Learned helplessness

Reaching for one too many stars.
Pretend

New Currency

to be backed by opium.
At last a currency not backed by paper.

Fight them over here

vs. strong personal relationships [with] local populations
New York Times

The US in Afghanistan

Excuse me, sir. Sir?
#20

We are all in this together

Barak Obama, talking about the Wall St bail out, or
socialism, for the rich.
See?

James Polk Silver Dollar

How fitting that, at this time, the US
would select a war-monger for its new
non-silver dollar.

Secrets

make you sick

Cindy Sheehan

on Facebook
If elections changed anything, they would be illegal
I hear that the administration is less popular
than King George was in 1776.

Looking for poppies in Afghanistan

RAWA provides some clues: [1] [2] [3]
on how to find them.

What is the boiling point of terrorism?

Is it torture if you boil someone in water?
Uzbekistan. YouTube of ambassador Murray.
I know. It's old news.

Where I have been

I've been posting lately on the Arghand site, here.
If you do need an invitation to join, I can send one.

Iran misdirection

We concentrate on Iran's nuclear capabilities, which are irrelevant when they have oil, and neglect its kiloton range shipments of conventional arms into areas of conflict. See this post on the recent Israeli interdiction of weapons.
Is this misdirection on purpose? And if so, what is the purpose?

Beautiful

young girl from Mirwais Mena

Will Russia Join NATO?

Malalai Kakar

Sunday, September 28th, 2008

The Nuclear Option

from "War made easy" @0:13:49 Nixon in Vietnam
Also
Eisenhower in Korea.
Eisenhower re Quemoy and Matsu.
prior to Dien Bien Phu, offer of 2 bombs to the French.
====
I suspect that Kennedy came close in Laos.

Economic reform and Transparency

AKA: Perestroika and Glasnost
and by advanced economy I mean one in which the lights stay on
James Howard Kunstler

Consumers

can change the world.
"The dollar bill is a phenomenal force for change, I now know, if spent on products and processes that respect the environment and promote dignified livelihoods, rather than destroying them." Sarah Chayes

Invasion of the body snatchers

cv

How many warlords does it take

to change a lightbulb?
Ans: Warlords don't change lightbulbs
In fact, they prefer the dark.

Vanity Fair does it again

on The Crime of the Century

Martha's Vineyard

Peace at last.

Ten Years After

The cuban-five get a change of venue.

Drugs and Arms

Power and dope corrupt governments.

Post Peak

Why No Warning Shot?

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were warning shots.

Japan was already defanged.

Even after the bombs, Japan did not surrender unconditionally.
They surrendered on the condition that the Emperor be treated with respect, something that the US refused previously.
The US accepted this condition, on the condition that the Emperor obey MacArthur.

We had the bomb. The US, especially General Leslie Groves, needed to move the bomb from the shadows onto the world stage.
No peace before that.
See “House of War” by James Carroll.

Rethinking death

Against defenseless people,
there is not much that nuclear weapons can do
that cannot be done with an ice pick.
or a machete

Secretary of Homeland Security

House of War
The story of the Pentagon and the ghost of Curtis LeMay.

Star Wars aka Maginot Line

Oswald's security clearance

Oswald worked the radar at Atsugi, Japan.
Atsugi was a CIA base; one that the U2 flew out of.
All radar controllers knew the altitude that the U2 could fly at.
This was top-secret information.
YouTube

JFK

Now the trumpet summons us again -- not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need -- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are -- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation," a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
The inaugural address
James Carroll in House of War

Africa / America

Is this where it goes?

Power from Water or Solar Collector. Not sure which.

George Schultz talks with the head of Chevron about getting energy from the MIT swimming pool. George has a PhD from MIT and is on the New Energy Initiatives panel at MIT.
(I don't how the fuel cell figures in - just burn the hydrogen.)

Our Policy In Africa

Testimony of General WILLIAM E. WARD, AFRICOM.
Strengthen our African partners and oppose the weak.
Achieve positive change in the lives of millions of people.
Support U.S. foreign and national security policy, through non-military means, where possible, including access to oil in the Gulf of Guinea. Ensure the safety of the American Empire.
(I paraphrase.)

Jonathan Turley

on police brutality.

Knowledge

Knowledge we ask not
For knowledge Thou has lent
But the will
There lies our bitter need

The will to build
above the deep intent
the deed.
John Drinkwater

Masters of the Universe

We won't be they.

