It's official. The very FIRST commercial for the 2011 Holiday Shopping Season just aired on my television?!

Santa Claus (Hardcover)

A tightly closed mouth gathers no foot?

In a recent POST (read below), this blogger half-jokingly used the East Coast Earthquake to illustrate the level absurdity of some of the GOP's political attacks against President Obama. Evidently, Minister Michele Bachmann didn't get the memo.


On Sunday (August 28rd, 2011), just five days after my post, this candidate told a group of voters in Sarasota, Florida that GOD is sending a message:
"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He (GOD) said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending." 
Read More...
While I haven't agreed with every decision made by President Obama, this blogger understands that there is NO secret magic economic pill to quick fix this economy. It will take time. But to blame President Obama for the recent earthquake or hurricane, perhaps John Wayne put it best, "Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid." Speaking of which, WHO was born in Waterloo, Iowa?
Rooster Cogburn (DVD)

Post Apocalypse Reclamation Center

December 2009

Carrizozo, New Mexico

Foot-in-Mouth Update: Minister Bachmann now says her comments that the recent East Coast Earthquake and Hurricane Irene were a message from "God" was a "JOKE". Read More...

Libyan Rebels offer $1,000,000s for Ka-Da-Fee?

The World Press Battles Spell Checker

If you've been following the latest news reports out of Libya, you may have noticed that the media has been using different variations of the former dictator's last name:

   CBS News - Qaddafi
   AP & CNN International - Gadhafi
   BBC & Time Magazine - Gaddafi
   The Guardian (U.K.) - Gadafy
   U.S. News & World Report - Qadhafi
   The Boston Globe - Khadafy
 

Confused? According to NPR (National Public Radio), back in 1986, a Minnesota's school teacher's 2nd grade class wrote a letter to the Libyan leader. He actually wrote back and signed his name Gad-ha-fi. Until recently, that letter was the Rosetta Stone for spelling his name.


However, over the years, the Libyan Embassy in London has issued press releases with the spelling Qadaffi. So, who is right? Well, don't ask the French or the Italians. The AFP (Agence France-Presse) uses Kadhafi and AGI (Agenzia Italia) spells it Gheddafi.

Libya: From Colony to Independence (Paperback)

Swords of Qādisīyah، at Sunset, Baghdad, Iraq (April 2005).
Photo by Peter Rimar.

7 Bizarre Monuments of Saddam’s Iraq
Read More...

Cyberbullying Denialist retweets Mankini pics?

w00t!
In case you missed it, the latest edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary welcomed 400 new words to our digital lexicon.
Read More...
Not to be outdone, the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, America's language authority with a capital 'A', added the definitions for boomerang child, helicopter parent, robocall and bromance.

In other news: Typewritter ribbon salesmen are mourning the linguistic death of the Cassette Tape.
Read More...

googlicious [goo-guhl-lish-uhs] Adjective.  
1. Something which is extremely sexy, useful and thought out. Generally used in place of the words sexy, beautiful, gorgeous or amazing.  
2. Describes a website which ranks high on Google searches; also describes a website whose Google search listing description is attractive to users, leading to a higher click ratio.

Rosetta Stone English Level 1-5

What?! East Coast Earthquake?

Bachmann, Perry and Romney BLAME President Obama?

The GOP's absurd campaign rhetoric has reached the point that if President Obama said he loved Apple Pie, the Republican candidates would find a reason to dogmatically call it left-wing, socialist food.



Photo of President Obama on a Bus in Hong Kong, S.A.R. (July 2009)
Apple Pie: An American Story (Hardcover)

Soylent Green?

Prediction: It's only a matter of time before somebody in Hollywood dusts off this sci-fi classic and produces a remake of this Charlton Heston film.
Read More...

Burger King Marketing Sign, Seoul, R.O.K. (July 2009).

German State UNLIKEs Facebook?

Agencies Banned From Using Facebook, 'Like' Button
PC Magazine
by Chloe Albanesius
August 19, 2011


"German data watchdogs on Friday ordered federal agencies to shut down their Facebook pages and remove 'like' buttons from their Web sites, suggesting that anyone who uses Facebook will have their online activity tracked."
READ MORE...
I think, therefore, I'm Facebook.

