Carly Fiorina's Foreign Attitude

Carly Fiorina looks at the world and see enemies, adversaries and opponents. Her campaign rhetoric on the “threat to America” that Russia poses at this point in time is just so off base.

In a one-woman campaign to revive the Cold War, Carly Fiorina views our old nemesis Russia as an enemy in the war for renewed American world dominance. In the past, the influence of the United States in the world was based upon the freedoms its citizens enjoyed and the right to pursue their dreams and because of that, great wealth was created. New products and breakthroughs in communications, industry and social and spiritual thought were sprung by the resulting freedom of choice to pursue what each person wished for themselves. This drew the envy of the world. 

But when our governing parties decided to force ourselves and our way of thinking onto other nations was where our nation got off the rails.

Our military excursions into Asia were rebuffed by China from the 1950s to the 1970s so we never got militarily what we could have achieved economically in that part of the world and only strengthened the hand of the Communists to boot. China’s attitude towards the United States remains one of distrust and we have given them plenty of reason.

Russia also has had a history of Western “influence” when a multinational force made up of French, British, Canadian, American and Australian troops came into the Russian Civil War on the side of the Whites in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1918. They didn’t win but served as the fodder of the “Enemy Without” paranoia so crucial in keeping dictators in power.

And we wonder why these people distrust the United States?

But time, communication, commerce and the free market have a way of changing the attitudes of former adversaries if we allow this to take place. In the years since 9/11 the United States has lost some steam but has gained some equilibrium with some of our most powerful trading partners. China has emerged as a powerful entity even though they are an angry regime looking to take out a century of angst on somebody.

Russia too has seen its setbacks from the collapse of their Communist Government to their struggles with control over Ukraine and the Muslim expansion on their doorstep of which we here in the United States only are grimly seeing more of with the advancement of Internet media.

Enter Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett Packard Chief Operating Officer who, from all her talk of adversaries in the world, shows that she will do nothing to bring our commonalities to light but will only continue to highlight the differences between us.  

The one BIG difference is Bashar Assad.  The current policy of the United States under President Barack Obama holds the view that Assad as The Devil. Republican Candidate for the presidency Carly Fiorina shares that view. This stuff is just so out of place right now since we as a nation have much bigger fish to fry and yet the focus remains on Russia? I just don’t get it. 

Growing up, we all learned that Russia was America’s adversary and our biggest challenge in the world. They weren’t like us, they didn't like us and they only wished to dominate the world and that may have been true then but at the same time, so did WE.

Little have we in the West ever cared for the nuances of the big, wide world we live in. First, there are really BAD people in the world and Second, there are WORSE people in the world.

How dare the Russian government look out for their own interests in the region! How dare Bashar Assad fight to save his neck? How dare THEY defy the United States right, half a world away, to determine what goes on in their countries and the countries they share borders with?! Until something happens to Assad, he’s still in charge of Syria. He was there first. Just because the United States, whose actions and complicity in the overthrow of established governments in North Africa these past decades have even violated our own Constitution, says it should be so does not mean it should be so. 

And all that support money and armaments we sent to Assad over the years? Oh, well, just forget about that stuff...hey, look, I think I just saw him gas a few civilians! Nothing to see here folks, move along. Just like Saddam Hussein, he was our guy until he wasn't our guy.  Once you decide you don't want to dance to our tune, that's it for you. 

It has been our own bone-headed interventions that have gotten us to where we are today and there is nobody else to blame but our own shiftless leadership. This must change or we as a country will not stand.

So when I hear Ms. Fiorina coming out sounding like an old Cold War “error” politician, I cringe.

Declaring countries as enemies right out of the gate and seeing Communists in her cornflakes isn’t going to get the United States back to the forefront of freedom and free trade. It was just this sort of wrong thinking that got us to where we are right now and the sooner we face up to it, the sooner we can rectify it. 

We don’t need a return to an adversarial past of us versus them, we need a way to acknowledge, respect and negotiate with the other powerful and long established civilizations in this day and age who, like us, are struggling with the same issues of keeping people employed, fed and free of worry of attack so that they can pursue, as best they can, the things they want to do in life. It doesn’t always work out but to have opportunity is the yearning of those of us who want to live in this world now and worry about the next one when we get there. Many of us want the same things in life.

Russia, China and the United States share many of the same issues right now especially the very present enemy at our gates some of whom think that dying is better than living and others who think the world owes them a living.

The LAST THING we need, Ms. Fiorina, is to think of each other as adversaries or enemies.  

Just the opposite is needed at this time. 

India Wants Money from Britain

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has praised a speech by Shashi Tharoor, a member of Britain's government who is of Indian decent, that called for Great Britain to pony up some dough to make amends for 200 years of British rule in India. 


Sounds familiar doesn’t it?


Good luck with that since, as Liberal as the Brits have become, they ain’t THAT Liberal! India has a better chance of seeing Vishnu than they do of seeing a Farthing of reparations from Great Britain.

Of course without the intervention by Great Britain way back when we’ll never know if the people of India would have overthrown the Raj by themselves and then have embarked on a course of self-determination. Such a thing would have probably happened eventually had they not since it always does eventually. The Pendulum never ceases to swing but at this point the world will never know.




The biggest crime I’d say the UK committed and the biggest hurdle that India had to overcome was that when Britain left, they didn’t do anything to show the natives how things were supposed to run. The Brits held onto power long enough for the people who remembered how to do things the old way were gone and not long enough for people to grasp the new way. Without the Empirical Knowledge associated with generations of people growing up in that system, well, these guys were lost. I mean really lost.


And the signs that they never quite got it right are everywhere.


Yep, India got stomped on by Great Britain. But who didn’t in those days? Ireland got stomped on too and worse. The Brits took all the food, drained their resources and left the poorer country folk to starve to death and they still occupy the Northern region of the country. There are a million Irish people on the bottom of the Atlantic. What’s that add up to at 25 bucks a head? Ireland could probably use the cash about now too.


But just because you think you deserve it, to expect such "justice" is to waste one's time since there is no shortage of people who got stomped on by somebody else. NOBODY, no race or country, has a monopoly on pain and there are few walking the Earth today that can claim a moral high ground with a straight face. I find the whole issue hilarious.


Before the Brits, the Vikings came and kicked Ireland's butt.  Oppression and servitude most surely followed. Should Ireland go after Norway now? If India thinks it has a case then so does Ireland.

And even before THAT we had to kiss Caesar’s ring. Celts ended up as slaves to the Romans. Italy is a broke-ass country now so nobody should bother with asking them BUT just because it happened 2000 years ago should Italy be able to claim a Statute of Limitation?


But Ireland will never ask for money. Why? Because the Irish are better and TOUGHER than that. The Irish, and this is most likely from shear habit and repetition, just pick themselves up, brush themselves off and keep living and moving forward.


Everybody in the world has been stomped on at some point on our way to the 21^st Century and with leaders like we have today, we’re all poised for a second and in many cases third go around.


The early Romans got stomped on but then became the stompers. The Ancient Greeks did their share of stomping before being stomped upon themselves. The Persians stomped around for awhile, so did the Huns. The Christians and the Moors had a stomping contest and after Spain came out ahead they went across the ocean to stomp on the Aztecs and the Incas before England stomped them but good.


For a while there everybody was stomping on Africa, then Russia stomped on Finland, Czechoslovakia and Poland all the while stomping on themselves which may be a feat never equaled and are again stomping Ukraine. The Germans stomped on Europe TWICE, Japan stomped on China, China is currently stomping on Tibet, the U.S., after eking out a close win over England went on to stomp on Mexico, Hawaii and has made a career out of stomping around in the Middle East.


Australia stomped on the Aborigine and Canada is still looking for someone, ANYONE to stomp on since they got stomped the last time in 1812. There’s more stomping left un-chronicled I know but there are just so many hours in a day.


So what are you gonna do?  Nobody seems to have learned a damned thing.

So who are you going to ask for money? 


The Libertarian motto is: “Protect Yourself at All Times”.


