Obama has nominated a veteran – not a chickenhawk – to serve as Secretary of Defense. The Washington Post reports that Chuck Hagel:
… was deputy director of the Veterans Administration during the Reagan administration and later served as president of the United Service Organizations.
U.S. News and World Report notes:
The Vietnam War veteran and the recipient of the purple heart, Hagel would be the first enlisted soldier in the military to rise to the ranks of defense secretary.
Indeed, while all of the neocon warmongers are chickenhawks who dodged service to their country, many veterans and active-duty service men are opposed to the endless wars, which only weaken our national security and increase terrorism. See this, this, this, this, this, this and this.
No wonder Hagel is more moderate than those who want to start conflagrations all over the world.
U.S. News and World Report continues:
While Hagel is a Republican, his views on foreign policy alarm some of his GOP colleagues. During his time in the Senate, Hagel was verbose in his opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he voted against sanctioning Iran on multiple occasions and has suggested Israel should negotiate with Hamas directly. Republicans and Democrats alike worry he’s not a strong enough friend to Israel …
The Washington Post reports:
Last year, Hagel endorsed a report by the advocacy group Global Zero that called for an 80 percent reduction in the U.S. nuclear-weapons arsenal. Such a cut could save $100 billion over 10 years, the group estimated.
On the other hand, Obama’s nominee for CIA director – John Brennan – endorsed torture, assassination of unidentified strangers without due process, and spying on all Americans. As Glenn Greenwald writes:
Brennan, as a Bush-era CIA official, had expressly endorsed Bush’s programs of torture (other than waterboarding) and rendition and also was a vocal advocate of immunizing lawbreaking telecoms for their role in the illegal Bush NSA eavesdropping program.
***
Obama then appointed him as his top counter-terrorism adviser…. In that position, Brennan last year got caught outright lying when he claimed Obama’s drone program caused no civilian deaths in Pakistan over the prior year. He also spouted complete though highly influential falsehoods to the world in the immediate aftermath of the Osama bin Laden killing, including claiming that bin Laden “engaged in a firefight” with Navy SEALS and had “used his wife as a human shield”. Brennan has also been in charge of many of Obama’s most controversial and radical policies, including “signature strikes” in Yemen – targeting people without even knowing who they are – and generally seizing the power to determine who will be marked for execution without any due process, oversight or transparency.
What do these two nominations tell us?
That the Obama administration doesn’t plan on fighting as many conventional wars with men in uniform – soldiers, sailors, pilots and marines – but does plan to crank up assassinations, drone strikes and other covert operations worldwide.
Joeblo, this site is not right for you. Go back to Motley, fool.
this site is one of the few that isn't cencosred and I love it because of that fact.
So keep talking if you want Joe.
I say killing is wrong on most sites and get booted??
PL
what great about this site is the truth is in here and it help me make trades!
what people are thinking(right or wrong) is important.
Naw, you stay right here, Joe. It's sad to see the ZH commentariat changing: evolving into yet another echo chamber. You know what another place where those who disagree with the party line are shouted down and told to leave is? Kos. Disagree with the guy all you want, tell him he's an idiot, try to change his mind...whatever. But telling a guy, a guy who appears to be a non-troll, to "leave"? Because you don't like what he's saying? Fuck You.
vato poco said:
Agreed. As the commenter Winston Churchill said above
If Joe actually believes what he's saying, the red pill won't have enough kick to be effective unless it's combined with the additional kicking around that he'll get here. It's sort of like how a Quaalude® would get you stoned, but rinse it down with 151 rum and we're talking blotto.
Exactly. Some people won't wake up without being kicked and knocked around. If he can't handle it, he'll leave on his own.
I wouldn't even use troll status as a qualifier. I'd never ask MDB to leave; when he's on his game, he never fails to catch his daily limit. I'd never ask AnAnonymous to leave either. He's a kook, but his expressionated mannerisms with the speeching means have a certain entertaining idiomacy.
