Month: October 2015

Colorado School Board Recall Vote – Risky Business!

Posted on by Helena

The debate is ongoing over public schools, private schools, charter and home schools and it seems to mimic the presidential debates. How? Because the attempt is to demonize one over the other when all have values respective of their unique ways.

In Colorado the race is on to determine whether to recall a number of School Board members. Why? Because the board has adopted measures that parents and teachers don’t like – they have championed charter schools, they want the voucher system, they want performance based teacher pay, they want AP History to promote a more positive view of the US instead of the demonizing and polarizing attitude currently taught.

The view? That these measures will take schools back to the ‘dark ages’… Which dark ages, the one that has cost Colorado it’s national reputation as having good schools?

Six Colorado schools made the USA Today Gold list in ranking – Liberty Common Charter School in Fort Collins ranked 49 out of over 29,000 schools! Next on the list in Colorado was The Vanguard School, a Charter School in Colorado Springs which ranked 125th, and then Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafeyette came in as 131. In fact, of the top ten schools ranked in Colorado, 6 were Charter Schools!   The best public school ranking was D’Evelyn in Denver at a national rank of 164th.

There are approximately 180 Charter Schools in Colorado compared to about 1840 public schools, representing 10% of the total, yet representing 60% of the top ten performers.

Why fight the Truth? Why wouldn’t you want to replicate what works? If statistics reveal that something works then go for it! The education is for the children, not the teachers, not the unions, and not even for the parents.

If you are truly interested in the child’s education look at the schools that are succeeding. According to the USA Today ranking, of the top ten schools in the nation, 5 are in Texas and 3 are in Arizona! Maybe they know something. Maybe they have a model that could boost rankings across Colorado. What a waste of time to pander about money, when the problem isn’t money so much as ‘education’.

There is a shortage of teachers. Why? Because they can retire early and get a pension that the rest of us will never get. Because they are bored. Because the in-house politics are stifling. If their pay is performance based instead of time based, and their incentive is to retire as soon as possible, as in any competitive market they could stand to lose unless they pump up their desire to excel.

I remember going before a panel of teachers after I made a complaint – public school. The ‘panel’ had already decided that I was wrong because I was the parent. My son had asked the teacher if he could get his homework which he left in his locker. The teacher said no and gave him and F. Really? The panel of teachers all determined that if my son had been in the corporate world this is how they would have responded, so they were teaching him a ‘life lesson’. Really? He was 13. NONE of these teachers had ever worked in the corporate world – I had, and I can tell you that if an employee said he left his briefcase in the car and we were in the middle of a major meeting and needed those papers, I would not hesitate to say, ‘get the dang papers now’!

The point? I don’t think the value is understood in this debate. The value is not political, it is education, raising the bar, giving our children a chance to compete against Texas! Instead, the issue has become one of money. Pay. Methods of determining pay, incentive pay, who is paid more, and how do you measure performance. And maybe that is the true debate – how do adequately measure performance.

In the everyday work world, it involves time spent, attitude, motivation, creativity, as well as performance. To simplify merit pay as only being a by-product of exam performance is short sided, truly. But, the world standard, the corporate world, the lifestyle world that teachers want to prepare their students for, is based on ‘merit’. From an exam standpoint, testing each student at the beginning and end of the year could evaluate whether he/she progressed upward, downward or horizontally. A relatively simple computer model. This would eliminate the argument that merit would only be relative to higher level students – it would provide an actual accounting of their performance.

If you want to change the way in which merit is evaluated, that is a positive that I imagine School Board members would be receptive to. But if you simply want to argue and find yes men/women that will pat you on the back despite your performance, we will continue to see Colorado schools lag significantly in the national arena.

If you want to educate children, then look to the successes. And right now, there are six Charter School successes that bear scrutiny in Colorado.

Republican Debate Moderators – Mental Minions

Posted on by Helena

A baby is born innocent. But they are also born demanding, selfish, impatient, unloving, inclined to anger when they don’t get their way, greedy, gluttonous, and consumed with self. Over the years, it is a mother’s job to instill values and to moderate behavior, pulling it back, putting it in its proper place. And when the child ventures into the world on their own, hopefully the mother and father have taught them love, compassion, respect, patience and honor.

The commentators of the debate last night missed those lessons.

Will they be penalized? Will they be lectured for their absolute indecent behavior? Or are they all high fiving it and chugging shots behind the curtain of Oz?

Sometimes people don’t realize that when they slander another person, use bully tactics, and ignore common decency, they become the focus instead of the one they are trying to intimidate. Their behavior is so filled with venom that no matter who they were speaking to, no matter what the other person said, they are now the focus of venom.

John Harwood. Becky Quick. Both heavy duty Clintonites.

The fact that Ben Carson stepped out of the fray was possibly the best and most sane move anyone could have committed given the hatred packed fumes that were expelled from the mouths of babes. While the media is asserting that the Republican candidates are just angry because they were asked tough questions, lets take a look at some of these ‘toughies’:

  1. Should fantasy football be regulated by the government?
  2. Referencing Trump, ‘is this a comic book version of a presidential candidate’?
  3. When Carson stated that he was not affiliated with a company that had illegally placed his picture on their website, the commentator said, ‘doesn’t that speak to your vetting process’?
  4. Rubio was asked about a newspaper’s editorial calling for him to resign
  5. Asking Carson why he serves on the board of Costco which is gay friendly
  6. Asking Trump why he said Facebook founder, Zuckerberg, was wrong about immigration?

How do any of these questions address the economy? They don’t. They were created to slander and denounce the individual. Petty. Stupid.

