THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY MAKES ME FEEL WARM ALL OVER!

THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY MAKES ME FEEL WARM ALL OVER!

(Russian Times, Reuters, Tabassum Zakaria, Scott Shane)

(Deborah Charles, Jim Sciutto, Chelsea J. Carter, Barton Gellman)

(New York Times, Jason Leopold, Al Jazeera, Bonnie Malkin, Greg Miller)

(Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach, John Bates, Glen Kessler, Bill Moyers Journal)

(USA TODAY, Greg Richter, Newsmax, Peter Grier, Harry Bruinius, Bamford, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Why is it that whenever a governmental agency obtains super secret status they immediately go all out to make their agency even more stealth, more secret and more powerful than it was originally supposed to be. Is this secret feeling, this hazy appearance just a natural progression in the intelligence community, and are these people answerable to anybody, anywhere, and at any time?
 
The National Security Agency (NSA) is the main producer and manager of signals intelligence for the United States. The agency is estimated to be one of the largest of U.S. intelligence organizations in terms of personnel and budget. However because of its sensitive nature, both the number of people working for the agency and the operating budget are…..classified.

The NSA is tasked with the global monitoring, collection, decoding, translation and analysis of information and data for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes, including surveillance of targeted individuals on U.S. soil. The agency is authorized to accomplish its mission through clandestine means, among which is bugging electronic systems and allegedly in sabotage through subversive software.

The NSA is also responsible for the protection of the United States government communications and information systems. As part of the growing practice of mass surveillance in the United States, the NSA collects and stores all phone records of all American citizens.

The National Security Agency was formed in November of 1952, replacing the Armed Forces Security Agency, and now is headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland. General Keith B. Alexander is the current agency chief, and John C. Inglis is the Deputy Director, and the parent agency is the United States Department of Defense.

SECRETS, SECRETS, SECRETS

On January 27, 1975, the Senate, in the wake of the Watergate scandal and alarmed by allegations of intelligence service misdeeds, voted to establish an 11-member investigating body along the lines of the recently concluded Watergate Committee.

With little difference, every time governmental agencies overstep their bounds, government establishes a committee to investigate whatever charges there are. Headed by Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho) the committee members, John Tower (R-Texas), Walter Mondale (D-Minnesota) and prominent conservative Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) did, over nine months interview over 800 officials, hold 250 executive and 21 public hearings, probing widespread intelligence abuses by the CIA, the FBI and the NSA.

The resulting legislative changes were momentous no matter who was looking at them, the Church Committee and the decisions rendered was one of the unfortunate prices that was paid for the Nixon administration…..and the country continues to pay to this day.

Several lessons that were learned from the committee that applies today in the impending NSA scandal, inevitably when a government agency starts small, it goes big…..and when an agency seems to start out as legitimate, with the best of intensions, it invariably goes too far. In reaction to the Church Committee’s findings, Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, (FISA) of 1978.

These committees no matter their name, no matter the chairperson, and no matter the reason all seem to be a stopgap for whatever situation(s) that they are meant to address. Suggestions that are adopted might work for a few years, but seem to always go back to the old ways.

Although FISA is a secret court, consisting of 7 judges, who are responsible for issuing warrants for domestic wiretapping activity, their validity came under attack during the Bush administration when it was discovered the wiretapping was being done without authorization. The 7 members of the court are appointed by the Chief Justice and serve seven year terms.

Project Shamrock was a program which was created by President Truman in 1952, and began as a continuation of censorship efforts conducted by the Army Security Agency during World War II. The Shamrock Project lasted from 1947 stretching through the middle 1970’s. During the height of the program the National Security Agency was analyzing more than 150,000 messages a month, and this was before the widespread use of computers.

Throughout the history of these intelligence agencies there has been one overbearing desire…..to collect as much information on people, to analyze each piece, and to harvest catch phrases or words which send up red flags, and then to store that information for use at a later time.

The prevailing opinion by the 1970’s was that warrantless eavesdropping was an absolute necessity for intelligence agencies to accomplish their work…..their mission. The warrantless wiretapping does absolutely no harm according to Charles Fried a jurist and lawyer, and…..they do a great deal of good.

WHAT A MESS

I’m not sure why intelligence agencies need to operate with impunity; I have little understanding about intelligence agencies and their stealthy attitudes. I mean it isn’t like the average Joe on the street doesn’t know that these people and their organizations exist. I guess what one might wonder is who in hell is in charge, that might be the $64,000 dollar question.

President Obama for all his eloquent rhetoric gives little clue to what the National Security Agency is up to, and to what extent their surveillance programs extend. The president has yet to explain, defend or admonish the NSA. During a time when the people don’t trust the administration with its tax records, it seems as if the Obama regime can’t be trusted with phone records either.

The mess that the intelligence community is in, isn’t unprecedented in the country’s history, go back to the Bush administration and you’ll find evidence of spying on our allies and their leaders, It’s the old hand caught in the cookie jar syndrome, spying on allies is never a good thing…..and when you’re caught, ouch, it’s gonna hurt, but don’t compound the situation by lying.

It’s past time for an overhaul of the United States intelligence community…..do we even know whether it works or not…..and PLEASE spare me the weak argument about the U.S. not being attacked, it’s a tired old excuse for not giving out any information. It’s time that we treat our allies how we want to be treated, fair, above-board, and honest.

