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Last Update:
World View
Just an Update
It’s been a few weeks since I updated this page, so I perused the news. It seems militants blew themselves up and took a few dozen people with them, enemies of All’s right with the world.
Oil 90 Miles From Miami
If the So, while the U.S. Congress and Executive branch bans oil exploration in Alaska, and offshore around the U.S., Brazil, Venezuela, Russia, other countries around the world and even Cuba are going full speed ahead. While Americans whine about the price of oil, the rest of the world is thinking, “what a bunch of losers.” Don’t get me wrong; I am all for protecting the environment, our beaches and Don’t tell me the environment is more important than the economy, it sounds good but it is not reality (I wish it was). Congress passes laws to protect us and in the process further screws up our economy and our future and protects us from what? If Fidel lives long enough he will see Americans begging to buy Cuban oil, just as we do from Hugo Chavez (have you visited a Citgo station recently?) Remember your Congressman when you have to switch to the new fluorescent light bulbs and drop one then have to leave the house for ten minutes while the mercury disperses (read the label).
June 13, 2008
Lessons Not Learned
As John McCain recently said, only a fool or fraud talks tough or romantically about war.
Yet, there seems to be constant war around the world. We are afraid of war and rightly so of course, but that fear may actually lead us not away from but toward conflicts. In the last century, much of the world ignored the growing militarism of Is today any different? Are we guilty of not taking the rhetoric from the The Middle East may seem far away to many of us, but the rhetoric of hate is in our backyard and throughout As a recent article in the Wall Street Journal asked, have we learned the lessons of the last century? I fear not. We seem incapable of seeing what is before our eyes.
June 7, 2008
It Is Not 1945
We buy our gas from a company owned by We Americans need to get over the idea that we are the center of the earth, but rather only part of it and a less important part every day. We don’t have the best health care system, or the best education system, we no longer graduate the best and brightest engineers and scientists, we are 18th in ranking in IQ, we don’t live the longest or have the lowest infant mortality rate, our portion of the world economy is shrinking each year, we are in debt to the world up to our eyeballs and our people find it easier every year to seek answers not in their own efforts, but from government. As we approach Memorial Day even the way we view our military has changed. Certainly we should honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and we must take care of our wounded and disabled, but…just because one is in the military does not entitled him or her to other special privileges. Serving in the military of the In short, we need to get over ourselves and get back to work on the basics, we need to take personal responsibility and to better understand what a globalized world means to the future of the Peace May 24, 2008
World News to Start Your Week
Let’s check the world news this morning and raise our spirits for the coming week…or not. In In A suicide bomber in It must be a slow news day because we are also told that in
May 19, 2008
The War You Don't Know
Nearly 4,000 people killed in the last few years, including innocent bystanders, police, soldiers plus thousands more wounded. Beheading, threats, warnings and intimidation, all seemingly beyond the control of the government that is riddled with corruption. In one particularly disturbing incident, a police commander was beheaded and his head stuck in the fence outside police headquarters with a note attached to his head with an ice pick. Isn’t it time we pulled out of this mess?
March 23, 2008
Hey Joe, what if we put the bank logo about here?
The world must be having a good laugh. It reads about our unions and others complaining about globalization, it hears members of Congress talking protectionism, we tout our great standard of living, we live high on the hog, we accumulate an unbelievable debt and now we seek to return taxes to people who can’t afford their oil bill. We advertising how nice it is to accept oil from a dictator trying to turn South America in Cuba and now some of our largest financial institutions are out there with hat in hand asking Prince Abu Bada Bing to bail them out. Hey Citi why don’t you ask the UAW or CALPERS if they want to invest some of their pension funds just to keep things from going global?
I have a country for sale…cheap
That plump dictator wannabe in This is our own entire greedy fault. World governments have billions and trillions of dollars (or maybe some other currency these days) to burn and
The following is finding it’s way around the internet. Joe Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6 am. While his coffeepot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG). He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA), designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA) After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet( MADE IN INDIA) he sat down with his calculator (MADE in MEXICO ) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA) he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY) filled it with GAS from I have one question for Joe Smith, how could you afford to buy all that stuff? Bet he shopped at Wal-Mart. Sounds like sour grapes to me!
