SAUDI ARABIA AND THE HYPOCRISY OF IT ALL

The United States views Saudi Arabia as one of its closest allies. Why, I have never understood. They gave us $4 a gallon gasoline. They may have been behind 9/11. Today, they fight on opposite sides from those we support in certain Middle East wars.

Saudi Arabia for years wanted a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. They attained the seat in 2014. Now less than two years later, Saudi Arabia is angling to be President of the UN Human Rights Council. The election is in December 2015, the new President taking office in 2016.

I view Saudi Arabia's being on the UN Human Rights Council a mockery. If it were to become President, a greater mockery.

Saudi Arabia beheads people. A well known fact. No question about it.

In 2014, 88 persons were beheaded. Thus far in 2015, 85. The Saudis are running ahead of last year and probably will significantly exceed the 88 number.

Twenty three of those beheaded in 2014 were Christians. There is a Saudi ban on Christianity. A group were practicing their faith in a private home. They were arrested, tried and beheaded. 

Note, this is not ISIS. Saudi Arabia is a recognized independent nation.  A member of the UN Human Rights Council. Hopefully from their perspective, the next President of the UN Human Rights Council.

Thirty eight of those beheaded thus far in 2015 were so executed for non-violent drug related crimes.

Saudis are members of an extreme faction of Islam. Wahabbist. The group is austere in its religious practices and has long been considered a source of global terrorism. Typical of its practices are beheadings in a town square and oppression of women, Christians and gays. The Saudis recently have been jailing innocent bloggers who challenge Saudi Arabia's brand of Islam.

Nillel Neuer is executive director of U.N. Watch. Neuer recently said that electing Saudi Arabia to head the UN Human Rights Council is comparable to "a pyromaniac as town fire chief."

It gets better.

A few days before Saudi Arabia's desire to head the UN Human Rights Council became public, Saudi Arabia advertised for eight additional swordsman. The job description beheading. Apparently the record number of beheadings this year requires more help.

The requirement for the job was singular. To possess a willingness to sever heads of human beings accused of committing crimes. The Civil Service Ministry said no other qualifications were required and that applicants were exempted from usual entrance exams.

The job description included performing amputations ordered by Courts under Islamic sharia law.

The vacancies were advertised on the Civil Service Ministry's website in the "Religious Jobs" section.

Hypocrisy exists at both ends of the spectrum. 

Saudi Arabia in wanting to head the UN Human Rights Council and advertising for persons to fill beheading jobs. 

The United States has its share of hypocrisy. Certain of our phony politicians and media hype what they consider anti-Christian behavior. When was the last time you heard either group speak negatively where Saudi Arabia was involved? The shame of it all is our politicians and media decry beheadings when ISIS does it. Yet turn their heads the other way when Saudi Arabia is the culprit.

The United States will be asked to support Saudi Arabia's desire to head the UN Human Rights Council. The United States should not. If we do, the hypocrisy will sound clear. There must come a time when the United States breaks its shackles with Saudi Arabia. Perhaps opposing Saudi Arabia's desire to head the UN Human Rights Council is that time.

THE PRESIDENT WHO SAVED FOOTBALL

Football is as American as apple pie. Whether played professionally or collegiately. Negatives have developed in the game. Especially in the professional ranks. Brain concussions and deflated footballs.

The time is the turn of the century. Nineteen hundred five, give or take a few years either way. Professional football was not a fait accompli. Still in its formative stages. College football was king.

The game different back then. Brutal and violent. Rough. Fatalities and serious injuries common place. Football fields were described by many as killing fields.

Where not fatal, injuries consisted of wrenched spinal cords, crushed skulls, and broken ribs that pierced the heart.

In 1904, there were 18 deaths and 159 serious injuries. In the several years before, more than 100 had died. Football was a grinding bruising sport. Brute strength was required to move the ball forward. Players locked arms in forward movement and used their heads as battering rams.  No helmets, of course. 

Tackles were gang style. A large number of defensive players ending up on the offensive ball carrier. The accumulated weight of the gang tackle estimated at one and a half tons.

Newspaper editorials called for an end to college football. Some college presidents disbanded their teams. Several state legislatures were considering making the game illegal.

Regardless of the dangers involved, college football was at its peak in popularity. Tens of thousands attended games. College football rivaled professional baseball.

President Theodore Roosevelt got involved. A Harvard graduate, he was never able to play football because of nearsightedness. He supported college football, however. It involved the strenuous life which Roosevelt advocated. The game made men.

Harvard had a bad time with football in 1894. A Harvard/Yale game. A blood bath! Harvard canceled football for two years.

Roosevelt was convinced that football was the proving field for the battlefield. Most of his Rough Riders were former college football players. 

Roosevelt realized that violence had to end for football to survive. Play hard, but do not kill and maim players.

The President called a White House meeting on October 5, 1905. The head coaches of the country’s premier football teams attended. Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Roosevelt said in effect.....Ok guys, time to curb violence. The schools issued a statement condemning brutality and pledging to keep the game clean.

However, the 1905 season turned out to be worse fatality wise than 1904. There were 19 deaths and 137 serious injuries. Among them, the President's son who played on the Harvard freshmen team. In a game against Yale, he suffered significant bruising and multiple nose fractures. That same day, a Union College halfback in a game against NYU was kicked in the head. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Stanford and California switched to rugby after the 1905 season. Columbia, Northwestern and Duke dropped football. Harvard President Charles Eliot threatened that Harvard would be next.

