My rants and raves on politics, Peak Oil and anything else that comes to mind.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Its Christmas Time!
I got this in my mailbox this morning....
A Special Message From The David Horowitz Freedom Center
Dear Freedom Center Supporter, Joel Beinin, the leftist professor formerly at Stanford - now in Cairo - continues to press his suit against the Freedom Center!
This is a politically motivated attack filed solely as an effort to impose heavy financial costs on the Center, tie up our staff, slow our National Campaign for Academic Freedom and silence my criticisms of apologists for terror -- like Joel Beinin. I have not been intimidated by this attack and published an article identifying Beinin as an 'apologist for terrorists' after he filed suit. And I will continue to do so. However, I need your help in lifting some of the burdens he has imposed on us for our refusal to be intimidated by radicals like him.
I don't remember when I signed up for David's list, but its been a good barometer for WingNuttery. David is a proud rascist who's claim to fame is attacking and defaming college professors. He pulls all the dirty tricks you've seen from Michelle Maulkin and Ann Coulter. He's the guy that Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly praise for exposing Professors that don't push the neo-conservative line for endless wars for oil.
He's ruined lives to promote Right WingNuttery, its nice to see someone fighting back.
One of my readers got a bit upset about my argument for a general draft. I don't blame him. I don't support the War In Iraq at all. I never did. But we're in a tough spot right now and we're committed to staying there.
Both Donald Rumsfield and Dick Cheney have publically stated that the war will last at least twenty years. Projections of Iraq's oil capacity suggests that Iraqs oil fields will cease being profitable to pump by then.
George Bush has publically stated that he does not intend to win in Iraq. He says that we are winning now, and we'll continue to win until he can hand the war off ot the next president. He's a war steward and feels its his duty to make sure we don't win or lose before 2008.
Now TV Talking Heads go on at length about victory and plans for glory and how wonderful this war is. But they are just making crap up. If they acutally listened to the President and his staff, they'd understand that every thing they are saying is just Bullshit.
If the war goes on as planned and at last years pace, we will kill about 5.3 million Iraqis. We'll lose 46,000 US soldiers and over 400,000 Americans will be maimed. The war will cost over 2.3 trillion dollars.
But we're already seeing escalations in causulties. So my rough numbers are likely to fall far short of reality.
Now Bush and Cheney don't want the draft. They understand that a general draft will end the war. They don't need more troops, because they aren't trying to win. All they need to do is keep Halliburton safe and their plan so far has been to feed a steady stream of volunteers to the war. The newest plan after recruiting gang members and the mentally ill, is to recruit Mexicans and offer their families citizenship in exchange for service. I think this plan will work. They'll be able to afford the loos of thousands of soldiers a year if they aren't 'Real (Tm)' Americans.
And this plan won't upset the US public enough to put forth serious opposition to the war.
If the draft were enacted, you'd have plenty of of Suburban TV watching moms getting out and making a scene. Until then, Americans will be more concerned over who is going to win 'American Idol' than how many dead Mexicans and Iraqis per Gallon their SUV consumes.
An American Soldier right now is worth 857 barrels of oil. An Iraqi is worth 10 barrels of oil. When Bush toured in November, ahead of the elections, he told us that we're at war in Iraq to keep the price of gasoline down. It was a message that resonated with the American people.
As a nation, we aren't really troubled by trading our soldiers lives to help Halliburton pump all of Iraq's oil and keep all of the profits. We don't even mind paying all of Halliburton's expense and then extra, so that Halliburton's profits exceed theie revenue on Iraqi oil. We don't mind spending two billion dollars a month to simply replace munitions used in the war. Hardly anyone will even be aware that Bush just asked for another $127 billion in emergency funding to finance the war. This evidently is an emergency request that he makes every few months. By making it emergency funding, it doesn't get added into regular budget figures. So the cost of the war doesn't go into official government statistics.
If the public really cared about any of this, it would stop.
Don't worry, there won't be a draft. Our leaders want endless war, and a draft would have soccer moms throwing rocks at congressional limousines, as our leaders go pick up their war luchre on K street.
Don't worry, there won't be a draft. Millions more will die.
Over on Crooks And Liars, there's a Keith Olberman Video where he discusses Newt Gingrich's anti-Constitionalist remarks during a dinner honoring the First amendment.
This is the same Newt Gingrich that once inspired me to join the Republican Party when I was naive enough to believe him when he talked about the Contract with America and he showboated as a supporter of the US Constitution.
"They hate us for our freedoms" - George Bush
Now he's siding with George Bush and the terrorists to destroy our freedoms to make us safe. Once They surrender the United States to tyranny by destroying all of our freedoms, then we'll be safe because the terrorists will love us.
Why does Newt Gingrich side with George Bush and the terrorists that hate America?
A NATO spokesman said an extra 26,000 of the 32,000 Allied troops in Afghanistan are now "more usable" for combat with the lifting of national caveats.