November 29, 2007
A Scary Thought Oh, the other alternative for November 3, 2007
What Matters
It doesn’t matter what you think of President Bush, or What does matter is that you have an understanding of the world and world history. It matters that you understand that Muslims in India, are at the lowest end of that society and that their schooling intentionally avoids subjects that will enable them to raise themselves from poverty (at least by western standards) and that they are taught not in English the language of business in India and the world, but in Arabic. Look at the pages below this article and see the demographics of the Muslim world, the literacy and poverty levels. Understand that Muslims are taught to avoid many of the modern attributes of life and commerce and to take religious teachings literally. Be aware of the abuse and atrocities heaped on the Muslim world over the centuries, including the twentieth century, and the in kind actions by Muslims. And most of all understand that even with the absence of large armies marching toward one another, the world is at war, perhaps with an enemy far more committed, more intelligent and more resourceful than has ever been seen before. To all this you can add religion, the most powerful motivator of all. Observe the intensity of violence, the disregard for any human life young or old, man or woman, including ones own, can you comprehend what motivates people to do such things, can you understand the force of religious zeal? You better. No the issue is not getting out of Here is the perspective you should understand: The world should be Muslim and it is your duty to advance that, all non-Muslims are violating the word of God, no religion but your own is to be tolerated, you are uneducated except in your religion, you have lived in poverty for centuries often under dictatorships, your very country was created by western politicians, you are taught about the Crusades and other indignities and you are convinced that the end justifies any means. Now you know what matters.
Lentils or Cash Just when you think you know someone they come up and slap you upside the head. While we agonize over the solutions to the Another article tells me once again how people are different and how the simplistic American view of the world gets us into trouble big and little. We Americans like to shop in a clean, spacious, well organized store and if we were to walk into a supermarket with rotting vegetables, floors strewn with food from broken packages, crowded aisles and open barrels of lentils, or dry goods in disarray we would likely walk out (except if it were a Wall Mart, K-Mart, Macy’s or Home Depot, of course). Not so in India, they apparently like it that way and so much so that one retailer intentionally makes his stores with narrow crowded aisles, places rotting food next to good food (so people think they are able to pick out the best), and lets the lentil beans spill and stay on the floor. Being a bit claustrophobic, I would likely starve to death in
History is a Great Teacher, but the Class is Always Truant “The growing imperialistic impulse in the United States, the nation’s pride in its wealth and military strength, the sense that it had a mission to spread freedom and democracy around the globe, combined with its humanitarian regard for the suffering of those under dictatorial rule, brought about a collision with [fill in the blank] over conditions in [fill in the blank], where rebels had begun an insurrection to free [fill in the blank]." Where in the world, It is 1898, and the Interestingly, the above paragraph from “The House” The History of the House of Representatives, by Robert V. Remini is talking about the Spanish American War and the The Now, when you have a hard time understanding why the And think about the risks we face everyday based solely on the hubris, greed, arrogance, shortsightedness, self-interest and just plain stupidity of the people making decisions for us.
