MEMORIAL DAY PROFILE #2 ... PAT TILLMAN

As promised, over the Memorial Day weekend I'm going to re-post the stories of three Americans who exemplify what military service and honor are all about.

Unlike our modern day cowardly politicians, and blow hard media pundits who cheer every war opportunity without sacrificing anything, the Americans I'm profiling had fame and fortune. But they also believed they should contribute more to the cause. Not one of the three individuals profiled this weekend were drafted, or forced to abandon the charmed and comfortable lifestyles that would have been part of their future.

Yesterday I posted on Glenn Miller. Today's post is about Pat Tillman.

PAT TILLMAN
Pat Tillman was an NFL player who was in his prime playing for the Phoenix Cardinals in the late 1990s. After the 9/11 attacks Tillman left a lucrative career in football to enlist in the U.S. Army at the age of 25. 

At one point Tillman turned down a multi-year $9 million contract from the St. Louis Rams because of the loyalty he felt towards the Cardinals. Before enlisting in the U.S. Army Tillman also turned down a 3-year $3.6 million contract offer from the Phoenix Cardinals. Put another way, Pat Tillman was a talented football player who had options.

After Tillman joined the Army Rangers he was killed in the mountains of Afghanistan under circumstances - first called an ambush, and later labeled as "friendly fire" - that remains a mystery for many today.

- Mark

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND READING (5-23-15)

Nevermind: Jeb Bush walks back comment about authorizing Iraq invasion (Russian Times).

Top 10 banks to sell your soul (Zero Hedge).

U.S. rent prices continue to increase faster than home prices, and show no sign of letting up (Market Watch).

Scientists now projecting near 100% chance of strong El Nino, but rainfall isn't always guaranteed (San Francisco CBS).


RICH MAN, POOR MAN
Wealth gap hits 30-year high among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries (Russian Times).

The richest 1% in the world will have more than the remaining 99% by 2016 (International Business Times).

Welcome to the Oligarch recovery: 82% of multifamily rental construction in the U.S. was in luxury units between 2012 and 2014 (Zero Hedge).


FOX IS JUST PATHETIC
Obama: Fox News portrays poor people as 'leeches' (Politico).

Jon Stewart rips Fox, Scarborough for whining after President Obama criticized them for demonizing the poor (Crooks and Liars).

"The rich suffered more": The worst of Fox News' poor-shaming (Media Matters).


THINGS THAT SHOULD BE CHANGED
Nike, Obama, and the fiasco of the Trans Pacific Partnership (Robert Reich).

One startling GIF show how much the U.S. spends on imprisoning vs. educating people (Policy Mic).

UK's private health firms get unfair tax advantage to outbid National Health Services (Russian Times).

8 disturbing revelations about policing in Baltimore since the Freddie Gray cops were arrested (Alternet).

The big banks are corrupt - and getting worse (Huffington Post).

Congress tells court that Congress can't be investigated for insider trading (Info Wars).


THIS IS NOT GOOD
9 things many Americans just don't grasp compared to the rest of the world (Alternet).

Why are suicide rates crawling up the charts across the planet (Alternet)?

The icy paradox. While the Arctic continues to lose ground, Antarctica is gaining ice at a record pace ... the explanations for Antarctic growth suggest a real messy future (CS Monitor).

China's building islands in resource rich, and geo-strategically contentious Spratly Islands, with the U.S. threatening retaliation at their land grab (Zero Hedge).


SERIOUSLY, THESE PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS
Louie Gohmert: Bush would never have invaded Iraq if he knew Obama would come along and bungle it (Raw Story).

Ted Cruz goes full Ted Cruz: "Is there something about the left that is obsessed with sex?" (Salon).

Scott Walker doubles down on his assertion that Ronald Reagan firing U.S. air traffic controllers was the most significant foreign policy decision that has been made in his lifetime (Bloomberg).

Meet the Christian right's new doomsday prophet - and his insane, apocalyptic "blood moon" theory (Salon).


MISCELLANEOUS
India & China seal record 24 deals estimated at $10 billion (Russian Times).

Boot camp or school? Critics worry that charters for minority kids are too militant (Takepart).

The GOP's war on science gets worse (The New Yorker).

The GOP attack on climate change science takes a big step forward (Michael Hiltzik).

- Mark

MEMORIAL DAY PROFILE #1 ... GLENN MILLER

Over the next three days I'm going to break up and re-post one of my more popular posts because of it fits the Memorial Day narrative. These are the stories of three Americans who exemplify what military service and national honor are all about.

Unlike our modern day cowardly politicians, and blow hard media pundits who cheer every war opportunity without sacrificing anything, the Americans I'm profiling had fame and fortune. But they also believed they should contribute more to the cause. Not one of the three individuals profiled this weekend were drafted, or forced to abandon the charmed and comfortable lifestyles that would have been part of their future.

Today's post is about Glenn Miller.

GLENN MILLER
Glenn Miller was a band leader in the swing era. His career was beginning to sky rocket with still recognizable hits like "In the Mood" and "Moonlight Serenade." In 1942, while making between $15,000 and $20,000 per week (roughly between $200,000 and $300,000 today), Miller decided to join the war effort. 

At 38 he was too old to be drafted, and was initially told by the Navy that they did not need his services. He convinced the U.S. Army that they could use him to help "modernize" their music, which allowed him to serve by entertaining the allied troops.

Miller and his 50-piece band played across Europe, and perished on December 15, 1944 while crossing the English Channel to play in Paris. Glenn Miller is still listed as Missing In Action.

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For those who didn't click on the Glenn Miller links above ...

- Mark 

BAKERSFIELD HITS YET ANOTHER TOP 10 LIST

This is one those Good News, Bad News stories for the city of Bakersfield - where I live. First, the good news. This weekend the Bakersfield Police Department reported that the crime rate in the city hit a 10-year low in 2015. This is good news.