He added that there was also an Allied commitment for more helicopters and more fighter aircraft, and that some nations had agreed that their troops could be used in more "emergency" situations.
It seems Bush was successful in getting more support in Afghanistan and bumping up the combat action quite a bit. More countries are throwing in with the idea of taking this war up a notch.
While countries have committed to help in emergency situations, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have stressed they will not be sending their troops to fight the Taliban in troubled areas in the south and the east.
The South and the East is where the incredibly profitable heroin trade is doing record business. The drug lords have expanded their kingdoms and they are shipping out opium and heroin in never before seen volumes. All under the watchful eyes of the United States. We do know how to reward our dope pushing friends, when they help us fight against religions that we don't like.
Coincidentally the areas to the North and the West are claimed by an international consortium of petroleum corporations that are expanding the pipelines through Afghanistan. Back in the late 1990s, we were on speaking terms with the Taliban when that came to Texas to talk with oil industry leaders at Enron's corporate offices about building this pipeline. Evidently, Ken Lay wasn't able to find a deal that everyone could agree on, so when he appeared at Dick Cheney's Energy task force meetings, one of the topics was likely plans on killing them, so that the pipelines could be built without paying those pesky natives a fee.
With US troops severely overstretched, NATO troops are going to find themselves in the unenviable position of being mercenaries for international oil interests. Though the mission might be sold as a peace keeping mission, you can be that each nation is going to be asking for a cut in profits, commiserate with the casualty rates and costs will endure.
The US has a long history of sending in its armed forces to negotiate with natives in other countries for mineral rights by killing them. The US taxpayer doesn't mind paying for these adventures so that international corporations can reap big rewards, but that's because in America, we just borrow from our kids and live high on the hog. But smaller nations that can't just print an infinite quantity of money to pay for things, will see more immediate sacrifices and be looking for others to cover costs, or they'll look for an exit.
Bush is saying that the war in Iraq must be won, for the sake of our children or grandchildren. I hope its for them, because they'll spend their lifetimes paying for this war. Perhaps Bush can get our great-grandchildren to pay for the NATO adventure in Afghanistan?
I've noted that the Christmas/Hanukkah Holiday Season has often been a good time to start wars. People are distracted by home and hearth and tune out bad news. Perhaps that's when military action against Iran will begin? Our great-great grandchildren can pay for that. Perhaps Bush will tell us that this war is for the children not yet born?
Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp-Ground (Walter Kittredge)
We're tenting tonight on the old camp-ground Give us a song to cheer Our weary hearts, a song of home And friends we love so dear.
Chorus: Many are the hearts that are weary tonight Wishing for the war to cease, Many are the hearts looking for the right To see the dawn of peace. Tenting tonight, tenting tonight Tenting on the old camp-ground.
We've been tenting tonight on the old camp-ground, Thinking of days gone by Of the loved ones at home that gave us the hand, And the tear that said, "Good-by !"
Chorus:
We are tired of war on the old camp-ground; Many are the dead and gone Of the brave and true who've left their homes; Others been wounded long.
cho:
We've been fighting today on the old camp-ground, . Many are lying near ; Some are dead, and some are dying, Many are in tears.
Final Chorus: Many are the hearts that are weary tonight, Wishing for the war to cease; Many are the hearts looking for the light, To see the dawn of peace. Dying tonight, dying tonight, Dying on the old camp-ground.
Every Republican should be behind the draft. We're desperate for men to fight and plan to send 20,000 more men into combat, when we need 200,000.
If the Republicans are serious about winning, let them push and promote a general draft. If they don't want to win, let them show us by refusing to put the troops in Iraq that are needed to fully subjugate and enslave the Iraqi population.
We're currently lowering standards across the board in order to fill quotas. We're allowing gang members to sign up so they can learn military tactics in urban warfare to train kids with when they return to our cities. We're allowing fat middle aged men up to the age of 42 to join. We're dropping requirements for mental fitness.
And we're doing this to fight a war that has no end. The only way our men in the military can be sure they won't be called back to duty, is to get maimed or killed. a bullet to the head or a colostomy bag is the only hope our boys have of getting out of Iraq. A draft would allow us a way to get the boys that have sacrificed so much so far, a way out of the conflict, to come home and to have a hope that they willl live to long enough to meet their grandchildren.
The Republicans want the war to drag out forever. If we never leave, then we never lose. If we never do what it takes to win, then we can keep losing forever and blame everyone but ourselves for the situation. But losing forever, like winning forever, means we never have to admit that we've lost. And if we're winning now, because we haven't left, then clearly Hitler was winning all the way to the point that a bullet entered his head.
Bush declared victory before the fighting really started. He continues to this day to tells us that, just like he did in 2003, we're still winning. If this is victory, then lets change the plan.
Its time for the Republicans to shit, or get off the pot. Either quit the war and write off the loss, or do what it takes to win it. Feeding troops at a slow pace to a neverending war is not the path to victory.
