Don't feel bad if you were not sure whether to support the US planned intervention, (or more accurately MORE PUBLIC intervention), in Syria. Don't even worry if the whole mess confuses you. I've been doing my best to follow it and still think there is plenty I have yet to discover. But I have found a few things that have cleared it up somewhat for me. And Syria agreed to put its chemical weapons in international hands so if the idea of blowing some Syrian infrastructure up, (along with a few people), was actually about discouraging chemical warfare, hey, no more need to do it, right? Well this thing is not so simple and I am not convinced that the thought of launching a few cruise missiles Syria's way was the farthest thing from the minds of the powers that be BEFORE there was news of chemical weapon use.
Consider the report by Dale Gavlak, an Associated Press correspondent who was told by some Syrian rebels that THEY detonated the chemical weapons by mistake. The rebels received the weapons via Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar Bin Sultan and were not trained well in their usage. Some soldiers got curious, fiddled with the wrong buttons and BLAMMO! Rather than a red line in the sand for the rebels or the Saudi suppliers it seems ignoring this report and believing some other mystery intel that the public isn't privvy to that confirms the Inglorious Bashar el Assad troops did it is the way to go. The soldiers told Gavlak! That seems at least as credible as any story I have heard saying Assad's troops were the culprits. Particularly after hearing that the Saudis are interested in using the US as a kind of invader-for-hire. They basically said attack Syria and we'll foot the bill. But that is sometimes the problem: we have to hear our news from media sources that juuuust might have a GUNTOTHEIRHEAD ... I mean a bias. The best of the best Anderson Cooper. We KNOW he's not keeping anything from us after he honestly and forthrightly admitted to being gay. He was recently on Letterman talking about Syria and Letterman asked him how Russia and China could be okay with this crazy butcher Assad. Cooper just mentioned that Russia, China et. al. sell arms to the Assad gov't. No mention of the US and Israel and Saudi Arabia and Turkey and so on doing the same with the rebels. No mention of the reasons why. You telling me I know the trillion bazillion dollar reason and A C doesn't? I think he just knows better than to bring it up. But I don't. I brung it up in another post. Give it a read.
And now I'm reading reports out of, also biased sources, (Russian and Lebanese newspapers), that Prince Bandar has been negotiating with Russia to stop supporting the Assad regime. In return they will give Russia control of the global oil market and safeguard Russia's gas contracts and military bases in Syria. Some leaked transcripts of a closed door meeting between Prince Bandar and Vlad Putin also revealed that Bandar promised the full support of the US. Also, and this gives you a better idea of the kind of negotiations we don't get to see, it was hinted that the threatened Chechen terrorist attacks on Russia's Sochi Olympics just might happen if there is no agreement reached. Those terrorists are controlled by Bandar allegedly and well they just might not be reigned in if we don't get what we want from you. Putin's response was, "We believe that the Syrian regime is the best speaker on behalf of the Syrian people, and not those liver eaters." This in reference to the rebel soldier footage that showed one Jihadist eating the heart and liver of a Syrian soldier. Liver eating, baby torturing, yes, these are the troops, the largely Al Qaida troops, that the US has been supplying since the rebellion began. Greed can sure make for strange bedfellows! Unfortunately, Chechen terrorism might now be a demonstration sport at the upcoming Olympics.
Are you going to even try to tell me that these "freedom fighters" will not go all Rwandan on their enemies if they win? THIS is the major concern of the Bashar government troops. They say they aren't all that worried about US cruise missiles, they are worried that if the Sunni Muslim rebels win, the mostly Alawite Muslim Bashar regime will be massacred. Since 1970 when Alawite President Hafiz Al Assad came into power in Syria, Alawites have been strategically inserted into most positions of power in government. The Alawite dominated Bashar regime, run by the Alawite Assad family represents a controlling minority in Syria much the same as the Tutsi minority control of the Hutus in Rwanda which led to the massacre of half a million people in 1994. Now I am not an expert on the various factions of Islam but the Alawites are not really Shia, the traditional enemy of the Sunni sect. They are actually a Sunni branch but they have some beliefs that the Sunnis regard as infidellish? The Alawite beliefs are actually kept secret to all but their converts so that adds to the mystery. But I have read that the government, yes, the Bashar El Assad government that has been painted as the villains in this squabble, are pretty okay with religious freedom in Syria. I've read that Alawites sometimes celebrate Christmas, Easter and the Epiphany and even, gasp, drink alcohol! sacramental wine in some ceremonies. Alawite means followers of Ali. The Alawite belief in God being made flesh is another bone of contention here. In fact neither Shia or Sunni Muslims would back them up on this. Alawites reckon that Ali, God made flesh, created Muhammad the restorer of the original monotheistic faith of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets. They also reject the Qur'an and all the traditional prayers associated with Sunni teachings. And interestingly, they believe in reincarnation although, and I'm not makin' this up, women, who do not have souls, cannot be reincarnated. They don't get to learn the secret Alawite doctrine either. If you get transformed successfully seven times you can return to your place among the stars. If you are not such a good Alawite in one incarnation you might return as a Christian. Infidels return as animals.
These are not such outrageous religious beliefs to me. Except maybe the woman thing though I have been rejected by, I mean MET some soulless chicks in my day. But this, and the desire to have majority control, Sunni government, is what the Free Syrian Army, the rebels, believe they are fighting for. If this had even a little bit to do with the war, why would Israel, America and many other nations be backing the rebels who are the people they, (tell us they), believe to be responsible for so much terrorism in the world? It IS why they have, until now, been backing them SECRETLY. If the US government was outraged about the chemical weapons, maybe Senator John McCain wouldn't have been found playing online poker during a debate on military intervention in Syria. The one and only slightly redeeming motive behind the people who are orchestrating this proxy war would be that if these folks in Syria are willing to kill, torture, massacre, eat liver over reasons such as these then maybe they almost DESERVE to be taken advantage of. Because somehow I just can't imagine an Al Qaida rebel soldier, even after his country has been devalued by the war and bought up cheaply by vulture capitalists, saying, "Geez, maybe Allah is trying to show us that we really shouldn't have been murdering our fellow Muslims and countrymen over religious differences." "So fuck 'em! Steal their land and resources and make ourselves swacks of cash!" That is what this war is about. I think the people of Syria could bone up on religious and other kinds of freedom. They should be consequenced for the use of chemical warfare too. But the percentage of people living below the poverty line in Syria is a reported 19% compared to 1% before the war. Millions have fled their country. Hundreds of thousands have been killed. Who knows how many have been tortured? I was recently watching the movie, "Dubyuh" and in that movie Penis Cheney is talking about the plan to do exactly the same thing in Iraq. He says, "We won't own it but we'll control it." This punishment certainly doesn't fit the crime. But someone with billions of dollars at stake, (or more likely TRILLIONS), in Syria will try to justify to themselves, and us, that it does.