And if that wasn’t enough, apparently Hillary was busy having her campaign managers text notes to reporters in which she chastised the candidates and their answers. Did Hillary create the questions for the commentators? Or does she just tell the media what to say?

In this topsy turvy world we have made a befuddled mess. We learned nothing from the debate because the questions posed were about nothing and deserved the befuddlement responses. The commentators were harsh, rude and ill-prepared with facts. What they did possess was a true laissez faire attitude that proved beyond a reasonable doubt that they failed to grow beyond the arrogance of a babe at birth. Tch Tch.

Presidential Debate – Tears and Joy

Posted on by Helena

When the host of a debate, or a television newscast for that matter, makes a jab that is so obnoxious as to be infinitely rude, I immediately side with the person being attacked and cringe at the audacity of the horrible person making the attack – even – even if I am not a fan of the person being attacked! It is a bad, bad tactic!

While Fiorina, Christie and Cruz may be ‘right’, right unfortunately, doesn’t make ‘win’. They say what is good and right and yes, I am so behind their wisdom, but is that what creates a win? If we look at history, what makes a win, is who has manipulated the vote. Sorry! But that’s the reality as much as you want to pretend. It is why we accept without question that 130% of the voters turned out in any district… Do you even understand what that means? It means that one fourth of voters voted twice.

Or it means, that the tally centers, which are routinely conducted by a firm owned by Soros – out of this country, is completely without – fraud… Personally, I find that a remote – remote possibility. In that vein, we need to accept that our elections are rigged. Completely. Totally. Which is why, Hillary girl, is not too concerned. She is not sweating.

Watching the debates I am reminded of a time when I was the lone ‘woman’ out, I was amongst a gang of female liberal attorneys and I was the lone republican. Within a few short minutes, they were leaning in, pointing fingers and screaming in my face. It was a surreal experience. They were a gang of perhaps ten or eleven – against – me. I was the lone wolf. And they went for a kill! Not in a symbolic way, they wanted a real – kill.

I didn’t handle it very well. I refused to cry in front of them, and so excused myself to a hallway of shame where I burst into tears and felt very denigrated. I called my husband and asked for support. I was so devastated, I could not go back to them and went to my room in a veil of or shroud of – solace. But I did learn something. I learned that the words of evil are sincerely vicious!

The point was – that these liberal people were incredibly ugly. They had no collaborative vein of compassion or listening or sharing, they were only about destruction and winning. And I was so naïve, I had no idea this was the agenda, this was conceivable, this was women. They had no other agenda than to destroy me from every angle of ethic, morality, compassion, value, belief, and care. And I was completely, totally, unprepared for such an inhumane attack.

And such is what I watch tonight. An inhumane attack on some parts, whereas it is a pushing of agenda on the other. Why would certain Republicans be accepted, and others attacked? I watched as the front runner is the most attacked – Carson. I suppose there is logic in that. Why would you bother attacking the ones that posed no real threat? And so, Carson has become the threat.

Trump could be a service to the cause if he were to back Carson. While Christie and Rubio have incredible talents at speaking, and words, they have a connection to shadows that could prove they are more Democratic than Republican in values and ethics. And that is a viable consideration. Both of them have ties to Soros, and thus their credibility is under scrutiny!

The questions posed at the debate were hugely stacked. Sometimes in favor and sometimes to discredit. To me, it was obvious. Not good for the ones that were pandered to – the republicans that scaped. Not a good place to be – sorry.

How to answer all the idiosyncrasies of the debate without creating rux among the others? Impossible. So, the debate becomes a point of who can speak and who can’t vs, who is and who isn’t a valid – person. Sorry.

Personally, I am not a debate person, the questions are posed, the answers orchestrated, the debate is more of the answers than of the ethic. The debate is more about saying what they debater thinks the person wants to hear, than a debate about what is right or wrong. How absurd to believe that a debate is anything to do with what is one the heart and mind of the person…

So, I take them with a grain of salt, much like a commercial on television which has nothing to do with reality – in my view.

Still, the commentators hold to rudeness, and the debaters hold to voter propaganda, it has nothing to do with allegiance, so much as a desire to win.

We are so oppressed that we cannot listen to the words without forming an opinion way before the second word has formed from the mouth. THAT is not right. I wish that the attitude was levied against the Democrats. I wish that people could see what is happening… I wish that the world would awaken as though from a slumber and see what is happening. I wish… But I am just one.

Do you know what it means to be – the salt of the earth?

Maybe that will answer the question – mine and yours. WAKE UP!

WHO says WHAT about Red Meat?

Posted on by Helena

WHO announces that red meat, including beef, pork and lamb, and processed meats are a carcinogen that increase the risk of certain types of cancer, most specifically colon cancer. And while the Twitterers are abundant, what hasn’t been specified is whether it is the actual ‘meat’, or the chemicals, hormones, fillers, antibiotics, and GMO’s used in these products… Because we’ve been eating meat for thousands of years…

But I’m not sure which statement was more deplorably …stated… the one by WHO or the one by our own high school diploma self ascribed medical professional, Gwyneth Paltrow. For despite her multiple vices, she has the audacity to invoke that bras cause breast cancer! Arrogance and a clear lack of education or intellect could possibly be the culprit in such a narrative.

The WHO study focuses mostly on processed meats, but includes red meat to a lesser degree. The thought being that when red meats are cooked at a temperature greater than 400′, a carcinogenic hydrocarbon is created that WHO states is cancer causing. However, they also state they don’t know why… which leads to another new study regarding chemicals in our personal hygiene products.

