San Diego Bomb Factory Burnt To Ground

This video is a time elapse of the burn from Union Tribune news paper.
The burning of the so called San Diego bomb factory went off with out a hitch today, despite starting almost 2 hours late because of weather. There was a major following on the internet especially twitter where the city of Escondido where the house was actually was the trending subject nationally on twitter and every major news agency in the area were not only broadcasting live from the burn zone but was also giving blow by blow coverage of the burn on twitter, was quite fun participating on twitter.

For now I just want to put this video on and  will cover more later.

San Diego Bomb Factory Will Burn Today

Bomb Factory Will Burn Today/Photo CBS8.com

Yesterday San Diego law enforcement officials announced that U.S. District Judge Larry Burns' refused to delay the burning of the "bomb factory" here in Escondido responding to a request from attorneys of George Jakubec, who requested a delay in order for his defense team to retrieve materials from the home important for Jakubec's defense, items including  book on mining and notes scribbled on graph paper suggesting the explosive materials he was manufacturing may have been intended for mining purposes.

As write this blog entry the bomb explosive unit, sheriff department, Escondido police and federal agencys involved in this burn are having a safety briefing. In about 45 minutes deputies will again go door to door in the area to remind residents that they will all have to be out of their homes no later than 7 a.m. and the burn down is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and hopefully end no later than noon, weather permitting.  However regarding weather this area is under a warning for thick fog and low visibility up to 9 a.m. so we will see if this causes a delay.

Interstate 15, a eight lane highway which is a major route in and out of San Diego will be closed at the minimum 3 hours this morning and at 5 a.m. this morning just the knowledge that Interstate 15 will close is causing major traffic backups this morning as some commuters are already avoiding the area.

Bomb squad officers say they found the same types of chemicals used by suicide bombers and insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan when they were deployed earlier in the year with various National Guard Units. The materials included Pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN, which was used in the 2001 airliner shoe-bombing attempt as well as airplane cargo bombs discovered last month by authorities.

The chemicals were found after a gardener accidentally set off an explosion Nov. 18 at the home by stepping on what authorities believe was a byproduct of highly unstable Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, or HMTD.


Investigators said Jakubec admitted dumping the highly unstable substance in the backyard. Even the byproduct of the HMTD chemical process is volatile enough to cause an explosion when gravel is scuffed together, they said. A bomb squad officer set off another minor explosion in the same area of the yard but escaped unscathed, prosecutors said.

Another Bomb Suspect Arrested In Escondido

Pipe Bomb/Photo Palo Pinto County Sheriff

After doing some more research on the situation going on with George Jakubec and the explosives found in house in Escondido I ran upon another report that hasn't made televised news, matter of fact I haven't even seen anything about it in the San Diego Union Tribune, for some reason it hasn't garnered the same attention as the one involving Jakubec.

On November 28th, Richard Hinkel, 45, was screaming in the backyard of his home in the 2300 block of Country View Glen just before 5 a.m., said Escondido police Lt. Craig Carter and when Escondido police arrived they found 18 explosive devices, 12 rifles, 10 handguns and fireworks on Hinkel's property, at this time police say it appears there is no connection between the two.

Now wait a second what is going on here? The total news story on Hinkle was about 3 paragraphs long so I am going to do much more research on this guy, but I don't understand how the police can immediately rule out a connection when they didn't even know these two guys existed prior to the day the were arrested.

Hinkle who appeared in court yesterday pleaded guilty to 16 felony counts of  possession of a destructive device and a misdemeanor count of having fireworks stored without a permit, again authorities are saying there appears to be no link between Hinkle and George Jakubec, again I ask how can they be so sure and what are they hiding.  I have never seen Hinkle's story on a news broadcast and most of the story's are buried with misleading headlines.  For instance CBS channel eight here in San Diego on their web page doesn't even mention the word explosive devices in it's head line.  The head line reads "Man accused of possessing firearms, fireworks pleads not guilty", buried in the story you finally read that Hinkle pleaded not guilty to the 16 felony counts of possession of a destructive device.

There is something wrong with this story and I am going to stay on top of it and keep everyone updated so please check back. As of right now I can't even find a picture of this guy on any news site, you would think after the Jakubec case the courtroom would have been crammed with journalists.

Burning Of Bomb Factory May Be Delayed

Michael Berg, the attorney for George Jakubec, filed court documents Tuesday requesting the scheduled buring of his clients home be delayed so that the suspect's defense team can enter the home and possibly recover items that may halep defend their client. As it stands right now the county of San Diego plan to burn the house to the the ground strating Thursday at about  9:00 a.m.


Neighbors were shocked by the pictures showed them by the San Diego Sheriff's Department , last week. Not only do Neighbors have to evacuate thier home's Wednsday prior to the burn California's Department Of Transportation has announced they will be required to shut down Interstate 15 in both directions durning the burn, and they are not sure how long the shutdown may last. Interstate 15 runs right behind Jakubec's back yard.

George Jakubec pleaded not guilty to eight federal charges in the case and was denied bail.

More Pics From San Diego Bomb Factory

The San Diego Sheriff Department released some new pics from the San Diego "Bomb Factory".  George Djura Jakubec is definitely a very dangerous man and once you see these pictures you will know he planned on seriously injuring and killing many innocent people, to think if hadn't been for an accident involving his Gardner this guy would still be building bombs, and no one knows what his targets were to be.

ALL PHOTO'S FROM SAN DIEGO SHERIFF WEBPAGE

First Pictures From Inside San Diego's "Bomb Factory"

Yesterday authorities released the first pictures coming from inside the so called "San Diego Bomb Factory", which is actually a $400,000 home owned by 54-year-old George Jakubec. Pictures from inside the house show suspected explosive devices in different stages of assembly. On the kitchen counter you see what appears to be jars filled with the highly explosive chemical HMTD and molds for home-made grenades and detonators.

