Shutting Down

I've decided to shut this blog down as it's not taking shape the way I had hoped it would. I will be starting a different blog entitled "IndyThinkTank" that I hope will more accurately reflect what I want to achieve in a blog.

Signs of Old Age

Every once in a while I think about the signs of old-age that have crept on me unawares. My body is getting older and breaking down more; however, my spirit is that of the 60s hippie/flowerchild. With that in mind, I present one of the signs of old-age:

When just thinking about having sex is an extreme sport! ;-)

My EUREKA! Revelation

After a long, long time spent trying to figure out the last five years, I had a EUREKA moment of revelation about one of the “root causes” (one of Bush’s new buzzwords – must have learned it Crawford), of our sorry state of decline under the “War President” and his henchmen.

During the past five years, the disconnect between talking the talk and walking the walk has eluded me because I was trying to make sense of it from the perspective of a former military intelligence analyst. I completed overlooked one of the most sure-fire ways of evaluating a person’s character, honesty, and integrity.

Today, I finally got it and it’s so simple I can’t believe I overlooked. Very simply, the Bushistas are not as smart as they want us to believe they are and We, the People are not as dumb and naïve as they think we are.

The best way to counter these types of tactics is equally as simple and basic: We tell the truth, each and every time they don’t make sense. We yell, we scream, we cuss out our federal elected representatives and we tell them the gig is up. We aren’t buying their wolf tickets and there are still more of us than there are of them.

The surest way to defeat is to underestimate your insurgents (what a nutty comparison for Newt the Virtuous to spew) and not give them the credit they deserve. Most of the time they are probably just as intelligent as you are, and most of the time they will end up being more intelligent than you are – especially when their home turf is threatened.

We are threatened by the Bushits, they know it and they’re running scared because they are now on notice that we are willing to defend our country b

Off the Deep End -- Again

Please read this article. After you do, you'll have to agree that this is one of the most hare-brained and ludicrous ideas to come out of any PR blitz. At a time when our money is going to support an illegal war, programs to help people, to improve our infrastructure, enhance port, air, rail and nuclear plant security, some overly educated idiots, actually have the nerve to build a freakin' theme park?

This is so outrageous that I can't even find the proper words to convey how outrageous it is. Our troops are still being killed -- and we must ask: How many of them still don't have the proper body armor to protect them. They still don't have the properly uploaded HUMVEE's to protect them. Our infrastructure is a mess and so is our port, air, and rail security. Money flows like a sieve from the plutocracy to the lobbyists to our elected representatives.

Attention: Dogs and Cats

Received in e-mail -- but simply too funny (more in its truth than anything else):

To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - nose height.

Dear Dogs and Cats,

The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years --canine or feline attendance is not required.

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1. They live here. You don't.
2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. (That's why they call it "fur"niture.)
3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly.

Remember: Dogs and cats are better than kids because they:
1. Eat less
2. Don't ask for money all the time
3. Are easier to train
4. Normally come when called
5. Never ask to drive the car
6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends
7. Don't smoke or drink
8. Don't have to buy the latest fashions
9. Don't want to wear your clothes
10. Don't need a gazillion dollars for college, and...
11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children

Scary, Scary, Scary

Since the beginning of the newest conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Hezbollah/Lebanon, I have been absolutely horrified by what has been happening and the refusal of Bush's Administration to do anything towards the goal of an immediate cease-fire with the end-goal of achieving a "lasting" peace. In the pursuit of truth, I have been doing a lot of research and have been absolutely appalled by what I have learned so far.

Just a few examples:

1. Initially, the news reports we heard here in the US have been that the Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by Hezbollah venturing into Israel to carry out the kidnapping. This scenario is what has been passed on to us as the justification for Israel taking military action.

Unfortunately, that justification is not supported by the facts. What really happened is that Israeli troops had infiltrated southern Lebanon and were captured by Hezbollah. This is verified by the following sources:

a. The wife of one of the captured Israelis states in an interview from London that her husband was captured. Link: http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/scp_v3/viewer/index.php?pid=16598&rn=49750&cl=656601&ch=49799&src=
b. The Prime Minister of Israel says the same thing. Link: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3285177,00.html
c. The initial reports out of the region also verify this and provide a map showing the location where the soldiers were captured. Link: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/israeli_solders.html

2. Whenever a person travels down the road of pursuit of truth, we run the risk of learning that what we had previously thought to be true, may, in fact, have been nothing but a big, secretive plot to use propaganda to win our hearts.

