Cop shootings

The incidences of white police officers shooting unarmed blacks have been in the news. When a panel member asked why the liberal news seems to headline these shootings more than the conservative press, he responded by saying that liberals recognize that blacks represent a large liberal constituency and they are anxious to prove they are concerned. That is admirable as everyone should be concerned about rogue cops but there are other areas where concern is also needed but often left unmentioned. Is there concern over the fact that the unemployment rate for blacks is twice that of whites, that the high school drop-out rate for blacks is twice that of whites, that one half of the murders in the country are blacks killing blacks, that there are more black males in prison that there are in college, that the gap in test scores widens each year or that 70% of black births are out of wedlock. These are serious problems but they have been around for so long they are no longer newsworthy.

Kasich and Rubio

When President Obama ran the first time in 2008 the big criticism from the Republicans and I agreed was his lack of experience. He was a first term senator who had no executive experience. We now have three announced Republican candidate for president and they are all first term senators with no executive experience. We have several governors who have yet to announce and John Kasich would make an excellent candidate. He is a two term governor from a key swing state, Ohio, and has a record of success in lowering taxes, balancing budgets and increasing jobs. A senator like Rubio would be an great running mate as both Florida and Ohio are the states that will likely determine who wins. Kasich at age 62 has the necessary experience and Rubio at 42 can represent the younger generation

Polls

Many people are suspect of polls since they can be manipulated and a poll announced today adds to the confusion. A poll asked if people thought they were paying too much income tax and 65% agreed that they were. This is hard to understand since only 50% of the people pay income tax.

Government power

The framers of the constitution, after their experiences with the King, were concerned that government would seek the power to rule over the people. So to limit this they added the Bill of Rights, which were designed to reduce the power of elected officials and to protect the rights of the people from such electorates. It is the nature of ambitious people to seek power and thus elected officials must be restrained and thus the purpose of elections. Over the years these elected officials have rigged the system so that they can be re-elected and as a result 95% of incumbents retain their positions. To those who believe the power should be with the government this is acceptable but for others it is not. To combat this, many who fear the power of government, propose such things as term limits but since these must be approved by those in power it is a dead end and thus they have safely secured their place in office. When a person running for office holds up a copy of the constitution and the bill of rights and declares their intention to take back the government from those in power and give the power to the people, they are declared to be radicals or worse, racist. People who want to protect those in power say “states rights” are code words for those who want to bring back Jim Crow. This is a strong argument and usually wins the day. The free press which was designed to protect the people from the government is often used to protect government from such attacks. There are a few dissenting voices but for the most part the press aligns itself with the government. The result is government encroachment into the personal lives of the people.

Fair -share law

During my time with Pillsbury, I worked in 8 different plants some of them union. In one union plant an employee decided not to join the union and I recall he was treated as an outcast. People would not sit at a table with him in the lunch room and he was a mechanic and worked mostly alone. I once asked him why he didn’t join but he didn’t answer. There is a controversy now raging in states where you must join the union. This is the result of a 1977 case in Michigan. The fair-share labor law was formed as a result of a 1977 court case called Abood v. The Detroit Board of Education. In that case, public school teachers in Detroit sought to overturn a requirement that they pay dues to the teachers' union on the grounds they didn’t support the union activities or collective bargaining. The court sided with the unions and determined that non-members can be charged fees, though the money from fees could not be used for political purposes. The fair-share law is now being challenged in two big labor states, Illinois and California as it becomes apparent that much of the union money is being used for political purposes. The challenge, however is not based on that but rather on freedom of choice. “This is a fundamental issue protecting employees’ rights, their freedom of speech, and their rights as employees,” This is now being considered by a Chicago court but will likely end up in the Supreme Court.

Iran nukes

The nuclear deal with Iran has introduced a new phrase called, “breakout time”. They are pressing for restrictions that will extend the amount of time it will take Iran to build a nuclear weapon — the so-called “breakout time” — from the current 2-3 months to a year. This brings me back to a question I have posed a number of times asking, does Iran want a nuclear bomb. Iran has been working on this project since 1979. Why have they not developed the bomb? The Manhattan Project was the name given to the United State program to make a nuke. In less than 4 years using technology from the 40’s the US made enough nuclear material for two bombs. After working on this enrichment process for 36 years without success we are now saying that they can make a bomb in 3 months. Something is missing here

Iran agreement

In the early 80’s North Korea built a small (5 megawatt) reactor capable of producing plutonium. In 1985 they joined the nuclear proliferation treaty agreeing not to produce nuclear weapons. They agreed to inspections by the IAEA in 18 months but then extended that another 18 months and then they missed that deadline. This attempt at inspections continued until 1993 when North Korea announced they were withdrawing from the nuclear proliferation treaty. Under pressure North Korea agreed to inspections but kept putting it off and in 1994 the IAEA said they would no longer be responsible for inspections. At this time with permission from President Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter went to North Korea. Carter announced that North Korea would be willing to freeze its nuke program and would allow for inspections. They agreed to close their 5 meg reactor and to accept 500,000 tons of fuel oil. While all of this was going on North Korea was using spent reactor rods to process plutonium and in 2009 the announced they had a nuclear bomb and conducted its first test. Second and third test were conducted in 2009 and 2013. This all sounds eerily familiar. The US has just concluded what appears to be a decent agreement with Iran over their nukes but will they work behind the scenes to develop a bomb. We will see.