Category: government

the truth about Jessica Lynch

On By Rick McIn books, ethics, governmentLeave a comment

In war, truth is the first casualty.

Aeschylus

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Jessica Lynch (born April 26, 1983) is a former United States Army soldier who served in Iraq during the 2003 invasion by U.S. and allied forces.

On March 23, 2003, Private First Class Lynch was serving as a unit supply specialist with the 507th Maintenance Company when her convoy was ambushed by Iraqi forces during the Battle of Nasiriyah. …

… Actually, she was in a convoy of cooks and mechanics who got lost driving at night, sadly driving right into the heart of Iraqi controlled Nasiriyah. By accident.

Many were killed unnecessarily. Her friend, Lori Piestewa, leading the convoy was one of them.

Lynch was seriously injured and captured. Her subsequent recovery by U.S. Special Operations Forces on April 1, 2003 received considerable media coverage and was the first successful rescue of an American prisoner of war since Vietnam and the first ever of a woman.

Of course the rescue wouldn’t have been necessary if a U.S. convoy could read a map. Follow the GPS.

Bush press aid Jim Wilkinson was blamed for spinning and exaggerating the story. Later he was cleared of most of the blame for headlines like this.

Lynch kept firing until she ran out of ammo

lynch_headline_post

The media, quick to accept unsubstantiated reports, are more to blame.

… On April 24, 2007, she testified in front of Congress that she had never fired her weapon; her M16 rifle jammed, and that she had been knocked unconscious when her vehicle crashed. Lynch has been outspoken in her criticism of the original stories reported regarding her combat experience. When asked about her heroine status, she stated “That wasn’t me. I’m not about to take credit for something I didn’t do… I’m just a survivor.” …

I believe she’s a teacher now. And a Mom.

Don’t trust politicians. Especially in times of war. Especially this guy.

Bush catapulg

Catapult the propoganda. (VIDEO)

In war, casualties are the second casualty.

related – I Am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story

Krakauer – Pat Tillman and American Wars

On By Rick McIn bad news, books, economics, governmentLeave a comment

Tillman500Pat Tillman, a free-thinking, hard-hitting safety for the Arizona Cardinals, walked away from a multimillion-dollar contract after 9/11 to enlist in the Army.

He joined an elite unit, the Rangers, and was killed on April 22, 2004, in a canyon in eastern Afghanistan.

The story did not end there: Tillman’s commanders and possibly officials in the Bush administration suppressed that he had been killed accidentally by his own comrades. They publicly lionized Tillman as a hero who died fighting the enemy and fed the phony account even to Tillman’s grieving family. The sordid truth, or most of it, came out later.

The best-selling author Jon Krakauer … told the full story in “Where Men Win Glory.” …

read more in the NY Times review by Dexter Filkins, author of “The Forever War.”

I read everything Krakauer writes. An odd guy, he’s one of our best living writers.

Why did Krakauer pick Tillman?

PAT TILLMAN

The story is symbolic of the disaster of the USA invading the Middle East.

What did cost?

What did the American people gain from invading Iraq and Afghanistan?

It’s unlikely the USA will ever again have enough money to engage in a war that ineffective.

I recommend the book. Especially for any young people considering joining any Military.

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Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman

related:

Pat’s brother Kevin wrote an anti-war essay titled Revisiting ‘After Pat’s Birthday’

Pat’s Mom Mary Tillman – Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman

Pat’s wife Marie Tillman – The Letter: My Journey Through Love, Loss, and Life

climate change – SOLVED

On By Rick McIn economics, education, food, good news, government, things getting betterLeave a comment

I’m a “global warming” skeptic.

The climate is changing as it always has. Ice ages come and go.

I’m skeptical that the Earth is warming mainly due to fossil fuels. And I hope I’m right. Because there is almost NO chance that the world is going to reduce the use of fossil fuels anytime soon.

Here’s the best solution I’ve yet heard. Allan Savory’s explains how we can improve the world’s climate in a cost efficient way. AND feed millions of the poorest of the poor at the same time.

Click PLAY or watch it on TED.

“Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert,” begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk. And it’s happening to about two-thirds of the world’s grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos. Savory has devoted his life to stopping it.

He now believes — and his work so far shows — that a surprising factor can protect grasslands and even reclaim degraded land that was once desert.

Allan Savory: Grassland ecosystem pioneer

Thanks for the link, Ron.

send HSBC bankers to PRISON

On By Rick McIn ethics, governmentLeave a comment

In the USA people get sent to jail for the most trivial of reasons. They have the highest rate of incarceration in the world. By far.

I don’t get why bankers are immune.

Appearing at a Senate Banking Committee hearing Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) grilled officials from the Treasury Department over why criminal charges were not filed against officials at HSBC who helped launder hundreds of millions of dollars for drug cartels.

The HSBC scandal resulted in the Department of Justice and Treasury announcing a record $1.92 billion fine after finding that the international bank repeatedly helped the world’s most violent drug gangs move at least $881 million in ill-gotten gains through numerous countries the U.S. has economic sanctions against.

“HSBC paid a fine, but no one individual went to trial, no individual was banned from banking, and there was no hearing to consider shutting down HSBC’s activities here in the United States,” Warren said. “So, what I’d like is, you’re the experts on money laundering. I’d like an opinion: What does it take — how many billions do you have to launder for drug lords and how many economic sanctions do you have to violate — before someone will consider shutting down a financial institution like this?”..

read more – A question that has not been answered

If I was an American politician, I wouldn’t be droning on about drones. I’d be campaigning for throwing decision makers at criminal banks in prison.

