Karzai Is At It Again!

The headline grabbing exploits of Hamid Karzai against his saving grace, the U.S. military, are as predictable as our economy is not.  Of course a good chunk of it has gone to support those exploits.  So what now?

He has given our special forces two weeks to abandon Wardak,  a hotbed of Taliban activity. More alleged misconduct but this time it's not what we've done directly, but what the Afghans we've been training have done. You know, the usual torture and murder against the locals. Talk about a stretch!

I have long been suspicious of his reasons for cozying up to the Taliban. There are so many possibilities. He's term limited and will be out of office sometime in April 2014.  Or will he?  Maybe he wants to challenge the constitution. Certainly not unheard of in that part of the world.

Maybe he's trying to assure safe passage out of the country so he can enjoy the millions he has stashed who knows where. A remote possibility might be to change his allegiance to the Taliban in order to regain office at some point.  Who knows.

It could even be because a woman, Fawzia Koofi, has declared she will run for the presidency.  In Afghanistan? Yep. After a long and difficult road to gain her current stature she has managed to become an MP and has as her platform the support of women's rights and oppression of corruption.  She is one brave woman and I'd like to think she is strong enough to have put some actual fear into those who would oppose her.

So back to why Karzai is systematically rendering us impotent.  The militias we are training are not all loyal to him.  They are more loyal to the tribal leaders where they dwell.  They are being trained to protect their lives and leaders village by village.  You can be sure both Karzai and the Taliban have a knot in their gut over that one.  Plus the thought of a woman as President certainly doesn't sit well.

They'll be out to destroy her.  The easiest way to do that I would think is to get us out of there.  I give Karzai credit, it's a demanding balancing act.  He needs our money, he just doesn't need us.  Unfortunately for him they are a package deal.

I have no doubt that Obama will keep our withdrawal on schedule since he has no interest in Afghanistan. But Karzai needn't worry.  The money will continue to flow unless Congress get the courage cut it off.  I don't see that happening either.  It's just that the next puppet government will benefit rather than Karzai unless it's a member of his family at which time he will demand payback for making them rich along with himself.

Unless it's Ms. Koofi.  I can hope her cause is not a lost one for it's long overdue. Over here we'd arm her against danger with a whistle; over there perhaps those home grown militias are ready for something more than Karzai and the Taliban have to offer and are willing to defend it.  

Axelrod And Gibbs - Fair Or Biased?

I have been accused of no longer offering anything insightful on this blog.  By a reader of a third party blog who is known only to the administrator and a chosen few.  Certainly not to me but by rumor and I don't put much trust in rumors. Actually I'd be more than happy to do without both.

However, that being said, let me try again. According to The Washington Times both David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs, the long time faces of the Obama administration's  election efforts, had found themselves without gainful employment.

MSNBC to the rescue!  They have both been hired to be "independent analysts" for the network. MSNBC could certainly use some.

I can't fault MSNBC for grabbing these two.  After all, FOX has long made it a practice to employ the no longer relevant to shed light on the political morass. Who could do a better job of explaining the inner workings of all things Obama?  They do fall short, however, when it comes to giving a fair and balanced view of the Republican side.  They should be able to prevail, never-the-less, because the entire MSNBC news team falls short in that area. Their motto should be, "No independent thought allowed".

For the sake of that lacking insight, let me suggest we now have two media outlets that represent the extremes of both political entities and they both are adding more demagogues to their rosters.  One thing FOX does do better than MSNBC is to offer up Juan Williams, Alan Colmes and newcomer Dennis Kuchinich, among others, as token liberals.  Does MSNBC front any token conservatives?  They may, but truthfully I don't watch them enough to know.

I do watch all the network news outlets however, and if you weigh the sincerity factor versus the tabloid factor, they are somewhat but only somewhat more difficult to decipher.  As one commentator said last evening, you should be able to listen to a report without being able to tell which party the reporter belongs to.  Those days are long gone.

It all comes back to having to do your own homework.  Search out a variety of sources, weight the pros and cons of the arguments put forth and try to make an intelligent decision.  No easy task.

One thing is for sure.  You can weight the tabloid factor against the hard news factor and have both fluctuate.  As for the entertainment factor,  this week MSNBC wins it hands down. To think these two gentlemen will be anything other than cheerleaders for the President's point of view is laughable.

How's that for insight? Still not good enough?  Tough.

Shame? Rush Shouldn't Be Alone In This

There is much being said about Rush Limbaugh proclaiming he is  ashamed of his country.  I don't agree with Rush on a lot but I do understand where he is coming from here.  I'd have slightly different terminology - like angry, incensed, disgusted for starters.

I'd also have said something more than my country. One by one. I'll start with the President for lying to us time and time again, not caring if the proof is on tape or not.  For putting his own agenda before that of the country.  For the contempt he has for us. And for making it blatantly obvious one of his goals is to destroy the opposition party.  What kind of man is he?  He is not what a leader should be when he ignores all advice other than his own to himself.

Next let's take Congress.  I've done enough on them, but for reminders, the Republicans for not growing beyond their own internal pettiness and for the Democrats marching in lockstep with their leadership knowing full well what it's doing to the country.

The media.  I've done a lot on them too.  They have not served the people well for years.  They've become as nasty and trivial as commenters on social media.  In fact they more resemble social media than journalists.  There is no media outlet on the air that is all news; they are all at least half tabloid.

Finally there is the rest of us.  We've re-elected a man because of what? He played to our weaknesses,  fears and self indulgences and we bought into it. As for our attitudes toward Congress, we're as divided as they are.  We remind me of the ancient Romans watching gladiators do battle with a blood lust that permeates the very fabric of our society.  Thumbs up or thumbs down?  The more able predators win.

