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POPSNever Again Tell her, tell her about the army, tell her to be proud of the army. Tell her about the family of dead girls, tell her their names why not, tell her the whole world knows why shouldn't she know? tell her there's dead babies, did she see babies? tell her she's got nothing to be ashamed of. Tell her they did it to themselves. Tell her they want their children killed to make people sorry for them, tell her I'm not sorry for them, tell her not to be sorry for them, tell her we're the ones to be sorry for, tell her they can't talk suffering to us.
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POPSForget Vietnam Analogies - Remember Cambodia and Laos - now Pakistan Pakistan is beginning to look like a combination of the not-so-secret wars in Cambodia and Laos - Those pesky Viet Cong kept slipping into Laos and Cambodia to escape B-52s. Those Taliban - they just won't stay in one place. Didn't the British say the same thing about those pesky Minute Men and Green Mountain boys. Not saying the Taliban are right in any way, it's just that - we are the British to the Afghans. When Afghans unite for their own freedom against the Taliban view of the world, they will win and we can go home. The training up of Afghan army and police also seems a lot like what we did not get right in Vietnam. why? Because, we are simply empowering rule by old tribal war lords. I suspect that the Afghan people want none of the Taliban, us or the tribal war lords. Think about how to help them come to fore might help to bring peace that will last.
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POPSLessons From John Galt "Depravity commands respect. Success is cast as evil and punished while failure is blamed on others and rewarded. Rand’s insights into the psychological state of collectivists—those who demand that we sacrifice our individual freedom and happiness for the sake of the state—explain what often seems incomprehensible to thinking people."
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POPSThe US Military Is Exhausted These troops refuse deployment for a variety of reasons: some because they ethically oppose the wars, some because they have had a negative experience with the military, and some because they cannot psychologically survive another deployment, having fallen victim to what has been termed "Broken Joe" syndrome. The voices of refusal coming from within the US military send a powerful message that soldiers will not be fodder for an unjust and unnecessary war. And the longer the war in Afghanistan drags on - the more lives that are lost and destroyed - the more resistance we will see coming from within the ranks.
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POPSThe Rich Rule Over The Poor The rich rule over the poor, And the borrower is the slave of the lender. (Proverbs 22:7 ESV) And so it goes. King George and his band of bandits got us into this mess with conservatives cheering him along every step of the way while he created a mountain of new federal debt, the largest contributors to which were Bush's tax breaks for the rich. Their hero of the hour shamelessly exploited 9/11, fear and the "war on terror" as a pretext to take the ax to civil liberties and to shroud their policies and actions in secrecy. So don't cry me a river now and cloak it with a biblical quote. You are the ones who wanted to mythify Bush as a great leader--pull your crap out on someone else who is idiotic enough to believe in it, but don't pretend you can cash in to God's love by supporting benefits that go to the wealthiest of Americans and contradict the message of Jesus of serving the poor. It's disgusting and so are you.
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POPSObama And His Appointees Dismantling US Thomas Sowell, the brilliant conservative pundit, makes an important point for those who think these radical extremists somehow got into the White House because of a failure to properly vet them. Mr. Sowell writes, “Why should we assume Obama didn’t know what such people were like; he’s been associating with these kinds of people for decades. Nothing is more consistent with his pattern than putting such people in government " people who reject American values, and resent Americans and America’s influence in the world.” Wake up America. We elected one of the most dangerous enemies of America and he now sits in the White House, filled with other enemies of America, relentlessly going about his task of destroying the country as we know it and as the Founding Fathers intended it. You better join the forces in opposition to Mr. Obama’s vision for America because if he continues unobstructed for three more years, it may then be too late to save it.
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POPSIsrael vows action against settlers Who are they kidding? Those settlers are more extreme than the rest of Israel, including the old religious nutters. It can only result in a bloodbath if they go through with this. WW3 started by two Israeli tribes - bloody ironic.
