How to Fix Mexico

Here's one idea, How to Fix Mexico, But.....

I think the easiest way to fix Mexico is for the US to legalize Mexico's number one export product. The drug cartels then become legitimate businesses and you have better chance of modernizing the judicial system and ending the corruption.

Prohibition of anything creates black markets. Black markets create organized crime. If the monies involved are large enough, you get the violence that we're seeing in Mexico.

The "fix" should start at the top of the chain, The US drug laws.

The Blame Game

Yeah, I think our system is Broken.

The Blame Game from Political Irony

The Rich.

See,.. if we cut taxes on the rich, they will take that money and invest it in ways that are good for the US and it will eventually trickle down to you poor bastards.

or,...  "Regulation, we don't need no stinking regulation"

US regulators on Thursday charged Samuel and Charles Wyly, two billionaire brothers whose interests range from software to restaurants, with reaping more than $550m in undisclosed gains by trading shares in companies on whose boards they sat.

The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that the Wylys created a “elaborate sham of trusts and subsidiary companies” in off-shore jurisdictions to sell $750m in stock in Michaels Stores, Sterling Software, Sterling Commerce and Scottish Annuity & Life Holdings. The brothers held board seats on all four companies.

We Stand With Israel ?

In my small midwestern town, I'm starting to see these yard signs that say "We stand with Israel". I don't know where these signs are coming from but I'm guessing they're from one of the many local churches. This is a damned religious area and I doubt there's any other organization that could pull it off.

Anyway, I have a question for the people with these signs.

Why the hell do you stand by Israel? Because some preacher or old book told you to? What the hell kind of reason is that? Do you know....

Israel of today, is not the Israel of biblical times.

Today's Israel was founded after WWII following European immigration to the area in the early 1900's. Many of its founders were basically the "terrorists" of their time, killing innocent people to advance a political agenda. Link

Today's Israel has killed around 8,000 Palestinians since 2000. Palestinians have killed 1,500 Israelis (estimates based on figures found here and here).

Today's Israel has attacked it's neighbors more than it has been attacked.
1982 Lebanon, 2006 Lebanon, Gaza, Egypt, Syria and Jordan

The Palestinians do fire rockets into Israel but I'll bet they don't cause as much damage as you think. Here is a list of fatalities from those rockets. link

Total Israeli Fatalities from Palestinian Rockets

2001 - 1 death
2004 - 5 deaths
2005 - 6 deaths
2006 - 4 deaths
2007 - 2 deaths
2008 - 8 deaths
2009 - 0 deaths

Israel also oppresses the non-Israeli people of West Bank and Gaza with apartheid actions like walls, check points and special laws.Israeli_apartheid

Israel has been stealing land from the Palestinians in the West Bank for some time. Link

Most of the the rest of the world has called on Israel to stop the oppression and land grabs but they have continued largly because of US support.

Today's Israel receives almost 3 billion in aid from the US. More than any other country. Then to keep peace in the area we give additional aid to many of Israel's neighbors.

Today's Israel is the primary reason the Muslim world hates the US. The Muslims don't hate our freedoms. They hate the fact that we allow Israel to kill their people and take their land with US support, aid and weapons.

Today's Israel is not the US's friend.

They have killed or injured several Americans over the years: Rachel Corrie, USS LIberty, Israel refuses to pay medical bills for American-Jewish protester who lost eye, US citizen killed in Israeli Flotilla Attack

They have been caught spying on the US several times. Israeli Spying

Here's what the current Israeli Prime minister has to say about the US. Binyamin Netanyahu

So for those in my area that "We stand with Israel".

Today's Israel doesn't give a damn about you or your America except to cash the checks we send to them. It has become a corrupt, evil, war-like state that feeds on the US taxpayer.

I'd like to spend that money here at home on US citizens.

Pit Bull Rapist?

From the Richmond Indiana Pal-Item.

Dog owner: Pet violated

... the dog's owner,........, called police ..... Wednesday after going into his backyard because his female pit bull, Dixie, made a whine of distress.

"He sees a man .... It looks like the guy is having sex with one of his dogs," Berner said. "He confronted him and (the man) takes off running down the alley with his pants down."

That's one damned tough pet rapist there, going after a pit bull. Wouldn't a Lab or Beagle have been safer? damn!

Dog owner: Pet violated pal-item.com Palladium-Item

US Budget Chart

From The Big Picture

The Settlements

What about those settlements, Mr. President?

Lieberman rejects link between direct talks, settlement halt - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

The Israeli's may want peace but not as much as they want the land and water. They're going to continue to gobble up all they can until the world makes them stop and that's not going to happen as long as the US continues to support them.

