The Kurds Pay for Their Ambitions

It seems an improbable scenario that the Kurds would be able to establish and manage to actually keep a part of three established countries in order to manufacture their own country.

There was never really a "Kurdistan". And there never will be in our lifetimes considering the massive issues involved in such an undertaking. The Kurds not only want their own state...somewhere. They want a part of Turkey, a part of Syria and a part of Iraq. And that's a king-sized pipe dream no matter who you think can make it happen.

This wishful thinking by the Kurds that the United States will use it's might and power to establish for them and thus be involved in defending into perpetuity, a Kurdish state in this manner should be looked upon by all as, at best, a bad gamble.

And brow-beating President Trump in the press isn't going to help the situation much.

If the Kurds didn't want to get slaughtered by the Turkish army, perhaps they shouldn't have blown up all those people in Turkey. I'm sure plenty of innocent Turkish citizens have been killed since the The Kurdistan Workers Party aka the PKK, a Marxist group by the way, started their Militant Armed Insurgency inside Turkey in 1984.

But nobody seems to care about them now.

This isn't the reason why the Turks hate the Kurds since that history goes way back but it is the reason why Turkish forces have been chaffing at the bit to finally go after them in a big way. They have been stymied by the politics of the Syrian Civil War and the intervention in it of the United States which then drew the forces of Iran and Russia into the conflict. And let's not forget that President Barack Obama was behind the arming of the ISIL forces and other militant Islamic factions in Syria. That helped a whole lot.

Thanks Mr. Obama!

At any rate, Turkey most likely has had it with the situation and have at least warned the U.S. about what they were going to do. It's their region of the world, not ours. If we left our small force in the way of the Turkish offensive, what good would that have done? Did we want to instigate World War III by letting our men and women stay where they were and dare Turkey to go over or around them?

In a region of the world we had no right to be in the first place?

Keep in mind that Turkey is a contracted ally. For what it is, they are in NATO with us and host U.S. military installations.There is an expectation of cooperation in matters such as this. Although a faction of the Kurds has fought on the side of the U.S., another faction is bombing Turkish government and civilian locations. So what's the good answer to that?

The politics of the issue and the bottom line is that it was never really our fight. It's yet another internal struggle we would be forcing ourselves into like Libya and Syria and frankly setting up and holding a Kurdish state is an impossibility. None of the three countries involved would put up with it and "Kurdistan" would find itself under assault on three fronts. Good luck with that. Like Medicaid for All, there isn't enough money in the world to hold such bad ground. Just because they want it, doesn't mean it's going to happen and the Middle East is full of factions who's abilities do not come close to matching their ambitions.

The Kurds are no different. They could try a more political approach since their violence has only been returned to them in spades.

It is not the job of the United States to spend the money and spill the blood for every group that puts on airs and thinks they're entitled to their own piece of turf at the expense of others and the sooner the world figures it out the better off it will be.

Nicolas Maduro Must Die!

For crimes against the Venezuelan people.

For his hit squads that have fanned out into the countryside to kill his enemies.

But he can't kill them all. He has made too many for that to work any longer.

Nicolas Maduro's time has come to pass into history the way all fanatical homicidal dictators pass. He will not be lucky enough to have a stroke like Stalin. He will be murdered. He's too much of a coward to kill himself.

The best way would be the people tearing hime apart with their bare hands. The families of his victims should have at him first.

But anyway is ok as long as he's DEAD. As dead has his predecessor Hugo Chavez who died like a dog, begging his inept Cuban physicians for his foul life. Maduro should join his murderous idol also begging for his foul life.

He should not be spared. It's too late. He's done too much and he's taken all he can and now it's time to go.

Russia Should Stay Out of it

Russia has no business in Venezuela, their impotent warnings should be ignored. Let them start something and see where it takes them. If you think the sanctions hurt now, just wait until the U.S. finds Russian actors in Venezuela. Then you'll think you all had it pretty good before.

Where's Columbia?

Columbian troops should be massed against the border and ready to go it. The Columbian government had an excuse to go in over a year ago when the refugees were streaming across the boarder but they didn't. Why? I don't know since Maduro's army would have melted like snow in the face of a military force. But it never happened.

This has all taken way too long. Nobody came to save the Venezuelans because they were all united in Socialism. Only when things really turned to shit did they want help out of the mess they made for themselves. They are all still Socialists I'll bet and just want better Socialism. But the reality is; there is no such thing as better Socialism. It's always a downward spiral into chaos. They wanted to stick it to the "Rich" but in the end, as always, they are the one's who got the short end of the stick. You can't build up a people by pulling others down.

And here we are, finally, at the bottom.

Nothing but the noose left for Nicolas.

Elizabeth Warren is Out

It was over before it began. Whether someone dropped a dime on her and paid for Ms. Warren's Texas Bar application to be made public or not, the appalling part is that she never admitted all the rumors were true until they were.

Warren, the Senator from my state of Massachusetts knows how many times she had claimed to be of American Indian heritage on her college professorship applications and yet denied EVER doing so every time she was asked and is only now apologizing because she was finally outed and ONLY because she was outed.

Otherwise she would have never taken a step backwards from her false claims, now proven so, that she had indeed claimed "Other Than White" privilege while applying for work. She had been lying about this all along.

Lance Armstrong could take a few lessons from Elizabeth Warren. Lance came clean about his sports doping with less evidence.

And if White Privilege is such an important factor in getting a job, why on God's Green Earth would Senator Warren feel the need to lie about not being white? Are there privileges to not being White?

Don't be absurd. We don't do such things in American Academia, favoring one race over another...do we?

Warren's Presidential Bid...Toast!

But at any rate, Senator Warren might as well forget about launching her bid for the U.S. Presidency. She hasn't a snowball's chance in Hell of making it to Super Tuesday. She won't have any money. Whatever campaign war-chest she has now is all she's every going to get. Who will back her financially when another half-dozen of these documents can show up at any time?

The big one of course is her application to teach at Harvard. The college administration at Harvard has refused to release it and it's probably locked in a desk somewhere where only the Head Chancellor knows. But it exists.

And should that document somehow emerge at a strategic period of the race? Ka-plow!

How could she survive?

She obviously is facing a long road where every question will be along the lines of "How do you think admitting you lied on your job application qualifies you to be president?"

Can you imagine?

Warren's Anti-Wall Street message, for what it is, will be lost in the wind. Nobody will want to hear it and eventually nobody will come.

Still a Senator

No, it's best to just say now is not a good time, bank all that cash, since she really is a greedy person to begin with, and keep it for the next run for Senator since being an outright straight-faced lier does not disqualify someone from the U.S. Senate. Especially if your from Massachusetts.

If Senator Warren doesn't resign her position in the Senate, and some have resigned for less, she will still have an iron grip on the job due to her fervent politically-left following in the City of Boston and her vast local resources. Her recent re-election versus the energetic Republican candidate Jeff Diehl was called in her favor just 5 MINUTES after the polls closed on election night. If this proof of her claim on Indian Heritage was out before the election perhaps it would have been 6 minutes.

After all she didn't kill anybody like Ted Kennedy did and he kept getting re-elected.

It reflects more on those who vote for such people rather than the people themselves.

