First, Master Thyself

All sorts of people are quick to offer advice, solicited or not, in which, the advisor of such, doesn't really have their own house in order, which doesn't necessarily mean that their particular advice doesn't have merit, but it does indicate that the person giving such advice, needs to follow their own advice, and/or needs to master their own self, first, in order to properly demonstrate themselves as a true mentor.

The very first thing that we need to have complete control over is ourselves.  While it is true that others can change our circumstances, the interior portion of our mind and how we react to external changes or things which we may not have control over, is still entirely our own, for all are gifted with free will and free decision making of the mind, and in many cases, are gifted with far, far more.  This gift of free will is ours to utilize either for good or for bad, to be used appropriately or not, as is our inclination, whatever it may be as ultimately we are responsible for the things that we do and say.

It must be said, that whatever that we do with our free will has an awful lot to do with our ability to truly be master of our own fate, as well as to be master of our own desires, in addition to being master of the circumstances that surround us.  For some people, it must be incredibly disappointing that they have not the will to resist a sugary dessert or similar that they know they should not have, especially since even a pet, can be trained to obey its master and not do the same, because of that training, whereas, some humans given the primary responsibility to demonstrate their own self-control, fall woefully short.

Sad to say, this inability to discipline ourselves properly, presents a problem that just gets progressively worse, for those that cannot control themselves, will often find themselves controlled by the state, in one form or another, because of this lack of discipline, or if not controlled by the state by some agent acting as its substitute, enthralled typically by their most imposing vice, such as alcohol, drugs, illicit sex, anger, and so on and so forth. 

Still, within each of us is the power to escape this lack of discipline, to escape this lack of order, and that way is to train the mind to overcome the things that hold us back from our better selves.  For some people, the best way to overcome their shortcomings is to work in conjunction with others that are able to hold them accountable for their actions and thereby to keep them focus on their goals; then again, alternatively it is the developing of one's inner concentration that helps one to calm their mind in order to make one's decision making less impulsive and better thought out.  In any event, progress is only made through successful application as well as the constant desire to be the master of yourself.

Those that see if through, and become masters of their own free will, are best able to deal with not only the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, but will find themselves better able to apply themselves in things great and small, so as to be and to thereby have the accouterments of a life lived successfully which benefits not only themselves but others that they mentor to.

Student Loans and the Treasury Offset Program

There are plenty of students that have incurred student loan debt, in which, many of these same students struggle in paying back such debt, for a lot of reasons, in which, the primary one is that they do not have the ready means to do so.  While it is one thing to be "pinged" to pay back such debt, and another thing to have your wages garnished legally by Federal, State, or child support agencies, it is an entirely different thing for taxpayers to have their Federal refund checks and/or their State refund checks "taken" from them in their entirety for non-payment of delinquent student debt, especially when there is a massive underclass of Americans, that each year, are totally dependent upon receiving those same Federal or State refunds in order to pay bills, to buy things, and just to basically survive.

While the government, likes to demonstrate how reasonable and considerate they are, by providing a step-by-step guide of how students that are unable to pay their loans, can request or negotiate the re-payment of such, there are a substantial amount of people that really don't even bother reading or paying much attention to that information.  In addition, despite all the various avenues that students who are falling into default may avail themselves of,  a significant amount of those student debtors don't really know how to deal with such, and thereby fail to do anything because they figure whatever that they might attempt to do, won't work out and besides they still don't have the means to pay back such a loan, but alas the chickens do come home to roost, especially so when expected and already designated monies that taxpayers are anticipating from their Federal and/or State authorities is snatched completely from their eagerly awaiting hands.

There isn't any good reason, why tax refunds should be subject to full confiscation in order to pay back whatever loan that a taxpayer has, for the only fair way to deal with outstanding loans, is rather than taking away legitimate refunds away from taxpaying citizens, that instead such agencies need to follow the rules of the road in regards to garnishments, which, by law, are limited to 15% of your disposable income, for defaulted student loans.   This means that those that ignore repeated requests to pay back student loans, are subject to suffering a 15% garnishment on their wages, and in aggregate no more than 25% total for all applicable garnishments, which while quite unfortunate, at least puts a limit on garnishments.  It would then follow, that tax refunds should also follow the same percentage formula, so that rather than the Federal and/or State agencies having the right to take all of a taxpayer's anticipated refund, the limit should be the same as the garnishment limit which is 15%, and nothing more.

While there are a lot of reasons why student loans are defaulted on, certainly one of the most common reasons, is that the defaulter typically does not have the monetary means to do so, in which, their biggest "paycheck" of the year is usually their tax refund, so that the full taking of such a refund by government agencies, creates undue stress, undue burden, and undue harm, to those that have so little to begin with, so that really the only lesson that is learnt by them, is that this government crushes the little people while protecting and augmenting the favored class.

VIN# on a Vehicle's Roof

In order to drive a vehicle on public roads one needs to have a driver's license as issued by the respective State and depending upon the State, there are requirements for a front and back license plate, or just one or the other.  Besides a license plate which is an easy way to identify the owner of the vehicle, each vehicle is issued a unique 17-digit Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) which is used for registration, insurance, and for tracking of vehicles, of which, this VIN# is attached to all paperwork and is identified on the dashboard of the car, as well as various other spots.  Because the VIN# is absolutely unique to each vehicle, as opposed to license plates, which though unique, can be transferred from one vehicle to another, the VIN# has special value attached to it, and while law enforcement cars as well as traffic cameras at lights, have the capability of tracking a vehicle via the reading of a license plate number, in an era in which the sky literally is the limit, there are advantages to being able to read one's VIN# from the air, as opposed to picking up a license plate number from behind or just in front of a given vehicle.

Currently, private citizen cars have no identification on their vehicle rooftop, whereas buses and law enforcement vehicles, typically do have such identification, making it easy for aerial devices to pick up their identification numbers, which thereby makes it straightforward to not only identify who, what, and where the vehicle is, but also allows that vehicle to be readily track.  Today, there are numerous cameras attached to light poles, or rooftops, or traffic lights that already are setup to record or take pictures of vehicles, but could be re-configured for aerial surveillance of a vehicle's rooftop as compared to angling itself correctly to pick up a license plate, and though there are helicopters that ply our skies, helicopters are expensive to own and operate, not to mention the fact that helicopters are relatively easy for the naked eye to spot.  On other hand, drones are getting more and more sophisticated by the minute, their price point to run them is trending lower and lower, and the visibility of drones can be masked by their physical look, for instance, as appearing to be a bird in the air, or by their height up in the air, which makes it virtually impossible for the naked eye to even know that they are up there in the sky.  The advantage of law enforcement using drones up in the air, is they are far less intrusive, than police cars or helicopters, and the drones are quite good at collecting information, in which, law enforcement agencies would welcome the capability of tracking vehicles on public roads, which would be easily identified by their VIN# or its equivalency in code written in a certain specified spot on vehicle roofs.   For instance, the VIN# could be designed to utilize a certain ink or imprint that is relatively invisible to the naked eye, but quite visible to cameras that are design to read such.