Obama started out on the right path but I'm afraid the political realities have set in. AIPAC owns a big part of the US congress, US evangelicals support Israel because some book tells them to, a large part of the right just likes to kill non-white, non-christian people and the US media is basically afraid to go too hard on Isreal for fear of being called anti-semitic. So we're screwed. Israel is going to continue to stir up Muslim hatred of themselves and the US. We're going to be fighting these wars for a long time to come.

War Machine - Deficit? What Deficit?

Even though the deficit gets a lot of polital news play, our leaders really don't seem to have a problem with it. Deficit spending is OK as long as it's for bombing the hell out of other people. We wouldn't want to spend any extra on Americans though.

State of the Nation

Landslide in China

Cool Landslide Picture.

Landslide adds to China flood woes - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English

Why they hate us

George Bush said they hate us for our freedoms. I think this sort of thing has a lot more to do with it.

The Bombings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

And then there's our constant support of this type of behavior.

Bedouin village

If you treat people like shit, take their land, destroy their way of life, invade their countries, drop bombs on them, support evil, oppressive regimes, etc.. The people are not going to like you all that much.

Israel demolishes Bedouin village

Here's why large parts of the world see Israel as the problem in the Middle East

Israel demolishes Bedouin village - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Israeli authorities have demolished the homes of about 300 Bedouins in a village in the southern Negev desert.

The entire village of al-Arakib was bulldozed on Tuesday, with many of the former residents' cattle, trees and belongings lost.

Al-Arakib, which had about 40 homes, is one of 45 Bedouin villages not recognised by Israeli authorities

The US government should stop sending my tax dollars to support this evil little country.

Taxes

I think most people would be satisfied with Obama's proposed tax rates but they just don't understand them and tend to think anything called a "tax increase" will take money out of their pocket. The problem is getting the "this cuts taxes for low and middle earners and raises taxes on the wealthy" message across.

Obama and the Democrats need to change their marketing and advertising departments.

Comics - Right vs Left

A couple of my favorite political cartoonists

On the Left: David Horsey

On the Right: Attack Cartoons

I love David Horsey's images, like the MAD magazines I loved as a kid. I agree more with his political views at this stage of my life. Here's one of his "Palin" toons.

I think Attack Cartoons gets to the point as well or better than most cartoonists. He's pretty far to the right but damn,.. he gets his point across. His "Clinton Library and Massage Parlor" ranks high on my list of best things on the internet. Here's one of many.

In China?

Kids in Beijing dressing up as US Middle East Army dudes ??

Ziboy

Taxing the Super Rich.

I've been thinking about this. Are they Serious

This guy, and others like him, should be paying more taxes. If you have enough wealth that you can own 18 miles of the Canadian-US border, you should be taxed to the point that you can't afford to buy the 19th mile.

The Right's argument against increased taxation of the super rich is basically that the rich are smarter and will invest the cash more wisely allowing it to trickle down through the economy and provide more benefit than if the money had been redistributed to others by the tax.

I'm not sure. Explain to me how this guy buying 18 miles of borderland is benefiting the economy any more than the the government taking the same amount of money and building roads, bridges, powerplants, fiber networks or just handing it to the people to buy houses, cars, washing machines, fastfood dinners and twinkies. It all goes into the same pot eventually.

We need to raise the tax rates on the super rich. Who the hell cares if a few leave the country. Most won't and it looks like some are ready to leave anyway.

Are They Serious?

John Malone - Liberty Media

Here New-Doom, here WSJ-Google Cache and here FutureofCapitalism

WSJ: What are you doing to protect against the weak American economy?

Mr. Malone: Well, my wife, who is very concerned about these things, moved all her personal cash to Australia and Canada. She wants to have a place to go if things blow up here.Canada has a lot more fiscal and bank responsibility than most places in the world and lots of natural resources.

We have a retreat that's right on the Quebec border. We own 18 miles on the border, so we can cross. Anytime we want to we can get away.

It would probably be illegal but we could go. Actually our snowmobile trail goes right on the border.

Mr. John Malone of Liberty Media, number 400 on the Forbes 500 list, with a net worth of 2.4 Billion, is worried that he might have to ride his snowmobile across his ranch, which has an 18 mile border with Canada, to escape the collapse of the US economy. His wife has been moving her money to Australia and Canada.

I thought this was an Onion spoof when I first read it.

Mr. Malone is worth about 2.4 billion according to Forbes. That's $2,400,000,000. One-half of all US households have total wealth less than 93,100 (2004 - link). Let’s put those numbers together for comparison.