The key word is ‘chemicals’. And the new test shows that it is a combination of chemicals that cause the carcinogenic reaction, not the individual chemicals themselves. Parabens when exposed to heregulins (a common growth factor gene protein) caused cancer cells to multiply 100 times faster. Bottom line, it is the interaction of chemicals that stimulates cancer.

Looking at the chemicals in processed foods:

A number of the ingredients that can be found in processed foods in the US are banned in Europe, including: food dyes, the fat substitute Olestra, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate (aka brominanted flour), Azodicarbonamide, BHA, BHT, rBGH, rBST and arsenic. YUM!

For example, ever read the ingredient list for Bologna? Ingredients: mechanically separated chicken, pork, water, corn syrup, contains less than 2 percent of salt, sodium lactate, flavor, sodium phosphates, autolyzed yeast, sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate (made from sugar), sodium nitrate, dextrose, extractives of paprika, potassium phosphate, sugar and potassium chloride.

ARGHHH!

And that doesn’t even begin to extract the chemicals and hormones and antibiotics in the ‘pork’, or beef. Do you know what ‘mechanically separated chicken’ includes? Why of course, it is a pink paste that can include organs, sexual glands and bone marrow. Yummy!   All the other ingredients are supposed to make the pink paste – taste palatable.

Even more disconcerting is the fact that the American Cancer Society clearly states that they DO NOT know what causes colon cancer. They can offer some risk factors, all of which have absolutely nothing to do with food, they do note that certain tendencies can increase a person’s risk, like being overweight, eating a diet that is very high in meat and meat products, drinking excessively, smoking and a sedentary lifestyle.

Exactly who is WHO and why are they coming out with this catastrophic statement now?

They are an offshoot of the UN established after WWII. Their most recent intervention was with respect to the Ebola virus which garnered them some criticism for their bureaucracy, staffing quality, failing financing and ‘structure’. While they are technically working for global health, their money and direction comes from the governments who pay them the most: US, Japan and Germany.

But WHO is not without its own corruption. In 2010, it was discovered that a Finnish WHO advisor on vaccines received $9million from GlaxoSmithKline, a big pharma corporation. In fact, there have been six WHO researchers who received funds from GlaxoSmithKline, or Roche, or Merck, or Sanofi Pasteur, Chiron, Medimmune, Novartis, RW Johnson, Baxter, and SmithKline Beechum.

There was Dr. Osterhouse, nicknamed Dr. Flu, who attempted mass vaccination only to discover he was backed by TEN different big pharma corporations. In the last eight years, WHO has been riddled with corruption after corruption probe, and their reputation has sunk into the bowels of the toilet. Time and again investigative journalists have found that the organization is responsible for fraud, deception, manipulation and coersion.

And yet, the announcement regarding red meat and processed foods was given a drum-roll by the press who likened their statement to something nearly godly factual when it was drivel at best addressing the issue with all the intellect of – Gwyneth Paltrowism.

I wonder if there is a vaccine on the horizon that WHO will promote, or even mandate, to offset these red meat/processed food effects? I wonder if big pharma has a new and improved drug that will soon hit the markets emphasizing its Vunderdrug attributes of minimizing the carcinogen effects of red meat/processed meat? Hordes of bacon and red meat will be back on the tables laden with hormones and chemicals and antibiotics to desensitize the truth, and we will go back to ‘normal’, albeit with a new prescription drug in our medicine cabinet.

It should be noted that WHO is pro GMO’s, pro vaccines, and let’s not forget that WHO advocated for formula over breast milk! Like all science, it comes and goes, sometimes with a yawn and sometimes with a tsunami. What you can be sure of is there is another agenda waiting…

The Fall of Europe – Rape, Immigrants, Blackmail – It’s Just The Beginning

Posted on by Helena

Socialism and the Swedes. They are held up as the prime example of a perfect society, wealthy, insured, happy and productive. They also happen to have one of the highest rates of rape – in the world at 66 per 100,000 and growing. Worse, the courts rarely imprison the rapist and find that the victim ‘asked for it’. Socialism at its best…

A Swedish woman was gang raped by 7 – the rapists received sentences of 4 to 6 years which will be reduced by 1/3 as is typical. They were all refugees.  This is just one of the 77% stories.

The papers and the courts all seem to be of the mind that rape statistics should not be discussed or researched. Such is true in The Netherlands, Denmark, and Finland where convictions are low and thus the numbers muted by women who don’t bother to report the incident because the crime will go unpunished. Why bother. Apparently even in gang rape cases, the courts will rule that the victim asked for it. The law would seem to mirror Sharia law. And that is what they don’t want to advertise.

Statistics in Sweden, outside of the government, conclude that 77% of rapes are perpetrated by Muslims. But even that figure is questionable because in Sweden if a Muslim has citizenship, they are no longer identified in any statistic as Muslim. Secondly, all 2nd generation Muslims automatically are termed Swedish and thus the Muslim label is dropped. As such, the rate attributable to Muslims is most likely to be significantly higher.

One problem with reporting such a statistic is that under Swedish law, making such a statement can be considered racist, and a crime, punishable with imprisonment. Ironically, the rapists go free, while the reporter goes to jail for stating what is a fact.

With Muslim refugees crashing the gates of Europe, they bring with them their laws and ways as well. In Saudi Arabia, a 19 year old girl who was gang raped was sentenced to 200 lashings and 6 months in jail. Why? Because she was unaccompanied, and thus asked for the rape. The US State Department response? They expressed ‘surprise and astonishment’.

Rape is occurring at high rates in the German Refugee camps, but there are no prosecutions, no punishment, no law.  Did Merkel sellout Germany? Muting the truth, obliterating comments on Facebook, denouncing fact, Merkel has sold her country and its people to Sharia Law. Speaking out against Muslims and their means of rule, is considered prejudicial and racist, a discrimination crime. Most of the refugees are male. They state that coming to the EU would have been too dangerous for their wives and children. But if they are fleeing ISIS and death, then how could it be that leaving their wives and children at the hand of that danger is less dangerous than coming to the EU?

Because it isn’t the truth.

Governments throughout Europe have already declared that the way to contain the rape problem is not to go after the rapists, but to have all the women and girls dress more modestly and make sure they are always accompanied… sounds like Saudi Arabia to me. The press is warned to downplay rapes. The media is told to coverup stories. And Zuckerberg finds himself a newly ordained puppet in the mix of censorship.

Merkel is said to have a heart in allowing the migrants to drop like tons of bricks on Germany. Really? Allowing rapes, terrorism, and entitlements to a select few, to immigrants, to Muslims, while Germans pay hardly seems empathetic. In fact it is heinous.

Media reports declare this mass immigration as like nothing we’ve seen since WWII. But there is a difference that goes unreported. At the end of the war, most the the immigrants were ‘repatriated back to their home country’, with the exception of vast numbers of Jews who were given Israel as their new home country. Does that mean when the Syrian conflict is over, all the Syrians will be sent back? The Somalis?  The Iraqis?  No, they are assimilated into their new host country and given free money, housing, food, clothes, and allowed to assert their own lawlessness.   Why would they want to go back to their home country?

Where are most of the immigrants actually originating from? Turkey. Erdogan is sick of housing the 2 ½ million in camps and shooed them to the EU. He’s angry and this is his vengeance.

And how is the EU handling Erdogan? Why they have agreed to give him $3.4 billion ‘to start’, grant Turkey EU membership status and ease restrictions on Turks traveling throughout the EU. In addition he is demanding that a safe zone camp be built on Syria’s northern border with Turkey. Energy, will of course be on the table – who gets it, who owns it and whose will be ‘confiscated’.

Who is the puppet now?

US Health Care Crisis – Socialized Medicine?

Posted on by Helena

Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act is anything but – affordable.

Another year and another hike in our out of pocket will take effect November 1st. What kind of increase? A mere 42.5%…cough – wheeze, for me!

While Obama touts that millions more are now covered, whoopdeedo what he doesn’t say is that it doesn’t really matter because deductibles have gone so high no one can use the insurance unless it is for catastrophic purposes. Remember the good ole days when deductibles were $500? Well those good ole days were just ten years ago. And while my individual deductible is now $5700, it is better than what the mandated younger generation is forced to buy with deductibles or max-out-of-pocket as high as $10,000 and $12,600. Which is about $12,599 more than they have in savings.

Even the socialist medicine provider, Kaiser, has followed suit and ramped up its out of pocket $$$$. While the insurer has a plan with no deductible, it has a co-insurance of 30% up to the max out of pocket – $12,600 per person, hello that’s worse than a deductible. But at least their out of network is non-existent, while others cite max as high as $25,400 per person. So if something happens to you in another state, or out of your control to pick and choose because you are say – unconscious, you are royally in the hospital dog-house.

But that’s only the beginning. The other bite is the insurers closing their doors completely. Kentucky’s Health Cooperative is going out of business leaving 51,000 without insurance. Health Republic Insurance of New York went out of business dropping 150,000. CoOpportunity Health in Iowa and Nebraska dropped out. Louisianna Health Coop and Nevada Health dropped out. And by drop-out, what that means is belly up, kaput, nilch, nada, bankrupt! Lost jobs. Poof! Why? Because the money promised them in subsidies from the Federal government never appeared. Instead they were given 10cents on the dollar of promised $$, and they couldn’t make it work.

WINHealth in Wyoming is going nada. As is Colorado’s nonprofit Coop and Oregon’s as well. Humana was recently gorged by Aetna after Coventry Health went into the Aetna pool. Aetna and Humana both have a one star rating when I looked them up, so they should be a great match. Cigna and Anthem are proposing a merger. Consumer Affairs rated Cigna and Anthem – one star. So much for quality of care. But these companies aren’t alone. United Health got a one star. AARP Health got a one star rating.

And while the companies have the audacity to state that such mergers will offer customers more affordable care, I have yet to see or hear of one company lowering their premium or deductible. Ever.

In 2014, according to the IRS, some 7.5 million individuals paid the annual fine rather than get health insurance. The fine was the greater of 1% of household income or $285 for a family. But that is far less than the average cost of health insurance which runs more to the tune of 9%-10% of wages. According to the CDC, there are still 35.7 million uninsured. So if only 7.5 of them paid the fine, that means 28.2 million – didn’t.  Why?

Well, then there are hardship exemptions that qualify you to NOT pay the fee/penalty, including; death of a family member, homelessness (do they file tax returns?), victim of domestic violence (that would account for 12 million per year), facing eviction or foreclosure (Foreclosures in 2014 were 1.1 million), received a shutoff notice from a utility company, experienced a fire, flood or other natural disaster, filed for bankruptcy (just under 1 million in 2014), you had substantial medical debt, increased expenses due to caring for an ill, aged, or disabled family member, and here’s the best – your insurance plan was canceled and you just don’t feel you can afford another one.  BINGO!

Is this the prelude to socialized medicine?

In 2014, 24% of the federal budget was allocated to pay for healthcare. Yet in countries with socialized medicine, such as France, Germany, and the UK, healthcare spending amounts to just 16% to 18% of the total budget. How is that possible and covers EVERYONE?

