So Trump is “Changed” by a Gas Attack…And It’s “Bombs Away”… Meanwhile….

By InsightAnalytical-GRL

So, the horrific images of a gas attack in Syria has moved Trump, touched his heart…

Pardon the cynic in me…

He’s escalated drone strikes and wants the policy regarding the sparing civilians to be gone…http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/39914-amid-spike-in-civilian-deaths-from-us-strikes-trump-requests-lifting-policy-limiting-casualties   ….

The USA has killed 9 children in Yemen during a botched raid in Yemen, that was decided upon during a nice dinner, followed up with 200 civilians in Mosul…

We have thousands of children here in Flint, Michigan under threat of lead poisoning that may ruin their brains for the rest of their lives…

He’s keen on gutting healthcare, especially for the poor on Medicaid, which has a huge number of children on the rolls…

He’s willing to gut the EPA and have dangerous NEW chemicals approved that will affect the population…

Etc, etc. as the abuses pile up….

But SUDDENLY, Trump is so touched by the attack in Syria that he is “changed” ….

I guess dead refugee children washing up on the shores of the Mediterranean after escaping from Syria isn’t bad enough…and those freezing in camps and unable to travel onward are just…well, who cares?

Who thinks we are being played as the media pundits furrow their brows about how Russia will react?

Perhaps the Trump crowd consulted with the Russians…to fire a bunch of missiles on an airfield which was OK with Russia.  The Russians can supply more planes if they want to. No Russians got zapped.   A lot of tarmac got blown up….MAYBE some gas? But what really changes??  OH, WAIT…they DID NOT TEAR UP THE AIRSTRIP!!!  Maybe a few oil tanks, etc. but the airstrip is apparently ship-shape!!!

So Putin’s friend Trump gets a change of story from the Russian ties/interference story, gets a bump in the polls, and T. Rex  Tillerson goes over there as planned and talks oil deals?  Assad stays put and it’s business as usual?

And the GOP, who chickened out when Obama asked them to authorize action after he drew his red line, the same crew who bellowed about the need for ACTION after the 2013 gas attack, well….Little Marco Rubio is out there tonight looking very serious and in need of a shave pontificating about the role of Congress…you never know, McCain wants action, so heck, the GOP may do some authorizing now whereas Obama never got an ounce of cooperation on ANYTHING…

Do you really think Assad is going to go?  Do you really think that Trump is going to really do something to upset Russia over their ally Assad?

Do you????

Oh, he was eating dinner AGAIN tonight when the strike was launched…

And, when Trump reads from a script trying to look serious and Presidential? Frankly, he looks like a FAKE to me…

Update: Hillary is reported to have been in favor of bombing the airstrip…but, I bet she actually WOULD have wrecked the airstrip, not leave it intact for the Russian-Syrian allies to continue to have it available for future use…

MY ONLY POST ABOUT ELECTION 2012

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

No secret that I was not an Obama worshipper back in 2008.

But, I’m voting for him this time around.  There are other blogs out there who piously state that they don’t have a “dog in this race” to which I say…bullshit!

Do PUMAs really want the Supreme Court to go to the Rethugs? Do you really want your wives and daughters to lose all rights to make decisions about their own bodies?

Do you really want a “bishop” who asked a pregnant woman with blood clots that threatened her life why she “should have it  “easy” by choosing to abort?

Have you taken the time to peek out beyond your own noses to see how this country could deteriorate in so many ways?  Regardless of who wins, we’ll have continued hard economic times…but there’s more to life than economics.  Do you really want to elect a mob that apparently disrespects women, blacks, Hispanics and just about everybody who isn’t one of THEM?  Especially if you aren’t a  “Christian” THEM?

Recently, I’ve been listening to Mike Malloy again on my Kindle Fire via TuneIn.  Mike, a true progressive now sadly relegated to asking for donations to keep his show on the air, once held the view that a loss to the Republicans would create the final catalyst for change to the system if they finally screwed up.

