ARE MEN REALLY PIGS?

ARE MEN REALLY PIGS? (Frazer Chronicles)

I just read an article in Aljazeera, penned by Naomi Wolf entitled "Is pornography driving men crazy?" I for one can respond with a hearty "nnnnnnooooo!" Actually I have watched some porn on my computer, you guys ought to try it, it's graphic.....STOP, sorry I lost my composure for a minute, maybe this Wolf broad has something going with her "driving men crazy thing."

Pornography, in my opinion, isn't driving men crazy, men in fact are becoming more aware of women and respect them more then ever before in history. That said, I have to admit that "men have a long road to travel before they truly are aware of women in the world, and what they really mean in a man's life. 

In  her article, Wolf talks about "highly visible men in recent years have behaved in sexually self-destructive ways." Wolf contends that "powerful men have long been sexually voracious, but in the pasts were more careful," and continues that those "high profile" men were more discreet and generally  used better judgement to "cover their tracks."

Ms. Wolf is citing her  opinion, "which she is entitled to," which is based on flawed information. I can name many governmental leaders who were "un-discreet" with regards to their extra-marital activities. These long ago men had the benefit of security guards, handlers, political advisers, and..... the press.

Leaders deal with a passion in  their lives that only they know about. Almost every issues that they confront in their lives is a test of wills, a test of whether they can evoke their will on others, a test of how strong that they are, "that's every day." So, even though people might not agree with the philandering, "I certainly don't," these men naturally "tend" to force themselves on mostly receptive women.

There isn't any medical study necessary to "figure out if men's brain's are being rewired by being exposed to pornography." The resounding answer is "no," mixed in with a loud "how dare you."  It's like using an excuse for an activity that to many, many men is unacceptable to our gender and is demeaning.

I have been around three separate "gang bangs" in my time, non of which I might add I partook in. I found it repugnant to "do my business after others had already done theirs." It wasn't that I was so moral, or was above those others, I simply found the activity rather disgusting.

The one incident in  particular left a lasting impression on me, one that I will take to the grave. It happened in Germany, when I was stationed there as an Army medic. In a medical train car, 2 women were at either end of the car, and a line of waiting young soldier's "waited their turn" to get a little.

I decided right then and there that my sex with the opposite sex would be a one on one deal, and something that I was unwilling to share with others. For Naomi Wolf to intimate that watching pornographic "smokers,  as they were called some 90 years ago," and DVD's today, are breaking down men's resistance, and fueling a wanton sex urge in  a man is absolute crap.

Men by and large are cognoscente of women, and women's rights, we many get a little "horn Dogged" by what women ware when out in public, or surely at the beach, but we can control our inhibitions or impulses pretty well, "thank you very much."

Those men, or "boys" that give in to their impulses should get exactly what they deserve, a stint in jail, bunking with Willie, or Percy to get "straight," if you know what I mean. To anecdotally connect the increase in pornographic consumption among young men with the increase impotence and premature ejaculation of the same is, preposterous.

Young men forever have had premature problems, when it concerned to the opposite sex, it's the nature of the courtship, the circle of life, "if you will." It's how young women began to establish their superiority to the man species, and also how they learn to keep that little "secret" of superiority to themselves until they need it to reign in a man.  

It's a silly game played between men and women, one that both know is being played, those that play it better have more partners, those that don't, "men" can resort to barbaric and brutal activity towards women, it's not a "rewiring" of the brain by pornography, it's an emotionally weak individual, weak in life and weak with people.

According to medical studies, pornography rewards the brain with short term dopamine boost, much the same as snorting cocaine or winning at the gambling tables. So that explains why I feel so good before and during sex, and tired as hell after the deed is done, huh, I never knew that I was a cocaine addict. 

Look Naomi, and all you clinical (experts) who are doing all these studies, "I hate to burst your bubble," but men and women have been running after one another since the beginning of time, and the big reason why the Garden of Edan was a "bust" of possibly the very first sex education program of man-kind.

There is almost zero the number of women that want to be violently, violated, most want to be wined and dinned and romanced before they give it up. In many, many cases, the end result is, that they "don't give it up," and the majority of men except that result, and go home and play with their little "winker."

All the research in the world, all the clinical discoveries will not change a fringe part of society that has always been there and sadly always will be. Just because there might be more clinical studies going on doesn't mean there are more jerks tearing women's cloths off

  

  

THE MESSAGE IN A YARD SIGN, RICK "RICKY" PERRY

THE MESSAGE IN A YARD SIGN, RICK "RICKY" PERRY (Frazer Chronicles)

Can yard signs be like a message in a bottle, I don't think so. I used to drive a truck throughout the country and I've seen some yard signs that might curl your toes. During the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, I saw all sorts of signs down south that I couldn't believe. Not only were they racial, they were mean spirited, and suggested some really bizarre activity.

The "ride a cruise missil right up Husain's butt," or "keep America safe, stomp out Islam," or by far the best one I saw in 2008, "keep your damn hinds off my gins its my right to bear arms." That is exactly how it was written out and spelled, "no kidding."

The yard sign I am speaking about is one from a small New Hampshire town that proclaims that President Obama has launched more missiles during his term as President then any other President in the history of the United States.....that has won a Nobel Peace Prize.

I think it's important to take a look at exactly who Alfred Bernhard Nobel was, so that we all can get a more accurate picture of who the prize.....for peace was named for. Nobel was born in 1833 in Sweden and became a chemist, engineer, innovator and armaments manufacturer. Nobel's most famous invention was dynamite, while his armament company produced cannon and cannon balls.

It's probably a good thing that cruise missiles weren't around back when Alfred was blowing things up, or he'd have probably enjoyed playing with a few of the things, possible in his back year.

I am really, really disappointed in the Obama Administration, and the path that they seem to be taking with regards to war and war making. Bush at least said right up front where he was going and what he intended to do. Obama "fiddle faddles" around, talks about troop "draw-downs" and then goes into Libya, what the hell is going on?

It is true that Obama has launched more cruise missiles then any other peace prize winner, but you gotta remember, he's only in his first term, and the way things are going for him, he needs to set some sort of record. Maybe if he's elected to a second term, he can really set war records, kinda like sports figures do in their chosen fields, only time will tell.


JAMES RICHARD "RICK" "RICKY" PERRY, (Frazer Chronicles)
Does it sound like I'm disrespecting politicians when I insert my own personal nick-names, "kind of like I'm making fun of them? Well it's true, especially when they happen to be career politicians, those guys need to be "knocked down a peg or two."

Look, I don't begrudge a person being in politics for a really, really long time, but when that tenure starts to take on a life of it's own, and people start looking at his or her time in office like statistics for a baseball team, or a league, I start to get a bit nervous.

This "statistical reign" of Texas Governor Richard "Rick" Perry is starting to look exactly like a Texas gubernatorial power destiny for the Republican Party, and that is never a good thing. People need checks and balances for governance, a difference of opinion, "if you will."

"Ricky" is the 47th. governor of Texas, having held the office since December of 2000, when George W Bush resigned the office to run for president of the United States. Perry has been the elected governor since 2002, and has won re-election in both 2006 and 2010.

"Ricky" holds all records for Texas gubernatorial tenure, having broken Allen Shivers' consecutive 7 and a half record. Perry also holds the distinction of appointing at least 1 person to every possible state office.

Perry, a 5th. generation "Texican," "whatever that means," is Texas A&M University educated, "holding a degree in Animal Science," was a door to door book salesman during his college years, and after graduation served in the Air Force, working as a pilot until 1977. He then worked on the family cotton farm.

"Ricky" Perry was elected to the Texas state legislature 1984 when he was 34 years old and has been in the Texas politician machine every since. First a Democrat, Perry switched parties in 1989, and his political stock has been on the raise every since.

During my voting years, I have voted for Republicans, Democrats and independents. Through those same years I formulated a sort of governmental philosophical idea of how government should be operated. I do not feel that one party has "all the answers," nor do I believe that one party or the other lies more then the other, "they both lie, for their own good."

Perry (seems) to have somewhat radical ties to religion, maybe his own feelings, I don't know. Whenever a politician  talks about his beliefs about God, Buddha, Islam, or the Singing Bush, I get a little nervous. Although it isn't specifically addressed in our constitution, I believe that a separation of religion and government, "the separation of church and state," is germane to the successful operation of any government.

When religious organizations become more "muscular" in their approach to political issues of the day, like "gays are Nazis," or "Muslims should be converted to Christianity," or that September 11, 2001 was "God's punishment" for the countries "creeping secularism," keeping religion out of government, I need to take a Valium.

Richard "Rick" "Ricky" Perry may be the best candidate for the Republican Party, I don't know. I read that Wisconsin Governor Scott "Sleepy" Walker saw, after he was elected to the office, that his party had control of both the House and the Senate and decided to implement his own "somewhat" radical policies. He, "Walker"  was not elected to implement his own agenda, rather his was elected on what he said during the campaign for the office.

Way to many politicians figure, after they are elected have the right to change their course, the course that they were elected on. In to many cases, politicians operate on what is good for the favored few and industry.

If "Ricky" Perry is one of those "my agenda" type guys, he would be bad for the country, unless you feel that Barack Obama, who ran on quiting the war(s), and instead has ramped the  war(s)  up is good for the country. "Does anybody have a "hit" of marijuana?

ONE SENIOR CITIZEN WHO IS FED UP!

ONE SENIOR WHO IS FED UP! (Frazer Chronicles)

My wife has an autoimmune decease that has attacked her body  unrelentlessly over the past several years. It has taken her hearing completely, her eyesight has suffered, her balance is suspect and now the latest malady to strike is the cartilage in her body can develop  what I call "the droopies." Her left ear lobe actually droops and has lost it's elasticity.

I have my own physical problems, but nothing like my wife. I take a whole diet of drugs to keep me going, I think my doctor is actually a drug dealer, and I'm one of his best customers, with a pill to go to bed, a pill to get out of bed in the morning and several more pills to get me through the day.

My wife does the eye drop thing 3 or 4 times a day, "I'm not sure, I've kinda lost track." In addition to her eye drops and artificial tear medication, she also takes pills to keep her going through the day and a pill or two to insure that she wakes in the morning, "thank God for pharmaceutical companies."

I though it might be interesting to find some sort of rating for the top companies who's job it has become to keep my wife, and me "kicking," you know.....above ground as it were. Not to surprising was what I discovered, and figured before I started researching for this blog, U.S. companies lead the list of companies, "rated by income alone," in the world.

I never figured that a band-aid company could sell enough band-aids to lead in total income, but Johnson & Johnson lead the world in income with a gross income of $61.897 million, and a net of $12,266 million. Pfizer was right behind Johnson & Johnson, while Abbott Laboratories checked in  at  8th, Merck & Co was 9th. and Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers, Squibb rounded out the American companies in the top 12 in the rankings.

Some might make light at the list and and the gross figures of the companies, but those folks should keep in mind that the list was tabulated by Fortune Global 500, a legitimate company, who rates in a nonpartisan way. And also remember that the Fortune company is rating the world wide industry. In 2009, the rankings of the top 12 producers of medication were even more "bent" towards the U.S as 7 of the top 12 companies were based in the United States.

Hospitals used to be based on patient care and breaking even, now the industry is based on making a profit for shareholders or partners. I really never did understand way a hospital was only supposed to "attempt" to break even, but in recent years, that attitude has been replaced by a "make money at almost any cost."

Now prescription companies exist to distribute medication through the mail, paid for by health insurance companies who decide which medication they will pay for. In many cases, a doctor's prescription will be denied by an insurance company, leaving patient and doctor to scramble for another medicine.

Doctors prescribe a medical procedure, only to have his decision overturned by a health insurance company. The patient is left to dispute the health insurers decision to a medical board, and in many cases must give testimony to that board, even though the patient has absolutely no medical experience, and can only testify as to the pain, or the suffering from the condition that their doctor wants to alleviate through a medical procedure.

Hospitals, health clinics and doctors, through a program of reduced rates, work with insurance companies, where the insured must go to only certain doctors, hospitals or clinics for medical service.  Other "benefit" companies, through deductions from paychecks will take deducted amounts and pay for that part of a prescription that is termed "deductible" by the health insurance company. My wife's insurance pays at an 80%-20% rate, we pay 20% and the health insurance company pays 80%. Dam good insurance.

To muddle up the works is the occasional clinic that attempts to push work, "their work," off on the patient. This crap happened to my wife several weeks ago, when she was fitted with an ear hearing devise that fitted snugly in her left hear, "the floppy one." The implant works out well, and the price was $104, for the device. The 2 visits it took to get the devise and then to fit it cost $140, and the health insurance company paid that without question.

When it came to the device itself, even though the devise was approved by her health carrier and was requested by her doctor, the clinic, who is a member of my wife's health plan requested $104 at the time of inserting the devise in her ear. The reason, "although my wife never asked, nor objected to the payment," is simple, they wanted their money up front.

We are now faced with a "load" of paper work, as is our insurance carrier, a perfect example of a wasteful practice by a stupid administrator who set a procedure with only one issue in site, money right now. The ear piece was approved by the health carrier, the procedure was approved by the health carrier, so whats the problem?

The paperwork, the issuing of a check, the "wait" on our part to get our money back for a procedure that was approved is just another example of how the health industry is broken and only getting worse. When somebody in government talks about Obama-care wanting to destroy the health insurance industry, gees, I hope the guy is right. The industry needs, "at the least" an overhaul, and at the most, a dismantling.

Thank God I'm (only) 67 and still have  some 

BASEBALL, THE LATE GREAT GAME!

BASEBALL, THE LATE GREAT GAME! (Frazer Chronicles)

The Los Angles Dodgers are declaring bankruptcy, "say it ain't so," one of the most fabled franchises in professional sports is in financial trouble. The team that integrated baseball with Jackie Robinson, the team that moved west to Los Angles, abandoning Brooklyn after the 1957 season, the "Daffiness Boys, Dem Bums," the team with Pee Wee and the Duke, "SAY IT AIN'T SO."

But it is so, as baseball moves doggedly slow into the 21st. century, "oh wait, it's already 2011," few changes have been made to the sport that is called "America's pastime." In fact there seems to be a retro thing going on as Davy Johnson, aged 67 has been brought out of moth balls to manage the Washington Nats, and Jack McKeon, aged 80, "way past the moth ball stage," to manage the Florida Marlins.

2011 so far has been a strange season, not only for weather patterns, but for professional baseball going-ons. Barry Bonds is doing his best two step to stay away from the law, Roger Clemens is off in la la land somewhere, still telling people that those who testified against him "miss-remembered." Of course there was also Manny Ramirez retiring in April rather then  serve a 100 game suspension for failing a drug test, comforted with the knowledge that the Los Angles Dodgers still owed him $21 million dollars.

The Dodgers have been a proud franchise throughout their history which began in 1890 when the club joined the National League. The Brooklyn Bridegrooms, "their nick-name" merged with the Baltimore Orioles in 1899 and many of the star Orioles players play for the Bridegrooms. In 1912, Charles Ebbets takes on 2 partners, the McKeever brothers who operate a construction company, who in turn took on the project of building one of the most unique baseball stadiums in the history of baseball, Ebbets Field.

Of course the Brooklyn Dodgers, "who got their name from  fans dodging trolley cars coming to or leaving games," were the first team to use a colored ballplayer, the first team to announce that they would move to the west coast, and also the first "modern" baseball team to use an exclusive football stadium for professional baseball games.

We now are being entertained by the foolish activity of the Dodger owner, Frank McCourt and his soon to be x wife,  Jamie. There very public divorce proceedings has overshadowed the clubs baseball operations for the past couple of years, and is just another black eye for professional baseball.

Mercy, mercy, what a soap opera, these people throw around dollar amounts that define their sheer stupidity towards a common baseball fan. How can anybody relate to a guy, dressed in pajama's, running around with a leather glove on one hand, chasing a white ball that another guy in P.J.s has just hit and is running to.  Then after all the running is done, everybody seems to stop, spit, adjust their equipment, both externally and internally, walk around, get into either  a  defensive, or  offensive stance, and do it all over again.

The ownership of the McCourt's and the Dodgers seems to be somewhat like a marriage made in hell. Since 2004, Frank and Jamie McCourt have  owned the ball club, one of the more successful professional franchises. The figures that are being thrown around, "like I said" are huge, $20 million here, $19 million there. Bankruptcy fillings listed $1 billion in assets and around $500 million in debt.

Much finger pointing is going on between Frank McCourt and baseball commissioner, Bud Selig, it's like a "he said, she said deal," which doesn't help the matter at all. As sports are driven more and more by money, it seems to ring the enjoyment right out of the game. Color commentators, announcers, ball, strike, outs, pitch numbers are in boxes across the top of my T.V. screen, a pitch locator box at the right side of the screen, and continuous game updates rolling across the bottom of the screen.

Commentators talk about "shoulders flying up," about hips opening to quickly," how and where a pitch is delivered. Please stop, all of this crap is ruining the game, at least for me. I guess I'll have to start going to games to escape all the verbiage so that I can enjoy the game, maybe that's what Major League Baseball is tyring to do, "get baseball fans to get so bored with watching baseball on their televisions that they actually would rather go to the game at a stadium." If that's their intent, for me it's working.

