Friday, August 31, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Beware the Military-Industrial Complex
President Dwight Eisenhower gave his farewell address to the nation on January 17, 1961. The speech is now known as the Military-Industrial Complex Speech.
The military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned of still exists. Since October 2006, contracts have been granted totaling $172,748,149,370 based on information released by the Department of Defense. And today, in addition to the traditional military contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and General Dynamics; there are also numerous contractors such as KBR in Iraq providing logistical support (i.e., performing mundane tasks done by troops in previous wars). Private contractors employed in the military service industry complex now outnumber our troops in Iraq.
If you think I'm a kook, then answer this question for me - why do we have a military budget that is larger than the next 14 biggest spenders combined? And no, the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not included in that budget. My best guess is that lots of people are making lots of money if America is in a perpetual state of war.
Eisenhower was the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during WWII and was responsible for planning and executing the D-Day invasion. Eisenhower knew the costs of war and he hated it. He said, "I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity."
The military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned of still exists. Since October 2006, contracts have been granted totaling $172,748,149,370 based on information released by the Department of Defense. And today, in addition to the traditional military contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and General Dynamics; there are also numerous contractors such as KBR in Iraq providing logistical support (i.e., performing mundane tasks done by troops in previous wars). Private contractors employed in the military service industry complex now outnumber our troops in Iraq.
If you think I'm a kook, then answer this question for me - why do we have a military budget that is larger than the next 14 biggest spenders combined? And no, the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not included in that budget. My best guess is that lots of people are making lots of money if America is in a perpetual state of war.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
The Yellow Bus
No offense meant to those of you with children in government schools.
The Yellow Bus
by Vox Day
It was a fine September day
When my sweet princess came to say,
"Oh Daddy, could we please discuss
The purpose of that yellow bus?
I see the children get on board
While our house is always ignored.
It looks like fun, it looks so cool,
To ride upon it off to school!"
Her little face was serious,
And naturally curious
About this strange phenomenon
Her friends had all departed on,
With some misgiving then I knew
An explanation now was due.
I placed a hand under my chin
And wondered how I should begin.
Then I remembered my school days
Now dim in memory's fading haze
The good times, and the bad times too,
When everything was bright and new.
And yet my main recollection
Was a sense of disaffection.
Endless boredom, a parody
Of learning, farce and tragedy!
"Do you know what they'll learn today?"
She shook her head without delay.
"They first will learn the alphabet - "
"But Daddy, don't they know it yet?"
She interrupted in surprise,
Amazement in those big brown eyes.
"Ten letters is the minimum,"
I said, "that's where they're starting from."
She blinked and looked somewhat perturbed.
"So, what would I do?" next I heard.
"I know my letters, phonics too,
Today I read a book – no, two!
And yet, they're gone for the whole day
Do they do nothing there but play?
That sounds so fun, can I go there?
I think that would be only fair!""
They do play, my lovely flower,
But for just one single hour.
Then all the rest they sit in class
And wait as the long hours pass.
For no child can hope to move on
'til all is learned by everyone."
"But Daddy, that's ridiculous.
Surely, it could never be thus!"
It's worse than that, (I thought it through),
As they teach things that are not true.
They will not let you learn of God
And instill logic badly flawed.
It's not so much education
As naked indoctrination.
For little is more blindly cruel
Than sentencing a child to school.
Of course, these thoughts I did not share
As she stood innocently there.
"Their parents love your friends, I'm sure,
But Mommy and I love you more.
These next years will suffice to show
How freedom helps a mind to grow,
And you, my dear, will always be
A child of God and liberty."
Did she fathom?
I cannot say.
She'll tell me so
One day, I pray.
The Yellow Bus
by Vox Day
It was a fine September day
When my sweet princess came to say,
"Oh Daddy, could we please discuss
The purpose of that yellow bus?
I see the children get on board
While our house is always ignored.
It looks like fun, it looks so cool,
To ride upon it off to school!"
Her little face was serious,
And naturally curious
About this strange phenomenon
Her friends had all departed on,
With some misgiving then I knew
An explanation now was due.
