Good evening.  This is LK of LooseKannon.com; that’s Kannon with a K, recently named to the Talkers Magazine Frontier 50,  a selection of outstanding talk media webcasters.”  Talkers Magazine, of course, is billed as “The Bible of Talk Radio and the New Talk Media”, and, in the words of Muhammad Ali, “it ain’t bragging if it’s true”.

First, before we get going this morning, I wanted to thank those of you who inquired as to the state of my voice, and let you know that it’s coming back strong.  Again, I thank you for your concern and good wishes.

Today, I want to look in briefly on the major events screaming at us from the front pages of our newspapers, our cable channels, and our favorite websites, but before dealing with these specific issues, I have to point out that one of the things that hits me over the head is that these major events are all tied together; tied together by a massive disconnect between the elected leaders driving the bus, and the passengers, namely us, who elected, or if you’d like, hired them.  We the people programmed a destination into the GPS, let’s call it the intersection of security and prosperity, but the drivers, who promised to take us there, now insist on ignoring the directions and instead, they seek out dead ends and detours.  Maybe it’s a nefarious plot.  Maybe it’s a tragic example of the Peter Principle, in which they’ve all reached their levels of incompetence.  Maybe it’s a bit of both.  What’s clear to me, is that we’re being governed right into the ground.

That said, let’s do what we try to do here, and connect the dots, dots that many folks, sadly, don’t even see.  On the menu tonight are today’s follies du jour, the absurdities of the day.

Let’s start with Afghanistan-I remember Bush introducing Karzai the peacock at his State of the Union address in 2002.  The guy was dressed like Huggy Bear from the old Starsky and Hutch TV show, or the film re-make, depending on your generational reference, and Karzai turned out to be every bit the pimp and pusher he was decked out as.  Wouldn’t be surprised if the Afghan state limo had leopard spotted upholstery and big fluffy dice hanging from the rear view mirror.  And Obama, he’s no better.  He turns a blind eye as well.  Unless they’ve both been in bed with Heroin Hamid all along.  Something to think about.  And in a further developement, Representative Nita Lowey said she wouldn’t give one more dime to those first degree felons.  Good for her.

It won’t matter whether the commander is loose lips McChrystal, the saviour Petraeus, George Patton, or Genghis Khan.  Get our men and women out of there.  It’s a wheel spinning war; it’s like fighting an infestation of phantom-like roaches.   You can’t kill them one by one.  You can only clear the room and release a spray that kills everything in the room, not just the roaches.  And since we’re not going to stand for collateral damage, which is a fancy term for dead civilians, we’ve simply got to get out.  Any politician who wants to save face and stay, rather than save lives and bring home the troops deserves to be deployed themselves.  Check out the piece I wrote back in December, and then updated in April that outlined how only a clown of a military strategist, or a politician who deals with notions rather than 3-dimensional flesh and blood, could lead his troops into the Afghan death trap.

Let’s turn to financial regulation.  What a joke.   The fact that it ran into some roadblocks last week is meaningless.  Do you think for a second that the watered down and easily circumvented rule changes in the bill being considered can stop the hot shot hedgies from finding ways to steal from the poor and give to the rich?  Let’s put it this way:  Do you think for a second that if they changed a rule or two of chess that Garry Kasparov or the ghost of Bobby Fischer couldn’t still beat the pants off the rest of us?

When oversight on auto loans is overruled by lobbyist lackeys disguised as Senators, and no cap is put on the rate of interest that credit card companies can charge, we have new rules and regs in name only.  If you believe in paying for the sins in the afterlife, you can take some small comfort in the usurers, the lenders, going straight to hell.

And then there’s the gaffe in the Gulf.  As I tweeted about a day and a half before the mainstream media recognized it and then belatedly came out with a slew of articles about the psychological toll the spill was taking, the despondency over a way of life that evaporated is as great a burden in many cases as the loss of a paycheck.  And they feed on each other, creating, literally, a snowball in hell for the people down there.   And there’s no guarantee that the relief wells are going to be able to thread the 6000 foot needle later this summer.

