The Onion: Nathan Eckert- 'The Iraq War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region & Set Off a Global Shockwave of Anti-Americanism'

Source: This photo was originally posted by The Onion- The Daily Review- The Onion, debating the War in Iraq.

Source:The Daily Review

“George W. Bush may think that a war against Iraq is the solution to our problems, but the reality is, it will only serve to create far more.”

From The Onion

"Bill Maher rips all of those bad predictions from "think tanks" and tells them they can't call themselves think tanks if they are stupid. "To those of you who dreamed up the Iraq conflict, and predicted we'd be greeted as liberators,  and that we wouldn't need a lot of troops, and that Iraqi oil would pay for the war, the WMDs would be found, looting wasn't problematic, that the insurgency was ib its last throws, and that the whole bloody mess wouldn't turn into a civil war...

...YOU HAVE TO STOP MAKING PREDICTIONS!!!"

Richard Perle thought we could win Iraq with 40,000 troops.

Paul Wolfowitz predicted in 2003 that within a year the grateful people of Baghdad would name some grand square in their fine city after President Bush."

From Renegade Reposter

Source:Renegade Reposter- Bill Maher, on The War in Iraq.

What America did to Iraq in the spring of 2003 is what Joe did to Tom in my hypothetical. We invaded their territory and killed millions of Iraqi’s simply because they had an evil government led by an evil dictator and the Bush Administration thought (if you want to call that thinking) the price of losing innocent Iraqi lives was worth eliminating an evil dictator. Weapons of mass destruction? Well not in Iraq as it turns out, because the United Nations as well as the U.S. weapons inspectors did their jobs in the late 1990s and early 2000s and had Saddam’s weapons removed. Remember, the Iraqi Military didn’t even put up a fight against the American forces during the invasion. They all rolled over, not to get their bellies rubbed like my cat does everyday, but to surrender and not be killed.

What was all this for again? Well originally if you believe all the propaganda from the Bush Administration in 2002, it was about preventing Iraq from becoming a nuclear power and to get rid of their other WMD. Chemical weapons that Moammar Gadhafi still had and used against his own people in the Libyan Civil War of 2010-11. But Saddam no longer had weapons like that to use against Americans or Iraqis. And the worst thing about this colossal disaster, 10 on the Richter scale when it comes to the world championship of mistakes, is that the weapons inspectors were telling the Bush Administration that Saddam not only had zero nuclear weapons, but they couldn’t find other WMD as well. WMD, was an excuse for invading Tom’s home and preventing Tom from hurting and killing other innocent people in the future. But what the Bush’s really wanted to do was to eliminate Saddam and at all costs.

Seriously, who are the brainiacs who dreamed up the Iraq War? And how many weeks straight were they up drinking nothing but Red Bull and Starbucks frappuccinos developing this grand scheme of imposing liberal democracy on a society that still believed that women should always cover their faces in public and wear nothing but long black dresses and long black suits so no one can discover that they are women. As well as a country that was actually scared of freedom like an inmate whose been in prison since he was 18 and now finally getting out in his sixties being told he now has to take care of himself. I mean you don’t have to be a foreign policy expert to see flaws in this grand strategy that has more holes in it than a Chevy Caprice that is parked in Watts or Compton, California.

Iraq, is even a unique country even for Arabia and the broader Middle East. Different Arab population, as well as a country that has other major ethnic groups in it and several different religious groups. A country the size of California in the heart of the Middle East. That pre-Iraq War the only form of government they knew was life in prison. So what the Iraq War did was pardon all of these innocent prisoners who’ve all been in prison for 40-60 years and tell them, “you’re free to go and good luck to you. You’re certainly going to need it! Oh by the way, that free society we were talking about, doesn’t exist! Ha, ha! Fooled you! Yeah, no more military, or law enforcement to deal with, Just murderous thugs who kill people for the hell of it. Wish you best!”


