Monday May 17th 2010

Today i will begin my post with the usual commentary on current news events and will end with a few things related to my family life.As the days continue to tick by the oil disaster seems to just get worse and worse.The trick bag to contain it seems to have almost run dry with only a few things left to try to mitigate the consequences on the already stressed and fragile ocean and coastal wetlands.As the scramble to stop the flow goes on,the executives from BP,Transocean and Halliburton were in Washington last week to testify about potential causes and why the plans for what to do if something like this happened were less than useless in containing the flow of oil and natural gas.As these companies executives sat across from the Government officials who were questioning them it was obvious that none of them were ready to accept responsibility for this catastrophe.Transocean says its Halliburtons fault,BP says its Transoceans fault and Halliburton says its BPs fault.It was a very disturbing thing to watch.And then i found out about this obscure govt agency called the mms(mineral management service)that is second only to the irs in contributions to the treasury of the federal government.This agency not only is in charge of issuing permits for exploration,and they are also supposed to monitor and regulate them as well.This major conflict of interest is a stark reminder of how broken our "constitutional democracy"really is.The Secretary of the Interior,Mr.Salazar,should in my opinion immediately resign,as his post is the one responsible for the MMS and issuing drilling permits to these Corporate Pilferers.In researching this subject i found out that all the fees and other possible revenue sources that are derived from these drilling permits are gone around through loopholes and waivers.So the most profitable corporations on this planet are not paying the Government for the privilege of drilling on any project within the jurisdiction of our land or oceans.Nobody seems to be even mentioning this ridiculous travesty related to a major revenue source that our Government could and should be collecting literally hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars.This fact alone should be a reason for Mr.Salazar to resign,but on top of this we now have a huge environmental disaster to contend with.The lack of over site on these drilling operations by the agency in charge of overseeing them is a direct result of the mms being in bed with the very Corporations they are supposed to be monitoring.
The more i research the MMS the more i get angry with the corrupted and broken state of our entire Government bureaucracy.An agency the size of the MMS being so obscure that most people don't even know it exist shows how hard those officials at the Federal level work to keep information from reaching the citizens of our great nation.This agency issues the permits for not just oil exploration and extraction,but coal mining and "mountain top removal" in areas of our country like the Appalachian Mountains.The damage done to the environment by these Giant Global Corporations is not only inexcusable,but in my opinion it is criminal.This oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico should be a wake up call to all Americans that fossil fuels are the energy source of the past,and renewable sources are the only way forward.I realise this is absolutely positively impossible due to the fractured nature of our citizenry,but i am convinced that if we do not immediately start to convert to renew ables that our nation will be doomed to a horrible future that will leave nothing for our children and future generations.As i continue to look into this obscure government agency,i will continue posting information and related facts.I truly believe that as this Agency is brought into the sunlight more and more citizens will call for Secretary Salazars resignation.

It is very difficult for me to write about how i feel related to our Nation because i am truly afraid of the real danger related to criticising our Federal Government in the current environment.It is much to easy to be swept away by law enforcement due to the fact they are now almost unchecked in their powers.They can enter homes without warrants,they are allowed to tap phones and monitor computer activities without any evidence of criminal activity,and to top it off law enforcement can detain you for unlimited amounts of time without charges.These powers are supposed to protect us they say,giving them the ability to stop harmful and dangerous criminal activities by international organizations bent on destroying our Nation.In my opinion these powers do nothing more than shred what is supposed to be the basis of our beliefs,the rights of individual citizens to pursue happiness and true freedom.Today there is some new movements against the unchecked government power that has taken over our system,including the much derided tea party movement. We shall see how this is going to affect the election cycle that has been so corrupted by unchecked corporate money,because the way today's results turn out is going to give us a peek at the anger sweeping the citizens who are the most active politically.I personally hope to see any incumbents or career politicians lose to new fresh faces but i realise that is unlikely to happen.The only way we will be able to curtail the changes that have been put in place over the last several decades is to get rid of the folks responsible for putting these new powers in the hands of a broken and corrupted Government.My personal view is that while groups like the tea party movement may not represent a majority of the citizens of our nation,it is groups at the bottom that are tired of being stepped on that must come together to bring about any real and lasting changes to our system.The current political environment at the lowest levels,the people who come out and protest against the giant growth of deficit spending and unchecked power are the real true faces of our country
As the news continues to unfold related to President Obamas nomination of another candidate for the Supreme Court,republicans are bringing up some very unsavory questions related to this current nominee's personal life.It seems almost unreal watching and listening to conservatives as they try to drag this out and hold up the nomination.There is a rule in the senate that allows "secret holds" to be placed on nominations made by the President,which keeps the person putting the hold from being made public.Along with many other things,this is just another reason we as Americans need to reject any and all incumbents from being re-elected.The nation is at a major crossroads,and with all the unhappiness i see being manifested against the way things are going currently i am sad to say i doubt we can be united against the broken corrupt system that we are living under.It is really unsettling to watch as the media and others use divisive issues to separate us into smaller and smaller groups who seem to focus on single social issues instead of seeing the big picture.We can continue to fight and argue and try to make progress on single issues,or we can unite and use the strength of our diversity as a pillar against the fracturing of our collective future as one of the worlds greatest ideas for a Nation ever to be conceived.With all the wars that have been fought and lives that have already been lost for this great nation to continue on a righteous path,we owe it to ourselves to put our petty grievances aside and sweep our Government of the people who put self interest above National Unity.Our founders had a dream of a Nation that is so far away from where we have come when a Supreme Court nominees personal choices are put ahead their abilities to serve as a competent thoughtful and eligible candidate for the court.The President has the authority to nominate whomever he chooses,and while there is an obligation on the part of the Senate to vet these chosen nominees,delaying or filibustering is not only unproductive it is dangerous.The "secret hold" powers currently in place in the Senate pertaining to all Presidential nominations need to be brought into the light of day for the people to see.If a Senator wants to hold up a nomination,any nomination,he or she must stand up and show themselves to the people of the nation.