It amazes me how we can get so upset over the exaggerated and ridiculous struggle over the second amendment we are now suffering through yet are impervious to everything else being done to us.  Does it have to be so elementary as the threat of having a material object taken from us or denied us to get our attention?

As for the media, why do we give them a pass?  We should be demanding the truth from them, not  a protection agency for liberal agendas. We should be expecting, no, demanding the truth from the President too, not the misrepresentations of claiming police, fire and first responders are going to be laid off en masse when they aren't even Federal employees among other acts of political theater.

I'm with Rush.  I'm just so tired of the same hand being played over and over, the same contentious attitudes prevailing over truth and reason and the numbers of citizens who are either unaware of what's happening or just don't care.

I've tried not caring.  It hasn't worked because I do.  I know what's missing today because I was around before that life disappeared.  We've had bad times before - the depression, too many wars and we've always fought our way back to the top.  But then we never had leadership who wanted us to be less than we can be and less than the world wants us to be.  We have it now though and I can only guess it's because it's because we no longer believe in ourselves and find it easier to buy into what others tell us we should be.

Now that's something of which to be ashamed.

Spare Me From Stupid Men!

The debate goes on as to whether guns and campuses are compatible.  I'm a little surprised that Colorado is taking the stance that they are not.  This is macho outdoorsy rugged individual country. Maybe the macho part of it is the problem.  You know, the women as property, barefoot and pregnant, etc. I'd not expect so much of that on a campus and certainly not in the legislature, but here we are.

That being the case I shouldn't have been surprised to learn that  one Joe Salazar, a state representative feels rape is due to gender inequity and that women really needn't be permitted to carry a gun for protection. In essence because they are too flighty and emotional making them prone to shoot prematurely if they feel threatened. You know, like being followed in a dark and deserted area  when that's all it is - being followed.  Explain prematurely to me. When is the defining moment and prove to me that a woman would be any more likely to shoot than a man if feeling threatened.  I'd guess less likely.

But then campuses have call boxes and safe zones if you can get to one and the person in question cares. Or blow a whistle.  Someone might be within earshot. And authorities might get there in time to save you - or not.

Where do these men come from and how do they get into office?

The University of Colorado - Colorado Springs has a tip list to keep women safe.  Some do make sense, others are ludicrous like telling your attacker you have a disease or that you're menstruating. Oh, okay.  Nice chatting with you. Or to vomit or urinate.  Well, you might vomit afterwards, and urinate out of sheer terror before and during but I'd bet there are no statistics  as to how effective these bright ideas are to scaring off an attacker. Another charmer is passive resistance.  Right. Just relax.  It will soon be over.  Somehow that goes against instinct.

I understand not wanting a bunch of students drunk as skunks after an all night kegger fighting over the dregs at gun point or worse, but as with most of our gun issues, it isn't that simple.  What the heck is a safe zone?  When does it become not so safe?  When an attack takes place?  Call boxes. Covered that.

Have a gun?  Use it.  Rape is a crime that often has deadly consequences.

I listen to these men and cringe.  It's political but it has no party bias.  Jerks are jerks no matter their affiliation.  One thing they ought to bear in mind.  We women do.  Rape, in the majority of circumstances is committed by men against women.

It's time for we women to band together against these insulting, demeaning pronouncements.  As Helen Reddy sang,  "I am woman, hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore."

As for shooters in general, when have you heard about a woman grabbing an assault rifle, or any other type of gun, and going to the mall or the school class room or for that matter the campus and opening fire on untold innocents?  Nope.  It's men.  Stupid men.  Don't put any more of them in office.  Please!

Obama And The Invisible Golf Game!

Is there anyone in the country that hasn't heard that President Obama played golf with Tiger Woods this weekend? Do we know what he shot?  Or what Tiger shot?  How many bogeys?  Holes in one? Birdies?  Nary a word.

And oh, how the White House Press Association is whining.  At least according to FOX correspondent Ed Henry.  They had to go a whole weekend without access to the President of the United States! What if something would have happened?  The people would want to know!  There's a lot we've wanted to know but the press is the last place we're going to learn it from.  Twitter may actually be more reliable as to breaking news if not accuracy!

When I first heard the news I thought it was a joke - about how this was supposed to be such a transparent administration yet they were denied access to the golf game.  I especially thought it was a joke because Ed Henry was the spokesperson for the association.  It needed to come from some place other than FOX to have any credibility.

I caught a short segment with Megan Kelly, also of FOX, wondering if it was because the President was playing with Woods, a man of tarnished character.  All his womanizing with porn stars and such.

Somehow I doubt that entered into consideration.  I'd be more likely to think it was because of Woods' prowess as one of the best golfers in the world bar none and a little privacy was desirable. How transparent does this guy have to be?  Are they worried someone might photo shop a picture of Obama getting a hole in one or Tiger whacking a real pigeon rather than clay with an errant ball and them not being there to reliably report the truth of it?

Well, it gave me a good laugh with which to start the week.  All I can do is ask where they've been when the hate spewing rappers preform at the White House or when Obama was a known friend of Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers.  That was a long time ago.

How about more recently with the questions about Benghazi still lingering unanswered? For years the press has studiously been protecting this President by cherry picking what they report. Now all of a sudden they get upset over this?  And they allow FOX to front it?  Well, that's a sure way to protect themselves from unfavorable fall out such as this. I doubt you'll ever hear it on MSNBC.

There are many things I'd like to have the President sit down and explain but I'll give him a pass on this.   I hope you had a good game Mr. President.  I'm glad you came through unscathed.

I'm still shaking my head as I write this.  Has the press corp really diminished themselves to this degree of irrelevance? Yep, I believe the answer is pretty transparent - they have.