FROM RYAN BRAUN, TO CORPORATE PERSONHOOD, TO SANTORUM! (Frazer Chronicle)
How you ask can Ryan Braun, a professional baseball player, the question of whether corporations, "at least in the United States," can be people, and why would I mention Rick Santorum in the same breath as a ball player and nine chief justices that decide all sorts of constitutional and law questions, simple, each gets "some" press coverage.....and I'll leave it for you to figure out which gets more press coverage.
Ryan Braun is an untypical part of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball club and their drive for the 2012 National League post season, and his position becomes even more crucial now that Prince Fielder has "fled" to Detroit and the millions that he will get to swat a baseball for that American League team.
Braun was the National League M.V.P. in 2011; the young outfielder had a truly outstanding season at the plate, on the bases and in the field. He was accused of failing a drug test that was administered last October, 2011. Throughout the process, Braun denied having taken any enhancing type of drugs.
Come to find out the length of a container that held Braun's specimen was at question, seems as if the vile had a week-end stay at the tester's house, in his refrigerator. I guess if a person's future earning power was at question, and let's make that fact perfectly clear, better care should have been taken, a better protocol would seem necessary to be established and followed.
After all, the test in question was tied to a young person's future, legacy and as mentioned, his earning power. I can understand the drug testing thing.....kind of; I however have always enjoyed the long ball, the gap shots and lots of runs being scored. How these ball players accomplish that feat really, really doesn't matter to me.
I love baseball for what it brings to the plate, "so to speak," the ebbs and flows of the game, it gives a guy time to think, strike up a conversation and simply enjoy the human spectacle of the game. I have never heard of, nor am I aware of a drug that will enhance a player’s eye-hand coordination, his foot speed, his reaction time, or his desire to win.....at all costs.
Is Ryan Braun a doper, I don't know, and what’s more, I don't care, nothing enhanced that beautiful swing that he has, his flair for the dramatic, or his game persona. Major League Baseball screwed up, keeping a specimen in a container in somebody’s refrigerator for almost 2 days was and is ridiculous. M.B.L. should be better than that, so.....till the nest drug test for whatever illegal substance, let’s "play ball."
CORPORATIONS ARE THEY REALLY PEOPLE:
I'm not sure I get this one, this question of whether a business can be a person, and if a business can be a person, what is it, a boy or a girl, tall, short, fat or skinny. Is it good looking, ugly, plain, shy, or gorgeous? So many unanswered questions regarding this "proposed person," as you can see, I'm in a quandary.
Is this corporation person a nice guy/gal or a jerk.....?”I hope not a jerk," and does it breathe, can it have illnesses like the rest of us, and does it get old and die? What rights does a "Corpy" (my name for this person) have?
Does a "Corpy" have to follow laws just like the rest of us, when can a "Corpy" drive, does it have to go to school, like grade school, middle school and high school. Can a "Corpy" enter a college, more important, can a "Corpy" play football and then play in the N.F.L. and when is it eligible for Medicare?
None of these questions have ever been answered when business wants to be included in the human race, at least in America. The Supreme Court seems to have answered the initial question of whether a corporation is a person.....it is. But not to whether a "Corpy" can go to school, or play sports or even if it has a heartbeat. Now there is a new question with regards to the "Corpy," kind of like the "new kid on the block."
"Corpy's" now want to exercise their rights in the political arena, not that you will ever have they decide on which "Corpy" to vote for on a ballot, but how much money they, "Corpy's" can spend. Hell I didn't even know that "Corpy's" had money, didn't know that they had jobs, or were given allowances by their folks.
Come to find out, the question of whether these "Corpy’s" can spend money, as much money as they want on political campaigns. Gee that sounds kind of like these "Corpy’s" need some parental control, it's kind of like, and “Where are the parents when you need 'em?"
What does all this "personhood" talk mean, you know as well as I, business wanting to set the rules by which they operate.....completely unfettered to do whatever they desire. Go for it "Corpy's."
RICKY, RICKY, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!
Rick Santorum in many poles is leading in Michigan's Tuesday primary by as much as 10 points; at least he was, possibly until the eve of the primary. Then came the "snob" comment by Santorum against President Obama on Saturday, when the president suggested that high school students ought to go to college.
It makes.....at least this Blogger wonder who is "handling" Ricky boy during probably the most important vote so far in the GOP presidential race. Does Santorum think before that pie hole some 4 or 5 inches below his hair-line opens and operates?
Look, even though I voted for Obama, I can find whole bunches of stuff to debate his job, to "call him out," but telling kids to go ahead with advanced learning, wow, I don't get that. Higher education is not the answer for everybody, but to aspire for more education hopefully is a dream everybody holds dear, whether it be community college, or a trade school.
Santorum said that "not all folks are gifted the same way, some people have incredible gifts with their hands, President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college, what a sob."
Snobbish, snobbery, snobbing.....whatever, Rick, at least I get it; you mean that the president is an elitist, doesn't have a clue, and can't relate to the American people. I'm not a republican or a democrat, I try and vote for whoever I feel is the best for the country, and clearly Ricky, "you ain't it."
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
HEADLINES THAT CAN BE A PAIN IN THE BUTT!
HEADLINES THAT CAN BE A PAIN IN THE BUTT! (Frazer Chronicle)
Okay I get it, there was a tragic church fire in Oconto Falls, Wisconsin that put children out of school classes that were held at the church-school. I also understand that the damage will be cost more then $2 million and I also understand that kids and families as well as church members will need to scramble around to retake their lives. I also am aware that a young boy of 16 has been arrested and admitted setting several fires at the St. Anthony.
The "fire bug" undoubtedly will be charged according to what the law allows for the incident and his age, but jeez can't we get over it. Nobody was killed, nobody was injured and nothing of significant historical value was destroyed or damaged. Just brick, wood, plaster, wire and metal, it is all replaceable and under insurance coverage, let's move on.
The fire was 1st. reported in area media Wednesday, February 22nd. and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The fire that happened during the night of February 21st. was an invasive kind of attack on people's lives, of that there is no doubt, but I don't need to have my news space invaded by stories that have been going on for a day short of a week. Bottom line, nobody got hurt, the place was insured and a suspect is in detention.....turn the page.
Some other top week-end headlines that tickled my fancy and my "caustic" retorts:
SALEH HANDS OVER YEMEN REINS TO SUCCESSOR:
All I can say is "Yemenny crickets."
TWO ARRESTED OVER 'PLOT TO KILL PUTIN'
Were they republican or democrat?
SPOTLIGHT THROWN ON OSCAR DEMOGRAPHICS, 77% MALE, 94% WHITE!
Boy isn't that a big surprise, kind of like major league baseball ownership, "an exclusive crowd."
WAR GAMES BEGIN IN 'TENSE' KOREAN PENINSULA!
One of those "my gun is bigger then your gun" things.
N.Y.P.D. SPIED ON MUSLIMS ALL OVER NORTHEAST U.S.
Darn glad to hear it, racial profiling at it's finest, great advertisement for our country.
RICK: "J.F.K. MADE ME WANT TO PUKE"
This from Rick Santorum, republican presidential candidate about former president Kennedy's stance on separation of church and state, "keeping the Pope out of politics." Well "Ricky" this "puke" statement is as close as you'll ever get to being compared to the late J.F.K.
OSCAR 2012: DID JENNIFER LOPEZ SUFFER A WARDROBE MALFUNCTION?
What, did I miss it, damn.
Another tidbit about the N.Y.P.D. and their spies thingy in several north eastern states, ka-ching, part of the cost for New York's finest will be paid for by us, or U.S. taxpayers. How do you spell (Homeland Security.)
Sunday, February 26, 2012
STICK AND STONES WILL BREAK MY BONES!
STICK AND STONES WILL BREAK MY BONES! (Frazer Chronicle)
It's an old saying, one that was used in my day, back in the early 1950's on the playgrounds of Andersonville grade school, come on, you know it, "sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me." Bullets and bombs however are a completely different story, at the very least they will blow off parts of your body and of course at the most they will kill you.
That's what happened to a couple of American service members, when an Afghan official retaliated for the burning of a pile of Korans by U.S. military personnel at the largest military compound in Afghanistan, apparently in an inadvertent act.
The mistaken burning has sparked violent protests, causing more then 25 deaths and exposing a fraying trust between the U.S. and Afghan forces that need to be allied so that the Americans can leave the country by the end of 2014.
The incident not only exposed the trust issue, but also showed the vulnerability between the Obama administration and the Afghani people, the religion of the region, and a complete disregard for whatever lessons have been learned over the past ten years.
This weeks incidents further shows the divide between middle easstern cultures and the western powers that occupy the country. There really isn't a sense of brotherhood between military forces in Afghanistan, there now seems to be a fear of fratricide, "brother killing brother."
