Defiantone.com

I received this article earlier today and I’ve got to say that I think that the author is absolutely insane!
I am still amazed that closed minded people still exist - this probably comes from the same people that think that minorities are the cause of ALL of our economic and social woes. Read below for the biggest piece of crap I’ve read in the past six months. Jessica read it and is freaking out because she “Barracks the vote” I’m sure Ann Coulter’s satanic tail is twitching as she digs into this one believing that we are going to fall into a jihad in America if Obama won the general election. The reality is that she and other like her are bat-shit insane for believing this kind of crap.

Rich Carrol - I hope you don’t have children - in fact, I hope that you have a freak accident that removes your ability to breed because you are a fool.

I searched for responses to this crap and found a few gems

Man your rants got me real shook! World will end if Obama is elected! Muslims will steal my daughter and wife!! US will be forced to not drink!! UN will rule our parking lots! And other crazy crap that you know doubt have thought of too!!! Wow! Facts to back up your paranoid rant would be a real plus!! Good luck during the coming apocalyptic jihad!!! Salaam Alekum!

The only saving grace of this article is that it will only be taken seriously by those who believe that Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly are serious political commentators.

Conspiracy theory is not political commentary.

The Jihad Candidate - by Rich Carroll

Conspiracy theories make for interesting novels when the storyline is not so absurd that it can grasp our attention. ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ and ‘Seven Days in May’ are examples of plausible chains of events that captures the reader’s imagination at best-seller level. ‘What if’ has always been the solid grist of fiction. Get yourself something cool to drink, find a relaxing position, but before you continue, visualize the television photos of two jet airliners smashing into the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan and remind yourself this cowardly act of Muslim terror was planned for eight years.

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Scott Adams, scribe of the popular Dilbert comic, may be on to something with his “economics party”. I’ve been intrigued by economics for the past year or two and I often wonder why our government decides to ignore economists. These guys study markets and how they interact - they can typically tell us if a spending decision will provide the expected results or if it will flop. Politicians rarely pay attention to these “intellectuals” because well, what the hell do they know?

Heck, I’m all in for this one - are you?

Friedman and Zakaria are two of my favorite journalists/authors and they have written a pair of editorials that are definitely worth sharing.

Both editorials focus on the challenges we face as a nation and what we may see in the future. If you don’t read anything else today you should read these - and if you feel so inclined, let me know what you think.

The Rise of the Rest - Fareed Zakaria via Newsweek

Who Will Tell the People - Thomas Friedman via NY Times

The current situation in Iraq has been under intense scrutiny and debate for some time. We find it ever more in the spotlight as the democrats and republicans use it against each other for political gain. General Petraeus recently gave testimony to the Armed Services Committee and provided them with this slide. I haven’t had a chance to read through the transcript and frankly I don’t care - what concerns me is the information in the slide.

The slide does paint a rosy picture - but - as we all know - its not that rosy. The Iraqis really need to man up and take this country over. The longer they squabble over power the more detrimental it will be to their long term prosperity. The charts do not give the entire picture as they only provide a limited time line. We’ve been here for 5 years - I want to see the charts for the entire time on the ground.

Unfortunately, the US military presence will continue until the politicians can come to an agreement. Even after the government begins to function and corruption decreases (which I hope it will) the Iraqis will continue to rely on the US military to do things they cannot - Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Combat Search and Rescue, Logistical Support, and Air power.

As bad as I want to see our guys out of the fight - things could fall apart quickly without our help. I just don’t think they are ready despite continued progress - I wonder how longs its going to be before we are done. Waiting sucks - it really does. Its a shame we can’t get the Iraqi government to subcontract our role in their country. How cool would that be? Don’t let them pay us - have them pay Black water, KBR, or whomever they wish. They could regulate and control the situation to their desire until their own military and police forces can handle the country as a whole.

Hillary won’t quit even though she can’t win - ever. She should throw in the towel because its only hurting her party as a whole. I like John McCain and I also like Obama but I’d rather have a fair fight. Why won’t she quit?

The better answer is that Clinton’s long rear-guard action is the logical extension of her relentlessly political life.

