My Dad's Blog

HALLELUIAH!!! I AM RICH!!!!

2007-09-10T15:55:00.000-05:00

HALLELUIAH!!! I AM RICH!!!!

Today, I received the following letter:

From: c i Reply-To: Subject: Dear GomezDate: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 08:43:24 +0000

Dear Gomez,

Mr. Charles Ishmeal, a Banker and accountant with the BIAO BANK Abidjan.
I am the personal accounts manager to Mr. Robert Gomez, a National of your country, who used to work with an oil servicing company here in Cote Ivoire.

My client, his wife, and their three children were involved in the Kenya Airways crash in the coasts of Abidjan in January 2000 in which all passengers on board died. Since then I have made several inquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives but all my effort has not been successful. After several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his last name over the Internet,to see if I could locate any member of his family hence I contacted you.

Our deceased client (Mr.Robert Gomez) has an account valued to ($ 6 million US Dollars). The management of our bank have issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or the bank will declare the account unserviceable and thereby send the funds to the bank treasury.

Since I have not been successful in locating the relatives of the late Mr.Robert Gomez, I will seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased client since you have the same last names, so that the proceeds of this account valued at ($ 6 million US dollars) can be paid to you and then you and I can share the money.

All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through.I guarantee that this will be executed under all legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. In your reply, If you can handle this deal with me, reach me now through this e-mail box for more details. Anticipating your cooperation.

Sincerely,
Charles Ishmeal.

Thank God for the Internet and the hard work of Mr. Ishmeal. I am stunned. I have never been so happy to hear of someone death, much less of an unknown relative. God Bless Them!!! The Lord does work in misterious ways.

I haven't decided what to do with my inheritance, but I must reply to Mr. Ishmeal at once.

Dear Ishmeal,

You have affected me with sudden and great wonder news of my long lost relative timely death. I need the money. It was good that they all died together, lets hustle for you and me, don't you think? By the way, there are no more relatives, you may stop looking for them.

Six million dollars, eh? Hey you have done a great service by locating me, therefore, I think we should split the loot 50/50 if it is agreeable with you.

You can count on my honest cooperation just as much as I can count on yours. I am sure you will do your best to execute it under the most illegimate arrangements the law allows it. Please feel free to contact my lawyer, Barrister Mohamed Ibrahim, of Victory Chambers who will grease the path with all the official documents needed.

Anticipating the money.

Sincerely,
Dear Gomez.

As I was writing the letter, I thought about the money and the things that I could do with it. I decided I will give it all to the wonderful work of the Televangelists, I love their lifestyle and besides I hope they put a good word with the Lord about Mr. Ishmeal and me.

Who is on first, what is on sec... Where am I????

2007-09-08T21:48:00.000-05:00

Breaking News. President Bush traveled out of this world without his medicines.
Congressional investigation pending. “Much ado about nothin’!!!” Fox Noise Networks claims.

In a televised speech in Australia, President Bush seemed to be very thankful to the Australian Prime minister John Howard “for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit” and for the service his “Austrian troops” provide in Iraq. Unfortunately, his medicines were at home, and he did not realized that Australia was hosting the Asian-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum, and that the Australian Prime Minister have no authority over the Austrian troops (which may, or may not have been in Iraq at all, but that is besides the point). In a true Mr. Magoo moment, according to CBCNEWS, “He [Bush] strode away from the lectern on a path that would have sent him over a steep drop. Howard and others redirected him to centre stage [HOW UNFORTUNATE, I THINK], where there were steps leading down to the floor of the theatre.”

Earlier during his visit, according to the Sydney Morning Herald of Australia, the president gave a more-to-the-point assessment of Iraq to Australia Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile (or to whom Bush refers as “what is his name Deputy Minister”). “We are kicking ass” Bush said to what-is-his-name after he was asked about his trip to Iraq. White House Spokeswoman Dana Perino would not confirm or deny the comment, but noted the President’s correct usage of the English language, “He said ‘We ARE kicking ass’ NOT ‘We IS kicking ass’ as some anti-American news organizations would make you believe”. I say bravo to Dana Perino.

