The State of the Nation and World

Kim Jong Un and North Korea are threatening South Korea with attack.

China's economy is in freefall.

The Dow dropped nearly 1000 points the last 2 days.

The Mexican peso--in next door Mexico, of course--just hit a record low against the US dollar.

Wealth inequality in America is getting worse by the year with the already-wealthy getting richer and the middle and lower classes getting poorer.

Greece just nearly avoided a total bankruptcy of the nation.

Our infrastructure is falling apart.

Our Highway Fund needs funding from Congress.

All this and a lot more but Donald Trump and his disconnected, childish, really, musings on America and the world put him, somehow, somehow, "most popular" right now, number one in the polls of Republican candidates for president in next year's election.

This is no way to run a country.

The real question today, as we consider attacking yet another nation

"...have we learned nothing?

Time and again over the last half century American presidents have justified so-called surgical strikes because the nation's credibility is at stake, and because we have to take some action to show our strength and resolve -- only to learn years later that our credibility has suffered more from our foolish and brazen bellicosity, that the surgical strikes have only intensified hostilities and made us captive to forces beyond our control, and that our resolve eventually disappears in the face of mounting casualties of Americans and innocent civilians. We and others have paid an incalculable price.

On Labor Day weekend we should rather be testing the nation's resolve to provide good jobs at good wages to all Americans who need them, and measuring our credibility by the ideal of equal opportunity. And we should strike (and join striking workers) against big employers who won't provide their employees with minimally-decent wages. We need to commit ourselves to a living wage, and to providing more economic security to the millions of Americans now working harder but getting nowhere. Yes, Mr. President, a lot of people think something should be done -- about these mounting problems at our doorstep, within America. We can have more influence on the rest of the world by showing the rest of the world that we live by our ideals, than by using brute force to make points."

--Robert Reich,  American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator.

And the answer, I believe, a lot of us believe, is no, no we Americans have learned nothing. We haven't learned from Korea, we haven't learned from Vietnam, we haven't learned from even the still painful, actually not-ended 2nd Iraq War.

It was writer Gloria Emerson's take from the Vietnam War that a) we learned nothing from it, after the fact, and we nearly refuse to learn anything. If you haven't already, you might pick up her book:  Winners & Losers: Battles, Retreats, Gains, Losses, and Ruins from ...

It was poignant then and still resonates today.

Links:

Robert Reich

Robert Reich

Robert Reich | Facebook

Gloria Emerson

Gloria Emerson, Chronicler of War's Damage

Kim Jong-Un already rumored today to be dead

Sure, right now it's an unconfirmed rumor but this is HUGE. If true, and the military did kill him, the world is in for one heck of a wild ride, I'd guess. We'll see. Yikes. Hold your breath, folks. Here's hoping it's an absurd untruth. Link: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/10/kim-jong-un-assassination-rumours-flood-twitter-weibo/

3rd time: US Navy saves Iranians

True. Here it is: Iranian Fishermen Rescued By U.S. Navy, Again And these are the people that hate us. These are the people that want to go to war with us. And yes, I understand the flip side, too, just as I understand why the North Koreans are lined up against us the way they are. But if you're either starving--as so many North Koreans are and have been for years--or so desperately poor, as so many Iranians are, wouldn't it be nice if we could all see each other half way and just get along? And just cooperate? Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/18/us-navy-rescues-iranian-fishermen_n_1215097.html?1326949106&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

Sorry, but that picture cracks me up

I mean, no disrespect for the deceased intended and I know Kim Jong Il had that whole "cult of personality" going for him his entire reign but geez, come on. Get over it. He died. He was a monumental, murdering, selfish jerk, to boot. Let him die. Let him be gone. He's dead. Could you stop worshipping him now? Please? Are you not embarrassed? (Of course you're not). Don't you feel foolish? (Answer: no). Don't you even feel stupid? (Answer: Again, no, even though they should). Link: http://news.yahoo.com/funeral-north-korean-leader-amid-worry-future-000414786.html

The Kim Jong Il I'll always remember

From the creators of "South Park"--Matt Stone and Trey Parker, from their 2004 movie "Team America, World Police."

