Wednesday, March 08, 2006

CRASH BEST PICTURE! * LIBERALS HAVE AMERICA'S VALUES AT HEART

News Alert 1:58 p.m. ET Thursday, March 9, 2006
Dubai Firm Gives Up Stake in U.S. Ports
The United Arab Emirates company that was attempting to take over management operations at six U.S. ports announced today that it will divest itself of all American interests. The announcement appears to head off a major confrontation that was brewing between Congress and the Bush administration over the controversial deal.


Silence is complicity. I love America, but there is something very wrong going on here. I felt it in the pit of my soul, immediately after the last election; and all good people (who didn't have blinders on) knew the truth. Looking into Bush's eyes, I knew this was an impostor, a man with absolutely no true Christian values, no interest in the lives of real Americans or middle-Americans, or the working class or the poor. People in the South said "he looks like a guy I'd like to have a beer with at a barbeque." Love casts our fear, but this man has done nothing but create fear, anger, destruction, bankruptcy, suspicion, divisiveness, mistrust, embarrrassment, terrorism and death. And he doesn't ever seem deeply sad or apologetic or mortified over causing so many deaths, so many coffins, so much anguish. He seems to lack emotion, intelligence, depth and pathos. How on earth did this person become the leader of the free world? The people who are behind this administration have usurped our precious freedoms for their self-serving, anti-American agenda and should be ashamed of themselves.

For people who care about a free America, the country our parents' generation fought to protect — the single most important issue is reforming our election process and realizing there has been CRIMINAL VOTER FRAUD in the last election. This is not some conspiracy theory, it's a fact. WAKE UP! No one seems to take this seriously, but I urge you to go to BRADBLOG and read about Diebold being busted in several states for having illegal infrared data ports in the back of machines to switch votes — as well as known voter suppression. Diebold is being sued right now.) And the single most important book on this is Mark Crispin Miller's FOOLED AGAIN: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They'll Steal the Next One Too. This is a chilling account of Bush-right-wing election fraud.

LEGAL PROCEEDINGS LAUNCHED AGAINST DIEBOLD IN FLORIDA! COMPLETE STORY:
BRADBLOG

Also, from late last night if you missed it...
'Moscow Times' Covers Diebold, Crumbling American Electoral System
The World is Watching... BRADBLOG

We no longer live in a Democratic nation, but if we are true Americans we will not tolerate this immoral, corrupt idiotic administration — nor will we allow the current right-wing stay in power any longer. We all know these militant, war-mongering fake "Christians" and greed-driven global capitalists are not true conservatives, nor are they true Americans. WAKE UP! It has taken far too long to get anyone to take this issue seriously, and it may be too late for the next elections, unless we act now on voter reform. We need to insist on paper ballots, among countless other things.

I asked my friend Doug Basham what he thinks of a possible Bush impeachment. (Basham of Progressive Talk Las Vegas, one of the best radio stations in the nation. Doug is so GOOD he should run for Congress.) Here's what he wrote to me last night: Dear Lydia, As for an impeachment, probably unlikely unless Democrats take back the House this November, and develop a spine and conscience in the process. I've read reports that Dems are leery of pushing for an impeachment because of the backlash Republicans experienced after their impeachment of Clinton (I guess they don't see the difference between lying about a semen stain and lying a nation into war?!?!) There are many smaller, grass roots-type impeachment movements around the country, plus one in congress. Problem with the one in congress: only 26 Democratic Congressmen/women out of over 200 have signed onto it. And even if all 200+ Democrats did sign onto it, the Republican controlled House wouldn't even entertain the thought of an impeachment. You would think that with Bush at 34% approval rating; the new video that shows he lied re: Katrina; the resistance from his own party re: the Dubai ports deal; and the illegal NSA eavesdropping program, the Democrats would be jumping all OVER this guy. And yet, they remain reluctant to endorse Bush's impeachment. Strange. Take care. Doug

GANDHI: You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance.
Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul.

Always remember: Every moment is a choice between LOVE AND FEAR.

Thank you so much for voting! I love you guys; and without you we couldn't come up with such amazing solutions to the world's crisis; I have never seen the level of intelligence from commenters in any other blog. But Please vote in both categories, especially for Best Post. Thank you!

This blog is a 2005 Koufax Award Double Nominee!! VOTING IS OPEN FOR THE KOUFAX AWARDS. BEST NEW BLOG voting at: Wampum

BEST POST for my BRADBLOG article: Death is Sexier than Sex) VOTE HERE: Wampum

Also, vote for BRADBLOG as best blog. Thanks to everyone who nominated us, and check out this wonderfully generous website WAMPUM and all the nominees. BEST NEW BLOG 2005 Koufax Award Nominee LydiaCornell.com
You can read the article that was nominated here: Cornell's BradBlog article Death Is Sexier than Sex, to Ann Coulter

Everyone - please read DEVIL'S GAME, a GREAT BOOK by my friend Robert Dreyfuss, investigative journalist for Rolling Stone, The Nation and Mother Jones.


Number One on the agenda is to unify the Democrats and win back Congress. But we have to redefine the word "liberal" which is one of the most beautiful words in the English language -- and has been smeared by right-wing propagandists and AM talk radio. Liberal means "generous, bounteous, open-handed, tolerant." Liberals actually have true Christian values without even knowing it at times! I've never met a liberal who didnt' want to do good things in the world. And I agree with Rabbi Michael Lerner and Rev. Jim Wallis --Christ mentions "taking care of the poor" as one of our main obligations. How to get rich: Give to the poor. This is the spiritual principle of abundance.

Took a couple of days off from writing and went to see Brokeback on Friday morning. Question: how many of you GUYS (and girls) saw Brokeback Mountain? How many of you are still a little reticent to see it — even though you may be Democrats? Great movie, much more complex than I thought it would be. "Elegiac" as Ang Lee says. I don't want to spoil it for you. I love Ang Lee and believe he is a genius, an enlightened thinker who crosses all cultural barriers. But mainly because I loved "Sense and Sensibility" (the Jane Austen novel, which Emma Thompson turned into brilliant screenplay and won an Oscar for).

But I do want to say I'm so glad CRASH won!! Paul Haggis is an incredibly evolved soul! He has always been on the cutting edge of the progressive movement. Years ago he was on the board of the environmental group ECO (Earth Communications Office) and held fundraisers at his home. He had me in to read for a pilot, but I blew it because I was nervous and (that's before I quit drinking 11 years ago.)

I heard Terrence Howard on Charlie Rose the other night; he was so articulate when he said he hoped CRASH would win because it might help to unify America now. We really need to look inside each other's hearts and see things from the other point of view. There is no spiritual growth with people who are just like you; we need to understand "the Other." We are all flawed and we all have a right to be here.

I have to say I loved Matt Dillon's performance most of all. His character made the most interesting transformation and character arc. I would love to see our friends whom we presume to be on the right, you know who I'm talking about -- make this transformation.

God Bless Aaron Spelling. He gave me my first job in Hollywood. This is from May 2005, at Duke Vincent's book party for "Mafia Summer."

By the way I have a friend who went to Regent University last year. This is a right-wing Christian college, like Liberty U. which is specifically set up to breed lawyers and citizens who will enter politics with the "right-wing" religious frame of mind. She said several of her classmates used the "N" word consistently! They also were very sheltered and had extremely narrow views on women, Catholics and all non-whites. But she somehow actually forged friendships with these kids, and they are now pen pals! I am doing an interview with this woman, and will report on Brad Blog. There is also a great article in The Nation by Eric Alterman.

547 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:53 PM

    I read Devil's Game and it was a wonderful book. Gave great insight into what we are doing today in the Middle East.
    Keep up the good work.
    James

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous3:54 PM

    Does anyone know the status of Bush impeachment by the state of Virginia?

    JW

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous3:55 PM

    I AM A GUY AND I DON'T HAVE ANY DESIRE TO SEE BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. WHY ARE THEY PUSHING THIS MOVIE ON US? IT PISSES ME OFF!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I recently ordered Devil's Game, so I look forward to reading it, as for Brokeback Mountain, I have nothing against gays, and i'm sure it is a good movie or it wouldnt have won all those awards, but I have no desire to see it, i'm actually fairly picky about what I go to the movie's to see, or regularly watch on tv.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm with you worf, that summarizes my feelings pretty well.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have to go back and look at that link Clif or you posted about Shanghai Corp in the last blog, you and clif posted some interesting stuff regarding it.

