For $99 I bought a camera at Frye's that has WiFi - it uploads to Facebook, YouTube, PhotoBucket - even to my Smartphone. AMAZING what a Wi Fi with a camera makes. It also does video and editing.
TECHNOLOGY is what our present economic race is all about. We will either win it or lose it on a world economic scale, because all trade is now global, from cars to computers. Over 40 nations have space programs. America will have to think globally and strategically to win. It will have to invest in upgrading our infrastructure and peoples' jobs skills to fill the 2 million plus high tech jobs open TODAY that are unfilled because AMERICANS don't have those skills. Is this CRAZY or what?
And you don't win this inescapable global economic race by cutting education. Education is the vital key to American victory in this new world we live in in 2012, where economic supremacy now includes a commercial and scientific space race.
HOW DO WE WIN?
We don't win by not knowing what is happening globally.
Since you don't have time to time to go to 30 plus countries in the next month, you can do it in the time it takes to travel with me in my book "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" It is based on old travel journals that went from Fortune 500 First Class traveler to the laid off entrepreneur who once ran out of money in Bangkok and went to Syria on a child kidnapping negotiation for a Texas lady, etc.
It will explain a lot about what is going on out there, big and small.
The Final Chapter "Agenda for American Greatness" is all about how we got in this situation the past 30 years and PROPOSES SOLUTIONS on HOW WE GET OUT OF IT.
In short, I propose how we fix it based on my global business terrorism and technology expertise in over 50 countries the past 30 plus years...
"Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" is a true story of my own experience losing it all during a recession like today (then called the Great Texas Oil Bust of the 80's) and how that led to amazing new opportunities despite the wrenching experience it was, including founding a green company that has been thriving even during the Greatest recession experienced by the U.S. in 70 years.
It is an American story for everyone in America today...
One of the things I have learned is that life long learning is a MUST until the day we die...
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Wrong Time Turned Out to Be Right Meeting...
It was the wrong day to arrive for the party, but it turned out to be the right meeting after all. It was too funny how getting things sidewise sometimes works out for the best.
Yesterday evening I had two events on my "Smart"phone calendar - a fundraiser for the League of Women Voters in a warehouse full of "one-of-a-kind" personal items that were so unique, then to give a check for the Plan BEE group that is helping women in poor countries develop a business that even the men now want to be involved and trained! In honey production no less. They discovered that to be viable the women needs to have at least 5 hives. And hives cost $125 each. That small investment ends up benefiting an entire family - and the honey goes to 5 Star hotels under contract in that country - a win-win.
So when we rang the doorbell for the Plan Bee event we discovered it had been THE NIGHT BEFORE. The residence owner had just sat down to have dinner with her parents! I was ready to drop the check to pay for one beehive ($125) but Barbara said: "Come have some wine and dinner." And we did!
Instead of being jammed in a small room with 80 people including Ambassadors and a crush of others you really can't talk to much in the din of a noisy room.
Instead Laura and I got to meet Barbara's parents who are English and live in Corpus Christi and we had a great time over dinner and wine getting to talk to them in a relaxed, quiet setting.
So it was the wrong time to be there, but the right kind of meeting.
At one point during dinner a thought occurred to me. "We should have an international Progressive Dinner" so people can really get to know one another - a Borst in Russia, Ocktorfest in Germany, some sushi in Japan and Argentina beef. Even some hummus in the Middle East. How many Americans really have had a chance to meet someone from another country and get to know them? Not enough. So we end up with too many assumptions - and negative hate speech. It comes from fear and ignorance.
I have been in nearly 50 countries the past three decades and had those conversations. Once I had dinner with my Indian taxi driver and met taxi drivers in Syria who took me to an ancient Christian church. I have come to know young Chinese in walks on the Great Wall and laughed at English sayings like "I will knock you up" which really means "I will CALL you" in England. I know them as people, not words on a screen or images on a TV.
