Rose Covered Glasses

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY THE US HAS A $16 TRILLION NATIONAL DEBT?

2012-01-28T19:39:00.003-05:00

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY ORGANIZATION CHART
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY ROSE

2012-01-16T09:27:00.001-05:00

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COMING FEBRUARY 1ST - 2012 - The 4th Edition of "Small Business Federal Government Contracting"

2012-01-06T18:05:00.003-05:00

The 4th Edition of "Small Business Federal Government Contracting" will be available1 February 2012 free as a download from the first, vertical, Box Net Cube in the left margin of the below site:

http://www.smalltofeds.com

The document is expanded to include articles published during the 2010 and 2011 business years and is presented in the logical order of topics normally encountered by an enterprise entering or growing into small business government contracting.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2011 FROM ROSE COVERED GLASSES

2011-11-25T10:20:00.003-05:00

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Traces of TCE in Camp Lejeune’s Water Supply Could be the Cause of Some Veteran’s Health Concerns

2011-10-22T11:15:00.016-04:00

This article is brought to you courtesy of Douglas Karr a US Navy Veteran and highly regarded blogger at the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog:

http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/doug/bio.htm

__________________________________________________________________

Following service in the military, many servicemen and women think their most complicated battles are behind them. Unfortunately, many veterans suffer long-lasting mental and physical health issues. Scientists and doctors are continually making connections between veterans and the multiple diseases and health conditions that seem to plague them.

Though it has long been known that the nation's veterans are at high risk for developing asbestos cancer or mesothelioma, other cancer risks are newly emerging. In fact, as recently as early October 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency warned that anyone who served or lived on base at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina between the 1950s and 1980s is at risk for developing a number of cancers related to water contamination on the base. Though multiple cancers are listed as possible risks, the EPA specifically linked consumption of the water's contaminants to breast cancer, kidney cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and liver cancer.

Apparently, trichloroethylene - known as TCE - made it into the water supply at the base. TCE is highly toxic to humans and causes multiple types of cancer. Exposure to the contaminant is responsible for claiming many lives, including children living at the base. Some diseases related to the exposure are latent, meaning it may take many years before they develop in the body. Unfortunately, those effects may continue for many years to come. According to the EPA, individuals who lived or worked on the base between the 1950s and 1980s were exposed to the chemical, placing them at risk for many years to come.

The discovery is no surprise to the countless men, women and children who have fallen ill due to exposure to the water at Camp Lejeune. What else could account for the more than 70 recorded cases of male breast cancer at the base? Despite decades of suspicion surrounding the water at Camp Lejeune, previous studies from the National Research Council found no confirmation of a link between the base's water and the multiple diseases that service members and their families were suffering. However, the recent discoveries by the Environmental Protection Agency disprove those previous reports, raising hope and awareness for veterans who have long sought out answers and recompense for their suffering.

Autos, Entitlement and "The Technology Monkey"

2011-09-11T09:20:00.006-04:00

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We are getting all types of new gadgets in our autos and on our person these days, but common sense is not being programmed into them. We become different creatures in our cars - financed to the hilt, full of ourselves and distracted. We feel entitled, tending our technologies and our powerful machines.

I am a pedestrian, now retired, who has walked the last 5 years by choice from the Veterans Home to a volunteer job daily at the Hastings Library. The journey is 3 miles one way. Some of my journey takes me through city traffic. I have found myself sprawled across the hood of a car after the driver turned right without looking to a green light crosswalk because she was talking on a cell phone. I have been cursed for being in the middle of the road in a clearly marked pedestrian right of way by a speeder late to work running a red light who had to brake to avoid killing me. I could recount other similar near- miss incidents, too numerous to mention.

Having driven for 36 years both in the US and abroad, and having spent 2 hours a day in an automobile on the D.C. Beltway at the end of my aerospace career, I am very familiar with the driving experience. I saw it all in Washington; from cars driving down in the ditch avoiding traffic jams to people late for a meeting running wildly around their auto, screaming at the world in general. During the sniper episode in Washington, I observed a man pull into a gas station, laying a loaded high powered rifle across the top of his car while he filled up. The hammer on that 30/30 lever action was cocked. No one was going to hurt his chariot.

There is a new kind of monkey these days - the technology monkey. That sucker will bury us if we don't learn to deal with him. We are so busy tending our gadgets and feeling entitled that we lose site of priorities, get wound up in minutia and end up in a meaningless zoo. Road rage is becoming a certifiable illness. Perhaps we should slow down, assess what is important, savor the time we have and consider respect for others. It is not difficult. It can become habit forming. And it just might feel good.

Ken Larson

http://about.me/smalltofeds

Franz Gayl Needs Your Help

2011-08-13T11:27:00.007-04:00

UPDATE from POGO - 17 November 2011:

"The Marine Corps whistleblower who exposed the Department of Defense's (DoD) delay in providing troops with Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) has received notice that he can return to work, ending a four-year ordeal in which he had lost his security clearance and faced the loss of his job.

The Navy’s decision (the Marine Corps is within the Navy) to reinstate Gayl’s security clearance came after the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) intervened in the case in October by asking the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to stay a decision to give Gayl, a Marine Corps science advisor, an indefinite suspension without pay. Gayl's decision in 2007 to tell Congress and the public about the delays in providing troops the heavily armored MRAPs forced the DoD to speed up production of the vehicles and, as a result, likely saved the lives of thousands of troops and prevented serious injuries to many thousands more.

In its request to the MSPB, the OSC cited a petition that the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) and the Government Accountability Project (GAP) had submitted to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Nearly 4,000 people signed the joint POGO/GAP petition. The OSC agreed with petitioners that “there are reasonable grounds to believe” Gayl's suspension violates the Whistleblower Protection Act.

The MSPB issued a 45-day stay on Oct. 13 to give the OSC time to investigate whether Gayl had been retaliated against. After Gayl blew the whistle, he lost his security clearance, which kept him from returning to work. His attorneys at GAP argued that the indefinite suspension without pay was a way to "starve him out" of the Marine Corps.

"As former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates noted, thousands and thousands of Marines owe their lives and safety to the brave actions of Franz Gayl," POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian said. "What Gayl has endured is a gross injustice. It's not the way this country should treat its heroes and only underscores the need for Congress to immediately pass the Platts-Van Hollen Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2011."

Gayl issued the following statement through GAP:

“I want to express my deepest thanks to all who have supported me throughout this ordeal. It goes without saying that absent the continuous advocacy of GAP and POGO, I would have been forced from government service years ago. However, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) under the inspiring leadership of Carolyn Lerner has been the godsend that enabled this recent turn-around. OSC's determination to request a stay, and the MSPB's willingness to support it, allowed enough time for the Department of the Navy to deliver a considered and favorable security adjudication that now permits me to get back to work. I am as committed as ever to return to my Marine Corps to work hard in support of all Marines in the capacities for which I was hired. Again, without OSC, GAP, POGO, and the MSPB, this renewed opportunity would not be possible!”

According to the Washington Post in the following article, Marine Corps Civilian Scientist, Franz Gayl:

“…..made a name for himself a few years ago as a Marine Corps whistle blower, a civilian scientist who helped push the Pentagon to shift its Iraqi weapons strategy. Senators called him a hero for disclosures that helped get heavily armored vehicles known as MRAPs to the battlefield.

But a few weeks ago, Gayl found himself booted from a room where confidential materials are handled and stripped of his security clearance. His superiors accused him of "a disregard for regulations, a pattern of poor judgment and intentional misconduct" - behavior that they said "indicates you are unreliable and untrustworthy."

The article goes on to explain that incidents sited in the clearance removal decision were not reported officially as security breaches, but were judgement calls on the part of Gayl's immediate superiors, upon whom his disclosures in the whistle blower incident had applied considerable pressure.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/19/AR2010111903475.html?sid=ST2010111903784

The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) has mounted an electronic mail-in campaign to get the decision reversed:

https://secure3.convio.net/pogo/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=194&autologin=true

Will the public respond to this project and can we continue to tolerate this kind of behavior on the part of military officials in a bloated Pentagon spending billions of tax payer dollars each year?

Is the US Citizenry willing to Save a $Trillion By Shaving the Fat From the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) ?

2011-08-04T12:00:00.006-04:00

Time Magazine contains the Article, "How to Save a Trillion Dollars". Mark Thompson serves up the latest facts and thinking on the defense posture of the US today and the role of the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) at the link below:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2065246,00.html

He asks some disturbing questions:

"Across Washington, all sorts of people are starting to ask the unthinkable questions about long-sacred military budgets. Can the U.S. really afford more than 500 bases at home and around the world? Do the Air Force, Navy and Marines really need $400 billion in new jet fighters when their fleets of F-15s, F-16s and F-18s will give them vast air superiority for years to come? Does the Navy need 50 attack submarines when America's main enemy hides in caves? Does the Army still need 80,000 troops in Europe 66 years after the defeat of Adolf Hitler?"

It concludes with the following statement:

"For too long, an uninterested and distracted citizenry has been content to leave the messy business of national defense to those with bottom-line reasons for force-feeding it like a foie gras goose. It's long past time, Ike might have added today, for U.S. taxpayers to demand that its government spend what is needed to defend the country — not a penny more."

We fully support and agree with this concept.

Watchdog Groups Identify Nearly $600 Billion in National Security Spending Cuts:

http://www.pogo.org/pogo-files/alerts/national-security/ns-wds-20110721.html

The spending cuts targeted by POGO and Taxpayers for Common Sense, include:

* $300 billion by reducing Department of Defense (DoD) service contracts by 15 percent;
* $72 billion by reducing non-DoD service contracts by 15 percent;
* $60 billion through reforms to the DoD’s TRICARE health care system;
* $44 billion by replacing two of the three F-35 variants with the less expensive F/A-18 E/F’s;
* $30 billion by withdrawing 20,000 troops from Europe, and
* $12 billion by not renewing the procurement contract for the V-22 Osprey.

These actions must be taken and pose no risk to national security. Tell your government representatives to get on with it.

2011 Small Business Awards Ceremony Department of Agriculture

2011-06-25T13:43:00.008-04:00

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This was a very enjoyable ceremony.

The Department of Agriculture is doing many good things for Small Business these days and rates at the top of the heap among all the others in my book.

There were awards in the Veteran-owned business category, HUB Zone, Small Business and Woman-owned business, in which one of my clients, pictured here, was named the national winner.

More Pictures at:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150344297894148.424702.822504147&l=f1edc3abbb

A War Veteran's Commentary on the Death of Osama Bin Laden

2011-05-02T07:32:00.009-04:00

OF TYRANTS AND WISE MEN

The death of this tyrant simply brings to the fore an old threat that had assumed a place of insignificance on the world stage.

We created Bin Laden and many more like him today by military incursions, fought in the memory of 3,000 dead civilians who were attacked because we did not leave the Middle East after the first Gulf War. These incursions were fed by foul, intentionally staged intelligence, fronted by agencies and industries bent on economic gain.

We fought a just and honorable war assisting many Middle East allies and other countries to free Kuwait. General Schwarzkopf is a true American hero. You will note he came home and stayed home. His predecessors then hung around with an imperialist attitude, resented by cultures that have hated that type of control for thousands of years.

These incursions have killed thousands of our finest youth and maimed the lives of countless others. We learned nothing from the Russians, our own experiences in Vietnam and similar outings in the past.

The average American will pay for this ruin in decades to come through taxes supporting hospital care, social services and veteran's homes.

At the bottom line, the death of Bin Laden will serve to continue motivation that will feed the Military Industrial Complex.

It would have been best if this death had gone virtually unnoticed into the annals of time. The war racket in America will continue until we are totally broke and lack credit in the world community. It will then cease.

That is the death I look forward to. The death of monetary tyranny in war fighting.

VIETNAM VETERANS DAY 2011

2011-03-29T19:20:00.005-04:00

12 Names on a Wall in Washington D.C.
Forgotten by Many but Not By Me

To those who died serving USAECAV 1966-1968 Countrywide

http://thewall-usa.com/

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall Page

Database of the 58,195 Names on The Wall in Wash,D.C. This is the most accurate database online.

STRATFOR ON : "Never Fight a Land War in Asia"

2011-03-02T09:02:00.013-05:00

The recent article by George Friedman (left) of STRATFOR, "Never Fight a Land War In Asia", is worthy of a close read:

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110228-never-fight-land-war-asia?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=110301&utm_content=readmore&elq=04da14afce1a4d288f92e97351dcf022

We also applaud Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates (left) for the following statement:

“Any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should have his head examined.”

Considering the events in the Middle East and the struggles by the young population in those countries to progress, the US has learned the hard way that our purposed reasons for going to war would have taken care of themselves had we not been pressured by the Military Industrial Complex and the Intelligence Communities to stage fruitless incursions that enriched large corporations at the expense of American lives.

Below is an extract from Friedman's article:

"In saying this, Gates was repeating a dictum laid down by Douglas MacArthur after the Korean War, who urged the United States to avoid land wars in Asia. Given that the United States has fought four major land wars in Asia since World War II — Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq — none of which had ideal outcomes, it is useful to ask three questions: First, why is fighting a land war in Asia a bad idea? Second, why does the United States seem compelled to fight these wars? And third, what is the alternative that protects U.S. interests in Asia without large-scale military land wars?

