What is your earliest memory

What is your earliest memory?

It must have been spring or summer because it was warm enough to go out side with out a coat. My family lived in Trumbull, Connecticut. I would hear the sound and run outside and look up into the sky. There would be wave after wave after wave of four-engine bombers heading to Europe. I saw many hundreds of them. Of course, at that time I didn’t know there was a war and where or what Europe was.

Probably 1944. I would have been 3 years old at the time.

I'm Pissed

Where did the exemption for being over 65 years of age and for being blind go ? ?

My tax software doesn’t mention it. And I pay taxes on 85 %, that is 85 percent, of the social security that I and Mrs. Chief receive each month. My taxes keep going up and President Nitwit McChimp keeps getting lower taxes for his uber-rich buddies.

There isn’t much I as an individual can do, but I guarantee I will not ever vote for a Republican. And the spineless Democrats may lose my vote also.

the Three "ins"

The 3 “Ins”

Intolerance – I never, not even once, heard either of my parents use an ethnic slur. When people outside the family were referred to they were, as appropriate, Jews or Negroes or Germans or whatever. Never an ethnic slur.

Now I don’t want anyone to think that I think that I am perfect. But my level of tolerance far exceeds whatever might pass for a national norm. Any conduct or person that will not affect me physically is most likely not going to have a negative response from me. Everything from two elderly couples saying grace before eating in a restaurant to someone finding joy and happiness with another of the same sex is “Okay” with me, because it won’t affect me physically.

Indifference – Encarta’s definition:

in·dif·fer·ence

1. lack of interest in something: lack of interest, care, or concern
2. unimportance: lack of importance or significance
It’s a matter of complete indifference to me whether you go or stay.
3. low quality: ordinariness or lack of quality

Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Not caring? Whether one abuses a pet or their job, when they put up with poor quality in either their job output, in items they purchase in the marketplace or with their elected officials or when they walk away from a relationship without really trying, it pulls at the essence of who I am.

Incompetence – When you don’t know you are doing a lousy job or when the boss hires a friend or political crony. When I worked for the Federal government I saw a lot of incompetence due to cronyism. In today’s world, the appointment of political hacks by the Bush maladministration, has brought ‘incompetence’ to a new level.

There you have it, the three ‘ins-‘ - intolerance, indifference and incompetence. I have fought all three as best I could in both my professional and personal life.

Democratic elections - hypocrite

I may have conflicted views about the "rightness" of carving a country out of lands occupied by another people. I DO understand the arguments about the necessity of the Jews having a country of their own, especially after The Holocaust.

However, if the U.S. in the form of President Bush is so all-fired happy over the three elections that took place in Iraq in the past 10 months, why aren't they happy about the outcome of the 25 January elections in Palestine?? Could it be that the outcome is more important than the process??

WW III Prelude ??

First the French want to nuke em
Then Israel hints military strike
Then a blurb on FOX news on how the US would strike with 400 planes.
Who is going to out do who first?

Are we looking at the preamble of WWIII?

Mine Safety misAdministration

I live in extreme southern Illinois, in Williamson County, where coal has been king for close to 100 years. There are a lot of coal miners, ex-miners and retired miners in this part of the country. I have friends that are miners, ex-miners and retired miners and I’ll be the first to admit that I would never ever work in an underground mine. I would starve before I would down in a dark hole.

But we have a gentleman here in southern Illinois who is an ex-miner. At something past the age of fifty he received a PhD a few years ago. He apparently has a job as both a reporter and a columnist at the local newspaper. I say apparently” because after the paper changed hands about six years ago the newspaper turned into being a shill for the neo-con agenda, I decided that I will not pay for it and seldom read it.

Not having read Mr. Muir’s original column, all I have to present is a “Letter to the Editor” commenting on it that appeared in The Southern Illinoisan on 20 Jan.

Jim Muir's self-promoting column about the tragedy at Sago Mine seems designed mostly to remind readers that as a former miner, he comes from the salt of the earth.

As both reporter and columnist (strange combination, to say the least), he has an obligation to use his resources and influence to inform the public about some of the realities behind the tragedy, something he outright refuses to do.

Because the realities will likely not support Muir's politics, he resorts to hand-wringing and focusing on only personal aspects of the tragedy.