I mentioned the "Clean Break" strategy in my previous post about Syria. I feel I should probably get into that in more detail here to let you know how long the strategic and economic schemers have been planning exactly what is happening right now in the middle east. And I thought it might interest you to know the kind of people who are running/ruining the world. The document is actually called, "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm", 1996. Richard Perle was the main author/strategist behind the Clean Break. He was a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defence and member of the Defence Policy Board Advisory Committee, chairman of that board under Bush Jr. in 2001 at which time he got dramatic budget increases for missile defense programs. So he has some political influence in the government. As do all of the co-authors of this document. Let's see how he has used that influence, shall we? Perle resigned, or was forced to resign, from the Defence Advisory Board in '03 due to conflict of interest. It was discovered that his venture capital company, Trireme Partners, which invested in technology, goods and services related to homeland security, and was registered in November of 2001, just two months after 911, was benefitting from increased threats to homeland security. I'm not suggesting he had anything to do with the 911 attacks but he sure did conveniently cash in on them! And he was definitely using his position on the advisory council to make a huge push to increase fear of a threat to national security and massive new investment IN it. For example, he advised the air force to lease 100 767 aircraft refueling tankers from Boeing, a $20 million stake holder in Trireme. He even joined forces with fellow neoconservatives Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, (another contributor to the Clean Break plan), to promote war on Iraq after 911 and headed the sinister sounding "Office of Special Plans." Along with Ahmed Chalabi and David Wormser, (Clean Break contributor), Perle created all kinds of bogus fabrication about Hussein's Al Qaida and Bin Laden ties, not to mention the WMD's in order to push the US into war in 2003. Flynt Leverett of the Bush Nat'l Security Council said, "There were constant efforts to pressure the intelligence community to provide assessments that would support their views. If they couldn't get what they wanted out of the intelligence community, they simply created their own intelligence." Through all of this he just got richer and richer, but none of that is what constituted conflict of interest.
In March of 2003 the New Yorker published an article describing a meeting between Perle, arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, and Saudi businessman Harb Zuhair in which Perle, (allegedly), offered to influence American foreign policy in Saudi Arabia in exchange for investment in his company, Trireme. The US Dept. of Defense Inspector General, (and golf buddy of Perle no doubt), determined the conflict of interest provision was NOT violated because Perle was only working 8 days a year at the D of D at the time. How many days of influence do you need to broker a deal? Trireme dissolved in '05 probably because people were beginning to think this company run by the man with the nickname, "Prince of Darkness" might be a little crooked.
He was also co-chairman and director of Hollinger Inc., Conrad Black's creation that got him jailed for fraud. And he's a non-executive director of Autonomy Corporation, a subsidiary of HP. Autonomy specializes in pattern recognition technology and knowledge management apps. What this means is they design programs that "understand" unstructured information. Programs that infer what the user wants and find other information that might be of interest. GREAT for increased post 911 internet and phone policing!
It might be a good time now to mention Perle's 2004 book, "An End To Evil: How to Win the War on Terror." In it he defends the 2003 invasion of Iraq, suggests ways to abandon all Israeli/Palestinian peace processes, invade Syria and implement strict U.S. domestic surveillance including biometric I.D. cards. These are fingerprint, face, DNA, palmprint, eye scans, even voice and odoour recognition technologies that, (what do you know!), use Autonomy-type pattern recognition and knowledge management.
Yeah, that's right, "INVADE" Syria. Between '96 and '04 Syria went from being "rolled back" to "invaded" in the plans for world domination drawn up by this intrepid group of Jewish, Zionist Neoconservatives. First of all there are a couple more influences that need to be explained. I promise I'll get to the details of the Clean Break that have been carried out to the letter but I want to give an idea of the details behind their motivation and not simply call it greed. Zionism first. Theodor Herzl wrote a book called Der Judenstaat that envisioned an independent Jewish state in the 20th century. Detractors see Zionism as a racist abandoning and/or expulsion of all other races and a retreat into a homeland closed off from everyone. This is far from original in our world for some reason, but it is one of the few movements away from multiculturalism that might be GAINING momentum. It is not new though. Evidently Ibn Saud once talked to FDR about setting up a Jewish homeland in Germany as punishment for what they did to the Jews.
A "neoconservative" has been described as a liberal who has been mugged by reality. Perle once said, "If you got into the world of international affairs and looked with some rigor at what was going on in the world, it was really hard to be liberal and naïve. WOW I got the TWO dots over the I! I love my new computer! Because liberal and naïve go hand in hand and not hoarding unspendable quantities of cash while a billion people on the planet have exactly nothing, is childishness! I don't think these assholes have been mugged by reality, they've clearly been mugged by greed. I wish greed had given them a much harsher mugging but that's just me.
Okay, now the provisions of the Clean Break plan and let me warn you, if you can't stand pure evil euphemistically worded in business or strategic terms, this is NOT the document for you! 1. Rather than pursue comprehensive peace with the entire Arab word, concentrate on (Israel), Jordan and Turkey to destabilize and "ROLL BACK" those entities that are threats to all three. 2. "Hot pursuit" anywhere within Palestine territory and promoting alternatives to Yasser Arafat's leadership. 3. Self-reliance and strategic cooperation with the US. 4. Terminate aid in order to promote economic reform. 5. The containment of Syria by engaging in proxy warfare and highlighting their possession of WMD's. 6. Economic "reform" is a necessary starting point toward rebuilding Zionism. 7. "Seize the strategic initiative" along Lebanon's northern border and engage with Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. 8. Strike Syria's drug money and counterfeiting infrastructure in Lebanon. 9. Remind the world of the nature of the Syrian regime. (Occupying Lebanon in violation of treaty, terminated Lebanese sovereignty, Hama massacre in '83). 10. Remove Hussein in Iraq to foil Syria's "regional ambitions." 11. Protect Jordan's King Hussein with some tangible "security" and shift their economy away from dependence on Iraq by persuading the US business community to invest in Jordan. 12. Support a Hashemite control of Iraq to wean the S. Lebanese Shia away from Hezbollah, Iran and Syria.
Okay these are just some. I should probably explain the last one first. Hashemites trace their ancestry to Hashim Ibn Abd al Manaf the great grandfather of the prophet Muhammad. Hussein of Jordan was a Hashemite related to King Faisal I, who was king of Iraq and Syria and had the blood of Muhammad in his veins. This is important to some of the practicing Muslims over there. I have read that good old Dick Cheney is scheming to unite Iraq and Jordan under the present king Abdullah of Jordan, Hussein's son and a Hashemite. This retro-religious thinking won't go over well with the present Assad regime but it is expected that once he is toppled, the "allies" can put a true zealot into power who will be appeased by the blood of Muhammad in Abdullah's veins. Jordan has been well protected and supported by American military and economic influence for some time now.
I explained how Turkey has been a key ally of the natural gas interests in "Pipeline-istan" in my last Syria post.
The U.S. have been the Rosco P. Coultrains of the middle east along with Israel, hotly pursuing Palestinians in Lebanon, Syria or wherever, and where in the world is Yasser Arafat? Oh yeah, he's dead. Died mysteriously in 2004. Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sheath stated in a document called "The Price of Kings," "I have no doubt he was assassinated." Arafat's French doctors said that whatever toxic chemical was in his body did not register on their toxicology table. It was poison they didn't have in their labs. His personal physician was denied access to Arafat during his fatal "sickness" by Arafat's wife, Suha, and I still don't think an autopsy has been performed.
Keeping countries "self-reliant", or poor and terminating aid makes them easier to "roll back" and control.
Syria is contained and engaged in a proxy war only imaginary WMD's were not highlighted as in Iraq - chemical weapons were.
What does "reform" mean? They are economically "reforming" the whole region and dividing up resources in government and large corporation boardrooms as we speak.
Strategic initiative is another fine euphemism!
Perhaps some of the proposed targets for missiles are Syrian drug and counterfeiting locations. They would be called "terrorist infrastructure" though or something like that.
We have all been reminded of the Syrian massacres perpetrated by Assad governments. Jon Stewart call it "The Inglorious Bashar" regime.
Hussein permanently removed from Iraq! WMD's still not found.
The last two go together only it's Abdullah, not Hussein in Jordan any more.
Anyhoo, I hope this makes the situation over in Syria a bit clearer and it makes future events not-so-shocking. It's depressing as hell, eh?
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Survivor Time
Call me a Survivor geek but I am already psyched for the new season! I 've been reading bios and watchin vids and I even have a premature prediction or two. I usually wait for an episode before making predictions but I am pretty sureof one of this episode's players having too big a target on his ass to last. So let's start with him and his loved one.
