Out of Reach

The rhetoric inside America is that of bring back our boys and girls. This film shows what they are doing, how effective they are occupying a foreign land that seems embarressed by the stupidity of their invaders, when asked if he was scared, the quietly seated local shakes his head.

The trouble with fighting an unjust war is there can be no logic behind the actions of on the ground operators.  How can their actions be seen as anything but brutal and out of sync with reality by the cowed populations over which the terms of life are dictated and their lives bruised by the use of force without real intent.  

When asked about what they are doing, the American soldier says "I am just doing my job." 

If American forces are going to be in Iraq, they at least need to know their purpose. They need to earn respect rather than the disgust and fear that seems to welcome them.

Pollution shortens human life

It is the obvious things that kill us. Standing on a street corner - if you wait long enough - you are probably bound to be hit by a speeding or drunk motorist as one Auckland homeless woman sadly was quite recently. But do not despair, just standing there and breathing in the particles from the exhaust of cars is fairly likely to knock a whole lot of years from your lifetime, here on Earth.

Breathing excess particle pollutants causes damage to arteries and lungs. As if someone had to discover this... Hey everyone - get this - pollution is not just bad for the environment, it is shortening the time you have to pay off your mortgage, time left to save up for that car, that boat or holiday. No wonder sales suffer!

Each diesil powered SUV stuck in traffic is a community attached to a smoking cigarette. So much to do, so little time - no - the lastest just in is rush a little faster as the pollution caused by everyone competing for "wealth" will remove several years from your life.

If we all just treated life as the sane tortoise - one bit to the next - rather than competing to become super consumers - insanely rushing from one thing to the next without so much as breath - we may live to enjoy the fruits of our labours.

The numbers killed in war are too small to affect most, but - do not be concerned - pollution is going to get every one who lives in a city and breaths. There should be a warning on the borders: warning, city, breathing can cause sudden death.

The End Game

While George Bush is under general anesthetic - if Cheney had a medical emergency with one of his quadruple bypasses or Lipitor scheduling error, and Bush did not wake up for a while, we would have an America firmly out of the control of Republicans. Would that mean that any change of direction may occur - perhaps a rush to file papers for impeachment could be a good idea, and get in before the anesthetic wears off. It is what they would do.

Seriously, long shots like medical error on the President while Cheney is cleaning his rifle may change the nature of this crop of Democrats but if an election were to be held today how could a Republican win? The advance media for Hilary is replacing good press day for the President. She is seen as articulate where Bush is heard bumbling. Obama is seen as relevant, alive - where Cheney is only kept alive by modern medical miracles.

Bush is faced with the cost of his primary error. Invading Iraq when he did not absolutely have to, he lost the extraordinary morale high ground granted by the obscenity on the American psyche; and yet as Osama bin Laden is walking free, even if only in their thoughts, the bulk of their military muscle is being exposed to a civil war it started by undoing the chain letter of death threats that was Saddam's rule.

What it such a good idea? Right-minded Americans find rationales to believe it is of course a good thing - but will American democracy sustain the attack long enough to do any good? These are just excuses to keep the war going indefinitely and are no longer ringing true to the electorate.

Bush will run out of time before ending this war. He will leave it to the next President to sort out, because his domestic agenda will take over. He will suddenly be having to make making handsome gestures to maintain his office.  

There is no end game in the foreseeable future unless Mr Bush just cuts and runs from Iraq.  

Site back to normal

One of the uses of domain names and blog sites is to trial out new or possibly better hosting services before recommending them to clients. There are certain criteria we examine carefully to try to ensure that client websites are not suddenly made unavilable through intervention for whatever reason by the hosting company. This means that we offer a remote DNS service as well as very fast hosting with lots of capability.

We are pleased to have regained control of both disturbingtrends.org and dtrends.org.

Now to get on with predicting the most exciting part of George Bush as President. The end game.

U.S. Ties Iran to Deadly Iraq Attack

U.S. Ties Iran to Deadly Iraq Attack - New York Times

America accuses Iran of war involvement. A Shiite country trying to affect change for Shiite dominance seems fairly natural, as natural as, say, a coalition of countries that was formed to invade Iraq - under the auspices of the UN. Naturally, aid to the "enemy" is seen as an "act of war" by America - but America must define who their enemy is. I thought it was al Qaida and America probably thought so too.