HAVE A NICE DAY!

AND THE WINNER IS!

AND THE WINNER IS!

(Less Waiting, Top Yaps, Asian Times)

(Anita Dancs, Tom Engelhardt, Jim Garamona)

(American Forces Press Service, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Protecting the United States, our way of life, spreading democracy, and protecting much of the free world from…..basically itself is one costly proposition. There are so many hidden expenditures that whatever figure is cited is little more than a shot in the dark! The U.S. military global presence today is vast as well as costly, and as the people who are bankrolling that presence, taxpayers, we should be about to know the cost to the penny.

The U.S. is in a kind of catch-22 situation, on the one hand without some sort of spending control mechanism to hold military, U.S. security, and our global presence, what we spend a year will eventually break the bank.

There are those people in the Pentagon, the White House, the Tea Party and some Congressmen and Senators who say that we must maintain our military might at any costs. There also are those foreign partners, both old and new, who say that they want to increase their partnership with U.S. military forces.

These types of attitudes, both domestically as well as globally with regards to the U.S.’s military might, and the accompanying maintenance cost has been, and is a bone of contention, and one that is visited annually.

Did you ever wonder exactly who is number one in the world with regards to military power, most would say the United States in a landslide win, and they’d be right, but what about the rankings of the others in a top ten type of listing. Who has a standing military that could stand up to America’s might on the battle field, who has the guns, the air force, and the naval armada that could run with the United States in a military encounter?

NO OTHER NATION…..

At the present time there is no other nation on the face of the planet that can match the military might of the United States. In terms of projectable power, there’s never been anything like what the U.S. can bring to bear in a confrontation. In fact the U.S. military has divided the world…..the whole planet, into six commands, or sectors.

Our naval fleet, with its eleven aircraft carrier battle groups, rules the seas and has done so largely unchallenged for almost seven decades. The Air Force has ruled the global skies, and despite being almost continuously in action for years, hasn’t faced an enemy plan since 1991, or been seriously challenged anywhere since 1973.

Our fleet of drone aircraft has proven itself capable of targeting and killing suspected enemies in the backwaters of the world from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Yemen and Somalia with little regard for national boundaries, and none at all for the possibility of being shot down. We fund and train proxy armies on several continents and have complex aid and training relationships with militaries across the planet.

On hundred of bases, some tiny and others the size of American towns, U.S. soldiers garrison the globe from Italy to Australia, Honduras to Afghanistan, and on islands from Okinawa in the Pacific Ocean to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

U.S. weapons makers are the most advanced on earth and dominate the global arms market. Our nuclear weaponry in silos, on bombers, and on our fleet of submarines is capable of destroying several planets the size of earth.

Our system of spy satellites is unsurpassed, unchallenged, and can listen in on phone calls or read emails of almost anybody in the world from top foreign leaders to obscure insurgents, The CIA and its expanding paramilitary forces are capable of kidnapping anyone, anywhere, at anytime. For its many prisoners it has set up (and dismantled) secret jails across the planet and on naval vessels.

The U.S. spends more on its military than the next 13 most powerful countries combined, and if spending for full national security is added, the U.S. towers over any conceivable group of other nations. In terms of advanced and unchallenged military power, there has never been anything like the United States armed forces since the Mongols swept across Eurasia.

WITH THIS MASSIVE MILITARY BUILD-UP YOU GET DESTABILIZATION

What the United States is capable of, at least on the battle field, the recent record is clear: it can destroy, pulverize, kill, maim, blow up, immobilize, conquer and kick down has only grown in the 21^st century. Whenever there is a discussion of American decline and the waning of its power in a multipolar world, destabilization is a key element in any dialogue that addresses the U.S. and its perceived power.

The U.S. has a track record on this issue, and in recent times, whenever United States military power has been applied, if there has been any lasting effect at all, it has been to destabilize entire regions. Afghanistan and Iraq are recent perfect examples, as is the entire Middle East (to an extent).

In terms of advanced and unchallenged military power, there has been nothing like the U.S. armed forces since the Mongols swept across the Eurasia, (land mass of Europe and Asia). No other military force today comes close to what the United States has in its arsenal. None has more than a handful of foreign bases (the U.S. has hundreds), none has more than two aircraft carrier battle groups; the U.S. has eleven. None has more than 60,000 special operations forces, the United States has 13 schools and 70 special operations units with more than half a million members.

Despite this stunning global power equation, for more than a decade the U.S. has been given a lesson in what a military power, no matter how overwhelming, can and mostly can’t do in the 21^st century. Recent history shows, no matter how staggeringly advanced does and mostly does not translate into on the current version of planet earth.

Let’s take a quick look at what exactly this high priced, overwhelming military force that we call are armed forces can do. The United States military…..right now is a huge destabilization machine, every time U.S. military power has been applied in recent times, if there has been any lasting effect at all…..it has been to destabilize whole regions.

THE BUSH FACTOR

Back in 2004, almost two years after the United States troops rolled into a Baghdad looted and in flames, Amr Mussa, the head of the Arab League, commented ominously, “The gates of hell are open in Iraq.” At the time the statement seemed over the top and even outrageous, however today, with the scientific estimate of invasion-and war-caused Iraqi deaths at a staggering 461,000, and thousands more a year still dying there, the statement seems something of an understatement.

