Mothers Day and Ariel Castro

52 year old Ariel Castro is fast becoming known as the Cleveland monster for good reason. He's not exactly the son a mother can be proud of.  As the details of his life, and what he did to the three girls he kidnapped a decade ago become better known, his mother has made no secret of her revulsion and her heartbreak over the situation she finds herself in. She must have known something was wrong years ago, but not been able to speak out.. Perhaps she was unwilling, or in denial.  Whatever her story is, it hides a great deal of pain.  Family secrets and lies are an old and sad story, and the bigger the secret the worse the pain when it is revealed.

 Lillian Castro, the monster's mother, is quoted by the BBC as saying: "I have a sick son who has committed something very grave. I'm suffering very much,...May those young ladies forgive me."  Not exactly a fabulous Mother's Day for her this year, and knowing maternal guilt as I do, I can imagine she feels plenty bad,though her grief can do nothing to help the " young ladies" she is apologizing to and few in the general public will shed a tear on her behalf.  Still, I cannot help thinking about her as Mother's Day approaches.  What a bummer.

Then there is the pain of Castro's oldest daughter, the one he had with his common law wife ,Grimilda Figueroa. Grimalda, it seems,left Ariel Castro years ago and died last year after a long illness.She too  was beaten, tortured, and subjected ( with her two children) to nightmarish abuse.  

The couple's daughter was interviewed by CNN in the wake of her father's arrest.  Seems she had some vague idea that all was not right, but never put two and two together.  Check out the video below.  It just blows my mind that all this information was around and nobody was on this guy's case before now.

This Mothers Day lets give some thought  to how abusers like Ariel Castro can get away with their heinous crimes for years, even decades, before anybody blows the whistle on them. Crimes against women are still crimes and they cast a long shadow over generations.   If  Amanda Berry had not managed to call 911 Ariel Cstro would still be running his House of Horrors.

 I wonder if he sent his mother flowers last Mothers Day?

" He's Dead To Me" Says Castro's Daughter

The Tsarnaev Brothers Are Losers Not Terrorists

 

Let's get something straight. Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev,  the brothers responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing and 176 casualties including 3 deaths and 17  critical injuries, are punks or, as their Uncle said in the video below at a press conference yesterday, " losers who couldn't fit in". To call them " terrorists" elevates their status to something approaching  heroic as in, warriors, idealists giving their lives for a cause greater than themselves, or something other than narcissistic cowards.  Let's not romanticize these guys.  They were indeed losers, punks, misfits and just the sort of young, testosterone-fueled guys Islamic extremists encourage as canon fodder and nothing more. These guys are to Islam, what The Westboro Baptist Church is to Christianity--LOSERS! ( thank you @Yasira jaan)

 Let's review a few facts.   The SUV the boys took off in a day after the bombing while Boston was crawling with police was track-able by GPS. With the cops in hot pursuit, they threw home made grenades out the windows(not great military tactics) until there was a stand off. When cornered,Dzokhar gunned the SUV, ran over his brother, and dragged him to his death. Then, he took off to hide in a boat in a backyard in Watertown. Oh, did I mention that what started the chase was the boys trying to hold up a convenience store and shooting an MIT campus cop to death? Not the actions of well disciplined trained guarillas wishing to avoid detection, are they?. Like I said-- punks and losers.

It may be true that the older brother went back to Russia and tried to connect with Chchen rebels, but I bet they didn't want anything to do with such a loose canon and I also bet the bulk of his radicalization took place in Boston, online and in his own mind.  Surely, Boston was where he was when he was posting jihadi videos on YouTube and bitching all over Facebook about how he didn't have any American friends.

On the other hand, he seems to have married an American girl and has a three year old daughter. And, he seems to have had trouble finding a career path or even a job. Obviously he was a troubled dude, trying to make it on his own and not doing very well.  I am guessing that his wife threw him out as I read somewhere that he had an arrest for domestic violence.  That would explain why, if he was a husband and father, he was living with his brother in a squalid, ramshjackle apartment  instead of with his wife and child.

What better way for a self hating, self pitying piece of human garbage to try and make himself feel heroic than to see himself as a martyr for Islam? The reality was,he did not fit in, either in Russia or America. To avoid this painful reality, he projected his anger onto his adopted country, took his kid brother along for the ride and ended up basically committing suicide by cop.  Tamerlan is not someone mothers hope their sons will grow  up to be like.  No sireee, not by a long shot.

