U.S. WAR READY?

It recently was mentioned that United States ground forces will be the smallest since the end of World War II. Four hundred twenty thousand. Strange. At a time when the U.S. is confronted with hostile forces and hostility in many places, ground troops may not be sufficient in the event of a major conflict. Some experts say two conflicts in different places definitely will create a situation the U.S. cannot handle.

How did all this come about?

The U.S. is a war weary nation. Seventeen years of fighting somewhere. Often more than one place. Troops are tired. The American people sick of war. Sequestration cutting heavily and disproportionately into the military budget.

ISIS is with us everywhere. Americans have to be vigilant militarily and personally. ISIS is not the major concern, however. The concern is with Russia and China. Who is not war weary. While the U.S. has been fighting here and there for 17 years, Russia and China have not.

There are trouble spots in the world today. Hot spots. Tinderboxes. A spark which can ignite world conflict. Even a World War III.

The four sensitive areas are the South and East China Seas, the Ukraine, the Middle East, and the Arctic.

China has decided to flex its muscle. Primarily, in the last five years.

China is making claim to significant portions of the South and East China Seas. Areas that historically and by treaty have generally belonged to Japan. 

China is building islands where no land previously existed in these areas. Similar to erecting an oil rig in ocean waters. However, a bit larger. Airfields are being constructed on these manmade islands. China wants the capacity to project its power beyond the borders of its homeland.

There are a series of islands in the South and East China Seas. China now claims title. Japan says no, they are ours by treaty and historically. China ignores Japan's claims. The situation is becoming heated. The islands are valuable because of the gas and oil reserves in their off shore waters.

By several treaties, the U.S. is duty bound to defend Japan in case of conflict with another nation. Would the U.S. meet its obligation? Many think not. If the U.S. did, a confrontation would be triggered between world powers.

Russia is in the China game. Russia and China have become bedfellows the past several years. While the U.S. and other nations have been sanctioning Russia heavily, Russia and China have become closer. They have entered into agreements regarding oil, gas and railroads spreading across two continents.

If the U.S. were at war with China, the U.S. could be at war with Russia also.

Until five years ago, China's navy was insignificant. In the past five years, it has grown monumentally. China's navy today may very well be more sophisticated than that of the U.S.

Today, China has 300 surface ships. Constructing more rapidly. The ships have high speed anti-ship cruise missiles. An expanding armada of guided missile warships, submarines and vessels. They are building carriers at a faster rate than the U.S.

China is building new naval vessels at the rate of 60 a year. The U.S. nowhere near that number. U.S. naval strength is numbered at 430 ships. Older and behind the times. Nowhere as up to date as China's. The 430 number includes reserve vessels. Those not in use, sitting somewhere for the day they may be needed again. China's 300 are active, not on a reserve list.

Some experts believe that the new missiles would be hard for the U.S. to guard against. The U.S. has yet to come up with a plan to answer China's new found naval strength.

There is another reason why the U.S. has fallen behind China in addition to the reasons set forth earlier. U.S. intelligence. It appears to be the type of intelligence that got Bush 2 into Iraq. 

It is said the U.S. does not understand. Perhaps so. Fifteen years of intelligence continues to suggest China's military is merely for defensive purposes and focused mainly on the conflict with Taiwan. U.S. intelligence apparently never saw China's new navy coming. China's naval development in the last five years and the sophistication of its equipment.

China appears to be building its naval forces for eventual global power projection. Only the U.S. has been able to do it thus far. If China continues as it has the past five years, it will have to be feared.

Let's look at Russia for a moment.

Russia is the thorn in the Ukraine and the Middle East. Russia generally takes a position in opposition to that of the U.S. and supports anyone whose interests are opposed to that of the U.S.

Russia is a half million military personnel behind the U.S. That is counting active military. If active military, reserve military and paramilitary are combined, Russia is 700,000 persons ahead of the U.S.

The Russian navy is no competition for the U.S. Its big ships are aged. Russia cannot afford to replace them. The Russian fleet has been described as a geriatric maritime giant. Old and unreliable.

Whereas the U.S. spends $600 billion a year on its military, Russia only $60 billion.

Russia does not seem to worry about the numbers or overall condition of its forces. Not if it can depend on China.

In July, Russia did come out with a new vessel. One that exceeds anything the U.S. has. A ship designed to conduct electronic warfare.

Russia recently spread its wings into Arctic waters. This past July, Putin announced Russia was claiming over a half million square miles of the Arctic Sea. Arctic waters have acquired a value of their own. Global warming has a part in it.

The Arctic Sea contains untapped gas and oil reserves. Also important, new shipping lanes are opening as Arctic ice melts.

Readiness is involved. Russia has 40 icebreakers operating in the Arctic Sea. The U.S. only 2.