John Malone's wealth --->    2,400,000,000.
Median US Household --->               93,000. ---> 50% of US is less than this.

Mr. Malone's wealth is equal to 25,778 of these median US families.

Mr. Malone was educated and built his fortune in the US. I'm sure he believes he's earned it and is entitled to every penny but the US system played a huge role is his ability to gather wealth. Our educational system, laws, economic and financial structures all made his career possible. If Mr. Malone had been born in the Sudan it is highly unlikely that he would have amassed his fortune. Like it or not he was lucky. The US helped make him. Now, when he thinks things look bleak for his type, the US-Big-Business-Elite, he's ready to cut and run.

I wonder what he thinks about the US kids that went to Canada rather than be sent to Vietnam?

Economic Expectations

Rational Expectations vs Adaptive Expectations

How do the media play into this?

If one group call them "Fox News Watchers" are being bombarded with images of imminent economic doom while another group, call them "MSNBC Watchers", are receiving constant economic cheerleading, the groups would have radically different expectations. I guess one would expect this to balance across the whole population but it may not as one media source may have more power. It seems to me carpet bombing of distorted information by the mass media may render Rational Expectations meaningless.

Expectations are whatever the most powerful media player says they are regardless of economic conditions or policy.

Media Wars

How long before MSNBC and Fox News start bombimg each other.

Fox News vs MSNBC

and

Journolist vs Tucker Carlson

I can understand why Tucker Carlson is mad. You can't have journalists sneaking around using technology to coordinate their stories to help one group gain a political advantage. That has to be done through high-class parties, dinners, golf outings and other elite social functions.

Jeffrey Mark Goldberg

Jeffrey Goldberg - When Jew-Baiters Go Wild - International - The Atlantic

I believe the Israeli's could kill Mearsheimer and get away with it.

They got away with:

Killing this American: Rachel Corrie.

Killing these people, including an American. Israel attacks humanitarian flotilla in International waters

Killing these Americans: USS Liberty

Killing these people: Israel Attacks Lebanon

They got away with this. Israel's Gaza Blockade

Israel gets away with a lot and it's mostly due to the power of the Israeli lobby in the US. So yes, if Mearsheimer was killed on Israeli soil the killers would probably "get away with it".

Jeffrey Goldberg is an Israeli propagandist. Anything he writes should be read with this in mind.

From Wikipedia: Jeffrey Mark Goldberg

"Jeffrey Mark Goldberg (born September 1965) is an American-Israeli journalist."

"He left college to move to Israel,[6] where he served in the Israeli Defense Forces as a prison guard during the First Intifada."

Good Reading

Several good essays about "stuff":

Essays

The Real U.S. Government

Glenn Greenwald Nails it AGAIN! GG may be the most on-target blogger in the US today.

The Real U.S. Government - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

This is a great article but I get the feeling Glenn is tiring of the battle. He's put up a great fight but this gives me the impression that he's realized he's lost. I can't help but think of the scrappy star of a small school basketball team that's played his heart out and kept his out-gunned team in the game against a power-house school until the final minute. He's played a helluva game and given everything he could but he just doesn't have the manpower to pull out the win. There he stands, worn out, hands on his knees, out of breath, looking up at the clock with only a few seconds left, realizing he's lost, it's over.

That's the Glenn I hear in this post. He sounds as if he see's that no matter what he does, no matter how good or right his message is, it's not going to get to the people and is not really going to make any difference in the grand scheme of things. He is the good guy. He's right. He knows he's right. He's screaming it so everyone can hear, but he's out-gunned and he knows it. They aren't going to see the light. It ain't happening. Those in control have won. The village idiots are going to continue with their mindless crap while ignoring the important stuff. The sheep will still believe everything Fox news says,... and on it goes....

damn, that got depressing. Anyway,..

Glenn, keep up the good work, keep screaming it out. You've been putting out some great stuff and are making a difference. Again, I think (for what that's worth) you may be the most on-target blogger in the US today. You can still win this thing.

A Little Regulation Never Hurt Anyone

Here's a good post that shows how government regulation in the form of consumer protection might not be the pure evil thing that Fox News Republican, Free-market Propaganda Network claims it to be.

Of Innovation and Confidence Tricks - Maxine Udall (girl economist)

A Joe Stiglitz quote highlighted in the post

In all these go-go years of cheap money, Wall Street did not come up with a good mortgage product. A good mortgage product would have low transaction costs and low interest rates and would have helped people manage the risk of home ownership, including protection in the event their house loses value or borrowers lose their job. Homeowners also want monthly payments that are predictable, that don't shoot up without warning, and that don't have hidden costs. The US financial markets didn't look to construct these better products, even though they are in use in other countries. Instead Wall Street firms, focused on maximizing their returns, came up with mortgages that had high transaction costs and variable interest rates with payments that could suddenly spike, but with no protection against the risk of a loss in home value or the risk of job loss.

