Rising Heroin Use Among Teenagers:It's A Good Thing!

In pre-invasion Afghanistan, the Taliban had successfully eradicated the opium poppy cultivation trade. Now, since the US led invasion of that country, Afghanistan provides 93% of the world's heroin production, or about $4 billion dollars in street value. So, not only are we losing the war on terrorism there, we are also losing the war on drugs. Is there anything the Bush administration can't botch?
Some people have accused US puppet Hamid Karzai of being soft on opium farming, even going so far as to protect the narcotics traffickers and opium producers because they are political allies.
So, with all the protections we have in the US from terrorist attacks, how does the heroin make it's way into the US?

"It's very difficult to say which smugglers are in the government," Hassenzoi said. "I don't know names. But I believe there are people in the government, and that is why we can't stop the smuggling. These people in the government are driving cars without license plates and with dark windows. Nobody knows who they are. Nobody can stop them."

The fall out from all this is that heroin use is rising among teenagers across the US. In order to prevent the Taliban from getting more recruits, we should look the other way while teenagers like Amy Bousfeld die? That is a sick foreign policy and a hypocritical drug policy.
The Taliban never attacked us on 9/11. After we invaded that country in 2001, following the attacks, we allowed al Qeada to slip into Pakistan while we installed former oil executive Karzai as a puppet president so that UNOCAL could build a pipeline through that country from the oil fields of Russia to port in Pakistan. During the jihad following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1980, the CIA and Pakistan's ISI used opium cultivation to fund the muhajadeen, but the Taliban had eradicated nearly all opium cultivation from Afghanistan.
Now the US government, not being satisfied with sending young men and women to their deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq, have decided that the possibility of your child OD'ing isn't as important as achieving it's goals in the Middle East. Are we safer now that instead of our children becoming methheads, they're becoming junkies instead?

Welfare Warfare

The talking point coming out of the McCain campaign has been centered around the success of the "Surge". "Obama opposed the surge and look how successful it has been!" or words to that effect are being tossed around by the right in an attempt to derail the inevitable. But what they're not saying is that this surge of which they speak is actually a surge of cash to insurgents, paying them money (directly from tax payer's pockets) to not shoot each other, or US troops stationed in Iraq.
What it is, is subsidized unwarfare, coming from the same people who back in the eighties opposed paying people (usually intellectually unfit) to not work. Here's an idea, maybe if we withdrew our troops, we wouldn't have to pay them anything! Because the problem is the insurgents want more money not to kill each other. They must be getting paid in dollars. This is essentially extortion, especially for the neocons, who desperately need the surge to be a success in order to trick the moronic masses into voting for the Feebster, Flip-Floppin' Flapjack Johnny McCain.
But hey, it's not the neocons money! Hell no! They got a big tax cut from Bush (that McCain wants to make permanent) on all the cash they're raking in from the rest of us who are the ones paying for the war that 72% of troops stationed there oppose. But as long as the illusion can be maintained by the war mongers (with a little assistance from the corporate media)the beer swilling television watching imbeciles will think we need to waste our money time and resources in a war that can't be won because our credit can't be extended.

Punishment Fits The Crime!! Woo-Hoo!!!

A good thing about the religious right (should that be capitalized? no, they don't deserve it) not taking over completely is some acts they may deem illegal, still are legal. Wouldn't want to be the theocracy that Iran is, or do we?
It seems that nine activists convicted of adultery have been sentenced to being stoned. yeah! First they get to get laid, then they get to get baked, sounds like nobody's being punished at all.
Okay, really, in some twisted Shirley Jackson way, they're being sentenced to being stoned to death(woo-hoo! What a way to go! Like to see that bong dudes!)just like the the man who spoke Jehovah's name in Life Of Brian. What were you thinking? This is Iran, not Afghanistan, where opium production has reached record levels thanks in part to the US invasion and the poor direction of foreign aid (by the puppet president, installed by the religious right backed George W). Woo-hoo! We can all go back to shootin' smack!
OK, so what really is going on is more pre-war propaganda, trying to show how backwards and barbaric a country Iran is (gee, I wonder what their STD rate is?) while the Iranians are given two weeks to suspend their legal under the NPT treaty uranium enrichment or face a confrontation from the US and it's UN lackeys. It seems that the realists in the Bush administration have lost out to the neocons, who probably gained the support of Dick Cheney, who was surely having multiple orgasms everytime the price of oil rose.
None of them give a fuck about you and me, or the people in Iran, with their obviously oppressive government, it's all about kowtowing to the big oil guys, who will never have enough money as long as you still have a dime in your pocket.