These pictures where shown to neighbors Tuesday at a impromptu town hall meeting where Nick Vent of the San Diego County Haz Mat Team explained to residents of the community that burning down Jakubec's house is the only safe way have rendering the bomb materials harmless, as there is absolutely no safe way of removing such a large quantity of highly sensitive explosives without endangering many lives.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California is expected to declare a state of emergency soon for San Diego County so that law enforcement officials don't have to  adhere to certain environmental regulations which could seriously delay the burning of the house.

Officials also announced on Tuesdays that the planned burn day for the house will be on or about Wednesday Dec 8th.

Pictures From Inside San Diego's "Bomb Factory"/Photos CBS8.com

San Diego County To Burn Down Bomb Factory




Mario Gomez/Photo NBC San Diego

  Here is a scary thought for those of you who think it can't happen in your neighborhood, as you all have probably seen in the news lately a couple weeks ago Mario Gomez, 49 of Fallbrook, Ca was going about what he though was a normal day working as the gardener for George Jakubec, 54 around his Escondido, Ca. home when suddenly he stepped on a IED similar to what is killing our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, sending him to the local hospital in the back of an ambulance.

Since that day federal, state and local law enforcement personal have been combing through Jakubec's home trying to locate all the explosive material that may be present on the property.  To date officials have found approximately nine pounds of explosive material, including a large amount of hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, or HMTD.

HMTD by the way is the same material that  "Underwear Bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had sewn into his underwear last December when he flew on Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on December 25, 2009, it is also the same material found in the bombs that where constructed around printer cartridges found in Britain and Dubai and set off a massive search for packages mailed from Yemen and shipped via Federal Express and UPS.

All that information in itself is scary, yet so many of us think something like this won't happen where we live, however this bomb factory being run by Jakubec happens to be only 32.2 miles from my own home from my front door to his front door, think about it, it is conceivable that George Jakubec have actually ran into each other somewhere in San Diego, yes he is practically my neighbor and this guy I'm sure wasn't building IED's and other types of bombs just for the fun of it, though as of yet they don't know what his targets may have been but he is obviously a domestic terrorist with an agenda.

San Diego "Bomb Factory"/Photo Boingboing

Yesterday San Diego County officials announced that they where going to ask Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare the entire county of San Diego under a temporary state of emergency so that some safety regulations and environmental laws can be by-passed, as this so that they may burn this $494,000  home to the ground. Officials say it is just way to dangerous to keep searching the house the way they have been, as it is their belief that it's only a matter of time before something explodes possibly injuring or killing law enforcement personal.

So is George Jakubec a want to be Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, of the Oklahoma City Bombing? It seems so and the worst part is that the US Government thinks they have the majority of  possible domestic terrorists pinpointed, yet this guy has been slipping under the FBI and ATF radar for years.  We have been doing pretty good at stopping the international terrorists, like the teenage suspect in the Portland tree lighting bombing plot captured earlier this week. Now it seems our week spot is getting a handle on domestic terrorists.

Do you think fighting will start up again in Korea?

Duane and Sandi Donecker/Photo Sandi Donecker

I am going to start including polls on my blog about subjects I have been blogging about, please participate and come back and check the stats. Thank You for participating

WikiLeaks Cable On China's View Of North Korea

US Embassy In China/Photo Archdaily.com

In case you haven't seen the actual cable where China and US diplomats discussed the future of North Korea here is a copy of it directly from WikiLeaks, just in case you are wondering any type of document produced by the US Government officals in the line of duty are considered non copyrighted and are in the public domain.

(S) Vice Foreign Minister Chun Yung-woo told the Ambassador February 17th that China would not be able to stop North Korea’s collapse following the death of Kim Jong-il (KJI). The DPRK, Chun said, had already collapsed economically and would collapse politically two to three years after the death of Kim Jong-il. Chun dismissed ROK media reports that Chinese companies had agreed to pump 10 billion USD into the North’s economy. Beijing had “no will” to use its modest economic leverage to force a change in Pyongyang’s policies -- and the DPRK characterized as “the most incompetent official in China” -- had retained his position as chief of the PRC’s 6PT delegation. Describing a generational difference in Chinese attitudes toward North Korea, Chun claimed XXXXXXXXXXXX believed Korea should be unified under ROK control. Chun acknowledged the Ambassador’s point that a strong ROK-Japan relationship would help Tokyo accept a reunified Korean Peninsula. End summary.


VFM Chun on Sino-North Korean Relations...

------------------------------------------



¶2. (S) During a February 17 lunch hosted by Ambassador Stephens that covered other topics (septel), ROK Vice Foreign Minister and former ROK Six-Party Talks (6PT) Head of Delegation Chun Yung-woo predicted that China would not be able to stop North Korea’s collapse following the death of Kim Jong-il (KJI). The DPRK, Chun said, had already collapsed economically; following the death of KJI, North Korea would collapse politically in “two to three years.” Chun dismissed ROK media reports that Chinese companies had agreed to pump 10 billion USD into the North’s economy; there was “no substance” to the reports, he said. The VFM also ridiculed the Chinese foreign ministry’s “briefing” to the ROK embassy in Beijing on Wang Jiarui’s visit to North Korea; the unidentified briefer had “basically read a Xinhua press release,” Chun groused, adding that the PRC interlocutor had been unwilling to answer simple questions like whether Wang had flown to Hamhung or taken a train there to meet KJI.