The Mess We're In

A good article about Wall Street capturing our government.

The Atlantic - The Quiet Coup

Some comentary on the Atlantic article here:

Naked Capitalism

Wall Street Reform Passes

Here's a pretty good overview of what's in the bill and a little about the process that created it.

Wall Street Reform Passes

This bill may help protect the economy from the greedy elites but i'm not holding my breath. Bankers have a way of working around regulation and after a few years they'll have their people in all the right "regulatory" positions and will be gaming the system again.

Also, I liked this line.

A team of Goldman Sachs analysts predicted in a Tuesday research note that the legislation will annually cost Bank of America about $4.4 billion, Citi about $3.7 billion, JPMorgan about $5.3 billion, Morgan Stanley about $900 million, and Wells Fargo about $2.2 billion....

I wonder how much it will cost Goldman Sachs?

Corporations vs The People

Another take on the Corporations capturing government from Political Irony.

Gaming the System

Though Democrats are guilty too.

Propaganda (and lobby money) works.

The US says... Go Israel, Beat Iran.

The Fox Propaganda Corp must be doing a better job than the other US propaganda outlets as the one article notes....

43 percent of U.S. Democrats approve of Israel taking military action against Iran to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons, while 40 percent disapprove. However, when Republicans were asked the same question, 74 percent voiced approval while 17 percent disapproved

This post, POLLS, has a few polls the propaganda outfits may have missed.

America, We used to be the good guys.

tnb

Government of the People, by the People

shouldn't that be....

...government of the corporation, by the corporation, for the corporation...

The revolving door spins faster on healthcare reform

and an older one....

Another Goldman executive named to key government post as its profits skyrocket

Government Regulation

Wouldn't the world be a great place if the government would just leave all these nice companies alone. End all those silly regulations and just let the markets work.

Diabetes Drug Maker Hid Test Data on Risks, Files Indicate - NYTimes.com

Sure the markets work, companies/businesses will act in their best interests but those interests often conflict with the best interests od the people. Government provides the balance.

It's "We the people...." not "We the corporations..."

Republican/Democrat Party is the Problem?

I like this site, "Politcal Irony", a lot and this post is pretty good, but again, it lays the blame on the Republicans and though they are a problem, the Democrats are not really any better. Both parties are led by powerful elite groups, have a lot of coruption, care mostly about the same groups,... big business, big medical, etc. Both claim to be for "the people" but their actions are more for themselves and their friends in power.

We need a "none-of-the-above" option in all our elections.

Political Irony › The Republican Party is not the solution to our problem; the Republican Party is the problem

Liberal Media ?

Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

Meet the new boss....

... same as the old boss."

One of my main reasons for supporting Obama was his seemingly more balanced view of Israel and the middle east. I thought he might really make a difference. It didn't take long for "the lobby" to set him straight.

So who really is "The Boss"

It's official: Israel has gotten away with it -- again - War Room - Salon.com

Israel: Use of live fire justified

Imagine that!? Israel's investigation of itself finds no wrong doing.

"The team determined that the Navy Commando soldiers operated properly, with professionalism, bravery and resourcefulness and that the commanders exhibited correct decision making," the Israeli army said in a statement on Monday.

So in other words,... 'Killing the nine peace activists in international waters was the right thing to do."

Why does the US continue to support this evil country. We used to be the good guys.

Israel: Use of live fire justified - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Economics for Dope Smokers

I Was Gonna Write This Post, But Then I Got High…(No Worries, It’s Almost Legal)

Mortgage Fraud Ring

7 Cops And An FBI Agent Charged In Florida Mortgage Fraud Ring | TPMMuckraker

Yeah, yeah, yeah,.... but it was Clinton and Barney Frank forcing all those nice banks to loan money to the poor people that really caused the financial crisis.

oh, and then there's this...

Biggest Defaulters on Mortgages Are the Rich

Gleen Greenwald - Octavia Nasr Firing

Glenn Greenwald, who's been great lately, nails-it again.

Octavia Nasr's firing and what the Liberal Media allows - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

The liberal media is a myth. Today's media leans to the right on most points and in terms of Israel has only one view,.. if you're not pro-Israel, you are, to quote from the link above, a "quintessentially anti-American, pseudo-pacifist, pro-terrorist, self-hating Jewish liberal". You might as well throw "Anti-Semitic bastard" in there too. Questioning Israel is just not allowed in The US today.

