Bush's handpicked choice as Secretary Of The Army, Dr. Francis J. Harvey, a metallurgist who formerly was the Director and Vice Chairman of the military contractor, Duratek, Inc., has resigned over the widening scandal at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Harvey became Secretary Of the Army in 2004.
Under Bush, all of the Secretaries of Army, Navy and Air Force offices have been handed over to control by military contractor officials, not military officials. Now, this has resulted in a scandal at one of the military's most important hospitals as too much has been put into planning wars such as Iraq and not enough into help for injured veterans from these wars.
Upon leaving office, President Dwight Eisenhower, a highly decorated general himself, warned about the influence of the "military industrial complex", and would never have allowed military contractors who could plan or start wars simply for profit to become the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
More than any presidential administration, the Bush administration has been about rewarding big political donors and defense contractor interests. 33 of the Bush administration officials are associated with defense contractor interests, while even more, 43 persons are associated with oil industry interests.
Jumat, 02 Maret 2007
Romney Chooses Reactionary Sheriff Joe Arpaio As Arizona State Honorary Chairman
In a clear slap to human rights and organizations such as Amnesty International, right wing politician Mitt Romney chose reactionary Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio as his honorary Arizona state chairman for his failing presidential bid. As Romney continues to slide in the polls, he only makes further attempts to attract the political right's waning support. However, choosing someone with the terrible human rights record of Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a clear slap at basic decency and opposed to basic human dignity, even if some individuals are guilty of serious crimes. The absurd choice of Sheriff Arpaio speaks very poorly for the reasoning and judgement abilities of Romney. It should make serious voters ask whether Romney has the reasoning ability to really be president or not.
Sheriff Arpaio was known for bringing back the chain gangs to Arizona, something that harkens back to the days of slavery, and is especially racist and archaic in law enforcement these days. Sheriff Arpaio also saved $750,000 by not building a new jail wing and instead for $100,000 puts up many prisoners in the 110 degree Arizona sun in tents. The poor food, which includes moldy cold baloney sandwiches has also been condemned by many critics.
Most modern Sheriffs understand the need for drug treatment or psychiatric help for many of their prisoners. Some like Multnomah County, Oregon Sheriif Bernie Guisto accept responsibility that they are in charge of providing needed psychiatric or drug counseling help as many county drug treatment or psychiatric counseling services in the county have faced sharp cutbacks.
Sheriff Arpaio has also consistently denied that torture is practiced in his jail. However, a British television station Channel 4 presented clear medical autopsy evidence from prisoners who died while being held by Arpaio of substantial injuries enough to result in death. In one case, a blind inmate, Brian Crenshaw, was beaten so badly that his neck was broken and had a perforated intestine and later died. Yet Sheriif Arpaio lied about the incident falsely claiming that the blind prisoner fell off a bunk bed. In another case, Sheriff Arpaio lost a $8.25 million dollar lawsuit in another case in which a man high on meth, Scott Norberg, was arrested for chasing two young girls. Still suffering from the mental health problems from his meth addiction, Norberg was roughly treated during a violent outburst in captivity and suffocated with a wet towel by guards working under Sheriff Arpaio.
Romney may think that choosing a reactionary like Sheriff Arpaio is the proper way to appeal to the right wing of his party. But after the dismal human rights record of the Bush administration, Romney appears to have learned nothing about the rule of law or using jails to help rehabilitate prisoners into constructive citizens. A jail, unlike a prison, may involve many of those in custody for relatively minor crimes such as driving under the influence, or minor possession of drugs. A policy that condones torture and abuse of prisoners is counterproductive to rehabilitation and modern criminal justice procedures. It's also illegal and makes Sheriff Arpaio a criminal himself.
Sheriff Arpaio was known for bringing back the chain gangs to Arizona, something that harkens back to the days of slavery, and is especially racist and archaic in law enforcement these days. Sheriff Arpaio also saved $750,000 by not building a new jail wing and instead for $100,000 puts up many prisoners in the 110 degree Arizona sun in tents. The poor food, which includes moldy cold baloney sandwiches has also been condemned by many critics.
