Arkansas Blog

Some bloggers were in on a conference call that the Treasury Department held for analysts on the bailout bill.
Live Blogging of call:
http://dealbreaker.com/2008/09/live-blogging-the-treasury-cal.php#more

Click on blue name for another break down of the call.

Nice weather we're having........

Hope your gardens were productive and you put up a lot of canned goods. Plus, I hope you have a dep(recession)-proof job and a low credit load.

Get ready to down-size!

And think about some new representatives and senators for WAshington.

It may be the time to stage a Vietnam era march on Washington to take our country back from the corporations and the politicians who enable them.

Just think, 20 million or so folks show up and tell them how the cow is going to eat the corn.

I'm game.

The garden just petered out this year. Hardly anything came out at all. I even tried the topsy turvy planter. Put off a few hard little tomatoes, damn gimmicks. Oh well, better luck next year.

Maybe I'm just in ignorant bliss right now. I don't have any stock. They don't pay state employees (or at least competent ones) enough to even think about saving anything. I own a house, which I can very comfortably pay the mortgage on, even if I had to take to waiting tables. No credit card debt; also noticeably missing are the large flat screen tv, name brand polos/shoes/everything, vacations I haven't overspent myself on while most of my friends have the last few years. I drive a car that gets pretty good mileage and would be fine if they came and took it away anyhow. My neighborhood looks, sounds and smells better on two wheels sans motor.

I know it'll have some effects on my life, I'm not stupid, but at the same time, if you don't have much to lose, well, the view from the porch ain't so bad today after all...

I think there are two scenarios that are possible from the jihadists. One possibility could be a small yield nuclear weapon launched from an unregistered cargo ship in the Gulf against our cluster of refineries in that area. The second possibility could be the launching of an IRBM with a nuclear warhead into the atmosphere from an unregistered cargo ship in the Gulf that would create an EMP that would fry all devices that use or generate electricity. This would render all transportation, utilities, appliances, water, distribution systems, etc. useless. Either one of these possibilities would cause greater calamity to our way of life than 9/ll. I believe that the capability to do this would require the secret support of a nation. You can imagine who might secretly support this.

I don't think Bush/Cheney would go that far!

Random thoughts:

Next time you want to junk that old piece of chain link fence, try posting it on freecycle.org and keep stuff out of the landfill. The freecycle.org Central AR group is keeping tons out of the landfill.

AT&T must need new customers for their Uverse products. They actually sent a person from the St Louis office to walk door to door to pitch the new cable/phone/internet packages. I proudly told her we fired comcast months ago and rather enjoy limited (4 & 11) teevee reception.

Saw that Leslie Heizman has joined Cranford JohnsonRW agency (from Today's THV). Smart woman, Leslie Heizman.

Killed the driveway crack weeds with vinegar. Powerful stuff.

Strangelove ... your comment reminds me of a Tom Clancy novel ... Sum of All Fears.

Went over to the Pleasant Ridge center on Highway 10 tonight and found that Panera Bread is supposed to open for real on Wednesday.

Before I get beat with a stick by the Hillcrest/Heights crowd, Boulevard has damn fine bread and some fun & funky sammiches, their lack of late night hours keeps me away from there during my prime sandwich & coffee buying hours, which is usually after 5 or 6...

Ready?

Hang on. Get a deep seat.

Oliver Stone is preparing to release his movies "W."

Here is a trailer. Remember. There's movies made about Nero.

Do the clicky.

Think I'll keep posting this until strangehate responds- wonder which rock he hides under (first posted 9/25, again on 9/26 and a 3rd time on 9/28):

"No, the responsibility for the war in Iraq lies with the Congress. They authorized the war and appropriated the money to fund it----several times." strangehate

Gee, and here I thought Republicans were in charge of both the House and Senate way back in '03 when the occupation of Iraq was authorized and funded. Sorta makes that a Republican occupation- signed, sealed and delivered.

Republicans led the House, the Senate and the presidency- golly gee. Now, strangehate, pray tell us who was in position to override those in charge. Please. I just love learning more about the federal government, and I've probably forgotten a lot that I learned in school. Help me here, please. Throw me a lifeline.

Is that to say some Democrats are not culpable in falling for W's disinformation campaign? Of course not. But the R's earned the lion's share of the blame, hands down.

Apologies to (almost) all for my feeding the troll.

