Category Archives: Opinion

International, Opinion, U.S.

U.S. contractor Blackwater back on the hook

More than a year ago a lower court dismissed manslaughter charges against the guards of Blackwater Worldwide, now known as Xe Services.  Iraqis claimed Blackwater employees randomly shot Iraqi civilians.  The U.S. Army called it a “criminal event”.

Now an appeals court judge says the lower court judge was F*ed up, when he dismissed the charges.  Judge Ricardo Urbina “…made a number of systemic errors based on an erroneous legal analysis.”-Appellate judges Douglas Ginsburg, Merrick Garland and Stephen Williams

Urbina dismissed the charges on the grounds the U.S. Justice Department mishandled the evidence, and, ironically, he felt the accused had their consitutional rights violated.  I say ironically, because no “enemy combatant” is afforded any constitutional rights under this bogus War on Terror!

The appeals court also ordered Urbina to disclose if any evidence was tampered with.

The Blackwater (Xe Services) guards were originally charged with 17 counts of manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and one count of violating U.S. arms export regulations.  NY Times video

 

International, Opinion, U.S.

United States ignores Iraqi officials, Obama pushing to have U.S. troops stay in Iraq

Time and time again, Iraqi officials have told the leadership of the United States to get its troops out of Iraq, yet, U.S. leadership acts as if the Iraqis want the U.S. to stay.

“If Iraq wants to keep some American troops in the country to offset its military vulnerabilities, I’m sure the U.S. government would welcome the discussions, but it needs to start very soon.”-U.S. Admiral Michael Mullen

About a week before Admiral Mullen made that statement, Defense Secretary Gates said the same thing.

“If folks here (Iraqis) are going to want us to have a presence, we’re going to need to get on with it pretty quickly in terms of our planning.”-Robert Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense

Gates made that public statement after Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki told him no: “The Iraqi government is against of any presence of U.S. troops or other foreign troops on the Iraqi territory since they cause internal problems and problems in the region for Iraq.”-Nuri al-Maliki, Iraqi Prime Minister

Obviously the leadership of the United States doesn’t understand what ‘NO’ means. That wasn’t the only time (so far since January 2011) the United States was told by Iraqi leaders to get out.

“All Iraqi officials want a U.S. pullout from their country, and based on the Baghdad Security Pact signed by the two sides, all U.S. forces should withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.”-Bahr al-Uloum, former Iraqi Oil Minister

“Mr. Maliki rejected Gates’ demand, saying that Iraq will deal with the issue based on the security pact (signed between Washington and Baghdad).”-Ali al-Dabbaq, Iraqi Government Spokesman

“I don’t believe there is any need for them to stay after 2011. Because we are ready right now, we are fully qualified, competent. And we don’t have any will or wish for them to stay here, and there won’t be any American forces after 2011.”-Mohammad al-Askari, Iraqi Ministry of Defense spokesman

“They are not going to leave Iraq, and if they don’t leave Iraq by the end of 2011, then there will be no peaceful demonstrations, there will be something else.”-Iraqi protester

“We want them to get out of the country. It’s the last year for them.”-Sheik Ahmed al-Hasnawi

Get the point?  Then what’s the motivation behind Robert Gates and Michael Mullen acting like the Iraqis are asking the U.S. to stay?  So far, the only political group asking the U.S. to stay is the semi-autonomous Kudrish parliament. But their region, the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, is not covered under the current agreement for U.S. troop withdrawal.  And Kurdish officials point out they have no say in it: “It is not related to Iraq’s Kurdish officials and they have no role in the U.S. forces’ stay or exit. It is up to the central government to decide on the issue.”-Sabah Barzandi, member of the parliament of Iraq’s Kurdistan region

For some reason the United States leadership is trying to use the Kurdish card as the reason for NOT leaving Iraq.  Is it because of the strong ties, that Kurds have, to Iran?  Is it because the U.S. is very close to invading Syria (just to the west of Iraqi Kurdistan), and then invading Iran (just to the east of Iraq)?


Opinion, U.S.

9/11 First Responders & Survivors considered Terroists under new Health Care law

In January, 2011, President Obama signed into law a bill passed by Congress, supposedly to give 9/11/2001 emergency first responders, survivors and other people involved with the recovery and clean up efforts, health care for problems connected to the toxic debris of the the collapsed World Trade Center.  Those people are now considered terrorists.