    Btw, I was just listening to the news and they are claiming that Iran is supplying the insurgents in Iraq with deadly weapons used to kill our troops, looks like they might be starting to make their case to invade Iran, the Dubai and India deals as well as the Pakistan visit lend credence to what many of us have said that things are about to escalate in the middle east with a possible invasion of Iran and a renewed hunt to capture or kill Osama.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Worf said

    "We have no problem watching 2 women for instance kissing. In fact, most hetero males enjoy this."

    Of course Worf. Absolutely! :D

    ReplyDelete
  8. I absolutely luved BrokenBack Mountain! I've seen it eight times; I just can't seem to get enough of it for some reason. I go to see it with all my guy friends. What a simply, spiffy, fabulous, cute, darling movie. Small wonder it is sooo popular in Hollywood and San Francisco. After seeing it so many times I may become a liberal and leave my wife. Kiss kiss.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I really enjoyed Donnie Darko and Girl interrupted.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous6:17 PM

    Haven't seen any of this years oscar movies but then again I haven't seen any of last years either, guess I have different things to do, if I go to the movies it is because there is a movie a certain 9 year old just has to see.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Worf, so nice to talk with someone with your intimate knowledge of this epic film. Let's have a sleep over and we can swap stories and stuff. Luv ya, mean it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Freeddom Fan said

    "Let's have a sleep over and we can swap stories and stuff. Luv ya, mean it."

    LOL :D

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hey Johnny.

    This is too easy.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hey Worf,

    I've noticed about 75% of the comments on Ms. Cornell's blog are yours. Sometimes a dozen straight. Do you ever have an urge to answer yourself? I wish I had your gift for self-amusement.

    ReplyDelete
  15. You don't have to worry about getting aids.
    -Worf

    You say that like it's a bad thing.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Well, we can't all be wordsmiths...
    -Worf

    Yes, when you use that big word "erudite" it sends me scurrying for the dictionary every time...all 35 times. Big words are vewwy scawwy.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm surprised y'all libs could pull yerselves away from that last thread. Clif had everyone petrified that we might hafta convert our dollars into euros before we could buy oil. I don't know about y'all but it gave me night horses...I'm still shaking a little bit.

    ReplyDelete
  18. "fudgpacking"? "fag"?? Worf I am shocked shocked! I thought you libs were supposed to be sensitive and tolerant. I am sooo disillusioned. No doubt you are due some woodshedding from Ms. Cornell.

    ReplyDelete
  19. ...wordsmith was a reference to my ability to type faster than you apparently can think...
    -Worf

    Yes and you are certainly able to type faster than you can think as well...impressive.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous7:01 PM

    Sorry FF but I never said convert, get your facts straight even if the rest of your life is not, the dollars won't be converted but will simply buy less, oil, food, clothes, housing, medical care due to the inflationary pressures of the collapse of the dominance of the dollar in the world markets and the conversion of those markets which are completely come to be dominated by OPEC which is starting to sell oil for euros in march in Irans Bourse. Which Saddam did in 2000, and L Paul Bremer was more worried about the oil contrtacts in euros than he was in the stability of Iraq. Thus you might have studied economics and work in the industry somewhere but your inabinlity to actually debate honesty by misstating others positions is disengenous but rovian.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hey FF, why dont you change your pic to Liberace or Fabio and give me the Gandalf Pic.

    Seriously, I have not seen Brokeback Mountain, nor do I have any desire to see it, but it doesnt strike fear in me, if you think that is all that is wrong with the world today, you really need to open your eyes and look around more.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hey Worf, how much is your time on this blog costing us taxpayers? What is your billing rate?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Clif said "Sorry FF but I never said convert, get your facts straight even if the rest of your life is not, the dollars won't be converted but will simply buy less, oil, food, clothes, housing, medical care due to the inflationary pressures of the collapse of the dominance of the dollar in the world markets and the conversion of those markets which are completely come to be dominated by OPEC which is starting to sell oil for euros in march in Irans"

    Clif your 100% right, if FF does understand how things work, he would never admit it, just like many leading economists who minimize the importance of the deficit or the petrodollar, because to do otherwise would bring about the very panic and collapse they are striving to avoid by their denial, dismissals and vague and opaque talk.

    ReplyDelete
  24. And worf, dont let that guy play you or hijack the thread, did you notice how he added nothing of substance in all those posts, just insults jabs and rhetoric, for someone who claims to want to see how the other side thinks, i find it curious that they would choose to spend their limited time here in that manner, although he did raise some valid points last night.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous8:03 PM

    Mike that is about all he, and his party has left, given the fiasco of the week the administration is currently using as a plan to govern by.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous8:25 PM

    Voltaire kinda like the people in DC giving each other awards like the ones GWB gave Tenet after his fiasco before the Iraqi war.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Voltaire, I'm not living in a bubble. If you read the post, CRASH was my favorite picture. Although I love Ang Lee as a director, I have some serious problems with Brokeback. The characters bothered me; a lot of it bothered me. But the overwhelming message was a tragic one that's all too prevalent today.

    ReplyDelete
  28. By the way, Lord of the Rings, Dr. Zhivgo, Catch-22, the original MASH, Annie Hall and Harry Potter are among my favorite movies.

    And Dr. Strangelove! "You can't fight in here -- this is the War Room!"

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous8:38 PM

    My daughter spends all my movie money. I usually take her to a couple a month.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous8:40 PM

    My faves, Shawshank Redemption, The Unforgiven, Green Mile, The Killing Feilds

    ReplyDelete
  31. Worf, I just re read the complete article you posted yesterday about Shanghai Corp, you should really repost it in this blog, that was a fantastic article, can you imagine Shanghai corp could have over 1/2 the worlds population, as well as five nuclear powers, and several major oil and natural gass producres, thats a formidable and dangerous alliance.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Lord of The Rings for sure, BTw, did you go to the oscars lydia???

    ReplyDelete
  33. without spoiling the movie can some one give be a quick summary or soudbite of what crash is all about

    ReplyDelete
  34. Anonymous8:47 PM

    If you can't be optimistic about life given the final chapter is not avoidable, why bother?

    ReplyDelete
  35. Hey Voltaire, what happened to your plans to go to Iraq.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Lets see off the top of my head, some of favorites include, Lord of The Rings, Rocky, an Innocent Man, Count of monte cristo, Terminator etc..

    ReplyDelete
  37. never saw more than a few minutes of any of the lethal wep movies

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous9:01 PM

    A lot of random glorifying of violence using a pretty boy tough guy that all the little wannabee's out there can aspire to.

    Bush and the neo-cons anybody?

    ReplyDelete
  39. do you have to sign some kind of contract?

    ReplyDelete
  40. Bush maybe, I dont think i'd call Cheney or Rove pretty boys or tough guys??

    ReplyDelete
  41. Anonymous9:05 PM

    They are the bit players for the Rove script of "GWB saves us"

    ReplyDelete
  42. Yeah, I said Count of Monte Cristo was one of my favorites, I also saw 5 people you meet in heaven and I saw Oliver Twist like 25 years ago, i also really liked an Innocent Man and A Christmas Carol, I watch that at least twice a year usually around Christmas

    ReplyDelete
  43. Anonymous9:11 PM

    No shots Voltair just Hollywood and DC have much more in common that DC wants to admit. I was just commenting about the two sides of fame in this country and how isolated it can make one sometimes.

    My comment about Bush being A lot of random glorifying of violence using a pretty boy tough guy that all the little wannabee's out there can aspire to.

    Was Worfs words not yours, but no harm intended.

    ReplyDelete
  44. My favorite: Predator (I) with Ahnold -- saw it five times.

    My second all time favorite: The Crying Game. So sad.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Anonymous9:15 PM

    Most Sci Fi falls flat for me because of the physics, same reason most military movies, they are not real, and I can't suspend belief when I know that it is not possible, same reason Jaws is a terror movie more than and slash and gore halloween, freedy, hockel mask movies are to me.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Well good luck to you Voltaire if you do it, I remember I considered going to Alaska to help with the Exxon Valdez spill because they were offering like $30 an hour, glad I didnt, now they are saying alot of those guys are getting cancer, you never know what can happen.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Anonymous9:17 PM

    Predator is good movie for the use of camo, but the nuc in the end would have done Arnold he cant run 3-4 miles that quick.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Logans Run and Planet of the Apes get my votes, Do you remember the tv series for both of those Worf???