The alternative is diplomacy, not understood as an alternative to war but as another tool in statecraft alongside war. Diplomacy can find the common ground between nations. It can also be used to identify the hostility of nations and use that hostility to insulate the United States by diverting the attention of other nations from challenging the United States. That is what happened during the Iran-Iraq war. It wasn’t pretty, but neither was the alternative.

Diplomacy for the United States is about maintaining the balance of power and using and diverting conflict to manage the international system. Force is the last resort, and when it is used, it must be devastating. The argument I have made, and which I think Gates is asserting, is that at a distance, the United States cannot be devastating in wars dependent on land power. That is the weakest aspect of American international power and the one the United States has resorted to all too often since World War II, with unacceptable results. Using U.S. land power as part of a combined arms strategy is occasionally effective in defeating conventional forces, as it was with North Korea (and not China) but is inadequate to the demands of occupation warfare. It makes too few troops available for success, and it does not know how many troops might be needed.

This is not a policy failure of any particular U.S. president. George W. Bush and Barack Obama have encountered precisely the same problem, which is that the forces that have existed in Eurasia, from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in Korea to the Taliban in Afghanistan, have either been too numerous or too agile (or both) for U.S. ground forces to deal with. In any war, the primary goal is not to be defeated. An elective war in which the criteria for success are unclear and for which the amount of land force is insufficient must be avoided. That is Gates’ message. It is the same one MacArthur delivered, and the one Dwight Eisenhower exercised when he refused to intervene in Vietnam on France’s behalf. As with the Monroe Doctrine, it should be elevated to a principle of U.S. foreign policy, not because it is a moral principle but because it is a very practical one."

From Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan this writer has traveled a road of combat illness, weapons odysseys, recovery and lessons learned over 40 years. Has our leadership become wiser and learned their lessons as well?

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2006/11/odyssey-of-armaments.html

Final Report and Letter to Senator Al Frankin on Hastings Minnesota Veterans Home Investigation

2011-01-03T11:44:00.011-05:00

The final report by the Minnesota Department of Veteran's Affairs on the 2010 Investigation of the Hastings Veterans Home and the resultant letter to Senator Al Frankin can be downloaded from the Box Net Cube in the right margin of this site.

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2010 SCORE Award Ken Larson

2010-12-18T12:23:00.003-05:00

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM ROSE COVERED GLASSES

2010-12-08T13:29:00.003-05:00

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Ken Larson on Hastings Veteran's Home Issues

2010-11-22T11:48:00.009-05:00

I have lived at the Hastings Veteran's Home for 5 years. This blog was formed by other veteran's at the home and myself in 2006 and has carried certain issues with regard to veteran's care. As a matter of record, I wish to convey a letter I wrote to my sister on the most recent events. I will let it speak for itself :

Hi Sis,

No, I have not experienced retaliation here.

I am only at the facility in the early morning for breakfast and in the evening for dinner and then sleep. The rest of the time I am gone on other matters. I live across the road from the main building these days in a smaller unit along the river. I get my medications twice a month and take that myself. My glasses, dental care and annual physicals, flu shots and the like are all part of the rent I pay from my pension. The clothing room and similar furnishings are available when I need them. What remains of my monthly check is adequate for me because my needs are very simple these days.

As I got well 5 years ago, I realized part of my recovery required getting as far away from bureaucratic settings and authority as possible. I found over the years in the war zone and in 35 years of corporations and dealing with Washington DC that my tolerance level for it was 0 at age 60.

I have taken pains never to meet the top management of the facility here. When Clark Dyrud was Veteran's Commissioner he and I had lunch and exchanged emails over the years since he assisted me out of Washington, but by mutual agreement we never discussed work; only family and friends from high school and our experiences in Vietnam, since he and I went through some of the same trauma during the war. I have never been seen in public with Clark on facility grounds. Now that he is retired I am sure he is relieved. He was a good services officer for over 30 years.

I meet with staff here only twice a year for a care team review. They know what I do and respect me for it. I have received facility volunteer awards for my work in the community each of the 5 years I have been here. All staff I have encountered have been professional at what they do, sincere in their motives and helpful. They have a difficult job. The population here is of vastly varying backgrounds and ages. Many are 20 years younger than I and have a lot of life ahead of them but fell on hard times, addiction, depression and other maladies veterans are particularly vulnerable to.

I have supported both Tony and Louie with advice, government insights into agencies, correspondence and getting legal help. I got Tony's paperwork released from Homeland Security under the Freedom of Information Act because I know how to do it having worked government agencies in my career. I wrote a letter that resulted in Louie getting some wood working privileges back that had been taken away and a visit from a State Representative. I have done all this behind the scenes and on a personal basis with these men. I also arranged for Tony's Washington D.C. pro-bono legal help, and set up a blog for him and his cause:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2008/11/navy-veteran-has-waited-2-years-for.html

I helped both men because I felt the system, from the federal level to the state level, was letting them down. They have appreciated my assistance and have told me so.

This facility to me is a room with a beautiful view of the Vermilion River, a great little small town I enjoy, fishing, photography, writing, and intellectually stimulating non-profit volunteer work in an office supplied by the county at no cost so I can help small business.

I have served 3,700 clients through the non-profit organization SCORE, many local businesses and small enterprises in every state in the union and its territories. I have American clients in several foreign countries. Roughly 30 % of my client base is veterans. My government contracting web site has received over 74,000 visits and 133,000 page views:

http://www.sitemeter.com/?a=stats&s=s31larsoke2

In short, the Minnesota Veteran's Home is an ingredient in Ken, reinvented in retirement and I am enjoying it very much.

I consider the recent events unfortunate, but sometimes they are necessary for improvements.

I hope you understand,

Love,

Ken

Louie Klimek Speaks

2010-11-16T08:51:00.001-05:00

Tony Rose Speaks

2010-11-12T12:06:00.006-05:00

Interview on Channel 9 on Veteran's Day with Tony Rose, former resident at Hastings Veteran's Home.

"WE THE PEOPLE" AND A FINANCIAL BAROMETER OF THE FUTURE

2010-10-07T20:08:00.010-04:00

The link below is the official US Government spending web site, updated to reflect the current 2010 annual trend:

http://www.usaspending.gov/explore?carryfilters=on

Here is a quote from the following link on the national debt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_position_of_the_United_States

"Foreigners own more than $15.6 trillion of US financial assets, or 107% of GDP. Americans own $11.5 trillion of foreign assets, approximately 78.9% of US GDP.

Foreign holdings of US assets are concentrated in debt. Americans own more foreign equity and foreign direct investment than foreigners own in the United States, but foreigners hold nearly four times as much US debt as Americans hold in foreign debt.

15.2% of all US debt is owed to foreigners. Of the $7.9 trillion Americans owe to foreigners, $3.9 trillion is owed by the federal government. 48% of US treasury securities are held by foreigners.Foreigners hold $1.28 trillion in agency- and government sponsored enterprise-backed securities, and another $2.33 trillion in US corporate bonds.

Foreigners hold 24% of domestic corporate debt and 17% of domestic corporate equity."

You may also be interested in the following link:

http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20100830_china_rumors_central_bank_chiefs_defection?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=100830&utm_content=GIRimage&elq=9f381a1f851341cfa81049351b5b498d

It reads in part:

"Rumors have been circulating in China that People’s Bank of China (PBC) Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan may have left the country. The rumors appear to have started following reports on Aug. 28 which cited Ming Pao, a Hong Kong-based news agency, saying that because of an approximately $430 billion loss on U.S. Treasury bonds, the Chinese government may punish some individuals within PBC, including Zhou. Although Ming Pao on Aug. 30 published a report on its website indicating that the prior report was fabricated by a mainland news site that had attributed the false information to Ming Pao, rumors of Zhou’s defection have spread around China intensively, and Zhou’s name has been blocked from Internet search engines in China."

Keep an eye on where "We the Peoples" money is being spent and how much cumulative national debt We the People are carrying to gauge the future of the great democratic experience in the United States.

10 Ways to Avoid the Next World War

2010-09-01T20:18:00.008-04:00

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Conflicting parties must recognize the following facts:

1. The pace of technology, communication and weapons has now outpaced the necessity for war as a means of advancing progress. The threat is too great for mutually assured destruction.

2. We are on new ground, never experienced before in terms of being "Wired" as a world - economically, socially, environmentally and scientifically:

http://www.box.net/shared/rv3a0vdr6b

3. Recent events involving US war "Interventions" and the incredibly out of control nature of the Military Industrial Complex have demonstrated their danger, their folly and their contribution to the largest national debt ever to grace the face of the earth.

4. Alternatives to war in terms of scientific advancement not only are required, but are in progress.

5. The war makers are broke and operating on world credit subject to world approval.

6. The environment is screaming for protection and we will get on with it.

7. Conflicting ideas, if managed constructively, can yield a hybrid solution to a challenge that is a better product or service than either side of the initial equation.

8. The key to managing international relations constructively is fostering an environment respectful of all points of view but led by individuals who are driving to fulfilling peaceful, progressive objectives as a first priority and who blend differences of opinion decisively.

9. Winning and losing are being redefined by the above.

10. We can no longer as a world community continue the present course of wars.

Vets home resident says Rose’s claim to get money back is unfounded

2010-08-12T07:45:00.002-04:00

When reading the story linked above, please recall the following:

As the Hastings Gazette has previously reported, there are 3 important differences between Mr. Rose and Mr. Weeks:

1. Mr. Rose was denied his citizenship by his country for a period of 4 years. His country later admitted the error and reinstated it, only after Mr. Rose acquired his file under the Freedom of Information Act on his own, located a lawyer on his own and worked on his case with legal counsel which he acquired on his own.

2. Mr. Rose is 70 years old and was denied his rightfully paid social security for a period of almost 4 years due to the government error on his citizenship status.

3. Mr. Rose has never filed for any kind of disability, worked for over 40 years in this country and paid his taxes during that period.

HASTINGS GAZETTE UPDATE ARTICLE ON TONY ROSE

2010-08-05T20:01:00.005-04:00

Battle between Rose and Vets Home continues

"Nearly six months after Hastings veteran Tony Rose received a $48,000 bill from the veterans’ home, he’s living on his own, but still fighting to see his money returned.

By: Katrina Styx, The Hastings Star-Gazette

Nearly six months after Hastings veteran Tony Rose received a $48,000 bill from the veterans’ home, he’s living on his own, but still fighting to see his money returned.

The home billed Rose retroactively when he received nearly $50,000 in social security back pay. He and Stella Mednik, an immigration lawyer in New York, had worked for two years to recover the social security pay.

On March 11, Rose sent a formal complaint to Charles Cox, the home’s administrator, regarding the handling of his social security pay as well as a number of other shortfalls in regard to his treatment and care at the home.

“Firstly I am writing this letter to you to ask you to reconsider keeping from me the sum of $47,957.96 that I have handed over to you under extreme duress,” the letter states.

After receiving his back pay, Rose deposited the money into his account with the home, since he had no other place to keep it at the time. The demand to pay roughly $48,000 in recalculated maintenance fees was accompanied by a threat of eviction, Rose said. The time table laid before him – just a few days – left him no time to contact Mednik.

“I paid ‘em,” he said. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“They basically coerced him, because they had no other way to get the money out,” Mednik said.

Rose moved out of the home in June, but he and Mednik are still fighting the home. Because Rose already paid the home, getting the money back won’t be easy.

“It makes it extraordinarily difficult,” Mednik said.

Rose did receive a reply from Cox, dated April 26. After presenting the series of events and charges applied, Cox writes, “Our calculations are current under Minnesota Rules, and as such, we do not believe that you are entitled to a refund.”

The letter also denied any knowledge that a staff member forced, enticed or coerced Rose to pay the fee.

The reply was one of few Rose has received from the home, and the lack of communication has been frustrating.

“(My lawyers have) given up talking to (staff at the home),” Rose said. “They’re just going to go to court.”

Mednik is working with local lawyer Harry Sieben to bring the case before a judge, but that process could take another two years, Mednik said.

“Like everything else, it’s a long, slow process,” Rose said.

In the meantime, he’s enjoying his new life outside the home. When asked what his life is like now, he replied, “No blood pressure, no depression… I’m independent. I’m paying my own way.”

He passes his time by biking through town, reading, working a couple days a week and volunteering.

“You’ve gotta balance your life. You gotta give back what you took,” he said.

He also bakes often, giving the food to Hastings Family Service, Dunn Bros. and others.

“I don’t eat it,” he said.

As far as his relationship with the veterans’ home goes, he’s glad to be out.

“I don’t even want to go near the place anymore,” he said.

As difficult as his experience with the home has been lately, he acknowledged that for some of the veterans who live there, it’s a valuable place, especially if they have to take a lot of medication.

“They’ve got to stay there, because they couldn’t afford it on the outside,” he said.

A spokesperson from the Veterans Home could not be reached for comment."

STRATFOR Article on Wikileaks and The Afghan War

2010-07-27T20:09:00.005-04:00

By George Friedman

"On Sunday [25 July 2010]The New York Times and two other newspapers published summaries and excerpts of tens of thousands of documents leaked to a website known as WikiLeaks. The documents comprise a vast array of material concerning the war in Afghanistan. They range from tactical reports from small unit operations to broader strategic analyses of politico-military relations between the United States and Pakistan. It appears to be an extraordinary collection.

