Reflections on the US National Debt. Will we do what it takes to shrink it?

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

 

So, President Obama's bipartisan deficit commission headed by former Wyoming Senator Alan K. Simpson (R) and former Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine B. Bowles (D) has issued its preliminary report.

 

It is a stark, sobering document.  It says, in glaringly specific ways, that we as a nation have blithely spent too much too long, unconcerned like Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Newman: "What me worry/"

 

Well, we have partied and now wake up to a colossal headache of global  proportions.  Now what?

 

President Obama, understanding that Congress needs help with this hot potato,early on in his term issued an Executive Order on the matter. Per this order, a panel of 18 members was created; 12 are members of Congress. Six are private citizens of impeccable pedigree.  Fourteen of these commissioners must agree before the panel can send any recommendations to Congress, which they must do shortly.

 

What the commissioners recommend... so far

 

The commissioners were given a breath taking charge by the president: either recommend $4 trillion dollars in budget cuts and savings and/or raise that sum in tax revenues. Everything was on the table; nothing was sacrosanct and inviolable. In short, "deal with it, boys and girls, for the good of the nation!"

 

The commissioners, selected for a gravely serious purpose, took the matter seriously, and have produced a serious document... the more so since others both within the Congress and out continue to play "gotcha politics" on the matter. Not so the commissioners. They set about their vital work with a will that promises to be sadly lacking in a Congress which will ultimately decide on what to do. Here is the  heart of what they reported.

 

Item: deep cuts in domestic and military spending

 

Item: gradual 15-cents-per-gallon increase in the federal gasoline tax

 

Item: limiting or eliminating popular tax breaks (including the home mortgage deduction) in return for lower rates.

 

Item: benefit cuts and an increased retirement age for Social Security.

 

It is all sensible, logical, necessary and desirable. It is also DOA because only the commissioners have the will to make changes... and they don't have the power to save a penny or increase tax revenues Thus, under the heading "Fools rush in where angels fear to trend",  here are my thoughts and recommendations. Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea, take note.

 

1) We live in supremely selfish times where no one is willing to give up anything. "Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country can do for you."

 

I start from the proposition that making the necessary changes to the budget will arouse the wrath of Americans nationwide, whatever Tea Party budget- balancing tenets they espouse. Everyone entering into this necessary budget shrinking debate should expect two certain things: up front high-blown patriotic rhetoric about sacrifices willingly made ; behind the scenes bare knuckle fighting of the crudest variety to protect the haves... no matter how grossly illogical and piggish their benefits.

 

2) Tackle Social Security first. It is the easiest to rehabilitate.

 

It is time someone told the American people, who treat tampering with Social Security as the third rail in politics (touch it and die), the truth. The entitled, immovable age of 65 is the cynical legacy of Europe's most successful politician, Prince Otto von Bismarck.  He's the man who engineered the unification of Germany. Looking for a way to undermine the burgeoning late 19th century Socialist movement (very strong in Germany) he asked actuaries to find a number where most men would be dead and only voteless women left. Pensions would begin then. Otto and his conservatives get the credit... but have to pay little! Actuaries said age 65 would do the trick... and so it has remained.

 

Since Bismarck's day, however, there have been huge improvements in health and longevity, thereby making the number 65 less an "entitlement" than a fantastic gift from the government for many years, to the detriment of succeeding (and rightly concerned) generations who foot the bill.

 

Note: Congress should bite this bullet early and deep. Whereas the president's commissioners want to raise the age by gradual stages to year 69, instead make the magic number go to 71 for those in reasonable health who can work. It's the right thing.

 

3) Make each member of the Congress take a pledge to eschew "gotcha politics" on this matter. In our brutally tit for blood-letting tat Congress to say A (like "you voted to slash military spending") immediately fuels the opposition to return (B) a  blow of equal or greater intensity (like "you voted to gut all domestic spending programs"). This gets us no where and fuels national rage about "do nothing" congresses.

 

Members of Congress raise money to clobber each other. That's what they do. They've been doing it since Minute 1 of the new republic. Now some aspiring statesman should, in the name of getting to yes with this budget imbroglio, say "basta!" and ask all members, on both sides of the aisle, to join him and appreciably move towards the solution we must have. Make working together politically attractive and a "must"; do this and the politically pusillanimous who constitute the core of the Congress will rush to embrace it.

 

4) Urge the president to spend his (admittedly diminished) political capital to solve this problem -- even at the risk of losing a second term.

 

Americans love big men who focus on big things which benefit the nation in big ways. Let our now wounded president do this and secure a truly significant and majestic legacy.

 

President Obama could rise to the occasion and say, "The issue of securing a balanced, lean, fair budget and with it the sound future of the nation is so important, I intend to make it my Number 1 priority. It is crucial that America get this benefit, and if it costs me my second term, so be it. It is the right thing to do." (P.S. Not only would this be statesmanship in the grand manner, but this wounded man would sail to a second term and a legacy of substance and real worth.)

 

5)  Explain to America what is at stake. Then sell it to the nation.