Trump Ending Frivolous Wars

Can this even be happening?

Not since Richard Nixon has an American President actually managed to end an armed conflict that wasn't just won outright. Let's face it, this country no longer fights wars with winning them in mind. Not at all, we fight them to keep the military arms industry afloat.

The United States is the top seller of military arms in the world. We sell twice as much weaponry around the world as #2 Russia. For our weapons industry, PEACE is the enemy. Having peace break out anywhere in the world is bad for business. And because of the diligent efforts of past Presidents and war industry Senators in the U.S. Congress, business has been very, very good.

Since the end of WWII, the war strategy of the U.S. has changed from winning to a constant rotating presence that hasn't proved a bit effectual in winning, stopping or preventing further pain and misery to the countries we occupy. It's really about not killing the job. And if some people get killed along the way, well, that's just business.

Finally out of Syria

We had no business being there in the first place. It was not our conflict since Syria is and remains a sovereign nation. That's supposed to mean something. If it wasn't for the Obama financed "Arab Spring" and his blatant arming of ISIS in the region, the Syrian civil war would have been over years ago and much less blood would have been shed. This intervention only prolonged the war and the pain war inflicts. Russia has every right to defend it's interests in the country since it has had a strong and legally binding relationship with Syria and Assad since at least WWII. That's supposed to mean something too.

Colonial interests drive Europe to press for Syrian intervention. The French in particular remain keenly interested in getting their hooks back into the region and have been behind much of the information surrounding the phony "gas attacks" that seem to serve as an excuse to deplete Syria's dictator Bashir Assad's ability to defend his government from the outsider-backed insurgency.

We were only in Syria so that Bashir Assad and Russia would not win. But legally and in the eyes of the world, there was only so much we could do. Our government and that of France kept trying to manufacture a reason to commit more resources to ultimately overthrow Assad to plunge the country into Libyan style chaos in the hopes that Russia would find their base on the Mediterranean no longer tenable but U.S. public opinion and independent voices in our government would not support such subterfuge.

Now it's time to end the charade.

The United States efforts to overthrow world powers "we don't like" has no basis or support in our laws. It has no reasoning beyond those of a tyrant and have brought us no satisfaction or good results for all the money and time we've spent.

But the U.S. military machine has plenty of time and plenty of money, doesn't it?

Enter the War Hawks.

Representatives of the Military Industrial Machine have come out against President Trump's move to end a military conflict. Florida Senator Marco Rubio has been a big supporter of armed conflict in the Middle East in his 8 years in office. It didn't take too much checking to find out why.

Florida has the largest war industry machine in the nation with 20 major military installations and nearly all of the nation's leading defense contractors. Florida also boasts $13.6 Billion in Department of Defense contracts. In fact, the scope of the state of Florida's involvement in the American "War Effort" is outright staggering.

Now what are they going to do if we stop fighting in the Middle East? Doesn't America know that all those bombs feed people?

At least now I know how Senator Rubio got elected. He's made a deal with the Devil.

A quick search on North Carolina, home to Senator Lindsay Graham, another sudden war hawk, brags on it's "Invest in North Carolina" brochure that they have the Third Largest active duty and reservist population in the United States and yields a skilled workforce pipeline for the defense industry. It has 5 major military bases and is #4 in military economic output with $11 Billion in Department of Defense contracts.

This is why Senator Lindsay Graham supports continued fighting in the Middle East. After all, it's only uneducated non-American poor people we're killing.

The Longer We Stay, the More We Fight

I originally hadn't bought into the "We're making more Radicals" argument when it was originally posed, incidentally, by the Democrats who now suddenly want us to keep our military presence in the Middle East, but over time I find that the region just never seems to run out of people wanting to throw themselves at a tank with a bomb strapped to their body. It reminds me of Major Colonel Bill Kilgore's line in the Vietnam movie "Apocalypse Now" when he asks rhetorically, "Don't these people ever give up?"

It's easy to convince people that the United States is coming for them when they are in your country shooting the place up.

Getting out of Afghanistan

After 17 long, long, long, long years in this country, are they any better off? Are WE? I mean all the "good will" we have sewn over there will come back in Spades, right? They still hate us. They hate us when we are there and they say we've abandoned them when we leave. All they want is our money and they'll never become an independent nation if they take it. It's a circular paradox that is no longer our problem.

We defeated the Talaban when they blew up the Twin Towers in New York way back when and now they've undergone a number of reformations and they either are still a force to be reckoned with or they aren't but frankly they aren't. They are a bunch of armed radicals that will exist whether the U.S. is there or isn't there but without us being there, they will have less guns and weapons to be anything but a group of Muslim killing Muslims since there will be no more Americans to shoot at.

We can't stay there forever and at some point either they will have to take care of themselves or they won't. It's been 17 years. GW Bush spent 7 years trying to get the Afghans ready to fight for themselves. Obama spent 8 years trying to get them ready and they've had 2 years under President Trump. How much more time will they need if they still aren't ready after all this time?

Anyone saying we are "abandoning" Afghanistan now after spending more time there than anywhere in the United State's history of warfare, is just trying to stay on the War Gravey Train that being on the side of Rome often provides. It's a spurious argument.

The Kurds

There is no easy, cheap or quick solution to the Independent Kurdish State issue. The Kurds have always helped out the U.S. in the region. They've fought under both GW Bush and Obama and they're helping now but the glaring fact remains that the United States has neither the authority to establish a Kurdish State or the resources to defend one should they try.

Turkey will not allow an independent Kurdish state under any circumstances and will bring their considerable might against one if established. We weren't in Syria to help the Kurds establish an independent state. They know this. They will have to keep fighting for their independence.

We Have our Own Problems

And a major problem right now is Security at the U.S. Boarder. There is no logic in fighting foreign wars for foreign interests when are going to end up losing the nation here at home.

The American Taxpayer shells out more money than most people in the world produce in a year on defense and welfare spending and both are out of control. The working U.S. citizen scrimps and saves for their retirement and most workers try to sock away dough for their later years. This becomes increasingly hard to do when so much is taken out of your paycheck before it even gets to you.

War is frivolous when it accomplishes nothing. As an industry, it is immoral at best. At worst, it's industrialized murder and whether it is waged in a "humane" fashion or not makes no difference if we are just going about it by rote.

Time to think of the people who fight our wars. We owe it to them and the military families that when we fight, we will fight with purpose and to ultimately win and not so that a military corporation can keep it's stock numbers up. We don't need to have a war for every generation to keep military traditions alive. We should try to interrupt this pattern one time just to see what happens.

Peace could become a habit. 

EU, NATO, Let Ukraine Down

I'll bet Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian President misses all those nuclear weapons his nation gave up at the insistence of his European Union "brothers". Oh, they used to be a nuclear power but since they were going to be part of the EU, they were talked out of having them because the EU said, "We'll help you deal with Russia, don't you worry at all!".

The EU, invincible in peace time, invisible in war time.

Now that the shit is hitting the fan between Russia and their former national bread basket, the European Union and NATO want no part of that altercation. "We've got your back." they have said yet when the bully comes onto the playground, Ukraine turns around and finds they are on their own...again.

