2011: Detroit...bulldoze and start from scratch...

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I have written about Detroit a lot in 2011 because there was a lot to write about. I have gone from hope to despair, from seeing positive movements in the right direction only to have them fall back into the old quagmire that is Detroit.

Mayor Dave Bing did not step up to the plate as a savior of Detroit as I have hoped; he succumbed to the old incompetence and corruption disease that has plagued Detroit for decades and now he has also joined the race card playing hypocrites that seem to speak for Detroiters.

In 2011, Detroit had a chance to repair itself but as in years gone by, it failed because it did not want to; it would rather stay on welfare and let others support its incompetent and corrupt ways.

Towards the end of 2011, it became very clear that Detroit would have to be taken over by people that are competent and not corrupt and actually work for the eventual benefit of the residents of Detroit and the future of the city.

The governor has been timid in imposing this drastic condition on the city; worried he may be called racist and all, but the writing is clearly on the wall, he must do what is absolutely necessary for Detroit and the State of Michigan come hell or high water.

Detroit was given many chances to right itself and its unfortunate that it could not do what it needed to do so now it has become clear that the city needs to be bulldozed and re-built from scratch…yes it is that hard to wipe out the entrenched culture of incompetence and corruption.

2011: How has Michigan fared?

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Has 2011 been good for Michigan?

I think the election of Rick Snyder has been absolutely great for Michigan; we absolutely needed someone as nerdy and business savvy as Snyder and it would have been an absolute disaster if the Democrats continued in power.

The problem with giving Republicans absolute power is that with their superior management of our economy they also bring their fundamentalist, regressive, Dark Age thinking on social issues to the table. Snyder does not appear to even care about social issues but he is bound by his party affiliation to abide by their noxious positions and that is definitely not good for Michigan.

Snyder has been able to keep the unions in check by actually dealing with them and not just hammering away at them as other governors have. I hope he continues this strategy because in other states, they have marshaled their re-call powers to attack their opponents or those that will not give them what they demand. Some of that has happened in Michigan when the Teacher’s union recalled a congressman for not following their orders.

I am hoping that the re-call law is changed to allow re-calls for specific crimes while in office and not just for not doing what some people feel they should have done; the current re-call regulation disenfranchises the many people that did vote for the congressman or woman being re-called.

Other than that, I am waiting for the new tax laws to take effect on January 1 to see how my business does under the new legislation.

Many retirees are probably planning their political attack on a governor that is now taxing their pensions…I agree with the governor that seniors in Michigan have gotten away with benefits no other state has and Michigan can no longer afford such largesse.

We have a great state here; lets not screw it up as we have in the past.

Related articles

• Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Continues Attacks on Unemployed (crooksandliars.com)
• Michigan Governor Rick Snyder mulls DRIC end run (windsorstar.com)
• Snyder signs bills on crime victim compensation (mysanantonio.com)
• Gov. Snyder focuses on bottom line during 1st year (mysanantonio.com)
• Michigan Governor Signs Anti-Domestic Partner Benefit Law (pinkbananaworld.com)

2011: Economic and political issues into 2012

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And what has 2011 meant to the United States?

Well it was all about the economy and of course, politics.

2011 was the year, I think, that the economy started to get better with the unemployment rate starting to drop and the American public’s confidence started to go up. I just hope I am right.

In 2011 we became painfully aware that we have a broken political system and that our elected officials are not the good representatives of our welfare as we have always imagined; they are selfish representatives of themselves, willing to do anything to stay elected (not all, but many).

The GOP race for the presidential nomination has clearly shown us how absurd and downright stupid some of the people are that are trying to achieve this nation’s highest office…something needs to change fast…

The TEA PARTY was invented in 2011. Obnoxious people that had some good ideas about fixing our economy but could not hide their fundamentalist, regressive views on social issues.

I think it must be time for a viable third party in our political system...

Unfortunately, economic issues and our disjointed political system will follow us into 2012.

Related articles

• Letter: Invitation to a Dialogue: Time for a Third Party? (nytimes.com)

2011: The year that changed the world forever...

