Wasted Federal Money: We Are Long Overdue for Change

When examined in context, over the long term, it all begins to make sense (at least to anyone who’s studied the matter at all);

Nixon’s “War on Drugs” was purely a manipulative election ploy designed to obliquely instill fear in the American public, by creating in their imagination the false perception of a massive national crisis (substance use, primarily cannabis, and predominately, if not almost exclusively, among/by college/university students), and to portray them as depraved, and anti-American, because they opposed the Vietnam War, then…

Well, just read what John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s Domestic Affairs Policy Advisor, and convicted Watergate co-conspirator, said to Dan Baum when interviewed by him, for a book he was writing at the time:

“You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: The antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

On November 17, 1973, then-POTUS Richard Nixon spoke at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Bay Lake, FL, to the Associated Press Managing Editors annual conference. During the Question and Answer portion after his address, a New York Times reporter asked him about his role in the Watergate burglary scandal and efforts to cover up that members of his Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) had funded the break-in.
In response, he said in part, that, “I made my mistakes, but in all of my years of public life, I have never profited, never profited from public service — I earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I could say that in my years of public life, that I welcome this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook. I have earned everything I have got.”

When Nixon ignored the recommendation to decriminalize cannabis made by his hand-picked Commissioner Raymond P. Shafer in the report commonly known as the “Shafer Commission,” properly as the First Report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, March 1972, and then

Analysis: Alabama Unemployment Higher Than Stated

Alabama Governor Bentley claims he, and his policies – whatever they are (he has none… just look for your self) – have been responsible for declining Alabama Unemployment. Fact is, he’s blowing smoke.

Alabama Governor Bentley claims he, and his policies – whatever they are (he has none… just look for your self) – have been responsible for declining Alabama Unemployment. Fact is, he’s blowing smoke.

Alabama’s Republican Governor Robert Bentley, MD has crowed about “success” in lowering Alabama unemployment during the past 4 years of his term.

However, to be certain, a random statistical examination of the state’s Unemployment rate shows that it is very likely, AT LEAST two points higher than reported.  Here’s how.

Unemployment is calculated as a simple average. Take the number of people working, added into the number of people NOT working, AND who WANT to work, divided by the people who are available to work, gives the unemployment rate.

Here’s how the Bureau of  Labor Statistics defines the parameters of the equation:

What are the basic concepts of employment and unemployment?

The basic concepts involved in identifying the employed and unemployed are quite simple:
• People with jobs are employed.
• People who are jobless, looking for a job, and available for work are unemployed.
• The labor force is made up of the employed and the unemployed.
• People who are neither employed nor unemployed are not in the labor force.

Simply put, the formula is:

Unemployment Rate =	Unemployed
	Employed + Unemployed

 

However, if you’ve had a college course in Statistics – and most folks in Alabama have not (it’s part of maintaining the policy of “largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command”) – then you’d understand that a random sample of the set would show essentially the same results.

And face it… most folks in Alabama DO NOT HAVE A COLLEGE EDUCATION. In fact, according to the Alabama Department of Education, Alabama’s High School Drop Out rate is 28%. Page 2, Frame 2 of the linked document shows the 2010-2011 TOTAL Graduation Rate as 72%.

Face it… ALABAMA IS

Microsoft pulls Skype v5.0 from Apple App Store: Is Skype dead for Apple iOS?

Apple App Store iPhone screenshot of Skype, by Microsoft, shows unavailable software when attempting to update Skype.

Microsoft announced two weeks ago that their Skype software division had produced a new version for iOS devices.

According to MSFT, the highly anticipated version 5.0 was supposed to be “remastered for iPhone,” and described as “the most refined version yet,” and was promised to be “faster, smoother, more integrated, smarter.”

Suddenly, to the dismay of many iOS device users, the Skype software was no longer available, and had pulled from the Apple App Store.

The solitary cryptic response Microsoft/Skype offered was “We are in the process of

Oklahoma Botches Execution Attempt, Convict Dies of Heart Attack

There is probably little sympathy for a man who is a convicted murderer & rapist.

And without commentary on the merits of the Death Penalty, however, I hasten to add this: If the state is going to kill a man as punishment for his crime, they should ensure the means of death is swift and efficient. For if it is not, it opens the state to liability and potential prosecution for torture.

Ours is a civil society, and the civility of it’s citizens in matters of criminal penalty ensures that society does not fundamentally break down into chaos and disorder.

***

Oklahoma Postpones Execution After First Is Botched

By ERIK ECKHOLMAPRIL 29, 2014

Clayton D. Lockett, left, died of a heart attack Tuesday after his execution was halted in Oklahoma. A second execution, that of Charles F. Warner, right, was then stayed. Credit Oklahoma Department of Correction

Oklahoma Department of Corrections Death Penalty

 McALESTER, Okla. — What was supposed to be the first of two executions here Tuesday night was halted when the prisoner, Clayton D. Lockett, began to twitch and gasp after he had already been declared unconscious and called out “man” and “something’s wrong,” according to witnesses.

The administering doctor intervened and discovered that “the line had blown,” said the director of corrections, Robert Patton, meaning that drugs were no longer flowing into his vein.

At 7:06 p.m., Mr. Patton said, Mr. Lockett died of a heart attack.

Mr. Patton said he had requested a stay of 14 days in the second execution scheduled for Tuesday night, of Charles F. Warner.

It was a chaotic and disastrous step in Oklahoma’s long effort to execute the two men, overcoming their objections that the state would not disclose the source of the drugs being used in a newly tried combination.

It did not appear that any of the drugs themselves failed, but rather the method of administration, but it resulted in what witnesses called an agonizing scene.

“This was botched, and it was difficult to watch,” said David Autry, one of Mr. Lockett’s lawyers.

A doctor started to administer the first drug, a sedative intended to knock the man out, at 6:23. Ten minutes later, the doctor said that Mr. Lockett was unconscious, and started to administer the next two drugs, a paralytic and one intended to make the heart stop.

At that point, witnesses said, things began to go awry. Mr. Lockett’s body

Analysis – Examining the Record: Is Alabama Governor Bentley a “Jobs Creator” or a Drag on the State Economy?

When campaigning for the office of Alabama’s Governor, Robert Bentley – a retired dermatologist physician who at the time was an elected representative from Tuscaloosa County – promised if elected governor that, “I will forgo a salary as state representative for the rest of my term and will not accept a salary as Governor until Alabama reaches full employment.”
ref: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/06/robert_bentley_extends_no-sala.html

When pressed on the matter, he later defined “full employment” as having state unemployment somewhere around 5%. It is a promise to which, as of the date of this entry – 12 April 2014 – he has kept. In other words, Alabama has NOT reached “full employment,” and he has not been paid a salary. He has, however, been compensated for out-of-pocket expenses (the governor’s office has a budget, so why would he personally have any such expenses for work in an official capacity?), though he has received – as legislator, a legally-mandated $1.00 per month salary. Since his election to the governorship, he has not received a salary.

Let’s examine Governor Bentley‘s employment record.

During Governor Robert Bentley’s watch, International Paper – the large paper mill formerly known as Champion Paper, in Courtland, and the largest employer in Lawrence County – closed and cost the area economy & state 1100 jobs. Those jobs were

NASA Foul Up

{Ed. Note: This entry was previously password protected, and notated; enter the password: NASAFoulUp}

This brief entry could perhaps be alternately entitled, “How did we manage to foul (or your choice of expletives) up so badly?”

Why?

Do NOT “update” WordPress iPhone app

For the untold numbers of iPhone users whom even occasionally use the WordPress blogging app, I have ONE suggestion: STAY AWAY from the UPDATE to version 2.6!

Having been a faithful customer of Apple, and of the iPhone, I am experiencing increasing discontent with what I perceive to be very careless, lackadaisical, even malicious failures of developers to be attuned to the iOS and issues of compatibility, or even operation! It’s akin to going to a restaurant, ordering a two eggs omelette, and having the raw ingredients dumped in your lap by the cook. Meanwhile, the hotty-totty waitress smiles and coos, asking if you’d like a refill on your coffee.

“Sure, hon… can I have a hot fresh cup poured in my lap?”

The text of my report to the developer follows:

Gulf Of Mexico Oil Disaster Governors Refuse to Activate National Guard

GOMOD – Gulf Of Mexico Oil Disaster

UPDATE:

FAIL: RFCU President’s response

Is John Newberry, President/CEO of Redstone Federal Credit Union, out of touch with reality?

After a virtual media black-out which essentially denied that Redstone Federal Credit Union members accounts had been emptied because of computer hacks, this is how the RFCU President/CEO responds: 

Bob Riley loses Hyundai to Georgia

Governor Bob Riley (R), whom crowed about Hyundai Motor Manufacturing’s construction of a new plant in Montgomery, must be eating crow now.

Apparently, Hyundai will be moving OUT of Montgomery to West Point, GA.

Though federal law requires advance notification of layoffs, Hyundai officials

Institutional Failure: UAH, Discovery Middle School; Killers Amy Bishop, Andrew Pakhomov & 14 year-old

Exactly what are the rules of “the Blame Game?”

We certainly know how to play it. And it seems that the silly little games we adults often play at times like this – in the midst of tragedy – rather than accept responsibility, we adults behave as if we were once again, carefree 6th graders on a playground somewhere, dodging and deflecting a kickball thrown at us.

Games however, are as much for adults as they are for children, and perhaps more so, because in learning to abide by rules and cooperating, we come to understand strategies, tactics, and how best to utilize opportunities – things and events – that come our way. Essentially, it is “the hand that is dealt us.” Hopefully, we learn how to be gracious losers, and equally humble winners, understanding also that no one always wins, and that “our time is coming.”

Yet, it is game-playing at inappropriate times that characterizes and differentiates children from adults.

Woud you pass the Amy Bishop buck, please?

Remember the old teevee commercial for Polaner All Fruit?

Folks attired in formal wear – tuxedos and evening gowns – were seated around a dining room table enjoying their prim and proper meal, when the camera focused on one fellow whom said with a distinctly hick-sounding country-twang, “Would you pass the jelly, please?” Whereupon, the gentlemen appeared shocked while the ladies seemed to faint.

The announcer then said, “Don’t dare call it ‘jelly’!”

William Delahunt, the Congressional Representative for Massachusetts’ 10th District, was the Norfolk District Attorney when Amy Bishop

Politics, Politics, Politics…

North Alabama’s 5th Congressional Representative, Parker Griffith, MD, continues damaging his constituency.

News reports shortly after his decision to switch rather than fight, indicated that his staff resigned.

Parker Griff-switch – without consulting anyone – up and decided that he needed to be a Republican, instead of a Democrat, the party under which he was elected to office.

With one year remaining in his first – and likely only – two year term, his decision to switch to the Republican party rather than fight for his constituents as the Democratic party member for he was elected will likely be damaging to North Alabamians for years to come. It would be no different if he were to have switched from the Republican to Democratic party.

How ineffective… er, effective can a congressman be without a staff?

Oh… I forgot.

That’s Parker Griff-switch, MD.