- For those who have been fretting that the United States is going to make the wrong decision when it comes to choosing sides in the Middle East conflict, this next bit of news is either going to reassure you or send you into a full-fledged panic, one or the other. President Barack Obama is asking Congress to approve $205 million to help Israel build a new short-range rocket defense system, administration officials confirmed Friday. Obviously, this system is designed with the idea of protecting Israel from the growing menace that is Iran and its nuclear ambitions, but Iran is far from the only Middle East nation with a serious beef against Israel. Because of that, the Israelis feel they need the Iron Dome, a security system that "addresses Israelis' worries about errant rockets being fired into their homes" and is designed to intercept incoming rockets fired from Lebanon and Gaza. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor explained the administration's thinking in asking for the financial backing, saying, "The president recognizes the threat missiles and rockets fired by Hamas and Hezbollah pose to Israelis, and has therefore decided to seek funding from Congress to support the production of Israel's short-range rocket defense system called Iron Dome." That $205 million does seem high, but the reality is that the United States already spends $3 billion each year to promote Israel's defense. "As the president has repeatedly said," Vietor stated, "our commitment to Israel's security is unshakable, and our defense relationship is stronger than ever. The United States and our ally Israel share many of the same security challenges, from combating terrorism to confronting the threat posed by Iran's nuclear-weapons program." According to the White Houde, Michele Flournoy, U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, called Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday to inform Israeli officials about the administration's new rocket funding. The same official who shared that news also said that a U.S. team went to Israel last fall to see work on the Iron Dome system and decided that it was "a system that made sense." So like it or not, the U.S. seems committed to helping strengthen Israel’s defenses and is willing to put financial backing to its words on this one. Call me crazy, but I don’t think we’re ever going to regret continuing our strong friendship with Israel and thus far, it’s worked out just fine…………
- Every worker needs a union, right? Who else is going to fight for you and your right to two-hour lunch breaks, morning and afternoon coffee breaks, the right to do no work and keep your job, etc.? Just kidding union members, I know how sensitive you all are about those ugly stereotypes that are often thrown around in regards to unions. As it happens, there may soon be another union around to protect a group that might not immediately come to mind when you think of unionizing: NFL assistant coaches. In the past, the league knew that no matter how ugly the labor situation with its players, assistant coaches would show up for work and do their job because the players’ labor issues did not pertain to them. But now, with a potential lockout looming in the next couple of years and other issues arising, the NFL Coaches Association is considering unionizing. Anger about benefits changes and the manner in which the league implemented those changes led the association to fire off a letter Tuesday to its team representatives and NFL head coaches informing them of the development. "The owners exercised some of their options when they took back our standardized health care, our pensions and rule of 75, in addition to putting lockout clauses in your contracts," read the letter. "The owners also asked you to be supportive of them in their CBA battles with the players; yet we have no say in their fight!" For those unaware of what the rule of 75 is/was, it allowed coaches to take early retirement when their age and years of service added up to that number. That doesn’t seem like a rule that would fly in most business, which may explain why the NFLCA was so attached to it, knowing how valuable it truly was. Whenthe league stopped requiring teams to offer that option for coaches who do not yet qualify, it was a reason to go for the NFLCA. The league would have you believe that federal law made benefits portable and the NFL merely gave teams more flexibility by offering their own benefit options and that 21 of 32 teams still abide by the rule of 75, but that has done little to placate the NFLCA. They seem convinced that most or all teams will soon follow the 11 that have already opted out of the NFL pension plan since the league stopped requiring teams to participate. Oh, and those who are tired of hearing everything in our society right now tied to the bad economy will love this next twist. Seems that NFL teams are pointing to being forced to comply with federal laws requiring increased funding levels in the face of deteriorating market conditions as another factor in the dispute. But the NFLCA isn’t taking this lying down and they have their own thoughts on the battle. "They took the pension away with no forewarning whatsoever," said NFLCA executive director Larry Kennan, a former assistant coach. "They expect us to like the lockout clauses and not complain when they try to do away with the antitrust laws. We don't understand. All we have said is, 'Treat us with respect and dignity because we treat the game with respect and we want you to treat us the same,' and they haven't in any of us." At this point, the NFLCA is merely considering the possibility of unionizing, with its letter to coaches saying the association needs to "explore the possibility of becoming a union" through education. Typically, labor laws allow "employees" to unionize while preventing "supervisors" from doing so. Because no other professional sports leagues’ coaches have unionized, there is no precedent for such a move. One could obviously argue that head coaches and coordinators would qualify as supervisors, but what about defensive backs coaches, offensive line coaches, etc.? Labor law defines supervisors as those able to independently hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward or discipline employees. Position coaches in the NFL have some of those duties in small chunks, but not enough to really call them supervisors in the true sense of the term as defined by labor laws. Forming a union would seem to be a smart move on their part if they are allowed to do so, as unions are at least a favorable arrangement for their members if not for anyone else……….