When will Muir inform us that Richard Stickler, Bush's appointee to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has 20 years experience in managing mines (with accident rates rumored to be twice the national average?)

When will he reveal Bush's millions of dollars in cuts in MSHA's coal safety enforcement program (cutting 170 inspectors), that Bush eliminated the chest X-ray program and reduced dust monitoring and compliance follow-up?

And when will Muir reveal that ICG acquired Sago and other mines like it only after former owners went to bankruptcy court and got the union contracts voided?

By refusing to speak out about the political cronyism and corporate coddling that helped lead to this disaster, Muir is actually shunning his mining background, because, to use his own words, miners are "outspoken" and "not afraid to stand up for what they believe in."

Joan Friedenberg, Carbondale

And now we have a second mine tragedy just a short time after the most recent preceding one. Just why did the U.S. Congress give mine owners immunity from negligence in these very avoidable tragedys ??

Abramoff

From http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/

The Abramoff scandal is about corrupt lobbying and money laundering, which was coordinated at the highest levels of the party, run by the majority leader of the House of representatives. But that's just one of many corrupt GOP practices. There are the perjury and obstruction cases in the CIA leak investigation. And the SEC investigation into the majority leader of the Senate. There are the numerous payola and propaganda schemes. Bribes on the floor of the House. Crooked Pentagon appropriations and missing billions in Iraq. Dirty tricks in New Hampshire. Hiding the real cost of the prescription drug program (and Billy Tauzin being on Pharma take when he got it passed.) The list goes on and on.

If you don’t have the power to set the agenda or influence the outcome, who is going to pay you? This is a problem caused by a corrupt Republican majority.

Baseball - Again

From the Kansas City Star:

World Baseball federation threatens U.S.

Associated Press

NEW YORK - Baseball's world governing body has threatened to withdraw its sanctioning of the World Baseball Classic unless the Bush administration allows Cuba to compete.
Rich Levin, a spokesman for the commissioner's office, said Friday that a letter was faxed from International Baseball Federation president Aldo Notari, informing Major League Baseball of the IBAF's decision.
It is unclear whether the 16-team tournament, scheduled for March 3-20, would go forward without the IBAF's sanction. The tournament is being jointly administered by Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association.
Notari's letter was first reported Thursday by the Toronto Sun.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control in mid-December denied the request for a license to allow Cuba to participate. The license is necessary because of U.S. laws governing certain commercial transactions with the Fidel Castro-controlled nation.
Baseball reapplied on Dec. 22 after Cuba said it would donate any money it earned from its participation to victims of Hurricane Katrina. The commissioner's office and the union said OFAC had not told them of its decision on the revised application.
"We're hopeful that Cuba will be able to play," Levin said.

I posted my thoughts a few weeks ago regarding this issue by reprinting an article by Ronald Blum, an AP baseball writer. My opinion has not changed.

Apparently the rest of the world has more sense than the Treasury Dept’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The United States has had at least 46 years of a wrong-headed policy towards Cuba. And now some influential (read: really rich) person is going to be out some bucks if the tournament is cancelled.

Stay tuned.

A Prescription for a Better Way

Check out this real powerful post by ReddHedd over at firedoglake. I think that more than divisive issues such as gay marriage, the teaching of intelligent design in science classes or trying to spread fear about terrorism, fighting for the common person’s financial security would put the average Democratic candidate on the moral high ground. Being for those things that will put the average person on an even footing with large corporations will go a long way in reducing the influence of the neo-cons and evangelicals in the U.S.A.

Check out ReddHedd

http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_firedoglake_archive.html#113655685244706409

Credit card - minimum payment

I saw several television pieces about how credit card companies/banks were being forced by federal regulators to raise the minimum monthly payment. Interesting.

Remember that the banks and credit card industry folks were the ‘prime movers’ behind the bankruptcy “overhaul” bill that will make some folks virtual slaves.

Now the credit card companies/banks are going to raise rates (and if you believe the fairy tale that government regulators are ‘forcing’ them to do it, I have a prime piece of real estate for you in south Florida) and once a person is late on one payment, their interest rates on all of their cards are going to go thru the roof.

Best Congress money can buy.