 

John F. Kennedy's father, Joseph Kennedy, was a marketing man. He stayed behind the scenes, raised money and gave sharp, sensible advice. Before the crucial Wisconsin primary in 1960, he told his son Jack that they would sell him "like soap flakes." They did... he romped in the primary.... and got a crucial boost on the road to the presidency.

 

President Obama et al need to do the same thing now. Hire the best marketing brains on earth... brainstorm every benefit. Then go out and sell it to the nation. This matter of  the budget is not the most difficult problem this country has ever faced; it's entirely solvable. What is necessary is to enlighten Americans, enlist their support and show them what to do. Then lock the Congress in a room and tell them to cut deals until the deed is done. And because cutting deals is what they do best, in due course the thing will be done. Then spread the credit, take the White House photographs... and start the next spending spree. For that is the American way

 

About The Author

 

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice!  Republished with author's permission by MICHAEL STANLEY http://LiveBusinessDeals.com.

Check out Shoe-In Money -> http://mikedee61.shoeinm.hop.clickbank.net

Committed Relationship-There Comes A Time When You Need More

Dating can be a wonderful experience, but there comes a point where you need something more. What you need is a committed relationship. But how do you know if you are with the right person now (assuming you are already dating), or if you should try looking for somebody else?

 

The first thing you need to do is look at things objectively. You have to do your best to take the emotion out of it and use a logical approach to your desire for a committed relationship. That means you have to ask yourself if you are actually looking for commitment, or if you are looking for something else. As long as you are being honest with yourself there are no wrong answers.

 

Okay, so you have decided you really want to be in a committed relationship, but there are still a few more things to do.

 

Decide what you want from the relationship - Knowing what you want will help you to find the right person to be committed to. Again, the key is to be honest with yourself. If you are looking for someone to give you financial security, then say so; if you want someone to make you feel special, then say so. At the same time, you should also think about what you can offer to your partner. It wouldn't be fair for only one of you to give their all while the other one takes, so be sure to think about what you are adding to the relationship.

 

Assess your current relationship - If you are currently in a relationship, then you need to take a close look at your partner to see if they can provide the things you want (and if you can provide the things they want). Nobody is perfect, so you have to be willing to accept your partner for who they are, not who you want them to be. The only thing that you are trying to change is the level of commitment in your relationship.

 

Talk to your partner about being in a committed relationship - Let's face it, commitment scares some people, but you still need to have a discussion with your partner. This is an important topic, and one where assumptions usually do more harm than good. You know your partner best, so you'll have to decide what the best method is for bringing it up. Be sure to discuss the subject in a way that is calm, respectful and sincere.

 

Make changes, if needed - If your partner isn't quite ready to be in a committed relationship, then you have three basic choices. 1) Ignore it and be trapped in a non-committed relationship, 2) give them a bit more time, 3) break up and move on with your life. Which option is best will depend on you and your situation. However, you do need to make a decision and then proceed from there.

 

About The Author

 

MICHAEL STANLEY is the Owner of http://LiveBusinessDeals.com">http://LiveBusinessDeals.com</a

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Suffer the little children. How the Vatican's good old boys...

How the Vatican's good old boys protected Ireland's most notorious pedophile priest, Father Tony Walsh.
 
We have been accustomed for years now to the steady drip, drip, drip of stories of pedophile priests -- known, protected, unrelenting, sickening. The drill goes something like this:

First, the abuse.

Then the denial.

Then the acknowledgement.

Then the settlement.

Then the cash payments.

Then the (ordinarily too weak) promises of new oversight and reform.

Surely, there could be nothing new under this cloud.

Think again.... for now you will meet (then Father) Tony Walsh... a priest with a penchant for impersonating Elvis... and a rapacious sexual appetite rivaling Don Giovanni. But this is not so much a story about Tony Walsh as it is the tale of how the Vatican, knowing much and fearing more, winked for nearly 20 years at  a man known to many as Ireland's most predatory pedophile priest. This is the Rosetta Stone of pedophile priest stories... for understanding this, reveals all.

The joy boy of Ballyfermot

Ballyfermot is part of Dublin. It is grim, poor, but fertile for those seeking the very young and winsome, for they are omnipresent and without voice or influence, the choicest morsels, available, helpless.

These were tailor-made for Father Tony  Walsh. As such, he lost no time making good use of them when he took up this parish in 1978. He molested his first boy there just two days after he started. It was simple and oh so easy. He knew he was on to a very good thing.

Father Tony honed his approach and his solicitation skills. He toured as Elvis in a traveling Catholic song-and-dance production. He ran the Boy Scouts (de rigueur for pedophile priests) and brought boys to the Dublin seminary, Clonliffe College. Through such means, an embarrass du choix, he kept a steady flow of what he desired while keeping up appearances so that those who would not see would have no grounds for suspicion. It was all very well organized, cynical, loathsome.

Bit by bit, the story of Father Tony seeped out.  Ballyfermot was rife with noisome rumors. So much incessant seduction spurred an avalanche of saucy tales, which lost nothing in the telling, not least because they were true.