Most modern Sheriffs understand the need for drug treatment or psychiatric help for many of their prisoners. Some like Multnomah County, Oregon Sheriif Bernie Guisto accept responsibility that they are in charge of providing needed psychiatric or drug counseling help as many county drug treatment or psychiatric counseling services in the county have faced sharp cutbacks.
Sheriff Arpaio has also consistently denied that torture is practiced in his jail. However, a British television station Channel 4 presented clear medical autopsy evidence from prisoners who died while being held by Arpaio of substantial injuries enough to result in death. In one case, a blind inmate, Brian Crenshaw, was beaten so badly that his neck was broken and had a perforated intestine and later died. Yet Sheriif Arpaio lied about the incident falsely claiming that the blind prisoner fell off a bunk bed. In another case, Sheriff Arpaio lost a $8.25 million dollar lawsuit in another case in which a man high on meth, Scott Norberg, was arrested for chasing two young girls. Still suffering from the mental health problems from his meth addiction, Norberg was roughly treated during a violent outburst in captivity and suffocated with a wet towel by guards working under Sheriff Arpaio.
Romney may think that choosing a reactionary like Sheriff Arpaio is the proper way to appeal to the right wing of his party. But after the dismal human rights record of the Bush administration, Romney appears to have learned nothing about the rule of law or using jails to help rehabilitate prisoners into constructive citizens. A jail, unlike a prison, may involve many of those in custody for relatively minor crimes such as driving under the influence, or minor possession of drugs. A policy that condones torture and abuse of prisoners is counterproductive to rehabilitation and modern criminal justice procedures. It's also illegal and makes Sheriff Arpaio a criminal himself.
The Doors Honored By Hollywood
The Doors, one of the greatest musical acts of all time were honored with a star on the famous Hollywood Walk Of Fame this past Wednesday. This great dark 1960's group, headed the the late great but certainly controversial, Jim Morrison, were one of the most impressive and big selling of any of the 1960's rock acts.
The Doors had many huge selling hit singles including the megahit, LIGHT MY FIRE as well as decent selling hits like,HELLO, I LOVE YOU, RIDERS ON THE STORM, LOVE HER MADLY, LOVE ME TWO TIMES, THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, TOUCH ME and more. The group was able to land hits on the pop charts while balancing a strong following as a dark underground counterculture 1960's album act. Some of their lyrics were the most radical and counterculture of their time including the revolutionary 60's anthems FIVE TO ONE and TELL ALL THE PEOPLE. THE END was probably one of their most dark and disturbing songs as well. Morrison was probably not a real class conscious revolutionary or even drawn to politics so much as he simply enjoyed penning and weilding in concert some very dark and disturbing, incendiary lyrics and poetry. Morrison celebrated his role as a rebel.
Two of the three original band members, keyboardist Ray Manzarek,68, and guitarist Robby Kreiger,61, were at the dedication ceremony, while fueding drummer, John Densmore, 62, claimed to have a prior obligation with a radio interview, and did not attend.
Manzarek and Krieger have had tense relations with Densmore since 2005 after he organized a successful lawsuit that brought together the family's of Jim Morrison and his common law wife, Pamela Courson into ordering a judge to permanently prevent Manzarek and Kreiger from continuing to perform as The Doors with a new drummer and a Jim Morrisonlike like new lead singer.
Densmore also prevented the use of the songs of The Doors for advertising purposes. This could have been an important source of revenue for the aging members of this band, as it cost them royalty rights to Cadillac wanting to use the Doors song, BREAK ON THROUGH, for their past advertising campaign, but instead worked out a deal to use a Led Zeppelin song instead.
