Just a Little Thought

I thought it was time to look at what is going on in the world today in a different perspective. I start with religions mainly because they go back as far as the history of mankind. It is my belief that there has to be some divine or spiritual element to the world, its existence and creation. I am not sure if any one religion is the correct religion. In fact it seems that they all share so many of the same stories and beliefs, I feel they were all born from the same original source.

I am not going to single any religion out as the problem is the same regardless of the religion. They all believe that their god, belief or ideology is the one and only true and correct belief, and therefore other religions are wrong or inferior. To protect these beliefs they in the name of their religion go as far as war, murder or terrorism. The moral beliefs and ways are forced upon others who believe differently. It is easier for others to conform to your beliefs than it is to revel in the true virtues that your religions actually represent. After all if the ideologies of ones religion make you right then that must make the ideologies of another’s wrong. Religions have become divisive and a core of hatred instead of inspirational and unifying. The Christian 10 commandments have become a rule book for others to live by, but those same that wish others to live by them fail to do so themselves.

Instead they break the rules and indulge in the seven deadly sins and use their religion as mask of virtue and righteousness even though they themselves are not what they preach or expect from others. Are the teachings of the Jewish or Islam, Mormon, Scientology faiths any different than the other Christian religions? No. Because they all feel they are the one and only correct religion and those that practice or believe any other religions are heretics, evil, immoral and need to be saved, converted or destroyed and find or create passages in the scriptures to show justification for their actions.
The sanctity, benevolence, ideology and divinity of the religions have been corrupted and lost beneath all the divisiveness they promote.

These traits carry over to every part of our modern society just as they did in the Roman Empire. Bush while president in talking about the Iraq war says our Christian god is on our side and will provide us victory, in essence just as Joshua and Isreal were given victory in Jericho. Is that not making it a religious war against the religion of Islam just as they have claimed this to be a Jihad?

Anyway- Back to modern day society.

The Banking, Housing and financial scandals are all born out of greed and corruption. The banks and financial companies involved made deals that they knew could not be paid for by their customers they made the deals with. They knew they would have to absorb defaults because of their practices. They were bailed out by their customers the taxpayers and they continue the same practices. Now with Credit cards they are raising rates to levels they know will push customers to default. Instead of maintaining a steady guaranteed profit margin and maintaining a happy customer base that will use their product they are using greed and corruption to line the pockets of CEOS and stock holders and destroying their customer base. They too will fail if they continue on this path of corruption, and already would have had the taxpayers,their customers, not bailed them out.

The fight for Health Care has so clearly portrayed all the problems. Like in the financial problems, those making the rules, our government are themselves being bought off to protect the needs of the industry. They care more about the lobby money they receive and represent those interests to retain their jobs instead of working to meet the needs and wishes of those that elected them. The companies themselves are making the deals and then changing the terms. Pharma is raising their prices to cover the cuts they agreed to make once again hitting their customers. Insurance companies are on track to strangle the economy with skyrocketing costs. They all are doing everything to wring the very last penny from the blood of the people before their empire collapses.

Resolving the financial and health crisis has created battles between the Liberals and Conservatives, media and the general population of the world. The arguments have become as divisive as any religious battle and escalated fears,hatred,bigotry, greed, selfishness and racism. What we are seeing is a society collapsing under the same weights that religions have failed in. We are witnessing a society where the values of greed, personal egos and self worth trump values of compassion and a common good that should benefit and unify us all. We have instead become a society heading down a path of corruption and revolution or total collapse. And no one seems to be listening or cares because everyone is right and everyone else is wrong. Who knows maybe the Mayans were right and they were foretelling our path to self destruction.

A million infected in Ukraine flu epidemic

That was the headline from an AFP news article posted Tuesday 11/11/2009.

Today RiaNovosti News reports 1.2 million and 213 dead.

What is alarming is these rates are about 10 times the rates of what is going on in the rest of the world with the H1N1 flu. There are reports of it being Hemorrhagic Pneumonia or the Pneumonic Plague.
WHO has only accounted for 70 cases of H1N1 and 17 deaths to H1N1. Thats a big difference to 1.2 million sick,53,000 hospitalized and 213 dead. They are staying steadfast that this outbreak is all the H1N1 and nothing else. That is about all you will find in the coverage of this in any Mainstream press.


