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  • U.S., Iran, Syria, Libya & the Petrodollar

    There’s been a lot of conflict in the Middle East. And most of it has to do with the petrodollar.

    Take Iran, for example. The country is undergoing a bout of hyperinflation. This came about because of the pressing sanctions the West placed on Iran. But it’s not the only way America is trying to control the country.

    America is rapidly expanding its presence in hotspots such as Syria, because the country is aligned with Iran and is anti-petrodollar. By trying to control Syria, the U.S., by extension, is trying to control Iran.

    Now, our government wants you to believe we’re in Syria because of Iran’s nuclear capabilities. But we think something more sinister is at play…

    The U.S. is punishing Iran for trying to abandon the petrodollar.

    This is not unprecedented. The U.S. government took down Saddam Hussein when he tried to do the same thing. It also took down Libya when Gaddafi, a U.S. puppet, turned on the U.S. and threatened to issue gold dinars. That’s why the U.S. blew up Libya’s water system and left 70% of the population without water.

    These are actions our government takes to try to control other countries when it feels threatened. It’s clear that our administration is worried about something. And that something is our dollar’s standing in the global economy.

    via Strategic Investment (Paid Service).

    Pay attention folks.  American foreign policy is the real cause of so much violence in the world.  Obama — winner of the Nobel Peace Prize — was to correct all that.  But no, he just continues down the same Bush road.

    It’s the road to hell.  We’re all on it.  Expect real trouble in the future when the Petrodollar collapses.

  • Pearl High School Shooting: Oct. 1, 1997

    I am not insane, I am angry.  I am a cross dresser.  I killed because people like me are mistreated every day.  I did this to show society, push us and we will push back. … All throughout my life, I was ridiculed, always beaten, always hated.  Can you, society, truly blame me for what I do?  Yes, you will. … It was not a cry for attention, it was not a cry for help.  It was a scream in sheer agony saying that if you can’t pry your eyes open, if I can’t do it through pacifism, if I can’t show you through the displaying of intelligence, then I will do it with a bullet.
    — Luke Woodham, Shooter

    via Wikipedia

    The parallels to Newton are spooky:  Smart kid starts the day by killing his mother and then going to a school to kill as many as he can.

    At Pearl High School however Luke Woodham was stopped by the school’s principal who ran out to his truck a retrieved his .45 handgun.

    The Wiki article is short.  Worth reading.  Newton could have been very very different if someone in or very near that school was armed.

  • Newton CT – Day 3

    I wrote something short on the Facebook page of an old friend who called for more “gun control.”  He wrote back.  I wrote this response.

     

    I actually live on the “West Side” near [omitted.]  My first comment on the Newton matter was to wonder why the events in Newton & Aurora get big news while we can’t get any real media attention about Chicago killing 450 black (and brown) children ever year in this city. We may not live near Fenger but we’re touched by violence. My wife was out walking our baby (now six) in a buggy when a block away a kid was shot by Crane H.S. The wife and kid were nearly trampled in the ensuing stampede of children away from the scene. She was also out walking with the baby the day that they beat a kid to death with a baseball bat or golf club or something literally on the steps of the H.S.

    And that my old friend is the telling part – if the gang wants you dead they don’t need a gun to make that happen. The same day as the tragedy in Newton some wacko killed 20 kids with a sword at a school in China. Banning guns will not prevent crazy & will not stop mass killings.

    There are many many things that went wrong in Newton. Mom should have been a better gun owner and kept her guns in a safe (I keep my guns in a safe.) It appears that access to the school was through a broken window. Perhaps the physical infrastructure needed to be improved. Having talked to people “on the job” I know that CPD policy in Chicago is that 1st on the scene does NOT go into the building b/c they don’t know what they’re dealing with. I think this is a bad policy. You cannot have cops literally 30-40 feet away standing around while kids are getting shot. My guess is that L.E. took a long time to “secure” the building which delayed EMS from getting to the victims. And my guess is that EMS in Newton is simply not equipped to deal with gunshot wounds the way that we deal with them here (I believe the Army still trains field surgeons at County.)

