Image via WikipediaThe idiots were looking for gold. Ironic that grave robbers hundreds if not thousands of years ago were looking for the same thing. Some things just never change.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Close Call for King Tut: The Break-In at Cairo's Prized Museum - Yahoo! News
Image via WikipediaThe idiots were looking for gold. Ironic that grave robbers hundreds if not thousands of years ago were looking for the same thing. Some things just never change.
EGYPT: A Historic Moment...
By now, I think everybody in the world is watching Egypt
I don’t think there will be an abrupt takeover by the Muslim Brotherhood; there will be a gradual transition but after that, who knows.
I was listening to some Egyptians in the U.S. who were protesting in Los Angeles Israel and Israel
That statement, from a person in the U.S. , shows why the U.S.
I was very saddened to see the Cairo Museum
Visiting Egypt
I hope the events in Egypt will domino in the Middle East and I hope the dominos reach IRAN
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Tunisian women rally ahead of Islamist leader's return - Yahoo! News
Tunisian women rally ahead of Islamist leader's return - Yahoo! News
The one thing that I mentioned could make matters worst in the Arab Countries rioting for change is if the change takes them BACKWARDS into a theocracy which is basically a dictatorship of religious clerics. Women definitely would suffer and they know it. One thing Tunisia did in the past that was good is to ban radical Islamic parties and their leaders, some were exiled. No use changing one dictatorship for another, democracy is the only way to go.
The one thing that I mentioned could make matters worst in the Arab Countries rioting for change is if the change takes them BACKWARDS into a theocracy which is basically a dictatorship of religious clerics. Women definitely would suffer and they know it. One thing Tunisia did in the past that was good is to ban radical Islamic parties and their leaders, some were exiled. No use changing one dictatorship for another, democracy is the only way to go.
Friday, January 28, 2011
EGYPT: Democracy on a roll?
The citizens of Egypt are rioting, sparked by the rioting in Tunisia
The riots are fueled by Twitter and Facebook accounts?
The rioters in Egypt
In similar situations, it is the army or the person that controls the army who decides how the country will be run.
Some are saying that the people have had it with dictators and want democracy? Wow, that is a tall order but could this become a domino effect?
George Bush attacked Iraq to make it into a democracy with the hope that once other nations see how great Iraq Iraq
This may be defining moment in our history….stay tuned…
TUNISIA: And now it begins...
You cannot help but notice that something big is going on in the Arab world.
Why?
It appeared that this highly educated Tunisian could not find a job because of the miserable economic conditions and was reduced to selling fruits from a cart in the town square to support his family of parents and siblings.
A female police officer told him he cannot sell his fruits in the square and as he protested, she slapped him. When he went to complain to the authorities, he was thrown out.
Feeling he had reached the end of his rope, he self-immolated. Self-immolation is setting oneself on fire. As suicides go, this has got to be the scariest since you are alive while you burn.
I can just imagine the young man’s thought process before he set himself on fire, the despondency, the inadequacy, the utter hopelessness.
Obviously, others in Tunisia
This is not a new scenario. Remember Romania Tunisia
This is a very tricky situation because usually in cases like this a religious faction can rise to the top and take control. This is what we saw happen in Iran after the Shah was overthrown and look at the problems we have with Iran today and more importantly, look what the citizens of Iran
So far, we have not seen a grab for power by any Islamic party and the rioters are from the broad spectrum of society; not representing just one group.
The world is holding its breath…could this change the face of the Arab world as we know it?
DETROIT: Some progress...
I really have to say how much I admire the work Robert Bobb, emergency financial manager of the Detroit Public School (DPS) system is doing despite all the road - blocks erected to impede his mission; one brave and determined professional fighting Detroit
The latest brave move by Bobb was to privatize DPS custodial services to save $75 million. He is allowing five (5) minority-owned firms to take over custodial services for the school system.
Bobb defended his move by saying that the core mission of DPS is not cleaning schools but educating students.
One of Detroit
City unions, including the union providing custodial services to DPS have been riding a gravy train for many years with no real accountability for their performance. Yes, all the current jobs will be lost but the workers can be re-hired at their same rate of pay and doing the same job by the companies now taking over the custodial services after passing background checks and fingerprinting.