Tactical intelligence on firefights is intermingled with reports on confrontations between senior U.S. and Pakistani officials in which lists of Pakistani operatives in Afghanistan are handed over to the Pakistanis. Reports on the use of surface-to-air missiles by militants in Afghanistan are intermingled with reports on the activities of former Pakistani intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul, who reportedly continues to liaise with the Afghan Taliban in an informal capacity"

Remainder of Article:

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100726_wikileaks_and_afghan_war?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1007027&utm_content=readmore&elq=d881b7d6616742eca1f41a7477f771ca

VETERAN'S FISHING CATCH BRAGGING BOARD

2010-07-20T20:33:00.003-04:00

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE AND VISIT BRAGGING BOARD AT BOX NET CUBE IN LEFT MARGIN

Minnesotan Gets it Right in Quoting Eisenhower

2010-06-05T06:44:00.006-04:00

LETTER OF THE DAY - MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE - 4 JUNE 201O

THANK YOU RICHARD A. POMMIER

Letter of the day: Ike was right in warning about a military-industrial complex (See Banner Link Above)

Republican President Dwight Eisenhower warned us decades ago to beware the military-industrial complex, yet submarine after submarine, plane after plane, and war after war have left our country financially bankrupt and his warnings unheeded. Let's continue to blame civic welfare for our woes while ignoring corporate warfare and see where it gets us. We spend as much on defense as the rest of the world combined, yet the irony of it all is that this spending has somehow not resulted in a single widget, gidget or gadget capable of plugging a hole in 5,000 feet of water. Thanks, Ike, for knowing we could do better.

RICHARD A. POMMIER, LONG PRAIRIE, MINN.

A THOUGHT FOR YOUR MEMORIAL DAY

2010-05-28T12:07:00.003-04:00

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY FROM THE VETERANS AT HASTINGS MINNESOTA

2010-04-26T07:43:00.003-04:00

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE OR DOWNLOAD TO ENLARGE

City, County and State Government Working Together in Hastings Minnesota For River Water Quality Preservation

2010-03-29T13:20:00.017-04:00

THE VERMILLION RIVER AT HASTINGS (Click to Enlarge Photo)

Over the last two years I have been pleased to become acquainted with individuals in our local government agencies whose job it is to safeguard the quality of our Minnesota waterways.

From the Public Works Department in Hastings to the Dakota County and Vermilion Joint Powers Watershed Authorities to the Minnesota Environmental Protection Agency, all have performed professionally and effectively by empowering the citizenry, supporting vigilance, conducting effective water testing and ultimately taking enforcement action against a cleaning company who was dumping toxic residue into a storm sewer near the Vermillion River.

The Hastings Gazette and Pioneer Press, who have also done a stellar job in publicizing the issue, carried articles on this endeavor recently:

http://www.twincities.com/dakota/ci_14849642?nclick_check=1

"Rose Covered Glasses" has published many articles since 2006 that are critical of government (most frequently federal government agencies). We have noted the weight government places upon the tax payer and the direction in which they have taken the country in wars, interventions, financial oversight and national debt.

It has been a pleasure to find city, county and state officials concerned, responsible, accountable and energetic in dealing with apparent pollution of valuable waterways. These agencies supported one another, communicated well and worked efficiently to bring about a positive result to a two year investigation. That type of performance is literally unheard of at the federal level.

As a veteran who spent 36 years after Vietnam on federal government weapons systems programs and as a sportsman who values Minnesota waterways, I salute the following individuals and the organizations they represent:

Travis Teal - Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organization Dakota County Water Resources Department

Thomas M. Montgomery - Public Works Director, City of Hastings

Chelsea Domeier - Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

The above individuals and the agencies for which they work should be applauded for their teamwork, professionalism and interaction with the citizenry. Their organizations should also be models for the federal agencies in becoming lean, unburdened by politics, focused, communicative with each other and accountable for resolving pressing issues in the real world.

Rose Covered Glasses - The Book

2010-03-05T14:09:00.009-05:00

"Rose Covered Glasses" by Tony Rose is now available as a free download from the Box Net Cube in the Right margin of this site.

The Vietnam Era Veteran fought and won a 4 year battle with the Federal Government to affirm his citizenship and obtain his social security, which had been falsely denied. The book contains some of his best satirical writings over the last few years.

ARE WE EXPECTING TOO MUCH FROM OUR GOVERNMENT?

2010-02-28T08:44:00.010-05:00

The American Public fixates on government when things do not happen as planned or when unforeseen circumstances occur that are negative in nature. They ignore the huge government machine that has grown exponentially since World War II and has tremendous momentum among the civil servants, military personnel and corporate entities who run the multiples of components we never hear about (until something negative happens - a security breach, a financial scandal, an oversight malfunction)

We must understand that the sheer size of the mechanism that runs the government will never be seriously evaluated and made more efficient by politicians and the civil servants that run it. It is not in their personal interest to do so and personal interest and personal fortunes are what has driven the popular culture recently - at least up to now.

The big machine must go bankrupt and totally run out of funding and credibility, then be re-sized like any machine that has become dangerous or is malfunctioning.

The decision makers who remain must then pick up the pieces and put in place a government industrial complex we can afford, based on high technology, prudent judgment regarding world interventions and finance.

There will be much pain involved in the process as we shrink by sheer default.

The current recession and creditors who are thinking twice about showing up at government bond auctions are among the world events going on as we speak that will drive the above metamorphosis:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2009/01/yet-another-governmentindustrial.html

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2008/09/two-collapsing-towers-wall-street-and.html

BUCKS FOR BANKERS - BILLS FOR THE BRAVE

2010-01-28T13:20:00.003-05:00

You may recall the story of Vietnam Veteran Tony Rose who fought a long battle with the Social Security, Homeland Security and Department of Immigration to re-establish his citizenship and gain his pension.

The Minnesota Veteran's Home and the State of Minnesota have seized $44K of Tony Rose's retroactive social security for payment of back rent.

The Federal Veteran's Administration has levied a substantial, indefinate, deduction on his monthly social security check for payment of unspecified medical bills they will not identify, the amounts and details for which they have not been provided to Mr. Rose.

Tony plans to leave the Minnesota Veteran's Home and move to an unspecified location.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE VETERANS AT HASTINGS, MINNESOTA

2009-12-10T20:28:00.002-05:00

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE OR DOWNLOAD TO ENLARGE

NOW AVAILABLE FREE FOR 2010 – UPDATED, 3RD EDITION – SMALL BUSINESS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING GUIDEBOOK

2009-12-01T12:18:00.005-05:00

Use the Box Net Feature at the below web site for your free Edition of “Small Business Federal Government Contracting” at:

http://www.smalltofeds.com/

It covers 7 major areas of the business with 38 articles and two company models on small business systems and pricing.

VETERAN TONY ROSE NOW HAS US CITIZENSHIP

2009-10-28T10:30:00.007-05:00

After a nearly 4 year battle with the Departments of Immigration, Homeland Security and Social Security, the US Government has conceded that Mr. Anthony Aldo Rose who served in the US Navy during the Vietnam Era and worked in this country for 40 years, in fact never left the country, is an American citizen and can draw his Social Security Pension.You may recall his story as covered by the Pioneer Press and the Hastings Gazette last year. The blog on his struggles with the Feds is at:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2007/11/help-for-us-navy-vet-without-country.html

Our thanks to Pro Bono Lawyer Stella Mednick, who we met through "Linked In", for her untiring efforts on Tony's behalf.

Below is the link to the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Hastings Gazette coverage of the Citizenship Ceremony:

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_13828521?nclick_check=1

http://www.hastingsstargazette.com/event/article/id/21120/

Global Village

2009-09-08T11:54:00.002-04:00

We found this presentation beautifully conceived, informative and inspirational.

If you agree, pass it on:

http://www.box.net/shared/rv3a0vdr6b

Rose Covered Glasses

WATER QUALITY TEST RESULTS LAKE REBECCA, HASTINGS, MINNESOTA

2009-08-01T11:58:00.008-04:00

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES OR DOWNLOAD TO ENLARGE

The below report was recently provided by Travis Thiel, Watershed Specialist Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organization, Dakota County Water Resources Department.

Travis is responding to the test conducted on potential water pollution incidents reported at this site. We wish to thank Travis for his investigative and coordinative efforts over the last year on this matter.

Let us hope the wild life and fish pictured here will continue at the lake in health and abundance.

REPORT

"I have received all of the lab results on the sample you were concerned about. I didn’t include the raw data as I felt it would be better understood by everyone involved if I touched on the results versus sending raw lab results out that likely wouldn’t make much sense to most people without guidance and research.

Here’s what I’ve found: Upon my initial review, nitrogen values looked a bit higher than normal with the exception of Ammonia. These nitrate values are higher than what I’ve personally seen in other urban settings from storm water pipes I’ve monitored in the past. After consulting Travis Bistodeau, Water Resource Specialist at the Dakota SWCD, who has extensive experience with monitoring around the County, he indicated that the levels detected were similar to levels he has detected while sampling the Vermillion River near the Falls and other locations upstream in the watershed. This level of nitrate detected was not in exceedance of the drinking water standard. I would expect nitrogen values to be slightly higher as well considering the time of year and use of nitrogen on lawns and fields. The ammonia value detected appeared to be relatively normal. My guess is any elevated nitrogen levels are a reflection of warm season nitrogen application and current background nitrogen levels found in this area of the County.
Metals values detected were less than any toxicity levels stated in the MN ch. 7050 water quality standards.

MBAS (Methylene Blue Activated Substances) is a test for surfactants that the lab ran and helped me interpret the results since I’m not familiar with it. I was hoping this test would address any foaming that was present in the water. The text below indicates the lab’s opinion on what was detected. It appears that a situation like someone washing a car or cars may have contributed to this surfactant level as it does not appear to be a wastewater issue.

From Standard Methods:

"At current detergent and water usage levels the surfactant content of raw domestic wastewater is in the range of about 1 to 20 mg/L. Most domestic wastewater surfactants are dissolved in equilibrium with proportional amounts absorbed on particulates. Primary sludge concentrations range from 1 to 20 mg absorbed anionic surfactant per gram dry weight. In environmental waters the surfactant concentration generally is below 0.1 mg/L except in the vicinity of an outfall or other point source of entry."

Based upon this and the 0.1mg/L in waters, the 0.527 mg/L would seem to indicate a slightly elevated surfactant level. Plus, remember that the sample was already about a week+ old (hold time 48 hours) before it was analyzed.

I hope that provides some clarity about this potential discharge concern. We greatly appreciate having some "eyes and ears" within the watershed to help us potentially locate and fix problems that might exist on the upland areas that drains to our water resources. Please let us know if we can further assist you with this matter and also let us know if other potential concerns arise.

Regards,

Travis Thiel
Watershed Specialist
Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organization
Dakota County Water Resources Department
14955 Galaxie Avenue, Apple Valley, MN 55124
Phone: 952-891-7546 Fax: 952-891-7588
travis.thiel@co.dakota.mn.us
http://www.co.dakota.mn.us"

SAIC Case Sheds Needed Light on World of Government Contracting

2009-07-11T20:05:00.005-04:00

SAIC Case Sheds Needed Light on World of Government Contracting

By Steven Pearlstein

Friday, July 10, 2009
Washington Post

Science Applications International Corp. is not only one of the federal government's largest contractors -- with more 17,000 Washington area employees, it is the region's fourth-largest private employer. So it is of more than passing interest that after a lengthy investigation, the Justice Department has now accused company executives of conspiring with corrupt Navy officials to rig a 2004 computer contract potentially worth billions of dollars.

Last week the Justice Department asked a federal judge in Jackson, Miss., to order the company to pay damages that could top $350 million -- a lot of money for a company that earned $450 million last year. A judgment might also lead the government to temporarily suspend SAIC from competing for new contracts.

See Above link to read more.

COMMENTARY ON GETTING OLD

2009-06-01T11:55:00.005-04:00

"Answers" on "Linked In" recently posted the following question pertaining to getting old. Below is my response:

QUESTION:

What is old age to you?

We have heard 40 is the new 30, but yet I think "old" seems to always stay the same distance for me. At 25 I thought 50 was old, at 35 I thought 60 was old, now I have hit 50, 75 is old.I know true age is more a matter of mind, but I would love to know how old you are and at what age you think you will be old.

MY ANSWER

I took a fall on the ice 2 winters ago in front of the Middle School and 2 dozen 5th graders. The fall didn't hurt nearly as much as the laughter and the subsequent whispers this year, "There goes that old guy again, do you think he might fall?"

I took a nap out in the wildlife refuge last Sunday in a beautiful stand of aromatic pines. When I awoke I found two huge turkey buzzards staring at me intently from their perch nearby. I had known I was getting older but had not realized I had reached the carrion stage.

I reported a pollution spill in the Vermilion River recently and the Minneapolis paper picked up the story. A reader commented on the web site that the Minnesota pollution control program had now been relegated to an "Old Guy" in the vets home (see below link).

I feel fine about getting old. It's how I am perceived by others that bothers me.

New Pollution Spill at Lake Rebecca, Hastings, Minnesota

2009-05-10T14:48:00.004-04:00

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES OR DOWNLOAD TO ENLARGE

SPRING COMES TO HASTINGS, MINNESOTA

2009-05-07T15:08:00.008-04:00

SCENES FROM THE VERMLLION AND MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEYS - MAY 2009

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE OR DOWNLOAD TO ENLARGE

Pollution on the Vermillion River at Hastings

2009-04-08T20:34:00.009-04:00

PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGES OR DOWNLOAD TO ENLARGE

The Minneapolis Star Tribune and Hasting Gazette recently reported on my pollution findings at the 18th Street Bridge in Hastings:

http://www.startribune.com/local/south/42647742.html?elr=KArksUUUU

http://www.hastingsstargazette.com/articles/index.cfm?id=19832&section=News

This "Old Guy" as a reader commented is attaching the actual photos of the event.

