R J Adams -Musings And Meanderings
OPTIMIST: someone who looks at their tub of spread at the breakfast table and thinks, “Wow! 46% pure vegetable oil.”
PESSIMIST: someone who looks at their tub of spread at the breakfast table and thinks, “What’s in the other 36%?”
Filed under: Additives
It looks like Spring may finally have arrived in Illinois; the ladybugs are crawling everywhere, squirrels are randy, and the lilac in the yard is beginning to bud.
Time for a spot of spring cleaning, perhaps, but – oh, dear – a glance around the old homestead reveals a bit more than a scrubber and hot water is required. Paint and wallpaper are definitely needed in abundance to replace the faded, jaded, character of the front bedroom and kitchen.
I used to be a dab hand with a paintbrush, and wallpapering came naturally, so all that’s required is a few tools to accomplish the task. There’s already a scraper and paintbrushes tucked away in the garage somewhere, but the one thing we don’t have is a pasting table.
A good table is vital, otherwise your paper keeps slipping all over the place when you try to paste it.
A trip to Lowes produced nothing but a blank stare from the assistant, who obviously had no idea the wallpaper in their decorating compartment required anything to stick it to the wall.
Menards was similarly dumbfounded.
“Paste tables? Sorry, we don’t have a computer department. Have you tried Radio Shack?”
What do they know?
Why am I driving all over town? The internet always solves my purchasing problems.
A quick Google, and there it is: “Paste Table with Plywood Top – £14.99”[1]
What could be easier?
Hang on, why is that a ‘pound’ sign? Oh, Blast! It’s a UK website.
Thirty minutes later, after trawling through eBay, Google, and half a dozen other search engines, I found the only website in the US selling a similar paste table. Almost breathlessly, I clicked on the link.[2]
HOW MUCH!?!
Okay, now admittedly it’s got an aluminium frame and steel legs, but can that justify over twenty times the price? As a special concession they offer free shipping. But then, to add insult to injury, I noticed it was ‘DISCONTINUED”.
“Excuse me, Mister man-at-Lowes, but I’ve come to return these six rolls of anaglypta wallpaper.”
Now, where’s that scrubber, and a bucket for the hot water?
[1] Wilkinsonplus.com A UK website
[2] Paint Store Online A US website
Filed under: Home improvements
If you plan to start the week with a smile on your lips and optimism in your heart, then don’t read this article. On the other hand, if you’d prefer to be realistic, and know when the time is right to bend over, put your head between your legs, and kiss your arse goodbye – read on.
Often, the news no-one wants you to know about is best located away from the great national tomes like the Washington Post or the New York Times. Small, provincial newspapers around the world have some the sharpest, keenest, journalists. They’re usually young, and out to make a name for themselves.
Hence, it was to the Scottish Herald and Rob Edwards that I turned my computer mouse this weekend, and a story that should, frankly, turn your blood to ice.
In the last post I wrote that one of my pet hates today was politicians. They’re supposed to be representatives of the people, but that’s no longer their job. Instead, they now serve much more powerful masters than John Doe or Fred Bloggs.
Long before the events of 9/11/2001, a plan was devised to conquer the world. At the heart of that plan was subjugation of the Middle East. Certain nations in that region were troublesome to the US and if it were to take control of the region armed force would be required to contain these errant governments.
One of those nations was Iraq, but the real obstacle to Middle East domination was Iran.
There was no way an army could march into Iran overland. Saddam Hussein was in the way, and while he held no love for his Iranian neighbors, he’d not welcome US army boots on Iraqi soil.
9/11/2001 provided the perfect excuse to invade Iraq, get rid of Saddam, and install a puppet government. Now, there are American army boots in Iraq, and Prime Minister Maliki is in no position to dictate how they’ll be used.
The island of Diego Garcia lies just south of the Equator, slap in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
It was secretly leased to the British by Mauritius in the 1960’s, and the whole population of the island was forcibly expelled, all 2,000 of them.
In 1971, the US began building a huge airbase on the island. Many of the aircraft that bombed Iraq, both in 1991 and 2003, flew from Diego Garcia.
Now, according to Rob Edwards of the Scottish Sunday Herald, Diego Garcia is about to become active once more.
The US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 “Blu” bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures.
Experts say that they are being put in place for an assault on Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities. There has long been speculation that the US military is preparing for such an attack, should diplomacy fail to persuade Iran not to make nuclear weapons.”[1]
What is happening at this moment is unnervingly reminiscent of the events just prior to the invasion of Iraq, back in 2003. The unanswered question is: can America sustain an attack on Iran, given its military commitments elsewhere?
According to Dan Plesch, Director of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of London and co-author of a recent study on US preparations for an attack on Iran, they can if they flatten Iran from the air before committing troops on the ground.
They are gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran. US bombers are ready today to destroy 10,000 targets in Iran in a few hours.”
Plesch thinks Obama may decide it’s better for the US to strike Iran, rather than have Israel do it first.
The US is not publicising the scale of these preparations to deter Iran, tending to make confrontation more likely. The US … is using its forces as part of an overall strategy of shaping Iran’s actions.”
The US war machine is once more grinding into action. The ‘plan’, drawn up by that right-wing think-tank known as the ‘Project for the New American Century’ a decade ago is still on the table. The PNAC was publicized as ‘dead in the water’ after Iraq. The truth is it’s still very much alive.
George W Bush dreamed of instigating a war with Iran – part of his imaginary ‘Axis of Evil’ – but the Iraq conquest took too long. Now, it’s left to the next President of the United States to instigate ‘Stage Two’.
The face on the marionette may have changed. The puppeteers have not.
[1] “Final destination Iran?” Scottish Sunday Herald, March 14th 2010
Filed under: Hardly transparent government, is it?