08:08 – Barbara is leaving work at 2:00 this afternoon to head for the golf course. It’s been a very long time since she played golf. I was surprised she decided to play a round instead of spending a couple hours on the driving range first, but she wants to actually play. When she was in high school and college, Barbara was a scratch golfer and actually thought about turning pro, so I’m sure she’ll be unhappy with whatever she shoots today. Kind of like I’d be unhappy with the results if I picked up a tennis racket and headed for the courts after not playing for almost 40 years.
I’m seeing calls for Obama to Do Something about the airliner shoot-down in the Ukraine. Do what, precisely? It seems to me that the US government needs to adopt a new motto: “Don’t Just Do Something. Stand There.” The default position of the US government on world events needs to be: “This is not our problem.”
People slaughtering each other in Africa, Asia, or the Middle East? This is not our problem. Russia invading Ukraine? This is not our problem. North Korea threatening South Korea? This is not our problem. Tsunamis in East Asia? This is not our problem. Almost none of what happens on the world stage is our problem, and US taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to pay to fix any of it. And US troops certainly shouldn’t be deployed outside the US to deal with issues that are not our problem.
There it is; couldn’t say it any better. Stay home and mind our own biz.
Here is Dear Leader just killing them as they roll in the aisles, Mr. Comedian:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2696366/It-looks-like-terrible-tragedy-Obama-briefly-addresses-Malaysian-plane-crash-emerges-23-U-S-passengers-board.html
And here is our pal Billy Gates, laying off thousands and bringing in thousands from somewhere else, just so long as they’re not filthy Murkans…
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/07/17/Microsoft-to-Slash-18-000-Jobs-Week-After-Bill-Gates-Pushed-for-Unlimited-Guest-Worker-Visas
WSJ: “U.S. intelligence confirms surface-to-air missile fired at Malaysian jet but are divided over origin.”
We’ll never know the real situation now, will we? Was it a Russian SAM? Ukrainian? If the latter, was it the gummint or the rebels? Was it a CIA and/or Mossad operation? We’ll just never know. Whatever they tell us is likely to be bald-faced lies or half-truths, as is their SOP. Because if it was the Russian or Ukrainian military, it’s pretty close to an act of war.
But real acts of war have occurred on our southern border and we’ve done jack about those.
The default position of the US government on world events needs to be: “This is not our problem.”
Agreed 100%.
Unfortunately if the US does not do something one of the factions will bitch the US is not doing anything to help. If we help we are evil, if we don’t help we are evil. Depends on the perspective.
If a country asks for help we will provide it. But the country has to pay up front for any such services. Send the aid necessary and bill an additional 50% over actual cost to cover oversight. Same as they at the nuclear plants in Oak Ridge. No money, no help.
Natural disasters should be the same. We do not send any money or aid unless the country asks and pays. But in this case we only charge a 10% premium, paid in full before any such aid is issued. I don’t remember any countries offering any significant aid to the US for for 9/11 and New Orleans.
Obviously, the US usually doesn’t really need any help. But in past disasters some countries have in fact sent aid. You can probably guess which ones: Canada, Australia, and Britain.
So, yeah, if one of those countries suffers a disaster I would expect the US government to send aid without counting the cost. I don’t mind my taxes helping to support disaster relief efforts in any of those countries, because they would do the same for us.
In all fairness, there are a couple of other countries that have helped us in the past, and I’d also include them in the group. But as to most of the rest of the world, screw them.
Agreed.
And for an old-timey haht-wommuh story:
After the huge explosion in Halifax (NS) Hahbuh (1917) we sent, mostly from Maffachufetts, Boston, mostly, a bunch of doctors, nurses and other assistance. The following year Halifax sent a Christmas tree to Boston and that custom was revived annually in 1971.
Also, IIRC, one of my history teachers back in the day told us that Finland was the only country that ever repaid its war debt to us.
I do understand that size and relative wealth are factors as well, but the truth is that most countries don’t care. They expect us to pay for everything, and we’ve pretty much been doing that since the Marshall Plan. Geez, for more than 60 years we’ve paid the vast bulk of what it cost to defend western Europe, not to mention Japan and South Korea.