Well, he’s changed his opinion.  He has come to the conclusion that at this juncture in time, to allow power to fall back into the hands of the GOP might finally quash any chance to win back our system.  They will be in a position crush the life out of the middle class and pave the way for the ultimate corporatization of this country.  Liberals won’t have a chance to breathe.

For Mike Malloy to come around to this position is a big deal.  Apparently, some lefty blogs don’t see it this way.  But, frankly, there is too much at stake to allow the GOP into power, regardless of what you think of Obama and the Democratic Party.  No matter what, they are about all we have at this point.

So, that’s it. If you really want to see the guy whose foreign policy advisers come from the Bush Administration get back into power (something like 17 out of 25 are former Bushites), go ahead and don’t vote.If you want this bully CEO to come in and follow right along with the likes of all those GOPers who think rape is not a big deal, who think women are sluts if they get birth control in their health plan, who is right in line with the party that now shoves vaginal probes at us for no medical reason...go ahead and don’t vote.

If Romney wins this election, what will you be saying then? Will you blame Obama…or yourselves?

Me? I’ll be blaming a lot of people who are still stuck in 2008 and refuse to face the reality of the political world we live in now.  It’s time to grow up…

Thoughts as I Watched the Revolution in Egypt…(Update 1X)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

UPDATE  4/27/11

Well, Egypt  isn’t turning out so great…It’s all so predictable, isn’t it?  Any whiff of hope anywhere gets squelched real fast. 
And we’re now involved with Libya.  Meanwhile, the powers in Syria seem to be emulating the Libyan approach to dealing with protesters.

It’s like watching one disheartening train wreck after another.

Some personal train wrecks have taken me away from this blog…but, a rest still is in order.  It takes a lot of energy to fight the world these days!

One real positive is that our photovoltaic solar system is now up and running and yes, the meter is running backwards!  Have lots of pics and details which I hope to post one of these days!

*****

Nothing profound here to say, only an urge to write about my feelings as I’ve been sitting glued to Al Jazeera for days on end.

Today, I was clapping and cheering for the people of Egypt. A rush of feelings and memories flashed by.  I remembered 2000 as our elections were completely corrupted. (Some satisfaction as George W.  Bush is unable to go to Switzerland…war criminal that he is!)  I was thinking of the lies that led to the Iraq War and thought about the report I heard this morning on NPR about how there are fears that something may coalesce as the heat arrives and the electricity remains on only 2 hours a day. Protests percolating already around Iraq, and I say, go for it!

I’m finding myself coming back over and over again to about how the U.S. is perhaps going to get its ass kicked and deservedly so. They utter hypocrisy of the “democracy talk” as we sit here supporting repressive regimes all over the world.  We are a fraud when it comes to democracy.

My mind dwells on the right wing religious freaks and the Republican Party that has become their home who continue to attempt to screw women out of their rights and their independence as human beings, who basically are out to screw anything that helps people. And I’m supposed to worry about the Muslim Brotherhood while I live in a country that has it’s own brand of the Taliban roaming the halls of Congress??

I think of John Lennon. A site has “Revolution” up but I’m thinking of “Power to the People.” Is that the right title? I don’t know, but I can hear John singing it. Who really killed John Lennon? I’ve seen enough and read enough to figure it wasn’t just another “lone gunman.”

I’m sitting here, having celebrated my 60th birthday a few days ago….reflecting on the marches for women’s rights, the power of the movement, and how every time a fucking Republican comes along…with fake Democrats who assist…how every time we go BACKWARDS! And how backwards we have gone!  I think about the type of  “leadership” we have in this country…there are no real thinkers leading these days.  Between the servants of the bankers,  the increasingly shrill Republicans and passive Democrats…Jeebus, am I supposed to look at the Palins, Gingriches, Romneys and that Jeb Bush lurking in the corner and feel optimistic??  When I see how skillfully a Chris Christie can take a state like New Jersey and divide people into camps and blame all ills on teachers  and the people who do the day to day work to keep the place running?….disgusting!  Lying thuggery personified…and just the tip of the iceberg, I’m afraid. And Obama pontificating on democracy after Mubarak’s demise…what a load of crap.

