Letter Never Sent

No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots. – Barbara Ehrenreich

Had a visitor from the “Anti-Defamation League” today:

17 Oct, Thu, 09:46:03 moria.adl.org MSIE 6 Windows 98

I hope they send me an email notification when I am added to their dangerous citizen database, the one they share with the FBI. That would be much appreciated. :) The ADL has been receiving some unwanted attention lately it seems due in part to them keeping a higher profile than usual. They are beginning to label anti-Israel sentiment as anti-Semetic.

Came across this story today:

U.S.: North Korea admits it has nuke program

Apparently, North Korea is admitting that the US was right, and it does actually have a nuclear weapons program. My only question is, isn’t this convenient? I mean look at the timing of this, North Korea was called part of the so-called “Axis of Evil” along with Iraq and Syria etc. Do you see what I’m driving at? I think North Korea cut a deal with the US to admit they’ve been working on nuclear weapons despite their previous denials in order that people around the globe will think the same thing about Iraq. That they’ll make a parallel between this and the US allegations against Iraq. So that people will say “I bet Iraq is lying too, and the US is right about them just like they were right about North Korea.” I also believe there is something more to this due to the fact that this story is attributed to nameless administration officials. It could even be just a planted story. We have no firsthand evidence of any of these comments. That is one thing that is very frustrating about the Bush administration, they refuse to provide the American people with any evidence so that decisions can be based on reason rather than faith in the government, a government that has proven itself quite capable of deceiving and harming its own citizenry.

As the US attempts to throw its weight around in the world. Regional powers are emerging to challenge American hegemony. While ultimately bad for US military dominance this will be a good thing as it restores the balance of power. We do not want an American empire.

China is growing into a full-fledged super-power with economic growth of 7% even during a global recession, increased modernization, and the strengthening of ties with other Pacific nations.

For one thing, it is too expensive. China’s real spending on the military is probably double or triple its acknowledged $20 billion budget, eclipsing that of Russia and growing by more than 17 percent a year, analysts said. Even so, that money is dwarfed by America’s nearly $400 billion annual outlay, and Beijing learned from the Soviet Union’s demise that trying to match the United States militarily is an economically devastating game.

I find that to be a rather unsupported assumption. The Soviet Union did not collapse because of money it spent on defense. Furthermore, if there’s anything recent history has shown us, a lot can be done with little money. If the Chinese have 60 billion in defense and it costs them billions less to produce things, how reliable are your numbers? Furthermore, it is roundly acknowledged that much of the 400 billion US defense budget is outright fraud. The DOD recently could not account for 2.3 TRILLION dollars. It goes to line the pockets of defense contractors and the members of the military ruling class.

From VOXNYC (Thanks Lisa B-K for turning me on to VOXNYC):

Well, according to our own law enforcement statistics we, once again, appear to be the biggest market for this stuff. (That’s a surprise!) It is in America where apparently there are scores of perverted geezers awaiting eagerly, mouse in one hand, visa card in the other. And it is Our law enforcement who brags about it’s much vaunted cooperation with foreign intelligence on such matters. Well then there is just one question? Is American Intelligence being played for a sucker by their foreign counterpart or are they both playing us for a sucker? Pick one.

It is widely known that every single credit card transaction’s details are immediately available to our intelligence agencies – In real time. So if US intelligence knows who’s buying 20 to 30 billion dollars worth of child pornography (ostensibly with credit cards) then what is happening? Certainly the highly publicized busts so far netted nowhere near the level of a 20 to 30 billion dollar business. It seems most of the big international busts that go down, net reclusive 72 year old ex-postal workers, local Sheriffs or Disney executives – Which make for great media fear bombs but do absolutely NOTHING in effectively halting this industry. If they are allowing a 20 to 30 billion dollars annually (FBI) industry to continue to exist then it’s only natural to connect the dots and ask, why?