LIBYA: Don't blow your hard earned freedom with a religious dictatorship!

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Western powers (UN) helped Libyan rebels defeat the 40 year rule of Dictator Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi; the West has set the Libyan people free from his tyranny…or has it?

After the (controversial) killing of Qaddafi, one of the leaders of the “new” government told reporters that the country would now be governed by SHARIAH (Islamic) law and that includes, bringing back polygamy.

Mr. Abdel-Jalil had caused some concern among the Western powers that helped Libya rebels win over Qaddafi and his army of supporters BUT also among Libyan women especially the young, educated ones; they don’t want to overthrow one dictator who actually was socially moderate, for the theocracy of Islam as seen in Iran…the revolution so many died for should not bring LESS human rights and MORE Islamic domination that would be anti-progressive as well as more patriarchal, making women second class citizens once again.

Mr. Abdel-Jalil was surprised to hear so much backlash at his statements. He quickly added that Libyans are “moderate” Muslims but the fact that Islam has entered the political arena in Libya means that the democratic process everyone called for has already been compromised. At least Qaddafi kept peace among the radical Islamists and the progressives.

So here we go again in the so-called Middle East or Arab Spring. Tunisia just voted but violence broke out when a party failed to get a majority. Egypt is seeing religious riots, Syria is killing its citizens and Libya is headed for an Islamic theocracy.

I have not lost hope and expect turmoil before a stable and democratic path is found.

Note: This is why having foreign students live and study in the U.S. is a good thing as these same people will take our democratic ways and hopefully teach them to their fellow countrymen.

Related articles

• Libyan Theocracy? (towleroad.com)
• U.N. Votes to End Libya Intervention on Monday (nytimes.com)
• Libya's new leader declares an Islamic state (wdsi.wordpress.com)

FALL ROAD TRIP: Gatlinburg, TN etc.

Took a road trip to Gatlinburg, TN to see my niece Kimberly and her boyfriend Duane. They live in a chalet right in the Smokey Mountains and work in Gatlinburg. She is an artist and has an art store there and he runs a small restaurant in the same area.

The ride there was long (9hrs.) but pretty nice with the Fall colors at their peak in the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee.

We rented a chalet in the mountains and I do mean IN THE MOUNTAINS. I will admit that driving my Ford Expedition on those mountain roads gave me some pause. The driveways to the chalets were so steep that I feared flipping over…but I guess I was just not used to it.

We drove through PIGEON FORGE, TN which is a huge tourist trap, to DOLLYWOOD which is a huge attraction owned by Dolly Parton and mostly dedicated to her life with many music venues all singing and playing her stuff. There are rides for the kids and country restaurants and more shops selling tourist crap. It was a great Fall day and the place was well decorated for the Fall.

GATLINBURG, TN is a smaller tourist trap town but they did have ski lifts that could take you high up to see the Fall colors in the Smoky Mountains which is something to behold. We were here many years ago when our kids were small and we had a pretty good time then.

My niece Kimberly is an accomplished artist and creates paintings and jewelry she fashions from some process in glass; we bought a bunch of stuff including a large painting that my wife really fell for.

We also ate at the CABIN CAFÉ which is run by Kim’s boyfriend Duane which is a cozy, cute place to stop and eat while making your way through the miles and miles of arts and crafts stores; I usually sat on a chair while they shopped.

All in all a pretty good adventure especially when you consider that my brother-in-law and his wife have not been out of Michigan in many years and he has never seen where his daughter lives and works.

MICHIGAN AUTO INSURANCE: Changes needed...

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Michigan is the only state that offers UNLIMITED LIFETIME COVERAGE for people involved in life-altering car accidents. The Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association pays for all accident claims over $500,000 and is funded by payments from motorists buying insurance policies in the state.

Now we are being told that the claims association will run out of money and will have to increase what motorists pay into the fund which will make expensive auto policies that much more expensive at a time when many people are having trouble paying for their auto insurance.

The proposal is to give motorists cheaper options of $500,000 to $5 million for post accident coverage BUT opponents are saying that people are stupid and will always opt for the cheaper policies and therefore face problems when they are involved in really serious life-altering accidents.

