You'll not see this PSA (Public Service Anouncement) and why

If you listen to . . .

. . . the political blather then America has the best health care system in the World! Gentle reader, you know that I won't lie to you or for you. But Politicians will and do it without regard to your concerns. We as a people are expendable.


My wife Marti has Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. M.E. It is an injury to the Central Nervous System. usually triggered by an infectious disease process, e.g. a virus, or by chemicals over stimulating the immune system. It is a multi-system disease, affecting not only the neurological system but also the immune, musculoskeletal, endocrine (hormonal) and cardiovascular systems. There is no cure as we would understand it. But at least we have a name for it. She was misdiagnosed by doctors 15 years ago which did damage to her health and will kill her . But our Heavenly Father is sufficient.




So here is our story and maybe your or someone you know but haven't seen recently a mother, father son or daughter.



Marti and I met in Ireland and I followed her back to America (she claims that she ask her parents "He followed me home can I keep him"?) My story is that I was going on a whirlwind speaking engagement through sixteen states in a month and she followed me (because I was a fascinating personality with a wee bit of brogue with blarney attached). We were married and settled down with me speaking 4-5 times a week and as many times on a weekend and Marti working on her M.B.A. and taking care of our 35 Parrots and dogs who followed her around the same as I did.



One day when I came home I found her in bed with a high temperature and violently sick at her stomach. My mother had taken her to the E.R. and was told Marti had a strep throat. She lay in bed for two week and we went to more than a dozen doctors., who told us that she had every thing from M.S. to Lupus and Chronic Fatigue . Some even told her that there was nothing wrong but it was "all in her head".



Gentle Reader, we went to internist, neurologists, psychiatrists, M.D.'s, D.O.'s only to be told "Nothing wrong with you, here take this pill or drink this liquid." I watched as Marti was getting weaker and weaker and was moving less and less.



I was frantic, Gentle reader, I gave up my traveling and speaking engagements, confined myself to writing and tending my love of my life. I started a writing campaign asking for someone to step forward and help. Family and friends turned away! I wrote the Indiana Representatives in congress Lugar and Pence (Now Governor) they ignored me I wrote the Surgeon General, no help I even wrote President George Bush (need I tell you how we were ignored. And as we Irish have dual citizenship I served in the U.S. Air Force during the Viet Nam conflict and in Korea).



To make this story shorter we spent all of our money ( my retirement to go back to Ireland) lost our home and my secular job due to my health issues and we are reduced to my Veterans pension and living in subsidised housing.



I tell all of this to you Gentle reader, because we need to take care of those wee children and adults who are subject to the whims of uncaring politicians, unfeeling pharmaceutical companies, grasping Insurances groups. You are not your own Gentle reader. And those who would tell you that Christians care need to look at those who would restrict the equal rights of an other while all the time claiming their rights are being violated.



Gentle Reader, there are exceptional people in this country who do care, but many a politicians who claim American exceptional ism need to look at those "Real Americans" (not the Sara Palin kind) struggling to make the American dream come true not only for their family but for those around them.



To bring you up to date: Marti my love of my life, with a education second to none (Ed.D., Ph.D., MBA) is now too weak to lift her head up off of her pillow and I sit by her side never leaving except to take care of her needs and our two service dogs Chi Chi and Bailey.



Now Gentle reader, you know why I don't write as much as I use to. And before you think I am seeking sympathy or something else I am no saint (except in the sight of our Heavenly Father) I want to leave you with this one thought.



This is my own practice, and I frequently speak about it to others. Imagine that in front of you on one side is your old, selfish I and that on the other side is a group of poor, needy people. And you yourself are in the middle as a neutral person, a third party. Then, judge which is more important - whether you should join this one selfish, self-centred, stupid person or these poor, needy, helpless people. If you have a human heart, naturally you will be drawn to the side of the needy beings.



Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Mat 22:37-39 KJV)

NO MORE SECRETS !

