IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

The fall, leaves turning to their magical colors, back to school for the kids (so mom can get a break), when outdoor activities days are numbered, and when a young man’s fancy turns to emulating his favorite football players. High school spirit builds from the first day back in the class-room; it’s a time of pep rallies, and of gearing up for those gridiron battles with your arch rivals.

 

The coaches are antsy, the players feel invincible…..and why not, everybody throughout the entire state of Wisconsin has yet to taste defeat, and the football prognosticators are batting 1.000% with their pre-season predictions. The morning of the opening game of another football season brings a renewed vigor that has usually been missing since the end of the previous season.

 

High school football is a great game, it teaches young people how to act, react, and interact with a group of their peers, how to except defeats, how to win gracefully, and the concept of teamwork. High school football also teaches a kid how to juggle his time during the roughly nine months of down-time in a high schoolers sports year. You see there is the weight room, for some, spring-time track, and then the summer football camps and clinics that these young men are encouraged to attend.

 

Today in high school there’s all sorts of teaching tools that coaches can use to hone a players natural abilities, there are diet programs to strengthen a student-athlete, there are running drills to increase speed. And of course offensive and defensive playbooks that players are required to know front-wards, and back-wards.

 

EVERY MALE HAS BEEN A STUD ON THE GRIDIRON

I can remember my time in high school as a football player, Friday’s were electric, attending school on Friday’s during the fall was merely a formality…..nothing academically was accomplished, and in my school, there was an afternoon pep rally…..and that was home games.

 

On travel games (my school had some of the longest road trips in the entire state) the team left for the game as early as 10:00 A.M. The student body, at least 40% of them, would cut class around noon to get to the away game by three or four o’clock. To say the least, our fans were rabid.

 

I had the good fortune to play on the varsity for three years, and during that time, our overall record was 24-3. The pride and camaraderie that was built, and the friendships developed have lasted a lifetime…..I took away from the game much more than I gave. The lessons learned have been with me my entire life, and I can still dwell on them more than 50 years later.

 

I’ve covered sporting events, been involved in sporting events and one thing has been imprinted on my mind, clearly 75% of those ex-players relive their experiences each fall, and their accomplishments become bigger and better each year.

 

And you know…..that’s ok, it’s a harmless “padding the statistics.” It is common throughout ex-athletes stories, nobody means any harm, and anyways, who wants to hear about the twelfth man on a basketball team, the scorebook keeper in baseball, or the practice dummy holder at football practice.

 

 

THERE IS ONE PROBLEM HOWEVER

There is a big problem with football on the high school varsity level, and it goes down as far as junior varsity…..the problem, injuries. When I was playing I suffered banged up knees, broken fingers, a broken nose,  muscle pulls, bruises, and was shot in certain areas of my body with Cortisone…..and it worked to, couldn’t feel a thing, for several hours.

 

However today, injuries to high school football players has, in my opinion, jumped of all of the charts, 1.6 to 3.8 MILLION concussions…..a year. That figure, to me, has completely dumped the old apple cart. My first reaction is NO WAY, but I guess the figure is as accurate as is possible, three different sources guesstimate about the same figures…..and that’s just for concussions alone.

 

What about sprains, muscle pulls, broken bones, and the less important knee, and other joint injuries that linger a lifetime? I totally understand that head injuries can lead to all sorts of ailments throughout an ex-players life. Hell, Wisconsin’s even got a concussion law that was enacted in 2012 to help regulate head injuries…..of course what law, or who, is going to reign in an overzealous playe, or coaches that need a scruples transplant.

 

High school players today are bigger, faster, stronger, and know more about the technical aspects of the game than anybody in my generation. The impact of a 200 pounder, going against another 200 pounder would seem to me to be incalculable and a formula for a physical disaster.

 

Head football coaches today actually have a sacred trust when it comes to their players, and coaches’ assistants. First and foremost, the head coach needs qualified assistants that are completely aware of the different types of injuries, and can watch for the tell tale signs of injuries, like light-headedness, or incoherent speech, or behavior.

 

And the head coach needs to have some sort of certification with regards to injuries, and this quality that a coach needs leads directly to a school’s Athletic Director, and the school board as well. I do know that sometimes people are hired into a position because they are teachers, or a friend of a friend. For the sake of the student athlete…..this practice should stop.

 

So go to the Friday football games, enjoy your kids accomplishments…..and console him in his defeats, and above all else, keep track of where your coach and his staff have come from…..what exactly is their background, and Hank the hardware man, or Joe Smoo might be nice guys, but be totally unprepared and uneducated for the position of an assistant football coach for your kids high school football team.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

 

IT’S LIKE FISH IN A BARREL!

