* Poppies irony?

Marines in Afghanistan are told NOT to touch the poppies. They are told NOT to alienate the Afghanistan farmers growing poppies for opium.... "After all, the farmers need to make a living...."


When the Taliban was in power, and with the help of American MONEY, they (the Taliban) had eradicated the growing of poppies. But since the start of the war in Afghanistan, cheap heroin again has FLOODED the illicit American drug market with NO end in sight.


The question now is: WHAT did those opium producing poppy farmers grow during the time period when the Taliban WAS in power? Since the previous Administration failed to do this, perhaps THIS Administration, along with it's war planning experts,  could take time away from pipeline building worries, and start to focus on the economical problems of the Afghanistan people?
As always, FOLLOW the MONEY...

* How do you say it?

People are asking me why I have Middle Eastern and other foreign news sources on my link list. I will now tell you my secret... YEARS before 9/11, and when the Internet was fairly new, I was lurking around on foreign news web pages and message boards. In those days one could submit a page written in a language not your own, to a web site... like "BabbleFish, and it would be translated. In those days, I was naive...I took for granted that U.S. "intelligence" were doing the same thing. If they had, 9/11 would NOT have been a SURPRISE..

* Got Patience?

                           Photo: The Nonconsumer Advocate



No..I've lost my PATIENCE! Why do we allow our government and media to continue, and continue, to play games.. play DANGEROUS games with our money, lives of our military, and lives of innocent people caught in the cross fires of war?


Before 9/11 the Bush Administration, along with Enron, had tried... unsuccessfully tried.. to deal with the Taliban concerning the pipeline from the Caspian Sea (Trans-Afghan pipeline). As we know, THAT didn't work out. 


Now THIS Administration and military leaders are playing games there too. Word is out that the commander in Afghanistan wants between 30,000 to 40,000 additional troops. If this Administration goes along with this, WILL it be described as a "surge"?...Similar to the  "surge" of additional troops sent to Iraq, which in reality was a "surge" of  TONS of MONEY given to the Sunnis...like a BRIBE? 


Additional troops will not change things at all in Afghanistan. We can KILL everything now living in that country and THEN finish the pipeline.. OR we can declare victory, leave and THEN try to make a deal with the existing government for the pipeline. In any case.. as always.... FOLLOW the MONEY.... 

* A bribe is a bribe is a bribe

                   Photo: Entertheoctopus.wordpress.com
"If a baseball player slides into home plate and, right before the umpire rules if he is safe or out, the player says to the umpire-"Here is $1,000." What would we call that? We would call that a bribe. If a lawyer was arguing a case before a judge and said, "Your honor before you decide on the guilt or innocence of my client, here is $1,000." What would we call that? We would call that a bribe. But if an industry lobbyist walks into the office of a key legislator and hands her or him a check for $1,000, we call that a campaign contribution. We should call it a bribe.
"-- Janice Fine, Dollars and Sense magazine, July / August 2000, p21


As always... FOLLOW the MONEY.

* Money amongst the evil

                               Children and their father in Amarapura, Myanmar
Ever notice how a country suddenly gets LOTS of media attention and then all of a sudden you hear NOTHING about that country? Remember how Laura Bush made a rare speech from the White House in Sept 2007 condemning Myanmar/Burma's junta for it's violent crackdown on protests led by Buddhist monks? 


The Myanmar/Burma's  military junta  has NOTORIOUS human rights abuses including forced labour, human trafficking, child labour, sexual violence, rapes and sex slaves... But when the media SUDDENLY stops  "demonizing" a country, like it did with Myanmar/Burma, it usually means that a powerful corporation has it's presence in that country and has pulled a couple of strings to keep things  QUIET. This is the case with Myanmar/Burma. Seems Chevron of the U.S., France's Total and Thailand's PTTEP have been making BIG profits in Myanmar/Burma and have been supporting the junta for YEARS.  Myanmar's military leaders have siphoned billions of dollars into offshore accounts. As always... FOLLOW the MONEY.....

* Sweating bullets!

Notice how Florida House of Representatives Alan Grayson makes Federal Reserve attorney Mr Alvarez sweat BULLETS. Need to keep our eye on Alan Grayson. He's going to make WAVES!

* G-20 protests

              Pittsburgh police in riot gear Photo by: Jacqueline Larma


After 9/11, when I finally woke up from a life of political slumber, I participated in not a few protests. Although after a few, I finally came to the conclusion that very FEW, it ANYONE is actually listening. It becomes very frustrating. But nevertheless I was lucky to be in a position to take time to look into the controversial issues of the day and to critique the decisions of elected leaders and those in "authority."