 I am by nature a science fiction buff (Yes Star Trek and all the rest) So I was interested when the News story broke about Edward Snowden and the National Security Agency keeping tabs on emails and phone numbers. Just so you know I have tried contacting Senators and Congressmen for years about my concerns (they don’t listen personally I am glad someone does).




But does it matter? Is he a traitor or a hero? You decide, I am thinking what if all the Government Secrets and corporate around the world, and all the other secrets were released to everyone at once. Of course there would be those who would scream loudest because “Now you know what I know!”

But think about this,  for more years than you can count on your I Pod or abacus the World has been at WAR! Millions have been killed on every side. Corporations cut corners to make a profit and well “If someone dies that’s the cost of doing business as long as it doesn’t affect my bottom line!”

There was a movie made called SNEAKERS in 1992 (check it out) a code breaker in which no longer could there be any  MORE SECRETS ! The answer to the problem of TOO MANY SECRETS!

Perhaps there are those who believe that Too Many Secrets are the cause of Wars and that given the chance most people in the world would OP IN for PEACE . A sign in the 60's read “What if they gave a WAR and no one came?”



Perhaps now is the time to end all the secrets, Wars, Corporate and individual greed The movie “Wall Street” in which Michael Douglas says the classic line “Greed is Good!” was absolutely and unequivocally WRONG!!!

What if those who could in every country would stand up for the rest of us and be citizens of the World . . .  

Quotes that you'll want to share

Many Americans today tend to take the past for granted, and with that, we also tend to take the words of past leaders for granted. We forget what they told us, and as a result we lose our identity, we lose the values that make us who we are. Below is a list of quotes spoken by American leaders, heroes, journalists, and others. You’ll find common themes throughout this list. These are the messages from the American past that we should all remember if we hope to solve our own problems and bring America forward to a better future. The future that these people envisioned.




1.) “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”

~John F. Kennedy



2.) “We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.” ~Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis





3.) “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

~John F. Kennedy



4.) “The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize.”

~Franklin D. Roosevelt



5.) “I believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.”

~Robert Kennedy



6.) “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”

~Franklin D. Roosevelt



7.) “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

~Dwight D. Eisenhower



8.) “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

~Martin Luther King, Jr.



9.) “Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”

~Abraham Lincoln



10.) “Ultimately, America’s answer to the intolerant man is diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired.”

~Robert Kennedy



11.) “It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

~Hubert H. Humphrey



12.) “I believe that there should be a very much heavier progressive tax on very large incomes, a tax which should increase in a very marked fashion for the gigantic incomes.”

~Theodore Roosevelt



13.) “To impose taxes when the public exigencies require them is an obligation of the most sacred character, especially with a free people.”

~James Monroe



14.) “The supreme duty of the Nation is the conservation of human resources through an enlightened measure of social and industrial justice. We pledge ourselves to work unceasingly in State and Nation for … the protection of home life against the hazards of sickness, irregular employment and old age through the adoption of a system of social insurance adapted to American use.”

~Theodore Roosevelt



15.) “The laboring classes constitute the main part of our population. They should be protected in their efforts peaceably to assert their rights when endangered by aggregated capital, and all statutes on this subject should recognize the care of the State for honest toil, and be framed with a view of improving the condition of the workingman.”

~Grover Cleveland



16.) “It is essential that there should be organization of labor. This is an era of organization. Capital organizes and therefore labor must organize.”

~Theodore Roosevelt



17.) “Today’s so-called ‘conservatives’ don’t even know what the word means. They think I’ve turned liberal because I believe a woman has a right to an abortion. That’s a decision that’s up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right. It’s not a conservative issue at all.”

~Barry Goldwater



18.) “The tax which will be paid for the purpose of education is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.”

~Thomas Jefferson



19.) “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.”

~Franklin D. Roosevelt



20.) “Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.”

~John F. Kennedy



21.) “America was established not to create wealth but to realize a vision, to realize an ideal – to discover and maintain liberty among men.”

~Woodrow Wilson



22.) “If capitalism is fair then unionism must be. If men have a right to capitalize their ideas and the resources of their country, then that implies the right of men to capitalize their labor.”

~ Frank Lloyd Wright



23.) “I know of no safe repository of the ultimate power of society but people. And if we think them not enlightened enough, the remedy is not to take the power from them, but to inform them by education.”

~Thomas Jefferson



24.) “While I am a great believer in the free enterprise system and all that it entails, I am an even stronger believer in the right of our people to live in a clean and pollution-free environment.”

~Barry Goldwater



25.) “Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism.”

~Hubert Humphrey



26.) “In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up or else all go down as one people.”

~Franklin D. Roosevelt



27.) “As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.”

~George Washington



28.) “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism – ownership of government by an individual, by a group.”

~Franklin D. Roosevelt



29.) “Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.”

~Ronald Reagan



30.) “Only a fool would try to deprive working men and working women of their right to join the union of their choice.”

~Dwight D. Eisenhower



31.) “We establish no religion in this country. We command no worship. We mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are and must remain separate.”

~Ronald Reagan



32.) “Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.”

~Franklin D. Roosevelt



33.) “Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”

~Dwight Eisenhower



34.) “The Social Security Act offers to all our citizens a workable and working method of meeting urgent present needs and of forestalling future need. It utilizes the familiar machinery of our Federal-State government to promote the common welfare and the economic stability of the Nation.”

~Franklin D. Roosevelt



35.) “Few nations do more than the United States to assist their least fortunate citizens–to make certain that no child, no elderly or handicapped citizen, no family in any circumstances in any State, is left without the essential needs for a decent and healthy existence. In too few nations, I might add, are the people aware of the progressive strides this country has taken in demonstrating the humanitarian side of freedom. Our record is a proud one–and it sharply refutes those who accuse us of thinking only in the materialistic terms of cash registers and calculating machines.”

~John F. Kennedy



36.) “But let us begin. Now the trumpet summons us again – not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need – not as a call to battle, though embattled we are – but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation”- a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.”

~John F. Kennedy



37.) “We all agree that neither the Government nor political parties ought to interfere with religious sects. It is equally true that religious sects ought not to interfere with the Government or with political parties. We believe that the cause of good government and the cause of religion suffer by all such interference.”

~Rutherford B. Hayes



38.) “The divorce between Church and State ought to be absolute. It ought to be so absolute that no Church property anywhere, in any state or in the nation, should be exempt from equal taxation; for if you exempt the property of any church organization, to that extent you impose a tax upon the whole community.”

~James A. Garfield



39.) “You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.”

~Harry S. Truman



40.) “I think that being liberal, in the true sense, is being nondoctrinaire, nondogmatic, noncomitted to a cause but examining each case on its merits. Being left of center is another thing; it’s a political position. I think most newspapermen by definition have to be liberal; if they’re not liberal, by my definition of it, then they can hardly be good newspapermen.”

~Walter Cronkite



41.) “No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level – I mean the wages of decent living.”

~Franklin D. Roosevelt



42.) “Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.”

~John F. Kennedy



43.) “For all my years in public life, I have believed that America must sail toward the shores of liberty and justice for all. There is no end to that journey, only the next great voyage. We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make.”

~Edward Kennedy



44.) “We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security.”

~Dwight D. Eisenhower



45.) “Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our government to give employment to idle men.”

~Franklin D. Roosevelt



46.) “The most effective way to restrict democracy is to transfer decision-making from the public arena to unaccountable institutions: kings and princes, priestly castes, military juntas, party dictatorships, or modern corporations.”

~Noam Chomsky



47.) “The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators, and for the exploiters of labor. The majority of mankind are working people. So long as their fair demands – the ownership and control of their livelihoods – are set at naught, we can have neither men’s rights nor women’s rights. The majority of mankind is ground down by industrial oppression in order that the small remnant may live in ease.”

~Helen Keller



48.) “I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.”

~Oliver Wendell Holmes



49.) “Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.”

~Barry Goldwater



50.) “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

~Franklin D. Roosevelt



You’ll notice that the quotes by American politicians were not solely from one end of the spectrum. Quotes from Democrats and Republicans were included. There are even quotes from our Founding Fathers. Certainly there are more quotes that could be added as is the case with lists of this kind. But the fact remains that we must remember the words of our past and keep them with us as America carves out its future.

Goodwill Industries Isn't

Goodwill Legally Pays Disabled Workers As Low as 22 Cents an Hour

Goodwill Industries, a non-profit whose mission is to “ enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families” pays disabled workers as little as 22 cents an hour, NBC reports.



Harry Smith’s report, which aired on Rock Center with Brian Williams, probes a loophole in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 that allows employers to pay disabled workers far below the federal minimum wage. Section 14 (c) of FLSA grants certificates to certain employers, permitting them to pay adjusted wages to workers “whose earning or productive capacity is impaired by a physical or mental disability.” Qualified employers create “sheltered workshops,” “where employees typically perform manual tasks like hanging clothes.”



According to Labor Department documents obtained by NBC, Goodwill used this loophole to pay disabled workers in sheltered workshops “as low as 22, 38 and 41 cents per hour in 2011,” presenting a stark contrast to charity executives. Via NBC:



In 2011 the CEO of Goodwill Industries of Southern California took home $1.1 million in salary and deferred compensation. His counterpart in Portland, Oregon, made more than $500,000. Salaries for CEOs of the roughly 150 Goodwill franchises across America total more than $30 million.



The National Federation of the Blind, one of the most ardent critics of Section 14 (c), maintains that the law “is, on its face, discriminatory.” In a report, NFB argues “The law does not authorize below-minimum wages for all less-productive workers—only those who have disabilities.” Under the statute, employers base disabled workers’ wages on “time studies.” In this degrading process, Goodwill and other companies pull out stopwatches to determine how quickly their employees can complete company tasks, and adjust wages accordingly.



Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) introduced a bill in February that would phase out “special wage certificates.” “Meaningful work deserves fair pay,” said Harper in a statement. “This dated provision unjustly prohibits workers with disabilities from reaching their full potential.” The third-term Congressman has a 23-year-old son with an intellectual disability. His bill is currently in the Workforce Protections Subcommittee.



Meanwhile, Goodwill CEO and millionaire Jim Gibbons defended his charity’s practice of underpayment, telling NBC, “It's typically not about their livelihood. It's about their fulfillment. It's about being a part of something. And it's probably a small part of their overall program.”



NBC also spoke with Harold Leigland, a legally blind Goodwill worker with a different view from the company’s CEO. “We are trapped," he said. "Everybody who works at Goodwill is trapped."

War on Women Again!

Not every Republican learned Todd Akin’s lesson from 2012 – and Democrats noticed.




This week alone: Sen. Saxby Chambliss blamed sexual assaults in the military on hormones, conservative pundit Erick Erickson credited biology for male dominance in society and Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said working moms are making kids fail in school.



Democrats and liberal groups are seizing on these comments to reignite their 2012 strategy — rally the base to raise big money and put Republicans back on defense with women voters ahead of the mid-term elections.



“Women voters are paying attention — this week was a big reminder that the GOP assault on women’s rights continues,” said Jess McIntosh of EMILY’S List.



The group, which helps pro-choice women get elected to office, is planning to use Chambliss’ remark in an email blast and social media campaign called “Great Moments In GOP Women’s Outreach.”



Inside the Senate, Democrats are beginning meetings to strategize their messaging on the issue, according to a Senate Democratic aide.



“This is not an issue for Harry Reid or Chuck Schumer to jump into. This is an issue for Patty Murray and Claire McCaskill and the women senators to jump into,” the aide said. “We will take advantage of it, but this is the mold of the Planned Parenthood fight and the Blunt amendment fight. The female senators will take the lead. Part of the advantage of having a large number of women in your caucus is having people who are effective messengers on issues like this.’