As I have said before, "I hate war, any kind for almost any reason," and the actions that have taken place this week in Afghanistan seems to do nothing but strengthen my beliefs, but now I read a statement from republican presidential candidate Rock Santorum criticising President Obama for issuing an apology for U.S. personnel burning a pile of Korans to the Afghan people and I wonder what planet he, "Santorum" is living on.
To make a heartfelt apology for an act that is so wrong, so against maybe what the people of the region feel, or think, to me is not a stance showing weakness, rather understanding and human compassion and a profound apology for an event that never should have happened.
Crossing Rick Santorums' name off my list of possible presidential candidates, and the reasons for such a move is now completed. As Santorum once said, "the devil is attacking America, a good and decent country," I find his statement to be true, but sadly he is the attacker.....could he be the devil in Catholic's clothing?
Saturday, February 25, 2012
WILL THE U.S. SURVIVE?
WILL THE U.S. SURVIVE? (Aljazeera/lostinlc@comcast.net/Frazer Chronicle)
Up and at um early, like usual and this morning, like many mornings I find myself overwhelmed first by the posted on-line news and then individual articles.....and now even e-mails. E-mails don't usually get to me, I take them at face value and usually they, "the e-mails" are a hodge podge conglomeration of dis-jointed random thoughts that make casual points of interest.....at least to me.
But the E-mail I got the other day from lostinlc@comcast.net although a bunch of issues had some really strong points for people to think about, they were provocative. As more and more people become aware about their lives, about the world that they live in, and who really is in charge, a strange smell begins to omit, it's has the sound of a whirring engine, the smell, paint burning off new parts.....a good smell, a great sound. People are becoming aware.
The e-mail is more personal, more about our country, more about what we can do, more about actions that we can take. The Aljazeera article is about fact, about truth, about finite as opposed to perpetuity, a study in terminology. Both the e-mail and the Aljazeera article have things in common, but both on different levels, however the tie between the two is undeniable, they are a study in greed and shortsightedness.
The e-mail sites twisting of facts on both sides of our political aisle, of using numbers to explain a particular point of view and how we need to change those numbers to survive. It's a study in class distinction, of upper class, middle class.....and I suppose of no class. The folks who are getting the free stuff, not liking the folks who pay for the free stuff, because the folks who pay for the free stuff can no longer pay for their own stuff.
Of course the folks who are paying for the free stuff want the free stuff to stop, and some of the folks getting the free stuff want even more free stuff, on top of the free stuff that they are already getting. The word gets on the streets, the people who are paying for the free stuff want to stop, they can't afford it, so the people getting the free stuff call the people paying for the free stuff mean, prejudiced and racist
There are, in the United States, people getting free stuff that believe that they are entitled to free stuff, not alot, but some. Most of the people getting the free stuff would rather work, rather earn their stuff, actually so that they could help to pay for free stuff for other people. No matter how long free stuff has been handed out, most people want to give, want to help, it is the true value of mankind.....helping.
The e-mail even gave ways to correct what the sender felt was wrong with America:
Obama, gone
Borders, closed
Language, English only
Culture, Constitution and the Bill of Rights
Drug Free, mandatory drug screening before welfare
No freebies to, non-citizens
Surprisingly I agree with every "fix" except the first one listed, although I am far from happy with what President Obama has done in his first term in office, I do not feel that the Republican party is taking the political process here in America serious, unless you call Willard Romney, or Rick "Tricky" Santorum, or "Neutered" Gingrich, or Ron "isolate me" Paul serious candidates. If you do, will then I guess your life is all "hunky-dory."
FINITE OR PERPETUITY, WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL:
Look I realize that my grammar isn't the best and that my spelling and punctuation isn't the best, but that's what makes me sooooo unique. It's kind of like the chick(s) who really, really likes the cuddly type, I'm all cuddly.....all the time.
Question, what do Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela have in common, each produces petroleum products, each is a member of OPEC, and each tells fibs.
Each of these OPEC countries have vastly overstated their oil reserves, each approaches this information like it is the most secret part of their country.....which it is. This secret, unlike other state's secrets aren't really a secret at all. Rather if common sense people use their heads, "you know, that lump between the shoulders, about 3 feet from your ass," everybody knows that oil can't be perpetual, there has to be an end.
Back in 1947, after the dust had settled from the world war, after the United States had set iron ore production records 6 straight years, after several iron mines in Upper Michigan had extracted in excess of a million ton of ore in a year, the industry suddenly realized that the reserves of iron ore were finite and would run out.
They needed what amounted to a governmental bail-out, breaks to search for new ways to process existing ores, existing types of iron ore, new processes to extract iron ore from the host rock formations and new ways to mine the ore in a more reasonable financial manner, and the fed caved in and paid.
Oil industrial processes are different then iron ore extractions, yet surprisingly the same, the same because both are "extracted" from the ground. Anything that is manufactured by the earth, the changing of the seasons, and the slow processes therein, takes hundreds of millions of years and in that aspect, oil does have perpetuity, if you can wait long enough.
OPEC controls about 81% of the worlds oil supply, about 1193 billion barrels of the stuff, while the rest of the world has about a 274 billion barrel. I would say, and I'm just "spit balling here," that percentage split has altered many a decision over the past several decades. Kind of like "pucker up butter-cup, and plant one big kiss right here."
The world is running out of it's petroleum supply, are you surprised, or are you, like me, "not thinking about the problem until it's right at the door-step." I Guess we are going to have to wake up and quite smelling the gas and diesel fumes, and start thinking about the silent non-sound of electric or even solar cars.
Will the U.S. survive.....maybe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The e-mail is more personal, more about our country, more about what we can do, more about actions that we can take. The Aljazeera article is about fact, about truth, about finite as opposed to perpetuity, a study in terminology. Both the e-mail and the Aljazeera article have things in common, but both on different levels, however the tie between the two is undeniable, they are a study in greed and shortsightedness.
The e-mail sites twisting of facts on both sides of our political aisle, of using numbers to explain a particular point of view and how we need to change those numbers to survive. It's a study in class distinction, of upper class, middle class.....and I suppose of no class. The folks who are getting the free stuff, not liking the folks who pay for the free stuff, because the folks who pay for the free stuff can no longer pay for their own stuff.
Of course the folks who are paying for the free stuff want the free stuff to stop, and some of the folks getting the free stuff want even more free stuff, on top of the free stuff that they are already getting. The word gets on the streets, the people who are paying for the free stuff want to stop, they can't afford it, so the people getting the free stuff call the people paying for the free stuff mean, prejudiced and racist
There are, in the United States, people getting free stuff that believe that they are entitled to free stuff, not alot, but some. Most of the people getting the free stuff would rather work, rather earn their stuff, actually so that they could help to pay for free stuff for other people. No matter how long free stuff has been handed out, most people want to give, want to help, it is the true value of mankind.....helping.
The e-mail even gave ways to correct what the sender felt was wrong with America:
Obama, gone
Borders, closed
Language, English only
Culture, Constitution and the Bill of Rights
Drug Free, mandatory drug screening before welfare
No freebies to, non-citizens
Surprisingly I agree with every "fix" except the first one listed, although I am far from happy with what President Obama has done in his first term in office, I do not feel that the Republican party is taking the political process here in America serious, unless you call Willard Romney, or Rick "Tricky" Santorum, or "Neutered" Gingrich, or Ron "isolate me" Paul serious candidates. If you do, will then I guess your life is all "hunky-dory."
FINITE OR PERPETUITY, WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL:
Look I realize that my grammar isn't the best and that my spelling and punctuation isn't the best, but that's what makes me sooooo unique. It's kind of like the chick(s) who really, really likes the cuddly type, I'm all cuddly.....all the time.
Question, what do Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela have in common, each produces petroleum products, each is a member of OPEC, and each tells fibs.
Each of these OPEC countries have vastly overstated their oil reserves, each approaches this information like it is the most secret part of their country.....which it is. This secret, unlike other state's secrets aren't really a secret at all. Rather if common sense people use their heads, "you know, that lump between the shoulders, about 3 feet from your ass," everybody knows that oil can't be perpetual, there has to be an end.
Back in 1947, after the dust had settled from the world war, after the United States had set iron ore production records 6 straight years, after several iron mines in Upper Michigan had extracted in excess of a million ton of ore in a year, the industry suddenly realized that the reserves of iron ore were finite and would run out.
They needed what amounted to a governmental bail-out, breaks to search for new ways to process existing ores, existing types of iron ore, new processes to extract iron ore from the host rock formations and new ways to mine the ore in a more reasonable financial manner, and the fed caved in and paid.
Oil industrial processes are different then iron ore extractions, yet surprisingly the same, the same because both are "extracted" from the ground. Anything that is manufactured by the earth, the changing of the seasons, and the slow processes therein, takes hundreds of millions of years and in that aspect, oil does have perpetuity, if you can wait long enough.
