Mar 15, 2010 - Eliminate the Bail Racket

As county governments scream that there is no place to cut their budget, I recall a news story from last year about eliminating bail for petty crimes. (Sorry, I can't recall the place.) Almost half the people in their county jail were accused of petty crimes like: drug possession, prostitution, driving with a suspended license, unpaid tickets, bounced checks, using stolen credit cards, drunk in public, shoplifting, ect. Bail was required, but these poor people failed to put up the $1000 or so to make bail, so they sat in jail for several weeks until their case was tried. Even people who could afford bail were held for several days until they could arrange bail through a friend or bail bondsmen.

Local citizens pressured the county to eliminate bail for petty crimes, unless that person was once a "bail jumper." Bail bondsmen screamed that it would destroy their business and hundreds of "criminals" would be back roaming the streets -- albeit just a few weeks sooner. The county agreed to try and found that 98% of the defendants showed up in court for their case. Apparently, people think that spending a few days in jail is better than a life on the lam, where they will be arrested again and face a more serious charge. It eliminated a lot of bail related court paperwork, allowed the accused to continue working, reduced the strain on family services, which often had to care for children of those in jail, and slashed the number of guests at the county jail. 

Keep in  mind that the accused are innocent until proven guilty. Also note that putting people in jail places them in contact with serious criminals, who provide them with ideas for bigger crimes or invitations to join gangs. A person in jail for a few weeks is usually fired from their job, so they can't even collect unemployment benefits when dumped back on the streets. If their rent went unpaid, they may be homeless too. However, if released until their court case and later sentenced to several days in jail, they had time to prepare their personal lives and make arrangements to miss work and care for their family. This also allows time to borrow money or sell assets to pay a fine and restitution to avoid jail.

If you attempt to eliminate bail for petty crimes in your area, beware of wealthy bail bondsmen who rub elbows with county officials and contribute cash to their political campaigns. Also note that some local jailers will fear losing their jobs. This is something that local churches can join forces to help enact. Finally, keep in mind that eliminating the bail racket will save you money and irritation if you or a friend or a family member is arrested.

Mar 14, 2010 - Tax the Dog

Americans are living beyond our means and the Chinese have tired of "the yellow man's burden". We need to cut government spending and increase taxation. The latter has become difficult in the USA because the billionaires who control our media have tried to teach all Americans that taxes are always bad. However, there are some targeted taxes that I think most Americans would reluctantly accept, especially if part of a plan to guarantee health coverage to all citizens.

Most people know about China's one child policy, but they also have a one pet policy, and it can't be a big pet! This seems reasonable given that nation's history of famine. Such a policy would be extreme in the USA, but pets are a luxury, although some argue they are essential for mental health. Nevertheless, a 20% VAT tax on pet foods is reasonable. VAT taxes are common in most countries. They are a sales tax that is collected from the manufacture or importer.

Americans spend around $50 billion a year on pet food, so this will produce some $10 billion dollars in new taxes. This doesn't seem like much, but the recent political fight about extending unemployment benefits and related health care premium subsidies was over its $10 billion annual cost. Most people would barely notice, except those rare neighborhood crazies that keep ten or more pets, in violation of local codes. If this is unaffordable, they may be forced to reduce their ten pets down to eight. A pet food VAT tax seems minor, but it's an example of the dozens of small changes this nation needs to survive.

Mar 13, 2010 - Failsafe Brakes

An interesting safety proposal emerged as the Toyota safety scandal unwinds. Despite all the advances in computer technology that allowed advances like anti-lock brakes, it seems automobile computers are not programmed to override the accelerator when the brake pedal is pressed. If both are pressed down at the same time due to driver confusion, something fallen to the floor, a jammed pedal, or a sensor or computer glitch, the car will accelerate because the engine is far more power than the brake system. It is amazing that computers are not programmed to ignore the accelerator input when the brake pedal is pressed. I am curious to see if the U.S. political system has become so corrupt that this simple idea is not mandated for new cars.

Mar 12, 2010 - Crazy Navy Captains

The Captain of the USS Wasp was relieved "for cause" in 2008. The "Navy Times" reported one reason was the Captain was collecting kickbacks from local shopkeepers, even though he makes around $150,000 a year. The Captain would often use the ships' loudspeaker system to recommend certain shops to his crew, and one time he invited a Persian rug merchant to display his goods on ship and insisted that his officers buy something. Last month, the Commander of the Charleston Naval Weapons station was arrested for soliciting prostitution. Its good to see an "old school" sailor not afraid of PC.

Read about a female Navy Captain that was recently relieved for abusing her crew. She was known as a crazy bitch by those who worked with her, yet continued to advance in the Navy. She demonstrates that something is seriously wrong with the Navy's evaluation and promotion system. This is nothing new to veterans who have seen incompetent and arrogant officers promoted along with good ones. For sensational military news, read about serious crimes at: MilitaryCorruption.com

Mar 10, 2010 - Sarah Palin

Corporate creation Sarah Palin is interesting. Few seem to like her, and she's nothing more than a recently resigned state governor. However, the corporate media has decided to cover her every move, except when she screws up. Palin is an outspoken opponent of government health care, yet she just told a Canadian audience that when she lived near their border: “We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada. And I think now, isn't that ironic?”

Yes, it is ironic, and unbelievably stupid! It is probably a crime for foreigners to abuse the free Canadian health care system. It also shows her to be a hypocrite. Why did she mention that? Why isn't this on CNN? An even bigger mystery is why John McCain selected her as a running mate. 

Mar 9, 2010 - Waste Not?

As some state governments go bankrupt, they need root out waste. State universities exist to train people to provide services to citizens, but have become a hobby shop in many cases. Do California universities need to offer paleontology courses and award college degrees to study dinosaurs? Our nation has far more PhDs in  paleontology than it needs. Everyone agrees that California has too many lawyers, and most don't even practice law. So why not close down some state laws schools, perhaps the one at UC Irvine that recently opened for no sane reason.

"Ethnic Studies" are another group of programs where scrutiny is overdue. A few years ago, the "Daily Show" highlighted an example with hilarious sarcasm as "correspondent" Samantha Bee interviewed a UC Davis professor, who was concerned about the lack of Asian men in porno films, so he made his own: They So Horny.

Mar 8, 2010 - Rusty Staples

I just read an interesting account about Cold War spy craft. The USA and Britain learned to make perfect copies of Russian and East European documents for their agents to use. After a few months, all their agents began to get arrested. They thought they must have a high-level mole feeding the KGB names of their agents. After two years they had found no mole, but learned what happened. They used western stainless steel staples, while the Soviets used cheaper iron ones. They looked the same when new, but after a few months the iron ones caused telltale rust marks. 

