“You can’t be the president and the head of the military at the same time.” ~ George W Bush, President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the US military.
Filed under: Says it all
Where Lies Reponsibility For The High Price Of Oil?
Worried about the rising cost of oil?
You should be.
According to media blurb, the rise in oil price, closing on $100 per barrel and trumpeted by NBC, CNN, and others with all the vigor and excitement of a mammoth lottery payout, is happening due to speculation over low reserves in the US and fear of a shut down in the Middle East.
No-one ventures to suggest where lies the responsibility for these huge increases, muttering vaguely of speculators, OPEC, and Arab uncertainty, whenever the subject is hinted at.
There is one person directly responsible; or, at least, one group of people. The President of the United States and his administration.
The Iraq war was the single over-riding factor responsible for the increase in oil prices since 2003.
In April 2002, gas prices averaged around $1.30 per gallon. By March 2003, the start of the war, they had risen to $1.72.
Since then, while seesawing drastically, the price rose to well over $3.00 in summer 2006, and today is presently close to $3.50 in some areas and heading for $4.00 per gallon.
While some analysts would deem it too simplistic to place all the blame on George W Bush, citing Hurricane Katrina and other factors as relevant to the overall picture, I find those elements superfluous. If the Iraq war had never been waged, they would have created mere hiccups, soon remedied. As it was, they simply added to the overall problem.
However, it is not only the Iraq war that is fueling today’s high oil prices. George W Bush has maintained throughout his presidency that the economy of the US is strong and healthy. If that is so, why has the US dollar been diving to all time lows on the international currency markets for the past five years, as verified by this graph of the dollar against the UK pound:
So low has the dollar now sunk, that investors are moving away from it and into oil, further accelerating the rise in price and guaranteeing the figure will push way beyond the $100 per barrel mark.
The only achievements of George W Bush and his cowboys in the eight years of their reign, has been to devastate the Middle East, slaughter God-only-knows how many in the process, and decimate the US economy by allowing the corporates to dodge their tax obligations and ship most of their production to foreign nations.
It is US citizens, and the rest of the world, who are now reaping the results of this human and economic carnage.
Filed under: Fleecing the world
Honor, Courage, Commitment…..Cowardice?
Two aspects of warfare that raise disturbing questions:
In the first video below, made by members of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines in Fallujah, Iraq, the emphasis is on the “Honor”, “Courage”, and “Commitment” of the great American heroes, who, with tanks, machine guns, white phosphorus, and all the modern weaponry of an advanced military power, take on the men, women, and children of Fallujah in what has now become widely recognized as yet another great American massacre* of innocents.
This clip ends with the quote from George S Patton:
“As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I have no fear because I am the meanest motherfucker in the valley.”
The end credits contain what can only be assumed is a sarcastic and distasteful piece of text:
“And a very special thanks to the people of Fallujah for allowing us to film in your city”
I doubt those who remained alive in Fallujah had any choice in the matter.
I suppose when any American soldier prides himself on being “the meanest motherfucker in the valley”, his indoctrination is complete and he is ‘safe’ to be let loose in a foreign country, with no risk of him pausing to consider what exactly he is doing to its people.
The video is doubtless designed to appeal to the young, ultra-macho, would-be warrior champing at his bootlaces to catch a piece of the action while “enemy” still remain to be killed in Iraq. It will no doubt succeed in sending him scurrying to the recruiting center.
Were he to watch this second video, it might just send him scurrying back home to Mommy.
If America truly considers “the meanest motherfuckers in the valley” to be the embodiment of honor, courage, and commitment, then it is indeed, one very sick country.
As sick today as the Great Britain of one hundred years ago, when mental illness was callously labeled “cowardice”.
*My thanks to TOB for the New Statesman link.
Filed under: Misplaced values