"The Global Consciousness Project, also known as the EGG Project, is an international multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists, engineers, artists and others continuously collecting data from a global network of physical random number generators located in 65 host sites worldwide. The archive contains over 10 years of random data in parallel sequences of synchronized 200-bit trials every second."
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, September 12, 2022
The reader should bear in mind that, in Alabama, there are: 399 TOTAL Law Enforcement Organizations 297 Municipal PDs 67 Sheriff’s Departments 25 Community College/University PDs 7 Judicial/Drug Task Force 2 Airport PDs 1 Special Investigations (fire/explosion)
CRIME IN ALABAMA
Alabama, like many, or even most, states, likes to crow about how much they appreciate, or even revere, their Law Enforcement Officials (LEOs). And, under a Republican ultra-majority dominated legislature, executive branch, and judiciary, for well over a decade, one would imagine that by now, the controlling party, since 2011, would have gotten a firm grip on problems facing residents — to either resolve, ameliorate, or eliminate them.
They have not.
Consider crime. Often touted as a Republican talking point, e.g. being “tough on crime,” one would imagine that not only the Corrections system would have corrected and reformed those entrusted to its “corrections,” but that Law Enforcement agencies statewide would be supported, strengthened, and improved by the Republicans to protect the public, and uphold the laws, as is their charge. The state’s prison system, like the ignored metaphorical “elephant in the room,” has long teetered on a Federal takeover for overcrowding, violence, inhumane conditions, and corruption, while Alabama’s LEOs and their agencies continue failing their charge of public protection by not arresting offenders, solving crimes, and bringing swift justice for the offended victims.
And that proverbial “three-legged stool” has at least one woefully short leg. And that, is solving crimes.
In law enforcement jargon, crimes are considered “cleared,” or solved, when a suspect is arrested, and sometimes, several crimes can be cleared with one arrest. But not always. That terminology is used nation-wide at all levels of law enforcement, Local, State, and Federal.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, June 18, 2020
The scars of slavery are apparent, and are in this nation everywhere one looks.
Most are plainly evident, some not so much.
It’s like that with mental illness.
It’s not clearly visible from the outside, and that’s because of where the damage has occurred… on the inside – of the brain.
It’s a way of thinking which sets apart mental illness from mental health.
Eventually, of course, the illness is reflected in the behavior, and that includes speech, which is an activity.
Such scars are evident ESPECIALLY and particularly in the South, where Slavery once occurred, and where states seceded from the Union in order to preserve the status quo, rather than change.
The damage is reflected in whom the majority White population votes for, and elects, to rule over them.
Again, it’s NOT plainly visible, but clearly, something IS drastically wrong, and it’s evidenced by poor policy, and bad laws.
Following are excerpts of dialogue with friends about the matter.
To Friend:
“I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous. It’s actually an important event, an important time. But nobody had ever heard of it.”
–– U.S. Idiot in Chief Donald J. Trump to Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, May 2, 2019
Editor’s Note: This article was originally written 11 May 2015, though unpublished. The TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), is/was a “free-trade” pact among the nations of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and United States signed on 4 February 2016, though it was NOT ratified, and thus, did NOT take effect. All 12 members nations signed the TPP 4 February 2016.
However, because it was NOT ratified by all signatories before 4 February 2018, it will become effective ONLY after ratification when at least 6 nations with a combined GDP of more than 85% of the GDP of all signatories have signed.
Further, because the United States withdrew from the TPP, it also significantly and adversely affected it. The TPP agreement will become active only after all signatories have ratified it within two years of signing.
—//—
President Obama recently criticized Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (D) for her clarion call warning of the potential damage the Trans-Pacific Partnership could do to United States’ economy.
Sen. Warren has said that “This is hardly a hypothetical possibility: We are already deep into negotiations with the European Union on a trade agreement and big banks on both sides of the Atlantic are gearing up to use that agreement to water down financial regulations.”
The President countered saying, “This is pure speculation. She and I both taught law school, and you know, one of the things you do as a law professor is you spin out hypotheticals. And this is all hypothetical, speculative.”
President Obama further dismissed her criticisms out of hand saying, “she’s absolutely wrong,” about the concerns she and others have raised, and appeared to throw down the gauntlet for open, frank discussion of the still-secret trade pact which would include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam.
