I AM A DIASPORAL JEW OF THE ASHKENAZ TRIBE AND I HEREBY DECLARE BUELAHMAN AND LYNDA OF BUELAHMAN'S REDSTATE REVOLT TO BE ABSOLUTELY FREE OF ANTI-SEMITISM OF ANY KIND. THEIR VIEWS ON AMERICA'S ISRAEL POLICY IS THE SAME AS MINE. IT IS THE SAME AS WELL OVER 30% OF THE ISRAELI PEOPLE AND OVER 70% OF THE DIASPORAL ASHKENAZ COMMUNITY IN THE WORLD OUTSIDE BOTH THE UNITED STATES AND ISRAEL.
I don’t pretend to understand Afghanistan, but I do know it’s a big, poor, backward Islamic country in Central Asia with all sorts of warring factions that have been at it for decades, or even centuries. I know that American soldiers have been fighting there for eight years and that the situation is still a huge mess.
And now President Barack Obama, after sending 21,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan in March, is set to announce next week that he’s going to send over another 30,000 or so, which will bring the total number of US troops in that big, poor, backward, bewildering, violent Islamic country to about 100,000.
I don’t know much about Afghanistan, but I’m pretty familiar with America, familiar enough to know that America is not up for this. I don’t know if it’s possible to pacify Afghanistan – or Pakistan, Iraq, Iran or anyplace else in the region. I don’t know if this can be done even with millions of American troops fighting for 100 years.
But I do know, as I think everyone knows or should know, that America is not ready to fight Islamism like it fought Nazism and Communism, which means that in its wars in the Middle East, America is destined to lose. The only question is how long these futile adventures will last.
Actually, America fought one war in the Middle East that was not seemingly futile, not at all – the one in 1991 against Iraq. That was a “necessary war,” to use Obama’s term for the mess in Afghanistan. Back then, Saddam Hussein invaded an American-allied country, he electrified the entire Middle East, he was bidding for control, direct or indirect, over two-thirds of the world’s oil – he had to be stopped and turned back.
So president George H.W. Bush set a very clear, reasonable goal – forcing Saddam out of Kuwait – then sent half a million soldiers to do the job, accomplished it in six weeks with minimal allied casualties, then brought the troops home, leaving Saddam and Saddamism in ruins. That was a so called “good war.” But Afghanistan? After 9/11, the Americans should have retaliated by carpet bombing select areas of that country, killing tens of thousands of people, terrorists and civilians both, to let al-Qaida, the Taliban and everyone in the Islamic world know that there is a terrible price to pay for attacking America and killing 3,000 innocents.
Instead, America decided to “transform” the region. The result is that another 5,000 Americans have been killed, soldiers this time, bombs are still going off every which way in Iraq, and now a new president, this one a liberal Democrat, not a Republican neocon, is driving deeper and deeper into Afghanistan.
And what about Pakistan? And Iran? Are they next? “All options are on the table,” says Obama.
AMERICA’S PROBLEM is that it still wants to be a military superpower but is no longer willing to pay the price in blood and money, so it tries to do it on the cheap and as painlessly as possible, and winds up fighting endless wars with impossible goals in distant, hellish places.
If the US were serious about taking on a military challenge of this scope, it would reinstate the draft. This isn’t Grenada they’re dealing with, this is an enemy with outposts across the Middle East, and parts of Africa too. And the US means to go to war against this enemy with a volunteer army that’s drawn from less than 1 percent of American families!
“The problem in this country with this issue [of Afghanistan],” said Democratic Congressman David Obey, “is that the only people who have to sacrifice are military families, and they’ve had to go to the well again and again and again and again, and everybody else is blithely unaffected by the war.”
The American people won’t stand for a military draft; it’s a taboo subject . They won’t even stand for a war tax; that’s another taboo. But neither will they stand for the idea that America is not a military superpower anymore. And nobody in that country, not even the messiah of change, has the guts to tell them that they can’t have it both ways.
So the US pretends it can fight World War III like Grenada, its army is so far beyond overextended that there isn’t a word for it, the country spends more and more billions of dollars that it doesn’t have, and this has been going on now for almost a decade.
At this point, is anybody confident that if and when the US gets out of Iraq, after all these years of horror and devastation, it will leave behind a stable, decent, more or less pro-American country?
Is anybody confident of such a happy end to the war in Afghanistan?
I don’t think so. I think if America knew right after 9/11 what it knows now, there is no way on earth it would have started these wars.
But now Obama wants more – not because he believes he can salvage the situation in Afghanistan, but because he’s afraid of what will happen if he abandons it to the likes of al-Qaida and the Taliban. Which is a very legitimate worry. I worry about that too.
But the only way the US can salvage Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Pakistan, or Iran, or any country in the Muslim world, is to fight like it fought every other major war in its history – with a draft, with war taxes, with a clear, reasonable goal and the readiness to pursue it to the end.
Is America up for that today? No, it’s not, I’m happy to say, because, like I said, even millions of American soldiers fighting for 100 years might not be enough to neutralize the threat of Islamism.
It’s fight or flight, which means the only choice left is flight. The US is not a military superpower anymore, and it’s just hurting itself and a lot of other people by pretending.
The time has come for America to wrap up these endless, failed third world wars.
It’s not going to be easy. And the worst part is that after Obama deepens America’s commitment with 30,000 new soldiers, getting out is going to be even harder.
Facts
Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States.
