Footnotes 'n' Follies From Near and Far

Isn't it funny that, right in the middle of an adversarial action on the part of the NLRB having to do with where it's allowed to build airplanes, the FBI and DEA stage a drug bust on a Boeing plant outside of Philadelphia? Well, we know the government would never stoop so low as to intimidate anyone in this fashion. Right? Right?

A local columnist refers to the presidency as “the hardest job on Earth”. Frankly, I don't see what's so hard about it – you just follow orders, like an Army private. The decisions are all made somewhere else. Hasn't it become pretty obvious that this is way things are – especially when it comes to foreign policy and economic “programs”?

A local woman wound up with two counterfeit $10 bills when she consented to trade a $20 bill for the two tens. Now... who goes around asking other people to “unbreak” $10 bills? (And a better question is, how can they tell what sort of person would fall for it?)

“Pope frustrates listeners with conservative message.” This was in Germany. Well... I guess one way to not be “frustrated” by the Pope would be to not attend gatherings where he's speaking. But I guess that would be asking too much of people who have nothing better to do than gripe about the “outdated” Catholic Church. (If it's so outdated, then just leave! Go join the Episcopalians; they're never outdated. In fact, they're at the vanguard of nearly everything.)

Researchers in Europe claim they've detected a particle that travels faster than light. It's temporary, catchy acronym is ARSHASHDeGloWDED; that stands for Accusations of Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Anti-Semitism, Holocaust Denial, Global Warming Denial, and Evolution Denial. (And what's so new about that? These particles have been zipping around the U.S. and Europe at greater than the speed of light for decades!)

Now it turns out that the (former) director of Al-Jazeera was in the back pocket of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency – or so it appears. Which, once again, brings up the question, are we all living in the Matrix? I mean, if Al-Jazeera is a DIA, or CIA, front, then what isn't? Maybe Al Qaeda is too (we know that the Taliban were – originally at least). Maybe we're just fighting ourselves in Iraq and Afghanistan... or maybe those places are fictitious, and the wars are actually being fought somewhere in the Nevada desert, the way the Moon landing was filmed on some sound stage in Los Angeles. (Time to feel around the back of your neck for that shiny metal plate.)

And speaking of wars in the Middle East, which side are we on in Yemen? I keep reading about events over there but no one ever mentions who we're supporting, or why... and yet we are involved. Weird...

Oh, and in case you were skeptical when I claimed that we're really fighting a war on Islam, please note that the FBI has been “orienting” its employees and other law enforcement personnel on the dangers of Islam – not on militant or radical Islam, but simply on the danger presented by devout Moslems. And, of course, now that this has come out all the usual excuses are being made, blah blah blah. But what I suspect is that if you get any U.S. law enforcement organization, or military organization, behind closed doors you'll find that the story line is that Islam is bad, period – and that it's Islam that we're waging war on. Just a hunch... but it makes sense. After all, there were no “good” Germans or Japanese during World War II, and no “good” Russians during the Cold War. When you're waging war on someone, you have to, for the sake of “morale” and to erase any doubts or confusion from the minds of the simple, identify the entire nation, culture, race, religion, whatever, as evil and bad. There is plenty of time for fine distinctions and nuance later on, one we've pounded them all into fine powder.

We used to laugh about how corrupt other nations are... but lately I've noticed that people elsewhere are getting locked up, and even executed, for doing things that, at the most, cost an hour or two before a Congressional committee here. Even in places that share, with us, a belief in state socialism, it seems that higher standards of conduct are expected. I'm willing to count this as still another measure of our ongoing decline; we can't even do socialism right!

According to a recent report, “Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi... said he was a 'generous, diamond-like' person who had not made any mistakes in his political career.” And, further, that “I have a high regard for myself and I have nothing to reprimand myself for when I look at myself in the mirror”. Hmmm... and here I thought Bill Clinton was unique.

