THE LAWSON REVIEW

The Moment I Woke Up Lost

2011-01-10T23:01:00.000-07:00

The first moment I woke up, it took a few minutes of looking around before I could put it together. It didn't feel like it was the first time I had been there, in this bed, looking out this window, that mountain, that sky, that tree standing in front of the house. It didn't feel like it was the first time, but I was pretty sure it was. I remembered a lot of things. I remembered the brothel Boston, I remembered my trip down to New Mexico when the mountain lion jumped in front of the car, and I remembered my first time parachuting into a foreign country. And I remembered the drugs, the experiment, the role that my superiors had in pretending that they were scientists when they were not.

Now I am waking up again. This time the window has a different view, but the feeling is the same. In fact, another mountain, another tree, but more wind in the branches than I have ever seen. There are two men outside my door. I don't believe that they are friendly. They are standing with their arms crossed like weapons. I've seen this before, but never from inside the room. Generally I know how to get along with these sort of people, but these two, they are difficult. Determined.
Time and time again, I go to the door and talk with them.
"Larry, your name is Larry, right? Do you mind if I call you Larry, Larry? I would call you by your proper name were you not so intimidating and stern. You know fellas, I have really nothing against you, and I think you know that there is, for whatever reason they are telling you to contain me as such, really no good reason you are here."
I was getting drunk.
"Larry, David, are you David? No, much more of a ... Nelson?...Tyrell?...Maximilion?... I assure you, these are lies."
And I felt that I was telling the truth, but no matter what I said, they were not be cracked.
"Perhaps if you'd join me for a drink."
I offered. I conversed, I gave them my most thorough family history and background that I could recall, and finally, after seven hours, finally a crack. At approximately 9:49 PM, Maximilion Tyrell and Larry turned and said..."Ok, we get it. You like to talk."
"Not really. But I also know that if I go back to looking out the window, the two people who have the most hope of helping me out of here will not. They will sit sternfaced and determined, and so, I continue as though you were my jury. I need a jury, but I need a truly fair, and intelligent jury, because the jury they are going to provide me with is not going to see anything of the real picture, and they are never going be given a chance to hear my most genuine explanation because they are not going to let me offer my explanation. No, the things they are going to let out of me are going to be nothing close to the truth. I've been too many places, and seen too many things for them to let me open my mouth in a public institution. I belong to one institution and one institution only. And you both fucking no what I am talking about. You can both see yourselves in my position some day."
At this point I was feeding their egos, but I really did need permission to leave that room, to leave that building and get away to somewhere I could think, clear my mind. The drugs were fading quickly, but I felt light headed, and foggy, foggier by the second. And it worked.

Its So Fun... Because No One Knows Better.

2010-06-16T22:18:00.003-06:00

Its cheap and easy lately to get cynical about Obama. I mean, after all, there is this whole oil thingy and BP can't stop it and Obama doesn't seem to care, because its like he is fighting wars on different fronts...

Wait... are we STILL at war? Oh yeah... I guess we are. And not just the ambiguous War on Terror and War on Drugs and War on Obesity... we actually-factually are at war in Iraq and Iran, I mean Afghanistan. Crazy. I almost forgot.

And now there is this new war... while we are in a couple of Wars to Secure Oil, we are also coincidentally at War AGAINST Oil. We really are a torn Nation, aren't we?!

And all while we have these ridiculous people saying ridiculous things...like... Sarah Palin. Lets mock her for a minute not only because it so easy, but because she deserves it. What kind of ?!KDI*& goes out and says the things she says? Its not retardation. I thought it was that for a while, but now I realize it is more. It might have a little retardation involved, but for the most part, I think it is something more... The word "Fool" comes to mind.

Complain, complain she did yest-nigh on Obama continually turning down the offers of foreign nations... meanwhile, he's accepted their help weeks ago.
Complain complain she goes on and on about how if we could only drill closer... not realizing that there are unused permits on each and every coast of our great nation sitting unused because...
Ding,Ding,Ding... you guessed it... no oil there.

The idea that these loud fart-holes on Fox and the AM keep espousing is that we can drill ourselves to energy independence... FACTS and STATISTICS simply prove it isn't so. Our demand is too great. The worlds demand is too great. There is no possible way for the US to drill ourselves into energy bliss without invading other countries and tapping their formations on our own. Otherwise, as it stands now, we are beholden to the international corporations that provide our oil infrastructure with its fuel by amassing great amounts from around the globe.
It is not as simple as making an agreement with Canada. It is not as simple as overthrowing Venezuala. It is not as simple as converting Central Asia. This oil trade is a dirty and distorted business that is more corrupt than Nigeria's government. If we can not quit using oil, which we can not, we must for now accept that we are the number one player in this dirty mess.

So enough already, I tire of these boring cherades. Sean Hannity... would you please try to stop the well of spewing ooze that just keeps coming out of Sarah Palin's mouth... you could try the ol'Junk Shot and stuff your oversized, fat-filled head in her pipe and kill two birds with one stone!

Wireless Oligopoly Is Smother of Invention | Epicenter | Wired.com

2010-06-16T10:41:00.001-06:00

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/06/wireless-oligopoly-is-smother-of-invention/

The National Debt Keeps Us Afloat...

2010-05-13T22:01:00.002-06:00

The above linked article is a little counter-intuitive, but an interesting idea. Debt for a monetarily sovereign nation is more of a cash-creation that a lack of cash. Worth checking out.

The Place We Need to Remember to Forget

2010-05-11T09:42:00.001-06:00

Brief Summary of Fracturing... more to come

2010-04-29T12:25:00.003-06:00

944+ chemicals used in "fracturing."
14% are known. The rest are "trade secrets."
43% of those known are known to be endocrine disruptors
Dick Cheney had all fracturing chemicals removed from EPA Safewater Act within 1st month in office.
Go Energy Independence!... And Cancer!

Wondering about Mexico and Drugs? Gas development and Fracturing Chemicals?

2010-04-14T17:31:00.000-06:00

The Irony of Rush?

2010-04-13T09:53:00.002-06:00

The above link deals with only one of the multitude of ironies brought ought of Rush's spewing poop-hole-of-a-mouth. This, from the man who daily calls Barack Hussein Obama a narcisist, immediately after saying something like, "You know I'm right because I'm always right."

So on this linked program you can hear the logic flowing like the rest of the brown goo from his mouth... "Why wasn't the Union protecting the miners?!"
...answer is simple and far too logical for most of his listeners to accept or even think about... There wasn't a union. While 70% of the miners there wanted a union to support wages and offer safety negotiations, the owner of the mine threatened to shut them down if they were to vote for it...............

While No Won Was Watching

2010-04-13T09:40:00.002-06:00

The above link discusses the reorganization of military that is currently underway under Obama and Gates direction at the Pentagon. While everyone listens to Fox (apparently inevitable that they dominate the news cycle at this point... everyone else is trying to justify their news only by comparison to Fox's pathetic "coverage.")... but the point is this: There is a lot going on that very, very few are paying attention to. One of the largest world leader summits took place in Washington this week. Obama is reorganizing US forces for future combat. While many leaders, on both sides, would like to see some regulation on Wall Street, Fox is focussed now not on Health Care, but on the Supreme Court. And its a shame because there actually could be some consensus on Wall Street regulation if enough people could keep focus for more than four minutes...
But check out the link above... its worth the read.

Yellow Light/Red Light/Now You Got A Ticket

2010-04-11T08:32:00.001-06:00

The above link is to an article dealing with the length of yellow lights at traffic intersections that use cameras to nail your speeding-not-stopping ass on public roads. And it does seem, even where I live that the intersections that use cameras are a little bit shy of their originally intended purposes to keep the public safe, but suddenly I have a crying child so while I planned on going off on this for quite a while, it will have to wait til later.
check out the link though.

As a matter of Rumor: iPhone - Verizon?

2010-03-29T22:19:00.002-06:00

This has been a long time in the making. AT&T claims via the fat Owen brother that they cover almost all of the country, but I live in that part of the country where they do not exist and pretty much daily I realize how sad our lives really are here in rural X-ville, because we can not contribute to Steve Jobs coltan-Karma. I know, eye know, iKnow... I can use a Droid, or a Storm, but they just aren't the same. The iPhone is how I'd best like to contribute to the pollution of landfills in five years. I can drop a Storm or Droid in the landfill any ol' time... But what I really want is this iPhone... but iGotta use Verizon here in Tucky-ville. So be's it. Maybe iTchanges this fall...

Would Jesus Hang with Rush Limbaugh?

2010-03-23T21:24:00.003-06:00

It is no secret that there are some crazy people out there and while I hate to talk politics (Really? - you ask), this is pertinent to our current nationwide dialogue. There are some simply absolutely crazy things being said out there. At first a lot of the craziness was being said by people in the media, but the media voices have gotten very loud as of late and a lot of people do not seem to be digesting their "news" in a very formidable fashion, and now, there are large segments of the population that are saying things out of crazed emotion with no rationality behind them. It is as though Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck and Michael Savage are playing some sort of social experiment to see what it takes to control the minds of a population. Repeating the absurd over and over and over and over and over and over, for years on end, and it seems to be catching. It was strong during the Bush administration, but now, now it is in hyper-drive.

It is now common amongst the Republican right to call Obama a Nazi, a communist, a Marxist, a Maoist. It is now sprawled across facebook pages around the country "I can't believe I live in Obama's America. It makes me disrespect the flag!" This from the same people that worshipped Hannity's totally out of context statement by Michelle Obama about "respecting her country for the first time." How dare they dabble so unpatriotic.... Eh?

People on the right are very commonly talking about the communist take over. Get your guns ready. They are going to take away our national forests. They are going to put bureaucrats between us and our doctors (a total irony considering insurance companies... the friend of republicans why???) So, according to an every more common thread on the right, it is time to literally get your guns ready, get ready for a revolution. It is the only way to overthrow communism.

Are you people all insane? Have you gotten so absorbed by the voice on the radio and the image on the television that you have forgotten to open your eyes and make your own conclusions about the world you live in? Were you so distracted on your way to the mall to buy your new iPhone that you have taken as fact the idea that we are becoming a "communist" or "nazi" nation? Did you not notice.... you were buying an iPhone. You weren't going to wait in a bread line. You weren't waiting to get your government ration chips so you can fill your car with gas. You were not driving by bathhouses that were locking in and then gassing Jews and Blacks. You were buying an iPhone. You were taking your kids to school. You were on your way to your private industry job, unless you are lucky enough to have a government job, which again in weird irony, is often one of the most sought after employers in small and big towns across America... You get in working for the government and you can get a great, steady, good paying job that will include benefits on par with a lot of "free market capital whatever" jobs.

To all those people out there that are paranoid or pissed that the government would try to reign in the abuse, yes the abuse, of insurance companies that stand between us and our doctors, to these people I'd suggest you visit any number of countries in which you could see the true effects of these over-hyped hysterics of the likes that these radical right wingers behold. Our country is not going to end because insurance companies can suddenly no longer deny coverage to patients with pre-existing conditions. And if any part of our budget is going to "destroy us" or "bring us down" it is not our healthcare policy... a meager 6% of our economy. It is going to be our defense budget, weighing in on an ever increasing 40% of our national expenditures. The fifteen countries directly beneath us in spending spend less that we do. Our poor decisions in conflict escalation could much more likely bring about hardships domestically, but even then, because of the mechanisms built into our government, we would still have options for redirecting government expenditures before the situation became dire. Healthcare will not bring us down. And when it comes to defense vs. healthcare, currently in America, there are a lot more people dying (being killed) by lack of healthcare than are dying (being killed) by terrorists.

"But oh... the Twin Towers!"
And again, as sad as that attack was, it killed a lot fewer people than cars do every year. Than drunks. Than people dying as a result of not being able to afford to see doctors before it is an emergency. These should be the real enemies of America. We should be striving aggressively to find ways to engineer safer highways and cars, and of finding ways to keep drunks from out behind the drivers wheel (breath-a-lyzer ignitions?) and of helping the poor, sick, tired...(isn't that who Jesus would help? Or would he hang out with Rush Limbaugh?)

So enough with the crazy. You people are being ridiculous. It is hard to work with crazy people. This is Hitlerville. This is not Russia cirqa 1944. Its not Uzbekistan. Its not the Congo. Buck up little tigers... If you are still downloading apps for your iPhone... things are probably still ok.

Courting Disaster... The CIA, Torture, and a Liars Retelling of History.

2010-03-23T12:08:00.001-06:00

Nancy "Puffs" and I puke in my mouth.

2010-03-18T22:08:00.002-06:00

Seriously, I think this may be the best photo ever to show us what is going on in Washington. We've got Dolt Farts on both sides, all fat cats (or plastic stretched kittens) who wouldn't know where to go to buy a dozen eggs if their life depended on it. "Well, I guess I'd have the driver take me to the country and I'd find a farmer and see if they might trade me for a photo opportunity or autograph." These people are disconnected.

Sure there is a bright future and, here in the intermountain west, we have more young candidates than ever trying to get elected, trying to make a difference, but the thing is, if you want to go far in the current political arena, you have to eventually bow to corporate interests on one side or the other, and that is why without Campaign Finance Reform, first and formost before ANY other political gambit, we are doomed.

