We the People

We the People

Frazer Chronicle

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

It seems lately that there is another multi gunshot killing in the United States by a loan killer that makes the 6:00 P.M. news. And like many people I wonder why, I wonder what in hell is going on in the “Land of the free and the home of the brave.” Is it in the water, or the food that we, as a nation eat, are we all flipping out, is it the full moon, or are we going through some sort of phase?

 

There are roughly 32,000 gun deaths a year in the United States, and that seems like a high number on the surface, however when one considers that more than 2.5 million people meet their maker every year, 32,000 gun deaths kind of pale in importance. Hell, 178,000 people die every year because of hospital or health clinics, or a doctor’s screw up.

 

So why is it such a big deal when 32,000 people die by firearms in a year? Well, my friends, I have a really good answer for that…virtually every gunshot death in the United States is avoidable. Yup, that’s right…I’ll say it again, “virtually every gunshot death in the United States is avoidable.”

 

Don’t agree? Well let’s break the numbers down, of those 32,000 people who die by gunshot, a whopping 60% are self inflicted usually by suicide, 3% are accidental shootings, and the remaining 37% are classified as homicide.

 

So a person can figure that around 11,000 or so thousand people die from gunshots that can be related to the illegal drug industry, gang warfare in the United States, or a very small percentage of deaths that occur from simple larcenies gone wrong.

 

I am neither a gun advocate, nor a gun control individual; I think that there should be federal mandated regulations that cover all gun sales, and ownership. Individual state’s rules and regulations simply don’t work, unless you figure its ok for private citizens to carry concealed hand guns without a permit.

 

That’s what Wyoming residents can do, or how about Mississippi where it’s not required for gun dealers to be licensed, and there is no gun registration requirement. And then there’s Alaska who has no ban on the sale of assault weapons or high capacity magazines. And for gun advocates, Alabama has to be paradise, or the promised land because there is absolutely no firearms registration, private sellers are not required to run background checks on purchasers, and people can own as many guns as they can load in to their trunks.

 

What’s the Big Deal Here Anyways

 

I’m not sure I understand what the big deal is here with regards to owning a gun…or guns, I bet nine out of ten people would not want to pull the trigger on their weapon unless it was an either or situation, “It was either him or you.” I’ve never killed anybody, although I’ve seen what a gunshot wound looks like, and how I treated it when I was in the military.

 

People use guns for all sorts of reasons, recreation, hunting, and for protection, I think that you’ve got to be pretty lame to get any kind of recreation out of a firearm, and probably need a new life. Hunting is kind of a sport, I say “kind of a sport” because deer, bear, or rabbits don’t have guns to protect themselves which kind of takes the sport out of hunting.

 

 

And personal protection, well Tex, let me put it this way with regards to personal protection, you better be a cool guy, or gal to figure to use that pistol you’ve got in your waist-band, holster or handbag. Although most thieves aren’t really professionals, I figure that they’re more versed in shooting at people then you might be. Anyways no matter what a thief is attempting to steal from you is not worth a human life…is it?

 

So if a person wants to own a gun, or carry a concealed weapon, I say that would be fine as long as a person’s background is clean, and that person meets the criteria that the federal government mandates. It isn’t gun control, it just smart…I’ll be we all know at least one person who would have absolutely no business with a concealed pistol.

 

I Don’t Own a Gun of Any Type

 

I don’t own a gun, they make me nervous, guns are for one thing, and one thing only…to kill things, whether on two feet or four. I’ve seen firsthand what an M-16 rifle round can do to muscle, flesh and bone…It ain’t pretty.

 

The 2^nd Amendment to the Constitution is a much maligned document that holds little meaning in the 21^st century. We don’t have or need a militia, we have over a million man military force with billions of dollars worth of war machinery that took the place of a private citizen militia decades ago.

