The Economy - What No One is Saying

The Economy and Energy: I find it interesting with all of the talks about the economy - basically no one has proposed anything known to really work.  OK, not raising taxes is smart.  It is a start - but the tax rates are already there - so how will that change anything? 

What I find interesting is that President Obama often has in the same speech, talked about trying to do something positive for the economy, while at the same time restricting access to one or more forms of energy.  Any development by any nation has greatly hinged on the the access to affordable energy.  Don't believe me?  I challenge you to find a case historically that differs with what I am saying.

Lets look at what our government's policy on energy is or has been recently:

More regulations on Nuclear Power.  This has been done and now there are even plants that will shut down sooner than scheduled, because of regulations that have basically been "retroactively applied" to existing plants.  With no more Nuclear plants being built, and not even planned - this is ridiculous.  If I bought into conspiracy theories, I would definitely think this was part of some sort of "plan" to attack our energy and economy.  Nuclear is the most efficient way to produce electricity known to man.

America hates using coal.  While we are the world's largest producer of coal, an we are exporting it to our competitors, we are not ready to use it ourselves.  All is talked about "alternative energy sources" which all have to be subsidized or we would not even be using it now.  I am not against wind power - but even with subsidies I will explain why it will not work in the short term.

Baseless moratoriums on offshore drilling.  The US has moratoriums against offshore drilling.  This somehow includes in international waters.  The bad part about this - other countries can drill in the same places we are banning US companies from drilling.  You may claim that this is based on the horizon platform aka BP oil spill.  That was an excuse to put a choke hold on American oil while helping our competitors from over seas.

The Wind Problem: I am not going to get into all the hype about "alternative" energy sources, but they are not efficient.  I said I would explain about wind power.  I have studied it a bit as Texas produces more wind power than anyone- as much as 6,200-megawatts a day. The problem is - when you build a power plant - there is infrastructure designed to transmit the power into the electrical grid.  Wind farms do not have such a transmission line in place - and engineers are yet to find a good way to do this as wind farms are not a power plant - but many small power plants.  The current grid cannot even support what energy is generated today in Texas.  Texas is spending over $5 billion to address this issue - but if many more wind farms pop up - look for more big spending.

The Answer - Easy Access to Affordable Energy: When you need to build your economy - you need to have easy access to affordable energy.  Yes, it is that simple. China has this, India has this.  The US does not have this.  The bad part is, it is all self inflicted.  We had it in the 80's and even the beginning of the 90's when our economy was strong.  Any real talk about helping the economy has to include accessing affordable energy.

I am not against "going green"  but we need to take much more measured changes.  We need to quit listening to the Chicken Littles of this world "The sky is falling" (or getting a hole in it, etc).  We need cheap energy.  - Stay safe!

Private Rockets in Space

It looks like the private company SpaceX will be launching a capsule into orbit soon.  There have been successful tests of the engines and all systems are go - for now.  SpaceX is owned by the same guy that owns Paypal.  Yes, Elon Musk is filthy rich.  I am a Paypal fan and so kudos to him.  SpaceX has a contract with NASA to send supplies to the space station for around $1.6 billion.  Supposedly cheaper than NASA doing it themselves.

I wonder if the company sells advertizing space on the side of the rocket like NASCAR.  It would be smart to do that, and it could help off-set the costs of operation.  I do not know how the company got the contract - but it does not surprise me that the CEO of the Tesla car company has a space contract with NASA with the current administration.

Good luck to SpaceX and may you have a lot of competition soon.


UPDATE:
The spacecraft successfully lifted off at 10:43 EST on 8 Dec 2010.

Remember to Stay Safe!

More Wasted Stimuls Another Bailout Bust

So with all of the wasted stimuli - why do some in power, including the Preident, think that the American people are just too dumb to get it?  After all, if he just explained it better... He does consider himself a great communicator - so why can't he then?  Back to facts.


Some company called Solyndra in California got a LOT of stimulus money.  Why?  Because it was a favorite.  It has "green energy"  it makes solar panels.  It is a privately owned corporation.  It was supposed to go public, but.  Yes, an Obama but. Oh yeah, this company apparently is or maybe was the cornerstone of Obama's highly touted green-energy future. Now it is a Rupublicans taking over the house - size political embarrassment. Solyndra got a $535 million Department of Energy loan guarantee. In June it cancelled a  public offering because their auditor PricewaterhouseCoooper said its operating losses and negative cash flow show it is unlikely to be able to continue operations.

The company received bailout funds and spent them on executive salaries and to build a plant.  Now they are closing the plant.  This is the company that Obama said in May :"leading the way toward a brighter and more prosperous future."

Get the story here.

Here is a list of some of the executives:
BRIAN HARRISON: PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
DR. CHRIS GRONET: FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
BEN BIERMAN: EVP, OPERATIONS AND ENGINEERING
W.G. BILL STOVER, JR.: SVP, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
JOHN GAFFNEY: SVP, CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL
CLEMENS G. JARGON: PRESIDENT EMEA & CORPORATE SVP
KAREN ALTER: SVP, MARKETING
CORBY C. WHITAKER: VP of NORTH AMERICA SALES

These folks got paid to operate a failing company with your and my hard earned tax dollars.  Thanks Mr. President.

Stay Safe!

al Qaeda Attacks Church

For reasons yet to be made clear - a group of muslim extremists attack a Church in Baghdad.  While Churches within Baghdad have been fairly well protected by police in general, this one suffered.  The Islamic State of Iraq  claims responsibility for the attack. The al Qaeda group in Iraq, said it would "exterminate Iraqi Christians" if Muslim women in Egypt  were not freed.  You can get the whole story here: http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fgw-iraq-church-attack-20101101,0,5355537.story?track=rss

At least 52 were killed including 10 police, and 67 were wounded.  It is unknown how many of the Christians were killed by the terrorists and how many were killed by the police in the rescue attempt.

It is a shame this kind of "news" gets little attention.

Whatever you do - be safe!

Yemen, Yemen What are You Doing?

One has to wonder about what has been going on with Yemen lately.  Ok, not lately, as if you go back to the USS Cole, about which nothing has been done, by ANY administration, Yemen has been a sore spot for the US for a long time.

I do not hate Yemen, I have friends from Yemen.  I believe some in Yemen have even lost their lives to fight Al Qaeda.  However, we know that Yemen is home to terrorist training grounds. We also know that Yemen is the source of at least two explosive devices and some more hoax devices that were destined for the US today.  What the bad guys have planned on a total scale so far -  who knows?  The explosive devices were destined for Jewish houses of worship in Chicago.  Right now it is unknown why those targets.

Jihadists are anti-semitic which does not make sense to anyone outside of the jihadists.  Judaism is not a threat to Islam in any way or fashion.  Some simpletons believe it is an Israel Palestine thing, but all you need to do is look around the world at what the jihadists are doing to see otherwise.

I am hoping that at least a large part of the threat has been caught, but we may not know for a few days.  I will post more when I know more and feel free to give your analogy in comments.

Jeff Hart - American Hero

Who is Jeff Hart?  He is a contractor from Colorado who was drilling for water in Afghanistan for US Military bases.  He was called upon for a very special mission.  Instead of drilling for water, he would be drilling to save lives.

By now everyone has heard of the trapped Chilean Miners who have survived nearly 70 days underground.  They are heros of a sort in their own right for supporting each other and keeping each other alive and well in dire circumstances.

Hart was called upon after Geotec Boyles Bros who was originally in charge of drilling.  They were successful in drilling a small five-inch diameter hole,  but they needed assistance to make a hole big enough to rescue the miners.  That company called upon Layne Christensen CEO Andrew Schmitt and asked for help.  He knew just the crew to suggest the job.  The crew was headed by Jeff Hart and driller Matt Staffel and helpers Doug Reeves and Jorge Herrera.   Hart had to go to Chile from Afghanistan.


They got special equipment including a special drill bit to make the 26" hole to rescue the miners.  The drill bit was shipped for free by UPS.  Kudos to UPS for that!    In the process they broke one bit on an underground steel  support beam and had to get another.  The team drilled for 33 days straight.

Once the hole was completed Hart left the mine and watched from Santiago - because he wanted the rescue to be about the miners, and Chile - not about him.

Jeff Hart - American Hero.

Why Cap and Traders Chose Carbon Dioxide

CO2 is Evil: There are all sorts of studies that exist that say CO2 is a “greenhouse gas” and is a major cause of global warming er I mean climate change.  The term global warming has been basically dropped since global warming is no longer the argument as there is no real indicator of global warming.  CO2 was made the culprit for one simple reason.  It is the air we breathe.  Not inhaling as much as exhaling, but it is still the air we breathe.

The empty argument: No one has yet shown that you can “overload” the atmosphere with CO2 that will not be handled by the environment itself through increased vegetation growth or other processes.  There is no documented evidence that we could actually make too much CO2 for the planet if we tried.  CO2 is something easy to measure, so we can try to charge people for putting CO2 into the atmosphere.  CO2 is also a gas that is released from a perfect operating internal combustion engine.  Along with water it is the emission created by a perfect operating internal combustion engine.

Why CO2?:  CO2 was chosen, because it can be shown that the US puts more of that out than any other nation.  The whole purpose of cap and trade is redistribution of wealth.  If you follow the money of cap and trade, you can see this.  Of course some of the “environmental minded” people will greatly profit from and cap and trade system that has been proposed so far.    Also they use the excuse that “developing countries” are affected more by global warming er climate change than “rich countries.”  This is their justification for “punishing” the rich countries with this system. They also claim they know what CO2 levels were in the 1790’s when they do not really know and are claiming that increased industrialization is the main cause on “increased CO2 in the atmosphere.”

Fear Mongering: Arguments for applying any sort of cap and trade rely on straw man arguments, fear mongering (monster storms), and name calling (deniers) as their main talking points.  Scientific evidence about global warming climate change caused by man never includes information about the Sun’s mean temperature.  Since the Sun is the earth’s main source of heat you would think any reasonable study concerning global warming climate change would consider this.  

In reality CO2 is the least effective of any known greenhouse gas:

			GWP*
Gas	Symbol	Lifetime  (yrs)	20-yr	100-yr	500-yr
Carbon dioxide	CO2		1	1	1
Methane	CH4	12	72	25	7.6
Nitrous oxide	N2O	114	289	298	153
CFC-12	CCl2F2	100	11 000	10 900	5 200
HCFC-22	CHClF2	12	5 160	1 810	549
Tetrafluoromethane	CF4	50 000	5 210	7 390	11 200
Hexafluoroethane	C2F6	10 000	8 630	12 200	18 200
Sulphur hexafluoride	SF6	3 200	16 300	22 800	32 600
Nitrogen trifluoride	NF3	740	12 300	17 200	20 700
*Global Warming Potential

Note:  Cap and Traders say - "It is not possible to state that this gas or that gas has an exact greenhouse effect. Gases absorb and emit radiation at different frequencies than others.   So that the total greenhouse effect is not simply the sum of the influence of each gas. "  Translation - we really do not know what causes the greenhouse effect.

Why Tax CO2:  If anyone wanted to “tax” emissions then CO2 makes the least sense.  CO2 is very unlikely to last in the atmosphere for more than a year or 2 because that is the average time for any CO₂ molecule to stay in the atmosphere before being mixed into the ocean or changed to oxygen by photosynthesis.  Proponents of man-caused climate change claim that you “cannot measure” how long CO2 will stay in the atmosphere, even though they cannot argue that the above statement is not a fact.  They want to tax it because it is easy to measure and there is tons of it.  Not because it has any real factor in global warming climate change.

The effect of the tax:  Taxing such a thing will only lead to bankrupting companies or taking money out of people’s pockets.  It will have no real effect on global warming climate change.  For centuries men have tried to affect the weather and have failed miserably – what makes us feel so highly of ourselves that we could affect climate?

House and 15 Acres for Sale!

I am selling the house in Riviera, Texas along with 15 acres.  The house is remodeled,  but it is probably the oldest structure still standing in Riviera.  It is one of the few buildings that survived the storm of 1919. 

The house was built in 1912.  It originally had a storm cellar which is no longer a part of the house.  The piers are at least 6 feet deep (may be deeper, that is all I checked, and the base of the house is bolted on to the piers.  No one is moving this house from the property.

The number is on the sign - if interested call.