Excuse me but let the people decide what coverage they want and not YOU decide for them. Since Michigan is the only state with life-time coverage means we are doing something STUPID or else other states would have the same law.

Nearly 99% of accident injuries are under $250,000 in Michigan but it takes only a few people with life-altering injuries to blow through millions of dollars in the fund AND we are being told, care providers knowing Michigan covers life-time medical expenses, use it to their advantage and that needs to stop now.

The fact that Michigan has some of the highest numbers of UNINSURED MOTORISTS makes this bill so important; lower cost of auto insurance and maybe more people will be able to afford coverage.

I feel bad for the few people that need life-time medical coverage but I don’t think it is fair to punish all of us with such high insurance premiums; there must be a better way and I think this proposal is just that.

We need to get out of our welfare mentality; we cannot afford that mentality any more.

Related articles

• HB 4936 - Pending Changes to Michigan's Auto No-Fault Legislation (ezable.wordpress.com)

DETROIT: New Charter opposed even though vital...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I have been ragging on Detroit and its culture of incompetence, corruption and racism for many years now. I was somewhat optimistic about much needed changes when a new mayor (Dave Bing) came in and new, younger members of the City Council were elected and the incompetent crooks thrown out.

I was especially buoyed by a new charter for the city that for the first time ever, would mandate electing council members from their own areas of the city (like wards) and not at-large which basically allowed Detroiters to elect all members from the core city leaving all other parts of the city unrepresented. The charter would also help prevent corruption by making city operations a lot more transparent.

BUT NO…the newly elected council members and other officials want to keep their jobs and any power they wield and so they are encouraging Detroiters to vote down the charter, a charter that would, in my opinion, put the city on the right path to crawling out of the deep black hole it finds itself in currently.

The officials against the charter are playing the race card with Detroiters saying that the white suburbs will steal all the city assets and that type of provocative message works with Detroiters even if their assets are worthless.

Only hope for the city is for the mayor to come out and sell the charter which may not be perfect BUT it is a step in the right direction but so far, he has said nothing.

The newspapers are encouraging passage but they do not hold much sway with voting Detroiters.

I asked my wife who is a big activist in the city to ask her friends to exert some energy in passing the charter instead of screaming against greedy Wall Street?

And that is why as much as you want to be optimistic about the future of Detroit; you just can’t because Detroiters are their own worst enemy and until Detroit is re-populated with young, intelligent people that care for the city and want it to prosper, the city is stuck in a time warp where incompetence and corruption are the order of the day.

NAFTA: Finally Mexican trucks roll...

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You probably don’t even remember my ramblings about NAFTA (North American Free Trade Act) that was signed / agreed to in 1994 but blocked by the Teamster Union, yes since 1994, because they didn’t like Mexican truckers delivering goods into the US and therefore taking their jobs.

What has been happening up to now is that Mexican trucks would deliver goods to the border where Teamsters would pick up the goods and deliver them to the end user; this was a very inefficient and expensive way to import goods from Mexico.

Good from Canada can be delivered into the United States by Canadian trucks; yes, any place in the US.

The Teamsters used every trick in the book to block passage of an act already agreed to by Congress saying Mexican trucks were unsafe and Mexican drivers could not speak English and any bullshit excuse they could think of.

Our government found out that Mexican trucks were safer than U.S. trucks and the drivers were just as qualified if not better qualified than Teamster drivers.

When Mexico enacted “punitive” tariffs against American goods being sold into Mexico and basically killing exports to Mexico and all the American jobs that went with those exports did the Obama administration see the utter stupidity in blocking the NAFTA deal from being enacted?

The Mexican trucks will have to pass safety reviews, the drivers will have to take drug tests and pass an English test, all this to placate the Teamster twits. BUT American drivers wanting to deliver goods into Mexico have to pass the same tests…good luck with that…speak passable Spanish, pass drug tests, have a safe rig…I don’t think so.

Anyway, the first Mexican truck to deliver goods into the U.S. will roll through Nuevo Laredo with much fanfare.

The Mexican government did say that if the Teamsters manage to block this NAFTA deal again…the tariffs come back and American jobs go out the window again.

