Syria Reaches New Milestone by Killing 5000 of Their Own Citizens

  Syria the Arab country which gained its independence from earlier French rule in 1946 has now reached a despicable new height as the government crackdown on Syrians protesting for democratic reform has now claimed an estimated 5000 innocent citizens their lives.

Following with other Middle Eastern countries the people of Syria have been protesting for some type of political reform during the recent Arab Spring which spread to Syria whose citizens have lived under  a government declared period of Emergency Law from 1963 until April of 2011. As Syria is listed among the worst in the world in regards to human rights this recent historical event comes as no surprise. However the final outcome has yet to be written for those suffering and dying.

As the country grows ever closer to all out civil war with the Free Syrian Army entering into the uprising to fight the government forces, more clashes and casualties are to be expected. This recent anti-government army has already begun receiving support from the United States in a clandestine manner, yet it remains to be seen if this will be enough to turn the tide.

Russia has denounced these and any other supportive measures for those protesting for democratic reform as acts of terrorism. This in a country with close ties to Hamas, Islāmic Jihad and Hezbollah which are all considered to be terrorist organizations by both the EU as well as the U.S.

Furthering Syrian isolation are the countries close ties with Iran as well as their disdain for the people of Israel. A brief reprieve occurred when in 1990 Syria participated with the U.S. led multinational coalition against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. There were also some attempts to discuss Syrian and Israeli disputes in Geneva in 2000 however talks broke off and have never resumed.

Even the Arab League with its 21 member countries has suspended Syria from its organization after President Assad began to use deadly force to quell the countries ever rising protests for democratic reform only furthering his governments’ isolation.

The Syrian National Council which has called for President Assad to step down or at least institute some reforms and to stop the bloodshed has had its requests fall on deaf ears. Yet the Syrian National Council is the only recognized representative of this country of 22,717,417 million people by the countries of Bulgaria, France, Libya, Spain and the United States however they are still suffering needlessly at the hands of President Assad.

Following his father’s death on June 10^th 2000 and after an emergency amendment to the constitution the then 34-year-old Bashar al-Assad took over control of the Syrian country. Syria which ranks 111^th in the most recent HDI or Human Development Index whose citizens only realize a per-capita income of $2,958USD per year have only shown an aspiring demand for democratic reforms only wishing to improve the lives of all Syrian citizens.

One can only hope that more force along with enhanced support for the Syrian National Council is brought about to aid these people and not just speeches. In their quest for simple democratic reform as well as the removal of the dictator Bashar al-Assad who has brought about all of the recent casualties and deaths I am sure no one could argue that he must be removed from power.

However without some form of broad international support or some form of military intervention the killing and torture of innocent Syrian citizens will continue to go on with no end in sight. The United States has firmly stated that they will not intervene as we did in Libya where Moammar Qadhafi the brutal dictator was successfully overthrown the Syrian people are on their own.

So only time will tell as the UN, EU and the United States are not willing to commit anything more than some possible sanctions with a little bit of clandestine support thrown in and nothing more.

Syrian people from all walks of life are being left to protest and fight for their democratic reforms that they so desperately want and need this as the international community has literally turned their collective backs as these people are tortured, raped, disfigured and murdered by the Syrian military.

How many more thousands of Syrians need to die before someone steps up to give them a hand rather than only condemning what is occurring while doing nothing about it?

 

 

 

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. This material is distributed without profit.

Bailout Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, thanks George

It is looking more and more like the Chicago school free market economic policies of Milton Friedman are once again costing the Unites States it’s once cherished market dominance. The policies of the Republican Neo-Con administrations are on a one way ticket to destroy the American dream and the poor people who are not politically connected.

Unless you were born into or inherited enough money to weather the current economic storm you have been feeling the effects of Mr. Friedman and his cronies in the last few months. Billy Kristol of course could care less Friedman is still his idol as well as with the other moneyed and politically connected of his sect.

Friedman believed in almost no government intervention or regulation and that if left to it’s own means the market would correct for any irregularities. As it was posited by Friedman the market had it’s own equilibrium and would adjust and self correct as needed. As history has now shown again this is a severely myopic view with devastating consequences for the public at large.