Roosevelt did not think highly of Eliot. For reasons other than football. He thought Eliot was trying to emasculate the game.

Roosevelt was of the opinion that perhaps his October 1905 message had not been heard.  He called another meeting of school leaders. This time, the President put his foot down. Shape up was his message. Otherwise, he would lead the growing sentiment against college football. He ordered that they come up with radical rule changes to make the game safer.

The second conference was known as the Intercollegiate Conference, the forerunner of the NCAA. The group came out with significant game changing rules. The forward pass was legalized. Can you imagine! No forward pass till 1906.

The legendary coach John Heisman had long been an advocate of the forward pass. He thought it would open the game, thereby reducing dangerous mid field collisions.

Other new rules adopted included creating a neutral zone between offense and defense. Mass formations were abolished. First down distance was doubled from 5 yards to 10 yards. Three downs permitted.

Though approval was given to the forward pass, its use was restricted. The ball could not be passed to a receiver in the end zone. The ball could not be passed within five yards of center. An incomplete pass resulted in the opposing team getting the ball.

The New York Times called the forward pass idea radical.

Fatalities and injuries dropped dramatically in 1906 and 1907. The tables turned in 1909. Fatalities spiked. Another meeting, a non-White House one. More reforms. Restrictions on the forward pass eased.

College and professional football might not be part of society today were it not for Theodore Roosevelt. He saved football at a precarious time in its history.

Think how tough football is today. Injuries in every game. Yet, present day football compares in no way to that which existed in Roosevelt's time. A more dangerous sport back then. Hard to believe!

BANKS HURT PEOPLE

There was a time when bankers were amongst the most respected people in a community. No more. The recession which began in 2008 is exemplary proof that bankers are whores. They will do anything for money.

It aggravates me that our government thought the banks too big to fail and too big to prosecute. Banks were never brought to task. As a result, banks continue to connive how they can make more money for themselves without regard to those they serve.

Banks today are in a more precarious position than they were in 2008. They never learned. Why should they have? They were never punished for their wrongdoing. In fact, banks today are thriving and make considerably more money than pre 2008.

It is thought in some quarters that a worldwide credit crunch is coming. If it happens, there will be runs on the banks. Not by depositors so much. They will be too late and perhaps not have the ability. It will be by other banks who have loaned them money. They will turn on each other as sharks in frenzy.

People know they have a capacity limit for debt. We try to live within our means. Banks and major corporations do not. They see no tomorrow as far as their debt limit is concerned.

The banks are playing games. New ones. All in an effort to control the flow of money and increase profit levels.

The following represent today's bank brain child. All new.

Banks want to charge interest on depositor accounts. In other words, we will now have to pay the bank to hold our money in a savings or checking account. The program is being tested in certain parts of the United States at this moment. It is described as negative interest.

Safety deposit boxes. A place for safe keeping. A place for some to keep cash. No more.

Two banks are already requiring renters of safety deposit boxes to sign new contracts with the bank. The new contract went into effect the first of this month. In the new contract, the renter agrees and promises that no cash will be kept in the safety deposit box.

The reason is simple. Banks want to know where every dollar is at every moment. No more secreting of cash the goal.

Banks want to do away with cash. Paper money. They want to go to electronic banking. The depositor will have a debit card. Every financial transaction will be by debit card.

Why? The reasons three fold.

First, the banks want to avoid runs on the banks. If they control the cash via electronic banking, all they have to do is hit a few buttons and no one will be able to make withdrawals. The banks recognize that bad days may be ahead for them. They fear runs on banks as occurred in 1929. You and I may be broke and/or go out of business. The banks will not because they will have total control over money.

Second, the banks fear people will secret money. Under the mattress, the bottom of a drawer, a tin can buried in the backyard. 

Finally and as is obvious by this time, banks want total control over money.

You must realize that banks view your money as theirs. It is. The law is clear that once a person deposits money in a savings or checking account, title to the money passes to the bank. Thank Congress and the President who signed such legislation into law.

The preceding represents to me economic tyranny and financial repression. It is not a question of whether the shoe fits. It does.

Banks and corporations have their sinners. It is not individual society members alone who commit crimes. Banks and corporations do through their leaders and employees. Think Ponzi and Enron.

Wells Fargo is one of our larger banks. Two weeks ago, Wells Fargo was sued by the City of Los Angeles.

Wells Fargo instituted a program to motivate/push their employees to meet certain goals and quotas. One was that every customer have at least eight different accounts with the bank. The program in house was described as Going For The Gr-Eight Initiative.

The pressure was heavy on bank employees. They took their existing customer lists and opened new accounts. Signed them up for new credit cards, also. The customers never gave permission nor had knowledge.

Wells Fargo charged fees to handle the accounts. The customers were unaware of the new accounts and of the fees. The fees were not paid. Many were sent by Wells Fargo into collection. On top of which the failure to pay the fees resulted in negative information being placed on credit reports.

To compound the wrongdoing, it is claimed Wells Fargo became aware of the practice. It did nothing to stop it.

What bothers me is that if I were to write a similar column a year from now, there would be new and different bank transgressions. The banks are not doing what is right by God and country because they have not been punished criminally in recent times for their wrongdoings. 

Send some of the bad guys to jail and I guarantee you bank problems will disappear.

99 44/100 % Pure

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