fargingbastige's blog

I pay attention to flare-ups, hot spots and the ongoing struggles all over the world and the current incidents in Gaza are no exception.  Has is nothing more than a group of terrorists.  There mission and agenda is the destabilization of the region.  That instability gives them the power they need in order to continue their operations and reign of terror.  Israel appears to only want to be left alone on their little patch of earth, yet Hamas continues to fire rockets and mortars into Israel. 

After what I consider an incredible show of restraint and repeated warnings, Israel went on the offensive to root out the Hamas terrorists and make an attempt to put a stop to the mess.  Upon the start of Israel's offensive there were outcries from around the world for them to pull back, outcries for a cease-fire, and outcries that Israel was killing innocent civilians.  Where were the outcries from the world when Hamas was launching rockets into Israel and indiscriminately killing innocent Israelis?  We heard none.  Why has the world become pro-terrorist?  Why do we worry so much about the "innocent Palestinians" that are killed, but turn a blind eye to the Israelis that have suffered at the hands of Hamas terrorists?

Too often the terrorists, thugs, pirates, etc. are portrayed as the victims of bullies when such is simply not the case.  I think terrorism is something we'll have to live with and endure for the rest of our lives and while we may eliminate it completely, we can do our best to mitigate it to the fullest extend possible.

Jefferson County desparately needs a county manager - someone with with executive decision making authority and someone to hold accountable for everything that happens and fails to happen. 

What we currently have are five separate entities managing five separate departments, fighting for five separate causes with zero - get it, ZERO - accountability.  No one is coordinating the effort and putting an end to the absolutely stupid turf wars and squabbles amongst the commissioners.  I think about it in military terms - imagine that.  If you have a staff, each staff section has, to keep it simple, a chief.  That section chief goes to bat for his section and pitches his idea for the way an operation could be successfully conducted based on his perspective.  Likewise, that is what, in theory, the commissioner is elected to do - go to bat for his or her constiuency on issues affecting them and the county.  They may have an understanding of the big picture and should be willing to play on the team, but left to their own devices, will stick to their guns with respect to their section/constiuency.  Hopefully I've not lost anyone shifting from the commissioners to the section chiefs here.  Bear with me.

Now, in the military you have a Chief of Staff (CoS) or Executive Officer who manages, synchronizes and coordinates the efforts of the staff.  He looks at all the angles, takes input from each section, staffs the operation/idea and keeps the staff and staff section chiefs focused on the task at hand - Task-Purpose-Method-End State.  Headed by the CoS, the staff works to develop a plan of action that will accomplish the Commander's Intent.  I'll get to the Commander in a minute.  Once a plan is developed with input from all staff sections, the Chief of Staff then presents the collective and cohesive plan to the Commander.  The Commander is the Executive decision maker.  He can elect to go along with the plan, go along with it - with minor tweaks to meet his (or her) intent or he can trash the whole thing and tell them to start over and try again.  He is the authority.  He is the decision maker.  He is responsible and accountable for everything his unit does or fails to do.

When something doesn't function properly, the Commander's boss (and everyone has a boss) calls him on it - not the staff sections, not the Chief of Staff - the Commander.  It's all about accountability. 

Given that rationale and method of operation, a county manager is exactly what Jefferson County needs.

As much as it pains me, I have had an opportunity to travel I-20 from Birmingham to Oxford, Alabama and beyond more than I care to think about lately.  What is up with the fluctuating speed limit?  Sure, I can read - remember the R.I.F. program?  Reading Is Fundamental? - got it.  Signs suggest that there's construction, some hazardous road ahead, etc., but I would contend that it's all just a ploy to get revenue by the almighty Alabama State Troopers.  One particular stretch or road - I didn't note the mile markers - had the speed limit doing this:  70 mph, 65, 55, 45 (within 1 mile - it amounts to slamming on your brakes to meet those gates); then it's all of a sudden back to 70 and within a half mile back to 55mph.  I canot believe that that kind of fluctuation in speed keeps people from having accidents - I'd suggest it causes them.