Judge for yourselves.

Ken Larson

larsoke3@hotmail.com

THE ONE YEAR US GOVERNMENT BUDGET CYCLE MUST GO

2009-04-01T13:29:00.003-04:00

Having been inside the funding process in the government contracting industry (both large and small business) for over 40 years through many administrations and much frustration, Ken Larson can discuss with some credibility a major weakness in the huge machine we call the federal government, the one year budget cycle.

Here is his take on the matter, which recently received a “Best Answer” Rating on the “Linked In” web site:

http://www.linkedin.com/answers/government-non-profit/government-policy/GOV_GPO/446421-16580597?browseIdx=3&sik=1238606343092&goback=%2Eama

“About mid-summer every agency begins to get paranoid about whether or not they have spent all their money, worried about having to return some and be cut back the next year. They flood the market with sources sought notifications and open solicitations to get the money committed. Many of these projects are meaningless.

Then during the last fiscal month (September) proposals are stacked up all over the place and everything is bottle-necked. If you are a small business trying to get the paperwork processed and be under contract before the new fiscal year starts you are facing a major challenge.

Many companies go out on risk to continue multi-year procurements with no guarantee on paper that they will get the funding from the government in the new year due to the backlog. In October the flood gates open and everything is “Plussed-Up”. This process must be changed as we scale down the size of the federal machine.

Let’s face it. We are broke and we are operating on credit here. The stimulus is just that - our children's future credit bills. We should be able to plan five years out and fund accordingly. Most well managed organizations do and with the size of this machine right now I agree with the others who have commented here that it is almost impossible.

We are about to pump "Stimulus" money (really credit with huge coat tails) in the billions into this already preposterous machine and we expect reasonable management? They do not have the infrastructure, the capability or the inclination to manage it. They will outsource the job to companies who can perform the process, establish the IT and lend a hand.

I have hundreds of SCORE clients right now who are getting in line to get qualified to become federal government service contractors in these fields. I don't blame them. They will get the first money injection to keep the GAO happy and prop up the agency heads that will be overwhelmed.

We will be forced to give up the annual budget cycle. It has become a ludicrous exercise we can no longer afford and our government is choking on it.”

Local Pictures of Hastings, Minnesota Veteran's Home Area 1 March 2009

2009-03-01T13:22:00.007-05:00

YET ANOTHER GOVERNMENT/INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

2009-01-02T11:45:00.005-05:00

Whether or not the average US Citizen knows it, the United States is creating the second-largest government/industrial complex in our nation's history. It is envisioned as a cocktail of bailouts to the financial industry, the automotive industry and others who show up with their hands out and their lobbyists in tow. It is also comprised of state governors who are poised to invent yet another form of pork with federal representatives and senators at their sides while raising local taxes for the citizen back home. This speculative panacea cannot survive.

HISTORY

The longest running and largest consortium of this type is the US Military Industrial Complex (MIC), funded each year at an amount many times the Wall Street and automotive bailouts combined. It is the elephant in the room in the burgeoning financial crisis, carrying the weight of wars, weapons systems and a pentagon/corporate financial relationship based on cost plus and time and material contracts since World War II:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2008/09/two-collapsing-towers-wall-street-and.html

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS

We are importing goods and services and borrowing money from the Chinese, the European Union, Japan, Korea, India and other developing countries at a rate unmatched in our history. Loan proceeds are being used to fight wars and bail out our bankers, carmakers and state governors.

Our largest export today is our public debt and our credit rating is slipping.

THE ILLUSION

What shall the prospective, second-largest government/industrial complex be called, “The Department of Wishful Thinking”? It is being financed with money borrowed from entities future generations will owe as the US kicks the financing can down the road like it has for the last 60 years.

No doubt Washington will attempt to regulate the outlay, put in auditors and control mechanisms like the Federal Acquisition Regulation and Cost Accounting Standards that evolved over the years on a reactive basis dealing with the white elephant scandals in the Military Industrial Complex. But somehow those controls have never been able to stop the mammoth waste, fraud and abuse that occur in the MIC.

Big money attracts greedy people, not only in the MIC but also on Wall Street and in the corporate boardroom. It also buys influence and crooks in government.

FACTS

The natural order of economics is still out there. Washington's money-and-power-influenced, artificial reality cannot survive what historically has been the rise and fall of booms and busts in the last 100 years. Economics is now on steroids through high technology, the Internet, mass communications and frauds that cross national borders like cobwebs.

The MIC will be scaled down by collapse. The Russian MIC led to that country's financial demise. It is now apparent that we did not outspend the Russians at weaponry and interventions. We simply had a better credit rating that is now maxed out

The other government agencies will be re-scaled and downsized as well but not by any specific action taken by the pending or future federal establishment. The over 50 entities that make up the federal government, together with their corporate outsource services, will be shrunk dramatically because the US is broke. The feds will fight to preserve the artificial reality, but US financing and credibility on the world stage are drying up and the creditors are suffering.

No new administration can change the above facts by riding on the taxpayer's back with "Social Improvement", " Public Works" and "Creating Democracies in Other Countries" mantras. Such policies in the past have led to foreign interventions, thousands of young soldier’s deaths, bureaucratic growth in Washington and bloated corporations performing low quality service contacts.

Annual budget deficits and the national debt are at intolerable levels.

ECONOMIC REALITIES

The US will come home from military adventures abroad because it will no longer have the money to run them and it will cease bailing out failing commercial establishments because there will be no funding for that.

The US will re-align priorities at the state and the national level much like all the little "Joe the Plumbers" throughout the country, who are toting skinny 401K's without jobs. They represent the present and future tax base upon which this country will run. America will not spend its way out of this dilemma because there will be no cash or credit left to spend.

The US will demonstrate financial prudence out of necessity, align spending with available revenue, downsize the federal government and its corporate cadre, cultivate technology and the small business base and take care of its most important constituent here at home - the average tax payer.

The US will understand the above are not political objectives but economic realities that are here and now. World economics will not allow a new, financial, government/industrial complex to emulate or replace the MIC.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE VETERANS IN HASTINGS MINNESOTA

2008-12-23T12:42:00.004-05:00

MORE PHOTO AND POETRY BY KEN LARSON :

http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/560695345WHqpBD

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/560300957qoYZfr

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE OR DOWNLOAD TO ENLARGE

UPDATES - ON STATUS OF NAVY VETERAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY - GOVERNMENT CONTRACT WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE

2008-12-01T12:33:00.004-05:00

TONY ROSE GETTING PRESS AND GOVERNMENT COVERAGE ON HIS PENSION STATUS

The Pioneer Press has run a story on Tony Rose, the Navy Veteran who has not been able to collect his social security pension for 2 years while being snared in a malfunctioning Homeland Security database:

http://www.twincities.com/ci_11190464?nclick_check=1

The Office of Norm Coleman and the St. Paul Pioneer Press have also interviewed Mr. Rose in continuing efforts to focus attention to his problem.

Mr. Rose's case has not been re-opened by the St. Paul Office of the Social Security Administration and his lawyer is preparing affidavits in pursuit of hearings on the matter.

USA TODAY COVERAGE OF GOVERNMENT CONTRACTOR WASTE FRAUD AND ABUSE.

The following two stories detail the horrendous waste of taxpayer money in connection with federal contracts containing funds earmarked for support of the Iraq war.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-11-17-iraqcontracts_N.htm

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-11-17-iraq-contract-inside_n.htm

The data points to the escalating demise of the Military Industrial Complex as covered in the following postings:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2008/09/two-collapsing-towers-wall-street-and.html

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2008/11/as-recently-announced-by-project-on.html

NAVY VETERAN HAS WAITED 2 YEARS FOR SOCIAL SECURITY

2008-11-08T11:55:00.013-05:00

BAKER AND ANIMAL CARE SPECIALIST
TONY ROSE,
HONORABLY DISCHARGED AS A US CITIZEN FROM THE MILITARY,
PAID INTO SOCIAL SECURITY WORKING IN THE U.S. FOR 30 YEARS AND NOW CANNOT COLLECT HIS PENSION

As Veteran's Day approaches, 67 Year Old Tony Rose and his lawyer are wondering what additional rocks they have to look under to find his lawful Social Security Pension.

He was born in Canada and his family moved to New York when he was a child and became dual Canadian and US Citizens. After Tony's Navy discharge he worked in the US for over 3 decades, paying state and federal taxes and Social Security.

In 2006 when Tony applied for his pension he was informed that the US Department of Homeland Security had revoked his US citizenship and did not recognize his Canadian citizenship. He has attempted to resolve this matter for over 2 years and has been without a pension during that period.The Social Security Administration will not begin his pension payments until his citizenship issue is resolved. He has been trying to work this matter through a lawyer, the VA, his local representatives in government (congressional level) and directly through the Social Security Office.

No one seems to know what to do, who should take action and who has responsibility. Letters directly to the presidential campaign received no response. The Inspector General of the US has been notified and Tony has camped out in his local Congressional Representative's Office on numerous occasions and been turned away.

The veteran has lived in the United States since 1946 having moved from Windsor, Ontario, Canada to Detroit Michigan with his family that year at the age of 5 years old. He attained dual citizenship in Canada and the United States and received a valid US Social Security Number. Tony served in the Armed Forces of the US honorably and has paid state and federal taxes to include social security from 1963 to the present in the United States of America. He is still paying those taxes at his current part time jobs.

At this writing, Mr. Rose has been given no indication by the US Government that his case is being examined by anyone who can take a responsible course of action, schedule a hearing or otherwise determine the bottom line in this matter. His lawyer, who is working pro bono, is totally frustrated and each of the agencies involved has stated the other should be responsible to do something.

Tony lives at the Hastings Minnesota State Veteran's Home and works locally at the 2nd Street Coffee Shop and the Animal Ark.

Happy Veteran's Day, Tony - Such as it is.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BECOMING MORE TRANPARANT ON WASTE, FRAUD AND ABUSE CASES

2008-11-01T11:08:00.003-05:00

As recently announced by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) Congress and President Bush have mandated a federally maintained database on waste, fraud and abuse cases by government contractors. The purpose of the record is to inform government contracting officers, source selection boards and buyers regarding details on past performance of a negative nature in this area that can weigh in future contract awards.

http://www.pogo.org/p/contracts/ca-081015-fcmd.html

Since the government database will not be visible to the public, POGO continues to publish this information from public records and has for many years as a non-profit organization. POGO has also pressed the government to assume responsibility for the information. That effort has now succeeded.

We applaud POGO's success.

http://www.pogo.org/p/x/aboutus.html

POGO has published its most recent records at its web site:

http://contractormisconduct.org/

The top 100 government contractor track records are shown as well as others. As POGO states in the analysis at its site, it should be noted that the most serious offenders continue to receive contracts from the very agencies that have prosecuted them for fraudulent activities.

POGO also points out that many of the top 100 contractors have no apparent instances of a negative nature or very few. It is possible to be a major player in the industry without resorting to waste, fraud and abuse.

The above table is POGO's latest data from public records on the top 100 federal government contractors. If you are interested in the details of these cases, go to the POGO site and click on the name of the company. A convenient summation of the government cases against the firm will appear.

TWO COLLAPSING TOWERS - WALL STREET AND THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

2008-09-28T14:30:00.021-04:00

While we observe Wall Street go through an implosion and our lawmakers mortgage the future of America with the associated bailout, let us keep an eye on another adjacent and related tower with a weak foundation, teetering dangerously in the wind. The Military Industrial Complex (MIC) is also subject to bad decision-making by misinformed and manipulated government officials.

HISTORY

Congress has just funded the MIC at only slightly less than the 700B now necessary to bail out the US Financial catastrophe. The MIC is monumentally dangerous and has led our country into a continuing series of costly, fraudulent wars since Korea. Eisenhower forecasted the danger in his departing speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY

The most recent MIC adventure is being fought in the memory of 3,000 dead civilians attacked by a terrorist the US created by not leaving the Middle East after the first Gulf War. That excursion has killed thousands of our finest youth and maimed the lives of countless others. The average American will pay for this ruin in decades to come through taxes supporting hospital care, social services and veteran's homes.

HOW DO I KNOW?

I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 misguided years working in the defense industrial complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak. Given a clearly defined mission and the best armaments and systems in the world, I believed that another Vietnam could be avoided for the American Soldier.

I was wrong.

I live in a Veteran's home, having recently undergone treatment through the VA for PTSD and Depression, long overdue some 40 years after the Tet Offensive that cap stoned my military 2nd tour in Southeast Asia with a lifetime of illness:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2006/11/odyssey-of-armaments.html

Politicians make no difference. I saw this on a daily basis from inside the MIC.

The chart at this posting illustrates the historical % of our national debt to our GDP. That % is on a precipitous rise with the current US warfare mentality and imminent Wall Street bailout:

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES OR DOWNLOAD TO ENLARGE

Other countries will not tolerate our on-going presence, decreasing value on world market and shortsighted vision, based exclusively on stockholder profits. The Wall Street financial tower has fallen. The MIC will be next.