New Year

Obviously, I cannot tell what the future will bring. But the last half of 2005 was extremely positive. Mrs. Chief and I have made some decisions, drawn up a plan (timetable) and are implementing the plan. We are getting our financial house in order. We are paying a lot extra on the credit cards with the goal of having them paid off with-in two years. And we will not use any credit cards unless absolutely essential. The car will be paid off in a year.

We are going to move. Mrs. Chief’s Mom & Step-dad, who are both 80 years old, live about seven hours from us. We are going to move to small town, that we lived in, in the ‘70s, about an hour from her Mom.

We have been remodeling our current home with just one bedroom, the main bath and the stairs/hallway left to do. Hope to put the house on the market in late spring.

Part of the plan is to buy a less expensive home and put down a substantial down-payment from the proceeds from the sale of this house.

Those are the steps we plan to make. I’ll keep you posted.

It must be Duke Rumsfield

After reading this piece from the L.A. Times there should be no wonder on how/why the situation in Iraq is FUBARed.

12:52 AM PST, December 29, 2005 latimes.com : National Politics Print

Chiefs Demoted in Pentagon Succession Line
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON -- Heading a military service isn't quite the position of power it used to be. In a Bush administration revision of plans for Pentagon succession in a doomsday scenario, three of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's most loyal advisers moved ahead of the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

A little-noticed holiday week executive order from President Bush moved the Pentagon's intelligence chief to the No. 3 spot in the succession hierarchy behind Rumsfeld. The second spot would be the deputy secretary of defense, but that position currently is vacant. The Army secretary, which long held the No. 3 spot, was dropped to sixth.

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The changes, announced last week, are the second in six months and reflect the administration's new emphasis on intelligence gathering versus combat in 21st century war fighting.

Technically, the line of succession is assigned to specific positions, rather than the current individuals holding those jobs.

But in its current incarnation, the doomsday plan moves to near the top three undersecretaries who are Rumsfeld loyalists and who previously worked for Vice President Dick Cheney when he was defense secretary.

The changes were recommended, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, because the three undersecretaries have "a broad knowledge and perspective of overall Defense Department operations." The service leaders are more focused on training, equipping and leading a particular military service, said Whitman.

Thomas Donnelly, a defense expert with the American Enterprise Institute, said the changes make it easier for the administration to assert political control and could lead to more narrow-minded decisions.

"It continues to devalue the services as institutions," said Donnelly, saying it will centralize power and shift it away from the services, where there is generally more military expertise.

Under the new plan, Rumsfeld ally Stephen Cambone, the undersecretary for intelligence, moved up to the third spot. Former Ambassador Eric Edelman, the policy undersecretary, and Kenneth Krieg, the undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, hold the fourth and fifth positions.

The first to succeed Rumsfeld remains the deputy secretary, a position currently vacant because the Senate has not confirmed Bush's nominee -- current Navy Secretary Gordon England.

Senators have already approved Donald Winter to be England's replacement as Navy chief, and it is expected that Bush will eventually move England into the No. 2 Pentagon job without congressional approval through a recess appointment.

The new succession order bumps the Navy secretary to near the bottom of the line of succession -- eighth behind the deputy, the three Pentagon undersecretaries and the Army and Air Force secretaries.

The Army secretary historically has been third in line, right behind the deputy secretary.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, intelligence gathering has taken center stage. Earlier this year, Bush named former ambassador John Negroponte as the country's first director of national intelligence, charged with overseeing the government's 15 highly competitive spy agencies.

In spring 2003, Rumsfeld installed Cambone -- one of his closest aides -- in the new job of intelligence undersecretary.

Smoking -- Tobacco

Twenty years ago today

I QUIT SMOKING

I have not used any tobacco products since.

Pakistan

This is a long and, to me, disgusting read. And Bush calls Pakistan our ally in the so-called war on terror. With allies like this we do not need any enemies.

Warning: Keep as barf bag within reach.

