People are not about to suddenly become rational.
In Memoriam: Every day, 18 US veterans kill themselves; more have died by their own hand than in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. One-third of post 9/11 vets do not believe either war was “worth the cost.” Only one-half of one percent of Americans have served in the military in this decade – which may explain why the wars, and the damage to our soldiers, continue. A record 45% of Iraq/Afghanistan war veterans – many having survived multiple deployments - are seeking compensation for their service-related injuries. Caring for these men and women will cost the country nearly a trillion dollars over the next 30 to 40 years – a cost that Bush never told us about.
Tariff vs. Bribe: Leon Panetta says the US will not be “gouged” by Pakistan to get it to allow transit of US supplies into Afghanistan. Wanna bet?
Behave, Or Else: The Germans say their will be no more money for the lazy, tax-evading Greeks until they settle down and submit to their punishment austerity measures. The Greeks, in turn, point out that the half-trillion euros owed to Northern Europe will do serious damage if the EU/ECB/IMF don't come to their senses. Rationally, this standoff should end with a compromise. But rationality has been missing from this discussion for quite some time.
Egos and Immorality: The only part of the Romney/Gordon Gekko myth that is true is the part about making a lot of money firing people and looting pension funds.
The Six Words...Under a FOI request, DHS has been forced to release a list of the words and phases that will get you monitored as a possible terrorist. This blog, in discussing the day's news, regularly uses 17 of the first 25 'triggers'. Words like cops, authorities, recovery, attack, Homeland security, gangs, SWAT, not to mention (ha!) cloud, plume, outbreak, evacuation, and gas. Clouds? Gas?
Details: “For the first time, neither party’s candidate is a white Protestant.” So says Mitt Romney. So, Barak's a Roman Catholic?
Freedom To Fleece: Sen. Rand Paul (Nut-KY) wants a law prohibiting the FDA from interfering with claims by food or dietary supplement companies about the marvelous properties of their concoctions unless it can prove in court that the claim is false or misleading based on published peer-reviewed scientific studies. He calls it free speech and has some diet pills he'd like to talk to you about.
Lobster Rolls: Maine lobstermen have been landing soft-shell lobsters in large numbers since early April - 4 to 6 weeks ahead of normal. Warmer water temperatures and the increased availability of food for the lobsters that comes with the warmer currents may be responsible. No one wants to speculate where the warmer currents might have come from.
Porn O'Graph: On average, healthy is expensive.
The Parting Shot:
A pause that refreshes.
6 comments:
Where do the warmer current come from? Maybe from the waters that feed the hurricanes in summer.
Behave or Else:
I think someone needs to check if Google Translate is working properly for Frau Merkel, I don't think they get the jest of the popular joke...
"When you owe the Bank 1 million you don't sleep at night, when you owe the bank 1 trillion, the Bank doesn't sleep at night."
Re Memorial Day - I wrote this a couple years ago, but it's still relevant.
Through a combination of circumstances (i.e. cable channel-surfing at the right time), I found myself watching the opening ceremonies of a NASCAR race near Richmond, VA, not far from where I went to high school. It was a glittering pastiche of religion and patriotism - the Pledge of Allegiance led by a quartet of soldiers (black and white, male and female) from Fort Lee, where my late father Colonel Charley served for several years; the U.S. Marine Band performing the National Anthem; a minister asking God's blessing not only on "the sport we love" but "our soldiers overseas, defending our freedom".
To the audience, it was ritual giving visible and audible form to their Love of Country, God and one's fellow human beings; I'm sure they swelled with pride as they pledged loyalty to the Flag, symbol of our forefathers and the sacrifices they made to give us all we have today. Meanwhile, as I watched this spectacle at home, I felt sick at heart as I thought that this handsome facade means, in practice, not just wholesale theft, but mass murder. What will it take to rip the mask off, to break the trance?
Recently I was reading the Wikipedia entry about Muhammad Asad, born Leopold Weiss – a remarkable story. In looking at the publicity materials for the documentary film about him, titled A Road to Mecca, I found the following sentence: “I fell in love with Islam,” he said matter-of-factly shortly before his death in 1992, “but I overestimated the Muslims.” Similarly, I feel like someone who fell in love with the idea of America that I learned as a boy, but has been greatly disappointed by the reality of it, and of us.
Amen mistah charley...
The Six Words.......
Societies before us dealt with these intrusions in innovative ways. One of those ways is to speak/write in code or in disguised language. Thus, "The binks stoll all the monay." or "Woll Street are tyrorists." So, then the gavmnt must expand their search criteria which then leads to a new level of Absurdity in what is restricted language.
Soon, any use of language is suspect. Thus even more language to examine, note, catalog and chase down. Is this beginning to sound like the infamous, ever-expanding US No Fly List? This is basically what happened in East Germany where the othorityes were so busy tracking every one down, examining them, frisking them, etc, that little else got done with the Economy suffering accordingly. So, the faster they expand their Absurdity, the closer we may be to their collapse.
And, as regards monitoring speech, how do the Woll St boysgirls continue to do their dirty business with all the phones and other communications being tapped? Maybe they already have a Coded Communications System.
According to 30 Rock, the PTB have their own 911 (they dial 991), I would assume they press 8 before they dial to disable monitoring.
And if certain words trigger a flag, there is most certainly a word or phrase that triggers a do not record flag.
I think it is rubber baby buggy bumpers.
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