MooPig 'Stuff No One Wants to Hear About' Department :: "Drones"

It's 2014, and what do we have? Drones... Yay?!
Retrieved articles by Pat Darnell  |  Jan 5, 2014  |  Bryan TX

[Picture LINK] ... victims of drone strikes were hopeful for the implementation of their fundamental right to life ...

" ... One of the few certainties about wars is that prime ministers and presidents will always send young men to fight and die in them. (Paul Daley. 18 December 2013. LINK) ... Then those same leaders will just as certainly insist that the human, social, financial and political cost has been worth it ... "

MooPig Waging War Editorial Department has a viewpoint on the question: is war in Afghanistan worth the price? When 21st Century politicians in USA and its allies looked at their war chests, they discovered a multitude of weapons research and development work had been done. But none of these new age weapons had been tested in war. So, like Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice, sort of a four brained monster, looked around the globe for a suitable testing ground.


[Picture LINK]


Someone talked the Saudis into funding an attack on the USA, and thus is born the magnanimous Pearl Harbor of the 21st Century, "9/11." This gave the four brained monster its go ahead for a war in the sparsely populated deserts of the Middle East. Good call, because we could now test all our high tech weaponry. What a hey day for Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice, and our million man military.

"We were just looking for someone's ass to kick," said our politicians at the time.

The World Can't Wait! Stop the Crimes of Your Government: " She worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on Covert Drone War  | Heather Linebaugh | December 29, 2013  |  EXCERPT  | " ... Few of the politicians who so brazenly proclaim the benefits of drones have a real clue how it actually works (and doesn't) Whenever I read comments by politicians defending the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Predator and Reaper program – aka drones – I wish I could ask them a few questions. I'd start with: "How many women and children have you seen incinerated by a Hellfire missile?" ..."

Many, many, many people "see the United States as the oppressor, as the perpetrator, the violator of Pakistan sovereignty, so it is very difficult, extremely difficult for the people on the ground in the tribal areas to defend or support something that is killing members of militant groups" and accidentally killing innocent people in the process. (VOA News. March 15, 2013. LINK)

" ... EXCERPT  |  ... U.S. officials rarely discuss the use of drones against terrorists, though they say privately civilian casualties are minimal.

Imtiaz Gul says his researchers found the collateral damage is significant.

"Largely the pattern that emerged, in most of the cases, regardless of whether there was also a legitimate target present or not, a lot of innocent people, women and children also lost their lives," he said. (ibid. VOA News.)..."

'via Blog this'

Some more questions come to mind as we meander through drone articles. How does a drone analyst become a Drone Flying Ace? Does the controller analyst get her kudos from not killing any one, thus an Ace; or does she become an Ace for killing the most?

For instance it's all about a body count:

" ... 26 Dec 2013: Drone fired two missiles at a home in a northwestern tribal region of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, Pakistani ..."

"...31 Dec 2013: Strikes this year 2013 are estimated to have killed up to 271 people, down from 2012 figure of between 505 and 532..."

"...Heather Linebaugh | December 29, 2013. "...I knew the names of some of the young soldiers I saw bleed to death on the side of a road. I watched dozens of military-aged males die in Afghanistan, in empty fields, along riversides, and some right outside the compound where their family was waiting for them to return home from the mosque...."

" ...20 Dec 2013: Clive Stafford Smith: Response: Drones are killing civilians in Pakistan and Yemen, while Britain refuses to admit its co-operation with illegal US attacks... "

"...Reuters in Sana'a and Spencer Ackerman, Thursday 12 December 2013 | ... Hammond's snapshot of what he calls the "precision" RPA is presented in the same week as the latest drone atrocity, with at least 15 Yemeni people slaughtered in what turned out to be a convoy of wedding guests, not al-Qaida terrorists...."

" ...Clive Stafford Smith. Friday 20 December 2013 ... And neither the US nor the UK will say how many civilians they think they are killing, although we at Reprieve represent more than 150 civilian victims and families of those killed in drone strikes ..."

Slaughter of civilians while trolling for terrorists, that is what we are in store for this year and next. And it is no joke, there are FAA studies to make drones available in USA skies by 2015. The drone program is being expanded and is being tested in "Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia who will host the research sites, the agency said. They were chosen from among 24 states bidding to host the program. (Associated Press in Las Vegas. Monday 30 December 2013. LINK)"

As a matter of fact, the USA is drone crazy: "...Drones have been mainly used by the military but governments, businesses, farmers and others are making plans to join the market. Many universities are starting or expanding drone programs (ibid. AP in LV.)... The FAA projects that some 7,500 commercial drones could be aloft within five years of being given widespread access to American airspace..."

CONCLUSION
Drones are here to stay. We inherit them from our 21st Century military. Commercial use in American airspace is only a year away. Will the effectiveness of drones always be determined by body counts? And, what's to keep American homeowners from shooting drones down?

Critics say: "...The growing drone industry has critics among conservatives and liberals. Giving drones greater access to US skies moves the nation closer to “a surveillance society in which our every move is monitored, tracked, recorded and scrutinized by the authorities”, the American Civil Liberties Union declared in a report last December (ibid. AP in LV.)..."

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Editor's note: MooPig Waging War Editorial Department does not possess any classified material and has honored its non-disclosure agreement since the time of its discharge. So don't send any drones to our house, please! Especially the ones shaped like owls ... YIKES!

[Picture LINK]

_____________________Reference
http://www.worldcantwait.net/
http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/features/covert-drone-war/8450-i-worked-on-the-us-drone-program-the-public-should-know-what-really-goes-on
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/18/in-defence-of-drones-keep-civilians-troops-safe
http://www.theguardian.com/world/drones
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/dec/18/drones-protect-british-troops-afghanistan-philip-hammond-video
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/jul/11/drone-aircraft-carrier-video
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/jun/20/fbi-drones-spy-us-senators-video
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/may/24/barack-obama-drone-strikes-save-lives-video
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/sep/25/boeing-f-16-drone-us-air-force-video
http://www.theguardian.com/world/postcolonial/2013/dec/19/australian-troops-leave-afghanistan-was-it-worth-it
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/26/us-drone-strike-kills-three-militants
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/30/states-host-drone-operational-tests-faa
http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/uk_must_not_hide_drone_war_involvement/
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=259174
http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=22757
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/26/oklahoma-drone-next-generation-faa
http://www.voanews.com/content/resaercher-most-civilian-drone-deaths-from-faulty-information/1622442.html
http://web.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/human-rights-institute/CountingDroneDeathsPresserFINAL.pdf
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/31/civilian-drone-deaths-pakistan-report_n_4180293.html

MooPig Re-Run :: New Brands for BANDS -- "Brilliant Ideas Department at MooPig Enterprises"

*Originally Published 1/18/10 10:01 PM*

Developing New Label Ideas for a New Year
by Pat Darnell and Wri N Kullroecker

Everyone seeing Haiti Aid stuff all over, with promise of a soon-to-come Galactic level Spectacle performances from Bands and old stand-bys? Like DUBYA, and Willie.

Wondering 'HOW' you and your Band too can hustle all that open TV exposure, when other wise you can't find a stage -- no, ne'er even a street corner -- to play your deluge ocean of emotion music ... ?


Wonder no more; MooPig Enterprises' "Branding Department" has an idea for starving musicians.

Instead of providing Aid after-the-fact, MooPig's talented "Head Hunters Department" suggests a regional dispatch for Bands 'WHEN' the disasters are actually happening. The USA has very precise regional disaster corridors; and incredibly advanced warning systems are every day being heralded.

"There are many empty spaces, and dead air, resulting from concert-type Disaster-Aid lag-times; those need to be filled," say those who measure such things.

Why not provide Disaster Rockers Inc when a disaster is developing. Regional dispatch can round up the next Band will-call and rotate into disaster sites, to set up Stadium Rock Fest's.

This way the responding BAND -- or for really large cataclysms, multiple BANDs-- receive buckets full of much deserved Exposure !!


No doubt with international news wires also on site, your BAND will Rock the Headlines every time. And, don't forget the MUSIC itself, with the disaster as backdrop your Band will provide interludes of tunes for all the anxious queuing families, rubber-neckers, and onlookers.

Rescuers will appreciate your efforts as well: you can play your UNION Musician card with the Fire Dept and EMS groups... eh?

"It takes a village to have a disaster," say proponents of over-population groups.

Some "What to include" suggestions come to mind:

• Candles
• Cookies
• Kettle Korn
• Coffee
• MRE's
• Boots, blankets, Bingo
• Weather Proofing
• Instruction Booklets
• Signage
• Diesel fired Generators
• Traffic Cones
• Hats 

Larger items could be on-hand similar to READY MEN or like a Red Cross 'BAND' Wagon, combining Entertainment with Rescue, E and R:

• Disaster Relief Housing
• Press Station
• Mohawk Grenades
• Junior Opening Band [preferable a local cadre]
• Leaflets and Billings of your activities
• Professional dance starter duo's
• Professional Hippies and Skin Heads Moshing
• NEVE Board

... And of course any up to date Disaster Relief BAND will bring:  WiFi and Hot Spot \ Wireless \ Laptops \ Sound and Filming Crew \ and your $Ten Million BOND information on hand

"Mudslides, Missiles, Alien Abductions, Tornadoes, Rioting after Sporting Events, Pearl Harbor and World Trade-like events, Oil Fires, Disastrous Movie Premiers, and a plethora of National Disasters and not having mentioned Climate related human tossing calamities yet," explain those who have a stake in disasters. "Don't forget all the opportunity around the entire world, also."

That is so right! Glaciers melting, Pyroclastic clouds, Monsoons, Islands sinking into the oceans in Dubai, Neutron Star Matter hitting Earth, Vogons,  ... not shabby stuff for the On-the-Spot READY Instant-it-Happens Disaster BAND ....

CONCLUSION:

Others, like BIONIC BEAUTY, Talking about most recent Disaster, Earthquake in Haiti:

In times of natural disaster, our world seems to forget the boundaries that separate us. It’s truly awe-inspiring for me. These last few days, I have shed many tears while watching the news casts of the earthquake that devastated much of Haiti. Twitter and Facebook are still hotbeds of activity for information and for ways to help. But with anything, it’s best to be informed. When Michael DeVellis, the Executive Director of The Powder Group (which also publishes the my favorite On Makeup Magazine) sent me the information below, I immediately asked if I could share it with all the Bionic Beauties out there. [Read more Parlay HERE ...]

GET on YOUR BAND-AID Wagon or Boat, or what ever you Got !!
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August 30, 2010 - 1:30 p.m. [EST] Stress & Mental Disability Claims: Easy to File, Hard to Handle

Only 2 Days Left!

August 30, 2010
1:30 p.m. (Eastern)
12:30 p.m. (Central)
11:30 a.m. (Mountain)
10:30 a.m. (Pacific)

REGISTER HERE
An Interactive Webinar with
Practical Compliance Strategies

All jobs today have stress; how do you know when stress has reached the level of a disability? How can you (and should you) accommodate a mental illness? And what do you dare say to an employee when you "think" there's a problem? (Warning: The first question your employes's attorney will ask is: "Are you a trained psychologist?")

Mental health and stress claims are on the rise nationally, and your workplace isn't immune. Mental impairments are tricky to spot and very difficult to manage. Can you even ask someone if they have a mental problem? Just by asking aren't you "regarding" them as a person with a disability?

The ADA complicates every situation, and the FMLA and workers' comp aren't far behind. And, by the way, neither are the lawyers.

