Rebecca Vitsun: My Model for Dealing with Natural Catastrophes!

Corporate media Cretin Wolf Blitzer tries to get Moore, OK tornado victim Rebecca Vitsun to thank 'God' for sparing the life of herself and child - we know what her answer was


I actually watched the story unfold while in Germany, but had to laugh as the total moron Wolf Blitzer, confronting a young mother and tornado victim in Moore, Oklahoma, got his comeuppance. The CNN Cretin -in-chief exercised extreme presumption as he eyed Rebecca Vitsun and said:

"I guess you gotta thank the Lord, right? I mean you gotta thank the Lord?"

And I thought, 'Are you fucking kidding me? Thank him for what? Sending tornadoes out to smash people's homes down? Having allowed them to erupt but - when prayers were sent forth - not displaying the presumed power to stop them? Or at least deflect them into uninhabited areas! What kind of a con game do the Xtianoids expect us 'NBs' to accept? Oh wait! They want us to have faith....riiiiiiight!

But the woman, Rebecca Vitsun, displayed vastly more in the way of graciousness than I would've had Wolf pulled that shtick with me. No, she replied simply:

"I'm actually an atheist."

No provocative attack lines, like 'No, you dummy, I don't believe in gods that send destruction!'  Or anything like that. Just a simple statement of her self-identity, which said it all. In other words, those four words embodied her transcending of stupid, supernatural nonsense or existents - acknowledging there was no need to thank an entity that didn't exist and indeed, wasn't there to help out when needed anyway. But you could have almost heard CNN's media honchos back in Atlanta erupt: "WHERE did she come from? I thought Oklahoma was a red state!"

Of course, we know the US of A is full of crackpots and fruitcakes and this sort of interlude was almost guaranteed to lure one or more out. I mean, an ATHEIST on a major TV  network being interviewed? In a disaster?

Well, it shook the fruitcake Glenn Beck to his core, and prompted him to claim "the forces of darkness at CNN had planted the idea of the question in Blitzer's mind."

"Planted"  the silly question in Wolf's febrile mind? Actually, I think this fool attributes way too much in the way of cleverness to account for a simply stupid Blitzer-type goof.

But anyway, the suggestion has come up - evidently in some minds similarly operating on Blitzer-type circuits, that as the Black Forest Fire rages I also ought to get on bended knee and PRAY! Pray that this horrific fire doesn't come and burn down my home and blah, blah. Well, I have news for this guy - the 397 families in Black Forest that ALREADY lost homes prayed feverishly for respite or reprieve. Did it come? Nope, all 397 homes burned to the ground, 41,000 people evacuated - two people killed, to be investigated as homicides (robbed just as they were about to leave Black Forest).

My question then is what's the point of praying? To whom? There is no one there answering the prayer phone! Thus, no supernatural hands are going to intervene and the only salvation - if there's to be any- will be from the hundreds of tireless, determined fire fighters waging an acre by acre battle against the flames.

So I guess what I am saying is my model for such disaster response is the same as Rebecca Vitsun's. Like her I expect no supernatural delivery, hence beseech no supernatural entities for any. If deliverance comes it will be from human hands, machines (slurry planes) and techniques.

This is what we call reality-based thinking.

More Americans, like Wolf Blitzer and Glenn Beck, ought to practice it!

Don't Think NSA's Dragnet Spying Program Matters? Ask Occupy Wall Street's Protestors!

Was this young OWS protestor, seen in NYC ca. October, 2011, aware that she was being monitored by the full resources of the NSA and other surveillance operatives, systems? Not bloody likely!

"I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America. And we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision so that we never cross that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.” - Sen. Frank Church, referencing the NSA in 1975.

As the banshee-like howls continue for Edward Snowden's head among the traitors in the corporate media, political class and congress - one thing is becoming obvious to the deep politics citizen. That is, that NSA's monstrous PRISM program was likely used to assimilate information on Occupy Wall Protestors from the summer of 2011 and into the fall - even as these idealistic kids were just trying to exercise basic 1st amendment free speech rights.

