless, of course, you believe that….)
Note to my lawyer: don’t pay the ransom. I did manage to find this in a newspaper on the floor of the cell, however, and it might explain a lot about the CIA’s “send George a copy” torture tapes controversy.
A representative of the VA sent Jesse Wendel of the Group News Blog an email after reading his carrying my original story about the “MkII Pencil test” of body armor. The email denied the truth of assertion by military officials that soldiers who wore Dragon Skin armor into combat would be penalized if they died. It was claimed that the soldiers beneficiaries would be denied the SGLI payment.
Jesse Wendel sent me a copy of an email he received regarding the SGLI denial story.
Folks:
My title is below. One of my responsibilities is managing the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) program on behalf of the Department of Veterans Affairs. I have been involved in the SGLI program for nearly 30 years.
I can assure you, there is ZERO truth to the statement about SGLI not being payable if the service member is injured or killed while wearing or not wearing that Dragon body armor or any other item.
99% of active duty service members have elected to be insured under SGLI. Except for extraordinarily serious situations, such as treason, desertion, etc. SGLI death proceeds are always payable for those individuals. SGLI is 24/7 coverage, everywhere in the world, and is payable whether the death is combat-related or not.
Please correct your story, or at least advise your staffs to not repeat the erroneous information in the future. Thank you very much.
Steve
Jesse and I have taken it as accurate and honest in tone and tenor. There is no need to contact jim by phone or email and discuss the matter with him. It goes without saying there is no need to appoint oneself a soldiers’ collective representative and abuse him in anyway at all.
Obviously, the next step was to backtrack the SGLI denial story. This story emanates from a January 14, 2006 article written by Nathaniel Helms under the DefenseWatch subsection of the pro-soldier Soldiers For The Truth which was started and inspired by COL David Hackworth, one of the greatest infantry soldiers the US was ever honored to have wear its uniform.
Go read the original, which I have excerpted, and decide for yourself. Remember: the issue here is not whether soldiers were actually denied their SGLI benefits, but whether or not the Army intentionally, mendaciously and dishonorably lied to troops going into combat.
Two deploying soldiers and a concerned mother reported Friday afternoon that the U.S. Army appears to be singling out soldiers who have purchased Pinnacle's Dragon Skin Body Armor for special treatment. The soldiers, who are currently staging for combat operations from a secret location, reported that their commander told them if they were wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin and were killed their beneficiaries might not receive the death benefits from their $400,000 SGLI life insurance policies. The soldiers were ordered to leave their privately purchased body armor at home or face the possibility of both losing their life insurance benefit and facing disciplinary action.
The soldiers asked for anonymity because they are concerned they will face retaliation for going public with the Army's apparently new directive. At the sources' requests DefenseWatch has also agreed not to reveal the unit at which the incident occured for operational security reasons.
On Saturday morning a soldier affected by the order reported to DefenseWatch that the directive specified that "all" commercially available body armor was prohibited. The soldier said the order came down Friday morning from Headquarters, United States Special Operations Command (HQ, USSOCOM), located at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. [editor: Special Ops soldiers are usually not given to telling tall tales unless it is at a bar.] It arrived unexpectedly while his unit was preparing to deploy on combat operations. The soldier said the order was deeply disturbiing to many of the men who had used their own money to purchase Dragon Skin because it will affect both their mobility and ballistic protection. [emph added]
"We have to be able to move. It (Dragon Skin) is heavy, but it is made so we have mobility and the best ballistic protection out there. This is crazy. And they are threatening us with our benefits if we don't comply." he said.
The soldier reiterated Friday's reports that any soldier who refused to comply with the order and was subsequently killed in action "could" be denied the $400,000 death benefit provided by their SGLI life insurance policy as well as face disciplinary action.
As of this report Saturday morning the Army has not yet responded to a DefenseWatch inquiry.
…
One of the soldiers who lost his coveted Dragon Skin is a veteran operator. He reported that his commander expressed deep regret upon issuing his orders directing him to leave his Dragon Skin body armor behind. The commander reportedly told his subordinates that he "had no choice because the orders came from very high up" and had to be enforced, the soldier said. Another soldier's story was corroborated by his mother, who helped defray the $6,000 cost of buying the Dragon Skin, she said.
The mother of the soldier, who hails from the Providence, Rhode Island area, said she helped pay for the Dragon Skin as a Christmas present because her son told her it was "so much better" than the Interceptor OTV they expected to be issued when arriving in country for a combat tour.
"He didn't want to use that other stuff," she said. "He told me that if anything happened to him I am supposed to raise hell."
At the time the orders were issued the two soldiers had already loaded their Dragon Skin body armor onto the pallets being used to air freight their gear into the operational theater, the soldiers said. They subsequently removed it pursuant to their orders.