I used to play baseball, I have coached and I have managed adult teams, high school teams and college baseball teams. I have worked for armature teams, professional teams, and collegiate teams, and through it all I enjoyed what I did. I knew that I wasn't a good ball player, knew I was a better manager then  a coach. My one strong point was assessing baseball talent and where to put that talent on a baseball field.

Major League Baseball has been referred to "as the show," and that "show," in my opinion is hurting the game. The first rule of baseball is to "hit the ball and run like hell," everything else is secondary and fans don't care.

That's why amateur baseball, or independent minor league baseball is so interesting to me. Those that play amateur ball do it because they love the game, it's not for the money. Independent league professional baseball comes in a close second for me, because those players still have the dream, play hard and always give a good accounting of themselves.

I remember an old armature league in Michigan that it was my great honor to participate in many years ago. There were natural rivalries, heated battles and a hell-of-alot

The league ran from somewhere in the 1920's to the 1990's and was chuck full of  characters, the original week-end worriers. Member villages included Cedar, Lake Leelanau, Leland, Northport, Suttons Bay, Elmwood, Empire, Maple City and Traverse City.

Everything late in the season was scheduled around the cherry pack, almost everybody in Leelanau County worked in some segment of the cherry harvesting industry, so at least for three Sundays in August, it was tough to get 9 players to a game.

That was the real game and still is, to bad most of the younger players no longer play, they don't know what they are missing. I remember a time when a player threw a beer bottle out his car window right when a cop was passing him. The cop pulled him over, wrote him up, and made him come out one Saturday to pick up bottles on the side of a road for some 20 miles, but only on one side of the road. Now those were the days

I was involved with baseball for 29 years and during that time, not one player lost his life driving home after a game. Maybe God really was a baseball player when he was young. Baseball is still alive and well.....in Little League, Babe Ruth, Legion, High School, College and Independent Professional ball. I guess the professionals have their game, and the rest of us have our game.

FISHING IS AN ATHLETIC SPORT!

FISHING IS AN ATHLETIC SPORT! (Glen Arbor Sun)

Well, if you search long enough, your bound to eat your words. I wrote a blog the other day about the Pentagon, and the millions that they spent, sponsoring athletic events and teams, "even fishing," which I said "wasn't a real sport." I stand corrected, admitting now that fishing can be a sport, and participants take their sport seriously.

I have been fishing, even caught a few of the scaled, slimy, wiggly critters, "if that's what you call them," and found the worst part.....the very worst part was having to clean them. Scaling, cutting them open from stem to stern and taking the innards out and then chopping their heads off. Not my kind of sport. I like to eat fish, but like a cow and hamburger, I don't really need to know where my dinner comes from, or the process that makes it eatable.

I can count on one hand the number of times that I baited a hook with a worm, another slimy, wiggly critter that fish must like, because they fall for the hooked creep, wiggler, or winkler, "other words that can be used when describing a worm on a hook."

I can remember the time when I chased my sister, Elaine, around our yard with a worm, I almost gave her a heart attack. She deserved it, she always knew exactly which "buttons" to push to make me see red. After the worm thing, she kinda left me alone.

Now I learn of a bass fishing tournament up near one of my old Michigan haunts near Interlocken, Michigan.....Green Lake. Professional fishing has "exploded" according to the Glen Arbor Sun article, written by Joe Blondia. There are numerous club events throughout Northern Michigan, and the Green Lake event was held on May 21st. It was a competition of 11 teams from 4 area schools.

A total of 11 boats with 2 fishermen and a Captain in each boat readied for the launch horn which was scheduled to sound at 10:00 A.M. As the horn time approached, the gathered crowd of parents, girlfriends and other assorted people waited in hushed silence.....for the horn to go off.

Precisely at 10:00 A.M. the horn sounded and each boat scurried off to their favorite fishing spot. Although there wasn't any play by play, the young anglers didn't mind one bit. The caught bass couldn't be kept, or even weighed, the season wasn't officially opened, so a catch and release rule was strictly enforced.

The winning of the tournament, which ran from 10:00 A.M. until 2:00 P.M. would be the team with the most catch and release bass. Number 1, with an impressive catch of 24 fish was the Benzie Central Huskies, with 24. Number 2 was the Leelanau Schools, "which I remembered as being the Indians," but with the now politically correctness that has swept the country, they sadly are called the Thunderbirds, anyways they had 14 fish.

3rd. and 4th places went to the Suttons Bay Norsemen with 11 catches and Elk Rapids Elks with 8. To me the standings, or the number of fish caught and the released didn't mean a thing, it was good, clean fun and experience that was had, especially since all the fish were thrown back, "no cleaning."

The 2 fellows that organized the tournament, Bob Sonnenberg and Joe Blondia of the Leelanau Schools are to be commended, they went above and beyond in their duties as educators and the Leelanau Schools are lucky to have them on their staff.

The excitement and  interest that was generated by the tournament, according to Bob Sonnenberg, people should expect more events during this summer's months. I wonder if they will schedule any winter ice fishing, and do they still use those flagged tip-ups?

NEW WEEK, SAME OLD CRAP!

NEW WEEK, SAME OLD CRAP!, (Frazer Chronicles)

Sometimes we need to read about stuff that's depression, some things that we can't seem to get right, no matter how hard we try.....or don't. In our busy work-days, or in my case, "between naps and computer time" we fail to make an inch of progress in some really knotty issues of the day. I don't subscribe to that rosy, politically correct "globally community thinking," in fact I think that that type of approach to the world is what has landed America in the position it is in.

The conservative radio and television personality,  Sean Hannity on his radio broadcast last week remarked that "politicians usually don't lie," and that they "genuinely care about American and what happens to it." What a load of crap, politicians, during the course of their drive to be elected lie, stretch the truth, or ignore facts and attempt to crush their opponent.

Once in office, these traits serve these politicians well in the daily work of "serving their constituents." Of course there are a few "good guys" out there, but it's like saying that Frank Nitty wasn't as bad a criminal as Al Capone. Both were ruthless thugs and killers, and politicians "collectively" are a rather sorry lot and I won't waste my time sorting through them to find the good ones.

There are 2 things in our society that I would like to talk about today, both are problems, both are not being addressed either by the people of the country, or the legislature and both are potential lethal to the progress of the country.

The first is a really depressing story of homelessness in the United States on a scale that many Americans chose to ignore, while others remain unaware of, and want to keep it that way. There is yet another segment of America that lump all homeless people as ignorant, lazy minorities that could care less about their plight, and are willing to live in poverty.

Homelessness has always been a problem in bigger cities, called "skid row" it was where alcoholics, drug addicts and low life scum resided. During the warmer months, in doorways, park benches, in allys, or on the ground. During the winter months, inside doorways or "soup, soap and salvation missions run by religious groups or Churches.

Then came the city, county or state run poor houses were the Supervisor of the Poor and his staff, with city, county, state or federal funds took care of the indigent. In some cases, concerned people would band their resources together, seek additional financial support and offer what they could to the homeless.

In the 1960s and 1970's much de-institutionalized patients from state run psychiatric hospitals was a participating factor, actually "seeding" the homeless population, especially urban areas. Many of these people had sever mental problems, which did not endanger the general population, rather rendered many of these people incapable of caring for themselves.

In the 1980's there was an unprecedented jump in homelessness throughout the nation, but unlike previous homeless people, the 1980's saw entire families join the ranks of the wondering, motel living and homeless shelter residence. There were several reasons for the jump in homelessness, at the beginning of the 1980's, economic distress and unemployment were the driving force behind the chronic problem of homelessness.

In 1980, federal funds made up 22% of big city budgets, but by 1989, the  aid composed just 6% of urban revenue. Federal low income housing assistance and the Section 8 "a voucher subsidization program" were slashed from $74 billion to just $19 billion. During this decade the average soup kitchen was enlarged by a factor of 50% as the number of citizens taking advantage of these services doubled and then tripled.

In the 1990's soup kitchens and homeless shelters sprang up across the nation in cities and villages that never before had the need for the service. To say that each and every person going through the soup lines wanted to be there is ludicrous, 90% just wanted a job where they could make a living wage. Most were even willing to work a second job to keep their families together and out of the Foster Care system.

Now in 2011, it almost seems like the country has come full circle, as hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs, their savings and their houses. These people are not "skid row bums," they are honest, hard working, stand up type people that make up the vast majority of our country. Through absolutely no fault of their own, they have lost everything.

Diluting the picture is those volunteers that help the homeless and donate food stuffs, money and even a place for some families to live. I say "diluting the picture" because taxpayer money should be taking care of these people, not volunteers and donations, which.....can dry up at almost any moment. When I read that Afghan and Iraqi families get free health insurance provided by the United States and that our government is spending billions so that Afghan's and Iraqi's can have air conditioning, I get PISSED OFF.