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POPSCourt-martial warning for pregnant US soldiers It outlines some 20 barred activities. Most of them are aimed at keeping order and preventing criminal activity, such as selling a weapon or taking drugs, but apart from pregnancy includes a ban on elective surgery that would prevent their deployment. Under Gen Cucolo's order, troops also are prohibited from "sexual contact of any kind" with Iraqi nationals. And, they cannot spend the night with a member of the opposite sex, unless married or expressly permitted to do so.
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POPS 2009 in Photos Specialist Sheldon Rabago, as his mother Nancy wraps her arms around both of them during a candlelight vigil at Hood Stadium on the Fort Hood Army Post in Fort Hood, Texas November 6, 2009. The day before, An Army psychiatrist opened fire at the post, killing 13 people and wounding 30 others A rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the northern Gaza Strip flies towards an Israeli target Burnt out trees outside Kinglake that were destroyed by fire are viewed from this aerial shot on February 8, 2009. Over 170 people were killed and entire towns razed in one of the worst wildfire disasters in Australian history, sending thousands fleeing in scenes Prime Minister Kevin Rudd compared to "hell". A US Marine of 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade runs to safety moments after an IED blast in Garmsir district of Helmand Province in Afghanistan on July 13, 2009.
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POPSIranian Forces Take Over Iraq Oil Well; Army Captain Accused of Murder Army Capt. Carl Bjork From Evergreen Accused of Premeditated Murder by Incarcerated Iraqi Insurgents The field is about 500 metres (yards) from an Iranian border fort and about 1 kilometre from an Iraqi border fort, US Colonel Peter Newell said, adding that it falls on the Iraqi side of a border agreed between the two countries. There are five other similar fields that also fall into disputed territory, he said. Play Video: Evergreen Soldier May Face Murder Charges In Iraq CBS DENVER; http://bit.ly/5i0zTr
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POPSHistory Channel's "THE PEOPLE SPEAK" premiere Dec 13th Narrated by Howard Zinn and based on his best-selling books, A People's History of the United States and Voices of a People's History of the United States, THE PEOPLE SPEAK illustrates the relevance of these passionate historical moments to our society today and reminds us never to take liberty for granted.
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POPSSend a message to the US troops Xerox is sponsoring Let's Say Thanks. I clipped some messages from soldiers that have received the postcards. It is easy to do. Select a drawing, select a message (or write your own) and type in your name and city. I encourage every Clipper, regardless of personal politics, to send a message of thanks for the brave men and women that are away from their families right now. It takes 10 seconds. Thanks!
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POPSAfghan army 'in need of US funds' All govts suffer corruption to some extent, so Afghanistan is the same as all of us. What gives Obama the right to ignore what happens in his country, while preaching to others, can only be hypocrisy. Maybe it is a codename for the drugs and Karzai has to deliver them all to the invaders.
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POPS 'UK Can’t Back Obama Pledge on Afghan Pullout' His comments reflect dismay at the highest level in the British Armed Forces about Mr Obama’s suggestion this week that US troop withdrawals would start by mid-2011. Britain expects to have substantial forces on the ground in Afghanistan for at least five or six more years. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, also voiced disquiet over “artificial timetables”. “I think it is very important not to send mixed messages. Instead, let’s say we’re here to train up the Afghan National Army and police and as soon as the job is done we can bring our troops home. But don’t let’s set artificial timetables”... Even if some parts of Afghanistan were handed over to local forces next year, he refused to say whether that meant some British soldiers could come home. “I think there’ll still be a job to be done for some time in other parts of the country...You’ve got to provide as many troops as you can to meet the needs of the mission.”
