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Today I received a telephone call from Bob Klein from the corporate offices of Harley-Davidson. I believe Bob was sincere when he stated to me that the company did not approve of the treatment received by one young veteran at COWBOY HARLEY-DAVIDSON here in Beaumont, Texas. For those of you who are not familiar with the story..the facts are simple. A young veteran returned from the war and was attempting to find employment in the motorcycle industry. Specifically, he wanted to be a H-D mechanic. The dealership was approached with the idea of providing the veteran with some "hands-on" training as a mechanic..and the answer was that it was not possible due to the fact that their mechanics were paid by commission and therefore could not slow down to train someone. Given the prosperity obvious at this particular dealership--that action left a bad taste in several veterans mouths. The fact that a multi-million dollar a year dealership could not find even a part-time job for an unemployed veteran was particularly distasteful and hard to swallow. At ASVEI, we support the view that in tough economic times businesses must forego ultimate profits and do the right thing.....even if it means losing a little profit to supply a job. The fact that it is wartime and the person involved was a vet further complicates the situation. We did an online survey to which 143 veterans responded. All but one favored a boycott on H-D products in order to protest the dealership's action and serve notice on other businesses that veterans are demanding fair treatment in recovering from the financial hardships many veterans and their families suffer due to their service to the country. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH...and American businesses must shoulder their fair share of the economic burden many veterans bear. Bob is forwarding a letter to me in support of ASVEI and ALL VETERANS....and we thank him for his support. As a final note, another dealership (Japanese) has offered a job....and we thank them for their support. But COWBOY-HARLEY..TAKE NOTICE..you are going to lose some sales due to this treatment...so maybe there is justice in this world.
On March 24, 1989, a little after midnight, the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef, located in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The oil tanker was carrying over one million barrels of crude oil when disaster struck. More than one fourth of the crude oil escaped through the ripped hull of the tanker contaminating the pristine waters of the Alaskan Paradise. This catastrophe grossly invaded a habitat lavished with an abundance of natural resources and many valuable species of wildlife.
Journal of the Orphan Train Trilogy
Children believed not one person in the whole world loved them or wanted them
From 1854 to 1929 over 200,000 homeless children traveled from New York City to the West and Southwest to find new homes. Towns were notified in advance when an orphan train was coming so those who wanted to adopt or be Foster Parents could see if there was a child that suited them. Some wanted a child to love while others wanted laborers. Where the children ended up was a matter of luck … or misfortune.
The history of the orphan trains isn’t complex, but each child has their own story. The Orphan Train Trilogy is an emotional story revealing what happened to some of these children, for better or worse. It also reveals how the lives of the adults were changed by the adoptions.
In the Journal you will find book reviews, book descriptions and excerpts.
To read the Orphan Train Journal click on the link below.
http://orphantraintrilogyauthor.blogspot.com/
Author: Robert Noonan
The National
Best Books
2008 Awards
I have a bit of news I would like to share with my chat room friends. In other words, BRAG. Today I was notified that my Orphan Train Trilogy; Wildflowers, Bridie’s Daughter and Secrets are among ten “Finalists” in The National Best Books 2008 Awards. Overcoming stiff opposition from many qualified authors of Historical Fiction has validated the many hours of work and deprivation.
Earlier this year my three novels were awarded “Finalist” in the 2008 Indie Book Awards-an International Competition. I have one competition remaining and if I do as well you will hear about it.
Robert Noonan
Orphan Trains: Letter-4
By Robert Noonan
I am presenting two letters today. These boys appear content with life on a farm. Many children ended up on farms and their treatment varied greatly. They bided their time until they were eighteen, then decided if they wanted to remain or move on, if they had that option.
These boys don’t appear to have had much schooling, as their letters reveal. They are presented to you as they were written.
May 22, 1878
Mr. Tracy
Dear Sir. I received a letter some time ago and hasten to reply it is raining today so I have time to write we are pretty busy now in getting the land ready for corn we intend planting in about two days we had a temperance revival here last week there was 200 signed the pledge we will have another meeting tomorrow night it is a blue ribbon movement I am wearing the ribbon that cut and left a big scar on my hand I received the book you sent me and was pleased with it how are times in New York by this time hope they are better will you ask Mr. Trott what became of that young man that was working for him when I worked for him I guess he would know me times are awful hard out here now there is scarcely any money out here I expect you are doing good work now I have no more to say at present so I will close wishing you good success in your work I remain
Yours Respectfully
James
May 26 1878
Dear Sir
i was pleased to get your letter i was looking for a letter from you every day i was pleased to get it from you i was sorry that you could not help me but I think that time is very hard for you
i expect that we are having very whet weather it is very hard to get a place I have no place to work yet wish I could get a place to work I would like to get a place of my own but I cannot
I wish I could get work sum place I have poor health in this country if I could get back to the old country I would like it but I have not the money so I mustent think of it now so I must be contented at present
This is all from your frend thomas
I wish I had more letters to post, but these have given you some insight as to what happened to those children. There were instances where 2-5 siblings were on an Orphan Train and only one was adopted at a given town, never to see their brothers or sisters again. In my Orphan Train Trilogy I did not dwell on the hardships children faced, though there is some. My novels also show how the lives of the adults were changed by taking in children they knew nothing about or how they would react to decisions made for them. Love and tears flowed both ways. It is a story of family love and friendship, tragedy, romance, murder and intrigue and an abundance of humor.