Currently nine U.S. generals stationed in Afghanistan are reportedly wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin body armor, according to company spokesman Paul Chopra. Chopra, a retired Army chief warrant officer and 20+-year pilot in the famed 160th "Nightstalkers" Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), said his company was merely told the generals wanted to "evaluate" the body armor in a combat environment. Chopra said he did not know the names of the general officers wearing the Dragon Skin. [emph added]
While searching to track down the original story which emanated from the Solders For The Truth webpage I happened upon this interesting tidbit:
Former Head of Army's Body Armor Program Under Criminal Investigation
Retired Army Colonel John D. Norwood (West Point '80), former head of the Army office responsible for body armor, is reported to be under criminal investigation for alleged violations of federal law related to his taking a post-retirement job with Armor Holdings, Inc., one of the major providers of Interceptor Body Armor to the Army .
Two sources aware of the investigation have told DefenseWatch that at least three federal agencies are investigating Norwood's transition from being the Project Manager for Soldier Equipment under PEO-SOLDIER (from 2003 until his retirement in the summer of 2006) to his post-retirement job as a Vice President of the Aerospace & Defense Group of Armor Holdings.
Editor's Note: Effective August 1, 2007 BAE became the owner of Armor Holdings, Inc., and the new owners assigned components of former Armor Holdings to already existing divisions within BAE. A representative of BAE confirmed to DefenseWatch that Col. Norwood is a current employee with the title of "Vice President for Business Development" of a BAE component. This representative stated that he was "unaware of any investigation involving Col. John Norwood."
(DefenseWatch first exposed Norwood's trip through the revolving door from a senior position in the Army's body armor program responsible for Interceptor Body Armor (IBA) to a senior position with Armor Holdings.)
A third source, a long-time member of the personal protective equipment industry, has told DefenseWatch that one of the specific allegations for which Norwood is being investigated involves possible illegal actions with regard to classified information.
DefenseWatch will continue to pursue this story and keep its readers informed as more information becomes available.
Editor's Note: It is important to emphasize: (1) that Norwood is entitled to the presumption of innocence. To this point a criminal investigation is underway. And, (2) that an investigation means only that federal law enforcement agencies are gathering evidence that will be presented to a US Attorney for determination as to whether the evidence is sufficient to move forward to the next level of legal proceedings, i.e., presentation of evidence to a federal grand jury. A DefenseWatch email to Norwood's personal/home email account has not been answered.
By the way, that interior link to Defense Watch, in which they state they first learned of the investigation, is worth quoting too. It is dated March 23, 2007.
A Sad Reality - Four West Pointers At The Heart Of The Body Armor Scandal
Those readers of DefenseWatch who have followed SFTT's efforts over the past year and a half to get honest and completely transparent comparative testing of all available both armor, including, but not necessarily restricted to both Dragon Skin and the currently issued Interceptor Body Armor system, know that from time to time there's been a tad -- okay, maybe more than a tad -- of anger in my writings on this subject. After all, it's truly an issue of life-or-death importance to America's Grunts.
This column is however, written much more in sadness and sorrow than in anger.
West Point graduates have contributed so much, for so many years, to the defense of our great nation, and in other areas as well. Two have been presidents.
But, it is on our country's many battlefields over the last two centuries that The Long Gray Line has earned the respect and gratitude that distinguishes West Point from all other institutions in our nation.
Two of the warriors that Hack respected most are West Point grads who continue to serve their country by being members of the SFTT Advisory Board: Lt. Gen. Henry E. "Hank" Emerson USA (Ret.), Class of 1947, and Lt.Gen. Harold G. "Hal" Moore, USA (Ret.), Class of 1945. Their records of distinguished and heroic performance as combat leaders speak for themselves, and need no repeating here.
Consequently, to have discovered that several West Pointers have played key roles in ensuring that inferior body armor continues to be issued to our great troops is a particular and sharp disappointment to this writer.
Before I get into the specifics of who are these "disappointments," and what just what were their roles in continuing the status quo when undeniable evidence proves a better body armor is available, I want to quote from an email received just this morning.
Like the combat leadership achievements of Hank Emerson and Hal Moore, this email speaks for itself.
I will identify the sender as a father of an sergeant of infantry, with one combat tour in Iraq behind him, and another tour coming up later this year. (Due to this father's diligence, SFTT has recently obtained some amazing information that will be shared with our readers in the next few weeks. Stand by.)
There’s much more to this story of apparent corruption within the US Army’s body armor criterion and selection board.
The letter referred to above must be read since it forms a pertinent part of this ongoing story.
As the editor notes above a presumption of innocence must be made. Are any of you familiar with how a military investigation is conducted? Early on you’re given an “Article 32” hearing, which often includes the proceedings required under Article 31, and is the military’s equivalent under UCMJ and is approximately analogous to the civilian law enforcement agencies conducting an investigation, issuing a Miranda warning, and performing the sort of detailed collection and consideration of evidence done by a grand jury in the civilian world.