In other Developments, Britney Spears is opening a day-care center for the rich. Dan Quayle and President Bush will confront each other on National Television to debate the English language. Gustavo will take a much needed nap.

2007-03-15T13:35:00.000-05:00

Seas Yield Surprising Catch of Unknown Genes
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 14, 2007; Page A01

It took some mighty fine nets, but scientists who spent two years trawling the world's oceans for bacteria and viruses have completed the most thorough census ever of marine microbial life, revealing an astonishingly diverse and bizarre microscopic menagerie.

Countering a long-held assumption that ocean waters are not rich with microbial life, the new report, released yesterday, reveals an otherworldly world of organismal ferment, including thousands of low life forms that could help destroy the development of new antibiotics and alternative energy sources and obfuscate the ocean's role in climate change.

OK. So I took the liberty to change a couple of words and insert a picture of the organisms, but I think Mr. Weiss will approve of them.

SURPRISE!!!

2006-11-04T15:25:00.000-05:00

SURPRISE, SURPRISE. Sunday, two days before the midterm election in the US, an expected verdict - and possible death sentence - in the trial of Saddam Hussein.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE. U.S. and Iraqi officials have denied that the timing is related to the midterm U.S. elections taking place Tuesday.

IF YOU DON'T WANT YOUR NEXT SURPRISE TO BE RUINED, SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH:
Surprise, surprise! On Sunday they will announce a guilty verdict and Saddam will be sentenced to death. The U.S. media will tell us, until the elections are over, what a great victory it is for Bush. Every minute of every hour GOP pundits will tell us how safer the world will be without Saddam, as if he was the most dangerous terrorist.

What is surprising, to me, is how we ignore that Hussein had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack, that the people we should be pursuing are in a different country, and how we ignore the fact that this administration, which claims to be so concerned with our safety, have inflicted damage on our civil liberties while publishing on the internet a detail guide on how to build an atomic bomb.

So, should Wednesday's news be surprising? "GOP Maintain Control On Both Houses". No. But I sure hope I am wrong.

Deja Vu All Over Again!

2006-11-02T13:43:00.000-05:00

"This is like deja vu all over again" - Yogi Berra.

The sleazy politicians find what they consider to be a weak point in the behaviour or speech of their opponents and exploit it. It does not matter how innocuous the act or remark might be, they will turn it around, give it a complete different meaning, and run with it. They find simpathetic newsmen, radio and TV pundits, and publicize the hell out of it. Suddenly, the real context of the act is forgotten and the buzz around the news is the disreputable and shoddy attacks.

This is the case with John Kerry and the Bush terrorists. During the presidential elections they manage to damage the reputation of a decorated veteran and elevate a drunkard, yellow bellie, AWOL soldier (and I am sorry for disrespecting the word "soldier"), to the highest office of the land. They are at it again.

In a recent speech to college students, Kerry meant to say: "Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up us getting stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush". Unfortunately, the word "us" was left out and that was the weak point that the sleazy politicians needed to exploit. News media ran all the way with it, and in the way they dropped the second part, so it bacame: "Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting stuck in a war in Iraq". Every single one of them knew the meaning that Kerry was trying to convey, and yet, they twisted it to mean Kerry was showing disrespect for the troops by insinuating the soldiers were not smart.

The swift boats all over again. Lets just hope American people are wiser. For a more eloquent article please click here. I highly recommend viewing "Countdown With Keith Olberman" on MSNBC on weeknights.

Semantic Memory

2006-10-28T10:56:00.000-05:00

“What we have here is a failure to communicate” said the captain to Cool Hand Luke.

El Presidente and his bandoleros are annoyed at everyone who is misinterpreting his mantra “Stay the course”. Apparently, “Stay the course” does not necessarily mean, well, “Stay the course”. According to El Presidente it means “Keep doing what you are doing. Don’t do what you are doing if it is not working – change!”, in other words, it means “Stay the course” or Change – take your pick. El Presidente is showing his flexibility and adaptability when it comes to his policies in Iraq, why can’t people see that?