But see,  this is what happens when a spy surveillance state is allowed to get out of control as ours has, and which we'd never have known had not Edward  Snowden exposed its excesses in PRISM. In such a case the "metadata" surreptititously gathered, ostensibly to "protect" us, is used for other purposes - to track down and harass model citizens exercising first amendment rights - but declared as "irritants" by some troglydytes ensconced within the matrix of the mass security state. Not to put too fine a point on it, but always bear in mind Erik Larson's 2nd law of data dynamics: "Personal data has a way of being used for purposes that no one ever intended".  This is exactly why we are obliged to laugh when the gov't says "Trust us!" No, by Thomas Jefferson's famous words in his Notes on Virginia, it is the PEOPLE who must scrutinize their gov't in order to ensure it doesn't trespass into tyranny, abuse of power and corruption -before it can be "trusted".


As I noted six months ago documents obtained from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security by the Partnership for Civil Justice pointed to the extent to which the collected data was dispatched to fusion centers and used to harass OWS protestors, e.g. see http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/1494

As David Lindorff notes,  the document shows that the FBI and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies “began a campaign of monitoring, spying and disrupting the Occupy Movement at least two months before the first occupation actions began in late September 2011.”

He goes on to write:

“As early as August, while acknowledging that the incipient Occupy Movement was “peaceful” in nature, federal, state and local officials from the FBI, the DHS and the many Fusion Centers and Joint Terrorism Task Force centers around the country were meeting with local financial institutions and their private security organizations to plot out a strategy for countering the Occupy Movement’s campaign.”

Note that the collective "joint task force centers", plus fusion centers in concert with other fed super snoopers is reminiscent of John Poindexter's 'Total Information Awareness' plan - which was rejected by congress in 2003, but re-materialized as the Domestic Security Alliance Council. This Council in turn, no doubt would have had access to NSA's PRISM program to assist in its collection of data on OWS, and who comprised it, where they were, what they planned to do.

In this we see that the other side of the "safety" sword,  which so many of our pseudo-citizens seem to want to embrace,  is the harassment and disruption sword wielded by the state against those it fancies least. And those it least likes historically have always been on the Left, from the Wobblies in the 1920s, to OWS more recently.

But what really ought to terrify the citizen who insists lamely "I didn't do nuthin' wrong so I ain't worried" is what he or she might experience if the decision is made to join a peaceful protest. It may not be an Occupy protest but something environmental like marching against the Keystone pipeline. In such a case it is instructive to see what one of Lindorff’s PCJ -obtained documents revealed. That is,  a perp -instigator (name conveniently blanked out in the released document) who actually proposed to assassinate leaders of the Occupy Movement in Houston with “suppressed” sniper rifles. As the released PCJ document puts it:


“One identified ------ as of October planned to engage in sniper attacks against protesters in Houston, Texas if deemed necessary. An identified ----- had received intelligence that indicated the protesters in New York and Seattle planned similar protests in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, Texas. ---- planned to gather intelligence against the leaders of the protest group and obtain photographs, then formulate a plan to kill the leadership by suppressed sniper rifles.”


So is it at all conceivable that the assassination of decent citizens might accrue by extension of a mass surveillance program? Obviously it is! Further, who's to say that in a future extremist GOP administration, leftist protestors aren't picked off by hired gov't assassins at assorted key protests - after being delivered the hit information compliments of NSA and its PRISM program? Maybe a President Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin or even Jeb Bush will find it expedient to do so, who knows? Think of the monumental chilling effect there'd be on any future protests. Think of the absolute extermination of First Amendment rights!

Before people succumb to the inevitable temptation of complacency they need to think long and hard about this. Instead of being driven into the "attack Snowden" PR mold pushed by the corporate media there ought to be much much more of an outcry to repeal the Patriot Act in toto, and at least Sec. 215.

"But I'm not a leftist either! So I still got nothin' to worry about! I just wanna stay at home and tweet - I don't even blog 'bout nothin' 'cept my cat!"

Then I advise you memorize the following quotation from the German Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the socialists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Catholic.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the Muslims,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Muslim.


Then they came for me,

and there was no one left to speak for me.

