The End of Reason

I can't think of anything to write about. I thought I would say the stuff that needed to be said and that would be it. People would say, thanks, I was wondering about that and what I should do - now I know. Then I would spend my life playing in the dirt - like I've always wanted to. But that didn't happen. Nothing much happened. I got a couple of "way to goes" and some gold stars and people went back to arguing about the bailout. The bailout. I tried to explain that there was no bailout - but - I guess people need a stupid argument and there's none better at the moment than an imaginary bailout.

You got my article about the bailout being impossible didn't you? Maybe I didn't write it. Maybe I just burnt out making comments to the New York times, Huffington post and...Oh it hurts me to even think about it but...change.org. I think the people at change.org have finally driven me to the wall. Them and Democrats dot calm yourself have just about put me in a coma. I feel like I'm dreaming. Every time you go there ( I get there news letters just so I'll always have somebody to yell at ) they're trying to make no change look like a change so they can feel like they were right. I watched the celebration, after the presidential concoction, at that park in DC. It was the second most creepiest thing I've watched on TV. The 1st place going to Fox news's coverage of the pulverization of Baghdad. The first and second nights of "murder by bomb" I just sat and stared. I was shocked and I was in awe at the insanity of my fellow humans. In fact I started wondering if we are all from the same stack. Maybe the stories of different extraterrestrial races influencing and manipulating our development is true. Maybe it's not that some of us are just nuts. Maybe we will find out - if we survive our own goofiness.

The thing that's got me stuck, at the moment, is the emotionally directed humans. I tend to look at emotions like guilt. Some is OK. If you feel guilty, as you're sneaking off after raiding the neighbor girls panty drawer because, contrary to the original plan, you took every pair of panties she had - that's good. You should never take the whole pile. That's just greedy. So you sneak back and try and fold them properly. Keeping your favorite. There, guilt has led you to doing the right thing. If you feel horribly guilty because you want to get a pair of panties - because it's probably a sin - and you just know you're going to hell, that's not helping anybody. It's out of proportion. Same with the emotional driven life. If you are so emotionally involved with saving the animals that you don't see the people starving then you're out of balance. Out of touch with reality. Not helpful, not useful, just goofy. How this plays out on the political activist stage is that a lot of people have an emotional attachment to being right. They aren't all that interested in evidence or reality. They have been sold an idea, that there is a good political party and a bad political party, and they spend their lives consumed with supporting their chosen team. Here again, it's very crucial to any type of usefulness, to be in balance. If you can't look at the evidence - which in this case would be words said and deeds done - then you've lost touch with reality. Emotions have clouded the senses. Blocked off the brain and put an end to reason.

What is the evidence that Democrats are different from Republicans? I'm not talking about what someone says the difference is - on TV or in the Newspaper - I'm talking about the evidence. In fact why would any thinking human being think that a congressman or president has our best interests at heart? The fact is that thousands of people swarmed in to a park and shed tears because a total stranger had been placed in the office of the presidency. They didn't even know who he was. And they cried. We have a nation of fans. I have been thinking about writing an article titled "Brittany Spears is not your friend". Or Janet Jackson, Hilary Clinton or a hundred other people. What does this mean? It just means that you/we don't know these people. I don't know who is reading this but the chances of you knowing these people is fairly astronomical. So why would someone be a fan of someone they don't know? Do you think if you had to live with Janet, or Hilary for a month you'd feel the same way? They are people. Like all the other people you've met in your life. Who would you choose, from the people you truly know, to be the president? How about a senator? Who would you trust with your money? How long would it take to build that trust? We "allow" people to be put in office. Then we support them guided by a set of emotional rules.

Here is the bottom line in the "will we kill ourselves" game. We have to get over our need to be right. Our need to feel a part of. Our need to fit in. Not that there is anything wrong with those things as long as we decide what is right, what to be part of and where we will fit in based on some evidence. We need to look at the evidence and make decisions based on that evidence. Making choices, picking sides, promoting, standing up for or defending anything based on "what someone says" is just plain stupid. I am not going to shy away from that word. It is my word of choice for what I see going on today. Keep in mind that doing stupid stuff doesn't mean you're a stupid person. People who make wise decisions in business, personal health and friendships can behave like dopes when it comes to politics and religion. Because they get emotional. It's OK to be wrong. In fact you have to get good at being wrong. Knowing when you've been had. The smartest people turn being wrong into a good thing as fast as possible. Being wrong should not produce any emotion - except maybe a sense of relief. Hey, it means you can stop acting stupid. That's nothing but good. Should make us happy.

Lets say you are one of those people who is emotionally attached to the Democratic party. What is the "party" agenda? I'll just pick one thing I've noticed - disarm the populace. Confiscate the nations firearms. Is that not happening? Is the evidence not right up in your face? You'd have to really be in a trance not to see it. Here's a statement from a democrat, "If you're on the no fly watch list you can not own or buy a firearm". What gets you on the list? If you are suspected of "maybe" being associated with terrorist activity. Suspected of maybe? Associated with? Seeing any evidence? Want to be on the team that disarms the populace? If you do that means one of two things. One - you're just believing what someone tells you, regardless of the evidence. Two - you want the population to be defenseless. Why would anyone want a population that couldn't defend itself? Lets bring it down in scale. If I want your stuff it would behoove me to disarm you. When you get it down to that level there is no one that would say - maybe I have a good reason. If we only look at evidence - there is no good reason to make you defenseless. What countries have disarmed their populations? What happened them? Examine the historical evidence. It's always accurate. It's never emotionally driven. You disarm people so they can't protect themselves - period. Who is the only party that has something to gain? The party that disarms the other. Why? They are planning to take something from you that you being armed would get in the way of. All evidence points to this. There is no evidence to the contrary.

So what's the latest "big deal" in the news? AIG. Why? Its a distraction. Disarm the population, continue the take over of other nations, continue to bury citizens in debt, continue to ignore the destruction of the constitution and the bill of rights, continue to illegally imprison people, expand the definition for "a terrorist", basically just keep on doing the same thing that has been going on for a hundred years or so. All the things that got us to where we are today. How is this possible? It's simple really, people refuse to see the evidence that's shoved in their faces day after day after day. It's there, there is no denying it. You can only "argue" that it's not. You can only choose to not see it. You can focus on climate change, animal rights, a few million or a few billion in monopoly money and thereby ignore the overwhelming stink of imperialism, elitism and collectivism. But no matter what you choose to do. No matter how you manipulate the facts to fill the need in yourself - it doesn't change one ounce of evidence. Never has - never will.

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Federal Agent and Intelligence Agency Analyst Jobs Move Toward a Southern Border Focus

Recent media reports have brought attention to the U.S. border with Mexico and the crisis brought about by an exploding and increasingly dangerous drug trade. Examples of this crisis include countless reports of local Mexican officials being murdered by those associated with the drug trade in Mexico. While much of the intelligence focus in the U.S. for the past seven years appears to have been upon the Middle East and South Asia, a crisis does exist on the U.S. southern border with Mexico and requires dedicated intelligence analysts and federal agents to ameliorate the situation. This article explains the current border crisis along with the Obama administration plan to address this situation, as well as some analysis on how intelligence agency –related jobs might be affected by this recent legislation.

The Crisis

The deterioration of security along the U.S.-Mexico border has increased significantly over the past year. Drug cartels, bolstered by the increasing U.S. demand for illegal drugs as well as the ease with which sophisticated weapons can be purchased in the U.S., are growing in influence throughout the border region. One report indicates that over 90% of drug cartel weapons originate from the U.S. and that around 90% of illegal drugs that come into the U.S. enter through Mexico.1 The “drug war” has been linked to around 7,000 deaths in the past sixteen months in the border region.2

U.S. Response

In early March, President Calderón of Mexico ordered over 7500 soldiers and 1700 federal officers into Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican city across the border from El Paso.3 In addition to the Mexican military bulking up its border presence, U.S. authorities are becoming more prominently involved in this crisis. The Obama administration recently announced a number of steps which would be taken to address this crisis:

- The Obama administration will spend close to $700 million in 2009 to work with Mexican law enforcement; around $30 million in stimulus funds will be applied to local and state law enforcement agencies along the border.

