Amnesty

Dead Bill/Bill Dead…


Science tell us that with all of our technology, we could not build a pyramid that could match what the Egyptians built more than three thousand years ago.

We know that.

But what is hard to understand is why an America, the superpower of Nations cannot build a simple wall to protect its borders.

In point of fact no other country has such porous borders….

And if this goes unchecked, expect that Mexico and Central America will be empty in perhaps a decade or two and America will gain perhaps another 50 million in population.

Some argue that we are already at the breaking point; that we cannot afford another illegal jumping the border. Our hospitals and our services simply cannot keep up.
And the cost to the American taxpayer is staggering…

But that seems to have had little reaction on Washington despite Homeland Security’s promise to protect our borders.

What we are seeing in the Katrina Syndrome, a barometer of inefficiency and disinterest spread wide.

But maybe the wall is something to take seriously.

The message is clear: We cannot solidify the terms of the law until we can control our borders.

There are countless examples from history that suggests that the problem of illegal border crossing is solvable.

Examples of other countries putting up walls to protect their borders is legion dating back to the beginning of civilized society.

Under the Han’s dynasty, China began a wall that was to run for twenty five hundred miles for the purpose of keeping out the Mongol hordes—the largest man-made object in the world still visible from outer space.

Or, moving forward to Hadrian’s wall, a way to separate Roman territory from the Barbarians of the north….

There have been walls of all kinds—some well=intentioned and others with more sinister purpose. From the walls of Jericho to the Atlantic wall eventually to the Berlin wall, we as a people have become very familiar with walls….

But regardless of the motives behind them, the governments that said they were going to erect them have done so.

And that is with none of the tools we have today.

No computers. No contemporary metals. Or heavy transportation. No satellite GPS system. No esoteric blastic devices…

Still, they built them to stand.

Today, China is building a paved highway to the highest mountain in the world. This after building a train that crosses the high mountains of Tibet to Lhasa—a miraculous engineering feat thought impossible.

If a backward nation can do that, can we not build more than eleven miles of a border wall that we began six years ago?


And the blame must be laid at the feet of the administration that has persisted in a policy that is intentionally dubious, unclear, and unfair to most of the country. Again, we are badly served by policy that is for the few and against the many.

Makes you wonder where our government’s loyalties are.

Six years after 9/11, the promise of border protection has not been realized.

It is time to start asking the hard questions.


Les aaron

We Have Seen the Enemy....




If nothing else, I have always told the truth.

You may love me or hate me, but at least you can respect me.



And that’s why I am writing this.



It’s not that I’ve hesitated. You see evidence of it in most my writing. Suffice it to say, I am the cynic, the idealist who’s been burned.

But rather than pour out my vitriol on anything, I want to reserve it for something good, something worthy of my getting all worked up.



And I think saving our democracy is a suitably worthwhile cause no matter what anyone else thinks.



But what surprises me is that there are so few who think our outrage should be transformed into action even if it means saving the best form of government that ever was.



And this is a major source of disappointment to me.



After giving up count of all of the sleights made to the middle class in only the first year, and not hearing any firm response from the people, I thought this was strange but that it would happen. I mean after all, Americans are not stupid. They are not going to tolerate a government that lies to us, abuses us, takes us for granted and exists merely to make profits for its friends mainly through absurd treaties and agreements that could serve no other purpose or war.



Americans would not let that happen. They would not tolerate the loss of their freedoms, the arrogance of power, a unilateralist government that ignores the environment and does as it pleases—even to the extent of snooping on us!



But, sadly, no deux ex machine came out of the woodwork to take our part.




Congress was benign. The media was fat and happy and disinclined to tell it like it is.



And the rest of us were more concerned about our own bottom lines that we were the health of the American government.



And we were cowed by threats that responding back meant that we were less than patriots.



The truth dribbled out mainly through the Blogs and the few honest authors who were trammeled for their actions.



The sad news was that our Ombudsman didn’t exist



That our high standards of statesmanship were mainly a hollow façade.



That we didn’t even have a coterie of honest senior citizens willing to speak up and tell the truth.



It was politics uber alles and it was reminiscent of pre War Germany.



Communists became “terrorists.”



The existing government became unilateralist and thus tyrannical.



The media’s honesty was suspect.



And if you disagreed, you were a traitor.



9/11 became our Reichstag.



And all the rest was window dressing.



It was okay that our government was in collusion with its friends in defense and armaments.



It was okay that our president’s father and his consigliere sat on the board with the same people who funded the enemy…



It was okay that we started a war without proof…



It was okay that we took over the oil but we couldn’t get the water to run.



It was okay that we poured our collective wealth in order to try to turn a country that was against democracy into a democracy.



We were living in a “Through the looking glass environment,” until we looked at government from the perspective of taking care of your friends and personal gain.



We had a vice president who ran things from some labyrinth below ground.



It was okay that all of our jobs flowed elsewhere.



It was okay to endorse a North American partnership that is being put together behind closed doors and violates our own laws for the benefit of the few.



It is all okay because we refuse to stand up and do something about it.



We few Americans abrogated our relationship with England for far fewer reasons.



At that time, we found the men of courage and honor to do the deed.



Now, we are coming up dry.



And that is the most dire of findings and suggests that if we are unable to salvage all that is good about our world, we don’t deserve to exist.



What is especially troubling is that such a noble experiment could not survive The vermin in control today--and I know no better way to describe them....



And that more than anything leaves me saddened.



Yes, Bush, Cheney, you have burst my balloon but even beyond that, what is worse is that Americans seem incapable of deciding their own fate.



And that is even worse.



Les Aaron

The Dupes of Government



A Little More Time....

TheVirtually all of the generals whether they are rotating or retiring are saying that Iraq needs more time.

Therefore, since time seems to be the unsolvable problem, let’s take a look at the score card.

We have already spent five years “in country.”

What have we accomplished in that time?

In five years, we have lost 3561 of our best and brightest.

We have been told that there are 25,000 plus wounded, many with serious wounds….although our own personal estimates suggest maybe double or triple the government’s estimates.

Nor do we have any kind of inventory of how many of our returning troops are suffering from ‘invisible’ wounds, psychological damage that has not been diagnosed or treated. .

The president tell us like little children that we should be patient.

That we really must trust our military leaders.

Well, the people have been patient and we have trusted our leaders and what have we gotten for it.

Aside from the chaos that rules today, and the fact that we have been unable to restore the water, the electricity or even make the streets safe enough for children to return to school despite the expenditure of over 500 billion dollars—a half a trillion dollars—the results have been astoundingly bleak.

Therefore, it is only fair that we ask for an accounting.

Here’s our assessment: Every one of our leaders has poised the “trust me” approach and none of their “solutions” has worked.

The big question then becomes is patience or waiting the key?

It seems not.

One might rightly assume that if they have failed for five years, what is different about their approach now to lead us to believe that aside from its new name, it will be a success?

It comes down to this: Our patience is at an end.
When you are down 60 months plus without one month of good news, you have to ask yourself whether you are backing the wrong horse.

What we have been asked to do is the same as backing a gambler who tells you that he has a secret formulae for winning for sixty months and month after month he keeps losing. At some point, you have to say that this is insanity and one of you needs to have his head examined.
There is one exception here: The stakes are much higher.

We are told by spokespeople for the White House and the generals that Al Qaeda is the real enemy.

They also tell us that there were just a few thousand in Iraq.

If this were true, would it not be reasonable to assume that we could wipe out an enemy of several thousand terrorists if we so desired?

Don’t believe it.

Let’s flash to World War II.

In four years, we defeated the bulk of the German army and the Japanese army, armies of millions of men and we fought them all over the world—from Africa, to New Guinea to France and Scandinavia and brought them to their knees. At every step of the way, we saw tangible progress.

And we won! In four years!

Need we be reminded that we did that in 1945, without targetable missiles, without the Abrams tank technology, without F15’s, F16’s and F18’s, without Warthogs…. without Gatling guns that spew out 6,000 rounds of spent radioactive material, or weapons that can destroy an entire battalion of enemy tanks with one bomb covering a dozen football fields. We did this without computers, without satellites and without unmanned airplanes that can bomb someone from five thousand miles away….



The truth is that we have been lied to over and over again.

With all the power of the US Forces and the latest military weapons and an unlimited budget, we still cannot win out over a few thousand “terrorists?”

Let’s face the truth:

We are either the most inept force imaginable.

Or the truth is something we’ve been denied up til now….

What is the truth?

The truth is that Iraq is engaged in a Civil War.

The truth is that the government we support is not representative of the people.

The truth is that everyone who could has left the country.

The truth is that Iraq has been decimated by our purported efforts to bring democracy to Iraq.

The truth is that Iraq like Yugoslavia could only be held together by force.