OPEC controls about 81% of the worlds oil supply, about 1193 billion barrels of the stuff, while the rest of the world has about a 274 billion barrel. I would say, and I'm just "spit balling here," that percentage split has altered many a decision over the past several decades. Kind of like "pucker up butter-cup, and plant one big kiss right here."
The world is running out of it's petroleum supply, are you surprised, or are you, like me, "not thinking about the problem until it's right at the door-step." I Guess we are going to have to wake up and quite smelling the gas and diesel fumes, and start thinking about the silent non-sound of electric or even solar cars.
Will the U.S. survive.....maybe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, February 24, 2012
SOME EXPERTS LIKE THE IDEA OF WAR WITH IRAN.
SOME EXPERTS LIKE THE IDEA OF WAR WITH IRAN. (Frazer Chronicle)
Sometimes I come across stories, little tid-bits of information, that shows how far off some people thinking can be. I wonder which brain they are using, the one between their shoulders, or the one that they must be sitting on. The United States is in effect at war with Afghanistan and the whole terror thing, and just got out of wars in Iraq and Libya and now there is a question of war in Iran.
The reason for war in Iran, a program to possible obtain nuclear weapons, Obama staffers talk as if they've already accomplished their mission. These people have taken a page directly out of George W. Bush's operational booklets and applied them into today's political thinking.
Didn't the U.S. make the same mistake against Iraq and Saddam Hussein back in 2002-2003 before the start-up of the Iraqi war which lead to thousands of America's deaths, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths and billions of dollars spent out of the U.S. treasury.
What was the reason for war with Iraq, "mushroom clouds over Washington D.C. weapons of mass destruction and the threat to America by Hussein." Where did this information come from back then, U.S. intelligence, the same source that we use today. Seems as if tyrannical regimes, anxieties over their policies tend to distort Americans estimation of a countries military capacities.
The U.S. is at war in Afghanistan, Americans know about that one, I'm sure troops from our military are in many other countries, places we don't know about, can't pronounce let alone spell. We have sanctioned Iran only.....so far, and we have diplomatically joined some of our allies to press Syria to stop the carnage in that country.
These times remind me of that silly movie that came out a decade or so ago, "Starship Troopers," a silly, "at the time" movie about long wars that lasted generations. It pitted humans against some sort of bug creatures that wanted nothing more then for humans to die, to go away so that these bugs could live on and occupy the land.
The move was forgettable, the actors the same, but hey, wait a minute, we have been at war for more then 10 continuous years and it's bankrupting our country. And these asinine jerks want another war, a war to "protect us" from possible danger, a possible aggressor. Seems to me as if we have heard this story before, "weapons of mass destruction" and we haven't learned our lessons yet.
In early October U.S. officials accused Iranian operatives of planning to assassinate a Saudi ambassador to the United States right here on American soil. The proof, the U.S. said so.....Iran denied the charge of course, but the incident did underscore the tension between the two countries.
Weapons of mass destruction all over again, and a large segment of us seem to be falling for it all over again. Maybe the real problem isn't the military, or our elected officials, after all, they have an excuse, they are just doing what we have mandated. The military is locked in to whatever the president orders and our government is locked into whatever we allow them to get away with.
Maybe the real problem is us, we maybe can't get along without some sort of military conflict, some way of creating jobs, producing war machines and making money. Maybe it's us, maybe we need somebodies ass to kick, somebody to dominate, somebody to rape and pillage.
I went to several anti war demonstrations during the Bush presidency and was totally underwhelmed by the turn-out, 6 or 8 people, what a joke. That experience did teach me one thing, if people decide to take to the streets, to protest, you need numbers, you need true believers and you need to be ready for action, violent action, because it's the only kind of action people like us understand.....sadly.
Countries do not last forever, history is littered with the debris of empires and kingdoms that made some of the same mistakes we are making. A war with Iran.....well it would be a huge mistake, make no mistake about it.
I am no expert, I hate war, war of any kind for any reason, nothing is ever solved by war. A fist fight never solves anything, you beat me up, I just might go get a gun, and I'd end up in jail with a room-mate I wouldn't like.
A war with Iran is completely out of the question, we have thousands of nukes, is Iran filled with some sort of crazy people that don't understand what "we all loose" in a nuclear war. There really are no winners in that kind of situation and everybody knows that.
Make love baby.....not war!!!!!!!!
Sometimes I come across stories, little tid-bits of information, that shows how far off some people thinking can be. I wonder which brain they are using, the one between their shoulders, or the one that they must be sitting on. The United States is in effect at war with Afghanistan and the whole terror thing, and just got out of wars in Iraq and Libya and now there is a question of war in Iran.
The reason for war in Iran, a program to possible obtain nuclear weapons, Obama staffers talk as if they've already accomplished their mission. These people have taken a page directly out of George W. Bush's operational booklets and applied them into today's political thinking.
Didn't the U.S. make the same mistake against Iraq and Saddam Hussein back in 2002-2003 before the start-up of the Iraqi war which lead to thousands of America's deaths, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths and billions of dollars spent out of the U.S. treasury.
What was the reason for war with Iraq, "mushroom clouds over Washington D.C. weapons of mass destruction and the threat to America by Hussein." Where did this information come from back then, U.S. intelligence, the same source that we use today. Seems as if tyrannical regimes, anxieties over their policies tend to distort Americans estimation of a countries military capacities.
The U.S. is at war in Afghanistan, Americans know about that one, I'm sure troops from our military are in many other countries, places we don't know about, can't pronounce let alone spell. We have sanctioned Iran only.....so far, and we have diplomatically joined some of our allies to press Syria to stop the carnage in that country.
These times remind me of that silly movie that came out a decade or so ago, "Starship Troopers," a silly, "at the time" movie about long wars that lasted generations. It pitted humans against some sort of bug creatures that wanted nothing more then for humans to die, to go away so that these bugs could live on and occupy the land.
The move was forgettable, the actors the same, but hey, wait a minute, we have been at war for more then 10 continuous years and it's bankrupting our country. And these asinine jerks want another war, a war to "protect us" from possible danger, a possible aggressor. Seems to me as if we have heard this story before, "weapons of mass destruction" and we haven't learned our lessons yet.
In early October U.S. officials accused Iranian operatives of planning to assassinate a Saudi ambassador to the United States right here on American soil. The proof, the U.S. said so.....Iran denied the charge of course, but the incident did underscore the tension between the two countries.
Weapons of mass destruction all over again, and a large segment of us seem to be falling for it all over again. Maybe the real problem isn't the military, or our elected officials, after all, they have an excuse, they are just doing what we have mandated. The military is locked in to whatever the president orders and our government is locked into whatever we allow them to get away with.
Maybe the real problem is us, we maybe can't get along without some sort of military conflict, some way of creating jobs, producing war machines and making money. Maybe it's us, maybe we need somebodies ass to kick, somebody to dominate, somebody to rape and pillage.
I went to several anti war demonstrations during the Bush presidency and was totally underwhelmed by the turn-out, 6 or 8 people, what a joke. That experience did teach me one thing, if people decide to take to the streets, to protest, you need numbers, you need true believers and you need to be ready for action, violent action, because it's the only kind of action people like us understand.....sadly.
Countries do not last forever, history is littered with the debris of empires and kingdoms that made some of the same mistakes we are making. A war with Iran.....well it would be a huge mistake, make no mistake about it.
I am no expert, I hate war, war of any kind for any reason, nothing is ever solved by war. A fist fight never solves anything, you beat me up, I just might go get a gun, and I'd end up in jail with a room-mate I wouldn't like.
A war with Iran is completely out of the question, we have thousands of nukes, is Iran filled with some sort of crazy people that don't understand what "we all loose" in a nuclear war. There really are no winners in that kind of situation and everybody knows that.
Make love baby.....not war!!!!!!!!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
PICK AN ISSUE, ANY ISSUE!
PICK AN ISSUE, ANY ISSUE! (Frazer Chronicle)
There are so many issues connected with the proposed iron mining operations in northern Wisconsin, you could take a day or two on each issue. Water impact, land impact, human and animal habitat impact, local labor impact, taxes, area infrastructure impact and finally the length of the project and what happens when everything is said.....and done.
If the truth be known, mineral extraction agreements are unbelievably uncomplicated for such a complicated process. The licenses, the oversight, the water used, the earth that will be forever disrupted, and the property that will never be used again aren't addressed, just the length of the contract, possibly where buildings might be located, roads and such, and the fact that usually either party can vacate the agreement in a stated number of days, weeks or months.
Some of the land is owned by the mining company and much more is, or will be leased from local land owners. The mining company will pay taxes, purchase liability insurance and even provide security for the operations. Rest assured.....the property as it now appears will never be the same, after the first shovel of dirt is moved.....it will always resemble a scare or wound and no matter what the mining company might say, this is a fact.