ABOUT THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

It is corrupt and driven by corporate influence:

http://www.playboy.com/magazine/features/lockheed/index.html

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/spyagency200703

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/halliburton200711

It is broken and riddled with incompetence:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2008/04/us-federal-government-procurement.html

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-american-public-must-know-about.html

THE COLLAPSE

The MIC, like Wall Street, will go bust and then be re-scaled, fixed and re-designed to run efficiently and prudently, just like any other big machine that runs poorly or becomes obsolete or dangerous. The situation will right itself through yet another trauma.

A government ENRON is on the horizon, with an associated house cleaning. The next president will come and go along with his appointees and politicos. They will try to fix the financial mess and become pawns of corporate America in widening our military influence attempting to mend corporate bank accounts. But the MIC tower will implode as well - the next big event in government you will watch is the collapse of that establishment.

HOPE

Non-profit visionaries and small business know the course that must be taken and they are taking it:

http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2008/04/einstein.php

These "Action People" are not in our government. They are more practical than that. They are the communicators, the true venture capitalists setting up worldwide non-profit foundations (Gates and Buffet for example). They are like the Bill Moyers, perpetually exposing waste fraud and abuse and then going one step further to fix it from the inside. They are the young inspirational members of the small business base in this country that will be tasked with picking up the pieces and re-inventing the future so our government can follow along.

As a volunteer counselor, handling 30 cases a week through SCORE I see every form of unique small business inventiveness imaginable - efficiently created, using technology to the max and not seeking financing to the hilt - only the opportunity to succeed:

http://www.smalltofeds.blogspot.com/

http://www.score.org/

The US GDP is still the largest in the world.

Our high technology cannot be matched.

We have enough weapons systems and science to beat all our competitors and solve our problems.

We need to come home.

CONTINUED GOVERNMENT EMPHASIS ON SERVICE-DISABLED, VETERAN-OWNED BUSINESSES

2008-09-02T13:15:00.000-04:00

Since 2004 after a presidential mandate to contract 3% of all federal contracting dollars to service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, federal agencies have struggled to meet that goal.
Now renewed emphasis has been placed on the matter by the GSA and the Veteran's Entrepreneurship Task force (VET-Force) with the signing of an agreement on Tuesday,19 August 2008. Under the memorandum of agreement, VET-Force will use its network of veterans to expand training and information on federal opportunities for these firms.

VET-Force is composed of more than 200 organizations and affiliates -- many small businesses -- representing thousands of veterans. It was organized in 1999 to lobby for the Veterans' Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act, which became law, and provide assistance to veterans who are starting businesses.

"GSA welcomes the opportunity to work with the VET-Force and other organizations committed to helping veterans and service-disabled veterans who are entrepreneurs," said GSA acting Administrator David Bibb. "This is a point of honor, but it is also a point of common sense. When we expand economic opportunities for veterans, we're drawing on men and women who know teamwork, discipline, cooperation and mission accomplishment."

In fiscal 2007, GSA spent 2.2 percent of its procurement dollars on businesses owned by service-disabled veterans. In announcing the agreement, officials said preliminary data for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 shows GSA has increased that figure to 3.2 percent, surpassing the statutory goal.

The agreement was part of GSA's 21 Gun Salute initiative, led by the agency's chief of staff, John Phelps. GSA works with other agencies, veterans and industry to meet the 3 percent spending target.

GSA also drew up the first government-wide acquisition contract set-aside exclusively for small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans.

The Veterans Technology Services GWAC, through which agencies can procure systems operations and maintenance and engineering services, was the first contract vehicle reserved for service-disabled veterans. The contract was awarded in 2006 to 44 businesses and has a $5 billion ceiling.

Veteran's can obtain assistance in the details of entering federal government contracting at:

http://smalltofeds.blogspot.com/2006/12/registering-your-small-business-for.html

For additional information on the disabled veteran's contracting initiatives please see the following links:

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080820_3219.php?zone=ngtoday

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080821_5928.php?zone=ngtoday

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/10/20041021-5.html

The Pentagon's New "Spokesdrone"

2008-08-07T12:13:00.003-04:00

Pentagon's New "Spokesdrone"

http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2008/08/pentagon_unveils_new_unmanned.php

As Reported by "The Onion"

Satire Now - Reality Later?‏

PTSD - A Veteran's Photo/Poetry Journal of Recovery from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

2008-08-01T11:48:00.006-04:00

Free in Adobe format in the Box Net cube in the right margin of this site.

In 2005 Ken Larson underwent treatment at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota for PTSD, having self-treated the illness since returning from Vietnam in 1968

He chose not to be treated when advances in care became available in the mid 1980's, driven by a need to keep his security clearances in the defense industry. That dilemma is described in his book," Odyssey of Armaments" and is a story for another time.

This journal has been a powerful catalyst in Ken's recovery. It combines thoughts as he worked his way through a traumatic past with favorite photos of nature taken in his odyssey. The resulting marriage of written word and visual expression permitted resolutions to issues that haunted him.

Although the journal is still a work in process, it is published here in the hope it may educate and perhaps assist others like him who have suffered from PTSD to come out of the darkness and into the light.

THE ELECTION AND THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

2008-07-01T17:02:00.004-04:00

Above book is free to interested readers at:

larsoke3@hotmail.com

5 Questions for the American Voter

1. How well does the candidate you are considering understand the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) that now consumes 60 cents of every tax dollar you pay?

2. How subject to influence by the MIC Lobby will your candidate will be?

3. Does your candidate have the skills, inclinations and abilities to rebuild the MIC when it derails?

4. Can he or she manage the newer, smaller, leaner and more business-like organization that will have to replace the bloated, misguided enterprise we call the Pentagon and its industrial component today?

5. Will your candidate know when to ask the hard questions, put the brakes on the billions being spent on outmoded weapons and autocracy and know the difference between a real threat by a real enemy and a political show?

The men and women you elect will decide how the new machine will be designed and run. Below is additional information on this vital issue for 2008 and beyond :

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-american-public-must-know-about.html

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2007/02/warped-priorities.html

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2008/04/us-federal-government-procurement.html

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING FOR SMALL BUSINESS

2008-06-01T10:47:00.001-04:00

For an all-volunteer site, dedicated to small businesses who wish to succeed in federal government contracting, please see the below site:

http://www.smalltofeds.blogspot.com/

The federal government will contract in excess of $80B to small businesses in the next fiscal year. There are over 50 agencies or "Departments" in the federal government. Each of these agencies has a statutory obligation to contract from small business for over 20% of everything it buys. Contracting officers must file reports annually demonstrating they have fulfilled this requirement. Not fulfilling the requirement can put agency annual funding in jeopardy. Small business has a motivated customer in federal government contracting officers and buyers.

Large business, under federal procurement law, must prepare and submit annual "Small Business Contracting Plans" for approval by the local Defense Contract Management Area Office (DCMAO) nearest their headquarters. These plans must include auditable statistics regarding the previous 12 month period in terms of contracting to small businesses and the goals forecast for the next year. The federal government can legally terminate a contract in a large business for not meeting small business contracting goals. Approved small business plans must accompany large business contract proposals submitted to federal government agencies. Small businesses have motivated customers in large business subcontract managers, administrators and buyers.

There are set-aside opportunities available for small entities, veterans, disabled veterans, women and minorities. All it takes is navigating the system, persistence, asking questions, registering, and marketing, teaming and working hard.

Small Business America is good at that.

THE RIGHT COMBINATION OF AMERICAN REALISM AND OPTIMISM

2008-05-01T12:23:00.000-04:00

The below article by Bill Sharon in "Next Gov." should be required reading for all of us who are concerned about our government and where we are headed as a country:

http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2008/04/einstein.php

Mr. Sharon does not pull any punches regarding how our collective heads of state, our citizen attitudes and our war machine in recent years have placed this country in a precarious position economically, strategically and environmentally.

But he holds out hope and begins to detail how the US will be forced to respond as it always has during times of extraordinary challenge in the past; waiting too long to take action but with a genius for finally getting it right after a substantial sacrifice and a heroic effort.

"Getting to the Next Level to Solve Problems
By Bill Sharon Tuesday, April 15, 2008 4:37 PM /Techinsider/Next gov.com

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.
~Albert Einstein~

We hear a lot about consciousness these days. This attention to a new level of awareness has increasing numbers of people checking their egos, performing acts of kindness and attempting to inject a greater level of civility into our daily discourse. All of which is welcome indeed, but it is less clear how the expansion of consciousness will have any impact on the very serious issues we all face in the world of politics, business and the economy. Einstein’s quotation gives us a hint.

Regardless of whether we protested or agreed, we have all lived in a political and social context over the recent years that operated on two fundamental principals: We could have war without cost and profit without value. On their face, these principals make no sense. We all knew they made no sense. Now we are beginning to experience the reality that they make no sense and the potential consequences from an economic perspective look worse every day. Just when the latest mortgage backed securities write-offs by UBS were supposed to mark the end of that crisis, we discover that the financial turmoil has seriously impacted GE, a stalwart performer whose stock price dropped nearly 15 percent last week. So much for the theory that the credit crisis would only affect the financial services sector of the economy.

The cost of the war, at $3 billion a day, also has finally come into our awareness. We can do the math in our heads to know that the amount spent in Iraq could have a significant impact on education, health care and the state of our infrastructure. Since we haven’t taxed ourselves to pay for the war, we have borrowed the money and grown the debt to astronomical proportions. There is a new context – an understanding of what we have done and the choices that we have made – even though those choices were in many ways a decision to let someone else decide.

Now that we are at the beginning of this awareness, many are clamoring for a “solution” to the many problems that face us. More regulation, say some. Less regulation, let the market sort itself out, say others. Withdraw immediately, say some. Remain for the foreseeable future, say others. These are all reactions in the same “consciousness” that created the problems. Reactive change is never resilient change and despite some transient upward ticks in the stock market, any of these actions are unlikely to have a prolonged effect.

To move to the next level of awareness it is becoming clear that we will need to experience a more detailed understanding of what we got ourselves into. The unraveling of the financial system will happen in due course. This is far beyond the supposedly normal process of a business cycle. The issues we need to deal with have to do with the corrosive effects of debt and the worthless nature of many “structured financial products." Those who cheer at the collapse of companies and financial institutions are foolish indeed; there has been and will continue to be much suffering.

But we can also see the beginnings of the new consciousness that Einstein suggests impacting both the economic and the political realities. Energy generation from what we now call “alternate” sources is beginning to come on stream in a significant way around the world. We will likely see these energy technologies develop both at a local level with individuals and municipalities deploying them and at a macro level as companies like Shell and BP continue to invest in them. The fundamental difference here is that the source of the energy (wind, solar, ocean currents, etc.) is essentially free. The economics will revolve around acquiring the devices to harness the free energy, and we will likely see significant changes in the economic structure of the current liquid fuel industry. This is not futuristic babble – the technologies exist today. It is well within the realm of the probable that our children will see the fossil fuel economy the same way we saw communism – seemingly impregnable and immovable and then a dusty memory. In any event, who with any sense and a blank piece of paper would choose to base an economy on an energy source that was limited, increasingly hard to find, dirty and located in some of the most unstable regions of the world?

Managing risk in this new environment or consciousness will be a challenge but it will be a welcome change from the defensive posture of the last several decades. We have been operating in the economics of scarcity and we are now entering the economics of abundance. Instead of looking at the world from the perspective of a country that constitutes 5 percent of the global population and consumes 30 percent of the world’s resources, we can conceive of a reality where, from an energy standpoint, an unlimited supply is achievable. Creating economic models that allow for the construction and deployment of the machines necessary to harness these energies has already begun.

So we are in the process of a tremendous change, one that seems unachievable and one that will cause a good deal of suffering even in the best scenarios. Einstein’s quotation provides us with a signpost of the direction that we need to move toward. We need to take the risk.

About Bill Sharon
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Strategic Operational Risk Management Solutions

Bill has 25 years' experience in the financial services and marketing and communications industry in a variety of C-level positions and consultancies. As the chief operating officer of corporate real estate at JP Morgan, he was a key player in its transformation from a commercial bank to an investment bank through the development and construction of high-tech offices in 23 markets that reflected a new organizational culture. Bill went on to develop cross-functional risk management processes for penetrating markets and establishing products. He also created the first proactive operational risk management process designed as a vehicle to communicate opportunities as well as hazards.

At Price Waterhouse, Bill established the North American operational risk management practice, which focused on the upside of risk — the choices an organization has to make to stay competitive. Most recently, as the chief information officer at McCann Worldgroup, Bill developed a global collaborative system as the foundation for supporting the cross-discipline business strategy of demand creation.

Bill holds a clinical degree and for the first 10 years of his professional life worked with adolescents in the South Bronx and East Harlem, an experience that taught him the difficult skill of how to listen. "

Video Artwork By Fellow Veteran

2008-04-17T14:41:00.007-04:00

This video is a remarkably beautiful and informative work combining education with art and music. It was choreographed by Phillip Cunningham, a fellow veteran at the Minnesota Veteran's Home in Hastings, Minnesota.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5289335/the_amazing_human_body_fearfully_and_wonderfully_made/

THE U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT MACHINE IS BROKEN

2008-04-01T13:20:00.001-04:00

A federal court has forced the General Services Administration to forgo the award of the largest information technology (IT) Government -Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) in recent memory. Alliant (valued at $50B) was awarded earlier this year and subsequently protested by the losers. See the following Next Gov link:

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080328_8261.php?zone=ngtoday

More than 60 companies have spent millions marketing, forming teams and preparing proposals for this program. It is now likely that it will be totally re-competed.

