"We Will Retaliate Against Russia," or "US Hypocrisy Rides Again!"

The United States government, from the President to Senator McCain, are at it again...that is continuing the United States government's long history of hypocrisy.  In this case it is condemning Russia and President Putin for interfering with the United States presidential election this year.  As the old expression says, "Well!  If THAT is not the Pot calling the Kettle BLACK!"

A little reading of American History will readily provide nearly innumerable instances where the US government, Democrat, Republican, Whig, Bull Moose, or whatever party might have been in charge, has "influenced" elections in nearly innumerable nations from Argentina to Zimbabwe.  This interference has been going since the early days of our Republic.  We can look back to the French Revolution for example, and to American intrigues in Mexico prior to 1836.

More recently, the United States exercised influence on Chinese politics and elections starting in 1949.  Then we can think of other nations in the decade following, including Cuba and Albania.  In the Fifties the US helped "elect" the first Shah of Iran.  During the same time the US took over France's "meddling" in Viet Nam.  In the Sixties and Seventies it was extremely difficult to name a nation in Central or South America, and Africa, not to mention Cuba, in which the United States helped "elect" or outright INSTALL corrupt and vicious dictators and strongmen, very often leading to the murder or imprisonment of millions of people.

In the Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties the United States continued its policy of influencing politics in other lands, even up to assassinating candidates who were deemed less than friendly to US government and corporate interests.  How can we forget the constant US interference in the Baltics after the breakup of the Soviet Union?  And such activities continued through Bill Clinton's presidency.  I guess Hillary forgot about that, as did Senator McCain.

Now President Obama is threatening retaliation on Russia for its as yet UNPROVEN "hacking" into the 2016 Presidential Election.  Retaliation?  Really.  Usually we would want a tangible fact that could prove the "charge" before we would retaliate.  President Putin of Russia is not being unreasonable in asking for proof of Russian "meddling."  And what about retaliation.  Are we going to go to the "brink" again over as yet unfounded allegations?  Would the retaliation be "economic sanctions" or something more lethal?

Leaving that question for another post, let's ask another question.  With all the evidence now available regarding US interference, including assassinations, what if all the nations concerned decided it was now time to retaliate against US?  Senator McCain is calling for Congressional hearings into "Russian Hacking" of US elections.  Why does he not also call for a Congressional resolution admitting US interference in the various foreign elections and making reparations for that interference?  Well, I know, that is not going to happen.  But wouldn't it be our duty to do this before "retaliating" against Russia (bear in mind the average person in Russia had nothing to do with any real or imagined governmental interference with American elections)?

Whether or not Russia interfered with US elections, and whether or not our leaders choose to "retaliate" against Russia, I think we should acknowledge the great hypocrisy going on in the American news media right now, as orchestrated by our President, by Hillary Clinton, by John McCain, and by many other politicians.  How ridiculous it is to hear those mentioned above crowing about Russia's political interference while over-looking our own nation's much more expansive and still continuing influence-mongering that has earned the United States so much bad will over the past century and a half.  Once again, I urge you, don't just read this blog.  Do some research for yourself.  But if you are my age, you really don't have to do a lot of research, as you lived through much of it yourself.

I hope that our leaders will one day resolve to let other nations choose their own destinies, whether they "align" with US goals or not.  We want our elections to be free and without outside influence.  The other nations of the world ask for, and deserve, nothing less than this as well.

May God Bless America.

A True Story From This Blogger's Life

The following is a true story:

After work Wednesday, I told my Lovely Bride that I had bought a treadmill online, and it was at W....T ready to be picked up.  I then asked Child A if he would go with me and help load the boxed treadmill into the pickup.

Said my Lovely Bride, "I thought we decided that you would only buy a treadmill after you walked at least once daily for the next three months!!"

I said," It is thirty-seven DEGREES outside tonight, and now winter has started.  There is no way I can walk every night when it is thirty-seven degrees outside!  I can put the treadmill in the shed and work out every night, even when it is cold."

My Lovely Bride said, "HONEY!"

