America Is Burning

INVESTIGATIVE DETAILS SHOW THAT THE PAROLEE WHO DIDN’T THINK HE WAS “TREATED RIGHT” STOOD OVER DOWNED OFFICERS AND FIRED AT THEM AGAIN----ASSURING THAT HE HAD MURDERED THEM

We heard from an uncle of the murderer in Oakland that the parolee was “frustrated” because he wasn’t “treated right” by the system.  He had been stood up by a parole officer, and he hadn’t been able to find a job, so he was “frustrated”.  So, he armed himself with a handgun and an assault weapon, obviously to prevent being sent back to prison.  He knew he was going back because he had deliberately missed his February appointment with his parole officer.

Now, it is known that after he shot the officers who stopped him in traffic, he walked back to their bodies and shot again.

Oakland police sergeant Mark Dunakin, a motorcycle officer, stopped Lovelle Mixon on Saturday in a traffic stop.  At some point after the stop, Dunakin was joined by motorcycle officer John Hege.  Dunakin asked Mixon for his license to run a check.  The photo on the license was that of Mixon, but the license number was assigned to a different person.  (The “frustrated” Mixon must have spent some time in forging a license, time which could have been spent perhaps in at least menial work)   As the sergeant was returning to the motorcycle to run the check, Mixon stepped out of the car and began firing a semi automatic handgun, hitting both Dunakin and Hege.

Passersby told officers that neither Dunakin nor Hege had the opportunity to radio for help or even draw their own weapons.  As they lay on the ground, Mixon walked back to them and fired down at them, and then fled with his weapon.

Where did he go?  To an apartment around the corner inhabited by family members.  SWAT officers were hindered in their response because it was a difficult building to evacuate without subjecting emerging residents to gunfire.  SWAT officers were not sure what observation point Mixon had, so had to be extremely careful in not subjecting neighborhood residents from gunfire.  So, they had to rush the apartment itself instead of isolating the entire building.  As they entered the apartment, Mixon was lying down in a bedroom closet, with door closed, and he started firing through the door and struck the SWAT officers who were killed.  His 16 year old sister was in the apartment and was not hurt by the ensuing gunfire.

As pointed out by experts outside Oakland who are reviewing the police operation, Mixon was intent on killing officers.

And, more details come forth about this “frustrated” parolee who thought he was not being “treated right” by the system.  He first went to prison for a car-jacking in San Francisco during which he fired a weapon.  He got a whale of a sentence for that offense----six long years.  Some judge really threw the book at this guy who already, before age 20, showed he had no value for human life.  But, the California system of “justice” didn’t even make him serve the whole 6---he was paroled after five. 

Within a few months, he was investigated in a murder, in which he was the only suspect.  The sister of  the murdered man swears that she knows an eyewitness who just refused to come forward.  The police could not find evidence sufficient to persuade the DA to file charges, but Mixon went back to prison for FIVE, count them, FIVE parole violations committed within three months.

This time he served 9 whole months and was released in November, 2008.  And, now DNA from the dead Mixon, shows that he is likely the rapist of a twelve year old girl this past February near the apartment in which he murdered the officers last Saturday.

Why was this man on parole?  California Attorney General Jerry Brown says that the parole system is broken.  He has announced that he will conduct an investigation into how the murderer was monitored after his release.  My oh my, another government “investigation”, another committee no doubt, or investigative commission.  Don’t you tire of “investigations” and “commissions”, don’t you wish that just once politicians would take action, instead of studying.

The tragic part of all this is that the news and the horror will fade into the background, and in a month, no one will remember the outrage except the loved ones of the murdered officers.  Californians will go about their business, and will not pay any more attention to the broken parole system, until another officer is killed, another twelve year old girl is raped, another citizen is robbed and killed by a parolee who should still be in prison.

Apathy will again prevail.  Why?  Maybe because individual citizens truly believe there is nothing they can do.  But, there is.  Look to organizations to help.  Look to the internet and find organizations that are interested in private and personal civil rights.  Citizens, your civil rights are violated, even under the Civil Rights Act, if you are not protected from violent criminals who prey innocents on the street.

It should appall Californians that a parolee “frustrated” by the system in not being able to find a job, could rape a twelve year old girl, buy or steal automatic weapons and deliberately decide that he would murder to stay out of prison.  He really was spending time looking for a job wasn’t he?

PAROLE SYSTEM IN CALIFORNIA FAILED THE MURDERED POLICE OFFICERS IN OAKLAND AND FAIL ALL INNOCENT AND HONEST CALIFORNIANS.  AMERICANS SHOULD BEGIN TODAY TO CHANGE THEIR GOVERNMENT BY FORCING POLITICIANS TO ACT RESPONSIBLY OR TAKE THEIR SEAT ON THE BENCH

--- by Fred Kelly Grant   March 23, 2009

 

                The murders of Oakland police officers makes it clear that the “criminal justice system” has failed innocent people woefully.   California Attorney General Jerry Brown pointed out how the system is failing.  But, it has been failing for some time, and national studies have proved that, and have warned about the dangers of the failure.  So, where has General Brown and California’s termigovernor and legislature been?  As the Oakland Tribune writers point out, the problem has been building for years, so can’t be laid at the feet of the current office holders.  But, they are wrong in the last part of their analysis.  The problem may have been brewing for years, but current office holders should have been trying  to solve it.

                In Alameda County, in which the Oakland officers were murdered,  there were 7,000 parolees released just last year alone.  If all those parolees follow state-wide patterns, 66 percent of them will return to prison.  How long has this failure of the system been evident?

               A National Institute of Justice report last year said that:  “California’s parole population is now so large and its parole agents are so overburdened that parolees who represent a serious public safety threat are not watched closely.”

              The Oakland Tribune reports that:  “But reports investigating the state’s parolee system have been sending for the past decade cautionary tales about the dangers posed by an ever-increasing parolee population.  But little, if anything, has been done to change a system that sees more parolees return to prison than any other state.”

