Monday, August 31, 2015

If All Lives Matter, Why Don't Police Report Killings?

I sat quietly and serenely calm in my back yard watching the sprinkler fan its way back and forth, waiting for the sun to finally rise like I do every morning.

The change of seasons can be dramatic in Colorado because the vast temperature swings, especially in the morning, are distinctive in the spring and fall edges of summer.  As I get a little older, I'm losing tolerance for the morning cold and I notice how our biting air aches in my fingers and joints, and lately I have to blow hot air into clutched palms or reach for gloves to endure my daily sunrise ceremony.
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This morning was pain free warm and inviting even though August is swiftly running out on its last day.  In exactly  60 days we begin to look for that first snow in Colorado.  As a kid, Halloween was either going to be a wear your actual costume to trick or treat or everybody is the same costume- Yukon Jack the Winterland explorer.

When you live in the place that you were born and raised, you notice things a bit differently than places you find yourself that aren't combined with childhood memories.  Climate change is one thing you can determine more clearly if you've seen the evolution of it firsthand.

Much like the drastic climate change we all are experiencing with the poking and prodding of the Black Lives Matter movement and what its doing to expose our social conscience primarily around policing. Policing is a climate that is rapidly changing and most distinctive to those still living where they were raised.

For those who've had to begrudgingly chew and digest ugly aspects of our nation that we had not anticipated still lived, this has been a big pill to swallow; so big in fact that many have looked at the damn thing and decided that there must be another answer.

Insensitivity towards black lives couldn't be worthy of this kind of response, could it?

That is the message that I keep hearing every time we use another persons death to pretend that All Lives Matter is a real movement and not just a weak way to counter protest that big ass pill.

We track Department of Corrections
officer killings and not people
killed by the DOC? hmmm?!?!
Do prisoner lives matter?
(read this story and find out)
That was the message I heard when my heat rose as I sat waiting for the sun to do the same.  The sheriff spokesperson for officer Darren Goforth, who was assassinated in the Houston area, indirectly blamed  Black Lives Matter for this death even though they have not completed an investigation or received a Dylann Roof type manifesto of the killers motives.  Until that work has been completed, our hope as citizens would be that police officers would remain neutral towards motive and careful towards sharing one with the public.  In reality, police often pre-litigate in the public square only adding to the question of how valuable can a life be when you don't even protect the right to due process?

In part, Black Lives Matter seeks to address grievances of skin color, but in great part this grievance is about  the blackened perception that systematically takes place against the character of  dead blacks whenever police are responsible for the death.

(previous post:)
 Black Lives Isn't Actually About Skin Color

Harris County Sheriff's Office, Texas
Deputy Sheriff Darren H. Goforth
Harris County Sheriff's Office, TX
EOW: Friday, August 28, 2015
Cause of Death: Gunfire
    

The rise in my temperature got me to searching to find the statistics of random police assassinations versus the total number of police killings (justified or otherwise) in America.

What I discovered is that one area of facts and details is tracked to amazing specificity, and the other is an optional program that many states (like New York) totally opt out of so we will NEVER know how many people are killed by police, how many of them are justified or otherwise and how many of those gone are essentially forgotten and didn't matter if they are erased in the annals of policing?

I was doing okay with my research until I noticed a page that included every single police death in the United States  including those who police the welfare system or parolee's, as well as one who worked in the DA's office as a detective, but died of a heart attack.

Yep!  Even he made the list of total police deaths in America along side a police death credited  all the way back to 9-11.  The more I started to really drill down on the numbers and exclude the heart attacks and the non-violent deaths, I came across the bottom of the list that included a bunch of cops who all died from heat exhaustion.

Seeing one officer die of heat exhaustion was odd enough for me, but seeing several in a row was beyond odd...until I noticed the code "K-9" at the lead of the officer description.


Hialeah Police Department, Florida
K9 Jimmy
Hialeah Police Department, FL
EOW: Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Cause of Death: Heat exhaustion
Hialeah Police Department, Florida
K9 Hector
Hialeah Police Department, FL
EOW: Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Cause of Death: Heat exhaustion
Hancock County Sheriff's Office, Mississippi
K9 Chewbacca
Hancock County Sheriff's Office, MS
EOW: Monday, June 15, 2015
Cause of Death: Animal related
Stockton Police Department, California
K9 Nitro
Stockton Police Department, CA
EOW: Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Cause of Death: Heat exhaustion
Savannah State University Police Department, Georgia
K9 Baston
Savannah State University Police Department, GA
EOW: Friday, July 10, 2015
Cause of Death: Heat exhaustion
Little Rock Police Department, Arkansas
K9 Titus
Little Rock Police Department, AR
EOW: Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Cause of Death: Heat exhaustion
Conyers Police Department, Georgia
K9 Zane
Conyers Police Department, GA
EOW: Thursday, July 16, 2015
Cause of Death: Heat exhaustion

The actual number of intentional police assassinations that happen without
provocation are so rare that they are ALWAYS front page news, whereas,
laws give us NO actual clue about total number of police killings in America.




Police assassinations are extremely rare and instantly front page news whenever they happen.  From just a pure level of tracking and analyzing, however, it is absolutely clear that police lives do matter, but hard to recognize how lives that don't even get tracked can actually matter more than K9 Jimmy.  



Sunday, August 30, 2015

Katrina Reminds Us That Rising Tides Also Kill People

The recovery of New Orleans is clearly proving that rising tides do raise all boats- so long as you had a reliable one when those levies broke.

I've never been fond of celebrating or commemorating death and loss, but I understand that it's important to look back and determine where you've come from to understand where you are going.

Yes, republicans! Once again, the nation is engaging in another conversation about the lack of your concern for disadvantaged people in moments of crisis. Even before the smoke of the WDBJ7 killing had cleared, gun restriction proponents screamed foul... .......again, and cried for a fix.  