The federal court agreed with the protesters that the past performance award criteria for the Alliant contracts was fatally flawed. At the heart of the protest is the performance of a polling firm contracted by the GSA to conduct past performance ratings. The firm turned out to be totally unfamiliar with the Alliant Program Technology and delivered results the GSA foolishly trusted and the court ruled were unfair.

The GAO has also noticed a disturbing trend in government outsourcing of proposal evaluations to outside firms who have serious influence conflicts in performing objective determination of winning companies as revealed in this Next Gov Article:

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080321_1740.php?zone=themostread

IBM has been suspended from further federal government contracts, apparently due to violations of the Federal Acquisition Regulation tolerated by the EPA under IBM’s contracts valued annually in excess of $1.5 B per year.

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080331_3516.php?zone=ngtoday

Add the above to the sorrowful performance history of federal government contract administration in high technology, homeland security and Iraq military support projects that this blog has covered in detail and there is one inescapable conclusion:

Our domestic procurement contracting agencies are woefully lacking in expertise to administer the billions entrusted to them.

We must downsize the agencies in charge of these wasteful boondoggles, reform federal government acquisition, reassess our priorities and establish qualified professionals in the government ranks who can be trusted to spend public monies professionally and autonomously.

The best way to do this is to pull the budget purse strings shut until an agency can demonstrate the expertise, the plans and the objectives that Congress mandates. It may grind the government to a halt in certain quarters but a pause is in order before the machine collapses from waste, fraud, abuse and incompetence.

Why continue to drive a broken vehicle until it collapses and runs us into the ditch?

WHERE AMERICANS CAN SEE WHERE THEIR MONEY GOES

2008-03-01T09:54:00.007-05:00

Our thanks to Phil Cunningham for suggesting and making available Bazarro's fine art as a companion piece for this article.

BELOW IS A QUOTE FROM A NEW FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WEB SITE:

"Have you ever wanted to find more information on government spending? Have you ever wondered where federal contracting dollars and grant awards go? Or perhaps you would just like to know, as a citizen, what the government is really doing with your money.

The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (Transparency Act) requires a single searchable website, accessible by the public for free that includes for each Federal award:

1. The name of the entity receiving the award
2. The amount of the award
3. Information on the award including transaction type, funding agency, etc
4. The location of the entity receiving the award
5. A unique identifier of the entity receiving the award"

CLICK ON THE BELOW LINK TO ACCESS THE DATA DISCUSSED IN THE ABOVE ARTICLE:

http://www.usaspending.gov/

OFFERING SOME "INTELLIGENCE" TO THE CIA - THE WASHINGTON THINK TANKS - AND THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (MIC)

2008-02-01T13:44:00.000-05:00

USA Today recently reported in its Washington Section that the CIA plans to utilize more open sources and blogs in its intelligence work and outsource more of its intelligence software development to commercial contractors in an attempt to re-establish itself as the premiere world intelligence agency. The "Strategic Intent" is posted on the CIA public web site.

Defense Industry Daily reports that General Electric gobbled up Smith's Industries for $4.8B.

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2007/01/ge-buys-smiths-aerospace-for-48b/index.php

Let's look at these developments for a moment and do our patriotic duty by reading along with the CIA (after all, they have announced they are reading this blog).

1. The new CIA approach comes exactly at the formation of the agency’s new "External Advisory Board", which consists of the following:

* A former Pentagon Chairman of the Joints Chief who is now a Northrop Grumman Corporation Board Member

* A deposed Chairman of the Board of Hewlett Packard Corporation (HP)

* A Former Deputy Secretary of Defense who now heads up a Washington think tank with Henry Kissinger

2. Northrop Grumman Corporation and Hewlett Packard are two huge government contractors in the Pentagon and CIA custom software development arena. Their combined contracts with the government just for IT are in the multiples of millions. I wonder what the advisory board is filling the CIA's ear with?

3. Washington "Think Tanks" are fronts for big-time lobbies, sophisticated in their operations, claiming non-partisanship, but tremendously influential on K Street. If a lobby cannot buy its way in, why not sit on the advisory board?

4. GE already has the military aircraft jet engine market sewn up. In buying Smith's, it takes one more major defense corporation out of the opposition and further reduces the government's competition tools. GE now joins the other monoliths such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon with tremendous leverage in the $500B +++ per year defense market.

5. Note the synergy that now exists between the Pentagon and the CIA. Note the influence by the major corporations and the think tanks.

6. Also note the balance in your bank account and your aspirations for future generations. Both are going down.

7. The huge Military Industrial Complex (MIC) continues to march. Taxes and the national debt are marching straight up the wall to support it.

8. Do you have any "Intelligence" to offer the CIA, the MIC and the Think Tanks?

HOW THE PENTAGON CONTRACTS ITSELF INTO A CORNER

2008-01-01T14:16:00.000-05:00

Government Computer News (GCN) carried a story on the difficulties experienced with, "Performance-Based Contracting". The process was made part of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) in an attempt to pre-establish at contract award those discrete outcomes that determine if and when a contractor will be paid.

Interestingly enough, the article splits the blame for the difficulties right down the middle, stating the government typically has problems defining what it wants as an end product or outcome and looks to contractors to define it for them. More than willing to do so, the contactors detail specific end products or outcomes, set schedule milestones and submit competitive proposals.

The winner is selected based on what the government thinks it needs at the time to fullfill its requirement and a contract is negotiated. Once underway, the government decides it wants something else (usually a management-by-government committee phenomina with a contractor growing his product or service by offering lots of options).

The resulting change of contract scope invalidates the original price and schedule, so a whole new round of proposals and negotiations must occur with the winner while the losers watch something totally different evolve than that for which they competed. The clock keeps ticking and the winner keeps getting his montlhy bill paid based on incurred cost or progress payments.
The link to the GCN ariticle is below and is yet another indication of how government keeps getting bigger by incompetancy:

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/42691-1.html

Latch onto the 1980's HBO Movie, "The Pentagon Wars", a humorous but remarkably true story of the design and development of one of the costliest weapons systems ever to grace the Pentagon Budget, the "Bradley Fighting Vehicle". The movie starred Kelsey Grammer as the Pentagon General who led the government establishment sponsoring the vehicle program. The profusion of design and performance specification changes and other difficulties which plagued the program for years was hilariously but accurately portrayed in the film. It was nominated for an Emmy.

Further details on The Defense Industrial Complex see the following posting:

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2007/02/warped-priorities.html

"ODYSSEY OF ARMAMENTS" - Inside Pentagon Procurement from Vietnam to Iraq

2007-12-03T09:06:00.008-05:00

This document is free electronically in pdf format. An excerpt is provided below.

If you desire a copy of the book please download it in Adobe format from the Boxnet Cube in the margin of this site to your immediate right.

- Ken Larson - from the book, "Odyssey of Armaments, My Journey Through the Defense Industrial Complex"

In 1968, I came home from serving two US Army tours in Vietnam, having been awarded five medals, including a Bronze Star. During my second tour I acquired Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Depression. Treatment would not become available for either ailment until the mid to late 70's. Returning to the University of Minnesota at Morris, I found that most of my former classmates were either facing the military draft or were violently against the war. I was not their favorite person.

Feeling isolated and alone, I was unable to relate to my family due to untreated Depression and PTSD. Disillusioned with school, I moved to Minneapolis Minnesota and began a career in the Defense Industrial Complex that would span over three decades from 1969 through 2005. I thought that through working on defense systems, I could contribute to the quality and quantity of weapons that the next generation would take to war. Given a clearly defined mission and the best armaments and systems in the world, I believed that another Vietnam could be avoided for the American Soldier.

In pursuit of this goal, I participated in the design, development and production of 25 large scale weapons systems under Federal Government and Foreign Military Sales Contracts. I worked in several different disciplines for the companies that produced these weapons, negotiating and controlling the associated contracts with procurement agencies in the US Armed Forces and in 16 allied countries.By the time treatment for PTSD and Depression became available, I had such high security clearances that had I been treated for these disorders, the US Government would have revoked my clearances and my career would have ended or would have been sharply curtailed. This quandary led to my journey through the Defense Industrial Complex.

I found that accepting extreme challenges and succeeding at them became a way to displace PTSD and elevate depressive moods. For extended periods of time this method of self-management led to a satisfying, although somewhat adventurous and diversified life. However, down periods always occurred, especially after the latest challenge had been met. A new challenge was then required. Family, friends and acquaintances were often puzzled by the frequent changes in my job sites and locations. Two marriages fell by the wayside.

I became known in the industry as a front-end loaded trouble shooter on complex projects, installing processes and business systems required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation. These systems included estimating and pricing, proposal preparation, contract administration, cost and schedule control, program management, design to cost, life cycle cost, export management and other specialties unique to US Government Contracts. Getting through government source selection boards and surviving audits during competition was a significant challenge for defense contractors.

Installing required business systems after contract award, under ambitious cost, schedule and technical conditions, was an even more difficult undertaking. I became a leader in the problem solving and creative processes necessary to win contracts and successfully fulfill them. When my mood demanded it, there was always a new job, with a new challenge and a subsequent elevated feeling from success. It was not unusual for a career professional in the Defense Industry to move regularly with the ebb and flow of competitive procurements and associated government funding shifts.I came to know many of the career military and civil servants who managed the government procurement process. These individuals never went away, regardless of elections or politics. They developed the alternatives from which elected officials must choose. The American Public rarely heard from these powerful insiders, while the insiders slanted the choices supplied to elected officials in a self-perpetuating manner.

I recognized the mirror image way in which procuring agencies and defense contractors organized their operations on the largest systems acquisitions. Key executives regularly moved back and forth between government and industry. I often observed the short, happy life of a defense company program manager. Appointed by the powerful insiders to head a single project, he had no authority over company resources, he perpetually competed with other program managers for the same talent pool and he always took the heat from management when things did not go well. His counterpart in the government quarters had similar experiences. I often supported several program managers at the same time. They all were desperate to achieve success. They each believed they had the most important program in the company.

In early 2005, approaching age sixty, I found myself unable to self-manage an extremely deep depressive episode. The journey had simply wound down. This situation nearly resulted in an end to my life. Recovering with help from my family and the US Veteran's Administration, I now reside in a veteran's home, volunteering through the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) to Small, Veteran-Owned, Women-Owned and Minority-Owned businesses that are pursuing contracts with the Federal Government. I provide advice, alternatives and business examples based on my experiences. It is refreshing to witness the successes of small, motivated and flexible companies. I believe they deserve every special consideration they have achieved under our system of government.

After thirty-six years in the Defense Industrial Complex my greatest satisfaction came from watching "Stormin Norman" and his Gulf War Forces defeat the Iraqi Army in Operation Desert Storm. They used the Abrams Main Battle Tank, the Hellfire Missile and an array of communications and other systems on which I worked. I have had the privilege of meeting several young soldiers coming back from current conflicts in the Middle East who have praised these systems for their life saving performances.Operation Desert Storm had a clearly defined mission to liberate a small country from an aggressor. We accomplished the mission utilizing the best weapons in the world. Unfortunately, we did not leave the area.

The lessons of Vietnam have not been remembered and once again political factors govern our presence in several countries. This time it is the Middle East. A Future Combat System (FCS) is now under development geared for urban warfare with unmanned vehicles, state of the art sensors and remote standoff capabilities. The enemy has grown to become a formidable force, cable of striking without notice even within our own country. He threatens the world economy with violent disruptions in several domains at the same time. He is a product of our own creation, rebelling against the "US Police Force" with help from neighbors who play either benign or active roles. Our enemy knows his neighborhood far better than we do. US intelligence and military capabilities are strained to the maximum monitoring perceived hot spots all over the globe. We must face the fact that our long term presence in other countries is resented.

How much longer can we afford to be the "World's Policeman"? We are spending over $500B per year for defense, homeland security and nation building. Investments we are making in developing new democracies are draining our domestic programs such as health care, stifling the education of our young people and limiting research and development in valuable commercial technologies. The largest corporations selling to our government are no more than extensions of our government in the cloak of industry. They are not in the business of making money for the stockholder. They are in the business of spending money for the government. As a result they are some of the poorest growth stocks on Wall Street.

Recent consolidation in the Defense Industrial Complex has dramatically reduced competition. Only public laws mandating a twenty per cent allocation of Federal Contract Funding to small business have kept diversification in the mix. Even then, much of the moneys that flow to small business go through a select group of large business prime contractors who add their respective overhead and general administrative expense to the small business cost and pass it on to the government.

When we consider the largest evolving countries in the world today, such as China, India and others, we should note that they are successfully competing with us in a fast moving, complex world economy. These countries are not all pure democracies and probably never will be. No overt action on our part created these powerhouses. As we struggle to compete with them we must have education, research and development and a healthy work force to keep pace. How much can we afford to spend forcing our capitalistic ideologies on other societies? Events have proven that the world has become a tightly wound place economically. Countries who wish to succeed and grow will play the game anyway.

I hope that this account of my experiences has supplied useful insights into the US Government Defense Industrial Complex. My odyssey was driven by a need to manage illnesses acquired in warfare. I found a way to deal with the maladies for years by spreading myself thin and accepting every new challenge. I thrilled at success and moved on after defeat, pursuing a misguided goal.

Out of necessity I have now been forced to look inward, wind down to a smaller perspective, take care of my health - begin serving the little guy.

Perhaps it is time for our country to consider a similar transition.

