News Notes

After smothering efforts by war critics in Congress to drastically cut U.S. troop levels in Iraq, President Bush plans to ask lawmakers next week to approve another massive spending measure -- totaling nearly $200 billion -- to fund the war through next year, Pentagon officials said.
If Bush's spending request is approved, 2008 will be the most expensive year of the Iraq war.U.S. war costs have continued to grow because of the additional combat forces sent to Iraq this year and because of efforts to quickly ramp up production of new technology, such as mine-resistant trucks designed to protect troops from roadside bombs. The new trucks can cost three to six times as much as an armored Humvee.

Ok, Better protecting our troops is a good use of money. But this pointless occupation is not! THAT is the crux of the issue. 200 billion would provide a lot of health care. It would replace lots of limbs lost in a pointless occupation. I would build many roads and bridges. Or if you insist, would provide all Americans with a decent tax break. All far better uses that would be of far more benefit to Americans than the pointless occupation.

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether employees of the private security firm Blackwater USA illegally smuggled into Iraq weapons that may have been sold on the black market and ended up in the hands of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, officials said Friday.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh, N.C., is handling the investigation with help from Pentagon and State Department auditors, who have concluded there is enough evidence to file charges, the officials told The Associated Press. Blackwater is based in Moyock, N.C.

Of course the Iraqi government has insisted they leave and of course they haven't. This puts the lie to the idea that the Iraqis control their own country. Think maybe that may be among the things that are pissing them off and making them want to kill their “liberators”.
I would suggest reading up on Blackwater. These are the only people that have taken peoples guns away-or at least attempted to do so(New Orleans). This organization is another bunch of crooks that we are paying about 100 thousand per to rob us and ruin our name and our country. I guess better to have Blackwater fighting over there than to have to fight them over here, huh?

The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.
The personal travel records are meant to be stored for as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security's effort to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country. Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department's Automated Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists from innocent people entering the country.

Yes, I know it is all to keep us “safe”. What an unconscionable person who becomes(or is) president could do with this information is what is truly terrifying. Combine this with the Blackwater story above and maybe you will have a hint as to why I am so suspicious of what they are doing in their phony “war on terror”. Yes there are some bad people who would like to get us. How organized they are is in doubt to me. The fact remains that we face these “terrors” everyday and always have. Since settlers and indians lived on the plains and each feared for their lives to the nuclear threat of missiles pointed toward our cities during the cold war. The threat we face now is no more and probably far less great than any of that. Right here in the U.S. We have thieves and murderers and often they are organized into groups. We have always had these people. We, in the past, have delt with it without ruining the great democracy that we were once all so proud of. What they are doing now is, to put it mildly, shameful. The jhaidists will NOT take over America. Not with weapons anyway. How in the hell are they going to do it!? We have the most powerful military and best trained law enforcement in the world. Yes deaths from evil doing may occur. Again, it happens everyday. We fight them not by taking away Americas liberty. Dammit, that is why they do it in the first place. Anyone that gives into the tactics our government is using now is just aiding them in their goal. Quit being panty wastes and stand up for your liberty and freedom from government intrusion into even the most mundane aspects of your life!

In a complex set of transactions, Dubai is moving to acquire 19.9 percent of the Nasdaq in New York, placing the Arab government in an ownership position of the key U.S. stock exchange.

Welcome to one world government and the one way the Arabs can take over America. It's not the UN it's money and corporations stupid. Get off oil completely. Don't give them our money! We need national unity on this. A national effort combining citizens, private business and government to find alternatives. Other countries have done it. As a result we can too. When will America stand up and start fighting this the RIGHT way!?

Random Thoughts

I've been on vacation and then once back, catching up from being on vacation!
It was really bizarre that I traveled through good portions of 6 states in short order(about a 24 hr day) and at 90% of the gas stations, no matter what the state, gas was the same price. It was 2.89 everywhere. These are states with differing taxes on fuel and certainly different distributors all pricing like it was all the same. Maybe it is. Coming home it was somewhat more varied but still about 70% the same.
I went to the labor day rally in Des Moines. It was interesting because these Democrats had a U.S. Flag displayed prominently. They started their meeting with the national anthem and some even put their hands over their hearts. Such strange behavior from people that many are calling traitors or America haters.
Speaking of that. I noticed that there were counter protesters at the DC demonstration this weekend. Again they proved that their war is primarily with the 'American liberal'. Everything else is just a ruse to get back to that. One sign the prominently displayed included (I don't remember the exact wording) the word traitors or treason in large bold print.
How dare they continue to spew such horseshit! Now if we were violating the Constitution like Bushco then I could understand it. Their premise is our position aids the enemy. Unfortunately for them the policy that they have and continue to support is without a doubt adding to the numbers of terrorists and terrorist acts at an amazing rate. These people are not interested in looking at the facts though. If the 'American liberal' likes it, they MUST hate it. These people are undoubtedly the ones dividing America. They call us traitors. That is a serious charge with serious penalties. It is more evidence to prove that it's not paranoia to say that these people are out to get us. What do they expect us to do, lay down and take it??? Sorry guys, our open minded ways end when we are directly threatened like that. Call me a socialist if you must, call me a communist if you get your jollys that way, call me most anything and we can debate it. Call me a traitor and an aider of the enemy and it is time to fight back..hard. There is no way I am going to let that meme enter the American conscious without a serious fight. Screw those boneheads. I am ready to be divided. Either those guys are seen by Americans as the morons they are or I am ready to leave. No, I don't love the country they are turning it into. They can have it because it will be worthless with them in control anyway. Just give me a visa and a job and I will gladly leave. I refuse to tolerate their assholiness. I could care less about anything they have to say anymore. They have been almost universally wrong on everything and continue to spew the same crap anyway. There is nothing new, just complete and total hate for their fellow citizens who refuse to play their game. I gave them years to make their point and have come to the conclusion that they have none except to oppose liberals. They have no core. The only goal is to smear, intimitate, bully and guilt trip anyone who doesn't agree with them. Bite Me! I am not intimidated nor do I feel any guilt whatsoever about my position on the issues. As a matter of fact I am quite proud of my positions. They are based on logical thought and not emotional appeals to guilt and fear. That makes me smarter than they are by quite a distance. They are freekin robotic rush bin limbaugh tape recorders just repeating what someone else tells them without any independent investigation that would go outside of their own comfort level of neocon smear.
General Betrayus? Not a good way to approach it. They could have made their point in a number of ways that would not have been this offensive. For the radical right to jump with phony rage at this though is laughable. These are the same people that have smeared the military service of anyone they ran against who had served. As a matter of fact they spent the entire last presidental election diminishing war medals and their signifigance. They even wore purple bandaids at their convention. Oh but watch them..”this is different”. No it's not. Bite Me. The radical right is the scum that makes the United States smell to the entire world.