By the fall of 1621 only half of the pilgrims, who had sailed on the Mayflower, survived. The survivors, thankful to be alive, decided to give a thanksgiving feast.
Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the second Monday in October in Canada.
The Plymouth Pilgrims were the first to celebrate the Thanksgiving.
The pilgrims arrived in North America in December 1620.
The Pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to reach North America.
The pilgrims sailed on the ship, which was known by the name of ‘Mayflower’.
They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day in the fall of 1621.
They celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The drink that the Puritans brought with them in the Mayflower was the beer.
The Wampanoag Indians were the people who taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate the land.
The Pilgrim leader, Governor William Bradford, had organized the first Thanksgiving feast in the year 1621 and invited the neighboring Wampanoag Indians also to the feast.
The first Thanksgiving feast was held in the presence of around ninety Wampanoag Indians and the Wampanoag chief, Massasoit, was also invited there.
The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days.
President George Washington issued the first national Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in the year 1789 and again in 1795.
The state of New York officially made Thanksgiving Day an annual custom in 1817.
Sarah Josepha Hale, an editor with a magazine, started a Thanksgiving campaign in 1827 and it was result of her efforts that in 1863 Thanksgiving was observed as a day for national thanksgiving and prayer.
Abraham Lincoln issued a ‘Thanksgiving Proclamation’ on third October 1863 and officially set aside the last Thursday of November as the national day for Thanksgiving. Whereas earlier the presidents used to make an annual proclamation to specify the day when Thanksgiving was to be held.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt restored Thursday before last of November as Thanksgiving Day in the year 1939. He did so to make the Christmas shopping season longer and hus stimulate the economy of the state.
Congress passed an official proclamation in 1941 and declared that now onwards Thanksgiving will be observed as a legal holiday on the fourth Thursday of November every year.
Over 30 years ago– I had read a small leather-bound book about the Shroud. I enjoyed the starting point that the researcher used . Art. It was amazing and thought provoking. Anyway– since then I have always found the research facinating. Of course I am lost when it comes to why no DNA research– but thats just me. lol
Sun, Nov. 22, 2009
Researcher says faint text proves shroud’s authenticity
By Ariel David
Associated Press
ROME – A Vatican researcher asserts that nearly invisible text on the Shroud of Turin proves that the artifact revered as Jesus’ burial cloth is authentic.
The assertion made by Barbara Frale in a book drew immediate skepticism from some scientists, who maintain the shroud is a medieval forgery.
Frale, a researcher at the Vatican archives, said Friday that she used computers to enhance images of faintly written words in Greek, Latin, and Aramaic scattered across the shroud.
She asserted that the words include the name “Jesus Nazarene” in Greek, proving that the text could not be of medieval origin because no Christian at the time, even a forger, would have labeled Jesus a Nazarene without referring to his divinity.
The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ’s image was recorded on the linen fibers at the time of his resurrection.
The fragile artifact, owned by the Vatican, is kept locked in a special protective chamber in Turin’s cathedral and is rarely shown.
Skeptics point out that radiocarbon dating conducted in 1988 determined it was made in the 13th or 14th century.
While faint letters scattered around the face on the shroud were seen decades ago, serious researchers dismissed them because of the test’s results, Frale said in an interview.
But when she cut out the words from photos of the shroud and showed them to experts, they concurred the writing style was typical of the Middle East in the first century A.D. – Jesus’ time.
She believes the text was written on a document by a clerk and glued to the shroud over the face so the body could be identified by relatives and buried properly. Metals in the ink used at the time may have allowed the writing to transfer to the linen, Frale said.
“I tried to be objective and leave religious issues aside,” Frale said. “What I studied was an ancient document that certifies the execution of a man, in a specific time and place.”
Frale is noted in Italy for her research on the medieval order of the Knights Templar and her discovery of unpublished documents on the group in the Vatican’s archives.
Earlier this year she published a study contending the Templars at one time had the shroud in their possession. That raised eyebrows because the order was abolished in the early 14th century and the shroud is first recorded in history about 1360 in the hands of a French knight.
But her latest book, The Shroud of Jesus Nazarene, in Italian, raised doubts even among experts.
“People work on grainy photos and think they see things,” said Antonio Lombatti, a church historian who has written books about the shroud. “It’s all the result of imagination and computer software.”
Lombatti also rejected the idea that authorities in the time of Jesus would officially return the body of a crucified man to relatives after filling out some paperwork. Victims of the most cruel punishment used by the Romans would usually be left on the cross or were disposed of in a dump to add to the execution’s deterring effect.
Accidentally last night, I watched a PBS documentary titled “How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin”. I cried so hard. I had no idea about this little known, to me, huge part of history. I Immediately flashed back to the time of my daughters and my reunion. It was filmed live-time in 1998 for The Learning Channel– and as a heart felt thank you, I will never ever forget or regret giving Boris [ the TLC Reunion cameraman-- from Moscow] my ‘Meet the Beatles’ album! I never fully understood his weeping when I gave it to him… not until now. I sincerely hope that you can watch this program . It is just Awesome, and above all just plain humbling. I never knew– I just never knew. Below are 6 links to the documentary that someone was awesome enough to post on youtube!!!