It’s been one false hope after another, and I can’t help but wonder if every attempt thus far; to cap the well, capture the oil, contain the spill, and clean the coast was one big dog and pony show meant to keep us all, and particularly the folks directly affected, pacified enough that they didn’t draw and quarter BP’s Tony Hayward when they had the chance.

And what review would be complete without a few words on the economy.  Would someone with more common sense than degrees from some fancy business school please tell me how, with industries not increasing their capital spending or hiring, and unemployment benefits being cut off, we’re going to see anything but a rise in the same type of despondency I already talked about, rather than a rise in people working and spending again?  Increasing the taxes on a depleted workforce is like squeezing water from the proverbial stone, and drastically cutting money for schools and teachers is insuring that the next generation has a whole lot more low wage or no wage jobs, decreasing the tax base even further.  That’s one vicious spiral.  As I tweeted this morning, it’s no wonder that consumer confidence took a vicious hit in the face of, not only zero no job creation, but no extension of unemployment benefits.  And still there are optimistic, idiotic talking heads on CNBC whose sole purpose is to get you to put your money into their funds, so they can collect a sweet management fee regardless of your plunging assets.

And yet it brings to mind  an idea so clear headed and productive that it’s no wonder our elected officials haven’t thought of it yet, because clear headed and prouctive just ain’t there thing.   What’s the idea?  Take the hundreds of billions we’d save from our debacle in Afghanistan and Iraq, the same Iraq, by the way, that’s going to erupt in renewed violence the moment we’re gone, let’s take that money we’re wasting in the Persian Gulf, and spend it instead, on, of all things, the well being of our own future generations.   For one thing, cut out the education cutbacks, then take part of the windfall we gain from spending less on bullets, medics, and caskets and use that money to reduce the debt, and take yet another part to strengthen homeland security, because God knows that wasting our resources searching for Osama as a way to prevent terror attacks is exactly what extremist Islam want us to do.  They’ve become far more sophisticated.   Death to the infidels, yes, but no longer by dramatic beheadings.  Rather, by a slow attrition of manpower and resources.

I could go on, but you’ve got a life to live and there’s a fine line between being informed and being overwhelmed to the point where catatonia sets in.

To end on a brighter note, when I turned on the TV the morning before I recorded this Kast to catch some news and financial info, the cable box was on a channel that was showing the end of Apollo 13, which displayed an example of the very best of what we human beings can accomplish, regardless of the odds.  I’m going to get hold of a copy of the movie and watch the whole thing, maybe more than once.   Might even have a party and invite some friends over for a much needed dose of optimism, in the face of the day to day drek we’re dealing with.

It’s clearly time to grab hold of the reins and get rid of the bottom feeders disguised as leaders.  I’m tired of having the truth get me down.

Alright, this is LK, of LooseKannon.com, and that’s Kannon with a K, signing off. I’ll be away from the LK studios for a week, but will be posting and tweeting on a regular basis, so you check on a regular basis, and drop me a line at lk@loosekannon.com, again, Kannon with a K.

Be well, speak with you soon.

                          

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The Brits have voted, and when that voting is combined with their parliamentary system and the strange bedfellows deal the Conservative party cut with the Social Democrats, the U.K. finds itself with a new Prime Minister, David Cameron.

Cameron, who has vowed to get the U.K. back on the path of fiscal responsibility, even if it takes a variety of painful austerity measures, has never, and will in all probability never have to, deal with anything remotely resembling an austerity measure himself.  He was born to the upper crust, educated in the finest and most expensive schools money and position can buy, and is clearly comfortable ruling from his pedestal of privilege.

Do as I say, not as I do, and all that.   Jolly good.  Can’t wait to see what happens when the first round of civil servant layoffs or pay cuts are announced.