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Well here it is; the last day of 2011. Many of us will be reviewing 2011 before we close it out, on a number of fronts. I think what makes some 2011 events important is in the impact those events will have on the years to come.

On the world stage, I think every one will call the ARAB SPRING as the event(s) that history will take note of for many years to come.

Started by a young, poor vegetable cart owner who was denied a license to sell his vegetables on the streets of Tunis, Tunisia and thereby denying him the only means he had to support his family with, he went to the main government building and set himself on fire and thus killing himself.

That act of desperation against a cruel, dictatorial and corrupt government was the spark that set the whole Arab world ablaze.

Tunisia just elected its first democratic government. Egypt deposed its long time dictator but is still in the throws of forming a nominally democratic government. Libya underwent a violent struggle against its long time dictator, killing him and ushering in a hopefully democratic government.

Syria is in the throws of a very violent uprising against its long time, very stubborn dictator with the outcome still tentatively uncertain but with the Arab League stepping in, a hopefully quick end to the slaughter is in sight with an eventual departure of the dictator and the imposition of a democratic governing system in the near future. The people in Yemen have also rioted for change and may be on the verge of overthrowing their long time dictator...hopefully soon.

The Arab Spring has not reached Iran…yet, but there is still hope that the people will eventually rise up against its brutal, dictatorial theocracy (religious dictatorship).

The Arab uprising has also spurred other peoples to action. In Russia, the people have had enough of the unofficial dictatorship of Putin and his party; they are demanding free elections without fraud and I think their voices are being heard.

Burma or Myanmar, has officially opened its borders and is nominally making attempts to bring democracy to their country but we will have to wait to see if the actions are legitimate or just an excuse to improve the economy.

China, long under a strict Communist dictatorship for many years has experienced dramatic economic growth and with it modernization and now a demand for more freedoms.

In our country, the OCCUPY WALL STREET MOVEMENT has some relation to the Arab Spring movement as all peoples are inspired to make their feelings known.

Hard to imagine that one person’s act of desperation moved so many and resulted in changing not only the Arab world but the entire world.

And you thought, what can little ole’ me do to change things in this vast world of ours…now you know…

Related articles

• Reflections on the Arab spring (constantemotion.wordpress.com)
• The Arab Awakening: Roots of the uprisings (fullcomment.nationalpost.com)
• Ten people who changed the world: Mohammed Bouazizi, an ordinary man who became the Arab Spring's figurehead (independent.co.uk)

DETROIT: Governor is too sensitive about bullshit...

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Governor Snyder is so concerned about being called a racist that he is going out of his way to show that he is only interested in Detroit’s welfare and wants to help Detroit get back on its financial feet, that he is appointing a blue ribbon team of distinguished blacks and a few whites, to recommend to the governor, steps that he needs to take to save Detroit’s ass from bankruptcy.

I can appreciate the governor’s caution not to anger the idiots in Detroit playing the race card for reasons only available to them alone. The facts are in and Detroit is in a death spiral mainly because of years and years of incompetence and corruption that the leaders of Detroit do not want to give up. They would rather the state and federal governments give them more money so that they could continue funding their incompetence and corruption!

I think Michiganians of all colors have had about enough of this racial bullshit being played out in Detroit and they want someone to come in, as they have done in other Michigan cities, and kick some ass.

The local papers have been showing the public how bad bankruptcy would be for Detroit and they also are highlighting what great work and great outcomes, emergency managers in other decrepit Michigan cities, have managed to produce.

Why is there a problem in Detroit when other cities have been deemed insolvent and taken over by the state with no commotion?

Why are we playing this stupid game with the likes of Jessie Jackson and all the rest of the religious leaders that want to maintain the status quo because of what?

The politicians backing this idiocy have a simple rationale; they just want the votes come election time and why would Detroiters vote for these useless people who obviously have not done Detroit any good in all these years?

This is fast becoming a grand fiasco and the importance of Detroit on the national and international stage has been way overplayed and the influence of Detroit and Detroiters on local, regional or state politics has definitely been overestimated.