Brief::
Mon, November 9 | 9PM How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin
This is the extraordinary and untold story of how the Beatles punctured the Iron Curtain. In August 1962, award-winning director Leslie Woodhead made a two-minute film, in Liverpool’s Cavern Club, with a raw and unrecorded group of unknown rockers — the Beatles. Twenty-five years later, while making a series of films in Russia, Woodhead learned just how powerful Beatlemania was in the Soviet Union. Even though the Beatles never performed there, their music and rebellious style had soaked into the lives of a generation of Russian kids. This film features personal stories from members of Russia’s Beatles generation, who talk about how the Fab Four changed their lives, gave them hope and helped to undermine the foundations of the Soviet system. The music was the number one enemy of the State, and teens learned English, revolution and gained strength to over throw the Communist system by listening to underground recordings made using old x-ray film negatives called ‘bones’. To this day, the Beatles remain engrained in the life changed hearts of a once hostage entire youth of a nation .
Barack Obama was elected on 4 November 2008 after a campaign that promised change.
One year on, BBC’s Newsbeat traveled across the country to find out how people feel in Obama’s America.
In the first of five reports, Jonathan Blake travels to Tennessee where unemployment is highest among young people to see how he’s trying to fix the economy.
Many people who visit here don’t really know how to take the place. Supposedly a redneck from the south who is anti-corporate, anti-Republican (and anti-Democrat, for that matter) and who cannot idly accept what the minions in government tell us, when it is obvious that their purpose is money and protecting those that give it to them.
I have had links (on the side over there ——->) for various places that are truly Progressive (“Progressive” Does NOT Equal Democratic party, btw) and also linked to some Conservative blogs (“Conservative” Does NOT equal Republican party).
I also have linked and appreciate as much or more than any others, blogs that are written by Black folk, Latinos, Europeans, Canadians, Afghanis, Iraqis, and even by an American in Seoul. The reason for this (other than appreciating their work) is that it is my opinion that these “fringe” groups (as some would describe) are being played against each other and against the white establishment (which the establishment wants me and other rednecks to think we are a part of).
Fat, rich white people against the rest of humanity, to a certain degree and they don’t care what color you are.
Any sane, thinking redneck must understand that we aren’t any part of that elitist group. It is simply the divide and conquer game that the richest of the rich use to control us: keeping us attacking, even killing each other over bullshit that means so little in perspective of the truth, that it astonishes me that we still fall for it.
My buddy (and contributer here), kelso’s nuts, says often that it will be the Black Power activists, the Socialist Parties, and the Southern Christian libertarians and Town Hallers that will make change happen. Rednecks, black folk and other minorities must be able to connect, make amends, and devise a way forward that will eliminate the Corporate Control of the majority of politicians. It is truly these few groups that recognize that American Exceptionalism is BS. It will be the people that are raising the most hell about Obama’s lies and deceit that will eventually hold him (them) accountable.
There are but two sides: those who favor peace and freedom and those who don’t. The serious White Southern monetarists are very committed. The militant Black Power movement is really committed. The (real) socialist activist left is really committed. The world Green Parties are really committed.
It is this dance of the Republicrats and their blind hate and fear and perversion of Christianity and patriotism and the wealthy, indifferent, Big Government Liberals who are in lock-step to oppress.
It will NOT be those at the Huff Po, C&L, Daily Kos, etc. They are too invested in the system and Obama’s Ass (as in tonguing his ass). Too much clout, too much ability to rub elbows with power, and monetary gain from the very ones who perpetuate the shackling of us “peons”.
Nor will it be the Tea-baggers and the ravenous right-wing freaks whom only consider defeat of the “other party” as the goal. They are playing into and are likely a part of the mind games played on an American public who is scared to death about the future of this country and for their families.
I already know places that I want to highlight and you should get to know these folks, for truth is rampant at their blogs:
One of my newer Favs. 2truthy’s blog that addresses my favorite topics and is damned funny, as well. They, “are dedicated to drop-kicking truth and justice, laughers and screamers, strange and terribly real stories about living out the death of American civility and the hubris soaked perps who profit from it.”
Jay is a young black man who has his shit all together regarding the financial crisis we are in. His knowledge is impressive. Also note that if you are a redneck (like me), this may be a good place to begin to learn about Hip Hop (whether you like it or not isn’t the point). Understanding a culture that you have been brainwashed to fear is paramount to making this work. As an example, Hip Hop sells more to white folk than black folk.
Excellent assembly of writers (where I first read Kelso’s writing). The site is definitely NSFW (not suitable for work) and for some who have an aversion to porn, you may want to avoid it. However, the information presented here is well reported by quality, professional writers.
This man is a freaking genius. He posts about math (which goes over my head, at times), but posts even more about politics and the empire that reigns. Marijuana legalization is one of his key interests and is about to embark on a Sabbatical to help Marc emory’s case in Canada. One of my favorite sites on the entire web.
Torrance is absolutely brilliant. Depending on the particular post, he speaks in different voices (he can speak with a redneck, a politician, black folk or a king). He is one of the most insightful Professors, Authors, THINKERS that I have encountered. Well worth the visit.
Glen Ford, Margaret Kimberly and Bruce Dixon (among others, I believe) lay out the truth about African American politics, thought and action. A must read for any American.
One of the most impressive interviews I have seen lately was a Real News interview with Glen Ford:
Arthur Silber’s Blog. One of the better writers I have encountered on the web. Whether or not you agree with his point of view (I do, by and large), his posts are extremely well prepared, organized and informative.