Obama should make a big deal out of this issue since it is 11 years late (Mexican trucks were scheduled to roll in 2000) and new jobs will be created and this is a GOOD thing but maybe Obama may not want to piss off the Teamsters any more than he has already.

Related articles

• Mexican truck is first in US under NAFTA (msnbc.msn.com)
• Mexican truck is first in delayed NAFTA program (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Tariffs Canceled Before Start of NAFTA Program (abcnews.go.com)
• First Mexican truck set to enter US interior (msnbc.msn.com)
• Mexican trucks due to begin going deep into U.S. (content.usatoday.com)

IRAQ WAR: Finally over?

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President Obama announced yesterday that ALL troops will be out of Iraq by the end of the year as promised by him in his campaign pledges.

This is obviously good news for the 50,000 troops that are still stationed in Iraq and for their families waiting for them at home. This is also good news for our economy since we continue to blow billions and lose Billions in a war that should never have been in the first place.

Critics of the president’s plan have emerged immediately and some have legitimate concerns.

President Bush tricked the nation into approving a war on Iraq (remember weapons of mass destruction bullshit) just to establish a democracy in the Middle east which he thought, would democratize the rest of the Middle East like falling dominos.

To make his dream come true he sacrificed over 4,000 American soldiers and countless thousands of Iraqi citizens as well as trashing our economy.

The critics of ending this war and our presence in Iraq point to the fact that as soon as we leave, an Iraqi civil war will begin which is true as I have blogged about for years now.

Here is their main gripe: We sacrificed thousands of American lives and billions of American dollars FOR WHAT? That question is most painful to all those families of American soldiers that died FOR NOTHING in Iraq but they did die FOR NOTHING because there was no threat to us from Iraq and FOR NOTHING because an Iraqi democracy is a very far fetched idea if not an impossible idea.

If you want a shred of optimism, the possibility of an Iraq split into three (3) sections, Kurds, Shia and Sunni, is possible after the civil war and that would be a good thing. A bad thing would be the mostly inevitable meddling of IRAN in an Iraqi civil war which could get the US involved in the struggle…again?

President Obama is absolutely doing the right thing by ending this worthless war BUT ole’ Bush should be made to realize what a terrible decision he made by getting us involved in a war that should never have happened…he has to own the guilt for that war…forever!

Note: Obama's decision was made easier for him when Iraq would not give IMMUNITY from prosecution to any soldiers left behind to keep the peace and prevent a civil war...so ALL troops must come home.

Related articles

• Betrayal (nebraskaenergyobserver.wordpress.com)
• Obama: U.S. will withdraw its troops from Iraq at the end of the year (thecurrencynewshound.com)
• Immunity for troops was Iraq deal breaker (cbsnews.com)
• Iraq PM: Immunity issue scuttled US troop deal (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Iraqis fret about security after U.S. withdrawal (msnbc.msn.com)
• Endgame: Obama announces all troops to leave Iraq by the end of the year (hotair.com)

STEVEN JOBS: and religion...

Image by secretagent007 via Flickr

I have mentioned my profound admiration for Steve Jobs and what he has accomplished for us all and for the world and I will be buying his authorized autobiography just to learn more about the man since he was such a very private person during his life, very little is known about his private life.

One excerpt from his autobiography made public, stands out to me, it is about his views on religion. The little detail that was leaked was that he did attend church on a regular basis as he was growing up but then he saw a picture on the cover of LIFE Magazine of starving African children and never went back to church again.

We have been seeing the same images basically on a constant basis whether its children starving to death with flies all over their tiny bodies or children with limbs cut off by rebel armies, etc.

While this may sound strange to many, it is quite familiar to me and to the many people that study religion and the anthropology of religious beliefs and practices.

I have always maintained and many scholars agree, that religion is part of our human DNA and has evolved side-by-side with other human attributes but for someone like Jobs and many others, religion and especially the concept of an all powerful and all loving God becomes absurd when viewed against a backdrop of abject human suffering and misery, especially when inflicted on the very young.

Mother Theresa, at the end of her life, also confessed that her God does not exist because if he did he would never let such suffering and misery exist.

There are many books out on the market currently that address this very issue and I am about to take a course in the subject of “Why Evil Exists”.