Joe shouldn't be told to leave; he should be told to go and sit upon the grass.
oh my goodness. I'd forgotten.
you rock sir.
Let him stay.
The Red pill takes longer to work in some.
More layers of BS to go thru and then be absorbed.
In that case start with Bibi.
It is painful that Joe Blow can say that here and he would be considered a "patriot" by many, but if Ahmed Schachmed said it in Yemen he is a terrorist.
I know if my family was blown up out of the blue from the sky I would be thirsty for blood.
pods
Hold on there, turbo: this particular neo-con warmonger served in the Navy from 1983-1987, so its an unfair characterization on your part to say all neo-con warmongers are chickenhawks.
Of course, "neo-con warmonger" is, in and of itself, just an insult which excuses actually considering a position. Rather hard to "mong" a war against people who are continually on the attack: The nature of Islam is to attack and conquer. Has been since Day One of Islam and it has never changed. Even such clearly non-neo-con warmongers as Hillaire Belloc - writing in a day when Islam was very much down and out - understood this and wrote that the ultimate fight would not necessarily be between degenerate capitalism and idiotic Bolshevism, but between Islam and the Christian West. It takes a massive lack of historical perspective and knowledg to believe that if some how we had behaved different, Islam would not attack us...they attack us not for what we do, but for what we are: we are not Muslims and the command of Muslims is to attack and conquer such people and take one of the two offers: Islam or tribute.
What the nomination of Hagel means is unclear - because Obama hasn't the first clue about what he's doing. Thus we can't be sure if he was just trying to tweak the GOP, kowtow to Iran, insult Israel or a combination of the three.
.
So what you're saying is that the US is an Islamic nation, at least for the last hundred years or so.
yes but we bow toward Walmart
you are a Fool !
either as a propagandist or a religious nut job that has no critical thinking skills - they hate the usa for tangible reasons created by the USA since 1947 - actions by the usa beget reactions of millions of people around the world which end up as buildings coming down and people being murdered
the usa was responsible for 9-11!
That's it! Nothing happened prior to 1947! It was all a vacuum and people were just minding their own business over there, never causing the least bit of trouble to anyone. Ah, the Golden Age, when Muslims just peacefully moved, without offending anyone, from Arabia to central France and Vienna. Goodness, gracious, what a peaceable bunch of people until we rat bastards came along...
Of course it did.
Just it wasn't the US doing it.The French and Brits,before them the Spanish and Portugeuse.
Before them Vikings and Romans etc etc.
Spying is the second oldest proffesion.Just before warmaking, not after.
Its heday was Elizabethan Britain, hence Shakespears Much Ado About Nothing.
Noting(wordplay) was the old Engish verb for spying.
***they attack us not for what we do, but for what we are***
Where have I heard that bullshit before? Oh right, George W. Bush -- "They hate use for or freedoms"
Right, they don't hate us because we are bombing them, killing their families, destroying their homes. Oh no, It's because of "what we are" - stupid sheeple standing bye while our rights, freedoms and wealth is being stolen out from under us!
Not because of our freedome but because we aren't Muslims. It is a difficult concept for a modern westerner to wrap his head around, but Muslims take their religion seriously and don't figure they are doing any favors by allowing you to remain non-Muslim.
and Americans take their oil seriously. Muslims are all over the world. How come we only "liberate" the ones with petrol?
Bullshit
Everything you wrote is bullshit.
Anyone with a brain knows there's nothing within Islam that teaches that.
You're just another ignorant asshole not knowing when they're being manipulated into another war.
"It takes a massive lack of historical perspective and knowledg to believe that if some how we had behaved different, Islam would not attack us"
you do demonstrate an expertise in that area.
the west (and its religions) have never worked in concert to attack or colonize have they?
the only world religon is oil... and its products
Islam did not attack us. I have friends, good people, peaceful people who believe in the religion called Islam.
