Fighting for the Future

The house is quiet this afternoon so I thought I’d sit down to write for a while.  This is kind of a stream of consciousness post.

In news from the internet this week.

1.     The Democratic Party is seeking to change the time for the next State of the Union address from the evening to the afternoon so RBG won’t miss her bedtime.

2.    Speaking of Justice Ginsberg – she says she is good for 5 more years.  I guess she has already decided the DNC doesn’t have a prayer in 2018 or 2020 elections. 

3.    All the experts who predicted HRC had a 99% chance of being President are now certain the Democrats will sweep the mid-terms.  Personally, I’m feeling just a little better about the Republicans chances now.

4.    I guess someone has run up the government cost estimate for Bernie Sander’s proposal for “Medicare for All.”  If I read it right, it comes in at about $33,000,000,000,000.68.  This is without assuming allowances for graft, corruption, and greed.  Since we are about to bust the bank on Social Security and it is the kids who want it I say “Let’s do this thing!”  So what if we turn into another Venezuela?  On the bright side, it should end that whole legal versus illegal immigration problem as the attractiveness of coming to America disappears.

5.    Speaking of Venezuela – the rising star for the DNC is avowed Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the first-time

candidate for New York’s 14^th District, widely supported by other first-time candidates, who seems to have benefited from all that a quality education at Boston University can offer.  Like most candidates, big on ideas, a little short on reality.

6.    People who view themselves as comedians continue to believe their political opinions are important and have expressed them in some interesting ways.  For the record, I didn’t find Carrot Top’s brand of entertainment all that appealing, but to each his own.  Pissing in public kind of falls into that same category.

7.     Trump Derangement Syndrome has now been classified by mental health professionals (and I use that term loosely) as Trump Anxiety Disorder.  They suggest counseling, group hugs, and binge watching of the historical documentary “Frozen.”

8.    John Brennen, former closet communist and former head of the CIA has voiced concern that President Trump is a Putin Puppet.  The communists (Lenin) had a term for sympathizers of their doctrine who lived in capitalist

societies like America, I think the term was “Useful Idiots.”  I think this works well to describe John Brennen.  I could describe President Trump in a number of ways, but a puppet for someone else?  Never.

In the words of Mel Blanc… “That’s all folks!”

Culture Change.

One of the pages I follow on Facebook had a post in praise of the new Secretary of the Air Force and the leadership vision she brings.  It shared this article.  New Air Force secretary presses for a culture change in her service. Please forgive me, but I have to suppress something that ranges from an inner chuckle to an outright laugh. 

I entered active service in 1974 and after retirement in 1996 spent the next twenty years working as a civilian for the Air Force.  In those forty plus years I can’t recall a time the Air Force was not experiencing some kind of culture change.

Sometimes the changes came so quickly we hadn’t even began the last one, before the new one had replaced it.  I often wondered if we wouldn’t be better off with a chameleon type uniform to show our ability to change.

I would like to borrow Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem, “How do I love thee?” to capture my view on this.

How do I change thee?

How do I change thee? Let me count the ways.

I change thee to size, strength, and mission so large

My soul can reach, while I am in charge

For the ends and purpose of political grace.

I change thee to the level my days allow

Most quiet change, by rule and wile

I change thee often, as airman’s lives I beguile

I change thee haphazardly, as if I am the night

I change thee with passion put to use

For I have but a short time to make it right

In my ego, and with childlike faith

I change thee with words, oft times out of place,

With promotions, selections, wisdom implied; and if the President smiles

I shall change thee for a longer while.

Don’t get me wrong, there are things that need to change in the Air Force, but with each new administration the Department’s need to bend to a new management style, a new political agenda, or to correct a real or imagined need means the service can never reach efficiency in either its organization or its leadership.

Perhaps I am too old to appreciate the dynamics at play, and it is the easy out to believe that, but I wasn’t too old when the Air Force changed from being led by airman who believed the nuclear bomber was supreme to airman who thought fighters were the only way to go.  At the end of the day that transition led the Air Force to carry nuclear bombs from North Dakota to Louisiana without realizing they were on the aircraft.  We had a culture change were regulations were no longer regulating, but just kind of giving advice; if you cared to read it.  (Kind of like the new SECAF suggests)

I was there when the culture was changed to tell our airman that doing your job was the number one priority, and rated officers should focus on being the best they could be and the rest would be taken care of.  I was also there when those same airmen were let go during downsizing, or passed over for promotion because someone else had spent less time flying and more time doing other things that impressed the squadron commander.

I was there when the Air Force management philosophy changed to reflect the current fads in manufacturing.  When management styles were defined in a box, quality management was job 1, when everyone should have 7 habits, when evaluation forms had rankings (or not), when officer evaluations needed secret key words, or when the Weighted Airman Promotion System (WAPS) should weigh this or that aspect heavier or lighter based on how many people could get promoted.  Because at the end of the day, everything is about promotion, isn’t it?

