Public figures caught ‘disremembering’ things is becoming common

Good Day World!

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about various public figures who disremember things, misstate things, and who downright lie about things.

The most recent example is Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald, who apologized Monday for misstating that he served in the military's special forces.

In a statement released Monday by the VA, McDonald said: "While I was in Los Angeles, engaging a homeless individual to determine his veteran status, I asked the man where he had served in the military.

He responded that he had served in special forces. I incorrectly stated that I had been in special forces. That was inaccurate and I apologize to anyone that was offended by my misstatement."

Meanwhile, conservatives have tenaciously sunk their fangs into the juicy scandal that is engulfing NBC News anchor Brian Williams.

The fact that he has admitted (and apologized for) some false statements he made several years ago regarding his experiences covering the war in Iraq is troubling and particularly so for people who make their living on their reputation for honesty.

However, the degree to which the right has gone overboard with their overt hostility is a spectacle that is worth watching for the sheer entertainment value.

Although it's not as if they wouldn't be showering their hatred on Williams and the rest of the so-called "lamestream" media even if their weren't some budding scandal. For its part, Fox News has been exhibiting a Benghazi-like obsession with their relentless coverage of the story.

What's missing from all of this is any sense of perspective or context.

Has Fox given equal time to the false assertions by their own Geraldo Rivera who excused his lies as being the fault of the"fog of war?"

Of course not. Neither do they make a distinction between the lies advanced by mis-remembering a distant event in the past in order to enhance one's own personal image, and the lies perpetrated deliberately by national leaders (i.e. George Bush, Dick Cheney, etc.) that resulted in the violent deaths of thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of innocent, non-combatant Iraqis.

Well, if that's the standard they are embracing, then let them apply it to Bill O'Reilly as well. Back in 2006, O'Reilly took an extended book promotion tour to Kuwait where he visited with soldiers and signed copies of his book.

Reports at the time described how "service members asked O'Reilly about his own tour of duty in Kuwait during Desert Storm."

That might have been an interesting story except for the fact that O'Reilly never did a tour of duty in Kuwait during Desert Storm, or anywhere else since he never served in the military!

More recently, O'Reilly told his radio listeners about how he would have coaxed information out of an enemy soldier based on his personal experiences in combat:

"I tell you what, I've been in combat. I've seen it. I've been close to it. And if my unit is in danger and I got a captured guy and the guy knows where the enemy is and I'm looking him in the eye, the guy better tell me. That's all I'm gonna tell you. If it's life or death, he's going first."

As noted above, and contrary to his statement, O'Reilly has never been in combat. Consequently, he has never commanded a unit or had to contemplate how he would deal with an enemy prisoner.

His pretend bluster and machismo is all just a bunch of fantasizing of himself as a hero. So how is that any different than the offenses for which Williams is being pilloried?

There are, however, some very real differences between Williams and O'Reilly. Williams has been found to be less than truthful on this one occasion.

O'Reilly has lied repeatedly over his career at Fox News with plenty of documentation to prove it.

What's more O'Reilly has demonstrated himself to be an arrogant, rude, bully who shoves his usually inane opinion down the throats of his guests and his viewers. That's something that cannot be attributed to Williams.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

A quick look at a rising Republican star (?)

Good Day World!

What does it take to be a rising Republican star in the 21st century?

What is the NEW Conservative Agenda?

Meet Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock.

He is the United States Representative for Illinois's 18th congressional district, and has served since 2009.

At the age of 33, Schock is the third youngest currently serving U.S. representative, after Patrick Murphy of Florida, and Elise Stefanik of New York.

Additionally, he was the first member of the U.S. Congress born in the 1980s.

To summarize; you have to be young to be a rising star in the Republican Party. The younger, the better. So far, so good.

Schock's high-flying lifestyle is laughed off – by GOP mages – as just another wealthy white guy living life to its fullest.

The reality – according to an Associated Press investigation – is much grimmer:

Schock is facing an ethics inquiry for spending taxpayer and campaign funds on flights aboard private planes owned by some of his key donors, and questions about expenses decorating his office after the TV show "Downton Abbey."

In addition he faces allegations of illegally soliciting donations in 2012.

The Office of Congressional Ethics said in a 2013 report that there was reason to believe Schock violated House rules by soliciting campaign contributions for a committee that backed Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., in a 2012 primary.

The House Ethics Committee has said that query remains open.

The AP's review covered Schock's travel and entertainment expenses in his taxpayer-funded House account, in his campaign committee and the GOP Generation Y Fund. Records show more than $1.5 million in contributions to the Generation Y Fund since he took office in 2009.

To toss some salt on the wound Schock also requested more than $18,000 in mileage reimbursements since 2013, among the highest in Congress. (AP)

To re-summarize:

To become a rising Republican star, like Schock, all you have to do is be young, untroubled by ethics accusations, and have a lot of wealthy supporters. Anything in addition to that is considered frosting on the candidate!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Reflections on a One-Way Trip to Mars

Good Day World!

Remember the old TV comedy show The Honeymooners? (Circa 1955-56)

The main character on the show, Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason), was always threatening to send his wife Alice to the moon – on what we must assume was a one-way trip! 

Nearly seven decades later, 100 men and women are competing to go on a one-way trip to Mars. The Dutch-based Mars One venture project plans to put on a reality-TV competition to select 24 prospective crew members for missions to Mars, starting as early as 2024.

The winners will be expected to start up a permanent colony on the Red Planet. Call me silly, but that sounds like permanent banishment on a bleak planet that doesn’t even have water or breathable air.

Still, thousands signed up for Mars One consideration in 2013, and the 100 competitors (full list here) were chosen after going through interviews with chief medical officer Norbert Kraft.

I applaud anyone with that much desire to become a pioneer – regardless of where - if it’s unexplored and dangerous.

I should probably add that most scientists think the venture will not work out. The consensus being the science won’t be there by 2024.

Some related stories: 

• Three Mars One Applicants Explain Why They Signed Up
• Mars One Pares Down Its List to 705 Would-Be Settlers
• Mars One Signs Deal With TV Producers

Time for me to walk on down the road…

What kind of legacy will ‘Rapping’ leave to the world of music?

                                    Good Day World!

Of all the different types of music, Rap stands out as the most violent. The artists themselves thrive on violence. It’s their muse. 

I understand the origins of Rap – it grew full bloom from the ghettos and gangs of America as a form of social protest. That’s something I understand being an old Hippie; the “haves” and the “have nots.”

How many Jazz musicians have you seen slug fans onstage though?

Afroman, the rapper behind the 2001 hit "Because I Got High," stunned fans at a concert Tuesday night in Biloxi, Mississippi, when he socked a petite female fan who hopped up on stage and started dancing beside him.

The shocking sucker punch to the head forced the woman to the ground and left her bleeding and crying until the house lights came back on, according to reports.

Local radio personality John Govia told NBC News the crowd was dumbfounded after the incident. Some people in the audience began to boo, and the owner of the Kress Live venue quickly canceled the performance.

Police were called to the scene and arrested the entertainer, whose real name is Joseph Edgar Foreman. He was booked on an assault charge.

Part of the problem with Rappers is that many have gang affiliations which result in murders and mayhem. Here’s a list of 30 Rappers who were murdered.

The most recent Rapper death - Bay Area Rapper ‘The Jacka’ Killed In East Oakland Shooting.

Rapper 'Suge' Knight was accused of murder in January, after running over someone in his car.

Rappers come in all colors.

Yes, the majority are African-American, but there’s a wide representation of races rapping all over the world today. Regardless of the race, or color, rapping begets violence. It’s the core of rapping.

In an already violent world, Rapping often stands out because of the vicious lyrics and the artists who feel they have to display “street creds,” with violent actions.

I can’t imagine that Rap, as a form of music, will ever have the legacy that the other types of music have enjoyed in the past, and the present.

Time for me to walk on down the street…   

Dirtiest Destinations: Rome, the ‘Eternal City’ is a Dilapidated Disgrace

                                          Good Day World!

Rome, aka the “Eternal City” is a dilapidated disgrace.

The glory days of Rome are long past. In recent years Rome has found itself in the unenviable position of being ranked among Europe's dirtiest destinations, according to TripAdvisor surveys.

There’s graffiti everywhere, homeless people sleeping under bridges, broken bottles and a stench of urine in today’s Rome. It isn’t pretty.

The renaissance-era Ponte Sisto is strewn with sprayed-painted graffiti, and the banks of the river Tiber seem abandoned and soiled with uncollected garbage.

Despite this, the Italian capital was chosen as one of the filming locations for "Spectre," the latest installment in the franchise featuring Britain's favorite Martini-swilling spy 007.

But local campaigners are worried that rather than promoting the Eternal City on the international stage, the movie will merely highlight how dirty and run-down Rome has become.

Photographs posted on Basta Cartelloni show the film's locations looking grim, unkempt and in a general state of decay.

With tourism dwindling every year you’d think the locals would do something about it. A citywide cleanup would be a good place to start. Maybe the threat of international embarrassment will be enough to jumpstart a beautification campaign.

Viva Rome!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

 

A lie is a lie – no matter how you dress it up

                                      Good Day World!

Back in the day they differentiated between lies. There were white lies, and outright lies. A white lie (or small lie) was something that supposedly didn’t hurt anyone.

Nowadays, people don’t talk about white lies.

Instead, they’re talking about “disremembering” things. The most recent example would be Brian Williams, the very popular NBC news anchorman for over a decade.

Williams was recently exposed when he publically disremembered his Iraq experience, his Katerina coverage, and other events.

The man isn’t that old. His memory over major events in his life have suddenly become vague under the scrutiny of NBC’s investigative team.

Of course we all know, a lie is a lie. It doesn’t matter how you dress it up or present it. There’s no good reason for lying.

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“If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.” Mark Twain once said.

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According to the Hebrew Bible, the ninth of God’s Ten Commandments instructs that no person shall bear false witness against their neighbor. In other words, you shouldn’t lie.

All mainstream religions agree that lying is wrong. Sure, you don’t need to have faith in a higher power to understand that telling untruths is both foolish and immoral. There are many logical reasons to avoid telling lies.

Here are six reasons:

1) Remembering your lies - How good do you think your memory is? If you tell somebody a lie, you have to be able to remember exactly what you told them. If ever you forget the lie you told, there is a chance that you’ll contradict yourself later on and subsequently get caught

2) Losing people’s trust - When you get caught lying, people tend to mistrust you from that point forward. If you lie habitually, people will become especially wary of you. Hence, the habitual liar is often a very lonely person.

3) A bad reputation - When people know you for a liar, your reputation is basically ruined. What’s more, it’s human nature to gossip, so news of your lies will quickly spread.

4) It’s addictive - At first, lying can seem rewarding. When someone swallows a lie you’ve told and you get your own way, it can provide an addictive feeling of power.Before you know it, you’ve told so many lies that it becomes difficult to remember exactly what you said, and that means extra stress. That’s when you start to realize that lying is the same as anything else addictive.

5) Legal ramifications - While telling the odd white lie is unlikely to get you into trouble with the law, more serious lies could. Perhaps you think you’d never tell one of those more serious lies. However, when someone gets into the habit of lying, it usually starts with small lies and slowly escalates. The lies you tell today might not get you into trouble with the law, but what about the bigger lies you may tell in the future?

6) Shattered relationships - How do you feel when you find out that somebody else has been lying to you? Most people feel rather angry when they discover they’ve been lied to. When the person that lied is someone that supposedly loves you, the lies can even cause emotional pain. Many loving relationships between good friends, family members and lovers have been completely ruined because of a lie told by one person to another. (source)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Be glad you’re not an albino in Tanzania

Good Day World!

Be glad that you’re not an albino living in Tanzania.

Because if you did, you’d be open game for witch doctors!

That’s right. Albinos of all ages are stolen from their families and hacked up to make magic spells for wealth, influence, etc.

Hard to believe that in this day and age people can be this ignorant. The practice of killing albinos for magical incantations is something out of the ancient past. Yet, it happens all too frequently today.

Tanzanian police recently found the mutilated body of a one-year-old albino boy whose abduction renewed calls for tougher action to stop the killing of albinos for their body parts, prized in black magic.

He was the second albino child in two months to be abducted in the Lake zone of Tanzania. A four-year-old girl who was kidnapped in December is still missing.

The United Nations resident coordinator for Tanzania, Alvaro Rodriguez, condemned the latest killing, warning that 2015 as an election year could be dangerous for people with albinism.

Analysts believe some politicians seek support from witch doctors or traditional healers ahead of elections to improve their luck and seek albino body parts to be used in charms.