Source: AP/Yahoo

Pakistani Killed Daughters to Save 'Honor'

Wednesday, December 28, 2005
MULTAN, Pakistan - Nazir Ahmed appears calm and unrepentant as he recounts how he slit the throats of his three young daughters and their 25-year old stepsister to salvage his family's "honor" - a crime that shocked Pakistan.
The 40-year old laborer, speaking to The Associated Press in police detention as he was being shifted to prison, confessed to just one regret - that he didn't murder the stepsister's alleged lover too.
Hundreds of girls and women are murdered by male relatives each year in this conservative Islamic nation, and rights groups said Wednesday such "honor killings" will only stop when authorities get serious about punishing perpetrators.
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said that in more than half of such cases that make it to court, most end with cash settlements paid by relatives to the victims' families, although under a law passed last year, the minimum penalty is 10 years, the maximum death by hanging.
Ahmed's killing spree - witnessed by his wife Rehmat Bibi as she cradled their 3 month-old baby son - happened Friday night at their home in the cotton-growing village of Gago Mandi in eastern Punjab province.
It is the latest of more than 260 such honor killings documented by the rights commission, mostly from media reports, during the first 11 months of 2005.
Bibi recounted how she was woken by a shriek as Ahmed put his hand to the mouth of his stepdaughter Muqadas and cut her throat with a machete. Bibi looked helplessly on from the corner of the room as he then killed the three girls - Bano, 8, Sumaira, 7, and Humaira, 4 - pausing between the slayings to brandish the bloodstained knife at his wife, warning her not to intervene or raise alarm.
"I was shivering with fear. I did not know how to save my daughters," Bibi, sobbing, told AP by phone from the village. "I begged my husband to spare my daughters but he said, 'If you make a noise, I will kill you.'"
"The whole night the bodies of my daughters lay in front of me," she said.
The next morning, Ahmed was arrested.
Speaking to AP in the back of police pickup truck late Tuesday as he was shifted to a prison in the city of Multan, Ahmed showed no contrition. Appearing disheveled but composed, he said he killed Muqadas because she had committed adultery, and his daughters because he didn't want them to do the same when they grew up.
He said he bought a butcher's knife and a machete after midday prayers on Friday and hid them in the house where he carried out the killings.
"I thought the younger girls would do what their eldest sister had done, so they should be eliminated," he said, his hands cuffed, his face unshaven. "We are poor people and we have nothing else to protect but our honor."
Despite Ahmed's contention that Muqadas had committed adultery - a claim made by her husband - the rights commission reported that according to local people, Muqadas had fled her husband because he had abused her and forced her to work in a brick-making factory.
Police have said they do not know the identity or whereabouts of Muqadas' alleged lover.
Muqadas was Bibi's daughter by her first marriage to Ahmed's brother, who died 14 years ago. Ahmed married his brother's widow, as is customary under Islamic tradition.
"Women are treated as property and those committing crimes against them do not get punished," said the rights commission's director, Kamla Hyat. "The steps taken by our government have made no real difference."
Activists accuse President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a self-styled moderate Muslim, of reluctance to reform outdated Islamized laws that make it difficult to secure convictions in rape, acid attacks and other cases of violence against women. They say police are often reluctant to prosecute, regarding such crimes as family disputes.
Statistics on honor killings are confused and imprecise, but figures from the rights commission's Web site and its officials show a marked reduction in cases this year: 267 in the first 11 months of 2005, compared with 579 during all of 2004. The Ministry of Women's Development said it had no reliable figures.
Ijaz Elahi, the ministry's joint secretary, said the violence was decreasing and that increasing numbers of victims were reporting incidents to police or the media. Laws, including one passed last year to beef up penalties for honor killings, had been toughened, she said.
Police in Multan said they would complete their investigation into Ahmed's case in the next two weeks and that he faces the death sentence if he is convicted for the killings and terrorizing his neighborhood.
Ahmed, who did not resist arrest, was unrepentant.
"I told the police that I am an honorable father and I slaughtered my dishonored daughter and the three other girls," he said. "I wish that I get a chance to eliminate the boy she ran away with and set his home on fire."

John McCain

There was a time when I admired John McCain. The Naval Avaitor, the former-POW and now a U.S. Senator, he was, at least to me, a leader, a person with convictions, a straight-shooter who was not afraid to tell you the way it was.

I don’t know what has come over John McCain in the last year and a half or so. Perhaps it is his lusting after the Republican Presidential nomination. I don’t know, I can’t say. But ever since he waffled on the confederate flag issue before the South Carolina primary in 2004, he has not presented the picture that I had of him as a decisive, principled leader.