Break-Break:  Just a random thought here.  In celebrating the 4^th of July, a friend who knew his family history, pointed out one of his ancestors had fought the entire Revolutionary war as a private.  He had lived through the winter at Valley Forge and participated as a part of the Colonial Army for four long years without promotion.  It was wrong of me, but my first thought was he probably had problems with the Weighted Revolutionary Army Promotion System (WRAPS) testing.

Somehow, I’ve missed the culture change where rated officers in the Air Force actually learn how to lead airman by example from the time they are Lieutenants.  For almost all pilots, or navigators/weapon system officers/combat system officers/pick your term, the first time they get to really be in charge of another individual to the point of controlling their life is when they are Lieutenant Colonels with 14 to 18-years of service.  Even then if you are a fighter pilot you are in charge of 24 type A personality pilots who want to fly and will avoid almost anything that threatens that choice.  Non-rated officers, on the other hand, have to deal with the young kids almost from their first day, but at the end of their careers they will never be the Chief of Staff.

All the previous aside, there are cultural changes that are critical and the question is how to separate them from the politically motivated changes that are never truly embraced by the average airman?

For example, when I entered the service we were learning to embrace racial equality.  Although the service had been technically integrated since President Truman’s Executive Order 9981, issued in 1948, the 1960’s had taught us discrimination was still an issue.  We had annual training on this issue during the 1970s.  Did this solve the problem?  Some would say yes, some no, but what I’ve seen is the military services have embraced equality to a far larger degree than civil society because of the need for discipline and harmony within a combat unit far outweighs personal bias. 

I believe, despite the changing winds of the political climate, the same will be said for the acceptance of the homosexual communities, unless or until they begin to disrupt good order and discipline.

How do we bring young airman who’ve grown up being sheltered from reality into a culture that demands we face the reality of the world on a daily basis?

As Bob Dillion so eloquently put it, “The times they are a ‘changing.” I wonder how we effectively change the military culture, when the civil culture doesn’t know what right is?

I'm Thrilled.

As a long-time advocate for the rights of the states I am absolutely thrilled with California, Washington and New York taking the initiative to join the Paris Climate Accords, although since they are not recognized members of the United Nations I think full membership may be problematic, but why get bogged down in the details?  I am also hopeful Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Oregon, Michigan, Nevada, Virginia and Pittsburgh will soon join them, as they increase taxes on business and homeowners to help raise the money to begin the revisions to their infrastructure, fund the changes to eliminate fossil fuels as a power source, as well as make payments to less fortunate nation-states, it will be fun to watch as their general populations embrace these changes.

California is also discussing the implementation of a single-payer health care system that will triple the annual operating budget for the state.  Although ambitious in nature, no one ever said progress was cheap. 

I wish these three states, and the others states or cities who will join them, well as they engage together to save the planet at the cost of industry and infrastructure to their citizens.  I would suggest all those who’ve been emotionally traumatized by the President’s decision to abandon the accords show your support for these visionary states by sending your contributions directly to the Governors, or better yet, if you are not already there with them -- move to help them implement their vision for a less hot tomorrow.

As you prepare for this great leap just a couple of simple planning figures.  Nation-wide the average cost of a single-family home in 2016 was $186,000.  In California, their average was $448,000, New York - $256,300, and Washington -- $277,000.  So, if you are moving from say Florida (where taxes and home costs are low) you might want to brace yourself for the sticker shock. 

By the way, if you're not taking public transportation, drive a car that uses gasoline, or use air conditioning in the summer, perhaps its time to ask yourself, how serious are you about this whole climate change problem?

The World Will End.

There are only three things certain in life.  Death, taxes, and political ranting by the minority party and their faithful.  I have to smile, perhaps a scotch induced smile, at the extremism of sentiment on President Trumps latest decision to pull the US out of the Paris Climate Accord.  Those who favor the accord are striking out in condemnation and anger.  By the way, these are always persuasive techniques to bring others to your side.  "President Trump has sealed his legacy as the worst President in history with this single choice."  Polease… give the man a break, he has another three years to lock up that position, assuming he can wrestle the previous President from it.

I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m guessing I am one of the few people who’ve actually read the accords before the President made his decision.  Retired life will do that to you.  You read stuff and actually think about it.  Granted, I am not as smart as the MIT economists who worked up the Affordable Care Act, but I did at least figure out how to read and occasionally even understand the words.

All those who are so outraged today, mostly the same people who think that Kathy Griffin is a comedic genius, are getting in their private jets to fly to exclusive resorts to complain about how bad this is for the world.  A world they don’t live in.  Those who make $500,000 or more a year should probably be looking to move away from the coast since the seas will rise pretty soon.  Maybe Death Valley will become lake front property soon?  I assume Elon Musk has decided to move to Mars. 