ROLLING STONE ARTICLE ON CONTRACTOR FRAUD IN IRAQ - TYRANNY IN ACTION ?

2007-12-01T11:23:00.000-05:00

PLEASE CLICK ON ABOVE LINK TO READ ROLLING STONE ARTICLE AND ON BELOW IMAGE TO DOWNLOAD OR ENLARGE

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN PEACE ON EARTH AND TYRANNY

I had an interesting discussion with a fellow veteran recently about the word "Tyranny", using it to describe what is happening in the world today and applying the word specifically to George Bush and his administration. The Rolling Stone Article linked at this post implies such a train of thought may be reasonably accurate from a historical perspective considering how tyranny evolves, grows and employs its methodologies and considering the mess in Iraq on all fronts.

We can think of many historical and recent examples of tyranny. Pakistan for instance is awash with tyrannical approaches as we speak. What is happening in Iraq is a war application of tyranny on so many clan, state and international fronts that it makes the general public dizzy and confused, to say nothing about the maze many world governments find themselves in trying to deal with events as they unfold.

The world is so tightly wired and moving at such warp speed in communications, technology and dangerous weapons that it is extremely difficult to know when tyranny is sprouting because we get overwhelmed with the details and ignore the trends.

Tyranny sprouts within massive beaurocratic organizations that imbed themselves in economies and assume a life of their own. These organizations become entrenched and difficult to change because they are wired to so much of economic and public life (a defense company in every state, a pork project tacked onto a defense appropriation). We target our elected officials as figureheads for our frustration, when in fact the real culprit is a big, faceless machine grinding onward, never changing, because we (the citizenry and the politician) will not bite the bullet and dismantle it. It finally collapses of its own weight.

Some who analyze tyranny believe the best way to avoid it is to avoid violations of the constitution. That is a bit simplistic in our era. The conundrum is detecting complex circumstances with the potential to become violations of the constitution before they become horror stories like Iraq and do something about them IN ADVANCE.

As students of history we know much of what we are experiencing today in war and politics is tied to human nature. This blog conveys a philosophy on the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) and its impending collapse before that brand of tyranny changes. The Rolling Stone article, though profane in places, is documentation of tyranny after the fact. The logical follow-on to such a debacle is collapse.

A new brand of politics and accountability must then emerge, one that will deal from within when organizations such as the MIC self-destruct catastrophically from greed and avarice. The big issue after such events will be: "What do we put in the place of such beaurocracies gone afoul to manage something as important and expensive as our national defense?" The US political system classically appoints a blue ribbon panel to study such problems spread the blame and write a detailed report no one reads. We must do better then that in the future. The impending trauma will not permit it.

Perhaps we should consult our respective religious beliefs over the holiday period as my best wishes in the photo indicate in an attempt to find a peaceful answer rather than the pointless dribble of material observances and partisan political pickering.

VANITY FAIR EXPOSE' ON IRAQ

2007-11-16T09:33:00.000-05:00

The People vs. the Profiteers
Vanity Fair - November 2007
Americans working in Iraq for Halliburton spin-off KBR have been outraged by the massive fraud they saw there. Dozens are suing the giant military contractor, on the taxpayers' behalf. Whose side is the Justice Department on?
by David Rose November 2007

HELP FOR A US NAVY VET WITHOUT A COUNTRY

2007-11-01T12:30:00.001-05:00

We have a military veteran friend who was honorably discharged during the Vietnam era. He served in the US Navy while having dual citizenship (Canadian/US). He was born in Canada and his family moved to New York when he was a child and became dual Canadian and US Citizens.

After discharge my friend worked in the US for over 3 decades, paying US taxes and Social Security. When it came time to retire and apply for his pension he was informed that the US Department of Homeland Security had revoked his US citizenship and did not recognize his Canadian citizenship.

The Social Security Administration will not begin his pension payments until his citizenship issue is resolved. He has been trying to work this matter through the VA, his local representatives in government (congressional level) and directly through the Social Security Office. No one seems to know what to do, who should take action and who has responsibility. The DHS will not reply to his inquiries. Any ideas?

POST SCRIPT: This request was sent to DHS today:

ANTHONY ALDO ROSE
MINNESOTA STATE VETERAN’S HOME HASTINGS
1200 18TH STREET
BOX 202
HASTINGS, MINNESOTA 55033

(Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested)

11 November 2007

Mr. Brian J. Welsh
U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services
National Records Center, FOIA/PA Office
P. O. Box 648010
Lee's Summit, MO 64064-8010

Subject: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request for Records

Enclosure: DD Form 214 – Discharge from United States Armed Forces

Dear Mr. Welsh:

The purpose of this letter is to request records in my name on file in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The undersigned is a US Navy veteran who is a resident in a state veteran’s facility in Hastings, Minnesota. I am writing to you on Veteran’s Day to request any and all records on file at the Department of Homeland Security pertinent to my citizenship in the United States of America and the disposition of my records status as a citizen of the US, to include notifying the US Social Security Administration of my citizenship status.

I have lived in the United States since 1946 having moved from Windser, Ontario, Canada to Detroit Michigan with my family that year. I attained dual citizenship in Canada and the United States and achieved a US Social Security Number. I served in the Armed Forces of the US honorably and I have paid state and federal taxes to include social security from 1963 to the present in the United States of America.

In 2006, upon my retirement, I applied for my Social Security Pension and was informed by the Social Security Administration that the Department of Homeland Security had taken administrative records action that denied my citizenship status and precluded my being able to obtain my pension. I have attempted to resolve this matter for over a year and have been without a pension during that period.

Pursuant to requesting a hearing with regard to this matter I hereby request copies of all records in the Department of Homeland Security against my name, my social security number, my service number, my former addresses and my citizenship status, to include correspondence to other agencies such as the Social Security Administration.

Anthony Aldo Rose

UPDATE:

http://www.linkedin.com/answers/government-non-profit/government-policy/GOV_GPO/123518-8495987?browseIdx=0&sik=1219784121572&goback=%2Eamq

MISSISSIPPI SUNRISE MIST - HASTINGS, MINNESOTA

2007-09-25T14:26:00.001-04:00

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Mist arise through brilliant light
Slowly clear from shrouded night
Offer visions through the pane
Allowng me to sleep again

Brief delay from clarity
Softly rise to comfort me
I am not ready yet for day
With harsh detail and waiting ray

Wash this trance all over me
Cloak my vision
Set me free
To dream with my illusions

GEORGE FRIEDMAN AT STRATFOR - BRILLIANT SYNOPSIS OF 911 6 YEARS LATER

2007-09-12T12:28:00.000-04:00

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The link at this post is the best objective view of all parties involved in the global war on terrorism at time now. It reminds veterans of Korea, Vietnam, the Balkans, and all other recent global interventions in which the US has been involved that the USA is singing the same song with a different set of singers; a parody of human weakness and political blundering. The above accompanying poetry is from an old Vet's Heart. The question by George at the end of his analysis is an excellent one. How will we answer it?

VETERAN'S PLEA - IRAQ WAR LORDS – AND TALKING HEADS OF NATIONS AT WAR

2007-08-20T08:44:00.000-04:00

WE WHO HAVE BEEN IN BATTLE BESEECH YOU

LISTEN TO NATURE
NOT THE ARTIFICIAL REALITY
YOU ARE CREATING
WITH WEAPONS AND EGO

AS YOU STREAK TOWARD PREMATURE GREY
AS YOUR CHILDREN DIE BEFORE THEIR TIME
LOOK AROUND AND LISTEN

LIFE IS PRECIOUS
TIME IS SHORT
LEARN FROM NATURE

TREASURE THE REALITY OF TODAY
FIND PEACE IN THE BEAUTY
AND THE SYNERGY
OF THE NATURAL WORLD
AND EMULATE IT TO SURVIVE

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US SECEDES FROM VERMONT

2007-07-02T15:07:00.000-04:00

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THE WAR BUSINESS, Squeezing A Profit from the Wreckage in Iraq

2007-06-11T10:30:00.000-04:00

Link to Chalmers Johnson's prophetic article in November 2003 Harper's Magazine.

If you are concerned about the Military Industrial Complex and how it controls our government, this is a must read.

US ESTABLISHING DEPARTMENT OF WARFARE AS A BUSINESS

2007-06-01T10:28:00.002-04:00

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2007-05-12T11:05:00.001-04:00

NATURE EXPRESSIONS WITH PICS - MAY 2007 - PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

2007-05-11T11:54:00.001-04:00

THIS BOOK IS FREE IN ELECTRONIC FORMAT UPON REQUEST. CONTACT:

larsoke3@msn.com

LOST IN HOMELAND SECURITY

2007-05-01T10:30:00.000-04:00

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IRAQ QUAGMIRE COSTS

2007-04-24T10:18:00.000-04:00

IN MEMORY OF DAVID HALBERSTAM, KILLED THIS WEEK IN A CAR CRASH.

ONE OF OUR FAVORITES AND A HERO TO JOURNALISM, DAVID WAS AMONG THE FIRST TO USE THE WORD "QUAGMIRE" TO DESCRIBE THE VIETNAM WAR.

NOW COMES GEORGE C. WILSON ON IRAQ:

Forward Observer: Quagmire Costs
By George C. Wilson, CongressDaily

President Bush, with his little war in Iraq, has outspent President Lyndon Johnson with his big war in Vietnam during comparative five-year periods, according to the Pentagon's own recently released figures.

The Pentagon's chief bean counter, the comptroller, sets forth figures documenting this in his "National Defense Estimates for FY 2008." The impartial numbers show that Johnson spent $2.1 trillion in fiscal 2008 dollars on the American military from fiscal 1964 through fiscal 1968 when both the Vietnam and Cold wars were raging. He put more than 500,000 troops on the ground in Vietnam from an active duty force of 3.5 million men and women, many of them low-cost draftees.

Bush spent $2.5 trillion in the same fiscal 2008 dollars on military activities from fiscal 2003 through fiscal 2007, even though his expeditionary force in Iraq was only about one-fourth as big as Johnson's -- some 140,000 troopers -- and the Cold War was long gone.

Also, Bush was paying a much smaller active duty force, numbering about 1.4 million in fiscal 2007, during that five-year period.

The stories behind those figures, which the comptroller did not go into in his 217-page report, are that the price of paying, equipping and caring for soldiers has gone way up since the days of Johnson's draftee military; that neither Congress nor Bush has had the will to cancel super weapons, including several designed for a Cold War that no longer exists, and that American taxpayers who just sent in their income tax checks are paying more and getting less for their money because of the Pentagon's failure to hold down the costs of new weapons.

The comptroller shows on Table 6-11 (page 129) of his new report that in fiscal 1968, when the American military was much larger, the Pentagon spent $169.7 billion on its military personnel in fiscal 2008 dollars.

In fiscal 2005, when the military had been dramatically downsized but the pay of the all-volunteer force had been raised, spending on military personnel in the same dollars approached the Vietnam era total, coming in at $139 billion.

The cost of general purpose forces -- the troops and trucks and tanks that fight conventional wars on the ground like the ones in Vietnam and in Iraq, as distinguished from strategic warfare waged with ocean-spanning missiles -- has jumped from $188 billion in fiscal 1968 to $216 billion in fiscal 2007, again in comparative fiscal 2008 dollars.

As for the advanced weapons systems, the Air Force F-22 fighter was designed during the Cold War to fight Warsaw Pact forces over Europe, and the Pentagon's Selected Acquisition Report issued earlier this month shows that the Air Force will get fewer planes for more money.

The SAR reveals that the Bush Pentagon plans to buy 184 F-22s for $65.3 billion, or $355 million for just one, counting the money already spent on its research and development.

On Aug. 2, 2001, Air Force procurement executive Darleen Druyun assured a House Government Reform subcommittee that "the F-22 team remains absolutely dedicated to the objective to deliver 339 production aircraft to the warfighters at an affordable cost."

Druyun eventually went to work for Boeing Co. and was later convicted and went to prison for using her military position to negotiate the Air Force's tainted deal to lease 100 KC-767 aerial refueling tankers from Boeing.

The prices of other weapons in the Pentagon's latest SAR underscores the Government Accountability Office's lament last month that Pentagon procurement is out of control.

The SAR shows that taxpayers are expected to pay $300 billion for 2,458 Joint Strike Fighters, or $122 million each for a plane that the Pentagon originally advertised as bargain basement; $54.6 billion for 458 V-22 Ospreys, or $119 million each for this aerial taxi for the Marines that has crashed a lot and threatens to take the Corps to the poorhouse in a Cadillac; $35 billion for three Navy CVN 21 aircraft carriers at $11.7 billion a copy; and $93 billion for 30 Virginia class attack submarines despite the near demise of the once-threatening Russian undersea force, or $3.1 billion for one.

Said the GAO despairingly in its March 30 report on Pentagon procurement: "GAO's reviews of weapons over three decades have found consistent cost increases, schedule delays and performance shortfalls. The nation's growing long-range fiscal challenges may ultimately spur Congress to cut spending on new weapons and to redirect funding to other priorities. In response, DOD might be compelled to deliver new weapons and to redirect funding to other priorities."

Bush was first elected to the presidency on a platform of bringing business-like practices to Pentagon procurement, including skipping whole generations of weapons if that made sense rather than making incremental improvements on obsolete ones.

Such reforms, assuming he was serious about them, have been among the casualties of Bush's embrace of pre-emptive warfare, with Iraq bloody proof of how easy it is to launch a pre-emptive war and how hard it is to get out of one.