Such is what life must be like for the Ukrainian people. Wanting out, wanting in, wanting to be something more than a backwards farm culture and yet always being dragged back into the darkness because they don't have the resources and nobody wants the Russian army, notorious for their ability to kill people indiscriminately and break things knocking on THEIR door.

Also, they buy a lot of booze and stuff.

So Ukraine dangles. It implores, it tries it's best to hold itself together as their European "friends" look on. Will NATO send troops to be a buffer between Russia and Ukraine?

Are you high on drugs? What, do you think this is Kenya or something where all they have are rifles and can't shoot for shit? Hell no, they're not going to send troops.

Will the European Union impose more sanctions on Russia? Will their navies lend a helping hand?

I wouldn't hold my breath. I haven't heard much condemnation coming out of any EU country over the Russian taking of Ukrainian naval vessels.

After all, this is all happening in Europe. Someone is bound to have noticed.

Perhaps they are preparing a response in secret and will spring into action after the G-20 Summit?

Yes, that's it, they are going to take action as soon as they all get back to their countries.

Fat chance. 

Trump Becomes G.W. Bush

Sorry, we don't need another "War President' like G.W. Bush. Granted he originally had war thrust upon him but he then turned it into a Raison D'etre and decided to keep war going as a political platform and to keep money flowing to his friends war enterprises. First President Trump signs a massive spending bill and next thing you know he's attacking Syria. Yep, he's G.W. Bush alright.

I really don't know what happens to these guys once they get in office. Bill Clinton intervened in the Bosnian conflict and messed that up and then the last president, what's his name, received a Nobel Peace Prize and then proceeded to intervene in conflicts we had no business being in. But in true fashion that a broken clock is right twice a day, he got Syria right. He stayed out of it.

Not so Donald Trump. The president who campaigned on getting us out of the Middle East keeps turning around and jumping right back in with both feet and no good reason what-so-ever.

It's France and England which covet Syria. They have their imperial plans, you know, the model they used in the previous two centuries to take over these countries and try to exploit their natural resources for their country's benefit. And in the case of Syria, it's the location they want.

So we are pretending to be the "World Police" again, this time really fabricating a very thin story line that nobody really believes just so the U.S. can lead the charge "For Duty and Humanity".

Yep, that's just what we do. Somebody else's dirty work.

This action of accusing Syria of gas attacks, and this is the third time the EU has tried this, also casts doubt on the so called "poisoning" of a former Russia secret agent and his daughter which is said to have happened on British soil. The Syrian attack is such a big lie then it stands to reason that the poisoning too is a fabrication. After all, what do we really know about any of these people? It wouldn't be out of the realm of imagination to believe that they'd go along with the gag. If they want to stay in the country and not get deported back to Russia anyway.

It's all a plot to intervene in Syria plane and simple. I had NPR on the radio and they reported that a "similar" attack had occurred last year and it was determined that gas was used. What they left out was that it was also determined that they don't know WHO actually used the gas since the "rebel freedom fighters' who oppose Assad were also in possession of a good deal of chemical weapons since they had originally taken over two thirds of the country and had ransacked Assad's armories years ago.

So the Political Left is on board, the GOP is on board and now President Trump is on board with the plan. But it's still none of their business. It amounts to an old-fashioned land grab.

This truly disgusts me. Nothing has changed in my lifetime. We still have Imperialism emanating from old Europe and they will say anything and tread on anybody they think can be had to get what they desire.

Not that I wasn't ever thinking this couldn't happen either. We can back a candidate because we feel he thinks like we do and will act like we would like them to act when they get into office. That doesn't always happen to say the least but we go along because this person still embodies most of our vision of where we want this country to go.

With me that stops at U.S. Wars of Conquest and Intervention. If Donald Trump wants to drink the intoxicating waters of the War Well then let him at it but we have no reason to be there and no right to intervene. It's a sham.

So I don't really care what happens to him anymore

Addendum:

Ok, the aftermath of the "strikes" which looked more like a choreographed BALLET, an expensive ballet, seems to have served as nothing more than a demonstration of U.S. precision arms. I'm no less pissed off at this bullshit but there has got to be something more to this politically beyond the feigned outrage and so I'm not ready to mail my "Trump 2016" refrigerator magnet back to Washington just yet.

But do not misconstrue, Syria is for the Syrian government to fight for. If France and England want in, let them take overt action, declare war on Syria, fight and PAY FOR their own battles. AND take responsibility for the consequences.

The United States has no business there. 

Al Franken is a Big Fat Pervert!

And a “Lying Liar who tells Lies” on top of it.

Can one think of anything more insincere than Mr. Franken’s apologies? His dead-pan delivery and feigned embarrassment is certainly as hollow a non mea culpa as any politician can utter.  To find something as equally evasive one would have to travel all the way back to 1996 where President Clinton "didn't have sex with that woman.". It all depends on what your definition of "Grope" is. 

To Senator Franken it's just like a handshake...but lower. 

The name calling, smart talking Senator from Minnesota, always the smartest man in the room, has been caught with his “hands in the cookie jar” once too often and has now “taken responsibility “ for his actions…meaning he’s not going to do anything but keep a low profile and hope it all eventually blows over. I mean, he's not an "Idiot" like that fat Rush Limbaugh, right?

Surely, the “Giant of the Senate” author feels, something else will come along to knock this issue off of the front pages of media outlets. All he has to do is wait a couple of weeks.

But although he wrote a book about “The Truth” Senator Franken has had a hard time recognizing it now that it has become he who must tell it. He “cannot recall” how many times he’s goosed the electorate of Minnesota. Perhaps he’s done this so often he can’t remember whose behind on which day he has grabbed. I’m sure they all blend together over time. 

Senator Franken remembers it all "differently" as if he can't remember what he actually grabbed. She says he grabbed her behind. He remembers grabbing...something else maybe? Or perhaps he recalls being INVITED to grab her behind. Most Minnesota women. he recalls, welcomed him...Al Franken, to grab their behinds! After all, he is a Genius!

Oh, the things he knows! If he could only now remember them.

But don’t expect him to resign. It’s not going to happen. Senator Franken is going to make the people of Minnesota vote him out of office. Sorta like a dare. This is why he...Al Franken, is smarter than everybody. He’s a screen writer, best-selling book author, an actor, a Senator…and a perverted groper of women.

Hell, he could stay in office as long as John Conyers!

Due Process is now called for

Now the Democrats are calling for letting due process take its course.  “Let the Ethics Committee do its work and give us their findings.” is now the call. I’m sure they’ll be jumping right on that.

There was no due process for Roy Moore. He was just supposed to drop out of the race for the Alabama senate and wait to be cleared afterwards even though his alleged misdeeds were reportedly from 40 years ago. At any rate, the newest allegation is from 26 years ago.

Not Al Franken’s allegations. They’re fresh. He’s fresh. It’s all just so…fresh. 

You know, Al Franken reminds me of that nerdy kid you knew in high school, short with glasses, who never could get girls to give him the time of day despite helping them with their homework all the time. He HATED the captain of the football team because he was a dumb jock who got all the chicks and he, the boy genius, couldn't get one to remember his name. "Well!" I can hear a young Al Franken vowing, "One day I'll make them envy me!"

But nobody ever did, especially now. 

