Operation Iraqi Freedom was going to leave us with a democracy in the Middle East. It looks like the Iraqis are catching on and that things are going swimmingly well for them but not so well for us. Turns out they don’t want us occupying their country afterall. They don’t want a permanent US presence complete with contractors and 58 permanent bases. Looks like we’ll have to install a strong man like Saddam and prop him up. Read more here.
Grand Oil Party
True to form the GOP blocked a measure that would have supplied a measure of relief to American’s at the pump. They blocked an effort by Senate Democrats to tax windfall profits of oil companies. Windfall profits would be a way to punish the speculators, but you can’t do that to the Grand Oil Party. America is on the verge of an economic collapse and the robber barons are not about to let up. The Grand Oil Party plan is to drill in ANWR and along the coast. Ripping off your customers must be a family value.
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a proposal Tuesday to tax the windfall profits of the largest oil companies, despite pleas by Democratic leaders to use the measure to address America’s anger over $4 a gallon gasoline.
The Democratic energy package would have imposed a tax on any “unreasonable” profits of the five largest U.S. oil companies and given the federal government more power to address oil market speculation that the bill’s supporters argue has added to the crude oil price surge.–Read more at Huffington Post.
IQ in your future?
Toyota’s hoping many people will be looking to increase their bottom line with the purchase of an IQ. I’m tempted myself. This little car looks like the ForTwo, only it is for three adults plus one child. Read more here.
Thank you Comedy Central
I hadn’t heard that. Too funny. I wonder if the President has heard of $5 a gallon gasoline.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EKZOKxdxj4]
A Rather good presentation
A good speech by Dan Rather. Rather is talking about the free press that is articulated in the first amendment of the United States Constitution.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97SzcumnYdc]
Memories
301 Hazeltine
Today while I was waiting for Diane to finish shopping I used my GPS and found what used to be the United States Naval Reserve Center at 301 Hazeltine Avenue in Jamestown, New York. It was here that I came in June of 1972 to inquire about service in the United States Navy. It was here that I enlisted on June 21, 1972 for six years in the United States Naval Reserve. Little did I know how much that decision would impact my life both in the short and long term.
I was anxious and uncertain about what the future held for me, but it was the calm assurance of Petty Officers’ Leonard Fuller and Dan Slocum who reassured me. I never met Mr. Fuller again. Like most of my naval friends and acquaintances he has vanished. I later ran into Dan Slocum when he served on the school board at Franklinville Central School. As I stood there today looking at the building and enjoying the lovely day I thought of how often in the past several years that I wished I had kept up with my shipmates. That was one of the mistakes I made, I lost contact. I look for them by name sometimes in Google searches, but find only the names of surgeons I worked with never the Corpsmen and other enlisted men and women with whom I served. All lives have regrets and that is one of mine.
Devin on “D”
Devin was guarding a couple of big guys today and Jon Burgio was one of them. Jon is a recent graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo and in addition to being tall and powerfully built is a good post player. Devin at 6’3″ gave away six inches and almost 150 pounds to this guy. Devin’s team lost a close game 15-14 as time ran out. Overall their Gus Macker record at the Jamestown tournament was 3-2. It was great to see these young men in action again and to share a pre-game meal with them and Tim Anderson’s parents at the Cherry Lounge on Cherry Street in Jamestown, New York. It was 88 degrees at game time and very humid. Diane and I’ve been following basketball games ever since our first date and we’ve been following Devin since he was in grade school basketball leagues. I’ve written about Devin many times and I’m very proud of what he has accomplished both on and off the basketball court.
Today it was great to be united with these special young men and several of the parents. Today was one of the days I was glad to be alive.
Absolute power
Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. Their mistaken course stems from false notions of equality, ladies and gentlemen. Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.–Barry Goldwater
Barry was right on target. This sounds like a description of our current administration and their un-American policies. Ironically Barry was the icon of modern conservatives, back when conservatives stood for less government intrusion into private lives of its citizens. I wonder what Barry would have thought of our misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was a strong advocate for national defense but I don’t think Barry would have been for the invasion and occupation of both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Macker time
Today I spent part of the afternoon watching my son and several of his friends take part in the Gus Macker Three-on-Three basketball tournament in Jamestown, New York. I’ve been watching Devin play in Macker’s for a number of years. He’s competing in the Top Men’s Division which is the toughest division of the Macker. He is joined by three former Fredonia State College players who were once teammates for the Fredonia State Blue Devils. Devin’s team finished the day at 2 wins and 1 loss. They will be playing at eight o’clock tomorrow morning and so we’ll be on the road early to make the game. Jamestown is a little over 50 miles away.
Those damned Iranians
Turns out the Iranians may have duped us into attacking Iraq. It does seem to have strengthened their hand.
Defense Department counterintelligence investigators suspected that Iranian exiles who provided dubious intelligence on Iraq and Iran to a small group of Pentagon officials might have “been used as agents of a foreign intelligence service … to reach into and influence the highest levels of the U.S. government,” a Senate Intelligence Committee report said Thursday.–McClatchy News Service.
Our geniuses often cite intelligence failures as the reason for September 11, 2001 and the Iraq War. Turns out they are right, but it’s not lack of intelligence, it’s lack of intellect.