The Senator’s most recent remark on MTV http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/108592 “Let the student decide” is but the latest in a series of public utterances where it appears that he is trying ingratiate himself with the evangelical wing of the Republican party.

Whether I could ever bring myself to vote for a Republican for President is doubtful. And I can guarantee you that any Democrat would get my vote before the John McCain we now see in the public arena.

Man on Earth

For me, buying a book is a very personal thing. Fiction or non-fiction, I want to spend at least a few minutes to determine if the author’s “style” is readable to me. So, when we had supper over a friend’s house a week before Christmas, I was surprised to receive a book as a gift.

“Man on Earth: A Celebration of Mankind” by John Reader published in 1988 by the University of Texas Press, is a melding of anthropology and sociology.

The author spends approximately 20 pages each covering twelve social groups, for example, rice growers in Bali and alpine pastoralists in Torbel, Switzerland. The reader discovers that society has been subsisting on the same relatively small parcel of ground for up to one thousand years.

The rice growers in Bali have terraced the sides of steep hills in order to grow rice in small irrigated plots. Each plot grows three crops a year and with the plots being flooded for only part of the growing cycle, it is timed so that when the up hill plot is done with the water the plot immediately below it needs it. And so on down the hill.

The community in Torbel has about 2000 acres which has supported the same 12 family lines that have lived with their cows on this piece of land for 1000 years.

So far I have only read the first five of 12 chapters. The over-riding theme appears to be that each group has survived for an extended period of time by finding a way to live in harmony with nature and by not exploiting nature for a maximum, short term profit.

When I finish the book, I will let you know if my initial assessment holds up.

Letter to my Rep in the House of Representatives

I mailed the block quoted letter to Rep John Shimkus (R- Illinois 19th Cong District) today.

December 26, 2005

Congressman John Shimkus
513 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515


Dear Representative Shimkus,

I have been following the media’s coverage of the President’s use of NSA to monitor communications. I am hoping you can answer, for me, the following question:

Does the President have the Constitutional authority to violate criminal laws whenever he judges, in his sole discretion, that those laws might interfere with defending the country?

Sincerely,

As both Illinois Senators are Democrats, I did not think it necessary to communicate with them.

Christmas . . . More

From "just a bump on the Beltway" via Liberty Street comes this:

The Inn Within

A very brief reflection on this Christmas Day... time on the Internet isn't (and frankly, shouldn't be) superabundant on this day.

One of the enduringly poignant elements of the Christmas story is that Jesus and his parents weren't allowed a room at an inn. If we're to honor the spirit and meaning of Christmas, we must see the Baby Jesus in the guise of all the others who lack room at the inns and homes of America. Then, having made this connection, we must make room in our hearts and our lives for these same folks. Our hearts must become the inns and shelters where Jesus--the incarnate God who endures within every one of us--can be revealed, acknowledged and celebrated.

For the poor to have an inn in which to sleep and rest, they must first find an inn within the hearts of people like you and me. Remember "the inn within yourself" this Christmas, and encourage others to make room for Jesus in the most sacred dwelling place of all: your own very large heart.

Merry Christmas.

Much better said than my previous post.

Christmas

What exactly were we celebrating on December 25 ?? Yeah, yeah, I know the fairy tale about “no room at the inn” and “being born in a manger.”

But where in any writings from antiquity do we get any information that supports this myth? Or that his birth came in the dead of winter? Or even what year he was born?

And Jesus was a Jew, he was a Palestinian, he was a rabble-
rouser, he did not like the established order. Yet, we, as a society spend lavish amounts of money on untold and unneeded gifts each December in an effort to honor Jesus birth?

We have truly lost sight of Jesus’ message.

John Yoo

Is it called hubris when you think that all those in your profession who came before you did not know how to interpret the law but you do? Yes if we take the definition of hubris to be pride: excessive pride or arrogance
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

So how does John Yoo become the first lawyer ever to interpret the law to mean that the United States does not have to follow the Geneva Conventions, that the Constitution does not apply to the executive and redefine torture.

Granted, not all the best legal minds ever get selected for the Supreme Court and there are a lot of brilliant law professors at the many law schools in the country. But no one, not even one, has come up with the cock-eyed approach that Mr. Yoo has.

