Amsterdam Closes Pot Shops - The Day I Visited "The Grasshopper" coffee shop

Near the central rail station in Amsterdam is a huge place called the "Grasshopper." It is a coffee shop (at least it was there in 2002). On one floor they sold pot and coffee/soft drinks - NO alcohol allowed.

On a separate floor they sold alcohol. I tried both floors.

                                         The lit building in the center was the Grasshopper

On the pot floor a guy said to me: "push that button." I did. A machine lit up with a bunch of patches of different colored grass with different names i did not recognize - no Acapulco Gold or Panama Red. I had no idea what to say so I put down ten Euros, got a small bag and some coffee, rolled one -- and watched people. People sat around smoking, sipping coffee and having quiet conversations. I could have been in Starbucks back home.

Then I went up to the alcohol floor (separate entrance in the back.) As I approached the door, the walls were vibrating and thumping from loud music. As I reached the door a drunk guy came staggering out, followed by deafening noise from whatever was playing. He almost fell on top of me.

I didn't bother going in. I had already seen the difference.

Besides, I was investigating a million dollar fraud and wasn't done yet. I still had to go undercover to keep from being killed...

Oh yes, I just found out that they have closed the Grasshopper!

More details in my book:
www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com

What Turning 65 Has Shown Me About America's Medical Insurance

What Turning 65 Told Me About America’s Health Insurance System

I turn 65 in December which makes me eligible for Medicare for the first time.  The process has revealed a lot of reality to me about America’s health insurance system that Americans should be aware of now that a new Congress and Senate majority has been elected and there is renewed GOP talk of “repealing Obamacare.”  

Going on Medicare has shown me how crazy people are --or uninformed-- who want to go back to pre-Obamacare days. Here’s what I discovered what happens when you do get to government provided medical insurance aka Medicare versus the world for those Americans under 65.

For years I have been an entrepreneur who wasn't on a corporate health or group plan. After I was laid off in the 80’s from a corporate job that had health insurance, I lost my coverage and didn’t have health insurance for over a decade because the costs were so high and my income was so unpredictable up and down.  I would get a policy, the costs would go up, and it would lapse due to inability to pay.  I had to do without it. It was like playing Russian roulette with my future since a major illness would bankrupt me.  

Only when I founded a successful company that allowed me to make the substantial monthly payment did I finally renew my coverage. But it was extremely costly since I could not be considered as part of a group, not even as a member of the Texas Bar. At the end I was paying $840 a month for a policy with a $10,000 deductible – a terrible policy not good for much but a catastrophic illness or accident.

I passed up an Obamacare policy last year when the site was having computer problems. It was a big mistake.  After I elected to stay with United Healthcare, my rates jumped 30% in midyear from about $640 per month to $840 per month for just myself --for a medical policy with a $10,000 deductible! They said they could do it because it was not an Obamacare policy!  I had passed up Obamacare plans that would have been much lower and had a lower deductible.  If I wasn't going on Medicare I would definitely be getting one of them this year!  Also, as a result of Obamacare, the Texas State Bar can offer its individual lawyer members a group rate!

Before the Affordable Care Act, even with a high deductible, I could have been denied insurance for a pre-existing condition, or canceled after getting sick. In those dark days many people were denied insurance, or canceled, with devastating personal consequences. Do you really want to go back to a time when they could deny you insurance? Those days are over only because of the Affordable Care Act – unless repealed by the new Republican majority in the Senate that insists upon it.

Now that I am eligible for Medicare, my health premiums are a fraction of what I had to pay a private insurance company! I am now facing monthly premiums of around $266 to $413 a month including a prescription drug plan and supplement insurance with only a $1,000 deductible.

I may be able to do better than that - there is a bewildering array of supplemental plans to choose from and I am still sorting it out. I have international legal experience and even I find the choices and differences in plans a challenge. Some of the additional coverage offered is free! Some have a small fee of $147 a month, including prescription drug costs.  I don’t take any prescription drugs other than a cholesterol pill, but some people have large prescription needs and Medicare helps tremendously.

So the talk about “repealing” Obamacare by the new GOP majority should scare the hell out of anyone under 65 because you will be screwed if you can no longer keep your kid on your policy until they are 26 or you are denied insurance because of your pre-existing conditions (obesity, smoking, cancer, age or other reason to deny you insurance.)   

That is how it was before the Affordable Care Act required that everyone applying for insurance must be covered regardless of their condition. Do you really want to lose that protection as a consumer?

Ironically, America picked the party for control of the U.S. Senate that has been working solely for the top 1% who don't need these protections from insurance monopolies while the bottom 99% can’t even get a boost in minimum wage or health insurance unless they are 65 or on Medicaid.  

Think about it.  Be careful what you pray for. You might just get it – and screw yourself in the process Americans.  My experience with the private insurance policies and Medicare shows how vastly better it is with Obamacare. We should have "Medicare for all" so those under 65 can enjoy what I am about to with those Americans 65 and over. 

(P.S. We are the only OECD country that doesn't provide healthcare for all our citizens).

Stay tuned for developments by following this GlobalAmerican Values blog and Like us on Facebook.

Solutions?  Check out the free chapter on making America No. 1 again “Agenda for American Greatness” at the book link below:

Michael Fjetland

Author, Better Times Ahead April Fool

www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com

Americans Just Voted In the Party That Created the Gridlock. Now what?

     

Ironically, American voters just voted into control of the U.S. Senate and House the exact party that created the gridlock that cost those voters their income. Ironic.

The party that created the crash of 2008 and the Great Recession afterward is now in charge again.  When President Obama took office, on his first day on the job they pledged to sabotage his every request. How patriotic, to fight the new Captain after you just wrecked the ship. They did. And have for six years.  

Despite all that, Obama has created over 10 million jobs since taking office. He dropped the unemployment rate to under 6%. He was unwinding bad wars. The economy and stock market have been humming. And that wasn’t good enough for the voters?  He inherited a wrecked economy and trillion dollar deficits, unpaid for wars and unpaid for tax cuts—and without help from the GOP had bought a disaster back into a brisk 3% growth rate.  

It was the GOP that refused to pass a Jobs Bill or Minimum Wage increase that would have made people feel better and do better.  Because of the GOP tax policy, the economic growth has gone to the top 1% instead of the lower income people, many of whom voted for the Republican candidates Tuesday. 

Ironic.  Now what? 

Now that they have “control,” where are their SOLUTIONS?  How will Governor Greg Abbott make Texas roads better while cutting revenues? How will Texas education go from No. 49 to No. 1 by shortchanging funding for education when the courts have held it unconstitutional? How does a state that is adding 80,000 new students a year help education by not increasing the funding required to teach those students and funding for infrastructure such as roads to satisfy that growth?

How will a U.S. GOP Senate create jobs when it refused to fully fund the traditionally bipartisan Transportation Bills that would have created millions of more jobs?

That is the question ahead. Can they be trusted to focus on addressing America’s failure to invest in our own country’s people and infrastructure instead of power politics? We’ll see.

Follow us on Global American Values for updates to this continuing saga …And SHARE. You can check out my Agenda for American Greatness to get America back to No. 1 again at this link

How NASA is Picking Model T Technology to Compete in Grand Prix Space Race

This weeks explosion of the rocket carrying supplies to the space station revealed a deep flaw in NASA's system - but not the flaw you may think.  It shows a huge lack of common sense at the management level that smacks of gross incompetence and lack of sound judgment that jeopardizes our entire space program at a time when even China is beginning to pass us by.

NASA awarded a $ 2 billion contract to Orbital Sciences to help supply the space station -- a company that has zero manufacturing expertise! Furthermore, Orbital Sciences was not allowed to buy engines that companies like Boeing have sole (monopoly) access to.

As a result, Orbital Sciences had a $2 billion contract but could not perform without buying and "fixing up" 50 year old Soviet era engines in order to do the job. Who in NASA thought that awarding a contract to a company relying on ancient technology was a good idea?

                                         Photo: Obital Sciences 50 year old engines major malfunction



So, Orbital Sciences ended up using Soviet-era engines that were built in the 60's and 70's!

Does that sound "cutting edge" to you?  Imagine trying to win the Indy 500 using a car built forty years ago.  Should we be surprised that these engines blew up after sitting in a warehouse for decades?  How many Packards or Edsels have won the Grand Prix, even after a tune up?

The problem is not using private companies; the problem is the companies that NASA has been selecting -- they picked companies that a rationale citizen could determine were not qualified.

This is not an isolated incident.  NASA just awarded SpaceX and Boeing $6 billion in contracts for further space station supply flights. The difference? SpaceX has been building its own engines and has actually successfully flown several missions! That was a correct choice. However,  Boeing hasn't even made a test flight, yet it got 2/3's of the money and SpaceX only 1/3 (about $2 billion). How does this make sense? Was the decision based on merit, or politics?

So far NASA picked one winner who hasn't even flown a test flight (Boeing), and another which is using technology old enough to qualify for social security (Orbital Sciences.)