This went on for 19 years, between 1975-2004 by which time the matter was widely known, conspicuous, flagrant. Yet Father Tony continued to work his cynical magic with the boys of Ballyfermot. He had a system that worked, and he enjoyed it accordingly while his superiors discussed, dithered, procrastinated... then postponed, delayed, and discussed some more. It was the Catholic version of Dickens' Circumlocution Office... and, of course, was perfectly created for Father Tony Walsh. He was one of the boys, he was inside the charmed circle... he had protection, tolerance, cover, right up to and including his eminence Cardinal Desmond Connell, Archbishop of Dublin, Primate of All Ireland.

What did his eminence do?

Over time, stories like those of Father Tony and his ilk became general knowledge; so general that even the Primate of All Ireland was forced to pay attention. But he moved too little too late so that reformers, despairing of Church-lead reform, turned to the Irish government instead. The findings of the state-ordered investigation shocked the nation and raised profound questions about how so much abuse could have occurred with so little and so ineffective response.

Item: Church officials knew of widespread abuse.

Item: Church officials shielded the perpetrators and ensured that abuse cases be treated internally, which meant they were not treated at all.

Item: No abuse cases or sexual crimes were reported by the Church until the mid-1990's. Not a single one.

And what of blissful Father Tony Walsh?

Investigators focused their attention on 46 priestly abuse cases occurring between 1975-2004. Of these cases, all heinous, the most flagrant of all was Father Tony Walsh, who in his Elvis impersonations gave a whole new meaning to "Love Me Tender..."

He was, the investigators concluded, "probably the most notorious child sexual abuser" of all... a man who knew the system well, knew that he was shielded from repercussions, and took full advantage of his superiors' penchant for shuffling, disregarding, and willingness to tolerate any abuse, no matter how young the victim or revolting the act. The man, the abuser, was a priest, elect of God, and that was enough. It was a passport to mayhem.

But the luck of Father Tony Walsh was even now not exhausted. In the report of the state-ordered investigation the chapter on Father Tony was excluded. Why? Because his criminal case was then before the courts and his rights must be protected. Indeed.

However, at long last, the case of Father Tony was heard in all its lurid, sordid, riveting detail. The nation watched, angry, sorrowful, wondering how so many could have done so wrong for so long. How parents and teachers, how priests and cardinals could have known so much and done so little... creating the fetid environment in which Father Tony et al had flourished. How could this have happened in Ireland, to all its good people? How?

Tony Walsh, no longer a priest, was convicted and convicted yet again. First he was convicted of a May, 1994 assault on a boy in a pub restroom following the funeral of the boy's grandfather. Then, later, he was convicted of sexually assaulting several more boys, receiving a further 10-year sentence.

In its wisdom the court saw fit to reduce this sentence, giving Tony Walsh instead a term of just 6 years. Just six years, after a lifetime of abuse and assault.

And what of the victims, all young, all innocent susceptibility? Who is to reduce their term by 40 percent, or by any number? Who can eradicate Father Tony Walsh from their minds and lives by even a moment? Who will be there for them when devastating memories surface and terrorize in depth of night? For they who needed the most help, got the least... to the shame of all Ireland and all its holy clerics and princely potentates who are hereby sentenced to remember and regret.

About The Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by MICHAEL STANLEY     http://LiveBusinessDeals.com

Check out Shoe-In Money --->  http://mikedee61.shoeinm.hop.clickbank.net

My Name Is Friday, I'm A Cop...

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant.

 

