Obama & Putin - Don't Let Politics & Egos Trigger Economic Chaos

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There is one thing our leaders seem to have forgotten in their war of words and brinkmanship, their clash of egos and their refusal to compromise and that is millions, maybe even billions of people will have to bear the brunt of the hardship for whatever they do.

Here in America we are still struggling to get over a terrorist attack on 9-11, two of the longest and most ill-conceived wars in our history and five years of Obama and his policy of intellectual constipation as a better alternative than truth.

Now that political partisanship as mastered by the president has effectively paralyzed our government and there is really very little more damage that can be done to the national reputation there is a danger of detachment by the two political leaders that spells danger to the millions they represent and the millions more they could harm.

We pretty much recognize that Putin is going to do whatever he thinks will contribute to the resurrection of a Russian Empire as that seems to be his destiny.  Whether such an Empire will embrace the brutal Communism of Lenin and Stalin remains to be seen.

Here in the colonies we seem to have forgotten a lot about the history of the world and I suppose when your own history is barely 500 years old, it would be hard to relate to people and places dating back 5,000 years or more.

Well consider this.  When the Soviet Union collapsed and we tried to impose our cherished system of Democracy on the people freed from the yoke of Communism did it ever occur to us we might be making a mistake?

Of course not.

Our Constitutional principles of individual freedom and equal opportunity should be enjoyed by everyone.  But can it be?  People fled to America to be free.  But what about the people who never left their homeland?  People like the Russians, Muslims, Asians and others.

I traveled to Russia during the conversion from Communism to chaos and it did not take me long to realize our freedoms and our opportunities were alien to a civilization that lived under the rule of Czars for over 1,000 years before the iron-fist control imposed by Communism.

None of the average Russians I reached out to had a clue what democracy meant and the thought of electing their leaders had never happened in thousands of years.  In fact, many of the people who grew up under Communism and were cared for from cradle to grave felt being cared for was far more important than how much wealth could be accumulated.

In other words, they didn't deny Americans to be who were are but seemed to be asking why can't you respect us for who we are.

We seem to forget it has taken us 500 years to master our own destiny.  The first half were spent under the same English, French or Spanish systems our ancestors fled and the last 238 years have been spent trying to figure out how to make democracy work.

Think about it, just 150 years ago we were ending the Civil War that threatened to destroy our fledgling experiment in democracy so we have really only been at it, the art of governing the people in peace, for 150 years.

When you think about the American wars, riots against wars, abuses by businesses, corruption by governments, lack of civil rights, etc., since the Civil War ended one wonders if we have even reached a state of maturity yet as far as our form of governing.

In truth, we don't really know what is best for ourselves, we are a work in progress, and we sure don't know what is best for the rest of the world.  If we do not recognize the history and respect the expectations of people in other countries then we should not impose our will and ways on them.

Of course every human being should enjoy individual freedom and have equal opportunity but that certainly does not happen overnight, not even over hundreds of years.  And that might not even be what the people want.

Obama and Putin are trying to impose on the Ukrainian and Crimean people what they see is best for those people.  I already wrote that Crimea was far more a part of Russia and the Ukraine more a part of Europe.

At the same time, Russia's most valuable asset, oil and gas, are dependent on a series of pipelines running across the Ukraine to the Black Sea and Europe.  They have a right to expect them to be protected just as we have protected our oil and gas interests in many countries in the Middle East.

No one's hands are clean and conscious is clear when it comes to wealth and power and those in power must be accommodated if anyone wants to share in their wealth.  Every time we try to change the balance of the world things get bad, economies are disrupted, people lose their jobs, savings and sanity and the rich, well they just keep getting richer.

Iran, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait and on and on are proof of the folly of wealth-driven foreign policy.  With the United States and Russia two of the most wealthy nations on Earth in terms of natural resources and economic wealth, maybe it is time to reconsider whether our foreign policy should be dictated by economic incentives or concerns for the needs of the people.

If so I expect a far different outcome than what we have today.                

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Holly is Gone 1993-2009

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Guardian and Peacemaker of Coltons Point





Last night, July 28, Holly passed away. Abandoned as a child, spending the next decade relying on a handful of kind people around Coltons Point for an occasional meal but otherwise living outside and alone through summer and winter, rain and snow, Holly became the sort of dog movies are made about.





An Irish Setter, Holly took a long time before she came to trust humans again and she was always prepared to take care of herself. But she did so much more by becoming friends with families and elderly people in need of companionship, taking walks with people, and gradually becoming the Guardian and Peacemaker of Coltons Point.





On occasion she would adopt a family spending nights in their yard guarding the place in exchange for food and kindness. Then she would move on. Nancy and Judy were a couple of the adopted friends and were devoted to Holly and her well being.





I first met Holly about seven years ago when she would be lying on the St. Clements Museum grounds looking as if she ruled Coltons Point. Everyone that passed seemed to know her. Then I would see her and another older dog taking walks to the small island at the end of Coltons Point almost every day. Later I found out Holly would open the fence where the old dog stayed and get her and take her for a walk.





One day her old friend died and she began appearing in the yard outside our house. Soon she befriended our puppy Coolin who was to grow into a giant Irish Wolfhound. Holly could barely walk from having injured hips and lying out in the cold rain and snow year round.





After some time I was able to coax her into the house and as I nursed her back to health she became Coolin's teacher and Guardian keeping all other dogs and animals away from him until she taught him the ways of survival. But the playful pup had a few things to teach Holly in return, mostly how to live like royalty as the Irish Wolfhound in ancient days could only be owned by the kings and their court.





Holly learned early how to find food and she was always perfectly groomed because she went swimming in the river every day in the morning. But Coolin convinced her to accept the royal lifestyle he enjoyed with beds indoors, fresh cooked food, pampering and lots of love.





She taught him how to herd skunks without getting sprayed. She single-handedly nearly wiped out the muskrat population of Coltons Point when she was viciously attacked and slashed by one with half of her jaw bone exposed. She never lost a fight with another dog no matter the size or age but she never hurt the dogs she conquered, just knocking them down and holding their heads down with her paws until they came to their senses.





Sometimes she and Coolin would arch their heads to the sky and howl in harmony. Other times they would join forces chasing rabbits and walking the beach. She liked to lie in the yard in front of our house and many a night drove away burglars and stray animals like skunks and foxes. When she heard people arguing she tried to distract and stop them.





Mostly she loved nature, and Coltons Point. She was the only dog I know that was given the right to roam freely because so many people had called the Animal Control and told them she belonged to all the people. For most of the past four years she has been our house guest and constant companion and her many adventures and kind deeds would fill a book.





Holly loved life. For that she was loved. We will be collecting stories on Holly from the people of Coltons Point and we are planning a memorial and other things to guarantee that what she taught us will be passed on from generation to generation.





Always a prankster, she had a trick where she would lie on her back and act dead for hours at a time. People would stop by and ask if she was alive.





Just a couple of days before her passing she made her way with great difficulty across the street and helped a neighbor's grand daughter get over her fear of dogs. It was just like Holly to be helping children as she was fighting for her life.






At her final moments of life after she let me know she was ready to go and she could barely lift her head off the pillow I went to the door to let in her devoted Vet-A-Pet Candace Guyther and we turned and Holly was sitting up on her hind legs, her head looking up to the heavens, proud and poised as she always had been to remind us just how she wanted to be remembered, the Guardian, the Peacemaker.





Then she was gone. Farewell my dear friend.


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