Author: Keone Michaels

This diary began as a comment in a dialogue with someone on a KOS diary about another topic.  As it turned out the writer I was responding too said he was a stationed on a destroyer and his wife was also in the Navy, active duty which gave me pause to reflect.  

I wondered how to respectfully point out that his present “profession”and the way it is defined and presented in public discourse is part of the problem?

I feel it is time we let go of the notion that warriors and wars are inevitable and even admirable part of a national policy.  The exigencies of life on a changing planet guarantee that doing business like a 19th century industrial bully in a 20th century world will end in failure!

Some think that the role of the military is in”Conducting wars?”  I disagree that the role of the “Military” should be “conducting wars.”  Now, go ahead and laugh, but wait a second;

1.) words shape our thought and our actions.  By implication this definition implies our military is an aggressive arm of our foreign policy.  I think we should offer a more benign definition:  

           The role of the military is to defend our homeland!

Even this simple definition provides a practical and logical basis for such activities as intelligence gathering.  But, it doesn’t start out with a chip on our shoulder.

2.) Our country has just exited several centuries where our nation aggressively expanded it’s role in the world via “conducting wars” of basically economic expansion.  I live in a state, Hawaii, that was acquired, illegally, in just this manner.  Look it up if you don’t believe it.

3.) As the intelligence information analysts say, “the information set” has changed globally:
  a.)  America let the nuclear cat out of the bag at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and now any fool with enough money can purchase the fixins and row a boat with a nuclear warhead into a destroyer (think if the guy who did the Cole had a nuke in his boat?) or New York City.  We are reaping the whirlwind of our military action during WW2, today.  Everybody on the planet now has a shot at mutually assured destruction.  In the long run perhaps ending the war the way we did was not such a wise thing?
  b.)  CHINA will soon eclipse us both militarily and economically.  They have more paper (they own our large debt)on us than the rest of the world combined.  It is my prediction that after the Olympics in China in 3 years they will start making their move on the dollar. When they start buying oil in Euros we are in deep deep shit.  Also, their sheer size and production capacity make them the comparative industrial colossus as we were in WW2.  We cannot kick their ass.  

4.)  Our planet has problems of a natural nature that are becoming more pressing as time goes on.  Massive responses are needed to survive the coming crisis.  We all must work to a common goal to succeed.

5.)  Fifth and perhaps not the least important is the psychological set we have embraced when we abandoned a “universal draft and volunteer, citizen soldier” army like we had before Vietnam for one composed of “professional warriors!”  Universal military service is a great democratizer! A professional military in my opinion is like having a loaded gun in the house; The temptation and access and it’s very existence make it more likely to be used.

It is time for a paradigm shift my friends.  The testosterone that has served us so faithfully for centuries needs to be re-tasked to work toward consensus peacefully.  Our resources are limited.  The planet is at risk.  We should muster Chewbacka and R2D2 and the rest and get to the real issues that threaten our lives not our pocketbooks alone.

We need to wage peace not war and “protect” our homeland, not “conduct wars” on foreign soil in a illegal manner to assure a profit margin to some corporation.  Enough.

Think about it.  Alexander the great’s time has passed.  Let’s get some new heroes.

I’m hoping that the costs associated with the recent earthquake will impede the plans for the so called “Hawaii Super Ferry.” The ferry is clearly a money-making venture inevitably bound to impact the way of life of the local residents in a terrible and negative way. The truth of it is that we don’t know the impacts because our Democratic legislators and our Republican Governor have neglected to provide an EIS.

But first, let me digress. Remember the fools in the Federal Government and especially, the Pentagon that wanted to test nuclear weapons by dropping them down a fault line in the Earth off the coast of Alaska? Remember the Amchitka tests? Sounds incredible you younguns? Please go here to read all about it: 30Years After The legacy of America’s largest nuclear test. As foolish and stupid as it sounds our government permitted this to happen several years ago. Pooping in the bathtub metaphors come readily to mind. It is interesting to review this event especially in the light of the flap over the North Korea recent test. Lots of folks protested but they jammed it down our throats despite our common sense rejection of the very concept.