Republicans pushed back at the moves, accusing Democrats of politicizing issues like military sexual assault that should be bipartisan.



At the National Republican Senatorial Committee, GOP operatives sought to squash the controversy, trying to head off a rehash of lessons learned from the last election cycle, after which Republicans promised to be more sensitive when talking about women’s issues.



“As a woman, the politicization of sexual assault or rape is offensive in and of itself. This is an important conversation to be had in congressional committees – it shouldn’t be used as a page in Democrat politicos’ playbooks looking to exploit this tragedy for political gain,” said Brook Hougesen, NRSC spokeswoman.



“If Democrats want to debate the ‘war on women’, look no further than the agenda set by Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer,” Hougesen said, turning the issue to the economy. “Women have had a difficult time finding work, and juggling multiple jobs and their personal lives with Democrats controlling the economy and the government for the last five years.”



Still, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is cooking up state-by-state releases calling on possible GOP Senate candidates to condemn remarks from GOP leaders.



“These comments make Todd Akin look moderate. Republicans have offended women across the country,” said DSCC spokeswoman Regan Page. “This was a defining issue in 2012 and will certainly be a problem for Republicans again in 2014.”



The playbook worked well for Democrats in 2012, when they turned controversial comments about rape by then-Senate candidates Akin and Richard Mourdock into a national discussion that contributed to Reid hanging onto his majority.



Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway acknowledged the comments don’t help Republicans with women, but she argues it will be difficult for Democrats to harness electoral victories off of them.



“These unfortunate, untoward completely baseless comments are unhelpful in an environment where the left still seems to be obsessed with a war on women,” Conaway said, who was quick to point out that the 2012 election was really about abortion politics. “Rape is four a letter word, so is debt to many women.”



But Republicans have a lot of explaining to do.



At Tuesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on military sexual assault, Chambliss appeared to dismiss the severity of the issue when he cited hormones as a factor in the high rate of incidents.



“The young folks that are coming in to each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22-or-three,” said Chambliss, a two-term Georgia Republican who plans to retire in 2014. “The hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur.”



Erickson stepped into the fray this week by saying on Fox News that “when you look at biology, look at the natural world, the roles of a male and female in society, and the other animals, the male typically is the dominant role.”



And Bryant, speaking Tuesday at a Washington Post forum, blamed poor academic performance among youths on “both parents started working. The mom got in the workplace.”



While Chambliss also said “we simply can’t tolerate” sexual assaults, and he’s a cosponsor of two bipartisan bills that try to deal with the latest spike in violent crimes, the Georgia Republican’s comments nonetheless prompted rebukes from Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The Florida Democrat slammed the GOP and argued that their public remarks are a better indication of where the party stands on women’s issues.



“For a United States senator or anyone to write off sexual assault and the personal violation of a woman or man to raging the hormones of youth shows just how dramatically out of touch the Republican Party is,” she said on MSNBC.



Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the lead sponsor of legislation that would take prosecution of military sexual assault out of the normal chain of command, during a separate appearance Tuesday on MSNBC, also took aim at Republicans.



“Rape and sexual assault are crimes of violence, crimes of dominance. More than half of the victims are men. These are not crimes of lust. They’re not crimes of romance. They’re not dates that have gone badly,” she said. “They’re not issues of the hook-up culture from high school or hormones, as my colleague said. We’re talking about predators, often serial predators who are targeting their victims in advance, making them vulnerable through alcohol or other means and actually stalking them.”



Even some Republicans looked to distance themselves from Chambliss and other conservatives.



Rep. Martha Roby (R-Ala.) declined to comment Wednesday when asked about the recent remarks from her GOP colleagues.



“You’re going to see a bipartisan effort here today in the Armed Services Committee,” she said just outside the Rayburn Office Building hearing room where the panel held an all-day markup of the Defense Authorization bill.



Votes on several amendments dealing with sexual assault were expected Wednesday.



Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham conceded Chambliss could have spoken more eloquently about sexual assault but still defended his GOP colleague.



“I think what he was saying is you’ve got a lot of young people in the military and we just have be realistic,” Graham told POLITICO. “I don’t know where you were at 17 to 23. I don’t know how you were. But these are formative years. I know Saxby very well. Anybody knows Saxby is not suggesting that he’s justifying rape.”



To address the issue, Graham said any sexual predators serving the military “need to be sought out and pounded, driven out of the service in such a fashion to deter others.”



The South Carolina Republican also warned about “off-color jokes being told, where there’s an uncomfortable work environment where you’re showing disrespect for your female comrades in arms.”



Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said Chambliss’ remarks are part of a larger problem with the makeup of Capitol Hill.



“The reason these guys say these things is because they really believe them,” she said in an interview. “When you still have 80 percent of Congress that’s guys, you’re going to have people in leadership positions who think these things. It’s a shame because it really hampers our efforts to make sure we have a system that really works for all the victims of violence.”



Illinois Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky said the Republicans’ remarks won’t just hurt them politically — it might also make for trouble in recruiting women to join the armed forces. “Women, particularly women contemplating going into the military, would be very offended and also put off by that comment,” she said. “Because it sounds like it tolerates, it understands that these young men can’t control themselves. That’s just counterproductive and really offensive.”

Life imitates art Questions and More Answers from Star Trek Deep Space Nine

Entertainment or truth wrapped in narrative?

Doctor Bashir: What does Section 31 do, apart from kidnapping Starfleet officers?



Sloan: We search out and identify potential dangers to the Federation.



Doctor Bashir: And once identified?



Sloan:  We deal with them.



Doctor Bashir: How?



Sloan: Quietly.



As I mentioned briefly last night I am finding interesting corollaries in the current NSA leak story and what we are facing in our Global War on Terror in Star Trek Deep Space Nine. I went back and watched again the season four episodes entitled Homefront and Paradise Lost. Tonight I also watched an episode called Inquisition in which Dr Bashir, the Chief Medical Officer of Deep Space Nine is abducted by the representative of a secretive entity of Starfleet Intelligence authorized in the original Federation Charter. It is a chilling episode because it shows the power of lawfully constituted organizations that are granted nearly unlimited powers and operate under the utmost secrecy.



What do we know? We know far less than what we know, that much is clear.



So what do we know?



We know that a Booz Allen Hamilton contractor, a 29 year high school dropout named Edward Snowden leaked Top Secret FISA Court orders and other information to writer Glen Greenwald of the Guardian newspaper. Something that he did evidently after offering them to others including the Washington Post.



We know that Snowden had worked for the CIA and NSA contractors in various capacities for a number of years. We know that he worked for the Booz Allen Hamilton contract with the NSA less than 4 months with a Top Secret Clearance and had lied to both his employer and girlfriend about his whereabouts when he left his home in Hawaii.



We know that he was unable to complete Army Special Forces entry training in 2003 after some kind of training accident.



We know that he supported the Ron Paul campaign with a financial contribution of $500 and that Paul has praised Snowden’s actions.



We know that some of those documents have been released by the Guardian and the Post and that Greenwald promises the release of more leaked information this week.



We know that this Snowden fled to Hong Kong in early May and then authorized the release of his identity and actions after the release of them by Greenwald.



We know that the documents leaked show that the FISA court authorize the sweeping collection of phone and internet data from American citizens as well as others overseas.



We know that Snowden is claiming that he is acting in the best interests of the country and the Constitution.



We know that the revelation of the FISA documents shows that National Intelligence Director James Clapper may have lied to Congress about those activities.



What don’t we know? Simply put we don’t know the truth. Likewise there is a good chance that no matter what happens in this case, no matter what is revealed and no matter what happens to Snowden or anyone implicated in the documents already released or to be released that we may never know the whole truth. Yes we may learn aspects of these operations and some activities, but believe me the real truth will remain classified and covered. And frankly that may not be a bad thing.



