Disconnected Wiretaps

Hello. Is this AT&T?

Please disconnect the wiretap on my phone. I got word that the FBI has not paid the bill. If there is something I can’t stand, it’s a deadbeat who doesn’t pay his bills, especially when he's using my money and doing something I totally disagree with.

Hold please.

Imagine! The nerve! Wiretapping our phones and then skipping out on the bill.

What’s wrong with the government? Is the phone bill too high? They have already reversed the charges so that the brunt of the bill falls on us, the poor wiretapped taxpayers. The phone bill wouldn’t be so high if they were not trying to listen in on everybody’s conversation in America.

Did you say, “Sixty-six thousand dollars”?

Facing tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid bills, telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals, a Justice Department audit released Thursday shows. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000. (“Wiretaps cut off when FBI fails to pay its phone bills”, Star-Telegram, January 11, 2008)

Who in the world have they been tapping- me, my children, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, my great-great-grandchildren, all the way down the line? For how long? No way! You mean to say Al Qaeda used up all of America’s anytime minutes.

An Inspector General’s audit report blamed the FBI’s lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations, which it also said allowed one employee to steal $25,000.

Lax oversight? How in the world can a surveillance program have lax oversight? Is this the one thing it is supposed to do- Oversee? How can they oversee someone they cannot see and cannot find and turn around and not oversee someone right under their noose? That’s like a $25,000 robbery in your face by someone we know and trust.

Who can we trust? Who is doing the overseeing?

FBI Assistant Director John Miller said the FBI “will not tolerate financial mismanagement.”

Yeah right! That’s like closing the barn door after all the cows got out. What next? Are the chickens going to make a mass escape? Might as well. The road is clear.

Watching my money go down the drain is frustrating. Just disconnect the darn wiretap and send the bill to Congress.

Up Against Goliath

I received a very disheartening email from a woman whose husband had been humiliated by white Lockheed Martin big wigs. She writes:

“My husband experienced a lot of racism from the management and other employees. He was the only black person on the team so management would talk to him and make comments about picking cotton and eating chicken and watermelon. They would always nick pick over any common mistakes made by him but the white guys who made very costly mistakes… Then one of the co-workers hung up a noose. So my husbands came back to the states filed with the EEOC and pursued a lawsuit against them.”

This case is not unusual. Charles Daniels, an African-American avionics electrician who worked for Lockheed Martin from September 1999 to August 2001 also filed a grievance with the EEOC. Daniels was part of a team that serviced military aircraft in Florida, Washington state and Hawaii, and one of the highest paid in his field.

Following a decision by South Carolina to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse, the black navy veteran became the target for racial taunting. Several of his white co-workers told him, “We should do to blacks what Hitler did to the Jews” and threatened to lynch him, according to a published report. They said that “they could put my body 10 feet away from the road and I never would be found,” according to Daniels.

When he approached the Lockheed HR department, he was rebuffed, Daniels said. Officials waved off the discrimination, saying “boys will be boys,” and warned Daniels not to prosecute the company. They also continued assigning Daniels to the same team and eventually laid him off.

“They really just want to see if they can chase you away,” Daniels said. “I really didn’t expect [justice] after Lockheed Martin told me, ‘We never lose.’ ”

WE NEVER LOSE

In the aforementioned case of the noose incident, the wife reports how her husband took his case to the EEOC. She says: “We were paying over $2000 a month to his lawyers (who were white). At mediation he was basically told by his lawyers in front of Lockheed's lawyers that they didn't want to represent him and that although they would have to by law they wouldn't do a good job. The Lockheed lawyer and mediator basically said that the judge was already going to dismiss the case (they were all friends). So my husband was basically forced to settle the case for nothing.” [End of story].

But this was not the end of story for Charles Daniels, who pursued his claim for six years, after being fired. On Wednesday, January 2, 2008, Lockheed Martin settled the case for $2.5 million, the largest award in an EEOC racial discrimination case. The consent decree reached with Lockheed has been filed in the U.S. Court for the District of Hawaii and is subject to the court’s approval.

Eddie Griffin Commentary

Of course, the Daniel settlement is only a drop in the bucket against the corporate giant. But what is significant in both cases is the display of invincible arrogance, not unlike multinational corporations around the world.