The aftershocks of those blasts are still being felt. Despite claims by the AEC and the Pentagon that the test sites would safely contain the radiation released by the blasts for thousands of years, independent research by Greenpeace and newly released documents from the Department of Energy (DOE) show that the Amchitka tests began to leak almost immediately. Highly radioactive elements and gasses, such as tritium, americium-241 and plutonium, poured out of the collapsed test shafts, leached into the groundwater and worked their way into ponds, creeks and the Bering Sea. At the same time, thousands of Amchitka laborers and Aleuts living on nearby islands were put in harm’s way. Dozens have died of radiation-linked cancers. The response of the federal government to these disturbing findings has been almost as troublesome as the circumstances surrounding the tests themselves: a consistent pattern of indifference, denial and cover-up continues even
today.

In Hawaii today, a similar stupid, foolish, shortsighted and selfish event called the “Superferry” is unfolding. Like the Amchitka event one does not need to be a scientist to understand the ramifications and impacts a ferry of this type will have on our small outer-island communities. See the following list of some of the common sense list of concerns and questions that need to be fully investigated with at the very least an unbiased EIS as a tool and the results presented to all concerned parties:

• If it is determined that the Superferry does harm the environment, who will pay to mitigate the damages?
• By the State of Hawaii not requiring the Superferry to get an EIS, does it decrease the Superferry liability in case of damages?
• Social Impacts: Who will pay for the obvious increased OUTER-ISLAND social services (Police, etc.) due to the increase in crime and homeless provided by non-secure interisland vehicular access that the Superferry will obviously provide?
• Physical Impacts: Who will pay for invasive species and pest erradication if it turns out that rats and other pest and vermin can hitchhike freely on incoming vehicles?

The above are just a few of the common sense concerns and questions that caution against the planned Superferry. Shouldn’t we at least know what we are getting into? Let us please look before we leap!

Now despite a number of Hawaii citizens common sense rejection of the very concept it looks like the project called the “Superferry” continues to be a scary proposition especially for many outer-island Hawaii citizens. The Interisland Ferry is a business venture that somehow our Democratic State Senate and our Republican Governor have decided to impose without the benefit of an EIS. I am told that at a public meeting when asked if she would consider asking the developers to do an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), Governor Lingle refused. This ferry will be jammed down our throats if we want it or not and if it damages our environment and way of life or not. There is plenty of blame to go around as far as I can see. Where is the “drug fighter” Duke Aiona on this issue? It is obvious that the Superferry will make inter-island drug distribution much easier and interdiction harder. The Senate also fell down on the job in preventing this from happening without an EIS. the Senate Transportation and Government Operations Committee has voted to have SB 1785 killed in committee. In the 2005 legislative session, Senate Bill 1785, would have required Hawaii Superferry to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Superferry CEO John Garibaldi says that, in preparing an EIS, “The delay would cause investors to pull their support, effectively sinking the effort to bring ferries back to Hawaii.” On September 29, 2005, U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor dismissed a lawsuit filed by three environmental groups in August of 2005 seeking a full environmental impact statement for a proposed interisland ferry system. Hawaii Superferry Inc. can now proceed with its plans to operate its vessels in Hawaii waters in early 2007.

Okay, here’s some more background articles to bing you up to speed.:

Waters have been choppy for Hawaii interisland ferry Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jun 4, 2006 by Mark Niesse Associated Press HONOLULU — Without passenger boats, bridges or tunnels linking the islands of Hawaii, the state’s four island counties in some ways are as isolated from each other as they are from the mainland. That may change when the Hawaii Superferry, a four-story catamaran, begins running from Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, to Maui and Kauai in a little over a year. A second boat connecting Honolulu with the Big Island is expected to start service in 2009.

