Thursday, July 16, 2009
Secret CIA Plan Involved Spying - Dems Aghast
So it finally came out. The info that the CIA withheld from Congress was not the news about "torture" as Ms. Pelosi would have had us believe, but it was about a plan, never implemented to target Al Queda leaders for assassination.
So, Pelosi is still a liar. At least we got that resolved.
Now about this shocking secret plan, isn't this what everyone thought the Bush Administration was doing for the last 7 years? Didn't I see President Bush in Manhattan on September 13th or whatever, 2001, screaming into a bull horn, vowing to get the guys who knocked our buildings down? How was he supposed to do that, issue subpoenas for them to appear in Court?
The shocking news in all this of course is that the assassination strategy was never implemented. Surely, we all thought that the CIA as well as the armed forces were spending every business day trying to get bin Laden in their gunsights and fill him with lead. But it turns out that the Bush Adminsitration wasn't so inept they couldn't find him, it was that they weren't even trying!! This has to come as a gross insult to all those who knew and loved anyone who died on 9/11/2001.
Of course, when Leon Panetta came to run the CIA and found this still to be in the planning stage, he immediately aborted it. I guess this administration just has to abort everything of any value - they can't help themselves.
The Social Democrats in Congress haven't said a word on that score however. The affront to their way of thinking is that the Administration drummed up the possibility of such a strategy without disseminating the information to them. While they were at it, they might as well have phoned up bin Laden and given him fair notice too.
Reading all of this, one can only shrug, try to maintain composure, weigh all of the issues, and then scream at the top of one's lungs, "WHAT THE #!@& IS GOING ON WITH ALL THESE SCHMUCKS AND PUTZHEADS IN WASHINGTON? Isn't there anyone with a functionally operating brain?"
Apparently, the new Administration is no more gifted than the old one or than Congressional leaders. Hillary and Barrack, after being summarily turned down by the (now illegitimate) government of Iran relative to their offer to "negotiate" concerning Iran's nuclear program, have given them until September to come to the bargaining table. That should have the Mullahs shaking in their collective sandals. I wonder what happens if they turn us down again. I know what happens if they agree to talk. Nothing.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, though no one can explain to me exactly what a health bill will accomplish or why the new system will be better, we seem still headed in that direction since it's fairer. It is only fair that instead of the majority of people enjoying access to high quality care, we should spend a lot more money so that all of us have occasional access to mediocre care. My main concern is that the process of passing this bill will make me sick, and I won't be able to find a solvent doctor or hospital to make me well again.
Somehow, this has become Obama's highest priority. The irony is that after his time in office is over, when America's smoker - in - chief inevitably becomes ill, the incredible health system Americans have evolved that has turned some of the scourges of past generations into chronic diseases many of us live with, will no longer be around.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just when everyone was predicting disaster for the market, and a retest of the March lows, we went off on a high-spirited rally that even has the perma-bears making ambivalent cooing noises at stocks. After selling most of May and into early June, we have been mainly on the buy side since, so the timing of the rally was friendly, attributable to the formula we follow here, not to any sixth sense I might have. This week, we bought 500 shares of Harleysville National (HNBC), a zero buy, at 4.14 and not for the faint of heart. Yesterday, we bought 700 shares of Frozen Food Express (FFEX) at 3.44. Though neither of these buys are in the money yet, that is not surprising since our market orders move the market on these thinly traded stocks and we don't really get bargain prices. But we are very patient.
By the way, we have watched in amazement as Books A Million climbs higher and no, it doesn't bother me to have already sold 1100 shares during this rally. The formula is designed to take profits a little at a time, so we don't lose sleep about not catching the top. Frankly, I hope it just keeps running. We will probably take more profits next week.
And here is a new feature! You can see the Redwavemusings portfolio of common stocks in all its glory on Bloomberg.com. Go to Personal Finance, click on Portfolio Tracker, enter User Name - redwave72 and password - musings. You will see five portfolio's which are really just the musings portfolio in alphabetical order. Please don't edit or change the data. (Unfortunately, I cannot restrict this to view only).