Even Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, at best a centrist, and more likely a conservative, wrote "a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the Nation's citizens” as part of a critique of Mr. Yoo’s legal writings.

I believe that President Bush has ‘hung his hat’ on a bogus legal opinion.

Norman Vaughn - Normal Hero

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/253332_vaughn24.html

Norman Vaughan: 1905-2005: Antarctic explorer, Iditarod elder
Saturday, December 24, 2005

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Norman Vaughan, a dog handler and driver in Adm. Richard Byrd's 1928 expedition to the South Pole, died Friday, just a few days after turning 100 years old.

Vaughan died at Providence Alaska Medical Center surrounded by family and friends, nursing supervisor Martha George said.

He was well enough Dec. 17 to enjoy a birthday celebration at the hospital attended by more than 100 friends and hospital workers. His actual birthday was Monday.

Vaughan's motto was "Dream big and dare to fail." Days before his 89th birthday, he and his wife, Carolyn Muegge-Vaughan, returned to Antarctica and climbed to the summit of 10,320-foot Mount Vaughan, the mountain Byrd named in his honor.

Molly

This is a picture of Molly. More about her later. Before Molly came Digger, so named because she dug shallow holes in which to lay, under the mock orange bushes. Digger wandered in in the summer of '92. She departed from the canine equivilent of Hodgkin's disease on 1 Jul 04. Because of Digger's long coat we had no clue as to large lymph nodes that were trying to fight her disease.

This shattered Mrs. Chief & me. More that in another post. Our family physician has a brother who is veteranarian. A year ago he suggested we see if his brother had any 'rescue' dogs. Someone had brought Molly in as she had been living behind a local Ford dealership. After saying we'd take her they spayed her for free and she came home with us on 4 Jan 05, almost a year ago.

Except for the coloration, she has all the traits of a border collie. She tries to herd our four cats. She is light on her feet and has 100 pounds of energy bundled up in a 35 pound body.

Although we will not forget Digger, Molly has brought a lot of joy to our house.

Baseball

“By RONALD BLUM, AP Baseball Writer

NEW YORK - Cuba won't be allowed to send a team to next year's inaugural World Baseball Classic, the U.S. government told event organizers Wednesday.

The decision by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control was conveyed to Major League Baseball on Wednesday, according to Pat Courtney, a spokesman for the commissioner's office.”

On the 19 January 1960 briefing of incoming-President John Kennedy, Eisenhower advocated support of “guerrilla operations” in Cuba, even if this involved the United States publicly, and stated that Washington could not let Castro’s government go on.

It is almost 46 years since that meeting between Eisenhower and Kennedy. Certainly, Cuba is crumbling in many places, but Castro is still in power and all that U.S. policy has done is keep some Cuban exiles and refugees in southern Florida happy.

Maybe it is time to re-examine the U.S. approach to Cuba. Maybe someone could bring a little less dogma and a little more common sense to our relations with the sovereign nation of Cuba.

Proper Role of Government

Just for a minute or at least until you finish reading this, please put aside any notions of what the terms liberal, conservative, neo-con, Christian, Evangelical Christian or God-less atheist mean and the emotions that you connect to those terms. Just for a couple of minutes. And please consider the following.

Suppose you are a large corporation. Large enough to be a major, if not dominant, player in your chosen market. You make lots of products. You are generally well received by the public. You do not, I emphasize NOT, knowingly make products that, if used for their designed purpose, will harm or kill anyone.

But suppose you have a product that you have put a lot of time and money into developing. We’re talking about enough money that if it fails it will have a negative effect on your profits and on your stock price. But as far as top management is concerned this product has no defects. And the product goes on sale and profits are up. Then, maybe two years after the product is on the market a major defect is discovered.

What follows depends on how and even if a government agency gets involved. My premise and belief is that, like some folks say, “government is not the answer.” But good government should level the playing field. None of us reading this blog can stop a large corporation from selling a defective product. My refusal to eat beef for the last 21 months has not forced the National Beef Cattleman’s Association to encourage their members to test more cattle for “mad cow disease.”

