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Fukushima Disaster Is Now Far Worse Than Chernobyl Ever Was

graciously provided by DublinMick

I wonder what the clowns who kept saying to not worry or even those I once linked to who kept saying that people like me were over-reacting are saying now? I wonder if their narcissistic tendencies could ever allow them to acknowledge what a tool they are for not considering what has been overly apparent.

Fukushima is now far worse than Chernobyl ever was

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/032568_Fukushima_dead_zone.html#ixzz1O9PnazPQ

Does it matter to those fools that both the American and Japanese governments have been lying thru their teeth at every opportunity? Did it ever occur to the fools who were screaming “Chicken Little” and suggesting that the very MSM they despise were playing it up, when the exact opposite was taking place? Does it matter to the nay-saying Richard Noggins that both governments are doing everything they can to change “acceptable levels”, pushing the idea that radioactive contamination is not only not a problem, but in some cases, good for us?

I have suspected the lies from the beginning. I have suggested that things are far worse than we will ever hear from the MSM sources. I knew that independent sources would soon find out the truth, because it IS so damned bad that even the most corrupt, money-grubbing sycophantic idiots would realize that their lives and families’ lives are at stake and would not be able to keep quiet forever.

The real question is, how bad will it be. If you read the natural News link above, you will see that the supposed “safe zone” of 12 miles is a hoax. You will learn that even up to 230 square miles, extremely unsafe levels are found. You will learn that Fukushima prefecture and a huge surrounding area within Japan is now a “dead zone”, much like atomic bomb test sites and that the real levels of contamination far exceed those of Chernobyl.

Over a month ago we were hearing from a few sources that death estimates would be far more than the sycophantic fools could ever dream of. Ethan Jacobs, J.D., of The Activist Post quoted several of these sources in his article, “Fukushima Radiation: A Soft-Kill Operation“:

Arnold Gunderson, a 39-year veteran of the nuclear industry, stated: “I absolutely disagree with the scientists who say that Fukushima’s not going to hurt anyone. The numbers I’ve seen, from reputable scientists, are that Fukushima is going to kill 200,000 from increased cancers over the next 50 years.”

Likewise, Dr. Christopher Busby, Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk, states that 400,000 people will develop cancer within a 200 kilometer radius of Fukushima.  He believes that TEPCO and the Japanese government were criminally negligent for failing to inform the public of the true danger.

Natalia Manzurova, one of the few survivors among those directly involved in the Chernobyl clean-up, is an advocate for radiation victims.  Her advice for the Japanese people was to “run away as quickly as possible. Don’t wait.  Save yourself and don’t rely on the government because the government lies. They don’t want you to know the truth because the nuclear industry is so powerful.”

Nationally acclaimed neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D.stated with the Fukushima radiation hitting the United States, there is going to be a risk of increased cancer.

When we look at Chernobyl, most of West Germany was heavily contaminated. Norway, Sweden. Hungary was terribly contaminated. The radiation was taken up into the plants. The food was radioactive. They took the milk and turned it into cheese. The cheese was radioactive.
That’s the big danger, the crops in this country being contaminated, the milk in particular, with Strontium 90. That radiation is incorporated into the bones and stays for a lifetime.


On April 12th, Japan finally raised the Fukushima meltdown from a 5 to a 7, putting it on par with Chernobyl.  “A level 7 incident means a major release of radiation with a widespread health and environmental impact” according to the International Atomic Agency.  As we learned from Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, the actual amount of radiation-induced deaths and injuries dramatically exceed estimates.

And, to be honest (although I can’t prove it), it would not surprise me one bit to know that this is a “soft-kill” operation with a population reduction agenda.

But there may be several things people can do to fight what is sure to occur as time progresses. There are various chemicals and drugs available (supposedly) to assist. But what if there were a wholly natural substance that could help you? What if you could Fight Radiation Damage the Natural Way with Cannabis?

If you like what you see here at The Revolt, please subscribe via Email subscription or by the RSS Feed button found on the upper right hand corner of this page and/or hit the Share Button at the bottom of the post to share via various means.

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Revolt or WordPress.com

Related articles

• Some Fukushima soil same as Chernobyl ‘dead zone’ (search.japantimes.co.jp)
• Worst nuclear disaster ever? High radiation levels found in seabed off Japan (theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com)

Mississippi Moon Wontcha Keep On Shining On Me

Image via Wikipedia

This old country boy loves Mississippi. Until the last 5 years, the majority of my life was spent there. Of course I know about all the stereotypes (and many times, “truths”) that are used against us MS Folk. But generally, I used this as a way to keep the very wonderful things about the place my little hidden secret. I have taken pride in being from the “50th State”, because I never really believed that it was last.

Sure, we are the poorest state… have the highest obesity rates… one of the highest number teen pregnancy rates… one of the least educated… one of the highest unemployment rates… one of the highest rates of gonorrhea… and many other negative stats which make us “winners”. But I also know that most of these people are the nicest, most inviting and loving people in this country. That is a fact that I believe and have witnessed in my world travels.

There is also beauty in the country-side, especially in NE MS (where I grew up). There is ample wildlife and open spaces, not to mention the river therapy that Dr Doug talks about.

But, we are experiencing some devastation right now that includes the recent tornado event and perhaps worse, the Mississippi River is over-flowing, endangering the lives of many thousands of people on the west side.

DublinMick (a Georgia country boy), informed me of the SF Gate article which discusses the flood event and there is one paragraph that catches my attention in a very scary way:

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour urged people to get out if they think there is even a chance their homes will flood. He said there is no reason to believe a levee on the Yazoo River would fail, but if it did, 107 feet of water would flow over small towns.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/11/MNIG1JESHH.DTL#ixzz1MFLadFNu

One Hundred and Seven Feet???

You need to understand that the very highest point in Mississippi is near my hometown and that is 806 feet (Woodall “Mountain”). But to the far west, in the Delta, it is far lower, especially near the river. 106 feet would totally cover virtually the entire area, likely killing many of the 465,000 or so people who live there in their squalor. To think that the Gov is saying that “IF” the citizens “think” there is a problem for flooding to move out. Well, tell me, you sanctimonious clown, where will these poverty-stricken people go?

A Natural News article explains even more detail about what is going on and that many places have already seen the high water mark record broken:

Flood waters continue to rise all along the Mississippi, including in Natchez, Miss., which today saw its portion of the river rise to 58.3 feet, breaking the all-time 1937 record of 53.04 feet. Vicksburg, Miss., Baton Rouge, La., and New Orleans, La. are all expected to see record-breaking crests late next week, some far exceeding previous record flood levels.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/032366_Mississippi_River_flooding.html#ixzz1MFNsBIvS

Tunica is under water. Massive crop failures already have occurred.

According to the above article, the “Black Water” is also tainted and I wonder what this might mean for the future of the region (not to mention America).

