Wednesday, November 30, 2011

A Winter Storm and Warnings of Financial Doom

Associated Press - Central banks move to stabilize financial system

I want you to read this article and consider what it says. European, Canadian and Japanese central banks are letting commercial banks borrow U.S. Dollars. This would be like the Federal Reserve, our central bank, allow Bank of America to buy Japanese yen. The stock markets in many countries rejoiced and a good time was had by all.

Sounds great, we get to sell dollars to banks in foreign counties. We create value out of nothing. The foreign countries banks convert to the only truly internationally accepted hard currency, the dollar, which allows them greater borrowing and the ability to purchase oil, which can only be purchased with dollars.

What happens if inflation hits the U.S. Dollar? Doesn't that make all the money that these banks borrow from us worth less or possibly even worthless. Beyond that, how does giving countries which have borrowed all they can better off if they borrow even more? You also need to remember that for every dollar one of these banks borrows, they get to loan out ten. This is basically turning the dollar into a truly one world currency. We don't need to create one, we just adopted an existing one.

Did you get to vote on this, nope. Did we even hear about this prior to it being done, nope. Is there anything we can do to stop it, nope, it has already happened and not only that but the Federal Reserve doesn't have to do what the government tells it, it is a private banking reserve.

How come this isn't all over the conspiracy sites? Didn't see it on Alex Jones or Rense or David Icke. I didn't even see it on Above Top Secret. I am not recommending any of those sites to anyone, I read them to know what is being sold to their audiences. Why haven't they posted on this already, this is huge.

With this action the final seal is put on the coffin of the United States. Maybe this is why congress is about to authorize the military to arrest American citizens in America and hold them indefinitely without a trial. This is being brought to you by the same group of criminals that created the economic crisis in the first place.

What I also find odd is that we will be paid in the foreign nations currency. This basically means that each countries currency directly and immediately effects the value of the other nations currency. Lets say that today one dollar is worth two yen. Okay, you borrow a dollar and you give me two yen. Simple enough. Next week, the yen drops and it is three yen for one dollar. I lent you the only dollar that I had and you lent me the only yens that you had. For this to work, we have to keep our currencies valuation at about the same rate till all debts are paid off.

Even if you do not understand the intricacies that can result from this, doesn't it just hit you as odd? Would you like your bank to borrow foreign currency? Now lets consider how this could benefit someone. What if they create an international stock exchange where you can buy stock in any country using any countries currency. Now that makes for a truly global economy, a one world economy.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Silly Rabbit, Don't Go Down That Hole

People seem to enjoy making bad decisions. Two articles that I read today really highlight this. The first one is about teaching through crowd sourcing techniques and the second is very scary. Seems a scientist took the bird flu and modified it so that it was capable of killing half of the people on earth.

Doctor Tipster - Dutch Researcher Created A Super-Influenza Virus With The Potential To Kill Millions

What reasonable person would create a flu that is capable of killing half of the people on earth? In the book "Faust" by Goethe there is a scientist who creates a little human man. The little man is constantly causing the scientist trouble and Faust asks the scientist why he created the little man in the first place. The explanation was that he wanted to see if he could. That is poor logic when it comes to putting others at risk.

The Globe and Mail - Physicist's crowd-sourcing philosophy gains traction in the classroom

Basically the article is promoting group think or at least that is what we used to call it. I have written about crowd sourcing before, in teaching situations I consider it pure poison. The fact that ten people might come to a good conclusion does not mean that they learned much individually. Let me try it this way, I understand how subtraction works and you understand how multiplication works, we can together arrive at the answer to some math problems; but, neither of us learned anything more, we just used what we already knew.

Working collaboratively has great value, consider the things that we have built that could not be done alone; however, the byproduct of compartmentalization and specialization is the inability of anyone to understand how things fit together, to understand the big picture and consequences of our actions. That sort of brings me back to the first article, the scientist created a thing that has dangerous consequences because he was more concerned about what he was capable rather than understanding that what he was doing was dangerous with little to no value.

Two sides of the same coin, two extremes. The truth is that some of us know more than others; but, all of us are part of a greater community. Not everyone is going to understand quantum physics, be able to create great art, find the deepest philosophical understanding or reach the limits of our human potential because each persons potential is unique to them. At the same time, our duty to the community should keep us from thinking just about us and when we impact the community in too extreme a manner without a valid reason then the community should censor us.

The problem is not one of individual freedom nor is it one of societal dictatorship, it is about reasonableness and balancing both. As we head towards a world where because of technology anyone will be able to bio-engineer something that can kill everyone on earth we need to seriously consider how we will limit these technologies and to do that we need to understand their consequences, it requires wisdom and groups do not exhibit wisdom because that is more comprehensive.

The internet has given us the opportunity to tap into the knowledge base of people worldwide and find new solutions and come to a greater understanding of one another. In the end though, there must still be the individual and he must also be allowed to flourish. We cannot advance society by holding back the individual's search for meaning and we do not have a society worth living in if we restrict variety; but, that does not mean anything goes.

Our national representatives have sold us out (seems completely unrelated doesn't it). Currently congress is considering passing a bill called Senate Bill 1867. This bill would allow the military to imprison Americans without trial indefinitely. This is prohibited by the Constitution as we have a right to go before a judge and have a trial by a jury. The "Patriot Act" denied these rights to foreign citizens and this bill would deny those rights to American citizens if the government so chose.

Theoretically, the relevant language is intended to catch "terrorists", presumably so they do not become the dreaded "terrorrizer guys", the modern day equivalent of the boogeyman. The changes in our laws and the outright rejection of the constitution as the law of the land has happened because people failed to pay attention to what was going on. A few have been telling people about the erosion of our basic liberties for years; but, none listened until all could see. The people we should listen to are not the people who control the world; but, instead the people who can and will honestly explain what is going on. The world needs outliers, those who are unique because they bring a perspective that no group ever would.

I am absolutely exhausted and would have preferred to have discussed these articles at another time; but, I didn't want my readers to miss them. Not my greatest post by any stretch; but, things to consider. More important that either of the articles is the question of the relationship of rights and responsibilities within society, the relationship between the individual and the group, both matter.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

To New Readers

I have seen an amazing amount of new readers. While I don't know exactly what to make of it, especially the rise in views from Russia, welcome. Look around, read my oldest posts and anything in between. Don't know how you got here or what you expect and it doesn't really matter, I say what I feel when I think it.

Please feel free to post comments either with your login or anonymously. The site is not monetized, identifies it's quotes and gives attributes it's links. There is no reason to agree with everything I write, much is meant to raise questions more than provide answers. I am much more about discussing perspective than proving how others should think, I didn't live your life and only know what I have learned.

This site is not about telling you the truth, it is about raising questions and providing scenarios to consider. Some of my hypotheticals are very complicated and created in conjunction with others. Others are spur of the moment. It really doesn't matter. The issue for others is not if I am right or wrong, it is whether or not you have fully explored the possibilities, we never can, yet, we can expand on what those possibilities are. In the end, only you know what your truth is, the one that is inside of you. Be well.

Busy Weekend

At the last minute I had to leave my house on Friday, drive about 150 miles and give some advice and spend some time with a relative of mine. I came back today just in time to finish a sermon that someone had to come in and begin at the last minute because of my being delayed.

I haven't even finished eating my sandwich and that is all that I have had all day along with some water and a cup of coffee. After service we had a half out meeting and then rush off home. Got here and tried to catch up on the news. My brain is frazzled and I feel rushed because I feel how little time I have before I have to sleep. Had a great time; but, I love coming home.

I am not really big on travel anymore; haven't been for awhile. I love where I live and sitting at my little table, just reading and writing. I like the tranquility and quiet, I have had too much turmoil and noise the last few years. Still, we find reasons that we have to travel on occasion and should enjoy it when we do. I just know that coming home is even more fun than traveling.

Anyways, over the last few days my relative and I were discussing politics, the what and how of it and what the proper approach is to it. I kept re-iterating the concept of the representative and defining what it meant. To go straight from that to discussing the concept of the hope within you is interesting.

I said that if you are a Christian than the bible says that we should always have an answer for the hope that lies within us. That is generally used to refer to our salvation and it does; but, as Christians we should have more hope than just our salvation if we are to love others as ourselves it would be for salvation for all. That is real hope.

The hope within us should include our believing that God makes everything work to his plan. We should look at everything to see how it can be used to help, learn from, know to avoid, whatever. We should eek the good out of every bad situation, not deny it was bad; but, find a way to learn from it our use it to help others.