Thank you for your interest in this little corner of our history.
Robert Noonan
The USA needs lots of energy infrastructure quickly, but MOST of this new infrastructure should be owned by the public to avoid the mistakes of the past. We need to imitate nearly all of our world competitors. Nobody does it like the US, because our way doesn’t work! Our way pits public needs/fears against the profit motive of private ownership. All we get is ugly legal battles and substandard results. Enough already.
The US needs to sell tax free, reasonable yield, federal ENERGY BONDS to pay for the needed infrastructure. These bonds should only be available to US citizens who pay taxes in the US, and financial institutions that are registered in the US - no foreign owners that can throw a wrench into our plans. After the first 5 years, let the proceeds from sales and services start paying back the bondholders. Energy Bonds will do for this mess what War Bonds did for us in World War II.
NEEDS:
New clean coal power plants NOW, as soon as we can build them.
Nuclear power generating plants, as soon as we can build them - new design Light Water Reactors (LWR’s) and (proven for 50 years now) Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactors (LMFBR’s). LMFBR’s are a RENEWABLE(+) energy source, like wind/solar.
LMFBR’s as soon as we can build them. They produce 20% more fuel than they are using to produce electric power - the excess can go to LWR’s. WE can supply ALL USA electric needs (and LWR’s) for over 1000 years with no new mining - proven fact. LMFBR’s have been reliably operating since 1951 in the US and France. (See EBR II and PHENIX, which have generated reliably for over 30 years).
Strengthen the bulk power electricity transmission grid that moves BIG power from region to region, to avoid the blackouts and brownouts that will soon be commonplace - and to move NEW big power from where it can be best produced to where it is most needed.
ALL of these new facilities should be built on land already owned by the federal government, so that NIMBY interference will be effectively blunted. Perfect sites are closed military facilities and energy/weapons research sites.
More electric power is CRITICAL to converting oil usage to electric usage. We absolutely have to get the OIL needle out of our arm, or we will forever be in trouble.
FIX DETAILS:
The Department of Transportation manages our transportation infrastructure, which is owned by the US PUBLIC! DOT did not steal any turnpikes from anyone. They strengthened the limited access highway system with PUBLICLY owned interstates. That helps keep tolls in line, and has made ALL the products we buy less expensive by reducing delivery expense. Construction and repair of the highways is done by contractors under DOT, and a lot of money goes into private payrolls every year. The same would be true of DOE managed facilities.
The Department of Energy (DOE) needs to manage the ENERGY infrastructure that will be publicly owned. DOE management should be assisted by, but not blocked by, the US EPA to assure that responsible practices are employed during drilling, construction, and operation of ALL US PUBLIC owned facilities. With the public owning the facilities, and paying for the environmental protection, there will be no "conflict of interest." If the public wants green, they’ll pay for it - if they don’t want to pay for it - then it stops! The same rules should apply for public/private.
US DOE (assisted by US EPA) will have to manage the construction and operation of publicly owned oil drilling rigs, public refineries, public coal power plants, new public small scale hydroelectric stations, publicly owned large scale clean coal facilities, and newer/safer nuclear plants - both the Light Water Reactor and Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactors.
The OILGOPOLY wants to start drilling on their 68 million acres. The US government should issue those permits, but only if the oil company accepts two contract rules:
First, the permit for the private well would only be issued AFTER the company had successfully bid for a public well and has that public well producing acceptably (within a one year limit from start of drilling). If a second private well is desired, then a second public well must be bid and activated, and so on. This factor will keep private wells from coming on line while the public wells "just don’t." Business is business - that’s why contracts are needed.
Second, the oil company must agree to allow both a resident DOE and EPA inspector unfettered access to all aspects of the public well, and must allow a resident EPA inspector at the private well, also. The nuclear industry has lived under this arrangement for decades. Also, the EPA rules for both the public and private facilities should be the same.
This level of EPA involvement ought to satisfy reasonable environmental concerns.
This "FIX" will give the public the beginning of the energy independence it needs, provide lots of good jobs quickly, make a bunch of money for the oil companies working for the DOE and themselves, satisfy the environmentalists, provide quality investments for US persons and entities, and the PUBLIC will own the tools of its own energy future - no more to be held hostage by other countries or companies.
This fix will work, and everybody wins. How good is that?
Please help get this done by showing it to your politicians. This country’s energy and economic future is too important to play partisan political games. Thanks for reading this long piece.
Note that there is also another reactor design called an Advanced Burner Reactor. It touts itself as a "burner of transuranic waste", which would make you think it is a "nuclear garbage burner" It is a cousin of the LMFBR (whose business is to MAKE transuranic material, because it is a valuable nuclear material - it is NOT WASTE!)
For easy to understand additional information, check on the following site for the Depart of Energy:
http://www.gnep.energy.gov/gnepAdvancedBurnerReactors.html.
Do We Need Another Republican President??Was somebody busted with their fingers in the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) till???Trent Lott and the rest of the old timers have been blown into the weeds by this new group of SADISTIC NE-CON EVANGELICAL ACTIVISTS . They never have and never will match their Rape and Pillaging of the United States of America . These SADISTIC NE-CON EVANGELICAL ACTIVISTS are the ultimate PORK distribution machine.
New Details Emerge In NRCC Scandal
By: Patrick O’Connor and John Bresnahan http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8398.html Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), a certified public accountant, had pushed for months for an internal audit of the National Republican Congressional Committee, according to GOP members, but the committee’s treasurer at the time was reluctant.
Finally, at a recent meeting, the now former NRCC treasurer, Christopher J. Ward, relented, giving Conaway what was supposed to be an official internal audit from 2006. That document was a fake, the GOP members said. Even the letterhead on which it was sent was a forgery.
Revelations about the falsified document touched off an unfolding scandal that has rocked the NRCC and spurred a criminal investigation by the FBI into the committee’s accounting procedures.
Fearing the fallout from the discovery, the NRCC informed its principle lender, Wachovia, of potential accounting problems. Wachovia, which declined comment Thursday, had lent the committee $9 million in 2006, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Knowing the bank was required by law to notify federal investigators of any "suspicious activity," the NRCC also alerted the FBI, Republican insiders confirmedŠŠ Gota’ love them Republicans ,,, If they are not stealing from the U. S. Treasury they are stealing from each other.. |
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For the last 7 years Delay’s House Conference of scandal , the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) ,Jack Abramoff and his K Street Project boys Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman The RNC( Republican National Committee ) /Cato/Heritage alliance and Grover Norquist officiated over the Rape and Pillaging of the United States of America . Now Sen. John McCain is pandering to the SADISTIC NE-CON EVANGELICAL ACTIVISTS of the Bush Administration hoping to win the harts of The F.O.G. Elite and their $ DOLLARS $ .
And remember Sen. John McCain on his economic prowess ."The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should," Sen. John McCain said. "I’ve got Greenspan’s book." Sen. John McCain |
In Response To: Message
You Said: There is a very logical process at work here. The 2001 Tax Cut (1) was an tax increase for the members of the real middle class and the members of the "working poor". This is the cynical and hypocritical policies of the RNC( Republican National Committee ) / Cato/Heritage / Grover Norquist tax policy management team. These are the real slime behind the Bush Administration . What is wrong with putting a stop to the Rape and Pillaging of the AMERICAN middle class. The RNC( Republican National Committee ) / Cato/Heritage has done well by it’s friends The F.O.G. Elite If one looks at the lowest quintile of tax payers the " working poor" they are carrying a higher tax bill ( higher tax liability) while the top quintile is paying less tax Who has been making the big bucks During the Bush Administration as a member of The F.O.G. Elite The middle income pay check has been a growth path to no where thanks to the RNC( Republican National Committee ) / Cato/Heritage alliance. The RNC( Republican National Committee ) /Cato/Heritage alliance knows who their enemy is the labor unions of AMERICA . If you want to see the middle class of America drop by the plumbers local, IBEW AFL/CIO. This is how the middle class has made out under the George Walker Bush Administration .
Although Obama would let many of President Bush’s tax cuts expire, he has proposed other tax cuts for less wealthy Americans. He would eliminate income taxes for seniors earning less than $50,000 per year, provide tax credits for college education, and allow taxpayers to deduct mortgage interest even if they don’t itemize their taxes. He also pledges to find ways to simplify the filing of tax returns, cutting it to a five-minute process for many Americans.
The minimum wage was stuck at $5.15/hr from 1997 to 2007. The minimum wage earner has lost $54.00 per week in buying power since 1997. The RNC is raising their TAXES
( lower tax liability).
George Walker Bush’s present to the middle class worker.
