SCORE and MicroMentor Awards Ken Larson

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM ROSE COVERED GLASSES

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Louie Klimek Speaks

Tony Rose Speaks

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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Minnesotan Gets it Right in Quoting Eisenhower

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

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HAPPY MOTHERS DAY FROM HASTINGS MINNESOTA

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

THE VERMILLION RIVER AT HASTINGS

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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 Thiel - 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

"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?

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

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.