"Oh My God, Not The Secret Service, Damn It"

Uh, where were you when there was outrage over the Bush era criminal activities?

President Barack Obama, speaking for the first time about allegations that Secret Service agents hired prostitutes, said Sunday that "of course I'll be angry" if those accusations are proven true by an investigation.

Obama said the agents represent the United States and are supposed to conduct themselves with the highest levels of dignity anywhere in the world. "Obviously, what's been reported doesn't match up to those standards," Obama said in a news conference wrapping his appearance at a Latin America summit.

Ah, the faux outrage!

American Current Wars Account For Majority Of World's Refugee Crisis

From Think Progress:

America’s wars are forcing Afghans and Iraqis to flee their homes in greater numbers. According to a recent U.N. High Commission for Refugees study, nearly one half of the world’s refugees are from Afghanistan and Iraq, 3.05 million and 1.68 million, respectively. But neither the United States nor much of the developed world bears the burden of the 10.55 million refugees under the UNHCR’s purview globally. Instead, Pakistan, Iran, and Syria serve as the top host countries. The Economist has charted the numbers:

And why, I ask again, are we not putting war spending cuts into the picture on this debt ceiling craziness going on in Congress?

I seriously hate the fact that our so called elected leaders in the past 12 years have completely isolated America from the rest of the world, and have their fingers in their collective ears. We have children running our country, for God's sake. These people feel the world is still flat, and that they can just keep running in one direction and will never fall off that deep end. Me, (as well as millions of other Americans), I see that deep end, and our current government is on the precipice. God help us all.

"Please, sir, I want some more."

Well, it's that time again, where the Republicans in Congress are informing everyone else that unless entitlement programs are cut, they will not raise the debt ceiling, which is, of course, a must.

One really has to wonder after all these years of unpaid for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, why any American at all would say yes to cutting their own Social Security benefits, or Medicare. If this was a lesson for elementary school children, cutting defense spending would be the first and only choice. Millions and millions of people will be affected by the Republican plans. Turning America into a third world country, with despots running every state, and an oligarch in the White House, is not how I thought I'd spend my retirement years. Hell, what retirement, eh? According to the Republicans, just work longer. Easy for them to say (and many Democrats too) as they only receive government benefits on top of their million dollar fortunes that got them into Congress in the first place. Don't take their government health care away from them, just take it away from the rest of America. Let's not fund the infrastructure of America, let's give this money away to defense contractors blowing shit loads of cash in Iraq and Afghanistan for their infrastructure, which by the way, is still looking like shit despite the years and billions that have been handed over to foreign countries. Let's continue to support financially countries like Saudi Arabia and Libya, but let's not feed our own citizens. Let them die in the streets of hunger, or freeze to death in the winter because they simply do not have enough money to pay to heat their homes. How many deaths have we had so far that fit that particular scenario, eh? (And, no, I'm not Canadian, but it just seems a fit word - eh?).

People, wake up. The Horatio Alger myth is no longer an option for our young kids. There is no ability to pull yourself up from the proverbial bootstraps and make yourself wealthy. The only options are to be worker bees or be the queen bee. And since there are only a limited number of queen bees but tons and tons of worker bees, you can pretty much count yourself out of the running of queen bee. Most of Americans will never be anything more than a worker bee. And then you die, thanks to Republican (and blue dog Democratic) policies.

What I really truly do not understand is why the wealthy in America (those very, very, very few), and especially the wealthy politicians, feel the need to not share the wealth? Especially considering the Christian motif that generally surrounds those that espouse the "I am rich and you are not" policies keeping the poor in their place. It is the opposite of Christ's teachings to hoard wealth. That's common knowledge -- among everyone, even those who aren't Christian! But in God's name, and American patriotism, the rich politicians bury this country under needless debt so they can continue to hoard the money built off the backs of the rest of America. Compassion is a dirty word in politics -- when did that happen?

It's heartbreaking to see this country go down the tubes as a whole. I can't say I never imagined this happening, though. I realized back in the 1980's that the destruction of the world as we know it would be a financial meltdown, and it would start and end with the United States. People back then thought I was crazy. Hell, we were still fighting the imaginary Communist Russians and fearing the rise of power in China. Now Russia has been broken up into smaller countries, and China has more money than God, and owns most of America.

The rich have sold out this country. But that still isn't enough for them. They won't rest until this country reverts to what it was 100-200 years ago. "Please, sir, I want some more."

Get used to that phrase. And get used to the answer as well, my friends.

I'm Stunned, I Tell You, Just Stunned, So Says Lindsey Graham

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai during a recent visit, said on Sunday he was "stunned" at Karzai's comments to a Washington newspaper, which appeared at odds with U.S. military strategy.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Karzai said he wants the U.S. military to scale back the visibility and intensity of its operations in Afghanistan and end night raids that he said incited people to join the Taliban insurgency.