Colton and Caleb. The mandatory token gay contestants they are NOT! Colton just might be my least fave of all time. And I'm not alone. Where to begin? He made some alliances on his first Survivor appearance and the power brought out the petty, racist, elitist, egotistical scumbag side of him. He called one black contestant "ghetto trash" and mentioned that he only associates with one black person: his housekeeper. He complained that he was surrounded by people he would have nothing to do with in his normal life. Yet he came back as a villain on the heroes/villains season. He backstabbed Monica and her and her ex NFL hubby are already targetting him for that. He also voted out Candice on H vs. V so her and her hubby John will be easy allies for Mon and Brad. And I doubt Gervase and Marissa will be unaware of his racism. Marissa cites as her hero the first black person to blah blah blah so race is important to her. So he has 6 enemies before jumpin out the copter. His personality will undoubtedly make him more and despite Probst saying that he has grown we might have a 19-1 vote at the end of episode 1. Caleb will have to fend for himself but Probst thinks he will do well. He will have to overcome resentment at everyone voting off his fiance. He'll be on his own and bitter. He'll need a great game!
Aras and Vytas. I will never forgive Aras, (who I still call Arse), for stealing Panama from the most deserving non-winner EVER : Terry. Danielle blindsided Terry because she knew she had a better shot against Aras in the final two to get even ONE vote. So Aras won because he was the weaker survivor. However, he DID make it to the final three and he is well liked so he could do it again. Vytas seems self-absorbed from the little I've learned about him. Self described wit of Penner, likeability of Arse and flirtatiousness of Parvatti. But he was a heroine addict that people hated, Aras says. So like Colton we shall see how much he's grown.
Candice and John. Candice is not as much of a throw-in as people might think. She was on a tribe way back with the Yul/Becky Korean alliance and switched tribes cuz she thought she was way down the pecking order. Let's be fair, she WAS! But after that nobody trusted her and she was even a villain on H vs. V. No wait! She was an H! Because Probst saw what I saw: courage to jump off the tribe divided by race on the season divided by race. Yul ended up winning btw. I think she might be good but John is one of Probst's early faves and I think he might be one of mine. His only weakness might turn out to be his unshakable trust in his wife. Would THAT be fun if he eventually got blindsided by Candice!
Gervase and Marissa. Gerv was the laziest survivor ever! Said he ws saving strength for challenges but as I recall not a standout especially in swimming challenges. He said that nothing is dumber than a woman except maybe a cow. Maybe why he is teamed with his niece not wife or girlfriend. Marissa doesn't have an impressive resume. Likes to party though and Probst likes the way she separates herself from Gerv. Not much between them methinks.
Kat and Hayden. Kat lasted MUCH longer than she should have in her Survivor season. Then cried like she was ripped off when she left. Blew challenges. and used her age as an excuse. She is young and hot so glad to see her back but has no chance. Her boyfriend, however has won a reality show already. Hayden won Big Brother 12 and is one of Probst's early picks. He can't wait to compete with or against Kat and watch the relationship grow. Hah. Not if it's against.
Laura and Ciera. Can't wait to see Laura again! I remember liking her as the only one savvy enough to see through Russel Hantz's crap and being voted off for it. But not before he tried to ally with her , wasted some immunity idolsand she won several immunity challenges. This gal is good. Almost thwarted super villain Russel's plans and if she had ANYone to work with that season, probly would have. Probst is all excited about her daughter. Preggers at 17,against gay rights, (Colton killer #7?), and quite the go-getter. Lists inspiration as her DAD! Slap!!! I think Mom may just be teaching her some hard life lessons. Either way a colourful pair. Threat might be recognized early though.
Monica and Brad. No Sherlock Holmes sleuthing necessary here, Monica wants redemption for her railroading that was orchestrated by Colton. She won't last long afterwards because she is too loud and hubby Brad would like nothing more than to sacrifice himself to achieve that end. Brad could be a good player if not for the NFL career that has paid every bill for his family if they all live to be 100. He doesn't need the dough and won't hide that. I want him to stick around longer than he likely will though. I think.
Rupert and Laura. I still like the big bear-like, baby-talking pirate even if he can't build a shelter to save his life. He DID win a mil though as people's fave so he no longer needs money. He's dropped 50+ lbs. and looks lean and reay. Jeff Probst seems to think his wife will be a hindrance though. His idolization of her saying she's better than him at everything is sweet but doubtful. If she gets turfed early I don't think Rupe will be long for the game without her. And I think that may happen early because there should only be ONE Laura and we know which one that is. I would hate to see Rupert cry and give up but he is only there for his wife I reckon. And she could go early.
Tina and Katie. Tina won Survivor once and got ousted first because of that on her second appearance. She might have a few extra days because of Colton but no reason to think she won't go early again. However, since there are so many people who don't need the cash we could see an old and rich alliance or two. Her daughter Katie seems very strong willed. Lists a strong, independant woman who takes no crap as her hero. Also likes yoga and ukulele. Arse and bro like yoga. Hmmm... Less feminism and more ukulele and she could last.
Tyson and Rachel. Come on! Where did he find this decoy? Will this be the season Tyson finally makes the not so shocking announcement that he is gay? At least he will be fun to have around. He will do his best to split up the pairs and some look to be imminently splitable. Rachel is the most under the radar player so far. I have watched video and read profiles and she seems to be playin it close to the vest. Like the imposter she is! Haha. She and Tyson both believe they deserve the money though. That is a turn-off.
So I want Laura and John to win but think it might be Aras and Hayden. Should be fun!
Colton and Caleb. The mandatory token gay contestants they are NOT! Colton just might be my least fave of all time. And I'm not alone. Where to begin? He made some alliances on his first Survivor appearance and the power brought out the petty, racist, elitist, egotistical scumbag side of him. He called one black contestant "ghetto trash" and mentioned that he only associates with one black person: his housekeeper. He complained that he was surrounded by people he would have nothing to do with in his normal life. Yet he came back as a villain on the heroes/villains season. He backstabbed Monica and her and her ex NFL hubby are already targetting him for that. He also voted out Candice on H vs. V so her and her hubby John will be easy allies for Mon and Brad. And I doubt Gervase and Marissa will be unaware of his racism. Marissa cites as her hero the first black person to blah blah blah so race is important to her. So he has 6 enemies before jumpin out the copter. His personality will undoubtedly make him more and despite Probst saying that he has grown we might have a 19-1 vote at the end of episode 1. Caleb will have to fend for himself but Probst thinks he will do well. He will have to overcome resentment at everyone voting off his fiance. He'll be on his own and bitter. He'll need a great game!
Aras and Vytas. I will never forgive Aras, (who I still call Arse), for stealing Panama from the most deserving non-winner EVER : Terry. Danielle blindsided Terry because she knew she had a better shot against Aras in the final two to get even ONE vote. So Aras won because he was the weaker survivor. However, he DID make it to the final three and he is well liked so he could do it again. Vytas seems self-absorbed from the little I've learned about him. Self described wit of Penner, likeability of Arse and flirtatiousness of Parvatti. But he was a heroine addict that people hated, Aras says. So like Colton we shall see how much he's grown.
Candice and John. Candice is not as much of a throw-in as people might think. She was on a tribe way back with the Yul/Becky Korean alliance and switched tribes cuz she thought she was way down the pecking order. Let's be fair, she WAS! But after that nobody trusted her and she was even a villain on H vs. V. No wait! She was an H! Because Probst saw what I saw: courage to jump off the tribe divided by race on the season divided by race. Yul ended up winning btw. I think she might be good but John is one of Probst's early faves and I think he might be one of mine. His only weakness might turn out to be his unshakable trust in his wife. Would THAT be fun if he eventually got blindsided by Candice!