If I was to break down the arguments, the conclusion has to be that we as a people invented God in the image we wanted him to have and with attributes we wanted him to posses. This all powerful, all merciful and always loving God has become our father figure, someone that watches over us at all times.

The problem is that the God of our imagination cannot exist and function in our real world that is filled with suffering and misery because the attributes we imbued him with do not allow such suffering and misery to occur.

Many Christian theologians have tried to explain this conundrum and seeming incoherence by blaming our suffering and misery on the devil or on mankind that has free will and therefore chose to do evil. These arguments do not hold up when the suffering and misery are caused by natural disasters that could only occur as part of God’s will.

Christianity has painted itself into a corner with no rationale way out.

The Jews invented a God that is powerful but also vindictive, cruel and blood thirsty among his many attributes. But also being all powerful, how could he ever allow the Holocaust to happen.

Here the Jews also painted themselves into a corner but their excuse for centuries was that bad things happened to them because they were somehow “bad” and needed to be punished. This explanation only satisfied for awhile and after the Holocaust, many who survived the barbarism concluded that the God of the Jews did not exist and if he did, he was a worthless God.

Many Jews keep Jewish traditions but are not religious.

I could go on and on in this vein but back to Steven Jobs; my admiration grows the more I know about him.

Related articles

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JAIL THE BISHOPS: No more cover-ups!

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Bishop Robert Finn, bishop of the Catholic Dioceses of Kansas City-St. Joseph, MO., has been indicted for failing to tell police about a priest he supervised and the thousands of pornographic pictures found on his laptop. The pictures were found in December and a report was filed with police in May.

Bishop Finn is saying he is not guilty of failing to alert police in a timely manner about a priest with pornographic images on his computer. Given the huge problems the Catholic Church has had with pedophile priests and their sexual abuse of countless of innocent children for decades, one would think that the Church would be extra sensitive to “any” evidence of priestly sexual perversion as a means of stopping any present or even future abuse…but that does not seem like something the Church is encouraging and is basically doing what the Church has always done; covering up!

Maybe throwing a couple of bishops and Archbishops in jail might make the Church finally face the problem it has and do something about it…if for no reason but to protect children.

I am puzzled though by the lack of reaction by regular Catholics to what must be termed as the greatest crime against humanity ever perpetrated by the Catholic Church but I may be wrong about the term greatest since there are many other cases that can claim that title.

It seems some Catholics also are pretending that the crime never happened and is somehow made-up by the media or by people that want to sue the Church to get some money; in essence saying that the Church is innocent and cannot be guilty because after all, the Church is the representative of Jesus here on earth.

The Catholic Church is counting on the blindness and ignorance of its members to continue to operate as if nothing has happened, no children molested, no cover-up, just holiness.

And that is unfortunate…churches should be empty like they are in Ireland with no money coming in and good priests rebelling against the Vatican and its complicity in the crimes against children…there should be outrage and yet there is nothing but the same ole’ sheep, blinded by their faith and therefore complicit also for allowing the crimes against humanity to continue…

Related articles

• Kansas City's Catholic bishop Robert Finn accused of not reporting child porn (100gf.wordpress.com)
• Bishop and Diocese Indicted for Allowing Priest to Abuse Children (onebluestocking.wordpress.com)
• Good People Were Not Taken Seriously - Now Bishop Indicted (drnickmazza.wordpress.com)
• In Kansas City Churches, No Mention of Abuse Scandal (nytimes.com)
• Indicted bishop plans to continue leading diocese (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• First Bishop Is Indicted For Failing To Report Child Abuse [Abuse] (jezebel.com)
• The Troubling Indictment of Bishop Finn (catholicdefense.blogspot.com)
• Bishop Indicted For Failing to Report Abuse (scotteriology.wordpress.com)

CHARLEVOIX CONDO: See you in the spring...

Just returned from a late fall visit to our condo in Charlevoix, MI before the snow starts falling and also the temperatures.

The weather sucked but for a great sunny Sunday. Charlevoix was having its Fall Festival where all the apple growers of the region gather to show and sell their produce. You would not believe the variety of apples that are grown here.