Nathan Eckert, (assuming that is his real name. You never know with The Onion.) was damn right about the consequences of the Iraq War in the early days of it in 2003. But if you’re a Neoconservative, you only think in terms, “they are either with us, or against us! They love, or hate America.” So of course a Neoconservative wouldn’t listen to this, because in their peanut brain size mind they don’t believe in intelligence and evidence. Just neoconservative political fundamentalism. That says, “trust us, it will all work out in the end! Don’t trust the evidence, because in your heart you know we’re right!” That is not thinking, because thinking requires evidence. The Iraq War was simply based on blind faith that since the supporters of this war believed they were on the right side of history and were doing the right thing, that is all they needed. And it has been multiple trillion-dollar mistake. And has cost Iraq the country we were supposed to save, millions of their own lives.

Looking back at the Iraq War from over a twelve-year perspective it reminds me of someone who knows a guy down the street, who knows this man has beaten up a lot f people and at the least is suspected of murdering some people in his home. So lets say this guy Joe, decides to invade this bad guy’s home and beats let’s say Tom up and holds him hostage there at Tom’s own home until a more suitable homeowner can be installed to live there and bring justice to Tom.

And even though Tom’s friends come over to try to save Tom and Joe takes them out as well and in the process perhaps Tom’s wife and kids are seriously hurt if not killed in the process for being there and Joe thinking they are in the way of bringing justice to Tom. When innocent people are killed in war they are called innocent bystanders. And a cost of war.

What America did to Iraq in the spring of 2003 is what Joe did to Tom in my hypothetical. We invaded their territory and killed millions of Iraqi’s simply because they had an evil government led by an evil dictator. And the Bush Administration thought (if you want to call that thinking) the price of losing innocent Iraqi lives was worth eliminating an evil dictator.

Weapons of mass destruction? Well not in Iraq as it turns out, because the United Nations as well as the U.S. weapons inspectors did their jobs in the late 1990s and early 2000s and had Saddam’s weapons removed. Remember, the Iraqi Military didn’t even put up a fight against the American forces during the invasion. They all rolled over, not to get their bellies rubbed like my cat does everyday, but to surrender and not be killed.

What was all this for again? Well originally if you believe all the propaganda from the Bush Administration in 2002, it was about preventing Iraq from becoming a nuclear power and to get rid of their other WMD. Chemical weapons that Moammar Gadhafi still had and used against his own people in the Libyan Civil War of 2010-11.

But Saddam no longer had weapons like that to use against Americans or Iraqis. And the worst thing about this colossal disaster, (10 on the Richter scale when it comes to the world championship of mistakes) is that the weapons inspectors were telling the Bush Administration that Saddam not only had zero nuclear weapons, but they couldn’t find other WMD as well.

WMD, was an excuse for invading Tom’s home and preventing Tom from hurting and killing other innocent people in the future. But what the Bush’s really wanted to do was to eliminate Saddam and at all costs.

Seriously, who are the brainiacs who dreamed up the Iraq War? And how many weeks straight were they up drinking nothing but Red Bull and Starbucks Frappuccino’s developing this grand scheme of imposing liberal democracy on a society that still believed that women should always cover their faces in public and wear nothing but long black dresses and long black suits so no one can discover that they are women.

As well as a country that was actually scared of freedom like an inmate whose been in prison since he was 18 and now finally getting out in his sixties being told he now has to take care of himself. I mean you don’t have to be a foreign policy expert to see flaws in this grand strategy that has more holes in it than a Chevy Caprice that is parked in Watts or Compton, California.

Iraq, is even a unique country even for Arabia and the broader Middle East. Different Arab population, as well as a country that has other major ethnic groups in it and several different religious groups.

A country the size of California in the heart of the Middle East. That pre-Iraq War the only form of government they knew was life in prison. So what the Iraq War did was pardon all of these innocent prisoners who’ve all been in prison for 40-60 years and tell them: “you’re free to go and good luck to you. You’re certainly going to need it! Oh by the way, that free society we were talking about, doesn’t exist! Ha, ha! Fooled you! Yeah, no more military, or law enforcement to deal with, Just murderous thugs who kill people for the hell of it. Wish you best!”