A Commentary "Suspected Hemorrhagic Pneumonia Outbreak Hits Ukraine"
by Stephen Lendman of the Baltimore Chronicle and Sentinal 11/11/2009 Does a good job of filling in the rest of the stories and speculations going on with this epidemic.

I find some of the reports like planes flying overhead spraying the virus a bit to much conspiracy fear mongering but I still have to question why is so much of the news and coverage of this so hush hush.
Reports of Schools, Towns, Borders all being closed, Martial Law Declared.
What is the real story and why is their Flu 10 times more virulent than what the rest of the world is experiencing. Is this a new mutated strain that the rest of the world will be up against next??? The time is way overdue for WHO and Mainstream media to start filling in blanks and dispelling rumors.

I found this section Of the Global Research web site full of very compelling reading regarding the H1N1 flu.

H1N1 Vaccinations Follow Up

In my previous post about the H1N1 Swine flu vaccinations I was wondering what gives with the approval dates. I decided to do a little research.

So here is a bit of influenza history.
The Influenza A subtype H1N1 caused the pandemic of 1918-1919. This subtype continued to circulate but was never again as virulent as in the Pandemic. In 1957 when the Asian Flu H2N2 appeared H1N1 disappeared. In 1968 when the Hong Kong Flu Virus H3N2 appeared the Asian Flu virus H2N2 disappeared. H1N1 re-surfaced in 1977 and has since co-circulated with the H3N2 virus. Both strains were in the 1998 and later vaccines.

So these past vaccines for H1N1 are for past strains that were circulating. The Vaccines now being approved are for the current variations going around and identified in 2007.

It appears the biggest part of the confusion is when the Swine Flu was renamed to H1N1 it sounded like H1N1 was an entirely brand new subtype like the Asian or Hong Kong flu were when in reality H1N1 has been around since the 1918 Pandemic though not as severe. The CDC and the Media seems to have left this part out.

H1N1 Vaccines

I really would like to know what this all says about the vaccines. These are taken from the Vaccine Data sheets. What is being approved? The delivery system or the Vaccine itself. But if it is the vaccine does that say they knew about the H1N1 back in 1980 not 2007? Makes you wonder doesn't it.

Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine
Manufactured by CSL Limited
Suspension for Intramuscular Injection
Initial U.S. Approval: 2007

Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine
Manufactured by Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Ltd.
Suspension for Intramuscular Injection
Safety data were collected in a total of 2768 adult and geriatric subjects (18 years of age and older) who have received FLUVIRIN in 29 clinical studies since 1982.

Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine
Manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur Inc.
Suspension for Intramuscular Injection
Initial US Approval: 1980

Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine Live, Intranasal
Manufactured by MedImmune, LLC
Intranasal Spray
Initial U.S. Approval: 2003

A listing of Vaccine Data Sheets Package Inserts can be found here.

What does Lobby money costs us?

It is amazing, the cost of Health Care, Insurance, Energy, Automobiles, and Banking. The money spent by these industries to buy off the government is out right crazy. And who gets to pay for these costs? The Consumer does. Not only does the consumer pay by rules and laws or regulations that are implemented to benefit the businesses like credit card rates and predatory lending, the companies also pass this expense on to the customer in higher prices for their product to squeeze out that extra profit after their overhead expenses are paid off. And then After the companies get all the breaks we get to bail them out so we can be further abused and ripped off.

What would Health care cost if $1,688,005,232 for Pharma and Health Care products, $1,269,279,506 for Insurance companies, $669,985,584,for Health Professionals, $747,761,294 for Nursing homes and Hospitals lobbying funds was not spent but instead funneled back into the companies, Health Care providers, Pharma etc.. ?

What would cars cost if $547,647,406 from the Automobile industry, $834,166,456 from Oil and Gas industry for Lobbying was instead invested back in the product.

Washington is owned by the industry and as long as there is lobbying there really can't be reform, at least not reform that benefits the general public. The Health Care debate is turning out to perfectly illustrate this and how corrupted our government has become.