The earth is not divided into states

And the term "failed states" is an admission of that.
Failed states are not an exception to the rule: there is no rule,
but the rulers can't admit that.

Q: Why are these borders so straight?

A: Used a ruler.

Threat Assessment - Aghanistan

is the pashto areas? Reuters

The swans are flying

hunky dory asks Kunstler.
Duck and cover replaces pheasant under glass.

BAU - Blood for oil

in Peru

The Perfect Prisoner

John Walker Lyndh

Cindy Sheehan

Be not weary in well doing

Afghan Massacre - 2001

General Dostum at Kunduz and Mazar al Sharif.
prisoner abuse.
remember John Walker Lindh?
Here is the video, from Democracy Now!

David Halberstam

Glen Greewald's commentary
on speaking falsehoods to weaklings

Plumbers Without Borders

TED

What She Was Wearing

this is my suicide dress

New Yorker

"Fortunately, it doesn't last long".
"We have woven the sound of the alarm clock into our dreams." Lovelock.

Thich Quang Duc

June 11, 1963 (a reenactment)

The Jay Bybee Problem

Scott Horton

The John Yoo Problem

Jonathan Turley

Clean energy

is not this, and it's not mountain top removal.

Bush's Monica

Underling. Helping staff the DOJ

Japan has a nuclear program

says a trucker @14:26

Nine is enough

These people broke the law,
and need to be held accountable.

Ok, maybe nine is not enough.
Oh yea, and Rumsfeld

Where is my vote

Here somewhere.

Abu Dhabi

New Old Havana

Revolutionary Anarchist

Laissez-faire and the industrial revolution.

The Iranian Empire, in green

Southern Iraq is a given. Alliance with Kurdish Northern Iraq is a given, to put pressure on Turkey. All of Iraq's oil is gone, and so all of Iraq. Iran's alliance with the country formerly known as Lebanon is a given, and with Gaza. Iran is not a state ruled by mullahs. Khameni, the pope, is no more religious than our 10th century popes were, and is no scholar, and Amhadi-Nejad, the Press Secretary, is from the Revolutionary Guards. Sistani, in Najaf, keeps his head down. Herat is Iranian. Iran could not crush Sadaam by force, so we did it for them, and the Taliban.
Watch our navy base in Bahrain, in the Persian Gulf.
Saudi Arabia is a corrupt failed state waiting to be sliced open.
Northern and Eastern Africa? Available.

Tim DeChristopher

For Secretary of the Interior

Scott Carrier

Beyond Rangoon
and Beyond El Paso

How to do it

Torture?

Better that one should die.

My Robot Friend

US: No longer hoods

Pentagon officials yesterday repudiated the harsh interrogation tactics adopted since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, specifically forbidding U.S. troops from using forced nudity, hooding, military dogs and waterboarding to elicit information from prisoners captured in ongoing wars. <Washington Post, Sept 7, 2006>
Also, no more 'disappearing'.
Interrogation Rules of Engagement: wall poster

The presidents highest Constitutional duty

is to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution

Was this the worst?

What, we didn't boil anybody?
The deaths at Bagram AFB.
What about murders in NYC?


Abdul Wahed died in the American special forces bases at Gereshk in southern Afghanistan in November 2003. etc.

Upper Utopia

Independent Lens

Sen Jeremiah Denton

[>>]
True Believer.
"We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country under difficult circumstances. We are profoundly grateful to our Commander-in-Chief and to our nation for this day. God bless America."
12Feb1973
Proud having served in Vietnam,
and (proud?) supporter of the contras.
David Belavia, deja vu.
There is a way that seems right to a man

No room for the hopeless sinner

Who would hurt mankind, just to save his own

Chinese water tortureBamboo under the fingernails, etc

[>>]
Treating the wounded, in Vietnam.

Sweet

[>>]

Quang Tri, Vietnam

A superfund site. Or should be.

46th mersenne prime number

has 13-million digits, or does it?
The "46th" mersenne prime number is (2**43,112,609)-1

Since 1024 > 1000,
and 10**3 = 1000,
and 2**10 = 1024,
then 2**10 > 10**3, by a little (2.4%).