But ultimately Senator Franken isn’t going anywhere in a hurry and perhaps that will be a good thing in the long run for Roy Moore should he prove victorious in Alabama. How are the Republicans not going to seat him and stare at him...Al Franken, sitting there in the Senate? The Republicans need the votes as badly as the Democrats do.

The difference is that Roy Moore denies the allegations and Senator Franken won't admit he can't.

Why the GOP Wants Roy Moore Out of Senate Race

It's tough being a supporter of President Donald Trump. Especially if you are also running for office. It's a given that the Democrats will hate you.

And the Grand Old Party of the Republican State hates you too.

This is why the GOP establishment "believes" all of the Roy Moore accusers. Doesn't matter if there's proof, they are just going to believe whatever is said since any excuse will serve them asking for Roy Moore to step out of the race for the Senate in Alabama. The LAST thing they want is another Trump Republican holding a Senate seat.

Roy Moore is on record of going after both Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, people who have been throwing their weight against President Trump's campaign initiatives to end the Affordable Care Act and to overhaul the tax code. It is these hypocrites along with the crazy dead man walking, John McCain, who are the Never Trumpers. Roy Moore has also lead the public cheers that those two pathetic RINOs from Arizona and Tennessee will not run for re-election, namely Republocrat Senators Jeff Flake and Bob Corker.

The prevailing GOP establishment view of Roy Moore mirrors that of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign; they would rather see a Democrat they can "work" with win than a Republican who they can't.

This is the real reason the GOP is, for the only time in recent memory, in lock-step agreement over Mr. Moore stepping out of the Senate race. The GOP can't seem to get together on anything else while Donald Trump is president but THIS is the Great Cause they have united for. You're not even allowed to defend him or risk a boycott like that knuckle-head Sean Hannity. And it all has happened within 7 days. The rush to judgement is no accident. This was an orchestrated maneuver.

Even old Wishy-Washy former Massachusetts Governor and FAILED presidential candidate Mitt Romney has crawled out his bank vault wearing pointy-toed boots to kick Roy Moore while he's down. He too "believes" the stories as if anybody even remembers who Mitt is or takes anything he says as anything other than Sour Grapes.

Do Ryan, Romney and McConnell care if Roy Moore did any of what was said he did? Hell no, but it has provided an opportunity to try to knock off the real opposition they face: Real conservatives with principles.

The Democrat Modus Operandi

We haven't seen this sexual harassment ploy in politics since 1991 when Ted Kennedy engineered the first "High Tech Lynching" of Justice Clarence Thomas. At Thomas' Senate confirmation hearing the Democrats suddenly put up a former Thomas aid, Anita Hill, to claim that Judge Thomas has sexually harassed her over years of working together. This almost derailed one of the most consistent and unbiased justices to ever sit on the Supreme Court. Good thing Ms. Hill was exposed under questioning as the liar she was in time.

The secondary tactic of "Victim Pile-on" where more and more people, after "years of silence" now come forward with only verbal accusations and no proof and having seemingly never said a thing to anyone ever over the years about what they say had happened. But the shear weight of the numbers of "victim" accusations leads people to believe that "they can't all be lying!" So it all must be true.

But actually, they CAN all be lying.

For this tactic to work, all the players have to be in on it. When the plan is well executed, like with Bill Cosby, it's hard for the man to defend himself.

Which brings up a big puzzle for me with Bill Cosby. Am I expected to believe that these 60+ women all went over to Mr. Cosby's place alone, were all drugged and had against their will in the America of the 1960s where all a black man had to do was J-walk or use the wrong toilet to get arrested, and nobody every reported him and he was never arrested? Or was he really too famous for the cops to go after in those racially charged days of segregation riots, accusations of "uppity" black men and women who were still referred to publicly as "negros"?

And will anyone remember Mr. Cosby was acquitted at trial?

But that's the game that's going on right now. Last minute allegations set against the backdrop of a national sexual harassment witch hunt where only accusations are valid and proof of purchase not required. A situation where the press will pillory anybody who's name is thrown out into the public domain and where plenty of women without fame of whose star has faded are thinking hard of what name they can throw out there next.

Ad to the mix these very real sicko Hollywood predators and nobody is going to know who is or who isn't the guilty party.

So it stands to reason that the Democrats, desperate for a Senate win, having failed in 8 special elections, are going to pick up on this atmosphere and run with it. Their friends in the press are all too willing to help and their friends in the GOP are all too willing to help also.

Finally, the Democrats and GOP can't working together.

Democrat Imams Spur Political Jihad

It was bound to happen given all the Socialist Brother's continuous exhortations and calls for violence. The calls for impeachment, assassination, the assertions of illegitimacy, the sheer invention of Russian manipulation and the overall absolute outpouring of venomous hatred all pointed at one man and the people who voted for him to be President of the United States. All beginning from the very moment the Political Left realized that their candidate LOST.

Putting aside all irony and hypocrisy that this reaction invites since the media did nothing but badger presidential candidate Trump to accept the results of the 2016 election, one cannot help but notice the rising tide of violence perpetrated by a group of people, bound by a rigid ideology, who have since the 1960s grown increasingly intolerant of anybody who does not believe what they believe.

Sound familiar? It should.

What difference is there between Mr. James T. Hodgkinson, the man who just opened fire on Republican Congressman at a baseball practice in Washington, DC and, say, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Paris killer? Pardon me, the 2015 Paris killer.

Both belonged to radical groups that had no tolerance for "Deniers", Both attempt to force their antiquated and narrow world view upon the majority population who do not believe what they believe. But most important, both had no qualms about resorting to brutal acts of violence to achieve their goals.

They both dream of world domination and subsequent paradise.

And they were both motivated and taught by prominent, high placed spiritual figures to go forth and change the world. One listens to a radical Imams like Anwar al-Awlaki, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and Anjem Choudary and the other listens to radical Imams like Steven Colbert, Wolf Blitzer and Charles Schumer.

And they both want to overthrow the sitting government. To be more specific, democratically elected sitting governments.

And that's just like any less-than-mainstream group that has done throughout time. They have made the destructive decision that if they can't win at the ballot box, they will "win it" in the streets.

And here we are. Surprised it took so long.

"Oh Wal Man," you say, "There is a big difference between a Radical Islamic Jihadi and a Democrat! You are just being dramatic! You see, the radical Imams are SUBVERSIVE and good people like Bernie Sanders, Maxine Waters and Chuck Schumer are just FIREBRANDS. Ya see? Big difference."

I haven't seen any difference.

I have a good friend since childhood whom I've always tip-toed around when it comes to politics. He's VERY Left-wing and ever since the 2016 election he just blurts out statements like "Trump's a Fascist!" Just totally out of the blue and way out of the context of the conversation we were having.

Sometimes we're not even having a conversation.

He's become so pre-occupied by what is going on, he's hardly in touch with what is really going on. Which is the Radical Left, so used to having their way the last 8 years, is suddenly finding themselves losing their shit!

The Political Left cannot rationalize how they lost their grip on power and that the majority of the American People aren't with THEM.

So now, rather than undergoing some reflection on their beliefs and some self-examination to determine how to win them back, the Left has instead declared that THOSE people are now Public Enemy #1. The targets are clearly defined: Anyone recognizing and standing with President Trump must be destroyed!