Was Valvano talking about a good day or
the essence of mental health?
The fix? 
We all should be crying for this FIX because its right before our eyes.

Coach Jim Valvano was really on to something when he declared that a full day means to think, to laugh and to cry.   The more I think about those words, they make me laugh and cry regularly.  I laugh at the struggle we endure to uncover solutions that lie at the tip of our nose, while I cry at the pain we experience from enduring life without solutions.  Whether you agree with what represents the fullness of a day, it is certainly mentally  healthy to think (rationally) to laugh (heartily) and to cry (from empathetic tears preferably) as often as you can.

MORE GUNS CAN FIX THIS PROBLEM?
(IS THAT A PROVEN THEORY?)

I'm not sure if anyone is giving the news a fair view or review, but the most recent story of vigilantism against terrorism is the fabulous story of those American boys in France.
If you didn't set out to be heroes then polo shirts and khaki's
are exactly the correct attire for being awarded.  Suits or uniforms
would make everyday folks forget their role in keeping us all safe from terror.
(read Robin Givhan's article on this subject)

Not one of these men had a gun in hand when they accomplished their victory over the man with all of the weapons.  The NRA and those who insist we must arm ourselves for the challenge before us have to recognize that George Zimmerman remains the poster child for this failed approach, and until someone- not in law enforcement or hired for security duties- pulls the trigger on terror, this peculiar theory remains just that, a theory.



The brutal, live recorded murder of the television journalist Alison Parker and her cameraman  Adam Ward has, once again, stretched the theoretical potential of terrors reach, adding to the imagination of the kind of people who mimic these types of behaviors.

If Dylann Roof indirectly pulled down that Confederate flag,  seeing Parker and Ward die this way should somehow begin the process of some reasonable gun restrictions.

Shouldn't it?

I will go down this road once again with my strong opinion on gun restrictions only because I can't let Andy Parker (Alison Parker's father) fight this fight alone.  He understands that each of US who really decides to get serious about this fight might need to arm ourselves and add to the gun industry in the short term just to prepare for the risk of fighting guns with words.

The fact that gun sales rise every time opponents fight too hard to limit them is a distorted behavior all by itself. The very inclination to reach for a gun with so little evidence of vigilantism's success is a sign of our own mental illness or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), probably caused by the unsettling violence of the world in which we now live.

 Regardless of which end of the lens you are viewing from, the story of mental illness offers enough  context clues for us to follow the pattern and at least lay down the first few blocks on the trail we should follow. How we ultimately fix this will be solved by collective resolve, stubborn resilience and powered by an agreement that we must do something to dig our way out of this mess, and it probably should begin where the soil is softest. 

How we impose restrictions on free American citizens just because they've shown signs of mental illness is a complex question with no easy answer, but so is democracy; so is the challenge of breaking down the powerful obstacle that political lobbyist have become towards fixing problems.


Nothing seems tougher than getting people to act for the greater good before a crisis hits, but ten years later, New Orleans used a corp of engineers and a brand new billion dollar levy system to finally repair the failed one.

Given the televised death of two local news figures and the impact its having on the media fraternity, can we now encourage one of those engineers and a few other really smart people to sit down with the research and the data and uncover the question:

Are more guns really the answer?
_____________________________________________________________________________

       Gun Deaths        Total deaths Homicide   Suicide Accident  Undetermined
    per 100,00 people   (combined)

 United Kingdom0.26 (2010)0.05 (2010)0.17 (2010)0.01 (2010)0.02 (2010)Guns in the United Kingdom[67]
 United States10.64 (2013)3.55 (2013)6.70 (2013)0.16 (2013)0.09 (2013)Guns in United States[68]
____________________________________________________________________________


What's more expensive than buying that gun is spending the money it will take to learn how to properly shoot it since a short little course will only do so much for you.  Eventually you have to pay to master the art of shooting, especially under stressful conditions, or you yourself become an accident waiting to happen and not the weapon of defense you intended.

As we start to get ahead of this problem, we might discover a value for both mental health care and free gun education for all of the mentally ill being bred in our violent society. instead of absorbing the cost of restoring those lives when environmental hazards move and clarify social divisions.

In reality, it was always going to cost too much and take too much time to fix the future of the poor families in New Orleans.  What I inspire in my children today might finally take root in my grandchildren or in their children because, before we become parents ourselves, most of us endure parenting rather than embrace it.

Stop Blaming Katrina

Katrina washed over one of America's greatest cities and uncovered what the folks in Louisiana wish we'd stop blaming on Katrina.

Stop blaming the revelation of a problem on the water that revealed it.  Children who live in areas with lots of death and violence grow to suffer mentally, creating a barrier between the good choices they would love to make and the hopelessness that makes it hard to remember why choices matter.

Katrina victims NEVER needed Governor Bobby Jindal to be a proponent of the frivolous lock up of  drug addicts and mentally ill people who only became more ill after the trauma they experienced; they needed mental health care to combine with that gumbo of resilience they brewed out of the remaining bits and pieces of  their storm tattered lives.

 Residents of New Orleans had seen plenty of storms and never failed to fix up and move on. In reality, the worst of Katrina mostly missed and should have left New Orleans in water up to their ankles.

If only those levies did not break.

This was and always will be a failure of infrastructure, one that we will likely repeat if congress continues to block the jobs bill that would fix bridges and roads and other weak areas of infrastructure that will also falter sooner or later, as will the excuses for why we waited to respond to this well known potential crisis.

New Orleans is a microcosm of an upcoming crisis.  Like our tattered roads and bridges, we have mistook standing for sturdy. The people of New Orleans are the reason for the success of this story, and with no great thanks to their resilience.  In fact, some residence feel that the appearance of sturdy resilience is often the excuse we use to avoid fixing the problems of roads and bridges or social disparity in New Orleans and across America.