Having granted COL Norwood his due right to be considered innocent, it’s noteworthy to remember that by the time the military gets to Article 32, there is an assumption that the matter will go further, and that’s all I’m going to say about the matter for now.
Most military summoned to an Article 32 hearing bring a defense attorney with them for very good reason.
The very well-respected blog Mountain Runner is one of the leaders of the pack on this topic, and posted this up several days ago. I was lazy took my time about mentioning it.
Another slap in the face of George Bu$h’s elitist contempt for the average American.
French Warship to Deliver 10,000 Books to Disadvantaged U.S. Children
This Christmas, Santa Claus is leaving his reindeer behind and hitching a ride on… a French warship! The Jeanne d’Arc, a helicopter carrier which serves as a training ship for French navy midshipmen, will dock into New York Harbor on Friday December 28 carrying over 10,000 books destined for disadvantaged American students, giving new meaning to the expression “turning swords into ploughshares.” The French books, including dictionaries and textbooks, but also novels and comic books, will be offered to the children participating in New York’s newly launched French-English dual-language programs, as well as to New Orleans schools devastated by hurricane Katrina.
A delegation of students from the Jordan L. Mott Middle School (CIS 22) in the Bronx, one of the three schools that have launched a French-English dual-language program this year (the other two are PS 125 in Harlem and PS 58 in Brooklyn), will be welcomed on-board the ship at 2pm on the 28 th. Following a performance by their school band and a tour of the two French ships (the Jeanne d’Arc will be accompanied by the antisubmarine warfare destroyer Georges Leygues), they will take delivery of the books on behalf of all the schools involved. Sixty of the eighty crates will remain in New York, while the rest will be shipped overland to New Orleans.
At 3pm, the ship’s commander, Captain Hervé Bléjean, will hold a press conference in the presence of Catherine Petillon, the French Embassy’s Attaché for Educational Affairs.
…
This unusual delivery was initiated, coordinated and financed by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, but the books themselves have been donated by two French associations, Adiflor and Biblionef. Both specialize in providing French-language books, which are either new or in excellent condition, to needy children throughout the world. The French Embassy’s contribution comes in addition to the $100,000 the French government has recently earmarked to support dual-language programs in New York City public schools.
Students participating in these dual-language programs are being partially immersed in a French-language environment, with half of their classes taking place in French, and half in English. They are expected to become completely bilingual after five years of such bilingual teaching.
The Jeanne d’Arc will remain moored in New York until January 2 at Pier 92 ( West 52th Street). It will be open for visits by New York area children learning French and their parents from December 29-31 (schools with French-language programs will receive the necessary registration information).
Jeanne d’Arc shows its respect to George Bu$h
The Bu$hCo has spent its time, efforts, and our tax money, performing what it interprets as the proper venue for “public diplomacy” – domestic propaganda, with a little bit of spillover around the word. Its record precedes it, and the stench of evil, predatory fascism has spread an oil slick of contempt for all civilized behavior. The nations of the world have quire properly returned that contempt.
Can you remember back to 2002 when the French were roundly criticized by the room-temperature IQs of the never-right for refusing to join the great glorious crusade to get even with someone who had done us no harm? Oh, what great fun we had, laughing about “freedom fries” and “freedom toast” and “Spanish salad dressing! Morons like Patrick McHenry (Fascist-VA) took repeated victory laps before the fawning news cameras for his little bit of cleverness. After we got well-stuck in the tar baby, and France, in its own orgy of bigotry over immigrants, elected its very own Fascist, all was forgiven.
France was the country that came to the aid of a desperate Colonial Army in 1778, and poured money, international assistance and recognition, soldiers and naval support into our struggle. The two countries found themselves allied once again during the war of 1812, and the friendship and mutual admiration society was off and running. It was France, not Great Britain, that honored American Freedom with a magnificent tribute, a gift that has been the lodestone of oppressed peoples around the world.
And now, in the days of George Bu$h’s No Child Left Behind, when only white children attending Christian private schools seem to be entitled to a great education, once again France has stepped forward.
As we stagger off into the year of 2008 I’ll offer my very best wishes to all of you. May your health be better than in 2007. May happiness and comfort surround you and your loved ones. May you be able to hold onto your jobs in Mr Bu$h’s “booming” economy, and if you are fortunate enough to have health insurance, I hope you keep it, and that it will cover you and your family in time of need.
Finally I hope that we will be allowed to hold elections next November, and despite the desperate efforts of the republican Party to steal yet another election, I hope sufficient numbers of outraged patriots stand on the poll lines for the 6, 7, 8, or 9 hours necessary to overcome the republican voting machines and elect a Democrat to the White House, and enough real Democrats to Congress so that we may begin the process of removing the stain George Bu$h and his fellow conspirators have put on our nation.
