US Propaganda Leaflets

Right wing Conservatives in America, mostly those referred to as the “religious right”, have an immense distrust toward all things Islam. They see Muslims as people that are hell bent on taking out the West, and harbor an innate fear of their intentions. It’s this distrust that drives them to utter their justification for war – “We’re killing them over there so we don’t have to kill them here.” It’s that ubiquitous sign of religious prejudice and paranoia that plagues Christian Conservatives, and when confronted on that issue they heave their chests in support of their beliefs. It’s unfortunate that their cries are so loud they reverberate across the oceans, and that so many abroad seem to think that all Americans are as equally intolerant. Consequently, much of the world has an equal distrust toward American intentions.

Our nation is currently stuck in a financial hangover largely because of the recently diffused war in Iraq, and the current war in Afghanistan, sucking trillions from our coffers of tax dollars. If President Obama were to quit in Afghanistan now, the Christian Conservatives would call to have his head on a pike… again. But as soon as the President signed his first defense budget, the war in Afghanistan was his to own. The Conservatives were overjoyed with being able to pass over their bumbled military endeavor to the Democrats. They pointed their fingers like kids in the schoolyard, “It’s Obama’s war now, yup!”

One of Barack Obama’s presidential-campaign promises was to refocus our military attention on Afghanistan. During the marathon to the 2008 election, when the right wing neo-cons constantly questioned ‘Who do you trust to lead us in war?’, Senator Obama proposed his plan to draw down the troop levels in Iraq and shift the resources back to where they should’ve been all along – Afghanistan. On countless occasions, he accepted the weight of the war on his shoulders before he ever became president. So the sudden surprise that Republicans received was in fact no surprise at all. It was nothing more than another instance where their paying attention to anything beyond anti-liberalism fell short of their blind faith in all things on the right-wing.

Conservatives couldn’t bask in their glory for very long, however, for deep inside they knew what we all know – this is their war, as most wars are. It is the right wing that proposes the inflated defense budgets, normally ballooned to leaving all other domestic spending in its immense shadow. They are those who supported the war in Iraq, even after all of the lies and deceit that the Bush-Cheney administration used in starting the war were uncovered. With regard to the war in Afghanistan, well, why wouldn’t they support it? It’s another war against Muslims and their distrustful religion of Islam.

Earlier this week, the Obama Administration offered a half billion dollars to revamp the infrastructure of Pakistan and Afghanistan with hopes of “earning the trust” of their people. The thought process goes a bit like this: To relieve the chances of rogue cells plotting to wage terror on American soil, the governments of these developing, or third-world countries need to have centralized power, and with influence that stretches to all borders. The only way to do this is to have a first-world populace, and the only way to gain that status is by having a first-world infrastructure. In helping them finance their infrastructure the plan of earning the people’s trust suddenly becomes two-pronged; they are left with their necessary first-world hydroelectric dams, power grid, and hospitals, and secondly the people can see that it was funded by western nations. Once these nations have more control over their pockets of human habitation that might currently be ruled by maniacally greedy people, armed to the teeth, and who lack any sense of value for the lives of fellow humans, these centralized governments can stamp out these terrorist cells themselves. It would allow them to kill them over there so we don’t have to kill them here – A much better scenario than members of the right wing would have it.

The question that needs to be asked, however, is how possible is it for the West to gain the trust of the people in the Middle-East? Can building a couple hydroelectric dams and a few hospitals really work to change their outlook on western civilization? To have a change in mind they must first have a change in heart. Can the upgrade in their power grids erase thousands of years of bad blood? Why should we expect Muslims to trust Christians when the history of war between the two dates back as far as the time when they each realized the other’s existence? Never meaning to imply that America should be considered a Christian nation, but when our federal defense team employs hyper-Christian military forces like Blackwater, now Xe Services, LLC.,  who have been reported to use extreme religious prejudice in their motives for killing, most nations would venture to bet that ours is a Christian nation. At the very least, theocratic nations would see it that way. Opposing denominations within the Islamic religion alone have spent thousands of years perfecting their hatred for one another; the thought of a Christian from the West extending a helpful hand could surely bring about an uncomfortable pause in the moment, along with at least a short sequence of ocular nerve twitching. Is it difficult to wonder how people whose everyday lives are engrained with their religion, as opposed to the brush-over one might get from a couple hours in church on a Sunday morning, might feel a bit iffy about their historic enemy erecting buildings, and reconstructing power grids on their property? Even supplying them with all of the military goods they needed to repel a Soviet occupation did nothing to earn their trust, why would they now, especially when Christians harbor as much distrust toward them?

