Dan Lukas

Good morning. Its early, but I read some stories and I found something funny. Our president has now said that they believe Iran is about 1 year away from developing a working nuclear bomb. Mind you, when he ran for office in 2008, he said that Iran was a little country that poses no threat to us. Despite all the constant warnings of their development, the russians assisting them with creating the technology for the enrichment centers (why do that? Do the Russians have other tricks up their sleave? Putin is definetly no diplomatic friendly guy with changing the russian laws/processes back to Stalin era methods, and his obvious distaste for the US and its allies). Despite the fact that we infected the iranian enrichment centers with the Stuxnet virus to "slow" things down. In reality, it put the iranians in total grid lock and set them back a long time. If the US hitting Iran with that virus doesn't show we already know how close they are to a nuke, I don't know what does. Despite Israel warnings us since before 2008 that Iran sought to create nuclear bombs and focus them on Israel and its allies. Despite the assassination of iranian scientists by Israel, our new leader and his staff felt Iran was not THAT big of a threat.

Now, our president hops on a flight to meet with Bibi Netanyahu in Israel to talk strategy. His first question is about the threat of Iran, where he admits that they are about 1 year away from a nuclear bomb, and we don't want to let things get too close before we act..ummmmm, I'd say things already are a little too close.

Did I mention that iran has a bunch of sanctions on them right now due to this, but somehow still find the uranium to develop and enrich? Did I also mention that they just recently (about a mont ago) announced they found a huge uranium deposit in their country? so much for sanctions, so much for UN intervention, so much for anything but Stuxnet and maybe another overnight air strike from Israel. 

I write this because it is frustrating that the public and our allies have seen Iran rapibly on the verge of developing a nuclear bomb, but our president refused to take it seriously (or does he not care on purpose? thanks to the internet, you'll be able to youtube all his responses, speeches, and press coverage to see how he snubbed Israel countless times for basketball games, lunches, or whatever leisure he felt was more important). I write this because simple minded americans, those who don't even care about politics and wish we would let the other parts of the world function without our intervention were even making the assessment back then that Iran was hell bent on developing a nuke. Search Ahmadinejad's comments at the UN and about Israel. Denies the Holocaust existed (claims it was made up), tells the UN their peaceful (ha! all those foreign hikers, tourists, and citizens who used twitter, all imprisoned for no reason or for unjustifiable ones- many executed) All the signs have been there for so long, all the red flags, all the actions that scream we need to this man seriously because he has no care what the rest of the world thinks. He only cares about developing the bomb, using that as leverage to gain more power in the global spectrum, and then who to use it on...

We live in dark time, more has happened in the past 12 years so rapidly then I can fathom happened in the past 50. the 1900's had 2 world wars, vietnam, and the korean war to name a few- all very bad. But, now we live in a time where you don't send troops to do all the dirty work. Technology does. You use drones and satellite guided bombs. Viruses, hackers, Anonymous, LulzSec, KnightSec, CIA, NSA, Kremlin, China Intelligence- All have hacked all they can from anyone. Shut down anyone, breach whatever is necessary, stolen top secret plans/designs/blue prints. Thanks to apps like Tor, they can cover their tracks in seconds. The world wars required man power, artillery, and took years to resolve. You can bring down an entire power grid, the stock market, or whatever your malicious hacker heart desires in the click of a button...That doesn't include the drones used for surveillance and bombing (which were hacked  and landed at their own base by iranians on one of our fly overs, and in under 20 minutes by a professor a few students from a university in Texas). Our american are being constantly stripped piece by piece. Our politicians havn't had a budget in over 4 years which means there is no real accounts sheet that shows where our money has been spent.  Like, I said dark times.. because it can all change at the click of a button...

Here's some irony for everyone-

Tomorrow you can no longer buy anything larger than a 16 oz drink from a restaurant in NYC (gas stations and grocery stores excluded). Mayor Bloomberg and friends feel this will cure the obesity epidemic that apparently plagues NYC (not because of pizza, buffets, etc..no, not those). BUT, you still have the right to choose to abort your baby. They feel you are qualified to make that choice, but you don't have the capacity to make the choice for an alternative drink size...

Coffe chains Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks are affected. Some of their drinks are exempt because it has half milk in it (still doesn't the calories of the drink). Both companies have to change how some drinks will be made (no sugar in them), and eliminate their inventory of cups larger than 16 oz for those drinks, since they are worthless.

I can't help but laugh how fast things have changed in NYC. Heck, you can't even have water served to your table in a restuarant without you asking for it first, otherwise the restaurant could be fined. The influence of the NYC government in the personal matters of its citizens is quite funny. Remember, they feel you are qualified to choose whether or not to abort your baby, but not qualified to make a simple choice in drink size.

Imagine what would happen if Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks pulled out of NYC until the ban was lifted because of the impact to their profit margin- I'd bet the city would be in chaos..

Oh,did I mention how bad the NYC public schools are? approx 80% can't read/write correctly.. so glad NYC politics has their priorities straight...elections have consequences

I can summarize the explanation in one sentence.

It's a tax payer funded job market.

So, in the end, the government worker is at the mercy of 2 things- the economy and ultimately the american tax payer (which includes small business).

I am writing this because I got into a Facebook debate with teachers over a teacher strike happening at a local school. The things these striking teacher have done (intimidate the newly hired subs and chase them away, tell the kids to be disobedient, the shouting/yelling at parents/school staff, the blocking of staffs cars from entering exiting buildings, etc.) were really pissing me off, considering these teachers kept saying they cared so much about the children and its not their (the teachers unions) fault that the children have to suffer.

It is the teachers fault. They don't seem to get the fact that they live in a tax payer driven industry. Communities don't want their taxes going up, especially now. Frankly, taxes are a citizens worst enemy due to the unjustified withdrawal of money that is rightfully yours. Many families have had to make drastic cuts to their life styles as a means to keep their family afloat. So, don't complain to me that you are outraged that a school wants to freeze your pay, or can't meet your new pension demands. Its the reality of your profession, and its common knowledge that majority of schools have had less and less money every year for their programs, updates, staff, and curriculum, etc.

People have to realize that teachers are not driven by consumer supply and demand, they are driver by governments involvment in your child's education. Governments rely on the tax payer to keep their government program funded. If the funds decrease, cuts have to be made. If the funds, increase you can save the money for a rainy day or invest it in necessary updates, pension plans, salary's etc. Its the vicious cycle that plagues government programs and their bloated unneccessary spending- the fact that cash flow is volatile and does not continuously increase.

I just needed to make a point. Rembmer, your government job is not decided by a consumer market, its decided by the american tax payer. You (government worker) knew that when you took job (if not, your own fault for not doing your own due diligence and being realistic). Now, get off your high horse, suck it up, stop whining, and start teaching your course. It's funny how teachers say they are underpaid, but they didn't choose it for the pay, they chose it because they love their job..Yet, look what's happening in Strongsville, OH if they don't get their way. Hypocrisy at its finest..


-Lukas, out