Twenty years ago, stories were common about drunken USSR conscript soldiers in Afghanistan prior to their defeat. Afghanistan has a long history of defeating armies from far off lands on long and ill defined missions.  In 2001 a popular movie in Kabul which played to packed crowds was a tale about the mojahedin fighters defeating drunken Russian soldiers in the mountains of the Panjshir valley.

History doesn’t repeat itself but it does have a tendency to rhyme. All courses can be altered and nothing is certain, to state the obvious, but the war in Afghanistan  is rhyming historically as it enters in eighth year and a most deadly spell for US and NATO forces. In Afghanistan now as in Vietnam we are supporting a government lead by a president with questionable support from the population that controls only the Capitol and small patches of the country. US and NATO troops on a long mission with no clear end point are surrounded by a potentially hostile populace and suffer the stress.James Galloway in an article recalling the Powell doctrine writes

the national treasure we’ve invested in that effort, has propped up an ineffective and corrupt Kabul regime. Its only economic success has been the restoration of the opium trade. Afghanistan is now the world’s leading producer of opium and heroin, whereas under the Taliban government that was a death penalty offense.

In early September after a bombing raid (a precision raid) by NATO forces killed 125 civilians it was reported that ….

The head of the international forces in Afghanistan has banned alcohol at its headquarters after troops were found to be too drunk or hung-over to respond quickly to news of a deadly air strike.

A group of Macedonian guards were sent home this year because they were discovered drunk on duty, while protecting the back gate.

The problem became so acute that military police started breathalysing drivers and pedestrians around the base.

Vermont National Guard will soon deploy approximately 1,500 troops to Afghanistan on a mission that has evolved from training and mentoring into potentially broader security tasks. Maj. Gen. Michael Dubie, head of the Vermont National Guard said clarity on what the troops will be doing “hasn’t improved much in the last couple days.” “It’s still changing. The reorganization of some structures in Afghanistan is still being worked out,”Also this past Thursday the president of Macedonia was in Vermont to announce joint training of 80 troops with the Vermont National Guard.

http://www.timesargus.com/arti…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…

http://original.antiwar.com/ga…

As a new source, McClatchy is one of the best I read.  I like them a lot, and their facts are generally solid.  They, however, sometimes they kind of screw it up:

But to Texas separatists like Miller and Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Kilgore of Mansfield, secession is no laughing matter. Nor is it exclusive to the nation’s second-largest state.

Fanned by angry contempt for Washington, secession movements have sprouted up in perhaps more than a dozen states in recent years. In Vermont, retired economics professor Thomas Naylor leads the Second Vermont Republic, a self-styled citizens network dedicated to extracting the sparsely populated New England state from “the American Empire.”

A few things that McClatchy’s editors should know:

1. the Second Vermont Republic has been widely discredited in Vermont, due to its ties to white supremacists;


2. SVR is basically a waning group.  In its heyday, it had relatively small numbers, and these days, these its numbers are dwindling.

Texas has a fairly active secession movement.  It’s got over half the Republicans in the state supporting it.  It scary, disturbing, and kind of freaky.  But it, unlike the SVR, is kind of a real movement.  

There’s an old joke, which I’ve seen attributed to Larry King: “there’s a group called ‘Blacks and Jews for Pat Buchannan.’  They’re meeting in a phone booth in Wichita.”

At this point, I suspect they have a stronger active membership than the SVR.

Of the birthers, that is.

She keeps trying, and she keeps getting shot down again and again. This week she got hit twice.

First was the substantive decision on one of her bogus cases challenging Obama’s qualifications to be president. She had filed a complaint in federal court and a request for a preliminary injunction to protect a military doctor from going to Iraq, and the court not only denied the injunction, the court dismissed the case. In a fourteen page decision the judge eviscerates her and her client:

He goes further, and this is very unusual, ordering that

Furthermore, Plaintiff’s counsel is hereby notified that the filing of any future actions in this Court, which are similarly frivolous, shall subject counsel to sanctions. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(c).

I was first admitted to practice in federal court almost thirty years ago, and I know that I would take it seriously if I got an order like this. What does Orly do?

