So Let's Catch Up
First Of All...
Flow Chart of Armageddon
Just so we can pinpoint exactly when the end of the world is nigh.
As If We Needed More Proof
CIA Reportedly Disbands Bin Laden Unit
The Associated Press
NEW YORK -- A CIA unit that had hunted for Osama bin Laden and his top deputies for a decade has been disbanded, according to a published report.
Citing unnamed intelligence officials, The New York Times reported Tuesday that the unit, known as "Alec Station," was shut down late last year. The decision to close the unit, which predated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was first reported Monday by National Public Radio.”
Ben Franklin said anyone who gives up a little liberty in favor of a little security deserves neither. Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, in favor of the Freedoms we are so merrily tossing aside we are getting Jack Shit.
But then what did you expect from the man who didn’t fund the Office of Homeland security for two years after he created it. Who still has not addressed the issue of Port security. Who wanted to create a “guest worker program” for illegal immigrants Who six months after 9-11 when asked about bin Laden said “I don’t care.”
Don’t attack terrorism, attack the NYTimes instead.
Oh, wait, he might stop homosexuals marrying. With all the trouble in the world; war in Iraq, Afghanistan struggling, problems with Iran, North Korea threatening attack us with Nuclear weapons, failing economy, attacks on Constitutional rights, war profiteering and possible treason from the Vice President’s office, corruption rampant in the GOP, attacks on veterans benefits, the mess that is rebuilding the Gulf Coast, rising fuel prices in an oil dependant economy, our nation’s poor, national deficit completely out of control, sanctioned torture, failing healthcare system, not to mention the heinous environmental policies, etc., etc., etc. it’s absolutely imperative we keep gay people from getting hitched.
(And folks, it's not like the whole North Korea thing is a big surprise. Jong Il has been an issue for the last decade or more: a psychotic dictator who is starving his own people with a real WMD's that we chose to ignore in favor of chasing after fake WMDs in the Middle East.)
When is that last 30% of America going to get the clue that George W. Bush doesn’t give a rats ass about their or their children’s safety or wellbeing, that their credulity and fear has been exploited to do nothing more than support the wealthy and big business’s control over the government. That they have received, and are going to receive, nothing in return?
He’s not even bringing you flowers people!
Read it Closely
Read the Declaration of Impeachment
"…whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Tip o' the hat to Vic.
Book Review: The Rise Of Theodore Roosevelt
(Amazon Listing)
Theodore Roosevelt is an utterly engaging and very difficult subject for a historian/author to cover because there is simply so much to him. Roosevelt lived at such a pace he seemed to pack three lifetimes into one. Sickly asthmatic child, athlete, teenage naturalist, assemblyman, historian, author, pioneer rancher, big game hunter, conservationist, Civil Service reform, Police reform, Secretary of the Navy, Rough Rider, Governor, VP, President, remarried widower, father. How do you combine all that into a single person, let alone translate it clearly in a single novel?
Well, Morris wisely doesn't try to. "The Rise..." is volume one covering Roosevelt life until he takes the Presidency which is covered in the second volume, “Theodore Rex” (which I haven’t gotten to yet). Nor does Morris leave out anything. He touches on all of the various foci in Roosevelt’s life without bogging the reader down in one or another or losing them in transition, probably gliding from one passion to another more smoothly than the frenetic Teddy ever did. Everything is touched on in such a readable way, one forgets that they are reading a biography and get caught up Roosevelt’s adventures.
Nor is Morris concerned with either glorifying or vilifying his subject. The paradox of the bloodthirsty nature of the Nation’s First Conservationist he does not even attempt to explain or rationalize away, but nor does he condemn Roosevelt for it. He dispassionately lays out Roosevelt’s moral force in reforming corrupt government practices, but also his war like nature that seemed to rise up at the prospect of any conflict. Bad and good sides, triumphs and mistakes, Morris doesn’t revel or wallow in either but instead acts merely as a guide through one of the most remarkable American lives that is a page turner in and of itself.
I think looking to past great Americans' for example and inspiration is especially important now, with such a imperative crisis in American leadership. While I don’t agree with all of TR's policies, he was a highly intelligent, dedicated, dynamic and honorable public servant I can respect deeply. If we look to such men and women, perhaps we can find template to find and shape leadership for our own time.
Celebrate Freedom
...Read a Banned Book.
Google Rules
Many people have heard what happens when you enter "Failure" into a Google search and hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Their latest? Enter "Asshole" into the search field and hit "I'm Feeling Lucky". It's all for a good cause folks!
Speaking of Good Causes
I've been meaning to give a plug to the Dewey Donation System which is trying to restock New Orleans' Libraries whose collections were destroyed by Katrina.
