First rule to prevent genocide, RUN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There ain't nothing like putting ethnic minorities in the line of fire while trying to save their lives.

Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community arrive at the camp of Bajid Kandala at Feeshkhabour near the Syria-Iraq border on Saturday. Photo: AP

August 10, 2014
By Liz Sly and Loveday Morris


...Makhmour (click here) was seized by fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant on Thursday.

Earlier thousands of desperate Iraqi Yazidis who have been trapped by Islamist extremists on a parched mountaintop for almost a week, trekked into Syrian territory controlled by Kurds, seeking refuge in another war-ravaged country.
Shawkat Barbahari, an official from the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, put the number of people who escaped the siege and crossed back into Iraqi Kurdistan at 30,000....

Makhmour is refugee camp. It ain't Iraq no more. The ONLY ones that continue to all it that are the Europeans.

Turkey has a big stake in the protections of these people. The problem is, and I would caution Turkey a great deal, are the Kurds. See, this is the foothold for the new Kurdistan. I don't know what the new country will be named, yet, but, this is the beginning of a homeland. If the Kurds have their way their homeland will extend into Turkey. I caution them as well. I'd rather see the Kurds and Turks settle on peace and stability in the region before a border dispute that would achieve nothing.

The Kurds are also a minority ethnic group that have spent generations protecting their people and traditions. The Kurds are magnificent people who have caused no one problems in the region. If it weren't for the Kurds northern Iraq would be very unstable. Turkey needs to be grateful while offering help to protect this region.

August 10, 2014
8:18.39AM
The current chaos in Iraq (click here) may herald the safe return of thousands of Turkish citizens to their homeland, Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay announced Aug. 8, saying that Ankara will implement an open door policy for those who have been living in the Makhmour camp for decades.

Atalay's comments as a Kurdish journalist was killed at the camp while reporting about the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) attack on the area.

“There are new developments in Iraq. We have received information that as of yesterday [Aug. 7], the Makhmour camp has been evacuated. There are people who want to go to Turkey from there. Most of them are our citizens anyway. They had gone from neighborhood of Hakkari; they had gone from villages and towns like Çukurca and Uludere due to the deteriorating conditions,” Atalay told reporters during a visit to the southeastern Anatolian border province of Hakkari. “Our door will be open if they come back. They will enter from our borders,” Atalay added....

...Yet, the Kurdish population in the Makhmour camp who are Turkish citizens have a complicated situation, since some of them are subject to lawsuits regarding the PKK, while there is a generation born in the camp who do not hold Turkish passport. As a matter of fact, up until the last few years, Turkey had long pressed for the closure of the Makhmour camp, claiming that it was under the PKK’s control and served as a supply base of fresh militants who would join the organization.

However, in recent years, the government has initiated a peace process, aimed at ending the three-decade-long conflict between Turkey’s security forces and the PKK....

Yes, indeed, the USA is a greater power than Allah. A Bush as war again, how apropos. Tell, me, is the humanitarian mission over yet?

Sailors guide (click here) an F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the Valions of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 15 on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in the Gulf, in this handout image taken and released on August 8, 2014. Two F/A-18 aircraft from the squadron conducted an airstrike on Friday against Islamic State artillery used against Kurdish forces defending the city of Arbil in northern Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Lorelei Vander Griend/U.S. Navy)

Israel must stop killing Palestinians! Israel openly stated their mission ended in Gaza with the closing of all the tunnels. Find more?

August 8, 2014

By Isabel Kershner and Jodi Rudoren

JERUSALEM — As a 72-hour truce (click here) in Gaza expired at 8 a.m. Friday, Palestinian militants fired barrages of rockets into Israel and the Israeli military responded with airstrikes, one of which killed a 10-year-old boy, according to relatives.The renewed hostilities interrupted the indirect talks in Cairo, brokered by Egypt and backed by the United States, for a more durable cease-fire agreement. While the rocket fire signaled Hamas’s refusal to extend the temporary lull and its desire to apply pressure for its demands to be met at the talks, the Israeli government said in a statement that “Israel will not hold negotiations under fire.”...

I think Hamas recognizes the word ceasefire rather than truce. They mean the same thing.

Hamas's demands for an end to the blockade is the linchpin. 

Israel has no reason to be killing Palestinians. It has completed it's ? mission ? of closing the tunnels and they need to simply stop the hostilities with Gaza and it's residents. That means the people have the right to live and develop an economy. 

