LADIES . . . READ AND HEED
1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do : The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do it. Put a fist inside the palm of the other hand and swing hard. Aim for the spot above the belly button!
2.. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you....Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!
3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. THIS HAS SAVED LIVES.
4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc. DON'T DO THIS! The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go.
AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK BOTH DOORS AND PULL AWAY.
If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, Repeat: DO NOT DRIVE OFF! Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it. As soon as the car crashes, bail out and run. It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.
5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:
A.) BE AWARE: look around, look in your car, the passenger side floor, and the back seat.
B.) If you are PARKED NEXT TO A VAN, enter your car from the passenger’s door. Most killers attack their victims by pulling them into the van while they are attempting to get into their car.
C.) Look at the cars parked on both sides of your vehicle,
If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk away. Go back to the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)
6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. Both are horrible places to be alone, but elevators have HELP buttons. This is especially true at NIGHT!
7. If the predator has a gun and you are not yet under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit a running target 4 in 100 times; and even then, it most likely WILL NOT be fatal. RUN, IN A ZIG -ZAG PATTERN!
8. Women, are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked 'for help' into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.
9. Another Safety Point:
A friend heard a baby crying on her porch, and she called the police because it was late. The police told her 'Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.' The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, 'We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.'
He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear babies’ cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night.
10. Water scam! If you wake up in the middle of the night to hear water running outside, or what you think is a burst pipe, DO NOT GO OUT TO INVESTIGATE! These people turn on all your outside taps full blast so that you will go out to investigate and then attack you and rob your home.
Sunday, April 19, 2020
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
After my initiation as a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy, the judge gave a speech that charged us with “first and foremost, look after your men.” I assume that “frocked” Chiefs of today are equally charged to take care of those sailors assigned to perform duties under their supervision.
Commanding officers rely on subordinate officers to carry out essential orders in their respective departments to “fight the ship.” Those division officers rely on their respective Chief Petty Officers to function effectively in keeping their division manned and ready, by training and assigning sailors to perform expeditiously what they have been taught to do, to work as a team.
This is the “Chain of Command.” Going “up the chain” means that sailors tell or ask the Chief what is needed, the Chief reports to the Division Officer, who goes to the Department Head, who goes to the Executive Officer, and he goes to the Commanding officer.
Off the ship, the chain continues to Fleet Commanders, Staffs ashore, finally to the Secretary of the Navy. His boss is the DoD and his boss is the President.
So, what happens if the chain is broken by one of the links not responding effectively? Does the problem go away, does the ship “take it in stride” or does the downward chain from the Commander to the “seaman deuce” suffer the consequence?
Can a Commander go “outside” the chain of command? Yes, he can. I’ve seen it done. It happens in every department in the Navy. It’s called “trade offs.” For instance, between two ship’s supply departments, I’ll trade you coffee (which I have in abundance) for toilet paper (which is needed).
See http://submarinesailor.com/History/toiletpaper.asp
Having read Capt. Crozier’s letter in its entirety at: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Exclusive-Captain-of-aircraft-carrier-with-15167883.php (you have to scroll down the page to get to the actual letter.) IMHO it says nothing out of the ordinary, he’s telling his superiors the facts and request space be set aside in Guam (their current location) because CDCs requirements for “social distancing” cannot be achieved on board the ship.
His mistake, according to ‘national security’ was the way the letter was transmitted, i.e., over unsecured and unencrypted channels. The contents were never challenged for being inaccurate, only the way it was handled and no one is concerned about the leak to the San Francisco chronicle. When the sh*t hit the fan, bureaucrats in the Navy Department became unglued.
The Assistant Secretary of the Navy took the knee-jerk reaction to relieve Capt. Crozier.
For what? Oh, yes, going outside the chain-of-command, which he clearly did NOT do, it was because the SF Chronicle published the letter, embarrassing the SecNav and SecDef.
On April 5th, Capt. Crozier tests positive for the coronavirus.
Asst SecNav Thomas B. Modly resigned.
I’m waiting to see if the Commander-in-Chief restores Capt. Crozier to command.
Commanding officers rely on subordinate officers to carry out essential orders in their respective departments to “fight the ship.” Those division officers rely on their respective Chief Petty Officers to function effectively in keeping their division manned and ready, by training and assigning sailors to perform expeditiously what they have been taught to do, to work as a team.