- The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that 360 agents will be sent to both Border Patrol and ICE units on the U.S./Mexican border, along with 100 ATF agents.

- DHS, the Department of Justice, and the Treasury Department are increasing efforts and personnel along the southwest U.S. border. This plan includes doubling border security task force teams, increasing the number of local law enforcement officers and intelligence analyst positions, tripling the number of DHS intelligence analysts working along the southwest border, and increasing ICE staff in the U.S. embassy in Mexico.

- The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) will now allocate 29% of its domestic agent positions to southwest border field divisions, along with an increase in ATF agents. Furthermore, the FBI is creating a Southwest Intelligence Group, which will become a clearinghouse of all FBI activities related to Mexico.4

Southern border crisis effects upon Intelligence Agency Analyst and Federal Agent Jobs

Given the increase in attention and funding for southwest border security initiatives, intelligence agency jobs and federal agent job opportunities will be increasing significantly. This could mean that in the coming year, more openings for intelligence agency jobs and federal agent jobs that focus on border security will be available for qualified individuals that have the education and/or work experience to help this cause. Those individuals with a Spanish language background, regional experience, or specific functional experience or advanced education, such as a master’s degree in a security-related field will be in demand. Despite the current global economic crisis, U.S. government agencies such as DHS, FBI, and DEA, among others, will continue to hire individuals to fill intelligence agency-related jobs such as intelligence analysts as well as federal agent positions in order to mitigate the crisis brought about by illicit drug trade.

1 “U.S. Taking Steps to Control Violence on the Mexican Border,” New York Times, 25 March, 2009.

2 “Clinton Visits Mexico as Strains Show in Relations,” New York Times, 25 March, 2009.

3 “Mexico Bulks up Border Forces in Drug War,” USA Today online, 3 March, 2009.

4 “Obama Lays Out US-Mexico Border Strategy,” The Boston Globe, 24 March, 2009.

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The G20 Forum and the Interests of Working People

Watching the protests and riots staged to coincide with the G-20 Forum in the United Kingdom might tempt you to view this as another battle in the long-running war between capital and labor. But, that's not true.

Working people, through their pension funds and mutual funds, now own a majority of stocks in most big corporations. And when these corporations pay out their profits, much of that profit goes toward funding the pensions and other retirement income of middle class people who would call themselves working people.

In fact, among working people with a stake in big business, through their pension funds and mutual funds, members of trade unions are among the biggest owners. They enjoy that status because they not only contribute to pension funds themselves, but also because their employers often match their contributions. That means they have either bigger pensions, or that they have extra disposable income they can invest in mutual funds.

The demonstrators at the G20 Forum, including the labor people who've taken to the streets of London, would have you believe otherwise. But, they're sadly out of date, protesting in support of a separation between business and labor that's disappearing rapidly.

This disappearing separation, through ownership of corporations, began in a small way in a handful of countries after World War II. Since then, the growth of worker ownership through pension and mutual funds had both expanded and accelerated. Now, literally hundreds of millions of working people around the globe participate.

The health of big business now matters, despite what you might hear from protestors at the G20 Forum. Even in these difficult days, corporate earnings add significantly to the retirement incomes. Few of us would want to retire on just government pensions, and thanks to our investments in big business, few of us have to.

We might now argue that what we’re now seeing is an increasing convergence between the interests of working people and those of business. After all, if a company doesn’t earn profits, it will not pay dividends or otherwise increase the wealth of the working people whose funds invested in it.

In the past, we saw a limited convergence based on their shared survival, as is now the case with General Motors and the unions representing its employees. But, as we know from history, without threats to their common survival, unions and businesses fought with each other, often bitterly. And it’s that history you see reflected in the streets of London, outside the G20 Forum.

In the new order of labor and business relationships, though, the two sides also share the profits. And that leads to a different dynamic than the one we see at the G20 Forum.

So, the ownership of big corporations has been good for working people, including members of unions. However, it hasn't been so good for left-wing politicians, activists, and the union people who support them. It's essentially robbed them of their most meaningful reason for existing. But, we can hardly expect them to grasp that any time soon, especially if they spend their time raging at events like the G20 Forum, rather than reading in their local libraries.

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