When that force ended, it fell apart and we only happened to be there as
The unwitting buffer.

For what reason?

We know that Exxon and Mobil eye greedily the oil.

And if this whole thing is about anything else than oil and getting America to forget every other important issue, I shall eat my hat.

Meanwhile, we continue to play a game that we clearly cannot win…
And that is a sign of utter madness.

Les Aaron

Dumbed Down, You Tell Me...

Get this, in Missouri, there is a summer camp that is a little different than most summer camps you’ll ever come across. There’s no boats; no cars; no rides; no games. There are no weekends across the lake. No trips to the local city.

And while this might discourage most kids, the fact is that they are stacked up with applications of students eager to get in.

The reason: This is an explosives camp.

You go there and learn how to blow things up!

That’s right. I kid you not!

The owners of the camp say that the idea is to encourage bored teenagers to become
Explosive experts.

According to the owners, many explosive engineering experts will be retiring in the next few years and there are few replacements in training.

Underwritten by one of the leading colleges in explosives used for mining and related applications, they take youngsters out to learn how to blow up all kinds of things.

From what we could learn, the camp starts with watermelon and proceeds to chickens. They warn you not to keep your mouth open when they blow up the chickens because the innards seem to go everywhere.

The owner also went on to say that many of their best recruits come from the Middle East.
It seems that they are anxious to learn the most advanced techniques for “blowing things up.”

Apparently, none of this seems to raise any eyebrows from either the camp owners, Immigration or the Department of Homeland Protection.

It is a very strange world we inhabit.

In America, it seems anything goes!


Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon

A GOVERNMENT ABOVE THE PEOPLE

Remember that Partnership for Peace and Protection? It’s not gone away.
It’s just gone underground.

And it seems that the government’s strategy is simply to ignore the will of the people. push through its features one at a time.

If you don’t believe it, consider what’s happened with Mexican trucking…

As far as the Executive is concerned, Congress’ oversight or input is superfluous. Time and time again, this government has chosen to ignore Congress’s wishes but not until today has the Executive’s arrogance been quite so blatant, quite so in your face..

As it turns out, while Congress thought it had sidetracked the plans of the Executive to approve Mexican trucking on US highways, it has learned today that the president has simply ignored their wishes.

In fact, DOT is planning to move forward with plans to allow Mexican truckers on US highways after a twenty day period allowing feedback from the public. Our representatives really need to get on this and we have to let them know how we feel.

According to Congress, there were some twenty two conditions that had to be met before the official test of Mexican truckers on US highways.

Now, the head of DOT simply announces that Mexico has already satisfied this requirement and that there is no need to go through that process.

Meanwhile, DOT has not done anything to assure that all Mexican drivers are fully tested to drive on US highways or drug-tested to meet US Standards. There is not even an apparatus in Mexico for conducting legitimate drug tests….and that is only the tip of the iceberg.

But DOT’s irresponsibility doesn’t end there; they don’t even have a database of Mexican drivers.

This doesn’t seem to bother the totally arbitrary White House in its decision to plunge wildly and precipitously into a program that could have dangerous implications for American drivers on US highways, almost daring us to stop him from doing whatever he likes. But the historical perspective suggests that anyone who pretends to play the monarch role, should not lose their heads over their own excesses.

Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon

Warm Bodies Are Not the Answer

We Missed the Month of May!....



It’s hard to imagine why the Army missed its May enlistment goal.

The great military planners probably forgot that the word has gotten out that soldiers can go to Iraq or Afghanistan more than once in the course of an enlistment. And can even get shot up a bit guaranteeing that they will go through a system that pays very little attention to the needs of those in the system. And then when the benefits run out, you can always look forward to being pretty much on your own.

All things considered, it’s a lot of risk to consider for a single enlistment despite all the new incentives.

It’s surprising that the Armed Forces meet any goals at all. If nothing else, it is a testament to their recruiting and their promises, certainly not their candor.

I know they wouldn’t get this boy, again.

But despite the fact that the Armed Services are doing well getting recruits, despite the fact that they have beefed up their requirements, it doesn’t address some of the deeper problems that the military faces nor reveal the truths beneath the pure juggling of numbers..

For one, the new Army is heavily technology oriented which means that you don’t just become a tank operator or a logistics man. It takes time for training.

Moreover, you have to have the ability to measure up.

Does the military measure up?

Despite all the bonuses and other incentives that the Army has made available, many senior noncoms and officers are simply choosing not to “reenlist;” instead, they are dropping out. That means the military will have to find other ways to fill their rosters.

It’s not so much getting warm bodies, it’s a question of getting qualified candidates who can fill specific slots in the MOS system.

That isn’t happening.

According to past reports, the Army has lowered its standards to meet the quota even going as far as accepting high school drop-outs and those in trouble with the law; therefore, it has people in MOS’s who don’t belong there.

Sooner or later that tactic is going to have to catch up with a military that is living a lie.

Generals who know the score will confide that the military is going through a painful period with not enough trained warriors to carry the water for their branch of the service.

What this will mean longer term is problematical—especially in view of the fact that if this president has it his way, we might be in the Middle East for decades to come.

Either way, we as citizens of this great land are not being dealt with fairly or honestly and sooner or later the truth will emerge and at that point, there will be a lot of hair pulling but no easy solutions.

Les Aaron

"What's Left to Do?"

Jobs Available: Americans Need Not Apply!

Hey, if we’re too smart to do manufacturing, and we’re not smart enough to do the Information Age jobs, and we don’t want to pick crops, we certainly should be able to fill one of the highest positions in the Republican Party wouldn’t you think?

But Californans, at least of the Republican variety, think otherwise.

They have said repeatedly that they had to turn to Canada and Australia to find talent.

In fact, they were one of the first to fill out their H1B applications before all of the requests are filled. We don’t even get 100,000 of them and with all of the republican jobs open, we can expect that they will be all grabbed up.

But when all is said and done, what does that do to our collective egos?

I mean, my God, there is no one left in America who can fill this job?

If that’s the case, it’s time to get packed.

I mean what are all of the rest of us going to do….

But as of now the republican party is standing firm.

This was going on while Arnold was lecturing the rest of the Hispanic illegal and legal immigrants about the necessity of learning English.

Hey, I’ve been here all my life and I speak pretty understandable English, and hasn’t helped me qualify for an English language job lately.

But don’t feel bad. There is a new site now that you can go to and they will help you improve your English so that you will be more employable.

And people are flocking to it.

The only problem: It’s based in India and probably run by some guy named Patel.

I could almost agree with Lou, it’s getting really complicated out there.

And maybe somebody should do something to clear up the mess.

I mean I can understand why people want them to go back.

Especially bus owners. My God, it would take about around 150, 000 buses to do the job
And the oil usage would set off an inflationary binge.

But what the hey, so what nobody picks the crops in the field, it’s about time we got off toxic greens anyway.

This is beginning to sound like a Woody Alan movie.

Les Aaron.

The Committee of One Hundred

TURNING AROUND A SLEEPING GIANT

“What Can We Do?”


To the dems who tell me that they don’t know what to do with the current mess in Washington, be assured that there are always things we can do to make ourselves heard and to let our representatives and government know that we are unhappy with the status quo.
,
Here’s a simple suggestion: Start conversation groups.

You can begin inviting your friends, Independents, fence straddlers and start the conversations going by asking them to begin with listing their grievances.

When you ask them what exactly is it that turns you off about government?

What are the issues that concern you?

If that doesn’t open a flood gate of responses, I don’t know what will.

Oftentimes, in my discussions, I discovered that most people don’t correlate legislation that impacts our lives with government’s pursuit of its own agenda; nor do they understand how that legislation might impact life, the economy, the ecology, nature, the food supply, whatever.

People quite often don’t make the connection say between toxic pet food and the role of government. And, therefore, most of what we cando that is productive is to enlighten our friends and neighbors with the truth.

And discussing such things gets people to think about the connections between government and the quality of their lives.

Television has unfortunately blurred the benefits of conversation.

More importantly, it has relegated conversation to some lost art.

The mantra is why bother to discuss issues when you can sit back, be entertained and not even have to use your mind. What we are looking at is a comfortable device that could lead to the downfall of this nation…

What television does do is deaden and desensitize the response mechanism; it deactivates the brain making it a passive means of accepting information, not questioning it.
In the days prior to the assault on our senses by TV, people actually engaged in conversation and conversation was held as a way to learn and to stimulate thinking.

That is out of the loop today!

Conversely, many of these same people would not go through a day without exercising their body but neglect their minds.

It is a reflex many of us have to relearn in order to have an impact on what’s happening.

Without discussion, there can be no positive change.

My thesis is simple enough. We begin with a Committee of One Hundred.

One hundred people who will focus on getting out there and talking to people and reintroducing the idea of conversation about politics.

Sounds easy. Right?

But it isn’t.

But that isn’t all.

The other mission of the Committee of One Hundred is to find Two People who will also do the same thing so that in one year, we can expect that our Committee of One Hundred has now tripled in size, and the following year, we will double again.

In this way, we can become a potent force in progressive politics.


We at the grass-roots level have to bite the bullet; we have to become active either within or without the party to generate sparks to keep the democratic party alive.

In the weeks ahead, I will get more into what we can do to put us back on course, to return us to a positive and productive America for and of the people.

I shall discuss elements of this package which I call The Twenty Point Program for survival but it is much more than that, it is a model for positive change that can make America competitive in world affairs once again and serve to show as the beacon to those who cherish freedom and liberty.

It’s all there and we’ll start addressing the challenges we currently face in the days and weeks ahead.

Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon

The Downside of Technology, the Real Story...

First there was the computer which was hailed as a device designed to simplify work. In the beginning, the only applications on mainframes, however, were accounting applications. Eventually, software was written for a wide range of what were to become off the shelf applications. Then a couple of nerdy guys developed little black boxes that had the capability of making computers available to everyone followed by things like improved operating system, graphical interfaces and eventually killer aps.

The salesmen for such systems said that computers would lift all boats; that people would be “freed” to operate at their highest level of efficiency which sounds very nice.

This was followed by the operative word “downsizing” after a series of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures.

Then a book came out called the Greening of America that suggested that America was ready for the next revolution. We would jetision manufacturing and become an Information Age economy.

This somehow gave the green light to business and industry to shift their economy around, move off shore, avoid taxes and use new more efficient factors of production (cheaper labor)….

America would lead the way by exporting quality of life jobs.

Great idea! Or so it seemed.

The world’s media empire suggested that there was interchangeability of jobs. That service jobs were the same as manufacturing jobs.

This is one of the worst lies! (Even the New York Times was guilty of it.)

(They were not. Manufacturing jobs have a multiplier effect on the economy of about 6 to 1; service businesses do not; service jobs also tend to part=time, low paying and seasonal.)

We didn’t blink, however, when Japan, our former enemy, and China, our leading competitor, are making critical components for our weapon systems.

Nor did we blink when America’s last machine tool manufacturer closed shop so that now we can’t even start a new manufacturing business without going overseas.

But, hey, we all understood we were moving further up the ladder.

However, guess what? Employers discovered that cutting costs has the same effect as making sales. So, if you want to accomplish the same ends, cutting costs became the prevailing mantra of the day.

All of a sudden, those quality of life jobs, the Information Age jobs that were supposed to be our legacy were going elsewhere where the population was intelligent, could be trained and worked for about 40% of what Americans worked for.

Hmmm! It looked like this great bountiful future was changing as we watched.

Next thing, the technology jobs, software development, innovation, and related jobs calling for engineering, technical and scientific background were being filled by those with green cards.

Why? Because the employers claimed that they couldn’t find the talent among those in the American labor pool. Many Americans were training their successors who had little of the knowledge of their trainers but they worked for about 60-75% of their American counterparts.

At the same time, the government was pushing its NAFTA and Fast Track programs which accelerated the movement of jobs offshore.

We were told it was good for business and industry.

We were told that the arrangement with Canada and Mexico would bring more jobs to the US.

As it turned out, all it brought was a lot of illegal immigrants who took “those jobs that Americans didn’t want.”

What was left for the American worker after the immigrants took all of the bottom rung jobs, manufacturing jobs were exported and the quality of life Information Age jobs were going to India and China.

To add insult to injury, the leaders in these technology fields, our future remember, were being shifted to China and India and those jobs lost to Americans.

To add to this all, America because it no longer can compete with Wal-Mart, imports manufacturing goods and exports agricultural products and scrap—old black boxes, American TV’s, stereos and replaces them with new junk and toxic products.

Thus all of these machinations have transformed us into a Colony whose debt is owned by England, Saudi Arabia, Japan and China.

So if our leadership was intent on blowing us out of the water and marching us off into obsolescence, they have done a great job!!!

Nice kettle of fish!

All made possible by the computer and human greed..

Something to think about the next time government says, “Trust Me.”

Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon

Jeremy Bentham, Drop Dead. It's Now About Making the Rich Richer!

Those who thing Bush is stupid, just haven't caught on...





I think a lot of people get it wrong when they accuse Bush & Company of being stupid and wrong most of the time. That would be true if we were looking for outcomes that were beneficial to mankind. The Bentham philosophy of the 'greatest good for the greatest number." But it has nothing to do with that.

Good never enters into the equation. What it's really about is leverage, power and profits.



Their agenda is personal and it has to do with self-aggrandizement. . To keep their friends in armaments fat and happy with big contracts. To reward their friends in insurance and the black arts. To give back to the PMA who fills their coffers.while they rape the people.

To reward the media so that they will do their dirty work.



To have their own people in place in off-shore adventures that turn taxes into profits, not for us but for them.



Carlyle is not an aberration; it is one of the most successful companies on the planet. It is underwritten by the Saudis and everyone makes money off of inside information.



This is not stupid but it does not benefit you or me.



The Bushian agenda always lies beneath the surface and you have to think in terms of motives; but once you do, it becomes very clear that Bush & Company does not give one whit about what happens to democracy, the Constitution, New Orleans, the people. It only cares about it’s own agendas and self preservation.



If we think otherwise, we simply miss the point.







If you want to understand the Bushian view, you learn quickly that it has nothing to do with doing what's right for man and society and the planet; but, in reality, it is not even part of their thinking. The Bushian view is a selfish view of the world that has everything to do with taking care of Number 1 and doing the best one can to ignore the plight of the uneducated, the disadvantaged, the ill and the needy.



There is another aspect to their agenda that deals with the New World Order.

The New World Order is shaping up to be an economic vision that has it that a few people will control all assets and the world reinforced by sheer power. . That is their economic view and it seems to be playing out.



So what if people pay 5.00 a gallon; it only means more profits for them and their friends.



They also recognize the limitations of bringing them to justice and plays off the idea that a good offense is a good defense.



Meantime, they are racking it in hand over fist.

And the great minds and the great people stand silent.



It is okay that the Constitution has been back burnered.



It is okay that the law and democracy has been put on hold.



It’s okay that the Executive has gathered all the powers to do precisely as it pleases.



Based on what has happened, the fear mongering, the suspension of liberties and freedoms, the tendency to make laws in a vacuum, the power grabs, the willingness to make policy behind closed doors….the increasing control and manipulation of the media, the inchoate fear of terrorism that is propagated endlessly are all manifestations of tyranny, not democracy.



And it has happened in a bloodless take over.



Shame on us.



We the victims who go silently to the showers!...





Who is left to challenge them? Who is going to bring them to justice? They have such unbelievable chutzpah. That they are virtually daring us to take them on. In the meantime, like deadly parasites, they bleed our country dry at every turn and smirk at our inability to remove them from the plunder and lying game.



It is very clear that we lack the will and the means for their removal without turning government upside down and we don't seem willing to take on the task.



Surprisingly, there is less courage now in the halls of Congress, the media or anywhere to confront them and bring them down.



So, unlike in the Parliamentary system where this could never happen, we go on about our lives in quiet desparation.



It is so dehumanizing, discouraging and has had the direct effect of shedding all of my faith in American democracy.



You cannot help but read about our Founders and not feel heart broken.



Les Aaron

Poised at the Brink...

After my ranting about where the party fails in relating to the voters and expanding the tent to accommodate all of the newcomers and my claims about the disappointing statistics generated by the last presidential election and the very real possibility that we could be swearing in another republican come 2008, I heard relatively few comments which means one of three things: 1. Either the issue is unimportant to these mailing lists or 2. They feel that I am so off-base that they don't think it's even worth discussing or 3. That this is all too much trouble and most can't be bothered.

To me, all three reasons are troubling.

Democracy is either worth saving or its not.

That's the deciding factor.

Right now, the bullwarks of democracy are being removed and if not shored up, will morph, if it has not already done so, into something resembling a dictatorship or a monarchy.

Is this what we want?

Isn't something worth getting bloodied up a bit for?

If that's the case, why the Hell did so many of us go off to war?

Is it all a lie?

Aside from our valiant young troopers, does anyone think that democracy is worth standing up for? And if that means changing the way we do things, shouldn't that be entertained? Or does everyone believe that our leaders are doing the right thing?

Anybody who still believes that we are going into the election with a winning team, no matter who the favorite is, is blindsided in my opinion.

What i will admit to is the fact that I only know this from my experience in three or four states that I am familiar with, the media accounts, and back and forth among my colleagues in blue states.

And that I am extrapolating out in the inductive way going from specific cases to the general.

Nontheless, I was active enough in grass roots lists, groups, etc. to get a feeling for what my colleagues are and were thinking.

