Snowden....

I hope Snowden gets away. 

If he sold US Secrets to Russia (for a million dollars) that is a traitor. If he tells the media the US Government is spying on it's own citizens (and isn't getting paid) that is a whistle blower. 

The longer this story drags on at the highest levels of our government the worse Obama looks. He outta just let the guy go live in Ecuador and stop spying on Americans. Stop incarcerating people at GITMO, with no right to a lawyer. No right to a trial. No charges pressed.

Stop killing American Citizens with drones just because he is convinced they are bad guys. They maybe bad guys but killing US Citizens without a trial looks real bad. Stop having the IRS scrutinize political rival groups.

Taken all together and Obama is looking like Nixon. He needs to stop.

Wall Street Scared Of Life Without Government Welfare......

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2013/06/20/stocks-thursday/2440553/

All you ever hear is the Government needs to stop spending money. Government spends too much. In a free market system the less government intervention the better. Capitalism doesn’t need the government…. it only needs the government to get out of the way.

But when the government even mentions the possibility of no longer artificially pumping 85 Billion Dollars A MONTH (into propping up the stock market) and the market freaks out. Down it goes 225 points. The Fed didn’t say they were definitely going to stop either…. they just said it may stop somewhere down the road.

You would think Wall Street would be thrilled. Yay less government….. just like they always talk about. But no instead they go into complete panic. If the government isn’t going to prop us up then we are surely doomed.

If the Government was pumping 85 Billion a month into actual Welfare programs for the poor, the Republicans would be jumping up and down screaming bloody murder.

They would be screaming how poor people just want a free ride and it is an outrage. But when the government pumps 85 Billion a month into making Wall Street appear stable (Wall Street Welfare) Republicans (and Fox news) have nothing to say at all.

Welfare for the rich and powerful is always acceptable.

There are 66,000 Deficient bridges in the United States that would cost 76 Billions dollars to fix. We are told there is no money to fix those even though the government spends more then that (every single month) to pretend Wall Street is doing awesome.

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/52257935/#52257935

Google fights back.....

 http://business.time.com/2013/06/18/google-challenges-nsa-secrecy-in-fisa-court/

Good for Google to challenge the government on this.

It seems to me in an open government there should be little reason for secrecy at all.  The entire controversy comes from all the senseless secrecy.  Get rid of the secrecy and there is no longer an issue.

The way I see it if the police think I am a cocaine dealer they can go to a court and request a warrant to search my home.  If the judge agrees there is reason to believe I maybe be breaking the law he can grant a warrant. 

With the warrant in hand the police show up at my home and hand me the legal paper work.  There is no secrecy.  I must step aside and allow the police into my home to rummage through my underwear drawer in search of hidden contraband.  It is all very transparent.  If they find the drugs then I go to jail.  If they don’t find anything the police leave and I put my underwear back in the drawer.

So why is the process any different for phone records or internet data?  The feds are still going to a court…. albeit a secret court.  So why am I not allowed to have a copy of this warrant?  What is the national security risk with me finding out the Feds are going through my phone calls.  Not like I can change the data.  Not like I can conceal the records. 

The problem is the Feds are not going after anything specific.  They are just trolling tons of data to see if they can find anything.  That is not how the process is suppose to work. 

This is why there needs to be a secret because in the light of day this process would never stand up to scrutiny.

I say just make everything transparent and that would solve all the issues.  I don’t see any need for secrecy in any of this.

The War In Syria......

The war in Syria –

Syria historically has not been friendly to the United States.  They are closely aligned with Iran and the terrorist group Hezbollah (in Lebanon).

For two years the President of Syria (Bashar Al Assad) has been waging a war on his own people.  90,000 Syrians have now been killed in the process. 

For two years the world has stood around wondering what to do.

Some people want to arm the opposition to make it a fair fight.  But there is a fear the opposition might not be pure and innocent.  Arming them could lead to larger issues down the road. 

In March the opposition took 21 United Nations Workers hostage to bring attention to their plight.  This did not sit well with the international community.