    ReplyDelete
  49. Predator is good movie for the use of camo, but the nuc in the end would have done Arnold he cant run 3-4 miles that quick.
    -Clif

    The military is really testing reflective camo isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  50. wanna know what movies I found scary, Night of the Living Dead and Evil Dead, being trapped in a house and having a million zombies trying to get in to kill you is really scary in my book.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Anonymous9:22 PM

    The reason you dislike pulp fiction is the reason I give it credence, it does not cover-up the bad, it shows it for what it is and people as not just good or bad but complex.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Anonymous9:24 PM

    Arnolds camo, we were told to watch it in ROTC for the camo by arnold.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Hey Worf, a little change of subject, but how do you think Sony's new Blu Ray technology will effect Hollywood and the EDVD/Entertainment Industry

    ReplyDelete
  54. Sorry guys but I dont think the sweeping generalizations hold up, people like what they like certain personality traits may play a factor, but not always, I watch a pretty bizare collection of tv shows for example

    ReplyDelete
  55. I'll have to check that out Worf, do you really think the ratio is that high?

    ReplyDelete
  56. Anonymous9:32 PM

    What are you planning on doing in Iraq Voltair?

    ReplyDelete
  57. BTW Worf, I saw the old planet of the Apes tv serious on around Christmas Time, I was sick with Bronchitus for like a month and just stayed home watching retro tv, I was at the store about to buy TCFC and Dukes of Hazzard DVD's right before Christmas and I figured i'd just watch the Planet of The Apes weekend Marathon and buy them after New Years, and then they had a Dukes of Hazzard weekend marathon for New Years weekend and then I wandered onto this site and ended up buying the TCFC DVD's from Lydia, funny how things work out.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Voltaire if you dont mind me asking, how old are you?

    ReplyDelete
  59. Anonymous9:41 PM

    Different people disagree, if you were born in baghdad who would be evil right now?, bombay?

    ReplyDelete
  60. Well I agree wrestling is crap today, although I used to like it as a kid, I think fights and sporting events are appreciated by both, look at all the Hollywood people you see at fights, most are liberal I would assume>

    ReplyDelete
  61. Anonymous9:45 PM

    Voltair one eye opening expierence occured during the 3 years I was assigned to Europe in the 70's we had a couple of american GI's a couple of french soldiers a british civilian some germans and a couple of russians that we were hanging out with, and as a goof we divided our selves as per the wars of the 20th century and the realisation that these friends of mine at that time was an accident of my birth place and time has stayed with me.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Anonymous9:49 PM

    Chuck Norris, Steven Segall, Swartz, Stalone etc, all the same escapest genre, but not actually reality based.

    ReplyDelete
  63. I've always been a sucker for action movies Clif, problem is all those guys got old, the only action star that comes to my mind today is the Rock.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Anonymous9:55 PM

    The movies are not bad it is the people who want solutions to real life like the action movies portray that are not real and can not work. Most anybody doing in real life what action heros do in the movies would end up in prison.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Anonymous9:57 PM

    Voltair birth is an accident of place and time, some are lucker than most, and where you come from helps create your demons.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Voltaire, do you honestly think this administration is doing a good job?

    ReplyDelete
  67. Arnold and Rocky got me into weights/bodybuilding, I loved the Rocky movies, I rode my bike like 5 miles to see them on opening day like 3 times in a row, Rocky showed that hard work, Heart, determination and tenacity can prevail despite overwhelming odds, and having him lose in the first movie was brilliant because it still seemed like a happy ending.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Anonymous10:05 PM

    Worfeus Hitler did not do it alone, he had a lot of people who did it for him and a lot more that allowed it to happen, and I met some of those people who let it happen, I dated a german girl for a couple of years and once in a while the younger germans I knew would talk about hitler and what their parents said.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Anonymous10:18 PM

    The very same arguement that they use against america Voltair. We are calling them evil for what they do, and they call us evil for what do. So there can be no solution but violent clash, unless both sides admit neither is completely correct, or completely wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Anonymous10:20 PM

    Worfeus the french are defended by none other than George Washington who had a bronz plac placed at Yorktown where he admitted that with out the french fleet and ground troops we would have lost. One advantage to the army requireing me to visit battlefeilds to understand the battle from the ground it was fought on.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Anonymous10:27 PM

    If I'm close I go, I visited Yorktown when I picked upo my older Daughter from her AIT army school, she at Ft Eustis and Yorktown was about 20 miles away.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Good post Clif, and Voltaire looking back at history, when has saying convert or die ever worked, all that does is convert moderates and mainstream muslims to the cause and make them hate us, saying a whole group of people need to be exterminated is dangerous thinking, and something I never expected to hear in this country.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Anonymous10:30 PM

    Fuinny Voltair doesn't know you were posting WW2 about France either, but he does not let the facts get in the way of his rant.

    ReplyDelete
  74. BTW, the french chose not to go to war with us in Iraq not because they were afraid, but because they didnt support our reasons and had deals with saddam that they wanted to keep in effect.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Anonymous10:35 PM

    Voltaire looking back at history, when has saying convert or die ever worked, all that does is convert moderates and mainstream muslims to the cause and make them hate us, saying a whole group of people need to be exterminated is dangerous thinking, and something I never expected to hear in this country.

    That was what I was saying I learned in Germany, a lot of the people I knew didn't understand how their parents went along with Hitler because they knew they were not bad people. Group think can get us to go places in our minds that we never would go alone.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Anonymous10:40 PM

    My post about having friends from a lot of different European countries and knowing at different times I'd have to had fight some and others would be allies and how the change of years changed the enemys and allies opened my eyes to such group think.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Clif said "Group think can get us to go places in our minds that we never would go alone."

    clif you are exactly right, you would not believe the power of group think, fear tactics, propaganda, and censored or filtered information or information that comes from an important person or someone in an official capacity in getting people to do things you would never imagine regular people doing. I studied psychology in college and took a class on power and influence, the tactics I see employed by the right wing are timeless tactics used throughout history to seize power, they were used by Hitler and Stalin, and I see them being used today by the Bush administration.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Anonymous10:46 PM

    Convert or Die conquered the americas for the Europeans. The same is true for the way the muslim religion expanded. This is one reason they clash so fiercely.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Anonymous10:49 PM

    Worfeus it is the crux for any modern industrial society, 1984 is about how a society can get an individual deny what they know to fit in with group think.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Worf said "That was a good one wasn't it Mike?

    The group think thing.

    Its the crux of everything thats happened since 911"

    Yes it is Worf, Clif, Lydia, Drewl and myself have all said this before in various blogs, kinda funny how a random group of people from all over the country all see the same thing>

    ReplyDelete
  81. Let me throw this out there, with what we know of Shanghai corp, what would be the right foreign policy to persue.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Worf said "Its like some sort of time warp continum loop or something."

    Worf, thats I feel exactly, this sounds a little loopy, but I keep thinking of planet of the apes how the humans trying to kill the apes led to the very future they were trying to avoid by killing the apes, everytime I think of the Iraq war and our foreign policy that seems to be pushing towards war with Iran, I keep thinking of Planet of the Apes.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Anonymous10:59 PM

    VIENNA, Austria, March 6 — The head of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency said Monday a deal on Iran's suspect nuclear program could be only a few days away, making U.N. Security Council action unneeded

    Mohamed ElBaradei's optimism was believed to be linked to a confidential Russian proposal to allow Iran to enrich some uranium domestically, diplomats said. But the plan was expected to meet strong resistance from the U.S., which opposes any enrichment on Iranian soil.
    ''It's been a core element of our view and the view of the European three, and certainly of the Russian Federation that no enrichment in Iran is permissible,'' John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in New York.
    He said ''even small so-called research enrichment programs could give Iran the possibility of mastering the technical deficiencies that it's currently encountering in its program'' and translate them into large-scale enrichment later. The United States uranium enriched in Iran could be misused to make nuclear weapons.
    ElBaradei, without elaborating, nonetheless said he hoped ''that in the next week, an agreement could be reached.''
    The Russian proposal would allow Tehran to conduct small-scale enrichment and ask the IAEA to set the parameters of such activity to minimize the chances of abuse, according to the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge details of the plan.

    Like having one Shanghi Corp member help Iran work out their problems with the IAEA and the UN that pulls the rug out from under Bush's plans for Iran....

    ReplyDelete
  84. Anonymous11:00 PM

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov planned to discuss the plan with officials in Washington.
    Russia and China, which both have economic and strategic ties with Iran, voted with the majority of IAEA board members but insisted the council do nothing until after this week's IAEA meeting in Vienna.
    Moscow, with the support of the United States and other countries, has offered to enrich Iran's uranium in Russia, which would ensure greater oversight. But Tehran, insisting its goals are peaceful, has said it should be free to carry out some enrichment domestically.
    The Russian proposal was driving a wedge into what had been a relatively united front on uranium enrichment, with Germany cautiously supportive and France and Britain opposed and backing the United States.


