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So fine: Cuba to be off the terrorist list

Says Dick Durbin: "opening up the island to American ideas, vibrancy, and trade is the most effective way to see a more open and tolerant Cuba."

The only problem with his brilliant* belief (and it is only that: a belief) is that CUBA HAS BEEN CLOSED, WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN WILLING TO SHARE OUR IDEAS AND 'VIBRANCY'! As for trade, guess who sets the prices in Cuba? It's not the market! It's the state!

Dick Durbin, you numb nuts!

See the story: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/04/14/obama-removes-cuba-from-state-sponsor-terror-list/

j Ruse

aka @AirFarceOne (twitter)

*sarcasm

Defense: most Muslim nations, Israel & U.S. far more heavily armed than others

Below is an edited version of a post I originally shared in 2010. It still reflects 2010 numbers. I revised and highlighted the material for this post.

Since the Syrian civil war and the alleged Arab Spring gave the world a bunch of broken states (to add to the generally iffy Iraq and Afghanistan), I think this general review of militarization of nations, though it's now outdated, is worth posting again as food for your thoughts. World security and peace relies on a mix of freedom and security (military and otherwise) where the "good guys" have the balance. America and NATO allies do not need to be the world policeman forever, do they? Many of these highly militarized countries were thrown into a revolution or civil war of some sort during the so-called Arab Spring. The Arab Spring felt more like an Islamist Chill to some, including me, except for Tunisia.

I'm not trying to suggest that just because a nation is Muslim it is dangerous, because some are modern and positively aware of ideas such as women's rights and tolerating a diversity of religions, such as wealthy, civilized little Brunei.

What this list does suggest is that many Muslim nations have been very well armed. In some cases, that's not good news for the West, but in other cases, you have to ask questions such as: "When was the last time Eritrea attacked a neighboring country, or was attacked by another country?"

"... most of the top 20 military spenders are Arab and/or Muslim-dominated nations."

The CIA World Factbook provides many bits of information about the world we live in, such as the discernible numbers for a variety of subjects, such as population, average income and GDP - gross domestic product. (Think of GDP as similar to being all household annual income before expenses, but for a whole country. That's perhaps not exactly right, but you can read up on GDP on your own.)

An interesting thing gleaned from the information provided on military expenditures is that most of the top 20 military spenders are Arab and/or Muslim-dominated nations (the Muslim nations in the top 20 are bolded). In the top 20 is Israel, too. There are 14 predominantly Muslim countries in the first 20, 12 of which are essentially Muslim states (as in, I see them as being run by Muslim religious law).

So are these nations insulating themselves from the non-Muslim world, concerned about their safety from enemies who would come at them from the outside, or are they more worried about some internal enemies?

The world average for military spending is 2% of GDP. The U.S. is just over double the average, at 4.06%. The U.K., by contrast, matches India and Iran, at a mere 2.50%.

The US military commitment is massive, of course. So is its GDP. So the US military outlay far outweighs these much smaller economies, pound-for-pound. In 2011, US production output was about three times that of China, our closest economic competitor. Even though China's population is three times larger than the U.S. headcount. China's military outlay is 4.60% of its GDP.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/rawdata_2034.text

Raw Data:
1 Oman    11.40
2 Qatar    10.00
3 Saudi Arabia    10.00
4 Iraq     8.60
5 Jordan     8.60
6 Israel     7.30
7 Yemen     6.60
8 Armenia     6.50
9 Eritrea     6.30
10 Macedonia     6.00
11 Burundi     5.90
12 Syria     5.90
13 Maldives     5.50
14 Mauritania     5.50
15 Kuwait     5.30
16 Turkey     5.30
17 Morocco     5.00
18 Singapore     4.90
19 Swaziland     4.70
20 Bahrain     4.50
21 Bosnia & Herzegovina     4.50
22 Brunei     4.50
23 China     4.30
24 Greece     4.30
25 United States     4.06
26 Libya     3.90
27 Russia     3.90
28 Tajikistan     3.90
29 Cuba     3.80
30 Zimbabwe     3.80
31 Djibouti     3.80
32 Cyprus     3.80
33 Namibia     3.70
34 Angola     3.60
35 Colombia     3.40
36 Turkmenistan     3.40
37 Egypt     3.40
38 Algeria     3.30
39 Botswana     3.30
40 Guinea-Bissau     3.10
41 Lebanon     3.10
42 United Arab Emirates     3.1043 Australia     3.00
44 Sudan     3.0045 Solomon Islands     3.00
46 Pakistan     3.0047 Indonesia     3.00
48 Cambodia     3.00
49 Rwanda     2.90
50 Comoros     2.80
51 Kenya     2.80
52 Chile     2.70
53 Korea, South     2.70
54 Azerbaijan     2.6055 Sri Lanka     2.60
56 Lesotho     2.60
57 France     2.60
58 Bulgaria     2.60
59 Congo, Democratic
Republic of the     2.50

