When your house is on FIRE, it's absurd to argue with your wife about how to rearrange the furniture?

IF the American consumer doesn't value the country of origin of a product or service, why should international corporations?
Until Americans start voting with their wallets, it'll be almost impossible to create new jobs in a tight global marketplace.

"We need conservative ideas to modernize the U.S. economy and reform American government. But what we have instead are policies that don't reform but just cut and starve government — a strategy that pays little attention to history or best practices from around the world and is based instead on a theory. It turns out that conservatives are the woolly-headed professors after all." ~ Fareed Zakaria 
Read More...

Definition of Political Hypocrisy [hi-pok-ruh-see]?

Tea Party Bus

Fargo, North Dakota

(August 20th, 2010)

A "Made in Canada" bus rolling down the highway on "Spanish Tires" so American Voters could sign it with "Made In China" markers, then departing Fargo to drink even more IMPORTED OIL definitely sent a powerful political message. A Hollywood script writer couldn't even make this stuff up.

Zippo "Made In USA" Pocket Lighter

Blogger's view from a sleeper car window on a Chinese Train

between Beijing and Shenzhen (June 2008).

Election 2012?

A political exercise in the Dog-Ma-Nomics of 'Stone Soup'?

Compare: As of March, 2010, seven years after the invasion, the United States had spent $44.6 billion rebuilding Iraq.
READ MORE...




Contrast: Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the Stimulus Bill, $40 billion was allocated to provide extended unemployment benefits through Dec. 31, 2009 (with an increase of $25 a week). While it did not directly create new jobs, this money prevented millions of Americans from becoming HOMELESS in a contracting employment market. NO Republicans in the House of Representative and only three Republican Senators voted in flavor of providing economic relief to struggling families.

“Generosity is giving more than you can and pride is taking less than you need.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

Stone Soup (Paperback)

Help Wanted:

GOP Candidate for 2012 Election

Requirements:
Must be able to stay awake during a grinding debate schedule, speak without a Texas accent, raise lots of corporate campaign cash, enjoy long bus rides, drink tea and somehow connect with mainstream, independent voters without sounding crazy or stupid.

Application Deadline:
October 1st, 2011 (or as soon as possible)

Flavors of the Month Update: 
"Now is not my time." ~ Governor Chris Christie (October 4, 2011)
And Sarah Palin? NOT. (October 5, 2011)

The New Big Book of U.S. Presidents: Fascinating Facts about Each and Every President,
Including an American History Timeline (Hardcover)

The Music of Nature?

"And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones and good in everything." 
~ William Shakespeare



Photo & Video by Peter Rimar
Keeping a Nature Journal:
Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You (Paperback)

Furthermore...
"We thought cars would fly before women dunked."
~ Candice Wiggins
Minnesota Lynx
ESPN Magazine

The Pleasant Resort Community

In February 2008, my wife and I moved to China (PRC). Prior to getting on the airplane, I signed up for a month long TEFL course in Beijing. The goal was to learn something about the country and then find a job teaching English.

While I was attending the first week of class, my wife visited the local Public Security Bureau (PSB) to register our passports. Upon arrival, all foreigners living and working in China are required, by law, to register within 24 hours. Two days after reporting to the PSB, we became the target of government monitoring...

As I walked into the building where my TEFL course was being held, a man was standing in the center of the lobby. More than 100 people were standing in one of the four elevator lines. Everybody except this one lone man.

When I entered the elevator, after making direct eye contact, he brought his cell phone to his ear, smiled, then turned and exited the building. This whole sequence of events happened in a matter of seconds. From the look on his face and body language, it was evident he had been waiting for me to arrive for class.

After this brief encounter, for the next two months, this private American citizen was closely followed each and every day around the city.

Eventually, I developed this observational theory regarding Normal and Abnormal behavior. For anybody that's taken any sort of mass transportation in a developing Asian country, as a westerner, it's impossible not to notice the mad rush of people trying to get to the head of the line. 

Indeed, I cannot count the amount of times my wife and I were completely cut off and crushed by a large wave of humanity. My family knows that I HATE standing in line and places with extremely large crowds. I would rather let two or three subway trains pass, then allow myself to be packed inside a compartment like a human sardine. So, when a local didn't board the 2nd or 3rd train that passed thru a subway station, that individual was displaying abnormal social behavior. It rather easy to spot the people tasked with following this blogger.

One morning, as I stepped into a subway car, I noticed this oddly dressed young couple. He was wearing a poorly tailored black suite and the girl had on a K-Mart special looking evening dress. This pair looked completely out of place for the time of day.

In Beijing, each subway train runs roughly 30 compartments. Since each train has 3 doors, there are exactly 90 different possibilities to enter the train. During regular hours, the trains run approximately 1 min. and 50 sec. to 2 min. apart.




