The moneyed war machine keeps cranking along

Amy Goodman, on Democracy Now!, said Tuesday that,

In Congress, House leaders are rushing to hold a vote on a critical war-financing bill as early as today, fearing that the (Wikileaks) disclosures could stoke opposition to the measure.

And, of course, the vote passed later that day adding another $59 billion (Yes, with a “B”) to the coffers of the military-industrial complex.

Very telling, indeed. This is another fine example of those who are supposed to represent us (“We, the people,” don’t you know) scrambling to give the war profiteers more money at a faster than usual rate. Never mind that our sons, daughters, husbands, wives, etc., are dying…all for profit and nothing else. The legislators have got to keep feeding these multi-nationals their profits in order to reimburse them for all the donations made to those in Congress.

This is strictly a money machine enterprise, folks. Nothing else. Meanwhile, our country languishes in joblessness, foreclosures, etc. And we can’t forget that the unemployment extension was delayed because of so-called deficit concerns! Well, concern this: let’s end this war, bring our troops home and spend the billions (with a “B”) on what’s desperately needed here at home.

Of course, that will never happen. We are a Permanent War society. The oligarchs benefit greatly from conflict. We have now built our entire country on military enterprise. We will have conflict and occupation until long after I’m gone. And “We, the people,” or should I say "sheeple," don’t care.

One of the most honest statements made by a dishonest politician was Dick Cheney back in 2008,

When asked how that assessment comports with recent polls that show about two-thirds of Americans say the fight in Iraq is not worth it, Cheney replied, "So?"

That is our politicians' view in Washington today. Who cares what Americans think? It's what the war profiteers and Wall Street demand that counts.

The people are smart...Not!

For years, it has been annoying me that politicians and pundits keep saying, "The American people are smart." That is so much hooey. You know who they are saying that to? The couch potatoes who, after hearing that pap, say to themselves, "Uh, yup! I shore am a smart 'un! He's my kinda guy!" In other words, the pols and pundits are pandering to the populace. "Rubbing them down" so to speak, in order to get these "smart people" to buy into what they're are selling..

So let's be real here. All my life I've been aware that the average IQ in the U.S. is 100. One then applies the Bell curve (see figure to the right of the linked article), and one sees that half the population is below average intelligence. So don't give me this "The people are smart" tripe. Some are smart and some are not. The smart ones get what these people are saying (which is BS) and the not so smart are hopefully not falling for it (though ego probably dictates that they do buy into it).

So the next time you here some politician/pundit say,  "The people are smart," remember, it's just cynical pandering in which the speaker is trying to win over the uninformed. At best, the people are average intelligence. which is a lot more generous than Bill Maher's thinking.

Elizabeth Warren a (very) long shot

So all the progressives (or at least mostly all) and even some of our legislators want Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Protection Bureau. Barney Frank even wants President Obama to make it a recess appointment, "if necessary."

Of course, Tim Geithner is at best cool on the subject. How's this for a ringing endorsement?

I think she would be a very effective leader of that institution...

Considering President Obama's penchant for  being a "centrist" and disappointing his progressive base, I predict that he and Geithner will do a secret head count to see where the land lies to getting her approved. If they don't have the votes, he will nominate her and watch her go down in flames.

He can then say that he tried, but darn those legislators! He certainly won't push very hard.

If it looks like she would be approved then he won't nominate her. I would definitely be surprised if he went with Rep. Frank's idea and made a recess appointment. I seriously doubt that.

Hottest on record: Where's Glenn Beck now?

After hearing about how we’ve just had the hottest June since record-keeping began, and that we’re on track to having the hottest July ever recorded, I’ve been thinking back when Glenn Beck was harping about global warming. He was lambasting the idea during last winter’s blizzard that encompassed the northeast.

I was going to write about it, but I first decided to look and see if anyone else had thought of thde same thing. Of course, a ton of bloggers have pointed this out, including one by Joan E. Dowlin at the Huffington Post.

She brings up Beck’s Looney Tunes statement to Al Gore, “I’ve got your global warming right here” in a Mafioso voice. She then rhetorically asks Mr. Beck,

So by his logic, now that we on the East coast are in the midst of a record third heat wave (and it's only the beginning of July) and the temperatures in Philly are supposed to reach 101 degrees today, does this not prove global warming?

No? Well, how about this past year of not only record snow amounts, but thunderstorms, floods, wild fires, earthquakes, mud slides, tornados, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and hurricanes around the globe? Is that a coincidence?

Personally, I think that Mr. Beck won’t say a thing about global warming until next winter when he will pull off the same stupid stunt. That’s the sad part. Our populace is a very forgetful society, and I’m sure that all those who heard Mr. Beck’s inane remarks about global warming have completely forgotten what he said and are now listening to dumb things he’s saying that will be proven equally as inane down the road.

