Why the Iraq War was Inevitable

I have stated before that I personally felt that though we “may or may not” have entered into the Iraq War prematurely, war with Iraq was inevitable as long as Saddam Hussein and/or his Sons were in charge of the country. However today rather than repeat and expand on my own assertions about why I thought the war was foreseeable and practically impossible to avoid I am posting a link to an article by author, lecturer and history instructor Arthur Herman where he extrapolates on various intelligence information, political circumstances and statements involving Presidents G. Bush Sr., W. Clinton, G. Bush Jr., their staff, US legislators and international events that produced Herman’s reasoning on why he felt war with Iraq was inevitable. I do not know much about the author but I actually agree with much of his reasoning and some of it is very similar to my individual viewpoints concerning the events leading to the current Iraq War. On topic and civil comments or discussion -critical or supportive- about the information contained in the Herman article are always welcome.

Why the Iraq War was inevitable article link.

Sorry but due to my schedule for the next few days, comments may not show up as soon as normal.

After Postville – Time to Create Harsher Penalties

A lot of bloggers on both the right and left are always complaining that government agencies do not do their jobs. So when a government agency actually does its job – what happens? Well in the case of ICE, people looking to hamper justice and enable criminals –>protested ICE performing their job properly. The raid by ICE on the Postville, Iowa meatpacking plant was a government agency doing what they were supposed to be doing, checking for illegal immigrants! If the people are not here in this country legally then they are breaking the law, which makes them criminals. Criminals get arrested, although not as often as they should be. It is sad that families will be affected by the raid, but anytime criminals are arrested, it effects families. Our borders have become too porous and the leaks need to be stopped. This can only be achieved by making it more difficult to cross and by making it a barren wasteland financially for those whom squeeze through the cracks. Fences need to be built, federal raids on businesses whom employ illegal aliens need to become more frequent. The events in Postville displays it is time to get serious about preventing illegal immigration. Harsh penalties need to be implemented that make it more costly and detrimental for illegal aliens that get caught and those employers that knowingly abuse the system to hire illegal aliens.

Yee Haw The Next Spa Trend – Skin Eating Fish

An AP article informs us that a northern Virginia Spa is offering its customers a unique experience in pampering. It seems they have imported tiny carp as part of a treatment to remove dead skin from people feet before a pedicure. The fish are toothless and nibble off dead skin while leaving the healthy skin alone. It sounds like an interesting idea. It reminds me of the working relationship between Pilot Fish and Sharks where the smaller fish hangs around with the shark cleaning up leftovers, sometimes cleaning the sharks mouth and even cleaning external parasites off the shark. It sure sounds less abusive than the pumice stones I use on my feet. I just wonder if they could also figure out a way to turn them loose on my knees and elbows that would not require me borrowing a speedo and walking in the shallow end of a swimming pool filled with the little carnivorous critters.

Here is the link to the Yahoo!/Ap article by Mathew Barakat.

Sale of the Chicago Cubs Stumbles Forward

The Chicago Tribune has announced that that the Tribune Corp. has ended a first round of accepting bids from potential buyers for the Chicago Cubs Professional baseball team. The financial information surrounding the Cubs was originally released to ten different prospective buyers for the team. According to an AP article, the Tribune Corp., which was sold along with the Chicago Cubs MLB Franchise to Sam Zell, has narrowed the ten down to three possible bids and is now set to entertain new bids from the three finalists. The finalists are said to include volatile billionaire Mark Cuban, TD Ameritrade founders – the Ricketts Family and a third group that will include former baseball great Hank Aaron and former congressman Jack Kemp. The three selected finalists have supposedly each offered close to a billion dollars to purchase the Chicago Cubs Organization. Information released concerning the actual bids was limited due to the extreme secrecy in which MLB shrouds the process. This is probably just the beginning of what could become a tough negotiating period between MLB and current owners the Tribune Corp. Sam Zell spent over 8 billion dollars to buy the Tribune Corp. and needs to sell off the Cubs Franchise to soften the load of debt incurred in the purchase. But as I spoke of previously, just because Zell finds a buyer he is satisfied with does not mean the buyer will pass through the MLB Owners gauntlet.With MLB spending a billion dollars can be a difficult prospect. The other MLB Team Owners cabal must take a super secret vote and approve any sell of the team. The highest bid may not take home the prize. I have been reading rumors that MLB commissioner Bud Selig is unhappy with the way the sell is transpiring. Just recently he harshly punished the team for an error made when signing a draft pick. Compounding the process is that one of the potential buyers eliminated for a lowball bid already had ties to Bud Selig. Oops can you say a billion dollar nepotism attempt by Selig! Will Mafia Don wannabe Bud Selig chop off a horses head and leave the bloody remains in the bed of of Sam Zell to remind him that this transaction is not going the way he visioned it? It is hard to say but this could be a long bumpy ride before the sale is finalized.