The Leftists may have lost the hearts and minds of the majority of voters in his country but they haven't lost all their power. They still have the 24/7/265 Leftist Media and the Public University System that has been cranking out the Entitled Children of a Utopian Future both faithfully indoctrinated and ready to do battle for a Progressive America!

Clad in their black jeans, black hoodies, black masks and goggles and armed with pepper spray and incendiary devices, these "students" are ready to infiltrate and incinerate any University that does not accept their spiritual leaders views. They are the harassers, the psycho-operations front shock troops. There is money behind them and more than enough media propagandists to make excuses for them.

They are ready to shout you down, tear you down or burn you up. To the Left, joining "The Resistance" is code for going on the Offense.

Stoked by the Leftist Media outlets, Sanctuary City Mayors and radical Democratic Congressmen and women, there is nothing these Progressive operatives won't say, no reprehensible act they won't portray and no insane plot they won't trumpet. It permeates every waking moment for them.

A journalist working for Arabic News station Al Jazeera was heard to say after a CNN piece on Donald Trump, "Whoa, that's over the top, these guys are WAY too radical!".

The Political Left is stoked for a fight and willing to see how far they can push you til you just have to push back.

But will they like it when they get one? Or do they prefer the violence to the harsh reality that people just aren't into them much any more. It's the rejection that's most hurtful.

But the grand design, the Left's Plan "B" is to plan for destruction and chaos. Like all Jihadis and Anarchists, these people only want is to tear it all down. It doesn't matter who gets hurt as long as they succeed in destroying what other have worked for.

It's Jihad. It's what radicals do.

Jeb Bush’s Money is Useless

Talk about all the money in politics and the influence it buys, it  just doesn’t seem to be helping former Florida Republican Governor Jeb Bush in his efforts to reach the White House.

As Bernie, Hillary and the rest of the Political Left rages against the U.S. Supreme Court allowing political campaign contributions by corporations and Political Action Committees (PACs) and raging that Wall Street cash is changing the face of the 2016 Presidential Election, Jeb Bush must be sitting and staring at his television wondering why the hell it hasn’t done him a bit of good.

With a sixth place finish in Iowa with 2.8 percent of the vote, Jeb was left pulling up the rear behind Rand Paul and Ben Carson. Not a good result for the Man Who Would be President.

But what about all that money?

It has been reported that Jeb! has already spent over $31 Million in his own campaign cash and his Political Action Committee, “Right to Rise” has doled out between 90 and 103 Million dollars. 

That's a lot of Cake for 2.8 percent of the vote in Iowa. If you gave money to Jeb Bush's campaign, you might be feeling like you had made a bad investment. And in reality, you did. 

But if Jeb! thinks that’s bad, wait until next Tuesday in New Hampshire.

All that money, the root of all that is wrong in politics if you listen to the political wags, hasn’t gained Jeb Bush the trust of the American people. Quite the opposite, it has been a colossal waste. In contrast, the New Hampshire primary favorite, Donald Trump, has spent less than $20 Million.

Perhaps it isn’t the money then. All the money in the world isn’t going to buy you a vote if people don’t believe you or your message. And Jeb Bush’s message has been disturbing to a majority of American voters. This is a fact borne out by the lack of voter’s interest in his candidacy.

The former Crazed Mayor of New York City , Michael Bloomberg, (he's still Crazed, just no longer Mayor) has been spending money hand over foot to get more anti-gun ownership legislation passed and it hasn’t done him any good either. In this time of random terrorism on soft civilian targets to go along with every day criminal activity, people aren’t inclined to give up their right to own a firearm. Add to that, given his high profile governorship of the nation's largest city, people know Mr. Bloomberg has more money than brains and if he should jump into the race for the 2016 presidency, it will really prove that money isn't everything when it comes to American politics.

So as it stands, people just aren’t interested in the product Jeb Bush is selling, namely himself. They don't like the substance of his ideas and the package of his veneer. They don’t want amnesty for illegal aliens, they really don’t want another big spender, they aren’t interested in more military intervention in the Middle East, they don’t want continued expansion of government and they certainly don’t want to create a political dynasty by sending yet another misguided Bush family member to the White House.

Otherwise they would have voted for him.

Jeb Bush and his group has dished out plenty of cash to get his message across to the American people and the people apparently have heard his message loud and clear and they’ve sent one back to him.

Forget it!

Middle East Solution: Quit Arming Everybody!

Quit trying to train one group of people to fight another. Quit giving anybody with a grudge and a Koran a gun and a reason to use it. Get the hell out of the Middle East altogether so they can reach equilibrium on their own.

The Middle East is just an open air market for weapons of mass destruction furnished by your “friends” the United States Government.

You may ask yourself now, after 14 years of buildups, pullouts, surges and training goals, just how many enemies can the United States make in the region? The answer comes in the form of another question: How many people are IN the region?

How much death and destruction can the Obama Administration sew? After watching the previous presidential regime of George W. Bush take a “Don’t Kill the Job” position in Afghanistan and Iraq where winning the war wasn’t really on the agenda. Just keep throwing people, money and arms into the place and SOMETHING good may happen.

Well, it never did and every day, week, month or year we spend over there will not bring us any closer to an ending. Get out.

There isn’t a working brain cell in anybody in the U.S. military who thought that they could train and arm a Syrian force to go after Bashar al-Assad.

It’s all been a colossal hoax, all a lie. And all the money, U.S. taxpayer money, a commodity that grows in shorter supply every day, is gone in an instant. What happened?

Nobody knows. It’s all a game to these people. Nothing is real.

If you wish to know why a general mood of despair is gripping the U.S. military, then look no further. The military has become a politicized den of ineptitude that cannot bring itself to actually do the job that it was designed to do: kill the enemy and take all their shit.

If our military can’t do this or its commanders lack the will to carry this out then it should NOT be deployed.

We’ve wasted 14 years on a mishmash of ideas and lack of an end-game. Just what were we supposed to do if we win?

But that’s a moot point now.

There are still people in our government still talking like we are going to send over a large force and finally end the war and wipe out ISIL. Just how delusional is that? 

ISIL is the best armed force in the region because we gave them the best weapons indirectly. We first gave them to our friends the Iraqi Army. They in turn dropped them into the hands of ISIL. There is also evidence that our U.S. forces actually trained some of ISILs’ top leaders just as we did the Afghans when the Soviets were pushing through the country.  Now the forces that turned the tables on the Russians are turning the tables on us by our own design. 

ISIL is our people, the Iraqi Army are our people, the Kurds are our people. They are ALL our people fighting each other over there. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that we're training the Russians and supplying them with armored vehicles. 

We are done wasting resources on people who won’t fight for themselves and who are all too willing to enable ISIL to take over.

We’ve helped too. 

Baltimore, MD: A City With No Future

I met a couple once years ago that had traveled to Obscurity, MA where I live. They had previously lived in Baltimore. They had left because of the crime, the poverty and lack of jobs. And this was in the 1980s.