The bad news is that Bakersfield just made another top 10 list. When it comes to violent crime, murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault Bakersfield is still the 10th most dangerous metropolitan area in the western United States (#32 nationwide).

- Mark 

RON BURGANDY IN THE HOUSE? THE GOP-LED ASSAULT ON SCIENCE CONTINUES ...

Ron Burgundy. Honorary House Republican?

The Republicans are at it again. Before you read on, watch the Monty Python clip below. It will help you understand the GOP congressional mindset that's currently leading the assault on science, and the scientific method. 

As you saw in the clip, simply because you can make the connections, and it makes sense to you, doesn't mean it's true. This is the case no matter how much you want to believe it (or how much lobbyist money you get for ignoring it). So, how bad is it in our halls of Congress, you ask? Good question.

In "The GOP attack on climate change science takes a big step forward" we learn from the Los Angeles Times' Michael Hiltzik that the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology voted to "cut deeply into NASA's budget for Earth science." As Hiltzik points out, this is a "clear swipe at the study of climate change."

But wait. The GOP's war on science gets worse.

According to the The New Yorker. The same House committee that approved major funding cuts to the NASA Earth Science budget also voted to cut the budgets for the National Science Foundation’s geosciences program and the Department of Energy programs, which support research into new energy sources (guess which industry benefits from this).

None of this should come as a surprise to the regular readers of this blog. We talked about the coming Republican assault on science and reason long before the House shifted back into the hands of the GOP.

What we're currently experiencing is an age-old argument about scientific truths, as argued by idiots ...

Sigh ...

- Mark 

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP, IN ONE CARTOON

This cartoon on the Trans Pacific Partnership below has the best commentary on what's wrong with the investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) rule that I've seen.

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Artist Kevin Tucker has a nice overview of the Trans-Pacific Partnership to go along with his cartoon - complete with links to Senator Elizabeth Warren's comments on the TPP in the Washington Post - which you can access by clicking here.

- Mark 

A TALE OF TWO CITIES ... CRIME IN AMERICA

LESSON OF THE DAY: If you're going to pose a threat to your community, do it while working in Wall Street's derivative markets. The actual theft not only gets rewarded financially, but the cover of "the market" lets you convince yourself that you're actually doing something of value.

- Mark 

THE REPUBLICAN KOCH ADDICTION

To be fair, because of Citizen's United, this could be politicians of all stripes playing the money game. Still, the Koch brothers give almost all of their political contributions to extreme libertarian groups that push their financial interests, and to the GOP. This reality, combined with the Koch name, is what makes this David Horsey comic so humorous.

- Mark

NEIL deGRASSE TYSON NAILS IT, AGAIN

- Mark

THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF THE RUSSIAN FAMILY LIVING IN SIBERIA FOR 40 YEARS, CUT OFF FROM THE WORLD

From Smithsonian.com we learn about a Russian family that lived in Siberia for 40 years, cut off from all human contact. They didn't know about World War II when they were finally located by Soviet sponsored geologists in 1978. Below is an excerpt from the long but fascinating tale of the family found in the Russian boreal forest (taiga) of Siberia.

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... The sight that greeted the geologists as they entered the cabin was like something from the middle ages. Jerry-built from whatever materials came to hand, the dwelling was not much more than a burrow—”a low, soot-blackened log kennel that was as cold as a cellar,” with a floor consisting of potato peel and pine-nut shells. Looking around in the dim light, the visitors saw that it consisted of a single room. It was cramped, musty and indescribably filthy, propped up by sagging joists—and, astonishingly, home to a family of five:

The silence was suddenly broken by sobs and lamentations. Only then did we see the silhouettes of two women. One was in hysterics, praying: ‘This is for our sins, our sins.’ The other, keeping behind a post… sank slowly to the floor. The light from the little window fell on her wide, terrified eyes, and we realized we had to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Led by Pismenskaya, the scientists backed hurriedly out of the hut and retreated to a spot a few yards away, where they took out some provisions and began to eat. After about half an hour, the door of the cabin creaked open, and the old man and his two daughters emerged—no longer hysterical and, though still obviously frightened, “frankly curious.” Warily, the three strange figures approached and sat down with their visitors, rejecting everything that they were offered—jam, tea, bread—with a muttered, “We are not allowed that!” When Pismenskaya asked, “Have you ever eaten bread?” the old man answered: “I have. But they have not. They have never seen it.” At least he was intelligible. The daughters spoke a language distorted by a lifetime of isolation. “When the sisters talked to each other, it sounded like a slow, blurred cooing.”

Slowly, over several visits, the full story of the family emerged. The old man’s name was Karp Lykov, and he was an Old Believer–a member of a fundamentalist Russian Orthodox sect, worshiping in a style unchanged since the 17th century. Old Believers had been persecuted since the days of Peter the Great, and Lykov talked about it as though it had happened only yesterday; for him, Peter was a personal enemy and “the anti-Christ in human form”—a point he insisted had been amply proved by Tsar’s campaign to modernize Russia by forcibly “chopping off the beards of Christians.” But these centuries-old hatreds were conflated with more recent grievances; Karp was prone to complain in the same breath about a merchant who had refused to make a gift of 26 poods of potatoes to the Old Believers sometime around 1900.

Things had only got worse for the Lykov family when the atheist Bolsheviks took power. Under the Soviets, isolated Old Believer communities that had fled to Siberia to escape persecution began to retreat ever further from civilization. During the purges of the 1930s, with Christianity itself under assault, a Communist patrol had shot Lykov’s brother on the outskirts of their village while Lykov knelt working beside him. He had responded by scooping up his family and bolting into forest.

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For the rest of the story click here.

- Mark