Do Tyrants Fear America Anymore? Worth reading...editorial from Britain

While many American's wonder what in the heck is going on in our government, and worry about gas prices, unemployment, etc(all worth worry), our allies (those we still have) are also worried...that the America no longer stands for anything..this made me really feel sad, I think the author is right about this.

 Remember when JFK said -

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

Do Tyrants Fear America Anymore?

The Telegraph, Niles Gardiner

"The fact that it took ten days and at least a thousand dead on the streets of Libya’s cities before President Obama finally mustered the courage to call for Muammar “mad dog” Gaddafi to step down is highly embarrassing for the world’s only superpower, and emblematic of a deer-in-the-headlights approach to world leadership. Washington seems incapable of decisive decision-making on foreign policy at the moment, a far cry from the days when it swept entire regimes from power, and defeated America’s enemies with deep-seated conviction and an unshakable drive for victory.

Just a few years ago the United States was genuinely feared on the world stage, and dictatorial regimes, strategic adversaries and state sponsors of terror trod carefully in the face of the world’s most powerful nation. Now Washington appears weak, rudderless and frequently confused in its approach. From Tehran to Tripoli, the Obama administration has been pathetically slow to lead, and afraid to condemn acts of state-sponsored repression and violence. When protesters took to the streets to demonstrate against the Islamist dictatorship in Iran in 2009, the brutal repression that greeted them was hardly a blip on Barack Obama’s teleprompter screen, barely meriting a response from a largely silent presidency.

In contrast to Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, President Obama fails to see the United States as an exceptional nation, with a unique role in leading the free world and standing up to tyranny. In his speeches abroad he has frequently found fault with his own country, rather than projecting confidence in American greatness. From Cairo to Strasbourg he has adopted an apologetic tone rather than demonstrating faith in America as a shining city upon a hill, a beacon of freedom and liberty. A leader who lacks pride in his own nation’s historic role as a great liberator simply cannot project strength abroad.

It has also become abundantly clear that the Obama team attaches little importance to human rights issues, and in contrast to the previous administration has not pursued a freedom agenda in the Middle East and elsewhere. It places far greater value upon engagement with hostile regimes, even if they are carrying out gross human rights abuses, in the mistaken belief that appeasement enhances security. This has been the case with Iran, Russia and North Korea for example. This administration has also been all too willing to sacrifice US leadership in deference to supranational institutions such as the United Nations, whose track record in standing up to dictatorships has been virtually non-existent.

The White House’s painful navel-gazing on Libya last week, with even the French adopting a far tougher stance, is cause for grave concern. The Obama administration’s timid approach to foreign policy is the last thing the world needs at a time of mounting turmoil in the Middle East, including the growing threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, and Islamist militancy on the rise from Egypt to Yemen. US leadership is now needed more than ever, but has embarrassingly gone AWOL on the world stage."

House defunds Net Neutrality

Gerald Celente makes an interesting observation which tends to tie many things together:

Celente believes the government will use this increased defense allowance to amass weapons and apparatuses that will control any dissent among the people. Citing a Feb. 15 article in the USA Today titled, Kill Switch Bill Alarms Privacy Experts, Jones says the government has already begun taking steps to control an uprising. They've openly stated that they want to be able to shut down the Internet and they're getting ready to launch a false flag using either a terrorist alert or the threat of war as an excuse to flip the kill switch.

Remove guns and weapons of all stripes from The People, disable communications, and you have much better control over citizens when you wish. And as we all know, those who lack the ability to defend themselves are called either 1) Dead or 2) Serfs.

Forewarned is forearmed.

FD Roosevelt was right...

Brace yourself.

 

 I support massive reform of the way the government manages union relations. There, I said it...

 

First, review how we got here. Even while championing union rights in the private sector, our 32nd president, Franklin Roosevelt, warned that unioninzed government workers was a bad idea...he supported unions,  in the private sector...

Roosevelt openly opposed bargaining rights for government unions.

 

Roosevelt's reign certainly was the bright dawn of modern unionism. The legal and administrative paths that led to 35% of the nation's workforce eventually unionizing by a mid-1950s peak were laid by Roosevelt.

 

"The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service," Roosevelt wrote in 1937 to the National Federation of Federal Employees. Yes, public workers may demand fair treatment, wrote Roosevelt.

 

But, he wrote, "I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place" in the public sector. "A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government."

 

Roosevelt wasn't alone. It was orthodoxy among Democrats through the '50s that unions didn't belong in government work. Things began changing when, in 1959, Wisconsin's then-Gov. Gaylord Nelson signed collective bargaining into law for state workers. Other states followed, and gradually, municipal workers and teachers were unionized, too.

 

Even as that happened, the future was visible. Frank Zeidler, Milwaukee's mayor in the 1950s and the last card-carrying Socialist to head a major U.S. city, supported labor. But in 1969, the progressive icon wrote that rise of unions in government work put a competing power in charge of public business next to elected officials. Government unions "can mean considerable loss of control over the budget, and hence over tax rates," he warned.

One organization involved in union reforms is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – an individual membership organization of state legislators. There, task forces comprised of partnerships between public and private members have actually come up with model legislation that promotes bargaining transparency and giving taxpayers a bigger say in contract negotiations.

 Their reasoning?

 “Public employee unions increase the cost of government,” said the spokesperson. “Taxpayers rely on the government to provide services, which allows public employee unions to demand benefits that exceed what would be provided in the private sector.”

Pretty much echoes what FDR said, huh?

The question now is what this will mean for labor unions, especially when as of 2009, 52 percent of their membership were government employees?

States could start to reform by passing restrictions on collective bargaining and the right to strike, or by either scaling back pensions and retirement benefits, making employees share in the cost, or raising the retirement age altogether.

Wisconsin only affirms what Roosevelt had warned us of… looks like they have come full circle. May they be haunted by the ghost of the 32nd president, and his little dog, too.

Move along

(note-I posted here last night and it disappeared, so i re-posted)

As many of you that read my posts know, I have been extremely unhappy about my work situation, due to the economy and the short sighted moves the company has made to deal with that.

I even had proposed a organizational plan that was partially adopted, except instead of making me the leader manager, I got to be the lead, and a recycled manager from another unit was assigned. He is a nice guy, but has freely admitted he was going to delegate all the responsibility for my unit to me. So as they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same..

So when my months of interviewing finally landed me an offer for no more money or benefits, but a shorter commute and dealing with a smaller unit in an organization that is financially stable, I took it. Yesterday I realized the management of my company didn’t think I would go…???

At my last meeting of the day, one of the directors says “we thought this was a tactic, but you are actually leaving, aren’t you?” Hello, give him a prize.

The hard part was not all this week working up to my last day, it was as I walked down the aisle and told each employee I had worked with goodbye, got a lot of hugs and shared some tears…more than one said something about the company is stupid, but we are beyond that now...I did all the things I said I would, and now some of the newer projects I leave in good hands, although they all say they aren’t sure they can do it. The one woman I worked with the most has serious issues with her abilities, which has constantly annoyed me. I have told her time and time again, she should seek a promotion, and I even recommended her for my job since I am leaving. Yesterday she said she didn’t think she could do it- I told her nobody in their right mind thinks they can handle it all when they start, but she has the skills and knowledge and I am confident she will handle it well. Problem is if she doesn’t push for the promotion, they will let her do the job at her current salary. If I had been her manager, I would have promoted her.

My new boss is someone I worked with before; who comes across very well but secretly is sort of a knucklehead. From what I know of him, he is unfamiliar with being in management. My new co-worker has emailed me that the boss is going to try to have me do his job. I will assist him in learning what he needs to know…arrogant of me, huh? Perhaps.

Meanwhile, unknown to them all is another entity has entered the picture. I think the economy in some sectors is better than others, and so in my job search, I branched out from the usual to include financial institutions as well, and now have been notified to attend a interview next month with a large, large corp at their hq. The interview is with the CFO, CIO and Information Security Officer- the three C’s as I call them.

Getting this job would mean a serious increase in pay, which would probably be consumed by improving my wardrobe, add paying for mid-town parking…if I get the job, great, if not, so be it.

At least I am no longer going to deal with the team of dumb and dumber at my last job…who unfortunately control everything

 

What a bunch of...

The media has been making my brain hurt with the multiple variations of how screwed the world is going to be depending on what happens if (regarding Egypt)

Its all our fault because of (pick one or more) we suck and are evil / we are stupid and greedy, using all that corn for fuel/global warming, caused by us

Gasoline $5 a gallon by next month, blah blah blah

Don't even get going on what a jerk ob ama is, now the Saudis are pissed off, because (1) the king and Mubarak are pals and (2) seeing how BO piped up to dump the pres of egypt when things looked bleak, how confident would YOU be with the US as an ally?

How is your week starting??

My week started out OK.

Taking in the weekend, I was notified by Yahoo Answers that I was suspended for posting malicious software, which is a joke. I posted a link to a tool used to REMOVE a specific bogus anti virus, and even my appeal was denied...although all they said was we reviewed your suspension and it stays, but you are welcome to start a new account...

Yesterday I was wandering around the local Target store, mostly shopping for stuff like dish soap, coffee, cat food, etc, then while wandering around to look at the movie section, I happened upon a netbook which I know was being sold about 40% off, and including a carrying cover...I bought it.

When it rains it pours...I got a new job after months of looking, and then got called for an interview for a position that would pay alot more at a different company...So today I went to the interview, which I thought went OK...and when leaving the restroom later, a lady from the panel heading that way told me I did very well...even if I don't get called back I felt good knowing I don't always come across as a bad as I think sometimes..

When I   got to work, my coworkers were in my office, apparently figuring out how they would rearrange after I leave in 2 weeks. Word is the company doesn't want ot replace me, simply shift my work to others. I guess that haven't figured out that's why the 14 of us that worked there 2 years ago in the project management office are down to 5 now- like i said in 2 weeks I am leaving, for another job elsewhere, while one of the other project managers is going to retire along with the project procurement scheduling manager in November.

Pretty sad...a once vibrant and prosperous organization overcome by bureaucratic baloney..

US Navy Computer controlled carrier based bomber

In 2005, there was a movie about artificial intelligence being embedded into an drone aircraft, to serve as an unmanned compliment to the manned aircraft in the US Navy. The sci fi film was Stealth. The premise explored the conflict between two schools of thought: The first argues that human pilots are superior to machines in that they possess both creativity and moral judgment, whereas a machine cannot fully appreciate the ugliness of war; additionally, if robots take humans' places on the front line and no one ever died in war, then war would no longer be terrible and could end up as a sort of sport. The other view was that unmanned machines could tackle missions and conditions considered too dangerous for human pilots, flight at the maximum performance of the aircraft not subject to the physical limitations of a human pilot.

That fictional story is set in 2016.

This news story was posted today, February 4, 2011.

A bat-winged robotic jet resembling a miniature B-2 stealth bomber flew for the first time at Edwards Air Force Base in a test flight that could mark a new age in naval aviation.

Century City-based Northrop Grumman Corp.’s experimental drone, dubbed X-47B, climbed to 5,000 feet in a 29-minute flight on Friday, the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

The X-47B is being developed to take off from an aircraft carrier, drop a bomb on an enemy target and then land back on a carrier, all without a pilot.

Currently, combat drones are controlled remotely by a human pilot. The X-47B could carry out a combat mission controlled entirely by a computer.

New Doll...(warning-Politically INCORRECT)

The latest toy has hit the shops--a talking Muslim doll.  Nobody knows what the heck it says,  because no one has the balls to pull the cord.

O' Canada, ..a 6 yr old is punished over a Ziploc bag???

The headline read "Six-year-old Quebec kindergartner is punished for bringing a sandwich to school in a plastic bag" After a double take, I read the story, and now firmly believe liberalism is a mental disorder... 

A couple in Laval, Que. has sparked a fierce debate over how far schools should go to teach children about environmental responsibility after their six-year-old son was shut out of a kindergarten draw to win a stuffed animal because he had an environmentally unfriendly sandwich bag in his lunchbox.

Marc-André Lanciault said he hadn’t heard of the school’s draw or any environmental policy until his wife, Isabel Théorêt, was making their son Félix a sandwich and he begged them not to put it in a plastic bag.

“He said, ‘No mommy, you can’t do that. Not a Ziploc,’ ” Mr. Lanciault said.

Through tears, the boy told his parents that the school had held a draw to win a stuffed teddy bear and only children who didn’t have any plastic sandwich bags could enter. The family normally uses Tupperware, but it was all in the dishwasher, and so they had packed their son’s ham sandwich in a plastic bag.

When Mr. Lanciault questioned his son’s teacher, she confirmed the school had staged the draw at a lunchtime daycare and that any student with a plastic sandwich bag was excluded. “You know Mr. Lanciault, it’s not very good for the environment,” the teacher told him. “We have to take care of the our planet and the bags do not decompose well.”

Mr. Lanciault said he objects to the fact that a school would penalize a kindergartner for his parents’ choice to use non-recyclable lunch containers and that his son hadn’t learned any valuable environmental lessons, except to fear plastic bags.

“If we want to teach people about the environment, I can understand that,” he said. “But surely there’s a better way than to penalize kids. The goal wasn’t achieved anyway. At the end of the day my son doesn’t know why he shouldn’t use a Ziploc bag. It’s not only the bag, it’s the whole idea that we’re being brainwashed from everywhere. They told us Ziploc bags are bad, so we’ve stopped thinking about it and just started applying the rule.”

The Laval school board didn’t respond to repeated interview requests from the National Post.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Sandwich+gets+excluded+from+class+contest/4199546/story.html#ixzz1CrLGdcsL

 

Al Gore, Global Warming Expert, Inventor of the Internet, savior of the universe....

 

Former Vice President Al Gore in his home office in Nashville, TN. (Time magazine)

Looking at the picture, I thought of something.

OK, so I want to know, if my home office is a bigger pile of papers, books, journals and all around crap, and I have more computers to look at, then am I smarter than the smartest man ever, former Vice president Al Gore...?

I think so...because Al says global warming accounts for the massive amount of snowfall this year...his theory is called the Global Pressure creates Arctic Corridor Effect

As the ocean gets warmer from the radiative force of the Sun's rays, it is in marked contrast with the polar air above it. The heat from the warmed ocean flows upward into the polar air, creating a high pressure system.

This high pressure forces the polar air to move, and soon we have a clockwise swirl that pushes frigid air downwards into Europe and across the globe.

I don't follow this theory at all....every year there are cyclical movements of "frigid air" that flow over North America and Europe.  This enhanced cold air by warming seas seems to me to be a lot of hot air...sorry, couldn't help myself.