News you can't use and could care less about

G8 summit: live updates

As if we'd get any real information out of such meetings. We'll have to get it all from the NSA to hear what really happened.

McCaskill backs Clinton for president

Obama isn't less then six months into his term and they're already carving up the power seat. Nothing like waiting before the corpse is even cold to divvy up the estate.

End of the war in Afghanistan?

Don't bet the ranch on that one and even if we leave the end result will be a civil war between drug lords. Let's face facts. Afghanistan never really was a country and probably will never be one.

Lil Wayne steps on the American Flag

Big deal it's better than Bush and Cheney who wiped their butts with it along with the constitution.

G-8 (again?) turns focus to clampdown on tax dodging

Believe that when you see it. This "summit" is made up of only 8 of the worlds wealthiest countries. You can bet some green backs will be traveling after this thing gets done if they haven't already. And I guess were number one when it comes to cheating.

One article says "Consumer prices edge higher" while another says "inflation remains tame." 

Okay then which is it? Can't have it both ways. There isn't any such thing as a little bit pregnant.

Lastly we have

Temper tantrums are now considered a mental disorder.
 No for real? They now classify a kids fit because he didn't get candy at the check out as "disruptive mood disregulation disorder". And I'm sure big Pharma just has the right med for that and don't forget junior will need to be on it the rest of his life. Sheesh!  

"Waiter there's a fly in my no fly zone".. friday beaver

Hey Johnny think we can make a no fly zone?

Grandpa Walnuts and his sidekick Lindy Graham have proposed a no fly zone in Syria and arming the rebels. It's time to take away the remote and car keys from these guys. 

Let's stop for a moment and look at the facts in all this. First off Syria is not like Iraq by any stretch of the imagination. Though Syria is run by a Baathist party like Iraq was that's where the similarities end. 

Just to institute a "no fly zone" would involve taking out a rather strong air force defense system eliminating the Syrian's ability to get airborne. That would be no easy task with a Russian base on Syria's coast. Plus we know Putin is set to send (if he hasn't already) surface to air missiles. 

Far be it from me to know the possibilities of such a mission so I leave that to people who study it for a living but my gut instinct tells me it's a fools errand.

A 2004 Stanford University paper published in The Journal of Strategic Studies, "Lessons from Iraq and Bosnia on the Theory and Practice of No-fly Zones," reviewed the effectiveness of the air-based campaigns in achieving military objectives. The paper's findings were: 1) A clear, unified command structure is essential. In Bosnia, during "Operation Deny Flight," a confusing dual-key coordination structure provided inadequate authority and resulted in air forces not being given authority to assist in key situations; 2) To avoid a "perpetual patrol problem," states must know in advance their policy objectives and the exit strategy for no-fly zones; 3) The effectiveness of no-fly zones is highly dependent on regional support. A lack of support from Turkey for the 1996 Iraq no-fly zone ultimately constrained the coalition's ability to effectively enforce it.

There's a bit less regional support this time around. For one thing Syria wouldn't be on our side. Canada and the rest of the coalition of the willing are unlikely to send troops as they did with Iraq the second time around. They'll all send cash but don't want their hands dirty. Iraq itself is a bit busy fighting it's own internal struggles, a mess that we left them with upon our departure. That would leave Israel who wants no part of such action. Jordan which has an army of only 100K and only 100 fighter aircraft, although we could use it to launch our aircraft. Which leaves only Lebanon who side with Assad and have already sent fighters into the country and Palestine which has no real military other than the PLO and Hamas which we consider a terrorist organization.

This barely scratches the surface of the complexities of such an encounter. A quick read of the breakdown of the players in all this reads more like the characters of a Russian novel with far reaching characters and grudges going back hundreds of years. If McCain and company think this would be a simple "us" verses "them" scenario he'd better study his history a bit more but then again I guess he didn't learn anything from Vietnam. So what's this really all about for John McCain one might ask? Wouldn't have something to do with the oil and gas reserves in Iran now would it? And we all know Johnny's just itching to make up for his short lived actions of the past. Why else would he want to bomb Iran to the tune of Barbara Ann?

Bank fails later...
UPDATE: No bank fails this week

It's for your own good

There was a time in the days of the cold war when we made jokes about Russia's government spying on their citizens. But back then it required the plumber maintenance man or telephone man to physically enter a residence to install a bugging device. Those days are long gone comrade. With computers a bit of software and the cooperation of the phone companies (yes most of them agreed to go along with this shortly after the Un-patriot Act was passed) the fly on the wall is sitting comfortably hidden in plain sight. 

You have nothing to hide you say so there shouldn't be anything wrong with this you might think. You'd be wrong. It wouldn't take much to take something out of context and use that against you in one of their secret courts with secret laws. Who could defend against that? And the right wing have become masters at that. Look no further than Fox News to see how that all works out. They could turn a Boy Scout helping grandma across the street into a national felony case. Look no farther than A.C.O.R.N. to see what can happen there.

