Don't Go Near The Water---Forever

Mmmm! Don't you just love swimming at the beach? Well, you won't much longer. This is the current state of the waves washing up on Gulf shores, and it's not getting any better---probably never. It looks rather pretty, actually, something like liquid amber, perhaps. Nevertheless, it's deadly, and lots of pretty things are deadly in nature. This, unfortunately, is not nature; at least it's not what nature should be doing to us.
This, I'm afraid is what "nature" will be looking like for at least the foreseeable future. How "foreseeable", you ask? Let's just say that most scientists doubt BP will be able to plug this hole. Ever. Sometimes I have a sneaking suspicion they don't really want to plug it. Just think how much the price of oil might rise, and we all know supply and demand has little, if anything, to do with prices. If the supposed "law of supply and demand" did apply, then how come prices have been able to remain relatively stable thus far?
No, we're screwed, folks. Even if they manage to plug this hole by August (which is looking to be maybe August 2011, if we're lucky) those billions, possibly trillions, of gallons will have poisoned the entire Gulf already. Not only that, but projections by NASA predict that the entire Gulf Stream will be nothing but oil---all the way up the east coast as far as the Carolinas---before heading off toward Europe. And as if that's not bad enough, the dispersant will have been sucked up into the clouds to enable the entire North American continent to be poisoned by oily rains. Not to mention the usual hurricanes as well. Better start praying, but don't expect God to answer. He's probably on vacation---permanently.
Oh, and I wouldn't drink orange juice, either.

Helen Thomas---A Sad Goodbye

She was the journalist they loved to hate. Her questions at press meetings were blatantly biased and loud, and she made her colleagues writhe in embarrassment whenever she stood to challenge a president. But she had courage and a style all her own. She asked the tough questions no one else dared to bring up, and her loss is our loss as well.
She had to be tough to succeed in journalism. Women were few and far between in the world of political journalism when she began. She had to be loud in order to be taken seriously by men in those days, and she wasn't ashamed to be unladylike, either. That she was biased against Israel in no way detracts from her devotion to journalism; she was honest about where she stood, unlike many of her male colleagues, and although I often cringed when she railed against Israel I respected her just the same. This is America, after all, where unpopular opinions are supposed to be feely expressed. She wasn't inciting hatred hatred for Jews. Shame on the cowards who used her latest remarks to oust her! Why should she have been forced to apologize? What, she hurt someone's tender little psyche? This Political Correctness is despicable, and soon none of us will be able to speak freely if this continues.
So she said Jews should go "home", back to Germany and Poland. All right, that may have been insensitive, but surely not the same as saying they should be gassed. If you haven't noticed, neither Germany nor Poland gasses Jews anymore, and Jews have gone to live there in the last decade. She has always been a gadfly, so why should she change now? If she had condemned the Palestinians and demanded they go "home", I doubt if anything would have been said about it.
Yes, I'm a Jew and I care about Israel, but I also care about free speech. The Peter Zenger case, if you'll recall, gave journalists the freedom to report without fear of reprisal. In her case, she had been asked a question and answered it. Opinionated? Yes, but that's Helen Thomas. Her colleagues who, it seemed, used her unfortunate remarks to finally get rid of her should be ashamed. Personal vendettas have no place in journalism.
Goodbye, Helen. We'll miss you. God bless.

Why Can't We Accept The Truth?

I'm going to address two topics, both of which can't be stressed enough. First, Obama is not responsible for BP's mess, and he can't do anything to stop it. Those of you who are screaming that he isn't "doing enough" are angry, and I accept that, but your misplaced anger is playing right into the hands of the same GOP that gave BP the right to risk the very thing that has happened. It was the GOP who clamored for the deregulation of industry ever since Reagan took office. The GOP who, under Bush41 and 43, used the excuse of Free Markets to gut consumer protections---not the Democrats. The GOP who gave corporations the right to buy Congress under the idea of Money=Free Speech. So, if more money equals more speech, then who is it that has the most money and therefore the most "free speech"? Corporations. Is it any wonder, then, that our Coast Guard in the Gulf wears badges with the BP logo, and refuses to tell WE THE PEOPLE what's really happening down there? If BP can silence the Coast Guard, then how can our president find out what's going on? Face it, Obama is being lied to by BP, the Coast Guard, and quite possibly Fox News and the GOP. Fox News is pushing Sarah Palin for the GOP contender, and she wants to continue BP's free-wheeling drilling approach. Most of the up and coming GOP stars are Hard Right. Do we really want to hand this country back to the party that started this whole fiasco?
Take a look at the image above, folks. That bird is us. Wake up. It's not Obama, it's the Republicans who bear the brunt of what is happening, and they couldn't care less what happens to us. They are too busy celebrating their victory this November, because they've gotten you to believe their lies. All they want is to win, and they don't care how. In fact, if Obama could solve this crisis they'd be in trouble. The truth is, the GOP wants it to get worse. Rush Limbaugh stated flat out he "hoped" Obama would "fail", and he speaks for the GOP.
Vote the Democrats out of Congress this November and you'll have the same GOP that gave us the financial crisis, the two wars we didn't need, and the deregulation of BP. Do that, and we're all going to wind up covered with oil. The perpetrators are BP and the GOP. Remember that.