None of us individually nor, generally, collectively have enough clout to force the offending corporation to cease selling the defective product. Boycott the company and all of its’ products? There are plenty of eager customers to take your place. This is where, in my opinion, government has a proper role of stepping in and forcing by, whatever means are necessary, the company to withdraw or recall and fix the offending product.

But, if I were to use some of my before profit income to support a think tank that would rail against the excesses of big government and then find supportive media that would publicize and popularize the notion that “government is the Problem” eventually I would have compliant government agencies.

The United States is way past that stage. We have a government that is actively reducing these agencies effectiveness by drastically cutting their funding.

So while Big Government may not be the answer, large corporations running the country is not working. The term “Big Government” has a lot of negative baggage. What is needed is short, succinct phrase that describes a government that is as fair to the individual citizen as it is to the large corporation.

Gross Incompetence

I hear that ABC is saying that Bush is nominating Roberts to also be Chief Justice. It could be worse (maybe), it could have been Scalia he nominated to be CJ.

I can only hope the Dems filibuster this to death.

We've seem gross incompetence in Iraq and now what has happened after Katrina has to be criminal. Obviously, the guilty parties will not resign and with a Repub Congress, impeachment is out of the question.

Whi is in Charge

One of the biggest problems in the aftermath of Katrina is that no one person is in charge. Command & control is non-existant.

One entity, doen't make a darn who, but one entity needs to be in charge. But we have three or four in charge. FEMA, National Guard, State Police.

These folks are beyond incompetent. They are criminally culpable.

Money, Corps of Engineers, Money

Hey, folks, check this out:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20050606/ai_n14657367

Questions: How long, while Livingston was in the House, did NOLA get so much money they had difficulty spending it?

I'm certainly not one to defend Bushhco, and the response has been abysmal, but did the Corps of Engineers get more money than they could spend for a decade, two decades?

Remember, before Landriau, La had a male senator by the name of Breaux, Democrat, I believe.

Except for the abysmal response and the Cat 5 Katrina, this problem did not pop up overnight. It was a disaster just waiting to happen.

Maybe the country needs a good public policy debate on whether or not we want to spend public monies to protect people who choose to live in places that have a much higher than average probability chance of a natural disaster.

Twelve years ago in 1993, there was serious flooding along the upper Mississippi. In the years after the flood the federal government bought out many of the people living in the areas that flooded.

I understand that we can’t buy out NOLA but we could have discussions on levees, Ponchartrain, living along the coast where the storm surge will eliminate your house.

Katrina Damage

The reality is that no matter which party the states’ electoral votes went to, Katrina was going to come and spread utter devastation. From watching CNN Headline News I come away with . . . well, the devastation is so overwhelming, so total and with at least two levee breaches, so continuing that it seems to be beyond comprehension or experience to put it in perspective.

It has been over a year since the hurricanes hit central Florida last year. The damage was in no way comparable to Katrina’s. Yet there are thousands in Florida still living in temporary quarters and waiting for repairs to structures and roofs. With millions of people having their homes destroyed by Katrina, how long will it take to return their lives to normalcy? A decade?

Try to imagine what needs to be done. Building supplies (a massive amount) need to be secured. Cleanup on a scale never before contemplated needs to be done before re-construction can begin. This isn’t even considering the millions that will not be able to work and therefore no paycheck because their place of employment no longer exists of will be closed for an extended period of time.

And after the clean-up is done and building supplies are in place, where are the tens of thousands of skilled building tradespeople going to be found?

This can't be "business as usual."

From the BluegrassReport website:

http://www.bluegrassreport.org/bluegrass_politics/

State Rep. Mike Cherry of Princeton said he was surprised by

Gov. Ernie Fletcher's pardon of anyone indicted as part of

the state government hiring probe.
. . .

However, issuing pardons raises the controversy to a new level that
Cherry said is likely to attract the attention of average Kentuckians.

"People will look at it as another nagging disappointment of the
governor's performance," Cherry said. "They don't expect it of
this administration and this governor, who was sent to
Frankfort to clean things up and not do business as usual."

“Business as usual” by the first Republican governor in 30-something years. Me thinks Rep. Cherry is being disingenuous at best.

What's Fair - Government Regulation or Free Market

I heard a report where the Governor of Illinois has promised to prosecute gas stations that price gouge on gasoline. And I see a second report that the State of Hawaii has capped gas prices at $2.74.