It is now clear that President Bush and the top military officials fervent fundamentalists when it came to the power of U.S. military to alter, control, and dominate the Greater Middle East (and possibly the planet) did launch the radical transformation of the region. The invasion of Iraq punched a hole through the heart of the Middle East, sparking a Sunni-Shiite civil war that has spread catastrophically to Syria. The Bush invasion helped turn the region into a churning sea of refugees, gave life to the meaning to a previously nonexistent al-Qaeda in Iraq…..and now a Syrian version of the same.

MONGOL EMPIRE

The Mongol Empire came to power in 1206 and wasn’t diminished until 1368, one hundred sixty two years. The empire and movement relied on the Khan family as Genghis, Ogedei, Guyuk, Mongke, Jublai and Toghan Temur Khan ruled over the empire.

The driving force and the single mindedness of the Mongols, and their Khan’s was to conquer, conquer at all costs. By the time of Kublai Khan’s death the empire had split into four Khanates or empires, each pursuing its own separate interests and objectives.

It wouldn’t be until 1368 when the Mongols were overthrown by the Han Chinese Ming Dynasty that the Mongol Empire finally dissolved.

The United States would do well to learn from the Mongol empire, and how they operated their business of war oppression and the spread of what America perceive has freedom. There are other armed forces that either are, or have established themselves. Although they can’t carry the United States might, they would still be advised to cast a wary eye.

The Turkish Armed Forces, the Israel Defense, the Federal Defense Force of Germany, the French military, India with its 2.5 million troop force, the Russian Navy, air force, and 1.5 million ground forces, and the 3 million member PLA force all would be a tough nut to face, no matter the advisory. And then there is the Japanese who consider their military a self defense force, their only job to protect the mainland of Japan.

Being the world’s policeman not only is an impractical job, it ends up being a messy job, and nobody likes the biggest and baddest kid on the block. And the cost of assuming this policing role will eventually break the U.S. mint.

Some of the fools that we have voted into office in Washington have led us down a path with no return, and now we’ll suffer the consequences. It’s sad, it’s wrong, and it could have been avoided, but now we’ll just have to sit and take whatever punishment others feel is appropriate.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

THE PROS AND CONS OF KICKING BUTT!

THE PROS AND CONS OF KICKING BUTT!

(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Community Policing Topics)

(David Mangan, Drury University, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Being a peace officer in the United States today is a dicey situation at best, with all sorts of implied standards that can be, at times, almost impossible to follow.  I can’t imagine a young person wanting to become a cop for any reason in today’s world; it would be an illogical choice, at least to my way of thinking. To open one’s self up to the scrutiny that accompanies the job and the amount of negative attitude towards an authority figure that a cop is…..would be too much to take, at least for me.

 

With that said, I’m glad that there are some younger people that swallow the rhetoric that city, county and state policing agencies throw out there in an attempt to recruit potential officers. I’m sure that 99% of those people who apply to the respective policing offices have nothing but the purest of intentions, I’ll bet that they would almost in unison say that they wanted to (protect and to serve.)

 

I’ve been around for a while, and although I’ve had little dealings with law enforcement, I do sense an air of authority, and almost arrogance that these people omit. It puts me in mind of a condescending grade school principle…..is there any wonder that, that attitude might piss a few people off whenever they have to deal with a cop.

 

The Milwaukee City Police Department has a long history of abusing their authority and the use of force during the course their daily jobs. One thing that somehow almost always gets lost in translation is the fact that cops are not teachers. Yet almost without exception cops want to lecture a person whenever they are pulled over for anything.

 

Write the ticket and let me be on my way, I personally do not need a lesson in how to drive, or how I observe the speed limit…..I really don’t feel that the regular beat cop is qualified. However if you voice that opinion you’d be opening yourself up for all kinds of retaliatory crap, so the best part of valor is to keep your mouth shut!

 

IT’S THE WAY COPS WRITE THEIR REPORTS

In Milwaukee, since January 1, 2013, reports of use of force by officers have more than doubled…..as a result of new guidelines that have gone into effect. During the same time period in 2012 there were 225 reports of force compared with 538 this year. In this case statistics do not lie; they in fact highlight a trend that is problematic for the department.

 

From the death of Derek Williams in the back of a squad car to inappropriate strip searches, to battering a drunk driver who was lying face down in a park to hitting a drunk women in the face because she was argumentative, Milwaukee cops seem to have covered most of the bases when it comes to the use of unnecessary force.

 

Training, on the job experience and stiffer rules and regulations for how police officers report their daily log work entries can do nothing but help to ferret out the bad cops that exist. However at the end of the day, between the blue wall of silence and an almost complete lack of officers reporting their the bad actor brothers, cleaning up a faulty police department is an almost impossible job to complete.

 

I’ve seen firsthand some of the ridiculous orders that cops figure is okay to issue simply because they are the man. Without exception these kinds of cops had to have come from a childhood of bullying, or being bullied, or have suffered from some sort of childhood trauma.

 

Cops are cynics, everybody to them is guilty until they prove themselves innocent, what a horrible way to approach life, and cops are almost as bad as prosecutors. There are a vast number of injuries that occur during the course of a business day that cops meat out to us citizens, some warranted, and some not.