Thank you, one and all, for reading Main and Central through this year.
Many well-qualified writers have poured copious amounts of ink, and untold billions of electrons, onto a continuing record of the assault by the Bu$h malAdministration upon the US Constitution, the foundation of our way of life, and I’ve tried to add my own small efforts to the total history.
The historical record is long, and exhausting to contemplate. I used to think “Someone should be keeping a record of all this, because one day, prosecutors and historians will need this.”
It seems someone might have been. Either that or markthshark has mad research skills.
By all means invest the time and patience to read the entire piece. Save your anger until the end, and then call or write your CongressCritters.
If you have nothing more left in you to say, just tell them that we’re watching them.
In the aftermath of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan remains chaotic in many areas. As is often the case, Professor Juan Cole has an excellent detailing of the troubles. Pakistani citizens appear to be very outraged by Ms Bhutto’s death, and I get the impression that believe President Musharraf, or proxies of his, had a hand in her death.
Points of interest include reports from several sources that government security forces apparently withdrew shortly before the shooting and bomb explosion, and the muddled matter of the cause of her death. Josh Marshall was on this story all day yesterday and has a few posts about it. Key points include the fact that the Pakistan Government’s official position is that she was not killed by a bullet or a piece of bomb shrapnel, but rather by hitting her head against a piece of the car she was traveling in when she ducked in reaction to the shots or the explosion. This stands in direct contrast to statements by doctors describing a large wound in the side of her head caused by something hitting her. Several of Josh’s readers with medical qualifications have written in to offer a studied, professional “bullshit” to the government narrative.
Dr. Mussadiq Khan of Rawalpindi General Hospital, who treated Bhutto before she was declared dead, said she had "a big wound" on the side of her head "that usually occurs when something big, with a lot of speed, hits that area."
Ms Bhutto’s family refused permission for an autopsy, and had her buried quickly, which I believe is a religious requirement common to Islam and Judaism.
The Government’s story varied throughout the day, with some details changing several times. The apparent settling on the “official” narrative that she died when she ducked would seem to be in line with the supposition of Ken Reynolds, interviewed by CNN.
CNN national security analyst Ken Robinson, who worked in U.S. intelligence in Pakistan during the Clinton administration, said he suspects Bhutto's enemies are attempting to control her legacy by minimizing the attack's role in her demise.
"They're trying to deny her a martyr's death, and in Islam, that's pretty important," Robinson said.
Bhutto, he said, threatens to become more influential in death than she was in life. "Her torch burns bright now forever. She's forever young; she's forever brave, challenging against all odds the party in power and challenging the military and Islamic extremism."
This opinion emphasizes the desire of the Musharraf government to deny Ms Bhutto a place in legend, and to short-circuit the Pakistan Peoples Party the icon of a martyr killed in opposition to Musharraf.
The Pakistani government quickly blamed the killing on Al-Qaeda and a-Q in fact has claimed they are responsible for her death. Whether these two facts are coincidental or convenient you’d have to judge for yourself.
Professor Cole has noted that several US politicians have “called for” an independent investigation under the auspices of the UN, adding that the Pakistani military dictatorship’s credibility is “low.” A skeptical man might wonder whether President Musharraf would be eager to have such a body finger-walking through his country. Based solely upon recent observations it seems to me the only country in the world that believes itself above such independent international commissions is the US, although I can’t imagine why.
UPDATE: Reader Dubhaltach, from Gorilla's Guides notes that there is a prescribed 40 day period or mourning, and forecasts some serious domestic disturbances somewhere around February 5th, 2008. We can be certain this fact has escaped the fully-politicized Bu$hCo Department of State, but oxygen breathers should take notes.
I think just about everyone agrees our GIs have had their helmets and heads unscrewed by the Bu$h malAdministration and their necks have been toiletized by these evil criminals. I’m confident that everyone on the oxygen-breathing side of the universe believes that. Over there among the Bu$h Jugend they of course believe that Heaven’s gift to the Heimat can do no wrong. It‘s just a matter of Will, you know.
Suffering deaths and maiming because of inadequate armor, being sent into a combat zone with unarmored vehicles, given spoiled food and filthy water, attacked by patriotic Iraqis who resented the occupation of their country, dragged back to Iraq a third, fourth, and fifth time, their families shattered, divorce rife with children that don’t even recognize their fathers because they’ve spent more time with their platoons than with their families, our GIs have been through the mill.
Once more spitting in the faces of our soldiers, Mr Bu$h has vetoed a $555 Billion defense appropriation bill recently passed by Congress at his demand. The criminals in the White House don’t like a provision in the bill that might allow Americans or corporations suing the Iraq government to freeze Iraqi financial assets during any lawsuit.
The Iraqi government asked the USG to do something about this. Mr Bu$h did. He vetoed the bill.