-------------

The preceding is quoted in various versions but all underscore one thing: how those who remain silent in the face of their government's wrong doing become silent partners and criminals in their own right. In this case, the metastasizing Nazi state and how it gradually snuffed out speech in the name of "security" - when the real reason was to protect and empower the state over the people. Will we in the U.S. now make the same error? The clock is ticking!

Mass Evacuations Ordered In Northern Colo. Springs - Will We Be Next?

The failure to contain the Black Forest Fire along with horrific dry conditions, high winds and high temperatures, has expanded the fire southward forcing mass evacuations from the Springs. Will we be next (despite the fact wifey is now ill with severe bronchitis)? We don't know - but we are starting to assemble an emergency departure kit, including: all insurance policies, all papers to do with Social Security and Medicare, all recent bank-asset  statements, tax files for past 10 years - for B'dos and U.S., all IDs including important personal proof papers not already in the bank safety deposit box, enough clothes, meds, shoes etc. to get by in a shelter - if it comes to that, and of course, a box containing our most precious memories including photos, DVDs of holidays, and written diaries dating back to 1969-70. Another box is to be filled with a limited set of "best books", best movie DVDS, and favorite music CDs - oh, along with Janice's Ipad, our Ipods, and at least one laptop.

Added to the existing havoc are weather conditions producing dry thunderstorms and accompanying lightning strikes the last thing this community needs right now.

Some brief updates up to now (4. 15 p.m. MDT)

3.30 p.m.: Gov. John Hickenlooper appoints Air National Guard Brig. Gen. Peter J. Byrne to head the wildfire reponse and relief support efforts in Colorado. He will work with existing fire incident commanders to seek containment of the beast - which has now destroyed 360 homes and is at 8, 700 acres.

3.37 p.m. Heavy smoke and ash blowing on the northwestern edge of the blaze.

3.45 p.m. Penrose -St. Francis Hospital in northern Springs reports treating people for smoke inhalation in the emergency room.

3.55 p.m. Firefighters report fierce winds driving the Black Forest Fire. Reporter Garrison Wells at Pikes Peak Community College reports wind gusts hitting hard.

4 p.m.  Some citizens report rain drops near Palmer Lake.

Above all, what we need is a heavy rain along with the winds to die down to make progress. As one official put it this a.m. even before the day's battles began:

"Even all the firefighters in the world with all the equipment can't stop a fire driven by winds, high temperatures and low humidity. We will need help from Mother Nature."

Update: 6:15 p.m. We may be getting that assist from Mother Nature. According to latest reports, the winds are dying down and dew points increasing as we approach the 'golden hours' for fire fighting. On the negative side, wifey and I did smell smoke on a return junket from the store with some supplies: gatorade, chips, oranges, soup etc.

Also: The Black Forest Fire is 5% contained.
We will see what happens overnight, and hopefully we get some rain to help out!

"Chained CPI" Would Mean Back Door Tax Hike

It's been said that the GOP never met a federal income tax that they actually liked. Well, given that so many of them are drooling at the prospects of Social Security benefits cuts via Obama's proposed "Chained CPI", why aren't they also aware that enabling that to go through will induce a tax hike? And by $127 billion over ten years?

This according to an article 'A Backdoor Tax Hike' in the recent issue of the AARP Bulletin (June, p. 30).

While the article notes the chained CPI is a "new way of calculating cost of living adjustments' - it also notes too much attention has been paid to the consumer price index aspect, that naturally would translate into lowered benefits for Social Security. Given the chained-CPI reduces the cost of living adjustment by 0.3 percentage points annuall, that translates into a cut in benefits of 3 percent for those who have been retired ten years, 6 percent after 20 years, and 9 percent after 30 years. The poorest seniors and those retired the longest would therefore be hit the hardest.

But evidently, from the AARP article, while people had their eyes fixated on the benefits cuts they didn't take into account or lost sight of the accompanying tax increases - IF the chained CPI ever goes into effect- which would affect about 80 percent of all taxpayers.  How could such a tax increase have escaped scrutiny? Well, mainly because too many in the media were too mesmerized by the benefits cuts that they missed it.