Then there's the issue of competition. We know for a fact that with all of these agencies that are there to supposedly guard our safety and well being have an unmatched rivalry always wanting to score the highest points for captured bad guys. The collateral damage is just part of the price of admission unless of course the victim is you who did nothing wrong. A wrong phone number or an accidental click of the mouse would all it would take to become insnared in their web. And once you get in there's no getting out. No one to plead you case to or process to have your name removed. Don't believe me? How many babies and young people are on the "do not fly list" who have a very difficult time flying on planes? All because their name is the same as some suspect. And there's another matter. Aren't we supposed to consider innocent until proven guilty? I guess not any more comrade.

For those of you who'd like to opt out of their little spy vs spy game there are alternatives. One place to start is a site called prism-break dot org. It lists methods and alternative software to keep prying eyes of big brother from looking over your shoulder. I'm not part of the tin foil hat crowd but with today's abbreviated messages it is very easy to misunderstand one's intent. And who knows who is related to whom when you get a wrong number? More on the devious technologies in the pipeline later. In the mean time keep your mouth shut. 

Occupy movement gone? No way

          

It started in Tunisia when a chap decided he'd had enough of the dictatorial oppression. It next spread to Libya  where the long term dictator was ousted discovered hiding in a ditch and subsequently beaten to death. Not to be out done Egypt got into the act holding massive demonstrations until it's government too fell to the pressure. Have we forgot anybody? Oh the list goes on with Syria still in the process, Greece which tries to fight to survive but can't under crushing debt. Then there are the lessor knowns such as Cyprus and of course most of the baltic countries. Slovenia's government just resigned in the last few weeks. And now it's Turkey's turn. 

All this gives one cause to ponder. Is this some fluke or maybe a mere part of some natural process? My theory is that it's part of a process of extremes only somewhat natural much like menopause or mid life crisis on a world scale. Let's face it we aren't getting any younger as a global population. From an economic viewpoint this had to be planned. It's  too well organized. What happened? It's all quit simple and yet complicated at the same time. We switched from the gold standard where currency was valued at a set amount of gold. That along prevented the wild fluctuations of prices we see today. It made it quit easy for speculators to step in and artificially manipulate prices of everything we buy. So there is no such thing as supply and demand anymore unless we speak of paper contracts. Even then it's artificially done with computers sometimes with no human intervention at all. Just don't get your leg caught in that machine of crunching numbers.

When will it all end? When there's not much left to suck out of the system. It is crumbling right now as you read this. Debt is being layered upon debt to people and nations that can no way pay it back. Interestingly enough was watching the movie Wall Street and the Gordon Geko greed man. He thought he was a big shot stealing the assets of corporations at tens of millions. What's happened in real life then pales by comparison with what was then. Entire nations are being looted. Fear not the people are awaking up to this mugging and a new New World Order is in the process. Don't believe it? Look on the streets of Turkey and many other countries. But don't bother flipping on the 6 o'clock news because you won't see it there. This revolution will not be televised.  

Snoopy

      

When is enough enough? When is the tipping point when people aren't going to take it anymore and change things. Our congress sits on it's ass collecting a paycheck while people get cut off from social programs. All well and good to feast on our public dime while children have their lunches snatched right out from under them. And don't forget grandma when meals on wheels doesn't show up and she has to fight the cat for her dinner.

We should hold a large mirror up to the government when they bad mouth the good people of this land. No senator it isn't the teachers or firemen or police who bankrupted this country, it was you and your den of vipers in DC. And let us not forget your Johns on Wall Street who financed your little tryst. The "stupid party"™ rambles on about wanting more followers all the while cutting and blocking legislation that would help the masses. The enabler party lets them get away with it too. Time for a people's party who actually represent us and not some three piece suit dunderheads who's produced nothing for mankind but misery.

But let us not forget the snoops. That non existent agency we pay billions to to spy on ourselves. So you don't actually listen to the conversations we're told. I call BS. You've been doing it since after the Patriot Act was passed. You installed eavesdropping equipment to most of the major phone companies not long after 911 and we know it. Even the people that used to work there said as much. Looking for bad guys were they? Hardly. Their hobby was listening in on juicy conversations and I think you know what I'm talking about. "Hey Harry check out the hot chick on line 39 talking to some married guy". And you have the balls to be incensed when we catch you breaking the laws of the land. So if there's a criminal investigation to be had it should be with your agency for violating our rights. No law is greater than our constitution and you've sure violated that enough times in the past 10 years. This isn't 1950s Mother Russia comrade but it's sure starting to look like it. 

As for dishing it out you sure know how to do that but you sure can't take it. And let's face it, it's not how the bad guys communicate anyway. You should already know that one by now. They do things the old fashioned way by courier so unless you actually get off your butts and track them they'll keep getting away with it. As for fighting them "over there", how about we start playing in our own sand box and leave them alone. It's what they wanted in the first place.