Right now, everything seems relatively quiet.

However, I am concerned that we as democrats have been lulled by the mid-terms.

That's why I wrote the book.

From what I get back, I know that the republicans are either reading it or have read it.

They don't like what i say calling me unfair.

But I reply "how can they have the chutzpah to call me unfair, when they have been playing dirty tricks for the last forty years!"

Look, Dick Armey, Graham, Lott, Gingrich and the rest weren't born in the asparagus patch. They took the lessons of Atwater and Segretti and ran with them doing as much damage to the democratic cause as they could.

Want proof of that? Ask Hillary or Bill for that matter.

How can they say that I'm unfair when they eat their own. Witness the way McCain was treated by his republican friend. Or what about the way Kerry was abused by the Swiftboaters.

If these people had any character, they would have squelched this propaganda immediately. But they didn't. And some think they underwrote it.

No, it's about time somebody pointed out what was going on.

And all of the issues of the day are fair game.

And if I'm going to be the bad guy, that's okay. I would rather be the bad guy than tolerate another four years of republican rule.

Want to get issues oriented?

There is no way that the republicans can justify the "off-shoring" of quality jobs to third world nations. For who's advantage. Meanwhile productivity soars and salaries stay the same.

Can we say that pharmaceutical prices are fair? Health care prices are fair? Can we assume that the Interior Department is fair in granting drilling rights to foreign companies to despoil our environment or indulge in clear cutting to leave our parks a mess for future generations.

This is fair?

Hey, if we just pushed through the OSHA requirements, I am convinced that at least fifty percent of the health problems would fade away in time. I do believe that most long term health problems that are not inherited are environmentally caused by polluted water and air from industrial waste and pollution.

If things were fair we would challenge PMA to justify its increases. We would force PMA to prove to us that it costs over one billion dollars to introduce a new product. This is all lies by the way since other audits of such costs have already found the flaws but we, who kiss up to republicans, will not push it.

That is just the tip of the iceberg and the reason we need to get together to talk.

We need forums, we need town halls, we need people discussing and debating subjects of interest to all Americans. And we'd better start now. The window is closing and before you know it, we will be through the Primaries.

Incidentally, nobody has told us where they stand and what they would do to solve the nation's problems.

We have to ask for that.

Les Aaron

Unyielding Objects vs. Inexorable Forces...

If the party won’t change, maybe we can work around it.

It’s no secret that there are still some 600,000 grass roots people out there hungering for participation. And those were only the Dean supporters. If you add in General Clark’s people and Dennis Kucinich’s supporters, we have a lot of people out there who are unhappy with the status quo.

The trouble is that the party of the “status quo” has not invited them into the tent.

And the party continues in its inexorable way to defy change, mirror the past, and perpetuate the lies and clichés that have defeated democrats in the past.

Need proof? Last election, we lost not only the South, but College graduates, but also the “rust belt” states (imagine?), the poorest states, the Hispanic vote, and virtually the entire south!.... Plus, we failed to get the single women to join with us to support Women’s Rights.

There is something deadly wrong here now.

And nobody’s questioning it.

Nobody is asking the hard questions.

Why did we lose precisely those people and groups that were always democratic?

Were the republicans more compassionate, more embracing? Did they have a better or sounder vision for the future.

Right now, our party leaders are sitting smugly as the dominant party with razor thin advantage and think that they are going to win in 08.

We’ve got news for you: If we don’t change, if we don’t adopt, the Republican party will take it away from us again…

And the key is what happens at the State level.

Right now, we’re not seeing the big ideas. We’re not seeing the “inexorable force…”

We’re seeing more of the same.

Go to a Democratic meeting. The speakers are talking about subjects that aren’t even germaine to where we are today. The attendees, mostly all over fifty, look like they are going to fall asleep.

Hey, if the party, itself, doesn’t realize it needs new blood, then there’s no hope for the Democrats. We need to see blacks, Hispanics, single women, college graduates and all of the rest who we’ve missed.

And that will only come once we’ve reinvigorated the Party—gotten rid of the dead wood and opened it up to the Independents, the Greens and the fence stragglers…

The Democrats have to recognize that they need to do their own housecleaning if they hope to be viable in the 2008 election.

Anything less, places the entire party in jeopardy.

And we’ll be looking at the Independents next time as the new democrats.

Les Aaron

Host a Party: For Residents of Washington, Maryland, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Long Island*

Host a book party.

(Residents outside of our marketing area will serve as our agents subject to the same benefits and discounts. Contact LAACO for details)

And your guests will benefit from a ten percent discount and your special project may also benefit from a ten percent rebate during this special offer before this book goes into broad distribution through the distributor and it's still under the author's control.

A Blueprint for Winning: Taking Back the White House--08.

______________________

This is book recommended for the grass-roots, for activists who want to see positive change, who are concerned about the present course the democrats have set.

Among democrats, there is a predisposition to assume success as a result of the last election...

That's wishful thinking!

What we are seeing is inertia at the state level and preservation of the status quo.

The fact is that the Republicans can be expected to launch a consolidated effort to win. They have the will. They have the resources. They have the money. And the organization.

The democrats on the other hand think that they are still in the 1990's.

There is no evidence of change.
And it shows.

Look at the record: We lost Hispanics, college graduates, the rust belt states, the South, the poorest states and we failed to get single women.

In short, we blew it!

What's more dispiriting is the fact that the State has failed to involve the 600,000 Dean grass roots people...

And the clubs increasingly look out of touch with political reality.

These are the facts.

A Blueprint for Winning tells how to win.

It is a take no prisoners approach that casts aside the pink lenses.

It describes the strategie, tactics, history, research, marketing, "framing," we need to use to win from the "top" down and the "bottom" up....

It's all there.

PLus, it features the most imaginative twenty point program for reasserting hegemony world-wide we've seen offered by anybody.

This book tells you what no one else will dare to say.
It names names and calls a spade a spade. And it provides the tools we need to win!.

Host a party. I will come with a supply of books and you will be the hero!

This Primary will be decided by February.

If Dems lose again, there's a very good chance that the party will disappear and be replaced. You can't lose six out of eight elections and be considered viable. The key is the 55% of voters who now consider themselves Independents.

Help democracy win!

To figure into the schedule or if you have questions, contact me at hubmaster@aol.com.

Resources will be used to fund a Committee for Positive Growth.

les aaron




The Committee for Positive Change is building a progressive website; more info to come.
check out our stories and articles and opinion pieces on the Flying Blue Blog www.lesaaron.blogspot.com
The Committee for Positive Change, proud sponsor of the Flying Blue Blog receives support from contributions and book sales.
BOOKS AVAILABLE THROUGH TCPC

These are

A Blueprint for Winning...a political tome designed to produce a win in 2008. A compendium of new ideas, strategies and tactics to further progressive ends and the Twenty Point Plan to rebuild America as a real economic juggernaut and a world-wide leader.


Final Warning: An environmental thriller documenting what you won't find in the newspapers...

Alfie and the Big Brooklyn Bagel Blow=out. What the pizza connection was to pizza, the bagel connection is pure fiction that will delight you with stories of Brooklyn in the good old days through the eyes of Freddy Black, private dective and former ad man.

A Failure of Will The ultimate conspiracy adventure that whisks you around the world and gets you to a point that you will never believe, the brainchild of a former general who has had twenty years to build up his hatred for everything the West has become.

All the Good Men What happens when oversight turns to collusion, a new agency spins out of control to reflect one demented man's view of the world. The adventure begins when six of the world's leading scientists are found missing. What is revealed is an adventure that will take you to the stars and beyond.

All available from LAACO
239 Lakeside Drive
Lewes, DE 19958

More information from hubmaster@aol.com

Also available in limited quantities is the Marketing Workbook, a primer on everything you need to know to do your own marketing. Offered with an Internet supplement. Now offered at 44.95 plus 5.50 handling and shipping. Workbook subscribers receive free supplement on the Internet.

THE COMMITTEE FOR POSITIVE CHANGE


The Committee for Positive Change is building a progressive website; more info to come.
check out our stories and articles and opinion pieces on the Flying Blue Blog www.lesaaron.blogspot.com
The Committee for Positive Change, proud sponsor of the Flying Blue Blog receives support from contributions and book sales.
BOOKS AVAILABLE THROUGH TCPC

These are

A Blueprint for Winning...a political tome designed to produce a win in 2008. A compendium of new ideas, strategies and tactics to further progressive ends and the Twenty Point Plan to rebuild America as a real economic juggernaut and a world-wide leader.


Final Warning: An environmental thriller documenting what you won't find in the newspapers...

Alfie and the Big Brooklyn Bagel Blow=out. What the pizza connection was to pizza, the bagel connection is pure fiction that will delight you with stories of Brooklyn in the good old days through the eyes of Freddy Black, private dective and former ad man.