“A dunk in the water is a dunk in the water” said El Presidente front man when asked about the remarks made by El Presidente’s second in command, El Diablo. In a radio interview, Scott Hennen of WDAY in Fargo, N.D., asked El Diablo on Tuesday, "Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?”. Without hesitation El Diablo responded: "Well, it's a no-brainer for me". So why are the detractors of El Presidente, El Diablo, and his bandoleros up in arms? El Diablo didn’t mean torture waterboarding techniques, Ay! Dios Santos Perdonanos! – we don’t torture. El Diablo was referring to clean fun games such as bobbing for apples, and a friendly dunking game at the local pool with your friends – in this case the enemy combatants and their interrogators.

Maybe what we have here is an impaired semantic memory.

The Blame Game and the Enabler

2006-10-21T14:17:00.000-05:00

Well, it is going to be a very difficult day for me today; my wife had to go to work very early and did not have time to prepare coffee and breakfast for me this morning. I hate days that start this way, usually it leads to not having lunch because my wife have to work during those hours so she does not have time to come home and prepare me something to eat. No doubt dinner will be delayed too, I am sure she will be coming home tired and would want to rest before cleaning last night dishes and preparing a nice dinner, but I suppose being patient with her is the least that I could do. I better call her before I forget and ask her to stop by the fish market, I feel like eating lobster, and the wine store, I don’t think the bottle I just opened is going to last all day.

It is not my fault that I am so lazy. I was abused when I was a child and an alcoholic all my life. I remember seeing my mother’s breast before I was one year old. I went swimming naked at a water-hole in my grand-fathers ranch with my older brothers, cousins, and uncles and I am sure I must have seen my father naked otherwise how could I be abused? The local priest, father Avila, patted my head and hugged my shoulders when he came to visit our family home, little did I know that he was sexually abusing me when he did that. Of course, by the time I reached the age of 7, all that abuse led me into drinking beer during school recess. I became popular with my teachers, when I reached the fifth grade we were polishing a fifth of tequila on Friday after school at Mrs. Villa’s home – she was a lonely old widow but a very good teacher on matters not usually part of the school curriculum.

But now I am in the process of recovery. I have realized my state of laziness was not caused by me but by forces outside my control. I have asked my friends and family for understanding, to forgive me if I don’t get up when I ask them to do something for me – pass me a beer and chips, the TV-guide, etc. I have found the Lord our Creator and speak with him on a daily basis. He is showing me the way of redemption, all I have to do is ask him for forgiveness before I die so I don’t have to do it every Sunday like most of my Christian friends do. I have a cousin that is born-again Christian and constantly preaches the rapture and how the Lord will take the chosen ones and leave the others behind, so I asked the Lord about it. “Trust me” He said “I will be taking you with me soon enough and leave your young cousin and a lot of other people behind”. With that I feel at peace.

Digging Dirt

2006-09-14T01:44:00.000-05:00

In a front page Washington Post article on Sunday reported that the "National Republican Congressional Committee is planning to spend millions of dollars digging dirt on Democrats. The NRCC has dispatched operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates and it plans to spend its entire bank account, $60 million-plus, on what officials described as negative ads to help Republicans keep control of congress on the mid-term elections. GOP officials are quoted as saying that this type of strategy will help limit loses in the House to 10 seats and 3 in the Senate. The NRCC is planning to drive third-party ads in behalf of their GOP candidates; what this means is that their candidate can truthfully pledge to run a clean campaign with a limited budget because neither candidate can control what outside groups spend. In other words, the NRCC will do the dirty deeds and after the damage is done the GOP candidate can distance himself/herself from the negative ads. Federal law prohibits coordinated campaign activities between candidates and groups making independent expenditures. Wink, Wink.

It appears that we will have nasty and misleading mid-term election rhetoric. Once again the real issues will be set aside, and the debates will concentrate in attacks and defenses of derogatory libelous or slanderous material. The so-called journalists will keep on functioning as idiots reporting to the morons and the elections will be decided not on who can best serve the people but on who can smear the best.