For nearly 20 years, she has been encased in the apparatus of political celebrity. Look at her schedule as first lady and ever since. Think of the thousands of staged events, the tens of thousands of times she has pretended to be delighted to see someone she doesn’t know, the hundreds of thousands times she has recited empty clichés and exhortatory banalities, the millions of photos she has posed for in which she is supposed to appear empathetic or tough, the billions of politically opportune half-truths that have bounced around her head.

No wonder the Clinton campaign feels impersonal. It’s like a machine for the production of politics. It plows ahead from event to event following its own iron logic. The only question is whether Clinton herself can step outside the apparatus long enough to turn it off and withdraw voluntarily or whether she will force the rest of her party to intervene and jam the gears.

If she does the former, she would surprise everybody with a display of self-sacrifice. Her campaign would cruise along at a lower register until North Carolina, then use that as an occasion to withdraw. If she does not, she would soldier on doggedly, taking down as many allies as necessary.

You can read the rest at the NY Times.

I’ve had extra time to scour the internet for interesting articles - here’s what I’ve found in the last few days

A college educated man experimented to see if he could rise from the ashes with only $25 in his pocket. His goal: to get a job, a car, an apartment, and put some money in the bank before the end of the year without using any of his connections. He succeeded - read his story

America may never become energy dependent unless we make a drastic change in the way we educate our young and the way we value everything in our society - read on

The author believes that we are accepting ignorance and that we are systematically dumbing ourselves down because - its just too hard. Its a fascinating read and ties into a book I am reading about globalization.

Stanford conducted a study on voting patterns based upon how people associate with a candidate - based upon the candidates appearance vs. their own. Great stuff - a summary is available here and you can read the full text at Stanford.edu

We’ve been fighting the war on terror since 2001 and we have still not captured or killed our number one target. Many believe that he is hiding in the mountains nearing the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. We have tried to make strikes in Pakistan in the past but have faced stiff opposition when seeking approval - this time we didn’t ask for permission and we found that there were no complaints made in the end. Hmmm… who would have thought - read on at MSNBC.

CNN fired a producer, Chez Pazienza, for writing on a personal blog - he was not writing about his life experiences while never mentioning his employer. Its a fascinating read about corporate politics - read on

First off, I am an undecided voter who is unsure as to what party or candidate that he will be voting for in the general election in November. I am worried about our country as a whole and I am particularly worried about our the education of Americans and our job market. I’ve been reading economic books as a hobby for a while - I am no expert by any means but I’ve got a firm grasp of the principles. Barrack Obama gave a speech today at a General Motors factory and talked about jobs and education. Needless to say, I was intrigued by what he said because I consider him a front runner. So, I checked out his website and found the following excerpts.

Trade that Works for Workers – Obama will end tax breaks for companies who ship jobs overseas and give breaks to companies who create good jobs with decent wages here in America.

Millions of New Green Jobs — Obama’s energy plan will invest $150 billion over ten years to establish a green energy sector that will create millions of new jobs over the next two decades – jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced. He will also provide funding to help manufacturers convert to green technology and help workers learn the skills they need for these jobs.

Ok, Mr. Obama is planning on stopping tax breaks to companies that outsource employees from other nations. In the classical view of economics if you are unable to compete in a market and another company or location can do it better you should let them. Prime examples of countries that do much of the work we used to do in house are China and India. We have moved a large number of technical and non-technical jobs to these companies because they can often do our work for pennies on the dollar. When a company moves jobs out of the country we need to react accordingly to create new jobs left in the vacuum. Occasionally, we must move vertically instead of horizontally in our job choice. Instead of moving to the same job we had before we might need to increase our skill set or education level. Obama plans to help people move vertically with training required to create and obtain “green” jobs. What I don’t understand is why he is planning on penalizing companies that outsource jobs - other markets that can do the job better should do the job. It is in the best interest of the consumer if a product is produced by the cheapest and most efficient manufacturer at all levels. Yes, the unskilled labor will face a crunch at the on set of such a change but if he moves vertically he will be able to get a product at a cheaper price than when he was making it.

Below is an excerpt from a speech he gave today -

I believe that we can create millions of those jobs around a clean, renewable energy future. A few hours northeast of here is the city of Manitowoc [MAN-a-ta-WOC]. For over a century, it was the home of Mirro manufacturing – a company that provided thousands of jobs and plenty of business. In 2003, Mirro closed its doors for good after losing thousands of jobs to Mexico.