A cynical man might think that if somehow Baghdad started looking like Saigon, 1975 in the near future the government of Iraq – you know – that “sovereign” entity that controls most of the Green Zone (except for the areas occupied by Backwater and the other Teflon mercenaries) – might have to suddenly shift the finds of that “sovereign” country to some other banking system in some other country with banking regulations a bit more opaque than in the US, if you get my drift and I think you do.
The veto threat startled Democratic congressional leaders, who believe Bush is bowing to pressure from the Iraqi government over a provision meant to help victims of state-sponsored terrorism. The veto is unexpected because there was no veto threat and the legislation passed both chambers of Congress overwhelmingly.
…
"We understand that the president is bowing to the demands of the Iraqi government, which is threatening to withdraw billions of dollars invested in U.S. banks if this bill is signed," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), in a joint statement. “The administration should have raised its objections earlier, when this issue could have been addressed without a veto."
A White House spokesman said the veto would officially be delivered by Dec. 31. The dispute could be settled in late January when Congress returns if Democratic leaders agree to tweak the language before sending the bill back to the White House.
I wonder whether there really are any lawsuits that could endanger the bank accounts of the “sovereign” Iraq. A cynical man might wonder whether the US banking system could easily weather a sudden withdrawal of the Iraq money, following right on the heels of the subprime mortgage flim-flam meltdown. Is everyone up to speed with the idea that the banks are far more important that the troops?
At issue is a provision deep in the defense authorization bill, which would essentially allow victims of state sponsored terrorism to sue those countries for damages. The Iraqi government believes the provision, if applied to the regime of Saddam Hussein, could target up to $25 billion in Iraqi assets held in U.S. banks. Iraq has threatened to pull all of its money out of the U.S. banking system if the provision remains in the bill.
I know you will be surprised to learn that all Iraq funds were in fact frozen by President Clinton on February 16, 1993, by Executive Order 12722, and reinforced by Mr Bu$h in Executive Order 13303, as detailed in this Salon piece by Andrew Cockburn.
I haven’t been able to find any legal authority unlocking these funds, and would appreciate it if someone can point me to any such ruling or law.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the disputed provision "would permit plaintiffs’ lawyers immediately to freeze Iraqi funds and would expose Iraq to massive liability in lawsuits concerning the misdeeds of the Saddam Hussein regime. The new democratic government of Iraq, during this crucial period of reconstruction, cannot afford to have its funds entangled in such lawsuits in the United States."
So, if you were brutalized by Saddam Hussein’s government, and you thought you could get some justice by good old American revenge by cash, you’re just out of luck.
Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) was angered that the White House decided on a veto long after the bill passed both chambers of Congress.
"It is unfortunate that the administration failed to identify the concerns upon which this veto is based until after the bill had passed both houses on Congress and was sent to the President for signature," Levin said. "I am deeply disappointed that our troops and veterans may have to pay for their mistake and for the confusion and uncertainty caused by their snafu.”
The item in the defense authorization bill causing all the hubbub was inserted by Senator Frank Lautenburg (D-NJ) with 30 Senatorial co-sponsors.
Lautenberg contends that his provision is aimed at holding countries like Iran responsible for state sponsored terrorism, including the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beruit in 1983. The measure would allow plaintiffs to target hidden commercial assets owned by countries that sponsor terrorism, and the language is not aimed at Iraq specifically. The Lautenberg amendment has 30 cosponsors, including a handful of conservative Republicans like Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.).
“My language allows American victims of terror to hold perpetrators accountable — plain and simple,” Lautenberg said. “After months of negotiations over this bill, it is hard to understand why President Bush would suddenly veto this bipartisan proposal at the last minute. The President should be listening to the pleas of Americans victims of terror and their families and should help give them the justice they deserve.”
The problem was known about more than a week ago, and was mentioned in this ABC News piece dated December 19th.
Mr Bu$h could have avoided all this by mentioning the matter before the bill was passed. We all know he’s quick enough to shriek in front of cameras and threaten a veto of other bills he considers too kind to the “little people.”
Yet, surprisingly, he waited until the very last second, after the bill was passed overwhelmingly, and transmitted to our desk in the Oval Office he occupies, to complain.
Government by tantrum is no way to run a railroad, Mr Bu$h.
A tip of the Kevlar helmet to reader Neil O’C for shoving this story over the transom.
Today is when Western nations traditionally mark the birth of a small child, born to parents in an occupied land. The family will soon be refugees when the land’s ruler learns of a prophecy that a child born in a particular city will bring about the destruction of the ruler’s realm.
The child grows to be a man, following in his father’s footsteps to become a carpenter, as was traditional in those days. History tells us little of his growing years other than that, sometime around his bar mitzbah, the traditional celebration of manhood, he astounded the priests in the temple with his knowledge of law and faith. Many today believe he was following in the footsteps of his other father, the creator and law-giver, and revere the words we are told he spoke as he taught his other father’s lessons.
