The Circle W Cowboys

The compass being used by the Obama Administration, the Congress, and the Judiciary is the W compass.

It has a W at every point.

Things continue in the general W direction, which is to say, we are going in a circle, spiralling out of control downward into demise.

You know the old story about doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result each time the same thing is done.

This blog warned the new Obama - Biden administration not to deceive itself about why they won the 2008 election over McCain - Palin:

The people rejected something.

That subject is all important to understanding what went down, so in the article we answered the question by saying that it was the Bush II status quo mentality and politics that was rejected.

The Bush II regime's despotic ideology does not sit well with Americans, and in fact it does not sit well with humane people across the globe. Not surprisingly then, it was soundly rejected.

(What Was Rejected). In that post I went on to say that I expected a 20% drop in popularity if the W compass was not rejected.

Polls now show that the Obama Administration is loosing favor around the world and at home:

The bad news for Obama doesn't end abroad ... In fact, solid majorities of Americans now disapprove of the way the president is handling almost every major challenge confronting his administration--a complete reversal from only four months ago, when he enjoyed broad public support on the issues ... the public's attitude toward the federal government is as negative today as it was during George W. Bush's second term. Only one in five Americans claims to be "basically content" with Washington, while three of every four describe themselves as either frustrated (52 percent) or angry (24 percent). Anger in particular has reached its highest level since NEWSWEEK first asked the question in 1997 ...

(Newsweek). A solid majority also thinks the nation is headed in the wrong direction, with 26% saying we are headed in the right direction.

Obama Administration officials are beginning to parrot the W cowboys who always took macho glee in "not governing based on polls", which is their way of saying "who gives a damn what the public thinks now that we are in office".

Bring The Economy Home - 2

A recent post, Bring The Economy Home, discussed the abysmal lack of loyalty the Afghanistan government had toward the U.S.

Hey, if the top general there made contemptuous comments about the civilian government in the U.S., why can't Afghan government officials?

Now that the top U.S. general there has been removed of his command, and another put in his place (who agreed to the President's plan to begin to draw down in a year) lets look at the economics.

The cost of 1 U.S. soldier for 1 year in Afghanistan is $1,000,000 according to an article in The Hill.

There are now about 100,000 soon to be 130,000 troops there, so that equates to 2,000,000 jobs paying $50,000 a year here at home (100,000 x $1,000,000 / $50,000).

There are more contractors there who cost more than a soldier, twice as much or so, but lets be conservative and show that those figures convert into 4,000,000 jobs paying $50,000 a year here at home (100,000 x $2,000,000 / $50,000).

Combined that equates to 6,000,000 jobs.

These are only very rough estimates and don't add up to the other figures the government gives us, so they are offered only as an example of errant spending, not exact economics.

Throw in Iraq and 1,000 military bases around the world, and it should become obvious that we should BRING THE ECONOMY HOME.

UPDATE: Read the continuation of this post here, where it is shown that billions of dollars of cash is being flown from Afghanistan to Dubai where corrupt Afghan officials are purchasing real estate with that stolen U.S. taxpayer money.

McChrystal Clear Insubordination

I haven't looked at any news today in the blogosphere, choosing instead to watch Morning Joe on MSNBC.

Joe, Mika, and the crew are covering the General Stanley A. McChrystal story, and doing it well.

They had the editor of Rolling Stone on in person to reveal some of the ins and outs of their story about the insubordination of the U.S. General in charge in Afghanistan.

I may update later after seeing what is being said in the blogosphere, especially if Joe Barton says he is sorry McChrystal has to suffer the ilk of a White House shakedown now that McChrystal has been ordered to appear at the White House to explain his words and actions in person to President Obama, Vice President Biden, National Security Advisor Jones, Special Ambassador Holbrooke, and some military brass.

We considered the influence the military was having on Obama in the post Is Obama Dominated By MOMCOM?.

We considered the attitude of many of those McChrystal commands in the post Support The Murdering Troops?, which quoted soldiers who said a lot of murder of innocent women and children was taking place as military policy.

Dredd Blog pointed out in the post Thanks Bill & Arianna that this comes at a time when the American people have been fed up with that war for years, a couple of elections that ejected bushie warsters, and at a time when people are waking up to smell the economic damage the stupid wars are doing.

So what we have in the making is a test for the White House, a test for the Obama Administration.

Will they cave in to the military insubordination or will they clean the place up?

UPDATE: Article 88, Code of Military Justice states:

“Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”

(CMJ Art. 88, emphasis added). Clearly, then, the McChrystal case turns on the definition of "contemptuous words", since the other conditions are not in dispute.

A military law journal article indicates that the statements McChrystal made have led to disciplinary action in the past.

BTW violation of Article 88 is a military crime punishable by up to 1 year at hard labor in the stockade, plus loss of monetary benefits; telling it to the press can add to that punishment.

It would be up to a military jury in a courts martial proceeding.

McChrystal would be lucky if he retired to his 75% military welfare pension, which is untouchable by civilian ponzi schemes.

UPDATE 2: One of the more important, if not the most important, reasons for Article 88 is to keep the military aware of its place in American life, in American Constitutional governance; that place is submissive to civilian governance, never tempting itself to consider a military coup.

