Caught Red Handed

“Caught red handed,” is a cliche’ that refers to a killer found with blood on their hands. Recent revelations that the Republican Party ( GOP ) employees have been eligible for elective abortions under their Health Care Insurance policies are a perfect example of that cliche’. Which is all the more relevant as the House of Representatives has sent a Health Care Reform Bill to the Senate. A Bill that is being hotly debated on the issue of publicly funded, elective abortions.

Consider that this insurance policy has been in effect since George Bush Sr. was President, and that Democrat politicians ( including the current President ) have been criticised in every election since then by a party seemingly aligned with a political faction that was named back then, “The Moral Majority”. Many Christian Americans, and most Fundamentalist Christian Americans where drawn to the Republican Party on this major issue alone. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele;

“Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose,” Steele said in a statement late Thursday after learning of the abortion coverage from a news report. “I don’t know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled.”

Steele is the new face of the GOP, appointed immediately after their defeat in the last election. Can he move the GOP away from this blatant hypocrisy fast enough to dodge the accusations that will no doubt be made by the opposition in the Senate debate?

Another issue is the survivability of the GOP itself. Ben Smith, writing at Politico has a few sharp words, some great quotes on this issue of, “Do as I say, not as I do.”

“…In order for the RNC to regain the trust of their donors, they must disclose the names of all people involved in any way of the selection of their health care plan. And those people must be summarily fired. No severance packages, no golden parachutes; fired. For cause.

No pro-lifer in good conscience can give them a dime until this happens…more…”

The GOP has enjoyed the financial support directed to them by the pulpit, but they require only the votes from that right wing of their rank and file. Their finances depend on lobbyists from Big Business…like the Insurance Industry that is obviously behind the opposition to Health Care Reform.

There’s an election coming up, and many GOP Senators will have to decide between the Truth, and lies. Republican voters will be facing the same choice. Fundamentalist Christians have always embraced the contradiction between The Right to Life and the realities of business, it’s known as The Puritan Dilemma. Or, as my Grandmother would say;

“If you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?”

About the title of this post. It refers to the blood of the innocents sacrificed on the altar of profit.

I, Government

I’m wondering if Assimov’s ‘Laws of Robotics’ should be applied to Government ( as if the Government was an artificial person ). Our Government isn’t really alive you know, but it does present that illusion. That illusion does have power though, and power must be managed well. So, why not manage Government as Assimov suggests?

I would rewrite the laws to state;

Government may not injure a human, or through inaction allow a human to come to harm while it obeys the will of the people. Nor should Government allow itself to be altered or abolished as long as it protects and serves the people above it’s own interest.

These principles could marry the American Conservatives passion for the individual, and the American Liberals desire for a Nanny-State.

This, of course assumes that Government has it’s own interests, identity and spirit.

Subterranean Economic Blues

With huge bonuses going to executives of many large corporations, I have to as, “What do they do with all that money?” My personal contact with the wealthy is limited to short trips in the taxi that I drove for twenty years, so my understanding of that social class is limited to that perspective. Those folks do tip big.

I left that job eight years ago when I returned to the agricultural community where I was born and raised. Most of all I miss the tips, that little bit of ‘dash’ that provides the instant gratification that is practically non-existant in a rural setting. Tips are a large part of the under-ground economy that you will find in any city, subterranean so to speak. I liken my sense of loss to Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues. So, what is the connection between the underground, Bob Dylan, corporate bonuses and my blues? Let me explain;

There is a line in Bob’s song ( click on link above ), ‘…the pump don’t work, cause the vandals took the handles…’ That particular lyric has mystified myself and many others for years. Now I understand; Without the bonuses, corporate executives can’t support the thousands of low-lifes ( like myself ) that depend so much on their filthy lucre. The pump is the economy, and the handle is instant gratification ( TIPS = to insure prompt service ).

When those executives left their homes to appear before the US Congress, I have no doubt that they tipped everybody they met along their route to those hallowed halls. I’m just guessing, but I’ll bet they laid out thousands of dollars in largess that they fully expected to ‘trickle down’ through the economy, and thus ‘stimulate’ that same economy. Limo drivers, sky-caps, and valet parking assistants are just a few of those that benifit from their ‘cash flow’. That is just the way the weathy contribute to society ( except for wealthy Canadians, they don’t tip ).

How much of our lives, our jobs and our Government is dependent on an under-ground economy? For the last eight years, my wife and I have supported ourselves with minimum wage jobs, so we really don’t feal the pinch like we would have ‘back in the day’. The blues I feel are more nostalgic, than financial.