When people write of this day they frequently use words like “hope,” “love,” and “compassion,” all concepts that are sadly lacking in this 21st century. As we stagger into 2008, CE, we see around us on every side war, oppression, cruelty, and hatred. Even those who grandly and publicly profess to be the most devout followers of this man seem to take great pride in turning their backs on his teachings. It is more than unseemly for religious leaders to advocate war, killing, torture, cruelty, and other barbarities. It is in fact obscene, but too many of today’s leaders have lost their way and use the veil of religion to hide the scars of political ambition and lust for power that have marked their souls for eternity.
In these days a nation conceived in the principles of Enlightenment liberalism is being dragged steadily and remorselessly into the pit of fascism.
The first ten amendments to the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. Those successful revolutionaries who tore this country away from an oppressive and neglectful British crown thought so highly of these certain rights that had been ignored by the British king that they were specifically enumerated and added to the Constitution to enshrine their importance.
We have seen many of these rights summarily taken away from us under the pretense of “protecting” us when in fact we are less safe today than we were seven years ago. The actions of those who lied, cheated, and stole their way into positions of power have formed the basis for many dark theories of conspiracy.
Most of these “leaders” have shown distressing hints that they intend to make their time in office permanent, establishing a form of government that patriots died to reject over 200 years ago. Members of the Executive and Legislative bodies are feared and despised all over the world. Members of the Legislative branch recently took time out from their busy schedule of ignoring the wishes of the American people to strongly affirm their dedication to the man whose birth we celebrate today, and to his teachings. They did this even as they refused to take active steps to condemn, and stop, the torture of helpless prisoners.
The press, those whose duty in the defense of liberty is enshrined in the Bill of Rights, is rightly charged with the solemn obigation of safeguarding the freedom of the citizens, to ensure that the US Government does not trample upon them. But the press has been co-opted by forces more interested in profit than liberty, and great swathes of the Press has aligned itself with the ideologues now determined to transform this country into something more commonly seen in some corrupt third world backwater banana republic.
Our economy and financial system has been bastardized, turned into something resembling a street corner three-car monte con in which only the insiders can win. Wealth that was once evident in most families has been ripped from the pockets of the middle class and concentrated in the hands of a very small and fortunate minority. Jobs that once paid a decent wage, enough to allow a family to live with pride, have been sent overseas by multinational corporations, sacrificed on the altar of profit. With the connivance of our lawmakers, banks have become predators, sucking the very lifeblood of those desperately trying to stay afloat in an economy rigged against them.
We approach a national election to choose new leaders, unsure that those who direct our nation’s course in the affairs of the world will permit them to occur, and also unsure whether they will be fair elections, or rigged and stolen like the last few we’ve had.
Those politicians running for office are collectively a dim lot, a frightening shadow of our present rulers – a pack of mediocre authoritarians who seem unable to develop a new course for the country, and instead advocate more of what got us to the edge of the abyss we are presently teetering on.
But for one day let us put aside our dark present and the specter of an even darker future and celebrate the message of the day.
May this day bring you and your families the happiness, joy, love, and good will that was the primary teaching of that child that legend tells us was born on this day over 2000 year ago. May your children shout and cry out with happiness and glee. May your argumentative uncle for once shut his yap and pass out early – hopefully not into the mashed potatoes. May your table be overflowing with the bounty of the earth, and may the music be joyous and hopeful as befits the day.
Time enough to worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes.
“Rove’s Book Sold for Half of What He Expected - And Buyer Was Mary Matalin”
adds a great comment from there:
Now, this would actually be funny,if it wasn’t so pathetic. It’s bizarre how none of the “real” publishing houses want to touch this with a 100-foot pole. Maybe they think they’ll be somehow complicit in the lies and high crimes and felonies if they publish it. Matalan is such a stupid dope that she’s probably thinking she’s doing the world a favor. Blechhhhh, may they all rot in hell.
Maybe Mary Matalin is a shrew(d) businesswoman who expects book sales to soar when Rove hits death row.
Say, under some sort of community property rules, doesn’t that mean that half of the advance came out of the wallet of that staunch Liberal, James Carville?
And, with a lovely veronica followed by a perfect estocada kills that fucking bull with the sword.
Isn't there a 'Son of Sam' law that prevents criminals from cashin' in on their crimes? Doesn't look like there's gonna be much profit on this one in any case.
Note to Turdblossom: I'd like to see your life story of lies published posthumously by the Charmin folks so I could wipe my ass with it. Next week would be OK, but I'll wait until ya get the Texas needle as a reward for everything you've done to this country.
Ole! We award Gordo two greasy Turdblossom ears and a slimy tail for his efforts.
Barely Political, the folks that produced the “Obama Girl” video last Summer have a new one dedicated to - well, just check out the title, y’all an git down on it.