Prior to sending troops into Afghanistan, America waged a propaganda war – After jamming radio transmissions and replacing them with those showing a pro-western sentiment, we sent in air-strikes, where military planes dropped thousands of leaflets onto the people below. The leaflets held rewards for the capture of Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders, while also characterizing the Americans as being friends to the Afghani people. It’s now safe to assume the leaflets didn’t have a vastly positive effect on gaining their trust, for it’s one thing to claim a friendship, but another to leave that new friend for the dogs still patrolling their streets, and keeping them intimidated and living in fear.

It appears that the only way to truly gain a long-lasting trust between the Muslim and Western nations is to lose the religion; yes, it’s truly that difficult. For as long as the two cling to their myths like babies to breasts one will always feel the need to enlighten the other, and if need be, by way of great force. As long as someone is being taught to believe that their god or prophet is better than the other’s they will always feel the need to defend their all-powerful omnipresence; apparently gods need the help of humans to defend themselves against the evil other.

At this point it is impossible to say whether or not the helping hand idea will work to benefit either side in the long term. The Mid-East could very easily thank the West before shooting them in the eye. The Mid-East could also thank the West before their own blows it all to smithereens for Allah’s sake. Perhaps it will have such a profound effect on Muslim nations throughout the Middle-East that they’ll open their arms to us as we’ve never experienced before. For now we can only hope to earn the trust of their people through these means, and hope it spills over to when our troops can come home for good, and they themselves can quell the calls for Jihad. Although it seems that as long as there are people willing to die for their god(s), erecting some utilities as a peace offering is futile, and leaves me with a glass half-full of distrust.

Photo Courtesy of IMEMC.ORG

It should come as no surprise that right wing Republicans are not the only crowd crying out for military action against Iran. Last month from Riyadh, it was made public when Saudi Arabian jet fighters cleared their airspace to allow the free passage of Israeli fighter planes running a mock airstrike on Iran. Though the Saudi’s later denied the clearance orders, one US diplomat claimed the Saudi military has fully agreed to keep their jets grounded once Israeli fighters have entered their airspace. “The Saudis have given their permission for the Israelis to pass over – and they will look the other way,” a US military source in the region confirmed.

This act of alliance doesn’t stop with the Saudi’s, however, as other nations in the region are in line with Israel’s endeavors against Iran. Until the recent unrest sparked by aid flotillas en route to Palestinians living in Gaza, even Turkey had pretended to be unaware of Israeli jet fighters flying in their airspace. Though, the Turk’s sudden restrictions set on the Israeli Air Force may be a bit too late, as the latter have already used that permissive window of time to amass squadrons of fighter planes just north of the Turkish border in Georgia.

With the conservatives in the house and senate begging our government to attack Iran, an American “blind-eye” turned from the threat of an Israeli attack would not come as much of a shock. And any counter attack would only invite retaliation from the armadas of US ships currently occupying the Black Sea, the Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf. In their folly, Republicans have publically backed the Iranian “Green” movement – the insurgence of an anti-theocracy, pro-democracy portion of the Iranian population which would be acceptable if they would simply agree to backing the movement vocally. Of course, the right wingers would rather send American troops as a show of support, as their blinders of arrogance continuously shield all common sense. Many military and diplomatic strategists have warned war-mongering conservatives like John McCain that any involvement in that movement may backfire, and may actually push many “Green” supporters back into supporting their government against western influences. It’s largely understood that a logical rebuttal against the American right-wing equates to arguing with a wall, however.