Nathan Eckert, (assuming that is his real name. You never know with The Onion.) was damn right about the consequences of the Iraq War in the early days of it in 2003. But if you’re a Neoconservative, you only think in terms: “they are either with us, or against us! They love, or hate America.” So of course a Neoconservative wouldn’t listen to this, because in their peanut brain size mind they don’t believe in intelligence and evidence. Just neoconservative political fundamentalism.

Neoconservatives believe: “trust us, it will all work out in the end! Don’t trust the evidence, because in your heart you know we’re right!” That is not thinking, because thinking requires evidence.

The Iraq War was simply based on blind faith that since the supporters of this war believed they were on the right side of history and were doing the right thing, that is all they needed. And it has been multiple trillion-dollar mistake. And has cost Iraq the country we were supposed to save, millions of their own lives.

Mal Partisan: ISIS Must be Destroyed, But it Won’t be Easy

Source:Mal Partisan- FNC anchor Shepard Smith.

Source:The New Democrat

For anyone to say that this is just about revenge for what happened in Paris and that I and others are scared that this could happen in Washington, or some other great big American city, I have some questions for you.

One, what are you smoking?

Two, how long have you been high?

Three, is what you’re smoking legal in the United States?

Four, can I have whatever you’re smoking?

This is not about what happened in Paris and seeking revenge. At most Paris was the tipping point and the smoking gun that has now united America with Europe, (there’s an odd couple) together to want to now destroy ISIS. President Obama, called for air strikes against ISIS in Syria, as well as to protect the innocent Syrian people in the late summer of 2013, but neither chamber of Congress would even officially debate that. Or update the Iraq War Resolution to include ISIS. Which I supported as well that is on this blog. ISIS is not new, they’ve been around at least since the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in the early summer of 2003 and since the start of the Syrian Civil War.

For anyone who believes in great liberal values that I share like minority rights, protection of women from bad men that would abuse them, freedom to practice, or not practice religion and individual freedom in general, whose not a pacifist, should want to destroy ISIS. Not contain them or want to work with them. If they surrender, that would be one thing, but destroy them and put them completely out of the terrorism business and give Islam back to who it belongs to. Which are peaceful Muslims who go about their everyday business and live their everyday lives.

I’m not calling for some neoconservative unilateral five-hundred-thousand American troop invasion of Syria. To knockout Bashar Al-Assad and is horrible regime and to take out ISIS ourselves. As once we again we try to occupy another Middle Eastern Muslim country. But America has to play its part and at the very least supply the air power while Europe and the Arab League, or Turkey, Iraq and Kurdistan, provide the ground troops to destroy ISIS, as well as the Bashar Al-Assad forces. So a responsible Syrian coalition can take over the government there.

The only way to knockout both ISIS and the Al-Assad regime, is through the air where America has to play a role there. As well as an international ground force on the ground from NATO to pound the Al-Assad and ISIS forces on the ground. This is not about revenge, or even sweet revenge. This is about justice and not just for Paris, but for all the other innocent people who ISIS has murdered. Including Muslims, even though ISIS has the balls to call themselves Muslims. And America has to play its role here, along with Europe, Iraq and Kurdistan, to get this mission accomplished.

The Onion: John Boehner To Paul Ryan: ‘I Was Once Young And Beautiful Too’

Source:The Onion- John Boehner: I'm finally escaping The Nut House!" LOL

Source:The Daily Review

Anyone worried about looking too cute and too young for their age, I got a healthier way to age than to take up tobacco and alcoholism. Try leading a wolf pack of people in government that doesn’t believe in government. Which would be like trying to force some hippie vegetarian to get on a meat lovers diet. Good luck with that with all the frustration will come with it. Sure! New Speaker Paul Ryan at 45, is a young-looking tall handsome Midwestern man who is happily married with kids and has a life outside of the swamp better known as Washington. And right now looks like a man who just won the White House in a landslide. But the German Nazis looked unbeatable until America went to Europe and the British and French got off their pacifist pussy-whipped asses and decided to, “okay! We’ll defend our own country!” And the Nazis actually faced some real competition.