    They are working with the knowledge how Bush used the Iraqi sanctions against the UN.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Did you see how the claimed Iran is supplying the insurgents with weapons, looks like possibly the beginning of a case against Iran, they throw out the supplying weapons thing then the Nuclear weapons they are trying to develop and use the old word association trick to try and imply a link just like they did with Saddam and Al Queda to justify war.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Anonymous11:12 PM

    Worfeus that was the russian gambit that reagan got then to play, which led to their downfall, cooperation not conflict is a good choice where one half of the world is concerned, other wise WW3 will be decades long even if we win. And as WW2 bankrupted ZBriton and ended the zbritish Empire and the cold war Bankrupted the USSR this time we are the big spender.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Worf, i've said many times we need to walk softly but carry a big stick, meaning not pick fights with the world, but if something does happen we need to respond with overwhelming force. I think the world should fear and respect us rather than fear us and hate us, a little fear is a healthy thing if used in a constructive way as a deterant rather than a destructive way a a bully or tyrant.

    BTW Clif, that was a great summary you posted.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Anonymous11:25 PM

    Worfeus do you know that we have 11 nuclear powered Air Craft Carriers but the chinese have none, and the russians let theirs go to pot in the early 90's

    ReplyDelete
  89. thats basically what I meant worf, I didnt mean be afraid of us, I meant they should respect us and think twice about trying to do us harm.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Anonymous11:33 PM

    Worfeus both nations know that they would lose on the battle feild head to head but if they can get us to spend like Reagan got the Russians in the 80's the result would be the same given our 8 trillion debt we start with. No direct shots but cold war type wars and militayr competition which the military-industrial complex would hype like they did the cold war, there was no missle gap in 60 and no window of vulnerability thta Reagan accused Carter of in 1980. But that is how the right gets larger military budgets the only way to get americans to spend on defense. Cry wolf and hype the threat, fear for everyone, enought to get more tax dollars for their coffers and profits.

    ReplyDelete
  91. I'm not concerned with the firepower and technology we possess Clif, its the Manpower that worries me, Like Worf said we've showed our weakness againsy an insurgency what happens if China and Russia get involved and we are drastically outmanned

    ReplyDelete
  92. Anonymous11:35 PM

    They along with the Russians are increasing their militaries exponentially, and according to


    the US Naval Attache,

    Acording to the pentagon which is where he works.

    ReplyDelete
  93. clif, do you think China and Russia want us locked in a never ending war in Iraq?

    ReplyDelete
  94. Anonymous11:39 PM

    Worfeus the chinese still can not feed all their people adequately and is not the molith that the right wants them to be, think about it in order for the russians to collapse as they did in 92, the decay must have been there as Reagan was calling them the Evil Empire and all the future neo-cons were puffing the threat up.

    ReplyDelete
  95. Anonymous11:41 PM

    No but if washington continues the neo-con agenda they will use that gambit to try and beat us, they know everybody loses a nuke war and the chinrese have not worked for 3000 years to blow their society sky high.

    ReplyDelete
  96. Anonymous11:43 PM

    The Chinese have 100 billion of Taiwan's money invested in the mainland so they are going to give it years, as time goes by and the Taiwanese see how hong kong is treated they will probably move closer and work out a deal similar to hong kong

    ReplyDelete
  97. Anonymous11:44 PM

    Worf try TP, the site is down for me.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Anonymous11:48 PM

    As long as taiwan does not formally declare independance the mainland will work it out, time is on their side, and the mainland will continue to mellow politically as the middle class in china rises.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Do you think the Neo Cons will remain in power, i'm amazed at how good these guys are at deceiving people, did you here Voltaire advocating exterinating Muslims who refuse to convert to Christianity?

    ReplyDelete
  100. Anonymous11:51 PM

    Worfeus since the late 40's when both Stalin and Mao ruled......

    ReplyDelete
  101. Anonymous11:55 PM

    Mike; Kristol, Fuckayama, others are attempting the morf already to get away from GWB and the Iraqi fiasco.

    ReplyDelete
  102. Anonymous11:56 PM

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist whose son was killed in the
    Iraq war, was arrested with three other protesters in New York on Monday after a rally with women from Iraq.

    Sheehan became a central figure in the U.S. anti-war movement last summer after she camped outside
    President George W. Bush's Texas ranch and has been arrested at least two other times at protests.

    On Monday, she had joined a delegation of women from Iraq at the rally at the
    United Nations, urging the United Nations to help prevent civil war in Iraq.

    About 20 protesters went to the U.S. mission to the United Nations to deliver a petition with 60,000 signatures seeking an end to the war. Nobody from the mission received them so Sheehan and three other American women sat down in front of the building, refused to leave, and were arrested.

    A police spokesman said they were expected to be released later on Monday.

    The Iraqi women plan to deliver a petition to the White House on Wednesday. Earlier they held a news conference at U.N. headquarters calling for the United States to withdraw its forces.

    Entisar Mohammad Ariabi, a pharmacist at Baghdad's Yarmook Teaching Hospital, wept as she told reporters of the hardships experienced by Iraqi women.

    "U.S. occupation has destroyed our country, made it into a prison," she said. "Schools are bombed, hospitals are bombed."

    "We thank you, Mr. Bush, for liberating our country from Saddam. But now, go out! Please go out!" she said.

    ReplyDelete
  103. Anonymous12:06 AM

    The russians are in disarray from a military standpoint, they have little lift capabilities and they need to move troops 1000 miles and supply them, same for thr chinese but they go over the himalayas, or take on the US Navy, which they don't dare. The troops are not the determinating factor for sucess but the logitistics train, beans and bullets, you can't win with out either. Any military man knows this but the neo-cons don't so they go with troop strength.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Anonymous12:24 AM

    Wal-Mart Enlists Bloggers in Its Public Relations Campaign

    Brian Pickrell, a blogger, recently posted a note on his Web site attacking state legislation that would force Wal-Mart Stores to spend more on employee health insurance. "All across the country, newspaper editorial boards — no great friends of business — are ripping the bills," he wrote.

    It was the kind of pro-Wal-Mart comment the giant retailer might write itself. And, in fact, it did.

    Several sentences in Mr. Pickrell's Jan. 20 posting — and others from different days — are identical to those written by an employee at one of Wal-Mart's public relations firms and distributed by e-mail to bloggers.

    Under assault as never before, Wal-Mart is increasingly looking beyond the mainstream media and working directly with bloggers, feeding them exclusive nuggets of news, suggesting topics for postings and even inviting them to visit its corporate headquarters.

    In the messages, Wal-Mart promotes positive news about itself, like the high number of job applications it received at a new store in Illinois, and criticizes opponents, noting for example that a rival, Target, raised "zero" money for the Salvation Army in 2005, because it banned red-kettle collectors from stores.

    The author of the e-mail messages is a blogger named Marshall Manson, a senior account supervisor at Edelman who writes for conservative Web sites like Human Events Online, which advocates limited government, and Confirm Them, which has pushed for the confirmation of President Bush's judicial nominees.

    At Edelman, Mr. Manson, who sends many of the e-mail messages to bloggers, works closely on the Wal-Mart account with Mike Krempasky, a co-founder of RedState.org, a conservative blog. Both are regular bloggers, which in Mr. Manson's case means he has written critically of individuals and groups Wal-Mart may eventually call on for support.

    OH NO Mr Bill not Wal-Mart Bloggers.......................any thing but that.....

    ReplyDelete
  105. Anonymous12:42 AM

    March 7th, 2006
    Civil Wars and Global Corporations
    by Tom Harper @ 12:09 am

    In the Congo, the death toll is now close to six million people. Their civil war has been going on for ten years now, with no end in sight. Most of the deaths have been civilians — killed by starvation and disease.

    http://www.teambio.org/2006/03/civil-wars-and-global-corporations/

    And you didn’t even know there was a civil war going on in the Congo. (I didn’t either until a few days ago.) Who wants to hear about a civil war killing millions of people in some Third World country?

    The war is between the Congolese army and different rebel groups backed by Uganda and Rwanda. This war has been called “Africa’s First World War” and “the world’s most neglected emergency.” They’re fighting over control of the natural resources in the area: diamonds, tin, copper, gold and most of all, coltan (I hadn’t heard of it either).

    Coltan is a heat-resistant mineral that’s heavily used in cell phones and laptops. Because of the huge demand, coltan mining is bringing in millions of dollars to the governments and militias fighting over turf.

    On the surface this looks like ethnic warfare. But the flames are being fanned by the corporations that are buying these minerals. All of the coltan is bought by just three companies: Cabot Inc. (American), H.C. Starc (German) and Nigncxia (Chinese). These are the only companies that are able to process coltan for use in electronic components. The final product is then sold to Nokia, Motorola, Compaq, Sony, etc.