Does northern Wisconsin need an iron mining company, would an iron mine produce jobs, should people in the area be excited about the possibilities, the answer is yes to each question. But people need to be aware of what mining companies are, all mining companies. They are.....each and every one, bottom line people, from the top to the very bottom, if it don't make money.....don't do it. Mining companies are their own worst enemy, they lie, cheat and will steal.
And mining companies never, never forget, if they come across a mineral deposit, they will ultimately get it out of the ground, even if it takes fifty, sixty or a hundred years, they never forget, and never quite. They are like an animal that needs to be fed 24-7.
Old time miners used to say that mine companies would come to town with "bags full of money, and leave after they'd used up the land, leaving nothing but holes that took their young children." In the old days, a mining company would simply leave after the ore had been extracted from the mine, leaving the shaft to fill with water, leaving subsiding ground to fill with water, making a swimming hole that kids used and some drowned, not a real smart thing for the mine companies to do.
Local roads and rail service would differently need an upgrade and a whole new array of support business would be necessary. To streamline any sort of licencing process, which has already been done, might have already put much in jeopardy.
In the old days, mining companies built schools, hospitals and health clinics for the communities that they worked in, mostly for themselves and their workers, but also for the community. It was good public relations, a good business move and accomplished a huge amount of goodwill within the community, "even today, after more then a hundred sixty years, Marquette, Michigan is tied to it's mine company."
Mining companies have moved rivers, obliterated creeks, wiped parts or whole lakes away and made 500 foot high waste rock piles that, during a wind can produce sand that will take the paint right off your house. The solution.....the company paints the houses every 5 or so years, thank you very much. But what happens to the houses and buildings when the mining company is gone, will there be a "paint fund" established.....I don't think so.
Indulge me for just a moment longer and I'll shut up.....for today, how many locals have the expertise that it has to take to operate the computer, and the huge earth moving equipment that is necessary to operate a modern open pit iron mine today? How many of the people that are making the decisions to allow iron mining in norther Wisconsin have even seen what an open pit mining operation looks like, or the equipment it takes to move things around.
Iron mining in Minnesota and Michigan does subscribe to the "bigger is better" attitude, there is no other way around it. The Great Lakes, or Lake Superior iron mining region was the United States and the world's most robust producer of iron ore from the 1890's until the early 1960's. Michigan, Wisconsin and then Minnesota made up this area, and Wisconsin is no stranger to iron mine activity. At one time, the deepest shaft iron mine in the world was located on the Michigan, Wisconsin boarder in Montreal, Wisconsin.
The iron mines of Wisconsin have delivered hundreds of thousands of long ton or ore to not only to the United States, but the world. The pick and shovel, the steam, diesel and the gasoline engines and the grunts and groans of men working underground and above have been stilled for several decades.
With more then a century of mining history in Wisconsin, the jury is still out on whether there is a right or wrong way to pursue the "gray gold" of Wisconsin, but speeding up the process seems to me not to be the right way to do things.
Monday, February 20, 2012
THESE ARE REALLY, REALLY GOOD HEADLINES!
THESE ARE REALLY, REALLY GOOD HEADLINES! (Frazer Chronicle)
Anybody who stays up to date with the news of the world is a far better person then I am, sometimes I get lost reading the very first article I open up on my computer. I can't seem to get past that first really interesting story which forces me to research a bit to get to the "meat" of the issue at hand.
Sometimes articles that appear in front page type format are there, "of course," for what editors feel are important stories. People like me, who blog about a whole bunch of stuff, you know, "understand a little about lots of different stuff," can get caught up in a single headline. One headline in particular sparked my interest, FLAT BEER PROFITS IN 2012. Right away I'm worried, I like beer, drink beer, and in fact, "beer is my friend."
Will this be a world-wide problem, will beer be "tight," hard to get, in scarce supply, I now worry and wonder. I have to read this article, I have to research.....I have to know. To my relief the article, written by Reuters, was released in Copenhagen, Denmark, and was about Danish beer breweries. I can live without Danish beer, in fact don't even like the stuff, to heavy. The land of the windmills and wooden shoes is not my "cup of beer" as it were.
But you gotta be careful when you do what I do on a Monday.....get the week-end highlights of news that sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Some political high-lights, or low-lights, depending on your point of view, are purposely announced through the printed media on Saturday's and Sunday's so that they aren't noticed.
The following are some of those headlined articles, now "keep your shirt on," there's a whole bunch more out there, I've just chosen these for today blog, you are more then welcome to make up your own top 10 list, good hunting.
EUROZONE SET TO DECIDE ON GREEK RESCUE:
Surely you jest, Greeks are in the deepest, worst, darkest kind of place with regards to their finances and the people need help. They are a developed country with despicable business practices, stupid retirement practices and they have left their people out to dry.....now the world is going to do the same, I hope not.
OBAMA AND MITT DO THE DRAGON DANCE:
Okay, we get it, Obama's black and Mitt Romney is a stiff white guy that comes from money, how could Romney be as slick on his feet as Obama.....in this case, strike 2 Mitt, your out.
IRAN'S GLOBAL TERROR CAMPAIGN HAS BEEN STIFLED, FOR NOW!
Here we go again, "weapons of mass destruction," guilty by proximity.....I guess. Iraq had W.M.D.'s, no wait.....no they didn't, where did they go? I got it, Iran, the army's of both countries conspired and moved all the bombs, guns and war machines to underground bunkers inside Iran. And now these bastards are going to use them on American citizens.
DEADLY BIRD FLU STUDIES TO STAY SECRET..........FOR NOW!
You must be kidding, this one's hard for me to understand, is keeping the study secret an attempt to keep the birds identity secret?
U.S. MANUFACTURING SEES SHORTAGE OF SKILLED FACTORY WORKERS.
Now I understand that today's industry is, to say the least "more complicated" then in decades ago workforces, but gee, did this sophisticated workforce need happen just last year, or has it been happening over the past 10 to 20 or 30 years? Maybe, "and I'm just spit-balling here," is industry completely to blame here.
HOMEOWNERS GET RUNAROUND ABOUT WHO HOLDS LOAN!
Paper, Paper, who's got the paper, what is the gag anyways.
TRUTH ABOUT TECHNOLOGY JOBS.
See above U.S. Manufacturing.
USING RAP TO TEACH "PITHY" LESSON IN BUSINESS!
"Now leta me seea whats a pith.....doesa it ryma with b----!
NUCLEAR WEAPONS ON YOUR HIGHWAY NEAR YOU!
Now I have to watch where I let my dog out at night, wow.
U.S. MANUFACTURING SEES SHORTAGE OF SKILLED FACTORY WORKERS.
Now I understand that today's industry is, to say the least "more complicated" then in decades ago workforces, but gee, did this sophisticated workforce need happen just last year, or has it been happening over the past 10 to 20 or 30 years? Maybe, "and I'm just spit-balling here," is industry completely to blame here.
HOMEOWNERS GET RUNAROUND ABOUT WHO HOLDS LOAN!
Paper, Paper, who's got the paper, what is the gag anyways.
TRUTH ABOUT TECHNOLOGY JOBS.
See above U.S. Manufacturing.
USING RAP TO TEACH "PITHY" LESSON IN BUSINESS!
"Now leta me seea whats a pith.....doesa it ryma with b----!
NUCLEAR WEAPONS ON YOUR HIGHWAY NEAR YOU!
Now I have to watch where I let my dog out at night, wow.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
BOOZE AND POLITICS DON'T MIX?
BOOZE AND POLITICS DON'T MIX? (Sheboygan Press/Frazer Chronicle)
Another recalled politician bit the dust Tuesday in an election at the Michigan lake-side community of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Mayor Bob Ryan was defeated by Terry Van Akkeren in a special recall election by a count of 6,004 to 5,247, it was Van Akkeren's 4th. attempt at the mayor's seat.
I'm not sure why anybody would want to be the mayor of Sheboygan, but Van Akkeren sure seemed "hell bent for election" to get what he must have felt was an enviable position. I'm not saying anything against Sheboygan the city, or it's citizens, it just seems like a lot of headache for a job that can be symbolic much of the time at it's best.
It just seems to me as if indiscretions regarding the consumption of alcohol and how the wicked vapor helped make a fool out of the mayor had little to do with his job performance at city hall. I have never read anywhere that Ryan's job suffered because he came to work with a hangover, hell, if that was the case, most everybody would have faced a recall sometime in their lives.
I think again, what the Sheboygan recall vote illustrates is that people are their own worst enemy, and I'm not talking about Bob Ryan. People voted Ryan into office and discovered that he was, (1) an alcoholic, and (2) didn't have the good sense God gave a dog. The first can be corrected, the second is a character flaw that can't probably be changed. After the alcohol induced fracas became public, Bob Ryan the mayor should have had enough good sense to become just Bob Ryan the citizen and saved himself, the mayor's office and the city of Sheboygan the embarrassment that became a media circus throughout the entire nation.