“This is like the coming of the jet age. It’s a new transportation mode,” said John Garibaldi, president of Hawaii Superferry. “How much of the beauty of Hawaii do you experience from 20,000 feet in the air?”

Over the past several decades, other boat services have tried to provide a viable alternative to commercial airliner service to move people around the islands, but every effort has failed.

The latest ferry service was originally scheduled to start this year, and it still has a long way to go before its new July 1, 2007, launch date. Even if the $235 million project starts then, it’s unclear whether it will be able to turn a profit.

From the Star Bulletin:

Tuesday, January 13, 2004 Ferry venture accelerates Hawaii Superferry has secured a pact to buy two ships, as well as investment
advice and commitments By Tim Ruel truel@starbulletin.com
The vision of an interisland ferry system has taken another step forward, with a shipbuilder signing a conditional agreement to supply two 340-foot catamaran vessels to Hawaii
Superferry, contingent on a series of financing arrangements.

Hawaii Superferry said yesterday that Austal USA has agreed to build the two high-speed ships, which would hold 900 passengers and as many as 280 vehicles, for delivery between 2006 and 2008. The vessels would be able to travel up to 45 miles per hour, reaching Maui and Kauai from Honolulu in three hours and the Big Island from Honolulu in four hours.

Each vessel costs about $75 million, and Austal has agreed to invest more than $10 million in the venture, said John Garibaldi, a partner in Hawaii Superferry and former chief financial officer ofHawaiian Airlines.

Hawaii Superferry has estimated that a family of five traveling by car to the neighbor islands from Oahu could use the ferry service for about half the cost of flying and renting a car, Garibaldi said.

A start-up company, Hawaii Superferry seeks to raise around $3 million in venture capital by the end of March, with help from isle investor John Dean, former chairman of the holding company of California’s Silicon Valley Bank. The company has been talking with investors in Hawaii and on the mainland, Garibaldi said. Tim Dick, founder and chairman of Hawaii Superferry, previously founded Grassroots Enterprise Inc., an Internet political and advocacy software business in San Francisco, raising $35 million.

Also from the Star Bulletin.

Editorials Monday, July 11, 2005 OUR OPINION Ferry operator should address concerns

This year’s Legislature approved an expenditure of $40 million for harbor improvements to prepare for the ferry and rejected a bill that would have required the company to prepare an environmental impact statement. John Garibaldi, the company’s chief executive officer, said delays caused by such a requirement would have jeopardized $200 million in funding.

Some links:

dkosopedia.com/superferry..

Hawaii Superferry Corporate Website

Congessional candidate Gary Hooser is saying all the right things:This is a quote from Gary Hooser’s great diary on Kos.  Check it out here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/28/05053/2336

“I am running for this seat because our country and world is headed in a direction that must be reversed and it must happen soon. I would like to be an agent for change in Washington D.C. working for peace, justice and sustainability. I could say “fighting” for peace, justice and sustainability…but somehow…saying “fighting” for peace just doesn’t seem to fit.

I consider myself a pragmatic idealist and my track record in Hawaii is clear and unambiguous. I co-sponsored a state resolution against the war in Iraq prior to the start of the war and remain committed to begin now withdrawing our troops. On issues of privacy and personal, civil and human rights my voting record at the state level is clear and strong in the protection of those rights. On issues of the environment, the Hawaii Sierra Club recently recognized me as having the best environmental voting record of the entire state senate. Additional information on my background and record can be found on the website.

Mr. Clinton, in support of the so-called war and Mr. Lieberman tried to make the point that the campaign should not be about the war, but “Democratic core values” instead.  Below is my take on it.  

The Akaka campaign has come out with a series of strong television advertisements for the incumbent that emphasize the fact that Mr. Akaka was one of the 23 United States Senators that stood up for their country and courageously voted against the “war” resolution.  In my opinion, this one act, this acknowledgement of core human values, DEMOCRATIC VALUES, this one vote, redeems any small errors he might have made along the way.