The sad fact is, I don’t know what the real science says anymore because all science has become suspect based on what political agenda is being pushed.  Anyone who says otherwise is full of climate change induced hot air.

Those who support the President are -- to use the words made famous by Ms. Clinton, deplorable.  They are not thinking of what is best for the politicians of the second and third world who will be enriched by the administrative jobs created by the accords, or the transfer of wealth from the rich countries to the rulers of the poor countries as carbon credits are bought and sold, no they are only thinking about the jobs and survival of their families as we create yet another costly regulation.  Shame on them for wanting a better life now where they send less money to the governments and keep more for themselves.  Not that it is likely taxes will get lowered any time soon.

As for me… I’ve decided to start working on a carbon neutral environmentally friendly ark made up of old Campbell soup cans and fueled by the chemtrails I’ve been collecting every time an Air Force jet flies overhead.

 ADDED 2 Jun 2017:  It was pointed out to me that much like Britain's exit from the European Union there is a process for US withdrawal from the Paris agreement.  If curious about that process read Article 28 
https://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/convention/application/pdf/english_paris_agreement.pdf

Simple Observations.

At the beginning of the Obama administration we made a big deal about using federal stimulus funding to fix infrastructure projects that were “shovel ready.”  I read this week the dollars sent to California were used not to fix the most pressing problems, but were sent to districts of the most politically connected.  I am not surprised.  Don’t get me wrong, I have no idea what the most pressing projects were, but I do know how politicians deal with money.  Money is power, control the money you have the power to control the political debate.  I wonder if the District 1 state senator had seniority over the District 4 senator?

There are so many uninformed statements on Face Book that I’ve got to believe we have become a nation of stupid people, or maybe a nation of people who believe an uninformed public statement is better than actually knowing what you are talking about.  My latest example comes from a woman talking about the unfairness of firing people who chose not to come to work on “a day without immigrants.”  She noted that all the firings she knew about came from Right to Work states where people could be fired for any reason.  Since I didn’t know what the law was I looked it up.  Within a minute, I found this:

Right-to-work-laws say workers can be fired for any reason.

Wrong, A common misconception is that, Right-to-work means an employer can fire employees for any reason or no reason at all. Right-to-work laws have absolutely nothing to do with this. What you're talking about here is at-will employment.

Every state but Montana is already an at-will employment state. At-will means your employer can fire you for any reason or no reason at all. Whether your employer doesn't like your shirt, wakes up in a bad mood, or just feels like it, they can fire you at-will unless you have a contract or union agreement saying otherwise.

A union can bargain to change this. Many union agreements have requirements that employers only terminate for just cause.

There should be a Robot Tax

Bill Gates has the video, embedded below, on YouTube where he’s talking about how robots will free up the workers so they can do things that require human empathy like teaching and health care.  He then says if a worker making $50 thousand is taxed the robot that replaces him should be taxed to pay for the humans who move into those more noble professions.  What gets glossed over in Mr. Gates grand statements is both the humanity affected and the simple economics of his proposal. 

From the human side he says, IF we could take the labor and “financially, training-wise, and fulfillment-wise” move them to those jobs requiring human empathy we would have a net gain.  A wonderful statement, how can you disagree with it?  But as in most utopian dreams the actual society we live in seems to be completely out of sync with the proposal.  He says we have severe shortages in teachers and health care workers for the elderly and special needs populations, yet we have approximately 10% to 15% of our labor age population today that is unemployed, why aren’t they flocking to these jobs?  Is it training, or financial?  I don’t think so.  We have a huge outcry for free college because students are graduating with mountains of debt and degrees that do not lead to the jobs they were told would be theirs if just they went to college.  Why aren’t all these under-employed and unemployed young people flocking to the severe shortages Mr. Gates referred to?  It couldn’t be because they are not interested in them, could it? 

So, if the jobs they are interested in are taken over by robots would their job fulfillment expectation change or would they just become bitter and drop out?

On the financial side, he says companies who replace workers should continue to pay the same income taxes they did when they had human workers.  He says the robots should pay taxes but they are, at this point, machines who requires no income to survive, just the power and maintenance.  Therefore, what his is actually saying is the government should expect the same income from a business as they had before the worker is replaced.  Since the Federal government operates at a net loss, why does he think whatever taxed income could be attributed to automation would cover the costs of moving the humans to those human empathy jobs he finds so lacking in today’s world?

But…but… but… Bill Gates is a billionaire, he must know what he’s talking about right?

You Know, I'm Just Tired.