 

However like I said, if a private American citizen feels the need to own a firearm, follow whatever mandated rules and regulations are established by the federal government. Somehow, some way, we need to become a “more enlightened people,” we need to do the right thing, to curtail the senseless killings that are happening in our country. Even one murder, or one suicide, or one accidental shooting is too much.

 

It’s comical how people take exception at the potential restriction of an issue that will be seen as a restriction of an inalienable right. We have to have health insurance, we have to have auto insurance, we have to pay taxes, and there are a slew of laws that we have to follow, or suffer the consequences.

 

Gun manufactures and ammunition makers in the United States (they number in hundreds) are the only real benefactors of people owning guns. United States citizens need to stand up and be counted with regards to enacting a set of common sense laws to regulate gun control, and quit letting a minority (less than 4 million members), National Rifle Association, push the country around.

 

Have a Nice Day!

DID YOU SEE THAT VIDEO, WHAT A DRAG!

DID YOU SEE THAT VIDEO, WHAT A DRAG!

Frazer Chronicle

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

There has to be a ton of frustration out there, people are going postal every day…and they don’t even work for the United States Postal Service. People shooting people, gun advocates telling anybody who will listen that “We all have the right to own guns,” lovers quarrels leading to physical fights, tavern altercations that lead to death and incarceration…and now violence in the classroom.

 

Come on, what the hell is going on here, I remember times back before the turn of the 20^th century, (not personally) when men carried holstered firearms at their sides, it was common-place. I thought those days were dead, but like I always say, History is like a wheel, history repeats itself.

 

Violence is not new in 21^st century educational centers, rather grade schools, or high schools, or colleges, they all seem to be targets for life threatening altercations. There is a reason why people aren’t supposed to put their hands on another person…somebody can get injured for life, or killed. These bodies that we walk around in aren’t indestructible, in fact they are relatively fragile, broken fingers, wrists, jaws, legs and arms are just a few of the everyday injuries that people suffer.

 

There are stories in United States newspapers each and every day that report in graphic detail the injuries and deaths caused by both law enforcement as well as people in the private sector who disagree with one another and turn to violence to settle an issue.

 

To say that the United States has a problem with regards to anger management, and how police, police the general population would be a huge understatement. But in schools, we simply can’t allow for violence to be the common way that school students are dealt with.

 

The rough arrest tactics displayed by school resource officer, Deputy Ben Fields is simply the tip of the iceberg. But should the general population be concerned with this kind of violent treatment of a child? Ah, err, ah…yes, whenever you flip somebody that is obviously much smaller than the flipper is, all sorts of injuries can occur.

 

The student at the South Carolina school was acting asinine, and…was acting like a stupid kid who was not using any sort of judgment, it’s what kids do, it’s their job. But to get jerked around, and out of the students seat, and then dragged across the floor…no way.

 

Adults are supposed to exhibit restraint, they are supposed to use good judgment, they are supposed to be adults. For the muscle bound deputy Fields, that restraint went right out of the window, and he resorted to his primal behavior, I’m kind of surprised that he didn’t drag the female off into his cave and have his way with her.

 

There have been other incidents involving Officer Fields, but one was dismissed because the jury did not find excessive force was used when he and his partner maced a couple who were protesting, and were cited for excessive noise.

 

Like I already said, “these types of actions are just the tip of the iceberg,” it happens every day in every state of the union, and is at an epidemic state. People who do not comply with authority figures are wacked, batted, maced, tazed, and otherwise injured each and every day. Are all of these people guilty…here’s a guess…No way.

 

Cops are running amuck, and pose a threat to each and every one of us, both the bad as well as the good. Cops credo is simple and straight forward, control of each and every situation, even when there’s no reason for it. Old people have been tazed, wacked with a night-stick, and in some cases shot. Kids playing the age old cops and robbers, or war, take the lives in their own hands if they are using a make-believe weapon that looks like the real thing.