Had the folks in New Orleans rolled over and coward themselves, would WE have been more aggressive with help?

Resilience is certainly the excuse we keep using for how WE the People are to endure another terror shooting, seeking to drown our lack of wisdom in a double dose of resilience.

Doesn't resilience mean I am enduring something abnormal?  When do WE stop applauding the resilience of New Orleans and start applauding our commitment to remove their need for it.

Fixing levies and economies is the easy part.  Mostly these take a lot of money and a little math.  Fixing disparity and terror caused by mental illness is tough because "How" is typically the start and end point of this conversation.

Republicans believe that no gun law would have stopped Vester Lee Flanagan from losing his mind and murdering Parker and Ward on camera that day. Its right to wonder how we can easily limit law abiding crazed people from getting and using guns; or how can we finally end this hurricane and remake New Orleans with both the flavor and spice from pre-Katrina?

These are real challenges, yet not tougher than the promise of democracy which could not have started before women had the right to vote (1920), and may never begin if voting restrictions persist and strong lobbyist keep controlling our power over reasonable change. 

Mental Illness Is a Sign Of The Times

Ironically, mental health care will provide the answers to fixing New Orleans as well since so many disadvantaged people also have histories littered with drugs and violence within the home and in their neighborhoods.  Violence begot violence, thus the only cure for the PTSD and mental instability that produces generations of bad decision makers is recognizing the signs of the time.  

5 years ago, the folks rescued on that train in France might have all died because none of us readily recognized this new revelation of mental illness and its schizophrenic effect on society as a whole.  Today we are more comfortably paranoid, yet no better at seeing the signs and symptoms of psychosis that produce terror, or social disparities teetering a broken levy away from disaster. 

New Orleans will always be uniquely hot, though it might not ever get back it's old spicy flavor.  Some folks are pleased with this change of recipe feeling that downtrodden places like the 9th Ward had been too bad a blemish on the community anyway, and fixing them too costly in more ways than one. 

Pain & Providence
Maybe we will laugh when we realize how crazy
we were before our mental health care initiative.

Ferguson was but a straw to the back of an old weary camel 
The founder of Black Lives Matter actually credits the Katrina crisis for inspiring this new camel currently carrying the burden of change. As we reminisce on the good, bad and ugly of Katrina, some have theorized that without Katrina, there would have probably been no Barack Obama who was a major beneficiary of post-Katrina anger that found its voice in the ballot box. 

Will the empathetic tears we are crying from the deaths of Parker and Ward be enough inspiration to get us thinking of a fix?  Some of us are hoping beyond hope that this is that moment for gun control and mental health care to converge and change America for the better.

No laughter



Friday, August 28, 2015

Better Deal's, Or Treaties Only Come After War.

IRAN NEGOTIATIONS REWIND AND REVIEW

Obama forged an unprecedented coalition of nations to accomplish NO NUKE negotiations. Mission Accomplished....the coalition even more so than the negotiations if you ask me. History might agree when we are soon at deeper odds with China and Russia who freely do lots of business in Iran and could soon force the U.S. to check Iran and it's enabler's long before this deal is done. 

Iran did not have to agree to peaceful nukes during the period of sanctions nor did they. RETURNING TO SANCTIONS IS A RETURN TO THE STATUS QUO = Iran does whatever they choose as America and allies (not China or Russia) fight via economic choke holds. Whichever potential status quo you find most effective (American/Allies sanctions only or G5+1 sanctions) could limit the access to nuke building money. But it instantly gives Iran more reason, more passion and more room to function UN-MONITORED; a nation that the opponents of the deal don't trust WITH monitoring would be much less trustworthy UN-MONITORED.

TO THE NATION UNDER THEM, ECONOMIC SANCTIONS ARE AN ACT OF WAR.

Un-monitored nuke behavior AND MORE SANCTIONS ARE THE SAME THING and is why war, or the serious threat of war, would be the right thing to do next if our hostile sanctions didn't create a more docile and agreeable Iran. Are those of us who support the deal suppose to assume that war would be avoided even if sanctioned Iran continued to create nukes during sanctions? (and why wouldn't they if you really think about it?)
#2016 will be an election determined by women and Hispanic and Hillary
could help herself with an Hispanic running mate on her ticket.  Did  Bob
Menendez disqualify himself by vocally opposing the Iran deal?
Is Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro someone to watch?

Maybe war is not the ONLY alternative, however, opponents of the deal hardly offer another realistic alternative outside of more sanctions and A BETTER (nondescript) DEAL. 

Why a better deal instead of the best deal in the land/world/universe/galaxy? We call them deal's because each side has to give up something to make it happen. What opponents seem to want is called a nuclear treaty- and those only happen after you win a war.



Up Next?  If Marco Rubio has moved out front before his time, who will be
the Hispanic hopeful (and maybe Hillary's running mate) to fill that void?
Bob Menendez and Chuck Schumer are playing re-election politics and have calculated that opposing helps more than it hurts politically. These men have never endeavored to describe what a better deal looks like or how sanctions alone can encourage Iran to be kinder towards its enemies?


Thursday, August 27, 2015

Immigrants Are Not Our Greatest Problem. Republicans Are.

I wouldn't beat up on Republicans so often if it weren't for the fact that they always stick their chin out every time I'm feeling politically punchy.

I consider myself "THE" Conservative Socialist because I stand firmly for the destruction of the welfare state and I love God and the Bible just like Donald Trump.  I firmly believe that proactive health care and education investments (socialism) have the power to disintegrate all other forms of social welfare since educated and healthy people rarely need welfare (conservatism). I believe we owe it to our future generations to eliminate the welfare mentality more so than welfare itself, which is actually hard as hell to get and keep these days.

Welfare is an ugly word that started in the 20's but became any ugly blight on its recipients during the politically polarized and economically challenged years of the late 60's and  early 70's.  Once Bill Clinton got his hands all over it, it got rightfully relabeled into TANF (TEMPORARY Assistance for Needy Families) .  Consequently, it is no longer the stereotypical handout that it used to be.  Those who get any services these days get them because they are American born or have American born children (anchor or whatever you like to call babies who could be our president one day).

Benefits are temporary because Bill Clinton insured that all welfare recipients return to work via services designed to connect people to jobs. Some poor folks will tell you that welfare is currently the best way for the needy to get connected to a good job because it insure access to the additional (free) training support (education) and (free) health care connections that are needed to make a the transition from welfare to work a success.

In this post-Clinton era, food stamp benefits in particular demand part time work or volunteer hours just to maintain them or get them at all in between any proven period  of absence or reduction of work.  As a result of the Clinton clamp down on welfare,  (almost no one remains on welfare for more than 5 years) because the system NO LONGER ALLOWS IT.

The challenges with getting and keeping any welfare benefit these days is immense for an actual American citizen. Any non-citizen without American born children has no access to anything accept emergency medical benefits, and this only helps to reduce overall health care increases from the proliferation of unpaid emergency care.  In other words, paying a premium for the emergency room or clinic is immensely cheaper than absorbing the entire unpaid bill on the back side.

Welfare in America does insure that American children are eating, but focuses these benefits towards the children only, so even the families who try to hang from the "Anchor" must try diligently to under report the entire household size and incomes just to avoid weighing the anchor down and losing benefits altogether.

Most poor working families that could probably use a little help with food and bills don't care to bother with the struggle Clinton created getting Food Stamps or TANF  because they are dehumanized by the challenge to constantly jump through hoops to prove you really need help.

In some ways welfare has always been dehumanizing for very proud people.
Now it is only worse.

Because of  the diminishing size of all families in America- even poor ones- the old theory of broke and downtrodden welfare recipients bleeding the system and having more and more babies is totally mythical as well.

Yet, if you listen to the current patch of republican leaders (leaders for the lack of a better word), you start to wonder if regular poor people who actually can use welfare are still the target of republicans anymore who now seem more apt to blame the ruination of this nation on the welfare state that immigrants create?

Minorities rarely vote so they typically make for great political targets.  Immigrants can't vote but are assumed to be eligible for welfare so they are also an easy target for blame when a little inspirational blame becomes necessary during voting season.  Women, on the other hand, vote in droves and have exercised their voting privileges for as long as they've had them (1920).

I guess I understand the calculation of upsetting immigrants and inspiring ignorant's who think welfare and the illegals are destroying our nation; although I don't quite understand what message such an attack sends to the mass proliferation of legal Mexicans and Asians who can vote and didn't vote particularly strong for republicans last time around.

You Call This Outreach?

If there is one thing that makes me think that Donald Trump is in fact an internal plant from the Hillary Clinton campaign, it might be his single handed destruction of the republican platform promise to reach out to MINORITIES as a result of the last two presidential campaign failures; failures that Trump criticizes but is doomed to repeat without Hispanics or Asians or Blacks or Women or any strong support from minority groups.

 Among organized American minorities, women lead the power rankings list but remain at the back of the pack in the perception of way too many republicans. Say for example, those foolish republicans who are co-signing the video terror attack being leveled at Planned Parenthood.  These attacks falsely assume that WOMEN who believe choice is important also HAD NO CLUE THAT FETAL RESEARCH EXISTED IN AMERICA. Fetal research has never been a field that we hire women to have babies exclusively for research purposes, and smart women have NEVER been stupid about abortion or fetal research.

In fact, many clueless republicans all throughout the land think welfare is mostly for illegals because they actually tried to get help during these trying years; help that hardworking people who really need temporary help can't really get it anymore, so they blame immigrants for changing our job market and for our stringent temporary assistance laws.

In reality, the conservative Clinton's are responsible for welfare stringency, our job market transition (caused primarily when NAFTA forced Mexican farm workers into America), and might be responsible for finally getting that Keystone Pipeline drilled and all of those infrastructure jobs since Hillary, who's been very vocally opposed to drilling in Alaska, won't tip her hat on Keystone one way or another.  If she's shutting up about Keystone though vocal about Alaska, it's because the distorted structure of today's Super PAC's allows her to get secret donation's (10 time's more than ever before in case you forgot) that a few of her conservative oil loving friends (maybe even Trump) won't regret once she gets elected.


WE Didn't Create Capitalism Nor Do WE Control Its Advance

The Clinton's are not only neo-conservatives just like me and Donald Trump for that matter, they are Global Initiative capitalistic conservatives with a mission to expand capitalism to a universally hyper level in which the nation at the top will ultimately gain the most from capitalism's destined design.  A globalized mission is maniacal  in some ways but so is capitalism.

If capitalism's global advance is inevitable (and it is), America may as well be positioned to benefit the most, since often times WE are asked to sacrifice the most for the sake of capitalism too.

I totally support the make a buck to help me rub more backs approach that the Clinton's are using towards worldwide diplomacy because the nation who gains the most from capitalism will always be challenged by the existence and the needs of the needy.  Even Christ was bestowed with wealth though he shunned it. Because our power to perform Christ-like miracles is limited, our need for money is great if in fact we are to do greater things as Christ' suggested we will.


Make America Great Again By Redefining Conservatism

 I wish the Clinton's could help me recapture the conservative label so that it goes back to only meaning God(Grace....forgiveness...tolerance) and Country(that place made up of a bunch of immigrants) instead of  this distorted meaning of conservatism that republicans are crafting for their own purpose. I'm not sure if republicans or conservatives are driving the Trump frenzy, but I know for certain that they are not the same group of people since the same people who are voting for Donald Trump could never be willing to settle for Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush instead.

