Very interesting take on this whole 9/11 mastermind trial we are promised by our astute Attorney General.  It a Washington Post article, Travesty in New York, written by Charles Krauthammer.  Interesting in the aspect that it outlines the largest contradiction of this administration’s approach to fixing the perceived ills of Guantanamo Bay Camp X-Ray.  You seriously need to read the article to follow my points below, its ok I can wait.

My very own US Senator, Dem. Herb Kohl grilled Holder on the fundamental premise of our judicial system when it came to Mohammed, “What happens if KSM (and his co-defendants) ‘do not get convicted,’ asked Senate Judiciary Committee member Herb Kohl. ‘Failure is not an option,’ replied Holder. ‘Not an option? Doesn't the presumption of innocence, er, presume that prosecutorial failure -- acquittal, hung jury -- is an option?’ Kohl retorted”  Don’t you love it when some old white haired fart slaps you down to Earth with logic and reason?  Krauthammer states that the AG’s presumptions and attitude contradict our own legal systems foundation of presumed innocence.  The guilt was taken from a confession, a confession obtained out of water-boarding, the very thing the Obama administration is wanting to expose and showcase to the world.  My take, its armature hour meets idealism mixed in with an unhealthy dose of naivety and arrogance.  Here is how I back that up.

In America citizens are born with unalienable rights, according to our Constitution, and our government restricted from infringing upon those rights.  These rights, however are not extended to those outside our borders.  We have no say or standing in what citizens of another country do or say, just as we have no standing in what another sovereign nation does or says in regards to their internal matters (I will circle back to this later).  Therefore anyone who commits an act of violence against our citizens is only subjected to the laws of the country from which they reside during the acts committed, this is universally held.  If, however the acts are committed against us as a nation, as in an act of war or terrorism, it falls under established international protocol as that, an act or war for which there is an avenue in place for dealing with, military tribunals.  By trying Mohammed in New York we are granting a foreigner, who was brought here against his will, the same rights, privileges, and courtesies as any American citizen.  Sure, he is not a full citizen with rights to vote, obtain a passport, or keep and bare arms but he does have the protections of our judicial system, now, thanks to the infinite wisdom of out benevolent president and his righteous attorney general.  He has due process, Miranda, fair and speedy trial, and most importantly, no cruel and unusual punishment if convicted.

By having a New York based trial we are extending the courtesies and rights hundreds of thousands of Americans have fought and died for and millions of people across the world have struggled and risked life the limb to obtain through years of hard work and dedication, all with a simple stroke of a pen, and something he never wanted in the first place.  The burden of proof is now in the hands of the prosecuting attorneys.  They have to prove he is guilty of the crimes for which he is to be accused.  What crimes?  He can not be accused of a crime that did not exist prior to that fated day nine years ago.  He can not be accused of waging war on the country as that is not an act for which civil courts are set up to deal with.  We now have to charge him with pre 9/11 crimes, prove beyond a reasonable doubt and excluding circumstantial evidence, he is guilty by a jury of his peers.  There is no evidence to be allowed by the fruit of the poisonous tree, meaning any conversations obtained without his right to legal council, any evidence collected without properly executed warrant, defendant lawyers access to discovery, review, and cross examination to refute and prove its undisputed tie to his client, etc. etc. etc.  You see, civil trials are set up to try people observed, apprehended, and arraigned for crimes committed on American soil by American authorities, under American laws, for which Mohammed did none of.  A trial in New York is just for show and the entire world is fully aware of that pure and simple fact.

Those on the left will state this is a healing process, a way to extend the courtesies and privileges to our enemy they did not extend to us, therefore taking a high-path approach, hogwash!  If this were the case then what about the contradiction Krauthammer exposes in Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri getting sent to military tribunal for his part in the bombing of the USS Cole, on the very same day he sent Mohammed to civil trial in New York?  The article attacks the circular logic without exposing the obvious point, its to your benefit (as a terrorists) to attack civilian targets because you will get a civil trial that is a hundred times harder to get a conviction in and offers a platform to showboat your cause and view your grievances.  Holder sees no problems with military tribunals, he just sees and issue with this one and is using the intended target as a thin vial over the reasons why.  As with all war crime trials since the 1950’s the criminals were accused of targeting innocent civilians.  I guess Holder is conveniently forgetting this or the use of civilian aircraft in the attack exempts Mohammed and his co-defendants from established war crimes precedence.

Holder is claiming all of this is in the name of justice.  If that is the case they why not hold the trial in Los Angeles?  New York is too close to the crime, how can Mohammed get a fair trial in New York?  Where will the perceived justice come in from when finding a jury of his peers?  Who in New York can not remember where and what they were doing at the moments of the attacks?  Its burned into everyone’s minds, permanently.  This is not sounding like justice, its sounding a lot like every kangaroo court trial the US and its allies have railed against for decades.  To be perceived as a fair trial there can be no preconceptions, there is presumed innocent until proven guilty.  How can that be done in New York city?  How can the Attorney General sit down before the world and one second state the reason for the civil trial is to promote fairness and integrity in our laws and the next second state he will get a conviction?  I know attorneys are cocky and full of themselves and their abilities but this is before any trial motions have been filed and the government is stating the guilt before the docket is set.  If anything, and I mean anything, goes wrong in this trial you will see a real disaster, domestically and internationally.  Obama and Holder have painted themselves into a corner and this isn’t quick drying paint.  Everyone knows it is going to be a show trial and we all know what this means.

Lastly, and to bring the item mentioned previously to light.  We have the show of the show trial.  This is going to take years and be drawn out as witnesses are called, cross examined (think beyond New York city here folks), evidence is evaluated, George Bush is put on trial (you know its going to happen), and the enviable preaching by all the co-defendants on why and under what justifications they acted and did what they did.  America’s foreign policy and its perceived interference into international affairs will be placed on trial, 50 plus years of American oppression, imperialism, favoritism, ignorance, fear, and greed will all be used, and with such oratory elegance as to shame all the liberal leaning bleeding heart citizens that the acts were not attacks but reprisals for decades of wrongs and policies that encouraged slavery and poverty so we could prosper and thrive at the expense of others.  This is what the Mohammed’s of the terrorist world want most.  In my anti-terrorists training we were taught why these people take to such acts, what drives, motivates, and sustains their hatred, and it may surprise you what it is.  Its lack of a creditable platform from which to air their grievances. 

Radical Islam is just a tool for the terrorists, its the common thread or foot in the door for them to show commonality and a common foe, a singular manifestation of all that is wrong in their world.  Those pushing terror are doing so to get their message out because there is no venue for them to do so legitimately.  Israel, America’s fault.  The Palestinian condition, America’s fault.  Poverty, hunger, and lack of jobs and services in their home countries, America’s fault.  Radical Islam is just the door.  The leaders, like Mohammad, are eager to get their messages out.  They love publicity and what to get as much of a spot light as possible.  That is why they flew airplanes into buildings, to get our undivided attention so they could talk and we would listen.  Now we are setting the stages, performing the sound checks, selling the tickets, and stocking the concessions for their grandest and most public performance on the world stage.  How, within any degree of righteous or fairness can we think these trial will be seen as anything other then a public show and kangaroo court set up to hand each of these men their punishments after they have the opportunity to spew their hatred and twisted vision of Islam to justify their actions from the largest platform on Earth for all to see?  I for one see no way this will recover American’s reputation or view in world eyes, show trial always do just the opposite.  How are we any better then Myanmar, North Korea, or Iran who all have had show trial with pre-determined verdicts before the trial ever began?  This should have stayed where it belonged, in a military tribunal, with a military sentence, carried out just as those other crimes that even the current administration continues to pursue as the last administration did, USS Cole bombing a shining example.  In an effort to rebuild America’s creditability, something that is only done through actions over decades, not one administrations one term, we have played right into the very avenue our enemy always wanted, a world audience.  Good work team!  Now where is that thar rope, we have us some evil terrorists to hang at the end of this here trial.  Yes, sir.  Its all about fairness in these here parts.  Come back now, you here!

Full article with video found here: Bishop confirms banning Kennedy from receiving Communion | NECN

Patrick Kennedy, the Kennedy family member who has taken over his late father’s senate seat, has found himself in dangerous ground in his stance in the Church.  The Rhode Island Bishop has asked Kennedy to stop taking holy communion due to his support and assistance in getting the current versions of health care reform pushed through.  Actually this thing between Bishop Tobin and Kennedy has been going on since Kennedy and his family used their fame and standing to get the Church to annul his 12 year marriage.  It seems its better late then never.

I am not going to get into the usual angles on this, they are obvious and well covered elsewhere.  What I am going to talk about is the Church, its stance, and its abilities and obligations to its congregation.  Many are stating the Church is out of bounds here, I do not take that view.  I am not a stout Catholic, not even an Easter/Christmas Catholic, just christened and started out in the Catholic Church.  However I am siding with the Church and wish they would go one step further for one simple reason.

The Catholic Church is a private spiritual organization.  As such they have entry rules and teachings that must be learned and adhered to in order to remain a member.  Communion is only taken after you have either been confirmed after passing catechism or the Church has been satisfied in your knowledge and acceptance of Catholicism teachings.  Communion is holy to the Church, its leaders, and its members.  For one high profile member to get a ‘pass’ by betraying one of the fundamental teachings of the Church is hypocritical and close to blasphemy.  Religion should be the rock religious people build their lives upon.  If the Church waffles or shifts the line on something then the congregation and their faith will be lost.

The Church needs to stop trying to gain new members by selling out on some of their teachings or stances.  If you believe abortion is acceptable then you should be excommunicated from the Church, no matter who your family is or what your influence is.  The Church has the ability to maintain its credibility through enforcing its rules on its members as it sees fit.  For too long the Church has wandered from its core beliefs to satisfy the shifting cultural tides of the decade.  Just because teen pregnancy and divorce are accepted and seen as normal in our society does not mean the Church should take a same stance and relax its stance on pre-marital sex and commitments made to the Lord in joining with another human being in life and eternity.  The Church needs to stay consistent, why?  God has not signaled he has changed his mind since the age of prophets has ended.  His word is spiritual law for which we all know the penalty for disobeying.  There are no appeals, leniency based on the age and times in which we live.  Either we follow his path or we don’t, its pretty black and white.  The Church needs to take the same stance and remind us all of this so we can make the decisions needed to life in our modern world the best we can.

