NO WALK IN THE PARK!

(Green Bay Press Gazette, Frazer Chronicle)

 

I can’t take it anymore, things are being said and intimations are being made that are totally untrue, I know because I’ve spent years researching the subject. Iron mining in Wisconsin ain’t pretty, iron mining in Michigan ain’t pretty, and iron mining in Minnesota ain’t pretty. Iron mining of any type, above ground or below ain’t pretty. Whenever you extract something from the ground…..in any amount, it is bound to leave a scar; it’s just the nature of the beast.

 

The time involved before the first ounce of ore is produced will take years, possibly decade; it’s the slow, cumbersome process of mining, almost as if local, state and federal agencies are testing the mettle of the mining company, you know, to see exactly how serious these people really are.

 

The jobs created, the money that will flow, and the associated business’s that will be developed are all side benefits of any mining operation. If a mining operation is big enough, and lasts long enough, benefits that are realized could be around for generations.

 

Mining companies are always benevolent to the communities that they work in, and in fact the companies use their resources to enhance the areas worked through taxes, donations, and the establishment of all sorts of things that many communities can only dream about, especially smaller communities in the out of the way places mining is usually carried on.

 

Health clinics, school building upgrades, company housing, company stores, upgrades to community water, sewer systems, and streets, village centers, and other town benefits. Fire departments, police departments and existing hospital facilities also benefit from a mining companies existence.

 

Mining companies also promote their own candidates for political offices, sit on committees, can be members of banking Boards of Directors, and have infiltrated city, county and even state governing agencies…..all to benefit their one overriding desire…..to gain as much as possible for their bottom line.

 

In the past, mining companies have influenced not only political positions, they also have had a heavy hand in local law enforcement agencies, and have handpicked many mining inspectors, all with one driving desire…..the bottom line.

 

THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW

In the beginning, in the 1840’s, 50’s, 60’s and 1870’s, where there was nothing, just a snarl of trees and underbrush, no roads, no rail service and lawlessness at every turn, mining companies of all types, copper, silver, gold, zinc and iron brought civilization to the wilds of almost every sector of the land.

 

The civilization that was brought into these wild places was…..narrow, short sited, and of course favored the mining company’s concerns. The people that were attracted to these holes in the ground were adventuresome, rough and tumble types that were exploited at every turn by the mining companies. The work was tough, dangerous, and had a comparatively short history for many of the early industries workers.

 

The basic concept of most mining projects is relatively the same as it was a hundred years ago and more, to extract precious elements from the ground. It still takes tough mostly men to work in a mining site today, safety rules and regulations are much better than they were 10 or 12 decades ago. Injury and death records are much better today than they were in the early days of mining.

Still…..there still are accidents, and still deaths in the mines, safety advocates and mining companies point with pride to how the numbers of both injury and deaths have fallen through the years. Actually the fact of the matter that reduced mishaps and fatalities are directly correlated to less mining activity in every mining industry today.

 

In 1900 there were more than 100 active iron mines just in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, producing millions of ton of direct ship ore. At the same time, more than 5000 men worked the mines, so today, when somebody points to the exemplary safety record in the iron mines in the Lake Superior region, remember that there are now only four active mines in operation.

 

The year reads 2013, but in reality, the attitude is the same as it was 100 years ago, to push the miner to produce as much ore as possible, at break neck speed, and to hell with safety precautions for the miner, or to the environment.

 

RECLAIMING THE LAND

I read with some humor an article in today’s, March 31, 2013 Green Bay Press Gazette, authored by investigative reporter, Kathlee Foody, and as far as her article went, it was fine…..but! She quoted Minnesota state officials regarding reclamation activity after the mines in Minnesota are shut down.

 

Not only is the land on and around the mining site affected rail service into and out of the mining area will be a major concern. In the old days of mining, each mine site had a rail line for its use. Iron ore, whether a hundred years ago or today, is hauled by train to waiting ore docks loaded unto ore ships and shipped to the lower Great Lakes and the blast furnaces in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.

 

When you cut a ditch half a mile wide, 500 feet deep and up to 20 miles long, the land in the path of the mine can never be reclaimed, there is no reclamation program that is in existence or affordable to make the land like it was. In the Press Gazette article today, there was no mention of Palmer, Michigan, an old mining town of maybe 200 residences.