Construction - I've seen no active construction in the past three weeks while driving that route.  What gives?  Yeah, it's rained some, but come on...  Some people, tractor trailor rigs, included, just blow right on through with no regard to the changing speed limit.  I, on the other hand, make every attempt to regulate my speed based on the stupidity of those who have chosen to set the arbitray limits.  My last speeding ticket was 57mph in a 55mph zone along I-20 near Riverside over three years ago and I refuse to give the Alabama Department of Public Safety any more of my money.

Is there any reasonable explanation for this?!

If you were wondering about that to which I refer in my first post, here's a YouTube link that plays the clip.  Many thanks to those who are far more technologically savvy than I.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKk9rv2hUfA

We hear more and more everyday about how skewed the media has become in this country and that their support (or lack thereof) for particular political figures can either ensure their election or all but ruin their career.  The latest in the case for biased news and unfair reporting is the Time Magazine "Person of the Year".  It's no secret that Time Magazine is a very liberal magazine with a liberal interpretation of the news.  I say interpretation because what they do to distort the facts cannot be characterized as "news", although they claim to be a "news" magazine.

Time Magazine's Person of the Year?  None other than preseident-elect Barack Hussein Obama.  No surprise there; anyone could have seen it coming.  The interesting part is that the Washington, DC Time Magazine bureau chief, Jay Carney, was named to an Obama Administration position as Joe Biden's communications director - that announcement coming AFTER Obama was selected as Time Magazine Person of the Year. 

No, certainly no bias by Time Magazine.  Yeah, right.

I guess today's weather reports were, if nothing else, a reminder that winter is upon us.  With that, we all know that the weather in Alabama can turn on you in an instant.  Even though as of this post no snow has materialized where I am, freezing temperatures can bring ice on the roads - especially overpasses - when the rain that has fallen throughout the day freezes.  The best advice is to use common sense.  Next is don't travel if you don't have to.  Yeah, we all hear it all the time, but it's the patch of ice that you don't see that will get you.  Don't slam on brakes.  Even with anti-lock you can go into a spin if you hit the brakes.  It's far better to travel at a speed commensurate with what the conditions dictate.  If you find yourself on a patch of ice, just back off the accelerator - don't hit the brakes.

The biggest thing that I see around here (and I'm sure to offend someone with this) is the "invincable" attitude from folks who drive 4-wheel drive trucks and SUVs and AWD vehicles as well.  Folks, the bottom line is this:  ice doesn't care if you have 4x4, once you're in a spin, you're in a spin.  It can happen with a 4x4 or AWD just as it can with regular 2WD vehicles.  You are not invincable - nor am I.  I have a 4x4 truck.  I know it's capabilities and limitations as well as my own.  I'm not sure what would characterize an expert in winter driving, but I have spent winters on the road in Washington, DC, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Afghanistan.  I've driven in the snow and the ice.  Short of staying off the road, use sound judgement. 

The hits just keep on coming.  Now, some knucklehead from Michigan has established a website encouraging people to boycot Alabama because Senator Richard Shelby opposes the auto bailout for the Big Three.  Why don't we, as Alabamans, boycot Michigan because of the stupidity of the leadership in the Big Three automakers?  It makes at least as much sense as what that guy is proposing.

I'm not so naive as to believe that there will not be some second and third order effects to not going through with the bailout, but why should we - the taxpayers - have to foot the bill for executives who have mismanaged and squandered their companies' finances, continue to receive bonuses, fail to properly account for the money and refuse to adapt to a changing market and conditions?

That's right; the bailout saga continues - and continues to grate on me like a gravel road.  As I listened to some of the morning news this morning, I heard a report concerning AIG, who has received some if not all of what they asked for in a huge bailout by the government.  You'd think that given that, a sane and rational person would try to cut costs, eliminate what waste they could, analyze and track closely where the money was going. 

Not AIG.  No, those guys, knowing that (as I've heard reported as well) that the government really has no way to track the money they've used in the bailout thus far.  So, AIG executives will still be getting a bonus this year - except it's not be called a bonus.  It's being called "retention pay".  What!?  Is AIG afraid that their executives will go somewhere else to look for a job?  If they do, so what?  AIG needs to cut a few executive positions.

Far too many companies have the problem of the proverbial "too many Chiefs and not enough Indians".  Yeah, it's probably not the most politically correct phrase, so sue me.  Or just substiture "generals" for "chiefs" and "soldiers" for "Indians"...  You get the idea anyway.

So, a company gets a huge government handout, squanders the money on a bonus - call it whatever you like, it's still a bonus - and the taxpayer is just left holding the bag.  I can guarantee you that I will not be getting a bonus this year - and it's not because I don't want it.

After thinking about, then listing my Top 10 Christmas movies, I turned my attention to my favorite Christmas songs. Again, here they are in no particular order:

1. The Spirit of Christmas - Ray Charles (for me it just absolutely doesn't get any better than the soulful sound of Ray Charles)

2. Angels We Have Heard On High

3. Silent Night (I like the song itself, but really enjoy Martina McBride's version)

4. Come All Ye Faithful

5. Messiah - Handel (this is true "old school" classic)

6. Carol of the Bells (I'm a huge fan of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra version. It has a little "edge" to it. )

7. Baby, It's Cold Outside (the Dean Martin and Martina McBride version is awesome - yeah, I know I've already listed a Martina McBride version of a song, but wow, what a voice!)

8. Another Old Lang Syne - Dan Fogelberg (while maybe not technically a Christmas song, it does have in the lyrics something about "the snow was falling Christmas Eve")

9. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire...) - Mel Torme' (no one does it like the Velvet Fog)

10. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

There's a term I rarely hear anymore; actually I've heard it most in history books describing the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Samual Adams and other notable figures from the early days of our country.  The term is "statesman".  Somewhere along the way our "statesmen" became "politicians".  Despite what wikipedia says about the term(s), I believe there's a distinct difference.  What we have are a bunch of politicians running our government - what we need are statesmen; people who are elected and actually do what they say they're going to do while looking out for the good of the country, state, county, city, etc.  Sure, not every individual will be happy with every decision, but what we're after is the common good and not pandering to some special interest group(s) that backs the politician.

I guess Winston Churchill summed it up rather nicely and far more eloquently than I when he said:

"A politician thinks about the next elections - the statesman thinks about the next generations."

We need to get out of the politician business and return to true statesmanship.

Not that it's a huge issue, but in light of all the stuff we hear in the news that is negative, I thought I'd post something perhaps a little more light-hearted - My Top 10 Christmas Movies.  It's my list, so I don't expect everyone to agree with all - or maybe any - of them.  If you feel like it, just reply with your own.  I'm not going to bust anyone's chops over it.

In no particular order, my Top 10:

1.  National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (no one does a vacation or holiday quite like good ol' Clark Griswold)                                              
                          

2.  Elf (with Will Ferrell)

3.  A Christmas Story ("You'll shoot your eye out, kid.")

4.  A Christmas Carol (with George C. Scott as Scrooge)

5.  How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original animated version - not the Jim Carrey abomination)

6.  A Charlie Brown Christmas (it's hard to find another cartoon that delivers the message of the true meaning of Christmas quite as well as the late Charles M. Schultz did it with this one)

7.  Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (the old claymation-type classic of my youth)

8.  Christmas with the Kranks (a somewaht new movie - only a few years old, but it quickly became one of my favorites)

9.  Home Alone (the first one was great, after that it just got a little tiresome - I still enjoy the first one)

10. The Polar Express (wow - great message, incredible animation and fantastic on the IMAX screen)

While that may not seem like the kind of title you'd see in a Faith Blog, at least I have some people's attention.

One of my all-time favorite Christmas shows is "A Charlie Brown Christmas".  I really think that the late Charles M. Schultz had his priorities right.  When I was a kid, I think I liked it because it was a cartoon - and we didn't have the Cartoon Network and DVDs back then - so it was a chance to see something other than Walter Cronkite or Gunsmoke.  But, as I grew older. I realized the true message of the story.

Now, my favorite part of the whole show is when Linus has the spotlight put on him on stage and begins to recite the Christmas story from the Bible.  That's what it's all about.

On any given day I can't believe that major networks will still show it - just because of the scriptural content.  I thank God that they do show it.  But I have the DVD just in case.