We have our priorities mixed up and our leaders are driving the boat in the wrong direction. As a nation, we need to first be concerned with our own, no matter how disgusting they might be.....they are still ours. "Lets get out of the shade, and into the heat, off our collective asses, and on our feet, and let our legislature know we need a change in course."


OBAMACARE,


Do any of you remember the Bush doctrine with regards to government purchase of drugs for Medicare and Medicaid in bulk quantities at whatever the "sticker" rate is, as opposed to taking bids and choosing the best economical price.

The drug industry also gets a pass from the Food & Drug Administration when it comes to some dubious clinical tests that show dangerous or ineffective drugs need to be removed from the market, but the FDA is slow to take action. In other instances, the FDA moves far to quickly to approve new wonder drugs with way to little research with regards to long term effects.

Some of the newer drugs can change the way some body functions might react to a drug, or completely change how the body assimilates or creates certain natural secretions that are necessary for your health.

Without doubt pharmaceutical companies in not only the United States, but the world are running out of control, using all manner of inducements to alter political oversight on ineffective drugs, dangerous drugs to repetitive drugs.

I have had several lower back procedures over the past 4 months, my wife has had problems with her hearing, eyesight and has balance issues. of the 10 procedures that we have had between us, insurance companies have had to be consulted on 7 of them. Thankfully none of the procedures were life threatening, or one of us, or both could have died waiting to an approval.

Obamacare and the Obama administration is only marginally doing better then the Bush administration did. There is yet no breakthrough with regards to labeling dangerous drugs, or limitations that the drugs have. Is Obamacare better then what it ostensibly replaced, with few exceptions, probably not. The drug companies are still running the show, until that changes, we are all in danger.

CLIMATE CHANGE V GLOBAL WARMING!

CLIMATE CHANGE V GLOBAL WARMING! (Frazer Chronicles)

That kinda sounds like a line from Law & Order, "Climate Change V Global Warming" and "we're done here." Hey I like that, I thought this might be another dry, statistic filled Blog, but maybe the human touch can come through, I hope so, for my sisters sake. She has accused me of  entering boring dissertations, long in duration, filled with words that she doesn't understand, seeing as how she spent the first 10 years of her life locket away in a potato cellar at our mother's request, it's not hard to understand why she wouldn't understand much of what I Blog.

I have another sister who depends on the natural rains and warmth of the summer sun to promote her flower gardens and poesy's around her house. She is retired and spends as much time as possible with her flowers, so I'm sure that she is "keen" on the climate change issue. Elaine has many different spices of plants and amazingly she can call each by name, "not nick names, Jane," the real horticultural given names.

Both my sisters have flowers around their houses and work on them throughout the growing season in Michigan's lower peninsula. I have my tomato plants here in Northeastern Wisconsin and labor over them each year, "with little results, I might add." The three of us, "which is my point," have a vested interest, albeit casual, in how the weather effects our growing endeavors each summer.

Climate change in the world, according to the experts, is "bad and getting worse." Everybody knows, "or should know," that Greenland's two largest glaciers are melting at an ever increasing rate, especially over the past 10 years, the water produced would fill Lake Erie, "now that's alot "O" water."

On the reverse side of the issue is west Texas, which is currently undergoing it's worst drought since the great dust bowl of the 1930's. The resulting lack of water is leaving the states wheat and cotton crops in an extremely dire situation.

Central China has experienced it's worst drought in more then 50 years and regional authorities have declared more then 1300 lakes "dead." Now that stopped me in my tracks, I didn't know that a lake could die, I mean I knew that they can dry up, but to die. The meaning of a dead lake is that there out of use for both irrigation and drinking water supply.

Floods have struck eastern and southern China, killing scores, forcing evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people, followed by severe flooding that again hit eastern China,  forcing an additional 5 million people to seek safer high ground.

Meanwhile in Europe, crops in the northwest are suffering the driest weather in decades and scientific research has confirmed that, so far, humankind has raised the earth's temperature, and these events are directly tied to that temperature.

Of course the flooding in the Dakota's, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Oho, Michigan and Wisconsin can be traced to wetter then usual springs. Can these events be connected to global warming, oops, I mean Climate Change, "I want to be politically correct," possibly.

If there's only a slight possibility that people are causing some sort of climate change, shouldn't we, as the human race, attempt to make some sort of change so that our children and grand children can enjoy the earth that we all live in.

I have read where infectious diseases carried by insects, like Malaria, Lyme disease, Dengue fever are all expected to worsen. Vector-borne diseases will also increase as climate change progresses and attack undeveloped country's that have not developed resistance to these types diseases.

Some doctors feel that the  effect from climate change will be from heating of the planet which will change our health with far-reaching problems. Everything that effects our environment, effects our health. No matter what our technology advances might be, as a people, we still need clean water, air and food, and we rely on our environment for it.

Hurricane Katrina, some cite as a prime example of what can happen during  a weather  event that "might" be caused from climate change. 2000 people died, thousands of people were throw out of work, hundreds of thousands were left homeless and thousands were displaced forever.

In addition, New Orleans, before the storm had 7 hospitals, now there are 2.5 operating, and the other 4.5 will never return. The physical injuries and psyche illness's connected with Katrina have not gone away, and may never.

Some people think that new technology will save us, others say that there is no problem and yet others figure that "whatever happens will take thousands of years." Any one of these beliefs might be true, but if human kind is causing climate change, we're screwing ourselves, and worse, future generations.

I usually don't give a crap about "future generations," I figure we have had to deal with what our ancestors left us, and the future generations can do the same. However in this case, climate change, and the huge changes that seem to be happening in our time, or beginning to happen in our time, probably needs to be addressed, now.

Saudi Arabia has announced that the water reserve that they depend on for drinking water and crops will be gone by possible 2020. Hey, I might still be alive then and as that country's aquifer is depleted, where will they get their water, and as their oil reserves are depleted, how will they pay for water and how high will gasoline prices be.

I'm uneasy about this climate change thing, "I don't like to be uneasy about something that I have no control over." I want to take a shower whenever I want, I want a drink of water whenever I want, and if I decide to water my lawn, I want to do so, whenever I want.



The carbon that is produced everyday by us all damages the atmosphere, everybody knows that, even the fossil fuel companies. Those company officials have kids, just like we do, do they really think that they can escape the same fate that we might face?



A WASTED VOTE!

A WASTED VOTE! (Frazer Chronicles)

Wednesday night, at 7:00 P.M. local time, I sat in my television chair, with my trusty remote in hand and turned to the Fox news network to hear President Obama's remarks on Afghan troop draw-down. As I sat, actually glued to my T.V. I hear a man, not asking for our support for his plans of a troop reduction, but a simple and  direct response to that question.

Although classified, the number of American fighting men and women in Afghanistan has been stated to be around 100,000. Over the next year, if all goes well, there will still be more then 67,000 military personnel in Afghanistan,  by late next year. These men and women that are left, will still be in danger of being shot, captured and blown up.

The cost of the war will continue to pile up, draining the country's monetary reserves, and building more debt. Politicians across the spectrum of party lines finally agreed on something, Obama's "draw-down plan" did not meet a significant number of troops that will be coming home over the next months.

Obama talked about "reaching our goals," which are....."I'm not sure of." Country security, military organization of Afghan troops, of "leaving the country in  better shape then we found it" after our arrival in late 2001.  Of bringing "all" peoples together in a peaceful coalition, to bring the country into the 21st. century.

Obama did site a "draw-down" time-table of sorts, at least for the 33,000 surge troops that he deployed to help stabilize American presents in the country. He however did not address the bigger issue of "when will hostilities in Afghanistan cease."

Many Afghans view the United States military activity in their country as nothing more then an extension of the Soviet Unions occupation of the country that ended with the demise of that country back in 1990. The Russian occupation of the country, which was an ill advised military operation drained that country of it's monetary treasures and hastened the break-up of Russia.

Both Republicans and Democrats railed against the President's cut-back on troops as to little and vague. Well over 50% of the country wants the United States out of, not only Afghanistan, but the middle east as a whole. The "mission" had become a convoluted mess with absolutely no clear vision in mind.

The United States has a 14 billion dollar debt and the country cannot afford one more dollar in an effort to leave a democratic society when, finally America leaves. One senator said that "the Obama draw down of troops is the right decision to make," it will "capitalize on the progress that we've made in Afghanistan, to finish the job and ensure al Qaeda's long-term strategic defeat."

It seems to me as if the President was telling Americans that we need to "nurture the Afghan people, like they were children, our children, and that we had to (show) them how to conduct themselves and how to live." And America is not nation building.

This is probably the most disappointed that I've been with President Obama since he took office. He and his administration are sounding more and more like George W. Bush with regards to war decisions and the rhetoric that goes along with his message.

I voted for Obama, it was mostly a protest vote against the Republican party and a laughable candidate, John McCain. Now, with each passing month, I laugh more and more at what is coming out of the Obama camp, and I wonder, "does anybody have a grasp on what truly is going on?

