Month: April 2009

  • American Media — Stereotyping Again, Are We Now?

    Last time I checked, most of our military men and women in Texas are Hispanic.  I’d like to see how the KKK would take to having military right-wing “extremists” join their ranks.  Get a grip, Washington Post.  Look outside of your asshole, to see who is actually in the military these days.  Maybe if you reporters actually served your country, instead of being so self-serving, you’d know who is in the military.  And the FBI warns that a miniscule number of these military men are white and extremist.  If one actually checked the statistics, (isn’t that a newspaper researcher’s JOB?), I’m betting that the percentage is comparable to that of the general population — which is to be expected in a volunteer military.  Duh!


    Federal agency warns of radicals on right

    Ms. Kuban said she did not know how long the new report had been in the making.

    “The purpose of the report is to identify risk. This is nothing unusual,” said Ms. Kuban, who added that the Homeland Security Department did this “to prevent another Tim McVeigh from ever happening again.”

    The Homeland Security assessment specifically says that “rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat.”

    Jerry Newberry, director of communications for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the vast majority of veterans are patriotic citizens who would not join anti-government militias.

    “As far as our military members go, I think that the military is a melting pot of society. So you might get a few, a fractional few, who are going to be attracted by militia groups and other right-wing extremists,” he said.

    “We have to remember that the people serving in our military are volunteers, they do it because they love their country, and they believe in what our country stands for,” he said. “They spent their time in the military defending our Constitution, so the vast majority of them would be repulsed by the hate groups discussed in this report.”

    The Homeland Security report cited a 2008 FBI report that noted that a small number of returning military veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have joined extremist groups.

    The FBI report said that from October 2001 through May 2008 “a minuscule” number of veterans, 203 out of 23,000, had joined groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, the National Socialist Movement, the Creativity Movement, the National Alliance and some skinhead groups.

    “Although the white supremacist movement is of concern to the FBI, our assessment shows that only a very small number of people with prior military experience may have an affiliation with supremacist groups,” FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Monday when asked about the FBI report.

    A 2006 report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that monitors white supremacists like the Klan, said that white-power groups had an interest in the kind of training the military provides.

    from http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/14/federal-agency-warns-of-radicals-on-right/?page=3

  • My Bad! — Thank You, Obama and Your Team of U.S. Navy Seals

    Before I lambast the American news media, I first want to issue an apology for having so little faith in our Executive Chief, and by that token, his men and women — the U.S. military.  They did an admirable job, rescuing Capt. Richard Phillips from a bunch of assholes.  And why is everyone so sad they died?  They were holding, and still are holding, innocent men hostage.  I’m glad snipers shot their heads open.

    And now, I just want to say, “Thank you, American news media, for again butting your asshat heads into something that really wasn’t your business, and causing people to worry.”

    Every time there is something important to cover — like African embassy bombings, or US warship bombings (U.S.S. Cole), you ignore it in favor of something sensationalist, to bring down a President (Clinton, whom I don’t even like, but who was at least our leader at the time).  Or the constant bashing of Bush (who did many things wrong, but also did many things right) during his Presidential term.  And now, it’s Obama.

    You didn’t even cover the shootings in India earlier this year.  A significant event in world history.  Instead, we’re still hearing about Madonna and her stupid fucking failed adoption.  It’s a wonder anyone watches the news anymore.  You guys are obsolete.


    Our [sensationalist] American news media hard at work
    making themselves seem important, when they’re not

  • And So It Begins — The Sacrifice of the Safety and Financial Security of the American People

    I‘ve kind of been following the Somali pirates for years now, because. . . well, I’m into sailing.  So naturally anything that makes international waters less safe is concerning to me.  But, it seems like it’s only now starting to be in the news.  I wonder why.  Perhaps because the first American crew has been kidnapped?

    Up until then, terrorism doesn’t happen to Americans, right?

    I had known that the captain of this particular ship had volunteered to stay as a hostage so that his crew could get to safety.  And, last night, husband mentioned that the captain jumped overboard and tried to swim to safety.  A US destroyer was nearby, and no one helped him.  So he was recaptured.

    Husband mentioned that in order for the crew on the destroyer to help him, someone had to give the order.  Husband says that if Obama had given the order — after all, he is head of the executive branch of the government — it would have been done.  But instead, the captain was recaptured, and remains a hostage for ransom.  How strange.

    So apparently some people are irate about this.

    But I am not surprised.  Our current president somehow thinks that everyone will somehow be nicer to the United States now that he is our leader.  That simply deposing Bush means that there will peace and prosperity for all.

    So, I guess that’s why he didn’t even slap North Korea’s hand, when they decided to test their long range missiles.  It’s also why he’s talking about nuclear disarmament (as if anyone could “talk” the Middle East into not making nuclear weapons).  What kind of dream world did he grow up in, where people stopped doing bad things because you “talked” to them?  Obviously he didn’t grow up in South Side Chicago, as so many of his constituents did.

    Anyway, no, I’m not surprised.  And I find it laughable that others are.  With everyone in this country being taught that mere words can be grounds to sue, no wonder people have lost the ability to see what a true threat is.

    A lot of “conservatives” make fun of the French for being cowardly, but even the French had the presence of mind to rescue their own from the Somali pirates.  And just this month, too.  Does Obama care that little for the American people?  The French actually bothered to save people from a luxury yacht, and Obama couldn’t even lift a finger to save the captain of a shipping vessel — a vessel that is used for TRADE.  Trade that he supposedly desperately wants for our country to pull itself out of its financial recession.  Hello?  What is the executive branch of the government supposed to do other than ensure national security — and the protection of free trade.  Apparently, all the executive branch of the government is used for these days is to sign bills that require that citizens hand all their money over to the government for doing absolutely nothing but yahoo.