According to the report, this kind of case is becoming more prevalent at the EEOC. The number of racial harassment charges filed with the agency has risen from 3,075 in fiscal year 1991 to about 7,000 last year. In February 2007, the agency launched a national education and enforcement campaign to eliminate racial bias.

Recently, I have received several emails and phones about similar discrimination cases. What is striking about these cases is the fact that these are mid-level black employees. Secondly, they are in fear of losing their jobs if their EEOC complaints become public. Third, in each case, they are fighting against a Goliath corporation.

The threat against Daniel’s life gave me an eerie reminder of the Karen Silkwood case, whose mysterious death in 1974 set off a firestorm of speculations. Silkwood was a chemical technician and union activist who became contaminated after being exposed to radioactive plutonium as a Kerr-McGee plant. The company was one of the largest energy producers in the world at the time. After testifying to the Atomic Energy Commission, she was found dead on the highway, on her way to meet a New York Times reporter with documents proving unsafe working conditions at the plant. The intrigue behind her death has been the subject of a movie and books. But her death has remained unsolved for over three decades.

The threats of retaliation for exposing corporate abusive practices are as real today as they were then. That agencies, lawyers, and courts are complicit in these corrupt practices- that remain to be proven.

NEXT: The Case of R. A. Fagan, a worker injured on the job that was prosecuted and convicted of filing a fraudulent worker’s compensation claim. The claim, if substantiated, would have proven unsafe working conditions.

McCain – Clinton take New Hampshire

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

New Hampshire is not Iowa- not even close geographically or politically. Asserting their independence in political persuasion and not being willing to be dictated to by the polls, the people of New Hampshire put another face on the 2008 presidential race- actually two old faces rebounded back to life. The primaries resurrected Senator John McCain and revived Hillary Clinton in their bids to become the next President of the United States.

Looking back, McCain’s candidacy was given up for dead this past summer and only a few hours prior to the primaries Clinton had almost given up hopes of winning New Hampshire. Now look!

What in the world happened? That’s what the media is asking. How could the polls be so dead wrong, after projecting Barack Obama to win the Democratic primary by as much as double digits?

In a state full of independent and undecided voters, the polls were far ahead of the people in crowning Obama over Clinton. These are people who have a tendency of making up their minds at the 11th hour. The poll projections were more of an insult than a predictor of their voting behavior.

But some people read the polls like reading the stars, and maybe this is what gave Obama a false sense of confidence. He could see the star of the East and feel the winds of change at his back. “You can feel it in the air,” he declared. Where? For sure, it was not in the unseasonably spring-like air of New Hampshire. Maybe, instead, it was an inflated hope of a landslide for a most unlikely presidential hopeful- in defiance to the northeastern political season.

When the air settled: Thump! That was the sound of Obama hitting the ground, back on earth, his magical balloon shot out of the air by a UFO.

This was not the same old teary-eyed Hillary Clinton. This was not the same old over-the-hill John McCain. The only tears this night were tears of joy and a de ju vu for the comeback kid. And, for all the money its worth, Mitt Romney bought himself another silver medal in this hotly contested political marathon.

Is everybody happy now? They should be. Now everybody’s got a piece of the pie, except John Edwards. Five different winners in three states: Obama and Huckabee in Iowa, Clinton and McCain in New Hampshire, and Romney in Wyoming. That says it all.

BOYS & GIRLS, we got ourselves a ballgame and every vote counts.

Vote for Me or I’m Going to Cry

Oh goodness! The fight is just getting started and already Hillary Clinton is pulling out the crying towel. Presidents of the United States don’t cry, at least not publicly. So what with the boohoo? The votes in New Hampshire haven’t even been tallied yet. Is this a prognostication of things to come? Or, is it a sign of a nervous breakdown because America will not play her game.

According to a Reuters reported: A teary-eyed Hillary Clinton pushed for support on Monday as polls showed her poised for a huge New Hampshire loss to Democratic rival Barack Obama, but the former front-runner vowed to carry on with her presidential quest even if she loses. (Source: Fading in polls, Clinton vows to fight on)

If I said it once, I said it twice: Big girls don’t cry… especially if they want to be President... and especially if she threw the first dirty punch.

Gee! Can someone get the lady some tissue?