The President gives the USTR broad power to keep secret information about the trade policies it advances and negotiates.
United States Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) said, “More than two months after receiving the proper security credentials, my staff is still barred from viewing the details of the proposals that USTR is advancing.”
A Senate bill – S. 3225 – which would require the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to disclose all its TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) documents to every member of Congress was introduced May 23, 2012 by Sen. Wyden, who is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness. In that capacity, his office is responsible for conducting oversight over the USTR and trade negotiations.
Speaking from the Senate floor, Sen. Wyden said the purpose of the bill was “to ensure that the laws and policies that govern the American people take into account the interests of all the American people, not just a privileged few. Congress passed legislation in 2002 to form the Congressional Oversight Group, or COG, to foster more USTR consultation with Congress. I was a senator in 2002. I voted for that law and I can tell you the intention of that law was to ensure that USTR consulted with more Members of Congress, not less.”Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, January 5, 2018
“I am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana – so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that’s only slightly less awful.”
–United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions, prepared remarks on “Efforts to Combat Violent Crime and Restore Public Safety Before Federal, State and Local Law Enforcement” in Richmond, VA, Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Many have heard or read about US Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ other willfully ignorant remarks about marijuana, such as his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee when he was then-president Reagan’s first federal judicial nominee to be rejected:
“I thought those guys [the Ku Klux Klan] were OK until I learned they smoked pot.” -Jeff Sessions, nominee of then-President Ronald Reagan as Federal Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, to Senate Judiciary Committee, June 1986
The Senate Judiciary Committee rejected on June 5, 1986 the nomination of Jefferson B. Sessions, III to be a Federal District Judge in Alabama. It was the first time one of President Reagan’s judicial nominees was rejected.
In 1986, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony about Jeff Sessions from 21 witnesses over 19 hours, including from Thomas Figures, a Black Assistant U.S. Attorney who had worked with Sessions, and testified that Jeff Sessions had made that remark, and other racist comments to him while Sessions was serving as United States Attorney in Mobile, AL. Sessions denied making racial statements, but Republican and Democratic senators expressed concern over his attitude toward members of minority groups, and especially Sessions’ prosecution of three Blacks who were eventually acquitted on charges of voting fraud.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 against Jeff Sessions’ nomination in June 1986, which made him Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, November 30, 2017
A few not-so-random thoughts on a rainy Thursday morning
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I’ve been “accused”…
…of being verbose, at least a time or two. The way I see it, why use two, three, or four words, when 50 or 60 will do?
And, I’ve similarly been accused of being “articulate,” to which I once responded, “as if I’m the only articulate man there is.” Maybe it’s the X-Y chromosome in me. Who knows? Are “articulate” men like “hen’s teeth” – truly in short supply?
At any rate…
Seriously, however, I think verbosity is a part of the “teacher” in me. Mama has said many times throughout my life, that I have an innate ability to teach.
Now, if you’ll pardon the Forrest Gump-ian expression… (I am a native Alabamian, after all.)
The act of education (yes, it is a verb) is the impartation of knowledge and understanding to those who have none. And face it, we’re all ignorant on some topic, to one extent, or another. Probably many. And that’s in part why we need one another.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, September 3, 2017
If one were to look at Colorado as an example of reasons to legalize cannabis, there would be at least 134,971,077 reasons this year so far to FULLY legalize it not only in Alabama, but nationwide.
You see, $134,971,077 is the “Total All Marijuana Taxes, Licenses, Calendar Year-to-Date” Colorado has collected.
But if one were to completely ignore the increased voluntary revenue, there are other topics raised.
And of course, opponents of cannabis legalization make assertions like DUI rates will increase. But, there’s nothing like the truth to dispel such specious claims. Remember: Specious means “superficially plausible, but actually wrong.”
So here are some facts on that very matter from Oregon, which has also legalized cannabis for recreational purposes.
“Five to ten times more drivers who were involved in fatal accidents in Oregon between 2004 and 2014 had alcohol in their system than THC. As with THC intoxication, the overall trend of alcohol intoxication in fatal accidents has been an increase since 2010, although alcohol-related fatalities spiked significantly in 2015 while THC-related fatalities decreased slightly.”
“Overall traffic fatalities increased substantially in all three states [CO, OR, WA] between 2014 and 2015 and cannot be explained by THC-related fatalities. This data illustrates that traffic fatalities overall remain a significant problem, independent of THC-related crashes.”