 

The Empire open pit mine is situated less than a mile from the little village, and mining activity has been carried on at the site since the 1960’s. North of Palmer are 500 foot piles of waste rock that surround the Empire pit that is more than 1100 feet below sea level. The pit still produces enough ore for the pelletizing process that Taconite uses.

 

There are millions upon millions of ton of waste rock, and when the winds whip up to 20 or 30 miles an hour, the red hazy dust that is produced looks exactly like a sand storm that would occur in Arizona or New Mexico. It’s okay though, every few years the local mining company comes in and re-paints the residence homes…..of course when the winds not blowing.

 

JOB TRAINING

Well ya, another problem that the Northern Wisconsin mine will have, training a work force…..so with ground breaking possibly 10 years down the road, training and technical colleges will need to…..well, I’m not sure, why would a tech school offer courses for an industry that might happen in 5, 10, or more years away.

 

So guess what will initially happen, all those jobs that Wisconsin’s Madison government talks about will happen, but most key positions will be manned by people from other regions of the country, like Upper Michigan, or the wilds of Minnesota.

 

You probably think that I am against Gogebic Taconite and their plans to open up another iron range southwest of the old Penokee range in Michigan and Wisconsin, but I’m not, I actually am an advocate of industry…..almost any kind, what I’m against is the attitudes.

 

The iron mining industry has blown so much smoke for so many years that they start believing their own bull----. Iron mining, silver mining, gold mining or copper mining is first and foremost abrasive to the land, and large areas will never be the same, and large portions won’t even be able to be walked over, I can show you portions of Ishpeming, Michigan where a person takes his/her own life into their hands whenever they venture onto a restricted area.

 

It’s true. Call me, Kathlee Foody, I can show you some really nice looking property in either Ishpeming or Negaunee, Michigan that is uninhabitable. Of course these are underground mines, but open pit mining has its dangers also, like the pits filling with water after they are abandoned. Every once in a while you’ll read about a kid drowning in some open pit mine, or falling down the rock face and breaking a leg, arm, back or neck.

 

Rules and regulations were made through the experiences of the past, and for the Wisconsin legislature to have gutted some of these rules is tantamount to reckless and uneducated behavior. If you do not know what you are talking about, take a visit, or ask an independent about the pitfalls that are categorically inherent to every mineral extraction project.

 

Transparency above board negotiations and addressing each and every problem with regards to a mining project are necessary for any successful mining operation. Two topics that haven’t even been addressed here is the massive amounts of electrical power and water that will be needed for an open pit operation, the amounts will be unbelievable.

 

Infrastructure is also another area that I haven’t touched on, but the current road system in and around the Mellon and Hurley, Wisconsin, area leave something to be desired…..for the big trucks and equipment that will be necessary to operate the mine. The machinery won’t be built at the mine site; it will be trucked in from points south and west, and take it from a guy that has driven a big rig in the area, the roads won’t make it as they now exist.

 

Gogebic Taconite’s plan would be a boon to Northern Wisconsin, but a key and the watch word should be caution, careful planning and some sort of impact study on the area with regards to the environment, business, the people, and exactly how long the effort to harvest the iron ore will last. Because in the end, gold gleams, silver sparkles, copper is shinny, but iron ore outlasts them all.

 

HAVE A GOOD DAY!

ETHNICITY IS JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR HATE AND STUPIDITY!

(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Adan Salazar, PoliceCrims.Com, Frazer Chronicle)

 

I was interested and so I looked it up, the number of slur words that can be used to describe a black person, and surprise, surprise, I found 40 different ways to identify our black brothers. Some were humorous; others will stupid, while a few were just plain dumb, and a couple made in sense at all…..possibly because they had their origins in long-ago foreign lands.

 

I thought you might be interested in the list and where they came from, interestingly of the five pages that listed ethnic slurs,  two pages were used to describe the names that people used to call a black person…..an obvious point that people must be scared, intimidated, and hold black people in some kind of awe. Maybe it’s because black people can dunk a basketball easier than a white man, and can run circles around almost everybody.

 

Af, (Rhodesia) or a Rhodie

Ann, a black woman who acts like a white woman

Ape, a black person, where else, the United States

Aunt Jemima Aunt June, Aunt Mary, Aunt Sally, Aunt Thomasina, slur towards black women, U.S.A.