IT’S LIKE FISH IN A BARREL!

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

There isn’t a stand-off, or a shootout, or a running gun battle, in many cases civilians do not carry a hand gun, and in many cases, these civilians are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nobody is immune, boys, girls, women, men, and the elderly, everybody in today’s world take their lives in their own hands whenever they decide to either drive, or walk to the local corner grocery store for milk.

 

Weapons in the hands of well trained professionals are watching for the hint of trouble…..trouble of any kind, and are ready, willing and able to deal with that trouble in the most violent, and archaic way. No community is immune; absolutely no type of person, regardless of their position can escape the possibility of retaliation for the most innocent of action, or response.

 

There is an atmosphere, there is a feeling of authority, and there is a propensity for the quickest, the most abrasive, and the most violent reaction to any question of authority that is held by an officer of the law. And the reactions may include, but are not limited to a person, or people being pepper sprayed, Tased, handled in a physical, violent manner…..and in some cases…..shot to death.

 

I’ve written about police brutality several different times, and in each case, I was goaded into further research caused by an incident of a police shooting, or riot police handling a situation with what I perceive to be an excess use of force. During the initial paragraph or two I always eluded to the fact that police officers, no matter the jurisdiction, or the activity, have a tough job, and most of the time…..a thankless job (to boot).

 

However…..my attitude is changing and I now find myself questioning exactly what a cop’s job description contains and what their mission really is. I’ve know for a long time that every police organization, city, county, state, and the several different federal policing organization has some bad apples. It’s that way with any organization whether it be police, or street sweepers, or garbage collators. There’s always a jerk or two, or the slacker, or the guy who figures the rules aren’t for him…..but for you…..no matter what type organization one might be talking about.

 

But I’ve come to understand and belief that there are more than just a few bad apples in these different cop shops. It has to be that way, there’s way too many illegal situations going on, and way too many injuries, brutality, or killings that are suffered by us civilians. I understand that some perpetrators deserve exactly what they get, and there are certain times when force, excessive force is necessary to either protect the citizens, or the police officer.

 

BUT COME ON

Jim Fisher (True Crime) blogger uncovered some astounding statistics with regards to police killings back in 2011. According to data that he (Fisher), collected, police officers in the United States shot 1,146 people, killing 607. And the worst part of these figures uncovered was the fact that the numbers were all disjointed, and with the exception of the F.B.I. there is absolutely national database to keep track of the numbers of cop shootings, and cop killings.

 

It seems strange to me, given the facts that the U.S. government keeps statistics about almost everything, but doesn’t keep records about local, state and federal policing officials killing civilians. Oh sure, I know that some of these shootings and deaths are justified, there’s some really bad people out there, but 1,146, that would seem to be an inordinate number of bad guys.

 

Some statistical information can get blurred, like 46 shootings in Chicago, and 10 fatalities when one compares the 1,866 citizen shoots and the 1,134 dead. Chicago is a cauldron of death, where cops have been resistant in doing their jobs when it comes to policing the black community…..the attitude is “let the niggers shoot and kill the niggers.”

 

We are going to continue to suffer as a nation until we get a handle on our government, and those governmental divisions that deal with funding, law enforcement and the like. The United States is becoming little more than a Police State, complete with high powered weapons, and the military war machines that are made available to every cop shop in the land, by the Pentagon, under a presidential decree by Ronald Regan back in the 1980’s.

 

It’s a funny situation, and not funny in a “ha, ha” way, that police organizations throughout the country resemble military camps or bases. Military weapons are designed to do one thing, and one thing only, to obliterate an enemy…..to not only put a bullet hole in a person’s head, but to blow half of the head off. The training that our police forces are getting can be called little more than crash courses, and do not relate well with what police are supposed to do…..to protect and to serve…..now there’s a real metaphor.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

A RAMPANT ACT ON HIGHWAYS AND BY-WAYS IN AMERICA!

A RAMPANT ACT ON HIGHWAYS AND BY-WAYS IN AMERICA!

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

Police violence in the United States is carried out by the smallest percentage of local, state, and federal law enforcement. And to a degree I agree, not all police officers are bad, most are high minded, diligent, and attempt to do the very best job that they can during their work shift. There is however a small minority of police that fly in the face of the honest, hard-working cops that actually wreck the overall representation of all cops.

 

In many circles, political, and religious leaders, as well as important high profile leaders that reside in every community across the country say almost in unison that “times are better and people are more enlightened” then ever. Also these same people relate the fact that the country, and its citizens have come along way in the battle for equality.

