IRRESPONSIBILITY AT THE PENTAGON

Another example of mismanagement and disregard for common sense and decency:

A quick summary-Halliburton is a a major company that does contract work for the government. KBR is a spin off of Halliburton. KBR has done contract electrical work in Iraq, and they have been involved with plumbing contracts as well. Follow? Now here are some headlines, please bear in mind this is not an exhaustive list, there are more soldiers that have been killed because of such ridiculous nonsense:

OREGON SOLDIER'S DEATH IS UNDER INVESTIGATION
According to the AP, Spc. Chase Whitham was electrocuted while swimming in a swimming pool in Iraq at a US operated base. Whitham 21, was in Mosul, Iraq, when he died. Italics mine.


FROM THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW ON MSNBC:
Posted Feb. 9.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

ABC NEWS: HIDDEN DANGER: SOLDIERS DYING FROM ELECTROCUTION
Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth was 24 when he died. Here's a cut and paste.

"But little did the staff sergeant know that when he stepped into the shower at his military base in Baghdad two months ago, he was putting his life at
risk. Maseth, 24, of Shaler, Pa., outside Pittsburgh, was
electrocuted on Jan. 2 when an improperly grounded electric water pump
short-circuited and flowed through the pipes. Since the coiled hose was touching his arm, he was hit with an electrical jolt and went into cardiac arrest and died."

This kid was only 24, and he did not die in combat.

PENTAGON ADMITS TO MORE ELECTROCUTIONS IN IRAQ-KBR DENIES BLAME
Posted July 26, 2008
According to the HuffPo, Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania has been involved with Cheryl Harris, the mother of Ryan Maseth. The article states there have been 16 electrocutions.

This was in 2008.

CNN: SOLDIERS ELECTROCUTION "NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE"
Story highlights, pay close attention to the third point:
-Manner of death should be changed from "accidental," Army investigator writes
-U.S. soldier electrocuted while showering at his base in Iraq in 2008
-Investigator: Contractor didn't ensure electricians, plumbers were qualified
-No charges have been filed; soldier's family is suing contractor

If you've watched the video you know where I am going with this: last headline-

COMPANY GETS PENTAGON CONTRACT DESPITE DEATH INQUIRIES
From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A defense contractor has been awarded a $35 million Pentagon contract involving major electrical work even though it is under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of at least two American soldiers in Iraq.
The contractor, KBR, announced last week that it had won a $35.4 million contract from the Army Corps of Engineers to design and build a convoy support center at Camp Adder in southern Iraq. The center will include a power plant and an electrical distribution center. Bold is mine.

I have contacted my Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell regarding this development. I suggest you do the same. I cannot describe the outrage I feel regarding the complete lack or respect for the families of the soldiers that have died as a result of potential negligence on the part of KBR. What a slap. Furthermore, according to the AP via The Columbian in Vancouver, WA;

"The Corps of Engineers said KBR has earned $615 million on 30
contracts similar to the new one and that KBR has not been banned or suspended from winning U.S. Government contracts."

The utter waste of money that is Iraq is apalling. My family and I are having trouble keeping our lights on and keep food on the table and there are some in Congress that have cut, yet again, services for the needy. At the very, very least, KBR and Halliburton should be immediately suspended from contracts until the investgation is resolved.

Again, we have the dead notion of trickle-down economics. Ronald Reagan is dead. Let his failed policies and those of the christian right die with him. It is time for trickle up economics, spending money to the people, not the corporations. The people will spend the money and benefit everyone. It is a no-brainer. The right's ideas are failed. It is time for a systemic change in the United States, and the previous headlines regarding yet another debacle is yet more proof on the desperate need for change. Peace-

Here are some numbers for the people that represent some of you in D.C.

Washington State: Senator Patty Murray-202-224-2621 (You and Maria Need to Pay Attention!)

Sen. Maria Cantwell-202-224-3441

Oregon: Sen. Jeff Merkly-202-224-3753

Sen. Ron Wyden-202-224-5244

Arkansas: Sen. Blanche Lincoln-202-224-4843

Sen. Mark Pryor-202-224-2353

And last, here is a link that will provide US citizens contact for their Senators.

Onward.