 I feel sorry for the family.  My prayers are with them as well as the real victims of this atrocity.  But I do not feel sorry for these two misguided young men.  Don't give them the dignity of calling them " terrorists"  They are nothing but a couple of punks.  The older one is dead. The younger one will recover, will be tried as an American citizen in an American court and will do lots of time in an American prison if he is lucky.  If he is not so lucky, and is tried in Federal Court, he could end up dead too.  We have the death penalty here in America, you know. And from time to time, we use it.

Video of Press Conference Given by the Tsarnaev brothers' Uncle in Maryland

 

UPDATE  5/7/13

.....and Bill Mahar agrees.  Just found this hilarious video on YouTube Check it out.

Waiting for the Chinese Smackdown on North Korea

 

China and North Korea 

It's going to happen soon. China is going to rein in  its "Mini-Me",North Korea.  The storm clouds are brewing, and I predict that next week will tell the tale.  Traditionally, China has sat on the sidelines and just watched tensions between North Korea and the United States, but as North Korea's young dictator, Kim Jong Un, gets whackier and whackier, China seems to be shifting its position.  In actuality, it has little choice. The new North Korean regime is so unpredictable and dysfunctional that putting it in a straight jacket or destroying it altogether may be the only logical possibilities for China.

Where China is concerned, Kim Jong Un  has made some bad mistakes. Since coming to power after his father's death last year, he has failed to pay proper respect to China (especially stupid in the part of the world that invented the concept of " saving face"). Most importantly, it's dumb to ignore the country which provides you with food, fuel, and the parental protection of a bigger, stronger Communist power.... talk about biting the hand that feeds you ! Now, having taken his bellicose outbursts to a new level that really begs for intervention from the West, Baby Kim is just asking for trouble with China, the United States and EU.

Why China Doesn't Want War in Korea

The last thing China wants is for North Korea to go to war ,or for the United States to get more involved militarily in Asia. In addition, with its own domestic troubles China certainly doesn't need waves of North Korean refugees pouring across its borders. It also fears a re-united Korea with the South in the saddle.

So, the winds of change are blowing in Beijing, and Baby Kim better wake up and smell the coffee or he is going to get himself, and possibly his whole nation ,bunker busted back to the stone age. Unfortunately, he probably won't stop, as he is young, callow and responding to immediate domestic concerns. He is on a collision course with China and the West.  Looks to me like China is doing a rapid about-face.

For starters, Secretary of State, John Kerry has stopped off in China this week-end, on his way home form a well publicized visit to South Korea. While in Seoul, he pointrfly announced in no uncertain terms, that the United States will protect its allies in case of nuclear attack from North Korea.  It has also been reported( though not officially confirmed) that last week China was massing troops at its North Korean border. In the end, my money is on a pincer movement between China and the United States working together to snuff out the crazy one way or another.

Listen up, Baby Kim and start behaving,or China may have to spank you with Uncle Sam standing by.

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Idiots With Guns by Zina Saunders

The Constitution  of the United States not only guarantees the right to bear arms to intelligent, sane ordinary people, it also promises that any nut with a trigger finger has the right to own an  assault rifle. Some of us think this philosophy is absolutely crazy, but every time we citizens try to make our voices heard in Washington, we get drowned out by the NRA and the folks who make big bucks from selling guns and ammo to folks who should not even be allowed to play with matches.

Only in America, my friends and fellow-countrymen, where in the name of freedom we give any crackpot  the right to pack heat, do we have the most gun related murders and suicides in the world-- but  Yeeee Haw  we got our freedoms, yessirree. The freedom to feather one's own nest with  big $$$$ at the expense of the nation seems to trump everything else-- at least in Washington.  We are, after all, the largest munitions manufacturer and have the largest war machine in the world.  There are lots of profits to be made and many hungry political mouths to be fed.

Zina Saunders puts her finger on the pulse of our great nation once again.  Watch the video. It will make you laugh and cry at the same time.