[Be informed about the candidates: Platforms & Positions]

A Dollar and some Change from Iowa

I don’t want to hear it from the mass media. Only a few days ago, they predicted Edwards and Romney to win in Iowa. They were wrong. And to prove that two wrongs don’t make a right, they are again wrong about why Obama and Huckabee won.

They believe that if you put a dollar into Iowa that you will get two cents back in change. So much for their two cents worth of opinions, I would rather trust the America people’s true sentiments. Put a dollar into Iowa and you get a dollar and two cents change back.

Explaining that kind of math to my 83-year old mother was hard. She still sees tearing a dollar in two and giving half to the Republicans and half to the Democrats. Her thinking is influenced by the media that still sees a country divided and dichotomized along party lines and polarized by partisan thinking.

The new math goes like this: Of all the Iowans who caucused, Obama won 38% on a message of Change; Huckabee won 34% on a message of Change; and John Edwards won 30% on a message of Change. Altogether, that’s 102% in Change, or “A Dollar and Two Cents” in Change.

What does that mean?

It means a resounding repudiation of President George Bush. No change for him, just a message of stay the course. He doesn’t get it. People are crying for change. Bring the boys and girls home from Iraq- the sooner the better. We cannot go to war in the name of a lie and turn around and make it right with after-the-fact rationalization. People no longer see Weapons of Mass Destruction. They see a fight over oil and oil is no longer cheap.

There was a time when we put on blinders and went to war. Although we hate bombing and killing other people, we would shrug our shoulders and say, “Well at least we are benefiting from cheap oil prices.” No more. All we see now are the faces of our children displayed on the nightly news, killed in action, maimed for life, and traumatized by endless recurring deployments into the combat zone. The American people are crying: “Bring our children home. We are tired of fighting over oil in the name of national security. Maybe we can broker peace in the world by talking to all parties, including reconciliation with our former allies.”

But isn’t a repudiation of George Bush a repudiation of the Republican Party?

Wrong again. That’s what the dumb media would have us believe. A dollar and some change in Iowa is a Return on Investment made in 2006, when the mass of American people kicked out every possible politician they could- out of Washington, out of state houses, and out of local office. The mass media don’t get it either- the fact that we are sick of looking at and listening to double-talking incumbents. A dollar and two cents worth of change says kick all the bums out. We want a complete change. We want a dollar in new economic hope. We are just longing to wake up one morning with a new outlook, instead of watching our job being outsourced overseas.

Notice also, we said nothing about Obama’s color or race. Yet the first to mention the fact that Obama was African-American was the mass media, who still sees everything in black and white. Talk about playing the Race Card, was it African-Americans or the media who started this whole thing about white Iowans and a black presidential candidate? The young voters have spoken: “The times they are a’ changing.”

Who, but the dumb media, is doing all this Monday morning quarterbacking? They slice the dice and come up with idiocies like this: Obama overcame the racial gap, the gender gap, the age gap, and the income gap. But when we look at 102% of what the Iowans were saying, there is no gap, only gap-makers.

I don’t have to listen to the mass media, because the credibility of mainstream journalists is gone the way of the winds of change. Everybody knows now that media commentators and pundits are doing nothing more than “mouthing” the sentiments of their sponsors- for the sake of their paychecks and for the sake of more corporate hegemony. But for two cents worth of opinions, they have come up a dollar short.

ZAP

Since humankind progresses at an arithmetic rate and science at a geometric rate, putting advanced weapons technology like the death ray into the hands of Homo sapiens is like giving a retarded child a Flash Gordon ray gun. Zap! You’re dead.

Sounds like science fiction? Not hardly. The military has been working on such a weapon since the 1920s. Enter the age of the microwave heat ray gun, the latest advance to the electroshock stun gun, the next device to be deployed in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan for hostile crowd control.

“This is a breakthrough technology that's going to give our forces a capability they don't now have, defense official Theodore Barna told Reuters news agency. “We expect the services to add it to their tool kit. And that could happen as early as 2010.”

Called the Active Denial System, it projects an invisible high energy beam that produces a sudden burning feeling, according to a BBC report.

Sounds okay to use on the enemy, but Don’t Tread On Me. Too late, Zap. Gone is the right to resist Cruel and Unusual Punishment and Torture.

The Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle is already in use all across America and around the world. The acronym for Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle is TASER.

Zap! Over 270 people wiped out, electrocuted by tasers. And now introducing the more formidable laser guided taser cannon, the TASER X26.

The Taser, produced by Taser International, Inc. (Nasdaq:TASR), is the latest toy put into the hands of law enforcement to subdue resistive subjects during apprehension and arrest. But the product manual for the device warns of its misusage.

Product Warnings for Law Enforcement from the Manufacturer

Obey Applicable Laws. Carry and use the TASER device in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws as well as your law enforcement agency’s guidance—policies, procedures, training, etc. Each TASER device discharge must be legally justified.

Avoid Weapons Confusion. Handguns have been confused with TASER devices. Learn about the differences in physical feel and holstering characteristics between the TASER device and your handgun. This will allow you to confirm device identity under stressful situations.

Select Preferred Target Areas. The preferred target areas are the subject’s torso (center mass) or legs. Avoid intentionally aiming a TASER device at the head or face without justification.

Avoid Sensitive Areas. Significant injury can occur from TASER device deployment into sensitive areas of the body such as the eyes, throat, or genitals—avoid intentionally targeting these areas without justification.

Avoid Known Pre-Existing Injury Areas. When practical, avoid deploying a TASER device at a known location of pre-existing injury (e.g., avoid targeting the back for persons with known pre-existing back injuries, avoid targeting the chest area on persons with a known history of previous heart attacks, etc.). These injuries may be provoked by such deployment.

Beware—TASER Device Can Ignite Explosive Materials, Liquids, or Vapors. These include gasoline, other flammables, explosive materials, liquids, or vapors (e.g., gases found in sewer lines, methamphetamine labs, and butane-type lighters). Some self-defense sprays use flammable carriers such as alcohol and could be dangerous to use in immediate conjunction with TASER devices.

Control and Restrain Immediately. Begin control and restraint procedures as soon as it is reasonably safe to do so in order to minimize the total duration of exertion and stress experienced by the subject.

Sudden In-Custody Death Syndrome Awareness. If a subject is exhibiting signs or behaviors that are associated with Sudden In-Custody Death Syndrome, consider combining use of a TASER device with immediate physical restraint techniques and medical assistance. Signs of Sudden In-Custody Death Syndrome include: extreme agitation, bizarre behavior, inappropriate nudity, imperviousness to pain, paranoia, exhaustive exertion, “superhuman” strength, hallucinations, sweating profusely, etc.

Continuous Exposure Risks. When practical, avoid prolonged or continuous exposure(s) to the TASER device's electrical discharge. In some circumstances, in susceptible people, it is conceivable that the stress and exertion of extensive repeated, prolonged, or continuous application(s) of the TASER device may contribute to cumulative exhaustion, stress, and associated medical risk(s).

Other Conditions. Unrelated to TASER exposure, conditions such as excited delirium, severe exhaustion, drug intoxication or chronic drug abuse, and/or over-exertion from physical struggle may result in serious injury or death.

Breathing Impairment. Extended or repeated TASER device exposures should be avoided where practical. Although existing studies on conscious human volunteers indicate subjects continue to breathe during extended TASER device applications, it is conceivable that the muscle contractions may impair a subject's ability to breathe. Accordingly, it is advisable to use expedient physical restraint in conjunction with the TASER device to minimize the overall duration of stress, exertion, and potential breathing impairment particularly on individuals exhibiting symptoms of excited delirium and/or exhaustion. However, it should be noted that certain subjects in a state of excited delirium may exhibit superhuman strength and despite efforts for expedient restraint, these subjects sometimes cannot be restrained without a significant and profound struggle.

Permanent Vision Loss. If a TASER probe becomes embedded in an eye, it could result in permanent loss of vision.

Seizure Risks. Repetitive stimuli such as flashing lights or electrical stimuli can induce seizures in some individuals. This risk is heightened if electrical stimuli or current passes through the head region.

Muscle Contraction-Related Risks. The TASER device can cause strong muscle contractions that may result in physical exertion or athletic-type injuries. In certain instances this may be serious for some people, such as those with pre-existing conditions and/or special susceptibilities. This may also occur in instances Sudden in-custody death results from a complex set of physiological and psychological conditions characterized by irrational behavior, extreme exertion, and potentially fatal changes in blood chemistry.