Virginia voters are beginning to see the GOP plan in action. Senator George Allen is up for re-election, his Democratic Senate opponent is Jim Webb, a decorated military man who also served as Navy secretary under President Ronald Reagan. Research has paid off for the Allen camp. It has uncovered an article by Jim Webb published in 1979 on the Washingtonian magazine that seems to be derogatory or hostile towards women. Reminiscent of the Swift Boat people attack on Kerry, five female U.S. Naval Academy graduates on Wednesday said Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb fostered an air of hostility and harassment for them with a magazine article he wrote. Excerpts from a Richmond news outlet reports:

The women said Webb's article in Washingtonian magazine, "Women Can't Fight," made almost intolerable the already edgy relationship between male midshipmen and females, first admitted to the military service academies in 1976.

In the article, Webb describes the horror of combat in Vietnam for himself and the Marine infantry company he commanded and explains why he believes it was no place for a woman. He wrote that he'd never met a woman, including those at the academy who would become Navy officers, "whom I would trust to provide those men with combat leadership."
In a statement released by Webb's campaign, he said he did not anticipate the widespread reaction to his article, "and to the extent that my writing subjected women at the Academy or the active Armed Forces to undue hardship, I remain profoundly sorry."
Webb said in the statement he wrote the article "during a time of great emotional debate over a wide array of social issues in this country, and the tone of this article was no exception." He said he is "completely comfortable" with women's roles in today's military.

Of course, what will be making news is that Jim Webb was hostile to the female midshipmen at the Naval Academy. It will never be put into the context of the social and political times of that era. No sir! He is a male chauvinist pig who could not appreciate the great service those future female naval officers were to provide this country. And this group of ladies will be ready to march all over the state to tell us morons that he should not be representing the state of Virginia in the Senate. But why did they wait over a quarter of a century to complaint? Why not while attending the academy, when it would have served them best? Why go 20+ years in the military with that burden on their shoulders? Those questions along with the questions of the incumbent’s record while in office are not to be discussed. I wonder if these women are aware that in 1996, their candidate Allen, while governor, supported the male-only policy at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), or that he accepted a membership to male-only, all-white club, or that their candidate evaded the draft. I wonder if the money they received from the GOP has eased their pain so that they can ignore these facts.

I have no idea what kind of politician Jim Webb is or how successful he will be in the Senate if elected as the man to represent the people from Virginia, but I do know something about Allen’s record and it is time for a change. The following is just a very small example and I recommend all Virginians to research his record on the war, immigration, health, etc.

Allen on Education:

In 1995 while Governor he cut the budget for all 15 state-supported four-year colleges. Black colleges suffering the biggest cuts.
Consistently voted against proposals in 2001, 2003 and 2005 for after-school programs for students
In 2001 voted against an amendment that would have created a new tax credit of up to $2,000 for education loan expenses for nurses and teachers.
In 2001 voted against an amendment that would have authorized $2.4 billion for teacher hiring programs, although, Virginia faced a critical teacher shortage.
In 2003 voted against an amendment that would have provided for an additional $437 million for teacher quality programs.
In 2003, George Allen voted against a proposal that would have provided $132 million in rural education grants. Virginia has the ninth largest rural enrollment in the United States, with more than a quarter of the state’s students enrolled in a rural school

Allen on Labor:

Has voted at least four raises for himself while voting against raising the minimum wages for working families
In 2004 and 2005, Allen voted against amendments which would have applied taxes to American companies who move jobs overseas
In 2003 voted twice against fundings for job training programs
In 2003 and 2004 voted to end overtime pay eligibility for workers. Allen’s votes would have taken away overtime pay for as many as 8 million workers--including registered nurses, workers on oil and gas pipelines, field and platform workers, steel workers, teachers, firefighters; police officers; funeral directors; and longshoremen.

Comfortably Numb.

2006-09-13T12:28:00.000-05:00

I went to sleep and I woke up inside a Pink Floyd song.