If you like what you see here at The Revolt, please subscribe via Email subscription or by the RSS Feed button found on the upper right hand corner of this page and/or hit the Share Button at the bottom of the post to share via various means.

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Revolt or WordPress.com

Related articles

• Mississippi River Floods Millions of Acres of Farmland (shortformblog.tumblr.com)
• Flooding Mississippi River threatens catfish industry (chron.com)
• Mississippi River flooding hits historic high (holykaw.alltop.com)
• Flood’s crest delivers fresh misery in Mississippi – San Francisco Chronicle (news.google.com)
• How big is the Mississippi River flood? (msnbc.msn.com)
• Flood, disasters punish South, but locals say region shall rise again (cnn.com)

Nuclear Containment Breaches and The Plutonium That Is Good For Your Health

Plutonium is one of nature’s nastiest substances. As I offered before, “IF” these reactors were to go into meltdown and the clump of fuel melds together, the temperature will go high enough to cause problems (it is already suggested that a partial or full meltdown is occurring right now). Also note that the reactor #3 had a crane fall into it, which could have physically damaged the containment or spent rod pools, which, in either case, would release radioactive materials (including three forms of plutonium) into the area surrounding the reactor site. But there is nothing to worry about, is there?

Now, in spite of the Richard Noggins’ and their lack of rational thought, have you thought about what happens if this is NOT contained (or it takes months or years to contain)? Do you still believe that Americans have nothing to worry about? And you think this because you believe the government or the company (TEPCO) that is in charge of the media releases? Does it not cause you to wonder “why” all the sudden, that this disaster is hardly even being covered any more on MSM TV. Some Noggins suggest that the Japanese disaster was the sleight of hand to keep us from considering the Wisconsin issues or the Libyan invasion, but where are those people now that the entire focus is on Libya and OFF of Japan? You think that maybe it is because this is WORSE than Chernobyl, already?

Well, they lie, and maybe you should read the data provided by Jorge Stolfi of the State University of Campinas in Brazil (found at Zero Hedge) in which an excellent chronological breakdown of the disaster at reactors 1, 2 and 3 has been recorded.

I tend to consider the experts in the field like Michio Kaku in the video above or like Olivier Isnard from the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, when he says that a partial meltdown has occurred.

But to be specific about how bad the plutonium is, read Washington Blog‘s latest post:

MSNBC reports that plutonium has been found in soil around the Fukushima plant:

The Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the plant, said it found three radioactive isotopes of plutonium — plutonium 238, 239 and 240 — in five locations outside the plant in soil tests on March 21-22.

NHK tv notes that a giant crane fell over and probably crushed spent fuel rods at in Fukushima reactor number 3, which contain a plutonium-uranium mix.

CNN points out:

Plutonium can be a serious health hazard if inhaled or ingested, but external exposure poses little health risk, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

As the Argonne National Laboratory notes:

Essentially all the plutonium on earth has been created within the past six decades by human activities involving fissionable materials.

***

Atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, which ceased worldwide by 1980, generated most environmental plutonium. About 10,000 kg were released to the atmosphere during these tests.

Average plutonium levels in surface soil from fallout range from about 0.01 to 0.1 picocurie per gram (pCi/g).

Accidents and other releases from weapons production facilities have caused greater localized contamination.

So like radioactive cesium and iodide – which I discussed yesterday – plutonium doesn’t exist in nature in any significant quantity, and so “background radiation” is a meaningless concept.
Plutonium stays radioactive for a long time. Pu-238 has an 88-year half-life, Pu-239 has a 24,000-year half-life, and Pu-240 has a 6,500-year half life.

This stuff is nasty and using a comparison to “background” levels is foolish. Three really is NO such comparison:

There are, of course, naturally occurring radioactive materials.

But lumping all types of radiation together is misleading … and is comparing apples to oranges.

As the National Research Council’s Committee to Assess the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program explains:

Radioactivity generates radiation by emitting particles. Radioactive materials outside the the body are called external emitters, and radioactive materials located within the body are called internal emitters.

Internal emitters are much more dangerous than external emitters. Specifically, one is only exposed to radiation as long as he or she is near the external emitter.

For example, when you get an x-ray, an external emitter is turned on for an instant, and then switched back off.

But internal emitters steadily and continuously emit radiation for as long as the particle remains radioactive, or until the person dies – whichever occurs first. As such, they are much more dangerous.

We aren’t talking about “background” levels, anymore. We are talking about particles that float into air, water and food and can be ingested. This ain’t the sun or a brief XRay. This is stuff that gets in your body, then kills you. Once you consume this stuff, you are almost promised some sort of cancer.

And its not like you can see the stuff or have any idea that you are about to consume it. As TwelfthBough points out, this stuff is “minuscule“, “tiny” and “invisible“,  so we have absolutely NOTHING to worry about, right?

The problem with handling radiation is its invisibility. You really can’t tell you are being killed until it is years too late! You can’t run from it easily, hide from it unless you wear lead suits and you can’t smell it, either….Experts warned us that the #3 reactor was the most dangerous. The black smoking ruin here is what little is left of this reactor. This is the MOX one which was being refitted with plutonium. Wow. Isn’t this hideous? It looks like…Chernobyl! And it is. Totally Chernobyl. Each day, each reactor looks more and more ruined, more and more desolate. They look like a fast forward film of slow organic destruction over centuries only this is over days. With water being pumped in as fast as possible, they continue to devolve and collapse, the plutonium one, rather thoroughly and fastest of all. Just three days ago, it had this stream of steam coming out of just one small hole. Now, it is twisted wreckage. This was no ‘explosion’ but rather, the natural evolution of plutonium as it has a meltdown. …

Not exploding but simply pouring out that invisible force that acts so energetically on our genes.

BTW: those last few links show that this fallout is reaching Europe and Iceland and, of course, we are experiencing it here in America, as well.

Now how do we know that fission is occurring (meaning that the nuclear materials are interacting with each other in an uncontrolled way)? Besides the article above pointing out that the reactor #3 never had an explosion, but is simply melting down, you might want to read what the Japan Times tells us:

Radiation readings Saturday surpassed 1,000 millisieverts per hour on the surface of a puddle in the basement of the turbine building in reactor No. 2, according to data released Sunday by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

The 2.9 billion becquerels of iodine-134 per cu. cm in the puddle indicates a reaction is occurring because it is 10 million times what you would see at a normal nuclear reactor, the agency said.

“The level of radiation is greater than 1,000 millisieverts. It is certain that it comes from atomic fission,” NISA’s Hidehiko Nishiyama told a news conference in the morning. “But we are not sure how it came from the reactor.”

If you believe that this is over or a non-newsworthy item, keep in mind that these types of disasters are never over. Just read and view the videos at Activist Post to see how the Chernobyl disaster is hardly over, then compare the Japanese fiasco to that (as some Richard Noggins did early on and insisted that this was nothing like it).

