National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Bill Introduced In U.S. House

Although the GOP controlled congress will not do anything substantial like close unneeded and costly U.S. military bases in countries like Germany, Italy, and Japan, the pro gun GOP is proposing one piece of common sense gun ownership legislation.

H.R. 822,, which  was introduced in the U.S. House by Representatives Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.). would allow any person with a valid state-issued concealed carry permit to carry a concealed firearm in any state that issues concealed firearm permits, or that does not prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms. A state's laws governing where concealed firearms may be carried would apply within its borders. The bill also applies to Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and U.S. territories.

H.R. 822 would not create a federal licensing system.  Rather, it would require the states to recognize each others' carry permits, just as they recognize drivers' licenses and carry permits held by armored car guards.
While the legislation makes sense , the bill has little hope in passing due to the law including Washington D.C, especially after the recent mass killing in Tucson with a semi automatic pistol.

Rep. Stearns has introduced such legislation since 1995.

The ever widening gap between the rich and poor in America

Numerous authors, political scientists, and intellectuals have been documenting the ever widening gap between the rich and poor in America since the mid 1980s. Although most Americans have been deceived into thinking that all Ronald Reagan did was end the Cold War and do some illegal activities during the Iran Contra Affair, most Americans are ignorant of the fact that Ronald Reagan and a compliant congress began to reverse the great gains the middle class got during the years following World War II. In an era Kevin Phillips refers to as the Great Compression when the wealth accumulated by the upper one percent of Americans after the Great Depression began to be reversed, Ronald Reagan and subsequent presidents and members of congress from both political parties have succeeded in turning America into a plutocracy. 


The independent publication Mother Jones via the Yahoo news blog The Outlook, posted a chilling series of charts that highlights how the gap has turned into a chasm.

The Great Recession and the slump that followed have triggered a jobs crisis that's been making headlines since before President Obama was in office, and that will likely be with us for years. But the American economy is also plagued by a less-noted, but just as serious, problem: Simply put, over the last 30 years, the gap between rich and poor has widened into a chasm.

Gradual developments like this don't typically lend themselves to news coverage. But Mother Jones magazine has crunched the data on inequality, and put together a group of stunning new charts. Taken together, they offer a dramatic visual illustration of who's doing well and who's doing badly in modern America.

European Space Agency helps out NASA

With the U.S. Shuttle Fleet surviving on duct tape and a prayer, the European Space Agency and its fleet of Ariane family of rockets and boosters has proven to be more reliable and dependable than the 30 year old Shuttle fleet. 

While the United States has wasted trillions of dollars into an over bloated and inefficient military, the European Space Agency has become the world leader in satellite launches into low earth orbit. The successful launch of the Ariane 5 rocket supplying the International Space Station is another symbol of the declining world power status of America.
 

On Wednesday, February 16, Arianespace’s first mission of the year successfully launched the second ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle), designated Johannes Kepler, for the European Space Agency.

 

200th Ariane launch, 56th Ariane 5 launch, 42nd success in a row. 

This latest successful Ariane 5 launch, the 200th Ariane launch and the first mission in 2011, once again proves the launcher’s operational capabilities. Ariane 5 handles a complete range of missions, from commercial launches into geostationary orbit to dedicated launches into special orbits. 

The 56th launch of an Ariane 5, and 42nd successful mission in a row, clearly demonstrates the launcher’s reliability and availability. It also set a new payload record, by boosting more than 20 metric tons into low Earth orbit. 

Today’s mission confirms that Arianespace’s launch Service & Solutions continue to set the global standard and guarantee independent access to space for all customers, including national and international space agencies, private firms and governments.

Second successful Ariane 5 ES launch 

For the ATV2 Johannes Kepler mission, Arianespace used the Ariane 5 ES version of the launcher. It was the second successful launch of this version,  following the original ATV1 Jules Verne mission in March 2008. 

Arianespace uses the Ariane 5 ES version to launch ATV cargo vessels to the International Space Station. Ariane 5 ES uses the same lower composite as the standard Ariane 5 ECA launcher, comprising the cryogenic main stage and solid boosters, plus a special upper composite, the EPS reignitable storable propellant stage. 