Quad City Hotels in Awkward Public Relations Position Following the Storm

The recent windstorm from several days ago that knocked out power to a huge section of over 133,000 homes (the latest article I saw quoted that there were still over 16,000 homes without electricity) of our community has sent many powerless homeowners and out-of-town workers from the power company flocking to the local Hotels/Motels for lodging. From the sounds of a recent Dispatch/Argus article, the local hotels/motels are running at full occupancy with the extra business. There are a lot of side problems when running a hotel at full capacity usually associated with staffing problems and housekeeping issues. But that extra revenue is probably making all the local Hotel operators in the Quad City smile when the look at their Daily Average Revenue and their Revenue per Average Room totals. And those with bonus packages linked with sellout dates will find a little extra cash in their pockets. However it seems that the Quad City Hotels/Motels are also faced with the awkward public relations problem of possibly putting guests still in house from the power storm –> out on the street! Ouch! With this busy weekend rolling around and since not all homes are back on the power grid the rooms available situation could ruffle some feathers with the people still without power. And there will probably be many facial expressions that do not look like a smile from a lot of Quad Citians if they get evicted from the rooms they now occupy. According to the article many of the local hotels are already booked up for this weekend due to the fact that several special events are scheduled to happen in the Quad Cities. That means many of the homeowners still without power and any out of town workers from the power company will probably be forced from their current lodging and will have to make other accommodations. Most hotel checkout times are set at a mandatory leaving time. That varies usually anywhere from 11 AM to 1 PM. And those current guests that do not already have a room scheduled for the weekend will most likely be out looking for a place to stay. It is possible that there will be room reservation cancellations but those rooms may or may not be available as it is not uncommon for hotels to overbook room occupancy by up to ten percent. Hopefully the weather stays cool because a lot of Quad Citians will probably need to return home, even if they still do not have power. It will also be difficult for any of the workers needing places to stay until all the power is restored and the cleanup finished. That could be an interesting set of circumstances. The very workers that have worked so hard to get power back up since the power loss and that have helped make it possible to present the local events scheduled here in the QC, may be on the outs for a place to stay because they performed their job so well. I would suspect that those knowing they must stay are already being shuffled around to nearby hotels that have availability. For all the extra workload they have went through I hope the cities help find a way to accommodate the workers. But according to the quote in the article available local hotel rooms will be very limited. It could basically turn out to bedlam if many guests need to stay past Thursday night. Many individuals will probably be on edge and it would not surprise me to see tempers flare. (Hah, anyone ever staying at a hotel that seriously overbooked has probably already been witness to the conflict created.) I would not want to be working at any of the local hotels this weekend even if they were paying John Deere wages! And if I had a room scheduled I would get there as early as they allow check in to make sure I did not lose the room, even if the reservation is guaranteed. On the other hand if I were in the shoes of those still without power and forced back in to my hot house, it would probably be a good time to go out and enjoy the Quad City Educational and Entertainment variety and/or this weekends special events. Who knows, maybe by the time the partying is over all the lights will be back on in the Quad Cities.

Italians Adopt Get-Tough Illegal Immigration Policy

A story over on the BBC says Italy is taking a get-tough stance against illegal immigrants with increased penalties for transgressions. The article states new rules can include jail time of up to four years instead of deportation. Illegal immigrants will also face sentences of 1/3 longer periods of incarceration time than Italian citizens committing similar crimes. The one possible part of the new law I would disagree with is that individuals who rent to illegal aliens could have their property confiscated. I am not against penalizing individuals that are intentionally renting to illegal aliens though I think it is an impossibility to administrate fairly. First it is way to easy to get phony identification limiting a landlords ability to discern a legal resident from an illegal immigrant. The other problem would be from people feeling discriminated against. This type of program would require the landlord to require proof of citizenship from each and every potential renter. So it only works if each and every citizen and immigrant are required to carry proof of citizenship and legal residence. Heck I have seen individuals throw temper tantrums when a hotel asked them for proper identification. I do not have a problem with that requirement, but a national identification program would be necessary for a landlord to administer and check proof of legal residence. Other than that the Italian strategy looks like a sensible way to help reduce illegal immigrant problems.