Constraints on Agricultural Production (click here)

The loss of large stretches of agricultural land, after 1967, due to land confiscation and closures, and limitations on water supply and product markets, has led to a substantial decline in the production of this sector.

In 1967, Palestinian agricultural production was almost identical to Israel's: tomatoes, cucumbers and melons were roughly half of Israel's crop; plums and grape production were equal to Israel's; and Palestinian production of olives, dates and almonds was higher. At that time, the West Bank exported 80% of the entire vegetable crop it produced, and 45% of total fruit production (Hazboun, S., 1986).

The agricultural sector was hit hard after Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Thereafter the sector,s contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Palestinian Occupied Territories declined. Between 1968/1970 and 1983/1985 the percentage of agricultural contribution to the overall GDP in the West Bank fell from 37.4-53.5% to 18.5-25.4% (UNCTAD, 1990). The labour force employed in this sector has also declined. Between 1969 and 1985, the agricultural labour force, as a percentage of the total labour force, fell from 46 to 27.4% (Kahan, D., 1987)....

...Marketing of farm products and their distribution to local and external markets is one of the major obstacles facing Palestinian farmers. Throughout the occupation years, selling Palestinian agricultural products within Israel requires special permits to be issued by the Israeli authorities. Transporting products from north to south in the West Bank has become difficult as well, especially after Israel enforced a closure on East Jerusalem, the main road connecting northern with southern parts of the West Bank. Movement of agricultural products between the West Bank and Gaza Strip is also subject to Israeli control....

The hoops the Palestinians have to go through to travel and/or trade their goods is hideous.

And they aren't even constituents.

August 8, 2014
By Nick O'Malley

...On Thursday afternoon, (click here) as Yazidi protesters gathered in front of the White House to call for US help, Obama met his national security advisers. It appears that what he learned in that meeting stirred him to act.

Advances by ISIL since the weekend left tens of thousands of Yazidi civilians besieged on Mount Sinjar.

Addressing the nation hours later, Obama said: “People are starving. And children are dying of thirst.  Meanwhile, ISIL forces below have called for the systematic destruction of the entire Yazidi people, which would constitute genocide.”...

Any demonstrators have connections to the USA military? "W"? Paid?

The Yazidi are not devil worshipers. They practice Zoroastrianism, an ancient Persian religion which was adapted Zoroaster to simplify the spectrum of polytheism into gods of good and evil. The religion dates back to 2000 BCE. In this region of the world it came out of Iran and true to form it allows female leadership within the practice. Needless to say ISIS/ISIL are Sunnis and oppress women.

Zoroastrianism (click here) 

The Penatgon is so very cleaver. Psy-Ops at work again?

Zoroastrianism is arguably the world’s oldest monotheistic religion. It is centered on the words of the prophet Zoroaster and focuses worship upon Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom. It also acknowledges two competing principles representing good and evil: Spenta Mainyu (“Bounteous Spirit”) and Angra Mainyu (“Destructive Spirit”). Humans are intimately involved in this struggle, holding off chaos and destruction through active goodness.

Notable Zoroastrians

Freddie Mercury, the late lead singer of Queen, and actor Erick Avari are both Zoroastrians.

I suppose the peaceniks have to save their brethren, huh?

Psy-Ops should practice their meditation a little longer next time.

I congratulate Secretary Kerry for heading the next conflict off at the pass.

August 7, 2013
By Matthew Lee

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — Afghanistan's (click here) feuding presidential candidates agreed Friday to resolve their election dispute and said they would set an inauguration date before the end of August.

The breakthrough came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry opened a second day of talks in Afghanistan aimed at preventing the fragile country from collapsing into political chaos after disputed elections.

"This is really an Afghan solution to an Afghan problem," Kerry said at a news conference. "Both parties have agreed to stay at it and both parties have agreed to live by the outcome."...

The Washington Post believes it is making a moral argument in remembrance of the Khmer Rouge.

August 7, 2014
By Adam Taylor

On Thursday, (click here) 83-year-old Khieu Samphan and 88-year-old Nuon Chea were found guilty in a Phnom Penh court. A United Nations-backed tribunal had decided that these two men, elderly and frail as they are now, committed crimes against humanity more than 30 years ago. They were senior members of a regime that created the deaths of almost 2 million people....

It is a very poor analogy at best. Does anyone know WHEN the Khmer Rouge grew to prominence in Cambodia?

