The End of DADT!

So for realz it totally gonna be done like tomorrow or the next day or something like officially and until then, something completely different:

Problem With Eastern Protests? Geometry!

This is Tahrir Square




This is Pearl Square



Neither appears to have straight lines or corners. I say: first geometry, then freedom!

In Short: Afghanistan: Seriously, We Can't Win

In light of the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, I think there's something we're overlooking: We can't win the war.

For every "Number 2 Al Qaeda Dead" headline we see, another takes his place. It's a Hydra, invoking religion in a reality with little more to grasp onto, every day creating hundreds of soldiers whose main goal is to die for the cause. Our troops want to complete the job and come home.

When will anyone see this discrepancy? Or are we cursed to feed American troops into the mouth of madness forever?

Where is the outrage?

A Moment for Our Brave Canines

I get my share of email glurge, but this one showed up today, sans title, and hit me before I had my morning coffee.



It's a doberman dogs of war memorial in Guam: "In the battle of Guam, a Doberman named Kurt saved the lives of 250 Marines when he warned them of Japanese troops ahead. Kurt is honored by a life-sized bronze and granite memorial on Guam. Carved into the stone are names of 25 other Dobermans who gave their lives there."

Intermittent Posting, Some Wisdom

Sorry about the intermittent posting. It's been an emotional couple of weeks as my grandfather slowly wastes away, now in a bed in his own home. Two days ago, he was down to methadone for medication, edema in the hands, kidneys starting to give out. Any just God would've taken the man already.

But enough of the sad; when he goes, it will be the right time. I can't live as Emotion's punching bag rag doll until it happens. I'll be enough of a mess when it does.

So in the loving vein of Good ol' USA killing dozens of kids in Afghanistan and the right wing of the radio and potential presidential campaign both deriding diplomacy and volunteerism, how about some Dali:

Real peace [is] not just the absence of violence or of war... A mere absence of war is not genuine, lasting world peace. Peace must develop on mutual trust.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

How beautiful would the world be if everyone thought that way?

Us, Israel, Iraq, Iran

Just to be clear: we're using a country we invaded and are now occupying to give the nod to Israel to stretch their military legs (all three) and practice for a military strike against Iran which will most certainly start another war for which we are not equipped but will certainly become a part.

Either there is some sort of upper-echelon illuminati thing going on or Bush sees us in the Middle East as a kegger: "Hey, it's all good, come on over - byo bombs! Just kiddin' we've got tons more if you need them."

Quick recap: either we or Israel attack Iran and the fold-in begins: China dumps its currency and activates 300,000 troops, crippling us economically, dwarfing us militarily; Russia jumps in on their side with North Korea. And we're done. Because we're already barely managing two fronts - a third would knock us down and 2 new world power enemies would be very, very bad. And once the rest of the world sees us knocked down a peg, it's open season gangbang time.

Every day it's closer. Get your duct tape.

Little Green Army Men Project

From i-Report:

Mrs. Graves' World History class at Flagler Palm Coast High School is working on a memorial project. They are collecting one little green plastic army man figure for each of the fallen troops in the Iraqi War. It was a lesson started after reading about a class doing something similar for holocaust survivors in Tennessee. This was designed to give the students a better concept of the numbers lost in the war. Also, a way to memorialize them. Each student was allowed to donate one figure, and then they had to get donations of the rest as a way of getting community involvement. Donations have come from as far away as New Jersey and Arizona. The project is in need of more army men donations, as well as pictures of the personnel listed above the display, which is in the main hallway of the high school. The students will continue adding to the memorial as long as necessary, and then maintain the memorial as a lasting tribute to the fallen, but not forgotten. This was designed not as a statement of what is "right" or "wrong" with the war. It is a way to show that it is more than just numbers or names, but memories of people who served with integrity, courage, and honor. This project is about the people, not the politics. Donations of plastic army men or pictures of fallen personnel may be sent to:
Mrs. Mimi Graves
C/0 Flagler Palm Coast High School
5500 E. Hwy. 100
Palm Coast, FL 32164

Hey, About that Timeline...

