The American Asylum

[Menehune Man]

The more I see of what America has become and stands for, the more it truly does resemble living in an asylum. Many decisions from the Federal, State and Local Governments are completely bass ackwards to the betterment of our own citizens. Or even residents of the world. Why can't we provide proper health care for our elderly? Why can't we provide proper educations for our children? And why can't we find ways to help other countries without blowing them up? Many Americans are so materialistic and outright gross in what they choose for their lives that it's no wonder the rest of the world, let alone their neighbor thinks they're crazy. :eek: I'm trying hard to keep my sanity while watching a berzerk era in history play itself out. I know that throughout time there has always been strife, but haven't we learned anything and haven't we had enough? Come on already!

[kimo55]

altho we try to see good in people and hope folks mean well, in general america is bigbusiness, multinational corporation run, and based on greed and shortsighted gain, and screw the future.

learn from the past?!
naaah. This would take all the fun out of it. We may have to do something ethical, then!

[Miulang]

altho we try to see good in people and hope folks mean well, in general america is bigbusiness, multinational corporation run, and based on greed and shortsighted gain, and screw the future.

learn from the past?!
naaah. This would take all the fun out of it. We may have to do something ethical, then!
Haha! I don't think very many people in this country know the meaning of the word "ethical". I mean, look at the people we have in office to teach us the meaning of "ethics"! Ethical means blame the other guy whenever and whereever possible, twist facts to suit your purposes, and never ever admit you're wrong.

Miulang

[Pedro]

Wasn't there a statement in the constitution saying that if the cittizens of America feel that the system isn't working they have the right to change the system?

I think about it, but could it actually happen with all these corperate organizations and business running everything? Just a meaningless thought.

[Menehune Man]

Wasn't there a statement in the constitution saying that if the cittizens of America feel that the system isn't working they have the right to change the system?

Okay so how can we organize a change? Although I was very young, I saw how hard the Peace & Love movement of the 60's tried to make change. I don't have an answer but maybe someone else does. Peace

[Menehune Man]

I think there will be a less materialistic movement gaining popularity with Americans of all ages, but mainly younger. To enjoy the world, we don't have to own it! It doesn't take a gas guzzling SUV to get from point A to B. Go to a state park instead of feeling like you need a "yard" of your own to find happiness. Hit the beach instead of striving for a private pool (especially here in Hawai'i). I just have a feeling that the pendulum is about to swing back the other way. In general anyways.

[Menehune Man]

What's up with that Buddy2 anyway? On July 8th, he's pissed off and disenchanted. On August 6th, he's hoping and searching. And then by September 11th, he's changed his name and making sweeping predictions for changes in America! Sounds a bit psycho to me. Maybe he belongs in an asylum. :rolleyes:

[sinjin]

I think there will be a less materialistic movement gaining popularity with Americans of all ages, but mainly younger. To enjoy the world, we don't have to own it! It doesn't take a gas guzzling SUV to get from point A to B. Go to a state park instead of feeling like you need a "yard" of your own to find happiness. Hit the beach instead of striving for a private pool (especially here in Hawai'i). I just have a feeling that the pendulum is about to swing back the other way. In general anyways.

You do need a SUV if you transport a fair amount of equipment with you to play. I know, I camp.

You do need a yard if your children hope to play in a safe place every day without you having to take them somewhere. I know, I live in an apartment.

You do need a swimming pool unless you don't mind swimming in other people's filth. The beach is great but far away for many even in Hawaii(BI).

[Miulang]

What's up with that Buddy2 anyway? On July 8th, he's pissed off and disenchanted. On August 6th, he's hoping and searching. And then by September 11th, he's changed his name and making sweeping predictions for changes in America! Sounds a bit psycho to me. Maybe he belongs in an asylum. :rolleyes:
Maybe he needs to see someone about his schizoaffective disorder? :p Nothing wrong with name changes except I think he could have done the same things his new alter wants to do without going through the hassle of that name change. I thought you put Buddy2 away, MM?

Miulang

[Miulang]

Most Americans are just going about living their lives, while all around them, our government is slowly eroding our basic freedoms which were guaranteed by our Constitution. The most blatant recent example is the White House's efforts to hold "suspected" terrorists who are US citizens on American soil without access to lawyers or expeditious judicial hearings.

"...Habeas corpus (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10564.htm) is the greatest protection Americans have against a police state. Habeas corpus ensures that Americans can only be detained by law. They must be charged with offenses, given access to attorneys, and brought to trial. Habeas corpus prevents the despotic practice of picking up a person and holding him indefinitely.

President Bush claims the power to set aside habeas corpus and to dispense with warrants for arrest and with procedures that guarantee court appearance and trial without undue delay. Today in the US, the executive branch claims the power to arrest a citizen on its own initiative and hold the citizen indefinitely. Thus, Americans are no longer protected from arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention.

"...Americans may be unaware of what it means to be stripped of the protection of habeas corpus, or they may think police authorities would never make a mistake or ever use their unbridled power against the innocent. Americans might think that the police state will only use its powers against terrorists or "enemy combatants."

But "terrorist" is an elastic and legally undefined category. When the President of the United States declares: "You are with us or against us," the police may perceive a terrorist in a dissenter from the government’s policies. Political opponents may be regarded as "against us" and thereby fall in the suspect category. Or a police officer may simply have his eye on another man’s attractive wife or wish to settle some old score. An enemy combatant might simply be an American who happens to be in a foreign country when the US invades. In times before our own when people were properly educated, they understood the injustices that caused the English Parliament to pass the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 prohibiting the arbitrary powers that are now being claimed for the executive branch in the US.

The PATRIOT Act has given the police autonomous surveillance powers. These powers were not achieved without opposition. Civil libertarians opposed it. Bob Barr, the former US Representative who led the impeachment of President Clinton, fought to limit some of the worst features of the act. But the act still bristles with unconstitutional violations of the rights of citizens, and the newly created powers of government to spy on citizens has brought an end to privacy...."