Once Speaker Ryan cuts his first deal with the Senate and perhaps even House Minority Nancy Pelosi, to avoid House Republican led government shutdowns, or with President Obama and agrees to fund the government without the President voluntarily resigning, or impeaching himself, the new young Speaker, will be accused of the worst sinful thing that you can on the Far-Right in America, liberalism! And be accused of working with the Democrats to destroy America. And inviting ISIS in to occupy America. Or completely opening up the Southern border to import millions of Mexicans to take all of our fast food jobs. Or whatever the week long pot high the Far-Right is on and whatever fantasy they’re going through at the time.

Sure! Being Speaker of the House of Representatives, might look like Wisconsin cheeseburgers and freedom fries right now. But wait until Speaker Ryan actually has to do his job and get bills passed that have to be passed for the Federal Government which he is now one of the top leaders of, has to get done for the government, to I don’t know, protect the country from terrorism. You know, little boring details like that. Which he’ll have to get Democratic support for both in the Senate and of course from President Obama. As well as Moderate Republicans both in the House and Senate. Then the new Speaker might wish he was at a Green Bay Packers game and eating a Wisconsin cheeseburger and never want to drink the Tea Party again.

CBS News Democratic Presidential Debate

Source:CBS News- the 2016 Democratic presidential field.

Source:The New Democrat

I believe once again Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, especially when Governor O’Malley was given opportunities to speak, were all sharp in this debate. And Senator Sanders and Governor O’Malley, tried hard to hit Secretary Clinton and landed a few shots. But when you’re each trailing Hillary by thirty plus points in the polls you have to do better than that. You have to win the game going away and put a streak together. Hillary, unlike in 2007-08, knows that she’s not only the frontrunner, but that she’s not inheriting the Democratic nomination for president. That she’s going to have to win it and not expect to win Iowa simply because of her name ID and that she’s a women.

Hillary, took some shots especially from Bernie, but I don’t believe anything happened Saturday night that changes the Democratic race. What Bernie and Marty, (ha, ha! He doesn’t like that!) are showing is that they belong on the same stage as Hillary and are going to make her earn the Democratic nomination. Or one of them will beat her. Bernie hit Hillary about the contributions that she’s getting from Wall Street. Hillary, came back at the Senator and accused him of questioning her integrity. And pointed out that she has a hundred-thousand small contributors. Something that if Governor O’Malley had, he would be in the race right now. Because he’s the Center-Left Progressive alternative to Hillary, who has real executive experience. Not Bernie Sanders, who represents the Far-Left of the Democratic Party. As well as the Green Party and Democratic Socialists USA.

I wrote a piece a couple of weeks ago that is in the Martin O’Malley section of this blog arguing about what should be the message for the Governor of this race. That he should be running as the Progressive With Results, because all the issues that they’re talking about in this race, he’s already accomplished in a very diverse state of over six-million people who has the highest per-capita income in the country and the best schools in the country. Decriminalizing marijuana, additional infrastructure investment, minimum wage increase, legalizing same-sex marriage, Maryland’s economy and bond rating didn’t collapse during the Great Recession and you could add legalizing gambling, which has kept a lot of jobs and money in Maryland. We finally got to hear the Governor make the case for why he should be the Democratic nominee for president. He’s the candidate who accomplishes progressive goals. And just doesn’t talk about what he wants to do.

I believe Senator Sanders, wants to be the next President of the United States, but a big part of his campaign is giving socialism and positive national voice and platform. And he doesn’t want the next president to be a Democratic. Especially someone like Don Trump, or Ted Cruz and he agrees with Hillary Clinton on enough to vote for her over the Republican, or a social democratic third-party candidate. And I think he knows what he’s up against in trying to beat her and is not going to do anything that can actually hurt her in the general election next year. So he’s not going to make this campaign about character and personal attacks. But instead make the best case for himself to be president and see where that takes him.

