NOR'EASTERS

The term is now used by "hip" weathermen as a buzzword for any big rain storm that meanders up the Eastern seaboard and hits the cities where the TV men are. But a real Nor-easter has certain characteristics that separate the real ones as something apart. Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring all bring them and they can be rain or snow or a bit of both. The blizzard of '78 was a real one. So are the storms hitting us in 2010 in February and March. They have met every standard. Eye-like formations. Winds from the North-east. Hurricane strength.

When I was a kid I did a lot of sailing. Naval JROTC high school. Had my own little boat. Raced it on the weekends at the local yacht club. When I was around thirteen my Pop signed me up for a summer sailing camp that raced dinghies and sloops. I remember the day I was crewing on Tommy's M-scow and a Nor'easter kicked up. Fast. Tommy said, "Fuck, that's a Nor'easter." And came about and headed for the dock. First time I heard the term. Never forgot it. Spent the rest of the afternoon watching a geyser hit the windowed porch of the Beachwood Yacht Club.

I learned then, that when the winds blow the rain and snow from the Northeast, pay no attention to what the weatherman calls the storm, just head for cover.

L. Lawless

Afghanistan

The military coalition. led by US elements of course, begin an offensive this weekend in Helmand, the heart of the world's opium trade. Our enemies are a coalition also. Of Taliban and drug warlords. Slavers who take the local farmers, addicted to the tears of the poppy, and employ them in serfdom to fuel the coffers of tyranny disguised as fundamental Islam. Fundamental Islam. Now in my country and quite a few others for that matter, fundamental Islam manages to co-exist, in the same neighborhoods, with Orthodox Judaism, born-again Christians, Wiccans, pagans, Freemasons, Nazis and all the others, without daily warfare. In fact, violence for religious or ethnic reasons is rarer and rarer in diverse societies and in the US especially. Economic motivations on the other hand breed both strange bedfellows and bizarre feuds. This begs the conclusion that the mess in the Middle East, most specifically the Valentines Day Offensive, is motivated in the least by the Taliban and their desire to impose Islamic tyranny, but rather by the interests of those people who control and use the 70-90% of the world's HEROIN supply produced in Helmand. Certainly not to suggest that the Taliban are anything but a willing tool of evil men that care not about either Allah or Jesus. Men who are willing to pay the Taliban to run a government that will allow them to continue to produce a crop that is more valuable than all the gold in history. And as long as the Taliban rule the money continues to flow...............

In the 1950's at a place called Gereshk, the US Army Corps of Engineers built a dam that diverted water from the Helmand River and created the Boghra Canal. This is the irrigation project that allowed Helmand to become the major producer of Opium in the world. Perhaps shutting the dam and depriving the region of its agricultural ability is the only solution. While harsh and certainly not devoid of consequences to the 1.4 million residents of Helmand, this solution does in fact teach the broader lesson of responsibility. More simply, if the developed world makes a major investment in your agricultural infrastructure it is not a good idea to use it to grow the most deadly illicit drug on the Earth.

F. Lynn ~ Boston

NO APOLOGIES NEEDED

Y'know when you travel around the U.S. you don't see too many (any!) cemeteries of foreign war dead. Like German, Italian, Russian, or Polish cemeteries when those countries sent armies to help us in our times of trouble. Hmmmmmmmmm. Because no armies ever came. The French sent a Navy. Thanks. But travel around the world, especially Europe, and you will find numerous cemeteries of those Americans who died in foreign wars. And they were wars of liberation when humanity faced its darkest days and the expenditure of human life against perilous evil was considered blood well spent. So, to our European friends and allies and anyone else where American blood was spilled on behalf of others: No apologies for arrogance are in order. In fact, it is difficult to argue with success. In 1776 one country in the world was practicing functional democracy and respecting the individual rights of men. In 2009, three-quarters of the extant governments of the Earth are functional parliamentary democracies. It is not a perfect world and nations still act with self-interest. But it is undeniable progress when considered against most of the course of human history. So say thank you to the Founding Fathers and show a little respect.

Rick Poure
NYC Correspondent

Iran...........always Iran....

I am sure, that with the secret police beating people in the streets of Tehran, that Voltaire, Bolivar and Jefferson are all rolling over in their graves. If Sam Adams could only come back to life now. What the hell is wrong with these people? Totalitarianism IS an historical failure. Economically and politically. What are the "free" nations of the world doing to help the Iranian freedom fighters? Nothing? We should supply them with arms and safe havens. We should give them air cover and artillery support. The current Iranian regime seeks nuclear weapons to use against us!

That is not an idle threat, we are infidels and have no souls. Makes it pretty easy on the conscience when you become a mass murderer, right? Stalin had no God, he didn't care. Neither do the leaders of Iran. We should do anything in our power to change that or we will rue the day.