A Failure of Will The ultimate conspiracy adventure that whisks you around the world and gets you to a point that you will never believe, the brainchild of a former general who has had twenty years to build up his hatred for everything the West has become.

All the Good Men What happens when oversight turns to collusion, a new agency spins out of control to reflect one demented man's view of the world. The adventure begins when six of the world's leading scientists are found missing. What is revealed is an adventure that will take you to the stars and beyond.

All available from LAACO
239 Lakeside Drive
Lewes, DE 19958

More information from hubmaster@aol.com

Also available in limited quantities is the Marketing Workbook, a primer on everything you need to know to do your own marketing. Offered with an Internet supplement. Now offered at 44.95 plus 5.50 handling and shipping. Workbook subscribers receive free supplement on the Internet.

THE COMMITTEE FOR POSITIVE CHANGE

Handwriting on the Wall!...

In order to win this election, we need to toss away the pink lenses…We have to dismiss most of what we hear and we have to be totally unsparing in our analysis.

Once we’ve been brutally honest with ourselves, we need to have the courage and audacity to construct a platform of our belief systems. We can’t depend on the transitory nature of polls; we can’t worry about not offending anyone; we can’t pander to the lowest common denominator and then hope to be respected for our candor and courage. It simply does not work that way….

Let’s not kid ourselves.

Since 2004, the Party per se has not transformed itself.

Mostly, the old guard stayed in place in many states.

And the grass roots failed to make the cut.

That is inimical to our plans to win back the White House…

Secondly, we have to ratchet up our communications to win back all of the voters we have lost. To set the record straight, the fact is that we lost college graduates, Hispanic voters. We lost the poorest States. We lost the rust belt states.
And we lost virtually the entire South.

We have to do three things. We need a better message. And we have to increase our “reach” and our “frequency.” Reach refers to the markets we want to define and target; frequency returns to the number of times an advertisement runs within a market area.
Why? Because frequency builds credibility and acceptance.

Based on the analysis of the last election, we failed to target those segments of the marketplace that we needed and, two, we failed in our message. Moreover, the feedback indicates that we did not have the right messenger.

What I propose is a home grown effort through meetings and Town Halls to change the status quo. If the Party won’t play ball, we play around them.

And then we take over the Party.

Tough talk! But it’s a hell of a lot better than doing nothing and going down in flames.

When you lose six out of eight elections in a row, you really have to wonder whether you are in sync with the people.

If you can’t bring them around to your way of thinking; then perhaps you have either crafted the wrong approach or it’s time for a major change.

Right now, the public sits in judgment of us. The Independents control 55% of the vote and we continue on our merry way as if this is 1992.

We need to get serious, folks, and right now, our Party is disconnected from us and the voters.

Les Aaron

The Real Issue of the Day...

Okay, let’s get down to the criticial issue of the day: Is Tony Soprano going to survive tonight.

Let’s face it. Most of the inner circle have been killed off. It’s only Tony and Pauly Walnuts who are left from the original crowd. That leaves some big gaps in management that need to be resolved. And put your self in Tony's shoes: Who can he trust anymore?

Clearly, the New York family is going all out to minimize the competition and the number of ways the spoils gets divided so they don't have to take off their shoes to figure it out....

Regardless what any of us thought when the Sopranos started, we now know it's not easy being a Mafia boss. Not only do you have to put up with a wife whose loyalty does not seem to extend beyond her weekly allowance, and a suicidal son who’s ambition is to run a pizza parlor, and a self-involved daughter who will go to school forever if you continue to provide tuition. Moreover, poor Tony has a sister who killed her last husband and is ready to remind you of your unholy background and a mother, now deceased, who not only promulgated a new low in compassion but also tried to kill you. All this, and you have to survive your business colleagues whose loyalty seems paper thin.

No wonder poor Tony passes out whenever he sees birds and feels that the only way to solace is at the psychiatrist who, incidentally, thinks now that Tony may have used her over the last six years….

If I were Tony, I would take the money and run. Maybe create your own non-witness protection program. Sure as hell I wouldn’t give it to anyone in my family who typically do nothing to deserve it. And I certainly wouldn’t give it to anyone in the family who are just seeking to reduce the number of families to four.

But the family has its own agenda. They think that Tony has gone too far; that he has failed to consider the economic needs of the family which knows no limits.

The big question: Will Tony get blown away tonight.

If he doesn’t, what does that say? It says that crime is good if you don’t have a grabbing family and a son who whines….

If he does, does the Sopranos just become a soap opera that ends predictably?

Even if Tony bites the big one tonight, the Sopranos was really never predictable. The things you expect to happen don’t; the things you do expect to happen never seem to come off.

For all intents and purposes, it was the one show on TV that always left you hanging.

I think the Show’s creator, David Chase, will leave us with an ending we never expected that will leave us craving for more from a series that has delivered all it will deliver for now and likely for the forseeable future. And that’s how it will be.

In the end, Tony will remain the inscrutible politician, the one smarter than all his crew but blessed with genes even he couldn't control. Just like politics.

Who ever said this was going to be easy.

Les Aaron

The Future Lies With the Whipping Boys of the Left

Will the Liberals/Progressives Emerge as the Saviors of the Democratic Party?

It is clear to me if progressive is a synonym for “weak,” as it is perceived now, we will continue to be the whipping boys of not only the right, but the mainline democrats, the ones who populate the clubs and represent the old guard.

Most of the rank and file who are active in the democratic clubs think that progressives and liberal types are radicalized and out of sync with true democratic values; but even more than that, irrelevant to what the democrats are all about.

The rank and file democrats do not want to be moved from what they consider to be their “centrist” position but the joke is on them, it is not we who are irrelevant but these vestiges of the old guard who see change as an abomination.

And the jokes on them.

Consider the ranks of the active democrats. See any new Hispanics? College graduates? Anybody under fifty years of age joining up?

These are the folks who the Republicans locked up in the last election.

Do we see the jobless, the single women, the Reagan democrats?

Not on your life.

And that means either we're not relating to them; or that they are disconnected from us.

And without them, we are not moving forward.

But, unfortunately, the joke is also on us.

If they don’t stand tall for positive change, by association we are all dead in the water.

What will become of progressive issues?

I’ve been listening to democrat speech making and none of the front runners with the exception of Dennis Kucinich takes up our case and who is considered the longest of long shots.

Nobody is talking about jobs. Nobody is talking about the new Alliance that will further rob us of jobs. No one is trying to take back FastTrack. In fact, the “majority” gave it back to Bush the other day. No one is questioning NAFTA. No one is questioning what is happening with this new three way alliance with Canada and Mexico that is being pushed through by the Republicans behind closed doors. We don’t hear much about energy policy. None of the candidates seem well informed on energy. We don’t hear anything about green cards. We don’t hear much about meaningless policies that are steered by the military industrial complex that works both sides of the aisle. We don’t hear about getting religion out of politics. We don’t hear much about bringing back the Constitution. Or the creation of new opportunities. Or cutting our investment in an antimissile shield that doesn’t work.

These are not only progressive concerns, these are the concerns of rational man.

I go to democratic meetings attended by the same fifty year plus people and never hear a thing about the real world except platitudes that I don’t want to be a party too.

Yes democrats are against war and we are for jobs and the environment.

Apparently, with the structure as is, the dialog ends there.

Where do basic philosophies morph into positive action? Where is the imagination, the brain power to effectuate positive change?

It's not even a matter of speculation, the democratic party is a network of cronies with no view as to the real world or the future.

Sorry, guys. That's the end score. I don't mean to be hard on the party, but if they aren't attuned to the needs of change, than we don't need them.

What we do need is a giant dose of tetesterone to move forward like an inexorable Blitzkrieg to reverse decision after decision made by a very focused Cheney Bush team over the last four years...

And, folks, sorry to say, it ain't happening.

Meanwhile, the Grass Roots hang out there waiting for Godot!

But there is not going to be any miracle that we don't create.

In my opinion, the only way this democratic party can survive, is to kick out the old guard and get some new people in there who don’t mind doing what their predecessors should have done—stand tall without the benefit of polls.

If this party loses this election, it will be their own fault.

And right now, that’s precisely where it’s headed.

If that should happen, you can kiss the democratic party and the two party system good-bye.

There will be another party to take its place.

And this party will want payback.

It’s time for the people to make their feelings known.

If the party fails to represent them, we either have to replace them or start a new party.

End of story.



