Some Countries Take Soccer Very Seriously...

Could you ever imagine the United States doing this?

The President of Nigeria has suspended the national team from international competition for 2 years. He decided that after losing two games in the tournament that Nigerian soccer had to be "restructured." Wonder what that means...

On the other hand, Nigeria isn't the only country furious at their national team. French president Nicolas Sarkozy is actually requesting an investigation the national team's implosion dreadful performance at the World Cup.

On a side note, I wonder if anyone in North Korea heard about them being slaughtered by Portugal 7-0?

House Democrats Showing some Spine on Afghanistan War

Every once in awhile, Nancy Pelosi really surprises me. Less often than not, it's for the better. However, this is one of those instances.

Pelosi told the Huffington Post today that there will be a "serious drawdown" of American troops from Afghanistan in the summer of 2011, citing rampant corruption among Hamid Karzi's government at the incredible expense of US taxpayers She has even wielded the threat of using the House's power of the purse to stop it. This is all following news broken by the Washington Post the other day, informing us that Karzai's government has "repeatedly derailed corruption investigations of politically connected Afghans".

And House Democrats weren't done there. Also today, Democrats blocked $3.8 billion in reconstruction funding, citing concerns about corruption in Afghanistan. You heard me: Democrats actually don't want to give taxpayer dollars to corrupt Afghani political figures and warlords. From the article:

"On Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she recently traveled to Afghanistan and found the corruption staggering. "I was just there for Mother's Day, in Afghanistan, that weekend, and traveled into the country even more remotely than Kandahar," Pelosi said in an interview in her office. "And the corruption issue, it's problematic. And you know what? A lot of it is our money. "This is about systemic, huge money," she said."

The move was inspired by a Wall Street Journal article the other day that opened:

"More than $3 billion in cash has been openly flown out of Kabul International Airport in the past three years, a sum so large that U.S. investigators believe top Afghan officials and their associates are sending billions of diverted U.S. aid and logistics dollars and drug money to financial safe havens abroad."

Did that sink in? $1 billion American taxpayer dollars have gone in the front door and immediately out the back, right in Afghanistan's international airport every year for 3 years.

It seems that at least in the House, Democrats are finally starting to feel the winds of change in American public opinion towards the now 9-year-long war in Afghanistan, now the longest armed conflict that the United States has ever been involved in. The war has become an incredible burden on American taxpayers: $280 billion to date with no real end in sight (the number passes $1 trillion if you also include the costs of the war in Iraq).

Also, it doesn't help the war hawks that more and more bad news keeps coming in from the front lines. The Kandahar offensive is moving much slower than originally anticipated. CIA Director Leon Panetta said yesterday that there are probably less than 100 al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan at this time. And I'm sure you all heard about a certain general of ours who recently being relieved of his command after a nonchalant interview he and his staff gave Rolling Stone. It's finally getting harder for lawmakers to justify this stupid war that we lost back in 2003 when we invaded Iraq.

Respect for Shephard Smith: +10 Points

Found on the Huffington Post

Shephard Smith takes Andrew Napolitano to task for defending BP. Apparently, according to Napolitano, the government is to blame for everything BP did, including having more safety violations than every other company "combined times 10".

"How does it feel standing up for BP?" Thank you, Shep.

I can't listen to the rest of this moron.

If you didn't just watch the USA-Algeria match..

1. You missed an absolutely incredible game.

2. Yes, we did just ADVANCE TO THE ROUND OF 16 AND WON OUR GROUP!

See you in the 16, Germany Ghana or Serbia!

USA ALL THE WAY!

2009: A Good Year to be Filthy Rich

Are you worth millions of dollars? Then chances are last year was a pretty good year for you, despite, well, you know, the global economic collapse.

According to the most recent Merril Lynch/Capgemini report on world wealth, the number of millionaires rose 17% to 10 million and their collective wealth rose to $39 TRILLION, a staggering 19% increase over the previous year.

