opines's Comments (154)

“One can't blame Obama if he chooses not to be an assassinated 'Leader'. An organized peace movement with widespread public support is a prerequisite to standing up to the MIC.

Buying time when the moment is not right to challenge is the best he can do now. Opposition to the war will grow. When the time is right...”

“Of course Obama understands the risk to his own life if he confronts the MIC too directly. He knows he must buy time until public opposition to 'endless war' takes to the streets.

Were he to announce an 'out now' policy for Afghanistan and not provide requested troops he would suffer a major political defeat and the Secret Service that protects him would go on red alert.

Blogging won't get it done. The anti-war movement is not organized and lacks leadership. Obama knows that he would have no support from Republicans in Congress and probably wouldn't command a majority of his own party if he bucks the Pentagon on Afghanistan.

If he demanded that the draft be immediately activated to assure that our effort in Afghanistan will have sufficient manpower to meet possible future needs, he would kick-start effective organized opposition to the 'endless war' policy.”

“The reality is that at this moment Obama lacks the political resources to oppose the the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) and its 'endless war' policy. As long as the United States remains committed to pressing on with its attempt to establish its international influence through muscular military imperialism, any withdrawal will be seen as 'defeat' that will embolden our 'enemies'.

Having invested more in weaponry than the rest of the world combined for two decades, and with our economic system now in tatters, a majority of the American public and its Congressional Representatives still believe that aggressive foreign policy, military adventurism is our best and only hope of maintaining 'our way of life' and our vaunted position as a world leader.

Arrogant, shortsighted, a prescription for disaster though it will prove to be, at this moment Obama, absent massive, Vietnam War type street demonstration and a March on the Pentagon against the war,
finds himself a captive of the MIC.”

“Every newly elected Member of Congress quickly learns that serious opposition to the Pentagon is a no-no if they want to be reelected. Vote your conscience on other matters, get rich on lobby money, but do what your told on 'matters of National Security'.

Do this and you will almost certainly be among the over 90% of incumbents who are reelected.

This reality is why Congress has abdicated its war making role. Also, the well-known Wellstone ending counsels caution when opposing the Pentagon.”

“Unwillingness to recognize and act upon the reality that our invasion/o­ccupations of Islamic territories could no longer be sustained (too costly/not enough manpower without a draft) will be cited by future historians as a major contibutant to the economic collapse of the United States in the second decade of the 21st century.

Unable to define 'success', admission of 'stalemate' or 'defeat' being politically unacceptable, we 'pressed' on, the printing presses churning out more unbacked greenbacks and the generals pressing for more boots on the ground.

Though the President knew it was unsustaina­ble...”

“Workers don't buy ads in the NY Times; corporations do.

With the second phase of the economic collapse looming, the finger pointing is picking up. The bailouts of the 'too big to fail' financial companies was supposed to assure that we wouldn't have a 1930s magnitude depression. Only unemployment insurance is preventing the breadlines of that era.

When the economic cratering can no longer be disguised, the question of what we got for the trillions given to fat cats will move to the front burner. The answer till now is that it averted an immediate collapse. But if it only briefly delayed a collapse, we would have been better served by retaining those trillions for safety net measures for American workers.

Philosophically, Wall Street and the NY Times are first cousins. Workers are not relatives, They're the help.”

“Rather than continue to distort their economy by disproportionate military expenditures to match U.S. weaponry build-up, the Soviets withdrew from that competitio­n..

Now, we too can no longer afford to feed our dogs of war, but the dogs are our masters. So, two decades after the first 'superpower collapsed, its adversary has spent itself into bankruptcy by continuing to spend more on weaponry than the rest of the world combined.

Future historians will conclude that both sides lost the Cold War.”

“Until white males accept in their hearts that black males should be treated the same way as they are in the competition for jobs and white women, 'keeping blacks in their place' will remain the driver in Red State politics.

Unless addressed, progress can only be marginal.”

“Neither did the Taliban.”

“LBJ was humiliated by his loss to JFK in the Democratic Primary in 1960. He was more than a decade older than Kennedy. When he was Kennedy's VP he was sent on near-meaningless protocol trips to third world countries. Articles mocked "the formerly second most powerful man in Washington (when he was Majority Leader of the Senate during Eisenhower's Presidency) being all but ignored by JFK ".

