Absolutely not!

Mother kills eight year-old
daughter because she
refused to take a bath.

Absolutely not! There is an article on Antiwar today that says the Pentagon wants authority to place as many as 400,000 troops in American cities and towns. In other words, to do away with the Posse Comitatus act of 1878. This is unthinkable! It is even more unthinkable now that we are a military that is a result of voluntary enlistments rather than a civilian draft. It could easily be the case that members of the Armed Services today owe their loyalty to those who pay them, rather than loyalty to country. This is dangerous beyond belief. It would essentially give the President (and apparently the Secretary of Defense) their own 400,000 member private army that would be able to enforce their wishes on the American public. The Governors of our states would lose control over their militias, which would become subject to Federal control. The very fact that anyone would seriously even suggest such a thing makes me very suspicious. We have gotten along very well for over a hundred years with Posse Comitatus, why would anyone want to change it now? Of course they say these troops would only be used in case of emergencies, but what might constitute an emergency, a demonstration against the White House? Reading this article makes me far less surprised there is an increase in militia activities around the nation. It seems to me this is just inviting local militias to form. I was never in favor of mercenary armed forces in the first place, for the reason stated above, where would the loyalties lie, with those who paid them or with the well-being of the country. I find this idea totally unacceptable and I suspect the motives of those who would even suggest such a thing. Apparently, at the moment, there is no Congressional sponsor for this dangerous change. Let us hope it stays that way and this idea gets buried so deeply it will never again resurface.

Robert Novak died today of a (cancerous?) brain tumor he had apparently been battling since 2008. While I never wish ill-health or death for anyone, I cannot honestly say I will miss him. And while I realize you are not supposed to speak unkindly of the deceased, speaking the truth about Novak is just as bad. He prided himself on his title, “The Prince of Darkness,” a title he richly deserved. He was a right-wing operative who pretended for years to be a reporter, but he was so obviously biased I don’t think anyone was fooled. Probably his greatest legacy will be his helping to “out” Valerie Plame, a treasonous episode we certainly could have done without, and one that did not hold the guilty accountable. Perhaps he will find the peace in death he obviously did not value in life.

It appears the Iraqis may actually vote for U.S. troops to leave a year earlier than scheduled. Wouldn’t that be great, we’d then have all the more cannon fodder to send to Afghanistan to fight our glorious “war” of…of…I dunno, maybe our glorious “war” to keep alive the possibility of a pipeline through Afghanistan. I still like and support Obama, but sometimes I wonder how he can be so incredibly stupid as to keep sending more troops to Afghanistan to do something no one really understands and, for the most part, even cares about. Similarly, I don’t understand his protection of the obvious war criminals in our midst. These two things are of great importance to me. Perhaps if he can get a health care bill passed he might give greater attention to them.

I read today that the Israelis are quietly starting to cut down the number of building permits they have been giving in the West Bank. Is this a sign, no matter how slight, that Netanyahu is actually feeling some pressure from the U.S. to stop their illegal theft of land and water? I hope so, but frankly, I don’t trust the Israelis to do anything positive when it comes to making peace with the Palestinians.

More and more individuals are carrying pistols and even assault rifles to Obama events. This is apparently legal in some states. I wonder if they could be arrested for idiocy? I guess not, if we arrested for idiocy in the U.S. there would be very few of us left. Sigh!

LKBIQ:
We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.
Anton Chekhov

TILT:
Crickets are common pets in China and can be bought in pet stores.