NASA's decision-making also lacks common sense in that it picked three designs which were all basically the same capsule designs. SpaceX, Boeing and NASA's own Orion are all capsules. NASA eliminated Sierra Nevada although it has developed a reusable "Space Plane" design called the Dreamchaser which can take off and land on an ordinary runway, vastly speeding up turn-around time and cutting costs and recovery effort.

All the capsules selected by NASA have to be fished out of the ocean, just like they were over fifty years ago. How is that an improvement?

                                        Photo: Sierra Nevada's "Dreamchaser" Space Plane
                                         - NOT picked by NASA

NASA's decisions lack common sense when they give billions to a company that brings nothing to the table and has to rely on ancient technology to perform a high risk job of launching cargo into space. NASA's decision lack vision by overlooking a mini-shuttle design like the Dreamchaser Space Plane that would bring down the costs of recovery and launching payloads.

There needs to be an investigation into NASA's contracting processes.  As a result of this launch failure, Orbital Sciences needs to have its contract revoked and replaced with Sierra Nevada's more modern design. Also, Space X should be getting the lion's share of the launch contract funds, not Boeing.

We need more decisions from NASA that result in more manufacturing of modern components in the United States instead of relying on foreign competitors and junk engines left over from the Soviet Union.

Write your Congress representative.  Demand that NASA start picking cutting edge technology instead of conducting an American space race with Model T technology.

We are not going to be No. 1 in space by following the road of mediocrity.

Follow Global American Values blog for more updates.

Why a Travel Ban Would Make Ebola WORSE in the USA -

The GOP thinks we can "fix" Ebola without spending and with a travel ban? NUTS.

                                         Photo: Roberts International Airport, Monrovia, Liberia (W. Africa)

Put a travel ban on and what will happen is that they will go to a 3rd country and sneak in without being screened either there or here and suddenly we will have MORE cases popping up all over the U.S. Right now, they are identified and screened on BOTH sides. We have contact information, we can isolate people.

                                  Air routes connecting Liberia to Europe, India, South America, etc.

                                  Notice how many flights go to many parts of the world from Liberia
                                  Once a person is in any of those countries, they can then go to the USA
                                  undetected and un-monitored once they arrive

Institute a Travel Ban and all that goes out the window - we won't know WHO has it, WHO they touched and WHERE they are. It would be madness - the usual GOP solution sounds reasonable but is VOODOO and will make matters WORSE...

We MUST fix Africa or the whole world is in trouble if we can't contain it THERE.

Stay tuned on Updates here at Global American Values blog (click on the right to follow)...
http://globalamericanvalues.blogspot.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/17/world/africa/ban-ki-moon-pleads-for-ebola-aid-donations.html?_r=0

Tracking American ISIS - Not So Easy Even with Passports. Tourists vs Terrorists & NSA

A good question came up on my Facebook page about Americans who leave to join ISIS in Syria as Jihadists. How can we know if they return?

My clever nephew suggested in a comment that they be on a "no fly" list.  Would that "fix" it?

Good idea -- except for one thing - we don't know who is going to be a jihadist or going as a tourist or to visit family.  I have been in Syria and Turkey. Am I a possible terrorist? I didn't even need a visa to get into Turkey because I arrived on a cruise ship.

 

                                               No, This is NOT me. But YES, it is likely an
                                              American with a U.S. Passport. No need to
                                             "sneak" across Mexico border as some politicians
                                             claim (proof that they don't know what they are
                                             talking about.)

Besides, the jihadists aren't traveling direct to Syria because it would be too obvious and it is a hot war zone even in Damascus. Assad's people control the airport so they would be detained most likely - to keep them from joining ISIS which is fighting Assad (along with everyone else they hate.)
 
I was in Syria for legal negotiations for a Texas mom whose 12 year old daughter was 70 miles away in Lebanon (closed to Americans at the time, but open today.)  Last December I was in Turkey as a tourist on vacation. Does that make me a potential terrorist? Should that put me on a "watch" list or a "no fly" list?

                                                       Michael Fjetland, Damascus, Syria
                                                       Do I look like a terrorist?
                                                       How do you know? How does our
                                                       government  know?

What about the many people who are legal residents or citizens of the U.S. who have FAMILY in those countries. Should they be suspects because they want to see their family?

The Jihadists are going through neighboring countries like Turkey--which I myself went to last December as a tourist. Should that put ME on the no fly list? See how crazy it could get - not everyone is an international lawyer as I have been. Americans may not realize it but many hyphenated Americans (Asian-Americans, African-Americans, Latin Americans) travel back and forth to see family or do business ALL the time! 

Here is a map to give you an idea what a problem this is (Syria is next door - the jihadists are going to Turkey and crossing that LONG border into Syria).