 

Is the citizen safer in the United States because of the aggressive attitude that cops seem to have in the 21^st century? I would have to say no, whenever a body of people are allowed to use force at their own discretion, and randomly, there will always be trouble. What has happened is that law enforcement has been given pretty much a free pass whenever the judicial system attempts to hold some of the worst offenders reliable for their actions.

 

Whenever a cop is brought up on charges of using excessive force, even when there are witnesses, video proof, or a pattern of past abuses, the judicial system gives the cop a free pass cause his job is so tough. These people don’t call what they do a job, they call it “Serving the community,” who a load of crap that is.

 

Have a Nice Day!

 

     

HILLARY CLINTON GOT BOOPED

HILLARY CLINTON GOT BOOPED

FRAZER CHRONICLE

(Fall the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

The House Committee on the Benghazi disaster which occurred back on September 11, 2012 when Islamic militants attacked the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, killing two men, and then another attack several hours later which took the lives of two CIA contractors, has been a thorn in Ms. Clinton’s rump for the past couple of years.

 

There have been numerous meetings, investigations, and a million or so dollars spent on the effort, yet there is no reasonable resolution that will satisfy many of those people who have been working overtime to reach some kind of answers to the questions that continue to be asked of Hillary Clinton.

 

I watched off and on yesterday, October 22, more out of curiosity than to learn the truth about the incident that took four American lives. The way I see it is if you volunteer to work these diplomatic posts in foreign countries, you are risking your life, and sadly in the September 11, 2012 attack in Libya some of these people lost their lives.

 

It’s kind of the hazard of the job… if you’re unlucky, or you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, there could be hell to pay. These people know the risks, their families know the risks, and anyways…thay make a bit more than just a living wage for their service.

 

Hillary Clinton was the Secretary of State during that fateful September day in 2012 and her life was placed even more in the big fish-bowl of political life. Did she strike out in her decisions regarding moving troops from one place to another…well probably so, but like some famous general once said… “Mistakes are made aplenty during wars.”

 

Was it the Secretary of State’s job to make defensive decisions with regards to military type strategies, I sure the hell hope not, she’s not qualified. Those decisions are left up to military personnel; it’s what they are supposed to be good at.

 

As the Republican lead investigative House committee hammered away at Clinton for what turned into a marathon 11 hour blood bath of questioning that frankly made little sense to me, Clinton emerged little worse for the wear…and the 11 hour questioning showed any Americans who watched and really listened how fractured the United States political system is.

 

I Got To Tell You…I Understand

 

Some of the committee members who were asking the questions resembled kids who had been bullied on their grade school playground years…and were now getting even. A major portion of the questions posed made them sound like idiots…email this, email that, get over it.

 

Hillary Clinton is probably not an easy person to like, and yes she has a philandering husband, and I’ll bet they don’t wear “Arrow underwear,” I know a whole host of people that I would not trust with my beer money…but I kind of figure that those kinds of people deserve to become the President of the United States, a kind of “good enough for you,” deal.

 

 

I look at the different candidates from both parties and I see a bunch of silly people who thrist for the kind of perceived power that comes from being the President of the United States, and I look a video clips from before they were elected to the country’s highest post, and then another clip four or eight years later, and the difference is startling. They are old, most beyond their years…and I think, “I wouldn’t take that job on a bet.”   

 

Benghazi if over, and has been for more than 36 months, and the 12 people on this inquiry committee have asked enough questions, and sure as hell have spend enough money (over $4 million and counting).

 

These 12 people, 7 Republicans and 5 Democrats, 11 of which are college graduates, 9 who practiced  law, one college dropout, and one disabled war veteran make up the committee. I see one problem right away…to many lawyers. It’s a well know fact that lawyers like to argue.

 

These people that we have elected to office to “actually do our bidding” need to get on with the business of government…not politics. Aren’t you as sick as I am about what these people are doing? I got to tell you, I’d vote straight democrat if I figured that they’d do a better job than those jokers we’ve got doing our bidding at the present time…but I’m afraid the end results would be quite the same as we’ve got right now.