The Catholic Church is a long time liberal leaning organization.  Their liberal views do stop at the point where they cross the line with Church doctrine.  Catholics are consistent on this issue.  Abortion to them is wrong, the death penalty to them is wrong, the policies of greed and pitfalls of economic success are wrong to them.  The Catholic Church was the only faction of the Democratic Party who stood in opposition to bringing the KKK into a full fledged part of the DNC, in the 1900’s!  The Church does need to be allowed to enact its rights to preserve its teachings, philosophies, and rules as it sees fit, remember the people who feel the church is no longer for them are free to find any number of more liberal Protestant religions.  You can’t have it both ways, the way Patrick Kennedy is wanting.  You can’t have your pro abortion views for your political career and your religious support for your spiritual career coexist when they are at odds with each other.  If Catholics are such an important part of your voting block and a big part of your life then you must live up to the principles or deal with the consequences.  If Women’s Rights supporters and lobbyists are such an important part of your voting block and your spiritual beliefs are backseat to your religious convictions then its time to quite the Church as God is now second to man in your mind and views.  The Kennedys have long gotten away with too much from the Church and this has been an example of favoritism in the flock for a long time and it needs to stop now.  If the member is not willing to abide by the teachings kick them out.  Sure, you will lose some members but the respect, belief, and integrity of the Church will be strengthened and shown as an example for all to follow.  Our society changes all the time, our religion is not supposed to, unless God makes it known He has changed his mind, last I checked that hasn’t happened since Jesus Christ walked the Earth.  The Church needs to prune these ‘convenient Catholics’ and put its support behind those who and the things that uphold its teachings.  Integrity shines through, as does complacency.

Just over a week ago some truth seeking hackers used a PC in Russia to hack into University of Anglia’s Climate Research servers in the UK.  Unlike past break-in in the news this had nothing to do with identity theft or stolen account information, no, it had to do with finding out what was going on behind the facade of ‘climate change’.  Long time and recent readers will know that I have blogged against global warming and climate change from time to time, about 6 times I believe.  It is not that that I hate environmentalists or the environment, its because I hate hypocrites.

Going to the following link: Google News Search – Climate Change Emails, reveals just 1,370 articles as of Nov 22, 10:50 am EST.  This is sure to change despite the left wing media’s blind eye, the likes of CNN, NY Times, Washington Post and usual suspects have already started to slant the news and spin it toward conspiracy territory.  Well, as is the rule on this blog I wait a fair amount of time before jumping on a story.  Sure I miss out on the first volleys of the debate, but I like to take my time to line up my shots nice and slow before releasing batteries.

This story is going to explode, and I mean EXPLODE.  Sure most of the emails are going to be taken out of context.  Sure there is no smoking gun showing climate change is a hoax or vast left wing conspiracy, but the picture painted sure says a lot about how far the truth was bent and just how clueless the science is behind the theory we are asked to buy into.

The truth has to be exposed and exposed NOW.  If indeed we puny insignificant humans are actually capable in altering the climate of an entire planet we inhabit less then 2% of then we should look at the real science and take actions that the science points to and track its progress until we can reach safe levels.  If we find all this is the baloney and horse pucky I feel 90% of it is then we need to know this and stop the insanity of carbon taxes, credits, emission caps, etc. before we begin to halt technological progress.

California has outlawed incandescent light bulbs, mandated low flow shower heads, toilets, washing machines, etc.  That is great for reducing our impact on the planet but taking away the choices of consumers is not the answer if all we have been preached at for the last 20 years was pure bunk!  California has water problems and changing the light bulbs will prevent them from building another coal fired power plant.  Why not just go with nuclear.  Do they think the population will stay consistent or shrink from today’s levels?  Not with the socialists dream entitlements packages we are passing, it will explode, requiring another plant anyway.  Why outlaw TV’s that suck more power, just raise power costs, the market will then stabilize the issue. 

The truth is not in the emails stolen and posted all over the internet.  The truth is not in the documents stolen and posted over the internet.  But the truth is closer to being exposed as the scientists identified now have to defend their stance at shunning those who disagreed with their finding, that their models were wrong and they fudged the numbers to get what they were assuming was right, the measurements they touted were FALSE, the planet has actually been cooling for almost a decade now, and the list just keeps growing.  The truth, for better or worse, needs to come out as we are really close to passing initiatives that will reverse 200 years of progress and most likely will have little to no impact on the planet’s climate. 

Sure our climate is changing, it always has been for over 5 billion years.  No species ever will be able to change or reverse a planet’s climate in at least another 10,000 years.  All our efforts could be wiped away from 1 mega-volcano’s eruption (Yosemite), pole shift, sun flares, or impact from anything whizzing by our planet too closely.  We can and should clean our our messes, clean our waters, stop relying on dams and let rivers regain some of their natural flows (avoid flooding and produce power when sensible), develop better ways of getting rid of our trash, reduce – reuse – recycle what we can, but cutting carbon emissions by 80% in 15 years is INSANE, it will require all the world to go back to the early 1800’s and reduce the human population by 75%, that is something that is not possible.  Let us re-open the debate on climate change with a fresh set of eyes and stop the talk of urgency and doom we have been hearing for 15 years.  Let us see the REAL data and make educated decisions on what was FOUND and PROVEN.  If it really is that scary we all can take it and deal accordingly, if not, we need to stop the insanity before we end up in caves without toilet paper or deodorant. 

Quite a stir has been made over Obama’s bow since he decided to make a protocol faux pas on both sides of the Pacific.  What needs to be explored is beyond the political speculation and focus needs to go why he did it and what it really means.  Seriously it means little in this modern day, but its symbolic meanings go so far beyond reason it is what is causing a dust up in the press.  As I am here in Asia I can offer some insight and reasons that you won’t find in the American press.

First off lets look at the act.  Obama screwed it all up from the get go.  If you are going to shake the Emperor’s hand, like everyone has done since Japan’s surrender, then you shake his hand.  If you are going to perform a subservient bow then you bow, you never do both at the same time, like Obama did (maybe that is why the Emperor’s wife is laughing so much.  The press made little of Obama’s bow to the Saudi king, but they sure did make a big deal of G.W.’s cheek kiss and hand holding of the same man.  This is just an interesting side bar in this discussion as it does begin to paint a picture of Obama and his lack of protocol.

What I find most comical is the defense of the act by the left and Obama supporters.  Not only is their argument weak, it is contradictory to basic logic when looked at with any depth.  First off, “Obama was just following protocol when meeting the Emperor of Japan”.  FALSE, there are pictures going back to McArthur showing Americans do not bow to the family that initiated the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  “Obama is a global citizen and is sensitive to the customs and politeness of Asia.”  FALSE, #1 else he would have bowed to the Chinese Premiere and President, of course a Chinese bow and not a Japanese bow.  #2 deep bows like Obama did are reserved to servants and subjects of the Emperor as they essentially offer the head of the bower to the Emperor and show how he is their master, not even Obama is willing to call an old tiny Japanese man his master.  #3 if Obama were that worldly, why is he not smoothing the French President and European leaders on the cheek and doing long embraces and arm slaps?  #4 you will never, never, never spite your allies by showing overt favoritism to one over the other, this is a face losing behavior and if Obama ever goes to Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia and does not do the same he is a hypocrite and slapping them all the face as a clear preference to Japan has been established.  Finally, as earlier stated, you either bow or shake hands, never both.  Even Chinese people who don’t really care about bowing anymore see this as a joke and can’t believe anyone would be that silly.

Next lets look at the impact of this back home in America.  Obama is still seeing his popularity stay steady but his job approval scores continue to go down.  The press is slowly starting to accept the fact he can be criticized without coming off as being racist.  His humility tour where he continues to down play America over other nations is beginning to wear thin.  The largest hit against Obama to me on this is the before mentioned bow of subservience and bowing to the family that launched us into WWII by bombing our ships in harbor unprovoked.  Now I understand there is protocol to be followed when aboard, much like his wife’s infamous back touch to the British Queen, but why is Obama going against 60 years of protocol now and to Japan and not to European countries?  Would he kneel to the King of Spain?  How about to the Pope, would he act in reverent of his holiness or stand tall and statue like when meeting a Christian leader? 

Realistically this means little.  McArthur let Japan keep their Emperor, just with no powers of state duties, under the terms of surrender.  Bowing to him is showing respect but he is not accustomed to this from state visits.  You will never see a Chinese bow to him, ever and many Asians would never bow either given Japan’s past transgressions during the war.  This was more of a publicity stunt or a pure slip up as something that seemed good at the time.  Not even Clinton bowed to him during a visit to the White House, the State Dept quickly stopped him when he tried because they knew it was not normal protocol.  The bow will not result in any special treaties, investments in US bonds, monetary favors, trade favoritisms, etc.  All it will net from the Japanese is cute headlines and some good will among those born before 1941.  Here in America is will incite head scratching, detractions from his political enemies, apologies galore from his allies and praise from his fanatics.

The real issue here is the goals and end game Obama is working on in international relations.  His humility tour will only work for as long as he and this current congress are in power.  If he is not re-elected or a potential backlash in 2010 occurs against the congress then the reality of our international relations will change.  Just as they changed between Nixon/Ford and Carter, Carter and Regan, Regan and Bush, Bush and Clinton, Clinton and Bush, and so on.  All this work of re-booting relations will end with him or a new congress which grants him authority to trade relations.  If America gets tired of Obama over the next 3 years we could end up with another cowboy who would do his thing his way and not care about international relations, or we could get a protectionist president who closed down the country to the rest of the world.  His humility tour is more personal then it is national.  Sure he represents us and speaks for us, but he does not hold the convictions of the American people.  His grounding in not in the mainstream status quo, part of why he got elected, but in an ideal that has been peculating for 60 years.  Obama is an ideal, a representation, a slogan in a suit.  He speaks eloquently, when his teleprompter is working, and people get the sense he is talking to them.  His words are just vague and specific enough to capture the imagination and speak to the idealist in all of us.  His bow and the meaning behind it has more to do with him then anything else, just like his election and running of the country.  To him this is all very very very personal, and that is why he is out there doing what he is doing.  He is not doing this for America, he is doing this to say, ‘hey look at me, I represent something I despised before and now I am going to fix it and make it all better.  Too bad he is forgetting about we, the people, who elected him and for whom he speaks.  We the people are the ones who have to be convinced on the best ways to fix what is wrong with our nation.  The election might have been about him, the rest is all about us, even us right wing conservatives who are perceived as terrorists by those who see the same goal from a different angle.

I have had a couple of ideas rattling around in my head for a month or so now and finally have some time to get at least one out.  As I came of age in the 1980’s I have a unique view on art and culture as I experienced the largest cultural shift in music, television, and movies in American history.  After the 1980’s we saw our entertainment industry shift toward more and more commercial interests.  Yes, I know that all art is commercial and Hollywood has been commercial for a long time but it became a driving force over all others in the 1990’s.  Since then then the quality and substance of music, movies, and TV entertainment have continued to plunge to new lows each 5 years or so.

