Air Force Brass Kicked to the Curb

After allowing armed nuclear weapons to be flown across the U.S. last August, after allowing nuclear components be shipped to Taiwan instead of the helicopter parts requested, after an Air Force base failed a “nuclear surety” inspection, the federal government finally acted in what can only be described as a token show of problem solving. The top military and civilian leaders of the U.S. Air Force were forced out simply to show the country that something is being done to avert future mishaps.

The problem of course goes much deeper than these two top officials, and the responsibility was ultimately theirs, but there still remains the real problem. Each individual who was involved in these ‘mishaps’ should have felt the duty, and should have been given every opportunity, to raise questions about what they are doing.

I know most underlings are not privy to the big picture and they don’t truly need to be, but, somewhere along the line concerns need to raised when something seems out of the ordinary. Something like when ‘live nuclear missiles’ are removed from storage, someone should have been alerted. Something like when ‘live nuclear warheads’ are taken out onto the flight line, someone should have noticed. Something like when ‘live nuclear-tipped missiles’ are loaded onto a bomber to fly across the U.S. (hell, anywhere) someone should have said let’s re-examine what we are doing here. Has all of this become so routine, and are these live nuclear missiles labeled in such a way as to be indistinguishable from unarmed nuclear weapons that such a mistake can so easily be made?

Shipping errors happen every day but when anything associated with nuclear weapons are so easily confused for anything else, then there are serious issues involved. Issues like lack of inventory control, sloppy job performance, basic human recognition that something just doesn’t seem right. Live Nuclear Warheads shipped across the United States. Doesn’t this seem, I don’t know, dangerous?

Yeah, the ultimate responsibility falls on the top brass, but that does not diminish the obligation of every individual below them right down to the grunt doing the physical labor from thinking about what they are doing. Everyone from that grunt’s supervisor on up the line better be open to any question or concern from their workers about the job they are performing. Allowing the military to become unquestioning, unthinking robots who simply follow orders just because those orders came from ‘on high’ is one of the greatest dangers we pose for ourselves.

When an individual wears that military uniform, they are taking on the responsible for the safety of this nation. The gravity of that responsibility is heavy and should never be taken for granted. That individual remains an individual who should be allowed to question authority. Questioning the validity of what you are doing focuses the attention of those around you onto the job at hand thus instilling a greater sense of responsibility. This act alone just might divert a disaster.

Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes

Our economy is taking a major hit due to the home mortgage crisis, rising credit card interest rates, rising fuel prices, rising food prices, and the shrinking value of our dollar. All of this combined is forcing lifestyle changes.

Daily commuters are moving closer to their jobs or giving up higher paying jobs to find one closer to home as a result of higher gasoline prices.

People are finally getting rid of their hulking, low-mileage SUV’s and trucks for more fuel efficient smaller cars, because of higher fuel prices. (Who is buying these gas-guzzlers from them and why?). Obviously, not everyone is doing their part to bring fuel prices back down or to slow down the usage of our dwindling oil supply.

Independent business people who rely on driving as part of their business are scaling back and therefore are struggling to keep employees, because of fuel prices.

Every business that depends on trucking is beginning to suffer from increasing fuel costs. Independent truckers are loosing their livelihood as well as their homes because of severe increases in the cost of diesel fuel. They are forced to park or sell their rigs, leaving fewer trucks to get products to market, allowing public trucking companies free to raise their shipping rates in order to help defray fuel prices, which in turn increases the retail price of the products they haul. Repossession of these big-rigs have doubled over last year.

Food prices are increasing because of transportation costs and the added burden of biofuel manufacture from the same corn crop that was previously used exclusively for food manufacturing.

Vacations have been put off or scaled way back. Discretionary spending has been cut. Necessities such as health insurance, weekly trips to see family and friends, eating out more than once a week, are now being referred to as luxuries and are all being cut back.

Families whose incomes were once considered comfortable are now just barely getting by. The effect is devastating for egos as well as wallets, creating strained relations within the family. What do you do when a $50,000 annual salary can no longer buy a prom dress for your daughter, or your kids don’t get everything they want for Christmas and birthdays?

All of these changes in our lifestyles are a direct result of increasing fuel prices which in turn is a result to our refusal to change our driving habits and our federal governments refusal to take a leadership role in forcing big oil to stop bleeding us dry.

Are We Green Yet posted about how by working together we can counteract these increasing fuel prices simply by changing our driving habits. Americans, with their affinity for bigger, more powerful vehicles, carry the biggest share of the guilt. Our driving habits are atrocious compared to foreign countries.

We all have to do our part.

A common misconception is that biofuel production will save us from having to drive more conservatively or to embrace mass transit. But the increased demand for corn as a biofuel is driving food prices up. The increased production of biofuels has not slowed down the price of oil and OPEC is continuing to squeeze us all.

