Immigration Woes

 

 

"We came come a long way since Ellis Island. Unfortunately, the wrong way"

 

 

You would have to be living under a rock these days not to hear about immigration. Some of it is fact, some of it is politics, and some is just plain old bluster. False statistics, fiery rhetoric, and changing positions are common. In the midst of all this hub-bub, lies the truth about immigration.

 

First off, I have never heard anyone say that immigration is bad for this country. And yet, the Left constantly accuses the Right of being anti-immigrant. Our country was built from and by immigrants. My great grandparents were immigrants. Very few of our citizens are direct descendants from the Mayflower. However, there is a great divide between people who come here the right way, and those who came here by not honoring our immigration laws. And that is where the battleground is.

First off, much is about perception and not fact. Fact number one: Our southern border and our northern border are for the most part, open. Crossing either border is easy. Fact number two: Most of the illegals come from Mexico. That is not spin - it is fact. Not all come from Mexico, but way over 50%. Fact number three: The Hispanic population is the fastest growing voting block in the United States.  Both political parties are aware of this fact. Fact number four: The last two elections were decided in part by the majority of the Hispanic voting block voting for Democrats. Many Republicans are in a panic from recent election results and once staunch positions are beginning to modify.

The Associated Press announced yesterday that the term "illegal immigrants" may no longer be used by their reporters. The Administration has also had terminology issues with this matter. The "Dream Act" for children of undocumented people is supported by the Federal Government. Many states like Minnesota want to offer undocumented (or illegal) immigrants "in state" tuition, while legal kids from neighboring states have to pay out of state tuition.

Do I think our immigration system is broken? I think it needs a tune-up. Our I-9 Visa program needs work where we can get more people with needed skills to help us grow. I believe the fact we have somewhere between 11 and 15 million illegal or undocumented people in this country is a problem. The picture at the top of this article is border "security" in Imperial Beach, California. Not real tough to cross. Texas and Arizona have the biggest problem with uncontrolled crossings. California however, has the highest number of undocumented residents.

My personal feeling is our uncontrolled crossings need to be secured for a variety of reasons. The most urgent is this - "Fortress America" is not longer such a fortress. It is not difficult for terrorists or drug smugglers to get into our country. For that reason alone, we need to secure our borders. We also want people who come to our country to do it the right way. If we adopted an "open border" policy, it would ruin us economically. We could not afford it. It addition, it would make us much less safe. We need secure borders, and we need them yesterday.

Let us all stop the name calling and rhetoric and come up with common sense solutions which are fair to all. Nobody who has stood in a line appreciates it when someone "butts in". If the line is too long, we need to fix the speed of approvals. This should not be a political issue, but it is. And that is a national shame.

Our Hidden and Shameful Unemployment Rate

"What we don't know is often worse than what we do know..."

By now, we have all heard about the different unemployment rates. It is confusing and some think it is a "shell game" just to put "lipstick on the pig". The U3 unemployment rate is particularly confusing as sometimes when more people leave the workforce than are hired, the unemployment rate actually goes down. Consequently. there are many variables going into the U3 which may yield a number that seldom reflects reality. But that is the number we use, so we are stuck with it. This number floats between 7.3 and 7.5 percent.

The number many economists like to use is the U6 index. This takes some of the variables into consideration such as underemployment, work force participation and so on. This number is currently stuck at around 13.5% to 14%.

Those are the two numbers we have been hearing about - the U3 and more infrequently, the U6. However, under the surface, there is another number lurking which is seldom mentioned - and it is insidious. According to a February 2013 article from the Daily Caller, the following was noted:

Blacks account for 12 percent of the labor force, according to the U.S. Joint Economic Committee, but suffered from a 13.8 percent (U3) jobless rate in January 2013 and make up 25 percent of workers who have been unemployed for longer than 99 weeks.
Furthermore, the number of black workers looking for work has fallen by almost 300,000 since 2011, and there are nearly 2.6 million black workers who want to work but can’t find a job.

In addition, the article went on to say that for a young black person without a high school degree, the unemployment rate is over 25%.

These numbers are a national disgrace. There is also higher than average unemployment in the Hispanic community, but it is not as high as in the African American community. For some reason of which I have not been able to figure out, these numbers are seldom reported. Yet, by allowing this trend to continue, we are undoing decades of progress and are slowly creating a permanent underclass. This is absolutely unacceptable.

