Are You Ready For the Change?

Hi Everyone,

By the results of last months elections, the GOP will gain control of both houses of Congress. My question to you today is, are you ready for the change? What change? Hopefully you are aware of some of the changes that have already occurred.

The first 2 changes have already happened with the passing of the $1 trillion spending bill that will keep the government running for 1 year. I can't believe what compromise now looks like. The first "compromise" with the spending bill means that the GOP, at the last minute, demanded and got a rollback of a regulatory provision of the 2010 Dodd - Frank financial services overhaul that was intended to shield taxpayers from future risks from complex financial trades. So many tens of millions of people were upset with the amount of money the American taxpayer had to pay to bail out big banks and AIG after the 2008 collapse of wall street. AIG has still not repaid all the money it got and is now suing the government. So instead of keeping some form of protection for the taxpayer, the GOP sees fit to allow big banks and wall street to again do highly risky investments; knowing full well that if they screw up again, the American taxpayer will AGAIN bail them out. This isn't fair is it? This rollback no longer protects and favors us, the taxpayer, but rather, this rollback totally favors the big banks and wall street. Now they will have carte blanche to invest in whatever risky investments they can cook up. Thanks GOP.

The second, last minute "compromise" that the GOP added, I mean demanded to the spending bill, is to GREATLY raise the amount of money private donors can give to fund political conventions, (from thousands of dollars to millions of dollars). Money rules again for the GOP. People and corporations, (which per the Supreme Court says are people too), with the huge bucks will be the ones who will then run and steer this country per their greedy vision for their benefit and not for the benefit of the American people. Again, thanks go to the GOP.

So with these first two changes, so sorry, I meant to say "compromises" forced on us, isn't it painfully aware that the GOP really represent its benefactors, i.e.: big business and people, (and corporations) with big money and not the rest of the 99%? There is no other explanation. The path of what they want to do is clear and Americans voted for it?!

The GOP has less then 2 years to prove that they can lead or they will not win the White House in 2016. Well, the first 2 "compromises" don't bode well for the GOP and I foresee much worse things coming to Americans in the next 12 to 18 months. The questions is how much the American voter will take, before the GOP receives a huge defeat in 2016. By their owns actions, the GOP has proven once again that GOP really means, Get Out Peons! We have been warned!

Til next week.

Peter

Greed Rules Again!

Hi Everyone,

Nothing really surprises me anymore regarding the lack of common sense. But an article in my USA Today, Gannett newspaper did catch me off guard.

As you are aware, I worked in the hotel industry for many years. Like any company, hotels have many departments; with department heads charged with operating their department profitably. One of those departments is telecommunications. Back in the day, that meant having telephone switchboard operators scheduled 24 hours per day. Then computers eventually took the place of the majority of operators. Then came cell phones. Again, back in the day, hotels made a lot of money charging quests for use of their phones for all outside calls, both local and long distance. The proliferation of cell phones made telecommunication departments profits plummet. That was even when cell phones calls cost $.45 or more per minute. So what is a hotel suppose to do when Wi-Fi became common place?

Well the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, took it to a whole new level. In order to combat free Wi-Fi, upper management made the decision to install a program and/or system that was able to disable guests own personal Wi-Fi networks. Then the hotel charged, are you sitting down, $250 to $1,000 per device to access the hotel's network. Wow, what an exorbitant amount to charge to get Wi-Fi!!! Management must have patted themselves on their backs when they found this new extremely profitable revenue stream. They probably laughed all the way to the bank, when low and behold, guests started to complain to anyone who would listen.

Their complaints did not go unnoticed, The FCC, heard the complaints and began an investigation. Last month, Marriott, which owns the Gaylord, made the business decision to agree to pay $600,000 to resolve the FCC's investigation. That meant that Marriott did not admit to the illegal scheme.

Hopefully, the $600,000 Marriott paid, was more than the amount the hotel had received from their illegal scheme. If that General Manager had just one ounce of common sense, he or she would have nixed the idea when it was first brought up.

Common sense rules and greed drools.

PS. For those of you not in the know, my neighbors and I have been fighting an ill conceived location for a cell tower in our neighborhood. Instead of erecting the tower on a mountain top, next to the valley, (on town owned property) where the tower will be built. If you want to help us, please check out www.gofundme.com/hmctns. Then if you are so inclined, please forward to any and all of your friends. It is very expensive to fight "city hall" and we have been fighting since 11/2012.

Til next week.

Peter

You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

Hi Everyone,

Grades kindergarten to high school are extremely important for the education of our children. This is when they learn so much about our world and how we got to this point in time. All subjects taught are obviously important, including arts and physical education. But one of the subjects taught has a special place that needs to be monitored for accuracy.

The subject I am blogging about is history. What's my concern over the teaching of history? As far as I am concerned, history lessons must be based on facts and just the facts on what had previously happened. If history facts are intentionally omitted, overlooked or even changed, that changes what the kids learn about specific events. Changing historical facts will change the course of history, to millions of school kids (who don't know the difference).

So how and can this be possible? Well, if you live in Texas, it seems to be surprisingly simple. Just have the history textbooks changed. Wait, what? Some authority can just make changes to history books and have the new version(s) taught as accurate and correct. This is so wrong on every level. But what facts are the Texas education officials changing? The officials first created the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. That group has rewritten history and just last week it was approved by the Texas Board of Education. Now you might be thinking that this is just one state changing history. Unfortunately, Texas is so large that publishers commonly market the books made for Texas to other states, according to Josh Roseman, of the National Center for Science Education.

Here are just a few historical facts that Texas changed and these textbooks will be sold in other states:

- The Ten Commandments had an influence on the writing of the U.S. Constitution and that Moses was a democratic leader who influenced the founding fathers. No such historical record exists to support any of that!

- All international terrorism is linked to Islamist fundamentalists. Again nothing supports that!

- Slavery was not a key factor in the Civil War. What, are you kidding me?

What planet does this group of people live on? Oh right they live in Texas and they are trying to change history to support their bible belt beliefs and not the facts as history must be taught! Unfortunately, as I said before, these and other changes in history textbooks were approved late last week. Unbelievable!!! It is apparent that the Texas Board of Education totally lacks any common sense what so ever to do the right thing and not rewrite history. Those who ignore "real" history are bound to repeat it. Will Texas ever learn? Maybe they should teach that the Earth is flat, as the church used to teach until science proved that theory wrong.

I really hope that other states will reject these "new" history textbooks and have the changes removed. I fear that other bible states will follow Texas and teach the "new" history. Something is really screwed up in Texas. No one should ever be allowed to change historical facts for any reason even if it is based on one's religious beliefs.

Til next week.

Peter

It Cost How Much?

Hi Everyone,

I had planned my topic for today's blog a few days ago. But, as has happened before, something came to my attention that I believe is more important than my original topic.

I recently blogged about the current Ebola epidemic. So as I was sitting down to write about my original topic, I watched a very interesting news story on NBC news. The story was about the last Doctor who worked in Africa, caught the Ebola virus and was flown to NYC to be treated in a NYC hospital. He was released after he was cured.

Now don't get me wrong, I am highly impressed with the professionals, Doctors and Nurses etc. who risk their own lives to treat people with this killer virus. But, what really surprised me, no, I should say really shocked me, was the cost to treat this person. Can you guess how much it cost to treat the doctor? $500,000, $1,000,000? Nope you would be wrong. $2,000,000, $3,000,000? Again, you would be wrong. $4,000,000, $5,000,000? Again you would be wrong. The cost for his 3 week +/- in hospital stay was, are you sitting down........$20,000,000!!! Yes you read that correctly. Twenty million dollars. That is approximately $952,381 per day. I know that to the doctor's family, every penny spent on saving him was worth it. But, is that cost the true cost, or is it a hyper-inflated cost?  I do not know the answer to that question. All I know is that the cost of say 20-40 protective suits per day that all the caregivers had to wear, for sake of argument, may have cost $1,000 a piece; which equals $40,000 +/- per day. It just seems that $921,381 is such an excessive amount for whatever other costs there were. To me, this cost seems extremely exorbitant.

I am not trying to put a price on how much a life is worth. But $20,000,000 seems to be a whole lot of out of line for 3 weeks. During tonight's newscast, NY Senator Charles Schumer, stated that he is having the bill sent to the federal government for reimbursement to the hospital. Ebola is a deadly virus that needs a special isolation room and special protective outerwear to protect the caregivers, but at almost $1,000,000 per day, my common sense is sending up red flags because something doesn't seem right. The cost seems way out of line, especially since there were no special surgery(s) needed. So what gives?

I hope that the hospital's bills are fully scrutinized and that the hospital doesn't become rich for treating just one patient. 

Til next week.

Peter

What's Going On Here?

Hi Everyone,

It is an unbelievable event, but as every one knows, gasoline prices have dropped dramatically. This is unbelievable since the first OPEC oil embargo occurred in 1974. When prices of a barrel of crude oil heads south, OPEC has always cut output to increase the price per barrel. But not this time. OPEC spigots are still open as much as before the price drop. We all remember 2008, when the price of a barrel of oil went so high that the price for a gallon of gasoline reached and surpassed $4.00.

Last week I took a friend for some errands and we drove through Katonah, New York. Katonah has a lot of very wealthy residents on large estates. The price for a gallon as gasoline was $3.90 and a second gas station was selling gas for $3.89. What is wrong with that picture? The price around where we live, (about 15 miles north of Katonah) is around $3.23/ gallon. How can gas stations in Katonah sell gas for $.60 a gallon more? Their prices are more like 2008. Those gas stations buy their gas from the same places as the gas stations that serve our area.

Can it be true that just because one lives in a rich area that they will pay more for gasoline? That doesn't make sense to me. To me it appears that those stations are price gouging and are getting away with it. It has always been this way in Katonah. There is just no common sense as to why they are able to get away with it. I fully understand that greed overrules common sense with some companies in order to make more money. But this has been going on for too long and someone needs to say something to someone to have these stations investigated for price gouging.

Til next week.

Peter

It's a Miracle and Deserves Many Kudus!

Hi Everyone,

A short time after the first person to have Ebola arrived in NYC last week , my wife and I had a conversation about how to stop people who come from countries that either have Ebola cases or had worked with Ebola patients. My thought was that any person who fit in either category would be immediately quarantined for 21 days. How else could you prevent an Ebola outbreak in a densely populated city such as NYC? To me that was just a common sense solution that would at the very least, try to prevent a potentially dangerous situation from getting out of hand or actually preventing such an occurrence.

So low and behold, (and boy was I surprised), NY Democratic Governor Cuomo and NJ Republican Governor Christie jointly announced that they both had agreed to implement such a preventative plan in both states. This implemented plan is more restrictive than even the CDC's current Ebola regulations. FYI, the last media report from the CDC, was that they were actively discussing the NY, NJ plan in regards to implementing a  similar plan nationally. Finally, politicians, who as a group in my opinion, have the least common sense of any other group, were able to come up with and implement a common sense solution in a timely fashion.

Which is the subject of today's blog. In this day and age, politicians from both sides of the aisle have a terrible and caustic aversion to working together. But here we are now and somehow, someway, Governors Cuomo and Christie found common ground that they were able to work together on and then being able to agree on a plan solution and even implementing it to prevent an Ebola outbreak. Congrats to both of them! Unfortunately in this day and age, politicians also have the unbelievable and stupid ability to take any situation and turn it into a war of ideologies. That's why seemingly simple common sense solutions take an eternity to be agreed upon and then implemented. But that's not what Cuomo and Christie did! Not only was I pleasantly shocked to hear about their agreement, but also the speed in which they were able to come up with a common sense solution and then to implement it to boot. Go figure!

I remember when Governor Christie publicly commended President Obama's help and the federal government's response to the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy. Christie was vehemently criticized by members of his own party. Now Christie works hand in hand with a Democrat to solve a potential mutual problem and not making it a political issue/problem. They proactively acted for once, instead of reacting, which is usually the way it works these days. Who doesn't see that being used against Christie in the near future. This is the way politicians should work and unfortunately doesn't happen very often.

Again, congratulations to both Cuomo and Christie. My hat is off to you both. Maybe, wishful thinking on my part, others from both parties can and will learn from their experience of being able to work together, hand in hand, to get the job done in a timely fashion.

Til next week.

Peter 

Not So Fast!

Hi Everyone,

By now we have all heard of or have read about hackers, hacking into Target, Home Depot and other chain stores. Hackers were even able to get into the supposedly secure J.P. Morgan computer system. What we have also learned is that the majority of these hackers are from Russia and China. I am not going to get into how these companies get hacked, other then saying that maybe they should pay more to get a better firewall or whatever they need to stop the hackers. Today's blog is about a smaller scale business that will have ore important consequences.