So, Pelosi is still a liar. At least we got that resolved.
Now about this shocking secret plan, isn't this what everyone thought the Bush Administration was doing for the last 7 years? Didn't I see President Bush in Manhattan on September 13th or whatever, 2001, screaming into a bull horn, vowing to get the guys who knocked our buildings down? How was he supposed to do that, issue subpoenas for them to appear in Court?
The shocking news in all this of course is that the assassination strategy was never implemented. Surely, we all thought that the CIA as well as the armed forces were spending every business day trying to get bin Laden in their gunsights and fill him with lead. But it turns out that the Bush Adminsitration wasn't so inept they couldn't find him, it was that they weren't even trying!! This has to come as a gross insult to all those who knew and loved anyone who died on 9/11/2001.
Of course, when Leon Panetta came to run the CIA and found this still to be in the planning stage, he immediately aborted it. I guess this administration just has to abort everything of any value - they can't help themselves.
The Social Democrats in Congress haven't said a word on that score however. The affront to their way of thinking is that the Administration drummed up the possibility of such a strategy without disseminating the information to them. While they were at it, they might as well have phoned up bin Laden and given him fair notice too.
Reading all of this, one can only shrug, try to maintain composure, weigh all of the issues, and then scream at the top of one's lungs, "WHAT THE #!@& IS GOING ON WITH ALL THESE SCHMUCKS AND PUTZHEADS IN WASHINGTON? Isn't there anyone with a functionally operating brain?"
Apparently, the new Administration is no more gifted than the old one or than Congressional leaders. Hillary and Barrack, after being summarily turned down by the (now illegitimate) government of Iran relative to their offer to "negotiate" concerning Iran's nuclear program, have given them until September to come to the bargaining table. That should have the Mullahs shaking in their collective sandals. I wonder what happens if they turn us down again. I know what happens if they agree to talk. Nothing.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, though no one can explain to me exactly what a health bill will accomplish or why the new system will be better, we seem still headed in that direction since it's fairer. It is only fair that instead of the majority of people enjoying access to high quality care, we should spend a lot more money so that all of us have occasional access to mediocre care. My main concern is that the process of passing this bill will make me sick, and I won't be able to find a solvent doctor or hospital to make me well again.
Somehow, this has become Obama's highest priority. The irony is that after his time in office is over, when America's smoker - in - chief inevitably becomes ill, the incredible health system Americans have evolved that has turned some of the scourges of past generations into chronic diseases many of us live with, will no longer be around.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just when everyone was predicting disaster for the market, and a retest of the March lows, we went off on a high-spirited rally that even has the perma-bears making ambivalent cooing noises at stocks. After selling most of May and into early June, we have been mainly on the buy side since, so the timing of the rally was friendly, attributable to the formula we follow here, not to any sixth sense I might have. This week, we bought 500 shares of Harleysville National (HNBC), a zero buy, at 4.14 and not for the faint of heart. Yesterday, we bought 700 shares of Frozen Food Express (FFEX) at 3.44. Though neither of these buys are in the money yet, that is not surprising since our market orders move the market on these thinly traded stocks and we don't really get bargain prices. But we are very patient.
By the way, we have watched in amazement as Books A Million climbs higher and no, it doesn't bother me to have already sold 1100 shares during this rally. The formula is designed to take profits a little at a time, so we don't lose sleep about not catching the top. Frankly, I hope it just keeps running. We will probably take more profits next week.
And here is a new feature! You can see the Redwavemusings portfolio of common stocks in all its glory on Bloomberg.com. Go to Personal Finance, click on Portfolio Tracker, enter User Name - redwave72 and password - musings. You will see five portfolio's which are really just the musings portfolio in alphabetical order. Please don't edit or change the data. (Unfortunately, I cannot restrict this to view only).