2**43112609 = (2**10)**4311260.9
(2**10)**4311260.9 > (10**3)**4311260.9 = 10**(3*4311260.9) = 10**(12933782.7)
10**12,933,782 = 1 followed by 12,933,782 zeros.
[(10**.7 = 5.0) so no more digits there.]

Not 13 million, but close, and this is a lower bound.

The approximation above uses the log of 1000 (ie: 3) as a lower bound to the log of 1024. As an upper bound, the log of 1024 is just slightly less than 3.0103, so (10**3.103)**4311260.9 > (2**10)**4311260.9 = 2**43112609
This number has 4311260.9*3.0103 digits or 12,978,188.
Sorry, still not 13 million.

The moral: don't believe everything you read.

The sick man of europe

(c)
For some reason, these new birds did not seem as interested in William's bird seed.
----
When an empire collapses, the squabbles start.

Torture 1967

Tossing the highest ranking VC out of a helicopter served
to loosen the tongue of the rest of the detainees.
As in Winter Soldier, but with purpose.

DV

[>>]

My Precious

Invisibility. State secrets. My Precious.

Pick up your cross

and follow Me.
How far? I mean, I thought he died for us? No?
Not exactly

The Blind

leading the blind. So far so good.

Vacation in Alberta

Come for the oil, stay for the adventure.

Tear gas

[>]
can kill.

The 50th anniversary

of the failed Tibetan uprising.
That is to say, of the Chinese invasion of Tibet.

Keith Giles

is not a well individual.

The globe

is falling.
The tribe is cockroach.

The Noughties

Power

corrupts

Planting Season

Cross your fingers.

NPO

DNR

Refugees

Get in line now. There will be no cutting.

Dmitry Orlov

Shoots his mouth off.

Hospice care for the financial systems.

Jim Kunstler

Shoots his mouth off.

Michael Pollan

Shoots his mouth off.

Children of the mountains - ABC

"When the banking industry melts down, it's like, 'Oh, no, we have a structural problem. We need to reinvest in those people.' But when the folks in Appalachia or the inner city are poor, it's their fault," Davis said.

What a way to go

Building 7 vs the Mandarin Oriental Hotel

[Article]

Broken promises

The economy is based on promises.
For example, your bank account is a promise.
The US Government has promised to pay 11 trillion dollars.
Some of that to you. Do you think they will?
Where will they get eleven trillion?

Here is a picture of it

Except that the fish is eating himself.

Diminishing Returns

War - have we gone too far? Passed peak possibly?

Video Junkie

Escape from reality.

Losing Your Shirt

Collapse of Empires & Civilizations
Or see the slides.

Dont Vote

Things are fine the way they are.

Jupiter's Wife

Antidemystification
Meanwhile in another world
Dangerous liasons

The end of the USA

[>]

Globalization, dreamliner, french wine

[>]
Toast. All toast. Maybe without the butter.

Straits of Magellan

Why would Magellan take a shortcut like this?
The Chinese said he could save some time going this way.
On the other hand, he may have noticed that the water was salty.

Energy Independence

The amount of oil that we use for transportation is about equal to the amount of oil we import. Therefore traveling less cannot eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. Any use of oil for transportation requires foreign oil, at current efficiencies.

Tripling efficiencies for transport would help some,
but any use of oil for transportation requires foreign oil

Sex drive

Mosquitos have a working sex drive,
and their brains are quite small.
Apparently, not much brain is required.

Fort Benning, Georgia

Father Ray Bourgeois served as a missionary in Bolivia and El Salvador. There, he witnessed death squads, that were trained in the US at the "Special Forces" school at Fort Benning, Georgia. When he returned to the United States, he became a nationally known peace advocate. He will be excommunicated next week for participating in a ceremony that the Vatican considers unacceptable: the ordination of a woman who is not transsexual.
----
We do not know if Jesus considered sex reassignment surgery, since we do not know if that surgery is sinful. We can assume that Jesus was tempted by homosexual thoughts, since homosexuality is worse than heterosexuality.

Select the best answer

33. Saint Peter was
a) Selected by Jesus
b) A Catholic
c) A pope
d) A priest
e) Married
f) All of the above

And that's why priests can't marry.

Love your enemies

Love the devil?
Not gonna happen.
Not in my lifetime.

Solitary confinement

On the cheap

If I onlyhada heart

The cowardly lion
----
The intelligence failures that Bush reminds us of were manufactured in Doug Feith's office in the White House.