First, she goes out and attacks the judge, his judicial integrity, and his independence. “Somebody should consider trying [the judge] for treason and aiding and abetting this massive fraud known as Barack Hussein Obama.”

“Judge Land is a typical puppet of the regime — just like in the Soviet Union,” she said.

Then, she goes back to the same judge and asks him, pretty please, to change his mind:

Plaintiff avers that there is increasing evidence that the United States District Courts in the 11th Circuit are subject to political pressure, external control, and, mostly likely, subservience to the same illegitimate chain of command which Plaintiff has previously protested in this case, except that the de facto President is not even nominally the Commander-in-Chief of the Article III Judiciary.

Smart litigation tactic? Maybe not.

“It was deja vu all over again.”

Simply, put the motion is frivolous. Moreover, the Court further finds that Plaintiff’s motion is being presented for the improper purpose of using the federal judiciary as a platform to espouse controversial political beliefs rather than as

a legitimate forum for hearing legal claims. Counsel’s conduct violates Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and sanctions are warranted. Accordingly, Plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration (Doc. 15) is denied, and counsel for Plaintiff is ordered to show cause why the Court should not impose a monetary

penalty of $10,000.00 upon Plaintiff’s counsel for her misconduct.

So what’s the point here? Well, I guess there are a couple.

First is the utter pointlessness of this argument. Nobody with a brain takes this argument seriously. Every judge the claim has been presented to has rejected it in one way or another.

The second may be even more important. Orly Taitz really is the best and the brightest. She is absolutely the smartest thing they’ve got going over in Birther-Land.

I know, reading the Taitz dispatches is like susbsisting on a diet of M&M’s. Not nutritious, they won’t sustain you over the long haul, but it’s hard to not grab that one next M, isn’t it?

Federal regulators next week are expected to seek to turn controversial “net neutrality” principles into formal rules intended to give the nation’s computer users the right to use whatever services and devices they like without interference from their ISPs.

(FCC Expected To Announce Support of Net Neutrality Monday, Wired, 09/18/09)

This is (Hey Bernie) HUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGE! (If indeed it really comes to pass.) Having ISPs serve us as (hopefully, someday) virtual autobahns while leaving it up to us how to make use of those highways is, I believe, democracy’s last gasp … we may get off the ventilator yet.

The downside? As pointed out in this thread regarding Entergy Yankee and nuclear monitoring, it’s all in who crafts the rules of the road.

Nonetheless I will celebrate if indeed we get a formal federal declaration of net neutrality.

Hi All, I am forwarding the info from the flyer for the Sept 24th Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign info meeting. Please forward it to as many people as you can. It’s like a little “email flyer”! Just cut and paste! Thanks.

Presentation by: The Vermont Workers’ Center “Healthcare is a Human Right” CampaignSt. Albans Free LibraryThursdaySeptember 24th @ 5:00pm Meet organizers with the Vermont Workers’ Center and a representative from Senator Bernie Sanders office to learn about what we can do in Vermont to address the healthcare crisis. Change what is “POLITICALLY POSSIBLE” in the healthcare debate through GRASSROOTS organization. Recognize that healthcare is a public good for the community, rather than a commodity to be sold in a marketplace. Come learn about this exciting campaign & how Vermont can keep the momentum for change going when the efforts of federal reform fall far short from fixing this crisis.  For more informationwww.workerscenter.org/healthcare or call 802 861-4892 PLEASE PASS IT FORWARD! THANKS!!

As will become immediately clear, I’m afraid, I am almost completely ignorant about dairying, except from the vantage point of a consumer.  So at the risk of well-deserved ridicule I’m going to go ahead and suggest what I think may be a novel approach to improving the situation for small dairy farms.  

Unless I am very much mistaken, uniformity of product is the number one objective in the processing of milk, coast to coast That’s why you see almost nothing but Holsteins wherever you go in dairy country, whether it’s California, Wisconsin or Vermont.  I would venture a guess that even those many thousands (millions?) of head of Holsteins are all descended from just a few great producers.  The object of selective breeding was to maximize yield of milk that was uniform and had the best butterfat profile for conventional dairy purposes.   Probably a smart approach at the outset; but the very success of that model is now threatening dairy farmers ability to make ends meet.  Even the co-ops that originally promised security for dairy farmers had to observe the rule of uniformity in order to satisfy market conditions.  Finally, the small dairy farmer is nothing but a bit player in a super-giant dairy conglomerate presided over by rich guys who don’t get out much. That is problem #1

I think problem number two may be a sustainability issue that is being over-looked because of problem #1.   Anyone who is familiar with biodiversity issues in  food crops can easily extrapolate what that threat might look like with regard to dairy herds.  Hint: it’s black and white and bred all over.  