Supposedly tonight at 12:01 the police are going to remove people from the park surrounding L.A. City Hall. I wonder if it will go peacefully or if the police will use force and then we can read in the papers how a confrontation occurred at Occupy L.A., then again, what if they do leave and no use of force is needed. What would that say. There is a man named Ron Kaye, in general I like what he has to say; but, he is being a bit of a weasel right now. He referred to the protesters are the red rabble and now is saying that he things they should force a confrontation.

I have always considered Mr. Kaye to be a progressive and supporter of "good government" and cannot understand why neither the left, the right, the progressives or the Tea Party can find any agreement with the Occupy movement. I believe it is because they have been unable to utilize them for their own political ends.

My relative plans on running for office. My advice was simple, don't let any supporters change your message just to get elected. Run on your ideas and if people elect you then do what you said you would do because if they vote for you they are saying that your ideas represent them.

My prayer is that nobody gets hurt tonight and that all ends peacefully in Los Angeles. I hope all of us find some peace this week and find ways to help one another rather than lead one another or harm one another. Be well.

Friday, November 25, 2011

L.A. to Evict the Occupiers

According to reports Los Angeles plans on removing the Occupy LA protesters on Monday. What will this look like? Will it involve the police using batons and pepper spray or will it be peaceful? I guess we will see, lets hope it is peaceful.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Don't Ever Count Me Out

So many people have made the mistake of counting me out, thinking that I will give up. It won't happen, it has not happened. Thanksgiving is about appreciating what we have and I have me. I hope you have you. Be well.

Happy Thanksgiving

Easter and Christmas are for children. Neither holiday is about God, at least not how they are celebrated. Thanksgiving is the best holiday for Christians, it is about saying than you God for all that we have. Life is much better than eternal silence and separation from God and it only gets better.

In the last month I lost a very good friend that always challenged me and helped me to grow and my childhood sweetheart. I also learned that one of my loved ones was running for office and that one of my daughters is getting married. Life changes and I miss my Julia because it was not her time and I cannot fix it. I can just miss her. Still I am thankful that we can still try and do good.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Shameless Media Spin Regarding OWS

This is from Fox News. Hey, isn't Fox owned by Rupert Murdoch. The same man who owned the newspaper in England that was found to be paying cops for information and hacking the phones of celebrities?

The article's titles is "Weapons Cache Found During Zuccotti Park Cleanup, Sources Say"

One line from the article is very telling, "Officials from the NYPD would only confirm that one knife was found buried in a planter on Tuesday." We read earlier in the article about this weapon of mass destruction. "Gardeners employed by the park owners, Brookfield Properties, to clean up the mess made by occupiers during their two-month stay discovered various knives, including a large kitchen knife and other potential instruments of violence in flower beds throughout the public space, according to officials."

They had a large kitchen knife, of my, didn't they also have a kitchen? I wonder if the two things are connected? Kitchens and kitchen knives, I see a pattern here. How does this pass for reporting? In another part of the article it talks about how Sanitation workers found items that COULD have been used as weapons. No kidding, anything can be used as a weapon. What it did not say was that anyone who has been arrested or anyone who was a participant was found with any weapons, not even a gun. Across the United States over 1,000 protesters have been arrested and how many had guns on them, none.

The New York police department is not claiming that they found weapons, no, the honest and good folk at Fox news are making this garbage up. Who are these unnamed sources and why not just name them? Because it is a smear piece and not real journalism, it is propaganda.

Here is the issue. I can understand not liking what the movement stands for, I can especially understand people not liking the approach; but, why just run a smear campaign, why not deal with the issues? The reason is the same, because the people that have power see this as an attack upon the system that they use to take advantage of the rest of us.

Everybody knows that the rich got bailed out and the rest of us have to pay the bill. That is what upset everyone on the left, right and even in the middle. We know that the politicians represent the interests that get them elected and it isn't 99% of us, doesn't matter if you are left, right or in the middle. We don't matter and we don't like that. The Tea Party and the Occupy Movement have the same issues, their solutions are just different.

The Tea Party was disliked by the conservatives until they found a way to manage them. The Occupy movement is not liked by liberals because they haven't found a way to get them into the party to support their candidates. The Tea Party and the Occupy Movement members need to meet together to find out what they do agree upon and then insist upon legislation that achieves their united goals rather than agree on candidates.

The most common thing that both agree on is that the Federal Reserve should be abolished and that people should be prevented from paying off politicians with anything. At this point the goal of the media is to make sure that it does not happen and they do that by vilifying both and making both look like wackos.

New Lies About Occupy from L.A. and U.C. Davis

Lets start with the ridiculous. Linda Katehi, the U.C. Davis Chancellor must have cut her deal with the campus police. She has just come out and said that the police DEFIED her by using pepper spray, here is a quote from the L.A. Times article and a link.

"We told the police to remove the tents or the equipment," she told the paper. "We told them very specifically to do it peacefully, and if there were too many of them, not to do it, if the students were aggressive, not to do it. And then we told them we also do not want to have another Berkeley."

L.A. Times - UC Davis chancellor: Police defied my orders by using pepper spray

Do you believe her? If it were true then why didn't she say so when it occurred, it seems like important information to know. The most likely reasons are that she is playing word games now or that if she had said it at the time she was attempting to support clearly wrong police actions after they occurred. Neither is very hones. As for the police, if that had been her instructions then why were they ignored and riot gear and weapons brought?

As for the officers who used the pepper spray, you have officially been thrown under the bus as I predicted. Right now the Chancellor has probably told the officers involved to keep silent; but, your best bet is to speak up and tell the truth. Fact is the officers involved have been identified and no matter where they go or what jobs they are offered somewhere else, this will follow you. Something for the officers to consider is that if, as she says, they violated her instructions then when the civil suits come the University will not be responsible for representing you or paying the damages, you will be personally responsible because you acted beyond your authority according to the Chancellor.

L.A. Times - Occupy L.A., city inching into endgame for City Hall camp

Now, this story is interesting. It is claimed that the City has offered the Occupy protesters 10,000 square feet of office space in exchange for leaving City Hall at the cost of $1 a year. That my friends is called a gift of public funds and requires Council approval or it is illegal. Rather than clash with them, buy them off. The City apparently thought that their offer would be immediately accepted except there were a couple of problems, one is that it became public and the other is that the protesters that were in discussions had no authority to speak for the movement.

According to OccupyLosAngeles.org, this whole offer is a little shaky and suspicious. "The City/"liaison" Exit Deal & the General Assembly" Their article claims that someone named "Mario Brito" sort of appointed himself as their liaison without support from their general assembly. Now I am not familiar with Mr. Brito; but somewhere in the back of my mind I thought I had read his name before so I did a search.

According to numerous articles, Mr. Brito was depicted as a communist and union organizer running the encampment. Now that is interesting. He is sort of an all around patsy. When the encampment began the accusation was that communists were actually running it rather than some participating in it, big difference. Mr. Brito was the one they used to make this assertion and now apparently he is a representative working with the City to end the encampment.

I am off today and have plenty of water to drink, I like to stay hydrated even if the European Union says that people cannot legally claim that water hydrates us (that is an article that you can search for - lol). A couple of questions come to my mind, if Occupy Los Angeles is not a legal entity (incorporated) then who would the property be leased to? Mr. Brito and his organization?

It all seems sort of orchestrated with complicity on the part of the City. The mayor of Los Angeles has probably done one of the best jobs at not letting it get violent in Los Angeles and he has done it by mostly ignoring the protesters and not surrounding the camp with police day and night. The fact is that one block away from the encampment is the headquarters of the LAPD, one short block away.

What is apparent is that across the nation mayors want to have the encampments closed down before the year ends. What they don't want is for this to last into an election year and buying them off is the last offer. Now if some of the people take the offer then the remaining ones will be removed by force and will be accused of being radicals who will not work with the City, pretty nifty public relations set up isn't it.

Now, there is the chance that the Occupy movement will be removed from the encampments and that the only encampments left will be on Universities and the message will then be about student loans and tuition costs alone as fewer voices are heard because the vast majority of protesters are not students and they will not be allowed to camp out on University properties.

So what should the people within the movement do? I am not a member so I don't get a vote; but, I can make some suggestions. My first one would be don't be bought off and turned into supporters for some political party or "leader". The moment you do your relevance will go away. My second recommendation is remain peaceful no matter what. Third is be prepared to be removed, it will happen soon. The "leaked" letter from the head of Recreation and Parks was done in preparation for the removal (by the way, does anyone really believe that it was not written at the instruction of the mayor?).

