Fussy Eater

My older brother was like this--always hated the crusts!

Which Way To The Bank?

Oops! Guess President Obama made a wrong turn on his way to the bank! He should have Googled the directions or used GPS to locate it. Is this bank he was taking it to one of the ones that got billions of taxpayer dollars so they could give their top executives nice fat bonuses?

But don't worry--this war escalation will only cost another $30 billion or so--a drop in the bucket! It can be paid for by that income tax surcharge named the "Share The Sacrifice Act" that several top members of Congress (Mr. OBEY, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FARR, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California) proposed recently. The full text of this war tax is available here at the Library of Congress site.

H. R. 4130

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish a temporary surtax to offset the costs of the Afghanistan war.

Afghanistan is known as the "Graveyard of Empires", because previous attempts, (from Alexander the Great in the year 372 to the Soviet invasion in the 1980's) at conquering this country have failed. An excellent article on Afghanistan's history, written by the former CIA station chief in Pakistan from 1986 to 1989, Milton Bearden, is available here. A recent book on this subject, In The Graveyard Of Empires, written by Seth G. Jones, a RAND Corporation political scientist, is for sale on Amazon.com. I haven't read it yet, but just ordered a copy to be sent to my Kindle eBook reader. It looks to be an interesting and informative book.

Let's just hope the American empire isn't the next one to be brought to its knees, with all our military adventures and economic calamities.

Kanye,Beyonce,& Taylor: Who Cares?

I normally don't really care for all the celebrity gossip and news that appears on TV and the internet, but all this commotion over the VMA awards incident seems pretty overblown to me.

I think the whole incident was planned and staged, just to generate controversy and get people talking about the VMA awards show. Seems like every year at these awards, something like this happens. Anyone remember the Howard Stern incident, when he appeared as Fartman, with his ugly bare butt showing? MTV then pretends it was "surprised" that something like this happened. Howard himself said MTV executives knew what was planned.

People who don't normally even watch the VMA's heard about this and the artists involved, getting publicity for all of them. And people who like Kanye will continue to buy his music anyway, while Taylor Swift and Beyonce come off looking like innocent victims. The music companies behind each artist gets millions of dollars worth of free publicity on all the news and talk shows for days. Sounds like a win for all involved. This is about as "real" as all the so-called "reality" shows. Which is to say, not at all real--just TV!

Personally, I have never bought music from any of these three performers and don't plan on doing so in the future. I would like to see the sales figures for Kanye, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift for the next week or two, because I believe the controversy will probably increase their sales for all of them.

Change?

The names change, the party in power changes, the terms used to describe their actions change, but, in truth, nothing really changes. It's all just a cleverly disguised game to give the illusion of change, to convince people that things are different now. Now that a new President, a new Congress, and a new administration are running things. But look beneath the surface, peek behind the veil, and you'll see the same people, doing the same things, fighting the same wars, involved in the same corruptions, telling the same lies, over and over again.

When will we see real change?

When people wake up, turn off the TV set, put down the videogame controller, set aside the celebrity gossip magazine, and open their eyes to the truth. As Thomas Jefferson said, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance". And it's not about liberal/conservative, Democrat/Republican, or any of the other false divisions that are used to keep people arguing amongst themselves while the so-called "leaders" carry on, giving themselves more power, amassing more wealth, and ignoring the laws they expect everyone else to obey.

We need to obey the Supreme law of the land--the Constitution of the United States, which was designed to limit the power of the government, and restrict those holding elected office from taking power from "the people". The people being the citizens, who hold the true power in this country, even though they may not realize it. Governments fear most of all an informed, active citizenry, who will stand up and question the authority that those elected officials claim they hold. Read the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the many other writings of the Founding Fathers of this country, and you will soon realize that the massive, intrusive government we now have is not at all the type of government that was intended for the United States of America.

Too Hot To Blog, But Here's A Comic!

This comic explains why I don't go to see a Doctor....'cause I'd probably hear the same words!





By Jim Unger
Now I'm going outside to enjoy the rest of Summer.

Testing BlogPress App

Just testing BlogPress app on my iPod Touch to see if it works. It got mixed reviews in the iTunes store, but only cost .99, so I thought I'd give it a try. So far it is working OK-will now see if this posts to the blog correctly. It allows you to add pictures as well-here's one from my iPod.




-- Post From My iPod Touch

Heal The World (R.I.P. Michael Jackson)

What a week this has been! First, Ed McMahon, then Farrah Fawcett, and now Michael Jackson.
Most shocking to me was to hear of Michael's death earlier today, as it was the most unexpected. After all, Ed McMahon was 86 years old, Farrah Fawcett had been battling cancer for some time, but Michael Jackson was planning to hold a series of concerts in London in July. There was even talk of a possible "Jackson 5" reunion tour.
Generally, I don't listen to a lot of music, and don't keep up with all the latest artists, but I have always been a fan of Michael Jackson's songs, and his dancing was amazing. Being neither a singer nor a dancer, my opinion may not count for much, but I doubt there will be another talent like him for a very long time.
I chose the following video as a tribute to Michael Jackson, as well as a call out to all people of the world, to work towards peace and freedom for all the people of Earth. In particular, I am thinking of the brave protesters in Iran who have been risking their lives to achieve a greater degree of freedom. My previous post here (below this one) is an account by an Iranian Twitter user, who has not been heard from in more than 24 hours, and the last few "tweets" seemed to indicate some possible trouble. I hope this is not the case.