GUNS SALES SOAR AFTER OBAMA WIN

Never let the stupidity of provincial rednecks surprise you. From the New York Times:

On Concerns Over Gun Control, Gun Sales Are Up

I'm a little tired of blogging right now, the few weeks before the election kinda burned me out. But I had to post this when I saw it via the HuffPo. People are nuts. I especially liked this quote from the owner of a gun shop in Houston, TX.:

He's a gun-snatcher," said Jim Pruett, owner of Jim Pruett's Guns and Ammo in northwest Houston, which
was packed with shoppers on Thursday.
"He wants to take our guns from us and
create a socialist society policed by his own police force," added Mr. Pruett, a former radio
personality, of President-elect Barack Obama.

Again, never underestimate the power of ignorance, fear, and racism...

An ironic twist to this story is the fact that I told Kell that if McPalin get in, we will have to stock up on ammo to stave off the theocracy police. So much for that! :) Peace-

Mike

image

CHRISTIAN RIGHT CONTINUES TO SHOW ITS ASS & INTOLERANCE

Some excerpts from the HuffPo regarding the Christian Right and fearmongering tactics used by them to drive their willfully ignorant base (I could have posted the entire article and probably should):

Terrorist strikes on four American cities. Russia rolling into Eastern
Europe. Israel hit by a nuclear bomb. Gay marriage in every state. The end of
the Boy Scouts.
All are plausible scenarios if Democrat Barack Obama is
elected president, according to a new addition to the campaign conversation
called "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America," produced by the conservative
Christian group Focus on the Family Action.

Steve Strang, publisher of Charisma magazine, a Pentecostal publication,
titled one of his recent weekly e-mails to readers, "Life As We Know It Will End
If Obama is Elected."
Strang said gay rights and abortion rights would be
strengthened in an Obama administration, taxes would rise and "people who hate
Christianity will be emboldened to attack our freedoms."

Steve Strang is quite influential, and I have in the past received Charisma magazine. This bullshit gets better:

...among the strongest pieces this year is Focus on the Family Action's
letter which has been posted on the group's Web site and making the e-mail
rounds. Signed by "A Christian from 2012," it claims a series of events could
logically happen based on the group's interpretation of Obama's record,
Democratic Party positions, recent court rulings and other trends.
Among the
claims:

_ A 6-3 liberal majority Supreme Court that results in rulings like one
making gay marriage the law of the land and another forcing the Boy Scouts to
"hire homosexual scoutmasters and allow them to sleep in tents with young boys."
(In the imagined scenario, The Boy Scouts choose to disband rather than
obey).

_ A series of domestic and international disasters based on Obama's
"reluctance to send troops overseas." That includes terrorist attacks on U.S.
soil that kill hundreds, Russia occupying the Baltic states and Eastern European
countries including Poland and the Czech Republic, and al-Qaida overwhelming
Iraq.
_ Nationalized health care with long lines for surgery and no access to
hospitals for people over 80.

The reality is this:

Obama favors abortion rights and supports civil unions for same-sex couples, but
says states should make their own decisions about marriage. He said he would
intensify diplomatic pressure on Iran over its nuclear ambitions and add troops
in Afghanistan.
On taxes, Obama has proposed an increase on the 5 percent of
taxpayers who make more than $250,000 a year and advocates cuts for those who
make less. His health care plan calls for the government to subsidize coverage
for millions of Americans who otherwise couldn't afford it.

Obama will make a great pres, the Christian Right will be marginalized.

Jesus never taught fear, hate, and intolerance, yet these three traits as well as complete willful ignorance coupled with a health dose of a lack of intellectual curiosity identify the Christian Right extraordinarily. He must be so proud of the American Church.

We need systemic change in the United States. OfuckingBama '08

Peace-

Mike

LUKJ

image credit

REGARDING CHRISTIAN FASCISM IN THE U.S.

An excerpt from a post on Dissident Voice:

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE POST HERE.

In 2001 Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was passed with support of the Democrats. Behind the empty rhetoric about achieving “high standards,” “world class education,” and “closing the achievement gap,” NCLB is just standardized testing—with severe punishments instead of help if test scores don’t improve. Schools not showing progress over time are first required to pay for private outside consultants. Continued lack of progress leads to being forced to totally contract out education to private enterprises. Schools in the middle class are not targeted because this only applies to schools with very low test scores.


"NCLB was passed in a context of a decades-long process of undermining the legitimacy of public schools, the development and funding of alternative schools, and the creation of models for a new kind of privatized public school. Reagan’s education program was “bring God back into the classroom” and government-funded school voucher programs. School vouchers give government funds to parents who want to put their children in private, and in particular religious, schools—popular among the growing Christian fundamentalist forces at the time."

