Now here is a word that I hate when used by the media, ALLEGED. In some cases I would see why it is used, for example, if one is not sure to a certain degree. But when someone says something to the contrary, then his/her words should supersede other people’s words and the word be dropped. If I say “I Epiphany wrote this blog” then no one should say “it is alleged that Epiphany wrote the blog”. And why am I screaming bloody murder here? Here’s why “Bernard Madoff is alleged to have lost $50 billion…” alleged? Excuse me!!!! Alleged? It should be something to the effect of “Bernard Madoff lost at least $40 billion…” since for one, he himself said so, and two we can see the ripple effect. For example, “Access International Advisors' attorney saying the firm lost $1.5 billion by investing with Madoff, 70, a former Nasdaq chairman who is accused of operating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.” Why not alleged lost $1.5 billion? Or that the “Thierry de la Villehuchet, a hedge fund adviser and investor whose firm said he lost $1.5 billion investing with Wall Street adviser Bernard Madoff, was found dead in his office in an apparent suicide Tuesday, police said.” Should it be “he was alleged found dead; therefore he might be alive since he should allegedly to have committed suicide. How about the people who are wiped out? Are they allegedly wiped out? The problem is the media with little luck of command of the English language and pinch of legal rubbish jargon. Allegedly there are poor poor more old ladies in Florida

Open letter to the President Elect Part II

Mr. President Elect of all the industrialized countries the United States is the only country without high speed rail system. Could the reason be the same one that killed the very 1^st New York subway? Back in 1870 Alfred E Beach had build the 1^st pneumatic subway system under Broadway from Warren Street to Murray Street albeit secretly hoping to bypass the corrupt Mayor of the City, William Marcy Tweed aka “The Boss”. When the story broke of the new invention and travel underground The Scientific American (also edited by Beach) proclaimed, "This means the end of street dust of which uptown residents get not only their fill, but more than their fill, so that it runs over and collects on their hair, their beards, their eyebrows and floats in their dress like a vapor on a frosty morning, such discomforts will never be found in the tunnel!" The Boss was worried that his profit would take a beating (like the stocks today) since every trolley car company in the city paid tribute to him. The Boss worked hard to kill the subway with much success and the trolley car companies were happy. A century later the same would seem to be true, why is it that the US is the only industrialized country without a high speed rail? Could it be that the big car companies (like the trolley companies) have killed every effort to connect cities with high speed rail system? Yes would be the answer, how do we fix that would be the next question to ask. To help stimulate the economy, as I had stated in my earlier letter to the President Elect we need to open a bid for GM (which killed the electric car EV-1, its ghosts are coming back to haunt GM… good luck), Ford and Chrysler to build high speed electric train cars with the winning company getting grants and loan guarantees from the government, as my uncle always told me, “…there is no free lunch in America” We can compete with Eurostar as well as Taiwan, Japan and South Korea rail systems.

The inside of the cars should exceed the comfort of airline and bused, since the airline have been taking space away from the passage the train should start giving that space back. The inside should look, if not better than the following




Currently it takes anyway between 25 to 30 hours to travel from NJ to FL by train, as everyone knows we are a country on the move and in such a hurry, and we have a week of vacation for those of use who afforded it. But we are not willing to spend two days of travel just to go to FL. If we were to cut that travel time to 4 hours at a reasonable price then we would have more travel and competition between rail and air and we would see the airfares coming down, capital market would start rolling again unhealthy companies would not depend on the government for bail outs. In my travel I have met people who are afraid of planes, and they would rather take the buses which are even worse than train in terms of time travel from point A to B. These people hardly visit relatives or students who are out of state in college. Students traveling back and forth to school could enjoy the comfort of turbulence free ride to school even when the weather of no conducive for flying. We would be about to clear congestion in the airport in event of bad weather passage would be booked on trains to destinations if they miss their last flights due to weather or mechanical problems.



While the big three are bidding and building these electric cars states should start laying tracks. We should have a greater network than Europe and Japan combined. As the following figures shows Europe’s capital are all almost connected by high speed trains, we should be able to connect all the state capital with high speed as well.


This map shows high speed trains only, the red lines are trains that travel above 155 mph while the blue lines show speed of between 111-155 mph. just fyi European and Asian trains are twice as fast as American.



Here are some of the sights we should be able to see once the ORIS is complete.

Train by the farm somewhere in the Midwest?


Train by the river somewhere in the west Seattle maybe?


Train in the South, maybe peanut fields of Georgia?