    In the “small world” department, Sam Bodman, former CEO of Cabot Inc. is now George W. Bush’s Secretary of Energy. When Bush was governor of Texas, he permitted Cabot and several other major polluters to maintain or even increase their levels of toxic emissions.

    Weapons from all over the U.S. and Europe are pouring into the Congo — just what they need.

    Funny with all the aruba stories, you would think the MSM would have 30 seconds to spare.

    ReplyDelete
  106. Anonymous1:04 AM

    Worfeus it is not the troops but the supplies, three meals each, each day, bullets bombs, tons and tons of supplies, the UAE port and the Port in Iraq near Basra are what count. The russians have no effective logistical train, or supply train to sustain their army. The Germans lost in russia in 1942 because they could not supply their troops miles deep inside russia. The same problem would face China, we have a good logistical train for the military, 16 soldiers support each fighter in the military thus he who can supply their army can win in a conventional mass army on mass army battle.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Anonymous1:10 AM

    Worfeus It took from late september 1990 until early 1991 to get all the US military units and their supplies in place for Desert Storm, but you could fly 500,000 troops over there in about a week with a fleet of 100 planes. It is the equipment, supplies and ammunition that takes time. Anything on the water is sitting ducks for our Los Angles Class attack subs. So the chinese have not a good option if India says no to going thru. There is no good way for the Russian Army to move into the theater in Iran, especially with our JSTARS air ground tracking radar and the Air Force that would attack such a move. If they can not get the equipment to the battle the armies are like poland against germany 1939 again.

    ReplyDelete
  108. Anonymous1:20 AM

    Worfeus the Iranians have little or no expierence with the concepts of what we call Air Land Battle and do not coordinate their military assests. Their pilots have little battle expierence and do not have AWACS and JSTARS which give every enemy plane for AWACS and ground vehicle for JSTARS, so we know exactally where they are and can decide how to dismantle them, The navy has one carrier battle group and that is a whole nother demon for the iranian to deal with, we have aegis that tracks missles and many ways to defeat them, tanks as proven in 1991 and 2003 are death traps when facing the US military, so Iran may have the equipment and people but not the smart bombs missles cruise missles and tactics we use, they would fall like the iraqis.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Anonymous1:26 AM

    Worfeus the Russian Military at the end of Desert Storm came to the conclusion thta they could not beat us, that was the crisis in dec91 where the hardliners and gorbachav went at it, the hardliners wanted to gear up further but gorby knew they were 1 generation behind in air, tanks munitions and naval power and falling further each year, thus he knew they had lost the cold war. the chinese do not have developed enough yet to face us, 10-20 years maybe but not now. Cruise missles stelth and smart munitions remove numerical advantage of personnel in battle senerios, cut off a militaries head and they are a lot of uncoordinated people in uniform, and take away their ability to communicate they are lost, ask Saddam he did not know what was happening in Kuwait in the first war, and lost commo with his units in Iraq by Day two of the invasion.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Anonymous1:30 AM

    The chinese and russians don't win in a shooting war,but they can if they can keep us spending 100-150 billion on maintaining a military presence in the gulf states for a decade then we have spent over 1 trillion dollars for no actual economic goods and the service of defense where it denys newe generations of weapon development and replacement of repair parts and munitions does aid their military advantage to the detriment of ours.

    ReplyDelete
  111. Anonymous1:33 AM

    PS what did you think of the Wal-Mart blogger story I had to laugh,
    ...red light

    special two for one sale ,

    one narrowminded neo-con blogger

    and one christofascist blogger

    for the price of one normal minded blogger

    ReplyDelete
  112. Good Morning All:

    Sorry my mind is already fried. I've been in here for over an hour trying to read posts on this page and I'm still not done...so sorry if this is off topic now, but I did want to comment on some of the posts -

    Mike said...
    "Well I agree wrestling is crap today"

    I agree to that too. I actually went to a wrestling match at State Line a little over a year ago. It's totally geared for little boys now. I was bored so bored. Granted, I only went in hopes of seeing "Chyna Doll" because she was supposed to do a guest appearance, but man, the event was boring (because it was so obviously fake). Naturally, Chyna flaked too. :(

    Mike said...
    "I've always been a sucker for action movies Clif, problem is all those guys got old, the only action star that comes to my mind today is the Rock."

    What about Vin Deisel (sorry, I probably spelled his name wrong)?
    I really liked "Fast and the Furious" the first one not the second so much.

    Worf said:
    "And the Russians? They fought and WON! They beat the Germans back and took back their homeland from overwhelming firepower and the German Panzer Corp."

    This reminded me of "Enemy at the Gate" - I don't know why but I really liked that movie. Well, not because it was about the war, but I really thought they put it together really well. Just my personal opinion. Granted - this is coming from me who also loved "The Saint," "House Sitter," "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves,""Boys Don't Cry" (but only to the point where the kid gets bailed out of jail after that my friend and I shut it off every time),& "Moulin Rouge."

    ReplyDelete
  113. Good Morning Lydia:

    Have you seen Transamerica yet? I haven't seen Brokeback, but my friend and I did go see "Transamerica" (oh yeah, and "Rent"). It was quite fascinating what all she had to go through. I think they could've done the movie without the nudity though - that & the nature of the son's business was way too much info. Though overall, it was a very interesting movie.

    Rene

    As for the rest of you guys - I know the rest of you guys in here are going to probably dish it out to me for that one, but it really was an interesting movie, so I'm not even going to comment on whatever you might dish out at me as long as its not offensive. ;}

    ReplyDelete
  114. Enter Sandman>

    ReplyDelete
  115. Anonymous3:28 AM

    I liked Brokeback mountain the first time I saw it when it was called Deliverance.

    ReplyDelete
  116. MSNBC News Services
    Updated: 11:57 a.m. ET March 7, 2006
    WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney told Iran on Tuesday that enrichment of nuclear fuel on Iranian territory was unacceptable and warned that Tehran would face “meaningful consequences” if it continued to pursue its nuclear program.

    “The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course the international community is prepared to impose meaningful consequences,” Cheney said in a speech to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC.

    “For our part, the United States is keeping all options on the table,” he said. “We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

    ReplyDelete
  117. Clif said "The russians are in disarray from a military standpoint, they have little lift capabilities and they need to move troops 1000 miles and supply them, same for thr chinese but they go over the himalayas, or take on the US Navy, which they don't dare. The troops are not the determinating factor for sucess but the logitistics train, beans and bullets, you can't win with out either. Any military man knows this but the neo-cons don't so they go with troop strength.

    12:06 AM "


    Clif, I was talking to a career military guy Saturday night regarding China, Russia and Iran, and he basically said the same exact thing you did.

    ReplyDelete
  118. Well looks like theyre gearing up for the case to go into Iran, yesterday they claimed Iran was supplying the insurgents with deadly weapons, today its Iran becoming a Nuclear power, how long before they link the two with word association and fear tactics just like they did Saddam and Al Queda.

    ReplyDelete
  119. BTW Rene, your right, I did forget about vin Diesel, I like him also.

    ReplyDelete
  120. Worfeus said "BTW, I don't know about the rest of you, but that Picture of Lydia on the cover with Aaron Spelling, well, I guess its the dress, but worfeus like."

    Agreed, that is a great picture, Lydia's been putting up lots of great pics lately, in fact i've never seen a picture where she doesnt look good, she's very photogenic, unlike me.

    ReplyDelete
  121. MSNBC News Services
    Updated: 3:07 p.m. ET March 7, 2006
    WASHINGTON - Three top Bush administration officials issued harsh words against Iran on Tuesday, underscoring growing tension over Middle East nation's continued refusal to back down on its nuclear program.

    Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice both warned of dire consequences if Iran continued its nuclear fuel enrichment, while Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed that Iranian Revolutionary Guard elements had infiltrated Iraq to cause trouble.

    “They are currently putting people into Iraq to do things that are harmful to the future of Iraq,” Rumsfeld said while denying that an increase in violence between sects in Iraq is the beginning of a civil war there. “And we know it. And it is something that they, I think, will look back on as having been an error in judgment.”

    ReplyDelete
  122. Worf said:

    "France did not stand a chance over Germany in WW2. They were ill equiped for the German technology, particularly the air and armour, and therefore chose to surrender"...

    This statement, for the most part, is incorrect. The Polish were ill equiped, but, the French and its allies were not.

    Actually Worf, German armour at this time (May 1940) was really no better than the British or French. Both sides had their strenghts and weaknesses. The allies had approximately 3000 tanks compared to Germanys 2700.

    The Germans simply used their armour more imaginatively.