OVERWORKED, UNDERPAID, AND UNAPPRECIATED!

OVERWORKED, UNDERPAID, AND UNAPPRECIATED! (Frazer Chronicles)

Sound familiar, it should, it's the new mantra in today's work world, or the battle cry of the employer, "your lucky to have a job." Thank God I'm retired, I wouldn't last a week in today's work environment, the "speed-up, take on more responsibility for less pay" attitude, and demand made by today's employers simply wouldn't do.

What has happened in today's work world saddens me, being a jokester, a guy who always tried to keep the work place a happy place to be, pretty much because we all shared the same problem, "non of us were rich enough not to work." No matter whatever job I held, and I've held many, I needed that job to survive. 

I imagine that Wal-mart workers are in the same case that I was in before I retired, needing their jobs to survive.  I never brought a lawsuit the way more then 1.5 million women employees of the biggest business in the United States did. The suit, alleged that the company discriminated against them in pay and promotion decisions.

Of course everybody knows that women, in the workplace, in their daily lives, in their homes, in athletic programs and in general are discriminated against, that shouldn't be a shock to either women, or men. However, apparently the United States Supreme Court is still in the small minority that doesn't know this.

A Class Action Suit allows a group of people, with the same interest to either bring a legal action, or have a legal action brought against them. So, on the surface of the issue, the 1.5 million women did meet the criteria, as the law applies. However the Justices did not rule on whether the women were discriminated against by Wal-Mart, rather they sited their decision on the fact that, in their opinion, "the plaintiffs' lawyers had improperly sued under a part of the class action rules that was not primarily concerned with monetary claims."

The opinion is a huge set-back for the working public of the United States, but shouldn't come as any great surprise. All one has to consider is one word with regards to the legal action brought against Wal-Mart, that word is "billions."  There are companies in the United States as well as around the world that are immune to the laws of the land, or the world.

Banks are to big to fail, the auto industry is to big to fail, savings and loans are to big to fail, and Wal-Mart qualifies as to big to fail. Cigarette companies were also thought to be to big to fail, but the attorneys, in their decision to fine the companies had a friend, the health insurance industry who stood to lose billions in health benefits, "and they were to big to fail," compared to the cigarette and stogy manufacturers. The Supreme Court found against tobacco, in favor of big insurance.

As more and more union memberships are eradicated from the public and private sectors, the working men and women of America have less and less protection and little or no power against business, management and supervisors. Basically what they are saying, is the law, "even if what they say is dangerous, unfair, or discriminatory," is still the law.

Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the for the majority, said the plaintiffs could not show that they would receive  "a common answer to the crucial question (why was I disfavored)." He noted that Wal-Mart, the nations largest private employer, operating some 3400 stores, had an express policy forbidding discrimination and granted local managers substantial discretion.

Justice Scalia further stated that "he felt that managers, with substantial discretion, to interpret a store wide policy with regards to discrimination, voided Wal-Marts guilt."  I have talked to Wal-Mart   employees, which are mostly women, or in some cases senior citizens or mentally or physically impaired people. They all said that they were under paid, "what's new," and that there was wide-spread discrimination of many different kinds.

I have read and heard how Wal-Mart deals with their employees as well as their vender's and their overseas suppliers of goods. In  every case and without exception, Wal-Mart deals from the bottom of the deck. Their overseas suppliers worker pay is among the industries worst, and Wal-Mart dictates to state-side suppliers what they will pay, not the other way around. In fact Kraft Foods was brought to it's knees with the prices that they could charge to Wal-Mart.

With respect to shipping from it's headquarters, Wal-Mart driver pay is among the industries worst, as the well organized machine of the company drives to capture the lowest possible price for everything that fills the shelves of their 3400 stores.

Absolutely they pass along the lower prices to us, the customer, but  really, at what price? The Supreme Court ruling will one day be lauded as a landmark decision. The day will be marked as a victory for the ruling class of America, those folks with the manicured lawns who live in gated communities while the workers, well they will try to continue from the dumpsters of the rich and shameless.

AN ARTIFICIAL TAIL-PIPE JOB!

AN ARTIFICIAL TAIL-PIPE JOB! (Mother Jones)

Just when I thought it was safe to go for nice summer rides with my wife and dog and enjoy lower gasoline prices at the pump, I read an article about "artificially cheap" gas prices in  Monday's Mother Jones edition. Gas here in Wisconsin, at my favorite "filling station" is less then $3.69 a gallon, and reportedly will continue to fall from a high of $4.09 just 30 days ago.

I'm happy, life is good, and I can start planning all sorts of little "side trips" to Northern Wisconsin and Michigan, until I read the Mother Jones article, and everything changes. I discover that gasoline has hidden per gallon costs. "Wait a ding dong minute," is that legal, I mean how in the world can petroleum companies take away my feelings of bliss, contentment and a sense of adventure, "with regards to my side trips."

The short answer is "of course (they) can," "although everybody referrers to them as (they), I have never fully understood who (they) are." Anyways the "powers that be" can give me another tail-pipe job whenever (they) want. Its now in the form of behind the scenes invisible costs that impact us all and for reasons that I didn't know about, and had never considered.....bummer.

Crude oil this morning, June 20th. 2011 is a little over $91 a barrel, so gas at the pumps should be going down, like it has been for several weeks, right....."well, not necessarily." Some experts argue the "external costs of  lower gasoline prices at the pimps. pumps," compared with other industrialized countries, the U.S. has it cheap. Funny, it doesn't feel that way to me.

I really can't figure out why we need to be compared with other countries, is that supposed to make us, me, feel better, "I don't see how." These "experts" talk about Europeans paying more then $8 for a gallon of gas, "great, I feel better already." Europeans are taking it up the tail-pipe, just like U.S. citizens, albeit harder because they pay more per gallon.

The tail-pipe thing was never meant to be a comparison of the the U.S. and other countries, any other countries. If people in England, Germany and France like getting screwed at the gasoline pumps, that is their business, I for one, in the U.S. don't  like it one little bit.

Now I find out that there are "hidden" costs for gas that I don't even know about.....great, that really makes my day. All sorts of experts site turmoil in the Middle East, explaining disparity in prices across the Atlantic. Politicians on Capital Hill banter back and fourth across the aisle on why, how and the justice of unstable oil prices and their ultimate effect on the average American citizen.

Across the Midwest, during the summer-time, gasoline firms routinely  implement clean air governmental  regulations with costly additives that have, in the past, drove up the price at the pumps. This year however, for whatever reason, gasoline prices are falling, maybe it was that artificially inflated $4.09 cent a gallon price in April.

Other gas prices that are hidden from public view, those that most of us never think about, and some don't even know exist, like treatment for asthma, lost work days, lost school days for kids, old folks illnesses with regards to respiratory decease and premature deaths.

In California, the average cost per person for these related deceases, lost days and deaths adds up to as much as $1600 per person. Across the nation, depending on the area that you live, figures range from $100 to $500.

Food and fiber crops can be effected, as much as 10%,  by carbon pollution through the burning of fossil fuels. Soybeans, wheat,  oats, green beans, peppers and some types of cotton can be effected by the Greenhouse gasses that are produced especially by gasoline and diesel fuels.

The cost of oil spills is also factored into the price of a gallon of gas, and I'm not talking about the Gulf of Mexico either. There are thousands of "mini" oil spills every year that never make headlines, but non-the-less create problems that can be just as toxic as the Gulf spill for small areas.

Over the last 3 decades, the EPA has cleaned up more then 401,000 leaking underground gasoline storage tanks, with another 93,000 more sites awaiting clean-up. The agency spends between $2-3 million dollars every year for clean-ups on tribal land and has set aside $66.2 million dollars for additional clean-up.

All I can say about these artificially cheap gasoline prices is that we'd better all "pucker up butter cup" cause the gas nozzle is just around the corner. 

A DEFLECTIVE ACTION! (Green Bay Press Gazette)

Picture it, "you stop for gas and discover that you have to pre-pay inside, or use a  credit card at the pump. You no longer can pump your gas and go inside to pay for it." Soon it will be the law in Green Bay, and I for one am nervous, if we allow the Green Bay city council to pass such an ordnance.

Let me count the ways that I feel this is wrong:

1. Gas station operators don't need the city council dictating the manner in which payment is received.

2. Business does not need protection from the city of Green Bay.

3. It is a further power grab by government over independent business.

4. Police say that the ordinance is needed city wide because without it, stations will be inconsistent in their usage of the policy, huh!

What's next, clean under ware cops running around giving atomic wedgies, then checking for "hash marks."

PITT BULLED OVER!

