Obama approved expanding oil exploration and drilling off the coasts of the United States - drill baby drill! Then the 40th anniversary of Earth Day dawns with a burning oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven are missing - presumed dead. The platform topples and sinks to the sea bed. One thousand barrels of oil a day (roughly 42,000 gallons) escape from the broken well head with estimates that it could take three months to plug the leak.
I hate it when I get incomplete information. Of course, that happens all the time, but a piece of news today rang alarm bells. Namely, Afghans agree to take over U.S. prison at Bagram (1/10/2010). According to the piece from Reuters, and as noted elsewhere over the years, the Bagram prison (housed in a converted aircraft hanger) has been the "more evil twin" of Guantanamo.
Joe Lieberman and Arlen Specter are calling for a preemptive strike on Yemen in response to the attempted detonation of an explosive device on a U.S. bound jet on December 25th. The corporate media is chasing right along "debating" whether we should be going after Yemen. The reality is that WE ALREADY ARE.
There has been a flurry of rather stunning news of late that should raise eyebrows. I have collected a few of the ones that left me thinking "Say What?". They include cheap ways to intercept Predator drone military feeds, U.S. double agents planning terrorist attacks, the CIA still involved in torture, and we are still being spied upon.
Have you heard of the Chilcot Inquiry? If you are in the U.S., the answer is likely "No". The Chilcot Inquiry - also known as "The Iraq Inquiry" - is the UK's investigation into the events that led to and followed from the invasion of Iraq. The Chair of the investigation is Sir John Chilcot who stated the purpose of the inquiry as follows:
"Our terms of reference are very broad, but the essential points, as set out by the Prime Minister and agreed by the House of Commons, are that this is an Inquiry by a committee of Privy Counsellors. It will consider the period from the summer of 2001 to the end of July 2009, embracing the run-up to the conflict in Iraq, the military action and its aftermath. We will therefore be considering the UK's involvement in Iraq, including the way decisions were made and actions taken, to establish, as accurately as possible, what happened and to identify the lessons that can be learned. Those lessons will help ensure that, if we face similar situations in future, the government of the day is best equipped to respond to those situations in the most effective manner in the best interests of the country."
First calling themselves "tea baggers" - thanks to lack of cultural knowledge about the sexual nature of that term - increasingly this nation-wide collection of populace is being referred to as the "Tea Party." While it surely intended to stoke the "patriotic" fervor of those who see themselves as part of this movement, this appellation is very inaccurate.
The U.S. is deeply embedded in the mythology of the heroism of the warrior culture. There is a lot of rhetoric about the courage and sacrifice of the those who have fought (versus those who have served) for our "freedom." Never is that "freedom" defined. However, it is true that many have served - willingly or not - under the belief they our protecting our "freedom" and "our way of life." I will not besmirch those sacrifices, nor will I be silent on the utterly shameful way that both the government and the people of the United States have met the needs of those who have served. We call them "heroes," but as a nation living with heroes is a more difficult task than remembering (once in a while) those who have died.
Economists state that "Higher unemployment might become the norm as result of (the) recession." The problem is that this is not simply a "recession," but the collapse of the heavily skewed global economic system. The follies of monopoly capitalism, combined with the funny money financial schemes, have hit the world hard. However, they have hit the United States particularly hard, and may have permanently damaged the economic dominance of the United States.
I have added an addendum at end of this post in response to questions and comments
Obama is meeting with various advisers at length to determine a strategy for Afghanistan. However, this is truly a complex question with far reaching effects. The realities are grim, and seem counter-intuitive to any strategy whatsoever. Unfortunately Obama committed early on to Afghanistan as "the good war." A bad choice in my opinion, but that campaign rhetoric commitment is part of the anchor which now is likely to hold him to certain constraints.
The Guardian informs us that 314 of Forbes richest 400 people in the US lost $300 billion in the past year. I guess a takeaway might be that everybody has gotten hurt in the economic collapse. We could also say, "Gosh! Look how much money the richest folks have lost." Well, don't start taking donations for these poverty stricken billionaires yet.
People may find the full text and video excerpts of Obama's speech to the full Congress at Huffington Post. I am going to excerpt and discuss what I think are the most critical components.
Let's talk class warfare shall we? Anytime someone raises the issue of the outrageous gap between the very rich and the rest of the population then either a politician or a TV talking head will caution against "class warfare." This is so disingenuous because there is an ongoing class warfare being waged on the population by the very rich - and their very well placed lackeys. The news and reports of late demonstrate the real warfare that is being waged - and who pays the price for it.
Robert Milage of Idaho gets the bragging rights for killing the first wolf in Idaho as OUR EPA continues to fight in court to de-list the wolves as an endangered species.
Picture from the The Idaho Statesman - 9/02/2009
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