Distractions are too easy in this new media world. Attention spans have difficult time maintaining a full day, let alone a week or a month or a year. People simply do not care that much about any single thing and they get too distracted anyway, because there are too many new little gadgets, apps, things to do in our free time. We are a nation on narcisistic steroids. So its off to Facebook.... "My toast is sooo yummy this morning... I think I'll eat eggs later!"

Blow hards on the sidelines do all they can in their power to keep one topic from coming up through the sewer pipe that is mainstream media... Campaign Finance Reform. The outliers on both sides fear that more than anything else. The rest is just a volleyball game. The ball will go back and forth. There will be spikes, there will be points gained and lost, but so long as their game can go on... their power will remain in tact. But if Campaign Finance Reform were to ever come about... the game is over.

So while our innocent little mungers want to go and get elected, and our hats off for their sacfice... I'm sure it has nothing to do with the pension and healthcare benefits... they are bound to follow only in the footsteps of their older predecessors. Which is too bad. Really too bad.

So fart away Nancy.... Your friend Charlie Wilson seems to love the smell of your intestines.

Bottled Wind Could Be as Constant as Coal | Wired Science | Wired.com

2010-03-10T08:07:00.001-07:00

sorry, i've had little time for offering insightful commentary as of late.. big plans in the works... i'll keep you posted... probably has something to do with Iran, Uzbekistan and Lithuania....

In the meantime i hope you enjoy these links.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/compressed-air-plants/

also, if you missed the Glenn Beck Show yesterday... you actually DID miss something rather entertaining... his interview with the "Groping, Tickling Congressman" was priceless.

I nearly thought a "tickle fight" was going to break out on the set....

Sweet Icebergs Collide!

2010-03-05T17:47:00.001-07:00

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/animation-of-giant-iceberg-collision-as-seen-from-space/

Teleportation of Energy

2010-03-03T10:25:00.001-07:00

Why Public Utilities Shouldn't Be Profit Driven

2010-03-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

New Yorker on Beck

2010-02-24T22:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/georgepacker/2010/02/american-progress.html

Its Not Your Tax Dollars

2010-02-22T22:27:00.002-07:00

...Its not that your tax dollars are doing nothing...is that you are not allowed to see half the things it is doing. Americans in pole after pole are saying they distrust their government less and less, apparently claiming that the Congress does not know how to allocate their tax money for useful things. Yet they demand with both lifestyle and political demands, a very strong global military strength, which is not only expensive, but also secretive. It requires secretive weapons that are very expensive. And it requires secrecy from the civilian population not only to protect the cutting edge technology, but also because if the population as a whole were shown the full extent of the military power as implemented, the population might demand a withdrawl of its use, which would decress our global presence, and thus decrease our ability to acquire inexpensive raw materials and labor, which in turn would certainly effect lifestyle. Not really an option for most of the population. Some things can only be learned under great pressure and strain.
...So we'll keep spending way, way more than anyone else on hypersonic falcons that eventually can drop big loads on far away places and the pilot can still be home with his kids in Vegas by dinner. That is where our money is going... suddenly spending only a million dollars on a bear study in Montana doesn't sound like such a big deal? Only a million? Sure the tax payers won't really miss that, because its only a million.

The New Velcro

2010-02-16T09:23:00.001-07:00

Mongolia: Harsh Winter Weather Wiping Out Livestock

2010-02-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav021210.shtml

Inventor of Frisbee Dies

2010-02-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

fat, tired, lazy

2010-02-13T09:35:00.002-07:00

Suddenly a snow storm across the east coast of America is considered a reasonable argument that "global warming" is a hoax, according to the fat-mouthed pundits on the a.m. dial of the radio. Why is there no one able to make this clear in the mainstream media? A storm is a weather event. Climate change is something altogether different. Rising ocean temperatures do not mean that the whole globe will be warmer. Some areas will get colder, some wetter, some drier, some warmer, some wetter. And some areas... coastlines specifically, will get much wetter. But no, a snow storm is not proof of or evidence against climate change. My four year old understands this.

Then there is the notion that we are not providing enough human created gases to create or bring about a rapid climate change. "A volcano puts out way more gasses," Rush says. And its true. Volcanoes put out a lot of gases. And volcanoes can effect climate change. We as humans are putting millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere daily. Every day. Every week. Every year. Constant. How can it not effect the amount of light and warmth reaching our earths surface and insulating our air system? It is not rocket science.

And another thing.... take away the entire notion of climate change... just look at pollution levels and what they do to the human experience... why would we not want to get rid of all these carcinogens and pollutants? Only Rush and Hannity could possibly know.

Obama's Secret Police | Mother Jones

2010-02-11T23:20:00.000-07:00

http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/02/obama-secret-police

Boss, You Wanna Just Charge That Day of Work? (click 4 link)

2010-02-10T21:52:00.002-07:00

Perhaps New Drywall...

2010-02-10T21:37:00.001-07:00

I particularly enjoy the comment feeds on these sorts of articles...
What a bunch of Know-it-Alls!

... and they probably do.

Logistics, Logistics...

2010-02-03T09:59:00.005-07:00

Seems like most Americans have pretty much forgotten that we are at war, and what it means to be at war.

UK scientist: Climate docs maybe stolen by spies

2010-02-01T19:51:00.001-07:00

This is reported on by one of my new favorite news sites, created by MIT... don't limit yourself to this rather one line oriented article... there is some great technology out there. I for one am feeling a bit tired and bored of the Predictable Political Buffet (PPBs) that exists out there. CNET, Wired, and pretty regularly EurasiaNet.org have become my source for finding new things to think about, and this too is a welcome addition....

http://www.technologyreview.com/wire/24445/?a=f

Learning Our Matters (click link)

2010-01-15T21:20:00.002-07:00

File this one under, "An interesting social experiment in Central Asia." I would love to be on the committee overseeing this operation. The summary of the experiment is this: Can we buy off loyalty of radical jihadis?
I can not pretend to know the answer to this, as it has been quite a number of years since I've been in Afghanistan, but my short answer is this: No. Maybe a few, but not the core.

First off, there are a few different breeds of radical jihadists. Your first group is the group that the casual American is told about by the typical news outlet. They are poor, slightly stupid, and swayed into violence by the hope of getting virgins in Heaven. While this may hit home for quite a few, this is not the group that holds either performs violence efficiently or is part of the core holding this radical leadership together and advancing its cause geographically. Perhaps a few of these shills that pull of a few effective road bombs, but not much more. They simply spend most of their time training on monkey-bars and crawling under suspended logs in the sand.
The deeper core of the violence from these groups comes not from stupid sheep-lovers, but rather from a wealthy, educated leadership. They know history. They have global perspective. They have vision. Fucked up vision, but vision none the less.
And their movement is progressed by genuine believers who have thought consciously about the idea of counter-espionage, counter-insurgency, and ways of generally proving themselves effective in a long-term battle with their enemies, no matter who they may be. Added to this group are another highly motivated and dedicated set of believers who are less educated, but no less impassioned as a result of loss to what they consider to be their military oppressors. Money might passify a moderate percentage of this group, but there are others to which offering money will result only in further insult.

So we are playing a new game now... in addition to spending billions to blow this country up, we are also going to spend billions not on reconstruction, but in buying off people. And while this could prove effective in parts of the country, there are other segments that are so disconnected and highly corrupted, that we will only be feeding the beast its favorite meal.

Very serious situation

2010-01-12T21:35:00.002-07:00

I have a few guesses how it happened, but it happened swift and fast, and very suddenly the U.S. is finding itself in a precarious position. We are losing our capitalistic edge and simultaneously, we find a lot of people pissed off at us. Sure, we have some reliable ally's, but some critically important and very large populations are finding us in an unfavorable light. But the problem is not irreversible, though not by any means easy to defeat.

First off, we need to understand what is going on. In terms of our capitalistic power over the globe, we as a citizenry and a geo-political power are not doing well. There are some American corporations doing well, but they are by no means attached to our government in their endeavors, though they do seem to have a working knowledge how to best use if not abuse our government while they go on their money making conquest. The U.S. has been used by several globally operating companies who need to enslave and rob from certain parts of the globe in effort to sell lots of gadgets in the States and Europe. For example, the col-tan industry, connected directly to the computer and cellular communication industries in the developed world. These goods, demaned by our citizenry, are only available if certain people are enslaved and robbed from. With col-tan we rely on a slave industry to mine the stuff in the Congo. Meanwhile, the U.S. proper can certainly not support such actions out loud, but also is dealing with a citizenry that lives on a double standard. On one hand we want to think that the US is doing great things abroad with our Power. And we do. Our armed forces and humanitarian outreach is pretty outstanding.
But on the other hand, we are unwilling to curb our appetite for goods and services, no matter what rumors we hear about our product purchasing powers at use. We demand cheap prices. We demand loads of stuff. It is unacceptable to have it any other way. We've tried getting rid of slavery domestically, and it seemed to be the right thing to do, but abroad... these places we never see... those five year olds like working in factories making t-shirts, don't they? And those kids in the Congo? At least they are being fed. If they were left to the current warfare that currently surrounds them, well then...

But now our capitalism is failing us. Suddenly it turns out we put too much on credit and not everyone in the world plays the same games with credit that we do. They have expectations on return. Suddenly these people we've been loaning from have been growing.
And the businesses in the market to sell things... they have found new population centers that offer far greater long term interest than our own nation. We really knocked it out of the park, showing that a measly, but driven 4% of the world's population can, if lead properly, in fact consume the better 25% of the world's natural resources for a given time... BUT... how about those Chinese? Those Indians? There are a lot more of them... And they are industrializing quickly. Seeing as the factories for all these products are not in America anyway, why ship them all the way there. Save a lot in shipping. A lot more buyers potentially.

Suddenly we are feeling ignored.
We've done a fine job of fueling this growth around the world, but suddenly the allure of our companies showing up with pipelines and automobiles, suddenly the populations don't all like us. Some people are really pissed. Some really crazy ones are just simply unreasonably pissed. Its as though we've insulted all their wives or something, and now they are willing to get on airplanes with hot burning chemicals on their private parts... and set said private parts on fire? They are fucking nuts, thats all there is too it. Rational people do not set their nuts on fire. Sure, they may get pissed, and even find justification in their revenge, but they don't do it by setting their scrotum aflame. Excuse my language, but what the fuck is Bin Laden teaching these poor people?! Is he now going to the retard school and kidnapping children, zipping them off to Waziristan and teaching them to do crazy things? "Here boy, let me show you... no, you don't shoot the gun like that, but like this, see? See, your way you simply hold the gun out, aim it, shoot it, and the guy falls down. No, see here, my way, this is the better way... you not only shoot the guy, but you blow your scrotum off at the same time, see? Yeah, like that."
Apparently Bin Laden is smoking lead with his opium.

And so its true, we are feeling a little vulnerable, a little weak, a little nervous about the future. So what can we do? First off, we need to really mock how stupid these people are that are attacking us. Mock them intelligently on a broad stage, Hollywood, the New Yorker, The Washington Post, not just MSNBC and FOX working together, but get CNN in on the joke too. Nobody wants to be called stupid on the world's stage. The populations that surround these people won't except them then. "Come on you bastards... they think we all really fuck sheep. You guys are theonly ones fucking sheep, and its all Bin Laden's fault for teaching retarded children how to do it and we don't like it any more. Time to go back where you are from. Let the Rich Family deal with him. We are tired of the bombs these retards are making us deal with. Enough."

OK, that might be an over-simplification, but its worth a try. But what are we to do about this economy thing? First off, we need to quit giving money to bailout worthless large corporations. If we hadn't bailed them out last year there would have been a major economic collapse, BUT, it would not simply have been the US in trouble. We very likely would have seen some of these corporations fail on their loans to China at which time China would have no method of recovery either. There might have been a few attempts to have a few CEO's extradited to China, but we could have obliged that, no problem. Our debt to China could have been dealt with in one clean blow, right?

Ok, I realize that sounds like something Glenn Beck would say... crazy talk, I know, but seriously, we need to quit bailing everything out. We can't support a bunch of people that have bad ideas, no matter how grandiose those ideas may be. Just because they can dream it, does not mean it should be so.

To advance in the modern world we are not going to need to produce the average Chevy Blazer. We need to be the country that manufactures the next generation of vehicle, of building material, of cellular communication. We need to lead the way in building col-tan free batteries. "It can't be done," the likes of gas-mouthed Rush Limbaugh will say... He also claims to be a Doctor... A Doctor of Democracy. And he likes to smell his own gas. And he's addicted to narcotics.
The gas engine vehicle will continually be made in cheaper and cheaper places, and sold for cheaper and cheaper to an ever larger population than ours could ever dream to be. We need to lead in the technology that will eventually drive those other people. And yes, it will leave our continent eventually, and spread to China, but that is why we need to stay on our toes, which we've not been that great at doing in the last decade. We inspired the computer tech drive in the 90's for certain, but in this last decade we flapped around a little, got a little lazy at the beach. We allowed an outspoken group of individuals to lead us to believe that our endless energy supply lay with them. And it does not. There is a limit, and it is in sight. As wells dry up in Saudi Arabia, and as the population curve of people coming on line to start consuming traditional fuel sources... that curve is very steep, and its happening very fast. Soon we will not be able to compete with China for oil and gas. The writing is on the wall. They have done a thorough job of befriending the right people around the world. Better in some regards than we have done, but not really. This is where I do not fear. America can easily turn from its course of militant colonialization and return to a more globally accepted, friendship-domination. That is what we need. Help people help themselves... help people get up while they sell us some resources. Right? Crazy talk?