In 1963, President Johnson put the first fighting force on the ground to work with the South Vietnamese to FORM their own military that could stand the onslaught of North Vietnam. Sound familiar?

The Khmer Rouge was formed in 1968 as an offshoot of the Vietnam People's Army from North Vietnam. It came to prominence as the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

When was the "Fall of Siagon?"  

April 29, 1975. 

Why did the Khmer Rouge form? Was it in response to the ever imposing force and rate of death noted in Vietnam? 

In 2003 a series of investigative reports by the Toledo Blade uncovered a large number of unreported American war crimes particularly from the Tiger Forceunit. Some of the most violent war criminals included men such as Sam Ybarra and Sergeant Roy E. "the Bummer" Bumgarner, a soldier who served with the 1st Cavalry Division and later the 173d Airborne Brigade.

In 1971 John Kerry testified along with 150 other soldiers to the US Senate in an investigation called "Winter Soldier Investigation." A smart thing to do considering the massacres of the Vietnamese people numbering in estimates of over 1.1 million civilian dead. That is only the dead and the civilians.

One might call the phenomena in the former Iraq, "The Post USA Occupation Syndrome." 

We don't belong in Iraq. 

We never did.

This is how the Mission Creep of Vietnam started.

Latest (click here)

14.06 Two US jets hit a mobile artillery piece.

14.00 US forces struck after artillery fire against Kurdish forces defending the key city of Erbil.

13.54 US aircraft launched airstrikes against extremist positions in northern Iraq after artillery fire near US personnel, the Pentagon has said....

First it is advisers, then humantarian aide and the next thing one knows is an assassination of a beloved president followed by the Veep ordering troops on the ground in Vietnam. I suppose all Presidents thereafter learned their lessons well.

What was it Jackie stated, "Jack, they've killed you."

Just for the record, the Yazidis have always live on Mount Sinjar. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but, but, but, this time their food and water has been cut off. "W"rong. 

The reason the USA is involved at Sinjar is because the Kurds and ISIS were conducting a battle there. So, while some roads were cut off to the higher elevations due to the fighting I would hardly call this a refugee camp. It is not.

As a matter of fact there is a researcher by the name of Nadhir al-Ansari that has been conducting studies in those mountains. He is from LUT, Lulea University of Technology in Sweden who has studied the harvesting of water conducted by the people there.

Climate change and future long term trends of rainfall at north-east Part of Iraq (click here)

• Draft copy of Issue 6 2014
  
  Draft_copy_of_Issue_6_2014.pdf, 6 MB, application/pdf
  04/07/14

In his research he was looking for sources of water as alternatives to the main rivers. But, the study hasn't been published yet.

Water harvesting and reservoir optimization in selected areas of south Sinjar Mountain,Iraq

The provinces of the former Iraq and ISIS are involved with a war. The USA is sneaking up from behind on the American people. This is about whether or not the USA will engage the military arm of ISIS which is empowered by the War Pollution it left behind that made the Iraqi military and police look so impressive.

The fact of the matter is the three provinces are attempting to 'handle' the USA empowered ISIS. That is the problem and there is no other problem. Could it be said the three provinces are fighting for a water supply? Sure. So, with the assistance of USA and it's War Pollution of Humvees (ISIS should thank Cheney for that one) and munitions ISIS is posing a threat to the water resources. The three provinces have a problem and the only two currently able to develop any type of military response are the Kurds in the North and the Shia in the South. Saudi Arabia could wipe out ISIS in a short period of time, but, alas ISIS are Sunnis out of Syria and who wants to kill them after all.

ISIS can also thank Senator McCain for his support in expectations they would unseat Assad. Oops.

We don't belong in Iraq.

We never did.

The sixty days on USA advisors ends August 18, 2014.

June 19, 2014
By Karen DeYoung and Anne Gearan

...But “American combat troops (click here) are not going to be fighting in Iraq again,” he said, a point he made repeatedly during remarks in the White House briefing room. “Ultimately, this is something that is going to have to be solved by Iraqis.”...

Jet fighter pilots are combat troops.

I hope the advisers have given good advise and if not then the USA personnel at the consulate needs to pack and get their butts out to the tarmac and fly home.

The USA is not going back to Iraq. End of discussion.

Last Updated Aug 7, 2014 1:52 PM EDT

The Pentagon (click here) is looking at conducting emergency air drops to the estimated 15,000 stranded ethnic minority Yazidis in northern Iraq, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin,
A decision is expected today. Martin says if the U.S. military makes drops, the transport planes would almost certainly be escorted by fighters.
Reuters, citing Turkish officials, reported Thursday that thousands of Yazidis had fled to the Turkish border to escape the the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has advanced to northern Iraq....

There are other Arab nations in the area able to conduct air drops. Saudi Arabia has a very nice air force.

There will be no military movement by the USA Pentagon into Iraq or around Iraq by the USA without the direct permission of both houses of Congress. 

Take a good long look, this is what happens when wars are engaged for Wall Street profits (Halliburton) and vengeance by Presidents.

The Pentagon already has it wrong. This region is in chronic flux with borders changing on a regular basis. There is no Iraq as there was under "W." That is the first thing. Additionally, with changing borders and any American presence there will be doubt as to whom exactly the USA is assisting. Right now the brilliance of the USA Pentagon has failed the people of the former Iraq by entrusting huge amounts of American equipment and munitions to militants. ISIS would never have it's success without the "War Pollution" of the USA Pentagon.

If the USA were ever to return to Iraq according to it's old borders, there would be deaths of USA soldiers at the hands of what is usually considered Iraq military and police officers, any militants in area, it would confront Syria with the extent of ISIS and when Syria is confronted then Russia is involved.

The USA did the right thing by insisting Syria disarm from chemical weapons. We did our part and I am sure Syria would state the weapons were used against the current ISIS. Makes no difference. 

There are NGOs all over the Middle East and the Red Crescent is always there. I strongly suggest those with planes in the MIddle East consult with the Red Crescent and formulate a solution, both long term and immediate.

The USA is OUT OF THERE and the Middle East should be grateful. Don't let the USA open the door again!

How rarely does this occur?

August 7, 2014
1330.17z
UNISYS Goes West Water Vapor Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)

Hawaii has never received a dual storm system in it's history.

Hawaii (click here) braced for its first direct hurricane hit in 22 years Thursday as Iselle headed toward the Big Island with a second storm on its tails. Bottled water and supplies were in high demand at stores ahead of the Category 1 storm’s expected impact on Thursday night. “It’s a fairly potent hurricane by Hawaiian standards,” Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said. Heavy rains totaling 5 to 8 inches, winds gusting up to 80 mph and flooding were expected, before Iselle was set to weaken to a tropical storm by the time it hit Honolulu at about 9 a.m. local time (3 p.m. ET) on Friday. Tropical storm warnings were issued for Oahu, Kauai and Maui, and a flash flood warning was in effect for the entire island chain....

This is NOAA's Satellite (click here)

This is a NOAA satellite from the Central Pacific that visualizes the larger circulation system west of Hawaii. I haven't found it documented anywhere in the east or west Pacific records to date.

This is it in the West Central Pacific satellite image. It is on the right side of the image. It dwarfs the two hurricanes now in route to Hawaii.

Here it is:

The track of Genevieve was just south of Hawaii. I would have been shocked if it wasn't documented somewhere.

Date: 25 JUL-07 AUG 2014
Hurricane-4 GENEVIEVE
ADV  LAT    LON      TIME     WIND  PR  STAT
  1  12.20 -134.00 07/25/06Z   35     - TROPICAL STORM
  2  12.30 -135.00 07/25/12Z   40     - TROPICAL STORM
  3  12.20 -135.80 07/25/18Z   40     - TROPICAL STORM
  4  12.10 -135.90 07/26/00Z   40     - TROPICAL STORM
  5  12.10 -136.40 07/26/06Z   35     - TROPICAL STORM
  6  12.20 -136.80 07/26/12Z   30     - TROPICAL DEPRESSION
  7  12.40 -137.50 07/26/18Z   30     - TROPICAL DEPRESSION
  8  12.50 -138.80 07/27/00Z   30     - TROPICAL DEPRESSION...

 ...37  11.90 -174.60 08/06/06Z   50     - TROPICAL STORM
 38  12.80 -176.80 08/06/05Z   65   990 HURRICANE-1
 39  13.50 -178.40 08/06/11Z   75   980 HURRICANE-1
 40  14.10 -179.70 08/07/03Z  120     - HURRICANE-4
 41  14.50  179.80 08/07/06Z  130     - HURRICANE-4
+12  15.50  177.70 08/07/18Z  145     - HURRICANE-5
+24  17.20  176.00 08/08/06Z  140     - HURRICANE-5
+36  19.50  175.30 08/08/18Z  130     - HURRICANE-4
+48  22.10  175.10 08/09/06Z  120     - HURRICANE-4
+72  26.60  173.90 08/10/06Z   95     - HURRICANE-2

Eye lids can carry the microbe into the body which begins the infection.

August 7, 2014
By Umaru Fofana and Clair Macdougall

...Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (click here) announced emergency measures late on Wednesday that will, for 90 days, allow her government to curtail civil rights by imposing quarantines on badly affected communities to contain an epidemic that has struck four West African nations.

In Geneva, World Health Organization (WHO) experts were due to hold a second day of meetings to discuss emergency measures to tackle the outbreak and whether to classify it as an international public health emergency.

Though the vast majority of cases are in the remote border area of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, concern over Ebola's spread grew last month when a U.S. citizen died in Nigeria of the virus after arriving from the region. A nurse who treated him has now also died in Lagos, and at least five other people have been isolated with symptoms....

The virus is highly contagious and takes very few microbes to begin an infection. If a few microbes are accidentally deposited on one's eye lids it can begin an infection. 

One of the problems with the spread of the disease in West Africa is the disbelief of the people. There are 24 hour radio broadcasts and workers driving around the city with announcements on loud speakers. But, not everyone has contact with a radio and may not live along the streets where workers drive to make announcements. This is the problem with poverty. This is why the USA spends monies abroad to assist in the health of nations. 

While Ebola is a microbe and contagious the real enemy is poverty and allowing people to live without the benefit of education and the opportunity to change their quality of life. In the case with the method above the problem exists when others can't read the words on the shirt. While compassion seems like a nice thing for the USA to do for others there are profoundly important reasons why that compassion occurs. It is important for every nation of people to have the opportunity to improve their quality of life and understand the complexities of their world. 

The compassion provided for others by wealthier nations has to be nondiscriminatory and void of religious priorities. Why? Because we have learned when religious organizations provide free care to others disease isn't necessarily defeated as in HIV/AIDS and the proven practice of using condoms. The prejudice of religious dogma supplied to people in other nations caused the spread of the disease. In the USA people practice their religion but are sophisticated enough to know prayers alone won't stop microbes. That is the level of sophistication that needs to be supplied to any aid.

What came first the chicken or the egg? How about the egg head?

Or. How about an incubator of educational standards that are world class?

That HAS been the educational system within Michigan. Michigan has a very long history of incubating some of the most successful people on Wall Street. Michigan? Yes, Michigan. 

There is no discrimination in Michigan, the list of famous people spans the USA economy from a USA President to the star studded stage and onto NASCAR. (click here). Among the most prolific incubators for the entertainment industry is Detroit.  There is a reason why there have been so many stages in Detroit.

The performance industry wasn't just populous talent. This is Jay Meetze of Flint a producer and composer of opera. So the talent and BRAIN TRUST RESOURCES the people of Michigan have walking among them is considerable. 

The home grown resources found opportunity in both genders even among the sciences. Emily Helen Butterfield from Algonac, Michigan pioneered the Michigan Women's Movement in the late 1800s. But, that isn't her only contribution.She founded the first women's business club in the entire country of the USA. It was the Detroit Business Women's Club. So, what was her business? I wouldn't really call it a business exactly.

Ms. Butterfield (I am sure she would approve of the Ms.) was educated in the Detroit Public Schools. She and her father loved art and she sketched nature and landscapes in her teenage years.

That affection for art they shared blossomed into an architectural firm called Butterfield and Butterfield in 1917. But, why would she be involved with an architectural firm, family or not? Why indeed. She became the first woman architect licensed in Michigan in 1907.

Did you notice? She came back to Michigan regardless of her travels to work hand in hand with Dad. A Michigan architectural firm born and breed right in the state.

Architecture is an art and science. Math and science. Engineering. Such a career requires high levels of learning from the beginning of any education including advanced information in High School. 

Anyone know the name Charles Moore? This is Charles Moore. He hales from Benton Harbor. He was an architect and what an architect he was. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and winner of the AIA Gold Metal of 1991. Below is a picture of Piazza d'Italia by Charles Moore (with Perez Architects), New Orleans. Now bad for a guy from Michigan. 