Logically, and rationally, legalizing Cannabis is common sense, for the following two simple reasons: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, June 16, 2017
Despite all the “best intentions,” United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a Republican, and former Senator from Alabama, cannot keep the questions from coming. Our nations Intelligence Services have clearly identified involvement by a foreign government, specifically, Russia, in our 2016 General Election, to specifically sway voters for Donald Trump. Furthermore, those same intelligence agencies have also identified successful hacking efforts 39 states’ voter databases. These are not mere accusations. There is hard-core, irrefutable demonstrable evidence. Furthermore, Russia – though some say it no longer a “communist” nation – is NOT an American ally, nor will they ever be. Even before the rise and “fall” of communism in Russia, that nation and it’s leaders had NEVER been our “friends.” Consider also this fact: Even though Russia may no longer claim they are “communist,” the Russian political leaders now in power are the very same ones who were in power when Russia “was” communist. It reminds me of a song by “The Who” entitled “Won’t Get Fooled Again” which states in part, “Meet new boss… same as the old boss.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a former Republican Senator from Alabama, is sworn in before the Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, June 13, 2017.
Lobbyist For Russian Interests Says He Attended Dinners Hosted By Sessions
Richard Burt contradicts Jeff Sessions’ testimony that he didn’t believe he had contacts with lobbyists working for Russian interests during Trump’s campaign
An American lobbyist for Russian interests who helped craft an important foreign policy speech for Donald Trump has confirmed that he attended two dinners hosted by Jeff Sessions during the 2016 campaign, apparently contradicting the attorney general’s sworn testimony given this week.
Sessions testified under oath on Tuesday that he did not believe he had any contacts with lobbyists working for Russian interests over the course of Trump’s campaign. But Richard Burt, a former ambassador to Germany during the Reagan administration, who has represented Russian interests in Washington, told the Guardian that he could confirm previous media reports that stated he had contacts with Sessions at the time.
“I did attend two dinners with groups of
former Republican foreign policy officials
and Senator Sessions.”
– Richard Burt, former U.S. Ambassador to Germany
during Reagan administration, and
Russian lobbyist in Washington, D.C.
Asked whether Sessions was unfamiliar with Burt’s role as a lobbyist for Russian interests – a fact that is disclosed in public records – or had any reason to be confused about the issue, Burt told the Guardian that he did not know.
Several media reports published before Trump’s election in November noted that Burt advised then candidate Trump on his first major foreign policy speech, a role that brought him into contact with Sessions personally.
Burt, who previously served on the advisory board of Alfa Capital Partners, a private equity fund where Russia’s Alfa Bank was an investor and last year was lobbying on behalf of a pipeline company that is now controlled by Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled energy conglomerate, first told Politico in October that he had been invited to two dinners that were hosted by Sessions last summer, at Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 12, 2017
Many have said Jeff Sessions didn’t say it, and have gone back and forth on the matter.
Let’s bury that hatchet – once and for all – squarely where it rightfully belongs.
Here, from the Congressional Record, is Jeff Sessions’ 1986 testimony under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee following his nomination by then-President Ronald Reagan to a Federal Judgeship.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Update: Saturday, 20 February 2021 NOTE: TO THE READER: As you read any story mentioning, involving or written by Donald V. Watkins, Sr., it must be borne in mind that he is now a Federal Convict, and along with his son, Donald V. Watkins, Jr., was found guilty of numerous charges. “Donald Watkins Sr. was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy. Donald Watkins Jr. was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.” As of the date of this note, he is in Federal Custody at Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center, an administrative security facility, having been relocated away from the minimum security Federal Prison Camp on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
Here also is the SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT dated December 2018 entitled as:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD V. WATKINS, SR. and DONALD V. WATKINS, JR. – 2:18-cr-166-KOB-TMP https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1116081/download
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions should resign his office. President Donald Trump does not like, trust, or respect him.
Sessions reportedly offered to resign two weeks ago amid Trump’s growing frustration over the Attorney General’s decision to recuse himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into ties between the Trump Campaign and Russia. Trump has blamed Sessions for Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, May 21, 2017
Update: Saturday, 20 February 2021 NOTE: TO THE READER: As you read any story mentioning, involving or written by Donald V. Watkins, Sr., it must be borne in mind that he is now a Federal Convict, and along with his son, Donald V. Watkins, Jr., was found guilty of numerous charges. “Donald Watkins Sr. was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy. Donald Watkins Jr. was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.” As of the date of this note, he is in Federal Custody at Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center, an administrative security facility, having been relocated away from the minimum security Federal Prison Camp on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
Here also is the SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT dated December 2018 entitled as:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD V. WATKINS, SR. and DONALD V. WATKINS, JR. – 2:18-cr-166-KOB-TMP https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1116081/download
We recently experienced in Alabama what the nation is undergoing with President Donald J. Trump – a seemingly endless saga in which the top executive official is entangled in a web of deception that was spun to hide a scandal that is spiraling out of control. The culprit in Alabama was former governor Robert Bentley. He was attempting to cover-up a secret love affair with Rebekah Mason, a “senior political adviser” who was married to one of Bentley’s department heads.
Bentley’s twin of deception at the national level is the “real” Donald J. Trump. The parallels between the two men and their misconduct are striking and frightening.
Bentley and Trump were viewed as long-shot political candidates who ran the table to win it all. Against all odds, Bentley became Governor of Alabama and Trump became President of the United States. Both men were unprepared to govern after they won. Because of their oversized egos, arrogance and stupidity, both men became embroiled in explosive political scandals.
Bentley fell in love with his much younger paramour and used state resources, campaign funds, and “dark money” to romance her. Trump fell in love with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and his highest-ranking KGB agents in the U.S. – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. In doing so, Trump has foolishly compromised America’s national security interests.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, March 12, 2017
True, or False?
If under oath, you say, “and I did not have _X_” and in fact, you did have _X_, are you a perjurer?
The statement “and I did not have _X_” is a voluntary assertion, and claim of fact by the speaker. It makes an independent statement. It does not answer a question.
By virtue of the use of the word “and,” the claimant is making a voluntary assertion which can stand alone, and which needs no other support. Rather, by using the word “and,” the statement which follows that word supports any statement predicated within it, and would appear to lend credence to any statement which preceded it, simply because it is “added onto” a primary claim.
And even though it is mentioned in a secondary manner – that is, the remark is mentioned after another statement – it becomes a primary, rather than secondary, assertion. It “flips the table,” in a manner of speaking.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, March 2, 2017
As part of the Confirmation process for Attorney General,
Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions (R) takes oath before his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in his Confirmation Hearing to be United States Attorney General.
in January, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) asked nominee Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions for answers to written questions, one which was: “Several of the President-elect’s nominees or senior advisers have Russian ties. Have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day?”
Sessions wrote a one-word response: “No.”
During the Confirmation Hearings before the Judiciary Committee on January 10, Minnesota Senator Al Franken (D) asked Senator Sessions, “If there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?”
Senator Jeff Sessions stated, “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and I did not have communications with the Russians.”
Jeff Sessions: “I did not have communications with the Russians.” (C-SPAN)
Justice Department officials said that Sessions met twice with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak: Privately on Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Update: Saturday, 20 February 2021 NOTE: TO THE READER: As you read any story mentioning, involving or written by Donald V. Watkins, Sr., it must be borne in mind that he is now a Federal Convict, and along with his son, Donald V. Watkins, Jr., was found guilty of numerous charges. “Donald Watkins Sr. was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy. Donald Watkins Jr. was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.” As of the date of this note, he is in Federal Custody at Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center, an administrative security facility, having been relocated away from the minimum security Federal Prison Camp on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
Here also is the SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT dated December 2018 entitled as:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD V. WATKINS, SR. and DONALD V. WATKINS, JR. – 2:18-cr-166-KOB-TMP https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1116081/download
Our Facebook news team has just learned that the U.S. Department of Justice has given federal prosecutors full authority to resume their investigation of Alabama Governor Robert Bentley and his married girlfriend, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, and to prosecute them if the evidence unearthed in their investigation warrants it. The Department scaled back its earlier criminal investigation of Bentley and Mason after former Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange lulled the Department into believing that he would prosecute the First Couple of Alabama on state law ethics violations.
In December of last year, Strange decided to give Bentley and Mason a prosecutorial “pass” on state ethics law violations in exchange for an appointment to the U.S. senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions. This move, which may well constitute a form of bribery under federal law, has embarrassed and angered career federal prosecutors.