Last, but not least featured today is a blog that has been very informative for me on a variety of topics, especially the financial mess. But all things “Imperialization” are addressed in a brilliant and well thought out manner. Great Blog!
This is just a small sampling of truly progressive sites that see the overall picture, much like I do (I link and visit many others, but they are not necessarily political in nature, so I haven’t featured them in this post… like one of my favorite women bloggers that addresses blogging in general, Roschelle at Inconsequential Logic). There are many others that you should visit, like, “After Downing Street; “A Tiny Revolution“; Sam Smith’s UnderNews (the blog for the Progressive Review); Glen Greenwald’s Blog (just a few among several you can click on over on the right panel). I have not formally set up Blog link exchanges with these, but they are a part of my daily read.
So here is what I am looking for. I want to expand on this by having you suggest similar sites, especially those that focus on the southern white portion that I have been discussing (I have a hard time finding them). I want to find sites that I can link to and share their ideas here that will help make this connection that is needed NOW, especially from that southern, white perspective.
It boils down to this: We MUST come together and fix this shit. We will never be whole until we take back the control. We will never be able to do that unless we work things out between us, without the diversions and horseshit divisional tactics that have worked for so very long.
And don’t be fooled by the name of a blog (like the “Pine Belt Progressive”, as an example). There is nothing “Progressive” about a site dedicated to ass-kissing the status quo and continuing the fake two-party divide.
And please don’t blow smoke up my ass. I can do that on my own:
I have been lax in saying much about Mr Jackson. I have only highlighted a few performers here (generally my music preference or some local group or friends who play/sing/whatever and the occasional redneck crazy shit). At my root, I am a white redneck man who liked pop music as a very young lad, but grew out of it in my last year or two in high school. So, the past 30 years or more, I have not been a fan of his.
However, one way I worked my way through high school and college was as a DJ and I was doing this when Thriller came out. Believe me, hearing it a thousand times is enough to make it grow very old, very fast. Having it requested four hundred times in a night (and playing it because they would get pissed if I refused) is not my idea of enjoying music. So, not only was it not my favorite kind of music, I had to hear it over and over and over and over… until I was sick of it. I welcomed Kool Herc, Melle Mel and Run DMC over the sickening pop and worse, Disco (if I was forced out of my love, R&R). BTW, I hate today’s country music with a passion.
But, then again, remember my roots. I love Rock and Roll, especially southern Rock and Roll. Sue me.
Zep, Floyd, Aerosmith, Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 38 Special, etc were what I ended up listening to and relating to the most.
Back to Michael: as a kid (he was just a few years older than I), I liked the Jackson 5 very much. I remember their cool clothes and their ability to sing and dance together. And Michael was a phenom, that cannot be doubted. But look what it did to him: what his life caused him to do to himself and how damned weird he got. Maybe it is to be expected when you are worshipped as if you are Jesus Christ Mohammed (Michael changed his religion from Christianity/Scientology to Islam), as I understand it.
He had a lifelong pursuit of changes to his body that caused me to first question his sanity. The nose thing, not so bad (until it went too far), then cheeks, chins, bleaching his skin then lying about it. He started become much more effeminate, making me wonder if he was transgender (or considering it).
All I am saying is that a little multi-talented kid seemed to be changing himself on purpose and I never understood why. It is one of things that turned me off from him and his music, even though I still consider him immensely talented and gracious. In so many words, he became a freak and I wonder if it was him trying to please the audience and fans, moreso than trying to be himself (at least, so it seems to me). And don’t get me started on having kids in bed with him (pedophile or not, that shit is wrong).
I have a good friend (RawDawgBuffalo) who wrote from a perspective that I do not have and another new friend at The Heroes of America that takes a totally different perspective, which is really the purpose of this post. I want to examine the extremes of this man and how it influenced people into taking such radically different views of Michael.
From RawDawg:
Michael Jackson was not just the average entertainer, he was the case for exception for he was an indescribable talent that was encompassed in the form of the great singer and showman and dancer – without a doubt he was the best. For people such as me, it is impractical to accept his death and describe the loss of such a creative genius for I was born under his influence. It was first through the blue labeled Motown record 45’s that I would play on my component set as a kid, and later through television, where I remember the first time I saw him and his brothers outside the covers of Ebony and Jet Magazines on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1969. I can still lucidly see that purple Brim he wore while moving fluidly to the music while he and his brothers sang “One More Chance”.
…
His adventures were well documented for it seemed as if main stream media had a problem with not being able to predict or explain his actions or behavior. But such has been the tradition of a mainly Eurocentric press when dealing with successful and well know black men. Jackson knew this and felt it every day regardless of such attention being justified or not. From his personal friendships with Elizabeth Taylor and Diana Ross to his first failed marriage with Lisa Marie Pressely, to his admiration for a Chimpanzee named Bubbles that he dressed like himself, he only attracted questionable press from the main stream media.
Once while attending the Grammies, he took two dates: Brook Shields and the child star Emmanuel Lewis. Some speculate that this was what brought the extreme scrutiny to Jackson and his fondness of young male children. Anything Jackson said or did was ground for a feeding frenzy for the press. He was taunted for his self comparison to Peter Pan, the multiple corrective and cosmetic surgeries he had performed on his face with respect to his nose and skin and his attempt to purchase the bones of the famous Elephant Man in 1987. It is strange that these tend to be what is spoken about mostly, and how people forget the fire that burned him doing the filming of a commercial for Pepsi, or how his first surgery was conducted to repair a broken nose after he fail from the stage in 1979.