¶3. (S) The VFM commented that China had far less influence on North Korea “than most people believe.” Beijing had “no will” to use its economic leverage to force a change in Pyongyang’s policies and the DPRK leadership “knows it.” Chun acknowledged that the Chinese genuinely wanted a denuclearized North Korea, but the PRC was also content with the status quo. Unless China pushed North Korea to the “brink of collapse,” the DPRK would likely continue to refuse to take meaningful steps on denuclearization.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

-----------------------------------------



¶4. (S) Turning to the Six Party Talks, Chun said it was “a very bad thing” that Wu Dawei had retained his position as chief of the PRC’s delegation. XXXXXXXXXXXX said it appeared that the DPRK “must have lobbied extremely hard” for the now-retired Wu to stay on as China’s 6PT chief. [NAME REMOVED] complained that Wu is the PRC’s XXXXXXXXXXXX an arrogant, Marx-spouting former Red Guard who “knows nothing about North Korea, nothing about nonproliferation and is hard to communicate with because he doesn’t speak English.” Wu was also a hardline nationalist, loudly proclaiming -- to anyone willing to listen -- that the PRC’s economic rise represented a “return to normalcy” with China as a great world power.

...China’s “New Generation” of Korea-Hands...

---------------------------------------------



¶5. (S) Sophisticated Chinese officials XXXXXXXXXXXX stood in sharp contrast to Wu, according to VFM Chun.XXXXXXXXXXXX Chun claimed XXXXXXXXXX believed Korea should be unified under ROK control.XXXXXXXXXXXX, Chun said, were ready to “face the new reality” that the DPRK now had little value to China as a buffer state -- a view that since North Korea’s 2006 nuclear test had reportedly gained traction among senior PRC leaders.

...PRC Actions In A DPRK Collapse Scenario...

---------------------------------------------



¶6. (S) Chun argued that, in the event of a North Korean collapse, China would clearly “not welcome” any U.S. military presence north of the DMZ. XXXXXXXXXXXX Chun XXXXXXXXXXXX said the PRC would be comfortable with a reunified Korea controlled by Seoul and anchored to the United States in a “benign alliance” -- as long as Korea was not hostile towards China. Tremendous trade and labor-export opportunities for Chinese companies, Chun said, would also help salve PRC concerns about living with a reunified Korea. Chundismissed the prospect of a possible PRC military intervention in the event of a DPRK collapse, noting that China’s strategic economic interests now lie with the United States, Japan, and South Korea -- not North Korea. Moreover, Chun argued, bare-knuckle PRC military intervention in a DPRK internal crisis could “strengthen the centrifugal forces in China’s minority areas.”

...and Japan

------------



¶7. (S) Chun acknowledged the Ambassador’s point that a strong ROK-Japan relationship would help Tokyo accept a reunified Korean Peninsula under Seoul’s control. Chun asserted that, even though “Japan’s preference” was to keep Korea divided, Tokyo lacked the leverage to stop reunification in the event the DPRK collapses. STEPHENS

Wiki Leaks China and North Korea Relationship

About 3 or 4 posts ago I wrote a short note on my thoughts about the situation in the Korea's and what I thought the Chinese response would be, as I said prior to the Cablegate releases by Wiki, I thought that China was tiring of the regime in North Korea, mainly because of China's economic connections with the rest of the world and considered Kim Jong Il and his government dead weight around China's neck.

North Korean President Kim Jong Il/Photo ABC News

On the 29th of November CNN posted a story stating that one of the diplomatic cables released in this leak said almost exactly what I said, stating that North Korea was basically a spoiled child.  I myself have not read this cable as of yet but am quite interested in finding a copy of it on Wiki Leaks Cablegate page and as soon as I am done with school I plan to have a look at it and any other cables that might be out there about China, South Korea, North Korea and will update my blog from there.

However right now I do see a new problem because of the leak of these diplomatic cables regarding North Korea I am now a little bit more worried about what Kim Jong Il's and his son's reaction may be to the joint exercises by the United States and South Korea currently underway in the Yellow Sea, that some how Kim Jong Il will try some illogical method of saving face,  however I still have little doubt that if gunfire does occur China's reaction will be highly limited.

George Washington Strike Group Begins Exercise with Republic of Korea

Things get busy on flight deck of Washington/photo IBT.com

From the link on the bottom of this page you will find a version of what is going on directly from the US Navy's official web page, and they are ready for anything. Most people and I'm not saying just those outside the US but US citizens as well do not realize that US Military ships are considered US Territory so if there was an attack upon the ship (As there has been against the USS Stark and  The USS Cole bombing are actually considered as attacks on US Soil. The US Military is so serious about declaring our ships as US soil that it is law that if by chance a woman from another country was to give birth on board say the USS George Washington that child will become an immediate US Citizen no different than if that child was born to illegal immigrants in a Phoenix Arizona Hospital.

The Untied States cannot afford to just sit back and consider any such attack as just an attack against a US warship rather it must be seen in the light as the USS San Antonio is struck by a missile, to the US government is no different than that missiles actually hitting the vibrant city itself, it is considered as an attack on US soil so keep this in mind as tensions continue to rise.  Although at this present time I see no serious response coming from North Korea or China.
George Washington Strike Group Begins Exercise with Republic of Korea

Is War About To Start Again On The Korean Peninsula?

South Korean Army XK-2 Black Panther Tank/Photo army recognition.com

Early today South Korea and the United States started military exercises in the Yellow Sea early today, and so far except a statement from North Korea saying that the military exercises that have started today is "no more than an attempt to find ignite a war at any cost".  They also warned of unpredictable consequences if the Aircraft Carrier USS George Washington  arrives in the yellow sea, (which it has by the way).

Senator John McCain, R-Arizona made a statement that I agree with, I won't quote it here but basically he puts the blame on all the past administrations both republican and democrat for carrying on a policy off bribery, and for the most part just putting up with them, especially in the past 15 years. In those 15 years we have given North Korea 1 billion dollars trying to bribe them into "being good", and as we can see that doesn't work to well.

Normally the governments of the US and South Korea try and down play any incidents with the North, however even though the Obama administration is keeping a low tone on what is happening the South Korean government is currently urging all journalists to leave the Yeonpyeong Island, which they have rarely done in the past wanting to have immediate press coverage of the North's actions. That in itself is a bit unsettling because that means to me that South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak is taking this latest action quite serious.