Bluegum, a southern United States slur for a black person who is lazy and refuses to work

Boogie, United States

Buck, United States, also used to describe a Native American

Buffie, a black person

Burr Head, United States used to describe a black person

Colored, used to describe a black person, it came from where else, the United States

Coon, United States and the United Kingdom

Crow, describes a black women

Eggplant, actually a movie slang used in The Jerk in reference to a black person

Fuzzie, United Kingdom

Gable, United Kingdom

Golliwogg, United Kingdom Commonwealth, used in children books

Jigoboo, Jiggabo, Jijiiboo, Zigabo, Jig, Jigg, Jiggy, Jigga, United States, United Kingdom

Jim Crow, United States, segregation laws in the U.S. in the 1950’s, 1960’s and early 70’s

Jim Fish, South Africa

Kaffir, Kaffer, Kafir, Kaffre, South Africa

Macaca, North African, or U.S. Senator George Allen use in reference to a black person

Mammy, United States, an overweight servant

Mosshead, United States

Munt, South African, Zimbabwe and Zambia

Nig-nog, United States, United Kingdom

Nigger, Nigg, Nigz, Nigga, Niggaz, United States, United Kingdom

Niglet, of course…..a black child, United States

Nigra, United States

Pickaninny, used in many lands as well as the United States

Porch Monkey, a Southern black person, United States

Powder burn,

Quashie,

Sambo, United States

Smoked Irish, Smoked Irishman, United States, 19^th. century used to denigrate both Irish and blacks

Sooty, United States, 1950’s

Spade, United States

Spook,

Tar baby, United States, New Zealand, United Kingdom

Teapot, British

Thicklips,

Uncle Tom, United States

 

Of course there are other slang names that are used as a way to describe black people, but of the 40 listed words used in a derogatory way to address blacks, 19 can be traced directly to the United States, and 13 to the United Kingdom. Maybe we should asses how we address people of color, or ethnicity, after all…..we are all ethnics, our ancestors, with little exception were born on foreign soil.

 

THE BURDEN OF BEING BLACK

I can’t really imagine being a person of color, unless you count anglo saxon…..wait, I never really thought about that, Anglo saxon is a color, it’s either pink or white, and it’s funny, us whites spend as much time as we can during the summer to darken ourselves, huh, is there a correlation there, do whites really want to be black?

 

I’ve written before about the attitudes of my father in the past, he was a racist, hell he didn’t even like the television show, Sanford & Son, he said he didn’t want to watch a television show that was based on a worthless black person and his son. Of course he didn’t use the word black, I believe it was colored bum.

 

I grew up in the northern part of Lower Michigan, in a town that was Lily white, a black person stuck out like a sore thumb. When we played Benton Harbor, Muskegon, or Grand Rapids, Michigan in football, or basketball, I didn’t play basketball; we referred to their players as Niggers, Jiggs, Niggies. I said the slang terms without even thinking about what was being said. We were all laughing and having fun at somebody else’s expense.

 

I look back now, and remember those days, remember that I never played sports with a black person until I was 19 years old. I never had a black person as a friend until I was 21, and I never fully understood the trials and tribulations of a black person until I was well past my 25^th year.

 

Along the way, I used all the hurtful slurs, and some that aren’t listed, and ethnic jokes that I heard and passed on possibly in an effort to be accepted by my peer group. During my journey through life there are two lessons that I have learned above all others, (1) to treat people fairly and honestly, and (2) to treat everybody as equals, no matter the color, creed, religion, or mental capacity.

 

Black people, people of color have a difficult path to trod, made hard by just two facts, they are (1) colored, and (2) white people don’t like colored people. The first reason people of color I understand, nobody really has a choice when it comes to your ethnicity.

 

The second reason, white people not liking people of color, I really don’t get. Looking back at how I was raised, I can’t understand why my dad was a racist, he never related to me a bad experience that he had, wasn’t cheated, and was never bumped out of a job by a black. When I was growing up, Indians, Mexicans and Asians weren’t an issue, of course Japanese, Communists and Koreans were war mongers, and weren’t to be trusted, but they weren’t around…..it was just the blacks.

 

Did you know it was illegal in some states into the 1970’s for a black and white to marry, it’s true, and now they say that prejudice and racial problems are becoming a thing of the past…..ya right, how would you like to be colored for just one week…..I’ll bet not.

 

I’m not going to bore you with statistics, suffice it to say that the ugly activity of racial equality ain’t workin yet, just check with any white women you know, they feel the pinch of in equality each and every day of their work life.