Personally, I think it would be a good tactic to remove the encampment prior to the police taking action and then put it up somewhere else for a month and then return again to City Hall. In the end though, this is not about an encampment, that only works so long. It has highlighted the dissatisfaction with our system of finance and political influence; but, now what?

This is not Egypt or Libya and the Occupiers will not topple a government through protests in the streets. For any movement to remain relevant it must not just be against things, it must determine what it is for and then find a way to sustain it's message. I recommend that they consider what they want people to think the message was five and ten years from now.

This blog has often focused on corruption within the political system and continues to attempt to discuss the lies and deceit that we are confronted with in the media. When I changed the title to OCCUPY The Truth is Inside You, it was done partly tongue in cheek and mostly to support the idea of the first amendment and the right to free speech because too many people dismissed the protesters without even making an attempt to hear what they had to say.

Well, the movement has "occupied" many public spaces, the question is what do you do once you occupy, do you involve, do you revolt, do you find consensus for what specific changes you want, how do you continue to be heard as a group. In the end if you will continue to be heard you must have representatives or leaders, I wrote about that not long ago.

Many years ago there was a movement in the United States called the "good government" movement. The protesters might want to investigate it to consider a method that had some effect long term.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Representatives or Leaders

I was thinking about all these articles that I have read where they say that the Occupy movement should pick leaders and it occurred to me how little people understand who do elect. We don't elect leaders, we elect representatives and there is a big difference.

The people we vote for are supposed to represent what we believe and want, not lead us to what we should think. That would be backwards. The problem is that we look at any politician as our "leader", they are not, leaders political "leadership" is totalitarian.

The Tea Party picked leaders and it has gotten them nothing. The problem is not "authority" the problem is looking for leaders. Why would the people of California vote for someone like Arnold, because they think that they are supposed to vote for a strong father figure. It makes them feel safe.

I have been responsible for managing people for four decades and I have never once considered myself to be anyone's leader. I think of work as a group effort with people having different roles to play.

A call for a leaderless society is not a call for anarchy, it is a call for representation. When we elect representatives they have elective authority which makes their decisions have authority. When they cease to represent us they lose this authority. If 90% of the people have no confidence in our elected representatives because they are not attempting to represent us and represent a limited group then our government loses it's moral authority as it has failed to meet it's primary responsibility of representing us. Their duty to represent us is even more important that their duty to protect us.

Before we can fix things we need to understand what went wrong. Part of the problem is what we think and how this led us to electing leaders and representatives that don't represent us. Think about the whole election process, a bunch of sociopaths offer to do things for us, give us things, we vote for them and then they blame others in congress or wherever for being unable to give us what they promised.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Why You Should Not Vote For Any Presidential Candidate

What happened at U.C. Davis has made international news and made us look like a third world dictatorship. I personally am not very happy with that. Here is something else to consider, how many presidential candidates have said anything about what happened and I don't even care what position they took, here is why you cannot vote for them, because they have yet to take a position on what happened. They are waiting to see how it will effect them in the polls.

Our politicians have no opinions, they only think about what will get them elected. Even the idiots Gingrich and Cain have not come out with strong support or any comments that I can find on what happened at U.C. Davis and they both oppose the Occupy movement, they are cowards. Come out and say that this is how our citizens and students should be treated if you believe it. Prove to us that you are capable of firm and decisive decisions regardless of the effect on your popularity. If you actually believed what you say you do then you would say that, "While I may not agree with them, I will defend to the death their right to say it". Isn't that what the Tea Party was about Mr. Cain or was it just about taxes moron?

I have no political affiliation so don't think the Democrats are any better. Where was the President during all this, where are his statements. If you can't comment on this how can we listen to you berate other countries for doing the same. You lack all moral authority Mr. Obama.

People might think that this post is about the Occupy movement; but, it is not, it is about the lack of honest, selfless political leadership in this country. It is about asking ourselves the same questions we ask of other governments.

No Big Deal, Not My Fault, I Made a Mistake, What Now

An open post to Lieutenant P of the U.C. Davis Police,

I am writing this as if I were talking to you, perhaps you will find it and perhaps you will not; but, it is going to be good advice to both you and other police. Firstly, my father was a highly decorated law enforcement officer and many of my friends were either in intelligence, law enforcement or the military. I myself work for the government. If you had worked for my father, it would not have been for long.

I don't know what you were thinking when you so casually pepper sprayed those students; but, it sure didn't look like you cared about their well being. My guess is that you thought you were doing your job, exercising the authority of the state. You do work for the state of California's University system. I read that you were trained in the use of pepper spray; but, that doesn't mean you are supposed to use it.

As you walked out to the small group of people sitting in the quad you probably thought the most important thing was to remove them for not listening to authority; but, you were wrong. Your first and highest priority is to the citizens and not to the university authority figures. It is claimed that you have two awards from the university for your actions in the past. It is possible that you have protected in the past and did not understand your number one allegiance is protect others even more than enforcing rules. Lots of people get that wrong.

I wrote earlier about the incident, my focus was more on the media; but, I did predict what would happen next. Your name and face and address and phone number have all been released on the internet. I do not agree with what has been released; but, I expected it. One way or the other it would have gotten out eventually. You are no doubt concerned about you and your family and probably should be, I would be. When I was a child, criminals targeted my family. I feel sorry for your children, should you have any, having to experience what I did. The difference is, my father was targeted by criminals.

You have a couple of choices. You can leave and hide, find a place where you are not known or is supportive of such tactics; but, do you really want to live in a place full of right wing militia types? The second choice is that you can attempt to stay. Because of the publicity, there is a good chance that the university will throw you under the bus even if you were following directions. Nope, don't expect help from the university. You might think the police union will support you; but, then what, you stay on knowing that everyday the students hate you. That does not sound like a good idea. You might go out on stress, then you can be an example and a reason for people to go after the pension benefits for all state police. Bottom line is you are going to be used by everybody with any agenda and you put yourself in the situation.

I will make a different recommendation. Make a public statement and tell the truth. If you truly thought what you were doing was right, whatever the reason, then publicly announce it. If you thought you were right; but, truly now believe you had overreacted, then say that; but, don't say it if it isn't true. You showed no courage when you sprayed them; but, you can show it now.

You might think this will all blow over; but, it will not. It will lessen; but, things will never be the same for you at the university. Now, if you truly do believe that you were wrong, you have an opportunity for redemption. Come out, say why you did what you did, why it was wrong and that you are going to dedicate your life to being a example and mentor to other police officers to tell them that acting with aggression on the people you are supposed to protect is wrong. Tell them where you went wrong and how things should have been handled. By the way, when it is peaceful protest the correct response, if people's lives are not being threatened, is for disengagement. You are supposed to leave and then come back in plain clothes and talk to the people, it is a community approach to policing.

This should also be a lesson to all people who should be honored to be responsible for the security of the citizens. Think about all the information that you have on citizens, they have the same on you. Lt. P, they will no doubt hack your phone and your internet. There is the chance that they will release your browsing history. I say this so that you have a chance to protect your information.

My opinion is that none of your information should have been released unless and until the university had the chance to either deal with what happened or put out what I expect from them, a watered down explanation. In everyone's lives there are moments of truth, the first one for you was when you chose to douse the students in the manner that you did, the next one is in how you deal with the consequences of your actions and the truth is, the whole world is watching.

The first step, if you do believe your actions were wrong, would be to invite the students who you pepper sprayed to meet with you in person so that you can see how it effected them. That could be very tough to do; but, it would show some sincerity and remorse. It was your job to make the students feel safe on campus, I assume you have seen the videos, would you feel safe if you were them?

You are no doubt getting a lot of advice and hate. Advice from those who love you and hate from those who don't know you. Worse yet, you are probably getting support from people who don't know you at all and just like to see people "put in their place". Think for yourself, decide if what you did is right, if you would feel the same way if it was your family and friends.

This is an opportunity for you to grow and learn a whole lot about yourself and how society should work. It is my prayer for you that you make the best choice and understand that it is your privilege to protect others from authority, not abuse it.

Tags for Pastor Carol Daniels

I noticed that along with a spike in readership, there was also increased traffic regarding the good Pastor Carol Daniels. For whatever reason, and it is beyond me, my little blog is one of the highest when you search for information regarding her. When I wrote the original it was just a one time post; but, words tend to have a life of their own. Because people continue to be interested I have gone back and attempted to tag each article that I wrote regarding her just to assist the reader.

I did a search for her name myself and did not see any new information; but, if anyone ever has any I would appreciate it if they would leave a comment so that I can check the article and leave a post and link for those who come here. As always, my prayers and thoughts go out to her family and friends.