You might say, "So what? I'm a law abiding citizen. I have nothing to hide." Well, suppose somebody didn't like you and decided to tell the authorities that they suspected you of being a "terrorist" (whatever that means). The federales have the right to come in, haul you off for interrogation, do a deep investigation of your financial records, etc. etc. etc. So even though in the end you might be cleared of all charges, you still have to endure months of hassling to prove your innocence. In these days of the Bush White House, you're guilty until proven innocent, not the other way around. :mad:

Miulang

[Miulang]

I recently had the chance to be part of a group of women entrepreneurs who met to discuss their plans for opening up their own businesses. One of the women in my group spent 30 years in the banking business. She is in the process of writing a little consumer education book about protecting your privacy. I'm sure she won't mind my sharing her "Top 10 Consumer Privacy Resolutions" with you all. She KNOWS about this stuff because she helped (against her own ethical judgement) create the system which now links all banks together so they can check on any bank accounts you might have anywhere in the country...

1) Engage in "privacy self defense". Don't share any personal information with businesses unless it is absolutely necessary. Don't give your phone number, address or name to retail stores. If you do, they can sell that information or use it for telemarketing and junk mail.

2) Pay with cash where possible. Electronic transactions leave a detailed history of your activities that can be accessed by the government or sold to telemarkers.

3) Install anti-spyware, anti-virus, and firewall software on your computer.

4) Use a temporary rather than a permanent change of address. If you move in 2005, be sure to forward your mail by using a temporary change of address rather than a permanent one. The junk mailers have access to the permanent change of address database; they use it to update their lists.

5) Opt out of prescreened offers of credit. By calling 1-888-567-8688 or by visiting https://www.optoutprescreen.com, you can stop receiving those annoying letters for credit and insurance offers. Those pieces of junk mail can be intercepted by identity thieves who can set up credit cards under your name.

6) Choose supermarkets that don't use loyalty cards. Be loyal to supermarkets that offer discounts without requiring enrollment in a loyalty club. For the discounts the cards offer, you tell companies what your shopping habits are. This marketing information can be sold to junk mailers.

7) Opt out of financial, insurance, and brokerage information sharing. Be sure to call all your banks, insurance companies and brokerage companies and ask to opt out of having your financial information shared. This will cut down on the junk mail you receive.

8) Request a free copy of your credit scores by visiting http://www.annualcreditreport.com. All Americans are now entitled to received a free credit report from each of the 3 nationwide credit reporting agencies.

9) Enroll all your phone numbers (including your cell phone numbers) in the Do-Not-Call Registry (http://www.donotcall.gov) or call 1-888-382-1222.

10) File a complaint. If you believe a company has violated your privacy, contact the Federal Trade Commission, your state Attorney General, and the Better Business Bureau.

--Tips offered by Leslie Simmons

Miulang

[Miulang]

There was a flap in the press about a year ago about Elizabeth Piper Laurie (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/19/walmart.cheating.ap/index.html), scion of the WalMart family, getting a degree from USC based on her paying a roommate $20,000 to do her homework for 3 years. That woman eventually had to drop out of school because she couldn't afford the tuition. But she did spill the beans on the plot on a 20/20 show.

On Sept. 30, Ms. Laurie returned her diploma to USC, and the college administration acknowledged that she did not earn a diploma at USC.

Gee, for once being part of one of the world's richest families doesn't pay off. And to add insult to the humiliation, her parents had to take back $25 million that they gave the university to name the sports center after her.

Justice will out...

Miulang

[Miulang]

"But I venture the challenging statement that if American democracy ceases to move forward as a living force, seeking day and night by peaceful means to better the lot of our citizens, then Fascism and Communism, aided, unconsciously perhaps, by old-line Tory Republicanism, will grow in strength in our land."

Guess who said that, and when? (Answer at the bottom of this post).

Is history (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10710.htm) going to repeat itself in this society?

"...The difficulty doesn't arise among people accustomed to regarding themselves as functions of a corporation. Thanks to the diligence of out news media and the structure of our tax laws, our affluent and suburban classes have taken to heart the lesson taught to the aspiring serial killers rising through the ranks at West Point and the Harvard Business School -- think what you're told to think, and not only do you get to keep the house in Florida or command of the Pentagon press office but on some sunny prize day not far over the horizon, the compensation committee will hand you a check for $40 million, or President George W. Bush will bestow on you the favor of a nickname as witty as the ones that on good days elevate Karl Rove to the honorific "Boy Genius," on bad days to the disappointed but no less affectionate "Turd Blossom." Who doesn't now know that the corporation is immortal, that it is the corporation that grants the privilege of an identity, confers meaning on one's life, gives the pension, a decent credit rating, and the priority standing in the community? Of course the corporation reserves the right to open one's email, test one's blood, listen to the phone calls, examine one's urine, hold the patent on the copyright to any idea generated on its premises. Why ever should it not? As surely as the loyal fascist knew that it was his duty to serve the state, the true American knows that it is his duty to protect the brand....

"...The society is so glutted with easy entertainment that no writer or company of writers is troublesome enough to warrant the compliment of an arrest, or even the courtesy of a sharp blow to the head. What passes for the American school of dissent talks exclusively to itself in the pages of obscure journals, across the coffee cups in Berkeley and Park Slope, in half-deserted lecture halls in small Midwestern colleges. The author on the platform or the beach towel can be relied upon to direct his angriest invective at the other members of the academy who failed to drape around the title of his latest book the garland of a rave review.

The blessings bestowed by Providence place America in the front rank of nations addressing the problems of a twenty-first century, certain to require bold geopolitical initiatives and strong ideological solutions. How can it be otherwise? More pressing demands for always scarcer resources; ever larger numbers of people who cannot be controlled except with an increasingly heavy hand of authoritarian guidance. Who better than the Americans to lead the fascist renaissance, set the paradigm, order the preemptive strikes? The existence of mankind hangs in the balance; failure is not an option. Where else but in America can the world find the visionary intelligence to lead it bravely into the future -- Donald Rumsfeld our Dante, Turd Blossom our Michelangelo? ..."


Miulang

*The author of the first quote was Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Nov. 4, 1938.

[Miulang]

"...The United States is now the third most unequal industrialized society after Russia and Mexico. This is not a club we want to be part of. Russia is a recovering kleptocracy, with a post-Soviet oligarchy enriched by looting. And Mexico, despite joining the rich-nations club of the Organization for Economic and Community Development, has some of the most glaring poverty in the hemisphere.

In 2004, after three years of economic recovery, the U.S. Census reports that poverty continues to grow, while the real median income for full-time workers has declined. Since 2001, when the economy hit bottom, the ranks of our nation's poor have grown by 4 million, and the number of people without health insurance has swelled by 4.6 million to over 45 million.