Not to be outdone by that side of the pond, yesterday in NY state soon to be ex-governor David Paterson had no problem forcing an unpaid furlough on 100,000 state workers, while simultaneously granting pay raises to some of his top aides and appointees.  It’s not surprising.  The governor’s admitted to an affair (clearly an indulgence, rather than a display of forbearance), been accused of protecting a misogynist aide, and regularly parked himself squarely under various clouds of suspicion, rather than walking the straight, narrow road of self-discipline.

We mocked the chairmen of the automakers when they flew into DC in their private jets asking to drink at the public trough, and yet we continue to elect characters without character.

If in fact one gets what one deserves, then we need to tighten up our own acts as citizens, so that we deserve better.

UPDATE:  a Federal judge put a hold on the furloughs for state workers.  Turns out Paterson’s attempts at austerity are not only hypocritical, but may well be unconstitutional and therefore illegal.  At least the guy’s consistent.

                          

This past week is one that’s becoming the rule rather than the exception, when 4 or 5 stories, any one of which, by itself, would normally command an entire front page, fight for space above the fold.

And we’re not talking healthy sextuplets or destitute grannies winning power ball.

We’re talking dark winds of change material.

To wit:

On 5/2, following the Times Square car bomb that bombed on Broadway, I wrote:

“And yes, this was a successful act of terrorism.  There may have been no explosion, or loss of life or property, but havoc was created, and another small infusion of paranoia and vigilance now occupies a part of the collective citizen brain that had previously been occupied with creative and productive, instead of protective, thinking.”

Since then the Triborough/RFK bridge was shut down because a disgruntled boyfriend left his rented truck abandoned to piss off his girlfriend and the volume of 911 and 311 calls has increased substantially.  Yes, better to be safe than sorry, but our heads and our hearts have been affected, and any Israeli will tell you that’s no small part of effective terrorist actions.

On 5/3, from the subtly titled “Janet Napolitano is An Idiot”:

“We have no evidence that it is anything other than a one-off”.  This from Janet Napolitano, head of Homeland Insecurity, on ABC’s “This Week”, less than 24 hours after the Times Square car bomb failed to ignite.  This from a member of an administration that urged us, and correctly so, not to jump to conclusions.

And, continuing on 5/4:

My Spidey sense started tingling upon hearing about the early morning arrest of Faisal Shahzad, the alleged and inept car bomber.  After spending 5 months in Pakistan, probably a good part of that time in training, the best he could muster was a collection of gear that was connected more by desire than live wire.

Sure enough, as reported in today’s NYTimes: “Pakistani Taliban Behind Times Sq. Plot, Holder Says”.  That’s Eric Holder, as in the Attorney General of the United States.  Napolitano should have taken some of the fencing she didn’t use to seal the Mexico/Arizona border and place it between her brain and her mouth.

On 5/5, turning to the growing Euro-Mess:

Making things even more difficult are the Greeks themselves, who have become so used to excessive vacation time, sumptuous pensions, and all sorts of other government goodies that, in protest, they’re currently shutting down airports, schools, hospitals and other vital public services to the point that the country’s paralyzed, which indicates they’re not having an easy time accepting the austerity measures required to slowly but surely climb out of their pit of debt.

And this was before the Greeks started rioting.  Yet another announcement of yet another approved plan has just be released.  This makes maybe the 15th time that’s happened, with no positive movement.

And then, on 5/7, in “The 98 ton Band-Aid”, I expressed my bewilderment at the BP crew:

What confuses me is the lack of surety, and caveats galore, emanating from the people involved in the capping.  They don’t know how the 98 ton container’s going to hold up under the pressure a mile down.  They don’t know how maneuverable it’s going to be.

Why the lack of confidence?  And why is up so much easier than down?  Why can we send vehicles, manned and unmanned, into space, at planetary distances, and be able to precisely intercept a moon of Jupiter, or, decades ago, land and retrieve men on and from the moon?  The physics of increasing water pressure at greater depths isn’t a big mystery; it’s the same science that was used to drill the damn well in the first place, with what I’d guess were far more precise tolerances than are required to place this Ironman like barn on top of the deep sea gusher.