While we are considering the plight of the small dairy farmer today, perhaps we should also be looking at the plight of the future American dairy consumer.  What happens if we continue to undervalue the nutritional role dairy plays in our diet, further diminishing the ability of small farmers to sustain their herds.  Milk production becomes more and more concentrated in the hands of a very few super-herds; and when further mechanization can’t satisfy the demand for cheaper and cheaper product, perhaps outsourcing can.  Finally, we become dependent for what is a significant part of the American diet on sources hundreds and thousands of miles away.  Then let’s say a superbug, a “Holstein Hepatitis,” comes along.  The cows are confined in such large groups that the virus quickly spreads and wipes out the entire herd in the Western Hemisphere.  There aren’t any more Jerseys,  Guernseys, or Brown Swiss cows anywhere to be found because no one bothered to preserve those herds, or at least not a sufficient number to fill the dietary void left by the dying Holsteins.  It may sound far-fetched, but why not?  I’d wager that the vast majority of dairy cows are already eating exactly the same food.  Probably made by Cargill…which is a division of Monsanto…which is a division of McDonald’s.   I’m kidding, of course.

Anyway, perhaps instead of concentrating on subsidies and surplus strategies, Congress should be looking at ways to encourage smaller, more biodiverse herds. We should be focussing on local sustainable food supply as the goal, rather than corporate overkill in the marketplace.  MORE is not necessarily BETTER.  Take a page from fruit and vegetable growers who have discovered a new market for heirloom varieties and exotics.  Rather than selling the bland uniformity of milk, why couldn’t we be marketing the sensual differences in color, flavor and texture available with herd diversity?

Imagine the “value added” potential!

Why can’t we pay farmers to provide food security for their immediate communities by gradually reducing their holdings of Holsteins,  and replacing them with less individuals of other varieties?

It’s just a thought.  Now I will quietly find the exit before I am escorted from the building.

Coke’s CEO said recently of what he called  governments efforts to tell people what to eat and drink . “If it worked, the Soviet Union would still be around.”  

First they came for our soda pop.US Legislators have floated an idea which has bubbled to the surface to mitigate health care costs with a possible tax on soft drinks. First the alleged death panels now  they want  to tax our bubbly sugar water . Is Obama going too far, attempting too much, over reach? He even went so far as to suggest that perhaps the tax should be explored and that people may be drinking too much soda. ”I actually think it’s an idea that we should be exploring,” Obama said in an interview with Men’s Health magazine going on sale this week. “There’s no doubt that our kids drink way too much soda.”

No doubt also part of the long term socialistic-communistic-liberalistic plan to destroy the Pepsi Generation ™   the New York City health  dept. has unveiled a subway bill board ad campaign  that feature images of globs of  fat  flowing out of what appears to be coke  poured out over ice .

The beverage industry released a statement claiming that the NYC health dept. ad campaign   singling out  sugary soft drinks runs the danger of minimized obesity .

Like most foods, soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are a source of calories. Simply naming one food source as a unique contributor minimizes a disease as complex as obesity.

–  How or why targeting a  heavily promoted ubiquitous product known to help cause  obesity  minimizes the issue was not explained .

It is the real thing ….

In 2001, the soft-drink industry included approximately five hundred U.S. bottlers with more than 183,000 employees, and it achieved retail sales of more than $61billion   . Americans that year consumed an average of 55 gallons of soft drinks per person, up from 48 in 1990 and 34 in 1980.

A recent Bloomberg survey rated coke as the best world wide brand name above IBM and Microsoft even McDonalds

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/…

http://www.ameribev.org/news–…

Psychic exhaustion week. Month, really. I got nuthin.

