Defiantone.com

If you’ve been paying attention - we’re paying more for many of the things that we use daily. The rising cost of oil impacts the cost of transportation, consumer goods, and food. Companies are trying to cut costs wherever possible while trying to retain the most talented and hardworking individuals. Some would blame the war for our economy that is in a downturn. Everything is linked - I read a few articles and found myself hitting CTRL-B five times and I thought it was worth sharing. Each is tied to the other; lets hope that I can explain what I mean.

According to recent polls many Americans have stated that they have felt that it has been much harder to “get ahead.” Our standards of “ahead” have changed since the days when my father was growing up in the 60’s. I’m going to guess that getting an education, having shelter, a good family life, and something (anything except mustard greens) to eat. Times were tough but if you were to persevere you could make a better life for the next generation and hopefully yourself in the process. Now we demand consumer goods as a measure of how well we are doing. Measures of American success include an car (or two), a house, high speed internet, and cable TV. Without these things many believe that they are failing in the race to get ahead. We’re demanding more than ever while overlooking the basics. I’m going to go out on a limb but maybe we should be looking for a little less - check out the full text at the Washington Post.

Some who claim they are having trouble would point the finger at the ever rising costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the increasing price of gasoline. While the cost of the war far exceeds most if not all of the original estimates we’ve paid for most of it with credit. Its been added to our national debt and will probably remain for years to come - the price of oil is increasing rapidly due to increased consumption in America and in south east Asia in places like China and India. Companies outside of OPEC control have made few if any significant discoveries in recent years. It takes a considerable amount of time to find a sizable cache of carbon deposits, negotiate drilling rights, and remove them for refining and delivery. Simply put, even if there are reserves available we may not find them before demand outstrips supply. We have plenty of oil to last for the next 20 years but there has been rampant speculation of what will happen if consumption continues to increase at the current rates. If we cannot find additional reserves we might have a problem - we might find ourselves in a global energy crisis. (I hate the word crisis because I feel as if I am on a cable news network where EVERYTHING is a crisis). The futures market has seen this and that is why we are experiencing the recent increase in oil prices - sure - they could have seen this years ago but its happening now. I wonder if they took off their rose colored glasses at some point in the last two years and saw the error of their ways - the end result of their revelation is that we’re paying for it.

We can do our part to consume less but its going to take a concentrated effort. If we were to determine car insurance premiums based upon the number of miles that we drive we could leverage our savings against those who drive everywhere. They would be forced to consume less simply because they would be unable to afford all of the driving. Enacting immediate changes in MPG requirements and subsidizing companies that reduce consumption while taxing those that use heavily could help. The economic impact of such a decision can hardly be measured by me, but, it’s on the table.

Everything is tied together - change is going to impact our ability to “get by” and may impact our quality of life. We cannot continue to increase consumption at current rates or we are going to see a bubble - a big bubble - and only the those with the most resources in the end will be able to survive.

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.

According to the Washington Post the war in Iraq could be illegal without new legislation before the end of the year. Sure, we’ve got quite a while before that happens but I don’t have much faith in them getting the legislation passed in time. Odds are, those who are against the war will filibuster any pending legistlation to push it after the new year. GW, who doesn’t like to listen to reason, logic, or the law will continue the war unabated regardless of what our system of checks and balances says he can or can’t do. Maybe I’m being a tad bit cynical but time will tell

A crucial yet overlooked deadline looms over the Iraq debate: Unless further action is taken, the war will become illegal on Jan. 1, 2009.

Despite protestations to the contrary, Congress clearly understood that it was authorizing the president to intervene militarily when it passed its joint resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq in October 2002. But it did not give him a blank check. It allowed for the use of force only under two conditions.

The first has long since lapsed. It permitted the president to “defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq.” This threat came to an end with the destruction of Saddam Hussein’s government. It makes no sense to say that it continues today, or that our “national security” is “threatened by” the Iraqi government headed by Nouri al-Maliki.

Read the rest at the Washington Post

This story pissed me off

Iraqi police officers voluntarily turned over their weapons to members of al-Sadr’s representatives in the Madhi Army.