Grumble grumble grumble, quip the administration. Cheese-eating traitor-monkey, grumbles talk radio. How about 100 years, cheeses McBush. How dare you talk about a timeline for withdrawal!

Iraq's national security adviser said Tuesday his country will not accept any security deal with the United States unless it contains specific dates for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.

Oh shit. They not only realize we're binding them but want to actually throw off the chains. Could we potentially start a war with the unripened fruits of our war simply because we didn't want to stop playing war?

Or we could leave and free up those troops for the upcoming war with Iran.

When Patriotism isn't Patriotic Enough

Veterans For Peace was kept out of the Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C.

WTF?

U.S. Armed Forces = God's Army?

The Real News Network has been doing some great work providing the public with information you can't get anywhere else. This story is about the separation of church and state and how the evangelical movement in the U.S. Military is raping that dry.

Warning: this will make you angry.

Baghdad Disneyland? WTF?

Over at Think Progress, they have a FOX News interview with the contractor tasked with and American-style amusement park. In Baghdad. I can't embed it, but check the link; it's worth it.

They talk about the issues plaguing building an amusement park in Iraq like it's just going up in an economically depressed area. Except it's a war zone. And they're planning it outside the Green Zone, apparently being "fast-tracked" by the Pentagon.

Come to The Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience: Bullets, IEDs, mortars, broken rides, and dead animals! Hopefully your family won't be taken for ransom. But that's part of the Experience!

This is not just the definitive example of lipstick on a pig, but lipstick on a mad, violent boar. We'd be better served to build a "Iraq War Experience" park where the military embeds regular citizens into the war. They'd probably pay more.

What the hell are we thinking?

Ancient Chinese Secret ...for Destruction and, Apparently, Patriotism

Wait, what was I writing about?

Oh, yeah, let's try this:



From those lovely Brits at the Telegraph:

Satellite imagery, passed to The Daily Telegraph, shows that a substantial harbour has been built which could house a score of nuclear ballistic missile submarines and a host of aircraft carriers.

In what will be a significant challenge to US Navy dominance and to countries ringing the South China Sea, one photograph shows China’s latest 094 nuclear submarine at the base just a few hundred miles from its neighbours.

Other images show numerous warships moored to long jettys and a network of underground tunnels at the Sanya base on the southern tip of Hainan island.

I shouldn't have to say this, but there are many, many ignorant "I'm a victim" folks out there, and apparently the Chinese are just as good at misplacing aggression as rednecks are: the following tirade is focused at the powers that be, the oppressive government of China, primarily, that has nothing to do with the Chinese people, who should overthrow their oppressors.

So...Aside from the obvious arch-villain mastermind cave lair issue, let's go over the political basics one more time:

• China fucking owns us because they own a sick amount of our debt. They could shake their money-maker and cause a dip in the Dow. They shuck poison toys, smirking as they shake our hands with shit, smeared in their palms, mouthing "Whatcha gonna do?" all the while eying the vice in which they have out balls clamped.


• China has one man and one woman available for military service for every American alive. Let me say that in another way: China's standing potential army (age 18-49) is well over twice the population of the entire U.S.A., all ages. Those fit for service are just under "twice."


• Based on past diplomatic efforts of the past eight years, China can deal with Russia. Russia can deal with Iran. Iran can deal with China. Iran can deal with Venezuela. Iran can deal with North Korea. Russa can deal with North Korea. They're all kind of buddies in that they think we need to be taken down a peg.


• We really don't want to talk to any of them.

Here's a reminder in the form of a delicious Photoshop I put together a little less than a year ago:



Everyone's heard the phraseology of "America the Bully." True dat. But our world, the playground, if you will, has recently seen some kids bulk up. And they're all talking in the corner. They may not have the abilities or the technology or the know-how on their own, but they can MacGyver it if they needed to, and together the numbers are in their favor.

And the US is just kind of mindlessly, dreamily staring at the sandbox. Invested, he'd whisper, were he asked.

And it has suddenly become very quiet, but US doesn't really notice.

