An American Tradition

After 9/11 the GW Bush administration declared war on Al-Qaada. The Pentagon aided Afghanistan's Northern Alliance in ousting the Taliban from the cities. The foreign mujaddin warriors attempted to flee the country, but hundreds were captured by the US-supported warlords and sent to Fort Qala-i-Jangi for questioning. These prisoners were immediately subjected to torture by the CIA under direct orders from the American government.

Faced with death from vengeful Americans the jihadist seized their guards' weapons and attacked the temporary torture center, killing a CIA interrogator attached to that agency's Special Activities Division. After a vicious battle to retake the fortress over 400 of the foreign fighters were killed by bombs, fire, bullets. Amongst the 87 survivors was an American, John Walker Lindh, who had been fighting with the Taliban against the Northern Alliance.

Faced with a fanatical opponent spanning the globe the US government under Bush opened clandestine torture camps in numerous countries one being Thailand, where the 'enhanced interrogation techniques' were practiced at the Voice of America relay station in Udon Thani. All This prime ministers have denied existence of this safe house, where prisoners "were thrown against fake walls, forced into stressful physical functions, involuntarily stripped naked and slapped." according the Bangkok Post.

The Geneva Convention states in articles 2 and 4 that No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

And secondly each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offenses under its criminal law. The same shall apply to an attempt to commit torture and to an act by any person which constitutes complicity or participation in torture.

Americans were rightly angered after 9/11 and as a nation wanted blood for blood.

The Thais turned a blind eye to the operations at the black sites.

Waterboarding was legally green lighted by Bush's lawyer John Yoo.

Abu Zubaydah and And al-Rahim al-Nashiri were subjected to the modern adaptation of the Spanish Inquisition's water torture scores of times, despite protests from the FBI.

All records of these sessions were destroyed at the end of the Bush regime.

President Obama condemned the practice and banned water boarding after his election, however the Defense Department refuses to say whether they are adhering to the ban and his CIA director appointment of chief torturer John Brennan has raised concerns within the Senate about ongoing black sites under CIA or Defense Department jurisdiction.

"In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, we did some things that were wrong. We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did things that were contrary to our values," said President Obama and those two words 'some people' is entirely inaccurate.

The USA tortured thousands of Iraqi, Afghanis, and anyone caught in the War of Terror.

Most without any concrete evidence as to their guilt other than confessions exacted under pain and duress.

I hope those safe houses in Thailand are closed, but no one is admitted on the premises, so it would be safe to surmise they are open for business of torture.

I googled the name of the military coup leader and CIA torture camps and was informed that those items matched no news items.

Secrets are best kept a secret, when no one tells them.

Foto is of the Chinese Water Torture from Sing Sing Prison in New York.

Torture.

The American tradition.

HANG ON SLOOPY by David Porter

In my life I've known Sandie, Samantha, Suzanne, Sara, but never a Sloopy.

Doctor Nick and I went to college with a girl whose name sounded by Sloopy.

The slight brunette came from brunette. She was a studying nursing, but danced weekends at the Two O'Clock Lounge in the Combat Zone to pay for school. Sort of Sloopy was the first person in her family to attended university. Nick and I drove taxi at night. We sometimes picked up Sort of Sloopy at closing time. Neither of us received more than the fare at the end of the ride.

At a party one Friday night I told our friends about the Rockport quarries. Everyone wanted to swim in the spring-fed granite pits. The next day we left Boston in a car caravan headed to Rock port. Sort of Sloopy went with Nick. He had a red MG convertible.

We smoked weed on the cliffs. Nick and Sort of Sloopy leaped off the cliff together.

I decided to dive to impress her.

I misjudged the drop and hit the water at the wrong angle.

Bones crackled along my spine. I swan to the shore and slowly hauled myself from the quarry waters.

Sort of Sloopy hadn't seen my dive. She had been kissing Nick

He looked at my face and asked if I was all right.

He was pre-med at BC.

"I'm okay."

I recovered from the dive, but ever since then I've avoided girls with names sounding like Sloopy, I love David Porter's cover of the McCoy's hit song. Henri Flash introduced me to the HANG ON SLOOPY at BSIR's, a Hamburg nightclub, in 1982. The French disc jockey would play Porter's long version at the end of the night.

The last lingerers slow danced for about two minutes and then lost the groove. Henri called the lengthy recording the best music for emptying a nightclub nearing dawn. David Porter's HANG ON SLOOPY was a long song. Henri would leave the DJ booth and I would join the Frenchman at the bar.

"A last drink."

"To HANG ON SLOOPY."

We never lost the groove.

And neither does this song.

"C'mon Sloopy."

From the Stax hit man.