 

How police officers report on themselves through filling out daily work sheets leads one to believe that cops need oversight. To me, here is the first red flag, why would this work-sheet system be necessary if cops simply did their jobs in the prescribed manner in which it was to be done? Why would cops continually be brought up on misconduct charges and allegations of the use of force against citizens.

 

I guess we’ll be needing a scorecard to keep track of the good cops and the bad cops, and to understand the causes of police brutality will require an interdisciplinary approach. The criminal justice system, police professionals and the psychology professional need to work together to identify these possible causes and their prevention and law treatment. There seems to be a total lack of coordination between the justice system and police organizations.

 

CAN YOU SAY (OUT OF CONTROL)

Police brutality and excessive force happens in every level of law enforcement, under every kind of condition, and includes every police officer. The cop who turns a blind eye to those fellow officers who shine up, or light up a potential perpetrator is as guilty as the offending officer.

 

We are a country made up of laws; these laws protect us from one another, from crime, and from ourselves. We need to be vigilant on how our officials dispense these laws upon us, we need to understand that almost everybody is capable of poor judgment.

 

However the habitual bad actor needs to be rooted out, and severely dealt with, there can be no exception. Unless we are aware of our police force, unless we hold them to exactly the same standards as we hold ourselves, we will deserve what we get…..an out of control police force.

 

We do not need another police state rearing its ugly head up and suppressing people, treating them without dignity and respect. Being a peace officer in the 21^st century is an awesome responsibility, one that isn’t for everybody…..and here, in the recruitment process, we do need to hold the applicant to a higher standard!

HAVE A NICE DAY!

ANOTHER TELEVISION GAFFER!

ANOTHER TELEVISION GAFFER!

(Mark Townsend, Jeff Passan, Kevin Kaduk)

(Baseball Almanac, Frazer Chronicle)

To bring a televised baseball game to us fans is a mighty task, one that few of us understand, and fewer care about how it’s done, as long as we don’t miss anything, it’s good enough for us. Especially during a World Series, as fans we simply want to view the game as it unfolds before our very eyes, the burps, tobacco spiting, the occasional guttural language after a perceived missed call, and the seeming endless adjustment of a batters cup and jock-strap.

I don’t care what Joe Torre thinks, or Jim Leland has to say about a particular play, or what some bearded hulking catcher from the Red Sox said in the locker room. It’s a sidebar to the more important issue…..the game, ssssssssoooooooo, why not let’s get back to the game, and put an end to all the senseless chatter by announcers.

I’ve watched this year’s World Series like so many other millions, kind of like a commercial break fashion, I’ll check into the game to get the score at the commercial of the show that I’m watching during the game time. Granted I miss much of the action, but then again…..since I’m a Detroit Tigers fan, I have a minimal interest.

I’ve watched well over a hundred fifty games this season what with my MBL Extra Inning package, and I watched the Tigers stumble bum their way through the latter part of the regular season, and the first round of the playoffs, before they eliminated by the Red Sox in six games in the American League championship series.  

And now I casually watch the Cardinal Red Sox best 4 of 7 World Series, and I marvel at how industrialized and commercialized the biggest sports ticket on the planet has become. You got Joe Buck who never laced a pair of baseball cleats up, and former catcher Tim McCarver, (a good catcher in his own right) supplying the color commentary.

You then have Fox Sports Network producing and directing the broadcasts of the games, from their television trucks, and television cameras stationed throughout the ball park. There are sound hook-ups, editing, choreographing, delayed action equipment and that fabulous slo-mo equipment that seems to catch a wooden bat bending during a hitters swing, that modern technology is really cool, and they can keep it.

BUCK AND MCCARVER

There’s only so much drama that to be packed into a baseball game, it isn’t rocket science, you simply hit the ball and run like hell. The team that scores the most runs wins, and the games not over until that fact has been established.

I have pondered the umpires strike zone this year and came to the conclusion that the disparity between umpires and the strike zone can be like night and day. One guy calls high pitches but won’t give a pitcher a low strike, the next day a different umpire won’t call high strikes but rings a hitter up on a low pitch.

Probably the very worst of the men in blue is the arbitrator with a wide strike zone, or the guy with the tea-cup sized zone. Hitters can’t adjust, therefore strike out or hit weak dribblers or lazy opposite field fly-outs.

This is not to say that these guys should collectively be replaced, God knows that they have the most difficult job on the field, and with the exception of the ball and strike zone do a really good job. However I come from an era when there was National League umpires and American League umpires, there wasn’t any inter league umpires, so hitters in each league could adjust to the style of the men in blue. I think that it’s watered down the game, umpires working both American League and National League games.

Another thing that drives me crazy is when Joe Buck say’s that a pitch is a cutter, or a screw ball, or some other weird pitch. Come on Joe, let’s face the facts, you don’t have a clue what pitch the pitcher is throwing…..try calling pitches the old simple way, a breaking ball or a fast ball, we don’t need…..as fans…..any more than that.

And Tim McCarver calling for a steal, or a hit and run, or a hitter hitting behind the runner to advance him, granted some hitters do that, but the vast majority are simply at the plate to hit the ball hard someplace, unless a .250 hitter has the bat control to hit the ball behind the runner, or drive the ball to a particular field.

