ShowMeBlog

Federal Police Officers!!!! – Run… for your life..

Story Highlights

Plainclothes investigators test security at 10 federal buildings in 4 U.S. cities

GAO agents able to assemble components in restrooms, freely enter offices

GAO's report questions effectiveness of the Federal Protective Service

Sen. Susan Collins: Security lapses show "poor training, lax management" at FPS

    You can read the CNN story but I just got to put in my two-cents on the subject.  At one time federal buildings were guarded by private contract guards from services like Pinkerton, Burns and others.
     The contract company would bid on the contract and the lowest bidder would get the contract.  In a couple of years the contract would come up again and often one of the other guard services would bid less and get the contract. 
     What took place most of the time is the guard working for the one company would just quit and go to work for the other company that got the contract.  So it would be new company and same guards.
     The contract guards got higher pay because the government as part of the contract said that a certain percent of the money had to go to the officers.
      The guard company would say that they gave their guards training but in fact they gave none.  I know I worked for years for them as a second job on my days off from my full time job.  I worked for Burns, Pinkerton, Well-Fargo and many others.  I also owned stock in a couple of them and I would see their report to stockholders and they would show photos and stacks of books and videos that they said they gave to employees as training.  It never happened.  One company showed me a 15 minute slide show one time and that was it.
      

Happy Birthday United States of America

1976: U.S. celebrates 200th birthday

“Today marked the 200th anniversary of the signing of the declaration of independence. To recognize the event, the Declaration of Independence was publicly displayed for 76 continuous hours, ships paraded up the Hudson River for Operation Sail and bells rang throughout the country to salute the moment the Declaration was signed. Community picnics, parades, street dances and special receptions also marked the occasion.

"Break out the flags, strike up the band, light up the sky and let the whole world know that the United States of America is about to have another happy birthday, still going strong at 200, and in the words of the great Al Jolson – You ain't seen nothin' yet," declared President Ford during the opening of the Honor America Program at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

NOTE: It was on July 4, 1776, that the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. The document asserted the dissolution of any allegiance to England by the 13 American colonies.”  Newspaper Archive 

    I am 68 years old and am here for another birthday of the United States.  I was not around for the first one but I was around for the 200th birthday of the United States.  I will not be here for the 300th birthday of the United States but I am here for this one.
    I am in Miami FL and there will be a lot of firework shows.  They said on TV that because of the money problems that some of the events will be smaller this year.  This 4th of July the nation is hurting.  Many people are having problems.  The un-employment rate is 9.5 and heading to 10% and I think will go higher.  We got a lot of bad times ahead of us.
    Thank God we got some people in Washington now that can think and work on the problems.  I am not sure they can fix this mess as soon as people want it fixed but I think it will get fixed.
    I  hope you all have a good 4th of July.

Obama Picks Camp David Church

By AMY SULLIVAN Amy Sullivan – 38 mins ago

“For the past five months, White House aides and friends of the Obamas have been quietly visiting local churches and vetting the sermons of prospective first ministers in a search for a new - and uncontroversial - church home. Obama has even sampled a few himself, attending services at 19th Street Baptist on the weekend before his inauguration and celebrating Easter at St. John's Episcopal Church.

Now, in an unexpected move, Obama has told White House aides that instead of joining a congregation in Washington, D.C., he will follow in George W. Bush's footsteps and make his primary place of worship Evergreen Chapel, the nondenominational church at Camp David…”  See Yahoo News

  Sounds to me like they made a good choice.  I just wonder how far is Camp David from the White House?  How will they get to Camp David?  Do they drive each Sunday through traffic or do they fly him to Camp David?  I guess we will find out.
 