I learned that sitting with your legs crossed at a meeting in Saudi Arabia - exposing the sole of my shoe - would guarantee I would NOT get the contract when negotiating a deal for my Fortune 500 company. Nor would being pushy with the Japanese, who avoided eye contact and had their own pecking order that you had to figure out or screw up the deal.
As an international negotiator where the object is to win and not piss off people, I knew that being stupid and insulting people is not good salesmanship!
We had executives decline to stay for a dinner when a Sheik invited them, insisting on "keeping to their schedule." They had no idea they just turned down a rare invite, and blew their deal. Some have asked for alcohol in countries that don't serve it.
I knew that in South America it was an insult if I did not ask about their family. And that in the most conservative countries in the Middle East it was an insult TO ASK about his wife.
So I was pretty shocked to read that not until President Obama did we begin giving our troops in Afghanistan cultural training - to avoid these mistakes that cause unnecessary problems. Unfortunately, it has led to over 50 NATO soldiers being killed by Afghan soldiers just this year. Such cultural training should have been started on Day 1 a decade ago! You don't win "hearts and minds" by being disrespectful and ignorant of their culture. I would have unintentionally insulted a lot of people during my global travels if I hadn't taken the time to learn something about them.
And as a result even when I messed up they were polite and helpful. I have found that in every country I have been to.
Americans would be amazed how much we are all alike despite our different cultures and languages. All people want opportunity and respect. No one wants to be hassled by any person or government.
So, I call for Americans to start a new tradition: 1st Annual Global American International Progressive dinner - you can start by having something Italian or Mexican out for dinner tonight. LOL. But really, TRAVEL. It will open your eyes to truth.
Go see the other 40 countries that have SPACE PROGRAMS. Go ride the Shanghai MAGLEV that runs 268 miles per hour from the airport to town. It will give you the insight to be a better, smarter American - you will see what we have to compete with in technology from Bullet Trains to Space, and how we are all so much alike.
You may find yourself showing up at the wrong time and having the right meeting.
THEN you will know who to vote for -- the party that will keep us in the technology game - and from my global experience from Fortune 500 to entrepreneur that's President Obama -- vs the guys who keep cutting our education and training that will cost us the 21st century global high tech game.
Yesterday evening I had two events on my "Smart"phone calendar - a fundraiser for the League of Women Voters in a warehouse full of "one-of-a-kind" personal items that were so unique, then to give a check for the Plan BEE group that is helping women in poor countries develop a business that even the men now want to be involved and trained! In honey production no less. They discovered that to be viable the women needs to have at least 5 hives. And hives cost $125 each. That small investment ends up benefiting an entire family - and the honey goes to 5 Star hotels under contract in that country - a win-win.
So when we rang the doorbell for the Plan Bee event we discovered it had been THE NIGHT BEFORE. The residence owner had just sat down to have dinner with her parents! I was ready to drop the check to pay for one beehive ($125) but Barbara said: "Come have some wine and dinner." And we did!
Instead of being jammed in a small room with 80 people including Ambassadors and a crush of others you really can't talk to much in the din of a noisy room.
Instead Laura and I got to meet Barbara's parents who are English and live in Corpus Christi and we had a great time over dinner and wine getting to talk to them in a relaxed, quiet setting.
So it was the wrong time to be there, but the right kind of meeting.
At one point during dinner a thought occurred to me. "We should have an international Progressive Dinner" so people can really get to know one another - a Borst in Russia, Ocktorfest in Germany, some sushi in Japan and Argentina beef. Even some hummus in the Middle East. How many Americans really have had a chance to meet someone from another country and get to know them? Not enough. So we end up with too many assumptions - and negative hate speech. It comes from fear and ignorance.
I have been in nearly 50 countries the past three decades and had those conversations. Once I had dinner with my Indian taxi driver and met taxi drivers in Syria who took me to an ancient Christian church. I have come to know young Chinese in walks on the Great Wall and laughed at English sayings like "I will knock you up" which really means "I will CALL you" in England. I know them as people, not words on a screen or images on a TV.