Why Densmore was able to win this lawsuit was highly questionable. It denied the surviving band members a source of income either as performing as The Doors, or in advertising royalties. Further, Morrison had deeply strained relations with his birth family, where there was little reason to believe that either they or the family of his common law wife should have any interest in the financial affairs of The Doors enterprise.
The use of classic rock songs has become an important source of royalties for many aging rock stars or their estates. The son of England's Marc Bolan of T.Rex, Rolan Bolan has been able to have a steady source of royalty income by licensing his dad's songs for advertising or other purposes. And the huge number of releases of unreleased Marc Bolan material probably also helps the son financially as well. It could only be assumed that Jim Morrison would have wanted his longtime friend,Ray Manzarek, as well as Kreiger and Densmore to either carry on or profit from the band's works. This past Christmas season, the band was able to cooperate on a 12 disc CD-DVD boxed set of original, unleased, remixed and video material. Why the same sort of cooperation could not have allowed The Doors to carry on is a good question?
At any rate, it is great that a band so associated with Los Angeles would be so honored by the city with a star on the Walk Of Fame. Some of their albums including LA WOMAN and MORRISON HOTEL/HARD ROCK CAFE had a real connection to the city of Los Angeles. The Doors were one of LA's greaest acts ever. Morrison used to famously muse, "The West is the best".
The Doors had many huge selling hit singles including the megahit, LIGHT MY FIRE as well as decent selling hits like,HELLO, I LOVE YOU, RIDERS ON THE STORM, LOVE HER MADLY, LOVE ME TWO TIMES, THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, TOUCH ME and more. The group was able to land hits on the pop charts while balancing a strong following as a dark underground counterculture 1960's album act. Some of their lyrics were the most radical and counterculture of their time including the revolutionary 60's anthems FIVE TO ONE and TELL ALL THE PEOPLE. THE END was probably one of their most dark and disturbing songs as well. Morrison was probably not a real class conscious revolutionary or even drawn to politics so much as he simply enjoyed penning and weilding in concert some very dark and disturbing, incendiary lyrics and poetry. Morrison celebrated his role as a rebel.
Two of the three original band members, keyboardist Ray Manzarek,68, and guitarist Robby Kreiger,61, were at the dedication ceremony, while fueding drummer, John Densmore, 62, claimed to have a prior obligation with a radio interview, and did not attend.
Manzarek and Krieger have had tense relations with Densmore since 2005 after he organized a successful lawsuit that brought together the family's of Jim Morrison and his common law wife, Pamela Courson into ordering a judge to permanently prevent Manzarek and Kreiger from continuing to perform as The Doors with a new drummer and a Jim Morrisonlike like new lead singer.
Densmore also prevented the use of the songs of The Doors for advertising purposes. This could have been an important source of revenue for the aging members of this band, as it cost them royalty rights to Cadillac wanting to use the Doors song, BREAK ON THROUGH, for their past advertising campaign, but instead worked out a deal to use a Led Zeppelin song instead.
Why Densmore was able to win this lawsuit was highly questionable. It denied the surviving band members a source of income either as performing as The Doors, or in advertising royalties. Further, Morrison had deeply strained relations with his birth family, where there was little reason to believe that either they or the family of his common law wife should have any interest in the financial affairs of The Doors enterprise.
The use of classic rock songs has become an important source of royalties for many aging rock stars or their estates. The son of England's Marc Bolan of T.Rex, Rolan Bolan has been able to have a steady source of royalty income by licensing his dad's songs for advertising or other purposes. And the huge number of releases of unreleased Marc Bolan material probably also helps the son financially as well. It could only be assumed that Jim Morrison would have wanted his longtime friend,Ray Manzarek, as well as Kreiger and Densmore to either carry on or profit from the band's works. This past Christmas season, the band was able to cooperate on a 12 disc CD-DVD boxed set of original, unleased, remixed and video material. Why the same sort of cooperation could not have allowed The Doors to carry on is a good question?