Yes, I know, that’s from the Marquis de Queensbury’s rules for Boxing but it certainly applies to everybody. Who is in a better position to protect you than you? Some people are unclear on the concept and somehow believe that government will protect them, feed them and educate them. This “Wrong Thinking” needs correcting. You are not # 1 to government. You ain’t even # 2.


We’ve all had to pay some group or organization for protections whether it be a King, a Duke, a Lord, A Dictator, a Raj, a Prime Minister or a President. The problem arises when we come to a point where we need somebody else to protect US from THEM and this will always fall to the people themselves.


So when times start to suck, an independent person will figure out the steps they need to take to protect themselves and their loved ones under the circumstances that have been thrust upon them. They’ll stash some hard currency in a place they can get to it if they need it, they’ll buy some gold, they’ll put away a month or two of dry goods to get by in the event of shortages and they’ll buy a gun and ammo to protect it all if the shit should hit the fan.


What they won’t do is blame someone else for their problems and beg money for perceived past wrongs. That is not the Libertarian Way, that is the Liberal Way and the way of no accountability for one’s actions. Depending on government will only keep you a peasant.


We all get a chance in this world but with the way things are in a world of cultural and economic disparity, SOMEBODY is going to get the short end of the stick. We may not all get a square deal in life but we all have options and choices and nobody, not entirely, is holding a gun to anybody’s head when it comes to many of the chances we take and choices we make. Only ONE person owns you.

You can vote with your emotions, vote with your logic or vote with your feet and it’s the combination of these actions, by millions of people every day that determine the course of human history. You can stand and fight and you can cut and run. That part is up to you. It's your choice.


India should just toughen up. 

John Kerry's Legacy: A Political Life of Idiocy and Opportunity.

Is there a bigger idiot in the U.S. government right now than the current U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry?

Even with that lunatic warmonger John McCain running a close second, the big difference there is that John Kerry made his political “bones” as an anti-war advocate during the Vietnam War. John McCain has always been a warmonger. Kerry is a peacemaker suddenly turned war officer.

John Kerry had also publicly thrown “his” war medals over the White House fence in protest of the Vietnam war! Only it turned out decades later that he had thrown someone else’s medals over the White House fence. He actually kept his own and he only owned up to the ruse when a reporter spotted the medals framed and hanging on the wall of his Senate office. So in reality he had thrown another veteran's medals over the White Hosue fence and publicly claimed that they were his own. How stupid is that?

This is a man who had a fire hydrant moved from in front of his Boston condominium at taxpayer expense just so he could park closer to his unit. This man has no shame.

I don't have to go into how his fellow Swift Boat buddies feel about him.

In his "Let's go to War" speech earlier this week, as Secretary of State for the United States of America, John Kerry stood up in front of the American people and lied his ass off…again.

As one person whom I’d identify if I knew his name said it best: “He looked like he was trying to win a high school debate.”

Well said and by the looks of things the American People remain unconvinced.

Why? Because there is no case. Everything John Kerry said is unconfirmed. We don’t know how many people supposedly died in the “strike”, nobody does. We don’t even know if there was a strike. We don’t know who else has poison gas and we don’t know who had actually used it. There is no confirmable proof at this time. And his appeals to our feelings about the CHILDREN were hollow liberal-speak. Nothing we haven't heard from this man his entire carreer as a near-do-well politician who by virtue of being around so long has finally grasped the brass ring of higher power.

But it doesn't matter who is telling the tale, it is still a tale.

Why is it yet again the United States job to teach ANYBODY in the world a lesson in ANYTHING?

The American people, so weary of decades of almost constant warfare, are finally tired of being the World Police. So for the very first time in his bizarre, conflicted and divisive presidency, Mr. Obama is going to state his case to Congress and leave the matter for them to decide.

The last time they got to do this beyond a merely symbolic vote after troops were already sent and involved was World War II. Congress, according to the U.S. Constitution, should be involved in ALL decisions to go to war. This power has routinely been ignored by past presidents since Lyndon B Johnson which resulted in the War Powers Act of 1973 which was passed over the veto of then President Richard Nixon.
  