PITT BULLED OVER! (Frazer Chronicles)

I suppose I should go slow on this subject, since my son-in-law is a lover of Pitt Bulls, but it's difficult for me to trivialize the number of deaths attributed Pitt Bull type dog attacks every year. There is absolutely no getting around the fact that Pitt Bulls are some of the most beautiful of dog species that we humans have domesticate. The several different types of Pitt offspring have magnificent features, unique to that breed, making ownership, initially, an advantages criteria for dog lovers. Me personally, I like my dogs, short, fat, close to the ground, docile and willing to lay around, eat, and take naps.

From my kind of dog, we must make a leap to an animal in the dogie kingdom that is so different from my wife's Chihuahua, that there's not any sense in making comparisons, there aren't any. Missy is a fat little drum with 4 legs, a snout and tail. Yes she nips.....at the ankles and barks to let us know whenever anybody is walking down the sidewalk, but that's as far as her watchdog skills go.

She does run our household, letting us know when she needs a pee break, or that poop walk for the other. She barks when she needs food, water, or for attention. She does not take kindly to visitors, nips at kids, and generally lets us know that she doesn't appreciate it when we have guests over, or for that matter her sisters and brother, "our kids."

Could she inflict much damage on anybody, absolutely not, if she was a cause for that concern, she would no longer be a member of our family, she is a pet, an animal and really an extensive of how my wife and I are. If she hurt somebody, she would be on the first train out of the Frazer mansion.

People own all kinds of dogs for all  kinds of reasons, be it companionship, a guard dog, for medical reasons and for show. There are two more reasons why people own dogs and sadly it usually is because the owner needs a boost in his man-hood, or that somebody has a sadistic attitude and wants to train fighting dogs, or attack dogs.

A 75 year old women is in critical condition today in a San Diego, California hospital after her neighbor's 2 Pit Bulls attacked the women in her own back yard. The women was bitten repeatedly on her legs and arms until her husband chased the animals out of their yard.

The county Department of Animal Control confiscated and euthanized the animals shortly after the attack. The attack happened Saturday morning and is just one more example of what can happen when people harbor animals that actually have no business being held by anybody as domesticated pets.

Pet Bulls are dangerous, they always have been and always will be, at least that is the way I've always felt. I have always been at a loss to understand why people would want to own animals that are dangerous, they hold no practical purpose, at least to me. The certainly attack strangers, they attack friends, they attack children and they attack their owners.

You are not impressing me, if you own a Pit Bull, I hope you don't have kids, many friends and live somewhere way out in the sticks so that when your "pet" strikes, you are the only one involved, and die a slow, terrible death, because your an idiot.

I read a Pit Bull Lovers website and came away with some beautiful  examples of total denial, unless the guy is also an idiot. A 14 month old baby was mauled to death by the family Pit Bull when it "snapped" and attacked while the mother was feeding the baby. This joker said that the "attack didn't have to happen, that the owners missed aggressive signs and that the owners didn't reinforce that the attack mauling action was in-appropriate, "what." 

Irresponsible owners are to blame, while others make their dogs mean on purpose, because they are cruel, irresponsible and mean people. The solution to Pit Bull attacks is to get rid of all the irresponsible mean people, and those people that do not follow breeding regulations. There needs to be "breeding wardens" that register all Pit Bull breeding's and inspect kennels.

Public and Pit Bull community awareness classes, "if you want a Pitt Bull, rescue an adult." If you want the public to know that Pit Bulls aren't all baby killers, train them, title them, and take them out to public gatherings were dogs are welcome.

Become an advocate for Pit Bulls, show non-owners that it's the owners and not the Pit Bulls that are responsible for all attacks. That is the jest of the Pit Bull advocates website, and although, according to the United States Constitution, "everybody has the right to his own opinion, and can freely speak it," this guy needs to take his doggies into a dry dark room where they stay together for several weeks until the dogs get the message, and do their thing.

The Center for Decease and Control Prevention keeps statistics, "as best they can" with regards to dog death count, want some sobering figures, read on:

A. Since 2005, 178 deaths have been attributed to dog attacks

B. 100 from infants to 10 years of age

C. Between ages 11-60, 37 deaths

D. 61 and over, 41 deaths

E. Of the 178 deaths, 104 have been Pit Bull type dogs.

I believe it's time for us all, like the Pitt Bull advocate said, "to educate ourselves" and get rid of all Pit Bull type dogs in the United States. If my Missy dog hurt anybody, she would have a real short funeral.

PALIN IS NOT IN THE 8TH. GRADE!

PALIN IS NOT IN THE 8TH. GRADE! (Mother Jones)

I read a ridiculous article that compared Sarah Palin to an 8th. grader, just because her Emails writing wasn't the  best, or "up to snuff." Gees I write like that everyday, "on an 8th. grade level" and get away with it, "maybe people are making allowances for me," if so, "thanks."

Sarah Palin has compared herself to a Momma Grizzly, and that analogy,  I find offensive. Have you ever been up close and personal with a bear, "they stink" are ill tempered and completely unpleasant. Maybe a deer, a raccoon or a squirrel, but a stinky old bear, come on Sarah, "think outside the box."

The huge cache of Sarah Palin's emails that have been released offered not only a chance to see what she was writing about as Alaska's governor, but also an opportunity to see how well her composition, spelling and subject content was.

Experts read several of the thousands of the emails and came away convinced that Ms. Momma Grizzly was operating at little more then an 8th. grade level. According to their analogy, "many CEO's operate at little better then an 8.5 grade level. That might explain why the country is in the tank at this juncture.

I love to bash the former Alaskan governor as much as possible, she continues to give great subject matter for pundits like me. She seems to be going along her merry way, not caring how people perceive her activity, what she says, or for that matter how she looks. She seems to be free and easy, with an agenda all her own.

I guess I have always wondered why it is so important for the U.S. to have a Rhodes Scholar to operate as the leader. With few exceptions, the countries leaders have been well educated people, with degrees coming out of their butts, mostly law degrees. Exactly where has all this education gotten us, let me count the ways:

1. a never ending series of wars

2. an economy that seems in the tank

3. between 40 and 60 million uninsured health care citizens with nowhere to go

4. underfunded social security program for those 65 and over

5. a 50 year old infrastructure that is crumbling at the same time throughout the country

6. a power grid that is falling apart

7. bridges that are unsafe all over the country

That is what highly intellectual people have done for the country, and the general population bares the brunt of the responsibility for the problem. The general electorate has taken the feeble idea that "college degrees equate into sound leaders with good decision making skills." We all know that is untrue, but we continue to elect the same tired lot of leaders.

I don't like Sarah Palin, I think that she is a fake, enamored with herself, and is far worse then a Momma Grizzly, she is a devious politician, in the game only for herself and as she continues along her merry way, she actually begins to believe what she is spiting out, which is the worst part.

She may write at an 8th. grade level, but her mentality is that of a time old perception of what a political figure is, deceptive, cunning and power hungry. 

SEX AT 85, WHAT A RUSH

SEX AT 85, WHAT A RUSH! (Washington Post)
Okay, picture it, "a guy celebrating his 21st. birthday, a girl ready to give the ultimate gift of love, and a 3rd. guy in the car watching....."watching what I'm not sure," and a car going down the highway at 85 miles an hour." Sounds juicy doesn't, well wait just a minute, it gets better, much better.

I must admit that during my time, "which is over," I have enjoyed the titillation of sex in many places, times and situations. Readers must remember, I'm the one and only inventor of the "Pretzel Hold" a very provocative position in sexual pleasuring.

There a 2 things that dumbfounds me about my newest hero.....okay, he was going 85 miles an hour, I get that, but what I don't get is the fact, "according to the police report," the guy was in the back seat, apparently having sex, if true, this act of sex completely destroys the Pretzel Holds number one ranking in positions for sex.

The number 2 thing that totally flabbergasts me is the fact that when pressed, nobody in the car actually admitted that they were driving. I can understand the 21 year old not driving, being engaged with the women, but when the guy in the front seat did not admit to driving, well.....I just don't get it, somebody had to be driving the dam car.

The end result was that the "sex on wheels" car slammed into a Taxi Cab, causing extensive damage to both cars, and a lawsuit brought by the Cab driver. Tickets were issued for reckless endangerment to the 21 year old guy and the trial begins next week in Fairfax County Virginia. We here at Chronicle headquarters will follow the results of the trial.


BAGGY PANTS FOOTBALL PLAYER CUT FROM FLIGHT! (Fox Sports on MSN)
Everybody has seen kids running around wearing those baggy pants that seem to be down around their ankles with their boxer shorts covering the vital areas of their anatomy, and like must everybody, I've thought "what the hell is holding the dam things up?" Although nobody has ever told me, I finally have heard about an action that can be taken to eradicate the unsightly eye-sore.

But first lets take a quick look at why anybody would want to wear a pair of pants that look, for all intense and purposes like they are about ready fall to at least  the knee. I have talked to several people, black, white and brown, I wanted to eliminate any   racial profiling right out of the box.