I said, "Sweetie, this was a LIFE DECISION!  You KNOW I have to lose weight, be more active, and ..." so forth and so on, you know the rest if you are male, over fifty, and have not walked over a mile in one sitting since Jerry Jones fired Tom Landry as the head coach of America's football team. 

And THEY WERE America's football team in those days!  Of course that information was irrelevant to the present argument in which my Lovely Bride and I were engaged.

My Lovely Bride said, "OK, Fine!" (Men EVERYWHERE - ATTENTION!! - if your Lovely Bride utters those two words, be warned - NOTHING is either OK or FINE!)

Then my Lovely Bride said, "I bet you ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS you will NOT work out on that treadmill at LEAST once a day for the next three months!"

Said I, "You'll see.  I WILL work out every night.  I HAVE to lose weight and be more active!" (I think I said that above - oh, well.)  In three months, when you pay me the $100, I will have one third of the cost of a GOOD metal detector!"

My Lovely Bride says," OK, let's make this a REAL contest.  I will BUY you a new metal detector if you really work out EVERY DAY for the next three months!"

"Okay," I said, "but I am not talking about a $59 Radio Shack metal detector!  I am talking about a GOOD metal detector! I will PICK OUT the metal detector I want!"

My Lovely Bride said, "FINE!" (Uh oh, guys, there's THAT word again!) "You pick out the metal detector you want, and I will think of something I want of EQUAL value!  I will get something NICE!"

I said, "YOU are going to LOSE YOUR PANTS in this bet!"

"Oh," said my Lovely Bride, "You're CHANGING the bet now?!"

"No I am not changing the bet." I said.  "I was speaking figuratively.  You are going to lose this bet!"

Just about this time Child A, having heard our little discussion, interjected, "Dad? Why buy a treadmill?  I have a recumbent exercise bike stored in my room."

My Lovely Bride and I were stopped in our verbal "tracks"! 

I said to Child A, "You have an exercise bike stored in your ROOM?!!"

My Lovely Bride said, "What? Somewhere in all that stuff in your room you have a BICYCLE?!"


Here I should tell you that neither my Lovely Bride nor myself DARE ENTER Child A's room.  He has been able to cram at least four rooms worth of furniture, storage boxes, and computer equipment into an 18' x 10' bed room.  That leaves very little floor space for walking, and also means that there are many booby-trapped items throughout the room.  My Lovely Bride and I make it a practice not to enter his room without the proper personal protective equipment and a long rope tied to the living room couch so that we can find our way back to this world if we DO have to enter his room.

And now, back to our story -

Child A said, "Well, not a bike.  It is a recumbent exercise bike.  I am giving it to Dad.  Hey Dad, you should cancel that order!"

I said, "You're right!  Hey wait...does your recumbent bike WORK? Does it have all the parts?"

Child A said, "Yes, Dad, it works, and it has all the parts."

I said, "OK, I guess I will cancel that order for the treadmill."

My Lovely Bride was about a paragraph behind our discussion, however. "You have a BICYCLE in your ROOM?! I can't believe you had ROOM for one in there!"

Child A said, "Not a BIKE.  A recumbent exercise bike.  The only thing wrong with it is that it is missing the handle.  And I took the console off."

I was immediately wary.  "Uh...why did you take the console off?"  My Lovely Bride was all ears as well.

Said Child A, " I wanted to make a "desk exercise bike."

I HAD to hear this one.  My Lovely Bride was faster, though. "WHAT is a DESK exercise bike?"

Child A said, "I wanted to have a machine I could exercise on while I was playing video games.  But when I put it under the desk and tried to pedal, my knees kept hitting the bottom of the desk."

My Lovely Bride said, "You have not been using the exercise bike?"

Child A said, "No, I told you, I kept banging my knees on the desk the first time I tried to use it, so I just stored it in my room."

I asked Child A if he could successfully reconstruct the recumbent exercise bike, but I could see that my Lovely Bride was not interested...because she was too busy rolling on the floor in laughter. 

