Sic Semper Tyrannis

"I Am A Poor Wayfaring Stranger"- Andreas Scholl with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

 
A new post by my sister, Maureen on "The Athenaeum. "  pl  

http://turcopolier.typepad.com/the_athenaeum/2011/07/i-am-a-poor-wayfaring-stranger-andreas-scholl-with-the-orpheus-chamber-orchestra.html

The Tea Fragger Party by Kathleen Parker

 
"If the nation defaults on its financial obligations, the blame belongs to the Tea Party Republicans who fragged their own leader, John Boehner. They had victory in their hands and couldn’t bring themselves to support his debt-ceiling plan, which, if not perfect, was more than anyone could have imagined just a few months ago."  Parker

-------------------------------------------

Parker lays it out clearly.  The Tea Party has destroyed Boehner as Speaker of the House, and is working on destroying the GOP.  Dana Milbank says the same thing.  Boehner may survive for a while but having been defied as leader of his party in the House of Representative he is essentially "toast."  Eric Cantor waits in the wings like the XO on a Klingon battle cruiser waiting to sit in the dead man's chair.

IMO the Tea Party people and their representatives in Congress are not Republicans, or if they are, then the "original" Republicans are not. 

We have a poor record in demonstrating an ability to form new major political parties in the US.  We have not created a major party since the rise of the Republicans in the 1850s.

Nevertheless, the logic of the emergence of the Tea Party calls for such a major re-alignment.  The alternative to such a shift will be stasis in the federal legislature.  The present impasse will be repeated endlessly if there is not a politiccal change.  pl

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-tea-fragger-party/2011/07/29/gIQA23pAiI_story.html

Foxman on Anti-Muslim Agitation

 
"Growing numbers of people in Europe and the United States subscribe to this belief system; in some instances it borders on hysteria. Adherents of this ideological Islamophobia view Islam as an existential threat to the world, especially to the “West.”

Moreover, they believe that leaders and governments in the Western world are consciously or unconsciously collaborating to allow Islam to “infiltrate” and eventually conquer democratic societies."  Abraham Foxman

--------------------------------------

Abe Foxman is the head of the Anti-Defamation League.   He has this right.  As I have written before, there is a campaign underway to establish in the public mind the notion of the innate danger that Islam and Muslims pose for the West and its peoples. 

The general condemnation of any group of people is inherently a bad idea.  In the case of Muslims it is a particularly bad idea since Islam in spite of its self-image of unity is not one thing.  It is many things. 

Foxman points to the pro-Israel bias of many of those seeking to demonize Muslims as Catholics and Jews were once demonized.  He is an intelligent man and must understand that the Israeli government is probably involved in this political warfare against Muslims.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/norwegian-attacks-stem-from-a-new-ideological-hate/2011/07/28/gIQAhxy8hI_story.html

Wesley Clark and Waco, no, the US Army and Waco

 
The Clinton Administration involved the US Army whether the Regulars or the National Guard in the massacre of civilians at Waco?  The leadership and senior officers of the Army accepted that?  Can that be?  Can it be?

If it is, then IMO there is little that the self absorbed, half educated baboons who dominated the leadership of the US Army then and later would not stoop to in the service of self and their ambition.

I understand that the component elements of USSOCOM would prefer to separate from the Army, marines, USAF and Navy,  Well, if Schoomaker and Boykin were critical in the atrocity at Waco, then there is a good argument for that.  Soldiers should not want to have murderers in their company.

Unfortunately, that does not deal with the role that people like Clark may have played in this disgrace.

Let the CT people form a new service, secure in their belief that this kind of thuggery is the stuff of future warfare. Then, let us see if history justifies their belief that their honor is loyalty.  pl

http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=6559

Admiral Olson and the Terrorists

 
"Olson agreed with the White House's newly announced policy to strike terrorists through focused action rather than full-scale invasion, preferably by training and working with the host country's forces. He cautioned against thinking raids would solve all U.S. foreign policy problems."  AP

------------------------------------

Admiral Olson is the commander of Special Operations Command, the multi service major command that runs all the military counterterrorist (CT) commando units and their associated intelligence activities.

The CIA has its own "thing" in this field, much smaller, but obviously better.  Just ask them or their flacks in the media.  They will be glad to tell you all about it.

Olson is not in the COIN business.  The COIN cult calls for wresting control of whole populations away from insurgents through a variety of positive and negative enducements.

Olson is in the business of killing terrorists and destroying their ability to launch raids against "point" target in the US and/or against friendly countries.  He wages an undeclared war aganst those who some group of people in the executive branch of the US government believe to be dangerous enemies.

It appears that Admiral Olson sees his mission as bounded only by executive decision as to who is a terrorist.

Does this bother anyone here other than me?  pl

http://news.yahoo.com/spec-ops-chief-warns-al-qaida-2-0-051439458.html

COIN CLASSIC, NEW COIN, POST-MODERN COIN - by Michael Brenner

 
Counterinsurgency (COIN) is a growth industry.  It employs hundreds of thousands – theorists, analysts, field researchers and operators. They serve in think tanks, foundations, universities, military academies, command staffs and – not least – in the galaxy of consultancies whose financial rewards are grossly disproportionate to  the value  they add.  This grandiose American enterprise has partners, off-shoots and emulators elsewhere in the world. The COIN acronym itself has a brand recognition factor in policy circles that is envied by many a purveyor of commercial goods.

The Unintended Consequences of Posting About Extremist Violence

Adam L. Silverman, PhD*

One of the unintended consequences of my two most recent posts have been the discussion as to exactly what extremism is (J's question) and a heated discussion as to what the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is (discussion between J and MarkfromIreland).  I wanted to take a minute or two and try to get to both.