And, NO, there is zero amount of radiation that is good for you like this harlot suggests. As a matter of fact, this is far worse than any MSM TV sycophantic mouthpiece is allowed to say on air. Stephen Lendman has done an excellent job finding unbiases sources and offers the following in his post entitled, “Japan’s Leaking Water Radiation 100,000 Times Above Normal” (please visit and read the entire piece, but for a primer, see this):

On March 27, New York Times writers Hiroko Tabuchi and Keith Bradsher headlined, “Higher Levels of Radiation Found at Japan Reactor Plant,” saying:

“Japan’s troubled effort to contain the nuclear contamination crisis at its stricken (plant) suffered a setback on Sunday when alarmingly high radiation levels were discovered….raising new questions about how and when recovery workers could resume their tasks,” besides whether anything, in fact, can work.

In fact, high radiation readings mean fission likely restarted, “present(ing) the alarming possibility of an out-of-control reactor.”

On March 28, Reuters headlined, “Japan finds plutonium at stricken nuclear plant,” saying:

On March 11, after the earthquake/tsunami struck, traces of plutonium 238, 239 and 240 were found “in soil at five locations at the complex….”

According to TEPCO vice president Sakae Muto:

“It’s not at the level that’s harmful to human health.”

He lied.

NISA reported samples ranging from 0.18 – 0.54 becquerels per kg. Agency official Hidehiko Nishiyama said:

“While it’s not the level harmful to human health, I am not optimistic. This means the containment mechanism is being breached so I think the situation is worrisome.”

In fact, it’s catastrophic and extremely hazardous to human health at any level, environmental scientist Dr. Ilya Sandra Perlingieri explaining in her article headlined, “Fukushima Catastrophe: Radiation Exposure, Lies and Cover-up, saying:”

“The half-life of many radioactive elements is thousands of years. There is no safe level of exposure! (Claiming otherwise is) media hype and corporate lies. The plutonium fuel used at Fukushima Unit 3 reactor uses MOX (mixed oxide), a plutonium-uranium fuel mixture. A single milligram of MOX is 2-million times more deadly than enriched uranium….Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years; and (for) Uranium-235 (it’s) 700-million years.”

Last week Hirose Takashi, a researcher at the Aomori Prefectural Industrial Research Institute and a man who has written extensively on nuclear power went on Japanese TV to point out the lies that are being told about the supposed safety of this radiation.

“They are saying stupid things like, why, we are exposed to radiation all the time in our daily life, we get radiation from outer space. But that’s one millisievert per year. A year has 365 days, a day has 24 hours; multiply 365 by 24, you get 8760. Multiply the 400 millisieverts by that, you get 3,500,000 the normal dose. You call that safe?”

Many are now expressing concern that the Japanese government’s moves to quietly raise legal radiation limits in a number of areas indicates a tacit acknowledgement that increased radiation exposure will continue to be a daily reality for residents of Japan for the foreseeable future.

On March 17th, the government raised the radiation exposure limits for emergency workers at the Fukushima plant from 100 millisieverts to 250 millisieverts.

h/t Corbettreport (James actually lives in Japan and has been following this quite closely, as you can imagine)

In Episode 179, James is also not afraid to examine the possible reasons for this happening, including looking into the Earth’s movements, the Sun’s influence, HAARP and other phenomena (there are several links provided above to help you investigate this for yourself):

Japan is just tallying up the damage from the devastating earthquake that struck off the northeast coast on March 11th, but it is clear that this was one of the most powerful earthquakes in modern Japanese history. Now, some are asking whether this was a natural earthquake or if it was precipitated by human activities. Join us this week as we go in search of a man-made fingerprint on the 3/11 earthquake.

I found the above examination into HAARP being the cause of this earthquake very informative. James points out the failures of his listeners to show how HAARP could be used to create earthquakes, but offered other interviews that suggest that the Def Dept may be using such a system to create weather phenomena, destruction of missiles, and other potential possibilities.

I am still not sure about any “tectonic warfare” or any military attack (or the feasibility of such), but I am open to learning more.

I am not convinced to whether or not HAARP caused this or other earthquakes of note (Chile, Haiti, China, New Zealand, etc). But if we have one sometime in the very near future in the New Madrid fault, after the government seems to be planning for such an event, then I may become a believer.

No matter what caused this situation, I hope that more people will understand the danger. As was recently added to a post here by Kaptinemo, this WILL cause problems:

With all the half-lives of the various elements (cesium, plutonium, etc.) being the sort that last anywhere from weeks to hundreds of years, and this stuff getting into the food chain in the open ocean, nations that are already highly dependent upon seafood for their daily protein staples are going to find this cataclysmic in more than just the immediate sense. Expect to see cancerous tumors on all manner of fish within a year or two, making them inedible. The ‘poop’ will wind up on the entire region’s dinner plates.

Essentially, with this catastrophe, Japan has placed the oceanic bread-basket at risk. The socio-economic (and therefore, political) ramifications for the entire Western North Pacific are dire, indeed. And given the ocean currents, we won’t be unaffected either.

If you like what you see here at The Revolt, please subscribe via Email subscription or by the RSS Feed button found on the upper right hand corner of this page and/or hit the Share Button at the bottom of the post to share via various means.

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Revolt or WordPress.com

Food Nazis

Did you know that food pricing is skyrocketing at a clip we have never experienced before in history (expecting a 20% hike next year):

Prices of wheat, maize and many other foods traded internationally have risen by up to 40% in just a few months. Sugar, butter and cassava prices are at 30-year highs, and meat and fish are both significantly more expensive than last year.

We are also being hit with this food safety “help” by our government officials like Chuck Schumer (who, from New York, has probably never even walked on the fresh dirt of a farm, much less ever raised any of his own food) and other multi-millionaire Senators whose food arrives via the silver spoon hanging from their lips. I suppose it is just the conspiracy nut in me, but when I read that our “trusting” government is trying to “help” me, I get the willies.

Besides being called “the most dangerous bill in the history of the United States of America”, the Senate Bill S 510 would outlaw gardening and saving seeds. Per NaturalNews:

It would grant the U.S. government new authority over the public’s right to grow, trade and transport any foods. This would give Big brother the power to regulate the tomato plants in your backyard. It would grant them the power to arrest and imprison people selling cucumbers at farmer’s markets. It would criminalize the transporting of organic produce if you don’t comply with the authoritarian rules of the federal government.

“It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one’s choice. It will be unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will of God.” – Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistleblower (http://shivchopra.com/?page_id=2)

This tyrannical law puts all food production (yes, even food produced in your own garden) under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security. Yep — the very same people running the TSA and its naked body scanner / passenger groping programs.