When my Lovely Bride finally regained control of herself, she told Child A, "Thanks for making my point!  Like your father, if there is a reason NOT to exercise, you won't!"

I said, "That is not true!  I would exercise EVERY DAY if I had an indoor machine, such as this recumbent exercise bike.  Then if it is snowing or raining, I can just go to the shed and exercise there!"

My Lovely Bride said, "Then the SAME DEAL is still ON!  You have to work out EVERY DAY for AT LEAST thirty minutes for the next THREE MONTHS!" 

I said, "That's right...the SAME DEAL! I am going to get a really GOOD metal detector out of this!"

My Lovely Bride only snickered as she walked over to the kitchen stove and began serving up some of her prize-winning beef and vegetable soup.  And...I am sure...she began calculating the cost of a mink coat or a new diamond ring. 

As for me...I would be thinking about a REALLY NICE metal detector...if I could just get up off the floor where I fell into a boneless mass after riding thirty minutes on my new RECUMBENT exercise bike.

End of Part I

Stayed tuned right here for Part II...which follows in only THREE MONTHS.  I can't wait to show off my great new physique...and my shiny, new metal detector!

Native Americans 1 - Big Oil 0 or The Permit Denied

In a shocking decision, the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it would deny a permit requested by Energy Transfer Partners to build a segment of pipeline under the Missouri River in North Dakota.  Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, other Native Americans, and hundreds of other "protesters" are elated, at least temporarily.

I call this decision shocking because normally Big Oil, Big Nuclear Energy, or Big whatever wins these kind of things hands down.  For example, no matter how loud the protest, no matter how damning the scientific evidence, Big (Nuclear) Business prevailed in Andrews County, West Texas, when the late billionaire Howard Simmons ramrodded a nuclear waste storage facility down the collective throat of most of Texas.  State scientists found that the location of this facility was questionable and that it was quite likely that radioactive wastes would leak into the local aquifer.  But the project went ahead as scheduled.

In contrast, the Army Corps of Engineers has defied Big Oil, at least for the moment, and ruled in favor of the Standing Rock Sioux. This ruling is shocking in another aspect as well.  The United States has a well-documented history of ignoring the treaties made with the various Native American tribes, starting all the way back in the years following the American Revolution.  If one takes the time to do even rudimentary research on this subject, one finds that easily over two hundred-fifty treaties have been signed and later ignored by the US government, by "settlers," or by Big Business of one kind or another.  So it is a great surprise to me that the US Army of Engineers has come to the aid of the Sioux in this case.

What about the company called Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the builders of the pipeline?  This (unfortunately) Texas-based partnership wanted to save a few (million) bucks by running a segment of the Dakota Access Pipeline UNDER the Missouri River.  Not only that, but ETP is in the process of destroying Native American territory in order to access Lake Oahe, the point on the Missouri where ETP wants to bury the pipeline under the river.  The Sioux are actually looking out for all Americans in their opposition of this pipeline.  Can you imagine the catastrophe that WILL happen (not MIGHT) when the Dakota Access Pipeline either begins to leak or suffers a major break?  Let me state the obvious.  What will happen is that the drinking water for everyone downstream from Lake Oahe will be contaminated when the break happens.  And never mind the other catastrophe the Sioux were facing, the further and continued violation of their sovereign land in the interest of Big Oil.

The Standing Rock Sioux have won a small victory today, but there is still a war to win.  I have been so proud of the American people (at least many of them) who have supported the Sioux in this latest attempt to deprive them of the sovereignty to their land.  Many Americans traveled to North Dakota to stand with the Sioux.  Many others shared their financial and other resources, or just their thoughts and prayers.  This outpouring of support was almost as shocking as the Corps' decision.  I firmly hope that this decision will stand in the long term.  ETP can certainly afford to reroute the pipeline along a less environmentally risky route.  Actually ETP never considered an alternate route, so sure were they that Big Oil would prevail over the rights of a few "Indians" and the health and safety of millions of persons who depend on the Missouri River for water.

I hope that this wisdom continues to prevail, that the pipeline is rerouted...

And may God Bless America.