George Blanda Dies - Hope I catch Him Later

George Blanda died at 83.  George Blanda was probably the coolest football player I have ever watched.  As a small child, I watched him quarterback the Oilers AND kick field goals, then around 70, saw him lead the Raiders into the playoffs (older than the Favre).

He not only knew defenses backwards and forwards, he kicked clutch field goals.  He didn't retire from the NFL until he was 48, well the second time he did retire in 1958 but came back to play in the AFL. The AFL was awesome because they pased a lot, scored a lot and was more fun. In 13 of his 26 seasons he kicked 100% of his extra points attempted.  He was 98.3% for his career.  His percentage for field goals wasn't all that high, but he managed to make many clutch kicks to tie or win games.  He even kicked a 53 yarder at age 43.  He scored 2002 points in his professional football career.

George Blanda - rest in peace.  The rest of y'all, stay safe!

Why Does US Department Of Education Need Shotguns?

OK I posted about this in the Thread to End all Threads affectionately known as TTTEAT at Blog Catalog.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) intends to purchase twenty-seven (27) REMINGTON BRAND MODEL 870 POLICE 12/14P MOD GRWC XS4 KXCS SF. RAMAC #24587 GAUGE: 12 BARREL: 14" - PARKERIZED CHOKE: MODIFIED SIGHTS: GHOST RING REAR WILSON COMBAT; FRONT - XS CONTOUR BEAD SIGHT STOCK: KNOXX REDUCE RECOIL ADJUSTABLE STOCK FORE-END: SPEEDFEED SPORT-SOLID - 14" LOP are designated as the only shotguns authorized for ED based on compatibility with ED existing shotgun inventory, certified armor and combat training and protocol, maintenance, and parts.


So why does the DOE need shotguns?  Why Chicago?  NOTE:  It said compatibility with ED existing shotgun inventory

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=cb68cf9f3fa2fe18a83d1c3dee0039b2&tab=core&_cview=0

Just wondering

Players Solidarity Booed

No surprise here.  The players forget that it is the fans that pay them - not just the team owners.  In stadiums all across the US the solidarity symbol was booed by fans.  Maybe it is because it is just bad timing by the players association.  We are in a depression er, I mean recession, and many people are unemployed, and these guys make millions of dollars playing a game to entertain us.

Other than that, for me a pretty good weekend over-all.

Owl on a Tree

When working on the rent house the other day (you can see doors on sawhorses in the background)  I saw this Owl on a Tree.  It was molting, so it couldn't fly.  This owl is only about 8" tall.

I had always seen "pictures" of owls living in a hole in a tree my whole life.  There is a hole just above the owl, so I figured (s)he lives there.

It was close enough to touch, but those claws are sharp - so I decided against it.

End Pre-Employment Credit Checks

There are very few jobs in today's society that really require a credit check to screen people to do the job.  Yet, many companies will run a credit check as routine pre-employment screening.  There is no empirical evidence that shows people with better credit ratings make better employees.

This is not a personal rant in case you are wondering.  My credit is better than OK, but is no one's business, unless maybe I am working say in a Bank or related field.  The government even runs credit checks on people to see if they may be a "security risk."  Once again, they have no evidence to this (just like running a lie detector test) that shows a poor credit rating constitutes a security risk.  They simply base this on "logic" that if you have bad credit you are more susceptible to a bribe. Once again, no evidence exists.

I am all for banning credit checks for pre-employment screening, as it knocks honest hard working people out of the running for jobs which credit is no factor.  When unemployment has been at 10% for so long - a lot of folks will start showing poor credit scores.

If anyone knows of any evidence to the contrary let me know- so far what I have found is non-existent.

Whatever you do- Stay Safe!

Roadkill Special?

I saw this Jeep in the DQ parking lot in Riviera, Texas.  I just could not help myself thinking how awesome it is this guy recycles roadkill with the BBQ Pit on his Bumper.

We are in tough times, so what the heck, right?

How to Make Real Economic Reform

I have a novel Idea as to how to bring about economic reform in the US.  Maybe it has been thought of before, but it is so simple, that it can really work.  It all has to do with Congress, I don't care who is president, Congress would make it happen.

First, all congressmen (that is the official term don't go politically correct on me) should earn while in Congress the average salary of those in their district.  This may seem unfair, but really, you are a representative of your district, not a Party and you are not any sort of elite politician.  As far as campaign contributions, anything left over after the campaign must be turned in to the US treasury towards ending the national debt.  No more using it as a "nest egg" for politicians.

The Senators would not be immune either, they will earn the average salary of workers in their state.  Some people say, paying such a low wage encourages corruption.  I disagree.   All you have to do is make it a minimum 20 year prison sentence for accepting a bribe.  It would be a minimum 30 year prison sentence for offering a bribe.  Any company that had an employee offer a bribe to a Senator or Congressman would be immediately ineligible for any government contracts for the same 30 years.

There should be no such thing as "retirement"  for members of Congress.  If they want to stay and serve, great, but this should be incentive for voluntary term limits.  There should be no such thing as a professional politician.

This is just the beginning, but if Congress truly had a vested interest in improving the economy, and making things better for the people they allegedly serve, then we may actually see real progress in building a real strong economy.  This isn't about party, it isn't about ideals, it is plain and practical.

Just as an unrelated bonus, there should be a minimum 15 year prison sentence for any member of Congress that votes for or against any bill they have not read.  Random tests could be given for this easily.

Remember to Stay Safe!

Congress is Trying to Save NASA (From the President)

I believe we all know what Obama wants from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  He wants it to be an outreach to the Muslim world - whatever that means.  The space agency's Administrator, Charles Bolden, recently said that the "foremost" mission of our space agency was to make Muslims feel good about their "scientific and mathematical contributions" they did hundreds of years ago.  Bolden even went to Cairo promoting this nonsense, following up on Obama’s speech around a year ago catering to the Muslim world.This is how NASA would effect our country under Obama's plan:

However, in an unlikely move, Congress has at least started to do the right thing.  Yes, it is even a bi-partisan move to un-do the stupidity of the Obama Administration.  For a guy that is supposed to be really smart, President Obama has done more lame-brain things than almost any national leader, including his buddy from Venezuela.  This is what we are supposed to hear from our kids:

Maybe, just maybe there is still hope for NASA.  I am hoping so for our future generations, as NASA has made many contributions and has inspired many scientists and astronauts.