The solution to the U.S. problems as described must start with Congress allocating more monies to the military budget. If conflict comes. it will be on our shores this time. An expanded 9/11. It will not be as with Pearl Harbor where the U.S. was able to convert its peacetime plants to the production of war equipment.

Another concern is the type of military. The U.S. has a volunteer military. It has worked well. However in any major conflict, more military personnel will be required. It will not come in the numbers needed voluntarily. The U.S. should start thinking draft again. Everyone for two years  out of high school. Unpopular. However better than living under Russian and/or Chinese domination. 

The U.S. must not be caught with its pants down. Too many lives, too much of everything at stake.Sep 23rd, 1

GERTRUDE BELL.....DESERT QUEEN

She was born Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell. Acquired fame as Gertrude Bell.

She was the daughter of one of Britain's wealthiest families. Shunned the life of a debutante. Such had nothing to do with her appearance. She was the loveliest of women. Slim. Luxuriant hair. Sultry in appearance. Always the lady, however.

Gertrude was Victorian era upper class. She became an upper class adventurer.

She never married. Enjoyed several painful love affairs.

One of Oxford's most brilliant graduates, she distinguished herself over the years as a great mountaineer, an archaeologist, traveler, political officer, administrator, spy and mapper.

Prior to World War I, Gertrude traveled throughout the Middle East. She especially enjoyed the Syrian and Arabian deserts. Personally knew and became friends with many chieftains and sheiks, as well as tribe members.

Her first known relationship was with a British diplomat. Her father did not like him. That was the end of the acquaintance. During her pre-World War I Middle Eastern travels, she had an affair with a British officer. He was married. The affair did not last. She formed passionate attachments with chieftains, sheiks and certain Bedouin leaders over the years.

She was always the lady. She kept all romantic involvements under rigid formal restraint. She never forgot she was a member of the British upper class.

By the time World War I started, Gertrude was working with the British government. She was close to the highest ranking British official in the area. A gentleman named Cox. He became her benefactor in a sense.

At the same time, T. E. Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia, was working for the British government in the Middle East. The world is familiar with Lawrence of Arabia because of the books he wrote re his exploits and the movie Lawrence of Arabia. Gertrude wrote no such books and the one movie concerning her exploits did not garner the attention the Lawrence of Arabia movie did.

Few know Gertrude Bell. Her renown is substantially less than that of Lawrence.

Their aims were united. An independent Arab state dependant on no one. In this regard, both Gertrude and Lawrence were deceived by British intelligence. The Brits wanted the Middle East for Great Britain. These still were the days of Britain's desire to colonize the world.

The Ottomans controlled the area up to World War I. The Ottomans sided with Germany in the war. It was Bell and Lawrence who worked to turn the Arab tribes into friends of Britain and to fight for Britain. The problem was the Arabs thought they were fighting for their independence. In reality, they were unknowingly fighting for a deceptive Britain.

Gertrude was able to move freely between British occupied and German occupied areas. Each side loved her. She had friends among the Arabs tribes fighting against each other, also. All contributed to her success as a British spy.

It is said Gertrude was the brains behind Lawrence. The intimation being that Lawrence did not have the ability to plan and arrange for the Arab activity and cooperation required.

While Lawrence was prancing about in white flowing Arab attire, Gertrude dressed neatly in billowing muslin's and the pencil cloche hats of jazz age Baghdad. Both used camels as the primary mode of travel during these times.

The military did not like her. She was a woman. She was sitting with the leadership and making decisions that they believed only men could make. She was the only woman in the leadership.

In reality, Gertrude was a man cloaked as a woman. She was making her way in a man's world. 

Several years after World War I, she was settled in Baghdad. The Arab women did not like her because she refused to wear a veil. The Arab men did not like her because she was a woman.

Winston Churchill was impressed with Gertrude's abilities. He was British Colonial Secretary at the time. He gave her the responsibility to create borders for a modern Iraq. A gigantic task. No different than it is today.

Gertrude drew the required lines in the sand.

The Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds hated each other. Had for thousands of years. During the most recent 300 years, the Sunni had been placed in the leadership role. The Shiites were considerably more in number. However, they were made subservient to the Sunni. 

Gertrude made the mistake of following a similar plan in creating a new Iraq in 1920-21.

Iraqis did not get along then. They do not get along today in 2015. Iraq obviously not an easy society to successfully mold. There was an international consensus at the time that it was impossible to do. The same consensus exists today.

Never the less, Gertrude was praised and acclaimed for the modern Iraq she created. All kinds of awards were hers.

World War I was over. Her benefactor Cox was out of power in 1923. His loss of power meant that Gertrude was without power.

Gertrude took a new path in life. She opened a museum in Baghdad. The Baghdad Archaeological Museum. Also periodically made speeches in the Baghdad area.

