Author: R J Adams

The major problem with America today is its militarism. No-one stops to ask why the Pentagon needs to spend four hundred billion dollars a year, when other nation’s defense budgets are only a fraction of that amount.

Of course, we all know the reason. The US struggles to maintain its superpower status, still viewing China and Russia as major threats, and India waiting in the wings.

Americans, in the main, are happy to support such crazy and expensive ideals. They’ve grown up being top dog of the pack and any possibility of relegation is anathema to them. Unfortunately, this attitude may feed the greedy arms dealers and weapons researchers, but produces that age-old problem of being unable to see the forest for the trees.

American’s are barraged by the threats from without, yet no-one defines the reality of this supposed menace. Fashion is important. Today, Iran (military budget around $6 billion, or 1.5% of America’s) is the most glamorous model on the catwalk of threats. Yesterday, it was North Korea (also around $6 billion)

Just who is America’s enemy today? In real terms there’s only one, and it’s not a nation but an extremist ideal. The terrorists who make up al Qaeda and other extreme Islamic factions around the world, spend only a few million dollars a year on their military budget. Russia’s is only a fraction (18.00%) of America’s, and China’s is even less.

So where do all these American dollars go?

Once the maintenance of the armed forces is paid for, most go on research and development of new, and usually not needed, weaponry and equipment.

Take a look at this BBC Website page. It illustrates just one of many Pentagon research projects, this one costing millions and millions of dollars and unlikely to be available for at least eight years, if at all (large numbers of these experimental projects are shelved after years of work and expense). The ‘robot suit’ is hoped to make soldiers in the field stronger and able to lift great weights with ease. It mimics Hollywood’s fictitious characters like Robocop, Universal Soldier, and Iron Man.

Will it help in the fight against terrorism? Hardly.

The macho Hollywood image is a symbol of America, but at what price? U.S. society is gradually crumbling from lack of services, poor schooling, prohibitively expensive healthcare, scarce jobs, lack of care for the old and infirm.

All so the little boys at the Pentagon can play their expensive games and have the biggest and the best toys in the world.

Filed under: Alms or arms?

America, with its moralistic media and strong churchism, is a vast, efficient, powerhouse of self-righteous hysteria. Perhaps, that’s the reason there’s been little apparent comment around the blogs, concerning the recent assault by SWAT teams and police on the Texas community known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Whatever one’s views on polygamy, the manner in which this ‘investigation’ has been carried out appears to have been overly heavy-handed, and fueled by self-righteous hysteria, rather than the possession of hard, solid, evidence.

Is not that, however, the way of America?

There have been numerous examples over the years, of America taking its almighty sledgehammer of so-called “justice” to swat a relatively small fly.

God knows, it’s reaction to the attacks of 9/11 is proof of that.

The removal of four hundred and sixteen children from their homes and parents, at a moment’s notice and with no chance to say goodbye, on the sole testimony of one anonymous female who has never been found, is not just a miscarriage of justice, but a crime against morality itself.

As usual the do-gooders and social workers are having their fifteen minutes of fame before a hot and over-excited media circus; reincarnated Hollywood John Waynes, in the guise of hard-boiled Texas law enforcement officers, chew tobacco, stare longingly at the far horizon, and mutter cavalierly of having “done the right thing”, and a hundred mothers are left grieving for the snatched offspring they justifiably fear will never be returned to them.

Whatever was going on at the Yearn for Zion ranch, however distasteful the crimes committed by and on some of this sect’s members (and, as yet, there is no solid evidence of forced marriages, or any other criminal activity) the moralistic self-righteousness that has been driving these recent events is yet another indictment of America; further confirmation that its membership of the civilized world is no more than a sad, immature, delusion.

Beneath its wafer-thin technological veneer, this nation is still as primitive and uncultured as any emerging African state.

Meanwhile, one hundred and thirty-nine mothers wait to determine whether the monster that surrounds them, the hostile behemoth they’ve attempted to hide from for years, will finally devour them and their children in a glut of self-righteous frenzy.

Filed under: America’s shame

From This Old Brit comes a plea for all bloggers to spread the word and help alleviate this dreadful disease.

According to a BBC report, research suggests men can cut their prostate cancer risk by masturbating more frequently.^[1]

Anthony Smith, deputy director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University in Melbourne, said:

“”Masturbation is part of people’s sexual repertoire.

“If these findings hold up, then it’s perfectly reasonable that men should be encouraged to masturbate.”

So, way you go, lads!

Now, we just need a volunteer to inform the Pope.

^{[1] “Masturbation ‘cuts cancer risk'”, BBC, July 16th, 2003.}

^{NOTE: this research report is from July 2003, so it appears TOB has been hanging on to it for a while – if you’ll excuse the pun!}

Filed under: Bishop bashing