I enjoyed the father of Joe Buck, Jack much more than his off-spring, Jack Buck seemed to have a feel for the game, knew when to commentate, and when to shut his mouth. With little exception I really don’t care for today’s color commentators, they dribble on endlessly and make themselves sound like they haven’t a clue of what’s happening on the field.

Tim McCarver hit .271 during his 21 year career as a catcher in baseball; he was a solid hitter and probably a better catcher, and led the National League with 13 triples in 1966. He’s been in the dug-out, in the clubhouse, played in big games and really should know his stuff…..however, he could tone it down a bit and pull a few Dizzy Dean boners, fans would love that.

Right now baseball is enjoying a hugely successful run of success, but they could work a bit harder on nostalgia, it’s really what baseball is all about. A hot dog, beer and a bag of peanuts…..and time between pitches to converse with the guy sitting in front of you…..now those are the good old days.

The World Series has been around since 1903 when it took a best five of nine to be crowned the world champion. It’s the equalizer, this best 4 out of 7, people just need to be left alone and be entertained by the spectacle that unfolds between the chalk-lines…..best game ever invented by man.

HAVE A NICE DAY!

A STORY OF BURGER GLUTTONY!

A STORY OF BURGER GLUTTONY!

(McDonald’s Publication, Esther Addley, Louis Eccles)

(Fault Line Watch, Sam Black, Al Jazeera, Marisa Taylor, Spencer Platt)

(Getty Images, Mike Konczal, Rachel Tepper, Latvja Restorani, Frazer Chronicle)

Everybody loves an underdog, and this sure is a story of an underdog, even though there are more than 1.8 million of them…..all working for one corporation. The story is an example of how corporate America works, also a story and a study of good old American ingenuity and how capitalism works…..this time in the fast food industry.

It started with an innocent phone conversation to a McDonald’s employee helpline, which was (oh, oh,) recorded. During the course of the conversation, McDonalds suggests that the employee should seek federal benefits that would enable the worker to make ends meet, in this particular case, food stamps would be the cure for the employee’s distress.

There’s a whole bunch of different things that are wrong with the United States, however in many, many instances, the thread that binds is a bottom line mentality of corporate financial gains. McDonalds is no different than Wal-Mart, J.C. Penny, or the Ma and Pa store down the street from my house, everybody has a bottom line.

The idea that corporations like McDonalds and Wal-Mart as well as a Ma and Pa corner grocery store share the same bottom line mentality might at a quick glance seem not to be true would be a mistake. Of course the difference is the number of dollars that would be involved, billions for a McDonalds or Wal-Mart corporation, and thousands for the Ma and Pa corner store.

Pete and Mary’s corner grocery has three employees, and they might need federal assistance the same as thousands upon thousands of McDonald or Wal-Mart employees, the difference of course is numbers, try billions. However all three enterprises share equally in the blame that is becoming a burgeoning problem for the U.S. taxpayer.

LET’S SEE, I GET PAID, I PAY IN, I PAY EXTRA, AND I PAY OUT

Does this situation sound confusing, well ya, whenever numbers are fudged, invariably the clouds of doubt, of jumping to conclusions, and finger pointing come into play. People work for a living, they pay taxes, then there always seems to some sort of new little tax we are required to pay…..and then whenever there doesn’t seem to be enough money for some other poor schmuck…..we are expected to pay again.

Sound confusing, absolutely, here’s in a nutshell what is going on when big corporations like McDonalds game the system. They first and foremost pay a minimum wage, one that isn’t capable of sustaining even the barest necessitates of life. These corporations then figure out the best way to squeeze the system which is us, to help subsidize their payroll. In the end, as honest taxpayers we pay, and we pay and we pay.

These corporations, in this case McDonalds actually kind of make a joke of their help department, it’s called  McResource. They have absolutely no shame, when the employee asks if the conversation could be recorded, the McDonald’s McRepresentative said she didn’t mind at all.

The McDonald’s representative offered to connect the employee with a number of federal benefit programs for which the employee might be eligible, including Medicaid, a medical care program for low-income adults and their kids. And the bottom line with regards to McDonald’s McResource line, only those franchises that pay a fee to McDonald’s corporate headquarters are eligible to use the McResource!

Of course the biggest problem is the fact that McDonalds simply refuse to pay and living wage, the concept goes directly against the grain of what corporate American is all about…..board rooms, suited men and women who sit by the hour devising ways to take advantage of every situation that is possible to them.

HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING

The middle class factory worker with a high school diploma has pretty much been obliterated from the work-place and replaced by the fast food worker. The educational skills and work ethic are basically the same, but the compensation is not the same.

Most people today don’t look at fast food employees as full time, but many are, most people figure that fast food employees are high school or college kids, but many aren’t, they are in their 30’s, 40’s 50’s and even their 60’s.

What with the economy and the shape it’s been in, corporate America has taken advantage of the older work force, and actively recruited these people to fill positions that used to be reserved for kids only. Go through the drive-through some time, pay attention, there’s older workers manning the pay window as well as the food reception window.

Of course you have the bozo who talks about people working in low paying restaurant jobs for either minimum wages, or that tip wage of like $2.15 plus tips. According to these people, and their idiotic way of looking at things, these low paying positions can be a stepping stone to a better job at a different place of employment.