All of the above, would help law enforcement to more easily track vehicles that traverse our public roads so as to reduce crime and to protect the general public, for as most people are intuitively aware of, individuals have no right of privacy in public, in addition to the fact that cars are things, and things that are out in public, though they may be privately owned, when driven out into the public sphere, they now become fair play to be legally monitored, tracked, and observed.   Will having VIN# on the roof be de rigueur in America? It would appear to be an idea whose time has come, as it will be legal, relatively easy to implement, and another arrow in the arsenal of those that support our basic police state.

The American Aristocracy

Part of the lure of America is the fact that it is known more as a country of meritocracy as compared to the historic European style of aristocracy, in which, a select few people of royalty, are able to inherit their wealth and power, generation to generation.  Unfortunately, America has devolved more and more into a country that has created a form of aristocracy of wealth and power, by virtue of the fact, that the superrich are not taxed sufficiently when they are alive, and are further able to escape the most onerous taxes upon death, through estate tax lifetime exemptions, step-up basis in capital assets, foundations, trusts, charitable organizations, and so on and so forth. 

For average Americans that are employed and working, they are liable to our progressive tax system, in which the more that you make, the more that you are progressively taxed, whereas, for those making their money through capital gains or qualified dividends, there are straightforward ways to minimize such when paying taxes.  For instance, capital gains only occur when a security investment is actually sold, so if your investments are never sold, they will not be taxed, even if such an investment goes up considerably such as 500% or 1000% or even higher, and when the entity that owns this security investment dies, the beneficiary of that investment does not pay taxes on the capital gains, but instead is granted a "stepped-up" basis, in which, the security now owned by this new entity is granted the luxury of owning the investment at the current price of the security at the time of the grantor's death.  That is to say, for instance, someone that bought Amazon at $50/share and died when the price was at $1000/share has successfully passed on that security to the beneficiary at $1000/share, with no tax implications, whatsoever.  This same sort of formula applies to real property, such as houses, apartments, and condos, in which the beneficiary will own such at the "stepped-up" basis, no matter how much the property has appreciated since it was first bought.

Then there are investments that kick out dividends, of which qualified dividends max out at the highest rate of taxation which is 20%, as compared to the highest rate of ordinary income, that is, people that are actually laboring, which is 39.6%.  In addition, rich people that are married are allowed to gift $28,000 annually in which the recipient of such, receives these monies tax free and while that doesn't seem to be a substantial amount of money, that money, done annually, over a long period of time, adds up, quite quickly.  For those that actually do sell their assets and pay taxes on capital gains, those capital gains that have been held for more than one year are taxed at the top rate of 20%, as compared to the top rate of ordinary income which is 39.6%. 

None of the above even touches upon the tricks of the trade that the superrich utilize in order to shelter their assets from the tax authorities by, for instance, of hiding their assets offshore.  The superrich, by virtue of their wealth and influence are able to take reasonable laws that should apply to them, and again and again by utilizing lawyers, lobbyists, foundations, and the manipulation of tax codes along with pliant foreign countries, are able to minimize the taxes that they need pay while alive, as well as to minimize those taxes upon their demise.  While it is one thing for the superrich to have their cake and eat it, while alive, it is an entirely different thing, for those that have enjoyed such, to be able to pass it on, basically untarnished by the tax authorities, to whomever they so desire, upon their death, robbing the masses of Americans of a fair share and a fair opportunity of the prosperity that all should have access to by a tax code that ostensibly was set in place so as to help re-distribute monies to those in need but has failed woefully short of doing so.

Understanding others

Everybody wants to be understood, and they especially want to be understood as if you really know them, since that will allow the other person to empathize with them appreciably better, and thereby create a more meaningful bond between one another.  However, not too surprisingly, most people, as much as they say differently, concentrate way too much about specifically themselves, as opposed to actually listening and interacting with others as well as they could.  This would signify that there is much that each of us can do to be more actively involved with others, by improving our listening and interactions skills when relating with others.

The very first thing to improve communication with others, is to actually listen as well as to make eye contact, if possible, upon the person that is speaking, giving your full attention, as opposed to half listening, or half thinking about what you want to say in return, or just essentially tuning things out, because you just aren't that interested in what they have to say.  The very fact that someone is speaking to you, basically indicates that they have something to say, of which, no doubt, there will be times when some of it is repetitive, or some of it is mindless, or some of it is stupid, but the more that you really listen to it now, perhaps then in the future there will be in return less repetitiveness, less mindlessnessand less stupidity, because you are able to respond to them in a meaningful manner that indicates that you have comprehended what they are saying.

A true dialog necessitates that each party, actually listens, cogitates, and responds to the other, as opposed to simply taking turns talking at one another.  In addition to that, good dialog, allows each party to actually learn more about the other, so that listening and thereby having a conversation, is actually a valued skill, one, that is very important, for we can learn from and understand others in many and various ways, of which one very good one, is through verbal and body language communication, which gives each of us a better opportunity to become more knowledgeable about the other, and even about ourselves.

Humans have an innate desire to know one another for that is how friendships develop, as well as how good families grow and bond together, because not only does that make us feel more comfortable with each other, but by knowing one another better, we are better able to respond to each other in our more critical and intimate times of need.  We should develop a healthy curiosity about one another, because that helps to enable us to stay actively engaged. 

If you aren't doing a good job in understanding others, that like just about anything else, can be changed, by taking the very first step which is endeavoring to improve your listening and interaction skills, and, by trying and trying again and again.  You should want to make this effort for the very same reason that you desire others to do so, which is that you really do want other people to understand you, and the first step in having that occur, is developing the skill-set within yourself, so that you know the mindfulness needed in order to succeed at such. 

People get frustrated for a lot of reasons, and frustrated people are not as happy or productive as they could be, yet those that know themselves well, that are thoughtful, considerate, and attentively listen, help provide that impetus that allows others to a get a fresh perspective and help to renew their resolve to do and to be better.

Natural Resources and the Application of the mind

There are many countries in this world, of which some are blessed with great natural resources, such as America, and some are not, such as Japan, in which, if the material success of a given country, simply came down to the quantity and quality of natural resources contained within its borders, than Russia as the largest country in the world and the country considered to have the greatest amount of natural resources would be the most powerful and richest country in the world, but it is not, as Russia's GDP in aggregate does not even make the top ten of nations in the world, and Russia's GDP per capita, does not even make the top fifty.  Additionally, as ranked by investopedia.com, Iran and Saudi Arabia, are considered to be in the top five of countries that have the largest natural resources in the world, in which Iran is an economic mess, and Saudi Arabia, despite its vast oil and natural gas resources, is on a per capita basis, ranked just #35 in the world, in addition to its significantly large disparities in wealth. On the other hand, there are countries such as Japan, that lack natural resources in regards to oil, coal, natural gas, and arable land, yet this small island nation, has the third highest aggregate GDP in the world.  So too, many examples could be given of other nations such as Venezuela, Nigeria, and Angola, that have ample natural resources but are countries that are not noted for being either stable politically or equitable in their income.

The very first thing to really consider about natural resources, is that what so many people consider to be natural resources such as oil, natural gas, water, timber, arable land, and coal, are just some of the resources that man has developed over the years to utilize for energy, food, building, transportation, or heating, which means the designation of natural resources has a lot more to do with things that have been developed so as to be utilized efficiently as compared to something of pure intrinsic value.  What this means is that mineral resources such as oil, are valuable to mankind, because mankind has learned how to extract it from the earth very efficiently, along with how to process it, create energy from it, how to utilize it in plastics and all sorts of other products, and how to distribute it throughout the world, so that the development and importance of oil, aligns hand-in-hand with the products and needs that are coordinated with it.  The fact that oil is an incredibly valuable commodity has a lot more to do with the imagination and the application of the mind of man, than it necessarily has to do with the product itself, because it is that very application and imagination that has taken an abundant resource and developed it successfully for man's benefit.

The above presupposes that rather than getting fixated that the world has a finite amount of natural resources which we are using up at a greater and greater rate, because populations are increasing, in addition to the fact that more and more nations are using more and more natural resources,  is that, mankind is not a fool, for the greatest natural resource is to take the foundation of what has already been learnt by previous generations, and to utilize this as the basis to increase that knowledge, applying such in new and more efficient ways, so that mankind can do even more than was previously thought imaginable.

This thus signifies that the greatest natural resource isn't really mineral resources, though they have their value, but the mind of mankind, itself, and as long as mankind is driven to make the world a better and richer place, progress will continue, so that the more the world is developed, the more material wealth that will be discovered, indicating that the most successful nations are the ones that are both optimistic and that also diligently apply themselves to the vital tasks at hand.

Is Heaven Segregated?

You might think that the above question is absolutely preposterous, yet, the way that so many people live their lives, by design, by accident, or by social restrictions, this would strongly imply that as it is here, so as it must be above.  That is to say, look all around you, and it is relatively easy to see divisiveness and segregation, by creed, by color, by national origin, by sex, by age, by looks, by money, by employment, by housing, by clothing, by accent, and so on and so forth.  While America as well as many other nations, have strived towards integration, with some countries having made significant progress in doing so, there still remain systemic problems that preclude such from advancing much pass a certain baseline, as too often, people band together not by acknowledging each person's content of their character, but more so by what often appears to be socially conditioned identification cues that consciously resonate from one person to another as well as fromone specific group to another.

Then, of course, there is the fact that even within the very same religious affiliation, people have widely divergent views of Heaven, or of God, or of judgment, and everything in-between.  Not to mention, that there are literally hundreds of different beliefs in regards to God, to redemption, to the afterlife, and so on and so forth, which would presuppose that  a few religions must have it basically right, and a few religions must have it basically wrong, with everything else in-between, but ultimately though, there is just one God, the Alpha and the Omega, there is just One that is the Only One, no matter what name, that our Creator is designated by, there is ultimately just that One, omniscient, omnipotent, immutable, eternal and just.

So too, there are not different versions of Heaven, or different degrees of Heaven, or anything in-between, there is only just one Heaven, the very same Heaven that all souls ,equally created by the hand of God , will return to.  This very basic understanding that there is only one Heaven, should represent to us our very first clue, that if we are unable to see that each of us is entitled to the same basic benefits and the same basic rights as the other, than we have failed to comprehend that we are all equal in the eyes of God, and any divisions that we comprehend between us and "them", are false divisions and false paths that we must forsake for the blind cannot ever lead the blind.

While there isn't anything wrong with desiring to congregate with the people, friends, or family that you feel comfortable or compatible with, it is wrong to close your mind to others, as if those others are somehow, unworthy of your goodness and respect.  So too, while there is something to be said about desiring to aid those closest to yourself, as well as to benefit those that you have the most affinity for, in addition tomentoring those that are part of your same milieu, that isn't going to be quite enough to get you to where you really do want to go.  If you want to be in Heaven, a Heaven that consists of love, respect, joy, and peace, you must perform those very acts in this world for those that have cursed and mistreated you, for Heaven is made up of those that never gave in to hate or evil, but instead overcame it all with love.

Globalization and the destruction of domestic Labor

America is a capitalistic society, of which, it is of paramount importance of most publicly held corporations to make it their policy to essentially earn as much money as possible on their products and assets.  This signifies that almost all corporations look closely at their sales in which their objective is to increase them, as well as looking closely at their expenses in which their objective is to decrease them and/or to get more value out of the labor utilized.  It goes without saying that western nations, because of their wealth, their cost of living, their infrastructure, their laws, and their social services,  that their overall cost of doing business domestically is meaningfully higher than the cost of doing business in developing nations.

It then follows, if there is no penalty for doing business in countries in which you can produce your product for a significantly lower price point, in which labor laws as well as health and safety laws are far more lax, in addition to the fact that this can all be essentially outsourced to foreign manufacturing concerns that then have the responsible of adhering to both local as well as adhering to corporation policy, that it would behoove these corporations to do so.  So too, as good as that already is, corporations through the tricks of the trade, of specifically staging domestic subsidiaries in foreign nations as well as bending or utilizing tax rules  or loopholes in a manner that specifically allows that corporation to "game" the system so as to reduce their overall tax footprint, you then have as reported by cnn.com, companies such as Apple, that "…In 2014, the corporate giant paid just $50 in tax for every million it made selling iPhones and iPads to most of the world outside America. That's a tax rate of just 0.005%."

Not only does the globalization of manufacturing profit corporations headquartered in America, by allowing these same multinational giants to draw first upon the wealth of America in their stock issuance, higher education, and financing, but they are also able to leveraged up that wealth by utilizing it in all of its myriad forms off-sourcing in places all across the world, increasing profit and taking market share from others not so richly endowed, in which  the end result is often a corresponding robust stock price performance, based on impressive profit margins and growth.

Of course, all of the above signifies that as in most situations, there are the winners, as well as the losers.  The winners are those that are the corporate insiders and valued members to such corporations, as well as their stockholders, and consumers of such products that are able typically to purchase the product at a lower price point.  The losers are the tax recipients, which means cheating the infrastructure and safety net that America has an obligation to provide for the disenfranchised, in addition to American companies that are unable to take advantage of cheaper foreign labor as well as substantially lower tax rates for outsourcing, and finally, quite obviously, those that labor in the manufacturing fields of America, who have been squeezed out of labor markets through no real fault of their own.

Finally, as reported by epi.org, "…in 2011, international trade depressed wages for non-college educated workers by 5.5 percent, costing the average worker $1,800."  The bottom line, quite obviously, is that American labor cannot compete against foreign labor specifically because the playing field is not level, for if foreign countries have imported to them, or have access to all of the material needs that create the equivalency of a manufacturing plant in America, along with softer labor/safety laws, and millions of their denizens that need jobs,  then they will take jobs from Americans, and domestic labor will be left instead with hard to outsource low-paying service related jobs, hyped up but disappointing gig jobs, and way too often, idle hands and a future of little meaningful opportunity.

Your Soul's Mission

We read in Holy Scripture at Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee…" so too, the disciples questioned Jesus the Christ in John 9:2 with this question: “…Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  These scripture passages represent clear markers acknowledging our existence in another dimension before we were born into this world.  In truth, our manifested life here on earth confuses many in the mistaken belief that we are just material finite corporal beings, because we are locked into seeing just what is reflected back to us; then there are others that believe that life here is our one time to do right and/or be saved, and that thereafter upon our physical death we will be judged, but the disparity in lives that we are born into, our family circumstances, nations, lifestyles, and so on and so forth, are so varied, clearly, if this is just our one life, all that ever we would be, than that life as created, is unequivocally in aggregate: unequal, unfair, and unjust.  This then means, for the inquiring or contemplative mind, that there must be something that transcends the rather limited vision propagandized by so many.

The answer to the above is reincarnation, or the re-manifestation of our soul into physical form, after our death here on earth, so that our soul lives eternally, with periodic incarnations into a physical form, followed by our bodily death, then a re-setting of our soul and its direction, and thereby our re-birth.  This means that each soul before it incarnates here on earth, has a specific purpose in its incarnation to achieve in their bodily form on earth.  While that goal is quite clear before incarnation, our incarnation itself drops a curtain, so to speak, behind our soul's incarnation, that precludes us from easily connecting with our greater purpose, unless we so dedicate ourselves to listening to that still, quiet voice within, which will gently but forcefully remind us of who we are, what we are about, and how we should be accomplishing the tasks that we previously had put in front of ourselves.

Each of our lives has a purpose, that purpose is specific to that individual, those that live up to their true purpose in action and deeds, are thereby accomplishing their mission, which enables them to grow closer, step by step, to He who knows all, for oneness with God, is our ultimate objective, for all else, leaves us devoid of the peace that surpasses all understanding.  It is this peace, that drives us ever onward, ever desirous, of doing right, of making right, until we get it right, for none ever can reach that pinnacle of perfection without discarding all that preclude such.

The trials and tribulations of this life, are each of ours baptism by fire, of which, some are cleansed wholly by such, some are burnt but learn from it, and others are stupefied and thereby become immolated.  It is these trials and tribulations that give us the opportunity again and again, to make good on our soul's mission and thereby progress, or to fail for one reason or another, and to thereby regress.  To say, however, that we care not, which way the wind blows, is to dishonor our angelic advisors and guides, to dishonor ourselves, and to dishonor our God. 

Each soul has a mission, known to that soul before its birth; it is thereby our most sacred duty, to know that mission and to successfully accomplish it, for that is indeed what we came here to achieve.

Soldier Privations

America would not have won its independence if it was not for the soldiers that fought the battles in order to achieve such hard-fought independence.  The Continental Army was made up of those that volunteered, local militias, and those drafted from state militias to fight in our war of Independence.  The soldiers that fought for our nation's Independence risked all, for a cause in which they as individuals suffered great privations, such as the lack of good shelter, of clothes, of munitions, of food, of water, of their life, and of safety from pestilence and epidemics, in addition to the fact that the pay received, was typically delivered in funds that held little or no value.  It can be said that to be a soldier in the revolutionary war was to risk one's life in the most trying of circumstances.

 Fast forward to our civil war, and each side, once they recognized that this war would not be over anytime soon, had little choice but to compel additional men to fight via conscription, so as to fill mandatory quotas by state, and to thereby get as many able-body men to take up arms for their respective sides.  These men were to suffer many of the same privations as their revolutionary forbearers, in which it was actually diseases such as dysentery, typhoid fever, and malaria that felled more soldiers than the many that died via the bullet, in which, the conditions inside those that were captured in battle, especially those captured by the southern side, were inhumane and the cause of a significant amount of pain, suffering, and deaths.  Additionally, with the increased firepower of civil war weapons, many soldiers were wounded and with the lack of field doctors available to assist quickly enough, many amputations had to be performed, because significantly injured limbs left unintended often became infected, and only amputation could then prevent the unnecessary death of the soldier.

 In the 20th century, soldier's food rations markedly improve, from once tainted canned beef, to being fed warm freshly cooked food in the mess halls at our established military bases, which often resembled miniature cities in their ability to accommodate the soldiers with temperature-controlled shelter, entertainment, medical facilities, and other typical daily needs.  So too, the communications of soldiers which once took months for mail to reach them or to reach their love ones, now was instantaneous through email, texting, or tools such as Skype or similar which provides face-to-face interactions with family members.

The one thing that has not changed for soldiers over the years is the fact that they still risk their lives, their limbs, and their sanity in the foreign battles that America so often takes part in, and while it is comforting to have an incredible support group that keeps our soldiers fit and at their best, it is still these soldiers that are on the front lines with the attendant dangers that they must deal with.  Those that are not soldiers or are not part of the military world, have a tendency not to consciously recognize enough the dedication, the sacrifice, the privations, and the devotion that these soldiers have made on behalf of their country; it is then our responsibility as non-combatants, to do our best, to see that these soldiers who act courageously in the field of fire, will have never fought heroically in vain, for the very worst of all privations, is to lose the very thing that this country stands for and what we fight for, which is that all are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Russia: the Big, Bad Wolf, Really?

In World War I, Russia was allied with the British Empire and French Republic and therefore fought on the same side as America.  In World War II, Russia, now known as the Soviet Union, signed a non-aggression pact with Germany in 1939, in which this pact, was broken by Germany in 1941, so by the time America joined this World War, the Soviet Union, was now aligned with the Allies, and consequently as in World War I, the Soviet Union and the United States of America fought on the same side.  At the conclusion of World War II, there was only one country in the world that had master the usage of the incredibly destructive atomic power, which was America, but that was to change in 1949, when the Soviet Union, joined that exclusive club.  Additionally, it was not till the conflict in Korea, that the Soviet Union, first opposed the United States in battle, though the Soviet Union essentially did so in logistical and war material support of the Chinese on behalf of the North Koreans.

In 1991, the Soviet Union, relinquished its control of its sister empires, and once again, became Russia, to which there were many reasons why this occurred, of which, the most important would be that even when countries such as the Ukraine and Uzbekistan were part of the USSR, they had never been fully absorbed into the Soviet Union, proper, that is to say they were typically treated as satellites to the power of Moscow, with typically different ethnic identities, different historical religious identification, and repeated failures of economic and growth planning, In addition, to all of that, Russia itself, is nearly twice the physical size of the next biggest country in the world, so that controlling or aligning itself with other nations under the soviet empire, was done more for the protection and as a buffer for Russian territory, which previously had been attacked by Napoleon as well as Germany.

How united the Soviet Union was at its peak, is very debatable, so that, at best, the countries of the Soviet Union basically equaled the population of the United States, during the era of 1950-1990, however, if one was to add onto the population of America, all of the nations aligned with America in NATO, during the same era of 1950-1990, the size of the population of NATO along with its military muscle and firepower, even at the Soviet Union's peak, would clearly have significantly favored NATO.  This would signify that all of the military buildup, all of the military posturing that was done repeatedly and is, to a lesser extent, still done today in regards to Russia and how menacing Russia is, or how dangerous communism is, and so on and so forth, was in essence, an overreaction to the fact that Russia had atomic weapons, and the United States was deeply troubled by that, because atomic weapons have the clear ability to end life as we know it on this planet.

To put things in present-day perspective though, Russia's population in 2010 was about 143 million peoples, whereas America's population was about 309 million peoples, and as reported by the International Monetary Fund the GDP of the United States of America for 2016 was the highest in the world at $18.569 billion dollars, whereas Russia was not even in the top ten, with only $1.28 billion dollars, which is less GDP than Canada or even South Korea.  This then, is the basic proof that Russia, or the former Soviet Union, was never the menace or danger that it was made out to be, and that with the exception of satisfying the military-industrial complex and certain political elements that have a fixation on seeing a "boogeyman" there isn't any reason to fear Russia whatsoever, today.  In fact, Russia, wants to be our friend, which historically, more often than not, it has been, in which Russia was either sympathetic to our side as it was to the North in our civil war, or as a neutral which it was in our revolutionary war, or fought by our side as it did valiantly in the two World Wars.

Non-communicable Disease, communicable disease, and wealth

A non-communicable disease as defined by Wikipedia.com is: "… a medical condition or disease that is not caused by infectious agents…" nor is a non-communicable disease transmissible to others, so a disease such as a stroke, cardiac arrest, kidney disease, cancer, or diabetes would all be categorized as a non-communicable disease and all can result in disability and/or death.  Communicable disease, as defined by Merriam-webster.com is:  "… an infectious disease transmissible (as from person to person) by direct contact with an affected individual or the individual's discharges or by indirect means," of which examples of this would be: Ebola, flu, hepatitis, measles, tuberculosis, pneumonia, infectious diarrhea, and malaria.  As reported by Wikipedia.com, non-communicable diseases: "In 2012, they caused 68% of all deaths," whereas a century ago, the majority of deaths would have been via communicable diseases, for the lack of material wealth, and the ignorance of good medical science, meant that factors that today can be readily controlled such as hygiene and water, left unaided, created the conditions of contagion and pandemics that ran through communities, periodically.

The fact that the majority of deaths in the Western world are now via non-communicable diseases indicates that significant progress has been made in the controlling of communicable diseases, so thatnever have so many people, lived so long, yet, in America, life expectancy rather than continuing to improve, has recently stagnated.  This would reflect a couple of very important things, which is first and foremost that non-communicable diseases are typically more susceptible to people that consistently over long periods of time make bad life style decisions in regards to what they eat, the drugs that they take, smoking, drinking alcohol, exercise, and their body weight, which abused long enough wears the body out, consequently they suffer for it by developing non-communicating disease which is both debilitating as well as life threatening.  Additionally, whereas non-communicable disease used to be looked upon as a rich man's burden, for the rich often had relatively little fear of dying from communicable diseases related to poor hygiene or the lack of access to clean water, non-communicable disease nowadays adversely affects more poor people than the rich, signifying that poor people are more susceptible to both communicable as well as non-communicable disease than rich people.

Our knowledge of communicable diseases has permitted the Western world, to quite successfully, overcome communicable disease to such an extent that this, above all, is the reason that life spans have been extended so much for westerners over the last one hundred years, yet, the very fact, that in aggregate that this extension is now stymied, indicates clearly that the next hurdle to overcome in order to not only increase life span but also to increase the quality of life, is to make it public policy to improve significantly upon our knowledge of how to prevent, mitigate, and counteract the leading causes of death by non-communicable diseases.  Yet, it would appear, for the rich, that this knowledge is known and thereby applied, whereas for the poor it is apparently not known and/or misapplied for as reported by mit.edu, "Over roughly the last 15 years, life expectancy increased by 2.34 years for men and 2.91 years for women who are among the top 5 percent of income earners in America, but by just 0.32 and 0.04 years for men and women in the bottom 5 percent of the income tables," which demonstrates an absolutely staggering difference in healthy living between rich and poor.

This means, that not only do the rich have all the material advantages in the first place, but they clearly have all the advantages of living longer and more healthful lives, so for the rich, they really do get to have their cake and eat it, whereas the huddled masses are left with just the crumbs and aborted dreams.

The Future is Uncertain

We live in the ever-present, and we draw upon our past experiences, with the overarching objective to do well in the future, but the future is something unknowable by us, yet we deeply desire to know it, so that we can subsequently prepare ourselves for it, for it is always these unknowable future events that places that fear and doubt within us, which we wish to ameliorate to the best of our abilities.  Yet, despite these desires to know the future or to at least get a hint as to whether we are on the right path, whether our future is bright or not, it seems to be eternally hidden from us.

All of the above stems from a deep desire within our psyche, to receive guidance in our life choices, as well as to receive acknowledgment or approval from our peers or mentors that we are performing well, or if not, constructive criticism that we can act upon so as to make better choices, rather than to continue down a path that is disastrous or mistaken or fraught with bad choices. 

For many people, whether they consciously act upon it or not, they want to do the right thing, or at least understand that what they are doing is basically good, for they know intuitively that bad decisions, bad actions, and bad thoughts, will ultimately produce very bad consequences.  The most straightforward response to this, is simply to do good things, but life throws us all sorts of complications, all sorts of choices, and it is within those choices, that people will suffer, for each choice has its own merit, yet you cannot choose all of them, and thereby you fear making a choice that is less than desirable, and that consequently may have woeful consequences.

This then indicates, that you wish for a hint, perhaps more than a hint or more than a suggestion, even, as to what you should do, or what you should consider, and ultimately are in somewhat of a dire need for relevant feedback for your situation, for you trust not your inner being or intuition to make the right choice, though you probably should.  This means, for some people, that rather than meditate upon it, rather than to consult with people that love and respect them, they desire instead to seek out an "independent" party such as a psychic, or a spiritual advisor, or a witch, or a guru, or the occult, or a prophet, or an astrologist, or an oracle, to help them to see what the future holds and to thereby have that advance knowledge to utilize for their favor.

The problem, though, with the meeting of the mind with this independent person, is that you know not who or what they are made of, in which, perhaps you will get meaningful and prophetic enlightenment, or instead just get scammed into hearing something that you want to hear, which often plays upon your human vulnerabilities.   So too, this can be looked upon as the inevitable shortcut that so many people are enticed to take, that rather than taking the time and showing the concern to honestly evaluate who and what they are, and then to thereby make amends or modifications as necessary, instead wish to know the end while ignoring their all-telling signs, of which it is the signs, that foreshadow what will be.

While the future may indeed be uncertain, our inherent destiny is held within our control through the choices that we make day-by-day and our reactions to events as they unfold, as earth is the crucible for the testing of our true character.

Not One Soul left behind

American soldiers fight under the impression that not one soldier, to the best of their ability, to the best of the circumstances, will ever be left behind by their brothers in arms.  This is a powerful statement, made more powerful, when enacted by soldiers under the most trying of circumstances, so that this type of dedicated commitment materially helps to keep soldiers focused and strong, because they know that even when the fire gets especially hot, their compatriots will not leave them behind, and thereby they need not fear being left alone and abandoned.

In the western world, mainstream religion, basically teaches the people, that upon our death, there is a distinct division between those that have been saved and thereby go to Heaven, and those that have been abandoned and thereby go to Hell, and this result is eternal.  Perhaps there was a time when this type of indoctrination made sense, perhaps it even makes sense today, but fundamentally this perception is flawed, distorted, and false.

God would never condemn any soul to an eternity in hell, for to do so, would imply that God quits on certain souls and thereby abandons them.  In truth, the confusion about hell is not that God judges you and finds you wanting, but rather that a life poorly lived suffers consequences for its ill actions, of which, the most basic and fundamental of those consequences, is because that soul has not displayed in action the attributes that God consists of, now is unable to rightly re-unite with God, and thereby this separation from God, should be classified for what it is, which is hell.

The great thing about eternity, is that eternity, by definition, is beyond time and beyond space, so that as humans we may have a difficulty in processing this, but if we were to contemplate this properly, we would begin to understand that there could never be any circumstance, whatsoever, that God, in His infinite compassion, in His omnipotence and omniscience, would ever step away from His own creation, as that just isn't possible, and just doesn't happen.

All of us are truly the children of God, there are none that are greater, and there are none that are lesser, as all are equal in the mind of God, while it is true, that it appears that some have progressed more than others, and some have regressed, it is also true that we are all ultimately One, as there is no other possibility, as God never abandons any soul, in fact, much like our brothers in arms, great souls prove their greatness by saving those that have veered off of the straight and narrow path, fearing not physical death, or any negative consequences, for no greater love can there be than to surrender yourself in service to our Creator and His offspring.

Never, never, never will God leave even one soul behind.  It cannot happen, it does not happen, it will never happen.  We are all in this together, we will all leave together, we are our brother's keeper, and we will all thereby learn the necessity of carrying our brother onto our strong back, as God so carries us.

Treasure and our Heart

We get paid to work, and for most people, we work because we get paid.  The money that we make is our own, and the decisions that we make on where, what, and how we spend that money is, rather recognized or not, also our own.  This means that you can learn a lot about yourself or about others, by simply observing what they spend their money on, and also on how much they do or don't save in money in a given month.

People treat money in all sorts of different ways, some are extremely disciplined, in which though they need food or clothing or desire entertainment, they are diligent in shopping for such things and take full advantage of sales and timing, and by virtue of doing this, they are able to make their money go farther and to utilize, at least from their perspective, their money more prudently.  Then there are others that as soon as they get their money, spend it in a hurry, grabbing the things that they desire, without taking into account, better deals or consequences, and finally, there are those that are a combination of both, and really just about everything in-between.

So too, there are many, many people, that talk a big game, about how generous they desire to be, or how generous they would be, if only they had more access to ready money to do so, yet, two people, under similar circumstances and salary, will utilize their money in vastly different ways in which often times, if really desired, there is that available money to make a meaningful impact in another person's life, to make a donation, to give back to society, yet one person does and the other person does not.

It is true that the money earned is actually ours, so that, money earned and how we utilize it can be looked upon as our personal treasure,  in which our treasure is in our control as to where we place it, what we do with it, and how we grow it, or not.  Some prefer to hoard it, some to invest it, some to spend it, and some to find ways to use it in order to make this world a better place.  The bottom line, though, is that whatever is done with the money that you earn is ultimately your responsibility to yourself, and those decisions are truly a reflection of the type of person that you are in actuality, which may be quite different than what you believe that you are.

This means, that the way that your money is spent or utilized, ultimately represents yourself in action.  So that, there should be a conscious thought as to where your monies are being spent, where your monies are being saved, and how your money is being utilized, as it isn't good enough to just be blithely clueless about how your money just simply comes and goes as you must instead take personal responsibility for all that, for your money is your responsibility.   In fact, just the very act of paying close attention to how your money is utilized will help to redirect you to what is or isn't a priority in your life, for how and where you spend or store your treasure is the measure of what does or does not really matter to you and the life that you lead.

Apartments and Dog Poop DNA

Perhaps half of dog owners are responsible, and the other half are irresponsible, which is to be expected since there are not any tests of responsibility done on the owners of such.  Because so many of today's inhabitants have moved into the city, more and more dogs now habitually reside also in city environments in which many of those people live in apartments, so that not only do a significant amount of dogs not have back yards, they also don't have space to run around in, and are often not even afforded even one good daily, comprehensive walk.

While all that is bad enough, dogs are animals, and animals have to defecate and urinate, in which, if the only space that your dog is basically permitted to be in most of the time is the apartment or condo complex, or a relatively small area of common grounds that you live upon, dogs are going to take care of their business where they have to take care of it, and while, no doubt, dogs can be trained for all sorts of things, mainly dogs are going to defecate when they feel the urge to do so.  A responsible dog owner will then do their duty and clean up the dog excrement, since not doing so, especially in confined spaces that are heavily trafficked, could potentially create environmental problems that adversely affect human beings.

While there are myriad ways to attend to incidents in which dog poop has not been cleaned up, it is not too surprising that in a hi-tech world, DNA is one of those ways, of which, dogs are registered to each owner, a DNA swab is done of that dog, and when poop is discovered, a sample of that dog poop is sent to a DNA lab in which upon a match from that database, a monetary fine is issued to that dog owner.  While that "solution" might sound wonderful to some people, it also sounds quite creepy and invasive, in addition to the fact that like anything involving tests, there are workarounds, of which, the simplest is to bring in a dog that looks similar to your actual dog for the DNA test to begin with.   Another problem with this program, is the fact that not everyone is 100% competent in collecting dog excrement, and/or not everyone, especially when the weather is bad, or it is very dark outside, is capable of finding all of the excrement, or even recognizing from time-to-time that their dog has actually pooped, of which some basic consideration should be given for the fact that even people with the best of intentions, fall short.

So too, another problem with this stance of DNA testing, is that possible solutions for neighborhood dog excrement issues, don't need to be limited to just DNA testing, as a situation in which security cameras are utilized, good neighborly relations, training, and so forth, might be a better way to address a problem before it gets to become pervasive.  Additionally, sometimes the easier solution of them all, is to make it part of maintenance's job to take care of dog poop as soon as it is spotted, and while this may seem like granting a green light for bad behavior by pet owners, isn't the real object of the exercise to clean up the common grounds for the safety of others, as opposed to confrontation and accusations.

Finally, there is one other consideration when it comes to DNA and the taking down of malefactors, which is today your pet, tomorrow, could such be utilized against humans in which the government is permitted to collect DNA from everyone in order to get a driver's license, employment, school admission, and so on.

The Boston Tea Party and Patriotic Civil Disobedience

For the law and order types of all stripes, civil disobedience is often seen as unpatriotic, unacceptable, and intolerable, basically taking the same stance that our British oppressors took in regards to the rebellious colonists, in which a new tax law was passed by Parliament which was placed upon the importation of British-shipped tea, a consumer item consumed by most colonists as well as being an item that the British had monopoly control over.  Colonists felt strongly that being taxed on a common good in which they as colonists had no voice in Parliament, who decided on such taxation, was an outrageous imposition upon them.   Therefore, town hall meetings were held, to discuss such taxation and deliberate actions were taken to turn back ships carrying tea  in all ports of America, however, the tea on the ships sent to Boston, did indeed make port, in which the Americans prevented this tea from being delivered from the port to the streets of Boston, and further made the fateful decision that on December 16, 1773, that such tea needed to be dumped into the harbor so as to make the tea water soaked or sunk, which was done, in a preplanned action that was executed to its full effect on that day.

This Boston Tea Party, was considered by the British Parliament to be an overt act of rebellion, which must thereby be stamped out, so the Coercive Acts were passed by Parliament, in an attempt to punish Boston for its rebellion and in the hope that the other colonies would separate themselves from Boston, and by their inaction and unconcern, allow Boston to come to heel.  Instead, the other colonies and colonists stood by Boston's side, and the incipient rebellion of colonists against their British masters grew in force, which ultimately led to the rebellion between the States and Great Britain, and the inception of our great Republic, which still stands today.

All of the above, came from deliberate civil disobedience against authority, carefully considered in town hall meetings, debated and discussed, in which this civil disobedience was most definitely against the "law", it was most definitely unlawful, and it most definitely had consequences, as well as putting into motion what was not necessarily inevitable, which was the birth of this new nation. 

Those that speak of civil disobedience as if it is wrong, miss the forest for the trees, for it is civil disobedience that brought forth this great nation that lives today.  This means, as our Constitution so states, that when the people believe strongly that the laws that have been passed and enacted are unequal, unfair, arbitrary, capricious, and so forth, that they have the right to peacefully assembly, they have the right to petition their government, and they have the right to withdraw their consent of any government that no longer lives to the basic principles that all have the inalienable right to which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, in which governments are instituted amongst men to secure those very rights, and that governments that preclude such rights, have no real legitimacy, as their authority is corrupt, and should not be obeyed.

This country was formed to be a country of the people, by the people, and for the people, in which it is the solemn and hallowed duty of these people, to hold our government officials, and our government in general, accountable, so that this government is representing the people, rather than running roughshod over them, manipulating them, imprisoning them, and denying them, the very things that are theirs to begin with.

Machines v. Hand Labor

As robotics and machines get more and more sophisticated and more and more prevalent, those that labor with their hands and less with their sentient mind, find that their means of employment is in serious danger of being replaced or reduced significantly.  The race for ever more progress is in general a good thing, but as they say, too much of a good thing may have unforeseen consequences which are not good.

Human beings are social beings, that congregate into communities by default or by design, in which, a significant part of that commonality is the interaction of that group with one another.  A vibrant community consists of a give and take with other community members, so that there is something of intangible benefit from, for example, purchasing arts and crafts that are locally made, or food items that have been provided by a local farmer's market, which has little to do with "monetary savings" if there are any, but in recognition that we have an obligation to serve our neighbors by demonstrating such in an exchange of goods or experiences, which through this exchange, helps to be strengthen our ties with one another.

