Tens of Thousands of Syrian Refugees caught in Bureaucratic Red Tape as Children Die

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Warning: this article contains images

that readers may find distressing

Meet three-year-old Aylan Kurd and his five-year-old brother Galip.  This was before they were caught in a cross fire of the war between the Islamic extremists and Kurds in Syria.  Survival depended on their families reaching the shores of Europe before getting killed in the bombing.

Here is Aylan Kurd yesterday, on the beach in Greece, where he, his brother, and mother all died when they were in sight of freedom.

   

We are in the midst of a refugee crisis exasperated by politics that is killing thousands of people while bureaucrats hide behind EU laws wholly unsuited for the world of today.  I say "we" because our United States policy toward Iraq and Syria and our military action is the cause for the 11 million people fleeing those countries and landing in no man's land.

Look at the numbers of Syrians alone fleeing the war zone for a better life for their families.  These are the latest estimates of the human carnage.

300,000 Dead

1,200,000 injured

11,000,000 Displaced

America has been surprisingly quiet about the tragedy unfolding in the EU while Pope Francis and other world leaders have sounded the alarm.  All the more surprising since we built the coalition to go to war against Syria and ISIS.

However, the time for talking is over.  We must pressure the EU to suspend or modify their rules requiring the registration of refugees at the borders and allow the immediate and free movement of the thousands of families caught in the bureaucratic snafu, to get to the countries where they are welcome.

The people of Europe are among the most generous in the world.  They are prepared to house and feed the starving refugees.  Germany, France, and other countries stand ready to save a generation of Middle Eastern children if the bureaucrats would just allow them to pass through border countries to the destinations waiting to help.

We cannot stand by and watch.  Demand action.  Save lives.  Protect our children!

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Memo to Congress - Fix Foreign Policy - Putin & Ukraine

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Being an American it is sometimes difficult to see the world through anything other than rose colored glasses.  Think about it.

Our principle source of information on foreign policy is a media that long ago stopped reporting the news and decided to make the news.  Their principle source for information are bureaucrats and politicians working for agencies like the State Department, the intelligence agencies, and groups like NATO and the United Nations.

Then there are the international banks, international corporations, international financing mechanisms like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank not to mention the vast array of foundations, think tanks, pharmaceutical companies supplying drugs to third world countries, defense contractors (including the most powerful of all the arms dealers) among the many special interests with a special interest in foreign affairs and all the money, power and perks found around such money pits.

The world has been controlled by these foreign affairs special interests since the beginning of the 20th century and the dawning of world wars.  The sad part of the truth is that they have all joined forces to find ways to use government and private resources to manipulate events around the world for the purpose of altering the foreign policy balance.

The sadder part of the truth is that in the course of their manipulation they are totally devoid of humanitarian principles and international law but serve a higher purpose, feeding greed and accumulating wealth.  Of course the media consistently paints a picture of serving the higher good by these groups but what they really meant was serving a higher god and their god is greed manifested in power and wealth.

We have pretty much been lied to about sinister purposes behind the foreign affairs of the past century and most certainly been lied to about the worst abusers of misdirected foreign policy.  Maybe we will wake up, or maybe we will keep having "isolated" conflicts that leave hundreds of thousands of people dead, millions and millions of people condemned to refugee camps, and more and more of the world's natural resources in the hands of people loyal to no government but their god Greed.

Look around you.  Listen to what the media is telling you.  The cover story of the day is "Putin is a bad guy - he wants to recreate Russia."  You hear it from the mouths of the Obama administration, it is parroted by the news media, echoed by our allies around the world (although with far less enthusiasm than in America), and applauded by Wall Street and the international banking community.

They also tell you Putin has no respect for international laws, international treaties nor international banking since he is destabilizing the world financial markets.

If I were the America public I would search a lot deeper into the motives behind those condemning Putin.  So far the Russian forces have done nothing more than to protect Russian assets in Crimea, namely a huge naval base on the Black Sea.

As a result he has earned the wrath of Obama and been bombarded by cream puffs called sanctions, economic sanctions at that, and oh yeah, Russia was tossed from the G8.  Now we seem to have a long history of using tough economic sanctions to punish errant nations and force compliance with our will.

Libya has been under US sanctions since 2011.  Sudan has been sanctioned since 2002.  Burma since 1997.  Syria since 1986..  Iran since 1979.  Cuba since 1962.  North Korea since 1950.  We also had economic sanctions against the former Soviet Union from 1948 until the collapse in 1991.

But only once in the past 66 years have US economic sanctions really worked and that was when we sanctioned our own closest allies, Great Britain, France and Israel during the Suez Canal crisis of 1956.  The three were going to invade Egypt in response to the Egyptian nationalization of the Suez Canal and the Americans stopped them dead in their tracks when President Eisenhower started dumping British pounds on the world monetary market and cut off all American oil and gas to the three allies.

It might have been the only time in world history that an invasion was stopped by economic sanctions and probably the last time in history that sanctions actually served people rather than the financial interests impacted by the area.  No lives were lost in a costly invasion that would probably have resulted in major damage to the canal and massive disruption of the world economy since it was the gateway for oil to the western world.

So the bottom line is, economic sanctions don't work.

Just ask the Cubans who have lived with them for over 50 years.  In truth, economic sanctions only hurt the people in those countries who are already victims before we got involved.

Then there is the issue of violating international law, etc., etc.  So far no one has proven Russia or Putin violated international law.  On the other hand, the history books are filled with American violations of about every international law and treaty that exists dating all the way back to our treaties with the Native Americans.

People need to understand we have made it a practice to ignore the law, local, state, federal or international whenever it was useful for the economic interests of, well, certainly not our nation but more appropriately the financial manipulators who use our treasury as their money and our military as their private army.

Wake up...The latest NSA mess has proven our government totally ignores laws protecting things like privacy or unreasonable search and seizure and has run ramshackle over our Constitution and Bill of Rights.  It also violated every international law and treaty we have with our allies and everyone else.

Is drug traffic illegal?  Not if our intelligence agencies are involved like in Asia and South America.

How about the ultimate abuse, political assassination?  We've been there and done that.

Illegal invasions like we say Putin is poised to undertake in the Ukraine?  Ask the Iraq or Afghanistan governments how they feel about that.

Indirectly we are behind many more abuses of international laws and treaties like triggering the Arab spring revolutions and so many more I could write a book.

Yet our president and media stand up and declare Putin and Russia to be acting illegally and like a bully?  We, our government, needs to look in a mirror before it starts condemning anyone for illegal activity.

And while we are at it, I have cited a litany of ways we have directly violated international laws and treaties but there are far more indirect methods that have been used so other people take the blame.

Foreign policy today has little to do with assuring the quality of life for people, or their health, education or welfare.  Those who think we are spreading democracy throughout the world so we can thus protect the lives, freedom and opportunities for the suppressed masses have got it all wrong.

In the vast majority of the cases our foreign policy supports a financial concern of someone other than the American people and that is a bigger crime than the crimes we already commit violating international laws and treaties.

We need an independent re-evaluation of our entire foreign policy strategy.  We need to know if NATO and all other international groups serve the agenda to help people or just help special interests.

Putin was upset because the Ukraine wanted to join NATO and the European Union and we were behind the scenes making sure it happened.  What does a country like the Ukraine have to do with a North Atlantic defense group?  Maybe NATO has outlived it's usefulness and is now creating conflict to justify it's existence?

Maybe it's time to stop being hypocrites and start being leaders in finding peace, not causing war and unrest.

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Our Boss is Still Tougher Than Your Boss - Obama versus Putin

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What greater weapons of mass deception are there in the world than the leaders of the United States of America and Russia, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin..  Imagine what it would be like if these two controversial and complicated political foes and leaders were to square off in the first ever people's choice contest for the toughest leader in the world.

 

Looks like Putin may have the best transportation for the Iron Man competition. 

No offense Mr. Obama but Putin may take this event as well.

We thought you might agree.

Wow - he can be quite charming to the right crowd. 

Maybe Obama is at least the more expressive.

They don't seem to be in to the competition.

Which one is the hyena?

Both are masters of mind control.

Perhaps they should keep their day jobs.

Forget Snowden, listen to this masterpiece.

So much for silly competition.

What else is there to do here in Russia?

Boy I miss the days when George and I got crazy.

Told you the kid never had a chance.

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Obama's ‘il dolce far niente’ - the sweetness of doing nothing

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Leave it to the Italians to define the Obama presidency.  Of course in Italy "doing nothing" means taking the time to enjoy life unlike the Americans who are supposed to be so motivated in life they are not capable of doing nothing, and that includes being happy, less stressful and having time for your family.

 

With over half our population on prescription drugs for stress, I think the Italians just might have something.  When I worked for the governor in New Jersey I had an Italian secretary, a true Joisey girl, who introduced me to the wonderful world of ‘il dolce far niente’ through her immediate and extended family in the Ironbound section of Newark, New Jersey.