The move has also demoralized the Public Corruption Unit led by Deputy Alabama Attorney General Alice Martin and Unit Chief Matt Hart. Martin and Hart are seasoned professional prosecutors with a proven track-record of success in high-profile public corruption cases.
Public outcry over the unsavory deal between Bentley and Strange has reached a fever pitch in the state. Alabamians witnessed a sitting governor buy his way out of a messy state criminal investigation by appointing a greedy and selfish former attorney general to the senate seat in Washington. What is more, Bentley put off the mandatory 90-day special election for Strange’s senate seat until the November 2018 general election.
Bentley’s appointment of Steve Marshall as Alabama Attorney General pushed the public and the Justice Department over the edge. Marshall, who was a longtime district attorney in a small Alabama County, has no Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, December 11, 2016
Recall the recent Supreme Court case Shelby County v. Holder which involved Shelby County, Alabama?
The other party was Eric Holder, former Attorney General of the United States.
Essentially, that case gutted the heart of settled law which was the 1965 Voting Rights Act which protected minorities’ Civil Rights to Vote.
If you’re like most, you get your information from the MSM (Main Stream Media), which often doesn’t do a good job of explaining. And honestly, most folks are not up-to-date on Supreme Court cases. So here’s a quick explanation of how that could affect you, and your ability to vote… regardless of your skin color.
Calera is currently the fastest-growing city in Alabama. Before Calera’s local elections in 2008 the town had redrawn its city boundaries which eliminated the city’s only majority-Black district which had been represented by Ernest Montgomery since 2004, and decreased the voting-age Black population from 71-30% – even though the town’s Black voting-age population had grown from 13-16%. It did that by adding three overwhelmingly White subdivisions while failing to include a large surrounding predominately Black-populated neighborhood.
The United States Department of Justice objected to Calera’s actions, and notified City Officials, who defied the DOJ’s orders and held the election anyway, which caused Mr. Montgomery to lose the election by two votes, about which he said, “they voted against me because of the color of my skin.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Is Republican Alabama Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III suitable to be United States Attorney General?
Some say “yes,” others say “no.”
Let’s examine his record – it should speak for itself. The legal term for that concept is “res ipsa loquitur.”
1.) Sessions said of the SCOTUS decision in Shelby County v. Holder (570 U.S.___(2013)), an Alabama-based case which gutted important parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that “Shelby County has never had a history of denying voters and certainly not now,” even though Shelby County’s history of discrimination is well-documented and ongoing when in 2008 the small town of Calera in Shelby County drew a gerrymandered voting map which excluded their only Black councilman out of office.
Before Calera’s local elections in 2008 the town had redrawn its city boundaries which – even though the town’s Black voting-age population had grown from 13-16% – eliminated the only majority-Black district which had been represented by Ernest Montgomery since 2004, and decreased the voting-age Black population from 71-30% by adding three overwhelmingly White subdivisions while failing to include a large surrounding predominately Black-populated neighborhood.
2.) When Sessions was Alabama Attorney General he supported the “separate but equal” policy ensconced in Alabama’s 1901 Constitution in Amendment 111 which to this day deprives impoverished children in Alabama of a right to public education because public support for school funding collapsed after its passage, and since the early 1990’s created enormous funding disparities in school systems statewide which remain, despite legislative attempts to remedy.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, May 27, 2013
[UPDATE – Friday, September 4, 2020: The DOD link for SECDEF Rumsfeld’s remarks “DOD Acquisition and Logistics Excellence Week Kickoff — Bureaucracy to Battlefield” made Monday, September 10, 2001 has been relocated/obfuscated/archived. The PDF file of his remarks may now be found on/downloaded from this site, on Donald Rumsfeld’s archival site, or from the Homeland Security Digital Library, a site “sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Directorate, FEMA and the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security.” Ed.]
What does Alabama U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions think about the March 2012 Government Accountability Office report to Congress that found the 96 highest-priority defense programs in the Pentagon acquisitions system represented an estimated total cost of $1.58 trillion, and had actually “grown by over $74 billion or 5 percent in the past year”?
The report, entitled DEFENSE ACQUISITIONS: Assessments of Selected Weapon Programs – may be downloaded from the GAO website: http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/589695.pdf
And then, there are the Remarks as Delivered by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, The Pentagon, Monday, September 10, 2001 entitled “DOD Acquisition and Logistics Excellence Week Kickoff — Bureaucracy to Battlefield,” in which he said “According to some estimates, we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions.”
