Showing posts with label peace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label peace. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Happy Holidays to all my friends around the world!




OUR HOLIDAY GREETING FOR YOU

For all of the world we offer hope for world peace and wish you happy holidays for (Christian) Christmas, (African) Kwanzaa, (Hispanic) Las Posadad-Noche Buena-Navidad, (Jewish) Hanukkah-Rosh Hashanah, (Persian) Yalda, (Islamic) Eid al-Adha-Muharram, (Buddhist) Rohatsu, (Hindu) Sankranti, (Celtic) Winter Solstice and (Chinese) New Year.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Feliz Navidad y Felices Fiestas

Joyeux Noël et joyeuses fêtes

Buon Natale e Buone Feste

Frohe Weihnachten und frohe Feiertage

Vrolijke Kerstmis en Gelukkige Vakantie

Καλα Χριστουγεννα και καλες διακοπες

Feliz Natal e Boas Festas

И Рождеством Христовым праздники

メリークリスマス休暇で幸せ

聖誕快樂,節日快樂

This is Rockefeller Center in NYC which could be seen from my office above it on 5th Avenue.


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From the Coltons Point Times -- have a great, safe and loving holidays....

Classic Christmas videos - American style


    
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Thursday, November 19, 2015

President Obama - Please just shut up and work with Russia, China and Republicans

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The Petulant Pres still will not stop being the Chicago thug!


I remember back in 2008 when Barack Obama was running for president and people wondered if he had the experience to be commander in chief.


Our economy was crashing, we were up to our necks in wars on the other side of the world, people were fearful of losing their jobs, 40 some million Americans had no health insurance, and 11 million illegal immigrants were somewhere in this great country.


Obama, the new kid on the block, had an answer for everything it seemed.  During that campaign, he made promises to the American people, a lot of promises.


There were big ones like fixing the economy, and little ones like shutting down Guantanamo prison in Cuba.  More big ones like promising to end all wars and bring all our troops home, in his first term no less.


His was a campaign of Hope, Peace, and an end to partisan politics.


When he won the Democratic nomination, he stood between giant Roman columns in Colorado like a conquering Roman emperor.  During the campaign, he even promised thousands of people in Germany, of all places, that peace was on the horizon.


The media loved him with his progressive agenda to give labor unions more power, while Wall Street loved him because he promised Goldman Sachs protection from prosecution.


He railed against too much money in politics while shattering the spending record for campaigns by spending more than a billion dollars to win a job that paid $400,000 a year, or $223.84 per hour.


Media hailed him as the conquering hero when he won the presidency in 2008 with 52.9% of the vote, a margin that slipped to just 51.1% of the vote in his 2012 "landslide" re-election.  Since when did a landslide come from winning less than 43% of the vote.


In truth, Obama became the first winner in our history to get about 25% of the eligible vote, a sad commentary on voting in America.  In case math is difficult for you, than means 75% of the eligible voters did not vote for Obama, or three out of every four did not vote for him.


Here are a few other truths.

We still have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and now we are fighting in Syria.


The prison in Guantanamo remains open seven years later.

We helped overthrow bad guys during the Arab Spring of 2010 that left Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen with no leader, while also destabilizing governments in Bahrain and Syria.


We pulled most troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan but both required us to keep some in place or send them back, while we also initiated one of the largest and most expensive bombing campaigns in history in Iraq, the country we liberated just a few years earlier.

Immigration Reform, which he promised the first year, has gone nowhere.


He did get his national health care which he signed into law March 23, 2010, and five years later everyone with insurance is paying more while the number of uninsured Americans today, five years later, is still about 36 million, down from 49.9 million in 2010 but much of it was due to Medicare not new insurance.


The economy is sputtering along as the unemployed stopped looking for work and working people had no increase in salary, since he took office.


There was no action on campaign reform so he spent two billion dollars for re-election, which means he still makes about $223.84 per hour, though he delivered on about none of his many promises.


On the positive side, he wants the minimum wage increased from $7.25 per hour to $9.00 per hour, which is only $214.84 less than he makes.


Of course, George Bush left office seven years ago but Obama still blames many of his problems on Bush.


Then, there is the issue of the dastardly Republicans.  Conveniently, Obama blames them for everything he could not do.  So much for bringing to an end partisan politics, finger pointing, and character assassination.


Over the years, he has broadened his assaults as he blames Russia, Putin, or China for every single problem of the Administration it seems, if he does not blame it on the Republicans.


Unfortunately, his intransient nature regarding his policies, have alienated Russia, China, and Israel at a time when we need them the most.
   

With little over one year left to serve, Obama is alienating the rest of the world and the American public.  it comes from his refusal to work with Russia and China - especially when it comes to terrorism, his indifference to Israel, his Red Lines in the sand and veto threats rather than trying to work with people, and his trashing of anyone who questions anything he has done.


It is a good thing Russia and China understand he is a lame duck, a seriously wounded lame duck, so they have no expectations of anything from him.