Can You Come Back Again?

In case you haven't noticed, I've been gone from these intertubes for a couple of weeks. Part of that is due to the fact that my computer went down and needed to be fixed. That means that not only do I have to reload all my software, I have to reset all my bookmarks as well.
My computer being down meant that I had ti *gasp* rely on the corporate media for all my news, which meant that for those few days, I was completely out of touch with the perceived reality we are fed on a daily basis. I was able to catch up on my reading, having invested my 'stimulus' check in Greg Palast's Armed Madhouse, which has pointed me in the direction of the futility of a system that is so corrupt, even the opposition has given up hope of fighting against it.
I did take the kids to see The Dark Knight today. It is a better movie than the current record holder Hancock looked, and if it doesn't have a better opening weekend than Hancock, it's only because the opening weekend for the Wil Smith vehicle was more like five days.
And let me tell you what a great movie The Dark Knight is. Christopher Nolan, one of my favorite film makers (see The Prestige, Memento, Insomnia, or Batman Begins to see what I mean) has done it again. While most movies (such as Hancock rely on star power while skimping in the script department, this one has it all. I won't reveal any plot, but being not too familiar with Heath Ledger as an actor, his Joker is by and large the best one yet, made me forget the abomination that Nicholson dude did in the Tim Burton's Batman, and even topped Mark Hamill's Joker from Batman:The Animated Series.
So, anyway, the hiatus is over, and I should be back to pissing and moaning in no time, so look out Phil Gramm!!

We're Number One! We're Number One!

After falling behind so many other nations in everything we used to lead, America is leading the rest of the world in one department, I mean, aside from the invading countries to steal their oil department.
According to the WHO, (the UN Organization, not the rock band)the US leads the world in substance abuse. Woo-hoo! Let's all raise a glass of Budweiser and drink to that!
Researchers say countries with looser drug laws have lower rates of abuse, but how else would we lock up our poor, our indigent, and our black people? I blame it on television which, when it isn't glamorizing drinking, or touting the latest pharmaceutical miracle cure to ask your doctor about, is putting on anti-drug commercials so lame, they actually "increase pro-drug attitudes in teens".
So the next time you're heading for the local hideout to quaff a few brewskis, do the patriotic thing and hoist a couple more, and keep America leading the world in something!

Great Moments In Character Part 1

From the Democratic Underground:

Surviving crewmen and those who investigated the Forrestal fire case reported that McCain deliberately 'wet-started' his A-4E Skyhawk to shake up the guy in the F-4 Phantom behind his A-4. 'Wet-starts', done either deliberately (the starter motor switch allowed kerosene to pool in the engine and give a wet start) or accidentally, shoot a large flame from the tail of the aircraft. In McCain's case, the 'wet-start' 'cooked off' and launched the M34 Zuni rocket from the rear F-4 that punctured the Skyhawk's fueltank, knocked the M-65 1000 lb bomb off it's 500 lb rated mount, and touched off the explosions and massive fire. The F-4 pilot was reportedly killed in the conflagration, along with 167 of his fellow Forrestal shipmates (including those who died later from wounds suffered). 'Wet starting' was a common practice among young 'hot-dog' pilots. McCain was quickly (they were still counting the Forrestal dead) transferred to the USS Oriskany (the only Forrestal crewman to be immediately transferred).

If you're going to make character an issue, better be sure you're not another privileged party boy who used familial connections to get you out of jams, or destroyed five tax payer provided jet fighters and had your attack dogs brand your opposition as unpatriotic.