To me, this is the wave of the future and the only way cities like Detroit
DETROIT: THEY are trying to take over...
Didn’t take long for a Detroit
The Detroit Oakland County ’s L. Brooks Paterson, are saying that the city of Detroit
A bill has been introduced in the state legislature to create a regional (city & suburbs) authority to govern the system.
Mayor Bing has said that he and the city will handle the department’s problems and many want to give him the chance to do just that and I tend to agree with that but I can understand others saying that because of the culture of corruption in Detroit, it would be unwise to let Detroit and Detroiters handle the problem, not when the suburbs are paying ever increasing fees that appear to just feed the corruption and mismanagement there.
What got me on my feet and screaming at the TV news was not the above described dilemma but video of Detroit leaders screaming against the attempt by the “suburbs” to “steal” the water department from the city and its citizens with one leader screaming that “they” took our schools and now “they” want to take our water department.”
Well that just makes my blood boil.
How dare they complain that “they” took our schools away when it was they – Detroit and Detroiters – that allowed the school system to be so corrupted and mismanaged that parents were sending their children to the suburbs just to get a basic education with real pencils and books and computers; something unavailable to Detroit students because their teachers and principles stole their supplies to re-sell them.
I admire Mayor Bing and do believe he deserves a chance to make things right but those screaming meemies, inciting emotions by accusing “outsiders” of trying to steal city “treasures” when it is they that want to steal from the city treasures, need to get a kick in the ass and a dose of painful reality.
I applaud L. Brooks Paterson for pointing out that the emperor has no clothes on.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
DETROIT: Race and Remembrance...
I recently ran into a couple of articles about the African-American community that made me stop and take notice.
One was a letter in the editorial section of a Detroit Detroit branch of the NAACP and former executive at Wayne State University in Detroit
Dr. Johnson goes back quite some time in the whole civil rights movement and was president of the local NAACP till 1993. What prompted his long letter was a disappointment with the current local chapter of the NAACP leadership. According to Dr. Johnson, when he left his leadership position, the branch was the largest, the richest and the best run branch in the whole country; it is now destitute!
He specifically mentions the Rev. Wendell Anthony as the man who took control of the branch after he left and, it seems, as the man that brought the branch down to its present sorry state. The Rev. Anthony, if you remember, is one of the Baptist ministers that I mentioned as part of the Detroit culture that supported the now imprisoned Kwame Kilpatrick, former mayor of Detroit
Dr. Johnson presents a partial list of transgressions of NAACP policies and practices which included the non-payment of dues to the national NAACP which led to delegates from Detroit
The branch headquarters is now in foreclosure due to non-payment of property taxes.
The Rev. Anthony established a Freedom Institute which hosts events and collects funds that do not go to the NAACP but to Anthony. The insinuation here is that Anthony collects these funds under the pretext of collecting them for the NAACP.
Dr. Johnson is calling for a forensic audit of all finances of the branch. These are very serious allegations but up to today, the Rev. Anthony continues to collect funds representing the NAACP and is featured in the papers and on TV as representing the NAACP but no one knows where the money is going and it appears, at least to me, that no one is questioning where the money is going.
Usually, the papers or TV news will investigate such serious allegations but nary a peep from them. Are they afraid of being called racists? Are they afraid to anger such a prominent Detroit
Dr. Johnson probably resorted to writing such a scathing letter in a public forum, exposing the inner shenanigans of a once proud branch of the NAACP because he probably did not get any satisfaction when he presented his case to the leadership of the organization; it appears the public does not care either.
UNIONS: All the other ones too...
Image via WikipediaI am most knowledgeable about the UAW unions here in Michigan
The reason for unions to be in the news is that for us to fix our economy, we have to address taxpayer largesse towards the unions and how that needs to be ended.
I lump the Teamsters and the AFL-CIO with the UAW as greedy and corrupt unions that want to force themselves on our economy because, lets face it, they have it good and want the gravy train to continue.
Public unions like government workers, teachers, etc. I have special issues with.