Mar 7, 2010 - High Federal Civilian Pay

My recent article on high military pay resulted in many comments. "USA Today" just published an article "Federal pay ahead of private industry", which indicates federal workers earn around $37,000 more each year than comparable civilians, when benefits are included. Federal employee unions reps state this is misleading since fed workers perform more difficult work and have more experience.

Mar 5, 2010 - The Health Care Funding Spin

If the federal government expands it massive programs to ensure all Americans are covered by a health insurance plan, this will cost billions of dollars a year. I don't like most of Obama's plan, yet let me clear up the corporate spin. This extra spending will not disappear, it will go to local doctors and hospitals who are now screwed by a federal law that requires them to provide emergency treatment, regardless of one's ability to pay. America has national health care, it's just a bizarre system where one goes to an emergency room and demands their free federally mandated care -- or we will sue!

In theory, Obama's plan would allow hospitals and doctors to charge everyone less, since they will not have to pad their bills to cover the expense of providing free care to the uninsured. Some may argue that repealing the emergency health care mandate is the solution, but then we'd become a Third World nation where sidewalks are full of disabled and dying beggars who can't work because of an old injury. That is not something true Christians would endorse, especially for children.  Even economists agree that allowing workers to become disabled from moderate injuries, like a broken leg, is bad for everyone.

Fiscally responsible Congressmen rightly highlighted these unfunded costs, so Obama looked for savings. He got agreement from the hospitals/doctors lobbyists to accept lower reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid in future years, since his plan would ensure they were now paid for treating everyone. Did the "deficit hawks" praise Obama for saving billions of dollars a year from two federal programs to help pay for his idea to insure everyone? Of course not, a new corporate campaign began to derail his plan with the truthful warning that Obama's plan would: Cut Medicare!

Mar 4, 2010 - Stretch the Hockey Goal

On Jan 9th, I wrote about how eliminating the goalie can make soccer twice more enjoyable. This could be done in ice hockey too, since scoring is also absurdly low. However, this would encourage unprotected players to fill the blocking role of the armored hockey goalie. After watching boring Olympic hockey games, I noticed that many puck scoring attempts were deflected by the goal posts. If the goal were wider, scoring would increase. So just make the goal net six feet wider and scoring would triple! This would make the game more exciting and interesting, but is not possible because it requires "change".

Mar 3, 2010 - Credit at Barnes and Noble

One month ago, I detailed my complaint about Barnes & Nobel. After ordering an item and receiving an e-mail confirmation, I noticed it was to be shipped to my old address. BN refused to do anything, even though the shipment was still in their warehouse. I never received the item, despite numerous e-mail complaints, yet they finally gave me the mailing address for their senior complaint gal. Yes, I had to write a snail letter.

She apologized and the sent me my small order. Afterwards, I did some on-line research and provided her with links showing that UPS allows shippers to void shipments and even change the address up until the time it delivered. I am shocked that huge, sophisticated BN didn't know or didn't care about that option. A customer service rep can fix such problems within a minute, even if is just an incorrect apartment number. They could even charge a small fee if warranted. For some reason, they don't bother, and probably lose thousands of customers a year who become irate when BN refuses to fix shipping address problems.

This reminded me of an insane problem I had last year with Chase Visa. I have used that card for years since I get 1% cash back. I changed my autopay to another bank, and checked back on-line two days after the due date to make sure it worked okay. I saw no payment, yet a $39 late payment fee AND a $39 returned check fee. I called and resolved the problem as we determined that I needed to include the four zeros in front of my account number for it to work. 

Problem solved. NO! They refused to refund the $78 in fees, even though the problem was understandable and I had called them two days after the due date to resolve the problem. I had to argue my way upwards through two supervisors and state that I would cancel my card before they relented and waived the fees. BTW, most banks will waive one late fee a year for good customers, if you insist you mailed it on time, or claim it must be lost in the mail. 

While the corporate media talks about greedy banks, no one in DC proposes simple reforms, like limiting late fees and returned check fees to a reasonable $5, or putting an interest rate cap of 18% back on credit cards. It was once unlawful for anyone to charge an interest rate greater than 18%, which was consider immoral "usury." A former bank accountant once admitted that late fees and bounced checks cost banks around 5 cents to resolve, so these fees are an extremely profitable multi-billion dollar racket.

Mar 2, 2010

My Jan. 6th entry addressed the misuse of the M-4 carbine as a squad infantry rifle. I was pleased to read that a graduate paper from a combat experienced Army Major reached the same conclusion. The army is now equipping its rifle squads with two 7.62mm M-14 rifles. 

Mar 1, 2010 - The Health Care Debate

This is one of my areas of expertise, yet I won't bore you with the details. I'll just provide a short summary, and you can research the topic if you have doubts. The main problem is the USA spends twice as much for health care than any other modern industrialized nation, and it ranks below average in terms of health care quality. All wealthy nations provide health care for their citizens, except the USA. The two other most developed nations with no national health care system are Turkey and Mexico.

If the U.S. government adopted the government run or government managed (single payer) systems used by all other industrialized nations, it could provide health care to all citizens for the same cost it now spends to cover 40% of its citizens. Yes, around 40% of Americans are already covered by a myriad of government health care systems. Americans are told government run is horrible because that is "socialism", yet socialism works better to provide many services. Our military, police, fire departments, highways, schools, and airports are all "socialist" systems. We already have socialist health care in the form of calling 911 for an ambulance, followed by prompt government mandated health care at hospitals.

The problem is that America has an established system of powerful health care corporations that would be wiped out by a simple government system, so they spend heavily to legally bribe Congressmen in both parties to block reform. Note that even President Obama refuses to propose a government system, or to simply expand two of its efficient systems (Medicare and Medicaid). Half of the Democratic party (led by Obama) is in the pocket of the traditional private insurers racket, so nothing serious will change. However, they plan to enrich the private insurers with government subsides so more can afford their ultra-expensive product, while mandating that those who can must buy.

Note that despite all the fearmongering about the dangers of "socialized" medicine, Congressmen, who make four times more than the average American, never discuss eliminating their generous government funded health care system. They never complain about the socialist doctors at Bethesda Naval Hospital who provide them with free care.

In addition, America's media corporations make billions of dollars from private health care advertising, including those frequent commercials pushing prescription drug use, so they fear lost business. Finally, America's billionaires enjoy much lower taxation than in other nations, and they hate when working American use democracy to improve their lives. This may encourage them to seek higher taxes on inherited wealth, which are currently at zero, in order to improve society at large. 

I'll get off my soapbox now, but a failed health care system is one of many factors destroying America. For example, the main problem American manufactures face in the global economy is that their foreign competitors have no employee health care costs. The number one cause of personal bankruptcy in the USA are hospital bills, and most of these people have private insurance, but cannot afford their co-pays. True patriots are pushing for single-payer, which they describe as "Medicare for all", yet they are drowned out by the lies told by corporate sponsored Congressmen and millionaire media personalities.

Feb 28, 2010 - Cockpit Video Recorders

With all the advances in video technology this past decade, most people are surprised to learn that accident investigators never have cockpit video of an aircraft incident. They could Just glue an Ipod on the ceiling and record the flight! This has been an issue for decades, with airline pilots unions blocking the idea. They make a weak case that families of dead pilots would be haunted by images of them about to die. Of course the FAA need only classify them as secret, but that solution is not discussed.

We all know that airline pilots are highly professional and well trained, yet we also know they have little to do on long flights as autopilot takes over. Since 9-11, they are locked in the cockpit so they can't roam around the airplane. One must assume they read, play with their iphone apps and laptop, or watch DVDs. There have been two recent cases of both pilots falling asleep. This explains part of the opposition, but then no one wants to be recorded at work. Bored pilots want to chat and complain about their wife, their bosses, and their taxes. They also want to tell dirty jokes and share stories of drinking and womanizing. 

However, pilots should agree to a simple compromise. When the "fasten seat belt" light goes on, the recorders turn on. This happens during take-offs, landings, turbulent weather, and emergencies. Pilots are not playing around at those times, so they should have no objection to recording video. They control the "fasten seat belt" signs, so they would also control the cockpit recorder. 

As part of a recording system, there should be a broadcast capability that pilots switch on during an emergency or hijacking. This would allow air traffic control towers within range to see exactly what is happening inside the cockpit so they may offer advice. Nearby airline pilots may rush to the tower and notice something the stressed flying pilots have overlooked. 

Ideally, all the flight information now recorded on the airplane's "black (orange) box" is transmitted too. This is helpful and ensures preservation should the black box be damaged or unrecoverable. Boeing and Airbus maintain an emergency technical team ready 24/7 for telephone consults. A simple Internet link could provide them cockpit video during a crisis, along with flight data. In this manner, no one has to distract the busy pilots with questions about their instruments or flight conditions. This simple solution should prevent several accidents a year, so where is my consulting contract?

Feb 26, 2010 - Aviation Safety for Idiots

The FAA spends millions of dollars each  year to evaluate expensive safety ideas. I'll give them one for free. Many airplanes are unintentionally camouflaged, making it difficult to see them in the air or ground. Those flown by United Airlines are some of the worst. (right) Add some fog or light rain and their aircraft disappear from view. Note the barely visible white airplane flying above, which would be invisible against clouds. Keep in mind that "runway incursions" on the ground are a serious problem as well.

The FAA should require that 80% of an airplane's skin be painted with high visibility "luminous" colors, which are already used by fire departments and highway workers. Fire departments moved from red to luminous yellow decades ago to reduce traffic accidents, but airlines failed to adopt this common sense idea. This would greatly improve aviation safety as most small aircraft rely only on visual identification. If phased in over a ten-year period, this would cost little since aircraft are repainted every few years. The other 20% of the skin is available for unique lettering, logos, or stripes, like the brightly colored Hertz airplane pictured.

This idea could be improved by assigning specific colors to different types of aircraft. This allows pilots easier identification because a small dot in the distance may be a huge, fast 747 or a slow, tiny Piper Cub. Perhaps slow single-engine props could be painted bright orange; slow helicopters - pink; faster multi-engine props - bright "lime" green; and very fast jet aircraft - bright yellow. This idea is simple to grasp, costs nothing to implement, yet would prevent several accidents a year.

Feb 25, 2010 - High Military Pay

I consolidated my three blog comments about the low military pay myth into one article, which can be read here: High Military Pay That short article is more valuable for recruiting and retention that billions of dollars in traditional advertising.

Feb 23, 2010 - Fire Fighter Unions Like Fires

As communities struggle with budget problems, I recall what Andrew Tobias wrote many years ago about the fire insurance racket. His research showed that most serious fires are deliberately set to collect insurance. If an old house or building needs replacement, just burn it!  If a building owner can't find tenants, burn it! If a new parking lot is more valuable than an old abandoned warehouse, burn it! If an outdated factory cannot be sold and will soon close down, burn it! This saves demolition costs and funds the new project. If someone can't make his mortgage payment, a small kitchen fire results in an insurance payment that covers the mortgage payments for several months.

Television tries to convince us that brilliant fire investigators can prove this, but they rarely find hard evidence as people are not stupid to use accelerates like gasoline. A small trash fire started by a cigarette can grow into a large one if no one is home. One can just "forget" and leave something cooking on the stove when they go to work. Smoke damage to paint is worth a few thousand itself. Yes, it is suspicious that someone just bought a house that needed extensive repairs, and it burned to the ground. Yes, it is odd that crashing real estate prices meant an owner owed much more than a home was worth, but he broke even after a devastating fire. Yes, it is strange the burnt up restaurant was losing money and about to close. However, these "coincidences" are never enough to arrest someone.

His solution is to pass a law to prohibit cash payouts for fire insurance claims. Insurance reimbursements must be placed in escrow and only be used to pay licensed contractors to repair or recreate the exact same structure and equipment. This would also eliminate fires that destroy cars where the owner owes much more than its street value. If your car burns up, the insurance company buys you another one -- the exact same make, year, and model. He said this would reduce the number of fires in half. However, it would also cut the fire insurance business in half, along with sales commissions, and allow local fire departments, with politically powerful local unions, to be cut in half. Tobias said these forces have long blocked this common sense idea.

Feb 19, 2010 - Lost Battles of the Indian Wars

I recently stumbled upon some hidden American history. It seems 1000 American soldiers were wiped out in an 1791 battle in Ohio, in which an Indian force of the same size destroyed a quarter of the U.S. Army while the 1st American Regiment was wiped out. The loss of the "Battle of Wabash River" was blamed on Major General Arthur St. Clair, and became known as St. Clair's defeat. It seems Army officers didn't think Indians would attack such a large force, which exploited the Army's practice of "stacking arms" before marching to chow.

Feb 18, 2010 - Dissing Southerners and Red Indians

As part of my quest to educate others, let me address two hypocrite groups in the USA. There are millions of people from the American South who firmly believe the Civil War was an unjust invasion of their states by the Yankee army. That is a reasonable view, yet the same people also believe that service in the U.S. military today is noble and honorable. How is that rational, when the same Yankee army continues to invade and occupy other nations?

The same logic applies to American Indians who complain about how the Yankee army invaded their lands and destroyed their culture, then brag about their service in the Yankee army? You may note that I do not use the inaccurate term of "native American." I was born in the USA, so I am a native American. American Indians immigrated to the Americas from Asia, so "Asian-American" is a better. 