There is one more hidden employment number which is often not reported on. Jobs lost and new jobs created are many times not the same. Less money, less opportunity, fewer (if any) benefits. Unlike people, not all jobs are created equal. This an intangible metric - there is not a number than can be assigned to this. But it is real, none-the-less.

So due to the out of control Fed, the market continues to climb, and the "haves" continue to fattened up their wallets. Remember this however - there is another part to this story which is not so rosy. A "real" press would be all over this. Our "lap dog" press is concerned only with their own agenda.

"I am coming, and bringing hell with me!"

 

 

                  

 

"Be careful for what you wish for - you might get it..."

  

One of my favorite movies is Tombstone. In that movie, one of my favorite lines was when Wyatt Earp surprised the Cowboys at the train station and said, "You tell them Wyatt Earp is coming, and I am bringing hell with me!" And he did. A classic line from a classic movie.

 

It seems that the good old US of A has had a fill of the little dictator from North Korea. It was time to open the toy chest and show him a fraction of what we have. First, a flyover by a couple of B-2 bombers. These are the "first you don't see them and next you are on fire" aircraft. Then the decision was made to park the USS John McCain off the coast. Finally, lets base a few F-22 Raptors in South Korea.

 

The USS McCain (named after Senator McCain's father who was a four star admiral) is pound for pound as tough as you can get for a ship. And it is coming to Korea armed to the teeth. First off, for years now, the AEGIS system has been testing an ABM (anti ballistic missile) that can be fired from the ship's VLS (vertical launching system). Just in case "junior" decides to launch one of his missiles, the McCain should be able to knock it down. Then all hell will break loose. Even though one AEGIS ship cannot defeat an entire county, it sure can give it a black eye. It also has the Tomahawk land attack missile which can be fired from the VLS. These missiles can be tipped with a very high explosive, or worse. The new Block IV version of this missile is a drone on steroids. It can loiter, it can circle, it can take pictures, and then when the time comes, it can defeat many stout defenses. It is absolute death from above.

 

Then we have the F-22 Raptor fighter jets which will be deployed to South Korea. This new fighter was been in development for years and was made to compete with and dominate the

world's most advanced aircraft (that does not include North Korea). Even though the specifics are probably highly classified, this is what the Raptor website has to say about its performance:

 

The F-22's characteristics provide a synergistic effect ensuring F-22A lethality against all advanced air threats. The combination of stealth, integrated avionics and supercruise drastically shrinks surface-to-air missile engagement envelopes and minimizes enemy capabilities to track and engage the F-22 . The combination of reduced observability and supercruise accentuates the advantage of surprise in a tactical environment.

 

Putting this jargon in layman's terms - we will own the skies not only over the South, but also the North. Nothing can touch these planes. They can not only neutralize any air threats, but they can also bomb land targets with state of the art munitions.

 

With one AEGIS class ship and a hand full of high tech fighters, we can put the genie back in the bottle. However, if one of the North's nukes goes off anywhere, the fate of North Korea will go from black eye to total elimination. We now have assets in theater to spank him if he misbehaves - if we pops a nuke, we can deploy other assets designed to kill the entire country.

 

The best play North Korea can do right now? Honor the cease fire with the South, stand down militarily, abandon its nuclear program, apologize to the United Nations for recent behavior, and to the South for recent incursions. At that point in time, we can take our toys and go home.

 

 



What in the world is a Mistpouffer?

 

 

"The angelic Gabriel will blast his trumpet, signifying the end of times and prepare us for the last judgment"

Years ago, my wife's cousin lived in Taos, New Mexico. When she came home, I could not wait to ask the question everyone who lives in Taos get asked - what is the world is up with the "hum"? She had not heard it - not everyone does. However, she did know of people who could hear it. There were other places on the globe which a similar hum could be heard.

As strange as that was, what has been happening as of late is even stranger. Loud noises, seemingly coming from no direction, have been recorded with increasing frequency. Okay, before you think I am an Art Bell clone, lets look at this closer.