In the former I use the term extremist or extremist movement for any identity based group (religious, kinship and/or linguistic, political/ideological, social, economic, nationalist, etc) that is both espousing a set of beliefs that are towards the fringes of the larger societies, groups, movements, and/or subcultures that they are part of and whose beliefs are either directly used to justify violence by those that are objectively identified with such a group or subjectively identify with the beliefs of the group even if they have never formally joined anything.  In the former case we are talking about activity by known members of a group like the IRA or the UFF in Northern Ireland.  In the latter we are looking at activity by Timothy McVeigh (please remember that McVeigh never formally belonged to any white supremacist, militia, patriot, and/or Christian Identity group, which is why he was not trackable by those who monitor those networks).  In all these examples we are dealing with people who are white and Christian (members of the IRA being Catholic, the UFF being Protestant, and McVeigh seemed to be loosely involved with Christian Identity towards the end with his connections to Elohim City and his use of Willian Pierce/Ian MacDonald's "The Turner Diaries" as the blueprint for his attack).  I could just have as easily used Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and other examples but these will do as no society, community, group, or religion is immune to extremism.  So J, I'm not using the term willy nilly, nor am I just bandying it about with impunity.  Contrary to those whose own works were cited as justification by the Norway shooter/bomber, I recognize that words have not only meaning, but consequences and we should strive to be as precise as possible so as not to provide anyone with a loaded gun; even if it is just a conceptual one.

Assassins win again in Kandahar

 
"The death of Hamidi will raise further concerns about whether military gains by the US military in the Kandahar region, particularly in districts adjoining the city, will be undermined by the remorseless killing of top public figures.

The death comes weeks after the killing in their homes of two powerful politicians in the south: Ahmed Wali Karzai and Jan Mohammad Khan, an ally of the Karzai family and a key figure in neighbouring Uruzgan province. In April, Kandahar's police chief was killed by a suicide bomber who entered police headquarters."  Guardian

-------------------------------

Well, pilgrim, how many is that in the last weeks?  First there was the chief of police.  Then, there was Ahmad Wali Karzai, then a tribal leader allied with the government, now this man, an Afghan-American accountant.

The NATO led coalition is trying to take Kandahar Province away from the Taliban coalition.

Are we there yet?  pl

PS How are things in Marja? 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/27/kandahar-mayor-killed-explosives-turban

 

A Reply to Sidney Smith on Holbrooke’s Death by Richard Sale

    
(After Richard Holbrooke’s death in December, Sidney Smith, a man whose intelligence I very much admire, protested about my comparing Tolstoy with Flannery O’Conner.  Somehow, the post was mislaid, so I am forwarding it now). 

     Sidney Smith’s comments about my posts are always courteous thoughtful and extremely well-expressed, and I would not offend him for anything. Yet in his conviction that I had tendered a slight to Flannery O’Connor by comparing her to Tolstoy, I believe he was not only “off topic” as he concedes, he was, in my view, off the point as well.  

     I think it was Bagehot who once classified readers as voracious, subtle, stupid or otherwise.

Obama prepares for surrender

 
"“The only reason this balanced approach isn’t on its way to becoming law right now is because a significant number of Republicans in Congress are insisting on a different approach, a cuts-only approach — an approach that doesn’t ask the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to contribute anything at all,” Mr. Obama said in his address. “And because nothing is asked of those at the top of the income scales, such an approach would close the deficit only with more severe cuts to programs we all care about — cuts that place a greater burden on working families.”"  NY Times

-------------------------------------------

I have thought for some time that the present struggle in Washington would end in defeat for the president.  Now, I am certain that is true.  His speech on 25 July was merely an attempt to cover himself in anticipation of that defeat.  He hopes that "sound bites" from that address can be played back to a citzenry enraged by the triumph of moneyed interests.

His defeat was inevitable in a situation in which the Tea Party types have enough votes in the House to block any deal that they won't accept.  The constitution is clear.  Money bills must originate in the House and that is where the Tea Party is strong enough to make its will prevail.

Obama is the proprietor of the Executive Branch of the government.  That is where the money is disbursed and services are provided.  Without money he cannot do either.  Some debt service would be possible and some minimal services could be possible with ongoing revenues but the net result would not be government as Americans have come to know it.

Obama has to run the parts of the government that "do things."  It is clear now that the only way he will get the money to do his job is to surrender.  He might as well get on with it.  pl

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/us/politics/26fiscal.html?_r=1&ref=us

The coming train wreck

 
It appears that President Washington's fear of the final effects of partisan political parties has proven correct. 

We are rapidly approaching  a point at which the US government's executive branch will adjudicate competing claims for bill paying using inadequate funds.

- Social Security payments (Are they payable from funds sequestered in the so call SS trust fund)  That is not clear to me.

- Medicare and Medicaid

- Defense expenses (O&M. procurement, pay, retired pay)

- All Else

    * State Department

    * Departent of Interior

    * Education

    * Department of Ariculture

ETC.

Let's have a discussion here as to what will be paid and with what.  pl 

Some Excellent Reporting on Domestic Terrorism

In the comments to my post on the attacks in Norway, a portion of the conversation has turned to the fact that the larger terrorism threat is domestic - from one's fellow citizens.  There is always good reporting, and some excellent recent stuff, on this topic, but you won't find it in the major media.  Rather its at Esquire's Daily Politics Blog and from Dave Neiwert at Crooks and Liars.  Mr. Neiwert has been aggregating incidents since 2008 (the last presidential election cycle) into an interesting interactive map.