On Yeonpyeong island 124 more people were removed from the island under a new mandatory evacuation, everyone leaving before today did so voluntarily, but requiring everyone to leave is just another sign by the South Korean government this is one of the most serious situations since the cease fire of June 27, 1953. Everyone must remember the war is not officially over and has been balanced on that fragile cease fire agreement.

I will keep watching the news today, and will do more updates as required plus I want to look at the history of the conflict and the people currently involved at this time.

Korean Excercises starting in 45 min

My fellow Americans, the US and South Korean exercises are scheduled to begin in 45 minutes, I know many of you had read my last post about the Koreans, and let me just pray I am right, however in a new development North Korea moved some artillery units closer too the coast, which means the circumstances can get worse, that is one thing I did not expect.



USS George Washington/ Photo Strategy Page.com

 As of know the USS George Washington and it's escorts are directly off the island where it all started, now let me tell you this, I have been involved in these exercises before on the USS Constellation, CV-64 and USS Kitty Hawk, CV-63 so these exercises go down every year at this time, so it is not the US trying to inflame the situation, I have been there and done that.

Let's just say for now we all have to pray that cooler heads prevail, and the North Koreans rulers love their positions so much that everything stays under control, it is up to our Lord now!!

My problem is if something happens with our current troop levels in the middle east, you might as well forget about it, although the Washington by itself could take out North Korea's military they are sophisticate enough the death toll would be more than Iraq and Afghanistan combined in about two days, we are not dealing with a backwards country here, we are dealing with a country that has been supplied by China and
the ex-Soviet Union, and all that hardware is sitting there in North Korea waiting to be put to use, God protect our men and women in the military if it comes to that!!!

Short Note On The Koreas Incident

Aircraft Carriers George Washington and Abraham Licnoln/Photos US Navy

he world is much different than it was in the 1950's, China at that time had very little connections to the outside world besides the Soviet Union, today China has a major economic stake in the United States and our allies. China will not ...publicly announce this but they are tired of North Korea and the dead weight that regime is hanging around their neck and most likely have little military reaction to a north-south conflict. As far as North Korea they know if there is a conflict between them and the south it will be political suicide for them, It would end their reign and they love the luxury and money that they deny their own people to risk loosing it, so right now I believe it is just the son demonstrating to his father he is ready to take the helm of power. Of course I have been wrong before, lets just pray I am reading the situation correctly.

I want to study the situation a bit more and see what the reaction will be once the US warships arrive in the area, however I think the north's main reaction is most likely going to be similar to their little show of force today of just firing off shell's in their own territory.

Don't Forget Our Troops This Holiday Season!!!!!

Here it is another thanksgiving and again we have soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen deployed all over the globe, from Antarctica to the deserts in Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan, South Korea to South America.  Today if you can think of the continent we most likely have military personal deployed  in at least one country but most likely multiple countries on that continent.

Right now most of us know the three main deployment areas, mainly Iraq and Afghanistan where our troops are currently in the most danger and of course the troops we have in South Korea and with the recent flair up may God prevent this situation from getting any worse, what few people don't know is the far flung places we do have our military personal. 

After spending 20 years in the navy, I know this can be the hardest time for our men and women in uniform, please take some time out and say a prayer for them, and if you have a way reach out and thank a soldier, airman, sailor or marine. They deserve more thanks than we or our country are capable of showing, but let them know you appreciate their sacrifices they are making for you and your family.

During this time of year the majority of us think about our troops overseas being lonely, but believe it or not, from my own experience the troops who really need our attention are those who are here stateside serving on a military base who could not, for one reason or another make it home for the holidays and will end up eating their thanksgiving meal in the chow hall, don't get me wrong the military cooks will go all out to give them a good meal, but the thought of being so "close" to home but yet so far away brings the blues to many especially for those that this will be their first holiday season away from home.

So during this season, reach out to our troops overseas and at home, if you live near a base many commands have programs where you may be able to invite serviceman or women to your home for dinner, give gifts or just write them a letter of thanks, take some time out and investigate the different methods in your area to show your support for our military.

I

Thanksgiving 2001

Camp Rhino Afghanistan/Photo Virtualglobetrotting.com

Was sitting here tonight and thinking about all the things I am thankful for, and thinking about all the Thanksgiving's of the past.  In the 20 years I spent in the navy up to my 16th year I had always been lucky when it came to deployments and the holidays, most people in the military can usually plan on missing allot of holidays, birthdays, and anniversary's yet up to my sixteenth year the only things I was not home for was my own birthday, as unbelievable as it may seem in my 12 deployments prior to 2001 my birthday is the only thing I ever missed.

In 2001 I was stationed on board the USS Dubuque, LPD-8.  This deployment was scheduled to be from Aug 2001-Feb 2002 so we all knew I was going to miss Sandi's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and our first year wedding anniversary as well as my birthday again, however this was to be my last deployment in my navy career since I was scheduled to transfer to shore duty to Naval Air Station North Island, Ca. as an instructor, and I was expecting it to be almost a pleasure cruise as everything in the world to the most part was pretty calm.

On this deployment we had some pretty good port visits scheduled, some of the place's we were to visit was Hawaii, 3 ports in Australia, Guam, Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, East Timor, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Kenya.  Then on 11 Sept 2001 that whole schedule changed and instead of coming home in February we didn't get back until April. 

So now not only did I spend the holidays away from home I ended having an adventure for thanksgiving that year, as most of you know from previous posts we where in Darwin, Australia when the United States was attacked by Al-Qaeda and from there we got our ship back to sea and by Sept 15th we where off the coast of Pakistan.  Now when I was in the navy I was a "AS" or Aviation Support Equipment Technician and on the Dubuque our mission was to support the US Marines landing force and their helicopters. In my department our main job was running the flight deck and sending the marines into combat by helicopter, however the marines did not have their version of an AS on board so I had the honor of going into Afghanistan with the marines.