Tanzania claims to be a civilized country, but when witch doctors kill and mutilate albinos with impunity, I question that claim. This is the 21st century.

If this tiny African nation really wants to prove their civilized, they can start with a major education campaign and witch hunt!

Efforts thus far have been anemic, and if not for outside organizations like Under The Same Sun, a Canadian non-profit working to defend albinos, their plight may never end.

The PAN AFRICA ALBINISM CONFERENCE 2015 is set for March 31st.

It’s time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Presidential Hopefuls Playing ‘The PAC is Right’

                                     Good Day World!

Welcome to a new reality show featuring presidential candidates raising vast monies for their campaigns:

The PAC is Right, featuring game-show host Dave Stancliff, will take you through the corrupt process of men and women gathering money from anyone who offers it. Just follow this blog.

Are you ready?

Contestants, are you ready? Come on down! 

The contestants whose guess is closest to the actual amount of their “hidden donations” will go on to the next phase – the primary elections where only one lucky winner will emerge to compete for the Grand Prize.

Because the coming election will be marked by unstoppable growth in contributions from non-institutional sources, you’ll see tons of money used to saturate broadcast and online screens with political advertising.

Even more than the last election.

Under the new rules to the game, the strict regulations adopted in the 1970s - and again in 2002 after corruption scandals in the 1990s – are gone. Contestants will be raising cash in all of the traditional and non-traditional ways.

Jeb Bush, a leading contestant, is already holding dinners where potential big donors have to pay $100,000 each to attend. But that’s peanuts compared to what the Koch Brothers plan on giving out to purchase the presidency (nearly $1 billion dollars).

I bet you can’t wait to see who makes the most money. Will it be Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, or Chris Christie for the GOP? Looks like Hillary Clinton is the only Democratic contestant at this time.

Stay tuned to read about all of the action between now and election day 2016. I expect we’ll all be gasping in awe as millions pour in to win the Grand Prize – the presidency of the United States.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

‘The Hackers are Coming ! God Save Us From The Fury of the Hackers’

Good Day World!

Can you imagine the sight, as shiploads of Vikings landed in England to pillage its churches and seize its land?

Cries of “The Vikings are coming! God save us from the fury of the northmen!" rang out throughout ancient England.

Today the world cries out, “Save us from the hackers!”

Like the Vikings, nothing can be done to escape the hacker’s attacks. Stalking the internet like Viking “Berserkers” with little regard for any government or institution, the hackers are becoming bolder daily.

In same cases hackers are state-sponsored. In all cases they do real harm. Worst of all, most of the time hackers don’t get caught.

4 recent hacks:

A simple security oversight was responsible for the massive JPMorgan Chase hack

Twitter Says CFO Anthony Noto's Account Was Hacked 

 

Chinese Hackers Hijack Forbes Website to Spread Malware: Report

Newsweek Twitter Hacked With Pro-ISIS Messages

Here’s some more alarming stories:

Security Gaps Found in 39,890 Online Databases Containing Customer Data

The Conficker Virus

This was a virus that affected almost 15 million computers worldwide. It exploits a security hole in Windows operating system. It makes way to the files and folders in the computer. Even the registry files are exposed to the hackers by the attack of this virus.

That’s why Microsoft has offered a $250,000 bounty for the developer of the virus. After getting infected the hackers will be able to get all the passwords and confidential data. Later on Microsoft has developed a patch to block this hole in their operating system.

Spotify hacked

Spotify is an online music streaming web site which has over one million subscribers in it. Recently this web site was hacked by hackers. It exposed all the account details of the users such as birth days, postcodes, and e mail addresses to the hacker.

It prompted the users to change their passwords to neglect the affect of it. Fortunately the financial details like credit cards which are used for the payments by customers were not revealed, because it was handled by an outside source.

Gary McKinnon - hacker

Gary McKinnon is a Scottish hacker who hacked into the supposedly most secured networks in the world. He hacked into Pentagon and NASA networks in between February 2001 and March 2002. He admitted the hacking responsibility and now facing chances of extradition to United States.

He has done this to get information about UFO researches. Now all depends on the review of the Home secretary Jacqui Smith. Even though Gary is having Asperser’s syndrome, doctors have not given any objection for a trial because of that. If he is finally extradited he might get 70 years in prison.(Source)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Sneaky ‘Riders’ Causing Gridlock in Congress

Good Day World!

