Can Robots Be Guilty Of War Crimes?

The not so distant future is rapidly approaching, and anyone who is an enthusiast of the Discovery Channel or Science channel on cable should already be all too aware of the Robot warriors on the battle fields. The two most visible is the flying drone, the other the robot tank that assists troops in the field. (see video below)

This technology pales in comparison to the new stuff on the drawing board, imagine Asimo meets Rambo the perfect robot killer programmed like the freaky killer robots featured in the movie RoboCop."

What new questions will this technology bring to admonish the wrongdoing of others. As a computer expert here at the Computerfox in Milford, I can personally express my disgust with the classic excuse "my computer malfunctioned and therefore you cannot be assisted properly." War robots will give the Pentagon leaders some new ways of admonishing their responsibility when one of their robots malfunction and kill 150 civilians, 23 U.S. Soldiers, and 54 children.

The question of ethics will remain long into the future as to wether or not we can courtmarshall a robot? There will be no one to hold accountable as everyone will be separated and distanced from the crime it has committed even the programmers who certainly will have the robot code classified and protected by the evil of the Pentagon as a national security issue.

We can assume that these nightmarish robots will be adapted at some point in the not so distant future to police urban centers and big cities. They will more likely start off by accompanying bomb squads, assisting SWAT teams, and eventually hand you a parking or speeding ticket. This technology will pose the same troubling questions that were debated back in the 80's when HAL in the "Odyssey" nearly killed everyone on board the space ship for their own protection. Sound familiar? Check it out you decide.

Retiring Overseas Soon To Be Esoteric

As a young kid I grew up in Perugia Italy, a little town located in the province of Umbria. Umbria is a place made famous for food wine and Etruscan architecture. It was also the place that my father and brother chose to study veterinary medicine. Today both are doctors each with their own practice and my sister and I have gained a wealth of memories.

My mother was born in Sicily in a little town called San Fratello. The town was ancient when I visited there in the late seventies as It had no running water and an agrarian population that subsided by raising farm animals and growing food crops. My personal favorites, were grapes, figs, olives, prosciutto, and lots of wine.

This life was very unique, especially when compared to the grandiose lifestyle back in the United States. America being relatively new had large streets, and great big skyscrapers in every city. Italy was tight, and catered to the ancient Roman lifestyle of horse drawn carriages. Today the eco-friendly population has adapted modern day automotive technology to cater to the tight cobblestone streets that are the signature of the Roman antiquity. The photo below is of a 500 the car we used as a family back in the late 70's.

My mother and father had grown very fond of Italy as a result of their wonderful experiences, and today, have thought about retiring there. They are both already in their retirement years and have found themselves struggling to reallocate their assets in order to achieve their retirement objectives.

Like countless others they have had difficulty selling their business real-estate, have lost substantial sums of money in the market post 9/11 and today were once again reminded that America's falling dollar is making my mothers birthplace more unattainable. The reality is, that only those people who are capable of incurring such staggering losses, like the super rich, will have access to an overseas retirement.

All too many people and businesses have already fled the country, some businesses like Pfizer in Groton Ct. cannot flee fast enough as they have recently accelerated the closing of their plant. America has fallen upon hard times for reasons that few people understand or really know, but put simply our country has borrowed more than it could afford to pay and is now suffering the dire consequences.

As our nation continues its march toward a recession, or possibly a recession or worse, we all pay. We pay for our leaders mistakes at the gas pump, when we travel to other countries, when we sell our home, when we buy food, when we go to collect our social security, when we buy a car, pay our Dr's bill, or collect our 401K's and IRA's.

The most horrible position a nation can be in is where we are headed now, "Stagflation" a condition where a stagnating economy and inflation co-exist. This is the hardest condition for our leaders to cure because adjusting interest rates, and manipulating the money supply no longer work after a certain point. To put this into perspective imagine a see-saw where you fix one end of the problem and the other end gets worse and vice versa.

The next six months will determine what we as individuals will need to do to realign our lives for the new America. Should the economy continue to deteriorate then we will need to compensate in advance to prepare for a prolonged period of harder times. I will comment more on this as the new CPI or inflation figures emerge.

UI Profits Soar 288%...And Accordingly So Does Milford's Forclosures!

UI had its annual conference call last week February 2008. To sum things up they whined that the economy was slow, you could not pay your bill and their losses on bogus xcelecom were disappointing.

On the party side their profit jumped 288% from 9 cents a share to 35 Cents a share! This profit was achieved by those of you who are paying your bills. They are anxiously waiting to fire up their pollution factories formerly known as the "filthy Five" and the "Sooty Seven" to increase their profits even more perversely.

As they increase their mega profits, the Connecticut Post today noted that Milford's pre-forclosures are up from 50 last month to 166 this month. The front page of the finance section bears concern of stagflation. But don't worry UI's Executives are also concerned about the economy, it has held their profits back to only 288% when they should have been more than that. The awful truth, if I may add a little sarcasm, is that purchasing candles has become a much cheaper lighting source than electric. This may now become even more relevant as the 2009 future prediction by UI's executives greedily boast double digit profit projections. I predict more people will be "breaking a sweat" flipping a light switch and/or acting out against family members who do not shut off lights.

