Archive for August, 2017

Trump Ramping Up the Afghan War

Sunday, August 27th, 2017

I like President Trump, but I believe that he is wrong about the Afghan War by sending some 4,000 additional troops there. It’s the longest war in our history, and after 16 long years of losing our soldiers, we’re still not willing to win it. We’ll continue to lose the lives of our young soldiers, all at taxpayers’ expense (over $1 trillion in Iraq & Afghanistan during the last 16 years; that’s: $1,000,000,000,000.00). The terrorists will continue to kill our soldiers; we know that more will get killed in helicopter crashes; we’ll continue to spend billions of dollars per month; and, our homeland will be no safer for it. The whole Mideast is in continual war that is not winnable, and now they’ve pulled us into it as well.

First-Responders Abuses

Tuesday, August 22nd, 2017

Murder is legal; policemen are bullies; money buys justice; and, our legal system is sorry:

In May, 2013, Fort Worth police officers Richard Hoeppner and Benjamin B. Hanlon went to the wrong house and Hoeppner shot an innocent 72-year grandfather seven times, killing him. The officers blamed their GPS system, poor lighting, etc. On January 29, 2014, a grand jury failed to indict the officer. This (so-called) “public servant” not only shot and murdered the grandfather, but he shot him seven times. Think about that. Do you suppose that shooting the man six times might have been plenty? After the sixth shot, what prompted the officer to shoot the seventh time, other than making sure that the murder was complete, probably in order to ensure that the only honest witness to the crime couldn’t testify? If the grandfather had murdered the officer, there is no doubt that he would have been charged. So, in Texas, police officers are apparently above the law, with the freedom to murder. Hanlon, was later fired for falsifying a report unrelated to this incident.

In December 2013, State District Judge Jean Boyd sentenced a North Texas teenager, Ethan Couch, to 10 years’ probation for driving under the influence and killing four pedestrians and injuring 11. His attorneys successfully argued that the teen suffered from “affluenza” and needed rehabilitation, and not prison. While on probation, Couch then committed more crimes and fled to Mexico with his mother.

On 01/24/14, Josh Brent, a Dallas Cowboy, killed his buddy when he crashed his car while driving while intoxicated. He was sentenced to 10 years probation. A Dallas Cowboy can kill someone and get only probation. This is despite that facts that he was a felon; he was a habitual offender; he had prior DWIs; he had prior DUIs, he was under the influence of alcohol and drugs; he had no drivers license; and, he had no insurance.

On March 16, 2014, a video went viral of Albuquerque policemen opening fire on a mentally ill homeless man, James Boyd, who was no threat to them and turning away from them. They shot him six times. While he lay helpless, they continued shooting and they released a police dog on him and let it chew him up. These are just bullies who like to scream, “Drop your weapon,” and “Get down on the ground;” and, fix tickets.

How many times have Dallas policeman (alone) shot and killed an unarmed mentally impaired man or an unarmed teenager?

In July, 2013, teenager Ye Meng Yuan didn’t die when a plane crashed at San Francisco International Airport. She actually survived the impact, only to die minutes later after a fire truck ran over her. First-responders initially claimed that she was accidentally run over because she may have been covered in firefighting foam. The truth didn’t come out until six months later when a video revealed that emergency workers saw Ye’s injured body on the ground before she was fatally struck. Nobody was prosecuted.

Sometimes the decisions of our first-responders backfire. On June 30, 2013, 19 firefighters decided which way the wildfire at Yarnell, Arizona was moving. They were wrong, and it overran them, costing them their own lives.

Our policemen are paid well, with our tax dollars. Our veterans get essentially free health care for their PTSD, etc., with our tax dollars. They can all get 50 years of retirement after only 20 years of service (only the public sector), with our tax dollars. They get their perfect job of excitement, public recognition, and discounts on everything from free meals to lower interest rates on mortgages and insurance.

In 2013, a police office in the DFW area stopped to help someone on the side of the road. He was struck and killed by another car, so he gets honors funded by the taxpayers. Hundreds of officers in hundreds of emergency vehicles, some from various states up to 1500 miles away, formed a parade for miles at his funeral, all at taxpayer expense. When a civilian does it, and it wasn’t even his job, he goes unnoticed and his family can’t even afford an obituary in the newspaper.

All of these first-responders chose to do what they love. They know the risks, and they weren’t drafted. They wanted the adrenalin rush. They also wanted to be well-paid, have free healthcare, and free retirement after only 20 years of service, all paid for by the real heroes here: the honest American taxpayers. All government workers are a burden to all taxpayers. They milk the system, and some of them are necessary, but we shouldn’t forget about the taxpayers who pay for all of it.

The Man Who Killed Bin Laden

Tuesday, August 22nd, 2017

About three years after Osama Bin Laden was killed, a magazine article was published about the Navy Seal who pulled the trigger. He had joined the Navy at age 19, when a girl broke his heart, and the Navy recruiter encouraged him to be a sniper. He was 35 years old and, after serving over 16 years in the Navy, he was quitting. He said that he no longer wanted to carry a gun and use it–he was tired of doing that. It wasn’t an adrenalin rush for him anymore. He wanted to do something else, and he didn’t want a desk job, which was his only alternative if he stayed in the Navy.

