Presidential Leadership Responsibility (Editorial)

This is strictly my belief based on what I know as a retired soldier and as an average American.  The President of the United States should have at least a better than average understanding of the workings of the military and it's capabilities.  Any government entity that has responsibility for command of or control of a military asset should be held accountable under the Uniform Code of  Military Justice (UCMJ), as well as all other judicial formats they are held under.  

Persons in seats of responsibility, especially POTUS.  Should relinquish the use of Twitter, Facebook or any other social media while in office in order to control the stupid bullshit and embarrassment it causes everyone.

Those people that are put in charge of us should be held accountable for anything that could or does harm individual rights freedoms or livelihoods unless there is a reason for safety against terrorism.  The safety of the people from terrorism should not be a blanket reason to label everyone that does not agree with the acting government as a terrorist.  Persons in charge should have at least an Idea what the average persons daily life is like from every walk of life, and try to help based upon that knowledge and not on the unrealistic notions brought about by having a gold or silver spoon in their mouths from the get-go.  

There should be a clear acknowledgment that We The People are the bosses and Government works for us.    

Those in government should be required to take classes in Nuclear Biological and Chemical warfare and watch numerous graphic historic videos on the effects of nuclear weapons, and visit anyone who has been exposed to radiation sickness while they are still alive.  This would hopefully bring home the fact that nuclear weapons are not toys in your sandbox when you were a kid.

I am neither a Republican or Democrat.  If anything I am an independent moderate conservative.  I think the government needs to be rethought a bit and try to remember we need to remain Constitutional to be American. 

Our freedom is there at least in the sense of freedom compared to other counties.  Just ask those 11 Saudi Arabian princes who protested not getting their perks, and the execution of that other prince.

We need to make sure we are guarded by the Constitution and still seek security in this evil time.

The older governing regime needs to be replaced however because they have their own agendas in priority over what We The People need.

My Greyzone today.

28 October 2017 at 11:51 AM

I started this particular issue of my Greyzone blog a long while ago and never completed it.  Of course the entire reason and content for this issue changed.

America is acting crazy.  Some people don't like Trump so they protest, which of itself is fine but a lot of them protest violently.

I'm not a great fan of Trump and I am not a great fan of Clinton.  I did not vote for either and went with one of the other runners.  That was my protest.  

People I know are afraid of a police state developing under the Trump regime.  That could happen of course it could have happened under Obama, Clinton or any of the prior regimes given the right circumstances.  

The very actions these violent protesters are doing could spark reason for at least going to martial law in the areas that the protests (civil unrest) are occurring.

I have stated in other forums that I don't always agree with the president in charge but he or she is still the president.  This remains true and as long as they are not trying to subvert the Constitution they deserve at least my respect.

Disrespect is running rampant in this country right now.  It is in every aspect of our country right now.  Right down to a total lack of common sense about crossing the street or obeying traffic laws.

I don't know where I am going with this except I am worried and perplexed with what I see right now.

Don't forget there is an agenda to take guns from the law-abiding free people of this country this would only be the start to taking all of the freedoms we enjoy. 

Call me paranoid, call me stupid, I don't care.  If you don't like what I say ignore it or better yet don't read it in the future.

Art.

  

Going Mild , but Going Wild.

Well once again it has been a while since my last contribution to this blog.
  
I'm not really certain where I'm going with my "Beyond the Greyzone" blog these days, but I do plan on doing more here from this point on.

As my title for this edition implies I'm not going to push any one subject I'm going to just ramble on for a while.

The weather is getting colder and the year 2015 is heading toward its close.  Its October already and for me it hasn't been the year I had planned.  I should not be surprised about that because you can make all the plans you want then life just seems to happen and usually changes those plans.  
I don't know if I have said anything about this in this forum but I think I retired from the Army at the right time.  When I first retired I thought I had made a very grievous error, but the trends I am seeing and events unfolding I know I was correct in changing that chapter of my life.
I will always be a Soldier in some sense or another it is always in your blood once you have been one especially as long as I was one.

Living through my near death experience in November of 2014, I think I have gained an even clearer perspective on life and things than I gained from the Army life.  But I must say I do not feel I would have survived the experience if it were not for my life experiences in the Army.  The Army while on occasion almost took my life also gave me life in so many ways.

Life is a forge that tempers the steel of a person.  If the experiences and events that occur are accepted in the right way they can build you into something better.  Wallowing in self pity ("oh I'm such a victim, pity me pity me"), is sad weak and counter productive. Don't get me wrong I have had my moments in which I felt self pity, but I go beyond those things day by day.
I have said, (and I'm pretty sure I am not the first to say it), that evolution is simply ones ability to adapt to their life as it is.  When change occurs if you cannot adapt to that change you will die in one sense or another.

I don't like pointless, endless debates over a subject.  Sure there are times in which something is important enough that discussion is required to determine the correct course of action.  Actions require consideration of consequences, for every action or act has consequences.  Sometimes it is unforeseeable what those consequences are, but other times they are very obvious.  I do not like to go headlong into something without first doing an analysis of the situation and potential outcome.  Of course there are times in which action is required without thinking or much thought, but It has to be a potentially life threatening situation to justify immediate action.
  
I have opinions about a lot of things, many of which are not popular or are controversial.  I like to have my opinion and speak it, but not necessarily discuss it to death with endless debate or argument.  
I know people who just have to disagree with you just to do so and are not happy until they have debated with you to the point of frustration.  I particularly have problems with those who think they are always right and the only ones who are right.  
Some might say I could fall into that category because I usually do feel I am correct, but if I fall into the company of a profound "I'm never wrong" debater I usually let it drop because there is never a winning situation with those people.  I don't have enough time or patience for that.

That leads me to this point of conclusion, I could go on and on but I have to stop somewhere.

What I will say to conclude this is that freedom comes at a price usually paid in blood.  There are people and groups of people who daily seek to take any or all of our freedoms away from us. They seek to make us slaves to their way of life and thinking by taking away the tools with which we keep that freedom. 

Don't be naive, or bury your heads in the sand.  We as a country have a Constitution for a reason and anyone, foreign or domestic who tries to change, do away with, or adopt something other than that Constitution, they are the enemy.  Don't forget that the President, Congress, Senate, the House of Representatives anyone who works in government, works for "We the People".

Enough Said.    

  
   

The Fourth of July; "The Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776."

As Americans it is important to know what we are really about.  There is a very disturbing trend in our country at this time.  We have lost our vision of who we are and what we are about.

We say we love our freedoms but we are letting them be taken from us a little at a time.

We have become so complacent, so weak willed, so willing to let those who don't believe or care about our history take those freedoms away, and to dishonor those who have sacrificed everything so we can be free.

This is the Fourth of July.  We honor who we are and our Declaration of Independence from tyranny.

But wait, there are those who say don't show the American Flag you might offend someone in your country of America.  How weak is that to be embarrassed by our flag.  With exception of the American Indians, we all came from another place, another country, another race.  Those who came here came ("I hope") to be Americans.  If not then they are here for another reason and it does not conform with of have our best interests in mind.

I do not care if you are a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, from another race, country, etc etc, if you chose to come to this country, your intent should be to become an American.  If you are an American you should be proud of your American flag, The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States of America, The Star Spangled Banner.  If you call yourself an American but do not love, are embarrassed by, are offended because of, or are afraid of offending because of, these things who make us what we are, then I say you are not really Americans. And if you are not for us then you are against us, it is a form of treason.  You should be suspect as terrorists for not loving your country, for what it is made up of and what it stands for.

No one should have the right to take away what we should stand for.  I say fly the Flag, Sing the Star Spangled Banner, Say the pledge of allegiance in public with pride.

No other country or group of people who have an agenda against our way of life, cares if they offend us.  They burn our flag in their public places, and chant hate against us.

If your and American, Be an American and be proud of it and all that goes with it.  If not then find another place to live, because you are the enemy.  

Here is our Declaration.       

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Leaders, Lead from the Front

It has been a long while since I expressed anything in this blog, mainly because by the time my day is said and done I'm too tired to express an opinion.  

How many of you are angry today?  I know I am.  

We all got a lot to be angry about.

Lets look at the budget cutbacks in government.  They are willing to cut everything important or not except their own highly overinflated salaries. 

Leaders lead by example or they should.

Salaries in Government 2013 as opposed to 2000

President of the United States
2013: $400,000
2000: $200,000

Vice President of the United States
2013: $231,900 effective March 27, 2013
2000: $181,400
  
Legislative Branch - US Congress  
Rank-and-File Senators and Representatives
2013: $174,000
2000: $141,300
 
Speaker of the House
2013: $223,500
2000: $181,400

House and Senate Majority and Minority Leaders
2013: $193,400
2000: $156,900
 
Judicial Branch
Chief Justice of the United States
2013: $223,500
2000: $181,400

Associate Justices of the Supreme Court
2013: $213,900
2000: $173,600

US Courts of Appeals Judges
2013: $184,500
2000: $149,900

Federal District Judges
2013: $174,000
2000: $141,300




I'm willing to bet none of the above leadership of our country needs this much to live on in a year.  I know most have a lot of their own money to begin with.

Lead by example.

I've talked about this once before.  I will probably talk about it again. 
  

Thoughts/Complaints

I was waiting for an appointment on the 8th of August 2011 and jotting down some thoughts on my Gmail, via my Blackberry.  I thought I would like to share those thoughts here.  When I write things in this manner I like to know the time I put those thoughts down.  Forgive my use of military time habits die hard.

1010hrs        Time to make changes in my life again. As if things have not changed enough.

1037hrs.       This country is facing a generalized crisis, one of complacent mind set. Our leadership is ill equipped to make the correct choices for us because they lack the willingness for self sacrifice.

1044hrs.    Those same leaders are always willing to sacrifice much needed programs but never considering cutting their much over padded salaries they voted for themselves. Granted what they do is important but not so important that any of them should make more in one year than some of us make in a lifetime.

Well that is what I think.

Issues of the Nations Budget, and Deficit

Long are the days of our nation being in dept.  But when it comes to cutting spending where do our government leaders, who we have elected into office go to?  Everyone else but themselves.  Oh by the way who decides their salary?  They do.  Here are the salary of government figures.  I find it very disturbing that the rest of us who are not rich front most of the budget problems, when the rich and our leadership do not.  Do the math and judge for yourselves.

President of the United States
2011: $400,000
2000: $200,000

Note: The president's salary was increased from $200,000 to $400,000 in 2001. The president's current salary of $400,000 includes a $50,000 expense allowance.

Vice President of the United States
2011: $230,700
2000: $181,400

Cabinet Department Secretaries
2011: $199,700
2001: $161,200

Legislative Branch - US Congress

Rank-and-File Senators and Representatives
2011: $174,000
2000: $141,300

Speaker of the House
2011: $223,500
2000: $181,400

House and Senate Majority and Minority Leaders
2011: $193,400
2000: $156,900

Judicial Branch

Chief Justice of the United States
2011: $223,500
2000: $181,400

Associate Justices of the Supreme Court
2011: $213,900
2000: $173,600

US Courts of Appeals Judges
2011: $184,500
2000: $149,900

Federal District Judges
2011: $174,000
2000: $141,300