More Than Meets the Press

If you believe (as I do) that there is a certain dirty or slimy feel to certain aspects of the ridiculous wars of the George II dynasty (err, I mean administration) then you might want to watch the Oscar-nominated "Dirty Wars". 

Here is an interview with one of the principals of the film and what they saw and endured to get this story.  Not only is there an undercurrent of dishonesty, but an implication at least that these practices are being carried forward to the future. 

(Note also the sense of journalistic integrity -- they did not run with everything they knew or felt strongly was true, but only what they had convincing proof for -- take that Internet gossip sites (and FoxNews of course) !).

The Real F-35 Story

The 60 Minutes report that I posted about unfortunately turned out to be a disappointing fluff piece, interviewing only proponents of the program from the Pentagon and elsewhere. There was a minimal amount of tsk-tsking and hand wringing about "gee we know it costs a lot" (but it isn't my money.....so send some more...). 

60 Minutes journalistic quality has slipped in several areas in the last few years, and I no longer trust them as much as I once did.  However, I had hoped with a program so deeply flawed and based on such ridiculous assumptions from the outset as the F-35 they would do better.

Fortunately the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) stepped into the breach.  This article is an interview with Winslow Wheeler, director of POGO's Straus Military Reform Project which is full of interesting and insightful analysis into that tax-dollar cesspool we call the Pentagon.

He mentions a website that is dedicated to tracking the F-35 abomination and hopefully spurring people to do something about it.

Both the POGO page and the website have this video, but it is important enough that I am posting it here as well.

    

My only regret is that I did not coin "The Jet That Ate the Pentagon", but then again with the prevailing attitude in Washington DC of "just keep pouring money onto it" where the Pentagon is concerned it may not be possible for any program to actually "eat the Pentagon".

This is What Quality Journalism Is

In the world of young tight-and-short-skirted, blond bimbos passing themselves off as "experts", much less journalists, and the plethora of "gossip news" sites which are free to indulge in fiction at any time, it is nice to know that there are at least a few bastions of true journalistic integrity left.

One that I rely on for hard-hitting Watergate-era style investigations backed up by impeccable research and facts is the Center for Public Integrity which was recently awarded the prestigious Polk Award for their work to prove that most of the culprits in the recent (and ongoing) financial crisis triggered by the brain dead Bush administration got off unscathed and are ready to reenter the fray. Their site is linked on the list of trusted resources at the right.

 

There is a Reason Why Missouri is 50th in Everything

...or very nearly so....but be careful - Idaho is catching up!

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/02/17/14249/missouri-lawmakers-renew-cynical-efforts-derail-obamacare-navigators

How About Some Honesty for This "Holiday"?

First, only government workers bankers, and schools  will be off work tomorrow.  The rest of the productive world will be slaving away as usual.   And the retail outlets will be doing their normal money-grubbing to celebrate the day properly.

But as this report shows, it is not really President's Day that is being celebrated, but George's day.  Well deserved believe me but it should be known that Abraham Lincoln who had a much more difficult presidency (to say the least) is officially left out of this holiday.

Just Don't Talk About the Weather

This is a fairly balanced view of the strange weather the country has been having the last couple of years.  In reality, getting "stuck" in a weather pattern for an extended period of time or unusual patterns as we have been seeing is one of the primary predictions of those who study global climate change.  It should be no surprise that we are seeing longer, sustained storm systems since via altering the temperature of the planet, humanity has altered the all-important weather driver, the jetstream.

So...rather than just talking about the weather, get your lazy, ignorant Congressional representatives to do something, and get the US onboard with international efforts to reduce pollutants and the general spewing of hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, relying on the 1920s attitude of "they just blow away".