Balancing Security with Democracy

Barry, My Liege :

We applaud you for making public the ongoing discussion about NSA, Prism and National Security.

We can debate whether Mr. Manning and Mr. Snowden are heroes or villains, but there is no denying that they have performed a valuable service by showing us some of the dimensions of your spying and secrecy apparatus.

Among the truisms that history teaches us, My Liege, are two outstanding issues. First, Islam has been violently attacking Western civilization in an attempt to spread religious doctrine since Muhammad took the Hijra from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD. Before that, the Greeks fought numerous battles with an expanding Persia including the famous Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.

Second, history teaches us that Western civilization has won most of these battles largely because of the Western disposition toward democracy and open societies. When placed in conflict with tyrannical forces, a counter force composed of armies from open societies has won the day in most cases.

These two issues collide in today's battle against violent Islam. We recognize, My Liege, that the Commander In Chief requires secrecy when going into battle. At the same time, we also know that if that desire for secrecy overpowers our openness and democratic principles, then we will be weaker in the face of an attack.

Those open principles require that our population has extensive knowledge of the government actions you take to preserve our National Security.

Your job, My Liege, is to balance the need for secrecy with the equally important need for public access.

Part of the public access is to demonstrate to the public that you are subject to our laws and not above them. In other words, My Liege, we want you to protect us both militarily and politically. After all, without some iron clad assurance of due process built into the system, then the next President - who might be a Rand Paul or a Chris Christie - will have the same powers with perhaps less scruples to err on the side of open access.

And, My Liege, the public is not assured of the correctness of your choices so far. They appear to err on the side of excessive secrecy and against the side of public access.

We pray for your wisdom, My Liege.

Your faithful servant,

Fukushima = Chernobyl

Barry, My Liege :

Just in case you have not observed the reality of nuclear power, it is time to recognize that it is not safe for people.

Too much radiation creates cancer in human and animal bodies. Cancer death is not pleasant.

Mistakes in nuclear power plants release radiation into the environment which stays for thousands of years.

Our ability as human beings to manage nuclear power safely is not adequate to the task.

Albert Einstein said:

“Our world faces a crisis as yet unperceived by those possessing the power to make great decisions for good and evil. The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe......Nuclear power is one hell of a way to boil water!” ~ Albert Einstein

Sensible people now advise us that 300 or 400 tons of radioactive water are leaking daily into the Pacific Ocean from Fukushima. Do not eat fish from any part of the Pacific Ocean. [http://www.collapsingintoconsciousness.com/at-the-very-least-your-days-of-eating-pacific-ocean-fish-are-over/][CORRECTION - 300 ton leak is daily as per http://www.trueactivist.com/11-facts-about-the-ongoing-fukushima-nuclear-holocaust-that-are-almost-too-horrifying-to-believe/]

'Nearly 25 years to the date after the Chernobyl catastrophe, the Fukushima Dai-ichi crisis became the only other civilian nuclear accident to warrant the highest possible rating of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). The scale judges the severity of nuclear events by their impact on people and the environment.'By Prachi Patel, IEEE.org [
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/nuclear/three-mile-island-chernobyl-and-fukushima]

Where is the next disaster, My Liege, and when is it coming?

We may kill the planet, My Liege.

We pray you take note.

Your faithful servant,

Trusting the Trustee

Barry, My Liege :

Some people want to create a legacy of their material accumulations and so seek to create a Trust. Trusts are legal entities which promise to preserve assets and to follow the wishes of the person who accumulated the assets.

Trusts have existed for hundreds of years as has litigation over thieving trustees.

Unfortunately, folks who approach the ends of their lives sometimes have diminished capacities. They can fall prey to unscrupulous parties who will promise to carry out their wishes and distribute assets to charities, friends and relatives.

Sadly this unscrupulous group can and does include children and other close relatives as well as carpet bagging strangers.

A trust document is written which appears very authoritative and promises to carry out the decedent’s wishes.

But, once the Trustee obtains power over the assets, there is only a 50% chance that the Trustee will not steal all the assets for his/her personal bank account.

There are two ways to reduce the odds of this theft occurring:

1. Use a professional Trustee.

Professional trustees who are bonded and reliable do exist. Using these services will improve one's chances of accomplishing one's goals.

2. Give away all assets before dying.

While there may be some tax implications from these gifts, the certainty of seeing that assets are delivered according to one's wishes outweighs any chimerical tax savings.

Be careful, My Liege.

Your faithful servant,