IN MEMORY OF A GOOD FRIEND AND FELLOW VETERAN

2007-04-01T10:44:00.000-04:00

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WE AT ROSE COVERED GLASSES AND THE VETERAN'S COMMUNITY AT HASTINGS WILL MISS AL LONG WHO RECENTLY PASSED AWAY AFTER A BATTLE WITH CANCER.

OUR THOUGHTS ARE WITH AL'S FAMILY

NEW TERM FOR STUDY OF DEFICIT SPENDING

2007-04-01T10:36:00.000-04:00

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NATURE EXPRESSIONS WITH PICS - MARCH 2007

2007-03-12T11:00:00.002-04:00

THIS DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE FREE IN ELECTRONIC FORM

CONTACT KEN LARSON AT:

mailto:larsoke3@msn.com

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CANADA PREPARES FOR NEW WAVE OF ILLEGAL U.S. IMMIGRATION

2007-03-01T10:30:00.000-05:00

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VANITY FAIR EXPOSE' ON SAIC

2007-02-26T10:54:00.000-05:00

US ARMED FORCES AND INSTALLATIONS WORLDWIDE

2007-02-19T12:20:00.000-05:00

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MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX - WARPED PRIORITIES

2007-02-11T12:30:00.000-05:00

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Politicians make no difference.

We have bought into the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) ever since we took on Russia in the Cold WAR.

Through a combination of public apathy and threats by the MIC we have let the SYSTEM get too large. It is now a SYSTEMIC problem and the SYSTEM is out of control.

I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.

There is no conspiracy. The SYSTEM has gotten so big that those who make it up and run it day to day in industry and government simply are perpetuating their existance.

The politicians rely on them for details and recommendations because they cannot possibly grasp the nuances of the environment and the BIG SYSTEM.

So, the system has to go bust and then be re-scaled, fixed and re-designed to run efficiently and prudently, just like any other big machine that runs poorly or becomes obsolete or dangerous.

This situation will right itself through trauma. I see a government ENRON on the horizon, with an associated house cleaning.

The next president will come and go along with his appointees and politicos. The event to watch is the collapse of the MIC.

NATURE EXPRESSIONS WITH PICS - FEBRUARY 2007

2007-02-10T20:21:00.002-05:00

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THIS BOOK IS FREE IN ELECTRONIC FORM. PLEASE CONTACT:

mailto:larsoke3@msn.com

IRAQ - WHAT IS THE "BLUE BOOK" VALUE OF A USED ABRAMS TANK?

2007-02-01T12:09:00.000-05:00

WHAT THE AMERICAN PUBLIC MUST KNOW ABOUT THE PENTAGON

2007-01-14T11:38:00.003-05:00

The Department of Defense, headquartered in the Pentagon, is one of the most massive organizations on the planet, with net annual operating costs of $635 billion, assets worth $1.3 trillion, liabilities of $1.9 trillion and more that 2.9 million military and civilian personnel as of fiscal year 2005.

It is difficult to convey the complexity of the way DOD works to someone who has not experienced it. This is a massive machine with so many departments and so much beaurocracy that no president, including Bush totally understands it.

Presidents, Congressmen, Cabinet Members and Appointees project a knowledgeable demeanor but they are spouting what they are told by career people who never go away and who train their replacements carefully. These are military and civil servants with enormous collective power, armed with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Defense Industrial Security Manuals, compartmentalized classification structures and "Rice Bowls" which are never mixed.

Our society has slowly given this power structure its momentum which is constant and extraordinarily tough to bend. The cost to the average American is exhorbitant in terms of real dollars and bad decisions. Every major power structure member in the Pentagon's many Washington Offices and Field locations in the US and Overseas has a counterpart in Defense Industry Corporate America. That collective body has undergone major consolidation in the last 10 years. What used to be a broad base of competitive firms is now a few huge monoliths, such as Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Boeing.

Government oversight committees are carefully stroked. Men like Sam Nunn and others who were around for years in military and policy oversight roles have been cajoled, given into on occasion but kept in the dark about the real status of things until it is too late to do anything but what the establishment wants. This still continues - with increasing high technology and potential for abuse.

Please examine the following link to the Bill Moyers interview with Franklin C. Spinney. It provides very specific information from a whistle blower who is still blowing his whistle (Look him up in your browser and you get lots of feedback) Frank spent the same amount of time as I did in the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) but in government quarters. His job in government was a similar role to mine in defense companies. Frank's emphasis in this testimony is on the money the machine costs us. It is compelling and it is noteworthy that he was still a staff analyst at the Pentagon when he gave this speech. I still can't figure out how he got his superior's permission to say such blunt things. He was extremely highly respected and is now retired.

http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_spinney.html

The brick wall I often refer to is the Pentagon's own arrogance. It will implode by it's own volition, go broke, or so drastically let down the American people that it will fall in shambles. Rest assured the day of the implosion is coming. The machine is out of control.

If you are interested in a view of the inside of the Pentagon procurement process from Vietnam to Iraq please check the posting at this blog entitled, "Odyssey of Armaments"

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2006/11/odyssey-of-armaments.html

On the same subject, you may also be interested in the following post from the "Project On Government Oversight", observing it's 25th Anniversary:

http://pogo.org/

NATURE EXPRESSIONS WITH PICS

2007-01-07T19:25:00.001-05:00

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NATURE EXPRESSIONS WITH PICS IS AVAILABLE FREE IN ELECTRONIC FORMAT
PLEASE SEND YOUR REQUEST TO:

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IRAQI TROOPS OFFERED US ARMY INDUCTEE STATUS

2006-12-31T20:26:00.000-05:00

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LINK TO SMALL BUSINESS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING

2006-12-17T19:40:00.000-05:00

http://www.smalltofeds.blogspot.com/

LINK TO TEAM OF ANGELS

2006-12-03T12:59:00.000-05:00

http://teamofangels.blogspot.com/2006/11/thousands-of-pins-and-poems-given-to.html

IRAN DECLARES HOLIDAY ADVERTISEMENTS ON THE INTERNET A THREAT TO WORLD PEACE

2006-11-27T11:03:00.000-05:00

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INSIDE PENTAGON PROCUREMENT FROM VIETNAM TO IRAQ

2006-11-10T07:16:00.002-05:00

74 Pages, 27 photographs

"Odyssey of Armaments" is available free of charge as an unpublished work in electronic form. Use the Box Net Cube in the Left Margin of this Site to download your copy.

Thanks

Ken

EYES

2006-11-08T19:59:00.000-05:00

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US TO COMMERCIALIZE IRS

2006-11-05T11:43:00.000-05:00

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TOGETHER

2006-11-05T11:34:00.000-05:00

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ODYSSEY OF ARMAMENTS

2006-11-05T10:45:00.003-05:00

Sunday November 5, 2006

- Ken Larson - from the book, "Odyssey of Armaments, My Journey Through the Defense Industrial Complex"

In 1968, I came home from serving two US Army tours in Vietnam, having been awarded five medals, including a Bronze Star. During my second tour I acquired Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Depression. Treatment would not become available for either ailment until the mid to late 70's. Returning to the University of Minnesota at Morris, I found that most of my former classmates were either facing the military draft or were violently against the war. I was not their favorite person.

Feeling isolated and alone, I was unable to relate to my family due to untreated Depression and PTSD. Disillusioned with school, I moved to Minneapolis Minnesota and began a career in the Defense Industrial Complex that would span over three decades from 1969 through 2005. I thought that through working on defense systems, I could contribute to the quality and quantity of weapons that the next generation would take to war. Given a clearly defined mission and the best armaments and systems in the world, I believed that another Vietnam could be avoided for the American Soldier. In pursuit of this goal, I participated in the design, development and production of 25 large scale weapons systems under Federal Government and Foreign Military Sales Contracts. I worked in several different disciplines for the companies that produced these weapons, negotiating and controlling the associated contracts with procurement agencies in the US Armed Forces and in 16 allied countries.

By the time treatment for PTSD and Depression became available, I had such high security clearances that had I been treated for these disorders, the US Government would have revoked my clearances and my career would have ended or would have been sharply curtailed. This quandary led to my journey through the Defense Industrial Complex. I found that accepting extreme challenges and succeeding at them became a way to displace PTSD and elevate depressive moods. For extended periods of time this method of self-management led to a satisfying, although somewhat adventurous and diversified life. However, down periods always occurred, especially after the latest challenge had been met. A new challenge was then required. Family, friends and acquaintances were often puzzled by the frequent changes in my job sites and locations. Two marriages fell by the wayside.

I became known in the industry as a front-end loaded trouble shooter on complex projects, installing processes and business systems required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation. These systems included estimating and pricing, proposal preparation, contract administration, cost and schedule control, program management, design to cost, life cycle cost, export management and other specialties unique to US Government Contracts. Getting through government source selection boards and surviving audits during competition was a significant challenge for defense contractors. Installing required business systems after contract award, under ambitious cost, schedule and technical conditions, was an even more difficult undertaking. I became a leader in the problem solving and creative processes necessary to win contracts and successfully fulfill them. When my mood demanded it, there was always a new job, with a new challenge and a subsequent elevated feeling from success. It was not unusual for a career professional in the Defense Industry to move regularly with the ebb and flow of competitive procurements and associated government funding shifts.

I came to know many of the career military and civil servants who managed the government procurement process. These individuals never went away, regardless of elections or politics. They developed the alternatives from which elected officials must choose. The American Public rarely heard from these powerful insiders, while the insiders slanted the choices supplied to elected officials in a self-perpetuating manner. I recognized the mirror image way in which procuring agencies and defense contractors organized their operations on the largest systems acquisitions. Key executives regularly moved back and forth between government and industry. I often observed the short, happy life of a defense company program manager. Appointed by the powerful insiders to head a single project, he had no authority over company resources, he perpetually competed with other program managers for the same talent pool and he always took the heat from management when things did not go well. His counterpart in the government quarters had similar experiences. I often supported several program managers at the same time. They all were desperate to achieve success. They each believed they had the most important program in the company.

In early 2005, approaching age sixty, I found myself unable to self-manage an extremely deep depressive episode. The journey had simply wound down. This situation nearly resulted in an end to my life. Recovering with help from my family and the US Veteran's Administration, I now reside in a veteran's home, volunteering to Small, Veteran-Owned, Women-Owned and Minority-Owned businesses that are pursuing contracts with the Federal Government. I provide advice, alternatives and business examples based on my experiences. It is refreshing to witness the successes of small, motivated and flexible companies. I believe they deserve every special consideration they have achieved under our system of government.

After thirty-six years in the Defense Industrial Complex my greatest satisfaction came from watching "Stormin Norman" and his Gulf War Forces defeat the Iraqi Army in Operation Desert Storm. They used the Abrams Main Battle Tank, the Hellfire Missile and an array of communications and other systems on which I worked. I have had the privilege of meeting several young soldiers coming back from current conflicts in the Middle East who have praised these systems for their life saving performances.

Operation Desert Storm had a clearly defined mission to liberate a small country from an aggressor. We accomplished the mission utilizing the best weapons in the world. Unfortunately, we did not leave the area. The lessons of Vietnam have not been remembered and once again political factors govern our presence in several countries. This time it is the Middle East. A Future Combat System (FCS) is now under development geared for urban warfare with unmanned vehicles, state of the art sensors and remote standoff capabilities. The enemy has grown to become a formidable force, cable of striking without notice even within our own country. He threatens the world economy with violent disruptions in several domains at the same time. He is a product of our own creation, rebelling against the "US Police Force" with help from neighbors who play either benign or active roles. Our enemy knows his neighborhood far better than we do. US intelligence and military capabilities are strained to the maximum monitoring perceived hot spots all over the globe. We must face the fact that our long term presence in other countries is resented.

How much longer can we afford to be the "World's Policeman"? We are spending over $500B per year for defense, homeland security and nation building. Investments we are making in developing new democracies are draining our domestic programs such as health care, stifling the education of our young people and limiting research and development in valuable commercial technologies. The largest corporations selling to our government are no more than extensions of our government in the cloak of industry. They are not in the business of making money for the stockholder. They are in the business of spending money for the government. As a result they are some of the poorest growth stocks on Wall Street. Recent consolidation in the Defense Industrial Complex has dramatically reduced competition. Only public laws mandating a twenty per cent allocation of Federal Contract Funding to small business have kept diversification in the mix. Even then, much of the moneys that flow to small business go through a select group of large business prime contractors who add their respective overhead and general administrative expense to the small business cost and pass it on to the government.

When we consider the largest evolving countries in the world today, such as China, India and others, we should note that they are successfully competing with us in a fast moving, complex world economy. These countries are not all pure democracies and probably never will be. No overt action on our part created these powerhouses. As we struggle to compete with them we must have education, research and development and a healthy work force to keep pace. How much can we afford to spend forcing our capitalistic ideologies on other societies? Events have proven that the world has become a tightly wound place economically. Countries who wish to succeed and grow will play the game anyway.

I hope that this account of my experiences has supplied useful insights into the US Government Defense Industrial Complex. My odyssey was driven by a need to manage illnesses acquired in warfare. I found a way to deal with the maladies for years by spreading myself thin and accepting every new challenge. I thrilled at success and moved on after defeat, pursuing a misguided goal. Out of necessity I have now been forced to look inward, wind down to a smaller perspective, take care of my health - begin serving the little guy.

Perhaps it is time for our country to consider a similar transition.