Les Aaron

The Blue Blog Moves Up Again! Now, in the top 1/2 of 1% of all Blogs...
www.lesaaron.blogspot.com
The Committee for Positive Change

The Book That Republicans Don't Want You To Read: A BLUEPRINT FOR WINNING: TAKING BACK THE WHITE HOUSE 08. Democrats believe that they don't have to do anything to win! THey are wrong!. Studies and research show that Democrats are disorganized and disconnected; that the Republican base is strong and that if the Republicans can coalesce around a candidate, they may take the 08 election making it six out of the last eight elections. THat would be the end of the Democratic Party as we know it!... and the end of the Middle Class...





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"BACKWARDS BOUND!"

Backwards Bound!


Are you backward enough?

For most people, being asked that question might be considered an insult and result in an exchange of words or something worse.

But in India, being considered backwards may be a blessing of sorts.

There has been a recent outbreak in India by members of a group—considering itself a tribe—who wants to be considered more backwards than it is…

Why?

Because being considered more backwards by the government is oftentimes a step up to increasing benefits.

In fact, these people, the Gujjars—an amalgam of Muslims and Hindus who consider themselves pastoral people —are rioting to acquire the status of being more backwards than some other tribes. As of now, they are only considered an “Other Backward Class.”
And they think that they are qualified to be rated more backwards than that..

You can clearly never be backwards enough.

Apparently, their riots and repeated acts of “backwardness” have earned them a place at the table—the negotiating table that is—in New Delhi where there case is going to be addressed.

Some tribes have taken an interest in the case claiming that the Gujjars are not really all that backwards as they would like to be considered. And there is evidently a degree of competition among those who consider they deserve the title more than the Gujjars. . And so the debate is likely to go on.

One would expect that there is somewhere the lowest possible rung of backwardness and beyond that you cannot go but it is evident that the Gujjars are willing to push that boundary with their own commitment to backwardness. Kind of like a hi-tech in reverse.
In this day and age, the Gujjars may be onto something.

Everyone is anxious to see how far this will be played out in the Indian judicial system.

Les Aaron

Hawking the Grass Roots Before the Old Guard

Inertia Interuptus!


Surprise! Surprise!

I made my pitch today to the Eastern Democrats in our State. I had trepidations that they would all hate what I had to say and run me out on a broom.

These are conservative democrats, not the blood in the eyes liberal types.

I got to speak after the Party's choice for Lieutenant General who turned out to be a super guy that I know I am going to get along with.

But anyway, he was very smart, very smooth, a tough act to follow for someone like me who can get tongue tied easily. What I lack in professional speechifying I make up in high voltage enthusiasm...

Anyway, if they didn't love me, at least they tolerated me...

So we generated a lot of talk and a lot of questions which gave me an opportunity to get people to start thinking, and, hopefully, connecting.

I could give no more than an introduction to a wide range of subjects covered in my book but I was really surprised that people stayed with me and even the Lieutenant Governor candidate got into it and started asking questions. We switched cards and I think I may be working with him, hopefully, since he seems to know everyone....

At the end, we talked about what do we do next?

And I think I have an answer.

My idea is to turn every democrat who cares into a communications center by urging him and her to have a house party.

And the easiest way to do that is to ask your friends, including Independents to come together. Then ask them about what grieves them.

I am sure that 90% of the feedback we generate can be laid at the feet of this republican regime...

And that's what I aim to do.

I will also attend as many of these parties that I can and
I will have excerpts from my books as hand-outs!

Join the idea and help me to make this work.

We can't afford to lose another national election and survive as a serious party.

Let me know if this idea appeals to you and whether you will help on your own turf. Each of you become the springboard for an expansion of democratic thinking across the country. And my idea is to do this outside of the Party and let them come to us. Why do I say this? Because the dems are locked into a time/space continuum that does not deal with realities; that does not reach out to the people and is run by control freaks.

If we are going to do this, we can go further alone!

What do you say, troops?

Les Aaron
Hubmaster

The Blue Blog Moves Up Again! Now, in the top 1/2 of 1% of all Blogs...
www.lesaaron.blogspot.com
The Committee for Positive Change

The Book That Republicans Don't Want You To Read: A BLUEPRINT FOR WINNING: TAKING BACK THE WHITE HOUSE 08. Democrats believe that they don't have to do anything to win! THey are wrong!. Studies and research show that Democrats are disorganized and disconnected; that the Republican base is strong and that if the Republicans can coalesce around a candidate, they may take the 08 election making it six out of the last eight elections. THat would be the end of the Democratic Party as we know it!... and the end of the Middle Class...

The Committee for Positive Change is building a progressive website; more info to come.
check out our stories and articles and opinion pieces on the Flying Blue Blog www.lesaaron.blogspot.com
The Committee for Positive Change, proud sponsor of the Flying Blue Blog receives support from contributions and book sales.
BOOKS AVAILABLE THROUGH TCPC

These are

A Blueprint for Winning...a political tome designed to produce a win in 2008. A compendium of new ideas, strategies and tactics to further progressive ends and the Twenty Point Plan to rebuild America as a real economic juggernaut and a world-wide leader.


Final Warning: An environmental thriller documenting what you won't find in the newspapers...

Alfie and the Big Brooklyn Bagel Blow=out. What the pizza connection was to pizza, the bagel connection is pure fiction that will delight you with stories of Brooklyn in the good old days through the eyes of Freddy Black, private dective and former ad man.

A Failure of Will The ultimate conspiracy adventure that whisks you around the world and gets you to a point that you will never believe, the brainchild of a former general who has had twenty years to build up his hatred for everything the West has become.

All the Good Men What happens when oversight turns to collusion, a new agency spins out of control to reflect one demented man's view of the world. The adventure begins when six of the world's leading scientists are found missing. What is revealed is an adventure that will take you to the stars and beyond.

All available from LAACO
239 Lakeside Drive
Lewes, DE 19958

More information from hubmaster@aol.com









Les Aaron

Dealing With Weather issues by Ignoring Science

If the News is Bad, Ignore It…


Bush as president should know about what his scientists are doing. By the same token, if he did and cared, he would have done something to change the status quo.

And do it long before now.

But, of course, the only thing emanating from the White House are empty words that signify nothing…

Consider as president, Bush has access to some of the most powerful weather predicting tools. Consider the Weather Simulator, a giant array of literally hundreds of computers linked together in series constituting the most powerful computer system ever built capable of performing trillions of operations per second.

Scientists are using this kind of mega power to simulate future weather occurrences.

Amazingly, they have even been able to project with this poweful tool far into the future where they see two typhoons heading for the islands of Japan at the same time bringing death and despair much like a gypsy peers into a crystal ball—except this “crystal ball” is capable of performing amazing mathematical quantum leaps based on trend lines, real data and computer generated models.

Scientists have used the computer array to simulate a series of weather occurrences from drought to hurricanes, extended temperature rises and other potentially cataclysmic weather events based upon the hard data that already exists.

One of the first simulations conducted based on evidence of continued heating of the atmosphere demonstrates that the frequency of category five hurricanes will increase in not only frequency but severity—not good news for low-lying coastal areas.

In one simulation, they looked at New York in 2096 and predicted hurricanes reaching the City with thirty five foot tidal surges that is expected to flood the city, the subways, the tunnels leaving the city badly unprepared and virtually at a standstill not unlike what happened to New Orleans.

In simulations reflecting rising temperatures, the computer simulations demonstrated a whole range of interrelated and interdependent changes arising from temperature increases that may reach ten degrees Fahrenheit. Viewed as part of a system, the computers also show that the rising temperatures will also impact rain fall, producing related droughts that will have far reaching effects on crops and vegetation.

This kind of information should force our government to make the needs of the environment one of our highest priorities; but for the most part, the government takes quite the opposite position casting doubt on the work of the scientists and their findings connected with these and other weather related simulations and the resulting findings..

The ones who of course will ultimately pay the price are you and me.

But for the most part, the people who really care are already coping with more current issues like economic survival.

Ironic, considering that the WhiteHouse tells us that the economy is booming.
For whom?, one might ask….


Les Aaron

Hillary, please don't speak for me...

Dear Hillary:

I hate to tell you this when you speak for me or the great body of American voters, you should get it right. Sorry, Hillary, I don’t really believe that we are safer since 911 (if you read my book, you would know that and know why.)

In fact, I feel a lot less safe knowing that my future is in the hands of a bumbler and a fumbler who doesn’t tell the truth and hasn’t from day one. This man who hears God’s voice and talks compassion, has shown very little of it as Governor, Manager and now, president.

For the last time, the Iraqis were not involved in 9/11 so I don’t know how what’s transpired has made us one iota safer.

In fact, if anything, Al Qaeda has been able to stick its nose in Iraq whereas it never would have gotten close if Saddam was still around. So you forced an exchange, Mr. Thief Executive, between a tyrant and a terrorist.

Now, Al Qaeda is learning all of our weaknesses and using them against us to blow us up in Baghdad and throughout Iraq. The argument that if we don’t stop them “here” in Iraq, they will come to America is growing kind of tired—no matter how many times you or McCain repeat it.