By September 1963 word was out that JFK was not planning to have LBJ as his running mate in 1964. It would not be LBJ after JFK's 8 years, but more likely, brother Bobby. At the same time, J.Edgar Hoover learned that JFK intended to replace him as head of the FBI if he was reelected to a second term (a virtual certainty).

At the same time the Pentagon hawks saw Kennedy as 'soft on communism' and standing in the way of their plans to embark on full scale war in Vietnam.

Far short of proof, for sure. Throw in anti-Castro Cubans, the Mafia, Oil barons' concern that JFK might go after their depletion allowance and the virulent anger at Atty. Gen. RFK's vigorous support of Black rights in the deep South. Fear of a Catholic dynasty. The ingredients for a conspiracy were surely there in that volatile mix.

Conspiracy or not, there can no longer be any good reason to keep information about the assassination classified.”

“If Pakistan turned Bin Laden over to us, would we leave Afghanistan?”

“Hawk:

The Warren Commission could not find a crack marksman in the land who could fire off three shots in time Oswald would have had to have done. Oswald, with a defective carbine had flunked his basic training rifle test. And it took Arlen Spector's 'magic bullet' theory to make Oswald the lone assassin. In short, we were asked to believe an impossibility.

Of course even if you were to believe that Oswald fired the only shots, it would not 'prove' that it wasn't a conspiracy.

If Oswald did it alone and there was no conspiracy, why not release all information about the assassination?”

“When a head of a democracy is assassinated, there can be no legitimate reason to classify any information concerning the murder.

It is never possible to 'know' that an alleged assassin acted alone. The swift conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and the classifying of information strongly suggests a conspiracy involving those who succeeded to power.

It would be wise to have a committee appointed by the reigning president to conduct the investigation in the event of his assassination. To allow his successor to appoint the commission (LBJ appointed the Warren Commission) is obviously suspect.

Release all classified information on the JFK assassination now.”

“How about if we make our mission to deny Cuba to the Communists, deny Venezuela to the Chavez supporters, wouldn't that justify invading them?”

“The term"Nation Building' is nothing more than our current excuse to continue our occupation of countries we have invaded.”

“Perhaps Obama, like a majority of Americans, does not believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was solely responsible for the killing of JFK. The Pentagon under LBJ had its way in Vietnam and the build-up to 550,000 U.S. combat troops in Vietnam began less than 2 years after the assassination in Dallas.

If Obama defies the Pentagon as the author suggests, ...”

“Perhaps, like a majority of Americans do not believe the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone assassin. Within a year after JFK's assassination, by means of a discredited attack on a U.S. warship, the Pentagon and LBJ got a blank check to commit combat troops (the Tonkin Bay Resolution) and we were on our way to a buildup to 550.000 troops in Vietnam.

Should Obama choose to defy the Pentagon..­.”

“A winning idea. Fanned.”

“Major League Baseball has been supporting bad Balls and Strikes calls for decades with the nonsense that it is acceptable if an ump calls pitches incorrectly "as long as he is consistent'. If the technology shows an ump calls a pitch a strike that is outside the strike zone too often, he should be fired.

The first thing Little Leaguers are taught is to know the strike zone Why should major league hitters have to adjust to an umpires oversized strike zone? Why should a pitcher have to adjust to an umpire who squeezes the strike zone? And, the assertion that the ump is being 'consistent' is never documented.

If a home plate umpire has a strike zone that is wider or narrower than normal, let him bring a plate the size of his strike zone. Then, at least, a batter would know what his strike zone is rather than figuring out whether he should swing at a pitch 3 inches outside because the ump sometimes calls it a strike.

If the technology exists to calls balls and strikes accurately by sensor, bring it on.”

“The election of Obama did not diminish the power blocs that were in place when he took office. Lobby money rules Congress. Wall Street dollars dictate to Congress. Insurance and pharmaceutical companies write health-care legislation The military Industrial Complex controls foreign policy and 'endless war' is its policy.

The voters, a majority of whom support greater regulation of Wall Street, a public option on health care and an end to our wars of choice now know that the election changed little.