 (check out Trump's performance with evangelical's)

I would totally be on board the Hillary bandwagon if not for the Run Hillary Run prelude to this kiss. Hillary is trying to give us her best smooch while avoiding the Jeb Bush label of being dry and flat. Bush is fighting for energy because he too was encouraged into doing all of this by a crowd of normal conservatives like me who keep searching for an electable candidate while wondering why the republicans can only uncover the best of a bad bunch of options.

Now we've got the Draft Biden camp working hard to encourage another presidential run from somebody who wasn't already encouraged to be our president.  While I TOTALLY understand the hesitation to run for this job that produces Teleprompter Hillary or SuperDry Jeb, I also find myself a bit leery of anyone who is already justifiably weary.  I hope Jeb Bush survives to go head to head with Donald so us neo-conservatives can rest assured of holding office like we basically have since way back when trickle-down economics didn't stop the Bush boys from raising taxes anyway.

I am Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and every neo-conservative socialist that appreciates immigrants and enjoys praise and worship service too much to accept that kids started struggling in school right about the same time they kicked God out the door. From the sounds of it, I am Jeb Bush too.  All of us neo-conservatives want to do something RIGHT NOW about immigration, but none of us cared for gay marriage until we discovered that our gay friends and family had been struggling to breathe for years. Abortion is hardly preferable to neo-conservatives, but we certainly accept the intelligence of both women and the Roe .v. Wade decision enough to leave that topic alone too.

The Clinton's and I are in lock step on the importance of a global economy for the sake of diplomatic outreach and for America's vibrancy over time. Trump clearly agrees, and we all know how the Bush family reacts to the word oil.  Whether we like it or not, the global economy WE resist already exists but begrudgingly, which is what creates so much counter productive competitive corporate sabotage like the Chinese did with their inflated market valuations in the hopes of helping themselves and hurting the dollar at the same time.

As we recently discovered ourselves, all balloons will eventually pop. What we are now waiting to uncover is how attached to the struggling Chinese market are WE really, and what long term impact does China's market struggles have on U.S. economic strength?

My market hunch is that our economy has inflated enough rich Americans in recent years for US to totally exploit the self off in China, of China.  Aside from cheap loans from China that our economy is fully positioned to re-pay if necessary, we are disconnected to China just enough to use them more than they use us since their citizens do the back breaking work that allows us to enjoy the benefits of The Dollar Tree, and our farmers export enough products to insure the health of the American farmer and the long term necessity of farm work in America.


Now That Oil Has Fallen, Are Cheap Workers The Greatest World Commodity?

In reality, rich Americans are perfectly positioned to take full advantage of Mexicans or Asians, including the one's who stay in America on visa's and are now working illegally all over America as we speak.  Since the common immigrant flies into America, none of them will be stopped by Donald's big wall or Donald's big rhetoric that keeps placing the most valuable assets in the American economy in full opposition to the republican party and its fence building, gobble up and deport, change the 14th Amendment and, oh yeah- defund Planned Parenthood agenda. (did I miss anything)

Donald Trump might be really good at pretending that he doesn't call anyone a bimbo except Rosie O'Donnell and Megan Kelly (via retweet), but the rest of the republican field is not so good at this media trick.  They will be held to account for the direction that the lead polling republican candidate took the entire party when it comes time to really address immigration instead of temporarily using it just to drive primary poll numbers.

These same republicans are currently being asked to own the false fear that they've created of immigrants on welfare just like they are being asked to own the unsubstantiated fear they created of ObamaCare; a fear that they mysteriously refuse to address now even while a few of those fear mongering republican governors gave in already and adopted the very program they denigrated.

A real conservative would have quickly taken advantage of the opportunity to receive federal financial support for the vital duty of providing health care access to the people who need it the most and who elected officials are duty bound to serve.  A real conservative would never accept poor schools that don't offer EVERY American citizens the best of America's educational opportunity.  Most importantly, a real conservative would never give a man a fish, or not share one, when he could feed that man while teaching the skills to acquire a good job in the fishing or food processing industries.


Republicans Are Not Necessarily Conservatives



I'm drawing the lines between those republicans and US conservatives because I want to make it clear that creating free benefits to insure life long healthy and educated Americans who don't need welfare or excuses makes me much more a conservative than socialist. Once Hillary comes clean on Keystone,  I will probably decide to join her in support of the Keystone Pipeline because creating really good pipelines that don't actually burst open and spill everywhere will someday minimize the environmental impact on our roads and railways- that just so happen to need to be rebuilt as they've become human death traps. These bills have long since been jammed together as one.  Both need to move forward and get Americans back to work.
        _______________________

Trump Supports Rebuilding Roads & Bridges Too (does he know about that jobs bill that republicans jammed up in Congress over the Keystone pipeline?)
      _________________________

Continuing to destroy our roads and rails with oil transport won't be a great way to fix or maintain our infrastructure,  or achieve cleaner air, an initiative we've promise to lead the world in as well.

Why do we have droughts in California at the same time we have
floods in Colorado?  Can't one problem address the other?...
..and whatever happened to that jobs bill to fix our roads and bridges?
Are republicans using the Keystone Pipeline to get people killed?
In the long run, increasing oil production to the point of extreme saturation is the best way to devalue the price of the commodity and usher in the era of alternative fuels and the era of alternative thinking. Smart companies who currently produce oil, have already anticipated the coming change and are transitioning into the future of alternative fuels,



Being A Conservative Is A Good Thing.

