glum perspective from a glum burg
i'll put here links to other sites i find interesting, as well as the occasional rant.
Real Name: carla lafong Member Since: September 05, 2006 Last Signed In: September 08, 2009 Profile Views: 3077 Blog Views: 5389 bill moyers interviews rev. wright an oldie but goodie & pete seeger, great patriot public schools, public schools Who will get your vote? ... Are you sure??? brussel sprouts and bush THE MEANING OF LIFE lone star oldie-goody (pg-13 content, maybe) the founding immigrants rev. sharpton quotes from today's californian The Self-Taught Gardener Reflects September 06 October 06 November 06 December 06 January 07 February 07 March 07 April 07 May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 August 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 
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postings below from expat g.t., hugely creative not just musically, but (i didn't know this) with political thought. don't throw the baby out with the bathwater on this one -- g.t. (i mean, joe green) gives us some good fat to chew on here. too bad he went and moved to brussels, but i know others who've decided to do so, too, in the last 7-8 years... unfortunately, they're to a one the most talented, bright, and productive people i know, which means not just bakersfield, but the u.s. suffers "brain drain" when they go...
JOE DEAN COMMENTS ON GENERAL PETRAEUS' SPEECH TO CONGRESS
Maybe it's an Ollie North-type situation, but with more rank? All good things to those who (fall on their sword and) wait? It is most interesting that at this late stage of the game -- damage-control, graceful(less?) exit, political (cow) chips, etc -- that Petraeus is standing firmly with the Bush-Admin. Wonder what size 'red dress' HE wears?
But let's look at the Iraq War Scoreboard for a minute (courtesy of ESPN Baghdad).
On the plus side:
(+1)Ding-dong the witch is dead! -- no more Saddam. Now, for the life of me, that's the only 'plus' that I can see.
On the minus side:
(-1)No WMD found -- our 'self-mandated' original mission.
(-1)No working-democracy, except in W's fantasy world. It's just not happening, folks.
(-1)Repairing the infrastructure. Rub a lamp for that one OR, just interview the average Iraqi.
(-1)Stabilizing the country and ending sectarian violence (see previous). They're tribal peoples with conflicts much older than our nation -- they're not gonna get along because we tell them to.
(-1)Developing a self-sufficient Iraqi military and police force. Still waiting...and waiting.
(-1)The War On Terror. Let's see...we took a secular muslim dictatorship (albeit a very distasteful one) and morphed it into Afghanistan West -- a mecca (sorry) for radical muslims. "A chance to kill Americans?...sign me up!"
(-1)The cost in human life. 3700-plus (and counting) of our military personnel (never mind the maimed, disfigured and mentally destroyed OR the numbers of other coalition nations' dead and wounded), countless civilian casualties, some of them OUR civilian employees. I didn't even do a 'body count' of enemy killed (remember, as the 'experts' say, "this is nothing like Viet Nam").
(-1)The $$$$$$. We're gonna hit the Big Trillion next year (had to check the spelling, as I've never typed 'trillion' before). That'd buy A LOT of health care, even with our prescription drug prices.
Now, we just add (subtract?) up the score...let's see...("naught, naught, carry the naught")...OK, Jethro says the score is Negatives 8, Positives 1. Looks like a rout(e) to me.
Now, I don't see what kind of success we can achieve with this conflict (other than gettin' the Hell outta Dodge) before this administration rides off into the sunset (Ronnie & the Duke would be SO proud). What kind of blueprint could this war possibly represent for our future 'leaders'? However, I sorta felt the same about Viet Nam and look where we are? Palm trees & rice paddies...apples & oranges.
Oh, and speaking of Cuba and the Phillipines. It seems to me it's much easier to conquer and then close the borders on an island, since most nations (or terrorist groups) don't have much in the way of naval power (Taliban-Al Queda Navy?), than to conquer(?) and close the borders of a country @ 98% land-locked and bordered by large numbers of folks who would like to kill us. To properly secure Iraq, we would've needed @ 500,000 troops to button it up right. I'm no military expert, but every commander allowed to be interviewed is always asking for more troops. Draft Lottery, anyone?
Respectfully yours,
Joe S. Dean (from Bowling Green) GW POINTS TO "SUCCESS" (NOT VICTORY) IN IRAQ
Watching this Iraq business unfold from Belgium (where they're now FOUR YEARS without a seated Federal Government -- Hooray!) it all appears to be so much posturing, dancing, singing, crowing, finger-pointing, da-di-da-di-da...
Indulge me in a little fantasized (super-sized?) crystal ball-gazing, if you would.
According to the L.A. Times (and others), we're now holding (secret?) talks with Sadr's Shiite militia about playing nicey-nice. Since we've already been recently getting SOME co-operation from the Sunnis (for big $$$, I'll wager), how's this for a scenario? (SERIOUSLY too bad about Abdul Rattar Rashawi being assassinated the other day, though)
IF we can get the respective militias to tone it down and help with the policing in their respective neighborhoods and outlying provinces, our military (read: The Administration) can then concentrate on getting Baghdad spruced up and reasonably secure, begin to SLOWLY (not too fast!) reduce troop levels (carefully timed and credited to assist Campaign '08), all the while telling everyone in the world about all the progress they've made and are making. The Democrats will have, at best, a few "me, too's" and "I told you so's" but mostly it'll be the Republicans taking all the credit. Oh, I almost forgot...when they start releasing all the Iraqi oil, which Halliburton and KBR have squirreled away, watch gas prices come down, oh, say, about the first week of June '08 ("have a great summer, America, courtesy of Bush-Cheney & the Republican Party").
At certain points, they'll present all sorts of Cold War-style, carefully-staged, "look at all the happy Iraqis enjoying life in their nice, secure city" and "our returning troops are reunited with their families (THAT will be truly welcome)" feel-good propaganda, which will, hope Bush & Co, generate enough relief that the war MIGHT be coming to an end ("good job, Mr. President") to allow the Republicans to secure YET ANOTHER four years in office. This CAN come about due to our country's seemingly PERPETUAL blind faith in Truth, Justice & The American Way. Then...about the first Wednesday in November, it all starts to unravel. By January 20th, 2009, it'll be "good luck, Mr-Ms President, whoever you may be".
Nah...could never happen.
ONE MORE BIT OF POLITICAL RAMBLING
So, "W" says we're now trying for 'success' in Iraq, not 'victory'? He announced yesterday the first troop cuts, with, of course, no time-table for more. The Dems shot their wad in their recent majority Congress by trying to wrest away control of the war from The Administration with threats of budget cuts to the military (thank you, Ms Pelosi!). Politically, "taking the bullet$ away from our boy$" was never going to work. Unfortunately, at the time, they couldn't override any of his threats of veto on any other legislation pertaining to the war and everybody knew it. But they kept shaking that blunt saber, nevertheless. NOW, "W" possesses the added political card of "bringing our troops home" whenever he should need it. The Dems can't very well object to these announcements, since this is what THEY wanted, and was the ONLY issue they focused on. So, King George is in position to make it happen, at Prince Cheney's whim, of course.
CREATIONIZhhhhhmmmmmmm
"The universe was created by an all-powerful, all-knowing being who came down to us in the form of a cosmic Jewish carpenter, who was his own father, and who can make you live forever, if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so that he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a 'rib-woman' was persuaded by a talking snake to eat a piece of fruit from a magical tree." -- author unknown
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