Sure enough, the only thing they were right about is that they very possibly weren’t right.  You don’t need to be the president of Mensa to come to the conclusion that if they don’t know enough about the science of what happens at those depths, THEY SHOULDN’T BE DRILLING DOWN THERE, AND NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN.  Man, some pockets were lined but good to gain approval for licenses to drill, before the oil companies even deserved their learner’s permits.

But everything’s going to go well this week.  I just know it.

                          

The Germans are pissed. Some of their taxpayer dollars are probably going to be used to  bail out the Greeks, too many of whom buy 63″ plasmas before they pay their rent, and, in fact, expect the government to buy the big screens for them. So Chancellor Merkel has her hands full convincing the German legislature to climb aboard the bailout bandwagon.

It doesn’t help the cause of European unity and harmony that she’s speaking of the Greeks as if they were irresponsible children, but that may be the necessary posture she’s got to take to get her fellow citizens to begrudgingly share the risk and burden of lending money to a nation of people who aren’t good at paying loans back.

Making things even more difficult are the Greeks themselves, who have become so used to excessive vacation time, sumptuous pensions, and all sorts of other government goodies that, in protest, they’re currently shutting down airports, schools, hospitals and other vital public services to the point that the country’s paralyzed, which indicates they’re not having an easy time accepting the austerity measures required to slowly but surely climb out of their pit of debt.

Not exactly confidence inspiring to potential lenders, which is why the bailout that seems to be announced daily still hasn’t formally come to pass.

And waiting in the wings is Spain.  The government officials there are taking great pains to remind the world, and the Eurozone in particular, that their problems are nowhere near as severe as the Greeks, in the hope that no one will notice that their economic house has also crossed the border into the land of disorder.

This doesn’t bode well, economically or politically.  The delusions that national mind sets can be changed overnight (a year or two, historically speaking, is overnight) and that one nation’s citizenry won’t resent another nation’s citizenry for behaving less responsibly than they themselves have behaved, won’t last long.

The dissolution of the Euro is the least of their, and our worries.

And we’re all reminded that grown-ups, like kids, have an aversion to medicine that tastes bad.

                          

“We have no evidence that it is anything other than a one-off”.  This from Janet Napolitano, head of Homeland Insecurity, on ABC’s “This Week”, less than 24 hours after the Times Square car bomb failed to ignite.  This from a member of an administration that urged us, and correctly so, not to jump to conclusions.  Republicans offered the same caveat.  Don’t assume organized terror cell, don’t assume lone wolf.

Now it’s starting to look like a naturalized American, recently returned from Pakistan, was the running man.  Now it’s starting to look like he had accomplices who helped him purchase the incendiary potpourri he had stashed in the SUV.

Now it’s starting to look like Napolitano, whose reaction time to the oil rig disaster rivals the sluggishness of Brownie to Katrina, is in way over her head, if her head is supposed to remain clear and above water while others are losing theirs.

Incompetence exists independent of party affiliation.

Junk Janet.

                          

I’ve been up most of the night listening to information trickle in regarding the undetonated Times Square car bomb.  That I spent last night 5 blocks from the car’s location probably added to what is already my predilection to monitor such things.

It seems to me that a spineless and dim witted terrorist (whether international or domestic) who, upon realizing there was smoke emanating from the back of the vehicle, which might have been followed shortly thereafter by a premature explosion, abandoned the SUV with the motor running and the flashers on.  I don’t know what the terrorist 101 manual says, but I’m guessing that bringing attention to the vehicle containing the explosives isn’t recommended.

And yes, this was a successful act of terrorism.  There may have been no explosion, or loss of life or property, but havoc was created, and another small infusion of paranoia and vigilance now occupies a part of the collective citizen brain that had previously been occupied with creative and productive, instead of protective, thinking.

So Mayor Bloomberg is wrong when he says everything’s back to normal, and New Yorkers should enjoy the city as they always have.   Good thing he wasn’t at his island retreat when this happened.  Wouldn’t have looked good.  My guess is that the frequency of his getaways will diminish some over the next few months.

