WARMONGERS “R” US…..BUT THEY DON’T WANNA PAY!

WARMONGERS “R” US…..BUT THEY DON’T WANNA PAY!

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

A person who advocates war, an advocate of an aggressive policy on foreign relations…..peace through violence, a person who fosters warlike ideas, or advocates war…..(John McCain, Rush Limbaugh some Tea-baggers, the United States of America foreign policy, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, the Industrial Military Complex, any number of intelligence agencies…..many, many conservatives…..Evangelicals, red-necks, news papers, radio-television conservative talk shows hosts, and any number of non-independent thinkers.

I watched the movie Captain Phillips last night, and once again was stunned by the talent of Tom Hanks, he truly is one of the top actors of our time. Although I wasn’t that impressed with the story-line, I once again was reminded of the military might of the United States and how awesome and lethal that power is.

The movie again chronicled the mighty power of our military, how much there is of it, and the inherent problems and danger that is connected with it. Do you know what “stepping on toes” really means…..I thought that I did, but I don’t. I believe, like many, many other Americans that our military and intelligence works in concert to corral and dispatch the bad guys…..but very seldom does that happen, and when it does, there is a great deal of anger, foot dragging, and almost collaboration with those people that actually are the bad guys by some of our agencies.

There is a huge amount of responsibility that is connected with any number of the United States rescue, intelligence, and espionage groups. The country’s Homeland Security Agency, and military agencies, Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and the Coast Guard, are second to none on the face of the globe, or in the history of man.

The United States has taken all of the chances with regards to military research, manufacturing, and the careful distribution of that war machinery. The United States is the biggest exporter of military hardware, and also the largest occupiers in foreign countries since history begin to be written down on tree bark.

In the beginning, in Europe, countries expanded their territories by conquering their neighbors by invading them…..it was a time when military might was by far the most important commodity that a nation could hold. In the new western world, expansion came about through innovation and development as opposed to the bloody and pestilence ridden invasion and conquering effort.

WAR REQUIRES HUMAN BEINGS

By far the most important issue of war are the human beings that fight it, not so much by choice, but rather chance…..and at the behest of others. Without exception every war that has been fought by humans on the face of the earth is ended up being unpopular…..and almost everybody that was involved wanted an end to hostilities.

Also, without exception, the outcome of wars has never justified them being fought, the human degradation has far outweighed the initial reason and justification for the war. Yet year after year, decade after decade, we are drawn back into physical conflict with a perceived enemy, and again, almost without exception, these people end up not being an enemy at all.

I was born in 1943, I was in the military like many of my friends, and I also was sold that “bill of goods” that “this is my weapon, this is my gun, this is for shootin, and this is for fun.” Since this is a family blog, I’ll let you-all fill in the blanks, but I’ll give you a hint, the gun is a body part located below the belt line.

My point is simple, but at the time felt complicated, I was made into a human war machine, I knew hand to hand combat, I knew my rifle, I knew the logistics of war, I could repel a sheer cliff side, and I could kill a person without a weapon (firearm) or knife. I was young, dumb…..and full of-----, and I was an obedient student. It was God and country all the way for me…..and I was ready to receive and carry out whatever orders and directions that I was given…..I was blind and deaf to everything except my immediate superior.

I am sure that the military operates the same today as it did close to fifty years ago…..it has to, obedience is the only way that a crack military unit operates. It may sound like copping a plea, but it is absolutely true, military personnel, every military outfit throughout the world is brain-washed…..no cleaner brains can be found anywhere!

Once a man, or women (the brightest and best or our young people) has been indoctrinated by the professional and elite cadre of the United States military, they’ll never be the same. It must be admitted that (at the start) these raw recruits brought only the potential to become top solders. It took the teachers, drill sergeants, weapons experts, and the atmosphere that molded 99% of every person who entered the military to become members of the fighting machine that the U.S. military is today.

THE RESPONSIBILITIES ARE OVERWHELMING AND SORELY LACKING

As another Memorial Day approaches, as all of those war mongering individuals and military related industries prepare to eulogize their day, I’d like to take this opportunity to raise just two questions to my readership. I swear if you answer truthfully, you’ll be as outraged as I am.

 1. How necessary have the wars in  Afghanistan, and then Iraq been, remembering how much both have costs the United States in terms of human lives lost, and the monetary burden on our treasury?

2. Exactly what has changed in the 10 odd years that the U.S. has been warring around except death, violence, and an almost complete misunderstanding of the facts about the war?