In the Spring of this year I taught an elective on religious and (other forms of) identity violence at the US Army War College.  We focused on a number of case examples, finishing with extremists here in the US.  The enduring issue is how does one contextualize, analyze, and formulate responses to extremists threats from within?  Threats that come from one's fellow citizens, people that look and sound just like you.  We also worked on how one works these issues if one has to intervene as a third party.  There is a reason that the most effective groups have always struck at domestic targets.  Whether its the IRA, the UFF, Hamas, Hezbullah, the Mehdi Army, and the Order or the Army of G-d here in the US (to use just a few examples from a lot of places), domestic extremist threats are so effective because they understand all of the terrain.  The international stuff is often flashy and grabs the headlines, but the domestic stuff is a far more sustained set of campaigns.  And its harder to get one's head around that people so similar to you think you're the enemy or a collaborator with the enemy.

*Adam L. Silverman is the Culture and Foreign Language Advisor at the US Army War College.  The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Army War College or the US Army.

Disgust

 
It appears to me that the Repubican Party has decided that it will force the federal government into fiscal disaster in order to injure President Obama politically.  Their smugness in this is repulsive.  For shame...

The "center" not only does not hold, it can hardly be said to exist.

There was a time in this country when people tried to heal the wounds that history inflicted on us over four hundred years.

No more.

See Robert McCartney's nastiness about the South in today's Washington Post.  My Puritan ancestors would be proud of him.  They went to war to crush the South.  Submission is what he wants, as they did.

I tried to write about his piece but gave up in disgust.  When the country comes apart, people like him and the Republican House members can look in the mirror and consider the price of self-righteousness.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/honoring-the-confederacy-with-reservations/2011/07/22/gIQA1OWRVI_story.html

 

 

 

Podcast of Interview concerning my trilogy, "Strike the Tent"

 
My three volume novel of espionage set in the War Between the States was the subject of an interview with the North Carolina state museum.  Enjoy.  pl

http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/wgo/podcasts.html

Norwegian Attacks: Information

Adam L. Silverman*

For those interested, here is the running updates on the bombing and shootings in Norway today from the Guardian.

One of the last entries before sign off is that, despite initial claims and suspicions that this was perpetrated by Muslim extremists, the perpetrator is believed to be a single individual. He is in custody, is an ethnic Norwegian, and as of a couple of hours ago the Guardian was preliminarily reporting that he is a member of a right wing extremist group, who is a farmer, and has a grudge against the government. If this is the case it would help to explain the choice of targets (a government building and a Labor Party conference).

*Adam L. Silverman is the Culture and Foreign Language Advisor at the US Army War College. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Army War College or the US Army.

 

For the Post, Iran = Iraq in 2002

 
"it would take only two to three months to convert the uranium enriched at Qom into weapons-grade material. That means that Iran could have a “breakout” capacity allowing it to quickly produce a weapon when it chose to do so."  Washpost

-----------------------------------------

Does this sound familiar?  If you read this editorial closely you will see that the Post does not say that Iran has a nuclear weapons program.  It says that Iran has a "drive" towards nuclear weapons.  It says that Iranian enrichment is greater than that needed for power generation.  It does not say that the enrichment is part of a discrete program for weapos construction.  It says that the enriched uranium could be converted to weapons construction.  It does not say that the MRBM vehicles are ready to be mated to miniaturized nuclear weapons.  It says that they could be.  And then there is the extra "boost" to this message provided by Iranian troublemaking in Iraq.

What does this add up to?

IMO, The Washington Post is making propaganda and political warfare in favor of war against Iran.  Hey, why not?  The same memes worked like a charm with the American sheeple in 2002.  Why not use them again?  When will we see a re-purposing  of Rice's line about the mushroom shaped cloud?  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/sanctions-arent-slowing-irans-nuclear-progress/2011/07/20/gIQAqEciSI_story.html

Where is this room?

 
Where is this in Washington, DC.  Thisis not a government building.  pl

 

 

Stephen Dillane in "Game of Thrones"

 
I see that Stephen Dillane, the English actor, has signed to play a major role in the second season of the TV fantasy series, "Game of Thrones."  I have thought him a splendid actor since I saw his portrayal of Jefferson in the John adams mini-series.

I have harbored my own fantasy that he might some day play "Claude Devereux,' the protagonist of my novels but, alas...  pl

Government Spending: How it Affects US (us being Americans or people living in America)

Adam L. Silverman, PhD*

In the comments to my recent post with the charts about government spending, some of the commenters have taken different positions on just what is being spent and what is benefiting Americans.  I recently read this scholarly article that deals with how most Americans don't realize just what benefits they are receiving from the government, or perhaps more accurately from government spending.  I'd like to give the hat tip on this to The Big Idea or Grasping Reality with Both Hands, but to be honest I can't remember which econ site I saw the link for this at.  The most revealing data is presented in table 3.

The article can be downloaded here:

Reconstituting the Submerged State

* Adam L. Silverman is the Culture and Foreign Language Advisor at the US Army War College.  The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Army War College or the US Army.

Stand up to Herman Cain’s bigotry - Eugene Robinson

 
"It is time to stop giving Herman Cain’s unapologetic bigotry a free pass. The man and his poison need to be seen clearly and taken seriously.

Imagine the reaction if a major-party presidential candidate — one who, like Cain, shows actual support in the polls — said he “wouldn’t be comfortable” appointing a Jew to a Cabinet position. Imagine the outrage if this same candidate loudly supported a community’s efforts to block Mormons from building a house of worship."  Robinson

------------------------------------------

There is an ongoing political and propaganda campaign in the United States with regard to Muslim Americans.  Cain's "bigotry" is probably a result of the natural prejudice of the ignorant against "the other."  He does not appear to be intelligent enough or well informed enough to have formed such opinions without "help."