Anyway, its late. We'd better be getting on and show people around the globe what we do to people who want to light their balls on fire. We put them in an isolated room and let them light their balls of fire. It should be quite a reality show.

Obama's worst 5 Nominees... Mother Jones

2010-01-11T10:11:00.002-07:00

Steve Coll tries to talk sense...

2010-01-10T22:51:00.002-07:00

...while the likes of Rush and Hannity simply sit around smelling their own farts.
Here is the commentary.

Why Afghanistan Matters

2010-01-09T23:12:00.002-07:00

America's Secret ICE Castles

2009-12-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

Pack'em and rack'em?

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100104/stevens

Nano-Cancer Shot

2009-12-15T22:28:00.001-07:00

Deadly N3 Virus

2009-12-15T22:02:00.002-07:00

The deadliest virus around is the one on the am radio and cable news programs. Sure the internet has some viscious places, but the number reached by these broad reaching and popular old media programs is astounding, and they are really quite a hateful bunch of people who lack all civility and willingness of compromise. They want their way, or no way, and because of the ways they manipulate their own religion they believe the have the moral backing to implement their way in any manner they see fit, regardless of its efficiencies or ethos.
My god, they are an unpleasant bunch. Bush, Jr. was their godsend, and en shala, they will not get another one of their own for a long time. Even now as they have been handed the olive branch time and time and time again, to the ill of many Obama supporters, these people are unrelentingly biting at his hand. Now openly claiming that our President is intentionally trying to destroy our nation. And I am willing to admit that several times during the composition of this very blog, I often wondered (aloud) if Presidente Bush was a highly advanced, but not nearly perfected r.o.b.o.t. made to act as though it were human. It would kind of make sense. We did not, after all, EVER see his birth records, and his father was not only once El Presidente himself, but also head of the CIA. Was George really ever born? Or was he created. It was and still is quite obvious that his wife, Laura Bush, was clearly a robot. While her actions and sometimes her words were close to resembling human-talk, her eyes and, sometimes her words, were a dead give away. So wouldn't it make even more sense knowing that they were both robots?
And while I definitely conveyed the notion that he might be unwittingly bringing demise upon the country, I never once suggested that he might be doing so with such intentions. I always gave him Intention Cred. "I'm certain the man means well, its just that he's a dumbass in over his head, hanging around with his dad's proteges. He's getting used. He's a tool. Probably a ball to have a beer with, but was certainly not going to shock anyone with a high degree of intelligence, sympathies, or wit, though he's probably very funny to be around."
But now there is a group that is simply unwilling to interact or converse with people of differing opinions. They only are willing to rant and rave bloody murder and treason at anyone of a different political view. Its a dangerous social symptom.

Once you go Black

2009-11-28T21:05:00.002-07:00

The thing about the Black World is that once you enter, you are always in the Black Lodge. You exist in a place not revealed by maps or written tales. These stories haven't been told. Once you've begun spying on people, you never, ever, ever again can think of people as anything short of a potential betrayal. And yet, while trust rarely becomes possible, it is not impossible. Even after you've been bitten once or twice, trust is something you can not really live without. Someone, somewhere, can be trusted. But everyone else... may be spying back. It is truly a lonely world when you have no one to trust. And while I've passed through times like this, eventually somewhere you find someone you connect with, someone that seems to be observing the greater global story much in the way you are. Sharing theatres.
The thing about once having been paid to spy on people is this... I know how worthless some of these people were to spy on. There was nothing in particular that should have caused many of them to have someone watching what magazines they buy, what type of coffee they like, what time of day they take their shit, but we did it. Someone somewhere filed a report with the right people, or more often than not, mere coincidence connected them to a source and suddenly they were being spied upon by people from another place. Strange people are pulled into these political games.
So a move to a small town even itself feels like a mole hole. But at least here I can get to know most anyone and everyone. In a place like this it would be difficult to have a stranger following me without knowing it. Whoever it might be would have to get inside with a local before being able to track someone like me. And for the most part, I feel like I am of little interest to anyone because I rarely influenced my surroundings when working abroad, but rather was for the most part nothing more than a set of eyes on the ceiling and a set of ears on the floor. But people take that kind of thing extremely personally if they become enlightened on such a thing. They often seek revenge, if not a violently extracted explanation. Seldom do such meetings end well.

So I've kept my reporting to a minimum. Cheeseburger, do you copy? As for what I have to report, there is nothing but a bunch of sheep down here, mopping up the grease that falls out of the likes of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. Who would have guessed, though how did we not, that the likes of these two flawed characters would join forces to buy a sheep farm out in the central mountains of this great land. The irony of the two of them sitting around a placid, western setting, both in cowboy garb and uncomfortable shiny cowboy boots, eating large lamb pies, toasting a croze hermitage. Both jackasses laugh as one when a sheep walks up beside them and the one reaches down to it with his loaded fork full of soggy lamb meat, offering it to the sheep. The sheep sniffs, then takes a bite and eats it down and both begin rolling in their seats until the maid comes out to check on them.
As you drive along the mountain roads you can look down in the valley, green meadows going dormant in the cold, white spreading towards the center, and broken snow, sheep flocks, scattered like homes in a giant mountain meadow.
Cheeseburger, do you copy?

We May Need Another War - War On ELK!

2009-11-28T16:59:00.002-07:00

(Or Moose). But obviously, yes, it is not the wolf that need worry us.. because now the game they help reduce in number have been attacking AND killing HUMANS!!!! follow the link above.

Whats wrong with the Religulous?

2009-11-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

Guantanamo!

2009-10-26T14:17:00.002-06:00

Is Guantanamo prison still Guantanomo prison if it is picked up and moved across the ocean?

Blantant Product Endorsement

2009-09-29T21:41:00.003-06:00

A friend from this small mountain town just began this new blog. Here is my official endorsement: Go check it out. He writes about pens and neat things.

American Forces At Work

2009-09-29T20:56:00.003-06:00

Readers of the Lawson Review are savy, interesting, and educated people. Not to pat your backs, but if you have been reading here for the past few years, you are very likely someone that holds several advanced degrees, and likely have been able to find happiness in whatever circumstance they have lead their lives into. The key point especially, that they are leaders of themselves, who delve into their consciousness and are not afraid of the mysteries of the mind or globe, but are willing to ask questions and look into unconventional angles in their attempts at problem solving. They are problem solvers. They explore many issues and submerge themselves in subject matters to the point of expertise, or at least to a point of understanding what the experts of an issue have to say with regards to the subject matter. And it is with great frustration that while exploring the world, more and more we find fewer and fewer curious people. It is disappointing to say the least. So when I recieve letters like I recently did, from a man in Lanton, Pennsylvania, who is writing a proposal for the US Military regarding their use of civilian clothing while on peace keeping mission. It is a remarkable idea. Because the US has such a vast military reach, in the global perspective people now associate "America" or "United States" with "Military" or "Military Empire."
Our military uniforms are ingrained on people across the globe. It is no surprise when our military men show up any more. The problem is made worse by the ever growing access to television and film via digital media.
From the perspective of this former government operative, by dressing our men and woman in civilian clothing during peaceful operations, the image projected globally becomes that America is the land of men and women ready to help us in our times of need rather than "America is the place that sends their military men and women out in uniform ready to take us over at any time." Take for example the tsunami that just struck. There will no doubt be a US military presence to help bring order to the situation, and the US is the very best at performing the task. Our military has more at its disposal to help search for, find, and help survivors than any other country on earth, and our military is prepared for nearly every situation conceivable. But we always show up in uniform. Even in the ultimate moments of distress our soldiers are wearing t-shirts and fatigues which, again, partially because of the media's portrayal, is a symbol of our military machismo. Put our soldiers in Khakis and allow soldiers whatever their preference in shirts, perhaps just give them matching baseball hats, whatever, and suddenly people see us as a nation of civilians who patrol only to help and come in times of need. Of course there is a little BS in the whole thing, but hell, it certainly could not hurt.

Anyway, where was I? ...
Pouring honey all over my readers, telling them how great they are?
Well then another wrote in. He was the inventor of a GPS Ball that has been deployed by the USGS, USCG, US Navy, and NOAA. It is a floating, solar powered, GPS unit inside a thick-skinned and pressurized rubber ball, about the size of a grapefruit. The Ball is made to last through thick and thin, and because of its relatively low manufacturing coast these units have been vastly dispersed throughout the oceans, measuring, via satellite, currents, waves, and turbulance in the ocean. They can be swallowed by fish and still float upon elimation. It can withstand hits from boats and debris. It is nearly indestructable. And so far, five years into the project, not one has had to be replaced, and even the few caught up on land were recovered and put back into service.

So I complement my readers. They are for the most part brilliant people (or at least ones who are not brought in by money scams - sorry Matt B., or they are looking for info on Chuck Norris or curious about "brushing teeth with finger") or at a minimun have at least once in their lives strived for genius, even if they have given up only recently. Many, like myself, still like sugared cereals too.

Energy and National Security are LinKED?!

2009-09-29T08:50:00.002-06:00

Since this is one area the Lawson Review has focussed on throughout the Bush Years, and so many who were then hiding in the Underground were talking about, because it is such an obvious connection, it is surprising how little we have actually heard about it since the Master of Change has taken over... Granted, at least the Master of Change (to Whom We All Bow) has funded alternate energy more than any other in our history. AND, to his credit, it would be sheer political hot lava to tell the American public to cut back on some energy useage... But we can't lose focus on the fact that we are, after all, 4% of the worlds population that consumes 25-30% of all the worlds energy AND natural resources...An ASTOUNDING fact when you really think about it. Check out the link here.

Whenever you find that you...

2009-09-28T23:14:00.002-06:00

"Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform." - Mark Twain

I've been down on this blog for a while, but my boss finally called and told me to shape up or ship out. So be it. I've had a hard time because of all this non-sense on Facebook. have you seen this non-sense? Seriously, have you? I knowl... I of all people making fun of, poking my finger at, prodding the likes of, and generally diss'n... Like I have room to talk. I operate the "Official Blog of the CIA" (or sometimes "unofficial"), and here I find myself so all important as to mock the very thing I am? No, seriously, I do more than that, don't I? Don't I offer more to my readers than the average posting of "Eating Chili, Sucks," on FB? My doubts ran ramapant and I retreated from everything.

But then I recalled my greater duty. My duty to my civilization, not to look at myself, but to look at the world that we all share. And I ran back home.

See, the problem we are finding, and we knew it might likely happen, is that Barack Obama is proving to be just like any other president would have been from the pickings we had. His course, while politically curving in opposite directions, is still running the same course, the exact same highway system that any of the other picks would have been. He did not take us to a new destination at all. He isn't planning on doing that. He has different friends, politically, but they all operate from the same rooms.

Here is a quick photo of a few sectors:

As a result we are seeing some strange things go on. Word has it that Afghanistan is falling apart. Our soldiers are being pinned up like targets, without the ability to truly protect themselves and advance a cause, any cause. We have outposts all over the ground, but they are not connected to one another, and the soldiers posted there have as their duty to be sitting ducks, waiting to get attacked. Because they have mobilized from being a combat mission to becoming a "peace keeping" mission they are not allowed to actively defend themselves. They wait around to get shot at. THEN they can fight back.
Why keep them there at all?

Banks, banks, Banks. Surely Obama will seek the smart way to bail out the economy by helping the little guy, right? Because only Reagan and the Bullies are nice to the Big Guys, but not our guy, not the guy on the left. He is on the left, right? Suddenly we all began to worry. Perhaps this guy is really much smarter than we took him for. Perhaps he is also cunning, foxy. Is he giving our money away to the very people we thought enemies of our party. Turns out... Yes.

Drugs? He did drugs, surely he is going to find a progressive solution to overpopulation in jails while helping the youth and whatnot, right?
Nope. The Justice Department is currently looking to equalize Coke and Crack, under the justification that "Crack is putting more black people away," as if those enforcing our laws were selecting black Crackheads over white Cokeheads intentionally. However, this is but looking at the surface. Law Enforcement officials I know have stated that it is not at all a matter of prejudice, but rather that, in general, Crackheads are more desperate and violent and unrelenting for their buying and selling of their drug, while Cokeheads are generally less obsorbed and thus less violent. Guns are commonly confiscated during the arrests of Crackheads, while guns are seldom obtained arresting Cokeheads. Does this make Coke any less dangerous than Crack? Not necessarily, but it certainly points to the idea that Crackheads are the more dangerous variety of citizen.

These things aren't to say Obama is doing a terrible job, only to say that his people had better hold him accountable, or he might seriously screw things up in an equal way as his predecessor.

Ronald Reagan Quote - and they actually brag about this...

2009-09-24T21:50:00.002-06:00

"All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk."
..................................... Ronald Reagan.