First off, lets look at music, my former favorite.  In the 1970’s music was largely segmented across racial, cultural, and sub-cultural barriers.  R&B was rhythm and blues, Jazz was jazz, Country and Western was country, Folk was folk, Disco was disco, Rock was rock and Pop was the top 40 or top 100 selling singles for the week.  You could tell the difference between Kenny Rogers, Aerosmith, Boston, Chicago, Stevie Wonder, and Louis Armstrong without any thought.  Music was tailored for its base consumer base and innovation was in the air as new electronic recording and production capabilities were introduced.  In the 1980’s the movements within each genre started to split into smaller sub-groups, rap, soul, acid jazz, bluegrass, hard rock, heavy metal, glam, dance, etc. started emerging and specializing while pushing innovation and selling albums hand over fist.  The lines started blurring and it was harder to tell the difference between Lionel Rickie and Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam or Van Halen and Loverboy or Randy Travis and Garth Brooks or LL Cool J and Ice T yet it was easy to tell the differences between the major groups.  This is where the beginning of the end came in.

In the 1990’s the music industry had reached a climax.  All the creativity was creating more artists and sounds then the industry could handle.  The money being made forced the industry to make a decision that killed music for the fans, copying.  In stead of trying to find the next big sound or next big segment of the music world the recording industry wanted to find the next Nirvana, NWA, Metallica, Whitney Houston, New Kids on the Block, Clint Black, etc.  They went for formulization that raised a generation of copy cats instead of innovators as the previous generation was.  Don’t believe me, who was the Eddie Van Halen of the 1990’s?  All the sub groups started to sound alike to the point you couldn’t really tell if you were listening to Sponge, Bush, Silverchair, or Radiohead.  Pop and Rock were merged as were R&B, Soul, and Rap.  New innovators like alternative and techno were just lumped into the larger groups.  Talk in the industry went from “where is the next place the new sound will come from?” to “who do they sound like?”.  From here the talents were shifted to mocking and not innovating.  Now I realize that there was innovation and new groups coming out, but not at the rate you saw in the previous decade.  The turn of the century just saw more of the same, copy cats and imitators of successful groups being milled out as quickly as the industry could find them.  All of this was on the backdrop of the peer to peer downloading which trumped the news that record sales had been falling for years, just now at an alarming rate.  The industry blamed the college kids, but the industry was no longer putting out quality product worth dropping any cash on.

Next is TV.  In the 70’s TV was tame.  The industry was in transition as commercials were being regulated, smoking and alcohol were now out, and the industry was starting to use more psychologically based aids.  I can remember watching movies on TV with only 4 commercials, try that today, even on cable!  Programs were cheaply produced and the themes were often mundane and predictable.  Hits were something special and people would plan their weeks around favorite shows, like Dukes of Hazzard, Rockford Files, Kojak, etc.  TV programming was not much different then in the 1960’s and competition was light, thanks to just 3 networks and only major cities having VHF.  The 1980’s saw TV explode with larger budgets, edgier scripts, and new and interesting programming that captivated the nation.  Dallas, Hill Street Blues, St Elsewhere, LA Law, Miami Vice, Family Ties, etc.  They all started to incorporate movie style budgets, cutting edge topics, pushing the lines of decency and challenging the national attitudes on social topics of the day.  People planned their weeks around their favorite shows.  The advent of the VCR allowed people to start taping the shows they had to miss or could not watch because of a competing program of equal quality. 

TV continued to grow and mature in the 1990s as cable saturation gave more variety to more people as its prices became more affordable and programming expand beyond movie channels and shopping channels.  The industry saw the likes of movie directors lending a hand to writing and big name stars appear along side emerging stars.  Commercials began using popular music instead of jingles and industry standbys of the days before.  Programs were becoming more popular and attracting the money that follows.  Stars were born overnight and their influence began to sway corporate executives, sometimes to disastrous results.  Still, the shows were new and fresh, but by the middle of the decade they started to follow the music industry model, copy the successful ones and formulate everything.  Even successful shows of the time, Law and Order, ER, etc. formulated their own past successes to become predictable and boring, only the actors were changing.  By the turn of the century the only innovation was on cable and only by networks like HBO that dared to push the lines of cultural acceptance with previous taboo subject matter and nudity not allowed on networks, Sex and the City, 6 Foot Under, The Sapranos.  Now we see the same things being imitated over and over, just now they are old and stale.

Movies have gone the same route.  In the 70’s themes were small, budgets not so big, and themes not too shocking.  This was changed by 2 genres, horror and sci-fi.  With the likes of Exorcist, Halloween, and Star Wars, Close Encounters the industry changed and changed overnight.  Suddenly special effects and simple story lines took over.  Movies shifted into fun events and escapes from the issues of the day.  The 1980’s continued and added the big budget blockbusters with India Jones and the introduction of serials, suddenly everything got a sequel.  This was different then the sequels of the past that were more like separate movies instead of familar characters doing familiar things.  The 1990’s took the success of the past decade and merged it with the TV model of the day.  Edgy, dark, and themes pushing social views came to the center.  Serial killers and anti-heroes were the order of the decade and they filled it with glee.  At the turn of the century it all started to turn in on itself.  Kids movies were so formulated that kids were becoming board half way through, until smart writers stepped in and added adult content, truing the focus of the movies into how many clever ways to conceal adult material.  Disaster movies, Thrillers, Mysteries, and the old mainstays Action, Horror and Sci-Fi became all carbon copies of the successes of the first part of the decade.  See the pattern here?

This has started to change, but change for the worse.  How?  The writers, producers, and creative minds behind music, tv, and movies have been copying the successes of the past for so long now that they are no longer able to create anything new.  Sure some try only to get lost half way through it.  Take Lost for example.  It started out like the Matrix, something new, fresh, and daring, only to fall flat on the creativity side and end up a mashed up compilation of tired old themes and sub-plots.  Even Axl Rose sounds like Guns and Roses after taking 15 years to produce an album that is well, just like you would expect from him.  We see things the entertainment industry trying to re-do all the successes of the past now.  Movies are the worst here.  Remakes that only try to update the feel of the originals or take a new yet tired twist of the original, like Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and less flattering remakes.  Now we have music artists releasing albums of there favorite songs from the 1980’s, that was just 20 years ago!  While it is hard to be unique, edgy, daring, and fresh it seems nobody is trying.  Just as groups like Linkin Park think they are original anyone who listened to Stabbing Westward will see stark similarities.  I even saw Cuba Gooding Jr. AND Christian Slater in a horrible film, Lies and Illusions that begs me to ask what were their agents thinking.  TV is so bad that it is mostly reality programs, the rebirth of the verity show like Jay Lenno’s disaster.  This begs me to ask, where did all the creativity go?  Why is it that the best entertainment found is in sporadic spurts that fade as quickly as they emerge, like the movie District 9 or hard rock metal group Union Underground? 

I know it is not just my age and jaded nature or cynicism as others have mentioned this to me before.  The last movie I really felt fun watching was just a montage of 1970’s kung fu flicks, Kill Bill vol 1, vol 2 sucked.  I gave up on music long before I moved to China.  Since moving here I have been catching up on TV and movies quickly as DVDs here are dirt cheap and over the years the quality has constantly declined.  While I know that this is not the case for 100% of the things in entertainment, where is the creativity that used to make us forget our daily slog?  Where is the excitement that used to grab us and make us plan our lives around, like TV shows, album releases, opening weekends of movies?  Most of the big movies of the past 5 years were either re-makes or aging series started a decade or so before, Star Wars, Indian Jones.  From where I am sitting it is all going down hill and I don’t know why.  People in entertainment are getting paid more and have better benefits then they did before yet their productivity, creativity, and innovation is all well below where it was just 15 years before.  Why is this?  Do we really have to make artists suffer to get anything good from them?  Could it be that our human condition is only improved through struggle and adversity?  Is it possible that when we are happy, secure, and confident on our professions and futures we stop striving, reaching, and taking the risks that inspire millions?  I think we have all gotten so complacent that we just accept what is handed to us and quality is less then a concept to most of us now.  I guess we should just go back to reading books and telling stories around campfires for entertainment, those were always entertaining and fresh then what we are being sold today.

As I try my best to let important items to play out for a few days before I comment, so the truth can be separated from the speculation and outright falsehoods.  Since the day Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan woke up and executed his planned attacks on fellow soldiers at the processing center complex on Fort Hood Texas many things have come out.  We now know more about his past, education, training, problems, issues, religion, and communications then we know about our next door neighbors, this is more troubling to me but that is another blog article all together.  I am not going to regurgitate the facts, speculations, or crap surrounding this case, that has been done non-stop in the hours since the Thursday November 5th shooting rampage coverage started.  This blog is to try to put the coverage and public information proliferating the airwaves since.

Through all the news articles out there one single theme is seemingly absent, while another is not, and this is my problem with coverage of this account.  I am referring of course to the constant calls of explanations and questions as to how and why this tragedy happened.  Why is it so hard to grasp the concept that radical Islamists want to kill us all, and kill us all in a horrific and senseless manner?  Why are the liberal, politically correct, white wine drinking, ivy league intellectual elites, affirmative action supporting, gun control, pro-choice, save the planet, peace-nic crowd so worried for calling a duck a duck.  There seemed to be an initial push to ignore the white elephant in the room of this story.  Sure, there was no need to jump to conclusions and create a firestorm of speculation, but facts are facts and as they keep coming to light the picture being painted is of a terrorist who executed a carefully executed plan and only messed up by not dying in the end.

Thus far Time Magazine’s website is debating over the act, was it a senseless act or terrorism, quite agonizingly too.  Sites like Slate and Huffington Post keep trying to side step the obvious and blame shift responsibility to the Army, the war, and Bush.  Well, this is clear cut to me.  In my Shipboard Security Engagement Tactics training from the Navy Expeditionary Warfare Training Group I learned just how bad these groups hate us, just who is in them, and how far they are willing to go to carry out their missions.  From recruitment to twisting religion and logic into a custom suite of ideals that make acts of murder and mayhem make sense.  Not only does Hasan fit every profile I have been taught to a T, he did this in the open and was never called out on it out of fear of repercussions of being called racist, insensitive, and not being politically correct.

Now I understand the argument of the left, we can’t pre-judge people by circumstantial evidence like appearance, religious beliefs, associations, etc. but why is it we are backing over backwards in America to prove we don’t hate Muslims since 9/11 while we continue to see example of example of radical Islam rain death down, or try to, on our troops and cities?  My mom always said you could tell a lot about a person by their associations, she was right.  We should not have jumped out and called Hasan a terrorists just because of his name or his religion.  We should have started labeling him a terrorist once we learned he had numerous email contacts with Awlaki, a radical cleric based in Yemen, who praised Hasan’s actions.  We should have started labeling him a terrorist once we learned he attended the same mosque as the 9/11 hijackers.  We should have started labeling him a terrorist once it was confirmed he yelled “Allhu Akbar” before the attack.  Now that this and far more telling evidence has been made public its time to stop coddling this man and call him what he is, a terrorist!