Nothing could be further from the truth.

When you’re engaged in a civil war, you should know better than getting us in the middle of it. Nobody wins; especially us! All we’re doing is showing that we don’t hav e the smarts to get out while we can. And all we will have to show for stubbornness is more dead troops.

So, Hillary, how can you say we’re safer. Perhaps you talking in some metaphysical, abstract Zen way?

I don’t know.

I know our first responders still can’t communicate with each other.

I know the borders are not safer.

I know that the crisis areas in this country have not been made safer.

I know most of our National Guard is in Iraq so I don’t know how that makes us safer.

I know that the hospitals are still not equipped to handle a massive influx of disease. Does that make us safer? .

I know somebody could still knock out the big Exxon tanks and chemical plants in Elizabeth and kill hundreds of thousands of people in and around New York and nobody’s doing anything about it…That sure doesn’t feel safer to me.

I know that you can still drive across the Canadian border carrying a dangerous disease…

Or maybe a dirty bomb….


I know that the ports are not safer…

I know that we don’t inspect every shipping container; in fact, we don’t inspect most of the containers…

And when they push through the Mexican, Canadian Partnership, the trucks will be coming over in droves, who will inspect those… and will this new partnership that is Bush’s New World Order going to make us safer? I think not. (If this goes through without any more talk than I’ve seen, I am selling my US bonds!)

We have forty investigative agencies now under Homeland Security and that doesn’t make me feel safer…because they still can’t get their collective acts together and because they still don’t talk to each other.

But what really doesn’t make me feel safe at all is the fact that we have still not been honest about what really happened on 9/11. Why couldn’t NORAD get its planes over DC? Why the Saudis disappeared the next day? Why the president sat on his duff for nearly twenty minutes without doing a thing? Why was Rumsfeld out of touch when he was supposed to be protecting this country? Why we couldn’t we nail bin Laden when we knew where he was? Why we sent in only a Special Forces team instead of everything we had to do the job?

Don’t get me started here.

To feel safer, I would like to know why the Saudis underwrite the Carlyle Group which buys American defense contractors who magically wind up with big contracts before they sell them again. To feel safer, I would like to know that our country is in good hands and sound decisions are being made. Why do we need two hundred million dollar fighters when we don’t have a threat to our F18’s and 19’s. I would feel a lot safer knowing that in addition to our new bombs that can blow up a six football fields of tanks, we can also provide decent armor and transportation for our young troopers.

And I would feel a lot safer if I knew that Cheney’s old company was organized enough to know what it did with 9 BILLION dollars from American tax payers….

I’ve only scratched the surface here, Hillary, but if you want to speak for me, you should know how I really feel.

Most of all, the last person in the world you should give credit to is the man who has stolen our freedoms, isolated us in the world, ignored global warming and exported our jobs and attempted to kill off the middle class.

Either that, or next time, when you want to distort the truth, make sure that you tell everyone that you are speaking for yourself.

Sorry,….

I do think you’re a pretty damn good candidate though.
Maybe not my first choice, but I know you have the smarts; now if you only show your gumption…

Les Aaron

Better than a sleeping pill and even capable of producing a laugh or two...

THE REPUBLICAN DEBATE

I sat on my couch trying to stay awake long enough to last through the interminable republican debate. Talk about deadly and the bulls**t was up to elbows before I finally gave up. Admittedly, the republicans are in an impossible position. They made Odysseus position between a rock and a hard place look easy. The fact was that no matter how you slice it, the republicans are not ready to give up on Bush; but everybody wants to distance themselves from Iraq as quickly as possible—with the exception of McCain who is in his own celestial orbit.

When something new came up, it was generally at the expense of the Dems; and, in one or two cases, the Dems had the idea first. We’ll get into that as we kind of take the debate more or less metaphorically.

The only refreshing candidate was the congressman from Texas, Paul because he obviously never got his copy of the playbook. He did speak his mind, some of it I didn’t agree with, some of it I did—especially his idea about getting out of Iraq as soon as the general says the surge is not working. Tom Sacredo was also refreshing because he wasn’t kissing up and I respected him for that; in fact, for the most part, he was the contra posto to McCain, Giuliani and Romney, the hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil crowd.

Each was trying to outdo each other in being Mr. Clean, the conservatives candidate de jour but it didn’t work. Romney got it wrong when he wasn’t exaggerating or flip-flopping (he used to be for the military’s “don’t tell” policy; but now he’s all for it!) So’s all the rest! Why? Because it’s working???.

Recognize , too, that with republicans supporting the republican mantra, the serious candidates cannot veer too far from the president’s line and stay top tier. The result They have to play the game.

What I found interesting was that the second tier that seemed to speaking more candidly more openly, more honestly. .

Giuliani and Mitt seemed competiting for who would be the viewed as the biggest super Republican. Giuliani had already put on the gloves and was trying a few rounds on dare I say the word, liberal Hillary.

Mitt kept up his nice guy routine but came off opportunistic and sleazy to my mind. To In the course of his self-defense, he denied the flip flopping and seemed to get off telling the audience how good he was at doing the hard work of running a State.

To paraphrase what was a real slip for Mitt was when he was asked by Wolf Blitzer that if he knew then what he knew now, would his decision on Iraq be different. Mitt went of the deep end getting all of his facts wrong saying that if the Weapons Inspectors would have been allowed in, and if the UN was involved, it would have been a different outcome. But Mitt, that all happened and Bush did choose to go to War. Mitt earned an F on his preparedness on an issue that he should have had locked up! Go to the rear of the class. …

Huckabee seemed to redeem himself as an honest and decent soul with his heartfelt discussion of morality; at least, he sold me. And surprisingly among the candidates who moved up the ladder was other Thompson, who was surprisingly fresh and irrelevant and even voiced an idea or two that didn’t seem too bad..

The democratic debate was especially useful to Giuliani for finding targets. He seemed to focus on Hillary and Edwards for his claim that terrorism was a bumper sticker.
Giuliani likes to go in for the kill especially when the person he is attacking cannot defend their position. Taking credit for everything good that happened in New York was a little bit over the top but the crowd seems to like him even though he’s had more wives than most people can count and he does stand up for freedom of choice—despite hating abortion.


One of the candidates, the one from Virginia, who is eminently forgettable, claimed that he is putting up an Iraq bill that he is going to put forward that divides up Iraq into three sectors and divide the oil revenues; then he agreed condescendingly that it was bi-partisan. Excuse me, didn’t Joe Biden come up with that about two or three years ago if memory serves.

All it all, the show under the big tent it didn’t generate the sparks we expected and, mostly, it was easy to sleep through part of it without missing much.

The sad part was the top tier seemed less sincere, less on top of the real facts than the second tier who were more specialized in subject areas like immigration, English as the language of the country and the cost of \illegal immigration….while most of the top tier candidates weaved and bobbed about Iraq. Most of the discussion despite the candidate’s points of view were actually pretty much alike.

I liked the one question about what would you do with the former president Bush.
Tom Sacredo said it best. He had that Bush’s spokesperson called him and said that he should never enter the White House to see the president again after his take on illegal immigrants. . Sacredo said that he would extend the same courtesy to the ex-president if he were elected. I loved it.

So far, the republicans seem pleased if they can hold together in a patchwork quilt a party that really seems to stand for not much if you take away Iraq. The only real second issue is Immigration and that’s where the tongues get thick and the swords sharpened.



What was really kind of weird in a funny way was when the moderator brought up the comments of a New England bishop about Giuiani’s support of abortion, he referred to the former New York Mayor as Pontius Pilot. . As Giuliani was about to answer, lightening struck his speaker and nobody could hear his response… Giuliani said that after years of religious training that kind of thing had him shook up. To me, that was one of the bright points of the debate.


Les Aaron

What We Can Learn from the Brits!

As of late, I've beginning to think that the Parliamentary system seems to have some incalculable plusses that maybe democracy can tap into.

There are even some parallels that many of us may not be aware of.

For example, the head of State, the Queen, has almost a parallel in Congress where our representatives have had their power drawn down and now resemble mostly figure heads who have little authority or power to change anything, even to write the laws.

Today, the laws are written by the lobbyists andtheir staffs who outnumber our representatives by thousands...

If you read between the lines you will discover that virtually all the bills being passed benefit some special interests--not the public at large. And they are promulgated by the lobbyists working for those interests.

It is hard to countenance that the business interests to be served by the bill are also writing it but that's how it is in the Circus Maximus that passes for Congress today.

It seems that all a Congressperson can do today is raise money to run again, in short to perpetuate mediocrity. And if you think that lesson stops on the Republican side of the aisle, think again. It is endemic.
That's why NAFTA got through.