But think about it! Every year income taxes aren't fixed. Each year the Internal Revenue Service makes adjustments, based on the rate of inflation, to all income tax brackets, standard deductions, personal exemptions and more. This is why one year you may see a higher or lower standard deduction than what you saw the previous year. Ditto with the personal exemptions.  All these adjustments help prevent the default bumping of taxpayers into higher tax brackets - thereby making them pay more taxes because of inflation.

But.....for those conservos who salivate at the chained CPI imposing some austerity on "entitlements" - that's a double edged sword. Because the chained CPI yields smaller increases than the current formula used (under standard CPI) MORE of your income will then come into play to compensate, so more of your income would be taxed at a higher rate.

Alas, however, the tax increase isn't fair with the highest tax increases applied to the lowest incomes and the least to the highest. This may well be why the GOOprs aren't kicking up too much of a storm over it, as they'd get a 'two fer': more austerity for entitlements, plus more taxes for lower income earners. Isn't that what Herman Cain and Rick Perry were thumping about during the 2012 campaign? That too many of the 'takers' didn't pay 'nuff in taxes?

How would that work? According to the AARP Bulletin, those taxpayers currently earning $10,000 - $20,000/year would see their taxes increase by 7 percent over 16 years, citing the Tax Policy Center in Washington. The least increase would be 0.2 percent over 16 years, for those earning more than $1 million per year.

As the Bulletin notes:

"So in addition to cutting Social Security by $142 billion over 10 years, the chained CPI wouild raise income taxes by $127 billion.

 True, but the same low income group is taking the hit each time - for the cuts, and for the taxes. No wonder the richest Americans are wetting their panties at the thought of a chained CPI! It's a win-win proposition for them. They get to see austerity imposed on poor seniors while they get richer on that austerity and not having to give up much in the way of taxes.

Not Being Expected To Tip At A Restaurant: More Americans Need to Experience It

Onwe

One




Split scene at Panorama Restaurant at the Fortress HohenSalzburg in Austria

One of the terrific aspects of travel in Germany and Austria was a firm 'Nein!' on any expectation of having to tip. Wherever we went, whether in Munich, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Zugspitze, Innsbruck or the HohenSalzburg Panorama Restaurant in Salzburg - see image- there was zero expectation of customer gratuity.

Our last night with long time German friends Elli and Reinhart we spent at the  Bräustüberl  Restaurant (actually located in old Garmisch, http://www.braeustueberl-garmisch.de/ ) I asked Reinhart the reasons for the absence of gratuities for servers in Germany. He laughed over a tall brew of Krönig Ludwig and replied: "It's because we believe in paying them real wages here that they can live off!"

He explained that the wage scales were such that health insurance was provided for as well as vacation time and pension benefits. There was simply no need to task a customer to come up with extra dough which, as he knew (from several visits to the States) was merely customer subsidy - letting the employer off the hook. He insisted: "If your restuarants in the States even raised their prices barely a dollar across the board they could afford to pay more decent wage instead of expecting the customer to do what the employer ought to."

He had a point. The system in the U.S. then is really a very poor one, where wait staff basically sign on as indentured servants whose miserly scale pay, at $2.13 /hr. is usually quickly snatched up by the employer to pay whatever "expenses" he can think of, with the employee then scrambling to make enough in tips to pay the rent, or just groceries.  Worse and worse, I wager none of the wait staff in the U.S. get anywhere near the two full weeks vacation that wait staff get in Germany, Austria. I told Reinhart that they were more or less stuck with the "Herman Cain" model of restaurant compensation, reflected in their experiencing triple the poverty rate  of the general U.S. workforce.

Fortunately, a new light seems to have emerged at the proverbial end of the U.S. Miserly Tunnel. Well, at least at one New York City venue: Sushi Yasuda, an upscale place in midtown Manhattan, has opted to provide its staff with a decent salary and benefits package that includes vacation days, sick leave and health insurance. Instead of a tip line, the restaurant notifies their patrons at the bottom of the check:

“Following the custom in Japan, Sushi Yasuda’s service staff are fully compensated by their salary. Therefore gratuities are not accepted.”

Hey! Sounds an awful lot like the custom in most of Germany and Austria!