                The Tribune points out that one of the failures of the system is the knee-jerk reactions of the California legislators always plying for votes, without thought as to real effective action.  The determinate sentencing statute passed by the legislature as a reaction to whatever some crisis was in 1976.  The statute mandates that a prisoner be released on parole after serving a certain number of years, regardless of whether he is still a danger and regardless of his conduct in prison.  So, the statute not only works against prison guards because there is no incentive for good behavior, it works against the parole system because the Board has no discretion to keep an obviously violent criminal in prison.

                 The Institute of Justice report states:  “Because California releases nearly all prisoners…the state’s parole agents end up supervising some individuals who pose a far more serious threat to society than the typical parolee.”   “In states that use discretionary release, these high-risk prisoners can be denied parole and kept in prison.”

                Reports like the Institute report are compiled over a period of years, so the warning to California’s legislators and administrators has been evident for years.  As the little Hoover Commission reported in 2007, “Years of political posturing have taken a good idea---determinate sentencing---and warped it beyond recognition with a series of laws passed with no thought to their cumulative impact”

The Report pointed out that “Despite ample evidence and recommendations, policymakers have been unwilling to take on the problem in a purposeful, constructive way”

              Now, four Oakland officers, trying to enforce the laws to keep the public safe, are dead, needlessly.  They leave behind them families and friends who mourn.  And, the politicians will all make statements of condolence and statements about how the parole system must be revamped----and then the legislators will go back to reach gridlock on budgets, and the administrators will go back to protecting their clerical bureaucratic budgets at the expense of public safety and education.

            But, the real problem—the real essence of the tragedy here---is that the masses of honest, voting citizens will return to apathy, and will not demand en masse that their officials act responsibly or take themselves outside the public employ.

            Perhaps because they don’t know what to do about it, citizens will continue to allow themselves to be victimized by the so-called criminal justice system.

            In the 1760s Americans finally had enough of English politicians---Thomas Jefferson said that it was healthy to have an occasional revolution.  Now, we aren’t advocating a military revolution as was needed in 1776----but a political revolution as was also needed in 1776.

           Individuals can join together in civil revolution to revise our government,and 2009 is the time to begin.  Join efforts like those of Stewards of the Range (see www.stewards.us) ,  the Goldwater Institute’s efforts to revise government in Arizona (see Goldwater Institute in search), Americans for Prosperity (see Americans for Prosperity in search, nationally and by state), Freedom 21 (see Freedom 21 in search) and all the local government coordination efforts and private property efforts identified at www.stewards.us and from time to time here.   It is time to begin.  You can’t wait any longer.  Instead of spending time bemoaning the national political morasse, turn to doing something about the problems at your local level---where your voice can be heard, and your vote counted.

THE TOURNAMENT MOVES ON----LEAVING BEHIND SOME HIGHLY RANKED TEAMS AND SOME TEAMS THAT FORGOT IT WAS GAME TIME

                I looked forward all week to my Maryland Terrapins being able to move ahead and prove that the late season burst they put on was not just temporary.  I wanted that little guard Vasquez to get to show his wares to a major United States public for weeks more.  He is such a great fighter and shooter.

Well, the Terps forgot that they were supposed to play on Saturday, and didn’t show up for the game.  But, rather than just forfeit the game,  the NCAA required the team to play, so Memphis had a practice scrimmage, played like they meant business, and sent the Terps home for the off-season.

In all fairness, I believe now that Memphis proved itself to me to be a real team, a legitimate challenger for the national championship.  When they played so laid  back against Cal State Northridge, I questioned their credentials.  But, coach Calipari even took the blame for their early showing---saying that it woke him up to the fact that these players had not been here before, that the entire drama and certainty of the one loss tournament required a different mind set.  He said that he simply berated his team during the first part of the Northridge game because he thought they were just being lazy.  Then, he realized at half time that they were responding to the hype.  When he realized that, he got his players ready, and Maryland was the victim of their now being ready.

What a lesson in life Calipari’s statement provides:  we all need to prepare for each day of our lives by assessing our place, the situation facing us, and how we need to adjust to that ever changing situation.

                Another lesson in life came from the day’s results.  Preparation is critical---mental and physical preparation.  As we go into each day, we should be prepared for the issues we know about, and prepared to be steely enough to adjust to issues we may not know about---prepared mentally, and prepared physically so that we can sustain the mental effort to overcome the issues.

               Each game yesterday proved how important that is.  These should have been very close, hotly competed games---these were the games where the lower seeds for the most part had been eliminated.  These were now the 32 elite teams in all the nation.  Yet, we saw a series of blow-outs----teams that were not prepared to meet even the clear game plans of their opponents, much less their adjustments.  Example was the LSU v. North Carolina game.  After watching the Maryland-North Carolina game, and the North Carolina game in the ACC tournament, it was clear to me that any team had to beat NC in the first half of the second half of the game.  LSU was prepared mentally for that fact, their coach had done a good job, and the Tigers came out ready in the second half and made a big run, reducing the NC lead as they must.  But, physically, they seemed to tire, and physical exhaustion can cause a mental break.  They made the big run, but couldn’t get a big lead which they then could hold during the final ten minutes.  And, by the ten minute mark, North Carolina, prepared as all Roy Williams teams are, had held the line, and then breezed to victory.

                I’m off today to the Boise State University Pavilion to watch Xavier take on upstart Wisconsin, and I can’t tell you right now that I don’t believe that Wisconsin, a well steeled team with precision discipline, will pull the upset.   Marquette, the premier team once a champion under Al McGuire, is a class team, but whether they can knock off Missouri I don’t know.  All  I hope for is close games.

                As watching these games, my eyes will be on my other team left, the USC Trojans.  Texas is gone, although putting up a great effort against Duke—a team always prepared.  And, I will be watching Cleveland State to see whether they can continue the miracle commenced when they beat one of the fine teams in the United States, Wake Forest.

             My brief, but spirited, break from all the problems of work, is about over.  Friday, with family and friends I enjoyed the four games of the first round.  Yesterday, I enjoyed the second round with a friend, discussed sports and life in general last night with a great friend, and now our second round in Boise.  Then, tomorrow, probably even tonight, the magic of the tournament fades and its back to work.  Sad, as the end of Autumn with the bitter wind of Winter is sad----but, in all our lives, there must be a new start, and as I go back to work, I think that next year the first and second rounds are in Spokane---just a few hours away by auto----and I think of all the new and exciting possibilities that can make the ensuing twelve months interesting.