- This is what I like to see, Florida! When The Man is looking to come down on you for wanting to get your bake on, you need to find ways to still get high while also staying out of His crosshairs. All over the country, law enforcement is looking for ways to persecute and prosecute stoners, shutting down growhoused, making arrests and seizing every last ounce of the hippie lettuce they can find. With that in mind, stoners have a few options. They can go underground and continue getting their chronic from suppliers they know and trust, they can find a doctor willing to write them a bogus scrip for medicinal marijuana (depending on the state they live in) or they can do what some resourceful Florida stoners and pot suppliers are doing: concocting a new synthetic form of pot that is now being sold legally. Many experts say it's stronger and more dangerous than the real thing, which pumps me up. The synthetic drug is being sold legally in multiple Central Florida smoke shops and if you believe some experts, certain brands of the underground drug are ten times more powerful than marijuana. “I smoked it and it appears like cannabis,” user Carlos Sanabria said. “I couldn't think straight. I couldn't even comprehend my friends' arguments.” The drug goes by the street name K-2, but is labeled as herbal incense, “not for human consumption.” The active ingredient in the synthetic drug is THC, the same active ingredient as in real pot. It is sprayed on herbs and sold in small packets for $30 to $80. The synthetic weed has shown up in scores of YouTube videos, but it is raising significant concerns from the same sort of worrywarts who are so against legalizing the real thing. Doctors claim K-2 has triggered seizures and hallucinations in some patients, but because the substance is relatively new, no one truly knows its long-term effects. What I love about all of this is that Drug Enforcement Agency officials and agents know all about the synthetic ganja and are powerless from stopping its sale. “Not being illegal at this time or not controlled still doesn't make it less dangerous,” Orlando DEA agent Steven Collins explained. Tough luck, agent Collins. The state legislature in Florida is making no effort whatsoever to stop the sale of K-2 and no one has so much as proposed a bill to address the issue. The DEA says it is in the process of labeling it a controlled substance so it can be regulated, but I’ll be rooting against that as well. Blaze on, stoners, I’ve got your back…………
- Be careful with those warning shots, South Korean Navy. You may think that firing warning shots Saturday night after two North Korean patrol boats crossed into South Korean waters is just you defending your turf, but the fact that Kim Jong Il and Co. remain the leading contenders to start World War III (maintaining a narrow edge over that kook in Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) and are basically looking for any reason whatsoever to go, you may want to scale it back a notch. I don’t dispute the South Korean claims that two North Korean patrol boats separately crossed a maritime border in the Yellow Sea; I’m merely saying one needs to step back and reconsider the situation before firing off shots. And yes, I understand that one North Korean vessel retreated after receiving a warning communication from the South Korean Navy and the other retreated after two rounds of warning shots were fired. I also know that while Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff were patting one another on the back for the swift and supposedly successful response, my man K. Jong Il was probably gathering his braintrust and trying to figure out if this is a sufficient excuse to bring the sledgehammer down on that big red button that will launch whatever missiles and nukes his country has at their neighbors to the south. I just don’t like the direction this situation is headed, with tensions between the two nations steadily ramping up since the mysterious sinking of a South Korean warship in the border area on March 26. South Korea is understandably pissed that 46 of the 104 crew members aboard the vessel died and I don’t blame them. The subsequent investigation by a team of South Korean military and civilian investigators concluded in April that an explosion at close range, and not a direct hit, sank the 1,200-ton ship. The most obvious suspect remains North Korea, although the South Korean government has declined to explicitly name North Korea as the culprit in the attack. That was the context within which Saturday’s incident took place. The two boats crossed the Northern Limit Line, the maritime border between the two countries, and meandered about 1.2 miles into South Korean waters before turning back. No one would be surprised if the intrustion into South Korean waters was a deliberate provocation on the part of the North Koreans, a show of disrespect to demonstrate that they will do what they want, when they want. The line itself has been under dispute since it was created and North Korea has claimed the line should be drawn farther south. It was the scene of fatal naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002, so this is far from the first time this has happened. My question is how many more times it can happen before we have WWIII on our hands……..
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