A 1995 U.S. Census survey of Indian tribes found that most preferred "American Indian." I recently noticed that some Asians call them "Red Indians" and use "Brown Indians" for those from India. Note that Columbus did not think he landed in India. He called them "indios" roughly translated as "people of God" because they were so kind and peaceful.

Feb 17, 2010 - Rich Kid Olympics

I am overwhelmed by the number of new Winter Olympic sports that require ultra-expensive equipment and facilities, yet little athletic ability. How does anyone find the bobsled event interesting, one that requires millions of dollars to build a track? There is that silly shuffle board thing where "Olympians" polish ice furiously like clowns with a mop. It seems that millionaires have pressed for these obscure non-completive "sports" that require little athletic ability so their kids can become "Olympians." No wonder ratings are poor and cities lose millions of dollars hosting them.

Feb 16, 2010 - Carving Up California

If you follow the news in America's largest state, it has become dysfunctional. It needs a constitutional convention to undo all the nonsense that freezes political action. As I noted in my Jan. 28 entry, large states are not properly represented in the U.S. Senate since California would need 69 Senators for its population to have the save representation as the smallest state of Wyoming. 

The obvious solution is to carve the state up. Ideally, you keep counties intact and avoid state lines through metropolitan areas. Fortunately, California has a perfect line to separate the ten counties of southern California, right between Tulare and Kern counties. Those are sparsely populated areas too.

Carving up the rest of the state is more complex. A majority of people in the northernmost counties are in favor of splitting off, although that area is sparsely populated. Probably the best idea is to spin off the 12 million people and nine counties of the San Francisco Bay metropolitan area, and add Santa Cruz too.

If split into three states, you could have the state of Southern California with ten counties and 16 million people, which would be the nation's fifth largest, bigger than Illinois. The state of Northern California with 8 million people and a capitol in Sacramento representing mostly rural counties. And the state of "Frisco" with the ten counties of the San Francisco Bay metropolitan area and a population of 13 million; the nation's sixth largest. The people would then have six Senators in Washington DC and more responsive and functional state governments.

As for the other big states, No. 2 Texas could shift the distant El Paso area to small New Mexico, and its northern panhandle to small Oklahoma. The people in these areas would be much closer to the state capitol and better represented, but Texas "nationalism" would stop this idea. However, most citizens of the No. 3 state of New York should agree with the logic of spinning off the 13 million person New York metropolitan area into a separate state.

Yes, I daydream too much.

Feb 14, 2010 - MLRS and Incompetent Generals

The MLRS is a large rocket system designed to strike targets the size of a football field, used to attack enemy units numbering in the thousands. Rockets are expected to hit within 100 meters of the target. They have no place in counterinsurgency, yet the artillery "community" insist that they get to play war in Iraq and now Afghanistan. This is absurd, as I noted in my G2Gems blog four years ago.

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January 2006 - MLRS in Iraq Counterinsurgency Operation

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     This is a great example of how not to fight insurgents.  The MLRS is designed to hit huge targets  the size of a football field.  This is not something to be used to fight a dozen insurgents.  This weapons system should not even be in Iraq.  Perhaps they are just wasting money for fun, instead of wasting lives.

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Now we read that 12 Afghan civilians were killed yesterday when two MLRS rockets hit homes 300 meters away from the fighting. Army officers will explain that no one is to blame because the civilians were not targeted by the "coalition", while hatred toward Americans grow. These "area" weapons are a danger to our own troops as well. Hopefully, Mr. Gates will intervene and order Army Generals to send their missile artillerymen home. The Generals are hesitant, knowing that it will be "unfair" to career artillery officers who need a combat tour to remain competitive for promotion to senior ranks. As most American military officers know, career opportunities are more important than winning wars or saving lives.

That linked NY Times article about the big offensive in Afghanistan shows typical incompetence of Generals. They insist of big divisional operations so they can fight a war. They know that casualties must be avoided, so they announce their offensive days in advance to allow the enemy to flee. This allows them to easily secure their objectives, proclaim victory, hold press conferences, and write up valor awards for each other. Meanwhile, thousands of foreign Christian soldiers rumble through towns, kicking down doors, threatening everyone and shooting some. Then they drag local leaders to meetings where they explain they are there to help them. 

Feb 12, 2010 - Trustees for the Homeless

In my Feb 7th blog I suggested that the European practice of paying unemployment benefits to all unemployed is one solution to perpetually high unemployment. While $600 a month is barely enough to survive, it may be used by drug addicts and alcoholics for their high, and they may continue to live on the streets, in shelters, or with relatives forever. This is already a problem today with those collecting monthly Veteran's Administration or Social Security disability (SSI) checks for mental health or physical problems. 

The solution is to authorize a trustee in cases where a local judge finds someone incapable of managing their affairs. People collecting government checks with a drug or alcohol problem that end up in jail for petty crimes like vagrancy may lose direct control of their monthly check. A judge may order their monthly stipend sent to a relative, shelter, church, or other non-profit organization that agrees to provide them with food and shelter. This would humanely remove troubled people from the streets, while keeping party animals fearful of losing control of their monthly unemployment stipend should they cause trouble. 

A small monthly unemployment stipend for newly released convicts would also reduce recidivism and related prison costs. After spending $30,000 a year to house prison inmates, most are dumped on the streets with no job, no shelter, and just a few dollars in pocket change, and then people act surprised when they are arrested for robbery or petty theft a few days later. In bankrupt California, 70% of inmates are returned to expensive prisons just of few months after release. It would be cheaper and more humane to pay them a small monthly stipend until they find a job, and provide an incentive not to violate parole.

Feb 10, 2010 - What's Wrong with High Military Pay?

Over the past three decades civilian private sector pay remained flat, while Congress routinely provided annual military pay raises higher than the inflation rate. In recent blog posts, I provided detailed data showing that military personnel now earn twice as much as comparable Americans.  What wrong with that?

1) Every dollar spent on unneeded pay is a dollar that could have been spent to develop or procure new items of equipment;  2) Less pay allows for more manpower. If troops were paid the same as back in the Reagan years, our military could afford twice as many troops; 3) Meeting reenlistment goals are no problem today, but that increases stress as everyone must compete (and brown nose) to remain in the career force. One mistake or upset officer may end their career; 4) As the nation faces bankruptcy, it is unpatriotic to demand larger budgets to fund unnecessary pay raises.

This Pentagon reform is simple; freeze pay for a few years. Use some of the savings for more combat pay and for deployment pay. Also, Congress should scrutinize reenlistment bonuses, which have become a tradition even though most are unjustified. I recall a time when the Air Force was offering some officers a choice of severance pay to leave the service due to downsizing, or a bonus for remaining, which was a tradition for pilots.

