THE GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND POOR CONTINUES TO GROW

THE GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND POOR CONTINUES TO GROW

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I remember a classic line out of one of the Rocky movies where Rocky’s brother-in-law Paulie says he’s a part of the silent majority. It was humorous at the time, yet provocative; the one-liner provided a small window into the larger problems here in the United States between the classes with regards to financial inequality. With little exception, the difference here in the United States between people revolves around the size of your bank account.

 

Pollsters talk about the pay inequality between workers and the CEO’s like they make 300 times the amount of a rank and file worker. Without a doubt, rating the pay between the common worker and the Chief Executive Officer of a company is bogus. Talking about a line worker and a chief executive of a company is not only inaccurate, it’s like comparing apples and oranges; the responsibility of each is miles apart.

 

Whenever there is worker unrest in the United States, and there always is, it seems the first place that they go is to the inequality between management and the rank and file workers who are protesting the inequality. CEO’s and management have made more for years and they’ll continue to make more, it’s the nature of the beat that we call Capitalism.

 

Capitalism is what has driven this country for centuries, it’s what has made America great and allowed us to become the leader of the world. It isn’t the one percentage that has been gaining in measurable income, it’s that one half of one percent…..or even less. Those are the true movers and shakers of not only the United States, but the world at large.

 

AND THE WINNER IS

People like me, in my pay grade, talk about millionaires as being the rich, and the movers and shakers, while millionaires talk with reverence about those people with multimillions. And those people who have more than a million laying around talk about the billionaires and their impact on the world. You see, it’s all about perspective, kind of like you are what you eat.

 

Forbes Magazine comes out every year with their rating of the rich and shameless, and although I like to feel that I’m informed, huh, I’m only informed about a few things. Never heard of Carlos Slim Helu and his $81.6 billion, or Amancio Ortega and his $57.9 billion, or Stefan Persson with his truckload of $31.8 billion.

 

These guys would need a semi trailer to haul around their money, in fact they could drop a billion here, and a billion there and never even break a sweat. These, my friends, are the real money people in the world, however; I think that these people are just the declared rich, I think that there are multibillionaires in the Middle East who could put many on the Forbes list to bankruptcy shame.

 

People like the truly affluent know little of the common man’s plight, and his day to day, paycheck to paycheck existence…..and many could care less. They are what I call “detached people,” their reality and ours is completely incomprehensible to either group.

 

I think to many of them, paying personal or corporate taxes is kind of like a game, where the common folk used to illegally drink (under aged), these fat cat world leaders devise ways through their bean-counting accountants and lawyers to evade the tax-man.

 

THE BLAME GAME, WHO’S AT FAULT

People like me…..the common working man, the people with a minimum educations, the backbone of the nation…..any nation, point our bony fingers at the CEO’s, management, supervisors, foreign countries stealing American jobs, companies moving offshore to evade taxes, and paying higher labor costs.

 

Management and boards of directors look at the American labor force, and see a bunch of do-little, union excepting benefit members, and paying a worker to sweep the floors for $30 an hour with benefits, and look at the same job being done for $2 and shout “eureka…..that’s for me, and mine, I’ll make a pile.”

 

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker legislated to take the negotiation out of union contracts lobbied to stop the mandatory union dues…..and won on both counts. It’s common knowledge that Republicans favor business, and drive to loosen liberal ties on business. Of course Wisconsin isn’t the only state who has attacked the unions, and inevitably the worker.

 

The fault lies with both sides…..and greed rules both, profits verses wages and benefits, it’s a decades old battle, and the forces ebb and flow, a win for the worker, and then a win for the owners and management. However usually when one side or the other wins, usually both sides take a bit of a loss, you see there is never a clear win when it comes to people, and their lives.

 

Industry has never been responsible to create jobs for their product manufacturing efforts, they’re in business to make a profit,,,,,and they make a profit through the labor and effort of the worker. Somewhere along the line, both the worker and the corporate owners forgot what the true effort is all about.

 

A workers responsibility is to show up at the work-place, give a full day’s work for an honest day’s pay, while the corporation’s responsibility is to provide a safe, clean environment where his workers can operate in pursuit of carrying out his assigned work responsibilities…..and be paid an honest, living wage. It ain’t rocket science.