If nothing we do means anything, then the only thing that means anything is what we do. ~ Joss Whedon
Flow Chart of Armageddon
Just so we can pinpoint exactly when the end of the world is nigh.
As If We Needed More Proof
CIA Reportedly Disbands Bin Laden Unit
The Associated Press
NEW YORK -- A CIA unit that had hunted for Osama bin Laden and his top deputies for a decade has been disbanded, according to a published report.
Citing unnamed intelligence officials, The New York Times reported Tuesday that the unit, known as "Alec Station," was shut down late last year. The decision to close the unit, which predated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was first reported Monday by National Public Radio.”
Ben Franklin said anyone who gives up a little liberty in favor of a little security deserves neither. Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, in favor of the Freedoms we are so merrily tossing aside we are getting Jack Shit.
But then what did you expect from the man who didn’t fund the Office of Homeland security for two years after he created it. Who still has not addressed the issue of Port security. Who wanted to create a “guest worker program” for illegal immigrants Who six months after 9-11 when asked about bin Laden said “I don’t care.”
Don’t attack terrorism, attack the NYTimes instead.
Oh, wait, he might stop homosexuals marrying. With all the trouble in the world; war in Iraq, Afghanistan struggling, problems with Iran, North Korea threatening attack us with Nuclear weapons, failing economy, attacks on Constitutional rights, war profiteering and possible treason from the Vice President’s office, corruption rampant in the GOP, attacks on veterans benefits, the mess that is rebuilding the Gulf Coast, rising fuel prices in an oil dependant economy, our nation’s poor, national deficit completely out of control, sanctioned torture, failing healthcare system, not to mention the heinous environmental policies, etc., etc., etc. it’s absolutely imperative we keep gay people from getting hitched.
(And folks, it's not like the whole North Korea thing is a big surprise. Jong Il has been an issue for the last decade or more: a psychotic dictator who is starving his own people with a real WMD's that we chose to ignore in favor of chasing after fake WMDs in the Middle East.)
When is that last 30% of America going to get the clue that George W. Bush doesn’t give a rats ass about their or their children’s safety or wellbeing, that their credulity and fear has been exploited to do nothing more than support the wealthy and big business’s control over the government. That they have received, and are going to receive, nothing in return?
He’s not even bringing you flowers people!
Read it Closely
Read the Declaration of Impeachment
"…whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Tip o' the hat to Vic.
Book Review: The Rise Of Theodore Roosevelt
(Amazon Listing)
Theodore Roosevelt is an utterly engaging and very difficult subject for a historian/author to cover because there is simply so much to him. Roosevelt lived at such a pace he seemed to pack three lifetimes into one. Sickly asthmatic child, athlete, teenage naturalist, assemblyman, historian, author, pioneer rancher, big game hunter, conservationist, Civil Service reform, Police reform, Secretary of the Navy, Rough Rider, Governor, VP, President, remarried widower, father. How do you combine all that into a single person, let alone translate it clearly in a single novel?
Well, Morris wisely doesn't try to. "The Rise..." is volume one covering Roosevelt life until he takes the Presidency which is covered in the second volume, “Theodore Rex” (which I haven’t gotten to yet). Nor does Morris leave out anything. He touches on all of the various foci in Roosevelt’s life without bogging the reader down in one or another or losing them in transition, probably gliding from one passion to another more smoothly than the frenetic Teddy ever did. Everything is touched on in such a readable way, one forgets that they are reading a biography and get caught up Roosevelt’s adventures.
Nor is Morris concerned with either glorifying or vilifying his subject. The paradox of the bloodthirsty nature of the Nation’s First Conservationist he does not even attempt to explain or rationalize away, but nor does he condemn Roosevelt for it. He dispassionately lays out Roosevelt’s moral force in reforming corrupt government practices, but also his war like nature that seemed to rise up at the prospect of any conflict. Bad and good sides, triumphs and mistakes, Morris doesn’t revel or wallow in either but instead acts merely as a guide through one of the most remarkable American lives that is a page turner in and of itself.
I think looking to past great Americans' for example and inspiration is especially important now, with such a imperative crisis in American leadership. While I don’t agree with all of TR's policies, he was a highly intelligent, dedicated, dynamic and honorable public servant I can respect deeply. If we look to such men and women, perhaps we can find template to find and shape leadership for our own time.
Celebrate Freedom
...Read a Banned Book.
Google Rules
Many people have heard what happens when you enter "Failure" into a Google search and hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Their latest? Enter "Asshole" into the search field and hit "I'm Feeling Lucky". It's all for a good cause folks!
Speaking of Good Causes
I've been meaning to give a plug to the Dewey Donation System which is trying to restock New Orleans' Libraries whose collections were destroyed by Katrina.
If nothing we do means anything, then the only thing that means anything is what we do. ~ Joss Whedon
posted by KiplingKat | 9:42 AM
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