But unfortunately many people around the world have neither the mental or physical strength to protest anything at all....They are more concerned about where their next meal will come from.Will they EVER be able to drink clean water? Will their children go to a school? Will they ever get off the streets and live in a house with a roof over their heads?


HUGE numbers of people all around the world live in absolute poverty, while economic and political systems that RULE the world, protect just their OWN CORPORATE rights and profits.. and completely  disregard the needs of people who desperately need help. That in a nut shell is basically what the G-20 protests are all about.

* 12 yr old speaks at the U.N.

d
While we listen now to the many speeches by powerful world leaders at the U.N., we should be reminded of the 1992 eloquent speech to the U.N.  by then 12 yr old, Severn Suzuki. Did ANYONE actually listen to her and take her words to heart? What she said THEN was more important and profound than anything we hear TODAY, 17 years later.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1I6ljzaY9k&feature=player_embedded

* Muammar al-Gaddafi's speech

                           Picture from: Sudan Forum



Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi has a proven history of human rights abuses and terrorist activities. So I can understand the protests that greeted him in NY. His rambling speech at the UN was described as "radical" and "crazy"... But his words should NOT have been a surprise or shocking! He expressed what many in the Middle East have been thinking and saying all along.. for YEARS.

Americans should have listened carefully to the interesting and questionable issues he pointed out in his speech. He mentioned the U.S. has a history of violent in-fighting amongst ourselves. For example...the Civil War. Gaddafi said the world community should sit back and ALLOW the Iraqis to fight out their OWN "civil war." After-all, real "democracy" doesn't happen over night.

But like Gaddafi, many in the world community, have been questioning America's DEFINITION of "democracy." They say it seems Americans believe "democracy" can only be spread around the world through some sort of perceived "holy" and "noble" means...by our powerful military strength. They say that Americans act like we want to "free" people by freeing them of their lives. Unfortunately this thinking has created MORE terrorists.

There is nothing wrong with attempting to understand our perceived "enemies," in order to NOT be surprised by them..... the NEXT time.

* "Africa is a COUNTRY" Sarah..

                    Photo from: UrbanMyths.com

Seems "Africa is a COUNTRY" Barbie Doll Sarah Palin is making good use of the world atlas I sent her. She recently made her first speech outside North America...in Hong Kong! (Sarah - Hong Kong is a CITY in the COUNTRY of China). While there she criticized the current administration for spending too much money and intervening too much in the recent financial crisis. "Recent?" Perhaps she's been spending too much time under the rock with Sean Hannity? 


But kidding aside, I LIKE Sarah. She's a lovely woman with a perky personality. I would enjoy sharing a beer and a "girls night out" movie with her.... But - she lost me soon after she was nominated. Seems her son was soon to be deployed to Iraq when she was asked her views on the Iraq war. Her answer was sad. Even though she was a MOTHER with a son about ready to go to a WAR, she nevertheless remarked that "she had no time to look into it." WHAT? Here I was, an American "no-body" who had spent HOURS and HOURS in research libraries and Internet sources, looking into the issues involving Iraq.. and yet here was someone, the Republican Vice Presidential  nominee, who seemed to have absolutely NO interest? 


Perhaps if more people had questioned Bush's unproven "justifications" for a war in Iraq, we wouldn't have gone there in the first place! Questioning is PATRIOTIC. It's called loving your country MORE than a political party. It's called attempting to PROTECT our country from lies and liars... from ALL political parties, whether they be "righties" or "lefties" or anything in between.

* Dollar verus Euro

On Sean Hannity's syndicated radio show today, he mentioned that "since President Obama's Presidency, the world has moved AWAY from the U.S. dollar as the world currency!" Horrors! Where in the world has Mr Hannity been the past couple of years?.... under a rock? The U.S. dollar's dominance has been eroding SINCE 1999, by the EURO. 


Remember when Saddam Hussein switched his oil revenue money from the U.S. dollar to the euro in Nov 2000, and then all of a sudden he became an "enemy" of the U.S.? NO WORRIES! As soon as the U.S. invaded Iraq, the oil revenue money was switched BACK to the U.S. dollar. Syria switched it's oil revenue money from the dollar to the euro in 2006..then Syria was branded an "evil" country. Not long afterwards, IRAN not only switched it's oil revenue money from the dollar, it also opened it's very own oil bourse. Seems another OPEC member, Venezuela's Chavez, not only supports Iran's actions, but wants to gain independence from the U.S. dollar too. 