In America we have enshrined Religious Tolerance in our constitution.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
An American is judged by his actions, not nationality. Failure to defend the First Amendment by an American is indefensible cowerdace.
Islamists did not attack us.
We have radical Christian in our country that commit crimes. KKK, Scott Roeder, are just examples http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_terrorism#United_States They are treated as criminals, not as terrorists. That is how we should treat all terrorists, as criminal thugs. Calling them Islamists gives them LEGITIMACY. Call them criminals
Awww, that's sweet. The peaceful Moslems are just like us; they just want the best life for their kids; really, all they want is peaceful co-existence. Qiuck question, though: Why do the hardcore peaceful Islamists still refer, both in speech and in print, still refer to Spain as "al-Andalus"? You remember: the country they invaded, conquered, occupied, and were thrown out on their ears some 500+ years ago. Yet the very name 'al-Andalus' seems to indicate they still think it's *theirs*, and still want/intend to take it back. What's up with THAT???
Maybe because the word for "Spain" IS in fact "Al Andalus" in the Arabic language?
Do YOU (presumably a speaker of English) routinely refer to Spain as "Espana", or Poland as "Polska", or Germany as "Deutchland"?
By your logic, your use of the English word "Egypt" instead of the Arabic word "Misr" indicates a suppressed desire on your part to conquer that nation.
Let's see...Western rule of the middle east: 1918 - 1948.
Muslim rule of Greece: 1371 - 1821.
Yep, definitely - the Muslims never attacked and imperially conquered anyone. Was all those dratted Westerners who started it all...
why exactly did you begin at 1918 and stop at 48? Have you watched the news in the last few decades?
Moslems conquered a lot more than greece.
Spain, Asia, North Africa.
Makes our crusaders look like little pikers in comparison
Eastern Roman Empire.Crusades.Moorish wars of Spain.
Better read a little more history before commenting.
Spain, ah yes Spain.
The conquering Islamists didn't quite get their way (in the end) with St.Vincents Church in Cordoba did they? ;-)
For EVERYONES review...
"Much of this new legislation aimed at limiting those aspects of the Christian cult which seemed to compromise the dominant position of Islam. cUmar II (717-20), whose caliphate produced the first full series of laws designed to keep dhimmîs in their place, forbade the construction of any new churches.(14) The so-called pact of cUmar I, that came to be considered normative by the legal schools emerging in the eighth century, went even further, forbidding the repair of dilapidated, pre-existing churches.(15) The caliphs and jurists also prohibited rituals and activities that drew too much public attention to Christianity, such as bell ringing or excessively loud chanting in church.(16) Restrictions on processions and funerals were common for the same reasons. The most severe penalties, [10] however, were reserved for those Christians who showed disrespect for Islam: its prophet, its tenets, or its adherents. Any attempt to convert Muslims to Christianity or to prevent Christians who so desired from adopting Islam was considered an act of lèse majesté.
Aside from such cultic restrictions most of the laws were simply designed to underscore the position of the dimmîs as second-class citizens. cUmar II issued a series of sumptuary laws prohibiting dhimmîs from adopting certain characteristically Arab clothing and hair styles.(17) He also seems to have been the first caliph to order all non-Muslim subjects to wear what would later come to be known as the zunnâr, a distinctive type of belt or girdle, for identification purposes.(18) The pact of cUmar also included restrictions on Christian use of arms and saddles as well as characteristically Arabic seals and onomastic structures.(19) "
Yes, very peaceful, the rest can be found here...
http://libro.uca.edu/martyrs/cm1.htm
All it shows is that power hungry psychopaths/sociopaths are very egalitarian when selecting religions to exploit for gain.
I have yet to find another system of governance that combines with a religion to impose a tax for NOT conforming to that STATES religion.
It is remarkably un-western.