While the government is only looking at a $300 billion dollar bailout or excuse me extension of credit which the American taxpayer is on the hook for a realistic loss of $30 billion with Fannie and Freddie, the free market does not seem to be correcting itself.

Lax banking standards coupled with lax investment house oversight are digging a hole deeper and deeper for the American taxpayer while the wealthy of this country are still making a killing. Even today with the financial mess that has been created the wealthy investment and banking houses are fighting any government oversight changes to protect the American populace.

The aggressive derivatives and mortgage markets coupled with the greed of banking executives hell bent on destroying the financial lives of it’s customers has brought us to this economic realization. The mortgage brokerages knew that the financial history of their client did not bode well yet they sold them into ARM hell and are now asking for bailouts from the government. Maybe now someone might think that the government should be a little more involved in regulating various industries.

Banks, investment houses and our rapidly deteriorating airline industry, wow this deregulation thing doesn’t seem to have worked out like we were told it would. But not to worry the after all the money has been bleed dry the government will bailout the banks after they destroyed hundreds of thousands of Americans of whatever dreams they may have had.

Yes it does cost money for the government to operate and sometimes they are not the most efficient entity to be found. But at least they will be consistent with their oversight and that is sorely needed right now and into the future. Deregulation was not the best of ideas and re-regulation is the pill we must take to correct for the wild west attitude now in place in the American economic system. The far right will cry no more taxes and Rush Limbaugh will crumble up his papers and yell into his microphone with his daily diatribe.

Well just remember that while we are in a war estimated to cost into the Trillion’s of dollars our President gave tax breaks to the ultra rich even as the dollar declined in value which has contributed to our current state of affairs.

There is little if any regulation in investment houses and mortgage companies with their get rich quick schemes that have sold us down the river for the foreseeable future.

I for one do not enjoy paying taxes either and would prefer the government wasn’t on my back however I will take the financial hit now rather than pay the price we are going to be paying even after I am gone. Rather than just thinking about yourself and screw the rest like the Neo-Con Republican mindset, why not look just a little further ahead and realize the government has to be engaged so that all Americans have a shot at the American Dream.

No you can’t put all of the blame on our current inept disengaged President it took some time to straighten out the lack of policy of the Reagan administration remember the S&L crisis when the leveraged buyouts and hostile takeovers were occuring right under his nose and he did nothing.

Well we finally got on the right track with Clinton in office who besides having some sexual endeavors in office was a great President.

Then came George who didn’t really get the government thing and he just did what his advisers told him to, well those advisers were from the Chicago school and look where we are now. Not to mention we did add fuel to the fire with a trumped up war and our illegal occupation of a couple of foreign nations.

So now the time has come for a change and hopefully we will not re-elect another Bush term under the guise of John McCain I for one don’t think this country can take four more years of failed policies.

So cry over your spilt milk eat some crow and digest some taxes so the dreaded government can step in and try to straighten out this mess again thanks to the Chicago school principles which have failed us again. It might not be what you wanted but at least the American public will get a fair shake even those without moneyed pasts and politically connected pasts.

So ask yourself do you care about your children and their future or do you only care about what is best for you and the rest of the nation be damned.

George W Bush gives Israeli’s Thumb’s up to Bomb Iran!

It has now been reported that President Bush has given the Amber light to the Israeli government to bomb Iran and the operation is expected to occur before his lameduck presidency ends this year.

Immanent is the operative word here as the government of Israel is fearful that a new administration would not allow for such an operation to occur on it’s watch. As Mr. Bush only has a few months left in office the window of oppurtunity is closing and the Israeli government Will strike while they still can and with their airstrike the United States of America will be drawn into another Middle Eastern conflict.

This type of operation has been predicted and while not unexpected it is truly a frightening reality. With gas prices already at all time highs this type of operation against Iran would drive oil prices into the stratosphere. To think that the Iranian government will not attempt some type of retaliation for such an attack is pure fantasy. The Iranians have already threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz a lifeline for the world’s oil exports in the Persian Gulf.

President Bush while giving the Amber light to the Israeli government to bomb Iran has also told them that they will be going it alone and not to expect any US help with it’s operation. However as recently reported with the attributed quote by the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet commander Vice-Adm. Kevin J. Cosgriff, “They will not close it. They will not be allowed to close it,”.

