iPads, Neocons, Syrians, and Germans...Happy Purim

If this post is crankier than usual, I am blaming the jetlag.
In 1939 Germany invaded Poland in its march to world domination via military conquest.  In 2011, Germany is the dominant economic power in Europe and the future of the EU and the single currency lies in German willingness to bail out Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and potentially Spain and Italy.  Germany through the IMF and EU bailout fund has become the significant stakeholder in these other sovereign nations.  I wonder if Parker Brothers will be creating a new version of Risk that uses economic and financial instruments and not armies to conquer the world.
Someone up there must really hate me.  I just learned Charles Krauthammer, Fox News Contributor and Conservative Centerfold, is a Red Sox fan.  A sick sick joke.
Speaking of False news, I guess I am late to the game and didn’t realize that Brett Baier is using “Fair, Balanced, and Unafraid” as his closing tag line.  Unafraid?  I guess my new tagline will be “Superior, Unbalanced, and Pissed Off”.
The downside of travelling internationally is watching Fake News Channel and having to listen to the likes of ¼ wits like Andrea Tantaros.   She is a walking talking sound bite machine for the right. 
Memo to US Airways, if you call your entrée Mushroom Risotto, then you may want to put more than one piece of mushroom in it.  Gordon Ramsay would be pissed with half-baked risotto.  Donkeys.
Critics on the right are ripping into Obama for his upcoming trip to Brazil. Chile, and El Salvador.  Hacks like the aforementioned Andrea Tantaros are referring to this trip as a vacation, while Krauthammer is calling it bad timing and an insult to Colombia for not acknowledging its efforts to battle narco-traffic and communism.  For starters, (a) it is not a vacation, (b) Brazil represents one of the largest emerging markets (The B in BRIC) for our goods and an alternative source of imports, (c) Colombia and the pending trade agreement are important, but until President Santos comes clean about the murders and kidnappings of key opposition and labor leaders, the US should not be entering this agreement, and (d) bad timing?  Look around there is always something happening somewhere.
Eisenhower must be rolling over in his grave.  In his 1961 farewell address he warned us of the Military Industrial Complex: “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.” Judging by the cries from the right by the Neocompoops for action in the Middle East, I would say the MIC is alive and well.
Keep an eye on Syria.  The anti-government unrest is gaining traction and if that blows, it will make Libya, Egypt, and the rest look like a booger.  Why?  Bashar al-Hassad will fight to the end to maintain control of the country and with Iranian backing this could turn into ground zero of escalation between the West and Iran.  Stability is a long way off.
Self-centered people in the US will really start taking notice of the crisis in Japan when their iPad 2’s are delayed due to critical components not coming out of Japan.  The horror.

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