Poor Greece

Everyone knows Greece has been in serious financial trouble.

Most people have not understood the so-called "Greek bailout" was designed to assist private creditors, especially French & German banks. Greek creditors had to accept a "haircut" of €107.1 billion in exchange for their debt essentially being transferred to the public sector (€215.9b disbursed, mostly from the EU, 15% from the IMF - see data here).

Greek banks got only 17% of the recapitalization money. Below 5% of total funds were aimed elsewhere, such as lowering the annual fiscal deficit.

So the Greeks are still in serious trouble - by design. Implosion was delayed. Greece's former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has labeled the process "extend & pretend!" The pockets picked were OURS - the Greeks had little to do with it.

The Bank always wins.

Implosion USA

The USA has always been gawky and awkward, an overly-large nation.

National survival is now threatened by this ungainliness. America has lost its message, and internal divisions threaten to break the nation into segments.

The US political process highlights many problems. Some now predict the collapse of two-party control, but the true problem is deeper.

Today's Washington Post is extremely pessimistic in discussing Donald Trump: "The Republican presidential defeat that likely impends will reflect an entirely appropriate national revulsion at the GOP candidate, whose personal record of chicanery and wild rhetoric of bigotry, misogyny and misplaced belligerence are without parallel in the modern history of either major party. It is entirely conceivable that the damage done will be permanent."

Yet the problem is clearly far beyond a single jingoistic individual. America itself's in the shit. It's truly a nation of too many cops, too little justice. There's no proper excuse for 35,000+ US military troops in Germany, and 50,000+ in Japan. We wrongly occupy places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Okinawa, Hawai'i, Guantanamo, etc., as key parts of our warfare business. Yankee's military eagerly supports (link) the corporate-driven Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, so we must be very afraid for the future.

The Republican Party, and many Democrats, bitterly attack welfare - but WARFARE is far more dangerous. War is a huge part of the US economy & national mentality. "Sustaining U.S. global leadership" is DoD doublespeak for permanent war, including War on Americans by our own violent government.

We make hundreds of mistakes everyday - many are deadly errors. We're now led to expect to pay the minimum amount possible, including with mission-critical public procurement, though many such transactions predictably will fall apart. America doesn't take proper care of its many retired soldiers. America needs to withdraw from overseas adventurism and instead "get its house in order." Hopefully this can be done without violence and zealotry. But US history is rooted in ruthless brutality. Reform in the USA is likely to lead to widespread repression before anything gets better...

National Teacher Day

May 3rd is National Teacher Day in the USA.

Some nations celebrate Teacher's Day with a national holiday, many others offer a school holiday. In the USA it's business as usual. Many teachers work through the day never knowing about the celebration...

To my many great teachers: Thank You!

To my Parents, who were both Teachers: Aloha!

And hugs to my Lovely Wife, now at school teaching
 (8AM to 6PM today!)

Shealey the Killer

Ben Shealey is in prison for killing an innocent pedestrian while driving drunk & racing away from the Cape Cod cops.

Benjamin Shealey paid about $60,000 cash for a Range Rover, and drove it away with illegal plates because his driver's license was suspended from previous drunk driving violations. Shealey has admitted that around 6PM on the warm summer evening of 13 July 2013, he drunkenly sought to escape from police. He ran down pedestrian Albert Della Malva, killing him & mangling the remains, plowed into a family car, and destroyed other standing vehicles. The 9-year-old Tomlinson twins visiting from Virginia were seriously injured; their parents perhaps physically less damaged, but left fearful of their daughters' survival.

Many remain greatly troubled... How's Shealey specially connected?

On being read his rights at Cape Cod Hospital after the crash, Harwich Police Officer Keith Kannally recalls Shealey laughing and smiling (link). Was Shealey mocking the law? He refused to supply a blood sample to determine degree of intoxication -- requesting his attorney instead. The written police report states Shealey laughed & intoned "Good luck!" as Officer Kannally departed.

Shealey ultimately pleaded guilty to:
- manslaughter by motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol
- two counts of operating under the influence of alcohol
- driving recklessly causing serious bodily injury
- assault with a dangerous weapon
- resisting arrest
- unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle
- uninsured operation of a motor vehicle

Shealey was first represented in court by his uncle Frankie. Later interviewed outside the courtroom, "Faultfree Frank" Shealey's now a poster boy for legal evasiveness (link). Both Shealey family performances can be seen here (link). Perhaps a 'good lawyer' admits nothing, but wholly innocent people have been horribly damaged by Ben Shealey's rampaging.

Shealey was sentenced in April 2015 to 7½ to 10 years in Massachusetts State Prison. His team of lawyers now seek a sentence reduction, claiming Shealey has become "remorseful" for the killing. The grandmother of the injured young girls (one continues to suffer from brain injury) is blunt: "He took a life... His family enabled him to do this."

Shealey's unregistered Range Rover (above) and the family car he hit (below)