My favorite from a few years back are HONEY CRISP APPLES. They are the best I have ever eaten and they taste just like the name implies, sweet and crisp. I did find out why they are so expensive…they are “club apples”, apples that were “invented or created” by someone who now collects a royalty on those apples; growers have to pay the creators for the right to grow them…they are worth the extra cost.

There was another apple people were talking about and it had the word “tango” in its name but none were available because the growers refused to pay the $10,000 fee to grow them…I still wished I could have at least tasted one.

Anyway, the weather was great (a bit too windy for my tastes) and downtown Charlevoix was jumping. We drove to Petoskey along 31 and all the way to Harbor Springs which was deserted. Lake Michigan was alive with white caps all over…

This time of year up North is bitter sweet as stores close for the winter with signs in the window saying “Had a great summer, see you in the spring”.

Snow fences going up, cottages being shrink wrapped as well as boats…

BUT my nephew and his family will be up at the condo during the Christmas break, hoping there is a lot of snow to goof around Mt. McSaba (hill actually) very near the condo and my niece’s family is a skiing family so they may be up later in the year but for us…see you in the spring.

EGYPT: Religious nuts are at it again...

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As happy as I was when Egyptians overthrew their long reigning dictator and the show of solidarity between ALL Egyptians with a common goal of a democratic Egypt, I also warned that extreme religion and radical religious kooks could spoil the party…and they are doing just that.

During this weekend in Cairo, Coptic Christians and hard-line Muslims clashed over a church burning. The army stepped in and countless people were killed and many more injured.

Obviously, this type of clash is not unique to Egypt. Recently, radical Jews burned down a mosque in Israel. Jewish Rabbis immediately stood with the Muslims in protest against such violent action.

Look at Iraq with its Sunni vs. Shia.

Yup, religion is again standing in the way of a more perfect political system designed to unite and not divide.

Here in the U.S. we are experiencing a war of words between fundamentalist Christians and the Mormons who are being called a cult and not a Christian religion.

This has been going on basically forever as one group promotes their god against another group’s god…with violence. I don’t understand why they can’t just let their gods battle it out, mano a mano.

I bet many do not know what a COPT is and what kind of Christianity they practice. They represent 10-20% of the Egyptian population of 80 million people and have been around for nearly two (2) thousand years; from the beginning of Christianity itself.

Christians in the early years of religious formation split into Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and the Coptic Orthodox. The split was partly theological and partly political and has remained that way for centuries.

The theological dispute centered on the “nature” of Jesus, whether he was both human and divine or separately human and divine, son of god or god himself, etc………………………..

None of these learned leaders of early Christianity knew anything about the nature of Jesus and the nature of Jesus was and is unknowable but that did not stop them from arguing theological points (how many angels fit on the tip of a needle) as if they really knew what actual facts were…but alas, I digress.

Egypt was mainly Christian and Alexandria was a great learning center for Christians and Jews who migrated there. In 639 CE, the Muslims invaded and slowly the population turned to Islam.

The fact that poverty and ignorance form the core of radical religiosity and Egypt is filled with those types of peoples even though there is a rising class of educated young people (those that started the protest against Mubarak), make achieving a peaceful democratic union among Egyptians, highly unlikely.

The one thing that dictators did was to keep peace among the warring factions. Once controls relax, the religious nuts come out of the shadows.

Right now the Egyptian army is in control and trying to keep peace but don’t forget that the soldiers also belong to religious groups and I am not sure the generals can keep them in check.

I guess having elections would speed the democratic process but I think a constitution should be in place first, a constitution that guarantees certain rights to all groups and prevents another theocracy like they have in Iran which is just a religious dictatorship.

We are living through a historical event…I wish them well.

Related articles

• Mounting hostility behind Egypt's violent protests (bbc.co.uk)
• 'Islamist hardline growing under Egyptian regime' (rt.com)
• -Egypt: Thousands Riot -Muslims v. Christians v. Military, 24 Dead 200+ Injured (answersforthefaith.com)
• Egypt Church Slams Authorities for Allowing Repeated Attacks on Christians (foxnews.com)
• Egypt religious leaders to hold crisis talks following Coptic violence that left 24 dead (telegraph.co.uk)
• Egypt Christians mourn dead after clashes kill 25 - Reuters (news.google.com)
• Prime minister says Egypt 'scrambling' after at least 23 killed in clashes (cnn.com)

VALUES VOTERS SUMMIT: Religious bozos...

Image via WikipediaPastor who endorsed Perry on Friday says Romney is a cultist | The Ticket - Yahoo! News:

'via Blog this'

I knew that Romney's Mormon religion would come up sooner or later. Remember that Jon Huntsman is also a Mormon. The religious hypocrites that comprise the so called Values Voters Summit ( I call them that because most of your wife cheaters and airport bathroom perverts come from this group) are above all else fundamentalist Christians but very, very arrogant fundamentalist Christians that have a very narrow and ignorant view of religion.

For some of them to label Mormonism a cult is expected and it has been done many times before. I don't know much about Mormonism but enough to label it strange as far as their historical development goes. This is not to say Mormons are bad people but I will say their belief system is odd when compared to mainline Christianity.

The fact that religion is becoming an issue for the republican candidates means they are that much more off the middle / moderate path that most Americans want to see their presidential candidates take.

Romney states that personal religion choice should not be a factor in the presidential race and I agree BUT here is Romney at the Values Voters Summit which is all about religion and religious values so what does he expect.

I am afraid that poor Romney is neither a religious nut or a "values" nut or even a nutty conservative BUT he wants to run on the Republican ticket and therefore must mask his personal hypocrisy to win the big prize...now that does not sound honorable to me and maybe that is why Romney is just not getting the support he thinks he should be getting...maybe you can only flip-flop so many times before people see and feel your hypocrisy.

 

Related articles

• Bill Bennett scolds over anti-Mormon "bigotry" (cbsnews.com)
• Perry, Romney court religious conservatives - USA Today (news.google.com)
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• Romney preaches tolerance to conservatives - CBS News (news.google.com)
• Romney Ignores Jeffress's 'Cult' Remarks on Mormon Faith (blogs.wsj.com)
• TRENDING: Romney jabs controversial speaker at Values Voter Summit (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
• Pastor Endorsed Perry Says Romney Is a Cultist (maboulette.wordpress.com)
• Perry camp plays the Mormon card (dailykos.com)
• Texas pastor: Romney "not a Christian" (americablog.com)

THE AL-AWLAKI EXECUTION: Legal or not?

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The execution of American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki ordered by our president and carried out by drone aircraft in Yemen have awakened some emotions when critics have condemned the actions as illegal and others like Ron Paul (candidate for president) suggested that the actions undertaken by the U.S. may be cause for impeaching the president.

There is no question al-Awlaki was a terrorist bent on the destruction of his own country and its citizens and his death is a good thing for the U.S., the world and all citizens of the world so why are we having problems with the legality of his execution.

The Fifth Amendment in our Constitution states that no person shall answer for a capital crime without first being indicted for that crime and then facing the charges brought against him for that crime. None of this happened in al-Awlaki’s case and therefore some are saying that his Constitutional rights have been violated.

Some are saying that this execution of an American citizen may have placed us on a slippery slope with no boundaries and makes us no better than some of the regimes we have criticized so severely.

I realize that my first response to this criticism was basically emotional so I will investigate and defend what President Obama and our government did using legal Constitutional precedent and historical Constitutional interpretation as I find it…more later.

Related articles

• Why Ron Paul Is Wrong About Impeaching President Obama Over The Killing Of Anwar al-Awlaki (dekerivers.wordpress.com)
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• Ron Paul slams Obama over 'impeachable' killing of Anwar al-Awlaki (100gf.wordpress.com)
• The Al-Awlaki (Constitutional) Assassination (twentiesfreedom.wordpress.com)
• Extrajudicial Execution is a Threat to the Rights of Every Citizen (blogcritics.org)
• Glenn Greenwald, Ron Paul and Jeremy Scahill on Obama authorizing the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki (dandelionsalad.wordpress.com)
• The Extrajudicial Drone Murder of US Citizen Anwar al-Awlaki (alternet.org)

STEVE JOBS: Thank you so very much...