Feb 9, 2010 - Buying Gold

Buying gold has become more popular as governments crank up their printing presses. This seems like a good investment, although central banks work hard to suppress its price by manipulating the futures market and with a criminal activity they call "gold leasing."

If you want to buy gold, do not listen to television charlatans like Glenn Beck who recommend companies that charge 30% more than the market price. Pull out a phone book and call local coin dealers and ask what gold coins they have for sale. The most common is the American Gold Eagle, which is made by the U.S. Government. Coin dealers charge only around $30-$50 per coin above the worldwide gold market price, which you can find at www.kitco.com  Some states like California exempt coin transactions of more than $1000 from sales tax, because its an investment, although the IRS cannot track any gains. Ask your coin dealer for details on sales taxes.

They will only accept cash, and if you "transact" more than $10,000 in cash they must send a report to the Feds. If you "structure" your transactions with payments of over $3000 they are required to report this "suspicious" activity. So spread your buys in smaller amounts over time. If you want to sell, bring it back to the dealer and he will pay you the current market price.

So far as hiding gold, the federal government and certain companies have a database of bank safe deposit box owners in the USA, so they can find your stash if you face legal problems. Keep in mind that after the stock market crashed in the 1930s, the President closed the banks for two weeks and authorized them to sift through safety deposit box to seize gold, which had been declared illegal to own. So if there is a major economic crises, you should bury your gold somewhere, like next to a metal fence post so someone searching with metal detector cannot not find it.

Feb 7, 2010 - Why the Homeless Are Never Unemployed

Someone just told me that homeless persons are not included in unemployment stats. Why? Because they are homeless. The Labor Department employment survey data comes from visiting households to ask questions. No home, no visit. Most homeless do not live on the streets, but in barracks type shelters, in cars, and in tents at park campsites. The corporate media rarely covers the latter story; the problem state, national, and local park authorities have with permanent campers living in tents for months paying the $5 a day fee forever.

The reason I find employment stats interesting is because it has become America's biggest issue. Most people with jobs don't care, but a lack of jobs will affect their children and other relatives, who may be forced to live with them. The American population has grown from 280 million in 2000 to 308 million in 2010, while the nation has the same number of jobs! Only 58.4% of healthy Americans ages 16-64 are employed, a record low, a figure that excludes the uncountable homeless.

This is the result of greatly improved efficiency in manufacturing with the use of robotics, computer automation everywhere, and outsourcing overseas. Two solutions are already in use in Europe. One is a shorter workweek, so companies must hire more people, while workers earn less yet work fewer hours. The other is idea is to pay unemployment checks to all unemployed, for as long as they don't work. In the USA, this is limited to six months. A basic monthly check of $600 a month to provide food and keep them off the streets and out of jail, staying with relatives or sharing cheap apartments. While most Americans dislike the idea of providing welfare checks to healthy men, the money is minimal, and the envious are free to quit their job and join the "bums."

My partial solution is to stop issuing and renewing a million visas for foreign workers each year. With massive unemployment, how is this morally justified? Note that political leaders from the two corporate controlled parties never suggest this obvious solution. They'll have a jobs "summit" and discuss ways to spend more money, but the only talk of "immigration reform" is about an amnesty program to allow millions of foreigners who have broken American laws to work legally, while encouraging more mass illegal immigration to drive down wages further.

Feb 6, 2010 - More Fake Fed Stats

The headline is good news -- the unemployment rate fell sharply. Reading the fine print in an AP article, one can see George Orwell's thesis at work: 

"The unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since August because a Labor Department survey of households found a sharp rise in the number of Americans with jobs. The survey found that 541,000 more Americans had jobs last month. But those gains resulted from seasonal adjustments to the data. Without those adjustments, the data show fewer people had jobs last month."

That is an exact quote. Fewer people had jobs, yet the unemployment rate fell sharply because of data "adjustments." The reporter should do a story on that BS. At the very least, the headline that unemployment dropped is false. As Robert Fisk noted last year, most reporters are lazy and timid stenographers. They just retype news releases. See my previous comments for more on the fake unemployment rate.

Feb 5, 2010 - News Not Fit to Print

You may have missed the biggest news story of the year. It seems the Nigerian who tried to blow up Flight 253 was under FBI surveillance, AND a well-dressed American at the airport in Amsterdam intervened when the airline refused to issue the potential terrorist a boarding pass. He had the perfect terrorist profile: a Muslim name, Third World passport, traveling alone, paying cash for a one-way ticket, and no luggage, yet he wasn't scrutinized in sophisticated Amsterdam?

In testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee, Patrick F. Kennedy, an undersecretary for management at the State Department, said Abdulmutallab's visa wasn't taken away because intelligence officials asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist over concerns that a denial would've foiled a larger investigation into al Qaeda threats against the United States.

This was all spun as bumbling bureaucrats, but perhaps they knew he had a tiny inert explosive that just caught fire, which they might have secretly provided him. If he had made the explosive himself, surely he would have tested it beforehand. FYI, an explosive that small wouldn't have caused any real damage even it did explode in his pants. It would have hurt some people, but the airframe would remain undamaged.

The corporate media avoided this explosive story, which is no surprise. Instead, they helped the Pentagon point the finger at Yemen, noting that Abdulmtallab had visited there. However, he was wealthy and had visited many other nations. He once lived in London, so why didn't he attack there? All this at a key time for federal bureaucracies in the USA as they attempt to boost their budgets. Just today, an AP article appeared: Billions More for Counterterror.

Feb 4 , 2010 - Saving Lives

If one looks at the leading causes of preventable deaths in the USA this past decade, terrorism doesn't even make the top 20. Automobile accidents killed 43,000 Americans last year, and 17,000 of these involved collisions with other vehicles. The nation could reduce this by maybe 2000 deaths a year by adopting three simple ideas.

Brake lights are simple devices, but provide the same light if someone is tapping their brakes or pressing down hard for an emergency. It would be simple to mount a red strobe light that would activate whenever someone is braking fast to alert everyone behind them to brake hard as well.

The second idea came from my friend Howard Ruhlman. He said cars should have a green light on the rear that lights when the accelerator is pressed. During an emergency every second counts, and there is a second delay from the time a person moves their foot from the accelerator to the brake. With an accelerator light, driver's would normally see a green light indicating a cruising car, and instinctively learn that when a green light goes off they should stop accelerating and prepare to brake. This provides an extra second to react, and if a red strobe light goes off they know to brake hard and look to avoid a collision. 

The green light is also helpful when people stop alongside a highway, but fail to engage their emergency flashers. Many fatal accidents are caused on dark or foggy roadways when the sleepy or drunk follow the taillights ahead. Some may notice the lack of a green light and avoid death. Finally, why not make flashers come on automatically whenever a car is put in park with its lights on? These changes are not rocket science and would cost almost nothing to require in new cars.