In case you are not familiar with using tags, at the bottom of each post is a place where I can post a label also referred to as a tag. It is the subject matter of the post. If you find any post with a tag and want to read more articles tagged on the same subject, you click the tag and all articles that are similarly tagged will appear.

Health Benefits of Pepper Spray"

As the chancellor of UC Davis said that the police were sent because of health concerns for the students, I decided to look up the medical benefits of being sprayed in the face with pepper spray. According to Wikipedia:

"The US Army concluded in a 1993 Aberdeen Proving Ground study that pepper spray could cause "[m]utagenic effects, carcinogenic effects, sensitization, cardiovascular and pulmonary toxicity, neurotoxicity, as well as possible human fatalities. There is a risk in using this product on a large and varied population".[13] However, the pepper spray was widely approved in the US despite the reservations of the US military scientists after it passed FBI tests in 1991. As of 1999, it was in use by more than 2000 public safety agencies.[14]"

Now if I read that correctly some of the health benefits include death. I don't really see that as very beneficial. I mean even if you believe in assisted suicides for the terminally ill, those kids looked sicker after being sprayed then before. Obviously I am being sarcastic; but, they make it so easy. The truth was that the University didn't want the kids occupying the campus so why lie. I would have a lot more respect if the chancellor had said that the university did not want to be disrupted and that the officers had overreacted.

The chancellor's answers were just stupid and politically aimed and it failed. If the chancellor thought the officers were using pepper spray as some sort of vaccination against disease then maybe she would be willing to stand in the quad and prove that it is a good form of vaccination by being sprayed in the face herself. If she is so stupid that she believes that there are health benefits to being pepper sprayed then she does not deserve to run anything and should be removed.

The students were protesting the fact that their tuition had doubled in the last seven years. I went to a website that showed the salaries for people working for the university in 2007 or 2008 and it said that the head coach of the football team made over $2 million a year. It was amazing how many working for the university were making around a million.

The way the universities look at students anymore is purely business. The universities promote the kids taking out as much in loans as possible in order to pay the administration and faculties salaries. The UC system was theoretically created to educate Californians; but, out of staters and foreign students pay more so the Universities have been letting more in with fewer Californians being accepted even though our taxes pay for the system.

UC Davis chancellor says student safety dictated tent removal

This article is from the Sacramento Bee. UC Davis chancellor says student safety dictated tent removal.
Is that what was on the officer's minds, they were trying to protect the health of the students by shooting industrial strength pepper spray into their faces? Are there no nurses or doctors on the campus that could have given the kids physicals, it seems more sensible. If I am not mistaken the police were also carrying weapons that looked like paintball guns, maybe they were really advanced medical equipment; but, it didn't look that way to me.

Now if we can cut through the spin and lies, we all should be able to figure out what happened. Around a dozen students decided to pitch tents on their campus in support of the Occupy movement. The University did not want it to spread, ordered it's removal and the officers came with an overwhelming show of force in order to make an example of the students in order to intimidate others to not participate in further occupations. That is a much more likely scenario than that they came to protect them from the flu or whatever nonsense.

Rather than sending in the campus police with weapons and body armor, maybe the Chancellor could have walked down to the encampment and talked to the students and worked out something where they could have camped during the day and returned to their dorms at night. Certainly something could have been attempted rather than sending the police to break it up. The Chancellor is probably very well paid, I would have hoped she could have come up with better answers.

Spike in Readership

I am off this week, sort of, and slept till noon. It was very nice to just lay in bed. When I woke up I logged into my e-mail accounts and then checked the blog. Since yesterday I have seen ten times as many readers as normal. The number one post that people read was about Ms. Rothschild complaining about the Occupy movement. I have no idea why as no comments were left.

Now, to tell you the truth I don't really care who she is, I haven't been impressed by her articles or condescending approach. From the comments left on her article at Huffington post, a lot of people found her annoying. In the end, she misses the biggest point of all, how should society be organized so that we have a decent life for as many people as possible. That is what philosophers have questioned for thousands of years.

We have become a world of very educated people with some being very good at taking advantage of the system to benefit themselves at the expense of others. We do this on a national level and on a personal level. The idea was that someone should be compensated based on how much they contributed to society and that we should protect people who could not contribute. It was based on morality and not just money.

There are those who talk about the "job creators", okay what if we compensated people based on how many jobs they created rather than the value of a companies stock. That would change how CEOs operated (this is an example, it would not be as easy as it sounds).

Here is something to consider just for the fun of it. Many police departments were given stimulus money to "create jobs" and they used this money to hire police and buy supplies. Wouldn't it be nice to know how many jobs were created by the police buying pepper spray. Maybe the cop from Davis felt he was creating jobs by spraying the kids with pepper spray, I mean you have to use it up to justify buying more. Maybe the cop thought of himself as a job creator.

It sounds completely ridiculous because it is insanity. It takes the human element out of how our society is organized and should function; but, that is what happens when it stops being about people and is just about money. Hey, this may not be my best post ever; but, I am still drinking my first cup of coffee.

Ms. Rothschild offers nothing on how to improve the world, status quo seems quite alright with her; but, the status quo is failing at every level of society. The world has become bankrupt on an international, national and personal level because people have ceased believing in a greater morality than just personal gain.

U.C. Davis's chancellor is calling for a 30 day review of what happened and has put the two officers involved and the chief on administrative leave. That means they will be paid for not pepper spraying people, I mean working. It means that the Chancellor is now a job eliminator. I am okay with that, those officers need to find new jobs.

Now knowing a bit about politics, there are only so many ways that the investigation can end. Lets consider them. First, they find the officers guilty of abuse of power and fire them. Second, they find the officers guilty of overreacting or some nicely worded justification. If that happens the cops could stay at UC Davis where they will be under constant risk of whatever or they are transferred to another campus. If that happens then everyone at the new campus will feel they are being threatened. Perhaps the officers will be allowed to retire; but, one of them it said was relatively new.

Now another possibility is that the officers are not disciplined other than being sent for retraining or sensitivity training or whatever, that is not going to please anyone. Here is the problem, the investigation will not be about if the officers were guilty, it will be about finding a Public Relations answer, not about fixing what led to the situation.

As for the individual officers involved, I bet they are having a bad week. While the officers may not have thought anything of what they did at the time, I would hope that rather justifying it to themselves they would sit back and ask if what they did was morally right. I would hope they would ask them how they would have felt if it was their family that was pepper sprayed. At some point they will be interviewed and their answers will determine how people respond; but, true rehabilitation does not happen in a day. Maybe they will be given jobs in the prison system because so few care about how we treat prisoners, just consider the L.A. County jails problems.

I find it interesting that the governor and the mayor's have not said anything about what happened at the university. They don't have much to say because there is a good chance in their minds that we might need more pepper spray in order to stop the Occupy protests.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Nathalie Rothschild and Occupy Wall Street

I was reading at the Huffington Post about what happened in Davis and decided to read some other articles when I came across this. "This Preoccupation With Playing the Victims of Wall Street Is Pathetic".

I am sitting here reading the name, Rothschild, hey I have heard that name before. Her bio on her website did not identify who her parents were or whether or not she is part of the Rothschild banking family; but, it is still sort of off-putting. I mean it gives the appearance of the privileged attacking the those who have been taken advantage of by the system.

Bill Cooper - Behold a Pale Horse

There was a broadcaster named Bill Cooper. Bill Clinton once called him the most dangerous man in America. If you have never heard of him you might enjoy hearing some of his broadcasts.

William Cooper Brotherhood of the Snake Full Length

William Cooper - Chemical and Biological Attack

William Cooper - New World Order Part One

William Cooper - New World Order Part Two

Mr. Cooper was killed by police officers who were dressed up like drunk red necks. He was shot in the back and died. He predicted the 9-11 events in advance and was killed shortly thereafter 9-11.

I have to say that I disagree with Mr. Cooper's belief in the militias. I don't believe in violence as I have said many times. What I find interesting is how he outlined what would happen in the United States because a lot of it has already. It is important to listen to many voices in order to determine what you believe. You also have to know which parts to believe and which not to.

Will U.C. Davis Lose in Court



Two quick points, the police officer that pepper sprayed the students at UC Davis, well, his name has been published in the news. The protesters have also announced that they plan to sue in court.

The Sacramento Bee, which used to be a decent paper, posted a very biased article. 10 Occupy protesters arrested at UC Davis quad


The article begins with this,"A confrontation between police and Occupy protesters at UC Davis ended Friday afternoon with the arrest of 10 students after police officers used pepper spray to force protesters from an encampment in the campus quad, according to protest supporters and a campus spokeswoman."

What, did the spokesman not view the video or do they just not care about the truth and how could the "reporter" not bring this into question. Does that look the people getting pepper sprayed had surrounded the police? You can watch the video it is linked to in one of my earlier posts. Does that cop look scared of the kids sitting on the ground, were they intimidating him by sitting down. Does it look like they are preventing him from doing anything?

Do the people getting pepper sprayed look like they are inside an encampment? The first picture is the one published by the Sacramento Bee to accompany the story. The second picture is what really happened. That my friends is media dishonesty and propaganda. Read the article in the Bee and watch the video and tell me that the reporter was unbiased.

Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth

Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth


Apparently Newt Gingrich made a comment about the protesters. He said they should get a job after they go home and take a bath. Wait, did he just call them the great unwashed masses? What a stinking piece of garbage he is and how out of touch he is. Hey Newt you were supposed to represent everyone not just the people who gave you all that money.

Enough Already

A Moron Leaves U.C. Davis, The Chancellor

Chancellor Katehi of U.C. Davis decided it was time to leave the school for a bit. It will be longer. Here are two videos worth watching. The first is of her leaving the school and she second is of the students after her departure. I want to talk about both after you have viewed them.

UC Davis Chancellor Katehi walks to car amidst protesters

11/19/2011 UC Davis students celebrate after Chancellor Katehi takes walk of shame

The thugs masquerading as campus police have a problem. The Chancellor has a problem and it will not just go away in a couple of days. By intentionally pepper spraying students peacefully sitting on the ground in protest with no reason only caused the whole school to come together and the reason is simple, they knew that they could all be treated the same way.

All across the United States we are hearing mayor's say that they are concerned about the safety of the Occupiers because of "health" concerns they instruct their police to go out and pepper spray, beat and arrest them. I'm glad they aren't concerned about my health, I prefer seeing a doctor to being beat. What type of logic is it that justifies such a thing? Warped logic.

Look you don't have to agree with the Occupy movement or everyone in it; but, you should be able to tell when the politicians are lying. Out of concern over the protesters health they shot them with dowels and bean bags in Oakland. If there is going to be any meaningful discussion the first thing that needs to happen is that the politicians need to listen and recognize the people that they are supposed to represent.

My advice to the police is also simple, don't beat the people who you are supposed to protect because not everyone is a pacifist as I am. The cop that sprayed those students should probably just resign because my guess is that everybody will know who he was. Who will listen to him and how will he react towards every student who he sees saying, "Shame on you".

The protests are not going to stop. Not in a day and not in a month. New ways will be utilized for protest, this is history, learn from it. We don't want to live in a radicalized and polarized nation. Who would want to live in such a state? Attempts to clamp down peaceful demonstrations only highlight what is wrong with the people running our institutions.

This is Disgusting - The First Amendment Matters

I want everybody who reads this to watch the linked video. A group of students sitting on the ground in protest at U.C. Davis are pepper sprayed by what I assume are campus police for no apparent reason. The officer pepper sprays them as if they were not human at all. Watch the video and then read the linked article. In the article one officer says that this approach is standard for people who don't comply. Really, you watch the video and tell me that this is right and by the way, how many people will seek to go to a university where this is how they are treated after paying their money to get an education.

The video - YouTube - Police pepper spraying and arresting students at UC Davis
The article - Officers in pepper spray incident placed on leave

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

You better respect the constitution as it applies to all especially those you disagree with or it has no meaning and you have no rights. When the people with authority violate the laws then the people will soon follow and ignore them also.

UPDATE:

You know I went back and read a couple of articles on this and I am more disgusted now then when I first saw the video. The moron in charge of the campus police said that the officers had been surrounded by protesters and had to use pepper spray in order to get away. Really? Is that what you see in the video? The officers didn't pepper spray people surrounding them, they pepper sprayed people sitting on the ground. The police had no problem leaving and had weapons.

Do we hire any police with and sense anymore? U.C. Davis has had many protests, why is it the the Occupy movement protest was treated harsher? The protesters were not intimidating the police, they were just sitting on the ground, walk around them. What effect will this episode have on the campus police and the university itself? Not a good one.

As I have said in the past, this is not about a law or series of laws, this is about the system itself and that is why it is found so threatening to people who presume they have authority. The video highlights who is truly guilty and it is the police. Could you casually use heavy duty pepper spray on someone just sitting on the ground as the officer did? How do you do that to someone, I could not and my father who was a distinguished would not have.

There are those who think that they will simply remove tents from lawns and that the issues will all go away; but, that is not history. UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza stated that the police had been encircled and were forced to pepper spray so that they could exit. She is a liar and the video shows that. Shame on her, she should be removed from her position as she clearly is incapable of taking the appropriate action in order to restore some dignity to the force that she commands.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

An Interesting Letter Regarding the Occupy Movement

Couple of minor points first. Recently it was announced that the government was considering eliminating options trading. Didn't I mention that over a year ago? Yes, I said that this would happen. I am not patting myself on my back for knowing what would happen, it just proves to me how fixed and planned the system is.

A letter has come to surface, it is very interesting. It is from one of the lobbying firms, it asks the American Bankers Association for almost a million dollars to conduct "opposition research" in order to discredit the Occupy movement. I will post a link to the MSNBC article which has a link to the letter.

Why would a lobbying firm offer to discredit the movement and any politicians who support it when as the media regularly reports, nobody knows what they believe. Why discredit a group that the media says has no unified agenda or leaders? And why send the offer to the American Bankers Association?

Well, to begin with the lobbying firm must have made two assumptions. The first was that the bankers saw the movement as an attack on how they do business. The second was that the bankers would pay almost a million dollars just to do an initial study of the movement, that is a lot of money.

MSNBC - "Exclusive: Lobbying Firm's Memo Spells Out Plan to Undermine Occupy Wall Street (VIDEO)"

I just had to post this because I thought my readers should know what is going on. I care about what I write and I care because people read my words. This may not be the most read blog in the world; but, it is read and I do care about those who read it. I want it to be informative.

I have to out myself about something unrelated to this post. Not long ago I posted about how I was thinking about dating again. I let myself look at women again, I gave myself that permission. I went to an event tonight celebrating the life of a friend of mine who passed away and I hate to say it; but, I found myself looking at some of the women. I know, at a wake, really Pimpernel. Sorry, but it is true. I did not hit on any of them; but, I thought about how attractive women can be. Now, I will sound like a real jerk, one of the women was the daughter of my friend and I happen to know she is single. There is nothing to be concerned with, she lives very far away and I don't expect to see her again; but, I feel pretty bad about even having thought about how attractive she was. Am I a complete jerk for that?

I sort of feel dirty for having appreciated the beauty of a lady who was in morning. Yet, I am human and we have thoughts as we have thoughts. A pretty woman is a pretty woman and I am straight so I like pretty women. No, she was not just pretty, I happen to know that she is also very accomplished in her field. If you can understand what I just wrote then I ask you to not hate the lobbying firm for presenting a proposal to the bankers. It is a lobbying firm, it is their job to find out if people want them to push for someone's agenda.

Please understand that it is okay for industries to make sure that their interests are heard and they should be allowed to hire people who can present their side of the story in the best manner possible. I know, I support the Occupy movement, sort of, and then support the bankers having a right to promote their side of the argument. I believe in free speech for all.

My problem with the article is that the lobbyists were willing to misrepresent the truth and work only off spin rather than honest arguments. Law school presented many challenging questions. One moral question we had to address (if we were honest with ourselves) was whether or not it was right to represent people who were guilty. A friend of mine who was a famous attorney, told me the answer. He told me that it was not the job of the attorney to be the judge or jury, it was his job to make sure that the person had a coherent response. It was not a lawyers job to lie for a client; but, it was their job to make sure that they put forth their clients best arguments in order to make the opposition prove their case.

It is not wrong to have feelings. My friends daughter was attractive to me. What would have been wrong would have been to acted on such thoughts in such a situation. Same is true for this lobbying firm. What they did wrong was not that they sought business, what was wrong was that they openly sought to portray others in a negative light regardless of the issues. They basically acted like ambulance chasing attorneys and that is not productive for the nation. It is cookie chasing regardless of the consequences to anyone else.

In every situation our minds toss around a variety of possible responses. We are human, it is how we work; but, we can choose to not act on every impulse. We can choose to eliminate some possibilities because we can choose to act on intent rather than impulse. We can choose to do that which is best for all rather than just act in selfishness. We can choose to matter, to make a difference an to exercise free will with responsibility rather than with only self interest.

Okay, I think that is it for the day. So much has gone on and I am going to listen to some music and drink some wine in a toast to a friend, heck, maybe a friend and another. Be well.