The lunatics are on the run
Gas prices are coming down
Warmongers are on the path
Conservatives want my vote
I am so comfortably numb

The lunatics are on the run
Warmongers are crying loud
I’ll lie to you
I’ll scare you to death
Please seat and be comfortably numb

The lunatics are on the run
Elections are on sight
Conservatives want your vote
Temporary will lower the price on gas
Smile and be comfortably numb

The lunatics are on the run
Shouts of freedom, God and terror
The world will end
Brides, children, and innocents will die
I am safer now than before
The lunatics are on the run
I am now comfortably numb

The lunatics are on the run
Telling lies and much more
The lunatics are on the run
But I am so comfortably numb.

Have your cake and eat it too.

2006-09-09T18:42:00.000-05:00

It is obvious the GOP have not heard the saying “You can’t have your cake and eat it too”, or maybe they have, and like all rules of decency and honesty they completely disregard it.

Sometimes during the next few days, a two-part five hour miniseries will be shown nationally by ABC – a network owned by ultra-conservative Disney – which will depict that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon could have been prevented if not for the incompetence of the Clinton administration. From what I read – I have no other way of verifying its authenticity – this film is inundate with inaccuracies; letters of protest and request for corrections have come from the Clinton’s administration members which are portrayed as, well, incompetent idiots. It is not surprising to find out that this film was written and produced by a guy named Cyrus Nowrasteh , and directed by David Cunningham, both of them have close ties to evangelical organizations; the latter is the son of the founder of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), the former has ties to Liberty Film Festival (LFF) which has as a partner David Horowitz a right wing activist of immense proportions. The political consultant for this film was Tom Kean, the Republican chairman of the 9/11 commission, a man with apparently questionable morals, since, he admits afterwards that there are errors in the film – Were his “political consultant” views ignored? Did he sleep while the smears were being filmed? Asked if he had apologized to Clinton for inaccuracies in the movie, Kean quipped, "No, he was out campaigning against my son yesterday, so I didn't reach out to him at all!" - his son is running for Senate as a GOP from New Jersey.

Assume that the uproar is unfounded, the errors are minor, and the truth is that the Clinton Administration did nothing with the information. Couple that with the fact that Bush took over power of the administration eight months before the 2001 attacks. Then the question that must be asked: Why didn’t the Bush administration do anything to prevent these attacks? They had all the information. I guess for some “they are allowed to have the cake and eat it too.”

The smell of foul odor is impregnating my sense of decency. I agree with Senators Schumer of New York and Reid of Nevada when they accuse ABC boss Bob Iger of airing right-wing political propaganda.

The secret path to success.

2006-09-04T12:41:00.000-05:00

If President Bush is an indication of success, then his chat with Brian Williams a few days ago was quite revealing of the path one must take - "Aim Low" and "read three Shakespeare". OK. I am being facetious, but you must admit this guy can't help it but be funny.

Off the subject but related to his chat with Brian. He mentions that he is reading the Stranger, a book by Albert Camus, an Algerian once a member of the communist party, a man that based some of his views on the philosophy Nietzsche and Bergson, a man that took the plight of the Muslims, a man who sought causes against repression, a man who believed that moral attitudes leads to the absurd, which only exist if there is no God, and finally, a man with the credentials of some of today's more dangerous people, according to ... Mr Bush's rhetoric. But, maybe, the Stranger was just a love story to Mr. Bush - who knows what is going on in that complex mind.

Is Bush a demagogue?

2006-09-02T02:46:00.000-05:00

A common dictionary will give you the following definition:

dem·a·gogue also dem·a·gog (d m -gôg , -g g )
n.
1. A leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace.
2. A leader of the common people in ancient times.

I prefer the definition by Henry Louis Mencken, a 20th century journalist and free thinker, perhaps best remembered for The American Language, his multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States, and his contemptuously satirical reporting of the Scopes trial, which he is credited for naming the "Monkey" trial; he defined a demagogue as "one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots."