The Great CB Wealth Experiment

OK, many of you know that I have dabbled a bit with affiliate marketing from time to time.  What you may not know is that I have made it sort-of work a few times, but it was very labor intensive on the writing end.

That isn't so bad, because I enjoy writing anyways.  Anyways, I have never been big on Make money online - and all of that blah, blah, blah (translates to yadda, yadda, yadda for some)

Anyways, I came across the CB Wealth Formula.  Now I am not big on these, as I have said.  Here is why I decided to try:  There is a 60 day money back guarantee.  So, why not try to supplement my income a bit online?  So here we are around day seven of the program.  Now in one way this is day 2, because I am starting an experiment with  a satellite TV on the internet program to see how it works.

I built an all new simple web-page, I have followed their instructions, and we will see where it all goes from here.

So wish me luck and I have a 98% chance of failure in this venture according to most statistics.

UPDATE:  I have to change what I was promoting, because Ezine Articles does not take articles concerning internet TV.  So I decided to hang out in my old niche of detective stuff for this test, but with a totally new product.    So the date sort of changes as now I am having to restart.  Day one with my new product - which kind-of is a scary product.  The name is a bit hokey, but the product is something else.  It is called Spybubble.  Check it out if you are interested.

In 3 Years Satellite TV will be Dead

Will satellite TV be dead in 3 years? As the fact that will it still be broadcasting, probably not. But the double-dipping of commercials and pay for reception is likely to be on the way out.

Why people are leaving pay satellite TV: Subscriptions have continually risen for satellite TV. The companies are now touting the DVR features and accessibility more so than the channels. Have you asked yourself why? It is because more people are turning to internet based TV.

The advantages of internet based TV is simple. Right now there are no subscription prices, all you need to do is get the software and install it. The channels are free. There are more channels available to internet TV watchers than there are to any single satellite subscriber?

Will they charge for subscriptions or content in the internet? There will be charges for content and particular programming. Your pay-per-view type channels will remain that way, but you are likely to never have to pay for the “regular” channels you now pay for.

The evolution of TV. TV started out as a simple broadcast signal with one, then two then three or four channels for what seemed forever. Now there are channels covering thousands of topics and areas. There is almost no subject that you cannot find a TV channel for – which is quite amazing.

Right before TV started going to cable, several local TV channels started broadcasting on UHF usually in your larger to mid-sized markets. This was the birth of a lot of local shows. This was the same time that PBS stations started popping up all over.

Cable TV was not far behind and this opened the door to even more channels. The ideas for the types of shows just grew and grew. It was not long until there were 100’s of channels. When technology advanced, Satellite TV came along for the regular household. Satellite became major competition for cable and offered more channels for the same price.

Satellite and cable started diversifying into other areas, internet, phone service, etc. They both offer DVR or digital video recording so you can pause live TV or just record like the old VCR. Many people are now spoiled by the DVR and will not even watch a show “live” any more so they can skip all the commercials.

Speaking of commercials: Commercials always been the main source of income for broadcasters, whether the signal is based on radio waves, cable, or satellite signal. It made sense that cable and satellite charge for movie channels and pay-per-view, but they have long enjoyed “double dipping” by charging to watch commercial television.

Savvy internet techies figured out a way to capture almost all of the satellite signals from all around the world and give them to you for free. The only problem is, a regular computer cannot receive the signal without special software. The software used to be quite pricey, at around $200 a pop. Now you can find it for less than $50, and sometimes even on sale for less.

We all need to watch our budgets. With the economy being bad, and everyone having to pinch pennies, internet TV has been growing leaps and bounds. With people flocking to this service, satellite TV and Cable, as we know it will be gone. They will still exist, but three years from now, they will likely be costing a lot less, or they will be losing subscribers.

It is a good idea to cut your monthly budget by going to internet TV instead of paying for expensive satellite TV every month.


Get satellite TV on your computer. You can sign up for a free newsletter on how to save money and live debt-free at http://intl-advisors.com/FreeTV.html

California Should Boycott California

Why is everyone picking on Arizona?  OK, not EVERYONE but it seems like it is that way.  A lot of California cities want to boycott Arizona because of the immigration law.  You know the one:

1) Every law enforcement agency in California shall fully cooperate with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service regarding any person who is arrested if he or she is suspected of being present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.

(b) With respect to any such person who is arrested, and suspected of being present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws, every law enforcement agency shall do the following:

(2) Attempt to verify the legal status of such person as a citizen of the United States, an alien lawfully admitted as a permanent resident, an alien lawfully admitted for a temporary period of time or as an alien who is present in the United States in violation of immigration laws. The verification process may include, but shall not be limited to, questioning the person regarding his or her date and place of birth, and entry into the United States, and demanding documentation to indicate his or her legal status.

Oops!  I accidentally posted California's Immigration Law.  So how is it different than Arizona's law?   Well, in reality there is no difference, except that Arizona actually plans on enforcing their law.

Where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the united states, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person.

(2) the person’s immigration status shall be verified with the federal government pursuant to 8 united states code section 1373(c). If an alien who is unlawfully present in the united states is convicted of a violation of state or local law, on discharge from imprisonment or assessment of any fine that is imposed, the alien shall be transferred immediately to the custody of the united states immigration and customs enforcement or the united states customs and border protection.

So maybe California should boycott California :)

Why Advertize for Flood Insurance When There is None?

I just read a story how the feds are dragging their feet approving flood insurance.  Next thing I know there is a flood insurance ad on TV.  What gives?



SO we can't get flood insurance because of the government - but they tell us to get it (the government) - just how dumb is that?

Offshore non-Drilling Moratorium is Struck Down

Hooray for the US and the Justice system. The dictator's er, I mean president's moratorium on offshore drilling was struck down in court.  This is not the first time the administration has retroactively  gone after someone.  It is the first time I know of that the dictatorship administration has lost in federal court while doing so.

The drilling companies, their employees, and all the businesses that support them are the winners.  It is amazing that when Obama is focused like a lazer on jobs that he is using a shotgun to destroy jobs.  What he did would be the equivelent of shutting down all taxi's because one gets in a wreck that kills a few people.