In October of 2005, frustrated and angry at the Republican strike at Iraq and the ensuing mess, I wrote a nasty letter to Dan Inouye, the Senior Senator from Hawaii.  I sent copies of this missive against the Iraq incursion and asking for the impeachment of Mr. Bush to each member of my congressional delegation and to Hawaii Democratic party headquarters.  I singled out the Democratic party as being part of the problem, not part of the solution.  It was an unhappy and accusatory missive, exacerbated by the memory of the silence of the Democratic party in Hawaii to speak out clearly and strongly in one voice against the war.  In fact, at the time of the vote and signing they flooded my mail box with a plethora of mail that declared their accomplishments in other areas.  Smoke and mirrors.

Senator Daniel Inouye arrogantly didn’t bother to even reply or acknowledge my arrogant and nasty letter.  Representative Neil Abercrombie wrote the most thoughtful and personalized note emphasizing his stance against the war.  Senator Dan Akaka wrote a note saying he would think about it and write later.  But, I must admit, Ed Case did take the time to write and address each of the concerns I raised.  The problem is not his followup or organizational skills, it is just that I disagree with almost all of Ed Case’s conclusions and thinking.  The following is what he had to say about the war in October of 2005.

The current situation in that war-torn country is obviously a most difficult and fluid one. Amidst the ongoing violence and tragic loss of life by not only our own citizens but also the citizens of Iraq and other countries, there is slow progress, most particularly relative stability and Iraqi control in 14 of the country’s 18 provinces and slow but steady progress toward an Iraqi government.

No American, myself included, wants our troops to remain in harm’s way a minute longer than necessary. The difficult question, of course, is when is that point?

I share continuing concerns over the circumstances under which we intervened in Iraq. But we must deal now with the reality of having committed ourselves and being fully engaged, and the equally realistic determination of what our goals are and what is our best course from where we actually are.

In my view, our goals are and should be fourfold: to (1) assist in restoring a basic level security and stability to Iraq; (2) assist in the formation by the Iraqi people of a government of, by and for the Iraqi people; (3) assist in basic reconstruction and in formation of a Iraqi police and military capable of maintaining security and stability; and (4) withdraw. I fear and believe that, if we do not accomplish these basic goals before we withdraw, we will face a situation in Iraq and beyond its borders, including realistic threats to our homeland, that will be worse than had we never intervened in the first place.

 

 At the time, Ed Case’s response was almost word for word, the lame apologist Republican line for the ongoing war.  Now, with this new series of ads, Mr. Akaka has come out clearly and loudly questioning the war and it’s aftermath.  I think, this is a core issue that will influence many voters.  If Case cannot condemn the war loudly too and admit he was wrong, he doesn’t have a chance with an electorate that sees clearly the lies and adventurism that got us in Iraq.

 Yet, the Akaka campaign says they are trying to press Case to come out and describe his position on issues like the War in Iraq, the Patriot Act, and Bush tax policies.  

It has been suggested that Mr. Case is purposefully avoiding any discussion of his positions so that he can continue to be all things to all people.

It has also been suggested by many that The Democratic U.S. Senate race between Sen. Daniel Akaka and Rep. Ed Case could turn into a debate about core values of the Democratic constituency.  See his television ad here.Watch Senator Akaka on IraqThis dedication to Democratic core values is precisely what is happening with this new series of TV ads which show Akaka speaking to a crowd of folks at a rally, Mr Akaka questions the war and it’s aftermath around the world.  

When Hawaii Representative  (related to AOL/Time Warner Steve Case) decided to run against Senator Dan Akaka and with this decision to swim against current of opinion held by most long time Democrats, he seemed impatient to get on with his next career move, and in declaring his candidacy he is cutting in line, ahead of Representative Neil Abercrombie and in essence telling Akaka he is “too old” and to “get out of the way.” In Hawaii’s tradition-bound Democratic base this kind of line cutting is a no-no and will make it that much more difficult for Ed Case to succeed.