The persecution was so extreme that Jackson left the Jehovah’s Witness and reportedly joined the Nation of Islam under the leadership of Minister Farrakhan. Maybe it was all the attention. The civil suits and criminal allegations of child molestation that led to what may have increased the stress on his heart. I will not go into his supposed dependency and addiction to prescription pain killers for the main stream media has ridden that wave to the shore and beyond.
I think it is apparent (you should read the entire thing, btw) that Torrance loved and respected this man. I can understand how this would be true for him.
Personally, I have never been able to “love” a performer… to be able to connect with them on such a level. Maybe I am just a hard ass, I dunno. But I do understand, somewhat, RawDawg’s feelings and how they developed.
So, when I read another viewpoint, I am torn, because I did not love Michael in the same nostalgic way and see more of a tormented soul than anything else.
From The Heroes of America:
A couple days ago, all the major networks were airing the funeral of Michael Jackson. This funeral, the funeral of a rock star – and not that of a great world leader, a Nobel prize winning scientist, or world famous writer – is considered of such paramount importance as to warrant interruption of all other broadcasting. Obviously, the funeral of John F. Kennedy in 1963 would be considered of such importance – but the funeral of a rock star? It almost appears insane to anyone who thinks journalists should focus on important matters effecting society. Why this crazy orgy over the death of a man (or transgendered person) whose music represented dish-watery pop culture? Because Jackson was more than just the “King of Pop”, he was also the “King of Identity Politics”.
Michael Jackson’s life and death unfolded almost entirely on the public stage, and it was a stage of tragedy. A sensitive, introverted child, he was brutally mistreated by his father and constantly thrust into the glare of the public spotlight. Jackson never had a chance at developing beyond that childhood. He truly lived the life of Peter Pan, a perpetual childhood until his death.
One thinks of the tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions of dollars of his great wealth that Jackson could have given to major universities, performing arts centers he could have funded for talented yet needy children – not unlike the Michael Jackson who grew up in Gary, Indiana. Instead, all the money was wasted on choo-choo trains and multi-million dollar pieces of furniture. His mind was unable to search beyond the world of the playground and see the rest of society that lay outside.
Therein lies the real tragedy. For the perpetual little boy also desperately wanted to be the “image” of society. He became part-white, part-black, a boy, a girl, transgendered, gay and straight all rolled into one. Society is all about “Identity Politics”, and he would be the great child king of “Identity”. He would try to be it all, to literally be everyone, even if it killed him in the end…
I am torn. I am torn because a huge talent and a loving heart was transformed into something he truly was not at his heart (at least, imo). The “freak” was only a freak in perception of those (like me) who do not understand how and why someone could do this to themselves. But when one has a remembrance like Dawg’s and the understanding of what Michael went through as a black child star- turned mega Star, it causes one like me to truly wonder who the man was. Was he what he appeared to be?
I doubt it.
I bet he was the same guy I remember with the ‘fro and could sing like no one else. Not the weirdo who bleached his skin and changed himself into another totally different person.
Hello, Rednecks! Que hay mis panas y panaches estadunidoenses del Sur? I principally blog at EDITORIALS FROM HELL’S LEADING NEWSPAPER but I’ll be cross-posting a lot of material for as long as BuelahMan and Lynda want me to. HELL is covering the Sarah Palin resignation in detail, so this will be the first piece I’ve written in a long while which will appear somewhere else first. Quite simply, they’ve been following the doings of Sarah Palin on a daily basis and have tons and tons of info and interpretation of the woman and the phenomenon. Also, the following is kind of an adapatation of some comments I’d left on Torrance Stephens’s RawDawgBuffalo site in response to his take-down of The American Clean Energy and Security Act.
Yes, another week brings yet another Multi-Trillion USD expansion of the US government, with its trusty sidekicks, the contraction of the social sector of US government spening, and the expansion of the Plutocratic rights of the pillars of the Friendly Fascist United States Of America.
A confession off the top which is probably not necessary for anyone who’s read me here, on THE DAILY PITCHFORK, and/or heard me with Dr Stephens and Lovebabz each Thursday night at 11pm Eastern on the RawDawg Buffalo Radio Show: My views are not classifiable into any familiar ideology box. I am a capitalist. I believe in free markets. I have an MBA in finance and applied mathematics from UCLA. I’ve been a founding partner of three off-shore hedge funds and an entrepreneur who’s started a number of entrepreneurial ventures in the U.S. and Latin America. That said, I hold the pillars of the Friendly and Unfriendly variants of American BushBaManuel Fascism infuriating and my orientation will always be to peace, personal freedom, social justice, anti-imperialism, anti-Zionism, cooperation, and steady economic growth. I there’s every right with the IDEA of capitalism and much of its practice. I also have found much to like in most serious economic philosophy, from Adam Smith to Karl Marx to David Ricardo to John Maynard Keynes to Emma Goldman to Samuel Gompers to Irving Fisher to Leon Trotsky to Thorstein Veblen to Herbert Marcuse to Milton Friedman to Ronald Coase to Harry Markowitz to Noam Chomsky & Ed Herman to Black & Scholes to Von Neumann & Morganstern to Modigliani & Miller to Eugene Fama to Angela Davis to Paul Krugman to Gary Becker to Richard Posner to John Meriwether to Paul Krugman to Barry Goldwater to Malcolm X to Hugo Chavez to Kenneth Clarke to Alberto Carrasquilla Barrera to Eduardo Schwartz to Barr Rosenberg and so on….I’m open-minded. All love good thinkers and find pearls of wisdom everywhere but I have no sacred cows, the two least sacred being the Salesmen-In-Chief George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama. That infuriates a lot of people. There are times I’m going to seem like the world’s most hard-hearted capitalist and times you’re going to be sure I’m a REAL SOCIALIST. Because I am. Both. Free-market, fiscally and monetarily conservative, low-tax favoring, capitalist. And socially and class conscious “big government” socialist…you get the picture…
Let’s take up the “Cap-And-Trade” provision of HR 2454, American Clean Energy and Security Act, basically as I lamented to Torrance Stephens.