 

HOW BLACKS ARE KEPT DOWN EACH AND EVERY DAY

Everybody respects the law for all kinds of different reasons, fear, a genuine respect for the laws of the land, an entity to be circumvented, fooled or fought with whatever weapons are handy. Whatever the reason people abide by laws, they usually do so to stay on the right side of the power that can be brought down on individuals that break laws.

 

For blacks the burden of staying on that right side of the law is tougher because of their color, the reputation, and the history. I will say this, at times black people are their own worst enemy, they prickle-up whenever the law confronts them. Diplomacy should be the watchword when some big bellied red-necked cops stop a black. In a baseball game, 3 strikes and you’re out, when a white cop pulls over a black person; he’s already got two strikes on him.

 

It’s an attitude that is present between white authority and blacks, and the authority can be as inconsequential as a convenient store clerk. Do black people have to be more tolerant of whites…..if that I feel a sense of loss.

 

I decided many years ago that I wasn’t going to waste my time on the color of a person’s skin, oh sure, I still have relapses, and fall back into the old ways, and question whether I should say something to a black that is to loud, or pushes into a line, and I usually say something, it is, after all a form of respect, I’d say something to a white person if he was to loud or cut in line, guess I gotta do the same to a black.

 

EVER VIGILANT

We all need to be watchful of each other; after all, we share almost the same space, black, white Hispanic, Asian, Native American and whoever else one might want to add into the melting pot. Authority needs to be spread universally, by that I mean each person needs to be under the same set of rules and regulations as another.

 

Police are by far the visible and, for whatever reason, seem to weld the biggest stick of injustice against people of color. From rape, to beatings, to falsifying evidence to downright circumventing the law, people of color are hit with the full weight of the law every day of the year.

 

Until we understand that we are all from the same place, have the same red blood flowing through us, and share the same needs, wants and desires, we, as a people will suffer. When a black person commits an offense against another person, he is an embarrassment to his race, when a white person commits an offense against another person, he too is an embarrassment to his race…..exactly what is the difference?

 

HAVE A NICE DAY

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN!

(Asian Times, Frazer Chronicle)

 

When the United States, the United Kingdom and the coalition of the willing attacked Iraq in March of 2003, millions upon millions protested around the world. With the United States leading the way, the war of shock and awe was just the beginning, the ensuing occupation of Iraq by the U.S. and the coalition of the willing, or the Coalition Provisional Authority, (CPA) left the country’s infrastructure in shambles and the country bankrupted.

 

Remember that Iraq was the same country that the United States attacked in retaliation for Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2 of 1990. On August 7, 1990 American troops on Saudi Arabian soil, and is dubbed Operation Desert Shield. On January 17, 1991 the United States initiates Operation Desert Storm, which included air assaults on both Kuwait and Iraq.

 

The ensuing war lasts a total of 38 days, again remembering that Iraq is the very same country that posed nuclear danger to the United States and our allies. This is the same country that was completely and utterly brought to its collective knees in less time than spring training takes for Major League baseball teams.

 

Also during this timeline, information surface that Saddam Hussein’s military forces were in the midst of crushing the Shiite in southern Iraq, and also were attacking the Kurds in the northern part of the country. Reaction by the United States and the coalition of the willing, silence…..and a non-aggression attitude.

 

However after Saddam, Iraq…..and the rest of the world saw firsthand the military might of the United States; aggressive attitudes were undoubtedly put on the back burner with regards to how other countries felt about military confrontation.

 

The United States continued to watch Iraq throughout the last decade of the 20^th century albeit from afar, or so they say. In 1998 the Project for the New America Century writes a letter to President Clinton saying that the President’s policy in Iraq is failing, and that the only way to eliminate the dangers of Iraq using weapons of mass destruction is to eliminate Saddam Hussein. The letter is signed by Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, John Bolton, William Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz and Zalmay Khalilzad.

 

George W. Bush is inaugurated as the countries 41^st president and in short order filled his administration with all of those like minded individuals including Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense John Ashcroft, Donald Rumsfeld, Under-Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and enlisted such others as John Bolton, Bill Kristol and Zalmay Khalilzad.

 

2001, AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ

The world for President Bush and all of those people who were like minded changed forever, it was like they had just watched a war movie, and they needed to go out…..collectively and shoot somebody, almost anybody to take the sting that was September 11, 2001.

 

Going into Afghanistan and routing out Osama bin Laden and his people was completely justified and understandable. I personally supported the Bush administration’s actions, and felt that militarily we needed to do more to track down the Osama and his people.

