This posting will also serve 2 series of this journal, both "Mo of Yo Money" and "Funding & Stupidity are Not Compatible" series. This is just a good read/ piece below from "Alternet/ News & Politics" and very informative as far as where at least we need to focus more as far as defense budgeting and the efficiency. The posting title was inspired by Alternet and the classic 1965 movie "The Greatest Story Ever Told". For some ... the read/ link below may seem shocking ... for me, it's not shocking ... but way overboard of just any minor mark- up's or a little skimming. After the read/ link ... from earlier this year ... video with Presidential candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders budget Amendment to audit the Pentagon, which got unanimous bipartisan support. Then I will add a little as far as my current opinion and thought on this and more after.
***** ALTERNET/ NEWS & POLITICS: It's a $cam! The American Way of War in the 21st Century ... (We are getting ripped off in the name of spreading peace and democracy) ... (newsread)
Budget Amendment on Auditing the Pentagon ... Thanx to BERNIE SANDERS
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***** PD/ RCJ: "MO of YO MONEY" PART'S 12 THRU 1
***** PD/ RCJ: "Funding & Stupidity are NOT Compatible" PART'S 6 THRU 1
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Thomas Hudson Pickering aka "Ranch Chimp", "Commie Tommie" & "Skool" (short for old school) to kid's locally
I didnt get online until around 2008, before that, I just read the papers and caught the mainstream news when it comes to these issues. A red flag though went up in my head when we went in to Iraq during the Bush/ Cheney Administration back around 2003, but only because I questioned why this sudden invasion of such magnitude and especially what the cost's were going to be for us, and how long and deep this war would be. Before that time, I didnt pay much atencion to politics or even our defense spending or reasons for our involvement, nor did I have much time to like so many others, even though I actually voted like clockwork, not even having examined closely who I voted for or even many of their policies ... so on these things, I was just your average American patriotic type voting dumbass, sucking up the usual garbage fed to us by politicians of the left and right. So it was kind of educational for me to stop and actually look at these things, politically I wasnt very sharp, but when it comes to money and seeing a hustle or scam, I was a bit sharper. I bring this up because I dont believe that there is anyone in this political arena in Washington, that doesnt know what in Hell is going on, when they act surprised or even speechless about some of this corruption, I dont see how they wouldnt know this. If not for folks on Capitalism Hill (aka Capitol Hill) like Senator Sanders simply proposing amendments like above, it would be more rare to get folks to bring these issues straight out into the open ... let's face it ... too many politicians are frightened, and REALLY dont want to see much change regardless of what they say, which in turn leads them on a journey of becoming habitual liars basically. Of course you had unanimous bipartisan agreement to do this audit, because so many fear that if they decline, they will lose their asses politically, when they are exposed ... and they also have to worry about who is financing their campaigns. Basically when folks like the Senator bring these things into the mainstream, he put's their balls to the wall ... which is what I like about him. The other great thing is having all these alternative news sources today to get this info out in the social media's as well, which has had a growing amount of groups coming up to expose and enlighten people/ voters ... an "Awakening" as I would put it.
