Category Archives: Opinion

International, Opinion

40,000 Mexicans protest Drugs War

“We urgently need to restore dignity to this nation and fight violence with education, culture, poetry and employment.”-Javier Sicilia, son was killed last week

In Mexico City at least 40,000 people protested the drugs war, pointing out that most deaths make no sense as they are mainly innocent bystanders, or people who have no proven connection to drug dealing, or the government.

Recently mass graves were found. They did not contain the bodies of drug gang members, or the Mexican military or police, but of migrant workers.  A similar mass grave was found last year, again migrant workers were the victims. The Mexican government said a drug gang was responsible. Why would drug gangs want to massacre migrant workers in Mexico?  Are they afraid they’ll take their jobs?

To the people of Mexico, this so called drugs war launched by a pro-Bush President, is looking more and more like a war on everyday civilians.

International, Opinion, U.S.

More proof that the Libyan Civil War is about Oil, not Freedom

Libyan rebels have been focusing all their attacks on cities tied to the oil industry. They have already made oil deals with several countries including Qatar, and, they have received their first payment for oil apparently from China.

Now the rebels are complaining that they are losing three oil fields they recently took control of.  Why so upset? They admit they want the oil money.

Just who attacked the rebel held oil fields is unknown. The Libyan government say the British bombed the rebels by mistake (plausible because NATO has done it, twice now). The rebels say some of the attacks where from artillery.

In any case the rebels are really upset about losing control of any oil production that they have captured.  Mmmm. I didn’t realize that oil was an integral part of freedom and Democracy?

International, Opinion, U.S.

Should we fear a government shut down? Ask the Belgians, they’ve been without a government for almost a year

Who cares if our government shuts down?

I, and many other citizens of the United States, get absolutely nothing from the Federal government. I didn’t even get a tax refund this year, or last year, or the year before that. I didn’t even get one of those extra checks from the IRS under the Bush Jr administration. I served in the military, I worked for government contractors, but I have no retirement (forget about SS).

I have not been able to find steady work for more than two years now. Yet, because of rules changes (and the fact that all my kids are adults now) I don’t qualify for Food Stamps, or AFDC.

I wasn’t even able to get Medicaid for my son when he had a hemorrhagic stroke at the age of 18! Now we’re dealing with $150,000+ in medical bills (on top of other debts, and no I don’t have $2,000 to hire a bankruptcy attorney, we don’t have free bankruptcy programs in our state [at least where we live], the only thing we can get is a waiver of Federal court fees). What were all my Federal taxes for, damn it?!

I live in a state that gets next to squat from the Federal government. Yeah, you people on the East (like New York City [get a rope]) and West (mainly California) coasts suck up most of the Federal tax moneys we all pay. California has redundant State social services programs that mirror and supplement the Federal programs. My state doesn’t, so no tears for you California! Any Federal government shut down will be barely noticed where I live.

The world has plenty of examples of countries doing fine without a government. As of March 30, 2011, Belgium had gone 290 days without any government. In fact it’s possible Belgium will now split into two countries.

But Belgium isn’t the only country that’s gone a long time without a government. Cambodia has the record of 353 days without a government, from 2003 to 2004.

So bring on a Federal shut down, it’ll save a lot of tax payer money.

Business/Economics, International, Opinion, U.S.

Thinking about a trip to Japan? Good timing!

Tourism numbers are looking really bad for japan, thanks to the ongoing nuclear disaster. Don’t let that stop you from taking a trip to Japan.

In fact, because of the huge drop in tourist money coming in, you’ll probably get some really good deals in the near future. Even the Japanese airlines will start making unbelievable deals. JAL just got out of bankruptcy and now they’re in trouble, again, because of the ongoing nuke crisis.

The nuke disaster is taking place in northern Honshu.  The prevailing winds blow east of there, offshore to the Pacific. Think about visiting southern Honshu (south of Tokyo), and Shikoku & Kyushu.  Their locations mean they will avoid most or all airborne (waterborne contamination might be an issue) radiation contamination from northern Honshu.

Also, they are least affected by power outages.

Not only could you get a good deal on a vacation to Japan, but your tourist money will really help Japan to recover.

 

 

International, Opinion

More than a year after the 7.0 Haiti quake, still no aid getting to the people, bad sign for Japan

Haiti was hit by a 7.0 quake in January 2010, which devastated several cities.  Donations came in, officially anyway, but according to the UN (United Nations) only a fraction has gotten through.

Donations to Japan, after their catastrophic disasters on March 11, still lag behind the official donation numbers reported for Haiti. Japanese media is already reporting problems getting aid to their people.