The number of people in the US covered by Medicare and Medicaid is now about 93 million, 22% of the population. If the Federal Budget is 3.8 trillion in 2015 and 24% goes to healthcare thats – $912 billion. If we were to socialize 100% of the population which stands at 319 million healthcare costs would be $3.13 trillion or 82% of the budget. To cover the additional $2.1 trillion someone has to pay. Given 45% of the population even pays taxes, that would mean 143.5 million people would cover the cost of healthcare, amounting to a per person annual average cost – $21,800. Of course a sliding scale would have to be introduced because only 26.6% of wage earners make over $50,000, only 7.4% of US wage earners make over $100,000, and 1% make over $250,000. At current costs, there simply isn’t enough earning power to go around. In addition, the minute, the second those top wage earners get whiff, money will vanish – finding rest in the Bahamas, Morocco, or wherever it can flee and find less taxing power.

In France, the cost per capita of healthcare is roughly $4900. That’s 22% of the cost in the US. So, is the solution to socialize, or is it to cut costs?

Refugees – The Trojan Horse of The Muslim Brotherhood – part II

Posted on by Helena

Refugees are learning that Germany – is cold. Today in Syria it is 86′. In Germany it is in the 50’s with lows in the 30’s. The contrast is stark and does not bode well with the warm blooded Syrians living in tents. Angry, they demand that Germany do more!

“…without residency permits the state seems to do nothing for refugees other than house and feed them. The camp has not organized a single German lesson for her family, the mother of three from Damascus says. Nor have they had any advice on how they can access the job market if their application is granted.”

How quickly entitlement becomes the outcry. “We came here expecting …” The immigrants want food, housing, jobs, education, clothing, psychological counseling, goods, and a life ready made just for them… But the article also emphasizes the reason for the Syrian crisis is the ‘government bombardment’.  I suppose it might be coined the government bombardment if one went on to define the government as the Saudis and the US.

It is the Muslim Brotherhood organizations in the US that are calling for additional Syrian refugees to be allowed here. In Germany, the Sharia Muslims in refugee camps are targeting Kurds, Christians and Yazidis for persecution, attacks, and brawls. Max Klingberg, the director of the Frankfurt-based International Society for Human Rights says the problem is much bigger than reported and will only grow larger as many of the refugees are extremists with ties or alliance to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Attacks at the German refugee centers occur nearly daily. Police are injured, Christians are injured, anyone who is opposed to Sharia law is targeted. Rapes are common in the camps.  These are not polite refugees with tears and sweet smiles.  They want Sharia LAW.  As a result, the German police are claiming they need every Islamic sect to be segregated to different centers in order to attempt to preserve some semblance of peace. But entitlements continue to provoke animosity as the migrants make demands.

They claim they are Syrians. But they come from everywhere. This is what can happen when meddling in the affairs of countries that should be held accountable for themselves. We are now left to assimilate millions of people and it is only the beginning.

There is a video on youtube which highlights some of the real atrocities taking place in Europe as a result of the migrant crisis; Migrant Crisis, The Footage The Media Refuses to Broadcast.  Learn what is really happening outside of mainstream media reporting on the suffering of the ‘poor mistreated migrants’.

Did we know this would happen?  Is there something far deeper in this than what we can even imagine?  Agendas always rule choices.  What is the agenda?

What was Assad like? What was going on in Syria before the civil war broke out? And what instigated it?

Reports spoke of the government spying on its people, monitoring the internet, and news agencies… something like the NSA. And abuse reports were initiated by obscure people, Syrians who hadn’t lived there for 40 years, such as Mohja Kohf.

Assad was considered much more liberal than his father. He released 700 political prisoners and attempted to introduce a package of reforms that would begin to lift Syria out of its authoritative regime. But old school members of his government blocked these changes. Anti-government protests heightened considerably in 2011 after ‘the media claimed over 2000 had been killed in protests’.  Was this even true?  Was it a disinformation plant?

Assad claimed his country was the target of geopolitical conspiracies as critics said his inexperience in politics made it difficult for him to establish Syria’s place in the “new world order”.   Assad would not bow, McCain decried foul and attempted to instigate an all out indiscriminate bombing on Syria.  And as the protests increased, the government cracked down on the dissidents in order to maintain law and order in the face of growing chaos.

Who was behind the protests? Who were the political prisoners the media kept referring to in their demonization of the regime? The Muslim Brotherhood. They are considered a terrorist organization by Egypt, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Syria, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. But not – the US. In 2011, the Brotherhood elected Mohammed Morsi as President of Egypt. He was over-thrown in 2013 and el-Sisi came to power banning the Muslim Brotherhood. Since its expulsion, its home-base has moved to Turkey.

So why would the US back and sponsor a group that is considered a terrorist organization in much of the Middle East? Why would the US initiate an all out war campaign in Syria in defense of and support of the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates?

Stickier is as stickier does. Benghazi. In 2012, Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. Egypt’s newly formed Muslim Brotherhood government under Morsi was in power. Morsi wanted the release of a 9-11 prisoner in the US, the Egyptian Blind Sheikh. The US refused and Morsi organized the attack on the US Embassy in Libya with the plan of taking Ambassador Chris Stevens as hostage to be used as an exchange barter.

Could the State Department’s response to the Benghazi attacks be motivated by an attempt to cover-up the Muslim Brotherhood role? And if so, why?

Hillary’s long time aide and friend, Huma Abedin, is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, her mother is a writer and editor of a paper that advocates for mandatory Sharia law, and US domination. Abedin’s mother, who resides in Saudi Arabia, is also an associate professor at the University of Dar Al Hekma, in Jeddah. The university was first established in 1999 and received university status as of 2014, it has a 1 star rating out of 5.  The Saudis were not always anti-Muslim Brotherhood, and when the persecution against them began to rise, many fled to Saudi Arabia and found refuge as educators in the system teaching religious ideals.  Osama Bin Laden was a student at the King Abdul Aziz University also located in Jeddah.  It was through his training at this university that Bin Laden learned the ideology of jihad.