Cocooning has become the latest buzz word in suburbs everywhere. People are staying at home more because they can’t afford to go out for entertainment. They have to save fuel to get to and from work and the grocery store.

Soon, only the wealthy will inhabit movie theaters, restaurants, concert halls, and amusement parks.

I come from a family of six children. We were born from 1951 to 1961 and were raised under very modest financial conditions. We were forced to share everything. Not because of an idealistic unselfishness, we had to do it to make ends meet. Today, I see kids with everything I only dreamed about having when I was their age. I see super-sized homes with enough space inside that every child gets their own bedroom. They get their own iPods, their own cell phones, their own computers. These Americans have become truly spoiled, others not so much. I don’t begrudge anyone who has the financial ability to give their kids everything they want, but when those spending habits begin consuming more than their ‘fair share’ of gasoline and food, and all of this gluttony leads to shortages for the rest of us, that’s when I have a real problem with hearing them complain about how their $50,000+ income no longer meets their demands. No, I find it very difficult to empathize with them.

Changing our lifestyles is the best answer to the financial situation in which we find ourselves. It is a sad commentary that we are forced to do this as a result of our own habits. No one wants to give up an opulent lifestyle. No one wants to scale down our luxuries. Everyone wants to be able to take the family to a restaurant and/or movie. We all enjoy our day at the amusement park. But we cannot continue to over spend, to waste fuel, to live beyond our means.

There is a law of nature at play here. Nature will tend to slough off wastefulness when it becomes too great a burden to carry and becomes detrimental to the safety and continued operation of the system. We have over-spent and over-extended our use of what nature has made available to us and we expect to not have to change our ways when nature is showing signs of crashing. This trend cannot continue.

We must change our attitude toward what we can expect from nature. We cannot continue to take and not give.

Beef recalled due to E. Coli, again?

Sound familiar? It is happening way to often despite USDA reports that the number of cases are down. How can the USDA support their findings in light of these following instances?

June 9, 2007 – 5.7 millions pounds of beef recalled in 11 states.
United Food Group LLC of Los Angeles, 14 people in six western states fallen ill.
Source of contamination none given.

June 8, 2007 – 40,000 pounds of beef recalled in 12 states.
Tyson Fresh Meats Inc of Springdale, no illnesses reported.
Source of contamination none given.

Jan 13, 2008 – 188,000 pounds of beef recalled nationwide.
Rochester Meat Co. of Rochester Minnesota, no data given on illnesses.
Source of contamination none given.

Jan 5, 2008 – 13,150 pounds of beef recalled in Detroit Michigan.
Mark’s Quality Meats, Inc of Detroit, no data given on illnesses.
Source of contamination none given.

Feb 14, 2007 – peanut butter recalled nationwide.
ConAgra Foods of Sylvester, Georgia, 300 illnesses reported.
Source of contamination none given.

Sept 29, 2007 – 21.7 million pounds of beef recalled in 8 states.
Topps Meat Company LLC of Elizabeth New Jersey, 25 illnesses under investigation.
Source of contamination: possibly Rancher’s Beef Ltd of Balzac, Alberta, Canada.

2002 – 27.4 million pounds of cooked sandwich meat recalled nationwide.
Pilgrim’s Pride of Philadelphia, PA, unknown number of illnesses.
Source of contamination none given.

1997 – 25 million pounds of beef recalled nationwide.
Hudson Foods of Columbus, Nebraska, 15 illnesses reported.
Source of contamination none given.

The reporting level on these cases was high, when they first appeared. But sources and causes of the contamination have not been identified. Why are we not told where the contamination is coming from and what is being done to protect us? We need follow-up questions to be asked, but I suppose that isn’t as ‘glamorous’ or as news worthy as a celebrity drunk driving ‘misadventure’.

Does the contamination start with the food crop itself? Is it due to improper handling of the food crop before the processor gets it or after? Is it the processing practice of the food? Are employees the source of the contamination (do you know how many people do not wash their hands after using the toilet? It is literally sickening.)

Is equipment not being cleaned properly? Are inspectors slacking in their duties that allows this contaminated food to get out the manufacturers control before the contamination is discovered?

These are serious questions that affect the safety of our food supply and we, the public, are not privy to any of this information, even when we dig for it ourselves.

Who takes the time to ask these questions? Main stream media sure doesn’t. When I called some of these companies for answers I was told, in every case, to talk to their public relations person and we all know what we get from these mouthpieces. Nothing but whitewash. Still we are left with the burning question, is the food I am about to consume going to make me sick?

These food recalls have affected product sold in grocery stores, delis and restaurants. No place can be considered safe.

The USDA is obviously overwhelmed in their duty to protect the general public. The responsibility falls to every single person who has anything to do with growing, handling, and processing our food. And somewhere along the line someone is letting us all down.