I learned that sitting with your legs crossed at a meeting in Saudi Arabia - exposing the sole of my shoe - would guarantee I would NOT get the contract when negotiating a deal for my Fortune 500 company. Nor would being pushy with the Japanese, who avoided eye contact and had their own pecking order that you had to figure out or screw up the deal.
As an international negotiator where the object is to win and not piss off people, I knew that being stupid and insulting people is not good salesmanship!
We had executives decline to stay for a dinner when a Sheik invited them, insisting on "keeping to their schedule." They had no idea they just turned down a rare invite, and blew their deal. Some have asked for alcohol in countries that don't serve it.
I knew that in South America it was an insult if I did not ask about their family. And that in the most conservative countries in the Middle East it was an insult TO ASK about his wife.
So I was pretty shocked to read that not until President Obama did we begin giving our troops in Afghanistan cultural training - to avoid these mistakes that cause unnecessary problems. Unfortunately, it has led to over 50 NATO soldiers being killed by Afghan soldiers just this year. Such cultural training should have been started on Day 1 a decade ago! You don't win "hearts and minds" by being disrespectful and ignorant of their culture. I would have unintentionally insulted a lot of people during my global travels if I hadn't taken the time to learn something about them.
And as a result even when I messed up they were polite and helpful. I have found that in every country I have been to.
Americans would be amazed how much we are all alike despite our different cultures and languages. All people want opportunity and respect. No one wants to be hassled by any person or government.
So, I call for Americans to start a new tradition: 1st Annual Global American International Progressive dinner - you can start by having something Italian or Mexican out for dinner tonight. LOL. But really, TRAVEL. It will open your eyes to truth.
Go see the other 40 countries that have SPACE PROGRAMS. Go ride the Shanghai MAGLEV that runs 268 miles per hour from the airport to town. It will give you the insight to be a better, smarter American - you will see what we have to compete with in technology from Bullet Trains to Space, and how we are all so much alike.
You may find yourself showing up at the wrong time and having the right meeting.
THEN you will know who to vote for -- the party that will keep us in the technology game - and from my global experience from Fortune 500 to entrepreneur that's President Obama -- vs the guys who keep cutting our education and training that will cost us the 21st century global high tech game.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
"Next service station 60 miles." that is that lonely stretch..
Not
to mention a balcony looking out on the Gulf...Good place to be stuck
if you have a dead vehicle and administrative to do which I always do...
But that SAND looks so inviting...for some reason i DID throw a pair of (wild looking) swimming trunks in the bag....
Ummmmmm. Car's going be at the doc tomorrow, that means someone has time to play in the water, right?
yeah, right. This nerd will be taking calls and working - with maybe a quick toe dip. LOL
Monday, September 24, 2012
Iran'ts Leader Calls for the End of Israel - Enough of bigotry on ALL sides!
YES, This is BIGOTRY, and EXTREME -- JUST LIKE THE HATE VIDEO made in America that caused the death of a US Ambassador.
Bigotry on both sides is even worse than bigotry by one - in this area two wrongs don't make anything right...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/post/cnns-morgan-on-ahmadinejad-really-quite-extreme-bigotry/2012/09/24/152c20be-068c-11e2-a10c-fa5a255a9258_blog.html
An Open Letter to Iowans - Who Start Voting Thursday
Dear Iowans:
I was born in Iowa and grew up on a farm there until I was
15 and dad moved us to Texas. I ended up traveling the world (nearly 50
countries) starting with the Fortune 500 but got laid off not unlike people
today and lost it all, like many people have today. I wrote a book about it,
with proposed solutions in "Agenda for American Greatness" described in
www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com
I can tell you that I survived the Great Texas Bust of the
80’s which was similar to the Great Recession since it also involved a
financial meltdown. I can tell you that
what I learned then applies to the economy today.