They didn't have two nickels to rub together and she was pregnant and the story they told of their treatment at the hands of Baltimore's Social Services Department and the squalid conditions they had to endure made me vow never to set foot in the place. They finally resorted to packing one suitcase each and heading for the highway. They literally stuck out their thumbs on Interstate RT 95 to get out of town and when the trucker who picked them up and drove them to the Massachusetts line dropped them off, he drove off with the rest of their suitcases, which was what was left of their worldly possessions. It's a story you never forget. 

Baltimore was NEVER a good place to live as far as I could tell. Never wanted to go there and I didn’t even like to drive by it on my way to somewhere else. 

Baltimore represents all that is wrong with the welfare state. Like any of the crappy big cities like Philadelphia, PA, Cleveland, OH, Camden, NJ or Washington, DC, they'll give you what you need to survive but that ain’t living. And in order to get the money to fund these respective welfare states, they tax and regulate away real opportunity. Then they wonder why nobody wants to open a business in Baltimore. The money has to come from somewhere. It’s a Socialist Paradox. They take your opportunity and give you welfare and food stamps because, well, you can't find a job but there are no jobs so you quit looking and just take the short money and lump it. 

There are plenty of stupid people in Baltimore. They have voted for the Social Democrats for decades and nothing ever seems to get better and they can’t figure it out. It must mean that they aren't throwing enough money at the problem. It must mean that GOVERNMENT is not doing enough!

Anyone who stays in Baltimore and thinks it’s going to get any better is a FOOL. It hasn't and it won’t. If you stay there the odds are very good you will never get anywhere in life. You have to get your ass out of Baltimore or you will only ever get what the government gives you. You’re a slave to the State. What’s the difference who your Massa is? You still have a Massa!

No opportunity, no future. The government can’t give you a future. They can’t manufacture a job without taking from others with jobs and putting the burden on THEM to support you. Without self-reliance, you can never be free. You own yourself so now what are you going to do with yourself? You going to go loot a chain drug store? That’s your future? You're just waiting for the bullet. 

And it looks like the local police force are all too happy to help you out with that final exit. Yes, it seems that one of the six policemen or perhaps ALL of the six policemen tried to twist poor Freddie Gray’s head off for being, for the most part, a wise guy. It is not up to the police to decide the Mr. Gray’s fate like that, it’s for the courts and all six of them should be arrested and tried. Only in this fashion will the truth come out.  Will it happen? Most likely no, since we still have an unapologetic unaccountable police force and this is starting to lead to some big problems nationally.

But that has nothing to do with why Baltimore is a DUMP.  A dump made worse by recent lawlessness permitted if not condoned by the Leftist Mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who mistakenly believed that by letting these home-grown Hooligans run rampant in the city streets unchecked that it would somehow lessen the damage in the long run. Did you see all those cop cars burning? With all the technology in those cruisers, they must cost $70,000 apiece. Where is the money to replace them going to come from? Oh, they’ll just raise taxes on businesses and property owners so no worries there.

And people are calling the cops and none are coming. If the mayor let’s this sort of mayhem happen when unrest breaks out, who is going to invest in Baltimore? Like we will see in Ferguson, businesses and people will be on the move…out of town.

And it will be a good move. Life is too short to hang around waiting for change that never comes. Better to walk away and seek opportunities elsewhere. Or they can stay and take the short money and waste their lives on a Baltimore street corner, dealing drugs and “Fightin’ the Power”.

Good luck with that. 

Happy Drunken Irish Day!

As a third generation American of Irish decent, am I the only one offended at the concept of St Patrick's Day being promoted and roundly observed as a big drinking day? And is naming a drink an "Irish Car Bomb" even remotely funny?

After a long history of invasions, repressions, starvation and servitude, getting our asses kicked by the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings and the Normans/British, the only thing a modern person of Irish decent can look forward to is skipping a day of work to get plastered on St Paddy's Day and publicly making fools of themselves?

It even has it's own parade.

This is what our ancestors, who often came with only the clothes on their backs and leaving everything they had back in the old country, risked their necks to come to America for?

And once here they endured 10 hour days 6 days a week as fodder for the vast and giant, smokey brickwork mills of the industrial revolution, living crowded together in substandard housing and inhabiting the low end of the social scale until they established themselves in a new world. Nobody handed them anything, it was all earned by the sweat of their brow, the strength of their backs and the desire and resolve in their hearts.

Many died in the famine, many died in the Atlantic crossing and many died in the factories and crowded slums.

All so that in modern times we can perpetuate the image that we're a bunch of drunks.

Good thing their dead, 'cause this would kill 'em!

Just like the Italian's lack of humor when it comes to references to "The Mafia" or the Great American South to those "Duke's of Hazard" style hillbillies, I shudder each year at the prospect of this "Special" day and all the morons that come out for it.

But people can and should do what they want just as long as they only do it to themselves. It's just all done in such poor taste. And what a low class affair to pay $25- $35 to go into a pub you normally walk in free the rest of the year. But that's the way it is with the Irish I suppose, falling into their stereotypes for all to see. From Brendan Behan to Shane McGowan. It's a shame we haven't smartened up.

So drinking til one vomits it is for St. Patrick's Day. On this side of the pond anyway. Don't know how it's done in Ireland but I suppose somebody over there at least knows why they're doing it. For me I just find it insulting that this Irish Amature Night is not much better than Cinco de Mayo in the annals of marketing and manufactured ignorance.

And while we're at it, if the Fighting Irish symbol of Notre Dame University depicted a person of any other color or of any other race, there would be a such a hue and cry that everybody associated with it would have to resign in disgrace. But it's an Irishman, isn't it?

And nobody cares if they offend an Irishman.

I was watching a PBS special on the Civil Rights Movement the other night when the commentator said they "took Martin Luther King Jr. away in a Paddy Wagon.". I thought that statement summed it all up nicely.

So go ahead, drink up Boyos, and stumble down a flight of stairs for "Old Saint Paddy" for all I care. Sing your sad love songs and happy fighting songs while you're all in your cups.

I'll be home on my couch with a blanket pulled up over my head waiting for it all to be over, again.

Obama Becomes The Scarlet Pimpernel

“We seek him here, we seek him there, those Republicans seek him everywhere. Is he in Heaven - Is he in Hell? That demmed elusive Pimpernel!”

He is here, he is there, he is everywhere! 

One moment the President is promoting free community college the next he is promoting another Federal government Alaskan land grab. And over here he'll be promoting some subsidy or another. And tomorrow he'll be flying to yet another state to tout universal such and such. It doesn't really matter what, just as long as it's Universal and Free!

In addition to his pen and his phone, Barack Obama now incorporates his plane, or rather, the people's plane, to lead the fight for the Liberal Aristocracy against the murderous Taxpayer Revolution that seeks to thwart his massive spending and taxing schemes.

Just when the Republican party has regained the majority in the both the House and Senate and they think they have a net over the President, Mr. Obama is back on Air Force One, back on the campaign trail and out there trying to give the store away to anyone who with a hand outstretched to take it.

My favorite stupid thing Mr. Obama said during his State of the Union address was that he wanted to "Make Community College free like High School." I hate to break it to anybody who thinks high school is free. Any person who is actually paying a mortgage for a home knows that high school is definitely NOT FREE. The cost comes out of their ever growing property taxes. These taxes used to just go up every year but these days home owners have even been seeing increases quarterly. Over half of every town budget is to cover school costs. Definitely not free. But it SOUNDS great to say and hear the word "FREE".