If only he would have put his money where his mouth was.

Asshole American Ambarrassment

2009-09-04T17:20:00.002-06:00

Click to the title to the linking article... super sweet that we aren't using Marines to guard embassies anymore. Because of a privitization scheme that began under Reagan and continued strong under Clinton and Bush, we now have more outsourced (and highly paid) personel from private companies than we do from the US government. And they are top notch, to say the least... I can totally see why they are more expensive... because they know how to PARTY! Yeah, GO DOG!
Isn't that exactly what we want representing the US abroad. Why have all those stoic, straight faced, and honestly, BORING Marine guards standing all still and straight outside the US embassy gates, when we can employ some super party types that didn't last in the military because they had to get their party on!!! Now we've got this instead.... sweet... and the fact that the number of reported rapes by such contractors is well into the hundreds is even more awesome! Privitazation tooootaallllly works. We seriously should probably just pay Haliburton to operate the White House and Congress. I won't at all be surprised if they are not, after all, the only contractor equipped to do such work. The contract, will no-bid, of course.
Yes, outsourcing has become a bit of a mess, and this picture explains it all, I'd say.

Crowe tells writer to get on bike

2009-09-04T15:30:00.001-06:00

Ask any of my friends... I don't like Russel Crowe. I think is a dweeb to say the least. His acting is half-canned and I'm not convinced he could distinguish a genuinely good movie from a bad one, but admittedly, my dislike is likely rooted in jealousy... who wouldn't want to make millions making bad movies? Well, then comes this, and I kind of like him now...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8237512.stm

What happened to conversation, and why are we so easily offended?

2009-09-04T08:49:00.003-06:00

Its like when your wife has agreed to go to a co-workers party... your not all that excited, and you have a hundred other things you'd rather do, including sweeping the garage out, or waterin the lawn, but she isn't having any of it. She wants to go, and you know you are going to go, but you still begrudge it, but, as is often the case, once you get there, maybe get a few drinks in your system, suddenly it is not anything like you imagined, and it turns out to be just fine. Such is our need for a national dialogue at the moment.
The Left and the Right have done a very good job of demonizing each other over the last few decades in America. Its been going on as long as I can remember, but in recent years it has gotten down right vicious. Lefties, frustrated by years of being completely ignored by the Bush Administration, including with regards to not having their votes counted for anything during his first election, have grown cold and stand-offish to the right. Meanwhile the Right, fueled by quasi-racists and xenophobes on the AM and Fox, have been whooped into a frenzy of distrust and anger towards anyone that does not believe in their god or in their moral set of beliefs.
Here in Montana, the arguments encompass everything from national healthcare to local hunting rights, but the divisionary lines remain the same across the board. Lefties in Montana are flabbergasted that people would want to hunt wolves. So delusionary and inconsistent is their arguement that while they are eating farmed bison and cow, wearing toxically made, synthetic "eco-friendly" clothing, they stand on their high horse and scream about 70 wolves being culled from the population of several thousand that now roam healthy across the landscape. "How dare you kill those things!" they scream, apparently not realizing their own predatory instincts aimed at different creatures.
Meanwhile the folks on the right are fired up about "eco-nazis" claiming that anyone that is against their way of thinking, or who is interested in preserving the very small 4% US landmass that is still entirely intact and roadless is a crazy radical not worthy of breathing.
The conversation ended years ago. Now it is nothing more than a screaming match in which no one can even hear the other side over their own voice. Its ridiculous. Its childish. And it is being fueled by the New Media substitutes for "news." News has been vanishing for some time. We rarely hear the simple facts without the filter of an agenda. We rarely are given information without severe bias. As a result, people are taking these nationalistic agendas, and attempting (stupidly) to apply them to their local communtities, as if Glenn Beck has ANYTHING to say that is applicable to ones local community. All he actually manages to pass along is his his anger. All Keith Olberman manages to pass on is cynicism. And none of it is helping anyone get along better with their neighbors.
We all live on the same god-damned planet, for god's sake! We share our streets and sidewalks with other people... and all these people are striving to do the same thing.... Get home to see their families after work, spend time sweeping the garage out, and avoid going to lame parties with their spouses, even though the parties ussually end up being quite fun. Humans have more in common than we often remember. Even "those other people" ... the ones that look different, that eat different, that live in "third world conditions"... they all like the same things... they laugh, they cry, they play jokes on each other.
Americans can be so god-damned pretentious, assuming that our way is the only way, and we've gotten to the point where we even think that way in terms of politics. We run around like a bunch of castrated monkeys trying to impreginate the world with our agenda... not realizing our own sterility. And its tiring.
We need more civility. Not a little, but a lot. We need to be willing to agree to disagree. We need to quit judging people so much. We need to accept people that think different, and try to enjoy a beer with them from time to time even if we don't necessarily like the way they do everything.
I kill a wolf, you kill a cow, my dog kills a squirrel, your cat kills birds... Jesus, thing die, things get killed (just ask Jesus!) All this non-sence about needing to fight our own countrymen over stupid issues that ultimately we have little control over in the first place...
So I for one am going to go home and enjoy a nice wolf steak tonight, and envite my vegetarian neighbor over for some corn, and perhaps she'll have a glass of chardonnay while I drink a PBR, and maybe, just maybe, we'll have a fun night...

Montana Congressman Rehberg drunk at the helm? (click)

2009-08-28T16:10:00.001-06:00

Lawson Review Readers...

2009-08-28T14:46:00.002-06:00

You will want to see this......videos are part way down the page...

Unbearable Brightness of Seeing

2009-08-28T09:23:00.002-06:00

Yes, a lot of new things have come to light in the last two weeks, and some of it seemed to filter through the system. Apart from President Obama being the anti-Christ and wanting to turn us into a "socialist-nazi" country, we also have discovered that he is to blame for invading Iraq and Afghanistan, and for bankrupting the nation. How do I know this? Because the modern republican Bible (ie. Rush and Friends) tell me so. When they say things like "He's just like the Nazi's" or "This is just how the Nazi's got their way," they are of course talking about the socialized medicine that Hitler offered to the Jews. Free showers for everyone! See?! It starts with preventative care... and cleanliness is next to Godliness, right? Right?
So maybe Rush is on to something!
Then there is the "Death Panel" debate. Now, some sappy democrats are all like, "These aren't death panels! All it is saying is that if we have government supported healthcare then we can also have the government help people prepare for their end of life care ahead of time." They then go on to tell us that no one is going to have to subscribe to these death panels, but that it is an option that would/could be provided along with the other socialized services. But I think we all know the truth... Nazis kill people. Lots of people. Think of a debate class sort of thing, with a panel of judges, except all the judges are wearing short mustaches that only cover their lip directly beneath their noses... think well pressed uniforms. Think gas chambers! Think Jews. Think old people. Think republicans... Why think these things?
Because Rush has laid it out clearly, along with NewsMax, Fox News, the Drudge Report, and World Net Daily... These panels of Hitler-wanna-bees will have access to voter registration and will be allowed to deny care to any and every republican they want to, and will be able to deny old people healthcare because it will simply be too expensive to take care of old people!
Of course we need death panels. How else are we going to get rid of all these old people! What? Wait around for them to die?! I think not. Under the Democratic Health Care Plan we will start burying people in "live caskets." It really will be the most efficient thing.
Yes, sure, there might be some misconceptions out there, but I think we all have a pretty clear idea of how viscious the democrats are, and how most of them don't want their parents to live, and how most of them want to see a mass extinction not of silly butterflies, but of republicans.
Such is the distrust in America, that nearly 45% of Americans polled believe such drivel. There is more substance in my sons diaper than there is in the words of Fox and AM Pundits. Currently the republican party is trying to rebuild their brand on drool, feces, and ether.
And it might just work. Sarah Palin, allah forbid, might actually have a place in the republican party of tomorrow. Incredible.
But that will be sweet. Then and only then will we be able to fall even further behind in technological energy development, retard ourselves by further outsourcing what little manufacturing sector we have left, and allow more unregulated pollution of our lands, waters, and air. Awesome. I love me a little jet fuel in my drinking water!
Perhaps one day we can all work for the Pentagon, as even under the current administration, it seems to be where the majority of our tax dollars are spent. Why pay for healthcare of old people and children, and middle aged people for that matter when we could bomb the crap out of some new nation that most of us don't know a thing about! How about Tajikistan? I see no reason not to bomb the Tajiks! Besides, what else are we going to use that money for? Death Panels?!

Daily Digest

2009-08-21T13:19:00.002-06:00

Daily Show: Fox News -- The New Liberals - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Chalmers Johnson on Empire Dismantling

2009-08-03T22:35:00.001-06:00

Will Sean Hannity Let Himself Be Sodomized On Live TV?

2009-08-03T22:16:00.003-06:00

This is disturbing, I know. Sorry Mom, but I feel pretty freaking strongly about this. (I will at least use the nice "f" word.. "freaking" instead of the other one!" I'm tired of hearing Americans glamorize torture as if its something they could do, but just choose not to do. "Its not THAT bad," so many Fox viewers justify. "Besides, the MIGHT be guilty!" Of what? Hating Americans because we bombed their village?!

It is about time someone thought to put it in THESE TERMS. Seriously, I wish I'd thought of it. In case you are too time-depraved to go to the link it goes something like this: The last few months people are going on and on about the Torture Debate as though it only deals with waterboarding, as if waterboarding was the end all be all of the torture world and, if we can prove that it is not so bad then Presto Magic! Torture is ok again, see!? Sean Hannity even pretended like he was going to prove to us how benign it was...He was going to be water-boarded in front of the cameras... What a lying prick.
But what about other aspects of torture? Do we really need to focus on the anal raping?
Apparently we do! As if the many other forms of torture do not seem to exist, perhaps it is only the Anal Raping that will wake Americans up to the idea that torture is something that we "freedom spreaders" should NOT DO!
We support Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights, and... Anal Rape of suspects? Really?
So lets see it, Sean. Put your freaking money where your mouth is... and let some Army knocks stick their gun barrel up your ass and then make you wear poopy pants for a few weeks while giving you urine (theirs not yours) to drink... still not feeling tortured? Don't worry, this is live tv, so we will also not only get to see you in this condition, but the lights will always be on and the music will always be very loud, and you'll be hanging in positions that do not really allow for a very solid sleep... so enjoy, because for the next few weeks of this display you will have lots of fun anal raping to look forward to... broom sticks, gun barrels, whatever clever little highschool drop outs can conjure... a few detainees, later released because it turns out they weren't guilty, we blessed enough to experience anal rape with florescent light bulbs... Bringing light to places the sun don't shine, no doubt. At least they were thinking of energy efficiency, right?
Welcome to military detention Dick Cheney style! Torture was a protocol from top down. Don't forget it. Dick Cheney, who was the defacto president of the US for the last 8 years, allowed and encouraged it. Aren't war crimes cool?!

Its worth the four minutes of reading.

Some Amazing Videos Here! Sserpxe em tel!!!

2009-07-31T16:03:00.002-06:00

Here is an amazing piece that shows retarded people DO have a place in the modern workforce... and not just sweeping floors...

And THISone... amazing! So clear cut! So obvious! And to think that the American public did not realize this!!!

A tortured bunch of news

2009-07-28T22:11:00.002-06:00

shouldn't even check the news on days like this. Shouldn't even check my email. I open the account and instantly see these depressing headlines full of depressing news:
Baby gets dismembered
China is busy being the assholes that the Chinese are to their neighbors
Glenn Beck is trying to get the President killed
And sun tanning beds are as toxic as arsenic
...what a day?!

2009-07-19T22:45:00.001-06:00

Palin Quits/Ocean Goo Suddenly Appears...

2009-07-18T22:25:00.002-06:00

...this is bound to turn into a Super Heros episode... or a Scooby Doo one.

Why You Shouldn't keep Your Baby Inside a Plastic Bag

2009-07-17T08:43:00.003-06:00

Blink on Cheney

2009-07-16T21:55:00.002-06:00

These are fast times, and dangerous. But not the danger that is advertised on the television. On the television there are products, lifestyles, and taxes to be sold, so there is little room for the truth. It is not a total abandonment for the desire for truth, it is only that products and sales take precedent. Selling out is the American way. And we are globalizing our efforts. Long in need of more real connection to the planet they live on and to the neighborhoods they share, Americans are getting confused as they suddenly find themselves unable to buy as much as fast. For so long the curve of ownership (of things) was growing exponentially. Faster and faster things were becoming more readily available and we were able to own damn near anything we want, as soon as we wanted it. Now we have to wait... something like a month or two.
Its tragic. Dangerous. People are beginning to spin out of control. They are throwing their children off bridges. They are going psycho-killer on their neighbors, friends, and families, they are using knives, even cutting off ball-sacks. This is some crazy shit. It is beginning to look like Craziville, USA.
Part of it is the news. There have always been sadists, but they've become popular and talked about, and there is a new ability to spread their stories farther and faster than ever fathomed thirty years ago.
But this is not the goal of this dialogue.