But the most surprising thing to me in all of this, is the amount's that are wasted ... whoever is awarding these contract's, or whether it is all on the DOD or Washington's Congress ... the bottom line, is there is NOT one politician or employee in any of these departments that dumb. For instance ... you have a facility that needs to be built ... it cost's $75 million ... comes out not as it should, then the person/ company that had the contract to do the job comes back to you and sayz, that they will fix what need's to be fixed for millions more, why in Hell wasnt it done right the first time? A gas station that costs $43 million and is inoperable? Setting up for foreign military policing creating ghost personnel/ military that dont exist to get extra money, who pocket's it? ... million's and even in Iraq's reconstruction case ... of billions in shrinkwrapped U.S. currency that just vanishes and you hear nothing more about it? Drastically overpriced bridges and highways that go nowhere and serve no one? ... nearly a half million guns/ arms that we lost track of? They say it may be possible that we lost between $30 and $60 billion on this shit ... dont come back to us 5 or 6 years later with your slow ass, and tell us that you concluded after fixing the figures, that's it's not too bad, and we only lost $30 billion ... I dont give a shit if it was only $1 billion, and neither should any other American taxpayer with common sense, any company with that kind of loss would put every one of you SOB's out the fucken door and looking for a new goddamn job! ... and if you pulled such incompetence in the underworld, even for a fraction of that amount of loss, you would be in the bottom of the Potomac sleeping with the fucken fish. As far as I'm concerned, just getting screwed out of even $10 million is bad enough. I'm not a hard- ass either, like some of these folks ... I understand a little 10% mark-up, a little skimming, etc ... that's business ... but this is clear fucken robbery though. Politicians and folks in the DOD should be boiling with anger about this, not laid back saying we will look over it over the next few years or so. They are also afraid that if they dont squander this money, their next budget will be reduced ... like any firm ... they spend all they can to keep the flow up. We are funding and awarding contracts to many companies that we dont even know, or do any business in our country at that ... it is understandable you want to build an economy in these places, but this is not building a damn thing of use, then you have so called need for regime change after regime change, your once friend that you funded takes your/ our money and suddenly changes to an enemy.
I look at just these 2 countries for instance of Afghanistan and Iraq, since we been in there so long and lost billions ... where the Hell is the so called democracy you/ we built? It has got so confusing to me year to year, that I cant even figure out how many different groups are running these countries and who is for what? I question deeply where are the Saudis in all of this, how much are they spending ... or losing? How much defense are they putting up? They (Saudis) sure as Hell buy huge amounts of defense/ weaponry from us, have loads of wealth, and are capable of doing much more than just bombing the shit out of Yemen for target practice ... I mean ... this is their global territories, eh? ... and how democratic is Saudi Arabia? I have a buddy who spent 11 years working for Saudi Intelligence (he's from Pakistan, not Saudi Arabia) ... he paints a far different picture than what we hear in the news, or from our politicians that relentlessly kiss their ass like ass- fetishists, as far as so called democracy, freedom or whatever (and no, he did not come here poor or as a refugee, he does well here in small business, nor has he ever shared information with me that was related to his former job in Saudi Arabia). I have alot of questions ... we all should. We are peace- maker's? ... where is there any peace in any of these countries we have occupied for so long? Currently after this terror attack now in Paris (CNN), and on the Russian airliner that blew up (CNBC) ... France and Russia are having a field day along with help from U.S. and allies ... bombing the shit out of Syrian infrastructure, because they want to stop ISIS ... my question is as I was asking my buddy the other day ... when it comes time to reconstruct all the damage (like when we hit Iraq) in Syria ... who is going to put up the money for it? ... he laughed and said ... America of course. I know that Syria needs help very bad, which I pointed out a couple years ago in this journal, even if we werent doing another thing in the region, what they been through with Assad at first and then with these groups like ISIS ... we should help them, I am for allowing refugees into Texas, it reminds me of when the Jewish people tried to escape Nazi Germany for fear of torture and death ... we had over 200 Syrian refugee's come into Dallas recently ... until the Paris attack, then all of the sudden, Governor Abbott of Texas jumps up wanting to stop it, and even stop funding Texas relief/ charity groups who help them now ... the Mayor of Dallas sayz that he fears armed white American men more than Syrian refugees! (ThinkProgress). But as far as the bombing of Syria currently ... I have questions as far as how that will work? ... how long will it take, and can we really stop these groups like ISIS, and/ or where they will relocate to, if we do gain any ground there?
It appears also that with the new defense spending they are trying to put some of our veterans needs and expenses on the back burner to shovel more money to these contractors, and to cut the troops and use more bombing or whatever. In these times we should hammer the questioning and prepare for the results of our actions, our history of recent in these affairs show's that we have been doing shit all ass- backwards as far as spreading so called freedom and democracy, and show's that we have been losing our own democracy and our asses financially in the long- run ... I'm not making this up either ... look at the record. I would bet that there is much more to this than just this smaller percentage of waste or rip- off ($30/$60 billion) that can be trimmed from the way that we just spend, this is where we NEED those folks like CEO's from the private sector for advice (ones that have a trustworthy performance record) ... I pointed out in past posting's how companies just drool over government contracts, because of the money that is involved, and like any other company doing business in this so called "free- market" ... we need to do tighter business and bargaining in the way we spend in these times. Constantly we hear about how we need to sacrifice more and more and make cuts to everything from education to every social and public need in our nation ... everybody needs to be cut ... that's all we hear every goddamn time we turn on the fucken news out of these misfits. What clearly need's to be cut is their incompetence and spending priorities ... not our veteran's, not our schools, not our needed infrastructure improvements, or public parks, libraries, post office or a damn thing ... we have all the money we need to take care of our own business and do a much better and efficient job on the foreign end ... our problemo is too many of the same old bunch in Washington doing the same old shit ... which is "not enough".