You just read that correctly. 10 million people control $39 trillion in wealth. The rich in North America alone hold $10.7 trillion of that, according to the report. Just to put that in perspective, Morgan Stanley estimated the total monetary value in US dollars of all worldwide wealth in 2006 was...$100 trillion. Ok, so that was in 2006 before the world financial meltdown. So, for arguments sake, let's assume that a quarter of all that wealth was wiped out in the 2008-2009 collapse. Even assuming a quarter of all worldwide wealth was destroyed, 10 million people...out of nearly 7 billion...control MORE THAN HALF OF ALL GLOBAL WEALTH!

Let that sink in for a minute.

Rand Paul (and the rest of the American Right) Thinks the Unemployed Don't Want to Work

If that Kentucky Senate seat swings blue in November, the man that will have likely made that possible will be...Rand Paul: the gift that keeps on giving. When asked about his feelings on Senate Republicans blocking $120 million in aid to the unemployed, Dr. Paul had some pointed advice for the 10+ million Americans that are currently unemployed (keeping in mind that for every 5 unemployed Americans currently there is only 1 job to compete for):

"Accept a wage that's less than [you] had at [your] previous job" and "get back to work." Straight from the horse's mouth...



What's amazing about this and other similarly-worded statements from those on the far-right (now the mainstream Republican Party) is how it really reveals what they think of the unemployed: they despise them. Righties think that the unemployed really, really want to just sit around and accept government handouts for the rest of their lives. And they don't bother to differentiate between the real deadbeats that do exist in our society that leech off of our welfare system and the OVERWHELMING majority of job seekers just looking to get their dignity back and earn an honest, respectable wage for honest, respectable work: if you're unemployed, you must be a lazy deadbeat societal leech. The American right as done everything in their power to demonize the long-term unemployed regardless of the reason that they're unemployed. Can't find a job? Tough shit, starve! You probably did it to yourself anyways.

And why? Well, you can't have a system that is completely and utterly dominated by corporations (read: fascism) without creating a permanent underclass that is hopelessly dependent on those who horded all the wealth for themselves: decimate the middle class and drive once-prosperous citizens en masse into wage slavery. Is this the future the right wants for America?

Gay Marriage Opponents Get a Taste of their Own Meidicine

Isn't it absolutely hilarious when the discriminators cry out about discrimination or being intimidated for their views on a certain subject? Right now in California, some people who supposed Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that re-relegated an entire group of people to second-class citizenship because of what turns them on, are complaining that they are being discriminated against!

I guess I'd have more pity for these people if I wasn't aware of the incredibly painful irony here and the fact that, in so many places in this country, you could easily substitute "prop-8 supporter" with "homosexual" and the discrimination would be a hundred times worse, like not being allowed to marry the person you love.

Also, I'm sure I'm not the only person here who has heard the following statement from someone: "I don't hate gay people, but..." followed by something equally puzzling, like:

1. Homosexuality is a sin/"hate the sin love the sinner" blah blah blah blah....
2. Marriage is a sacred institution (That ends before death do us part over 50% of the time)
3. Allowing gay marriage will also force you down the slippery slope and before you know it, sibilings and sheep will be getting married (although I'm sure some gay-hating rednecks would approve of that.)
   

If you ask me, it's a classic case of having your cake and eating it. "I don't dislike gay people but I think their lifestyle is abomination" is akin to saying "I like Milton Friedman's economic ideas but I hate the free market". And I know what all the righties are going to say: "BUT AREN'T YOU NOW DISCRIMINATING AGAINST US BLAH BLAH BLAH CRY." No, we're encouraging you to get over your own sexual insecurities and join the 21st century already. 50 years ago, konservatives were saying the same thing about how black people should just accept second-class citizenry. Their arguments are almost carbon copies of each other, just substitute "f*****s" for "n*****s".

And now for something completely different...

Something more light-hearted... Silent monks "singing" the Hallelujah Chorus.

Blackwater is Back!

So, remember a few years ago when a certain mercenary (read: murder-for-hire) company shot up a group of Iraqis in cold blood and then months later were kicked out of Iraq (despite Uncle Sam's best attempts at pretending it didn't happen), renamed themselves Xe Services and prayed that people would forget about it?

Sounds like they got their wish.

CBS News reported today that Blackwater/Xe has been awarded a $120 million contract to "provide "protective security services" at the new U.S. consulates in Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan". Their work will begin "immediately" and will last 12-18 months.