This is the “Chain of Command.” Going “up the chain” means that sailors tell or ask the Chief what is needed, the Chief reports to the Division Officer, who goes to the Department Head, who goes to the Executive Officer, and he goes to the Commanding officer.
Off the ship, the chain continues to Fleet Commanders, Staffs ashore, finally to the Secretary of the Navy. His boss is the DoD and his boss is the President.
So, what happens if the chain is broken by one of the links not responding effectively? Does the problem go away, does the ship “take it in stride” or does the downward chain from the Commander to the “seaman deuce” suffer the consequence?
Can a Commander go “outside” the chain of command? Yes, he can. I’ve seen it done. It happens in every department in the Navy. It’s called “trade offs.” For instance, between two ship’s supply departments, I’ll trade you coffee (which I have in abundance) for toilet paper (which is needed).
See http://submarinesailor.com/History/toiletpaper.asp
Having read Capt. Crozier’s letter in its entirety at: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Exclusive-Captain-of-aircraft-carrier-with-15167883.php (you have to scroll down the page to get to the actual letter.) IMHO it says nothing out of the ordinary, he’s telling his superiors the facts and request space be set aside in Guam (their current location) because CDCs requirements for “social distancing” cannot be achieved on board the ship.
His mistake, according to ‘national security’ was the way the letter was transmitted, i.e., over unsecured and unencrypted channels. The contents were never challenged for being inaccurate, only the way it was handled and no one is concerned about the leak to the San Francisco chronicle. When the sh*t hit the fan, bureaucrats in the Navy Department became unglued.
The Assistant Secretary of the Navy took the knee-jerk reaction to relieve Capt. Crozier.
For what? Oh, yes, going outside the chain-of-command, which he clearly did NOT do, it was because the SF Chronicle published the letter, embarrassing the SecNav and SecDef.
On April 5th, Capt. Crozier tests positive for the coronavirus.
Asst SecNav Thomas B. Modly resigned.
I’m waiting to see if the Commander-in-Chief restores Capt. Crozier to command.
Monday, April 6, 2020
When I was in the Navy, a fellow sailor tried to sell me on a mutual fund. I asked how he made his money, and he said he got three percent of what I gave him to invest. I thought that over and realized I had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever when it came to investing. At the library I picked out a book by Mark Skoussen on mutual funds; he wrote mutual funds charge investors when they buy shares, known as a front-end load, or if they sell shares, known as a back-end load. He recommended a company that had a no-load policy, (front or back), and how to invest without a broker/salesman. My first investment was in a no-load mutual fund, and I’m with it to this day.
Then I read about Warren Buffett, and Peter Lynch. When the internet blossomed, I learned they were gurus, but they had big bucks. What’s a poor sailor to do?
What Is a Dividend?
I learned about investing in companies that offered dividends to stockholders. To understand a dividend, you must first understand why investors buy stocks. Shareholders have two rights. They help elect a board of directors to run the company, and they are entitled to a share of that company's profits. If a company declares a 25-cent quarterly dividend and you own 100 shares of that company, you will receive a $25 payment. If that payment remains consistent for a year, you would be paid $100 just for owning those 100 shares. Some companies may conserve cash by offering payment in the form of additional shares of stock.
How Does a Dividend Work?
You buy a certain number of a company's shares. For example, let's say you own 100 shares of Chevron (CVX) stock. The company announces it will pay out a quarterly dividend. In the case of Chevron, the oil giant said on Jan. 29 it would hand out $1.29 per share to all holders of common stock. Determining your share of profits, you multiply the dividend by the number of shares you own. In this example, you would receive a quarterly payment of $129 for your 100 shares. The company generally sends a check, or make a payment to your brokerage account.
Some companies offer what's called a dividend reinvestment program, or DRIP. This allows you to reinvest the payment back into the company's stock for a small brokerage fee, or no fee, and sometimes at a discount. My foray into the stock buying game uses only DRIP companies.
There are several important dates to keep in mind when determining whether to buy a dividend stock. In the Chevron case, the company said it would make the payment to shareholders of record as of Feb. 15. That means anyone who owned the stock as of that date received a payout.