Author's program note. We Americans are at our best when we have identified a pressing problem, then set about the task of solving it, no matter how difficult. Right now, the problem is terrorism... what it is, how it works, the people who perpetrate the outrages... and what we as a nation and as individuals and potential victims must do to ensure that they are stopped dead... and never be allowed to practice their malicious craft ever again, against anyone, anywhere.
You might think such a high and strenuous goal is just too difficult, indeed that it is beyond the capacities of mere mortals. But you'd be wrong. Terrorism is man made and as such it can be minimized, curtailed, and through assiduous, unflagging effort wiped out by man. A man like Joe Friday.
"Just the facts, ma'am."
Joe Friday is arguably the nation's best known cop. He was created and played by American actor, television producer, and writer Jack Webb (1920-1982) on "Dragnet". The series first ran on radio (1949-1956) and television (1951-1959) and again in 1967-1970. There was also a theatrical film (1954) and a TV-movie (1969).
Why was this show with its unmistakable opening of blunt words and blunter music so popular? Because it dealt with real people ("the names have been changed to protect the innocent") and solved real crimes. Jack Webb was so perfect in his role that when he died in 1982 he was buried with full police honors, a rarity for someone who was not a policeman.
Friday was all about getting down to business, identifying problems, brainstorming solutions and using the incomparable Yankee brain power to defeat the wicked. He was thorough, indefatigable, high minded, and honest. In other words, he had what was required for success, including the absolutely necessary skill of being willing to grow, listen to others, and work together for the common good. He was never a show-off with a "hey, look at me" mentality.
This is the kind of person we need at the front lines of our great war against terrorism, for this unadulterated cruelty knows no barriers, no limits, and absolutely no humanity at all. It is the very definition of evil and must be treated as such. Its perpetrators are pernicious vermin, and deserve neither charity nor forgiveness, for they give none to anyone. Sadly, we are not yet fully equipped to deal with this mobile menace of ingenuity and increasing expertise and sophistication. And the extent to which we are disorganized, inefficient and disarranged is the very measure of our danger and risk.
"Russia alerted US repeatedly about suspect...."
The headline in The Boston Globe of Wednesday April 24, 2013 was sickening, alarming, enraging. Here's why:
"Russian authorities contacted the US government with concerns about Tamerlan Tsarnaev not once but 'multiple times,' including an alert it sent after he was first investigated by FBI agents in Boston, raising new questions about whether the FBI should have paid more attention to the suspected Boston Marathon bomber..."
What's worse, this is just the tip of the ice-berg on intelligence and overall communications break-downs. The agencies on which we spend billions and billions of dollars are, day by day, shown to resemble the Keystone Cops, to the extent that with the Boston Marathon case we may be seeing the development of the greatest intelligence failure and scandal in the entire history of the Great Republic. And remember this; when intelligence agencies fail, people die... regular ordinary people, including a disproportionate number of children and young people. Indeed the word "scandal" is not remotely satisfactory to label this botched mess showcasing one problem after another that makes them anything other than intelligent. This is a crisis of the first magnitude.
You can bet your bottom dollar that the Solons of the capital are and will be tripping over each other to identify and solve such problems; that is until something easier and less demanding arises. Thus, Solon or not, I have something to say on these matters . And Joe-Friday-like I intend to make my comments and recommendations, terse, pointed, and do-able.
"C'est la guerre."
In 1953 a brilliant historian named Cecil Woodham-Smith wrote a brilliant book which ought to be required reading for anyone connected with the war business, which is a veritable army of people as General and President Dwight David Eisenhower once memorably reminded us. Its title is "The Reason Why" on the famous charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War (1853-1856) when the best cavalry on Earth rode directly into the unremitting and pitiless cannons of the Tsar. "C'est magnifique" said the French commander Pierre Bosquet, "mais c'est pas la guerre."
It was one of the greatest blunders ever and it was the result of one communications and strategic error after another, as the bleeding remnants of this foul-up confirmed. When you run your "intelligence" departments this way, I remind you: people die.
War must be treated accordingly and never regarded as merely a job. That ensures error.
2) To establish in the minds of service personnel and citizens, the significance of their work give it a name, a name like World War III. Right now terrorism is regarded as a tragedy, to be sure, but one which is episodic, occasional and random; something perpetrated by highly efficient but small cells, mostly fighting under the leadership of extreme (and therefore limited) religious leaders and zealots.
Instead, it needs to be recognized that each supra-national cell regards itself as a sovereign power, not just a faction. Thus, as with the Axis powers in World War II, people with quite different points of view and objectives band together for the sake of victory. Pseudo-sovereigns they may be, yet they ally as nations do, future problems to be resolved later. Thus, to find a single terrorist is to find a useful link to still others. Since these alliances are forever shifting due to constantly changing circumstances, when we discover such links and the people who create and profit from them, we must move swiftly to eradicate the menace, for to wait is to hand them an unnecessary advantage... and thus our people die.
3) Share intelligence, fully and promptly. A war, any war, is far more important than any of the hundreds of thousands of agencies, organizations and personnel it takes to gain victory. Sadly, you'd never know it from the unending "turf wars" waged by bureaucrats and officials who are supposed to be on the same side and work together for the common good.
The Boston Marathon case is a perfect example of what happens when information is hoarded, rather than shared. After having stolen two cars, the suspect Tsarnaev brothers seized the driver of one. They unaccountably let him go but kept his cell phone. When the police "pinged" that cell they got the direct bearings of one, and therefore inadvertently, the two get-away cars. Had this godsend not occurred the brothers might well have slipped out of Massachusetts. Authorities now believe that iconic Times Square in midtown Manhattan was their next target.
The consequences of an incident there defy imagination. It is now clear that lack of sharing information gave the brothers their opportunity to outrage... and that this failure might not have occurred had the sharing of pertinent details been the rule, rather than the exception. When that is the case, innocent people, in the wrong place at the wrong time, die.
4) Unified intelligence. Right now, when coherence, centralization and efficiency of intelligence should be the objective, there are at least five "watch" lists, competing, overlapping, duplicating. These five include Terrorism Identification Datamark Environment (TIDE); Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB); Selectee List; No-Fly List and Disposition Matrix. Each has its own criteria for getting on or getting off a given list. Thus the anomaly arises that a suspect may be on one list, but not an another.
This was the case with Tamerlan Tsarmaev... and as a result people died. Experts must find a way to solve this problem, but I can give them a suggestion to start. Don't allow self-interested bureaucrats to persuade you that their department is necessary and that their list and information should be kept for them. Instead come up with what should be on ONE list and arrange matters accordingly.
5) Test the system. Then re-test. Every human system and enterprise is subject to human error and so is this one. Only here there is this major difference: when errors occur, people die. That is why there must be constant, thorough and thoughtful testing of every aspect of this system. There must be no "sacred cows", but only people who need cutting-edge tools and intelligence and are willing to do the necessary to get them... for you see when our side offers responses which are sluggish, outmoded and inadequate, people die. Thus, we must test, review test results, and improve. There must be no question about this, and no one's interests must be allowed to trump the ongoing training and perfecting.
Last Words... for now.
As a citizen of Cambridge, Massachusetts I watched in horror and disbelief as these events took place in my very neighborhood. It is not too much to say that they changed me forever. Thus, I tell you this. In World War II and our other conventional wars, we could mark victories and defeats with pins on a map. "Roumania allies with Axis," then "Roumania surrenders." You knew where you were and what was happening.
That is not the case with terrorists.
When the discussion focuses on terrorism, the focus must be on what hasn't happened. It is not just that such silence is golden but that with each day that goes by we are successfully meeting the unending challenge of terrorism and the villains who use it to humiliate, humble, frighten, and cow us. To keep outrages to the absolute minimum we must understand that this war has no end, no boundaries, no flags flying marching garlanded through the streets of even the smallest hamlet. No indeed. This war demands constant, unflagging effort. Otherwise, good people will die and our great national purposes be obliterated and defeated by a few... to the lasting detriment of the many. That is why defeat in this war of stealth and subterfuge is unthinkable and why we must work together Joe Friday-like, for only therein is victory and the peaceful and harmonious life we all want so very much but can so easily lose in an instant, mayhem we might have stopped... but didn't.