The Washington Institute for Near Policy (WINEP), a think-tank closely tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) issued a letter this year in which Bush’s former national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Israeli Brigadier General Michael Herzog wrote, “By the first quarter of 2011, we will know whether [Iranian] sanctions are proving effective… The administration should begin to plan now for a course of action should sanctions be deemed ineffective by the first or second quarter of next year. The military option must be kept on the table both as a means of strengthening diplomacy and as a worst-case scenario.” Of course, only arrogance could ever play into the notion that military might strengthens diplomacy, considering a multitude of historic examples proves the opposite – Attack a country and watch all of the people who normally root on the underdog come out to join their resistance. In fact, America is notorious for defending the defenseless, why would we expect other countries to act differently? But it doesn’t stop the likes of William Kristol in his “Weekly Standard” where last month he argued, “Unfortunately, President Obama waffled while innocent Iranians were killed by their own government.” – Again, a half-witted bag of testosterone blinded by pride and arrogance but wielding a giant pen. Fortunately for all of us, Obama is the one keeping Israel’s itch scratched – or at least salved. We do not need more enemies which we’ll surely create by instigating another invasion, nor do we have the resources to afford it. Not to mention – the people are already building their own resistance, and instead of disrupting that by flexing muscles in their faces, why not let them fight their own battles, and earn their own democracy, their own peace?

Diagram courtesy of Solar Impulse

With 12,000 solar-cells attached to wings the size of a standard jet, and with a body as light as a car, the Swiss made HB-SIA solar plane has finally left the runway for it’s 24 hour flight to test its ability to fly in darkness.

Being the first of two vehicles of the Solar Impulse Project, led by pilot Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard, who gained fame for making the first trans-global flight in a hot air balloon in 1999, the HB-SIA has already accomplished a full day flight back in early April. “For seven years now, the whole team has been passionately working to achieve this first decisive step of the project,” Borschberg said before taking off on the flight. He’ll bring the experimental plane on a climb to 27,900 feet before starting a slow descent, flying the plane with the stored solar energy until Thursday morning’s sunrise. 

“If this mission is successful, it will be the longest and highest flight ever made by a solar plane,” the SIP team said, eyeing the future HB-SIB – a larger version of the current prototype with upgraded avionics and a pressurized cabin. The HB-SIB will be used to make the first solar-powered manned-Trans-Atlantic flight in 2012, and with a Trans-Global flight pre-scheduled for 2013. 

Though for now, they’ll settle for the excitement of a successful nighttime flight, as it will prove the practical benefits of solar power in the aviation industry, as well as acting as the “poster child” for the use of solar power in many other industries.

Atop the oil slicked surface of the Gulf waters, hired shrimp boats drag fireproof boom. Running parallel to one another, they “sweep” the surface of its oil, seaweed, and any other marine life which might get corralled before setting it all on fire. They’re called “Burn Boxes”, and from them the black plumes rising to the clouds can be seen from many miles away.

 Amidst the confusion of cleanup and rescue teams currently operating in the Gulf of Mexico, one such group has been shoved out of the way by BP, and now must sit idly by and watch helplessly as their dependents burn alive. 

Captain Mike Ellis, a charter boat operator in the Gulf, was hired to help rescue sea turtles. That includes the Kemps Ridley turtles, which because of their status as “critically endangered” are currently protected behind a law wielding criminal charges and a $50,000 price tag on anyone capturing or killing one.

Hired for a three week stint Ellis had to prematurely shut down his operations as BP stopped giving him access to search through the mucky contents of the burn boxes before setting them aflame. “Once the turtles are in there, they can’t get out,” Ellis said.

Blair Witherington, a research scientist from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who is also a part of the sea turtle rescue effort told reporters, “It reflects the conventional wisdom of oil spills: If they just keep the oil out at sea, the harm will be minimal. And I disagree with that completely.”