Could this be the rolling hills of Kansas?


Could this be downtown DC or any major city for that matter?






Where could this be?...once ORIS is complete?



happening in Japan

 

Depression in the Economy senate seat for sale

There was Sharpeville, Bloody Sunday, The night of Tlateloko, and then Rwanda. Those were locations that made and shaped the world and moved people when they finally saw what had happened. Today we have Zimbabwe, Bob Marley sang about it with the following lyrics with the country’s title.

Every man gotta right to decide his own density,
And in this judgment there is no partiality,
So arm in arms, with arms, we’ll fight this little struggle,
‘cause that’s the only way we can overcome our little trouble.

That was then and Bob was a supporter of Zimbabwe. But what happened? The African community and more so South Africa, the South African countries and the world community at large have let the ordinary Zimbabwean down to the point that their lives are worthless. We have seen the suffering that is coming out of Zimbabwe through photos and news, e.g. of hyperinflation how they are knocking down zeros from their currency notes just to try and control inflation …sorry make that hyperinflation. We have seen the empty supermarkets and have heard about the news coming from families abroad who are having a hard time sending money back home to BBC reporter who have sneaked. Let make a simple comparison, when the Iceland was going through bankruptcy, Europeans and the IMF were working hard to bail the country out, while faced with the same problem (currency devaluation) Zimbabwe was receiving guns from China with the help of South Africa. If the transport workers union hadn’t prevented the ship from docking and unload those guns, they would have ended in Zimbabwe. The South African government couldn’t say no to the transit of guns until the unions said so. If the mercenary soldiers who were heading to Equatorial Guinea with the intention of deposing a corrupt president, had a final destination of Zimbabwe then it might be that they would not have been arrested since they would have been as their final destination. At what point is assassination okay when one person is assassinating via torture a whole generation? While people are dying in Zimbabwe UN leaders are condemning Robert Mugabi for withholding power and refusing power sharing government. President Carter and the UN delegation are “stranded” in South Africa since they can’t get into Zimbabwe. What did we say about Rwanda? Never again, let hope we didn’t take that lightly to mean never again in Rwanda but everywhere.

 


Big 3 car makers

 


Am an Astonaut

 


Gun Sales

Open letter to President elect
Obama Rail Interstate System (ORIS)

Dear Mr. President-Elect,

I know you have ideas of your own, but may I entice you with my idea which if implemented would be a stroke of genius on your part. The question is not whether America needs a make over but how. I propose you invest massively in rail infrastructure and here is why and how to do it. First the why, you will have accomplished three of your major campaign promises; jobs, energy independence and going green, all in the same sentence.

If construction of the interstate rail lines were to begin immediately the short term gain would be visible. Everyone who wants a job would have one, that would drive unemployment to zero if not a deficit of worker and we would have to institute the guest worker program that has been talked about. With a worker deficit the government would not have to pay unemployment insurance thus saving money. With all the people at work tax revenues would ultimately rise since more people are working and paying taxes. This would in turn compel you Sir to honor your other campaign promise to cut taxes to us the 95% of the mid-class family which would expand the mid-class while lifting the lower-class.

That was in the short term, in the long run, since the trains would be using electric line to run, we would have to produce more electricity (nuclear power?) thus more construction. Once the web of rail lines across the whole country are up and running, truck would not need to drive the highways for long distance, they would be only local, thus saving the ware and tear of Eisenhower Interstate system. With a more reliable rail system less people would see the need to drive but within their locality, thereby reducing traffic jams and pollution all at one short. People would get home in time for dinner and just in time to send the kids to bed after helping with the home work.