Marc Armbinder is reporting that Joe Lieberman (R-Tel Aviv) is supporting John McCain for President. This is hardly surprising as Senator McCain has been by far the most wild-eyed supporter among the Republicans for the Oded Yinon Strategy, which calls for the destruction of all of Israel’s neighbors.
Senator McCain’s endorsement this morning by both the Boston Globe and Des Moines Register in the New Hampshire and Iowa primaries could breathe new life in the old warhorse’s campaign. If he has a respectable showing in Iowa and New Hampshire, it might even attract some funding to his campaign, which is presently mired in fifth place in the issues-free National Seventh Grade Popularity Contest administered by our bought-and-paid-for Corporate Media.
While the Des Moines Registerdescribed Senator McCain and Senator Clinton the most competent and ready to lead, there are some who might disagree.
"With dissension at home and distrust abroad, as American troops continue to fight wars on two fronts, the times call for two essential qualities in the next American president," the Register’s editorial board concluded. "Those qualities became the paramount considerations in making endorsements for the Democratic and Republican nominees in the 2008 Iowa caucuses.
"The times call for competence. Americans want their government to work again.
The times call for readiness to lead. Americans want their country to do great things again. They’ll regain trust in their government when they see a president make that happen."
The Des Moines Register editorial board may not have noticed it, but what Americans actually want is someone dedicated to the premise that American is a nation of laws, and the people overwhelmingly want to see some serious war crime trials, with many, many, many long-term imprisonments, and if we’re really lucky about 25 or 30 executions for treason.
While all the Republican candidates (except for Ron Paul) are for more war, more torture, and less taxes for the millionaires, which very surprisingly include themselves, if I really had to stick my hand into the box that might possibly contain that scorpion, I’d rather see McCain have a brush with destiny than Millionaire dog-tormenter Romney, Millionaire adulterer and Mafia buff Giuliani, or Governor Huckabee, who all seem to want to drag us back to the 10th century.
After all, Senator McCain has adequately shown his Foreign Policy knowledge and experience, and demonstrated his ability to plot a careful course in the Middle East, right?
Americans woke Saturday to the news that the collaborators currently masquerading as leaders of the Democratic Party were determined to once again give George Bu$h every last penny in the cupboard in a desperate attempt to – do something or other. No one seems to be quite sure what.
The little bunnies were so frightened of a coward and bully, supported by 24% of the walking zombified of the nation, that they were going to give him all the ca$h he was demanding by holding the US troops in the Middle East as hostages. While they once stood up on their hind legs and pounded their little hollow chests before servilely caving in, this time they weren’t even going to do the kabuki for the cameras.
Senior lawmakers and Congressional aides said the broad outlines of the proposal called for the House to consider $30 billion for military operations in Afghanistan, as well as money for military bases and support programs for military families to quiet fears of Pentagon layoffs because of a lack of money.
…
After the measure returns to the House for a final vote, Democrats opposed to the war are likely to vote against it but may not be able to stop it. The decision to free some money for the war without a deadline or goal for withdrawal would represent a major concession by Democrats. They had earlier said they would not send Mr. Bush any more war money this year unless he accepted a change in Iraq policy.
But Democratic leaders now say they have concluded that a logjam of 11 appropriations bills cannot be broken without acceding to at least some of the president’s demand for more war money.[emph added]
I was cruel about this story on Saturday because the Democratic Party has shamed me and my country. Cruel, but accurate. Years of being double-teamed by the criminal conspiracy known as the republican Party and their running dog lackeys of the corporate media has made them so frightened of a harsh word or darkening brow that the Dems quiver in reaction when a coffee cup is dropped. They no longer plan political strategy in order to defend the nation. Now they sit down in a locked room and work out just how they are going to gull the country once again while they enable the criminals to steal more of our heritage and treasure.
This morning’s WaPo is carrying an article by Jonathan Weissman reporting that David Obey (D-Wisc) thinks he’s had enough.
A Democratic deal to give President Bush some war funding in exchange for additional domestic spending appeared to collapse last night after House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.) accused Republicans of bargaining in bad faith.
Instead, Obey said he will push a huge spending bill that would hew to the president's spending limit by stripping it of all lawmakers' pet projects, as well as most of the Bush administration's top priorities. It would also contain no money for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mr Bu$h, who never saw a middle class or poor American that he wasn’t willing to crawl across broken glass to kick, had demanded that there be no additional or new domestic spending beyond that which he felt was appropriate for people dying the slow death of an unresponsive economy that has been tailored to increase the wealth of large corporations and a very small and elite group of multi-millionaires.
House Democratic leaders were scheduled to complete work last night on a $520 billion spending bill that included $11 billion in funding for domestic programs above the president's request, half of what Democrats had initially approved. The bill would have also contained $30 billion for the war in Afghanistan, upon which the Senate would have added billions more for Iraq before final congressional approval.
