MIDDLE-EAST: Turmoil, protests, change

Matters have been brewing for years: the young are educated, traveled and aware of the outside world. They have no jobs or menial jobs far beneath their education or skills. The system, i.e., governmental structure, does not provide for mobility. This volatile mixture has exploded throughout the Middle-East:
Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain; it has essentially infected the entire region including Saudi Arabia and Iran. The lone exception is Israel. CNN, t.v., cell phones and the internet, allow the outside world to attest to the turmoil. The basics are simple: mass protests calling for change, and for those in power to step down. Technology has enabled mass protests to be assembled with relative ease. The problem is, there is no plug-and-play form of government available to replace existing potentates.

Egypt has managed to escape the perils of anarchy and chaos to date by the independence of it's military. Perhaps Egypt's military leaders are looking toward Turkey for direction. The Turkish military's allegiance is the Constitution and not to the, or a President, King or other potentate. Unfortunately, Turkey stands alone in it's military allegiance in the region, hence there is scant chance, except to the extent Egypt looks to Turkey as example, that the other Middle-East nations will escape the destruction and death associated with civil war. A U.S. General, now retired, once made statements to the affect that cities would be bombed back to the dark ages. The United States Civil War ( 1861-1865 ) set U.S. society and the economy back 75 years. Existing and future civil wars in the Middle-East will set things and living conditions back 75 to 100 years. Revolutionary transition is extremely costly. Iraq is a modern example: most civil structures, including power plants, water and sewer utilities, communications facilities, bridges, roadways, hospitals and the like, existing prior to 2002, have been damaged or destroyed. It will take billions and years to rebuild. Libya, Syria and other Middle-East nations in turmoil face the same prospect: billions and years to rebuild.

Israel has been facing the vacuous government dilemma for 50 years: who speaks for the Palestinian tribes and groups ? No monolithic Palestinian government has emerged; so who does Israel engage with to insure the security of it's people ? The current turmoil in the region presents the same issue. The protests and protesters have pro-offered no plug-and-play government structure to govern their respective nations or regions once the existing potentates are overthrown. Without an agreed and accepted monolithic government structure, policies, procedures and laws, anarchy and chaos rule. Anarchy and chaos are leaps backward rather then forward, as factions fight factions for control while civilian capital and social structures are being destroyed and thousands are killed in the process.

Matters, death and destruction, are made worse for the indigenous populations by outside military intervention. Outside military intervention dramatically escalates damage to the physical infrastructure of any nation or country , and the killing of civilian populations. Those in power, including the U.S., do not simply leave without a fight. There have been few rational transitions of power between disparate ideologies or leaders.; bloodshed is inevitable. The international community ( U.N. ) bares responsibility for the aggravation of conditions and turmoil in the Middle-East. Instead of having developed strategies, structures and teams to deal with leadership transitions, as was done to assist in the formation of Israel circa 1947-1950, the U.N. has chosen to use military force. This 17th century myopia is edging western society to the verge of collapse. The Middle -East was the cradle of Western civilization and it my well turn out to be the death of it.

OPEN LETTER TO U.S. CONGRESS GONE INSANE

RE: Bail-Out/ Congressional Disconnect from Main-Street

Dear Senators and Congressmen:

It appears that the focus of Congressional attention has been on Wall-Street and the financial woes created by Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson ( in his prior capacity as CEO of Goldman Sachs ) and Wall-Street associates, regarding liquidity within the financial community. Congress has disconnected from the happenings and realities of Main-Street. You are making a serious mistake delegating your Constitutional authority under Article I , Section 8, sub-sections 1-6, to the Secretary of Treasury, and marginalizing Congress in the process.

Before you jump to shore-up Wall-Street to the tune of $700billion to well over a Trillion taxpayer dollars, you might wish to take a look of what is happening on main-street. THERE IS A RUN ON THE BANKING SYSTEM HAPPENING AS I SPEAK. THIS WILL ONLY ACCELERATE WITHIN THE NEXT SIX ( 6 ) MONTHS, exceeding the capacity of the F.D.I.C. to cover insured accounts, and requiring Congress to provide additional $$$billions so that main-street, will not be left out-in-the-street, regarding their personal accounts.

In addition, there will be mounting strains on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation( PBGC ) as plants shut-down, corporations file for bankruptcy and premiums paid to PBGC dry up. Although not yet a direct obligation of the U.S. Government/ Treasury, when 400,000 + ex-employees now potentially covered, are told that there are not sufficient funds available to pay the fund guaranty of $4,312.50 per month ( $51,750.00 per year ) there will be major social unrest, and Congress will need to come-up with additional $$$billions. The public will not tolerate, being left-out and left-behind when you bail-out the Wall-Street millionaires, who, the minute they get Treasury Bail-Out $$$billions, will have that money transferred off-shore in an instant. Congress needs to take a break, go back home, go out on the street and open your eyes to see what is really going on in the main-street financial world; people are lining up at banks and withdrawing their money. You underestimate the public’s understanding of the circumstance. The average citizen has lost confidence in the system, and does not trust Congress.

Bailing-Out Wall-Street will not have the affect you are predicting. When bail-out money is transferred off-shore, it will provide no liquidity to the domestic U.S. economy. If you think there is a credit crunch now, wait until you bail-out Wall-Street, you will see U.S. unemployment climb past 15% as foreign banks and investors recover their losses from U.S. Treasury Bail-Out funds, and major U.S. financial institutions and investors transfer Bail-Out funds offshore, leaving Main-Street U.S.A. out-in-the-cold.

The draft 106 page bill, is 106 pages of loopholes, so that no person can be held accountable for the greatest looting of a public treasury in world history. There is a vast difference and a distinction between Regulation and oversight; Treasury, the SEC, HUD have always had oversight/look the other way, what has been lacking is Regulation. This proposed draft is an insult to Main-Street.

Congresses haste and myopia in failing to look down the road is likely to cause the collapse of the entire system. It would be prudent for Congress to with hold-off looting the Treasury for the benefit of a few on Wall-Street, until you have a firm handle on F.D.I.C. and PBGC obligations coming within the next 6 months.

The McCain Elite - Power/Wealth/ & Slaves

Let's take a look at Senator John McCain. I'm no scholar or pundit, just an ordinary guy, but the McCain campaign ' Straight Talk Express ' is a dog that doesn't hunt. The guy is a warrior, great grandson of a Mississippi plantation slave owner, grandfather and father were 4 star Admirals, great uncle was a General, this 'poor' boy married into hundreds of millions. So he knows or has any clue of what the average U.S. citizen goes through or faces, COME ON GIVE ME A BREAK !
What John McCain knows is how to kill, how to make profits for his wealthy friends by passing out war ( defense ) contracts and how to bankrupt the U.S. and citizens by the constant foreign deployment of U.S. troops [ '100 year war'... McCain's own words ]. McCain could care less about U.S. troops as demonstrated by his vote against and lack of support for U.S. Veterans. Bottom line, this guy is bad news for every U.S. citizen hoping for gainful employment. Ordinary working stiffs are far below McCains social class and he has no sympathy for enlisted veterans, or junior officers, who he considers as nothing more than cannon fodder.

I am an old fart senior, but call see through all the McCain hoop-la - McCains Arizona buddies, Senator Jon Kyl and Congressman Trent Franks and others voted against the recent Medicare bill - if you are middle class , McCain could care less; when your wife declares a yearly income of over $6,000,000.00 + do you thank any of us in the middle class are of concern, we are all dispensable and can easily be replaced by illegal aliens who will work for less then minimum wage in McCains friends factories, or on McCains friends plantations; the rest of citizens between 18-45 will be sent off to some McCain contrived foreign war.