When our solders return home, with visible scares as well as those injuries that we can’t see, exactly who is going to care for them, I can’t, I can’t afford it…..and with little exception, you can’t afford it either. The Pentagon, White House, Congress, and the Senate can’t afford to pay for it…..anybody with the access that these officials have understand what in hell is going on.

As a people, as tax payers, we’ve been sucked dry, anyways, even though it might be popular, and a feel-good issue, these returning military personnel are not my heroes, they’ve not protected my way of life, and frankly, I don’t want to 6…..I’m all sixed out.

I’m gonna say it one more time, and then I’ll put the issue to rest…..”Afghanistan, and the Iraqi wars were a figment of the Bush, (W’s) administration’s imagination, it was little more than a power struggle to grab oil rights from part of the World’s biggest petroleum reserve. While our military does not set foreign program, they’ve got a voice…..and a back-bone…..time to get the hell out.”

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

YOU’VE GOT LOTS OF PLAINING TO DO!

        YOU’VE GOT LOTS OF PLAINING TO DO!

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

A headline appeared in today’s USA Today in Section B that was pinned by Oren Dorell that was titled “U.S. awaiting explanation on Iran’s nuclear program.” The article, as usual, was well written and was based on existing interviews or statements from both U.S. and Iranian officials that are aware of the current issues that relate to Iran’s alleged nuclear program, or its possession of nuclear weapons.

The gist of Darrell’s article was that Iran had not been forthcoming enough to satisfy the United States, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is the watchdog arm of NATO. Wendy Sherman, the U.S. State Department’s chief Iran negotiator told the members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (in February) that the current talks depended on “resolution” of IAEA questions about possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program.

The IAEA was and is seeking answers to questions compiled three years ago about how far Iran got on developing missile warheads, whether its military is still developing nuclear facilities, such as the uranium fuel processing plant built under a mountain in the northern city of Fordow, Iran.

Iranian answers, of course, are crucial to western understanding of how close Iran is to a nuclear test or a deliverable bomb and if it is close, to reneging on an agreement to curtailing it’s nuclear activities, according to David Albright, president of the Institute for Science International Security who advises the Obama Administration and has testified before Congress regarding Iran’s nuclear programs.

“All of this information is relevant to understanding Iran’s capabilities that we don’t know about” Albright said. There is a July 20^th, 2014 deadline that Iran agreed to with regards to the country’s nuclear programs and how close nuclear weapons are becoming a reality for its military. To demand that Iran honor the July 20^th deadline is a tricky issue, there is an element of embarrassment, and how the Iranian people and the world would view the country.

Perception of control is valued above almost everything else to Middle Eastern countries and the male population. Issuances of demands are very seldom spoken in the Middle-Eastern part of the world, no matter the issue, no matter the circumstance, and no matter the people that are involved. But here we go again…..allowing our leaders to kind of fly off the handle, and issue demands that are most always doomed to failure because of the attitudes and the atmosphere with the peoples involved.

LIKE IRAN…..I’D HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE NUCLEAR CLUB

If I was of the Iranian persuasion and some outlandish and hypocritical country started to push me…..you could rest assured that I’d push back…..hard. The problem that I have with our political personal and are military system is the fact that the country pushing for the curtailment of a nuclear program is the United States.

There is a treaty, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that involves five nations that are considered to be “Nuclear-Weapon States” (NWS) these countries are the United States, Russian Federation (formerly the Soviet Union), United Kingdom, France, and China. Nations that are known, or believed to possess nuclear weapons are sometimes referred to informally as the Nuclear Club.

There also are three countries that were not part of the NPT back in the 1970’s but have conducted nuclear tests, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. North Korea had been involved with the NPT but withdrew in 2003. Israel is also widely believed to have nuclear weapons, though it maintains policy of deliberate ambiguity regarding this, and is not know definitively to have conducted a nuclear test. In a quirky move, South Africa has the unique status of a nation that developed nuclear weapons, but has since disassembled its arsenal before joining the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The Iranian issue of nuclear weapons and how the United States, NATO, and other members of the Nuclear Club seem to want to operate is more a push, or a bully act than an act of peace and sanity regarding to an insane question.

There are (at least) 35 nations throughout the world that possess weapons of mass destruction (chemical, nuclear, missiles). The Nuclear Club controls approximately 23,000 bombs, while the non-NPT countries who have admitted that they have nuclear devices number at least 800. Russia leads the way with 1,800 active warheads, and 8,500 reserve warheads that are inactive for a total of 10,300. The United States follows the Russians with 2,150 active warheads and 7,700 in reserve.