She carried on a life in Baghdad consistent with that of her class. Did things she was unable to do while running around the desert on a camel for years. She played tennis, enjoyed afternoon teas and spent weekends in the country hunting partridge.

Over the years, she had received great acclaim. Besides awards, she was referred to as the Desert Queen, the uncrowned Queen of Iraq, a shaper of nations, and the female Lawrence of Arabia.

From 1923 to the time of her death on July 7, 1926, it was downhill for Gertrude. Illness and depression hit her hard. She died from an overdose of sleeping pills. Whether accidental or intentional has never been established.

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS.....A LOVE

Tennessee Williams was gay. A well known fact.

During his life, he had two great loves. One short lived. The other, 14 years. It is the longer of the two I am writing about. The reason is that during the 14 year relationship, Williams did his best work.

Frank Merlo was Williams' lover and partner. They met and fell in love the spring of 1949. Merlo was younger. Good looking. Of Sicilian heritage. An occasional actor. A U.S. Navy World War II veteran.

Williams first visited Key West in 1941. His regard for Key West was instant. He loved Key West. 

Along the way, he purchased a home at 1431 Duncan Street. It was his permanent residence from 1948 to 1983.

Merlo lived with Williams in the house from 1949 to 1963. The house still stands. The home has been owned by a couple from the Midwest for many years. It is well kept and without question the show piece of the neighborhood. During the Williams/Merlo years, the house was not the show piece it is today. The two men lived modestly and had little concern with tidiness. 

Williams had a sister. Rose. She was mentally challenged. She lived in Key West for a while on Von Phister Street. She spent many years in mental institutions.

Rose's mental condition affected Williams badly throughout his life. 

Williams and Merlo had an apartment in New York City. However, Key West was home and they spent considerable time in the house on Duncan Street.

Merlo acted as Williams’s personal secretary. He assumed responsibility for domestic housekeeping tasks. He provided happiness and stability which balanced out Williams' frequent bouts with depression.

Merlo was a constant comfort to Williams. Something he needed. Williams was a schizophrenic. His constant fear was that he would fall into insanity. As his sister Rose had.

Merlo was Williams' crutch.

The 14 years the two lived together were the happiest and most productive of Williams' career.

Williams introduced a new style writing. His works portrayed life as it was. In all its rawness. He introduced sex into writing more than had been done in the past. Not the Fifty Shades of Gray type. There was a sense of the sexual involved in the relationships. That sense was more than previous writers of consequence had portrayed.

Williams was also a swift writer. His talent amazing. From mind to pen to paper. Almost instantaneously.

During the Williams/Merlo years together, Williams writings were the best produced during his lifetime. Many plays. Some made into movies for which he wrote the scripts. He also wrote scripts solely for movies. A slew of short stories. One major novel.

Major works included The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Rose Tattoo, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Orpheus Descending, Suddenly Last Summer, Sweet Bird of Youth, Period of Adjustment, and The Night of the Iguana.

Familiar to all of us. Turned out by Williams at the rate generally of one per year.

The novel was The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone.

Williams would not have produced so much and of such quality were it not for the relationship which existed between Williams and Merlo.

The relationship became unsteady in 1962 and 1963. Both were guilty of increasing infidelities and drug use. Williams and Merlo parted in 1963.

Soon thereafter, Merlo was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Some say Williams personally took care of Merlo till he died. Others that said he took care of Merlo till he could take it no more and left Merlo in other responsible hands.

Although Williams' life became increasingly difficult towards the end of his relationship with Merlo, it skyrocketed downward after his death. Williams suffered catatonic depression, used drugs increasingly, and was committed on occasion to mental health facilities.

Williams became dependent on prescription drugs. He received Dr. Freegood injections to overcome his depression and relieve his insomnia. The injections were sort of one shot takes care of multiple problems.

The downhill slide was mental and physical. He appeared on talk shows till his responses frequently became incoherent. His public personality suffered.

Williams died February 25, 1983.

It is obvious Merlo was good for Williams. The two appear to have been good for each other. They were given significant time together. They made the best of that time.

It would be remiss not to mention Williams' impact on Key West itself. By 1979, he was one of Key West's most famous faces.

He was open about his homosexuality. A fact which encouraged other gays to come to Key West to live and work. Key West progressed with their influx. Williams became known as the Gay Grandfather of Key West. A fitting title.

PRIVATE PRISONS

Federal and state governments have and still are strapped for cash. The cry the past thirty years has been PRIVATIZE! Farm out certain services to the private sector. Supposedly the job will be done better and cheaper.

The package sold with regard to prisons. Privatized prisons came into being.

A private prison is defined as a facility/place in which individuals are physically confined or incarcerated by a third party that is contracted by a government agency.

How did private prisons come about?

Start first with the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Amendment that freed the slaves. Contrary to popular belief, the Thirteenth Amendment did not free all persons from slavery.