60 Iran     2.50
61 Vietnam 2.5062
62      India     2.5063
63      United Kingdom     2.4064
64      Croatia     2.3965
65      Portugal     2.3066
66      Sierra Leone     2.3067
67      Uganda     2.2068
68      Taiwan     2.2069
69      Burma     2.1070
70      Malaysia     2.03
71      World 2.00 < avg
72      Seychelles       2.00
73      Uzbekistan       2.0074
74      Estonia    2.0075
75      Finland    2.0076
76      Afghanistan       1.9077
77      Mali       1.9078
78      Norway       1.9079
79      Romania       1.9080
80      Fiji       1.9081
81      Slovakia       1.8782
82    Guyana       1.8083
83      Zambia    1.8084
84      Thailand       1.8085
85      Italy       1.8086
86      Hungary       1.7587
87      Poland       1.7188
88      Brazil       1.7089
89      Chad       1.7090
90      Ghana       1.7091
91      Slovenia       1.7092
92      South Africa       1.7093
93      Nepal       1.6094
94      Netherlands       1.6095
95      Uruguay       1.6096
96      Togo       1.6097
97      Cote d'Ivoire       1.5098
98      Sweden       1.5099
99      Peru       1.50100
100      Nigeria       1.50101
101      Germany       1.50102
102      Albania       1.49103
103     Czech Republic       1.46104
104     Belarus       1.40105
105     Belize       1.40106
106     Kyrgyzstan       1.40107
107     Papua New Guinea       1.40108
108     Tunisia       1.40
109 Ukraine     1.40

110 Senegal     1.40
111 Mongolia     1.40
112 Bangladesh     1.30
113 Cameroon     1.30
114 Denmark     1.30
115 Liberia     1.30
116 Niger     1.30
117 Malawi     1.30
118 Bolivia     1.30
119 Belgium     1.30
120 Burkina Faso     1.20
121 Spain     1.20
122 Venezuela     1.20
123 Ethiopia     1.20
124 Lithuania     1.20
125 Latvia     1.20
126 Canada     1.10
127 Guinea     1.10
128 Benin     1.00
129 Switzerland     1.00
130 Paraguay     1.00
131 Panama     1.00
132 New Zealand     1.00
133 Madagascar     1.00
134 Bhutan     1.00
135 Central African Republic     0.90
136 Congo, Republic of the     0.90
137 Ecuador     0.90
138 Gambia, The     0.90
139 Ireland     0.90
140 Luxembourg     0.90
141 Tonga     0.90
142 Somalia     0.90
143 Philippines     0.90
144 Kazakhstan     0.90
145 Gabon     0.90
146 Argentina     0.80
147 Sao Tome and Principe     0.80
148 Mozambique     0.80
149 Japan     0.80
150 Austria     0.80
151 Barbados     0.80
152 Bahamas, The     0.70
153 Malta     0.70
154 Dominican Republic     0.70
155 Costa Rica     0.60
156 Honduras     0.60
157 Suriname     0.60
158 Nicaragua     0.60
159 Jamaica     0.60
160 El Salvador     0.60
161 Georgia     0.59
162 Antigua & Barbuda     0.50
163 Mexico     0.50
164 Laos     0.50
165 Cape Verde     0.50
166 Guatemala     0.40
167 Haiti     0.40
168 Moldova     0.40
169 Mauritius     0.30
170 Trinidad & Tobago     0.30
171 Tanzania     0.20
172 Bermuda     0.11
173 Equatorial Guinea     0.10
174 Iceland     0.00

- jR, aka AirFarceOne (Twitter)