You can always point out your enemies, when THEY don't follow YOUR rules and support your "interests"! 
As always, follow the MONEY.....

* Victory?

Bill LaMay, on his sydicated radio show today, asked if President Obama was capable of defining "victory" in Afghanistan. My question to Mr LaMay is, "can YOU define "victory" there?" Can ANYONE define "victory" in Afghanistan?


Is "victory" STILL the Bush definition of "victory".... that of getting Osama bin Laden "dead or alive"? Or will "victory" in Afghanistan change with the wind, like it did in Iraq, with a constant flip flop, flip flop? By the way, how's the Trans-Afghan pipeline coming along?

* Klu Klutz Klowners

Photo: Marissa Y/Flickr

Rallies and protests always attract a couple of loonies...but where were these Klu Klutz Klowners when Bush was President? WHY weren't more people outraged at THAT Administration which showed such BLATANT disregard for TRUTH?

* Follow the money

"In the Councils of government, we must guard against the acquistion of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the diastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." --- President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1961)

What has ALWAYS been a guiding force behind American foreign policy? Even though this Administration has decided to kill the Eastern European missile shield, there are those (corporations) who will nevertheless benefit from this decision. As always, FOLLOW the MONEY.

Money Masters... Federal Reserve

U.S. House Resolution 1207 to audit the "privately owned" Federal Reserve will be voted on soon. Why would anyone oppose this bill? ALL Americans should take the time to see this video concerning the creation and power of the Federal Reserve.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-515319560256183936&hl=en#

* 9/11 Investigation

City of NY recently concedes 9/11 coalition has 30,000 valid signatures to put referendum for 9/11 investigation on November ballot. As someone who lived overseas before 9/11, I heard and saw how the overseas governments, particularly that of the UK, prepared their country (over and above the norm) for a terrorist attack in the months leading up to 9/11. Why wasn't something done to protect the U.S.? Why haven't those overseas governments made public as to what exactly they knew at that time period?

* Americans protest NOW?

It's wonderful that we live in a democracy where Americans have found their voice to protest rising government spending.. But where in the world were all those protesters when this country was about to engage in a war OBVIOUSLY built on lies and fake evidence? In terms of lives lost and money spent, WAR is serious! As of today, and still counting, this country has spent and borrowed at least $682,212,400,000 on the war in Iraq and $226,699,500,000 on the war in Afghanistan. How were the war supporters expecting to PAY for these wars?

http://costofwar.com/

* War on Terrorism?

Lately we've been hearing a lot of war-mongers question why this Adminstration does not refer to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as "war on terrorism." Isn't it obvious by now? Those wars were NEVER about defeating terrorism. Terrorism can NEVER be defeated by military means....A terrorist doesn't have a uniform. A terrorist can be a citizen of ANY country. A terrorist can travel into any country. There's nothing on a passport that says: "Check HERE if you're a terrorist."


The anger a terrorist feels.. is in the MIND. Do the war-mongers have a NUMBER of people they need to kill before they can say "terrorism is defeated"? How about killing a thousand.. maybe two thousand.. mayber ten thousand.. and then the job is done?

* AFRAID to question?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zna_MAe1Ycs

Here's Sunday's "Meet The Press" attack on the Internet and BLOGGERS! Seems we better we careful about bringing up questions and reporting issues the SANITIZED US media is AFRAID to discuss and report! We may get into big time TROUBLE...by those big powerful guys! 

* "Zionists" and "Jews"?

There's a difference between "Zionists" and "Jews." This is a video of government Zionist Israel police attacking a Satmar synagogue in Jerusalem April 26. It happened after a weekly, on-going outdoor demonstration by the Orthodox Jewish community against the State of Israel. Israel is our "ally" in the Middle East and the only "democracy" in the region?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU92lAsw3UU&feature=player_embedded

* Sanitised U.S. media...

This is exactly the type of news, issue that's not reported in our sanitised US media. You'll see in this YouTube Israeli soldiers firing tear gas on Palestinians protesting against the Israeli separation barrier which cuts through THEIR West Bank village. The soldiers also fired tear gas at Jacky Rowland.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34jPNN0qdF8&feature=player_embedded

* Nudies, 9/11, and torture?