I placed a hand under my chin
And wondered how I should begin.
Then I remembered my school days
Now dim in memory's fading haze
The good times, and the bad times too,
When everything was bright and new.
And yet my main recollection
Was a sense of disaffection.
Endless boredom, a parody
Of learning, farce and tragedy!
"Do you know what they'll learn today?"
She shook her head without delay.
"They first will learn the alphabet - "
"But Daddy, don't they know it yet?"
She interrupted in surprise,
Amazement in those big brown eyes.
"Ten letters is the minimum,"
I said, "that's where they're starting from."
She blinked and looked somewhat perturbed.
"So, what would I do?" next I heard.
"I know my letters, phonics too,
Today I read a book – no, two!
And yet, they're gone for the whole day
Do they do nothing there but play?
That sounds so fun, can I go there?
I think that would be only fair!""
They do play, my lovely flower,
But for just one single hour.
Then all the rest they sit in class
And wait as the long hours pass.
For no child can hope to move on
'til all is learned by everyone."
"But Daddy, that's ridiculous.
Surely, it could never be thus!"
It's worse than that, (I thought it through),
As they teach things that are not true.
They will not let you learn of God
And instill logic badly flawed.
It's not so much education
As naked indoctrination.
For little is more blindly cruel
Than sentencing a child to school.
Of course, these thoughts I did not share
As she stood innocently there.
"Their parents love your friends, I'm sure,
But Mommy and I love you more.
These next years will suffice to show
How freedom helps a mind to grow,
And you, my dear, will always be
A child of God and liberty."
Did she fathom?
I cannot say.
She'll tell me so
One day, I pray.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Bush's Hypocrisy
Bush stirred controversy when he invoked the tragedy of Vietnam to justify our continued presence in Iraq during a speech delivered on August 22 . During the speech, Bush once again trotted out the fictitious assertion that "for the security of the United States of America,we must defeat them overseas so that we do not face them in the United States of America".
On the same day, the Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell told the El Paso Times that the number of Iraqis detained crossing the Southwest border this year has tripled compared to last year. The majority of those detained were supposedly seeking asylum, however an anonymous U.S. intelligence analyst told the Times that coyotes are telling Iraqis to ask for amnesty if caught. McConnell admitted that a small number of people with known ties to terrorism have been caught crossing the border.
So Bush has our troops deployed in Iraq to prevent terror attacks on Main Street USA, while every year hundreds of thousands of people (including hundreds of Iraqis, i.e., potential terrorists) are allowed to illegally cross our southern border. Bush wants to close Iraq's borders with Iran and Syria, but apparently doesn't give a damn about securing our own borders. Of course Bush lives in a bubble and either doesn't realize or doesn't care that far more Americans have been killed in the last six years by drunk driving and murdering illegal aliens than died on 9-11.
On the same day, the Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell told the El Paso Times that the number of Iraqis detained crossing the Southwest border this year has tripled compared to last year. The majority of those detained were supposedly seeking asylum, however an anonymous U.S. intelligence analyst told the Times that coyotes are telling Iraqis to ask for amnesty if caught. McConnell admitted that a small number of people with known ties to terrorism have been caught crossing the border.
So Bush has our troops deployed in Iraq to prevent terror attacks on Main Street USA, while every year hundreds of thousands of people (including hundreds of Iraqis, i.e., potential terrorists) are allowed to illegally cross our southern border. Bush wants to close Iraq's borders with Iran and Syria, but apparently doesn't give a damn about securing our own borders. Of course Bush lives in a bubble and either doesn't realize or doesn't care that far more Americans have been killed in the last six years by drunk driving and murdering illegal aliens than died on 9-11.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Trial Balloon
The Bush administration launched a trial balloon this week. Bush's war adviser, Army Lt. General Douglas Lute, was asked about a return to a military draft on NPR's August 10 edition of All Things Considered. Lute responded that "it makes sense to certainly consider it", and that the draft "has always been an option on the table". The current size of the military is apparently not sufficient to fight the war in Iran that Dick Cheney and his warmongering allies in the media are presently building the case for (just as they did in 2002 before the invasion of Iraq).
