Grateful Dead

The Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs was interviewing a representative from USAid (the governmental arm that doles out foreign aid) on C-Span on the subject of aid to Afghanistan. This Rep. (whose name I can't remember) was slick and basically lobbing up softballs for this USAid rep. to answer. It was a clownish act. He kept asking questions like -- "Is Karzai involved in the drug trade?"; "Do you give aid to corrupt individuals within the government?" At the end the Rep. concluded that the US wasn't going to make the same mistake it made in Vietnam and other countries (like Iraq) where it just left without any coherent plan. He said, with a shit-eating grin, "We're going to leave and say "We're your friend!"." In fact Obama, in his infamous May Day surrender speech in Kabul, said that the US would be drawing down troops until we had only about 20,000 advisers left in the country. The reality on the ground is far different. The French are making tracks to get their 3300 troops out asap. The mission is now completely in disarray. Rogue Afghan soldiers are a constant security threat and the Afghan government wants no more night operations, the last tactic (beside drone strikes) of any value in reducing the Taliban leadership. The whole thing is caving in faster than could ever have been imagined. Armed forces officials should make a determined effort to evaluate who has been their unequivocal allies among the native population over the last ten years and pull out all the stops to get those persons and their immediate families relocated to the US or other countries. We owe them that.

In Montreal 12 people were arrested for protesting budget austerity in the sickly corrupt, restive french-speaking Canadian province. The protesters were trying to disrupt what they termed to be an "obscene display of capitalism" involving formula 1 racing. They were mostly students upset with university funding cuts. Tens of thousands of police have mobilized to cordon off the downtown core and protect the "F-1x Party Zone" for the formula car racing fans. Party on dudes and du-dettes!

he (Big Brown) missed his chance too and has been out to stud for some years. One hopes at least he is being bred to mares who have feet that don't have to be glued together. (This was something of a scandal in the year BB was running. His feet were falling apart, no matter how fast he could run, and he was still essentially a baby.)

In the Belmont Stakes Union Rags comes from behind on the rail to nose out Paynter at the finish. Great race in the dirt in quick conditions in NYC. Next candidate to win the Triple Crown? Bondo Foot!

War Is the Health of the State

Only love can conquer hate. Peace is not the goal, peace is the way. Admittedly, not particularly current quotes, but still as applicable as they ever were.

Suicides by veterans of the Iraq and Afghan campaigns have soared to record numbers this year with more than 150 recorded to date. Lack of mental health counselors, a problem first identified in 2008, is cited as a significant deficit in the Veterans Administration primary task of prevention. A story is making the rounds of a veteran who asked for counseling many times and finally got an appointment. On the day of his appointment he got a call saying there was no counseling available that day. His wife said he immediately went into the bathroom and killed himself. According to the Huffington Post, the reasons for these suicides are: "Faced with the stigma of post-traumatic stress disorder, unemployment rates tipping 12 percent and a loss of the military camaraderie, many veterans report feeling purposeless upon returning home." Somehow I doubt that adrenaline rush withdrawal is the reason behind many of these suicides. I believe it has to do more with the type of engagement the troops were deployed in. There are no more conventional wars with armies wearing uniforms and tank and artillery battles. The enemy blends into the civilian population, sometimes with support of the populace, more often without. Innocents are killed. The toll on the human psyche is immense. US troops are not prepared for the type of battle they are placed in. They only learn the real truth with they enter the theater of operations. The learning curve is rather sharp. The curve is just as sharp when they get on a plane and return to the US within 24 hours and find themselves stuck in a traffic jam in a seemingly useless and future-less existence as they reacquaint themselves with their family.

Greece is bracing for the blow. Their old printing press for the drachma is now in one of their national museums. It will take months to crank it up and reprint their old currency. In the meantime every computer calibrated for Euros will have to be reprogrammed. Barter is imminent. When the new currency finally appears it is expected to be devalued by 1/3 to 1/2. Hyper inflation is on tap for that country. Noodle packs for the masses. Anybody got a brick? Lets go to the Parthenon and riot in front of the tourists. Europe is in bad shape, no doubt about it.

Looking for between 50 and 125 billion to recapitalize it's banking system. The reverberations of the American banking scandal are still being felt. They all drank the kool-aid. They will be the 4th country, behind Portugal, ireland and Greece to take an EU handout (read: Germany will write a check) Spanish debt is now 2 grades above junk bond status. Meanwhile, the American stock market continues to shrug it off. Nobody is being disturbed at their summer home in the Hamptons. Sell in May, go away...

Oh those fun-loving Brits! They really know how to throw a party when they are in a patriotic frenzy. Watching the festivities last weekend on the Thames was just loads of fun. The grey skies, the bad food, the crowds, the barges. The Royals with the 36 slave rowers. Camilla, the Royal Concubine, with that royal wry wrinkle to her brow as she started the full stomp they all took up when that certain ditty was played. I guess I don't understand the allure of the monarchy and the rest of the society with the lords and ladies, dukes and duchesses and earls and what have you. What purpose do these people fulfill within that society that they are so loved and adored? I guess we here in America are clueless when it comes to the King & the Queen. Long live the Queen and her fascist regime!