The Lies That Took Us Into the Iraq War

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The Iraq War was not a war of self defense no matter what anybody says.  It was an aggressive attack on the part of the United States(and a few allies who were taken along for the ride)  and it furthered the interests of a small group of people at the expense of millions of Iraqi civilians, the American public and the soldiers of every nation who lost their lives and souls in it.  It may have changed  the political landscape of the Middle East, but, it was definitely NOT about democracy, freedom  or even the attacks of September 11th.

 It was about a small but powerful elite, manipulating public fear after the terrorist attack.  It was, like all wars, about power and money, in this case, spelled "o-i-l." Fear and anger over the attacks of September 11th were skillfully diverted into the sideshow of attacking Iraq.  The excuse was that the attack was  to neutralize the threat of  weapons of mass destruction that even the UN weapons inspectors could not find.

Kudos to Mother Jones for exposing the truth in a detailed timeline showing how we the people were totally jerked around. You would think that after Viet Nam and the Gulf of  Tonkin Resolution, we would have learned our lesson, but no.  It seems we have not.  Here's a teaser.  Follow the link at the end of the quote for some eye opening week-end reading.

"The blame for Iraq does not end with Cheney, Bush, or Rumsfeld. Nor is it limited to the intelligence operatives who sat silent as the administration cherry-picked its case for war, or with those, like Colin Powell or Hans Blix, who, in the name of loyalty or statesmanship, did not give full throat to their misgivings. It is also shared by far too many in the Fourth Estate, most notably the New York Times' Judith Miller. But let us not forget that it lies, inescapably, with we the American people, who, in our fear and rage over the catastrophic events of September 11, 2001, allowed ourselves to be suckered into the most audacious bait and switch of all time."    To see the complete article and the timeline follow this link to MotherJones.com

The GOP Clown Car Is Back at CPAC 2013

photoviaDonkeyhotey, flickr

 CPAC2013 or for those of you who reside on planet earth and don't follow the GOP lunatic fringe very closely, the Conservative Political Action Conference, has drawn to a close and this year's event seems to have been a reprise by the crazy GOP clowncar we all remember from the 2012 Presidential primaries. CPAC2013 was run by folks who not only invited Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and even Donald Trump to speak from their podium, but also snubbed  the most bi-partisan, most popular Republican of them all, New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. It seems Christie spent too much time congratulating President Obama on his handling of Hurricane  Sandy instead of indulging in pointless name calling.  Yes sireee, the inmates are still running the asylum and losing the Presidential election didn't teach them a thing.

Speaker after speaker got up during the three days of CPAC and made stunningly clownish comments. Lets' see--Donald Trump basically called the Republican party a bunch of idiots  for losing the Presidency.( well I have to admit that wasn't so crazy) but then he went on to  tell the crowd what a clever boy he is, implying that he would have made a much better candidate (yawn).  Sunday keynoter, Sarah Palin, trashed President Obama while drinking a soda and making jokes about New York City Mayor Bloomberg's ban on sugared drinks-- classy Sarah at her best. These two are just highlights but there was much more, with jaw dropping comments by the likes of Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich. .  Comedian, Bill Maher, referred to the three day event as " the open mic from hell" -- a good description IMHO.

Sarah Palin's Complete  CPAC Speech

On the last day of CPAC they traditionally take a straw poll to find out who conservatives like as a Presidential candidate for the next election.  This year the honors went to Senator Rand Paul of filibuster fame with Florida's Senator, Marco Rubio,  coming in a close second.

 Interestingly enough, Chris Christie, even though not even in the room, came in number four.  Looks to me like the clown car just might be running into some engine trouble and we may see a swing in the Republican party back to sanity, especially if the economy continues to improve and unemployment goes down.

Meanwhile, bring in the clowns.

Waiting For The Other Sequestrated Shoe To Drop

The endless game of chicken just seems to go on and on. Sequestration Day has finally arrived and there is still no dirth of predictions for the future.  Personally, I don't think the scenario of either party will come true.  It has been my experience in everything from stock market predictions to marriage and child rearing that what happens is almost never what you think is going to happen and the real bone crunchers in life are never the things you worry about.  They almost always come out of left field and smack you upside the head.

So hang on to your crystal balls my fellow Americans. We've all just been sequestered. Now lets see what happens next.  One thing is for sure. Congress has proven to be completely useless on BOTH sides of the aisle.

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