I would love to see the US eliminate all foreign aid, resign from the UN, and expel it from US soil. And I’d definitely eliminate “humanitarian” aid of all types. After all, humanitarian is just another word for cannibal. If private US citizens want to contribute to disaster relief and so on, fine. Let them do it with their own money, not with my tax dollars.
My strongest objection to your proposal is that those bastards in the UN hate the United States and all it stands for. Without our veto at the security council, all those countries will vote to have the United Nations and all its members attack us. My second objection to that proposal, is that previous bouts of isolationism have all been ended by major conflicts.
My objections to Dave B.’s objections are:
1.) Who cares what the UN Security Council votes on? And if they all vote to attack us, good luck with that. At that point, an isolationist xenophobe like me will volunteer and carry a rifle to the front accordingly, no matter how old and creaky.
2.) Those earlier “bouts of isolationism” were not completely isolating and the major conflicts we found ourselves in should not have involved us at all. Professor Wilson promised us he wouldn’t send American boys to fight the war in Europe and then he turned right around and did it. Pharaoh Roosevelt II likewise; we should not have fought in either of those wars anyway.
We should have been clear out of Europe and the Pacific decades ago, and we bled ourselves to pay for their defense while they rode high and mighty and their One Percenters and ours made a bundle. We did not defeat the Soviets; they imploded as we outspent them with American tax dollars and an arms race they could not sustain; then we fucked them good and they haven’t forgotten. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Assuming any desirability of Empire, we should have been allies with them in the war against the hadjis.
So until all those countries send over bombers and paratroopers and missiles and suchlike, I’m with Bob on cutting all the fuckers loose once and for all. Let’s trade on a fair and level playing field with anyone who wishes to do likewise; let’s especially be friends with our English-speaking Western countries; and we will utterly demolish any country or other entity that attacks us here.
Just what I need, a shopping cart yelling “fatty, fatty, fatty” as I walk through the grocery store:
http://eagnews.org/with-nations-school-lunches-fundamentally-transformed-michelle-o-eyes-talking-shopping-carts/
I am beginning to seriously dislike socialist utopians. These people feel that they know what is best for the rest of us as long as they are the 0.01%. That way leads to FEMA camps, razor wire and mass graves.
http://www.amazon.com/Escaping-Home-Novel-Survivalist-Series/dp/0142181293/
The default position of the US government on world events needs to be: “This is not our problem.”
Dude, 100% with you! I do not understand why the USA Presidents feel the weight of the world when they take the oath of office. The oath says nothing about Europe and Asia. The oath is all about the USA.
I told you guys. Elect me dictator in 2016. I promise that my first order of business will be to abolish all federal laws and regulations and cut the size of federal government by 99%. (I’ll decide later if any of the remaining 1% should live or die.)
Nah, the very fact that you are interested in the job is a bad sign. You will be corrupted immediately by the siren song of unlimited power and the lobbyists.
We need someone to be President who is so adverse to the position that he / she will only take the oath of office with a bayonet in their back. The only person that I can think of offhand is Jimmy Stewart and he is dead.
Actually, come to think of it, Bill Gates might be a good President.
Well, as dictator, by definition I have unlimited power. And I am incorruptible, if only because they don’t have anything I want.
Oh, my mistake. I didn’t mean dictator. I meant emperor.
I have sometimes wondered if we would be better off to draw names at random to serve in public offices rather then holding elections. Then I remember that is how we pick jurors and look how great that turned out in the OJ trail.
I have no sympathy for you guys. I’m an anarchist for just that reason.
“… Bill Gates might be a good President.”
Seriously?
The guy who stole from his best friend to become an eventual multi-billionaire and gave us Windows?
The guy who is just now laying off 18,000 of his worker drones while he brays like a demented jackass for many more “guest workers”?
Bob is, of course, unelectable. As is anyone who even *thinks* privately in their heads about cutting Leviathan by even a molecule. Anyone who isn’t totally on board with infinite growth.
We. Have. No. One.
So what you’re saying is that we have scores of millions of sheep controlled by just a few wolves? Sounds to me like we need some wolf hunters.
Wolf hunters indeed.
Remember just how many Bolsheviks it took to overthrow the Mensheviks and go on to fire up the Soviet Union?