Gervase and Marissa. Gerv was the laziest survivor ever! Said he ws saving strength for challenges but as I recall not a standout especially in swimming challenges. He said that nothing is dumber than a woman except maybe a cow. Maybe why he is teamed with his niece not wife or girlfriend. Marissa doesn't have an impressive resume. Likes to party though and Probst likes the way she separates herself from Gerv. Not much between them methinks.
Kat and Hayden. Kat lasted MUCH longer than she should have in her Survivor season. Then cried like she was ripped off when she left. Blew challenges. and used her age as an excuse. She is young and hot so glad to see her back but has no chance. Her boyfriend, however has won a reality show already. Hayden won Big Brother 12 and is one of Probst's early picks. He can't wait to compete with or against Kat and watch the relationship grow. Hah. Not if it's against.
Laura and Ciera. Can't wait to see Laura again! I remember liking her as the only one savvy enough to see through Russel Hantz's crap and being voted off for it. But not before he tried to ally with her , wasted some immunity idolsand she won several immunity challenges. This gal is good. Almost thwarted super villain Russel's plans and if she had ANYone to work with that season, probly would have. Probst is all excited about her daughter. Preggers at 17,against gay rights, (Colton killer #7?), and quite the go-getter. Lists inspiration as her DAD! Slap!!! I think Mom may just be teaching her some hard life lessons. Either way a colourful pair. Threat might be recognized early though.
Monica and Brad. No Sherlock Holmes sleuthing necessary here, Monica wants redemption for her railroading that was orchestrated by Colton. She won't last long afterwards because she is too loud and hubby Brad would like nothing more than to sacrifice himself to achieve that end. Brad could be a good player if not for the NFL career that has paid every bill for his family if they all live to be 100. He doesn't need the dough and won't hide that. I want him to stick around longer than he likely will though. I think.
Rupert and Laura. I still like the big bear-like, baby-talking pirate even if he can't build a shelter to save his life. He DID win a mil though as people's fave so he no longer needs money. He's dropped 50+ lbs. and looks lean and reay. Jeff Probst seems to think his wife will be a hindrance though. His idolization of her saying she's better than him at everything is sweet but doubtful. If she gets turfed early I don't think Rupe will be long for the game without her. And I think that may happen early because there should only be ONE Laura and we know which one that is. I would hate to see Rupert cry and give up but he is only there for his wife I reckon. And she could go early.
Tina and Katie. Tina won Survivor once and got ousted first because of that on her second appearance. She might have a few extra days because of Colton but no reason to think she won't go early again. However, since there are so many people who don't need the cash we could see an old and rich alliance or two. Her daughter Katie seems very strong willed. Lists a strong, independant woman who takes no crap as her hero. Also likes yoga and ukulele. Arse and bro like yoga. Hmmm... Less feminism and more ukulele and she could last.
Tyson and Rachel. Come on! Where did he find this decoy? Will this be the season Tyson finally makes the not so shocking announcement that he is gay? At least he will be fun to have around. He will do his best to split up the pairs and some look to be imminently splitable. Rachel is the most under the radar player so far. I have watched video and read profiles and she seems to be playin it close to the vest. Like the imposter she is! Haha. She and Tyson both believe they deserve the money though. That is a turn-off.
So I want Laura and John to win but think it might be Aras and Hayden. Should be fun!
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Syria: A Natural Gas Proxy War
I have followed the situation in Syria a little bit and maybe I am supposed to think of it as a country peopled with Muslim extremist, brainwashed, violent little people who don't count for much globally, but I have seen and heard and read of suffering there that I can't begin to comprehend. The soldiers fighting on both sides of the present civil war probably believe they are fighting for autonomy, freedom, political reform or religious reasons but in light of the recent threat of heightened action there by the U.S. I thought I should find out if this was indeed just one nation helping another to fight an oppressive government that uses torture and even chemical weapons on innocents. Are the FSA, (Free Syria Army) and other rebels heroically fighting for their freedom or are they unwittingly fighting to see which major multinational corporation will eventually own them and their country? Many of the victims of the brutality have been children. I saw some ghastly pics of what they called the Houla Massacre which took place on May 25th, 2012. They are still out there but I will not repost them here. If you are twice bitten three times shy after the last two wars the American government blatantly lied their way into, you will probably do just that to find out exactly what the truth might be that we will find out in a year or so after the fact. I was prepared to support the American "punishment" of the Assad government because, by God, things like this ought not be allowed anywhere in the world! I said, "Well it's about time!" after first hearing about the plans to attack the Assad government troops. But having been battered by the world into the eternal pessimist that I am, I was not surprised to find that this is just as much, probably more, about money than human rights violations.
I was a bit surprised that it was only a little about oil. It's mostly about natural gas. It's complicated but that's what it comes down to. You see Israel and Cyprus have recently had huge deposits of natural gas discovered off their shores. The deposits have been named Tamar and Leviathan. Both discovered by Houston-based "Noble" Energy and their Israeli partners Delek. According to Delek Group CEO Asaf Bartfield with the 38 trillion cubic feet of gas Israel will supply the European market and the far East. In fact in May of 2010, the US Geological Service affirmed that the Levant Basin Province located between Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus has 122 tcf, (trillion cubic feet), of natural gas and 1.7 billion barrels of oil. Shortly thereafter this civil war began to materialize. Methinks this is more than just coincidence.
Both Leviathan and Tamar are in Israeli waters. But in order to pipe all that natural gas to Europe, Delek and Noble plan to go through Syria and Turkey. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright once said that Turkey is, "sitting in a geographically amazing place, in terms of various connections of pipelines, and discoveries of new fossil fuel." It's a land bridge between the gas deposits and Europe. In May 2010, (after finding out the JACKPOT they had in the Mediterranean), 9 Turkish citizens died in an Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara aid ship to blockaded Gaza. Turkey demanded an appology from Israel, aid to the families of the deceased and a lift of the Gaza blockade. One week before Tamar came online and started cranking out the natural gas Barack Obama was in Israel with Secretary of State John Kerry pushing for Israel and Turkey to mend ties. They got a sort of backhanded appology out of Israel, and payment to families was negotiated but the Gaza blockade was not discussed.
I reckon it will be soon though. The Turkish mega-conglomerate Zorlu has plans to build a pipeline from the Israeli gas fields to Turkey. They also want to build a refinery to turn that natural gas into LNG, (liquid natural gas), which is more easily transported for longer distances, not to mention more expensive. This with an eye toward tanker transport to Asia. So Israeli/Turkish ties are going to need to be mended. Billions and billions of dollars worth of gas and oil just might have that effect.
What has the U.S. been up to in the area? Well you already know about "Noble" Energy. If ever there were a misnamed... Let's find out some more about Noble Energy, shall we? They are heavy proponents of fracking in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale region. They were the first company allowed to resume drilling after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. You remember the BP spill where we saw day after day, (87 days), live footage of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico and nobody could stop it. When was that? APRIL of 2010. It is rumoured that they bought the rights to the Tamar concession from British Gas in 2006 for $1.00! So they do some slick dealing. Indeed they have upped their political contributions, (mostly to congressmen in various gas/oil states and mostly republicans), from $4500 in 2004 to $317,000 in 2012. And they spend over a million a year lobbying congress in the capitol. Money well spent! In 2010, Israel raised their energy tax. Because of Noble's political clout Bill Clinton himself went over to have speaks with Benjamin Netanyahu and told him, "Your country can't just tax a U.S. business retroactively because they feel like it."