Meanwhile, with even the NY Times repeatedly pointing out that the Obama administration dropped the ball on the oil rig disaster in the Gulf, and Axelrod and company scrambling the public relations jets to obfuscate their tardy and thus potentially disastrous response,  the folks down there are going through, in the words of Yogi Berra, “deja vu all over again”.

There have been better Sunday mornings.

                          

Let this be a lesson:

Hoaxers, however misinformed or well intentioned, come in all shapes, sizes, and political orientations.

A painfully long and widely acknowledged line of dominoes have fallen as a result of GWB’s flailing reaction to both 9/11 and the Iraqi plans to kill Poppy Bush (don’t tell me sonny boy wasn’t trying to show daddy he had the right stuff).  Among the dominoes are lost and ruined lives, military and civilian, American and foreign.  There are billions of wasted dollars that could and should have gone to educating the next generation and re-educating the obsolete unemployed.  And worsening relations with just about every civilized, and even worse, uncivilized nation on the face of the earth.  And on and on and on.

Far less attention has been paid to the damage done by the eurekas and subsequent glee of those who bought into the notion that, due in large part to our new found abilities to communicate and travel like never before,  a far more level global playing field had arrived, and was going to prove a boon to all kinds of economic and cultural advances.  Advances bordering on the miraculous, if you bought into the hype.

Instead, we’ve seen the outsourcing of so many American jobs that every couple of months Congress has to approve yet another extension to unemployment benefits (using, incidentally, money we’re borrowing from China), so that we don’t have even more foreclosures, or even more kids who can’t afford to go to college and may have to drop out of high school to help make ends meet at home.  I don’t even want to get started about how those checks are just barely forestalling some sort of civil insurrection pitting the haves against the have-nots.

And we’ve seen cultures that should have had minimal contact while they developed according to their own histories, pace, and cultural norms, clash violently and become bitter enemies once they’re thrust into close contact with each other.  It wasn’t enough that we needed stuff, like oil, from them, and they wanted stuff, like dollars, booze they drank on the sly, and DVD’s from us.  We had to impose our style of democracy on them, which itself is increasingly dysfunctional as far as the American public’s concerned, and we imposed it like a demented Captain Kirk who forgot that he wasn’t supposed to interfere with the development of alien civilizations.

The last straw, as far as I was concerned, was hearing that Afghanistan’s poppy farmers were being given a pass by the American military so that we didn’t alienate them in our hunt for Osama and company.

So let’s keep that heroin and hash flowing to our inner cities; let’s keep our prisons populated, and our lower class right where they are.  Protect America but kill the American dream.

Thomas Friedman seems like a man with a high IQ and a good heart who missed the obvious: the world is way too jarring and unwieldy to be flat.

                          

I don’t have a comprehensive understanding of the health care bill, and anyone who claims to, which includes 300 million American citizens and their elected legislative representatives, is a liar.

A lying legislator.  Imagine that.

I’m one of those three hundred million Americans who, without knowing what’s behind door #1, is being told I’m buying it.

Does it keep 32 million Americans from having to choose between going broke or going to meet their maker?  And if it does, can we pay for it, given that fewer full time employees are now covering the country’s expenses?  “Rich” has got to be redefined using a lower bar if the rich are going to foot this bill.

Yet the concept of no cap on benefits is a no-brainer in this day and age, when a single surgery can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.  And an end to denying insurance to those with pre-existing conditions, like a family whose kid has a congenital defect that will inevitably rear its ugly and expensive head, appeals to anyone with a heart that beats, and more importantly, feels, empathy for his or her neighbors.

So the jury’s out, probably for decades, on whether this bill will make us a better people, or bankrupt us before we can find out.

And circling back to March Madness, with time about to expire, Obama shoots, and nails his game-winner.  Some leave the arena ecstatic, others fighting mad, still others confused and sullen. Obama rears his heretofore absent potency, and makes it happen.

A historic buzzer beater, no doubt.  With far more at stake than NCAA bragging rights.