Proposed Reductions include almost 80 percent cut of $380 million to Community Oriented Police Services (COPS) for this year alone.

O, Joy. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that we are in deep doo-doo if the COPS funds of $380M is axed for this year. For those of you who are not familiar with the COPS program let me just say it's one of ex-President Bill Clinton’s pet programs put in place by Congress and was responsible for cutting crime from 1993 to 2000. When President W came into office, he began cutting funds for this successful program. But that’s not all. The Byrne Justice Assistance Grants (JAG) program which supports local governments in a wide range of crime prevention and crime control initiatives, received over $400 million in 2005, is now slated for elimination. –oo-That’s right. Your eyes are fine.

Alriiiighty, then. Some of you know where I’m going with this (cue arched eyebrow). There’s numerous studies to indicate some of the reasons for crime – poverty, social environment and family structure. These can be broken down into the following areas, for: poverty - lack of education, unemployment, poor housing, prejudice and lack of hope; social environment – inequality, not sharing power, lack of support to families and neighborhoods, lack or inaccessibility to social services, lack of leadership, low value placed on children and health, too much television; family structures - not putting children first, dysfunctional family conditions, inadequate parenting, conflict between parents, parents involved in criminal activity, lack of communication, respect and responsibility, abuse and neglect of children, violence.

Now for the big questions: How many of the above elements would play out in illegal immigration? Can we fairly say that, in general, illegal aliens face a fair number of the known causes for crime? How can our Illustrious Leaders not see the connection between crime and illegal immigration?

If our .government plans on letting more illegal people into our country, but drastically curtails funding for COPS and Byrne grants, isn’t the .government setting us up for running amok at some point? What happens when the majority of the population runs amok?

Hmm?

The KGB is alive and well. Its methods include terror, murder and subversion. Its goal is the old goal; and I believe this is the context for Bagley’s “continuum of treason.” After the collapse of Communism, as reported by Bagley, a German editor complained to KGB Col. Oleg Nechiporenko about the manuscript of a former KGB mole who spent twenty years inside Radio Liberty, saying that the mole’s account lacked sufficient detail. Nechiporenko chided the editor for being naïve. According to Nechiporenko the mole’s operation “was part of a link, a part of an operation…. And this operation isn’t completed.” Furthermore, any full accounting might tell the CIA “what the KGB was doing today and tomorrow. The KGB is not dead.” 

What does it mean to say that the sword and shield of the Communist Party Soviet Union is “not dead”? This statement signifies much more than an ongoing “continuum of treason.” It signifies a future destructive sequence that America is not prepared to counter. Here we stumble upon an incomplete operation. It is a work in progress. In fact, the Soviet Union itself continues to exist in disguised form. The satellite countries also continue, in shabby democratic drag. The entire strategy of the United States rests on a false foundation.
<snip>

I lost a post on this subject about a half hour ago and I'm disheartened that TBLOG doesn't have an auto-save function when the site is experiencing difficulties. So this time I'll be brief. (And the cheers rang out! ;)

The FDA says the melamine found in the pet food that's found its way into our food presents very low risk to people . However, the FDA called together some experts in several federal agencies to study the safety of our food chain since the contamination is now found in pigs and poultry. The odd thing is that now the FDA has called in another group of "experts" to investigate their findings. I feel so much better now la la la

WRONG

I went to the other pages at the FDA website and took a look at the Enforcement Report here for May 2 . Then I clicked on 2006 and 2007 . WOW. Shocked, I was! We are sitting ducks for an agency that appears to do very little for us in terms of safety; of food, drugs, blood, plasma and medical appliances. Do you know what this means? Basically, it's "open-Season" on Americans in virtually every sphere of daily living. Go to the hospital and you may end up with rotten blood or plasma and dirty appliances that are used on & in our bodies. And we pay them big bucks to do this to us!!!

I for one am asking, what the hay has the FDA been doing with all our tax dollars?!?

Yes, what the AG needs to know is the People are concerned with the liars running this country and we're concerned about when we're going to be blessed with an honest .government concerned with the needs of the People.  Is this clear enough?

That's what he needs to know!!*

*His favorite line is, "What the People need to know...." 

Wal-Mart sales decline is worst in 28 years as written by Kris Hudson of the Wall Street Journal.

Forgive me if I just come out and say the congressional hearing spotlighting AG Alberto Gonzales' ability to run the Justice Dept., question of his credibility and his role in the firing of the 8 US attorney generals is one heavy dose of pure, unadulterated BS!

Why?