    However, it is true German aircraft was technically and numerically superior. The germans had 3200 planes compared to the allies 1700. This was their only true superiority

    The Germans had 2,350,000 troops compared to the allies 2,800,000 troops.

    Nevertheless, a powerful, daring, and brilliant thrust by Col.General Heinz Guderian's armour, towards Dunkirk, trapped half a million allies thus splitting and creating panic among the forces.

    This supposedly sealed Frances fate ultimately leading to their surrender and their being labelled chickens as they were still a formidable fighting force; they gave up too easily.

    And this troubles me!

    The French chose preservation of its cities/towns and people through surrender, as opposed to the Russians who fought vehemently, but, suffered catastrophic losses to its people and cities/towns???

    Ultimately, it was shear tactics that beat France..... not their being ill equiped.

    ReplyDelete
  123. Anonymous2:22 PM

    Lydia made this comment about herself, "I said, How do you think the world views Bush talking about "freedom" while a mother who lost her son for the cause of freedom is handcuffed and marched out of her own Capitol building for wearing the number of our dead soldiers on her black shirt? Some freedom."

    Only people who care what the world thinks about them say/write such statements. Only people who want to live with the world and not dominate the world say such things. On the whole though, I have to say while such experiences above are clearly big to Americans, they are not to the world.

    What the world notices are the great topics that really matter outside America and behaviours indicative of how America views the world. Do you see the difference? It is not what the world thinks about America (that's arrogant, most people I work with and know don't give a damn about America because they don't live in America, they are not Americans), it's how America views the world. It's what America chooses to then do with those views. That's what forms world opinion of you.

    What we outside America notice, isn't Cindy Sheehan, it's how inmates are treated at Guantanamo. Three Asian Brits were allowed out recently having been found innocent. Their horrific story is soon to be told on Channel 4 here in Britain. When this airs it is going to create a lot more hostility towards, unfortunately and unfairly, ALL Americans.

    http://www.channel4.com/film/newsfeatures/new_news_story.jsp?xid=A8281171140527771A00

    We also notice the disparity between the 'freedom' you scream about and what you do with it; the racism and mistreatment of black New Orleans, the warmongering and war profiteering in the Middle East, the controversial election result of Bush and the fact that a fascist is the President of the United States of America, the rise of evangelism evidenced by the passing of anti-abortion laws, record oil profits, America's refusal to join the World Court, America's refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol, American aggression, militarism and intervention towards those who do not support them i.e. World bullying and domination, it's a long list. There's very little positive to add to this list at the moment.

    That is why I am not typical of most foreigners, I take an unusually deep interest in America because I see that you need allies, not enemies, to defeat the forces overwhelming your constitution. I see that what happens in America spreads to other countries rapidly. The (western) world liked Clinton and generally enjoyed most Democratic Administrations because they caused us the least trouble. But honestly, you have to overcome your arrogance if you want to help your cause.

    Please do not think I am saying everything is rosy here, it's not, far from it. There are worse countries in the world than America, the difference is you aspire to lead the world and are in a position to do so, at least try to make the job easier for yourselves. I remain your ally and am proud to be so, I often rebuke people here for their silly or ignorant comments.

    Just remember, if you want external allies, it's how America views the world (and itself) and what it then does with those views that matters.

    Clif, thanks for your reply to my earlier post regarding Bush's intelligence. I have incorporated your intelligent opinion. Worf, thanks for your help too and Mike for your views and support. I created the essay to e-mail to my friends across the country (and in other countries France, Africa, New Zealand and Germany) as some are curious but do not understand the mess in America. I am trying to tell people the truth and garner further support for people like you – the progressives of America.

    ReplyDelete
  124. Cliff said:

    "The Germans lost in russia in 1942 because they could not supply their troops miles deep inside russia."

    This statement too is incorrect.

    Actually Cliff, the German army was very well supplied inside Russia and had sweeping victories throughout 1942 that had the rest of the world convinced Russia was kaput!

    However, in Dec 1942, Col. General Von Paulus's 6th Army was suddenly surrounded by 1,000,000 Ivans with 1200 tanks at Staligrad; this surprised the world.

    The supplies were there, however, it was a question of how to get the supplies to Von Paulus's encircled 6th Army?

    Goering literally promised Hitler he could supply the entire 6th Army from the air....what a fathead! This failed miserably.

    Anyways, Paulus, who pleaded daily with Hitler to allow his army to break out of the circle while it was still powerful, soon became weak from lack of supplies and died a horrible death, thus ending what was the greatest conflict in the history of mankind.

    Quite remarkably, the entire German 1500 mile front, was, for the most part, well supplied, although the SS divisions always got the best slice of the pie.

    You are right though Cliff, most people do not grasp the enormity of how logistically difficult it is to supply an army with its daily needs, in order to keep ticking.

    As for Iran, allow me to provide a little food for thought.

    The Germans, over and over again defeated the Russians in some battles against odds of 10 to 1 in men and material.

    For example, in the battle of Belgorod, 65,000 German troops jostled back 450,000 Russian troops.

    East Prussia, where panic turned to indescribable terror, is another staggering example of how the Germans held out against overwhelming Russian forces. Thousands of men, women, and children, simply died under T-34 tracks.

    P.S. Hope you didnt mean 1945 Cliff, thereby forcing me to write another essay?

    "Enemy at the Gates" is actually very good historically. I give it a three out of ten for showing the true horrors of Stalingrad. I knew of this sniper conflict ten years before the movie came out. The real characters are:

    Private Vasily Zaitsev vs. SS Col. Heinz Thorwald.

    ReplyDelete
  125. Anonymous3:17 PM

    Mike said;

    Clif, I was talking to a career military guy Saturday night regarding China, Russia and Iran, and he basically said the same exact thing you did.

    Mike I was a career military guy, until U was disabled in Desert Storm, I had 13 years in uniform.

    ReplyDelete
  126. Clif or Worf or Johnny, are any of you guys familiar with the tanks we have now, i've heard we have 2 stroke tanks that are capable of 90MPH, just curious, 2 strokes are plain mean, I love 2 strokes.

    ReplyDelete
  127. Anonymous3:26 PM

    Johnny as to your comment about France and Germany, France fought static armored trench warfare, that is fighting from fixed positions, and germany fought an early version of air-land battle, integrating air assests with advancing ground forces, which means they could mass overwhelming force at points along the front and destroy thre defenders and then use the mobility if the ground forces to take advantage of thee breaches in the french defences and move into the rear where there was little military defences. We did the same hitting them at normandy, and breaking out for Pattons run accross france.

    ReplyDelete
  128. Worf, Sorry for taking so long to get back.....I was chompin on burnt steak.

    If you read my post again you will see I AM NOT disputing German air superiority over the French.

    Wrong Worf, the French Char B tank had a 75 mm gun and nearly double the thickness in armour of the best german tank.

    Vastly superior is much to strong a word. Also, I never said equal, both tank designs had strengths and weaknesses.

    While the Mark 4 was the most produced tank for the Germans , I like the Panther as all around best tank. The Mark 4 had no sloping armour.

    ReplyDelete
  129. Clif that wasnt meant as a knock at you in any way.

    ReplyDelete
  130. Anonymous3:35 PM

    No mike a two stroke engine is not really what the military wanted, the M 1 used a turbine engine like the ones that power a blackhawk helicopter

    ReplyDelete
  131. Clif, I just thought it was interesting that two knowledable military guys said basically the exact same thing. that just adds weight and credence to what you said. I defer to your knowledge when it comes to military scenarios and respect your opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  132. Anonymous3:37 PM

    Mike I didn't take it that way but I wasn't sure you knew I was making the Army a carrer when I got disabled.

    ReplyDelete
  133. Anonymous3:54 PM

    You both have to under stand it is not just the tanks, but the tactics, a tiger tank will kill a sherman tank 1 on 1 every time, but 4 shermans always win, by using tactics and getting one behind the tiger to shoot the tiger from behind every tanks weakspot, a ww1 tank can kill a M 1 if it can get a shot off from behind intoi the turbine exhaust. Good tactics make up for less that adequate weapons more than superior weapons make up for poor tactics, that is DRILLED into every incoming officers head during ROTC.

    ReplyDelete
  134. Worf

    Yes the French did have some bummer tanks, however, the British Matilda could stand up to the heaviest of German tank fire.

    Nevertheless, German tanks did combine speed and hitting power.