Some people say there should be stronger sanctions (or a no fly zone over Syria) to give the opposition cover.

An air campaign was successful in toppling Slobodan Milosevic in Kosovo in 1999.  Another air campaign was successful in toppling Moammar Gadhafi in Libya last year.  If used correctly air power is a very effective tool.

Unfortunately China and Russia veto every effort at evening out the battle field. 

China vetoes everything just to annoy the West.  The United States could solve world hunger and China would veto it. 

Russia actually has many strategic interests in Syria.  For one they sell the Syrian government lots of weapons.  This Syrian civil war is a boom for Russian weapons sales.  If the killing ended Putins weapons business would suffer. 

Secondly Russia has one Naval port outside of Russian territory and it is in Syria (Tartus).  If Assad is toppled the new government might not be as welcoming to the Russian fleet staying in Syria.  Putin isn’t willing to take that risk.  He will do everything possible to make sure Assad stays. 

Obama needs to have a spine and stand up to Putin but so far has shown none.

To insure a no fly zone won’t happen Russia is in the process of selling Syria their most advanced anti aircraft system. 

The rest of the civilized world is trying hard to persuade Putin to back off that idea but so far he insists on moving forward.

Israel who enjoys being able to fly in and out of Syria at will (blowing things up) definitely is not happy about having to deal with sophisticated Russian anti aircraft systems. 

In 2007 Israel flew into Syria to blow up their top-secret nuclear program.  Nobody knew the program existed until Israel made the site into Talcum Powder. 

A few weeks ago Israel flew into Syria again and blew up more high tech Iranian weapons on their way to Hezbollah.

Putin is determined to help the Syrians put an end to this kind of outside intervention.

So basically we have an international stare down going on between the West and Russia.  In many ways it is just like the old days of the Cold War. 

For those of you who don’t remember the cold war this is a small scale reenactment of what used to happen all the time.

Unfortunately it is not a game for the 90,000 + people who have been killed.

China Taking Over Smithfield......

Communist Red China is trying to buy Smithfield Foods which is the largest US pork producer. It would be the largest company takeover of an American company by China. 

The executives of Smithfield can’t wait to sell out to the Chinese because they get to put millions and millions and millions of dollars in their personal bank accounts.

The US Congress is expressing concerns about this terrible idea, and rightly so. Chinese pork producers have a horrendous safety record. In the last few days Chinese pork producers dumped 6000 dead (diseased) pig carcasses in their local river. The people who thought that was an acceptable solution could soon be providing your family with their next pork dinner. Mmmmm delicious.

For all our sake lets hope Congress does the right thing and rejects this sale. Otherwise your ham sandwich might soon taste different.

6000 dead pigs dumped in the river: http://yourhealth.asiaone.com/content/dead-pigs-shanghai-river-jump-almost-6000

Congress pretending to be concerned:http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/05/us-smithfield-shuanghui-congress-idUSBRE9540YN20130605

Executives pocketing millions:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324563004578524920408840806.html

D - Day

June 6 1944,

D - Day.  (Operation Overlord)

There are not many single days in the last 100 years that affected the course of world history. 

June 6, 1944 was definitely one that did. 

That was the day the world decided whether it would be Free or Fascist.  

If you don’t know the story of D Day, you should.  Your life (and the world map) exists in its current form because the events of D - Day were successful.

World War 2 had been raging for 5 years.  The United States had been fighting for 3. 

The Americans had battled the Nazi’s across North Africa and defeated them.

The Americans battled the Nazi’s across Italy and defeated them again.

Those battles were the easy part of the war.  Now it was time for the hard part. 

The Allies needed to find a way to get onto the continent of Europe.  That meant crossing the English Channel and Landing somewhere along the occupied French coastline. 

The Nazi’s knew the invasion would be coming.  That was not a secret but they didn’t know when, and they didn’t know where. 

Hitler had spent 3 years constructing the Atlantic Wall.  This was considered an impenetrable set of defenses stretching hundreds of miles along the coast. 

The Germans were expecting the landing to be around Calais, because geographically it made the most sense. 