Read it and weep! Actually, few of the representatives did and were surprised to discover that it's ruling circumvent the American legal system.

Wait til we get to the new partnership between Canada, Mexico and the US that rules out government altogether.

It's happening behind closed doors; and its physical manifestation--a highway system running between Mexico and Canada--does not really disclose the elements of the New World Order where American jurisdiction and laws have no place.

What we can benefit from the Parliamentary system is the "no confidence" provisions where you can call for a new vote. This would spare us the death of a thousand cuts that we now endure because no one has the chutzpah to push the "I" word.

Keep this in mind, folks, as we elect those who are supposed to represent our best interests. Dennis said it best: We are going after the wrong thing:WE should be targeting the special interests that have kept our munitions and armaments systems humming while we don't have enough money to build a health care system.

If this isn't taken up, I will not be surprised.

It takes a lot to get American's intellectually involved in what's going on behind their backs and over their heads.

I also like the way the Prime Minister has to stand before his peers and plead his case. None of the peers would ever accept that claptrap dished up by our pseudo leader.

Could Bush withstand that withering fire.

I doubt it.


Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon

Stumbling and Bumbling In the Pursuit of bin Laden

Second Thoughts

Bin Laden’s escape from Bora Bora has been troubling.

To see if I’ve missed anything, I have been watching documentary after documentary about bin Laden, what is known about his days in Africa, his involvement in Pakistan with Mullah Omar, the arrangement of the murder of the leader of the Northern Alliance, America’s seemingly half-hearted approach to tracking him down and feeble attempts to capture him.

The conclusion is almost inescapable: We did everything within our power to avoid catching bin Laden.

A wrong conclusion from circumstantial evidence you say.

Okay, let’s check the facts.

When we knew bin Laden was in Afghanistan, we could have nailed him if we brought in enough troops and moved decisively.

Interviews with Special Forces who were there on the scene show that.

We didn’t do either.

We went after bin Laden with as small a force of special forces as possible.

Why?

Bin Laden had just viciously executed an attack on the WTC; that was the best we could do?.

We found out where bin Laden was but instead of bringing in our own troops, we tried to work a deal with the Northern Alliance. This took time and money and in many ways cost us our advantage. Again, Special Forces on the scene admit that before he went into hiding, we could have taken him out with the right application of force.

From the evidence, it is hard not to agree.

Finally, with our money and our air force, the Northern Alliance cooperated. However, when bin Laden fled to Bora Bora, we still did not bring in enough troops and enough force to execute the mission successfully.

Why?

It seemed that we were mainly going through the motions to satisfy the American people with little intention of really catching bin Laden.

Instead of using our own forces, we made a deal with the local tribal leaders, mainly Pashtoon, to track down bin Laden. But Mullah Omar was Pashtoon and bin Laden was under his protection and among Pashtoons, you treat your friends like family and extend to them your protection. The Special Forces knew that; yet they still went ahead as if they knew that this tactic was bound to fail.

When you consider how badly we fumbled the ball, one wonders what our true intentions were? Were we that inefficient, that stupid that we would turn to the Pashtoons for help when we knew they would support bin Laden..

If we let bin Laden go, one might hypothesize that the terrorism threat to the US would be mainly over. No other Foreign leader had the temerity or the capacity to bring terror to the US. Was there any advantage to eliminating the threat that transformed your government into a dictatorship that suspended individual rights and gave you unilateralist freedom to do precisely as you liked with the full support of the American people?

Or could there be an even darker motive?

Might it be that we didn’t want bin Laden captured and interrogated?

If you look at all the question marks that abound around 9/11 and then look at how badly we actually pursued bin Laden—and these questions are documented by CIA operatives who pursued bin Laden—we begin to ask ourselves why we are guilty of either the worst and most brainless screw-ups in the Western World, or our actions were motivated by intent.

We don’t know all the answers yet, but the questions keep piling up.
For example, if we caught bin Laden, could we still conduct a war on terrorism?

Questions heaped on top of questions cause us to ask how many of these can be real coincidences….and the depth of suspicion only rises.

Clearly, survival for us hinges on whether we shall ever get to the bottom of all these unanswered questions and to ask ourselves early on whether we are all too willing to set aside what we know and what we think.

Les Aaron


The Blue Blog Moves Up Again! Now, in the top 1/2 of 1% of all Blogs...
www.lesaaron.blogspot.com
The Committee for Positive Change

The Book That Republicans Don't Want You To Read: A BLUEPRINT FOR WINNING: TAKING BACK THE WHITE HOUSE 08. Democrats believe that they don't have to do anything to win! THey are wrong!. Studies and research show that Democrats are disorganized and disconnected; that the Republican base is strong and that if the Republicans can coalesce around a candidate, they may take the 08 election making it six out of the last eight elections. THat would be the end of the Democratic Party as we know it!... and the end of the Middle Class...





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See what's free at AOL.com.

On Walls...

Figure it out…

…Try as we may, it seems that the biggest superpower in the world can build walls in foreign places that are bloodied by bombs going off and Civil Wars exploding on all sides but we can’t seem to get it together enough to build a wall in our own backyard to keep out drugs and illegal immigrants. Seems like a no brainer! So, why the problem?

Well, if you listen to the pundits on both sides, there seems to be all kinds of problems.

Of course, if we build the wall, who will pick our crops, watch our kids, wash the dishes, mow the lawns, put up the frames, pluck the chickens, process the meat and do all of the other distasteful jobs for an unsatisfactory wage?

Then there are other issues.

What kind of wall shall we build? Apparently, there are all types.
How tall should it be? How thick? What should it be constructed of?....you see, it’s already getting mind-boggling and we haven’t even started.

Off course, not everyone knows how to build a wall.

The only one’s immediately available are the ones we don’t want to let in.

What we may have to do is resort t trickery. If we decide to go forward, we’ll have to import Mexicans to build the wall and then on some pretense tell them to go around and check the front and then lock the door.

Admittedly, that would be pretty sneaky but sometimes you do what you have to do.
At this point, considering Americans inability to do most things, we could not probably get beyond drawing a picture of a wall, making appropriate music for a wall, and doing other things wall related—except that is building a wall.

Wall building, itself, is really a craft practiced in the ancient world.
And mostly it was conceived of to kill two birds with one stone. i.e. keep the bad guys out and keep your army out of trouble. You see, soldiers when they aren’t working, they have a tendency to get drunk. Clever those Romans.

We don’t really have enough troops on the border to build a wall even if they knew how. And if they did, the Unions I’m sure wouldn’t allow it. So before we started building, we would be on strike.

It’s not like we haven’t tried.

But you know, that big bad budget wolf keeps threatening to blow it all down. So, without much help, we’ve only been able to build 200 miles out of what was supposed to be a wall 700 miles long.

In the meantime, the Mexicans keep pouring over the border adding to our 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants. This has caused a good deal of embarrassment to a government that has built a house of cards that apparently doles out security very selectively if the truth be known.

The trick is for the terrorists to understand the rules.

But it doesn’t seem to work like that. The bad guys won’t cooperate.

Of course, there is no big rush to arrest these guys even if we could find them. And then what we would do with them?

If we wanted to ship them out, we would need more than 200,000 buses.

And what about food?

. Can you imagine going to MacDonalds and asking for maybe 5 million chicken sandwiches and 8 million hamburgers with another 4 million cheeseburgers.
And how would we deliver nearly fifteen million cokes?

You see, the logistics are horrific.

And what about the garbage. We’d have to get the Mexicans off the bus to move their waste to land fills before we could go forward with our plan

And can you imagine what it would do to our gas prices to have another 200,000 buses filling up at gas stations all over the country, or the monumental traffic jobs. Not a pretty picture.

We have a tentative solution…at least for the Walls part of the bill.

But we’re going to have to go back into history to use it.

Remember Hadrian’s wall?. This wall which was hundreds of miles long was very sophisticated for its day. It had brickwork on both sides and the insides were filled in with rocks and scrap but it has stood up sixteen hundred years…and that seems to meet the specs.

Who do we get to build it?

The Romans, of course. These guys are the best builders of walls and roads in the world.
And they don’t need anything but a piece of string and a pencil. Also, they use what’s around. Remember, these are the guys who invented concrete. Who built roads all over Asia and Europe so the Legions could stand tall and wave their standards.

Of course, all we need is the Wall.

The trouble is to do that we will have to use diplomacy.

And we have the Catch 22 of diplomacy in the US today.

The rule goes like this If we need to talk to them, we don’t; And if we don’t need to talk to them, it’s okay to talk to them.

So you see, it will take some time to navigate this mess so that we can build our wall to keep out the Mexicans who pick our crops and do all the nasty work we don’t want to do.

If you’re having a little trouble following this, don’t feel alone.

It’s called American policy.

And it’s guaranteed to break down each and every time….


Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon