Our Soldiers and Marines Give Their LIves for their Country, Can't You Give a Toy for a Tot

I could gripe about the War on Terror and it's faulty tactics, I could Talk about the Shoe toss in Iraq but today I will take a moment and encourage everyone to take a Toy to the Marines and donate it to their Toys For Tots program. I grew up with my Father gone much of the time on duty but he always made sure we had a good Christmas, one way or another, some kids are not so lucky.  So think how lucky you might have been in years past and give till it hurts wherever you can.  Happiness is contagious.  Happy Holidays and Semper Fi! Click Here to Read More.. Sphere: Related Content

Bush, Paulson, and Bernanke Fiddled while America Burned

I'm no financial genius, nor do I claim to be. However, I can't help but scratch my head like a bewildered chimp in some science experiment when I think how any one of our elected financial officials could not have looked at some of the tally sheets and seen when all these bills were coming due. If a lowly financial analyst on Coast to Coast AM can predict the meltdown accurately to the month including the point drop of the DOW into the 8000 point range a year or two in advance of this calamity, then what did the Bush administration know and when? I am astounded (but not surprised) that President George W. Bush and Co. not only let this train smash into Grand Central Station he kept his foot hard on the throttle and stoked the engines to this doom. Through ignorance (a Blind man could have done better) inaction, inattention and neglect the American People were left to ride this train to their peril. At the critical moment the Bush Administration again played the "Doom and Gloom" card as they have so many times these past 8 years and the Bankers and Insurers got a 750bn Bailout $338bn of which has already been pledged or spent. The Executives get to keep their existing Corporate Bonuses and Golden Parachutes, The Lawyers get $25bn to Represent Homeowners restructure their loans in the Mortgage Bailout, known as the "American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008".

Aside from the $300 -$600 each taxpayer received through the 2008 Stimulus Package, which the Bush administration encouraged we go out and spend to help drive the Economy; the Working Class got screwed except for the Window Factory Workers in Chicago who refused "to go quietly into the night" when they lost their jobs. These casualties of the ineptitude and negligence of this administration were not about to stand for the callousness of a Banking Institution that just got it's bread and wasn't about to share it. Nor were they going to be shut out in the cold to press their noses against the windows of the factory executives who had so rudely given them 3 days notice. Instead, These Chicagoans, took a pane, (clearly), of history and protested their plight to the nation by staging a sit-in as did the union workers of a bygone era. This was no $750bnn Dollar "Magic Money Grab All You Can Booth" they climbed into and came out rich, but the rest of Middle Class and Blue Collar Working Americans need to take note of this righteous indignation and the victory the battle brought. Why weren't the Truckers hauling their Semis onto the National Mall in a Parking Protest to get Congress's attention when gas was almost $4.00 a gallon? WAKE UP AMERICA! Change is coming and we can shape history, the workers of Republic Windows and Doors is a fine example of what is possible when you rally around a cause. Yes, even a mouse can roar! I have become a Rabble Rouser having seen the outgoing administration still pursuing "Trickle-Down Economics" policies when people are thirsting for direct relief. Did I mention Condi plays the Piano?
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Death of an Auto Bailout in the United States Senate

I am saddened by the failure of the United States Senate to pass the $14 Billion Auto Bailout measure this past evening. While certainly not perfect nor entirely to my liking for there are many points of constraint I would like to see the Auto Industry be forced to concede in order to make the industry more innovative, Like giving us a "Car of the Future" when they bother to show them off each year at the Annual Detroit Auto Show. but I digress; while competitiveness is the key to success, fiscal oversight and guidance is imperative. Should the Bush Administration now turn to $750 Billion TARP to perform a Bailout, there will be 5 weeks of Treasury Secretary Paulson throwing money in the air to the ballyhoo of Jet-setting Auto Executives. This is what we face when we could have had a Car Tsar with some Bankruptcy Judge-like powers to help guide the market restructuring and fiscal direction of these Corporate Behemoths Jockeyed by casualties of the Peter Principle. We can always hope for the next Tucker of the Auto Industry, until then let's pray for our Blue Collars and their Families who rely on Detroit and for the Senate to not squander their dedication and talents. Click Here to Read More.. Sphere: Related Content

General Shinseki: The Messenger They Shot Lives Again!

The hand of resurection has been extended to the messenger the Bush Administration slew and General Shiseki is rising from the ashes of that sorry administration to answer the call of a more gracious leader who obviously appreciates his many years of proud service and his honestly voiced opinions.  After the shoddy handling of General Eric Shinseki at the hands of Fmr. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush Administration during and after the Feb. 2003 Senate Armed Forces hearings regarding the Iraq war preparations, it is most heartening to see that Shinseki has not been left to moulder in the grave.  President-Elect Obama's choice of Gen. Shinseki as the new Veteran's affairs Administrator speaks to his great concern for the Veterans of this country; many whom have sacrificed life and limb for a pittance compared to what a private security guard in Iraq or Afghanistan earns.  General Shinseki has served in combat and having been wounded on the battlefield knows the needs of our Veterans today. I am proud to see the thoughtfulness that this incoming president has put into his cabinet selections thus far.  I would also note that Barack Obama's choice of Shinseki further implicates that our new President is a man who wants to hear dissent before he takes a step into the great unknown of our precarious future. And to President-Elect Barack Obama and General Eric Shinseki USA Ret. and all other former and present Hawaiian residents, I say to you Shaka! Click Here to Read More.. Sphere: Related Content

We Want Information, Information, Information

You only have so much time on this planet don't be a Prisoner.  The Next time some Tom, Dick or Harry calls you up on your telephone and says, "Is this (Your Name Here)"?  The first words out of your mouth should be, Who the hell are you?, and why are you calling me"?  It's common courtesy to identify one's self when initiating a call. It's also valuable information to empower you by knowing if this is just some schmuck reading a script or if it's an actual corporate employee who is able to send you up the chain of command should you so desire to speak to someone with a modicum of authority.  Then if curiosity kills your cat; you might even ask, "Where the hell did you get my number"?  A moot question these days with all the info we volunteer daily n the internet, but, hey they did call you.  We Americans are so used to succumbing to the whims of the tele-marketers they volunteer all kinds of information that will be used in turn to fleece them of hard earned money, either through a sales pitch in the same phone call an ad campaign based on said call and information gleaned thereof, subliminal campaigns or through some other form of marketing, not to mention scams.  Just because you picked up the phone doesn't give a Tele-Marketer or Debt Collector the right to pick your brain or browbeat you.  Don't forget the Fair Debt Collection Act gives you the right to write a letter demanding a debt collector to stop calling you.  This letter doesn't releive you of your debt or accrued interest but it will help give relief to your morale until you can get your feet under you again.If an unasked caller can prove they have legitimate business dealings with you by all means interact but give only the information you feel comfortable giving.  If it's a company you've never heard of tell them to send you something in the mail.  Telemarketers are a plague just like spam we don't need to help them incubate on our time and our dime.  Your time is valuable and so is your infformation, if a telemarketer wants to know something that badly, they should be paying you for your valuable insight.  Otherwise tell them if they want to read a script for a living, "Move to Hollywood"! Click Here to Read More.. Sphere: Related Content

Liberty in the Years of Fear

We have seen it before and we will see it again, our freedoms strangled to the point of choking and then given back to us though never in quite the same form as they were before.  John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts, Lincoln and the Civil War caused him to suspend Habeas Corpus among other things,the 1918 Influenza Epidemic, The Labor Strikes of the early 20th Century, The Red Scare, FDR and the Japanese Internment Camps, The Blacklists of the 1950's and the Patriot Act are all fine examples of the freedoms we sacrifice in times of fear and hysteria which is often exploited for political gain.  Now a new leadership will assume the mantle of responsibility for this Nations direction and we must not be cowed like frightened sheep and herded into further constraint.  I feel there is light ahead but hard questions must always be asked by our media and our citizens whenever someone on Capitol Hill suggests we cross out a line in the Constitution in order to make Americans safer.  Just something to ponder as we see the sun rise on our best and brightest as they take up the mantle. Click Here to Read More.. Sphere: Related Content

