Agnosticsherbet
Agnosticsherbet's JournalWhere's all the money gone?
Where's all the money gone?]
Outside the United States, the Pentagon controls a collection of military bases unprecedented in history. With US troops gone from Iraq and the withdrawal from Afghanistan underway, it's easy to forget that we probably still have about 1,000 military bases in other peoples' lands. This giant collection of bases receives remarkably little media attention, costs a fortune, and even when cost cutting is the subject du jour, it still seems to get a free ride.
With so much money pouring into the Pentagon's base world, the question is: Who's benefiting?
Some of the money clearly pays for things like salaries, health care, and other benefits for around one million military and Defense Department personnel and their families overseas. But after an extensive examination of government spending data and contracts, I estimate that the Pentagon has dispersed around US$385 billion to private companies for work done outside the US since late 2001, mainly in that baseworld. That's nearly double the entire State Department budget over the same period, and because Pentagon and government accounting practices are so poor, the true total may be significantly higher.
Not surprisingly, when it comes to such contracts and given our recent wars, the top two countries into which taxpayer dollars flowed were Afghanistan and Iraq (around US$160 billion). Next comes Kuwait ($37.2 billion), where the military has had a significant presence since the first Gulf War of 1990-1991, followed by Germany ($27.8 billion), South Korea ($18.2 billion), Japan ($15.2 billion), and Britain ($14.7 billion).
With Republicans hyperventilating about overspending, when they are not making up scandals on the fly, that is certainly a chunk of change poured down the rat hole of the big business of national defense. It is way past time we packed up and brought the boys home.
The Extinction Protocol Weird Smelly Mystery Foam Oozes Through Cracks
May 14, 2013 – CHINA – Something very strange started oozing out of the streets in the Chinese city of Nanjing on Saturday night. Generally, when weird things start erupting from the ground in Asian countries it’s in the form of a giant b-movie monster, but this invasion was a whole lot realer, and a whole lot smellier. At around 9PM, pedestrians began to notice the pavement at the Wende Baiyun Lane cross intersection started to crack and split open, and before long, a foamy white substance was spewing from the cracks, brimming with it a foul-smelling stench. Within a short time, the foam had spread to a 50 meter radius and stood a foot high.
China continues to suffer the consequences of runaway industrial development. Today, Godzilla Poop, tomorrow, who knows?
Palestine Palestinian Journalist Jailed for Abbas Photo
(RAMALLAH, West Bank) — A West Bank appeals court on Thursday upheld a one-year prison term for a Palestinian journalist who had a photo on his Facebook page that authorities claimed portrayed President Mahmoud Abbas as a traitor, rights activists said.
It was the second such case in two months, and Abbas’ Palestinian Authority is facing mounting criticism for stifling dissent. In particular, Abbas’ security forces have targeted supporters of the Islamic militant Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip from him in 2007.
The defendant in Thursday’s case was Mamdouh Hamamreh, a reporter for the Hamas-linked Al-Quds TV.
It seems freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the West Bank are non-existant
Bill Would Force Calif. Gun Owners To Buy Insurance
SACRAMENTO (AP) — Democratic lawmakers proposed legislation Tuesday that would require California gun owners to buy liability insurance to cover damages or injuries caused by their weapons.
Similar bills have been introduced in other states after the Newtown, Conn., school massacre. They include Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York.
“I was moved, like many others, being the father of two young children, by the Sandy Hook incident and looking for constructive ways to manage gun violence here in California as well as the rest of the country,” said Assemblyman Philip Ting of San Francisco, who introduced AB231 along with Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez of Los Angeles. “There’s basically a cost that is born by the taxpayers when accidents occur. … I don’t think that taxpayers should be footing those bills.”
Requiring gun owners to be responsible for their actions is a great first step.
Obama is a Democrat, and the Democratic Party courts liberals as major constituency but,
parties change over time. Until WWI, the Democratic Party was not liberal. By the time of Truman, when Blacks were allowed in the Party, we had moved to a center left, with a strong racist southern constituency. Northeaster Republicans were more socially liberal than many in the Democratic Party. When Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he lost the South. Nixon's Southern strategy brought Southern Democrats into the Republican fold and Reagan completed that process, turning Reagan Democrats into a Republican South. With Reagan, Northeastern socially liberal Republicans began to move to the Democratic Party. This process ended with Obama as the North East is heavily Democratic and socially liberal.
The entire country shifted right from Nixon through Bush. Even Jimmy Carter was a Social liberal fiscal Democrat a bit to the right of Johnson. Clinton was to the right of Carter. Oh, he tried a few liberal things higher taxes, and bringing gays more into the mainstream. (At the time, don't ask don't tell was considered an abomination in the sight of God. I lived through it, in the military. It lasted too long.) But Clinton's fiscal policies and deregulation were comfortably Reaganist.
2006 began the move back toward the left in reaction to massive Bush and Republican mismanagement. Obama is not a liberal in classic political terms, or even compared to Johnson or Kennedy. But he has moved us back a bit to the left in social issues. The Affordable Care Act, (a thoroughly Republican plan circa 1990), revealing that the Republicans had moved so far right that they could not even agree with solid Republican Policy of the 90's. He was slow to accept gay marriage, but finally ended Don't Ask Don't Tell and does not defend DOMA. He has appointed center left Justices. He continues the Imperial policies of Bush (foreign wars,war on terror, interventionist, spying on American Citizens) and has claimed the right to kill American Citizens without due process.