A group of think tanks aligned with the overseas adversaries of various groups of Muslims is leading the effort to spread distrust and fear of American Muslims.  Unfortunately, there are former and retired US government officials who have joined this effort.  Their motivations appear to be variously ethnic or financial in that these think tanks have succeeded in obtaining government contracts for the training of local police for the purpose of safeguarding the populace against the American Muslim "menace."

This "menace" is usually described as either being directly involved in the enabling of terrorist attacks or more insidiously of seeking to infiltrate American government at all levels for the purpose of substituting Islamic Shariah law for US federal and local statutes.

With regard to the charge of support of terrorism, it is striking that the highly successful efforts of the FBI and the intelligence community are dismissed as unimportant.  After all, it is argued, what about the ones who have not been caught plotting - yet.  It should be said of this charge that there is no doubt that there are extremists within the Muslim communities in the US, extremists who are actually and potentially dangerous, but this is true of a wide variety of "communities."  The Right to Life people, anti-government militias, white supremacy groups, these are all examples of such potentially dangerous groups.  All of these groups are lawfully subject to surveillance by law enforcement engaged in protecting the American People.   Such surveillance is not intended, nor does it reveal, information that would justify believing that all those opposed to abortion or who dislike the federal government should be condemned as "the other."

The argument with regard to the subversion of US secular society and law is even more defective.  1- The US Constitution is quite clear that there will be no "establishment of religion."  Any law which sought to give the regulatory or punitive power of the civil law to Shariah would be struck down by the courts. 2- Islam is not one thing.  It is a religion of laymen.  Since Islam is a religion of laymen and scholars of the religious law there is no central authority in Islam however much some Muslims and anti-Muslims would like to think there is.  The belief of individual Muslims or groups of Muslims that their particular consensus (ijma') with regard to the law is the sole and actual will of God is not supportable from the point of view of all those outside that particualr group consensus.  In other words, there are an infinite number of versions of just what Shariah and therefore Islam really is.  Are there groups of Muslims who think that man's destiny includes a world-wide caliphate living under their particular version of Shariah?  Certainly there are such, but there are also groups of fanatic Christians living in the hope of the end of the world and the fulfilment of ther own eschatological beliefs.  Does that make them a threat to the Republic?  No, it is more likely to make them right wing candidates for office.

Thomas Jefferson said that he feared that God was just.  Those who defame their neighbors should also fear God's wrath.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/stand-up-to-herman-cains-bigotry/2011/07/18/gIQA5QChMI_story.html

Who would Stay? NJ blog - 19 July, 2011

 
http://security.nationaljournal.com/2011/07/should-the-us-keep-troops-in-i.php#2030391

 

Chart Pron: The Data on US Debt and Deficits (and a few other things too)

Adam L. Silverman, PhD*

In his post earlier today about whether the US has become ungovernable, COL Lang lays out several really easy fixes (in policy, if not in the institutional politics) to right America's financial ship of state.  Below you'll find a number of charts, as far as I know based on OMB or CBO data, that show were our current debt comes from and what some of the things we could fund if our elected officials were to follow COL Lang's recommendations.  The first three are all from the Center on Budget Policies and Priorities, the last one is uncredited, but is simply another way of presenting the data in chart 3.  I've seen these all over the Internet in the past year from economics blogs and sites to news and commentary sites, so I don't even know who to give the original hat tips too, but if you're looking for consistently good economic analysis I recommend Brad Delong's Grasping Reality with Both Hands, Barry Ritholtz's The Big Picture, Yves Smith's Naked Capitalism, Andrew Leonard's How the World Works, Felix Salmon's blog at Reuters, David Cay Johnston's columns at Tax.com, and Bruce Bartlett's columns at Capital Gains and Games.  Also, though he's often shrill and is definitely partisan, Paul Krugman's NY Times blog. I'm sure I've left a ton out, and I apologize, but I spend several hours a week staying up on the macroeconomics stuff from across the spectrum, so I'm sure I've slighted somebody.

National Journal Blog - 16 July, 2011

 
I cross posted the Iraq piece on the "National Journal"  Security Experts blog.  Go there to see the other people's responses.  pl

http://security.nationaljournal.com/2011/07/should-the-us-keep-troops-in-i.php#2029982

“Wars of Religion:” A Reply to a Critic

Richard Sale author of Clinton’s Secret Wars   

     Certain qualities of mind are irksome. When we encounter a writer and hear the careless approximation of a complicated array of facts, and the speaker portrays it as the product of considered thought and persevering application when it is only empty and glib -- that is irksome. When an interpretation of intricate events is put forward on the pretense of being authoritative when it only embodies inadequate hearsay or defects of knowledge -- that too is irksome. But when certain smug, sweeping prouncements are made with a presiding, complacent air, aimed at self-display that clearly  show a disdain of solid knowledge --  that is not only irksome, it is deeply nettling.  

     Recently I did a posting about the Arab-Israeli dispute.  It likened it to Wars of Religion.  In response, the reader quickly contradicted my thesis:

      “I'm afraid I do not agree with Mr. Sale that religious wars exist. Wars are about power. Religion is merely the excuse.”  My critic follows:  “As for the bestiality, Sir Isaiah Berlin paraphrased Bakunin: ‘Religion allows people to commit unspeakable cruelties against other people, then sleep well at night, safe in the knowledge they are doing the Lords work.’”

Diehl wants a "forever" presence in Iraq

 
Jackson Diehl, Hiatt's deputy at the Washington Post editorial page has a piece on that page today.  This one is under his own name.