The voters of Sheboygan spoke at the polls and voted Bob Ryan into office, apparently with little research into Bob Ryan the man, and for that they paid.....again and again, "the recall election isn't free." Bob Ryan is what he is, whatever that is, and the people of Sheboygan voted him into office for better, or worse and they simple should have excepted that, and learned, but I have a sneaky suspicion that nothing was learned, except by Terry Van Akkeren, "you know, the try, try again thing."
Most politicians, I have learned, have a major "bolt" loose and lust for public office and the power they perceive it brings with it. Bob Ryan is now a broken man, a disgraced man, a man with his sole laid bare for all to see.
Is Sheboygan any better after the change.....I doubt it, they now have a fella, Van Akkeren, who tried and failed 3 times to wrestle the mayor's office from somebody else. For me, that makes him a 3 time loser.....now, Sheboygan, belly up to the bar, how does that grab you?
Another recalled politician bit the dust Tuesday in an election at the Michigan lake-side community of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Mayor Bob Ryan was defeated by Terry Van Akkeren in a special recall election by a count of 6,004 to 5,247, it was Van Akkeren's 4th. attempt at the mayor's seat.
I'm not sure why anybody would want to be the mayor of Sheboygan, but Van Akkeren sure seemed "hell bent for election" to get what he must have felt was an enviable position. I'm not saying anything against Sheboygan the city, or it's citizens, it just seems like a lot of headache for a job that can be symbolic much of the time at it's best.
It just seems to me as if indiscretions regarding the consumption of alcohol and how the wicked vapor helped make a fool out of the mayor had little to do with his job performance at city hall. I have never read anywhere that Ryan's job suffered because he came to work with a hangover, hell, if that was the case, most everybody would have faced a recall sometime in their lives.
I think again, what the Sheboygan recall vote illustrates is that people are their own worst enemy, and I'm not talking about Bob Ryan. People voted Ryan into office and discovered that he was, (1) an alcoholic, and (2) didn't have the good sense God gave a dog. The first can be corrected, the second is a character flaw that can't probably be changed. After the alcohol induced fracas became public, Bob Ryan the mayor should have had enough good sense to become just Bob Ryan the citizen and saved himself, the mayor's office and the city of Sheboygan the embarrassment that became a media circus throughout the entire nation.
The voters of Sheboygan spoke at the polls and voted Bob Ryan into office, apparently with little research into Bob Ryan the man, and for that they paid.....again and again, "the recall election isn't free." Bob Ryan is what he is, whatever that is, and the people of Sheboygan voted him into office for better, or worse and they simple should have excepted that, and learned, but I have a sneaky suspicion that nothing was learned, except by Terry Van Akkeren, "you know, the try, try again thing."
Most politicians, I have learned, have a major "bolt" loose and lust for public office and the power they perceive it brings with it. Bob Ryan is now a broken man, a disgraced man, a man with his sole laid bare for all to see.
Is Sheboygan any better after the change.....I doubt it, they now have a fella, Van Akkeren, who tried and failed 3 times to wrestle the mayor's office from somebody else. For me, that makes him a 3 time loser.....now, Sheboygan, belly up to the bar, how does that grab you?
Sunday, February 12, 2012
THE ETERNAL QUESTIONS!
THE ETERNAL QUESTIONS! (Buttons Logghe-Frazer Chronicle)
I do hope that these answers have helped "Buttons," keep a stiff upper.
The questions are accompanied with obvious answers, the reasons for the statements are self evident, and are entire process is an attempt to stroke a sense of humor, not only for the Email readers, but the sender probably the most.
People use games all the time to nudge their spirits, to make their minds occupy another part of their brain, to go to a place where reality doesn't really exist, where abstract replaces the black and white of everyday living. It's a place where everybody can be a star, where nobody can do whatever they want, where mistakes never happen.
In an article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times, titled "It's Only a Job to Pro Athletes," many professional sports fans had their dreams and their perceptions of their local hero's dashed upon the rocks of reality, these "local" athletes clear out their lockers, grab their cloths and hop a jet plane to warmer climates, and.....home.
It isn't like it used to be, where professional sports figures stayed in the communities where they played their games. There weren't any agents, there was no "agenting" to do, professional players weren't looking for tax shelters, and they were looking for off season employment to keep their "boat floating."
50 years ago, many a professional player lived next door to a regular factory worker, or a plumber, or a carpenter. Although professional players tended to stay in a somewhat close knitted circle, they did buy groceries at the local super market, get gas at the neighborhood filling station, and "tip a few" with whoever at the local tavern.
Professional athletes years ago were more accessible, were more grounded, not only to their team and team-mates, but the fans. The happiest day for most present day pro players is the last day of the season, win or lose, the job is done, the pain is over, and everybody is on vacation, could anything be more perfect?
I was a baseball player, or 4th or 5th rate ball player, but I none the less took the game, "my game," serious. After the last out, the last fly, or ground out, or strike out, I would break down and cry, cry because in the early days of my baseball career the last game was a loss.
Losses hurt me, I was consumed, there was a fire in my belly, I would do anything to win a ball game, but I learned that a passion such as I had will not only burn out, it will burn you out. I finally had to come to the understanding that it was just a game, a game where grown men chased a little white ball dressed in pajamas.
Here in Green Bay, Packer players lived in "Packer neighborhoods" but those days are long past, the Packer players of today jet hither and yon on their days off during the season, taking care of business, or visiting family and friends.
Just be thankful that today's players can "devote" enough of their time to practice and play the game for us, the fan. Sports fans today seem to live and die with their sports teams, talking about how "we won, or lost a game." For whatever reason, I have always had a hard time saying "we" with regards to a sports team that I watch. I'm not a part of any team, just a fan, I can't run, field, or throw, I don't block or catch, and it's for damn sure that I don't dunk.....I watch, and root.
And to Buttons questions, why, why, why, I have the following answers:
Q. Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?
A. It's usually men doing the pressing.....case closed.
Q. Why do banks charge a fee due to insufficient funds when they already know you’re broke?
A. Because most who over-draw on their account(s) are low life losers....."according to banker thinking."
Q. Why is it that when someone tells you that there are one billion stars in the universe, you believe them but, if they tell you there is wet paint, you have to touch it?
A. This one's easy, "you can't touch the sky."
Q. Why do they use sterilized needles for lethal injections?
A. Again this is an easy answer, "they don't," they use the same one until it's so dull it won't pierce the skin.
Q. Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?
A. Because he's using Steroids.
Q. Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?
A. I often wondered that myself.....and have no answer, maybe Superman is a fake.
Q. Why did Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
A. Photo ops.
Q. Whose cruel idea was it to put an "s" in the word "lisp"?
A. "How the hell do I know, that's really a dumb question."
Q. Do people like the smell of their own farts?
A. Absolutely.
Q. If people evolved from Apes, why are there still Apes?
A. Quality assurance checkers.
Q. Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use, the bubbles are always white?
A. My poor Buttons, they aren't, you don't take the time to examine them closely enough.
Q. Is there ever day that mattresses are not on sale?
A. Absolutely, Christmas and New Years day.
Q. Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the first end you try?
A. fricken clue," but if anybody finds out why, PLEASE let me know.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
JUST ONE DOLLAR!
JUST ONE DOLLAR! ( Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-Frazer Chronicle)
"We need your financial help, just one dollar, one dollar can be another phone call made, print another flier, or be a piece of a radio ad, every bit counts." Sounds like a plea for funds in a local or state political race, right.....wrong, it was Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker addressing the 39th. annual Conservative Political Action Conference yesterday in Washington D.C.
During the blah, blah, blah of a bunch of tight-wad right wing zealots complaining about the current U.S. President, and how they can rid the country of the very worst leftist activity in recent memory, Walker, as one of the key note speakers of the conference compared his removal from the governor's mansion in Madison through recall activity as having "a lasting blow against political risk-takers."
"Lord help us if we fail," Walker said, "I'm not planning on it, but if we were to fail, I think it would set aside any courageous act in American politics for at least a decade if not a generation." Jeez I didn't know Wisconsin was that important to the rest of the country, or that Scott Walker and his administration were "country shakers and makers." I sure am glad I didn't vote for him, I sure as hell wouldn't want my vote running around the country, raising funds so that it can stay in office.
As a resident of Wisconsin, I fail to see what his "Walker's" actions against unions has to do with the rest of the country. I mean all that he did was to take away collective bargaining from most public employees, which enact austerity programs to most involved. His actions made sense, the well was dry and he implimented programs that had to be made.
That said, I can't for the life of me understand why he seems "shocked" that those effected people would want to hang him by his testicals from a grade school swing set. I mean many school districts, thanks to his "tools" for re-organization now find themselves having to cut staff, or add duties to the teaching staffs, all the while adding no pay, and mandating that the teachers pay more of their benefit packages.