A new mission for the Guiana Space Center

Today’s launch marks Arianespace’s second mission to the International Space Station, confirming the Guiana Space Center’s membership in the highly select “club” of launch sites serving the Space Station, alongside Baikonur, Cape Canaveral and Tanegashima.

Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health

Although the anti second amendment blog Mikeb302000 is obsessed with discussing fatalities related to fire arms in America, according to the United Nations World Health Organization, alcohol causes nearly 4 percent of deaths worldwide. That is more than AIDS, tuberculosis or violence. Perhaps when Mikeb302000 blogging from another country decries gun violence in America, he should omit blogging about fatalities involving a fire arm when alcohol is a contributing factor.

According to the World Health Organization in its "Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health.", approximately 2.5 million people die each year from alcohol related causes.

Including gun deaths when alcohol is involved allows anti second amendment critics like Mikeb302000 to focus on the firearm and not other extenuating factors in the incident such as alcohol. Isolated from the daily realities of living in America, this ex patriot often forgets that if he were to drive a car between the hours of 10 pm and 2 am in the United States, (that is 2200 and 0200 for our international readers) he would acknowledge that he would have a much greater risk of being killed in an alcohol related incident than a fire arm related incident.

Taking into consideration the lack of mass transit in the United States and the suburban sprawl layout of the country, you can see why there should be a dramatic overhaul of alcohol regulation in the Unites States and the punishment of people convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol. While MikeB302000 habitually decries the amount of gun violence in America, considering the high amount of drunk driving in Italy and the joke of a legal system it has there, perhaps he could share some stories of alcohol related deaths in Italy. While living in Italy myself, I particularly remember one incident where a son of a police chief in Rome killed two Irish women tourists.

The driver, 32-year-old Friedrich Vernarelli, is the son of a prominent former police chief and mayor who had campaigned for improved road safety in the area where the young women were killed. He allegedly fled the scene but was arrested a short time later after crashing into a parked car and bins where he was blocked in by a police patrol car.

Last night he was charged with drunk driving, manslaughter, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and offer help, and damaging public property.

While Mikeb302000 likes to decry injustices with the American police, making matters worse for the family of the two Irish tourists killed by the drunk Italian, the driver was then granted bail.

Rome mayor Walter Veltroni expressed his anger at the decision to earlier give him bail and said: "It is not acceptable that the person responsible for the deaths of two people on a zebra crossing is on bail at home.
As MikeB302000 constantly blogs about the injustices in America and the brutality of its police, perhaps he can update the readers on what ever happened to the drunk Italian who killed the two tourists while driving intoxicated. Like most of the legal cases in Italy, I am sure it will drag on for over ten years and then the statue of limitations will expire and the defendant will never see a day in jail. 

While this is not to attack or single out where Mikeb30200 lives, it merely wants to put the issue of gun and alcohol deaths in an international and cultural comparison. The high amount of drunk driving deaths in the United States and the lower rates of mass transit options for Americans is evident in comparing the drunk driving deaths in the UK (population 61 million) and the amount of drunk driving deaths in California with half the population. According to the statistics, there were 380 drunk driving deaths in the United Kingdom in 2010 (12% of all fatal accidents), compared to 1,489 drunk driving deaths in California in 2007 (22% of all fatal accidents) with a population of 36 million people.

Considering the amount of legal gun owners in America and the amount of people who have a license to drive a car, the report by the World Health Organization has some merit. Driving (excuse the pun) the point home further was the recent story of a Connecticut State police trooper who ran his car into the back of a truck and it was later found that he may have been drinking.

Boehner: US handled Egypt crisis as best it could

Remarks by Republican House Speaker John Boehner that the Obama administration handled "a very difficult situation in Egypt about as well as possible" is proof that when it comes to US imperial needs such as ensuring the flow of oil through the Suez Canal, both political parties in America have the same agenda. Controlled by the same AIPAC ( American Israel Public Affairs Committee) defense industry and oil interests, the remarks by Boehner reveal that any republican politician in control of the Executive branch would have done the same thing as the Obama administration did in reacting to the popular uprising in Egypt.

In addition to the concession that the Obama administration handled the situation in Egypt as well as possible, the chain smoking tanned politician from Ohio revealed how ignorant he is to what the over paid contractors and government employees of the national security state apparatus are doing. The remarks by Boehner  that the uprising "surprised everyone," including U.S. intelligence officials, is a euphemism for saying that the US was surprised that the dreaded secret police or Mukhabarat were not able to suppress the revolution.