E-Trade Financial notes the record date is important for stock buyers and sellers alike. The ex-dividend date is a business day before the record date. Then an investor can buy a stock but won't receive the most recent payout. To compensate for this, the cost to buy a share is usually reduced. But, if you're looking to sell — but still want to get the most recent quarterly payout — you must wait until after the ex-dividend date to do so.
Chevron stock trades around 120. Chevron has an annualized yield of around 4%. That far exceeds the 1.9% average yield for S&P 500 stocks, as noted each day in the General Market Indicator Charts feature at www.Investors.com. www.Dividend.com says the highest-yielding dividends often come from basic materials stocks — like oil and gas, metals, chemicals, construction and wood/paper products — followed by financial stocks. On average, they yield 4.96% and 4.18%, respectively.
It's important to keep an eye on unusually high yields as that can be a marker the payout isn't sustainable.
Interested in investing in the stock market with DRIPs? Go to https://www-us.computershare.com/investor and open an account. Look around the site and you will find both DRIP and regular companies. Some companies will accept less than $100 to invest.
Now that the Dow-Jones and Standard & Poor indexes are bottoming, if you can shake loose a few dollars, you could be on your way to building a sound portfolio.
Then I read about Warren Buffett, and Peter Lynch. When the internet blossomed, I learned they were gurus, but they had big bucks. What’s a poor sailor to do?
What Is a Dividend?
I learned about investing in companies that offered dividends to stockholders. To understand a dividend, you must first understand why investors buy stocks. Shareholders have two rights. They help elect a board of directors to run the company, and they are entitled to a share of that company's profits. If a company declares a 25-cent quarterly dividend and you own 100 shares of that company, you will receive a $25 payment. If that payment remains consistent for a year, you would be paid $100 just for owning those 100 shares. Some companies may conserve cash by offering payment in the form of additional shares of stock.
How Does a Dividend Work?
You buy a certain number of a company's shares. For example, let's say you own 100 shares of Chevron (CVX) stock. The company announces it will pay out a quarterly dividend. In the case of Chevron, the oil giant said on Jan. 29 it would hand out $1.29 per share to all holders of common stock. Determining your share of profits, you multiply the dividend by the number of shares you own. In this example, you would receive a quarterly payment of $129 for your 100 shares. The company generally sends a check, or make a payment to your brokerage account.
Some companies offer what's called a dividend reinvestment program, or DRIP. This allows you to reinvest the payment back into the company's stock for a small brokerage fee, or no fee, and sometimes at a discount. My foray into the stock buying game uses only DRIP companies.
There are several important dates to keep in mind when determining whether to buy a dividend stock. In the Chevron case, the company said it would make the payment to shareholders of record as of Feb. 15. That means anyone who owned the stock as of that date received a payout.
E-Trade Financial notes the record date is important for stock buyers and sellers alike. The ex-dividend date is a business day before the record date. Then an investor can buy a stock but won't receive the most recent payout. To compensate for this, the cost to buy a share is usually reduced. But, if you're looking to sell — but still want to get the most recent quarterly payout — you must wait until after the ex-dividend date to do so.
Chevron stock trades around 120. Chevron has an annualized yield of around 4%. That far exceeds the 1.9% average yield for S&P 500 stocks, as noted each day in the General Market Indicator Charts feature at www.Investors.com. www.Dividend.com says the highest-yielding dividends often come from basic materials stocks — like oil and gas, metals, chemicals, construction and wood/paper products — followed by financial stocks. On average, they yield 4.96% and 4.18%, respectively.
It's important to keep an eye on unusually high yields as that can be a marker the payout isn't sustainable.
Interested in investing in the stock market with DRIPs? Go to https://www-us.computershare.com/investor and open an account. Look around the site and you will find both DRIP and regular companies. Some companies will accept less than $100 to invest.
Now that the Dow-Jones and Standard & Poor indexes are bottoming, if you can shake loose a few dollars, you could be on your way to building a sound portfolio.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
I read this report from The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Palestinian Occupied Territories --- (not quoted in its entirety)
"Despite the unprecedented health crisis requiring residents of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to take social isolation measures, the Israel Police have chosen . . . to escalate their abuse . . . of Palestinians in East Jerusalem . . . Special Patrol officers invade the crowded neighborhood daily, more so on weekends, for no apparent reason and initiate friction with the residents. In the confrontations, police act violently, firing sponge rounds, tear gas canisters and stun grenades. They also close off the entrances to the neighborhood. During these incursions, the police arrest residents, mostly minors, and take them to a police station where they are interrogated alone. Most minors spend all night in custody.