The DNC Takes a Pass On National Security

Fred Thompson, the former US Senator from Tennessee, reminds me that Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts might act like he knows foreign policy, and might have claimed the same of Obama in a speech at the DNC, but Kerry is foolish -- or easily fooled -- where dictators are concerned.
Thompson writes in a recent message for Grassroots Action that Kerry is "the man who looked into the soul of Syrian thug, Bashar al-Assad, and claimed to know him as a reformer."
I'd forgotten this highly specious moment in American foreign policy. (I am informed by Thompson's messages from time to time, but am especially appreciative in this instance.)
It's one thing to try to be diplomatic, Sen. Kerry, but quite another to be a blind advocate for a longtime dictator as a reformer, when little suggests he was anything like it. This statement by Kerry was not long before the crackdown in Syria.
This is a time when such comments should come back and haunt you, Senator. And President Obama. Instead, I needed to be reminded if it by an email. If the news media were doing a really good job of covering the conventions, these words would have been haunting Kerry immediately after his speech at the DNC.
Please, let them haunt him, and Obama, now, with no end in sight of the violence in Syria, and the Arab Spring becoming the Muslim murder Spree in Libya.
Let us see to it that Obama leaves the White House, to become a figurehead for a university or launch an international nonprofit, and stay mostly outside of blatant politicking.
Haven't we had enough of his divisive, self-serving politics? I think we have.
I know Obama has failed us in foreign policy, evidenced by his generally passive encouragement of the so-called Arab Spring, but not reacting to the disaster that Syria has become, and being just another vote in the UN with regard to Iran's threat. He is not going to reasonable lengths to sway extremist trends. Now, Libya and Egypt are hotbeds of hate for America, and what will happen in response? Condolences and a return to dictatorships?
Obama: change you should be leavin'. Get on it now. We cannot have four more years of this passivity.

- jR

Posted via email from Like, Totally Political Dude! - posterous

NASA climate expert: thank China when they bring the U.S. to its knees

"Pay no attention to the man behind the government's space agency global warming/climate change/environmental welfare agenda!"

It's the Wizard of Oz, for rocket scientists. Sorta. Except in this one, it seems the wicked ones are the heroes.

NASA's climate expert is also an expert on governing with an iron hand rather than an open mind, it would seem. Few seem to be paying attention to him, especially leading media outlets in the United States, it seems, based on coverage of his wacky comments. Upon seeing what he said, you might just think the leading NASA climate expert is as crazy as a bouncing bag of squirrels.

China-style dictatorship of climatologists

NASA's Hansen prefers rule by decree to fight 'global warming'

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/17/china-style-dictatorship-of-climatologists/

The Washington Times' Patrick Michaels is among the few in big media who have been willing to quote a NASA leader, bringing needed attention to his pro-dictatorship, pro-China, anti-democracy, anti-American rants with regard to global climate change policy.

... NASA laboratory head James Hansen's anti-democracy rants were published while he was on a November junket in China, but they didn't get much attention until recently. On Jan. 12, the hyperprolific blogger Marc Morano put them on his Climate Depot site, and within hours, the post went viral. In a former life, Mr. Morano was chief global-warming researcher for Sen. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican.

According to [NASA's] Mr. Hansen, compared to China, we are "the barbarians" with a "fossil-money- 'democracy' that now rules the roost," making it impossible to legislate effectively on climate change. Unlike us, the Chinese are enlightened, unfettered by pesky elections. Here's what he blogged on Nov. 24:

"I have the impression that Chinese leadership takes a long view, perhaps because of the long history of their culture, in contrast to the West with its short election cycles. At the same time, China has the capacity to implement policy decisions rapidly. The leaders seem to seek the best technical information and do not brand as a hoax that which is inconvenient."

Uhh... NASA, fire him, please.

- jR (aka AirFarceOne on Twitter)

Christmas message from Holy Land: Plight of Iraq Christians dire

Holy Land prelate: Plight of Iraq Christians dire

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=43161 (via site: Middle East Online)

Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch condemns violence against Iraqi Christians, says it is pity to empty Iraq of them:

Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal offered his solidarity and support to Christians in Iraq after a bloody October hostage-taking at a Baghdad cathedral that killed 44 worshipers, two priests and seven security force personnel. ...

Earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI called for "Christ's followers" to be defended in Africa, Asia and the Middle East and warned governments not to allow "anti-religious fanaticism."

