Why bomb Libya but not Yemen or Syria or Rwanda?

Oil.  Libya hovers over about 46 billion barrels of oil reserves.  Yemen owns about 11 billion, Syria, 2.5 billion, Rwanda, 0 billion.  So don't let anyone con you into thinking the US is a Dudley-do-right nation.  We're in it for our own interests or should I say corporate interests.  We're bombing Libya for oil.  We (as in a group of white middle aged wealthy men who may be Americans but not necessarily, hold vast power over policy decisions, and can't tell the difference between Tyler Perry and any other black person) invaded Iraq not because Saddam was Satan but because they're sitting on over 110 billion barrels of oil reserves.  Case closed.  We, the people, are complicit because of our insatiable attachment to driving our own cars.  Trust me, I'd rather drive my car to work - it takes 15 minutes by car - than to take the MCTS - it takes an hour (by bike it'd take me at least 1.5 hrs).  Anyway, until we have a stronger commitment in this country to public transportation, we'll be dependent on oil.

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Some folks were sad to see Herb Kohl resign.  I think they must have been republicans because Mr. Kohl hasn't been much of a democrat.  This past week he voted to continue provisions in the Patriot Act that allow the government to eavesdrop on any and all citizens.  That seems utterly mind-boggling.  He's also not been the loudest advocate for discontinuing the Bush tax cuts nor has he been vocal about cuts to Inheritance tax, or Capital Gains tax.  But it makes sense, he's a billionaire.  How long will it be before all of our senators are billionaires?   

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Still searching for the Higgs boson.  In the meantime, Stephen Hawking has decided there is no heaven.  Yet the universe keeps providing images that make it hard to accept:

Comet Between Fireworks and Lightning
Credit & Copyright: Antti Kemppainen Explanation: Sometimes the sky itself is the best show in town. In January 2007, people from Perth, Australia gathered on a local beach to watch a sky light up with delights near and far. Nearby, fireworks exploded as part of Australia Day celebrations. On the far right, lightning from a thunderstorm flashed in the distance. Near the image center, though, seen through clouds, was the most unusual sight of all: Comet McNaught. The photogenic comet was so bright that it even remained visible though the din of Earthly flashes. Comet McNaught has now returned to the outer Solar System and is now only visible with a large telescope. The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework.

Is it possible to just get rid of organized religions without dismissing the notion of god?  It seems a little weird that Jesus who was quite a bit of a rebel - similarly with Mohammed and Abraham and Moses - would advocate organized religions that we have today battling over parishioners, vying for donations, and searching for more innocent children to convert through pedophilia.  Maybe there should be a lot more dancing, like Lionel Messi.    

Scott Walker, megalomaniac or OFB?

Dear  Governor Walker,

There was never any doubt that you would stand by your childish lemonade-stand slogan "Wisconsin, Open for Business."  The only questions were what social upheavals your conservative agenda would include and for how much (was that 25 cents written in crayon?).  From the moment the tort reform bill passed, many of us saw the writing on the wall.  Many others were blind to the idea that you were an extremist bent on gaining power.

Along with your henchmen (other republicans such as the unimaginative and unsympathetic Leah Vukmir, business leaders, and that one guy who claims to be an independent who's only an independent if that means he's not a democrat), who are ostensibly as averse to the public as you, you have passed a series of bills that have set Wisconsin up as the next breeding ground for low wages, enormous public transportation issues, inadequate health care insurance, and far greater income, education, and racial disparity.  It is clear that your administration does not represent the people of Wisconsin but only a few of the people of Wisconsin, namely you.

But one thing you have to get credit for is your plan.  "The main thing businesses are calling for is government to get out of the way," you said in Mount Pleasant on Tuesday.  The statement drew loud cheers according to The Journal Times.com. Congratulations, it's reassuring to know that even for lunatics on the fringe family will still show up in support. You have led the charge to withdraw government from business and turn big government into big business for you and your friends.  Perhaps there is some hope in that aim, for Wisconsinites, that you'll eventually eliminate your own job.

As the "open-for-business" governor (the OFB) you have now gone all in; you've shot your wad, so to speak.  Well, OFB, what are you going to do if the jobs don't return and you've only succeeded in handing over piles of cash to corporate interests who in turn have shipped more jobs to overseas markets and have provided their CEOs with huge raises?