I call these people bubble people they have little or no clue, vote straight political tickets, and thank God every day for their jobs. Upward mobility in America is at a virtual standstill, corporations today look for ways to cut wages as well as positions, not the other way around.

Besides no upward mobility, many employees are expected to come early, stay late, and not be paid for the additional time. There’s even a name for this practice, stolen wages, and it’s an issue that has been in the work-place for years.

I used to drive a semi-trailer, and was paid by the mile…..except when I drove my rig from the depot to drop an empty trailer, and hook a full one for delivery. The distance was around 50 miles, but I never got a penny for the extra miles, $12.50, a trip, or $25.00 a week, or $1,300.00 a year.

McDonalds has, today, more than 34,000 locations worldwide with revenues approaching $27.56 billion dollars, assets reaching more than $35 billion, and are responsible for employment to more than 1.8 million.

I wonder…..with all the income that is listed in their corporate end of year reports how many McCars corporate has in their fleet? And I wonder how many golden shower curtains Chairman Andrew J. McKenna and President Don Thompson have in their homes…..and for that matter, how many houses they own between them.

HAVE A NICE DAY!

EAVESDROPPING!

EAVESDROPPING!

(Green Bay Press Gazette, Houghton-Muffin Company, Reuters)

(Aljazeera, Washington Times, Frazer Chronicle)

 

It is a funny world that we live in; it’s a place where common everyday terms don’t mean what they started out to mean. I think that the powers that be want it that way, its called convolution, or in simpler terms…..job security. The longer it takes common people to understand the better these people, (whoever they are) like it.

Governmental officials especially in the United States talk about how complex issues are today, and how diplomatic solutions take time. World issues are twisted, and intricate, therefore governmental officials are necessary to arrive at some sort of final plan that everybody can basically agree on. The National Security Agency has never…..I repeat, never, seen a piece of information or news that they couldn’t turn around into some sort of controversy, world-wide!

Authority is a terrible power to have; governments down through the annals of history have attempted to have as much as possible over its people. Now I understand that even though governments and corporations are seen as entities, and have some of the same rights as real oxygen breathing human beings, they really aren’t. Neither has a cardiovascular or respiratory system, neither has the power of reason, and neither has a shelf life!

The Bush administration had more lawyers at its beck and call than any other administration in U.S. history; these little beavers worked day and night checking the legality of what George W. Bush and Dick Cheney laid out all under the guise of state protection or a better ability by those old powers that be to wage war on terrorists.

GO AHEAD, I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE

 

And we are, our own worst enemy when it comes to our private lives, if I had a buck for every time I heard somebody say they (government agencies) can probe all they want, I have nothing to hide. Well isn’t that just hunky-dory, I’m pleased as punch that people have nothing to hide, go ahead take rights away, you don’t really think that they’ll be returned anytime soon…..do you?

People that have this attitude (nothing to hide), really chafe my butt, they are two things, I guarantee it, they are ignorant, number one, and two, they have a misplaced sense of what it takes to be patriotic. Protecting people’s rights needs to be first and foremost in our brand of government, democratic! We hold free elections, we self govern, and we can hold our elected officials responsible for their actions…..every two or four years.

It seems as if government today is all about power and control, this attitude I simply can’t understand, how in hell  so many of these power monger gathered in one spot…..are we that asleep that we can’t see things turning towards a more authoritarian brand of governance?  

The National Security Agency is not authorized by Congress or the special intelligence court created by the foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to gather contact lists (people that we talk with). Collecting this information is illegal in the U.S. So the National Security Agency does its work overseas, real neat, and no legal hang-ups.

And it’s a funny joke that the NSA is playing on itself, they’re collecting so damn much communication information that their running out of places to story the info. Maybe that is a ploy that the terrorists organizations are running on the NSA, to fill the airways with so much information that it ultimately breaks the agency’s ability to store it.

AND HERE’S THE BOTTOM LINE

The longer we allow governmental agencies to run their intelligence programs under the radar, the stickier the situation is going to get. Congress feels no need to protect the average citizen; the president’s office is, well…..closed, because it would me that the president would need to relinquish power, something that they never do.

This is a scary time in world history, and this time really is a wakeup call for American citizens, we  become aware, and then hold our elected officials and their appointed foot-solders to the fire of truth, or we lose…..it really is that simple.

Rights of privilege by our elected officials really has no place in how we practice government in the 21^st century. We either rise up and call a spade a spade, or we roll over in our beds of ignorance and forget what has made our country great…..individual freedom.

Our government eavesdrops even on our allies, and their anger is not surprising, nobody wants to be made a fool of. All of the rhetoric and posturing by governmental officials and agencies with regards to the reasoning behind this entire intelligence gathering is, if the issues weren’t so serious would actually be laughable.

We need to get involved before we are laughed right out of the community of man, danger lurks behind every door…..right, well maybe, but so what, let’s identify the danger, and then deal with it. Let’s re-examine our intelligence programs, and those people that have been entrusted to oversee its operations…..and start a house-cleaning!

HAVE A NICE DAY!

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT OPINIONS!

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT OPINIONS!

(Brian Michael Jenkins, Green Bay Press Gazette)

(Profiles of Jenkins, Rand Corporation, Frazer Chronicle)

Everybody has opinions, it’s nothing new, in fact it’s really healthy, conversation speaking, for different opinions to come together be stated, talked about and maybe, just maybe some opinions change for the better. The melding of ideas as well as culture is what has made the United States so diverse in its approach to world problems.