So even while our ever deranged President is telling the Israeli government don’t expect any help from the US his military commanders are presenting another side to the story.

As George has not done so well in Iraq and Afghanistan and the American public has had it’s fill of nation building by the current Neo-Con administration another war front is not within the realm of possiblities as the American people just will not stand for another invasion.

However if the decider doesn’t decide to go to war with Iran but just green lights the Israeli military to do so he can then have his dream fulfilled. It would go something like this, the Israeli’s attack Iran and the Iranians seek retribution by blocking the Strait of Hormuz. Well King George cannot allow the life sustaining oil of the Persian Gulf to be disrupted so he and his corrupt government cronies now have their own green light to attack Iran.

This scenario is not a fantasy as the Iranian government has made it quite clear that if attacked this is exactly what it will do. Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari of Iran has been quoted as saying, “Naturally every country under attack by an enemy uses all its capacity and opportunities to confront the enemy. Regarding the main route for exiting energy, Iran will definitely act to impose control on the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz,”. He also stated, “If there is a confrontation between us and the enemy from outside the region, definitely the scope [of the confrontation] will reach the oil issue,” and , “After this action [of Iran imposing controls on the Gulf waterway], the oil price will rise very considerably.”

Mojtaba Zolnour, a deputy with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying, “If Israel and the US fire a bullet or a missile at Iran, its forces will attack the heart of Israel and 32 American bases in the region before the dust from such an attack has settled,”.

Currently the price of oil is at $147 per barrel however this type of unwarranted action could easily drive it over the $200 per barrel threshold with devastating effects to the world’s economy. This talk of $200 a barrel oil is a reality and a certainty if you believe this recent quote from Saudi Arabia’s former oil minister, “If the US or Israeli forces attack Iran…the oil price would go up to $200[/bbl] immediately.

Even with opposition from his own military commanders as well as the American populace who are unwilling to suffer the consequences of another foreign entanglement President Bush moves his deadly agenda forward. As Pentagon officials call for a more pragmatic position and are firmly against such an operation which would also put our military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan in further peril George dismisses this out of hand.

As the Israeli government is soon to be presented by an administration with Barack Obama as the US President who would be steadfast in his opposition to such an operation Tel Aviv feels as though they must act quickly. Another Pentagon official has been quoted as saying, “If I were an Israeli I wouldn’t wait,”.

So George has told the Israeli government that it is okay with him if they disrupt the already fragile world economy no matter what the consequences for the world at large. So it is not out of the realm of reality that while our President has not yet gotten his wish to attack Iran it should be coming quite soon.

Barack Obama the personification of what America needs now more than ever

Barack Obama, is not the atypical moneyed politically connected name often found in the American political experience. While definitely an American born on Hawaiian soil in 1961 his life has been one of challenges that he took on and fought with tears and sweat as he climbed the ladder to success against the odds as he was an African American born into this country so rife with prejudice.

John McCain has the gall to question Obama’s credibility

John McCain has the habit of making statements calling into question the fact the Barack Obama has failed to serve his country and that he has no foreign policy experience. So why not take on these questions Mr. McCain has been invoking and see if they have any validity.

George W Bush and his homegrown Terrorists here and abroad

Diya Muhammad Hussein while not related to the disposed dictator of Iraq does have a common belief which is held by many of his countrymen and that is his desire to rid his country of the American occupiers.

While most sixteen year old children would be interested in school studies and their growing attraction to the opposite sex and the latest video games the teenagers of Iraq have much more dire thoughts on their minds.

After many years of American occupation and death and despair always at the door, hatred for the imperialists who occupy the land is foremost on their minds. After the many thousands of deaths in the quagmire of American design it is only logical that the youth of such a country would be more than willing to kill or be killed to put and end to the occupation.

United States Lies, Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima and Nagasaki untold Death & Destruction

The United States Government has always lied to its citizens with regularity in its history and the bombings and senseless Murder and Destruction at Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima and Nagasaki are no exception.

Yes the Japanese did bomb Pearl Harbor with 2897 Americans killed, 879 wounded, and 26 missing. It was an egregious act of cowardice; however did FDR know it would occur?

Pearl Harbor did President Franklin Delano Roosevelt know of the attack?