Income inequality (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10733.htm) is now near all-time highs, with over 50 percent of 2004 income going to the top fifth of households, and the biggest gains going to the top 5 percent and 1 percent of households. The average CEO now takes home a paycheck 431 times that of their average worker.

At the pinnacle of U.S. wealth, 2004 saw a dramatic increase in the number of billionaires. According to Forbes Magazine, there are now 374 U.S. billionaires. The growth in billionaires took a dramatic leap since the early 1980s, when the average net worth of the individuals on the Forbes 400 list was $400 million. Today, the average net worth is $2.8 billion. Wal-Mart's Walton family now has 771,287 times more than the median U.S. household.

Does inequality matter? One problem is that concentrations of wealth and power pose a danger to our democratic system. The corruption of politics by big money might explain why for the last five years the President and Congress have been more interested in repealing the federal estate tax, paid only by multi-millionaires, than on reinforcing levees along the Gulf Coast.

Now, to pay for hurricane reconstruction and the war in Iraq, Congress is considering cuts in programs that help poor people, such as Medicaid and Food Stamps. They have not yet considered fairer ways of reducing the deficit by reversing special tax breaks for the rich, such as the recent cuts in capital gains and dividend taxes.

Inequality is non-partisan. The pace of inequality has grown steadily over three decades, under both Republican and Democratic administrations and Congresses. The Gini index, the global measure of inequality, grew as quickly under President Clinton as it has under President George W. Bush. Widening disparities in the U.S. are the result of three decades of bi-partisan public policies that have tilted the rules of the economy to the benefit of major corporations and large asset owners at the expense of people whose security comes from a paycheck...."

Miulang

[waioli kai]

.
Miulang: ' re:history (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10710.htm)... this society...

"The existence of mankind hangs in the balance; failure is not an option. Where else but in America can the world find the visionary intelligence to lead it bravely into the future. " '

Regarding the existence of mankind being in the hands of the United States, it is most likely true that "failure is not an option": instead, such failure is an inevitability, and that which is inevitable cannot logically be considered to be an option.

"Where else but in America can the world find the visionary intelligence to lead it bravely into the future?"

When has a consistently solid majority of U.S. America ever embraced, muchless deemed electable, "visionary intelligence" to lead America anywhere that fundamentally differed from corporatist dreams like Newt Gingrich's Contract on America ("on" was/is the reality, "for" was the actual word employed in the deception) ? As a whole, unfortunately and inexcusably, the U.S. electorate is just too self-absorbed, too willfully ignorant, too globally irresponsible, too willfully led by ineptness and corruption to be expected to save mankind from the failure through and toward which the U.S. is plunging the world.

[Miulang]

First GM, now Ford (http://news.yahoo.com/fc/business/automobiles_and_driving) is announcing a cut in its workforce of 25-30,000 employees. The end of America as a manufacturing giant is definitely here. We are truly a nation of buyers and not a nation of producers anymore. :(

Miulang

[Miulang]

Progressives of America, unite! I agree with about 99% of what Molly Ivins (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12251.htm) writes, so I guess that must mean I am a Progressive.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Would you give up your job for up to $140,000 in return for no health care coverage (http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/22/news/companies/gm_delphi/index.htm?cnn=yes) when you leave? That's the dilemma 113,000 GM and Delphi hourly workers will be faced with. It's hard to believe that GM and its actuaries believe they can SAVE money by offering this payout. It just goes to show how important it is for this country to figure out a way to support a single-payer, universal healthcare system soon. Otherwise, those people who take the severance will end up taxing the healthcare infrastructure and taxpayers in even more expensive ways. :mad: If the majority of people who are offered this payoff accept the offer, it will set a very bad precedent for the rest of the workers in this country.

Miulang

[Miulang]

If you really care to learn why people from all over the world dislike us not only as a government but as a people, read here (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/ideas/bal-id.america14may14,0,3022981.story). Even though America has always been a beacon for immigrants from other countries,

"...More than a million legal and illegal immigrants enter the United States every year, but when presented with a choice, people around the world say they no longer see America as the prime land of opportunity. Asked where a young person should go to lead a good life, no more than 10 percent of respondents to a 2005 Pew survey in 13 of 16 countries recommended the United States. Australia, Canada, Great Britain and even Germany were all preferred destinations. ..."

The growing antipathy towards America may end up being our salvation from the illegal immigrant problem! :eek:

Miulang

[Menehune Man]

The growing antipathy towards America may end up being our salvation from the illegal immigrant problem! :eek:

I think we're still to easy to illegally enter and it is definitely still easier to legally immigrate here than the other countries listed.

[waioli kai]

As the mainland United States becomes more an island unto itself, becoming iincreasingly difficult to enter as well as exit, the citizens and non-citizens so contained, as in "protected", become ever more the hostages of militarUSt$ corporatUSts, capitalUSts and their zionUSt foreign policy which inflames with the planet with their insistence on justUS.

Their "protected" citizenry are the soft underbelly of justUS.
The monster justUS thrives virtually omnipotently, unaccountable for the destruction, death and inhumanity rendered over all which is in its path beginning with continents of indigenous peoples they exterminated on one continent and kidnapped for perpetual slavery to take to another continent to build the capitalUSt wealth of an economy founded in drug trade, tobacco. An unmoral economy noted most especially for its worship of extreme personal wealth and for its believers/followers/leaders' truth-defying claims of righteousness in the face of all the immorality, injustice on which is amassed the wealth retention system of corporatUSt America.

[waioli kai]

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt warfare

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: Universe

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: Earth

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: fill-in-the-blank

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: Iraq

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: Palestine

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: Afghanistan

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: Nicaragua

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: Chile

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: Guatemala

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: El Salvador

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: Angola

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: Persia

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: Cuba

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: Space

[helen]

One thing I could never understand about your posting is this "$" that you insert in from time to time? What does it mean?

[waioli kai]

'
helen= -- ' One thing I could never understand about your posting is this "$" that you insert in from time to time? What does it mean? ' --

Most often it is another way to print a "s" where "$" serves to save my having to write a bunch of words to denote the $ (money, financial, monetary, $US, corporatUSt, militarUSt, corruptionUSt and/or imperialUSt United States) nature or aspect of the word to which I attach " $ " to pluralize the word and/or show singular or plural possession. It just makes written communication easier, while it doesn't alter the way the word is spoken; so long, that is, that it is spoken as an "s" sound and not the "kuh-ching", or whatever sound that "$" makes.