 

We now have been in Afghanistan for thirteen years, we have killed Osama bin Laden, we have dismantled the Taliban and eliminated pretty much the hostiles in the country. Yet we are there, we are spending money, and we are putting American military at risk…..WHAT FOR?

 

We invaded Iraq on March 19, 2003, and stayed until December 14, 2011, again, WHY, there never was any weapons of mass destruction, it has been proven beyond any doubt that Hussein was never a part of September 11, and to top things off, we even captured Hussein, he was put on trial, found guilty, hanged and buried. Yet we stayed until December of 2011.

 

If somebody was keeping score, it would read U.S. 1, Afghanistan, 0 and U.S. 1, Iraq, 0 unless you count the first gulf war, and then it would read, U.S. 2, Iraq, 0. Yet we stayed, and stayed, and stayed to…..nation-build, help out our brethren, and make sure that their governments were operated on a proper basis.

 

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN

The scorecard now reads like a horror story, no heat, no air-conditioning, sky-high unemployment, medical treatment problems, government in disarray, fatalities mounting each and every day, a civil war that rages almost out of control. Is Iraq better off with their new found freedom, and democratic government, why not ask the 3,000 that have died just in March…..oh wait, they’re dead. And yes war machines are still a priority.

 

Now we move to Afghanistan, could it be any different there, well actually NO, oh sure the business people that make the war machines are doing very well…..thank you. But the shootings, the battles, and the human carnage continue.

 

Now I wonder when we will leave Afghanistan, and more to the point, how will we leave that country, will it be a broken hulk of a former country where people might have suffered, but it was almost by their own design.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY

THE TROUBLE WITH BULLIES

(Sentara RMH, Green Bay Press Gazette, Calgary Beacon, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Did you ever wonder whatever happens to those people that bully, we’ve all been bullied, been the brunt of jokes, pushed, punched, or laughed at. Those people that are less fortunate either because they are smaller, slower, quieter, shy, fat, or ugly. I don’t really mean that some in school are actually ugly, they just act differently, don’t have the nicest cloths, they stick out because they are different.

 

School is where 95% of bullying is encountered; the school grounds of the world are nothing more than testing grounds for aggressive behavior, kids check to see how far they can go with abrasive attitudes and activity. I’m not sure that the process is necessary for kids to grow into man or women hood, but I do know it goes on every single day of a typical school year.

 

I was bullied during my grade school and some of my high school years, for me it was traumatic and it affected me then, and it affects me today. Being bullied never leaves a person, it was an action that made no sense at the time, and makes no sense today. But the scares are still there, the effects of the impact of the bullying incidents are carried throughout life to the grave.

 

For some being bullied affects a person’s life, their outlook, their decision making will be altered, no matter their position, no matter their abilities…..and will effect reactions and interactions with people throughout their work life.

 

To overcome bullying can be a monumental task, and usually takes professional treatment. Being bullied in the school setting can be absolute, and the victim may not have anywhere to turn for help. No matter where you turn, with the exception of clinical help, somebody finds out and pretty soon, everybody knows, making a bad situation worse.

 

TEACHERS, ADVISORS, COUNSELORS, ADMINISTRATION, OTHER KIDS

Principals, councelors, teachers, advisors and school administrators have very little effect on the bullying problem in today’s school setting…..and they never did. The very first thing that people need to understand about educators is that they are lightweights, could they be any different…..they deal with adolescents every day of their work week. What they say, think, or do is pretty much law, and goes unchallenged; really…..could they be anything but lightweights.

 

Kids are as disconnected as their parents…..could they be any other way? With little exception kids have superficial friends in school, could it be different, kids are growing, searching, and seeking their own identity.

 

A kid that is bullied intensely every day of the school week really has nobody to talk things out with…..unless he is lucky. I had such a person, he saved me, and he was responsible for me coming to grips with who I was, and how to combat the jerks that attempted to bully me.

 

I laughed; Walter told me to use my sense of humor as a combative weapon to turn a bad situation into a comical joke…..and it has worked for me all of my life. If I can’t make somebody laugh, if a particular person doesn’t seem to have a sense of humor, or is devoid of a personality…..that person needs to be avoided at all costs.

 

I have used old Walter’s teaching and advise all of my adult life, and although I never achieved quite the heights that I aspired, I none-the-less reached a pretty high plateau, I achieved almost everything that I tried in my life…..so far.