You do not see Russians, or Poles, or Swedes marching in the streets. You do not see German or Indian flags among crowds in our parks. You do not see any other group of people demanding that the Exactly what is going on here? Is it the close proximity to the The last thing the I hear demonstrators yell for fair treatment and I am mystified on how that is defined. Fair means you enter the Being an American carries a large responsibility, one admittedly not carried by millions of people who were born an American citizen. That is a big problem in itself. The average American is largely ignorant of American history and the development of the Here is what the CIS says about To make matters worse, I am especially enthralled by the use of “revolutionary”, and “revolution” and “peasant.” Unemployment is lower than the Finally, what else plagues Mexico, well according to the CIA, Mexico is a source, transit, and destination country for persons trafficked for sexual exploitation and labor; while the vast majority of victims are Central Americans trafficked along Mexico's southern border, other source regions include South America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia; women and children are trafficked from rural regions to urban centers and tourist areas for sexual exploitation, often through fraudulent offers of employment or through threats of physical violence; the Mexican trafficking problem is often conflated with alien smuggling, and frequently the same criminal networks are involved; pervasive corruption among state and local law enforcement often impedes investigations Mexico is a major drug-producing nation; cultivation of opium poppy in 2005 amounted to 3,300 hectares yielding a potential production of 8 metric tons of pure heroin, or 17 metric tons of "black tar" heroin, the dominant form of Mexican heroin in the western United States; marijuana cultivation decreased 3% to 5,600 hectares in 2005 - just two years after a decade-high cultivation peak in 2003 - and yielded a potential production of 10,100 metric tons; government conducts the largest independent illicit-crop eradication program in the world; continues as the primary transshipment country for US-bound cocaine from South America, with an estimated 90% of annual cocaine movements towards the US stopping in Mexico; major drug syndicates control majority of drug trafficking throughout the country; producer and distributor of ecstasy; significant money-laundering center; major supplier of heroin and largest foreign supplier of marijuana and methamphetamine to the US market. Did you see all that on any signs?
You betcha Mohammed, they have no stomach for a fight. But their Congress says that if they give a timeline to leave the traitors in our government will have to get their act together. That’s bad news.
Watch it, it is not our governement! Get a grip Mohammed, that ain’t gonna happen. They give a timeline, we play it cool for a few months, let things quiet down and when they are out of here, Bam, we takeover. No matter, in any case, time is on our side. You will never see peace protests in the streets of But then what, Abdul? Very simple my friend, we do what we want to do and keep the oil flowing, the infidels care about nothing more. You mean we sell them oil and they fund our noble cause, even Americans are not that stupid. Mohammed you underestimate the Americans, they are far more stupid than you give them credit for. "
Hey, Joe Kennedy...
do you still think our friends are in
George, let me introduce you to Mr. Adams
On July, 4, 1821 John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State (yes, of the United States of American), declared [the I am a great believer in learning from history, but this is scary stuff, right George? And today (January 28, 2007) in the New York Times Magazine there is an article talking about Hugo Chavez aligning forces from around the world against the United States (as well as a reference that China may well do the same thing some day). There is an old saying about learning from ones mistakes, but politicians only have to worry about their mistakes while in office and when they go merrily on their way, the rest of us have to deal with the consequences. Today, the stakes have never been higher and yet, the only thing we know about a famous Back off guys, the world has enough to worry about and it doesn’t’ need to deal with Democrats and Republicans in the Why shouldn’t the world hate America, we have everything, we consume everything and the press is full of what can easily be perceived of as aggression by those at the other end of us defending our freedom, couple all that with blatant arrogance and well, you get the picture. None of our generosity either as a country or by individual Americans will offset that perception. As they say in the business world, we need a new strategy, perhaps a giant focus group will do, or more “socializing” of our thoughts (my new favorite buzz word). Ah, I have it a meeting, conference call or web cast. I vote for zero basing. Get all American troops back on American soil and start over. Where do we really need to be around the world? Who wants us and why? Ok, so we probably already know the answer to that one. I didn’t do anything to people in Now if you don’t know what I am talking about, you just proved my point.