Select the best answer

31. (mommy)Where do babies come from?
a) The hospital
b) The delivery room
c) The birth canal
d) The womb
e) Ask your father
----
It depends on what the meaning of baby is.

Old vs. New

a smoldering wick he will not snuff out

No group is all bad

viz. Samaratans, theives

Godless capitalism's answer

How to survive the upcoming economic meltdown:
open a nuclear test facility on your wyoming ranch.

What shall we do

Is it ok to vote for a law you think is immoral,
or vote against a law you think is moral?
---------------------------------
For that matter, is it ok to vote for a law that is moral?
Isn't it redundant?

Jacob have I loved

Esau have I hated

Pentecost

1 and 2?

Was Jesus gay?

[>]
Did He have homosexual feelings?

Good News / Bad News

:-) We will be independent of foreign oil soon.
:-( They won't sell us any.

Zombie economics

Let's rethink this.
Kunstler
And Merry Christmas!

Lots of asteroids in the past

Luckily, those days are over.

State sponsored arms and drugs

[>]
Cocaine goes from Afghanistan to Turkey. Everybody knows.

Ying/Yang

Yes we can / No we can't.

Long term debt

no longer makes sense,
since tomorrow you will be poorer.

I pledge allegiance

to the heavens,
and to the earth on which I stand
and to the poorest, to the weakest
to liberty, to justice, for all.

And now for something

completely different

Close Guantanimo Prison

Close Guantanimo.
Naval Station.

$700 Billion Bailout

To prevent corporate bankruptcy?
Didn't we just "fix" the bankruptcy laws?
How about preventing bankruptcy for the poor?

Who is this man?

What's the difference

The Green Revolution

Now what? We are out of green.

Is solar energy clean?

Not quite.
If absorbing the suns rays is what warms the earth, and it is,
then absorbing more rays will heat the earth more. :-)
Maybe we should cover the Sahara with aluminum foil
just to be sure.

We are not on the wrong side

We are the wrong side
Daniel Ellsberg, regarding Vietnam

Non-proliferation, 1954 style, Vietnam

Hearts and Minds[@4:41] or
House of War p.549 note 151
George Bidault, French Foreign Minister, reports that Dulles
He took me aside, in the corner of a window at the Quai d'Orsay,
et il me dit "And if we were to give to you two atom bombs?"
And later, the Russians gave the Cubans 100.

$700 billion per year

[>]
seems to be the number to cite as what we pay terrorists for oil.
We use 20+ million barrels per day.
Yes, 20 mbbl/day * 350 days * $100/bbl = $700 billion.
But 11 mbbl/day comes from North America
(CAN=2, US=8, MEX=1)
In 2007, oil imports cost $342 billion.

[>]
About 5 quads of natural gas are used for electricity.
This is 20% of the 25 quadrillion BTUs of oil imported, not 38%.

Hang Victory

Let's focus on honor.

Bad news

[Picture this]
9%

WTF are they pulling with Bolivia now?

[article] Rice targets jobs in Bolivia.
Let's pressure this socialist democracy.
---
Unemployment was the number one issue in the 2002 election, and the failure of President "Goni" to deliver jobs was the cause of his ouster in 2003.
Yes, Bolivia has natural gas, which the vermin would like to get.

Shithead

Hayden claimed 'state-secrets' in the Rich Barlow case. Barlow had reported that Pakistan had the bomb and was conducting a market in nuclear technology. He was fired for trying to alert the administration to the A. Q. Kahn network.
[story]

Charlie Wilson's War

funds Pakistan's nuclear program.

1974/05: India surprises the west by exploding a nuclear weapon
1975/12: AQ Kahn steals nuclear secrets from the Dutch
1978/04: socialist Revolution in Afghanistan
1979/02: Islamic Revolution in Iran against the Shah
1979/07: Carter authorizes action against Afghanistan
1979/12: USSR invades Afghanistan.
1980/04: Carter's failed rescue of hostages
1980/09: Iraq invades Iran

1982: Charlie sends money to Pakistan to give to the Afghans.
1982/12: Rumsfeld greets Sadaam
1985: US sells 40 F16's to Pakistan as "Peace Gate I & II"
1987: Charlie sends stingers, some of which Pakistan sells
1987: Pakistan detonates an atomic bomb, in China. 1
1988/05: USSR begins to leave Afghanistan
1988: India leases three nuclear subs from USSR
1989: Pakistan modifies the F-16 to carry atomic weapons.

