war

We'll they have done it again. The revolving door between the DOD and private military contractors has resulted in Blackwater, aka Academi, being awarded a sole source contract for the war on drugs south of the USA border.

In 1968 President Nixon officially launched the “War on Drugs” in response to what was seen as a growing problem of drug use in the United States. At that time, approximately 1.3% of the U.S. population was considered addicted to drugs and the “War” was waged through measures such as heavy policing and arrests for drug possession and trafficking, building more prisons to house drug offenders, and harsh penalties for users. Over 40 years and 1 trillion tax dollars later, the rate of addiction in the U.S. holds steady at 1.3% and drugs are cheaper, purer, and easier to get than ever before.

Waiting can be a source of trepidation for writers. Empty time that must be filled. Especially when the wait is for death.

My wife’s dad moved yesterday into what most of us would call a nursing home. The place is owned by Jane's childhood friend, a good man making a living in the hard business of caring for the dying. It is a growth industry.

This Sunday’s New York Times featured a story about the widening gap between food demand and supply, pointing to three interrelated explanations. Oil prices, population growth, and climate change. What’s even scarier is the wave of new public policy designed to make each of these problems worse.

The world may be going to hell, but at least we know who to blame.

They tell us we’re dropping about $10 billion a month in Afghanistan so we can catch that Bin Laden guy...but eventually, we’re gonna catch him, and as soon as we do you can imagine that folks will be wondering why we’re still over there – and I gotta tell ya, I’m one of those people.

I mean, we’re over here talking about how we're so broke that we have no choice but to cut a couple of billion from heat assistance for the poor, and a billion-and-a-half from the Social Security operations budget, and money from food stamps and childcare assistance and tornado forecasting in Alabama…but every single month, just as regular as clockwork, we seem to be able to find another $10 billion to spend in Afghanistan, even as we have an economy that could badly use another round of truly productive stimulus.

And I don’t think y’all even realize just how much money $10 billion really is – but today we’re gonna see if we can’t fix that with a bit of a thought exercise.

Imagine if we set up a program that took that Afghanistan money and spent it right here at home for a year or two – and it was spent in the form of a lottery, where we stimulate the larger economy, help fix the mortgage crisis, and create a more energy-independent nation, all at the same time.

I got all we need except a catchy name; with that in mind let’s move on to the description of how the Happy Super Fun Day Peace Lotto Stimulus Thingy works.

Another stupid war
All teh gayz fault
Show lies

This morning's Wilmington Star-News headline "Casualties to ratchet up..." commenting on the ongoing war in Afghanistan was pathetically cold. Perhaps that's because so few of us are making any personal sacrifice in the conduct of this endless debacle ... and because the numbers of dead and wounded mean little to many readers.

I am currently unsure about this new direction President Obama is wanting to take our country with regard to nuclear weapons/nuclear proliferation. It scares me in a way and makes me think it might be a new beginning for us to end the threat of nuclear war among nations at the same time.

CNN's Jack Cafferty had this as part of today's discussion on this.

This disturbs me yet interests me:

Mr. Obama's new nuclear policy - in which the U.S. pledges to stop developing new nuclear weapons and not to use existing weapons to attack non-nuclear states that follow non-proliferation agreements

Who on earth really wants war? This is a great video:

http://media.causes.com/576542?p_id=128426554&s=request

Current status of the Stop Outsourcing Security Act (H.R. 4650). If your representative is not on this list please contact them and urge co-sponsorship. There is a comparable bill in the Senate which has yet to be given a bill number (view it at http://sanders.senate.gov/files/SOS%20Text.pdf). Thank you.

Rep Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI-2] - 2/23/2010 *
Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [D-MI-14] - 2/25/2010

Rep Ellison, Keith [D-MN-5] - 2/23/2010 *
Rep Filner, Bob [D-CA-51] - 2/23/2010 *

Rep Gonzalez, Charles A. [D-TX-20] - 2/23/2010 *
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [D-AZ-7] - 2/23/2010 *

Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. [D-IL-4] - 2/23/2010 *
Rep Hall, John J. [D-NY-19] - 2/23/2010 *

Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [D-NY-22] - 2/23/2010 *
Rep Holt, Rush D. [D-NJ-12] - 2/23/2010 *

Rep Lee, Barbara [D-CA-9] - 2/23/2010 *
Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [D-NY-14] - 2/23/2010 *

Rep McGovern, James P. [D-MA-3] - 2/23/2010 *
Rep Moore, Gwen [D-WI-4] - 2/23/2010 *

The Stop Outsourcing Security Act would restore the responsibility of the American military to train troops and police, guard convoys, repair weapons, administer military prisons, and perform military intelligence. The bill also would require that all diplomatic security be undertaken by U.S. government personnel. The White House could seek exceptions, but those contracts would be subject to congressional oversight.