HAVE A NICE DAY

HOW BIG IS FOOTBALL IN YOU’RE COMMUNITY?

HOW BIG IS FOOTBALL IN YOU’RE COMMUNITY?

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High school football in the fall really helps students re-acclimate themselves to the daily grind of the structured school year. Maybe parents don’t understand how returning to school affects their kids…..but the experience really does. There’s renewed peer pressure, having to reacquaint oneself with a wide range of behaviors, and personalities…..”Thank God I’m way past the experience.”

 

I write a sports column for two Northeastern Wisconsin newspapers, and although I’m 70 years old, I’ve been around young people for most all of my life. Kids today are more connected with the world in general, and what happens in the United States in particular. They have opinions, and like my generation, have an abiding dislike for authority figures, not the bearer of the authority…..but the restraints that authority brings.

 

I know for a fact that high school student athletes are bigger, stronger, faster and more aware than when I was participating in high school sports. The attitude, the atmosphere, and the coaching was completely different than it is in today’s high school sports world. I’ve roamed the sidelines in my job as a sports reporter and seen firsthand the differences in coaching philosophy.

 

I can’t count the number of times that my coaches grabbed me by my face mask and shook me because I’d made a mistake, missed a block, or tried to run through the wrong hole. Today’s coaches are pretty much hands off, and although I really don’t have an opinion on whether that is a good thing or not, it seems to be pretty much the norm.

 

The coaches still holler, boy do they holler, but I think that the players accept that easier than any kind of physical acts. Oh ya, one of my coaches used to use the top of my helmet like a butcher block, whacking me on the helmet to get my attention when, again, I’d made a mistake.

 

When I played we had rules just like they do today, some were basic, time tested that made sense then, and make sense today. Drinking of alcoholic beverages was verboten then, and of course it’s forbidden today. Today there’s the threat of recreational drugs, an issue that I can’t really relate to because all that was around in my day was marijuana, or reefer. Looking back I can’t remember a single person who fooled around with any kind of drug.

 

We had a curfew that we were supposed to observe, I think it was 10:00 P.M. on week-nights, and 11:00 P.M. on Fridays and Saturdays. If you were caught out after curfew, the penalty was extra laps at the next practice. Nobody got caught drinking, so I never knew what the penalty was for that. This is not to say that guys didn’t drink….they just didn’t get caught.

 

FOOTBALL TODAY IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Like I said, football players today are bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter, than at any time during the evolvement of the sport, and that’s at any level. Today strength training, diet, and individual training camps which detail specifics of the different aspects of the game…..kicking, receiving, running, and defensive techniques, all tend to add to a players performance.

 

In past years, maybe twenty or thirty years ago in Wisconsin, organized by coaching staffs, summer practice sessions were taboo. Today coaches not only may be present, but they organize these sessions, but there can be no contact activity involved. The weight room and study time for offensive and defensive playbooks is completely legal…..years ago it wasn’t.

 

Today there are six, eight, ten, and even twelve assistant coaches on a high school coaching staff, they’ve got head-sets, so that they can communicate with their coaches in the press box. They’ve got offensive, defensive, and special teams coordinators that are in almost constant contact with their counterparts from the sidelines to the press box.

 

And the players are much more accessible to the press…..I know, my editor is bugging me about getting more player interviews. When I played, we were kind of sheltered, because let’s face it, sports reporters habitually ask some of the dumbest questions on the face of the earth.

 

Is football better for all of the changes that have come mostly through a natural process of evolution, well, yes and no. Playing high school sports in and of itself is a great experience, in fact one of the highlights of my life. Sure we wanted to win, but at least for me, there was a thrill in just playing…..I loved everything about the experience, even the head banging, and the mask jerking…..winning was just extra icing on the cake.

 

I think that maybe along the line, adult coaches have lost sight of that thrill factor, of the cheer-leaders on the sidelines doing their routines, of the Friday night crowds going nuts after a score. I know you can’t go back to yesteryear, and maybe with regards to high school football that is a sad thing.

 

RULES VIOLATIONS

In my hometown in Michigan, where high school football is king, public school administrators have sent a message loud and clear that infractions of the established rules that govern student athletes must be followed.

 

During the course of my responsibilities as a sports reporter, I ran into an issue with a player that got caught in a compromising photo, or video partaking in a bad act. He’s been suspended for two games, and is due to return this Friday. Absolutely nothing was reported in the newspaper, with the exception of my observance with regards to this player breaking team rules, he will remain anonymous.

 

I am in no way pointing this kid out, and will absolutely make no reference to his name, but my concern is should this player, a senior, and probably a team leader not be held to a higher account. Missing a couple of games is a penalty, but is it enough…..I’m not sure, maybe the severity of the penalty should be left up to the player, or his teammates.

 

I can say this with much veracity, high school people are prone to make mistakes, and pull bone headed decisions…..it’s why we call them kids. Really it’s their responsibility as kids to make silly and frivolous acts so that we, as adults can get angry at them. After all, none of us every made mistakes in our youth…..did we?

 

How important is football, really, have we made it a bigger event than is necessary, after all nobody gets paid. The coaches get a pro-rated pay, some do it for free, while several are parents of kids on the field.  

 

HAVE A NICE DAY.

 

HOW LITTLE TIMES HAVE CHANGED

HOW LITTLE TIMES HAVE CHANGED

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The top secret National Intelligence Estimate did not mince words, “The United States faces an enemy with no scruples about employing any weapon tactic, and nuclear weapons smuggled across porous borders threatens to devastate American cities.” Sleeper cells, the document warned, “might already be inside the country.”

 

The above perceived threat, and evaluation of the enemy was delivered to the president…..President Harry S. Truman, the year…..1951 by the Central Intelligence Agency. “Officials regard the possibility of atomic sabotage as the gravest threat of subversion that this country, with its virtually unpatrolled borders, has ever faced.” This fact was reported in the New York Times in…..1953. The Eisenhower administration also issued a public alert warning the public to the danger from “valise bombs.”

 

In 2010, the New York Times obtained hundreds of pages of declassified documents from  FBI’s files which laid a 1950s account that is strikingly familiar story, in which Communist agents played the role of today’s terrorist organizations. Like I’ve said…..the United States seems to have to have an enemy to treat as a threat, and above all else is unscrupulous.

 

The similarities between the early to middle 1950s and today are truly uncanny, only the U.S. authority figures and the bad guys have changed, most are dead or dying. Then as now, investigators were searching for agents that either were waiting for orders, or were preparing to carry out their dastardly deeds. Then, in the 1950s, the U.S. government spent millions to install radiation detectors at airports and seaports despite doubts about their effectiveness.

 

Of course today we have border, airport and seaport security and an entire department, Homeland Security, which doesn’t cost millions, it costs billions, and if you disregard all of the success stories that are issued by the agencies, nobody knows for sure how the agencies are really working.

 

With the advent of intercontinental ballistic missiles in the late 1950s, which posed an incomparably greater threat of surprise attack, the threat of border, airport, or seaport breach never really went away. China replaced the Russians as possibly smuggling atomic bomb parts into the country for the all-evil and unscrupulous secret cells.

 

AGE OF MODERN TERRORISTS

After the murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinian agents at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, U.S. officials shifted the focus to terrorists. Of course the concern increased exponentially as the U.S. intelligence community took on a whole new perceived enemy. After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon…. the threat of subversive activity had come full circle, and the decades of U.S. intelligence departments was vindicated.

 

In the 1950’s the United States knew that its adversaries had weapons; the mystery was whether they might use them. After September 11, according to Jeffrey T. Richelson, a historian of nuclear weapons, the situation is reversed: Al Qaeda leaders have suggested publically that they would use nuclear weapons.

 

Destroying or locking up nuclear material is far more effective than sealing American borders…..the problem with this effort is the fact that the United States has the most nukes, and pretty much has refused to destroy them.

 

There are close to 200 identified terror organizations, at least according to the United States, and each in their own way want to hurt the United States. If this is true, America is in the fight of its life, and a fight that tragically I don’t believe that can be won. Pretty much because we are fighting these groups in their own backyards, where the U.S. is viewed as the interloper, and where there is little or no corporation from locals.