Number one, public unions should not be getting higher benefits and pay than normal workers get in the private job sector. I think the old adage about civil service work still applies today when we say that they are lazy and really don’t have to try hard because they work for the government and that means they cannot get fired. Well, that needs to end and as in the Postal Service, that will end because the Postal Service will end.
Many states are broke and to balance their budgets, like in Michigan
Public union workers like garbage collectors and teachers cannot strike but they do and we let them. I remember Ronald Reagan handling of the airport traffic controller’s strike; he fired them all and that is what needs to be done when public employees illegally strike. In many cases, such as the garbage collectors; their jobs need to be privatized.
Also, public employees are too cozy with elected officials that are supposed to be their bosses; give me what I want and I will vote for you and not make any trouble for you so you can get re-elected. That needs to end.
This year will be an interesting year as far as these unions are concerned because the taxpayers are mad that some people are somehow privileged and on a taxpayer gravy train while they suffer…things will have to change.
UNIONS: The UAW wants forced unionism...
Image by Getty Images via @daylifeUnions and unionism is another pet issue of mine even though many in my family were and are union members; mostly UAW.
Unionism had its place in history; there is no doubt about that. Workers were mistreated and they needed to have some protection from unscrupulous bosses that could fire people on a whim.
Unions did help create a middle class in this country and especially in Michigan Michigan
Unionism was a success because their main weapon was the strike which crippled a specific company allowing competitors to gain market share.
The UAW grew fat, lazy, greedy, stupid and corrupt. My brother-in-law who was union for over 40 years complained about the gradual degeneration of the union.
The recent collapse of the auto industry pointed fingers at the complicity of the UAW in the collapse. All of a sudden the UAW wanted to be partners with the auto companies; willing to take lower wages just to preserve their jobs.
Things got better with a taxpayer bailout but now the unions want to go back to the days of yore’ and the taxpayers are in no mood for that nonsense to happen again.
The UAW, with the lowest number of members in their history, is now fighting for its life and Bob King, the president, readily admits that fact. He also says that the UAW must unionize foreign auto companies and he wants to force those companies to allow the UAW to unionize their plants knowing full well that the auto companies and their workers DO NOT WANT THE UNIONS THERE.
Our newspapers are filled with articles by union leaders trying to justify the need for unionization, even by force, as something this country must have; it makes my blood boil.
One of the positives of Republican rule in the House is to stymie forced unionism which Obama was willing to grant, knowing full well it was unfair and had a negative economic effect on the country just like unionization did during the Great Depression.
I will call attention to and write my Congressmen, every time unionism raises its ugly head to force itself on industry, especially the UAW.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
RELIGION: Pie in the sky or down to earth...
Image via WikipediaI promise this is the last religion topic; I will switch gears after this.
One of my favorite or at least frequently read religious writers is Ronnie McBrayer, author of “Leaving Religion, Following Jesus”. He has a column in the Saturday Detroit News.
The reason I read him is because he is not the fundamentalist that many Christians have become; he is a down to earth Christian that asks where does Jesus fit in among all this fundamentalism.
In his latest article “Death challenges us to keep faith”, he disappoints me by going back to the age old emotional argument for unfair death.
He raises the old questions about why do good people have to die. Why do good people suffer? Why an all powerful and loving God allows this suffering and death to happen?
But he does not answer them but uses the same ole’ pabulum remarks made at all funerals; they are reunited with loved ones, in the presence of Jesus, no longer in pain, free of cancer.
He says that our faith tells us that one day, God’s kingdom will come and all will be right with the world. No more doctor visits, no more cancer, no more anguished families and no more unanswered questions.
Sure, these are very comforting words and maybe that is what the grieving want to hear and it may make them feel better and this is what I was talking about when I said religious beliefs are natural to humans. We don’t want questions, voids, stress…we want answers…we want someone to tell us definitively that our loved ones are in a better place and we all will be there someday.
Unfortunately faith is exactly what it means; a belief in something imagined and hoped for but not something that has a snow ball’s chance in hell of being true.
I thought that Ronnie McBrayer should have stressed our shared humanity. We are all part of this world and are all brothers and sisters in our humanness. Suffering and death are part of being human and living on this earth.
But being humans we can also strive to make our lot on this earth a better lot by joining in battles to defeat sickness and death instead of offering up pie in the sky nonsense that is soothing but in the end worthless.