 

And I’d be the first to admit that racial attitudes, and racial equality seems to be working towards equal footing, however, that said, I’d like to know how many white people would be will to trade places with a black person?

 

If equality is becoming prevalent here in the United States, I need somebody to refresh my memory as to why there are so many more black people in the country’s prison system? Incarceration overall is running at break-neck speed here in the United States as we jail more of our citizens than any other developed country on the face of the planet.

 

The country’s prison system has come a long way from 1841, when Dorothea Dix discovered that prison systems throughout the country were (in her opinion) being operated inhumanly. Prisoners were routinely chained naked, whipped with rods, caged, placed in cellars and closets, and that the insane were separated from other inmates and usually left to their own devises.

 

Very little attempts are made to rehabilitate today’s convict population; when convicted, these people are incarcerated, serve their sentence…..and are released back into society…..to fend for themselves. Not every law breaker can be rehabilitated, and those convicts that do show a desire to attain a private sector job meet with an almost insurmountable mountain of bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo, and red tape.

 

Today in the United States approximately 1.3 million of the 2.7 million prisoners are black, and as of 2012, 58% of all prison inmates were made up of blacks or Hispanics. 1 in100 black women are serving time in jails for various crimes. 1 in 6 black men have been or are serving time in jail.

 

However the biggest disparity is the number of white people using drugs as opposed to blacks…..14 million whites report using drugs, while 2.6 million blacks were found to be using illicit drugs. Nation-wide, African-Americans represent 12% of the total population of drug users, and blacks serve virtually as much time in prison for drug offenses, 58.7 months, as whites do for a violent offense, 61.7 months.

 

HOWEVER THE VERY WORST HAPPENS ON OUR U.S. HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS

Race is a factor on America’s roads a significant percentage of times…..almost 50% of the time when state or local traffic patrols roam the streets and freeways looking for vehicle law-breaking. We are talking about moving automobile unsafe operation. Excessive speed, unsafe driving practices, or actually driving too slow for conditions are all issues that can call for a cop to pull over a driver.

 

Of course there’s the biggy, driving while black, and these stops can last as long as several hours, and the actions, questions, and the general behavior exhibited by the police officers can usually border on Gestapo abrasiveness. Body pat-down are the norm, strip and cavity searches happen about 25% of the time during these road-side, late night stops and they are done in the name of combating drugs.      

 

Of course there’s the nit-picking walking on the edge of the street when a sidewalk is available for use, this is called walking while black. Cops can pull over, or detain a walking while black, and those detained can be searched, strip searched, and generally treated to rude, abrasive behavior during the entire incident.

 

How did the actions of some of our traffic cops come to this…..two reasons, and two reasons only, poor screening of potential police officers, and a total lack of police, policing cops. We’ve all heard of “being innocent until proven guilty,” but the police agencies take the spirit of this feeling to the nth degree.

 

And here is why many people, black and white, do not trust police officers today…..whenever there is an infraction committed by a cop, no matter the infraction, the entire police community closes ranks, and do not allow for an honest, and complete investigation of incident. Until we clean up our police forces, and obliterate the stupid blue wall of silence, as a country we’ll continue having trouble with this very important part of our society.

 

These are troubling times, our prison system has become a cash cow for some enterprising people, and these people view rehabilitation as putting the binders on their ability to make a lucrative living off some people’s misfortune.

 

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that everybody that’s incarcerated is innocent, and got a raw deal, but I am saying that these law breakers need the opportunity to educate themselves, become productive citizens…..and live a bit of the American dream.

 

And we can start on our streets and road-ways across America, we need to be diligent and watch how police are handling their traffic stops…..not by interference, rather by taking pictures whenever we feel that the treatment being administered seems a bit too aggressive…..it really is our civic duty.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

COULD ISIS RETALIATE AGAINST THE U.S. AND WHAT IS ISIS

COULD ISIS RETALIATE AGAINST THE U.S. AND WHAT IS ISIS

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

United States bombed areas in northern Iraq last Friday (August 8) and like any other bombing…..this one had devastating effects. Whenever you pack a steel seethed projectile with explosives, buildings will collapse, people will die, and there’ll be catastrophic injuries. But the bombing was ok, cause it saved lives, or at least protected them. According to a President Obama speech, “he was forced to act for humanitarian reasons,” God have we all heard that one before.

 

The Obama regime has had to act in the past, for humanitarian reasons, in fact acting, and reacting seems to becoming second nature to the Obama administration. Muammar Gaddafi, Bashar Al-Assad, and Osama bin Laden come to mind as good reasons to murder…..ya that’s right, I said murder. All of these people were scum; they each got exactly what they deserved, death execution style…..but since when did somebody make the United States judge, jury, and executioner?  Should one country have that much power…..seems to me like an awful big power grab, does the world still operate under those archaic set of rules?