Should a gas station be allowed to charge 'all the market will bear?' Should government tax 'windfall' profits at a rate higher than other profits? Is government in place to protect the consumer, the business person, neither or both.

According to classical economic theory, the market will adjust. In other words, over the long run, if, for example, a gas station charges too much, a competitor will come along that will charge a lower price and the first gas station will be forced to lower prices to keep its' customers.

That is theory. The real world is much more complicated. There are licenses, start-up costs, supply and acquisition problems, local politics and more that can keep a potential competitor from being an actual competitor.

Once an enterprise has a substantial chunk of its’ market, it can take decades (if at all) for a competitor to pose a significant enough challenge to force the enterprise to respond.

But, government can and does make decisions that can change the landscape in unexpected ways. Example: railroads were the way to transport everything in this country for a hundred years. The Eisenhauer Administration made a decision to build an interstate highway system. The decline and demise of the railroad industry can be traced back to that decision. A lot of people who owned stock in a lot of railroads lost all the money they had invested as the vast majority of railroads eventually went bankrupt.

Do you as a consumer the government to legislate against price gouging or do you want to pay whatever the business person wants to charge knowing that, as the owner of an IRA, the value of the stocks/mutual funds you hold will increase at a double digit rate?

My question: Is it governments place to regulate a free market? And if the answer is ‘Yes’, than ‘how’ and ‘how much’?

But they are not shielded from federal charges

Way back in 1517, Martin Luther got a little upset with the only Christian church then in existence and posted about 95 of his complaints on the door of the church at Wittenburg. What really pissed old Marty off was the sale of indulgences, which is the sale of forgiveness for future sins.

Well, look what is happening in our "Old Kentucky Home " state. The Governor is pardoning a whole bunch of folks. Seems a Special Grand Jury is looking into some dealings and the Governor is taking a preemptive strike. Find it here:

http://www.bluegrassreport.org/bluegrass_politics/

You'll need to scroll down as I do not yet know how to create a URL that hits the exact spot.

This may not be unprecedented but what in the world would make a Governor do this.

Support the Troops

I spent 21 years of my life protecting the United States of America from all enemies, domestic or foreign, as a member of the United States Navy. I am proud that I had the opportunity to serve. I was healthy and had enough education to qualify to serve. Not everyone is that lucky.

I feel that all Americans owe some measure of thanks to each and every person who served in the Armed Forces. Not all were in harm’s way, but any individual could have been. That was part of the deal. Uncle Sam fed me, housed, me and paid me and I went where I was sent and did the best job I could.

Having said that, I have had this question running around in my head for well over a year and I’m going to lay it out. What exactly does “Support the Troops” mean? I am stymied on this one.

• Does it mean I support the Bush Administration?
• Does it mean I should visit Veterans at a VA hospital? Help with their PT or cheer them up?
  
• Should I help with the bills for a National Guard soldier who has to file bankruptcy because she/he has had to take a pay cut to serve her/his country?

Conversely, does opposing the Bush Administration policies regarding Iraq automatically mean I am not Supporting the Troops.

Yes, I am confused. Just what does “Support the Troops” mean? Maybe just some good examples of how to "Support the Troops" would be sufficient.

Katrina is one big storm that is almost on top of New Orleans as I type. Here is a URL for a NOAA site that has a loop of the storm: radar.weather.gov/radar/loop/DS.p20-r/si.klix.shtml

I've experienced several hurricanes, some at sea on Navy ships and others on land, but nothing as big as this monster appears to be.

Why are we so polarized?

When things seem so obvious, why can not others see? Is it because they don't have time? Working two jobs can really eat into your free time. Or maybe being the head of a single parent household, with some children, ya know meeting with teachers, going to ball games, fixing meals, getting the car repaired all take a lot of time.

Maybe it is just easier to relax watching Survivor, American Idol or The Apprentice. I don't know. Never been there.

I was lucky. My parents were married 44 years before Dad died. I've been married only once but it will be 45 years next February. I am a "life long learner." Got a bachelor's degree at age 62. Am currently studying the roots of monotheism.

I understand that I am different. Yet, I still have difficulty with those who believe as gospel the sound bites that pass for news and political advertisments.