Clinging to one of their main food sources – strips of Sargassum seaweed that in many instances stretch for miles, in which normally hide a variety of crustaceans, worms, and small fish – the turtles are only finding the sea-plants saturated in oil. “Most of the Gulf of Mexico is a desert. Nothing out there to live on. It’s all concentrated in these oases,” Witherington said. “…It’s the base of the food chain. And these areas we’re seeing here by comparison are quite dead.” He later added, “As far as I can tell, that whole fauna is just completely wiped out.”

It can hardly be expected for the heads of BP to care about anything other than the business they’ve built primarily on the theft of Iran’s natural resources in the early 1900’s – the theft which has brought upon so much anti-western sentiment that runs rampant throughout most of the middle-east even today. And how justifiable is slowing the cleanup process further for sea turtles when entire eco-systems are still endangered; still watching over the slicks ominously creeping straight toward them? To us who care about empowering the powerless it is very justifiable, as it’s only another instance of the same carelessness that brought this mess upon us in the first place.

Photo credit: New York Post

With P.T. Barnum’s adage in mind “There’s a sucker born every day,” it’s fairly sad that nobody had ever confronted P.T. for doing the sucking. Too often, we hear of non-profit organizations caught profiting – their controllers sucking away the funds that should be put forth to help fix what they were intended to fix.

We’ve heard of corruption running through such organizations as the Shiloh International Ministries, who spent over 96% of the money they raised on management and fundraising, when their donors thought they were giving their money to help veterans, needy children, and the homeless in California. In South Carolina, Big Hope was founded to raise money for orphans, sick children, and needy families, though it was found to have less than 9% of the $3.24 million they raised actually applied to the cause. Likewise, The Foundation for American Veterans, Inc. in West Bloomfield, Michigan also spent less than 9% of $4.1 million on promoting social and recreational welfare for current and past U.S. Armed Forces members, dependents, orphans, widows, and widowers. In the most recent case, suckers in New York were taken for a ride by the United Homeless Organization.

Notorious on the NYC streets for their water jugs resting on tables draped in red cloths, and with the collectors adorned in red aprons, the nonprofit organization worked for decades gathering funds as a charity for the homeless – or so a mass of suckers were led to believe. Actually, those who dropped their change into the giant plastic vessels were only giving money to the guy in the apron, who paid a $15-$25 flat-fee for the use of that apron, the tablecloth, and the water bottle owned by UHO.

Back in the UHO office, Stephen Riley and Myra Walker, the founder and director respectively, were using the collections for personal living and travel expenses, and Riley was alleged to have four company vehicles transferred to his name as well. A June 18th ruling by Judge Barbara R. Kapnick has left Riley and Walker banned from working within a non-profit framework again, and their organization has been shut down. All UHO assets have been frozen, and a future hearing will determine the amount of damages and restitution owed to the public by the defendants.

“The Court’s judgment will permanently prevent UHO, Riley and Walker from exploiting the trust and good will of New Yorkers and visitors to New York City,” said Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who also added, “This organization’s bad behavior should not undermine the public’s willingness to donate to legitimate charities.”

What’s most troubling is not that the spare change given by the public has vanished, but that there were many who were counting on those funds for basic needs, as it’s always the people these charities are built for that are the most damaged by the corruption and greed practiced by the leaders. Though in this case the homeless fall right in the middle of the public suckers, and Riley and Walker who just suck.

When ranked against Britain, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand, the United States finished in last place in a healthcare report released Wednesday by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund.

American citizens pay nearly double of what citizens of the other developed countries are paying, and to add insult to injury (no pun intended) the care we receive is of lower quality, the report shows.

The data, taken from national patient and physician surveys, showed that in 2007 Americans paid an average of $7,290 annually, whereas in the comparative countries the people spent less than $3,900. Yet we receive less for our money, according to the fund’s Cathy Schoen who told reporters, “We rank last on safety, and do poorly on several dimensions of quality. We do particularly poorly on going without care because of cost, and we do surprisingly poorly on access to primary care and after-hours care.”

