Chamblee54

This content was published March 18, 2008. … This is turning into a dandy holiday week. Yesterday was Saint Patrick’s Day. Tomorrow is Shock and Awe Day (SAD) … the anniversary of the invasion of Babylon. Today, we had a presidential candidate, standing in front of four U.S. flags, saying that his preacher is a racist nutcase, which is why he wants to be president of our racist nutcase country, which he loves. And this weekend we have a grand slam…Good Friday, Dead Saturday, Easter Sunday and the Spring Equinox. This time, let’s put two boulders in front of the cave.
The best place to focus now is Shock and Awe Day. SAD is the initials. The war is over. We achieved regime change, at least in Babylon. The occupation is what is going on now, and it just might be the death of this country. Yes, there is less sectarian violence now. Al Queda is not as prevalent as it once was. Of course, it is still more active than when Saddam was in power. Turkey has invaded Kurdistan, but just a little bit. Iran has not invaded Babylon, yet. The Saudi regime has not fallen, and they have a lot more money to finance terrorism.
The US economy is in trouble. Maybe we would be in this mess without a few trillion more in debt, and the healthcare bills for thousands of wounded soldiers coming due. Maybe we could build more levees if we weren’t paying the concerned local citizens of Iraq to help us fight Al Queda. We will never know. It should be noted the presidential candidate mentioned above has long stated his opposition to “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. Just what he will do about it, should he get elected, is another good question. … 2026 POV The candidate got elected, and sort-of ended the war in Babylon. Meanwhile, Syria devolved into chaos, and is currently ruled by a “former member” of Al Queda.
This content was published March 19, 2008. … So I was coming in on I-75, and listening to Glenn Beck. He was talking about the economy, and it was not pretty. I don’t believe everything he said, but to hear him tell it, the dollar is about to become a worthless piece of green paper. The world economy is tied to this dollar, and this would make the world economy go into convulsions.
This is shock and awe day (SAD)…the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Babylon. The war ended quickly, but putting humpty dumpty together has proved to be a challenge. One of the effects of this war is vast amounts of capital leaving the country into the desert sands. Much has been lost to corruption, and more is being paid to “concerned local citizens” to fight Al Queda. The latter effort is paying some benefits, and Al Queda is almost down to the level of pre-war Iraq. Getting back to the dollar, and the connection to our economy. One of the more bizarre features of this enterprise is having a tax cut before an expensive government program is going to start. This has created vast budget deficits, and huge interest payments that will continue for a long time.
Now, with the money to armor troops and buy smart bombs, there is a lot less money available for day to day life here. And when there is an emergency here, like a cajun hurricane or a New York broker banker gone bust, the government has to crank up the printing press and make more green paper. And the more this happens, the less the green paper is worth. … Maybe green is not such a great color anymore. Those environmental wackos have totally spoiled it.
So, Mr. Beck was crying about the dollar, while ignoring the effect of the enterprise in Babylon. After all, he is a conservative, who wants both a smaller government and 160k troops stationed eight time zones away. And, if we didn’t go into Babylon, then Al Queda wouldn’t be there for us to fight, and we have to fight them there rather than here. … Meanwhile, I looked up at the traffic. An 18 wheeler decided that the car in front was not driving fast enough. The big truck swerved into the next lane, and missed the little car by a couple of feet. Happy SAD y’all!!
This content was published March 24, 2008. … Please, no betray us jokes this time. That gave the warmongers a good distraction last fall. General David Petraeus spoke to the press recently. He said victory in Babylon would occur when there is: “an Iraq that is at peace with itself, at peace with its neighbors, that has a government that is representative of — and responsive to — its citizenry and is a contributing member of the global community.”
There are a lot of differences between the United States and Iraq. The USA has 160k troops in Iraq. Iraq recently won a major soccer tournament. One has to wonder, though, how the USA does at meeting the standards it sets for Iraq. · “an Iraq that is at peace with itself” Last week, the major news story was an important minority bashing America from the pulpits of it’s churches. It’s just the way it is in the black church, you don’t understand. · “at peace with its neighbors” Despite all the political noise the rightwing can produce, the border with Mexico is wide open. The effects of a poor country on the border of a “wealthy” country do not stop. · “a government that is representative of — and responsive to — its citizenry” This depends on who you talk to. It seems like everyone has a gripe, from the right wing ( social issues, immigration) to the left wing ( the war, the environment, the rich-poor gap, health care). There are plenty in the middle who are tired of the whining, but essentially agree with both sides of the spectrum. · “is a contributing member of the global community” In all fairness, we are contributing to the global community. We contribute carbon emissions to the atmosphere. We contribute interest to the Asians who are financing our debt. We contribute cluster bombs and depleted uranium to Babylon.
One of our presidential hopefuls was quoted recently as saying we might be in Iraq for 100 more years. Somehow, I don’t think the problems in our own country will be solved by then. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Arthur Rothstein took the social media picture in October 1939. “Winner of masquerade at Halloween party. Hillview cooperative, Osage Farms, Missouri.”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah