Meningitis Death Toll Up to 7

Blue states received contaminated shipments.

Meningitis has now killed seven people, in Maryland, Michigan, Tennessee, and Virginia. Sixty-four people in nine states have been confirmed as having the deadly disease, with Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Ohio being the other five.

Everyone of those people received methylprednisolone acetate via a shot to their spine. The steroid, used to treat inflammation, had been contaminated with a fungus, that contained the meningitis.

Seventy-six facilities, in twenty-three states, had received shipments of the drug. They are California, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia.

New England Compounding Center, the pharmacy that made the injections, has voluntarily given up it's license, while the FDA investigates, and recalled all other products that they make, as a precaution.

The FDA is asking people who were given the injections to contact them by phone at 1-800-FDA-1088 or online.

Terrorist Facilitators Extradicted To New York City

BBC reports that extradition proceedings for Abu Hamza al-Masri and four other suspected Al Qaeda facilitators have completed their appeals in the UK. The five are headed to New York and are set to stand for initial arraignment in a US federal court in Connecticut within twenty-four hours.

The first pretrial hearing for Abu Hamza is set to take place in approximately three weeks, though it may be years before al-Masri faces trial on eleven counts of criminal activities to support terrorism against the US. In the meantime, Abu Hamza and his four coconspirators will be held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. The US mainstream media has spent too much time spinning Obama's campaign talking points instead of properly informing New Yorkers and gauging their reactions to news that five terrorists will be housed there instead of Camp Xray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Abu Hamza and others are suspected of running US based websites used to fund Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Ansar al-Sunna, among others. Ansar al-Sunna is the Al Qaeda allied terror group that conducted suicide bombings in Iraq to include the 2004 bombing of a coalition dining facility on Forward Operating Base Marez. Al-Masri also openly called for violence against the US and her allies and facilitated hostage-taking operations to support Al Qaeda.

The pursuit and extradition of Abu Hamza began in 2003 after UK Law Enforcement personnel raided his mosque in Finsbury Park over weapons allegations. the mosque was closed, but al-Masri continued to incite violence, facilitate weapons smuggling, and conduct hostage taking activities until his arrest in 2006. The US indicted Abu Hamza in 2004.

During their initial arraignment, two of the five reportedly entered "not guilty" pleas.


Original article at Mental Aikido.

Blue to Gold: USMC Sgt Camella M. Steedley

USMC Sgt Camella M. Steedley, thiry-one, of San Diego, CA, died October 3, in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
The Pentagon released the name Thursday of a thirty-one year old Camp Pendleton-based Marine killed in combat this week in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Camella M. Steedley of San Diego died October 3 supporting combat operations in Helmand Province on Wednesday, according to the Department of Defense. Her cause of death is under investigation, military officials said.

Steedley was assigned to the Combat Logistics Regiment 17, a logistics battalion of the US Marines based out of Camp Pendleton.

She enlisted in December 2011.  Sher was an air operations clerk for CLR-17.  It's not clear how Sgt. Steedley died and what led the military to investigate. Fox 5 News contacted the 1st Marine Logistics group and was told "she died while supporting combat operations".

The unit released the following statement:
The United States Marine Corps mourns the loss of one its own.  The Marines and sailors of 1st Marine Logistics Group mourn the loss of Sgt. Camella M.Steedley. Our heartfelt condolences go out to her family.

Blue to Gold: ARMY Sgt 1st Class Daniel T Metcalfe

ARMY Sgt 1st Class Daniel T Metcalfe, twenty-nine, of Liverpool, New York, died September 29, in Sayyid Abad, Afghanistan.
Sgt. 1st Class Daniel T. Metcalfe, twenty-nine, of Liverpool, N.Y., died Sep. 29, 2012, in Afghanistan, and was the two thousandth war death in Operation Enduring Freedom's Afghanistan campaign. His death is under investigation by the U.S. military.  Metcalfe died in Sayyid Abad, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when his unit was attacked with small arms fire.

First Sgt. Daniel Metcalfe was a prankster who matured when he joined the Army. He smiled easily, loved to make others laugh and, his family said, was distinguished by devotion: to his wife, his four kids, his country. Metcalfe was killed in combat Saturday, becoming the two thousandth American soldier to die in the eleven year old war in Afghanistan.

"He was a kind of natural-born leader, charismatic," his father, Tom Metcalfe, told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle this week. "Everybody just liked him, and he could lead anybody anywhere, practically, not always in a good way when he was younger."

A memorial service for the twenty-nine year old Metcalfe was Thursday near the Rochester suburb of Penfield, where he had attended high school. Metcalfe's wife, Vesna, flew in from Italy, where the couple lived with their children Alexis, six, Edward, three, and Ethan, eleven months, according to Metcalfe's aunt, Dottie Nerges. He also had a twelve year old daughter from a previous relationship, she said. "When he went into the Army, he really found his calling, and it gave him so much responsibility. He just flourished in the service," Nerges said after the memorial service.

Metcalfe was killed by small arms fire Saturday on foot patrol when insurgents attacked a checkpoint set up by US forces, according to provincial government officials. The Americans thought they were under mortar attack from their allies at a nearby Afghan army checkpoint and fired on it. The Afghan soldiers returned fire. An Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman told The Associated Press that the shooting broke out as a result of a "misunderstanding".

The toll in Afghanistan has climbed steadily in recent months with attacks by Afghan army and police, supposed allies, that have killed fifty American and other NATO troops so far this year. Four more U.S. soldiers have died in Afghanistan since Metcalfe was killed in the eleven year old conflict.

Metcalfe was an eleven year veteran who had been deployed three times to Iraq and Afghanistan before returning to Fort Benning in Georgia to become a drill instructor. He moved to Italy in 2011 and in July went back to Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team for his fourth combat tour.

"He was a dedicated father, loved his country. He died saving the men that he served with, and we are so very, very proud of him," Nerges said. The military lists his hometown as Liverpool, near Syracuse. Nerges said he will be cremated and his ashes will go back to Italy with his wife.

Blue to Gold: ARMY Sgt. Donna R. Johnson

ARMY Sgt. Donna R. Johnson, twenty-nine, of Raeford, North Carolina, died October 1, in Khost, Afghanistan.

The Johnson family of Raeford has a long, proud tradition of military service that dates back to the Revolutionary War. Over the years, they’ve learned to share the difficulty of deployments and the joy of a safe return. But not this time.

Donna Johnson, twenty-nine, a staff sergeant in the North Carolina Army National Guard, when an insurgent detonated a suicide vest. Johnson was one of three North Carolina National Guard soldiers killed in the attack. Sgt. Jeremy F. Hardison, twenty-three, of Maysville and Sgt. Thomas J. Butler IV, twenty-five, of Wilmington, were also killed in the October 1 attack, according to the Department of Defense.

Rene Johnson recounted the moment the family was informed of her sister's death. "There's two military people waiting here to speak to you and your father," she said. "That's when I automatically knew something was wrong."

Rene Johnson said she and her baby sister were very close, and they last spoke on September 18.  "She called me from Afghanistan to wish me a happy birthday," she said. "I didn’t get a chance to tell her that [I love her] because I’m thinking she’s coming back."

Rene Johnson said her sister loved cars, motorcycles, Carolina Basketball, and her partner of several years, who also serves in the military. They had been together for years, before the military's Don't Ask, Don’t Tell policy was repealed. Johnson's family says she shouldn't be judged by her sexual orientation. "She is a soldier," Rene Johnson said. "She went over there to fight, not because she was gay or lesbian."

Johnson joined the guard in August 2006 and previously served in Iraq from 2007 to 2008. Her awards and decorations included the Combat Action Badge, Iraq Campaign Medal and Army Commendation Medal. Hardison, who joined the Guard in 2006 and was also an Iraq veteran, earned the Combat Action Badge, Iraq Campaign Medal with a campaign star and the Army Commendation Medal.

"We are still grieving for these soldiers, their families and their unit members still carrying on with their mission," Maj. Gen. Gregory A. Lusk, adjutant general of North National Guard, said in a statement. "They were the embodiment of citizen soldiers who put everything on hold to go in harm’s way for all of us. They will be remembered and sorely missed."

A total of fourteen people were killed in the attack by a Taliban suicide bomber, who rammed a motorcycle packed with explosives into a joint US and Afghan patrol. The Associated Press reported Monday that the bomber struck shortly after the troops got out of their vehicles to walk through a market area in Khost, in the eastern part of the country.

The bodies of all three soldiers were flown Tuesday to the military’s mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, where family members awaited their arrival. "I never say goodbye," Rene Johnson said. "I always say, I'll see you later."

Blue to Gold: ARMY Sgt. Jeremy F. Hardison

ARMY Sgt. Jeremy F. Hardison, twenty-three, died October 1, in Khost, Afghanistan.
Hardison, who was married, entered the military in May 2006 and deployed to Iraq in 2009. He was assigned to 514th Military Police Company, 60th Troop Command, Winterville, NC; died October 1 in Khost, Afghanistan, of injuries caused by a suicide bomber. 

Hardison was one of three North Carolina National Guard soldiers killed in the attack. Sgt. Thomas J. Butler IV, twenty-five, of Wilmington, and Sgt. Donna R. Johnson, twenty-nine, of Raeford, were also killed in the October 1 attack, according to the Department of Defense.

The three soldiers, all of whom were deployed with the 514^th Military Police Co., 60^th Troop Command out of Winterville, died from injuries suffered when an insurgent detonated a suicide vest while they were on dismounted patrol. Three other soldiers were injured in the attack, according to the North Carolina National Guard Public Affairs Office.

The unit left North Carolina for Fort Bliss, Texas in June and deployed to Afghanistan in early August.

Blue to Gold: ARMY Sgt. Thomas J. Butler IV

ARMY Sgt. Thomas J. Butler IV, twenty-five, of Wilmington, NC, died October 1, in Khost, Afghanistan.

Holly Butler fell in love with her future husband when they were seniors at Topsail High School. The two married in 2008. On Monday, Holly Butler's husband of just shy of four years, Thomas J. Butler IV, twenty-five, was killed while serving in Operation Enduring Freedom in Khost City, Afghanistan.

Butler was one of three North Carolina National Guard soldiers killed in the attack. Sgt. Jeremy F. Hardison, twenty-three, of Maysville and Sgt. Donna R. Johnson, twenty-nine, of Raeford, were also killed in the October 1 attack, according to the Department of Defense.

The three soldiers, all of whom were deployed with the 514^th Military Police Co., 60^th Troop Command out of Winterville, died from injuries suffered when an insurgent detonated a suicide vest while they were on dismounted patrol. Three other soldiers were injured in the attack, according to the North Carolina National Guard Public Affairs Office.

On Friday, Holly Butler released a statement about her husband, calling him "the most proud and devoted husband and father, and a loving brother and son. He was the truest friend and would do anything he could for anyone. He is not only our hero, but a hero for this country he so bravely and proudly served."

The following is Holly Butler’s statement, provided by the public affairs office of the North Carolina National Guard:

Family was very important to T.J.  His mother, Leslie, and father, Thomas, beam with pride when talking about their son.  He enjoyed spending time with his younger brother and strived to be the best role model for Adam.  

T.J. and I first met in 2006 towards the end of his senior year at Topsail High School, and we were married in November of 2008.  He was such a true blessing in my life and I have always said what a dream it was to be able to marry my best friend.  T.J. is and always will be the love of my life and my soul mate.

After high school, T.J. set his eyes on his dream of becoming a law enforcement officer, serving and protecting our family and all those in the community where he would work.  He attended Cape Fear Community College and joined the Army National Guard in hopes that this would pave the way to his future career.

T.J. loved to play every kind of sport. Whether he was fishing, golfing, playing basketball or bowling, he was just happy to be playing something. He strived to become the best at everything he did. He especially loved bowling, and this was something we enjoyed doing together, as well as with our family and friends. T.J. bowled several 300 games and an 809 series.

While T.J. was passionate about reaching his goals and his dream career, nothing was more important to T.J. than our family. More than anything he wanted to provide for us and give my son and me a good life. Anyone who knew T.J. knew that he was proud to serve his country and was so very thankful for the opportunities being in the service had given us. T.J. truly enjoyed life and was a joy to all who knew him.  He always had a smile on his face and wanted to make the most of every minute he had with me and with our son.   

There are not words to express how greatly T.J. will be missed. T.J. will forever be with us, and our son will always know what a brave hero his father was, how he gave everything to whatever he put himself into, and how deeply he loved us.  

The family and I would like to thank everyone for the thoughts and prayers that have been conveyed to us.  

From the Mouth of Matuszak: Deconstruction Of A Meme

Obama said one thing during the October 3, 2012 debate that many liberal pundits have seemed to latch onto between their fits of excuses and finger pointing over Obama's debate loss. Obama stated that Romney doesn't have a plan, just an idea because he has not published anything in detail.

What it actually demonstrates is that Romney is willing to do a few things that Obama cannot even seem to comprehend the concepts they involve.

1. Lead

A leader presents guidance. A leader is sensitive to the common goal of his followers, then provides a clear vision of that goal, that objective, that end state. A leader also identifies the interim objectives necessary to reaching the eventual objective.  A leader accepts a mission, then issues smaller mission statements that fall in line with those interim objectives. In the case of an elected leader, that leader receives his mission from those he represents. In our republic, that means his superiors are the same as the led.

A good leader provides guidance that contains a task, purpose, and end state. Romney has done just that.

2. Surround himself with actual experts and listen to them.

Romney, unlike Obama, does not think himself omniscient. Obama selected so called experts such as Valerie Jarrett to fill positions they were grossly unqualified to fill. VJ may be an expert at something, but it is not the subjects her job title implies. Romney has a history of surrounding himself with competent people who are willing to tell him the hard truth and advise him accordingly. He would not have had his successes in the business world or in saving the SLC Olympics if he didn't.

A leader doesn't produce a final, detailed plan in a vacuum. They "staff" those plans. Staffs provide a group of experts and advisers from both academia and the practical world. They don't necessarily have all of the answers, but are adept at finding those answers and testing them before offering them as advice.

3. Listen to dissenting opinions and evidence before committing to a course of action

A good leader is one who will come up with a concept, then actually ask people to challenge it. Dissenting opinions provide a form of "wargaming" that helps rid any good plan of faults. Those who offer dissenting opinions to Obama are dismissed by him. However, Romney has already, while Governor, demonstrated the ability to listen to those dissenting opinions and formulate a plan, or compromise when necessary.


Romney issued a warning order that included his "commander's guidance". He did not hand an full OPORD to his staff and say "don't advise, don't plan, just execute". If you look at the five point plan he suggested in the debate, it is obvious he has a sound concept. He has established his interim objectives:

1. Put the USA on a path to energy independence.
2. Open trade on a global scale in order to increase the USA's market share and market value.
3. Increase opportunities for Americans to acquire skills and knowledge that will make our workers more competitive on the global scale, thereby increasing the value of our nation's human capital.
4. Balance the budget so our government isn't spending more than it is accruing in revenue. That is just smart. Any household that is spending more than it makes is, well, stupid. Same with any company. The same holds true for any country.
5. Champion small and mid-sized businesses to grow. If they have less restricted competition, then they have incentives to prosper and produce. In doing so, they will expand and hire more employees. More people receiving a paycheck means more taxable income. It also means more people having the earned income to spend on necessities and luxuries. That means more sales tax as well. Everybody wins.

The overall end state is economic prosperity in our country. It is a much increased GDP. It is a higher standard of living. It is people at work and a larger workforce participation rate. It is a better and happier America.

The details of his plan may not be one hundred percent set. They shouldn't be. Only a complete fool would do so.  A good leader sets what are called "decision points" that build flexibility for contingencies. Romney knows that he will not have all the necessary data to complete those plans until he gets in office. He is not a fool who is going to remain rigid to a plan even if it is doomed to failure, as Obama's evidently was.

I watched Romney in the primary. One of my criticisms of him, at that time, was that he didn't seem to have a set platform. Now, that is one of his greatest strengths. His platform is an amalgamation of those he competed against for the nomination. He adopted aspects of their better ideas and accepted some of them as advisers as well. He remained open to good suggestions. That's what a leader does.

So, it is not true that Romney lacks a detailed plan. What is true is that Romney has vision. He has a clear objective and desired end state. He has many options to accomplish those objectives. Like a true leader, he is still open to suggestions, advice, criticism, and improvement.

This article originally published at P-G Matuszak's Mental Aikido.

Are September Employment Numbers Good News?

Photo Copyright 2012 by P-G Matuszak. All rights reserved.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest Employment and Unemployment Economic Indicators Report for September 2012.

At initial glance it appears to be good news. The U3 Unemployment Rate normally used by the left dropped to 7.8%. The fact it took almost four years instead of eight months should send warning sirens, though, since an unhampered normal market adjustment would have resulted in an approximate drop to 7.5% by September 2008 had unnecessary government intrusions not kept it inflated.

Another sign of not so bad news is that workforce participation did not fall significantly and remains at an abysmal 63.6%.

Private sector (civilian) job creation was reported at 418,000 new positions. However, that is strikingly lower than the number of people underemployed due to economic reasons which rose by approximately 600,000. What this indicates is that approximately 418,000 people gained temporary, part time jobs while 182,000 or so people who had "steady, full time" employment moved into part time positions or shifted from one temporary job to another. The U6 rate remains unchanged at 14.7%. Percentage of long-term unemployed rose to 40.1%.

If the workforce participation were the same as it was four years ago, then the combined unemployed and underemployed rate would be closer to 23%. The numbers indicate that people are still not working. The numbers also count people taking two or more part time jobs multiple times as though each job taken were by a separate person, thus skewing the numbers.

While the latest report should stir some level of optimism, it is, by and large, not strikingly great news. Again, people need to sit down and do some basic math. If you recall your basic statistics classes in college (as well as Econ 101 and 102), you know that you need to take all the statistics in conjunction as well as look at the data set (or sample population). With over 1/3 of working age Americans not participating in the workforce, these numbers really are not so great.

Photo Copyright 2012 by P-G Matuszak. All rights reserved.

We still have over 18,775,000 people seeking jobs who cannot find one. We have 8.6 Million people that want and need full time jobs who are stuck in part-time employment. We have 2.5 Million listed as "marginally attached". These are people who want jobs, have looked in the past year, but are not listed as part of the workforce and, therefore, not "unemployed". These people include military retirees looking for work. Since they receive a pension check, they are not eligible to file for unemployment "benefits", and are not counted in the workforce or the unemployment percentage. Adding that demographic back into the number of unemployed, the figure is closer to 21,275,000 unemployed. Increase that by the underemployed of 8.6 million (up by 600,000 in September), the total number of people unemployed and underemployed is a total of 29,875,000. That is nearly 30 Million people not able to work at their full potential due to the current economic conditions.

Article originally published at P-G Matuszak's Mental Aikido. Copyright 2012 by P-G Matuszak, used with permission.

Classic Must See: The Naked City (1948)

For all the dark and gritty semi documentary police procedurals we’re used to in film and TV, for graphic scenes of the crime followed by routine investigations, with a big city as main character, you can go way back and thank a man with one name and a good eye for detail. Usher Fellig, an Austrian immigrant to New York, had a darkroom in the trunk of his car and went from being a photo technician and photographer’s assistant to entrepreneur, to covering the crime beat for a press service. Because he seemed to have the uncanny ability to beat emergency vehicles to crime scenes and get choice shots, he got (or gave himself) the nickname Weegee, a play on the Ouija board.

In 1945, Weegee put out a book of his ultra realist stark urban night scape tabloid style crime photos, called it Naked City. The best seller attracted the attention of New York columnist and Broadway playwright/short story writer turned Hollywood producer Mark Hellinger (The Killers and Brute Force) who secured the film rights to the book's concept and title Naked City for his new movie, a police procedural, and ended up not only buying into the cachet of a newly coined and very catchy term, but also hooking into loads of imagery and associations to New York City crime.

The Naked City movie focused on a Brooklyn police department, its hard working detectives and forensic experts, and was an amalgam of several real NYPD investigations. There's an opening murder, a veteran Homicide detective, the older, wiser, crotchety and clever, paired with and mentoring young war vet and new detective, good looking, sharp and eager to learn.

The script emphasizes the investigative routine, profiling, and all the forensic rules modern viewers have had drilled into our brain, don’t touch or move anything, collect every scrap of what might turn out to be evidence, and follow every clue. The method leads to the discovery of a jewelry theft ring, and finally to a fearsome, sweaty, acrobatic, harmonica playing exwrestler, and one of the greatest chase sequences ever filmed, winding through back alleys and streets of the East side, to the Williamsburg Bridge, and from there high up into the sky.

Director Jules Dassin used every opportunity to frame a scene in order to showcase over one hundred NYC locations, countless beautiful shots of the city's endless motion. The city is a figure blamed by the model's parents for luring their daughter, then consuming her and making her insignificant. "This time yesterday she was just another pretty girl; today she's just yesterday's news."

The lack of big name stars helped the documentary style, the effect of a Weegee photo ripped from his book and come to life. Regular New Yorkers were captured in their "natural habitat", thanks to the innovative technique of shooting secretly from inside a truck fitted with a two-way mirror. The Naked City movie was a financial and critical hit, with Oscars awarded for editing and for black & white cinematography, and a nomination for screenwriting.

Sadly, the stress of shooting in the grueling heat of NYC’s hottest summer on record, dealing with a big budget and even bigger crowds contributed to Mark Hellinger's death of a heart attack at the age of forty-four, just before the film's release. With The Naked City, the filmmakers knew they were creating a new genre, and ended up setting the standard for the thousands of hours of derivative film and TV that it inspired. The procedural and forensic format has since sent various branches of the law searching and frantically chasing through many a big city, and The Naked City was where it all began.

The Naked City is available on DVD and also on HULU

Find me at the Speakeasy for much more classic entertainment.