(15 years later)

2004/02: A Q Khan takes the fall and is pardoned.

Clean coal

Ironweed DVD club

[Special interest films].

A Crisis

Is a terrible thing to waste. [Richard Heinberg]

Con man

Sometimes it takes more than confidence.

Why do they hate us?

When we are so good.

Privatization fucks us again

A private company, USEC, was "spun-off" the Department of Energy, giving it the job of providing enriched uranium to the US. In addition to enriching uranium ore, they were asked to take old atom bombs from the USSR, and include that material in their nuclear fuel product. This line of production was more costly, so USEC secretly discouraged Russia from accelerating the shipment of its warheads to the US for processing. (Joseph Stiglitz)
[1] NY Times article, before the scandal
[2] Paducah Sun article about Russian warhead glut
[3] Stiglitz on the 'hush money' to MinAtom, the Russian partner

In other news

China walks in space.

Something is happening here

and you don't know what it is. Do you. Mr Jones.
[This] may help. It's the borg.

No Exit

[Art]

India helps Saadam go nuclear (Globe and Mail, 2005)

[full article]
Nuclear cooperation between India and Iraq started in 1974 under the direct supervision of Saddam Hussain himself on the Iraqi side when he was still the Vice President. Saadam flew to India specially to sign a Nuclear Cooperation Treaty with the then Indian Prime Minster Late Mrs. Indira Gandhi. The little known Treaty involved the exchange of scientists, training and technology.

India tested its first nuclear explosive device on 18 May 1974, in less than two months time from signing of these agreements.

Tyranny and backwardness

They go hand-in-hand. [Slater]
Which way are we headed?
--- He also says ---
the early Christians embraced radically democratic values and practices, but they, too, were soon engulfed by the universal authoritarianism of the age.

Dilawar

d. Dec 5, 2002,
Bagram, Afghanistan
while in custody

Intelligence failures

01. stability of Iran under the Shah
Jimmy Carter, new year's eve, 1977:
"Iran, because of the great leadership of the Shah, is an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the world. This is a great tribute to you, your Majesty, and to your leadership, and to the respect and the admiration and love which your people give to you."
02. formerly known as the Soviet Union
03. Saadam will not invade Kuwait
04. Osama determined to strike in the USA
05. Saadam is a grave and gathering threat
06. yellow cake
07. the fundamentals of the economy are sound
08. India's atomic bomb
09. Tonkin Gulf
10. remember the Maine
11. arctic ice caps
12. peak oil
13. Iran/contra
14. overthrow Allende
15. overthrow Hugo Chávez
16. overthrow Mohammad Mossadegh
17. overthrow Saadam
18. rejection of 'grand bargain' from Iran
19. we will be greeted with flowers
20. we do not torture
21. School of the Americas
22. De-Stalinization
23. Sputnik
24. the missle gap
25. overthrow Castro
26. Kobar Towers
27. the Pueblo
28. 9-11
29. Vietnam
30. World Trade Center Bombing
31. Douglas Feith *
32. Gorbachev

The dog that didn't bark

The US dollar continued to gain strength
despite the failure of the bailout.

Siebel Edmonds

[wikipedia]
Another loose thread, some 9/11 related

Drill, baby, drill

Is downing a six-pack to fix your hangover.

Rachel Corrie

The silver lining, or The upside side of down

[full article]
1. The End of American Empire
  The US will not be able to afford a global military presence.
2. Energy Availability
  A depression will force down demand.
3. From Offshoring to Onshoring
  After we default, no country will sell to us.
4. Decreasing Income Disparities
  The rich will lose their shirts, like everybody else.
5. We’re Headed There Anyway
  Might as well be happy.

John Bolton says we never said.

Bush never said Saddam was an "imminent threat". [article]
And in 2004, then-Director of the CIA George Tenet defended his organization's prewar estimates of Saddam Hussein's military might by saying, "They never said there was an imminent threat."

David Addington

Addington was the man behind the illegal wiretap policy.
Behind Addington? The Cheney.

Camp Victory, in Bagdad

View Larger Map

Camp Anaconda, in Balad

View Larger Map

Camp Cupcake, in Al Asad

View Larger Map
#2 of the 4 permanent bases in Iraq

The Predator Hellfire

The air war surge in Iraq.