If you were to surrender like this in the US military and were later caught they would probably charge you with treason. They would court martial you and shoot you. I’ve read quite a few stories about Iraqis taking more of a lead and asking for less help. In the past they would often run at the first sign of danger and leave it all to the coalition forces to do the dirty work. Lately, they’ve been able to do much more with less of our help. They are constrained by supply problems and a lack of air support - if we could get them more of what they needed and provide them with on time air support until their military is able to take over it would help them out quite a bit. When police officers surrender like this it absolutely pisses me off. Why the hell am I in your country when you don’t even want to fight?

This is a bunch of shenanigans and its got to stop.

I read a great article at the NY Times that details the last five years in Iraq. The journalist, who spent the last five years in that country, offers an interesting take on what is transpiring in the country. We claim what victories we can and some victories are not all they are cracked up to be - take the last vote for example.

With 12 million people casting ballots, a turnout of about 75 per cent, it was natural enough for President Bush to say Iraqis had embraced the American vision. In truth, what the majority produced was less a vote for democracy than a vote for a once-and-for-all, permanent transfer of power, from the Sunni minority that ruled in Iraq for centuries, to an impatient, and deeply wounded, if not outright vengeful, Shiite majority.

Read the article at the New York Times.

George Bush is the worst orator I have seen since I have been alive. Reagan could turn a phrase and Clinton was great with the people but Bush stumbles over everything. Gail Collins explains further 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

Ok, so I still haven’t done what I set out to do on my day off but I’m getting closer to it with each passing week. I have extremely little free time on a daily basis as I have scheduled only enough time to plow through my routine. There is no extra time for anything else unless I want to cut into my sleep schedule. I do well on 6 hours of sleep but 7 is better. Unfortunately, I don’t move fast enough when I wake up and that extra hour is imperative. Jessica, on the other hand, wants 10 hours of sleep a night. I have no idea how she sleeps that much and still has enough time to do everything. Even when I am bored and have little to do sleep is always a last option for me - she is down for a nap at almost anytime of the day. Often she insists that I join her - (more…)

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.

9/11 was the worst terrorist attack ever on US soil. Since that date, we’ve been on the hunt for terrorists in an effort to make our nation a safer place. Our goal is to eliminate terrorism and allow everyone to live without fear.

The media sensationalizes almost everything - the don’t help us live without fear. Everything is a disaster, everything is an epedemic, everything is a reason to live in a state of fear.

Its been estimated that we’ve spent 200-400 billion on military spending.

We created a new Cabinet level member and office: The Department of Homeland Defense

3,622 US military members have sacrificed their lives for our safety

70,000 Iraqis have lost their lives

Some estimate that up to 1.5 million people have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The National Intelligence Estimate suggests that it has all been for nothing. We are no safer now than we have ever been in the past.

Its a damn shame. I only hope something good can come out of this in the end.

There are many things in life that you cannot count. You may wish that you could but deep in your soul you know that you can never expect it to happen. Some things, however, are always there for you in a time of need. No matter what is going on in your life it will be there for you. You can be in any part of the world and it can be going to hell around you and these constants will be true. So, today I’m writing about one constant in particular. I’m not writing about it because it’s of particular merit but because it’s the only thing I have to write about: the weather.

I haven’t relegated myself to a porch with two other old codgers debating about the changing of the weather. I don’t do this mostly because I don’t possess a trick knee that swells or have any other weather related abnormalities. The weather here isn’t bad; it’s just… different than it has been since I’ve lived here. I know that I’ll be in for a harsh shock in a few weeks when I return to the place where I was born. Humidity will be at ridiculous levels and I will not know how to handle it. I will probably want to spend the majority of my time indoors in air conditioning like sane people do. Insane people work road construction during the middle of the day and ignore the high temperatures and the adverse conditions. Incredibly insane people do this job in Qatar or Kuwait. They work throughout the day covered in protective clothing that prevents their skin from bursting into flames. They look absolutely miserable but it is their existence. They do the job because it is theirs - they must do it to survive.

I’m not facing terrible weather - it’s in the low 90’s and the humidity is low. I have access to water and shade when I need it. I don’t have overlords whipping my back when I take an extra second to move a box. They don’t scream and yell at me for my incompetence and then give me lashings. I haven’t been forced to work in cotton fields and call someone else “massa”. Its just a little warmer outside today than it has been and I don’t have anything else to write about.