 

I will admit that times have changed, kids are far more aggressive and vindictive today, bones are broken, shootings, stabbings, and now girls pulling hair and fighting one another until one loses a blouse and brassiere, and you know what flops out.

 

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE BULLIES

I’m not sure what happens to the punks that oppress other kids with their antics and abrasive activity, I am pretty sure that if they continued their attitudes after high school they did get their just deserts, it’s how the world works. I really do wish that I could have been present to see their demise, it would have been sweet.

 

I really only knew a handful of what I would call pathological bullies, you know, people with a penchant to inflect either physical or mental pain on others to gain either approval or their jollies from picking on people.

 

People that bully other kids in a school setting need to be shown the ills of their way, but it usually won’t come from a teacher, administrator, the authorities, or a help group, I remember one particular kid who was my chief antagonizer, he seemed to lay awake at night thinking of crap to pull on me then next day, I really never knew when he slept…..he was really good.

 

Anyway, one day he caught me in a second floor hallway after school and pushed me down a stairwell, one of those marble stair cases with the steel at the edge of the step for traction. I bounced down each step, there were fifteen, and when I hit the bottom step and lay in a heap on the stairwell, I looked up at him, bruised and bloodied, I saw real fear in his eyes, and I knew I had him.

 

George never said a word, I got myself to me feet, climbed those fifteen steps and told him if he ever screwed with me again I’d f--- him up any way possible, so he’d better grow a pair of eyes in the back of his head cause he would never know which way I was coming from. It was the last time he ever screwed with me…..and come to think of it…..it was the last time anybody ever messed around with me.

 

My point is simple, people who get picked on need to take care of business almost on their own, what’s the worst that can happen, I’ll tell you, death…..but how often does that happen from a bully, after all they are, by design cowards…..and have a hell-of-a lot more problems than the kid who is being bullied.

 

Parents can be supportive; parents need to get next to school administrators with the authority to keep an eye on things. But school teachers, administrators, or councilors have little or no clue on how to deal with the bullying problem that they face each and every day of their work-week.

 

Kids will be kids, and boys will be boys…..and now I guess girls will also be girls, mostly they need to sort out their own problems. Most kids aren’t really what they seem to be, mostly their just mixed up, searching for the answers to life…..something that ends up being a life-long journey for all of us to varying degrees.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY

A GLARING ILLISTRATION WHY SECRETS OF ANY KIND ARE NO GOOD!

(Detroit Free Press, Frazer Chronicle)

 

I thought maybe Dave Bing, that former marvelous basketballer of Detroit Piston fame, might need a little help; after all, he is the mayor of Detroit. Detroit, Michigan, once synonymous with Michigan’s automobile industry now finds itself drowning in a sea of debt. From a crooked former mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, who is serving time for his indiscretions, to a migration from the inner city to the suburbs, to…..another potential money scandal.

 

I feel for Dave Bing, he’s the same age that I am, and God knows I’d of already had a heart attack with what he’s went through, hell I read about the crap that’s going on there and get heart palpitations, and I’m 500 miles away. I can just imagine what the former Syracuse All American is going through; it must be some of his toughest stuff he’s ever seen.

 

I’ll be in the area over the week-end conducting some business, and if Mr. Bing is a fan of the Frazer Chronicle, and all the news that nobody else will print, I have one suggestion, call it free advice, get your basketballing butt out of town, you can’t help, PLEASE!

 

The latest jerk to bounce his way onto the public court system is…..who else, an attorney, seems these days it’s either a politician or an attorney. Ronald Zajac, general counsel to Detroit’s two public pensions, totaling more than a billion dollar.

 

The reaction from Tom Sheehan, chairman of the General Retirement System regarding the allegation against Mr. Zajac, “we are aware of the indictment of Ronald Zajac. the board is reviewing the appropriateness of Mr. Zajac continuing to serve as the General Retirement System’s attorney.” Further Sheehan said that “we will announce a decision at the appropriate time and will have no further comment.”

 

Do ya think Mr. Sheehan, I mean how many ton of brink do you need to fall all over the place before you take some sort of action to prevent further damage…..see, now you-all know exactly why I live in Wisconsin…..at least our cities aren’t going broke…..yet!

