Maggie's Farm

Yes, the food looks yummy indeed. I'm sure Vlad Putin would also think so.
Why are the Russians alienating the US and growing more bold? Well I could for the third time point to the fact that it's a strategy they planned decadesa ago according to the book "New Lies for Old" by Soviet KGB defector but that's not getting any traction here at MF so ....

Why you ask .. perhaps a few quotes and anecdotal info will suffice the answer.

"You are in the courtroom of world opinion…. All right, sir, let me ask you one simple question: Do you, Ambassador Zorin, deny that the U.S.S.R. has placed and is placing medium- and intermediate-range missiles and sites in Cuba? Yes or no — don’t wait for the translation — yes or no?" [The Soviet representative refuses to answer.] "You can answer yes or no. You have denied they exist. I want to know if I understood you correctly.*I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over, if that’s your decision*. And I am also prepared to present the evidence in this room."
US UN Ambassador ,Adlai Stevenson II during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Stevenson also once characterized the Soviet Union as a thief in a hotel who simple walks down the hallways , testing each doorknob , until he finds an open room...that is Russia...Russia under Putin is just the KGB Soviet Union without the Hammer and Sickle flag.

They see the US currently embrioled in an internicine fight between the Democratic Socialists and the President over the war in Iraq and they are making hay while the sumn shines.
A perfect example:

The Russians claimed on July 12th a great scientific discovery late last month. An expedition of 50 scientists that spent 45 days aboard the Rossia nuclear ice-breaker found that an underwater ridge (the Lomonosov ridge) directly links Russia's Arctic coast to the North Pole. This, they insist, *surely guarantees Russia's rights over a vast Polar territory that also happens to contain some 10 billion tons of oil and natural gas deposits*.

So here we go. We're occupied and their claiming vast new territories which no doubt they will soon ocupy with a phalanx of picket ship and shore stations. They ALWAYS push,push,push .... to say the US has a few international difficulties is a bit like saying the Elephant Man had a small skin disorder.

Rufus,
Possumtater is kind pissed at you for your drive by comment. He knows you know bunches about economics so please get the 'Tater off my back and give us the skinny...

Hope you're do'in fine..miss chatt'n with ya. tater says Hi!

Re: Lee and Right Thinking from the Left Coast.

Lee needs to keep thinking through what he thinks he learned. His ostensible starting points for his "new learning" are, to be charitible, tenuous.

In a word ...sciolism.

Yep, it's all going to be very interesting when we can spare the time to address the challenge.
First of course we need to have, as Harry Reid promised, another 100 investigations into this administration while at the same time abandoning Iraq to the clutches of AQ and Iran, thus setting off a nuclear attack by Israel on Iran.

I'd really like to know what it's going to take to wake up this country to the fact that we are in very deep water and the sharks are tightening their circles...I mean how long can we remain stupid?
Are we going to remain stupid for so long that the only thing that will retrieve our security is a nuclear exchange?