The next day, I boarded the train 30 minutes later than the previous morning. That means at least 13 different trains (with 390 compartments) had passed before I had walked into the station. When I entered the subway train, this same couple, wearing the exact same clothes, quickly moved from a forward compartment and stood next to me...
Coincidence?
This blogger remembers thinking to myself "this CCP couple really needs to buy some new clothes".

60 Minutes - Stealing America's Secrets (DVD)

$1,000,000 Peccadilloes Bounty?

Larry Flynt (aka Mr. Hustler) has offered a seven figure payday for anyone with sexually unsavory information involving the current GOP front runner for El Presidente. The following is a digital copy of a full-page paid advertisement which appeared in the Austin Chronicle (August 19th, 2011):

If the Koch Brothers can quietly spend over $100,000,000 marketing a repackaged brand of Libertarian soap, this blogger has no problem with Mr. Flynt offering $1,000,000 of his own money to uncover hidden dirt on the Texas Governor.

Why?

Honestly, I'm less concern with Perry's private life and more alarmed by the cozy business connections he's fostered as Governor of Texas. For this blogger, while most journalists focused on Perry's poor performance during the recent debates, considering Gary Johnson was allowed to join the GOP's Florida Beach Party, I questioned why Buddy Roemer was once again kept off stage:



Until the voters in this country demand real campaign finance reform, laws which actually limit the power of corporate money and influence, the politically-motivated pornographic paralysis being played out in Washington D.C. will continue.

After cutting taxes in 2001 and then spending $1.3 trillion for two ongoing wars, the GOP threatened to shut down the government over $3.65 billion designated for disaster relief? Playing politics with people struggling to rebuild their lives is just plain WRONG!

Observation: It appears that Karl Rove's GOP campaign strategy for the 2012 Election is to STOP the government from functioning while slowly driving the economy off yet ANOTHER financial cliff.
Read More...

The slow death of the U.S. Postal Service?

When was the last time you wrote a handwritten letter?

Remember when kids collected postage stamps instead of Facebook friends and families mailed off vacation postcards instead of updating Twitter?

Related Update:(September 26, 2011) Mark Zuckerberg and Lady Gaga on a postage stamp? It could happen. In a bid to promote stamp collecting (and increase revenue), the U.S. Postal Service will now allow living Americans to be featured on its stamps. To submit a proposal for your favorite musician, actor, sports star, writer, artist or Snooki, send your recommendation via snail mail to:

Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee
c/o Stamp Development, Room 3300
475 L'Enfant Plaza SW
Washington DC 20260-3501




The Saga of the Pony Express (Paperback)

Class Warfare against the Ruling Class?

On Faux News Sunday (September 18, 2011), Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) spoke with Chris Wallace about President Obama's plan to reduce the budget deficit and fund the proposed American Jobs Act.

"Class warfare Chris may make for good politics but it makes for rotten economics. We don't need a system that divides people." ~ Rep. Paul Ryan

Considering the GOP has been waging a non-stop war against the right of workers to engage in collective bargaining, for this blogger, this Wisconsin Representative's comments framing the latest tax battle as class warfare sounded a bit like Rick Santorum lecturing Senator John McCain about the benefits of water boarding.

Who is Paul Ryan?

Representative Ryan is the quintessential, professional Beltway Baby.

How much money has he earned working in the public sector? Based on the Congressional Pay Table, since being elected to Congress in 1998 (at the age of 28), he has earned $2,078,100 (base salary). This figure does not include yearly travel expenses or the random $50 special interest group luncheon.

Prior to earning his own Congressional Franking Privileges, Ryan worked for Wisconsin Sen. Bob Kasten and Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback. 

From battling paper cuts as a Congressional mail room intern, to joining the staffs of two Senators, to eventually being elected to Congress himself, Representative Ryan has spent the majority of his adult life walking the corridors of Capital Hill (as well as collecting a government paycheck). So, when this Beltway Baby gives a supply side economics tax lecture about the Millionaire Club, please forgive this blogger for laughing.

Considering he's already banked over $2,000,000 as a public servant, taken advantage of 12 years of government sponsored health care, did not serve in Afghanistan or Iraq and has already qualified for the Congressional retirement package (not including Social Security), how on earth did this Washington Insider become the so-called Poster Child for the Tea Party Movement? 

All politicians sell SOAP. In the case of Representative Ryan, he is the SOAP. He is an actual product created by and for the Washington Beltway.

It's easy for a member of the GOP to go on Faux News. It's quite another to give an extended interview with someone like Rachael Maddox. As I've already written, there is no silver bullet for fixing this economy. Should the tax code be simplified? Yes. But with more than 12,000 lobbyists knocking on Congressional doors, I seriously doubt any reform package (which tackles tax loopholes and exemptions) will survive the Tsunami of special interest money.