Yet at this sensitive time, such conduct exposes residents to substantial, completely unnecessary health risks, as it encourages gatherings and forces arrested residents, including many minors, to leave home and be around strangers.
The police conduct jeopardizes public safety (including the health of the police officers) and violates the medical guidelines on social isolation. The fact that Israeli authorities disregard the lives of residents, including children and teens, is not new. Yet continuing and even escalating such conduct during the Carona-19 pandemic is an especially appalling manifestation of this policy." (end article)
I wonder what will happen when COVID-19 spreads into the Gaza Strip?
"Despite the unprecedented health crisis requiring residents of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to take social isolation measures, the Israel Police have chosen . . . to escalate their abuse . . . of Palestinians in East Jerusalem . . . Special Patrol officers invade the crowded neighborhood daily, more so on weekends, for no apparent reason and initiate friction with the residents. In the confrontations, police act violently, firing sponge rounds, tear gas canisters and stun grenades. They also close off the entrances to the neighborhood. During these incursions, the police arrest residents, mostly minors, and take them to a police station where they are interrogated alone. Most minors spend all night in custody.
Yet at this sensitive time, such conduct exposes residents to substantial, completely unnecessary health risks, as it encourages gatherings and forces arrested residents, including many minors, to leave home and be around strangers.
The police conduct jeopardizes public safety (including the health of the police officers) and violates the medical guidelines on social isolation. The fact that Israeli authorities disregard the lives of residents, including children and teens, is not new. Yet continuing and even escalating such conduct during the Carona-19 pandemic is an especially appalling manifestation of this policy." (end article)
I wonder what will happen when COVID-19 spreads into the Gaza Strip?
Friday, January 27, 2012
What we're watching
With the Republican "debates" in full swing on the mega-network cable "news" networks, I asked my wife if she'd care to watch. I got a resounding "No!" as she surfed to the Australian Open Tennis matches. I went to the small tv to switch to "Comedy Central." So we both watched our favorite shows, rather than the Republican standup comedians. Why? Because the candidates claw each other rather than offering detailed plans for changing our defunct and out-of-control money driven, corporate run political system.
However, I couldn't resist. Watching the Pillsbury Doughboy, the Rich Kid from Boston, or the escapee from the cuckoo's nest, Santorum, and the grand old man from Texas, I had to wonder, what could happen if one of these guys actually won the White House in 2012?
The escapee would want bigger evangelical government, stop abortions, and re-introduce the Defense of Marriage Act. (These are problems which need immediate attention?) The Doughboy would write so many executive orders on his first day in the Oval Office, the paper flurry would boggle all agencies. And, blockbuster bombs would inundate Iran, followed by an Arab uprising that would make the Egyptian Tahir Square look like a Sunday picnic in the park. The Rich Man would have to call his friend Bibi in Tel Aviv to see what he should do next.
And the old man that the pundits and moderators ignore? Ron Paul? His candidacy is based on issues, not sound bites. He is actually, sometimes not gently, tugging the other candidates toward his positions, and amassing delegates to shape the Party platform come August. He is the only challenger with the true vision of a smaller government.
Unlike the three flip-floppers, who speak out of both sides of their mouths, Paul has a long, consistent record in Congress, all in protest of the current shape of the government and the malicious defamation of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
An current outline of his campaign platform can be seen at
www.ronpaul2012.com
Ron Paul's time has come in light of the unpopularity of the Afghan and Iraq wars. Federal spending now in the TRILLIONS was driven by the wars, Medicade drug program and the reaction to the "too big to fail" bank bailouts. The Republican House Budget Plan by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis, stands at 4.7 TRILLION, while Paul, if elected, would reduce spending in his first year to 1 TRILLION. Paul would phase out the current income tax system, replacing the income, capital gains and death taxes with a flat tax. He would veto any unbalanced budget that Congress passes. He promises to stop the foreign adventurism he says costs 1 trillion a year by cutting committments where we have deployed military forces in 135 nations abroad. He would wage no war without Congressional declaration. The savings in foreign aid payouts would go to restoring Social Security, and transition it to a system of private savings protected from government mandates. He would do away with the "unconstitutional Patriot Act" he says is misnamed and misleading.