If this is supposed to be a Free Market, Capitalistic society let the markets decide what can be supported not the lobbies and Government deals that artificially keep unprofitable business practices in profits with special deals, incentives and loopholes and bailouts. It is time for the government to get back to what it was meant to do. Represent "We The People" not We the Corporation! It is time for Corporate America to come back to reality and make an honest buck on it's own and pay its CEO's a reasonable income package it can afford.

Here is what is spent from 1998-2009 for the top 20

Industry
Total
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products
$1,688,005,232
Insurance
$1,269,279,506
Electric Utilities
$1,161,001,787
Computers/Internet
$955,361,777
Business Associations
$871,366,563
Oil & Gas
$834,166,456
Education
$815,729,134
Real Estate
$766,216,631
Misc Manufacturing & Distributing
$757,599,282
Hospitals/Nursing Homes
$747,761,294
Health Professionals
$669,985,584
Securities & Investment
$653,495,355
Civil Servants/Public Officials
$641,701,230
TV/Movies/Music
$640,809,522
Air Transport
$636,212,920
Misc Issues
$562,792,892
Telephone Utilities
$556,720,220
Automotive
$547,647,406
Telecom Services & Equipment
$524,760,039
Defense Aerospace
$447,559,402



Open Secrets Lobby Database

Unions and Government workers

It fries me to no end to hear people trash unions, Federal, State, County, City workers.
Lets start with unions. Does anybody remember the labor strikes, the sweat shops, the labor standards before unions. Did they live it or just sleep through the lessons in junior high.
I for one am glad that with Unions in the country we have safe working conditions, healthy work environments and can make a living to support a family. We can have , For what it is worth now health insurance and other benefits. Unions pave the way for non-union jobs and employers to provide for their employees in order to remain competitive.
Without unions this country would not have grown. Without unions this country would be just as China, Mexico and India are today, abusing their workers for the bottom lowest dollar, unsafe conditions, no health benefits and a total lack of environmental concerns. So next time you piss and moan about unions stop and look what they have done for you whether you are in a union or not. You have reaped the benefits. Or you could live in China,India or Mexico or some other abused third world country.
SO with that rant I move on to the government workers,and taxes. If you hate taxes and taxes paying government workers.
Stay off my roads, sidewalks, highways bridges. Stay out of my parks, off my lakes and rivers. Stay off my trains and runways and out of my airports. Stay out of my hospitals, schools and colleges and universities. Stay out of my museums and cultural attractions. Don't ask for unemployment or welfare benefits, don't ask for defense,(military or National Guard), don't ask for police, fire or emergency services.
Don't ask to be heard fairly in court. Don't ask to get custody of your kids.
Don't expect to have a library to go to to get a book or help you get a job.
Don't expect your drivers, fishing or hunting license to be renewed. Don't expect your food to be safe. Don't expect roads to be plowed, bridges maintained and roads repaired.
Your house? Don't bath shower or flush the toilet, Don't forget that clean water and sewage service is provided by your government. It's nice your house is safe and meets building codes, and it was inspected by whom? What are you gonna do with your trash, guess you will have to burn it, If you can get a garbage burning permit. The second you step out of that house, you are dependent on some government worker to maintain the roads, services and functions you depend on and use every day for work or play or to attend your needs. I guess you get what you pay for and if you don't pay taxes and think the workers don't deserve a pay. Well I guess you need to find a hole to live in that does not provide you any of the benefits. You might find one in some third world country where no one cars if you live or die just as long as they make a buck of you first.

Another Rant on the Economy

In a Free Market sustainable market prices would be kept in check or sustained by supply and demand. High prices out of reason would not be sustainable nor would unprofitable low prices.
Properly run companies with sound business models and desired products survive and thrive.
Free Market has been skewed and no longer functions in our society

Walmart at one time was a company that was known for selling products made in the USA. They have been forced to change due to their own corporate strategies. To guarantee the lowest prices they force manufactures to provide product at their lowest terms. To risk losing out on the massive world market shares that Walmart demands the companies have to cut costs. Many US companies have gone out of business or sent operations abroad. The US workers have lost their jobs. Many companies no longer see a healthy profit margin.

The US Auto Industry has not listened to consumers or lessons from the 70s fuel shortages.
Instead of researching and developing new technologies, smaller or more fuel efficient vehicles they have lobbied the government to stall change and continued to produce large or fuel consuming vehicles. The markets have now changed and they have no product that the consumer wants.