I think about how we were supposed to get some “community radio” but all I hear is right wing shit talk radio all over the dial. People getting very little true news follow these propagandists for the right as they go about their highly-paid work to divide and conquer and sow the seed of intolerance and hate.

Yeah, I’m watching Egypt and cheering them on….but knowing full well that the arm of the IMF will probably soon reach in and grab them by the throat. Hell, we fund it and guess what? The IMF is talking about the dollar no longer being the reserve currency for the world. I’m just surprise all this is happening so quickly…Between the IMF and the Fed, Americans do not know how the world is getting screwed and how it’s going to come back to bite them.

Fat and unaware Americans will soon wake up to find that they are being ground down to a pulp.  Your dollars will be worthless soon.

We wrote a lot in the past about the impending disaster that was going to befall lthis nation.  There are many wonderful sites out there trying to wake people up. I read them every day…and spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to save my own financial neck.

Start stocking up on food, go to ChrisMartenson.com to start to try to prepare yourself (in right sidebar links).

And to the Egyptian people…stay strong, stay proud. I’m rooting for you…you’re starting fresh while the U.S. is rotting from the inside.  Note to the women there…get loud and don’t let them steamroller you…

OK, Ready to Lose What Little We Had Now?? A Story About CRUMBS…

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted.  Not terribly inspired by politics and in the wake of the election, ready to break every radio in the house so my mother can’t listen to “talk radio” anymore.

Heartbreaking results in New Mexico CD-2. Harry Teague was not my first choice to run for the seat 2 years ago, but he beat Steve Pearce.  Pearce never showed up, voted against the health needs of returning vets from Iraq, and when he did show up, his meetings weren’t exactly town halls…more like a select few.  Teague, to his credit, was back all the time, held many, many meetings with constituents, and even helped get something done for a family that had been neglected for years…an honor that had been overlooked. Meanwhile, there was talk about how Pearce had turned his back on vets who wanted to question him about his record.  I had kept a list of his votes on vet issues and the VoteVets.org literature AGAINST Pearce was a mirror of the info I had compiled. (VoteVets.org is a bipartisan group, by the way.)

Well, in this heavily retired military area along with a HUGE active military presence including White Sands, Pearce won. Which makes you wonder….WTF??

I could understand a little more if a new person were running on the GOP side. But, the same piece of crap who scorned the district for 4 years and the vets who live here???

Meanwhile, at the state level, Nate Cote, whom I first helped get elected 4 years ago, was defeated by a piece of crap named Ricky Little who put out so many lies about Cote that the latter had to have fliers printed up and wrapped around a campaign doorknob hanger in an attempt to save his reputation.  Nate did many wonderful things for the district, including helping out the Animal Shelter, which desperately needed help.  The man was a vet, too…but he got no respect.  Little won…a guy who thinks mammograms shouldn’t be paid for by insurance or some such.

Now, we hear this ridiculous BULLSHIT out of the Republicans whining about how “partisan” Obama  was (while all they did was stonewall everything, even their own Heritage Foundation health plan that grew up into Romney Care). And we have to hear their plans to AGGRESSIVELY derail funding, etc. with long range plans to repeal it all, even the good parts, I imagine, so that we can all buy insurance across state lines (that will do SQUAT), blah blah blah. These people are VICIOUS. And, they are BAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

To top it off, we have Susana Martinezn as governor-elect who wants to repeal the legal use of medical marijuana because there are SOOO many great Big Pharma drugs to ingest (which, according to a nurse I know, aren’t as effective as pot).   And, what the hell, let those mining operations off the hook  by getting rid of the waste pit rules….And if we’re really lucky, Martinez will be a clone of Chris Christie in my home state of New Jersey and destroy the teaching profession in favor of chums running charter schools with my taxpayer money and doing the school voucher thing!  YAY!  AND, let’s not forget, she’s NOT pro-choice, to top things off! Her money came from a big developer in Colorado and that guy Perry in Texas who funded the Swiftboat campaign against John Kerry.  Nice bunch of friends she has.  She has NO legislative experience, so we’ll have to ferret exactly who will be pulling her strings. Lots of money came in from Houston, too, so we can only imagine what happens.