Obama's weakness is that he has no real-life experts in his administration that can give him real advice.  He let that cat out of the bag when he made the ignorant comment about the technologies dealing with the offshore drilling and oil spill clean-up are all 40 years old.  He just does not have anyone he listens to that knows anything about the business.  Maybe that is why he has refused help from hi-tech firms from other countries.  The real reason is his advisors are only concerned about union jobs, and not about solving any of the problem.  Of course he thinks he has solved a problem because he called "laywers.com" so the problem is solved, right?

Anyways, stay safe!

Definition of Irony

"A sixty-foot tall statue of Jesus Christ was struck by lightning and burned to the ground, leaving only a blackened steel skeleton and pieces of foam to be snapped up by curious onlookers Tuesday.

The manner in which the figure of Jesus stretched his arms skyward so resembled a referee signaling a touchdown that it earned the statue the nickname 'Touchdown' Jesus" Rest of the story here.

To me that is pretty much the definition of irony.  I am not goining to say much else, as I do not want to be struck by lightning.  :)

Stay Safe!

BArack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize - 6 Months Later

OK - it was exactly 6 months ago that Barack Obama received his Nobel Peace Prize for... um  ... for well for nothing, I mean for "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."   Wow, that is a lot better than "e for effort."   Then it was explained that is was for what he was going to accomplish.  Since this award was awarded in haste - basically for nothing other than a "we really, really like him." award by Norway. (In reality the award was announced in October, so we are like 8 months after).  The panel said that "We have not given the prize for what may happen in the future. We are awarding Obama for what he has done in the past year. (which was run for office and nothing done for peace) And we are hoping this may contribute a little bit for what he is trying to do," Silly Norwegians, for what he has done in the past year riiiiiight!

So let's see how he has "fostered diplomacy."  When people focus on peace they often look to the middle east.  I am not sure exactly where the middle east starts and stops, but most folks agree that Israel, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Iran are in the middle east (some may include Afghanistan, I would not).  As far as I can tell things are worse, not better as far as peace goes.  Israel and Palestine are no closer to peaceful coexistence thanks to Hamas, Fattah, and Hezbola.Iraq situation has not changed for the better and is and has been controlled by Iraqi government long before Obama got elected.  I guess when Bush said "We will leave when Iraq wants us to leave."  was pretty accurate.  Iran - well, no one can say this current administration could not have handled the Iran situation any worse.  Basically nothing has been done about Iran except that we have told them that they have been really, really bad.  Anyhow - I see a no more peaceful middle east.

The Afghanistan situation so far is deteriorating.  However we are trying a surge kind of thing (I wonder who decided to do such a thing before).  Funny, since the Gulf Oil spill, no one in the media is even asking about how things are going or have gone with it.  After all the new offensive - that was to start in the spring should be well under way.

North Korea - the situation with them is worse than ever - we allowed them to sink a South Korean ship and all we can say is something about "the world", not us, not our allies - wait we don't have allies anymore, I forgot.  If you think we have allies - give me a list of them from 2008, but check it close - you will have to scratch most of them off.

My view is that Norway blew this last Peace Prize (again).

Whatever you do - stay safe!

Is There Life on Titan?

Titan is a moon of Saturn,  OK, not just A moon, but the biggest moon.  Somehow because hydrogen seems to pass down in the atmosphere and disappear, all of the sudden they are claiming  that there is life there.  Not water based life (I thought we were carbon based) so therefore they would breath and or eat hydrogen and acetylene.  Sounds more like an explosive situation to me. :P

The scientists did say this:

Two papers released last week detailing oddities found on Titan have blown the top off the 'jumping to conclusions' meter, and following media reports of NASA finding alien life on Saturn's hazy moon, scientists are now trying to put a little reality back into the news. "Everyone: Calm down!" said Cassini imaging team leader Carolyn Porco on Twitter over the weekend. "It is by NO means certain that microbes are eating hydrogen on Titan. Non-bio explanations are still possible." Porco also put out a statement on Monday saying such reports were "the unfortunate result of a knee-jerk rush to sensationalize an exciting but rather complex, nuanced and emotionally-charged issue."

 (from "Universe Today")

Of course, when the Russians get there we may find out.  Yes, the Russians, as thanks to Obama, they are ahead of us in the space race once more.  I am not just blowing steam.  Look at the simulations they are already carrying out.

We owe China, we are behind Russia in the Space Race, things sure have changed.

Stay Safe!

Stuff on the High Seas

Oh my oh my how the international community is fickle.  Let me get this straight - North Korea sinks a South Korean ship totally unprovoked and ... I think I hear the crickets.  There is nothing - no condemnation.  Our country just says the international community should do something (notice not our country).  Kind of reminds me of the line about "we are going to send you a really, really mean letter"  or something like that.  Funny - that was not even an issue.

But wait! - Some Israeli Military ships stop some ships attempting to run a blockade and offer to unload, inspect, then let the shipment pass with any humanitarian aid.  Then the people on the ships start acting like California cops on Rodney King to the Israelis and when the Israelis defend themselves - it is  like" Oh how dare you attack these 'Peace Ships'!"

I guess antisemitism is popular again (then again to be anything even slightly appearing as half negative against islam is punishable by the death penalty).

Well, I have seen the videos - pretty clear the "Peace Ship" folks were not on any sort of peace mission. 

That's all for today - stay safe!

Can Anyone Tell Me Why We Need Immigration Reform?

Well, can you?  I mean, we have all sorts of laws concerning immigration and we allow over half a million legal immigrants into our country every year.  "Well, what about amnesty?" - some people say.  I cannot figure out one thing about amnesty - that is why?  No one has been able to tell me what the real purpose of amesty is - besides making bunches of illegal aliens no longer illegal.  So I challenge anyone who bothers to come across this blog to please tell me what is it that amnesty accomplishes.