 

FORCE IS ALL TERRORISTS UNDERSTAND

President Obama, in his address to the United Nations on September 24, talked about the progress that was being made on global human rights, and climate change, but said that the achievements could all be lost by the largest threat; extremist violence.

 

Peace at any cost was his underlining message; however the speech came after two days of bombings in Syria at selected terrorist targets which purportedly killed dozens of terrorists. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani protested the attacks in Syria, saying, “No terrorist group can be eradicated and destroyed through aerial bombardment.”

 

It’s funny…..in not a ha, ha way, that President Obama seems to have forgotten about all of the longtime repressive regimes that the U.S. has sponsored, especially in the Middle East. People don’t forget, they understand that the United States is not exactly a neutral arbiter; it’s what complicates the situation.

 

Obama acknowledged the nation’s faults, “we have our racial and ethnic tensions,” in the United States, but are working to address our problems. The admission is, well, I suppose commendable, but I live here in the United States, and really I see little progress in some of the core problems, and I’m sure that foreign countries see, and feel somewhat the same as I do.

 

NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY OR THINK

No matter what your opinion is regarding these issues that I’ve raised, you’ll have to admit that our economy, our poor, and all of those people who are working, and living from paycheck to paycheck would have a really tough time understanding the president’s evaluation about progress in some of our problems.

 

People go to bed hungry every night; we have a percentage of people here in the United States who sleeps under a bridge, at homeless shelters, or in their cars. We have people here in our country that would go hungry without soup kitchens. We also have people who use the emergency room as their doctor’s office because they don’t have medical insurance.

 

And by for the worst misconception that the president, and apparently much of the United Nations General Assembly members have, is that the ordinary guy on the street, any street, in any country doesn’t much care about the concept of a global brotherhood…..sadly we are eons away from that.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

YOU GOT TO HAVE A SCORECARD TO KNOW THE PLAYERS

YOU GOT TO HAVE A SCORECARD TO KNOW THE PLAYERS

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Bam!  Right between the eyes, another terrorist group, this one has been bombed before the citizens at large here in the United States knew that it existed.  Thank God for the Pentagon, bless Eric Holder, and those pilots who carried out bombing raids yesterday in 22 different places in Syria…..I’ll sleep better tonight…..no wonder I didn’t sleep very well last night.

 

The first I heard about this newest of terrorists was early this afternoon, and to be frank, I thought it was some sort of new international investment company. The 1:00 P.M. news kept referring to the Khorasan Group, I figured there’d be more competition for the Smith & Barney Group…..but no, as I listened, I came to understand that the newsman was talking about a brand new terrorist group that was going to be a BIGGER threat than ISIS, or ISIL, or, well you get the idea.

 

The United States has designated 65 different terrorists groups who “hate us,” and want to do “harm” to us. Apparently these terrorist groups also want to do harm to the United Kingdom, because England identifies 69 groups that want to harm the Brits.

 

The United States has a long history of battling foreign terrorist groups, listing no less than 11 different that were causing trouble, since as far back as 1988, the African National Congress and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The U.S. lists these two, and 10 others who are now defunct, as terror groups that the United States seems to have outlasted.

 

There are 163 total movements or organizations throughout the world in 2014 that are designated as terrorist groups who carry out mayhem, displacing people, and cause general disruption in their targeted countries.

 

In my list of 163 groups, I find no mention of either the Khorasan Group, or another front, the Nusra, and with good reason, neither existed before 2012. The Nusra Front came into existence in 2012 and the Khorasan Group in June of this year.

 

There is no end to the number of terror groups that the United States and other allied nations can point out as aggressive groups worthy of military confrontation. The number of affiliated people must number in the hundreds of thousands, those active members and the citizenry who sympathize with their cause.

 

WHILE CONGRESS WAS OUT TO LUNCH

Daily President Obama is getting dragged across out coals for his decision to authorize bombing runs in Syria…..it would seem almost equally from the left as well as the right. I’m not sure I can figure out the right, given the fact that they seem to like war and all that the word implies. And to be frank and honest, I can’t figure out some of those on the right who talk about ISIS, or ISIL, or these other terror groups as 3^rd world towel heads. Discounting your enemy is the first deadly sin in a confrontation.