I have no doubt that Scott "Sleepy" Walker will face a recall election, and that he will lose that election, and his implimented activity aimed against the unions of state workers will suffer, and that will be sad. Because even though I detest how Walker has done his deed, I can see the value in some of what has been eliminated.
Some of the union workers benefits were absolutely silly, and had to be made with city, county and state representatives that were simply asleep at the meetings. But to spring things on his fellow Wisconsinites the way he did, Walker and his "handlers" were in a deeper sleep then those city, county and state negotiators, and for that, "Sleepy" all the dollars in your policical war chest won't save you from an early exit from Madison.
"We need your financial help, just one dollar, one dollar can be another phone call made, print another flier, or be a piece of a radio ad, every bit counts." Sounds like a plea for funds in a local or state political race, right.....wrong, it was Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker addressing the 39th. annual Conservative Political Action Conference yesterday in Washington D.C.
During the blah, blah, blah of a bunch of tight-wad right wing zealots complaining about the current U.S. President, and how they can rid the country of the very worst leftist activity in recent memory, Walker, as one of the key note speakers of the conference compared his removal from the governor's mansion in Madison through recall activity as having "a lasting blow against political risk-takers."
"Lord help us if we fail," Walker said, "I'm not planning on it, but if we were to fail, I think it would set aside any courageous act in American politics for at least a decade if not a generation." Jeez I didn't know Wisconsin was that important to the rest of the country, or that Scott Walker and his administration were "country shakers and makers." I sure am glad I didn't vote for him, I sure as hell wouldn't want my vote running around the country, raising funds so that it can stay in office.
As a resident of Wisconsin, I fail to see what his "Walker's" actions against unions has to do with the rest of the country. I mean all that he did was to take away collective bargaining from most public employees, which enact austerity programs to most involved. His actions made sense, the well was dry and he implimented programs that had to be made.
That said, I can't for the life of me understand why he seems "shocked" that those effected people would want to hang him by his testicals from a grade school swing set. I mean many school districts, thanks to his "tools" for re-organization now find themselves having to cut staff, or add duties to the teaching staffs, all the while adding no pay, and mandating that the teachers pay more of their benefit packages.
I have no doubt that Scott "Sleepy" Walker will face a recall election, and that he will lose that election, and his implimented activity aimed against the unions of state workers will suffer, and that will be sad. Because even though I detest how Walker has done his deed, I can see the value in some of what has been eliminated.
Some of the union workers benefits were absolutely silly, and had to be made with city, county and state representatives that were simply asleep at the meetings. But to spring things on his fellow Wisconsinites the way he did, Walker and his "handlers" were in a deeper sleep then those city, county and state negotiators, and for that, "Sleepy" all the dollars in your policical war chest won't save you from an early exit from Madison.
Friday, February 10, 2012
THIS ACTION MAKES ME UNEASY!
THIS ACTION MAKES ME UNEASY! (Green Bay Press Gazette, Frazer Chronicle)
First, it was seat belts, then it was everybody had to have auto insurance, and now it's the smoke cops in your personal life, after hours, "away from your 9-5," telling you what you can do, or not do. It's an uneasy time that we live in today, a time when a security department of the federal government can put you off public transportation, can dictate what you say, and want to know, "in some instances" what you read.
I'm all for people living a healthy lifestyle, but I am against somebody mandating how you are supposed to get there. I could care less how my co-worker lives his life, what he believes in, or who his friends are; each can have a bearing on your health. I also don't care if that same guy drives week-end race cars, plays tittlie-winks with manhole covers, or gets into Russian Roulette tournaments, it's his business.
I also understand the argument about what my co-worker does with his lifestyle does have an effect on me, my insurance premiums and how high they might go. That is the only concern that I have, because if the guy eats crap and dies.....I don't care.
I used to smoke 3 packs of cigarettes a day, I quite for more than 10 years and started smoking cigars 3 years ago. Dumb choice, but my choice, and I sure as hell don't want some penciled geek telling me what I can, or can't do on my own time.
The promotion of better health.....now let me see, this Executive Committee is worried about county employees health.....don't make me laugh. All they needed to do was come right out and say, "$600,000 savings," pure and simple, now that's something everybody can get their arms around. A bi-product is better health, but it's an afterthought, not the main reason.
Let me give you a simple test to see what kind of an I.Q. you have with regards to non-smokers’ rights and smokers’ rights:
1. Do you eat McDonalds?
2. Do you drink alcohol?
3. Do you set in front of your television more than 3 hours a night?
4. Do you drive when you could have walked?
5. Do you stress about your financial situation?
6. Do you stress about a promotion?
7. Do you eat meat more than 4 times a week?
8. Do you eat processed foods?
9. Do you have sex less than 4 times a month?
Simple straight forward questions and guess what, if you answered yes to any 2 of the questions, somebody is subsidizing your health care, or will.
Mandates in a democratic country, kind of takes the "dem out of the democratic" doesn't it. And I really, really want somebody to tell me how this silly rule will be policed, with hidden smoke detectors, or odor eater machines that beep whenever somebody smells like an ash tray.....now who's going to pay for that?
I could go on.....but what for, you get my jest, I'm really, really glad I'm approaching my "twilight" years and won't even have to read what these idiots think up.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
TENSE RELATIONS WITH BOSSES!
TENSE RELATIONS WITH BOSSES! (USA TODAY, Frazer Chronicle)
For some unknown reason, the higher up the food chain of employment, people figure that they are dealing with professionals all the time. "Poor babies," the same nit wit mentality applies whether your making $8 or $80 an hour, people in charge have a huge disconnect with reality and how to deal with their "underlings."
What am I talking about, some air marshals have reported "tense" relations with their bosses over such mundane issues as pay raises, promotions, reporting incidents that might result in discipline for superiors or job duties and assignments that might be desirable.
Surprise, surprise.....the wedge between supervisors and their workers is not only at McDonald's or Pete's Sheet Metal Shop, it's present on every level.....all over the place. It takes a truly extraordinary person to be in a supervisory position, and to treat people with dignity and respect, and more important, get the optimum results from workers.
It's still best to "keep your mouth shut, your head bowed, and your ear's closed" if you want to survive in today's working world. Of course, the work world has always been this way, how I made it to retirement age, I'll never know.
I guess one of the big reasons was because I wasn't allowed to carry a firearm on any of my jobs, it wasn't necessary....."thank God." I took very little crap from my supervisors.....any of them, they didn't have the right. I knew when I screwed up, and very seldom did I play politics, I admitted what had been done, and took whatever the consequences might have been.
Air marshals have an incredibly dangerous job, "potentially," and need to have the ability to voice their concerns whenever they please, lives can depend on their decisions. I guess we truly have become to big.....I have never put much faith in Homeland Security anyways, I've always felt the creation of the agency was a "knee jerk reaction" to 2001, and a poor decision.
For some unknown reason, the higher up the food chain of employment, people figure that they are dealing with professionals all the time. "Poor babies," the same nit wit mentality applies whether your making $8 or $80 an hour, people in charge have a huge disconnect with reality and how to deal with their "underlings."
What am I talking about, some air marshals have reported "tense" relations with their bosses over such mundane issues as pay raises, promotions, reporting incidents that might result in discipline for superiors or job duties and assignments that might be desirable.
Surprise, surprise.....the wedge between supervisors and their workers is not only at McDonald's or Pete's Sheet Metal Shop, it's present on every level.....all over the place. It takes a truly extraordinary person to be in a supervisory position, and to treat people with dignity and respect, and more important, get the optimum results from workers.
It's still best to "keep your mouth shut, your head bowed, and your ear's closed" if you want to survive in today's working world. Of course, the work world has always been this way, how I made it to retirement age, I'll never know.
I guess one of the big reasons was because I wasn't allowed to carry a firearm on any of my jobs, it wasn't necessary....."thank God." I took very little crap from my supervisors.....any of them, they didn't have the right. I knew when I screwed up, and very seldom did I play politics, I admitted what had been done, and took whatever the consequences might have been.
Air marshals have an incredibly dangerous job, "potentially," and need to have the ability to voice their concerns whenever they please, lives can depend on their decisions. I guess we truly have become to big.....I have never put much faith in Homeland Security anyways, I've always felt the creation of the agency was a "knee jerk reaction" to 2001, and a poor decision.
Monday, February 6, 2012
ANOTHER TAIL-PIPE JOB, JUST AROUND THE CORNER!
ANOTHER TAIL-PIPE JOB, JUST AROUND THE CORNER, (Frazer Chronicle)
As we settle in and except a winter without winter, meaning a break from heating bills, a "shot across our collective vehicle hoods" was fired in today's edition of the U.S.A. Today titled "Chaotic Spring" Predicted for Gas, sub-titled "Average Prices Likely To Hit $4.05.”