But this is important. It’s big on the problems, and it announces some help, including a modest increase in dairy pricing. Enough? Okay, that’s barely a rhetorical question… of course its not…. but what should be done? Discuss…

So ACORN, the group that has reported employees who engaged in voter registration fraud to the police and pointed out problematic registration forms, is being dumped on by the DC Democrat led federal government.

Seems the DC Democrat led House and Senate agree that an organization who reports an attempt at fraudulent use of their services (irrefutable evidence here) and promptly fires employees who engaged in questionable activities just doesn’t deserve anything but scorn.

Thank you DC Democrats … when measured in end results you really are not much different than the radical, right wing liars AKA the Republican Party.

[Cross-posted at Broadsides.org]

Shay Totten of Seven Days has been known to document the shady revolving door that goes from political job to journalism job (and vice versa) in our small town known as Vermont. I guess he should know about the phenomena from experience since he has, after all, gone from journalist to employee of former Auditor Liz Ready and then back to journalism. Dizzying, I know.

Totten appears to be keeping the revolving door between covering politicians and working for them well-greased if you consider his recent sloppy kiss of an article that he wrote about Vermont’s lone congressman, Peter Welch (“The Man of The House.”).

The headline should give you a hint about how far over Totten bent to supply Welch with nothing but accolades and applause lines. But the article is worse if, like me, you find yourself hoping that Totten and Seven Days would deliver on their “alternative media” tagline. No such luck here.

In his two-page feature, Totten waxes poetically about Welch’s great accomplishments with regards to the health care debate and his (cue laugh track) anti-war stance. But when Totten isn’t serving up his own chapped-lips for more Welch kisses, he serves up one quote after another from Welch’s friends and colleagues who (guess what?) have nothing but praise for Welch’s “skill, temperament, experience, and interpersonal skills.”

Please, get a room.

Quoting all this praise isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. It only becomes a glaring problem when you realize by the end of his article that Totten hasn’t quoted one, single person who has anything critical to say of Welch and/or his record. Not from the right. Not from the left. No one.

But let’s step back and look once again at the issues Totten-via-Welch are declaring to be Welch’s great successes.

First up: health care. How is it that Welch can be “succeeding” in the health care debate when it’s so obvious that real health care reform (read: single-payer and even the so-called public option) is off the table? Smells like a failure to me.

And how about the wars? Totten gushes about how Welch “was a vocal critic of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when he ran, and won, in 2006.” But then Totten refuses to report how Welch has voted repeatedly since being elected to fund BOTH wars.

Laughingly, Totten lets Welch off the hook by serving up his old and tired claim that he supports “timelines” for withdrawal of troops when he votes to appropriate more money for the wars. But how’s that strategy working out for him? Well, in 2007, Welch insisted that his vote for more Iraq war money at the time would lead to an end to the war by September 2008. Yes, September 2008.

But Totten doesn’t bother to trot out these kinds of facts or take a minute or two to contact someone who could provide him with an alternative view. Instead, Totten declares Welch victorious with his war stance – never mind the facts.

Worse, Totten lets Welch spit this line out without any opposing view: “The major thing in electing Barack Obama was to bring our troops home.”

Who amongst the sane – let alone the “alternative media” – believes that Obama is trying to “bring the troops home”? None that I know of. In fact, nearly two thousand Vermont National Guard troops are about to be deployed for Obama’s wars in the next couple of months, a deployment that is the largest in the state’s history. Moreover, there’s talk of a troop surge in Afghanistan and hemming and hawing amongst the Obama Defense Department about meeting the absurdly slow (and largely mythical) troop withdrawals from Iraq.

So how is it that Welch is succeeding here? Because, once again, it sure smells like failure to me.

Totten’s article on Welch should be considered “exhibit A” on how members of Congress can continue to be popular while the Congress itself is detested by the populace. It’s because members of the local media – alternative or otherwise – serve up nonsense about “their” congressman succeeding despite the obvious facts to the contrary.

If Congress is so clearly bungling health care and the wars, how can Welch be succeeding? When Welch delivers on his campaign pledges to provide single-payer health care and END the wars, then we’ll trot out the “success” word. But, for now, Welch is little more than a political loser.

Tottten won’t say that – not if he wants that revolving door to keep spinning in his favor. Too bad.