The point of the day is to think about Dick Cheney and the secrecy we've allowed to creep into our government. Like the violence in our society we've grown complacent about the whole matter. Dick Cheney, in terms of being a power-monger, is no different than the autocrats our media and government like to attack around the world. For better (for us) or worse (for him) he was born into a country that actually allows quite a few people into positions of authority, and had plans to avoid the takeover of power by one individual. Checks and balances. Not a bad concept. Scientific. Practical. Documentable. And enforceble. Hopefully.

No, it was in Dick's early thirties that he realized what a jip it was that he was not born into his same life on a different continent. He has no reason to be racist and probably thought big, like China. Why couldn't I have been born into China?! I could rule that whole fucking country.
Go, Dick, Go! The cheering sound rang in his head all his life. He could own and operate anything better than anyone else. And he did not need help doing it, not after he gets there anyway.
And he never looked back. He began complaining early, during the investigations of the Iran/Contra hearings, that people in authority need some wiggle room, room to bend, if not break the rules. This is a requirement of authority. He was already preparing his chair for a later date.
But then something else happened, that has made him bitter the rest of his life. His ticker began failing him. It is like someone poised to go to the NBA only to find out that they will have to amputate their foot and wear a fake one. The American public would never elect someone with a fake heart, or one that required a duracell to keep it ticking. He'd have to go second chair, even as he took the lead.
George was a perfect fit. Soon into his position Cheney realized he could actually get even more done as Bush stood center stage. George, stay there in the center while I go back stage for a while.
Secrecy became his pattern. Energy meetings, secret??? Seriously, WTF? Seriously. WTF? How did he get away with this stuff?! Why weren't other politicians screaming? Why was there mainstream news? This guy made secrecy so commonplace in our government that the founding fathers would likely have taken up arms and called him out on his shit. This is not supposed to be allowed. The guy used fake intelligence to get us into a war. He manipulated the CIA into being his little secret covert-op squad, justifying it to them while lying to everyone else. For heavens sake, he had the CIA withhold information from the one very small "check and balance" that they had, a group in Congress small enough to fit into a small room.
We need to see hearings on this kind of craziness. We need to see Dick Cheney sitting at a desk in front of his peers to explain his audacious behavior, and then get to watch his inner-crumblings as he realizes that he has broken the laws of this country by attempting to create an autocratic pocket within the government mechanisms of the US.
Our government has cancer right now. It is in serious need of an operation, something to remove these people from their positions of power and authority. The electrorate need to start sending more people into the races. Citizen involvement is the only hope. Otherwise we can expect to see a slow erosion, not only in our economic stability, but in the relations between our citizens. The more the American public dens up in their own personal rat races, the more chaos we will see appear outside the dens. And as business men and women it would not hurt for more Americans to think of themselves as neighbors rather than bosses. It would certainly improve things if people thought about lifestyle more, bank accounts less. By lifestyle I do not mean buying power. We've had plenty of that. It didn't help anything, but only made us work more, live less.

Its Easier to deal with when you break it down.

2009-07-13T21:27:00.003-06:00

As has been recognized by many of the sharpest Lawson Review readers, the Lawson Review has been going through more than a simple change in management, but has meanwhile (and perhaps as a result of the aforementioned) been going through a crisis of identity. It began when I experienced a sudden and swift loss of readership. I think that many newspapers around the country are going through the same thing, but here on the intfranets... here we are supposed to be increasing our readership, and yet readership at the Lawson Review suddenly took a swift hit last year. Then suddenly the Lawson Review was shut down. Shut down, reopened, but suddenly filtered in the greater internet world, filtered from a control room that most will never know more about... this will probably be the only mention you ever hear about on the infranets. No, it has nothing to do with protecting the general public, or even to hide knowledge from them... this censorship is a power-trip, nothing more. They control the words, and even attempt to control the actions of a certain group of people. 13 years ago I committed to this organization... now, when trying to exert just what little of myself I have left, even now after this complete commitment on my part, they do not trust me.

Its been a difficult situation to deal with. Knowing my phone is actively tapped is nothing. But when they start breaking into my house and hiding cameras behind pictures, replacing my favorite ashtray with a nearly identical and bugged one, hiding gps tracking chips in the hem of my cloths, even hiding a camera in my shower-head... this began getting to me.

For a while I didn't know a way out. I started to lose interest in my very task at hand. In the meantime I lost sight of what the purpose of this blog was. But we are putting the pieces back together. We've gone into the fire and used the heat to sharpen our blades. We meet in different locations daily. We are watching over our shoulders. And it is fascinating to see who and why we are being pinpointed.

Suddenly the world cares about Iran

2009-06-22T12:09:00.002-06:00

Just a few weeks ago no one seemed to care. Just a few months ago, most people in America would have a difficult time pin pointing Iran on a map. Most know it is in the proximity of Iraq, but that is about it. Evil doers. Most knew that. Terrorist supporters who don't like Israel. Most thought they knew that.

But the fact that Iran has a large Jewish population that for the most part gets along fine with the rest of the population... most didn't know that. And when Bush wanted to invade, well, it just sounded like a bad idea, mostly from a financial point of view.
But then there was an election, and suddenly Americans, right and left alike, are pretending to have a vested interested in the outcome of Iranian politics. And even while admitting that the President of Iran is not the powerhouse most now are extremely concerned that the election has been stolen.

What is going on here? Why the sudden interest? Hmmm.

Well, it turns out that the CIA, as reported publicly by the New Yorker last summer, is hard at work in Iran. Now most think of the CIA as an organization that buys and sells guns, sets off bombs, and assassinates the un-wanteds, but what is less in the light, and for obvious reasons, is that we create political opposition. And, as seems to be the case with this example, seem to want to gin up support for their actions here at home. Suddenly everyone in the US is concerned about Iran.

One thing is sure. I am sure that it has nothing to do with Iran being one of the largest oil and gas holders in the Middle East and world. I am sure it has nothing to do with Iran's recent decision to begin trading that oil with Euros and Yen as opposed to dollars. I am sure it has nothing to do with the fact that they are making oil deals with China and India, who are seen as our greatest threat to energy security in the upcoming years. I am sure it is mostly because we are just concerned that they have a fair and open election... just like ours here at home.

Ninjas killed David Carradine

2009-06-19T08:34:00.003-06:00

By now the word is out that David Carradine was killed by a secret society of Ninjas in Thailand, who then hung him in a closet with his wrist and genitals bound in wire, and left a wig and some lacy underwear behind to make it look as though the 72 year old actor was into kinky sexy things with naughty people. But he was not. He had broken Ninja code several times throughout his career as an actor, and had brought shame to the Ninja sect which he was a member. The saddest part perhaps is that he knew he had broken their code, and he made his fateful trip to SE Asia to submit before a committee of his peers within that society, ready to take whatever punishment they dealt him. And even more sad, it included naked auto-erotic asphyxiation and genital wire wrapping. Thats what you get when you piss off Ninjas. Seriously. Don't mess with Ninjas.

Back.

2009-06-17T23:13:00.002-06:00

Yes, I thought it was the end. They meant for it to be. I've had to change a few things. Moved again. Every three years it seems. It takes almost exactly 3 years for the beauracatic mechanisms in government to find someone if they are doing a decent but not flawless job of hiding themselves. C'est la vie!

So new town, new house, new locks, new security system, new name, new hair, new cloths, new background, new accent, new car, new phones, new micro-processor, new pen in my pocket. I used to be a rolling ball v5 kind of fellow. Then I switched to basic papermate. Now I'm on to something new. But I'd best not say.

Also new revelations. Tired of defending One side against the Other. Tired of arguing with loud-mouths retards. Seriously, its gets tiresome. I'm over it. If it bored you, I apologize. It was boring me too. I'd rather find the Matt Badailis in the world. I'd rather expose the scam. Tired of seeing everyone live life like the television tells them to. When you are focussed all the time on the worthless and vain it makes the body ache for more. For myself this is rarely found in a building. There is more outside than in. There is more with less, right?

So I'm living as a nudist now. It took some convincing with my wife, but now she even agrees, this is the life for us. No more cloths, no more watches. Our kids are perhaps a little embarrassed, but they will get over it.

So, we are back in business at the Lawson Review. Hope we didn't lose you all. We had to kill a few people that were following us, and brush our tracks like coyotes. But we've found a nice little spot in the woods with a mountain top view from which to watch the world, and anyone that might be coming for us. We are well versed on Iran, and will work to inform our readers of the latest and greates things that should be known about the world we live in.

We are looking into the future, and we see the Lawson Review.

Welcome back Online.

It Has Come To My Attention

2009-05-21T22:27:00.002-06:00

The time has come for the end of the Lawson Review. No, it is not the economic times, and no, it has nothing to do with the shift of plate tectonics. No, these are things no single person can control, but the proverbial phone call from above has made itself known, via a phone call at 7:39pm. For months, literally months my phone has been ringing one ring at 7:39pm, and it has not only come to serve as a clock in our household, but also a game, to see if we can pick up fast enough to find out if someone is on the other end. We've never been fast enough. Not until last week. Last week there was someone on the other end. I do not know exactly why, or who, but it is safe to say that if by ending this I can never hear that voice again, I am going to end it. So here it is. Enjoy the archives. Go back to the good ol'days. I've let some flab blemish the Lawson Reviews waistline lately anyway, so it is kind of a fitting ending I guess. Pulling the trigger. Or rather, plug.

Bulk Rice and a Pollywog

2009-05-20T08:14:00.002-06:00

I know I'm unreliable as a blogger right now. Living on a remote mountaintop with two children turns out to be quite a time consuming endeavour, let alone the fact that I am in constant watch for Iranian paratroopers set on ending my existence. Needless to say, complaining about Sean Hannity has become a low priority. That being said, I did catch a little of his show on the shortwave yesterday, and it was ass-stounding how idiotic, backwards, retarded, stupid, pathetic and simply weird he and his supporting audience are. They are... well... ass-stoundingly idiotic, backwards, retarded, stupid, pathetic and weird.

There is this whole, "lets get Nancy Pelosi and eat her alive" thing. First off, her knowing of torture, if she did, does not make her a criminal. Her knowing about it is not the problem. The TORTURE, and those that allowed it, encouraged it, in fact mandated it... those are the criminals. Yes, criminals. Just because a President says it is ok, does not make a thing legal. Believe, I probably hate Nancy Pelosi and her fake, plastic smile as much as the next, and her lack of transparency as a public servant is ugly, if not completely common in our elected officials, but with regards to this torture business, her having known about it means nothing. When you are briefed on Secret or Top Secret information, you can not just run out and tell the world without some rather serious implications.

And then Hannity goes on and on about the CIA and how "they would never lie." Sean, you haven't a clue what the CIA even does. Lying is what we do best. Lying, in fact, is the very nature of this work. Lying, misleading, cheating, suprising, undercutting, being completely subversive... that is the job of the CIA. How else do we overthrow governments? How else do we infiltrate to the core of our enemies systems? How else do we maintain a "Black Budget" which is completely hidden from the view of the taxpayers that pay for it? No Sean, you are a stupid, freaking idiot, and I can't wait until you wake up to see all the crap on your chin. It has been spewing out your mouth for years.

Had this been any other country, or even been a democrat rather than a republican that had advocated torture, then and only then would we see the republicans standing up for those that had been tortured, but somehow these people are completely willing to suspend their morals to support people they do not know or know the true motives of. Unwilling are they to admit that Cheney is without moral fortitude. He is a coward who freaked out in paranoia after 9/11. And so obsessed was he on his own agenda that he completely forgot history, and forgot to think about the future ramifications of his own actions.

Now it is all catching up to him. The fear is in his eyes. Sean Hannity and Rush have nothing to lose by throwing their hat in with the Dickly Coward, so they are going for it. They won't go to prison. It won't give them a heart attack. They see it as a last ditch effort to galvanize a dwindling percentage of their supporters. But Cheney, Cheney has the fear. His tail is on the line. Prison is a very real possibility. He might die an old man in prison. No more jets. No more gold coffee mugs. No more shooting friends while drunk on vacation. And to no suprise, he is still running on fear, only now, instead of carrying a gas mask and worrying about the Taliban, he is worried about Nancy Pelosi and her friends.

A tortured bunch

2009-05-04T22:17:00.002-06:00

I knew it before any of you. You simply don't buy the eye-ball thing. Obviously that is no allergy. I know. I knew no one would believe it, and that is why I offered the distinctly zoomed in version showing nearly each and every blood vessel and line, but still, that middle of the eye... that is the part, clearly infected and swollen, perhaps where the Iranians injected me with their serum, or where the MSS used microscopic steel wool to scratch, irritate, and push me beyond my capacity to hold state secrets, but alas, I am not permitted to tell, so it will have to go that it is an annoying little season pink-eye.

Justice Souter Retires

2009-04-30T23:13:00.001-06:00

This will probably become the dominate talk of at least one-third of talk radio for the next several months.

My Seasonal Allergy.

2009-04-29T09:30:00.000-06:00

Not so much pink eye as "nasty bloody sore eye."