The Clinton Foundation receives a good deal of its funding from the Saudis. The thorns get even pricklier as it was revealed that the Egyptian branch Director for the Clinton Foundation, Gehad el-Haddad, was arrested in 2012 as a leading figure of the Muslim Brotherhood. He was a leading strategist for former President, Morsi.  Qatar, a leading government supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood was a major donor to the Clinton Foundation until 2014 when the Saudis put pressure on them to cease and desist.  Why do the Saudis want the Muslim Brotherhood quashed? Because the Brotherhood agenda is to rule, to the abolishment of Saudi rule and kings.

But why is Hillary so entrenched?  Does she see herself as a possible candidate for World Leader in the New World Order of Islam?  Is she playing so many different sides that she no longer knows what side she is on?  Like the liar who forgets what she has said to whom?

Enter ICG:  International Crisis Group, founded and funded by George Soros.  Sitting on its board is Mohamed ElBaradei, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood who served as former head  of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.  It was his influence that led to the lifting of efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear ‘research’.   Why would Soros devlop such a connection?  Because he needed help to bring down Big Satan – the US, and Little Satan – Israel.  And who better than to befriend those that want the same thing.

Using the Syrian crisis to infiltrate Muslim Brotherhood members, ISIS and al Qaeda into mainstream Europe and the US is probably a given. However heinous, however brutal.  Merkel fell for it. Denmark and Switzerland fell for it. But the reality is, now that they are here, what do you do with them? Once in, you can’t very well expel a million plus people.

And that my friend is how you create the chaos that may bring down all of Europe.

Veterans: Would The Real Wounded Warriors Please Stand Up!

Posted on by Helena

I was a pacifist, and then I was a warist. I believed that war was necessary in order to rid the world of evil, but now I think I have moved full circle back to pacifist. In the process, I have become somewhat resentful, certainly not toward the soldiers, but definitely toward the ambivalence of the military and the politicians that sign mortality and wound certificates without even an ounce of compassion.

When the media talks about Afghanistan and Iraq, too often the same faulty statistics are offered concerning deaths. Death is a sacrifice. Death has lost its moral compass. But rarely does the media talk about the wounded, the number wounded, the magnitude of the wounded and the unbelievably intense trauma that is inflicted on those lives – forever!

We talk about the drones, how they have eclipsed reality by giving the deaths and bombings a surreal existence. But I think war has become surreal. It is televised and we don’t blink, we don’t cry, we just change the channel.

What are the wounded statistics? Interestingly, the military does not keep a tally. I imagine that is a choice. For if the tally were talked about more, it would show a reality that we would rather quash. My father, a Colonel in WWII who led a tank battalion, never spoke of the war – ever. I understand why. Because bringing it to the surface would be reliving it again and it was so enormously horrific, he wasn’t sure he could survive mentally.  But his horrors didn’t end there, he was an officer in the Nevada nuclear tests, and as an officer, required to stand at full attention while observing the fallout. He became a casualty of that test.

I recently read the article of the Iraq vet who deployed 6 times, 2 with his dog. They both suffered from the war, he with traumatic brain injuries and PTSD, the dog with PTSD. But they kept each other together, that is, until the dog was shot and killed in Powell, Wyoming. What will he do without his dog? The last link to a world gone completely crazy.

Of the 1.5 million men and women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, outside of the military statistics, the estimate of wounded is upwards of half a million – or one third. A list of the injuries is cataclysmic: traumatic brain injury, hearing loss, breathing disorders, loss of limbs, chronic pain, heart damage, lung damage, Leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease caused by the bite of a sand fly native to the Middle East, which causes liver damage, spleen damage, and ultimately death, bladder, kidney and genitalia injuries, neuroendocrine damage, constrictive bronchitis, tumors, lymphoma, the list is most certainly endless.

And yet, we barely bat an eye…  Their lives will never be the same. Because they fought in a war. Their purpose? You and I.

But it isn’t just a lack of empathy for our soldiers, the attitude extends everywhere in some kind of odd self entitlement in which we expect their submission and renunciation of their lives for ours.  Fire fighters and law enforcement officials sacrifice continually, and we simply accept that is their duty while appreciation is rarely forth-coming. While the death rate for these civil servants is low on average, the injury rate is high. In 2013, nearly 64,000 firefighters were injured while on duty, and over 49,000 police officers. So next time you think about Black Lives Matter, consider Soldiers lives, Firefighters lives, and the lives and injuries inflicted on our law enforcement, because death isn’t the only marker of forfeiting your life. Just ask the ones who can no longer live the life they once did…

Waiting for healthcare from a VA system that is broken. Living off a stipend. Where is the respect? The honor? The glory for all they have actually DONE? Their contribution? How horribly wrong is it to focus on a color instead of an action! Why are we so righteous about a color instead of the men and women who serve us, die for us, and face heinous injuries on our behalf?

I recently had a confrontational commentator argue that a system that is in vital disrepair is not at fault because every large institution is broken to some degree and therefore the victims, (children in this case we argued), should just be thankful for what they get. Instead he felt it necessary to attack my values. Really? So how many casualties of a system do there need to be before we have empathy, before we say, it’s too much? Have we really become so apathetic?