CIA and cocane

Think Iran-Contra was the end of CIA drug trade?
Or that those who are above the law will not be attracted to drugs?
Drug plane crashes.

The bully pulpit

And the bully.

Unit of measure, oil imports

We import 7 of these a day.
14 million barrels per day.

The USDA is out to kill you

[flyer from 1947]
[TED: Ann Cooper on school lunches]
[TED: Mark Bittman - death at the steak]

The Inquisition

called by
Pope George II

Part of the Bush Doctrine

Bush opposed investigating 911

He did not want to pull on that thread.
For good reason.

Pagan Rome killed many Christians

As has Christian Rome.
---
Compared with the persecution of heresy in Europe from 1227 to 1492,
the persecution of Christians by Romans in the first three centuries after Christ
was a mild and humane procedure...
  We must rank the Inquisition along with the wars and persecutions of our time
as among the darkest blots on the record of mankind...
Will Durant

Status of forces / IRAQ - draft version

courtesy of democracy now
translated by Raed Jarrar (AFS)
here

We have to stop destabilizing democracy

[29:15] Trouble in Haiti.

Something is hinky

Letterman on global warming: Been nice knowing you.
[The interview with T. Friedman] is also good.

God hopes for peace

[56:00] IVAW member, who served at Abu Ghraib.

Larry Everest

[28:30] The economy is not the issue.

To kill the other half

I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.
Jay Gould

Right to bear cameras

The government correctly sees photos to be subversive.
[article]

The last super power

What about the USA?
Ruined, unless we get a tyrant.

Free speech: for what it's worth

This wall mural was painted over by the city of Denver just prior to the DNC.   The police claimed it was the work of anarchists.
Located at "The Other Side Arts", 1644 Platte, 2nd floor.
[story] [update]

Our permanent base in Iraq

"The new embassy will serve the same function that the Kinshasa embassy did during the cold war." Jim McDermmott to Jeremy Scahill from the DNC in denver, at 41:41

Alicia Forrest, CodePink, Denver DNC

Hit with the ever-popular "sucker punch" move.

Henry James

Life is, in fact, a battle.
Evil is insolent and strong; folly defiant; beauty rare.
Goodness apt to be weak; wickedness to carry the day.
Imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small.
And mankind generally unhappy.
But the world as it stands is no illusion, no evil dream of a night.
We wake up to it again for ever and ever.
We can neither forget it nor deny it
nor dispense with it.
Quoted in Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals.

Will my grandchildren fly?

Or drive?

When Saudi Arabia collapses

will we send in the army?

Bizzare is not the word

for outlawing cameras in public.

Cut. cut.

Not that she couldn't have handled this question.

Operation "Just Because"

caution: link opens with sound playing
El Chorrillo. Thousands killed.
George Bush: "...yes, it has been worth it."

Collateral damage

to a war with Iran.
When the oil from Iran shuts down, so will Europe.

Impeach Bush

Or else apologize to Nixon.
He only bugged the DNC, and erased 8 minutes of tape.

Fingerprinting mortgage loan officers?

The mortgage rescue package includes fingerprinting loan officers.
How is that related?
Ron Paul

Malalai Joya

For president.

Missile agreement with Czech Republic

Why we didn't put the missiles in Turkey?
Guess they didn't want them.

The Boston Tea Party

Why did they dress up as Native Americans?
If it were done today, would they dress up as Chicanos?

Impeach the Enabler

Impeach Pelosi, se puede.

In the name of God, stop the repression

Archbishop Oscar Romero, of El Salvador,
killed by a soldier from Fort Benning, Georgia.
----2008/07/31
Defense Minister Jose Guillermo Garcia, a graduate of the School of the Americas, was implicated in the deaths of Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan.
--
Reagan's Jeane Kirkpatrick, said they were not "just nuns", but political activists.
--
Regan's Alexander Haig said "there may have been an exchange of gunfire" as "they tried to run a roadblock." Maybe and maybe not?

Pyramid scheme

All businesses tend to scoot money to the top. It is as natural as black holes.
What are the checks to black holes? Other black holes, possibly, and the nature of reality.
What is to stop the concentration of wealth? Other thieves, plus the laws of the land. If they can buy off the lawmakers, then it is just - other thieves.