Class Warfare? Please. The Koch Brothers have already spent more than $100,000,000 selling their Libertarian brand of corporate soap. Power is crack. Money buys crack. Tax reform without serious political reform still leaves a majority of Americans sitting on the sidelines. Confused? What political reforms? Read More...

REPOST: Can you name the first time in American history that the government cut taxes and decreased revenue as it marched off to war?

How many millionaires and billionaires served in Afghanistan or Iraq? How many of these same folks made money off these wars? Anyhow, the term Job Creators has a nicer ring to it than Campaign Contributors.



IF Ryan wants to talk about Class Warfare, bringing back compulsory military service (with a public service option for conscientious objectors) would be a great place to start the conversation.

During this latest debt ceiling debate, President Obama made a serious linguistic blunder. Instead of calling the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts - for the wealthiest Americans - the Buffett Rule, he should have named it the Two War Rule. In 2003, the Bush Administration projected the cost of military operations for Iraq between $50 billion to $60 billion dollars. Where was Ryan when the Congressional Budget Office was crunching those numbers for funding Dick's Halliburton War? Ryan voted for both wars and the Bush-era Tax cuts. 10 years & $1.3 trillion dollars later, this Congressman (now supported by the Tea Party) still refuses to pay the bills for Afghanistan & Iraq. Read Here & Here...

Sadly, even if the President had chosen a different package of words to sell his latest proposal, at the end of the day, Congressman Ryan would still have called it Class Warfare. And you know something, maybe he's right. Being born and raised inside the Washington Beltway gives a person a special interest perspective of this world.  

Photos by Peter Rimar
Total Lobbying: What Lobbyists Want (and How They Try to Get It) 
(See all Political Lobbying Books)

Twitter + Facebook = Twitbook?

I'm still a recovering Facebook addict. I've never used Twitter. So, when these two social networking giants announced their latest cyber-marriage, it had little direct impact on my virtual life.
Read More...

Or did it?

With Google+ still struggling to gain a widespread audience, it's only a matter of time before the company takes a hard financial look at Blogger. Indeed, are there enough active Bloggers to keep this site alive?

IF Google wants to compete against Facebook, it needs to consider integrating it's + platform with Blogger. In the same way Facebook users can now Tweet status updates, Google+ users should be able to directly post comments, links, videos and images on Blogger. The ability to cross-platform updates may breath new life into the art of Blogging.

In the unlikely event someone at Google actually reads this post, I have one more suggestion. The company needs to change the name Google+ to Google Me. Before the NBA player (formally known as Ron Artest) changed his name to Metta World Peace, the musician Prince had changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol (1993-2000).

While some ideas sound great in a office cubicle, when it comes to product marketing and branding, using a + symbol to sell a new brand of SOAP makes absolutely ZERO dollars & AdSense.

Photo of terracotta opera sculpture, 798 Art District / 798艺术区, Beijing, PRC (June 2008).
In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
(See all Company Profiles Biography & History Books)

Possible Definitions of Globalization?

A Collage of Posters for Sale on a Fence

July 2009

Jakarta, Indonesia

                                           Traffic Music 

                                              July 2009

                                      Jakarta, Indonesia

Photo & Video by Peter Rimar
A History of Modern Indonesia (Paperback) 
(See all 20th Century World History Books)

Newt Gingrich SUCKS?

It's sad that in 2011, candidates still use racism to score cheap political points. 


During the first GOP Presidential Debate in New Hampshire (June 13, 2011), Newt Gingrich used the HATE & FEAR card to describe America's GOD & the tradition of separation of church & state. To illustrate his point, he described Faisal Shahzad's (the 30-year-old Pakistan-born, U.S. citizen who attempted to bomb Time Square on May 1st, 2010) response to the judge for his reasons behind his attempted terrorist attack. 

What Gingrich FAILED to mention was that Aliou Niasse, the street vendor who ALERTED the authorities & saved countless lives is a MUSLIM immigrant. Prior to 9-11, Timothy McVeigh (angry about Waco) carried out the single, largest terrorist attack on American soil. No wonder Newt's staff quit. He got way too much sun on his Greek cruise.

This country's founding fathers DID NOT create a NATIONAL religion. They created the BILL of RIGHTS to PROTECT Freedom of Religion. 
Why?
Can you say Church of England & the Vatican? Can you say "religious tolerance"? AND, oh by the way, state rights DO NOT & CAN NOT supersede the BILL of RIGHTS. PERIOD. This country fought a bloody civil war to sort out the original sin of "state rights" created by our Founding Fathers.

It's OK for a person to be black, white, red, green, blue, pink or GAY!
REALLY!
It's OK for a person to be a Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist or Atheist!
REALLY!

Update: Newt wins South Carolina Primary?