Once upon a time American presidents used to build worldwide coalitions to advance causes.  Now he will have to eat a mighty amount of humble pie is he is to receive any help from Russia and China.


Obama and his mouthpieces should just shut up, the world is not interested in his problems, or in hearing why the United States is so weak.  For those who supported Obama, it was a good try but he really had no experience and really never grew into the role of commander in chief.


It is far too late to defend him, the record I reviewed of his broken promises is clear.  Just use your efforts to get him to work with Russia and China because right now they are the leaders of the world and have demonstrated the most maturity when it comes to working with other nations.

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Thursday, August 20, 2015

President Carter News Conference - Transparent and Honest - Vanishing Values in Politics

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While many people disagreed with President Carter on his policies, even those opposed to him have to admit he has been the greatest ex-president when it came to his continuing efforts to save the world and the people in the world.


Jimmy Carter had no interest in padding his pockets with $23 million in speaking fees and he used his time working for peace, better health, honest elections, and better housing for all people, not just his supporters.


People around the world have benefited and will continue to benefit from the Carter Foundation and the good it has brought to mankind.  His revelations at the news conference about his battle with cancer, was historic in terms of transparency, something all subsequent presidents have largely ignored, and full of hope.


The only time he did not smile was when he addressed his unfinished agenda and mused that our relations with Israel and the Palestinians was the worst he ever witnessed.  As a result, his goal of peace in the Middle East remains far from settled.


One of the highlights in humor came when he said he received a well-wisher call from Secretary of State John Kerry, someone he had not talked to in a long time.


We all wish him well in his struggle and I hope those with political aspirations will heed his warning that we have failed in foreign policy in crucial areas.

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Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Russia and China Save Obama Presidential Legacy with Iran Nuclear Votes

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Thank you President  Xi Jinping of China and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia

How bizarre is the news?  After years of negotiating with Iran over nuclear weapons by the Obama administration, at the eleventh-hour the breakthrough came and the world first heard about approval of a treaty between Iran and the United States, and the UK, and Germany, and France, and the European Union, and who did you say?


In the end, it was the vote of Russia and China, equal partners in the negotiations, who gave life to the treaty and hope to the people of Iran, who have lived under the yoke of sanctions for years.  President Xi Jinping of China and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia saved the day for Obama.
 

Funny, you do not hear much about how Russia and China made the Obama treaty possible.  I did not hear Obama and Kerry thanking the two semi-bad boys for making possible perhaps the greatest peace development in the Middle East.


Last year I wrote an article calling for an end to sanctions against Iran, Cuba, and Russia, on the grounds the sanctions did not work.  So far, actions by the Obama administration are ending them in Cuba and Iran.


The wisdom and effectiveness of the lifting of sanctions will take years to determine but the initial hope it has given to the Iranian people is gratifying.  The people of Iran believe they have been set free and that is a good side benefit.



Which brings up another question, why is it the Iranian people were the only people in the world celebrating this new treaty?  They refer to it as "freedom."  Perhaps the significance of the treaty goes way beyond nuclear bombs, and it will open the gate toward improved relations with the people of Iran.



I say give the treaty a try, things cannot get worse with Iran.  At the same time, Obama needs to start mending fences with other friends and allies like Israel, Russia, and China.  Stop blaming them for everything bad and try working toward something good.

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Friday, May 22, 2015

It is Memorial Day weekend - time to forget, forgive, and then love and live

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I do not know about you but I really need a break from reality, at least for a weekend.  What better way to change your outlook than by focusing on the sacrifices by so many members of our armed forces, dating back to George Washington and his ragtag Continental Army.


We all know people who have served, or we are beneficiaries of the service by others who gave us freedom, hope, equality and justice.  I suppose if one were realistic, they would say we honor those who sacrificed for others, yet wonder about those who ignore the sacrifices and do things that are not in the public interest.


When I was young I lived to have the opportunity to defend freedom.  My career in both sports and education were preparation for joining the military.  Even as I was playing basketball at the University of Arizona I was immersed in an intensive Reserve Officer Training Program to prepare me for the inevitable service during the Vietnam war.


However, Divine Providence has other ideas for us on occasion so at the moment I volunteered for the draft armed only with exceptional ratings in ROTC, they discovered my body had been permanently damaged from 15 years of intensive sports achievement.


Rather than military service, I was confined to public service and spent much of the next three decades working in government and politics at all levels from local, to state, to national offices.  It was a far cry from my dream but at least a way to make sure we could enjoy the opportunities given to us by our patriotic and dedicated military.


So this weekend, as I do every year, I will honor our fallen heroes.  I will honor those who have not fallen but gave up their lives for us through injury and stress and will never be able to lead a normal life.  I will honor the families of those heroes whose lives were changed forever by wars halfway around the world.


Here is a song I wrote to honor those heroes.  It is performed by my band, Nashville Bound. I hope you take the time to listen to it.  The name of the song is "No One's Left Keeping Score."  Click on the link below to hear it. 





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