Afghanistan as Wealthy Nation

As I have written before, the unknown events of the future will write the fate of President Barack Obama, the United States, and the world.  Good luck and good fortune play a big part in the future.

In an article in today’s New York Times about the findings of Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan could be the game changer that will enable that nation to stand on its own two feet and bring America’s troops home even faster than anyone could imagine.

Briefly, there is believed to be $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan.  “The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.”

If all this plays out as reported perhaps the fight will be over land and resource ownership.

The Day Miranda Rights Were Established

On this day in 1966, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Miranda v. Arizona, establishing the principle that all criminal suspects must be advised of their rights before interrogation.  It was a case in which the defendant, who was subsequently charged and convicted of kidnapping and rape, claimed his confession was false and coerced.  The appeal was taken up by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Miranda established that the accused must be informed that he or she has the right to remain silent and that if the suspect chooses not to remain silent that anything said can be used against the suspect in court. Before being interrogated the suspect must also be informed of the right to consult with an attorney, and to have legal counsel present during interrogation.

Additionally, the Miranda rule also requires that if the suspect is indigent that he or she be informed that the court will provide counsel. If the suspect decides to remain silent, then the interrogation must end. Any statements obtained in violation of the suspects’ Miranda rights are inadmissible as evidence in court. If the suspect decides to speak without consulting with an attorney then the prosecutor must prove that the suspect willingly waived Miranda rights.

Read more: Miranda v. Arizona – Miranda Rights http://www.law.cornell.edu/search/index.html?query=Miranda V Arizona

Can We Just Say No!

We are facing an unpleasant reality.  The Federal government is currently spending money at a rate 1½ times the rate of incoming money from taxes.  That is fact, not internet chatter.  Even worse is that the total national debt equals one year of GDP.  Imagine if your personal debt excluding your house mortgage (a planned long term commitment) equaled your total annual income.  The banks would increase the interest you would be required to pay on that debt because they would fear the possibility of default.  Unlike everyone else in America, the Federal government can print the money it needs.

The Congress and most people realize the situation is desperate.  The difficulty is saying “no” to the pressure for continuing the spending.  There are those in Congress who want to extend existing programs and add more for one simple reason.  It is an election year. 

Some examples of programs wanting more money:

  • There has been a subsidy to recently unemployed people that provides for 65% of the cost of COBRA for a total of 15 months.  That program expired May 31. 
  • Unemployment benefits have been extended to 99 weeks.  The House voted to extend the benefits and now the program awaits Senate approval.  
  • Medicare doctors are looking increased payments. 
  • States want more aid due to their unbalanced budgets. 
  • The SEC, FDA, Interior Department (think mineral management) and other Federal agencies want additional funds to do a better job. 
  • The State of California wants money to do a demonstration of high speed rail. 
  • Los Angeles wants the Federal government to provide aid for speeding up subway and light rail construction. 
  • President wants $50 billion in state and local aid to avoid “massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters” and to support the still-fragile economic recovery.

    •  

Everyone wants the projects but there just is not enough money.  Can we just say No?

The Price of Politics

The following Letter to the editor in the Los Angeles Times on June 11, 2010 bears re-printing.  Obviously I couldn’t agree more. 

Re “Whitman and Fiorina roll to wins,” June 9

That former executives Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina won important primaries serves as an example that the United States has the best elections money can buy.

Both women threw millions of their own money into their campaigns, seeking to buy their way into office.

My state had clean elections to level the playing field until it was halted by the Supreme Court, as a result of a Republican challenge. Politicians should be elected because they’re the best person for the job, not because they’ve got the most money. Elections in California and elsewhere are held hostage to the almighty dollar. The real losers are the American people.

Debra White

Tempe, Ariz.

Meg Whitman reportedly spent $80 million dollars to win.  $70 million dollars was her money.  Carly Fiorina reportedly spent $5 million dollars of her own money.

Westwood is the Home of UCLA

Westwood Village offers some great photo opportunities.  The Village adjoins the UCLA campus.  Typically the streets of the Village are filled with students.  Wilshire Boulevard is just a few blocks from the south entrance to the campus and has become a mini downtown of high-rise offices.  The primary Los Angeles Federal Building is there too.  I went there expecting to find a demonstration against Iran but all was quiet.  So instead I ventured the streets of the village for these photos.  The index finger provides the description.  These photos will be added to the Los Angeles Gallery at the top of this blog. 

Has Israel Gone Too Far? The Dilemma

Ordinary Gazans hurt most by 3-year blockade

While I support Israel’s right to defend itself, I do not support the idea of denying human rights.  Israelis have gone to extremes if we are to believe this Associated Press story that I will summarize here.

Three out of four factories in Gaza have closed because they can’t import or export. Legitimate businesses have been replaced by a Hamas-controlled black market economy. Millions of gallons of sewage are pumped into the sea every day because a lack of spare parts holds up infrastructure repairs.

Those suffering most from the blockade by Egypt and Israel are ordinary Gazans.  They include tens of thousands who lost their jobs as a result of the blockade.  For now, Israel only allows in a few dozen types of goods, such as potato chips, frozen meats and medicines, but bans raw materials, including construction supplies, and virtually all exports.

As a result, more than 70 percent of Gaza’s 3,900 factories are closed or operating at minimal capacity. Eighty percent of Gazans receive humanitarian aid, up from 63 percent in 2006, the U.N. says.  Some 300,000 have no income at all, a threefold increase over the course of a year.

The problem is that Gazans continue to support the idea that Israel has no right to even exist.  For the most part they support the idea that all Jews should leave Israel.  The irony is that Gaza is looking more and more like Masada.  Israelis face an impossible situation that they cannot resolve without participation of the Palestinians.  Perhaps they have no other choice then the one they have chosen.  Who in this world can offer a more reasonable path?

White House Rejected Israeli Intelligence

It has been reported that President Barack Obama stopped Israel from using anti-riot gear to prevent a Turkish-sponsored flotilla from breaking the siege on the Gaza Strip.  The report is not from the Associated Press or other major news gathering service.  That makes the report suspect.  However, most of us realize that major news services do not like to report negative facts about the administration.  How reliable is worldtribune.com?  The article is at this site.

The essence of the report is as follows:

1. Diplomatic sources said the White House rejected Israeli intelligence assessments that the six-ship flotilla contained weapons and Islamist fighters trained to resist any boarding operation.

2. “The White House demanded that Israel exercise extreme caution and restraint in any scenario,” a diplomatic source said.

3. The sources said the Israeli intelligence community had informed the White House that the flotilla contained scores of Turks trained in weapons and hand-to-hand combat.

4. In the end, Netanyahu approved a plan for the Israel Navy to board Marmara with commandos armed with paintball guns.

5. “Obama told Erdogan ‘Don’t rock the boat too much. We’ll take care of business,'” another diplomatic source said. “It was a very friendly message.”

If this report is confirmed fact then how much proof does anyone need to understand that President Barack Obama does not stand with Israel and its fight for survival?

David  

New Israeli Developments

Jews Really are smart!!  Is it in the genes?

1. Scientists in Israel found that the brackish water, drilled from underground desert aquifers hundreds of feet deep, could be used to raise warm-water fish. The geothermal water, less than one-tenth as saline as sea water, free of pollutants, and a toasty 98 degrees on average, proves an ideal environment.

2. Israeli-developed designer-eyeglasses, promise mobile phone and iPod users, a personalized, high-tech video display. Available to US consumers next year, Lumus-Optical’s lightweight and fashionable video eyeglasses, feature a large transparent screen, floating in front of the viewer’s face that projects their choice of movie, TV show, or video game.

3. When Stephen Hawkins recently visited Israel , he shared his wisdom with scientists, students, and even the Prime Minister. But the world’s most renowned victim of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig‘s disease, also learned something, due to the Israeli Association for ALS’ advanced work in both embryonic and adult stem cell research, as well as its proven track record with neurodegenerative diseases. The Israeli research community is well on its way to finding a treatment for this fatal disease, which affects 30,000 Americans.

4.  Israeli start -up, Veterix, has developed an innovative new electronic capsule that sits in the stomach of a cow, sheep, or goat, sending out real-time information on the health of the herd, to the farmer via email or cell phone. The e-capsule, which also sends out alerts if animals are distressed, injured, or lost is now being tested on a herd of cows, in the hopes that the device will lead to tastier and healthier meat and milk supplies. 

5. The millions of Skype users worldwide will soon have access to the newly developed KishKish lie-detector. This free internet service, based on voice stress analysis (a technique, commonly used in criminal investigations) will be able to measure just how truthful that person on the other end of the line, really is.

6. Beating cardiac tissue has been created in a lab from human  embryonic stem cells by researchers at the Rappaport Medical Faculty and the Technion – Israeli institute of Technology ‘s biomedical Engineering facility. The work of Dr. Shulamit Levenberg and Prof. Lior Gepstein, has also led to the creation of tiny blood vessels within the tissue, making possible its implantation in a human heart.

7. Israel ‘s Magal Security Systems, is a worldwide leader in computerized security systems, with products used in more than 70 countries around the world, protecting anything from national borders, to nuclear facilities, refineries, and airports. The company’s latest Product, DreamBox, a state-of-the-art security system that includes Intelligent video, audio and sensor management, is now being used by a major water authority on the US east coast to safeguard the utility’s  sites.
 
8. It is common knowledge that dogs have better night vision than humans and a vastly superior sense of smell and hearing. Israel ‘s Bio-Sense Technologies recently delved further and electronically analyzed 350 different barks. Finding that dogs of all breeds and sizes, bark the same alarm when they sense a threat, the firm has designed the dog bark-reader, a sensor that can pick up a dog’s alarm bark, and alert the human operators. This is just one of a batch of innovative security systems to emerge from Israel which Forbes calls ‘the go-to country for anti-terrorism technologies.’

9.  Israeli company, BioControl Medical, sold its first electrical stimulator to treat urinary incontinence to a US company for $50 Million. Now, it is working on CardioFit, which uses electrical nerve stimulation to treat congestive heart failure. With nearly five million Americans presently affected by heart failure, and more than 400,000 new cases diagnosed yearly, the CardioFit is already generating a great deal of excitement as the first device with the potential to halt this deadly disease.
 
10. One year after Norway ‘s Socialist Left Party launched its Boycott Israel campaign, the importing of Israeli goods has increased by 15%, the strongest increase in many years, statistics Norway reports.
 
In contrast to the efforts of tiny Israel to make contributions to the world so as to better mankind, one has to ask what have those who have strived to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth done other than to create hate and bloodshed???
 
David