NO SOUP FOR YOU!

(Richard Lardner, The Economist, James Quinn, Military.Com, Fred Powers, Frazer Chronicle)

 

No matter what you say, we taxpayers are in all kinds of binds, can’t we get a touch, I mean even when the military turns down additional weapons that they can play with, our elected officials say, (here’s more, go play). There must be a reason why elected officials disregard public opinion by the majority of the country and seem intent on spending our money, even in the face of those that would know that we don’t need more money for a pet project.

 

There are more than 40 war machine manufacturers in the United States, and at least one in Germany that gross billions of taxpayer money each and every year. So when the military say’s NO to additional spending, you think that Capitol Hill would be overjoyed to hear the news, but…..not so, Congress wants to spend an additional $436 million dollars on a weapon the experts say is not necessary.

 

How can that be…..in this day and age of possible and probable austerity, when as a nation we are struggling to keep our homes, and pay our minimal bills and living expenses with no hope of putting money away for the proverbial rainy day…..what in hell is going on, on Capitol Hill?

 

Some of our military might, and it is extensive, doesn’t even get into the war on terror, some of our military equipment is so advanced that it will probably never be used, at least in the foreseeable future. Some weapons are devised, manufactured, tested, and put into mothball status.

 

Let’s be real clear on military spending in the 21^st century, war machine manufacturing creates well paying jobs, and protects area suppliers, and businesses. Military spending, actually taxpayer money, is good for the communities where military factories are. It’s the old boom or bust mentality, as long as the money holds out, the locals will reap the benefits of higher paying jobs and a better life style.

 

However once the money flow stops, people go first to unemployment, and either move, get a lower paying job, or go on welfare and Medicaid, and still work at a lower paying job. It’s an attitude and a practice that has been going on for American for more than 150 years, but it used to be in the private sector, but now has spilled over into the government sector.

 

PORK BARRELED POLITICS

We hear the Pork Barrel statement all the time, and I kind of have a different view of what Pork Barreling really is. Sure in many cases, politicians champion their own districts and those constituents that are potential votes, but you know, some of these projects are necessary for a variety, and should be examined on a case by case basis.

 

I’m not sure that Pork Barrel even applies to today’s political atmosphere; the term comes from Edward Everett Hale and was a homily metaphor for any form of public spending to the citizenry. After the Civil War the term came to be used derogatorily as a special interest type of activity on Capitol Hill.

 

Citizens Against Government Waste outline seven criteria by which spending can be classified as Pork;

1. Request by only one chamber of Congress

2. Not specifically authorized

3. Not competitively awarded

4. Not requested by the President

5, greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding

 

6. Not the subject of Congressional hearings

7. Serves only a local or special interest.

 

People can make an argument for many cases of a politicians seeming pet project, however if some projects are viewed through honest objective analyses, some projects actually are requests for taxpayer funds that will benefit the masses.

 

The newest possible Pork Barrel project is the Abrams M1A3 Tank, which is under development, a behemoth weighing 67.6 short tons, capable of speeds approaching 40 miles an hour. The cost of this big boy will be around $6.21 million in 1999 and $8.58 today in a stripped down version, the price goes up exponentially when you add all the bells and whistles that are available, like a dash board cigarette lighter which probably adds another hundred grand.

 

The Abrams M1A1 wasn’t even deployed to Afghanistan until 2010, at that time 15 tanks were earmarked for Marine use in the hills and dales of the Afghan landscape. The Abrams has been used in a dual role in the roughed countryside, according to military personnel, it serves not only as a combat multiplier, but as a deterrent to insurgent attacks. I’m not sure that a $44 sum million dollar piece of equipment should be used as a combat multiplier and as a deterrent against aggression by the enemy, but what the hell; I’m only a poor and lowly taxpayer.

 

The weapon has other features that really make no sense to me what-so-ever, like a definitive presence, and that the tank is a formidable machine, and its use signifies commitment, like the United States is committed to the war in Afghanistan. To me, the mere size of the thing, more than 32 feet, and width, 12 feet speaks danger in capital letters.

 

IT TAKES A GREAT SALESMEN TODAY

In today’s world, the real world, where money is tight…..and getting tighter, air shows have, in the past been used to showcase America’s military might. I never really got into the Blue Angles flying in formation, mostly because I saw firsthand…..(at a military base) what a jet strafing sounds like, how accurate they can be, and the resulting devastation, to use one word, awesome!