    ReplyDelete
  135. Anonymous4:02 PM

    Saddam was refighting the trench style of defense warfare where the mass of his military was fixed so the air campaign was to attrit his forces, and every day we got an intelligence update as to hwo far his armor and artillery were being destroyed, We knew the limits they were going for, so we could see daily how close we were getting to, and then the armored forces went to destroy the fixed armor and artillery. Also the M 1 had confirmed kills at ranges of over 2.5 miles, ranges the US armor forces trained at in the desert at Ft. Irwin California where the US army divisions trained brigabe against opposition forces styled on soviet forces equipment and tactics, the Iraqi's trained to fire at less than 1/2 mile ranges, its like you train to wait until I get with in 50 ft to shoot and I train to shoot at 300 yards, you probably will lose because you are not looking for me yet.

    ReplyDelete
  136. Cliff

    Thats what I said in my previous post about Guderian. The Germans had excellent tactics.

    Actually Cliff, SS Lieut. Micheal Wittman destroyed, I believe, twenty Shermans in one day with his sole Tiger.

    ReplyDelete
  137. Anonymous4:09 PM

    Johnny One at a time, if they had massed four or five and run both sides of the Tiger it can not fire and traverse the turrent fast enough to get them all before one or two will get behind and get a shot at the power plant which is how the allies killed the tiger.

    ReplyDelete
  138. Anonymous4:13 PM

    Worfeus said,
    So to summarize my argument, the Air Superiority of the German Luftwaffe, and the new, high tech, light and fast German armour which sported firepower as strong as the french tanks, but could deploy that firepower at speeds the French tanks could not even approach, created overwhelming odds for the French.

    Johnny said,
    Thats what I said in my previous post about Guderian. The Germans had excellent tactics.

    Combine these paraghrphs and you see a simplified definition of what became Air land battle in the 60's which is the basis of the US militaries tactical stragety in battle.

    ReplyDelete
  139. Cliff

    True, however, on this occasion Shermans panicked, perhaps due to inexpeience, and Wittman picked several off.

    ReplyDelete
  140. Anonymous4:16 PM

    BTW Patton studied Guderian and Rommel, and learned their tactics and incorporated them into the early armor corps tactics.

    ReplyDelete
  141. Anonymous4:18 PM

    Poor leadership Johnny, means poor training of the commanders,

    Patton stated he would rather a army of lambs lead by a lion that an army of loins led by a lamb

    ReplyDelete
  142. Worf said

    ...." the big ugly French Main Battle tanks."

    LOL, AGREED!

    ReplyDelete
  143. Worf said

    "The Panzer V would not have played a role in the fall of France."


    I know Worf, I was just having fun.

    ReplyDelete
  144. Anonymous4:27 PM

    Worfeus you know alot more about the armor than I do because in the military we are taught to study tactics, and trained to improvise, so we can think on the run in battle and have an idea what the enemy might do, so we can counter it. I knew the US armor was vastly superior to the Iraqi and our tactics were designed to take advantage of the superior ability when I got on the plane to deploy

    ReplyDelete
  145. Cliff said

    "BTW Patton studied Guderian and Rommel, and learned their tactics and incorporated them into the early armor corps tactics."

    Yes, I know Cliff....Patton was truly a great General. Alot of charachter.

    ReplyDelete
  146. Anonymous4:33 PM

    Johmmy pattons real contribution was his ability to take an advantage the enemy had and figure out how to adapt it to whjat he had to work with, he knew the german armor was technically superior and the main gun of the sherman 76mm was inferrior to the tiger 90mm so he looked at their tactics and figured out how to beat them, and got the military to integrate this idea into the thinking of the military.

    ReplyDelete
  147. Worf

    The Mark 4, with its side skirts, was a joke compared to the heavy Panther and its thick, well sloped armour.

    I,ll take you on any day in a tank battle.

    ReplyDelete
  148. Anonymous4:36 PM

    Worfeus they are working on that but the developement time is long for such a anti IED weapon, and costs are not in the budget because the leadership in DC do not see it as a high priority as the see tax cuts.

    ReplyDelete
  149. Anonymous4:38 PM

    Lucky for us Hilter seldom listened to him.

    Sound fimilar?

    ReplyDelete
  150. Sorry Worf

    Many Jagdpanthers were built. I have a motorized one in my living room right now.

    ReplyDelete
  151. Worf

    No German tank had an effective range of two miles.

    Yeah, well then I,ll get a Tiger 2 and simply squash your tin can. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  152. Anonymous4:47 PM

    The US military looked into that Idea Johnny, the have the prototype on display at the Patton Museum at Ft. Knox, I was assigned there. Neat Museum, they have alot of armor from history inside, they also have Pattons command truck and one of hie staff cars.

    ReplyDelete
  153. Worf said

    "Ever see a STURMPANZER Johnny?"

    I have a model of that too, but not motorized.

    ReplyDelete
  154. Cliff said

    "The US military looked into that Idea Johnny, the have the prototype on display at the Patton Museum at Ft. Knox, I was assigned there. Neat Museum, they have alot of armor from history inside, they also have Pattons command truck and one of hie staff cars."

    Do you mean a tank with a range of two miles?

    Also, I think I would faint if I seen this museum.... sounds way too cool.

    ReplyDelete
  155. Anonymous4:58 PM

    Shinseki, cheif of staff of the Army at the time, Rumsfeld announced his replacement about 2 years early so Shinseki read the tea leaves and retired.

    ReplyDelete
  156. Anonymous5:03 PM

    Johnny the M 1 has a range of over 2.5 miles, I know it did that and more in Desert Strom...

    ReplyDelete
  157. Anonymous5:07 PM

    Worfeus they have the flail for the M 1, it is a big rotating beam with chains attached anf d causes the mines to explode and they have a big v shaped plow that shoves the mines to the side most detonate, but for roads not much, and it would not be hard to out wit any anti-mine measures for hard topped roadways because most devices are off to the side and have various triggers

    ReplyDelete
  158. Cliff said

    "Johnny the M 1 has a range of over 2.5 miles, I know it did that and more in Desert Strom..."

    WOW ! I did not know this. I seen a show on the Discovery channel awhile back describing the M1; guess I forgot.

    ReplyDelete
  159. Anonymous5:17 PM

    Johnny the tank has optically enhanced sensors and a lot of Iraqi units first knowledge the US had arrived was the T-64, T-72 main battle tanks erupting in large fireballs, after the end of the war I got to blow about 50 tanks, and It is a rush to dee the turrent do flips as it comes off the top of the chassis, we learned to do that,

    **warning**

    do not give bored GI's large amounts of high explosives in the desert and let them play, funny things happen, we actually learned to cause the turrent flip and stand on the main gun befroe the breach block failed and the turrent broke off the gun.

    ReplyDelete
  160. LOL Cliff :D

    That sounds like big time fun. I think Worf and I would enjoy blasting the turrets off tanks.

    ReplyDelete
  161. Anonymous5:26 PM

    It was fun for the time, but the really big blasts were the ammo sites, I got to make a small mushrum cloud with about 250,000 lbs of high explosives in one shot., I also blew up a BDRM filled with 122 artillery rounds, just for kicks we shut all the hatches tight, blew the power pack 500 feet away the top hatch made about 700 yards(acording to a helo pilot) and I ended up with a really big smoke ring.

    ReplyDelete
  162. Updated: 7:49 p.m. ET March 7, 2006
    WASHINGTON - The House renewed the USA Patriot Act in a cliffhanger vote Tuesday night, extending a centerpiece of the war on terrorism at President Bush’s urging after months of political combat over the balance between privacy rights and the pursuit of potential terrorists.

    Bush, forced by filibuster to accept new curbs on law enforcement investigations, is expected to sign the legislation before 16 provisions of the 2001 law expire on Friday.

    The vote was 280-138, just two more than needed under special rules that required a two-thirds majority. It marked a political victory for Bush and will allow congressional Republicans facing midterm elections this year to continue touting a tough-on-terror stance. Bush’s approval ratings have suffered in recent months after revelations that he had authorized secret, warrantless wiretapping of Americans.

    ReplyDelete
  163. Worf said

    "Well, as a kid I used to take firecrackers and position them under the turrets of my revell model tanks."

    Get out of town Worf! I used to do the exact same thing; I would even pour gas on them afterwards.

    ReplyDelete
  164. Anonymous5:31 PM

    As a kid I disassembles shot gun shells to get the gun power, made for fun but I have a small particle in the edge of one of my fingers, and never told my parents how I hurt my hand to this day,

    ReplyDelete
  165. Your a bad boy Cliff. LOL :)

    ReplyDelete
  166. Anonymous5:34 PM

    Worfeus the patriot act is the opening act for the governments supression of all rights when the whole economic mess starts to collapse, Some at the top can see the writing on the wall so they prepare. The act protects us from the terrorists and protects them from us at the right time.C

    ReplyDelete
  167. Worf said

    "The idea was when the firecracker when off, the matches would ignite and the paper would burn and blow fire out the hatches on the turret."