One problem you might run into is that the working people in this country still have anti-trust laws and OSHA regulations.  Those are some nagging regulations that corporations really don't like much.  Corporate interests are not wed to worker safety, union rights, or lunch breaks.  They want profit.  Cheap labor provides profit, Mr. Walker.  Now what are you going to do about our exorbitant minimum wage law?  Wisconsin has a minimum wage that ensures even the lowest paid hourly worker earns a living wage.  That's right in Wisconsin the minimum wage is 7 dollars (that's whole dollars not half) and 25 cents (that's a quarter of a dollar).  That's 290 bucks for a full-time (40 hrs) week's worth of work, which is about 15 (fifteen) thousand dollars a year.  Holy shmit!  What is this China?  When was the last time you earned 7.25 an hour, gov'nor, back when you were pedaling newspapers for the State Journal?  You spend more than that on your daily doses of Rogaine and caffeine and that's before breakfast. 

So basically anyone who works full-time at minimum wage is earning just above the federal poverty rate.  And we're the wealthiest country in the world?  Yikes, I'm glad were not the third wealthiest, who knows what atrocities would be taking place then.

Another sticky issue is sick days - corporations don't like paid sick days at all,  OFB.  Milwaukee voted overwhelmingly in favor of the paid sick day ordinance back in 2008.  In another one of those 'you-told-us-so' moments (like the collective bargaining thing), you planned for that too.  Your current ruling party thwarted Milwaukee's popularly voted-in referendum for businesses to provide paid sick days, thanks to the snarky Leah Vukmir (a nurse, even!  Better hope never to end up in her care she'll pinch the IV, ouch).  It was a legal but sneaky move overruling the populace by claiming the populace didn't know what they were voting for. Hmm... I think we did know what we were voting for on the referendum but we didn't know what we were voting for when we got you.

So with all of your aspirations in your hands, you've given yourself a bit more power this week to fill out state jobs, and to block administrative rules used to implement state laws.  OFB, you're plan for Wisconsin is clear as mud now.  As the state's chief megalomaniac, you plan to ensure that WI is stuck in the middle of 1870, with the exceptions of your dependence on the automobile, because that wasn't invented yet, just wait another 11 years or so, and the size of your salary. You want to save WI some money, how about working for $7.25 an hour?

OFB, you have stuck to your plan much like another politician who stuck to his plans.  As that former president once said, "You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that."   And he also said, "We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe."

Keep it up gov', and you'll live up to those bold words from G.W. when he said, "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."  You'll be another great political leader in the mold of Reagan, Ford, Bush, Clinton, and Nixon (or are those five reasons why we might be screwed).

Sincerely,

Your humble and obliging servant,
Kilgore Spinoza 

What, I'm Still Here? No Rapture for thousands of unfortunates

Dear abandoned christian,

Lo and behold, it's May 22nd.  You were supposed to migrate back to the lord yesterday and now you're down in the dumps.  Did he forget?  Did he change his mind?  No, I'm sorry, neither happened.  You were duped.  There is no rapture.  There might not even be a god.  This whole story about getting lifted off of the Earth and charioted away to heaven is the type of tale that many of us call bullshit.  And bullshit is what people do best.  That's why we have so many words for bullshit, and sales people, and business people, and lawyers and politicians and, yes, religious leaders.  They are all deceitfully selling something in order to turn a profit, either in power or material wealth. 

Anyone that promises you eternal salvation in exchange for your paycheck is conning you.  No one on this planet knows what will happen after you die, not the people who wrote the "holy" books, not the people who put the books together, not the people who maintain them, and definitely not the imams, priests, monks, or anyone else.  They are hoodwinking you along with millions of others.  So you shouldn't feel so bad - you're not alone.  You're not special.  You're not getting saved and you're not the only person susceptible to getting hoaxed.  Chicanery is widespread.  You didn't go and blow yourself up or sell off all of your belongings.  Take this as a learning opportunity.  Now you've learned something about yourself.  You are very eager to believe cockamamie fables. 

You see, there are two sides to all of us.  The ability to bullshit and the ability to be gullible.  Like David Hannum said, "There's a sucker born every minute."   That's why this arrangement works so well.  The arrangement of religion and god and the hierarchy of religion.  The priests, or any leaders, swindle the parishioners, or any followers, and they in turn are bamboozled by their leaders, and in turn they are hornswoggled by their leaders, or some of those in that chain are fully aware of the grand scheme and only stay in it because of the  power and wealth.  Of course that's probably why they all stick to it.  Who doesn't want power and wealth?  That's what you're hoping for in heaven, which leads again to your susceptibility to cockamamie ideas.