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POPSSome Tough Questions About Islam and Jihadists Our enemy uses Islam as a mask and he needs us to help him drive nonpoliticized Muslims into his camp. It is the essential element of his strategy. He cannot succeed without accomplishing this feat—and he cannot accomplish this goal without our help. Consider the Machiavellian tactics of tyrants throughout human history. Repeatedly they conjure a “common (external) enemy” and an existential vision, binding the masses to them. Read, for example, Eric Hoffer’s “The True Believer, Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements.” Our enemy is trying to create and sustain a mass movement. If he fails in this regard, he fails completely. Patrick A. Toffler Col. (Ret.) U.S. Army Hewitt, N.J. Mr. Gerecht astutely points out that President Barack Obama has missed a critical opportunity to militate against holy warriors in our midst. But he fails to connect the dots on a larger trend: American reluctance to admit that we are at war.
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POPS"The Middle East will be far more dangerous if Dubai fails"
Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging. "It was an adult Disneyland, where Sheikh Mohammed is the mouse," she says. "Life was fantastic. You had these amazing big apartments, you had a whole army of your own staff, you pay no taxes at all. It seemed like everyone was a CEO. We were partying the whole time." I ask a Filipino girl if she likes it here. "It's OK," she says cautiously. Really? I say. I can't stand it. She sighs with relief and says: "This is the most terrible place! I hate it! I was here for months before I realised – everything in Dubai is fake. Everything you see. The trees are fake, the workers' contracts are fake, the islands are fake, the smiles are fake – even the water is fake!" But she is trapped. She got into debt... "Dubai is like an oasis. It is an illusion, not real."
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POPSCut Military Spending in Half By Benjamin H. Friedman, a research fellow in defense and homeland security studies at the Cato Institute and a PhD candidate in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From comment at the site: ... From 2000 to 2008, Texas defense contactors raked in $255 billion, according to federal data compiled by governmentcontractswon.com ... but 2008 yielded the highest profits of the decade. Halliburton, the Houston-based oil-field services company once headed by Dick Cheney, has been the state’s most notorious war profiteer. KBR, formerly a subsidiary of Halliburton and also headquartered in Houston, is the U.S. Army’s largest construction and contracting group in Iraq and Afghanistan. Aerospace giants clustered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area—Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, CSC Technologies and DynCorp, to name a few—have also swept in huge defense contracts to produce military aircraft, conventional missiles and military satellites.
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POPSThe Raped and Ravaged "White" Children of Australia “When we reported this as kids, we were flogged to within an inch of our lives, locked up in dungeons and isolation cells,” said Braydon, who received a cash settlement from the Salvation Army for the abuse and is suing the Victoria state government for neglect.
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POPSWhy are Healthcare and Military Costs So High? Theft! The word "shoddy" comes from a descriptin for civil war uniforms made from scrape wool that would fall apart in the rain. Shoddy, is an apt description for the ethics of the companies listed below, which even after paying huge fsetlements for false claims are still getting government contracts. We have met the enemy - and he is us because we continue to vote for those who will not manage and do their job.
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POPSPTSD & Faith-Based Initiatives At the VA
More from the article below: "The story of the mistreatment of returning veterans from Iraq is well known and shocking. But the role of religious ideology in that mistreatment—how, inside the government, it was a potent tool in the betrayal of an overwhelmingly Christian Army—is much less known. “I couldn’t stand to hear that phrase any longer—‘God was watching over me,’” Benimoff wrote. Sullivan explained to McLendon and the other attendees that the rise in benefits claims the VA was noticing was caused partly by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who were suffering from PTSD. “That’s too many,” McLendon said, then hit his hand on the table. “They are too young” to be filing claims, and they are doing it “too soon.” He hit the table again. The claims, he said, are “costing us too much money,” and if the veterans “believed in God and country . . . they would not come home with PTSD.” At that point, he slammed his palm against the table a final time, making a loud smack."
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POPSTravesty Alert: Larry Hutchins Denied Clemency Again rest: the Secretary of the Navy also ordered four of the other seven defendants in the case to be discharged from the military. The Secretary of the Army could have ordered Hasan to be discharged as well, she points out. It is highly likely, however, that not only has Hasan not been discharged -- that might leave diversity a casualty, after all -- but he probably received his pay on payday last week.
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