OMFGAK Rawkin' Rodeo Roundup...

A big rawkin' roundup of links and interesting stories around the nets.

Raise your hand if you think the Iraq war to be unnecessary, unjust and a diversion away from Al Queda? Mark me in the 'we were lied into a war where hundreds of thousands of people died for no damn good reason, 4,300+ of them American' column. I have used the words 'war profiteering' here in previous posts. I think I may have said it'll take decades to dig through and deconstruct the Cheney-Bush administration. Perhaps a generation, though much of any history left over from that particular Whitehouse has already been shredded and bulk erased. Or perhaps Cheney is such a meglomanicial asshole that he's got copies of EVERYTHING.

In case I wasn't clear before -- we need all Americans overseas home, now please. Time to end the expeditionary forces act, the "Mission Accomplished" bullshit that remains in Iraq and Afghanistan. Time for pushing the reset button. Time to let Pakistan ferret out their own radicals in Waziristan. Time to let the despot ex-oil pipeline negotiating Bush designee Karzai sink or swim on his own. Propping up our puppets has never worked out for American foreign policy. NEVER. Time to end the illusion that we are equipped to build democracies elsewhere when we sometimes appear to have such a slippery grasp of our own democracy in America. Ted knew. As did many others.

Unfortunately America took her eye off the ball, diverted it's military power to payback Saddam for Bush 1 with Stormin' Norman and Powell where we didn't finish the job during a justifiable war (invasion, blowing up hundreds of wellheads). We we're in Iraq a seocnd time under Bush 2 for god knows what reason (see also: 'war profiteering', KBR, Haliburton, Carlyle Group, Blackwater, etc, et al.) when we should have been finishing the job in Tora Bora rather than farming it out to local militia due to lack of our forces in country (umm, yeah -- because they were in Iraq helping with the sack, looting and war profiteering). Fast forward to a $1+ Trillion cost for Iraq and us still entrenched, bogged down in some cases, in places we just shouldn't be. Places like Afghanistan. Either get Bin Laden or get off the pot, Mr. President. But bring the rest of our fine male and female service personnel home, now. Please? Or maybe station a few more at the border of North Korea. I'm just sayin'...

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So many pre-existing conditions, so little red ink for the cancellation stamp pad. Life is a pre-existing condition. Apparently in the apalling minds of the private insurance industry, so is spousal abuse. So are so many, many things. That's just how they roll in free market corporate America when it comes to the life or death private insurance industry -- all so they can, in one case, put $120 Million in their CEOs pocket for the last five years. OMFG! $120 Million!?! The poor bastard must be forced to wipe his ass with $50s for gawdsake! And light his Dominican cigars (egads!) with Andy Jacksons!

All kidding aside it was/is something that the private insurance industry promised to self reform back in the 90s and they haven't yet so of course they continue to lie and profit, profit and lie and in the process re-victimize victims of domestic abuse -- and we all just take it like the idiots we apparently have become. Wheeee! Time for change we can ALL believe in.

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Online diversions. Oh so many. As a child of the burgeoning television age I have grown bored with it lately as a medium. With all apologies to McLuhan, the real action is on the net with hulu and youtube and The Daily Show/Colbert... Rachael and Keith... or PBS with full length videos of Nova and all sorts of free, on demand content. The future of teevee will not be broadcast. It will be streamed. I do not provide links as I'm sure if you're really interested you'll find them. I particularly appreciate the Daily Show and Rachael/Keith as I do not have cable or satellite television and it is the only way I get to see their shows.

-Laz