TORRANCE: Isn’t it funny that two libertarians like you and I oppose Cap-N-Crunch? We’re “supposed” to be in favor of market-based solutions to “negative social externalities,” si o no?
Well, like, you, I say in this case “NO!” I say it, though, with a theoretical understanding of the concept behind Cap-N-Crunch: THE (RONALD) COASE MECHANISM.
This is very dense stuff but worth a glance if anyone’s really into the philosophy of it:
The problem here is that Coase was writing in a GLASS-STEGALL, pre-NEW CFTC world. With the total deregulation (YET NOT A TOTAL LIBERTARIAN DISPERSION OF FUNGIBILY THROUGHOUT SOCIETY) of derivative instruments, Cap-N-Crunch is bound to fail.
I’ll use the naive case. They say that the number of CO2 emissions credits would be reduced by some amount at the end of each year by not replacing some number of settled or expired contracts.
Great. But it’s total bullshit. If I sell you one put-option on the right to prevent the expulsion of so much CO2 particulate over such a period of time with such a strike price, interest rate, and premium…THEN, I buy from you a call-option on the right TO POLLUTE in such a manner by such a date with the same characteristics as the other contract, WE HAVE CREATED A SYNTHETIC RIGHT TO POLLUTE THAT DIDN’T EXIST BEFORE, OVER-THE-COUNTER AND UN-REGULATED, YET WHOLLY LEGAL AND BINDING WITH THE FORCE OF LAW ANYWHERE IN THE USA. YES, WE’VE CREATED RIGHTS TO CAUSE NEGATIVE SOCIAL EXTERNALITIES IN POOR NEIGHBORHOODS JUST BY A LITTLE HAND WAVING!
Cap-N-Crunch is therefore a fraud and a lie and all it does is set into law the right to pollute as much as possible. The man who first started discussing this idea is also the man who is the majority shareholder in the company that will make, design and HELP THE FED SUPERVISE the CO2-EMISSIONS MARKETS.
That man’s name is (drum roll please)………AL GORE, JR.
I also write in opposition to the measure and to the same ignorance among the Sheople in the American political class, MSM and greater voting and non-voting populace.
I posted Dennis Kucinich’s speech against the Air Thingy on my Facebook page and I got bombed with the same commentary.
“Come on. It’s a start.”
“You’re just like Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh.”
“It’s fine for you in Panama. What about us?”
“The SIERRA CLUB is for it”
“Al Gore is for it”
And so on…I really don’t know why it falls to me so often to be critiquing bad policy. Well, in this case, I do know why. Because in addition to having studied Ronald Coase’s work in grad school, I AM A COMPLEX SYNTHETIC O-T-C DERIVATIVES TRADER. My job isn’t to save the world. My job is to make good money from bad. I can see the flaws in the legislation because that’s how I’ve made my living, by catching errors of construction of markets and errors in pricing of markets.
I know a lot of people just like me — people who are comfortable making money in the anonymity of portfolio trading, but who oppose tyranny, oppression, subjugation, war,pollutants,the criminal IN-justice SLAVERY SYSTEM,etc.
There are even famous libertarian and progressive finance thinker practioners like John Meriwether and Barr Rosenberg whose examples I follow on this. I thought Dennis Kucinich’s speech covered the problems in more down to earth way than I did, employing progressive critiques of the physical damage to people, especially poor, and libertarian critiques of vesting ever-more social control to the government.
Yet, when I start speaking or writing about LOOT AS LOOT AS LOOT, I am assumed to be some kind of right-wing Nazi thug. Last I checked, I just used what I know from my training and practice to show why the Obama measure is PROMOTIVE OF POLLUTION NOT PREVENTATIVE OF IT.
The unsurprising thing was when I asked Obama-luvvers if they’d read even an executive summary of the legislation, NONE HAD.
The Obama Promise Tracker is an electronic tool with which to follow all the promises the new President has made – 895 by its inventor Todd Smiths count. Of these 895 promises, made between February 10 2007 – the day he announced his candidacy – and November 4 – the day he was announced President-elect – 14 are tagged under “Foreign Policy, Israel”.
The first, “I will bring to the White House an unshakable commitment to Israel’s security”, is a commitment hard to define. Obama also promised to make the peace process “a key diplomatic priority”. This is easier to check, and one Obama is evidently serious about. Proof: the appointment of George Mitchell as special envoy to the Arab-Israeli peace process.
Mitchell is not new to this contentious conflict. He was in the Middle East over eight years ago, appointed by President Bill Clinton, to report on the raging second intifada. The report was not very helpful. The intifada continued. One of his recommended measures was not well received by the Israeli government: to halt development in the settlements, including measures taken to meet the needs of “natural growth”.