These sounds have been around since the 1800's - maybe even earlier. It is reported that Lewis and Clark heard them while on their travels. Many today think they might be nothing but a series of sonic booms. However, it is illegal to fly at supersonic speeds over the United States. Also, aircraft, supersonic or otherwise, did not exist in the 1800's. The theories go all over the map from interference due to "Planet X", to UFOs, to Gabriel's Trumpet, which is announcing the beginning of the end.

Here is what the site Interesting Thing of the Day had to say about this in July of 2007:

Today’s interesting thing is a phenomenon consisting of similarly mysterious booming noises, but without such a ready explanation. The most generic term I could find for such sounds is mistpouffers (spelled “mistpoeffers” in Belgium and the Netherlands). In various areas they go by such diverse terms as “Guns of the Seneca” (near Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake in New York), “Barisal guns” (in Bangladesh), “uminari” (in Japan), “fog guns,” “lake guns,” and many others. In all these instances, the terms describe a sound or series of sounds that resemble loud but distant cannon fire, usually heard near the edge of a large body of water. The sounds occur when there are no storms in the vicinity that could produce thunder and no other obvious source. Sometimes they’re accompanied by a rumble that can be felt strongly enough to shake plates and hanging pictures; other times no vibration is felt.

In fact, one country reported a series of these sounds so loud, windows were broken and chickens died.

Whatever these things are, they are strange and spooky. If you want to hear them, there are many posts on YouTube that have excellent recordings of them. Whatever they are, they are real enough to be witnessed by thousands and picked up by recording instruments. As for me, I am going in my basement and hide until someone figures out what these things really are. 

The Littlest Bully

 

 

 

 

 

“The crime which is done now is that war has made a tool and slave of science, and man's knowledge, painfully and laboriously compiled, is made the instrument of man's destruction.”

Leonard Wibberley

The Mouse that Roared

When I was a young lad, I was bullied from time to time. As I grew and became bigger and less tolerant of bullies, the bullying stopped. I feared no bully - with one exception. I feared then, and I fear now, someone who has nothing to lose. Getting into any type of altercation with someone who has nothing to lose puts you at a disadvantage unless you feel the same way.

For some reason, known to few (if anyone), this young kid, the heir to one of the poorest countries in the world, has decided to pick a fight with ---- us. The irony of this latest threat is this - North Korea continues to be a country of limited resources where people actually starve to death. Yes, in 2013, in a world awash in food, people in North Korea starve to death. When North Korea plays nice, the United States as well as other western countries send much needed food to North Korea.

So yesterday, North Korea's very young leader, Kim Jong-un announced that his nukes were not up for negotiation. He was going to continue on with developing the program as well as rebuild his economy. Really? How is that? North Korea has absolutely no economy - no resources. What very little they have they pour into the military and their nuclear program. To make matters worse (or and they have become worse), Kim Jong-un has abrogated the cease fire between North and South Korea, and announced "a state of war" now exists between the two countries. The final straw was to tell America he was going to nuke cities on our mainland.

Some take this young leader seriously, others double over in laughter. I tend to side with the former. Do I believe he can make good on his recent threats? Absolutely not. Do I believe he is capable of doing something incredibly stupid that would be a game changer in the region? Absolutely yes. He is capable because he has nothing to lose. He is a bully that would love to inflict catastrophic damage on both South Korea and America.

By treaty, we are locked at the hip with South Korea. If there is an incursion by the North south of the 38th parallel, things will happen very fast. The worst scenario would be if the North decided to use a nuke on South Korea or try to hit a US base in Japan. Within 20 minutes of such an attack, all hell would be breaking out over North Korea. We would not only destroy the North Korean Army, hundreds of thousands of innocent people would also die. It would be a very dark day for humanity. All because this "kid" running North Korea did not know how to control his bluster.

What we are seeing today is the result of the world turning a blind eye and tin ear to small, undisciplined countries trying to become a member of the nuclear club. Pakistan, North Korea, and soon Iran. Bad actors, all of them. We can stop Iran, if we do it quickly. It will involve more than writing them a letter or scolding them. It would mean strong military action. If we do nothing (which lately we are very good at), in five years we can have a North Korea scenario in the Middle East. 

Bottom line is this - this is a big, big problem right now for not only the region, but the world. We have not had to use nukes in anger since World War II, and we never want to use them again. However, Kim Jong-un might make us use these horrible weapons. If we do, may God forgive us all for what will happen next. 