MARCH 21 WAS THE STARTING DAY FOR ONE OF THE MOST MOMENTOUS SOCIAL CHANGING IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.

                On this day in 1965 a freedom walk from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery Alabama began.  It was a march of thousands led by Dr. Martin Luther King in support of passage of the Voting Rights Act.  The march followed earlier attempts during March, 1965 to gain attention to the plight of Afro Americans in the southern United States.  Those earlier attempts had resulted in violence on the part of Alabama police officers and citizens---violence demonstrated by beatings with baseball bats, sticks, clubs, and any object which could do physical damage to a human being.  The violence had brought into the national prominence the name of Bull Connors, police commissioner of Birmingham, Alabama, who ordered high pressure fire hoses turned on men, women and children to force them out of demonstrations.  He ordered police dogs on to the demonstrators, and the entire world saw photos of snarling animals lunging at children.

           Afro Americans were murdered.  A nation was stunned.  Decent Southerners mourned over the stigma attached to their region.  Afro Americans remained committed, under the leadership of Dr. King.

Thus started the march---a march to history making change----but regrettably, to the assassination of Dr. King just three years later in Memphis, Tennessee.

          Tomorrow, we begin a three part series on the historic month of March, 1965.

We are heading to the NCAA tournamant so in honor of the greatest sporting event, here are some great sport quotes:

 

Great coaches win games when it counts. Some coaches also make great interviews for the media writers by never shying away in victory or defeat, and giving great quotes. Even fewer have great personalities to go with their victories, and quotes that are insightful, memorable and sometimes so funny we cannot help but smile.

And then there are the select few, legends in their own time that will never be forgotten, such as Knute Rockne and Vince Lombardi. Add Lou Holtz to the same list, not in the same class as Rockne and Lombardi, but because of his quick wit and quality comments. Successful coaches did not become so by being stupid, arcane and bovine. Holtz is sharp as a tack.

Rockne (the Notre Dame Fighting Irish), Lombardi (the Green Bay Packers), and Holtz (the only coach to lead 6 college programs to bowl-game appearances) are all football coaches.

Enter basketball's John Wooden, who ranks in the same class as Rockne and Lombardi.

Known as the "Wizard of Westwood", Wooden won 665 games in 27 seasons at UCLA and 10 NCAA titles during this last 12 years, including 7 straight from 1967 to 1973. He also had an 88-game winning streak and two undefeated, back-to-back national championship teams.

Wooden's UCLA record during his 10 National Championship years was 291-10 (not a misprint); it rounds to a 97% winning percentage and includes no less than 4 perfect 30-0 seasons.

Here are some of John Wooden's most famous quotes:

"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

"Never mistake activity for achievement."

"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."

"Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then."

"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."

"I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent."

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

"Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful."

"Ability is a poor man's wealth."

"Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character."

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

"You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one."

Politicians Kill DC Voucher Program, Dash Students’ Hopes

Happy St. Patricks Day

Celebrate with these Irish proverb's...

There's no fireside like your own fireside.

Man is incomplete until he marries. After that, he is finished.

What butter and whiskey will not cure, there is no cure for.

Three things come without asking: fear, jealousy, and love.

It is sweet to drink but bitter to pay for.

Idleness is a fool's desire.

Good luck beats early rising.

If a cat had a dowry, she would often be kissed.

To the raven her own chick is white.

Beware of the anger of a patient man.

A diplomat must always think twice before he says nothing.

A heavy purse makes for a light heart.

Those who get the name of rising early may lie all day.

A lie travels further than the truth.

Marriages are all happy. It's having breakfast together that causes all the trouble.

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.

A scholars ink lasts longer than a martyrs blood.

If you want an audience start a fight.

Don't break your shin on a stool that is not in your way.

If you dig a grave for others, you might fall into it yourself.

What will come from the briar but the berry.

God's mill may grind slowly, but it grinds finely.

Good as drink is, it ends in thirst.

A poem ought to be well made at first, for there is many a one to spoil it afterwards.

The Irish forgive their great men when they are safely buried.

A change of work is as good as a rest.

A good retreat is better than a bad stand.

Our Economic Crisis: The View From the Real America

SEEING THE FUTURE AT THE GOLDWATER INSTITUTE

                An historic evening, March 7, at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix centered on introduction of a Charter of Liberty by Nick Dranias of the Institute.  The Charter inventories the dark, dismal problems which afflict local governments which choose not to protect, or even recognize, the freedom of their citizens. From deliberate attempts to evade curbs on taxation increases (by setting up special districts to impose taxes outside the people’s curbs) through evasion of the duty to promptly produce public records when requested, through the attitude of government employees who seem to resent the public’s requests for openness, the Charter emphasizes how local government can be the most oppressive level of government.

                We all have witnessed the disconnect between local government and the fact that government employees are hired to serve the people.   Any of us who have stood in line to get a permit or license which is required only to collect revenue outside our regular tax burden, only to meet a scowling, frowning, irritable clerk, recognize that it is the rare employee of government who truly believes that he or she is to serve the people.  How many times have you said to yourself in one of these lines, “if this clerk was working in a private retail shop he or she would be fired.” Should we, as tax paying citizens, expect less from government workers than from employees in the private business sector?  I think not.

                There was a time when maybe so----government workers were not as well paid.  But that is not the case any longer.  Government employees make as much and more than comparable positions on the “outside” world; their benefits far surpass the average benefit package of any non-union private business, and their vacation and personal and sick leave allowances are far greater, and more expensive to the public, than those of employees in the private sector.  Most of them don’t work on week-ends, ever, and most of them aren’t required to “stay over” until someone arrives to fill their spot.

                The attitude of government employees and officials was closely criticized by a prize winning reporter and editor of an Orange County newspaper and a professor specializing in openness of government from Arizona State. Examples were given of needless, useless permits and licenses---required only to collect revenue.  Examples were given of violations of property rights of citizens occurring without worry or apology from the officials.  Examples were given of the failure of separation of powers at the local level—with county commissioners or city councilmen serving as lawmakers passing ordinances, executives enforcing the ordinances, and quasi-judges interpreting the ordinances.  So, the fundamental requirements of separation of the powers of government are largely ignored at the local level.