 

 

The Ironbound is one of the most incredible pockets of Old World cultural preservation anywhere in America.  I know there are Italian and Portuguese sections but I never got beyond the Italian.  We had a governor's office in Newark, the main office being in Trenton, and for a time I was assigned to the Jersey Department of Energy located in Newark.

 

Over a period of six years I got to witness the art of sweet nothingness where you could drop into a dinner of 15 underway without notice and have plenty to eat.  At the table the language was more often than not Old World Italian yet you always knew you were welcome and appreciated.

 

 

As for topics discussed around the table, anything under the sun as long as you contained your passion out of respect for those who might disagree.  I was a very motivated and well-informed chief of staff so I was always prepared to talk about the state, the federal government or international affairs.

 

 

It seems the Italians had such few expectations for our governments they did not spend much time on the subject.  It was also a potential source for stress.

 

 

One time one of the many uncles around the table asked me what I did for the Energy Department and I said that week we were working on the clean up of Three Mile Island, the worst nuclear accident in American history.  He rolled his eyes and made some comment which I assumed meant "and that is another reason we don't talk about the government."

 

 

Makes sense.  Family dinners are no place to discuss nuclear catastrophes and TMI is a lot more likely to stress out someone than comparing pastas.  Everyone should have occasion to join an extended Italian family for a three hour dinner before they start taking those prescription mind benders.

 

 

In time I went to the marriage of my former secretary in the largest Basilica in America and to the wedding party where lobster was an hors d'oeuvre sitting on carts around the grounds of the party palace.  There is nothing like an ethnic Italian wedding.

 

 

As for Obama, well he has the "sweetness of doing nothing" down pat but it costs the taxpayer over a billion dollars a year for our president to do nothing.

 

In the process he continues to set back international relations week by week as all the "Arab Spring" incidents have backfired on America.  We can't even leave Iraq and Afghanistan behind after a decade of wars without alienating someone and leaving civil unrest in our place.

 

 

 

Forget about the two nations in the best position to help us with Syria, Iran or North Korea, our mortal enemies if you are to believe White House spin.  Russia and China are so put off by Obama that no problems between our nations have been resolved and they have blocked us from using the United Nations to punish the rogue trio.

 

Then there is the forever lingering "financial crisis."  Our greed seems to have spilled over to the rest of the world and we nearly brought down the global financial system in a series of amazing rip offs of government.

 

 

Anyone who believed the American financial system, the most powerful by a long ways in the world, ever intended to serve the public interest as opposed to their own selfish interest is obviously under-medicated.

 

As near as I can tell it costs us about $27 million a week for the president and his White House operation.  That is a lot to pay someone to do nothing.  Throw in the cost of congress and military protecting us around the world and we are suddenly paying about $19 billion a week.

 

 

The World Health Organization estimates we spent $8608 per capita on health care in 2011.  In other words, about $2.7 trillion, or put in other terms, another $50-60 billion a week.

 

I don't care how you cut it, we seem to be paying way, way too much for people to enjoy ‘il dolce far niente’ on a 24/7 basis.  People like that need a wake up call, like being dropped kicked through the end zone goalposts.

 

 

So health care prices including medication, treatment, hospitals and health insurance continue to increase and we have a long ways to go to even begin to implement the law.  Nowhere in the law do we address in a meaningful way the cost of health care although the law talks a lot about Medicare fraud.

 

Unfortunately, the biggest fraud in Medicare is not even addressed.  When it comes to diseases and drugs profit is the first consideration and there is no profit in getting you well.  Instead we get a battery of meaningless tests to prove what we do not have, all the while being given multiple prescriptions of dangerous drugs to keep us happy during the many tests.

 

There is nothing good about a system where healing comes way down the priority list.  Nor is there when a system can spend tens of thousands of dollars or more when cat scans or other exotic tests are given.

 

 

Our medical community lives in a constant conflict of interest and makes money off everything they do to keep you sick, keep you medicated and keep you believing that doctors and medical people are the most trustworthy people in America.

 

 

So maybe our president and congress can enjoy ‘il dolce far niente’ because they have conditioned us to accept nothing as good for the country.  Just think of how many things would be wrong if they actually passed more laws and did something.

 

 

 

One the other hand, we would all be a lot happier and better off spiritually and morally at least if we did follow the advice of our Italian friends,‘il dolce far niente’, enjoy the sweetness of doing nothing.  

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