In the latest round of schizoid behavior regarding Israeli spying, a NASA scientist pleaded guilty “for trying to sell classified information to a person who (he) thought was an Israeli intelligence officer”. That's right, “thought”. It was a sting operation, mounted by the FBI! So... now the FBI is pretending to be Israel in order to catch people for espionage, when everyone knows that Israel has unlimited access to our technology (not to mention our politicians, our military, and our national wealth). The article also mentions that he participated in a project that found ice on the south pole of the Moon – bet he wishes he was there instead of in the loony-tunes world of American intelligence ambivalence about Israel.

Anyone who claims that the U.N. is soft on bad behavior ought to consider this. At Al Fateh University in Libya, during Gadhafi's reign, the “Revolutionary Committee spied on students and protesters”, even hanging a number of them right on campus between 1977 and 1988. This assault on academic freedom only ended “when a U.N. agency threatened to decertify the university.” Hear that? “Threatened to decertify”! Wow. Those U.N. guys are not to be trifled with, that's for sure. (Wonder what it would take to get them to decertify American public schools?)

Hugo Chavez must know something. He's calling back $11 billion in gold reserves from American and European banks. “He says the recall of the gold reserves is intended to help protect (Venezuela) from the economic woes in the United States and Europe.” Well, fair enough... but gold is still gold, no matter where it's being stored. So why does he feel it will be more secure in Venezuela than in the U.S. and Europe? (And for that matter, why did he stash it overseas in the first place? Better interest rates?) OK, given that Chavez might be a bit on the paranoid side... still, it's intriguing that he thinks there's some risk involved in keeping his gold in the U.S. and Europe. And I don't think it's the kind of risk that places like Iran run, when if we don't like something they're doing we “freeze” their accounts. I think it's more like, he doesn't want his gold to remain in the greasy, corrupt hands of American and European bankers any more. 'Cause, gosh, if things got tough, who knows what they might do with it? They might decide they need it more than he does. After all, haven't they been treating the American taxpayers the same way for years now?

How come the MSM seem to consider Obama a shoo-in for reelection, and yet spend all of their time engaging in character assassination against all of his potential opponents? All but one, that is – who seems to be getting pretty much of a pass from the media... and that's Mitt Romney. The media, for example, never breathe a word about his Mormonism – which is kind of remarkable since it was considered a big deal when his father ran for the nomination way back when. So yes, it appears that the media have picked their Republican candidate – i.e., the one that would upset them the least in the wildly unlikely event he unseats Obama. Hey, if Wall Street campaign donors can hedge their bets, why can't the media? It's only fair. The main point is that the media don't have to come out in favor of Romney; all they have to do is render all of the other contenders unelectable – and, as can be plainly seen, that process is well underway, and contenders are biting the dust faster than characters in a Sam Peckinpah movie.

And speaking of the MSM... every time another scientist wanders off the global warming reservation, he's immediately declared a non-person and consigned to the outer darkness. Problem is, that outer darkness is starting to get kind of crowded... and the global warming buffs aren't helping their cause any by hopping into bed with politicians and squealing like stuck pigs every time their sacred model of climatic reality is questioned. And have you noticed, no one ever converts “back” to global warming orthodoxy; once people become skeptics they tend to stay that way. Doesn't that tell you something? My feeling is, if you don't want to be accused of being dogmatic, quit acting dogmatic. Authoritarianism has been shown, over many centuries, to be a particularly flawed mind set in the world of science... and yet it is nonetheless engaged in, with each new generation, and most often in the pursuit of non-scientific goals – like big government and collectivism.

And speaking of orthodoxies – who else is getting mightily weary of the almost-monthly revelations from the “scientific community” as to the descent of man from other life forms? The more models that come along – each supported by “solid evidence” -- the more skeptical I get. Because these models are, typically, not compatible – it has to be either one way or the other, or “none of the above”. And yet they keep getting trotted out, based on evidence that wouldn't be enough to get someone a ticket for jaywalking... but upon which we're supposed to base our entire conception of the human race – its origins, its significance (typically “none”), and its destiny... not to mention the total irrelevance of religion and “superstition”. Sometimes I wonder – who is more “superstitious”, the man of faith or the man who creates a world out of a tiny piece of bone, and demands that we believe in that world, and be satisfied with it, and teach it to our children to the exclusion of all other ideas?