                None of this surprises most of us.  For years, at Stewards of the Range, we have pointed out that the local level of government can be the most oppressive----examples are clear in San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz Counties in California, and King County in Washington, but are also  present in less visible  rural counties throughout the nation.

                Not only are counties and municipalities guilty of oppression, they are addicted to federal funds.  They cannot resist applying for, and spending, federal dollars, without concern about where the funding for the project comes from when the federal funding ends----and the answer is always: the property tax dollar paid by the landowner.

                What is a surprise, and a most pleasant and impressive one,  is that an organization as prestigious as the Goldwater Institute has undertaken a monumental effort to remedy the evils and return local government to a position in which fundamentals of liberty are not only recognized but FOLLOWED.

                On this memorable March evening, before an audience of about 100, the Charter for Liberty was unveiled.  Fitting that it was introduced in the Institute named for the conservative who served as the precursor for Ronald Reagan---the conservative who once stated that for every new bill passed by a legislature, at any government level, there should be at least one repealed.  Senator Barry Goldwater would be pleased at the work now announced by the staff of the Institute which bears his name.

                We will write more about the Charter for Liberty in the future.  For now, it is very rewarding to note that the Charter incorporates the “coordination” process which Stewards of the Range helps local government implement.   Through the process, local government is able to bring the federal agencies to the table to negotiate consistency between the federal program and the policy of the local government.  The Charter refers to the process as the channel for restoring true federalism at the local level, and establishing and assuring continuation of local sovereignty.

                The Institute intends to work toward attaining legislative mandates that local government follow and protect presumptions of personal liberty which are generally not observed by local government today.  One of the objectives will be legislation which mandates coordination by local governments.

                It is very satisfying to have our work so recognized.  And, it is very encouraging to know that an Institute attorney with the talent, charisma, and intellect of Nick Dranias will be leading the Goldwater Institute’s Charter for Liberty.

              Every person who has an interest in making local government more responsive to the citizens, in making sure that liberty is offered and protected at the local government level, and in making sure that there is an effort at local government level to gain the benefits of true federalism, should contact the Goldwater Institute, thank Nick Dranias and the staff for their cutting edge work, and ask for a copy of the Charter for Liberty.  Then, start the effort to implement the suggested reforms in your state.

Our Economic Crisis: The View From the Real America

                   What a difference Southwest makes

After what we are calling, “the United fiasco”, I had a trip to Phoenix. As I warily skulked up to the gate like a dog who had been hit too much or not enough I’m still not sure which, I already was relieved to see people already pre-boarding. There also was no sign of the concentration camp faces I left early Monday morning. I boarded, was seated with my baggage stowed, and took off in under 15 minutes……………as I sit on the plane my mind races with positive energy, what I can accomplish in my personal and business life, how to make the world a better place, kumbaya. Seriously though, as I was trapped in the living hell of United Airlines web of despair the only thoughts I had were doom, gloom, and some homicidal. Afterwards I had a moment of clarity, the people we should feel really bad for are the United workers for who there is no escape. Imagine driving to work every day and not be able to say: I’m going to be better than all the other airlines today. Hell they can’t even take solace in: I’m not going to be any worse than anyone else today. I’ll bet if we did some serious research we would find two facts:

1)United Airlines has the largest percentage of alcohol and drug abuse among employees. How else do they put up with the position their aging company has put them in?

2)Most television, newspaper reporters and editors fly United. How else can they day after day focus on so much negative in the world without some sort of horrible experiences helping keep you that way.

So remember don’t let the little things get you down, and for God’s sake don’t let United Airlines help increase the number of antidepressants prescribed.

Jon Grant

BEWARE OF UNITED AIRLINES----WHEN CONFRONTED WITH THE PROSPECT OF FLYING ‘THE FRIENDLY SKIES’, AS FRAZIER SAID TO REBECCA’S BOYFRIEND ON CHEERS---“RUN, RUN FAST, RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!!!!!

 

The Defending the American Dream Summit, sponsored by the Wisconsin Chapter of Americans for Prosperity, was a huge success.  Mark Block, Wisconsin Director, did such a fine job of pulling together a marvelous program, and attracting a huge crowd.

From the Justice My Ass standpoint  it was a huge first outing at a conference.  Staci and Jon did a great job of manning the booth, giving out the message about the blog, and giving away free pens and mints, and selling shirts and hats with the logo.  Lots of sales.  Lots of names of people to contact, and lots of new acquaintances to the blog.  Lots of people who would like to write for the blog.

From the Stewards of the Range and Justice My Ass standpoint, my speech went over very well, very well received as I urged the entire group in the morning to work hard at the local government level to “take back America.”  I pointed out that I am not one who still tries only to prevent the taking of our liberties.  I don’t have that kind of time left.  I am after making progress toward retrieving our liberties, not just preventing further taking.

Then began the day from hell.  Staci and Jon left the hotel at 6am to depart for the Airport in Milwaukee.  I stayed behind for  breakfast meeting, and some work.  Then, at about 2pm I left for the airort, and while en route, called Jon to see whether they were home.  No, it turns out that they were still in Chicago.  Seems that when they got to the airport for their 8am flight, they found that planes weren’t leaving because of the fog.  But, for $25 each, out of their own pockets, they could take a bus to Chicago, and probably arrive in time for the connecting flight.

So, they took the bus, got to Chicago just in time to run for the gate.  Jon made the last run without putting his shoes back on after security.  When they raced up to the gate, they found no body at the podium even though the flight was scheduled for 13 minutes away.  When the attendant arrived, she said that the flight was delayed by 10 minutes, then later by half an hour, then another half hour, without any explanation.  Then it was announced---after a 2 hour delay---that there was a mechanical problem, that a part had to be secured and installed.  Jon went to McDonalds and interestingly enough, the pilot had departed the plane and was getting breakfast.  He told Jon that the part change was only a matter of “half hour of wrench turning.”  Finally, they load the plane.