Small note to readers: Politically, I'm an Independent. When I feel myself getting sucked into simplistic PARTY rhetoric, I force myself to READ & LISTEN to ALL sides of an issue. With that said, no matter what side of the political fence someone sits, I will NEVER accept the politics of HATE & FEAR. Period.

"All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites." ~ Marc Chagall

Running for President causes Mental Retardation?

The Driving Mrs. Daisy Psycho Talk Express takes another WRONG TURN in Florida?



Vince McMahon is in backroom negotiations with Merck and Koch Industries for a WWE Raw Battle Royal featuring Crony Capitalism vs. Unscientific Rhetoric?

Herman Cain offered Iowans a Free Pizza with every Prostate Exam?

Ron Paul thinks Nuclear Proliferation is like playing Call of Duty? It's just a video game?

After the recent Florida debate, Rick Santorum asked Jon Huntsman, "Who cut your hair?"

Newt Gringrich sold three more books on e-Bay to the John Birch Society?

Sarah Palin plans to introduce a Mama Grizzly fashion line at Target?

Thaddeus McCotter told Buddy Roemer a knock-knock joke about his dark horse campaign for the White House but forgot the punch line?

When Gary Johnson was queried by reporters about being locked out of the recent TeaPot Debate, the candidate replied "I have the munchies"?

...Americana...

Harley Dog ~ Edmond, Oklahoma (June 2010)

The Merck Manual of Patient Symptoms: 
A Concise, Practical Guide to Etiology, Evaluation, and Treatment

Dear Congressman Ron Paul (aka Dr. No)

While some of your Libertarian ideas sound great on paper, in practice, it's scares the hell out of this blogger. Every time you talk about your vision of the world, it describes a place I've actually visited. A once peaceful, clean & beautiful city (with modern infrastructure) completely destroyed by a limited government, free market economy.

Image a world with...

No public libraries or city parks, road repairs,
Interstate Highway System, State or National Parks, Federal Income Tax, Health Care for Veterans, functioning police force (except for private citizens with AK-47s), lawyers or judges (replaced with religious street justice), flush toilets or sewage plants, Social Security or Medicare, Fish & Wildlife Service, farm support or subsidies, government mandated auto insurance for drivers, building codes or zoning ordinances, government regulations, factories, collective bargaining, workplace safety, environmental standards, minimum wage, electricity (except for gas power generators), Hoover Dam or NASA, indoor running water (only shared community water pumps), home telephones or broadband internet, universities to train doctors or nurses, Pell Grants or Student Loans, a CDC or medical research facilities, Wal-Marts or K-Marts, food inspectors or FDA, McDonald's or Burger Kings, city streetlights or traffic signals, national bank or currency (Euros, dollars, gold, silver & goats).

A city with limited government in country where the free-market & money is KING. And the best part of this whole Libertarian brew, charity organizations provide the health care. 

The place? Well, it's in the news again.

Mogadishu, Somalia.

The sad truth is a lot of folks actually believe your dog-ma-nomics crap. Is there Fraud, Waste & Abuse in every agency of the Federal Government? Yes. Can the Federal Bureaucracy be streamlined and made more efficient? Yes. Does this country need to wrap up its military operations in Afghanistan & Iraq? Yes. With that said, this whole ideological brew which suggests that limited government is the only solution for every social and economic problem borders on the political absurd. Hell, let's just go ahead and repeal the whole 20th Century.

America is NOT bankrupt. You really could learn something from Medal of Honor Recipient Dakota Meyer (who risked his life to do the right thing for the rights reason). IMHO, you've spent too many years walking around the Washington Beltway and selling SOAP on the Presidential Campaign Trail. You've completely forgotten the things that made this country great.

Update (October 2, 2011): After spending more than an hour writing this POST, Bill Clinton comes along and capsulizes this blogger's original message in a single sentence:

"There's not a single example on our planet, not one, where an anti-government strategy has produced a vibrant economy with strong and broad-based growth and prosperity." ~ Bill Clinton 
Read More...



Photo taken at the Port of Mogadishu, Somalia by Peter Rimar (January 1994).
Pirate State: Inside Somalia's Terrorism at Sea

...life in contrast...

For most Americans, it's hard to imagine living in today's modern world without a cell phone and the internet.

Before the invention of the pay phone, grocery shops once provided small neighborhoods and rural towns the only telephonic link to the outside world.

Small Chinese grocery shop with neighborhood telephone

Changsha, P.R.C. (June 2009)

Campaign Psycho Talk Update: Bush 3.0

Governor Rick Perry now says his understanding of Galileo comes entirely from the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.

"If there were only one truth, you couldn't paint a hundred canvases on the same theme." 
~ Pablo Picasso
Artists of the 20th Century: Pablo Picasso (DVD)