  History of Camp David

  Camp David - Wikipedia

Ground Observer Corp

  I was a member of the Ground Observer Corp for years.  After they did away with the GOC our post all became weather observers. 
  Now I lived in Kansas City (Missouri) and KC is right in the middle of the United States so I am not sure it made much sense having us watch for Soviet bombers.  Smile

  But I found the following on the Gizmodo site:

“…Here's a transcript of a panel about SAGE that occurred at the Computer History Museum in 1998. I found this passage, about why they couldn't use human spotters to warn of invasions, fascinating:

"And they saw lots of things! [Laughter] They saw airplanes — many of them were civilian; they saw birds; they saw all kinds of things, and most of them they thought were Soviet bombers. I mean, this was a scary period. They would then telephone the nearest air base, which would then have to figure out if this information was worth anything. And pretty much none of it was worth anything. So, it very rapidly became obvious that despite the huge size of this program — there were 8,000 observation posts, and at the peak of the program 305,000 volunteers staffing these things 24 hours a day — the information was pretty much useless. So, commanders just ignored it. For one thing, by the time it had been verified, the bombers would already be there. So, what was the point?

The reason I'm telling you this story is that the purpose of this program was not really air defense. It was public relations. It was saying to the public, "We are doing something about this problem — we see it." At the same time, the Air Force started looking everywhere for ideas from scientists and engineers, and [referring to the slide presentation] now we're restarting, and I'm not sure what's going on.

What's the modern equivalent system that we'd use to defend ourselves against North Korean nukes? I don't know. I just hope its more than just a PR stunt…”

 

   I do not know who was making that statement but I guess it was very funny.  I wonder if there was anyone there to tell the speaker that he was full of shit and did not know what he was talking about.  I wish I had been at the meeting to show everyone that the  clown did not know his ass from a hole in the ground.

  We did NOT report Soviet bombers.  We reported ALL airplanes.  We did not call the nearest air base.  We dialed the operator and said “Aircraft FLASH – Aircraft FLASH” and the operator connected us with Air Defense Command. 

BBS: The Documentary Photos

  Jason Scott made “BBS: The Documentary” between July of 2001 to December of 2004.  He filmed it using a Canon XL-1.  He visited 30 states and one Canadian province.  He shot roughly 250 hours of video.  He interviewed 205 people.
  I was one of the people that he interviewed.  He came to Texas and took over 2 hours of video of me.  Of course only a very little of that shows up in the documentary. 
  One day that entire video will be on the Internet so after I am long gone someone can do research and use that interview and they can check and get information from the other entire 204 interviews.
  Jason Scott made a great documentary but he also has saved the history of bulletin board systems and created a great database of information that will be long after we all gone.

  He also took 11 photos when he interviewed me with a digital camera.  I do not think I have ever posted them all.  You may have seen a few of them.  I think it is about time for you to see them all.

 

View Full Album

The end of Television

  I was 9 years old when Jim and Betty, my father and mother, took me to a event someplace in Kansas City.  They were showing something new called television.  There was no TV in Kansas City but a station was getting ready to start broadcasting.
  We got a TV set and had it waiting in the living room for the first TV broadcast.
  WDAF-TV began broadcasting on October 16, 1949.  We saw television for the first time.  

  In a few days that sort of television will come to an end.    On June 12th old analog TV will end and the transition to digital TV will take place.  Thousands of people in FL have little portable battery powered TV sets, for Hurricane season, and they will no longer work. 

  I wish I had a old TV antenna on the house.  On June 12th when analog TV ends here in the United States I would like to see what I could pick up on the TV set.  My guess is that I could pick up Cuba and some other nations broadcasting TV.

  I was 9 years old when I saw my first TV broadcast.  I am 68 years old now and the old “analog” TV will come to an end and we will be in the days of digital TV.

Liberty Ship Sunk Off Florida Coast

“KEY WEST, Florida (CNN) -- The USNS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, a retired U.S. Navy warship, embarked on a sedentary new career Wednesday on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico near Key West.

The former warship was intentionally sunk in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary between 10:20 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. ET to become the world's second-largest artificial coral reef…

…The Vandenberg was built at the Kaiser shipyard in Richmond, California, in 1943. It was commissioned as a World War II troop transport ship. After Japan surrendered, the Vandenberg was the first Navy ship to return to New York Harbor.