Detroit is Michigan and if it is to remain a representative city of the state then it must be a viable city first, able to sustain itself and govern itself responsibly. This cannot happen with the way things are right now so it must be leveled and then rebuilt and all those who have and continue to benefit from the incompetence and corruption of city government, to be shown the door with no chance of ever coming back.

The appointment of the blue ribbon team of respected black professionals to review city finances is just postponing the inevitable; we all know how bad city finances are so why go this route?

The white governor obviously does not want to be portrayed as the white plantation owner coming to straighten things out among his slaves. The fact that we are even talking in this fashion is totally absurd and the fact that we are even allowing this kind of talk in this day and age, makes us as idiotic as the idiots talking that way!

Related articles

• Panel to probe Detroit finances (windsorstar.com)
• Detroiters won't accept state takeover (cbc.ca)
• Detroit in a hostile takeover bid? - CBS News (cbsnews.com)
• Detroit Is In Utter Shambles And The State Should Take It Over Immediately (businessinsider.com)
• State of Michigan May Step in to Run Detroit (abcnews.go.com)
• Michigan a step closer to Detroit takeover (msnbc.msn.com)
• Emergency Manager May Be Inevitable in Detroit (theroot.com)

2011: Those that left us...

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End of the year is only a couple of days from now and the media is trying to capture all that happened in 2011 and a lot has happened, probably more than in other recent years, more important, world changing stuff that I am pretty sure will be noticed by history.

I am always amazed by the list of people that have died in the past year; made up of people that I actually knew something about…it always seems too long…

This year is no exception with Steve Jobs at the head of my list because he has meant so much to world technology and to me and my business.

Actors Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Russell, Jackie Cooper, Jeff Conaway, James Arness, Peter Falk, Cliff Robertson, Harry Morgan, …names I grew up watching.

Andy Rooney, someone I watched on 60 Minutes for many, many years.

Jack Kevorkian, a man ahead of his time.

Boxer Joe Frasier, wrestler Macho Man Randy Savage, body builder Jack LaLanne …names I also grew up with.

Amy Winehouse, a singer I just discovered and gone already. Dobie Gray “The In Crowd”, “Drift Away” and Gladys Horton “Mr. Postman”, Phoebe Snow "Poetry Man",  songs I listened to, sang and danced to.

Christopher Hitchens, author on religion that inspired me.

And of course the ones that made our world a better place by dying:: Osama bin Laden, Moammar Gadhafi and Kim Jong IL

Yes there were many, many more that made a difference in our world; these are just a few names that I am most familiar with…

Related articles

• You: A final farewell (menafn.com)
• On Hitchens, Havel, and Kim - and Totalitarianism (insightscoop.typepad.com)
• Stars we lost in 2011 (cnn.com)
• Final goodbye: Notable losses of 2011 (cbsnews.com)

2011: Went by pretty fast for us...

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Well it is time to take a look at 2011 before we move on to 2012. Everybody says how fast the year went by but we say that all the time and the older you get, the faster the year goes by…what is that all about?

I think 2011 will be looked at as a momentous year; one that history will take note of and I will look at that in later blogs.

On a personal level, the year was good and busy. Last year was somewhat of a bust because of my father-in-laws extended passing and my wife’s rupture of her Achilles tendon which sidelined her for a good portion of the year so 2011 was to be our make up for the lost opportunities year.

We started out on a Caribbean cruise in January which was a lot of fun followed by a week in the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana with our friends in February. February was also when my sister Zenia turned 70!

March had my grandson Luke turning the BIG 1 and a visit from our Scottish in-laws.

April had my wife and sister Barb going to Florida to help save my crazy cousin Lucy…the trip did some short term good. April also saw my 40^th wedding anniversary which we celebrated on a grand scale with our daughter Tanya & husband as well as the Scottish in-laws…great and memorable time.  Easter was early and warm and a lot of fun.

May saw my 64^th birthday and our Spring trip to Yellowstone National Park which was a super grand trip with snow, ice and burning sun all in one.

In June, my wife was vacationing with family friend Kerry and her two daughters in the panhandle of Florida and then in Nashville, Tenn. My wife turned 61 that month also.