 

Have A Nice Day!

REPUBLICANS ARE HUMAN TOO

 REPUBLICANS ARE HUMAN TOO

FRAZER CHRONICLE

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

Aha, I knew that headline would grab your interest, if for nothing else then to see what another wacko was talking about. The United States political system is not hard to figure out; in fact it’s really easy to understand…just as quickly as a person accepts just the three basic rules of survival. And those three basic rules are the same the world over…honest, and I’m not making this stuff up.

 

Everybody and I mean everybody needs somebody to love, three meals a day, and a roof over your head for protection. Almost like that old saying, “Three hots and a cot” and the quicker we all remember this basic rule, the better off the country and the world will be.

 

The United States is currently in the midst of the grand experiment that is called the country’s “Political process.” A sillier practice there never has been, muck-raking, and all that the term implies, tends to blur issues until they are actually unrecognizable to the electorate…and the US is the most informed peoples in the world!

 

There are some basic truths that US citizens needs to accept, truths that are rock solid facts that separate the dominate political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. The divides aren’t shadowy, or secrets, they are as plain as the noses on people’s faces.

 

Democrats or liberals favor a sharing of financial resources; they like to get into everybody’s back pockets, grab some of your cash, and spread it around…to everybody. They like social programs, they like universal health care, and they like a kind of welfare state.

 

Republicans like to keep their money, they figure that they worked for it, and by God, don’t want anybody grabbing it for any reason. They think that 90% of social programs should be wiped away, and that people should work for, and provide their own benefits and care.

 

With regards to taxation issues, both sides of the political isle favor some form of tax cuts in some instances. Democrats favor a kind of pick and chose program to eliminate some taxation while Republicans favor a across the board slash and cut style.

 

Here I clash with both parties, I happen to believe that our system of taxation should, in fact, be of a higher percentage. I don’t feel that an 18% tax of lower income people is fair, nor do I figure that a 36% tax rate is fair for those people that are making more than $200,000. This issue should be at the top of the things that we should solve. Not our elected officials…but we all should sit, talk about this issue, and then collectively decide how to tax ourselves.

 

What Are Taxes Anyways and Where Do They Come From and Go

 

The question of how long people have been being taxed is actually an academic one; people have been paying taxes to a higher source since the beginning of time…almost. Ancient pharaohs road around in their chariots 5000 years ago collecting funds to operate the kingdom in Egypt, or anyways that’s what my source says.

 

The United States did not invent the habit of taxing legal citizens, however they might have invented the practice of taxing people at various levels, like state, regional, area, and local. Every time you pay an excise tax, or as they say, “A consumption or commodity charge” you are paying a local, state, and federal tax…kind of like a triple header attack on your wallet.

 

Most Republicans see red around April 15 of each year; it’s kind of like the “fess-up day” for people who guard their income like it’s a national treasure. These are the people who pee and moan about the size of their payments, or if they are like my brother-in-law, pee and moan every time they pay their quarterly.

 

Believe it or not…in my opinion, taxes are a good thing, “If spent for the proper programs, and kept away from those greedy bastard corporate entities.” Yup that’s right, you’re reading right, let me repeat it, “Taxes are a good thing.” But that is the trick, to get those tax dollars to the proper programs, and keep them out of the wrong hands...something that the government seems to be unable, or unwilling to do.

 

If you break down how much is spent on every single dollar that the government gets in tax payments for Mr. or Mrs. John Q. or Joan Q. Public, it’s broken down about this way, (1) military .27 cents, health care .22.7, interest on debt .13.9, unemployment .9.8, veterans benefits .5.1, food and agriculture .5, government .4.5, housing and community .4, education .2, energy and environment 1.9, international affairs .1.5, transportation .1.4, sciences .1.1.