Hurricane and floods, of course: Next up? Wildfires on the West Coast

2011 will, I think, go down as the year of all years, in terms of weather, it seems. With Texas and Oklahoma, at least, broiling in the sun and high, high temperatures, and then all the flooding from the North central part of the country--Montana and the Dakotas--South, following the Missouri and then Mississippi Rivers. This weekend's Hurrican Irene didn't help things any and now wildfires have broken out on the West Coast in California, in and around Yosemite. I refuse to lay this at the feet of global warming or climate change, though that may well be what's contributing to it all. Instead, I merely watch the ice caps and glaciers melting and know those are surely far bigger examples of global warming's handiwork. Links: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/08/wildfire-outside-yosemite-forces-evacuations.html; http://www.google.com/#hl=en&cp=22&gs_id=1v&xhr=t&q=Yosemite+wildfires+news&pq=yosemite+wildfires&pf=p&sclient=psy&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=Yosemite+wildfires+new&aq=0w&aqi=q-w1&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=87cd2c56f2a7d925&biw=1424&bih=711

A case of not wanting to be correct

What'd I say?

A couple of days ago I wrote how it maybe didn't make sense to be doing "war games" right next to those literally poor, delusional psychos over in North Korea.

So what happens?

Today's news:

War rhetoric rises between North and South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea – One month after a deadly exchange of artillery fire, the two Koreas ramped up their rhetoric Thursday, with South Korea's president pledging unsparing retaliation if attacked again and a top North Korean official threatening a "sacred" nuclear war if provoked.

South Korean troops, tanks and fighter jets put on a thundering display of force as President Lee Myung-bak visited with soldiers at a base near the border, while North Korea's elite marked a key military anniversary by lashing out at the South for encouraging war.

For both countries, the rallying cries and military maneuvers mainly seemed designed to build support at home. But they raised fears anew of all-out war on a peninsula that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson called a "tinderbox" after returning from a visit to the North Koreancapital this week.

I hope we can scale back from this lunacy.

Enough saber-rattling, guys.

Men.  Men and their testosterone.

Let's hope it's a "merry little Christmas" and a very happy new year.

Link:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101223/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_clash

Does anyone else think this a fairly stupid idea?

South Korea to conduct firing drills from border island



With the tensions running so high in the Koreas, especially after North Korea attacked and bombed South Korea's island town not that many weeks ago, doesn't it seem that South Korea maybe ought not have firing drills right now?


Link:   http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/19/2530489/security-council-to-meet-as-skorea.html

Big "silver lining" to North Korea's attack

By now, you've heard or read or seen about North Korea having attacked a small island of South Korea yesterday.

And it's big news, for sure.

It's another one of those situations where you can't imagine what thought processes are going on over there in Kim Jong Il's North Korea.  There's just no telling.

Further, it seems as though it's just one bad situation, going worse now.  I see a quote out of South Korea where someone is quoted as saying they'll have to have a "massive retaliation".

Here's hoping someone can put a stop to that.  China, the US, Europe, Russia, somebody, anybody and everybody.

And here's where that "silver lining" comes in.

As crazy and unpredictable as North Korea, in general, is and Kim Jong Il, in specific, no country in the world really wants this conflict.  Sure, there are some arms manufacturers that might but they are in a tiny minority.

The first thing that happened when this by the North "bombarding the small island of Yeonpyeong, which houses South Korean military installations and a small civilian population."


Virtually as soon as this happened--the bombing--the financial markets 'round the world turned down.


What this translates to is that there will be tremendous pressure from the business and financial communities on their respective governments around the world, to stop this confrontation and any additional bombing.  


Sure, this won't necessarily guarantee that it will stop but it will certainly help.  


It's rare that all these nations all agree on something, all at the same time, with the same degree of urgency.  I think this is one of those cases.  Unless someone can show me differently, I think even China is against this blow-up because it's bad for business.  It's decidedly bad for business.


So for once the business community has it right and it should help all of us--the entire world--hopefully avoid a war, instead of calling for one.


Let's hope this is a foreshadowing of the future, where war is denied because it's "bad for business."