Another key player for the Yankees is David Wurmser, a neoconservative advisor to both the government of the U.S. and Israel. He was the co-author of the "Clean Break" study in 1996 advocating that Israel, "shape its strategic environment in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq." Wurmser's manipulated evidence and bureacratic process figured largely in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Then from '03-'07 he was Dick Cheney's top Middle East advisor. He's also the founder of Delphi, a company that, since 2010, has been selling its advice on the Levant Basin gas prospects.
Israel created a naval task force to patrol their gas fields and the covert assistance the U.S. has been giving to the forces combatting the Assad government since, (what do you wanna bet May of 2010?), has now become overt military aid. Bombing runs have been flown over Damascus. And now the Americans militarizing the area in earnest. In the words of Evan Taylor, who wrote a great article online where I got a lot of this info, "It appears that Damascus will soon finally feel the full impact of the Western fist. Turkey and Israel will be key partners in this effort. Gas may be the reason why..." He wrote that two months ago too, shmarty pants!
You see, they need Syria! It is a key part of the proposed pipeline. And they DON'T have the government right now. This is why you often hear of the Assad government's body count of 100,000, torture and now chemical warfare. I am not saying that stuff didn't happen. I am saying that Assad is the bad guy so this is why we can easily find out about this stuff and see graphic pics on facebook.
But who is the enemy behind Assad? Our old and cold war opponents the Russians. Did you know that Russia and Iran are the two largest proprietors of natural gas in the world? Right now Europe is utterly dependant upon Russian natural gas. This gas, mostly from Siberia, is delivered by Gazprom. Ever heard of it? Until this year it was the world's most profitable company. But this threat to its natural gaz monopoly in Israel has cost the company money. Nobody knows that better than Vladimir Putin. He has used Gazprom well to exert political influence. It is believed that he owns 4.5% of Gazprom, about 4 billion dollars worth. That should give you an idea of the massive wealth and power Gazprom has. This conflict of interest is what allows Putin to support the butcher Assad. Also in May of this year, Assad gave Russia and Putin and Gazprom control of Syria's gas resources in exchange for Russia's continued support in resisting the FSA and other rebels. He also brokered a deal to let China rebuild damaged infrastructure in Syria if Assad defeats the insurgency.
Putin is doing okay this year. He, (or rather Gazprom), actually signed a 20-year deal this year to be the exclusive seller of Tamar gas. They also want to gain the rights to the even larger Leviathan field. And then, through the Greeks, gain the rights to Cyprus' gas. Finally by keeping Assad in power in Syria, where Russia's only Mediterranean ports are, (Tartus and Latakia), he will have a good chance to secure Syrian and Lebanese gaz for Gazprom. You can bet Putin beefed up the military presence at those two ports. A deal in, you guessed it, 2010, by Iran, Iraq, Syria and Southern Lebanon was struck to build a pipeline through those countries by 2016. This proposed, "Islamic Pipeline" will cut out Turkey and the U.S. so both of those countries support the rebels in Syria. It will connect to Pakistan and eventually be a source of oil for energy-hungry China. You didn't think they were rebuilding the infrastructure in Syria for FREE didja? The Chinese? By the way, this is one of the reasons behind the U.S. trying to neutralize the Chinese plans for this gas pipeline by contributing to Pakistan's internal tension and ethnic division.
Syria, and more specifically the ports of Latakia and Tarsus, will be the sites of refineries - well fortified refineries - in which natural gas can be converted into LNG and transported more easily and sold more expensively to China. Also the LNG from Latakia and Tarsus is planned to be shipped to Europe, in more expensive liquid form, via the Mediterranean.
SO... The U.S. forces are moving into Syria where they already have considerable presence and have been backing the rebels for some time. Israel is also digging in.
Russia and China are supporting the Assad government and fortifying their positions in Syria to support the government and defeat the rebel forces.
And in "Pipeline-istan" the region of the Middle East with corridors west to Europe and East to Asia, they are all planning different natural gas pipelines and racing to see who can build them first. Syria, being so close to the gas deposits, is a key component in virtually ALL the proposed pipelines.
And in the next little while we will probably be hearing EVERYBODY mealy mouthing about freedom fighting, human rights, attrocities, terrorist acts, evil, enemies etc...etc...etc... when really it's 99% about MONEY!
The depressing and scary part is that the second a Russian kills an American or vice versa, this could very well spark a more intense conflict involving more extensive allied assistance. But before you go signing up for this one, you should probably know the facts. It's a bunch of fucking greedy asshats playing Risk with real human beings and making billions and billions more dollars to throw in their mountains of money.
Least, that's how I see it.
I was a bit surprised that it was only a little about oil. It's mostly about natural gas. It's complicated but that's what it comes down to. You see Israel and Cyprus have recently had huge deposits of natural gas discovered off their shores. The deposits have been named Tamar and Leviathan. Both discovered by Houston-based "Noble" Energy and their Israeli partners Delek. According to Delek Group CEO Asaf Bartfield with the 38 trillion cubic feet of gas Israel will supply the European market and the far East. In fact in May of 2010, the US Geological Service affirmed that the Levant Basin Province located between Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus has 122 tcf, (trillion cubic feet), of natural gas and 1.7 billion barrels of oil. Shortly thereafter this civil war began to materialize. Methinks this is more than just coincidence.
Both Leviathan and Tamar are in Israeli waters. But in order to pipe all that natural gas to Europe, Delek and Noble plan to go through Syria and Turkey. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright once said that Turkey is, "sitting in a geographically amazing place, in terms of various connections of pipelines, and discoveries of new fossil fuel." It's a land bridge between the gas deposits and Europe. In May 2010, (after finding out the JACKPOT they had in the Mediterranean), 9 Turkish citizens died in an Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara aid ship to blockaded Gaza. Turkey demanded an appology from Israel, aid to the families of the deceased and a lift of the Gaza blockade. One week before Tamar came online and started cranking out the natural gas Barack Obama was in Israel with Secretary of State John Kerry pushing for Israel and Turkey to mend ties. They got a sort of backhanded appology out of Israel, and payment to families was negotiated but the Gaza blockade was not discussed.
I reckon it will be soon though. The Turkish mega-conglomerate Zorlu has plans to build a pipeline from the Israeli gas fields to Turkey. They also want to build a refinery to turn that natural gas into LNG, (liquid natural gas), which is more easily transported for longer distances, not to mention more expensive. This with an eye toward tanker transport to Asia. So Israeli/Turkish ties are going to need to be mended. Billions and billions of dollars worth of gas and oil just might have that effect.
What has the U.S. been up to in the area? Well you already know about "Noble" Energy. If ever there were a misnamed... Let's find out some more about Noble Energy, shall we? They are heavy proponents of fracking in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale region. They were the first company allowed to resume drilling after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. You remember the BP spill where we saw day after day, (87 days), live footage of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico and nobody could stop it. When was that? APRIL of 2010. It is rumoured that they bought the rights to the Tamar concession from British Gas in 2006 for $1.00! So they do some slick dealing. Indeed they have upped their political contributions, (mostly to congressmen in various gas/oil states and mostly republicans), from $4500 in 2004 to $317,000 in 2012. And they spend over a million a year lobbying congress in the capitol. Money well spent! In 2010, Israel raised their energy tax. Because of Noble's political clout Bill Clinton himself went over to have speaks with Benjamin Netanyahu and told him, "Your country can't just tax a U.S. business retroactively because they feel like it."
Another key player for the Yankees is David Wurmser, a neoconservative advisor to both the government of the U.S. and Israel. He was the co-author of the "Clean Break" study in 1996 advocating that Israel, "shape its strategic environment in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq." Wurmser's manipulated evidence and bureacratic process figured largely in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Then from '03-'07 he was Dick Cheney's top Middle East advisor. He's also the founder of Delphi, a company that, since 2010, has been selling its advice on the Levant Basin gas prospects.