VA healthcare is not free to veterans. In fact, in the case of Army Ranger Bessler, his medical care for the brain injury was not tended to by the VA at all. It was Governor Rick Perry who stepped up and upon hearing of his plight, offered to help pay for a ‘private treatment program’. Why wasn’t it covered by the VA?

In 2016, the VA budget will be $168.8 billion! The budget has increased 72% since 2009, so where does it all go?  Salaries?  Waste?  Why do veterans fall between the cracks?  We have countless organizations that claim to supplement the VA care. Why? Wounded Warrior is one of the most well known, but it has come under a lot of fire for misrepresentation, a high CEO salary, and an advertising budget that is more important than actually helping the vets. Some vets reported that the ‘help’ they got was a backpack and a water bottle – and that was it.

As an accountant, I thought I’d take a look at Wounded Warriors’ financials:   First, most noteworthy, is the fact that they have over $307 million in assets!   A whole lot of unspent money is not the marker of a charitable charity! Having ripped apart the Clinton Foundation’s ‘program expenses’, let’s see how these guys stand up:

In 2014, the Alumni Association expenses labeled “Warrior Assistance and Support” accounted for

.9% of the total expenditures, matching their ‘supply’ budget and budget for ‘Membership Fees’.

The largest portion of the budget was spent on “Salaries and Compensation”, followed by “Media”, followed by

‘Meetings and Events’. Even under their Program entitled “Combat Stress Recovery”, the expense apportioned to

‘Warrior Assistance’ was even more feeble coming in at .2%!

Total Warrior expenses for all Functional spending amounted to .3% or $962,097. By comparison they spent $4,344,000 to purchase property and equipment (an asset, not an expense) and $115,000,000 for investments, upping their total investment portfolio to just under $250,000,000.

So who is the real casualty here; Black Lives Matter … or the Real Wounded Warriors?

Will The Real Wounded Warriors PLEASE STAND UP!

Climate Change – Historical Hysteria

Posted on by Helena

When the weather shifts and it is destructive, the media screams – Global Warming!  Climate Change! I told you so! And when the weather acts predictably, the silence is just as loud.

Climate Change:  Ahh, its good, ahh, its bad, we’re all going to die… Is it real? Is it a hoax? Does it divert from other issues? Is it used to create a global mass fear? Our obsession with some things that we can not possibly know for certain – and the pronouncement that they are facts – has become so prevalent, no one bothers to lift an eyebrow.

For example, we take as fact:  “65 million years ago an asteroid that was 6 miles in diameter, crashed into earth and caused volcanic reactions twice as intense as ever before…killing off the dinosaurs…” Of course that assumes we know all about volcanic eruptions that took place a billion years ago… we can say for fact and prove that dinosaurs lived 65 million years ago, and that an asteroid crashed into earth 65 million years ago and that…blah-de-blah.  We don’t know actually.  It is a supposition – a conjecture – an idea – a theory.  What it is NOT is – fact.

Now we have Climate Predictions.  A scientist makes an assertion and we readily accept it as fact.  Why?  Let’s look at some climate predictions made in the past:

  1. In 2005 the UN warned that imminent sea-level rises, increased hurricanes, and desertification caused by “man-made global warming” would lead to massive population disruptions. It further claimed that by 2010, 50 million climate ‘refugees’ would be fleeing for the lives.

  2. In 1971, a respected Stanford Scientist predicted that by 2000 the UK would be a small group of impoverished islands housing 70 million starving people. And possibly no longer exist at all. The cause? Global cooling. The Scientific community doubted that governments would listen and proposed melting the polar ice caps as a means of stabilizing this massive ice age.

  3. In 2003, the Pentagon issued a massive scare mongering document which predicted that in ten years the world would be a post-apocalyptic disaster zone. In the document, California would succumb to massive flooding, the Netherlands would be uninhabitable, and natural disasters would wreak havoc across the globe.

  4. March 2000, a senior researcher with the Climate Research Unit stated that the UK would never see snow again. It was a thing of the past. The very next year snowfall increased by 50%. Unfazed, in 2004 this same scientist and his cohorts decided that Scotland would never see a ski industry again as a result of global warming. In 2013, Scottish resorts closed down as a result of ‘too much snow’.

  5. Last year the US experienced phenomenal snowfall and colder than normal temperatures. The Climate Research Unit declared, “A growing body of evidence suggests that the kind of extreme cold being experienced by much of the United States as we speak is a pattern we can expect to see with increasing frequency, as global warming continues.”

  6. In 1990, the chief scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund stated that by 1996: “The Platte River of Nebraska would be dry, while a continent-wide black blizzard of prairie topsoil will stop traffic on interstates, strip paint from houses and shut down computers.” The situation would get so bad that “Mexican police will round up illegal American migrants surging into Mexico seeking work as field hands.”

  7. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, Al Gore stated that the North Pole would be ice free by 2013. In fact, as of 2013, Arctic ice volume expanded 50% compared to 2012, and sea ice levels grew at a faster pace not seen since 1979. A number of Climate Scientists jumped on the Gore bandwagon and claimed super computer models proved this prediction true and even calculated it would happen before 2013.

  8. Even more recently, experts have predicted that the ice in the Antarctic would evaporate as a direct result of increased CO2 emissions – all man made. Reality: “sea ice in Antarctica is off the charts, consistently smashing previous record highs on a near-daily basis. Sea-ice area in the south is now at the highest point since records began — by a lot — and the warmists are searching frantically for an explanation.”

  9. And while Obama claims that all the fires, drought, floods and natural disasters are a direct result of climate change. Forbes Magazine did a bit of research and found that fires in the US are actually down 15% since 1950. And although droughts persist, the UN declared that droughts are actually less frequent, shorter and less intense than in the past.