So when the beatdown comes, we know who'll throw the first couple punches. But when US is bent over a little, when those accosting have proven weakness beyond a reasonable doubt, who else will join in? Who will come out of the woodwork? Who else will align with a potential "new bully?" Who else will come out with baseball bats or sticks or hat pins to give a whack "because it's about time?" or "just because?"

(pause)
I think the more frightening, "reality" question is: should this paranoid thought experiment play out as proposed, how would I react? I complain about America and I try to better America and I write and I vote and I participate in activism when possible and I do all these things because I do love and want to protect the freedom to do these things of which I speak.

So if America was the object of a military, world-wide, gang rape, would I leave my wife and daughter and take all my tech savvy and voice and passion and intelligence and potential firearm acuity and strap one on and blow the fuck out of anything that actually threatened this country and all that it stands for? To make this world safe for my daughter to blog and piss and moan about what's wrong with America?

You bet your ass I would.

Just like if the zombies attack.

Fuck. I think I just got all patriotic. And maybe emotional. Not to worry; it's a feeling, not a flag or a pin or a gun, so few will actually recognize it.

Shit, I've got to get a gun.

Let's just keep this between us.

Marine Motari Tosses Puppy Into Ravine

Our armed forces kill human beings every day of the week and we just shrug our shoulders and watch the number get bigger - if we even care to look at the numbers. U.S. Marine David Motari chucked a puppy into a ravine and everyone flips their shit.

Haven't seen the video? Here you go (looks like original came from www.puppytoss.com):



On one hand, it screams "gimmick!" On the other hand, some fucked up shit can happen during war time. Maybe they really thought that was funny. When you put justifications on lowering the value of human life so you can fill people with bullets, would the value of puppy life remain the same?

Either way, the canine community was not pleased:


http://view.break.com/466312 - Watch more free videos

Navy Invents New Way of Killing People

Holy shit.

Electromagnetic railguns mounted on U.S. naval vessels will use electricity to launch projectiles farther and faster than any ship in today's fleet. When fully operational, the electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) will:

• Deliver hypervelocity projectiles at Mach 5 on impact in support of Marines and ground forces.
• Strike within 5 meters of a pinpointed target from distances in excess of 200 nautical miles.
• Maximize damage through kinetic energy from longer range while minimizing risks to crews and ships.

Tested on 1/31/08: Fired at 2,520 meters per second, the shot generated 10.64mj of muzzle energy.

From Navy, DVICE.

Military Misses Recruiting Goals Again in 2007

From NationalPriorities.com:

For the third consecutive year, the Army missed DoD benchmarks set for educational attainment and scores on the Armed Forces Qualification Test. The DoD has a goal that 90 percent of new recruits have a regular high school diploma or better.

...The proportion of active-duty Army recruits in tier 1 has dropped from 83.5 percent in 2005 to 70.7 percent in 2007. While the benchmark of 90 percent was also missed in 2005, the percentages have not been this low for at least 20 years. In 2006, the result was 73.1 percent.

Nevada with 54.1 percent, Montana with 58.2 percent, and Mississippi with 59.2 percent had the lowest percentages of recruits that were tier 1.

Considering that a high school education is the single greatest predictor of whether the investment we put in these young men and women will stick, perhaps we should take a good, hard look at the reasons people don't want to go: they're entering an endless war without the right equipment where Bushie can write "As long as I want" on their contract, regardless of what they signed. If they get physically hurt, they'll get poor care, and if they're psychologically affected by killing and seeing friends and enemies die, you'll be ignored.

Hey, maybe if we stopped feeding the military industrial complex our young men like logs into a wood chipper, fighting a war we can't win for the benefit of corporations, then maybe we wouldn't have this problem. Maybe we could focus on getting the young man or woman a GED instead of worrying that they don't have one before giving them a weapon and tossing them in the shit. Just a thought.

Taiwan Not Gay for China

China's pointing 1000 missiles at Taiwan because it doesn't like that Taiwan has a separate identity. Taiwan (who likes their separate identity), in a show of military power, is parading 2 missiles along with the following show of strength:



Chippendales go Asian Baywatch? I don't even know what to say except that this is probably not the image they were going for.