According to previously classified U.S. State Department cables, US officials were very aware of power of the Mukhabarat to suppress and intimidate any kind of opposition in Egypt. One cable even declared that the  police force and security service in Egypt were wholly out of control. The cables suggested that torture was routinely used against ordinary criminals, Islamist detainees, opposition activists and bloggers.

As reported by the previously classified U.S. State Department cable:

"The police use brutal methods mostly against common criminals to extract confessions, but also against demonstrators, certain political prisoners and unfortunate bystanders. One human rights lawyer told us there is evidence of torture in Egypt dating back to the time of the pharoahs. NGO contacts estimate there are literally hundreds of torture incidents every day in Cairo police stations alone," one cable said.

Under Hosni Mubarak's presidency there had been "no serious effort to transform the police from an instrument of regime power into a public service institution", it said. The police's ubiquitous use of force had pervaded Egyptian culture to such an extent that one popular TV soap opera recently featured a police detective hero who beat up suspects to collect evidence.

Some middle-class Egyptians did not report thefts from their apartment blocks because they knew the police would immediately go and torture "all of the doormen", the cable added. It cited one source who said the police would use routinely electric shocks against suspected criminals, and would beat up human rights lawyers who enter police stations to defend their clients. Women detainees allegedly faced sexual abuse. Demoralized officers felt solving crimes justified brutal interrogation methods, with some believing that Islamic law also sanctioned torture, the cable said.

The public ignorance displayed by Boehner that the uprising surprised everyone is an excuse for the politician to request more money for the national security state apparatus while cutting domestic programs like home heating grants for poor people in the winter time. As Wikileaks cables revealed in March 2009, US Officials well well aware of the Internet being used as a political mobilization tool when the US cable discussed the April 6, 2008 strike orchestrated through Facebook.

The March 2009 cable also discussed the role of bloggers in Egypt and that several bloggers were taken into custody for their denouncements of the Mubarak regime and police brutality of the Mukhabarat.

1. KEY POINTS — (C) Egypt's bloggers are playing an increasingly important role in broadening the scope of acceptable political and social discourse, and self-expression.

-- (C) Bloggers' discussions of sensitive issues, such as sexual harassment, sectarian tension and the military, represent a significant change from five years ago, and have influenced society and the media.

-- (C) The role of bloggers as a cohesive activist movement has largely disappeared, due to a more restrictive political climate, GOE counter-measures, and tensions among bloggers.

-- (C) However, individual bloggers have continued to work to expose problems such as police brutality and corporate malfeasance.

2. (C) Comment: The government generally allows bloggers wide latitude in posting material critical of the GOE.

Exceptions to this policy are bloggers who directly insult President Mubarak or Islam, and the government has arrested and jailed bloggers who have crossed these red-lines. The GOE has also arrested activists, such as XXXXXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXXXXX, who have used blogging to organize and support protests (refs A and C). Activists are increasingly writing blogs to advance their political aims. Contacts accurately point out that bloggers have ceased to function as a cohesive activist movement. It is noteworthy that bloggers did not play a significant role in the most recent example of mass cyber-activism — the April 6, 2008 strike orchestrated through Facebook (ref G).

While the speech by Boehner was meant for an American audience ignorant of the Wikileaks cables, for this blogger, his statements were a confirmation that both political parties in America care more the status quo interests in the Middle East than they do about democracy and the will of the majority population in Egypt and other countries. 

Egypt and Iran; Different looks at people power

Robert H. Reid, the Middle East Regional Editor for The Associated Press, has covered the region since 1978. He offers a sobering comparison between the recent peaceful Egyptian protests and the ouster of Hosni Mubarak to the Iranian Revolution and the end of the autocratic and American backed Shah of Iran regime 32 years before to the day.

The article is highly recommended for anyone wanting to learn more about the Iranian Revolution and how the actions of the CIA in 1953 are still having negative consequences in the region and for the United States.

CAIRO – No sooner had the announcement come than the streets of Cairo exploded in joyful celebration. The hated autocrat was gone. A new era was ushered in with cheers, tears and the cacophony of car horns.

And so it was in Tehran — 32 years before to the day.