UPDATE 3: President Obama relieved General McChrystal of command, and replaced him with General Petraeus, pending Senate approval.

Supreme Insubordination

The noticeable drift to the right in politics has a not-as-noticeable twin, a drift to the right in the federal judiciary, "the courts".

The replacement for Justice Stevens, Kagan, is another move to the right, which legal scholars take note of, as do practitioners before the court.

It is just a matter of how far to the "right".

Yesterday a federal judge in the states where Deepwater Horizon oil is washing up on the beaches, stopped the moratorium on deep water oil drilling.

Over half of the federal judges in those gulf states have strong ties to big oil, as do members of congress, according to the links above.

Clearly then, when we mention that "we are addicted to oil", it does not mean only those who drive vehicles that burn fossil fuel.

It means that our entire political, governmental, judicial, and economic system is so addicted that there seems to be no way out psychologically, even though there may be ways out physically and scientifically.

A Methanol Economy Way Out Of Here

Bush II literally got himself into a corner in China trying to leave the stage after a bloviating speech, then made a strange, silly face when he realized the microcosm that his situation lent itself to (others realized it even if he did not).

The silly look on the Bush II face actually represented the state of affairs civilization was in.

Those of his ilk over generations had unwittingly led deceived us into an embarrassing death bound ideology, economy, and "practical" addiction to fossil fuels like those sought desperately at the Deepwater Horizon ground zero in the Gulf of Mexico.

These children of MOMCOM peddled and sold their ecocide inducing chemicals as "cheap energy".

They have left us to (now, a generation or so later) try to find some way out of here.

In the post Some Way Out of Here on The Ecocosmology Blog, two technologies or parts thereof were mentioned, as tools to be used on the path back to sanity, away from the current realm of social dementia.

That post mentioned methanol, which was first isolated in 1661 by Robert Boyle, as well as mentioning a tidal electric generator long ago conceived, but recently improved upon.

There are many forms of alternative energy generation and storage, but these two have formidable transitional characteristics, so without disrespecting any other clean energy, we focus on these two in this post.

The hope of methanol is that it can be produced from some of the green house gases, (e.g. CO2 and methane), natural gas, and biomass, just to name a few.

Methanol can even be made from (can come from) "thin air", by using electricity to distil it as CO2 is removed from the air in the process.

Ocean tides are billions of years old, are still working strong 24/7 around the globe, and can generate electricity constantly, wherever tidal generators are placed, for as long as there are tides.

With tidal electrical generators (yes, electricity can be produced in other ways, e.g. wind, solar, solar thermal) the oceans will generate electricity around the clock, around the globe, which can then produce methanol from the atmosphere, as well as give power to homes and industries at the same time:

A revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire world, scientists claim.

(Telegraph, 2008). Since tides are as sure as tomorrow's "sunrise" and tonight's "moonrise", we turn to the experts:

... you can take carbon dioxide and water, and if you have electric power, you can chemically reduce it into methanol.

(Technology Review, March 2006). A power point display is available, from one of the professors who wrote the book on The Methanol Economy, which touches upon many of the points to be considered, such as using existing forms of transportation, storage, and distribution.

Did I mention using methanol to make plastics is a reality, or that using weeds to make rubber is too?

There have been many backward movements caused by corruption of politics perverted by oil baron money:

... methanol was the required fuel for the Indy Racing League (IRL) from the 1960s until 2006 ...

(Methanol's Allure, 2007). Politicians were pressured by MOMCOM minions to have the indy cars use a fuel with immeasurably less potential (ethanol) for their ever devious propaganda purposes ("ethanol eats up too much corn").

The technology for renewable energy has been around and abundant since the flex fuel Model T built by Ford early in the industrial revolution.

The problem is that there is a lot of Stockholm Syndrome & greed resisting against the better life that can and should replace the death addiction to fossil fuel.

The next post in this series is here.

Open Thread

Your turn ... Weekend Open Thread

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Father's Day turns 100 years old today. Happy Father's Day.

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The Pentagon evidently does not like the intel it is getting from the other spy boyz, so it is re-opening its spy unit that used to spy on anti-war activists.

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Karzai says Japan gets serious priority in mining ventures in Afghanistan as the competition heats up for Afghan resources.

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Mahatma Gandhi said, “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.” The truth in this statement should prompt police, investigators and prosecutors to vigorously investigate and prosecute – to the fullest degree possible – those who abuse animals in America.


(National District Attorney Association).

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The new "guy with the say" at BP demoted the guy who was making gaffe's (Hayward), then went on to say that BP likes the little people.

Dredd Blog identified them (the wee folk) quite some time ago.

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The Sun is flexing its EMP muscle, reminding me of a post that shows how serious this straw that could break the camel's back is.

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Warmest year on record so far, according to NOAA

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Barton apologizes to BP for their having to pay for their gulf disaster.

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Utah man executed by a firing squad.

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The Empire Strikes Back - Internet to be unplugged?

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Methane is at least 10 times more a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide - the Deepwater Horizon gusher has 40% methane in it ... Read Bubbling Up To A Rude Awakening posted about a month before Deepwater Horizon, to find out what a danger that methane is, since methane has begun to leak from the ocean floor even in the far north now.

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