While substituting "$" for "s" doesn't change the pronunciation of a word as long as the sound for "s" is spoken, when "U" is substituted for "i" and "s" is made upper case "S" as in militarUSt for militarist, capitalUSt for capitalist some words' pronunciations change a little bit, while, ironically perhaps, other words pronounce as if they should be spelled with a "US" in the first place. The word "terrorUSt" is that kind of word, especially when spoken with a Southern drawl as does President Bush. Being able to substitute "US" for "..is..", "..ice" and such really saves a lot of effort in writing by requiring next to zero qualifiers.

Then there's the distinction between U.S. (as an abbreviation of United States of America), and US (without the . periods) where the latter is connotative of the upper class/economic/political/powers of the United States, the super "us", if you will. If you one is not sure if one is or is not a member of US of the United States, or US of the corporatist West, that is the first sign that one is not a member of US, but that does not necessarily preclude one from living the delusion that one is of US. There are many U.S. citizens who are mad az za kite, but seem to be sufficiently insulated from personnally deleterious consequences of their delusions; certainly, Hawaii has its share of such individuals, if not more than its share in some communities.

[MadAzza]

One thing I could never understand about your posting is this "$" that you insert in from time to time? What does it mean?

It means, "I am a troll."

It also, in most cases, means, "I am continuing my futile attempt to make taxpaying U.S. citizens feel guilty about working harder than I do and earning money, which must be evil because I don't know how to do it, and Mommy says I am a good boy! So there!"

That's what it usually means, anyway. Most of the people who write "u$" in the place of "U.S." are on government entitlement programs of some sort. It's how they assuage their guilt -- by blaming the giver (taxpayer) for their shortcomings. They are usually ignored by those who matter, which further fuels their self-inflicted low self-esteem, and they spiral further downward in their vitriol. Vicious cycle, that.

Oh, and it also correlates to illiteracy. But don't blame the DOE -- this stuff is self-inflicted.

[waioli kai]

terrorrUSt$' terrorUSt War: Cuba

The illegal Guantánamo Base (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guant%C3%A1namo_Bay_Naval_Base)

' The United States illegally maintains a naval base in Cuba against the will of its people. This facility is situated at the Guantanamo Bay, one of the biggest of Cuba. It is located 64 kilometres from Santiago of Cuba, the second city in importance, and 920 kilometres from Havana. It encompasses an area of 117.6 km2 (49.4 of mainland and the rest of water and marshes). It delimits a coastline of 17.5 kilometres. The bay has good characteristics as far as depth, security and capacity, but at the present, it lacks of strategic importance.

The Platt Amendment, a U.S. Congress´ Law, was imposed to the first Cuban Constitution at the beginning of the 20th century. In December, 1903, the United States took possession, "until they need it", of the Guantanamo Bay, by means of a one-sided treaty. Since then, and for more than half a century, this base was center to stimulate prostitution, illegal games and drugs. '

[waioli kai]

Excerpts from:
Summary Of The Main Terrorist Actions Against Cuba (1990-2000) (http://www.cubaminrex.cu/English/Focus_On/terrorism_summary%20of%20main%20terrorist%20action s%20against%20cuba.asp)

From 1959 on, counterrevolutionary groups created and run by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have carried out numerous terrorist activities which have cost our country valuable lives and vast amounts of resources.

Encouraged by the fall of the socialist camp at the beginning of the 90s, these groups intensified their violent actions against the Cuban people and its leaders from US territory and from other bases of operations in Central America.

Below are listed some of the most important of these actions, which are of public domain.

July 17, 1990. Following lobbying by Florida Republican Congresspersons, Ileana Ross and Connie Mack, U.S. President George H. Bush released from jail well-known terrorist Orlando Bosch, the man chiefly responsible for the October 1976 blasting of a Cuban civil airplane in mid-flight, killing all 73 on board.

October 14, 1990. Two armed terrorists sneaked into Santa Cruz del Norte as part of an action concocted in Miami. They had orders to carry out violent actions. Their weapons and false documents supplied in Miami were confiscated. They also carried literature urging people to join what they called “The Cuban Liberation Army” headed by Higinio Díaz Anne who had given them money and propaganda before they set out.

May 15,1991. José Basulto, an ex-Bay of Pigs mercenary and well-known terrorist and CIA agent founded the so-called “Brothers to the Rescue”. He asked U.S. President George H. Bush for three U.S. Air Force type 0-2 planes, the military version of the Cessna which had been used in the war in El Salvador. Congresswoman Ileana Ross started a public campaign and lobbied until the three planes were obtained. A photo of the planes received by this counterrevolutionary group appeared in the press for the first time with a July 19 article by the publisher of the Miami Herald, who flew with Brothers to the Rescue. The letters USAF (United States Air Force) are clearly visible on the planes.

September 17,1991. Two counterrevolutionaries from Miami infiltrated into Cuba. Their mission was to sabotage tourist shops to spread terror among foreign tourists. Their weapons and a radio transmitter were confiscated.

December 29, 1991. Three terrorists from the so-called Commandos L group in Miami entered Cuba illegally. Their weapons and other war materiel were confiscated. These three had received training with 50 or 60 other men in a camp on 168 Street in Miami.

May 8 1992. Cuba files a complaint with the United Nations about terrorist activities organized against its territory. At Cuba’s request, a June 23, 1989 decision of the U.S. Department of Justice is circulated as an official Security Council document. The decision states that Orlando Bosch is banned from entering the U.S. territory because there is substantial proof concerning his past and present terrorist activities, including the 1976 blasting off of a Cuban civil aviation plane in mid-flight.

Today this individual freely walks the streets of Miami after George H. Bush granted him a presidential pardon.

July 4, 1992. A group of terrorists set out from the United States to attack economic targets along the Havana coastline. Once detected by Cuban patrol boats, they moved to waters off Varadero, where U.S. coastguards rescued them after their boat had a mechanical failure.The FBI released them after the confiscation of weapons, maps and videos made during their journey.