3. I was brought up in a Christian environment (meaning more specifically that I was baptized and confirmed in the Christian faith). As such, I have, up until the past few weeks, supported the Israeli government. One thing I was guilty of was equating the government of Israel with the Jewish people. They are two separate entities, much the same way that there is a difference between the American government and the American people.

4. The process of truth-seeking led me to learn more about AIPAC. The ties between AIPAC and PNAC are cause for great concern. Two of the supporters of AIPAC are also founding members of AIPAC -- that would be Midge Decter and Norman Podhoretz. When I first read the names of the signers of the original PNAC documents I wondered who the heck they were but I didn't follow up on it. The last two weeks I did.

Speaking very bluntly, the ties between the religious fundamentalists of both the US and Israel are nefarious and devious. Can we trust anyone anymore? I don't believe so. This also underscores the very real necessity of keeping theocracy out of government.

What we say we despise in other "dictatorships" is what we are with the Bush Administration. The was currently going on between Israel and Hezbellah is nothing more than a small part of the larger plan to obtain control of the Middle East for the fundamentalists of our governments.

I want to make it explicitly clear here: I will always support people whose basic values engender those of truth, justice and equality for all -- regardless of sex, race, orientation, or religious belief or lack thereof.

The danger we face is not that of the people, but rather that of governments with ulterior motives.

Yo Bush! Listen Up!

There are still lots of questions that need to be answered by the Bush Administration about things that have happened on their watch that I haven’t heard of or read of being asked. So, in the pursuit of truth, here they are:

1. Bush, why didn’t you take the Clinton administrations warnings about al-Queda being a serious threat seriously?
2. Bush, why did you say you don’t believe the US military should be used for nation building (alluding to the Balkans), then turn right around and do that?
3. Bush, why did you say we were going to get Osama dead or alive and then abandon that in less than six months?
4. Bush, why didn’t you listen to the CIA briefers who went to Crawford to brief you in August 2001 about the threat of a terrorist attack? Instead you went fishing.
5. Bush, why, when the Taliban offered to turn OBL over upon seeing the evidence against him, did you refuse to show them that evidence?
6. Following up on question 5, is it because there WAS no evidence?
7. Bush, when US troops in Afghanistan had OBL in their sights in Tora Bora, did you turn the “capture” over to other troops?
8. Bush, were you ever serious about obtaining justice for 9-11?
9. Bush, why did you lie when you said you have “been to war and raised twins, and you rather go to war? We all know you have never been to war.
10. Bush, why did you say we had to go to war in Iraq because Hussein wouldn’t let the inspectors in? They were there and had been there since November of 2001 inspecting sites that had formerly been off limits.
11. Bush, what really happened on 9-11? Why wasn’t it investigated by the FBI? What were you trying to hide?
12. Bush, why did you stonewall the 9-11 Commission? Don’t you think if we have analyzed what happened and why it happened it would have enhanced our ability to better safeguard our country?
13. Bush, why do you continue to compromise our national security by not taking actions to enhance port security? Why do you not enhance effective airport security? Why do you enhance security at our nuclear plants?
14. Bush, why do you refuse to testify in front of Congress in public? Why do you refuse to be placed under oath? Is it because you are a liar and you’re going to perjure yourself?
15. Bush, why did you try to smear Joe Wilson for telling the truth about Niger and yellowcake? Why did you authorize the leaking of Valerie Plame’s name to journalists?
16. Bush, why should we trust you? You have consistently proven to be liar and a deceiver of the highest order?
17. Bush, why do you say you’re a Christian? Have you ever heard of The Beatitudes – you know that one, don’t you? It’s Jesus’ most famous synopsis of how a Christian should conduct himself.

Well, George, that’s it for right now – but I reserve the right, after listening to you bumble and stumble your way through these, to ask you more questions. By the way, would you mind if I hook you up to a polygraph first?