Obama as Tough Guy - Lack of Nerve Makes Carter II

I don't have faith that the President can stand up to the war chiefs, but he needs to grow a pair fast, because every choice he has, except a smart and orderly withdrawl, results in political failure. If he escalates he can kick the can, but surely not past his second term - probable failure for which he will be blamed. If he treads water, and we continue to lose 10-12 guys at a time, he probably won't survive his first term, especially if there are reverses so bad that we won't be able to declare a (phoney, but I'll take it) victory.

He needs to go on offense. He's boxed in politically, and I don't believe he can buck his masters, but the military solution isn't that thorny. Declare victory, stand down and make it clear that the ground pounders are not expendable game pieces. Make sure that all blame, especially for any domestic economic chaos, is redirected to the previous regime that also managed to practically destroy the active military and reserves. If he can, he should get Schwartzkopf (who was a tool, but at least he looked out for his troops) back as SecDef.

Of course, he will dither and speak good things instead, so my only real hope is that the grunts concentrate on keeping each other alive and the spirit of healthy insubordination works it's way up the chain-of-command, until President Paul can straighten it back out.

There's a Reason There's No X Street in DC

Philip Giraldi, one of best and most honest minds of our era, has a good idea, A Manifesto for X Street. A lobby for the interests of American-Americans, what a concept.

"What this country needs is a new direction, possibly driven by a new foreign policy lobby that recognizes that while all nations have an inalienable right to be treated fairly by the United States, Washington has a clear and compelling responsibility to avoid involvement in other countries’ quarrels so it can put its own people and interests first. "

I'm totally there:

"Membership in X Street will be open to all American citizens of every race, national origin, and religious belief. It will be guided by a unifying principle, that preservation of the liberties defined in the constitution and support of the national interest of the United States should be the sole objectives of any and all foreign policy. It would be the modern embodiment of George Washington’s warning to steer clear of foreign involvements and to be a friend to all."

The Constitution, Congressional declarations of war, staged withdrawal from Iraq and Afganistan, all good stuff, but then he twitches,

"X Street understands that the United States has no abiding national interest in staying in either Afghanistan or Iraq, but it recognizes that Washington has done a great deal of damage to both countries and their people. The US will arrange for a staged withdrawal from both nations after first convoking a conference of all countries in both regions to discuss mutual security issues in a bid to create a workable and sustainable regional security environment that will benefit everyone. The current bilateral security agreements dictated by Washington will be replaced by multilateral arrangements in which neighboring countries work together to combat international terrorism, drug trafficking, and human rights abuses. The United States will support such efforts but will commit itself to strict non-intervention in both the Middle East and Central Asia." (my bold)

My first question; does multilateral include the US, and how will we "support such efforts" beyond well-wishing?

"X Street believes that there is no security justification for maintaining hundreds of US military bases worldwide at an annual cost of hundreds of billions dollars. Many countries in Asia and Europe have become wealthy due to the US security umbrella that has been in place since 1945. They should now take over responsibility for their own security with the United States reverting to the role of good friend and trading partner. NATO no longer has any raison d’etre and is needlessly provoking the Russians through its expansion. X Street calls on the United States to dissolve the alliance."

No complaints, here, but then the horizon darkens again,

"The United States will advise Israel that its settlement policy is in violation of numerous UN resolutions and that it opposes on principle the continuing denial of any rights to West Bank and Gazan Palestinians. Washington will no longer use its veto power to protect Israeli interests in the UN and other international bodies. As Israel is now the twenty-ninth wealthiest nation in the world per capita, all US economic and military assistance will cease immediately. The United States will publicly declare its knowledge that Israel has a nuclear arsenal and will ask the Israeli government to join the NPT regime and subject its program to IAEA inspection. The purpose is not to punish Israel but to make it like every other country vis-à-vis the United States – a friend and a trading partner, but there will be no free ride and no presumption of a "special relationship." There will be no special relationships with anyone."