The Grifter and the Grifted

2009-04-28T23:14:00.001-06:00

Life is all aTwitter with the obnoxious bahaviors becoming more obnoxious. And now the CIA is asking me to do something I simply can not. First, blogging, ok, but now Twittering? Really? Me? I hole up in a shack on the edge of a cliff in the middle of a forest... I barely get a cell phone signal to begin with, and they want me to Twitter? GTFOOH, seriously.
Is this not close enough? Why must I send it out over a cell phone? Why would I hope that people are curious when I am watching my cat take a crap so I can clean it out before the entire place smells up, or while I am pointing my rifle and scope out on an innocent little bunny, not loaded, just imagining, watching and following. I move the riffle up to the eagle and watch it take a dive down to eat the small flash of white fur. I can shoot the rabbit, but not the bird.
No, I think this is where I draw the line in the sand. Twitter is not something the Agency needs me to do. They have a blogger, now they need someone altogether different to Twitter. I can't be that person for them. They will have to hook me up to electrodes. Feed me whippets. Scrub my bathroom floors once a week. Pay me more.

Meanwhile I have an assignment for my readers... There have never been assignments before right now, but now there are. What is the status, in terms of economic health, of mining companies during the wave cycle in the economic sphere? Are these industries finding it difficult to borrow money? How much connection is there between international banks, and the major international mining corporations. These industries can find huge profits when things are going well, but only after massive loans have been repaid. The repaying of these loans depends on a population ready and willing to purchase. One of the number one culprits of civil marginalization in the third world is the capital oriented industrialized nations. When people are spending resource extraction takes priority to human rights because the wealth has a way of finding individuals who lack ethics willing and ready to oppress people for the purpose of profit. I am curious to what degree, if any, this recent decline in the "economy" or stockmarket has had on resource extraction industries...

Answers?

Cheney's Tortured Lies (click title for op-ed)

2009-04-24T07:53:00.002-06:00

The above link is an editorial by Ali Soufan, a former FBI interrogator who worked counter-terrorism during the Bush administration. Soufan offers an easy to understand timeline which when compared to the blanket statements made by Dick Cheney on Fox News two nights ago is completely contradictory. It also contains the one-quarter ounce of logic neccessary to understand 1.) that Dick Cheney is a liar, and 2.) that anyone that is taking Dick Cheney's words as fact is either mentally handicapped, or extremely mentally lazy.
In our Lawson Review Math Installment #2 we look at the logic of Dick Cheney.
Ali Soufan lays it out succinctly, "Defenders of these techniques have claimed that they got Abu Zubaydah to give up information leading to the capture of Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a top aide to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and Mr. Padilla. This is false. The information that led to Mr. Shibh’s capture came primarily from a different terrorist operative who was interviewed using traditional methods. As for Mr. Padilla, the dates just don’t add up: the harsh techniques were approved in the memo of August 2002, Mr. Padilla had been arrested that May."
While many centrists are hoping there is no "witch hunt," for the leadership that allowed torture to become even a marginally accepted practice by the American government, I for one am hoping there is a massive witch hunt, followed by a public witch punishment. We have already begun punishing those that followed the orders, it is time to punish those that created the orders. Are we, or are we not better ruled than countries like Uzbekistan?!

1+1 for the Bush Administration...

2009-04-23T11:04:00.002-06:00

A short post today. Just looking back on a few things having to do with torture, as torture is the popular word of the day. Righties love it. Lefties hate it. Those with any common sense think it is pretty stupid. Hold a knife to my balls and I'll probably tell you whatever it takes to get you to not cut them off, even if its a lie.

So lets do some quick math, starting in Afghanistan at Abu Ghraib.
This is where the torture first surfaced.
Bush said, "you are bad people." "Apples" actually was his word. "And I am going to let you get prosecuted." And he did.
A few with common sense said, "But were they not just following orders? Shouldn't we prosecute those that gave the orders?"
The answer that followed was something like, "Yes, but there were no orders, so lets prosecute these few naughty apples and then move on to thinking about how great Disney World is, and how evil Ugo Chavez is!"
So the American public did as they were told. Disney world is great, Venezuala is bad.
But then last week Obama allowed the release of the Torture Memos, as they have become known. Turns out the bad apples came from a bad tree in a bad orchard. Turns out the apples were only providing the fruit they were told to provide. Turns out that the orchard manager as well as the orchard owner (el Presidente) knew, allowed, and even ordered the whole torture "thingy."
"Thingy" = massive (several month long) sleep deprevation, water boarding, being hooked up to electric cables while standing on buckets, stacking people naked, sodomy (with light bulbs, no less!) and several other methods all deemed illegal even by the USA for most of our recent history. Until Bush. Bush doesn't think it torturous to have a florescent light bulb penetrated into his rectum apparently. Wonder if his wife and daughters agree?
I certainly do not.
Which brings us back to the math.. theoretical mathematics anyway.
If Bush agreed that those responsible for torture should be held responsible then, does it not follow that we should now, in light of this new information, hold those further up the chain of command responsible? In fact, I'd say we should hold those people to a much higher degree of responsibility. Those stupid little "specialists," should probably be let out and made to do community service while those like the Big Dick Cheney and GWB, Condi and all Bush's legal team (who tried to legitimatize torture) should really be the ones spending time in prison. Besides, prison will not be that bad for them... they don't even consider confinement or penetration to be bad things at all!

A Moron is a Moron is Moron

2009-04-22T07:16:00.002-06:00

We really shouldn't pretend any more... there are way more than enough stupid people in the world. Sure, you need some stupid people to run a country efficiently, just like you need lazy people, and complacent people, and perhaps it is because the media is able to draw more attention now, or perhaps it is just offering a microphone to those peeps in a way never before seen, but there are so many stupid people out there now that it is sometimes depressing. And I'm not bragging, pretending to be any sort of Einstein here, but these people I am talking about... they are exceptional in their stupidity and mental laziness. It is as though we are breeding retardation in our our public and even private school systems. They come from all walks of life, all colors, and join both political parties. Some on the left seriously thought Barack was going to be their modern day Jesus Christ. And there are those on the left that think he is a modern day Satan. Is it religion that has lobotomized these people? Perhaps. Or they have been licking too many Lead Pops.

Then there is there is the Rush'in Fox Syndrome. This syndrome is brought on by those easily hypnotized by bright flashing lights on their television screens, and by repeated stories of fear, fear, fear during their daily AM dose of radio frequencies. These people often admit, "I don't know much..." but then dive in to a rather predictable diatribe of what all the DO in fact know, all which are vomitous regurgitates from their previous meal of Rush or Hannity or the likes. It is like a nasty little chain of birds. The big bird eats some shit. Then vomits it into the mouth of its baby bird. This bird, even though just barely old enough to reproduce, has, and then regurgitates the same shit into the mouth of its babe. Its awful stuff. Sorry Mum, no other way to put it. These people, that have an American flag tattooed to their forehead and peckers are some of the most disgraceful Americans I've ever witnessed, encouraging division and rebellion whenever they do not get their way. They assume that all Americans should share in their religious beliefs, and assume that those that do not are either crazy, dangerous, or evil... or a combination of all the above.

Rush has been touting the benefits of torture for the last few days. Had he his way America would set a new low record for moral behavior in the world. So much for being a beacon of hope, promise and potential. All these "Christian" Americans live so deeply in fear that they seem to have forgotten that the whole point of their faith is to save them from fear. They can, according to their religion, turn the other cheek, be persecuted and thrown to lions, and still have eternal life, remember? Turn the other cheek, right?

And taxes? What about giving to Ceasar what is his? What about helping the poor? Are they so disconnected that they do not even realize there are people to help? Their little tax charade last week was the most pathetic, stupid, ill-conceived display of self-induced retardation I've ever witnessed. Not one of them knew what they were talking about with their pathetic references to the Boston Tea Party. They just knew that the whole thing made King Hannity chuckle, and they are suckers for the sound of that rattle.

So its exciting times. And the stupid are taking over.

there are plenty saying, "I told you so."

2009-04-17T01:54:00.005-06:00

So I've been away for a while, and a few of you have noticed, and I don't have any excuses. For so long it felt fairly sane keeping up with the growing world of multi-media. In a single day it was pretty easy to see what shit head politician did what, which country was suffering the worst from drought, when the newest latest greatest electronic thing was going to be released, how this or that person or politician was trying to effect the country/world, and what to take to improve my memory - all in under a half hour... Read, Write, Post. Simple.

But then suddenly shit started to fall apart. And while I blame the larger citizen that elected the schmuck, I feel the icon of the disintegration of this blog lies largely with our elected officials, with the head being Bush. Shit started to fall apart everywhere. For a while it made my reflection time on the internet somewhat exciting. This guy and the few other elected ones were starting wars. This was easy to see through too. It did not take a genius to read through their reasons, to see how simple it all was. The connections between politicians making dangerous decisions and between the people benefiting financially were easy for the slightly more than casual observer to connect. My three year old plays connect the dots. She does not even usually need to be able to read the numbers on each dot. She can make out the shapes on her own. One is a puppy. Another is a penguin. And that one there, an easy to spot defense contractor and an oil company.

We very quickly went from being a nation with no deficit, low unemployment, and an insatiable shopping mechanism to a country in massive debt, increased spending (yes, all you Bush deniers... Bush increased the size of government, regardless of all the bullshit rhetoric spewed by the likes of Tom Delay and Newt Gingrich), rising unemployment and were suddenly being burdened with not one but two preemptive wars. Suddenly our leaders were not including what we were spending in our national budget either. People began losing track of what we were spending anywhere. Things began to fall apart.

With the agenda of the Right, suddenly any regulation that had been imposed over the decades, from pollution to banking institution, were considered outdated and were quickly repealed. But even with this lack of regulation, which for years businesses claimed was killing their ability to perform in the US, even still Big Business was going overseas. Manufacturing was moving overseas. Jobs were moving overseas. Even tech firms began moving overseas. With globalization, the market began an uncomfortable shift away from America. On the global scale, Big Business wanted to sell to America, but nothing more. Profits were higher if things were made elsewhere. Profits were higher if things were invented elsewhere. But with that shift, Americans slowly but surely began losing a key component to their flawless shopping mechanism. Suddenly they lacked money.

For a while it looked like it might not matter. There was a new phenomenon... Credit. Credit came into the limelight. Credit made anything possible. Banks were unregulated in their handing of credit. Everyone seemed happy. Things were fine. It didn't seem to matter, many reasoned, though always split about 50/50, didn't seem to matter that we were losing track of how much our government was spending, and what they were spending it on.

And we have been spending like never before. But there was a problem. The spending was being concentrated, and those profiting on unregulated government contracts, often if not directly, at least indirectly related to the federal war machine, were not in a statistically significant way spreading the wealth around it... it was being hoarded. Which might be considered fine in the free market, were it not for the fact that this was tax earned dollars. Tax money going towards profiteering related to wars that we don't even want to be fighting. (An example of why the Lawson Review is pro-military service requirement for all Americans... educated Americans will not allow unnecessary wars when their children might die in them.)

Shit began to crumble. Suddenly jobs were being lost. People were losing money, homes, even food. And it is really hard to put your head around any way this can get better in the current global environment. Shit crumbling everywhere. And still a ton of people are in denial. Energy seems like a good place to invest in new places. And some are trying, but at this point in history, it seems like there is a huge portion of powerful, stupid people. Its incredible to witness them speak, and to see people responding to them positively. They have abandoned science. They have abandoned any sort of ethical code, except that based in making money. They have abandoned civility. They are completely rude, loud, and being followed. They make their case with the likes of Sarah Palin and Tom Delay. They find corruption humorous. They hold their Jesus up on a stick as they march off to kill anyone they are told to kill. War? "Well Jesus may not have, and sure, I have faith in Gods perfect will to take me in his perfect arms after my death, and sure Jesus said to turn the other cheek, but I'm going to support the killing of innocent civilians anyway... even if it is only for cheaper gas at my pump."

So like many, after the election of someone that seemed like they might at least try something different for at least a few weeks, I like many people just wanted to go to sleep for a while, with regards to what goes on in this land of the internet. So I did. I've been off the radar watching trees sway in the night time winds of spring, as cold air shifts to a warmer sort, warming the ice off the mountains, and waking the evergreens. So I cynically sat back occasionally over a late beer and watched as my readership declined, though maintained a steady influx of people looking for the criminal background of Matt Badiali and his Stansberry and Associates, and their schemes to elicit money from people curious how to cash in on the energy market. Go Matt, go! Round em'up and bring it in! If the government would let me charge for readership I would. I'll happily tell you how to make money, just as soon as you send me some to tell you!

But I'm back now. My head is cleared, at least a little. And I am ready to help navigate this new world in which we live. What the hell is going on with this stupid stimulus business? I can't even pretend to tell you. It all seems a little unreal, these numbers they are even dealing with. Part of me craves a very small island with a decent elevation above the sea and some fruit trees. But thats not what we have. We have a continent, and a lot of people, and groups of people ready to spend our money on any sort of project we may or may not agree with at any given point. And its good to look into it and know what the fuck they are doing with our money.
Why? Because some of us are not happy being stupid sheep.

And oh yes, off subject, check out our new links off to the right.

Water crisis rocks LA, Mexico City; who's next? - UPI.com

2009-04-11T14:13:00.001-06:00

http://www.upi.com/news/issueoftheday/2009/04/10/Water-crisis-rocks-LA-Mexico-City-whos-next/UPI-63621239376355/

There are plenty saying, "I told you so."