 

There is a general prohibition against the use of force in international law; this ban is clearly codified in the United Nations Charter under Article 2 (4) which requires states to “refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force.”

 

Of course there is a caveat…..there’s always a caveat, and in the UN Charter, there are two recognized exception to this general prohibition, states may use force in self-defense (Article 51), and the UN Security Council may authorize the use of force for the purpose of protecting international peace and security.

 

On August 14, 2014, the UN Security Council passed resolution 2170 deploring the terrorist’s acts of ISIL, and its “continued gross, systematic and widespread abuses of human rights.” Acting under Chapter VII, it urged all states to protect civilians’ population and to cooperate in bringing ISIL to justice. However a key phrase which grants the use of force was missing from the proclamation…..”all necessary means,” which is key for member nations to use exactly what “all necessary means,” means.

 

In the United States, in order for a sitting president to declare war on another nation, he’s supposed to have the approval of congress. He can use military force on another nation for a period of 60 days, plus an additional 30 days if he deems a situation dangerous to, almost anybody or anything…..even the president’s dog.

 

The 1973 War Powers Act was supposed to reign in the president’s power to make war, but those rules have been circumvented on numerous occasions…..pretty much as we all know. What the president and his advisors have done is to interoperate the UN declaration of this past August as a free pass to use whatever military force is necessary to defeat ISIL until the next terrorists group is identified, and deemed a threat.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

U.S. BOMBS ISIL TARGETS IN SYRIA

U.S. BOMBS ISIL TARGETS IN SYRIA

SLIP-UPS AT BIOTERROR LABS FUEL FEAR

WHO: EBOLA OUTBREAK COULD LAST FOREVER

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(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

The headlines in Tuesday’s edition of the USA, September 23, 2014, each a worthy headline with a story to tell…..of course. Scanning the headlines this morning it suddenly hit me, not like a ton of brick, rather a strong wind, which of these headlines simply did not belong? Like I said, “each headline had its own story to tell,” and each headline definitely affects people over a wide range…..so which headline was troublesome to me.

 

Before I answer that poser, let’s take a quick look at who is affected by these headlines, who stand to make money and what kind of an impact will remain long after this date in history. It seems kind of comedic to me that these three headlines were bunched together on the same page…..probably done so either to catch reader’s interest or maybe it was done in the name of journalistic space…..(money saving news space verses advertisement income).

 

Whatever the reason, let’s take each topic on its own merits in reverse of how I have them…..Ebola outbreak could last forever. The World Health Organization, (WHO) warns that if the world doesn’t get the Ebola outbreak in West Africa under control quickly, the disease could become a permanent health fixture in the region.

 

Of course there are those scientists and doctors who dispute that dire scenario, but most agree that the virus could circulate for years if it’s not stopped soon. The idea that Ebola could become endemic in West Africa, spreading routinely, rather than in sporadic outbreaks is not a prospect that has been contemplated.

 

There could be 20,000 cases by November, with thousands more each week, the report says. About 70% of those patients who get Ebola are dying from the illness, and there is concern that without a massive increase in the response so far, Ebola will be impossible to stop.

 

Ebola is not new; the virus has caused more than 20 outbreaks over the past 40 years, mostly in remote villages in central Africa. Some outbreaks were severe, but public health officials were always able to put a stop to them…..even without effective treatment, or vaccines.

 

(SORRY…..I SLIPPED UP) SLIP-UPS AT BIOTERROR LABS

That’s right, everybody slips up, makes a mistake, and is credited with a do-ever, right, well actually no, oh sure, if you hang a door wrong, drop paint on the floor, or make a God-awful meal, you’ll be granted another chance. But when you make a mistake in handling stuff at a bioterror laboratory and you lose infected animals…..well, that might be a different story.

 

This is like a 1960s space movie, in May of this year inside the Rocky Mountain Laboratories (scientists wearing spacesuit looking protective gear search hours for a mouse infected with an Ebola like virus that had escaped its cage.)

 

Also in May, at St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital in Tennessee, a lab worker suffered a cut while trying to corral infected, escaped ferrets, the infectious virus, a strain of avian influenza…..”get along little doggies.”