The Banking industry has come to run the country (into the Ground). They have run rampant with regulations removed and no checks and balances and corrupt practices. They now hold the countries hostage to big to fail or collapse. They fueled and provided the Housing bust and now in the next wave the Credit bust. All from giving credit where credit should not have been given. Instead of providing a guaranteed fixed rate and guaranteed income they have both in the housing market and now the Credit Card industry changed terms and rates on customers forcing those that can't pay to default.
They have come to depend on those that they screw over to bail them out. And in return they want to continue stiffing their customer.

Business models no longer work for the best product at a sustainable or profitable cost for the customer where profits go back into the company, its employees, expansion, research and development.
Now the profits go to the executives, stock holders and profits are determined by getting the highest price for the product at the least expense. The cost reductions are made by sending production abroad to avoid pollution requirements, labor laws and use tax loopholes. Again more workers in the US lose their jobs.

Health Care has been choking the economy to a slow death. Our health care system is also run like the banks and Wallmart. They control everything with the bottom line of Profit to executives and Stock Holders. Profits are attained by higher rates and denying coverage. Pay out as little as possible, collect as much as you can. The costs now are the number one problem with companies in financial problems trying to provide workers healthcare. People are going bankrupt because of the Health care industry.

Unions have been blamed for the problems as well with the benefit packages they garner.
All I can say about unions is throughout the history of US labor the benefits won by unions carry over and help the non union labor markets. They bring a level that non unionized companies have to strive to compete with. Without unions we would still be seeing the abuses of labor, poor wages, and no health care through all sectors of the job market without unions

Greed has been the driving factor through all assets of industry and finance and health care. It is not free markets. The companies lobby the government and receive breaks and perks to benefit their business but the people do not get represented. Greed has sent the jobs abroad and shut down manufacturing. Income has stagnated. The Middle class can no longer sustain the economy, they can no longer afford to purchase products, they can no longer get credit. The very industries, financial systems and banks that abused the middle class continue to expect the middle class to bail them out but are unwilling to change or help the middle class.
The banks continue to raise interest rates to customers at the same time that the customers /taxpayers are paying their bailout.
GM also bailed out by taxpayers are returning the favor by eliminating tens of thousands of workers, their benefits and pensions and announces they will be moving production to China.

So when is Industry, The Financial Sectors, and Government going to figure it out. Quit pointing fingers as to what administration is responsible. Quit fucking over the middle class. With out them you can't survive. You are doing everything to make sure the middle class will not survive. There are no profit margins or stock options to pay your dividends without the middle class.
You have told your customer base to go f... yourself. What are you going to do to get that base to return.

Calling Mr Atoz, You are needed

I was looking at the Taiga Forum and thought of the Library and Librarian Mr. Altoz, in the Star Trek Episode " All our Yesterdays." The libary is empty except for Mr Atoz. It is just rows and rows of discs that can be viewed on a viewer before jumping through the Portal.

What is the Taiga Forum? It is a community of librarians working at the Assistant/Associate University Librarian (AUL) and Assistant/Associate Director (AD) levels that are challenging the traditional boundaries of libraries. Vision and forward thinking is great but this group is just plain out whacked. I have heard of out in left field but they are not even in the field.

Their Vision or five year plan is summed up in their Taiga 4 Provocative Statements from Feb 20, 2009.

1. ... all librarians will be expected to take personal responsibility for their own professional
development; each of us will evolve or die. Budget pressures will force administrators to
confront the "psychological shadow" cast by tenure and pseudo-tenure that has inhibited
them from performing meaningful evaluations and taking necessary personnel actions.
Librarians who do not produce will be reassigned or fired.

Ok, This one isn't too Bad Of course people need to learn the new technology. Produce or get fired ? I guess that works just as good as bonuses or other incentives to get results but I can't say it is a morale boosting technique.

2. ... collection development as we now know it will cease to exist as selection of library
materials will be entirely patron-initiated. Ownership of materials will be limited to what is
actively used. The only collection development activities involving librarians will be
competition over special collections and archives.

Whatever, Why not let the Booksellers do it completely for the library,that way you can be sure that they clear the stuff off their shelves that won't sell.