 

But fifteen years ago and more I kind of had the idea that we were devising and manufacturing weaponry that only we could marvel at. I got the feeling that many countries around the globe kind of looked at the United States as the real threat to peace in our time.

 

All the stealth that is being devised, and make no mistake, there are weapons that we have paid for that we either have never seen, or that will become obsolete before they are ever used…..in which case we will never hear about.

 

New advancements will, in the long term probably spell the demise of the fighter pilot, no more Tom Cruise, and top guns, say goodbye also to Kelly McGillis, and Charlie Sheen and his Topper character, war movies will never be the same.

 

The drone will replace them all, as a drone will strafe targets, and computer controlled bombs will hit targets hundreds and even thousands of miles away, all from some room deep inside some military installation in Colorado.

 

There seems to be only one problem for the Western world and their pursuit of happiness and pilotless military weaponry…..money. It takes unbelievable amounts of money to keep at least the United States in the forefront of the technology to create newer, faster, and pilotless aircraft.

 

Can crewless tanks be just around the corner, will battleships at sea be controlled from San Diego, California…..possibly. It seems like the military is hell bent to take the human out of some parts of war making, and when that happens, humanity will take a huge step backwards.

 

The military and Congress seem intent on keeping a certain amount of the tax dollar for military spending in the study of advanced weaponry. The military industrial complex is alive and well in the halls of the White House, and the back streets of Washington.

 

The United States, the only superpower remaining on earth, currently spends more money on its defense then the next 45 highest spending countries in the world combined. The reason, conventional war has changed, now there are towel headed Muslims in the desert, or on the streets of American, Boston Marathon, and they don’t use drones, Abram Tanks, or Blackhawk helicopters, they use presser-cookers and ball bearings.

 

It’s like the kid from Afghanistan said when a G.I. asked what he wanted from Christmas, and he replied “a stick”. “What in the world would you want a stick for,” the G.I. replied, “to trip road side devises” the brown eyed pre-teen said, man is the world changing or what?

 

A military general once said that it was too bad that “so many young people died in war,” but in a bit of irony, almost as an afterthought the general said, “death is a deterrent to man making war against man.” Now with so many pilotless and remote controlled pieces of military hardware…..were exactly is the deterrent?

 

These advanced weapons of ever increasing size, potential killing power and cost might just be the end of us after all…..Ma keep the soup on, Congress is going to spend all the money.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

SAFER IN A WAR ZONE!

(Safety-Security-Crazy.com, International Labour Organization, Health & Safety Executive)

(Peoples Vice, Canada, United States Department of Labor, Sean Smith, Suzanne Rutter)

(Erik Loomis, Frazer Chronicle)

 

I’m retired…..and damned glad to have lived long enough to be able to say as much, given the fact that regulations and my jobs didn’t really go hand in hand. With the exception of one job, I can’t recall employers worried about my safety, or my health or family. With little exception the people or organizations that I worked for had bottom line tattooed across their forehead.

 

And as I’ve said in the past, (I can’t blame business owners having that mentality), they have to, just to scrape by. However I have been directed to perform duties during my work life that I knew were dangerous as well as probably illegal. I recall one such situation back in the early 1970’s when I was instructed to use muriatic acid to remove mortar from a brick wall.

 

The stuff was nasty, stunk, fizzed and seemed to burn almost everything it touched…..in fact, as I recall, one co-worker did get burned. I learned quite by accident that muriatic acid can be lethal, and should be avoided at all costs. The stuff can burn your skin, eyes, vapors omitted can cause irritation in the respiration system, and anyone using the acid should do so with a breathing mask as well as special gloves.

 

Needless to say we, there were five of us were not told of the dangers of the crap, were not provided with breathing apparatus, or special gloves. How did we learn about the ills of this acid, and the perils of this particular job, an OSHA inspector shut the job down. Not only were we supposed to be briefed on the use of muriatic acid, we were supposed to be paid at a premium rate because the job was  state funded work.

 

Not only was the boss and owner reckless with what he told us…..which was nothing, he was underpaying us by $4 an hour, and pocketing the difference. I personally blew the whistle on the dink….it resulted in the termination of his license as a state certified cleaner; he shortly thereafter went completely out of business.

 

Needless to say most all of us do have some sort of work related horror story that can be recalled, in fact I can remember my dad as one of the work place culprits. My dad was a carpenter, and worked most of his life for himself. Working on roofs, rafters and other high places was nothing for us to work on and around; never a safety belt or a hard hat was used or offered. I think my dad thought the use of either would have been the sign of a sissy.