 

According to U.S. Representative Diana DeGette D-Colorado, “as long as we keep having an ad hoc system of oversight in this country, we’re going to keep seeing more and more incidents.” Well gee, Diana, will people need to die before things are changed?

 

These viruses are dangerous to workers, and human lives outside of the workplace, “these are high-containments,” said Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy R-Pa. The Center for Disease Control, (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture jointly run the Federal Select Agent Program that oversees laboratories working with viruses, bacteria and toxins called “select agents” because they’re deemed to pose serious threats to people and agriculture and could be used as bioweapons.

 

BOMBS OVER SYRIA

Oh boy, “here he goes again…..up on the old soap box crying the ills of war.” Nope not this time, sorry, but bombing Syria is nothing new, or really secret, it’s simply the way that the United States does its foreign policy stuff. This move is little more than a phase…..kind of like growing pains; the action is simply the first step in a three or four step program to getting U.S. boots on the ground.

 

According to Rear Admiral John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary, “the U.S. military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against ISIL terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles, given that these operations are ongoing, we are not in a position provide any additional information.”

 

Sounds like a page right out of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney’s press releases early in the attacks on Iraq…..and the dastardly search for those infamous weapons of mass destruction. Like the old man said one time…..deny, deny, deny…..and cloudy the waters whenever possible.

 

SCALE OF IMPORTANCE

Let me see, how would I rate these three headlines for September 23, 2014…..well, Syrians will die because of coalition bombs, young people, old people, women, children…..and even pets. For whatever reason, it seems to be a sad commentary of our world today.

 

The Ebola outbreak, and the possible danger that the virus can bring to people, 70% fatality rates, the disease needs to be confronted, and conquered, of that I have no doubt. But don’t send any of that stuff to American biolabs, they’ll botch the works up, and we’ll have infected rodents chasing us around.

 

Of course the bacteria slip-ups and the Ebola dangers will affect more people than dropping some bombs on Syria ever will. I say that the American government…..at least, concentrate on battling the Ebola virus, and putting our bioterror laboratories in order before we all come down with the screaming heebie geebies.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

IF MONEY IS SPEECH AND SPEECH IS FREEDOM…..

IF MONEY IS SPEECH AND SPEECH IS FREEDOM…..

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(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

If money is speech and speech is freedom…..then it follows that rich people have more freedom, this must also include the freedom to dictate who gets the chance to vote. You see, you can’t have your cake and eat it too, doesn’t matter how much money you have…..the financially affluent aren’t fooling anybody, their wants and desires of control are pretty well known by almost everybody.

 

Without much exception, Americans have the newsiest information, like wall to wall, 24 hour a day news, of any nation in the world. There are the right, left, independent, and special interest news sources where Americans can get their news. Of course there are those news sources where people hear what they want to hear, like those daily talk shows who bluntly give a one sided opinion that the weak-minded listener revels in, completely oblivious to any other opinion.

 

But now we’ve got some out of touch as an Article 111 United States Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. In simple terms he has ruled that the allocations that people give to political parties can be done unfettered with no rules or regulations on the amounts. Here’s where the freedom of speech really gets a boost…..here’s an example;

“If Joe Blow is enamored with challenger A, but he and his buddies only make $10 an hour, it stands to reason that their support donations collectively won’t be as much as me, and my friends who make hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. It stands to reason that if my candidate, B gives us election promises…..he has probably a 70 or 80% chance of being elected…..because of the money that we’ll shower on him. In short, good luck Joe Blow, and candidate A.”

 

Anybody who says it’s not the way of it is either living under a rock, or is out and out lying, politics have worked this way forever, most everybody knows it. That’s why this ruling by Judge Randa is so troubling, but should come as no surprise. Randa is the same quack who ordered the evidence gathered by prosecutors in a campaign finance investigation regarding alleged unlawful “coordination” by advocacy groups opposing the 2012 recall election of Governor Scott Walker destroyed, and the probe halted.

 

Although a stay has been issued, Randa’s true colors shoot to the forefront…..a dyed in the wool Republican conservative with ties to all sorts of shenanigans, including back door deals and under the table situations. The guy, who was nominated for his judgeship back in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush, is a 74 year old codger he just might be losing his grip on reality.