The plane pushed back and there was loud whistling noise, taxied out, and the pilots kept revving engines and then turning the plane, finally got in the taxi line, and after sitting for awhile, the pilot announced that he didn’t “like the feel of the controls”, so they wouldn’t be taking off.  The plane turned out of the taxi line, and then the pilot announced that because of the lightning passing through, he couldn’t return to the gate.  So, he taxied the plane to what was known as the “bone yard”, where there were a number of planes no longer used, or stored for whatever purpose. 

They sat in the “bone yard” for at least an hour, and then once there was an end  to the lightning, they had to wait at least 20 minutes after the last strike.  As they sat, Jon tried to rest by leaning his seat back, but the attendant told him he couldn’t because they “were in a taxi mode” even though they were sitting still in the bone yard.

When they departed, they were told that a plane was coming from Aspen, it would be in at 2pm and they would leave on it at 2:30.  United said “its not a new plane, but its in good shape.”  So, ten minute turnaround.

I called about that time expecting to find them at home.  We joked about the fact that I might get to Chicago before they left.

They boarded the plane, and then were told that a windshield wiper was broken and it was a 10 minute job to fix it.  Then a little later the pilot said that it would be a little more complicated, would either be 8minutes more or an hour.  After 15 minutes the pilot said it would be a “three hour fix”, so they got off the plane.  Gathering in line at the counter trying to see what would happen every body in line got a text or phone call from United telling them that their flight was now cancelled.  Would have to leave on the next scheduled flight at 8:30 pm.

At that point, they got new boarding passes and $10 meal ticket, IF THEY ASKED FOR IT.  THEY DID. 

Meantime, I had arrived at the Milwaukee airport for my 5 o’clock flight.  No way anybody on United was leaving Milwaukee.  So, after waiting in line for an hour, was shunted off to a bus to go to Chicago, and again had to pay $25 for the right to ride the bus for United to try to make the next flight from Chicago which was at 8:30pm.

As I rode the bus, I called Jon and found that their flight had already been moved to 9:45 pm.

So, when I arrived at Chicago, and found that my flight had now been moved from 8:30 to 10:20, we met, had something to eat, commiserated with other stranded United flyers, and waited.

Now, I am writing this as we sit, having just had a Chicago dog, Jon has gone to find a place to lie on the floor and relieve his back pain.

Throughout the day, we have heard time and again people say “you know this never happens on Southwest”.  And, its true.  I suppose they have problems, but I have never been stranded with them.  They leave on time, arrive on time, and never have I been told that the plane coming “was not new but in good condition.”  As we have sit this evening, looking out on O’Hare it is apparent that other airlines are taking off and landing.  But, not United.  I more than strongly suspicion that they don’t have enough sound, mechanically fit planes in the air to handle their back up here.

So, the next time it is necessary for me to fly United in order to make an appearance, I just won’t make the appearance.  I have good luck  (or better luck, lets say) on Northwest, Alaska, Horizon, Frontier and Southwest.  I have nothing but bad experiences with United.  To me, it looks like an airline waiting to fold, and probably should be in bankruptcy right now.  The personnel are rude, cranky and disinterested.  That isn’t true of Northwest, Alaska, Horizon, Frontier or Southwest.  I put Delta somewhere in the middle, certainly not as bad as United, certainly not as good as the others.

Just to finish my dad's story we did finally make it home about fourteen hours after we were supposed to...............FOURTEEN HOURS!!!!!!

I guess the most frustrating thing about it is like dad said there was no real empathy whatsoever. To me it seemed like United had a big inside joke and the only ones not in on it were the people paying their obviously unearned salaries. As I sat there barely conscious a little girl said "I don't think a planes coming mommy". A story about a naked emperor prancing through the streets flashed through my brain and I started laughing out loud, if everyone else wasn't as delirious as me they might have thought it strange. It took the innocence of a child to remind us that we don't go along just because we are supposed to. The emperor was naked and United Airlines is inept!

On the Loose: The Elitist Populist Spreads Destruction With Mock Outrage

                                Taking Back America

 

Americans came together today in Milwaukee to begin to work to take back America; to bring us back to the land that our parents and grandparents loved.  The Americans for Prosperity, Wisconsin Chapter, met to hear speaker after speaker exhort them to take action, to secure the rights of Americans.  Mark Block, Wisconsin state director, put together a conference attended by an overwhelming 800 people.

                             The speakers included members of Congress, the attorney general of Wisconsin, the County Executive and Sheriff of Milwaukee County, other elected officials, members of the press, and Joe the Plumber himself. It was my pleasure to join with them in trying to motivate grass roots movements to change the landscape of change.

                             I presented the coordination process which Stewards has helped move through the country for the past two years.  I explained that the process is a mandate by Congress and  state legislatures to bureaucratic agencies to “coordinate” with local government, on an equal, not subordinate basis.   The process, implemented by towns, cities, counties and special interest governmental districts, can and does bring the bureaucrats to the negotiation table on a government to government base.  This gives the local government a position of importance ahead of the general public. Since, it involves local government, it involves the level of government most accessible to and most impacted by citizens.

                          The presentation of coordination as a process was popularly received, and Justice My Ass was a total hit.

                          Now to complete the day, it is off to an hour and half workshop on coordination.  We’ll see how many of the folks really want to roll up shirt sleeves and go to work----and not just react to good speakers----because while the process is simple, it is not easy. Requires real work and thought.

Perception is Reality
 

This morning on C-Span Washington Journal, Walter Isaacson of the Aspen Institute was on the program to talk about his article in Time magazine titled "How to Save Your Newspaper".   The Newspaper industry is collapsing  and the heavy hitters are coming out to try and save it.

"During the past few months, the crisis in journalism has reached meltdown proportions. It is now possible to contemplate a time when some major cities will no longer have a newspaper and when magazines and network-news operations will employ no more than a handful of reporters.

There is, however, a striking and somewhat odd fact about this crisis. Newspapers have more readers than ever. Their content, as well as that of newsmagazines and other producers of traditional journalism, is more popular than ever — even (in fact, especially) among young people.

The problem is that fewer of these consumers are paying..."