    It’s just easy to blame the firearm. There are about 250 million vehicles in the country. There are about 310 non-military firearms (via CNN Aug. 9, 2012.) According to the CDC in 2010 children ages 5-9 were 6 times more likely to die in a traffic accident than by a firearm. Children are over twice as likely to drown and 1.5 times as likely to die in a fire over being killed by a gun. These are facts at the second link in my previous post. So if you’re serious about saving kids lives look at making cars and pools safer.

    As for who as access and training, perhaps you raise a point. However I have been trained. I’ve completed a 4 hour class on gun safety. A 10 hour NRA class on safety and marksmanship. 40 hours on the laws in Illinois (despite already being an attorney.) I train regularly at a local range which costs $70-80 per visit (fees + ammo.) I’m fully prepared to stop anyone who should attack me or my family yet I pray everyday that I never need to. But I’m lucky; I have the means to make this happen. It is very expensive.

    Self defense is everyone’s right. Recently there was this story: http://abcnews.go.com/US/kendra-st-clair-oklahoma-girl-12-shoots-intruder/story?id=17524438#.UM9OU3fzEyg This girl had no training and my guess is that her family did/does not have the means to send her and the rest of her family to training at $200 a head. This type of situation plays out everyday (the old man in the FL internet cafe also recently made news b/c there was security video.) Guns are used defensively far more often than offensively. There’s a good chance that Kendra St. Clair would be dead if she didn’t have her mother’s gun.

    And that is where the NRA and the so called “Gun Lobby” is coming from. Yes, the events in Newton and VA Tech and everywhere else are tragic. But for every Newton there are 50 or 60 or 100 Kendra St. Clair’s. Battered wives and girlfriends who are able to protect themselves from abusive men. Store owners who use their guns to prevent a crime from happening simply by not being an easy target. What about these people?

    When seconds count the police are just minutes away. A few years ago some kids were popping off a few shots out of a revolver in the alley beside my house. I called 911 and reported “shots fired.” It took over 15 mins for CPD to arrive. That’s the response time in an urban area to shots fired. If these kids kicked-in the door to my house we’d all be dead by the time CPD arrived… if I didn’t have the ability to shoot back (well that and our 145 pounds worth of dogs.) You can imagine what the response time would be out in the sticks. I sleep better knowing that if someone’s in the house odds are nearly perfect that I won’t need to actually shoot them. I can put two rounds into the bathroom shower and the intruder will not stick around to see where the next ones go.

    Your experience at OTSC is common. I know of parents who made their kids sleep in the bathtub for fear of a stray round coming through the wall or window. But no law is going to take those guns out of the hands of gang-bangers. A good start would be to get the Democratic machine that runs this town to turn over all felons w/ guns to the feds. 5 year min law is on the books but Ms. Anita Alveraz refused to send them over to the feds. Why?

    Ya see… there are a LOT of gun laws on the books that are simply not enforced. I truly believe this is b/c Rahm, Obama, Holder, and the rest of the Democrat cabal actively choose not to enforce them so they can demand new laws. It’s a sham.

    So to recap:
    – Guns are not the single cause of the tragedy;
    – Guns are not as deadly to kids as cars, pools, or fires;
    – Guns are mostly used defensively and save thousands of lives each year;
    – Most gun violence is caused by illegally held guns; and
    – We should start by enforcing the laws already on the books and insisting that violent offenders do real time.

  • On Newton CT

    I wrote this as a comment on the Chicago Tribune story:

    While our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Newton CT the sad reality is that 18 children and 6 adults killed is what we in Chicago call the “Second and Third Week in July” every year.

    Where is our national media attention? When will New York (liberal) reporters be seen in Englewood and Garfield Park interviewing parents of the slain?

    I hate to play the race card but I see no other reason why Chicago’s murders are ignored by the national media. Most of Chicago’s victims are black while in Aurora CO and in Newton CT the victims are mostly white.

    While you ponder the sadness today over yesterdays events in Newton CT please also keep in mind the hundreds of (mostly black) children gunned down every year on Chicago’s city streets.

  • CPD Cop Shoots Puppy; His Buddies Intimade Witnesses

    While FOX 32’s Larry Yellen was interviewing the dog’s owners, two police officers drove by the home. 90 minutes later, they came back, asked why Phillips why he had contacted the media and gave him a ticket for not keeping Colonel [the puppy] on a leash.

    via FOX 32 News.