Your captions welcome!

The Pentagon's Shady Money Counters

From WCSH, we get the story of the 2600 members of the Minnesota National Guard who have returned after the longest ground combat deployment in Iraq since the war began: 22 months. Unfortunately, they came back to discover that the Pentagon, under the watch of our Commander-in-Chief, shimmied through a loophole and specifically wrote most of their orders for 729 days. Why 729 days? Because at 730 days, the government has to pay for certain benefits, including money for schooling.

This is one of those stories that should make everyone very angry. Right wing radio hosts and FOX News question the patriotism of any person - such as myself - who wants to end this retarded excuse of a war and bring the troops home; they say we don't support the troops because we want them home, safe.

And there sits our military, the same military that has these kids shipped halfway across the world, that has many of them convinced they're fighting to protect America's freedoms as the President slowly strips them away, training these kids, these men, to be highly specialized killers and/or technically training them to fill a very specialized niche that only exists in war, and when they come back and have done their duty, served their country, and want nothing more than to get some civilian training and be a productive member of society, that military, under the watch of President George Bush, says "fuck you," kicks them in the balls, and lays a hot, steamy turd in their MRE because they're too busy shitting away our money on unaccountable contractors and missing money and thought it would be a good idea to save a buck by taking it out of a soldier's ass.

That is unpatriotic. That is not supporting the troops. That is one of the most deplorably pathetic moves I've heard our asshat government make in quite a while. That is our government. That is one more reason why the mess in Iraq must end. And may god have mercy on the soul of our country should Gerogie Porgie decide to pick a fight with Iran.

More on China, Big 5 is 6 and Growing...

This is crossposted from my rant at All Things Democrat. I just started writing and researching and came up with too much good information for it not to be here as well. If this is paranoia and not conspiracy, it's mad uncanny.

Let's do a little focusing on China and why they're doing a little bit of scaring the hell out of me. China has a population of 1.3 billion. They have 2.25 million active troops in their People's Liberation Army with over 7 million troops total. They are a nuclear power with a spending limit that is growing by bounds and bounds every time we blink because their trade surplus is skyrocketing, recently bumping $22.5 billion (our trade profile uses the word "deficit"). This has to do with our trade practices (Wal-Mart itself imports 10% of all China's products) and our invariant deafness to still-shady human rights practices when someone's flipping a wad of Bennies in our ear.

China's feeding an already corpulent army with our fatback patronage. Some people are linking this to a history of threatening Taiwan, should they decide to get all batshit crazy and declare formal independence. So what are we doing? Surprisingly, nothing new: we've been Taiwan's primary supplier of arms since 1979; they're asking for more and we're saying they want even more than that.

Looks like we're building our own pickle just so we can be in it.

We're feeding the beast at both ends with complete ignorance about both halves and a blind eye to the military reality of the situation. We don't see the other pieces. China, this growing behemoth, is not just hungry for wealth, but to placate the masses, they must also devour oil. And today they were talking to Iran about becoming oil buddies. You remember Iran, who wants to wipe Israel off the planet? That country that Senator Lieberman (I) would like to attack?

Well, Ahmadinejad in Iran talks to Nicaragua in an "anti-US summit" and has a past of buddying up with Chavez in Venezuela (called Bushy the devil), and we call all three of them "tyrants" (or so say the Turks). Chavez is also deepening ties with North Korea, because they have a budding nuclear program and Chavez wants a piece of world domination. There is an apparent improvement in ties between Iran and North Korea, and they are both being supported by China. Russia and China are now entering their second ten-year period of "strategic partnership," Putin's got ties with Venezuela at "peak level," and last week increased marine ties with Iran were the order of the day. And this was all in the news in the last two weeks.

It appears to me that there is a growing group of malcontents who are only malcontent with us. We don't really like them and they don't really like us; they put up with us because we're big. But they're getting pretty buddy-buddy - carpooling to the office, happy hour on Thursdays - and they're coming into an understanding that if they all got together, they'd be hella-strong, like Voltron on crack. And hey, if the Ro-Beast keeps driving out to the desert every weekend, why not just keep hanging out, growing ties, and pooling resources.