But in the last few years, something extraordinary has happened. Thanks to the leadership of Governor Doyle and Mayor Kevin Crawford, Manitowoc has re-trained its workers and attracted new businesses and new jobs. Orion Energy Systems works with companies to reduce their electricity use and carbon emissions. And Tower Tech is now making wind turbines that are being sold all over the world. Hundreds of people have found new work, and unemployment has been cut in half.

Here he is talking about people that moved vertically - this is exactly what we should do in every situation. We should stop trying to prevent outsourcing - even though there is some short term pain it is in the best interest of all to do so. From what I’ve read on his website it almost seems like he is contradicting himself. I’m not quite sure if two separate people are writing his speeches and press releases but it doesn’t make much sense to me at the moment.

I want to get McCain’s take on the whole thing - but, his website is down at the moment - well, I can’t get to it on a govt. computer at the moment - so his website could be working without a hitch.

John McCain is the guy leading the republican side of the race and Obama is in the lead on the other front.

I’ve been watching McCain for years and I’ve gotta say that I like him more than any of the other candidates. He has been under fire from conservatives because he isn’t conservative enough. I like him for that reason alone. He has been branded a hot headed maverick. He plays both sides of the field. He stands up for what is right. He listens when he needs to and acts when he needs to.

Obama feels like media hype to me. I don’t know enough about the guy to understand how he might react to something. When I choose a candidate I stray away from the “issues” and try to determine how that individual will react in a crisis. Will they make a sound judgment call?

I’m still quite undecided - aside from the fact that I will never vote for Hillary - unless Cheney was running - in which case I might move to Canada.

I took a few new photos - including one of myself

I tried out the panorama maker software of my camera with surprising results (click the image for the BIG version)

I’m looking to the time I get out of here - I’m planning on doing something - as identified by the photo below. Its never Miller time - its Guinness time -

I took a few random videos - I don’t even remember what they were - you’ll have to watch and see

I wish I had time to really write something of note but this is all that I’ve got time for at the moment.

Tags: Balad, Canada, desert, Guinness, McCain, Obama, politics

So the govt. wants to give me money - sure, I’ll take it. But, the one thing I can’t figure out is where they expect the money to come from and what good they actually expect it to do to the economy.

I’ve done a little reading and found out some interesting tidbits - the first is a quote from Bernanke, Head of the Federal Reserve, who said “Stimulus that comes too late will not help support economic activity in the short term, and it could be actively destabilizing”. Others have said that in order to avert a recession the stimulus must arrive before we actually start the recession. Unfortunately, we don’t know if its too late. They plan to get us the funds by May - thats almost 100 days from now. I have a feeling that this is nothing more than a political move.

No politician in their right mind would openly come out and denounce the plan because their constituents want that money. They would effectively be taking it out of their hands. Its a smart political move to fight for the money - only time will tell if its good for the economy.

The other thing I don’t understand is where the money is coming from. Last time I checked we had a Federal deficit and an unbalanced budget. Unless we found 1 trillion tons of gold under the capital building in the past few days I don’t think we’ve even begun to pay it off. The money simply isn’t there - the government needs to budget like the rest of us do. When the money runs out - you have nothing else to spend. Sure we have credit - but paying it off is a PITA - trust me, I know.

Here is a link to another editorial from a like minded person

Ok, so a few weeks ago nukes were transported from Minot AFB to Barksdale AFB - nuclear surety was trampled as “nobody knew it happened.” Some believe it was a plot to steal a weapon so that we can bomb ourselves so that we can blame it on Iran and bomb them back… Several air force members (who happened to be assigned to Minot/Barksdale) have recently died from a series of accidents. Normally I don’t buy into conspiracy theories but I know how much security we give to stuff that I get to move around. I’ve heard stories of how much security special weapons get. I don’t know how this could have happened. The theories are extremely interesting and well thought out - they might be better thought out than the theory that there was no plane that crashed into the pentagon but it was done deliberately by the US govt.

All of the links are interesting reads - I’m guessing its really nothing but if the information keeps on piling up I might join the conspiracy boat.