I think I am an average citizen.  I mind my own business, I try to treat others as I would want to be treated, and I pretty much want government to mind its own business unless I need them for something.  It is that last statement that seems to be at the heart of our great polarization.  It used to be a debate, but anymore it just seems to be finger pointing,  name calling, and curling into a fetal position.

What is it we need government for, either at the local, state, federal, or global level? The left has one view, the right another, and the average citizen yet a third.  For the past 20 years we seem incapable of finding common ground.

Who I voted for is irrelevant, but if you’ve seen my Facebook profile it should be obvious it was neither of the principle candidates.  What I have seen in mainstream media and from my most liberal friends just reinforces why Mr. Trump’s election was correct and necessary.  I am going to rant for just a bit, so if you are not into reading rants this would be a good time to bail out!  Go ahead, I’ll wait.

 Still with me?  Great!  Fortunately for most of the free world, the nature of my blog is such I doubt a damn thing will come of this rant, other than I will feel better for having written it.

Bottom Line Up Front: I, and most of the nation like me, are tired of being called a misogynist, racist, homophobic,  islamophobe if we believe:  a) Hillary Clinton is a self-serving hypocrite who puts her financial well-being before the security of the United States, b) the Black Lives Matter movement is not out for the betterment of the black race, but to create an atmosphere intended to destabilize the government, and make the targeting of the police acceptable, c) the little LGBT community (less than 5% of US society,[i] but heavily involved with entertainment) is not so terribly oppressed as to need the protections of the 14^th amendment, and d) we must recognize there is a radical aspect of Islam whose advocates want to destroy the Judeo-Christian societies of the west and wipe the Jewish population off the face of the earth. 

In the crush of post-election reporting we hear of students and educators so distraught they must bring in grief counselors and “safe space” management teams to cope.  We see people who just a couple of weeks ago were condemning Trump for questioning the possibility the election could be rigged, now "demanding" the electoral college not meet its constitutional mandate.  The name calling from the Democrats and their media support only reinforce for me the notion the real threat to our national survival is when one side chooses to turn a blind eye to how a republic must work.

In assessing how the media played their last “Trump Card,” the one they all piled onto when he said the system was rigged and suggested he might question the validity of the election is illustrative of the corrupt nature of modern media and the DNC.  I am convinced the media was, from the beginning, so committed to a Clinton win they tried to work with the DNC to pre-empt any kind of legitimate challenge to the vote totals by claiming such a challenge was unprecedented, when clearly it was not.  When Trump won they had no recourse but to support the political operatives rioting in the streets and claim that a fractional lead in the popular vote shows the current electoral system must be abandoned because they, in their shining cities, didn’t win.

As long as they refer to people destroying property as “protest” rather than the accurate description of riot they support the rioter’s agenda. I truly believe if the tables were turned and these were Trump supporters two things would be different.  First, you would not have the violence we are seeing, and next, whatever presence you did have would be called riots. Also, how much do we hear from the mainstream about an actual protest going on in North Dakota, where tribes of native Americans are standing against an oil pipeline?  We hear bumpkis!  Why is that?  I think it’s because no one in NYC or LA cares.  I, and most people like me, have no confidence in accurate reporting by ABCNNBCBS and MSNBC.

To the Universities, with all their Special Snowflake students and administers, who have melted since the election of Donald Trump I share the statements of others I’ve seen.  “Your very actions reinforce why the majority did not vote for your gender celebrated candidate.”  You, who bought into the agenda pushed by the DNC and the media, were so focused on putting a woman in the White House you all were willing to sell the safety of the nation and any hope of economic recovery down the river so you could sit at the feet of Ms. Clinton regardless of how corrupt she might be.  You are in love with someone who has shown over the past 30 years she wouldn’t accomplish much beyond influence peddling.  Yet, because she was a woman you are willing to sacrifice everything that binds us as a society to achieve some kind of first for the nation.  It would have been a pyretic first term as the needs of the nation were cast aside to further the illusion of a historically great woman. 

There was a video floating around by some personality, who I suppose is famous for something, where he sets off on a profanity filled rant about how the left has brought this on themselves because they have become a group unwilling to debate the issues, but rather shut down debate by name calling.  I agree with him, just without the need for profanity.  Unfortunately, I don’t believe the people who are charged with education at the college level or the media are capable of deep self-inspection -- so profanity and hate filled rants will remain the dialogue of the day for the foreseeable future.

Our one hope, and it is a very small hope, is the President and the Congress will recognize the mistakes of the Obama Democrats and work to avoid them, and the opposition will seek a middle ground in an effort to save whatever shards of the Obama legacy remain.  As I said, I am not optimistic, but the first year will show the direction the country will go.

Note:  This post was updated on 11/13/16 @ 5:17pm for corrections to grammar.  Content was not changed.

---

[i] http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Gates-How-Many-People-LGBT-Apr-2011.pdf