The prolonged conflict in Iraq is already straining our military. In December 2006, Colin Powell told CBS News' Face the Nation, "The current active army is not large enough...for the kinds of missions they're being asked to perform". Earlier this year, active-duty Army troops had their deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan extended from 12 months to 15 months in order to increase the number of troops in Iraq for the "surge". Many troops have served multiple tours and when in Iraq often serve months on end with no time away from the front lines.
As it is, the Bush administration would not be able to wage the war in Iraq if it did not rely on an army of private contractors that outnumbers the troops in Iraq. For perspective, contractors were 5 percent of the total force deployed during World War II and Korea, and the percentage doubled to 10 percent during Vietnam and the first Gulf War.
Wars that should not be fought, cannot be fought without conscription (or at least huge numbers of private contractors as noted above). Involuntary service is antithetical to the American notion of freedom and all attempts at instituting a draft were rejected by the American people until World War I. Americans would riot in the streets if the government determined it necessary to confiscate our television sets for use by government to fight a war. Hopefully we would express the same moral outrage over the confiscation of the lives of our young men.
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution seems clear on the subject to most Americans (excluding politicians and the Supreme Court). It says, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
Ron Paul summarized it well in his book Freedom Under Siege, "Conscription contradicts the whole concept of natural rights. If our lives and liberties are gifts of the Creator, as our Founding Fathers believed, the use of our lives should never be controlled by the State. If they are controlled, it supports the totalitarian notion that rights are mere privileges granted by the State and, therefore, removable at will by the state, an idea alien to the American tradition".
Hopefully, General Lute's statement will go down like a lead balloon.
The prolonged conflict in Iraq is already straining our military. In December 2006, Colin Powell told CBS News' Face the Nation, "The current active army is not large enough...for the kinds of missions they're being asked to perform". Earlier this year, active-duty Army troops had their deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan extended from 12 months to 15 months in order to increase the number of troops in Iraq for the "surge". Many troops have served multiple tours and when in Iraq often serve months on end with no time away from the front lines.
As it is, the Bush administration would not be able to wage the war in Iraq if it did not rely on an army of private contractors that outnumbers the troops in Iraq. For perspective, contractors were 5 percent of the total force deployed during World War II and Korea, and the percentage doubled to 10 percent during Vietnam and the first Gulf War.
Wars that should not be fought, cannot be fought without conscription (or at least huge numbers of private contractors as noted above). Involuntary service is antithetical to the American notion of freedom and all attempts at instituting a draft were rejected by the American people until World War I. Americans would riot in the streets if the government determined it necessary to confiscate our television sets for use by government to fight a war. Hopefully we would express the same moral outrage over the confiscation of the lives of our young men.
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution seems clear on the subject to most Americans (excluding politicians and the Supreme Court). It says, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
Ron Paul summarized it well in his book Freedom Under Siege, "Conscription contradicts the whole concept of natural rights. If our lives and liberties are gifts of the Creator, as our Founding Fathers believed, the use of our lives should never be controlled by the State. If they are controlled, it supports the totalitarian notion that rights are mere privileges granted by the State and, therefore, removable at will by the state, an idea alien to the American tradition".
Hopefully, General Lute's statement will go down like a lead balloon.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
You're a Ron Paul Voter
"If you support...
secure borders, lower taxes, lower spending, lower debt, protecting privacy and property rights, ending senseless military globe trotting, saving America's independence & sovereignty, stopping inflation & overregulations, ending government banking cartels, stopping corporate welfare, fixing out-of-control entitlements, reigniting the American dream, and real progress for generations to come...
then you're a Ron Paul voter. "
(Credit: T-shirt design available at www.cafepress.com)
secure borders, lower taxes, lower spending, lower debt, protecting privacy and property rights, ending senseless military globe trotting, saving America's independence & sovereignty, stopping inflation & overregulations, ending government banking cartels, stopping corporate welfare, fixing out-of-control entitlements, reigniting the American dream, and real progress for generations to come...
then you're a Ron Paul voter. "
(Credit: T-shirt design available at www.cafepress.com)
190,000 Weapons Unaccounted for in Iraq
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued July 2007 disclosed that 190,000 weapons are unaccounted for in Iraq. The weapons were issued to Iraqi security forces and include 110,000 AK-47 rifles and 80,000 pistols. The lack of accountability was attributed to insufficient staff and no fully operational network to distribute equipment (i.e. weapons were distributed on a first come, first serve basis).