It doesn't take a PhD to see Paul's positions appeal not only to the young, but to senior citizens on either side of the political spectrum.
Just imagine: Audit the Fed? End the wars? End Patriot Act snooping? Get government out of our bedrooms? Conservative or mainstream ideas?
If Paul wins, the Bachmann's, Palin's, Perry's, Cain's, McCain's, Gingrich's, et al, might gain admittance to the Cuckoo's Nest, or at best, a spot on late night comedy central's Improv stage.
However, I couldn't resist. Watching the Pillsbury Doughboy, the Rich Kid from Boston, or the escapee from the cuckoo's nest, Santorum, and the grand old man from Texas, I had to wonder, what could happen if one of these guys actually won the White House in 2012?
The escapee would want bigger evangelical government, stop abortions, and re-introduce the Defense of Marriage Act. (These are problems which need immediate attention?) The Doughboy would write so many executive orders on his first day in the Oval Office, the paper flurry would boggle all agencies. And, blockbuster bombs would inundate Iran, followed by an Arab uprising that would make the Egyptian Tahir Square look like a Sunday picnic in the park. The Rich Man would have to call his friend Bibi in Tel Aviv to see what he should do next.
And the old man that the pundits and moderators ignore? Ron Paul? His candidacy is based on issues, not sound bites. He is actually, sometimes not gently, tugging the other candidates toward his positions, and amassing delegates to shape the Party platform come August. He is the only challenger with the true vision of a smaller government.
Unlike the three flip-floppers, who speak out of both sides of their mouths, Paul has a long, consistent record in Congress, all in protest of the current shape of the government and the malicious defamation of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
An current outline of his campaign platform can be seen at
www.ronpaul2012.com
Ron Paul's time has come in light of the unpopularity of the Afghan and Iraq wars. Federal spending now in the TRILLIONS was driven by the wars, Medicade drug program and the reaction to the "too big to fail" bank bailouts. The Republican House Budget Plan by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis, stands at 4.7 TRILLION, while Paul, if elected, would reduce spending in his first year to 1 TRILLION. Paul would phase out the current income tax system, replacing the income, capital gains and death taxes with a flat tax. He would veto any unbalanced budget that Congress passes. He promises to stop the foreign adventurism he says costs 1 trillion a year by cutting committments where we have deployed military forces in 135 nations abroad. He would wage no war without Congressional declaration. The savings in foreign aid payouts would go to restoring Social Security, and transition it to a system of private savings protected from government mandates. He would do away with the "unconstitutional Patriot Act" he says is misnamed and misleading.
It doesn't take a PhD to see Paul's positions appeal not only to the young, but to senior citizens on either side of the political spectrum.
Just imagine: Audit the Fed? End the wars? End Patriot Act snooping? Get government out of our bedrooms? Conservative or mainstream ideas?
If Paul wins, the Bachmann's, Palin's, Perry's, Cain's, McCain's, Gingrich's, et al, might gain admittance to the Cuckoo's Nest, or at best, a spot on late night comedy central's Improv stage.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
The United States in Free Fall
Before the last hanging chad of the Florida recount was scrutinized, and before the SCOTUS declared (by one vote) the election of George W. Bush as President of these United States, the Zionist Cabal (known as neoconservatives who are neither new nor conservative) was urging the overthrow of the governments in Iraq and Iran. It took no time at all for the cowboy Texan, thirsting for the first opportunity, to begin a military intervention in the form of “shock and awe” while effectively silencing domestic opponents.
The onset of the First World War was accomplished by a terrorist group called the Black Hand, sponsored by the Serbian general staff, that assassinated the Austrian Archduke and his wife. The al-Qaeda horror show in Manhattan sanctified the divine right of the Bush-Cheney inner circle to torture, imprison, and kill by remote control. Bush and Cheney also engineered a coup d’état against the U. S. Constitution, labeled 'The Patriot Act.' In doing so, they cynically but unerringly introduced a new prospectus of historic precedents.
Almost every text in historic U.S. power grabs opens with the same sentence: “Innocent Americans were treacherously attacked …”
Remember the Maine --- Havana harbor in 1898 (274 dead)?