This is the ugly reality of the urban cores of this country, and the schools that serve them. It is producing a massive section of youth, seething with anger, who have been written off by this system, told “there’s nothing here for you,” and then shoved into the prisons at world record rates. It is an international embarrassment for this imperialist power claiming to be the model for the world, and it’s an outrage to sections of the middle class who are coming to know about it. And under certain conditions it can become extremely explosive, as was revealed by the ’92 L.A. rebellion. This is a critical concern of those driving the transformation and privatization of the school system.


It is clear that the right wing has no plan to help and lift up anyone that is outside of their race, economic sphere, religious beliefs, etc:

In fact, I assert and I openly accuse the right wing and the American church:
You are responsible for the massive incarceration rates in the US largely because of laziness, hate, contempt, and the utter rejection of Jesus' teachings for anyone white, black, latin, native, poor, or otherwise that does not conform to your christian ideological worldview.

In addition, you have put Jesus Christ in the backseat to further your "visions" "words of knowldge" and "ministries" in clear violation of Jesus teaching.

You have contempt for the poor in America.

You advocate war against Islam.

You advocate war against Immigrants.

Just the fact that you advocate war, Church, is contra to the teaching of Jesus Christ.

Indocrinate, Incarcerate, Subjugate, Exterminate. That is the American Christian Worldview.

I call for all churches in the United States to either cease from demanding political obedience from their congregants or immediately commence paying taxes.

I am well aware of the common thought among Evangelicals: Convert And Believe Or Get Left Behind.

In all ways.

Enough of state sanctioned religious teaching. Unfortunately, while Ronald Reagan was advocating state sponsored specific Christian training and declaring 1982 as the "Year of the Bible," he was conducting a ruthless terror war in Central America resulting in the deaths of a huge quantity of people while he was funneling American dollars to fund terrorists.


This, my friends, is Christian Fascism and it has been adopted by an enormous amount of people that believe they are on a "mission from God" and it must be stopped.

I will also challenge you, Church: Prove to me that your ideas aren't anything more than recycled Ku Klux Klan material repackaged and sanitized for the white masses to swallow, as well as anyone else gullible enough to take that spoonful of hate. Are you listening Alberto Gonzales?

It is time for a systemic change in the United States.

Peace-

NEWSFLASH! REDNECKS ACT LIKE MORONS!

Watching MSNBC right now, and Tucker Carlson is on, being shrill, squeaking about the Alaska State Trooper Wooten and the firing of Walt Monegan, the Alaskan Commissioner of Public Safety. It went kinda like this:

( at some point i'll figure out how to insert video)

Carlson: My God! This is a guy who threatened to murder his father in law! This is a guy who drank in his State Trooper car! Do we really need a guy like this carrying a gun with a license to shoot people?

Answer? Read on, Searcher:

Clearly Tucker Carlson has never been involved in a redneck divorce. When redneck families are going through tough times like divorce (or marriage) they resort to crazy shit like:

-Shanking your "till death do us part" partner's car tires.

-Getting into a fistfight with your father-in-law in the front yard of your house on a sunny afternoon while the neighbors watch.

-Knocking down aforementioned father-in-law in the front yard of your house on a sunny afternoon while the neighbors watch.

-Q. Your current wife has a warrant out. Yet you are separated. What do you do when she shows up angry and drunk at your new (bachelor) apartment?
-A. Call the police and have her hauled off while the kids watch.

-The father in law showing up at the son-in-laws restaurant (where he is G.M.) and attempting to invade and stomp the aforementioned son in law.

-Son in law has sex with Mother in Law. (Not me)

-Wife has sex with step brother.

-Apartment manager has to call the police and son-in-law while he is at work because father-in-law is at son-in-laws apartment with a UHaul truck and is currently trying to jimmy the door lock with a credit card.

-Brother in law breaks into his married sisters' home with a friend and attempts to murder his sisters' husband.

Growing up in redneck Northeast Arkansas, some of this is funny. All of it either happened to me or a brother in law, sister in law, or friend. All of it is true.

The last sentence is not funny. It really happened. To me and my lovely wife.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tucker Carlson is a jackass that has his head in the sand.

Clearly he lives somewhere else than a large amount of Americans.

To disrespect Trooper Wooten (and I am no friend of the police, but shout out to you Paul) because of the crazy redneck people that made up his family is ridiculous. His profession as a police officer only gave leverage to Palin and assorted redneck relatives (including Sarah Palin's faultless daddy) and friends (as well as the opportunists, the envious and the jealous) to screw with him.

Believe me.