“We can’t ask people not to have children. We can’t ask the children not to live with their families,” Israeli opponents claimed.
Mitchell is coming back to a different Middle East. In the past eight years Yasir Arafat died, the intifada was defeated, Israel evacuated Gaza and Hamas was elected. Mitchell will find a Palestinian leader who is willing but incapable and a new Israeli government that needs time to organize. A realistic, modest approach will have to be formulated. One thing can ignite some friction: the man who wanted a total settlement freeze cannot be expected to let Israel off on illegal outposts. The promise that Israel made to evacuate them will have to be executed. This might be possible for a government of the right-centre (more likely) or centre-left (less so, according to polls). It will be very difficult for a government of the right, headed by Likuds Binyamin Netanyahu and supported by right-wing parties only. Netanyahu knows that for his own good, he needs Labor, Kadima or both as part of his coalition.
But for most Israelis, Obama’s commitment will not be tested in Palestine, but rather in Iran. Smith’s Promise Tracker notes three promises: “incentives” for Iran to abandon its nuclear program; a promise to “tighten sanctions”; and “direct diplomacy, without preconditions”. This will be enough only if Iran agrees.
Obama has not always been consistent regarding Iran. Earlier this week, I sent Smith a quote from my May 2007 interview with Obama: “I don’t think it would be appropriate for us to engage in full-scale diplomatic discussions without some progress or some indication of good faith on the part of the Iranians,” the then senator said. “I do think the US needs to send a signal to Iran that if they change their behavior that they have avenues available to them for improved international relations.”
This assertion somewhat contradicts his later promise for unconditional high-level talks. Smith will add the quote to the next edition of the Obama Promise Tracker. This will present a dilemma to those following these promises: do they want the first promise to materialize, or the second?
Of the many remarkable words uttered by America’s new president during his inauguration Tuesday, perhaps the most exceptional were the first: “I, Barack Hussein Obama.”
There was a palpable catching of breaths among the masses of onlookers crammed in front of the towering white US Capitol when he spoke, and then tears of emotion and joy from supporters who knew they were witnessing a triumph of history at hearing that name adorned with the title of president of the United States.
For it encompasses a first name more easily pronounced by Israelis than Americans; a last name with a cadence in striking contrasts to the Johnsons and Adamses and Bushes that proceeded him; and a middle name shared with an arch-foe of America.
And thus, as the first black man to take over the White House, with a moniker that can’t conceal his otherness, he had only to recite his name while taking the oath of office to begin the change he made a central campaign slogan and promise.
And he did not stop there. He spent the 18.5 minutes of his inaugural address attempting to break with his immediate past by taking a different stance from his predecessor on issues, well packed in code terms, ranging from global warming to torture to Iraq. He spoke of the need to “begin again the work of remaking America” and that “we are ready to lead once more.”
Still, in the few policy prescriptions he offered Tuesday, there was little new. Instead, he echoed campaign promises of more international engagement and bold work to stabilize the economy, or further sketched out the moderate pragmatism demonstrated by his personnel choices, such as his promise to leave Iraq “responsibly” rather than immediately, despite a quick withdrawal’s being a central demand he heard on the campaign trail. Actually, the withdraw date of ‘combat’ troops had already been established by the previous administration.
In fact, despite the criticism Obama faced during those many months, that he would be a weak defender of America and abruptly change the way national security is approached, his inaugural address merely gave a softer version of his predecessor George W. Bush’s own articulation of America’s determination to prevail against its enemies.“We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense,” he maintained. “For those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”
SO, CONCEIVABLY, his freshest departure was the extent to which he laid the blame for these problems not at the door of the past administration or evil outsiders, but at the feet of the American public.
“Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age,” he said at one point, adding that “a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.”
At another, pushing Americans to move past “the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas” of politics as usual, he reminded them, “in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.”
If he staked out one specific theme in this address, it was his call for sacrifice and ownership of the challenges ahead. “What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly.”
He struck a sober tone in comparison to the rhetorically soaring form that he honed on the campaign trail and brandished as a key weapon in the arsenal that allowed him, a largely unknown freshman senator, to slay the giants of his party and the dragons of the opposition.
SOME PUNDITS panned the address for failing to live up not only to the inaugural speeches of the greatest presidents who preceded him, but also to the campaign speeches of his own pen. But Obama is no longer looking to stir up Americans; he is seeking to sustain them.
While his words of being “in the midst of crisis” and of blame for Americans’ own role in their misfortune might have seemed a jarring notion for the candidate who made hope a centerpiece of his campaign, his focus on the “we,” on the shared obligations of the population, actually pointed to the real engine of change.
If the American people are the ones who need to effect change, rather than forces beyond anyone’s portfolio, it provides some degree of hope, because it offers a course for action to be taken.
“This is the source of our confidence – the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny. This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed – why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall,” he declared.
And the success of shaping that uncertain destiny will depend more on collective action than individual will, even when that individual is one Barack Hussein Obama.
Besides the unmeasureable damage that hit residents locally and headon to ruin their lives– the radius is being hit with water problems, air pollution and air-traveled-and-breathed toxins. And then– we all get to pay for it while we also endure our personal economys sinking fast. This [among so much stuff everytwhere ] sucks so bad.