At $500 a weapon (my rough estimate), that is $95 million in weapons that have gone missing. Of course that is a drop in the bucket considering since 2003, $2.8 billion US taxpayer's dollars have been spent to arm Iraqi forces and $19 billion total has been spent to develop Iraqi security forces. As of the July 2007 publication of the GAO report, the Department of Defense still had not specified which accountability procedures apply to the train-and-equip program.
The man in charge of the US train-and-equip program for Iraq during 2004-2005 when most of the weapons were distributed was General David Petraeus. Petraeus was in charge of training the new Iraq army for 15 months, and two years later they are still not ready to stand on their own. In comparison, 18 months after America declared war on Germany in 1917 we had mobilized and trained an army, put that army in the field oversees, and defeated the enemy. Petraeus has since been elevated to commander of all U.S. forces in Iraq.
We will never know how many of our troops have been killed with weapons supplied to the insurgents courtesy of the US government. At the same time, the neo-cons are beating the drums of war about Iran supplying weaponry to our enemy. And to think, if you blinked then you likely missed this story.
At $500 a weapon (my rough estimate), that is $95 million in weapons that have gone missing. Of course that is a drop in the bucket considering since 2003, $2.8 billion US taxpayer's dollars have been spent to arm Iraqi forces and $19 billion total has been spent to develop Iraqi security forces. As of the July 2007 publication of the GAO report, the Department of Defense still had not specified which accountability procedures apply to the train-and-equip program.
The man in charge of the US train-and-equip program for Iraq during 2004-2005 when most of the weapons were distributed was General David Petraeus. Petraeus was in charge of training the new Iraq army for 15 months, and two years later they are still not ready to stand on their own. In comparison, 18 months after America declared war on Germany in 1917 we had mobilized and trained an army, put that army in the field oversees, and defeated the enemy. Petraeus has since been elevated to commander of all U.S. forces in Iraq.
We will never know how many of our troops have been killed with weapons supplied to the insurgents courtesy of the US government. At the same time, the neo-cons are beating the drums of war about Iran supplying weaponry to our enemy. And to think, if you blinked then you likely missed this story.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
A little bit about Johnny Sutton
A little bit about Johnny Sutton, the Bush lackey behind the prosecution of former Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Sutton is the US Attorney for Western Texas, and is described by El Presidente as a "dear friend". When Bush was Texas governor, Sutton spent five years as his director of criminal justice policy. After Bush became President, Sutton became legal policy coordinator in the White House transition team, working with another Bush Texas colleague, Alberto Gonzalez, the current US Attorney General.
In 2006, Sutton was appointed chairman of the Attorney General's advisory committee which, says the official Department of Justice website, '"plays a significant role in determining policies and programs of the department and in carrying out the national goals set by the President and the Attorney General". Sutton has so far been extremely successful in carrying out Bush's goal of intimidating law enforcement and leaving our border unprotected.
Upon Sutton's appointment, Attorney General Gonzales said, "Together, we will work to combat terrorism, reduce violent crime and drug trafficking...and protect the civil rights of all Americans". Like his boss, Gonzales is a well practiced liar and spoke these words with a straight face.
In 2006, Sutton was appointed chairman of the Attorney General's advisory committee which, says the official Department of Justice website, '"plays a significant role in determining policies and programs of the department and in carrying out the national goals set by the President and the Attorney General". Sutton has so far been extremely successful in carrying out Bush's goal of intimidating law enforcement and leaving our border unprotected.
