North Korea getting restless....

It is not unusual to hear odd ball announcements and threats from North Korea but the latest seem particularly troubling....

Nominally a Chinese client state and subject to a lot of Russian influence, North Korea nontheless acts as a wild card, doing whatever it likes most of the time.  The recent bellicose behavior is cause for alarm though.

Consider this--Kim Jong-un is still only a year and a half into his reign so maybe there is some behind the scenes instability we are not aware of.  Whipping up anger at South Korea and the US is a good way to unite the people of North Korea and distract them from hunger.

He has to know that he can't win Korean War II

North Korea's military, while formidable, has no "staying power."

Within a few days, their supply lines, assuming they have not been obliterated by US airpower, will stop functioning since there will be no supplies to send.  North Korean forces will go straight for Seoul and do a lot of damage but they will be beaten back in the end.  Do you think China is going to intervene militarily like they did in 1950? And if Kim Jong-un is still in Pyongyang when it is over, how long will be remain in power?  Any official line about "winning" or "accomplishing the mission" will be contradicted by the many veterans coming home.

I don't see it happening.  North Korea has about a 1% of winning.  On the other hand, North Korea has never been blessed with sane leadership.

I hope this is just a case of typical nutcase North Korean leader primping for his generals or the population at large.

If not, you might want to stay out of Seoul for a while.

Happy Greek Independence Day!

Happy Greek Independence Day!

Iraq War--Ten Years Later

Ten years ago on the this day, US forces launched, what was called a pre-emptive, invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq.  President Bush was on the TV telling Iraqis that "the moment of their liberation had arrived."  He also stated the invasion was happening because Iraq was actively pursing research and acquiring "Weapons of Mass Destruction" (WMDs) and was allied to al-Qeida.

Secretary of State Colin Powell went before the United Nations in 2002 and told the world that Iraq was seeking yellow cake uranium in Niger to make nuclear weapons.  He also stated that al-Qieda and Iraq were meeting to coordinate attacks on the United States.

Worst of all, many of us here in the US--including me--fell for it.

The Iraqis were never in Niger, there was one low level contact between Hussein's people and Bin Laden's that never amounted to anything, and we never found any weapon of mass destruction.  A couple of mobile weapons labs, true, but they did not seem to have been used for anything.

We were lied to and the nation was plunged into a divisive, futile, and inconclusive war that left 4,488 servicemen dead, thousands wounded,. God knows how many Iraqis dead and wounded, Iran as the major power in the region, and a distrust in our government that may never leave.

President Obama promised to end the war but instead tried to extend it. Post-Hussein Iraq would not allow American soldiers to stay beyond December 31, 2011 in the original agreement signed with the preceding Bush administration so the war was going to end on way or the other.

Combined with Afghanistan, launched in 2001, these wars might be christened the Moslem Wars by future historians.  What did they accomplish?

Not much.

The Middle East is in turmoil like it usually is, we have a national security apparatus call Homeland Security that resembles the KGB but twice as big and twice as incompetent, as passengers lining up in airports are essentially stripped searched by the TSA, and the FBI engages in active profiling as millions of illegal immigrants walk over the southern border to have US politicians beg them for money and votes.   Those same politicians make millions from the wars and security apparatus and the population of America loses hope in democracy.  And let's not forget the out of control debt these ill conceived adventure put us in.

Was it worth it?  It might be too early to tell but so far it is looking like a big NO.

At least one positive thing will come out of this.

The United States won't be going to war anytime soon.

We're too broke.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Everyone is Irish today!

I saw the Pittsburgh Penguins defeat the Boston Bruins in a hockey game today....I could not help but wonder why they did not have this game in Boston on today of all days....

No complaints though.  Pittsburgh won 3-2!

Now we know why...

Do you remember back in January when I went up to Chapel Hill and everyone was angry, muttering and possibly insane?  I think I found out the reason.....

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/07/university-of-north-carolina-sex-assaults/1970301/

Between the football team and the much more serious allegations of covering up rape and sexual assaults, you wonder just how corrupt UNC is.  What the article fails to mention is even worse--the attempt by the school's "Honor" Court to expel the victim.

Remember, these are supposedly "liberals."

Time for a Stalin's Purge in Chapel Hill.

Story from USAToday....

Sequester!

So, our esteemed elected officials return from vacation and cannot even balance a checkbook.....Never mind this was supposed to happen back in January but they kicked the can down the road and still could not solve the problem....Panic over a 2% cut in federal spending...overdue and just the beginning.  Is President Obama upset?  Too bad.  We had to take a 2% pay cut in January.

This is well overdue.  If the government was so upset by this, then why did Congress and the President go on vacation this week?

The sun will rise tomorrow and the deficit will still be there.

Hopefully this is the beginning.

It will not be easy and there will be pain involved.

No easy way especially with a dysfunctional government but this sequester might be a tiny step in the right direction....ie starving the federal beast and putting it on a diet.