July was hot and many family members were at our condo in Charlevoix, MI. The annual Air Show was way too hot and I had to attend a convention in Atlanta, Georgia at which my company celebrated 30 years in business with a grand reception attended by many of my colleagues and business associates.

August was also hot and many at the condo in Charlevoix. We took a trip to Charleston, SC to spend time with our friends from North Carolina. We learned why people leave the South in the summer…way too hot for humans!

September was a stay at home month.

October had us going to the condo in Charlevoix, MI to peep at the Fall colors and get the condo ready for winter. We also took a trip to Gatlinburg, TN to visit our niece Kimberly. We drove there with my brother-in-law Craig and his wife Betty; very nice time and another chance to marvel at the Fall colors in the South.

November is when our children were born so we flew to New York City to be with our son Zak on his 33^rd birthday with his wife Kimberly…great time as usual in the BIG Apple. Our daughter Tanya turned 40 so we had to celebrate that BIG milestone.

December saw a great WIGILIA celebration at my niece Tammy’s house and now I am looking forward to spending NEW YEAR’S EVE with family and friends and with my mother who will be turning 90 in 2012. We try to spend the New Year with my mother never knowing how long she has on this earth…she has had a remarkable life so far.

Let us see what 2012 will bring…we are already signed up for a cruise in the Caribbean which will probably be our last cruise in the Caribbean since we have basically explored most of it and it is time to move on to other warm climate places reachable by ship.

See you on the flip side…

WIGILIA: Traditions change but still go on...

WIGILIA 2011 is history. Wigilia is the traditional Polish Christmas Eve celebration that we have been observing forever.

My wife and I have put on the Wigilia celebration for the last 30 years but with the family growing exponentially and us not getting any younger, younger family members have taken up the task with my daughter having it last year and my niece having it this year.

The traditional meal is meat-less and therefore somewhat of a challenge to prepare but the younger people have decided to skip that tradition and have added  ham, smoked kielbasa and fresh kielbasa to the menu which the kids really appreciate since fish did not seem to be something they wanted to eat.

The one tradition that makes Wigilia so special is the tradition of exchanging the “oplatek” which is basically a wafer similar to what the communion wafer is made of. Each person, no matter what age, exchanges pieces of the wafer with everyone in the family, exchanging best wishes for the coming year. In our family, the youngest is one and a half and the oldest, my mother, 90 in May.

The tradition will vary from year to year and person to person but the gathering at this time of year to celebrate Wigilia on Christmas Eve will hopefully go on long after we are gone.

Related articles

• Christmas - Boże Narodzenie here in Poland :) (czynus.wordpress.com)
• Christmas traditions around the world (interflora.co.uk)
• Christmas Eve as steeped in tradition as the big day itself (thestar.com)
• Daily Diary: CHRISTMAS Is A Time To Be With Family (momgenerations.com)

REPUBLICANS have shown they cannot be trusted with our economy...

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I know you could not have missed the drama that was unfolding yesterday in our Nation’s capital, more specifically in the House of Representatives with the spotlight on the House Republicans, especially John Boehner, the Speaker of the House.

The Senate had already passed a stop-gap bill extending the payroll tax bonus that millions of Americans receive to the tune of $1,000 per year (some more, some less). They extended that measure till the end of February. In the same bill, there was an extension of unemployment benefits to the long term unemployed and a blockage of a huge pay decrease to physicians that provide services to Medicare patients. All in all, it made good sense to extend the bill past the New Year and save the arguing till 2012.

Senators voted for the extension and went home for the Holidays.

The House of Representatives were supposed to follow suit and go home also BUT THEY DID NOT. They told Obama to call back the Senators to debate the bill further.

John Boehner, the Speaker of the House and most powerful man in the House, did what he was told to do by the Tea Party twits in the House and blocked the bill.

Obama said that it is strange when both sides agree that the bill needs to be passed but the House of Representatives cannot seem to pass the bill that everyone agrees on…is this the height of absurdity or what?