My greater vision relative to alternative thinking is the day when we consider the greater good of people and the economy as mutually achievable; when we embrace conservative sensibilities like pipeline technology for its value and its worth instead of run from it and never use it to mitigate the impact of oil transport or the floods in Colorado at the same time we deal with droughts in California.

Or when we realize that you don't have to agree with climate change to recognize the value of destroying the grip of oil and dominating the alternative energy industry at the same time we minimize the emissions
causing this debate.

It seems plausible to my small brain that people who are dying to carry humans into space or dirty oil across risky pipelines could also transform floods from immigrants or water into resources and not problems.

There will probably come a time when we have no choice with either.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

SquareBiz Newsflash: Apparently Trey Gowdy Has Leaked Hillary Clinton's Classified Emails Too

Karen Finney, the lead spokesperson on the Hillary Clinton Campaign, just reported (Thomas Roberts MSNBC) that the Gowdy committee  leaked one of the classified Hillary emails to the New York Post after they had already determined that the email should have been classified.

Just in case you are scratching your head I will repeat that.

Gowdy and his committee, sworn to the cause of justice, are proving Hillary leaked emails that should have been marked classified by leaking the same classified email themselves.  

Some of this stuff you just can't make up.

Are WE Begging For Biden Just To Hate On Hillary?

Yes!!
In this coronation towards the first woman president, have we
discounted the role of the most important woman in America?


WE are absolutely begging for Joe Biden as a means of expressing the same disgust for Hillary Clinton as we expressed through the hiring of Barack Obama.


If that was the beginning and end of this tale it wouldn't have been worth the posting.  Inside of the belly of this liberal beast is a story of torn loyalties, old animosity and a would be president whose womanly wit and wile casts a shadow so wide no one can see her passion for people.  When men behave this way we admire them.  Women, on the other hand, must often fake vulnerability just to avoid the questions of 'why such a hardened shell?'.

Hillary should win this thing because she is such a tough nut and because she is simply more qualified and better at all of this than all of her competition- excluding  the media of course.  The media will remain her greatest opponent as they search for the roots of her demise and water them
"You know I might be president one day..right?"
openly or subtly depending on their political agenda.

A flicker about Joe Biden will get fanned by daily news reports until the flame roars into a raging fire; much like the flames were fanned for Elizabeth Warren to be "the one", Biden is being begged into the running for reasons that have little to do with wanting to watch him getting handsy with  Angela Merkel (German Chancellor).

Hands off Joe Biden.
Merkel is married


Hillary took the Secretary of State role mostly because she realized WE needed to see her trade blows with world leaders before we could easily punch her name on our presidential ballot.

She passed that test a bit too well, hence the politicizing of Benghazi as a means of diminishing her stateliness in the role.  The politics of Benghazi have worked to some degree, but it will never scare enough of  US into thinking Donald Trump would be a more preferable president, and it hasn't stopped US from forcing a fight amongst the Democrats and not just the Republicans, hence Bernie "The Socialist" Sanders  polling strong, and Joe Biden for president once again.


Joe Biden For President......Again!......Why?

I hate obviously forced candidates quite a bit because I recognize that the political engines that fund campaign's are also responsible for choosing the candidate who they feel is worthy of risk. The practice of hand picking candidates goes on whether we see it or not, and the likelihood of a non-establishment candidate breaking past the engines that fund campaign's is quite laughable actually.  Aside from a few exceptions, even in local elections as low as School Board, we all basically vote for whoever the money machines predetermine for us- and that's just the way it is.

On this one, the liberal donor class money machine; which follows the bidding of Elizabeth Warren these days- and just so happens to rub shoulders with the liberal media as well- have grown a little food sick with Hillary and can't quite digest the challenge of this email issue. Adding to this challenge is Hillary's natural struggle with balancing politics and passion to inspire fence sitters, and you've got a money machine looking to mitigate their risk.

Enter Joe Biden;  who is not intentionally trying to make his current boss have to decide on who he will support publicly, him or Hillary, but who is positioning himself to be that guy who saves the day in the event Hillary can't dig herself out of the ditch she's created for herself with this e-mess. When the media political calculations finally stop making us raise an eyebrow (i.e., some time closer to the actual election), Joe will be that reasonable extra alternative that we all will be looking for as some candidates are relegated to obsolescence and others are beaten to a pulp.

Hillary has 4-6 months to make Joe unnecessary because of a card that would trump them all.

Are liberals lamenting the loss of Elizabeth
Warren in this race? Does Warren regret it too?
What is most important to remember is that Barack Obama's endorsement will be good, but Michelle's endorsement will be golden.  Because she does better, more passionate speeches than Barack; and her poll numbers have never dropped into the unfavorable range, whoever Michelle Obama determines she supports enough to publicly endorse will ultimately gain the red carpet approval and become the next president.

If Michelle likes Biden, but not enough to endure his fondling or campaign for him without a woman on the ticket, he may as well quit before he gets started. Barack has given his bidding to Biden, however, if Michelle has determined that Hillary and women deserve the endorsement of the Obama's, it won't matter a damn bit how friendly Barack and Joe are with each other because his voice won't be as impactful for a potential candidate after creating more enemies than friends for 8 years. Michelle could say nothing and do only a printed poster endorsement for on an unknown candidate and she would pull 48% of the vote with ease.

Forget the rest of these yahoo's.  I've got my
eye on you Michelle.  You'll point the way.
Once upon a time ago\, Hillary was that influential first lady who we looked to for comfort and strength all at the same time.  Now, it will be the current first lady who will comfort us in a few months from now, when we really need it, pointing us towards our next president.

Monday, August 24, 2015

Which Came First, Islamic Terror Or It's Anger ?

What if America had saved up all of its anger towards 9-11 to use against ISIS.
Are female Army Ranger's
necessary with the changing nature of war?