This law would also give the U.S. government the power to arrest any backyard food producer as a felon (a “smuggler”) for merely growing lettuce and selling it at a local farmer’s market.

It also sells out U.S. sovereignty over our own food supply by ceding to the authority of both the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Codex Alimentarius.

It would criminalize seed saving (http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/20…), turning backyard gardeners who save heirloom seeds into common criminals. This is obviously designed to give corporations like Monsanto a monopoly over seeds.

It would create an unreasonable paperwork burden that would put small food producers out of business, resulting in more power over the food supply shifting to large multinational corporations.

All you have to do is figure out who is supporting the bill and who is against the bill. Big Business likes it and small farmers hate it. It appears to be far more than any protection and is just more of a corporate takeover. But now, it is affecting MY food sources and they seemingly are trying to force me into eating the large corporate foods, force me into buying their GMO seeds, and making myself and my family more dependent oon them and sicker due to the bogus shit they put in the food. No one will ever be able to convince me that food from any other source than my garden is better for me, especially if it comes from some gigantic factory farm.

As said in the video below, this is fascism, plain and simple:

There is no better way to control a people than by controlling their food. This SHOULD be a wakeup call for each and every southern family I know. Especially the old timers that still plant their own gardens and supplement their food source by growing their own (and perhaps share or sell at a Farmer’s Market). Can you imagine the outrage of your grandfather if he were told he couldn’t grow food in his own garden?

Look, there is already Hunger in America:

Some 15 percent of US households, 17.4 million families or about 50 million people, were too poor to buy adequate food last year, according to a new report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). More than a third of these households, with as many as one million children, were missing meals on a regular basis, the study found.

The number of families classified as “food insecure” according to the USDA, which administers the food stamp program, has more than tripled since 2006, before the current economic slump which has brought near double-digit unemployment. Because most people are reluctant to admit they have a problem putting food on the table, particularly when they have children, “food insecurity” was calculated from survey questions about skipping meals or running out of food stamps, combined with comparisons of income and food prices.

Virtually the sole cause of food insecurity in America—the largest producer of agricultural and food products on the planet—is lack of money. The poverty rate has risen sharply over the past three years, with an estimated 50 million people living below the official poverty line, which grossly underestimates the income needed for basic necessities.

Highlighting the significant inequalities in food resource availability across US households, the USDA report noted that the typical food-secure household spent a whopping 33 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition.

Do the numbers mean anything to you? Let’s say there is 350MILLION people in America. 50MILLION are BELOW the poverty line (I am one of them). Is 1/7 of your Greatest Nation on Earth below the poverty line any indication that something is awry or do you STILL think that the 1/7 of us are simply lazy no-goods who want the government teat? Are you still so ignorant to believe such a lie given to you by a corrupt media? Do you still think that because your job is still somewhat secure that you will never be a dreg to society, like I am? You poor, ignorant lemming. I suppose you will get what you deserve someday. Sadly, when you realize that you were simply not a victim YET and you belittled your fellow Dregs of Society, we will likely embrace you into the poor, helpless fold of lemmings we are. We will want you to join our community and be a part of restructuring and fixing this mess when it falls apart.

Yes, even you, that dude who works for the big military provider that keeps you thinking that I am the problem and IF I were to just take a job making shit that kills so many innocents. Yes, even you who has that cushy job in insurance, where you are covered, but your job is to find some way (ANY way) to limit my coverage just so your Big Money Vampiric Middle Man can suck even more profits out of the system, making us poor Dregs of Society even more sickly and DEAD (I can see many of you smile at the thought that us Cadillac Queens are going to die and get off your tax dollar safety rung). Won’t you be so much better off when us poor, socially inept, bottom feeders are all dead and gone?

I have featured Max Igan’s work here several times. His basic message is that the best way to fight the fascism/corporatism is to build local community and STOP playing by their rules. Grow your own food and establish community farmer’s markets. But, I suspect that the players such as Monsanto know this and are trying to fight it at every moment they can muster. Path To Freedom is one such online community (and there need to be many more).

There appears to be one guy, a farmer, himself, that wants to do right. John Tester has an amendment to this atrocious bill, if he can get it past Big Agriculture. From Food Safety News:

Tester, a farmer himself, told reporters yesterday that he will fight tooth and nail for the provision, believing that small-scale local producers are not presenting large-scale food risks.

“What this amendment is simply there to do–it isn’t to give anybody a loophole they can drive a truck through, it’s to give them a loophole they can walk through with a wheelbarrow full of locally grown farm-processed food,” he said.

For Tester, the measure is as much about food safety as it is about the direction of American agriculture.

“If we were to pass this bill without this amendment you’re going to see more concentration in agriculture,” he told reporters.  ”You’re going to see less choices for the consumer and bigger industrialized agriculture in the country.  I don’t think that’s positive, I don’t think it creates jobs, I don’t think its good for the economy and I don’t think it’s good for our food system.”

No, it’s not good for our economy or food system. It IS good for Big Ag and their headlock on Americans.

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Revolt or WordPress.com

BS- Penn and Teller Are Agri-business Douche Bags

After my own experimentation, I proved to myself that organic is far better than any other food available. But not Penn and Teller, the BS corporate weenies. They had an episode that used Big Food hacks as their source and a couple of Hippie Freaks to cause the illusion that anyone who believes that natural, organic foods are better than the industrial grade farm shit is whacko. Here is a taste from the show during last season:

I was curious and watched that particular show (I have seen several episodes and found issues with most). The act is pretty good, but when they get into bullshit like this and show what stupid water carrying assholes they are, it needs to be pointed out.

Are these fools going to tell me that the food I produced in my garden with my hands and without chemicals is the same as the industrial farm shit> Really? How stupid can someone be to believe those fuckwads who likely never even touched the dirt working a garden?

dailybathos commented on the Youtube Channel:

Alex Avery, the “food policy analyst” in this episode works for a think-tank called the Hudson Institute. This institute is funded, in part, by Monsanto–the company that genetically modified 90% of the world’s soy beans, and also the company that sues local farmers for saving their own, natural soy seeds. As a result of this mad alchemy, Monsanto now has a patent for the soy bean (the only kind left).

It appears that P&T’s producers are more interested in carrying forward the agenda of Big Agribusiness, instead of looking for the Bullshit the show is named for. But the only bullshit is coming from the assholes who used their names and influence to insinuate to Americans that the real healthy food is a scam. That you are as well or better off using the Big Factory Farm, salmonella-tainted products over your own.