Of course, inevitably, some customers will always be so conditioned that they give tips whatever the new policy. But at Sushi Yasuda,  any tips the staff does receive goes straight to the house, rather than staff. Meanwhile, food prices have been raised an extra 15 percent to compensate wages, but there’s been no apparent change in customer volume.

Sushi Yasuda’s Co-owner, Scott Rosenberg, told The Price Hike

“The risk is that your prices appear to be high on the menu. But if you have faith in what you’re serving, and how you’re serving it, you know that when your customers have a good meal and look at their final tally it’s going to be around the same.”

Hey, now there's a novel thought! Have faith in what you're serving, then set ther prices accordingly - to meet the goal of providing a living wage for your staff! If your grub is in any good, people will come! They sure do in Germany, and over there the prices are marked in euros with one euro equivalent to about $1.30 U.S.  The meal I had at  Bräustüberl  featured roast duck and potatoes, salad with a dark German beer and ditto for Janice. It came to some 54 euros (27 euro each) or $70.20 U.S. And worth every cent by the way. Besides the server so enjoyed our table we each received a free round of Schnapps.

I would wager a similar model could be employed here in the U.S. say at place like Applebees or Olive Garden and with lower prices relative to what we paid in Europe. For example, Olive Gardens in Denver currently have a special 3-course special Italian dinner for $12.95. I am willing to bet that this might be offered instead at $15.95 and customers will still come and buy it if it's that good. The extra money can then be used to pay real server wages.

Alas, this is perhaps more a pipe dream than realistic. The chains - chain restaurants are more likely committed to the 'Herman Cain' model of meager wage and scrambling for tips - especially if the competition doesn't change but sticks to low dinner costs. This means a large portion of the U.S. work force will never really be able to improve its lot and Americans - perpetually anticipating low food prices - will come to expect restaurants deliver them as is their wont.

One Blog Every Citizen Needs to See

No, no - not mine! This is from Russ Baker, recently posted on smirkingchimp.com ('Why Obama Cannot Undo The Surveillance Society - But We Can):

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/russ-baker/50003/why-obama-cannot-undo-the-surveillance-society-but-we-can


The blog basically examines the real limits on Obama's power, as I already suspected - which is why more than once I alluded to giving him the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, some excerpts from Baker's piece:

"As history shows us, when it comes to the overall direction of American governance, absent generally minor tweaks of foreign policy and somewhat more robust swings on certain domestic issues that rouse voting bases (notably things like gay and reproductive rights and, lately, immigration) presidents of both parties rarely deviate from a kind of “consensus” cobbled together by people in academia, media and government, a consensus that almost always serves the interests of a fairly small number of wealthy people and interests.

This is not a partisan issue. It doesn’t matter who is president. No “ordinary American who can dream of one day becoming president” is in a position to alter the basic equation, which would involve bucking the vast military-financial-industrial-academic complex that drives the American economy, funds our political elections and keeps people in line through any means necessary."

----

"President Obama, who presumably believed in and hoped to achieve some of the promises he made as a candidate, has no choice but to try and keep people complacent, for he is essentially helpless. This is in part because of the power-brokers to whom he owes his political success—figures from the liberal end of the same status-quo-benefiting money spectrum—bankers, investors, corporate attorneys—who always run things. He has almost no wiggle room."


------

"Steven Aftergood of the Project on Government Secrecy told the Times, “If President Obama really welcomed a debate, there are all kinds of things he could do in terms of declassification and disclosure to foster it. But he’s not doing any of them.”

And indeed, he could do them in principle, but he cannot do them in reality. One of the many things he supposedly could do, but inexplicably has failed to do, is to declassify the remaining files on the JFK assassination.

If he were to release records on the national security apparatus during this, the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of another president, what a powerful statement that would be. And it would perhaps open doors to greater understanding of exactly how and when a military-intelligence clique answering to moneyed interests seized de facto power in this country.


---

But of course he can’t. Study the JFK assassination, the RFK assassination, the MLK assassination. Those bullets were pretty effective messages. Take a look at this video of John F. Kennedy’s Secret Service protection melting away just before he is assassinated. (For a comedian/social commentator’s take on the implicit message, watch this.)