I have even seen the press go so far as calling him “the alleged shooter”.  This is a farce to logic and common sense.  There are reputable eye witnesses.  There are the police who shot him while he was in the act.  There were nurses and doctors who had to remove the ammo magazines from his trouser pockets in the hospital.  There is nothing alleged about it, he did it.  Again, why is the press so scared to report the truth?  Are they worried about getting sued by a terrorist for libel?  I realize this is hard for most civilians to wrap their heads around but the more we bend over backwards, the more we turn our heads, the more we try to ignore the ugly truth the harder, faster, and more brutal it comes.  This is an all our ideological war on every facet of our society and all we hold dear.  There is no compromise, no bargaining, no common ground, no chance in reaching a truce with these radical Islamists.  They will only stop when they control the entire planet and have total control over all people, period.

As a country and a culture we have to wake up to the facts they, the radical Islamists, want us and everything we stand for gone, forever.  We have to wake up to the facts that the peaceful Muslims across our country and the world are only paying lip service to condemn these acts when they occur.  Why didn’t every newspaper in America not go to their local mosque and seek out a response from the local Imam?  Why in a post 9/11 world do radical Islamists still find refuge and acceptance in local mosques across the world and harbor and launch attacks against Europe and America?  We all know that if radical Catholics, Baptists, or Jews had factions that carried out murderous acts and received religious refuge they would be hounded across American relentlessly.  How can I say this, I am Catholic and I know how the Church dealt with and how the press dealt with pedophile priests.  We all have seen how the press reacts to radical right to life groups who commit violent acts.  Yet Muslims get a free pass, for the life of me I don’t know why.

As a veteran this greatly disturbs me.  I have seen people snap before and '”go crazy” on the ship and on land bases.  I have seen people I have worked with for years suddenly and without little warning one day try to kill their brothers in arms.  This is bad enough.  But to have a terrorists advanced to the rank of a major, given passes to keep Equal Opportunity Officer investigations out of their commands, and placed on deployment status after repeated attempts of him to convert wounded warriors, praise suicide bombers, and publically stated he held the Koran and Sharia Law above the Constitution of the United States been allowed to continue to serve and not undergo supervision or evaluation at each step and stage of these facts.  We need to get away from being overly sensitive in our dealings with Muslims.  Just as not all black kids or Latino kids on a street corner are gang-bangers or drug dealers not all Muslims are radical Islamists.  But when the warning signs and red flags go up again and again why was nothing done.  This terrible tragedy needs to force the facts out into the open.  The problem is not gun control, the war in Iraq, the policies of G. W. Bush, Gitmo, US support for Israel, US intolerance toward Islam.  The problem is forced political correctness, its forced diversity in the military, its forced cultural sensitivity towards a radical group within a religion that wants to destroy us all.  The problem is we continue to sleep through the alarms here and in Europe.  We continue to blame ourselves for creating this monster, we continue to blame ourselves for creating an environment in which such hatred can grow and thrive, and we continue to blame the real victims and not the perpetrators and their supporters.  I am not talking about the soldiers shot and wounded at Fort Hood, I am talking about the American people.  The soldiers are the true victims, however we have turned America into the larger victim by refusing to acknowledge the reality that this is a black and white war.  In the months and years to come many excuses and misdirections will come out of this case, if we fail to recognize the truth from liberal fantasy we will all pay a much higher price.  Our leaders need to lead, by example.  Instead of using soldiers and flag draped coffins as props for photo opportunities, like the Air Force 1 Statue of Liberty fly over, or paying lip service to my fellow Native Americans at a press conference to speak of the attack, or using the massacre as a back drop for a Veteran’s Day dog and pony show when he was originally going to be on AF1 on his way to Asia to beg for more money we need a leader to lead us out of the woods of political correctness and misadventures in war.  We need someone to clearly say what they mean, mean what they say, and execute what they have promised.  This head in the sand approach will do nothing but result in repeats.  We need to put the very fear of God into those who state they are killing us in his holy name.  We need people in the Muslim community to purge themselves of this horrible element now and before it grows any more.  We need people to call a spade a spade and do what has to be done, before a tipping point is reached and Hell on Earth is fully unleashed.

MSNBC recycled the AP with the following:

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government, a senior administration official said Wednesday.  Obama still is close to announcing his revamped war strategy, most likely shortly after he returns from a trip to Asia that ends on Nov. 19.

Official: Obama rejects war options - Afghanistan- msnbc.com

Happy Veteran’s Day US of A!  As a Navy vet, proudly serving for 7 years this makes me sick.  Where is the leadership?  Where is the decision making?  Where is the plan?  Where is the resolve and forward thinking?  I can tell you this out of experience, there is nothing worse then having to follow an idiot who is trying to make the best decision.  Militaries don’t work from plans made up by focus groups or public sentiment.  Militaries work best when they are given a broad goal and the generals, majors, and captains are given the room to formulate plans to reach that goal.  It seems we did not learn the lessons of Vietnam so we are making all the same mistakes all over again, and as a vet that disgusts me because that costs lives, time, and money unnecessarily. 

What is Obama’s long rang plan for Afghanistan, good question, everyone wants to know.  So far this is what we know: “Obama wants to make clear that the US commitment in Afghanistan is not open-ended. The war is now in its ninth year and is claiming US lives at a record pace as military leaders say the Taliban has the upper hand in many parts of the country.”  Excuse me Mr. President, what president know the time tables of any war they entered or had to finish?  The only time tables you can create and meet are failure!  When we entered WWII we had no idea how long it would take.  Korea, no idea.  Vietnam, not a clue.  Desert Shield/Storm, not an idea.  Kosovo, Clinton had no exit plan.  Every liberals nightmare, Iraq, nope.  Now we are going to try to put Afghanistan into a project management framework.  Please correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t see Obama’s name as a PMP certificate holder or a PMI member.  You can’t put something like armed conflicts into a neat little package like you can, say a political campaign.

Granted the war is now 9 years old.  Yes G. W. took his eye off the ball and got us more involved in Iraq then we should have, at the time.  These things however do not make the initial involvement any less critical or needed then when it started right after September the 11th.  Sure you can have milestones and key points to gauge success in a war, but you should not keep your milestones set in stone, so to speak.  The problem you get when you have solid events set in advance when it comes to war is you set yourself up for failure, ask Napoleon or Hitler about that.  War is a dynamic and fluid organism that takes on a life of its own.  No amount of planning or set of measures will hold true 6 months after the first volley is released.  I will agree that the Afghan government needs to take up more efforts, but they need to be stable, respectable, and get rid of the corruption hampering true citizen involvement and belief in the government.

Obama has left the commanders in the field of Afghanistan in neutral for over a month now.  Without a clear cut goal and enough troops and supplies to accomplish that all we are doing is giving the enemy time to regroup, plan, recruit, and recoup monies from those sympathetic to their cause.  Now we have to sit back for another week or two before we are told how Obama is going to lose this war.  It appears to be a reoccurring theme for Obama’s administration to sit back and take the ‘wait and see’ approach.  Here is China all the talk of the town is of Obama’s visit to the Asia economic meeting and what he will say, which seems to be not much.  The Wall Street Journal had a great article outlining Obama’s failure to ask Congress to get permission to hold direct economic talks with blocks of countries, and for the first time in over 50 years the US will be out of global trade negations as the US is the only nation not engaged in aggressive free trade agreements currently going on.  This lack of vision, plan, or agenda is leading to a failure in our war in Afghanistan, a failure in our long term economic prosperity, and our ability to live free and make our own decisions to live our lives in a way we deem acceptable and right.

Obama needs to drop this talk of clear cut goals and closed-ended plans and instead state that in order to win in Afghanistan we need to destroy the militant Islamists ability to effectively disrupt peaceful government operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Middle East.  He is not a general.  He is not a graduate of a war college.  He is not knowledgably of the military, its purpose, its mission, or its responsibilities as he is the kind of liberal who thinks a military needs to be small and weak to achieve his vision, of course he can’t say this publically.  Obama needs to listen to his advisors.  Sure they have an agenda to push, winning a war.  If their recommendation will harm the troops, violate international law, or run contrary to American’s ideals then he should step in, otherwise he should base the plans on their merits to achieving the goal of a win in the least amount of time with the maximum impact to strengthen our ally’s resolve, boost our troops morale, and to send a clear cut message to those who oppose us and our way of life.  This pussyfooting around is dangerous, it is costing American troops their lives, and it is setting up the stage for failure in a war we can not afford to lose.  You see, this war is more then just about the control of Afghanistan.  Its more then just about the influence to a region of the world and vital world resources.  It is about an ideology based on hatred and misinterpretation of a religion that has been hijacked by radicals and ultra conservatives who will stop at nothing until their aim is achieved, and that aim is to destroy and erase Western Civilization from the face of the planet.  It is impossible to negotiate or deal with these people, they are determined to win at all costs.  Our lack of determination at the highest level is more then a character flaw for our top positions in our government, it is a miscalculation that will lead to far worse then just another lost war and wasted troops, and resources.  This will lead to the rise of a new radical Islamic front of war on the West as they will have proven they can slay the largest symbolic dragon in the world.  Their power and influence will grow at unimaginable levels, and this will be the ultimate loss and failure.

Shanghai is famous for its short springs and falls.  This year we are having a short Indian Summer after a week of cold, but there is one clear cut signal the season has changed.  The weekend of Halloween was mild but the following week it got cold, quick.  After a few days it started to slowly warm back up but then the tell tale sign the fall harvest is over hit the city the week after Halloween, and all week long.  Going outside this time of year is a practice in environmental tolerance.

I am talking about the annual burning of the summer’s crops.  Last year at this time my wife and I had won a trip to a hot spring and photo club outing a few hours bus ride outside of Shanghai.  On the way back into the city we ran into a thick gray haze and the acidic smell of burning fields.  It was so bad day was turned basically to twilight.  I am sure this practice would make the tree hugging uber-liberals in the US die instantaneously of head explosions, I would even bring some over with my airline miles if it would rid the world of their global warming insanity.  Seriously though the geographical location of Shanghai make it a perfect place for all this smoke to gather.  In the fall the prevailing winds die down and the flat land creates a ‘bowl effect’ similar to what is seen in LA, Mexico City, and Los Vegas.

Friday was really bad.  The skies were blackened early and smell and ash was thick in the air and so strong it burned my eyes as I waited for the evening train.  It reminded me of my stepfather taking me to bars in the early 80’s when parents could still get away with such brandish behavior.  Now air in Shanghai is never known for being anything resembling clean.  This time of year is gets bad, really bad.  For me it just means a sore throat and stinging eyes.  For my wife it gives her a dry hacking cough and triggers her asthma.  Thank goodness for our Panasonic air cleaner, which we just replaced all the filters on last month, at least our bedroom has cleaner air.  Now that it is raining we will have air more like what we usually have this time of year, Winter is the worst time for air here, I will have to compile and present the data on annual air quality here, I really have to.

I have been slowly weatherizing the apartment to save on energy and ensure we have a nice warm and non-drafty place for the new baby to stay.  Friday I was really glad I had gotten 80% of the windows done.  The smoke smell was inside the apartment but at about the level of incense, as opposed to outside where it smelled like the neighbors were burning trash on the patios.  Over the weekend the city looked as if it were shrouded in a fog, but this was smoke, not fog, humidity, or anything else.  I have not checked the AP10 readings lately but I will, heck I may even blog about it.  It did break finally on Sunday afternoon as the skies opened up and rain started to knock the smoke down.  The balcony and windows are now caked with soggy ask particles, giving me a good project for next weekend, window cleaning!

So what is it I am getting at anyway?  Am I complaining, ranting, hinting at something?  Nope.  I am just making an observation and letting those outside of Shanghai know that mid fall is not a good time of the year to visit if you have asthma or problems with bad air.  Sure, my throat is raw, my wife is coughing more, and my daughter is blinking a bit more.  I am really glad we got an electric clothes dryer so our clothes do not smell like smoke, like they did last year.  Sure I could rail against the farmers but that is not going to do much of anything.  The farmers burn the fields, then spread the ashes and this helps enrich the fields over the winter months.  This is far better and more environmental then using chemical fertilizers and soil boosters to get higher yields and produce.  Sure the farmers are releasing tons of carbon into the air but you know what, people need to eat, people need to get flowers, people need to have plant products for numerous things.  The city of Shanghai hold over 30 million people, stopping farmers from burning fields would wreck the agriculture economy, force food to come from other parts of China driving up costs, time to get produce to markets.

Back home in ‘Bama at this time of year the woods I grew up in and small towns I worked in and went to school in have the smells of burned hickory, oak, and other hard woods as wood burning stoves are fired up to knock the chill out of the air.  Here the smell of coal replaces the smell of wood.  Many of the street vendors who cook and the smaller row apartments are heated with good old fashioned coal.  Its part of the season, it passes just as the leaves fall off the trees.  All the talk of carbon release etc. pales in comparison to the impact if some government tried to stop it.  Some of my ancestors cousins burned the prairies and forests to chase game out and over cliffs.  This massive annual burning may have cause bad air, but it created such rich soil it created the great fields that were turned from prairie grass to support hundreds of million of buffalo to supporting millions of people all over the country and world!  It may be unpleasant but its part of what has made our world possible to this point.  Shanghai is unique as it is a modern metropolis of 30+ million people (including illegal migrants and construction workers) yet just a 30 minute ride outside of the city and you find conditions and lifestyles seldom changed for hundreds of years.  All of these things make the city possible, the surrounding farms, factories, power plants.  That is the price of progress. 

October ended in an odd parody of Halloween where the old ugly witch from San Francisco has brewed up a ghastly caldron of socialism and the American people are running down the middle of the road as a ghost car chased them poised to run them down with income tax rates over 50% for business and promises of healthcare anyone with a brain and not zapped with lightning by a mad scientist of the dying main stream media can say will be massively expensive, not cost neutral.  The month marked the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China on this side of the Pacific.  An event that was marked by parades, plays, and a celebration full of unity and patriotism that is lacking in my home country now.  Iran is continuing to thumb its nose at the world, while in a few countries away we have an emboldened terrorist army killing at levels not seen in 4 years while the world’s most technically advanced military is in neutral while its commander in chief is debating the most politically safe move on dealing with something he doesn’t want to deal with.  With this as a backdrop lets get on with it.

Domestic Items – Our first item comes to us from the pages of yesteryear, trains.  Here is China trains are a good alternative to air travel as they are more reliable, cheap, and the nation’s rail network is fairly robust with standard and high-speed options.  The Chinese government runs the trains here and they run them well.  China of course is a communist country that is still running a hybrid socialism/capitalism system under total government regulation and control rules the day.  Why am I bringing this up?  Obama and many Democrat governors are clamoring for the installation of high-speed rail as a green alternative and a jobs creator.  How does this all tie together?  Amrtak, the US government run passenger railroad in America, this month announced having its second highest ridership in history last year, good news right, wrong!  The actual numbers were 27.2 million passengers from Sept 08 to Sept 09 but this year saw a 1 million passenger drop in ridership over last year.  This is a 5.1% increase over 2 years ago.  Of course that sounds good but what about the cost, as its a government funded entity?  Over the same period Amtrak lost $32 per passenger over the year, that is a loss of $870.4 Million dollars!  This figure is an average estimated from the Pew Economic Policy Group who was independently funded to run the estimate after Amtrak released a $8 per passenger average loss ($217.6 Million dollar loss) to validate the results.  Why the difference?  Pew added in depreciation on hardware where Amtrak didn’t (things like new cars, wheels, breaks, engines, etc.).  Some lines are actually profitable, like the high-speed line Acela Express which made $41 profit per passenger but is only 1 of 3 lines Amtrak operates that at a profit.  Thank means that 41 of 44 lines operate at a loss! What other entity can operate at a 6.8% profit margin, or 93.1% loss margin?  Take for instance the the Sunset Limited line, running from New Orleans to Los Angeles, that losses $462 per passenger.  Why is this line, and others that are such a loss generator, not shut down?  Are Obama and Democrat governors that believe in rail adopting a “Field of Dreams” approach to rail service?  If they build it he (the rider) will come.  Well, from the numbers that approach still is not working.  Don’t get me wrong, I love rail travel.  Traveling by train is less stressful, offers great photo opportunities, sight seeing, and time to relax while traveling then by air.  Cost wise, well that is up to the market.  If trains can compete with airlines and cars then the market will support them, if not, then let the natural process take place.  We are spending nearly a Billion dollars to prop up a transportation option that is only making a profit 6.8% of the time and has only seen increased ridership with high gas prices, this will not do.  If we are serious about cost savings, cutting government fat out of the budget we should look here for starters as I can not think of a another program with such a high failure rate, 93.1%.  The market will dictate where rail is a good transportation alternative, where it isn’t we should not fund it with dollars that can go elsewhere that impacts the nation better.  If the nation needs a government subsidy train let it be a national line that links the East to West, North to South and has stops in each state or every other state for high speed.  Just 4 line and 8 trains, not 44 lines.  Of all the highlighted budgets and figures we have seen in the news lately and the focus on healthcare we should not take our eye off the ball as it is all related, it is all tax payer dollars, its all our money, so it needs to be spent to benefit us all, not the 6,000 people a month who like to go from New Orleans to Los Angeles.

Fall is Homecoming at high school across America.  This is a special time, a time to celebrate school spirit with a football game, a beauty/popularity contest, a dance, and a week to highlight pride in the school.  It also allows kids to get over the initial shock of getting back to the school routine.  For the most part these annual events go off without a hitch or with few if any major problems.  Unfortunately we have seen this time of celebration turned into a horror show by a group of sub-human slime and the gutless and morally bankrupt youth in Richmond California, a crime ridden suburb of San Francisco.  A 15 year old girl went to the school dance, left and went with a guy to drink alcohol in a school campus courtyard.  After she had become drunk as many as 10 people raped, beat, and robbed the 15 year old girl.  Police are saying as many as 24 people watched, cheered, and took pictures/videos of the attacks.  This attack went on for 2 hours.  The girl’s father called numerous times to the girl’s cell phone which was never answered during the attack.  Only when a female student overheard a couple of males talking about the attack were the police notified.  We now have 5 people, 2 men and 3 boys, arrested for the attack, ranging in ages 15 to 21.  These are the facts reported numerous times over the month since the attack occurred.  This case is tragic and the circumstances remind me of the famous case of Kitty Genovese.  For those younger then 50 and not criminology or sociology majors Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in Queens New York and none of her neighbors did anything to assist or report the stabbing.  The news report came under criticism for being inaccurate however the situation remained the same.  In psychology the situation became known as bystander effect or Genovese syndrome.  The case has been cited by everything from sociology journals to Hollywood movies, Boondock Saints.  In the opening scenes of Boondock Saints a priest is giving an impassioned sermon where he states “I am reminded of this holy day of the sad story of Kitty Genovese.  This poor soul cried out time and time again for help but no person answered her calls.  Though many saw, not one so much as called.  Her assailant wiped the bloody knife off on her lifeless little body.  They watched as he simply walked away.  Nobody wanted to get involved.  Nobody wanted to take a stand...  We must fear evil men and deal with them accordingly but what we must truly guard against, what we must fear most, is the indifference of good men.”  This is a good point and correct analogy here.  This 15 year old girl was raped on school grounds for 2 hours, beaten, half naked, and large groups watching, cheering, and egging on the ones raping her and nobody did a thing until a person heard second hand of it.  If just one person had went up to the door to talk to the school’s vice principal, security guards, or off duty cops there the extent of the assault would have been less.  The telling part of this news story is the indifference of the ones in the crowds watching it.  Now we can’t arrest people for watching a crime, but we can for those of knowledge of a crime and failing to report it, for those who watch police shows will recognize the term of accessory after the fact.  The law states, an accessory is a person who assists in the commission of a crime, but who does not actually participate in the commission of the crime as a joint principal. The distinction between an accessory and a principal is a question of fact and degree: The principal is the one whose acts or omissions, accompanied by the relevant mens rea, are the most immediate cause of the actus reus (guilty act). If two or more people are directly responsible for the actus reus, they can be charged as joint principals. The test to distinguish a joint principal from an accessory is whether the defendant independently contributed to causing the actus reus rather than merely giving generalized and/or limited help and encouragement.  For those bystanders they have better be glad I am not the DA because anyone that was there would be charged.  Why?  The amount of disconnect shown in this community is a sign general lack for any morality, decency, and respect for human life and welfare.  I understand the majority of people in the community do not condone this act but letting the morale atmosphere of the community to where bystanders act as cheerleaders to gang rape and beating of a child on a school campus.  Once kids get this far gone it highlights the highest degree of morale depravity of a community that points to one direction and one direction only.  These kids have no real fear.  No fear of consequences, no fear of the police, no fear of the family of this girl, her friends, etc.  No fear of the law.  No fear of jail or criminal punishment.  No fear of God or judgment after death.  I have talked about how things in American have fallen apart morally since the 1950’s in education, family, patriotism, honesty, and work ethic.  The effect of 40 years of socialists reforms and ideology that have destroyed the image of the nuclear family, righteous education, religion in public, truth in sentencing judiciously, and shifting from a self reliance mentality to an entitlement and lack of personal responsibility towards anyone’s actions.  The signs keep on coming, will se continue to sit by ideally or finally act?

Financial Items – As America barrels towards socialism faster then Obama can print money we are seeing some of the global impact of decoupling the US economy form the rest of the world.  I am of course referring to the 14 month low against the Euro that the US dollar hit this month.  The Dollar Index, used by Intercontinental Exchange Inc who track the dollar against the 6 major trading partners of the US, on course for a 7% annual drop in value.  Obama and his financial team have lauded the decline of the dollar as making US manufactured goods cheaper and more competitive and attractive to exporters.  The problem with this approach is that Europeans are seeing this as currency manipulation (something the US always charges China does) and have closed ranks to retaliate if it continues.  The second problem is that a weaker US dollar makes investment in our bonds by sovereign wealth funds and countries less attractive and drives them toward IMF bonds or other countries/currencies.  With oil at over $70/barrel now we are seeing some wanting to price oil with the Euro or stronger and more stable currencies.  This spells trouble as it shows a lack of confidence in our currency policies and those driving the economy.  As some of this is academic the majority of the discussion has far reaching consequences for more then just America.  This begs the question , what is Obama’s main objective, his endgame, his grand plan?  He seems too tied to the dead and dying labor unions who refuse to let the fact go that mainstream manufacturing in America is dead.  Look at our nation’s largest manufacturing sector, automobiles, and you will see how dead it is.  America can’t compete with China, India, or Eastern Europe on the labor front when unions insist American workers get $30/hour base starting salaries.  Even if you crash the dollar on purpose you will not be able to compete unless the US economy crashes as well and we reset everything back to 0.  Unions have killed the middle class they said they were fighting for by increasing production costs making our goods too expensive domestically and far too expensive internationally, which led to China’s rise in manufacturing.  A strong dollar allowed Americans to become addicted to low cost clothes, electronics, and everything manufactured.  This was evident in the death of Wal-Mart’s Buy American program that showcased American made products over cheap foreign alternatives.  We as a nation voted with out wallets and by now we are hooked, no matter of socialism or inflation will reverse this.  Unless we can stabilize the dollar and attract investors like China we will be in massive trouble.  Obama is spending the most in human history and is setting up the largest debts in human history all on the assumption others will continue funding these debts as they did before.  He fails to realize that the IMF bonds have created a clear alternative and China signaled this with a small $50 billion dollar purchase last month while Brazil purchased $10 billion dollars this month.  That is $60 billion dollars worth of investments we as a nation have lost, and a stipend Obama can’t spend.  As Obama explodes spending exceeding all US governments before him combined and rivaling all spending for all countries in the world combined, our ability to sustain such spending without confidence in future investments is poising us for a total collapse, unless this is his goal.  While all this spending and talk of more spending down the road continue who is watching the printing press Obama cranked up to ludicrous speed?  All of this printing has consequences in inflation, stagnation of the economy, or worse stagflation, the two combined.  Flooding the world with more paper money without getting people or countries to purchase our bonds, falling bond ratings, or sparking a trade war with Europe over their take on things will only make things worse.  We are headed down this path now.  Europe could start placing tariffs on our goods, reversing all of Obama’s hard work, or China could just replace all its bonds with IMF ones upon maturity, taking Japan with them.  If we continue to stand by and focus only on spending and not the impact of this spending on our currency we could find an angry world poised to retaliate, and no amount of flowery speeches or oratory gestures of idealism will save us from that backlash.

Remember the 3 little monkey statues, you know the ones, the monkeys holding their hands over their eyes, ears, and mouth.  The 3 Stooges did something similar, it all signifies hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.  Well, cover the kid’s eyes and ears because it seems the Obama administration has started to speak evil.  What!  This new ear of politics, getting rid of Washington insiders, transparency, accountability, and honesty change we were promised has evaporated quicker then the weekly listing of atrocities against misguided freedom fighters held at Gitmo or the daily body counts of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan plastered on every media outlet in the nation this time last year.  It seems all those important and lauded jobs Obama himself personally created or saved were exaggerated 600%!  Balderdash you say, no seriously that was a bold faced lie by the administration.  Eager to get any good news or any kind of a political victory on any front the administration did the good old ‘fuzzy math’ on the jobs reports to state they created or saved 30,000 jobs with the porkulous spending package sold as some magic bean to right the evil capitalistic ways of Wall Streets greed and depravity.  Well, it didn’t, all it really did was inflate the already ballooning debt and create long range and long term government spending and expansion many will not see until 2012 or later.  It seems a minimum of 5,000 jobs were overstated in reports released this October.  The White House acknowledged the math errors and promised to correct them in future reports, just like he promised us ample time to review legislation, no hiring of insider lobbyists, an era of looking forward and new politics.  Examples of the overstated jobs include the AP reported: A company working with the Federal Communications Commission reported that stimulus money paid for 4,231 jobs, when about 1,000 were produced. A Georgia community college reported creating 280 jobs with recovery money, but none was created from stimulus spending. A Florida child care center said its stimulus money saved 129 jobs but used the money on raises for existing employees. A Wisconsin construction firm required to re-fill in its multimillion dollar construction project jobs reports falsely with directions from Midwest Regional director, 0 jobs created or saved but over 100 reported. A Texas contractor retained 22 employees for stimulus contracts but job count quadrupled to 88 by regional directors. Palm Beach water department hired 57 meter readers, customer service representatives and others to handle 2 water projects, but their job count was doubled to 114. A Colorado business' claim that its stimulus contract created more than 4,200 jobs actually hired 4,231 temporary workers for its stimulus project and most of them worked only 5 weeks or less and the rest no more than 5 months.  This equates to 1 in 6 reported jobs saved/created are bogus!  Robert Gibbs tried to explain the errors but made little sense.  The AP found errors of overstatement by 10 times in more then one occurrence.  As the White House tries to dismiss the errors the unemployment and lack of family sustaining jobs in America continue to reveal a reality opposite to the ‘hope and change’ promised and that of an out of control over spending, socialists, and lack of leadership government seen in D.C.  The shifting tides of world power and ebbing on America, as I have blogged before.  Europe is trying to muscle their way into being the next financial and economic center of the world.  The company I work for fled its listing in the Caribbean and went to the UK for tax purposes.  Europe is throwing open the doors to take corporate headquarters fleeing Obama’s anti-business, anti-capitalism, anti-free market, socialist and high tax policies and promises.  Obama’s health care is placing a burden of 43% federal taxes on small and medium businesses to pay for his public option healthcare and its associated government expansion and regulations, with state taxes that could exceed 50% total tax, like in Wisconsin the tax burden will be 53%!  What business is going to stay in such an environment?  Take this and add in the facts that the Obama led and inspired bureaucrats have lied and overstated the figures of his much lauded jobs package and you get lying, misleading, and ignoring of what happened for months by the very ones who state their reason for being is to inform us.  Stimulus jobs were so overstated that some companies were required to fill in the surveys again and again until they had numbers needed to support the government’s assumptions.  Take this into account that many of the jobs were budget negative, government jobs, and you get a classic political answer to a simple question.  Expanding the government is not creating a job, its creating a tax burden, increased debt, more dependency on red tape impeding efficiency and roadblock in government.

International Items – One of my earlier TV and cultural memories was my nation’s bicentennial celebration.  1976 was a magic year full of pomp and celebration especially on July 4th, our nation’s birthday.  All of the parades, concerts, and events on TV and in local communities were not what I had seen of the PRC’s 60th anniversary celebration.  As I was watching the events unfold on TV, this year we stayed at home instead of travel due to pregnancy and the family all being here, an odd question struck me.  In the west when we have public parades the patriotic themes are focused on historical events and themes.  In communists countries the national parades are 100% military.  Its a public display of power and review of the military, hardware, and divisions I have never seen in a democratic country.  This got me asking myself why.  Why do countries controlled by the government always parade their military might in public?  For the average peasant or commoner in these countries, or any country for that matter, can’t tell the difference between a tank, an armored personal carrier, an amphibious assault vehicle, or armored artillery vehicle.  They can’t tell the difference between marching infantry, cyber warfare troops, special forces, or marines.  In most countries they all wear the same uniform or the differences are so slight few can tell.  To the vast majority everything looks the same, people, equipment, uniforms.  In America we have military parades, but they are few and no where near the scope of the ones here, Russia, North Korea, Iran, etc.  Here the military is seen as a protector and the people like to see them in their full dress and see all the hardware they have, it makes them feel more safe.  In America we hold a qusi-respect for the military that is akin to how families treat an adopted step child.  If we have a huge military parade for all 4 branches, maybe the Coast Guard, and associated hardware it would draw ire and protests from thousands, here they draw awe and admiration.  Of course it is a police state here and a supposed democracy there.  As much money as we spend on our military we should see more of them and take pride in them, not pay them token support and hamper their missions with endless debate on the most humane ways to win the hearts and minds of those in the line of fire.  In China a resurgence of patriotism swept the nation since the Sichuan earthquake in May 2008, followed by the Olympics and now this 60 year celebration.  China as unified on its theme of achievements, determination, and unity.  In America we have become so fractured is seems there is little if anything left to hold unity with.  Conservatives and liberals have such opposing views and beliefs now there is no common thread.  The ideal of American and the American dream are not even the same among people who are ideologically minded anymore.  Religions are fractured within themselves, and stuck in the middle are those who have thought they know what it all meant but now feel lost.  We have become a nation divided amongst ourselves.  The great Republican president Lincoln once stated a house divided against itself can not stand, well that is where we are now.  The views of government here in China by the Chinese is something we can not import, nor can we import their brand of patriotism or self acceptance.  This was a hard thing to ponder as I watched China display its military might, its ethnic unity, its unique cultural talents all to celebrate its 60th anniversary of its current governments founding.  Sure, there is dissent here, there are opposing views and sometimes the police state reacts with an iron fist and heavy handedly, yet the trust and belief in the government is way ahead of ours and their hopes for the future are grounded and tangible.  For all of China’s problems and struggles ahead all the people are still fiercely Chinese and proud of that fact.  Nothing in their past detracts for all they have achieved recently.  How did a country that could rally around similar themes become so fractured and so hostile towards itself if is no longer able to agree on anything, from what a family, marriage, holiday, or what is acceptable for kids to take to school or learn is, heck we can’t even agree on what a holiday is or isn’t anymore.  The Chinese accept their government for what it is, and they accept their culture for what it is, they are not hung up on separating themselves into special little pockets of counter culture that expresses their innermost fantasies and warped views of reality.  We seriously need to look at how our greatest strength got turned into our biggest weakness, our melting pot ideal.

How is that Iran policy going?  Velvet glove approach seems to be working.  Unclenching the fist and offering an open hand really turned Iran around.  For those not aware of how international politics plays out its kind of like racing.  When a new driver comes onto the circuit everyone wants to test him out to see how he can handle himself and how he races.  Iran tested Obama in June with the elections and its fallout.  Obama weighed and measured the acts, reactions, and options before he spoke out against it, in a benign manner.  This emboldened Tehran and signaled that it was in the driver’s seat, so to speak.  Over the months there was political posturing, gestures, and signals that things were progressing.  Sanctions were blocked as they were before and Obama and his team began to feel comfortable with some work results between Russia and China, then Iran threw a fast breaking curveball.  The announcement of secret uranium processing plants was not Earth shattering, Israel know of them and speculation is we did too.  The announcement however was significant as it showed Tehran was feeling confident they could push people around, and they did.  Obama and his team saw support for sanctions after the announcement fade.  Iran allowed in IAEA inspectors in and promised full access to all sites, sound familiar (thing Saddam Hessian).  Obama had his camp felt pretty good about themselves as they came up with the perfect solution, having Russia, a stout alley of Iran, receive 90% of its uranium and process is and ship it back to their testing reactors.  Well, Tehran smiled and said, no.  Their nuclear products were theirs, a strategic national asset and would not be released to anyone or under any terms other then their own.  Check Mr. President, your move.  Iran has just run Obama in to the high way in turn two and is watching him spin out in the rear view mirror.  We have seen this movie before, in Iraq and in North Korea.  The outcome is different in each one as each was unique, you can’t really compare them, however if you don’t think North Korean and Iran are playing off each other’s successes and seeing how the US reacts to the other you would be dead wrong.  Iran is in a high stakes game.  The last time this got started down this road Israel blew up their reactor, to no real consequences.  Now they are doing it again and on a much grander scale.  We have allowed ourselves to be placed in this situation by Bush’s inability to contain Iran after it was pretty much left out in the cold under Clinton.  Bush tried but didn’t get the support from Russia or try to get enough from China to put enough pressure on the Iranians, else these facilities would not have been built in the first place.  Ok, I have started to play Obama’s favorite game, when anything goes wrong or gets tough just blame Bush, its all his fault anyway.  Aside from the childish and petty behaviors of a toddler the facts remain Iran is serious and the longer we sit on the sidelines and mull things over the closer they get to figuring out how to make a bomb and refine the materials they have on hand to mass produce it.  This is a hard case, Obama has all the ‘best’ people and resources around him to assist, but he HAS to do something, anything to signal to Iran that he was serious when he pledged a nuclear free world in Europe this spring.  The clock is ticking and the longer we wait the more we look like passengers on this ride.

Science Items – NASA finally got their Aries I rocket off the launch pad.  The rocket was being tested as a delivery vehicle for the space agency’s next generation delivery vehicles and to get Americans back to the moon, possible to build a base for deeper solar system explorations.  The recent news of water found on the moon make this sound all that much more promising, well until the White House shot it all down.  The rocket test was quite dramatic.  Weather delays, wayward ships, and technical issues all cam into play.  The rocket itself, the tallest rocket ever, finally lifted off and make a successful test flight.  There was an issue with the parachutes not slowing down the booster stage before impact into the ocean so we don’t know the extent of the damage there yet but all else was good.  The issues are not longer feasibility, but the will to continue with this program.  The Aries I is cheaper then Saturn V in comparison, mainly because it is using existing technology from the space shuttle boosters where Saturn V was built from scratch.  The next rocket proves NASA is able to still built viable rockets and get the stages to work teh way they want them to.  Now the program is under the knife.  Why?  Well there is not real socialists need for space travel.  Rockets are environmentally bad.  Or NASA is too inefficient of a government agency to warrant much more then launching robots after the shuttle fleet is retired in the next few years.  Getting back to the moon is a lofty goal, but one that makes little financial sense.  Space exploration is more a statement about national pride and unity toward a more loft goal.  American has lost that and now it is China and Russia’s game, with India, Japan, and South Korea close behind.  Obama has essentially given the kiss of death to the future of NASA as they are too expensive, too innovative, too pollution productive, and will consume the entire nations annual allotment of carbon credits in just one launch, this will not due.  There is no really new science to be gained by our return to the moon.  The event may just even detract from the attention spend on our first half breed, non slave ancestor African-American president and that just won’t do.

Few conservatives have seized on the fiasco know as H1N1 flu shots this season.  We were told, promised, and reassured by every level of the Executive branch that we would have enough doses by mid September to give to all those in need, this was stated publicly numerous times as high up as the President in March at the end of last flu season.  Well guess what, it didn’t happen.  We have shortages, regulation problems, distribution uncertainties, supply mismanagement, and even deaths resulting from the fiasco yet this is not being reported on.  This is actually the equivalent of Hurricane Katrina in scope of Federal mismanagement, understaffing, underfunding, and underestimating the scope and complexity of the problems needing to be overcome to achieve success.  There are seniors, kids, and sick people forced to stand in the cold and rain for more then 10 hours waiting on a shot that does not exist!  Seniors being turned away by nurses who state they look healthy and don’t have enough shots for white people.  All the while pregnant women are not positive if they can get the shot or should.  Hospitals and clinics are getting daily calls but have no clue when or how much they will receive.  Take a good hard look at this folks, this is Obamacare in its full glory.  All his czars and policy chiefs have their names and works all over this.  This is what Pelosi and Reid’s big-box, one size fits all, public option socialists healthcare system will be like.  Rationing, red tape, inefficiencies, and people dying because nobody can get the system to work.  All of this and at a cost so large the weight of the world will seem like a small feather pillow in comparison. Of course this is Bush’s fault, Obama has already said this, its his and the left’s only way of dealing with adversity and hardship.  I wonder how much longer the press will be buying that shtick?  The current crisis of vaccinations and their lack of control of any portion of the process is what we all have to look forward to in Obamacare.  Every level of the administration promised we would have enough vaccine by September as early as last March, well here we are in November and what do we have?   Nobody knows what is going on.  Clinics and hospitals are getting calls for information yet they have not been told anything.  I worked in big government before, in the military.  Ask anyone who has worked for the federal government how efficient and responsive it is.  There are rules, regulations, forms, and procedures you HAVE to follow and can not be deviated from.  In Wisconsin a clinic had federal workers make people file into a room until exactly 80 people were there, then they were given forms and 10 pens to fill them out with.  Nobody could leave until everyone was finished.  Then they went to the next room as a group to have the paperwork reviewed, again waiting until everyone was cleared.  Then it was a shot.  See this is the efficiency, creativity, and innovation your choices for socialism have created.  This is just for a simple shot!  We are seeing these scenes play out all over the nation.  One size does not fit all, flexibility and circumstances matter, and healthcare is something you can not box up and replicate across the nation in a big box fashion.  Meanwhile the media is all focused on the flu itself and not the countries first glimpse at the efficiency and workability of Obamacare.  Sure they are now calling it Pelosicare but who cares, its ALL SOCIALISM!  Madam Speaker has finally confessed her bill is $1.2 trillion and is 1,990+ pages and includes all the controversial items of H.R.3200, like death panels, federally funded abortion, universal coverage, mandates, tax increases, penalties including jail time, etc AND created 111 NEW federal agencies!  All this and she made it public Friday night so the 72 hour rule for review expired at the beginning of the week, allowing them to take a vote pronto.  Welcome to communism folks and thanks to you for not getting out and demanding your elected representatives listened to you the voters and not the Party and special interests who funded their campaigns.  This measure will pass thanks to spineless blue-dog Democrats and yellow-bellied RINOs like Olympia Snow.  When the real program starts to hit full force the waiting in line for a flu shot will be a God sent, try filling out 20 forms and seeing 50 people just to have your kids appendix taken out because it hasn’t burst yet.

Sports Items – Andre Agassi admitted to taking crystal meth and then lying about it to ATP officials in his new book.  Why is this getting so much sports coverage?  Its not like he admitted to taking PEDs or anything that would give him an edge on the court.  The press is all over the place on this, interviewing present and past players, talking to ATP officials, asking questions.  Ask yourself why.  Seriously, Agassi did something stupid in the 1990’s, got away with it and staged one of male tennis’s great comeback stories.  Is it any wonder he would do drugs?  Remember Agassi’s old image, the one he had when he had hair.  He was a rebel, an image maker, a rule breaker!  His motto was image is everything, well he fell into the trap of that and did some meth a few dozen time.  Its not like he played at Wimbledon or the US Open stoned.  His accomplishments on the court are exceptional, his play hard.  His honesty is now shot as is his creditability but who really idolized him off the court, well after the Brook Shields break up anyway?  He did some recreation drug use off the court.  The big deal is the organization he worked for had a strict drug policy in place and he violated it then lied to cover it up.  They bought it and let him pass.  The only reason this is being made into a big deal is he is still relatively remembered and the main stream media is losing so much subscribers, viewers, readers, etc. that they have to get some back anyway possible.  This is being made into a big deal as a way to make old main stream media seem relevant again.  Tell all books always spark a little controversy, remember Wilk Chamberlains conquest stories?  Agassi was living up to his bad boy image for the time he was in it.  The media is unable to reach people on real news items now as the trust in the media is almost as low as its trust in Congress, which is really really really low.  We have a World Series going on, basketball and hockey starting, football half way through (how about Farve and those Vikings win), yet it is a big story to cover the book of a retired tennis player on an incident we already knew about and some believed he lied anyway, all we got was confirmation.  If the ATP takes any actions then there will be news.  This story is of little interest other then why it was made into such a big deal, it's the human drama behind the sports. 