“Tanks, armored vehicles and soldiers should have given way to bulldozers, engineers, more police instructors, experts in support to justice and to the penitentiary system.”-President René Préval

Outgoing Haitian President René Préval has pleaded with countries, and charities, to hurry up and get the aid out. President Préval is the only Haitian president to complete two terms without being jailed or exiled.

“Now that we’ve had this election, and the international community has accepted the results and verified and participated in the oversight of it, I think greater donor disbursements are important.”-Bill Clinton, UN Secretary General’s special envoy for Haiti

This is not a good sign for the people of Japan. Haiti got more aid money than Japan, so far, and yet, more than a year later, Haiti is still waiting to see it. I don’t think Japan, with its catastrophic disasters, can rely on any help from the world community.

Business/Economics, International, Opinion

Japan nuke agency had no plans to warn fishermen of contaminated fish

The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency admitted that they had no plans to explain the dangers of contaminated fish to the fishing industry.  Japanese fishermen have been turned away from fish markets with their entire catch in tow.

The Federation of Fisheries Cooperative said they asked for an explanation of the dangers, but got none. Many fishing companies continued to fish after reports of radioactive contamination in the ocean.

Iwaki city officials, in one of the biggest fishing areas of Japan, say they’ve been waiting for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency to explain the situation, but, arrogantly the government agency said that they were waiting for the local people to come to them first.

Sounds like the arrogant Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency needs to pull their head out!

International, Opinion, U.S.

al Qaeda taking advantage of Libyan civil war, taking Western supplied weapons for Rebels, for use againt the United States

Gaddafi said it, exclusive reports in some western media sources said it, and even the U.S. Admiral in charge of NATO said it: Al Qaeda is operating with the Libyan rebels we are supporting.  And now they are taking the weapons for the rebels, for later use against the West.

Reuters is reporting that Algerian intelligence has proof that al Qaeda is operating in Libya, and they’re taking Western supplied, and captured Russian, weapons out of Libya.

Algeria, right to the west of Libya, has spent years trying to keep al Qaeda out. Now they’ve stepped up security operations because of the Western backed rebellion in Libya, precisely because they know al Qaeda is involved.

Algerian officials are amazed that the U.S., and other UN coalition countries are supporting, essentially, al Qaeda.

Haven’t we been here before? We supported a certain group who fought in the Afghan/Soviet War, that group became al Qaeda led by bin Laden (by the way not Afghani, but Wahhabi Arab), and that group declared war on the United States.  Then we invade Iraq, supposedly because of connections to al Qaeda, which were false, and as a result al Qaeda actually got into Iraq (Saddam Hussein was actively fighting al Qaeda before we invaded). Now there is more and more proof that we are supporting al Qaeda in Libya.  Sompin’ funny goin’ on here!

Remember the old “Sanford and Son” TV show?  Let me paraphrase Red Fox’s character’s favorite phrase for his son: “Obama, you big dummy!”

International, Opinion, U.S.

Japanese government holding up Aid Moneys, Red Cross frustrated

‘‘Although it is not the duty of the central government to decide how to distribute the funds, we would like to devise some sort of guidelines to enable speedy distribution.”-Yoshihiro Katayama, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister

In another example that shows Japan is not prepared for disasters, billions of donated money is sitting around waiting for the national (central), and local governments, to figure out what to do with it.  Which is amazing because they were able to deal with a similar situation after the 1995 earthquake, what’s the problem now?

Local governments are complaining about how the money is going to be issued. Also, government officials say they are waiting for the charities to recommend how the money should be used. Did anyone tell the charities?

International, Opinion, U.S.

Obama willing to sell out U.S. troops to South Korean Command, sign of declining U.S. Empire

In an unprecedented move, the United States has agreed, in principal, to put U.S. forces under the direct command of South Korea. Details are still being worked out.

“It is an unprecedented measure since the U.S. military is characteristically reluctant to place troops under the command of other countries.”–The Chosun Ilbo, Korean newspaper

Officially the move is to help South Korea in case of attack by North Korea. But isn’t that why our troops are there to begin with? Why do they have to be placed under direct control of the South Koreans?  Never in United States history has another country controlled our military forces! Even the Russians didn’t do that after the fall of the Soviet Union.  Is it another sign of the decline of the U.S. Empire?

 

Business/Economics, International, Opinion

Proof that Coffee prices are too high, 3 men lynched over truck load of Coffee

According to Guatemalan Police, 3,000 people took part in lynching three would be coffee thieves.

The police say the residents of La Democracia caught the men trying to take off with a truck load of coffee, then beat, hung and burned the men to death.

The police also say the townsfolk blocked them from stopping the lynching.

People are actually being killed for one of the most popular beverages. Something to think about the next time you sip on that cup o’ joe.