2009-03-27T08:42:00.002-06:00

HERE is a brief look back at the beginning of this current recession... "Deregulate" was the mantra. "The Free Market will care for itself,"... because greedy people tend to be the most honest?

A fairly convincing arguement to kill the payroll tax

2009-03-18T10:15:00.000-06:00

Everything is Amazing, Nobody is Happy

2009-03-05T10:42:00.000-07:00

What is wrong here?

2009-03-04T18:28:00.003-07:00

The Republican Strategy

2009-03-03T21:10:00.002-07:00

On Fox News and Radio the newest theme is this: See the Dow plunging? It is because the Market has no confidence in Obama. See?

And it is stupid. The Market has been dropping for the last year. The Market is experiencing a rather drastic "correction" because there was no oversight for the last 7 years. The SEC did a lousy job. They were directed by corruption. Insurance companies, banks, and trading companies have had zero regulation, almost zero oversight in terms of ethical practices. It was diving before Obama was president and yes, will likely drop for a while longer.

This sort of stupidity used to inspire something in me that made me want to right its wrongs, to expose its basic premises, but anymore, the talk has gotten so incredibly insane, I would not even know where to begin. When Rush Limbaugh downs a bottle of Xanex and Oxycotin, and goes before a crowd of retards, and they all clap, and 20% of the nation applauds... what can we say about that? Retarded people aren't even supposed to be allowed to vote, are they? Is this the result of a defrauded and corroded education system? Clearly we do not need more money dumped into it... we need a complete restructuring. And perhaps we should start by buying a new fleet of short busses.

CPAC - Conservative Political Asshole Committee

2009-03-03T09:22:00.001-07:00

Wondering what CPAC stands for?

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CPAC After Party

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Flight of the Conchords

2009-02-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

In 35 Days

2009-02-24T22:31:00.002-07:00

In his first thirty-five days in office President Obama has managed to do what Bush could not in his eight years in office - speak intelligently to the nation. Tonight in his "not the State of the Union" address, President Obama laid out the problems and his take on the direction of solutions. He preemptively stiffled the Republican rebuttle, which was not hard to predict... The Republicans were inevitably going to say, "He is going to raise taxes!" Obama's preemptive: "I repeat, if you make less than $250K your taxes will not go up a single dime. And my administration is lowering taxes for 95% of Americans." Not bad.

Another intelligent moment, far more than anything Bush could ever conjure, was addressing "Torture." While harsh interrogation of terrorist suspects may seem like a good idea to some, to most/many people involved in intelligence, it is a known fact that rapport building is a more effective means by which to gather accurate and usable intel. President Obama has used several highlighted media moments to tell the world, "the US is going to quit torturing." What does this do? For one, it vastly improves our image abroad. Secondly, it affirms to people within our nation that we are a nation of good behavior... or at least that we are going to try to be. Along the same line, Obama has called on Americans to serve themselves, their families and their country. Impressive. By contrast, Bush told us to go shopping, and to basically not give a crap about people around the world.

And lastly, Obama does not pretend that wars are free. Bush seemed to imagine a magic money fairy that made his adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan all free! Never did he address the idea that it created massive national debt. Finally, a President that does not speak to the nation as if it were a nation of retards. Look forward to seeing what he can pull off.

Twin Peaks High Top

2009-02-22T23:03:00.002-07:00

HERE THEY ARE.... What every David Lynch/Twin Peaks fan has been waiting for since the end of the Fire Walk With Me...

Watch This. (Click)

2009-02-04T22:30:00.002-07:00

Here's a sample:

The Two Party Waltz

2009-02-04T20:55:00.002-07:00

We are only two weeks in and already one dancer is stepping on the other one's toes, already. After watching Obama's two week introduction in Washington Dick Cheney decided it was time to pop his head up and say something in defense of the things Obama has begun to unwind. Torture, according to Cheney, and uncivil arrest, were necessary to protect American interests. If we are attacked now, it is because we have undone torture based incarceration.
There.
He's said it.
Its out of his hands.
Plain and simple.
Of course not a word to the question of whether or not his war and methods were in fact what might well cause another attack.
No, stick to plan A. Hit them harder and harder.
Granted, that is a very expensive method, and these methods expense also plays another role in our current society... incredible government spending in the arena of war and lethality. Never mind debt, when it comes to proving yourself the utter most powerful. If we can't diplomat the resources we need, we will simply take them. That is the Cheney method.
And it has been purchased by most of America, right and left. Citizens on both sides allowed their elected officials to go about diplomacy in this regard. We have been willing to maintain an unsustainable push with our economy and lifestyles, allowed our selves to get complacent on education and the engineering of the future, for a simple way of being... not pushing ourselves.
Looked at simply, it is seen simply. We are one of the fattest and least mobile societies around. (And we do this while moving more miles per capital that most.)
Its not to say we are bad. Its just pointing out the obvious. There is obvious room for improvement, thats all.
Plan A isn't going to work. If we seek to maintain our current oil dependent society, we are doomed to sink, economically, lifestyle, etc, into a definite lower poll position sooner than later. While our military is certainly the strongest, it only does so by outspending the 15 countries, combined, that rank immediately below us. That is an awe-inducing thought when you give it a moment.
And yet our education ranks lower than many.
Our healthcare ranks lower than many. Perhaps not if you are in the upper echelon, the upper 15 percent, but for most, at least most non-government working people, healthcare, cuts an enormous portion of the paycheck. And it still ends up hitting people harder when they do get sick.
We work more than most... just not more than the people that make our products. As a first world nation the average family now relies on a 70 to 80 hour work week. And we take less vacation time than most industrialized nation, save for Japan.
We owe more, we need more, we want more, and yet the model we are trying to continue using is outdated. It is time to start following different infrastructure approaches, starting to the very basic we circulate electricity in the country. We not only need to de-centralize the infrastructure in the macro-system, but we need to de-centralize on the microsystems. Not only utilizing each region more efficienciently, but also maximizing the energy infrastructure in homes, neighborhoods, and businesses.
And to do all these things, we need better education. Not just for the best of thinkers, but across the board. In order to even recognize leaders of good intent and strong character, you need a populous that is educated and self-sufficient enough to first recognize and acknowledge such potential, and be able to do the work the leaders show the way to.
Its is weird that we allow our leaders such control over our money, especially in light of what they are doing with it.
And this brings us full circle to the Waltz in Washinton. Each team gets their turn to lead the dance. The ones asked to follow lead can only wait out until their turn, go through the motions, grit their teeth, and occasionally stomp on the other ones toes. And right now Dick Cheney is a very unhappy woman. He is gritting his teeth right now. It goes to show who really was working these last 8 years. Bush is already drunk under his pillow laughing at his own flatulence.
Cheney has been hard at work though, and he hates seeing it all coming undone.

But I'm distracted. My daughter wakes up and so I go upstairs we we watch a little CSPAN to put her back to sleep. Harry Markopolos is testifying before the Congress concerning the Madoff scheme. How did it come about? He was the whistleblowers. It came about because the folks at the Security and Exchange Commission were asleep at the wheel. Not only asleep at the wheel, but taking sleeping pills to specifically fall asleep at the wheel. And even when he was trying to push them, trying to shake them awake, they were pretending to be asleep. Harry puts this in no uncertain terms. The leadership at the SEC was actively trying to turn a blind eye to Madoff, and others like Madoff.

Then Harry begins telling about the Russian mob and drug cartels were involved. More than 8 times he talks about feeling a threat on his life. Then near the end he goes so far as to tell the camera directly, "And I want to say to the Russian mafia and the mob, I did not turn Madoff in to take money from you. Madoff was taking your money too. I turned Madoff in because he was stealing, regardless of who he was stealing from. I want them to know this."

Needless to say, if this testamony comes on again, catch it. It may seem dry at first, but it gets very interesting.

Obama seems to be dropping the ball with vetting...

2009-02-03T14:02:00.001-07:00

We Hope the Hope for Change is more than just what we're seeing so far...

Tendril opening its 'smart grid' to other companies

2009-02-03T09:08:00.001-07:00

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10154600-54.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1

I'm Tired of Pretending

2009-01-30T22:31:00.003-07:00

I'm sick of it. I have a confession. I am an intelligence operative, nothing more, nothing less, so when it comes to the economy, I'm stupid. I think there was a book about it, "Its the Economy; I'm Stupid" or something like that. So when you ask me about US relations with regard to countries in the Middle East, then I might have something to say, but when it comes to global economics as matter of academics or real world experience, apart from some dabbling in energy futures and energy demands, I'm not much help. So when it comes to this stimulus package that everyone is talking about right now, I know who I trust and do not trust, sort of, but I can not tell for sure whether this whole thing is going to work or not. I don't know about spending vs. tax rebates.
I can not tell you about this and for the most part, anyone I've heard talking about it in person, television, or radio... they don't seem to know either. Sure, you can read a few articles, and I'm quite certain I've missed some good ones out there, but in terms of expertise on this recent global economic situation that has morphed recently, it doesn't seem like there are very many people that get it.
Global warming, sure, we have scientists on the job. If nothing else, they can make some very savy predictions. Granted, as of yet, their models often prove shy of the realities. Its science. Nothing is right on. Its experimentation. Observation. You use the proven, known calculations for what you can, but in the end, the whole purpose of the undertaking is to find new things, and find out new things about how things work and interact within their systems. We catagorize, calculate, and predict. And often we find, many years down the road, new outcomes that could never have been guessed.
Its happening climatically, and now, suddenly caught off of guard, it seems to be happening economically, in ways not many guessed. No longer month after month, but recently, day after day more dramatic shifts, more unemployment, more business failures, more forclosures, bigger numbers, mounting numbers, but everything will get better in a year or so, we all tell ourselves, and hope, but we aren't really sure.

It is interesting on many levels. For one, you can not help but factor in rising global energy demands. We have built our infrastructure on the notion of easy oil, plain and simple. And it is in that vein that the US econmy has pursued global relationships, in good ways and bad. We've befriended, and we've destroyed, and we've done lots of things in between, all around the globe.

Second is globalization. As we moved our production from our factories oversees, we often allowed for systems of slavery. Is slavery putting it to harshly? Extremely low pay, extremely poor working conditions. Additionally, in moving our production we moved much of our environmental waste, so the workers that get shit wages working shit hours now get shit dumped in their water, and we've all gotten accustomed to that now, but that does more than just wreck us Karmically. It creates a need for modernization in new areas. Exploited peoples need betterment. Need to escape. And thats great. I want everyone to have an iPod, but when we start looking at the numbers, in personal consumption of resources, the mineral banks in the ground can not support our current increasing levels of extraction and waste production. When you look at the major conflicts going on around the world and they largely centered on large-scale resource acquisition conflicts. Iraq. Somalia. Democratic Republic of Congo. Phillipeans. Kurdistan. Azerbaijan. Georgia. Columbia. Etc.

A global economy has proved itself a leader to global homogeny. When the central theme is based on capitalism, it is inevitable that money must be made, products must be distributed. Global distribution requires massive pollution in and of itself, regardless of the products it is carrying. This pollution can be mitigated to a degree, but in when put in line with the level of consumption that must continue for an expanding industrialization, with the coming online of India and China, it is all quite unsustainable. The age old arguement is that everyone wants to be like us. But it is taken way too far. Many industrializing countries have no say in whether or not they want to "be like us." It is not really an option. They become slaves to the system, or part of the system. Much better to be a part. I can say that from experience. We, the 4% of the global population that has had the most say in the discussion, are the ones that have until now created the demand. Until now. Suddenly corporations are seeing new places to cater too, places with much bigger profit potential. The US, while still holding onto its global power, is suddenly being turned on by a Globalized Trade System (GTS) that has found new priorities. In essence we've created the proverbial monster we now can't control. And that is starting to seem obvious. We are encountering things that the model did not predict. Suddenly it is us, not Russia, bogged down in Afghanistan. Suddenly it is Russia, not us, that is poised to control a vast exploit of energy resources. Suddenly our Middle Class is nothing to brag about. Sure, we can buy cheap plastic nacho chips at Walmart, but we go bankrupt the first time we get sick from the bisphenol A.

And when it comes to globalization, this is not a partisan conversation. Everyone likes cheap t-shirts and kahkis.

Anyway. I'm tired of pretending that I know if an injection is going to help. I know it doesn't help to give shithead ceo's a few extra billion to work with as they bankrupt their companies. That's become pretty clear this last year. But how about putting money back in the system? I don't know. How about letting keep more of my money? I wouldn't mind that. Or maybe not. I don't care if I have to put money into a collective system if it promotes a more civic and healthy living environment. But it would be difficult to say that things are going alright now. Sure, my house is comfortable, but there are an aweful lot that are not. For a "first world" nation, we have an aweful lot of crime and pollution. For a "first world" nation we have an aweful lot of families working close ridiculously long hours, for years and years and years, with no hope of slowing down any time soon. These are essentially slave wages, when people have to work 60 work weeks to get by. Getting by leaves little room for mobility.

And anyway, I'm tired. I'm ranting. Merry Christmas. Click the title or herefor a good overview of bisphenol A.