How many variety of voices over an extended period of time do we need before we heed their warnings?
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, May 27, 2013
Be sure to ask Sen. Sessions if he is going to voluntarily give up a portion of his Senatorial salary since the Senate last month passed a measure urging their members to forgo 20% of their salaries as part of sequestration.
Kudos, however, to Sen. Bob Corker R-TN, who has NEVER pocketed any of his Senate salary.
Why?
He donates it ALL to charity.
Why?
He’s worth over $19 Million.
—
Few senators sacrifice pay amid cuts
By Russell Berman – 04/03/13 05:00 AM ET
Only a few senators are planning to forfeit a portion of their salaries to charity or the U.S. Treasury while sequestration is in effect, according to a survey conducted by The Hill.
The Senate last month passed a measure urging members of the upper chamber to forgo 20 percent of their salary during sequestration. Most senators, however, are keeping quiet on whether they will follow through.
During a marathon session of budget votes, the Senate approved by voice vote an amendment from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) calling on lawmakers to donate 20 percent of their pay to charity or return it to the U.S. Treasury.In his floor speech, Graham noted that about 500,000 to 600,000 federal employees will be furloughed because of sequestration and that senators should “feel what other people are feeling.”
Yet in a survey of Senate offices by The Hill, only Graham and Sens. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) have indicated they would give up some of their take-home pay.
By Dana Milbank, Published: JANUARY 11, 12:21 PM ET
President Obama hasn’t even begun his second term, yet already he has been ensnared by scandal.
Republicans have uncovered a shocking level of wrongdoing in the Oval Office, and I’m afraid what they say is true: The president is brazenly trying to fill his Cabinet with . . . people he likes.
Alas, the perfidy doesn’t end there. Not only is Obama naming agreeable people to his Cabinet, he is also — audaciously, flagrantly — nominating people who . . . agree with his policies.
Hello, operator? In Waco, Tex., I’d like the number for a Starr, Kenneth W.
Among the first to blow the whistle on the scandal was Sen. Jeff Sessions. The Alabamian, the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, went on CNN on Thursday, immediately after Obama tapped Jack Lew to be Treasury secretary, to tell Wolf Blitzer why he would oppose confirmation.
“This is another person just very personally close to the president,” Sessions protested. Lew should not be confirmed, the senator said, because “the budget that he wrote was condemned by The Washington Post, virtually every major newspaper in the country.”
This was unorthodox — Sessions rarely admits to agreeing with anything he reads in The Post — but the truth of the statement was undeniable: Lew did write the budget. He was Obama’s budget director before becoming White House chief of staff; writing the budget was his job.
Sessions had Obama dead right. He is nominating like-minded people to serve in top jobs in his administration. And this scandal will continue until Obama finally accepts his constitutional obligation to name disagreeable detractors to his Cabinet.
There was a time — specifically, the entire history of the Republic until now — when nominating trusted advisers to key positions would not have been a scandal. Only three times in the 20th century (and six times before that) did the Senate reject proposed Cabinet officers, according to the Senate historical office. Lifelong judiciary appointments, particularly to the Supreme Court, are often contentious. But, the historical office notes, there is a Senate tradition that “presidents should be allowed a free hand in choosing their closest advisers.”
The last rejected Cabinet nominee, John Tower, was denied confirmation as defense secretary after accusations of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, February 4, 2011
It’s a disheartening state of affairs to learn that even such accusations could even be considered partially, even possibly true. Where is our political “high road”? The more secretive our government becomes – and we are witnessing increased secrecy, much under the guise of “privacy,” or “executive privilege” – the more tyrannical and prone to corruption our government becomes. The Founding Fathers knew that well. Open government demonstrates to EVERYONE that accountability to EVERYONE is ongoing. When there are no “smoke-filled backroom deals,” no “cloak and dagger,” there is no reason to hide. Political partisans are are NOT enemies, we are brothers living in the same house.
Riley’s final days filled with checks, deals
Posted: Thursday, February 3, 2011 6:00 am
by Bob Martin, The Montgomery Independent, TheWetumpkaHerald.com
ALEA, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, was a creation of Read the rest of this entry »
Warm Southern Breeze 