There are many who believe that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did in fact know the attack was imminent. However at the time the USA was in an isolationist frame of mind and wanted no part of the conflict in Europe. This after the great loss of American lives in World War I; there were more than nine million soldiers and civilian deaths in that conflict on both sides.

After World War I the United States had become a country without a moral compass its citizens were only interested in their own lives and were not ready to suffer anymore causalities to another conflict. Remember that WWII started in 1939 and that the United States did not enter the war until the attack by the Japanese on December 7^th, 1941 a full two years after the conflict had begun. The United States government wanted to enter World War II, but they needed a reason to get the people of the country to support their plans.

The bombing of Pearl Harbor could not have come at a better time and was seen as a way for FDR and as a byproduct the United States of America, to engage the people of this country in the conflict because of its horrific aftermath.

There were accounts that the United States had not broken the all important Japanese military codes prior to the attack, this was in fact a lie. There are now documents that have been released which paint a very frightening picture.

One out of the more than eighty three messages intercepted by the US Navy which were sent by the Japanese Admiral Yamamoto to his fleet commanders is the most damning which read in part, “…the task force, keeping its movements strictly secret and maintaining close guard against submarines and aircraft, shall advance into Hawaiian waters, and upon the very opening of hostilities shall attack the main force of the United States fleet in Hawaii and deal it a mortal blow…”, this was sent November 25^th 1941.

A future Presidential hopeful and opponent for FDR in the next election Thomas Dewey became aware that the Japanese code had previously been broken prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. He had hoped to use this against FDR in the 1944 election. His desire was to do a series of political speeches where he would charge that FDR new of the attacks and did nothing to overt the pending doom in Hawaii.

However the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General George Marshall talked to Thomas Dewey and told him that the Japanese were not aware that their code had been broken. Rather than place our American forces in harms way by compromising their intelligence gathering capabilities, Dewey relented and no speeches were given, FDR went on to win the election of 1944.

It was also previously stated that the Japanese Navy operated under strict radio silence this again was another lie otherwise the US Navy would not have intercepted eighty three messages that were sent to the Japanese fleet.

There were also those that were present when FDR heard the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor and they observed, “The President’s surprise was not as great as that of other men around him. Nor was the attack unwelcome. It had ended the past months of uncertainty caused by FDR’s decision that Japan must be seen to make the first overt move.”

It is more than probable that because of this cold calculating mindset that over 2897 American soldiers died needlessly just to give the United States the needed political and national momentum to enter the war.

The Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Why did President Truman order the slaughter of Seventy Thousand people in Hiroshima and another 40 to 70 thousand in Nagasaki and give the United States of America the historical distinction of being the only country in the world which has ever used a Nuclear device to devastate and destroy a nation?

The names were comical, Fat-man and Little Boy but the aftermath of their use in Japan was far from being anything of the sort. Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6^th, 1945. Fat Man was dropped a few days later on Nagasaki on August 9^th, 1945 with their deadly payloads.

But why did the US unleash this untold death and destruction when Japan clearly wanted to surrender? The Soviet’s under their leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and United States President Harry S. Truman all knew that the Emperor of Japan had accepted the terms of an unconditional surrender 19 days before the first atomic bomb was dropped.

President Truman knew the Japanese wanted to surrender however he was not going to allow the Soviet Union to be the peace broker as he feared they would gain the upper hand. He wanted to show the Soviet government and the world at large the destructive power that the United States had in its arsenal the loss of human life was just an afterthought to be dismissed.

From President Truman’s own handwritten diary an entry on July 18th, 1945, “Discussed Manhattan (it is a success). Decided to tell Stalin about it. Stalin had told P.M. (Churchill) of telegram from Jap emperor asking for peace…” This was nineteen days before the bombings, he knew yet he pursued the path of death and destruction.

Another diary entry this from an assistant to Secretary of State James F. Byrnes by Walter Brown, the entry from August 3^rd, 1945. It was written that Byrnes, Admiral William D. Leahy and President Truman,”agrred [sic] Japas [sic] looking for peace. (Leahy had another report from Pacific) President afraid they will sue for peace through Russia instead of some country like Sweden.”