This man was having a pity party. He said, “The man who shot Osama bin Laden (himself) receives no income from the state, no health insurance and no protection, and leaves with little more to show for his service than arthritis, tendinitis, eye damage and blown discs, a struggling marriage, a long wait to have his disability claims assessed, and a lifetime of looking over his shoulder.” He further claimed that he had received “nothing” from his grateful employer (the U. S. military). He said that he had no pension, no worker’s compensation, no benefits, and no protection for himself and his family.

So, let’s get this straight. He had CHOSEN to quit the military with 16 years of service. This guy saw himself as a hero, for doing his job and shooting Bin Laden, and he thinks that his country owes him. He could have stayed in the Navy for three-and-a-half more years and retired with a great pension / benefits package, but he chose not to do so.

He had kept a job for 16 years–that’s $4459/mo. for an E9 or $5355/m.o for an O3, plus free medical–and he was mad at the government because he would have had to work until he was almost 40 before being able to retire on the taxpayers’ dime for the next 50 years (with a pension of $1516 – $7435 / mo. for enlisted personnel, or $2811 – $19567 / mo. for officers). In reality, he received regular paychecks (from us taxpayers) for 16 years. He gets essentially free medical through the VA for life, and he’ll probably receives disability for the rest of his life.

He said that he was mad because he had not received a book deal (yet) and no money (severance pay), and that he didn’t get enough transition help, from military to civilian life. However, he had all kinds of benefits that he wasn’t taking advantage of; e.g., he did get five years of free insurance, but he didn’t know about it because he said that he received “no interviewing advice.”

So, let’s see: He received lifetime free benefits with his military status. He gets lower interest rates on things like mortgages (VA Loans) and cars than civilians do. He gets help with education and training through the GI Bill–essentially free education, and then help finding a job through the Deployment Center. He has access to the Military Tax Center, Financial/Legal Protection (SCRA), help with his education, Civilian Job Search, Deployment Center, Family Support, Forms, Health Care, Installations, Insurance, Military Law, Relocation, Space A Travel, Transition Help, essentially free medical, Drill Pay, Temporary Reserve TRICARE, Employment Protection (USERRA), Employer Support (ESGR), Concurrent Receipt, CRSC, Civilian Job Search, Relocation, Space A Travel, Employment Protection (USERRA), Survivor Benefits, Disability, and help with appeals, Buddy Finder, and Careers.

He gets help from the Veteran’s Benefits Act of 2003, and from thousands of Veterans groups. And he gets Death & Burial benefits.

He said that this was “unlike a private enterprise where he would get credit for years served.” He obviously hasn’t worked for any private lately because most or all of them have no retirement plans at all anymore–not to mention all of the above military-related benefits that are not available to company employees. If he had just had sense enough to stick it out three more years, he would never have had to work again–at the courtesy of us taxpayers.

Our Human Sacrifice

Wednesday, August 16th, 2017

Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings, usually as an offering to a deity, as part of a ritual. One form of human sacrifice is child sacrifice which is the ritualistic killing of children in order to please, propitiate, or force a god or supernatural beings in order to achieve a desired result. For Americans, our chosen (and effective) form of human / child sacrifice is abortion. Our killing of one million human babies each year, just as practiced by ancient pagans, is nothing short of satanic and demonic.

Is Heaven for Real?

Wednesday, August 16th, 2017

The book Heaven is For Real, by Todd Burpo gives a young boy’s account of dying, going to heaven, and being brought back to life on earth. He went up out of his body; saw his parents in different rooms–praying, etc.; spoke with angels; and, sat in Jesus’ lap. He was gone for three minutes, then Jesus brought him back, due to answered prayer. When I googled “Heaven is for real,” I got a half-million hits on articles like, “Boy Whose ‘Heaven Is For Real’ Story Captivated the World Speaks …”

It’s a well-meaning story of trying to convince people that heaven is for real, and maybe it even happened. Regardless, the wise reader will treat such claims with skepticism.

The book makes claims such as: Jesus had a cousin; Jesus had a rainbow horse; Jesus had red markers, on his hands and feet (supposedly for nail scars); Jesus’ eyes are pretty; Jesus was wearing purple (the color of kings); Jesus was wearing a crown, with a diamond, and pink in the middle; the boy had homework, and Jesus was his teacher; everyone wore white from shoulders to feet; the boy saw God’s really big throne, and Jesus’ at His right hand; there was no darkness in heaven–God and Jesus light up; Jesus really loves the children; the boy prayed for a rainbow, and got one; the first person you see is Jesus; Jesus shoots down power for daddy when he’s talking; the boy saw Satan, and only grimaced when asked about him; there’s going to be a war against Satan, monsters, dragons, and bad people; and, Jesus said he had told his dad to be a pastor. It is quite possible that each of these claims might have come through a Bible story (his dad was a pastor), a picture, or a dream.