Do you wonder what is wrong with immigration in America?  I will give you a hint:  Maybe it is because of Border Czar * - Alan Bersin.  I mean if you see a problem, first look at who is in charge.  This guy was one of those "recess appointments" by Obama.  I do not understand why more people aren't calling this guy to the carpet concerning our immigration issues. He reports to: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano

Supposedly his job includes:
   • Coordinate all of the department's border security and law-enforcement efforts..
   • We expect him to handle illegal immigration and drug violence issues along the Mexican-American border
   • Previous experience: Chairman of the San Diego Regional Airport Authority (2006 to 2009); Secretary of Education for California (2005 to 2006); Superintendent of San Diego Public Schools (1998 to 2005); U.S. Attorney for San Diego (1993 to 1998)
     • Talking about border security shortly before he was named Clinton border czar in 1995, said he wanted to focus on suspected smugglers of both drugs and people and was not interested in prosecuting “economic migrants.”

Bersin previously held a similar job in the Clinton Administration. He is tied to the policy in 1994 when the U.S. shifted focus from the arresting of immigrants who actually crossed the border to an increased border presence designed to stop border crossing in the first place. When Bersin left the position in 1998, border arrests were on pace for an 18-year low of just more than 200,000.

So maybe, just maybe just one more of these Obama appointments is the real reason for non-enforcement of immigration laws and  why we are in such a mess today.

Anyways, stay safe!

Our Country is Not an Embarrassment - Our President Is

Once again, I am embarrassed by our President. Don't get me wrong, I pray for him every day (after all, if he is gone then clueless Joe Biden takes over).  Yeah when the President of Mexico - you know Mexico, the country where the government can take your land, business, and everything else just because they want to country.  The country that is basically no longer safe for US citizens to visit because the streets cannot be made safe from drug cartels and other criminal gangs.  That Mexico - anyways their president says Mexico's violence and problems is America's fault!  Yes, in his country firearm ownership is banned totally, yet somehow we need to ban assault rifles because it is America's fault because we have "assault weapons."

Maybe if Mexico was less corrupt and actually took care of the drug lords then he may have some inkling of a point.  But so what?  The windbag from our southern neighbor spouts idiot remarks.  However, our spineless leader (spinless when it comes to standing up for America)  stands by and sheepishly smirks at the remarks.  He embarrassed me and most Americans by NOT calling down Mexico's President when he spouted his idiot saying.

Ok, I vented - stay safe and take care.

What I came Across Today

I was looking for a particular photo for my other blog - and I came across this. I thought it was quite funny. I post it in honor of the TOTUS.



Enjoy! And stay Safe!

American Power Act - Are you Kidding?

Look What John Kerry is doing "for" you now.

"The American Power Act" is simply a "cap and trade bill." Don't believe me? read "Part II Carbon Capture and Sequestration Deployment." It is nothing but cap and trade.

OK, I know some of the cap and trade folks are nuts - but guess what is claimed by the wing-nut blog "Center for American Progress". They actually think they can legislate fewer
hurricanes in Florida. No, I am not kidding! Their words: "Florida or Gulf Coast residents would face fewer severe tropical storms that can destroy homes and property, and cost millions of tax dollars to clean up." How naive can they be to think they can legislate hurricanes? It has "Reducing Global Warming Pollution" in the bill.

Ok, so this is based on AL Gore's claims about global warming er, I mean climate change, and he says the oceans will rise.



Note that Al Gore just spent nine million dollars on a house that would be in the flood zone (it is ocean view property) - I guess he doesn't really believe what he preaches - then again, anyone that thought he was doing anything other than an info-mercial for carbon credits he is scamming folks for deserve to be scammed.

The claim it will create jobs - there is no evidence of this, and more likely it would wreck the economy. First of all, no one knows how much "cap" to cap. (I know it says there will be a "panel of experts" but who chooses the experts?

This is the worst bill I have seen in ages - but then again John "I want to make sure and tax our troops" Kerry came up with the bill.

Ugh! Idiots in Congress and they do more of what people do not want!

Much Ado About Nothing

Well, after being home a while I see that there is still much ado about nothing. This seems to be by political folks that want to take away focus from what is important and focus on made-up issues.

What I am focusing on is the "new" immigration law in Arizona. All sorts of people have dropped the race card on this claiming it is a law that allows abuse and racial profiling.

Let's look at the facts:

• The law does not allow any police to stop anyone to ask for identification as an illegal alien.
• The law requires that stops be made as they are now under the law using reasonable suspicion or probable cause for a violation of the law.
• The law requires police to check for documentation on people they suspect are illegal aliens that have already been detained.

Note: Police always ask for identification on people detained before the law changed.

So where does anyone get racism out of this? Where do you get profiling from. There is NO CHANGE in how police can stop and detain people.

The only change is that the police can hold illegal aliens they have already detained for another reason under the state law.

So what is the problem? The only people that should be complaining are the police in Arizona - they are now doing someone else's job!

With all that is going on - I believe the stirring up of all of this is to get focus of of real issues so that people get off of the unemployment issues, the grow deficit, lack of immigration reform, lack of intelligence on terrorists and the like.



Anyways Stay Safe!

Why is anyone upset thatpolice ask for identification.

Back Home and Checking Headlines

Who would have thought that a volcano would have shut down air travel in Europe? What intrigues me is that it seems to be that there is more seismic activity lately than ever before, or maybe it is just that the news of this activity is more readily available. For instance, 9 earthquakes of 4.0 or higher have occurred today (so far) as I am writing this. However the USGS says we are not having more earthquakes than normal. They say that the fact that we have so many monitoring stations now is why we see so many earthquakes reported. OK, I did start with a volcano, so I figure I will chase that a bit more.

Did you know that in 1991 one volcanic eruption (Mount Pinatubo) cooled the earth for an average of 2 degrees for an entire year? Of course, this goes back to the whole global warming/climate change discussion. Of course it is not a discussion once someone discussing uses the term “denier” which means they would rather make personal attacks rather than intelligent discussions.

I just think it is interesting that one volcano can effect so much and millions and millions of people could not make such an effect if they tried with all of their might.

Maybe I am wandering, don’t really care – I am at home re-cooping and not a lot else. Whatever you do – stay safe!

Health Care Passes and is Signed

Well, I saw Obama sign the Health Care bill on CNN…sort-of. CNN was carrying the story live, when they had breaking news of how some lawmaker in the UK proposed that Israeli Ambassador get out of the UK because of the assassination in Dubai. (Interesting as there is no evidence Israel had anything to do with it besides Dubai Police saying so. An amateurish assassination with what now …20 plus agents involved to kill one guy? Gun-running is deadly business and it is more likely the guy tried to short change his suppliers or had in the past)

Anyhow – back to the signing of the bill. Before CNN cut away – Joe Biden was doing his marathon how much can he kiss Obama’s a$$ speech before he drops the f-bomb. After CNN flashes back to the signing – Obama had already signed the bill and he was grinning ear to ear.