We've had politicians tell us that this war is like WWII and not like Vietnam. Now Bush is saying it is like Vietnam. That trend in rhetoric isn't moving us to victory.
If our politicians want the glory of refighting WWII, then they need a D-Day invasion. And they'll only get that level of carnage and bloodshed if they reinstate the draft.
Since before the war, I've argued against it. I wrote long essays debunking the lies that got us into this war. But now we're there. We need to decide on objectives and create a plan that will decisively determine the outcome of the war. Then get it over with.
The following Beavis and Butthead cartoon illustrates well the way I interpret the Republican view of Iraq.
Stolen from Red State Son
In further news, Iraq is continuing to work to expand diplomatic ties with Iran, and sees an alliance with Iran as a way of getting the violence under control. This means the US will have to leave, and Iran will likely be contracted to pump Iraqi oil.
American military interests since 1991 have revolved around keeping Halliburton in Iraq. Halliburton was charged with managing the oil for food program that was rife with cheating, bribes and theft, and under the program was the only corporation allowed to pump Iraqi oil. In about 2002, Saddam first began discussing Halliburton's role in the future of Iraq, saying that Halliburton would be kicked out on its ass when sanctions were lifted.
The White House Residents can't allow Halliburton to kicked out of Iraq. They must prevent this at all costs.
For the next two years they'll have to stop Iraqi and Iranian relations from moving forward and keep the Iraqi government weak. There are several measures they may implement to do so.
1. Dissolve the democratically elected government of Iraq, by force if necessary. 2. Step up the combat action at the Iraq / Iran border. 3. Start a ground war with Iran with a reinstated military draft. 4. Step up combat action in all of Iraq and completely destabilize the nation.
I don't see a peaceful solution to keeping Halliburton safe in Iraq and enjoying its spoils of graft, corruption and free oil. The administration is going to have to step up the slaughter of Americans, Iraqis and probably Iranians in order to keep Halliburton swimming in luchre.
This is what Wingnuts are fighting for. This is the country that the Michelle Maulkins and Chad Castanogas want.
After the first tasering, the kid would not have been able to stand. That's the point. The police officers know this. That's part of the their training.
They kept tasering him to torture him and to show the other students that they can be tortured anytime, for any reason also.
The point here is to make the students fear and hate the Campus Police. Beyond a sense of pleasure for the police officer, there's no other reason for policemen to torture innocent people in front of a crowd.
This kid's only crime was that he did not show a student ID, in a library that is open to the general public. That's not a criminal offence. I understand that it will piss policie officer off and they have the right to cuff you for that. But they don't have the right to torture you for this slight agianst them.
The only people that clearly committed a crime was the police officers that assaulted and tortured this kid.
I think every parent that has a son or daughter in UCLA should think long and hard about whether are safer schools for their loved ones to attend.
Bush is now touring the country with a new reason to be at war with Iraq.
As he is explaining it, if Iran and Iraq are allowed to have the money from their oil sales, then the terrorists win. So the new reason is to make sure that Iraq and Iran's oil is pumped and sold without letting either country have the proceeds from the sale.
That's why we die. That's why we pay Halliburton to pump oil and keep the profits. That's why we are at war. That's why we are free spending our nation into debt slavery.
Bush has come clean, we're at war to make sure that Halliburton gets all the oil money from Iraq and Iran.
We are winning. Bush says we are winning. Now he's explained in plain english what winning means.
Well, at the moment I'm waiting for my wife to get ready, so we can go vote.
Work has been busy and I've had my head down doing game development in the evenings. I've also had a couple of systems poot on me and I'm trying to get a SQL Server up and running again.
I'm using the TSE SDK from these folks. http://www.garagegames.com/
Its fun working on the slippery slope of the bleeding edge.
I've had scattered thoughts of things to comment on. There's so much going on, that others are covering well, that I haven't felt like I have much to add.
I've been tempted to vent over this whole Christian Right, Closet Drug Addicted Gay Pastor event, God speaking to Bush etc..., but I feel like my thoughts are more angry than coherent.
I do have the recurring thought that if Bush does believe that God told him to invade Iraq, then God knew that more than 7,000 servicemen would die as a result of that action. So it follows that God sent Bush to kill US servicemen. So when Bush says God told him to start a war, Bush is saying that he's an angel of death, sent to command the deaths of thousands of Americans. Its Bush's religious convictions that they died for. Then we have what will probably be over one million Iraqis that God told Bush to kill.
Sometimes I wish I could believe in Christianity again. I do wish that there was a special place for world leaders that kill millions of people for Jesus, as Bush has done. It would be a comfort.
I don't think of myself as Godless, I just no longer see this Heaven and Hell thing, as anything more than an excuse to leave things as they are and let God work it all out. Its an excuse to sit home on election day and trust in God.
Its time to go vote. I have a hope that my vote will mean something, but I lack faith.