Word Out ....
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***** WAR UPDATE ... 25 November 2015
An article I recalled from earlier in the year below from The New York Times, which is about as mainstream in media as you can get. But I included it in this update to paint a picture on just how deep, complex and expensive these wars will and can get. I'm not real knowledgeable on these foreign affairs, and frankly looking at this mess from one year to the next and how these new groups pop up like new window dressing's at Macy's on W 34th in Manhattan/ NYC ... I dont see much end in sight, which is mainly why I cover this issue and have much concern over the expenses and our spending and involvement in these conflicts.
***** HOUSTON CHRONICLE | NEW YORK TIMES: Sale of U.S. Arms Fuels the Wars of Arab States ... (newread)
The positive of this I guess, is that we make alot of sales in arms in this region, and it is a tool to fight some of what folks call "radicalization" I reckon ... but that's about it, but these tools/ weapons also end up in the hands of where we would not prefer them to. Also, while we look at some of these folks as "radical", they look at our actions of the west and some of our Middle Eastern allies as radical as well, which inspires some of this alot more than any religion. Back when I started this journal, I seen no reason at the time to think that we will have too much progress in this region in some of our strategies, or much end to this resistance, and that this resistance will grow, because of many reason's, from environmental and resources to economic, cultural/ religion, resentment, etc. This is part of the reason why these groups are able to recruit so many folks, when folks feel the pinch, especially younger people, they fight back and align with those who resist. I look at this as much deeper than religion, while many just put it under an umbrella of "radical Islam" I guess for convenience, of course folks tend to embrace their religions and cultures in difficult times, and use that as a tool as well to fuel their resistance. I also pointed out how these resistances will multiply globally, and is a tad different than having a war like some past wars where you have the enemy contained and kind of stationary, as you can see, these terror attacks for instance can pop up anywhere at any time in any continent, we can label it as "terror", but it is simply just "war". It is a mindset/ spirit type network of resistance and movement just like any other group around the globe that resist's everything from austerity to financially robbing and draining us to imposing new forms of slavery ... you have to expect this, and constantly bombing any country will just feed the fire, making that resistance and resentment stronger, and of course we need to fight back when we are attacked. If you're like myself without much knowledge of these wars and grew up as a street kid here in large American cities ... to understand better, just look at it like some of the rival street gang wars we had/ have that go generational, to get a clearer understanding and the revenge/ avenge factor.