We invented a God that is all powerful but has no power over our well being. We invented heaven and hell to give us direction and purpose and maybe our brains have evolved to keep inventing these beliefs that make us feel better.
I would prefer that we start putting some faith into our shared humanity and what we can do together as humans which is very real and doable and quit playing with all this supernatural mumbo-jumbo that just makes us feel good...
RELIGION: The Jack-Ass of Alabama
Image via WikipediaNot to pick only on the Catholic Church; have you heard the one about the governor of Alabama telling a church crowd in Birmingham
I was stationed in the South during my Air Force days in the 1960s so I know of the good ole’ days down South but this is 2011 the last time I checked.
This time it is not about color but it is all about religion?
Governor Robert Bentley said he did not mean to insult anybody but I guess he forgot that even in lowly Alabama , there are people that may not be Christian, may not be Baptist, may not be from the U.S.
The South has always been the butt of jokes for years and this governor had just bared his butt and put a target on it. Hope the Alabamians are happy they elected such a jack-ass!
CATHOLIC CHURCH: A Smokin' Gun in a criminal cover-up?
Image via WikipediaIt is nice to discuss why we as humans are naturally religious but reality does come a’ knocking and we have to turn to issues at hand.
One is the discovery of a 1997 letter from the Vatican instructing Irish bishops not to report suspected child-abuse cases to police. It appears that in 1996, the Irish Catholic Church wanted to help police identify pedophile priests after the first wave of publicly disclosed lawsuits; the Vatican told them NO!
I have always maintained that the Vatican
Since I have beaten this issue to death, I ask you, what now?
Is the Vatican immune to earthly law? Did they commit a crime by hiding the abuses? Should they go to jail?
Should they (The Vatican) pay for their crimes by giving their riches to the victims of priestly abuse? Parishes in the U.S. have gone bankrupt over these lawsuits; time for the Vatican
I don’t think this can be just swept under the rug. I think the Vatican Vatican
RELIGION: Religious Beliefs are Part of Human Nature
Image via WikipediaAs you have noticed, Religion is big topic for me. It has been a big topic for me since my high school days at Holy Redeemer where I was told not to ask my questions during religious class because the teacher could not answer them or better yet, could not even address them or he would be fired. You are in religious class to listen and obey and not to ask questions; I chose not to be part of the herd.
Since that time I have amassed a body of knowledge about Christianity and Catholicism that could rival that of any priest or bishop.
My problem is not with religious faith; my problem is with religion as an organization and with the leaders of that organization especially the Catholic Church.
My family is Catholic and some family members practice their Catholic faith which is important to them. They are cognizant of the difference between their faith and the actual church and its leaders, many of whom are not even very good humans.
I don’t have a problem with religious faith as long as those holding their specific beliefs realize that they are beliefs only and do not construe those beliefs with reality or try to impose those beliefs on others as well as on society as if they were somehow mandated by their God that they themselves invented.
I have written on a number of occasions about the John Templeton Foundation which offers grants for the study of humans and religion. One recent Templeton Report by Julia Vitullo-Martin titled “Is Atheism Unnatural”.
The question posed is “Why do human beings believe in God?” Oxford
The question now is how and why did evolution make religious beliefs part of human nature?
I have always maintained that one’s brain naturally moves to a creator God of the things before us because not thinking that way causes stress since there are no easy alternative answers.
If religious beliefs are so natural that, according to this study, it might take particular, aggressive cultural conditions to deviate from that path, why am I the way I am and have been for a long time especially coming from a strict Catholic home environment?
I will have to explore that a little further…
2011: Let the discussions begin...
What a start to the New Year. I planned on being semi-retired by now and have been only working three (3) days a week but this week we have the FDA inspecting our facilities and so semi-retirement on hold for now.
Did get a vacation in (cruise the Caribbean ) in early January; glad I did not wait.
Still seems like I don’t have enough free time to do what I want and I hope this is not something that will go on for the rest of 2011.
I do have grandkids that I love to spend time with and of course I have a mother (88) that requires some tending to and let us not forget my kids who although grown and living their own lives, I would like to stay active in their lives too.