Because allegedly (wave to lenfanterrible) every person in the United States is being surveilled, Congress included (whether acknowledged or not), and is a potential victim of blackmail. Blackmail results in potential arm-twisting to persuade one to testify in favor of the arm-breaker arm-twister. Pure and simple.

What more is there to say?!?

Except to say the following House representatives (so far) had the cajones to find truth, ask the right questions, and were not detered from focusing on the question at hand: is AG Gonzales competent or should he be fired: Representatives Adam Schiff (who asked for his resignation!), Artur Davis, William Delahunt, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Keith Ellison, Jerrold Nadler, Hank Johnson, and Robert Wexler.

Edited to add additional names to the cojones list. ;>

04/11/07 "ICH" -- -- -Had Enough? Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course." Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out! You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies.Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for.

I've had enough. How about you? I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. My friends tell me to calm down. They say, "Lee, you're eighty-two years old. Leave the rage to the young people." I'd love to, as soon as I can pry them away from their iPods for five seconds and get them to pay attention. I'm going to speak up because it's my patriotic duty. I think people will listen to me. They say I have a reputation as a straight shooter. So I'll tell you how I see it, and it's not pretty, but at least it's real. I'm hoping to strike a nerve in those young folks who say they don't vote because they don't trust politicians to represent their interests. Hey, America, wake up. These guys work for us. Who Are These Guys, Anyway? Why are we in this mess? How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for them, or at least some of us did. But I'll tell you what we didn't do. We didn't agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn't agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that's a dictatorship, not a democracy. And don't tell me it's all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That's an intellectually lazy argument, and it's part of the reason we're in this stew. We're not just a nation of factions. We're a people. We share common principles and ideals. And we rise and fall together.

Where are the voices of leaders who can inspire us to action and make us stand taller? What happened to the strong and resolute party of Lincoln? What happened to the courageous, populist party of FDR and Truman? There was a time in this country when the voices of great leaders lifted us up and made us want to do better. Where have all the leaders gone?

The Test of a Leader
I've never been Commander in Chief, but I've been a CEO. I understand a few things about leadership at the top. I've figured out nine points, not ten (I don't want people accusing me of thinking I'm Moses). I call them the "Nine Cs of Leadership." They're not fancy or complicated. Just clear, obvious qualities that every true leader should have. We should look at how the current administration stacks up. Like it or not, this crew is going to be around until January 2009. Maybe we can learn something before we go to the polls in 2008. Then let's be sure we use the leadership test to screen the candidates who say they want to run the country. It's up to us to choose wisely.

>SNIP<

A Hell of a Mess.
So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened. Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when the Big Three referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it? Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry. Read rest of article here .

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Boy, how I wish I could claim this as my own writing. Whew! Is this good, or what?! Doesn't Iacocca fire you up with new energy to fight this beast (hee hee) for the good of our country? I know I'm fired up anew. Although, I wish I had Iacocca's phone number so I can call him up and tell him how much he fired me up with his words - and I'm willing to go the extra mile and lend my voice to his, tricksy titters, if he'll lend me his security apparatus to thwart the JBT's from killing me for repeating after him! Hmmm.. sounds fair to me! Whaddyall think?

In the meantime, did you notice who is the most recent I-Will-Not-Resign bully-of-the-day? The ones who rub it in our faces? The upside of this is we get to know who's behind the new order. *grins* [drum roll, please..]

Rumsfeld, DeLay, Lay, Rove, Hastert, Jefferson, Gonza, von Eschenbach, Stanzel, Wolfowitz:

We nooottt leeeeaving. We won't leeeeeave. na na na pffft na na NA na naaa....

Green homes? Organic food? Nature is good? Time to give the ol' tie-dyers some respect
as written by Mark Morford
courtesy of SFGate.com

Go ahead, name your movement. Name something good and positive and pro-environment and eco-friendly that's happening right now in the newly "greening" America and don't say more guns in Texas or fewer reproductive choices for women or endless vile unwinnable BushCo wars in the Middle East lasting until roughly 2075 because that would defeat the whole point of this perky little column and destroy its naive tone of happy rose-colored sardonic optimism. OK?   Read rest of article here . 

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Some of you are going to love this one 

Put in place shortly after the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act, executive bonuses were designed to increase accountability in government by tying raises more closely to performance. But while bonuses can help retain key employees, damage can be done when payments turn into an automatic handout regardless of performance, Ellis said [ Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense].

"Simply put, people who nearly shortchanged our veterans shouldn't get a bonus check at the end of the year," he said.