One Citizen Speaking

IRS SCANDAL: WHY IS THE FBI LOOKING FOR JIMMY HOFFA WHEN THEY SHOULD BE INVESTIGATING IRS AND LEAKERS?

With all of the scandals swirling about the Obama toilet bowl, one would assume that the FBI would like a bit a favorable news … like finding the remains of the late union leader Jimmy Hoffa. But, is that the best use of their time in Michigan or anywhere else? Especially when virtually nobody of importance appears to have been investigated and prosecuted for the near collapse of our financial infrastructure. When political crime is rampant. And, when active investigations into government scandals seem to go nowhere.

Jimmy Hoffa search: FBI digs in Michigan field

Despite help from Michigan State forensic anthropologists and a Michigan State Police K-9, the search for Jimmy Hoffa has so far turned up nothing, investigators said Tuesday.
A source at the scene said digging has taken place on about a half-acre of the grassy, vacant field in Oakland Township. Agents broke for the night early Tuesday evening and were due to resume the search on Wednesday morning, officials said.

They unearthed two concrete slabs, about six feet by 12 feet each, according to the source, who is familiar with the search. They matched claims by Tony Zerilli, 85, the son of reputed former Detroit mob boss Joseph Zerilli, that Hoffa, 62, was buried there. Zerilli claims Hoffa was struck with a shovel and then buried alive on the property, with a slab of concrete placed over the body.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Foley III of the Detroit office said the FBI was executing a search warrant in the grassy field.

In Michigan, law enforcement officials decided to comb the lot after Zerilli told the FBI that Hoffa was buried there. Zerilli's attorney, David Chasnick, told reporters the FBI spoke to his client over the past seven or eight months and the agency believes "100 percent" Hoffa is buried there.

Hoffa, the father of current Teamsters President James Hoffa, led the union from 1957 to 1971 and was imprisoned for fraud and jury tampering in his final years. He was released in late 1971, when President Richard Nixon commuted his sentence. Authorities have long thought Hoffa was ordered killed by organized crime figures to prevent him from regaining control of the Teamsters. Source: Jimmy Hoffa search by FBI - chicagotribune.com

Bottom line …

Jimmy Hoffa is long dead and the trail of real-time scandals are growing colder by the minute. Perhaps Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller should re-prioritize their manpower and resource allocations and leave the non-productive quest for Hoffa to the State Police and those who give a crap.

-- steve

Posted at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

AMAZING WHERE YOU FIND RACISTS AND BIGOTS WHEN THEY HIDE BEHIND DECEPTIVE NAMES …

It all started quite innocently. I received a respectful e-mail requesting permission to re-post one of my blog entries on immigration reform. DEMOCRATS: AMNESTY NOW, BORDER SECURITY NEVER -- DEMOCRAT & REPUBLICAN TRAITORS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

It is not that I am anti-immigrant, but that immigration reform needs to be reliable, rational, and that we need to do an environmental impact study to count the potential illegal aliens within our border, strengthen our infrastructure, and then proceed in an orderly fashion. I am dead set against amnesty that confers citizenship and voting privileges in favor of a permanent residence and work permit. With the borders secure, the problem of illegal aliens within our borders will disappear within a single generation as all new children will be citizens. As for relatives and others, they are processed as legal immigrants like everyone else. No muss, no fuss.

Then comes an e-mail from the American Freedom Party requesting permission to repost. Of course, I granted permission because I operate under the creative commons copyright and who am I to suppress anyone’s ideas – especially my own. But, being the curious sort, I took a look at their wiki entry.

The American Freedom Party (formerly the American Third Position Party or A3P) is a third positionist American political party which promotes white supremacy. It was officially launched in January 2010 (although in November 2009 it filed papers to get on a ballot in California) partially to channel the right-wing populist resentment engendered by the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and the policies of the Obama administration. <Source>

OK so far. I recognize and resent many of the public policies that lead to the financial crisis. And, as my readers can attest, I am none too fond of the public policies and performance of the Obama Administration.

The American Freedom Party (AFP) is both a political party and activist organization dedicated to the interests vital to the preservation and continuity of ethnic European communities within the United States of America. <Source>

Ethnic European communities? What the hell does that mean? Preservation and continuity? You mean like an English Community? A French Community? A Swiss Community? What is that about? We are all Americans and while it might be nice to visit ethnic enclaves on holidays, why should this be of national importance? A definite red flag.