Image via CrunchBase

Six weeks ago, when I heard that Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple saying “unfortunately the time has come…” my heart sank knowing his battle was lost and his days were numbered. Yesterday, when I heard he had died, it still hit me like a ton of bricks even though I knew it was coming.

I had to make a drink and sit down and ponder what just had happened.

I remember working with my brother Stef at Pointe Scientific, Inc. when the MAC revolution began. We were like kids with new toys and when we started bringing in Macs into the company, many still thought we were playing with toys and of course now the world cannot live without computers.

The Mac was a user friendly machine when compared to the IBM system that only highly trained computer geeks could use or operate; the Mac allowed me to be a computer user and boy did we use it.

Steve Jobs allowed us to experience being at the cusp of a historical shift in the way the world operates; children born today will never know that feeling that experience.

Here was a man born out of wedlock to a graduate student who gave him up for adoption, agreeing to let a couple who were college drop-outs adopt him if they promised to send him to college. The best thing his adoptive father did for him was to give him his own workbench and the rest is history.

We can talk about fairness but as we know, life is not always fair and you have to live or die with what it gives you. A visionary genius, he undoubtedly had many more productive years ahead of him and I hope he drew up some of his visions for the future for others to follow because it is those visions that had changed the world forever.

We can only imagine what went through his head as the end drew near, why me…just a little bit longer…one more project…and then blackness.

His legacy will live on forever and history books will praise him forever and I will remember him and thank him for changing my life, forever.

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OCCUPY WALL STREET PROTEST: Unions take over?

Image by Dan Nguyen @ New York City via Flickr

I warned before that the “natural” spirit of the Wall Street protesters would be co-opted by persons or groups with their own agendas IF the protesters do not somehow organize and set some specific targets for their angry protest.

Recently, unionists joined the protesters. These unionists have jobs and actually left their jobs early to join the protest. Since the protesters were demanding action on “jobs” to decrease the high unemployment rate, the appearance of working union members seemed somehow at odds with the spirit of the protest and I would caution the protesters not to allow unions to inject their own message into the protest.

The protest has an official name now: OCCUPY WALL STREET and from that name, one can conclude that the original anger was with Wall Street firms that caused the economic turmoil we are in. Protesters were heard to chant: we are the 99%...as opposed to the 1% of the richest at the top who they feel do not pay their fair share of taxes. They say they are marching against THE HEART OF GREED which is Wall Street.

It appears that the union takeover of the protest is being resisted even though some seem to appreciate their help BUT the unionists also are starting to realize that some or many of these protesters are so far left they resemble ANARCHISTS who denounce the U.S. government and call for its overthrow…nice.

And the way it looks now the whole protest thing is morphing into a call for CLASS STRUGGLE OR CLASS WARFARE which is what the Democrats and Obama are promoting and this will not sit well with the great silent majority in this country so the Democrats better watch out or they will be lumped in with the RADICAL LEFT which no one supports.

Some of the radical demands noticed on protester’s signs include free college education for everyone, elimination of all debt, end of use of all fossil fuels, guaranteed living wage for everyone and other socialist gems like that…did someone say Communism?

I am finding the evolution of this protest quite interesting and exiting and I hope all this energy and anger morphs into some positive action in Washington but I am pessimistic now that the unions have entered the fray.

Related articles

• AFL-CIO president visits Wall Street protesters - Wall Street Journal (news.google.com)
• Occupy Wall Street: live coverage of protests and reaction (guardian.co.uk)
• Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Occupy Wall Street Edition (dailykos.com)
• More Wall Street protests form across US (abclocal.go.com)
• Krugman: Occupy Wall Street is a "real political opportunity" that gives Democrats a "second chance" (americablog.com)
• Anti-Wall St. protesters arrested in Calif. (cbsnews.com)

RON PAUL: Impeach the president?

Image via WikipediaObama impeachment a possibility, says Ron Paul - Dan Hirschhorn - POLITICO.com:

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I like Ron Paul and his Libertarian ideals but I think he went a bit too far in calling for the impeachment of President Obama for ordering the killing of American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki.I think we all have heard of this gentleman who has been plotting against the United States (his homeland) for quite some time now and in some cases, he was successful.