Manhattan Project scientist Leo Szilard recalled what Byrnes thought process was; “(Byrnes) was concerned about Russia’s postwar behavior. Russian troops had moved into Hungary and Rumania, and Byrnes thought it would be very difficult to persuade Russia to withdraw her troops from these countries, that Russia might be more manageable if impressed by American military might, and that a demonstration of the bomb might impress Russia.”

Yet President Truman bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki even though the Japanese government clearly wanted to surrender, all for the political gain the US would realize.

The United States stated that by dropping these bombs countless American soldiers’ lives would be saved. But no saving was needed the Japanese wanted to end the war and they unfortunately engaged the Soviet Union as their emissary, because of this for the first time in the history of the world Nuclear bombs were dropped for no reason other than to strengthen the mighty hand of the United States of America.

As a footnote in regards to the current Middle Eastern conflict in Iraq as well as the problems facing Israel, it is worth noting that the superpowers of the world in 1948 created the current atrocities. Again for personal gain the Middle East was chopped up and artificial countries and borders were created by the superpowers for economic and political reasons. If this had not occurred the war in which we are presently involved in would have never even been started in the first place. If the USA had never placed permanent military installations in Saudi Arabia the Twin Towers would still be part of the New York skyline as well for Osama bin Laden and his hatred for the United States would have never manifested itself within his mind.

When will the superpowers of the world learn, how many have to needlessly die?

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. This material is distributed without profit.

The United States’ new backyard

When the US decided that its backyard would in future be a greater Middle East – from Pakistan to Morocco – it imagined that it could rearrange the region to suit itself. The results have been disastrous and will be long-lasting

By Alain Gresh

Donny’s Crazy tales to Protect His Wacky Bosses Back!

We all have friends who will take the heat for us while our other coworkers or neighborhood friends will cut and run and leave us to the wolves so they might have their dinner snack.

Donald Rumsfeld the former Defense Secretary for the Bush administration is one who would dig in and attack anyone who had the audacity to question any of George’s crazy wacky ideas.

As King George wants to wrestle control of the Middle East so that he can have access to all that oil and build spiffy military bases Donny Rumsfeld always came to his defense. In so far as George wanting to be the only hegemonic power in the region and topple the country of Iran as he is destroying Iraq and Afghanistan again Donny would lend his helping hand.

In what are called snowflakes, (ironic as both George and Donald are rather flaky in my opinion) good ole boy Don beat whatever drum he needed to keep Americans in the dark about foreign affairs. He wrote of the need to keep on elevating the terror threat level and that all government officials should try to link Iraq and Iran together to keep the public under the thumb of George’s wild ideas for global domination.

You see the former defense secretary hates the media especially when they try to tell the average American citizen the truth. Donald wants it to be his way and vision, or the highway for any other diverging view, even if the opposing view is valid and shared by the ordinary people in the United States and Europe. The former secretary didn’t like views that differed from his and via his propaganda machine he would attempt to reform public opinion, no matter that the public disagreed.

So on average Mr. Rumsfeld would write about 20 to 60 snowflakes a day, no matter that these destroyed relations with his fellow cabinet members, his thoughts must become part of the lexicon and quite possibly shape future policy for the United States.

During the year in 2004 Rummy was worried that the American public was waking up to the fact that the Iraqi conflict had been a mistake. He marshaled his minions to attack the pessimistic reports from the media, how dare they try to tell anyone the truth. Different standards just needed to be applied to turn around the American public and he wrote this missive, “They are looking for leadership. Sacrifice = Victory.”

We can clearly see today that the Sacrifice angle isn’t working anymore, but Donald kept up the delusion telling his staff to bring up various regional conflicts and to attempt to imbed the terrorist cry into our subconscious so that we would rally behind George and his far fetched ideas all logic be damned.

His underlings were also called to rally around Donny as many former United States generals who had been boots on the ground robots for him began to call for him to resign as they now questioned his power to reign supreme. No matter that these generals has served in Iraq and realized that the entire war had been a huge mistake Donald went on the offensive in the month of April in 2006 as they had the audacity to question his and King George’s wacky ambitions.

Donald wanted and needed a team to assist him in his quest and they needed to “go out and push people back, rather than simply defending” Iraq policy and strategy. “I am always on the defense. They say I do it well, but you can’t win on the defense,” he wrote. “We can’t just keep taking hits.”