 Representative Case is really not very much of a Democrat anyway, voting for the war, continuing to support it even as late as 2005. And he is in many ways like Joe Lieberman, an undacover “Republican Lite” in my humble opinion. He certainly doesn’t have the contacts of the old man Akaka and good will in the Senate.

See below for some newspaper articles and gossip and other background information about this race:

Psst…Political gossip.  Now, didn’t I tell you that the Democratic party in Hawaii took traditional sevice values like seniority seriously?  Ive been informed by an inside source that must remain nameless, that the “real story” is that when the Democratic party in Hawaii asked Ed Case to run for governor, considering he was the only one with enough haole “Republican lite” type tinky dust to actually give  Linda Lingle a run for her money. If the Republicans don’t have to spend big to defend Lingle, than money could go elsewhere to support other challenges to Hawaii’s overwhelming Democratic majority. The same newly-arrived-in-Hawaii voters that Lingle appeals to would also consider(like) Case.  I’m told he said that he would run, if, when he had done 2 terms as Guv, he would get the party’s backing to run for the Senate.  

My source said that the DEMS said NO!  That’s senate seat belongs next to Neil Abercrombie  whap your jaw.  Ed said well,  “Well, in that case, I’m going to run for the Senate now!”

Some Older LINKs
Star Bulletin

Hawaiian Kingdom

Honolulu Advertiser

Newer LINKS

Poll shows Akaka has edge in Senate race

ruminations…

Case-Akaka race could hinge on independents

I find the emergence of the World Cup and soccer on the world’s stage including the American national one an encouraging sign.  Americans until now, as far as the definition of “football” is concerned have been constricted and narrow in their world-vision, their weltenshaung, only recently begrudgingly granting soccer the name “football” that is used commonly elsewhere on the planet.  Going even further, I will assert that this worldwide media play, this enhanced and much ballyhooed World Soccer Cup television reality show, a profitable public countdown to arguably the best soccer team in the whole wide world for the year, this popular global event could be a significant precursor to a sea change in the American psyche.

Before you think I am going all giddy and  weak in the knees over a silly football game,  please allow me to explain.American football is a metaphor for the American psyche.  When I was growing up I played football until high school when the other kids got bigger and I was then too small and too slow.  Until high school I was the one giving licking’s not gettin’ them.  But, in middle school (called Jr high then) I routinely was chosen for the line (center, right/left guard, etc.) because of my aggressive style of play.  I must confess, the thing I liked the most about football was the ability to give body slams and elbow cracks as hard as I could whilst on the playing field.   I’ve often mused in the years since that the the kids that followed their middle school successes with high school and college football, were like I was mean and aggressive, but had the good luck to have DNA that led to the breeding of larger sized humans.

Baseball, once, during the WW2, was considered our national game. Baseball, like football was another game with the stamp of “World Championships” that was in reality just the champs of the North American world, not the rest of the world.  When I was coming up, it was football that really counted.  So, our national game, a game where the meanest and most physically aggressive style prevails, where the biggest guy wins, where might makes right etc. etc. The game can absolutely be considered as a metaphor for the American conciousness.

The following list is a calabash of ingredients, a mixture of thoughts I have had over the years around this phenomena.  Please sort them out in that particular order which makes most sense to you.  I think that the World Cup is an important signpost of change as are the below somehow connected markers:
Until recently, until the emergence of the World Cup, our traditional American style of football was considered the only “football” because if you called soccer, “football” folks would laugh.  “stoopid, stoopid, that’s soccer dude, the Brits and the Froggies play that, not us, real Americans we play real mean men’s game, the only one deserving of the name football!!!!!