Diehl, who was a cheerleader for the Iraq War from the beginning, no, from before the beginning, apparently remains certain that the whole thing has been a wondrous adventure filled with  benefits for the United States.  What are those benefits in his mind?  These benefits are not clear to me, but, then, I was not a cheerleader for the war. 

Diehl argues that without US troops in Iraq, that country will inevitably fall into the orbit of Iran becoming a more easterly version of what the neocons think Syria to be.  Well, pilgrim, if that was an "inevitable" outcome of a post-Saddam Iraq devoid of a permanent Amercain garrison, what was the logic of creating such a situation?  Saddam, however awful he was, nevertheless kept the Iranians out of Iraq.  Diehl raises the possibility that Iraq, deprived of American occupation troops, may decide to spend its burgeoning oil revenues to build armed forces that can actually defend the country against; Iran, Israeli air incursions, Sunni Arab subversion, etc.  Diehl observes correctly that such a restoration of the status quo ante bellum in Iraq would be seen as a threat in the Middle East.

So what is it that the neocon press, AIPAC and ???????? wanted in Iraq?  It surely was not vengeance for 9/11.  They knew that the Iraqi government had nothing to do with that.  Perhaps the American sheeple did not know that, but the neocons knew it.  It was not the elimination of Iraq's nuclear weapons program.  It did not exist and the neocons knew that. (see my article "Drinking the Koolaid")  It was not an intention to seize Iraq's petroleum resources.  The friends of the neocons in the Bush Administration never made a move in that direction.  No, it was not any of those things. 

Evidently it was the desire for the US to be a "player" in the big sand box that is the Middle East.  Now, they wish for the US to remain an "on the ground," "forever' player there.  What the hell for?  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/if-we-retreat-from-iraq-will-iran-take-over/2011/07/14/gIQA4ZscKI_story.html?hpid=z5

Has the US become ungovernable?

 
I regret to say that this now seems a valid question.   The approach of the default "Day of Doom" makes the question pressing.

A solution to the deficit problem is clearly available:

1- Return income tax rates to what they were when that paragon of presidential virtue, Bill C. was in office. (irony alert)  I hear people "going on" about the stultifying effect of income tax rate increases on small businesses.  I don't get it.  The US economy was booming under those tax rates.  "People are afraid because the S Corporations will be hurt by higher taxes."  "S corporations,"  "mumble, mumble," "double taxation," "mumble, mumble," "class warfare," "mumble, mumble."  I used to be one of the owners of an S Corporation.  The principal benefit of such a corporation is that distributions (not salary) to the owners IS NOT taxed as corporate income.  The same thing is true of partnerships.  So, basically, the truth is that well off people just don't want their taxes raised.  They succeeded in having their Republican friends lower their taxes in the Bush years and they are fighting to keep them low using their ability to "bribe" members of Congress with campaign fund money.

2-  Get rid of the Part D medicare pharmacy benefit.  It is welfare for big pharma and it is not funded in any realistic way.  You want a pharmacy benefit?  Go around the world and ask people who have such benefits how they do it.  Start by asking the French.

3 - Abandon the "Wars of Revolution" philosophy that now dominates our foreign policy.  Let there be no more large commitments of ground and air assets to campaigns intended to change the civilizations of others.  Think sneaky, not oafishly big.  COIN is a bad joke.  It always was...  Michael Brenner wrote to tell me a new version of the light bulb joke.  "How many COINistas does it take to change a light bulb?  The answer is five, one to hold the bulb and the other four to rotate the table the first is standing on."  Think small, THINK!

Collectively, these three things would bring the budget into balance.  Can we do these things?  Evidently not.  The theological wars under way in the Congress seem to prevent such solutions.  If that is true, then the country is ungovernable.  we may be able to put a "bandaid" on the 2 August problem but the underlying conflict may be fatal.  pl

Fried Shrimp Heads

 
I went down to the Eastern Shore floating fish market in the Washington Channel on Maine Avenue.  Captain White's is my favorite place.  John "Duke" Anthony once told me that this one of the few places where you could still see the "old Washington."  He should know. I bought some of this and that.  A kilo of white head-on shrimp went in the bag.  I am marinating the shrimp bodies to cook on the grill tonight, an east Asian marinade.  My wife likes tuna steaks, so one of those for her.

I saw someone eating tempura shrimp heads on the tube a while back.  This looked great.  I saved those.  Does anyone have a favorite recipe?  pl

US Recognizes Libyan Rebels

 
"The United States Friday recognized Libya's rebel National Transitional Council (TNC) as a legitimate government, a diplomatic boost which could unlock billions of dollars in frozen assets.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington would extend formal recognition to the Benghazi-based TNC until a fully representational interim government can be established."  Reuters

--------------------------------------

This will make a big difference in closing the Qathafi regime out.  This should have been done months ago.  This makes Qathafi the "rebel" and the former rebels the real government.  Much will follow from this action.

Why was it not done before?  Answer the question for yourselves.  pl

http://news.yahoo.com/u-recognizes-rebels-libya-legitimate-government-125455845.html

Arab League calls for full UN seat for Palestine

 
"The Arab League will apply to upgrade the Palestinians to full member status at the United Nations, according to a draft statement from a league meeting in Qatar on Thursday.

"It was decided to go to the United Nations to request the recognition of the state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital and to move ahead and request a full membership," said the communique, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters."  Reuters

------------------------------

Yup, looks like "show time" at the UN.  Behind the "curtain" the Israelis and their "friends" are pulling every string they can find to block this.  If all else fails they may stage some diversion to derail the train.  Alternatively, they will order Obama to veto the UNSC resolution even though they may not be able to block
GA action.