The law is called the “James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010” (aka HR 847).

Any first responder interested in receiving medical care under the new law must be investigated by the Department of Homeland Security for links to known terrorists:  “No individual who is on the terrorist watch list maintained by the Department of Homeland Security shall qualify as an eligible WTC responder. Before enrolling any individual as a WTC responder in the WTC Program under paragraph (3), the Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall determine whether the individual is on such list.”-H.R. 847,  SEC. 3311  paragraph 5

In regards to ‘survivors’: “No individual who is on the terrorist watch list
maintained by the Department of Homeland Security shall qualify as a screening-eligible WTC survivor or a certifiedeligible WTC survivor. Before determining any individual to be a screening-eligible WTC survivor under paragraph (1) or certifying any individual as a certified eligible WTC survivor
under paragraph (2), the Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall determine whether the individual is on such list.”- H.R. 847, SEC. 3321 paragraph 4

Even if you think forcing applicants to go through a terrorist background check is OK, when you read the complicated law it becomes clear that what the Federal government is doing is trying to make it as difficult as possibly for any 9/11 first responder, or survivor, to qualify for medical help.  In other words, yet another lie from our government to our citizens.

International, Opinion, U.S.

Pakistan says U.S. drone operators have quietly left their country

A senior Pakistani intelligence official says U.S. personnel operating drones from a Pakistan base, have quietly left the country.

Officially the U.S. is not operating drones out of Pakistani bases,  but Pakistani intelligence has been saying, for a while now, they the U.S. is indeed using Pakistani bases for drone attacks.

Supposedly U.S. drones use Pakistan’s Shamsi Air Base.

Carl Forsberg, research analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, says it’s possible the Pakistanis are using pressure on the United States.

Drone attacks kill more civilians than terrorists. The latest attack, last Friday, killed 25 people, including five women and three children: “Drone attacks have become a core irritant in the counter terror campaign. We have repeatedly said that such attacks are counterproductive and only contribute to strengthen the hands of the terrorists.”-Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Perhaps the U.S. drone operators left, because they are now needed in Libya?

Opinion, U.S.

Anti Muslim Terry Jones called a Terrorist by people of Dearborn, Jones ‘accidently’ fires his gun

“So, you are coming to protest against an imaginary threat that doesn’t exist in our community. Not in our courts, not at our City Hall, not on our streets and not in any of our places of worship. Our commitment to the Constitution is unwavering, not merely convenient, which makes your hyperbole about Sharia Law being practiced in the courts or civil law of Dearborn nonsensical.”–Jack O’Reilly Jr., Mayor of Dearborn, Michigan

While being interviewed by a local newspaper, motorist drove by calling so called christian Terry Jones a terrorist: “Get out of Dearborn, you terrorist!”

Also, after an interview at a local TV station, Jones ‘accidentally’ fired his gun while leaving the station. 

Jones has appeared in court, defending ‘his’ church’s decision to protest in front of the largest mosque in the U.S.:  “We’ll do it today at 5 or we’ll come back next week.”

The judge told Jones he needed to pay a bond to cover police protection costs, for his demonstration.  Jones refused to pay.

Dearborn Muslims, along with Christians, and Jews, are celebrating Good Friday at the mosque.

International, Opinion

Chocolate Kinder Eggs Illegal in the United States, could cost you $300.00

If you’re coming back from Canada with a handful, or even just one, Kinder Egg, you’re breaking the law.  It’s against U.S. law to bring chocolate Kinder Eggs into the U.S., and can result in a $300.00 fine, per egg.

Several people have already had their collectible eggs, with a toy inside, taken by U.S. Customs officials after a random inspection at the border.  U.S. law banned the eggs precisely because they have a toy inside.  They are considered a health risk to children.  Last year (2010) U.S. Customs seized 25,000 Kinder Eggs at the U.S./Canadian border.

That’s pretty lame.  I used to get these Italian creations whenever I had the chance. My kids loved them when they were young.  Now I find out why it’s so hard to get them in the U.S.