So too, there is always a value to accomplishing things that necessitate "sweat labor" in which your mind and body work together to produce something of merit, irrespective of whether that good could be or is mass-produced somewhere else.  The reason that the hand labor and the mindfulness aspect is so important is because first and foremost, we are fellow human beings, that have an implicit need to connect with one another, which can be willfully done by creating something of merit or worth that is of value to others, which is often unique in its own aspect, and not an exact duplicate repeated again and again, ad nauseum.

Further to the point, mankind has an implicit need to work, and not simply exist in a world of endless idleness or indulgence, for those that have nothing to do and have nothing of material worth, will inevitably find wrong things to do to themselves or others, whereas those that are slothful, will lose their capacity to rise up to the occasion, when driven to circumstances that demand such.

A sweater that is hand-stitched, over a considerable amount of time, is almost always regarded by the recipient of such, superior to a machine made sweater, not because the hand-made sweater is perfectly sewn, but because it is not, as well as the fact that it was made with thoughtfulness as a specific gift or with the intention to be sold to someone that would be genuinely appreciative of a hand-made item. 

It is often considered that the very best gifts in life are not the most expensive but the ones that have the most thoughtfulness and personal consideration within them, which is why a Hallmark card, as good as they can be, seldom is able to match up to a handmade card, because one has sentiment whereas the other is sentiment personified.

A man's life needs purpose and part of that purpose is performing thoughtful acts that make for a better neighborhood, best expressed through our hands, our heart, and our mind.

Hi-Technology Companies and their constant buying and consolidation

In general, hi-technology companies are relatively young, so for the unenlightened there would be a strong tendency to believe that because of their rather short overall tenure, and in addition to the fact that the hi-tech field appears to be very vibrant and innovative, that they wouldn't need to buy or acquire other companies in order to remain relevant, but, in point of fact, hi-tech companies are constantly buying out other hi-tech companies, from big to small, from developed to just developing, all in an endless cycle of get big, or become irrelevant.

There are a lot of reasons why hi-tech companies like to buy other companies, as well as paying what appears to be insane pricing or princely sums for them, in which one of the most significant reasons is that hi-tech companies are absolutely frightened that if they do not keep up their current trajectory of growth, or do not buy up potential threats to their business model, or do not keep up with other acquisitions that other companies that they are related to are doing, that they may easily end up being the hunted, and not the hunter, as happened with companies that were once as powerful as Yahoo, bought by Verizon, or Sun Microsystems having been bought by Oracle, amongst many, many others.

While most people, don't seem to particularly care about all the hi-tech mergers and acquisitions, there is a potentially insidious problem with such, in which, far too many worthy hi-tech companies, allow themselves to be bought for a very nice premium of their present-day value, which takes what formerly was a competitor and/or an independent company and places it into the fold and arsenal of a major hi-tech conglomerate, which not only consolidates power, but concentrates it, even more appreciably than before.  Another thing, that large hi-tech companies are prone to do, is to keep the names of their acquired hi-tech companies the same that they were before being bought, so the uninitiated won't really be aware that YouTube is owned by Alphabet (Google), Skype is owned by Microsoft, jet.com is owned by Wal-Mart, stub hub is owned by eBay, instagram and whatsapp are owned by Facebook, and so on and so forth.

Because the companies doing the acquiring have deep pockets and the right financial connections to both acquire more companies and to finance recent purchases, these type of buy-outs in a hi-tech world, allows those doing the acquiring to demonstratively know more about the very people that utilize their various tools and apps, in ways that permit them to know intimacies and correlations of individuals that are both enlightening and exploitable by such companies in many ways, both good and bad.

In point of fact, the world isn't better off by having just a handful of truly gargantuan hi-technology companies that know everything about everyone, for concentrated knowledge is also exploitable by governmental institutions that have the ability to play rough with hi-tech companies that may not initially cooperate with them.  This means, that the government absolutely implicitly does not mind mergers whatsoever between hi-tech companies as it is a lot easier to deal with a very small subset of corporations and executives, than information that is much more evenly disbursed. 

It is one thing entirely for hi-tech companies to grow organically and it is an entirely a different thing for hi-tech companies to snatch up revolutionary and disruptive technology by other companies so as to control and mold the overall comprehensive package to their benefit, with the consumers of such, typically none the wiser for it.

Prison guard Body Cameras

America imprisons an incredibly high amount of people in its jails and prisons, in which, the sheer amount of resources devoted to this institution, would presupposed that society should be receiving something of real merit in return.  Additionally, there is a very basic obligation that incarcerated people be accorded basic human rights and one way to assure that this is actually being accomplished is for prison guard body cameras to be the de rigueur way of verifying this along with the appropriate objective peer review of all meaningful interactions.

Of course, prison guards deserve to be protected and supported in their job duties in which prisoners can harm or even kill them, so too, their job can be a thankless task of being literally the last line of defense against people that have lost their sensibility and rationality, so the usage of certain stringent measures most certainly can be merited in circumstances necessitating such.

Then there are the unfortunate situations in which people with significant mental or drug issues are incarcerated, to which the prison environment exacerbates their problems, creating an unnecessary burden best dealt with by institutions set aside to handle these type of things, as opposed to incarceration which accomplishes little of real merit.

Another important factor favoring the usage of body cameras is for an objective review of procedures being conducted by prison personnel so as to ascertain that things being accomplished are in keeping with the rules and regulations in regards to the treatment of incarcerated individuals and hence such video can be utilized as necessary, for appropriate re-training, or disciplinary actions.  In actuality, in most incarceration institutions, it is usually a very small minority of prisoners or the guards that create the troubles that can lead to unnecessary harm and material damages to begin with.

One of the most germane reasons why body cameras are so necessary in incarceration facilities is the tendency for the general public to assume that prisoners are treated appropriately, and their belief that since everything is pretty much out of sight and out of mind, that this is a fair attitude to take in regards to such things.  The problem with this stance is that the vast majority of those currently incarcerated will at one time or another be released to the general public, so that those that are treated in inhumane ways, with their rights disrespected and truncated, probably will not readily adjust to public life, whereas those that have been treated in a more respectful way, with consideration and fairness, will no doubt, perform better.

Whether the general public cares or cares not for those that are incarcerated can best be responded to with the fact, that this particular industry that incarcerates people, whether through governmental institutions or subbed out to private correctional facilities, is a major drain against the budgets and monies of communities, and anything that will help to utilize these monies spent more effectively while also performing a service to the community would be considered to be a real boon. 

Those that run correctional facilities have an obligation to be responsible to those that are incarcerated within the facilities while also having a fiduciary duty to do right by the general population, in which, the bright light of openness and transparency drives out the darkness of wrong and mistreatment.