Will full UN recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state make any difference?  I think it will because Israel and its leaders could then be subject to legal action before the ICC for aggression against a member state of the UN.  Indictments pursued with Interpol action would be likely.  pl

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/14/palestinians-israel-statehood-arabs-idUSLDE76D0S920110714

Review of the Kel-tec .32 automatic

 
People are interested in weapons reviews from consumers.  Europeans and Canadians should not read this.  it is the equivalent of pornograhy for you.  I took my Kel-tec .32. automatic pistol down to the range in the country to break it in.  It is a remarkably good little pistol for the money.  It kicks a bit, understandable for the weight, but it is very "carryable" and with hydrashock ammunition will do the job.  i recommend it.  pl

Internet Dog #2

 

Internet Dog #2   pl

 

Wars of Religion By Richard Sale, author Clinton’s Secret Wars

     Today in the Middle East you have two groups of people, the Arabs and the Israelis, reared up to confront one another in animosity and suspicion, both in the grip of fear, with the zealots of each having nothing but eyes for the atrocities, the wickedness and beastliness of the other. In public both portray the other as threats to world peace. Can both be right?

     We have seen this phenomenon before: Russia versus the West, capitalism versus communism, the western love of democracy versus arbitrary dictatorship, the developed world versus the Third World. But the clearest analogous situation to the Arab-Israeli dispute is the Wars of Religion in the sixteenth and seventeen century.

The Internet Dog

The Internet Dog - pl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Internet_dog.jpg

Fear of the Muslim Brotherhood May Be Greatly Exaggerated...Part II

Adam L. Silverman, PhD*

Back in February I wrote about how fears of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) were likely greatly exaggerated.  While this post was largely focused on concerns over Egypt, including the conspiratorial ones, fear of the MB is alive and well and often focuses on the threat of the MB within and to the US.  Last week Spencer Ackerman reported that Congressman Allen West (R-FL) will be sponsoring a Capitol Hill briefing on 25 July where a group called Citizens for National Security will present a report on how the MB is in the process of culminating its fifty year infiltration of the US entitled: Homegrown Jihad in the USA: Culmination of the Muslim Brotherhood’s 50-year History of Infiltrating America.  According to the letter from Congressman West that Spencer cites, the highlight of the event will be CFNS's releasing its database of everyone in the US they have been able to identify that is involved with the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as the organizations that they are involved with.  

Congressman Cantor's Investments

Adam L. Silverman, PhD*

Augustin L. in comments to COL Lang's recent post on Congressman Cantor remarked about and referenced the Congressman's investing in a fund that shorts the US.  Specifically Congressman Cantor has been invested in the ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury since at least the Summer of 2010.  Here's a link to all of his other publicly known personal financial information. (hat tip for all the links to Jonathon Easley at Salon.com's War Room)

* Adam L. Silverman is the Culture and Foreign Language Advisor at the US Army War College.  The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Army War College or the US Army. 

USS Liberty "Hearing" between Itai L and Ken Halliwell

I
Itai L and Ken Halliwell have been discussing the tragedy of USS Liberty on line for several hours.  It is suggested that we provide them an opportunity to debate this matter here.  Go to it.  pl

Pakistan says - Keep your money.

 
"U.S. officials have been quoted as saying the move is a response to Pakistan's decision to expel American military trainers and put limits on visas for U.S. personnel.

Analysts say the suspension also is aimed at pressuring Pakistan's army to do more to cooperate with the U.S. to fight militants"  VOA

---------------------------------------

All right.  Let's keep our money.  I am accustomed to be told in the ME "We have our pride..."  Ihis is usually from Arabs.  This time it is from Pakistan.

We should have a rule.  Anyone who tells us something like this should not be "forced" to take our money, especially  now when we are hard up for money at home.  The Pakistani Army brass says they will continue the fight against the militants who want a lor of them dead or in exile.  Well, good on'em!  Best of luck fellahs!  Hang onto those nukes.  India and indeed the world are watching you.  If the Islamists take over your country, there might not be one.

Pakistan is a "vital" ally?  How?  The operation that killed OBL had nothing to do with the cooperation of Pakistan's army or the ISI.  Don't believe anything to the contrary.

Actually, the reaction of the US Government to this "issue" in Pakistan should be normative.  The moral - If you take our money we expect you to play the game honestly with us.  If you do not, as Pakistan has not then we will walk away from you.  pl  

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/US-Suspends-Military-Aid-to-Pakistan-Pakistan-Says-It-Doesnt-Need-US-Military-Aid-125340418.html

Appeal for contributions

 
I think it is time for me to make another appeal for contributions from those of you who wish to see SST continue.  This site takes up at least two hours a day of my time.  I could quote my consulting rate to you but that would not be in the style of this blog.  Think of this appeal as something like the appeals made by PBS for money.  There is a button for contributions on SST.  Thanks in advance.  pl

 

Itai's version of the attack on USS Liberty

 

"The USS liberty was attacked on June 8^th 1967, The first formation to attack it was of two Mirage IIIC led by Yiftah Spector. In his book “Loud and Clear” He describes the incident to the smallest details.

I heard many conspiracy theories about the USS liberty, and that it was attacked to prevent the US from finding about Israel war plans. The day the liberty was attacked was June 8^th, IDF was well into Sinai, after the retreat command the Egyptian high command issued on June 6^th, it was a very fast drive to the Suez canal.