Don't Let the Facts Get In the Way of Decisions
Like many people I have a keen interest in What you find is a group of countries whose governments are a mix of monarchies, and dictatorships operating under a mix of common law and Islamic law. Countries with a low average age, relatively high unemployment, high poverty levels and low literacy. Countries where women and members of the military are not allowed to vote (or there is no vote for anyone). Even I concluded that is a good recipe for breeding discontent and dare I say it, terrorists. There is little room for debate or discussion and there is no room for dissention when it comes to religion. And, oh yes, many of these countries are virtually totally dependent on oil for income while a significant portion of their There is another common characteristic; these countries were previously under foreign control, many by the British – sound 1776 familiar? Hopefully, the next time we go on a quest to save the world from itself, we will make a visit to our own library. The Bahrain-Hereditary Monarchy, gained independence from U.K. in 1971, operates under Islamic Law and English Common Law, 15% unemployment, unknown number in poverty, literacy 89.1% Egypt-Republic election by popular vote, gained independence from U.K. in 1922, 9.5% unemployment, 20% living in poverty, operates under English Common Law, Islamic Law and Napoleonic Law, Religious based parties are banned, literacy 57.7% Iran-Theocratic Republic, gained independence from U.K, 1961, 11.2% unemployment, 40% living in poverty, most economic activity controlled by the state. Has $40 billion in foreign exchange reserves in the midst of economic hardships, literacy 79.4% Jordon-Constitutional Monarchy, gained independence from British administration in 1946, 12.5% unemployment (unofficial rate 30%), 30% living in poverty, operates under Islamic law and French codes, literacy 91.3% Kuwait-Constitutional Hereditary Emirate, political parties are illegal, adult males not in the military can vote as can adult women (as of May 2005), operates under civil law with Islamic law significant in personal matters, 2.2% unemployment, unknown poverty levels, literacy 83.5% Lebanon-Republic, gained independence from League of Nations mandate under French administration 1943, males age 21 can vote, women 21 can vote if they have an elementary education, operates under mixture of Ottoman law, canon law, Napoleonic code and civil law, 18% unemployment, 28% living in poverty, literacy 87.4% Oman-Monarchy, gained independence by expelling Portuguese in 1650, all Omanis can vote except members of the military and security forces, operates under English common law and Islamic law, only appeal is to the monarch, 15% unemployment, unknown number living under poverty, literacy 75.8% Qatar-Traditional Emirate, gained independence from the U.K. in 1971, operates under discretionary system of law controlled by the Amir, some civil codes being implemented; Islamic law dominates family and personal matters, 18 year olds can vote, but no legislative elections have been held since 1970, 2.7% unemployment rate, unknown number living in poverty, literacy 89% Saudi Arabia-Monarchy, unification of the kingdom in 1932, operates under Shari” a (Islamic) law, males 21 and older can vote for municipal councils, no political parties, 13% unemployment (Saudi males only) some local estimates as high as 25%, unknown number living in poverty, literacy 78.8% Syria-Republic under an authoritarian military-dominated regime, gained independence from United Arab Emirates-Federation with specific powers and other powers reserved to member emirates, gained independence from United States of America-Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic traditions, gained independence from Great Britain (U.K.) in 1776, operates under federal court system based on English common law, each state has its own system based on English common law (except Louisiana). 4.5% unemployment, 12% living in poverty, literacy 99%
and
and
The War
Before you continue, keep in mind I am not saying what is right or wrong, I am not making judgments (ok, so I do make a few). The point is that before we do come to conclusions or take action or bet the farm on a certain outcome, we should understand what we are dealing with. That is not so hard is it, well yeah apparently it is. And, before you get too excited should you read this mister Democrat or otherwise anti Bush, regardless of whom is right or wrong, this is not the time to take public shots that will cause undeterminable harm to I have been reading, and thinking about Iraqi, a lot. Perhaps you have as well. Currently the debate is whether or not the war in Iraqi is making the war on terror better or worse or whether the presence of the H&M = Hearts and Minds and if we continue ignoring the importance of both in the rest of the world, well, the Oh, by the way I am quite conservative in nature and the first person I ever voted for and would again was Barry Goldwater. To make matters worse I read the I am not saying get the heck out of Iraqi and do it now. We should never have gotten into Iraqi, but we did so now the most important thing is HOW we get out (and everyone in the Muslim world is watching, along with our buddies in North Korea and don't forget it). How the Consider this; Sadam Hussein was a tyrant who murdered many people, lived in grandeur while most of his country lived as if it was 1100 and did who knows what to make the lives of