On June 20th 2011, I wrote a blog about "An Artificial Tail-Pipe Job" which was inspired by an article in Mother Jones. Punsters again are using the same tired illustrations and scripts to explain why gas prices at the pump will go up within just a few weeks in the United States.....I could care less what the prices are in any other country except the U.S. I mentioned as much in my June blog.
I put gas in my trusty Chevy truck the other day and the price was $3.39 a gallon, up from $3.24 in the middle of January. The price was a .15 cent nudge, not enough to get me thinking about another violation of my person, yet an unwanted pat on my wallet, "whoever wants a pat there?" However it was a warning sign to me.....I keep track of these things.
Now I read that a "chaotic spring" is in our future, events that will alter our gasoline prices by more than 60 cents. Wow these guys that make these predictions are good, I mean "really good," take for instance the first line of the U.S.A. article, "Get ready for another round of pain at the pump, $4 (or higher) gasoline." It just as easily could have been written, "Get ready for another round of pain at the (rump)."
These people that are making these predictions are basing their thinking on..........I don't know. Refiners switching from winter to summer mixes can add as much as .15 cents, which happens every spring, no big surprise.
These people, the ones who get paid by the oil industry are basing much of their thinking and predicting the anticipation of all sorts of things. Supply and demand, domestic crude oil prices, consumption, which is at its lowest in the U.S. since 2001. Now wait just a "tail-piping minute," if consumption is down, shouldn't prices level off?
Did you ever wonder why gasoline prices, when they peak, do so at an accelerated rate, but when they fall, they do so at a slower then molasses in January pace in Upper Michigan, and they never go to or below the price several months earlier.
Procrastinators talk about the "limits that consumers will pay for gasoline, to that I say "balderdash," people, as long as they have the money in their wallets will pay whatever the listed price is, America is a consumer driven nation, petroleum companies and countries have just figured better ways to control the flow of their product.
Rest assured that gas at the pump will go up, and that the price will continue to "kick our collective rumps." People bet on everything today, "I'm betting that gasoline prices will.....continue to go up until after the oil companies have made enough money.
As we settle in and except a winter without winter, meaning a break from heating bills, a "shot across our collective vehicle hoods" was fired in today's edition of the U.S.A. Today titled "Chaotic Spring" Predicted for Gas, sub-titled "Average Prices Likely To Hit $4.05.”
On June 20th 2011, I wrote a blog about "An Artificial Tail-Pipe Job" which was inspired by an article in Mother Jones. Punsters again are using the same tired illustrations and scripts to explain why gas prices at the pump will go up within just a few weeks in the United States.....I could care less what the prices are in any other country except the U.S. I mentioned as much in my June blog.
I put gas in my trusty Chevy truck the other day and the price was $3.39 a gallon, up from $3.24 in the middle of January. The price was a .15 cent nudge, not enough to get me thinking about another violation of my person, yet an unwanted pat on my wallet, "whoever wants a pat there?" However it was a warning sign to me.....I keep track of these things.
Now I read that a "chaotic spring" is in our future, events that will alter our gasoline prices by more than 60 cents. Wow these guys that make these predictions are good, I mean "really good," take for instance the first line of the U.S.A. article, "Get ready for another round of pain at the pump, $4 (or higher) gasoline." It just as easily could have been written, "Get ready for another round of pain at the (rump)."
These people that are making these predictions are basing their thinking on..........I don't know. Refiners switching from winter to summer mixes can add as much as .15 cents, which happens every spring, no big surprise.
These people, the ones who get paid by the oil industry are basing much of their thinking and predicting the anticipation of all sorts of things. Supply and demand, domestic crude oil prices, consumption, which is at its lowest in the U.S. since 2001. Now wait just a "tail-piping minute," if consumption is down, shouldn't prices level off?
Did you ever wonder why gasoline prices, when they peak, do so at an accelerated rate, but when they fall, they do so at a slower then molasses in January pace in Upper Michigan, and they never go to or below the price several months earlier.
Procrastinators talk about the "limits that consumers will pay for gasoline, to that I say "balderdash," people, as long as they have the money in their wallets will pay whatever the listed price is, America is a consumer driven nation, petroleum companies and countries have just figured better ways to control the flow of their product.
Rest assured that gas at the pump will go up, and that the price will continue to "kick our collective rumps." People bet on everything today, "I'm betting that gasoline prices will.....continue to go up until after the oil companies have made enough money.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
IT'S TIME FOR PARENTS TO TAKE COMMAND!
IT'S TIME FOR PARENTS TO TAKE COMMAND! (L.A. Times/Frazer Chronicle)
Terrible, terrible, terrible, any time a kid accuses a teacher of any inappropriate behavior, school administrators need, "across the nation" to involve police departments. School officials are ill equipped to handle any sort of forthright investigation, they are neither educated or independent.
Does this sound like a teacher is assumed guilty until proven innocent, "you betcha," where children are involved, absolutely. Do children make inaccurate accusations against authority figures, of course, are there ways to weed out real instances from the false ones, I'd hope so. However for me, the bottom line is a kids well being.
It is a misnomer for people, "any people" to say or think that school-grounds and the classroom are "safe havens" for kids. Kinda like saying that schools can be a safe place away from their homes, there sisters and brothers, and parents. Kids are bullied each and every day during school hours, the actions include hitting, pushing, kicking, tripping and humiliating taunts. Does that sound like a "safe haven."
Schools today are set up as the judge and jury for their students, and they set standards for punishment, all without the benefit of council for the kid. I'm 68 years old, come from the old school and in fact have been thrown down a few stairways in my time, as well as getting the old McDuff paddle, you know, the one with the holes drilled in it.
What I am simply saying is that parents need to take command, to be involved with their kids, their schools and what happens to their kids, and with their education, it's damned important. It's important not only for them, but for us all.....that's how much an education means today, actually always has.
When school systems do not adequately screen prospective teaching applicants, it opens the system up for all sorts of liabilities, but worse, lets the kids down. When I went to Andersonville grade school near Waterford, Michigan back in the early 1950's there was a teacher, "can't remember his name," but he routinely hit the boys in his class in the head with his fist, I know, I was one of "his boys."
My school "experience" was not the most enjoyable, I in fact hated school, from kindergarten right on through to my "high school career." That's another misnomer, "school career," kids don't look at school as a "career," at first it's a pain in the butt, "even in kindergarten," and then a few decide to take advantage of the situation.
School administrators need to understand that parents need to be included, almost whether they want to or not. Rules need to be laid down to insure that parents do in fact stay involved with their kids, I don't really care where the rules come from, obviously some sort of rules are necessary.
No set of rules are ever going to "cover all the bases," but we sure need to revamp what we have going on. When a teacher creates ways to feed a little kid semen, or fondle little girls, something is wrong.
Investigating backgrounds seems to me to be a pretty easy way of being part of safeguarding our future. I have 3 lovely grand-daughters, I want them safeguarded at all costs and educated to the best of those teachers in charge of that part of their lives. No.....I don't want it, I demand it.
Terrible, terrible, terrible, any time a kid accuses a teacher of any inappropriate behavior, school administrators need, "across the nation" to involve police departments. School officials are ill equipped to handle any sort of forthright investigation, they are neither educated or independent.
Does this sound like a teacher is assumed guilty until proven innocent, "you betcha," where children are involved, absolutely. Do children make inaccurate accusations against authority figures, of course, are there ways to weed out real instances from the false ones, I'd hope so. However for me, the bottom line is a kids well being.
It is a misnomer for people, "any people" to say or think that school-grounds and the classroom are "safe havens" for kids. Kinda like saying that schools can be a safe place away from their homes, there sisters and brothers, and parents. Kids are bullied each and every day during school hours, the actions include hitting, pushing, kicking, tripping and humiliating taunts. Does that sound like a "safe haven."
Schools today are set up as the judge and jury for their students, and they set standards for punishment, all without the benefit of council for the kid. I'm 68 years old, come from the old school and in fact have been thrown down a few stairways in my time, as well as getting the old McDuff paddle, you know, the one with the holes drilled in it.
What I am simply saying is that parents need to take command, to be involved with their kids, their schools and what happens to their kids, and with their education, it's damned important. It's important not only for them, but for us all.....that's how much an education means today, actually always has.
When school systems do not adequately screen prospective teaching applicants, it opens the system up for all sorts of liabilities, but worse, lets the kids down. When I went to Andersonville grade school near Waterford, Michigan back in the early 1950's there was a teacher, "can't remember his name," but he routinely hit the boys in his class in the head with his fist, I know, I was one of "his boys."
My school "experience" was not the most enjoyable, I in fact hated school, from kindergarten right on through to my "high school career." That's another misnomer, "school career," kids don't look at school as a "career," at first it's a pain in the butt, "even in kindergarten," and then a few decide to take advantage of the situation.