But now Congress has the chance to re-assert itself into government.  The outrage of the American people is resolute and has shown to be a resounding “NO” when it comes to this latest act of aggression against a sovereign nation.

The eyes of the world will be upon them. Will the do the right thing? Can they?

The world should now learn that they should fight their own battles. With the prospect of having to deal with the possible destruction of their own territories and economies, they all may be more amenable to negotiation rather than pulling some stunt to get the U.S. involved on their side. Those days should be declared OVER.

Other nations may decry the "Fall of the West" and call actually voting on whether to go to war or not a sign of Weakness but the bottom line is that WE THE PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA are tired of spilling the blood of this countries best and brightest for NOTHING and for people who only care about themselves. This includes our own big businesses as well as foreign countries. Our sacrifices have been ignored and our virtues dismissed. We're tired of it and here is the chance we get to state it.

Free trade and non-intervention should return as the policy of the United States of America. We love you all but don’t expect a check.

We should stop funding terrorist dictators everywhere and quit exporting our misery creating infernal machines world-wide. That may sound naïve but look at where the current policy has gotten us. No safer, no richer and has won us no real friends.

The world is full of bad men and lord knows we’ve funded quite a few of them ourselves.

It’s time to stop this cycle of pain and try something else.

Libertarians Unite

Yes I know that’s what is known as a Libertarian oxymoron since Libertarians are notorious non-joiners.

But the many individuals that make up the Libertarian consciousness have made an impact on this presidential election. It wasn’t an election that the Democrat won or the Republican would have won, it was an election where both parties lost.

Let’s take a look.

We had an incumbent president with a below 50% approval rating, presiding over a nation with a real unemployment rate of around 15% and whose wanton patronage of the Public Sector has now all but guaranteed the bankruptcy of this nation. The only boon to the economy president Obama has presided over is that the sale of guns has gone through the roof.

Then there is Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts who, as a businessman, managed to balance the state budget and put in place the Rainy Day fund that the now Governor, Deval Patrick, will rely on to keep the budget in balance since his management of the state has been less than stellar. But for all the good Romney has done with business and saving the Salt Lake City Olympics, he has tried too hard to be everything to everybody most of the time. His image as one sympathetic to big business did not help him and he never rose above a 50% approval rating either.

It was the Republican Party that has most resisted change this election cycle. Instead of embracing the masses of Tea Party groups that sprang up with the passage of the National Healthcare Initiative, the GOP fought them tooth and nail and even abandoned Tea Party candidates who were voted in as GOP candidates.

Neither did they embrace the Libertarians out there especially Ron Paul who, as the pillar of Libertarian principles, was branded a “Kook” and out of step with the mainstream. Dr. Paul was dismissed by mainstream conservative media and even had to withstand a withering attack by so called conservative radio talk show hosts across the nation.

And yet the Republican Party wonders out loud why they lost.

It has now come to light that the election wasn’t won or lost because of women’s issues or because the welfare nation has grown or even the rise of the Hispanic voting bloc. It was because 3 million registered Republicans stayed home and did not vote. It has also been reported that 8 million registered Democrats did not make it to the polls either. Also the voter turnout was less that the previous presidential contest featuring Obama vs. McCain. Looks like many voters just stayed home.

So how can you say a candidate would be a winner of such a contest?

There is no people’s mandate in this election. It only serves to prove that people wanted neither party.

Why? Because they are the same party, there is no difference.

I wonder what the vote would have looked like if "None of the Above" was on the ballot.

Nine Myths About Libertarianism

Myth #1 Libertarians are Isolationists.

This is trotted out every single time some radio wag is asked to comment on either Ron Paul or Libertarians in general. Libertarians are decidedly not isolationists. What they call for is Free Trade and Non-Intervention in sovereign nations. How can you trade with another country if you isolate yourself? You can’t. It is apparent that the current regime that has been in power in the U.S for decades always wants to either buy influence or intervene overtly (militarily) or covertly (politically) with any country they choose to as a matter of policy. Libertarians find this to be a really bad idea in the long run and history proves this to be true.