I’m also grateful that circumstances put disance between myself, and a very corrupt system that depends so much on instant gratification.

And about that pump, my neighbor has an old one in his back yard that works well ( if you work it )

blagofunnies on Flickr – Photo Sharing

 

 

blagofunnies on Flickr – Photo Sharing.

Russia Blog: Southern Caucuses – Russia’s Middle East Terrorist Attack Kills 11, Injures Dozens

Yuri Mamchur

VLADIKAVKAZ, Russia – RIA Novosti reports that as many as 11 people were killed and 43 were injured on Thursday in an explosion at a bus stop in the center of the capital of Russia’s North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia. The chief doctor at the hospital treating the wounded said most of the casualties were students aged 17 or 18.

via Russia Blog: Southern Caucuses – Russia’s Middle East Terrorist Attack Kills 11, Injures Dozens

A Note With My Pay-check

I opened my the envelope, and found a rather long note included with my check. From the owner and CEO of the company that I work for, to all the employees, letting us all know how he felt about the up-coming elections. It was a long letter that promoted John McCain. I wasn’t surprised that my boss was a Republican.

He made some good points, and I had to agree with most of what he wrote. I did notice that Obama’s name wasn’t mentioned at all. Not once.
 

Nor was any mention made of the Employee Free Choice Act ( EFCA ) made. For those that aren’t aware, EFCA is making it’s way across Capital Hill, and will most likely be on the new Presidents desk when he assumes office next year. This piece of Legislation would have a major impact on American Business, as well as Labor and for my boss not to even mention it seems rather odd. Unless he doesn’t want to broadcast the news that he’s about to lose a lot of control over his work-force.
 

I watched as about a hundred co-workers opened their envelopes, read the note and walked silently away. That’s odd, I thought to myself. Not a word. I could see at least a dozen Obama t-shirts in the crowd, and no McCain shirts. You’d think there’d be some remark made about the note, and the owners political stand.

Several years ago I asked a coworker if there had ever been a union at the plant. He said there’d been a vote, but it had been voted down because unions would raise wages, kill the company and we’d all be out of a job.

That sounded a little odd to me because I knew that it wasn’t unions that shut all the mines down in this area, it was the EPA and a Republican President ( Ronald Reagan ). Odd, unless the guy I asked was afraid to say anything else.

Many folks think that a secret ballot is one way to give a voice to those who are afraid of speaking out on things that seem ‘a little odd’. And I agree that when the curtain is drawn on the booth your employer won’t know how you vote, so you can vote in your interest instead of his. But is the path to the booth supposed to be a secret trail, hidden so that employees don’t lose their jobs when they whisper about organizing or establishing a union?

EFCA will allow union organizers to move freely in the community, collecting signatures on applications for membership in a union. If the organizers get signatures of more than half the number of employees in a company, then the union is established without the permission, or even the involvement of the company.

There’s more written into EFCA that will have even greater effects on our lives, and I find it very odd that nobody in the mainstream press, and very few pundits on the internet even mention it. Odd, unless they are afraid to speak…

The Birth of a Cartel

 

Photo published at wikimedia commons; public domain

While the Generals were putting there heads together in Helsinki, and all eyes were watching the huge fire-power demonstrations provided by the Russians something nasty was moving across the waters.

I’m not referring to the pirates treasure in Somalia, although there is some speculation that something very nasty is being guarded very closely there too. I’m speaking of Nuclear Material being transported to Siberia by the Russians, much in the manner that nuclear material was recently transported to Canada by the US.

While the US and Russia are saying one thing publicly;

Washington (AP)
October 22, 2008 

“…(They) discussed a wide range of issues of mutual concern, including the current security environment in Georgia, the future of the NATO alliance, and the current status of U.S. missile defence plans in Europe…more“

A topic as important as Nuclear Material moving across International Shipping Lanes during a Joint Operation to combat Piracy on the High Seas had to come up somewhere in the dialogue. And while they were on the subject, the issue of cost must have been mentioned as well as how Nuclear Power should be managed, controlled, sold, monopolized, etc.

After all is said and done, it’s one thing to help third world Iron Age Cultures into the 21st century by buying there crude, but it’s another to let them traffic in Real Power. And Nuclear Energy is real power.

This is the birth of a Cartel folks.

You Had To Ask

wikimedia commons - public domain

The ACLU is demanding answers on military deployment within US borders, and it’s obvious that they are not going to get any answers soon. Why do they bother asking a Government at war with questions about troop movements and asssignments?