I do not know if the Health Care Reform Bill is more good than bad. It does appear to be constitutionally questionable, but likely cannot be challenged in the courts for some time to come as there has to be some sort of “damages” before the case can be handled in court.

I hope it ends up being a good thing – but all I can say is only time will tell. What I do know is that it for sure welfare for insurance companies. Right now, health insurance is the only legalized pyramid scheme in the US. I know, I am a licensed Insurance Agent. Chances are if you pay $500 for insurance, only about $150-200 of it is actually for health insurance. It seems AIG is Obama’s favorite recipient of our tax dollars - first, with bailouts and now with this. Maybe deeper looking finds a different financial institution as all insurance companies are pretty much run by banks.

Whatever happens – Stay Safe!

Time is Running Out on Liberia

I will be leaving Liberia less than a month from now. I guess over-all more good than bad. Some of my friends know of the hell I went through with a superior - which will likely not be resolved.

What I have learned is that the reporting of misconduct of superiors in the UN system seems to be little more than smoke and mirrors. The Ethics division which is supposed to protect whistle blowers say they do not want any misconduct reported to them. Other units seem to just drop the ball whenever Superiors are reported.

I find it interesting that the United Nations has the weakest of all protections for people who work there.

The plight of the whistle-blowers in North Korea is well known that nothing was there to protect them from their superiors and their own firings.

This is how the UN supports whistle-blowers in Somalia.

The only way UN employees can get justice is to go to court:

To report cases of corruption, malfeasance, waste, harassment and/or retaliation
please contact United States Mission at the UN (USUN)at their whistleblower hotline: USUN-UNTAI@state.gov. USUN assists UN whistleblowers and will protect your identity. If you are aware of problems at the UN, including crime, corruption, fraud, or retaliation against whistleblowers, please contact USUN-UNTAI@state.gov. Your confidentiality will be ensured.

Anyways – be safe!

Ronald Reagan and the Nobel Peace Prize

I don't know why I was thinking this - but it popped into my head. Why didn't Reagan win the Nobel Peace Prize?

He was President from 1981-1989. Here are the winners during that period with my comments in italics:

1989 THE 14TH DALAI LAMA (TENZIN GYATSO) , Tibet. Religious and political leader of the Tibetan people. O,k probably well deserved
1988 THE UNITED NATIONS PEACE-KEEPING FORCES New York, NY, U.S.A. This one is a cop-out when you do not want to choose.
1987 OSCAR ARIAS SANCHEZ , Costa Rica, President of Costa Rica, initiator of peace negotiations in Central America. Well deserving of such an award with his peace efforts in Central America.
1986 ELIE WIESEL , U.S.A., Chairman of 'The President's Commission on the Holocaust'. Author, humanitarian. Guess who was President while he was on the commission.
1985 INTERNATIONAL PHYSICIANS FOR THE PREVENTION OF NUCLEAR WAR Boston, MA, U.S.A. These guys possibly deserved it. – However, I believe Reagan actually did more to prevent nuclear war than these guys did.
1984 DESMOND MPILO TUTU , South Africa, Bishop of Johannesburg, former Secretary General South African Council of Churches (S.A.C.C.). for his work against apartheid. He was a deserved recipient.
1983 LECH WALESA , Poland. Founder of Solidarity, campaigner for human rights. He probably could not have even held the marches and protests without the support of the US externally and the build up of American military power under Reagan.
1982 The prize was awarded jointly to: ALVA MYRDAL , former Cabinet Minister, diplomat, delegate to United Nations General Assembly on Disarmament, writer.
ALFONSO GARCÍA ROBLES , diplomat, delegate to the United Nations General Assembly on Disarmament, former Secretary for Foreign Affairs . I believe once again a cop-out when Un gets any of the prizes
1981 OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES Geneva, Switzerland see abaove – same stuff

Another interesting point is that Gorbechev gets the Nobel Peace prize in 1990 for “helping end the cold war.” Now that is a real hoot, since there is no way it would have happened without Reagan. Carter, his predecessor, won the prize mostly for his mid-east peace initiatives (he won it in 2002). As Reagan was giving his inaugural address, 52 U.S. hostages, held by Iran for 444 days were set free. There were no Major conflicts during Reagan’s term that the US was involved in. The most major conflict in the world was the Iran/Iraq war.

Ronald Reagan encouraged Gorbachev to pursue major arms agreements. Gorbachev and Reagan held four meetings between 1985 and 1988: Reagan believed that if he could persuade the Soviets to allow for more democracy and free speech, it would lead to reform and the end of Communism. Speaking at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, Reagan challenged Gorbachev: saying, "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" (Note: The Berlin Wall was torn down beginning in 1989 and then two years later the Soviet Union collapsed.)





Reagan and Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty at the White House in 1987 which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons. Gorbachev was offering major concessions to the U.S. on the levels of conventional forces, nuclear weapons, and policy in Eastern Europe.

Compare that with Barack Obama...

Stay Safe!

The "Open Minded" Liberals

I was reading the huffington Post, as I get a lot of news from there. I saw this front page and was amazed at one thing. There was no article at the Huffingtonpost that you could comment on. I think it is because all of the bad guys pictured were Democrats - and what can you say besides there is no real ethics in Congress?

Of course, I believe there is no article to be able to comment on, because it would be flooded with negative comments about the Dems pictured.

On a side note: Squeaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that these guys were vindicated because "they were found to not have broken any rules."

What did they allegedly do?

"The House ethics committee ruled Friday that seven lawmakers who steered hundreds of millions of dollars in largely no-bid contracts to clients of a lobbying firm had not violated any rules or laws by also collecting large campaign donations from those contractors. "

You can actually read the story here.

Rehman Malik to resign if Blackwater Presence Proved

My post title is a headline from 21 November 2009.

In his statement to the senate standing committee on interior, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Blackwater was not operating in Pakistan and if proven wrong he would tender his resignation.