There have been some who are lionizing or demonizing the young Snowden. People are rapidly forming their opinions as to him being a “hero” or a “traitor.” I don’t think that we know enough yet to render judgement. He may be one or the other. He could be both and he could be neither. I do think the question goes beyond him. The fact that he fled to Hong Kong, a territory controlled by Communist China which has been engaged in much espionage against the United States is troubling. It makes it look like he may not quite be the hero after all.



The fact is that Snowden’s release of Top Secret classified documents is illegal. That is a fact whatever his motives. No matter if his motives were pure and patriotic as he claims, or were done for other reasons that we do not know including the possibility that he is working with Chinese agents. The unauthorized release of classified data has been a crime for decades, even before we devised our classification system. Even before the Patriot Act and the Global War on Terror.

During the Inquisition episode, at the point that the Section 31 personnel determine that Bashir is innocent of possible cooperation with the Dominion and try to recruit him that the following exchange takes place.



Sloan: We're on the same team. We believe in the same principles that every other Federation citizen holds dear.



Doctor Bashir: And yet you violate those principles as a matter of course.



Sloan: In order to protect them.




Doctor Bashir: Well, I'm sorry, but the ends don't always justify the means.



Sloan: Really? - How many lives do you suppose you've saved in your medical career?



Doctor Bashir: What has that got to do with anything?



Sloan: Hundreds, thousands? Do you suppose those people give a damn that you lied to get into Starfleet Medical? I doubt it. We deal with threats to the Federation that jeopardize its very survival. If you knew how many lives we've saved, I think you'd agree that the ends do justify the means. I'm not afraid of bending the rules every once in a while if the situation warrants it. And I don't think you are either.



The action of Snowden in releasing these classified documents appears to be criminal in that it broke long established law. However, criminality does not necessarily mean that he is a traitor. Could he be? I could be yes depending on his motive and what else may be released but quite possibly the answer could be no. For those that want to live in a world where everything is black and white that may be uncomfortable. But it is the world that we live, a world of infinite shades of gray, especially when it comes to intelligence and state secrets.



Now I can say that while I agree that Snowden broke the law I do not yet know if I can call him a traitor, nor do I know enough to call him a hero. One thing his actions have done is to spark a debate on the nature of the laws that our Congress enacted in the aftermath of the 9-11-2001 terrorist attacks. The Patriot Act vastly expanded previous laws regarding surveillance, intelligence, economic, military and law enforcement measures including the work of the FISA courts.



Those laws were rushed to completion and passed with strong bi-partisan majorities in both the House and Senate. Those powers were renewed by both the Bush and Obama administration and Congress. One can make good arguments for security as well as the dangers inherent in these laws and the expanded powers of the intelligence community which not only can be used for good, but can be used for evil.



I think it is time that we had a real debate over these laws as a society. We may not like what we see, but we may decide to keep some laws and restrict other powers granted. That is something that we must do as a society if we are to retain any form of our republic. We cannot afford the bumper sticker and Facebook meme type of debate in this that appeals to raw emotion and political certitude and bypasses the real issues involved.



At the end of the episode when Bashir is back on DS9 talking with Captain Sisko and the other senior staff of the station the questions asked are so pertinent to what we are doing today.



Doctor Bashir: I can't believe the Federation condones this kind of activity.



Odo: Personally I find it hard to believe they wouldn't. Every other great power has a unit like Section 31 - the Romulans have the Tal Shiar, the Cardassians had the Obsidian Order...



Doctor Bashir: But what does that say about us? When push comes to shove, are we willing to sacrifice our principles in order to survive?



Captain Sisko: I wish I had an answer for you, Doctor.



Likewise, I wish I had an answer...

Fox News takes the High Ground

Fox News host Andrea Tantaros wants to know why MSNBC is “prioritizing” sexual assaults in the military over a scandal at the Internal Revenue Service.