The report which judges quality, access to care, efficiency, equity, and the ability to lead long, healthy, and productive lives, showed that Americans are more likely to receive the wrong diagnosis or treatment, and that we’re most likely to be given the wrong tests.
The fund’s president Karen Davis was quoted, “As an American it just bothers me that with all of our know-how, all of our wealth, that we are not assuring that people who need healthcare can get it.”

Currently, the United States is the only developed country without public healthcare. Consequently, 46 million Americans are still without insurance. Many Americans still believe that the higher costs equate to having the highest quality healthcare, yet the report shows that out of the 7 countries the US finished 6th.

Perhaps the most surprising find came with regard to quality where England topped the list. England’s healthcare system is often used by conservative Americans as an example of a failed healthcare system. Of course, those who deride the English system rarely present valid examples to back up their convictions, yet they have a great influence on many Americans who are generally confused about the methods of health coverage offered throughout the international community.

Much to the chagrin of the Republican Party, a clear victory was scored today for the Obama Administration as British Petroleum executives have agreed to create a $20 billion dollar fund from which to pay the victims of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Though one administration official bluntly stated that the $20 billion is not a cap, and that if legitimate claims arise that exceed the holdings in the independently managed fund they too will be paid out by BP.

Now. we’ll have to watch how the fund’s manager, Kenneth Feinberg will handle the payouts. Known as Obama’s “pay-czar” Feinberg was the man who oversaw the payments that went to the vicitims of the 9-11 WTC disaster, and who was also put in charge of setting salary limits for companies that received money from the $700 billion government bailouts.

For Rand Paul and his Tea Party, and the GOP’s John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, forcing BP to pay for their mishap is a crushing blow, as they support the unregulated free market operations of the private sector. One could only guess that their answer to who pays for BP’s debacle would ultimately come from us, the tax payers, since there is no one else in line.

Though, it seems to me that it’s impossible to put a price tag of all that has already been lost, and all that will be lost as the crisis continues spilling into the Gulf by tens of thousands of gallons every day. It may just turn out to when we get a clear view of BP’s Tony Hayward shuffling around like Steve Martin in “The Jerk”, searching for his remote control and his paddle-ball while repo-men remove his belongings from his mansion. At least we can hope.

Carly Fiorina, the recent primary winner and Republican candidate for a California Senate seat currently occupied by Barbara Boxer, is donning the clothes of the anti-GOP, as she believes the Obama Administration should’ve played a greater role in government regulation over offshore drilling.

In an interview with right wing media outlet Newsmax, Fiorina told the reporter that the Obama Administration was “asleep at the switch” and according to the report “failed to monitor offshore drilling activities properly.” With her constituents almost wholly against regulating the free market which BP is a part of, Fiorina has slipped right into the murky waters that may leave her alienated from those who just elected her to represent them as their Congresswoman.

As ex-CEO of tech giant Hewlett Packard, Fiorina has expressed her beliefs that our government should be run like a business. Although her track record at the helm of HP was disastrous. Under her 5 year watch the company lost 30,000 American jobs either to “lay-offs” or to overseas outsourcing, and cut the company’s stock value by 60%.

A 62 foot tall, 40 foot wide statue of Jesus erected on the property of the Solid Rock evangelical church in Monroe, Ohio burned to the ground after it was struck by lightning Monday night. The statue, dubbed Touchdown Jesus by locals, was the concept of the wife of Lawrence Bishop, the owner of the 4,000 member church. She claimed that she intended the $250,000 figure to be a beacon of hope and salvation, though to many passersby it was nothing more than alarming. 

For the gangs of exclusory Christians – those who claim their god caused the devastation in Haiti because of a pact the people made with the devil; the same who believe Hurricane Katrina was their god’s wrath sent to destroy the sin-tainted streets of New Orleans (even though the “evil” French Quarter was one of the only sections of the city that was largely untouched by the deluge), this must be another one of those head-scratching moments. Especially when we consider the “Hollywood Hustler” sign advertising a porn shop that is near the statue was untouched during the storm. This must be one of those moments when if asked why, they could only answer, “God works in mysterious ways.”

