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Did you ever wonder what is really going on in U.S. politics? It is not easy to figure out, especially if you try and use the information that the government is putting out. For days now, I have been hearing and reading about how mad the Russians are at us, because we want to deploy an antimissile shield in Poland. We are very insistent on this point. The Russians have responded by saying that they have developed a multi warhead missile that can penetrate any antimissile system and will target it at Europe if we install the antimissiles there. So far this sounds pretty straight forward and like it is some serious stuff, doesn’t it? Wait a second, the Russians know that the antimissile system doesn’t really work correctly and so do we. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t doing very well when we were testing it against real missiles, so we switched our tests to make believe ones. Yes that is true, we started to use computer simulations and then it was said that it did very well. The real tests were too hard for the system, even though it knew in advance where a missile was coming from. Actually, the ideal site to use to protect Europe from missiles from Asia would be Italy or Turkey, since that are the closest to that area. Putting antimissiles in Poland seems that they are there to protect from Russia, just look at a map. By the way, we had missiles in Turkey aimed at Russia in the 1960s, so that would be nothing new. Their missile is relying on the fact that it has enough warheads to overwhelm the antimissile system. Three of these things would launch 30 warheads, a number that is probably more than sufficient to guarantee success.

Now that you know this, don’t you think it is strange that we are so insistent on going ahead with the system and Russia is so scared of it? Another thing, the NEW missile system that the Russians have said that they invented, might just be an old system that was stopped in the 1990s. What kind of games are being played here? I can only tell you what I think. I believe that Russia really feels that its influence in the area is being threatened and that they are losing face. I think that we want to show the world that we can do whatever we want. I don’t believe that any of this really has to do with missiles or antimissiles. I also believe that Poland is making a statement to Russia that it no longer is under the Russian sphere of influence. If I am right, this is nothing more than pure politics.

The democrats proposed a bill that would have had a time table for the withdrawal of troops in Iraq. The White House, specifically the President, stated that it would veto any bill that had a time table for troop withdrawal in it. The democrats weakened and backed a bill without a timetable for withdrawal of the troops, why? They knew that they could never get such a bill through, not only did they not have enough votes, but it could never have gotten signed by the President, an a veto override was out of the question. This was known before the bill was even drawn up. The President didn’t want to keep vetoing these bills, since it helped to keep Iraq even more in the voter’s heads, so he signed a bill that had no timetable, but did contain an extra billions of dollars. This was never really about the troops, it was about the President getting his way, but the democrats getting extra money.

The German Prime Minister praised the President and said that it was good that he agreed to do something about global warming along with the countries that are responsible for the most emissions. Then she said something like, it would be nice if we would use the same set of guidelines as everyone else. This is not an exact quote. So what exactly was she saying and what exactly did we offer to do? Our offer was to combat global warming by doing whatever we thought we should. Heck, what kind of double talk is that, it sounds like lawyer language? It is the same kind of nonsense that seems to always ooze out of the White House when it is confronted with something that it knows is right, but don’t want to do. Everything is for business with these guys and they certainly don’t want to add any expense for the industrial sector. All one has to do is drive along the New Jersey Turnpike and see those smoke stacks belching out smoke from those chemical factories or whatever they are, to know that global warming is just not being taken serious by this country on the national level. The German Prime Minister was saying, in the nicest possible terms, that we should get with the program to try and save the Earth.

I can’t help but wonder who is really running the war in Iraq? I certainly am not qualified for the job. Having said this, doesn’t it seem that we are going about this the wrong way? Just look at the loss of lives, it seems to be getting worse every day. The area must be a hell for the Iraqi people. The numbers of them that have died are astronomical. Maybe we should move all our troops to the borders, sealing them off and let the Iraqi police and army fight the rebels. This way, we would have a good chance of drying up the supply lines that constantly funnel in weapons, fighters and explosives. After all, we control the air, so if we shut off ground transportation, this should cause a real problem to the insurgents. We can’t stay in Iraq forever. The number of wounded are estimated to be about ten times that of the number of killed. Some rate the number much lower, about six time the number of killed. Still that is a heck of a lot of people. The artificial limb business is booming right now.

Did you know that we warned Turkey, our ally, not to invade northern Iraq? It seems that raids into Turkey have been taking place on a regular basis from a Kurd organization there. The Turks are getting very angry and this is another country that may someday have second thoughts about being involved with us. It is a shame, since Turkey is a progressive Moslem country and that is exactly what we want in the area. We have also criticised Musharraf of Pakistan, from time to time. Here is a man that is walking a tight rope. There are a lot of fundamentalists in his country and they are not happy with him for joining forces with the U.S. So why did he do this? I can only guess, but it seems to me that he didn’t want us to be backing India against Pakistan. One has to remember that they have been fighting for many years, off and on. The cause for this is the fact that one country is Hindu and the other Moslem. Pakistan is very important to us , besides giving us legitimacy with the Moslems, it possesses nuclear weapons.

The popularity of the U.S.A. has sunk to an all time low around the world, under this administration. I am beginning to think that President Bush thinks that he has been given some sort of world authority to tell other countries what to do and insult world leaders. Just recently he has insulted Russia’s Putin and Britain’s Queen. Russia is getting strong again thanks to its oil and gas money and the fact that people are coming into it, for work, from all around the area. Its influence in the area is beginning to rival that of the old Soviet Empire. I am talking of political influence, not military. Why tweak Putin’s whiskers? Think of this for a second, to keep the military industrial complex flourishing, we need enemies. Does this complex have undue influence with our government? Could this be the real reason why we are in Iraq and Afghanistan? Look at all the contracts that have been given out and look at all the huge profits that have come about for the shoddy work done in Iraq. It was like striking gold for some of these companies. One of the most famous companies that is favored by this administration is moving its headquarters to Dubai. Could this be to avoid law suits for their constant irregularities?

There is a rumor that Bush and his wife are headed for a divorce. It was roumored, in a weekly, that after he leaves office, the couple will split. The Queens was over for the Kentucky Derby horse race and visited the President, who put up quite a dinner for her at the White House. The weekly paper stated that while she was there, she tried to give him advice on how to smooth over the problems with Laura. At this point, the article stated that he yelled at her and said he was the President and didn’t have to listen to a Queen. An uncomfortable moment for all, if true. Maybe she should have stayed out of it, but screaming at her in public is certainly not the way to go. One thing that I have noticed about Bush, is that he likes to keep saying that he is the President and can do whatever he wants, instead of saying that he can do what the people want.

I think that it is about time, that one of the aims of our policies is to have meaningful relations with other countries, instead of trying to force our will upon them. Take Cuba for example, the is no longer any need to have that country isolated. It is now only a political decision to keep Cuban American voters in the fold. Everything that is done seems to be with winning elections in mind, or increasing profits to companies, no matter how outrageous prices get and to get the rich, richer. Yet try and get a social bill passed and it is chopped to pieces and then we are told it was for our benefit. Look at the Medicare Drug Program. It is said that the biggest beneficiaries were the drug companies who received an extra 45 billion dollars.