The Lusitania torpedoed by a German U-boat --- (1,198 drowned, including 128 Americans)?
Pancho Villa’s raid on New Mexico, in 1916 --- (18 U.S. citizens killed)?
Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor --- (2,402 dead)?
Same sneak attacks, same national outrage, same masks for war agendas.
To refresh your sense of history, recall Peking China (1899), Manila (1899), crimes against Americans in Central America (1900-1930), Japanese bombing of the USS Panay (1938), Chinese crossing the Yalu River in Korea (1950), Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam (1964), the North Korean capture of the USS Pueblo (1968), the Cambodian seizure of the Mayaguez (1975), the Embassy hostages, Tehran (1979), the medical students in Grenada (1983), the harassed American soldiers in Panama (1989), and this list barely scratches the surface.
The intervention of the U.S. in history is relentless. The United States annexed Hawaii and Puerto Rico; colonized the Philippines; punished nationalism in China; invaded Mexico twice; sent a generation to France in 1917, while imprisoning dissenters at home; annihilated Japanese cities; bombed Korea and Indochina into rubble; supported military dictatorships in Latin America; and became Israel’s associate in the routine murder of Palestinian civilians. Someday someone will write The History of the Decline and Fall of the United States of America. Hopefully it will not be an obituary of future humanity sucked into America’s vortex.
Swept up in wars with apparitions, Washington has been blindsided by every major event of the last decade. The State Department completely misread the real unfulfilled desires of the Arab street and the message of mainstream Islamic school of thought. It ignored the emergence of Turkey as an independent power, disregarded Africa, and lost much of its leverage with Israel’s increasing arrogance.
Washington has failed to develop a working relationship with China, its main creditor and most important rival. From a Chinese viewpoint, the United States shows symptoms of being a spoiled child. When Xinhua, the semi-official Chinese news agency, scolds the U.S. Congress for being “irresponsible” in debt negotiations, or when Chinese leaders openly worry about the stability of U. S. political and economic institutions, the shoe is on the other foot, especially when in the wings of the political state, Bibles in hand, stand the mad hatters of 9/11 — Republican presidential candidates.
Our decline is related to the abandonment of a system of values which served us well, but which arrogance overcame in favor of selfish and diabolical apotheoses. The rest of the world is not in the same boat because they have not been infected with the trash which our mass media whores shove down the throats of the dumbed down citizenry. This mass media brothel fortunately only reaches the American imbeciles with room temperature IQ’s, who have stopped thinking, and believe the hypotheses of Pat Robertson, John Hagee or Rush Limbaugh. However, that is enough for the demons to invert religion to a form of Satanic Christianity, extrapolating racism for the mass media whores to completely disrupt normal mental processes in favor of a suicidal psychopatholoy which is bringing down the United States.
Since the mid 1960's, our educational system’s curricula was changed time and time again in order to accommodate elements in society who are mentally challenged. After all we wouldn't want them to feel inferior. Because of this the average and intelligent students pay the price. European, Japanese and Chinese students are at least 2 grades ahead of U.S. students. And yet we contribute much more money to our education system than any other country in the world. Our kids are now intellectually inferior. Schools no longer teach U.S. history or geography, they no longer teach kids civics or the value of money, nor the value of compound interest whether in savings or the effect on debt, etc.
For those of us who know our history, today's developments are nothing new and no surprise. The United States is not what it was, nor is it what we wish it to be. It is what it is, and it isn’t good. Someday, someone in authority will have to admit our soldiers fought, and their comrades died, in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in Desert Storm and Vietnam, for NOTHING. Some of them have already discovered that horrible truth for themselves. That knowledge is causing some of them to take their own lives. We ought to look hard at that. Dreams, American or otherwise, are worse than useless. The words innocence and ignorance have the same meaning. People who pray for rain or listen for the voice of Jesus to guide them in their political campaigns have no place in United States national politics. Mental institutions are full of such people because they need treatment. What WE need is honesty and common sense.
Will it come in time for the United States to pull the ripcord and stop this free fall?
The onset of the First World War was accomplished by a terrorist group called the Black Hand, sponsored by the Serbian general staff, that assassinated the Austrian Archduke and his wife. The al-Qaeda horror show in Manhattan sanctified the divine right of the Bush-Cheney inner circle to torture, imprison, and kill by remote control. Bush and Cheney also engineered a coup d’état against the U. S. Constitution, labeled 'The Patriot Act.' In doing so, they cynically but unerringly introduced a new prospectus of historic precedents.