 

To ask the question…..”Could ISIS retaliate against the United States because of air strikes” would seem, at least to me to be a completely asinine query. Let’s put this situation, of August 8^th, into full context…..what would the United States do if Russia bombed Alaska? Let me take a wild guess, there would be a full retaliatory strike on Mother Russia, and world war 3 or 4…..or whatever the number is today would go into full swing.

 

Even if Sara Palin was still governor of Alaska, the U.S. would still have to retaliate in spades to the unprovoked attack by the “Ruskies.” Almost without exception every attack such as the August 8^th Obama attack are unprovoked.

 

Now before I get anybody’s panty-hose in a bunch, let me assure you that I use Russia simply as an example…..and because they are in close proximity to Alaska. Russia won’t attack the U.S. and neither will the U.S. attack Russia, each is afraid of the other, and for good reason. Putin’s no fool and neither is Obama.

 

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the Middle East shenanigans are actually a holy war, an unbelievable holy war, because nobody wins in war, but nobody never, ever wins in a holy war. I could go back in history and site example after example to back up my point about winning a holy war…..but it would be futile, those people who would justify a holy war nut cases anyways…..and the rest of us understand little about a holy war.

 

WHAT IS ISIS ANYWAYS

The organization of the Islamic State, is also known as (are you ready for this) the Islamic State of Iraq, and the Levant (ISIL) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or al-Sham, or ISIS, and is a jihadist group. A jihadist group uses brutal methods, and they’re a religious organization that is fanatical in their beliefs and how they carry out their programs of conquests.

 

Organization may be an incorrect word to use in describing these people; they are rather like small cells or groups of people who act independently of one another. In its original form, it was composed of and supported by a variety of Sunni insurgent groups, including its predecessor organizations…..Al-Qaeda.

 

ISIS grew significantly as an organization owing to its participation in the Syrian Civil War and the strength of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghadi. When Saddam Hussein fell from power, these splinter groups were emboldened; in addition the economic and political discrimination against the Iraqi Sunni also helped the movement to gain support.

 

Suffice it to say that it is not a good thing to ruffle the feathers of these people, because of their very organization, to combat these people would be like trying to capture sand with an open hand…..it can’t be done. And yet, there’s the United States with its bombers, dropping bombs on the ISIS, strafing ISIS as well as innocent civilians, and generally rallying hard feelings towards the United States.

 

THE FINAL OUTCOME

I grew tired and bored by President George W. Bush, and his silly band of cohorts, spewing out their crap about Iraq, Hussein, weapons of mass destruction, and the tie with the September 11^th attack. We spent trillions, and lost more than four thousand soldiers. And now were saddled with tens of thousands of wounded people that’ll require care for the rest of their lives…..and now we gotta go back in!

 

That was George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Paul Bremer, and Condolezza Rice. All bad actors. Right now President Obama is proving to be a poor actor…..but there’s still enough time for the president to gain momentum and surpass the former President Bush. It seems as if his administration has not attracted the cast to help Obama “over the top,” but like I said, “he still has the time necessary to get the job done.”

 

Only our due-diligence can save the day, we sure as hell can’t count on our elected officials to stop the insanity…..I believe it’s up to us.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

THE UNITED STATES IS AT IT AGAIN

THE UNITED STATES IS AT IT AGAIN

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

There aren’t any more Doves, only war mongering, those conniving individuals who are calculating how much money can be made from the next conflict which will necessitate arms and ammunition orders. The arms industry in the world today is huge, and of course the United States leads with a defense budget of $640 billion dollars…..or 3.8% of the Gross Domestic Product.

 

When President Barak Obama announced yesterday (8-7-14) that he was authorizing airstrikes, the announcement meant several different things…..all of which are not good for American armed forces, and us woebegone taxpayers.

 

First and foremost, Obama’s action flies in the face of all that diplomatic rhetoric that his administration has been pontificating over the past several months with regards to activity in the entire Middle East. “When lives of American citizens are at risk, we will take action,” “it my responsibility as Commander in Chief.” In addition the president also authorized the use of targeted military strikes if necessary to help the Iraqi security forces protect civilians.

 

The entire snafu was brought about because the U.S. had decided to humanitarianly air-lift potable water and food to assist the Yazidis people who have been oppressed, and forced to leave there homes in the village of Ninawa, population, 23,023, high in the Sinjar mountains.

 

The air-drop which included 5,300 gallons of drinking water and 8,000 prepackaged meals were dropped in less than 15 minutes and very low altitude by one C-17 and two C-130 cargo aircraft which were protected by two R/A-18 fighters.  