About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is the author of 15 printed books, 3 ebooks and over one thousand articles on a variety of topics. 

Republished with author's permission by MICHAEL STANLEY  http://LiveBusinessDeals.com
Check out Shoe-In Money ==>     http://mikedee61.shoeinm.hop.clickbank.net

'My name is Friday. I'm a cop.' What we must do to ensure our safety in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombers and other manifestations of ruthless terrorism. Some thoughts.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant. Author's program note. We Americans are at our best when we have identified a pressing problem, then set about the task of solving it, no matter how difficult. Right now, the problem is terrorism... what it is, how it works, the people who perpetrate the outrages... and what we as a nation and as individuals and potential victims must do to ensure that they are stopped dead... and never be allowed to practice their malicious craft ever again, against anyone, anywhere. You might think such a high and strenuous goal is just too difficult, indeed that it is beyond the capacities of mere mortals. But you'd be wrong. Terrorism is man made and as such it can be minimized, curtailed, and through assiduous, unflagging effort wiped out by man. A man like Joe Friday. "Just the facts, ma'am." Joe Friday is arguably the nation's best known cop. He was created and played by American actor, television producer, and writer Jack Webb (1920-1982) on "Dragnet". The series first ran on radio (1949-1956) and television (1951-1959) and again in 1967-1970. There was also a theatrical film (1954) and a TV-movie (1969). Why was this show with its unmistakable opening of blunt words and blunter music so popular? Because it dealt with real people ("the names have been changed to protect the innocent") and solved real crimes. Jack Webb was so perfect in his role that when he died in 1982 he was buried with full police honors, a rarity for someone who was not a policeman. Friday was all about getting down to business, identifying problems, brainstorming solutions and using the incomparable Yankee brain power to defeat the wicked. He was thorough, indefatigable, high minded, and honest. In other words, he had what was required for success, including the absolutely necessary skill of being willing to grow, listen to others, and work together for the common good. He was never a show-off with a "hey, look at me" mentality. This is the kind of person we need at the front lines of our great war against terrorism, for this unadulterated cruelty knows no barriers, no limits, and absolutely no humanity at all. It is the very definition of evil and must be treated as such. Its perpetrators are pernicious vermin, and deserve neither charity nor forgiveness, for they give none to anyone. Sadly, we are not yet fully equipped to deal with this mobile menace of ingenuity and increasing expertise and sophistication. And the extent to which we are disorganized, inefficient and disarranged is the very measure of our danger and risk. "Russia alerted US repeatedly about suspect...." The headline in The Boston Globe of Wednesday April 24, 2013 was sickening, alarming, enraging. Here's why: "Russian authorities contacted the US government with concerns about Tamerlan Tsarnaev not once but 'multiple times,' including an alert it sent after he was first investigated by FBI agents in Boston, raising new questions about whether the FBI should have paid more attention to the suspected Boston Marathon bomber..." What's worse, this is just the tip of the ice-berg on intelligence and overall communications break-downs. The agencies on which we spend billions and billions of dollars are, day by day, shown to resemble the Keystone Cops, to the extent that with the Boston Marathon case we may be seeing the development of the greatest intelligence failure and scandal in the entire history of the Great Republic. And remember this; when intelligence agencies fail, people die... regular ordinary people, including a disproportionate number of children and young people. Indeed the word "scandal" is not remotely satisfactory to label this botched mess showcasing one problem after another that makes them anything other than intelligent. This is a crisis of the first magnitude. You can bet your bottom dollar that the Solons of the capital are and will be tripping over each other to identify and solve such problems; that is until something easier and less demanding arises. Thus, Solon or not, I have something to say on these matters . And Joe-Friday-like I intend to make my comments and recommendations, terse, pointed, and do-able. "C'est la guerre." In 1953 a brilliant historian named Cecil Woodham-Smith wrote a brilliant book which ought to be required reading for anyone connected with the war business, which is a veritable army of people as General and President Dwight David Eisenhower once memorably reminded us. Its title is "The Reason Why" on the famous charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War (1853-1856) when the best cavalry on Earth rode directly into the unremitting and pitiless cannons of the Tsar. "C'est magnifique" said the French commander Pierre Bosquet, "mais c'est pas la guerre." It was one of the greatest blunders ever and it was the result of one communications and strategic error after another, as the bleeding remnants of this foul-up confirmed. When you run your "intelligence" departments this way, I remind you: people die. War must be treated accordingly and never regarded as merely a job. That ensures error. 2) To establish in the minds of service personnel and citizens, the significance of their work give it a name, a name like World War III. Right now terrorism is regarded as a tragedy, to be sure, but one which is episodic, occasional and random; something perpetrated by highly efficient but small cells, mostly fighting under the leadership of extreme (and therefore limited) religious leaders and zealots. Instead, it needs to be recognized that each supra-national cell regards itself as a sovereign power, not just a faction. Thus, as with the Axis powers in World War II, people with quite different points of view and objectives band together for the sake of victory. Pseudo-sovereigns they may be, yet they ally as nations do, future problems to be resolved later. Thus, to find a single terrorist is to find a useful link to still others. Since these alliances are forever shifting due to constantly changing circumstances, when we discover such links and the people who create and profit from them, we must move swiftly to eradicate the menace, for to wait is to hand them an unnecessary advantage... and thus our people die. 3) Share intelligence, fully and promptly. A war, any war, is far more important than any of the hundreds of thousands of agencies, organizations and personnel it takes to gain victory. Sadly, you'd never know it from the unending "turf wars" waged by bureaucrats and officials who are supposed to be on the same side and work together for the common good. The Boston Marathon case is a perfect example of what happens when information is hoarded, rather than shared. After having stolen two cars, the suspect Tsarnaev brothers seized the driver of one. They unaccountably let him go but kept his cell phone. When the police "pinged" that cell they got the direct bearings of one, and therefore inadvertently, the two get-away cars. Had this godsend not occurred the brothers might well have slipped out of Massachusetts. Authorities now believe that iconic Times Square in midtown Manhattan was their next target. The consequences of an incident there defy imagination. It is now clear that lack of sharing information gave the brothers their opportunity to outrage... and that this failure might not have occurred had the sharing of pertinent details been the rule, rather than the exception. When that is the case, innocent people, in the wrong place at the wrong time, die. 4) Unified intelligence. Right now, when coherence, centralization and efficiency of intelligence should be the objective, there are at least five "watch" lists, competing, overlapping, duplicating. These five include Terrorism Identification Datamark Environment (TIDE); Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB); Selectee List; No-Fly List and Disposition Matrix. Each has its own criteria for getting on or getting off a given list. Thus the anomaly arises that a suspect may be on one list, but not an another. This was the case with Tamerlan Tsarmaev... and as a result people died. Experts must find a way to solve this problem, but I can give them a suggestion to start. Don't allow self-interested bureaucrats to persuade you that their department is necessary and that their list and information should be kept for them. Instead come up with what should be on ONE list and arrange matters accordingly. 5) Test the system. Then re-test. Every human system and enterprise is subject to human error and so is this one. Only here there is this major difference: when errors occur, people die. That is why there must be constant, thorough and thoughtful testing of every aspect of this system. There must be no "sacred cows", but only people who need cutting-edge tools and intelligence and are willing to do the necessary to get them... for you see when our side offers responses which are sluggish, outmoded and inadequate, people die. Thus, we must test, review test results, and improve. There must be no question about this, and no one's interests must be allowed to trump the ongoing training and perfecting. Last Words... for now. As a citizen of Cambridge, Massachusetts I watched in horror and disbelief as these events took place in my very neighborhood. It is not too much to say that they changed me forever. Thus, I tell you this. In World War II and our other conventional wars, we could mark victories and defeats with pins on a map. "Roumania allies with Axis," then "Roumania surrenders." You knew where you were and what was happening. That is not the case with terrorists. When the discussion focuses on terrorism, the focus must be on what hasn't happened. It is not just that such silence is golden but that with each day that goes by we are successfully meeting the unending challenge of terrorism and the villains who use it to humiliate, humble, frighten, and cow us. To keep outrages to the absolute minimum we must understand that this war has no end, no boundaries, no flags flying marching garlanded through the streets of even the smallest hamlet. No indeed. This war demands constant, unflagging effort. Otherwise, good people will die and our great national purposes be obliterated and defeated by a few... to the lasting detriment of the many. That is why defeat in this war of stealth and subterfuge is unthinkable and why we must work together Joe Friday-like, for only therein is victory and the peaceful and harmonious life we all want so very much but can so easily lose in an instant, mayhem we might have stopped... but didn't.

Mega Profit Product Showcase: » Total Traffic Annihilation - Life-transforming traffic software selling like crazy!

About the Author Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is the author of 15 printed books, 3 ebooks and over one thousand articles on a variety of topics. http://mikedee61.shoeinm.hop.clickbank.net Republished with author's permission by MICHAEL STANLEY http://LiveBusinessDeals.com

    - See more at: http://livebusinessdeals.com/blog/default.cfm/2013/05/06/-My-name-is-Friday-I-m-a-cop-What-we-must-do-to-ensure-our-safety-in-the-aftermath-of-the-Boston-Marathon-bombers-and-other-manifestations-of-ruthless-terrorism-Some-thoughts#sthash.Yn0Xr799.dpuf

Published by: MICHAEL STANLEY 06-May-13 'My name is Friday. I'm a cop.' What we must do to ensure our safety in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombers and other manifestations of ruthless terrorism. Some thoughts. by Dr. Jeffrey Lant. Author's program note. We Americans are at our best when we have identified a pressing problem, then set about the task of solving it, no matter how difficult. Right now, the problem is terrorism... what it is, how it works, the people who perpetrate the outrages... and what we as a nation and as individuals and potential victims must do to ensure that they are stopped dead... and never be allowed to practice their malicious craft ever again, against anyone, anywhere. You might think such a high and strenuous goal is just too difficult, indeed that it is beyond the capacities of mere mortals. But you'd be wrong. Terrorism is man made and as such it can be minimized, curtailed, and through assiduous, unflagging effort wiped out by man. A man like Joe Friday. "Just the facts, ma'am." Joe Friday is arguably the nation's best known cop. He was created and played by American actor, television producer, and writer Jack Webb (1920-1982) on "Dragnet". The series first ran on radio (1949-1956) and television (1951-1959) and again in 1967-1970. There was also a theatrical film (1954) and a TV-movie (1969). Why was this show with its unmistakable opening of blunt words and blunter music so popular? Because it dealt with real people ("the names have been changed to protect the innocent") and solved real crimes. Jack Webb was so perfect in his role that when he died in 1982 he was buried with full police honors, a rarity for someone who was not a policeman. Friday was all about getting down to business, identifying problems, brainstorming solutions and using the incomparable Yankee brain power to defeat the wicked. He was thorough, indefatigable, high minded, and honest. In other words, he had what was required for success, including the absolutely necessary skill of being willing to grow, listen to others, and work together for the common good. He was never a show-off with a "hey, look at me" mentality. This is the kind of person we need at the front lines of our great war against terrorism, for this unadulterated cruelty knows no barriers, no limits, and absolutely no humanity at all. It is the very definition of evil and must be treated as such. Its perpetrators are pernicious vermin, and deserve neither charity nor forgiveness, for they give none to anyone. Sadly, we are not yet fully equipped to deal with this mobile menace of ingenuity and increasing expertise and sophistication. And the extent to which we are disorganized, inefficient and disarranged is the very measure of our danger and risk. "Russia alerted US repeatedly about suspect...." The headline in The Boston Globe of Wednesday April 24, 2013 was sickening, alarming, enraging. Here's why: "Russian authorities contacted the US government with concerns about Tamerlan Tsarnaev not once but 'multiple times,' including an alert it sent after he was first investigated by FBI agents in Boston, raising new questions about whether the FBI should have paid more attention to the suspected Boston Marathon bomber..." What's worse, this is just the tip of the ice-berg on intelligence and overall communications break-downs. The agencies on which we spend billions and billions of dollars are, day by day, shown to resemble the Keystone Cops, to the extent that with the Boston Marathon case we may be seeing the development of the greatest intelligence failure and scandal in the entire history of the Great Republic. And remember this; when intelligence agencies fail, people die... regular ordinary people, including a disproportionate number of children and young people. Indeed the word "scandal" is not remotely satisfactory to label this botched mess showcasing one problem after another that makes them anything other than intelligent. This is a crisis of the first magnitude. You can bet your bottom dollar that the Solons of the capital are and will be tripping over each other to identify and solve such problems; that is until something easier and less demanding arises. Thus, Solon or not, I have something to say on these matters . And Joe-Friday-like I intend to make my comments and recommendations, terse, pointed, and do-able. "C'est la guerre." In 1953 a brilliant historian named Cecil Woodham-Smith wrote a brilliant book which ought to be required reading for anyone connected with the war business, which is a veritable army of people as General and President Dwight David Eisenhower once memorably reminded us. Its title is "The Reason Why" on the famous charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War (1853-1856) when the best cavalry on Earth rode directly into the unremitting and pitiless cannons of the Tsar. "C'est magnifique" said the French commander Pierre Bosquet, "mais c'est pas la guerre." It was one of the greatest blunders ever and it was the result of one communications and strategic error after another, as the bleeding remnants of this foul-up confirmed. When you run your "intelligence" departments this way, I remind you: people die. War must be treated accordingly and never regarded as merely a job. That ensures error. 