 

TO SOME IT’S FRUGAL, TO OTHERS GREED, YET SOME ACTS ARE MURDER

The history books are filled with accidents in the workplace that have taken latterly thousands of lives around the world. In the foreign gold, silver, iron and diamond mines multiple deaths have occurred almost on an annual basis. To some countries it has been basically the price of doing business, and I’m sure that they factor of training replacement workers in with the price of their product.

 

Let’s take a minute to ponder some of the most horrific workplace disasters ever recorded, the place of their origin, the immediate aftermath, and the resulting penalties or enacted laws that were put into place to protect workers:

 

 

Lawrence, Massachusetts, January 10, 1860, estimated 145 died, 166 injured when the Pemberton Mill, a cotton goods factory building collapsed.

 

Scofield, Utah, May 1, 1900, 200 die in a Pleasant Valley Coal Company explosion of 24 kegs of black powder.

Brockton, Massachusetts, March 20, 1902, 58 die at the Grove Company’s shoe factory when boiler explodes and entire building collapse.

Coal Creek, Tennessee, May 19, 1902, 184 men and boys die from an explosion of methane gas buildup.

Monongah, West Virginia, December 6, 1907, 362 of 380 men and boys die in explosion at coal mine.

Chicago, Illinois, January 20, 1909, 60 approximately die from powder magazine explosion at a water intake tunnel a mile offshore.

New York, New York, March, 25, 1911, 146 die at Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, most jumps to their death from the 9^th and 10^th floors of the factory.

Boston, Massachusetts, January, 15, 1919, 21 deaths when storage tank bursts causing a great wave of molasses speeds through the streets of Boston.

Boulder City, Nevada, 1930’s, 96 approximately from construction related activity, though accurate records were never kept. Many deaths were from carbon monoxide poisoning in diversion tunnels.

Cleveland, Ohio, October 20, 1944, 120 people die when above ground liquefied natural gas leaks vapor, Lake Erie winds blow the vapor into residential area where it drops into the sewers. When the vapor ignites, it sends man-hole covers flying and the explosion kills 120.

Texas City, Texas, April, 16, 1947, 581 S.S. Grandcamp explodes from roughly 2300 ton of ammonium nitrate.

North Sea, 167 are killed when the Piper Alpha oil rig explodes killing 167 American workers.

Gulf of Mexico, April 20, 20, 2010, 11 die on Deepwater Horizon oil-well platform, resulting in worst oil spill in U.S. history.

 

There are many, many more domestic workplace disasters; I haven’t even stretched the surface, the Texas City, Texas blast two weeks ago, or the horrific workplace disasters on foreign soil which will be for a future blog.

 

NOBODY WANTS TO GO TO WORK AND NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN

No matter a workers station in life, or the financial or domestic problems a worker has at home, he still wants to walk through his front door after work. Absolutely nobody is paid enough to endanger himself in the work-place, and there are some state and federal rules and regulations that have been enacted so that a huge majority of American workers will do just that.

 

However in today’s work world here in the United States approximately 12 workers leave for work and are never seen again…..alive. The staggering figure of those people who do not return home after their shift amounts to 4,380 each and every year. In the past decade, the number of work related deaths has averaged 43,800.

 

With little exception these people did not strap on a side arm, or carry a rifle, their weapons usually involved slide rules, computer skills, truck driving competence, or a hammer and saw. These people were your average 7:00 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. ers. or your 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. ers. They weren’t heroes or some of the world’s great thinkers, they were just your average men and women who were trying to (stay high and get by.)

 

 

Nobody should die in the pursuit of hacking out a living from the tree of life, and there are labor rules and regulations that have been put into place to protect workers from unscrupulous business owners big, medium or small, no matter the size, business owners are all in business from one universal benefit…..money.

 

Suffice it to say that there is an undeclared war out there that ebbs and flows from year to year, and decade to decade. Victories aren’t declared by either side, although there numbers are kept, as is the list of casualties that are suffered by the workers.

 

LAST WEDNESDAY AT LEAST 350 DIE

Depending on which news service you read, between 300 and 400 workers have perished when a factory building that manufactured wearing apparel collapsed. This is just the latest in work place disasters in foreign countries that need to be addressed by the international community.

 

These garment makers make on average about $38 a month, despicable pay, in despicable surroundings, for despicable work. Nobody and I mean nobody should be paid an average $9 a week, unless they are working only one hour a week.

 

There needs to be some sort of universal protection for workers, no matter the country, the region, or the circumstance. A universal standard needs to be set, and followed by all nations of the world, those that do not adhere to the standard will be black-listed until the come into compliance with some sort of minimum work place and wage standard.