I'm troubled by the implication that we would inform Israel of UN resolutions and urge them to join the NPT. If x street doesn't call for the US (and any other country that cares to) abrogate and anull all international treaties and withdraw from the entire Fabian structure, I can't see the point of the exercise. One of the only things I admire about Israel is it's defiance of the UN (while, like us, also gaming the UN whenever that might serve it's own interests). The lobby is far less dangerous to Americans than the cathedral (the military-industrial-educational-financial-congressional complex. See Moldbug, et al.) In foreign affairs, Israel should be a model of real Realism for us, shorn of the bristling paranoia and hysteria, of course other than that minor quibble, Sign me up!

The Efficiency of Evil, Pt.1

Sorry for the long gap between posts. That was a long period of very nice weather, I got a lot of small things done, while I stewed and sulked about what a crappy world full of fuckees and fuckahs it is, but, stoically kept my bitter opinions to myself, except to the extent necessary to irritate my loved ones. Sorry about that also, so rather than resuming my kvetching, I'm going to try for a more questioning approach. Rather than simply state my belief that Evil has a permanent advantage because good people cannot do evil, but evil people can do good when it suits them, therefore Evil can never be defeated on this side of the Apocalyptic divide. An even grimmer prospect for those who may doubt this divide exists, is that Evil can never be defeated without total collateral damage, because "they" are so intertwined with "us". For all practical purposes, they is us. (h/t - Pogo). I have to put aside the whole revealed religion thing here, because I'm unqualified to comment, and have to go with the Natural Law test whether one knows in his heart if a thing is wrong. What a child or a dimwit or an average person without Sophistic training would see as wrong. Overly simple, I know, but I call Occam in defense.

My question is, why is Evil so devilishly smart and aggressive? Couldn't it survive and thrive all laid-back and hippy or partying like it was 1975. If it only wants our souls, why does it have to kill everyone in the village and all their livestock as well? All it really needed for souls was a liquor store and a lottery, besides it would lose a lot of young and innocent souls by harvesting prematurely, so to speak. It just don't make no sense.

Next:
Gravity's Rainbow V-2 guidance system
V-1 guidance system complexity Wiki
war as technology spur
Analogue computers wiki
use for astronomy in the ancient world
use as weapons in modern world
complexity and sheer numbers of terror weapons, opportunity costs for reich
tech boost to british to defend, intellectual horsepower applied to breaking codes

tie to dearth of military tech at GW seas

They Were "Too Graphic" Then, but Now They're So Last Year

I remember when the second batch of Torture Fotos were first rumored to exist (about '04?); that they were too graphic and inflammatory to release to the public. We may speculate that they were not released because they weren't already on the net. So "more than 400 individuals were disciplined" (mostly enlisted men and sergeants, I'm sure), but I'd further bet that none of those disciplined were CIA agents known to have been present.

Why did those knuckleheads photograph themselves, unless they had been totally assured that their conduct was approved by the wraiths, and why do the spinners suppose the public is just as stupid and gullible as the hillbilly guards, just because we are. "It's the same all 'round the world, big man gets the meat, po' man gets the bone"

On "Traced" Mexican Guns

I posted this comment on AR article, "The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come from US"

Those weapons “traced back” to the U.S., to whom, pray tell. They’re obviously not coming from Bubba’s Gun Shack or any other retail outlet or Homeland Security, the DEA, BATF, FBI, The State Dept., State and local police, HCI and the media would all be there the next day. Someone (sorry I don’t remember the site) speculated recently that many were from weapons supplied to the Mexicans by the USG, as military aid, diverted or stolen. Who knows ain’t saying, but I would be very surprised if any legitimate, federally licensed dealer is ever even indirectly linked to any of these weapons, and it would be child’s play to determine who the manufacturer and wholesaler sent them to.

Now I’m really curious how far back they traced; if their systems are so disconnected or incompatible they can’t even keep track of the info that they already have (which I don’t believe to be the case) or they don’t want to release the info for “reasons of national security”, that is, something that would embarrass or incriminate themselves.
I would like to know the results of the trace. Who were the last Americans to own these guns. “Remington shipped serial # xxxx to U.S. Dept. yyyy on zzz date”. Show me the money, I mean, bill of lading. Put up or shutup, already, Hoover and Co.