As competing hearings in the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House Appropriations Committee were underway on Tuesday, Tantaros said on her radio show that she couldn’t understand why MSNBC wasn’t devoting more time to the House Republicans’ fourth IRS hearing.



“What are they the place for breaking? Breaking wind? Breaking what? I mean, what are they doing over there?” she asked. “Sex crimes in the military, they are a real issue. There’s no doubt about that. I’m not going to just poo-poo it. What baffles me, though, is the way they prioritize these issues, the timing and tone of this.”





“Why is MSNBC devoting time to this issue?” Tantaros, who also hosts Fox News’ The Five, wondered. “There are so many other issues to deal with.”



“And MSNBC has been on this sexual assaults in the military, like, basically all afternoon, every day for weeks,” Tantaros’ co-host added. “They’re devoting, like, and inordinate amount of time to this. They’re obsessed with it, because that’s what they see when they look at the military.”



“Yeah, you’re right,” Tantaros agreed. “I mean, it’s the way that they prioritize these things. It’s unbelievable what they consider to be priorities. And by ‘them,’ I mean the administration and MSNBC because they are the same thing. MSNBC is an arm of the administration.”



A Media Matters analysis of Tuesday’s cable news coverage found that MSNBC devoted 1 hour and 21 minutes to sexual assaults in the military, while spending 1 hour and 13 minutes on the IRS hearings. Fox News spent almost 4 hours on the IRS hearing and less than 14 minutes on sexual assaults in the military.



Last month, Tantaros instructed her radio listeners to find anyone who voted for President Barack Obama and “punch them in the face.”

Can we fix this or are we doomed?

A new study, published this month from Umeå University, Sweden, says that Western people have been getting dumber since the Victorian era. Tests of simple reaction time and general intelligence shows a decline of 1.23 IQ points per decade, or 14 IQ points total. The abstract suggests that this decline is due to people of higher intelligence choosing not to have children in order to be more productive and creative. It has also been theorized that the technological advances since the Victorian era have perhaps made life too easy, and that our overall increase in the quality of health and education has concealed the changes in IQ.




So what's the solution? Is it time to pressure smart people to have more children, lest we be doomed to become the plot of the movie Idiocracy? Or are we already too stupid to think of a real solution?

According to Blue collar comedian Ron White "You Can't fix Stupid"

Starve a child- feed and save the rich?

First, as millions of workers lost their jobs through no fault of their own, many families turned to food stamps to help them get by


— and while food aid is no substitute for a good job, it did significantly mitigate their misery. Food stamps were especially helpful to children who would otherwise be living in extreme poverty, defined as an income less than half the official poverty line.



But there’s more. Why is our economy depressed? Because many players in the economy slashed spending at the same time, while relatively few players were willing to spend more. And because the economy is not like an individual household — your spending is my income, my spending is your income — the result was a general fall in incomes and plunge in employment. We desperately needed (and still need) public policies to promote higher spending on a temporary basis — and the expansion of food stamps, which helps families living on the edge and let them spend more on other necessities, is just such a policy.



Indeed, estimates from the consulting firm Moody’s Analytics suggest that each dollar spent on food stamps in a depressed economy raises G.D.P. by about $1.70 — which means, by the way, that much of the money laid out to help families in need actually comes right back to the government in the form of higher revenue.



Wait, we’re not done yet. Food stamps greatly reduce food insecurity among low-income children, which, in turn, greatly enhances their chances of doing well in school and growing up to be successful, productive adults. So food stamps are in a very real sense an investment in the nation’s future — an investment that in the long run almost surely reduces the budget deficit, because tomorrow’s adults will also be tomorrow’s taxpayers.



So what do Republicans want to do with this paragon of programs? First, shrink it; then, effectively kill it.



But I wonder whether even Republicans really believe that story — or at least are confident enough in their diagnosis to justify policies that more or less literally take food from the mouths of hungry children. As I said, there are times when cynicism just doesn’t cut it; this is a time to get really, really angry.