I would not be as harsh and I will define it as “one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to people he thinks to be idiots”. It is not true that one would have to be an idiot for a demagogue to exist and be successful; after all, he only has to think of a person as an idiot for him to exist, but to be successful he only needs for his target to be intellectually lazy and naïve, that is, don’t question anything and accept the demagoguery as truths.

Case in point will be George W. Bush this past Thursday addressing the 88th Annual American Legion National Convention. “If we give up the fight in the streets of Baghdad, we will face the terrorists in the streets of our own cities.” A false statement, only a naïve and intellectually lazy person would believe. Iraq is primarily an internal civil war among the different ethnic groups fighting for control of their nation; they will not be coming to fight on the streets of our cities if we leave the mess we started.

However, it is election time, it is his duty to rally the voters for his party and what a better way than some demagoguery around his claque which will be televised nationwide. Of course this is neither the first nor the last impassionate appeal he would use to cause the American people to make a premature judgment and/or an irrational decision without knowledge or examinations of the facts. It was this demagogue and his cast of idiots which got this country into a war with crippling strategic mistakes in such a way that the resulting insurgency became inevitable.

One should think that even the most credulous and uncritical person must have realized, by now, that this country reasons for entering into a war was based on lies of the demagogue, that we are not safer, that our civil liberties are eroding rapidly, that our elderly population is being cast to the side, that the health care system is non-existing for millions of poor Americans.

Unfortunately, the demagogue still finds big audiences with a mental attitude that his political rhetoric is believable and should be accepted as true. It is sad, with today’s technology the truth is there for you to find, if not for you being so lazy and apathetic.

A trip to the country

2006-08-30T07:23:00.000-05:00

Now, I am not the type of person that pry into the conversation of others, but every once in a while you find yourself that there is no way to avoid it, such was the case a few days ago when I went to visit my daughter in North Carolina. It had been an uneventful trip, I had driven to the border of NC when I stopped for gas and to switch driving duties with my wife, I was looking forward to some relaxation as a passenger, although, it is an unwritten rule on our trips that the driver is not only the captain of the of the automobile but the commander of the radio. Here I must pause and let the reader know some important facts: 1. My wife is a born-again Christian, I am an atheist, 2. She likes Religious talk radio, I like PBS and news (other than Fox), 3. She likes country music, I prefer jazz and world music, and 4. We both prefer to turn-off the radio than to listen to the other bitch about our choice. It was under those auspicious beginning of the second leg of the trip that I eventually settled down to read the local paper I bought at the gas station's quick mart.

"Marines to issue involuntary call-ups" was the headline.

The article began "WASHINGTON: US President George W.Bush has authorised the US Marine Corps to begin the involuntary call-up of thousands of inactive marines for service in Iraq ... " - later, during her confession, my wife will tell me that what I read was " Bizarro World leader George W. Bush has ..." And that is when she decided she had enough of my company and offered me a mint knowing that the sugar will put me to sleep like a baby - I am diabetic.

It was under that state of mind that I began to involuntary hear the following conversation. I said involuntary because I had no choice, these people were inside my head and speaking very loud and clear.

"Maw" shouted the elder man "fetch them boys. Them mules need tending"
"Oh, Paw. Them boys ain't her"
"What yew saeying maw. Where they's go?"
"Paw. The president of the united state hollered fo' them"
"He did? din't he? What in Lords name he wan with them young-uns?"
"Ah cuddint unnerstand a wurd he sed ... som'thin 'bout your maw"
"Maw, yew aint makin no sense"
"Paw. ah's telling yew like the lord is watchin, thats wha h'ssay"
"Ah thank ah'll have a bare while yew recollect them words"
"Set a spell, ah'll fetch a bare paw"
"Lord willin' and the creek don't rise, ah sur do hope they is back home soon"
"her is yew bare paw"
"Maw wha bout my maw Irene?"
"The president of the united state sa'd yew mawIrene was in need of help over yonder. Could them young-uns help?
"Ah says, sure 'nuff, Ah recon them could. But wha's ailin my maw-irenes?"
"what he says maw?
"Paw, som'thin or 'nother bout haven to fight furiner ailments. Ah recon is a new ill"
"What in the Sam Hill is them young-uns gonna do? them aint no doctors, bless ther hurt"
"Aint no need Paw, the president of the united state sa'd he learn them everwhichways"
"Ah bleeve we ought to go to church this Sunday, maw"