On June 8^th the fighting on the Jordanian front was mostly over. Israel pushed the Jordanian legion back to Jordan conquered the west bank and liberated the Old city. IDF started gathering forces for his attack on the Golan Hights. This is the background for the attack

Below is Yiftah’s Story:

Remember them

 
One of the consolations in the midst of this present spate of wars is the difference in the way the American people treat these soldiers as opposed to the shameful way that the Americans of an earlier time treated their warriors.  pl

http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1

We can finish off Al-Qa'ida - True

 
"The US is now ''within reach of strategically defeating al-Qaeda'' and the American focus has narrowed to capturing or killing 10 to 20 crucial leaders of the terrorist group in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, the US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, has said."  Washpost

----------------------------------

The four wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, ROW CT) that we are now fighting are being run by people who have little or no understanding of Islamicate civilization or its history.  Some of them are just ignorant generally.  For these, comprehension of the world is limited to Power Point slide briefings and Tom Clancy novels.  For another group, the poisoned chalice of "international relations" and "political science" as educational background is fatal to the possibility that they will understand Islamicate civilization for itself on its own terms, the terms on which Muslims live and act rather than the "rational actor" paradigm that describes Muslims as being motivated exactly as are all humans.

 
Revivalism in Islamicate civilization has follwed a sine curve of ferment followed by combat against the West, followed by defeat, followed by quiescence, followed by ferment as the memory of defeat wears off.  This pattern has been clearsince the rise of the West as a truly formidable opponent for the 'umma.

This will be no different.  pl

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/alqaeda-defeat-within-reach-says-new-us-defence-secretary-20110710-1h8wb.html#ixzz1RidXSabi

Poor Iraqis, poor neocons, poor grunts...

 
"Iraq’s fragile coalition government failed again Saturday to reach agreement on the formation of a cabinet or on whether to ask some U.S. forces to remain beyond December — leaving the Obama administration with an ever-shorter timetable to complete the withdrawal or manage the political fallout from staying."

------------------------------------

Sadly funny or funnily sad, take your pick.

My heart is with the American, British and other coalition soldiers who have given so much for the fantasy of neocon revolutionary aspirations.

They were put in the position of having to do that because the lying bastards in the Bush Administration sold the American people the untruth that Iraq still possessed a nuclear weapons program in 2003.  This evil propaganda campaign included encouragement of the unsupported belief of many uninformed Americans that Iraq had participated in the 9/11 attacks.  On the basis of the success of this "information operation," people like Cheney and Wolfowitz dragged the US to invasion of Iraq and at least ten years of war there.

We used every instrument available to us to put Maliki back into power after the last election.  Did we really think that the coaltion he assembled was made up of our friends?

Iran has won the long game in Iraq.

Let us pick up our marbles and go home where we can brood on the folly of tinkering with the contents of other peoples' souls.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/iraqis-fail-to-agree-on-whether-to-ask-for-some-us-troops-to-stay-beyond-deadline/2011/07/09/gIQAuAN25H_story.html?hpid=z2

Saturday at Clark Brothers

 
While you all were bashing each other on SST, I took my godson to Clark Brothers on Rte. 29 between Warrenton and Culpeper for time on the range with handguns.  This is part of his education.  He is 16.  The day was bright and sunny.  The army style range behind the store was full of people having a good time.  Tom, the range officer, had things well under control.  There were skeet shooters, pistol shooters, and then rifle people at the other end of the range.  It was crowded but a young man soon asked if I would take down his targets if he and his girl left before the next "cease fire" and so we got a lane to shoot in.  There were people from all over this part of Virginia and even a few escapees from DC.  People borrowed each others' tools, staple guns (for putting up targets), and offered advice in a friendly way.

We had a great time, followed by lunch on the road home to Alexandria.  I hope your day went well.  pl

http://clarkbrosguns.com/

 

It would be a Muslim state.... by Itai

We have a new guest author on SST.  "Itai" is an Israeli of whom I know nothing other than that he writes to me.  His first post appears below.  pl

 

--------------------------------------------

 

 
If there is an independent State ever created in the west bank,  it will not be a Palestinian state it will be a Muslim State. First, because the so-called Palestinians do not want such a state. They always said no. And secondly, because the Palestinians themselves make clear, from PLO to Hamas, it will be a Muslim state.

 

The are no unknown with respect to Hamas, which as part of the Muslim Brotherhood, seeks an Islamic Caliphate. Hamas charter does not mention a Palestinian state. As it relates to the PLO, the agreed upon constitution of the future Palestinian state, states things clearly.

 

Article 2  states  that “The Palestinian people are part of the Arab and Islamic nations. Arab unity is a goal. ". Article 5 states: " Islam is the official religion in Palestine.." And Article 7 also makes it clear: " The principles of the Islamic sharia are a main source for legislation”. This constitution was formulated by a serious team of lawyers, from the West and the Arab world, headed by Nabil Shaath, A Member of the PLO not Hamas. (“http://www.pcpsr.org/domestic/2003/nbrowne.pdf”)

The proposed constitution does not stop the Palestinians, like other propagandists from the Arab world, the West and Israel, to recite the mantra that there is no such thing as a Jewish state and a Jewish state is necessarily a racist state. "

 

 

Geithner, Obama and the 14th Amendment

 
"Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."  Wiki on the 14th Amendment

---------------------------------

Note that in Section 5 it says that "the Congress shall have power to enforce ..."  Nothing is said about the president having the power to enforce.  "Public debt.....authorized by law..."  The Congress makes law, not the president.  He signs law passed by the Congress.  The debt of the US now existing is the result of authorizing action by the Congress.  The Congress is not "questioning" the existing debt which it created by law.  The question exists with regard to additional debt.  Since the president has no authority to create debt, appropriate money or allocate it outside authorizing legislation, just exactly what is it that some people like Geithner think he would do using Section 4 of the 14th Amendment as an instrument?