And I don’t see Bernie right now throwing a lot of long bomb passes at Hillary looking to get back in the game quickly. And the Democratic Party, wants Hillary Clinton to be the next President of the United States. And until Bernie and Marty O’Malley, make the case that they would be a better presidential candidate than Hillary, this race in the party will never be close. So yeah, Sanders and O’Malley, both hit Hillary with a few shots especially as it relates to Wall Street. But neither one hit her hard enough to change the complexion of this race yet. Which is good for the Democratic Party, because it means assuming she is the nominee, the party will have an excellent opportunity to go into their convention next summer as a united party.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1961)

Source:Alfred Hitchcock- Diana Dors & David Stewart. Perhaps you can tell for yourself who is who.

Source:The Daily Review

If you’re familiar with the movie Berserk from 1967, The Sorcerer Apprentice should look at least somewhat familiar to you. Diana Dors, is in both films. In Berserk, she plays an assistant to a magician at a circus. In The Sorcerer Apprentice she plays an assistant to a magician at a carnival. In Berserk, she thinks she knows who the killer is. In The Sorcerer, she puts the killer up to killing her husband. In neither film is Diana an angel, she just looks like one in both films. As well as anything else she’s ever done, but that is one of the reasons why she was a great actress. Because she could fool people with her hot baby-face looks and play the killer, or a killer angel as well as it can be played. If you’re familiar with the movie The Unholy Wife, where she tries to frame her husband for killing his best friend, you should have an idea what I’m talking about here.

The Sorcerer Apprentice, looks very entertaining to me, but I’m not sure it is very believable. You have a sick kid (I guess) who should be back in the institution that he escaped from (no joke) who gets picked up off the street by a magician. Who picks him up in real-life and is no trick, (ha hah) who I think can tell this kid is not completely there and is told by the kid that he’s escaped from his home. And decides to take him in anyway instead of reporting him to the proper authorities. (Damn! That sounds corny.) Again Diana, is no angel, she just looks like one and can tell Hugo (the kid) likes her and is attractive to her and she’s cheating on her magical husband (lets say) the magician and wants to move on from him. And tries to put the kid up to killing her husband. The kid is at least 4-5 beers short of s six-pack and thinks this would be fun or something.

You would think this couple having seen this kid and figuring out that he’s not completely there and needs close supervision (to put it mildly) and are less qualified to take care of kids than the guy who freaks out when he finds out that his girlfriend is pregnant with his baby and ditches her, that they could give him a bite to eat, find out where he came from, if not turn him in and move on. But instead they keep him around even though they are too busy to take care of him and probably don’t want to either. But no! That could be too boring for the great Alfred Hitchcock. Instead of making it a boring everyday story, they make a killer out of this gorgeous baby-face wife whose cheating on her husband with a high-wire artist (whose probably scared of heights) and this unfortunate boy. Who perhaps nobody wants to take care of him and has really no one who loves him. Just one example of why Alfred Hitchcock was such a great director.

Rod Willerton: 'Hollywood & the Stars- In Search of Kim Novak'

Source:Rod Willerton- in search of Hollywood Goddess Kim Novak.

Source:The Daily Review

"Hollywood & the Stars was a US TV series broadcast in the 1960's by NBC. This episode studies the life and background of the star, Kim Novak." 

From Rod Willerton 

Kim Novak, is Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, except that she grew up. She might not be as versatile an entertainer as Marilyn and Jayne when it comes to comedy and music, but physically she's right there with both of them, but she grew up. 

Kim Novak was hot baby-face adorable, sexy blonde goddess, but she grew up and matured and was a woman in Hollywood. Not someone with the body of a woman, but the mind and personality of a teenage girl like Marilyn and Jayne. Who never grew up inside and could never see how valuable and great they could have been as entertainers. And a big reason why they both died in their mid thirties in the 1960s.