If this guy ran a restaurant, they would be screaming B.S. about him sleeping with the waitresses. Or stealing money. Or steaks. Or booze. The father-in-law would have been on the phone with the S-I-L's boss relating all kinds of bullshit. Anything the redneck kinfolk overlooked before would become fair game. That is how redneck small town families (dys)function. That is the truth of the situation.

Tucker Carlson is a hack, and it shows how out of touch he is with small town America.

It is time for a Systemic Change in the United States.

Peace-
Mike

UPDATE: I want to rid the world of my current as well as ex-father-in-law, too.

KATRINA AID ARRIVES IN NEW ORLEANS

How long has it been since Katrina? According to CNN, trucks began to arrive in N.O. with aid that has been locked in a warehouse for two years. This is another sign of the United States being a failed state as described by Noam Chomsky.

This is just one of the many reasons I am not voting Republican this time. Every citizen of the US should read Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine.

I bought it just after it came out and I am on my second read of the book. Ms. Klein does an exceptional job at researching Milton Friedman's economics, and the linking of his Chicago School of Economics to individuals such as Pinochet of Chile, Ronald Reagan, Bush's 1&2 and others.

The free marketers used the disaster after Katrina while the populace was still in shock to wipe out social programs and privatize a number of different things such as the school system. This was also used in the aftermath of the Tsunami of 2004. The fishing villages that had been on the beaches for generations are now in the hands of a few hoteliers and the people that made their living fishing are now ejected off of their land and their land given to another.

Sound familiar?

Let's face it: Kanye West was right. George Bush does not like Black people. The poor Black people of the Lower Ninth Ward in N.O. will never see their homes rebuilt. They are not welcome there any longer, and this was a perfect opportunity to commandeer their land and hand it over to someone else.

It is time for change in the US. The trickle down economics of the Reagan era DO NOT WORK. I agree with John Keynes. There can be a balance of social programs, and private ventures. In fact there has to be. Let's face it. There are people out there that need a helping hand up, yet the federal and state legistatures for the past 28 years has made a concerted effort to oppress the oppressed even more. The cutting of social programs, the laughable focus on education-primary, secondary, and higher-and the specific targeting of the people of color (individuals can deny that it is racially motivated but it is) the turning of backs on the urban centers of the US has done nothing but create a bigger gap between the haves and have nots. I believe it is time to make that gap smaller.

The Federal government must make higher education a priority. The US must provide free higher education for all individuals that want to take advantage of it. We must provide housing for the poor, food for the hungry, clothes for the naked. We must provide health care for all, that is medical, dental, vision. It is time to stop the elite corporations and corporate America from running this country. It is time to stop Corporate welfare.

The American society vilifies the individual that needs subsidized yet the Feds pump billions of dollars worth of subsidies into massive corporations while these corps make record profit.

Did you know in the State of Washington the income cap for a family of three to receive food stamps is a mere $1861? This may seem like a lot to someone outside of the US in some countries, however, it is a pittance here. I am going on a crusade to change the attitude of people in the Untied States regarding taking care of our fellow man. For children to go hungry in the US is outrageous. For men and women to go hungry or be homeless is shameful. I know I have my work cut out for me when I hear people as young as 24 say things like: "The homeless are homeless because they're lazy." What a joke. Most homeless people are people that suffer from mental illness, that can be treated if the US had a reasonable medical system that was not based on profit, but was based on care. Which brings me to another statement.

People employed by insurance companies that deny services to a customer that pays premiums for health coverage that results in the death or permanent disability of the individual or individual covered by the policy issued b that company must be brought up on criminal charges. Have you ever seen Michael Moore's Sicko? There is a scene in which a woman while testifying before Congress is describing how, as a physician, she stamped "DENIED" on perhaps hundreds of claims that resulted in peoples' deaths. Why is this woman not being held accountable for these peoples' deaths? If I knowingly withheld medical treatment from my child while having the financial means to provide for my child and my baby died, I would be charged with a crime. The same ought to apply to individuals that work for Aetna, or Kaiser, Or Blue Cross, etc. Start holding the companies accountable and charging the individuals, that deny, better yet charge the CEO with murder and this will stop.

I will work to ensure that insurance companies are held accountable for their actions.

It is time to think about each other, to tap into a desire to build each other up instead of tearing one another down, and it is time for the self-centeredness and the "I'm gonna get mine" attitude in the US to change.

Peace to you and let's work together for change.

Images courtesy of ebooknetworking.com and sicko-movie.com