The Sad Tale of the Crusader

"Sometimes we are penny wise and pound foolish..."

Before I start, a bit of disclosure. I worked on the Crusader Program from the time it was known as AFAS (Advanced Field Artillery System). Even though my background is Navy, and most of the programs I have worked on have been Navy related, I understood the need for this advanced ground system for the United States Army.
 

In battle, a game changer, a force multiplier, is often a very effective artillery system. It has been that way for many years. The United States has an adequate system in its inventory, known as the M109A6 Paladin. This system can fire one 155mm round per minute at a range of 30km. Not bad. However, not good enough. It was dated and could not compete with systems being developed in other countries.

Enter this new program called AFAS. It was Paladin on steroids. Like Paladin, it would use a 155mm round. Unlike Paladin, it could fire 10 - 12 rounds per minute, and send them 40km down range. It was faster and more maneuverable. In addition, it had an amazing plus. Due to a very sophisticated on board fire control computer, it could fire 8 rounds per minute at different azimuths, which would allow them to detonate on target simultaneously. This made the lethality of the AFAS unbelievable.

In the mid 90's it was full speed ahead for the Army. AFAS was now given the name Crusader, and advanced development had been given the green light. Teams consisting of many big defense contractors were formed, and money from Washington was pouring in. The program was given a $11B budget and most everyone wanted a piece of the action.

However, development problems continued to plague this very technical program. After sinking $2B into development, the Defense Department saw the hand writing on the wall. On May 8, 2002, the Secretary of Defense cancelled the program. The remaining $9B which was to be spent on Crusader, would now be reallocated to other programs.

This program is a classic example of the disconnect between need and execution. Right now, we would love to have a group of Crusaders near the DMZ in South Korea. After Desert Storm, we knew the limitations of the Paladin. Those limitations still exist. We had our chance to develop a system which would have served us well into the 21st century. I met some of the smartest people I ever worked with on Crusader. But now it is gone, the people are gone, and the chances of seeing something like this again in our lifetime is zero.

The next time someone tells you there is no waste in the Pentagon, remind them of Crusader. There are many more programs with tales like Crusader, but this one is fresh in my memory and experience. We can do better, we must do so much better.

The Sore Toe

 

 

"Forgive and forget? Fat Chance!"

 

 

A few weeks ago I had an ingrown toenail which infected my big toe. It was very painful to say the least. My neighbor had come over to borrow a tool. As we were going downstairs to get the tool, he stepped on my sore toe. I screamed out in pain and then called him an ugly name. He said he was sorry, but I did not believe him, and it sure did not accept his apology. He left with neither of us saying goodbye and maybe we will never speak again. That is fine with me, because what he did out of carelessness, is beyond forgiveness.

 

Okay - the only thing which is true from this story is I did have an infected toe. The rest I made up just to make a point. How many times do we hold things which we should not? How many times do we let another's transgression, intentional or otherwise, turn into a seething or hatred? How many times do we choose not to forgive just because, well, just because.

 

It has often been said that hatred is the battery acid of the heart. Often times, an unforgiven act can manifest itself into a feeling of ill will, or even hatred. A big problem is this - hate is a reverse emotion. Hate affects the "hater" much more than the "hated". Hate and  a lack of forgiveness can eat you up on the inside, even leading to psychosomatic illnesses.

 

The Holy Bible is very wise on the issue of forgiveness. When someone asked Jesus how often we should forgive, He replied "70 x 7". Before you think "only 490 times?", remember this. With the math skills 2,000 years ago, 70 x 7 might as well be infinity. That was the point. There is no limit on how much we should forgive.

 

The Lords Prayer also has a message on the importance of forgiveness. "Forgive us our trespasses (sins) AS we forgive others". Not "because", not "if", but "as". As we forgive, we are forgiven.

 

During this season of Lent, especially during Holy Week, what a wonderful time to empty our hearts of unwanted baggage. The freedom one feels upon forgiveness is a gift we can give ourselves. If you need forgiveness, ask for it. If you need to forgive, do it. Most of all, if you need to forgive yourself for something long overdue, do it now. To hold it in, to not release it, will bother you much more than a sore toe. What a great and blessed way to celebrate Easter!