A step in the right direction...

I believe in giving credit where credit is due.  President Obama backed off his threat to strike at Syria just long enough to debate it with Congress--as the Constitution calls for.  Now, if this is a good idea, given Congressional competence, I cannot say but at least the imperial presidency is being rolled back.  And this was a move by the President no less.

I am pretty sure this had something to do with the British people, speaking through their Parliament, saying NO to any UK military involvement in Syria last week. That, by the way, was the first time any British military action has been forbidden by Parliament since 1782.

The President CANNOT start a war on his own nor initiate the use of military force without Congress.  Granted, there are those who point to Grenada back in 1983 and Panama in 1989 as operations launched without any debate but those were potential hostage situations where time was of the essence.  Then-Presidents Reagan and Bush did however consult with Congressional leaders just before everything started rolling--maybe not the perfect solution but one that seemed to work.

In the 1990 build up to Desert Storm, President Bush attempted to assert he did not need any Congressional approval to invade Iraq but was quickly proven wrong. Obama's 2011 air war in Libya was unconstitutional but it looks like the roosters came home to roost on that one here in 2013. Congress threatened to cut the moneyflow so that also got the message across.  Things have a way of balancing out.

This still does not mean attacking Syria is a good idea.  This has the potential to get out of control real fast as things usually do in the Middle East.  Delaying everything until September 9 at least gives the situation a chance to cool off.

The US seemed to be in a rush to bomb, calling Syria's acquiescence to allowing UN inspectors to investigate the site of the chemical attacks and determine if the Syrian government or rebels used them.  The snipers shooting at the UN personnel were not on Assad's payroll so draw your own conclusions.

The build up to an attack on Syria in 2013 looks a lot like the build up to the attack on Iraq in 2003. I fell for that one but I won't this time around.  There has to be some other angle here than just anger over chemical weapons. The US did not punish Iraq in 1988 for using them against Iran or the Kurds.

Syria is none our business.  Airstrikes will do damage but in the end, it won't matter. They will rebuild. And Syria has a fairly dense anti-aircraft defense system. Remember, or look it up, Syria shot down two US planes in 1983 on a retaliatory raid.

Americans have been fighting in the Middle East since 2001.  It is time to leave that screwed up part of the world to its own devices.  Both Obama and the Republican hotheads should remember a basic law of history--wars are easy to start but hard to end.

Of course, you won't see Obama or McCain anywhere near the fighting if it breaks out.

Operational Security--Ever hear of it?!

According to NBC, the United States will launch a military strike on Syria on Thursday.  Has anyone every heard of OPERATIONAL SECURITY?!

NBC goes on to state it will be "three days of strikes".

Are they sending the Syrians a target list too?

Of course, we know this is about raising oil prices.  This has nothing to do with the use of chemical weapons.  And possibly pull attention away from the multiplying number of scandals engulfing the White House.

The story below is for your consideration and/or disbelief

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-strike-against-syria-could-135200275.html

Civil War in Egypt?

Egypt appears to be spinning out of control and maybe into civil war.  The unrest has spread beyond Cairo and twenty-five police officers were ambushed in the Sinai.  This would make anything in Syria look like a walk in the park.

The oil sleazebags will probably use this as an excuse to raise oil prices, citing a threat to the Suez Canal.  The canal will be fine.  You can deflate that argument with four words --United States Sixth Fleet.  On the other hand, rational arguments do not seem to hold much water with fanatics, whether they wear turbans or suits. 

Now what does the US do about this?  I am not sure there is anything it can, or should, do.  Everything Washington gets mixed up in the Middle East, everything goes awry and the situation is worse than it was before.  That is the story with or without American involvement.  The Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Abbasids, Mamelukes, and even Mongols found the region perplexing not to mention the more recent British and French adventures in the nineteenth and mid twentieth centuries.  The people living there probably can't figure it out either. It has been that way since 3500 BC and it is not changing anytime soon. 

Furthermore, the people on the ground in Egypt don't like Americans. Hillary Clinton found out when her car was pelted with moldy fruit.  They see the US as backing and keeping  Mubarak  in power all those years and the Egyptian people, however they feel about the Moslem Brotherhood, at least see them as Egyptian. 

I am worried that fears over the Suez Canal can drag the US into a Middle Eastern shootout quicker than anything in Syria.  Of course, the oil industry would love to see that.  So would defense contractors. 

And you wonder why aliens don't make contact with humanity.....

Not this guy again....

The scary thing is that I would pick Anthony Weiner over Bloomberg for Mayor of New York.  The really scary thing is that this guy is running for mayor of the largest city in America...

Naturally, he is associated with the Clinton political machine, which might explain why this guy with an obsession with anything peverted. His wife, Huma, like her patron, Hillary Clinton, is playing the "stand by your man" card like its the Lewinsky scandal circa 1998.

If this is the best New York can do, maybe they deserve it.

Hopefully someone sane wins the race.....

Detroit throws in the towel

Berlin in 1945 or America in 2013?

Detroit, the eleventh largest city in America declared bankruptcy.  This is not a surprise but it should be a warning to everyone.  There are four other cities in Michigan in similar straits (ironic since Detroit means "the straits") and other cities in America like Stockton, CA and San Bernodino, CA who are in the same boat.

The governor of Michigan appointed an "Emergency Manager" who has nearly dictatorial powers and has rendered the Mayor and City Council of Detroit impotent.  This sounds a lot like what happened to Rome.  Gross mismanagement followed by dictatorship.

The city government failed by spending more than it had.  The unions failed by demanding more than the city had and the city of course agreed.  Several corrupt mayors came and went (straight into a jail cell). The voters kept putting the same people in and in while cheering on "soak the rich" policies that drove away businesses and investment.

Almost 40% of the street lights don't work, there are over 77,000 abandoned buildings, and there are wild dogs and even wilder humans running around large stretches of the abandoned city.

If you give Greece a lot of crap for its financial problems, Athens will point past you and at Detroit.  How does this affect anyone living outside of Detroit?

 Take a look at the federal government's balance sheet.

Homeland Security Adrift

Janet Neopalito resigned from leading one of the most useless parts of the federal government--the Department of Homeland Security.

Fifteen of the forty-five leadership positions are now vacant.  We should make it forty-five for forty-five because the DHS does nothing.  Our borders are not secure, traveling by airlines is a complete nightmare and the average TSA agent is a mindless drone with an IQ of 45 who could not handle a threat of any kind, real or imagined. The Israelis, who live with a real terrorist threat everyday, handle it in stride without turning their much smaller and more vulnerable country into a mismanaged police state that spies on its own citizens and still cannot detect threats like the Boston Bombers even when the Russians give out warnings.

Shut it down.  It wastes money and accomplishes nothing.

And there is no one in charge of anything.

Like anyone would notice.

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July!