On Feb. 11, 1979, the commander of the Iranian air force announced on national radio that the armed forces were withdrawing from the fight to save the American-backed regime of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who had already fled the country three weeks before in the face of burgeoning street protests against his autocratic rule.

With the military gone, the Iranian monarchy collapsed and with it any chance that the shah would return from what had been spun as a vacation — ironically to Anwar Sadat's Egypt.
As the troops returned to barracks, Tehran erupted into wild celebrations — punctuated by the deafening din of thousands of horns.

The popular revolt against the shah raised alarm bells in the West, which saw the prickly monarch as a trusted ally and counterweight to hard-line Arab regimes and Palestinian radicals. The face of the revolution was Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, whose demeanor, vehemently anti-American rhetoric and stern interpretation of Islam challenged not only Western interests but also Western values.

Egypt's revolutionaries of today appear far less threatening, representing a broad spectrum of Internet-savvy youth, mainstream politicians and Islamists bound together by hatred of President Hosni Mubarak and a desire for a more open, democratic system. The closest thing to a symbol of Egypt's uprising was a 30-year-old Google executive, whose passionate, tearful remarks made on a private television station after his release from detention drove many modern-thinking, middle-class Egyptians into the streets.

Nevertheless, the images from Tehran a generation ago and from Cairo on Friday's "Night of Liberation" were uncannily familiar. The palpable sense of relief. The euphoria among the government's opponents. The carnival-like atmosphere. The explosion of national pride. And the blind faith that the new regime would be more just, more equitable and more democratic than the old.

Iran's masses were no less hungry for democracy than the Egyptians who crowded into Cairo's central Tahrir Square to demand an end to Mubarak's rule. Where the Iranians put their trust in Muslim clerics to bring about a just and equitable society, the Egyptians turned to the secular-minded army to give the Mubarak regime a final push.

Egypt's young revolutionaries used the tools of the 21st century — the Internet, Facebook and Twitter — to organize the first protests in late January. After the government unplugged the Internet and shut down mobile phones, Egyptians turned to Arabic language television stations — Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya and Alhurra — for word of what was happening on the streets.

No such technological wonders were available to the Iranian opposition. Messages and sermons from Ayatollah Khomeini, who was in exile in Paris until the final days of the uprising, were spread by cassette tapes that were smuggled into the country, copied and distributed to mosques throughout the country.

From the mosques, information spread by word of mouth through a nationwide network of clerics and intellectuals who grew ever bolder as the shah's security services began to disintegrate.

Instead of turning to the likes of Al-Jazeera for news, Iranians relied on crackling shortwave broadcasts by the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Persian language service, which the shah's government tried repeatedly to jam. At one time or another, nearly every Western journalist in Iran pretended to be from the BBC when confronted by protesters who were sometimes hostile to Americans. Every Khomeini supporter seemed to know how to say in English: "Ah, you BBC? BBC very good."

Tehran University was transformed into a giant speaker's corner, where people could come every day to listen to anti-regime clerics rail against the shah and his American backers.
It took Egypt's demonstrators only 18 days to force out Mubarak, who had ruled the country for nearly three decades. Although arson and looting broke out briefly in late January — presumably instigated by state security to frighten the public and discredit the protests — the anti-Mubarak movement was remarkably peaceful and disciplined. Most of the violence appeared instigated by the police and thugs believed paid by the ruling party, who ran wild for a few days until the army reined them in.

Banks closed and ATMs ran out of cash. Groceries began running short on supplies. By and large, however, life in much of the capital continued as it had before — even as crowds in Tahrir Square grew ever larger.

Not so the Iranian uprising. It began in January 1978 with street demonstrations against the shah. By the end of the year, the country was paralyzed by strikes and demonstrations. Government ministries all but ceased functioning. Airlines stopped flying to Tehran. With a daily 9 p.m. curfew, which was brutally enforced in the capital, Iranians huddled in their dark, unheated homes, listening to the periodic bursts of gunfire that punctuated the night.

Protesters grew ever more violent. The shah's Imperial Guard did not hesitate to fire on unarmed demonstrators, some of whom were willing — sometimes even eager — for martyrdom. Comrades would cheer and shout "martyr" as their fellow protesters fell to gunfire.
Violence was not limited to government forces. Young demonstrators hurled firebombs — gasoline poured into soft drink bottles and lit with a rag — at the Guardsmen. A police colonel was dragged from his car and beaten into a fatal coma as protesters ripped off parts of his uniform and threw them into the trees.