 

RANDA HAS BEEN A JUDGE FOREVER

Rudolph T. Randa has roamed the halls of justice since his days as Assistant City Attorney for Milwaukee from 1970 through 1973. In 1973 he became principal City Attorney for Milwaukee. In 1975 he was elected Municipal Judge in Milwaukee, in 1979 he was elected Circuit Judge for Milwaukee County, was appointed to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in 1981. He was re-appointed Circuit Judge, and re-elected in 1983, and he served in this position until 1992.

 

President George H.W. Bush appointed him as a federal judge in 1992, and succeeded Judge Robert Warren, and served as Chief Justice from 2002 to 2009. He now serves in those high judicial position, and has handed down some might decisions that have effected many Wisconsinites…..but the campaign finance issue to me…..is his worst.

 

Our system of government…..the good ole boys approach is alive and well in the high courts of the state. Some Republicans seem to approach election races like they are their own show…..sadly some Democrats feel and act the same way.

 

Judge Randa’s move with regards to election finance ruling has been applauded by CRG Network, often known as Citizens for Responsible Government has said that “Wisconsin election finance is stuck in the 1970’s.” I’m not sure where these people are coming from, but I know a smoke screen when I see one.

 

Legalese is what has happened here, pure and simple, the candidates that run for political office in Wisconsin will now be influenced by the dollar bill, there’s absolutely no other way to look at the situation. When are we going to wake-up?

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

WHAT DOES OPEN HEART SURGERY AND A B2A SPIRIT STEALTH BOMBER HAVE IN COMMON?

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(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

Less than a year ago I had open heart surgery which for me was a life saving procedure, all told the cost was right around $170,000 when all of the pre and post operation care was factored in…..(I know this because I study these things). Conversely to operate a B2A Spirit Stealth Bomber for one hour, the cost is $169,313, and that would be just for a joy ride, add a couple of 500 pound smart bombs dropped on an enemy and my life saving surgery is left in the proverbial dust as each smart bomb costs a cool $25 grand.

 

What am I aluding to you say, hell that’s easy, our president, the leader of the free world says that the United States will strike Islamic states with bombs…..hundreds…..thousands in an untold number of bomb runs. Let’s take a quick class on air strikes that the U.S. is going to carry out…..according to our President, Barack Obama. Say 4 B2A’s are used, $677,252, and each drop 10 smart bombs, $1,000,000, total cost…..$1,677,252 over a mi…..mi….llion dollars!

 

“This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten Americans, you will find no safe haven.” “Our objective is clear: We will degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy.” This dribble from the mouth of our Commander N’ Chief, Barack Obama, the same guy who actually did get U.S. troops out of Iraq in December of 2011, the same man who softly chastised former President George W. Bush.

 

And there are backers of the Obama administration’s plan, of course they are the old war dogs of the Bush administration, like Dick Cheney who laments that Obama needs to attack the Islamic state as soon as possible…..if not sooner. “Immediate, sustained, simultaneous action” to defeat the Islamic State,” arguing that the president bears responsibility for the danger that the jihadist group now poses to American’s interests.

 

Personally I’m not sure where my man, Dick Cheney is coming from. Didn’t he, George W. Bush, and the Bush administration, which many refer to as the “Bush regime”, initiate much of what is going on in the region today…..which is being driven by fear, distaste, and a general hatred of the west in general, and the United States in particular. I don’t know, maybe I’m ready the wrong news clips or something.

 

There are several points in the Obama address to the nation that I guess I’ll take exception with…..cause now the president sounds like all the rest of those American leaders that were either war hawks, or, like Obama, grew the feathers and wings of a hawk.

 

Obama said that the “battle against the Islamic State will require boots on the ground…..but it won’t be American soldiers wearing the boots”…..what are they gonna wear into combat…..tennis shoes? The U.S. teaches, supplies, and props up foreign nations militarily…..and those well equipped, well trained, when they face active duty drop those weapons, turn tail…..and run like hell. The worst part is that those weapons which U.S. taxpayers bought will now be used against Americans, or their allies.

 

The President also spoke strongly that this military action is NOT another Iraq war, great, let’s gather our war machines, weapons, ships, planes and Humvee’s and return all soldiers to home turf. There’s no effort of thought here, just get the hell out of foreign messes that aren’t ours to correct, or win the hearts and minds of people that can’t speaky the American language.