CONTROLLING IRAN

Make absolutely no mistake, the United States, NATO and the Nuclear Club totally wants to control Iran through the NPT, or as some would say (especially that old rebel John McCain) “peace through strength.” There is absolutely no doubt in my mind, there are some who gladly send troops, bombs and war planes into Iran, and eradicate every ounce of nuclear material no matter its use.

With little exception here in the “states,” people fear what Iran might do with a nuclear device…..and I suppose it would be true, I have no way of knowing. But the hawks on Capitol Hill have no way of knowing what Iran might do…..also, and PLEASE don’t lay that tired crap on me about intelligence…..remember what happened in Iraq, the weapons of mass destruction, and the  nuclear program that Saddam Hessian had…..what a huge mistake that was…..and actually still is.

Maybe we need to keep our noses out of other people’s business, and conduct ourselves in a more understanding way. Everybody in the world understands that the United States has the power and ability to back up whatever it is that we say. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand America’s might, but we sure as hell should be a benevolent power, ready to help wherever necessary.

The Nuclear Club is not a country club…..and it’s about time that the members understand that, because with that power (nukes) comes an assume responsibility, that of peaceful negotiations always first and foremost.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

THE QUESTIONS WON’T GO AWAY, SPONTANEOUS OR PREMEDITATED!

THE QUESTIONS WON’T GO AWAY, SPONTANEOUS OR PREMEDITATED!

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

Here we go again, it’s in the phonics of the thing, or at least that’s what the scholarly that, at the present time, occupy the offices on Capitol Hill. Two other words come to mind, rectify and justification, politicians either say, or think of ways to explain their existence, so that they won’t have to back-up to the pay window on the 15^th and 31^st of the month to collect their paychecks.

The issue is almost like a soap opera that my mother used to watch, The Guiding Light. She lived and died every day at noon, thank God it was only on television Monday through Friday. I never even watched a segment, but I sure heard enough from my Mom, but I did get the gist of the plot, regular life experiences that were modified at least 10 times to better hold the viewers attention.

I’d compare The Guiding Light with the GOP’s radical interest in the Benghazi investigation that seems to be shifting into high gear…..and will never go away, at least until it does it’s kind of hidden (ha ha) agenda, to kick the crap out of Hilary Clinton’s possible run for the presidency in 2016.

The number of Benghazi investigations, according to whomever you listen to, is as few as eight and as many as fifty. People that list these kinds of things do so with great trepidation (on purpose), because they know that they are imparting on many of those who except as fact the guesses of these people. After all…..guessing is all that is happening; only people in high places, in government, or some in the business community are privy to the actual numbers.

THE QUESTIONS WON’T GO AWAY

Did the Obama administration mislead the American people when it was initially claimed that the September 11, 2012 was a spontaneous protest and attack on the U.S. consulate in response to an anti-Muslim video, or was it a premeditated terrorist attack. That was the first questions that were asked by the wives, friends, fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers of those dead from the attack.

It didn’t matter why the carnage, degradation, and the murders happened, all the survivors knew was that their loved ones, friends and working colleagues had been killed by bullets, or bombs. The phonics of what had happened didn’t enter their minds. I’m sure that most understood that where these people were going was dangerous…..and that anything could happen, and sadly, for the survivors…..it did.

I’ll be the first to admit that answers would be needed, that people needed to be held responsible for the deaths of four people. To be sure, somebody in the Obama administration, in the State Department, the CIA, and other intelligence agencies guessed that something like what happened on September 11^th 2012 was possible. How to deter what happened was quite a different story, and therein lays the problem.

According to the information that I have…..this is the same information that anybody else has…..if they take the time to research the incident is that there were no protesters prior to the attack, and that five days after the attack (on September 16^th), Libya President Mohamed Magariaf insisted that the attack was a planned terrorist attack, but that Obama administration officials continued to say that there was no evidence of a planned attack.

The President of Libya said that the assertion by the Americans that the attack was a spontaneous protest that spun out of control is completely unfounded and in fact preposterous. On an appearance on the David Letterman show on September 18 (a week after the attack) President Obama continued to state that terrorists weren’t involved.

On September 19^th, Matt Olsen (no relation to Superman’s Jimmy Olsen), director of the National Counterterrorism Center finally called the attack an act of terrorism, and that it had been a planned event, this admission to a congressional hearing, and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton did the same on September 20. However on September 20^th at a town hall meeting, and during a taping of ”The View” on September 24^th, Obama continued to deny that the attack was spontaneous…..and in fact, “yes…..elephants could fly.”