February 04, 1989

Last week, scientists from the United States Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that a study of temperature readings for the contiguous 48 states over the last century showed there had been no significant change in average temperature over that period.

Dr. James Hanson of NASA made this statement. He provided graphs illustrating this conclusion. But in 2000, Dr. Hanson altered the graphs significantly to show a rising temperature over 1.5′, altering not just one year, but every year since the beginning of recordation in 1880 and changing his stance to conform with the Climate Changers.

In France this week, a reputable weatherman that had been on television for years was sacked. Why? He wrote a book that claimed governments were using climate change to fuel mass hysteria, and that climate change is a natural phenomena. He accuses scientists of manipulating and politicizing misleading data. The Climate Change Summit will be held in Paris this November. Coincidence?

The point? Just because a scientist makes a claim or a prediction or a statement, does not mean it is a fact. In fact, as we can see, climate science and scientists have been wrong not just a little, but Mother Nature has proven them to be ‘completely’ wrong.

The lessons:

  1.  It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature, because she always wins!
  2.  When making a prediction, it would be a good idea to make it as convoluted as possible so that when it doesn’t come true, you can say it really did, by rearranging the original facts to align with the real outcome…

US and China – Ramping Up Military in Africa.

Posted on by Helena

US sending troops to Cameroon to fight Boko Haram. I learned this while reading a French news sight. Because, apparently it isn’t worthy of much mainstream attention.

The French publication stated that the US has no combat troops in Africa, although it has been increasing support to allies in the area. Support? Would that mean weapons? Why can’t we just say what we mean?

Unfortunately, the Wall Street Journal has a different story. They say the US has had over 7,000 troops in Africa for some time. In fact we have a base in Djibouti… where the heck is that? Interestingly, it happens to be right across the Suez from Yemen, about 20 nautical miles! Coincidence?

But we aren’t alone there, France and Japan have ‘personnel’ there as well, which is convoluted speak for bases. China has recently begun creating a relationship with the government, ie, building a naval base replete with 10,000 troops, an airport, and a railway from Ethiopia’s capital to Djibouti. And apparently, we don’t like it, we are miffed.

As usual, it gets stickier. The Saudis, the same Saudis bombing all of Yemen to oblivion, are building refugee housing for Yemenis in Djibouti. In fact, Dr. Al-Rabeeah stated that the Saudis were duty bound to help their long standing friends and brothers, the Yemenis… What?

And while the UK would have us believe Djibouti is a great new travel destination for tourists, very safe!!!, in the next sentence they explain that the locals are Muslim Afar, or Danakil, a population with a ‘fierce reputation’ whose favored proverb reads: “It is better to die than live without killing.” Gee, I really want to go there…

It’s a fair given that since this is the only true base we have in all of Africa, the 300 US troops destined for Cameroon, to fight Boko Haram, on the other side of Africa, will station at Djibouti. The distance between them?  3,348 Km. That’s roughly the same distance from Salt Lake City to New York. Not exactly a hopskipandajump…

Why? According to Brig Gen Wayne Gribsy, “The purpose is to protect the US and its interests abroad.” What interests?  What does that mean?  Oil?

The target? Al Shabaab in Somalia. So why is this so hush-hush? Why is it mostly Special Ops?

Regime change is being whispered. You see, the relationship that the current president, Ismael Omar Guelleh, has with China would appear to be stronger than the one with the US. So the rumblings are an ousting in the next election, slated for 2016. We aren’t very popular there. Djibouti runs their own air traffic control operations that US drones, fighter helicopters and fighter jets rely on for safety. These controllers routinely fall asleep, making a bed for themselves on the floor, play video games and have no tolerance for superiors, throwing one down the flight tower stairs.  Sounds like normal behavior…

So, in all politeness, our military offered to better train the controllers with a budget of $7 million. This wasn’t received well and the program collapsed after controllers stopped coming to classes and then locked the American trainers out of the flight tower.  ARGHHH.

The problem with the Yemeni offensive is that it would seem to have the same consequences as the Syrian debacle. While the Saudis wanted regime change in both Yemen and Syria, the US used the cause to try to hit Al Qaeda and ISIS. In both instances, it backfired as the chaos that ensued as a result of the Saudis agenda, led to greater control by al Qaeda and ISIS. Which is why Putin exclaims that maybe what we claim to be our agenda isn’t really the truth at all, because we are failing. Putin asked Washington for a list of targets for Syria. Washington refused. So Putin asked where Washington wanted to avoid strikes. Washington stone-walled. Why?

The US has the best military in the world! But if we accept this truism, then we must also accept the fact that eradicating ISIS and al Qaeda is not our agenda, otherwise it would have been done and concluded.

So if we don’t want to destroy ISIS or al Qaeda, do we really want to go after al Shabaab and Boko Haram either? Or do we see Africa going the way of the Middle East – entire, debilitating chaos? In which case, our mission has been a roiling success!

Issues:

  • News media freely state that Japan has a military base in Djibouti. But Japan has no military by law. So how could they have a military base?
  • The Suez Canal keeps returning as a focal point in the Middle East uproars?
  • If the US is only providing the Saudis with logistical support against Yemen, how come our drones, fighter jets and fighter helicopters are said to routinely take off from Djibouti for Yemen in the dark of night?
  • If Brig General Gribsy claims the target is Al Shabaab in Somalia, why are there no reports at all of US excursions there, or US bombs hitting targets in Somalia?
  • Why is the Pentagon refusing to give Putin targets and non-targets and then screaming to the press that Putin is purposefully hitting ‘other’ targets?

“If you tell the Truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” ~ Mark Twain

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” ~ Aldous Huxley