Boston Globe Inauguration Photos - Worth checking out...Go Oxford

2009-01-29T22:03:00.001-07:00

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/the_inauguration_of_president.html

I'll keep this brief

2009-01-19T21:12:00.002-07:00

Here is a recap on how Obama's tax rebate will differ in outcome from the one that George Bush gave us. Also the difference in thorough research VS. throwing the dog a bone. maybe anyway. I'm still not entirely convinced, but when the New Yorker puts it this clearly, it is difficult to disagree until I've looked further into it.

The basics are this: Tax rebates effect people differently depending on how the effected people perceive they are getting the money. When given the amount in one lump sum they are more likely to save it. When they are given it in smaller increments over a period of time, they are more likely to spend it. Also, the larger the amount, the more people will save. So getting a little bit, about $40/month for the year, people are more likely to spend it than if you were to give them $480 in one check.
Its a good and brief article to check out.

In other news, tomorrow is a big day in Lanton, PA. Everyone is getting excited. People are getting out their best suits and dresses, and tomorrow, January 20, 2009 will be a day they will never forget. Everyone is going to gather in the public square to watch it happen, the first in a life changing sequence of moments...
Tomorrow, the day after Martin Lux Luther, Jr. Day, Lanton Pennsylvania is going to begin spray painting all of the fire hydrants. What once were Fire-Engine Red will slowly become, one hydrant at a time, Fire-Engine Yellow. The switch comes after years of research by a local historian, Martin Grahm, who found that at night time and in adverse conditions yellow fire hydrants were more easily visible and thus quicker for emergency crews to connect with. By Grahm's calculations, in a city the size of Lanton, PA, one life will be saved every 12.578 years. And while that may seem trivial to some of you big city folks, in a community such as this the referendum of change was voted for by nearly a 9 to 1 margin.

And in other news...

The Greatest Guy Ever.

2009-01-16T22:25:00.002-07:00

I remember thinking, "You know, sure, I bet George Bush, Jr. is a pretty funny guy to get a little drunk with." I kind of figured he's the kind of guy who quickly rids himself of pretension once he's got a little light beer in his belly. And sure, when a guy like that is so rich he can't help but be a little eccentric, sure, he'd be fun to meet in a bar, but do we really want him to be President? The guy got C's, and sure, there is nothing wrong with C's, but there are so many people that got A's and are have so many more and better qualifications, don't we want one of those people to be President? Why on earth would people want the "simple minded" guy to be President. Its a multifaceted job that requires some serious acumen. Simplicity and "nice-guyness" shouldn't be seriously considered as qualifications. Sure, if there are serious qualifications and simplicity and "nice-guy/galness" is included, hell, why not, but with GWB there was nothing more, and so many of us knew it.
Sure, he'd been governor. And from all that I've read, he did it fairly poorly. And in terms of him getting that office... His father was President George Bush and his grandfather was Prescott Bush. He owned a business once. A deal that his father's friend had to be talked into letting him make. He ran it into the ground. He owned a baseball team, and from what little I know of Baseball (yes, I know, it makes you not trust me... makes you think I'm a communist! But I assure you it's not true, my heart is still red, white, and blue) he traded one very valuable player.

And you know, it didn't even bother me that he snaggled his way out of Vietnam by using his highly influential family connections, not anyways until he starting playing dress up "Commander in Chief," and pretended to land planes on ships, dressed in full costume with banners and flags, all set up by his own staff to further deepen his new found make believe dream of being a "War President." He even began saying it like a rather pompous arragant bugger, smug as can be, "I'm a war President." All the while the man his father positioned, in fact required to be ever present, but somewhere else, running things, Dick Cheney, who was to make sure the oil mafia's position was maintained and its purposes advanced, as quiet and yet blatantly as possible. Grinning Dick Cheney. It does not take much in reading people to know how completely crooked a man like that is.

Somehow they convinced enough people, commercialized right into their brains not only to elect these fellows, but to turn over the keys to the kingdom at the same time. They quickly set their legal team to the task of legalizing things that had long been illegal. Time for wiretapping. Time for pre-emptive war. Time for torture. Time for de-regulation, under Presidential order, time for the purse strings and invisible defense budgets. Time to kill people, lots of people, use some bombs, etc.

And glamorized by 9/11, a wig Bush tried to wear the rest of his Presidency, they marched on, one failure after another, until slowly the system was ready to collapse. The deregulated banks, deregulated insurance, deregulated federal loans, deregulated environmental pretections, deregulated energy, deregulated any and every government regulation ever set up, forgetting, or rather blatantly ignoring the fact that these regulations were set up to create stability and security. No, there was a top 4% of Americans who needed more! Much more!

And so there was Bush, standing on stage trying to pretend like he had done not just something right, but EVERYTHING right, especially in light of 9/11. "We haven't been attacked since," he bragged, forgetting the storm he allowed when ignoring the loud voices of those like Dick Clark who were trying to warn the Bush Administration about the very possibility of something like 9/11. Those loud voices were at the time well in the way of handing out massive government contracts and Deregulation.
Bush, pretending in his head like he's done a good job.

Meanwhile, it seems that everyone - EVERYONE watching, even those that voted for the man and tried to like his Presidency, now everyone has put it together that no, this man was in fact not only as bad as some people warned, but in fact, much, much worse. He's bankrupted our nation. And sure, both parties in Congress can be blamed for it, but still, it was his "leadership," and his vision that this nation followed. And now, a couple of wars later, and a near decade of ignorning some very pressing foreign matters in which we could have made a difference... now things aren't looking so good. Bad in fact. Massive layoffs. Massive bankrupcies. Massive Corruption... Billions, now Trillions, lost. No one knows where. No one knows how, this crap just suddenly compounded right before the Pied Piper gets to get out and skip to Texas, destined for a wealthy retirement that will no doubt include some golf and brush-clearing. He vacationed more than any President in history, and now he can finally retire! He's had good practice.

But that didn't show on stage his last night... nope. That night there was something honest in his eyes. Failure.

The Skeptoid

2009-01-13T09:05:00.003-07:00

We at the Lawson Review are rather PHasinated by this Trash Vortex floating out in the ocean. PHasinated that humans can create so much crap and not think it is going to accumulate somewhere. The world, most assume, is so BIG, so ENORMOUS, so VAST that it can absorb all our junk and still have room to spare. AND THE OCEANS! Those things, to quote my microbiologist friend, are freaking GINORMOUS! Well, apparently not so Ginormous as many think. Things accumulate, and plastics, well they take a long time to break down, and when they do break down, it is not into nice little dirt-like particles. Instead it is into little synthetic particles. So here is yet another article on the Trash Vortex, whirling, swirling, growing, like a monster in the Sargossa Sea. GRANTED... it apparently might not be as dramatically observable as the Green Peas Folks would have us believe or visualize, but the truth is, we dump a lot of shit in the ocean, and it is showing up throughout the food chain. So, thanks, Jeff P, my other micro-biologist friend, for a little clarification. One can not know too many microbiologist, especially in this line of work. Iran, you'd better watch out!

The worlds largest, toxic dump - an oceanic trash vortex.

2009-01-11T21:12:00.003-07:00

A trash vortex the size of Texas? Sounds like... well, sounds like Texas... But sadly it is more plastic trash, less white trash. Click the title and/or here.

The Israeli Problem

2009-01-11T16:44:00.002-07:00

What to do with the Jews? Not all the Jews, just the Israeli Jews. See, the problem is that they don't really belong in Israel. I know they SAY they belong there, but we all know they don't. One, were it not for massive US military supply/support, they would have been eaten alive there not long after they were improperly placed there... what, like 1956 or something?
The Arabs that surround them don't really like them. And they don't really like the Arabs, and all this goes back to some arguement over religious dogma and who is prophetic and who isn't prophetic and who is God, and who is not God and a bunch of nonsense... but both sides can't agree and there is NEVER peace in the region...
SO WHAT ARE WE TO DO?

Well, after much brain storming here at the Lawson Review, we think we have a solution.
See, here in the US WE have a group of people WE don't really like...
And were we to displace these people, or accidently kill them all with nuclear bombs, well, we would have the landmass to provide to the Israeli Jews. ("But wait..." you ask..."Don't they already have Hollywood and Florida?"... but we are talking somewhere bigger here.)
Where?
Texas, of course. We Americans are little sick and tired of Texans, you see. And the Israeli Jews, who are used to arid environments, could feel right at home there once we are rid of the American Texans. Its not like we are going to miss them.
We could of course let those who want out a window of time to exit and move elsewhere... so long as we can keep them out of places like Montana and Wyoming... The last thing we need in these beautiful places are Texans. But if they want to move to Atlanta or Miami or Indianapolis, so be it.
Then we bomb the rest, or let the Mexican drug warriors heist them as slaves, and then we will have ample room for the Israeli Jews. Middle East Conflict - SOLVED! No more Palestinians getting caged and bombed... Hell, we can probably even have a few Jeruselem landmarks moved over. We can set up a whole new Jeruselem in Dallas. We think they will love Texas. They will have Galvastin (The Gulf is quite salty - like the Dead Sea), cactus, Dallas (hell of an airport!), great music in Austin, and very nice neighbors to the south!

And, we may well hit two birds with one stone... Israel will likely bring with them their military and espionage might, and with that, they will likely clear up the whole "drug cartel" problem that some Mexicans have been creating along the US border! O'Lay! Or as they say in the Texas of 2010, "Shalom!"

More on the Tennessee Coal Plant

2009-01-06T14:56:00.002-07:00

This could well be one of the biggest single source pollution events in the history of the US. Bigger than Love Canal, bigger than Three Mile Island, bigger than Valduz, bigger than Katrina in terms of pollution. And yet the coverage is still minimal with regards to national attention. Granted, people are a little distracted by the serious ass-kicking that Israel is doing to its neighbors in Gaza. Interestingly enough with that "small" conflict, while Israel contends that this attack on Gaza is nothing more than a response to Hamas rockets (which seldom if ever hit any target what so ever) many contend, according to Haaretz.com, that Israel has been planning this invasion for over six months... while the cease-fire was still working. Israel, to anyone familiar with the situation, has been treating the people in Gaza much in the way a zoo keeper treats monkeys. Their food is restricted, the movement is restricted, their water is restricted... But that is another story. Right now consider the Tennessee River and where it flows...

Tennessee Coal Plant Disaster. (click)

2009-01-02T22:33:00.005-07:00

Disaster? you ask. But its hardly been touched on by Fox, CNN, MSNBC or any of the other networks. Disaster? Hmmm. What could possibly be going on here? I thought coal was now being burned clean? Doesn't the arsenic, mercury, lead, and cadmium just magically disappear when it is combusted? Isn't there a magic way of preventing the release of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, sulfer dioxide and other hydro-carbon volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during its otherwise "clean" combustion? I thought coal was clean now...even if it does release minorly dangerous levels of cadmium, uranium, thorium, and other radioactive nucleotides. I thought strip mining affected only a few red necks in the back woods of West Virginia... and they kind of like the pollution, don't they? Turns out this one could effect millions of people downstream on the Tennessee River... though don't be surprised when no one talks about it. Just as the TVA underplayed the scope of this accident, they too will underplay the scope of its long term effect.

It is quite astounding. The Kingston power plant was at one time the largest coal burning plant in the world. By all estimates this release of toxic sludge in Tennesse is far more devestating than the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. Over 1 BILLION gallons of Toxic sludge... in a much more populated area...

They will claim that this is confined, and that the disaster has been reclaimed. This is what companies do. Fix the problem. Throw lots of millions of dollars at it and presto... a few months down the road, fixed. But it will not be fixed. These heavy metals and hazardous compounds are not so easily confined. They will spread down into the soil, join aquifers, move downstream, and effect people for decades to come.

The waste from these plants would have been handled differently were it not for a Bush Administrations' EPA decision to not list them as such. That's how the Bush Team looks out for the American public... They don't. They have only looked out for Industry. "Thats the only way to supple American's with what they want." Really? Because when the ash hits the fan, I'm willing to bet that Americas are ready to subsidize some alternatives to coal and nuclear energy. Solar and wind micro-systems. Hell, solar and wind macro-systems. How about tax breaks or tax credits for better insulation? The American public needs well be warned to put our tax money into reducing our energy load rather than relying on subsidies that allow coal and nuclear energy plants the ability to feed us their waste while not improving their systems. Granted, the Kingston plant actually has made improvements in reducing their sulfer dioxide and carbon monoxide output. They have however fought, along with the coal industry as a whole, to avoid having to deal with their solid waste... a common theme amongst those that create toxic waste. (Take Simplot... one of my favorite examples, which creatively thought of using its toxic waste from mining smelters and rather than paying for its disposal as classified "hazardous waste" instead created a literal conveyor belt to a new plant where its once "hazardous waste" is now mixed in with fertilizers and used to grow potatoes for McDonalds. Fun!

This will be a "fun?" one to watch in the coming years. The TVAhas a lot of power plants. They will not let this stay in the limelight for long.

Top Ten Myths About Iraq

2008-12-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a great article by Juan Cole on the myths of the Iraq war. Link in the title above.

Hunting Blacks in New Orleans

2008-12-28T15:45:00.002-07:00