From now on I'll be posting more about government corruption, you know holding a mirror up to their faces. If they have much to read from me it'll be about their own misdeeds. we can have some fun with them in the process too. That shouldn't be too hard either considering they've shredded the constitution with their secret laws or should I say illegal laws. They have a image problem now and it's no easy task to polish a turd especially as messy as this one is. 

Friday beaver and the news

                    

IMF admits: we failed to realize the damage austerity would do to Greece.

Well Duh! Any fifth grader could have told you that. The money didn't go into state coffers to do things like build roads improve schools or hire more doctors, it went directly to the banks who set about to give their executives sweet bonuses for basically doing nothing. All the while this debt burden which the people themselves did not rack up was placed squarely on their shoulders. It didn't take a genus to figure out that when the people lost trust in the banks that they'd pull their money out. It was also no great help that the government imposed an immediate 29% tax on the entire population. And now some idiot group has in their heads that this was all brought on because a bunch of poor people immigrated into the country not realizing that it was the boys in the three piece suits that gave them a good fleecing. Stupidity knows no bounds.

Government snoops through everything you do on the net and your phone calls.

(For those of you at the NSA reading this please take a moment and read the 4th amendment to our constitution. There's no mention of secret laws or courts.) 

Maybe yes maybe no. But here's the scary thing in all this. As the expression goes there's only six degrees of separation between us and Abdul. So how the hell do we know if the clerk at the 7-11 wasn't calling his relatives back in the middle east who just happens to go to the same mosque as one of the bad guys. It's guilt by association now? This all makes about as much sense as putting Alex Jones in charge of the program. Of course he'll find connections as wrong as they may be. By this thinking we can now label senator John McCain with his terrorist ties. He did after all go to Syria just recently to meet with the rebels some of whom are Al Qaeda. Better have a permanent tap on his phone and emails. 

Present economic indicators reveal hearts and flowers.

And if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you real cheap. Supply siders seem to have forgotten that you can produce all the products in the world but if you don't have customers you're not going to make a big profit. You can build it but they aren't coming. Last I checked just about every mall here was 1/3 empty of shops. You could just about roll a bowling ball down the aisle of a grocery store and not hit a soul. So why the quick return of the Dow over 15,000? Because the speculators cashed out their quick short hedges and pumped the market back up. But fear not since it's all just funny money anyway the tide will turn (remember the housing market of the last few years).

You have to love the next two articles for their juxtaposition.

First we have the Vermont governor decriminalizing marijuana followed by...

Score free doughnut today.

I leave you to make your own jokes on that one. In the mean time...

Bank fails later.
UPDATE: One bank failed in TN this week

See I A problem

                        

Newly released documents indicate that the CIA had no idea exactly who they were bombing with the unmanned drone program. This is all part of war they say because after all we git to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here is their logic. So were now back exactly to the Bush doctrine of shoot first ask questions later. Must have been something Bush picked up with a little Texas justice. Hang em first and try to hide the evidence later. The only problem is that this entire country was founded on a justice system that's against such thinking. Acting on suspicions by administering the punishment even before any evidence has been gathered is nothing more than murder plain and simple. If we shot at ever suspicious noise around the home we'd soon find that our garbage would not be picked up and no one would care to deliver a package to our doors. But here we are acting as unjust and in some respects more barbaric than the days of trial by fire. It seems Mr. Obama must have read a different constitution when he went through law school because it affords every American some rights no matter what country they may be traveling in.

About one of every four of those killed by drones in Pakistan between Sept. 3, 2010, and Oct. 30, 2011, were classified as "other militants,” the documents detail. The “other militants” label was used when the CIA could not determine the affiliation of those killed, prompting questions about how the agency could conclude they were a threat to U.S. national security.

And while the State Department sheds tears over protesters in other countries it conveniently forgets about the 7500 arrests beatings and tear gassings of peaceful protesters in this country. And the 85% of the arrests that were overturned because they were illegal. Can you say hypocrisy? Thought you could.

As the old saying goes what you give is what you get so should we continue down this path we will indeed get what we give and it won't change until policies do. And like jackals who swarm around the dying carcasses of dead animals we too send in the corporate vultures to feast on the remains of countries that we've slaughtered. With Iraq the prize was the oil. With Afghanistan it's all about the wealth of minerals. So now it's just a matter of which vulture is the meanest and has the biggest talons.

Then there is the last greatest threat to world peace and it doesn't hide in some mountain cave with flowing robes and a head scarf planning our destruction, it's the IMF who with the stroke of a pen can bring down entire nations and can cause pestilence and starvation. Yes the pen is mightier than the sword for with not one shot fired countries like Greece, Spain, Ireland and even tiny Cyprus are all but in ruins. So all that can be said is be careful what you wish for you just might get it because without the peons who do your dirty work there won't be much left to enjoy.

So it should be back to basics of constitutional law. We do have rights like freedom of speech and a right to a fair trial and a little privacy whether you agree with those ideas or not they are the law. It doesn't matter what country I'm in or what I did or might do, it's a matter for the police not the military.