 Notice how Turkey, Syria and Iraq come together  and the long border Turkey has with Syria

The only way to find out "who is who" is if we DO have a NSA checking people out. So that is the rock and the hard place. Do I want them reading my email or monitoring my phone calls? No.

Do I want them monitoring the email of someone being recruited on the Internet by ISIS? Yes.

How do they tell the difference without looking at our stuff or having the FBI show up at the door?

Either we don't investigate to see who is going out of the U.S. to become a terrorist and who is traveling internationally as a tourist, as millions of innocent people do each year.

We need to decide the best way to handle this because not knowing the difference between normal international travelers like myself (13 million of us in 2009 alone) and terrorists-in-training will eventually prove to be deadly at some point.  I say that with my terrorism analyst hat on. 

I have watched Turkey's leader allow thousands of these young jihadists cross the Turkish border. I have watched Erdogen's tanks sit silent on a hill overlooking ISIS attacking the Kurdish town in Syria below, killing thousands.  The Turks never fired a shot as they stood watching through binoculars the men in black run across the stark desert sand.

                                         Turkish tank (with flag) overlooking Kobane across
                                         border, under attack by ISIS. Turks never fired a shot

 Turkey's President Erdogen supports President Assad in Syria (who has killed over 200,000 of his own citizens in shellings.) Erdogen is a Muslim and hates the Kurds, who happen to be related to the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey. So why would he care about the Kurds in Kobane?   ISIS hates EVERYBODY.

The Kurds are our best allies in Iraq but they have no heavy weapons like ISIS. ISIS didn't have any either until they overran Mosul in Iraq and stole our tanks from the Iraqis. That was a fumble by Iraq's leader Maliki who had replaced competent commanders with kiss-ass loyalists. When they fled, the soldiers did too, leaving ISIS free to just walk in and take countless American built tanks and heavy weapons. Those weapons are now killing Kurds, minority Christians and even Muslims all across Syria and Iraq.

         Photo: American tank with ISIS black flag - one looted from Mosul, Iraq

                            We need to reclaim it by blowing it up before it kills more civilians

Can you see what kind of problem we have here? Stay tuned...it is far from over.

To get a flavor of Syria I saw, details are in "Better Times Ahead April Fool"

Why We Must Fight ELOBA There to Keep It Away from HERE!

Why We Must Fight ELOBA There to Keep It Away from HERE!

The thing about Ebola many people don’t realize is that we have to fight it in Africa to keep it from coming to America—ignoring it will result in more Americans being exposed.  Experts say that shutting down air flights would actually increase the potential of it coming to the U.S.  How is that?

Shutting off air travel would, for one, trap the doctors and aid going to Liberia and Sierra Leone  from being able to get out. The disease would explode beyond our ability to contain it. A major problem in war-ravaged Liberia is that the medical field is almost non-existent, many doctors and nurses have died or fled because they don’t have proper protection or tools.

Ebola cases double every three weeks. If we don’t speed up our actions, there could be over one million cases in Africa by December.  International response has been painfully slow. Even the U.S. Congress has had members sitting on appropriations needed to send medical supplies to Africa. That’s crazy.

Unless we contain Ebola in Africa, the chances of more travelers bringing it to the U.S. (Europe, etc.) increases significantly. It would become a pandemic on a scale not seen since the beginning of AIDS.

Many Americans don’t realize it but over 500,000 Liberians live in the United States following two civil wars in Liberia. Many are U.S. citizens. Denying the right to travel would keep them from doing what all Americans can freely do – travel the world to see family and friends. Some years ago I attended a church in Ft. Bend, Texas and one of the members was a nice lady from Liberia I will call “Grace.” It was common for her to travel back to Liberia to see family.

People in the United States are afraid of EBOLA, but should they be that worried? Ebola has killed only one person in the U.S. In 2010, over 53,000 people died from the FLU, also a virus.

Are we doing enough to contain Ebola? The GOP cut the President’s request for funding for CDC (Center for Disease Control) in half. They have refused to confirm his appointment for Surgeon General, leaving the U.S. without a chief medical doctor helping guide our response.  So we are making a bad situation worse by not acting soon enough or with enough resources.

If we can contain Ebola overseas, the threat remains there. Much more needs to be done. I encourage you to contact your Congress reps and let them now you want more action and less talk before this becomes a pandemic that spreads into the U.S.

For updates on Ebola, ISIS and other global events that impact Americans, follow the Global American Values blog at: http://globalamericanvalues.blogspot.com/

I have posted pictures I took of Syria before the civil war – and after.

Michael Fjetland

Global American Series

Author, Better Times Ahead April Fool

www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com