So from there my last deployment that I thought was going to be a "pleasure" cruise turned out to be far from it, so to the point of my post here was that on thanksgiving 2001 I ended up deployed into Afghanistan with the marines setting up the first in country base called Camp Rhino, at that time of the year it is quite cold in that region of the world, so here we where in a cold desert setting up a camp and small airstrip for helicopters not knowing what was going to happen.  Lucky for me the worst thing that happened was we where all high strung and nervous and yes we had a few shots fired our way, which we determined was just from some locals who didn't care for us being there and one night there was allot of noise around the perimeter and then loud noises scared the heck out of me as something came flying out over the sand dunes, the marines opened fire and ended up shooting and killing 3 wild camels who I guess was coming in to get water, I felt very sorry for the camels but was thankful that day that it wasn't the Taliban or Al-Qaeda fighters coming through because some of us would have lost or life that day, two days after that I was back on the ship, so today I am thankful I made it through thanksgiving 2001.

New Zealand Miners

Entrance to mine/photo newdawn.com

A few days ago I wrote a post about mining accidents including the current search for 29 miners in New Zealand and I am so sorry to say there was another larger explosion in the mine and as of today the government of New Zealand has declared all 29 miners dead.  My prayers go out to all the families of the men who ranged in age from 17-62. Rescuers say as soon as the high levels of explosive gases dissipate to a safe level they will recover the miners so that their bodies may be returned to family members.

Another Mine Accident



A Coal Mine in Wyoming



It seems like there has been allot of mine accidents in the news lately, and your right there has been and more people have been paying attention since the accident in Chile and now there is another yesterday in New Zealand, however it just hasn't been recently like many things most have slipped the world's collective memories.

I'm sure most Americans remember back in 2006 when first there was the accident at the Sago Mine located in Tallmansville, WV that killed 12 on the second day of Jan, and then 17 days later on 19 Jan, 2 miners were killed at the Alma No. 1 in Melville, WV. and for the United States any ways finished 2006 in Holmes, Ky. at the Darby No. 1 mine which killed 5 miners on 5 May 2006. Now I want everyone to remember one thing, the US actually has one of the best mining safety records.

In 2006 73 US miners died in mine related accidents, that includes coal mines, uranium mines, gold mines, etc., then there were 67 in 2007. Since then death's in US mines have started to decline with 34 deaths in the US last year, now I don't want everyone to confuse these with death's in coal mines. The numberrs I am giving are for all types of mines in the United States. I know this seems like allot of deaths and yes even one is to many but our worst year in the history of US mining was 1907 when 3,242 men died in our mines.

Our mines need to and the Mine Safety and Health Administration need to keep working on methods to reduce our fatalities down close to zero as possible, and someday that goal will  be met. Today many countries who have mining operations still operate like the United States did back in 1907, for example it seems a month doesn't go by without hearing about mine accidents in China, deaths from mining in China is so common place, most miners there will tell you they expect to die underground in some kind of accident, allot of US miners may say that as well but the chance of it happening in the US is relatively low, in China the odds are that most likely the miners are right.

In New Zealand there are currently rescue operations going on to try and rescue 29 men trapped in a coal mine after an explosion but as of yet they say methane gas levels are to high to attempt to rescue the men who have not been heard from since yesterday. Lets pray for these miners to be alive and rescued safely but at the same time, say a word for all miners because they are the soldiers of the mining world, just like combat troops going into battle, when a  miner leaves home for work in the morning he and his family don't know if the miner will be coming back home for sure.

Mine safety in the United States has improved greatly but can still get much better, and as for the rest of the world they need to get serious about mine safety, China looses enough miners every year to populate my home town of Scott City, Ks. and I know some nations don't want our help, but we need to help those who do before the accident instead of after.

Sacramento Burger King An Example Of American Professionalism

The Offending Reciept/ pic FOX NEWS

It seems yesterday a man stopped at a Burger King in Sacramento on Arden Way, near Exposition Boulevard just before 2 a.m. and ordered a double whopper and some funnel cake sticks with the burger cut-in half. The employee at the drive up window handed him his meal and he started to check his order to make sure it was right, when he glanced at his receipt and was shocked to see the "F-Bomb" typed out twice on the receipt. Yes that is F**k You typed out twice where the order numbers usually go.

First thing I thought was, could have the employee just been upset just because he was asked to cut the burger in half? The shocked customer immediately parked his car and went in to complain and said he didn't get a apology from anyone who was working at that time. Later a news team went to this Burger King to ask them some questions and of course everyone working at the time looked very uncomfortable being on the news. I saw the video and still did not hear an apology from anyone at the Burger King, although Burger King's Customer Relations later released an apology and announced the employee responsible and the manger where both terminated.

Now I noticed a long time ago how to me American professionalism and quality of work has been declining drastically in the past 20 years or so.  Back in the day everyone was out to buy "made in America", not just here in the United States but all over the world. When you went shopping whether it was toys for you children or a new car people knew if the product had made in America written on it some where, what you had was something of high quality that would last you many years to come. Made in China or some where else meant it was junk and wouldn't last you long. One thing I do remember coming from another country that was great quality was Matchbox Cars and Hot Wheels which at that time were made in England, today they are made in China or Taiwan and not the same quality.

US manufacturing today have become nothing but junk, now I'm not say all things that we make in this country but most of it.  What are the reasons for the lack of quality, it's very simple, professionalism in this country has gone out the door, no one cares any more because everyone is in a hurry.  It even shows in today's military, when I first enlisted in the Navy in 1984, of course boot camp was very professional however reporting to my first ship the USS Constellation, CV-64 we were very professional.  When you talked to a senior person in the military it was yes sir, no sir, yes petty officer, no petty officer I'm sure you get the point.