 I have long since agreed with presidential candidate Lindsey Graham who thinks we should be at full blown war with ISIS right now regardless of the retributive conflicts that arise along the way.

Whatever we called ourselves doing to Saddam Hussein and the barren hills of Afghanistan was a waste of time, energy, money, credibility and most importantly a waste of our will to do our f__ing job now.



Big Sister Is Ready to Join 
Big Brother On Front Line


To whom much is given, much is expected.
We are America and ISIS, Iran, Syria and even  misbehaving Russia all represent our f__ing job as the Big Brother of the world and the God ordained bastion of Hope and Freedom for ALL.  That being said, I understand that this nation is war weary and tired of sacrificing our actual sons and daughters to an unclear goal. As our daughters slowly take over the front line of the famed Army Ranger's from Fort Benning, GA, it's really time to decide how much of this natural treasure are we willing to sacrifice to address world issues that have no good options.

If we are seriously pondering placing women on the front line of today's uncommon battlefields, it's hard not to think that we should have saved the anger, the bullets and the sweat equity  of our recent wars for a purpose befitting of a noble Big Brother- one who would never beat up the whole neighborhood just to deal with our own ANGER, GRIEF and failure in imagination relative to an act of war as old a war itself.

No Matter What The Form...TERRORISM WORKS!!

Terrorism is as old as war  because it works.  It requires coordinated thought and energy and effort, and would be named differently had it been described from the perspective of the weak who use its power as their greatest tool against a seemingly insurmountable foe.

Political terrorism is the form of terrorism that the Black Lives Matter movement has waged on the democrat political candidates who've allowed them to hijack the mic at campaign events. Whether driven by an Islamic caliphate or by the killing of unarmed black Americans, terror exploits the weary as it seeks the camera's eye and overtakes the microphone.  No matter what the form of terror, IT THRIVES WHILE THE ENEMY SLEEPS, typically dropping bombs or indictments, but rarely pointing the way with a compelling message when opportunity presents itself.

ISIS has taken over the mic and the camera with  beheading's and a cry for worldwide Jihad, however, because they are the only combatant with a time tested approach, they are the only combatant currently capable of winning.

Peace Through Strength Is Not Just A Slogan
and war is a profitable industry.

WE need a new style of war against Islamic terror- against Iran if they cheat the deal- and against Russia if they continue to disrupt the potential for worldwide peace that sits at an interesting crossroad and against the negative view of capitalism.  NATO could justify their continued existence by coordinating an American funded effort to recruit and place a unified army of concerned citizens from throughout the troubled regions of the middle east. Instead of the normal wars that WE start, fight and fund all alone, this time WE will fund it but they will fight it, saving countless American lives that most American's aren't eager to sacrifice anymore anyway. Given the uncertainty of the source of terror's anger, I can  hardly blame the war weary, although a caliphate mission doesn't exactly offer much wiggle room for negotiation.

Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey and maybe Israel when Benjamin Netanyahu is no more, will have to determine the seriousness of this caliphate mission to help determine which nation houses this unified force against terror since that nation stands to gain the most from the industry of war this promises to create for them. Similar to America's presence in Europe, additional military bases for this unified Army can be strategically located in various nations to expand the ISIS response and share the cash created by the industy of war. Hardliners everywhere will reject this plan, but they are all dying off and the coming generations of compassionate youth will be more concerned about ISIS, more open to change and totally interested in good paying military jobs that deal with it.

Iraq, who has already tried to deal with their post Saddam Hussein region without our help should be softened to the support that only WE The People can coordinate at a time like this. Iraq is a sectarian nation that will always suffer from sectarian instability and ISIS-like assault without a dictator or the support of a strong, reliable military to REMAIN in the region FOREVER.   A NATO created, Christian/Muslim/Jewish Unified Army would be a great peace gesture and job lure for the region, offering needed security and income potential to any eligible citizen in the surrounding countries; income potential that only capitalism could create adding to the improved image that capitalism needs in the middle east and across the world.

With Oil Prices Plummeting, Is Cheap Labor Now The Greatest Commodity On Earth?

Worldwide capitalism and its voracity for cheap labor has uncovered new, exploitable labor options at the short term detriment of those who are used to having something but feel it slipping away quickly.  What seems like an American economic crisis is actually an economic opportunity for America to  rise in the ranks of worldwide job quality standards. Instead of embracing this positively painful change, most Americans are lamenting the loss of back breaking industries that smart people should never do happily in the first place.

 If you work or do business in back breaking industries, you will recognize that our rejection of cheap workers in America will also include rejecting a major influx of those hard workers from various parts of Asia, the largest growing segment of undocumented workers in the entire U.S. (not South Americans!).  Asia and South America contribute greatly to our ability to mine for the kind of low-waged labor that makes the U.S. economy so admired and envied.  Either we invest in America 's educational future and progression towards jobs of the future, or we shut down our cheap worker mining,  both domestic and abroad, which makes consistent profit (capitalism) possible.

Is ISIS Mad About Capitalism?

Low wage mining is a temptingly easy approach to generating profit that also contributes to the negative view of capitalism. Due to its abuses, Socialism is similarly viewed although these two non-combative industries remain eternally married and hopelessly searching for a certain balance of the other.

Jihadi's seem angered with Israel but enraged by US- Israel's great capitalistic enabler.  Because capitalism is seen as our greatest strength as a nation, it stands to reason that it will always be the smartest target from our enemies and the most vulnerable institution for attack. If you accept that premise, WE have a choice to either give ISIS and every terrorist group the room they need to wage an attack on American capitalism, or WE diminish them to the power of using Twitter to inspire an occasional stupid American to behave stupidly in the name of terrorism du jour.