I understand that Ron Paul is all about the Constitution and how the Constitution guarantees a "due process" which means U.S. citizens must be charged with a crime and then prosecuted for that crime. In al-Awlaki's case he was just ordered killed without due process.

When a U.S. citizen joins a group that vows the destruction of his homeland, he forfeits all rights of a U.S. citizen and becomes an enemy combatant that is a danger to this country and to the people in that country and must be treated as a criminal worthy of elimination.

You can argue all the legal points you want but there is legal precedence for this type of action and arguing the finer points of the Constitution in THIS case seems to border on the silly if not absurd and has no purpose in a presidential campaign.

I still respect some of Ron Paul's Libertarian views but I now see that he does not know when to draw a line between the dogmatic and the practical or common sensical and that, I am afraid, makes him unfit to be president.

The president must be capable of looking at a situation from many different angles and especially from the angle of what is good for the American people and the country while still following the requirements of our Constitution. Paul would be constrained by his strict dogmatism and therefore not good for the country BUT I hope some of his Libertarian views will enter into the great presidential debate in 2012.

FORD WORKERS WANT MORE: Sanity will prevail?

Image via Wikipedia

Well the Ford / UAW proposed contract came out recently and it appeared to be a little harder to reach than with GM because Ford workers wanted a LOT more than GM workers got and I said that the problem would be the fixed costs of production which cannot be increased since Ford already has the highest fixed costs because they did NOT take a bailout.

Ford also is the only company that can legally be struck.

The contract calls for a $6,000 signing bonus which is higher than at GM BUT workers want a raise EVEN though I am sure UAW leaders told them they cannot have a raise because a raise raises the fixed cost of production which is already too high.

There also are annual bonuses of $1,500 plus much larger profit sharing checks plus job security plus raises in entry level wages (adds to fixed cost) plus buyouts of $50,000 for production workers and $100,000 for skilled workers plus other benefits…

But Ford workers are pissed that Mulally and Ford got the big bucks for saving their asses and that white collar workers got some benefits and that seemed unfair to them because they don’t seem to understand that they just build autos, white collar workers create them and that what they do takes a lot of investment in their education while production workers don’t invest shit into their skill enhancement and therefore are paid accordingly or in my mind, way too much for what they do.

Yes, many workers are grumbling but I think the majority are just glad they have a contract and that Ford has promised to invest in their job security and I have to believe that is the most important thing in their contract.

Now King and his boys have to sell it to the rank and file and I am pretty sure they will because there is no other way…

Related articles

• Ford's success stirs UAW resentment in labor talks (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

TEXAS MAN FREED AFTER 25 YEARS...

Cover of INNOCENT MANTexas Man Imprisoned for Wife's Death to Be Freed:

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This is another case of prosecutorial misconduct on a grand scale that just cannot be passed over as if nothing happened.

This man spent 25 years for beating his wife to death. What the prosecutor did not release to the defense was a statement by the son that it was not his daddy that beat his mommy and more importantly, that her credit card was used after her murder and a check was used; the credit card and checks were in her stolen purse so how in the hell could the husband be blamed.

This kind of bullshit behavior by our prosecutors (nationwide) cannot be tolerated and must be punished severely. All they care about is closing the case and having a good looking record of convictions when they run for governor or some office; they don't give a shit about justice or fairness.

I have pointed out examples here in Michigan and around the country where innocent people are spending their lives in jail and some on death-row and some already executed all because prosecutors didn't give a shit about their guilt or innocence just a conviction...case closed.

Governor Perry is proud of his execution record and the audience applauded when he said that and that is the problem with this country, we feel the prosecutor is always right and that they would never convict an innocent man or woman on purpose...well think again.

I used to be big on the death penalty until I found out how many death-row inmates were exonerated by the "Innocence Project" started by Barry Scheck(?). He is the guy that helped get O.J. Simpson off on a murder charge that Simpson was guilty of big time. Maybe Barry feels guilty about that so now he helps get innocent people out of jail.

Anyway, our legal system is FLAWED big time if this type of miscarriage of justice can occur over and over again and something needs to be done about it.