The emergence of women’s movement inspired more independent, less warlike, soccer moms.  I wittnessed and I participated in this change first hand.  I was a young father, my emancipated and independent wife, found this new league, a soccer league.  Kids ran around the field after the ball and kicked it or head butted it into a goal area rather than body slamming each other.  The empahsis in soccer football was on style and finesse rather than bulk strength.  In some sense you had to be better fit to play this type of football and the type of sports hero that emerged from this game was more lithe and less bulky.  I knew for sure that soccer was taking hold when the corporate media did some comic stories on how the game of soccer might actually be more dangerous than traditional American football because of the head butts to the ball.  They hauled out the paid experts, graphs and tables, and really threw out the chum, churning the murky waters even further.  But, nevertheless, soccer Moms and soccer prevailed and soccer leagues became a routine part of the suburbanscape.

The Superbowl phenomena. Talk about testosterone on steroids? I don’t remember when the super bowl became the big deal it has been the past decade.  Was it big from the start?  It was a big money way of consolidating the marketing efforts of two groups of competitors and calling it a world championship (if not directly, but by implications) ergo the “Super Bowl” of football, echoing all those post season bowls, here across America.  Super it may have been, world it wasn’t because Americans are the only ones that play their silly ass pugilistic brand of football.  I don’t observe the Superbowl religious holiday, but many Americans see this day as the high day of the year.  So, our national game, a game where the meanest and most physically aggressive stye prevails, where the biggest guy wins, where might makes right etc. etc. The game can absolutely be considered as a metaphor for the American consciousness and the SUPER BOWL IS THE EPITOME OF THIS SILLY SELF CONCEPT.

Lance Armstrong and the Tour de France.  Okay, perhaps I’m going to probably be treading too heavy here for some of my French brother’s tastes, so let me issue my apologies on the front side.  There is only one thing that in my mind would interest Americans in bicycle racing when this type of atheletics was previously considered “sissy shit.”    Motorcycle racing might maybe considered, but bicycle racing never, especially since it is the haughty French that were supreme until Lance arrived.  Lance was the ultimate publicists dream for popularizing The Tour de France in America.  That he was a cancer survivor was just icing on the cake.  But, because he was the right media catalyst at the right time, the result of Lance’s victories was to turn America’s face away from it’s own strictly NASCAR navel and to Europe and European games and atheletic contests.  That the French gave him shit made us like him even better.

Skinheads and Soccer fights.  The previous is the ingredients, for spice, throw in the high visibilty fights that make such good televison after all.  Soccer fights, and the high emotional investment many folks around the world have in their soccer games primes the pump for news and for  feature television producers whose voracious appetites gobble the most insignificant visual crumb in this war of visual symbolism and soccer violence just stokes the furnace.

Of course, the broth that makes this whole stew viable is the global information network like CNN and the Internet.  We all watch televison and even the most backward village in remote India has a dude with a wireless, who is the local phone company.

I conclude then, that the present American television and satellite media promotion of European football, or soccer, is a good sign that Americans might soon get their heads out of their assholes and recognize that there is  America, and then there is the rest of the world.  Last night, I was listening to a politician, a lady I think of the blue state stripe, I forget her name.  The first sentence out of her mouth in an attack on the war in Iraq was a silly boast, “America must be the strongest nation on earth” blah blah blah blah.  If that is the criteria, I hate to tell you Beeyatch, it is over already.  In calculus terms, the inevitabilty of the Chinese ascension is clear.  There are a thousand Yao Mings in a thousand villages ready to play in the NBA, a million linebackers bigger and more viscious than the “Refrigerator.”

We are toast if we continue to play American football.   Personally, I think we had better learn to play Soccer.

My attention has been turning more toward what is happening in the Pacific Basin and the countries surrounding it.  I’ll be starting a site soon that is directed to the Pacific.  This is practice chops.
This is BBC Pacfic News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/default.stm

The below quote is from the good ol’ BBC Asia Pacific News section: See the above link for their front page.

    What makes a happy society?