The company that makes them is the Italian based Ferrero. Originally called Kinder Surprise, they’ve been making them since 1972, yet the United States government thinks they are some kinda terrorist threat to our children (maybe there’s WMDs in there?).  Actually, there is a U.S. law that says a food product cannot contain a non-edible object inside it.  Since 1991 seven kids, in the entire world, died choking on the Kinder Egg toy surprise.  There are legal toys/candies in the U.S. that have caused more deaths than that!

Another surprise is that even though they are illegal in the U.S., Canadian companies are selling them to people in the U.S., through the mail.  There used to be a small European food store where I live, in Idaho, and they sold Kinder Eggs all the time.  In fact they were their best selling item.  Where did they get the Kinder Eggs?  From a Canadian food supplier, though the mail.

Kinder Eggs have become so popular in the world that there are special eggs made for several countries, and holidays.  Wouldn’t it suck to go to jail for trafficking illegal chocolate eggs?   Sounds like some kinda Willy Wonka gone-bad movie.

Business/Economics, International, Opinion

Subaru promotes killing of Palestinians

An advertisement by Subaru, in Israel, promotes running over Palestinians with your new Subaru car.  The tag line, in Hebrew, is: “We’ll see who can stand against you”

What makes it worse, is that the scene in the add is real.  The photo was taken last year, when an Israeli settler ran over Palestinian teens who were protesting the settlements.  The driver of the car, David Be’eri, is the director general of Elad, a hard-line property development company.

The advertisement was revealed to the world by Chinese news agency Xinhua.

International, Opinion, U.S.

Iran says U.S. & Israel behind regional drug trafficking

“The Zionists and CIA agents in the region assist drug dealers at Iran’s joint borders with Afghanistan. These [so-called] advocates of human rights have undertaken the task of investing in the production of industrial drugs from traditional ones and supplying them to Iran’s market.”-Mohammad-Najjar, Interior Minister

The drug trade from Afghanistan has resulted in more than 3,700 Iranian counter-narcotics officers their lives, since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.

The United Nations admits that before the U.S. invasion, the Taliban had actually reduced poppy production to some of the lowest levels in Afghanistan’s history.   Now, according to a 2010 UN report, Afghanistan accounts for 90% of the world’s illicit opium and heroin production.  What happened?  The U.S. used to blame the Taliban for the opium production, but the Taliban are no longer in power in Afghanistan, mmmm.

The United Nations also ranks Iran as have the best anti-drug enforcement record in the world.  Russia has also made claims about the U.S. being involved with the drug trade out of Afghanistan.

Business/Economics, Opinion

Ignore the Stock Market, it’s the Commodities Market that hits you in your wallet

The main stream media puts so much effort into reporting what happens in the stock markets.  Why?  Because the main stream media is controlled by big corporations.  Big corporations get investment money from stocks.  Big corporations use the main stream media to control the stock markets.

So you got money in your 401k, so what?  That’s for retirement, if you don’t lose it all in the next crash.  But on a day to day, affect your wallet right now kind of way, the stock markets don’t mean squat.   When you go to buy fuel for your car, or buy food for your family, or clothes, or anything, it’s the commodity markets you should be paying attention to.

Commodities affect every thing you buy; gas, food, household goods, a new car, new clothes.  Every basic resource is traded in the commodities markets; from oil to trees to metal, to all kinds of crops and livestock.  It could be that the main stream media’s focus on the stock markets is just a way of distracting the general public from the market that is really controlling everyday prices (or the main stream media is just ignorant).

Unless your an executive in a big corporation, or a big time stock holder in corporations, you should ignore the stock markets and start paying attention to the Commodities Markets.

International, Opinion, U.S.

U.S. Admiral says the first 8 years in Afghanistan were incorrectly “resourced”

“Resourced”?  Is this new mil-speak for “operational planning”? Or “tactics”?  How about pull your head out!

In an official announcement made on the Joint Chiefs of Staff web site, U.S. Admiral Michael Mullen, admitted that the U.S. was totally screwed up for the first eight years of the occupation of Afghanistan, ‘cept it wasn’t quite put like that in the official statement: Although the United States has been in Afghanistan for 10 years, the chairman said, only over the last 18 months has the effort been resourced correctly.

So basically, the first eight years were ‘incorrectly resourced’.  This is the new way to say you’ve F’ed up, without actually saying it.