The pertinent section of the Thirteenth Amendment is as follows. "1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, EXCEPT AS PUNISHMENT FOR CRIME WHEREOF THE PARTY SHALL HAVE BEEN DULY CONVICTED, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." (emphasis added) The emphasized portion is referred to as the Punishment Clause.

Businessmen and plantation owners knew at the time of the Emancipation Proclamation that all men free was around the corner. Who was going to work the factories and fields cheaply? Such persons were instrumental in having the punishment clause included in the free the slaves amendment.

Slavery therefore is still legal as punishment for a crime.

The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified at the end of the Civil War. Beginning in 1868, convict leases were issued to private parties to supplement their work forces. The convicts were referred to as a chain gang. Chain gangs remained in place in decreasing numbers into the early 1950s.

The 1980s brought with it congested prisons. New jails and increased staff were required to support the war on drugs.

Private prisons have grown and multiplied since that time. With little oversight/scrutiny by any government. The federal and state frame of mind was we are paying you to take this headache off our hands.....do it and do not bother us.

The first modern private prison company was the Correction Corp. of America for Hamilton County, Tennessee. Within a few years, the State of Tennessee turned all its jails over to Corrections Corp. of America to operate.

Corrections Corp. of America is the largest or one of the largest such companies in the United States. Within two decades, the Correction Corp. increased its profits by 500 percent. In 2011, it took in $5 billion in revenue.

Wall Street became aware in 2009 of the profitability of private prisons. Millions of dollars were invested and continue to be invested. Wells Fargo alone has $106 million invested in two jail companies.

Today, 20 percent of federal prisoners and 7 percent of state prisoners are confined in private prisons.

Private jail companies are no different than any other major corporation. With the big dollars, comes big lobbying with Congress and in state capitals. Also national and regional meetings in exotic locations where legislators and other influential government persons are entertained.

Four types of legislation sought to be influenced on a consistent basis include longer sentencing bills, later parole legislation, three strikes and you're out which leads to lifetime incarceration, and the lengthening of infraction sentences. While today's mood is to decriminalize and lower/eliminate prison confinement, the jail companies are working in the other direction. With success.

Private prisons on the surface appear to be cost effective for cash strapped states. The private industry sold the states a bill of goods. We can do it better and cheaper.

Their track record stinks.

Poor training of personnel has led to violence and escapes. Food not the best nor the most recent. Proper medical care lacking. Female prisoners raped. Paroles granted later than the normal time. Prisoners charged for their upkeep. Failure to pay results in time being added on to a sentence.

Private prisons are increasingly being used as immigration detention centers.

Private prisons are selective as to which prisoners they will take. They are not interested in high coast inmates. The disabled, elderly and HIV-positive for example. The private prison companies only want the healthiest and youngest prisoners.

State and county governments are not happy with private prisons after having lived with them for several years. Private prison companies require the governmental agency to guarantee a certain number of occupied beds. If at any given time the occupancy rate falls below the contracted number, the private prison company charges for the empty beds. With crime down and fewer persons being sentenced to jail, such is putting a strain on state and county monies.

There is another problem. Brings back into play the slavery issue.

Private jail prisoners work like employees in a factory. Except they either do not get paid or get pennies in effect. The prison companies have contracted with outside corporations to produce certain goods. They cannot meet required deliveries. The reason again less crime and fewer people going to jail.

Certain private prisoner companies make uniforms for popular restaurants like McDonald's and Applebee's.

As a result, private prison companies are threatening to sue states and other governmental agencies for lost profits. Another way of saying they will sue unless they get more inmates. To be used as free labor.

An interesting observation. The Civil War and the Thirteenth Amendment were to have freed the slaves. Blacks were the slaves at the time. Today, there are more blacks in jail. Blacks still persecuted. Blacks still not free. Blacks slaves of the Thirteenth Amendment which was adopted to free them.

Finally, corruption. On a scale guaranteed to astound you.

Mark Ciavarella, Jr. was a Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Judge. He recently was sentenced to 28 years in jail.

From 2003 to 2008, he took close to $1 million in bribes from a private prison company to send 4,000 children to juvenile detention centers. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw the convictions out. However such did little good as a practical matter. The 4,000 had already served time in situations where they normally would not have. Like talking back to a teacher. 

Another Lucerne County Judge, Michael Conahan, was also sentenced to a lesser term for basically the same crimes.

Ciavarella is referred to in Luzerne County as the "Kids for Cash Judge."

Whether judges or government officials, bribery corruption as committed by the two judges has to be merely the tip of the iceberg.

My advice to all. Do not be in a hurry to privatize anything. Tell your elected officials so. Whether private prisons, Social Security, pension funds, or what have you. Man has a darker side. It occasionally surfaces where big dollars are involved.