 

And Zajac isn’t a Johnny-come-lately kind of attorney, he didn’t just get his job of authority, he’s had 30 years to hone his craft as a rip off artist. How much has been siphoned off…..nobody will ever know, it’s almost the nature of the beast.

 

ALLIGATIONS

Zajac who made a nice tidy salary of $400,000 a year is just the latest in a long list of Detroit city officials who are systematically facing charges for scamming, skimming, cutting and slashing at a city that has been on life support for years.

 

In the mix is former pension fund trustee Paul Stewart who was indicted along with Zajac yesterday, March 20. The allegations are accepting perks galore from businessmen seeking favors, $5,000 casino chips, a Christmas basket stuffed with cash, trips, and funding a mistress.

 

Zajac…..I could care less about Stewart, Zajac was entrusted with billions of dollars that weren’t his…..ever, those funds weren’t cash cows, they weren’t expense accounts, and his position was not supposed to be some kind of bargaining chip that he could use whenever he felt the erg or if the wind was blowing out of the south on a particular day.

 

In November of 2012, the Board of Trustees of the Police and Fire System fired Zajac as its general counsel…..which should have set off all kinds of fireworks, bombs and a couple of ding-dongs, but apparently nobody was listening.

 

WHEN A CITY DIES

I have been involved with the death of a baseball club…..a baseball team that had been in business for 15 years before I came on-board, and it would last 5 years after my 2 year tour of duty. I saw firsthand the degradation, the attitude and the atmosphere that came to permeate the day to day activity of the team. Luckily the death of the team only affected 20 or so players, the team owner, and the front office officials.

 

However there was another aspect to the victims that suffered with the demise of the team, the hundreds upon hundreds of baseball fans that had lost their ability to cheer, to take pride and to feel a sense of camaraderie one with another.

 

The same can be said about a city dying, of course on a much larger scale, people depend on their city for all kinds of reason, for work, pleasure, recreation, culture, education, and to obtain items used for their daily lives. Detroit has been dying for years, and it’s sad, depressing, and makes people angry, all at the same time.

 

The population of the city of Detroit peaked with the census count of 1950, when 1,849,568 people called the city home. For the next 6 decades the population plummeted to its present estimated 2010 count of 713,777. Well over half of the tax base for the city has moved either to the burbs, or completely out of the area.

 

On one problem can be pointed to when assessing the beginning of the end for the city of Detroit, where once there were rows of million dollar homes lining the downtown streets of the city. Attitudes change, business practices are altered, and different bottom lines are created, and necessary to be reached for the health of a particular company.

 

With the loss of a tax base, and the cost of services offered lagging in the understanding of what is going on with their community, a money crisis was inevitable. Four of the top ten employers are tax supported, Detroit Public Schools, 13,750, City of Detroit, 13,187, U.S. Government, 6,335, State of Michigan, 4,910, and number eleven, the United States Post Office, 4,106.

 

A decent sized city, 42,000 people work either of the city of Detroit, the State of Michigan, or the Federal Government. That’s more than 100,000 people depending on taxpayer money to survive on, is it any wonder that Detroit is in its final stages?

 

People like Ron Zajac and Kwame Kilpatrick need to be behind bars, they certainly are part of the problem and not the solution…..oh wait, Kwame Kilpatrick is behind bars…..(get your bunkmate’s space ready Kwame, Zajac will be right along.

 

Zajac and Kilpatrick are examples of why there should be absolutely no secrets in government of any kind. One guy, Zajac, and the other, Kilpatrick, took their turns fleecing the public coffers of millions of dollars…..and Mayor David Bing, with his $176,000 yearly paycheck being paid in 26 equal payments of $6,800, what should he buy with his money…..well I’ll tell ya, he doesn’t, every penny he makes from his job goes directly to the city police department budget, a donation from a true All American, still playing flawlessly.

HAVE A NICE DAY

IN BUSINESS TO DELIVER, IT’S IN THE GENES!

(United States Department of State, TransCanada, Frazer Chronicle)

 

The Keystone XL crude oil pipeline stretches from Hardisty, Alberta, passes through three states, will be 875 miles in length, will somehow negotiate 56 bodies of water, and will be done…..never! Mineral producing companies never ever have enough products, no matter which type you’re talking about, whether it be natural gas, crude oil, iron, copper, silver, zinc, gold or uranium, these producers have a ravenous appetite that can never be satisfied.