Karl Rove, the biggest Republican prick there is, said that the current Republican leadership in the House are a bunch of idiots for not passing this bill since they have nothing to gain by not passing it except the scorn of ALL AMERICANS…so they passed it.

Well those Republicans now have the scorn of the whole nation and Speaker Boehner looks like a total ass listening to his Tea Party colleagues and not doing what a rationale, adult would…he will not last as speaker for very long.

I did not get into all the legal and political details of this bill mainly because the point here is not passing or not passing this stop-gap measure,  what is important here is to see what Republicans in the House are prepared to do to bring down our economy and then be elected to power in 2012.

I have to stress this point again because I think what they did demonstrates how uncaring the Republicans are about our economy and how it affects the common man. If the economy fails to revive by election time; they will win the election even though our recession was a direct result of Bush / Republicans spending excesses.

BUT if the economy recovers; many signs are pointing to a definite, if slow, recovery, their chances of getting elected into power are greatly diminished.

The Republicans have demonstrated in the last few days that they are willing to do everything in their power to derail our economy to assure themselves of a victory in 2012.

If they are capable of that kind of absurd and hurtful behavior than I will have nothing to do with them and since Democrats do not impress me as capable of doing anything better than the Republicans, I will have to be looking for a third party candidate…I hope one is lurking in the shadows.

Related articles

• Karl Rove piles on, tells Republicans to cut bait in tax standoff - CBS News (cbsnews.com)
• House agrees payroll tax deal as Republicans cave in to Obama (guardian.co.uk)
• Top Republicans Turn On Boehner, Call On House To Pass Senate Payroll Tax Cut Bill (businessinsider.com)
• McConnell Seemingly Undercuts Boehner and Says Pass Payroll Tax Cut Extension Already (themoderatevoice.com)
• WATCH: Maddow Hammers John Boehner And House Republicans (huffingtonpost.com)
• John Boehner Is Letting The Inmates Run The Asylum (mykeystrokes.com)
• House Republicans under fire over payroll standoff (guardian.co.uk)
• Boehner and the Tea Party | breezespeaks (mbcalyn.com)

DETROIT: Quit spitting at people trying to help you or else...

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Image via Wikipedia

This morning’s paper got my blood boiling again.

I have been ranting against certain Detroiters making a big deal about the emergency manager law which will put Detroit and its residence under a manager with “dictatorial” power. Every sane person knows that Detroit is in a hopeless financial situation and only “extreme” measures will save its ass from bankruptcy.

And yet, the race card is being played not only by the mayor but, as I mentioned before, religious pastors of Detroit and now they are being joined by the REVEREND Jessie Jackson who is the biggest hypocrite (adulterer) and racist social activist as they come.

One thing Jackson said really went to the core of this nonsense; He said WHERE IS THE MONEY?

His rationale is since the government bailed out banks and auto companies, why can’t it bail out Detroit.

Note: I have not figured out why Detroit religious pastors are taking up the battle against the emergency manager law…what do they have to gain or what do they have to lose? How does an emergency manager impact local churches?

I know Detroit pastors are courted during elections for their endorsement so are they scared of losing political power since elected officials may just be fired by the emergency manager? Do the pastors somehow lose out financially?

More importantly, do the pastors realize that an emergency manager is actually good for the city and its residents and can prevent the city from going into bankruptcy which would be disastrous for the city and its residents?

Back to Jackson and: where is the money? This is a common question Detroit has been asking federal politicians for years. Democratic presidents showered Detroit with all sorts of money throughout the years and what does Detroit have to show for it: nada!!!

That is because the culture of incompetence and corruption which has existed in Detroit for ever and still does to this day, takes millions of dollars from the state and federal government and makes them disappear without a trace AND THEY WANT THIS PRACTICE TO CONTINUE?

I have been saying all along that keeping Detroit black, corrupt and incompetent does benefit a number of people and it appears those people include the pastors of the various Baptist churches in Detroit.

I wish the local newspapers would conduct some investigative reporting and reveal the real reasons these people are objecting to someone “fixing” Detroit’s financial morass, once and for all.