From the “Funding” section of the wikipedia link on the Hudson Institute, we see exactly why they would develop and produce this episode:

The Hudson Institute is supported by donations from companies and individuals. Corporate contributors listed in a publication from 2001 included Eli Lilly and Company, Monsanto Company, DuPont, Dow-Elanco, Sandoz, Ciba-Geigy, ConAgra, Cargill, and Procter & Gamble.^[8]

Fundraising efforts use testimonials from what the Institute calls its “family of generous supporters and friends”, among them, Henry Kissinger, who provides a testimonial: “Hudson Institute is today one of America’s foremost policy research centers, in the forefront of study and debate on important domestic and international policy issues, known and respected around the globe, a leader in innovative thinking and creative solutions to the challenges of the present and the future.”^[9]

Critics question the institute’s position on many issues, such as their negative campaigning against organic farming, since they receive large sums of money from conventional food companies. The New York Times commented on Dennis Avery’s attacks on organic farming: “The attack on organic food by a well-financed research organization suggests that, though organic food accounts for only 1 percent of food sales in the United States, the conventional food industry is worried.”^[6]

While many conservative think tanks eschew government funding, Hudson happily takes government contracts. The Capital Research Center (CRC) database lists Hudson as having received six grants between 1996 and 2002 totalling $731,914 (unadjusted for inflation). Five of the six grants were from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs. (Neither the CRC database or Hudson’s annual report for those years provide details on what the grants were specifically for).

In 2002 Hudson received a grant of $173,484 from the Department of Commerce.

The Hudson Institute’s IRS Form 990 for the financial year ending on September 30, 2003 showed total revenue of $9.34 million, including over $146,000 in government grants. Although several of the organizations listed below no longer exist, some of the funding sources listed in the institute’s 2002 annual report include:

• Ag Processing Inc
• American Crop Protection Association
• American Cyanamid
• Archer Daniels Midland
• Cargill
• Ciba-Geigy
• ConAgra Foods
• Conrad Black
• CropLife International
• DowElanco
• DuPont
• Eli Lilly and Company
• Exxon Mobil
• Fannie Mae
• General Electric Fund
• Heinz
• IBM
• Lilly Endowment
• McDonald’s
• Merck
• Microsoft
• Monsanto
• National Agricultural Chemical Association
• Nichols-Dezenhall Communications Management Group
• Novartis
• PayPal
• PhRMA
• PriceWaterhouseCoopers
• Procter & Gamble
• Sunkist Growers
• Syngenta Crop Protection
• United Agri Products
• Westfield Corporation

Now isn’t that a hefty agri-business list? Think that there may be some influence on P&T’?

But what about the truth of organic foods. Is it really better for me, as I have proved to myself?

Jonathon Benson at NaturalNews seems to think so and writes about the Public Library of Science (PLoS) One‘s peer reviewed study recently published that tells us the opposite of what the agri-business giants want you to believe:

John Reganold, professor of soil science at Washington State University Regents and author of the new study, and his colleagues conducted the most comprehensive analysis of its kind on commercial produce soil and the strawberries that grow in it. (Conventional strawberries, as many now know, are one of the most pesticide-laden fruits available for sale.)

Reganold and his team analyzed 31 different chemical and biological soil properties–including soil DNA–and performed tests on the quality, nutritional value and taste of 26 different strawberries from both conventional and organic fields. And what they found is truly astounding.

Organic strawberries contain far more antioxidants, vitamin C and beneficial polyphenolic compounds than conventional strawberries, and they have a longer shelf life. Organic strawberries also contain more dry matter per volume–meaning more actual strawberry–than conventional ones do.

In an unbiased taste test, samplers indicated that organic strawberries taste better overall, both in terms of sweetness and general strawberry flavor. And when viewed side-by-side, organic strawberries are more visually appealing.

But it does not stop there. In soil tests, organic soils tested extremely rich in key nutrients, enzymes and biological and chemical elements, that are otherwise lacking in conventional fields. Such soil nutrients are vital for producing nutritionally-rich fruit, as well as for maintaining healthy soil conditions that preserve and promote environmental integrity.

The study also revealed that organic produce can be raised with the same–or better–yields as conventional produce, but without all the harmful chemicals and pesticides that destroy both human health and the environment.

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Redstate Revolt or WordPress.com

The Sweetest Deal EVER made—

…. who made it and who was in on it????

Okay folks– just for the sheer sake of jumpstarting your nervous system today. Read this report. I promise you that in it you will discover one sentence that will make you pause your breath for a second– and then you will think “ How did I not already figure that was coming”. What a deal folks, what a deal!!!!!!!!!!!

European Stocks Climb for Sixth Day; BMW, BP Shares Advance
July 13, 2010, 12:14 PM EDT

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-13/european-stocks-climb-for-sixth-day-bmw-bp-shares-advance.html

July 13 (Bloomberg) — European stocks climbed for a sixth day to a three-week high as Alcoa Inc. began the U.S. earnings season with profit that beat estimates, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG raised its forecast and BP Plc gained.
BMW, the world’s biggest maker of luxury cars, jumped the most in 15 months after saying higher volumes in 2010 will boost profit. BP increased 2.9 percent after installing a new cap on its leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico and as Abu Dhabi said it’s considering making an investment in the company.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 1.9 percent to 255.99, erasing this year’s losses. The measure has risen 8.2 percent over the past six days amid easing concern about the economic recovery and speculation that the selloff in equities since April has overshot the outlook for company profits. The gauge remains 5.9 percent below this year’s high.
Earnings “forecasts look too low and we expect a strong majority of companies to beat their numbers,” said Graham Bishop, the London-based head of pan-European equity strategy at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. “We already know a great deal about the performance of the global economy through the second quarter. Consensus economic forecasts have actually been revised materially higher.”
Portugal’s PSI-20 Index was the second-weakest western European market today as Moody’s Investors Service cut the nation’s credit rating by two notches to A1 because of a growing debt burden and weak economic growth prospects. The gauge gained 0.1 percent, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC 40 surged 2 percent. Germany’s DAX rallied 1.9 percent.
Greek Bond Sale
Greece’s ASE Index surged 2.6 percent as the nation sold 1.63 billion euros ($2.1 billion) of 26-week Treasury bills at a rate below the 5 percent charged by the European Union for its bailout package, easing concern the country faces punitive costs to borrow.
BMW rallied 8.3 percent to 42.13 euros, leading a gauge of auto stocks to the biggest gain among 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600. The luxury-car maker forecast 2010 sales volumes will rise by about 10 percent to more than 1.4 million units, with a full-year profit margin of more than 5 percent expected for the automobiles segment. Rival Daimler AG advanced 5.4 percent to 43.81 euros.
Automakers Advance
Peugeot SA climbed 5.3 percent to 24.37 euros and Volkswagen AG preferred shares gained 5.2 percent to 77 euros. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its price estimate on the French carmaker by 3 percent to 34 euros and on the German automaker by 4 percent to 78 euros, saying increased demand and “attractive valuations” favor the industry, according to a report today.
BP advanced 2.9 percent to 410.35 pence, extending yesterday’s 9.4 percent jump. The oil company installed a new cap on its leaking Gulf of Mexico well and will start testing today whether this will stop the gusher while work continues on a permanent plug. Separately, the Financial Times reported that BP expects to be able to write off the oil-spill cleanup costs against taxes, without saying where it got its information.
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said the emirate is considering making an investment in BP.
‘Still Thinking’
“We are still thinking about it,” he said in an interview in Abu Dhabi today, when asked about potentially buying a stake in the London-based oil producer. “We are looking across the board. We have been partners with BP for years.”
Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum producer reported second- quarter profit that topped analysts’ projections as higher metal prices boosted sales. Earnings from continuing operations were 13 cents a share, exceeding the 11-cent average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Profits for S&P 500 companies are projected to have increased 34 percent in the second quarter and by the same amount in 2010, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Intel Corp., the biggest maker of semiconductors which reports quarterly earnings after the close of U.S. exchanges today, is among 23 companies in the index to announce results this week.
Burberry Group Plc surged 3.7 percent to 818.5 pence, the highest level since at least 2002. The U.K.’s largest luxury retailer posted a 27 percent gain in first-quarter sales, beating analysts’ estimates, led by growth in Asia and deliveries to wholesale customers.
Unilever, BAT
Unilever, the world’s second-largest maker of consumer products, gained 2.9 percent to 1,898 pence and British American Tobacco Plc advanced 2.6 percent to 2,277 pence as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. upgraded both companies to “buy” from “neutral.”
SEB AB surged 4.9 percent to 48.75 kronor after the second- largest bank in the Baltic countries returned to profit in the second quarter as loan losses in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania decreased.
DNO International ASA rallied 4.9 percent to 8.74 kroner, the highest close since April, after the Daily Telegraph reported that RAK Petroleum Pcl has made an offer to buy the remainder of the Norwegian oil producer. DNO Chief Executive Officer Helge Eide said he had “no comment and no information” on the report.
–Editors: Andrew Rummer, David Merritt.

