Monday, July 5, 2010

SAR #10185

"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people for a purpose which is unattainable."

Howard Zinn

Fool Me Once... Again:  News reports suggest Obama is willing to postpone EPA regulation of the country's top polluters in an attempt to get Republicans to let the Dems pass a useless but shiny new energy bill.  Slow learner, isn't he.

Interpretation:  The Coast Guard says no one – especially reporters – can come within 65 feet of any “oil spill response operation” for safety reasons, on pain of a $40,000 fine and/or up to five years in jail.  Whose job safety they were protecting was not specified.

Depends on the Paperwork:  Joe Lieberman (Idiot-CT) says the best way to raise morale among the troops in Afghanistan is to let them kill more civilians.  As I recall this was tried in Vietnam, where the dead were all enemy cadre.

Pop Quiz:  Which has done more harm, religion, nationalism, or religious nationalism?  God Bless America.

Conundrae:  If all the countries running big deficits are going to solve their problems by exporting more, who's going to do all the buying?  If every country (and company and city) needs to sell ever more debt in order to keep the doors open, isn't there an absolute limit to how many possible buyers there are with extra cash sitting around, no mater how high the interest rate?

Reminder:  Independence Day celebrates our fight to cast off rule by a wealthy elite who were keeping the benefits of our labors for themselves and taxing us for the benefit of their companies.   More or less.

Savings Account:  Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has ordered that oil exploration in the kingdom stop and that the oil yet unfound is to be left in the ground as an inheritance for future generations.  That there have been no significant new finds in a generation or more and that stumbling on significant new reserves is most unlikely was not mentioned.  Now when they start running out of oil, the Saudi's can just say they're saving it for the kids.  Beats saying that the largest oilfields in the history of the earth are running dry....

Celebrating the Fourth:  A federal court has told the administration that if the thugs at Guantanamo couldn't force a confession out of an Algerian detainee in 8 years, they should let what's left of him go.

Ill in Illinois:  Illinois has no idea where 1 out of every 4 budget dollars is going to come from this year.  Over $5 billion in the hole, the state is behind in payments to public schools, the state university, child care centers and rehabilitation providers.  The prison system is 50% underfunded.  Can't wait to see how they solve that one – probably have to let a former governor or two out early.

Takes One to Know One:  John McCain says that GOP Chairman Steele's calling the disaster in Afghanistan 'Obama's War” was “Wildly inaccurate.” And John knows a thing or two about wildly inaccurate statements.

Hearts and Mines:  Here's how the hearts and minds thing is going: After we leveled Falluja (twice), the city needed everything – roads, water, electricity, hospitals, schools.  So we decided to build a sewage system.  Six years and $104 million later, we are leaving and the sewer system is still unfinished and unworkable.  Much like the rest of our efforts there, it's down the toilet.

Location, Location, Location:  Wyoming wants to sell a 1,366 acre parcel of prime vacation land, $125 million, as is, with moose, elk, wolves, grizzlies, and tourists who think they're visiting Grand Teton National Park.

Porn O'Graph:  From unemployed to unemployable to forgotten.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

...no flag large enough. Wisely said. an illusion will do just fine, though. Who was it that said, "You can tell what a country is made of by how they treat their prisoners." GTMO comes to mind.

It's such a farce. Makes me want to puke every time I hear one of our leaders wanting to promote democracy around the world.

On war... the only way it will stop (or perhaps slow down) is if you have everyone who votes for it, go to the battlefield with their family.