And pretty soon? Well, they just came to the party to drink some oil and kick some ass. And it looks like we're all out of oil.

Kate Chase is right about Russia: there is a larger picture here. It is a web that includes China, Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua, North Korea. Syria's not entirely out of it either.

Our only hope (besides Obi-Wan Kenobi)? Doughnuts. Yes, doughnuts. The doughnut chains are making it to China. Our best bet is to allow the delicious yet deadly pastries to infiltrate the country and hope fat travels like the clap in a trailer park. Lack of motivation and resolve will follow and they they'll be on par with us and our administration. If only we could make them stupid too...

VA Abandons Friend, Veteran - Needs Help, Insurance

By now you know that except for the tastiest of intermittent morsels, I don't do much writing about my personal life. The antics and idiocy of our political and religious leaders offers more than enough potato gun fodder for the masses to consider.

However, today I write about a friend of mine, a veteran of the Gulf War. Because of bureaucracy, he may lose his legs. Allow the letter I've written to my members of congress speak for itself:

Dear -----,

A very close friend of mine is a Veteran of the Gulf War. One day soon, he will need to have his legs amputated because Veteran's Affairs has abandoned him under a blanket of bureaucratic nonsense.

David was honorably discharged from Little Creek Amphibious base in 1998. He later married, had a son, and maintained a lucrative union manufacturing job. At the time that he held that position, the rules governing Veteran's eligibility were changing. In order for someone to get medical coverage, they had to register to be grandfathered in. Having excellent union insurance coverage for his family, David did not register. Soon thereafter, he unexpectedly began experiencing back pain. After a few treatments, the doctors said he could not work, and now he takes care of his son full time at home. In a shady move, his insurance company held on to a check until the coverage lapsed, sent it back, and canceled his insurance.

David's back is tolerable right now thanks to the treatments he did receive. However, David is also diabetic. With a house, bills, and insurance for herself and their son, David's wife is barely able to make ends meet. Adding him to her insurance would would be a preexisting condition, and would be excessively expensive because of it. Independent insurance is cost prohibitive. Purchasing any medication without insurance is laughable. Were David to get a job, it would barely be able to cover the cost of daycare for their son. Back to the plant could put him in a wheelchair.

But that's what he's looking at anyway. Without insurance, David cannot afford the testing supplies and medication necessary to control his diabetes. A couple months ago, blood began to pool in his legs due to poor circulation. Amputation is not far down the road. David gets the same answer from the VA: he is not eligible for any coverage because his wife makes too much money. I do not know the math behind this decision, but I do know what his wife makes.

I'm not asking for a handout for my friend;I am asking for his due. David honorably served our country during wartime. He has just about lost hope that anything can be done.

When did we stop taking care of our own?

You can keep a father, a veteran, my friend, your constituent, out of a wheelchair. Won't you?

See letter online (http://utteroutrage.blogspot.com/2007/06/va-abandons-friend-veteran-needs-help.html).

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Ricky Shambles

I am in the unique position as of now to be able to write 4 Senators and three members of congress with residences in two states (FYI, writing a senator or member of congress is sometimes made impossible unless you are a constituent).

As I said in the letter, I'm not looking for a handout. But I am looking for publicity. If you'd like to write your representative about my friend, I'd appreciate it. If you do, please comment about your experience below.

Members of Congress I have written with the above letter:
Senator Elizabeth Dole
Senator Richard Burr
Representative Mel Watt
Senator Sherrod Brown
Senator George Voinovich
Representative Jean Schmidt
Representative Dennis Kucinich (c/o relatives)

Thank you all.

Truth Blocked in Congress About War Profiteering

So angry...can't speak...

From PoliticsTV.com:

The video on war profiteering Republicans don’t want you to see
Progressive film director Robert Greenwald is scheduled to testify at a hearing on Thursday, May 10 about war profiteering. He requested to show a few minutes of one of his films, but Republicans blocked his request. Here’s what Congress won’t see: