Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth II

Not to sound like I'm complaining, but it appears this blogger's special invitation to the last Royal Wedding is still lost in the mail.

Here Comes the Sun?

‎"If it weren't for the coffee, I'd have no identifiable personality whatsoever."
~ David Letterman
Late Show Fun Facts (Hardcover)

Twitter?

Battle for the Internet?

Google's Sergey Brin warns Web freedom faces greatest threat ever?
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Do you remember the first time you heard the phrase 'the internet'? For this blogger, it was in January 1994 while vacationing with the United Nations in Mogadishu, Somalia. A young American military officer, camping inside a bombed out building at the airport, had linked a computer via satellite to this digital highway called the World Wide Web.

Maybe it's just me, but on most days, it feels like this still adolescent, globally interconnected digital world is drowning in information but starved of knowledge. So, could someone please help me understand why Paris Hilton is famous?

Where is K Street?

According to the latest CNN/ORC International survey, 72% of Americans favor enactment of the so-called 'Buffet Rule'. Despite its popularity among a majority of voters, the Republicans in Congress continue to block all legislation dealing with tax fairness and corporate welfare.
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"Power is crack. Money buys crack." ~ Self


Congress approves wide-ranging
ethics rule?
Read More...

Only in America can a pizza get delivered to your house
faster than an ambulance?

Downtown Grand Forks, North Dakota (July 2011)

Under the terms of their collective bargaining agreement, 72 Virgins "locked out" Osama Bin Laden?

‎"People say Intelligent Design, we must teach Intelligent Design. Look at the human body, is that intelligent? You have a waste processing plant next to a recreation area." ~ Robin Williams



Weapons of Self Destruction (DVD)

Street Scene, Baghdad, Iraq (April 2004)
Photo by Peter Rimar

"Words can be deleted, but the facts won't be deleted with them."
~ Ai Weiei



On June 13th, 2009, my wife and I were still living in the Chinese city of Changsha. After lunch, I turned on CCTV to catch up on the latest news. There on my TV screen were the CCTV news anchors discussing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election victory with a visiting Iranian Professor and a representative from the Iranian Embassy. A graphic crawl indicated that CCTV had scheduled ALL DAY extended coverage of the Iranian Election.

After about 20 minutes, the TV went black. Roughly two minutes later, a travel documentary started airing. No mention was made about why the station went dark or the sudden, unannounced change in programming. Curious, this blogger logged onto the internet and discovered that Iranians in Tehran were taking to the streets to protest the election results.

Economic sanctions against Iran? What sanctions? One member of the security council will continue doing business with the current Iranian Government (as well as the DPRK).

Searching for Answers?

Gingrich charges Fox News with pro-Romney bias? Really? Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Mike Huckabee are 'unfair and unbalanced'? Is there a vast right-wing media conspiracy against Gingrich?

"Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use." 
~ Charles M. Schulz

The Power of Positive Thinking?

"I am a nobody. Nobody is perfect. Therefore, I am perfect."

Yet Another Subliminal Message?

How can a person on Food Stamps open a Swiss Bank Account?

In the event someone stumbled upon this particular post after searching Google, here's a CNN Money report from 1997 which still applies in 2012. Read More...

It should be noted that after 9-11, the U.S. Government can now request and receive information about a specific individual's bank account under the U.S.-Swiss Income Tax Convention (January 2003).

Obama Campaign Attacks Romney Over Swiss Bank Account?
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Still Lost in Translation?

Beijing, P.R.C. (April 2008)

Photo by Peter Rimar.

Facebook Blasts Password Snooping Employers?

"We don’t think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don’t think it’s right the thing to do." 
~ Erin Egan
Facebook's Chief
Privacy Officer
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Conspiracy Theory: Up to this point, the U.S. Congress has been unable to craft legislation which actually protects the privacy of internet users and prevents government censorship. Who did Mark Zuckerberg meet with on Nov. 16, 2010? Why hasn't the Supreme Court judged a case dealing with the privacy of electronic correspondence? With all due respect to Senator Al Franken, he's addressing the issue of internet privacy with the wrong group of people. Read More...

Facebook's incorporates both facial recognize and global positioning software into its platform. In the view of this blogger, Facebook's public response to a growing trend of employers asking employees for their passwords is an attempt to legally protect the company from future liability. The bigger question is what internal security safeguards are in place to protect user data within the company itself? Read More...

Countdown to the London Oympics

"Most other competitions are individual achievements, but the Olympic Games is something that belongs to everybody." ~ Scott Hamilton

Official Olympic Games Countdown Clock, Tiananmen Square, Beijing (June 2008).

Official Olympic Games Countdown Clock, Trafalgar Square, London (March 2012).

Photos by Peter Rimar.

Economics 101?

"We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Cook Inlet, Anchorage , Alaska (September 2005)
Photo by Peter Rimar.

etc. etc. etc.

Tax Breaks for Job Creators?

Can you say "Kool-Aid"? Really? Who came up with this talking point? Some K Street lobbyist?

According to CelebrityNetWorth.com, on July 2, 2008, Rush Limbaugh signed an eight-year contract with Clear Channel Communications for $400 million. The conservative talk show host "broadcasts his show from a $26 million ocean front home in West Palm Beach, which has 7 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms and an elevator".

Between January and May 2009, Clear Channel Communications eliminated 2,440 positions (roughly a 12% drop from its December 2008 workforce).
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Still confused?
Here's what Seattle billionaire Nick Hanauer wrote in Bloomberg's op-eds section in November, "When businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it is like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it’s the other way around." Read More...

At what point will the GOP wake up and finally retire its silly "job creator" talking point?

Every person who spends money is a job creator. Every person with money deposited in a savings account is an investor.

At the end of October 2011, one month after the start of #Occupy Wall Street Protests, the Congressional Budget Office published a detailed report on the distribution of household income between 1979 and 2007. The raw numbers are alarming. 

Can you name the first time in American history that the government cut revenue as it marched off to war? Once again, President Obama needs to stop calling his proposal to raise revenue to address the budget deficit the Buffet Rule. It needs to be called the After 9-11 Tax.

4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Howard Hollem

for the Office of War Information

Corpus Christi, Texas (August 1942)

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Tea Party, when will this country do its collective Patriotic Duty and pay for these ongoing wars? Speaking of which, how many millionaires and billionaires served in Iraq or Afghanistan? 1%?
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"I Pledge of Allegiance to Grover Norquist"?

In case you missed it, according to the latest Gallup, only 12% of Americans approve of the job U.S. Congress is doing. The 86% disapproval rating for the 112th Congress is the highest since Gallup started asking the question in 1974. Read More...

Public service is NOT about being a Republican or a Democrat. It's not about being a liberal or conservative. It's about doing the right things for the right reasons. It's about being a citizen. And believe it or not, the word Compromise is NOT one of George Carlin's original seven dirty words.

Understanding the latest political games being played out in Washington D.C. is not complicated. Power is crack. Money buys crack. Perhaps it's time for this country to take a serious look at enacting a 28th Amendment to the Constitution which overturns the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case (perhaps the worst decision in America's judicial history since Dred Scott).

"94% of elections in America are won by the candidate with the most money. Is this how we want to pick our leaders?" ~ Buddy Roemer

...contrasting imagery...

Dirty Blue Jeans in Broken Window, Changsha, PRC (December 2008)
Photo by Peter Rimar

Lessons Learned from 9-11?

Traveling strangers, locked together inside a pressurized cabin at 33,000ft, will collectively take action to stop any and all acts of lunacy or terrorism on an airplane. The days of folks passively sitting back and doing nothing are officially over. Read More...

"I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons." ~ Will Rogers

JoJo Rimar

Election 2012?

Paul Revere, after updating his status on Facebook and Twitter, sat down and wrote the disco hits "Ring My Bell" & "Macho Man". When asked about his opinion regarding "The King", Mr. Revere said what made ELVIS a "Great American" is the fact "the dude" learned how to shoot beer cans off a fence BEFORE he joined the Army.

When he first set foot on the moon, George Washington is reported to have said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

President Obama is a "Snob"?

Is civility dead in 2012?

If someone called your mother or grandmother a "slut" or implied that your daughter or sister was a "prostitute", how would you feel?

Facebook Quote: "I drove behind a car with an Obama sticker on it, which means I'm a follower of an Obama follower, so I'm a gobless Commie, according to the real America. Right?"

"They (Republicans) want to bomb Iran, but they're afraid of Rush Limbaugh." 
~ George Will
ABC News' This Week

Due to technical difficulties, the original status update about Hugh Hefner's latest attempt at marriage has been cancelled.

"Life attracts life." ~ Paulo Coelho 
The Alchemist (Paperback)
Photo of Lobster Dinner by Peter Rimar in Jakarta, Indonesian (July 2009).

It is what it is?

Tea Party Socialists in North Dakota?
Read More...