Another nagging question is why no one else in the Main Stream News Industry is asking questions. Either the don’t know anything, they’re deaf dumb and blind, or they see a real ( military ) threat on the not so distant horizan.

What threat could be so ‘Clear and Present’, and yet go unobserved by the general public?

There is a war going on just south of the Rio Grande! Or haven’t you noticed? The Merida Initiative is a major effort to supply Mexico with the means to conduct a counter-insurgency ( civil war ) being waged against Drug Cartels. Thousands of people have died violent deaths this last year, all as a direct result of the Mexican Governments military campaign financed by the US. ( +$ 450 million ).

The Russians know all about Mexico’s unreported status as ‘Failed State’. They’ve been supplying the insurgents for quite a while now, and their support has recently increased dramatically with the sales of high powered military equipment to several Latin American Nations.

These events didn’t occur overnight, they’re the result of a long range plan to re-establish Russia as a military power. The steady encroachment of NATO into Eastern Europe has Russia with it’s back to the wall and The Bear is refusing to go down without a fight.

Closer to Russia is Germany, and there is similar legislation being pushed through their Government. Their military has gained much experience in the Middle East over the last few years, experience that would be valuable if hostilities in the Ukraine spill over into Western Europe. It is worth mentioning that neither the US Government nor the US Press has reported much about this Legislation, or the timing. It’s obvious that several world leaders know something that no one is speaking about.

Promoting Revolution and supplying Bannana Republics with arms is neither unexpected nor difficult, but Conventional Ground Forces would be required to pose a credible threat to the US proper. And that credible threat is the only justification for over-turning Posse Comitatus.

So, how do you get the men and equipment close enough to North America without being noticed? You smuggle it! Smuggling is the one thing Latin America and Central Asia have in common.

wikimdia commons - public domain

Smuggling tanks and big guns across the open sea can be risky ( is the risk worth the reward? ). Russia may have tipped their hand recently when pirates seized several ships off the coast of Somalia last month. One ship was carrying 35 T-72 tanks, and much more military hardware. Another was carrying a ‘mystery cargo‘.

Though not widely reported at first, it is hard to hide the fact that damn near every Navy in the world is keeping a close watch on those ships.

The popular rumor is; the Ukraine was trying to ship arms to the Sudan…or…Kenya was buying arms…( insert your own cover story ). The fact is, Russian tanks are on the High Seas and no one is talking about it! 

 

If Russia uses the same tactics in the Ukraine as it did in Georgia

If Russia uses the same tactics in the Ukraine as it did in Georgia, that is to issue passports to citizens with a Russian heritage before invading, then Crimea may be the bate in an eloborate trap set for the Russian Navy.

Crimea is defendable, only if Russia controls it’s southern flank ( the Roki Tunnel in Georgia ). And that strategy requires a Navy. Modern warfare follows a pattern of deployment in increasingly larger theaters, allowing for testing and training of the forces as the strategy develops. Coordination of land and sea elements is a must if Russia’s goal is to regain control of Eastern Europe. If Crimea is a the second stage of such a strategy, Russia must know it cannot be supported by air power alone and will depend heavily on seaports in Georgia.  

Russians may be enigmatic, their policies may be paradoxical and they may speak in riddles…but their actions are obvious and simple to counter. Let the Russian Navy in, and don’t let them out of their little pond. The following is self-evidence of Russian intentions.

Vienna, September 23 – Under the terms of new legislation nominally intended to promote the repatriation of “Russian compatriots” and thus help solve Russia’s demographic problems, Moscow can now offer Russian Federation citizenship to more than eight million Ukrainians, even though the Ukrainian constitution prohibits dual citizenship.

Window on Eurasia: Moscow Can Now Offer Russian Citizenship to Eight Million Ukrainians.

Pushing a Fast-Fix May Leave Home Owners Out in the Cold

Many expect Legislation to be passed this week to address the crisis on Wall Street. While the Banks and Brokers have had years to prepare for this inevitable consequence of irresponsible lending, and non-existant oversight of the Banking Industry, the general public ( i.e. home owners ) are not so well prepared.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said, “The credit markets are still very fragile right now and frozen, we need to deal with this and deal with it quickly…more.”

Democrats would like to modify the plan, changing the bankruptcy laws to allow a Judge authority in home owner for-closure cases. They believe that protecting the assets of individuals would force Banks to require better credit for loan applications, as well as larger down-payments, stating that the effect would strengthen the Banking Industry and the market in general. The question is whether Democrats will get the 60% support required to force the modifications.

And of course the President has to sign the Bill…quickly….hopefully…