See the Story here.

So what does US Defense Secretary Gates say when in Pakistan?

“Fake” Story by Pak Tribune says:

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has admitted that US security companies Black Water and DynCorp are operating in Pakistan in private capacities: but will comply with the Pakistani law if its parliament bars foreign security companies in the country.

Real Story says:

Mr. Gates himself may have inadvertently helped fuel a new rumor. In his Thursday television interview, Ms. Hosain asked the defense chief if rules had been put in place to govern the behavior of any U.S. contractors working inside Pakistan, specifically citing DynCorp and Blackwater (now known as Xe Services.) Mr. Gates told her that "very stringent rules" had been put into place.

Of course then this transpires:

Defense officials tried to clarify the comment Thursday night, telling reporters that Mr. Gates had been speaking about contractor oversight more generally and that the Pentagon didn't employ Xe in Pakistan.

Soooo? Does he resign or not?

Stay Safe!

Bloggers Unite for Haiti

Today I am a part of bloggers Unite for Haiti.



We are as bloggers trying to help with aid to Haiti in our own way. I am sure that you are well aware of the over-all situation in Haiti.

First, I would like to point out that though I am currently in the Eastern Hemisphere, there are people in Haiti that I know and have known for quite some time. When you work with the UN as much as I have, this is something that happens.

The "Little Miracle" story of Tarmo Joveer is an example of what I am talking about. I have known Tarmo since around 2000. He was a part of the Eastonian Police Contingent that was deployed to the UN Mission in Kososvo. I remember their first official day and I met all 5 contingent members. Later on I joined with them in Eastonian Contingent meetings and felt a close camaraderie to them.

I remember when Tarmo left Kosovo he said he was getting a security job in Haiti. That was really the last real contact with him.



When I saw him on TV I knew it was him immediately.

I am glad Tarmo is a part of the good things that are happening in Haiti.

The road is long and hard to any kind of “recovery” for the people of Haiti. They hardly had anything before, and now what was there is all but destroyed.

So please donate if you can to relief efforts. There are some good sites that have various lists of ways that you can donate. One is Its Just Light which has a mirror page on Facebook .

If you have doubts as to where to send donations – send to an organization that you already know and trust. This will take a long time for Haiti, but for now just getting essentials to people can be a real issue.

God Bless the people in Haiti – and be Safe!

Note: this is a mirror post of my other blog Be Your Own Detective.

Disaster Strikes Haiti

It is a devastating earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday. Many people still cannot find loved ones and communication within Haiti is very poor.










Early Images of the quake show the dust in the air from cumbling concrete. Many of the buildings that still "stand" are all but destroyed.

Workers Search through Rubble. ......... Streets became impassable.

No offense to some of these up and coming newscasters, but I heard the dumbest statement - the guy said, "Haiti may not recover for months - maybe even a year." You have go to be kidding me! 5 years or more is a more likely scenario. Nearly every building in Port-au-Prince is destroyed or unusable.

Bodies were just lying in the streets.

The Presedential Palace lays in ruins.

Roads were destroyed.

As of the writing of this blog - the UN Headquarters there has collapsed and at least 150 of UN workers are still missing. The Head of the UN Mission in Haiti is feared to be dead.

The Whitehouse has a blog post about ways that you can assist.

You can find Facebook Pages about it here and here.

Or you can go to Red Cross and donate there.

If you can - please help.

Be Safe!

Political Correctness - or Not

Why is it that we have become so politically correct – yet incorrect?

Before I go on - can I use the term black in reference to some people? I thought the politically correct term was African American (even though the person is not from Africa). My view is there is only one race - and that is the human race. Do people get treated differently because of how they look? Of course they do. "Pretty people" generally get more breaks in life than the rest of us. People are treated different because of skin color, weight, age (or appearance of age). Such is life - and life is not fair.

I saw an article today on Yahoo News that made me think of this.

“APNewsBreak: Smiley ends State of the Black Union”

OK, before I even start to look at the article, I ponder the headline. First of all, why is it OK for a guy to have a State of the African American Black Union conference? I mean, if you had a state of the pigmentationally challenged white union conference – you would only expect white supremacists or the KKK. This leads me to the only logical conclusion:

Tavis Smiley is a racist. That is the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from this. It is simple. If a non special sub-group of the human race that is light skinned and likely has European ancestors white guy hosted the state of the pigmentationally challenged white union conference, he or she would immediately be labeled a racist by all. Therefore – Smiley is a Racist.

Oh but it is ok, because he is a militant “an activist” and a PBS host. – It is OK to be such a racist because my tax dollars are paying his salary!

“Smiley, who hosts a nightly half-hour talk show on PBS, said he was inspired to start the conference because black issues were rarely addressed in the president's State of the Union speech or the national media.” – Excuse me? Why would any President be obligated to address “black issues” in a State of the Union address? It is about the nation – not some or any sub-group of the people.

…The 2005 conference generated the idea for the book "Covenant with Black America," about issues facing the black community. One of Smiley's fondest State of the Black Union memories is holding the book aloft at the 2006 event and watching thousands of people in the audience do the same — "just the fact that we did what we said we were going to do." Cha-ching! (I bet he loved seeing all those sold copies of his book) Yep the truth comes out. He sold his racism and apparently people have bought it. It is all about Smiley and him making money.

“That led to Smiley's critical stance toward Obama because of the presidential candidate's insistence that the best way to help blacks was improving the entire economy, rather than specific policies targeting black problems.” - Oh please! African American Blacks need special targeting? So I guess what he means is the world owes them special treatment?

So I am calling Smiley out - I believe he is a racist - and now he needs to dis-prove that "fact." I am not saying that there are not any black issues, as there are plenty. People like Smiley do not help anyone overcome any of these issues - he simply exploits the issues and the people with his whole book series. But hey - that is the American way - exploit the people because there is a crisis! (even if the crisis is made up).

Be safe!

Obama Demands Explanation About Airline Security

You have got to be kidding - right?

I mean - White House party crashers at his place - and he says/does nothing. Underwear bomber on plane at Christmas and he demands an explanation. Maybe it has to do with the fact that his admisnistration shows no leadership in security concerns - pretty much all around. Hey, but he is a great armchair quarterback! After the game is over he can complain.