However when opinions are set in granite, when opinions are tempered like steel, when the eyes and ears are closed to other opinions…..because not enough information is readily available, people can’t make educated opinions, here is the problem…..and here is where we’re at today. Opinion editorials are common place in newspapers today, and have been for decades.

However today, in the radio and television media, opinions can reach millions and millions of people, and if an opinion is stated long enough, and hard enough, some in the United States culture begin to embrace it as truth, and assimilate it as fact and part of their lives.

In science, cognition is a group of mental processes that include attention, memory, producing and understanding language, learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making. In reality, the ingredients of cognition, and the understanding of each is necessary to make good sound decisions…..or opinions. It isn’t for everybody, this cognition understanding, and herein lays the problem; idiots can’t make sound decisions, and render reasonable opinions!

ENTER PEOPLE LIKE BRIAN MICHAEL JENKINS

At first the headline grabbed me, (How our war on terror has evolved) in fact after scanning the op ed  I moved on to the sports for a minute. However I couldn’t get the header out of my mind and decided to read the article in detail.

Before I go any further I gotta admit that I’ve never heard of Brian Michael Jenkins, and so, through the magic of the internet I discovered that Jenkins was a 71 year old United States Army veteran, served with the 7^th Special Forces Group in the Dominican Republic and with the 5^th Special Forces Group in Vietnam.

Jenkins also has an M.A. in history from the University of California as well as a B.A. was chairman of security for the Kroll Association. He served as a member of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, National Commission on Terrorism, was an advisor to the U.S. Department of State, the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and currently is a senior advisor to the President of the RAND Corporation.

So it would seem that Jenkins would have impeccable credentials that would be necessary to be an opinion maker, right…..well maybe not…..so right. I am opinionated, I feel that what I feel, and how I judge a situation carries a pretty big dose of veracity, call me vain, I’ve always been quick to formulate what I feel is sound judgment.

I’ve been around the block several times, served in different settings, worked in difficult situations, and pretty much called my own shots. It would seem a fair bet that Mr. Jenkins has done pretty much the same as me, however where Jenkins and I part company is backgrounds, mine is more diverse, while Brian Michael Jenkins has had a strong background in security, the military, and seeming conservative activity.

I have found that when people do not diverse themselves, they tend to be one tracked, and subscribe to only a narrow set of opinions. I don’t know about you, but I want people who are opinionated to be kind of like a melting pot, where they have been around all kinds of different situation, and absorbed. It’s really the only way to arrive at educated opinions.

HOW OUR WAR ON TERROR HAS EVOLVED

I find it laughable when people talk about war kind of like in the 3^rd person, war is always up close, and personal. People get killed in every war, of that we can all agree on; there also are very few winners in a war…..usually only those that look to profit from it. The misery, the human degradation and the aftermath of war is always costly, and the reclamation process takes years.

And the last couple of wars that the United States has waged have come up with an interesting scenario, the reason for the initial action seems to be lost in the fog of truth and the different stated reasons for the military activity in the first place get all blurry and mixed up.

How has our War on terror evolved, well to be frank, and honest…..and in my opinion, very little…..to impress our preserved enemies we still have to shoot and kill them…..and that attitude has been around since the first cave-man picked up a rock and threw it at another cave-man. If you truly look at human warfare, you ain’t gonna find much different from 2013 and 1913, or 1813, or 0013, the one overriding impetus is to kill the other guy.

Weapons are different…..you betcha, a weapon that was introduced into an army’s arsenal in 2013 is revolutionary, but so was the machine gun in 1913, or the repeater rifle in 1850, and the sling-shot in 0013. Man seems to have an unending thirst for weapons that make killing an opponent quick, easy, and as bloodless as possible.

This Jenkins guy talks about Growing capabilities, Psychological utility and Mission flexibility like a side show, or new ideas. There are neither side shows, nor new ideas, there are, sadly becoming watch-words that help explain the attitude of the United States towards our foreign neighbors.

According to Jenkins growing capabilities is a domain U.S. intelligence organizations can fully exploit its ability to collect, analyze and transform intelligence into operational opportunities. It’s what we need as a nation, too bad the effort to collect this information is in foreign countries, and not here at home.

Here’s a real kick in the can, psychological utility, another of Brian Jenkins opinions is the fact that terrorists can attack anything, anywhere, anytime, while the United States cannot protect everything, everywhere, all the time. What does this mean, why in hell would I want to protect some oil field in bum-rapped Egypt.

According to Mr. Jenkins attacking anything, anywhere at any time has been a terrorists advantage…..how can that be, the United States attacks anything, anywhere, at anytime, check out Libya, Iraq, or Afghanistan, I’m pretty sure innocent civilians have heard and felt the howling wrath of U.S. military activity.

Mission flexibility, here’s a beauty, small scale raids that turn unfavorable would allow U.S. forces to withdraw without risk to national reputation. I hate to tell you this pal, but do you really think that the rest of the world doesn’t know what were up to…..from under what rock did you just crawl from  Brian baby? I hate to burst your bubble, but lots and lots of people don’t like what we’re doing.