On my first ship you and my next command after that you didn't get caught being unprofessional;  some examples would be you didn't walk around with your hands in your pockets, you were respectful to everyone, uniforms were squared away and lastly haircuts were always in regulation. When you had someone working with you who did not care about showing professionalism than everything they did was low quality, if this person was working on a multi-million dollar aircraft in the navy you would have to make sure you check his work ever extra good because when someones attitude is they don't even care how they treat others, take care of themselves, then their work is going to be bad.

Today you go to a fast food restaurants and get customer service like the man at Burger King in Sacramento, you get poorly constructed cars coming from Detroit, an elderly caregiver who don't care, and worse yet people who don't care working in the food industry such as a factory processing chickens which can make thousands sick. It is a illness of American society that has been happening for awhile now and the only way to cure it, is to make everyone responsible for what they do, some people say it's unfair that the supervisor at the Burger King in the spotlight was fired but you know what he or she was the supervisor and they need to supervise and if they don't make them accountable. 

Haiti The Continuing Disaster

The Vibrio cholerae bacteria/photo courtesy Wikipedia

Oh, I am so mad right now, originally when I sat down this evening I was going to talk about the civilian trial of terrorist Ahmed Khalfan Ghailiani who was orginally brought to trial on 285 terrorist charges only to be found guilty of 1, OK I'm say nothing else as I'm so mad right now anything I would write wouldn't be any good.

So I am going to turn to the horrible Cholera outbreak in Haiti, in doing so first let's find out what Cholera actually is, I've heard main stream media cover somewhat lightly so let's see what the definition that doctors recognize.

Cholera:  is a serious infectious disease caused by the bacteria Vibrio Cholerae, which affects the intestinal system of the body. An infected person experiences severe vomiting, explosive diarrhea and severe dehydration, without immediate medical treatment, Cholera may result in death withing four to twelve hours after symptoms begin. Due to a large loss of body fluids, Cholera is gruesome in the way that it leaves survivors in their physical appearance, as well as in the biological toll it takes on the body.

The new Cholera numbers have come out today and shows that there has been 1,110 have died and 18,383 people have been sick in Haiti, however it has now spread with one case in Florida and one case in the Dominican Republic, I do want it to be known though that those two case originated in Haiti but officials are worried because it is contagious.  In Florida state health officials are on the alert because presently 241,000 Haiti-born residents live there.

In the Dominican Republic officials have been ready for possible cases in their country since they do share an island with Haiti and are not expecting a significant breakout of the disease.  US worries in the Dominican Republic is that it  is the second most visited country in the Caribbean by Americans  second only behind Cancun, Mexico. The State Department estimates as of August of this year approximately 900,000 US tourist's have visited the Dominican Republic so health officials in the US are keeping a close watch on people returning from either Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The last Cholera out break in the western hemisphere was back in 1991which started in Peru and spread to sixteen other countries from Argentina to Canada, from 1991 to 1997 650,000 people became sick in Peru alone during that epidemic. Analyzing how the Cholera spread in 1991 the UN is predicting up to 250,000 people sick.

There is a vaccine however as it happens in many third world countries health officials complain that that vaccine is to expensive for general use, plus it would be very problematic to mobilize the entire population to receive the vaccine, now isn't this the same excuse we hear all over the world about why people are dieing all over the world because vaccines are to expensive to vaccinate a countries population against a peculiar disease. That is how it is in this greedy world now, money is more important than lives, makes me sick.

On another issue that has risen from this outbreak is that Haiti citizens have been rioting blaming the UN for the Cholera outbreak, I guess there has been rumors that peace keepers from the nation of Nepal came to Haiti already sick and are spreading it in Haiti, and although the UN denies such a report, some UN officials and soldiers have been attacked, hospitals have reported at least 6 people coming to them with gunshot wounds to various areas of the body, but it hasn't been disclosed if the wounded were UN Peace Keepers or Haitians.  I personally don't like the UN but right now sympathy's go out to the peacekeepers trying to do their job in that type of climate.

Leaked U.S. Marshal Body Scan Images Revealed | NBC San Diego

Full body-scanners photo courtesy of nbcsandiego.com

You know it's funny this morning before school I was going to write about the individual here in San Diego and how he refused to go through the body scanner and refused a hand search, in that story I was going to stand up the use of the body scanner but before I could get started writing it my son Jesiah woke up and distracted me so the writing never got done, well thank heavens because look what we have here.

In the post I was going to do earlier today I was somewhat going to lash out at John Tyner the individual here in San Diego, first of all to say that the manufacturer of this machine and the US government has both told us that images cannot be stored in any way on these scanners, an secondly to tell John that I think that he never had any intention of getting on this flight in the first place and was hoping for something good he could post on the Internet, especially when he refused the pat down, he knew you had to go through security to get on a plane, so honestly I don't think he planned to get on the airplane in the first place.  Now look his Youtube video has gone viral and he's made front page news on almost every newspaper and news web service, he's been on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and even BBC, and other world media sites, so he got what he was after.

OK now what I want to do is address this issue of the body scanners, it seems that once again the public has been lied to, after being told that images could never be stored from body scanners we find out that is a lie.  It turns out that some US Marshall's in a court house somewhere found a way to store around 35, 000 images.  The model these US Marshall's were using was a different model than what the TSA is reacquiring airports to install, and is actually considered the "less embarrassing machine" because it show less detail of the body than the models going to the airports.

Even though these the machine the images were saved on is different than the ones going to the airport, according to the manufactures and TSA came out in early August of this year and claimed that "body-scanner images cannot be stored or recorded in any way", now we just have to wait for TSA to come out and say that did not pertain to the machines currently in use, or something like that because they will have to find a way to cover up this lie somehow.