Food supplies, electricity and cooking gas were scarce.

As chaos engulfed Tehran, the shah left on Jan. 16, 1979, leaving the government in the hands of his appointed prime minister. Khomeini returned two weeks later to a massive reception by millions of people.

Less than two weeks after Khomeini returned, air force technicians at a base in Tehran mutinied, setting off a day and night of street fighting. A monarchial system that had lasted for more than 2,000 years crumbled.

Egypt's revolt achieved its main goal — Mubarak's ouster — before the conflict had torn apart the fabric of Egyptian society.

After Mubarak resigned Friday, Egyptians partied in the streets, waved huge flags, set off fireworks and sang patriotic songs until dawn.

Three decades before, the collapse of the shah's regime triggered three terrifying days of looting, arson and street fighting. Pro-Khomeini groups stormed prisons and police stations, looting weapons and hunting down Imperial Guardsmen and other members of the old regime. The yearlong revolution had polarized society and built up tensions that exploded as the Khomeini loyalists struggled to restore order.

A fanatical mullah broadcast a call on state radio to hunt down and punish foreigners, prompting Khomeini's staff to issue a counter order to protect non-Iranians. Rival militias seized the Intercontinental Hotel, home to most foreign journalists, until Khomeini loyalists arrived and ran them off.

The shah's regime resisted the demands of the street and collapsed, setting in motion social and political forces that still trouble the country and the region a generation later. Mubarak stepped down, and the world now waits to see if the fallout will be different.

Press Review of Middle Eastern Country Editorials

To help broaden the view of main stream media readers, the following are a sampling of excerpts from editorial pages from several Middle Eastern and North African countries like Algeria, Morocco ,Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.

EDITORIAL IN EGYPT'S AL-JUMHURIYAH

With its martyrs and strugglers, the 25 January revolution has opened a new page that challenged all obstacles to change. There is hope for a better tomorrow where the real face and leading role of Egypt will be restored.

HEADLINE IN ALGERIAN ARABIC-LANGUAGE AL-FADJR

Three weeks of anger end 30 years of his rule.

RAFIQ KHURI IN LEBANON'S AL-ANWAR

The people of Egypt have emerged victorious, but this victory will not be complete without a transition into a civilian state through a democratic system.

HASNA YACOUB IN ALGERIAN FRENCH-LANGUAGE LA TRIBUNE

Yesterday Hosni Mubarak resigned, after 18 days of violent protests, 300 deaths and several hundred people injured. Mubarak went to great lengths to find an honourable way out, but the Egyptian people would have none of it. As if with one voice, millions chanted: "Mubarak out".

MOROCCAN AKHBAR AL YAOUM

The End of a Pharaoh: The will of the revolution broke the stubbornness of the dictator.

TAOUFIK BOUACHRINE IN MOROCCAN AKHBAR AL YAOUM

Would it not have been more honourable and more respectful if Mubarak had left on the first day of the protests? Would it not have been better for him to have spared the lives of 300 martyrs? Would it not have been better for Mubarak to have been a former president rather than an ousted and humiliated president, looking for a haven to spend his last days away from the Nile?

EDITORIAL IN SAUDI AL-WATAN

Sympathisers in the Muslim and Arab world are looking forward to Egypt entering a new era, when it resumes its role in the Arab and Islamic geo-political axis. There is no doubt that the youth who led the peaceful revolution with major understanding and awareness, will be committed to accomplish their mission in the same spirit.

EDITORIAL IN SYRIA'S TISHRIN

Finally, the Egyptian revolution has achieved its goal in making the regime and its symbols leave... The 18 days was like playing a game of cards before the regime yielded to the demands of the people who made history. The good thing is that that the people had the last word, and that the revolution reflects their sentiments, patriotism and sincerity... The historic moment has been achieved and the Arab masses are looking forward to a paradigm shift in Egypt. It is sincerely hoped that Egypt will return to stability.