 

The highly COMPETENT education system in Michigan doesn't end the architects. That high competency in math and science belongs to Michael Bloomfield. No, not the mayor of NYC. He is an astronaut that has flown three missions on the Space Shuttle. 

Astronaut Bloomfield hales from Flint. But, any state in the nation can have a flash in the pan astronaut, but, how many can claim their fame with a long tradition of influence in aerospace with Roger B.

Chaffee, an astronaut in the Apollo Program. 

Roger Chaffee is among the great Americans that advanced the USA Space Program. He died for his country and it's space ambitions along with Gus Grissom and Ed White in a terrible accident within their capsule. Chaffee and Grissom are buried at Arlington National Cemetary and Ed White is buried at West Point Cemetary. The number of astronauts born in Michigan goes on from there. 

Then there is the car industry with people like Roy D. Chapin founding the Hudson Auto Company and John DeLorean who's father was employed by the union within the Ford Motor Company. 

John DeLorean was born and breed and educated in Detroit schools. He worked for a while for GM before he founded the DeLorean Motor Company. He was a first generation American born to immigrants. While working within GM his best loved contribution was the highly collectable Pontiac GTO. As a matter of fact John DeLorean was the youngest department head within GM at the Pontiac Division at the age of 40.

The infamous competition that started in Hamtramck, Michigan began with two brothers with the last name of Dodge. Their names were Horace Elgin and John Francis. They were born in Niles, Michigan and went to Detroit to work in a boilermaker plant and then followed that up as machinists for a company in Windsor, Ontario. They were self taught. Now, that is noteworthy of young men who are home spun in Michigan. That only begins the list of those that grew the automobile industry in Michigan. They were all home grown and educated. They did their state proud.

Anyone know the name Ballmer? Steve Ballmer? No? He was the son of two immigrants, Beatrice Dworkin from Belarus, she was Jewish and Fredric Henry Ballmer from Switzerland. Still no clue? Fredric Henry Ballmer was manager of Ford Motor. Still don't know Steve Ballmer? One last clue: He attended college prep and engineering classes at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan and graduated from Detroit Country Day School, a private college preparatory school in Beverly Hills, Michigan, with a perfect score of 800 on the mathematical section of the SAT.

Okay, Steven Ballmer was the first manage hired by Bill Gates at Microsoft. But, that isn't all. He became the defacto number two at Microsoft after 20 years following his hire, and leading several Microsoft divisions, including operations, operating systems development, and sales and support. February 1992 onwards, he was Executive Vice President, Sales and Support, led Microsoft's development of the .NET Framework. Ballmer was then promoted to President of Microsoft, a title that he held from July 1998 to February 2001. 

I could go on and on and on, but, what is the point to all this? Michigan is the point to all this. The educational system, it's free form structure allowing artistic development and free thinking is infamous. The Michigan's brain trust and what has been contributed to the USA and the world is rarely discussed. The FAILURE of the Michigan educational system is the only thing talked about today. Somehow the bottom fell out of the magic of Michigan.

Somehow along came Former CEO Snyder and decided he was the savior of Michigan. Snyder hasn't been a savior to anything except perhaps the profiteering of Wall Street. There is NOTHING Snyder has found or perfected or took away from democracy that wasn't already there. The ONLY problem with Michigan is the OUTSOURCING of it's brain trust to every other corner of the USA and the world. Why? Because Michigan, while a magnificent incubator of genius and strong work ethics, has a high quality of life. What does a high quality of life demand? It demands a Middle Class. What does a Middle Class demand? Good pay, disposable income and FREEDOM to spend their monies to continue to grow an economy. 

When Roger Smith knew he had to provide high profits to stockholders and outsourced the jobs to other nations he began the unraveling of the economy of Michigan, ultimately the region and contributing to the downward spiral of the Middle Class across the country. But, Ronald Reagan finished off the Middle Class when he fought Airline Controllers in California. The people who actually thought as industry leaders they knew what was best for their company's bottom line, didn't stop to realize where their status came from in the first place. The entire auto industry can and should thank the brain trust of Michigan. Without them it would be nowhere.

The ONLY problem with Michigan is the implosion of it's economy. The educational system is primarily intact except where Snyder have toyed with school systems and towns and cities to incorporate children of many cities into the school system of one. Snyder is the worst thing that has happened to Michigan. He only appreciates it's educational system where it delivers highly talented people that can be EXPLOITED for what they know and what they invent and their desire to be prosperous. 