Actually the important questions are few, and really simple, and they have nothing to do with which side of the aisle that one sits on. The quest for gathering fodder for political reasons is silly, despicable, and frankly makes me tired. Four American citizens were killed during September 11, 2012, however they weren’t murdered…..Libya was, and is, a war zone, just because American troops aren’t on the ground doesn’t matter, gun battles happen all over the place in Benghazi, in Libya…..American’s had better wake up to the fact that we no longer hold that type of world power.

Around 3:00 P.M. a security agent at the Benghazi compound hears loud noises coming at the front gate and gunfire and an explosion. On a security camera at the main gate reveals a large number people (armed people) flowing into the compound. By about 8:30 P.M. control of the American embassy had been regained, and the discovery of the dead was reported to the U.S. State Department by 10:00 P.M.

JUST THE FACTS PLEASE

Like I said, let’s stop our elected officials from organizing and then going on witch hunts to damage the credibility of either elected or appointed officials. These investigation committees do little to ferret out the truth; they do however damage those people that they go after.

What these committees do is, first and foremost, waste taxpayer funds and blur the real issues that need to be addressed. United States Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is all het up to find out the guilty parties in the Benghazi event. I have a simple prescription, Ron, use the following criteria, and you’ll have your answers, and it won’t take much time, and won’t waste much of my tax dollar.

Here are Johnson’s two topics for his reasoning for renewed efforts to investigate Benghazi…..and the accompanying solutions;

1. State Department…..(AKA) Hilary Clinton, (Secretary of State) failed to honor repeated requests for additional security.

It response to requests by Chris Stevens for additional security personnel, neither the Secretary, Hilary Clinton, or any member of the State Department responded with the additional personal. The failure to address this problem is, well…..a failure. But where that failure lies is open to debate when one considers that the area was a cauldron for terrorists, political and religious activists, thugs, and roving gangs of opportunists ready to take advantage of a poor situation. Consider that maybe our people should have been taken out of the area completely…..would that have solved the situation?

2. Did the State Department before September 11, 2012, actually reduce security in Libya?

With the number of advisors, I wonder which person one would actually point a finger at…..it’s the D.C. two step. People are put into complicated, almost impossible situations that…..in many instances NOBODY is capable of making decisions on. Would removing all personnel to a safe place, maybe like Brooklyn, New York have worked…..I don’t know, but my idea has merit.

There is no quick answer, what happened at Benghazi was a screw-up, of that there is no doubt, but military and security foul-ups have been going on almost forever, and with little exception nobody was held responsible…..it’s the nature of the beast that is named the United States. I could list past leaders, and talk about their mess-ups…..but it would do no good. Anyways…..we already know what was a screw-up, it’s been identified…..so can we move on, already, in this case, what happened was SPONTANIOUS AND PREMEDITATED.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

UNITED STATES OF SECRETS!

UNITED STATES OF SECRETS!

FRAZER CHRONICLE

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

I don’t particularly care for authority figures in my life and I’m pretty sure most Americans feel the same. I’m old enough, and wise enough to govern myself…..I don’t need the man looking over my shoulder, either telling me or reminding me of how to conduct my life so as not to infringe on my fellow citizens and neighbors rights.

However that said, I realize that some people do need watching and reminded that other people do have rights, and ill-moral, uncaring, and just plain unethical behavior does happen on a almost daily basis…..so we do need authority figures. These authority types do remind some of us that carrying on unethically, or committing stupid acts will not be tolerated and that there are consequences to these silly, stupid, and unethical practices.

The actions of a relatively few U.S. citizens has opened up the doors for those in federal government who hunger after authority positions. It actually is their dreams…..to be in a position to mete out punishment for their perception of wrongdoing, or to track those people who are deemed as threats to the American people and our way of life.

Today it’s called monitoring, surveillance, and it’s absolutely nothing that is new, the practice of government keeping track of its citizens without warrants, uncontrolled, and answerable to no one except their immediate superiors is standard operating procedure. The feds enlisting the help of U.S. communication companies for almost a century has only expanded the numbers of people that can be accessed by these government watch dogs that do their jobs under the guise of citizen protection.

THE BLACK CHAMBER

Romantic…..not really, exotic sounding names…..well, I’ve gotta give ‘em that, a surveillance organization with a moniker like the BLACK CHAMBER can do that. Created after the conclusion of World War I, in May of 1919, the Black Chamber, known as the Cipher Bureau was the United States first peacetime cryptanalytic organization, and a forerunner of today’s National Security Agency (NSA).    There were only intermittent efforts to intercept and break codes by the United States, no matter their success, the Armed Forces and/or government agencies always abandoned the attempts.