 

Work rules and regulations are easy to implement, if they are devised by non-connected individuals, in-other-words, no ties to either labor, or management. The safety issues, the poor pay, and the insane work hours suffered in foreign countries needs to be addressed and dealt with forthwith. How many more widows does there have to be, how many more orphaned kids will there be before we…..as a people react in a positive manner?

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

MUMBO-JUMBO

(Lionel Charles Robbins, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes)

(Post Autistic Economics Review, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Sometimes I am humbled by where I retrieve information to help me form a hypothesis of a particular subject matter…..and this happens to be one of those moments. Whenever I stray from the things that I feel confident about, I kind of get an uneasy feeling that I won’t do justice to the subject matter. I thought that this subject, different opinions about what makes an economy run, would be tougher than it actually turned out to be.

 

It can be summed up in one sentence, “Economics is the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses.” This is a direct quote from economist Lionel Charles Robbins, head of economics department at the London School of Economics.

 

Of the economical teachers and professors, it seems like a person on the look, John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Alois Shumpert or Joan Robinson. These people, plus many, many more studied economics, and based their thoughts and theories on these studies and collaboration with other economist of their time. Along the way, these scholarly and keenly educated intelligentsia dictated the future of economic practices well into the future, not only for their countries, but countries around the world.

 

Economics is what they these people did for almost their entire adult lives, they read it, they eat it, they conversed it, and probably dreamed about it. Off and on for most of my adult life I have had an addiction to baseball; I eat, talked, read and slept baseball. I never achieved to the level I aspired to, but I can understand how these people worked.

 

I did not get to where I wanted to be in baseball for one very simple point…..I wasn’t good enough, others passed me by, and some in my peer group fell by the wayside, and pursued other avenues in their lives, I never  begrudged them that right, and in retrospect, they did what was best for them.

 

I was passionate, and these highly intelligent economists were passionate, me for base hits, strike outs and wins, economists for the realization of theories, gathering information to articulate further theories and better their business practice understanding.

 

There have been dozens of brilliant economist that have created new and revolutionary studies of business, and spending habits of people around the world, and how they can be effected by all sorts of really uncontrollable incidents,  and the atmosphere of state, region, national or international economical conditions.

 

In actuality, forecasting the habits of peoples spending is linked to many, many different sets of rules that…..aren’t really rules. If I got $2, I figure that I can spend $1, if I want to save, I don’t spend that one dollar. If I have a job…..like the vast majority of people on the face of the earth, I’ll live from paycheck to paycheck.

 

To disregard the above listed numerical facts it to ignore human nature, and I believe it, (human nature) is the reason that economists fail so miserably at predicting the future stability of a state, region, country, or world.

 

 

THE SUCKING DRAG-DOWN OF ECONOMY THEORIES

It’s nice to set in a warm, comfy classroom of some east-coast school of higher learning, spewing adjunct opinion that will help to mold logic, theory and practices. And it will work…..if you either stay a professor, or a student, but out there in the real world, prepare yourself for a rough ride.

 

With regards to the well-being of the financial health of a region, there are variables at play that nobody can predict; I’m not sure why scholars even try. The weather, blight, pests, war, or military activity in a region all help to mold the economic atmosphere of a region.

 

Another unforeseen circumstance that needs to be considered, but cannot be predicted is employee, employer relationships. This relationship in and of itself can be the driving mechanism in how a region, and its disposable cash can fluctuate.

 

One thing economists don’t seem to understand is that there is an undeclared war between labor and management that has been going on for well over a hundred years. Management can, for the most-part be influenced by government, competition, whether on the national level, or internationally.

 

Labor on the other hand can, and usually is a short sighted group, intend on receiving an ever expanding piece of the pie. Many labor disputes throughout history haven’t been so much about the monitory figures, rather about work hours and work-place safety.

 

Either way, management loses; they either pay more wages, possibly for fewer hours or differently see the productivity of their workers decreasing. In addition, the safety aspect can, and usually is one very pricey issue. Historically neither side is willing to sit and negotiate for the long-term good of both parties, and herein lays a huge problem for economic forecasts, human nature. You piss me off, well it’s okay, but if you piss on me…..the war is on and the gloves are off.

 

Globally foreign nations, those 3^rd world countries that are always said to be coming out of poverty usually move at a snail’s pace. Sierra Leone is a top 10 producer of diamonds, and is one of the world’s largest producers of gold, 54% of its population lives on $1.25 a day, or $456.25 a year. Niger, Central African Republic, Eritrea, GDP/capita is $700.