Sort of interesting that she didn’t carry the Hispanic vote…

I went to the doctor today, a wonderful woman whom I’ve gone to for 10 years. She is retiring in June, 2011. A couple of years ago she sold out when her sister, also a physician became ill and ultimately passed away.  She is now an employee of a large group.  She is still in her office, but her own staff is gone and there is a revolving door of personnel. Remember, this is the BEST health care system in the world…My Canadian acquaintance here for the winter snickers.

Today, my doc commented on some of the good things in the health care law and the Republican plans to destroy who knows what.  Then she did something highly unusual. She told me that people were STUPID and that as far as she was concerned, she hoped they felt the effects as things like being able to keep an unemployed 20-something on their parents insurance disappeared, just as they came into effect.  Of course, we’ll have to wait to see what happens to the pre-existing condition hell that has been lifted as well as that requirement that health care businesses have to use 85% of their cash to actually reimburse the people they insure.   In the dentist’s office the other day, I heard Millie tell a patient that she would put his claim through but if he was terminated, he shouldn’t be surprised if the company asked for the money back.  I mean, you have the policy,  you use it,  you’re covered for care, the procedure is over,  then you lose your job and they take the money back?  Heck, that sounds like a total scam, doesn’t it?  Like taking a body out of a grave.  But, that’s what has been going on with breast cancer surgeries, so I guess we’re used to being abused here in the United States and won’t mind if the Republicans gut any good things that may be in the health care law.

I know there are many people who were hell bent on voting ALL incumbents out, no matter who they were or what they had done, even if some of it was good.  I hope they are happy now. The moment I hear any whining from ex-Democrats who voted Republican this year and who suddenly become upset that the Republicans are  in, I will tell you what we all heard back when Obama was elected….I TOLD YOU SO!!  I’m no longer a registered Democrat, but I’m not about to sit back and NOT vote against a creepy Republican at this point…and the reality is,  they are SUPREMELY creepy and vile,  so bad that as much as I detest the present state of the Democratic Party, I just can’t bring myself to let a Republican in without a fight.

I don’t like Obama, never will…have been pissesd as hell with the Democratic Party since the primaries, etc. etc.   Like my doctor, I’m mad that a public option never got a chance.  However, I am NOT a masochist!  If I had a choice between a bastard like Steve Pearce vs. a Harry Teague, I HAD to vote for Teague to try to save myself from Pearce.

My philosophy at this point centers on the word CRUMBS.  Both parties are full of CRUMBS.  But, occasionally, the Democrats will give a FEW crumbs, while we can be damned sure that the Republicans won’t give the little guy ANY crumbs.

So, there you go.

Oh, but wait!  Obama is going to meet with the GOP to work out a bipartisan agenda!!  I can’t wait!  I’m SURE everything will be OK…NOT!

***

P.S.  It was close but a Library Bond issue passed…Eureka!

“Hope and Change, Change and Despair” as Costa Rica Gets Crossed Off My List of Possible Escape Routes…

By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Costa Rican Cloud Forest...Paradise Lost?

I haven’t posted in awhile…Life does get in the way sometimes.  And, quite frankly, I’m pretty turned off by what’s going on in this country.  Hope and Change got us Republican Lite;  now, we’re probably going to Change and Despair as the Republicans run on some sort of platform to “fix” what they had a large part of creating in terms of the bleak economic outlook for this country.