 

 

The Swat Appeasement

 

That is what the history books will call it.

When Pakistan gave the Swat Valley to the Taliban in 2009.

History is not kind to appeasers.  The most recent and obvious example of WWII is oft stated and it is only the most recent.  In fact, in most cases where naked use of aggression is the option of the other side, than appeasement equals surrender.  The Romans and the Mongols both demonstrate this.  So shall Pakistan rue the day that it told the Taliban it would no longer fight them for Swat.

 

The Northwest frontier of Pakistan has long been an area disputed by the local tribes and the great powers.  There are many reasons, opium among them, also the violent politics of the region for the last two hundred years, which it may be safe to say is vividly recalled by the local inhabitants albeit somewhat forgotten by the rest of the world.  Why worry about world history when you can Twitter?

 

In 1898 a young Winston Churchill saw the publication of his first book,

The Story of the Malakand Field Force, An Episode of Frontier War,  which concerned none other than the activities of the British Army as they messed about in Northwest Pakistan. 

 

The Swat Valley.

 

  Of all places.

 

Look at Churchill’s description of the transfer of power in a principality in this region, “In 1892 [the ruler of Chitral] died, leaving many sons, all equally ferocious, ambitious, and unscrupulous. One of these, Afzal by name, though not the eldest or acknowledged heir, had the good fortune to be on the spot. He seized the reins of power, and having murdered as many of his brothers as he could catch, proclaimed himself Mehtar and invited the recognition of the Indian Government. He was acknowledged chief, as he seemed to be "a man of courage and determination, and his rule afforded a prospect of settled government. “  Apparently, not very much has changed.  Since the Taliban are the men “on the spot” and have the guns to back it up, Pakistan has decided that they can keep what they have.  Or keep what they can kill.   Maybe Riddick is an unusual moral comparison but MacBeth is not, and the Taliban are at best the moral equivalent  of the Necromongers or the Scot.  More than a few similarities I might add.

 

And now the Taliban have struck out from Swat.  Why not?  The Northwest frontier is and has always been a Pashtun nation.  Despite the trial and error methods of the British and the artificial Duran line, the people of this area clearly view themselves in a highly independent manner.  So much so that they are willing to cede personal liberty to religious fanatics who promise them glory.  Either in this world or the next.  The small cities of this area are arms factories with staggering capacities for the production of the AK-47.  Sure, Pakistan wants to use its Army fighting a civil war with these guys.   They are not worried anymore about the Indians in the Kashmir.   Right.  But it looks like they might not have a choice.  The most recent Taliban incursions are merely 60 miles from Pakistan’s capital.  Granted they have withdrawn.  To gather strength.  In, as the AP reports it, the “Swat stronghold.”

 

So here’s the reality Pakistan.  Renege on your deal with the Taliban and attack them with all your might right now.  They have no honor anyway and they consistently prove this.   Or they will fester and grow and then they will come for you. 

 

 

F. Lynn

Boston Correspondent

IRAN AGAIN

Adm.  Mike Mullen is a very serious and credible man.

Here's what he has to say about the status of a nuclear Iran.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29453246/

IRAN

Do we really have the luxury of finding out that Iran really isn’t lying like a dog while it feverishly works to create a nuclear weapon?  Don’t we believe that Iran is preparing for peaceful space exploration when they test seven ICBM’s simultaneously?  And then test more the next day.  Do we believe that history cannot repeat itself?  Are we as naïve and foolish as previous generations were when confronted with evil men pursuing evil goals of personal power and tyranny?  Do we believe these same men who consort with terrorists and still call the US a “great Satan”?  Lest we forget, these are the same “revolutionaries” who seized our embassy and kept our fellow Americans hostage.  Although for those of us fortunate enough to live in the byproduct of the American Revolution, applying the term revolutionary to these miscreants is deplorable.  Iran does not deserve to be treated like a nation in the company of other civilized countries.  She deserves to be treated as a rogue cur, rabid with the fever of zealotry masking the purpose of her tyrannical masters.  America should act now, in consort with her allies, even if that consists solely of Israel, to remove the Iranian potential for developing a nuclear weapon.  It is doubtful in the extreme that Iran will exercise the same restraint and judgment that the Cold War adversaries did when possessed of massive opposing arsenals.  It is more likely that Iran will convey these weapons into the hands of fundamentalist Islamic terrorists who will have no compunction about using them against American  cities.  The Middle East has been at war for a thousand years.  It’s not very likely that peace will break out anytime soon, rather with the present ilk of leaders in control things will probably get a lot worse.  A weak, indecisive United States of America will send a message of encouragement to those maleficent leaders that by their own definition are the enemies of our country, our allies and the peace of nations.     

    - F. Lynn, 

Boston Correspondent

THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE