A Fallen Friend

This morning when I came into my office, one of my officers informed me that a co-worker had died last night, my heart sank. This man is the father of one of my co-workers and a all around great man, not only was he a Veteran of the military but he also worked in the Law Enforcement Industry and retired from the Tarta Bus system. He will be remembered by me for his "Tell you the way it is attitude" which I found refreshing and for his all around great love for life. He was a father and a grandfather and a all around great man for what I know of him. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

Though he is not related to me or my other fellow co-workers he was still a part of the family here and it is a loss to all of us who knew him. Life is given and life is taken away, look up into the heavens and see the spirits soar to meet with the great maker who is awaiting you with open arms saying well done my son come home into the kingdom of paradise and rejoice for thy pain and suffering is over and the time of new life is here.

And lastly Dennis we Thank You for your service and the life you gave everyday, though you are gone now you are not forgotten.

We Salute You and your family!!!

The diferences of Child Abuse and Parental Disciplining of Your Child.

I am sure that most people have been spanked at one point in their life by their parents or guardians. That is the way our parents were raised to discipline their children, I personally don't like to spank my kids, so it is few and far beyond when I do, but at the same time our society has a warped sense of what is considered abuse and parental rights to discipline our children.

Our government has slowly been taken our parental rights to properly discipline our children away from us. Seriously, parents are afraid of spanking their children now a days simply because if their children get upset with the parents they can go to school and tell their counselors or teachers that the parents hit them and it is game over for the parents. We have lost control of children and it is partly the fault of our own government. Our children need discipline in their lives in order for them to be proper adults later in life. We as parents can not give up the right to discipline our children for fear of reprisal from their school or the government taking our children away from us. Our children are very important to this country and society, they can be the next great doctors, scientist, law makers, you get the point, but they first must have a form of discipline in their life, to make them study hard and get good grades, to make it in life. That is not to say that you have to spank them every time they get in trouble though. I am a firm believer that spanking should only be a last resort when nothing else works.

I find Child Abuse to be atrocious, people who abuse their children are weak minded and abuse others because it makes them feel stronger and better than others. I find all forms of abuse atrocious but I truly find child abusers extremely atrocious. They are the lowest form of human beings on this earth. Children are born into this world the purest of all human beings, without blimish, and some person feels they have the right to harm a child just to boost their ego.

Here are some statistics for you, did you know that every 10 seconds there is a report of child abuse made, and that 3 children die every day from child abuse. Below is taken from this website and is open for all to see just some of the statistics.
http://www.childabuse.org/recognizing%20abuse.html

Signs of Physical Abuse

Physical Indicators:

• Unexplained bruises and welts on the face, throat, upper arms, buttocks, thighs or lower back in unusual patterns or shapes which suggests the use of an instrument (belt buckle, electric cord) on an infant in various stages of healing that are seen after absences, weekends, or vacations.
• Unexplained burns, cigarette burns, especially burns found on palms, soles of feet, abdomen, buttocks; immersion burns producing "stocking" or "glove" marks on hands and feet; "doughnut shaped" on buttocks or genital area.
• Rope burns.
• Infected burns indicating delay in treatment; burns in the shape of common household utensils or appliances.

Behavioral Indicators:

• Behavioral extremes (withdrawal, aggression, regression, depression).
• Inappropriate or excessive fear of parent or caretaker.
• Antisocial behavior such as substance abuse, truancy, running away, fear of going home.
• Unbelievable or inconsistent explanation for injuries.
• Lies unusually still while surveying surroundings (for infants).
• Unusual shyness, wariness of physical contact.

Signs of Sexual Abuse

Physical Indicators:

• Torn, stained or bloody underclothes.
• Frequent, unexplained sore throats, yeast or urinary infections.
• Somatic complaints, including pain and irritation of the genitals.
• Sexually transmitted diseases.
• Bruises or bleeding from external genitalia, vagina or anal region.
• Pregnancy.

Behavioral Indicators:

• The victim's disclosure of sexual abuse.
• Regressive behaviors (thumb-sucking, bedwetting, fear of the dark).
• Promiscuity or seductive behaviors.
• Disturbed sleep patterns (recurrent nightmares).
• Unusual and age-inappropriate interest in sexual matters.
• Avoidance of undressing or wearing extra layers of clothes.
• Sudden decline in school performance, truancy.
• Difficulty in walking or sitting.

Signs of Emotional Abuse

Physical Indicators:

• Eating disorders, including obesity or anorexia.
• Speech disorders (stuttering, stammering).
• Developmental delays in the acquisition of speech or motor skills.
• Weight or height level substantially below norm.
• Flat or bald spots on head (infants).
• Nervous disorders (rashes, hives, facial tics, stomach aches).

Behavioral Indicators:

• Habit disorders (biting, rocking, head-banging).
• Cruel behavior, seeming to get pleasure from hurting children, adults or animals; seeming to get pleasure from being mistreated.
• Age-inappropriate behaviors (bedwetting, wetting, soiling).
• Behavioral extremes, such as overly compliant-demanding; withdrawn-aggressive; listless-excitable.

Signs of Neglect

Physical Indicators:

• Poor hygiene, including lice, scabies, severe or untreated diaper rash, bedsores, body odor.
• Squinting.
• Unsuitable clothing; missing key articles of clothing (underwear, socks, shoes); overdressed or underdressed for climate conditions.
• Untreated injury or illness.
• Lack of immunizations.
• Indicators of prolonged exposure to elements (excessive sunburn, insect bites, colds).
• Height and weight significantly below age level.

Behavioral Indicators:

• Unusual school attendance.
• Chronic absenteeism.
• Chronic hunger, tiredness, or lethargy.
• Begging for or collecting leftovers.
• Assuming adult responsibilities.
• Reporting no caretaker at home.

This information provided courtesy of Lorain County, Ohio Children Services, through their website, www.childabuse.net. We provide this information as a service, and no listing of abuse or neglect indicators can include all signs. Please use your best judgment.

Now people if you have a child or know of a child that suffers from any of the above than you have a child that is being abused, not disciplined and you need not be afraid and take action to save the life of that child. Children are our world and they must be protected from those who would take advantage of them.

However you must also not fear to properly discipline your child when needed, but most of all you must Love your children unconditionally no matter what mistakes they make in life they must always know that they are loved for who they are. Not all children will be rocket scientist but they will be who ever they want to be. Support your children and help them, by doing this, our children will grow up knowing what loves is and not what hate or their version of hate is. Teach your children to treat others with respect and to treat life with respect.

Remember that your children are the most important part of your life!!!!

Near and Dear to My Heart is the Fight to Find a Cure for AIDS

The following is information taken from the Center for Disease Control, the statistics are coming from 2006 to current date, below you may find the link that will take you directly to the website to read additional information.

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm#def

The following will be a combination of facts and my personal beliefs and experiences with people who suffer from this terrible disease and what we as a country and people can do to help.


In 2006, the estimated number of cases of AIDS in the United States and dependent areas was 37,852. Of these, 36,828 were in the 50 states and the District of Columbia and 833 were in the dependent areas. In the 50 states and the District of Columbia, adult and adolescent AIDS cases totaled 36,790 with 26,989 cases in males and 9,801 cases in females, and 38 cases estimated in children under age 13 years.

AIDS Cases by Transmission Category

Six common transmission categories are male-to-male sexual contact, injection drug use, male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use, high-risk heterosexual (male-female) contact, mother-to-child (perinatal) transmission, and other (includes blood transfusions and unknown cause).

Persons Living with AIDS

In 2006, the estimated number of persons living with AIDS in the United States and dependent areas was 448,871. In the 50 states and the District of Columbia, this included 432,915 adults and adolescents, and 3,775 children under age 13 years.

Now as most people know that the growing rate of AIDS is alarming. Especially in homosexual men, however do not condemn these people and blame it on their sexuality. In fact one reason for most to contract this disease via sexual contact is a drug called Methanphitme, which causes them to lose thier inhibitions, it enhances pleasure, longevity and a euphoric release. I have many friends who are homosexual, I personally do not discrimintate against them and usually only have great concern for them. I have served with both men and women who are gay and or lesbian in the military and only have a great fond respect for them.

I have operated in countries where thier popluation are over burdened by the AIDS disease, I have witnessed as our United Nations program attempt to treat them to the best of thier ability. There are drugs out there, a cocktail is the most common term for it, that can help to treat and allow people with this disease to live a good normal life, but it must be caught as soon as possible.

Our pharmasuitcal companies are beginnning to help out as well, however these drugs are not cheap, most in our country alone do not have the proper health insurance to cover these treatments, so they go untreated spreading this disease to others without knowing about it.

We as citizens of this great country need to get out and find out more information on how we can help support the ongoing battle against this disease and many others. We need to lobby our Congress to get on the ball with the health insurance. There need to be more free clinics for the poor and in rural areas where people can not afford to be seen and or treated by regular doctors.

We need to take down the HMO's who continue to make a killing on the poor and start giving back to the community. Who are we to say that just because you don't work or you don't make enough money that you cannot receive the same health care that a person making 100k a year can. Since when is one life better than another.

When it comes to AIDS although there is a higher percentage in Male on Male relationships, AIDS does not discriminate, it Kills Equally. There are many young children who suffer from AIDS do to thier mothers being drug addicts or prostitues, some women may have had a personal bad experience and the child was concieved due to a rape, what difference does it make how a person contracts this disease, what matters is how we as human beings react to find a cure for this disease. With all the medical miracles that our companies have made surely there must be a cure out there for this disease, we only need to be willing to find it.

LET US STAND TOGETHER AS ONE NATION UNDER GOD TO FIGHT FOR LIFE AND NOT DEATH OF THIS HORRIBLE DISEASE. PLEASE DO NOT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST A PERSONS SEXUALITY. CHRIST TAUGHT US TO HAVE COMPASSION FOR ALL MANKIND, LET US DO AS CHRIST WOULD DO AND COME TOGETHER ONE AND ALL TO FIND A CURE FOR AIDS. LET US REMEMBER THIS MONTH THE WOMEN, CHILDREN AND MEN WHO HAVE DIED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD FROM AIDS.

Security Private Contractors and what they give to you each and everyday!!!

OK Folks here we go again, today while reading my weekly intelligence dump from Blackwater Inc. and found something that personally disturbs me coming from the Private Protection side of the house. There was an article in regards to the U.S. contractors are going to lose immunity from Iraqi law under a new pact with Baghdad, as of January 1st, now this does not only go for personnel providing security but to other private contractors working in construction to providing meals to others.
http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/11/21/africa/OUKWD-UK-IRAQ-USA-CONTRACTORS.php ( This is the link where you can read the full article if you like)

Now personally I can tell you that this article has made me sick to my stomach, simply because these men and women do not wear the US military uniform any longer does not mean that we should not take care of our people over there putting their lives on the line each and everyday. I am a alumnus of Blackwater Worldwide and to say that all who serve over there as security professionals are mercenaries is false. Most of these men and women who serve over there are military professionals from all walks of life and countries. They do what they do because we as a country do not have enough man power to provide adequate security for VIP's and dignitaries. You have Law Enforcement officials from the US providing proper training in Law Enforcement Procedures to the Iraqi Police Officers, you have construction and laborers over there building schools, mosques and hospitals. These people put their lives on the line every day that they step out of the Green Zone and into hostile territory, whether it be to go to their build site or to escort someone to another location. Each time you step out, you never know if that day will be your last or not. No one is to be trusted when it comes to the safety of your Protectee, only you and your men who you have trained with and in some cases fought with can be trusted.

Let me give you an idea of what goes into running a Protective Detail to give you an idea of what it is like. First you plan, once you have found out where you are taking your Protectee you begin your planning, you link up with local law enforcement to let them know that you will be operating in their area, so if you need backup they will be there to help. Who are you protecting, is it a single person or a family or a group of VI P's with a one way trip, all this is factor into your Warning Order, you need to look at your resources that you have available to you. Where you will be staying, for how long, what route you will take to get there, alternate routes that you can take if something goes wrong. You need to know the lay of the land once you are on site, with Egress routes planned as well. This is only the tip of the ice berg in planning for a operation.

Once your on site, and link up with your advance team, if you even have one, depending on the size of the detail, it might only be you. For the first two years that I worked in Protection it was only me protecting my client. He traveled all the time, so depending on where we were going, in country or out of country would dictate whether I would travel ahead or call in some friends from my time in the military who would go out and scout the locations for me. It was taxing work getting my client to follow very simple but strict guidelines that I had in place for his safety. Once I had my client set up in his hotel, we would install cameras throughout the hotel floor that we stayed on, usually we would buy up all the hotel rooms so that we could control the access to the floor. It was not always the case but most hotels were more than happy to take our money and provide us the privacy that we needed.
You have to do your research into the people that you working for, find out who his or hers enemies are, what type of work are they into, I mean you really have to dig into their background and into the closets to find them. This work is not for everyone, most who do this work come from a military background or a LEO background. They are not gun toting trigger happy people, they are PROFESSIONALS, who take their jobs very seriously and the lives that they are protecting very seriously.
Until you have served in the Military, LEO, or as a Executive Protection Assignment do not call these people mercenaries. They deserve our respect and our thanks for doing the jobs that nobody else wants to do and nobody has the experience and knowledge to do. These people need to be given the same treatment that our Military receives over there and they need to be protected as well. If we start allowing other countries to dictate to us what our policy will be when we are there to save their asses they we are lost. These are Americans over there doing what needs to be done. Stand Up People and Wake Up!!!








http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32419.pdf

Tis The Season of Giving Let Us Not Forget Our Homeless and Homeless Veterans

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs Homeless Division http://www1.va.gov/homeless/page.cfm?pg=1 on any given day there are 154,000 male and female homeless veterans on the streets at night. These men and women who have served our country with due diligence and sacrifice can not even live in a home or an apartment. They have been forgotten by us and this is an atrocity. When you walk downtown and come across a homeless person, most people's first reaction is that of disgust and then pity. Some people will give them money and others will shout obscenities. What right do we have to treat any homeless person with such contempt that we look down our nose at them.

Most homeless suffer from both mental and physical diseases such as alcoholism and drug abuse, most homeless veterans suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and are Vietnam Veterans. At the time of release from the military after Vietnam, PTSD was not considered a actual mental disorder until years later. They could not receive treatment from the Veterans Affairs department, and at the same time these men could not actively reintegrate into our society after spending many years in the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia where they saw atrocities that you could only imagine.
At my job I try to treat each and every homeless person with respect, although that does not always work it is still worth the time and effort to try. The reason for this is not only kindness towards others but I am a firm believer in Treat others and you would like to be Treated. This philosophy will go a long way and not only that you do not know whether the homeless person you are talking to might be a veteran or not. Not that is should make any difference to you.
This coming Thanksgiving Holiday, instead of throwing out your leftover food, if it is still canned or wrapped why don't you take it to a Food Bank, this year our Food Bank is getting smaller because there is less money to fund it. If you have extra blankets or clothes don't take it to Goodwill (you have to pay for the clothes there) instead take it to the Veterans Home where they have stores there for Veterans who can get the supplies they need.

There are numerous programs that you could look into below I am adding some links for anyone interested in seeing what you can do to help the homeless:
http://www.neighborhoodproperties.org/Housing%20Services.htm
http://jfs.ohio.gov/veterans/homeless/orgDirectory.stm

EMTS are the Greatest

You know, I work with some of the best EMT's in town from Life Star Medical Services. They are a great professional group of people, but they can get a bad wrap sometimes. They are underpaid and overworked and they do it not for the money (cause they really are underpaid) they do it cause they love the job, the job of helping others and saving lives. Here's the thing though, in the military a EMT is trained in all types of medical services everything from patching up a sucken chest wound to performing feild surgery to save the life of a fellow soldier, the problem is when they get out of the military they can't even get a job as a EMT and if they do they can't even give an IV. Folks something needs to be done here, first off there shouldn't be any difference or levels of EMT's, they should all be trained accordingly, I don't want to hear I'm sorry sir we need to wait for a EMT-I to give you a IV or a shot of morphine, cause you never know you might be dead before they show up. It's time for the policy to change, start supplying our medics with the proper training and support that they need to do thier jobs and start paying them for what they are worth.

So here is another day and another day of letting my feelings all out for everyone to read.

So here in Toledo our great Mayor has decided that in order for us to get out of our 10mil deficit for next fiscal year there will have to be cuts in City jobs in order to drop the deficit. Our great leader will even take a pay cut in order to facilitate that, WOW I am really freakin impressed, not really!!! Seriously folks, it is bad enough now that the response time for a police officer to respond is dramatically slower than most other cities, and now we have police officers who will lose their jobs and others will lose overtime. I don't know about u but that is an atrocity, the city is not any safer now than it was last year, if anything the crimes have went up not down. We deal in my building alone, with vagrants who steal and break into vehicles without any issues, because there aren't enough patrols out there to respond when they are called. Houses burn down because we don't have enough Fire Fighters out there to help fight and have to call for additional trucks from neighboring townships to help out. I mean seriouslly people, we spend more money in our taxes on new ways to bring electronics into this city than we do on the resources and the willing people out there to do the jobs that we already have. WAKE UP TOLEDO AND START FIGHTING FOR YOUR RIGHTS, we have the right to be safe at night, we have the right to be safe when were going to our vehicles after work, no person at any time should feel like they have to run to the car in order to be safe when they are downtown. It's not right, don't take the money away from the Police and Firefighters we need to get more out there.