Well at least someone is standing up

Mon 810 maize, a genetically modified frankenseed created by our old friends at Monsanto, has been knocked down by the French government.  Since a government ban on Mon 810 maize in 2008, the large Blackwater owning company has tried to push through French court a removal of the ban.  Finally, this year, Monsanto has announced that they will not be selling MON810 in France this year.  A year is not forever, but when the powers of genetic modifications starts to put their grip on you, it is hard to break their grip (Touch Me).

(Touch Me)

courtesy of The Scottish Farmer

Republicans say the darndest things

These Republican debates have been amazing.  It is like they operate in the world circa 1968.  Someone should package these debates up and sell them for 19.95.  The comedy could compete with even the best of Johnny Carson.  The lies.  The false disgust.  The pure disregard for things that happen in the actual real world.  I watch the Daily Show often but rarely reference it because either you are a fan or not and there is really no reason to push to the converted or push against those that hate pompous New Yorkers but this time, rather than pretending I can sum things up better than them, I acquiesce to the best on your tv screen.  

(Touch Me)

courtesy of huffingtonpost.com

Over there Over there

So, I live slightly to moderately fearful of the ever impending march to challenge Iran to see who has the bigger cock/finish taking out the entire power structure of the middle east so that we can...well, I do not want to conjecture so let us just say that we like war and Iran is slightly crazy so here we have arrived.  Now, I am aware and appreciative that many of the smartest minds on the topic have been saying war was inevitable starting in September and we are now in January so someone is a little off on predictions.  Hopefully we can all agree that being wrong on something like this is the best kind of wrong to be but I am afraid that they are only temporarily wrong and that eventually, a head will come and off to blow things up again we will be.  Maybe this time we will at least think of a new reason to go rather than this whole weapons of mass destruction thing we try last go around.  If we do try this again, how about we all just make sure to go back and watch what Leon Panetta had to say on this week’s Face the Nation.  Just to be clear, he says not.  Not developing.  Does this mean we can slow our roll just a little and try and figure out how to all just get along together in this whole wide patch of humanity.  Friends or at least rivals in agreement that we are tired of bombing, tired of pulling dead people from destroyed buildings.  Just maybe.

(Touch Me)

source: www.rawstory.com

Book Club Time

A little exert from one of my most favorite books, The Secret Team by Fletcher Prouty.  Even though Oliver Stone did a good job of tainting the book, if even a fourth of the stories inside are accurate, well...that's the CIA for ya.  I highly recommending reading the book.  It's even available free online (Touch Me).  Enjoy the horror.


Some of these actions worked in strange ways. And some of these

actions were subject to the same irregularities that plagued the rest of the operations that were kept from the eyes of the public and from the controls normal to an open government. The irresponsible step in from time to time and get away with things that would be discovered in normal activities. 

At one overseas base heavily involved in air activities in support of the Agency and of the foreign nationals the Agency was assisting, there were a number of aircraft of doubtful ownership commingled with other aircraft that were on "loan" from the Air Force. These aircraft were flown and maintained for the most part by a civilian facility that had the appearance of being a civilian contract carrier; but there were also a number of Air Force and Navy personnel with the unit in various capacities. The primary base unit was under Navy cover and had been for years, as a result of an earlier mission. With such a mix of personnel and

equipment it was all but impossible, and certainly impractical, to attempt rigid controls in the manner customary on a real military base. 

One of the planes assigned to this unit was a small transport aircraft common to all three services and built by the Beech Aircraft Corporation.  This plane was flown by the officers of the staff and was used for shorter administrative flights. One of the pilots who flew it regularly came in to land in a bad crosswind one day and momentarily lost control of the plane

after it had touched the ground during landing, in what is called a "ground loop". He recovered in time to keep from doing very much damage and no one was hurt. The plane needed minor repairs to be as good as new.  However, this pilot, who also had maintenance authority at this conglomerate base, ordered that the plane be hauled out behind the main hangar and covered with a large protective tarpaulin. It was left there for months, and unknown to others on  the base, a report was filed to Washington that it would cost more to fix the plane than it was worth; so

the plane was scheduled for what the military calls "salvage". This means it is put up for sale to the highest bidder for scrap, or whatever. 

No one on this base, which was  primarily managed by the CIA, gave this a thought, and after a while the plane was not even missed.  During this time the pilot, a major who was actually a career CIA employee serving in his Air Force reserve grade, was transferred back to an assignment in Washington at CIA headquarters. He had not been there long when he located the paperwork on that plane and made a bid in his own name and that of a friend to purchase the plane for scrap prices. Since

no one else even knew where the plane was (and even if they had they would not have wanted to go to that remote place to get it) and of course, since any other bidder would have believed that the plane was a total loss, there were no other bidders. The major bought the plane in a perfectly legal maneuver. 

He then applied for a brief vacation. Dashing back to the overseas station, where he was well known, he arranged with the local maintenance crews to have the plane fixed at very little expense to himself, and in no time he and his friend shipped it back to the United States. Their profit on the deal was many times more than the actual money they had invested, and no one ever knew about it because all of the records had been kept in

highly classified channels. Secrecy can be used for many purposes, and this was just one of the uses to which it can be put by those of the team who know how to get away with it.  

My new friend

I am sorry lady that I ran into at Grandy's today.  Not ran into so much, like a car into car parking lot incident, though, that would have been much more enjoyable.  No, I am talking about us running into each other, head to head, in a battle of stubborn wills.  At this time, I am still a little too into the situation to share the story but let me just say that if you have a loved one or family member that performs any kind of civic duty, do me a favor and never put them in the position where you ask them to come to your rescue when there is nothing to be rescued from.  That makes them not want to talk to you or answer their calls or spend time with you at the holidays.  I highly doubt they ever call you at your job and ask if they can get a large fry bump up for the price of a medium. Respect peoples work place.  Be a drain to them on their off hours.  

Its all happening

So, it has been a cantakerous day on the world wide.  The DOJ decided this morning (Touch Me) to take down and out megaupload.com.  The site and the creators.  No warning.  No, hey, take this down.  Just go directly to jail.  Well...(Touch Me).  Whats good for the goose seems appropriate here.  I put my full one person support behind Annoymous.  I'm not even sure if the other guys even know what the internet is (Touch Me).

leave us alone already

It is not even safe to keep Kleenex (tissues for those who do not want to use the brand name label that has taken over the lexicon) around the house anymore (Touch Me). I never remember if it is Bed Bath and other things or the other place I do not even know the name of that I get my smell good air fresheners from but if it is Bed Bath, even after this radioactive thing, I would still go there.  I am a man.  I have too many ways to smell up a house if I do not hide it behind the sweet smell of cinammon.
The LA Times says hold your horses on thinking we are past old diseases like tuberculosis (Touch Me).  What is old is new again.  We should probably start getting used to all kinds of diseases becoming drug-resistent because just as we evolve, so does our body attackers.  You don't think they would just sit around and rest on their laurels do you?
Some of the most popular sites of the world wide are down today protesting the governments uneducated interference with the wonders of the web (Link blocked in observance).  We all could rant and rave about the damage that will be done when the government finally gets around to regulating the internet but lets always remember that it is our decisions that will push the internet down the hole of corporations to never be seen from again.  I just hope my friends for the resistance get their satelites up and running so that maybe there will be hope that I can see every kind of porn ever created for my viewing pleasure.  I do not like it all but I live life a little better knowing that everything is an option.  I like to create my own sensibilities thank you very much.