Photo courtesy of AP

When asked about volume with regards to anything the non-statistician/“normal Joe” usually answers, “Tons!” when it’s a large amount or, “Not much,” when it is indeed not much. I would think that most people who are seriously concerned over the situation right now in the Gulf of Mexico would answer, “Tons!” because a precise figure is needed only by those who have either given up hope, and so now think it would be interesting to find out exactly how much of BP’s crude continues to flow into the waters of the Western Hemisphere, or by those who have forgotten how to think about the “here and now”.

On Sunday, 54 days into what is amounting to a global disaster, engineers from British Petroleum deployed deepsea sensors so they could produce a more accurate number of how much oil continues to flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Initially BP officials measured the daily flow-rate between 1,000 and 5,000 barrels (42,000 and 210,000 US gallons respectively). It wasn’t long before “outside experts” got involved for that number to be pushed aside, however, and the tally has continued to grow ever since. For a long time it was nothing more than a guessing game, factored largely by the video captured of the endless spew from the broken pipe one mile beneath the water’s surface.

At the start of last week BP had pinpointed a number as the collection cap was securing the oil at a rate of 630,000 gallons a day. A sense of relief rippled, even through the relentless statisticians. But the measure was short-lived, however, as an unknown amount was still seen leaking from around the capture point of the broken pipe. From this point new estimates of the “new” amount being leaked came in, registering at approximately “hundreds of thousands” of gallons per day. Of course, the vague figure still left the curious-minded without that precise figure.

The most recent estimate reported between 760,000 gallons to 1.8 million gallons continues to pump from the broken pipe each day. Though with the assistance of these deepsea sensors – that seemingly have been left to sit in storage up to this point, perhaps along side of some contraption also idly awaiting to be put to use, called a Miracle Plug – we’re finally going to have an accurate number of gallons, or barrels still leaking from the floor of the Gulf. As if it really matters.

In 1992, the city of Chicago experienced a flood in which 250 million gallons of water leaked into a tunnel that was once used in the early 1920’s for the transportation of coal. It happened when construction workers were driving new pilings into the Chicago River. The hammering caused a weakening of the tunnel walls which cracked under the pressure, and resulted in the flooding of the intricate network of tunnels, passageways, and basements throughout Chicago’s downtown “Loop”.

In both cases, the errors were the fault of humans wholly ignorant to what effect their operations were having on the surrounding workspace. The difference in reaction was drastic, however, in the sense that the officials in Chicago knew they needed to focus on nothing but plugging the hole. They called in truckloads of cement, rocks, and dirt in their hasty attempts at stopping the leak. At one point they even tried closing off the hole with truckloads of mattresses. Yes, it sounds silly, almost comical that people would take the tampon method of plugging the leak, and figure that a mass amount of mattresses might do the trick, but we have to give them the utmost credit, simply because they spared nothing in their attempts to plug the hole. The point is, nobody sat around trying to figure out the flow-rate of the water as it passed through the city’s underground, only how to stop the flow completely.

To this point we’ve watched high definition video of the flow coming from the floor of the Gulf, and now we know we can do a fairly decent job of surgically manipulating the area as we witnessed a submersible clip the pipe with a fixed set of shears. We’ve watched BP set “hats” and “caps” on top of the pipe, and all the while oil flows steadily toward the shores of the United States and beyond, yet they still can’t seem to find the urgency in which to drop in everything that isn’t buoyant to try plugging the leak.

There’s a point when we should be able to discount the priorities of someone who seemingly lacks the urgency necessary to quell a situation, and simply shove them out of the way. These people who need an exact figure to measure whether or not we need to take immediate action in any potential dire situation, should be forced to remain sidelined until the situation has been remedied. It seems too often they need to be reminded of the situation at hand, and what is most important. Sure, we can keep them at the sidelines where they could be used to simply answer questions such as, “Have we tried stuffing it full of mattresses?” In the meantime, take a backseat while we panic our way to dumping everything including the kitchen sink to dam the flow from the hole BP punched into the earth, where really no human should be allowed to play.