I will have to add another point and that is “alienation”. I know of many people, myself included, that grew up in Detroit and then moved to the suburbs mainly for safety reasons and for better educational opportunities for our children BUT we have always called ourselves Detroiters or from Detroit and honestly cared about the city and wished nothing but the best for the city and its residents and many of us actually did things to help the city.

Throw in race card playing twits that remind everybody THIS IS OUR CITY and don’t be TRYING TO TAKE OVER OUR CITY but give us MONEY so we can keep governing in the same incompetent and corrupt way we always have and some of us may just say OK…go bankrupt and see what happens!

You can only spit in the eye of people honestly trying to help the city so many times…over time, we may tire of the racist language and may vote with our tax dollars to bulldoze the place and start from fresh!

Related articles

• Gov. Rick Snyder Releases Video On Detroit's Financial Situation (huffingtonpost.com)
• Civil disobedience possible to fight emergency law (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Jesse Jackson Attacks Law That Lets Manager Fire Elected Officials (huffingtonpost.com)
• State finds 'probable financial stress' in Detroit (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Andy Dillion Requests Full Review Of Detroit Finances (huffingtonpost.com)
• State finds 'probable financial stress' in Detroit (sfgate.com)
• Freedom Failed: And the Thunder Rolls into ABRA Detroit (whitelocust.wordpress.com)

SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY CLAIMS: Have you noticed all the ads on TV lately?

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I have been noticing the proliferation of ads that have lawyer types with deep voices, saying that if you had your SICIAL SECURITY DISABILITY CLAIM denied, you need to call us…implying that they could get that claim denial reversed.

When I saw CALL SAM commercials and LAWYERS.COM commercials advertising the same claims, I grew suspicious.

Sam Burstein, Geoffrey Fieger and Zammler & Company, have always advertised for clients that have been injured in some way. These firms would sue the so-called responsible party and obtain judgment awards out of which they kept a percentage; I can understand the concept of ambulance chasing which has made these firms pretty rich but social security disability claims?

I could not figure out how the law firms made money if they got a client's disability claim approved by the government which usually means a modest monthly payment.

The Wall Street Journal explained it all to me. Firms make millions on these claims because the government pays them. The Social Security Administration has so many claims that they actually pay firms (you do not have to be a lawyer to get into this business) to help expedite the process.

Now the firms only are paid IF the claim is accepted; nothing if claim is denied…so the firms make sure the claims are NEVER denied.

How do they do that; they keep out medical information that would cause an administrative judge to deny the claim. An example would be a claim that a person was injured and cannot perform his or her job of lifting boxes. Medical results that show that they should have no physical reasons not to be able to pick up boxes are left out of the file so the judge never sees it.

Some insurance agencies hire private detectives to follow claimants and video them playing basketball or some other strenuous exercise while at the same time claiming they can barely move.

Since unemployment has grown in our current recession, there are many more people filing for disability with the Social Security Administration and since these firms practically guarantee the claims acceptance, why not file.

On the other hand, the Social Security Administration has no one to represent the agency at the hearings, no one to challenge some of the claims being presented so the claimant nearly always gets approved.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is just another way our tax dollars are thrown in the garbage by our government. The Democrats want to tax the wealthy but they are not willing to stop this outrageous and absurd waste of out tax dollars and that is why I am not willing to give the Democrats any more tax money until they show me they can cut waste.

Related articles

• Binder Brothers Thrive in Strained U.S. Disability System (blogs.wsj.com)
• Vocational Experts in a Social Security Disability or SSI Case (farmerdreiser.wordpress.com)
• "Why Don't You Just Go Get a Job?!" Part One (bslchicago.wordpress.com)
• Social Security Law Firm Helps You Avail Benefits Quickly (socyberty.com)
• Social Security Disability Claim for Mental Illness Remanded (farmerdreiser.wordpress.com)

END OF IRAQ WAR: My ass...

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I don't know if you noticed but the day after we, as a nation, celebrated the end of the Iraq War, multiple explosions went off in Baghdad with a sizeable loss of life.

The reasons for the attacks are the reasons we have been predicting since the ill fated and ill advised War on Iraq began a long, long nine (9) years ago with over 4,000 American deaths and countless thousands wounded; sectarian violence.