Secondary Injury Risks. TASER-induced strong muscle contractions usually render a subject temporarily unable to control his or her psychomotor movements. This may result in secondary injuries such as those due to falls. This loss of control, or inability to catch oneself, can in special circumstances increase the risk(s) of serious injury or death. Persons who are physically infirm or pregnant are among those who may be at higher risk.

Strain Injury Risks. It is possible that the injury types may include, but are not limited to, strain-type injuries such as hernias, ruptures, dislocations, tears, or other injuries to soft tissue, organs, muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, and joints. Fractures to bones, including vertebrae, may occur. These injuries may be more likely to occur in people with pre-existing injuries or conditions such as pregnancy, osteoporosis, osteopenia, spinal injuries, diverticulitis, or in persons having previous muscle, disc, ligament, joint, or tendon damage.

Laser Beam Eye Damage. The TASER device incorporates a laser aiming aid. Laser beams can cause eye damage. Avoid intentionally aiming at the eye(s) of a person or animal.

[Reference Tasered While Black for case study of abuse]

Let’s Clean House in 2008

In the election of 2006, we started doing something wonderful- something we should have done a long time ago. We started cleaning house, starting with Capitol Hill. Of course, some partisan minded people with only red-blue jaundice perception saw this as a great victory for the Democrats when their party recaptured both Houses. But the true sentiment underlying this coup was, “Kick the bums out”, not just Republicans but all inept do-nothing political incumbents. (Somehow, they still don’t get it).

Americans have grown sick and tired of partisanship and gridlock among lawmakers. Besides this, they saw greedy K-street lobbyists like Jack Abramoff taking over the halls of Congress, corrupting politicians, and corporate executives plundering their employees' retirement funds.

Corruption, bribery, kickbacks, sweetheart contracts, corporate favoritism, and pork barrel legislation have given honest hard-working Americans a stomach full. And, while the economy was looking rosy and robust, the poor were getting poorer and the middle class disappearing, all the while the President kept declaring all is well.

Somebody was too busy watching the polls and counting numbers and not minding the store. All is not well! And things are not getting better- not until we kick the rest of the bums out of Washington- which brings me to this year’s 2008 election.

Is it time for change? No, it's way past time for change. It is time to finish the job of cleaning house.

One good thing: We will not have to contend with four more years of the Bush-Cheney administration. Maybe, with a new president, we can find our way out of Iraq and bring our children home. (Lord knows, they need a rest, and we need relief from our collective national anxiety). Maybe we will not have to spend more billions rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure. Maybe we can use some of that money on the home front to rebuild our own decaying inner cities.

Maybe we can provide more medical care for our own poor children instead of dropping more bombs on other people’s children. Maybe we can recuperate some of our own homeless population, instead of making other people homeless and destroying their lives. Can't they see? We are sick, sick, sick.

Maybe we can prosecute the real crooks and imprison those corporate executives who plunder their companies for millions, cheat their investors of billions, and bribe public officials with thousands. Maybe, on the other hand, we can let some of our own children go from prison for their minor indiscretions for which they are held incarcerated for years.

Maybe we will stop torturing prisoners of war, respect the rule of international law, recognize the human rights of others, and hold the right of the child sacred.

Maybe I can talk on my telephone freely without fear of eavesdropping, or take a shower without being spied on, or speak my peace without being electrocuted with tasers. Maybe I can buy my medicine without enriching an unethical pharmaceutical executive who cares neither for me or my health, or buy a toy without my child suffering permanent brain damage from lead paint.

Maybe I can drive my car without having to pay an arm and a leg or giving up my firstborn at the gas pump, or turn on the heat in my house without fear of the next utility bill.

Maybe misery will not spread as fast as crack cocaine, and I would not need alcohol to drawn my sorrows. Maybe I will not have to depend on charity for my next Christmas or give up all my pocket change to every other beggar on the streets, or have to live in constant fear of being robbed by someone else who is in more need than I.

Maybe I can trust the next President who says there are weapons of mass destruction or terrorists lurking in the dark. Maybe the next policeman who stops me will be my friends rather than the one who holds an assault rifle at my head.

We need a new life, a new mindset, a new vision, and (God help us) a new President. In the meantime, let’s finish cleaning house, inside and out.