    LOL Worf. That is like so cool. Makes me want to go out right now and blow up a few of the ones in my living room.

    ReplyDelete
  168. Anonymous5:37 PM

    I also put a shotgun shell in a vise and hit the cap with a hammer, I'll never do that again.... l LOUD noise but with out the chamber and barrel to contain the gasses the slug didn't even penetrate the wall.

    ReplyDelete
  169. I used to play with army men and takes also used to put fire crackers in the tanks or in the ground near them and shoot bottle rockets at them.

    ReplyDelete
  170. Cliff said

    "I also put a shotgun shell in a vise and hit the cap with a hammer, I'll never do that again.... l LOUD noise but with out the chamber and barrel to contain the gasses the slug didn't even penetrate the wall."

    Holy s*#t Cliff......thats crazy. Your balls are certainly bigger than mine.

    ReplyDelete
  171. Anonymous5:47 PM

    Worfeus you are almost mentally competent to be a bomb tech, we used to tell each other what stupid stunts we did as kids, but were found mentally certified to perform the job.

    I was not the most out landish as a child from my class.

    ReplyDelete
  172. I also had 1/2 stick of dynamite forgot what it was called, but I put 2 of them in a rotted old tree that was filled with like 10,000 bees, after that thing blew, there were 5000 bees swarming up and down the street foe a day or two.

    Also used to empty the gunpowder out of M80's anf K1000's and make pipe bombs out of them. we also used to blow up paint and airosol cans, it looked exactly like a mini atom bomb a fire ball would go like 30 feet in the air, followed by a black smoke ring going like 70 feet in the air, it was unbelievable. I was wild when I was younger.

    ReplyDelete
  173. Anonymous5:51 PM

    Johnny it had very little to do with balls and a lot more to do with a disconnect between the brain and actions I undertook as an teenager.

    ReplyDelete
  174. Bottle rockets are cool Mike....never fired one though.

    But, I swear we used to regularly throw Molotov cocktails at each other; especially when we were inside our forts.

    ReplyDelete
  175. Good post at Wampum Worf.

    ReplyDelete
  176. Mike said

    "we also used to blow up paint and airosol cans, it looked exactly like a mini atom bomb a fire ball would go like 30 feet in the air, followed by a black smoke"

    We did that too Mike. Its truly amazing how big the explosion is from paint cans. I swear no ones parents had a single paint can in their house. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  177. Anonymous6:02 PM

    From the you can't make this shit up file;

    Delegate’s gun fires in legislative office

    BY PAMELA STALLSMITH
    TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

    Jan 27, 2006

    A remorseful Del. John S. Reid apologized yesterday after a handgun he was attempting to unload went off in his legislative office, firing into a bulletproof vest hanging in the middle of the door to the reception area.

    No one was hurt in the accident, which happened shortly before 9 a.m. on the seventh floor of the General Assembly Building.

    Reid said he didn’t think anyone was outside the door when the gun went off. The door opens to the area where secretaries work and visitors including constituents, lobbyists and staff members — frequently walk by.

    The vest worked — the bullet was shattered.

    ReplyDelete
  178. Anonymous6:05 PM

    Of course the dead eye dick impersonator Mr. Reid is .........drum roll please.............,,,,,,,,,,,,,.............. a repug.

    ReplyDelete
  179. Anonymous6:19 PM

    I followed some links and if you have a concealed permit, you can legally carry a gun into the VA legislature, insane but guns have rights as we all know.

    ReplyDelete
  180. There, I voted for the very lovely Lydia.

    Hope I get a hug and kiss for this.

    He he :D

    ReplyDelete
  181. As for free speech I think there are two kinds. The first is free speech in totality and the second free speech with limits.

    I equate the first as free speech anarchy and the second as free speech with responsibility - sure, we all have the right to offend one another but I argue there must be limits i.e. where are the benefits of nazism, extreme antigay, extreme racism speech? I think it more responsible (and difficult) to establish a moral level in society.

    -British Gary

    I agree, British Gary, there must be limits on free speech, the more, the better. Anyone who spouts hate speech is guilty of an egregious crime and must be sent to prison. Now we don’t really need to define “hate speech” because we all know it when we hear it. But to your list of “nazi, “anti-gay”, and “racist” speech, I would add anti-Christian, anti-straight, communist sympathizing, and disagreeing with the President. While we’re at it we should include prohibitions against flag burning and insulting Islam with cartoons.

    I think you Europeans have it just right; everyone’s sensibilities must be protected from such irresponsible speech. For example, in Austria:

    Right -wing British historian David Irving pleaded guilty Monday to charges of denying the Holocaust and was sentenced to three years in prison after conceding he was wrong to say there were no Nazi gas chambers at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

    Unless irresponsible speech like this is prevented, lies and chaos will spread because the common people are simply not capable of grasping the truth. Therefore truth must be legislated by intellectuals like us. I know you have similar laws in the U.K. and these are exactly the sort of laws we need in the United States immediately. I also liked your firearm analogy, we also need to outlaw all firearms like you have done in England. Allowing anyone except the state authorities to have guns is simply asking for trouble from the riff-raff.

    You may not be aware that we, in the U.S., have already made great strides in the area of limiting irresponsible free speech. For example, a student may be expelled for violating university speech codes. This keeps unruly students from disagreeing with their professors and thereby disrupting the lecture. Also any company may be sued for millions if one of its employees says something offensive to another employee.

    But we have not gone near far enough! Anyone who offends another person on the internet should be tracked down and imprisoned. Any books containing hate speech should be burned in the middle of town square. Newspapers, radio talk shows, and television programs should be closely monitored by a state Department of Truth and Virtue. Unless we act now to outlaw all hate speech we will continue to have this anarchy and chaos.

    Personally, I know something offensive is said to me every day and this must stop! All this hate speech is simply unacceptable; it is imperative to enforce a certain moral level in society. Also, I suspect that my neighbor lady is really a witch.

    ReplyDelete
  182. Anonymous6:46 PM

    FF one mans hate speech is anothers patriotism, and as long as no physical damage is done I go for more free speech, openness and tolerance do a democracy make, censorship makes the censor an arbitrator of acceptable ideas, and is the first step to totalarism whether of the left or right.

    ReplyDelete
  183. Anonymous6:53 PM

    And we even have our very own voltair......

    ReplyDelete
  184. Anonymous6:59 PM

    The right is for free speech as long as it agrees with them other wise Bull Conner, Richard Nixon, Joesph McCarthy, Spiro Agnew, Bill O'Lielly types emerge.

    ReplyDelete
  185. Anonymous7:05 PM

    And Clif was enjoying germany at the behest of the US army

    ReplyDelete
  186. Anonymous7:12 PM

    LOL, Worfeus was almost 17 in 1976, lol.

    I just seem young.

    Holy crap you're old Clif, LOL.

    Clif was 19 in 1976;

    pot meet kettle

    ReplyDelete
  187. Worf said

    "Seriously though you left a nice message and that was cool."

    Thanx Worf, yours is GOOD as well. And I do believe she deserves this award after putting up with us boneheads for so long.

    ReplyDelete
  188. Anonymous7:24 PM

    Didnt FF say he was 46?

    We're all slowly going over the hill.... but it ain't a carnival ride on the other side

    ReplyDelete
  189. Anonymous7:30 PM

    My bad it was Voltair, he said 46, my appologies FF

    ReplyDelete
  190. Hey Cliff, you voted as well. Cool!

    ReplyDelete
  191. so I guess i'm the youngster on this board.

    ReplyDelete
  192. In March of 1976, old mikey was 5 years old

    ReplyDelete
  193. I was around for a small portion of the 1960's though.

    ReplyDelete
  194. Anonymous8:09 PM

    Mikey weren't you born in 1971

    ReplyDelete
  195. Mike

    I just found your vote. For a second there I thought you didnt vote at all.

    Doug Basham voted too.

    My age is classified!

    ReplyDelete
  196. Actually I was 6 years old in 1976.

    ReplyDelete
  197. No, I was born in late 1969, I guess i cant count to 10 tonight

    ReplyDelete
  198. Anonymous8:16 PM

    Come on Johnny this site is secure nobody will know and we promise we'll never tell

    ReplyDelete
  199. Anonymous8:19 PM

    Hermann Goering speaking at the Nuremberg trials after World War II.

    Göring: "Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."
    Gilbert: "There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."
    Göring: "Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
    -- Hermann Göring, from Nuremberg Diary by G. M. Gilbert.
    In an interview with Gilbert in Göring's jail cell during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials (18 April 1946)

    Hermans knows, as Karl knows

    ReplyDelete
  200. thats chilling Clif.

    ReplyDelete