Islamic terrorism and the anger that drives it may never be defeated in the hearts of the religiously angry and psychotic or those who sympathize and kill on their behalf . WE The People, however, have a duty to seriously diminish the incredible killing power that Islamic terrorism gains from our rejection of real war and the consequential recruiting power generated by this pseudo war.


Once again, I realize that Lindsey and I are somewhat alone on an island with this real war view. Yet, the necessity of war should have never been driven by anger and retaliation before, nor neglected by weariness and fatigue now.  While we rest, terrorism works.

I respect the value of a good nap, except when the work is not at a place to be abandoned. Real war will likely be the repercussion of this nap we needed for now; sort of like the real war the hare required after resting in his losing race against the turtle.


So which came first- Islamic terror or it's anger?


To hell with terrorism and it's anger since expressing your anger by killing people- and quite frankly hijacking microphone's and camera's to point the finger instead of pointing the way is power without discipline or clear purpose. The real answers to all of our biggest problems wont involve fingers pointed in either direction because all fingers will be working together as ONE.

Microphone stealer's we can totally endure.  Head chopping murderers disrupt the peace and civility of society and must be treated like the epidemic illness that they threaten to become if not properly quarantined and eradicated.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

When It Comes To Education, I'm For Common Core

Was education better or worse before No Child Left Behind?
If you're asking me about Common Core Education Standards, then you will discover why I am still leaning Jeb Bush. For me, nothing matters more than healthy, educated children who grow up to raise healthy and educated children of their own.

Essentially, Jeb Bush is the father of Common Core education which was initially enacted under his brother's presidency via No Child Left Behind legislation, but it was inspired from Jeb and Florida who believed every state had to be expected to set high standards, not just states that cared more.

At the core, Common Core is valuable and necessary.  I like to consider it the reason that I talk about my 5 kids like Donald Trump talks about his Wharton education.  They're really smart.  No really.  Our science and tech school (DSST) was developed by a visionary group of founders that have integrated Common Core learning standards into the every day curriculum.  The problem with this high achieving model is that the state test becomes a big waste of time and energy for kids who do this form of testing almost daily.

My daughter agonizes over the testing much like I did but for different reasons.  She, and most of her classmates finish the dumbed down testing so early but are forced to sit quietly for the duration of the allotted time for each test, for 3 days.  In troubled schools like the one I graduated at, Common Core standards become a big pain in the neck for kids who've worked a little too late to help their parents with bills because they simply have no other choice. While every school has a few kids of this sort, some schools have an unfair share. If every school truly was expected to integrate Common Core standards into everyday curriculum, educational improvement would be clear and clearly measurable through the testing that schools should be tracking without an additional test that seems to measure the teacher more than the student.

Nonetheless, let's be perfectly clear. Bad teachers need to be weeded out.  I'm not talking about good teachers that need some training.  I'm referring to those over abundance of Teach For America teachers that only get into teaching so that they can get their graduate studies paid for, yet have zero passion for education, kids, maintaining the assigned curriculum, or developing a curriculum of their own that can be easily followed by any substitute in the event of absence.

In our effort to support other children who weren't as fortunate as our kids who had a structure of support that surrounded them educationally,  my wife and I have come to discover that curriculum driven education is still inconsistently utilized even within schools that are performing well because Common Core testing often overwhelms Common Core curriculum.  Poor pay in the industry and  the cloud caused by teacher unions have afforded bad teachers the space to remain bad for way too long given the fact that our children don 't get a do-over with their education .  Whatever they miss becomes remediation or eternal ignorance.

The good of Common Core is often times inappropriately connected to the bad of charter schools . which are occasionally just an effort from some to use tax money to segregate themselves from the commoners.  Common Core and charter school supporters are often the same voices, but their causes differ at the core.

I appreciate the value of Common Core education although I think its over emphasis on STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) learning is at the sacrifice of well rounded children, especially those who aren't inclined towards STEM careers.  Preparing our children for good paying jobs is valuable... unless they are depressed, suicidal and feel too overworked to enjoy their income. Our abundance of stress and depressed kids is often caused by over parenting that blocks a kids growth experiences, but that is another blog for another day.

Quality of life is a balancing act that we must master before imbalance becomes our quality of life.

Common Core doesn't entirely get this concept and isn't focused on generating enough plumbers and electricians for my taste, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good second step from No Child Left Behind which was problematic too but not unfounded in its premise.  Since we now accept that the chain will never be stronger than its weakest link, we had to accept a general dumbing down of education for the sake of moving forward together. The only other alternative is alternative schooling which overly groups troubled students into an environment destined for trouble and doomed relative to achieving state testing standards. Due to funding cuts, tough choices in education would have occurred with the curriculum we have now or the one we develop for tomorrow.

Oddly, some of the biggest opponents of Common Core are teachers of students with learning challenges beyond the norm.  Common Core, in its design, is somewhat of an acceptance that we've failed "the least of these" in education and its time to prioritize for the greater good.  Now that we have anecdotal evidence via Common Core, we can both accelerate and innovate for the former who need more challenges or the latter who need something other than traditional university path learning. Common Core's stringent curriculum and save your job assessments don't necessarily allow for scheduling innovations that might cater to any kid of the margins that simply don't fit the norm.

Though I have listed more objections than protections to Common Core, my objections are actually corrections; the inevitable part of any big change. If the answer to education or health care (or governance) were as easy as we often like to make them, a full proof system for each would already be in use somewhere.

Those who scream against Common Core are mostly screaming against change as though we are really going back to the day of the old lady in the school house with a bunch of kids and her corporal punishment yardstick.  There was an eager appetite for learning in those days that technology and other visual distractions have destroyed forever.

Setting standards and rules via yardstick or otherwise will always disenfranchise someone along the way.  Historically, either the rules get adjusted or the people adjust.  So like Jeb said, change Common Core if you must, so long as you insure high standards everywhere for every kid.