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Redstate Revolt or WordPress.com

They are ALL wrong!

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/07/exclusive-new-audio-mel-gibson-admits-hitting-oksana-threatens-kill-her-listen-it

The above is the full 8 minutes

Ya know– I hate ‘sound-bites’ and I sure am wise enough to know when I end up listening to something in pieces, that I do not nor will I ever have the entire history regarding anything that I just heard. Now– I do know the following–

1] This woman was in control of the call and dialoge

2] I do not believe he knew it was being taped

3] She said what she wanted said on the tape

4] If we taped anyone of us during a domestic tyrate it would not be pretty

5] He sounds like every Biker [sorry bikers] I ever knew

6] IF domestic violence did happen, he is wrong– flat out wrong

7] I am not a shrink, so there can be no diagnosis from me while I sit in my armcahir

8] I have used almost every word he used at one time in my life

9] I actually don’t think this tape is any of our business

10] Obviously he is out of control about something way past what we are aware of… in their life together

11]… He should never ever hit nor threated to put her [or anyone] under.

12] Can anyone one of us look back honestly in our own lives and say that we or someone we knew had never ever gotten into a heated screaming match? Would you want it recorded for all to hear out of contents??

AGAIN== Mel is wrong with his rage and violence…  I am just speaking to the ‘taping’.

The media is having a hayday with this…  Mel needs help, counceling…. something. And she needs to just do what she has to do in court, get to court and settle whatever she wants to settle– but ya know, somewhere in the nasty oh-so-wrong shit is a bid for money– and tons of it. I am not saying Mel didn’t do terrible stuff, he most likely sure as hell did– but I am just not excusing her or the media on this one either. The Radar Online folks stated that she personally did not give them the tapes. I am sure she sure as hell had a hand in it– she needed public outrage, or so she thinks. Screw this mess… I want to hear the well is capped and the clean-up is going well, and the troops are coming home [which will add to millions of more unemployed Americans because WHERE ARE OUR TROOPS GONNA WORK?? So there ya have it– this story is not a news worthy story!!! Jobs, Troops, Wars, Unemploymeny, healthcare, enviornment are true stories!!!

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Redstate Revolt or WordPress.com

$16.00 Per Month…

I am lost and forgotten in this hell where countless Americans exist!! My Unemployment runs out very soon… and also while you read this, know that they only cleared me for $16.00 per month for Food Stamps! Now let me bitch about the new healthcare for Pre-Existing folks. What I feared the most about this bill came true! I knew they all talked about healthcare for everyone– no one turned away or denied. BUT what they never ever said was ’ affordable to the poor”. I contacted the state about the pre-existing Ins. Oh, I can get it– but the premium is 600 per month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Suck, things suck badly! WTF! People need jobs!!!!!!

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20100712/US.Jobless.Aid.Analysis/