Saying Another Goodbye

As I think I had previously mentioned, a friend of mine passed away recently. Tonight there was a celebration of his life, I think he would have liked it, it was very classy and appropriate. I had tried not to think about his passing too much until tonight, I can only handle so many deaths at a time.

At the celebration of his life I had a chance to speak to one of his children who is taking over his company. We go through life and take on different responsibilities. If we are successful we take on more rather than fewer responsibilities. His son will be responsible for the lives of many people and their families, he has been given a great honor and great responsibility at a time when he has just lost his father. That is a lot to have happen in a day.

Everybody wants to be in charge; but, few want the responsibilities that go with it. I personally think my friend will find he will grow into the role quite naturally so this is not about him. If you have read my writings for any amount of time it should be apparent that I use real life events to highlight issues. It is possible that I become more analytical at times in order to avoid emotional pain and if so, so what. LOL.

My friend that passed away had created a company worth quite a lot. You can never really know how much until you see what others will offer to buy it and that changes on a daily basis, so, lets just say lots of money. His family could have sold the company and lived comfortably for the rest of their lives. I believe it is only because his son learned the business and cared about the company that they did not. Heck, they could have done an IPO, kept 51% of the stock and hired someone to manage it; but, they didn't. Instead they kept it in the family and his son is going to take on more responsibility.

One of the problems with American business anymore is that the people who run the companies don't care about the companies or the people who they employ, it is just about the value of the stock and how much the CEO makes. That is a big part of why our economy came apart. Ford didn't go bankrupt; but, family members still control the company.

For any organization to be sustainably successful it must be about the organization and not about the self. It has to be about shared success and shared accomplishments, it has to be about the people. Somewhere around 35 years ago we lost sight of this. Companies stopped thinking of employees as family and leaders stopped thinking about the company as meaningful beyond what they made personally. That was the beginning of the end.

It has been a tough month for me. I am really getting tired of people dying on me. In the last five years I have buried over 20 people, family and friends, mostly family. Each person I said goodbye to was a part of my life, a part of my growth and experience. That is how we effect each other, we become intertwined in each others lives for good or ill.

Though it used to frustrate my daughters, I try and have a positive impact on everyone I deal with, I try and remember that our interactions are always personal on some level, that I am dealing with real people with real emotions and real challenges even when it is the clerk or teller who I will never see again. Those moments are what make up our life.

I dealt with my friend, his son and others at his company for about ten years. I have been blessed to have enjoyed many conversations with my friend and he had a very keen mind and good business sense. I never dated dumb women for a reason, I like a keen mind. I will miss our conversations and miss him, he was and always will be a part of my memories and my life. I preach on the weekends so expect this. My prayers go out to his family and I ask that God kindly receive him to heaven. None of us are perfect, none is good but God; but, some of us actually care about others and he did. He was a blessing in my life and did some good things and I will miss him. Be well, I have one more thing that I must post tonight.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Something Lighter

I have posted quite a bit about government and politics lately. I would like to post something not related. As I had mentioned previously, my childhood sweetheart died. It really got me thinking. My ex-wife asked for the divorce four years ago and it has been finalized for over a year and a half. I dated a handful of women for a bit and then stopped dating at all. Instead I used that time to unburden myself of my house and most of my possessions and move.

Anyways, after the death of my childhood sweetheart (and we have not spoken in over 30 years), it got me thinking. I think my life is my own again, I am settled and what has happened is over. I have a feel for which direction I am heading and believe that now I can tell a woman what I intend to do with the rest of my life, more or less (we have to leave room for adjustments and learning).

So, I think I might be willing to date again. Now the question is how do I go about doing this? I mean do I actively pursue finding someone or wait till they find me? Do I date anyone who says yes if I ask them? How do I decide who to ask? What am I looking for in a partner? I think these are all questions that I have to answer before embarking on a change in my life and the truth is that I am still enjoying my relative solitude. I feel I have had chains on me all my life and only now do I feel free.

There has been some time that has passed since I wrote the last paragraph. Hey, I got 9 days off and I haven't in a long time. I am in no hurry, I can write all night. I have made a decision, I will consider dating after Valentines Day has begun. Perhaps, I shall meet a woman on Valentine's Day who is in the same predicament. Tomorrow I go to a wake for a friend who has passed on. It is important to let his family know the lives that he has touched and he touched mine.

For my part, I can still touch more lives including that of a lady who wishes to have me touch her life, even if we don't know it yet. That is how life is, so many opportunities to find relationship and the real requirement is that we know ourselves and that they know themselves.

I think that if I start dating again, I will give the lady my blog address and let them read and understand me before going further. I think that this blog gives people a pretty good idea of what I believe and who I am. More than meeting me, it shows how I think. I think any woman who chose to date me should be forewarned about what kind of psychotic I am. LOL.

I ask people if they know what the number one thing is that I look for in a woman is and then I tell them that it is poor eyesight. Thankfully, the Lord has given poor eyesight to many so I have a chance. But, a chance for what? What should I look for in a woman and how will I know if I have found it? Tough questions, questions that everyone should ask themselves before engaging in such an endeavor. At a minimum, they should like a writer.

So dear readers, what sort of crazy lady would be able to handle and appreciate dating a man such as me? ROFL. Perhaps we shall find out next year. In the meantime, time for myself to figure me out and appreciate my intent for my life and allow another to appreciate their intent for their life.

My dear readers, wish me luck and wish any woman dumb enough to date me grace and good fortune. How did I get here? Pretty simple, I lost my wife and the love of my life (my childhood sweetheart). My ex said she hoped that I would find someone else (for all the wrong reasons) and my childhood sweetheart let me go decades ago for all the right reasons. I am free and do want companionship; but, picking the right companion matters.

Perhaps we should have a survey on what type of person I should be with and should be with me; but, that is not going to happen. We all have to find out for ourselves and I wish you all good luck on your journey. See, no politics and I could have turned this into a political discussion. Be well.

Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez Video

I am not providing a link to it and I am not posting it here, it is merely the subject of the post. Apparently, the police believe that Oscar is the person who attempted to shoot President Obama, even though he was in another state at the time.

According to reports, Mr. Hernandez-Ortega shot from a half mile away from inside his car and hit the white house with two bullets. He managed to do this without anyone noticing and drove away. His car apparently had broken down or had an accident and he left his car with the rifle inside it. He then apparently left on foot to only be found in the last two days.

I watched a 20 minute video that he had recorded of himself. In the video he promotes marijuana, claims to speak to God and says that he can stop war and improve the world. They are saying that he had some trouble with the law, he states that he had been involved in gangs and his family report that they have been worried about him for a year since he disappeared.

My observation from the video is that he needed help. He seems confused and erratic. He does not make any threats to anyone in the video nor did I hear him mention the President. Reports say that he told others that he believed that Obama was the anti-Christ.

My question is how will this be used by the media to justify some new law. It will be. Let the circus begin as politicians scramble to pass a law that will prevent "this from ever happening again". Of course nothing can prevent crazy people from doing crazy things. The media already attempted to connect this guy to the Occupy movement; but, that didn't work well. He will be used to vilify something. We can wait and see what it is. He talked about Oprah; but, I doubt she will be blamed. He talked about a lot of things; but, only the ones the media dislikes will be the subjects that are blaemd.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Random Thoughts in a Random World

It came out today that Homeland Security had worked with police in Portland regarding the Occupy movement, no kidding. Meanwhile CNN has published an article saying that America is not on a decline. It sure looks and feels like one, what am I missing? If this is things getting better than someone needs to tell me what better means.

Warren Buffet has been telling people for years what direction the nation is headed in and what is wrong with the way that Wall Street and big business are failing us as a society. I think it is important that people go back and read what he said; but, I will give some of the essentials. The biggest problem is that we set up a system of rewards for Wall Street and CEOs that was not based on how well a company performed within it's industry. Instead, we have set up a system that rewards people based on how it's stocks perform, not dividends; but, the value of the stock. It promotes short term trades rather than true investment in stocks. That is why CEOs can get bonuses even when the company if failing or in bankruptcy.

I wrote a very long time ago how option trading could be halted. Now, people are actively looking at ending such trading. I read an article about it today. The way business works today has a lot to do with insurance. People who don't have insurance for their decisions often make riskier decisions.

AIG insured bad investments. High risk and high return go together and that is fine; but, you shouldn't insure high risk investments because it promotes bad investments. Let us be very clear, that is not good capitalism. I personally believe in capitalism, though it is not about democracy, those are two different concepts.