The party chairman is Los Angeles attorney William Daniel Johnson. Long Beach State University professor of psychology

Kevin B. MacDonald has been named one of the eight party Directors, and is also a principal contributor to The Occidental Quarterly where he has contributed articles claiming that a suite of traits that he attributes to Jews, including higher-than-average verbal intelligence and ethnocentricism, have eugenically and culturally evolved to enhance the ability of Jews to out-compete non-Jews for resources.

MacDonald believes this advantage has been used by a number of Jews to advance Jewish group interests and end potential antisemitism by either deliberately or inadvertently undermining the power and self-confidence of the European-derived majorities in the Western world. A 2006 article in The Nation magazine reports that MacDonald's 2004 Understanding Jewish Influence: A Study in Ethnic Activism "has turned MacDonald into a celebrity within white nationalist and neo-Nazi circles."

Writing in the Journal of Church and State, Professor George Michael noted that MacDonald's work "has been well received by those in the racialist right, as it amounts to a theoretically sophisticated justification for anti-Semitism," and that on the far right MacDonald "has attained a near reverential status and is generally considered beyond reproach."

Aha! Ethnic European Communities – like white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant ones. Communities devoid of the “wrong” ethnicity. I call both bullshit and racism!

I wonder what part of the United States Declaration that they might have missed …

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Or did they miss part of the United States Constitution?

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

We are a nation that operates under the rule of law. Something that the current crop of democrats and republicans often forget as they jockey for political power and the right to raid our treasury. We are a nation of immigrants and that has proven to be a good thing. Unfortunately, some potential immigrants decided not to abide by our laws and jumped the border. Existing in a world of shadows with stolen or forged documents. Committing perjury as they sign official documents, or in the extreme, identity theft.

Now we are faced with a problem. What to do about the millions who are apparently here? And, there is a solution, A legal solution. A cost-effective solution. A workable solution. One based on rationality and the best interests for the country.

Bottom line …

It appears that haters continue to hate. Using public policy issues to gain both financial and voter support for their restrictive policies. Pushing a viewpoint that appears to say, we are here and we demand that nobody else can join the party, especially if they are different and refuse to assimilate.

I personally believe that it is against America’s best interests to import illiteracy, poverty, disease, crime, and large groups of ethnic people who refuse to assimilate into America. Not because they are different than us, but because they want to use our political resources and finances to reproduce the crapistan from which they fled.

The new breed of immigrants do not seem to want to create a new life for themselves as Americans with a cultural heritage – just a more comfortable life while they maintain an allegiance to a foreign sovereign country, send money back to their foreign sovereign nation – when many hope to retire.

But, that doesn’t mean that I am not for controlled immigration. Or, that I favor one part of the world over the other. Belay that … I speak with forked tongue. I do not believe that we should allow Muslims into our country as long as they cannot honestly swear an oath to abide by our Constitution and the freedoms it provides to all. Especially religious freedoms.

I am willing to discuss the issues with all comers. But not from a position of hate. And, in a way, I am grateful for the re-post request. Normally, I would have never discovered this small group and certainly not given them a second thought had I heard their agenda. So, let us look at what they have to offer and the ways that they are trying to capitalize on America’s current dysfunction – in order to increase their power and ability to transform this nation into something that is as loathsome as a totalitarian socialist or communist nation, a totalitarian fascist nation. Where both ends of the political spectrum lead to the very same thing. SLAVERY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, regardless of their color, creed, ethnicity, national origin, religion, or any other defining characterizes. Where undesirables are eliminated because they are different. And, believe me, there will come a point when we are all undesirable.

A final note: NEVER AGAIN!

-- steve

Posted at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

WTF IS THE UNITED STATES DOING IN SYRIA?

I am bewildered …

How is it that George Bush was excoriated for the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when Saddam Hussein clearly maintained and used a stockpile of chemical weapons on the Kurds … and yet President Barack Obama has declared similar weapons in Syria to be a cause for arming those wishing to overthrow the Assad regime?

How is it that John McCain and Lindsey Graham are joining with President Barack Obama in demanding that the Americans intervene in the Syrian conflict and yet make no such formal demands of the United Nations whose charter specifically calls for the prevention of genocidal activities?