Below is a link to the orginal story.
Leaked U.S. Marshal Body Scan Images Revealed NBC San Diego

US Democracy and Aung San Suu Kyi

I Voted photo courtesy Daniel Morrison

It's funny how Americans are so pleased to claim their democratic roots and of course criticize their government about many aspects where they feel that our government is unfair, yet few Americans really get involved in politics in this country. Democracy is supposed to be rule by the people, but mostly what I hear from the people is allot of complaints, and many of the whiners don't even bother to vote. Don't vote don't whine is all I have to say. In the midterm election just completed on Nov 2, current estimate of voter turn out stands at about 40.2%.

40.2%  how disgusting, why did only 40.2% of registered voters vote in the midterm election? First just in case you didn't get it, yes I said less than half of registered voters failed to vote, if you count the population of the US who weren't even registered this means only 29% of Americans voted in the 2010 midterm elections. What does that mean? That means only 29% of us decide how this country is run.

I understand there is much apathy in this country when it comes to politics and I wish there was a quick fix on how to get more people involved in government.  One thing I know allot of Americans think the US political system is set up for the American wealthy, which for the most part is true.  If you look back in history the original Founding Fathers purposely set up our system so only the weatlhy would have a say so, after all they where some of the 52 riches men in America when they wrote up the US Constitution, the man in charge of the convention and  soon the be the first president of the United States Of America, none other than General George Washington himself was the richest man in the US at the time.  So originally our government was set up with an intent on protecting the wealthy families of America.

When the constitution was completed the only real regulation on voting the framers had included was that it was up to each of the 13 states to provide requirements for becoming a voter.  In the beginning the states gave very few Americans the right to vote, the main stumbling block was that you had to be rich in all states except Rhode Island , not necessarily in cash, for at that time wealth was often measured in how much land you owned, how many slaves you may have owned, investments as well as cold hard cash.
Now at first Americans were so busy trying to make a living to take care of their families and pay of huge debts which most people had ran up establishing farms and homes when this nation first started, however as farm work began to become more technologically advanced and the American public began having more free time and more money they began to fight for their rights to vote, the original requirements being you had to be male, white and wealthy.

Eventually after many demonstrations, mini rebellions and countless deaths class by class the American public received the right to vote and become more involved, until finally the only requirements where to be an American citizen with out a felony criminal record.

I wish people would remember these sacrifices so many people have made for the right to vote, that has been taken for granted so much only 29% of Americans vote, let take a more modern example of  Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma or Myanmar who has been in house arrest up to a couple days ago for 15 of the last 21 years.

Her fight for democracy in her country started in 1988 when the country's military ruler Ne Win stepped down from power and she began to lead demonstrations for democracy, to which the new military junta running the country agreed and elections eventually were held in 1990 where she won 59% of the vote for Prime Minister and her political party the National League For Democracy won 81% of the seats in Parliament, the elections results where disregarded by the military and she spent most of the years after that in house arrest. This was not her only sacrifice. for Burma. In 1947 her father Aung San founded the "modern" Burmese Army and negotiated Burma's independence from the British Empire and sadly was assassinated that same year.  This is just an example on how seriously democracy is taken just in one part of the world, but stories like this happen every day in every corner of the world.

It is time for Americans to get involved in our governmental process, many lives where lost to give us the right to vote, and yet hardly any of us act upon that right.  Many people in the world are fighting to throw of ruthless dictators to gain democracy, yet here in America if we don't watch out we may loose this thing called democracy that so many Americans take for granted, either quickly by some kind of military action or slowly as those in charge really start to take advantage of our apathy toward government and slowly erode our rights one by one!

Are Americans Closet Racists?



Klu Klux Klan march in 1920/ photo historycoopertive.com



Every day I spend time browsing several news sights from all over the nation and the world, and though I've noticed this before, it really stuck me today.  Out in public racism may seem to be dyeing down from what it used to be years ago but as I was reading the story about the five motorcyclist who where killed in a auto/motorcycle accident today it dawned on me that in private racism may be worse than it was 20 years ago.

Everyone knows now when you go on news sites such as CNN, Fox News and even many of the local news web sights now, you can log on either anonymously or if you are someone who isn't afraid to voice your opinion and stand up for it too, you can log in using your real name and leave a comment about the particular news story that interests you.

What struck me today was how so many of the comments left are racist and of course they hide behind false names or just log in as guest, if you want a example you can look at the web page that I was looking at today regarding the accident and see the remarks I'm talking about at http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=13498402 

I just know this kind of cowardice really makes me feel sick that this day and age there are still people out there who act like the United States is stuck in the past, how for the most part publicly Americans portray themselves one way and in private can be raciest jerks. I am in no way trying to say the majority of us are like people you see posting these horrible remarks in the comments sections, but it is this small group of people who prevent our country from being what it could be, we could be a people that could shine as an example for those countries where genocide is a daily occurrence. No wonder the United States rarely if ever intervenes in places like Rwanda and The Congo.

It's time for this small minority of Americans to grow up and join the 21st century with the rest of us.

Afghanistan Requests Iran To Increase It's Presence In Their Country

Zalmay Rassoul/Photo Embassy of Afghanistan Washington Dc

Right now in 2010 the nation of Iran is considered a threat to the stability of the Middle East and other parts of the wold, and a specific threat toward Israel and yet Iran is and has been engaged in high level diplomatic talks with Afghanistan and since we all know that the United States says that Iran is supplying support to terrorists in both Iraq and Afghanistan. So we should assume that Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmay Rassoul must be in Iran trying to end Iran's support of these groups trying to tear down Afghanistan's fledgling government.