I guess what continues to piss me off is the fact that we knew this would happen or at least people with a brain did (maybe not Bush, Cheney or their fellow NeoCons).

By "sectarian violence" we mean specific groups waging war on other groups to gain control over all the groups.

Since Iraq was a "created" country, i.e. a country created by drawing a geographic outline on the map (by the British) and compelling everyone within that outline as belonging to this created country.

These groups include Muslim Shiites and Muslim Sunni which practice Islam but hate each other to the point of being willing to massacre each other. We also throw in the Kurds, who are nominally Muslim but ethnically separate from the other two groups. We can now add a "secularist" element which represents people that do not want to live under a theocracy (religious dictatorship) and this group, believe it or not, is growing.

Add to this melting pot al-Qaeda which is Sunni Muslim but a terrorist organization willing to destroy everyone to gain dominance or to just destroy everything for the hell of it, which is what they like to do.

Add also Iran which is Shiite and would like to have Iraq as a partner or better yet, a puppet that Iran could control in its quest to destroy the West.

A plan that was proposed years ago and which I favored was to split the country into three (3) generally autonomous areas joined as a federation: Sunni, Shiite and Kurd. The only duty of the federation was to divide all oil revenues on a per-capita basis since most of the oil is either in the Kurd area or the southern Sunni area. This was a neat and doable plan that was rejected by the Bush Administration almost immediately and so we will now have civil war.

The tragedy here, caused by utter stupidity and arrogance on our part, is that over 4,000 American soldiers died for absolutely nothing and countless thousands of Iraqis died for nothing also BUT the greater tragedy is that countless thousands of Iraqis will die in the near future, also for nothing.

If you want to talk money and I mean billions if not trillions that was wasted and helped bring on our recession/depression, well just remember that yes, our military has left Iraq but a huge diplomatic delegation will stay permanently and will be protected by private security forces which will cost us billions if not trillions into the future.

The Republicans, who started this war and who authorized Bush to blow billions with no accountability, will now blame Obama for the approaching civil war in Iraq…love politics!

History will never forget what happened here and what will happen; I hope Bush and his NeoCons will be labeled for centuries to come, as the total morons that brought this much death and suffering to the world to feed their own arrogance and idiotic plans. Hopefully this will be a lesson for future generations that will not want to repeat the mistakes of history.

Related articles

• Iraq's VP wanted over the assasination of government officials - ABC Online (abc.net.au)
• Baghdad bomb ratchets up worries about slide into sectarian violence (csmonitor.com)
• More than 60 Killed In Baghdad Bombings (alan.com)
• Bombs kill 57 in Baghdad (israelsurvivalupdates.wordpress.com)
• Bombings rock Iraq, stoke civil war fears (thestar.com)
• Iraq Disintegrating As US Withdraws (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Iraq PM Tells Kurds to Hand Over Sunni VP (abcnews.go.com)

TODAY IS THE REAL DAY WE CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS...

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Well today was the day that people have celebrated for thousands of years; it is the WINTER SOLSTICE.

People have also called it the day WINTER BEGINS or the day of the LONGEST NIGHT or the day of the SHORTEST DAY. The very next day, the nights are shorter and the days longer.

Many have also celebrated that day as the NEW YEAR because the New Year really starts astronomically with the day after and not on our calendar New Year January 1.

The Christians have usurped this perfectly natural, pagan holiday and substituted their made-up holiday which has nothing to do with nature or the beginning of a New Year.

Christmas did keep a lot of the pagan rituals like the “holiday tree” and the giving of presents, etc. I do think our children should be made aware that this time of year was special for many thousands of years, to people like us, celebrating the passage of time on earth and the dawning of a brand new year and with it, brand new opportunities and adventures.

I don’t mind sharing this holiday with Christmas Christians but I do mind when they imply that somehow their religious observance was the original reason for the holiday and our secular celebrations somehow demean the religiousness of the holiday and I say Bah Humbug, you are obviously ignorant of the facts of history and I totally understand; I was raised that way too but that does not mean you stop seeking out the truth; I did.