Feb 3, 2010 - Fraud at Barnes and Nobel

I always liked BN, but I've rarely encountered such corporate arrogance. I updated my address on-line and ordered. They sent me a confirmation e-mail the next day, but the shipping address was my old one. It seems when you update it only changes your billing address unless you click a small box that updates your shipping address too. I sent them an e-mail noting the error. They replied that they can't change the address, I must cancel and start over, so I went on-line and canceled.

The next day I received an e-mail saying my request to cancel was denied and it would be shipped that day. I e-mailed and called, saying it was going to the wrong address. They replied they can't doing anything since it is in the "fulfillment process" but if the person at the wrong address returns it, they will give me credit. They said it was impossible to contact their own warehouse or the shipping firm to change or cancel the order. I checked on-line and saw dozens of complaints about their no cancel policy.

I told them I would cancel my account and dispute my charge if I never received what I ordered. They had my correct address before it was even shipped. They knew it would go to the wrong address. They said sorry, that's their policy. I suspect some Ivy league whiz kid discovered that BN lost millions of dollars in sales to cancellations. In most cases, people had changed their minds, but I read about many others who were not allowed to cancel even when their order was weeks overdue. In my case, I just wanted to correct the address, but that requires an order to be cancelled, and that is not allowed. So BN makes more money in the short term, but loses thousands of customers and more money in the long-term.

This reminds me of problems at Sears stores, which were losing money a couple years ago. A whiz kid determined they could save millions of dollars by halting store renovations. Sears suddenly began to turn a profit and he was applauded. Of course this caused long-term problems with sales, and Sears is likely to go out of business soon.

Feb 1, 2010 - Freeze Military Spending

Former Reagan administration official Larry Korb is one of the few bright bulbs in the beltway think tanks. His recent article "Spending Freeze Must Include Defense" makes a compelling case for freezing military spending. He writes: "In the last ten years, the baseline defense budget nearly doubled from $290 billion in FY2000 to $532 billion, an increase of $242 billion or 83 percent, or more than 8 percent a year. Even if one controls for inflation, the real growth amounts to nearly 50 percent, about 5 percent a year in real terms. By way of contrast, non-defense discretionary spending, which the administration proposes to freeze, has averaged only 5 percent annual growth, or 2 percent real growth during that same period."

Do we really need more money to fight terrorism each year than we spent to counter the Soviet Union? Why don't the true fiscal conservatives support freezing all spending, including defense? What about rolling back some of the 50% increase from the past ten years?

Jan 28, 2010 - Partial Democracy

I often refer to the USA as a partial democracy, since it lacks the multi-party parliamentary system of real democracies. For example, Ross Perot and his party got 19% of the popular vote when he ran for President, but was allowed zero representation in the nation's Congress. In a parliamentary system where 100 Senate seats are allocated according to the popular vote, his party could have chose 19 members to represent them in the Senate.

Another flaw in our system is that some states have become far larger than others. The most recent population estimates from the U.S. Census shows that 50 Senators from the 25 smallest states represent just 16% of the population. People from the smallest state of Wyoming with just 533,000 citizens are allowed two Senators, just like the largest state of California with 36,757,000. Californians would need 69 Senators to equal Wyoming's two Senators for true democratic representation.

This allows even more corruption in the election process because corporations and billionaires can influence elections in small states with smaller sums of money, per person. Therefore, Senators from small states are often targeted for removal by interests from outside the state. This is why Senator Harry Reid from the small state of Nevada is facing a difficult reelection.

Jan 26, 2010 - American Soldiers on Okinawa?

As part of my series on overseas bases that should close, here is my latest: 

Close Torii Station - a U.S. Army base on Okinawa?

Jan 25, 2010 - Ultra High Officer Pay

My Jan. 17th entry contains details on how enlisted personnel earn 2-3 times more than comparable Americans. Using DoD's on-line pay calculator, we learn that a new lieutenant O-1 starts at $54,800 a year. The BLS collects data on pay for new college graduates. I could not find an average because it breaks data down by occupation. Several types of engineers start off at around $70,000, so pay for new officers seems reasonable. The BLS does provide the average pay data for college graduates, and its latest data is from the 3rd Quarter of 2009. This shows the median pay for American workers with a bachelor degree is $1020 a week, times 52 = $53,040 a year. This shows that an officer fresh out of college earns more than the average college graduate with years of seniority and experience.

Let's say the average college graduate works between ages 23 and 63, so a direct comparison for an average  officer would be a 43-year old at 20 years of service who is an O-5 (Lt. Colonel or Navy Commander). With a wife and four kids he earns a massive $136,000 a year!  That is more than twice as much as comparable Americans. The excuse is that officers have much more responsibly, but that is questionable. Officers in charge of units have limited roles, and since there is an officer for every five enlisted, most do not command anyone. Many officers are just students, co-pilots, aides, or rubber stamp paperwork and are nothing more than super clerks. The U.S. Army has trouble keeping captains because of the endless deployments, and a perception of low pay, but it has no problem keeping mid-grade officers.

Some officers have advanced degrees, but most were paid to obtain one. No company in the private sector pays employees to attend college for two years to obtain a Masters degree. Nevertheless, the BLS data shows the median pay for American workers with advanced degrees is $1309 a week, times 52 = $68,068 a year. So your average mid-career military officer earns twice as much! How is this justified? This explains why career officers love the military and fight to remain in the force. Keep in mind that these DoD pay figures do not included special pays and bonuses, which often adds thousands of dollars a year. It was once common for military pilots to leave after six years and join an airline. This is rare today since military officers now earn far more than airline pilots.

Congress seems unaware because a few years ago some greedy officers in the Pentagon produced a bogus study showing they were underpaid, so Congress authorized a special pay boost for mid-ranking officers. It seems they decided they are comparable to top lawyers at top law firms, rather than the average pay for Americans with advanced degrees. Also note that while most Americans have a retirement plan, nearly all are matching plans where employees must contribute half and the benefits are limited. People in the military never contribute one cent and have defined benefits that are never depleted. Since most retire at around 45 years of age, they earn retirement pay and heavily subsidized medical care for as long as they served in the military.

High military explains support for the recent law that allows servicemen to pass their VA college benefits along to their children. Why should enlisted leave the service and struggle through college on a small stipend only to graduate and earn less money? It is far better to reenlist so that after another four years they are an E-6 with eight years and pocket $63,000 a year, some $10,000 more than the average college graduate with decades of experience! Keep in mind that going to college also results in the loss of over $200,000 in pay during those four years.