I am absolutely baffled by the quote of Rich who said "Continuing operations for the fourth quarter are up nicely 35 Cents a share compared to 9 cents a share in 2006." I am absolutely speechless that this company was allowed to conduct itself in the economically oppressive manner that it has. This is an outrage and I am appalled that the DPUC has no control over the menacing profit of a public utility company.

Amazingly, they even succeeded in bilking the IRS out of 21 Million Dollars! Listen to the entire conference call because I am disappointed that in spite of the fact that this company has been given a new power grid, overcharged us with fraudulent meters, was given a 90% increase in just 7 years, killed parakeets, razed the landscape, devalued homes, and is now planning to poison our air in Milford come 2009, that DPUC continues to ignore the fact that people are losing their homes and need a break!

The conference call speaks for itself! Also the beginning of the broadcast is blank air time scroll to the middle of the feed for the conference call to begin.

Listen by clicking here.

It Is Nice To Be Back Home

Like the title says it is nice to be back home and away from the all too wonderful beaches in Florida. Don't get me wrong I had a great vacation with the family and actually got to do very valuable family bonding, but the trip was not without its family challenges, and certainly did not cater to my penchant for mountains.

There was one point that I would call the highlight of my trip, and I wish to share with all of you. In the photo above my family and I at the oldest school house in America. This school, located at St. Augustine is also in the oldest city in America. While it is no bigger than a small cape, with a school yard about as big as a typical back yard, the humility and simplicity is heartfelt.

If anyone ever has the ability to visit Florida I recommend this city. It is a treasure of history and beautiful architecture and is full of great museums and cultural activities. Below is a photo I have taken of some of the most spectacular architecture I have ever come across in Florida. The photo below is also for your enjoyment. (Castillo De San Marcos)



In the coming weeks I will be back on the big news and writing blog updates to address the difficult issues we are facing. As it stands I have been catching up and interpreting the news into common language and predictions.

Secret Service Stand Down At Obama Event Raises Suspicions

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Thursday, Feb 21, 2008

Dozens of police officers have voiced concern over a security stand down order issued by federal officials at Barack Obama’s rally in Dallas yesterday afternoon.

Security details at Barack Obama’s rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena, reports the Star-Telegram.

Police officers and security officials were surprised when they were told to stop using metal detectors and to stop checking bags at the entrance to the arena.

The Star Telegram article continues:

Doors opened to the public at 10 a.m., and for the first hour security officers scanned each person who came in and checked their belongings in a process that kept movement of the long lines at a crawl. Then, about 11 a.m., an order came down to allow the people in without being checked.

Many officers subsequently complained as they believed a lapse in security had occurred with thousands of people entering the arena without even cursory inspections.

The security concerns come on the back of warnings last week by British Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing that caused a media storm. The The 88-year-old novelist predicted the assassination of Barack Obama if he becomes the first black U.S. president.

Lessing said: “He would probably not last long, a black man in the position of president. They would kill him.” going on to comment that it would be better if Hillary Clinton became America’s first woman president with Obama as her running mate.

As researchers of the JFK assassination will be aware, in addition to those who have looked into the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, a secret service stand down at a large public event should set alarm bells ringing.

A Message From Daytona

Just a quick note, I am currently in Daytona Fla. and have not been keeping up on things today. I will be here into early next week and plan on resuming my normal reporting on state local and national issues. The only excitement I had down here thus far was at the airport where they temporarily raised the homeland security threat level to orange.

I also witnessed a car drive off the road, the family got pretty shook up about it but I did call 911 and they responded with three cruisers and assisted the car driver with removing their car from the brush. Other than that the weather is great and I am looking forward to spending time with my family today.

Lin's Fortune Runs Out

Part of what I said about 2008 and the economy is becoming a local reality. Lin's a newly established restaurant at the Post Mall has "thrown in the towel." This knowledge came to me when I arrived at the Milford mall last night and noticed a curtain draped across the windows.

Curious as I am, I decided to check their hours posted on the door inside the mall and sure enough they were closed when the hours claimed they should be open. I walked up to a couple places and peeked behind one of the drapes and noticed there were no tables to be seen. I got the feeling that the entire restauraunt was emptied and the curtains just kept "busy bodies" like me to mind my own business.

Certainly I wanted to know what was going on, and since I had some business at the the AT&T store I thought I would casually ask the clerk. To my amazement I found a person who said he "loves chinese" food. However, he indicated he never ate there. I suppose we could imagine why. My partner at home, also a chinese food fan, (I have all the tupperware to prove this) made a similar snied remark.

My experience with Lynn's was at the chamber of commerce here in Milford where I remember them attending many meetings. One meeting in particular at the Daniel Street Pub was the most memorable. Lynn was very well dressed friendly and polite and we all wished him good fortune. The chamber being the activists they were also did a good deal of promoting for them.

While I cannot say for certain what led to Linn's closing, I will say that the Milford Mall is a very expensive place to do business, and food is very competitive. Lynn's being far removed from the food court, and occupying a rather expensive large parcel of space, may have hindered its ability to effectively compete with the upstairs food court. It may also have been economic circumtances surrounding the woes of the greater economy, or perhaps a little of both. In either case it always pains me to see bad fortune come to fledgling businesses and often wonder what could be done to incubate startup's from the high risk of "going under."