    Why has more money not made people happier?People in Japan and the Western world are no more happy now than they were in the 1950s, despite a massive increase in income.In fact, extra money has little impact on people’s happiness once a country has more than $15,000 (£8,000) per head.The World Happiness Survey puts Nigeria at the top of the league table of happiness and Romania at the bottom – along with several other former Communist countries.What are the key factors for a happy society? What role do politics, crime, economy and religion play? What makes Nigeria so happy, while the developed world lags behind?We’ll be discussing happiness in our global phone-in programme, Have Your Say, on Sunday 7 May. Please include a phone number with your comments if you’d like to take part.

    Published: Thursday, 4 May, 2006, 08:46 GMT 09:46 UK

This is from the Bangkok Post: http://www.bangkokpost.com/

    Bringing the market to the village.  This is really a hot story and cutting edge sustainable economics.

    The tiny village of Baan Nong Pai in rural Sakhon Nakorn (population 500) is the test bed for an ultra broadband solution to bridge the “Digital Divide”. There are no fixed line telephones in the village and mobile phones do not work unless people stand outside or on a roof, but these villagers now have a “Classroom for Life” that gives them access to email, e-commerce, video conferencing and a video-on-demand library thanks to the work of a certain Canadian-Australian by the name of John Hawker.

This is the Australian Broadcasting System Online: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/ It has an unusual format, multi-language support as well as regional rather than international empahsis.

    This below is one of their stories:

   

East Timor has urged the United Nations to keep international police officers in the country for another year after riots in the capital Dili.

    Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta told the Security Council that with presidential and parliamentary elections due by next May, at least a company of international police is required until then because of the volatility and fragility of the situation.

    Australia and New Zealand have discussed sending military reinforcements during talks in Auckland between the Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and his New Zealand counterpart Winston Peters.

    Peter Lewis reports Alexander Downer says he’s monitoring the situation in East Timor closely and that a decision to extend the UN peacekpeeing mandate was imminent.

    He says, “The sense we have from New York is that the UN – the members of the UN members of the Security Council feel the mandate should continue which is my view. I think it should.”

    Winston Peters says New Zealand will also consider any request for additional assistance.

    “Given the fact we have put our considerable support and committment behind this country I would think cabinet would treat it very sympathetically any request from the UN.”

    Both countries have advised against all non-essential travel to East Timor.

This Maori News is a great resource for those interested in Pacific cultures.src=”http://maorinews.com/karere/images/tki-masthead.gif” />

This is one organizations bottom line take on it all: http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/

And last but not least, this site reminds me of that old dirty joke, “what looks nasty, but feels good?” well this site has a nasty green color and the design is non-exixtent, however there are lots of good links here. Mucho hypertext product.

http://uqconnect.net/~zzslayto/

aloha.
also posted at European Tribune.

There is just so much shit staining the Republican elephant and when I thnk about I realize it will provide grist for many investigations and much discussion and study for years.  That is, IF we get out of this without George and his cronies causing anymore global mayhem and destruction.  Yeah, he continues to endanger our lives.
 

                               

“The boss wants us to clean this up before the next election!”

Click here to see
a larger image or to download

This diary is or will be soon cross posted at:

The Fringe Element

The European Tribune

Is any expletive bad enough for Mr. Bush?

When I first started writing my congressmen and and others to protest Mr. Bush’s foreign adventures, I resolved to use no disrepectful language of a personal nature.  
Subsequently, frustrated and conscious of a deep slide toward rather than away from a dangerous and disastrous foreign policy abyss, I have violated my first resolve more and more frequently. However, in my own defense let me observe, I am not the only writer to express my anxiety describing Mr. Bush with an expletive or two.  In no special order, some I’ve seen frequently on the Blogosphere and in the traditional press recently are:

Liar, dimwit, retard, incompetent fool, chimp boy, dumbass, scrub, simpleton, draft dodger, corrupt knave, dipshit, ignoramus, ghoul, anti-christ, failure, bankrupt soul, bubble boy, snake, asshole, dishonorable creep, traitor, reprehensible criminal, arrogant bully, etc, etc, etc.

