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!

 

PROLIFERATION OF MILITARY VETERAN HELP GROUPS

PROLIFERATION OF MILITARY VETERAN HELP GROUPS

FRAZER CHRONICLE

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

There are several hundred military veteran help groups in the United States today, each soliciting funds so that they can aid returning soldiers from the different war zones that the United States military maintains. Military intervention throughout many parts of the world today is big business…unless you figure that the Pentagon makes war with sticks and stones, and soldiers fight for free.

 

I have long struggled with this topic, whether to write about it or not; for several reasons, but readers can rest assured that I am not pointing a finger at the soldiers that are serving in the military.  I do not blame them for the seeming endless military insurgencies that the United States carries out in a vast portion of the world today.

 

My old man used to say “what the world needs is wars to thin the herd,” and sadly I guess that he might have been right. Between 1901 and 2015 more than a 10^th of a billion have succumbed to the grim reapers military sword. Almost without exception every country on the face of the planet has been guilty of some sort of organized military skirmish.

 

In the sanctity of my basement man cave I regularly watch American Hero’s Channel, the History Channel and the Military Channel, and I basically begin a slow burn by the first commercial, and by the last commercial and past anger, I’m right into being flabbergasted. The stupidity that our fellow human beings have wrought on their fellow man is simply unbelievable.

 

Usually there are two or three veteran commercials that advertise helping a returning warrior, or how veterans can get a loan to purchase a house…and it’s almost guaranteed by some retired military mucky-muck. These ads usually put me over the top, and I turn my television to Tru-TV to catch up on a bit of some sanity.

 

WHAT DOES WAR TEACH US

I used to visit an old timer when I was a kid, Walt was his name, and he wasn’t my mentor or my teacher, he had a knack of telling really interesting stories, and I just loved to listen to him. Walt had been in World War I, and wasn’t a hero, a sergeant, or a leader, nope not Walt, like he’d say, “I was a follower.”

 

One story he told me was that he and four other soldiers were ordered by a lieutenant to go up a hill and see what was on the other side. Walt looks at his buddies, looks back at the lieutenant and says, “if you’re so interested in knowing what’s on the other side of that hill…you go.”  Obviously nothing happened, because Walt came home in one piece, and also with a handful of medals that he showed me.

 

The thing that Walt took away from his time in the European arena of the war was that war solved absolutely nothing, not when one considers the cost in human lives. I don’t recall him ever talking about the financial cost, or that war industry was profiteering from the calamity and carnage that the war was.

 

What has stuck with me all of these years from old Walt was the fact politicians make war, and then the populations fight the wars. Another thing that he told me was “once a war is over…never make war again.” Some of this stuff I’m paraphrasing, after all its 55 to 60 years since I had the privilege to sit and listen to the old stone cutter.

 

The average guy on the street doesn’t think about making war…trust me, I know, I study these things. The guy on the street is worried about his house payment, car payment, and the fact that he forgot the list that his wife wrote and left on the kitchen counter. With little exception citizens walking on America’s streets figure that living day to day is a full time job, and they don’t know the issues of…whatever, they don’t want to be bothered.

 

I also know that with little exception Americans detest military confrontation, not so much for what harm it’ll do, but because they don’t want to be bothered. Self-absorbed, you betcha, blissfully ignorant to the issues of the day, absolutely, patriotic, wildly, just about the same as anybody who doesn’t really know the issues, and doesn’t have a qualified answer.

 

Down through the annals of world history men have fought men for a variety of reasons, usually with little or no justification. Also the casualty list of worlds wars…of all times numbers in the millions, and yet man continues to fight man…are we really that dumb a species?

 

TO MY POINT

Vary simple, war is to be avoided at all costs, without conscription (a draft) there is a percentage of people in the United States who are of the mind-set necessary to serve in a military atmosphere. Their comfortable doing the bidding of their superiors…and the president, and Congress, depending on who occupies the White House, the president may simply circumvent Congress.

 

The 2015 fiscal defense budget is $496.1 billion and includes all sorts of listed expenditures, and can be read in its entirety online. The proposed 2016 defense budget will increase by $38.2 billion dollars to $534.3 billion. According to the printed information the Management of the Military Health System will be $47.8 billion, with some 9.2 million military personal, their family members and retirees.

 

Of course this Management of the Military Health System will be contingent on how many military operations that the United States might be involved in. Another serious military confrontation will drastically alter the $47.8 billion price-tag on what returning wounded soldiers need for medical care.

 

There is Tricare which was formerly known as the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS). Tricare is simply an insurance company that specializes in civilian health care for military dependents, military retirees and their dependents. 

 

Initially Tricare, which came into existence in 1997, was managed by Tricare Management Activity (TMC), under the authority of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs). In 2013 TMA disestablished and Tricare responsibility was transferred to the Defense Health Agency.

 

Confused yet…let’s try the Military Health System with Doctor Jonathan Woodson as agency boss, and the Executive Director, the Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. I guess between these two people, and some department heads, the collectively oversee 137,000 employees and administer a $50 billion dollar budget that is not included within the Department of Defense (DOD) budget.

 

Did you ever wonder how many military bases were located in the continental United States…well I did, and the number is 117 in 49 states around the nation. In addition there are 151 military installations that have been closed for one reason or another. The active bases serve as billeting for soldiers, training centers, and medical clinics for medical treatment.

 

There are, at the present time 142 military hospitals that are scattered around the country that are in every state except Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and the Virgin Islands.

 

The costs to operate, maintain and keep secure these installations can’t be found on the DOD 2015 budget, or the proposed 2016 budget. Possibly I’m missing something, I’m only human, and as such am prone to making a mistake here and there. But in the light of day, in 100% transparency, these facilities and related maintenance costs have to run into the billions.

 

IN CLOSING

I have guarded respect for the country’s military personal, I use the word guarded because frankly I think some of our service men and women are psychopathic, and needed care way before they enter the military.

 

Possibly I’m way off base, but I think that we need to go back to the draft, believe you me, 50% of our military skirmishes would cease, and the other 50% would be diligently debated out from behind closed doors, and those smoke filled rooms that meet late at night.

 

The country’s military members should have every ounce of care that they need or desire, their dependents need access to the same care and transportation to and from any health appointments should be provided whenever necessary. All travel expenses incurred of any kind should be covered, and child care also provided at no cost.

 

There should be no need for Wounded Warriors or any of the dozens of other help organizations that advertise for civilians to individually aid returning veterans. To my way of thinking that financial burden should be shouldered by the taxpayers of the United States. Some of our elected officials and the vast majority of the military industrial complex throughout the world initiated the war, or military skirmish…and for electing these fools to office, and than sitting back while they wage wars throughout the world, for that transgression, we should all pay in spades.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!