The Federation is saying that this line-up is proof that the same old Washington insiders will still be ruling the roost, particularly keeping on a member of the Bush Administration as Secretary of Defence. Washington kind of exists as a good old boy network where everybody knows everybody else. We are also hearing that Obama will not roll back those tax cuts for the rich back to the Bill Clinton levels as promised so contentiously in the campaign. Obama fought a hard fought campaign against Hillary in the primary and now those lofty promises made as a candidate are disolving like the morning mist. Apparently Obama is not going to roll back as many of the George Bush executive orders as people hoped. It could remain that civil liberties will continue to be restricted. Of course we wish Obama all the best, though I can't vouch for the Federation. Their view of things is that if there is a ship traveling with an ice berg ahead is "Damn the torpedoes!"
India and Pakistan
Of course you all know about the Al Qaida type attack that occurred in Mumbai, India that went on for sixty hours. Several luxury hotels known to be frequented by Americans and Britishers were attacked by a Pakistani group called by one count "Deja-Muhajadeem, though now they're being called a different name. This group wants to see an all out war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, a territory disputed over the last six decades. Some people have said even partitioning the nation in 1947 into India and Pakistan was a mistake because there are many Islamic centers even in the heart of India. 183 people were killed in all. About ten different sites were attacked last Wednesday including hotels, resturants, a railroad station and a Jewish center. This whole incident over the past five days will make it a whole lot harder for whoever is President to get Pakistan to cooperate with us when it comes to rooting out Al Qaida from Pakistan. Since both Pakistan and India have nuclear weapons, the danger is all too clear and apparent. This group wanted to cause another 9 - 11 and they were hoping for five thousand deaths but fell way short of that. Now sixty minutes is saying that they are "imbedding" women with the ground troops without officially "assigning" them. The death toll for both women and men is climbing and will steadily be climbing higher as we continue in Afghinistan.
This is the first new posting we have done in any blog in a week. I hope you all enjoyed the long five-day holiday weekends many people were taking. It would seem that Diedra Hall is taking a permanent vacation from "Days of our Lives" after a 32 year run. That's really something. As of today's episode she is very intertwined with the plot but sometimes it's intriguing to know HOW they are going to do something even after you know WHAT they are going to do. The "plot line" on Obama is not done yet. Many liberals are feeling just a little unconfortable with his move to the center about now. Franklin Roosevelt ran a conventional non threatening campaign but then moved sharply to the left once he got in power. He openly threatened the banking establishment both by speeches and by deeds. He regarded it as his mandate to take down the corporate power structure that caused the recession. I hope Berock isn't laboring under the illusion he can somehow get Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity to like him if he can just prove that he's centerist enough.
They have exposed a gigantic scandal involving cheating at internet poker on two widly used internet sites. You can tell a cheater because he's a bad player that always manages to "get lucky" despite himself. Geoe Scott said "I never bet except on a sure thing". The trouble is if the "sure thing" is seeing the cards of the other players then it's cheating. Obviously even the worst player could beat the very best players if you're allowed to cheat. Jim Cooper once said "My philosophy is to never give the Devil an even break". I don't like that expression because it's the same as saying "On a level playing field, the Devil would defeat me every time". So much of Calvary and fundamentalist Christianity bases its come-on appeal with the idea of somehow "cheating the system" of "getting people what they don't deserve". They will quote Bible verses about "learning military plans uttered in the King's bed chamber". I have often thought that certain TV game shows would be an awfully easy game to rig. The thing is most players are so awful at playing the game nobody would suspect it being rigged. If "certain things that just don't happen hardly at all" begin happening all the time, you know some scam is being played on you. I don't think Christians value either good sportsmanship or honist competition highly enough. Some Christians like my Dad seem to regard any competetion as some tool of the Devil. Other Christians like Chuck Smith poo poo the idea of "games" but would rather that instead of getting excited over some game, get excited because your names are written in the book of Life and that you are going to heaven when you die. But when you think about it, you learn an awful lot about the character of a man when you compete with him in some contest or gamesmanship.
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