Time to resume?

As someone else wrote yesterday, is the security state about to consume itself as the FBI fights the CIA? It's interesting to see a public run-amok of the secret-surveillance state now that it is affecting some Very Powerful & Important People. So, perhaps the Very Serious People will now see that we lefties weren't blowing smoke/full of shit when we denounced the unbridled growth of the uncontrolled Spy Nation. It's not just a plaint of the little, unimportant people now.

Kevin Drum, MotherJones.com

"Watching the world slide slowly back into recession without a fight, even though we know perfectly well how to prevent it, is just depressing beyond words. Our descendents will view the grasping politicians and cowardly bankers responsible for this about as uncomprehendingly as we now view the world leaders who cavalierly allowed World War I to unfold even though they could have stopped it at any time."

Doolin-Dalton, by the Eagles

Well, the towns lay out across the dusty plains
Like graveyards filled with tombstones, waitin' for the names
And a man could use his back, or use his brains
But some just went stir crazy, Lord, 'cause nothin' ever changed
'Til Bill Doolin met Bill Dalton
He was workin' cheap, just bidin' time
Then he laughed and said,"I'm goin,"
And so he left that peaceful life behin.
**
I imagine this is exactly how Bonnie & Clyde felt - that that old life just wasn't worth living.

The Prez

I keep reading questions that say, in essence, "If Obama was so courageous/gutsy/brave to kill Osama bin Laden, why is he so gutless/slow/unable-to-express-rage/bad negotiator on other issues?"
Answer: He did not kill OBL; he gave an order that was executed through a long chain of command on a plan created by others; he just said "Yes." On the other issues - debt-ceiling, single-payer, Bush tax cuts, deficit-reduction - it would have been him nose-to-nose in antagonistic action across the table from hard-ass, bad-guy Republicans. He doesn't have that makeup.

Trying to learn this -

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." - Lao Tzu

Play "The End" by The Doors

---

I don't know what will happen Monday or on August 2nd. I believe that no one knows. I also believe that our government is under the control now of a minority of crazies who don't conceive of the catastrophe that they may have put in place. They BELIEVE that god & righteousness are on their side: they don't care about reality - as Bush's group used to disparage us as "the reality-based community." They are zealots & believe they have a calling. Loons and self-deluders have taken countries into the abyss before. Rwanda. The start of World War I. Our Civil War. Hitler & Stalin thinking they could dissect Poland, and nothing further would happen. We are in the hands of fate now.[Note - some Bigs on Wall Street have cashed out - will therefore have cash to buy devalued securities.]

Auld lang syne

Spent part of the day in Butler, Missouri, where I lived in 1st and 2nd grades, long years ago. The house is still there, looking about as bad as it did then ... and I'm not kidding, there. The house is very old, probably civil war times. The owner invited us in, and we got to see my bedroom, the living room, dining room, bathroom and kitchen. It looks just as I remembered it, but the old servant (slave?) quarters and detached kitchen are gone. The town and its square look terrific, only two empty storefronts in the whole square. Got a haircut by the barber who said he'd been cutting hair there since 1951.

Mr. President

Why, exactly, do "we" have the authority to determine when "we" will transfer power over Afghanistan to the Afghans?

Afghans have shown a remarkable ability to fight for the last 30, 130 ... maybe 1,300 years - why do they need us to train them?

Just asking.