Drone Diplomacy Apology

 

Drone Diplomacy Apology

I don't often apologize for lack of accuracy in one of my blogs, but this is the exception. I try very hard to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (other than my satire). The previous blog Drone Diplomacy displayed extreme ignorance on my part. I did not realize the drones are presently partially defended against with hacking and scrambling of transmissions. It is not being done all that effectively, but it is being done.

How could I be so ignorant? Well, I watch the news on MS NOW for at least a couple of hours five days a week. What I hear is that we are depleting our hundreds of thousand dollar defense missiles shooting down hundreds of dollar drones and that it will take at least three years to replace them. I have heard nothing of radio interference as a defensive measure.

I live primarily in the liberal bubble. I think that most of us chooses a bubble that soothes our belief systems. Political party's giant dollar input strengthens the bubbles. So I was fed that we are spending too much on the Iran war and gaining little or nothing. I believe both of these things are true and that we are killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians needlessly. MS NOW tells me daily of the deaths of fourteen or fifteen of our brave men and women who have died in our war of choice, but never mention the civilian casualties in Iran. I would like to know.

The end of drone warfare that I proposed in the previous blog could certainly be brought about by borrowing a half dozen or so of our best scientists and engineers from NASA and the radio telescope design teams. The radio controlled drones would not be an unsolvable problem.

I apologize for my ignorance, Old Buz 5/14/2026

“Political parties have long outlived their usefulness.” - Old Buz

The Day After Christmas, 2013

Merry Christmas to all of you true believers and Bah Humbug to all of you godless Atheists.  I have to apologize for being late with my holiday greetings, but it is not abnormal for me.  My fondest wish for all Americans for the coming year is the outlawing of all political parties in our land.  I believe that they have done enough damage, in recent years, with their incessant bickering to see them abolished.  If the bright men and women that represent us, went to Washington D.C., with the purpose in mind of solving the Nation’s problems, rather than battling the opposing party, would not this nation be better served?  If the person you send to Washington acts to represent your wishes, with their reason and wisdom, but not as a “rubber stamp” for a political party, would they not represent you better?

Political parties are the conduit for bribes of large corporate dollars to be legally transferred to our representatives.  I am speaking of both major parties.  They are equally guilty.  At a talk given by U.S. Congressman, Peter DeFazio, he mentioned that he had opposed NAFTA, in spite of the fact that the party he belonged to, the Democratic Party, was in favor of the bill.  During the Q&A, I asked him, what is the carrot and what is the stick that your party uses to influence your vote?  His answer was, the carrot is campaign funds and the stick is committee appointments and the position held on the committee.  The basic power in Congress is in the committees.  So what he said was that his ability to be elected as well as what influence he has in government, after elected, is in the hands of his political party.  The alpha dogs and alpha bitches that you send to legislate are pawns to their party.  They are controlled by the party.  They can't like this. They have the power, through legislation, to put an end to it.

Richard Carmona, M.D., ran for The U.S. Senate, representing the State of Arizona.  He had been the 17^th Surgeon General of our country, under the recent Bush Administration.  He didn’t win the election, but got my independent vote.  He chose to run as a Democrat, even though the Republicans urged him to be their candidate.  Carmona has many Republican friends, in high places, but chose to run as a Democrat because as a scientist, he would have had a hard time siding with the party in stating that man-made carbon emissions had little or nothing to do with climate change.  In a properly functioning government, that would not be a partisan issue.  Your representative would take a well-informed, wise, independent position, on either side of the issue.  “Free The Representatives.”   I asked Dr. Carmona, during Q&A, if he thought that political parties had outlived their usefulness.  He didn’t hesitate to answer, “Yes, I believe they have.”  So, why do we still have them?  Thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision, corporations can give unlimited funds to a political action committee, without being identified.  Unions can do it too, but their money is “chump change”.  Corporations don’t spend money and expect no return.  They get what they expect and friend, it is not for your benefit.

Cheers, Buz