Related articles

• Winter Solstice 2011: When It Is and What to Know About Start of Winter (ibtimes.com)
• Winter solstice: celebrating the shortest day of the year (cbc.ca)
• Winter Solstice 2011 (bonniecehovet.wordpress.com)
• Kissing Under The Mistletoe: Traditions for the Winter Solstice (listyles.wordpress.com)
• Happy Winter Solstice! (markmandrake.com)
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Pope Benedict Resign?

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I have just read an article that talks about Pope Benedict and how tired and run-down he has become to the point where he no longer even talks to visitors, etc.

This is unfortunate but predictable for someone that will be 85 in April. He is supposedly in good health, both physically and mentally and genetically too; he has an older brother that is doing quite well.

The interesting point to all of this, is that the pope himself has said that when a pope can no longer do the job that is required of him, he should resign.

I have checked and Vatican law does allow for a papal resignation for cause; the last one to resign was Pope Gregory XII in 1415 and that was not for ill health but to end The Great Western Schism where a number of popes claimed the papal throne.

Also, I think Benedict was alluding to the physical state of the last pope which was pretty bad and painful to watch as he tried speaking when clearly his physical condition prevented him from doing that in a normal manner.

So will Benedict be the first modern pope to resign and retire? Our presidents do with no problems but would it be a problem when a pope does the same?

Related articles

• Pope Benedict XVI's Health, Questions as Christmas Comes (frstephensmuts.wordpress.com)
• Pope Benedict XVI Seen As Tired, Weak (huffingtonpost.com)
• Pope heads into busy Christmas season tired, weak (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Pope's health arises as slowdown noted (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Pope ends individual speeches to new Vatican ambassadors (catholicnewsagency.com)
• Vatican rebuffs reports of planned papal resignation (onecatholicnews.wordpress.com)
• How good is the Pope's health? (insightscoop.typepad.com)

BAN ALL TEXTING/CELL PHONE USE WHILE DRIVING?

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Our government just suggested that all forms of electronic communicating (talking on cell phone, texting, etc.) be banned while a person is driving.

I have been hearing a flood of objections to this proposal which would (I hope) carry a substantial penalty for disobeying the law if enacted.

Yes, the proposal is quite intrusive and basically dictates how we are to behave?

The government department pushing the proposal says that this law would add to our safety while we are in our automobiles and I don’t think any one can argue with that.

Personally, I have had numerous close calls, some inches away from a collision, where the driver that nearly rammed me was on a cell phone. In my case, the drivers were mostly women and when I laid on the horn, they had the audacity to give me the finger…good thing most of us don’t carry guns in our cars…

Also, in my auto, I have the Ford Sync system where all calls coming to me are directed through my radio so I can speak without having to use my cell phone BUT even when I talk with both hands on the wheel, I feel like my brain is paying more attention to the conversation than to my driving.

There are tons of statistics that point to fatal wrecks on the road caused by the distraction of communication devices; the poster crash for this proposal is the truck driver that was texting as he slammed into the back of a school bus.

I guess I am slightly conflicted here because there probably are occasions where you might need to make a call or take a call while driving but would that be only in an emergency (which the law would allow) or just as a matter of convenience.

I guess more discussion is needed but right now, if I was to make a decision today, I would vote for the law.

Related articles

• Why ban the cell phone from driver's use is just silly (halfbyteblog.wordpress.com)
• NTSB proposes ban on all cell phone use by drivers (cbsnews.com)
• CMU's Marcel Just Applauds NTSB's Proposed Ban on Cell Phones While Driving (prnewswire.com)
• NTSB wants nation-wide ban on cell phone use while driving (venturebeat.com)
• Report: IIHS contends cell phone bans not effective for curbing accidents (autoblog.com)
• NTSB AND CELL PHONES: Fudging The Numbers? "I had looked at the NTSB's data on distracted drivin... (pjmedia.com)
• CELL PHONES IN CARS / Driving to distraction on information superhighway (sfgate.com)
• Should Drivers Be Banned from Using Cell Phones? (usnews.com)