Oh but if that's what I was assuming than I was way off the mark, it seems that Foreign Minister Rassoul was in Iran earlier this month addressing Iran's Supreme National Security Council not about the illegal arming of insurgents in his country, but rather he was asking Saeed Jalili, the head minister of the Supreme Council to increase their presence in Afghanistan as well as requesting Iran to boost it's involvement  in peace talks to end the conflict in Afghanistan which was invaded in 2001 by United States and coalition forces after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Now first let me point out that of course Afghanistan is a sovereign nation that can hold talks and make treaties with whoever, whenever they want to and in no way am I saying that they should be acting as a puppet of the United States. They are neighbors of Iran so by all means they should be holding talks to try and assure their national security and if making good with Iran will do that, more power to them, however they are forgetting one thing, there are US troops in Afghanistan and Iran, and the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made public threats toward the United States and other coalition forces so inviting Iran to have a public up front presence in Afghanistan to me is a slap in our faces and may result in increased fighting and a longer US presence in Afghanistan.

I believe 100% that we need to be in Afghanistan hunting down and destroying the terrorist's currently trying to use Afghanistan as a safe haven and as place to carry out their Jihad against the US, and we need to make it clear to the government of Afghanistan that any Iranian Nationals found in the country without specific diplomatic missions will be taken into custody as possible security threat to US forces, if we don't Iran will take our non-response as a publicly opened door to so supply weapons or even send agents to carry out attacks themselves, I say publicly because I believe that Iran is already doing this "secretly" in Afghanistan as it was already proven they were doing in Iraq in the past, it was easier to prove in Iraq however because Iraq themselves at the time considered Iran a threat to their security.

Now I know their will be allot of readers out there who are not going to agree with on me this, but I see the main goal of our leaders should always be the safety of our troops while they carry out the mission they send them on.

Wild Animal Spotted In Alpine, California

Photo Courtesy Mike Simmons/Getty Images

Well once again the human population are shaking in their boots, and letting the news media know they are outraged that a wild animal has been spotted back in it's old habitat that they where forced out of when people began building these towns up in the mountains.  The only things that seemed to be hurt was five missing free range chickens, but the owner of the chickens actually didn't seem that upset, she actually admitted hey, it's our fault we are in their stomping grounds.

Oh what is this wild animal on the loose? A Mountain Lion or Cougar depending what part of the United States you live in, despite the name Mountain Lion back before the European explorers came to North America these beautiful animals actually roamed much of this continent. In this case CBS News San Diego (http://www.cbs8.com/) reports this particular Mountain Lion was spotted walking right down one of Alpines main streets.

At this time there seems to be no danger to pets or people, like I said above the only possible victims were the five free range chickens, however animal control, and the Forest Service said as a precaution until when and if this lion is found you shouldn't walk alone, don't let your children more than 25ft away from you if you are out, and keep your pets inside.  As of this afternoon however the only people who have actually seen the Mountain Lion are the residents of Alpine who originally reported it, rangers nor animal control have seen or located it and if they do they say they will humanely trap it and relocate it someplace farther from human habitation.  So if your up their in Alpine probably not much to worry about but ther is nothing wrong with being safe.

9/11 My Outrage

USS Dubuque, LPD-8 Courtesy US Navy

Hello everyone, if you are a regular reader of my blog you have already read my first entry on 9/11 and how I'm getting so upset at my fellow Americans and other people of the world who are bad mouthing the United States over Afghanistan. So the last I posted I was telling the story of where exactly I was on that day.

For me and all the other sailors stationed on board the Amphibious Transport Dock USS Dubuque, LPD-8 it was actually September 12th because we happened to be on a port call in Darwin, Australia.  First thing we heard was rumors going around the ship that a small plane, perhaps something like a Cessna had crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. At hearing this we all stopped what we where doing and took a break to see if we could find out was happening by tuneing in one of the news stations.

We turned on the news, and basically getting from them that it could have been anything from a light aircraft to a passenger jet that had gone terribly of course but not even a whisper about a possible attach. Then as we were watching another a jet liner came into view and smacked right into the other tower. Like I said in my first post on 9/11 all hell broke loose!

Before any of us could respond the general quarters (battle stations) alarm went off, our commanding officer didn't even second guess, he knew something bad was going down.  All of us on duty assembled on the flight deck and where given weapons and ammunition, the ship installed weapons which are normally unloaded while in port where loaded up and manned.  Our first responsibility was to make sure the ship and our crew were protected, our second job was to get over three quarters of the crew who was out enjoying liberty in Darwin back on the ship so we could get underway.  Sailors and Marines are not a dumb lot, and as soon as the attacks started making the local news there in Australia it didn't take long to get just about everyone back on board.

At this point all of us on board knew that our deployment schedule had totally changed and we would be heading somewhere to strike back, to be honest most of us thought our target was Iraq, but myself I wasn't surprised to find out that it was Al Qaeda after all they by this time had already killed some of our shipmates from the USS Cole. Within probably about 12 hours we where manned and ready to get back out to sea. I remember seeing others on board, as well as myself watching planes take off and land at the Darwin airport and just wondering if we or Darwin could be an attack, but Thank God no further attack came.  I to remembered that soon we would loose communication with the outside world so I immediately emailed my wife Sandi to tell her I love her and was OK.  My Father In law Gary Vines who was also in the navy

and although permanently assigned to the USS Pellilu happened to be on board the Dubuque that day of the attacks and he to wrote Sandi's mom to do the same.  About 1 hour after the attacks our phones and email was off. You can't have people telling family what our plans of attack were.

Like I said about 12 hours later, all of us exhausted from getting ready to get to sea, and watching the news we headed back to sea.  Now this is another thing I won't forget, as we started to slowly leave port, sliding through the channel the citizens of Australia lined the banks of the bay all the way to the beach waving US Flags and holding signs declaring their support for the American people, at that time I thought we would have the majority of the world's people supporting us.  We didn't know the death toll yet but we knew it would be large and because the main target was the World Trade Center it wouldn't be all American citizens who where killed.

As the coast of Australia slipped over the horizon that day I knew the world had forever changed and that we where in for a long deployment, I was right on both counts as our normally six month deployment stretched to almost ten and here we are nine years later still fighting in Afghanistan.