So, what’s person to do?  During the Bush years I longed to get the hell out of here.  During the Obama years, with debt crises all over the globe, there are few places that are worth looking at that would truly be considered “an escape.”  In the latest surge of desire to get out of this political hellhole of a country corporate  state (with way too many religious nutcases running around in D.C. and the military), I took the next step–I subscribed to International Living magazine after getting their dreamy free e-mail newsletter for years.

The folks over at IL actually discover places that are ripe for development that can lure Americans to the good life overseas.  One of the hottest places has been Costa Rica, which is now going  to be developed in the northern part of the country, complete with highway and airport, to facilitate the influx of ex-pats.

Costa Rica’s selling points are many:  lots of ecological areas preserved for eco-tourism; varied terrain, from beaches to mountains, temperate climate to tropical jungles; excellent healthcare (one facility has a direct link to Johns Hopkins back in the States), a commitment to renewable energy and a pacifist society which hasn’t used its resources to maintain a standing army.

Perfect!!!  HOWEVER, it seems the Mexican drug cartels are on the march in Costa Rica and….guess who may be offering “help”??

I haven’t gotten a mailing for ages from Truthout.org, but one popped in my box today with the story:

What the Heck Are US Marines Doing in Costa Rica? Obama’s Tilt to the Right on Latin America

Friday 06 August 2010

by: Nikolas Kozloff, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis

SNIP

Perhaps, Costa Rica’s drug problem could be addressed through a combination of poverty alleviation and coastal interdiction. Indeed, for some time, Costa Rica has collaborated with the US Coast Guard. However, under the new arrangement, other branches of the American armed services are to be deployed. The US force which is called for is massive: a virtual flotilla of 46 warships accompanied by 7,000 Marines and five planes. Take a look at this footage of the USS Makin, and consider whether this huge aircraft carrier is best suited to combat drug trafficking or perhaps some other end.

According to the Navy’s own web site, the fearsome vessel “will also have secondary missions of sea control and power projection by helicopter and fixed-wing vertical short take-off and landing aircraft.” The euphemism “power projection” caught my attention in this instance. To be sure, the cartels are a menace, but there is also an increasingly inflammatory geopolitical context to consider. In light of military developments in Costa Rica, it’s perfectly reasonable to wonder whether the US might have some kind of ulterior agenda.

The author has suspicions about the Obama Adminstration’s policies in Central America that echo what has happened in Latin America:

Moves to bring the US Navy to Costa Rica have sparked widespread suspicions that Washington is looking for a justification to remilitarize the Central American region.

“Power projection.” Doesn’t sound good to me…

Things are shifting down south…

For a brief moment, it might have looked like South America’s Pink Tide would sweep through Central America, propelling significant social and political change in the process. But with the South American left now facing its own significant challenges and internal problems, it’s unclear whether Central America’s social movements will get much of a long-term boost. Meanwhile, whatever Oliver Stone might claim about Obama’s true intentions, the US continues to play its same age-old game in Central America.

Sensing weakness, the pro-business right wing has made significant electoral inroads in Panama, Honduras and, now, Costa Rica. Allied to the military old guard and the US, this resurgent right poses a thorny problem for the left. You don’t need to tell that to Central American social movements, who recently met in the Nicaraguan capitol of Managua. There, activists denounced the “silent invasion” of US troops in Costa Rica, declared their opposition to worker repression in Panama and criticized the Lobo government in Honduras for its clampdown on the opposition.

So the question becomes, when does the “silent invasion” become something else? And Panama…well, that’s another haven that I seem to have to cross off my list…

Hey, I’m not a pot smoker, but if California does legalize marijuana use, I may have to move there and become one…it may be the only feasible way to escape!

Hope and Change; Change and Despair….seems to be all over the place these days…

***

Related Info:

U.S. Department of State section on Costa Rica

The Real Costa Rica (Blog by an ex-pat)

Costa Rica Photos from TrekEarth (gallery)