How is it that nobody is calling out Saudi Arabia for financing and fomenting the Syrian civil war for their own purposes? One, to replace the Alawite/Shia regime with a Sunni regime – mostly composed of strict fundamentalists (Whabbists) and al Qaeda-type jihadists? And two, to draw Americans into directly confronting Iran lest it go nuclear and place Saudi Arabia in danger.

Why is nobody blaming President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for not offering humanitarian food support for those who were starving in Syria after massive crop failures due to drought? Remember the Syrian uprising was started by food shortages. Where was our lying Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, in attempting to convince the wealthy Arab neighbors of Syria to send food assistance or fund a relief effort?

Where is the Clinton Global Initiative, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderbergers, the Trilateral Commission, and all of those other so-called “forums” and “think tanks” on this issue? If I can see a clear and present danger, why can’t they? Or are they too damn busy choosing up sides and profiting from the conflict – the dishonest politicians and special interest power brokers they are?

Who is going to accept the responsibility for the genocide that is about to occur if the Saudi-financed jihadists take over the nation and start summarily executing Christians and other non-believers, and especially the Alawites who are considered apostates? Assad and his core group, if they are not killed, are likely to form their own territory and maintain enough weaponry to protect themselves.

Where is America’s national interest in intervening in a Muslim civil war that has no good outcomes? Not democracy – because given the freedom to vote, the Muslims vote for Sharia law and a theocracy. Not energy – Syria does export anything we want or need. Not safety and security – because no matter who wins, America loses in the eyes of the Muslims. Friendship with Saudi Arabia – I believe they were the unindicted co-conspirators in the original 9/11 attack and if it wasn’t for their energy reserves, they would have been the target of the first punitive strike as we located those who may have financed terrorist activities and brought them to justice. Friendship with the Islamic world – they already hate America and regard President Obama as a weak fool.

So what happened in Benghazi and why are we getting in deeper?

Bottom line …

The leadership of the United States, including both political parties, as corrupt and incompetent as it may be, owes the American people an explanation of America’s national interest in a Muslim civil war that will breed anti-America terrorists no matter which side ultimately wins the conflict.

-- steve

Posted at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

THE LAW THAT CAN HOLD GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE

This is what will happen to your most sensitive information …

The law that is needed …

Any government official, employee, agent, contractor, or informant that accesses non-public personal data of any American citizen for personal, political, commercial, or other inappropriate uses, shall be fined no less than an amount equal to their federal pension plus $10,000 per disclosure and be subject to a prison term no less than five years with no possibility of parole. The same legislation shall include all elected officials, their nominees, and their staffs.

Should the President of the United States pardon or commute the sentence of any person charged under this statute, they shall forfeit all federal funding that would normally accrue to their position as a former office holder.

Nothing in this legislation would prevent a sitting president from being impeached, tried, and convicted by Congress.

Posted at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

EDUCATION: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE ABLE TO "COMPETE GLOBALLY";

I hear educator after educator claim that we have to teach our children to compete globally. Other than empty rhetoric, what the hell does that mean?

Students must be able to read, to understand and access the ever-growing knowledgebase?
Students must be able to calculate and compute?
Students must be able to use logic to evaluate alternative paths of action?
Students must be able to communicate, both graphically and orally?
Students must be multi-lingual so they understand the message of other peoples?
Students must be broadly tolerant of other cultures and accept the concept of moral equivalency?
Students must be politically correct to avoid offending others, especially those who may hold contrary opinions, beliefs, or practices?
Students must be obedient to the reigning political power and to avoid disruptive behavior that threatens the status quo?

But, one must ask, what about philosophy? The ability to discern the difference between good and evil, right and wrong in an unambiguous manner that categorizes political correctness, multi-culturalism, and moral equivalency as the tools used by those ideologues bent on pursuing their own evil agendas.

Or is it more important to teach students individual responsibility and the dangers of collectivism? To let them know that their teachers are lying to them, painting a picture of a world that doesn’t exist, where people do not play fair, and where evil lurks around every corner? Where politicians are corrupted by the unions and that students are being manipulated as tools of the establishment?

What about developing an innate bullshit detector to provide ample warning of malignant politicians and corrupt special interests?