Now comes the HOW

We have the expertise and know how, 1st don’t bail the big three car companies, let them fail ( this will not be popular but lets remember what my mother used to say growing up “medicine tastes like… well like medicine but it’s good for you.” This will be a bitter pill), they should have failed years ago. Look at the Asian car companies they make good cars and last long. For example, look at the resale valve of a 2001 Honda accord $6,600 vs. 2001 Ford Taurus $4,115. Why are people gravitating towards cars other than Detroit’s? That is the question we should answer by letting them fail. Oh by the way Asian car makers are not asking for handouts. For once, let’s call a spade a spade as opposed to a big spoon. For so long we have buried, Detroit too, our heads in the sand and hoped for the best. The way we have sold and bought cars (and other big ticket items) has to change for three main reasons; one, financial, if one can’t afford it, don’t sell it on credit with zero down, we were selling to individuals who couldn’t put anything down…now that is way smart, they can’t put anything down now and we have faith they will pay in full in the future. If someone doesn’t qualify for zero down then they shouldn’t get to drive off the lot or move into a house. Secondly, for environmental reason, less driving will pollute less thus a better and greener environment. And lastly health, people who drive less walk a lot and people who walk a lot tend to be healthy thereby reducing hospital visits even if they get to eat all the greasy food. Let us for a moment think how we get fat, it’s like a bank account if one was to put in money and doesn’t spend much he/she would end up with a fat bank account. On the other hand, were he to spend as much as he puts in then, there is no way in hell they would have a fat bank account. Our bodies are our food bank accounts and when we make deposits of soft drinks (okay I will include you too, Joe six pack) and greasy food (which if you ask me is not bad, I love it) and they refuse to spend it (exercise\walking) then we are bound to have a fat “back account”. Walking is a good exercise and no matter how much one eats or drinks they will never have a six pack tummy. Casing point, I have never seen (there may be some) a homeless person who for the most part of the day has a brown bag, having a six pack tummy. Why is that so? After great analysis I discovered that Joe is always walking begging for money for the next brown bag. Show me a homeless drunk who is fat and I will show you a homeless drunk who just lost his shirt in the stock market. And am not looking down on the homeless and drunk, am merely making an observation.

Back to the car companies, once the car companies have failed we will have a large work force of engineers and blue-collar works, the lawyers too. Mr. President elect your should institute your massive rail project at his time, hire the lawyers to buy all those lands by the interstates from the government or individuals at a fair market value (we are not in Russia) and then hire engineers to survey while others are planning and build rail cars (as opposed to cars) which will use electricity.

Groups that will benefit are so many, but to mention a few, electric companies since they will have to build power line along the interstates to supply the electric trains with power. This will create the green jobs that you campaigned on, since repairing and servicing the power line for rail car and the cars themselves can’t be out sourced, thus improving the environment. We will draw in high quality engineering from Asian (e.g. Japan) and Europe (e.g. France) to lend us the know how of high speed passenger trains.

These projects will be good for the steel works that they will have jobs once again (happy unions will always support you). Since the economy is in the toilet, less people are going for a cruise and less good are been shipped, shipping company are having hard times to the point they are forfeiting their deposits to acquire ships thereby using less steel, the rail project will provide somewhere for all that steel to go. We will have construction in every state in order to link up all the states with low and high speed rail lines; it will look something similar to the interstate. We will not have one company with no bid contract(s), all the states will have this “pork” that for once will really work and produce something for once. Every state will have the same slice of pork and it will be massive and public and open to public scrutiny. Government agencies will get back to work examining, inspecting and enforcing laws, e.g. EPA. We will become energy independence by making electric cars albeit on rails.

Health care, will improve dramatically (I know you don’t like drama but this is one drama you might like), when people are able to get to the ball park on rail (think of the subway series) or to the super bowl on rail then, you Sir, will have made your mark. Walking is good exercise.

Education
You have a very good example, your VP. A very well educated chap. When people start riding the rail to work as Joe (not six pack) has done for all those years while in the senate he can tell you that he has done a lot of reading in those trains than if he were to drive and listen to talk radio which is someone’s opinion (and for the most part toxic) but we tend to forget what our parents taught us “talk is cheap”. Thus a student who lives in Chicago and is attending a school in Atlanta would have more time on the electric car ride to Atlanta reading rather than taking off shoes at the airport and having a high carbon foot print. He/she would reduce his/her carbon foot so dramatically that you would have a dramatic administration. If we had high speed train at a reasonable price people would be willing to ride comfortably rather than fly uncomfortably with luggage and leg room restriction. More people will read “Audacity of Hope” on the train.

When all is said and done in as much as we, shall we say, are not fond of Europeans will say as a the Italians said doing WWII, “we don’t like Mussolini but at least he makes the trains ran on time.”

Thank you,Epiphany
http://pphilosophy.blogspot.com/

 


TARP

 


CO

 

Joe the Plumber

People didn’t get Obama’s joke when he introduced his VP. They called it a gaf but in reality it was a bit of a James Bond moment. Bond, James Bond. Get on the program People.

Baghdad Bob

 

China and the Olympic torch

China has grown to a very strong and powerful country for even government both local and national to ignore. Take the story of the journey of the Olympic torch in California, it, California, had to shorten the run and even change the route, as governor Newsom put it “it was for the public safety” which if truth be told, would mean that California can’t control marcher and protestors. The simple fact is that California sided with China over it’s own citizens who were our to see the sprit of the games, granted some were out to protest which is I would assume is part of the game(s). All around the world, where the torch is going people are protesting to China’s involvement in places like Darfur and Tibet. The citizens of China can’t see what’s going on in their local news media because it is controlled by the government.