He also made a couple of claims that I believe are incorrect, or misleading, at best: He claimed that everybody had wings, and a halo, except for Jesus. Although this could also have come from a story, a picture, or a dream, the thing to note is that it is not biblical, and, frankly, it is bad doctrine. Since the writing of the New Testament, stories and traditions have come down through the generations that people become angels when they die and go to heaven. However, angels and people are two completely different categories of God’s creation. Angels stay angels, and people stay people–forever. Wings may be for angels, and birds, but not for people. For further reading on this topic, please see “Do We Become Angels When We Die?

The boy also identified a picture (a painting) of Christ, with long hair. Again, this comes from false doctrine. 1 Corinthians 11:14-15 says “Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory?” How could a sinless man have had long hair, and thus been a disgrace?

The boy also said that Gabriel was at God’s left hand and that the Holy Spirit was blue. It’s easy to make these very subjective claims, but unfortunately, there is no way to prove them. All we know for sure is that the Bible doesn’t teach such claims.

However, there were two claims in the book that are more difficult to discount:

1) The boy met his great-grandfather, who had big wings, and later he was supposedly able to identify his picture. Although this story may be a little easier to believe (except for the wings, the source of it could once again been from family pictures and / or stories, or family resemblance.

2) The boy met his sister who had died in a miscarriage. This is the most intriguing claim that I found in this book. However, this again is quite subjective and not provably true. It could have been a dream.

Yes, we do know that heaven is for real. However, this is not due to this boy’s story. It’s true because the Bible says so.

220,000 California Public Employees Making Over $100,000

Tuesday, August 15th, 2017

At openthebooks.com/Forbes recently reported:

220,000 California public employees make over $100,000 per year and cost taxpayers $35 Billion.

NEW ‘$100,000 MINIMUM WAGE’ FOR 220,000 HIGHLY COMPENSATED CALIFORNIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES

We found lifeguard bosses making $256,000; City of San Francisco truck drivers at $183,000; city attorneys earning $419,000; LA harbor-boat-pilots up to $483,000; an ‘assistant sheriff’ netted $653,000; and the list goes on and on…

21,862 highly compensated, retired California public employees make over $100,000 per year and cost taxpayers $3.0 billion.

MAPPING THE $100,000+ CALIFORNIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PENSIONS AT CALPERS COSTING TAXPAYERS $3.0 BILLION

It takes all income taxes from 1.573 million California taxpayers to generate an amount equivalent to the $3.0 billion annual payout to the six-figure CalPERS retirees.

We found a ‘$1 Million General Manager’ position and even private employers muscled into the California public pension plans. A city manager is retired on $313,404 per month and the list goes on and on…

John Young

Tuesday, August 15th, 2017

I met John Young (and Bob Crippen) back in 1979 when I was a software developer on the first Space Shuttle program:

The “Mercury Seven” Astronauts:

– Scott Carpenter
– Gordon Cooper
– John Glenn
– Gus Grissom
– Wally Schirra
– Alan Shepard
– Deke Slayton

The “New Nine” Astronauts:

– Neil A. Armstrong (1930–2012), civilian (retired U.S. Navy) (2 flights)
– Frank F. Borman, II (born 1928), U.S. Air Force (2 flights)
– Charles “Pete” Conrad, Jr (1930–1999), U.S. Navy (4 flights)
– James A. Lovell, Jr (born 1928), U.S. Navy (4 flights)
– James A. McDivitt (born 1929), U.S. Air Force (2 flights)
– Elliot M. See, Jr (1927–1966), U.S. Navy
– Thomas P. Stafford (born 1930), U.S. Air Force (4 flights)
– Edward H. White, II (1930–1967), U.S. Air Force (1 flight)
– John W. Young (born 1930), U.S. Navy (6 flights)

John W. Young:

  • Gemini 3 — March 1965 —
    – Pilot — First manned Gemini mission; first manned mission to change orbital plane
  • Gemini 10 — July 1966 —
    – Command Pilot — First double rendezvous (first orbital docking)
  • Apollo 10 — May 1969 —
    – Command Module Pilot — “Dress rehearsal” for Apollo 11
    – First lunar orbital flight of Lunar Module (first lunar module orbit moon, @ 50K ft. from the moon’s surface)
    – First person to orbit the Moon alone
    – Highest speed attained by a manned vehicle (24,791 mph)
  • Apollo 16 — April 1972 —
    – Commander — Fifth manned lunar mission
    – Young became the ninth person to walk on the Moon
  • STS-1 Columbia — April 1981 —
    – Commander — First Space Shuttle mission (first reusable space shuttle to fly into earth’s orbit)
    – Maiden flight of Columbia
  • STS-9 Columbia — November 1983 —
    – Commander — First Spacelab mission
    – Young became the first person to travel into space six times
    – First six-person crew

Chicago Departments Paying $100,000+ Incomes

Tuesday, August 8th, 2017

Click here for the Top Ten Chicago Departments Paying $100,000+ Incomes.