Pat Shanahan: Poster boy for Military-Industrial Complex

Back on January 17, 1961, Ike, in his Farewell Address, coined the concept that haunts America 58 years on:

"We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence by the Military-Industrial Complex"

Never has that nefarious threat to a sustainable America been more on display than ascension of Boeing supply chain and operations vice president Pat Shanahan to Deputy Defense Secretary to Interim Defense Secretary; now on the cusp of the big prize, confirmed Secretary of Defense. No government or military experience was an impediment to Shanahan's meteoric rise to Pentagon power; just experience helping funnel hundreds of billions to number 2 government contractor Boeing over his 33 year Boeing career. In 2017 Boeing nabbed a nifty $23 billion, nearly of quarter of its total revenue.

Shanahan was confirmed by the Senate for Deputy Defense Secretary in July, 2017 in spite of a dying Senator John McCain arguing “The answers that you gave to the questions, whether intentionally or unintentionally, were...condescending, and I’m not overjoyed that you came from one of the five corporations that receive 90 percent of the taxpayers’ dollars. I have to have confidence that the fox is not going to be put back into the hen house,”

Fageddaboudit, Senator. As Interim Defense Secretary since the resignation of James Mattis in December, 2018, Shanahan has acted like Wiley Coyote to Roadrunner and No. 1 contractor Lockheed Martin ($50 billion), disparaging their wares to the benefit of Boeing, so much so the Pentagon's Inspector General opened an investigation of Shanahan in March. But it just took a month for the I.G. to clear Shanahan, greasing his path to likely confirmation.

That's how it goes in 21st century America; fast track for the Military-Industrial Complex, slow death for infrastructure, immigration reform, health care for all, education, climate protection and just about every aspect of a truly sane society.

It's Underwood's censure that should be censured, along with Trump immigration policies

Rep. Lauren Underwood of the Illinois 14th deserves our support against her comments to acting Homeland Security Secretary (DHS) Kevin McAleenan being stricken from the Congressional record. At a DHS budget hearing, Underwood rightly called out Trump administration policies that have left 5 children dead since December who had been held in a Customs and Border Control detention facility at the Texas border. The gist of Underwood's remarks is that the policies of child separation there that have led to the deaths is an "intentional" policy that is "immoral, un-American and just plain wrong." Millions of Americans agree with Rep. Underwood and we need courageous congresspersons to articulate these feelings to effect the change required from a cruel administration maintaining indefensible immigration polices designed to keep the Trump base energized and supportive.

Democratic committee chair Bennie Thompson ruled Underwood's remarks "appropriate" after Republican Mike Rogers demanded they be "taken down" for violating the decorum of the House. But Republicans used the absence of ten Democratic committee members to force a vote which was passed by the temporary Republican majority.

We need more forthright congresspersons speaking truth in blunt terms to grotesque administration policies that threaten perpetual war, demand removal of health care from 20 million, and yes, intentionally politicize immigration policies leaving thousands of children separated from their parents...and some of them dead.

Senate committee votes to continue abdicating Congressional war powers to prez

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted Wednesday to defeat a proposal which would prevent Congressional funding of any war against Iran unless authorized by Congress ahead of time. The vote was 13 to 9 with 2 of 10 Democrats joining 11 of the 12 Republicans to defeat the measure. Only Rand Paul (R-KY) broke with the Republican majority to make a principled statement that only Congress has constitutional authority to launch war.

The 13 who voted down the proposal abdicated their congressional responsibility to prevent the president from unilaterally taking America to war...something the current president and his predecessors have done in at least 8 countries in the last 18 years. Several of Trump's closest foreign policy advisers and possibly Trump himself are lusting for war against Iran. Why? Besides being sociopaths with no regard for the innocents they'll slaughter, they're willing to do the heavy lifting for Saudi Arabia and Israel who want Iran taken out but are too weak to do it themselves.

One of Trump's virulent war mongers, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, laughingly told the Committee before the vote: “There is no doubt there is a connection between the Islamic Republic of Iran and al-Qaeda. Period. Full stop.” That should be 'Period. Full Lie' because Iran has been FIGHTING al-Qaeda for decades, not cooperating with them against the US. When it comes to fomenting criminal war...no transparent lie will go untold.

Why I support late term abortion

Pro choice advocates are focused on preventing state laws essentially outlawing all abortions, including those so early women may not know they're pregnant. But we should not ignore laws in the 42 states that ban late term abortions for any reasons not involving the life or mental l/ physical health of the mother. While these laws comply with Roe v. Wade regarding late term (post viability) abortions, they unduly restrict choice which is the essence of a woman's reproductive freedom. They ignore numerous valid reasons for late term abortions, some of which are caused by individual, group and state efforts to prevent all abortions:

Single or young mothers unable to cope

Marital conflict

Prevented from earlier abortion access

Fetal abnormality diagnosed late in pregnancy

Didn't know they were pregnant

Pressured early on not to abort

Unaware of early abortion access

Afraid to tell parents or partner of pregnancy

Our neighbors up north in Canada do not, like these 42 states, essentially put the pregnant woman on trial to determine if she has post viability grounds to abort. Nor do they keep a scorecard on the difficult process of determining viability after the the 16th, 20th, 24th or even 28th week, all of which have been cited by AMA experts as the likely viability point. Like on so many other social issues, Canada gets it right on abortion. It's nobody's business except the woman making likely the toughest decision she will ever have to make. When one in three women will either seek or have an abortion, I figure this must be an incredibly personal and important decision that does not require the interference of me or anyone else, especially the state. As I've said before, Hooray for Abortion.

Hooray for abortion - Part 2 Red state race to third world women's health care

Abortion worldwide is fairly common; 56 million yearly, a quarter of all pregnancies. It's even more common for unintended pregnancies; nearly a 57% of the 99 million occurring each year. Two thirds of women live in areas where abortion is restricted or outlawed altogether. This is where virtually all of the 23,000 annual abortion related deaths occur, from abortions performed in unsafe places by untrained practitioners using unsafe methods.

We don't know if the 8 cruel state legislatures are aware of these figures when they pass regressive, restrictive anti-abortion laws. But there actions are sure pointing their states in that direction. For US women without means...welcome to the third world.

Castro green long before green became fashionable

Cuban leader Fidel Castro embraced environmentalism in the early 1990's. He campaigned against global warming and waste of natural resources, accusing the US of being the world's primary polluter. He created a ministry dedicated to protecting the environment by educating the Cuban people of its importance and stressing sustainable use of natural resources. By 2006 Cuba became the first country which met the UN's definition of sustainable development with an ecological footprint under 18 hectares per capita and a Human Development Index of over 0.8 (both good numbers). Thirteen years on the US president doesn't say one word about protecting the environment for future generations, pouting we can't go green cause it will wreck the economy. When it comes to environmentalism which country, the US or Cuba...is Third World?