 

Obama also seemed to address those critics who have said that he hasn’t been assertive enough as the world seems to be falling apart. In his answer to those critics, near the end of his speech he talked about how the U.S. has helped restore stability in the world; by deterring Russian aggression in the Ukraine, by helping to contain the Ebola outbreak, by eliminating Syrian chemical weapons. “Our endless blessings bestow an enduring burden.” “But as Americans, we welcome our responsibility to lead.”

 

To the above paragraph I have no suitable response, I do however know this, clearly half of the worlds’ problems are the result of America’s foreign interests, and the United States foreign policies! The United States has been blessed, blessed with all sorts of natural and manmade resources, and for that we better be thankful. But to be responsible to lead…..well I can only retort…..why, let somebody else lead the way for a change…..unless our leaders are afraid that if some other nations lead, they won’t lead the way the U.S. wants?

 

The next U.S. military fatality in Iraq is going to be a very big deal….duh, really, what about another soldiers death, dismemberment, or capture in the places that we occupy around the world…..like Japan, or Korea, or Africa…..we’ve got thousands of people billeted around the globe…..oh ya, these military people are protecting Americans rights and lives too…..RIGHT.

 

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Yup, here we go again, the president’s threats regarding U.S. military might, I wonder if Obama understands that he’ll need an okay from the U.S. Congress before he goes off traipsing bombing this one, and then that one, as he and his advisors see fit. Although right now…..in this instance, he’d probably be able to get the desired votes…..later, after heads are clearer, not so much.

 

The United States has formally declared war eleven different times against foreign nations. They are;

 1. WAR OF 1812

 2. MEXICAN AMERICAN WAR, 1846

 3. SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, 1898

 4. WORLD WAR 1, DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST GERMANY 1917

 5. WORLD WAR 1, DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

 6. WORLD WAR 11, DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST JAPAN 1941

 7. WORLD WAR 11, DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST GERMANY

 8, WORLD WAR 11, DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST ITALY

 9. WORLD WAR 11, DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST BULGARIA

10. WORLD WAR 11, DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST HUNGARY

11. WORLD WAR 11, DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST ROMANIA

The United States Congress has also has authorized military engagements and extended military combat, they are:

 1. QUASI-WAR, FRANCE, 1798

 2. FIRST BARBARY WAR, TRIPOLI, 1802

 3. SECOND BARBARY WAR, ALGIERS, 1815

 4. ENFORCING 1808 SLAVE TRACE BAN, NAVAL SHIPS SENT TO AFRICA, 1819

 5. REDRESS FOR ATTACK ON U.S. NAVAL SHIP USS WATER WITCH, 1858

 6. OCCUPATION OF VERACRUZ, 1914

 7. INTERVENTION DURING RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR, 1918

 8. LEBANON CRISSIS, 1957

 9. VIETNAM WAR, 1964

10. MULTINATIONAL FORCE IN LEBANON, 1983

11. PERSIAN GULF WAR, IRAQ, 1991

12. WAR IN AFGHANISTAN, 2001

13, IRAQ WAR, 2003

There have also been seven military engagements that have been authorized by the United Nations Security Council Resolution that have been funded by the U.S. Congress:

 1. KOREAN WAR, 1950

 2. MULTINATIONAL FORCE IN LEBANON, 1978

 3. PERSIAN GULF WAR, 1990

 4. BOANIAN WAR, 1992-93

 5. SECOND LIBERIAN CIVIL WAR, 2003

 6. HAITIAN COUP D’ETAT, 2004

 7. LIBYAN CIVIL WAR, 2011

 

So there you see it, the President doesn’t necessarily need Congress’s approval, the War Powers Act has many shifts and turns that are already in place for the American President to declare war…..for almost any reason. As a nation we need to be cognizant of exactly what our entire government is doing.

 

And finally the president compared our enemies as a cancer, and that taking care to eradicate this cancer is going to take time. Well, la-de-da, Obama has a bit more than two years as Commander & Chief; about 900 days…..will he leave the mess that he inherited from George W. Bush, Dick Cheney et al?

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!