He also lamented, “It is going to be a long war,” he wrote. “Iraq is only one battleground.” You see in Donny’s view Iraq and Iran are the same he even floated the idea of renaming the –war on terrorism- as a – Worldwide War on Insurgency. In his view no other nation in the world understood the so called big picture especially the United Nations as he thought he did.

In another of his reported quotations he stated that Muslims in general were nothing more than an oil rich lazy society who in his words were detached, “from the reality of the work, effort and investment that leads to wealth for the rest of the world. Too often Muslims are against physical labor, so they bring in Koreans and Pakistanis while their young people remain unemployed,” he wrote. “An unemployed population is easy to recruit to radicalism.”

In his mind if these not so lazy radicals got their hands on Saudi Arabia and its vast oil reserves this would become, “an enormous national security problem. On this point he is somewhat correct as it is the United States that wants to get its hands on Saudi Arabian oil fields as well as every other Middle Eastern oil field it can control with the United States vast hegemonic hands.

Later as calls for his resignation grew he demanded that a, “better presentation to respond to this business that the Department of Defense has no plan. This is just utter nonsense. We need to knock it down hard”, even in the midst that over 65% of Americans thought that George didn’t really have any plan and he still doesn’t to this day.

The New York Times had in his opinion the gall to say that the Army was ruined in November of 2006 in an editorial and Rummy said it was, “disgraceful”. There was a Brightside to the editorial which said that; “one welcome dividend” of Rumsfeld’s departure was that the United States would “now have a chance to rebuild the Army he spent most of his tenure running down”.

Donald Rumsfeld didn’t care for differing views on United States foreign policy and his tenure was one of attack and to never allow himself to be on the defensive no matter what the cost. The fact that over 3800 American soldiers and 90,000 Iraqis are now dead and over 3.2 million displaced is of little consequence to our government now or then for that matter.

Now we have George W Bush left to his own devices without Donny to help him out and Iran is firmly in the Presidents radar as his next victim. It doesn’t matter that the Russian and Chinese governments are adamantly against any military action in Iran, the rhetoric is already being ratcheted up to attack Iran.

This even as King George sees his legacy and public opinion crumbling around him. Even George must think if ever so rarely about the $4.2 trillion dollar debt for this needless unwarranted war that he will be remembered for placing this scar on American history. As the President makes no secret of his religious beliefs he must also occasionally think how he economically and spiritually took the United States down the path along with him.

How many laws were rewritten to allow for secret prisons and so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, which other civilized people would call torture. One can only hope that our President comes to his senses before he mires us in another conflict. He has already bequeathed the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq to a future administration and the debt for the war to the young populace of our nation with the added peril to our economy as another gift to the future of our nation.

Is there no one in this administration or our government at large who can counsel George to mend his ways and attempt to begin rebuilding this nation’s moral standing in the world? Or are we doomed to leap from one conflict to another as our armed forces are stretched beyond the breaking point and our nation plunges into the depths of hell.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. This material is distributed without profit.

Can George W Bush for once act like the President rather than a spoiled child!

Russian President Vladimir Putin is backing the Iranian government on its nuclear program and said Russia would not allow any military action to be taken by the United States. This dovetails with recent comments made by the Chinese government who are also calling for dialogue rather than Washington ratcheting up its war mongering rhetoric.

Both the Russian and Chinese governments are calling for more good faith negotiations rather than the United States stances which include further economic sanctions and rhetoric reminiscent of the administration before it invaded Iraq.

The Tragedy of the USS Liberty and the Israeli and United States cover-up!

A former Navy attorney who helped lead the military investigation of the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 American servicemen says former President Lyndon Johnson and his defense secretary, Robert McNamara, ordered that the inquiry conclude the incident was an accident.

In a signed affidavit released at a Capitol Hill news conference, retired Capt. Ward Boston said Johnson and McNamara told those heading the Navy’s inquiry to “conclude that the attack was a case of ‘mistaken identity’ despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”

$300 Billion for Water in the USA have we reached the tipping point!

As we shower, shave, bathe, cook and drink the ubiquitous resource the inhabitants of the world are rapidly approaching an era of water shortages never before seen by modern man. It is estimated that it will cost over $300 billion dollars just to upgrade the piping systems that handle this most precious resource over the next 30 years.