Israel created a naval task force to patrol their gas fields and the covert assistance the U.S. has been giving to the forces combatting the Assad government since, (what do you wanna bet May of 2010?), has now become overt military aid. Bombing runs have been flown over Damascus. And now the Americans militarizing the area in earnest. In the words of Evan Taylor, who wrote a great article online where I got a lot of this info, "It appears that Damascus will soon finally feel the full impact of the Western fist. Turkey and Israel will be key partners in this effort. Gas may be the reason why..." He wrote that two months ago too, shmarty pants!
You see, they need Syria! It is a key part of the proposed pipeline. And they DON'T have the government right now. This is why you often hear of the Assad government's body count of 100,000, torture and now chemical warfare. I am not saying that stuff didn't happen. I am saying that Assad is the bad guy so this is why we can easily find out about this stuff and see graphic pics on facebook.
But who is the enemy behind Assad? Our old and cold war opponents the Russians. Did you know that Russia and Iran are the two largest proprietors of natural gas in the world? Right now Europe is utterly dependant upon Russian natural gas. This gas, mostly from Siberia, is delivered by Gazprom. Ever heard of it? Until this year it was the world's most profitable company. But this threat to its natural gaz monopoly in Israel has cost the company money. Nobody knows that better than Vladimir Putin. He has used Gazprom well to exert political influence. It is believed that he owns 4.5% of Gazprom, about 4 billion dollars worth. That should give you an idea of the massive wealth and power Gazprom has. This conflict of interest is what allows Putin to support the butcher Assad. Also in May of this year, Assad gave Russia and Putin and Gazprom control of Syria's gas resources in exchange for Russia's continued support in resisting the FSA and other rebels. He also brokered a deal to let China rebuild damaged infrastructure in Syria if Assad defeats the insurgency.
Putin is doing okay this year. He, (or rather Gazprom), actually signed a 20-year deal this year to be the exclusive seller of Tamar gas. They also want to gain the rights to the even larger Leviathan field. And then, through the Greeks, gain the rights to Cyprus' gas. Finally by keeping Assad in power in Syria, where Russia's only Mediterranean ports are, (Tartus and Latakia), he will have a good chance to secure Syrian and Lebanese gaz for Gazprom. You can bet Putin beefed up the military presence at those two ports. A deal in, you guessed it, 2010, by Iran, Iraq, Syria and Southern Lebanon was struck to build a pipeline through those countries by 2016. This proposed, "Islamic Pipeline" will cut out Turkey and the U.S. so both of those countries support the rebels in Syria. It will connect to Pakistan and eventually be a source of oil for energy-hungry China. You didn't think they were rebuilding the infrastructure in Syria for FREE didja? The Chinese? By the way, this is one of the reasons behind the U.S. trying to neutralize the Chinese plans for this gas pipeline by contributing to Pakistan's internal tension and ethnic division.
Syria, and more specifically the ports of Latakia and Tarsus, will be the sites of refineries - well fortified refineries - in which natural gas can be converted into LNG and transported more easily and sold more expensively to China. Also the LNG from Latakia and Tarsus is planned to be shipped to Europe, in more expensive liquid form, via the Mediterranean.
SO... The U.S. forces are moving into Syria where they already have considerable presence and have been backing the rebels for some time. Israel is also digging in.
Russia and China are supporting the Assad government and fortifying their positions in Syria to support the government and defeat the rebel forces.
And in "Pipeline-istan" the region of the Middle East with corridors west to Europe and East to Asia, they are all planning different natural gas pipelines and racing to see who can build them first. Syria, being so close to the gas deposits, is a key component in virtually ALL the proposed pipelines.
And in the next little while we will probably be hearing EVERYBODY mealy mouthing about freedom fighting, human rights, attrocities, terrorist acts, evil, enemies etc...etc...etc... when really it's 99% about MONEY!
The depressing and scary part is that the second a Russian kills an American or vice versa, this could very well spark a more intense conflict involving more extensive allied assistance. But before you go signing up for this one, you should probably know the facts. It's a bunch of fucking greedy asshats playing Risk with real human beings and making billions and billions more dollars to throw in their mountains of money.
Least, that's how I see it.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Putin on the Fritz
Okay, I know his name sounds almost exactly like incredibly sinful and delicious, (and 100% Canadian), food, but I can't support Putin on his recent decision to back a bill outlawing homosexual "propeganda" in Russia. Right. Russia. The country where Sochi is located. Sochi. The host city of the next Winter Olympics. In 2014.
And I'm not saying this in the hopes that the Olympics will be moved to Vancouver if Putin and his "strongly traditional Russian" party members gay bash the Olympics right out of Russia, but, hey, they just painted a bunch of crosswalks in Vancouver like rainbows. We're ready!
I'm saying this because I think he's nuts! The Olympics would make money if they were held in Syria! The WINTER Olympics! How moronic do you have to be to make THIS the time you start behaving in such a non-olympic manner? Aside from the desperately needed buttloads of cash Putin might be costing his country, what makes me think he's falling off his Russian rocker is now that he has the world's attention, shouldn't he use it to promote Glastnost or Smirnoff Vodka or an NHL team in Russia? Nope. Get it out on the world stage that Russia does not abide any relationship that is not distinguished by "normal" gender roles or based on "traditional" sexual orientation. He probably doesn't know how NON-Olympian that is!
First things first, in the official Olympic Charter, article #6 in the section entitled Fundamental Priciples of Olympism states: "Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement." Now I know it says, "gender", not gender-bender, but, by golly, discrimination against gay people would definitely fall under the "otherwise."
I wonder if Putin is up on his Olympic history. The Olympics originated in ancient Greece. GREECE! Let me give you some unnecessary detail on what I mean...
The ancient Greeks did not conceive of sexual orientation as a social indentifier. Sexual desire wasn't distinguished by the gender of the participants. So the inclusion of "gender" in the Olympic ideals as an example of discrimination that is not consistent with the whole Olympic Movement could very well be read as an advocation of love that is not limited to same-sex partners. In this interpretation of the Olympic ideals, homosexuality IS Olympism!
Well, you might not be quite so extreme in your own interpretation, but consider a few other things about the ancient Greeks and the first Olympic games. There were only a few original sports and all were contested between athletes of the same gender, sweaty in the Grecian heat, and completely NEKKID. Some of the original sports were the marathon, wrestling and a primitive spinner-based sport that closely resembles the modern board game of Twister. Come on! You know there were, uh, interested spectators throwing water on the toned, athletic, perspiration-slicked bodies of the wrestlers to cool them down, and perhaps accidentally on purpose, muddy up the soil they were wrestling on.
Consideration #2: Every male in ancient Greece, as a socially accepted right of passage, perhaps ironically, to become a MAN, paired up with an older man who instructed the boy in the ways of Greek life. This included a sexual relationship.
Consideration #3: Homosexuality was a formidable military strategy. If you are putting your life in another man's hands, why not have as strong a bond as possible? I'm not going to make any of the easy jokes about crack leadership, Rear Admirals or that sort of thing because I'm better than that. Achilles, the greatest Greek mythological warrior of them all had a male lover named Patroclus. You may have noticed that if you watched the movie, "Troy."
Consideration #4: Have you ever heard of the poetess Sappho? She was from the Greek isle of, (hello? McFly?), Lesbos. She wrote lots and lots of love poetry that was meant to be accompanied by the lyre. Hence, "lyrical" poetry. Most of it was composed of or for her female students and it was just dripping with homoeroticism that far exceeds the modern boundaries of educational professionalism.