July 1992. An operation to infiltrate an U.S. based terrorist into Cuba with the mission to sabotage an economic target in Villa Clara province failed. He was carrying the weapons and explosives needed for the job and had the assistance of Brothers to the Rescue who kept him informed about the position of the U.S. coastguard to make it easier for him to reach Cuban territory.

September 9, 1992. The FBI for illegal possession of firearms and violation of the Law of Neutrality arrests a Cuban born terrorist. He is released without charges.

October 7, 1992. An armed attack against the Varadero Meliá Hotel is perpetrated from a vessel manned by four Miami terrorists who were later arrested and questioned by the FBI, then released.

October 19, 1992. Three Miami based counterrevolutionaries entered Cuba illegally with plenty of weapons and military equipment that were confiscated. At the same time, three other terrorists were arrested in the Bahamas with weapons and explosives apparently destined for Cuba, which were also seized from them. These terrorists had left Miami on October 17.

January 1993. Five terrorists on board a vessel armed with heavy machine guns and other weapons were arrested by the U.S. coastguard as they were heading toward the Cuban coastline. They were soon released.

January 7, 1993. At a press conference in Miami, Tony Bryant, leader of the terrorist group “Commandos L” announced plans to carry out more attacks against targets in Cuba, especially hotels. He said: “from now on we are at war with Cuba” and warned foreign tourists to “stay away from Cuba.”

April 2, 1993. The tanker ship “Mikonos” sailing under the Cypriot flag was fired on 7 miles north of Matanzas from a vessel crewed by Cuban born, U.S. based terrorists.
..........
May 21, 1993. Nine terrorists arrested by the U.S. Customs Service on board a vessel as they prepared to sail for Cuba to launch attacks on that country. Their weapons and explosives were seized. On August 21, Judge Lawrence King dismissed charges against them.

May 1993. “Brothers to the Rescue” planned to blow up a high-tension pylon near San Nicolás de Bari in Havana province.

October 1993. “Brothers to the Rescue” publicly encouraged attempts on the life of President Fidel Castro and violence against Cuba. It also confirmed its readiness to accept “the risks that come with doing this”. Andrés Nazario Sargén, head of terrorist group Alpha 66, makes an announcement in the United States that his organization has recently carried out five operations against Cuba.

October 18, 1993. A terrorist living in the United States is arrested on his arrival in Cuba. His orders were to carry out acts of violence on Cuban soil.

November 7, 1993. Humberto Pérez, spokesperson for Alpha 66, said in a press conference in Miami that their war against Cuba would soon be extended to any tourist visiting the island: “We consider anyone staying in a Cuban hotel to be an enemy ”, he affirmed.

1993. A Cuban citizen visiting the United States is recruited by a terrorist organization to carry out sabotage in Cuba against the tourism and agricultural sectors. He was supplied with some of the materials needed for such actions and was offered the sum of 20,000 US dollars.

March 11, 1994. A terrorist group from Miami fires on the “Guitart Cayo Coco Hotel.”

April 17, 1994. Planes owned by “Brothers to the Rescue” fly at extremely low altitude over Havana and drop smoke bombs. In the following months of 1994 the same group carried out at least seven other similar violations of Cuba’s airspace.

September 4, 1994. Two U.S. based terrorists infiltrated into the area around Caibarién, Villa Clara, with the aim of carrying out sabotage in that province. A number of weapons and large amounts of military equipment were seized.

October 6, 1994. Another armed group fired automatic weapons at the “Guitart Cayo Coco Hotel” from a boat that set out from Florida.

October 15, 1994. A group of armed terrorists coming from the United States landed on the causeway to “Cayo Santa María” near Caibarién, Villa Clara, and murdered comrade Arcelio Rodríguez García.

October 1994. “Brothers to the Rescue” uses one of its planes to train members of a Florida based counterrevolutionary organization to carry out acts of sabotage on the Cienfuegos oil refinery.

In November of that same year, they also planned to make an attempt on the life of President Fidel Castro and other leaders of the Revolution and to smuggle arms and explosives into Cuba.

November 1994. Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and five of his accomplices smuggled weapons into Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, during the IV Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government in order to make an attempt on the life of President Fidel Castro. However, the security belt keeps him at a distance thus thwarting his aim. Posada Carriles later told the New York Times: “I was standing behind some journalists and I saw Castro’s friend, García Márquez, but I could only see Castro from a long way away.”
.........

[waioli kai]

(Continued) excerpts and condensations from:
Summary Of The Main Terrorist Actions Against Cuba (1990-2000) (http://www.cubaminrex.cu/English/Focus_On/terrorism_summary%20of%20main%20terrorist%20action s%20against%20cuba.asp)

March 2, 1995. Two terrorists from the United States sneaked into the coast near Puerto Padre, Las Tunas. They were carrying 51 pounds of C – 4 explosives and other munitions.
.............. ....
May 20, 1995. The “Guitart Cayo Coco Hotel” was once again attacked by terrorists manning a fast launch coming from the United States.

July 12, 1995. Three terrorists were arrested in the United States as they were preparing to sneak into Cuba using an act of provocation just off the Cuban coast as cover. Despite confiscation of their weapons and explosives, U.S. authorities released them.
..... ....
January 13, 1996. Several “Brothers to the Rescue” planes violated Cuban airspace over the City of Havana. Later, terrorist Basulto said: “They say I was flying over Cuban airspace, something everybody knows and which I have never denied.”
...... .... .........
November 1996. Miami television channel 23 carried a live interview with Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch where they stressed their intentions of continuing with their terrorist activities against Cuba.

April 12, 1997. An explosive device was detonated in the “Meliá Cohíba” Hotel in the City of Havana.

April 30, 1997. Discovery of an explosive device in the “Meliá Cohíba” Hotel.

July 12, 1997. Bombs blasted in the “Capri” and “National” hotels.

August 4, 1997. Another bomb exploded in the “Meliá Cohíba” Hotel.

August 11, 1997. The Miami press published a statement from the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) giving unconditional support to the terrorist bomb attacks against civilian and tourist targets in Cuba. The chairman of this organization claimed: “We do not think of these as terrorist actions” and went on to say that any action against Cuba was legitimate.

August 22, 1997. Bomb exploded in the “Sol Palmeras” Hotel in Varadero.

September 4, 1997. Several bombs exploded in the “Tritón”, “Chateau Miramar” and “Copacabana” hotels. The explosion in the latter killed young Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo. On that same day another bomb exploded at “La Bodeguita del Medio “ restaurant.