Yes, well can you explain to me why democrats voted for the war in LARGE numbers? How about hillary and biden? Do they count? Regardless of the Party who has a majority in Congress it is still the CONGRESS that authorizes and appropriates the money for the war. How was I incorrect? Also, don't forget that had the demos objected to the war they could have invoked a filibuster to thwart the efforts to authorize it or appropriate the money to fund it SEVERAL times. Unless you have 60 votes you can't stop a filibuster.

Disinformation. Are you saying that the President INTENTIONALLY mislead the Congress? Then why did ALL of the Western Intelligence Agencies come to the same conclusion as the CIA? Why did Clinton say when he was President that we need to oust Saddam because he was developing and possessed WMDs? Are you claiming that Bush had info that disproved the existence of WMDs that he DID NOT share with the Congress? What proof do you have? Please explain that to me.

Now, I'll wait for you to answer me.

>>It may be the time to stage a Vietnam era march on Washington to take our country back from the corporations and the politicians who enable them.<<

seller, mon amis, 1968-70 was fun but guess what 250,000 war protester from all over the country got for spending a weekend in D.C.? Notta. It raged on. Five more years.
It also got us a near police state. We were "agitators" you recall. The police became
"militarized." Richard Nixon wanted to bomb us. LBJ just said "Fuck'em" as per later stories by his staff.

Without us there was not enough hateful racism in the South to nominate George Wallace. He needed "dirty hippy protesters" to boost him up.

Until the breadtruck drivers, Sunday school teachers, construction foremen, lawyers and other civil servants began to register their war displeasure (after 10 yrs) with their Congressmen did they deny funding. It shut down. Now we no longer have to guard Viet Nam. No permanent bases there, no subsidies, troops to rotate, etc. We just buy their curry sauces and rice noodles. They buy computers and grain from us.

The Brits went into the Mideast. Stayed 26 years. I cannot recall how many years the Russians stayed until it severely drained their coffers. It's the way they work. Keep the enemy in range and wear them down, over the years. It's in their DNA. The soldiers for our 15th year of involvement, if we don't implode, are now just children and some can dismantle a rifle and place an IED.
.

If you think that the jihadists will just go away and return back to their homes if we should leave you are delusional. People made fun of Hitler's wild claims in the 30s but he proved them wrong. They are serious when they say that they hate us and will destroy us. If you don't take them seriously then you will end up in the same situation that the European Jews found themselves in when they realized that they were wrong.

They train their children when they are very small to hate the Jews, the Americans and the West. They learn how to kill when they are but children. They are hardened. They live in a part of the world where vast sums of money could be used to finance their objectives. If they end up controlling those resources then they will be able to realize those objectives. Destabilize the middle east and they will be coming for us next. Israel will be first and then Europe. Once Europe falls then we are next.

eLwood, I agree with what you say. It will take critical mass to effect change and that is what I was getting at. 80% of the population says the country is "heading in the wrong direction" and that is pretty substantial if they get together and say enough is enough.

That, along with providing ourselves a way to wean off foreign oil, could make for a brighter future than I can envision right now for my grandchildren.

The real experts step up.

"We're in a paradigm shift of epic proportions.
The Bush administration which took office 8 years ago as social conservatives,
is now leaving office as conservative socialists. "

It's on the clicky

"Now, I'll wait for you to answer me." strangelove

That was no answer, strangelove. That was just more questions. How stupid do you think people are?

Not as stupid as you think I am. Not accepting my answer is not the same as not answering you. I answered you specifically and you don't have a response. Nothing new here. If you can't handle the heat stay out of the play with the big guys. Norma would be more to your liking.

Sorry, strangehate, you lose. Your pals the Repukicans were in charge of the House, Senate and Presidency (even if the appointed occupant of the Oval Office has no brain) in 2003. Iraq is their war, lock, stock plus killed and maimed soldiers in the tens of thousands and rising by the day.

This unnecessary war was so important that the Repukicans weren't even willing to put it on pay-go, but instead are adding the $10 billion monthly cost to the national debt. And you have the chutzpah to bring up the national debt!

The Repukicans got us into this needless war of choice. Barack Obama and the Democrats will get us out. That's the way the world works, no matter how twisted your mind works.