 

Almost as a world you can’t overcome the dismal poverty that exists, and until that poverty is addressed, much of the economic atmosphere around the globe will be a boom or bust situation. The great thinkers of economics are mostly dead, and many today seem intent on separation basically touting their own opinions or theories.

 

How these people….. (economists) arrive at their figures is a study in and of itself, and I have neither the time, inclination, nor the education to explain how they do…..but trust me, their logic is hugely flawed. If their figures and opinions were correct, there would never be a statement like Henry Paulson, former Bush 43 Treasurer Secretary made when explaining the housing collapse in 2008, “it caught the administration and me by total surprise.”

 

Paulson said that the reason for the surprise was the data that they had looked at since 1945, and it said that housing prices don’t go down. We now get into semantics here, (didn’t, and don’t), Paulson said “house prices don’t go down,” not, “didn’t go down.” In so doing, Paulson claimed a universal rule of economics, house prices don’t go down!

 

 

 

Austerity to some is a beautiful word, it can force an entire country to pull itself up by its collective boot-straps, and tighten its belt to rectify a countries debt. This might actually be a good thing if….. If everybody observed the act of belt tightening, of course history shows us that that is not the case.

 

When government debt…..as we have it now in the United States, is compared to history, like say 1945, directly after the war, it is a huge mistake and an egregious distorted view of the situation now in the United States.

 

At no time in our history has private debt been at the levels that it is today, coupling with the national debt to be almost a lethal dose of financial instability that possibly has never been encountered in the history of the world.

 

ECONOMIST AREN’T REAL PEOPLE

Today we need to understand how these economists arrive at their opinions and theories; it’s through spread sheets, computers and data checking. They might sift through documents regarding the last hundred years of the history of spending, or world economic atmosphere, write it down, analyze the material and base an opinion on their data.

 

And after countless hours, what they might arrive at, what their theory is, what their opinion is, is based on a whole bunch of happenstance! There are so many effects on how an economy reacts, it is basically impossible to formulate any kind of educated opinion.

 

The nuts and bolts of an economy, any economy in the world today, or in history are based on some very simple equations. These equations must be present before a person can understand, and predict, much as a weatherman, the five day forecast of a nation’s economy.

 

1. No war

2. Honest labor negotiations

3. Personal austerity practices

4. Education

5. Awareness of state, region, nation and international economic health

6. Restraint

 

If you notice I did not list entitlement programs…..I did so because they (entitlements) are a fact of civilized life on our planet. Truly we are our brother’s keeper, really connected regionally and internationally in today’s world, another reason that as a people, we need to learn on our own, and for our own opinions.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

PATHETIC, THE ONLY WORD THAT COMES TO MIND!

(Holly Bailey, Frank Newport, Washington Post, Huffington Post,)

(Julian Zelizer, CNN Contributor, Telegraph Media Group, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Once again the core supporters have emerged to tip a glass of Champaign, swap old war stories, and for a brief moment, recapture the power that they once held. Some haven’t seen others in years, there is talk about those who have departed this earth in search of eternal peace and sunshine, or…..well, you know that other place that has its own brand of heat!

 

More than four years after George W. Bush left the White House, a new presidential library is being opened on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas at a cost of more than $250 million. Funds are from the private sector, and the former president raised $500 million through solicitation efforts for his library.

 

The celebration probably gives pause to the former president, his collogues, and friends, and a chance to reflect on past glories, victories and defeats. The former president will be judged, not by many of us who were in their forties during the time Bush was inaugurated for his first term in office in January of 2001, we will be dust by the time historians have put together a clearer picture then now can be seen.

 

Bush uses the word comfortable when talking about decisions that he made during his two terms in office, I know I wouldn’t use the term comfortable when I think about George W. Bush and his administrative decisions. Debate will go on for decades about the Bush doctrine, and the things that were established, or waved away by the activity of the Bush cabinet.

 

Bush made himself a war time president, invading Afghanistan was justified and the actions with regards to tracking down Osama bin Laden was a righteous cause. But Bush White House invaded Iraq, and in fact concentrated America’s military might and effort in that invasion, and let Bin Laden wonder around the hills of Afghanistan for 10 years after a declaration of war had been declared on Afghanistan.

 

There are many different (lists) out there that rate the Bush presidency, both from the left and the right, and believe it or not, each has its merits. Lists are like political polis, statistics, or opinions, questions can be phrased to get an agreeable answer, statistics do lie, and opinions are like noses…..everybody has one.