    So on the same day that the City of Chicago determines it wants to settle a lawsuit and set aside the verdict that the CPD has a Code of Silence (which in the Abbatte case was not just silence but actual harassment of witnesses,) there’s another story about how CPD officers are out actively protecting their own.

    This is abuse by CPD.  No doubt about it.

  • Cook County Losing Income/People

    A wonderful graphic created by Crains.

    Cook County leaking income - In Other News - Crains Chicago Business

    Crains Chicago Business.

  • Iraqi Refugee Bombs AZ Social Security Office

    On Friday morning, an Iraqi refugee used an improvised explosive device IED to bomb a Social Security office in Casa Grande AZ — the mainstream media remains silent.

    via Brietbart.

    Interesting.

  • Senate Rejects United Nations Treaty, Will Do So Again

    A United Nations treaty to ban discrimination against people with disabilities went down to defeat in the Senate on Tuesday in a 61-38 vote.

    The treaty backed by President Obama and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kansas) fell 5 votes short of the two-thirds needed for confirmation as dozens of Senate Republicans objected that it would create new abortion rights and impede the ability of people to home-school disabled children.

    via The Hill’s Global Affairs.

    This is why any UN treaty restricting arms trade is doomed to fail.  The UN can pass whatever it likes.  But there is not way you’re going to get 66 votes in the Senate to ratify it.

    Everyone at the NRA needs to take a deep breath.  ok?

  • Cops Want Your TXTs

    Cops to Congress: We need logs of Americans’ text messages

    State and local law enforcement groups want wireless providers to store detailed information about your SMS messages for at least two years — in case they’re needed for future criminal investigations.

    via CNET News.

    I find this rather troubling.

    Cops addicted to power.  Congress too dumb to know better.  This bill has a fair chance of passing.

    Of course it will not help fight crime at all.  Not in the least.  Criminals will simply use “burner phones” which are untraceable.  Pay cash at Wal-Mart and as the song sez, F#!^ the police.

    Writing that I’m thinking something needs to be made clear:

    Individual police officers are heroes; as are firemen.

    Police departments are jack-booted thugs who actually believe that if you’re not doing anything wrong you have nothing to hide.

    Your privacy is at stake here.  You may want to do something.

  • Pensioners Take Note, Municipal Bond Storm Coming

    [B]ut California too is now starting to hand it to bondholders. Cities in California are now testing the limits of bankruptcy law, and not paying the debt nor the payments for retirees to the state system. Thus this article describes how the state retirement system (CALPERS) is suing to demand payment, and saying that retiree obligations come AHEAD of creditors (municipal bond holders) in the queue.

    “The issue is, do Calpers obligations supersede unsecured bondholders?” Fabian said in a telephone interview. “There’s an awful lot of unsecured bondholders in California. If you put pension obligations to Calpers as secured and senior to unsecured debt, in effect those bonds have been downgraded.”

    In the Stockton and San Bernardino cases, Calpers is arguing that pension contributions must be made ahead of payments to other creditors because they are so-called statutory liens, or debts that state law requires to be paid. Bondholders and other creditors that oppose Calpers argue that pension debt is a contractual obligation like any other.

    You’d have to be nuts to buy California municipal debt if Calpers has precedence and employee retirement benefits can’t be cut, since this is the MAIN THING that is driving these cities into insolvency. In the future likely these municipalities would just contract out everything to third parties that wouldn’t pay their employees those giant benefits, but the cities have to jettison these liabilities to put their fiscal house in order today.

    via Chicago Boyz.

    In case this is a little tough to follow, in bankruptcy debts are paid according to a priority.  There’s a decent primer here.

    The “Illinois” based pensions are probably ok. e.g. ITRS.  There is no statute permitting a state to file for bankruptcy protection.

    However cities are corporations; they can (and do) file for bankruptcy protection.  CPS, CPD, CFD employees and retirees should watch these cases in California closely.  They may be getting a real haircut if they have to defer to the bond holders to get their money.

    It’s all very very sad.