----

From his first moments in office, as we have reported in the past, Obama has been sent plenty of unsubtle messages himself about the need to tread carefully. (See this and this)

-------------------
As I noted the whole piece can be read at the link - top of post.

Having seen all this was sobering to say the least. I promise I will go easier on Obama from now on!

Raging Fires Return to Colorado!

A home is engulfed in Black Forest, roughly 8 miles north of my place.


The choking smoke smothered everything in sight this morning, even as I struggled to get the hoses ready for front and backyards to water down the tinder dry lawn.  This experience was even worse than last year's (Waldo Canyon Fire) since I have been fighting an acute case of bronchitis for the past week. Despite that, I tied on a make-do face mask, dampened first, and went about soaking the lawn given the fire this year is even closer.

We suspected the worst might happen yesterday around 2 p.m. when 15 acres was first reported burning in the Black Forerst neighborhood, a tony uppercrust, "independent" subdivision about eight miles north of us. TV images taken from the corner of Powers and Woodmen in Colorado Springs showed billowing smoke and the TV meteorologist didn't make light of the fact that conditions were ideal for it to spread: 97 deg F, barely 7% humidity and winds out of the southeast at 30-34 mph.  He then showed a disarming photo of Black Forest lush with its green, well manicured lawns - but noted looks can be deceiving. Particularly as the trees that surrounded the area itself had literally become tinder for fire.

I noted the reasons why last year, when writing about the Waldo Canyon Fire that erupted south of us.That is, that the trees in Colorado have been victimized by sundry insects -particularly the mountain pine beetle -  mainly on account of the drought which has unleashed them in greater numbers.  They've essentially  converted the once living material into tinder that literally explodes when conditions are right- as they were yesterday afternoon.

So true, since from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. the Black Forest Fire expanded to 400 acres, then reached 800 acres by 5.30 p.m. and 3, 800 acres by 9 p.m. When I awoke this a.m. it was at 8,000 acres with zero containment and people from Falcon were being required to evacuate. Already anywhere from 60-80 homes may have been destroyed.

One of the problems has been lack of adequate water and manpower resources, this as another fire is raging south of us and another erupted near the Royal Gorge, rapidly expanding to 3, 800 acres. The latter fire saw state bureau of prisons agents evacuating prisoners  from the Colorado Territorial Prison at Canyon City. At one point, water storage tanks had to be raided, and since no large slurry planes were available. Instead,  four odd Chinook helicopters (from Ft. Carson) had to be loaded, each with a few hundred gallons, to dump them on thousands of burning acres. A water "shortage" was referred to at one point, and I couldn't help thinking of the 14- 18 million gallons of water wasted so far in our area by fracking for natural gas wells (all of which have emerged 'dry') that might have been used now to put out the fires.

Will the frackers (and the state) learn from this? Somehow, I doubt it. This despite, as I also noted last year, the trend is for these hot, dry raging fire summers to continue in Colorado and the Mountain west. Recall my reference last June to a Washington Post article entitled: Pace of Climate Change Exceeds Estimates, wherein one read:

"Warmer weather, earlier snowmelt, drought and beetle infestations facilitated by warmer climates are all contributing to the rising number of fires linked to climate change. Across large swaths of the United States and Canada, bark beetles have killed many mature trees, making forests more flammable. And tropical rain forests that were not susceptible to forest fires in the past are likely to become drier as temperatures rise, growing more vulnerable."


The beetle referenced above is the mountain pine beetle, a variant of the bark beetle species. It's modus operandi is basically to convert living plant tissue - say in trees -  into highly flammable dead bark for which the slightest spark can set off a conflagration. The beetle then, is a major catalyst for all the presently raging and uncontained Colorado wildfires.

What will we do in the meantime? All we can do is hope the wind direction soon changes so that the acrid odor of smoke which now permeates the house can be abated. Most of it is drawn in with the operation of the evaporative cooler. But with temperatures set to hit 90 today there's no way to turn it off and close all the windows- we'd suffocate. So, we have to tough it out.