I mean stop to think about religion and money for just a second.  A lot of people are getting rich using religion as their product, think Robertson, Falwell, Baker.  Why are religious leaders asking people for money?  Shouldn't god provide for them if they are so charmed?  At one time, and still some do, priests and holy people created products, wine, clothing, and provided services to people in need.  Nowadays, evangelicals just sell DVDs of their sermons, preach to packed arenas, fondle little boys, issue death warrants, and create division and havoc.  They have to be megalomaniacs to market themselves and their ideas as much as they do.  Basically they're megalomaniacs on welfare. 

Now, again you can't take all the blame, Christianity has a great marketing scheme.  It's hard to ignore.  They've got a great product in eternal life.  Crosses are a ubiquitous symbol, Jesus is on billboards.  It's like Coca-cola or Pepsi, it's everywhere and it's relatively cheap for the value.  So you fell for a pretty well crafted scheme.  Really.  Bernie Madoff could only do it for about twenty years.  The church has been doing it for over a thousand.  You can't beat yourself up about it.  Anyone could get flimflammed, duped, wheedled, tricked, ripped-off, or bilked the way you did.

The question is about what you will do next.  You can either continue being deceived or start asking yourself if believing in nonsensical stories about a supernatural being who created the whole universe just for the amusement of people is worth sacrificing your Sundays for.  Add to that, this creator killed himself in the form of his son so that you could be saved and carted away from the earth on the glorious return of the son, it gets you some dubious stories.  It's a pretty far-fetched story to begin with but add the stuff in between and it makes it even more so.  But it's faith, which is a euphemism for gullibility, so it doesn't have to make sense.  It just has to feel right and have been indoctrinated through daily prayer, weekly sermons, and the ultimatum of eternal damnation.

My advice to you, barring the cessation of your religious practices, is to take a break from it for a while.  Take it easy read some other books, not just the ones about the end times or christian ideals.  You could try reading the bible, for example.  But for christ sakes stop being such a loyal follower.  You can love but not have to do what some egomaniac tells you to do or believe what some lunatic in a robe instructs you to believe.

So good luck moving forward.  Please take heart and remember the words of Elbert Hubbard, "Don't take life too seriously.  You'll never get out of it alive."

Your humble servant,
Kilgore Spinoza   

P.S. Hope you can get your belongings back.

Agent Orange dumping and US acts of terrorism

It's absolutely mind boggling how Americans can be steadfast in their denial of the wrongdoings of the US government.  Many people believe to this day that the US is currently fighting a "war against terrorism" in the name of freedom.  And "taking the fight to the enemy," and so on and so forth.  Unfortunately the people who believe this hogwash are either morons or living in denial and need to read more rather than watch network television.   The US is not fighting "terrorism" any more than it is perpetrating it.  This is not a new concept.  Noam Chomsky, William Blum, Michael Parenti, Michael Moore, to name a few, have created libraries of books and documentaries based on the illegal military acts and covert operations carried out by the US government.

If the aforementioned political analysts and scholars cannot convince the public based on their arguments, nothing I can do will.  But that does not stop the evidence from stacking up.  It should come as no surprise then to hear that today more evidence of the atrocities committed by the US have surfaced.   So just in case you're one of those still not convinced that the US has been a destructive, dare I write, "terrorist", force around the globe, the US government is trying to make it very easy for everybody to accept.

News has broken this week that in 1978 the US military buried 250 55-gallon barrels of Agent Orange in South Korea near Daegu near Camp Carroll in Waegwan.  Daegu is the third largest metropolitan center in the country and a tainted water supply or poisoned food could affect hundreds of thousands of people.  According to three Army veterans, they were ordered to dig a trench about the "length of a city block" and bury the barrels marked as Compound Orange from Vietnam.  Many of the barrels were leaking chemicals at the time of their burial.  They US government claimed long ago that all of the leftover Agent Orange used in Vietnam had been incinerated.  Then they admitted to using it in the demilitarized zone.  "Effective December 16, 2003, Congress authorized these benefits to children with spina bifida of certain veterans who served at or near the demilitarized zone in Korea between September 1, 1967 and August 31, 1971, because Agent Orange is known to have been sprayed in that area."  Now the three veterans have come forward to try to settle their consciences and expand the time frame for the use of Agent Orange in Korea.  If the story turns out to be accurate, it would mean that the US military had been using Agent Orange in South Korea into the late 70's rather than as earlier reported as the early 70's.  A fairly large difference in time and the amount of victims exposed.