It is probably more true to say that it is a flawed philosophy behind this war rather than bring peace to the region. America should just take over the administration of Iraq and declare itself the winner. All this fluffing about with a defective Iraqi government seems like the right thing to do, but why does America need to be seen as a savior, rather than the exhibit greed or insecurity behind this Texan invasion of an oil rich jewel of the East?

Or is that what American intelligence wants is to think. Invade! Kill! Destroy! as a philosophy is not achieving much. Heck, if Australia invaded Canada, guess which side America would give military aid to?

Apocalypse - Maya - Armageddon - Rapture - End of Days

Apocalypse - Maya - Armageddon - Rapture - End of Days - New York Times

4 Held in Scottish Attack as British See Broader Plot

4 Held in Scottish Attack as British See Broader Plot - New York Times

The terror that hit the shores of Manhattan and thus the whole USA were the stuff of monster movies. Lurching large and with lots of dust, smoke, death and mayhem.

It was no wonder America, indeed the world was scarred by this dirty simple act of extraordinary horror. Invading Iraq did not exorcise the demon from the simple determination of an oilman, waiting for this one to blow?

Now the terrorism in the UK is from the disaffected sons of criminal dissidents who do not understand their religion. Like George Bush, they take their sacred words as some kind of political imperative, and for that both sides of this war may be best understood as following false goals.

More commonly put, they are making God awful mistakes with their power. One hopes that Gordon Brown's brief stab at running things will make a difference. It may be the best chance he has as an incumbent against the Tories. Perhaps that is the reason for the timing.

Iran 'unable to take Australians'

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran 'unable to take Australians'

The SECRET is out! All this colonisation and cricket was not for nought. Indeed. Her Majesty's forces went quietly were the Australians resisted. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards were unable to to capture and ransom for political capital these intrepid Australian sailors.

That "political capital" is an illusion. The UK had 15 sailors taken prisoner by a country who's president had to be seen releasing the prisoners before a serious standoff with Her Majesty's Naval Forces. Now we can understand it was due to a brewing fear of the Aussies who really take this kind of thing seriously. One can imagine their earnest roughness all bruising into action at the clanging sounds of ships alarm battlestations, smoke, fire and explosions all about to erupt - but because its sort of "local" we (in New Zealand) remain unshocked - as though by a cloud of non-reality. The "war games in the Gulf" sneaking into recent news items and the mad scientists sponsored by a Persian sheikdom play shadows in our fear.

The hardest and most worthwhile battle of all is to solve things without weapons and soldiers. The West has a tendancy to view itself as the "civil" side of the equation. The side that is the "natural winner" that has convinced its populace of its right and legitimacy.

Germany was high jacked by an evil, authoritarian, insane war monger given confidence of the fear he could engender by killing people. And American fears of a sponsored repeat of this in Saddam Hussein justifies a war that will soon justify more skirmishes.

The point is not who is right or wrong. America is in a foreign land and establishing itself as a viable military force permanently. One of these days it will simply be able to react anywhere in the world. No wonder Putin gets a little edgy. America has beaten the Soviet dream into insignificance.

Hamas - entitlement to power?

Do Hamas have a right to power despite them perhaps being destructive to the future of a settled Palestine? They were voted in by the popular vote. Democratic action by the people and their election set the scene for more potential grief for Palestine. Things are getting worse before they improve. Much worse it seems.

Democracy is not perfect. It is an evolutionary system - meaning that it is self correcting. If the Palestinians need a stupid terrorist Government in control - they are facing the unbalanced Israeli control regime with fire. Bad choice. But it was a choice, was it not?

The entry of militia into politics is unfortunate and really the same thing as a military dictatorship. It is the mandate of an oppressed, excluded and therefore angry people.

Without damage to Israel, a solution that causes progress may be more tenable after Hamas has convinced the poor of Palestine that the struggle is not the solution. Until they hit rock bottom, how will they disclaim their addiction to violence?