Duel funding by the Army and State Department established a clandestine disguised company, New York City Commercial Code Company; it actually produced and sold such codes for business use. Its true mission however, was to break communications of other nations. One of it’s known successes was during the Washington Naval Conference during which it aided American negotiators considerably by providing them with decrypted traffic of many of the Conference delegations, most notably the Japanese.

What the Black Chamber did was to replace the Military Intelligence Agency (M1-8) that was in operation during World War I. Disbanded directly after the war, there were military as well as civilian authority that felt it necessary to create something after the war to help protect the United States from the new enemies that had been created by the U.S. allegiance during the war years.

In a turbulent financial period that gripped the U.S. as well as world from late 1929, until the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in the middle 1930’s, the priorities of the United States had changed…..and they seemed to be epitomized in Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson’s memoirs: “Gentlemen do not read each other’s mail.”

In 1931, in need of money, Herbert O. Yardley wrote a book about the Cipher Bureau, which actually was another cover name for the Black Chamber and entitled it The American Black Chamber. There is no record of how successful the book was, but the phrase “whistle blower” comes to mind.  

Codes and code breakers have been around for hundreds of years, in 1590 a so called cabinet noir was established by King Henry IV of France to open, read, and then reseal correspondence of his perceived enemies. In the process, a system was developed of encrypting the correspondence, and a system to decrypt was also developed, giving birth to modern systematic scientific code breaking.

THE FATHER OF SPOOKING

Herbert O. Yardley was by far the most influential early espionage (or cryptology) agent and operator in the United States and was, by far, the most misunderstood of any federal official. Born in 1889 in Washington, Indiana, a graduate of high school, and one year of college education (University of Chicago) in English, was the extent of his education.

In 1912 Yardley became a $900 per year code and telegrapher in the State Department’s Code Room. While working the night shift, he became interested in the construction of State Department codes, and began to try to solve them. According to his own account, it took him less than two hours to solve a 500-word message to President Woodrow Wilson from Colonel Edward M. House, the president’s adviser and confidant, than in Europe.

In 1917 Yardley submitted 100 page memorandum titled “Solution of American Diplomatic Codes,” which resulted in a new method of encoding State Department messages. Yardley was preparing himself for bigger and better things, and after the United States declared war on Germany, he was commissioned a 1^st lieutenant in the Signal Officer’s Reserve Corp, was ordered to active duty as head of M-I 8 the cryptologic organization of Military Intelligence.

You can imagine what a bombshell Yardley’s book was when he published it in 1931. Unemployed, with no civil service status, or retirement benefits…..and a stock market that had yet to bottom out, Herbert O Yardley was soon to be destitute. He had little choice, he could write, and knew that he had been involved with an interesting and provocative life…..and saw no alternative…..self preservation took over, and in short order he wrote a 375 page entitled The American Black Chamber.

Yardley was born 75 years too early; his marketing skills would be more accepted in today’s business world. He marketed his book first with small excerpts in the Saturday Evening Post, the leading magazine of the time. Without exception, the United States State Department denied every claim that Yardley had made, and in fact some Washington officials stated that they had never heard of such a department.

YARDLEY MUST BE FLIPPING OVER IN HIS GRAVE

Herbert O. Yardley really was the precursor to almost every spy agency that the United States has perceived since 1919. Today we have Herbert Osborne Yardley to thank for most of the atmosphere and the attitudes that have driven the development of at least 25 security and intelligence agencies…..and that number does not include the biggest of them all, Homeland Security.

The intelligence community in the United States today is a sprawling bunch of organizations that continually trips over one another’s feet, refuses to cooperate and will not share information. The biggest, and the blackest of marks that was inflicted upon the face of the American intelligence community’s face occurred on September 11, 2001, when the staff of the world’s most technologically sophisticated intelligence agency learned about the United States had been attacked by an enemy on a $300 television set.

Shortly thereafter a transformation began at each and every spook agency in the United States that would put a completely different spin regarding its citizen’s privacy, just as Americans faced choices about what freedoms to sacrifice to prevent more attacks on home soil.

Without exception the intelligence communities had been created in the United States to prevent, or at least blunt exactly what had happened in September 11, 2001. Now with little exception, the entirety of the United States is paying for the failures of the country’s intelligence groups. The United States is peopled by extremes, there never is a “happy medium,” we are an either/or. And how we protect ourselves, and to what degree we allow our freedoms to be abused is truly a study in contrasts.

Yes the National Security Agency or Homeland Security, or any of the hundreds of thousands of agents that roam throughout the United States have been given a free hand in how citizens are dealt with. Our country has been based on individual freedom, but you’d better believe that that is becoming a thing of the past.