He sits, I think, at the center of American Politics, which would be center right under Bush, more than Center Right under Clinton, Right under Reagan, etc. etc. The momentum of the American public is left now. President Obama can slow that down by fighting it or help it along by going with the public.
He is still limited by what will pass the most right wing Republican Party in history. This isn't going to change until, at least, January of 2015, and only if we elect a Democratic Congress.
He was the only choice. Even if Hillary Clinton won the nomination, there would have been little difference. Republicans would have been as intransigent under her as they have been under Obama. No more liberal candidate was in the running.
Let the re-branding begin...
What some call the "battle for the head of the party" (Republican party that is), and others a "civil war" has an interesting front, the attempt to re-brand their party.
Yes, yes, I know it won't work hear, but they don't give a damn what we think and know it wouldn't work anyway. You can see this re-branding effort with people like Jeb Bush (don' laugh! All right, laugh and get out of your system). Now that you've cleaned off your screen and cleansed your drawers of the residue of mirth, just give me a moment. The Bush's actually tried to attract Latino voters to the Republican Party and did not stand four square behind shipping all those foreigners who fail the white test back over the border. People like Jeb Bush, Christie (don't let his gratitude for the President's work at getting help for Ne Jersey fool you.), Rick Perry, and hispanic Republican Latinos, and especially Marco Rubio will be at the center of re-branding Republicanism to make it a more attractive lipstick embellished pig for Latino voters.
This will require shit-canning, actually concealing under a lot of lipstick, the tea-party contingent.
How well this will go is anybodies guess.
But it is a process that we should all watch, with popcorn and interest.
Hirono defeats Lingle in US Senate race in Hawaii
HONOLULU (AP) — U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono has defeated former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle to become Hawaii's next U.S. senator, prevailing in a race many believed key to shifting power dynamics in Congress.
Hirono ran on a platform of stopping Lingle as a representative of national Republican interests. At every turn in the race, Hirono linked her opponent with well-known GOP names including Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and George Bush.
Hirono held court for Democrats in a state known to support the party. President Barack Obama topped the ticket for Democrats in his birth state in his bid for re-election.
Good news.
The Value of a Cell Phone While Voting in California...
Walked to the the polling place and voted at 1015, and though I went with my voter guide and research, there were a couple of local races that surprised me because they just were not there.
Many races are non-partisan. Partisan hacks still run for them, and you can not look at a name or a job description (nurse, constitutional lawyer, etc.) and know. (Side Note: I have noticed that everybody billing themselves as a "Constitutional Lawyer" is associated with the Tea Party, but there may be exceptions I have not met.)
Used the browser in my cell phone to determine who to vote for in those exceptional cases. An extra five minutes of research and I am convinced I voted for those who are the best from the available candidates.
Romney's Pivot Fake to the Center
Low those many moons ago (you know, June and July) talking heads waxed eloquent over the failure of Romney to pivot to the center. He was hostage of the Tea-Party, the Koch Brothers, and other assorted nefarious persons who forced Ryan upon him and kept him from doing the natural politically expedient thing of moving back to the center after a short trip to etremistvile in order to win the nomination.
His base forced him to take so many stands on the far right that his balance forever shifted out of reach of independents and centrists.
This debate changed that. Like in a bad mission impossible prologue, he disavowed knowledge of his previous right wing promises and left all those Tom Cruise ideas to die a painful death in freeperfile. He denied his tax plan. Hell, he actually reveled in his record as a governor and Romneycare, something that the Republican Primary would not let him do lest he alienate his base blogging from their mother's basement.
But is it real or did we witness a Chameleon change the direction of its color?
In Massachusetts, he was governor of a state with an 87% Democratic majority. Democrats set the agenda and Romney guided a bit, but went along for the ride. Should the unthinkable happen, and America elect "Zelig" Romney to the White House, he will have a very different legislative branch. It appears his new found centrism is a Pivot Fake to the Center.
Should Republicans maintain their hold on the House they will drive the agenda. Romney is certainly friendly to their wet dreams and can hold a pen with the best of them.
His sudden embrace of those years in Massachusetts, his new found love of his inner-liberal, is just a Pivot Fake to the center to retake independents. Will it work? Watch the polls. How will he poll with independents, who are more fickle than Olive Oil in Popeye Cartoon is anybody's guess.
But whether it works or not, it is an illusion. Romney is a Chameleon who will fake anything to get elected and in a world where a sucker is born every minute it might work.
In th past GOD filled in the empty places in knowledge of the universe...
with a narrative of myth.
As human knowledge filled the holes those places where God brought such comfort have disappeared. We know that the world is ancient. There is no scientific argument that counters an ancient earth.
We know that lightning is caused when masses of air rub together until the energy exceeds the capacitance of the atmosphere that the sparks over the resistance in the atmosphere. We know that thunder is caused by lightning. We can not make a theological argument that God, angels, Thor, or Bael Hammon are the cause.
We have considerable evidence that Planets condense from stellar clouds with the stars the orbit. They are not revealed by the parting of waters or vomited up by cosmic turtles.
With mathematics, we can even glimpse creation of a universe from nothing.
There are fewer and fewer places where God fits.
But because we as a species evolved with God and religion, many need the comfort of God and deny science so they can keep those places in the framework of their experience for God to fill. For those people, science may explain but never comforts, and needing comfort rather than explanations, they deny science and hold to myth.
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