Capitalism is the idea that individuals should be rewarded for their efforts if they result in improvements or production that is valued by others. Our system is not capitalistic and hasn't been for a long time. Instead we have a ponzi capitalism where government backed insurance protects those who are big investors and it is paid for by your taxes.

The housing bubble was backed by tax dollars as insurance, because of that the banks profited by lending to anyone regardless of their ability to pay. You see, the second aspect of real capitalism is that you have to live with the consequence of your bad decisions and that didn't occur for the wealthy that own the big banks.

What we really have is a form of oligarchical socialism for a few and an insurance class totalitarianism for the rest of us. Same for our so called democracy, our political class represents not the people; but, the privileged. After all they were the ones who got bailed out. People on both the left and the right understand this, they just differ on some of their solutions.

Who is against having a level playing field and having the rules apply to everyone equally? I was not a big supporter of the Tea Party because I saw how quickly it was overtaken by monied interests. One of the biggest supporters of the Tea Party was the Koch brothers and their history is a little questionable to say the least.

MF Global is an excellent example of how we are not living in a capitalist society. MF Global invested other people's money in commodities, if the value went up then the company benefited even more than the people whose money they invested. If the commodities dropped in value then the people who invested had to pay the debt. There was no risk for MF Global itself unless people couldn't pay the companies debt.

Here is a Huffington Post article that sums it up - The Koch Brothers and MF Global - Friends to the End. The reason I support the Occupy to any extent is firstly based on their right to air their grievances and secondly (and as importantly), it is an opportunity to identify what the problems with the system are rather than thinking that electing "new" politicians will change the system because it has not.

The problem with the system is that is it unfair, undemocratic and fixed so that some have no risk and others bare the risk for them. AIG went bankrupt; but, Berkshire Hathaway did not and their biggest investment is in insurance. So why didn't Berkshire Hathaway go bankrupt? The answer is simple, they didn't insure bad investments to an insane amount.

The highest purpose that the Occupy movement can cause right now is not in proposing legislation, it is in awakening the nation to how we were taken advantage of and how our system is no longer capitalistic. My question is how the protesters will now find a way to start consolidating on what needs to be fixed and in what manner, the same is true for the Tea Party and Cain is not the answer.

Here is an article from Market Ticker - Oh Oh. "Regulated" Derivative Markets About To Blow Up? I like the part where the investment broker says that the market is fixed the best.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

More Media Spin

We have a new story. ABC News - DC Shooting Suspect Could Be Threat to Obama, Police Say As you read the story wait till you get to the part where it says that "U.S. Park police say Ortega may have spent time blending in with Occupy D.C. protesters." Really, based on what, the fact that he was in D.C.?

Turns out the guy is 21, from Idaho and has a history of mental instability. Jeez where have I heard that before. Now, why say he may have been with the Occupy movement? He may have been with the Republican movement or the Tea Party too, he may have been anything; but, shouldn't there be some evidence before the media makes such assertions?

I have been in front of the White House, how the heck did this guy manage to fire at it and hit the window is way beyond me. Reports say that the shots came as he jumped out of a car and fired. He must be an amazing shot. There are snipers on the roof of the White House, even terrorists who are willing to kill themselves haven't achieved this. They want to eliminate open carry of guns and this is going to be used to do that. They will start by making it illegal in Washington D.C., one step at a time kids.

On a lighter note, a group of millionaires went to Washington to ask the people making more than a million dollars a year be taxed a little more. They were ridiculed by the politicians. Associated Press - Millionaires on Capitol Hill: Please tax me more!

Do you understand how crazy are legislators are? Put the pieces together, the politicians have figured out how to steal money by making stock investments (as reported by 60 minutes and others) and they don't want to be taxed on it because most of the people in congress are millionaires. The lunatics truly are running the asylum. I forgot something, certain news sources are now reporting that Homeland Security may have been the people who organized the mayors to take out the Occupy encampments at the same time.

Not every millionaire is crooked or evil; but, our political class is out of control. Here is a YouTube Video - Amazing video of violence at #OccupySeattle Unprovoked assault by police. Is this the kind of nation we want, one where the police pepper spray people for standing on the street in peaceful protest? They are protesting a system that is corrupt as proven by our politicians using insider information to make investments and enrich themselves and this is in Seattle a pretty liberal city.

How about this, in New York the police are keeping people out of Zuccotti Park even though there is a court order allowing people in during the day and as previously mentioned by their mayor himself, the park is private property and the City had previously passed laws requiring it to remain open to anyone at anytime. The law does not apply to the police in New York as they explained when they said they had a right to fix tickets for family members and it doesn't apply to the mayor.

Now here is something that will make it easy to understand. How many cities across the U.S. that are facing shortfalls have cut the salary of the police and how many have given them raises as we did in Los Angeles. Why did they get raises and why do they get paid overtime to watch peaceful protesters and pepper spray them? Because if you cut the salary of the police then they might side with the protesters.

The NYPD has become part of the Occupy movement, they are Occupying Zuccotti park to make sure that nobody enters it. The protesters surrounded them. Do you not see that our nation is occupied by morons and corrupt politicians? The people in charge don't know what lie to tell, things are moving too quickly and not following the established patterns. Their actions are dangerous and ill advised. Common sense doesn't seem that common right now.

What use is a political class that is supposed to represent the people when 90% of the people feel that they are not being represented? I really do want to know what type of idiot looks at this economy, this blatant corruption and thinks this country or this world for that matter are working?

Now a little history. Remember the movie "Braveheart", I have another for you to watch it is called "Zulu". Many people do or have seen other such films. The kids today know military techniques, they play fricking video games like "Call of Duty". Think they won't figure out how to respond to the police tactics? I don't wish to see violence in our streets, not from the cops and not from the protesters and the police and politicians are pushing them to respond violently.

This can either come down as shared sacrifice and we get things back in order or it can be where a few benefit and everyone loses. I prefer the first choice. Why don't our politicians and why are the police supporting violating the law in New York? Think about this, people who were hippies in the 60s are preventing their grandchildren from protesting and ridiculing them for doing so.

I Have Inspired Someone

My best guess is that it is cl. Perhaps they will say. Responding to a comment that will not be posted; because it was not meant to be posted by the sender.

Be well all and don't believe in the spin that anyone, including the alternative sources, give you. Define yourself and be you.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

One More Bloomberg Statement

Now I do recall statements being made that the people at Occupy Wall Street were violating the hours of operation of the park. Okay, that would validate a trespass charge; but, I just read a statement by Bloomberg that was different.

Originally from the Associated Press and re-broadcast by Yahoo. "Crackdowns reach epicenter of Wall Street protests". I like his statement, "The law that created Zuccotti Park required that it be open for the public to enjoy for passive recreation 24 hours a day," Bloomberg said. "Ever since the occupation began, that law has not been complied with, as the park has been taken over by protesters, making it unavailable to anyone else."

Did you get what he just said. This is simple property law. He said that a law created Zuccotti Park and required that the park remain open to the public 24 hours a day. Now, why was a law required to create a private park? That is strange. I know of a park in California, it is called Griffith Park. The City was given the land on the grounds that if never charged a fee for it's use. It he 80s, the City tried to charge for parking and almost had to return the park to the family of the person who dedicated it to the City. Someone should probably do some research into the title of the park and the laws that were passed. Bet the police and mayor both broke the laws.

The New York Police Department was more concerned about the poor police dressed in riot gear getting taunted. Really? Here is the quote, "Arresting people is not easy," he said, adding that he thought the officers showed great restraint in the face of "an awful lot of taunting, people getting in police officers' faces, calling them names." Wow, the NYPD showed a lot of restraint in the face of being taunted, how brave they are, those who claim "professional privilege" while illegally fixing tickets for family and friends. When people call me names I don't find it hard not to hit them with batons. What restraint, didn't we hire them for that?

People's words outlive them. The mayor's words will outlive him and his actions will define the type of person he was. He does not care about the people of New York, he does not care about the law and he is not part of the 99%, he is of the 1%. When this all began, Bloomberg more than any other mayor had a chance to show compromise. He could have said what he knew, that the financial system was corrupt and then had some of the people who benefited the most from the bubble put in jail. He did not, he arrested the people who complained about what happened.

Bloombergs Possibly Illegal Gift of Public Funds

For the past couple of months the Mayor of New York, the Billionaire named Bloomberg, has stated how the park in Wall Street that was occupied is private property. Over the last three days Occupy movements were removed from the parks in multiple locations. Now, I shall show you a lie and a crime. Mr. Bloomberg has broken the law.