I had to re-invest myself. I found I could survive without
stuff and how much friends and a chance means. Somehow it led to my becoming an
accidental TV Terrorism adviser, a global entrepreneur who had some amazing
experiences -- to becoming a founder of green company today that has been
thriving despite the “Great Recession.” My company’s product saves energy which
saves people money and protects their weakest link from burglars,
hurricane-force storms and triple digit heat. It pays for itself and we don’t
have government contracts. It is part of the new green economy, like Iowa’s
Wind Farms, that are the “next big thing” like the Internet for our future
economy. It is part of the new economy supported and started by the President.
And that is why I recommend Iowans vote for President Obama
in Election 2012. His opponent Gov. Romney has said he is against the wind tax
credit. He and Paul Ryan plan to change Medicare into a voucher system, making
the U.S. the only developed country in the world that throws its citizens’
health needs under a bus.
I say that as someone who has not forgotten the farm, but has
seen the world of technology and how we must compete or lose the high tech
global 21st century. President Obama has the plan America needs
-unfortunately, Mr. Romney would continue the redistribution of wealth from the
Middle Class to the top 1% that has robbed our consumer economy of its vitality
and created the Great Recession the President inherited. The President could
create even more jobs if you give him a Congress that will work with him, and
that excludes Rep. King of Iowa, who deserves retirement.
Michael Fjetland
President, Armor Glass
Author, “Better Times Ahead: April Fool”
www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com
Sunday, September 23, 2012
KEY to Inner Chamber of PEACE -- The Human Paint Job
BINGO. The key to each of our personal Inner Chamber of PEACE is found by...
Being COMFORTABLE WITH YOURSELF. That's it exactly. It's all voluntary, even companionship.
We are all made by the same human reproductive system, regardless of the skin color paint job or sex we each received at the end of the human assembly line..!
After traveling to nearly 50 countries over 30 years, I can tell you that "All humans are really the same if we ever get past skin tones and religious one-upmanship, knowing too little about each other as it is...We are more alike than we know."
Being COMFORTABLE WITH YOURSELF. That's it exactly. It's all voluntary, even companionship.
We are all made by the same human reproductive system, regardless of the skin color paint job or sex we each received at the end of the human assembly line..!
After traveling to nearly 50 countries over 30 years, I can tell you that "All humans are really the same if we ever get past skin tones and religious one-upmanship, knowing too little about each other as it is...We are more alike than we know."
Did Obama Bring Islamist Spring? NO...But Free Speech and Bad Attitudes Did
The Atlantic has an "article" entitled "Did Obama Cause the Islamist Spring" as they call it.
As one who has served as a Terrorism Analyst for the Middle East and 9/11 on TV since 1991, my answer is NO.
Obama did not create the strive in the Middle East (which has only been going on for over 2,000 years now). What did cause the uprisings and attacks against American consulates was an intentionally inflamatory extreme low budget two bit movie made by a crackpot who lied to the actors about the nature of the film, designed to cause anger. That in turn was exploited by the Islamist extremist fringe who troll the Internet looking for trash like this, so they can use it to incite anger on their side, so both extremes are making hay on it.
You are free to call someone a son of a bitch. And they are free to punch you in the nose. In this case it provided cover for some extremists to kill our Ambassador. That speech wasn't so free when it takes lives - because it accomplished its intended goal, so sow hate and violence by degrading others.
But it doesn't always work, but is good for us.
Two days ago over 30,000 Libyans angered by the death of Ambassador Stevens, whom they regarded as their friend from America, stormed the militia camps of extremists and drove them out of their camps in their town. They were backed up by Libyan military, weak as they are.
These are the militias that used the anger from the video defaming their supreme religious leader to launch what we now know was a terrorist strike on our US Consulate in Benghazi Libya, resulting in the death of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans.
Free speech isn't necessarily free when it results in the violence it was intended to incite. It is the same as shouting "Fire" in a crowded theater to cause a panic. It worked.
By the way, the consulate had limited security. Why?
Because Congress under Paul Ryan had CUT their budget to do this kind of security upgrades!