 

The above should add up to a dollar bill, notice any discrepancies, I mean maybe too much is being spent in one category, or maybe one of your pet peeves isn’t being stroked enough with Uncle Sam’s greenbacks?

 

Let break our tax appropriations down so that even simple people like me can fully understand where our tax dollars are going: $3,174.25, military, $2,662.58, health, interest on national debt, $1,624.58, unemployment and labor, $1,146.58, veterans benefits, $592.00, food and agriculture, $591.12, government, $532.94, housing and community, $467.70, education, $237.97, energy and environment, $217.25, international affairs, $177.29, transportation, $159.35, sciences, $131.29. Added all together the above figures are what the average U.S. taxpayer pays…$11,715.00.

 

Tax dollars in varying degrees come directly from United States citizens, those taxes are paid in different ways, and in varying amounts. Our elected officials through committees, suggested bills, or in special interest situations decide where the money will go, and who gets their mitts on it.

 

Appropriations are packaged in request budgets from dozens of governmental departments, and sub-departments, and go before other committees before it is submitted to the President, who in turn relies on his advisors to hammer out a finished product that will be submitted.

 

Do you see where I’m coming from, both Republicans and Democrats are involved in the American process that decides how much, and where our tax dollars go. It isn’t a single bogie man or political party, it’s a cross section of people, people of different faiths, different genders, and different colors…it’s really the only thing that the United States is noted for, it’s melting pot of people.

 

The 2015 proposed budget “preliminary actual” was $3.249 trillion, down from $3.34 trillion requested. The total expenditures projected are $3.685, which will leave the United States in a deficit spending mode.

 

There are more figures, but my vision is becoming blurry, and I deal with statistical figures every day, so I figure to give you a break. Suffice it to say that to say that the United States is up to its butt in debt, and at the present time has no plans of getting out from under it.  

 

Once Again We Enter the Silly Season

 

The country is now entering what I refer to as the silly season, it’s the time where perfectly sane people begin to act like kids, slinging mud all over the place against people in their own political party as well as those of a different political persuasion. Each talk about how they will fix what is wrong in the country…depending on which party they are from.

 

These are perfectly intelligent, usually hard working, and patriotic individuals whose only flaw is that they have a different opinion from their opposition…in their own party as well as any other party.

 

This debate between the political parties has been going on for over 200 years, however in modern times the U.S. has managed to whittle the number of political thinking to just two parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. Also between the politicians and those powers that be have redesigned our political process to resemble a popularity, who’s the best looking, and who can be manipulated the best.

 

Oh yea…it also takes millions of dollars to operate a modern political campaign on many levels throughout the country. That task, of raising millions of dollars to run a 21^st century campaign cuts all sorts of good people, with wonderful ideas out of the equation.

 

Our political process not resembles something like a monarch, where just a few people have the power to operate the country. The United States is one of the older countries in existence today, 237 years old. What do you feel are the chances for the country to see its 250^th birthday…I would say less than a 50-50 chance, how about you smarty pants?

 

Have A Nice Day!

 

SCOFFLAW…ARE YOU KIDDING

FRAZER CHRONICLE

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

I read an article in my local newspaper, the Green Bay Press Gazette penned by Keegan Kyle about how state policing agencies do not always register all of their chases…(a Wisconsin State law dictates that this be done) and they do not register civilian injuries or deaths. Aha…paperwork is burying law enforcement and what would you rather have your local, county and state law enforcement doing, patrolling the streets for violators, or filling out reports?

 

The thing that got me was a word that appeared in Keegan Kyle’s article’s first paragraph was the use of the word “Scofflaw,” now I’d like to tell you that I know what scofflaw means…and that I use the word during the course of a conversation…but I can’t, in fact I never even heard of the word until I read Kyle’s article.

 

My point here is simple...the word, simple is exactly what I am talking about…”keep it simple stupid.”  I wrote about 10,000 words a week during the course of my responsibilities with a small Midwestern newspaper, and I use all sorts of verbiage…and like my wife, who proof-reads all of my prose says “Don’t be so wordy.”

 

She of course is right, and in this instance…”Keegan Kyle” got way overboard in her first paragraph…scofflaw, wow. The word has been around only since the middle 1920’s and was first used during the prohibition era, and meant a person who drinks illegally. Over time the word grew, “In some quarters” and today includes “One who flouts any law, especially those laws which are difficult to enforce, and particularly traffic laws.”

 

The word, scofflaw, was the winning entry of a nationwide competition sponsored by the Boston Herald in 1924. The word was submitted by two separate entrants, Henry Irving Dale, and Kate L. Butler who split the $200 prize equally. The word scofflaw was deemed the best and most suitable out of 25,000 entries.

 

Again I reiterate, as writers we have a responsibility to make the reporting of the news as easy to read and follow as possible…and if we can add a bit of humor, so much the better. In many instances the news that is reported is drab, filled with hard cold fact, and the reader can be distracted almost for no reason.

 

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE

I am a big proponent of understanding that our elected officials, law-makers, and law enforcement officials aren’t any better than we, the general population is. We all have a tough time with daily temptations, shortcuts that aren’t really prescribed in the workplace, and at times we are all just plain lazy…(it’s a burn-out thing).

 

However in the United States today, there is one issue that touches us all, and that issue is how our law enforcement has moved several levels out of the control of the public. “Oh what’s that…you forgot that law enforcement, the law-makers, and our elected officials actually work for us,” well it’s true, and unless we stand and voice our dissent as a single body, that ability to control some of the shenanigans that goes on every day will be lost.

 

Cops are not above the law; they need to be diligent in following the rules and regulations that are laid out for all of us to follow. Law enforcement needs to understand that if we don’t all follow the laws of the land, the country in affect becomes lawless. After all, we are a nation of laws, but the execution of these laws throughout the United States on a daily basis is becoming a sad joke.

 

Not filling out required reports is just the tip of the iceberg, especially reports where injury or death might occur. When a cop doesn’t do his job, several things can happen, not the least of which might be death or injury. And I don’t know about you, but if one of my family members was treated shoddily I would be the first in line at an attorney’s office.

 

Here in Wisconsin, between 2002 and 2013 there was an astounding 13,800 police chase’s that were registered, and it’s estimated that there were more, like thousands more. I used to drive a semi over the road, and I saw civilian-police chases, they’re dangerous. I never saw the eventual completion of a chase, but I have seen times when cops had stopped a perpetrator, and had them spread eagle on the ground, and I always wonder…”was that necessary.”

 

When we read about police shortcomings or frailties we need to call them out, we need to let them know for certain that they (cops) are not above the law. And when they are caught with their hand in the “cookie jar,” we need to act swiftly, and fairly, after all we really are under the same laws. And we just need to report the news in an easier format., and language that we can all understand without looking up the word.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

18 DAYS TO CAPITULATION IN VIENNA

18 DAYS TO CAPITULATION IN VIENNA

FRAZER CHRONICLE

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

I woke this morning, and did my usual duties…I’m sure I don’t need to draw you a picture, anyways after my lightly butter toast, jelly and a cup of coffee (decaffeinated), I returned to my bed for a 30 minute power nap.

 

Refreshed, I casually snapped on my computer to get the overnight and early morning breaking news. First thing I saw was a picture of 8 old looking men and one lady, Federica Mogherini from Italy who wasn’t bad looking, actually a fox, standing in a full length photo op with the headline “18-day negotiation yields landmark Iran Nuclear accord.”

 

I read the accompanying article by the AP’s George Jahn and Matthew Lee, and as I read, there was a little corner of my mind that begin a low pitched question…“Why would a country…any country give up, and give in to something that really isn’t anybody’s business…but Iran’s.”  As I read on the “low pitched question” gained momentum in volume, and spread to the rest of me…I discovered that I needed more answers then the article was giving.