It is rare you have an actress that is physically this talented with this body, face and voice, but is also a hell of an actress. Who I believe was a classic real or personal actress where she made all of her characters real and became all of them and brought them to real-life. 

I think what made Kim a great actress is that she made her acting look so real. She literally became the person she was playing and made it look like she wasn't acting at all. And I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that she tended to play characters who she had a lot in common with. Who were physically gorgeous, sexy, and very cute, but lacked self-confidence and not quite sure they belong where they were, or even knew that they wanted to be there at all. Playing Madeline in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, is a perfect example of that.

Kim, has also played characters that were gorgeous, sexy, and adorable, but knew exactly who they were and what they wanted. Like in Boys Night Out, where she plays Cathy, who was a college student doing an article on the middle-age married man in New York. 

The other thing that I respect about Kim Novak is that acting wasn't who she was, but what she did. Similar to Ava Gardner, she didn't live to act, but acted to live the lifestyle that she wanted. She didn't need to be a star, but happened to be really good at what she did and was a goddess as well which made her a star. 

Kim would have been perfectly comfortable living on the water in Northern California her whole adult life just as long as she could afford to do that. Which is where her acting career came in, but didn't need to be an actress to be happy. She is truly special and I just wish she acted more.

Greg Engle: Bryan Adams- A Veterans Day Tribute: Tribute to All Men & Women Who've Defended America

Source:Greg Engle- Happy Veterans Day!

Source:The Daily Review

"Veterans Day tribute from a vet to all veterans"

From Greg Engle

Source:Greg Engle- Happy Veterans Day!

I don’t want to say Veterans Days has more meaning today that it twenty years ago, because of course that isn’t true, but I do believe it does have more feeling and appreciation today than it did in lets say 1994-95. Because America has essentially been at war for good and bad for twenty years now. Starting in the Balkans in 1995 and really never leaving there for the rest of the decade to prevent ethnic-Bosniaks and ethnic-Albanians from being victims of an ethnic genocide from Serbians in the former Yugoslavia.

We go from the Balkans, to the Middle East, in the early 2000s and we’re still there fourteen years later in both Afghanistan and Iraq. So Americans I believe have felt Veterans Day and Memorial Day more often in the last twenty years, because almost all of us probably is related to a U.S. military veteran, or knows one. And probably knows someone whose died in combat, or suffered a major injury. Again so others wouldn’t have to do that and to protect innocent people oversees who the average American has never even heard of.

Veterans Day, is the last holiday you want run and dominated by pop culture celebrities. This is a day you don’t want people to take advantage of and use it to make it look like they stand with the troops and are cool. Veterans Days, is as real as a holiday as we have in this country. Arguably the most important day other than Independence Day and Memorial Day. These are truly American holidays that just don’t affect the people who’ve been willing to be severely injured and die so their fellow serviceman wouldn’t be hurt or killed, but to defend America’s freedom.

They haven’t fought for a prize, or to win free tickets to Disneyland, or Hawaii, but for their fellow serviceman and their country. So we wouldn’t have to fight for them. People who could have stayed home and made a lot of money in the private sector, but instead decided to put their lives on the line and risk never seeing their families again so others wouldn’t have to do that as well. Veterans Day, is as real as it gets. It just doesn’t affect our veterans, but their families as well. Their spouses, their kids, who perhaps have had to grow up without their fathers, or mothers and their parents. Why, because so others wouldn’t have to make those ultimate sacrifices as well.

So when you celebrate Veterans Day today and millions of us will all sorts of ways in America as well as oversees and you personally know a veteran, make sure you not only thank them, but make your thanks as real and as genuine as their service to their country and yours. Make sure you not only show appreciation to the veteran and veterans, but their families as well who’ve sacrificed almost as much as the veteran as well and in many cases never had a say in the matter. Thank them for giving you the opportunity just to celebrate Veterans Day and the millions of Americans who have fought for our great country so we could celebrate living in it.