The dollar is in the toilette, and the jobs have been sent to Singapore and Malaysia, where one needn't worry about environmental pollution or regulations about sweatshops. With more than 820 military installations in at least 135 countries, fighting two and a half wars in the Middle East, supporting another in Somalia, and planning for another against Venezuela, our War Dept. has a base budget of $533.8 billion, plus an additional $130.0 billion was requested for operations in the profitable, but fictitious, War on Terrorism. Altogether, the U.S. spends about $664 billion per year on its military, constituting approximately 40% of world military expenditures spent by 5% of the world's population. Outside of direct War Dept.'s spending, the United States spends another $185237 billion each year on other defense(?)-related programs.
Just think, if America only spent 25% of the world's military expenditures we could have healthcare for everyone, universal college education, clean water for the entire world, and I might be able to visit France again.
I'm 62 had war about all my life and my dad and his did too. Lost My dad dads to german strapenal. Get a respite and think perhaps there is a glimmer of humanity and CNN gets the que to start talking about destruction like it is a way of life . Perhaps it is. The locations may differ but we are always over there over there yes the yanks are coming etc.
A cure I like to believe is acting like Cost Rica but I'm screwed up.
bottle jack $20 purchased today. Could not find one anywhere so had to purchase. That about $200 to $300 US I think.
I think Obama has made some significant progress with your health reforms. Our health system is national & paid from taxes. It isn't perfect and has some problems but is something the nations values and wants to keep. We also put hundreds of millions a year in to making primary health care low cost. You guys are missing out.
That's what we Yanks hate about you Kiwi coming in here, and all you ever say is "how much?" The worlds not about money you know. At least a tiny part of it isn't.
Maybe, a perspective from 10530 kilometres away would improve it. We are still waiting to see the smoke and mirrors in this 2,300+ pages of legislation. The down side is that it is mandatory to buy health insurance from blood-sucking, private insurance companies, or financial penalties will be levied against those who don't comply. If we are all good little citizens, the insurance companies will make a killing. There seems to be some good things in the bill, like imposing anti-trust laws to suppress collusion in price fixing, not losing your insurance when you lose your job, not being denied coverage because you have a medical condition (in some cases that means having an uterus). I heard that we will have about the same health coverage as Germany and Japan, only it will cost twice as much.
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remember that this is brought to us by the same people who still allow the CIA to torture, continue Bush's militarism, and won't prosecute the last administration for breaking American laws and international treaties, promote nuclear energy (the kind that makes plutonium: boom), promotes the use of fossil fuel, does nothing about our farm subsidies that undercuts farmers in Mexico and Haiti (to name only a couple) and promotes junk food and obesity, and just renewed our damnable "Patriot Act" that spies on everyone (if your computer has a webcam, I suggest that you cover it when it's not in use).
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of Americans are in jail. Schools are losing funding (larger and fewer classes). Right-wing wackos closed down the national anti-poverty group, Acorn , and 180,000 Americans will die before the reform goes into effect.
Other than that, it's a little foggy here in the redwoods this morning, with partial sun this afternoon, and a high of 67°F (19°C).
I planted some La Ratte, French Fingerlings, and some German Butterball potatoes yesterday, as well as some schallots, and radishes. Discovered some tiny parsnips from last year while digging holes for the potatoes. Last year a raccoon wiped-out most of my carrots and (I thought) all of my parsnips. I replanted the ones that I dug up. Hope they take.
Snails almost completely striped my dwarf orange tree (They'll pay for that, grr). Chives are back up, and many herbs are showing signs of life (chives, echinacea, lemon balm, black cohosh, stinging nettle, burdoch, borage, fringe pink, elcampane, mother's wort, and calendula).
I've mostly been trying to avoid work by re-potting my seedling. Don't know how much more I can do though since I now have 6 trays of 6-packs and 4" pots, which means an 8 hr. rotation with two trays under the grow light at any given time. No wonder they are called nurseries. This is just like caring for a baby.
Are your UR figures effed with like those here? Given the wonders of modern and creative data collation and the fact that many are severely underemployed or have given up or are dropped from the benefit rolls, our rate is roughly half the actual unemployment rate.
Any happy talk about recovery is simply bullshit. Some americans have a little brass left in their pockets... not to worry, they will soon be relieved of the burden.
Charlie, noticing more backyard gardens being readied this year and thinkin' young cider might be a viable BM commodity
Yep. One of those time warp books. Took me days to recover from loss of sleep. Still haunts me. Waiting for DVD release, though i'm sure it can't match the mental carpet the book caused. Thought that about jackson's LOTR trilogy also before witnessing it. Fooled me
Unfortunately, those running the show don't think like you....or give a ratsrump....too bad for 99% of the world. Gimme screwed up anyday, by your definition.
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if you arent familiar with Joe Bageant, I highly recommend that old hippie...you likely might like...the guy did "stuff" with hunter and tim and the likes)
"Our attention spans are briefer than a rabbit f*ck. Anything in depth is anathema. Only slogans and brands survive. We do not understand much of anything in depth except the football rating system."
"But we do understand war, or believe we do, so "War on Drugs" works as a brand. It has been that way ever since the post World War II military industrialization of the country's economy and consciousness
-- which are pretty much the same to us. War, of one sort or another, is the solution to most of those things that we are told threaten America -- which is to say American capitalism -- either directly or indirectly. And according to the long running national storyline, they have always come from outside our borders -- Barbary pirates, white slavers, the "Cold War," against anti-capitalist communism, terrorism, Islam, drugs, job loss to Mexicans and to China, swine flu, bird flu. Never-never-never do they result from our own actions, misjudgments or, heaven help us, our own folly."
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