3. ... Google will meet virtually all information needs for both students and researchers.
Publishers will use Google as a portal to an increasing array of content and services that
disintermediate libraries. All bibliographic data, excepting what libraries create for local
special collections, will be produced and consumed at the network level.

For some reason this one was crossed out. I Don't know if that's because they feel it is completed or just a joke. Glad we can get rid of all those useless other Databases and Catalogs and Google everything.

4. ... knowledge management will be identified as a critical need on campus and will be
defined much more broadly than libraries have defined it. The front door for all
information inquiries will be at the university level. Libraries will have a small information
service role.

Knowledge needed on Campus ? How Ironic, too bad they feel a need to manage it. I guess this puts the public libraries out of business.

5. ... libraries will have given up on the "outreach librarian" model after faculty persistently
show no interest in it. Successful libraries will have identified shared goals with teaching
faculty and adapted themselves to work at the intersection of librarianship, information
technology and instructional technology.

Yup those homebound people, nursing homes and prisons are such a drag to bother with it will be so nice to know that successful libraries say to hell with special needs.

6. ... libraries will provide no in-person services. All services (reference, circulation,
instruction, etc.) will be unmediated and supported by technology.

Calling Mr Atoz , You are needed at the desk someone just jumped through the Portal.

7. ... libraries will have abandoned the hybrid model to focus exclusively on electronic
collections, with limited investments in managing shared print archives. Local unique
collections will be funded only by donor contributions.

What they are saying "Local Unique collections", What they mean is "Books and printed materials"

8. ... library buildings will no longer house collections and will become campus community
centers that function as part of the student services sector. Campus business offices will
manage license and acquisition of digital content. These changes will lead campus
administrators to align libraries with the administrative rather than the academic side of
the organization.

Thats right they got rid of the "Local Unique collections" because the donors lost their money to Madoff.

9. ... the library community will insist on a better return on investment for membership
organizations (e.g., CRL, DLF, CNI, SPARC, ARL, ALA). All collaboration of significance will
be centered around either individual entrepreneurial libraries (e.g., HathiTrust, OLE), or
regional consortia.

Or, they will do away with idiotic organizations and manifestos such as this and get back to real library work.

10. ... 20% of the ARL library directors will have retired. University administrators will see
that librarians do not have the skills they need and will hire leaders from other parts of the
academy, leading both to a realignment of the library within the university and to the
decline of the library profession.

Well this will be one way of getting rid of these high paid clueless administrators who thought up this garbage. Oh Shit now what do we do Mr Atoz has jumped through the portal also.

-

I thought some of the those interviewed in the piece Librarian 2.0--Interviews of the future of librarians were a bit out of touch with their visions and and too wrapped up in techno - lust but this group sets a whole new level of OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY.

Media Lab in Retrospect

I thought I would do a little retrospective look at the Media lab.
This is not the well known Media Lab at MIT but still widely known throughout the library world. In 1973 some innovative thinkers created the Library Media lab. It was just a small room that the library patrons could use to make movies and slide shows, use a darkroom or check out camera equipment. The Media Lab continued to grow and after 22 years it offered to the library patron, 2 photo Darkrooms, a sound proof recording booth and Audio Production station, Audio and Video tape duplicating including international standards, Film and Slide to video transfer, Photo copy tables and slide show production. In addition to in house services the media lab checked out Video and Film Cameras, Slide projectors and dissolve units, Photo Lighting Kits, Microphones mixers and Multi-track recorders. Media Lab Staff, I became one of them in 1984, were there to assist and train the patrons in producing their projects and also instructed occasional workshops in Photography and archiving photos. The media Lab was part of the Library AV department that included a TV production studio that produced several library programs for Cable Television and was a community access center for Cable production.
In 1996 nonlinear video editing and Apple computers for graphic production were set to be added to the Media labs capabilities along with the newer 8mm video cameras and equipment to replace the older VHS units. The Labs Video capability included Beta, VHS, 3/4, 8mm, Pal /Secam/NTSC conversion and film/slide/photo to video conversion.
In 1995 the use of the lab was over 10,000 patrons a year and growing.
In 1995 citing budgets and a view that cable was no longer viable the AV department was shut down entirely. Most of the Cable studio was sold off to the local cable companies and most of the Media Lab went to the Edina Art Center and the library no longer had any AV department, Cable TV production or Media Lab. It was a very controversial closing as noted by the local newspaper and the ALA American Libraries.