Or maybe it’s our image that Mr. Jenkins is referring to, well gee…..people applaud when we, as a nation screw up, and it’s getting worse, the people of the world now actually look for America’s mess-ups…..hell they probably make book on it.

No, Brian Michael, I’m sorry, we need a whole new approach to how we deal with the populations of the world, I fear that our time is running out, and lunk-heads like you Mr. Jenkins will bear part of the responsibility.

HAVE A NICE DAY!

SHATTERED BATS TO BROKEN BONES!

(Global goods NETWORK, Mark Yost, Michael Hunt)

(United States Department of Agriculture, ESPN.com)

(Tom Howell Jr. Washington Times, Huffington Post)

(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Okay maybe a poor comparison, a broken arm or leg sure as hell will hurt a lot worse than a broken baseball bat, but they are kind of the same. A body, on the professional level is little more than a tool that is used to accomplish a desired result. Baseball bats made of white ash, hickory, maple, bamboo or composite, (a mixture of different woods,) are designed to hit a baseball hard and far.

The human body is a mix of muscle, blood vessels, bone, and cartilage, finely tuned by years of exercise, practice, coaching and physical prowess. However the most important part of the body, being used as a tool for sports excellence rests a bit to the left of center in an athlete’s chest…..it’s the heart.

Playing with heart can make a mediocre athlete a tough nut to defeat, an athlete with great physical ability, who plays with little heart can be…..and usually is beaten by a player with less ability every day of the week.

I watched probably a hundred fifty baseball games this past regular season…..I have the Extra Inning package with my cable carrier and enjoyed every inning that I watched. During the course of the season, probably about August I noticed the number of baseball bats that were being broken…..to me, seemed to be escalating.

I kind of tucked the observation aside and continued to enjoy my summer of professional baseball, but then again, late in September, during the stretch drive for playoff position, I again noticed what to me seemed like an inordinate number of bats that were sawed off at the handle or simply blew up.

In my day…..about a hundred years ago, Hillerich & Bradsby was the baseball bat maker; their Louisville Slugger was used by all professional ball players. Before aluminum bats players would go through as many as four or five in a season and that was amateurs, I can’t even venture a guess at the number a professional went through.

From just a few bat makers in the 1960’s, today there are as many as 43 companies tooling out the hitter’s stick. Baseball, aluminum, softball, and composite bats, all boasting of the abilities that their bats can deliver to the wannabe big leaguer. On the other hand bat companies chase the big league hitter with furor, hoping to get an endorsement through an agreement for royalties as well as free baseball bats.

What’s been happening since maple was incorporated into the bat-masters material is a simple fact of the dynamics of wood, maple bats shatter, or explode on serious impact. Ash and hickory were the only woods used when I grabbed a war club, dragged it to home plate to further solidify my reputation as one of the worst hitters in the history of the game on any level.

The contact that I made usually was so poor that I had little reason to fear breaking the bat, much less shattering it. But today, big league hitters are zeroed in on hitting a baseball as hard and as far as they can…..it’s what makes money…..for everybody.

Now Major League Baseball has partnered with the United States Forest Service to come up with a plan to increase safety without taking the fun out of the game. Gee I didn’t know that the problem was that serious…..I mean, wow, the U.S. Forest Service, this sounds like there’s an epidemic of flying missiles that are endangering innocent baseball fans as well as players.

Here’s a suggestion that would probably cut in half the number of bats that blow up every summer…..eliminate the use of maple. In 2012 there were approximately 1,200 bats that were broken in the Major Leagues. That doesn’t sound like a very large number until you figure in another six to ten thousand bats that are broken throughout the minor leagues, and the hundreds of thousands that explode in the amateur ranks.

AND THAN THERE’S FOOTBALL

My annual watch of the Detroit Lions and how long it will take them to implode through stupid mistakes, penalties and inept play is off and running again. It’s been since 1957 since the Lions have tasted champagne while celebrating a championship…..wow, 56 years.

At least living in Green Bay I get to cheer for a possible winner, but along the way, this season, which is little more than a quarter spent I’m beginning to marvel at the number of injuries that is suffered each and every Sunday. Football is violent; its very nature of power versus fleet of foot at the point of attack leaves little to chance. It’s the 6’-5” 310 pounder against the 6’-5” 310 pounder, strength against strength, winner take all.

I like to watch a spirited professional football game, high school and college have their place, but it’s far behind the professional game. Huge men that run full out, their only objective to obliterate an opponent, it’s what their paid to do…..it is the essence of the game.

However I feel an uneasy presence involved with us football fans, kind of like Rome and the gladiators, the thumb up or down deal. When people run at one another full tilt, something’s gotta give, and here’s where the injury and the broken bones occur.

These highly skilled athletes have worked since they were teenagers to get to the utopia of their chosen sport, the length of their careers is short, 2 to 4 years, and the need to make as much money as possible usually overrides caution. And it’s here that we as fans share in the danger of the sport, we root and cheer for our team, are players, and the possibility of a championship.

I was ecstatic when the Packers won the Super Bowl…..and to be honest, I could have cared less about a players safety…..I just wanted to taste that champagne of a world champion. Looking back, now in my twilight years, I wonder if the injury that will always be associated with the game is really worth the effort, are we beginning to be a nation of Roman’s watching the gladiators do battle while we cheer for blood…..somewhere inside me I hope not!

HAVE A NICE DAY!