2) To establish in the minds of service personnel and citizens, the significance of their work give it a name, a name like World War III. Right now terrorism is regarded as a tragedy, to be sure, but one which is episodic, occasional and random; something perpetrated by highly efficient but small cells, mostly fighting under the leadership of extreme (and therefore limited) religious leaders and zealots. Instead, it needs to be recognized that each supra-national cell regards itself as a sovereign power, not just a faction. Thus, as with the Axis powers in World War II, people with quite different points of view and objectives band together for the sake of victory. Pseudo-sovereigns they may be, yet they ally as nations do, future problems to be resolved later. Thus, to find a single terrorist is to find a useful link to still others. Since these alliances are forever shifting due to constantly changing circumstances, when we discover such links and the people who create and profit from them, we must move swiftly to eradicate the menace, for to wait is to hand them an unnecessary advantage... and thus our people die. 3) Share intelligence, fully and promptly. A war, any war, is far more important than any of the hundreds of thousands of agencies, organizations and personnel it takes to gain victory. Sadly, you'd never know it from the unending "turf wars" waged by bureaucrats and officials who are supposed to be on the same side and work together for the common good. The Boston Marathon case is a perfect example of what happens when information is hoarded, rather than shared. After having stolen two cars, the suspect Tsarnaev brothers seized the driver of one. They unaccountably let him go but kept his cell phone. When the police "pinged" that cell they got the direct bearings of one, and therefore inadvertently, the two get-away cars. Had this godsend not occurred the brothers might well have slipped out of Massachusetts. Authorities now believe that iconic Times Square in midtown Manhattan was their next target. The consequences of an incident there defy imagination. It is now clear that lack of sharing information gave the brothers their opportunity to outrage... and that this failure might not have occurred had the sharing of pertinent details been the rule, rather than the exception. When that is the case, innocent people, in the wrong place at the wrong time, die. 4) Unified intelligence. Right now, when coherence, centralization and efficiency of intelligence should be the objective, there are at least five "watch" lists, competing, overlapping, duplicating. These five include Terrorism Identification Datamark Environment (TIDE); Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB); Selectee List; No-Fly List and Disposition Matrix. Each has its own criteria for getting on or getting off a given list. Thus the anomaly arises that a suspect may be on one list, but not an another. This was the case with Tamerlan Tsarmaev... and as a result people died. Experts must find a way to solve this problem, but I can give them a suggestion to start. Don't allow self-interested bureaucrats to persuade you that their department is necessary and that their list and information should be kept for them. Instead come up with what should be on ONE list and arrange matters accordingly. 5) Test the system. Then re-test. Every human system and enterprise is subject to human error and so is this one. Only here there is this major difference: when errors occur, people die. That is why there must be constant, thorough and thoughtful testing of every aspect of this system. There must be no "sacred cows", but only people who need cutting-edge tools and intelligence and are willing to do the necessary to get them... for you see when our side offers responses which are sluggish, outmoded and inadequate, people die. Thus, we must test, review test results, and improve. There must be no question about this, and no one's interests must be allowed to trump the ongoing training and perfecting. Last Words... for now. As a citizen of Cambridge, Massachusetts I watched in horror and disbelief as these events took place in my very neighborhood. It is not too much to say that they changed me forever. Thus, I tell you this. In World War II and our other conventional wars, we could mark victories and defeats with pins on a map. "Roumania allies with Axis," then "Roumania surrenders." You knew where you were and what was happening. That is not the case with terrorists. When the discussion focuses on terrorism, the focus must be on what hasn't happened. It is not just that such silence is golden but that with each day that goes by we are successfully meeting the unending challenge of terrorism and the villains who use it to humiliate, humble, frighten, and cow us. To keep outrages to the absolute minimum we must understand that this war has no end, no boundaries, no flags flying marching garlanded through the streets of even the smallest hamlet. No indeed. This war demands constant, unflagging effort. Otherwise, good people will die and our great national purposes be obliterated and defeated by a few... to the lasting detriment of the many. That is why defeat in this war of stealth and subterfuge is unthinkable and why we must work together Joe Friday-like, for only therein is victory and the peaceful and harmonious life we all want so very much but can so easily lose in an instant, mayhem we might have stopped... but didn't.   Mega Profit Product Showcase: » Total Traffic Annihilation - Life-transforming traffic software selling like crazy! About the Author Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is the author of 15 printed books, 3 ebooks and over one thousand articles on a variety of topics. http://mikedee61.shoeinm.hop.clickbank.net Republished with author's permission by MICHAEL STANLEY http://LiveBusinessDeals.com

- See more at: http://livebusinessdeals.com/blog/default.cfm/2013/05/06/-My-name-is-Friday-I-m-a-cop-What-we-must-do-to-ensure-our-safety-in-the-aftermath-of-the-Boston-Marathon-bombers-and-other-manifestations-of-ruthless-terrorism-Some-thoughts#sthash.Yn0Xr799.dpuf