At any rate, it is great that a band so associated with Los Angeles would be so honored by the city with a star on the Walk Of Fame. Some of their albums including LA WOMAN and MORRISON HOTEL/HARD ROCK CAFE had a real connection to the city of Los Angeles. The Doors were one of LA's greaest acts ever. Morrison used to famously muse, "The West is the best".
Kamis, 01 Maret 2007
Did North Korea Scam The U.S. Over Their Nukes?
Now American intelligence is beginning to question whether North Korea actually had any nuclear weapons to begin with. The White House is beginning to back track on claims that North Korea was involved in uranium enrichment activity. And a claimed North Korean underground nuclear test a few months ago seemed too small to be a geniune device at the time, and was either thought to be a failed experiment or else a faked test only involving TNT. A North Korean launch of a longer range missile from their No Dong missile program grossly failed seconds after takeoff.
All of this strongly suggests that the Pyongyang government may never had had any nuclear weapons to begin with, and was simply seeking a number of concessions from the U.S. and any parties to the six nation talks held in China over their claimed nuclear program. On Monday, the U.S. and Pyongyang are reportedly scheduled for talks to normalize relations. And while Americans struggle to afford oil products, the U.S. will ship a massive amount of heavy oil to North Korea as a payment for them to get rid of their claimed nuclear weapons program.
Best evidence may suggest that the U.S. might have been scammed by the Pyongyang government, so that North Korea could extort the U.S. One hand better relations with North Korea is important. But they may have managed to create a false sense of fear in order to extort far more than could be normally expected by their possible nuclear scam.
All of this strongly suggests that the Pyongyang government may never had had any nuclear weapons to begin with, and was simply seeking a number of concessions from the U.S. and any parties to the six nation talks held in China over their claimed nuclear program. On Monday, the U.S. and Pyongyang are reportedly scheduled for talks to normalize relations. And while Americans struggle to afford oil products, the U.S. will ship a massive amount of heavy oil to North Korea as a payment for them to get rid of their claimed nuclear weapons program.
Best evidence may suggest that the U.S. might have been scammed by the Pyongyang government, so that North Korea could extort the U.S. One hand better relations with North Korea is important. But they may have managed to create a false sense of fear in order to extort far more than could be normally expected by their possible nuclear scam.
KFC Attempted To Get Support Of Vatican To Boost Sales Of New Fish Sandwich
In a failed attempt to boost sales of a new fish sandwich at KFC for the Roman Catholic Lent period, KFC actually sought the endorsement of the Vatican recently for their new product. So fat the Vatican has refused to offer a product endorsement to KFC.
Roman Catholic religious beliefs used to ban the eating of meat on Fridays, although not a single word of Holy Scripture supports this church doctrine. Catholic church doctrine was lated modified where Catholics could eat meat on most Fridays, except during Lent.
Perhaps some enterprising executive at KFC thought seeking a Vatican endorsement for their new fish sandwich was the proper way to fulfill their religion's obligations as well as to boost sales, but the Vatican is not in the product endorsement business.
Roman Catholic religious beliefs used to ban the eating of meat on Fridays, although not a single word of Holy Scripture supports this church doctrine. Catholic church doctrine was lated modified where Catholics could eat meat on most Fridays, except during Lent.
Perhaps some enterprising executive at KFC thought seeking a Vatican endorsement for their new fish sandwich was the proper way to fulfill their religion's obligations as well as to boost sales, but the Vatican is not in the product endorsement business.
Payday Loan Shark Industry Running Phony Public Service Ads
A new advertising campaign by a business association of payday loan shark companies is attempting to avoid government regulation of their industry by urging consumers to only use their services in an emergency situation. Yet the advertising from this industry continues to show persons reoutinely seeking cash advances, payday loans, and other ultra high interest services simply as vacation or fun cash to spend.
This is typical of any business that may face government regulation, to spend money on phony public service advertising and attempt to appear responsible. And this is also always followed by a huge lobby effort in state legislatures that the average citizen knows little about to quash any new regulation of their industry.