School administrators need to understand that parents need to be included, almost whether they want to or not. Rules need to be laid down to insure that parents do in fact stay involved with their kids, I don't really care where the rules come from, obviously some sort of rules are necessary.
No set of rules are ever going to "cover all the bases," but we sure need to revamp what we have going on. When a teacher creates ways to feed a little kid semen, or fondle little girls, something is wrong.
Investigating backgrounds seems to me to be a pretty easy way of being part of safeguarding our future. I have 3 lovely grand-daughters, I want them safeguarded at all costs and educated to the best of those teachers in charge of that part of their lives. No.....I don't want it, I demand it.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
TROPOLIS AS A WORD!
TROPOLIS AS A WORD! (Frazer Chronicle)
The Frazer Chronicles, "All the news that nobody else will print". Is sometimes a motto that really can take on a whole different meaning. While reading through stories this morning, as I do each and every day of the week, I came across an article in the MARQUETTE MINING JOURNAL titled "Fair Mining Tax Debate" which sparked my interest.
The jest of the article was that a severance tax maybe.....possibly, er, ah, could be reviewed, and should be the result of a "broad based discussion" before it would happen. Now let me make one thing perfectly clear, I am not, repeat, not an expert on taxes, although I am quite sure that I could spend the money as quickly as the next guy. But whenever a politician starts talking about taxation, dollar amounts and where it might get spent, yes.....a broad based discussion is needed.
You see, other than the huge holes that have been left by open pit mining activity, the subsiding ground and the certain un-inhabitable acreages that can be found around mining communities, not many people think about the tunnels and chambers underground that are the direct result of earlier mining activity. Today these chambers are being held up by water, or are filled with waste rock, rest easy, the surface won't cave in, unless earth quake activity moves north.
The very essence of the word, mining, means that something is being taken from the ground, and won't be replaced, at least with the same material. And those who are taking whatever from the ground needs to be taxed for a whole bunch of reasons, but first and foremost because they are making money from their efforts.
Marquette, Michigan and the Marquette Iron Range, by far the grand-daddy of the states ore deposits has produced in excess of a billion ton of iron ore and during that time, roughly 1847 to the present has employed thousands of men, been the income to hundreds of thousands of people and been the home of the regions source of pride.
The people of the area, rough, tumble and hard working deserve something a little better than some gray haired politician talking about "micro-tropolis stuff" going on in their region. You know, I looked the term up, basically because I never heard the term before. Well guess what, neither had anybody else, at least those that count when you need to know what words mean, like a dictionary, or Google or Bing.
The minerals that are taken from the Marquette Range or any of the other deposits in Michigan need to stay in that general vicinity. Other taxes go from Marquette to Detroit, keep any severance tax right where it originated from, and while you’re at it, quite making up new words and phrases.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING PIPELINE!
Another complicated topic, right.....well actually no, the plain simple truth of the matter, with regards to the Keystone pipeline and the questions the project raises are rather easy to understand, as quickly as a guy cuts through all the bull----.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
IN SEARCH OF ANOTHER WAR!
IN SEARCH OF ANOTHER WAR! (Frazer Chronicle)
With unemployment well over 10% "if you include those who quite the search," the United States has remained strong in this dubious statistic. In Wisconsin, Oshkosh Truck had a terrible 4th. quarter and in Wisconsin, "Oshkosh is a true barometer of war-time employment, given their close ties and truck contracts with the Federal Government and the Pentagon.
Small war making business has sprouted up all over the Midwest during the first decade of the 21st. century. The war(s), both in Iraq and Afghanistan have been a boon to many economies throughout the United States. In a little town of 4000 in central Wisconsin, Clintonville, the economy is dominated by war machine makers, Schutt, F.W.D. "Four Wheel Drive," Seagrave and Walker Forge.
Each company either makes complete war units or parts of war machinery which are used throughout the entire nation. Across America, war tool makers are raking in billions and their workers are making comfortable livings indeed. So for many, there is a vested interest in the United States to make war, to continue the "struggle for peace and the American way."
I watched with interest yesterday what the "talking heads" were saying about Iran and it's trek to manufacture a nuclear devise, "or to develop nuclear power for it's people's use." Without exception each of these people professed a "grave and real fear of Iran with a nuclear weapon in their hands." It reminded me of another period in recent American history , and the fear of a "mushroom cloud over Washington D.C."
The arguments that those people spread are pretty much the same as they were in 1916, or 1950, or 1960, or in 1979, only the names have been changed, and not to protect the innocent. Of course the bearers of these messages changes, but unbelievably the message stays almost exactly the same. I guess using the same message saves on printing costs, and the message is easier to interchange, forming sort of a history about some of the countries intent.
In the latest "blast" of war mongering, warships should be deployed, covert activities stepped up and an increase in sharper rhetoric by U.S. diplomats used. Reports by agencies such as the BPC, "Bipartisan Policy Center" should be heeded and pretty much excepted at face value. The old "all options are on the table," is again.....on the table.
Sanctions by America and her allies against Iran is beginning to take a toll mostly on those least equip to deal with such things, the poor. It has been suggested by some that first these sanctions be used to squeeze the people and then use the threat of military intervention to dissuade Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to quite his foolhardy plunge into nuclear weaponry.
As always, America has a willing ally, Israel, as these two hawks join hands in an attempt to form a solid protest against nuclear proliferation in Iran and the Middle East. It's basically a "Iraq Redux" not unlike the Charlie Sheen movie back in the 1990's.
Did you ever wonder exactly where these people are steering the country, did you ever wonder "how much is enough." Some idiot wrote a book, published recently, and in it was his opinion that violence, man against man was decreasing. I really don't know where this joker is getting his information, but I'm pretty damn sure it wasn't from either state, national, or world activity.
As long as our country continues to "need" war to make it, to spread our type of peace, government and work environment, we are in the deepest kind of.....s@%^ . Until we put down our weapons and offer our handshake in peace, we are on the brink.
With unemployment well over 10% "if you include those who quite the search," the United States has remained strong in this dubious statistic. In Wisconsin, Oshkosh Truck had a terrible 4th. quarter and in Wisconsin, "Oshkosh is a true barometer of war-time employment, given their close ties and truck contracts with the Federal Government and the Pentagon.
Small war making business has sprouted up all over the Midwest during the first decade of the 21st. century. The war(s), both in Iraq and Afghanistan have been a boon to many economies throughout the United States. In a little town of 4000 in central Wisconsin, Clintonville, the economy is dominated by war machine makers, Schutt, F.W.D. "Four Wheel Drive," Seagrave and Walker Forge.
Each company either makes complete war units or parts of war machinery which are used throughout the entire nation. Across America, war tool makers are raking in billions and their workers are making comfortable livings indeed. So for many, there is a vested interest in the United States to make war, to continue the "struggle for peace and the American way."
I watched with interest yesterday what the "talking heads" were saying about Iran and it's trek to manufacture a nuclear devise, "or to develop nuclear power for it's people's use." Without exception each of these people professed a "grave and real fear of Iran with a nuclear weapon in their hands." It reminded me of another period in recent American history , and the fear of a "mushroom cloud over Washington D.C."
The arguments that those people spread are pretty much the same as they were in 1916, or 1950, or 1960, or in 1979, only the names have been changed, and not to protect the innocent. Of course the bearers of these messages changes, but unbelievably the message stays almost exactly the same. I guess using the same message saves on printing costs, and the message is easier to interchange, forming sort of a history about some of the countries intent.
In the latest "blast" of war mongering, warships should be deployed, covert activities stepped up and an increase in sharper rhetoric by U.S. diplomats used. Reports by agencies such as the BPC, "Bipartisan Policy Center" should be heeded and pretty much excepted at face value. The old "all options are on the table," is again.....on the table.
Sanctions by America and her allies against Iran is beginning to take a toll mostly on those least equip to deal with such things, the poor. It has been suggested by some that first these sanctions be used to squeeze the people and then use the threat of military intervention to dissuade Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to quite his foolhardy plunge into nuclear weaponry.
As always, America has a willing ally, Israel, as these two hawks join hands in an attempt to form a solid protest against nuclear proliferation in Iran and the Middle East. It's basically a "Iraq Redux" not unlike the Charlie Sheen movie back in the 1990's.
Did you ever wonder exactly where these people are steering the country, did you ever wonder "how much is enough." Some idiot wrote a book, published recently, and in it was his opinion that violence, man against man was decreasing. I really don't know where this joker is getting his information, but I'm pretty damn sure it wasn't from either state, national, or world activity.
As long as our country continues to "need" war to make it, to spread our type of peace, government and work environment, we are in the deepest kind of.....s@%^ . Until we put down our weapons and offer our handshake in peace, we are on the brink.
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