 

Obama cast the mission to assist the Yazidis as part of the American mandate to assist around the world when the U.S. has the unique capability to help avert a massacre. In these cases, Obama said, “we can act carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide.”

 

YOU KNOW WHAT…..OBAMA’S ACTIONS ARE AMIABLE…..BUT

First and foremost, let us get one thing straight…..air-dropping water and food into a war zone (after all the area in question is being contested) may be a humanitarian act, but there is inherent danger connected with the effort. I would rate a humanitarian act a step or two from making war on another, but only a step or two.

 

Whatever transpires from the effort of the water and food drop should be taken into account before the effort…..and I can tell you right now, acts of war, air-strikes, and the like should not be in any thought process by our current administration. Right away the U.S. is taking sides and whatever results come from the action should not be met with an escalation of aggressive actions.

 

The United States is not the policemen of the world, no matter what some of these radical neo- conservatives think. The United States does not have all the answers, and actually some of the answers that the country does have aren’t always the right answers.

 

There usually is a heavy price to pay whenever a fighter, country, politician or president leads with his chin in a fight. A fighter usually gets his block knocked off when he’s leading with his chin, and lately the U.S. has been taking its lumps because of this leading with the chin tactic.

 

Many people that I know seem to think that the United States is still a world leader, and it is true that the U.S. can still, on occasion “throw a pitch at 100 miles per hour,” but as time goes by, that hundred mile an hour pitch is mostly a thing of the past…..unless you can tell me that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan haven’t taken a decade to fight without us leaving, with the country’s in better shape than when we invaded.

 

No-sir-ee both Afghanistan and Iraq have stayed the course, and have pretty much matched the Americans stride for stride. This is not a knock on the U.S. rather a simple truth…..for all of our fire-power, for all of our strategies, and for all of the trillions that we’ve put into our efforts…..we still are left fighting an almost invisible enemy, kind of like expecting to retain jell-o in your hand when you make a fist.

 

SOBERING NUMBERS

I like the occasional beer, and even a shot once in a great while, but just like everybody else, I function much better when I’m as sober as a judge. The thing that drives several developed countries whenever you talk about war, military conflict, and/or an armed intervention, there is a segment of business-men who rub their hands together, smile, and limber up there old bank-books, cause they know they’ll need to act quickly in an effort  to fatten their bank-accounts.

 

The arms industry is a global business that manufactures weapons, military technology, ammunition bombs, and associated equipment. Research, development, production and services are all involved in today’s multi trillion dollar industry. War like countries, the United States, now Russia, England, and the small assorted developing countries all crave, and find it a necessity for their individual agendas.

 

The Muslim community only needs dynamite, a belt, and fuses to wage their wars against the infidels…..these things and the young and impressionable who thinks that the all powerful God will reward them with 16 virgins, and that their families will live in strawberry fields forever.

 

The United States has a $640 billion dollar defense budget; China is next at $188 billion, followed by Russia, $87.8 billion; Saudi Arabia, $67 billion; and France, $61.2 billion to (round) out the top five in the world. The top five exporters of weapons, in order, are Russia, (8283); the United States, (6153); China, (1837); France, (1489); and Germany, (972).

 

The top importers of military armament are India, (8283 orders); United Arab Emirates, (6153); China, (1534); Saudi Arabia, (1486); and Pakistan, (1002). The United States is 8^th in the world with a figure of 759 orders.

 

The top manufactures in the weapons industry are, and their location, Lockheed Martin, (U.S.); Boeing, (U.S.); BAE Systems, (United Kingdom); Raytheon, (U.S.); General Dynamics, (U.S.). The number employed by these giants of military industrial companies are, Lockheed Martin, (120,000); Boeing, (174,400); Raytheon, (67,800); General Dynamics, (92,200); Northrop Grumman, (68,100); United Technologies Corporation, (218,300) and L-3 Communications, (51,000).

 

These employment figures from the 7 largest arms manufacturers, 791,800, plus the thousands of smaller employers represent a huge corporate investment in the military industrial complex of the United States.

If it ceased, if mankind somehow figured a way to settle its disagreements at a bargaining table as opposed to the battle field, the initial loss of revenue would be catastrophic, the hundreds of thousands of people that were put out of business would be staggering.

 

However, I am sure that the sale of flowers would skyrocket, as rose peddles would be necessary to spread on the welcome mats that would be spread throughout the world. I am sure that we all could life with the unemployed and those Captains of Industry that would be scrambling around for another source of income…..wouldn’t that be neat!

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!