 

And like the fool that I am, I begin a little research, I wanted to know who has nuclear capabilities, has nuclear weapons, and what they use their nuclear technology for? The United States is one of just eight countries that has nuclear capabilities, and one of only three other countries who possess nuclear weapons…or as the information states, “warheads.” 

 

China, India, Pakistan and North Korea all have nuclear capabilities, but nobody knows who many warheads that they have. Another country, Israel is suspected of having warheads, but nobody knows for sure.

 

I’m reading this information, and I begin to get another research headache, it’s the same players all over again, and their paper thin rhetoric about all of the dangers associated with the nuclear question. It’s a tired refrain that pops up every so often…kind of like saber rattling. And I can’t figure out why the rest of the world allows the United States to be so vocal on the issue when the U.S. is the only country in the history of mankind that has actually used the contraption.

 

Well over 100,000 civilians were vaporized in an instant in August of 1945…and the world knows of the carnage that those two devises caused. It’s well documented; everybody who is anybody knows what nuclear weaponry can do not only to humans, but to the atmosphere as well as the countryside. And possibly the very worst part of the entire issue that was the bombing of Japan has been, that the United States is unapologetic.

 

And yet, the world seems to allow the US to be at the head of the table…possibly because hundred dollar bills keep dropping out of Secretary of State’s John Kerry’s brief case. I do suspect this, the Iranian nuclear deal is most probably about fossil fuel as opposed the nuclear threats.

LET ME LAY A FEW DROPLETS ON YOU

I never write a blog unless I know at least a little about the subject matter, and I think that blog is all about power and money. Sadly little in the world today isn’t moved by the chance to make not millions, nor billions…but trillions. The figures that these jokers are playing around with, makes the average citizen…in any country…dizzy. I looked up the oil fields of the world, and although I am sure that the reserves of oil are depleting…there’s still a whole bunch of barrels in the ground, or under the sea.

 

Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar Field produces 5 million barrels a day, and although the reserve totals (oil left in the ground) is disputed, there’s still 75-85 billion barrels, and the rate of decline is about 8% per year, or Saudi Arabia will be pumping oil for the next 12 years. However it’s in the Saudi’s best interest to keep the world on fossil fuels because they have a total of around 150 billion barrels at each of their 6 sites and another that they share with Iran.

 

Russia has a whole bunch of little oil fields, distributed throughout their property of at least 25 different places, with a reserve of about 60 billion barrels…and none of these properties are being developed at the present time, or at least as of May 15, 2015.

 

Now let’s switch to Iran and her oil fields…there are 10 locations, and one that is shared with Saudi Arabia which contains 10 billion barrels. Iran is only producing oil on three sites and that production is just 2.2 million barrels a day. Wars and sanctions have effectively shut off the spigot on the countries oil production, leaving the country’s 90 some billion barrels of crude untapped.

 

Let’s take my hypotheses a step further, and count up the oil that lies under the sand in Iraq, like 83 billion barrels, Saudi Arabia and her 150 billion barrels, and finally Iran, and the 90 billion barrels, and if you tally these three countries total number of tapped and untapped oil you are looking at a whopping 323 billion barrels of oil…and gazillions upon gazillions of dollars.  

 

WE NOW COME FULL CIRCLE

I don’t trust, or not trust Arabs, they simply have different cloths, different customs, and eat different food that Americans do. I think that they are people just like any other on the face of the planet, and have their own way of doing things and settling differences of opinion.

 

I think that there is a justification for some of the hard and harsh feelings that people in the Middle East have against the United States. The reason…the last time I checked, the Middle Eastern part of the world was thousands of miles from the United States, and with little exception Middle Eastern people stay in their own back yards.

 

However the United States has poked her nose into all sorts of trouble in the Middle East, has instituted leadership change a time or two during the 20^th century, and backed some questionable people in leadership roles.