Something that Isaacson said made my heart leap with joy so I fired off an email to C-Span hoping that they would read it - at least off air if not on air.  They did read it - on air.  Here is what I wrote:

Mr. Isaacson,

You made my day.  You said online advertising revenues went up and up and then dropped off and now newspapers are in trouble.  It's a joke Mr. Isaacson.  The newspapers have just experienced the "pump and dump" with ad revenues.   And I'm going to enjoy every single minute of watching the decline because when my industry - IT industry experienced the same thing... the newspapers all supported the corporations perpetrating the scam. When the same thing happened with Nurses' salaries, newspapers played right along.   Now it's their turn for "creative destruction" by fraud. 

What a great day. 

Thanks,

Vicky Davis

Twin Falls

He only read part of it ending before the part about newspapers supporting the corporations perpetrating the scam but that's ok.  He read enough of it to get the gist which was to identify the "pump and dump" as something going beyond the Wall Street stock fraud.  The "Pump" is the use of the media by Public Relations (PR) people to create a perception and the "Dump" comes when the game is over.  The way it works is that PR people hired for the purpose of creating a certain perception create "News", it's hyped in the media - both broadcast and print.  The game is over when objective is achieved whatever the objective happens to be. 

I became aware of the strategy when I was researching the outsourcing of Information Technology (IT) jobs to India.   The propaganda promoted by the media was that there was a shortage of IT professionals which was pretty damn odd because I couldn't get any responses to my resume even though I was willing to relocate anywhere and I had 20 years of solid experience behind me.  Then I found out about Harris Miller of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA).    Miller was the inspiration for the 'Benedict Arnold' section of my website (speakers on).   If you click on the picture of Miller, you'll find this in his profile:

Harris Miller is an immigration lobbyist who made his name in labor arbitrage when his firm, Immigration Services Associates was hired in the 1980’s as a consultant/lobbyist for the National Council of Agricultural Employers.  In 1982, the Council raised a million dollars for the campaign of George Deukmejian.  “Between 1983 and 1990, Deukmejian began shutting down enforcement of the state's historic farm labor law. According to the UFW: “Thousands of farm workers lose their UFW contracts. Many are fired and blacklisted”.[1]   

During that period, Miller used a strategy of propaganda to create the image of ‘shortages’, which he then used as evidence to lobby for the increased supply of imported migrant farm workers.  He supplied the media with stories "fields full of crops, just lying there, rotting in the sun because of the 'crisis' of a 'shortage' of farm workers."[2]  He then used that as evidence to lobby lawmakers to allow massive importation of temporary farm workers from Mexico to ‘save the crops’ thereby breaking the United Farm Workers Union.  

In 1995, Harris Miller became president of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA).  Since that time, he has honed his strategy of ‘shortage’ and lobbying for remedies.  With the big money backing of the Information Technology corporations - (400, 11,000 or 26,000 members depending on who he is talking to), he not only helped flood our labor markets with foreign workers, he used a massive media propaganda campaign to create the image of a shortage while at the same time, he was working proactively to export our high tech sector to India.

Not content to simply use the lobbying power of the ITAA, other organizations were spun off for the purpose of selling the idea that there were shortages and to give cover to Congress using the illusion of 'numbers'.  One such spin off for lobbying and PR supplied propaganda is Compete America.   Even though the newspapers pretend there is a Chinese Wall between their editorial page and their news page, it's simply not true and everybody knows it - most of all the reporters who write stories for the paper know it.  They know who signs their paychecks (or who used to sign their paychecks... hehehehe  what goes around - comes around).

Customer Service jobs, telephone technical support,  writing software are all classified as a 'service jobs' because they involve a person engaged in an activity classed as services.  Knowledge/Service jobs - including what I did for a living were roughly 65% of our economy prior to the Internet going public.  These jobs were among the best, high paying jobs in this country.   When the Internet became available to the public and Harris Miller perpetuated his "shortages" scam to justify the export of those jobs, it was the torpedo to our economy that started the collapse.  And the "journalism" profession that Isaacson would like to save is complicit in the collapse because of their dishonesty in the News Department and it is sweet justice to see that their industry is collapsing too - victims of the same game they played against the working people in this country.  They were suckered by manufactured perception perpetrated by Google and Yahoo that there was going to be big money - coming is small amounts - for internet advertising.  George Soros is the master of this strategy - create a bubble by manipulation of perception - and then pop it. 

The biggest misperception in this country today is in the nature of automation - computer systems.  What computer systems do is to enable the centralization of control and with the centralization of control, comes the power to control and the power to kill off competitors to that control.  That might seem counterintuitive because there are what?  50 or 100 million PC's in this country?   Where is the centralization of control?   Microsoft and Apple to a lesser extent.   And by virtue of the Internet which has become the economic circulation system of the country (and the world because of the global network) CISCO systems which manufacturers the Internet infrastructure.  And in transportation of packages and mail - Fed Ex and UPS (DHL recently bit the dust).  Automation is creating a few giants who are destroying everybody else.  What the Internet did was to turn our country into one big organization - all receiving "nourishment" from the Internet circulatory system - but only the biggest will survive when all is said and done because of the centralization of control and the corresponding power that comes with it. 

In the past week or so, I've written a quite a bit about Buckminster Fuller and to a lesser degree - about the Futurists who were predicting the future based on the anticipated technological gains and how they would change the world.  In one of the things I read or videos I watched, someone - and I do think it was Fuller, said that because of automation, only 10% of the people employed at that time (mid 1960's) would have jobs because of the automation - centralization - fewer and fewer people able to control more and more resources.  And he was right.  And the collapse of our economic system is the manifestation of it.   The "winners" at the automation game are like giant leeches on our collective body and they are sucking the life out of it and our extremities are dying.  And because of their power to control, they won't do a thing to stop it - rather they will hasten the demise  -  increasing their own power.   Despite my glee at watching the death of the faux News industry, it breaks my heart to see what's coming and to not be able to do anything about it.    

Vicky Davis

The following blog by our newest author extremely accomplished; Walter M. Brasch, Ph.D

 

America’s Buddy-Buddy Campaign Press Corps by Walter Brasch

It’s a little more than a week before the presidential election, and I’m worried about what happens afterwards. I’m not worried about the candidates, the people, or the country. I’m worried about the media. First, I’m worried about the TV ad salespeople. For more than a year they haven’t had to do much other than sit back and open digital files from the politicians. Now, the salespeople will actually have to go to work to fill airtime. I’m worried about the owners of TV stations. Since January, politicians have placed more than a billion dollars of advertising. Most of that has gone to TV ads, at least in Pennsylvania and the other swing states. Revenue is bound to be down, and the station owners may have to make drastic changes. We can’t expect them to cut back on their golf club memberships, the leased BMWs, or the daily maid service. It looks like they’ll have to lay off reporters. Some may think that the words “TV” and “reporter” probably don’t even make sense in the same sentence, but that’s for another column.             And, speaking of reporters, let’s look at all the reporters. Print and Broadcast. For as much as two years, they have been hanging onto political candidates, like leeches onto the butts of subtropical hunters. These reporters have had to stay in sleazy 3- and 4-star hotels, eat room service food, awaken early every day, pack their suitcases, and rush to a Press bus that would be their traveling home for 12 or 14 hours every day. On the bus they talked with each other—and some poorly-paid and generally inexperienced campaign press aide. Occasionally, the candidates and senior staff rode the buses and talked with the reporters.             At the speech site, the reporters were herded into a fairly good viewing position, and expected to do whatever it is that compliant reporters do. If they interviewed anyone other than campaign staff, it was usually someone in the audience, grabbing such great lines as “I really like Shmidhouse Jones for President” or “I don’t trust that guy he’s running against.”             Away from speeches, they munched on campaign-provided lunches and drinks, campaign-provided news releases and speech transcripts, and campaign-provided concierge service. If case they missed an important ad-lib, they just had to wait for the next stop, where they’d hear it again. Late at night, if they have any energy left—and while they have plugged in their Blackberries, iPods, cell phones, and laptops to draw new energy for a new day—the reporters and campaign staff had a couple of drinks, “just to unwind.” The goal of political campaigns is to keep reporters so busy, and so comforted, they won’t ask the critical questions or take the time to find the Invisible People and their very real problems. For a month after the election, reporters will file “What happened?” stories. After a month, they’ll get “home leave” to be reintroduced to their children, who may have thought Mommy or Daddy were sprites locked up in cell phones. Hopefully, the reporters will also reflect upon why they became reporters, and actually take the time to meet someone who doesn’t hang around politicians and reporters all day long.

 

Good nomination Chuck.  Younger generation fans don’t remember the old guys.  I had the pleasure of watching George Blanda play against my choice, Johnny U, in the playoff that 1970 magical year of Blanda’s Raiders.

 

Game was played in Baltimore.  We went in knowing what the old 43 year old had just pulled off----wins over Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Cleveland, Denver and San Diego to get the Raiders into the big game.

 

Here’s how he did it:  beat Pittsburgh with three touchdown passes and a field goal;

                                    Got a tie with Kansas City with a 49 yard field goal with 3 seconds

                                                  Left;

                                    Beat Cleveland with a touchdown and a 52 yard field goal in the

                                                  Last 96 seconds of the game

                                    Beat Denver with a touchdown

                                    Beat San Diego(heavily favored) with a field goal with 0 showing

Keep in mind that some of these wins came as a reserve, subbing in for starter Daryl Lamonica.

 

So, when the Raiders came to Memorial Stadium in Baltimore for the Championship game, 60 plus thousand of us were delighted that LaMonica was able to play.  We had every confidence that our defense could handle Daryl.

 

Baltimore got off to a fast start and led 10-0.  But, in the second quarter LaMonica went down and Blanda came in and we got nervous.  He kicked a field goal and threw for a touchdown and the score was tied 10-10.  Then, Baltimore got a field goal and a Unitas touchdown and led 20-10.  We feared that Blanda lighting like comeback as in Cleveland.  He threw for a touchdown and the score was 20-17.  We’re in the fourth quarter, and cheering mightily for the offense to keep its drives going, so that Blanda would not get on the field.

 

Once in the mid fourth quarter, the offense stalled, and one of my loud mouth friends a few rows up yelled “here comes that old ^&%$#*((.  Batten down the ^&%$$ hatches.”

 

He drove the Raiders down close, and then threw into the end zone and the Colts intercepted.  Relief swept through the stadium.  The Colts stalled and Blanda came back on the field.  Again, he drove them down and again the Colts intercepted in the end zone.  This was getting too close for comfort.  Finally Johnny U threw a 68 yard touchdown pass to Ray Perkins.  Colts 27-17.  But, with that 96 second scoring splurge against Cleveland in our minds, it wasn’t certain right to the end.

 

The guy was phenomenal, the oldest quarterback ever to play in a championship game, and that day I had the pleasure of watching two of the greatest field leaders in the history of football battle it out---Unitas and Blanda.  Being a Colts and Unitas fan, I was happy with the result.  But, in an historic kind of way, would have been nice to see the old guy pull out another victory.

 

At my age today, I would have been pulling for Blanda, just as I did for Warner in the super bowl.  Again, good choice Chuck.

THE GIANTS OF RADIO ARE NOW GONE

 

            The last of the great giants of radio news broadcasting is now gone.  As the noted Chicago Tribune stated,  in the usual Tribune understated style:

 

“Paul Harvey, a Chicago radio man whose melodious voice and hearty        ‘Hello, America’ were cherished by millions for more than 57 years on

 National broadcasts that were an entertaining mix of news, storytelling

 And gently persuasive salesmanship, died Saturday.  He was 90”

 

          He was, in fact, an American institution----a man who lived the American dream to its fullest.  He started in radio in 1933 when, while still in high school, with a small radio station in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  He started as a cleaning boy, then graduated to reading commercials and news as a fill-in, and then to regular announcing. 

 

         Later, while in college at Tulsa University, he continued his radio work, and moved on through a series of announcing and program director jobs until 1940 when he went “on air” for KXOK.  There, he met Lynne Cooper who was at the station on a school announcing job. The first day he met her, he invited her to dinner, and proposed marriage.

