Friday, February 15, 2013

The Ramblings of another “Monkey Brain” Day…

I got up this morning and began looking for a suitable subject for today’s blog. My mind aimlessly swung from subject to subject like a chimp running from a Tiger –yep another attack of the dreaded “Monkey Brain”! Turbulence ahead. Please remain seated until the Captain turns off the “Fasten Seatbelts Light”….


The Pope has announced his resignation to be effective February 28th. No matter what you think of him, you have to admire a man with the honesty and integrity to recognize his inability to continue exercising and meeting his responsibilities and to relinquish such power. That has not happened since 1415 (Pope Gregory XII). I hope they are able to find a replacement with the same strength of character.

I see the Iranians are at it again. They have an election in June and they have already started preparing by arresting the daughters of one of the main opposition leaders. They are cracking down early in an effort to avoid the massive protests of the last election sham. –And they have the nerve to call themselves a democratic country….

Scotland is getting close to an historic vote on full independence and a split with Great Britain. If they decide on independence, they have announced that they will not join the European Union…. I wonder how that’s going over with the boys in Brussels….



He’s changed his mind. Jerry Givens executed 62 people for the State of Virginia. His conviction never wavered. He’d shave the person’s head, lay his hand on the bald pate and ask for God’s forgiveness for the condemned. Then, he would strap the person into Virginia’s electric chair. He felt that since, they had chosen to commit rape and murder, the executions were a form of suicide… Now that he’s retired he has decided that capital punishment should be abolished. His change of mind reflects the changing attitude throughout the country. Several states have done away with capital punishment and several more are seriously considering it. I have mixed feelings about it. I oppose it on moral grounds –but then I read about someone who has just raped and murdered some little 5 year old girl, or commited some other heinous crime, and I think, that person really needs to pay the ultimate price. We should not be asking people to risk their lives guarding this person, nor should the taxpayers be forced to pay for housing, feeding and guarding such a person in a relatively safe and comfortable cell for years to come…. I haven’t made up my mind, but I certainly understand both sides of the question.

An intelligence assessment came out and concluded that the United States is the target of a massive, sustained cyber-espionage campaign, one that threatens our economic competitiveness. The National Intelligence Estimate identifies China as the country most aggressively seeking to penetrate the computer systems of American businesses and institutions to gain access to data that could be used for economic and military gain. I hope this assessment will get us to stop giving this problem lip-service and start taking aggressive action to meet the challenges of cyber-warfare –but I doubt it…

OK, I’ll quit for today –but I’ll be back…

 







Live Long and Prosper…
 

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