KARIM EFTEKHARI IN IRAN'S HEMAYAT

The current revolution in Egypt and Mubarak's downfall, the Egyptian people's happiness and their slogans - are all a copy of Iran's Islamic Revolution. Liberal democracy was a bad omen for the world and by looking at the developments in France, Britain and Greece we can see that it does not have any place even there. Today, Islam is the best ideology for leading the world. Today, the collapse of a powerful empire in Egypt - and not Iran - is the main concern for the US.

MEHDI MOHAMMADI IN IRAN'S KEYHAN

The political geography of the Middle East will change quickly as the Egyptian revolution infects other autocracies in the region. Israel is also reaching the end of the story. Iran, as the only source of inspiration for anti-US movements in the region, will control the heart of the revolutions. Sidelining the US is the most important geopolitical effect we can expect to see.

MOHAMMAD SA'ID AHADIAN IN IRAN'S KHORASAN

This delightful end is the beginning of a new start for the Egyptian people's movement to achieve complete freedom from dependence and regaining their national and Islamic identity. However, will this people's movement be able to stick to the route to freedom, which will be full of twists and turns?

Beppe Grillo on Annozerro

As Egypt is dominating the political and international news, Beppe Grillo sums up the political situation in Italy in his usually comedic manner when he says that Italians are missing an opportunity to oust the corrupt politicians running Italy by not getting off of their flabby asses and doing the same thing that the Egyptians did in their country.

When Beppe Grillo says that the Egyptians are better than Italians, he has a point. Unlike the self serving politicians like Silvio Berlusconi who enter into politics to protect their own interests, Beppe Grillo is the voice of true Italians.

Although a recent speech by Beppe Grillo on the state television network RAI2 ( the more moderate and central public networks of the three in Italy) is not translated, the Italians following Opinione should appreciate the posting.

The eyes of the world are on Egypt

Friday will be a pivotal day for the protests in Egypt. It now appears that Hosni Mubarak has no plans to end his reign of power and the defiant speech by the dictator sets the stage for a possible violent confrontation between the protesters, the military, and Mubarak security forces. The defiant stance by Mubarak is a shrewd and calculated move to incite the peaceful protesters to resort to violence. If this happens it will give Mubarak security forces an excuse to open fire on the protesters.

Although most of the main stream media political pundits are not discussing the possibility, if this happens, it can open the door for a possible civil war to erupt between the military and civilian protestors fighting Mubarak security forces.

Wikileaks: Saudi Arabian reserves are not as bountiful as sometimes described

Are you a subscriber of the New York Times? The supposedly center left American newspaper who claims to print “All the news that’s fit to print”. After reading this article, you may want to cancel your subscription and demand your money back.

Although The New York Times was one of the five news organizations Wikileaks released the same information that it received from a lowly Private First Class serving in Iraq, it appears that for people who are really series about their news, they have to turn to the British newspaper The Guardian. Like most of the American main stream media which has withdrawn from covering the Wikileaks cables out of fear from being perceived as being un-American or upsetting their corporate masters, the failure of The New York Times to report on the Wikileaks documents with the same tenacity and resolve of The Guardian is alarming. The almost total and complete failure of The New York Times to adequately cover the information in the US cables given to them by Wikileaks is demonstrating why Great Britain is considered to be more democratic than the United States and also a country with better press freedoms.

The latest story released by The Guardian related to Wikileaks is the story that Saudi Arabia has been under estimating its vast oil reserves by as much 40 percent. While astute political scientists have suspected this for quite some time now, due to the research done by political scholars like Michael Klare, author or Blood for Oil and Rising Powers Shrinking Planet, recent Wikileaks cables give further evidence that the world is fast approaching the era of “Peak Oil”. A time demand for oil is more than the available supply of oil.

According to a December 10, 2007 cable from the US Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in a meeting between the U.S. Consular General John Kincannon and Dr. Sadad al-Husseini, the former Executive Vice President for Exploration and Production at Saudi Aramco believes that Saudi Arabian reserves are not as bountiful as sometimes described. Perhaps as mush as 40 percent less than what many Aramco executives, Saudi officials and energy optimists portray in public.