 

         A year later, they were married, and he and his beloved “Angel,” as he always called her, worked together on his news broadcasts and shows from then until her passing in May, 2008.  She is credited with coming up with many of the symbols of his broadcasts: (1) the staccato style reminiscent of Bill Stern, the famous sportscaster,  (2) the 10pm news hour which was so successful that it fixed 10 pm as the standard time for news, (3)  and the imbedding into the news of a surprise ending which ultimately led to the “rest of the story” features and broadcasts.

 

        In 1945 the Harveys  moved to Chicago where he broadcast for WGN Radio, the voice of the Chicago Tribune.  He was still broadcasting for WGN in the late 50’s when my wife Lodice and I moved to Chicago for law school at the University of Chicago Law School, as kids not yet dry behind the ears.  During our first week in the “Windy City”, we decided to see what sights we could without spending any money.  We walked the Miracle Mile on Michigan Avenue, walked the beach of Lake Michigan, visited the Museum of Science and Industry, the Lincoln Park Zoo, the various art and natural history museums, and the Chicago Tribune Building and WGN.

 

      It was during a tour of the WGN building that we met Paul Harvey.  We had filled out cards when we entered the building, stating where we were from and an issue that plagued our “neck of the woods”.  As we toured, here came Paul Harvey striding down the hall with a handful of cards.  He strode up, said hello to the crowd, and asked which one was Lodice (he pronounced it correctly, Lo  Deace , one of the very few men who ever got her name right the first time), and then talked to us briefly about where we were from and why we were in Chicago.  What a thrill to have talked to  such a genuine, common folk man.

 

     He and his “Angel” loved Chicago, and turned down several much higher offers to go to the East Coast.  The city of Carl Sandburg, the city of steel mills and stockyards, the city of the blue collar workers of America, was his kind of town.  He stayed there, he said, because he felt closer to the real people of America in Chicago.  But he and “Angel” stayed also because they would not give up control management of the broadcasts.  He called Chicago the last of the giant cities that not only believed in American workers, but  demonstrated  that belief.

 

       Harvey was a cosmopolitan newscaster: he understood the minds of the common folk, that great often silent majority to whom he spoke, yet also the sophistication of the upper class.  He was called “the voice of Middle America” and “the voice of the Silent Majority” because of his great love for this Nation and the working people who work hard and make it that great “shining city on the hill” as it was referred to by Ronald Reagan.

 

      Bruce DuMont, host of the nationally syndicated “Beyond the Beltway” show, said that Harvey “was the most listened to man in the history of radio” and that “there is no one who will ever come close to him.”

 

     Harvey was heard by from 22 to 24 million people per week when, in 2000, he signed a 10 year $100 million contract with ABC radio networks.

 

      In May, 2007, Paul Harvey movingly announced that his “Angel” had contracted leukemia, and she died a year later.  What she meant to him was revealed when he accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House on November 9, 2005:  “This is the highest honor I have received since 60 some years ago when Angel said ‘I do’”.

 

      He never fully recovered from her death, and his son Paul Harvey, Jr. started doing the morning radio shows after that.

 

     So many of his mannerisms came from her---including the “Page One” followed by throwing the yellow sheet on which the news was written over his right shoulder.

 

     He loved America and he wasn’t ashamed to let that be known on every radio broadcast.  Political correctness never got in the way of the news and the truth on his shows.

 

    He was the last of the Giants of radio to whom those of us in our 60s and 70s grew up with,  Giants who many of you don’t even remember:  Walter Winchell, Bill Stern, Red Smith, Mel Allen, Red Barber, Fulton Lewis, Jr., George Considine, Richard Harkness, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, the magnificent Edward R. Murrow, Alex Dreyer, H.V. Kaltenborn.

 

     They all had their unique styles---and it was our loss when they passed.  But, somehow, I never stopped to realize that one day we would never again here, live, “Hello America…this is Paul Harvey.  You know the news-------but, now the rest of the story.”

 

And, that ending:  “Paul Harvey-----good day!”

 

 

 

 

 

HAS  TODAY’S MEDIA GIVEN UP THE “FIFTH ESTATE” STATUS

 

With the passing of Paul Harvey, our attention is drawn to the losses of  esteemed writers and champions of free speech who have passed during the last year and a half.  William Buckley,  Tim Russert, Studs Terkel, George Carlin---all gone from the scene.  And, with this change of an era, perhaps goes the confidence that this nation once had in the press.

 

Remember the story of how the little girl wrote to the newspaper to ask whether there is really a Santa Claus?  She wrote to the editor because her dad told her that if she read it in the Detroit Free Press it was true.  The resulting “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” has become a classic of  journalism.

 

Would a child of today get that same assurance from her father, that if you read it in the paper its true.  To the contrary, probably, the reverse would be true.

 

The unique style of the announcers and writers who are now gone from the scene are just simply not present in today’s media headliners.  Chris Matthews raises his voice and yells, Olberman also raises the voice and uses sarcasm, Limbaugh just Limbaughs, Hannity just tries to Limbaugh, O’Reilly uses obnoxious overriding to make his points, and on and on and on.  A few like David Gregory on television, David Brooks and George Will on the printed page, and Michael Savage on the radio, still present with a unique style, and with some conviction.

 

But, lets face it, the writers, columnists, and announcers are not what they once were.  And, the status of the press as the “fifth estate” has dissipated.  Few would rely unconditionally on the accuracy and credibility of the press.

 

Printed newspapers are disappearing; and as our associate Vicky Davis will point out here on March 5, newspapers and other media sources are being “managed” by the public relations people tied to advertisers.

 

Dr. Walter Brasch, noted professor of journalism and communication,  points out tomorrow, March 4, that the press which covers politics often  gives the candidates a “free pass”.

 

True to Dr. Brasch’s message, when I served Governors Cecil Andrus and John Evans of Idaho, the press secretary always made sure to have a press release hanging on the hook for reporters early each morning.  The theory was that if they had a press release from which to work, they wouldn’t dig around looking for news.  And, it worked.

 

One of the streaming interests we will focus on this year will be today’s media and how they perform.  Dr. Brasch leads off tomorrow and  Vicky Davis’ pointed commentary follows.  Hopefully they will promote comments from readers about your experiences with the media of today as purveyors of the news and facts, and as searchers for truth.

 

Fred Kelly Grant