It was not a war, it was an occupation. There was never any intention on 'winning' in Iraq. Before the latest war, we had no-fly zones in place. We had embargos in place. Saddam Hussein was not going anywhere. There was no Al Queda in Iraq nor Taliban in Iraq. Eventually Saddam would have been out of power and the country would have had the sectarian violence it has now anyway. We just did not need to invade. We did not need to lose our soldiers there. We did not need to send our soldiers there under-equiped.

After 9-11, we could have invaded Saudi Arabia. Most of the hijackers were Saudis. We could have invaded Egypt which is where Al Queda has had training camps and bases set up since the early 1990's.

Well... as b @ moa said

>>>>>
9/29 will be a marked day for historians - maybe even as big (bigger?) than 9/11. Osama Bin Laden's goal to bankrupt the U.S. was achieved without him doing anything remarkable. The U.S. did it on its own.
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/01/binladen.tape/
<<<<<

When I was about 12....let's see....about 1967 I saw a piece in Life or Look about the discovery of an old Japanese solder on a desert island still fighting WWII. The old man couldn't believe the war had been over for 22 years. Today....strangelove would be that soldier.

Today Congress and the stock market dropped Little Boy over the hostile island of DC. In a couple of more days Fat Man will be dropped and Bush and his smirking band of traitors will surrender. Or better yet...drug from the White House and vaporized. Your side lost strangelove and praise be to any higher power, former silent film star or beast of the wilderness that brought on the demise of the worst humans to ever tread this battered planet.

We've never had a world wide depression live and in color before. Our grandparents had to read about bankers jumping from tall buildings. We'll get to watch it live in HDTV on 300 channels! Will Soup Kitchens have Wi-Fi? How long will it take Wal-Mart to crowd out the mom & pop bread lines? Can my kids sign up for the new CCC Camps online? When my family moves to California looking for work, will American Airlines count mattresses and chickens as carry-on luggage?

We've ignored the Iraqis we haven't killed who only get a couple of hours of electricity per day. We'll see how Americans like it. Can we count on the AT blog to be up during those precious few hours in the future? I think maybe today solved our illegal immigration problem. Pay attention the next few days if you see convoys of new Chevy's heading due south as hard as they can go. You really don't need your yard mowed anyway. You'll be churning it up to plant corn as soon as spring gets here.

I know I'm not going to be making friends here...but I'm ready for it all to go away. What misery this fake prosperity has brought us......nothing but misery. We lost our soul and our moral compass along with the truth and honesty and what little surface compassion we pretended we had. We've been an empty shell of a country for a decade. We brought the 9-11 attacks to our soil and then we returned the misery 10,000 fold on the rest of the world. We happily gave up our rights and our privacy here at home because some people in DC scared us to death. Fools that we are.

Our future would have been endless war between the classes and war with the rest of the world. With so much money organized religion turned into well dressed American Ayatollahs. Our troops encouraged to kill the infidel and vote Republican, spreading the love of Jesus with missiles tipped with nuclear waste.

The Melt Down will keep American jobs at home! We'll not build cars here rather than not build them in Mexico! Think of the fuel that will save us. All this has to mean that Obama is our FDR, but does it also mean WWIII will break out 10 years from now? Yeah....Steve Fossett is our generation's Amelia Earhart......history does repeat. This time we'll get to watch it on CNN....during the few hours we have electricity of course. So lay back and accept your fate. None of us can do a damn thing about it anyway. Are we mice or are we men? DON'T ANSWER THAT! Our grandparents survived '29, we can survive '08 and on the other side we might find we're a better country.

Attention Strangelove:

The strongest evidence against Bush, Vincent Bugliosi says, is a speech on October 7, 2002 claiming that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the security of the United States and was capable of attacking America at any time with his stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. However, a National Intelligence Estimate of less than a week earlier stated that while Iraq did have WMD capability, it had no plans to use it except in self-defense. Moreover, according to Bugliosi, the president and his administration edited the "White Paper", or declassified version of the NIE released to Congress and the public, in a way that made the Iraqi threat seem more ominous than it actually was. In addition, Bugliosi says that the Manning Memo shows that, far from making serious efforts to avoid war, Bush considered the possibility of provoking Saddam into starting a war by sending U2 reconnaissance aircraft, falsely painted in UN colors, on flights over Iraq along with fighter escorts. He also argues that Bush pressured intelligence agencies to find proof that Saddam somehow helped al-Qaeda plan 9/11.

Bush is a war criminal.

/click name for smoking gun

Strangelove please call Arnold, he'd be interested in making that movie.