Then there are issues that interest me that I want to comment on when I find the time. It does appear that the issues never really change for me so I must be interested in the same ole’ issues all the time?
I suppose we all have certain topics that attract our attention more than others. Why is that? I don’t really know but I suppose it has something to do with our early years, our upbringing and the experiences we encountered early on and throughout our developing periods.
The internet has given all of us a chance to express our thoughts and opinions like never before in the history of man. In the past, only the few could have their thoughts published and read by others; now everyone has the chance to do the same.
Is this a good thing? Well, as with anything that involves the masses, you can get a lot of detritus. That is a nice word meaning loose material left after disintegration as in debris but hey, we learn from each other about things and matters we would probably never discuss with those we are close with so it is all good.
I also think that in the internet age it is easier to dispel rumors, misinformation and just plain lies especially by professional spin doctors who were and are paid big money to confuse and mislead the great unwashed masses; something Bush did when he invaded Iraq
LET THE WORDS FLOW…
POLISH RESETTLEMENT CAMPS IN THE UK 1946
POLISH RESETTLEMENT CAMPS IN THE UK 1946
This is a part of my history that I will be delving into at some length when I get more time. Facinating to re-visit the world around you when you were under 10 years old.
This is a part of my history that I will be delving into at some length when I get more time. Facinating to re-visit the world around you when you were under 10 years old.
Monday, January 17, 2011
VACATIONS 2011: First we cruise the Caribbean...
Just got back from our January cruise in the Caribbean .
Didn’t want to go the whole month of January without some diversion of the warm kind and a cruise seemed perfect to get us out of the freezing doldrums.
The ship was the Celebrity Solstice and it left Ft. Lauderdale for a week long cruise going first to San Juan , Puerto Rico, then to St. Thomas and finally to St. Martaan (Dutch and French) and a 2-day sail back to Ft. Lauderdale
We have been on an Alaska cruise quite a few years ago but this Caribbean cruising is just insane; I could not believe all the people doing this all at the same time!
In Ft. Lauderdale
There were two (2) ships that were the largest in the world so far: Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas and they made our ship look like a dinghy.
Anyway, we had a fab time and I will report more details later; right now I have to shovel snow!!!
Saturday, January 08, 2011
UNIONS IN THE NEW YEAR: UAW needs to go away...
Image via WikipediaUnions and union issues will be huge this year. I am not just talking about the UAW (United Auto Workers) but also teacher’s unions and other public worker unions.
We, as a nation, are taking a hard look at our economy, looking at what is working and what is not. Practically all states have to cut their budgets deeply to make ends meet and unions are sticking out like sore thumbs of waste and greed; cuts will be made.
Let’s start with the UAW. Bob King, the new president has to play dual roles. On the one hand he has to tell us that yes, the unions helped bring the auto industry down but now they are different and want to actually help bring the auto industry back…imagine that. On the other hand, he has to tell the rank and file that he will unionize all those bloody foreign auto companies making cars in the U.S.
The problem with those bloody foreigners is that their workers are happy and love their jobs and don’t want no stinkin’ union coming in and spoiling things. There is a reason those foreign auto companies located in the South; Southerners don’t like unions, Southern states are Right-to-Work states and they don’t want to see what happened to Michigan, happen to them so STAY THE HELL OUT.
The UAW had a Democratic majority in the last Congress and desperately tried to pass a “Freedom of Choice” Act which was anything but about Free Choice. The act would have allowed union bullies to intimidate workers to do a “card check”; no voting, just check this box and the unions are in. Well, this bill stunk so much that even pro-union Democrats could not bring themselves to support it. Now that the Republicans are in charge…try passing that nonsense again.
The basic reality with the UAW is that it is not needed anymore; no reason for existence. But obviously they will not just turn over and die.
The auto companies have already started to hire workers at the new wage and benefit rates that make sense if the auto companies are to survive. The old geezers from the old fat days will basically just retire and disappear.
King will make some noise but I think even he can see the writing on the wall. The UAW will still cause trouble in 2011, especially for Ford but I think Ford is smart enough not to give into their demands because they have to, to stay competitive with the new GM and the new Chrysler.
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