Firstly, here is an article from MSNBC, "Mayors deny colluding on 'Occupy' crackdowns". It flat out admits that 11 Mayors participated in conference calls about how to deal with the Occupiers. By coincidence (I don't believe in such things) the largest groups were all taken out on the same following weekend. You might also consider the fact that some of these groups were removed using police from outside their districts, that required coordination didn't it? CNN reported that the Oakland police were joined by dozens of police from other jurisdictions, didn't that required them to coordinate with other mayors?

Now, Bloomberg has a different problem. He spent all this time saying that the park was private property, yet, immediately after the police removed people from the park, the City's Sanitation department showed up and removed articles and pressure washed the area. It is interesting to note that the Sanitation people did not wear face masks, it implies that it didn't smell. There is a real issue though, why were public employees used to clean up private property? That can only be done in two situations, one is when the property owner has allowed a nuisance on his property in which case he must be officially noticed and is responsible for the cost of clean up. The second is when a gift is made of public funds and that requires a council action and a public hearing and that was not done. Sounds like Mayor Bloomberg may have been involved in a criminal act.

Lets consider what did occur. The police "evicted" people. Where the heck is that from in the penal code. The people were trespassing, not renters. Under what authority do the police "evict" people, were those laws followed? No, therefore the law that was in place is for trespassing and they should have arrested everyone; but, they couldn't do it, it is too expensive.

By the way, because Council action is required, it cannot have been mutually agreed to by the City and the owner of the property unless there is a law specifically allowing such actions. If they attempt to claim the right under emergency powers then they will have to show that an emergency was declared.

You cannot call for lawfulness when you yourself are breaking the law. You cannot call for peace whey you yourself are beating the peaceful. I spent two hours after work with a small group discussing how we can feed as many people as possible. Apparently, Mr. Bloomberg spends his time trying to figure out how to take peoples sleeping bags and tents while very likely breaking the law. It must be nice to be a Billionaire.

I knew a Billionaire, he actually was a "job creator", he worked his way up and started as a truck driver. He liked giving people jobs and worked till he no longer could. I wish he and I could have discussed the Occupy movement with him. I liked our conversations and respected his mind. I remember a conversation we had after the crash, he had to lay some people off; but, he had the opportunity to bring some back. He called one person and offered them their job back, it paid over $40,000 a year. The person turned it down because he was making about the same on unemployment and didn't have to work. It stunned him that people could think like that.

I don't agree with people who will not work because they think a job is beneath them or because they are willing to milk the system. That is corruption and all good Republicans would be horrified by such a thing. I also do not agree with people who believe that because they have money they can take advantage of their position and don't owe something back, I don't care much for Mr. Bloomberg. "Pull up the ladder mate, I am aboard" is an old saying regarding sailors. All the sailors leave for shore leave and as one comes back he says it, not asking if everyone is aboard.

I am sick, I have a cold or flu. My throat hurts and I am cold. I hate being sick. I got home late and haven't eaten dinner yet. I decided to write before I lost my thoughts. Let me ask you a question, one of the complaints from the mayors and police was that the homeless were infiltrating the occupy encampments. The encampments were feeding them, giving them medical help and in Los Angeles, trying to get them social welfare help. The homeless turned to the protesters rather than their cities because they know the mayors and police will not help them and could care less about them. Is the complaint that the homeless were infiltrating camps that the mayors and police didn't want there or that the homeless were finally getting help?

Think about the moral corruption that goes into saying that people who are protesting corruption in government and industry are feeding the homeless and that it is a bad thing. Are the pidgeons? You should have a sign out showing your heart which says, "Do not feed the homeless", God will remember all of what happens and is continuing to go on. Shame on you Mr. Bloomberg and even more to the mayor of Oakland. It is not supposed to be about you and your control over the cities, it is supposed to be you and helping your residents, listening to their grievances and addressing them. You are supposed to be shepherds and not predators.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

A Summary

I have written a number of posts about the Occupy movement by now. I find it a fascinating subject because of the reactions it has received. I find it interesting that conservatives who have always been proponents of the first amendment are taking such a negative attitude, even many liberals have taken a negative approach.

My reaction is slightly different. I think it is fantastic that the youth of this nation are participating in the political discussion rather than sitting at home playing online video games. Lets tell the truth, we are leaving them with less than we had and they don't like it. They shouldn't like it, heck, who does like it?

Is there anyone who thinks this nation is better off than it was ten years ago? Is there anyone who thinks that having millions of homes in foreclosure and millions of people unemployed is the sign of a healthy nation? How can anyone applaud the Tea Party and not applaud the Occupy movement, they are merely two sides to the same coin.

Politics has become a complete sham. The TARP bill, the stimulus bill and the Patriot act were all passed by a congress where none of the members even read the darn things. What kind of nation have we become when we no longer allow people to peacefully assemble and complain about conditions that we have to live under?

I have read too many times that some of the protesters are communists, don't they get to protest too even if I disagree with them. Didn't we used to believe that we might not agree with people; but, we would give our life for their freedom of speech?

I would hate to be a police officer right now. Their job is to protect the rest of us and instead they are being used to suppress peaceful demonstrations. Their alternative is to refuse to follow the commands of politicians that they know are corrupt and lose their jobs.

Lets say that all of the Occupy encampments are taken down, then what? Is that the end of the protests or will they merely take on another form. History says it will morph into something new, not go away. Does anyone really think that if Ron Paul gets elected anything will change? Your congress is owned by big money and lobbyists.

Consider Obama, he made all sorts of promises and nothing changed for the better. Solyandra was a joke, hundreds of millions in bad loans with nothing to show for it. Almost a trillion dollars in Tarp and stimulus money and nothing gets any better. Much of it was given to foreign banks, that is insanity.

What is the message to today's youth, our children? The message is that we messed up, you will have to work longer and get less than we did. Oh, and by the way, we don't to hear your complaints about it and there is nothing you can do about it.

I don't expect the Occupy movement or the Tea Party to change anything for quite awhile. The corruption within our political system is so ingrained that it will just continue to be more and more removed from the citizens. As the voice of the system continues to be dismissive of the citizens, it loses more and more moral authority and validity. It promotes people ignoring the laws and that will only cause a further degeneration of our whole society.

Some might think that I am overstating things; but, really, look around you, read the news. What kind of nation tolerates it's local and federal police being involved in drug running and gun running to gangs and criminal cartels? Let us consider what has happened in Italy and Greece. Their leaders passed laws that take even more from their people and then immediately leave office. Hey, that is the exact same thing George W. Bush did and you can expect Obama to do the same.

None of this is unexpected. Think tanks, such as the RAND Corporation, are tasked with predicting these things. The truth is most of us would like to see things go back to the way they were, we like comfort and stability and there is none given and none expected.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

The Pope Could Not Have Said This But He Did

As my readers know, I read a lot of stuff. I read an article today from a source that I did not know and I wanted to verify it. Basically it said that the Pope was calling for a one world government and economy.

This link is to CaltholicCulture.org

I grew up Catholic and left, became an agnostic and eventually a Christian. I have read my bible through and through many times and discussed it and studied and know I even teach it. Kids, this aint right. Revelations talks about a one world government and economy. It is a bad thing.

I want to know who put the LSD in the punch bowl. Some very strange things going on in the world. Here is one part of what the article says,

"Through the account of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), the Bible warns us how the “diversity” of peoples can turn into a vehicle for selfishness and an instrument of division. In humanity there is a real risk that peoples will end up not understanding each other and that cultural differences will lead to irremediable oppositions. The image of the Tower of Babel also warns us that we must avoid a “unity” that is only apparent, where selfishness and divisions endure because the foundations of the society are not stable. In both cases, Babel is the image of what peoples and individuals can become when they do not recognize their intrinsic, transcendent dignity and brotherhood."

The twisting of the story of the Tower of Babel is insane. God himself caused the diversity, he confused the language and the Catholic church thinks it was a bad thing. I hate to say it because I know many good Catholics and had a good experience with it growing up. This is heresy, this is in direct contradiction to God and his word. Please read and decide for yourself.

An Interesting Video

I am not quite sure what to say about this. This is a video of a woman who was jailed under the Patriot Act. I really think you will want to watch it the whole way through.

CIA Asset Susan Lindauer.. Can Now Speaks 10 years after 2001-9-11

Another Passing

I was sleeping in late today. Just as I got up the phone rang. Another dear friend has passed away. I have known him for eight years and we have been through some battles together. I respected him and he challenged me. He was always thinking and pretty good at it.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Someone posted a comment

Dear anonymous that posted the comment regarding a person named Leanne, I found the site. Please leave another comment that explains what you think I should discuss with this person and send me their e-mail address as I do not use Facebook.