    French military rescues woman and child from Somali pirates in early April.

    Hostage, 2 pirates killed in French rescue operation

    (CNN) — A French hostage and two pirates died Friday in a rescue operation off Somalia, the French president’s office in Paris said Friday.

    Four hostages, including a child, were freed from the hijacked yacht after almost a week of captivity, Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said.

    The four adults and a child had been held aboard their yacht, the Tanit, since it was seized in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday, the president’s statement said.

    The military made its move after the pirates refused their offers, including one to swap an officer for the mother and child held aboard, and threatened to execute the hostages one-by-one — and because the Tanit was drifting closer to the Somalian coast, the defense ministry said.

    The possibility that the pirates could take their hostages ashore was a red line that prompted the mission. The same red line triggered two successful rescue missions by the French military last year, the ministry said.

    According to French media reports, a special forces unit attacked the hijacked vessel from different directions in two motor-powered rubber boats. The pirates opened fire and the special forces team fired back.

    Two of the five pirates were killed, along with Florent Lemacon, the owner of the Tanit, French media said. The military rescued Lemacon’s wife and 3-year-old child along with two friends of the Lemacons.

    The Lemacons and their friends left Brittany last summer in the Tanit on a round-the-world trip, according to a blog they were keeping about the trip. The blog’s last post on March 20 — when the Tanit was in the Gulf of Aden — said the French military had twice contacted them in the previous few days to warn them of pirates.

    The French military brought back 12 pirates to stand trial in the previous two rescue missions, the Defense Ministry said.

    There has been a series of high-profile and increasingly sophisticated pirate attacks in recent months.

    Also off Somalia this week, the cargo vessel Maersk Alabama was boarded by pirates, who briefly took control of the ship.

    Although the crew retook the ship, its captain, Richard Phillips, on Friday was still being held by the gang holed up in a lifeboat.

    The Maersk was hijacked about 350 miles off Somalia’s coast, a distance that used to be considered safe for ships navigating in the pirate-infested waters.

    International navies have increased patrols in the area but the region is so large the pirates can still operate.

    The U.S. military warned earlier this week that recent attacks have occurred hundreds of miles off the coast, suggesting that pirates are using “mother ships” — a practice of using bigger boats with longer range to launch smaller pirate ships against targets further out to sea.

    Last year, Somali pirates seized another French luxury yacht and the French military launched an operation that ended with them chasing the gang across the desert.

    from http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/10/somalia.france/index.html

  • Obama’s YouTube Question and Answer

    Even though I think his first actions in the White House are unsconcionably stupid (This bailout doesn’t seem to bother anyone except me and husband.  Apparently all my non-self-employed friends and relatives seem perfectly fine with my paying over 40% of my income to prop up failing businesses and help other people pay off their mortgages while we struggle to pay our own with what the government leaves us. . . .), I have to admire Obama for setting up “question and answer” sessions via YouTube.

    An example below is from http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/03/Open-for-Questions-Follow-up-Kareem-Dale/.  It features a woman with spinal muscular atrophy who wants to work, but would not qualify for health insurance.  Even if she could qualify, it’s likely she couldn’t afford it.  (Join the club, lady.  I’m not disabled, and I couldn’t even afford maternity insurance for my current pregnancy, as I’m too busy working to pay taxes for Medicaid so all my patients’ mothers can have free maternity health care.  It’s laughable.  Physican, afford to heal thyself!)  I post her video and Obama’s Disability Advisor’s response below:


    Woman with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Asks How Obama’s Plan Can Help Her and Others with Disabilities to Afford to Work


    Obama’s Disability Advisor’s vague answer

    While I commend Obama’s Disability Advisor’s attempt to answer her question, all he did was say that Obama supports independent living for people with disabilities, making sure they won’t be institutionalized.  Um.  Okay.  No firm plan there, I see.  Surprise surprise.  And I’m sure she’s relieved to know that Obama is working towards legislation to make sure she is not institutionalized.  Whew!  Being institutionalized would really interfere with her graduate studies.

    The answer will not lie with Obama.  The answer to her question lies with people reducing the cost of health care, via tort reform and lowered costs for hospitals and doctors.  Try reducing malpractice insurance, for one.  Medicaid and Medicare is a boon for those who cannot afford health care, but too many on Medicaid and Medicare have learned to screw the system over, and hospitals and clinics cannot survive on Medicaid and Medicare alone.  Thus they make up for it by charging insurance companies.

    Now, imagine a National Health Care Service, where NOBODY pays for anything (except taxpayers, but they don’t realize it because it comes out of their paycheck automatically.  There is no such thing as “free health care.”).  Everyone learns to screw over the system.  And it is unsustainable.

    Taxes increase.  Good physicians leave or just decide to leave the practice of medicine, as they just cannot support their families.  Don’t believe me?  Ask me where I’ll be in 5 years, if Nationalized Health Care becomes the norm.  ‘Not practicing medicine in the U.S.  That’s for sure.

    Anyway, thanks, Obama, for showing us that you really don’t have an answer.

    I also find it sad that as of this post, only 1,366 people have seen that poor woman’s video.  Obama set up this lovely means of communicating with him to ask him questions concerning the state of the Union, and no one seems to give a shit except 1,366 people.

    It’s sad how apathetic Americans are.