The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems: For People Who Don't Speak Math

Gadhafi on the Ropes?

During the first GOP Presidential Debate in New Hampshire (June 13, 2011), Congresswoman Michele Bachmann questioned President Obama's actions over Libya. Last week on the campaign trail, Bachmann hammered President Obama on his so-called delay in taking action against the Syrian Government. 


Can you say political double-speak?

Why Libya? It's not complicated. America's NATO allies (who directly supported the U.S. in Iraq and/or Afghanistan) were afraid of a FLOOD of refugees landing on Europe's doorstep (i.e. hundreds of thousands of BOAT people). In the case of Syria, because of its geographic location, Turkey is the main regional player. The Turkish military is protecting the refugees crossing over its southern border. For folks who forget, the invasion of Iraq in 2003 damaged this country's relationship with this important NATO member. This time around, President Obama is working with the Turkish government in formulating actions against the Syrian regime.

NATO's continued military actions in Libya is/was intended to create & maintain safe havens WITHIN Libyan borders. President Obama supported the political leaders of France, Spain, the UK, and Italy to meet this specific military objective. Welcome to the reality of our geopolitical world! Prior to direct US involvement in Bosnia (i.e. with boots on the ground), it's how the Europeans (under a failed United Nations mandate) responded to the fighting (and genocide) in the Balkans. Unlike 1995, this time around, NATO (not the UN) brought enough firepower to the party which PREVENTED a Srebrenica-type massacre in Benghazi.

Former Defense Secretary Gates' public frustration with NATO was in response to the organization's continued inability to do the heavy lifting to meet a European specific military/political/economic objective without DIRECT U.S. support. 

Anyhow, could somebody PLEASE plug in Bachmann's brain? It's one thing to create some mythical fairy tale about the original intent of this country's founding fathers, it's quite another to create revisionist history from recent current events.

If you're an American against this country's continued membership in NATO, here are two regional issues which continue to have global implications: North Korea and the South China Sea. Confused? The United Nations is a paper tiger. Basically, folks need to remember that NATO's geopolitical influence reaches far beyond Europe's own borders.
Read More...

In other news: Karl Rove predicts Sarah Palin will join the race for the White House. Considering Mr. Rove is a GOP puppet master, it appears that Bachmann's days as the darling of the social conservative wing of the Republican Party may be over.
Read More...

Libya Update  (September 15, 2011): British Prime Minster David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy visit Tripoli & Benghazi. 
Read More...

Palin Update (September 24, 2011): Despite Karl Rove's earlier prediction about a potential Palin candidacy, it appears the latest bus tour around Iowa was about selling more books and DVDs.
Read Me...

Arab Spring Update (October 20, 2011):
Moammar Gadhafi killed in Sirte.
Read More...

Suffering from a bad case of "the illusion of productivity"?

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." ~ Mark Twain
How to Tell a Story And Other Essays (Paperback)

Wiki-Publishing
Today, I Googled my name to see where my photographs were being used on the internet. I discovered that my image of White Sands, New Mexico is being sold as a Postcard on Zazzle.com:

I'm not mad or angry. I'm not going to run out and hire a lawyer. The main reason this blogger allows the FREE USE of my images is because I enjoy sharing my art. That's it. Maybe one of these days I'll get lucky and some publisher will offer this blogger a book deal.

Photo of White Sands. New Mexico by Peter Rimar.

I am NOT smarter than a 5th grader.

7 things NEVER to say to your boss:


That's not my job. 
It's not my problem. 
It's not my fault.
I can only do one thing at a time.
I am way overqualified for this job.
This job is easy.
Anyone could do it.
It can't be done.

London's Calling?

Is it just me or does the world seem a bit CRAZY these days? After watching the scenes from the recent riots across the United Kingdom, I wonder what would have happened if the thousands of frustrated English youth had channeled their anger into something positive.
In Chile, a country which now protects Freedom of Expression, Chilean college students took to the streets to pressure the government to spend more money on education. However, instead of burning cars and buildings, the student protest on June 24th took a more peaceful, creative and just plain FUN approach to voicing their demands:


Lonely Planet Chile & Easter Island (Country Travel Guide)

IF I gave a "Restore America's Honor" speech, I would have given it in Detroit or Cleveland.

"Dont forget your history nor your destiny." ~ Bob Marley
Catch a Fire:
The Life of Bob Marley
(Paperback)

The Koch Brothers spotted on a street in Beijing?

Lord Voldemort closes The Daily Prophet & Glenn Beck leaves Faux News?

Fifty years from now, historians may reflect back on this period of American media history and compare Rupert Murdoch to William Randolph Hearst and Glenn Beck with Father Charles Coughlin.

Beyond the whole Media Matters campaign targeting Beck's advertisers (READ MORE), I believe there's another reason for the show's dramatic drop in viewership.

Recently, I sat down and watched a Beck rerun on Faux News. Instead of focusing on the show's conservative political flavor, I stepped backed & evaluated how the various manufactured visual elements were formulated to tell a story. Honestly, the show itself resembled a poorly constructed, G-rated version of "Swimming to Cambodia" (i.e. without all the juicy sex, drugs & rock-n-roll). Monologues, as a dramatic element, should contain some deeper level of "self-discovery". What I witnessed was an extended verbal diatribe of rhetorical self-aggrandizing behavior. In a word: BORING. Yes, despite his rather radical political views, at the end of the day, P.T. Beck lost his SOAP BOX because the show itself was (dramatic pause) BORING.

Swimming To Cambodia DVD

“When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” 
~ Sinclair Lewis
(Nobel Prize in Literature 1930)
It Can't Happen Here (Paperback)

Bachmann WINS Iowa Straw Poll

Do I BELIEVE that "she believes" she'll actually be elected President? No. Based on this answer, what's her agenda?


IF Congresswoman Bachmann wants to be elected to this country's highest office, she deserves the same level of professional & public scrutiny as President Obama (and ALL the Presidents before him).

The following stories take a hard look at this candidate's personal and political background:


The New Yorker
Leap of Faith ~ 
The making of a Republican front-runner.
by Ryan Lizza
READ MORE...

Rolling Stone
Michele Bachmann's Holy War
By Matt Taibbi
READ MORE...

The Los Angeles Times
Bachmann's had her share of government aid
By Melanie Mason and Matea Gold (Washington Bureau)
READ MORE...

Army Times
Bachmann plan would cut veterans benefits
By Rick Maze
READ MORE...

There must be a reason why 67% of "polled" Republicans DO NOT like the current field of TEN candidates. It's a bit curious that Texas Governor Rick Perry waited until AFTER the debt ceiling crisis to announce his run for the White House. Can you say Karl Rove?

Oddball Iowa: A Guide to Some Really Strange Places (Paperback)

Facebook Profile "Going Out Of Business" Sale!

Witty status updates & political remarks FREE. Everything must go!
Actually, I CLOSED my Facebook account on August 3rd, 2011. 
Why? Well,  I DO NOT believe its founder gives a "rats behind" about protecting user privacy or intellectual property rights. The sole purpose of Facebook is to make m-o-n-e-y. No problem. However, when Mark Zuckerberg locked out American investors, but then accepted BILLIONS from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), this blogger made the decision to BOYCOTT Facebook.
READ MORE...

Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks, Fargo, North Dakota (July 9th, 2010).

While a majority of Facebook users have been focused on the latest batch of profile design changes, recently, the social networking giant jumped into the political ring & was caught tracking its users AFTER they logged out :

~ Facebook forms its own Political Action Committee (PAC)
   Read More...
~ Facebook's FAKE Log Out Button?
   Read More...
   Read More...
Facebook MAP of the World

Can you spell "hypocrisy"?

The NCAA makes BILLIONS upon BILLIONS of dollars off student athletes. What's the "CRIME" if a couple students trade a few football jerseys for some silly body art? IF an NCAA student gets hurt ON the playing field, a university is under no financial or MORAL obligation to continue awarding that student an athletic scholarship.


NCAA Florida Gators Infant Bib

China News Watch

Believe it or not, it's possible for a person to LOVE China and question the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Once again, in case someone missed the point, it's possible for an individual to believe in ONE CHINA, but completely rejects the political idea of continued ONE PARTY rule. Without a system of checks & balances between a government and its own people, corruption itself breeds nothing but more corruption. Also, Human Rights are NOT just a Western Value. The belief in basic Human Rights is a universal value.