 

I watched from afar the developing saga that was the Bush White House, I watched each aftermath of what I perceived were the mistakes that Bush and his administration were making, and hoped for the day to come when the nation would be done with Bush, his henchmen, and prayed that the country would make it through the process.

 

I HAVE CREATED A LIST OF KNUCKLEHEADED MOVES THAT BUSH MADE

1. Of course invading Iraq was number one; just ask the dead soldiers families, friends, wives and kids.

2. Foreign affairs, if you think that the Bush foreign policies were aligned with what was good for America,           

    you  also are a knucklehead.

3. Tax policies, actually tax cuts to the rich and shameless.

4. Hurricane Katrina, sadly the weather event happened in the United States, if it would have happened in

    Another country, the reaction time would have been almost instantaneous.

5. Credit crisis, regulation, regulation, regulation

6. Breakdown of intelligence on the run-up to September 11, 2001, the failure to understand that there

    weren’t any WMD, even when there was massive Intel that Sadam Hussein was nothing more than a

   joker.

7. Violation of human rights…..Gitmo and a water board…..need I say more?

8. Gonzales-gate, unless you are an X baseball player, you don’t belong anywhere near politics.

9. And finally abandoning the Kyoto Protocol, Bush and Cheney though Kyoto was a comedic actor.

 

There are hundreds more, but I’m saving them for a later blog, Bush 43 needs to simply go away, like the man said, “we don’t mind, cause you don’t matter.” I don’t care what George Bush, ex-president builds, what he says, wishes, or what his hopes or fears are…..George W. Bush was simply a terrible president that was thrust into a situation that he, and most of his staff were not prepared for, and then through their collective ineptenisum made a very bad situation worse.

 

I single out Colin Powell as, for me, was especially lax in the performance of his duties, put until September 11, 2001, I was a huge Powell fan, but after his bungling act with regards to Afghanistan, and Iraq, I begin looking for another hero to hitch my star to.

 

Bush didn’t inspire, he brought people down to his level, and of course he always had his enforcer in his back pocket, Vice President Dick Cheney. Bush 43 was a dark chapter in our history, a page that we still are paying for, a page that yet is to be finished.

 

Do I care how Bush viewed his decisions while he was president…..you must be joking, he will go down in history, long after mine has been written, as one of the worst…..the very worst president in the history of presidents.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

FINALLY…..THE THOUGHT AND HERITAGE POLICE!

(Huff Post, Aljazeera, Kerby Anderson, Frazer Chronicle)

 

It has finally and unequivocally happened, I knew it was just a matter of time, hell, after all the Federal Government for years has been talking about how it’s their first job to protect its citizens from harm, both domestically as well as internationally. And now in one sweeping blurb, Senator Lindsey Graham, (R-S.C.), I love to do that, (R-S.C.), of course everybody knows it means, Republican, South Carolina, I just really like to do it.

 

The sweeping blurb by Senator Graham, verbatim, “that Boston bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s ties to radical Islamic thought and his Chechen heritage should justify holding Tsarnaev, an American citizen captured on U.S. soil, as an enemy combatant.” This Graham guy, what a dude, a double threat kind of a guy, wanting to arrest a person for his thoughts as well as where he came from…..and what his ancestors were in Chechen.

 

This bold statement…..at least to me, suggests that all isn’t right in the bubble-land of Capital Hill, now we are going to have thought and ancestor cops, who the hell is going to fund this special branch of big brother?

 

One thing the statement did do for me…..was to spark my interest in Graham, radical Islamist thought, and the type of people that come out of Chechen, were the ogres, did they eat some of their new-born, did they rape their daughters and grandmothers…..why did Graham single these people out?

 

Radical Islamist would almost seem to be in the eye-of-the-beholder, don’t you think, I mean it could almost be equated to the wild-west days in American when it was said that the “only good Indian was a dead one.” I never did quite figure that one out, except that I did understood the racial overtones that white settlers had against Native Americans…..and how the white settler wanted to take the land for their own.

 

Lindsey Graham was born on July 9, 1955 in Central South Carolina to parents that made their living running a liquor store, the Sanitary Café. Graham graduated high school and was the first member of the Graham family to enroll in college at the University of where else, South Carolina. His graduation was put off when both his parents died within 15 months of one another. Graham, who had joined a Reserve Officers’ Training Corp. at South Carolina, had to move closer to care for his orphaned sister.