Too late, Mr. Secretary

I'm sorry, Mr. Vilsack. Your apology is too little, too late. In your position as Secretary of Agriculture you have the power over many lives. And in that position, you almost destroyed one. Bless Ms. Sherrod for standing up against a bully like you.

Of course, one makes mistakes; however, this is such an egregious error that you should not be our Secretary of Agriculture for one more minute. The greater the power, the more glaring the mistake. The only out I see for you is if you come forward and tell "we, the people" that you were forced to fire Ms. Sherrod at the order of the White House. In that case, you're exonerated. Then we should move to oust whoever put you in that position.

Obviously, though, that if that particular scenario occurred you bit the bullet and took the hit for your boss. So be it. Go ahead and be the fall guy. I do believe that the White House had a hand in this, but of course I can't prove that. I do know that they could have come to the fore and cautioned you about your reflexive reaction to the edited tape.

It does make one wonder what else you've been up to under the radar. How many lives have you destroyed that didn't make the news? You have demonstrated yourself to be a dangerously reactive person, allowing your emotions or fear to dictate your actions rather than utilizing the reasoning process. We don't need people like you in such important positions.

With all the time you've been in positions of power up to and including being Secretary of Agriculture you still react without thinking, thus potentially destroying lives, you need to get the hell out of Washington and hopefully retire. We don't need people like you in any position of power.

Shame on the Obama Administration and the NAACP

What happened to Shirley Sherrod was a travesty. To think that the NAACP and the Obama administration would leap to a conclusion without all the facts is beyond the pale. The President and CEO of the NAACP, Benjamin Jealous, said on the Rachel Maddow show that they were “snookered” by the edited tape. Yeah, right. He was on Ms. Maddow's show strictly for damage control. I think Ms. Maddow gave him a free pass on his spinning. She should have hammered him more about his organization's initial response.

As far as I'm concerned he and his organization are just as guilty of prejudice as anyone. Here's what his pathetic response was just after the edited tape came out, as reported in the Huffington Post:

NAACP President Benjamin Jealous issued a statement late on Monday saying his organization was appalled by Sherrod's "shameful" actions.

Shame on the both of them! This knee-jerk, reactionary behavior by those in power illustrates exactly where the country has descended. These are the people who hold our lives in their hands. They are supposed to help us. Yet they bow to unsubstantiated accusations without any due diligence.

To think that the NAACP, who deals with racial insensitivity probably on a daily basis, should be so egregiously insensitive as to fall for this claptrap is despicable.

Ms. Sherrod should be reinstated. The head of the Agricultural Department, Tom Vilsack, who demanded her resignation should himself be asked to resign. He obviously is not a good leader. What else has he done, or worse yet, what will he do in the future if he can’t perform the necessary and simple steps to find out the truth about Ms. Sherrod?

Here is his great leadership qualities in action per the Huffington Post:

Her resignation as the agency's state director of rural development was quickly accepted by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. He cited a zero-tolerance policy and told CNN that he was working to "reverse the checkered civil rights history at the department."

That's it, Mr. Vilsack, look before you leap...a great leadership attribute. And I love the "checkered civil rights" spin. You go get 'em, cowboy!

This says a lot about the Obama administration. It didn't even come to the forward in defense of Ms. Sherrod. It just went along like a stupid lemming heading for a cliff.

This administration has been a disappointment since day one. This episode is further proof that this administration is not for the people, it’s for its own self preservation. Any whiff of bad publicity results in rash decision-making with careful analysis.

For the political elite, "change" means "damage"

I posted this on the Bill of Rights Defense Committee site last week. Lumping dissidents into one generalizing category and then shouting from the rooftop that they are "damaging the system" is very telling.

In early June, an appellate court in Philadelphia refused to look into the conviction on terrorism charges allegedly perpetrated by animal rights activists. The conviction stemmed from the activists' posting a web site that brought animal testing site Huntingdon Life Sciences to near bankruptcy.

What's really interesting about this article is the quote by the lead prosecutor, Charles McKenna, after his announcing that a new computer profiling method would be brought to bear (Emphasis mine),

“Jihad, Crips, extreme animal-rights activists, it’s all the same: people trying damage the system,” added McKenna.“We need every trick in the book to avert disaster.”

"Damage the system"? That's the key. Those in power are constantly trying to maintain the status quo...the "system" if you will. Change is the enemy of those in power. They have a hammerlock on all our lives and continually squeeze to maximize their power.

Mr. McKenna was promoted after he successfully prosecuted the activists. One inevitably gets rewarded for publicly slapping down anyone who tries to buck the "system."

As the article puts it,

Such absurd scare-mongering rhetoric has become normal for corporations, industry groups, and the politicians who represent them. When it is adopted by government officials who are in charge of keeping us safe, though, it has frightening implications.

It is by attempting to "damage the system" (i.e., exposing egregious behavior normally covered up or buried in order to maintain the "system") that true change for the populace can come about.