WASHINGTON — Keeping unemployment benefits flowing for millions of workers whose jobs were eaten by the recession should have been a slam dunk in an election year.
But until this month, Senate Democrats have been unable to bring themselves to pass a simple bill that just does it. Instead they’ve demanded a series of unrelated and often controversial tax and spending add-ons that have enabled Republicans to mount successful filibusters.
Now that the legislation has been shorn of all the extras, the bill could win final passage soon. It can’t come soon enough for more than 2 million people whose checks have been cut off in a five-month impasse in which there’s plenty of blame to go around:
_ Democrats and their leaders made several decisions that in retrospect look like miscalculations, like pulling the rug out from under a bipartisan measure launched back in February and loading a subsequent bill with $24 billion for governors — guaranteeing that most Republicans would vote against it.
_ Republican moderates voted one way in March to help the bill pass but changed their minds just weeks later, having gotten religion from GOP leaders and tea partiers on the budget deficit.
Little remembered amid the ongoing partisanship and recrimination is that jobless benefits also got sideswiped by President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
To reduce the health care bill’s impact on the deficit, Democrats decided to close almost $30 billion in tax loopholes. Until the final health care push, those revenues had been designated to cover the cost of extending other popular family and business tax breaks as part of a broad bipartisan jobless benefits package.
Besides the jobless aid, the measure contained a payroll tax holiday for businesses, tax breaks for business, health insurance subsidies and help for doctors facing a cut in their Medicaid payments. It had support from across the political spectrum, from Obama to conservative Senate Republicans.
Some liberals, however, balked at the deal, which was cut principally by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and the committee’s senior Republican, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa. The liberals didn’t like that their “jobs agenda” seemed hijacked by business lobbyists, who won items like research and development tax credits and some arcane measures such as tax breaks for NASCAR tracks. With unemployment hovering just under 10 percent, they also thought it was too light on subsidies for preserving and creating jobs.
So Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blew up the agreement, instead advancing a pared-back jobs bill excusing businesses from having to pay the employer share of Social Security taxes this year on any new workers they hire. Economists were dubious it would produce many jobs. Meanwhile, unemployment aid would wait for later legislation.
“We could have had this bill passed in three days and … Reid decided to scuttle it,” Grassley complained. “Baucus read about it in the paper.”
The delays meant that Congress had to pass a short-term extension of jobless benefits at the end of February. Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., worked out a deal for a quick vote to avoid an interruption in benefits.
But another Kentucky Republican, Sen. Jim Bunning, single-handedly held up the bill for days, demanding that government spending elsewhere be cut to pay for the jobless benefits rather than add to the federal debt. Bunning folded on March 2. But his fight resonated with tea partiers and millions of other voters worried about year after year of trillion-dollar deficits.
In the meantime, Reid resurrected the longer-term jobless aid package. He mixed in familiar elements like extending expired tax breaks and added a $24 billion package of aid to cash-starved state governments so they could avoid layoffs of tens of thousands of public employees — a key part of last year’s economic stimulus bill.
The result was a bill adding almost $100 billion to the deficit. That meant that GOP support would be limited. But it still passed in March with support from several Republicans, including key moderate Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and George Voinovich of Ohio.
That was the bill’s high point. The political sands soon began to shift.
Another short-term unemployment insurance extension — needed to buy time for negotiations on the bigger bill — came at the end of March. It would be the last. Beginning in June, hundreds of thousands of workers unemployed for more than six months started losing the weekly checks.
More Republicans picked up on Bunning’s position and demanded cuts in other programs, including Obama’s $862 billion stimulus bill passed a year earlier, to pay for the extension.
It was a message the party felt increasingly comfortable with after losing the health care fight, especially as the European debt crisis roiled the markets and the U.S. government’s debt topped $13 trillion. Republicans stressed that with the unemployment rate still near double digits, jobless benefits averaging $300 a week should be extended — but that they should be paid for.
“You never know in politics when that magic moment comes when things really begin to change, but I believe that it has occurred now,” GOP Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona told reporters March 26. “I think you’ll see a much greater commitment now to fiscal responsibility.”
The short-term jobless aid extension passed, but it took until late May for their House and Senate negotiators to agree on a longer-term jobless aid package featuring new business tax increases but still racking up $115 billion in new government debt over the next decade.
This time, conservative House Democrats recoiled. House leaders were forced to sharply pare the measure back, eliminating new aid for state governments as well as a longer-term fix for doctors threatened with a 21 percent cut in Medicare payments.
The House passed the bill on May 28, returning the measure to the Senate, where debate consumed the Senate’s entire June schedule. Democrats still wanted to help governors with their payrolls but ultimately acceded to cutting it by one-third and paying for it partly with cuts from last year’s stimulus bill. Even that measure failed just before Congress recessed for the July 4 holiday.
Reid is now resigned to a stand-alone six-month extension of unemployment benefits at a cost of $33 billion. Aides say he will try to pass it when West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin names a successor to fill the seat of Democratic Sen. Robert C. Byrd, who died two weeks ago. Those who lost benefits will get them retroactively.
Democrats also maintain hopes of passing a $16 billion aid package for governors aimed at preserving the jobs of tens of thousands of state workers through the election. They intend to pay for it in part by cutting food stamp benefits.

All posts are opinions meant to foster comment, reporting, teaching & study under the “fair use doctrine” in Sec. 107 of U.S. Code Title 17. No statement of fact is made or should be implied. Ads appearing on this blog are solely the product of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BuehlahMan’s Redstate Revolt or WordPress.com

According to Uncle Sam’s Accountants…

                             http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/

These are the figures for U.S. Trade per Country….

Call me crazy– but first : I don’t believe ‘all’ the figures
and secondly I just keep thinking ‘ what exactly did we trade for that couldn’t of been produced here?”

And why the hell do we trade with our enemies???? To win their hearts and minds…?  How about winning your own citizens hearts and minds so they can get back to work, make a liveable wage, stay healthy… and pay into their own systems .

It’s Always July 4th!

video:        http://www.sermonspice.com/product/32960/i-fought-for-you

Remember— teach it— celebrate it.

Start with 1776…

General… oh General….

Nation building in Afghanistan is not our job— it is theirs.

By Eugene Robinson
Friday, June 25, 2010
Washington Post

The good news? Nobody has to pretend anymore that Gen. Stanley McChrystal knew how to fix Afghanistan within a year. The bad news? No
President Obama was absolutely right to sack the preening McChrystal, whose inner circle, as portrayed in Rolling Stone magazine, had all the seriousness and decorum of a frat house keg party. And it was a brilliant political move to turn to Petraeus, who is made of purest Teflon. Critics who might have been tempted to blast the president for changing horses in midstream can hardly object when he has given the reins to the man who averted a humiliating U.S. defeat in Iraq.
Note that I didn’t credit Petraeus with “winning” in Iraq. He didn’t. What he managed to do was redeem the situation to the point where the United States could begin bringing home its combat troops. If the Obama administration’s aims in Afghanistan are recalibrated to accommodate objective reality, then Petraeus can succeed there, too. But this means that the general’s assignment should be a narrow one: Lay the groundwork for a U.S. withdrawal to begin next summer, as Obama has pledged.
After relieving McChrystal of his command Wednesday, Obama called in his national security team and read the riot act. No more bickering, sniping, backbiting or name-calling, the president ordered. Play nice.
But all the comity in the world doesn’t resolve the essential tension between those who believe our goal in Afghanistan should be defined as “victory” and those who believe it should be defined as “finding the exit.” Two thousand years of history are on the side of the “exit” camp, and the fact is that at some point we’re going to leave. The question is how much time will pass — and how many more young Americans will be killed or wounded — before that inevitable day comes.

McChrystal, who designed the counterinsurgency strategy being attempted in Afghanistan, didn’t disguise his opposition to administration officials such as Vice President Biden, Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and special envoy Richard Holbrooke, who questioned whether the strategy could work. Petraeus is far too good a politician to fall into that trap. He won’t allow any daylight between himself and the civilian leadership.
But ultimately, there’s going to be no way to avoid the central question: What kind of Afghanistan will we leave behind?
One answer would be that we have to leave in place a durable, functional central government that has full legitimacy and control within the nation’s borders. This would provide the United States with a reliable ally in a dangerous region and also ensure that Afghanistan would never again be used as a launching pad for attacks by al-Qaeda. But to get the country to that point, given where it is now, could take a decade or more of sustained, concentrated attention. It would mean not just defeating the Taliban but molding the regime of Afghan President Hamid Karzai into a reasonably honest, effective government. This would be a tall order even if Karzai were a stable, consistent, loyal partner. Does anybody believe that he is?
A better answer would be that it’s enough to leave behind an Afghanistan that no longer poses a serious threat to the United States or its vital interests. Nation-building would be the Afghans’ problem, not ours.
Petraeus was successful in Iraq because he realized that he couldn’t create an Athenian democracy in Baghdad. But the highly imperfect Iraqi government is light-years beyond what the general is likely to be able to achieve in Kabul. Even after the war, Iraq was left with modern infrastructure, a highly educated and sophisticated population, and a sizable percentage of the world’s proven oil reserves. Afghanistan has none of these advantages. The political culture is stubbornly medieval; the populace is poor, uneducated and wary of foreign influences. Afghanistan does have great mineral wealth, apparently, but no mining industry to dig it out and no railroads to get it to the marketplace.
In recent testimony before Congress, Petraeus was less than definitive when asked about Obama’s July 2011 deadline. Because he has such credibility and standing in Washington, his view on when we can begin to leave Afghanistan will be more important than McChrystal’s ever was. I hope that by putting Petraeus in charge of the war, President Obama hasn’t consigned us to a longer stay. His comments Thursday seem to indicate the possibility.

