Today, I read incredulously the editorial comments of the Financial Times, "Time to muzzle Libya's mad dog: United Nations should impose a no-fly zone without delay," (February 25). FT wrote, "The UN should be ready to protect the oil installations if Col. Gaddafi starts to destroy them."
In what reality does the Editorial Board of the Financial Times live (in)? When has the UN conducted a successful campaign? Just ask the folks in Rwanda, Srebrenica (Bosnia), and Congo, what UN interventions did for them. Or, Kosovo Serbs being murdered and their organs removed by Bill and Hillary Clinton's "Albanian freedom fighters," under UN protection. And these are only a few examples.
While Col. Gaddafi is slaughtering his countrymen in the streets of Libya, the UN is passing yet another condemnation of Israel. As others have pointed out, 'this sanctimonious babbling mess (UN) is incapable of meaningful intervention.'
In closing, if the Financial Times was a physician, it would be sued for malpractice and have its license revoked. This is journalistic malpractice!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Public Servants Are Now Our Masters: The New Slavery
In Hal Weitzman's article, "Battle of Madison tests US stomach for longer struggle" (FT, February 23), it is important to understand that the Governor of Wisconsin's effort is to curtail the power of Public Employee Unions, and not Unions (private) in general.
Mort Zuckerman's highly instructive article in the FT, "America's public servants are now its masters" (September 10, 2010), points out that "public sector employees have become a privileged class." For example: private sector workers are nearly three (3) times more likely to be jobless than public sector workers; public sector employees are better off in every area: pay, benefits, time off and security, on top of working fewer hours; ninety per cent of government employees receive lifetime pension benefits versus 18 per cent of private employees; public sector employees are almost impossible to fire; public-sector unions are a mechanism for involuntary transfers of money from taxpayers to the Democratic Party; approximately 62 per cent of Obama and the Democratic Congress's Stimulus Program of $787 billion went to support public service employees; and, for the past two years and the first time in recent memory, Obama and his Democratic cohorts could not find “one cent” for an Annual Cost of Living increase for America’s Retired Military and Senior Citizens, but public sector employees experienced no such hardship.
It was Obama who crowed after the 2008 election, that "elections have consequences." Precisely, and the election of 2010 is no different. To my Wisconsin Democratic representatives -- go to work! The citizens of any State elect their representatives to work and represent their views -- not hide like cowards. If you disagree with a bill then you may vote against it -- but, show up, speak out, and be counted.
Mort Zuckerman's highly instructive article in the FT, "America's public servants are now its masters" (September 10, 2010), points out that "public sector employees have become a privileged class." For example: private sector workers are nearly three (3) times more likely to be jobless than public sector workers; public sector employees are better off in every area: pay, benefits, time off and security, on top of working fewer hours; ninety per cent of government employees receive lifetime pension benefits versus 18 per cent of private employees; public sector employees are almost impossible to fire; public-sector unions are a mechanism for involuntary transfers of money from taxpayers to the Democratic Party; approximately 62 per cent of Obama and the Democratic Congress's Stimulus Program of $787 billion went to support public service employees; and, for the past two years and the first time in recent memory, Obama and his Democratic cohorts could not find “one cent” for an Annual Cost of Living increase for America’s Retired Military and Senior Citizens, but public sector employees experienced no such hardship.
It was Obama who crowed after the 2008 election, that "elections have consequences." Precisely, and the election of 2010 is no different. To my Wisconsin Democratic representatives -- go to work! The citizens of any State elect their representatives to work and represent their views -- not hide like cowards. If you disagree with a bill then you may vote against it -- but, show up, speak out, and be counted.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
A New Year Aspiration 2011*
For all that is so fair and good,
For all our daughters and sons,
We give our thanks and cheer today at nights' last
hour come.
For tomorrow is another day and all will still be well,
We pray God's continued blessing,
for all that this New Year tell.
* Original poem by Lawrence S. Schneiderman
For all our daughters and sons,
We give our thanks and cheer today at nights' last
hour come.
For tomorrow is another day and all will still be well,
We pray God's continued blessing,
for all that this New Year tell.
* Original poem by Lawrence S. Schneiderman
Thursday, August 26, 2010
"In spite of all temptations"
What alien has traded places with Gideon Rachman, the Chief Foreign Correspondent for The Financial Times? In his latest composition, "End the hypocrisy and talk Turkey" (24 August), Mr. Rachman raised the question of what exactly is the European Union (EU) strategic goals vis-à-vis Turkey. Make no mistake, the debate is important, and it provides the West (not just the EU) with a sense of the future.
Mr. Rachman believes, "It would indeed be a wonderful thing if Turkey were to join the EU." Mr. Rachman writes, Turkey is a "secular democracy." Under the Constitution promulgated by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey is a secular democracy. However, under Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Prime Minister of Turkey), sadly it is no longer true. Mr. Erdogan has purged all opposition in Turkey, including the military that has been the protector of Kemal Ataturk’s Constitution. So today Turkey is an Islamic state in all but name. In the end, Turkey in the EU would be the beginning of the end of western civilization in Europe.
Mr. Rachman makes less and less sense since he began carrying water for the Miliband brothers (England’s Labor Party). To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, 'it’s not that the Milibrand brothers don’t know anything, it’s just that everything they know is wrong.’ Unfortunately, as result of this liaison, Mr. Rachman has compromised his craft.
In conclusion, Mr. Rachman should heed the words of another Englishman -- "But in spite of all temptations, to belong to other nations, He remains an Englishman."
Mr. Rachman believes, "It would indeed be a wonderful thing if Turkey were to join the EU." Mr. Rachman writes, Turkey is a "secular democracy." Under the Constitution promulgated by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey is a secular democracy. However, under Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Prime Minister of Turkey), sadly it is no longer true. Mr. Erdogan has purged all opposition in Turkey, including the military that has been the protector of Kemal Ataturk’s Constitution. So today Turkey is an Islamic state in all but name. In the end, Turkey in the EU would be the beginning of the end of western civilization in Europe.
Mr. Rachman makes less and less sense since he began carrying water for the Miliband brothers (England’s Labor Party). To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, 'it’s not that the Milibrand brothers don’t know anything, it’s just that everything they know is wrong.’ Unfortunately, as result of this liaison, Mr. Rachman has compromised his craft.
In conclusion, Mr. Rachman should heed the words of another Englishman -- "But in spite of all temptations, to belong to other nations, He remains an Englishman."
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
AN OPEN LETTER TO AN UNITED STATES SENATOR
16 June 2010
Dear Senator;
Last night President Barack Obama gave a national Oval Office address to the American people. It dealt mostly with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an economic and environmental catastrophe for the people and wildlife of the Gulf Coast.
Yet, more alarming than the fact that President Obama had no answers on how to “pug the leak,” or why his administration has acted so slowly to bring all available resources to the problem – is the shameless use of this catastrophe to further his political agenda, i.e. cap and trade legislation. It should be an embarrassment to the President of the United States and his supporters that he would proffer Rahm Emanuel’s sordid bromide, “you never let a serious crisis go to waste,” as a panacea to this historic American disaster.
With, Cap and Trade as with the rest of the Obama legislative agenda: only special interest groups will profit; it will further economically ruin the American economy; and fail to address the problem. What it does do, is to perpetuate the twin hoax of global warming and that green energy can meet all our energy needs.
After a year and a half of the Obama Administration and a Congress controlled by Democrats in both the House and Senate, let’s add up the score:
1. TARP – a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout the Bankers and Hedge Funds.
2. US Auto Makers -- a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout the Auto Worker’s Union.
3. Stimulus Bill -- a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout the Public Sector Employee’s Unions, i.e. State and County Workers, Teacher Unions.
4. AIG Bailout – a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout again Bankers and Hedge Funds both foreign, i.e. German, Swiss, French, English, etc., and domestic.
5. Health Care Reform – destroy the best healthcare system in the world, bankrupt the US Economy, and do nothing to correct the real problem in healthcare, which is Tort Reform, and hence pay off America’s Trial Lawyers at the expense of the American people.
6. Financial Reform – a 3,000-page reform legislation (House and Senate bills) that nobody has read, that addresses the wrong problems, and that no one understands. Buried in those 3,000 pages are numerous clauses and sub-clauses, codicils, caveats, and amendments, to say nothing of the rule-making process, that will surely complicate reform and create another giant Federal bureaucracy. Where have I seen that before? Oh yes, health care reform. As in heath care, the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress wouldn't do what's needed because of their friends, in this case, the "banksters," and "hedgies," and "AIGs." We need Glass-Steagall. A 34 page document that served America for 60 years. We need Banks that are Banks, and not casinos.
7. Military Retirement Pay – finally, after the trillions of dollars the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress authorized to the Bankers, Hedge Funds, AIG, Auto Unions, Public Sector Unions, Teachers Union, Trail Lawyers (indirectly), and ACORN, all at the American tax payers expense – for the first time in recent memory Obama and his Democratic cohorts’ could not find “one cent” for an Annual Cost of Living increase for America’s retired military.
Yes, George W. Bush, did support and sign into law TARP and the Auto Union bailout, but I never liked him much either.
So what’s the score? I have it:
Special Interests Everything;
The American People Nothing.
In sum, we need to learn from others when they speak good sense. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the phrase “ all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” is astonishingly germane to the Obama agenda this past year and a half. It is only the Special Interests* who thrive in the Obama Administration, to detriment of the greatness and welfare of the American people.
In the last analysis, you don’t represent me Senator.
* Economist James M. Buchanan and other "public choice" theorists explain, a special interest is any community that attempts to gain a particular advantage from government.
Dear Senator;
Last night President Barack Obama gave a national Oval Office address to the American people. It dealt mostly with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an economic and environmental catastrophe for the people and wildlife of the Gulf Coast.
Yet, more alarming than the fact that President Obama had no answers on how to “pug the leak,” or why his administration has acted so slowly to bring all available resources to the problem – is the shameless use of this catastrophe to further his political agenda, i.e. cap and trade legislation. It should be an embarrassment to the President of the United States and his supporters that he would proffer Rahm Emanuel’s sordid bromide, “you never let a serious crisis go to waste,” as a panacea to this historic American disaster.
With, Cap and Trade as with the rest of the Obama legislative agenda: only special interest groups will profit; it will further economically ruin the American economy; and fail to address the problem. What it does do, is to perpetuate the twin hoax of global warming and that green energy can meet all our energy needs.
After a year and a half of the Obama Administration and a Congress controlled by Democrats in both the House and Senate, let’s add up the score:
1. TARP – a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout the Bankers and Hedge Funds.
2. US Auto Makers -- a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout the Auto Worker’s Union.
3. Stimulus Bill -- a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout the Public Sector Employee’s Unions, i.e. State and County Workers, Teacher Unions.
4. AIG Bailout – a transfer of taxpayer’s wealth to bailout again Bankers and Hedge Funds both foreign, i.e. German, Swiss, French, English, etc., and domestic.
5. Health Care Reform – destroy the best healthcare system in the world, bankrupt the US Economy, and do nothing to correct the real problem in healthcare, which is Tort Reform, and hence pay off America’s Trial Lawyers at the expense of the American people.
6. Financial Reform – a 3,000-page reform legislation (House and Senate bills) that nobody has read, that addresses the wrong problems, and that no one understands. Buried in those 3,000 pages are numerous clauses and sub-clauses, codicils, caveats, and amendments, to say nothing of the rule-making process, that will surely complicate reform and create another giant Federal bureaucracy. Where have I seen that before? Oh yes, health care reform. As in heath care, the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress wouldn't do what's needed because of their friends, in this case, the "banksters," and "hedgies," and "AIGs." We need Glass-Steagall. A 34 page document that served America for 60 years. We need Banks that are Banks, and not casinos.
7. Military Retirement Pay – finally, after the trillions of dollars the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress authorized to the Bankers, Hedge Funds, AIG, Auto Unions, Public Sector Unions, Teachers Union, Trail Lawyers (indirectly), and ACORN, all at the American tax payers expense – for the first time in recent memory Obama and his Democratic cohorts’ could not find “one cent” for an Annual Cost of Living increase for America’s retired military.
Yes, George W. Bush, did support and sign into law TARP and the Auto Union bailout, but I never liked him much either.
So what’s the score? I have it:
Special Interests Everything;
The American People Nothing.
In sum, we need to learn from others when they speak good sense. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the phrase “ all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” is astonishingly germane to the Obama agenda this past year and a half. It is only the Special Interests* who thrive in the Obama Administration, to detriment of the greatness and welfare of the American people.
In the last analysis, you don’t represent me Senator.
* Economist James M. Buchanan and other "public choice" theorists explain, a special interest is any community that attempts to gain a particular advantage from government.
Friday, June 11, 2010
BP, Obama, and the United States Coast Guard?
In the Ron Howard movie Apollo 13, the 1970 US Space Program mission to the moon had to be aborted because a fault in electrical equipment inside one of the Service Module’s oxygen tanks produced an explosion. The response by NASA was immediate and adroit. Its leader gave his agency one critical directive – ‘work the problem people.’
The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an economic and environmental catastrophe for the people and wildlife of the Gulf Coast. As a doctorate student in Public Policy with specialization in implementation, I was taught that bureaucracy was not a pejorative term. Yet, what we must understand, and this is the critical point, is that you should not ask or expect any bureaucracy to do something that is not part of its mission and institutional capacity.
The mission of the United States Coast Guard has five fundamental roles (Mission Statement US Coast Guard Website www.uscg.mil/top/missions):
It is clear that the Obama Administration made a critically mistake appointing the US Coast Guard as the lead US Government department/agency to deal with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. This is a catastrophic disaster that requires expertise and knowledge of oil drilling in deep waters, geology, deep-sea exploration, etc. The US Coast Guard does not have this expertise. You wouldn’t send the US Public Health Service on a combat mission to Afghanistan.
The Obama Administration was slow to act, did not correctly assess the full extend of damage this spill will cause, failed to expeditiously bring together the “best and brightest” to work the problem, and assigned the problem to the wrong department.
This analysis is not meant to degrade the capabilities of the US Coast Guard or the leadership of its Commandant, Admiral Bob Papp. Rather, in the last analysis, you can blame BP or some other private company for causing the spill; still it is the Obama Administration that has failed America.
The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an economic and environmental catastrophe for the people and wildlife of the Gulf Coast. As a doctorate student in Public Policy with specialization in implementation, I was taught that bureaucracy was not a pejorative term. Yet, what we must understand, and this is the critical point, is that you should not ask or expect any bureaucracy to do something that is not part of its mission and institutional capacity.
The mission of the United States Coast Guard has five fundamental roles (Mission Statement US Coast Guard Website www.uscg.mil/top/missions):
Maritime Safety: Eliminate deaths, injuries, and property damage associated with maritime transportation, fishing, and recreational boating. The Coast Guard's motto is Semper Paratus—(Always Ready), and the service is always ready to respond to calls for help at sea.
Maritime Security: Protect America's maritime borders from all intrusions by: (a) halting the flow of illegal drugs, aliens, and contraband into the United States through maritime routes; (b) preventing illegal fishing; and (c) suppressing violations of federal law in the maritime arena.
Maritime Mobility: Facilitate maritime commerce and eliminate interruptions and impediments to the efficient and economical movement of goods and people, while maximizing recreational access to and enjoyment of the water.
National Defense: Defend the nation as one of the five U.S. armed services. Enhance regional stability in support of the
National Security Strategy, utilizing the Coast Guard’s unique and relevant maritime capabilities.
Protection of Natural Resources: Eliminate environmental damage and the degradation of natural resources associated with maritime transportation, fishing, and recreational boating.
It is clear that the Obama Administration made a critically mistake appointing the US Coast Guard as the lead US Government department/agency to deal with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. This is a catastrophic disaster that requires expertise and knowledge of oil drilling in deep waters, geology, deep-sea exploration, etc. The US Coast Guard does not have this expertise. You wouldn’t send the US Public Health Service on a combat mission to Afghanistan.
The Obama Administration was slow to act, did not correctly assess the full extend of damage this spill will cause, failed to expeditiously bring together the “best and brightest” to work the problem, and assigned the problem to the wrong department.
This analysis is not meant to degrade the capabilities of the US Coast Guard or the leadership of its Commandant, Admiral Bob Papp. Rather, in the last analysis, you can blame BP or some other private company for causing the spill; still it is the Obama Administration that has failed America.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
US Bank Reform: Another Folly
Who would have thought that the insolvency in Greece would be the blueprint the Obama Administration and its Democratic cohorts in Congress would adopt to lead America out of the Great Recession? Now the Obama Administration and Congress take on financial reform. Another 1,300 page bill that nobody has read, that addresses the wrong problems, and that no one understands. Buried in those 1,300 pages are numerous clauses, sub-clauses, codicils, caveats, and amendments, to say nothing of the rule-making process, that will surely complicate reform and create another giant bureaucracy in order to implement. Where have I seen that before? Oh yes, health care reform. As in health care, the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress wouldn't do what's needed because of their friends (in this case) the "banksters," and "hedgies," and AIGs. We need Glass-Steagall. We need Banks that are Banks, and not casinos. Is that so hard?
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