 

Graham joined the United States Air Force in 1982 and served on active duty until 1988, and remains to this day as a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve with a rank of Colonel. A note here, Colonel Lindsey Graham described himself as a Desert Storm Shield and Desert Storm veteran. In reality, it was revealed Colonel Graham, in reality, never left South Carolina.

 

The 1998 revelation that Graham was playing kind of fast and loose with the truth brought this response from Graham, “I have never told anybody that I was a combatant, I’m not a war hero, and never said that I was one, I never intended to lie, if I have lied about my military record, I’m not fit to serve in Congress, and I was never deployed.”

 

In 2004, Lieutenant Colonel Lindsey Graham who was a brand new Senator, in a ceremony at the White House received a promotion to full bird Colonel by then President George W. Bush. In some cases, water is thicker then blood!

 

To be fair, Colonel Graham did serve active duty as a reservist in Iraq and Afghanistan for short periods of time, for several weeks in April and two weeks in August of 2007, where he worked on detainee and rule-of-law issues. Graham worked in Afghanistan in August of 2009 during the Senate recess.

 

Graham is not new to freedoms of American citizens, or the lack there-of, during an appearance on Face the Nation in 2011, he suggested that Congress maybe should take unspecified formal action against the Florida preacher who was burning Korans. He in addition has dabbled in stripping the courts of some of their power, of amending the ability of Guantanamo detainees to file habeas corpus petitions to challenge there detentions.

 

CHECHEN PEOPLE

One thing you have to say about Chechen people is that they’re really old, first mention of the word, Chechen, was in the 8^th century, in Arabic sources. According to popular tradition, the Russian term, “Chechen” comes from the name of the village Chechen-Aul, where the Chechens defeated the Russian soldiers in 1732.

 

The Chechen people are mainly inhabitants of Chechnya, Russian Federation; there are also significant Chechen populations in other subdivisions of Russia, especially in Dagestan, Ingushetia, and Moscow. Outside of Russia, countries with significant Diaspora populations are Kazakhstan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the Middle Eastern states of Jordan, Iraq where they are mainly descendants of people who had to leave Chechen during the Caucasian War.

 

The Caucasian War lasted from 1817 until 1864 and also is known as the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. The length of the war, and the barbaric activity that took place, and the wandering of the oppressed people made for some strong heritage. Of course the heritage of United States citizens from roughly that period would seem, to me, as a student of history, would tend to make American’s heritage roughly the same as the Chechens.

 

Chechen has been dominated by invaders throughout its history, were forced to move from their highland homes by the Little Ice Age in the late Middle Ages to the lowlands were they came into conflict with the Tereks and Gerben Cossacks.

 

During the almost constant war and attacks, and bloody defeats most of the Chechen people were slaughtered, large numbers of refugees immigrated to, or were forced to the Ottoman Empire. The Chechen people almost throughout history of had to fight for their independents, battling unbelievable odds, and in the middle 1990’s were at war again with Russia.

 

The isolated terrain of the Caucasus Mountains and the strategic value outsiders have placed on the area settled by Chechens has contributed much to the Chechen community ethos and helped shape its fiercely independent national character. Chechen society has traditionally been egalitarian and organized around many autonomous local clans, called teiups.

 

I don’t know if I’ve ever met a Chechen, I do know if I had, I wouldn’t have forgotten the crazy names that they go by. Of course maybe Joe Smith to a Chechen would seem like an odd name, and they’d never use it!

 

 

 

 

DO MUSLIMS REALLY WANT TO KILL US?

The short answer is no, and probably the long answer also is no, there are approximately 1.62 billion Sunni Islamists roaming around the world today, and if a collection of 40% wanted to do away with us infidels, it could happen in pretty short order, but it makes no sense to me to have people kill me because I drive a Cadillac, love to look at scantily clad women, drink an occasion adult alcoholic beverage to wash down the hamburgers I just ate.

 

I do understand why Sunni Muslims might be just a little bit pissed off at the west…..us, we simply can’t seem to stay out of foreign countries, keeping our noses out of other people’s business…..and quite the silly policemen of the world attitude that we can’t seem to get over would solve a whole host of world problems.

 

The lightening rod of Islamic dissidence towards the United States is really our own fault…..no before you go off half cocked, let me finish this paragraph, and my meaning will become crystal clear…..you know me, I sometimes speak in metaphors. The 2001 September terrorist attack was launched by crazies that thought enough of their cause, and were bolstered by a silly religious idea that they would be rewarded by virgins with huge breasts, supple thighs and bulbous buns. Come on, the only place those types of virgins exist is in Las Vegas, Nevada, in those booths where you put a quarter in the slot, and the curtain opens and one of those afore mentioned women start a show…..until your time runs out.