In the Senate Banking Committtee, Chairman Christopher Dodd appears ready to clamp down on a number of consumer financial ripoffs in the subprime interest mortgage industry, excessive credit card fees and other things. The payday loan industry has long operated in a legal grey area and avoided the same interest and accountability standards as banks or savings and loans. The payday loan industry probably fears that they may be brought under similiar standards as other financial services and their high priced interest rate consumer ripoffs may be coming to an end soon.
This is typical of any business that may face government regulation, to spend money on phony public service advertising and attempt to appear responsible. And this is also always followed by a huge lobby effort in state legislatures that the average citizen knows little about to quash any new regulation of their industry.
In the Senate Banking Committtee, Chairman Christopher Dodd appears ready to clamp down on a number of consumer financial ripoffs in the subprime interest mortgage industry, excessive credit card fees and other things. The payday loan industry has long operated in a legal grey area and avoided the same interest and accountability standards as banks or savings and loans. The payday loan industry probably fears that they may be brought under similiar standards as other financial services and their high priced interest rate consumer ripoffs may be coming to an end soon.
Towing Company Charges "Outburst" Fee To Customers
As if towing companies aren't dishonest and crooked enough, a Portland, Oregon towing company Retriever Towing, has come up with yet another consumer ripoff; a $50 "outburst" fee. The company somehow justifies this latest consumer ripoff by claiming the fee is somehow similiar to what a judge can impose for contempt of court. However, this is a private company, not some court or government agency. And the company has been routinely applying the fee to many persons who simply questioned whether their car was legally removed from a location or not.
This is only the latest ripoff from this industry that operates with very little government regulation, although the towing industry is often associated with police or city parking management activity.
Another major problem with the towing industry is that theft of valuables by the towing companies is a very common practice. Many companies maintain large keyrings or even "slim jims" and are able to open doors or trunks and steal valuables such as laptop computers, cameras, tools, cash or other items from automobiles while at their towing locations. Government has done little to prosecute this widespread theft of automoblie owner's items. So many persons find the,selves not only victimized by high towing and storage fees, but also are often theft victims of many hishonest towing companies.
If any industry needs to be placed under tight government control or to be charged with widespread prosecutions for theft of consumer property, it is many towing companies. Too much crime is rampant in this industry, and theft of consumer property is way too common of a practice.
Often a person whose car has been stolen and police order it towed to a towing business for safe recovery by the crime victim will have valuables stolen from the trunk by towing company employees who used a ring of keys, when no signs of a break-in to the trunk by the car thief is noticeable. A automobile theft victim can find themselves victimized twice by both the person who stole their car, and punched the door look and steering wheel locks, and by tow company employee theft from a ring of keys.
This is only the latest ripoff from this industry that operates with very little government regulation, although the towing industry is often associated with police or city parking management activity.
Another major problem with the towing industry is that theft of valuables by the towing companies is a very common practice. Many companies maintain large keyrings or even "slim jims" and are able to open doors or trunks and steal valuables such as laptop computers, cameras, tools, cash or other items from automobiles while at their towing locations. Government has done little to prosecute this widespread theft of automoblie owner's items. So many persons find the,selves not only victimized by high towing and storage fees, but also are often theft victims of many hishonest towing companies.
If any industry needs to be placed under tight government control or to be charged with widespread prosecutions for theft of consumer property, it is many towing companies. Too much crime is rampant in this industry, and theft of consumer property is way too common of a practice.
Often a person whose car has been stolen and police order it towed to a towing business for safe recovery by the crime victim will have valuables stolen from the trunk by towing company employees who used a ring of keys, when no signs of a break-in to the trunk by the car thief is noticeable. A automobile theft victim can find themselves victimized twice by both the person who stole their car, and punched the door look and steering wheel locks, and by tow company employee theft from a ring of keys.
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