The origins of the Olympics make it an awful screwy place to get out your anti-gay soap box and start a blabbing! But I have known plenty of Russians. They have as strong a military heritage as the Greeks. They cherish their young men as soldiers and athletes. They drink a lot of vodka and kiss and hug a lot. They are a physically beautiful people. A Russian male can certainly admire the physical beauty of a young, finely conditioned soldier or athlete. They can love it. Maybe yearn for it a little bit. I'm making myself uncomfortable here. Heck I get uncomfortable washing a cucumber.
But I can't help but think of a Shakespeare line when I read a new article about all this stuff. It's from Hamlet I think. "The lady doth protest too much methinks." I just exchange "lady" for "Russian President." Think of all the recent jagoffs who have railed the loudest against homosexuality. Ted Haggard, for example. It turned out that he paid a male masseuse for sex for three years. Now he's in Gay A I guess. There are other examples. Many of them. I can't help but wonder if Putin is just the latest. Come on out of that closet Putin! You know you want to! THAT would be the more Olympian thing to do! Now I'm not going to make any easy jokes like Vlad the Dad, Vlad the Impaler or anything like that cuz I'm just better than that.
And I'm not saying this in the hopes that the Olympics will be moved to Vancouver if Putin and his "strongly traditional Russian" party members gay bash the Olympics right out of Russia, but, hey, they just painted a bunch of crosswalks in Vancouver like rainbows. We're ready!
I'm saying this because I think he's nuts! The Olympics would make money if they were held in Syria! The WINTER Olympics! How moronic do you have to be to make THIS the time you start behaving in such a non-olympic manner? Aside from the desperately needed buttloads of cash Putin might be costing his country, what makes me think he's falling off his Russian rocker is now that he has the world's attention, shouldn't he use it to promote Glastnost or Smirnoff Vodka or an NHL team in Russia? Nope. Get it out on the world stage that Russia does not abide any relationship that is not distinguished by "normal" gender roles or based on "traditional" sexual orientation. He probably doesn't know how NON-Olympian that is!
First things first, in the official Olympic Charter, article #6 in the section entitled Fundamental Priciples of Olympism states: "Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement." Now I know it says, "gender", not gender-bender, but, by golly, discrimination against gay people would definitely fall under the "otherwise."
I wonder if Putin is up on his Olympic history. The Olympics originated in ancient Greece. GREECE! Let me give you some unnecessary detail on what I mean...
The ancient Greeks did not conceive of sexual orientation as a social indentifier. Sexual desire wasn't distinguished by the gender of the participants. So the inclusion of "gender" in the Olympic ideals as an example of discrimination that is not consistent with the whole Olympic Movement could very well be read as an advocation of love that is not limited to same-sex partners. In this interpretation of the Olympic ideals, homosexuality IS Olympism!
Well, you might not be quite so extreme in your own interpretation, but consider a few other things about the ancient Greeks and the first Olympic games. There were only a few original sports and all were contested between athletes of the same gender, sweaty in the Grecian heat, and completely NEKKID. Some of the original sports were the marathon, wrestling and a primitive spinner-based sport that closely resembles the modern board game of Twister. Come on! You know there were, uh, interested spectators throwing water on the toned, athletic, perspiration-slicked bodies of the wrestlers to cool them down, and perhaps accidentally on purpose, muddy up the soil they were wrestling on.
Consideration #2: Every male in ancient Greece, as a socially accepted right of passage, perhaps ironically, to become a MAN, paired up with an older man who instructed the boy in the ways of Greek life. This included a sexual relationship.
Consideration #3: Homosexuality was a formidable military strategy. If you are putting your life in another man's hands, why not have as strong a bond as possible? I'm not going to make any of the easy jokes about crack leadership, Rear Admirals or that sort of thing because I'm better than that. Achilles, the greatest Greek mythological warrior of them all had a male lover named Patroclus. You may have noticed that if you watched the movie, "Troy."
Consideration #4: Have you ever heard of the poetess Sappho? She was from the Greek isle of, (hello? McFly?), Lesbos. She wrote lots and lots of love poetry that was meant to be accompanied by the lyre. Hence, "lyrical" poetry. Most of it was composed of or for her female students and it was just dripping with homoeroticism that far exceeds the modern boundaries of educational professionalism.
The origins of the Olympics make it an awful screwy place to get out your anti-gay soap box and start a blabbing! But I have known plenty of Russians. They have as strong a military heritage as the Greeks. They cherish their young men as soldiers and athletes. They drink a lot of vodka and kiss and hug a lot. They are a physically beautiful people. A Russian male can certainly admire the physical beauty of a young, finely conditioned soldier or athlete. They can love it. Maybe yearn for it a little bit. I'm making myself uncomfortable here. Heck I get uncomfortable washing a cucumber.
But I can't help but think of a Shakespeare line when I read a new article about all this stuff. It's from Hamlet I think. "The lady doth protest too much methinks." I just exchange "lady" for "Russian President." Think of all the recent jagoffs who have railed the loudest against homosexuality. Ted Haggard, for example. It turned out that he paid a male masseuse for sex for three years. Now he's in Gay A I guess. There are other examples. Many of them. I can't help but wonder if Putin is just the latest. Come on out of that closet Putin! You know you want to! THAT would be the more Olympian thing to do! Now I'm not going to make any easy jokes like Vlad the Dad, Vlad the Impaler or anything like that cuz I'm just better than that.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
B.A. = Bad Attitude, M.A. = More Attitude
On a rainy, spring day in Calgary a middle-aged man with damp, wet canine smelling clothing and plastic bags duct taped over whatever footwear they might have been concealing entered a Mcdonalds restauraunt on the northeast side of town. A middle-aged lady behind the counter greets him and asks him what he'd like to order.
Bum: I'll have a double McBLT please.
He empties two pockets full of change onto the counter and spreads it out with weathered, dirt-under-fingernail hands.
Lady: I'm sorry, sir, we don't make double McBLT's.
Bum: Why not?
Lady: I suppose it may have to do with the idea that one beef patty plus the bacon really ought to sufficiently satiate even the most carnivorous of appetites.
The man's eyes widened somewhat and his eyebrows arched.
Bum: Be that as it may, it only holds true under the priveleged, not to say decadent assumption that said sandwich will constitute one of multiple meals for me today. Alas, due to economic downturn in my area of expertise, it will not.
Lady: Well, sir, your monetary meloncholia notwithstanding, the rigidity of my training and indeed the franchise employee expectations in general afford me little to no discretion in such matters. What am I to do?
Bum: In matters of discretion, nor franchise policy I can claim to be nowise your superior. Still, what's to stop you from making a McBLT and throwing another patty on that bitch?
Lady: Good sir, I trust that when addressing ME you included no comma between "that" and "bitch" in your last sentence.
Bum: And I trust that your emphasis on the ME in YOUR previous sentence did not intimate a presupposition that I might, though not to you, refer to OTHER women using the highly dismissive pejorative, "bitch."
She smiles. He smiles.
Lady: B.A. in English Lit. from the university of Alberta in '97. Sheila. Nice to make your acquaintance.
Bum: Masters of Literature from Lakehead U. '94. My name is Hubert. Charmed. Say, what are you doing after your shift today, Sheila?
Sheila: NOTHING with you ya hobo! Now do you want the burger or not?
Hubert: Sigh... Okay. And a small fries too if there's enough here.
Bum: I'll have a double McBLT please.
He empties two pockets full of change onto the counter and spreads it out with weathered, dirt-under-fingernail hands.
Lady: I'm sorry, sir, we don't make double McBLT's.
Bum: Why not?
Lady: I suppose it may have to do with the idea that one beef patty plus the bacon really ought to sufficiently satiate even the most carnivorous of appetites.