Almost every text in historic U.S. power grabs opens with the same sentence: “Innocent Americans were treacherously attacked …”
Remember the Maine --- Havana harbor in 1898 (274 dead)?
The Lusitania torpedoed by a German U-boat --- (1,198 drowned, including 128 Americans)?
Pancho Villa’s raid on New Mexico, in 1916 --- (18 U.S. citizens killed)?
Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor --- (2,402 dead)?
Same sneak attacks, same national outrage, same masks for war agendas.
To refresh your sense of history, recall Peking China (1899), Manila (1899), crimes against Americans in Central America (1900-1930), Japanese bombing of the USS Panay (1938), Chinese crossing the Yalu River in Korea (1950), Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam (1964), the North Korean capture of the USS Pueblo (1968), the Cambodian seizure of the Mayaguez (1975), the Embassy hostages, Tehran (1979), the medical students in Grenada (1983), the harassed American soldiers in Panama (1989), and this list barely scratches the surface.
The intervention of the U.S. in history is relentless. The United States annexed Hawaii and Puerto Rico; colonized the Philippines; punished nationalism in China; invaded Mexico twice; sent a generation to France in 1917, while imprisoning dissenters at home; annihilated Japanese cities; bombed Korea and Indochina into rubble; supported military dictatorships in Latin America; and became Israel’s associate in the routine murder of Palestinian civilians. Someday someone will write The History of the Decline and Fall of the United States of America. Hopefully it will not be an obituary of future humanity sucked into America’s vortex.
Swept up in wars with apparitions, Washington has been blindsided by every major event of the last decade. The State Department completely misread the real unfulfilled desires of the Arab street and the message of mainstream Islamic school of thought. It ignored the emergence of Turkey as an independent power, disregarded Africa, and lost much of its leverage with Israel’s increasing arrogance.
Washington has failed to develop a working relationship with China, its main creditor and most important rival. From a Chinese viewpoint, the United States shows symptoms of being a spoiled child. When Xinhua, the semi-official Chinese news agency, scolds the U.S. Congress for being “irresponsible” in debt negotiations, or when Chinese leaders openly worry about the stability of U. S. political and economic institutions, the shoe is on the other foot, especially when in the wings of the political state, Bibles in hand, stand the mad hatters of 9/11 — Republican presidential candidates.
Our decline is related to the abandonment of a system of values which served us well, but which arrogance overcame in favor of selfish and diabolical apotheoses. The rest of the world is not in the same boat because they have not been infected with the trash which our mass media whores shove down the throats of the dumbed down citizenry. This mass media brothel fortunately only reaches the American imbeciles with room temperature IQ’s, who have stopped thinking, and believe the hypotheses of Pat Robertson, John Hagee or Rush Limbaugh. However, that is enough for the demons to invert religion to a form of Satanic Christianity, extrapolating racism for the mass media whores to completely disrupt normal mental processes in favor of a suicidal psychopatholoy which is bringing down the United States.
Since the mid 1960's, our educational system’s curricula was changed time and time again in order to accommodate elements in society who are mentally challenged. After all we wouldn't want them to feel inferior. Because of this the average and intelligent students pay the price. European, Japanese and Chinese students are at least 2 grades ahead of U.S. students. And yet we contribute much more money to our education system than any other country in the world. Our kids are now intellectually inferior. Schools no longer teach U.S. history or geography, they no longer teach kids civics or the value of money, nor the value of compound interest whether in savings or the effect on debt, etc.
For those of us who know our history, today's developments are nothing new and no surprise. The United States is not what it was, nor is it what we wish it to be. It is what it is, and it isn’t good. Someday, someone in authority will have to admit our soldiers fought, and their comrades died, in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in Desert Storm and Vietnam, for NOTHING. Some of them have already discovered that horrible truth for themselves. That knowledge is causing some of them to take their own lives. We ought to look hard at that. Dreams, American or otherwise, are worse than useless. The words innocence and ignorance have the same meaning. People who pray for rain or listen for the voice of Jesus to guide them in their political campaigns have no place in United States national politics. Mental institutions are full of such people because they need treatment. What WE need is honesty and common sense.