Link to the BBC article.

State of Illinois Legislators Fleecing the Sheep

A recent study printed in the Chicago Tribune about how the $4.7 million of Illinois after-school grant money was being used in Chicago is another example of how the Democrat Party’s vise lock on power in the State is bankrupting Illinois. This is a pet program of Governor Blagodabitch and several Democrat State Senators. The story is painful to read in more ways than one. The story talks how 44 of the 48 programs receiving special aid that were reviewed had been sponsored by Chicago Democrat State Senator Rickey Hendon. Of those 44 recipients, 21 could be traced back as contributors and campaigners for Hendon. The authors of the article researched many of the organizations that received money and about half were dubious in nature. Some locations did not even look operational while others had individuals with questionable financial pasts operating the institutions. Many owe money to the federal government for past transgressions. And of the 48 grants, only 11 were established charitable organizations. Hendon who is part of Pork Barrel King Emile Jones (yup – the Barack Obama mentor himself) team, defended his approval of the grants by stating he just hands out the money as long as they registered with the State and can spell his first name correct. (According to the article other misspellings on the form are acceptable.) The sad part of this story is that there are people and organizations across the state that could have used this money that is being wasted. Plus when you consider how the legislative branches are currently bumping heads with the Gov. over how to balance the budget, it kind of makes you wish you could bounce all of their heads off the wall a few times while rescuing your tax money that is being stolen from your family needs by these clowns. I do not know which is more of a supreme cruel joke; that the apathetic voters of this State keep voting all these Scoundrels and Scalawags that are fleecing the sheep back into office or that one of their comrade Chicago Scalawag Politicians – Barack Obama – is on the fast track to becoming POTUS.

This is the link to the Chicago Tribune article with all the Exasperatingly Painful details!

Chicago Suburb Just Says No to Baggy Pants

The Chicago suburb of Lynwood, Illinois has passed an ordinance that fines individuals whom wear pants that the waist band droops down below their hips. The fine is $25. The ACLU is already shrieking their fool heads off. I think the law is sensible though probably redundant since most cities have dress code laws against lewd behavior. Perhaps the city is just using this law as a way of defining lewd behavior. Probably if most of the “styling guys” knew what the looks origin, many of them would not go around flashing their a$$ in public in the first place. The kicker is – I am not sure how a busy police force would find actual time to enforce the law.

Government and Companies Feuding With Truck Drivers

The Quad City Times had an article talking about where some companies, states and municipalities are attempting to regulate the amount of time truckers allow their rigs to idle during rest periods. If you factor in the way driving time is already regulated by legislation it sounds like an unrealistic idea. It does not seem practical to me to tell a driver he is supposed to spend his required down time and/or sleeping periods in a rig without heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer. Even short runs can run into lengthy idling time. I have seen drivers stuck in stop and go waiting situations that require an extreme amount of idling where it would not have been realistic to expect them to turn off their trucks and restart them over and over and over gain. It is a damned if you do – damned if you don’t situation. I tend to agree with the thoughts of the individual speaking their mind over at the Truck Drivers United site: the regulations are forcing disproportionate hardships on the individuals where their place of business also happens to be their truck.

ICE Raid in Chicago Apprehends Illegal Immigrant Gang Members

Just weeks following one of the biggest raids of illegal immigrants that took place in Iowa where over 300 individuals were arrested, ICE has staged a smaller but notable raid in Chicago. The raid in Chicago was targeting gang members and netted 49 individuals of which 48 were Illegal immigrants. Though the raid was much smaller in size, getting 49 gang members off the street in one swoop is a significant effort. The real trick is to keep them off the street. There are already individuals denouncing the arrest. When it comes to gang members, personally I would prefer to see some type of long-term incarceration that revolves around solitary confinement, restricted visitation rights and total isolation from the rest of the prison population. And for any gang (or mafia) members involved in violent crimes, any release should require an agreement to wear some sort of permanent tracking device that would result in a life sentence if it is removed without approval.