***** PD/ RCJ" "ARAB WORLD TENSION'S" PART'S 7 THRU 1 ... (a related series of this journal)
I know several people that are immigrants from this region of the world, from various countries ... and have had the opportunity over the last several years to have a good deal of conversation with them concerning these conflicts, politics and our cultural and religious differences, and frankly I get more solid straight answers out of them than many of my fellow Americans ... without the sugar- coated politically correct shit for the most part. Despite our differences, they like myself like as much freedom as possible, and all the other things that most humans regardless of race or culture like as far as living/ quality of life standards. They like the opportunity they see here and even much about our American culture and people, and what we stand for too. At the same time ... we both understand the so called "radicalization" and strong resistance against the west, neither of us see an ending to this any time soon. I also have to agree with those I've talked to, who have an issue, not with the American people, or even people of those regions ... but some of the actions in these conflicts of governments like the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel as examples, the corporatization, force-feeding of multiculturalism, by these multi- national corporations and banks, pushing people to their limits, slave wages, the invasions and occupations of these countries to mine and drill all the resources, forced regime changes to replace one flunky with another who fits our corporate and banking needs, the corruption in these governments who play just as flunkies to these entities of wealth and contaminate all our nations, cultures, economies and liberties. People are sick and tired of this shit, just like any other time throughout human history that this happens ... this is why I feel (and also these guys), that this resistance will expand and get stronger ... it doesnt matter what we label them as or their group title, whether small or large groups, whichever religious or political party or whatever ... whether it is the Occupy Movement, the neo- Nazi movement, al- Qaeda, Taliban, Tea Party, ISIS ... the list goes on ... people collectively are sick and tired of the shit. Of course those at the top who inspire, feed and dictate all this dont give a shit about how many they have to bomb and kill, or about our territories, and neither do these groups of resistance, why should they? ... it is just a sort of "King of the Hill" game to those of the wealth that dictate this with their political puppetry and mouth- pieces, and consists of stealing everything they can get their hands on. When these wars and elements of resistance pop up ... it hasnt much effect on them of extreme greed who dictate, they live in their little protective bubbles ... and that is why you will see more of an attack on them and especially their assets. Until we look at the real problemo and address it ... look for a growing trend and continuance.
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***** POST NOTE: I also hear much talk that people who do not want refugees from Syria to come here are labeled as bigoted, racist or whatever ... having fear or questions though about refugees coming from this region of the world is understandable, so I dont feel you are racist or unreasonable for questioning these folks backgrounds and who is coming into this country, that is a reasonable request and concern. We have seen problems in several western European countries from immigrants from this region, but understand that the situation and circumstances in those European countries is different than here, they have their own unique situation in France for instance that fed into creating problems, or unique situations in other European countries. But I dont see any reason for panic either ... these are folks trying to get away from death and torture, even an American would do that if that was happening in our state or country. I am just as concerned as you can see throughout related series, but we dont need to worry much from this situation. I have talked about being against Sharia Law for instance, I am culturally different from some of these folks, I am an American Texan ... I dont need or want Sharia Law ... nor have any use for any religious laws, I am strong on the idea of separation of church and state. But also understand that Sharia Law is not what it may be in some Middle Eastern Arab nation ... for example ... Dallas- Fort Worth is home to probably the first Islamic Sharia tribunal in the U.S. (CBS/ DFW) ... but understand, it dont have a thing to do with our city, county, state or U.S. courts here, this tribunal handles folks familia disputes in the Muslim community, whether it's marital, petty finances, business disputes amongst them, they give marriage counseling, the same as Christian churches all over our country do. It is not forcing anyone, especially non- Muslim to do a damn thing or have anything to do with it ... and frankly ... American States would not let that go over in America what they do in other countries ... just as most American gun- owners are not going to give up our goddamn guns either ... get my drift? I have went over this as far as the Sharia Law thing, since I dont like what I heard about it or would need it, with Arabic Muslims I know ... they pointed out clearly to me the differences, and what has happened in other countries. But there is not much to get worried about as far as these refugees either as far as a terror threat, we have people already here and that are American born who are a potential threat ... it's a sign of the times as I explain above. There is always a possibility of a terror threat as much as someone with a gun walking into a theater or a school to kill people.
Other than that ... HAPPY THANKSGIVING to the reader ... I look forward to our familia and friends gathering here in Dallas today to enjoy food and drinx ... and especially the NFL games today! The first game today will be the Philadelphia Eagles @ the Detroit Lions, then the Carolina Panthers will come to Dallas to take on our Dallas Cowboys @ Cowboys Stadium (yes, I still call it Cowboys Stadium, not AT&T Stadium ... fuck AT&T!!), then tonight the Chicago Bears will go to Green Bay to take on the Green Bay Packers!
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***** RANCH CHIMP JOURNAL "WELCOME" POST
***** RCJ MUSIC/ ART'S HONOUR ROLL SOCIETY (my hand- selected music/ arts picks)
***** RCJ/ THOMAS PICKERING: GOOGLE+ (video posts)
***** THE RESISTANCE/ PERIL'S OF THE POWER POSSE (inspiration for hope & change) ... to be viewed as a "profit- see", not a "prophecy".
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