High pay has also resulted in depression among disabled veterans. The VA pays an adequate disability rate for them to live comfortably, but it is far less than their generous active duty pay. Many are outraged that they are disabled by combat duty, then punished as doctors say they cannot remain on active duty so their income falls in half. This has led to confusion as injured vets awarded a minor disability rating attempt to reenlist after discovering private sector pay is less than half as much. The Army recently drew the line at 50% disability, meaning anyone with a disability rating of 50% or more is not allowed to reenlist.

Let's look at the pay disparity with an example of two brothers. One graduates from a four-year college, followed by two years of graduate school at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses and lost wages. He worked for 12 years and now earns the national average for his educational level of $68,068 annually. His brother joined the military, never took a college class and didn't work hard, so he is just an E-6 after 18 years in the military, yet he earns more than his hard working and highly educated brother who spent six unpaid years and over $100,000 to toil through six years of college. So what is wrong with high military pay? I'll address that next.

Jan 23, 2010 - The M1 Abrams Tank is not Invulnerable

The Incredible Hulk destroys a tank platoon in an impressive, humorous fight, in this youtube clip.

Jan 22, 2010 - America's Prison Problem

Hats off to Senator James Webb for his efforts to shine light on America's massive prison industry. The USA has more people in prison that any other nation, in total and per capita. More than China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran or any other "evil" nation. The USA has around ten times more of its population behind bars than Western European nations. This is uncivilized, counterproductive, and very expensive.

Here is a recent example of why from bankrupt California, where the state's prison guards union is the top "contributor" to state legislators. A practicing Los Angeles doctor with no criminal record became angry at rude adult bicyclists in his neighborhood and decided to teach two a lesson. He slammed on his brakes, causing two bicyclists to crash and suffer serious injury. That was wrong, so I'd give him 30 days in the local county jail, a $50,000 fine, and one day a week of community service treating the poor for free at the county hospital -- for five years. This also makes him libel for civil damages to compensate the bicyclists.

As is common, the "tough" prosecutor wanted the doctor locked up for eight years after convincing a jury to find him guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, battery with serious bodily injury, reckless driving and mayhem. The judge sentenced him to five years in state prison, with an inmate cost of $30,000 a year. Since the doctor lost his hospital job, the state also loses thousands of dollars in potential income taxes, and is unlikely to collect fines. Rather than my punishment scheme that collects $50,000 and free medical treatment for the poor, the state of California will lose ~$200,000 in prison costs and lost income taxes. 

Citizens should also be angry at the expensive anti-drug and anti-vice stings run by local police that are sometimes shown on TV. A dozen $150,000 a year policemen (when retirement benefits are included) spend hours stalking a poor, unemployed local trying to make a few dollars in the free enterprise system. They proudly arrest someone and "take them off the streets", often using entrapment, which was prohibited until a decade ago. After a cost of thousands of dollars, the perp is released a few weeks later. What's the point! If someone is a neighborhood nuisance, local patrolmen can run them off with petty harassment, as is the traditional method. These expensive and pointless "task forces" are one reason so many cities face bankruptcy.

Jan 21, 2010 - The Gitmo Murders

Hard evidence has been published that indicates three Gitmo "detainees" were murdered. They did not choose suicide by the same method the exact same evening while in separate cells. A former Army sergeant assumed the Obama folks might be interested. He was wrong. The corporate media chose to ignore this story, even though senior officers were involved. I'm not sure if Obama knows he has been lied to by his trusted advisors, or doesn't care. I thought it was absurd when he claimed it would take a year to remove the detainees from Gitmo, yet he couldn't even accomplish that simple task.

Jan 20, 2010 - Letter from Dhayne

My reply: Another issue is body armor. We use body armor and helmets that stop a 7.62mm, so a 5.56mm is worse. Our snipers use mostly 7.62mm and aim at center body mass. If they shoot a soldier with body armor at 500+ meters, he will just run away.

I was thinking that a .338 machine gun would be great too, replacing both the medium and heavy machine guns in infantry units.

Jan 19, 2010 - Pepsi for the Poor

The USA is the world's fattest nation, which adds tens of billions of dollars in health care costs, not to mention lost productivity. There are proposals to tax soft drinks, which could be slapped on distributors. This sounds evil, but then beer and alcohol are taxed heavily because they pose a health hazard.

While that is debated, I'm sure nearly all Americans would support a ban on using food stamps to purchase soft drinks. They have little nutritional value, and obesity and poor nutrition is a problem for the uneducated poor. The purchase of candy with food stamps has long been prohibited, so why not soft drinks? Why should taxpayers support the purchase of unhealthy drinks? Beer is more nutritional than Pepsi, but we don't fund the purchase of beer.

I googled this idea and learned that the state of Maine attempted to ban the purchase of soft drinks with food stamps last year, only to be told that is not permitted by federal regs. One can imagine the political influence of the Coca-Cola and Pepsi corporations should Congress address this issue, even though over 90% of Americans would support it.

Jan 18, 2010 - Carrier Shore Support

As the huge aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson deploys to Haiti, I am reminded of their limited role providing assistance ashore, as was demonstrated after Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans. Two important assets that carriers can provide are fresh water and electricity, yet the Navy never bothered to develop the equipment to link carriers to shore. The Navy needs large kits to allow a carrier to hook up to shore based electrical grids, and huge hoses to pump fresh water ashore. Keep one kit ready in shipping containers in Norfolk and another in San Diego for instant embark on a carrier.

Ideally, a carrier would dock, but the hoses and electrical cables should allow the ship to hook up from up to a mile offshore if that is required. These would also prove very useful in major expeditionary operations where landing forces need a lot of water and power. Rather than having six aircraft carriers circling offshore ready for a very limited enemy air and sea threat, one carrier could dock to provide water, electricity and other support. Note that wars also cause major humanitarian crises in cities, especially if our Air Force knocks out the power stations that provide the electricity to sewer and water systems. An aircraft carrier's nuclear power plant can provide substantial water and electricity for several weeks until those systems are restored. Don't think of just Haiti, think of a major San Francisco earthquake!

Jan 17, 2010 - High Military Pay

One great myth in American society is that military personnel are lowly paid. That was true until the 1980s when a push to improve recruit quality boosted military pay each year at twice the inflation rate. The military was once known for low pay yet great retirement, but now has great pay as well. This fact is hidden from the public with absurd propaganda from military associations about the need to boost pay, and fear from senior officers that if Congress catches on, the days of big pay raises may end. 

For example, inflation was flat last year and Social Security recipients received no increase for 2010. However, military personnel just got a 3.2% pay increase, while civilian wages fell 1.6% last year.  Some Congressmen worry the USA is going bankrupt unless it cuts spending, so why the pay boost? First, its a form of vote buying. Second, federal civilian pay increases follow military pay increases. Congressional staffers and everyone inside the beltway benefits, so they profit from this deception.