Twal also used his traditional address ahead of Christmas to lament the failure of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, and called on Europe to take a more active role in pushing for a solution.

Israel and the Palestinians began direct peace talks on September 2 after a hiatus of nearly two years, but the negotiations ground to a halt just three weeks later with the expiry of 10 months of Israeli restrictions on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

As for the breakdown in talks, there were some rockets fired into Israel, too. But I guess that's standard news. There were also the repeated refusals by Hamas leaders in Gaza to EVER recognize Israel.

- jR

Real estate developer says Hamas and Zionists just need to shake on it

Mind-numbingly ignorant opinion piece in the Central Florida major paper:

Consider this: A one-state resolution for lasting peace -- OrlandoSentinel.com

As one who was born and raised in Jerusalem, I am against splitting the city into two parts. For the love of Jerusalem, I am strongly against giving the corrupted Palestinian Authority any role in the most sacred city in the world, Jerusalem.

For true and everlasting peace, a one-state solution with equal rights for Arabs (Christians and Muslims) and Jews is the only logical solution. As we all love America and the American system, why can't a similar one-state system be created in Israel?

Stunning. I am amused (read: awestruck and stunned in a bad way) that this guy ever visited or looked into the particulars of the region, let alone that he visits regularly or cares about it at all. Mr. Lufti and his kind of fundamental misunderstanding of the divisiveness of extremist Arab-Palestinian factions who flatly hate all Jews is a primary reason why the area is still a hotbed of terrorist missiles being hurled into Israel. Such ignorance is why Hamas keeps their munitions in neighborhoods, victimizing their own people by provoking Israel with terrorizing missiles, leading to a reaction that forced Israel, in order to not be the patsy of terrorists, to shoot at neighborhoods where Hamas hides their offices and their missiles. They do it because some folks aren't confused by the facts: they only see what's in front of their face. Life plots out like a bad TV show to thse folks, I suspect.

Palestine as it is right now is like an idiot's dysfunctional farm: animals are freely wandering everywhere, eating at the dinner table and pooping there, too. There was here and there glimmers of hope, but Hamas seems to have thoroughly evacuated that kind of plan, and this guy seems to respect that. One-state solution would translate to Jews being trounced upon by fundamentalist, Israel-hating people. It is part of the stated goals for these folks!

Once the pigs, ducks, mules, etc., (that is, Hamas) are thrown from the house and back into the mud, and someone imports some REASON into the fray in Palestinian areas and their leadership and politics, this thing can be sorted out. There can be no balanced agreement when one side's leadership prove tiem and again that they are, to be sure, unbalanced.

As this guest opinionator argues, that a one-state solution will work in Israel, simply overlooks -- mind-numbing fundamentally overlooks -- the influence of groups such as Hamas. These folks care about one thing: beating Israel and Jews. It is not about nation-building or community organizing, no more than drug cartels give money to the poor is community organizing. Such extremists want to be killing Jews and ruining public images of Israel, using their victimized neighbors as bait while they are doing it. Hamas and those similar seem incapable of functioning properly without victimizing the innocent and killing Jews.

I wonder, seeing this lack of awareness, if this real estate developer, is good at the low end of his game: screwing over subcontractors every day he goes to the office and looking for reasons to cheapen materials and cheat customers, to fatten his own wallet -- if you'll pardon the stereotype of which examples of its factualness do exist. That's the Hamas way, after all: cruel and selfish, whatever works to make the most of it, human decency be damned. Real estate devs don't obsess over killing people (as far as I know), at least.

I wonder if Mr. Lufti has bought out any retirement communities and booted the residents recently, for spare change each, and then sold it for his own financial profit, or further developed the land for elites such as himself? That's popular among "his kind": real estate developers, I mean, not terrorist sympathizers.

- jR

Obama's fans in search of new mission... already

Oh when the diss, oh when the diss, oh when disappointment is rolling in:

Barack Obama's grass roots in search of new turf - Los Angeles Times

James Dillon, a onetime Republican activist who grew disgusted with politics, was so inspired by Barack Obama's candidacy that he joined the campaign's massive volunteer army, hosting house parties and recruiting supporters.