But a stern veto threat this weekend from White House budget director Jim Nussle put the deal in jeopardy, and Obey said he is prepared for a long standoff with the White House.
Mr Obey thinks he may have discovered a simple solution that he feels might goad Congress to stand up on its hind legs for once. Just take the pet projects (“earmarks”) out of the bill. As our under-worked and over-paid Congresscritters head home for their latest time off from work they want to show the folks in their districts that they’re squeezing the golden goose to best effect. There’s nothing more embarrassing than going home for Christmas without a nice little giftwrapped present for that big contractor in your home district.
Obey's proposal would ax about 9,500 home-district and home-state projects worth a total of $9.5 billion, according to Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group. Republicans inserted about 40 percent of those projects.
White House spokesweasel Tony Fratto doesn’t care what Congressman Obey proposes. Following the official Bu$h malAdministration policy of showing maximum contempt for Congress at all times, he sniffed dismissively, "Different day, different Democrat, different direction. Our position hasn't changed[.]"
Many rank-and-file republicans are a bit frightened of this situation since earmarks were shaved off a 2006 appropriations bill and a 2007 spending bill passed earlier this year. The thought of bringing home empty bags two years in a row has frightened a number of them and they have begged Minority Leader John Boehner to lighten up a bit and work with the Democrats.
Knowledgeable observers noted Mr Boehner is more frightened of Mr Bu$h than of his own rank-and-file.
I was sort of mentally recapping the latest news – the asshole cowardly Vichy Dems caving in once again to a textbook psychopathic killer, the stunning revelation about why Nancy Pelosi took impeachment off the table, the news that even though the Intelligence Community understands Tehran is not threat to the US, we’re still going to bear down on them.
It all reminds me of an episode in Joe Wambaugh’s Police Story series from the 1970s in which a SWAT officer, played by Tony LoBianco, is horribly burned in a helicopter crash during a training exercise. Being treated in the hospital, subjected to daily torture as his bandages are removed, crazed by morphine, he asks the doctor whether the fight is all worth the pain, and all the doctor can tell him is that he has to decide that for himself.
He balls up and decides to tough it out, of course, and fights through, eventually returning to a somewhat normal family life.
So, fuck you, George Bu$h. And you too, Nancy Pelosi. The same to you, Harry Reid you corrupt Las Vegas pimp. Up your DLC-fellating ass, Steny Hoyer, you triangulating prick,
We’re going to beat all your sleazy, corrupt, cowardly asses and take back our country. And then we’ll see just who the hell we put in jail.
Carl Hulse writes in this morning’s NY Times that patriotic Americans will once again be disgusted by Democratic Party leaders.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 — Congressional leaders are assembling a $500 billion package to try to resolve an impasse by providing President Bush with unfettered money for the Iraq war in exchange for new spending on popular domestic programs.
If acceptable to lawmakers and the White House, the package to be considered in the House as early as Tuesday would avert the threat of a shutdown of federal agencies and end a dispute that has lasted months and pitted Congressional Democrats against Mr. Bush and his Republican allies. [emph added]
The Democrats are at a disadvantage here of course because the republicans did this under Newt Gingrch’s speakership and they got away with it. However, our bought-and-paid-for corporate media will not give Dems the same pass they give to the Fascist Party.
Senior lawmakers and Congressional aides said the broad outlines of the proposal called for the House to consider $30 billion for military operations in Afghanistan, as well as money for military bases and support programs for military families to quiet fears of Pentagon layoffs because of a lack of money.
The Senate would then add up to $40 billion for Iraq combat operations, with the expectation the final war spending total would produce enough Republican support to offset defections by House Democrats.
They expect enough republicans will support what Mr Bu$h wants to offset democratic defections!!! Can you imagine that? They’re planning on defeat. They are conceding the game before it is played.
After the measure returns to the House for a final vote, Democrats opposed to the war are likely to vote against it but may not be able to stop it. The decision to free some money for the war without a deadline or goal for withdrawal would represent a major concession by Democrats. They had earlier said they would not send Mr. Bush any more war money this year unless he accepted a change in Iraq policy.
But Democratic leaders now say they have concluded that a logjam of 11 appropriations bills cannot be broken without acceding to at least some of the president’s demand for more war money.
Mr Hulse’s article speaks with some authority: the Dems will do their face-saving little dance of responsibility before the cameras and then cave as they wring their hands so helplessly, just as they have done oh so many times before to this coward and bully.
Asked publicly on the House floor on Thursday night whether money for Iraq and Afghanistan that was not tied to a withdrawal deadline would be voted on next week, Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, replied, “I anticipate at some point in time that will be the case.”
When I grow up and become President I want to be like George W Bu$h. I want to lie every day of the year to American citizens and to the elected leaders of the country. I want to fritter away hundreds of