And this is what Mr. Obama is going to be doing for the remainder of his presidency. Just one declaration after another with the hopes that the Republican party will have to pay attention to and address and take the time to explain every one of them when his partners in the national media, call them the "League of the Scarlet Pimpernel", constantly ask what the Republicans intend to do about each and every one of them.

What to do?

They can’t simply keep saying “Dead on Arrival” even though that is just what these crazy proposals are.

They should simply say that “We are going to listen and study the proposal” and then get right back to being the majority party and sending laws to the president so he can either veto or sign them. And when he vetoes them, they should get busy and override them if they can. That’s the business of Congress. Or at least that’s what it was.

The way to ground Mr. Pimpernel is to send him something he has to make a decision on. Something he has to decide what to do and explain the decision in public. In fact they have to send him lots of things to either sign or not. The rest of his populist bullshit they can just ignore. Brush it aside if asked. “We are involved in the running of the country which the president should join in on and be involved with here in Washington.” And just move on regardless of what he says. "Veto a law? Go ahead and veto it, and while you're at it, here's another."

Scott Pelley, the Leftist pseudo journalist for 60 Minutes, a group that has lost all credibility in the Internet age yet continues on regardless without shame or guilt, just a few days ago asked Speaker of the House John Boehner if he thought sending laws to the President knowing he was going to veto them an “effective way of governing” as if, I suppose, that signing executive orders, flying around the country proposing bills and skirting the checks and balances of Congress was a better way.

This is the kind of Government Media Machine that working people with an idea of holding onto the money they earn for are up against. Rich media reporters who have made their fortunes already working for the government propaganda ministry going after and talking down people who express an interest in and who are in the position to undo the damage President Obama has been doing to the economy overall and to middle income taxpayers in particular.

Keep Talking About the Constitution!

The Republicans should also use the media focus to reiterate and explain the process of Constitutional Government and how it is really meant to work. Talk about the U.S. Constitution, what is in it and what is NOT in it. There is a big problem in government today that NEITHER party talks about the process and how government is supposed to work under our Constitutional framework. No wonder people think Obama has the right to make a law and pass a law. It has to be be put out there at every opportunity by the most prominent of people in government. 

Obama the Arsonist

President Obama is going to continue to fly all over the country, and he likes to pick majority Republican states, and light fires. Just like his presidency was all about redistribution of wealth and destruction of cherished norms, Obama’s energies in his waning days in the White House will be spent in obstruction, distraction, subterfuge, more campaigning and just outright lies.

Hell, it got him to the Presidency didn't it?

Socialism Suffers Setback in November Election

Well I guess there are still more of us than there are of them.

For the time being anyway.

The Socialist Democrats are bewildered. “Doesn't everybody want free stuff?”  They bemoan!

Sometimes you just can’t buy ALL the votes you need on the way to bankrupting the country.

People still want to own stuff and have stuff and they want a means to get what they want as in having a LIVELEYHOOD. Not just money from the government but a real something to work at and which they are interested in. A way to spend their day in creative and productive pursuits instead of going from handout to handout thinking you’re really putting something over on the government when they know they have you right where they want you, on a string.

One interesting observation of the political left in this country: They are looking especially deranged in their response to the rejection of their socialist ideals.

In fact they are downright delusional and seeing how their brains can’t rationalize the rejection they respond with anger and malice. They will get us.

Reminds me of the school system right here in Obscurity, MA. One year about 4 years ago, the town attempted yet another Proposition 2 ½ override. Prop 2 ½ was a law put on the ballot by the taxpayers that limited the amount of property tax could be assessed to 2 ½ % of the assessed value and could not be raised more than 2 ½ % of the value in total. Assessments come usually every 3 years.

In order to tax property beyond the 2 ½ %, the town has to have a vote. The Obscurity, MA school system had attempted and succeeded in passing 3 other Prop 2 ½ overrides in the past 5 years to pay down shortfalls in the school system but THIS 4^th override attempt didn't pass.

So what did the school system do?

They decided to “show them taxpayers” by cutting back sports programs, doubling the participation fees, abruptly laid off several teachers and cut the hours of the high school so short that the high school didn't meet the state requirement for minimum school hours and actually lost their state accreditation for the next 3 years.  How’d you like that if you were a graduating senior looking to get into the college of your choice?

This is the malevolence of entitlement by a socialist government. Never mind they continued to run deficits after the first override, you have to just continue to pony up the dough every time they ask for it. Otherwise you will be accused of trying to "run the government like a business!"
  

But it seems the opposition has grown to take back both houses of the people. Their first reaction is rejection of the results. Their second reaction is to plot the usurping of the victors. The propaganda has already begun. The floating of compromise and that the people still accept the glorious ideals of the New Normal. But there is no compromise in the tearing down of such vile pillars of national destruction that is the Orwellian named Affordable Care Act. It’s better to lose it now than to wait until it collapses because nothing on God’s Green Earth that is going to keep it from doing so. It was Chaos on paper yet here it is, a law. Such is the state of things.

But the world does not want Socialism, a form of economics that has failed every time it has been tried. Never has there been a successful society under Socialism and its sister misery Communism. History will vouch for their track record. “But only if it was done correctly” the mantra goes on but how many times can one try and fail? How many tears have been cried as a result? Millions and Millions.

From bloody Mao to bloody Stalin to bloody Chavez to bloody…etc. But they aren't all bloody I suppose with Francois Holland just plain the French equivalent of Barak Obama or maybe just Jimmy Carter who has now become the SECOND worst president ever. Holland should be the next leader of a major nation to be swept into "the dustbin of history" by the electorate.

So the American System has a chance once again to show it’s rigidity by using its flexibility. There is a reason the wheels of government moves slowly.  The system of checks and balances can be defied but the people, when push came to shove, came out to reject the collectivist sentiment of our would be overlords. If they had wanted a different result then they would have chosen it. If they wanted compromise with the Democratic President then they would have voted for the Democrats.

That’s the good news.  

Obama Business Model on Display In Venezuela

This is what awaits us under the iron fist of Big Government. They know better than you about how to spend your money and they see that you don’t get to keep too much of it. After all, there are others that need it more than you do.

Shortages, hardship and pain await the Socialist Nations of the world more so than the still productive countries of the world who are struggling to throw off the yoke of their benevolent self-destruction disguised as social justice. You can’t give what you make or do away for free. The world does not turn on the redistribution of wealth and it NEVER HAS.

If nobody minds lining up for the most necessary of sundries like laundry detergent, paper towels, sugar, rice and beans then by all means let us continue the path we are on to it’s ultimate conclusion.

Imagine the police, and we have A LOT of police in this country, telling you how much you can charge for goods in your store just before it turns into yet another empty store front and you are out in the street with everybody else vying for a piece of an ever shrinking pie.

The politicians RIGHT NOW are talking about improving education when the State run education system sucks up so much of the taxpayer resources, more than half of every town budget, and gives little to the point where taxpayers are supporting the public schools from their property taxes and then ponying up more money to send their kids to a private school. And the people who can’t do that are left with the standard, substandard, public school. This is most prevalent in the nation’s cities where the public school system is SO BAD. So how is more of THAT going to do ANYTHING?