Nearly 60 million Americans experience a mental health impairment annually, according to the National Alliance on Mental Health, and a lot of those people work. Just as one example, since the mid-1990s, the number of individuals seeking treatment annually for depression in the United States has doubled to 27 million.

And employers have paid out millions for discrimination claims based on depression-related conditions, alcoholism, anxiety disorders, and other psychological disorders.

Mental disabilities, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, aren't always easy to spot; thus, employers with 15 or more employees nationwide have an increased burden concerning the interactive process under the ADA. And, with the expansion of the definition of "disability" in 2009, even more individuals with mental disabilities are covered by the ADA. Should you engage in the interactive process when you're not even sure that a mental condition constitutes a protected disability under the new Act?

Join us on August 30 for an in-depth, 90-minute, interactive webinar all about how to manage stress and mental disability-related claims. Our expert-a seasoned labor and employment attorney-will use case studies, hypotheticals, and checklists to provide you with the tools you need to identify, assess, and manage these tricky situations.

You'll Learn:

• The types of conditions that are currently leading to stress and mental disability claims
• How to approach an employee who might be suffering from a mental condition
• How to tell if a mental condition qualifies as a "serious health condition" under the FMLA
• How to tell if a leave of absence is a reasonable accommodation, including sample medical questionnaire language you can put into practice
• The difference between general stress and anxiety and an ADA-protected mental condition
• How to evaluate whether stress or pressure is part of an employee's essential job functions
• Practical steps you should take if stress appears to be the result of the work environment so you can minimize your organization's exposure to workers' comp claims
• The key questions a workers' comp judge is likely to ask to determine whether a worker's stress is a compensable work-related injury

Or call,
1-800-7-ASK-BLR (1-800-727-5257), and mention webinar code: WBP12196.

Your Speaker

Patricia S. Eyres, Esq.,
is the Employment Law Partner at Stuart Baron & Associates, LLP, in Los Alamitos, California. She focuses on helping employers manage disability discrimination issues for both workers' comp and nonoccupational disabilities. As president of Litigation Management & Training Services and CEO/publisher of Proactive Law Press, LLC, Eyres trains managers and supervisors on how to recognize risks, prevent lawsuits, and maintain defensible documentation. She has earned a Certified Speaking Professional designation, the international measure of platform excellence for professional speakers.

New Brands for BANDS :: Brilliant Ideas Department at MooPig Enterprises

Developing New Label Ideas for a New Year
by Pat Darnell and Wri N Kullroecker

Everyone seeing Haiti Aid stuff all over, with promise of a soon-to-come Galactic level Spectacle performances from Bands and old stand-bys? Like DUBYA, and Willie.

Wondering 'HOW' you and your Band too can hustle all that open TV exposure, when other wise you can't find a stage -- no, ne'er even a street corner -- to play your deluge ocean of emotion music ... ?


Wonder no more; MooPig Enterprises' "Branding Department" has an idea for starving musicians.

Instead of providing Aid after-the-fact, MooPig's talented "Head Hunters Department" suggests a regional dispatch for Bands 'WHEN' the disasters are actually happening. The USA has very precise regional disaster corridors; and incredibly advanced warning systems are every day being heralded.

"There are many empty spaces, and dead air, resulting from concert-type Disaster-Aid lag-times; those need to be filled," say those who measure such things.

Why not provide Disaster Rockers Inc when a disaster is developing. Regional dispatch can round up the next Band will-call and rotate into disaster sites, to set up Stadium Rock Fest's.

This way the responding BAND -- or for really large cataclysms, multiple BANDs-- receive buckets full of much deserved Exposure !!


No doubt with international news wires also on site, your BAND will Rock the Headlines every time. And, don't forget the MUSIC itself, with the disaster as backdrop your Band will provide interludes of tunes for all the anxious queuing families, rubber-neckers, and onlookers.

Rescuers will appreciate your efforts as well: you can play your UNION Musician card with the Fire Dept and EMS groups... eh?

"It takes a village to have a disaster," say proponents of over-population groups.

Some "What to include" suggestions come to mind:

• Candles
• Cookies
• Kettle Korn
• Coffee
• MRE's
• Boots, blankets, Bingo
• Weather Proofing
• Instruction Booklets
• Signage
• Diesel fired Generators
• Traffic Cones
• Hats 

Larger items could be on-hand similar to READY MEN or like a Red Cross 'BAND' Wagon, combining Entertainment with Rescue, E and R:

• Disaster Relief Housing
• Press Station
• Mohawk Grenades
• Junior Opening Band [preferable a local cadre]
• Leaflets and Billings of your activities
• Professional dance starter duo's
• Professional Hippies and Skin Heads Moshing
• NEVE Board

... And of course any up to date Disaster Relief BAND will bring:  WiFi and Hot Spot \ Wireless \ Laptops \ Sound and Filming Crew \ and your $Ten Million BOND information on hand

"Mudslides, Missiles, Alien Abductions, Tornadoes, Rioting after Sporting Events, Pearl Harbor and World Trade-like events, Oil Fires, Disastrous Movie Premiers, and a plethora of National Disasters and not having mentioned Climate related human tossing calamities yet," explain those who have a stake in disasters. "Don't forget all the opportunity around the entire world, also."

That is so right! Glaciers melting, Pyroclastic clouds, Monsoons, Islands sinking into the oceans in Dubai, Neutron Star Matter hitting Earth, Vogons,  ... not shabby stuff for the On-the-Spot READY Instant-it-Happens Disaster BAND ....

CONCLUSION:

Others, like BIONIC BEAUTY, Talking about most recent Disaster, Earthquake in Haiti:

In times of natural disaster, our world seems to forget the boundaries that separate us. It’s truly awe-inspiring for me. These last few days, I have shed many tears while watching the news casts of the earthquake that devastated much of Haiti. Twitter and Facebook are still hotbeds of activity for information and for ways to help. But with anything, it’s best to be informed. When Michael DeVellis, the Executive Director of The Powder Group (which also publishes the my favorite On Makeup Magazine) sent me the information below, I immediately asked if I could share it with all the Bionic Beauties out there. [Read more Parlay HERE ...]

GET on YOUR BAND-AID Wagon or Boat, or what ever you Got !!
*
*
*

Certification makes me Stupid

"The U.S. agency responsible for cracking down on unfit truckers, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, acknowledges it hasn't completed any of eight recommendations that U.S. safety regulators have proposed since 2001. One would set minimum standards for officials who determine whether truckers are medically safe to drive. Another would prevent truckers from "doctor shopping" to find a physician who might overlook a risky health condition. It's unclear whether any of the eight recommendations will be done before President Bush leaves office."

Sick Truck Drivers Causing Fatal Wrecks

By HOPE YEN and FRANK BASS, AP

WASHINGTON (July 21) - Hundreds of thousands of tractor-trailer and bus drivers in the United States carry commercial driver's licenses despite also qualifying for full federal disability payments, and some of those drivers have suffered seizures, heart attacks or unconscious spells, according to a new U.S. safety study obtained by The Associated Press.

The problems threatening highway travelers persist despite years of government warnings and hundreds of deaths and injuries blamed on commercial truck and bus drivers who blacked out, collapsed or suffered major health problems behind the wheels of vehicles that can weigh 40 tons or more.

Read the entire Article HERE: see the outlook of certifications in our system of governance.

Consider these cases:

- A Florida bus driver who suffers from lung disease and uses three daily inhalers to control breathing told congressional investigators that he "occasionally blacks out and forgets things." He works as a substitute driver despite not having a medical certificate, and his commercial license expires in 2010. The driver, who was not identified but will figure prominently in a congressional hearing this week, has collected Social Security benefits since 1994. He confided to investigators that he "gets winded" walking to his mailbox but has no problem driving a passenger bus. [go to article for more]...