It Might Be Us Next

To whomever created this picture, a million thanks!
Seriously, though, this oil spill is far worse than BP wants us to think. In a Democracy Now broadcast, Amy Goodman was taken for a tour of the spill in a Coast Guard helicopter and, spotting the BP logo on the Coast Guard pilot's badge, when she inquired as to why the Coast Guard should be wearing such badges, he gave her a lame answer.
So why should the Coast Guard be wearing such badges? Does our military and police now work for BP? It sure looks that way, I'm afraid. The press is kept away from seeing the full extent of the spill, and workers are made to sign an agreement (coerced, actually) that they will say nothing to the media. What's going on here? Even the Coast Guard won't answer questions, and that should worry all of us.
In undeveloped nations, such corporations as BP become the de facto police and military of these countries. In short, these corporations might just as well be the governments of such nations.
So, has BP become our de facto government? Have they allowed our president to view the entire spill? After all, who has the kind of money to enable them to buy both houses of Congress? And we all know just about every congressman and senator is in BP's pocket.
The future looks black---with oil oozing right up the East Coast on the Gulf Stream. How long before that happens? It depends on when---not if--- the next hurricane hits the Gulf region. Prepare to see the spill on your beach in a few months. Prepare to see tar balls and dead sea birds all the way up to New England. Then prepare to see the Gulf Stream sweep the spill out into the mid-Atlantic Ocean, perhaps as far as Europe. Don't, however, expect to see our Coast Guard or Navy helping us. They have far too much to do protecting their new master from us. Welcome to the future of government. We all belong to BP now, I suppose. The United States of British Petroleum. How nice.

Is Israel Right Or Wrong?

Frankly, it's a tie at the moment. Joe Biden says the ships could have been unloaded to the north of Gaza and have gotten delivered just as well, that there was no need for these ships to land in Gaza. And he's not alone in that opinion. On the other side we have the activists who say they were fired on by Israeli helicopters, and Israelis indiscriminately shot everyone in sight. U.S. officials are careful not to condemn Israel, and some have said Israel had good reason to believe these ships might be carrying arms for the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, that according to the Helsinki Accords Israel had every right to defend itself the way it had. You decide.
As for me, take a look at the image above and try to defend Hamas. I'm sorry, but Israelis don't strap on bombs---especially on their children---to blow themselves up on public transportation, shops, streets and deliberately kill innocent people. Let me correct that; Israeli Jews and Christian Arabs don't take everyone to paradise with them. How can we support people who would sacrifice their own children? Is the mother/grandmother in the photo your idea of a loving parent? I didn't think so.
Remember this the next time you automatically charge Israel with murder and terrorism.

Turn Off The Television News And Think For Yourself

It seems we can't watch TV anymore without being hammered by "news analysis" that reeks of partisanship and contempt for the American voter. We are all stupid (according to Fox, CNN, MSNBC, etc) because we will listen to them and vote accordingly---at least that's what they think. However, they're forgetting Abraham Lincoln's famous political observation: You can fool some of the people some of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.
For those of us who prefer to think for ourselves, this constant peddling of gloom and doom about the Obama administrations "failure" to solve everything right away sounds like a bunch of two-year olds throwing tantrums. These problems didn't begin with Obama, or the Democrats. Like Rome, it wasn't built in a day, or even a month. Most began with the previous administration, but no one wants to hear that, it seems. Of course we're upset, but if they think we're simply going to throw a tantrum come November (and the GOP is counting on it), they really must be daft.
Yes, we've read BRAVE NEW WORLD. We know how cunning the advertisement experts are, and that constant repetition of lies can sway people. Perhaps the GOP will be able to sway enough voters to return control to the same party that caused this mess, but November is still six months away. We don't care to be lectured by political pundits who worship opinion polls, nor do we like to endure so-called News Analysts shouting each other down---each trying to sound more apocalyptic than the last. First, there is the statistical Margin of Error which seems to be ignored (plus or minus three percentage points), and then there is the manner in which this poll is given. We have all encountered questions so slanted that it's impossible to answer them with a simple "yes" or "no", which means we're supposedly "undecided" on that particular issue. Not by a long shot! Polls are manipulated for the desired effect, remember.
We who think for ourselves avoid contaminating our minds with such garbage. As it's said in the theater---"an empty drum makes the biggest noise". Television and talk radio is nothing but noise, period. Let the stupid ones, who prefer to be sheep, watch television. And if we want to win, then let's get going.

Why Does Israel Always Put It's Worst Foot Forward?

Whatever the reason for the attack, whether for protection or terror, Israel has put itself in a most ridiculous position. It should have waited until the ships were in Israeli waters, and should have realized how stupid they would look. Perhaps the ships were carrying weapons, but now we'll never know for sure. Perhaps the activists were armed with guns, and perhaps the ships have ties to terrorist organizations, nevertheless, Israel looks like a terror organization. And the fact that they were armed with----get this----paintball guns makes them look like idiots.
Surely there must have been a better way than this. At least Israel should have filmed their side of the story with a bit more finesse. Instead, the Israeli video looks like a bar room brawl, and it's hard to tell who's who. You would think that, by now, Israel would understand how to do believable propaganda. Truth just doesn't work anymore, and lies have to be plausible.
There were pops going off in the background as the newsmen on the ship reported the incident, but it sounded more like fire-crackers to me. And one of the injured activists looked as if ketchup had been poured on his life-preserver, while the others didn't appear to have any injuries at all. There was a lot of bad acting on the part of the injured, especially when the cameras turned their way, and the video didn't show any of them getting shot. Still, no one's going to believe the Israeli version because Israel's video is so blurred and badly lit.
Sadly, Israel never learns. It slams in like the proverbial Bull-In-A-China-Shop, and expects everyone to know that they are the Good Guys, but the world needs better video, better production values, better acting to believe Israel. Israelis are so blunt about everything that they alienate everybody. Now they've made themselves "killer clowns". Who's going to ever believe them again?