IN THE VACUUM OF DISSENT COMES THE OFT MALIGNED PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER taking a page out of Harry Truman's witticism to "Call a Spade a Spade". For far too long the stench of the State Department has lingered over U.S. foreign policy and at it's core is Condi Rice.

Not too long ago amid the many scandals and loose talk out of Washington D.C., President Putin warned the U.S. of deteriorating diplomatic ties and a possible renewal of the cold war. I noticed that Secretary of War(Defense) Gates was dispatched to Moscow not Condi Rice. It's obvious even to those bunkered down in the Rose Garden that Condi's credibility in diplomatic circles is non-existent. This administration pushed for democratic elections in Palestine and Venezuela but when the peoples of the countries choose their respective governments the Administration swiftly withdrew their support.

In other words-'Choose the government we tell you to, not the one you want.' She pushed for elections in Egypt whose fragile pro-secular government damn near toppled because of it. Her uncomptemplated statements and policies have undermined decades of diplomatic good -will built by administrations of both parties. In the world's political arena we are now looked upon as war-like thugs.

And do not forget that Condi was the loudest vocalist of the non-existent 'WMD' when she was the NSA chief. If she wasn't the architect of the Iraq quagmire, then she was the head cheerleader. I remember one of her speeches and the then Secretary of Defense Gen. Colin Powell was in the background looking mighty uncomfortable. I came to watch him and his body language as the lies and deceit stretched on and it was clear to me that he was going to get out of the saddle soon. That Condi nabbed the slot was no surprise for she is the Queen of Doublespeak. Most of her statements are at best vague if not downright comical in her delusion that the Diplomatic World takes her seriously. I read somewhere that after her retirement/recall/incarceration (whichever comes first) that she plans to 'teach at Stanford and write her memoirs'. If I were on the Trustee Board of Stanford I'd be a little unnerved. I wouldn't want such mediocrity running amok on my campus.

The campuses are populated primarily by the young web-sophisticated generation. Their hours on the web has sharped their crap-detection skills like a fine knife. I doubt that many would view Condi Rice as a draw when choosing a school. In fact I couldn't think of a better student repellent. I'm glad she hasn't shown an interest in Kansas schools........

And while I praised Jimmy Carter at the beginning of this piece now I must rant against him for backing down from his well said statements. For in doing so, he just underscored his Achilles heel of being perceived as soft. What the country needs especially from our senior Statesmen are strong-worded, well contemplated, articulate simple observations and critiques. FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS A RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE. Some will say that a 'war' President should not be criticized. George Washington turned down the monarchy when it was offered to him. There's not a doubt in my mind that any of the Gang of Four-Bush, Cheney, Rove or Rice would snatch it up if they had the chance.

Howls From Kansas

I made this MySpace Music Player at MyFlashFetish.com.

AND EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE THE COMPUTER hands you the very tool that you need. It had been another day of mp3 files, trying to wrest them where I wanted them. And just as I had got them loaded the Installations came. Both MSN and ATT Yahoo arrived at the same time.
This of course caused the super- anti- spyware to kick in thus our poor antique computer ground to a crawl. Nevermind that the installs assures one that one can continue working. The reality is a mad scramble to save as much as you can before the impending siezure and crash, and the dreaded reboot. But this is about tools, more specifically knives, arguably humankind's oldest and most used tool.


I love knives and they have pulled me out of many situations in the past. I was raised on the premise that a man carried a sharp knife in his pocket and many the high school teacher asked for my assistance in cutting this or that. I have been known to carry more than one. However the knife of which I speak of is a computer tool, a wee bit of script starting with http.
My youngest sibling sent me an urgent plea for politcal assitance in the form of writing our Congressmen. Maybe it was retailiation for it seems I'm almost always writing the swine about something and sending e-mails concerning these crusades. Thus it was post putting the Boss and the Cub to bed I found the e-mail in my box.


And I was begining the task of updating my address books to compose said missives when I stumbled accross this website: www.rallycongress.com . And by using the copy/paste method of composition I had e-mails sent to all my Represenatives in less than two minutes. Here's the http thing: http://www.rallycongress.com/letter2congress/698/?gclid=CMS306vPg4wCFQM-IgodE2vDvw

Now there really is no excuse not to get involved. And yes, little things like this make my day.
A brand new knife. Can you say saturation?

YES AND AFTER SOME COMMENTS I WASN'T GOING TO POST until I had done some tinkering with the appearance of this blog which led to a long tutorial encompassing computer 101,editing Html and et cetera. I am almost there but the fury and the aftermath of the Greensburg tragedy has led me to belie that notion and pen these thoughts....

"Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday evening that the state’s response will likely be hampered because much of the equipment usually positioned around the state to respond to emergencies — including tents, trucks and semitrailers — is now in Iraq."Not having the National Guard equipment, which used to be positioned in various parts of the state, to bring in immediately is really going to handicap this effort to rebuild," said Sebelius.Also Monday, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said the government’s response to the disaster was undermined by ongoing National Guard deployments to the Middle East."I don’t think there is any question if you are missing trucks, Humvees and helicopters that the response is going to be slower," Sebelius said. "The real victims here will be the residents of Greensburg, because the recovery will be at a slower pace."-MSNBC.Com

Of which has been a consistent theme in my ongoing communications with our Senators and Representatives in Washington. The shades of Katrina have come home to rest here on the plains, with Tornado season just starting and the Madrid fault line in Missouri ever-lurking in the background. It appears my fears were justified as the carnage in Iraq continues unabated, Bin Laden still sucking air,our troops in harm's way still under-equipped and no real end of the insanity in sight.

New Orleans lies in shambles still, its recovery a question mark as the hurricane season looms. I fear the fate of Greensburg will be the same,(if not terminal) for it is a common knowledge out here on the plains that the towns and hamlets that dot it surface are for the most part,just scraping by. These small agriculturally based communities have taken heavy economic and demographic hits as agriculture has less family orientated and more akin to big business. Every year there are less and less reasons for the young to stay and live subsidence lives as opposed to relocating to larger metropolitan areas.The recovery of Greensburg is in real jeopardy due to the above economic factors. I fear that the Iraq war and its 'trickle-down' effect with be the death knell for yet another tiny oasis on the plains.

There is hope and it lies with the communications possible via the web. I was the last of my family to 'go on-line' and even then it took years to realize the awesome power that lies within cyberspace (mostly within the last six months). People, we really need to turn up the heat on our elected Representatives and quell the tyrannical Administration in the White House. We must make it clear to those representing us that WE are the boss, not the GOP, not the pacs.And if they continue to blatantly ignore us, then they will lose their 100 day, 100,000k plus jobs.

Maybe we should look at revoking their pension plans as so many Americans have had done to them in the past ten years.That could pay for a lot of armour,humvees,and big trucks desperately needed across the nation...............