The voters should further understand that the multi-millionaire Congress will puts the interests of the lobbies above the those of the the people. Absent a choice on the ballot box beside the GOP and Dems, no significant change will occur..

Going into the 2008 elections, the majority thought that by electing a Democratic President, Senate and House that change could be effected. We now know better.

Ralph Nader was correct. Only a third choice could bring change. But we were in the midset of boom times (who needs change)---and he was the wrong candidate.

It is the right moment to begin building a new party in 50 states. Without one, our choice will be more of the same. The Republicans were the last 3rd Party to win and they lost in 1856 before winning in1860.

Peace, Nuclear Disamament and making contributions to Members of Congress
criminal and punishable by jail sentences (bribery), would be a good start-up platform for the High Road Party.”

“Whether the American people will support ending our attempt at world domination through muscular military imperialism is the political question President Obama confronts. Having spent more than the rest of the world combined on military weaponry for more than two decades, backing off our invasion/occupation modus is an implicit admission of failure of that policy.

However, the negative consequences of 'pressing on' can far exceed the cost of timely failure admission. Our 'defeat' in Vietnam did not cripple us. As in Afghanistan, we could not be driven out. Had we chosen to continue to seek a 'win' there, instead of accepting a setback, the damage to our 'national interests' would almost certainly have been more severe.

Absent the massive street demonstrations that played so large a part in ending our Vietnam adventure, it will be very difficult for Obama to say 'no mas' to the Pentagon.”

“Knowing when "to hold 'em and when to fold 'em" is as applicable to wars of choice as it is to poker. Without a way to 'win' in Afghanistan without reducing it to rubble and/or bankrupting ourselves surely suggests we fold 'em. More broadly, we should end our attempt at world domination through invasion/o­ccupations and military bases in over 100 countries worldwide.

It was predictable that by investing more in weaponry over two decades than the rest of the world combined to the great detriment of our infrastructure and other domestic needs we would cast our lot with muscular military imperialism.

Now, faced with mounting unemployment and debt, we would be wise to make a decision based on whether we can afford to continue the 'endless war' strategy rather than whether some gung-ho generals think the war can be 'won'.”

“Were it not for unemployment insurance and its extensions, we would be seeing the breadlines that marked the Great Depression.”

“The last Crusade ended when the Christian monarchs of Europe decided that the invasions and occupations of Islamic territories in the middle-east no longer were worth the expense. Their decision to do so brought an end to decades of barbarous warfare. Peace broke out and lasted for centuries.

Removing U.S. led armies from Islamic Iraq and Afghanistan would have the same effect.

'Regime Change' and 'Nation Building' are nothing more than pretexts for U.S. invasion/o­ccupations of Islamic countries. Ending our failing attempt at world domination through use of our uncontested weaponry/technology superiority requires a President who will say "Down, boy" to our dogs of war.

Only when the people, as in the Vietnam war, take to the streets demanding an end to the endless "War on Terror" will a President be emboldened to ring down the curtain on this misbegotten crusade.”

“Prior to the Great Depresion our country suffered through 10 economic collapses of depression magnitude. In all of those instances the Federal Government stood aside an let nature take its course. Our type economic system was understood to be 'boom and bust'. We so much enjoyed the upside that we accepted each collapse like the hangover after a party.

Without government intervention, through hard work and yankee ingenuity we emerged from the pit. With time the hard times abated and we were again off to the chase.

The down side of the cycle had important positives. Entities no longer competitive and unsuited to the changed times were washed out (along with much debt) and replaced by ones more apace with new conditions. Labor took lower pay and we became more competitive in world markets.

Keynes was correct that governments could 'prime the pump' by deficit spending to increase productivity, The unstated corollary was that the debt had to be repaid once the pump was primed.

In the current situation, where Federal debt is outsized, printing more unbacked dollars is harmful It may borrow time but at the cost of making the pit deeper.

During the earlier depressions we did not consider ourselves the 'world's only superpower' and our military budget and overseas involvements were not dollar eaters.

Declaring an end to our failing attempt to achieve world domination through muscular military invasion/o­ccupetions would begin to relieve us from an economic burden we cannot afford.”