Edward Snowden’s admissions about what was going on at the NSA is probably just a “tip of the ice-burg,” we’ll be seeing all sorts of leaks that’ll both surprise and anger us. You really began to wonder exactly what is going on in our world, maybe the intelligence community in the United States is running out of foreign thugs and terrorists…..and have begun to look inward to American citizens…..it would be cheaper to go after people right here in the good old U.S. of A.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

DOES THE STATE OF WISCONSIN DESERVE BETTER?

DOES THE STATE OF WISCONSIN DESERVE BETTER?

FRAZER CHRONICLE

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

I’ve been inundated with all sorts of negative information regarding current Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and I got to admit much of what these people and organizations say does ring true, or at least I want to believe it’s the truth. I don’t like Scott Walker as governor, and I probably wouldn’t like him as a next door neighbor.

His job performance is…..well, kind of suspect, especially when you consider that Republicans currently sit in power down in Madison on both side of the aisle. My dislike of this governor started when his administration decided to gut the collective bargaining statutes from all public employees with the exception of firefighters, and the cops.

What that move illustrated to me was that he (Walker) and his administration lacked the fortitude that would be necessary to face the repercussions of including such vital service divisions of our government. These two service divisions, the firefighters and the police, although not directly appointed, or hired by government agencies, both do in fact have strong ties politically with those who are in power.

Politicking and governing have changed over the years…..vastly, and change for the sake of change isn’t always necessary, in many cases it lands both the citizens and the politicians in a worse place then they were when the change started. Do you know how sick I am of the changes that are brought on by the different political parties who are appointed, or elected into office….BARF, there, that simple word say’s it all.

I used to drive a truck for a living, I loved the open road, being my own boss, and setting my own goals and practices. I’m independent…..real independent. I endeavor to do the right thing…..all the time, I don’t need daddy war-bucks leaning over my shoulder grading my job. Did you ever wonder about why the electorate (us) needs to grade an elected official’s job? Oversight committees, John Doe investigations, newspaper exposés…..it isn’t all political envy, some investigations actually turn up wrong doing at the most and stupid decisions at the very least.

A case in point is Governor Walkers Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC); its mission is to elevate the Wisconsin economy to be the best in the world by providing business climate, world-class support services, and economic development tools to accelerate business start-up and growth.

West Virginia had a sign when entering the state that proclaimed that the state was OPEN FOR BUSINESS, much the same as Governor Walker does here in Wisconsin. I had a problem with the West Virginia sign, and I have a problem with that slogan and attitude here in Wisconsin. The phrase has all sorts of connotations, if for nothing else…..it sounds like you’re about to enter a used car lot. Worse the phrase actually does carry some of that meaning (car salesperson) like the authorities that carry the power in the state will move heaven and earth to lure new business into the state.

WALKER HAS BEEN A DISMAL FAILURE HERE IN WISCONSIN

When Scott Walker was elected into the governor’s throne in November of 2010 it was during a tough financial period for all Americans. Changes were necessary for not only the state of Wisconsin, but the United States as well. Scott Walker’s main claim to fame was the fact that he’d been the Milwaukee County Executive for more than eight years. Prior to his stint in Milwaukee County, Walker had served as a member of Wisconsin’s state assembly (June 1993-May 14, 2002).

I guess I’d call assuming a politically elected position at the age of 26 pretty much a career or munching out at the public trough on a regular basis. Walker was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1967, and moved with his family first, to Plainfield, Iowa, and then to Delavan, Wisconsin. Walker graduated high school (Delavan-Darien) in 1986, and enrolled at Marquette University in the fall of 1986, but dropped out of college in the spring of 1990.

Walker ran unopposed for Wisconsin State Assembly, 14^th district in 1994, was reelected in 1996, winning 62% of the vote, defeated Jim Heidenrich in 1998, ran unopposed in 2000, and defeated James Ryan 55% to 45% in a non-partisan special election to replace Milwaukee County Executive when Tom Ament resigned in  the wake of a county pension fund scandal.  

Walker was reelected for a second term as Milwaukee County Executive in 2004 when he gathered 57% of the vote, besting Republican David Reimer. Along the way, after an unsuccessful 2006 campaign for the governorship of Wisconsin (citing fundraising difficulties), Scott Walker was honing his abilities to claim Wisconsin’s top state office and residence (governor and residing at the Governor’s Mansion).

Walker was elected to the governorship of Wisconsin in November 2010, defeating Democrat Tom Barrett, 52% to 46%, and also survived a recall election in the summer of 2012, the vote, and 53.1% over Tom Barrett, again, 46.3%.