Upon Sutton's appointment, Attorney General Gonzales said, "Together, we will work to combat terrorism, reduce violent crime and drug trafficking...and protect the civil rights of all Americans". Like his boss, Gonzales is a well practiced liar and spoke these words with a straight face.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Free Ramos and Compean
Why is the Bush administration taking their marching orders from the Mexican government? Former Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean are currently serving 11 and 12 year sentences in the federal penitentiary for doing their jobs. At a minimum, Johnny Sutton and his prosecutors have unjustly prosecuted Ramos and Compean instead of a known drug smuggler. To add insult to injury, the prosecution charged the agents with discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, resulting in automatic 10 year minimum sentences.
U.S. Congressman John Culberson (R-TX) says "Mexico wants to intimidate our law enforcement into leaving our border unprotected". This would not surprise me; I expect nothing more from Mexico. What enrages me is that I believe the Bush administration is attempting to intimidate our law enforcement into leaving our border unprotected.
The fix was in from the beginning and there is plenty of evidence of prosecutorial misconduct. The prosecution portrayed Aldrete-Davila as a first time drug smuggler who was recently out of work and in need of money to buy medicine for his sick mother. They withheld from the jury that Aldrete-Davila was connected to a second drug shipment only two months before the trial began - after he was given immunity and a pass to cross the border. Three jurors have come forward to say they were coerced by the court into finding the agents guilty.
Sutton repeatedly and disingenuously says the agent shot "an unarmed, fleeing suspect in the back". Johnny Sutton is the only person I have ever heard refer to the a$$ (the side of the left cheek to be exact) as the 'back'. Doctor's testimony was consistent with Aldrete-Davila turning back toward the agents while running away (as if aiming a weapon maybe). And as for the suspect being unarmed, that was based on the word of a drug smuggler versus that of Agent Compean.
There has been a bi-partisan effort to free Ramos and Compean. Both the Senate and the House have held hearings to investigate the prosecution of the agents. Senators Feinstein and Cornyn sent Bush a letter asking him for clemency for Ramos and Compean. Several members of the House have also sent Bush a letter seeking of commutation of the sentences.
President Bush could pardon or commute the sentences of Ramos and Compean today if he so desired. He did it just weeks ago for his friend Scooter Libby. Unfortunately, justice for Ramos and Compean does not serve Bush's interests.
U.S. Congressman John Culberson (R-TX) says "Mexico wants to intimidate our law enforcement into leaving our border unprotected". This would not surprise me; I expect nothing more from Mexico. What enrages me is that I believe the Bush administration is attempting to intimidate our law enforcement into leaving our border unprotected.
The fix was in from the beginning and there is plenty of evidence of prosecutorial misconduct. The prosecution portrayed Aldrete-Davila as a first time drug smuggler who was recently out of work and in need of money to buy medicine for his sick mother. They withheld from the jury that Aldrete-Davila was connected to a second drug shipment only two months before the trial began - after he was given immunity and a pass to cross the border. Three jurors have come forward to say they were coerced by the court into finding the agents guilty.
Sutton repeatedly and disingenuously says the agent shot "an unarmed, fleeing suspect in the back". Johnny Sutton is the only person I have ever heard refer to the a$$ (the side of the left cheek to be exact) as the 'back'. Doctor's testimony was consistent with Aldrete-Davila turning back toward the agents while running away (as if aiming a weapon maybe). And as for the suspect being unarmed, that was based on the word of a drug smuggler versus that of Agent Compean.
There has been a bi-partisan effort to free Ramos and Compean. Both the Senate and the House have held hearings to investigate the prosecution of the agents. Senators Feinstein and Cornyn sent Bush a letter asking him for clemency for Ramos and Compean. Several members of the House have also sent Bush a letter seeking of commutation of the sentences.
President Bush could pardon or commute the sentences of Ramos and Compean today if he so desired. He did it just weeks ago for his friend Scooter Libby. Unfortunately, justice for Ramos and Compean does not serve Bush's interests.
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