Oh– and I can bet you that Petraeus told the President that he would accept this position with a few conditions– Like ‘Hey I am a Battle Field General.. And I want to WIN, [ like there is such a thing as win] not mandy-pandy around. I am going to make a few changes to your rules of combat– LIKE allow the men to shoot!!!!!” “ Oh and by the way, Rolling Stone Mag, set up McChrystal!”

What exactly are we doing??

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.

JP/LARRY DERFNER

Where In The World Is Universal Healthcare? Taiwan

The Natural News has become a regular daily read for me. The Health Ranger (Mike Adams) has been a long time proponent of Universal Healthcare, for many of the same reasons that I do. The first and foremost is that Medicine and healing should NOT be a “for-profit” endeavor that only really accomplishes one thing: a monopoly for Big Meds and Big Insurance.

In Mike’s latest article, “Read This, Seniors: Tawian’s Universal Health Care System Provides Full Coverage For $21 a Month – Why Can’t We?“, he delves into the system that Taiwan provides for extremely low to no cost. They, of course, take a wholly different approach to health in Taiwan and push for natural medicines (covering it, as well) and preventative care instead of the Big Pharma fix of more and more unproven medicines and treatments intent on keeping us sick and unhealthy.

Taiwan’s universal care system provides full coverage for slightly over $21 / month for an individual who is unemployed. A typical family of four where both parents work is paying roughly $75 / month which includes full coverage for both the parents and their two children.

A person who is self-employed pays roughly $45 / month. Someone who is employed at an average income level pays just $10 / month (the employer pays the rest). The out-of-pocket fee for a typical visit to the doctor is roughly five dollars.

Taiwan isn’t some third-world country. This is an advanced, first-world nation with state-of-the-art western medical care. They have high-end technology, world-class physicians trained in western medical schools (I mean, if you believe in western medicine as being useful), and some of the most modern hospitals in Asia. I was actually in a Taiwan hospital just a few months ago, and I got to witness a simple outpatient surgical procedure conducted quickly, efficiently and with amazing medical expertise.

Veterans are provided 100% free health insurance for life. Spouses of veterans get 70% of their insurance paid by the government. All farmers and fishermen only have to pay 30% of their insurance, too, because the other 70% is paid by the government. This means the average Taiwan farmer pays just a few dollars a month for health insurance.

Low-income individuals receive 100% free health care and pay nothing for full coverage. (http://www.nhi.gov.tw/english/webda…)

Amazing, huh? Are you wondering how they do it? Before we get into that, this is what Taiwan provides in their system:

What’s covered in Taiwan’s universal health care system

Taiwan’s universal health care system covers: (http://www.nhi.gov.tw/english/webda…)

• All doctor checkups and routine medical procedures

• All pharmaceuticals

• All dental care other than cosmetic

• All vision and eye care

• Emergency medicine, including ambulance costs (covers 80%, you pay 20%)

• Physical therapy and rehabilitation services

• All prenatal care and birthing care

• Traditional Chinese Medicine, including acupuncture, herbs and medical massage (Tui-Na)

• At-home care (covers 90%, you pay 10%)

• Long-term chronic care in the hospital (you pay 5% for the first 30 days, then increasingly more the longer you stay, with a maximum of roughly $875 out of pocket per stay, no matter how long)

• All mental health care, including psychiatric medicine

I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t look so bad, does it? But, surely us Big Fat White People are simply so different from those little yellow people that comparing such systems doesn’t work (like Ed insinuated about Panama’s Single Payer System)? Do I have to explain how ignorant such a statement is? I mean, aren’t we America, by God? Can’t we do anything we want to do?

Here is what is NOT covered by their system:

What’s NOT included in Taiwan’s universal health care system

Taiwan’s universal health care system doesn’t cover everything. Here’s some of what’s not included:

• Cosmetic surgery, including breast enlargement, facial surgery and purely cosmetic dental procedures. If cosmetic reconstruction is necessary due to an accident or injury, then it is covered.

• Vaccinations

• Sex change surgeries

• Infertility procedures or birth control surgeries

• Over-the-counter medications

• Blood (for transfusions) (You have to buy your own blood, or bring a relative who has some to spare)

• Experimental medicine

• Eye glasses and artificial eyes

• Wheel chairs, walking canes

• Hearing aids

• Substance abuse addiction recovery

Those are the big exclusions. Nearly everything else is covered, including dental, prenatal, emergency medicine and medications.

One could squabble that EVERYTHING should be covered, but I don’t agree. I think we should evaluate each and every other Universal System in place in the world; take the best of each and implement it here. By doing so, we could end up with the very best system in the world and could truly say, “We’re Number 1!”, again in reality and truth.

No matter what, the value-deducting Health Insurance Companies MUST go. There is no place for the middle man that offers nothing of value; in fact, they deduct value from each and every visit to your doctor and every interaction in your health.

If you disagree, please explain to me in comments precisely what it is of value that Big Insurance does to earn that 30%?

Until then, take a gander as to how Mike explains the biggest differences between the Taiwanese system and ours:

The differences between Taiwan’s health care philosophy and America’s philosophy is revealingly found in a web-based ad appearing at the Bureau of National Health Insurance for Taiwan (http://www.nhi.gov.tw/). It offers the following advice:

• Exercise
• Drink Water
• Eat a Healthy Diet
• Enjoy Nature
• Be Happy

In the U.S., a similar ad on a U.S. government website would instead say something like:

• Get vaccinated
• Get irradiated with a mammogram
• Take more medications
• Avoid sunlight
• Avoid nutritional supplements and healing herbs

Is it any wonder that the U.S. health care system is failing? The U.S. system pushes pharmaceuticals, surgery and truly bad health advice that just keeps people trapped in a cycle of disease. The Taiwan system, on the other hand, actually encourages people to adopt healthy lifestyle changes and prevent disease. Is it any wonder that Taiwan gets better results?