A CLASSIC. 😦
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Category: government
a song for Syria
Ellie Goulding’s “I Know You Care.”
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
It’s highly unlikely that dropping bombs on these people will HELP the kids.
Donate to Save The Children or another charity working with Syrian refugees.
the most DANGEROUS drugs
Economist – A new study suggests alcohol is more harmful than heroin or crack
related – Influential and successful marijuana users
I’m thinking of quitting. Alcohol, that is.
Dear Gun Nuts …
A great opinion piece by Matt Bors:
… After every mass shooting—which is essentially all the time these days—gun rights advocates drag out the “more guns = more safer” argument. And yet: we’re still not safe!
Despite having almost one gun for every man, woman, and child in the nation, peak safety has yet to be reached. …
If you take the positions of the NRA and add them up, you can see how the world would look if the gun lobby got everything it wants: Every American would have easy access to assault weapons, gun dealers would not be required to check the criminal record and mental health history of someone before selling them a gun, the capacity of gun magazines could be near-infinite, and it would be illegal for a city to stop people from carrying guns in public. This would be a country where you could literally buy an AR-15 at Walmart, immediately put on full tactical gear worn by SWAT teams, and stroll into a school for your parent-teacher conference with another fully armed adult….
read more – Dear Gun Nuts
related – My Gun Stance
12 worst mass shootings in U.S. history
Maddow – Half the deadliest shootings in U.S. history happened in past six years
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I expect about 4 / year over the next couple of years.
Gundamentalists will — somehow — deny each and every one. They are not thinking rationally.
Tommy Douglas rolls over in grave
Tommy Douglas … (20 October 1904 – 24 February 1986) was a Scottish-born Canadian social-democratic politician and Baptist minister.
… Saskatchewan CCF’s leader and then the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961. His government was the first democratic socialist government in North America, and it introduced the continent’s first single-payer, universal health care program. …
He’s much celebrated in Canada, in 2004 voted “Greatest Canadian” by viewers in one online vote.
Arriving Saskatoon early on a Sunday morning, I saw this tribute.
Nearby was this homeless man.
Tommy would be displeased. 😦
Saskatoon is a boom town right now. With a very low unemployment rate.
how can we reduce highway deaths?
NOT the way British Colombia does it.
Many highway speed limits are posted too low in BC.
Click PLAY or watch a brilliant video on YouTube.
(via jalopnik)
related – In 2010, the BC Provincial Government not only stiffened penalties against driving at.08, but more importantly, it targeted drivers who fall below that level — to .05.
Though controversial, so far … Drunk Driving Deaths Cut Nearly in Half
if Syria’s Assad was taken out by a drone tomorrow
Would innocent Syrians be safer? Would the region be more stable? Would Syrians thank the USA? Would a Democracy follow?
No. 😦
Andrew J. Bacevich is a retired career officer in the U.S. Army having served in Vietnam and the first Gulf War.
Today he’s Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University and author of Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country.
Bacevich simply looks at the facts.
Since U.S. military interventions began in the Middle East, they’ve made a long series of foolish decisions. That includes supporting bin Laden and the Mujahideen against Russia.
What has been achieved over the past 30 years?
The region is less stable.
Democracy has not flourished.
The standing of the USA is much diminished.
There’s more potential for anti-American terrorism than ever before.
I heard an interview with Bacevich on DeCode DC audiocast. I agree completely.
If your heart goes out to innocent Syrians, send your donations to humanitarian relief. Support the 1.75 million Syrians in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.
Taking out Assad with a drone — perhaps at dinner — will almost certainly make things worse for Syrians.
strike Syria?
The best summary of the Obama dilemma was posted on Economist.
Fight this war, not the last one
Economist concludes that the USA should give Assad one more chance to admit to using chemical weapons. ” … if he demurs, hit him hard …”
It’s a compelling argument. But I disagree.
The USA should begin to phase out it’s role as unappreciated Policeman to the World, even if it means innocents in other nations suffer.
The American President should learn not to make threats he’s not willing to make good on. The American taxpayers do not want to pay for yet another expensive, ultimately useless intervention.
Is Obama embarrassed right now?
He’s a proud man. I’m sure he is.
Take it on the chin. And move on.
By the way, I am talking about this War. It would be an entirely different matter if this was a nuclear power like Pakistan, Iran or even North Korea.
Syria for dummies
I visited Syria in 1994. Nicest people I’ve ever met are those in Syria and Jordan.
Here is the best article I’ve read on the complex, almost certainly unfixable problems of the nation.
6. Why hasn’t the United States fixed this yet?
Because it can’t. There are no viable options. Sorry.
The military options are all bad.
… read more on the Washington Post – 9 questions about Syria you were too embarrassed to ask
Thanks Tony.
Rick McCharles 