How MATURE is a country when it's afraid of the PEACEFUL civil disobedience of one man?

Human Rights in China (China in the 21st Century)

CNN's Anderson Cooper BACK in Mogadishu?

After more than 20 years of conflict, at what point will the madness in Somalia END? According to the latest statistics from the Financial Tracking Service, which records humanitarian aid around the world, the People's Republic of China, which has the largest foreign cash reserve in the world, has only PLEDGED $14 million to famine relief.


And to think the CCP actually wants China to be a major player on the world stage?

What would happen if the United States gave up it permanent seat on the United Nation's Security Council for a few years? How would the People's Republic of China & Russia respond, without the United States at the table, to a crisis like Somalia?

Young Woman

Mogadishu, Somalia

January 1994

Still video image of American Tanks in Mogadishu, Somalia (January 1994).
Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War [Paperback]

Economics 101?

Mirror in a tattoo shop, San Antonio, Texas (October 2009)

IF you buy a home, a new car & max out your credit card on clothes & food, at some point, you have to pay your bills. How you pay those bills directly impacts your credit rating. It's not complicated.

Debt is debt. As a person, you have several choices. You can attempt get a second job to meet your financial obligations (i.e. raise revenue), cut back on spending (i.e. reduce the size of the government), do a mix of the two methods or just give up & file for bankruptcy (DEFAULT). Your individual credit rating depends on HOW you, as an individual, respond to paying off your bills. Ignoring phone calls from the bank & the credit card companies WILL NOT solve the long term DEBT problem.

When a Presidential candidate (i.e. Michele Bachmann) gets on Face the Nation & tells the reporter that the Treasury Department can just move around money to avoid a crisis, well, that way of thinking is just plain wrong (as well as stupid).



It's NOT 1773, 1776 or 1789. 

It's 2011 and ALL of us live in a Global economy. The sooner folks recognize that reality, the sooner this country will start doing what it needs to do to COMPETE in a GLOBAL MARKETPLACE. And oh by the way, the whole Boston Tea Party thing was NOT about paying taxes. It was about "TAXATION Without Representation". Walking away from the table (on EVERY ISSUE) IS NOT Representation.

All financial markets (Bond, Stock, Currency & Commodity) are built on the foundation of "confidence". Don't fool yourself. The GOP's goal is the WHITE HOUSE & NOT fixing the budget mess or the overall economy. Guys like Karl Rove & the Koch Brothers know egg-xactly what they're doing.

Once a factory closes, it's closed. Those jobs may or may not ever return. What folks don't understand is that once a manufacturing job leaves our shores, it's only a matter of time before a corporation starts to trim its white collar staff (i.e. folks who were originally hired to support a larger blue collar workforce). This delayed process of corporate contraction causes a negative, slow moving, ripple effect on the entire economy. Simply put, like it or not, in the short term, there is NO quick fix (or voodoo magic) for turning around this economy.

Anyhow, driving the global economy off a cliff to pander to the narrow whims of the Liberatarian Wing of the Republican Party is just plain NUTS! Unless of course, that's the REAL economic and political END GAME. IF that's the case, then maybe it's indeed a good time for all of us to start praying.

The Wealth of Nations (Paperback)

To Facebook or NOT to Facebook?

It's ALL about choice. Up to this point, Facebook hasn't had any REAL social nutworking competition. There's a reason why the auto industry produces different vehicles. Consumers should DRIVE the internet marketplace.

Indeed, after the Goldman Sachs backroom investment deal with Mark Zuckerberg, a deal which left average Americans standing on the sidelines, I've been waiting for a dot-com to challenge the Jolly Green Billionaire. READ MORE...

China forbids Google+ Social Network?
In life, I've learned that most things usually happen for a reason.
READ MORE...

Why, IF Facebook is BLOCKED in the People's Republic of China, does the Chinese Communist Party want to buy Facebook?
READ MORE...
READ MORE...

Broken Dragons: Crime and Corruption in Today's China (Paperback)