Myth #2 Libertarians are Anti-War Peaceniks

Another fib boasted mostly by right-wing hawks. Libertarians believe in a time to fight and a time for war. Was it not that noted founding Libertarian; Thomas Jefferson himself who sent the Marines to smash the Barbary Pirates of Tripoli in 1804? Yes it was! Why did he do it? To stop them from interfering with U.S. shipping and commerce, that’s why. That’s the free trade part of Myth #1 for those not paying attention.

The difference is that Thomas Jefferson did not want to make an industry out of war which has been the case for the last oh, 50 years! I don’t know who made any money on Korea but the US armament factories have reaped a bundle ever since. The U.S. exports twice as many weapons of war as the second place country (Russia). Anybody born after 1956 will tell you that we as a nation have been in a virtual state of war since they’ve been alive: Korea, Vietnam, Iran, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Panama, Gulf War I, Gulf War II, the Arab conflicts and now Libya and beyond. No price can be put upon the agony these endless military conflagrations have caused. 

These wars never end. They are no longer meant to be won. Libertarians see this as a colossal waste of lives and national resources. Free trade and non-intervention would have caused many of these conflicts never to be started. The U.S. has 700 military bases world wide. Why? Can’t Greece, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Europe take care of themselves? Libertarians think that it’s about time these countries take an interest in their own defense.

Yes, Libertarians prefer peace but if it comes time to fight, it will be time to win and the full force of a United States of America should be felt. Without the will to win, a war should not be undertaken.

Myth #3 Libertarians Want to Legalize Drugs

This is no myth. The Drug War is a pronounced and utter failure which has turned our inner cities into hell-holes and has corrupted our system of government. Nobody believes that it is working; nobody believes that we are better off since the drug war began (with the exception of FOX’S Sean Hannity). Time to legalize them and instead of paying Billions of dollars to government corrections and enforcement, we should instead turn this massive amount of money to treatment and education. I have a more detailed rant in the archives of this blog. It’s worth a look.

Myth #4 Libertarianism Have Visions of Utopia

We all know Utopia is not an option. There is no perfect world there is no perfect system. But neither is the welfare state! Libertarians know that welfare isn’t about compassion or helping people when they’re down. It’s about State Control. The State taxes, transfers and decides who gets the money. Welfare is a disincentive to work.  Self-Reliance is self-fulfillment. The people on the left are well aware of this yet they continue with this policy. Why? 

Now we’ve always had to pay somebody for protection, either the King, the Overlord or whoever was in power at the time. These “taxes” paid for the protection of the “taxpayers” by the overall power of the Feudal Lord/State so nothing has really changed in that regard.

The problems come when the State becomes unwieldy, over bureaucratized, ineffectual at it’s basic functions and takes too much money out of the economy so that the people who pay start to falter. Libertarians believe that government has its hands in too many pies and is using taxpayer money to buy the vote. This is something to be stopped.

Myth #5 Libertarians are Anti-Tax, Anti-Government Nut-Jobs

Although I’ve met a few ah, “Overly Committed” folks who describe themselves as Libertarians, I can’t say there are any more of them than there are of Left-Wing Welfare State Loving Nut-Jobs or Right-Wing Warmonger Nut-Jobs. Probably less since Libertarians are a smaller group that the previously described. They do seem to stand out in a crowd though since they tend to dress in fatigues and either carries a big flag or “Don’t Dare Take My Gun” sign. God love ‘em. But by and large, Libertarians are just regular working people who are educated and in tune with how our current system of government is working. Libertarians know that wealth does not come from government and they tend to see the issues a little differently than those on the Left or Right side of the political spectrum. There is another way of looking at things.

Myth # 6 Libertarians are Racists

Libertarians love anybody with a job or who is looking for a job. As a matter of principle, they are decidedly color-blind. In fact, Libertarians feel that highlighting race at all in the way government functions ie: inquiring about race on government forms or societal segregation or the awarding of benefits based on race is bad policy. It is as Martin Luther King has said: “Judge not a person by the color of their skin but by the content of their soul.” Time to walk the talk like MLK did. I swear some of the scenes of our inner cities and the people who profit by “speaking for my people” should have MLK spinning in his grave at 100,000 rpm. Just like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Neither side has taken any steps at ending this practice when they had their chance to do so.