The man's eyes widened somewhat and his eyebrows arched.
Bum: Be that as it may, it only holds true under the priveleged, not to say decadent assumption that said sandwich will constitute one of multiple meals for me today. Alas, due to economic downturn in my area of expertise, it will not.
Lady: Well, sir, your monetary meloncholia notwithstanding, the rigidity of my training and indeed the franchise employee expectations in general afford me little to no discretion in such matters. What am I to do?
Bum: In matters of discretion, nor franchise policy I can claim to be nowise your superior. Still, what's to stop you from making a McBLT and throwing another patty on that bitch?
Lady: Good sir, I trust that when addressing ME you included no comma between "that" and "bitch" in your last sentence.
Bum: And I trust that your emphasis on the ME in YOUR previous sentence did not intimate a presupposition that I might, though not to you, refer to OTHER women using the highly dismissive pejorative, "bitch."
She smiles. He smiles.
Lady: B.A. in English Lit. from the university of Alberta in '97. Sheila. Nice to make your acquaintance.
Bum: Masters of Literature from Lakehead U. '94. My name is Hubert. Charmed. Say, what are you doing after your shift today, Sheila?
Sheila: NOTHING with you ya hobo! Now do you want the burger or not?
Hubert: Sigh... Okay. And a small fries too if there's enough here.
Friday, July 19, 2013
Popularity
I'm not going off on one of my rants about banking but I put my money into one and what does the bank do? They put it into massive R.O.I. (return on investment) schemes and scams that regular Joe Blows don't even have access to; they do things with it that would land me in the hoochcow if I tried the same; or they give me negligible interest for lending it to them while charging crippling interest to then lend it to someone in need. All the while charging me money to get my own money and making it as inconvenient as possible to do so. Bankers are just bully, gangster middlemen and they represent the biggest rip job there is.
But I'm sitting here looking at a cable bill of $172 and thinking this might be second place. What do we get for our cable TV dollar? We get local network news, sports and entertainment shows that, yes kids, used to be FREE! Maybe if we snip that Rogers or Telus umbilical chord it might still be! Anybody tried that lately? Probly doesn't work any more since the advent of compulsory digital. I dunno. What else do we get? Popular shows from mostly American networks just about all of which are available for 8 bucks a month on Netflix or somewhere else online. We also get the inconvenience of having to watch the shows when the stations air them. Or record them. We also get one more thing: commercials which pay for the shows many many times over. Yet cable crooks STILL have the balls to charge and charge exhorbitantly for that which should be free.
I listened to Chilliwack Greatest Hits this morning and recently watched Searching For Sugarman, the Oscar winning doc about Sixto Rodriguez. You can find both Rodriguez albums and Chilliwacks Greatest hits in their entirety on youtube. I highly recommend them! They may not be your style but the talent and the inexplicable obscurity are undeniable. And just about anyone can think of a dozen things that are overrated or underrated. Why? What exactly IS popularity and who forces it to happen? Is this just another thing dictated by the maximization of profit? Sounds a bit paranoid and conspiratorial if that's not a made up word... but if it becomes popular, if the right agencies give it their stamp of approval, then it will be completely legit due to popular usage. Maybe there are no popularity police because if there are, they sure missed the botanical barge on marijuana! But if there are, who are the people behind these agencies who profit from popularity? That's what has my mental gears grinding today. And what, if anything, is popular and as yet doesn't have a price tag or a meter attached to it?
This made me think of the new fad in major metropolitan areas called oxygen bars where people pay to inhale pure oxygen.
Breathe as much as you can today my friends. While it remains free to do so...
But I'm sitting here looking at a cable bill of $172 and thinking this might be second place. What do we get for our cable TV dollar? We get local network news, sports and entertainment shows that, yes kids, used to be FREE! Maybe if we snip that Rogers or Telus umbilical chord it might still be! Anybody tried that lately? Probly doesn't work any more since the advent of compulsory digital. I dunno. What else do we get? Popular shows from mostly American networks just about all of which are available for 8 bucks a month on Netflix or somewhere else online. We also get the inconvenience of having to watch the shows when the stations air them. Or record them. We also get one more thing: commercials which pay for the shows many many times over. Yet cable crooks STILL have the balls to charge and charge exhorbitantly for that which should be free.
I listened to Chilliwack Greatest Hits this morning and recently watched Searching For Sugarman, the Oscar winning doc about Sixto Rodriguez. You can find both Rodriguez albums and Chilliwacks Greatest hits in their entirety on youtube. I highly recommend them! They may not be your style but the talent and the inexplicable obscurity are undeniable. And just about anyone can think of a dozen things that are overrated or underrated. Why? What exactly IS popularity and who forces it to happen? Is this just another thing dictated by the maximization of profit? Sounds a bit paranoid and conspiratorial if that's not a made up word... but if it becomes popular, if the right agencies give it their stamp of approval, then it will be completely legit due to popular usage. Maybe there are no popularity police because if there are, they sure missed the botanical barge on marijuana! But if there are, who are the people behind these agencies who profit from popularity? That's what has my mental gears grinding today. And what, if anything, is popular and as yet doesn't have a price tag or a meter attached to it?
This made me think of the new fad in major metropolitan areas called oxygen bars where people pay to inhale pure oxygen.
Breathe as much as you can today my friends. While it remains free to do so...
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Simple Solution
http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F
I feel for this girl, a breastfeeding mother
who's finding breastfeeding a bit of a bother.
If she had her way, if she had her druthers,
she'd do it away from the shit and the piss and the other
bodily fluids that stink up the loo.
If I could breastfeed I know I would too.
But baring a breast gets a UK poo poo
unless in support, that's the long and the short, of the companies who
Cover the billboards with glamour and glitz,
and models who CAN bare their corporate tits.
Our world needs a sort of mamary ablution.
And just like breast milk I've a simple solution.
If you need to breastfeed your little consumer
and not nervously stress yourself into a tumor
feel free to whip out a life-giving tit
so long as it has a corporate logo on it.
You're out of the house nowhere near a toilet
and your infant is hungry. Go ahead, spoil it!
Breastfeed with assurance. Be confident. Smug,
with a Coca Cola sticker on your exposed jug.
If you know a mother afraid to shed her sweater
for fear that the authorities won't let her
an Exxon titty tatt is what you should get her.
Monsanto. Walmart. Starbucks. Even better.
So don't let young mothers simmer with hate.
Share my idea with them before it's too late.
You'll see it'll all work out great!
For I'm nothing if not a breast exposure advocate.
I feel for this girl, a breastfeeding mother
who's finding breastfeeding a bit of a bother.
If she had her way, if she had her druthers,
she'd do it away from the shit and the piss and the other
bodily fluids that stink up the loo.
If I could breastfeed I know I would too.
But baring a breast gets a UK poo poo
unless in support, that's the long and the short, of the companies who
Cover the billboards with glamour and glitz,
and models who CAN bare their corporate tits.
Our world needs a sort of mamary ablution.
And just like breast milk I've a simple solution.
If you need to breastfeed your little consumer
and not nervously stress yourself into a tumor
feel free to whip out a life-giving tit
so long as it has a corporate logo on it.
You're out of the house nowhere near a toilet
and your infant is hungry. Go ahead, spoil it!
Breastfeed with assurance. Be confident. Smug,
with a Coca Cola sticker on your exposed jug.
If you know a mother afraid to shed her sweater
for fear that the authorities won't let her
an Exxon titty tatt is what you should get her.
Monsanto. Walmart. Starbucks. Even better.
So don't let young mothers simmer with hate.
Share my idea with them before it's too late.
You'll see it'll all work out great!
For I'm nothing if not a breast exposure advocate.
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