For those of you not in the know, on 10/6/14, Hilton Hotels Corp. sold their iconic, flagship hotel, The Waldorf=Astoria, (yes it is correct to use the equal sign, which is another story) located at 301 Park Ave., between 49th and 50th streets, for $1.95 billion. Under normal circumstances, other than the price tag, this would be a non story. Unfortunately though, the sale of this iconic hotel may result in serious implications that may actually harm our national security. How is that possible, you may be thinking?

Before I answer that question, let me preface my answer by stating that I worked at the Waldorf=Astoria as their Assistant Director of Personnel for years, back in the early 80's; before being promoted to another Hilton hotel. Consequently, I have the inside scoop on why national security may be in jeopardy due to the sale. First of all, the company who bought it is Anbang Insurance Group. So what's the big deal? Anbang is a Chinese company, which is based in Bejing, China. Terms of the sale allow Hilton to manage the hotel for the next 100 years and also calls for a "major renovation". Since we are aware of China's ability to hack into American company's computer systems and their eavesdropping capabilities, why would this sale be problematic? What many people don't know is that for the  past 50 years, the U.S. State Department has leased a residence on the 42nd floor for the home of the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. When I worked at the Waldorf, Jeanne Kirkpatrick was the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and lived in the residence. Yes there was security to protect the residence, but that is not the big issue here. In addition to the residence, every president of the U.S. since FDR has stayed in the Presidential Suite. There are lots of other heads of state from other countries that stay there. Also, hundreds of U.S. diplomats stay at the hotel during the annual U.N. General Assembly. As a side note, back in the day, (I am not sure if they still do it), whenever a head of state stayed at the Waldorf, their country's flag was prominently displayed above the Park Ave. entrance. The U.N. even borrowed some of the Waldorf's flags that they didn't have.

As I stated, under the terms of the sale, a major renovation will take place. So let's look at what will most likely happen with the renovation. As in the case with the U.S. embassy built in Moscow, in the 80's, eavesdropping devices were installed throughout the embassy; even with U.S. contractors overseeing the construction. Knowing who lives and stays in the hotel, does anyone think that China's government won't want to install eavesdropping and other electronic devices everywhere? I believe that not only would they want to, but will do it in a heartbeat. China could then listen to every conversation that the U.N. ambassador has, but also, every U.S. president, all the diplomats, heads of state and U.S. elected officials who stay there. Especially during the annual Al Smith dinner. What a freakin gold mine for the Chinese government; where they would have instant access, in real time, of any and all sensitive conversations that takes place. This just can't ever happen!!!

The way I see it, there are only two common sense options. The first is that the U.S. State Department immediately stops using the 42nd floor and doesn't allow any U.S. presidents, diplomats or any other elected officials from staying there or have any meetings there. Obviously any CEO's of any company who stays there would be fair game for China to listen to for their own benefit and profit. The second option is for the sale not to be allowed, which I am sure there would be lots of people against that due to government interference in a private sale.

I can't imagine that the U.S. State Department would allow anyone to stay there which could jeopardize our national security. When I was at the Waldorf, President Reagan stayed there a couple of times. Six to nine months prior to Reagan's visit, the Secret Service task force was in the hotel, having highly classified meetings with executive management to discuss security and background checks on all current and all recently (past 6 months or so) terminated employees. What a windfall for the Chinese government to learn how the Secret Service and NYC police departments protect the presidents who stay there and their minute by minute and day to day schedules, along with any other high profile guests.

FYI, there are many reasons why the Waldorf is used for the U.N ambassador residence and presidential, other dignitary and heads of state stays. The Waldorf has a private, drive through the building's entrance, which keeps prying eyes away. There is limited access to the towers where these dignitary's stay. And it is located in mid-town, where it is semi-close to the U.N.

Lastly, why is it that the U.S. State Department routinely warns U.S. diplomats in China about physical and electronic surveillance and tells Americans in the country to be aware of similar risks, especially in hotels? Because that is what China does!

If the sale can't be reversed, which I think is the best option, then the only common sense option is for the State Department to immediately stop using it and to find another hotel to use asap! Obviously they can't take the chance of using the Waldorf anymore. Which by the way, will be detrimental to the new owners bottom line. Oh well!

Common sense must rule here, without any second thoughts.

Til next week.

Peter