It is about this point when the loud screech of a car's brake and the thump of a head against a dash-board woke me up

Balancing my book (8/12/06)

2006-08-23T12:38:00.000-05:00

The Cost of Iraq War calculator is set to reach $318.5 billion September 30, 2006, the end of fiscal year 2006. That is according to a tab prepared by the National Priorities Project (NPP), a nonpartisan and nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization, http://costofwar.com/numbers.html. This is a conservative amount, some notable economists are quoting numbers in the trillions. The lower figures can be explained easily since NPP does not include all costs associated with the war, for instance, spending only includes incremental cost which is to say that normal expenses such as soldier's pay are not included, but combat pay is. Additionally, future costs for medical care for those returning soldiers are not included in the tally, neither is the cost of human life - the war has led to the deaths of 2,601 American soldiers, an average of 2 soldiers a day (according to icasualties.org). Over 19000 American soldiers were wounded. Notice I say "American", none of these figures include coalition forces and civilian casualties.

The president and his political allies are telling us, the American people, that we are much safer now than we were before - presumably when he was not in charge - because his administration is tough on terrorism. He is telling us - at the very least insinuating - that the whole world hate Americans, because they are envious of our freedom and religious rights. He is asking the American families to sacrifice their sons and daughters to fight those evil societies, cultures - lately, called Islamic Fascist - so that the world could learn to live in peace and enjoy democracy - that is, democracy American style. One should not question his intentions, lest one should be branded a traitor, an enemy combatant (Purgatory, the real Hell, where you get put in torture and forgotten).

I have been known to be stupid and stubborn, so I will risk a little trip to Purgatory and I will ask, Mr. President:
1) Why are we fighting the Iraqis and not the terrorist? I noticed that the Pakistan and the British Police who thwarted the alleged plot to blow a number or civilian planes by terrorist did not involve American help. I noticed that none of the accused are neither descendants, nor citizens of Iraq.
2) How have you been tough in terrorism? I notice that you fought a war to bring down a tyrant but powerless dictator, a man that had being contained and that presided over a military equipped with obsolete arms, ill-trained troops with dissatisfaction in their ranks and a lot of absenteeism. According to most of your Generals in the fields, the Iraqis were not a formidable force, rather they were a decaying force. Worst of all a man that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack, that man is still at large - do you remember him? Bin Laden? But let me be fair, Mr. President, I congratulated you, Hussein's payments to families of suicide bombers in Israel has come to an end.
3) What makes you think we are safer? Does the British and Pakistan police gives you a sense of security for the American people and do you feel compelled to take credit for their good work? Forgive me for not remembering, you did capture that Puerto Rican guy, what was his name? Padilla? Whatever happened to him?. I am sorry for the sarcasm, I know you have done a lot to protect us. Why, I can go to an airport and safely assume that all travelers not only have clean underwear but that they would not be able to bring those odious perfumes and after shave smells I really detest. Your diplomacy has been exemplary. The groping of Chancellor Angela Merkel was priceless, I am sure those GERM-an people loved it. Your way of educating people is outstanding, how else would the Muslim world would have know that they were Islamic Fascist.
4) What would all that money spent in the Iraq war would have bought us in terms of real security if we had used it to strength our ports and borders? I would think, at the very least, a little less inconvenience and a real sense of security. Don't you think so?

For my dad

2006-08-22T21:17:00.000-05:00

Dear Dad,

I am making this blog for you because you say that if you say you're going to do something, you should do it. This morning on my break, I said to myself, "I'm going to make a blog for my dad." So here it is.

Now we can see just how much interest the rest of the world takes in your "opinions" and "thoughts". You don't have to contribute anything especial. Just let me know if I can post something funny or interesting or shocking you wrote, and I'll put it in here.

Hope you like it!

Love,
JE