There were three conditions that had to be met for the invasion to go forward. 

1)      There needed to be a full moon because paratroopers were jumping in the middle of the night. In 1944 there was no such thing as night vision goggles. 

2)      It had to be low tide.  The Nazis placed tons of beach obstacles meant to sink incoming landing craft.  In low tide they would be visible.

3)      It needed to be relatively clear because planes could not operate in poor weather conditions. 

If any of those conditions were not met the invasion would have to wait.

When the D Day landings began (at Normandy) the Germans were confused and thought it might be a diversion.  First it was taking place at the wrong location and second it was raining.  This confusion (and delay with reinforcements) was critical to the success the Allies achieved.

The Germans were also sure the invasion would be led by General Patton.  General Patton was Americas best General.  He also scared the heck out of the Nazi’s.

The Nazis best General was Rommel.  It was Rommel who was in charge of defending the French coast line. 

Rommel led the Nazi’s in North Africa and Patton kicked his behind.  Because of this butt whoopin the Germans were positive it would be Patton coming across the channel.  The Americans knew this and used Patton as a decoy in the weeks leading up to the invasion. 

Patton actually played no role in the D - Day landings.  As a stroke of luck Rommel was back in Germany when the landings happened.

The actual invasion was the largest amphibious operation ever in history. 

The sheer size and scope of the operation was enormous.  156,000 troops landed on 5 beaches (Code name - Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword, Juno) across 50 miles (in one day).  There were 5,000 ships, 50,000 vehicles, and 11,000 aircraft. 

It was like nothing ever attempted before or since. 

If it failed (and the allies were repelled back into the sea) the entire war could have been lost. 

Today everybody thinks the United States winning World War II was a forgone conclusion, but at the time it was anything but.

The total number of dead or wounded (between all of the Allies) was 10,377. 

The United States had 1,465 killed.   To put that in perspective, in the Afghanistan war (which has been waged for 12 years) The United States has lost just over 1000 soldiers.  D – Day had more then that in 1 day.

When June 6^th ended the Allies had their foot hold.

By June 11^th the beaches were secured and an additional 326,000 troops landed (with over 100,000 tons of equipment). 

The fighting raged on for another year.  By August 26 1944 Paris was liberated. 

On May 8^th, 1945 Germany Surrendered and Hitler was dead.  That surrender was only possible because D Day was successful.

So as you go about your day (today) and feel you have it tough, just remember….. if you were not squeezed on an overcrowded Higgins boat…… wet….. sea sick, and heading towards Omaha beach (on this day 69 years ago) you really have nothing to complain about. 

It is because there were young men on those boats (who sacrificed everything) that we can complain about trivial things today. 

Saxby Blames Hormones.....

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/5/sen-saxby-chambliss-gee-whiz-male-hormones-drive-s/

“The young folks that are coming into each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22-23. Gee whiz — the hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur,” he said, during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on sexual assaults in the military.

So the reason sexual assaults in the military are at epedimic levels is because young men have hormones…. So it is just a natural occurance like hair growth which can’t be controlled. That is the dumbest sh*t I have heard in a long time. I was once 17 to 23 and I had hormones but somehow I didn’t go around assaulting woman. I know lots of other men who also passed those age ranges without committing criminal activity.

I like how the military acts like they can’t control this issue. When you sign up for the military you lose all your rights. You eat when they tell you to eat. You sleep when they tell you to sleep. You wear what they tell you to wear. You run when they tell you to run. You speak when they tell you to speak. You follow orders and show complete discipline at all times…or else!

The military is not some drunken out of control fraternity. “Soldiers follow orders or people die….It is that simple” (Jack Nicholson). For some reason the military leadership can completely control every aspect of a soldiers life (with absolute discipline) except when it comes to protecting woman from sexual assault. With that they are powerless because hormonal boys can’t be controlled.

Just take a bunch of those generals (sitting in front of congress today) and start removing some of their ranks, and stripping them of their commands. Then you watch how fast this sh*t gets cleaned up.