Now it is 2009, almost a full 14 years since it was shut down. I just completed the second round of the 23 things on a Stick and learning about Library 2.0 applications.
The Edina Art center has continued to thrive and expand to include the Peggy Kelly Media Arts Center from where the Media Lab left off.
In the library world the push for 2.0 uses the methods for producing and sharing documents, Videos, Photos grows more prevalent every day. The Media Lab was in essence providing what the current technology allowed it to do. It turns out it was exactly what the Library World is screaming to provide today. The Media Lab was set to be among the first in libraries in the country to offer a computer lab, with the closing it took another 10 years for the library to reach that point.
In many ways when the library eliminated the AV department the library fell behind. Instead of AV being the backbone of what and how the library was used outside of traditional book services these services were delayed until the libraries came online and had a robust enough network. The Library was itself transforming from a printed catalog to an online catalog at the time of the close. It has been only within the last several years that the online functionality has been able to support and provide the Web 2.0 needs.
I am amazed at the irony of how what was once a unique and trendy lab that visitors from around the world visited was closed and now the very services it offered are what is now in demand with the 2.0 needs. It is amazing how a simple decision can affect things down the road. It is a dynamic illustration of decision making. I can only imagine what we would be offering our patrons today had the decision reflected forward thinking that took into account the customers and staff wishes over a simple budgetary cut.

The Aarhus Library in Denmark now has The Transformation Lab that has produced new visions for the physical library of the future. I saw real similar foundations between what the Media lab was and what the Transformation Lab does. It is very possible that had the Media Lab been allowed to remain it too would be offering this type of function as an integral part of the library.

Free Markets and Capitalism

Capitalism and Free Markets will always fail.

Human nature is the Achilles heel of Capitalism and Free markets. The desire for profits turns into greed. The greed defeats any possibility of self regulating. Putting in controls and regulations is the only way to control the greed but in doing so changes the meaning of free markets.
Reagonomics was a failure. Money never trickled down. Instead it found its ways back into the pockets of those that controlled the wealth. The whole premise of Capitalism and free markets has been the down fall of dynasties empires and governments throughout History. The regulating of the systems get displaced by greed and corruption due to the insatiable need for more wealth. The wealthy get wealthier and more powerful and increasingly depend more on the poor to produce their wealth for them. Eventually this can not be sustained and it collapses, an uprising or revolt, or takeover happens. The poor can no longer afford to buy the products, the products eventually cease to be produced and the companies close and the wealth disintegrates and everyone loses except for those that stole the wealth thru unregulated corrupt practices. We have seen it happen with Enron, Oil and Gas prices, the dot com bubble, the housing bubble and now with Maddoff, AIG and the Banking Bailouts. History is repeating itself due to the unregulated greed and corruption of Free Markets and Capitalism.
Unfortunately our government has been unable to or unwilling to regulate anything and instead has cave to the needs of the wealthy or special interests and over the past eight years under the Bush Administration this has even become more profound where rules and regulations were reduced to protect big business at expense of the consumer. The republican control has allowed itself to be guided or controlled by corporate needs and demands of moral or religious groups. They protect the needs of a fortunate minority but do not answer to the needs of all. Unlike Spock in Star Trek The needs of the many do not outweigh the needs of one or a few. I have found it always amazing that those that commit terror attacks, commit assassinations, bomb abortion clinics always tend to be republican and republicans also tend to be more corrupt and more falsely religious yet expect others to follow their religious views not their examples.
This is evident through History be it the Spanish Inquisition the Roman Empire, Nazi Germany and the USA today. Greed and narrow moral or religious views and domination were the controlling factors.
For Capitalism and Free Market to truly survive and thrive A liberal or Democratic set of regulations need to be in place that keeps corruption, greed and domination in check. The Wealthy need the workers for them to remain wealthy. So keeping the workers out of poverty and able to increase their wealth only benefits all classes rich and poor. Without it all collapses.