I'll address this issue in the coming weeks. Let us first look at what the average 20-year old American earns. The latest data is from the third quarter of 2009, which shows Americans ages 16-24 average earn $429 a week, or times 52 = $22,308 a year. The DoD has a simple on-line pay calculator. The average age for a recruit is 19, so the typical pay for a 20-year old is E-2 = $37,637 a year. If he has a wife and two kids, its $41,021, nearly twice as much as he could make outside! And this does not include special pays and bonuses. 

If someone joins the military rather than going to college, after four years they will be at least an E-4, and with a wife and two kids he'll make $48,180 a year! This more than college graduates and at least $14,000 more than the average salary of any other occupation in the USA, where most workers have decades of experience and seniority. Finally, it is very rare to find subsidized child care, free gyms, and tax free shopping in the civilian world.

It is true that many military people work more than 40 hours a week, yet so do many civilians. There are many servicemen who work less than 40 hours a week, and some work less than 20 if you discount the hours at "work" they spend surfing the web, exercising in the gym, getting a haircut, or playing softball. Military people receive 30 days paid vacation, enjoy 12 paid federal holidays, and several extra days off as part of "long weekends", unlimited sick leave, plus the common practice of going home soon after lunch on Fridays. In contrast, American workers average just 13 paid days off, and around 40% of Americans never get a paid day off and have no benefits such as health care.

Yes, many servicemen endure stressful occupation duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is why combat pay should be boosted. However, most career servicemen rarely spend time in combat zones, and they usually enjoy the adventure and the extra pay involved. I always did.

We'll look at officers next, but as a finale, look at the pay for career enlisted men. An E-7 with 20 years of service with a wife and four kids earns a whopping $78,221 a year! That much more than Americans with advanced college degrees, like an MBA. E-9s can make over $100,000 a year! Enlisted can retire after just 20 years of service without contributing a cent toward their generous retirement plan. If the U.S. military advertised these facts, recruiters would have lines outside their office.

Jan 9, 2010 - Get Rid of the Damn Goalie!

Having played some soccer and watching this dull game on television at times, I am amazed that it is the world's most popular game. Just a couple of points are scored during the entire game, and it's often decided by a single penalty kick. I like the idea that size doesn't matter, so everyone has an equal chance, but there is far too little scoring, which is why "futball" never caught on the USA.

I have a simple solution -- get rid of the damn goalie! One team works to get the ball downfield so someone can try a clean kick, but there is this oddball standing in front of the goal who reaches up and catches the ball. What's with that? Imagine if goal tending was not illegal in basketball, so a 7-foot guy could stand under the basket at all times and block good shots, even free throws.

Without a goalie in soccer, you'd have scoring like 24-22. Kicking off after each score would take too much time, so a quick inbounds kick from the sidelines is better. I realize foreigners would object, but if American soccer tried this it would be a huge improvement that may be adopted worldwide. Try it at a local game and everyone has more fun.

Jan 8, 2010 - Fake Unemployment Rates

I noted the fake unemployment rate before, but this month the stats were really pencil whipped. The number of new discouraged workers rose over the year by 929,000. These are unemployed Americans who say they want to work, but if they didn't apply for a job within the last week they are not counted in the "official" unemployment rate because they are "discouraged." The employment-participation rate fell to a 25-year low 64.6% from 64.9% as the labor force fell by 661,000 last month, the largest decline in nearly 15 years. This means that 35.4% of healthy Americans ages 16-65 are not working, for whatever reason.

"If these workers had been in the labor force unemployed, the unemployment rate would have risen to 10.4%," wrote Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist for the Economic Policy Institute. They were not, so the rate held firm at 10.0% even though 85,000 jobs were lost. This isn't a trick by Obama, both the ruling parties are worried about peasant unrest since the real unemployment rate exceeds 20%. 

Jan 6, 2010 - Pop Guns?

I've been out of the loop for some time, but what the hell is this picture from Afghanistan? After decades of complaints that the M-16's 5.56mm round is too weak, and whilst better body armor proliferates, one expects to see the introduction of bigger guns with bigger bullets. Yet colonial duty in Iraq has led to the adoption of a "cool" garrison weapon, the M-4 carbine, as the basic infantry rifle. Effective range drops from 600 meters with the latest M-16A4 to 300 meters with the M-4, and less if they don't brace it in their shoulder. The shorter barrel means less accuracy and less penetrating power. I'm told the M-4 is easier for troops to handle from within HMMWVs, so it has become standard. No bayonet, and no using the rifle butt to "hit and roll" or to whack bad guys.

Jan 5, 2010 - Move to Metrics

One small reason the USA is falling behind in the world is a mindless adherence to the old and confusing English system of measurement. Even Australia has phased it out and England is mostly converted, leaving only the Americans with this backward system. This complicates trade and manufacturing and causes serious fatal accidents, like with aircraft fuel calculations or fitting millimeter bolts into quarter inch holes.

I wish President Obama would shine some light on this issue and push one small change at a time. For example, the nation can commit to centigrade by 2014. This is simple to understand (zero is freezing, 100 is boiling water) so a hot day is 30C. The federal government would only use centigrade by 2014, including the Weather service, while a few million dollars would be devoted to paid commercial advertisements to educate the public. Can't America do something this simple? After 2014, another "metric" can be selected for transition.

Jan 3, 2010 - Obama Lied about Iraq

People forget that President Obama pulled ahead of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary only because she refused to commit to withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.  Obama's current plan is that he "may" drawdown to 50,000 troops this year, "if" the security situation allows it. No one in the corporate media mentions this, although CATO recent summarized:

"Speaking of Iraq in February 2008, candidate Barack Obama said, “I opposed this war in 2002. I will bring this war to an end in 2009. It is time to bring our troops home.” The following month, under fire from Hillary Clinton, he reiterated, ”I was opposed to this war in 2002….I have been against it in 2002, 2003, 2004, 5, 6, 7, 8 and I will bring this war to an end in 2009. So don’t be confused.”

Indeed, in his famous “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow” speech on the night he clinched the Democratic nomination, he also proclaimed, “I am absolutely certain that generations from now we will be able to look back and tell our children that . . . this was the moment when we ended a war.”

Now he has doubled down on the war in Afghanistan and has promised to keep the war in Iraq going for another 19 months, after which we will have 50,000 American troops in Iraq for as far as the eye can see. If McCain had proposed this sort of minor tweaking of the Bush policy, I think we’d see antiwar rallies in 300 cities. Calling the antiwar movement!"

Jan 1, 2010 - We Never Lost a Battle in Vietnam?

In my ongoing effort to make crazy people crazier, I've compiled a list of 20 Lost Battles of the Vietnam War 

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Carlton Meyer  editor@G2mil.com

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