What I was told, emphatically  that the wearing of the sloppy, bagging pants was nothing more then a fashion statement, was not a rebel stance, or a status thing. I came away with the knowledge that the baggy attire was nothing more then a phase that kids were going through, and it would soon be replaced with some other outlandish garb that the marketing executives of the fashion world would push.

U.S. Airways solved the baggy pants issue once and for all, when an airlines employee noticed that DeShon Marman's pants were below his buttocks. I for one have never been embarrassed and offended by a kid walking around in baggy pants, below his buttocks, with his underwear showing. That was not the case for the female U.S. Airways official.

Apparently the airline has a dress code that takes, "no shoes, no shirt, no service" to a new level. The airline dress code must read something like "no shoes, no shirt and no potential butt cracks allowed."  Marman and the female U.S. Air employee, it seems stubbornly refused to back off from their opinions, police were called, and the football player was carted off to jail to await legal action.

The only thing that I can say is that "the cloths Cops need to ratchet down a bit, their perceived authority stance." The kid was not hurting anybody, and there were no complaints from any of the passengers, what harm was the kid doing.

A U.S. Airways spokeswomen said that the airline's dress code forbids indecent exposure or inappropriate attire. To me, this is a blatant attempt to take a person's civil rights away, I mean who the hell is to determine what is appropriate and inappropriate, what if somebody  is having a bad day, or is sexually challenged. What is our world coming to, what a waste of time, and possibly taxpayers money.

All I know is the next time I fly, I won't be wearing my Zomba's, they got a hole  in the back, near my buttock.

THE WORST OF THE POLARIZED AGENTS, (Washington Post)
Charles Krauthhammer is at it again, the Fox newsie contributor, Washington Post and Weekly Standard columnist is now talking about the union-owned Democratic Party and President Obama. There are many things wrong with the Democratic Party, but one of them is not schmoozing up to unions, what for, unions have lost most of their power.

Union authority and power has wained badly in the United States over the past 30 years, that it's just a shadow of it's former self.  Maybe Krauthammer missed it, but states around the country are in full attack on unions, their membership, and their ability to organize with almost any voice at all. Unions were formed in the United States for very good reasons, first and foremost to protect workers in the work place.

If management hadn't used the rules by which they operated, unions would have been unnecessary. The initial issues was worker safety, shorter work days and weeks, and better pay. Before 1937 many a worker saw his work-week last 6 days, 12 hours a day. If you were injured, you were tossed aside and a new worker took your place.



Of course unions  went to extremes, demanding benefits that  could never, in the long term, be honored. Negotiators had to know this as did the unions, yet ridiculous settlements between unions and management were met and we now seen the aftermath.

Unions are a necessity of American labor, without their protection, labor would revert to pre-1937 and that would be a terrible plight, not only for America's workers, but for the very fabric of the country. At the present time, most relationships between labor and management has a respectful relationship, but a big part of that relationship is do to union influence.

I understand Krauthammer's debilitating condition, and I am in awe of what he has done with his life and the productivity that has defined his life. But Charles, look at both sides before you bandy around your opinions so freely, think of both issues, both sides.

  

WHY I BLOGG

WHY I BLOG, (Frazer Chronicles)
An honest question that I suppose many of you loyal readers ask, and like those slick guys that give testimony in front of Congress, I'll answer the question the same as they do, "I'm glad you asked that question." Actually they aren't, but I am."

Without some sort of interested readership, my blog would be nothing more then a study in futility, you see, I do write my blog so that people might think a little bit outside their world. I hope that just a few readers are stroked to think just a bit more.  If that happens, my mission has been accomplished.

When I list a news organization after my intro headline, I am not  plagiarizing a news article, I am using the paper's article as a "jumping off point," I am read several differing views of the article, put all the different views together in one story line and add my own opinions. That mostly is how reporting is done today, multiple views condensed into one story. I know that is how history is written.

I take news items from all sorts of news organizations, liberal, conservative, foreign and completely crazy, and also the less news worthy. I try to tickle my readers thinking process, because when you can't see the value of other points of view, even if you don't agree, your mind is locked down, and "a mind is a terrible thing to waste."


A STRANGE TALE OF DOWNSIZING, (Huffington Post)
I watched a decent movie the other night, The Company Men with a star studded cast, Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Craig T Nelson and Maria Bello. The "meat" of the story line was that Affleck, Cooper and Jones each were fired from their executive jobs from a ship building company owned by, who else, Craig T Nelson, who can play the hell out of a character that everybody loves to heat. I have listed  Maria Bello character simply for chauvinistic reasons, "she has a great body," and I'm in love with her.

Anyways, as these men lose their jobs, their lives begin to spiral out of control, except Tommy Lee Jones, who is older, and has made much better money decision then either Affleck or Cooper, Cooper in fact commits suicide near the end of the movie.

The movie focuses on the younger Affleck and his struggles to somehow regain his prestige as a top salesmen, and get back to his salary of $160,000 a year. He loses his house, his sports car, his golf course club membership and has to move in with his parents.

In the end, to me, the movie isn't so much about the tragedy of loss, rather the triumph of the human spirit, the ingenuity of man and the lengths he will go to reinvent himself. By movie's end, Jones has begin a new company, hiring many of the downsized employees that lost their jobs through Craig T Nelson's downsizing procedures.

I have one more down sizing story that is not ever going to be made into a motion picture. It's a story about a person working in a Midwest setting, for a city in Wisconsin. For the past 10 years, this person has received graduated raises amounting to about 3% every other year through contract negotiations. During these same 10 years, health insurance has gone up, every 2 years about 4%, leaving a negative 1% in her paycheck, not much until you consider the cost of living, which goes up by at least 3% every 2 years, the contracts covering 10 years represents a total loss of 5%.

Couple the 5% loss in a paycheck with the downsizing in her department, where retired workers are not replaced, or employees shifting to other departments means that those that are left have to assume new responsibilities without any form of monetary compensation, and finally when the department director quites and the office manager retires, neither are replaced and more of the work load is dumped on the remaining people.

The directors pay was in excess of $70,000 while the office manager was paid more then $58,000, one can see that by not replacing either, the city would save more then $120,000 in pay alone, even before benefits were factored in.

In the private sector, things are even worse, executive pay over the past 10 years has soared, while the everyday stiff who punches a time-clock see a paycheck that remains, at best stagnate. It's a glorious day to be an American worker, if your an executive, the great recession is a distant memory, your pay is skyrocketing and leaders in Washington are putting labor concerns at the front and center of their agendas.....if you are a worker who happens to be at the top of the corporate organizational ladder.

Executive pay in American, since 2009 is up a whopping 40%, as some of these dudes are pulling down 6, 8, 10, and even $20,000,000 a year. How in hell can a person get paid  millions of dollars a year and still threaten to "move on" to another company if they don't get a raise. Talk about a different tax bracket, and off shore accounts, where do these guys stuff their money, and more, how the hell do they spend it?

One of these top executive, Jeffrey Immelt, Chief of General Electrics, who pulled down a whopping $15,000,000 last year, has now been tapped by President Obama to help generate American jobs. How the hell can somebody that makes $15 million dollars a year understand what it's like to not have enough money to buy a pack of cigarettes, or a six pack of Budweiser, or worse, how to make his mortgage payment? The short answer, "he can't," and the long answer, "he has no clue."

You might ask how Immelt's

How do most Americans feel about this state of affairs, "pretty dammed unappreciated." Wages in 2011 sit roughly at the same place they did at the beginning of 1980, after adjusting for inflation. Several caveats go into absorbing this data, among them, that millions of women and millions of immigrant workers have entered the workforce, tending to pull down wages. No matter how a person views this information, one glaring truth emerges,  "the breakdown of the American middle class opportunity."

Lots of people have tended to their business, gotten up every morning, gone off to work, brought as much money as they could home, and still found themselves sliding backwards. The sad part for these people is that they have been doing the same thing for the past 30 years. They now find themselves in their 50's with few options if they lose their jobs.

This silly notion of re-education for 50 something year old people is some bureaucratic "chuckle heads" pipe dream. Sure some people are willing to take advantage of the service, yet the vast majority simply drift off into some sort of work after-life, working at whatever can bring them and their families some sort of life.

I could continue with this malady of  pay disparity, company down-sizing and the bleak outlook of our economy and the future of our country, but I won't bore you and waste your time. When banks  loaned money to pathetically poor risks, when executives were rewarded for these risky loans, then had to be bailed out because they ran out of money, when mortgage brokers wrote loans to anybody capable of holding a pen, and were paid obscene commissions, and when banks started betting that the very loans that they were writing would fail, only one thing could happen, and here we are, broke.

