Billions for Bombs-Nothing for Food

'THERE'S BEEN A NUCLEAR TEST' 

 

So North Korea has spent billions for a nuclear weapon while their people starve. Why, because they are afraid of the U.S. Like, what does North Korea have that we could possibly want? Nothing. The price dictators are willing to pay to stay in power never ceases to amaze.

WAITING FOR THE BULLY TO GET A BIGGER STICK?

Most have assuredly seen this headline:

"Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- In a sharp escalation of hostility along their disputed sea border, North Korean and South Korean forces traded fire Tuesday, a deadly skirmish that jacked up diplomatic tensions in a volatile region."

I am not a "hawk" by any stretch, but North Korea needs a reality check!

They have repeatedly snubbed their nose at the world and the UN. Their recent lies about not have a Uranium enrichment facility and now the shelling of a S. Korean island should be a clear signal that the North has no intention of living with its neighbors peacefully. Many analysts claim that the North does these things to get people to pay them attention. The notion being that nay attention, positive or negative, works for them.

All of this may be fine as long as they are playing and taunting with little sticks. But clearly, their intention is to have nuclear weapons. Then they will have a really big stick. What happens if they want attention then?

A TIME TO RANT

Time to rant a little!
Why is it that Congress can give banks $800 billion in only a few days but then take months to help people get health care? Our insurance is through my job. However, I will have to work 8 years beyond my retirement age to keep my wife insured-she is 8 years younger. I will have to wait until she can get medicare. Sorry, that is wrong. We can give OUR money to banks, who then give out bonuses but we can't provide an alternate insurance program that ensures all are covered? I am not an avid supporter of big government, but health care is not an option.

We have totally blown our chance to alter climate shift. It is always about money. Yup, some inroads are being made but it is too slow and too little. Who cares about why, the fact is that it is happening now. get off the blame kick and get to work at solutions-now. WE DO NOT have 30 years! The tipping point has or is near being reached. My God people, put the money into clean energy now and create millions of jobs. It is bs that it cannot be done. There are now climate refugees. What will happen in a couple of years? Are we planning for the disaster? Well, if Katrina is any indication, you best be relying on yourself. When it hits, it will hit hard and fast.

Israel need to back off this whole settlement thing. Perhaps the divisions are so deep there will never be peace-but we will not know unless Israel ends the West bank issue and stops new settlements. if that does not help, then the terrorists will be exposed for what they are and we can think again.

North Korea-shut them down.
Iran-power to the people!

if you think that the economy is getting better, think again. We have just seen the tip of the iceberg. It has a fundamental flaw that money will just not fix. We can no longer rely on wasteful consumer spending and it will never-good thing-go back the way it was.

These are just a few rants on topics that have been eating at the mind. Be prepared, the rough ride has not even started yet.

PRESIDENT BUSH'S POLICIES OF ALIENATION

What is wrong with President Bush? Does he want his legacy to be “the man that rekindled the cold war?” According to Vladimir Putin the Russian test-firing of new missiles was in response to the U.S. plans to build missile defense sites across Eastern Europe. Why would we do that? What is the secret Bush agenda?

According to White house officials the purpose of the missile defense system in Eastern Europe is to defend the area against rogue states such as Iran and North Korea. I am no military strategists but this makes no sense. If North Korea were to launch missiles at the U.S. why would they send them over China, across Russia, over Europe and across the Atlantic to the U.S.? Do they even have the capability to do that? Would it not make more sense to shoot them at Hawaii or California? They are a lot closer.

The same goes for Iran. If the shortest distance for a missile to fly is a straight line, I do not think that they would first go over Poland to reach the U.S. Again, do they have ICBMs? And, for the sake of argument, why does the U.S. have to defend Eastern Europe? If they are so concerned about Iran, which any intelligent being would doubt, then let them do something about it. Certainly we are a member of NATO but we simply cannot continue to put more bases and more missiles around the globe because we fear Iran and North Korea.
According to a May 31st AP report,
“He (Putin) assailed the United States and other members for failing to ratify an amended version of the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which limits the deployment of heavy non-nuclear weapons around the continent.
"We have signed and ratified the CFE and are fully implementing it. We have pulled out all our heavy weapons from the European part of Russia to (locations) behind the Ural Mountains and cut our military by 300,000 men," Putin said.
"And what about our partners? They are filling Eastern Europe with new weapons. A new base in Bulgaria, another one in Romania, a (missile defense) site in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic," he said. "What we are supposed to do? We can't just sit back and look at that."
Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly rejected U.S. assurances that the planned missile defense installations are meant to counter a potential threat from nations such as Iran and pose no danger to Russia.”

I am not sure that I blame Putin. The reasoning put forward by the Bush Administration makes no sense. There is no doubt that Russia is beginning to flex its new economic and military muscles and that Putin is moving away from democratic reform towards greater central authority. He certainly deserves to be watched but it seems that we are purposely antagonizing Russia. The question is, why?

The Bush Administration has lost international credibility. We found that it lied about Iraq and now is offering lame reasons to further extend our military capabilities. Once this Presidency is over, it is anyone’s guess what other lies may come to light but one thing is certain, our foreign policy is one of alienation and not one of peace.