As I said above, I think Greenwald's been great lately but I wonder how long he can keep it up. Will the powers-that-be allow this kind of talk to continue? Salon's got to be getting some heat from the establishment for having him. He's been getting a few TV spots recently, will these continue or will he be blackballed? I wouldn't be suprised if he were taken down a notch by those in charge. Again, questioning Israel is just not allowed in The US today.

I going to help him as best I can. Spreading his message, Subscribing to Salon and boycotting CNN and its advertisers.

"America, We used to be the good guys."

TNB

The Black Crowes channel the Allman Brothers

Mitch Daniels - Religious Idiot

This is from possible 2012 presidential candidate, Mitch Daniels' interview posted on WANE.COM and found here: Daniels talks candidly about his faith.

Daniels:

.... And atheism leads to brutality. All the horrific crimes of the last century were committed by atheists -Stalin and Hitler and Mao and so forth- because it flows very naturally from an idea that there is no judgment and there is nothing other than the brief time we spend on this Earth.....

Yeah Mitch, like there's never been anything evil done in the name of religion. You fucking idiot.

Good Article on the US-Israeli Relationship

Thaddeus Russell: Does U.S. Support for Israel Threaten American Safety? - The Daily Beast

One nation, Under God ?

I wonder if those right-wingers that always want to go back to their "Old America" would want to go back to 1954?

Pro- Israeli Propaganda?

Something's going on.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has a series of articles today, July 6, 2010, that look like their only purpose is to whip-up US and European support against Hezbollah. The first three promote a "Hezbollah is trying to move into South America" theme while the other connects Hezbollah to the European drug trade. All are presented as recent but are from vague sources and offer basically no new information, just a recycling of old news.

The main article is presented as new "news" from a Kuwaiti source. The headline reads like it happened yesterday but I find nothing in todays news and there's really nothing new here, hell, one reference is from 1994.

Mexico thwarts Hezbollah bid to set up South American network - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Then there's this which is presented as new but is really from March 2009.

Haaretz July 6, 2010 - us official: iran increasing pro-hezbollah activity in south america

From voanews.com - March 2009

And this which is originally from February 2010.

Miami: Three men charged with Financing Hezbollah

But was from February 2010

I can't find any legitimate news source with a recent Hezbollah-European drug trade article. Only this.

Haaretz - European Drug trade

So, what's going on? Israeli's trying to drum up US and european support for todays Obama-Netanyahu meeting? Maybe setting up some new series of attacks on Hezbollah or Lebanon. Maybe just trying to offset some of the recent bad-press they (Isarael) got over the murder of nine peace activists in international waters? Something else?

Thoughts for the July 4th Holiday.

Here is a good post from the Booman Tribune. I agree with much of it but I think too many on the left argue this is a Democrat-Republican thing when, I believe, it goes deeper than that. Sure the Republicans support business/corporations at the expense of people but are the Democrats really any better?

The Republicans talk small government but typically produce a big government that favors big business including big oil, big media, big medicine, big finance and big religion. The Democrats (of last 30 years anyway), talk a little more about the plight of the people, but they also produce a government that favors big business including big oil, big media, big medicine, and big finance. They may throw in a little more for the common man but in practice there's not a lot of difference between the two.

Our government has been captured by the rich and powerful from both the corporate and special-interest lobbies and no longer really works for “We the People”. Both parties support mostly the same business interests, the un-ending wars in the middle-east, and I'm not sure you're even allowed to participate in American government unless you pledge un-dying support for Israel. The parties work together to squash third party candidates and, with the help of the corporate media’s endless stream of mindless crap designed drive ratings but not really affect the system, work to keep their supporters in a rage against the other side over little shit like whether Obama is a citizen or Sarah Palin is an idiot, while they run the place into the ground just to increase their wealth and power.

Democrat or Republican, “We the People” are screwed.

Music, with a Little Humor

I'm glad to see that some of those country music people have their head screwed on right. Most are trying to appeal to the far-right, tea-bagging, gun-tote'in, christio-fascist's. Hayes Carll says screw that,.. at least the christio-fascist part.

A Little Political Humor

We'll probably never know the truth about this.

A retired US Amry Colonel and an Israeli caught trying to make an illeagal weapons sale. Google shows several links and the Israeli press knows about it but nothing from a US media outlet.

Google for Hanoch Miller and joseph O'Toole

The Haaretz knows about it so I assume it's not just crap from the black-helicopter crowd.

Israli Press - Why are so many Israelis arrested over illegal arms deals worldwide? - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Another link