Congress has resorted to extortion, not governance, ever since the the advent of “riders;” unrelated legislation attached to another bill like a parasite.

Our government will never work if parties always try to put in unrelated legislation, that could not pass on its own merit, into other bills.

The basic flaw in the lawmaking process today needs to be redressed with legislation banning “riders,” on unrelated bills.

Example:

John Boehner, the Republican House of Representatives speaker, said he is willing to let funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapse as part of a Republican push to roll back President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration.

In other words, Boehner and cronies are trying to sneak an unrelated bill on immigration into the funding of Homeland Security, and if they don’t get their way they intend to retaliate by taking punitive action against the department.

Riders are usually created as a tactic to pass a controversial provision that would not pass as its own bill. Occasionally, a controversial provision is attached to a bill not to be passed itself but to prevent the bill from being passed (in which case it is called a wrecking amendment or poison pill).

The use of riders is prevalent and customary in the Congress of the United States, as there are no legal or other limitations on their use.

That’s just wrong. We know that by the results ‘riders” have on getting legislation passed. It’s a low-down sneaky way to get objectionable bills passed.

To counteract riders, 43 of the 50 U.S. states have provisions in their state constitutions allowing the use of line item vetos so that the executive can veto single objectionable items within a bill, without affecting the main purpose or effectiveness of the bill.

In addition, the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 was passed to allow the President of the United States to veto single objectionable items within bills passed by Congress, but the Supreme Court struck down the act as unconstitutional in Clinton v. City of New York.

I think Congress should go the route that 43 states have taken regarding riders. Line-item vetoes make sense.

Congress is dysfunctional at best, but when you add riders as a way to sneak bills into passage, you get our current version of Congress – a pathetic group of partisan party-goers more interested in advancing their ideology than in serving the American people.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Why GOP presidential hopefuls should stay away from the United Kingdom

Good Day World!

When I read Democratic National Committee spokesman Mo Elleithee’s statement to the press I was surprised:

"Do any other GOP presidential candidates want to go to London? If so, let us know. The DNC is more than happy to pick up your travel costs."

What the heck? Then it dawned on me.

Lately, there’s been several GOP White House hopefuls who traveled to the United Kingdom to pad their foreign credentials, and each managed to embarrass themselves and others.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's trip to the U.K. was driven off course by a question about childhood vaccinations.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal came in for criticism during his visit abroad when he said Muslims have established autonomous "no-go zone" neighborhoods in some Western European cities where they govern by a harsh version of Islamic law

— a notion that drew ridicule from British Prime Minister David Cameron, among others.

And most recently, there was Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who capped an appearance at the prestigious Chatham House think tank by avoiding a question about whether he believes in the theory of evolution.

Walker appeared to take some lessons from Christie's widely panned trip, which ended with his staff canceling three meetings planned with reporters. Walker limited his agenda to mostly private meetings with government officials, business executives and ex-pats from Wisconsin.

His only public event was a 15-minute speech, which he followed with 45 minutes of questions and answers.

The query about evolution, posed by the event's moderator, was the last one of the day.

"I'm here to talk about trade and not pontificate on other issues," said Walker, who then tried to make a joke. "I love the evolution of trade in Wisconsin and I'd like to see an even bigger evolution as well."

I guess no one in the audience was laughing because the British press went after him like honey badgers!

Which brings up the obvious:

American presidential candidates trying to get credibility in the UK have failed horribly, and more than likely the UK will continue to be the Waterloo for White House wannabes. 

So far, just GOP members have tried. As there doesn’t seem to be any other presidential candidates for the Dems other than Hillary Clinton, it’s safe to say she doesn’t need to go to the UK for a grip-and-grin.

She’s been there, and done that. Her foreign credentials have been established, but not without controversy.

I doubt she’ll ever shake off the GOP’s rabid jackals who continue to try to blame (an 8th committee has assembled for another try) the Benghazi fiasco on her.

My advise to the GOP presidential pack of candidates is simple:

Campaign at home. You already make asses out of yourselves here as it is, but when you go overseas you magnify the effect by ten-fold! 

Time for me to walk on down the road…