the majority of Iraqi people miserable, at least by our standards. So it would stand to reason (American reason) that if someone comes in and gets rid of Sadam and in the process kills his sons who were responsible for much of the misery, they would be heroes. Recently a poll in Iraqi showed that 60% of the people want the The terrorists would not be able to survive if they did not receive the aid and comfort, support, or at least acquiescence of the population and you are not going to change that with bullets. What can motivate a person; in fact, many people, to blow themselves up along with scores of innocent people? What can motivate one sect of the same religion to kill people of another sect simply because of who they are? Who can imagine living in a country where the religious leaders run the government? Who can comprehend that the penalty for renouncing ones religion for another is death (see next paragraph)? I know one thing for sure the average American, let alone a politician, and the average westerner is incapable of understanding the motivation or mindset of the average Middle East Muslim. Can you relate? “Beheading has particular prominence in Can you relate? Until 1962, slavery was legal and practiced. Got that Jesse and Al? A fatwa, an Islamic law, stated that the Koran [the holy book of Islam] approved slavery. After 1962, the former slaves simply became "domestic servants" of the wealthy for whom they already worked. A Saudi royal great-granddaughter was killed with her lover for the crime of adultery (as I recall not because she was married, but because she was not). http://www.the-spark.net/csart134.html So if we cannot comprehend the way some people think or why, how can we win a war for H&M? We cannot! Got that George, Dick, Donny? What war is that you say? Exactly, what war are we trying to win? Politicians call it the war on terror and put it in terms that Americans understand a threat to our way of life, destruction of property and lives, kind of World War II stuff. Big mistake. To understand what the world is facing you must have a good understanding of history and of Islam and Americans have neither. The simple idea that attacking any enemy with a mighty armed force, regardless of the dedication of the fighting men and women or the power they posses will carry the day is absurd and yet it appears that many politicians and westerners in general believe that to be the case in Iraqi. Another big mistake. Besides not understanding the “war”, we do not seem to understand that any human being given the right circumstances, the right motivation and the right stimulation in the form of a charismatic leader will do anything. Add to that mix a general disenfranchisement and the potent force of religion and you have a deadly combination. All of that is present in the History may be a dead subject in our schools, but it is not dead in the memory of people looking for a cause and scapegoat and does not go unnoticed by those seeking to motivate them. What we see in the world today is only the most recent example. Extreme violence in the Middle East has a long history and people living in the
From http://www.medievalcrusades.com/kingsofjerusalem.htm “On July 13-14, (1099) the main attack began. Godfrey of Bouillon gained the north wall, and with his brother, Eustace, commanded the troops from there. The Arabs within, seeing their defenses broken, fled to the The Muslim religion was founded in about 622, which is more than 400 years before the first crusade, if you discount the so-called Children’s Crusade. From http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3577287 “The army pushed through the Byzantine and Persian Empires, and by 649 AD Does any of this sound familiar or relate to the
Where’s My Jar of Kimchee?
So now North Korea is planning to test an A bomb and why shouldn’t it, surely I jest, but after all who doesn’t have the right to their own “bomb?". If you’re going to be a dictator and run a government to feed your own ego with delusions of grandeur, of course you need the “bomb.” Look at it this way while you may be nearly insane, you do run a country don’t you and that’s no small feat. How many fully sane normal people get to run a country? After all, nearly half of the really sane Americans can’t even find the time to vote, let alone run anything. Kim Jong Il, you deserve some credit you sly old devil, while you maintain one of the worlds largest standing army’s to help you stay in power, the world continues to bail you out so you are able to divert resources from your people to building the “bomb.” What a deal. We so-called humanitarians in the world may have compassion, but we are not too smart, at least not as smart as you are. You probably have figured this out already, but just in case you haven’t, the sight of starving children and the prospects of millions of people facing starvation kind of gets to us, so what do we do, we send you tons of food and aid which you in turn direct to best meet your needs. At least give us some credit for helping you stay in power, hey that should be worth a jar or two of Kimchee (in case you want the recipe here it is: http://www.recipelink.com/mf/3/7359 Oops Sad to say, but humanitarian aid in the wrong hands builds the “bomb” so the lesson for all those who cringe at the sight of starving children is………..you figure it out. Ok, I will. The simple truth is that in order to change North Korea the situation needs to be so bad that even its army can no longer stand