 

The people who believe and practice this part of the Sunni Islamic religion are what everybody would call nut jobs, if for no other reason than there really aren’t women that suicide bombers might believe in for their sacrifice, you know, virgins,  big boobs, and the thigh thingy.

 

Of course we have some of those same types right here in the good old U.S. of A, and although they usually don’t blow things up, they turn into serial killers that can, at times, grip the entire United States in an atmosphere of fear.

 

Let’s face some facts; you can’t know what people are thinking about, you can only worry about yourself, and what kind of (at times) weird thoughts might be going through your head. About the time that we really do have thought cops…..I think it’ll be time to begin the big check-out.

 

Islamic people and large portions of the world at large do not agree with, or approve how we handle certain situations. We have, since about the turn of the 20^th century have been a meddlesome outfit that for whatever reason figures that we are right, righteous, and pretty much above either the law of a region, or for that matter the world.

 

RADICAL ISLAM OR MAINSTREAM ISLAM?

You see, to answer the question of radical or mainstream Islamic practices and study, you have course need to understand exactly what Islam really is. Now I could waste your time, and write down a whole bunch of stuff is written, but it really wouldn’t do any good.

 

Like the man said, “what we have here is a failure to communicate,” (Cool Hand Luke), basically Americans do not communicate very well with any foreign group. We may be one of the biggest melting pot for cultural mixing, pretty much as long as foreign people are hard workers, work for low wages…..and keep their collective mouths shut…..and practice basically the same religion that most Americans practice.

 

 

Muslims aren’t quite like that, first and foremost many Muslims are white skinned, and expect a decent wage whenever they work. The Islamic faith is usually right up front, and in your grill, I do not believe that they try and convert; rather they promote their faith through practice…..just like many Americans do every day of their lives.

 

There are people out there, basically conservative people, Christian people who believe in God, and Jesus who believe that the Islamist faith is a danger and a challenge to the status quo, many, many Jewish people can tell you what I’m talking about.

 

United States news shows, radio talk shows, television, and the print media by and large seem intent on fanning the fires of fear and hysteria. It was done after September 11, 2001, and again last week with the Boston marathon bombing. Islamic people have been stopped on the street, and questioned, and in some cases detained.

 

It has been suggested by people that carry a hell of a lot more certificates of education hanging from their walls then I do, that a movement is afoot that threatens the United States, and it’s just warming up. Whenever I read one of these guys stuff, or heard it on the radio, or watch a news report, I am reminded about the United States and her professed power.

 

After the Boston marathon bombing, David Gregory said “this is a new state of terror and the country has to get used to it.” Wait just a ding-donged minute here; I seem to recall that somebody somewhere was talking about Homeland Security, about the C.I.A. and about the F.B.I. I also seem to recall a defense budget of $600 trillion dollars, how is it that the United States is a state of terror?

 

If that is the case, that we are in a state of, and the Boston bombings are going to become the norm, I want my money back, I’ll fend for myself, thank you very much! What I hear is a bunch of people protecting their jobs, kind of like job security. If there was not war on terror, if there wasn’t any Boston bombing, a whole bunch of people would be out on the street looking to make enough money to fill their grocery carts at some different kind of a job.

 

TERRORIST ATTACKS IN THE UNITED STATE OR AGAINST AMERICANS, NOTHING NEW

The United States has been attacked many different times, from September 16, 1920, to April 15, 2013. Nut case attacks aren’t new, and they’ve taken 3219 mainland people and 331 in foreign lands.
From disgruntled workers, to people with political agendas to suicide religious attacks perpetrated by people wanting sex with virgins with all those big things.

 

For a political official to condemn a suspected terrorists also is, sadly nothing new, all you have to do is revisit the early 1940’s to see how we dealt with Japanese American citizens, some who’s relations were members of the United States military. The powers that be took their homes, shops, and businesses, placed them in internment camps, allowing them to assimilate back into society slowly, and didn’t repay the surviving family members for their losses until the late 1990’s.

 

For Senator Lindsey Graham to denigrate my country, and its judicial system because he has a platform…..and can should give every American a time to pause, and to see how far we have really sunk as a leader of the world. To assume that all Chechen people are terrorist, capable of bombing incents is ridiculous, to identify Islamic thought as another reason to determine the guilt is discussing. To assume anything or anyone that is different is not only a fault of logic, but a loss of reason.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!