Then I read in an unrelated article about the pre-existing (to this issue) law that makes it illegal to divulge the trace information EXCEPT for Law Enforcement or National Security purposes, so they get to release the data or not as whatever fits their purposes.

From the NRA
"For more than five years, cities suing the gun industry and anti-gun organizations have sought access to confidential law enforcement data on firearms traces. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) compiles these records when it traces firearms in response to requests from law enforcement agencies.

Every year since 2003, the U.S. Congress has passed increasingly strong language to keep this information confidential. The legislation—a series of "riders" to the appropriations bill that funds BATFE—is widely known as the "Tiahrt Amendment," after its sponsor, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.)."

Now, putting my tinfoil hat on backwards, I assert that the prohibition on release of data is a good thing unless it is used by the government to avoid proving their allegations, especially if the Tiahart amendment was designed to protect "officers, informants, and other witnesses", and further, that "every year since 2003" this has been the main purpose of the amendment rather than the protection of innocent gun manufacturers and merchants. Holder & Co are merely playing the cards they have been given, in pursuit of their own goals, but it might be more trouble to pursue this strategy if someone forces the release of the data. Otherwise their assertions are no more valuable than mine.

Farewell to Alms

http://www.goldmansachs666.com/

I saw this site featured on two very different sites, (exiledonline and counterpunch,), and thought it might be of some interest. They are looking for volunteers and running a "webinar" (stupid, dorky term, imo) Wednesday - April 15th at 6PM Eastern. I'm going to check it out, although I'm more interested in bringing down the public-sector criminal enablers than the gang-bankers themselves, what with the revolving door, the distinction is not that clear.

Eliot Spitzer, please call your office. All is forgiven and revenge is best served cold, no?

[UPDATE - I went to Spitzer's wiki page just to get his photo, but noticed this. In a nutshell, why he had to go.]

"He most notably pursued cases against companies involved in computer chip price fixing, investment bank stock price inflation, predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders, fraud at American International Group, and the 2003 mutual fund scandal. He also sued Richard Grasso, the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, claiming he had failed to fully inform the board of directors of his deferred compensation package, which exceeded $140 million."

Lucky thing for him they got him for boinking a prostitute; beats sleeping with the fishes! Also from the wiki;

"Later in the month, The Washington Post published a Spitzer opinion piece conveying his analysis of the financial crisis of 2008 and suggested remedies. Spitzer concluded the piece by saying that he hoped the Obama Administration would make the right policy choices, 'although mistakes I made in my private life now prevent me from participating in these issues as I have in the past.'"

Come back and fight, Eliot, nobody wants to live forever.

Better Days are Coming

I, Ectomorph is losing faith in Blogging, and he even has readers. Although he writes mostly about Canadian politics, which might not be as exciting as it seems.

To make the urgency of the situation clear: if the federal government isn't forthcoming with an industry-wide "new topics" blogospheric bailout pretty soon, I, Ectomorph may be just one in a catastrophic explosion of blog failures that will threaten the very existence of ill-informed half-witted punditry as we have known it.

Have a bit more patience. I've been reading a lot of comments by the Hopeful (mostly on the Huffpost video of various stars "pledging" to Obama [if you've missed it, check it out; jawdropping - literally defies Parody.]) It's like a Galactic cruiser full of thousands of naive My Little Ponies and Bratz dolls just starting to cross the event horizon of reality's black hole, holding hands and singing the theme song from Exodus with Pete Seeger on banjo. So much stupidity it would make Mencken have to call his doctor with an over-four-hour boner and give any half-witted blogger enough material to seem like the bastard son of Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf.

Do you like spanking, and who doesn't? It's going to be like the Superbowl and World Series combined of naked, gleaming Victoria's Secret-class dumbasses and that's just the Washington D.C. tent, not to mention Hollywood, Wall Street, London and Tel Aviv! Hang in for just a little longer. the world that Groucho told us about is coming into sight, right around the old sigmoid bend!