Karzai's comments put him at odds with General David Petraeus, who has made "capture-and-kill" missions a central part of counterinsurgency strategy, the Post said.

[snip]

In the Washington Post interview, Karzai said his comments were not meant as criticism of the United States and that candor could improve what he called a "grudging" relationship between the two countries.

"Grudging" is the operative word here. Same can be said with our "relationship" to many countries in the Middle East, like Iraq and Pakistan, for starters. This perpetual state of occupation and war will do to the United States what it has done to other occupiers in the past, like Great Britain and Russia. Eventually, they took their losses and went home. But, as I mentioned in my post below, with American's not getting that great of an education here, it is quite easy to herd the minions off to war by simply using a few key words, oh say, Muslim, Islam, terror and jihad. That ought to do it for the grunts that are on the ground risking their lives for an ideology that is based on falsehood and outright lies. Those in the government, however, don't get a pass in my book. I'm with the "round 'em up and try 'em in the courts" group. If I'm never supposed to forget what happened on 9/11, I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to forget what happened after 9/11.

Just saying ...

First Pakistan, Now Afghanistan

Afghanistan has banned eight private security firms, including the company formerly known as Blackwater, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai told reporters Sunday.

Among the companies whose operations are being dissolved are Xe (formerly known as Blackwater), NCL, FHI, White Eagles and other small companies, spokesman Waheed Omer said. Both international and domestic companies were affected.

Weapons and ammunition belonging to these companies has been seized, he said.

Karzai finding his cajones.

A vital border crossing remained closed to U.S. and NATO supply trucks for a third day Saturday, a sign that Islamabad's desire to avoid a domestic backlash over a NATO incursion that killed three Pakistani troops outweighs - for now - its desire to stay on good terms with America.

Two U.S. missile strikes that killed 16 people in a northwest Pakistani tribal region, meanwhile, showed that America has no intention of sidelining a tactic it considers highly successful, even if the strikes could add to tensions.

The closing of the Torkham border to NATO trucks has exposed the struggles and contradictions at the heart of the U.S.-Pakistan alliance against Islamist militancy.

Nice work, U.S.A. How are those drones working for you? Got any tips on more diplomacy?

Afghanistan and Pakistan (with WMD, cough, cough) on the one side of Iran, while we are still occupying Iraq, on the other side of Iran.

Is it just me, or does this position look a little troubled for the warmongering U.S. and those supporters? Does anyone with a grain of salt for a brain see how invading Iran, or bombing anything in Iran, will have disastrous results for the U.S.?

We really aren't wanted in Iraq. We really aren't wanted in Afghanistan. And we clearly are not wanted in Pakistan.

Great Middle East policy, guys.

UPDATE: HT to Rachel Maddow Tweet

The U.S. military is secretly diverting aerial drones and weaponry from the Afghan battlefront to significantly expand the CIA's campaign against militants in their Pakistani havens.

The shift in strategic focus reflects the U.S. view that, with Pakistan's military unable or unwilling to do the job, more U.S. force against terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan is now needed to turn around the struggling Afghan war effort across the border.

In recent months, the military has loaned Predator and Reaper drones to the Central Intelligence Agency to give the agency more firepower to target and bombard militants on the Afghan border.

It appears that the U.S. is hell bent on taking over the Middle East. After that, what's next? Personally, I would not be antagonizing a country that has nukes. Just saying.

New Money Source Found In Afghanistan - Americans On It Like Flies On Shit

The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

Not sure what that means to the U.S. just yet, but it might change Karzai's tune from just a week ago.

Two senior Afghan officials were showing President Hamid Karzai the evidence of the spectacular rocket attack on a nationwide peace conference earlier this month when Mr. Karzai told them that he believed the Taliban were not responsible.

“The president did not show any interest in the evidence — none — he treated it like a piece of dirt,” said Amrullah Saleh, then the director of the Afghan intelligence service.

Mr. Saleh declined to discuss Mr. Karzai’s reasoning in more detail. But a prominent Afghan with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Karzai suggested in the meeting that it might have been the Americans who carried it out.

Yeah. The Americans did it, as usual (and I am not saying that "tongue in cheek" - I really mean it, since the Americans generally are the bad guys in these areas and with these types of things).

We're all over the Middle East and pretty much on the wrong side of just about everyone except Israel.

Want to cut the deficit? Yeah, let's take away Social Security from the up and coming baby boomers, but let's not touch the trillions of dollars being handed over to war profiteers and the Arab countries that hate our guts.

Nice work, America.