And dare you speak (free speech?) against it you wind up like Issac of Cordoba...beheaded, then hung upside down to bleed out, then burnt and your ashes thrown in a river.
http://libro.uca.edu/martyrs/cm2.htm
It is much more than the apologists would have you believe, it is complete domination, state, mind and soul.
That system of governance is oligarchy with a thin veneer of highly controlled and managed "democracy", combined with the state(ist) religion of "mandatory medical insurance".
If people can't be free in their minds, right where they are, irrespective of external environment or kulture, they aren't ever going to get free anywhere, in any other system, sorry, cistern.
I have to agree with akak. The jizya tax on aetheists, christians, jews, hindus etc. is the equivalent of the modern day ObamaCare tax.
Money is being extracted for NOT participating in a particular thing. It must be voluntary.
No one can be free in this world under such circumstances, which is what Issac saw as well.
He wants the Senate looking at something else than the demanded
Hitlary testimony about Benghazi.
He knows our dear Congresscritters cannot walk, and chew gum at the same time.
Plus he sneaks that evil creep into Langley unopposed.
They can walk and hold a drink at the same time, just ask Peloisi.
I thought she was just dumb.
Now you mention it it,all the signs of alcoholic dementia, in spades.
I'm sure Jim Henson and Frank Oz told Bommy who to pick and when. It's all in the script, and he does those VERY WELL.
Good thing there are a lot of jobs for those military guys to go to
See above. Minting Trillion Dollar Coins will fix it all! Particularly our newly unemployed veterans. No reason they can't have a Veteran's Preference when they get out.
Who's going to pay for all this military crap with such little productivity to fund it. I think the US military will be scaled back. A platinum coin isn't going to cut it.
They might cut "military" funding, but the budget for oppressive violence will only expand. Whether it be for "homeland security" or "international aid", it will only expand. After all, we are in the last of the mega-yahct years and the elite and politicians will throw everything overboard to keep their ship from sinking. Bail faster!
Now for some humor... On the way to work this morning, I came upon a mini-van adorned with a barrage of bumper stickers. There was US NAVY VET, and God Bless the USA, along with I love Israel and others. Of course I had to see who this deluded idiot was, so pulled up next to him and immediately recognized the white-haired, navy cap wearing old man from my Republican precinct meeting. I clearly remember him as he sat directly across from me and told me that Obama was a Muslim Communist that needed to be assassinated. Ironically, these are the types of people that think Alex Jones is a delusional nut-case! Wonder if he realizes that Israeli citizens Feinstein and Schumer can't wait to take his 2nd ammendment rights away?
Why do people constantly need some authoritative hero to worship as the great 'truth-speaker'? Alex Jones?! Jesse Ventura!!?? David Icke!!!??? (etal.) In a few years the 'new' consensus of the mass-deluded-pseudo-awakened-ones will be that they were otherwise. But by then their will be three more searingly-truthy super-duper-heroes of the minor-media alternative outer-fringeiness to worship and fawn-after as the neo-neo-guru over-matrix set - and just in the nick of time too!
Seriously, if this is what you guys think being awake is, then take the blue pill.
So he's asking to be "blessed" cause he realizes it's not been for a good while?
Maybe if we create a national initiative to produce the Trilly platinum coin, it could fix everything.
Across this great land, millions of people would be put back to work creating all aspects of the fabulous new coins. Miners, truckers, smelters, engravers, machinists, packaging specialits, marketing teams; the list could be almost endless.
All of America goes back to work creating the new trillion dollar coins in a new 'War on Logic.'
It could save us all, I tell you.
Love it war on logic.
been going on for a while me thinks.
that Brennan just looks psychotic with those manson lamps.
As per this morning's headline, "Brennan was almost a priest."
*clicks link*
Yep, a Jesuit, as expected.
well he has helped to hurt children all over the world
Brennan is right out of central casting
A lot of this sounds fine, but Obama is behind it so it must have some nefarious motive. Just my opinion.