One of my favorite radio shows was going on and on about the Rush Limbaugh and NFL Saint Louis Rams things when he made a really good point.  If it had been Kane West (remember his embarrassing escapades at the MTV awards among others – racially motivated) who was trying to buy the Rams?  What about other hate filled liberals who called for Bush’s assassination or wished death upon GOP officials and spokesmen where to buy a major sports team?  As it turns out Kanye West owns the Fatburger fast food chain in the Chicago area, 2 stores open and 2 more slated for next year, where is the outrage and Congresswomen calling for a boycott and to yank his food service license?  How about Joy Behar, where was the outrage against her children’s book?  She has had open letters of reprimand from the Anti-Defamation League for her attacks against Rumsfeld, and the Catholic League of Civil Rights for her stating all priests are drunks?  Speaking of the View, What about Rosie O’Donnell, where was the outrage and public furor over her now defunct magazine or her also defunct TV show?  Why were her sponsors not boycotted like Glenn Beck’s were (bad choice as his TV show draws more viewers in its time slot then CNN, MSNBC, and HLN combined!) and his radio show continues to draw millions of listeners a week.  Do you see a pattern here?  Limbaugh was not allowed to continue being a financial backer for a group interested in buying the Rams because of a comment he never made and because he is a conservative.  So what does this have to do with sprots?  Well, you caught me.  Its more political then sprots related but it is telling none the less.  The NFL is a private organization, not publically traded.  They decide who can and can't own a team.  This decision however should be left up to them and them alone.  If people have a problem with what is going on then they take it up with the league.  The curious thing is who leaked this and why?  Limbaugh is a huge NFL fan.  He has tried to get on MNF before and wanted to join in this investment group for the same reason others do, to make money and own something you like.  The reactions were overboard especially when you take into consideration he NEVER said any of the things the people protesting his involvement in the investment group were saying!  It was pure B.S. and nobody covered that in the press or public, other then him.  Sure there is a price to be paid for free speech and Rush is a big boy who can take care of himself but when there is such a blatent railroad job with pure hypocracy going on I have to call it for what it is.  Sure he is controversial but nowhere near as offensive as Behar or O’Donnell, both called for the death of GOP people and continue to publicly assail anyone who thinks conservative to this day with vulgar and hate filled speech?  They really said those things, it is well documented, Rush's words were made up, he never said them and everybody knows that as much as he is hated and the media continues to hound him, if he had said anything racist 10 years ago it would have come out before now!  I wonder if conservatives can fall under the new Hate Crimes legislation Obama just signed?  It was up to Goodell to say yea or nea on the purchase, not the media or the Congress.  Why is it that this was made into a national outrage and Behar can continue to get away with her hate speech, oh yea... nobody is watching her stupid show or network!   

Political Items – With the world falling down around the White House, Afghanistan War review, Iran nuclear weapons program, jobs reports being false, Dem governors losing in the polls, etc., what is the White House doing?  Starting a war of words with Fox News.  In the military we call this a pissing contest.  It is a war or words and one which that nobody can win.  It all started with Obama’s polls getting hammered again and again and Fox News sniping on Robert Gibbs, Obama’s Press Secretary.  Gibbs essentially put Fox News in time out by not allowing them to cover the Press Pool interviews in their respected rotation.  This action resulted in a rare moment of press solidarity with Fox, they all protested and Gibbs had to yield.  During all this guess what happened, come on guess?  Fox News ratings, that were already killing the competition, rose another 9 points.  So where is all the ratings Fox News is netting off of this spat with the White House?  Ask CNN, dead last for cable news programs, followed closely by MSNBC.  Most of Fox News programs are viewed more then the competiting time slots of all other news channels COMBINED!  Even Fox News re-runs of shows are beating CNN’s first run of Anderson Cooper 360 and other first CNN and MSNBC first run shows, re-runs getting better ratings!  Silliness aside there is a real problem with the White House’s policy to ban a news agency because of its political opinion programs.  CNN and MSNBC also have politically biased opinion shows, yet they were never blocked, boycotted, degraded by name in public by every level of the Executive Branch.  In DC the favoritism is show in press leaks, exclusive interviews, advanced screening of memos, etc.  It is borderline unconstitutional to outright block a press outlet you see as critical or opposed to your ideology.  When you fear criticism, fear opposition, fear dialogue, fear debate on the issues, fear positions you are taking you are doing something wrong, immoral, unethical, and/or illegal, period.  If you are doing the right thing, and you know it, and others do not agree with you or your actions it is your responsibility to communicate your intent more clearly.  If you are instituting change that is needed and have to change the establishment you have to communicate the inefficiencies of the status quo and explain all the benefits and trials of the change and how this will better all concerned.  You can not do this by blocking a news outlet for the sole reasons you do not agree with their take on your actions and policies.  The funny thing about the truth and the right path is that it is obvious.  There are a whole bucket of examples of White House disapproval of the press for over a century, yet how many have boycotted a press outlet?  No open, democratic, and free government is so afraid of the press that they begin to control the press by dictating who can and what news is able to be covered and released for public review.  This is dangerous, reminiscent of Russia, China, Cuba, North Korea, pre-war Iraq, Iran, Myanmar, and others who have long and infamous cases of press manipulation and oppression of the news and views seen as critical or against the will of the government.  Control of the press is one of the first subtle steps toward totalitarian governance which is never good for the citizens of the country so unfortunate to have this happen.  Facts are facts, Obama blocked Fox News, the real issue here is why, to what end, if Fox now who in the future, what signals are they sending to editors of news outlets, what is the end game they are trying to achieve?  I have my opinions on this, but Robert Gibbs won’t return my emails or calls.

Finally, from the Washington Post: The White House has told Congress it will reject calls for many of President Obama's policy czars to testify before Congress - a decision senators said goes against the president's promises of transparency and openness and treads on Congress' constitutional mandate to investigate the administration's actions… White House counsel Greg Craig told her in a meeting Wednesday that they will not make available any of the czars who work in the White House and don't have to go through Senate confirmation... At issue are the 18 positions Mr. Obama has created since he took office. Of those, 10 are in the executive office and not subject to Freedom of Information Act requests or requests for testimony.  This is from the promise of the most open and transparent administration ever!  This all came up when Chairman for the Government Affairs Committee, Joe Lieberman, Ind., requested the White House produce all ‘czars’ involved in the climate control negotiations with GM and Chrysler as well as others for the bail-out/assistance given to them.  So what is going on here?  Well, if it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck it is most likely a duck.  Despite all the public discussions, debates on Obama’s experiment with socialism, Pelosi and Reid’s demands for public options, publicly funded abortions, etc. then why is he continuing to add fuel to the socialism talk fire?  The big difference here is his pledges, promises, and declarations on transparency, honesty, accountability, trust, and pride in our government.  We are seeing none of it in these actions.  Preventing people who are essentially making policy decisions, changes, etc. to be held accountable is a dangerous thing.  The Congress is held accountable to the voters and will hear from those who’s district they represent or they chair a committee that is making federal policy.  The President is held accountable by popular opinion polls and strength given to or taken from his party during off year elections.  What Obama and his Chief of Staff have done is circumvent all established channels and instituted a mechanism that is making high level decisions without any recourse for the people to voice their approval or dissatisfaction of.  We are seeing trust in government plummet to lower levels then when Bush was President.  Sure Obama himself is still popular, but his policies and direction is not.  We are seeing a shadow government rise up and control all levels of the country to such a degree that is frightening.  We have the government telling private business how much money it can pay its employees.  We have a government dictating how, where, and when vital medicine is made and distributed to counter a potential health crisis.  We are seeing the government cut the countries ability to produce goods by controlling the levels of carbon to combat an unproven theory.  All of this without the normal channels of debate and selection of the best points through legislative shaping of a bill, as it was done for 233 years prior.  It was not enough to have a majority party government hell bent to change the course of the nation from freedom to socialism and government control of everything.  If this is where the majority of Americans want to go they can step back and allow to happen.  But this government was too impatient so they created a shadow government that is doing more then just change.  You see this is what our forefathers were warning us about.  Our constitution was written for one purpose and one purpose only, to limit the government and ensure citizens have defined rights the government can not infringe upon.  The Constitution is not to give power to or road map for the government but a limitation on what the government can and can not do.  When the President publically states the Constitution has blind side and hole in it there is a problem.  His powers and abilities are limited for a good reason, just as Congress powers are clearly outlined and limited as well.  The real issue here is just how Constitutional all this is.  There is talk of the public option in the current health-care bill being unconstitutional, the Democrats reply was, who cares, we will MAKE it constitutional after it passes.  This is beyond arrogant, this is beyond dangerous, this is beyond treason.  We are seeing 2 branches of the government set the nation on a collision course with debt and spending exceeding GDP.  The end game is coming into focus, it is becoming clear the Democrats want to bankrupt the nation, bring it to its knees, weaken it to the point everyone is dependent upon it for life and then alter the government to become master of the people, not servant of the people it is today.  Fellow Americans, the republic is under grave danger, the country is being destroyed from within.  When a shadow government is put into place, one that is independent to do as it pleases without any checks or balances as outlined by the constitution, and it begins to operate contrary to the will of the people AND is it hidden/protected by one branch then we have the largest threat to the republic since secession and I not kidding or exaggerating one bit.  We are at the precipice, how we fall will be determined soon, time to shift our weight now else we will fall straight into Hell.

Another year has come and gone, another season changed, yet this marks a different flavor.  While not my first Halloween in China, and not my daughter’s first Halloween, it was her first in Shanghai and her first honest to goodness Trick-or-treating.  At the last minute I was able to find out about an expat community that was holding a house to house route.  These were actual houses too, not town houses or condos, which was nice to see, real lawns, driveways, and decorations in trees, shrubs, etc.

My daughter wanted to go as a witch, the costume company made a mistake and shipped a cape with a hood, that had horns… so it was a modified witch costume.  It was a long drive to get to the gated community, then an oddity to find a place to park the car but the results were more then worth any hassle.  My daughter still wasn’t sure on the saying of ‘trick or treat’ but she tried and with all the other kids doing it she had plenty of observation to get her going.  The community was great, participating houses were decorated and people on the porches, non participating houses had notes on the doors and were dark.  With a little pumpkin bucket, her best friend leading the way they went off and got their candy.  My daughter was curious about the decorations, jack-o-lanterns, people in costumes, etc. but took it all in stride.  Her friend, a Chinese boy, was ecstatic at going to a place where they handed out candy for free without a long line.  The two of them were calling it candy Christmas, 3 year old logic.

After making the rounds the parents of Sophia’s friend took us out to a restaurant where many of the trick-or-treaters were going for dinner, before the candy eating rush.  As a first year outing it was a success.  A clear moon filled night, mild temperatures where a light jacket was adequate, and while only about 15 houses were participating the candy yield was enough to last a few days.  Here in China there is no need to x-ray candy as only the expats participate, all are professionals and live in a very specific location.  The community was well lighted and the roads had large pots in them so cars could not go very far or very fast.  There were plenty of parents out and the teens were very considerate to the kids and enjoying getting candy instead of participating in tricking others. 

Seeing my daughter is not yet 3 there is time to teach her the meaning behind why kids say trick or treat, jack-o-lanterns, costumes, candy, etc.  For now it is all just fun and different, something kids her are love.  Getting to dress up for a night, do out to a new place, and have people give you candy is magical for a kid.  Its odd that the trust, good nature, and spirit of the holiday have transported to China better then it has fared in America, where Halloween is celebrated the most. 

As this was her first Halloween in Shanghai, her first trick-or-treating, and first year in dressing up I think my daughter has a wonderful time and will look back at is as fondly as my first few times at doing the same in Detroit.  Here it is 2 days later and the temperature has dropped about 15 degrees and fall feels more like winter.  We may not have had time to carve the pumpkin we got, or decorate the home more then just put a few stickers on the door but it is starting to feel more like the holiday season, which is what the best part of Halloween is, the signal of fall and getting ready for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Chinese New Year.