More on Afghanistan

I’ve posted about the U.S. presence in Afghanistan here and here.  And these may be the prime reasons we find ourselves in a quagmire over there.  Not bogged down yet but certainly not “winning the hearts and minds” of the Afghan peoples.

And lest we forget why the Taliban was able to take over most of Afghanistan during the mid-1990s, it was due to the licentiousness of the warlords.  And now I read this disturbing post about a return of that repulsive behavior under the eyes of U.S. troops.  The fact that we are not putting a halt to this abhorrent behavior is putting a huge dent in our ability to win over those “hearts and minds.”

All the Afghan wants is some order, stability and peace in their lives.  For whatever the Taliban did that was wrong, they did bring order to the areas they ruled.  If the U.S./NATO forces cannot bring some semblance of order and stability to the Afghan on the street, we are doomed to fail.

Peek at the Future

Runaway industrialization, commercialization, profits-at-any-and-all-costs is what the United States has turned into.  When wages at big-box stores such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot are kept at poverty levels where skilled, over-qualified people feel lucky to find employment, the items that we use on a daily basis must be produced in low-wage foreign countries so folks below the poverty level can afford them.

It was over ninety years ago that Henry Ford increased his workers pay to five dollars a day.  He absolutely did not do this because he was a generous old soul.  He most certainly was not. No, he raised their wages so they could afford the product they ere making and that he wanted to sell.

We are no better off than the least of us.  If CEO’s are making 500 times more than their employees are, if people are having to file for bankruptcy because their medical bills are unmanageable and if lending institutions are targeting minorities because they are easy targets, then we have become a nation of, “I got mine, and I want yours, too.”

You can call it socialism or true Christianity or true Judaism or whatever you want, but until and unless we can come together to help our “brothers” we are going to go the way of the Roman empire two thousand years ago.

ANCILLARY THOUGHT: One of my degrees is in accounting.  One of the things that I learned while earning that degree was that there is either a law or a SEC regulation that says that a company’s only obligation is to maximize the return to the owners, i.e. stock holders.  The company has no obligation to it’s employees or customers.  Reducing costs are the lens through which all actions are seen.

This law or SEC regulation is certainly at odds with our Judeo/Christian upbringing and common background.

Unbelievable

Unbelievable ?  Still totally beyond the pale.  Read this story and be prepared to be shocked.

Two teenagers serve twenty-five years of a life sentence on evidence that the prosecutors knew was fabricated and false.  How do you return what is supposed to be the best years of your life to someone in their early forties?  And if prosecutors have absolute immunity at trial, then they can say and do any thing and they must be allowed to get away with it.  This lazy colostomy-bag wanted to pad his record so he could get re-elected.

My Remedy:  The prosecutor must serve out the rest of the sentence.  (Yeah, I realize it was a life sentence.)

This case will be argued at SCOTUS on 4 Nov.

Medicaid

Medicaid is supposed to be for, I think, people who have low income.  I do not know how low, but consider this.

I have a married grandson.  He and his wife have two children.  They live in Darke County, Ohio.   Last year they earned a total of $21,000.   $21,000 for a family of four in Ohio is poverty.  While the children are eligible for the state medical card, my grandson and his wife make too much money to be eligible for Medicaid.

Something is wrong with this picture.

BecKKKerheads

Kieth Olbermann, on Coundown, Monday the 21st, called the followers of Glen Beck, “Beckerheads.”

I have a slightly different spelling above.

Equinox

Well, Tuesday is it.  The day we go out in the yard and dance around our repective monoliths.

Happy Autumnal Equinox!

Easy

The dialogue in the United States has gotten loud, polarized and over-the-top.  Both sides admit it and whatever little remains of the political center, decries it.  Could it be that it is much easier for bloggers to criticize the other side and view all events through a Manichean prism?

My first attempt at blogging was a blog named “ChiefSez.”  I tried mightily to present a fair representation of the topic under consideration.  But, I found that I had neither the time, the intellect nor the ability to research and present a “fair and balanced” discourse on a subject.  Any subject.  I am not a journalist and I am not a reporter and I am nor a writer.  So, I present my opinion.  Or I cut and paste other people’s opinions, giving credit when appropriate.

So between bloggers and “talk radio” perhaps we are part of the problem.

But let us not ignore the Main-Stream Media, typically referred to as MSM.  Newspapers and television are in the business of making a profit.  Network television at least has entertainment (personally, I do not call it that) to offset the News Division. Newspapers must rely solely on advertising revenue and sales to customers.  Both print and visual mediums try to appeal to the broadest audience possible but as the right and left get farther apart the middle shrinks, they end up appealing to less and less people and their viability is threatened.

No news here.  Newspapers all across the country are disappearing.

If you have any good suggestions, please leave them in the ‘Comments’ section.

Are These Her True Colors?

I hope so.

I have never understood the concept of treating a corporation as a person.  I, as an individual, may be able to contribute $100 or more, to some group that is behind an idea I think is worthwhile.  A corporation, can take beaucoup dollars (which are written off as an expense) and employ a lobbying firm to push their point of view.  And, seeing they are pre-tax dollars, we the average taxpayer are subsidizing them.

Now, along comes the newest Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court and asks the question that I have been asking myself for fifty years, to wit:

Judges “created corporations as persons, gave birth to corporations as persons,” she said. “There could be an argument made that that was the court’s error to start with…[imbuing] a creature of state law with human characteristics.”

I am sure that she will be in the minority when this ruling is published, but as far as I am concerned, she is going in the right direction.  Even if the tax law did not allow for lobbying expenses to be written off pre-tax, corporations would still spend reckless amounts of money to influence legislation and/or elections that could boost their bottom line.

I am very pleased to see Justice Sotomayor ask this type of question.

New Thoughts On Last Previous Post

Earlier, I opined that  either oil or nuclear weapons or both could be why we are in Afghanistan.  It occurs to me now that there could be another reason.

The United States is the world’s biggest exporter of arms and armament. We sell ten times more arms than our nearest competitor, which happens to be Italy.   Could our “national interest” be to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan to keep other countries buying arms.

I don’t know where those “arms” are made, but the US parent company is the one whose stockholders will benefit.

Balance of Payments (BOP) and international trade figures would be affected in a positive manner for the US.

Mr. President, The Truth, Please

The situation in the whole of south Asia is far from simple and has more facets than a classic, round-cut diamond.

1. Oil and natural gas in the -stans.
2. Nuclear weapons in Pakistan & in India
3. Tensions in Kashmir.
4. Nuclear activity/research in Iran
5. Russian interests in Russia’s backyard.

For whatever reason, I do not see any U.S. administration being open & honest with the American people and the world as to our reason for being in Afghanistan.  What exactly are the “vital U.S. interests” at stake here?

There are obviously problems that will affect the U.S. on a long term basis.  But I do not believe that military force is the proper to use to resolve those problems.

Diplomatic advances should be much cheaper on the Treasury and will achieve a more permanent long term solution.