Michael Jackson may be gone now, but the spirit of his music can live on and inspire everyone to try to "Heal The World"!

Diary Of An Iranian Student

The following is an account of the day's events in Tehran, Iran as told by a University student, relayed via Twitter. No changes have been made in spelling or grammar. The term IRG means "Iranian Revolutionary Guard", and the Basiji are a militia group acting in support of the government.

I, like many others, have been following the accounts offered by these courageous people who are risking their very lives in pursuit of greater freedom for themselves and their fellow citizens.
Each line was a separate "Tweet", but taken together, provides an emotionally moving tale of those who are fighting against an oppressive regime.


it was a nightmare, I can barely breath & my face is burning, Masood got shot in the arm & Shayan's brother is missing

I don't know where to start with, first they attack our peacful memorial gathering in front of the university with water gun

the university's doors were close, we couldn't run everywhere! & then they start shooting tear gas at us

they were so many! riot police, normal police, intel, IRG, Basij! I managed to scape, but they captured so many people

all routes to Azady square were blocked & if anyone stopped walking or walking slow they hit him/her brutally

there was no safe path, people were walking in cycles between all variety of security forces
I think they made fun of people, don't go here, go this way, not that way & for no apparent reason suddenly attacking random people

we tried our best using all known shortcuts for reaching Azady SQ were mousavi was, but ended up in face to face with IRG

they weren't just the ordinary police or motorcycle riot guard, they were soldiers holding MP5 supported by reinforced military cars

we didn't realize for a moment they started shooting at people, the gun's sound was like a toy gun, not loud & the soliders were smiling

I was going to tell masood they are using fake guns for scaring people! until people started screaming in agony

we were at Nosrat st, and that part of that damned street had no were for covering
we ran as fast as we could in the opposite direction, at the same time basiji bastards started to hit fleeing people

I think I saw 2 or 3 people lying on the ground in blood & IRG started to move them, probably hide them.

I lost masood in the crowd in upper streets of Nosrat the irony was everything was calm there & people overthere shocked by the looks of us

it was the biggest disadvantage for us today, police & basij managed to cut off people and prevent them from gathering

they also attacked & arrested anyone with any green symbols or mousavi's pictures

damned government also armed street thugs & Afghan workers with anti riot shields & wooden or electric batons

most of them wearing in house clothings & I think they were really enjoying attacking people

apprently when I was wandering in Laleh Park searching for water Shayan managed to take Masood to a local Doctor

I'm safe, and last time I checked masood he was at a friend's office with some of the students & he was ok.

it looks some people are still out there, I can hear a chopper passing by

Sea Of Green

Protests continue in Iran over the disputed election results, as hundreds of thousands of people march in the streets. There have been a number of deaths and many more injured. While the protesters have tried to maintain a peaceful manner in their march, pro-government militias and military have fired into the crowds. Reports from Twitter users in Iran state that demonstrations will continue tomorrow as they march in memory of those killed. It's being referred to as a "Sea Of Green", because people are wearing green as a symbol of change and solidarity.
Below are a series of photos from Iran from the past few days. Be aware that some of these photos contain graphic images.

History Repeats Itself

My previous post about the attempted uprising in China 20 years ago seems to be replaying itself this week, only in the country of Iran. After an election that many people felt was "rigged", protesters took to the streets to demand a recount. Tensions have escalated, with both pro-government supporters and backers of the opposition candidate demonstrating. As with the "Tiananmen Square Uprising" , many of the protesters are college students, alongside many others, calling for more freedom and a fair election.
Earlier today, the Iranian government banned all foreign journalists from reporting on the streets, threatening them with arrest. Other foreign reporters have had their visas revoked and must leave Iran. Some Iranians are using Twitter and other internet tools to try to get the news out to the outside world, but the government is blocking more and more of those methods. I just read a recent Twitter update from saying that pro-government militia, known as the Basiji, are approaching a college dorm in Tehran. Another Twitter user in Iran says there are reports that Tehran University will be attacked tonight.
All this seems eerily similar to the events 20 years ago in China. News blackout, followed by a brutal crackdown on protesters--I sincerely hope the events in Iran don't end up in a massacre in the same manner as happened in China.
I have been trying to get news updates on CNN's and Fox News' live feeds on their websites, but they both seem to be more interested in blabbing on about celebrity gossip and other nonsense, than reporting any "real news". The Huffington Post blog has a "live blogging" going on that is updating fairly often and is a pretty good source for news right now.
Oddly enough, I am off in a few minutes to attend a local "Tea Party " protest outside the New York State Capitol in Albany. But my thoughts are with the brave citizens of Iran who are trying to gain a little freedom and fair elections.