I have harped on this subject of personal responsibility to one’s job before. If anyone slacks off and underperforms in their assigned duty someone else invariably has to pay for it.

The guilty party needs to excuse themselves from their position and put someone in their place who will actually take some pride in what they do.

Sure, E. coli is naturally occurring, but, dammit, there are procedures in place to minimize its effects and someone is not doing their job. Period.

What's your opinion?

Darius Moore follow-up 9-27-07

As previously reported on 9-27-07 … Darius Moore, 17, of Gary Indiana, was driving while intoxicated on the night of September 15, 2007 when, he claims, one of his tires blew out and he crashed his car.

Today, Oct 17, 2007, Gary Indiana police spokesman report they will ask prosecutors to press unspecified charges against the Darius Moore in last month's car crash that killed two 18-year-old passengers in Gary, Indiana.

Police who responded to the crash failed to find the victims' bodies. According to Moore, they never searched for them. The father of one of the victims found them himself when he visited the site hours later.

Moore said he and the other crash survivor, DeAndre Anderson, begged police to search for their friends who were missing after the crash. Police radio dispatch tapes released last month revealed officers discussed the possibility that Smith and Green, the two missing teens, might be at the scene.

The police obviously did not search or did such a half-assed job that they should be, at the very least, embarrassed for not finding them.

A blood alcohol test, taken at the scene, shows that Darius Moore and the one surviving passenger had alcohol in their bloodstream which only proves they had been drinking. One of the two registered .09 and the other registered .05. because of their ages the results could not be publicly attached to which one was over the state imposed limit of .08.

Moore denies that anyone in the car had been drinking before the accident. So I guess the test lied? Maybe Moore is attempting to indicate that the police faked this test and are lying about the results. Since police have been known to lie, just as every other human has, it is easy enough to believe, but I don’t think you can fake the results of a blood alcohol test. Darius Moore is evoking the typical behavior of someone who has been caught doing something illegal, putting the blame off onto someone else.

His mother is enabling him by claiming the accident was not his fault. It is no one’s fault but his. He was drinking, underage, and he was driving that vehicle. Wake up, both of you. Face reality. Stop taking the act of drinking and driving so lightly.

Ignoring the fact that he was drinking and driving is only perpetuating the idea that it is okay to do it. he cannot be made to look noble by lying against the results of a blood alcohol test. He needs to answer for his total disregard for safety by drinking, driving, speeding, and allowing his passengers to ride without their safety belts attached. These issues are nothing to take lightly.

He needs to be punished. Nothing else he has heard about drinking and driving has gotten through to him. We have all been told for years about wearing safety belts. Now that he is responsible for a car accident that destroyed four families lives is not the time to fantasize that it was not his fault.

Take responsibility for your actions!!

Darius’s mother, Carmelita Evans said she wasn't surprised police were recommending charges against her son. "I figured the police would try to go after him in light of the lawsuits that are coming at them," she said. "Because the police are going down, I figured they would try to take my son with them."

I’m not surprised the police are going after him either. They should have arrested him on the night of the accident, on two charges at the very least. One, driving while intoxicated, two, drinking under the legal age. If police had actually followed through with their accident scene investigation heeding the possibility of others being involved and searched for the other two teens then those teens would either be alive or the police could charge the driver with vehicular homicide, too. They are not arresting him out of retaliation as she suggests, that is ludicrous.

Facing charges, Evans said, might put her son "over the edge -- that he could be liable for his friends' deaths. He's not sleeping, he's not eating properly. I hope this doesn't cause him to do something. I'm trying to seek counseling for him, but I'm a single mother and I don't have a lot of money."

The reason he is not sleeping or eating properly is due to a guilty conscience because he knows he is responsible for those boys deaths. He alone got behind the wheel and he alone was driving when that car went off the road. Again, face reality and make him suffer the consequences just as any person who drinks and drives should face the consequences.

It is unforgivable for police to ever leave a body behind for someone else to find, let alone a parent. Even though the police were given the possibility that the two missing teens were not in the car at the time of the accident is not a good enough reason not to search because there was indeed the possibility they were in the car.

It is equally unforgivable to allow drunken drivers to go unpunished. It sends the wrong message and we have seen it far too many times.

The family of one of the deceased teens is having an independent autopsy done, more for their own peace of mind, to see if the county coroner lied about their deaths being instantaneous. I understand why the family is doing this. The police are not above lying to protect themselves, anyone who thinks they would not lie is simply naïve and haven’t been paying attention. There are numerous cases where police have lied to protect themselves and their lies are backed up by every policeman and coroner in the country.

Drinking and driving is an intolerable activity that needs to be punished severely.

Why isn’t this country taking this responsibility more seriously?