Why should 58+2 play second fiddle to 40 niggling nabobs of negativism? The Democrats managed to put 60 Senators together for cloture. They gave Nebraska $300 millions for Nelson's single vote. Obviously, the Democrats can't be trusted with $1.00 to buy milk at the corner store.

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Wars without a Chance are as Fruitless as Romance without Finance

The US Spends the Money, but Loses the Wars

Iraq has shut out the US oil firms from bidding on concessions. For $trillion the US got nothing. How much in bribes to the Congress would dissuade them to get out of the war business?
The peace activists are missing a good strategy. They should stop advertising it is immoral to kill. Instead, they should emphasize the high cost of murder.

Nobody Can Give Liberty, Freedom and Independence

Somebody wrote "once they are empowered with self determination to gain liberty, freedom and independence."
As human beings, the Palestinians under the UN Charter automatically are empowered with self determination. They have the right to exist. If they choose liberty, freedom and independence as a way of life, they have a right to do so. No one has the right to deny them this choice.
Likewise, no one has the right to deny Israel her right to exist. On seven different occasions, a number of nations attacked Israel to deny her the right to exist. She repelled the invaders costing her defenders 26,000 lives.
Palestinians can blame other nations for their failures to secure liberty and freedom till the end of time. The fact remains. Nobody can become free by taking it away from somebody else.

Congress Runs the Good Cop Bad Cop Routine

Under Reagan and GHWB the GOP ran amok. So, we threw the rascals out. Bill Clinton brought his harem to the WH. The GOP returned to loot the country. Barack Obama is letting them do it.
Maybe I should have called it the bad cop bad cop routine.

10% Good and 10% Evil Fight to Control the Other 80%

If he intends to die of natural causes in America, the wise man must pick his spots. Both ends of the spectrum battle for his soul and neither of them is very kind to it. The pacifist of the 1930's could be branded a traitor in the 1940's. When the limousine liberal crossed the Hudson River, he was taking his life into his hands in Jersey. The year 1968 was the last in which it was fashionable to be black. Every life has its ebbs and flows. The trick is to avoid the undertow during the transition.
America has had four wretched decades in a row. Sometimes, I long for the day when Lyndon Johnson picked up his pooch by his ears.

Little Mary African Soldier 16

Mary, a 16-year-old demobilized child soldier forced to join an armed rebel group in central Africa, remembers:
"I feel so bad about the things that I did. It disturbs me so much that I inflicted death on other people. When I go home I must do some traditional rites because I have killed. I must perform these rites and cleanse myself. I still dream about the boy from my village that I killed. I see him in my dreams, and he is talking to me, saying I killed him for nothing, and I am crying." (Source: U.S. State Dept. TIP Report 2005)

All Human Rights for All Human Beings

I prefer the above UN slogan as it refers to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its 30 Articles define a moral code of conduct. A set of particulars, enforcement would make genocide impossible. Isn't genocide the major sin to be rejected? War, famine and disease kill people. Wall Street fraud and political corruption murder human beings.
Words such as enemy, good and perfect are meaningless in the definition of real policy.
Our little homeless shelter flies in the face of all of this. We oppose the murder of debilitated people in hospital. We resist the shooting and poisoning of defenseless animals in the streets. We stand for the sanctity of life.

Palestinian Protesters Might Consider an Action in Tehran

After the rigged election in Iran, 100's of thousands of citizens took to the streets for a voice in their affairs. As any normal people anywhere, they do not want to risk being invaded or nuked. The Iranian government responded with repression, torture and murder against unarmed citizens. The USA responded by escalating in Afghanistan not helping people in either country. Israel has the tough choice of hitting Iran alone or waiting until Iran smuggles nuclear weapons into Gaza. In any event, many people in the region will risk dying.
In the region the Americans have shown a remarkable indifference to local suffering willing to fight to the last drop of native blood. This continues in the "march" to break the blockade.
Egypt and Israel have been at peace for 30 years. Do the marchers intend to disturb that?

The Souk Can Teach Us Much

The US government can inflict economic death on any group or individual through taxation. If they can maintain 60 votes for reconciliation, the Democrats can pass anything. In the souk I always assume the merchant's kids will instantly starve to death if he does not accept my rock bottom offer. The Democrats never bothered to figure out the bank bail-out request for $700 billions. They had pulled the number out of a hat. The Democrats should have restored Glass Steagall and nationalized the six biggest plus AIG. A 50% across-the-board reduction in fees and services for the medical industry would bring costs down to European levels. Doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies failing to toe the line would lose their licenses to do business. Since the military has a 50-year inventory of spare parts, there is no reason for future procurements.
Many overlook the consumer's ultimate weapon. If negotiations are failing, tuck your final cash offer into the merchant's shirt pocket. It's an offer he can't refuse. Trust me on this.

Going Like Sixty

Why should 58+2 play second fiddle to 40 niggling nabobs of negativism? The Democrats managed to put 60 Senators together for cloture. They gave Nebraska $300 millions for Nelson's single vote. Obviously, the Democrats can't be trusted with $1.00 to buy milk at the corner store. The DNC should be able to bribe the sixty to stay together till after the 2010 election. Some combination of bribery, blackmail and political death threats should do the trick. After two or three reconciliation measures, GOP funding could be curtailed.
If the Dems fail to maintain discipline, they will face a Tea Party/Bircher ticket in 2012.

Authors Bio:
Born a month before Pearl Harbor, I attended world events from an early age. My first words included Mussolini, Patton, Sahara and Patton. At age three I was a regular listener to Lowell Thomas.
My mom was an industrial nurse a member of the AFL/CIO. My dad was a painting contractor. We shopped at the Working Man's Store.
Dad's reading matter was the Old Mole the house organ of the Socialist Workers Party. I played the saxophone and became a young fan of Charlie Parker, Lester Young and Duke Ellington. Naturally, I gravitated to the Civil Rights movement.
After college to avoid the draft, I joined the US Army Reserve. Alas, this came to crowd control, which was a euphemism for busting radical potheads. When I ducked out of this duty, my commander bundled me off to a unit doomed to go to Vietnam. Ironically, my old unit went to Vietnam and the new one stayed home.
I studied economics in graduate school where I watched America go mad with war. Afterwards, I joined the rat race for a decade.
When Ronnie Reagan became President, I took up residence in Israel.
The 11 books listed below describe my adventures in Israel.
The articles reflect additional thoughts that expand on the author's ten volumes Genesis Begins the Millennia. The work begins in 1995 with a fictional account of ordinary Israelis absorbed with everyday events. There are extraordinary happenings the characters gradually recognize as portents of the Messianic Age. Volumes four and five show why the Messiah decided to delay His arrival.
Volumes six through ten [Tradebombers] begin six weeks before the 9/11 World Trade Center tragedy. Again, the characters portray ordinary citizen reaction to extraordinary events.