Shooting Blanks

Back in the day, the “King of All Righties,” Ronald Reagan, was hell-bent on building a missile defense system. The media dubbed it “Star Wars.” It was a quick and easy way for Uncle Ronnie to line the pockets of his defense contractor buddies. It was the expansion of the military/industrial complex, just like Ike said.

Fast forward to earlier this year. Tighty-righties, intent on undercutting anything the ‘Bamer suggested, were skidmarking their Underoos because President Barry-O wanted to scrap Bush-era plans for the same type of MDS. “He’s soft on National Security,” they screamed. “He’ll get us all killed,” they blathered. Turns out…as usual…the right-wing nut cases were wrong.

Earlier this week, the Russkies test launched a new, long-range missile – just the type of weapon Star Wars and its descendents were supposed to protect us from. You wanna know what happened? POOF! For the seventh time in twelve tries, the Red Enemy failed to get their missile to work right. That’s less than a fifty percent success rate.

Now, you won’t hear any mea culpas from the boogity boogity crowd. That’s not how they roll. But remember this…the Republicans will do anything to get reelected. They’ll make up facts and twist words and pervert ideas and try to scare the bejeezus outta people all for their own electoral gain. that's how they roll. It worked for a while but Americans are wising up to that charade. Here’s hoping that in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles, those tactics work just as well as the new Russian missles. Then, the only defense system we’ll need is the vote.

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Adieu Harry Patch

There was a reason they called WWI the “War to End All Wars.” It was a nightmare. Eight million soldiers and seven million civilians were killed. Twenty-two million soldiers and countless civilians were injured. That’s just flat-out nasty. How do I know? Because I knew what was on the mind of Harry Patch and over the weekend, Harry Patch died. Patch was the last man alive who actually fought in the trenches in WWI. At 111 years old, he’d lived a long life but what struck people most about Harry Patch was his vigorous anti-war stance. He didn’t even talk about his experiences ‘til he was 100. But once he hit the century mark, he let loose, calling war, “…organized murder and nothing else.” Since Patch had first-hand experience with the nastiness that is war, you’d think people would have listened to him. You’d be wrong.

As we speak, the United States has 140,000 troops fighting in Iraq. In Afghanistan, we’ve got 50,000. Two wars, for the wrong reasons, against the wrong people. Hell, the United States has military personnel in almost forty foreign countries! WTF do we need our soldiers in fucking Norway? Are we protecting ‘em from the Swedes? In regard to Patch, Prince “I am NOT Gay” Charles said, “The Great War is a chapter in our history we must never forget, so many sacrifices were made, so many young lives lost.” No shit Chuck, ya think?

The crux of today’s biscuit is simple: War is one messed up motherhubbard and we, as the human race, should have grown out of it by now. But we haven’t learned a damned thing. Politicians and Government Cheese-Dicks suckle from the teat of the military-industrial complex just to get reelected…all the while perpetuating wars as “necessary.” They talk all patriotic about the sacrifices our heroic young people make then, they keep sending ‘em out to die. The thing is, soldiers do what their told. So, now it’s time politicians quit telling them to make the ultimate sacrifice and bring ‘em all home. They might not live to be 111 like Harry Patch…but at least, they’d have a chance. besides, nobody wants to be stationed in Norway.

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Socialistically Inept

Strange, the right-wing nut jobs don't want federal money when it comes to helping the unemployed, the homeless or the elderly ('cause that'd be socialism) but they have no problem whatsoever sucking off the federal teat for things like bank bailouts and the military-industrial complex.





So, the question we have is: If spending government money on those less fortunate than us is “socialism,” WTF is spending government money on blowin’ the crap outta people? Oh yeah…it’s called “spreading democracy through capitalism.” We sure have some fucked up priorities here in the USo'A. No wonder JZeus is spinning in His grave.




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11h 11d 11m

We’re not pacifists here at PTB. In fact, we like rubbin’ a butt on the bad guys as much as anyone. Problem is…we haven’t really fought the bad guys since 1945. After that, it’s been the ‘military/industrial complex” that Ike talked about – fighting wars just to fight ‘em.



Nowadays we remember all those who served this great nation so bravely by celebrating Veteran’s Day. Way back when, it was called Armistice Day – the day when the “War to End All Wars”…ended. The crux of our biscuit is simple: If the politicians who start shit had to go out there and fight, they wouldn’t. Then we could all go back to celebrating the END of war. Below are takes from some old friends of ours…






What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world. ~Robert E. Lee, letter to his wife, 1864



Only the dead have seen the end of war. ~Plato



A day will come when a cannon will be exhibited in museums, just as instruments of torture are now, and the people will be astonished that such a thing could have been. ~Victor Hugo


Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war. ~Otto Von Bismark



War should belong to the tragic past, to history: it should find no place on humanity's agenda for the future. ~Pope John Paul II...



Amen to that brother!



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