what is happening and it and the citizens force a change in the government. In other words, if you keep giving liquor to an alcoholic, they will keep drinking and being an alcoholic. Consider the following facts and draw your own conclusions. From the CIA Fact Book: After decades of economic mismanagement and resource misallocation, the DPRK since the mid-1990s has relied heavily on international aid to feed its population while continuing to expend resources to maintain an army of 1 million. North Korea's long-range missile development, as well as its nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs and massive conventional armed forces, are of major concern to the international community. Despite an increased harvest in 2005 because of more stable weather conditions, fertilizer assistance from South Korea, and an extraordinary mobilization of the population to help with agricultural production, the nation has suffered its 11th year of food shortages because of on-going systemic problems, including a lack of arable land, collective farming practices, and chronic shortages of tractors and fuel. Massive international food aid deliveries have allowed the people of North Korea to escape mass starvation since famine threatened in 1995, but the population continues to suffer from prolonged malnutrition and poor living conditions. Large-scale military spending eats up resources needed for investment and civilian consumption. For years, from the 1970s into the 2000s, citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea (DPRK), many of them diplomatic employees of the government, were apprehended abroad while trafficking in narcotics, including two in Turkey in December 2004; police investigations in Taiwan and Japan in recent years have linked North Korea to large illicit shipments of heroin and methamphetamine, including an attempt by the North Korean merchant ship Pong Su to deliver 150 kg of heroin to Australia in April 2003. From: Report for Congress U.S. Assistance to North Korea Updated March 17, 2003 Mark E. Manyin Analyst in Asian Affairs Ryun Jun Research Associate Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division Since 1995, the U.S. has provided over $1 billion in foreign assistance to the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPRK, also known as North Korea), about 60% of which has taken the form of food aid, and about 40% in the form of energy assistance channeled through the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO). Additionally, there has been discussion of offering North Korea broader economic development assistance in exchange for Pyongyang verifiably dismantling its nuclear program and cooperating on other security-related issues. U.S. aid to North Korea has been controversial since its inception, and the controversy has been intimately linked to the larger debate over the most effective strategy for dealing with the DPRK. Food aid has been provided to help North Korea alleviate chronic, massive food shortages that began in the early 1990s and that led to severe famine in the mid-1990s that killed an estimated 1-2 million North Koreans. Food aid to North Korea has come under criticism because the DPRK government restricts the ability of donor agencies to operate in the country, particularly with regard to monitoring food shipments, making it difficult to assess how much of each donation actually reaches its intended recipients. There have been anecdotal reports that food aid is diverted to the North Korean elite, who reportedly either consume it themselves or resell it for profit on the black market. There are also reports that international food assistance has been diverted to the North Korean military. Disastrous floods in the summer of 1995 plunged the country into a severe famine that by some estimates was responsible for one to two million deaths, approximately 5% - 10% of North Korea’s population. Although natural disasters were the immediate causes of the food crisis, the root causes of the famine were decades of economic and agricultural mismanagement. In September 1995, North Korea appealed for international food assistance, contradicting its national ideology of juche, or self-reliance…. Unlike the situation in other humanitarian emergencies, the North Korean government has remained intact and therefore has been able to impose strict limits on international relief groups’ ability to operate in the country, in particular on aid workers’ interaction with the North Korean people. Aid workers involved in the North Korean relief effort offer a variety of reasons Pyongyang has prohibited access to certain areas, including the presence of sensitive security-related facilities; anger at the actions of a particular local official; and/or the “triaging” of the northern and eastern areas of the country so that more food can be provided to politically favored regions and constituencies, particularly the communist party elite in Pyongyang. A 2002 nutrition survey found, for instance, that acute malnutrition among North Korean children was three times as high in one of the eastern provinces than in Pyongyang.
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Americans need to give up the idea that they are living in the 
Eh, not exactly, because we are talking about 
Here is a nice kettle of fish, 
"Hey, Abdul what to you think of the Americans? Are they going to get out of here?
populations are employed in government jobs (ok, so that is not much different from the 