Is it imagined that Obama would simply order the Treasury to create fiat money on his own authority?  Would he raise the debt limit to allow the expenditure and creation of such money on his own authority?  What does Geithner think that Obama could do to force Congress to do his will?  pl

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Omar Suleiman not interested in presidency

 
"Omar Suleiman, the ex-intelligence chief who served as vice president in the last days of toppled president Hosni Mubarak’s regime, denied allegations he had intended to run for presidency in the upcoming elections.

Suleiman said in a letter sent to Ahram that he spared no effort to serve Egypt and protect it for many years, saying he came close to death many times while on duty, but now it is time for him to rest and dedicate his time to his family.

He also thanked those who supported him as a presidential bidder, but stressed that he is not eyeing the country’s top job."  Al Ahram

-----------------------------------

I know that many of you have been "programmed" to hate and detest this man, but i know him as a friend of the US and a faithful servant of Egypt.

You notice that he is not in jail, nor is there any sign that they might try him.  Actually, what would they try him for?  Nobody seriously claims that he is or was corrupt in business dealings.  He is not a fanatic partisan, nor is he a fanatic Muslim.  He was not a "crony" of Husni Mubarak.  He kept his job bcause he had a lot of integrity and could be trusted not plot against the constitutional governmet of his country.

Some released prisoner claims OS was present when he was tortured.  Well, he would have to prove it to me.

A prominent US journalist told me that the US insists that OS be left in charge of Egyptian intelligence.  What rot!  In fact, he is not in charge of Egyptian intelligence.  He is a retired soldier.

The next time he is in Washington I will have dinner with him if he accepts my invitation.  pl

http://english.ahram.org.eg/~/NewsContentP/1/15827/Egypt/Omar-Suleiman-denies-Egypts-presidential-hopes.aspx

Zionism At Risk By: Robert K. Lifton

 
"I am a Zionist. Like most Jews living in the United States and elsewhere in the world, I believe in the indispensability of a Jewish state as an ultimate haven and representative of the Jewish people whose long history of pogroms, mistreatment as second class citizens, mass expulsions, and the extreme horror of the Holocaust demonstrates a need for a state of their own. Even before the recognition of Israel as the Jewish state, as a teenager I rode the  New York subways soliciting contributions for the Jewish National Fund to purchase land in the Yishuv. After the establishment of Israel, I supported the state and its institutions in many ways, including political activities, contributions and investment. Like other Jews, I took great pride in the enormous accomplishments of the Israeli people in building a successful modern state on what had been farmland and living up to its promise by accepting close to one million Soviet Jews and integrating them into its society.

United States or united States: Some Additional Thoughts on Revolutionary Documents and State Sovereignty

 
Adam L. Silverman, PhD*

Two of COL Lang's most recent posts, on the Declaration of Independence and on Fareed Zakariya's understanding of the nature of the US, especially federalism, got me thinking a bit about American Political Development (of which I did not specialize in...) and how America has and has not changed over time.  

In the first post COL Lang asks if the document could bear scrutiny today and if its author, and I take that to me its primary drafter Thomas Jefferson, could avoid police state surveillance?  I think the answer is quite simply that Mr. Jefferson would have little to no place in modern American political society.  And while this has been evidenced by the State of Texas writing him out of their history textbooks (apparently the religious conservatives who control the board do not like him because he penned the phrase "separation of Church and State"), I think it goes farther than just Mr. Jefferson's status.  I have often wondered, and sometimes remarked, that I do not think any of our founding and framing fathers could be elected to office today or even approved by the Senate for appointment.  And this is not because of the obvious concern that many were slave owners and therefore on the wrong side of what we would today call racial issues (it was the 18th Century after all).  Rather it has to do with their political views, ranging from the radical to the reactionary, their beliefs about the world and nature and the Deity, their understanding of government, and finally their personal lives.  While I could produce a long list of these men, their ideas, and their foibles, with appropriate links, suffice it to say that Jefferson's affair with his sister in law (Sally Hemmings was Mrs. Jefferson's sister),

 

Joe Meadors to Governor Perry

 
Open letter to Gov. Rick Perry on the flotilla from a survivor of the USS Liberty attack

by Joe Meadors on July 3, 2011

"Governor Perry,
I am one of the Americans waiting in Athens for the Freedom Flotilla
to get underway in our effort to deliver humanitarian supplies to the
people of Gaza. I was also on the Flotilla last year and was aboard
the USS Liberty when the ship was attacked by Israel on June 8, 1967.
A few years ago at my request you issued a proclamation honoring the
crew of the USS Liberty.

No memorial in DC for John Adams

 
"Adams’s one blunder — signing the Alien and Sedition Acts to empower the executive to limit free speech — overshadows the agile diplomacy that may have cost him a second term."  Alexander Heffner

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-doesnt-john-adams-have-a-memorial-in-washington/2011/06/30/AGTvmrtH_story.html

"The Naturalization Act changed the period of residence required before an immigrant could attain American citizenship to 14 years (naturalized citizens tended to vote for the Democratic-Republicans). The Alien Friends Act and the Alien Enemies Act allowed the president to deport any foreigner he thought dangerous to the country. The Sedition Act made it a crime to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the government or its officials. Punishments included 2–5 years in prison and fines of up to $5,000. Although Adams had not originated or promoted any of these acts, he nevertheless signed them into law."  Wiki on Adams

------------------------------

I suppose that one could dispute the wiki on Adams.  I do not.  These four acts are enough for me to think that Adams should not be memorialized on the national mall.  I am reminded that Adams wanted to be addressed as "excellency," and wanted state uniforms for civilian officials.  pl