THE HIGH’S AND THE LOWS

Unlike a baker, mechanic or carpenter, it seems as if scandal and corruption allegations seem to dog every political office. From sex, to price fixing or gouging, to favors for special interests; scandal, like a dark rain cloud follows public officials throughout their public careers. It’s why I very seldom trust elected officials.

Public officials are usually their own worst enemy; they somehow feel that there insulated because they’ve been elected by a majority of voters. It actually is the furthest thing from the truth…..this feeling of invincibility or insulation. What people have done, is to elect an individual to do their bidding, these constituents actually figure that their elected officials will work super, extra hard to achieve the voters goals.

Anymore, with little exception, political figures do not take any special care when it comes to how they conduct themselves, their political party association, the past transgressions, or their current misdeeds. It seems as if a wave of the hand and a ton of misinformation to stem the tide is all that is necessary for their ill gotten booty.

Do we deserve better…..well my friends, you be the judge, and of course you’ve gotta be honest…..with yourself, sometimes the hardest one to be honest with. Did Scott Walker completely gut collective bargaining, did the governor reject almost a billion dollars to construct high speed rail service between Milwaukee and Madison. Has Walker been a detractor of ObamaCare, where are the 250,000 jobs that the governor made one of his platform pillars?

What about the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) spending millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money with little or no results, is Badger Care (state funded health-care) better or worse since Walker took office.

Is it easier for Wisconsinites to vote in 2014 than it was in 2010, has there been a seeming war against environmental issues here in Wisconsin to slacken the restrictions and laws that serve to protect the present, but more important, protect the future. Another issue…..whether Scott Walker has an inkling of running for a higher office then he now occupies…..and what effect will that have on the office chair that he now sits in?

YES WE DO DESERVE BETTER…..BUT

Electing a person to a political office, whether it be a man or women is a tricky issue…..one that some people would say is complicated. Balderdash and hum-bug I say just get the best looking, the person that looks like a politician, talks like a preacher, and says what most people want to hear…..and vote for that guy. You can’t go wrong…..right, well actually WRONG.

The guy who’s not afraid to roll up his sleeves, isn’t afraid to get dirty, and has about as many questions as you or I do just might be the man for the job…..no matter the job. A democracy is NOT, I repeat, is NOT for a minority, or a special interest group…..it’s one of the beauties of a democratic system that we are supposed to live under and with.

Citizens here in the United States belong to the whole, yet are allowed to be individuals, with individual thinking, and the chance to make whatever of themselves they want. Without exception we get what we deserve…..we get what we deserve because we oft times are sleeping at the controls of our lives. Absolutely nothing is free, and if it sounds “too good to be true” it probably is.

Come on people, wake up and smell the roses….. (not the FOUR ROSE’S) our present governor is pathetic who acts like a buffoon because…..it’s what he is. We’d better deserve better, if not, well baby, we’re all in deep, and the darkest, excrement.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

SPECIAL OR SELECT COMMITTEES…..MUST BE AN ELECTION YEAR!

SPECIAL OR SELECT COMMITTEES…..MUST BE AN ELECTION YEAR!

FRAZER CHRONICLE

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

Spring is in the air, ribbons are in the trees, baseballs are flying through the air and Republicans are selecting…..select committees to question the Democratic Party, and their activity. Eight years ago it was the Democrats who were attacking President George W. Bush and his handling of everything right down to the brand of dish-soap that the Whitehouse used.

 

At the present time we have the Benghazi situation…..or rather the Benghazi situation from 20 months ago, and the actions that the Obama administration either did, or didn’t do. 20 months ago, hell, some people’s memories are becoming blurry, jeez, sometimes I wonder why I’m in my vehicle and exactly where I’m headed.

 

I’ve written about the Benghazi event, I’ve read a slew of articles and opinions about what happened, and I’m not sure exactly what any kind of special or select governmental search group is gonna find. What I know, what everybody knows who’s interested, or kept up with what happened on the night of September 11, 2012 is this:

 

“A heavily armed group of between 125 and 150 gunmen attacked the American diplomatic mission at Benghazi, in Libya, killing U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and another diplomat. Several hours later, in the early morning of September 12, a second assault targeted a nearby C.I.A. annex in a different compound about a mile away, killed two embassy security personnel. Ten others were injured in the attacks which were condemned by the government of Libya, the United States, and many other countries throughout the world.”

 

The blow-by of the incidents was that the United States beefed up its security worldwide at various diplomatic and military facilities and began investigating the attack. May Libyans praised the late ambassador and staged public demonstrations against the militias that had formed during the civil war to oppose leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and the Libyan government began attempts to disband many of the militant groups.