I also recall the IRA’s Gerry Adams and his ilk bragging about how elections would mean nothing, if held, on a united Ireland; they could take control with just a dozen or so guys and some guns.
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Seriously?
Yes! Otherwise you are gonna get the Mooch!
You think our President is a LOSER now, just wait. There are depths of loserness that the Mooch will plumb to her wildest imaginations. Just remember, FEMA camps and razor wire, oh my!
I say bring it on! Let’s have Dear Leader for another four and then the Mooch for twelve. The faster they can bust it all up, the sooner we can rebuild.
I got an email from Human Events today pushing a book about how Obummer is destroying the country and the author has plenty of evidence and anecdotes and so on; his solution? Work from within the Repub Party and get someone like Dr. Ben Carson elected. What effin planet is this guy from? He even makes the point that the Libertarians don’t have a chance; gee, thanks for the nooz flash, bud. And guess what, Grasshopper? The Repub cretins don’t have a chance, either; they blew that when they plumped for “amnesty” and forgot the ol’ ‘give ’em an inch and they’ll take a mile’ aphorism, whereby Obummer just got himself another 30 million voters. Nice going, guys; brilliant! You’re demographic toast now, you morons! But gee, maybe Carson, or Rubio, or Perry, or Rand will somehow pull a magic rabbit out of a hat and save us all; we just gotta remember to run down to the precinct and mark up them ballots, amirite?
As the late Ezra Pound used to say, ‘it would take a bile specialist,’ to understand the contemporary logic of Boobus Americanus and his erstwhile “leadership.”
I say bring it on! Let’s have Dear Leader for another four and then the Mooch for twelve. The faster they can bust it all up, the sooner we can rebuild.
Can I advocate Rick Perry? While not libertarian, he is mostly conservative. And mean and vicious to his fellow politicians. I mean, he routinely vetoes the budgets of those politicians whom he do not like here in the Great State of Texas. And he is also a Air Force veteran C-130 pilot.
Perry would make a very good President. But, like Romney, Perry will only get 49% of the vote.
BTW, you do know that the Mooch will probably round up unemployed IT workers for special FEMA camps? Then she will give you a shopping cart to push around yelling “fatty, fatty, fatty” everywhere. And carrots, peas and bean sprouts to eat until you die.
Rick Perry? No thanks; we need another RINO sap like we need a hole in the head. Let’s just get the chit over and done with fast.
While acknowledging that some folks’ idea of “conservative” may not exactly coincide with mine, of course.
“…the Mooch will probably round up unemployed IT workers for special FEMA camps? Then she will give you a shopping cart to push around yelling “fatty, fatty, fatty” everywhere. And carrots, peas and bean sprouts to eat until you die.”
I like those particular veggies; but for meat we’ll be roasting the fatties on homemade spits in urban slag heap back alleys. I like a bit of salt and pepper and we’ll be developing a nice basting sauce and marinade.
The default position of the US government on world events needs to be: “This is not our problem.”
___________________________________________
As the saying goes, ‘Not our Circus, Not our Monkeys.’
These Virginia cops must be completely nuts. Why did they even think of getting involved in this?
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/07/police-drop-plans-to-photograph-teens-erection-in-sexting-case/
Yeah, I saw that about the sexting. The interesting bits are (a) the kids are only 2 years apart in age, (b) the girl sent sexy photos first, but only the guy is charged, and (c) what kind of invasion of privacy would be be, to forcefully photograph the kid’s erection, especially as (d) he doesn’t dispute that it is his anyway.
The idea of it being criminal to take a selfie is nuts. But this town took the absurdity to a whole new level. Yet another group of cops, prosecutors and judges that need run out of town on a rail.
Oh my goodness! What is the world coming to? The kids just need to be told to stop the sexting by their parents. The police need to go away, far away.
Making everything a crime just makes everyone a criminal and lessens the effects of going after the true criminals.
Lynn, your naivete is so cute! Making every American citizen a felon isn’t about controlling crime, it’s about controlling the citizens.
I think TPTB have gone too far, though. I’m hearing more than just a few rumbles from people who are fed up with the endless BS laws on the books. And this is in Albany, NY, where government is the main employer.