Stillborn babies - result of prenatal dioxin
exposure from Agent Orange

Agent Orange has been associated with myriad health problems such as spina bifida, diabetes, birth defects, lung disease, and on and on.  The US Department of Veterans Affairs handles cases of exposure through the Agent Orange Registry Health Exam for Veterans, which was established in 1978.  No evidence of exposure needs to be presented by the veteran that they were exposed; they just need to have symptoms.  The US government is fully aware and fully cognizant of the dangers presented by the dioxin, which even in small doses, 0.15g, could kill thousands.

Beyond the atrocity of burying a known dioxin in the ground, meaning hundreds of thousands of Koreans could be at risk of exposure through the food and water supply, is the very plausibility of cleaning it up.  The US left thousands of mines in Cambodia that it failed to clean up; we left hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese deformed and dying but failed to pay reparations or clean-up that mess.  As an illustration of further corporate abuses, while the Vietnamese, US veterans, Cambodians and perhaps countless others Asia were suffering, the company responsible for creating the dioxin, Monsanto, grew wealthier and prospered.

In 1984, when the US government settled the class action lawsuit for using Agent Orange, the US veterans collect $180 million nearly half paid by Monsanto.  The Vietnamese victims were given next to nothing.  Monsanto continues to provide the US and the world with genetically enhanced seeds, deadly chemical defoliants, and various insecticides.  Through the second quarter of this year, 2011, they are posting a gross profit of $3.1B.  

Terrorism
The term terrorism means, according to Merriam-Webster, premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.

And, from the US Dept of Defense, terrorism is defined as the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.

Using the above definitions, below is a list of terrorist actions taken by the US.  The list is far from exhaustive.  Yet it is indicative of the atrocities that are carried out continuously by our country.  Today, Pres. Obama called on Syria and Bahrain to stop harming their own citizens.  Even though he holds last year's Nobel Peace Prize, Mr. Obama sounded awfully hypocritical and pedantic after ordering the bombing of Libya, the continued occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and the execution of bin Laden.

Acts of Terrorism committed by the US (in no order of significance nor date nor is it exhaustive)
1.  The atrocities committed against the Native Peoples of the Americas - the mass migration of the civilized tribes, the massacres of 1622, at wounded knee, and countless massacres of defenseless women and children carried out by Custer and other military savages.
2.  Slavery especially as related to the Jim Crow laws, the lynchings, and murders of innocents.
3.  The treatment of Filipinos in the Spanish-American war.
4.  Bombings of Germany, e.g. Dresden and
5.  Japan.
6.  Use of chemical warfare in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.
7.  Latin America, this list could include just about every country in the Caribbean and Latin America but here are a few:
El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Guatemala
7.  Invasion of Iraq and
8.  Afghanistan.
9.  Bombing of Libya and
10. Pakistan by Drones - perhaps, as Nir Rosen has suggested, no different than IEDs
11. Current embargoes on Iran and Cuba
12. Sending an assassination team of Navy SEALs into a sovereign nation - violating international law
 
Again this list is not meant to be exhaustive but merely illustrative of the terrorism practiced by the preacher, the USA (see also American Acts of Terrorism).  The World Court sanctioned the US for its role in Nicaragua, but we haven't changed our behaviors. 

Do you think that the US is a terrorist nation?  If not, why not?  If so, why do you think so?  What solutions are there for prompting the cessation of all terrorist acts committed by our country?

Note:  In separate but related news, Osama bin Laden is looked upon as a martyrwho was fighting for, you guessed it, freedom.  Interesting that our corporations and our government are spreading capitalist values (not democratic) while enslaving the global poor in order to turn record profits.

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Read more about the Agent Orange dumping:

http://safe2use.net/ca-ipm/01-05-05.htm
http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/05/19/2011051901409.html?news_top
http://www.kpho.com/news/27892124/detail.html
Watch a video: This is a bit of a sensationalized presentation with the spooky music and dramatic flare but it's worth watching: 
http://www.kpho.com/local-video/index.html?grabnetworks_video_id=4694889
Read more about the effects of Agent Orange and the veterans who are eligible for claims:
http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/benefits/herbicide/
http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/benefits/herbicide/AOno3.htm
Read more about the US report on Global Terrorism:
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/31932.pdf

So many choices, so few options

Newt Gingrich the once iconic former Speaker of the House declared himself a candidate for president and quickly put his foot in his mouth.  In his press release he said that he was against Paul Ryan's Medicare plan because it was too radical and that he advocated an approach that gave seniors choices.  The news has broke that low and behold Mr. Ryan has been hurt by Gingrich's comments, "With allies like that, who needs the left?" Ryan reportedly replied.  We already knew Mr. Ryan was terribly thin skinned when he was offended by President Obama's speech back in April.  But it seems Gingrich has pissed off the wrong rich white guy this time.