The CORPORATE MEDIA, what is their bottom line?  Bob Sheaffer, What’s her name Vargas, Wolfie Blither, and others all continue to treat this failed leader as if he ever had any credibility.  They are so hungry to keep and increment their access to his highness that they enable his presentation.  He deserves little respect as his actions attest.  His vision is small and shortsighted and his worldview inaccurate.  His answers to their questions are invariably simplistic and empty.  Yet these, “journalists” sit there with respectful smiles on their ass kissing faces, abrogating the democratic role of the journalist right in front our eyes.  Holy shit!  If any of them had any credibility at all, the next time the white house contacted them to be a partner in another public relations sham they would refuse by announcing to the world that they will not continue to be used as an annex to the  United States Information Agency.

Presently, Mr. Bush is engaged in a campaign of speeches and television appearances designed to give legitimacy to his already failed policies and actions.  His simplistic and silly arguements are being presented as if real.  It is public relations at it’s best.  On a purely pragmatic level, you have to admire the Bush administration as they are world class puppeteers of the mainstream (traditional) media.  They keep dishing out the same slop and the media keeps eating it.  I guess somehow you can’t argue with that bottom line?

Loyal to impartial public serving journalism?  In the White House Press Corps there seems to be only one Helen Thomas.  She is not disrespectful, she just asks the questions they all should be asking so they, the media ashamed of themselves, allow a chuckle or two, when George DEMONIZES Helen, the only real truth seeker in the bunch.

Demonize a fool?  How?  Instead of crawling away in shame the man declares his lies and failures are to be taken as truth.  Demonize?  Just recognize him for what he is that will be enough to protect the truth.

Please forgive the shaggy dog character of this post, but that brings me to the sad conclusion that as long the media remains spineless and as Bush doesn’t fall off Brokeback mountain or do some other meaningless and trivial social faux paux like Mr. Clinton did he will continue to be treated with the respect a truly honorable person would deserve and George Bush is truly not that person.
This diary is or will be soon cross posted at:

The Fringe Element

European Tribune

Daily Kos

When I started to read more about the outsourcing the port issues and the security breaches, the difficult shipping time deadlines (In America it takes a full 24 hours to inspect one, that’s right ONE container.) and more recently the fact that the majority of the fresh food we consume comes from outside the United States through many of the ports in question. I had missed the transition from being the breadbasket of the world to being the stomach of the world. Our survival from oil, to cars, to food etc. all depends upon the goods being shipped to us on our very efficient networks of distribution.
 

                               

The Destruction of our farmland seems at the very least symbolic of what is happening to our America these days. Thanks Mr. Bush.

I read today about a project in California that could help stem the blight of urbanization in many places is here.

Full Story

The population in Beaumont has nearly doubled to about 23,000 during the past five years. Fruit trees, once ubiquitous on the local landscape, have been in decline the last several decades.

Cherry grower John Guldseth said at least 40 orchards were around when he started farming in 1973. Today, he estimated, only about 10 functioning cherry groves remain.

The fruit’s decline reflects that of many commodities in California, said Joe Elizondo, director of the Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship’s small farm program.

The business wasn’t lucrative and the children of many farmers chose not to continue. Most of those who did worked small plots that didn’t produce enough to supply increasingly larger, centralized markets, and they couldn’t compete with cheaper, imported crops..

Well, this is a real problem that concerns us all and many communities in the country have become more active. See the below for links to more articles on this subject:

Farmland Preservation
American Farmland Trust

This diary is or will be soon cross posted at:
The Fringe Element

Daily Kos
My Left Wing

The below article inpired me to do the cartoon you see below the fold.  The Bush Garden.  

A Tutorial on How to Find the Real Numbers:  Just How Big is the Defense Budget? By WINSLOW T. WHEELER in counter punch.  http://counterpunch.org/wheeler01192006.html