I’d start with this guy, Stuart Gulliver, the chief executive of HSBC.

Gulliver

He was paid $11.1 million last year, despite missing cost and profit targets and a record money laundering fine.

I don’t care if he’s guilty or not. The captain goes down with the ship.

The political gain I’d get from personally dragging him by the ear into prison would far outweigh the years of court battles.

When people ask me why I think Obama’s a lousy President, his gutlessness in dealing with those who most caused the crash of 2008 is high on my list of reasons.

Iceland arrested corrupt bankers. … How did that work out for them? 🙂

related:

• HSBC money laundering: too big to jail

• HSBC Bankers Get No Jail Time for Terrorist Financing While Somali Sentenced for Charity

hit TV series Homeland

On By Rick McIn government, product endorsements, TVLeave a comment

I just finished watching season 1.

Wow.

The first season follows Carrie Mathison, a CIA operations officer who has come to believe that Nicholas Brody, an U.S. Marine Sergeant, who was held captive by al-Qaeda as a prisoner of war, was turned by the enemy and now poses a significant risk to national security. …

The season received universal acclaim, scoring a Metacritic rating of 91 out of 100 from 28 critics. TV Guide named it the best TV show of 2011 and highly applauded the performances by Damian Lewis and Claire Danes.

… The series won both the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series for this season. …

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.

Mandy Patinkin is great, as always.

Season 1 is currently being run on Calgary TV.

I hear season 2 is even better. But it’s not out on iTunes or Amazon, as yet.

So I bought season 1 of The Wire, instead.

wealth inequality in the USA

On By Rick McIn economics, governmentLeave a comment

I’ve posted dozens of times regarding this phenomenon.

In 2010, 93 percent of the additional income created in the country that year, compared to 2009 — $288 billion — went to the top 1 percent of taxpayers …

It’s not smart. It’s not healthy.

The wealth gap has not resonated much in the American psyche. Republicans can still rant about “redistribution”, as if it’s a heinous crime.

Many poor people, those suffering most, continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh.

… But for some reason, this video’s gone viral.

The issue of wealth inequality across the United States is well known, but this video shows you the extent of that imbalance in dramatic and graphic fashion.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Fact is the rich are too rich in the USA. Many of the most affluent do not deserve their wealth.

“Behind (most) every great fortune there is a crime.”

– Honoré de Balzac

(via Mashable)

In Defense of Drones

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, product endorsementsLeave a comment

They’re the worst form of war, except for all the others.

By William Saletan in Slate

… Drones kill fewer civilians, as a percentage of total fatalities, than any other military weapon. …

read more

I agree.

obama-1

The main downside … when terrorists get drones. Public figures will then have to stay out of sight 24/7.

The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War

On By Rick McIn books, governmentLeave a comment

I heard a terrific interview with this author on NPR.

The smartest commentary on modern war I’ve yet heard.

In a new book, The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War, journalist and author Fred Kaplan tackles the career of David H. Petraeus and follows the four-star general from Bosnia to his commands in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Central to the story are ideas of counterinsurgency. Kaplan says that while counterinsurgency is not a new kind of warfare, it’s a kind of war that Americans do not like to fight. …

book

Darrell Scott’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee

On By Rick McIn ethics, Facebook, firearms, governmentLeave a comment

If you’re on Facebook you can’t avoid seeing Mr. Darrell Scott’s impassioned words after his daughter had been killed in the Columbine shooting.

darrell scott

He defends the NRA. And says:

… “We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. … “

I respect Darrell Scott’s position. And am wounded by his loss.

But the testimony has been much warped over time, having been so often spun by Gundamentalists.

Here’s one version of Snope’s clarifications:

That Darrell Scott spoke the words attributed to him is fact. However, the opening and closing comments appended to the Internet-circulated version of them are misleading and erroneous….

Darrell Scott didn’t say anything to our “national leaders,” nor is it true that his testimony was “not received well.” Scott was not delivering testimony to a crowded House chamber full of incredulous, unprepared, and shocked Congressmen; he was talking to a few sub-committee members and a stenographer. He was only one of many people who gave testimony to the Subcommittee on Crime, and it’s unlikely that most Congressmen heard what he said, or even knew that he had testified. His words certainly didn’t prompt outrage from an unreceptive audience, as implied here….

“The media” didn’t prevent anyone from hearing Mr. Scott’s speech; most news outlets simply didn’t give it much coverage because it wasn’t particularly newsworthy.

… Mr. Scott really didn’t offer much of substance, and what he did have to say had already been said earlier and louder by many others. Also as noted above, Mr. Scott was merely one of many people who gave testimony in front of the House Subcommittee on Crime in the wake of the Littleton shootings. Other parents of shooting victims spoke as well, but you won’t find that fact acknowledged here, much less any indication of what they said. Why should their words be any less important than Darrell Scott’s? (Perhaps the reason they’re not mentioned is because their opinions didn’t agree with Mr. Scott’s, and therefore didn’t agree with the opinions of whoever wrote the prologue and coda to this piece.)

… Darrell Scott’s speech was reported by the Associated Press and picked up by several big-city newspapers, hardly evidence of a hostile “media” conspiracy to suppress it and thereby prevent the world at large from hearing it.

read more on Snopes

DON’T GET YOUR FACTS FROM FACEBOOK.

It’s more crap than fact.

A Time / CNN poll mid-January found that 55% of Americans favor stricter gun control, 44% are against.

It’s a good idea to restrict assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

The argument that Americans need defend themselves against the U.S. Army is delusion.

What percentage of American soldiers would be unwilling to invade Texas? … For example.

50%? … 70%?