The other thing i have been looking into is all the czar positions that the President has been appointing.This is very frightening because there is no Congressional oversight related to these positions.The fact that these czars have power over certain elements of our personal lives and choices related to them just scares me to death.I don't believe there is any Constitutional authority that allows these appointments,and i believe we should challenge them at every possible chance we have.This is a country that is based on freedom and has an open society,and nowhere in our founding documents does it give the commander in chief the authority to appoint hundreds of czars with powers unchecked by congressional authority.The word czar brings up images of Russian totalitarian authority in my mind.I don't believe there should be any czars in our free nation,and especially over things that are personal individual choices.This particular subject of czars,one sticks out to me and that is the drug czar.This "war on drugs"that was declared during the Reagan administration is a total complete and udder failure and needs to be immediately abandoned as such.The fact that Law Enforcement derives such a huge amount of their budgets from forfeiture and confiscation of property from drug arrests is on its face criminal.The fact that people arrested for simple possession are losing cars,homes,and other personal property to law enforcement and the size of the numbers related to these kind of forfeits and confiscations shows the truth behind the "war on drugs".These law enforcement agencies not only need but are reliant on this for budgetary reasons and fight tooth and nail against any and all efforts for legalization.We as a nation are allowing this for what reason i will never know.In my opinion we need to follow examples like Holland were people with addictions are given their drugs through pharmacies as long as they keep employed and do not get in trouble with the law.Drugs are no worse than alcohol as a scourge on society and need to be treated as a personal choice and not a criminal offense.Especially pot,because there are already many proven medical benefits related to this substance,and the "war on drugs"has not affected the number of people who use it at all.Many people use scare tactics to frighten the public away from any talk of Federal legalization,and this is not limited to just law enforcement agencies,but also the rehab organisations that are national.These organisations are reliant on the fact that these substances remain illegal for them to continue to operate.In my opinion,once the older generation of citizens passes on the legalisation process will move forward much faster due to the fact that older citizens are much more inclined to believe the lies being told to continue this war.The truth is that absolutely none of the things they say will happen if drugs are legalised have any real basis in fact.Legalisation and regulation of drugs is the only way forward and until folks can get beyond the propaganda machine that is in place this unamerican assault on the freedoms we hold dear,it will continue.Most Politicians are scared to approach this issue due to the millions of dollars coming from so many directions against legalization that it is much easier to focus on other things.They will continue to allow lies to be told and personal possessions and property to be taken from people who should just be left alone.Nobody can say that the illegal drug trade will continue if drugs are legalised and regulated because it is just not true.The criminal activities that revolve around illegal drugs would stop very soon after legalisation,but so would the flow of cash to law enforcement that comes from all the possessions and property that is taken from the people unfortunate enough to fall victim to overzealous enforcement of this unfair and unamerican war. The 15 states that currently allow medical marijuana use don't have any bad repercussions befalling them as the propaganda machine would like people to believe.As a matter of fact,none of the states have any negative statistics related to anything other than criminal activities that are a direct result of personal recreational use.This would otherwise be completely and utterly useless because if recreational use was legal these would be no longer available as a tool to site as negatives.The gateway drug theory has been proven to be another lie used to manipulate public opinion away from legalization.As more and more citizens become aware of the truth,that pot is much less of a public health threat than alchohol or tabacco,we will slowly but surely move to a federal legalization and national policy will reflect the truth about this topic.Adults should be able to make decisions related to recreational use without being deemed criminals.To get beyond this failed idea that has had decades to produce the effects it was supposed to,we must be able to have a public forum for discussion.This is very difficult when so many lies are cemented into public policy by groups that have a financial interest in keeping them illegal.I believe that states bordering Mexico need to especially consider a more rational stance in order to bring demand for illegal drugs under control by legalization,regulation and taxation.This would immediately give them the upper hand against criminal organizations that reap tremendous rewards from this arcane and useless "war on drugs".With the President of Mexico here on a visit the discussion should be on legalization more than enforcement of laws that have failed to control or even curtail the problem in either country.
Tomorrow i have a meeting at my children's school related to my youngest son,and i will report on the progress after i have more information.The situation with my older son Jer continues to trouble me,but i am no farther along at getting an answer related to his situation yet.It is extremely frustrating to have to wait,as the end of the school year readily approaches.To have him in a situation that is not beneficial to his moving ahead leads me to believe the district is stalling until the year ends and my choices become much more limited.I will be bringing this up at tomorrows meeting and will post more as i am more informed.I will end here for now,until next time thank you for reading. spacewalker