September 10, 1997. The Cuban Government announced the arrest of Salvadoran national Raúl Cruz León, the person responsible of placing six of the bombs that exploded in various hotels in the Cuban capital, including the one that killed Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo. Cruz León admitted that he had been paid 4,500 US dollars for each bomb.

October 19, 1997. An explosive device was found in a tourist van.

October 27, 1997. The U.S. Coastguard arrested a vessel West of Puerto Rico. They confiscated 2 high velocity rifles .50 caliber with their tripods, night vision gear, and military uniforms and communications equipment. These sophisticated weapons, strictly military in nature, are designed for long-range attacks on vehicles and aircraft. One of those on the vessel said that his aim was to assassinate President Fidel Castro when he arrived on Margarita Island, Venezuela, on November 7, 1997 to attend the Ibero-American Summit.

U.S. authorities found that the vessel was registered by a Florida company whose chief executive officer, manager, secretary and treasurer is José Antonio Llama, a director of the CANF and a Bay of Pigs mercenary.

One of the guns was registered in the name of José Francisco “Pepe” Hernández, CANF co-chairman. A member of Brigade 2506 had bought the other in 1994.

The four crew members on the vessel were identified as: a well-known CIA agent; the captain of a CIA boat used by Florida infiltration teams sneaking into Cuba; the chairman of a New Jersey counterrevolutionary group and a member of Alpha 66.

Despite their confessions and clear proof of the illegal possession of arms, false testimony and arms smuggling, these terrorists were acquitted by a Federal court of law in December 1999 after a rigged trial.

October 30, 1997. Discovery of an explosive device in a kiosk outside terminal 2 at the “José Martí” International Airport in the City of Havana. Two men originally from El Salvador and three originally from Guatemala would later be arrested for crimes against tourist facilities. They all were linked with terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.

November 16, 1997. Following a two months investigation, a Florida newspaper reported that the series of bomb explosions in Havana were bankrolled and directed by Miami anti-Cuban groups and that Luis Posada Carriles, a fugitive from justice for having blown up a Cuban plane in 1976, was at the heart of the operation.
.......... ....
June 16, 1998. After several meetings in which the Cuban Government gave information to the FBI and other U.S. Government agencies about terrorist activities concocted in the United States against Cuba, an official U.S. delegation traveled to Havana including two of FBI top brass, which was given precise details, even films, recordings and other material evidence on the activities of 40 terrorists who operated out of the United States.

July 12, 1998. An article in The New York Times for this date published statements by Cuban American Antonio Jorge Alvarez concerning the fact that the FBI had not investigated information he had volunteered related to an attempt on the life of President Fidel Castro that was being planned for the Ibero-American Summit in Venezuela. Alvarez claimed that the previous year he had provided information that Posada Carriles, and a group working in his factory in Guatemala, were preparing this attempt and the bomb explosions in Havana: “I risked my business and my life and they did nothing,” he said.

July 12 and 13, 1998. In an interview with The New York Times, Luis Posada Carriles admitted to having organized the bomb campaign against Cuban tourist centers. He also acknowledged that the leaders of the CANF had bankrolled his operations and that its chairman Jorge Mas Canosa was personally in charge of overseeing the flow of funds and logistic support to those operations: “Jorge Mas Canosa controlled everything, whenever I needed money he would say that he would give me 5 0000, 10 000, even 15 000 and he did.”

Posada also admitted to having paid Raúl Cruz León for placing the bombs in Havana hotels. Referring to the Italian tourist killed by one of those bombs, he told the Times: “... he was sitting in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

In compiling these reports, the Times used CIA and FBI files, testimony from more than 100 people and more than 13 hours of recorded interviews with Posada Carriles and even documents signed by him.

July 23, 1998. The Miami press published an article entitled “In the United States anti-Castro plots rarely lead to jail”. The article mentions several cases, such as the 1990 acquittal of 6 terrorists who took guns and other weapons to Nicaragua for an attempt on the life of the Cuban President. It also mentions the Rodolfo Frómeta and Fausto Marimóm’s 1994 acquittals of charges of planning to use Stinger antiaircraft missiles and other weapons in terrorist attacks. The article quotes statements too from well-known terrorist Tony Bryant who said that in 1989 the FBI stopped him in a boat loaded with weapons and explosives and they let him go. He added that he had been intercepted in two of his 14 missions against Cuba, but they never did anything to him.

August 2, 1998. Posada Carriles, in an interview for the program Opposing Points of View for CBS news, said that he intended to launch more attacks on Cuban facilities, either inside or outside the island.

August 1998. Even before President Fidel Castro’s announcement that he would attend the Summit of Heads of State and Government of CARIFORUM in the Dominican Republic, several Cuban born terrorists had planned an attempt on his life to be carried out some time between August 20 and 25.

To that end, terrorist Posada Carriles arranged a meeting in the Guatemala City Holiday Inn Hotel one month before the summit to plan how to get weapons and explosives into Santo Domingo.

September 12 1998. Five Cuban patriots were arrested in Miami who were defending both Cuban and U.S. citizens from the terrorist actions which, with total impunity, are organized, prepared and launched against Cuba from the United States territory.

November 17, 2000. A group of terrorists headed by Posada Carriles was arrested in Panama. They had entered Panama with false documents to make an attempt on the life of President Fidel Castro during the X Ibero American Summit of Heads of State and Government. Their weapons, explosives and a sketch of Castro’s route and public meetings were seized from them. The Cuban American National Foundation is paying for the team of lawyers defending the terrorists.

April 26, 2001. Three terrorists of the Commandos Groups F-45 and Alpha 66 tried to land on the north coast of Villa Clara province and, after firing shots at Cuban coastguard troops who had spotted them, were taken prisoner. Four AKM rifles, one M-3 rifle with a silencer, 3 hand guns, a great deal of materiel, night vision equipment and communications equipment were confiscated to them, all of which they intended to use to carry out sabotage and terrorist actions on Cuban soil.

In addition to the plots listed above, our authorities learned of 16 other plots to assassinate the President of Cuba, 8 plots to try to kill other leaders of the Revolution and 140 other terrorist plots hatched between 1990 and 2001. These were foiled, discouraged or prevented by the work of the Cuban Security and Intelligence Services.