What it means to compete anywhere is simple. You must offer products that are wanted and needed, at an acceptable price, and with some measure of trust and credibility that they will fullfill their design specifications. In some instances, the availability of natural resources,adequate energy, labor, financing, and intermodal transportation costs demands local production. In other instances, it matters little where those who produce and market their products are located physically in the world.

Think about agriculture for a moment. You need the good soil, the climatic conditions, and an abundance of cheap labor – or at least mechanized labor. Nobody, neither the democrats nor the republicans have any real interest in the people laboring in the fields. Even their unions exist for their own political purposes. So what is the benefit of educating people to the extent that they recognize opportunity and leave the fields? Somebody must do this work, so you look the other way while illegals pour into your country – even knowing that it is an unofficial tax on everything sold by anyone anywhere. Can you make the case that some schools have deliberately dumbed-down the curriculum to discourage the type of entrepreneurial activities that would better the lives of all farm workers?

As far as costs go, labor costs are being increasingly met by automation – using expert systems to allow lesser educated and trained people to perform at higher levels; or using robotics to eliminate inconsistent and pesky human labor. Or, in many cases, outsourcing production to areas with cheap labor. So what of the unskilled labor force in your neighborhood – what global opportunities exist for these people.

As far as cultural interactivity goes, most suburbanites are in culture shock just dealing urban dwellers; much less than traveling to foreign lands in pursuit of esoteric business opportunities.

And, as far as reality goes, it is the lawyers, accountants, and other professionals – along with corrupt politicians – that set the rules of the game. Rules that favor the adults who want to plunder the system and pursue their own agendas rather than educate children.

I have a family friend whose son requires a calculator to do rudimentary arithmetic, not advanced calculus, but long division. Likewise, he couldn’t research and write a report without a computer, using Wikipedia for information and cut-and-paste to assemble his report. Not one ounce of entrepreneurial spirit. No idea of what he wants to be – if you exclude being famous, rich, and having adult toys. At eighteen, I regard him as a functional illiterate and an undisciplined soul. If it wasn’t for his father’s accomplishments and money, he would be just another dope-smoking lay-about looking for a government handout and a life that exists only on television. He looks at uber-wealthy people like Bill Gates, the late Steve Jobs, and Larry Ellison as role models. With not a scintilla of awareness of the gut-wrenching difficulty and failure that molded their accomplishments. Somehow, it resolves to a paradigm: make a product and people will give you billions. Not once wondering why Gates, Jobs, Ellison and others stand out in a world of opportunity – and mediocrity.

And, I blame both his permissive parents and the corrupt educational system.

Bottom line …

Education has become a big business, and like any other big business, dominated by the special interests who can corruptly influence people and circumstance to advance their personal, professional, and profitable agendas.

Spare me those who claim “it’s for the children” as increases in tax revenues for education wind up in bloated union pension funds, overly costly physical infrastructure, and well-paid acolytes who serve an untouchable, protected political class.

Educators have few answers other than more money equals better students. A fallacy that can be easily proven – even with dumbed-down tests. When are we going to hold educators accountable for actually educating our children?

The truth is that we have enough opportunity here in America, repairing, replacing, and expanding our crumbling infrastructure. What we don’t have is anyone to point out that a plumber is as valuable as a professor, in many cases more so. What we don’t have is an educational system that recognizes that not everybody should pursue an academic career, to be molded in the model of their teachers.

And, what we don’t have here, is anyone brave enough to buck the political system – to stand up and tell the federal government that their interference in educational matters is unconstitutional. And, that rewarding or penalizing schools on their adherence to federal programs and standards is nothing more than the subversion of the Constitution of the United States. Calling bullshit when politicians claim that their programs “incentivize” behavior, rather than pointing out that the federal government is extorting the states to keep a larger percentage of tax money at the federal level, to be used to purchase the political power that comes from its distribution in politically profitable ways.

And those with a highly-tuned bullshit detector can tell you that it is unlikely that educational institutions will ever be able to meet the needs of a shrinking world unless the focus is shifted from dead presidents to entrepreneurialism. Motivating students to develop their own skills instead of parroting the beliefs of their teachers.

So tell me why I need to give more and more of my taxes so that our students can compete globally – when few can even define what global competition really means in a non-entrepreneurial world?

-- steve