Conclusion: Libertarians have well defined principles but individuals interpret them as they see them. Libertarianism is not really a party since it is made up of individuals in the pursuit of their own dreams. When there is commonality, there is consensus. We all want the same things: The pursuit of happiness, safety in our homes and businesses, to raise our children in a safe and open environment, to have a level playing field for business and to have equal opportunity for all to prosper. We cannot guarantee results or success but people deserve the best chance to succeed without government intervention.

 Myth #7 Libertarians are for Big Business and are Anti-Environment

There is a big difference between free-enterprise and the collusion of large businesses with government to artificially procure for themselves a larger market share over their competition. Libertarians regard this collusion, as seen most recently with Bank of America, CitiBank and General Motors as Un-American and would be illegal in a Libertarian governed United States. Libertarians do not believe in Stimulus or Bail-outs. In fact, there would be no GBEs (Government Business Entity) in a Libertarian administration like Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. These were doomed to fail from the start since there was never any incentive to curb lending since the government guaranteed all mortgages they purchased. We still have yet to find out just how much Fannie & Freddie has spent in public funds but the final tally will be staggering.

Libertarians believe that by putting money back into the pockets of the people to spend the way they wish will we as a society have the opportunity to achieve the things we want in life. Not utopia, just better.

As far as the environment goes, we have had government watchdogs for decades and still the environmental disasters continue. Libertarians believe that what is bad for the environment is bad for business. Libertarians are as environmentally conscious as anybody else out there perhaps a bit more so since our natural resources are linked to our individual pursuit of happiness. But we also acknowledge that resources, especially renewable resources like trees are to be used and harvested. The setting aside of lands and forests to not be used or to prohibit the clearing of brush for the purpose or fire-roads and fire-breaks is counter productive. Nobody is for cutting old growth forest but trees are being cut down and replanted all the time. Excessive fees and over regulation of any industry will lead to illegal and unregulated activity such as wildcat clear-cutting of forest and illegal dumping in wildlife areas. We’ve all seen it. Libertarians believe that by making it easier to recycle materials and waste will the environment stay clean.

Myth #8 Libertarianism is a Cult

Although Ron Paul seems to have a cult-like following, so does President Obama. Is Liberalism therefore a cult? It’s hard to shake a person’s beliefs but at the very least Libertarianism is about the individual and not the collective. If I want what you have, I’ll work for it. I will not petition the government to pass a law to make you give up what you have for me. If belief in the individual’s ability to achieve and in the right of personal ownership is a cult then yes, Libertarianism is a cult. It is a cult of self reliance instead of the reliance on the State. It is freedom or at least the closest belief system to freedom. Libertarians believe they can provide for their own retirement better than the government can. They believe that they themselves know better than government what to do with the money they earn.  If the economy is indeed 75% consumer driven, then how come government is always taking money out of the hand of the consumer?

Contrary to popular belief, people got along just fine for centuries in this country without a Social Security system or a Graduated Income tax. You cannot get married today without permission from the State. The church can’t just marry you. That would be illegal.

Myth #9 Libertarians Are Against Assisting the Poor

There is more than one way to assist the poor. You can hand them a fish in the form of Welfare or you can really help them by having a job for them to go to.

Unemployment used to last 26 weeks when I started working. When did you get a job? When Unemployment ran out! Well now Unemployment never seems to run out. Some have been on extensions for 3 years. When’s that person going to find a job? When Unemployment runs out!

Libertarians also know there are many charities that help the poor. The biggest and most efficient in the United States is The Salvation Army. But they don’t give out checks. They give you three hots, a cot and work. You still have to earn it. The Salvation Army is by far more efficient with the money they take in than the government. And therein lies the answer.

Without the government confiscating so much of our cash, we would be free to give to the charity of our choice. Americans already are the most giving people in the world but with private charities we have the best way to get help to those who truly need it on a more intimate community level rather than a nameless, faceless state that doesn’t know who’s money they’re throwing around.