 

During the course of the U.S. investigation, it was reported that the Benghazi attack was a spontaneous action that had developed during protests against the U.S. diplomatic mission and the C.I.A. annex. The investigation determined that the protest was not of a random nature, and in fact had been a well orchestrated terrorist attack launched by Islamist militants.

 

As anybody who followed the aftermath of the Benghazi attack knows, the debate during and after the attacks weighed heavily in the 2012 Presidential election, and in the following months several congressional and administrative investigations were launched, some of which are still active. The topic remains who knew what, and when, including the C.I.A.’s presence and role at the diplomatic mission.

 

On August 6, 2013, it was reported that the United States had filed criminal charges against several individuals, including militia leader Ahmed Abu Khattala for alleged involvement in the attack. To date, few arrests have been made and no one has yet been prosecuted. Yesterday, May 2, 2014, House Speaker, John Boehner announced that he intends a House vote to create a select committee to investigate the attack.

 

LET’S CHECK OUT THE FACTS ON THE LEAD-UP TO THE ATTACK

Many Islamists played a major role in the Libyan civil war that led to the overthrow of Col. Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Some of the combatants who fought in the civil war were veterans of Afghanistan, and jihadists who had served in Iraq.

 

In March, 2011, rebel leaders spoke of their need for anti-aircraft missiles in the ongoing war, and in April and May weapons begin being shipped to the rebels through Qatar with the approval of the United States. These weapons (manufactured by the United States, and shipped to the rebels through Qatar) would later fall into the hands of terrorists after they were used by rebels to free Libya from Gaddafi.

 

Within months of the Libyan revolution…..in February, 2011, the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) begin to build a significant but covert presence in Benghazi. During the war, elite counter-terrorist operators from America’s Delta Force were deployed to Libya as analysts, instructing the rebels on specifics about weapons and tactics. It was during this time (March, 2011) that J. Christopher Stevens was appointed the first liaison with the Libyan opposition (rebels).

 

At the end of the civil war, on October 23^rd, 2011, the casualties and injury list was extensive, estimated 25,000 killed, 4,000 missing, and 50,000 injured. The belligerent’s were listed as the National Transitional Council (good guys), National Liberation Army, Qatar (enforcing UNSC Resolution, 1973*), NATO and Tunisia.

* United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 on the situation in Libya, a measure that was adopted on March 17, 2011, was proposed France, Lebanon, and the United Kingdom, and voted into law with an affirmative vote by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Gabon, Lebanon, Nigeria, Portugal, South Africa, and permanent members France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Five nations, Brazil, Germany, India, and permanent members, China and Russia abstained, with none opposed.”

 

In effect, the vote (or none vote), by the above listed nations of the world,  took control of Libya on March 17, 2011 until a governing body…..to their liking, was established and prepared to govern the populous in a democratic manner.

 

After the war ended, October 23, 2011, the America presence in Libya and Benghazi was charged with the task of identifying and collecting arms that had flooded the country during the civil war, particularly those shoulder-fired missiles taken from the former arsenal of the fallen Gaddafi regime. In addition there was an active search for those dreaded chemical weapons stockpiles, and to train Libyan’s intelligence service.

 

IN EFFECT THE U.S. WAS OCCUPYING LIBYA

What happened was that the United States and those nations that aligned themselves with the U.S. were occupying the country…..and nobody, I repeat, NOBODY likes to be occupied no matter the reason. I’m not accusing anybody of anything…..clandestinely speaking because what happened in Libya is like business as usual for the United States.

 

However, that said, I find what transpired on September 11, 2012 as no big surprise and the response by the Obama Administration to be typical. While sad and reprehensible, the death of the Ambassador and the three other members of the contingent in Benghazi are what could probably be termed collateral damage.   

 

Republicans are now perching on the branch of an incident that occurred close to two years ago, and all that the effort will do is stir up the already muddied waters of politics here in the United States at a time when what we all should be focusing on are current issues that affect us every day of the week. Darrell Issa’s (R California) chairman of the House Oversight Committee has demanded information from the Obama Whitehouse about the September, 11, 2012  Benghazi attack through a legal subpoena. For the president to ignore the subpoena does not help the situation, it only serves to add fire to an already hot topic.

 

I’m sure that mistakes were made, I’m also sure that the reason why the attacks during the night-time of September were prompted by the continued perceived nation building effort by the United States and her allies. There are consequences to what the United States does (and her allies support), it’s simply the price of doing international business in the world of the 21^st century.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!