Link:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101123/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_clash

You gotta' be kidding me

Well, the US is going forward with our plans to hold "war games" with South Korea off the Korean peninsula, even though North Korea has threatened to literally go nuclear if we do and now this: Ex-CIA chief: Strike on Iran seems more likely now Sun Jul 25, 12:31 pm ET WASHINGTON – A former CIA director says military action against Iran now seems more likely because no matter what the U.S. does diplomatically, Tehran keeps pushing ahead with its suspected nuclear program. Michael Hayden, a CIA chief under President George W. Bush, says that during his tenure a strike was "way down the list" of options. But he tells CNN's "State of the Union" that such action now "seems inexorable." He predicts Iran will build its program to the point where it's just below having an actual weapon. Hayden says that would be as destabilizing to the region as the real thing. U.S. officials have said military action remains an option if sanctions fail to deter Iran Here's hoping we can all just "climb down".

North Korea going nuclear?

I wrote about this earlier this week and there's a bit more information so I want to follow up. It turns out that evidence is beginning to show that North Korea may well not have sunk the South Korean warship that we--the US--has been raising heck about internationally, with the North Koreans. South Koreans themselves are coming up with "dossiers of their own scientific studies" at least showing why it's doubtful the North Koreans sank this ship. Check this out: The critics, mostly but not all from the opposition, say it is unlikely that the impoverished North Korean regime could have pulled off a perfectly executed hit against a superior military power, sneaking a submarine into the area and slipping away without detection. They also wonder whether the evidence of a torpedo attack was misinterpreted, or even fabricated. "I couldn't find the slightest sign of an explosion," said Shin Sang-chul, a former shipbuilding executive-turned-investigative journalist. "The sailors drowned to death. Their bodies were clean. We didn't even find dead fish in the sea." Shin, who was appointed to the joint investigative panel by the opposition Democratic Party, inspected the damaged ship with other experts April 30. He was removed from the panel shortly afterward, he says, because he had voiced a contrary opinion: that the Cheonan hit ground in the shallow water off the Korean peninsula and then damaged its hull trying to get off a reef. It seems there is a politician, of all people, running for office in South Korea, who started this idea. Imagine that--a politician inciting the public with possibly untrue ideas and thoughts, in order to get elected. And this wouldn't matter a fig but for the US running with it and now preparing to have a huge naval exercise off the coast of North Korea which, in turn, is getting that same North Korea to propose that, if said exercise goes forward, as planned, that they may well "go nuclear" on somebody. In the meantime, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton keeps rattling her saber, so to speak, since we're so "in the right" on this whole thing. Could calmer heads please prevail? Link to original post: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/23/world/la-fg-korea-torpedo-20100724

Watch out for Kim Jong Il

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced further sanctions against North Korea, to punish them "to halt North Korea’s proliferation of weapons of mass destruction along with other 'illicit activities that helped fund their weapons programs.'” This on top of the fact that, next week, "The United States and South Korea announced Tuesday that the first in a series of large-scale naval exercises off Japan and the Korean Peninsula would begin next week, despite objections from China." Watch for it: Kim Jong Il is going to "go off" and start saber-rattling, at minimum. Let's hope that's as bad as it's going to get. Links to associated posts: http://www.truth-out.org/clinton-announces-north-korea-sanctions-as-part-a-diplomatic-dance-south-korea61582 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/world/asia/21military.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print And now, today, an update: NKorea warns US exercises threaten region By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press Writer Thu Jul 22, 7:56 am ET HANOI, Vietnam – North Korea warned the United States and South Korea on Thursday to call off military exercises scheduled for this weekend and to back off any new sanctions against the communist country or risk placing the entire region in danger. Link here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_asean

Think you can criticize this President?

Before you criticize this President, consider this list of the current priorities and then YOU come up with solutions of things to oversee:

•The Koreas could be edging to war. The South accuses the North of sinking one of its warships.

•Israel’s prime minister visits the White House on Tuesday as Obama presses peace talks with the Palestinians.

•The terror threat isn’t going away, as seen by the recent failed car bombing in New York City.

•A international standoff with Iran over its nuclear program is hardening.

•The economic recovery doesn’t feel like much of one to the millions who are jobless.

•A sweeping overhaul of financial regulation hangs in the balance. The White House hopes Congress can finish it by July.

•The president needs Republican support of two big initiatives, energy and immigration, but has little to show so far.

•Senators begin hearings in late June on his nominee for the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan.

•Fall elections are nearing, with Democrats facing losses and in need of campaign help from Obama.

And this is just the biggest of his priorities. There are far more, to be sure.

Link to original post: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/29/1979854/analysis-as-oil-spill-continues.html