The more interesting comment Gingrich made however was his implication that seniors should have a choice.  This is a common motif in the United States - that everyone should have choices.  Currently there is legislation that pushes for greater choice in education, where to build new construction (the WI wetlands bills), how and where to carry firearms, etc. (notice that missing legislation includes lifting the regulations on marriage).

Do we really have choices?  We have about as many choices across our lives as we have at a supermarket or McDonald's.  The menu at McDonald's is loaded with appetizing/disgusting meals that are all essentially the same.  At the store, there are boxes of "New and Improved" this or that and every one of them is exactly the same.  The voucher schools offer parents more choices but the schools are essentially the same.  Put more bodies in them add more troubled students and less funding and the result is a private MPS school.  No difference.  Google the headlines for the news and every source reports on the same story.  It's a little strange, almost eery.

But this is what we do as people in America.  We create the same thing over and over again in different packages and with different marketing slogans to try to entice the gullible and fickle among us (ourselves) into shelling out more cash for something we already have and don't need or for something we want because it seems so familiar but we already have dozens of.  Franchises have spread across this country faster than kudzu.

Each subsequent Cousin's that opens or Taco 
Bell or Target or any other shop looks, smells, sounds, and acts the same, and sells almost exactly the same products. 

The result of all of this is that we get many choices but very few options.  The differences between our choices are small enough to be insignificant.

Some will argue that generic brands cost less money and therefore are a different option.  But that is beside the point.  The real issue at stake is quality.  The generic brand is the same product as the known brand name product - just without the catchy slogan and advertising (propaganda) budget. 

On At Issue this afternoon, the guest was talking about shopping at the less expensive grocery store in order to stick to a budget.  If there were anything we should be paying more for, I would think it would be food.  Yet our choices remain limited to the large shopping markets.  Recently Coops have been getting more popular and some active citizens are pushing for more people to buy locally grown foods.  This is a great start to reclaiming real options.

Nonetheless, we should ask ourselves, is the society we really hope to live in the one we are building?  The US is one of only a couple of developed nations that does not offer a universal health care option.  Yet the private insurers offer no distinct options and we still spend 20% of our GDP on health care.  You'll get about the same lousy coverage on your own from every insurer and the rates will be comparable across the board.

The history of this development spans the past five or more presidential administrations.  Since the late 70's the US has been commandeered by supply-side economics and the free-marketers expect everything to get sorted out on its own.  Hogwash.  The result is each of us has less freedom to choose than we did before the Reagan revolution.  Prior to the big franchise operations like Walmart and Walgreens, etc. there were local shops that specialized in local products.  Those days are old hat but may be reemerging in shops like the Outpost and in farmers' markets.

Welcome to the days filled with a plethora of choices but a shortage of options.

What do you think?  Do we have fewer options and more choices?  Or are there significant distinctions between our choices?

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"The world is out of its mind with stupidity and the worship of stupidity.  You're either willing to be part of all time or you're going to limit yourself to being part of the current time."   Sean Penn

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Robert Frank (see The Wealth Report over on the right) blogged about the rich moving more money overseas.  People commented that it was Obama's fault.  But that's ridiculous.  The wealthy have been investing overseas in emerging markets forever.  In the 60's it was almost fashionable for Americans to renounce their citizenship in order to not pay taxes.  Traditionally, one of the habits of the wealthy is to invest a significant percentage of funds in emerging markets - some analysts recommend as much as a third.  So it's ignorant to blame anyone for this "news".  It is how the wealth is earned.  The people who think that politics plays a part in the actual habits of the wealthy are not paying attention.  It is quite the reverse.  It's actually kind of a good sign for our economy that the wealthy are starting to feel confident enough to start investing again.  That could bode well for us dingoes riding the coattails of the rich waiting for the scraps.  

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Two more days to the Rapture, have you got your attire picked out?  If you're looking for ideas, look no further, you aren't the first person to wonder this.  The Stranger is happily passing out advice.

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Lastly, have you been wondering about what happened to the Confederate States of America after the Civil War?  Well they are currently being occupied.  You can join their list and read all of their exciting news right here: http://confederatestatesmilitia.ning.com/.  They are planning to secede but this time through non-violent means.   Maybe they won't have to worry.  After the Rapture, the Bible belt will be as slimmed down as Ireland after the great potato famine.

Good night!