[chriscollado]

Whatever dude.. Look at your source. The Cuban official facist website. Talk about a biased and untrustworthy source.
Have you ever lived in the region? I was born and raised in Miami, he sent a huge boatload of insane people from asylums and prisions to the US. Have fun with your little campaign though.

[waioli kai]

U.S. airstrike that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusintl/ap06-10-194819.asp?reg=americas&vts=61020062133) a ''barbarity,'

' HAVANA, June 10 — President Fidel Castro called the U.S. airstrike that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi a ''barbarity,'' saying he should have been put on trial. The United States acted as '' judge and jury '' against the alleged leader of the al-Qaida in Iraq, Castro said late Friday.

'' They bragged, they were practically drunk with happiness. ''

'' The accused cannot just be eliminated. '' he told a literacy conference. ''

"This barbarity cannot be done. ''

The U.S. military has said al-Zarqawi initially survived the dropping of two 500-pound bombs on his family, but he died a short time later.

Castro said if Cuba used the same logic, it could bomb the United States to kill its No. 1 enemy, Luis Posada Carriles, who is in El Paso, Texas on immigration charges.

The Cuban government accuses the Cuban-born Posada of masterminding numerous violent attacks against the island, including the bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people in 1976. Posada denies involvement in the bombing of the plane ...

...'

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson (http://www.newamerica.net/index.cfm%3fpg=event%26EveID=520) 's "...blinding flashes of the obvious..." comes to mind. ... ... terrorUSt$ get special justUS

[Miulang]

Yesterday, a Federal judge (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/15/nyregion/15detain.html?hp&ex=1150344000&en=97bf745092af4a37&ei=5094&partner=homepage) in New York ruled that "...the government has wide latitude under immigration law to detain noncitizens on the basis of religion, race or national origin, and to hold them indefinitely without explanation....

"..."What this decision says is the next time there is a terror attack, the government is free to round up every Muslim immigrant in the U.S., based solely on their ethnic and religious identity, and hold them on immigration pretexts for as long as it desires," he said. "We saw after 9/11 what the government did in an era of uncertainty about how far it can go. Judge Gleeson has essentially given them a green light to go much further."

No doubt this ruling will be appealed and make its way to the Supreme Court.

Miulang

[Miulang]

One of my favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut, has written the following essay (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13659.htm) on the hyporcrisy that exists in today's US politics and how it came about.

Miulang

[Miulang]

This video (Unconstitutional-The War on Our Civil Liberties (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13176.htm)), by the ACLU has some very interesting background information on the evolution of the Patriot Act and some of the things this Administration is currently doing to take away our civil liberties.

This documentary is an hour long, and those who think the White House is doing the right thing probably shouldn't watch it. It'll just make your blood boil.

For people who are worried about their 1st Amendment Rights, our treatment of "enemy combatants" under the Geneva Conventions, the treatment of a people living in the US on the basis of their color or creed will watch this and have their blood boil...but for a more scary reason.

Miulang

[timkona]

the treatment of a people living in the US on the basis of their color or creed

Okay Miulang....just have to pin you down on this one.

Do you approve of different treatments of people based on skin color or creed?

Do you approve of Kamehameha Schools admissions policy?

This ought to be good.

[Miulang]

the treatment of a people living in the US on the basis of their color or creed

Okay Miulang....just have to pin you down on this one.

Do you approve of different treatments of people based on skin color or creed?

Do you approve of Kamehameha Schools admissions policy?
.
Yes, I approve of the Kamehameha Schools admissions policy. The current policy says that the Schools can admit kids for admission without the necessary blood quantum on a space available basis. Have you ever been on a Kamehameha School campus, Tim? My guess is you haven't. If you ever set foot on one (you know there's a campus on the Big Island, yes?) You will see that there are many kids who don't look like they have a scintilla of kanaka maoli blood attending the school (yes, some might even look Caucasian!).

What's REALLY funny is way back when (oh, maybe as far back as 30 or 40 years ago) a Kamehameha Schools education wasn't really looked upon by the general community as the desirable education it is today. Now, everybody and his uncle thinks his kid should be able to attend because of the high quality of education that's afforded to the kids (probably because the Hawai'i public school system is less than desirable). And you know WHY many parents without any kanaka maoli blood are trying to dismantle what Bernice Pauahi Bishop set aside for her people? It's because they realize that their kids could get an education comparable to what kids at Punahou or Iolani or St. Louis or any of the private high schools is getting, for a bargain price. Do you really think any of those kids without the kanaka maoli heritage give a rat's patootie about learning the Hawaiian language or its culture? My guess is for the majority, the answer would be no.

IF KSBE was the only school in the entire State of Hawai'i, and IF the school then set its criteria as totally excluding all others with no kanaka maoli blood, then YES, I would say this is discriminatory. HOWEVER, the State of Hawai'i has many many schools...public and private...and parents can choose from any of these. The difference between all the other schools in Hawai'i and Kamehameha Schools is that the kids not only get a traditional education, but they are taught about their culture, and if the kanaka maoli culture isn't kept alive, what would Hawai'i be? :(

You're still a relative newcomer to the islands, Tim. Ask any local who isn't kanaka maoli if it's OK for KSBE to want to give first priority to kids of kanaka maoli heritage and my guess is 99% of them would say it was OK.

It's not right for the government of this country to "detain" people indefinitely just because they look different from us or practice a different religion. It's not right for the government to spy on people just because they don't agree with the current Administration's policies. It's not right for the government to promulgate lies and disseminate it as truth to the people in this country who are too lazy or too naive to think for themselves. By the way, does the Civil Rights Act that gave black Americans more equality make your skin crawl too? ;) And heck, black Americans are descended from slaves who were imported from Africa...kanaka maoli were the first people in the islands and they can't be recognized for that???

Miulang

[Miulang]

I first heard about this story on a Lou Dobbs segment on CNN. He has been keeping viewers updated on this absolutely absurd miscarriage of justice.

Two years ago, 2 Border Patrol (http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_4141562) officers in Texas were on the job, tryng to keep illegal aliens and drug dealers from crossing the border. They apprehended and wounded a Mexican drug dealer. But instead of siding with the officers of the law, the Prosecutor in the case charged them with civil rights violations, According to the U.S. attorney who successfully prosecuted the agents, the man they were chasing didn't actually have a gun, his civil rights were violated because he was shot in the back as he was fleeing, the agents didn't know for sure that he was a drug smuggler, and they broke Border Patrol rules about discharging their weapons and preserving a crime scene.