But beyond influencing the November election, Dillon thought he was joining a new political movement that would be mobilized for big goals -- to end poverty or fix the healthcare system, or maybe to end the U.S. reliance on foreign oil.

Amid Obama's transition to power, a spirited and often secretive debate has broken out among top campaign staff members over how to refashion the broad network of motivated volunteers into a force that can help Obama govern.

With 13 million e-mail addresses, hundreds of trained field organizers and tens of thousands of neighborhood coordinators and phone bank volunteers [also: paid telemarketers and door-bangers], the network has become one of the most valuable assets in politics, and Obama's team may choose to deploy it to elect other Democratic officials, or to lobby Congress for his toughest legislative goals, or even to apply pressure on local and state policymakers across the country.

But while aides sort out the details, the Obama team's early hints about how the network should be used -- as well as its tight-lipped planning process -- have struck some supporters as missteps.

Among the critics is Marshall Ganz, a legendary figure in the field of community organizing who from his post at Harvard University helped train Obama’s campaign organizers and volunteers.

Ganz has publicly questioned the campaign for not conducting a more open deliberation over how to sustain the network, which grew and thrived in part on open dialogue and online social networking. "Is this really what 'building on the movement to elect Barack Obama' is going to look like?" Ganz asked. "I can't believe this was put out by the same people who trained organizers in how to do house meetings in the campaign over the past two years."

Of the reference to the "first dog," Ganz concluded: "Give me a break."

Once you create something and use it to your gain, if it has a mind of its own -- millions of them, in fact -- when it comes time to further serve a purpose after it has served your purpose, what do you do with it? Obama is already hearing unrest from the masses, and he has six weeks to go before he is even in office, announcing members of his administration at a brisk rate.

Has he awakened some strange, codependent type of disappointment in people who seem to think he understood each of them? OK, I am being sarcastic with that one. However, when you draw people, many of whom seemed to not even know how Obama's votes and past campaigns went, into an army of worker bees, it would appear they expected to continue as some sort of storm-troopers for the Democratic president-elect.

It is a risky thing to attract people with three-word mottoes that inspire utopian ideas, hopes and wishes, especially for people who are highly imaginative but spoiled, since the blow-back may be not only loud but very, very embarrassing for everyone involved. This is just one hint -- and very, very early -- of the post-election let-down for Obama supporters, but I wonder what else may happen, now that Obama is elected.

With hope for something that is not akin to mass demonstrations and riots by undereducated, text messaging, iPod-wearing, Wii-malformed brats in baggy jeans and t-shirts, I offer this video.

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

A quote: "They have nothing to fill their pathetically empty lives."

Wish us luck!

- jR

Jean Kirkpatrick contributed to the ire of liberals - remembrance of 1984 in 2006

Washington Times - Kirkpatrick hit liberals for blaming America first

We live in interesting times. Getting to know the 1970s and 1980s, and the troubled thoughts of Jeanne Kirkpatrick about her Democratic Party, might help clarify why and when one party (heavily) wandered to the left, while another followed a path set by Ronald Reagan, and folks like Newt Gringrich in later years.

"When Marxist dictators shoot their way into power in Central America, the San Francisco Democrats don't blame the guerrillas and their Soviet allies," Mrs. Kirkpatrick said of her party, which had just had its national convention in San Francisco. "They blame United States policies of 100 years ago. But then they always blame America first."

She accused Democrats of abandoning the anti-communism of liberals like Harry S. Truman, Hubert H. Humphrey and Henry "Scoop" Jackson for the accommodative tack of George McGovern, Jimmy Carter and the "new liberals" she tagged as the "San Francisco Democrats."

Mr. Reagan liked the "blame America first" refrain so much he used it against Democrats in his speeches in the fall 1984 campaign, winning a landslide victory.

Kirkpatrick and her husband were dismayed by the post-1972 drift of the Democratic Party to the extreme left. But "the GOP didn't seem an acceptable alternative because it retained a brand image associated with country-club snobbery and an indifference to problems of race and poverty."

Kirkpatrick, who was in fact a longtime Democrat, was right to do so, especially in the time of Reagan's focus against Communism. That of course proved to be a windfall against autocratic, or simply undemocratic, leadership.

Late the same year the quoted retrospective article appeared, Kirkpatrick, a former ambassador to the U.N. passed away, on Dec. 7, 2006.

- JRO

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