During the 1950s, the ship was used to transport refugees from Europe and Australia to America. In the 1960s, the Air Force used the Vandenberg as a tracking vessel for possible missile attacks, and for rocket and early space shuttle launches.

The ship was decommissioned in 1986 and was anchored with more than 25 other retired ships in Norfolk, Virginia. The Vandenberg was towed to Key West last month…”

  My mother and father worked in the Richmond (CA) ship yard in 1943.  My mother was a welder and my father a welding inspector.  They were both members of the boilermaker union.
  I was three years old at the time.  They had a teenage girl baby sitting me.  They said I like her a great deal.  I do not remember here at all. 
  Many years later I would also be a member of the boilermakers union.
 

“…On October 14, 2000, the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park was opened in Richmond, California, site of four Kaiser shipyards, where thousands of "Rosies" from around the country worked (although ships at the Kaiser yards were not riveted, but rather welded). Over 200 former Rosies attended the ceremony…”  My mother’s name is listed at the site.  She was a welder at the Kaiser shipyard.

Memorial Day Monday May 25, 2009

BBS The Documentary + Dave Hallas

  You may remember that I am in “BBS: The Documentary” and that I went to CA for the first showing of the documentary.  I am only in the video about three or four times and then each time only for a line or two.
  But the video interview of me went on for three hours.  During that interview I talked about Dave Hallas.  Someday that entire 3 hour interview will be online.  Not sure why anyone would want to watch it but when people do watch it they will hear me talk about Dave Hallas and his bulletin board system.

  I am not sure when my interview will make it to the Internet Archive but it should be there one day. 

Secede Texas Please

“…Dressed in jeans, boots and a baseball cap with a camouflage peak and a hunting outfitter's logo, the Texas governor was one of the few major politicians to appear at the tea parties across the country. While crowds yelled "SECEDE, SECEDE," Perry, 60 but telegenic and youthful, thought out loud that secession might be the outcome if Washington did not mend its "oppressive" high-spending, dictatorial ways. (Most experts suggest the notion that Texas can legally secede is mistaken, but the state does have the right to split into five states, offering the prospect of 10 U.S. senators, math that would send cold shivers down any Democratic back.)…”   Time CNN

  I think we would be better off without Texas as part of the United States.  My feeling is do not let the door hit you in the ass as you leave.
  I think the war between the states has already decided the issue.  I do not think Texas can leave the union.  I am sorry to say.  I think that Texas does have the right to split into up to five states.  Man those “states” would suck.  I lived in Texas for a couple of years.  I never did a lot of driving across Texas but I know what it is like.  Have you ever driven across Kansas?  When you drive across Kansas there is nothing.  You just want to get across it so you can get some place else.  Texas, I think, is 100 times worst than that. 
  If Texas were to break off from the United States it would just become a third world nation.  (Sort of like Miami but with out the weather and the beaches.) 
  You have to ask yourself what sort of state is a state that is  “the reddest of red states?”  We all know how the Republicans have almost destroyed the economy.  In fact they may have done it.  I think the President Obama and the Democrats can fix the economy but I am not sure.  In fact it is not just the economy but the Republican have come close to destroying the United States.
  Now the rest of the United States sees and understands these facts.  But then you have Texas that does not seem to understand it.
  If the cries to secede are real on their part then that would make them a pretty low shitty state.  Things get bad and they want to take their dirty, little bit of oil and cows and run and hide from the problems.
  (On the other hand since I was thinking of moving out of the United States when President Bush won his second term I guess I am not one to talk.)

   Since Texas was a nation and voted to join the United States it come in with certain rights.  I do not think leaving once they came in was one of them.  But they do have the right to break up into up to five states.  That would be interesting. 

   The time I was in Texas I did not see anything that I liked about the state. I am seeing less and less that I like about Texas.