TVA’s ratepayers will be saddled with the cost to clean up a massive coal ash slide at an East Tennessee power plant, the agency’s chairman said.
The tab, likely to be tens of millions of dollars or more, will include the cost of extra workers, overtime pay, heavy machinery, and housing and supplies for families chased from their homes, along with the lawsuits that have begun to pile up.
“This is going to get into rates sooner or later,” Tennessee Valley Authority Chairman Bill Sansom told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “We haven’t even thought about going to Washington for it.”
Washington is where Sansom will be today, as Tom Kilgore, the agency’s chief executive, testifies about the spill at a Senate hearing that brings TVA’s operations into their first high-profile scrutiny by Congress in more than a decade.
Also testifying will be Stephen Smith, a longtime TVA watchdog who heads the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and William Rose, director of emergency management services for Roane County.
The equivalent of more than 1 billion gallons of coal ash sludge cascaded Dec. 22 in a dark avalanche from an aboveground, ash-walled storage structure at the Kingston coal-burning power plant.
When a wall ruptured, the waste barreled out, damaging homes, knocking over trees and power lines and filling two inlets of the nearby Emory River.
The slide has turned into a rallying point for activists, many of whom want national regulation of coal ash ponds and question industry talk of developing “clean” coal for the nation’s energy future.
Several residents who live not far from TVA’s coal-burning plant also have traveled to Washington to lobby their lawmakers with Smith.
“I want to be part of the solution, to get this mess cleaned up,” said Melinda Hillman. “We lived in a little bit of paradise and now it is unbelievable what has been done.”
Much of the gray ash covering almost 300 acres is being sprayed with liquid fertilizer and seeds to try to stop what could be lung-damaging ash particles from drying and going airborne as the cleanup continues.
Lab work on water and ash samples has shown elevated levels of arsenic, lead, thallium and other substances.
State and federal environmental officials say testing shows that drinking water supplies are safe and that treatment plants would remove these materials if they entered the water intakes.
Hillman, who has lived in the area for eight years, said an independent investigation is needed to determine why the pond wall failed.
Forty area families have joined a pending lawsuit along with several environmental groups, demanding that federal courts levy fines and assure the community is made whole.
A TVA official had said earlier that insurance covers such accidents, but just how much had not been determined.
“We are primarily self- insured, but we also have some insurance policy carriers,” agency spokesman John Moulton said Wednesday. “It’s too early to tell what the impact on rates might be.”
Ash pond spills and leaks elsewhere in the country — some smaller than the one at Kingston — have resulted in cleanups of more than $35 million and lawsuits with settlements of $25 million and more.
Tough hearings likely
Pointed questions are expected at today’s hearing, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. CST.
The Environment and Public Works Committee is led by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who has pushed an aggressive environmental agenda since she took over as chairwoman in 2007. She supported efforts late last year to keep tighter environmental regulations in place for coal-fired power plants.
Kilgore, the CEO and president of TVA, was not available for an interview. But agency spokesman Moulten said Kilgore and Sansom were scheduled to meet before the hearing with the TVA Caucus — members of Congress who represent areas to which TVA provides electricity. That’s virtually all of Tennessee and parts of six other Southern states.
Moulten said Kilgore’s Senate testimony would emphasize cleanup efforts.
“Our focus is entirely on recovery,” Moulten said.
The last major confrontation between TVA leaders and Congress came in the 1990s, when the agency gave up the annual appropriations that had covered the costs of management of the Tennessee River system and economic development projects.
Today, TVA, a federal corporation, finances all its flood control, power generation and recreation operations from the sale of electricity.
Groups call for change
Local and international environmental groups homed in on the spill when it occurred.
The Environmental Integrity Project, along with Earthjustice, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the United Mountain Defense, held a teleconference Wednesday, releasing federal data about nearly 100 largely unregulated wet landfills nationwide that hold arsenic and other potentially toxic substances, like TVA’s Kingston facility.
Heavy metals found in coal can concentrate in the ash when it’s burned, and even more ash is created as pollution controls are tightened on power plants.
The groups object to mixing the dry ash with water to move it into ponds. They want dry landfills, recycling of the materials and regulations requiring liners to protect groundwater.
“This issue has been a sleeper,” said Jeff Stant, with the Environmental Integrity Project. “It’s not a glamorous issue. It’s been dumped where people are poor or aren’t members of environmental groups.”
High stakes and glamour, however, are part of it now — along with the potential for huge claims for class-action damages.
Erin Brockovich, who was made a celebrity by the Julia Roberts movie about a community’s fight against contaminated water, and a New York law firm are coming to meet victims this week.Contact Anne Paine at 615-259-8071 or
This movie was discussed at my family Christmas in New Jersey. I was actually amazed at how many of my cousins had never heard of it…. and considering I am the oldest living relative at this time [geeeece].. it was me and my cousins kids [college age] that had seen it. It is the cult classic of the decade. This flick is not for anyone who is younger than 18[? that's relative], it is very very violent and graphic… and the ‘f’ word is countless. But, I must say– it is quoted by fans more than any other flick, I have seen it numerous times, it actually made me laugh my ass off… and the characters are so clearly defined and fit the story perfectly. Have any of you seen it? …let’s have a ‘Latte’ and share thoughts. lol lol
* when Rocco runs into the apartment to announce they all have to leave…
[unless you have seen this flick, you can't appreciate how funny this is actually]
BuelahMan
Lynda
kelsosnuts