We now come down to it, our fearless leaders, the Obama administration and his seeming out of touch attitude with the voters of the country. I for one don't care how cool our leader looks or is, how unattached he appears is what gets me. Get involved, quite pontificating, and get some things done before its to late.


IS THAT BONER OR BOEHNER? (New York Times)
I remember graphically when George W. Bush declared war on almost any Muslim who moved in the Middle-East, I was worried then and I'm worried now. As our country continues to move ever closer to the abyss of financial ruin, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld have a new hero in President Obama.

President Obama has continued wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq, but has now joined with almost every other president since the turn of the twentieth century, in creating his own war, Libya. The White House continues to defend America's role in the Libya military campaign.

In a 38 page report sent to lawmakers describing and defending the NATO-led operation, the White House said the mission is "prying loose Qaddafi's grip on power." I have but one thing to say about that statement, "who cares." I personally could give a crap about the Libyans plight, I am way past caring about some dry desert country with Texas tea under ground. I personally can get alone without it.

I agree with John Boehner and his demand that President Obama explain his legal justification  for passing the deadline of 60 to 90 days after notifying Congress that troops had been deployed into hostilities, unless Congress authorizes the operation to continue.

In this case, John Boehner is being.....well, Boehner, and President Obama is being a "boner."  It has cost the Pentagon more then $716 million dollars so far and by September the estimated cost will be over a billion dollars. The War Powers Resolution is a safeguard for Presidents not to make war on their own, without a voice from Congress.

Do you know how sick and tired I am with regards to America continuing to be the worlds most war making people on the face of the planet, well let me count the ways:
A. War kills people, our people.
B. War costs money, tax payer money.
C. I become ill thinking about the profiteering  that is being done by American industry.
D. I am sick and tired calling our countries war department, "the Pentagon."
E. I am sick and tired of the President and his advisers setting this countries foreign policies.
F. I am sick and tired of the lies that are coming from our elected officials with regards to war.
G. I am sick and tired of people going to bed at night hungry, right here in the United States, when we are giving food away to foreigners.
H.  I am sick and tired of our government giving foreigners free health care, when right here in America, we have a health care crisis.

I could go on, but you'd stop reading. In this case, I hope John Boehner gets the answers that we all need with the continuing war making policies that keep coming out of the White House. Do you realize that it's been more then 10 years of war making, and were no further ahead, then when we started. W. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld would be proud.

  

     

TICKLISH POCKET SEARCH COULD MEAN JAIL!

TICKLISH POCKET SEARCH COULD MEAN JAIL, (The Root)

Remember the last time you were pushed up against a car, spread eagle, patted down, turned around and directed to "empty your pockets?" Neither can I, I'm white and old, the average cop on the street sees that and figures I'm to old to be doing anything illegal.

Such is the state of affairs in New York city, where blacks and browns are stopped every day because they are black or brown. They aren't waving a weapon out the window, they don't have knives, and they certainly don't have bombs, they are simply black, or brown.

Is it racial profiling.....of course it is, at it's worst, and the result is more then 50,000 arrests every year for illegal drugs. New York has the highest per capita arrest rate for marijuana of any local nationwide. The trend runs counter to what is happening around most of the country, as states begin to legalize small amounts of marijuana.

In New York State, since 1977, 7/8 of an ounce of marijuana has been punishable of a ticket and possibly a $100 fine. But if a person has the marijuana in public view, "as in empty your pockets" a misdemeanor, a criminal offense, punishable with arrest, a fine and as much as three months in jail.

One result of these "ticklish pocket searches" is that young black and brown people, aged 16 to 29 are being duped into publicly revealing their allowable marijuana and then being arrested, thereby gaining a criminal record that will follow them the rest of their lives.

In 2010 New York State had 54,000 marijuana arrests, 50,000 of them in New York City, in neighborhoods that were primarily black, Latino and low income. Do you really think that 50,000 blacks and Latinos in New York City had their weed in plain sight?

It is estimated that the New York City police spend $75 million dollars a year on these type of arrests, even though only a third of the arrests garner guilty verdicts. Marijuana arrests are an easy way for a cop to make his arrest quota, if you believe in that kind of thing, "which I do."

Because the NYPD is the nation's largest police force, often the practices that it follows are often adopted as kind of a national standard and police departments across the country tend to mimic the NYPD's lead, especially in communities of color, and that.....is a ticklish subject.

DID THE INDIANS HAVE IT RIGHT?

DID THE INDIANS HAVE IT RIGHT? (Frazer Chronicles)
In the old days, I mean really old days, like a 150 years ago, many American Indian tribes dealt with sickness, injuries and death in a most efficient way, "at least to their way of thinking," they would take the sickened or injured out into a field, say their goodbyes and leave them to die. Once death came, the critters in the wild would take care of the rest, right down to the bone.

Barbaric you might say, well sure, but a 150 ago, times were barbaric, hell, brother was shooting brother in the Civil War. What, you might ask, is my point, "glad you asked," but first indulge me a bit longer, "I promise it will be interesting."

Medicine in that long ago time consisted of beaver pelts, some beads, a rabbits foot, tree roots and some leaves that looked speciously like marijuana. There wasn't a doctor, rather a tribal medicine man who administered to the medical needs of "his" people. Payment was in animal pelts, horses or women, whatever the medicine man wanted, I suppose.

To cure a head-ache, a hole would be drilled into the temple, the blood would be drawn with a horn type of apparatus out of the head, and the head-ache was either over, or terminal,  talk about "curing or killing." Poultices were used on cuts, arrow or gunshot wounds and in many cases appendages were simply amputated when damaged beyond what the medicine man figured was savable.

Now lets fast forward to the 21st. century and modern day medical procedures and those powers that inhibit that process. It's called (INSURANCE COMPANIES), there are hundreds of insurance companies in the United States, each housed in huge edifices with all the splendor befitting an industry that controls the more then 290 million people's health and well being.

The executives of these companies drive around in big cars with their good looking blond associates, travel in jets around the country and take lavish vacations. At this point I would have to say that, "if I were in one of these exec's positions, I wouldn't want anything changed either," but I'm not, so I want change.

Those people up on Capital Hill who say "health care is in fine shape," are whistling Dixie, they either don't have a clue, or don't care, I personally think it's the latter, "they don't care." There are horror stories about people being rejected for medical procedures by health care companies for various reasons that amount to nothing more then excuses that thinly vale an actuary number that says "30% will either not protest the finding, or die before they can.

Everything in insurance, any kind of insurance, is based on numbers, statistics that are studied by "bean counters" armed with computers and slid rules that spit out all sorts of averages that dictate what insurance companies charge customers, totally based on risk factors of payouts. You don't have to be an Einstein to figure this one out, simply count the payments in, and the procedural costs paid out and you'll come up with a safe figure for the company to make a profit.

Health insurance companies have taken the science of figuring out the money in and the payments out to a whole new place. They decided that medical practicing doctors needed help with their diagnosis, and now routinely reject all sorts of doctor diagnosed medical procedures and in some cases medication. Health insurance companies have their "own" doctors that help them to decide when certain procedures are unnecessary and arbitrarily either say no, or wait several weeks to answer a request.

Premiums for most popular health insurance plans across the United States, since 2000, have risen an astounding 87%. Most employers across the same United States still offer some sort of health plan, but expect the employee to pay more and more of the premium, with a deductible that is either many hundreds of dollars, or thousands. In the meantime, workers earnings have barley risen.

Even though a majority of U.S. employers continue to offer health coverage after a usual waiting period, more and more are completely dropping their health benefits do to the raising costs, it is simply cutting into their profit margins, the reason most are in business in the first place. Some of the raising cost can be justified because of advancing medical technology and newer and better pharmaceutical treatment, causing doctors to spend more on their patients.

As costs raise, as more employers discontinue health care coverage, more and more people are thrown into the uninsured world of health care, where even the simplest of medical care is so expensive that these people can't afford any type of care. This opens up a whole new "can of worms" where people don't go to doctors, don't care for their children's health care and disregard even the most common diseases and  illnesses until they become that they go to the emergency room where treatment cannot be refused.

Here are some sobering statistics that health insurers do not want people to know about, some of you will know about, others won't, but make no mistake, they are germane to today's United States population:
A. Life expectancy in Canada, 79.7 years, France, 79.2 years,  Britain, 78.1 years, U.S. 77.1 years.
B. Infant mortality per 1000 births, France, 4.5, Britain, 5.0, Canada, 5.2, U.S. 6.5.

Britain, Canada and France have nationalized health care plans, as do Afghanistan and Iraq, both Afghanistan and Iraq's health care is paid for by the United States government from some sort of medical fund, with taxpayer money. "Does that tell you anything?"



Maybe the Indians had it right, maybe it's time for me to haul my fat butt into some field, sit down with a book and a jumbo bottle of beer and wait for the end.