Will it come in time for the United States to pull the ripcord and stop this free fall?
Thursday, June 30, 2011
The Thrill of Politics; The Agony of words
The so-call debates are upon us (already) and the Republicans are the first out of the starting gate. Going into the straw-poll lead is the Tea Bagger, Michele Bachmann. Her potential is awesome according to some. My take is she needs to retain some historical perspective, and I mean history, not hysterics. (I admit my laughter borders on hysterical).
Born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats" she and her family moved from Iowa to Minnesota when she was young. After her parents divorced, Bachmann's father, David John Amble, moved to California, and Bachmann was raised by her mother, Jean (née Johnson), who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota. Her mother remarried when Bachmann was a teenager; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children.
She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent time working on a kibbutz in Israel. In 1978 she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A.
In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O.W. Coburn School of Law, a part of Oral Roberts University. In 1986 she received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the final graduating class of the law school at ORU, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Bachmann#Early_life.2C_education.2C_and_early_career
Deep thinking thoughts from this shallow cup of tea thinker ....
"Not all cultures are equal"
"What a bizarre time we're in, when a judge will say to little children that you can't say the pledge of allegiance, but you must learn homosexuality is normal and you should try it."
"It was back in the 1970's that the swine flu broke out then under another democratic president Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on president Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence."
(My Note: the 1976 Swine Flu outbreak happened when Gerald Ford, a Republican, was president)
"Gay marriage is probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last, at least, thirty years. I'm not understating that."
(Teri Schiavo) " ... was healthy. There was brain damage, there was no question. But from a health point of view, she was not terminally ill."
"Carbon Dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn't even one study that can be produced that shows carbon dioxide is a harmful gas."
(My Note: carbon dioxide is what we breathe out. Carbon monoxide is lethal)
"If we took away the minimum wage, if conceivably it was gone, we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level."
"I just take the Bible for what it is, I guess, and recognize that I am not a scientist. I am not a deep thinker on all of this. I wish I was. I wish I was more knowledgeable, but I'm not a scientist."
"There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists many of them holding Nobel prizes, who believe in Intelligent Design."
“I don't know where they're going to get all this money because we're running out of rich people in this country.”
AND the craziest: "I am announcing my candidacy for President of the United States..."
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My question is: Has Planet Earth become the insane asylum for the universe?
Born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa, "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats" she and her family moved from Iowa to Minnesota when she was young. After her parents divorced, Bachmann's father, David John Amble, moved to California, and Bachmann was raised by her mother, Jean (née Johnson), who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota. Her mother remarried when Bachmann was a teenager; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children.
She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent time working on a kibbutz in Israel. In 1978 she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A.
In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O.W. Coburn School of Law, a part of Oral Roberts University. In 1986 she received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University. She was a member of the final graduating class of the law school at ORU, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Bachmann#Early_life.2C_education.2C_and_early_career
Deep thinking thoughts from this shallow cup of tea thinker ....
"Not all cultures are equal"
"What a bizarre time we're in, when a judge will say to little children that you can't say the pledge of allegiance, but you must learn homosexuality is normal and you should try it."
"It was back in the 1970's that the swine flu broke out then under another democratic president Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on president Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence."
(My Note: the 1976 Swine Flu outbreak happened when Gerald Ford, a Republican, was president)
"Gay marriage is probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last, at least, thirty years. I'm not understating that."
(Teri Schiavo) " ... was healthy. There was brain damage, there was no question. But from a health point of view, she was not terminally ill."
"Carbon Dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn't even one study that can be produced that shows carbon dioxide is a harmful gas."
(My Note: carbon dioxide is what we breathe out. Carbon monoxide is lethal)
"If we took away the minimum wage, if conceivably it was gone, we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level."
"I just take the Bible for what it is, I guess, and recognize that I am not a scientist. I am not a deep thinker on all of this. I wish I was. I wish I was more knowledgeable, but I'm not a scientist."
"There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists many of them holding Nobel prizes, who believe in Intelligent Design."
“I don't know where they're going to get all this money because we're running out of rich people in this country.”
AND the craziest: "I am announcing my candidacy for President of the United States..."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
My question is: Has Planet Earth become the insane asylum for the universe?
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