 

We here in Wisconsin…..through our fearless leaders, and some short sighted local politicians, have granted a mining company special initiatives to come to the northern part of the state to dredge millions of ton of earth out of the ground, crush it down into a fine powder, and then roll the powder into what is called taconite pellets that is saleable as iron ore. Did you know it takes 4, 5, 6, and sometimes 7 ton of waste rock to produce just 1 ton of pellets…..betcha didn’t know that, did ya.

 

Exactly where is all the excess rock and dirt going to go…..piled up in what is called waste rock piles, and piles, and piles, and piles. If the Gogebic Taconite project takes 20, 30, or 40 years of production, can you imagine how many ton of waste rock there will be…..by using a simple equation, 5 ton of rock to produce 1 ton of salable ore, with a production life of say 30 years, and Gogebic Taconite produces 7 ton of pellets a year x say 40 years, that’s 280 million ton of iron ore, and 1.4 trillion ton of waste rock that has been displaced and produced. Ain’t no way Gogebic Taconite is gonna ever put that waste back in the hole that they dug.

 

But I digress; we were talking about crude oil and natural gas, and an 875 mile pipeline that would pump the sandy crude from Alberta Canada down to the Port Arthur, Texas area. Sounds, on the surface of the subject, a little bit dangerous…..at least to me, and for the little that I know about the process. But I do know that a sandy liquid being pumped through a 36” pipe at varying speeds would seem…..to me, a guy who knows little about the process, to be a bit precarious…..and at the least abrasive…..to the pipeline.

 

I borrowed TransCanada’s slogan, In Business To Deliver, it’s In Their Genes was my slogan, but it’s true, all extraction companies, whether it’s oil, natural gas, diamonds, iron ore, coal, or the precious metals has to displace the earth in order to get at whatever product they seek. In so doing, they are altering the ground, usually under the surface, unless it’s an open pit type of mining.

 

With liquid products retrieving the product is just the first step, petroleum products need to be broken down and to do this cracking, the product needs to be shipped over vast mileages of land, usually in the straightest line from the source to the cracking plants.

 

The gooey mess is transported through these 36” pipelines to these separating places where it is turned into all sorts of wonderful 21^st century products that enhance our lives, move us from our point A’s to point B’s in our automobiles on pretty much a daily basis…..ain’t technology grand.

 

THE BOTTOM LINE MENTALITY

People need to understand a basic truth about every mineral company throughout the world…..they all have one major issue, or agenda, deliver profits to shareholders…..it’s been that way since the beginning of shareholderisum. It can be compared to the amount of waste rock that is produced to make one ton of iron ore.

 

 

An oil rig might cost a million dollars, and a pipeline from the oil well to the cracking plant might cost $100 a lineal foot. A shareholder expects a return on his investment, a handsome investment, so corners need to be cut, will be cut to insure that bottom line mentality. Oil spills are nothing more than piles of waste rock, and they are dealt with in the same manner as a rock pile, ignored, and moved away from.

 

The land that a 3’ oil pipeline runs through will be scared for generations, and in many cases will not be suitable to farm, make a road through, or build a house or business on. The land is nothing more than a casualty of war, a victim of collateral damage.

 

The press is pushing for the project, politicians are pushing for the project, TransCanada is pushing for the project, and President Obama will cave into the mounting pressure and become a proponent of the project.

 

IT’S BEEN GOING ON FOR 12 DECADES

That’s right; earth exploration companies have been greasing the political skids, buying up favorable decisions, and installing their own representatives whenever possible. There are old mining sites that dot the landscape throughout the country, from the east coast, through the mid-lands all the way to the shores of the Pacific Ocean and west.

 

In the beginning these exploration and extraction companies established their own towns complete with a Mayor, sheriff, fire department, newspapers, churches and a company store. They were…..and are a power unto themselves, and they never ever forget a pocket of ore, or an underground deposit of crude.

 

They may not get approval this year, but they’ll be back in five, ten, twenty or fifty years and promote the same project, just in a different package. They are relentless, never forget, and will beg, borrow, or steal their way to their project…..no matter the cost, or the degradation to the land, that’s how valuable these mineral are to these people.

 

When legislators ease mineral extraction regulations in the name of progress, and the creation of jobs, prosperity, and a better way of life, you maybe should take a summer trip to one of the long forgotten mining towns…..any mining town, and see the end result of the extraction of Mother Nature’s treasures. Or take a side trip to an old oil rig site and check out the discharge pond…..it ain’t a pretty site.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!