The Governor of Michigan has no answers for the people of Michigan. He has answers for Wall Street. The Tech Sector he brags about existed long before he became Governor. The real question Michiganders have to ask themselves is with all this emphasis on the successful Tech Sector, "Why aren't there more jobs?" That is the only question that has to be answered and the answer is simple. While the Tech Sector is very successful, the companies are sold to Wall Street for profits and finding cheaper labor elsewhere. Sound familiar? Snyder's name may as well be Roger Smith. 

There are profound differences between the way industry and government run and why. Industry is built from the ground up. As the demand for it's products takes shape and there is demand, industry grows. Government has nothing in common with business or industry. Government EXISTS. Why does it exist? Did someone invent something and then grew Detroit? Detroit is land. Detroit exists because people came to the land and developed their livelihoods and economy. Governments grow because the people in a city or town increase. There is nothing remotely similar between a business model and a government. Government exists. It can't cut middle management because that middle management runs the trash collection department and the water department. The only way a government shrinks is if the people aren't there on the land anymore. And with Detroit we realized even if the government shrinks there is still a need for it to operate in someway. Detroit lost it's tax base because the economy collapsed. People didn't have jobs. The jobs that remained still has a viable existence and the people living there still needed a government. The people didn't do anything wrong in Detroit. The larger government didn't stem the economics loss.

Detroit and Benton Harbor as well as Flint and the rest of the cities are not at fault. If there was corruption that is a completely different issue. Corrupt government needs to be prosecuted. 

Wall Street failed for a long time and continues to fail the Michigan economy. I don't know why Michigan hasn't recovered, but, it seems to me the Michigan Brain Trust is a well kept secret for a reason. The problem is, do the people of Michigan believe there should be ways to promote the industries created in Michigan or can Wall Street exploit them so much better? 

Why not simply build the story of all stories (political narrative) to move people and governments around and allow exploitation of Michigan's land in a way Snyder and his buddies believe is best?

There is a challenge before the Mayors of Michigan. They need to recruit these home grown companies into their towns. That means the people that will work for them have a strong work ethnic and are 'educated enough' to create their product. 

Mayors have nothing to lose. 

If there is no Michigan Brain Trust Techy Industry in their town there is nothing going into the treasury anyway. If a Michigan Brain Trust Techy Industry comes to make a Michigan city or town their home, then people work, they buy homes and they pay property tax. The Mayors of Michigan can do this. There is no reason for them not to. If I were a Mayor of Michigan I'd want a conference of Mayors and invite the Chancellors of the major universities and ask how this can work out to the benefit the people, hence, their towns, counties and ultimately the state.

Snyder is not providing good leadership, he is providing the leadership he is only capable of; namely that of a Venture Capitalist. That isn't going to put people to work and will exploit natural resources rather than pursuing high tech resolves as better and more attainable. It is up to the people of Michigan to fire Governor Snyder and put someone in office that will provide SUPPORT to Mayors to bring home their home grown brain trust so people have jobs and those companies have profits.

Michigan's Snyder's assault against local governments.

August 6, 2014
By Michael Wayland

ACME TOWNSHIP, MI- In his first public speech (click here) after the passing of Proposal 1, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is expected to tout the termination of the state's personal property tax as another example of Michigan's improving business environment.

"We've continued to create a great climate," he said Tuesday afternoon, prior to his Wednesday morning speech at the 49^th annual Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars near Traverse City. "Tomorrow morning, hopefully I can say we don't have a personal property tax on industrial equipment. Tat's a big deal."

The proposal phases out personal property taxes that small businesses pay on office equipment and manufacturers pay on industrial equipment. It also authorizes the creation of an authority to distribute existing use tax revenue to local governments who currently rely on personal property tax collections to provide services, including police and fire.

Snyder said the proposal is "another major indicator" about how the state is "becoming more competitive and a better place to do business."...

Excuse me? There are emergency managers all over the state and Detroit in up against the ropes and Snyder is padding the pockets of the wealthy? Really?

The unemployment rate in Michigan in January 2014 was 8.3 percent. Nationally the unemployment rate in January 2014 was 6.6 percent. Currently, Michigan's unemployment rate has flat lined at 7.5 percent over the past four months. Currently the unemployment rate nationally is 6.2 percent.