But all hope is not lost. China will wish it hadn’t taken the games in the 1st place and here’s why. Come August China will not be able to control all the protestor that will be flocking into the country as tourists, spectators and yep you guessed it protestors. China will not be able to withhold cameras from the visitors and then others within China (citizens) see what protestors can do for a cause. And here is rub, China will not, at least in theory, be able to hold foreign protestors as it does it’s citizens, or they will hold them and then apologize later after the Olympic games are over to the respective countries. Come to think of it I can’t wait till August when the games begin.

Hillary Clinton is trying to save the Mortgage crisis while at the same time hiring a part of crisis to manage her campaign by the name of Margaret “Maggie” Williams who was part of Mortgage crisis when she was on the board of one of the nation’s once-largest and now-bankrupt sub-prime mortgage lenders.. Now!,that is the equivalent of the fox asking the hens to elect him to be guard of the hen house.

The Death of the Democratic Party


-Bush can run for a second term (no Kidding)

-Mortgage crisis is due to people misspeaking

-What Super-delegates?


The old guard at the Democratic Party has no idea of what they have; the possibility of death to the Democratic Party. They are still stack in the old politics of smear campaign, they are still working in the pre-internet age while the youth of the party have moved forward. The old guard should in a very simple way try and understand of what is happening, this is no longer the politics of "it's my turn, since am older than you (as Hillary and her cohorts tend to think)" this is not an aristocratic!! it a meritocratic/democratic system. The days are long gone when one would lie on camera and after the elections say that they misspoke, if at all the subject came up. This is the internet generation dear old guard, the youtube and google generation not the Woodstock generation; where every word one says has to be check against the back drop of truth, and youtube runs unedited speeches and not the TV’s sound bits over and over again. Lets not mince words, Hillary is a liar when you say something and you can recall it very well and it turns out to be a lie then let not substitute words. Lying and misspeaking are not interchangeable. If little Johnny takes a cookie from the cookie jar and when asked about it he says that he didn’t but there are cookie crumbs on his mouth then he should not get time out….why? Because all that little Johnny did was misspeak, what are we teaching out kids.



Why are we in such a mess in the housing market?

It is because of people like Hillary and the old guard in the Democratic Party doesn’t seem to see it. With the attitude of “how much do you make? $1600 …okay let just say you make $5000. that way you can get a good mortgage” and now look where we are, in the toilet, why because someone lied ….NO!!! I take that back, someone misspoke. That is ultra rubbish.



Super delegates

Who are they? If they are so super then they should have seen the writing on the wall and voted by now for the candidate with the silent/loud majority (however you wonna put it). Dear Super Delegates the freight train is heading for disaster at full speed and all you can afford to do is be a hands off Engineer with the words that we have become accustomed to “it will resolve itself by August”?…sure it will resolve itself by August, but the real question is; what will that resolution be and will it make or break the Party. We the youth of the part are tired of your idealness, your hands off approach to this primary. Now Hillary is looking for loop holes from the FL and MI delegates been sited to the 26 year rule of delegate are not compelled to vote for the one they pledge to, Dear Super Delegate if this is what it has come to, looking for loop holes in order to get the nomination then I would rather vote for Bush for a second term since the 1st term he wasn’t elected by the people but appointed by the courts, therefore President Bush can technically run for another term since he has only been elected once (2004) by the people, 2000 doesn’t count since he was appointed by the courts,or shall we call them them Super Delegates?. Dear superdelegate (not sure what’s so super about it) I can see your face saying that that is absurd ..no, its not since that is the argument that Hillary is trying to sell to the people and you the so called Super Delegate with your hands off approach are waiting to see if we the voter will buy ….you want the answer? Yes we will buy it and after buying it we will Vote for the McCain.



Here is the crox of the matter. What is to make Hillary when losing to McCain, refrain from selling that idea that McCain can’t hold the president’s office since he was born in Panama? The only super delegate that there is is John Lewis and am not an Obama supporter but a Party supporter hence by what I have seen I would go with Obama.

US Passports


 

Bear Stearns

Free Medical Prescription

Super Delegate

Next Three New Countries

Nationalisation

Geography lesson plus Micheal Vick

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7249138.stm

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2884063