Sam & Dave's "Soul Man" (1968 Grammy Winner) Mariah Carey "Dreamlover" (1993 Grammy Winner) Will Smith's "Get Jiggy Wit It" (1999 Grammy Winner) Sam and Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'" Biggie Smalls "Who Shot Ya?"

To hear HANG ON SLOOPY by David Porter, please go the following URL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yMBpxyXuLw

Hug A Tree

BLISS

RAPTURE

Help Anyone

I am writing to you with Tears, My family and I came down here to Manila, Philippines for Holiday, Unfortunately we were mugged at the park, All money, credit card and Phones were stolen away from us, luckily for us we still have our passports saved with us. We have been to the consulate but they are not helping at all, Our return flight leaves soon but we are having some financial problems sorting our hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave until we sort the bills.

We need your help with a loan of ($1,750). or whatever amount you can spare right now, I promise to refund you back as soon as we return back home. Please let me know what you can do so that i can let you know how to get the money to us now.

Regards Kevin

I received this scam email.

It's obviously a fake.

These thieves are depending on people's good hearts, mostly the elderly.

$10 from 170 people adds up to a nice number.

I looked up the name of Kevin and picked out a face fitting this scammer.

He's probably a very nice guy.

Same as all of us and he has nothing to do with this letter.

Guilt by association.

And no one executes this better than Homeland Security.

ps I only need $1000.

Seriously.

Those Were The Days

The dream of 1968.

A hot blonde in a lime-green Firebird.

Never had either.

Maybe in the next eternity.

The Wrath Of Ebolazillah

When Godzilla raged through Tokyo and New York bodycounters.com compiled a total death count as a little over 10,000. Terminator ranks at the top with over 3 billion.

Real life can pile up serious numbers.

The World Wars reigned death across the planet in the millions. The Black Plague wiped out a third of Europe and the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1919 killed over 20 million across the globe. No one has yet to compute the toll of the European expansion, but the final tally has to be in the billions.

Thousands of civilians are being slaughtered in Gaza, but America has turned a blind eye on the IDF blitzkrieg in favor of a good old-fashioned panic about the Ebola virus coming across the Atlantic.

Ebola is a serious danger. Hundreds have perished horrible death in Sierra Leone and Liberia. The viral hemorrhagic fever's symptoms fever, weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat are followed by a worsening attacks on the infected person's body going as far as external bleeding as the immune systems fails to protect the host.

There is no vaccine for the deadly killer with a 50-90% fatality rate and Americans are rightly concerned about a possible outbreak in the USA, however the panic sewn by CNN and Fox News is classic summer fodder.

What is important is a vaccine.

To help the people in Africa.

They are the ones suffering from the epidemic.

Americans are just freaking out, but I expect nothing less from the Land of the Freaked.

This is the killer.

Smaller than small.

But deadlier than Godzilla.

Holy Bacon No

Deuteronomy 14:3-10 states, "Do not eat any detestable thing. ... The pig is also unclean; although it has a split hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses."

Jews consider pork 'tref' or unclean.

The Q'aran maintains the same edict.

"Allah has only forbidden you to eat dead meat, and blood and the flesh of swine."

Despite Jews and Muslims refraining from pork, the price of bacon has climbed to over $6 a pound, which is 41% more expensive than 2012 according to Huffington Post. The writer attributes this nearly doubling of the cost to the factors; a virulent disease, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, the rising demand, and the deep drought savaging the nation's heartland.

He's correct about the demand, but Joe Satran fails to report several other factors in the equation.

The USA processes a 100 million pigs a year. Leading to yearly losses of nearly $150 million of a hundred thousand pigs from porcine epidemic diarrhea virus is a worrisome issue for consumers, but this slippage is covered by the worldwide demand for pork as well as profit-maximization by the pork industry. As much as I love bacon, it has become an occasional visitor to my kitchen table.

The price of bacon is more determined by the US fuel industry's continued support of corn ethanol as a fuel, which drives up feed, even though most pigs would rather eat anything other than that filthy GMO corn, but when you're hungry you'll eat anything.

Secondly the Chinese purchase of Smithfield Ham expanded their exports to China.

More demand for a smaller supply leads to an increase in price.

Simple economics.

Lastly the pork industry has a captive consumer base.

Americans love bacon.

I love bacon.

Few foods in the world taste like bacon.

Vegetarians have failed to replicate its crispy salt fat delight.

pork = good fat = flavor bacon = heaven

Pigs equal profits to the pork industry.

They are subsidized by US Farm Aid.

They pay their employees the minimum wage.

The price of bacon is determined by the profit margins demanded by Wall Street.

There isn't nothing wrong with making money on a pig, but at $6 a pound I'll give it a miss, because a six-pack of Narragansett beer is $6 at Trader Joe's.

Beer or bacon.

It's a close contest, because as Don Larsen, a middle-distance runner at the 1924 Olympics said, "I Like this quote I dislike this quote“Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.”