                                 Photo by Joe Marquette, AP
Remember soon after 9/11, when then Attorney General, deeply religious, John Ashcroft approved the purchase of $8,600 blue drapes to cover up the half nude (horrors!) statues in the Great Hall of Dept of Justice? This "Christian" waraholic is back in the news. Seems he can now be sued for post 9/11 detentions, court rules. Just because a person holds a high position in the government does NOT mean that that person can walk all over the rights of others. John Ashcroft can now be criminally charged and sent to prison. What a total embarrassment to our country! Perhaps this will force a long OVERDUE investigation of 9/11 and the events and lies that led up to the Iraq war...

* Darth Cheney to the rescue!

                   Darth Cheney Photo from: Extroverted Wallflower



Since there's so much controversy over President Obama's speech to school kids this coming Tuesday, how about we just scrap THAT idea and invite "one eye Darth Cheney" to come out of his cave and talk to the kids instead? The kids could sit in rapt attention when he describes how he loves to kill Bami's mother (heck- talk about killing little Bami and his friends too). He could show how neat it is to almost kill a friend by shooting near the heart... Do it right the FIRST time! Learn to AIM! Show the kids how FUN water boarding is... Hey - it's something they could do at their next birthday party! He could show pics of at one-time cute, little kids he helped KILL by his million dollar "smart bombs." 


"One eye Darth Cheney" can explain how LIES are GOOD. LIES can be used to start illegal, unjustified wars! Heck - what's so bad about a few LIES? Even those who perceive themselves as "holy and noble" lie too, right?

* Paranoids on the loose!

Do people realize how paranoid they sound? Just this afternoon on a national syndicated talk radio I heard a lady call in and say she was an AVID 23 yr fan of "All my Children." BUT - lately, she has been hearing the word... "C..H..A..N..G..E" in the script! Heard it TOO MANY times! She thinks this soap opera is now POLITICAL..Heaven forbid! It's a... excuse me.. I realize this is a frightening word....."SOCIALIST" show!! She called the TV network and told them in NO uncertain terms.. She will NOT look at that show again!

* Iraqi unborn babies

                               Ali Ismaeil Abbas



Ali Ismaeil Abbas was 12 yrs old when an American million dollar "smart bomb" fell onto his house in Badgdad, killing 16 members of his family. Both Ali's arms were blown off. Most of his body was burnt. His father was killed. His pregnant mother was killed. The BABY in her womb was killed. Some "Christian" waraholics like "pastor" Steven Anderson"say" they're against abortion? Why would he think unborn American babies are MORE precious in God's eyes than Iraqi unborn babies?

* "Holy" and "noble" pastor?

When I questioned the previous Administration, people like "pastor" Steven Anderson called me "unpatriotic," "evil," and "against God's plans." But recently, this "man of God" preached a sermon and remarked :" I hope that God strikes Obama with brain cancer....I'm going to pray that he dies and goes to hell." "Pastor" Steven Anderson thinks HIS remarks are "holy and noble"? It's OK for HIM to spread HATRED? THAT'S "Godly" talk? Too many people listen to these "wolves in sleeps clothing" and BELIEVE every word they say! I'm tired of the BS I've been hearing for YEARS from politicians, so called religious leaders and the sanitised US media....

* I confess.. I'm a news junkie.

                                         Photo from: Memphis Flyer

I confess. I'm a news JUNKIE!.. But I watch and hear in horror how our so-called news reporters act like motivational speakers and like televangelists with a damnation message. Instead of reporting the NEWS, they SPREAD mistrust, fear and manipulation. They're obviously champions for vested corporate interests. I can do my OWN ranting and raving..AFTER trying to find the TRUTH, or CLOSE to the truth, after sorting through all the BS we hear and read in our SANITIZED US mass media! No wonder this country is in a mess....News alert: This mess didn't just start on Jan 21, 2009!

* Mansur was killed...

Today is dedicated to my friend's husband, Mansur Kikhia, who protested against Gaddafi's human rights abuses. Mansur was the leader of the opposition party against Gaddafi and had been at one time the foreign affairs minister to the UN. He was a respected spokesman for the middle east and was at a peace conference in Cairo when kiddnapped... later killed by Gaddafi. Today's release of the Libyan Lockerbie bomber has bought memories of this opened minded, fair, intelligent man who tried so hard to warn the world of terrorism and human rights abuses of not only Gaddafi, but other world "leaders."

* Pipeline protection?

Anyone out there wondering why some politicians (McCain, for one) are recently calling for MORE troops in HELMAND province in Afghanistan? Take a look at the Trans-Afghan pipeline route along Herat-Kandahar Highway... right into HELMAND province. Gotta keep that pipeline safe and sound! There's big money to be made.....

* Self-discovery of a gadfly!

Cartoon from: Diogenes'six blog