Rather than chase after the guy who had already beaten up one of the officers, according to Border Patrol regulations, they needed permission to engage in that chase.

To add insult to injury, the feds gave that drug smuggler IMMUNITY from prosecution and set him free, just so he would testify against these 2 Border Patrol agents who were just doing their job. If found guilty of the charges, they each could face 20 years in prison.

This is not only stupid ("rules are rules, no exceptions") but it put that dangerous criminal back out in society so he can continue to make his illegal profits. It's no wonder the Border Patrol has difficulty recruiting and retaining officers, and why the State Governments are all fighting against the White House to keep it from controlling National Guard units, which the States right now control. :mad:

Miulang

[Miulang]

I think the moral right has gone just a little too far with this one (http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/22/hotel.porn.ap/index.html):

A coalition of 13 conservative groups -- including the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America -- took out full-page ads in some editions of USA Today earlier this month urging the Justice Department and FBI to investigate whether some of the pay-per-view movies widely available in hotels violate federal and state obscenity laws.

What fries me is if I am an adult and I want to pay $10 to watch a pay-per view version of "Debbie Does Dallas", why shouldn't I be allowed to do it in the privacy of my own hotel room? I'm not violating anybody else's civil rights, I'm paying for the privilege and most importantly of all, I CHOOSE to do it. Granted, much of the adult film available does tend to depict women as objects, but there are women directors of soft porn who actually make pictures with PLOTS in them! ;)

According to spokespeople from the Hilton and Marriott Hotels, most of their properties are franchises and each management team has the freedom to choose what's offered to guests. And people who don't care for that type of film certainly aren't forced to watch those things.

The groups can certainly try to force hotel chains to swear that they will not offer porn on their TV systems and get themselves listed on www.cleanhotels.com, but please leave the 40% of the rest of the hotels alone and let them decide for themselves whether or not they want to offer adult movies to their guests.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Here's an interesting little phenomenon going on around the country, something that seems so diametrically opposed to the Bush White House's demands that all international business transactions should be conducted in English:
The U.S. government flew 10 teachers to Washington from China this month and gave them a five-day crash course in Dupont Circle on how to teach -- American-style -- before dispatching them to schools across the country. Although the number may seem small, the scramble to recruit and train these teachers for the start of this school year underscores the urgency the Bush administration is placing on establishing Chinese programs in U.S. classrooms.

After years of insisting that the world speak English, of grants and initiatives that established foreign language programs in fits and starts, Americans have awakened to a far more global playing field and the need for specialized languages, economists say. And nowhere is that more evident than with China.

Well, if we all learn Mandarin, we could go work over in China instead of losing our jobs to outsourcing! (would this be called "re-sourcing" :eek: ?) I wonder if that's what the government had in mind when they decided to launch this program? :rolleyes:

Miulang

[Miulang]

There is a group of evangelical Christians who are forming a new religious coalition called the "Red Letter" Christians (http://www.kirotv.com/politics/9878369/detail.html). This group apparently wants to move away from being associated with being conservative Republicans and wants to move away from merely focusing on antiabortion and gay marriage issues. It'll be interesting to see if this group can actually work to change American voter perceptions this November on issues like the environment and the Iraq occupation.

Wallis said Christian conservatives have limited the discussion to abortion and same-sex marriage, two fears that mobilized voters in 2004, and that voters care about more than the two issues.

"We must insist that the ethics of war - and whether we tell the truth about going to war - these are moral values issues too," Wallis said. Democrats have pinned part of their midterm strategy on voters' restlessness with the war in Iraq.

The Red Letter Christians campaign plans to use voter guides for congregants and briefings for their leaders to argue education, poverty and the environment are all evangelical issues. Wallis also launched a new blog this week at BeliefNet.com, debating with former Christian Coalition head and failed Republican Georgia lieutenant governor candidate Ralph Reed.

The faith-based group also hired a full-time coordinator in Ohio, where conservative Ken Blackwell is running against Rep. Ted Strickland, a former Methodist pastor. Another coordinator is soon to arrive in Pennsylvania, where Sen. Rick Santorum faces a tough re-election bid.

Faith-based get-out-the-vote efforts registered scores of new voters during 2004's presidential election. The Southern Baptist Convention's iVoteValues.com campaign alone reached 400,000 voters, the majority of whom voted for President Bush.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Blame it on all the politicians who think you can increase the US government's spending without having to sacrifice somewhere else! This little explanation (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15064460/)of the causes of our out-of-control US deficit should be mandatory reading for every single tax paying citizen in this country.:cool: Do you enjoy having 18 cents out of every dollar you pay in taxes go just to paying off interest on our national debt? Or that we owe a lot of money to foreign governments like China?

As of Thursday, the total national debt outstanding stood at nearly $8.5 trillion — or $8,487,096,306,559.55 to be exact. In August, Uncle Sam’s minimum monthly payment — just the interest on that debt — came to $24 billion. Interest payments alone are now about $400 billion a year, or about about 18 cents of every one of your tax dollars.
...
Today, the role of Uncle Sam’s banker is increasingly being played by foreign governments, who buy our debt, in part, to offset their trade imbalances. Whenever you go shopping at Wal-Mart, all of the dollars that get sent to a Chinese clothing factory have to go somewhere. A lot of them come home when the Treasury borrows them back.

While Congress and the White House have been busy sulking about increased dependence on foreign oil, they’ve also been busy increasing our dependence on foreign capital. In December 1984, about 13.5 percent of U.S. Treasuries on the open market were held by foreign governments and investors. As of June 2005, foreigners held more than half our debt — or 51.7 percent. Every time the Treasury offers up more debt, it’s counting on those foreign buyers to keep coming back for more.

Miulang

[admin]

Again, Miulang, as there have been only six posts since June here, all by you, it's a safe bet there's no interest in the discussion and that you should contribute elsewhere. If you'd like a space to post periodic observations, I can set you up with a blog at HawaiiStories.

This thread has been more of a generic catch-all thread, anyway. Feel free to join existing, more focused discussions on various aspects of American politics and policy elsewhere in The American Asylum (http://www.hawaiithreads.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6).