 

So when somebody talks about denying another country half way around the world from possessing a power source that has little to do petroleum products, I kind of get an itchy feeling that backroom deals are being made.

 

I guess I don’t mind the United States having a footprint in a foreign country…let’s just not be wearing combat boots to make the imprint. We’ve waged wars in the Middle East for well over a decade now, and haven’t won a single one, and really have made a bad situation worse.

 

I feel that the United States continues to be digging a hole that will eventually be impossible to get out of. Fossil fuel, nuclear power…both are destructive…which one is worse…depends on who you are talking with, you know what they say, “everybody has an opinion” “and you know what everybody also has…”

HAVE A NICE DAY!

GEORGE W. BUSH SPEAK

GEORGE W. BUSH SPEAK

FRAZER CHRONICLE

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

How much does it cost to have former president George W. Bush speak at you’re fund raiser, banquet, or organizational event…”hold on to your panty-hose,” $250,000, that’s right, Mr. Fumble-Fingers who, on occasion hacks and dices the English Language. Yup a quarter of a million, plus transportation, and expenses…it seems kind of pricy to me, but who am I anyways?

 

As Benjamin Sarlin once said, “The lecture circuit is the fate that awaits all ex-presidents of the United States.” Before Bush left office he was talking with D.C. lawyer Robert Barnett, who helped managed Bill Clinton transition from the White House to the “gilded podium.”  In a 2007 interview with Robert Draper, Bush wondered what he’d do to replenish the ol’ coffers, and figured to accomplish the feat on the lecture circuit, where he could make “ridiculous money.”

 

Most experts figured that President Bush might have an initial problem with selling himself on the speaking circuit because he was hugely unpopular directly after his term in office ended. There was initial distance from Bush, and his administration members who were looking for speaking engagements.

 

However as everybody knows, Americans have short attention spans, and generally are a forgiving lot, and by 2012 G.W. Bush was earning $100,000 an engagement. Not to be outdone, first lady Laura Bush expects between $20,000 and $50,000 for her melodic tones.

 

Today George W. Bush’s asking price has risen to a quarter of a million for almost any speech that he gives. It would not be a stretch to figure that Mr. and Mrs. Bush annually knock down several million a year talking to people about…I’m not sure.

 

I have never been a fan of inspirational or motivational speakers,  to me they are mostly two faced with their subject matter and  lack substance, and have little to add to any political conversation. The one area I do think that these ex-presidents can pay for themselves is at a fund raising dinner or speech. But here again, organizers need to balance their fund raising levels with the price of their speaker…in some cases the initial layout is not worth the effort.

 

SPEAKING TO VETERANS FOR $120,000…WHATS UP WITH THAT

The crux of my blog is the fact that Bush charged $100,000 as well as a private jet to travel to Houston where the Texas based Helping A Hero is located. The charity, which helps provide specially-adapted homes for veterans who lost limbs and suffered other severe injuries in the “war on terror” in Iraq and Afghanistan, said that the expenditure of $170,000 was justified because the former President and First Lady offered discounted fees and helped raise record amounts in contribution at galas that were helped in 2011 and 2012.

 

However Politico stated that the Bush’s charges were, during this time, (2011-2012) around the $170,000 figure. As one veteran said, “you sent me to war, I was doing what you told me to do, and I did so gladly and I have no regrets. It’s kind of slap in the face when you speak at a function and get paid to do so.”

 

Former U.S. Presidents have turned the speaker’s circuit into a major source of income in their post-presidential years. Ronald Reagan once accepted $2 million dollars for speeches in Japan. Bill Clinton has brought in more than $100 million dollars in speaking fees.

 

It used to be different, George H. W. Bush never charged a fee to address any military event, whether a fund raiser, or just addressing military members. Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has been the featured speaker at numerous military charity fundraisers, as has Jimmy Carter, and neither charges a fee for these functions…makes you wonder doesn’t it?

HAVE A NICE DAY!