And what good is an education, nobody seems to mention, if you don’t have a JOB to go to?

The streets of Venezuela awaits us all if we continue down this path. It may already be too late but if something happens tomorrow, if someone still cares about doing a good job and is interested in the American Ideal of Independence, Self-Sufficiency, Self-Reliance and doing the right thing, who knows?

But if we don’t get it, it’s every person for themselves anyway. There’s no reason to continue acting like the money is good and that the law is on your side. We must all turn to the golden rule of boxing:

Protect yourself at all times.

The prepared will suffer. The unprepared will starve. 

Scotland Should Secede

Isn’t this what Mel Gibson was fighting for way back in 1995, a free Scotland?

Sure England is no longer the England of old where they held onto power on the island by slaughtering and starving everybody who opposed them but it would be great to see Scotland have a home of their own that they can administer the way they desire.

The right to self-determination is not given by governments; it is bestowed at birth. And yet so few of us get the chance these days to exercise this right that when we see someplace else getting it, we go all wobbly. Sorta like the Crab Pot mentality that psychiatrists are so fond of pointing to. To me it’s just another example of making the slaves love their slavery. They won’t want to give up the comfort of having no responsibility towards how their lives are run. It is easier to have everything laid out for you, isn’t it?

For all the hand-wringers, nothing would change much if Scotland should vote itself back into an independent state. All the infrastructure, the navy bases, the oil platforms and such would stay right where they are. The only difference would be that England or whoever else that would use them would now have to pay Scotland for the use of them. What’s the big deal? Oh yeah, England would have to pay rent on that big old castle in Edinburgh that the Queen uses twice a year. They’ll probably have to sign a 100 year lease or something and if they do then Scotland should run a credit check.

Of course there are going to be issues, pains and expenditures but it will all be worth it.

It is funny how the wags come out and try to put down such a wonderful idea of having Scotland go back to its people.

Since this subject came up, I can think of a few more places that should be given back to the people who were there first.

Hawaii: This is a no-brainer. The history of the United States taking Hawaii from the organized and civilized people who ran the place is indisputable The Hawaiians haven’t been the same since. We can restore the pride of their civilization by giving back their autonomy over the island. It isn't like they aren’t going to let anybody come over and spend money there. The only downside I can see to this is that we would have a devil of a time arranging 49 stars on the flag.

Tibet: China walked in and took over. There was some uneasiness about it and a few nations said something but that has all faded into the background. The Chinese ran a rail line into the region and is flooding the place with Chinese nationals and pushing out the Tibetans. The Chinese police literally kick protesting Tibetans to death in the streets and leave them there. These days only the exiled Dali Lama is making a public stink about it. All just an annoyance at this point.

Kurdistan: The Kurds should have their own country. They’ve earned it. They fought for it and they’re still fighting for it. Turkey was against it since they were afraid that their Kurdish population would want to secede to the new state but now they seem to be joining forces with them against the Islamic radical element from whom they see a greater threat. All they have to say is anybody who wants to join the new Kurdish state can LEAVE. That keeps Turkey being Turkey. This would also provide a market for Turkish goods with a stable neighbor.

It must be very exciting to be a Scot right now. There is optimism, fear, trepidation and great anticipation. It is something many in Scotland never dreamed of happening before. But the dream can be made real through their own hands if they wish it to be so. It is Democracy in action.

Wish we all could do that.

Won't Someplace Just Hurry-up and Collapse Already?

I’m just tired of waiting. All this putting off until tomorrow to do the right thing about the deficit and the national debt is making me wonder if anything can actually cause a financial collapse in this country anymore. The nation is supposedly $15 Trillion in the hole and states are running deficits all over but nothing seems to actually collapse. The payrolls are being met and the people on public assistance seem to be getting their public assistance.  We’re supposed to be teetering on the edge of a cliff.

So won’t someplace just hurry up and go over the edge financially so we can get this whole chain reaction fiscal cliff thing over with already?

Anybody, Greece, California, Spain, Rhode Island, Portugal, Missisippi… we can't go up until we hit bottom so we might as well get it over with. All we hear is that it’s gonna happen, it’s gonna happen. So something happen already, Christ!

The stimulus bills, the government borrowing, the floating of bonds and the increases in taxation all are just going into holding up the government infrastructure of public unions and federal systems. There is no return on this money being spent because it’s being spent on government; it’s just providing a holding pattern. Without some sort of growth, this sorry excuse for financial policy will crumble. Eventually we'll have to pay all this borrowed money back, right?

The more people thrown out of work means there’s less tax money for the State. The more money the State tries to take at this point will throw more people out of work. The State has regulated and taxed us to the point where business cannot function and yet the regulations and increases keep coming.

Had this financial house of cards been allowed to go through it’s natural correction back in 2004 and had the banks not been "saved" we’d be coming out of it by now. The more it gets put off, the worse it ends up. This is not new, our ruling party has made the same mistake before.
But at this point there isn’t much do about it now but just let it collapse.

The government pension system, Social Security, Medicaid and public assistance programs will eventually not only not be able to meet their obligation to send out funds to recipients but won’t be able to meet their payrolls. Everything, government contracts, pension funds, sick day compensation, disability and so forth should be put back on the table and re-thought because right now, the costs of government has outstripped the taxpayer’s ability to pay. But that can't happen until the states file for bankrupsy.

So let it all collapse already. I’m waiting.

Germany and Greece.

In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.

"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"

"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same."

"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:  It is best to prepare for the days of necessity. 

Yet the Germans have a soft spot for the Greeks. An affection that is not returned, of course, since jealousy rules those who have to accept a helping hand.

What I find odd is that all the Greek families I know here in Obscurityville, MA are extremely hard working people. They own apartment buildings, pizza shops, dog walking businesses etc and work ungodly hours in the pursuit of success .

So how did Greece get to be the welfare state of the European Union? Did all the hard working people of the country pick up and go elsewhere? Were the public union people and telephone sanitizers the only people left like in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?" 

How did such a country, universally known as the cradle of democracy, forget the whole thing? Perhaps the road to democracy ends with a  government job and a hefty pension? The mind boggles.

But here we have Germany, the EU's most robust economy, leading the way to bale out the country with a massive, and yes it is massive, cut to the Greek debt . And ok, maybe it isn't all about the love with Greece because if they default the whole world just may fall into a thousand years of darkness, but all the crap Germany is taking from the Grecian hoards has got to be hard to take.

That's the tough thing about having a thankless job...nobody thanks you.

The statistics of the Hellenic hijacking of the private sector is right out of the "truth is stranger than fiction" literary tradition: Public employees could retire at age 58 from their "jobs for life" and receive up to 92% of their salary in pension benefits. Greeks have also avoided many a tax burden due to the public sector basically just voting themselves raises and perks that their economy could never possibly grow into like taxes on real estate. And since governments do not actually MAKE anything, rising wages in the public sector has no correlation to actual production. Government is just an expense and in the case of Greece, government is a huge expense.

And here we are, a world economy betting Greece won't figure out it would be cheaper for them to bail on the debt and start printing their own money again.

Not a comfortable feeling is it?