When an Uninvited Guest Comes to Visit and Doesn't Die

The political landscape of India - Pakistani relations has just become all the more interesting thanks to a Terrorist who didn't die as he was so ordered.  In addition to the details of his Lashkar -e-Tayiib' plot, training and background also comes the political fallout of how India will react and to whom the Indian government may turn to for help.  Be assured new ties will be forged and old ties will be strengthened in the pursuit of the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks.   The impact of the Mumbai Terror attacks attacks on the geo-political landscape will pancake Islamic extremists further between Allied Western interests if relations and intelligence agency cooperation between India and The United States and Britain tightens as it already seems to become a reality.  Further rocking the landscape lies Pakistan, the exacerbater in this carnage in India.  Having created this monster known as Lashkar-e-Tayyiba among other names, Pakistan will feel the political pressure beyond India's demands for those responsible and a far greater concentration of Intel and Covert Operations than they have already experienced in America's War on Terror. Thanks to a living breathing perpetrator and a Satellite phone still warm from the calls made to the instigators of this most heinous attack, The Law of Unintended Consequences is about to come home to roost in the Pakistan's backyard.  The game board of the Far and Middle East just became more checkered with Western flags thanks to Lashkar you may not see them waving but their breeze will be felt long after the the table is cleared of the flotsam and jetsam left by these hateful interlopers. Click Here to Read More.. Sphere: Related Content

The General Who Would Be King

For those outraged by the idea that President Elect Barrak Obama might retain Secretary Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense and appoint Gen. Jim Jones USMC Ret. to be his National Security Advisor to the President, I can say I feel far more at ease with the latter choice than I do the former.  General Jim Jones has serverd in combat earning the Silver Star and the Bronze Star with Combat V, earning the respect of his fellow Marines in the process.  As the Former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, he has been in direct contact with many of the foreign services whose intel assistance we will be in dire need of to coordinate our limited military and intel assets on the new stage of Terrorist and Machiavellian Medici-like warfare this new century presents us.  The latest cyber-attack on the Pentagon, the Alexander Litvinenko radiation poisoning in London last year and the Mumbai attacks of late are a paltry few examples of the challenges the United States faces.  We should rest much easier when we know there will be a professional who knows the players we need to interact with on a daily basis but also understands the consequences and responsibilities this nation assumes when choosing to unleash the dogs of war.

Sec. Robert Gates on the other hand is a retention choice I am loathe to concur with for a number of reasons including his drilling business contacts, his former CIA role, his Air Force Background and his involvement in a corporate Board selling voting machine cryptography. There's also his involvement in Iran-Contra... all of these issues you can Wikipedia and or dig deeper, suffice it to say he makes me nervous just on the face of all these involvements.  The Air Force has not impressed me much with its brand of procurement process the latest example being the Air Tanker Bidding Snafu.  With our economy in recession we will desperately need fiscal restraint and agile procurement methods to make the most of our defense spending.  Other than the fact you don't change horses in the midst of a race, and I can see the value of continuity at the pentagon until the President gets his house in order, I can only discern Our President-elect is extending an olive branch to the conservatives and giving Robert Gates a Chance to prove that he holds the post by merit and not by Political caveat.  I'm just a grunt but I know it's an ugly room to walk into when you are the new guy trying to find your turf and there are some ugly rooms in the Pentagon.

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First Post: Post Thanksgiving musings

Hi:

I'm not wealthy, I'm slightly well educated.  I don't really have a job, being disabled.  However I try to keep some irons in the fire as best I can and contribute as best I can.  I guess the lessons of excess will help give a point of view from one who has touched the gutter yet not quite ready to wallow in it.  So if you want to hear how things are looking from someone who eats a meal at the local soup kitchen occasionally, reads the News and studies History with a less pedestrian perspective on the present(having served in the Marine Corps);  then perhaps some of what I might blather here will be of insight... if not sorry for the eyestrain hope your medical covers bifocals.

Turkey and all the fixings....

I shudder to think of what thoughts might run through the minds of dissatisfied third world youths when they see images on a TV in an electronics store in Downtown Abu Dhabi of Americans Bowling Turkeys for sport when they have scrounged for a piece of bread that day.  What better recruiting propaganda could the militants of this world ask for than that delivered to their doorstep by the Ad Men of America.  Our Media and culture have become numb and indifferent to the sensibilities of the peoples whose hearts and Minds our current Administration has been trying to win over.  On the Fox News website last evening they were touting a headline with a Photo of an innocent bystander being cut down by the Terrorists in Mumbai with a video of it happening.  Cut to the Video of this hapless bystander in the throes of death and you get to watch a commercial just before you witness his date with the Grim Reaper.  I had a wonderful Turkey Dinner with all the fixings right after that.  Thanks Fox News.

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