Snyder took office in January 2011 with an unemployment rate in Michigan of 11%. That is high, but, the unemployment rate in Michigan in May of 2010 was 13%. Michigan was already rebounding from the global economic collapse and it's collapsed auto economy. In contract the USA national unemployment rate in January of 2011 was 9.1 percent with a rate of 9.6 percent in May of 2010. 

Michigan has recovered at a faster rate in seven months before Snyder took office dropping by 2 percent in those seven months. Snyder's fuzzy math and emergency mangers have not only assaulted the democratic process and children within their school systems it slowed down the very rapid recovery Michigan was already experiencing.

Michigan would not see another 2 percent recovery for another thirteen months in May of 2012 when the rate was 9 percent. Now, 28 months on Michigan STILL has not recovered to a 7 percent unemployment rate, while the national rate is 6.2 at the end of July.

It is interesting the Michigan Governor is so persistent in pushing the idea there needs to be a better economic environment seeking all kinds of Visas for Chinese investment, which are monies that will leave the country except for meager employment. Now he is giving away more Michigan income from it's treasury while the cities are still without their democratically elected officials and the state's largest city is seeking settlements with unions. This is completely outrageous. I suppose all those connections in China from his time at "Gateway Computers" are still hot and delivering.

Snyder's funny math starts with manipulating monies for education with schools in trouble and then rather than harnessing the power of a full recovery he has decided to play tax reduction for the wealthy while the state can't keep up with the national recovery.

I can hear the campaign music playing now, "Well, the rest of the nation has fracking as it's best friend, so why don't we and we'd be recovered by now, too." Michigan could be producing huge amounts of wind energy right there on the lakes and selling it to the entire region. Why isn't that happening and why fracking at all?

Snyder came with a lot of baggage when he took the governor's seat. He had sold a perfectly viable Michigan business developed with a Michigan brain trust and sold it with to Wall Street while serving as CEO and Chairman of Ardesta, the venture capital firm and CEO of the company Ardesta had sold.

Snyder's dealings before his days as governor is not the only problem. He continues to use state monies and eyeing his relationship with Ardesta to develop high tech industry in Michigan with Michigan's brain trust and monies only to sell it to Wall Street.

October 13, 2013
By Gary Anglebrant

Michigan's medical device industry has witnessed the sale of a growing number of its companies in recent years. The following lists some that state experts and players in the industry consistently mention as the most noteworthy....

Exits and deals

Accuri Cytometers Inc.
City: Ann Arbor
Sold to: Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based Becton, Dickinson and Co. in 2011 for $205 million
Investors: Included Arboretum Ventures, Plymouth Venture Partners, Flagship Ventures, Baird Venture Partners
Business: University of Michigan spinoff making cytometers (automated cell analysis devices) small enough to sit on a desktop

Ostial Solutions LLC
City: Kalamazoo
Sold to: South Jordan, Utah-based Merit Medical Systems Inc. in 2012 for $30 million
Investors: Self-funded, angel investors
Business: Maker of a catheter used to implant coronary artery stents, founded by CEO R. Kevin Plemmons and the Fischell family of medical device inventors

Snyder did NOTHING to keep these jobs in Michigan and now he wants to pad the pockets of his friends? I don't think so.

Pioneer Surgical Technology Inc.
City: Marquette
Sold to: Alachua, Fla.-based RTI Biologics Inc. in July for $130 million
Investors: Included Beringea, Highlander Partners, Hopewell Ventures, Pharos Capital Group and River Cities Capital Funds
Business: Maker of spinal implants, bone grafts and other spine, cardiothoracic and orthopedic products; also offers contract manufacturing services. (See story.)

In the pipeline

Ablative Solutions Inc.
City: Kalamazoo

CytoPherx Inc.
City: Ann Arbor

Delphinus Medical Technologies Inc.
City: Plymouth Township

HistoSonics Inc.
City: Ann Arbor

Tangent Medical Technologies Inc.
City: Ann Arbor

Michigan's brain trust delivers some of the most sophisticated industries in the world and then people like Snyder and his friends steal them rather than Michigan providing a home to these inventors and companies and employing Michigan citizens. 

Snyder is Wall Street and Michigan is looking more and more like a picked over venture capitalist's dreamscape. When Snyder brags about the developing Tech Sector in Michigan, he surely had NOTHING to do with any of it. The tech sector was always in Michigan, but, is stolen before it has a chance to actually employ the citizens.