The recent bonus and bailout fiasco with AIG only goes to exemplify how deep rooted this is and how greed makes those oblivious to the reality of what is going on. The need to protect their personal wealth for out weighs their needs our responsibilities to protect or save the economy. I keep hearing I have mine screw all of you. Retention Bonuses are collected and kept yet they leave. High Salaries and packages are always said to retain the qualified yet they can't retain them. At the same time employees are not paid adequate living wages and are told they are replaceable so they are not dignified a salary that induces retaining them.

It is also Free Markets and Capitalism that I fear will be the biggest obstacle to finding cures for Cancer or other Medical advances. Cancer research and treatment is a billion dollar industry that would collapse if a cure were to be found. Pharma would be the only benefactors and probably gouge for the cure. Health Care costs in general are out of control due to greed and profit needs not the health of the patient.

My take on the 2nd Amendment

The 2nd Amendment should have been worded better or left out entirely.

Amendment 2 - Right to Bear Arms. Ratified 12/15/1791. Note
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Some background on the 2nd amendment can be found here.
So with that up front. We no longer have militias.
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens[1] to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with multiple distinct but related meanings. Legal and historical meanings of militia include:
Defense activity or service, to protect a community, its territory, property, and laws.[2]
The entire able-bodied population of a community, town, county, or state, available to be called to arms.
· A subset of these who may be legally penalized for failing to respond to a call-up.
· A subset of these who actually respond to a call-up, regardless of legal obligation.
A private, non-government force, not necessarily directly supported or sanctioned by its government.
An official reserve army, composed of citizen soldiers. Called by various names in different countries such as; the Army Reserve, National Guard, or State Defense Forces.
The national police forces in several former communist states such as the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries, but also in the non-aligned SFR Yugoslavia. The term was inherited in Russia, and other former CIS countries. See: Militia (Police).
In France the term "Milice" has become tainted due to its use by notorious collaborators with Nazi Germany.
A select militia is composed of a small, non-representative portion of the population, often politicized
In 1760 Militias were the backbone as the government was forming. There was no real military role. The Militia was our military. The government did not supply arms but depended on the militia to provide their own weapons.
Since we no longer have the need for civilian Militias to fight our wars and defend our communities and country and the civilians are no longer the supplier of arms to the military the whole premise and need of the militia part of the 2nd Amendment falls apart
When the militia half falls apart so does the second half of the amendment. If we no longer have the need for armed civilian militias then also we no longer have the need to keep and bear arms.
So here we are some 200 years later. And this war on rights continues.
The legal uses for guns and rifles by civilians have all become recreational, Hunting and Target shooting. I do not deny anyone the right to own and use a gun but this right to own and the regulations to own them should be strict. They are not toys; their design is for one thing and one thing only. They are designed and made to kill efficiently.
They are capable of hitting a Mountain goat on the side of a mountain from a ½ a mile just as easy as someone in a park from a building top. I see no reason to produce and sell Assault versions for any other use than military and restricting these types of assault style weapons does not reduce the quality of firearms available to own.
So yes. Let people own and use firearms.
Should gun owners be allowed to conceal and carry weapons? NO I am more fearful of that person so scared that they feel they need to carry a gun to protect themselves, family, and possessions than I am of any criminal carrying a weapon illegally.. There is a fine line between going crazy in Columbine or losing it because you feel threatened and have a gun. Since I used Columbine as an example. Think of the mess had everyone been allowed to carry guns. I would rather live with a risk of the occasional illegal gun than the dangers of the legal guns everywhere. Are you going to be noble and shoot that bank robber or convenience store robber or miss and hit some innocent bystander? Don’t tell me you don’t plan on being able to shoot it. Why else would you want to be able to have the firearm in your possession at all times? Come On these are not the days of Gunslingers and shoot outs at the OK Corral.
So Why the need to keep them in their vehicles while you go shopping, Bring your kids to soccer games or leave your car in a lot all day while working. It only serves one of two purposes you feel a need to use it any time. or you want to look cool having rifles locked on the rack in the back window. The only advantage I see in being able to store your firearms in your car is to make it easier to get them stolen and into the hands of illegal use. Or are you all planning on creating your own militia to overthrow the government.
Give me a break and get over your Macho mentality that you need to own and shoot assualt weapons and that you are the chosen vigilante protectors we all need.