Now lets rehash some of the nasty little things we know about Blackwater/Xe:

• Blackwater/XE CEO Erik Prince isn't a big fan of telling the government exactly what his company does.
• Also on CEO Prince....he is know to be a rabid Christian zealot and tells his employees that they are on a "Christian Crusade." Further, according to sworn statements from Xe employees, Prince openly encouraged his employees to destroy Iraqi life at will, including a desire to "lay hajjis out on cardboard". He also really, really, really, hates Muslims and wants to eliminate Islam from the globe. Just the kind of person who's company we want in a country that is so tenaciously stubborn that the majority of it has yet to leave the Stone Age, never mind convert.
  
• As late as June of this year, Xe employees, including former president Gary Jackson were indicted on felony weapons charges relating to falsifying records to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms pertaining to purchases of several AK-47s and M4 assault rifles

And this is what I could find while I was drunk at my graduation party. I think you all get the idea.

"Fool me once, same on you. Murder more Muslims.....shame on Uncle Sam for letting you get away with it again?"

Christ Christe Wants NJ Medical Pot Grown.....at Rutgers

So we all know how Chris Christe hates the New Jersey medical marijuana program, right? Apparently, he trusts Rutgers the most to be in charge of growing and distributing medical pot. And not the private sector. Cognitive dissonance much?

On one hand, I can't help but scratch my head, I knew some people in the Cook program. On the other, why wasn't I a plant science major and a few years younger?

Krugman vs. Greenspan on the US budget deficit

Did they plan this in advance? Today, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (subscription required) and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman present opposite perspectives on the massive budget deficits currently facing the US.

I feel like I've had a conversation similar to this one with more conservative Americans than I can ever count...from Krugman's article:

"German hawk: “We must cut deficits immediately, because we have to deal with the fiscal burden of an aging population.” (And lets not forget to cut taxes for the super-rich, since they've fallen on really hard times too!)

Ugly American: “But that doesn’t make sense. Even if you manage to save 80 billion euros — which you won’t, because the budget cuts will hurt your economy and reduce revenues — the interest payments on that much debt would be less than a tenth of a percent of your G.D.P. So the austerity you’re pursuing will threaten economic recovery while doing next to nothing to improve your long-run budget position.”

German hawk: “I won’t try to argue the arithmetic (because I know the numbers don't add up so I need to draw your attention away from that). You have to take into account the market reaction. (By which "market" means Wall St., because the Dow is the ultimate indicator of the health of the economy!)”

Ugly American: “But how do you know how the market will react? And anyway, why should the market be moved by policies that have almost no impact on the long-run fiscal position?”

German hawk: “You just don’t understand our situation. (Translation: Stop trying to force the economy to do something good for society, you stupid liberal hippy! I learned everything I needed to know about the economy in Macroeconomics 101 and all humans act in their own rational self-interest, the underlying and incredibly absurd assumption of everything that my thinking is based upon! Because people NEVER, EVER lie, cheat or steal! You just don't want to work and take handouts for the rest of your life, don't you?)” "

Sound familiar?

Also, Krugman is one of the few major economics that I've heard ever acknowledge the budgetary elephant in the room that is really screwing us: our absurd military spending (more than the rest of the world combined) and funding 2 wars. But that's a story for another time...

Here's a nice summary of the two from the Huffington Post.

So did that reffing suck or what? And more...

If you watched the USA/Slovenia game, you're probably thinking the same thing I am:

What the hell was that ref thinking?



Even the commentators on ESPN said that if anything, it should have been an American penalty kick! And don't get me started on that call against Robbie Findley. And we really could've used him against Algeria.

All in all, we played a pretty solid match...by American standards. But if we plan on surviving past the quarterfinals, we need to be more than just a second half team. Not coming out to play in the first half is tolerable against our weak group, but it ain't gonna fly against more powerful teams. Bob Bradley should be giving his halftime speeches at the start of the game.

Now to wait until 2:30 for England and Algeria. I'm thinking England will win but a draw would be ideal - hopefully Slovenia can counterattack England to KO our parent country next week. Algeria's performance today will be a better indicator of how much of a fight they'll put up against the US next week as well, although I'm still giving the early edge to the USA in that match.