While the candid discussion between the US Consular General and the former Executive President of Aramco in December 2007 will embolden peak oil supporters, the personal career and business ambitions of Dr. Sadad al-Husseini have to be taken into consideration. The pessimistic and gloomy outlook by al-Husseini may be influenced by unsuccessfully attempt to engineer his ascension to the position of CEO with Aramco and his remarks may be aimed at discrediting the company and its chief executives. Although al-Husseini continues to live at Aramco's main camp and has close interpersonal relationships with key Aramco executives, many of al-Husseini's views on Aramco are shaped by the perception that the company would be better off if he were running it.

While it is understandable that most of the main stream media is afraid to cover the release of classified and sensitive information out of fear for informal acts of retaliation by the people and institutions the release of information is affecting, the press is failing to perform its constitutionally protected role as a public watchdog and a provider of information to the public.

The annual adulation and misguided worship the MICC gets during the Super Bowl

Unlike most Americans, this decorated military veteran is not planning on watching the grandest of all weapons of mass distractions in the arsenal of the status quo. Unlike the masses who will be wasting their time watching mindless commercials and a sport that is four hours long and has only 12 minutes of action, this military veteran would rather spend that time watching paint dry. Even though I am interested in learning how the military industrial congressional complex will get its annual adulation and misguided worship, this military veteran will instead spend the time reading a book. It is too bad that most Americans are easily manipulated by over priced military hardware, emotional displays of nationalism, and misplaced perceptions of the true meaning of being patriotic .

Because the Super Bowl being is being hosted in a doomed stadium and the weather may be too cold for the retractable roof to be pulled back, the traditional fly over of over priced politically engineered fighter jets at the beginning of the game will have to be substituted from some other event inside the doom.

While conventional wisdom dictates a more appropriate minute of silence for the 120,000 soldiers still serving in Afghanistan, some of them on their second, third, and even fourth tours of duty, the status quo elites and organizers of the Super Bowl would never allow such a long awkward moment of silence. In addition to the long minute of silence in a world of instant messaging and Facebook updates, a long minute of silence increases the chances of some drunken fool yelling something in the stands during the moment of silence.

Perhaps the organizers will honor the military by displaying the names of the 1,395 soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the start of President Bush’s decision to bring democracy to a country through military force. With recent events in Tunisia and Egypt, we all know very well now why this military veteran and political scientist never supported an American Foreign Policy trying to bring democracy through military means.

While reading or displaying the names of the 1.395 soldiers killed in the on going and endless war would be too difficult and time consuming for the corporate sponsors of the Super Bowl, perhaps the organizers will at the least display the names and faces of the approximate 480 soldiers who have been killed in Afghanistan since the last Super Bowl. Surely a stadium built with generous tax breaks and other public money could display the names of the men and women killed in Afghanistan on the world’s largest high definition video screen. Lockheed Martin one of the largest and most corrupt military industrial congressional complex corporate bedfellows is located not far from Dallas, would be an ideal corporate sponsor for honoring the soldiers killed in Afghanistan. The more public support given to perpetual war with the use of over priced and over budgeted military items like the Lockheed Martin produced Joint Strike Fighter, guarantees continued profits for war mongering corporations like Lock Heed Martin, Boeing, and dozens of other corporations in America.

Sadly though, the corporate sponsors and media outlet hosting the grandest of all weapons of mass distraction events will downplay the sacrifice suffered by the men and women serving in Afghanistan and mark the moment as quick as possible. Undoubtedly immediately after any tribute to the military the organizers will break to a commercial so Americans will continue to equate their level of democracy and freedom in America through a quantitative perspective and not a qualitative perspective.

The Legacy of Ronald Reagan - Iran Contra, deficits, and oil dependancy

With some of the main stream media and conservative pundits trying to polish a turd that was the Reagan presidency, a great video clip from Robin Williams in 1986 highlights some of the things that revisionist conservatives often overlook when they get all teary eyed and nostalgic for the former actor turned politician.

Anti-imperialist political scholars and any honest political scientist would highlight how the National Security Act of 1947 and the creation of the National Security Council allowed Ronald Reagan to abuse the power of the executive office and in the process undermined the U.S. Constitution.

By shielding himself behind his National Security Council Adviser, an unelected government official who wields a tremendous amount of power, Ronald Reagan was allowed to play dumb to the actions of the people under him. As the video from Robin Williams highlights, Reagan and his staff were no different than any notable republican president, Richard Nixon.

While all the material from Robin Williams is hilarious, the bit about Reagan starts around 4:00.