The unstable and weak Libyan government that needs American support to grow and prosper and build on its democracy that the killers of Ambassador Stevens want to destroy. Now that Libya is free of the dictator Gaddafi who once bombed an American airliner Pan Am 103. The Libyan people hate Al Qaida. Libyans don't want them running their country. We have to make sure that doesn't happen by being involved and supporting their fledgling democratic government.
Egypt is another matter. No Americans died in Egypt but the new President Morsi is part of the Muslim Brotherhood that rejects Al Qaida, but isn't necessarily a paid-for Mubarak dictator either. Our only leverage with them is what President Obama is doing - but it is a tricky road in many ways. The Egyptians who started the revolution were secular, not religious, but the Muslim Brotherhood was better organized. It will take Obama's chess-like strategy to deal with this character.
These issues involve complex issues far beyond Governor Romney's expertise. If you can't even meet our allies without offending them (as he did the British at the Olympics), he has no chance of threading the complex needle called the Middle East where each country is vastly different in culture, interests and attitudes. I was in Cairo when President Carter flew in for the first ever peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country - Egypt.
I have been involved with this area over 30 years, starting with the Fortune 500. I know...President Obama is still our best choice for both domestic and foreign policy crises every President faces.
Stay tuned. Pass it on. Subscribe or follow for updates. comments and intelligent discussion is always welcome..
As one who has served as a Terrorism Analyst for the Middle East and 9/11 on TV since 1991, my answer is NO.
Obama did not create the strive in the Middle East (which has only been going on for over 2,000 years now). What did cause the uprisings and attacks against American consulates was an intentionally inflamatory extreme low budget two bit movie made by a crackpot who lied to the actors about the nature of the film, designed to cause anger. That in turn was exploited by the Islamist extremist fringe who troll the Internet looking for trash like this, so they can use it to incite anger on their side, so both extremes are making hay on it.
You are free to call someone a son of a bitch. And they are free to punch you in the nose. In this case it provided cover for some extremists to kill our Ambassador. That speech wasn't so free when it takes lives - because it accomplished its intended goal, so sow hate and violence by degrading others.
But it doesn't always work, but is good for us.
Two days ago over 30,000 Libyans angered by the death of Ambassador Stevens, whom they regarded as their friend from America, stormed the militia camps of extremists and drove them out of their camps in their town. They were backed up by Libyan military, weak as they are.
These are the militias that used the anger from the video defaming their supreme religious leader to launch what we now know was a terrorist strike on our US Consulate in Benghazi Libya, resulting in the death of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans.
Free speech isn't necessarily free when it results in the violence it was intended to incite. It is the same as shouting "Fire" in a crowded theater to cause a panic. It worked.
By the way, the consulate had limited security. Why?
Because Congress under Paul Ryan had CUT their budget to do this kind of security upgrades!
The unstable and weak Libyan government that needs American support to grow and prosper and build on its democracy that the killers of Ambassador Stevens want to destroy. Now that Libya is free of the dictator Gaddafi who once bombed an American airliner Pan Am 103. The Libyan people hate Al Qaida. Libyans don't want them running their country. We have to make sure that doesn't happen by being involved and supporting their fledgling democratic government.
Egypt is another matter. No Americans died in Egypt but the new President Morsi is part of the Muslim Brotherhood that rejects Al Qaida, but isn't necessarily a paid-for Mubarak dictator either. Our only leverage with them is what President Obama is doing - but it is a tricky road in many ways. The Egyptians who started the revolution were secular, not religious, but the Muslim Brotherhood was better organized. It will take Obama's chess-like strategy to deal with this character.
These issues involve complex issues far beyond Governor Romney's expertise. If you can't even meet our allies without offending them (as he did the British at the Olympics), he has no chance of threading the complex needle called the Middle East where each country is vastly different in culture, interests and attitudes. I was in Cairo when President Carter flew in for the first ever peace treaty between Israel and an Arab country - Egypt.
I have been involved with this area over 30 years, starting with the Fortune 500. I know...President Obama is still our best choice for both domestic and foreign policy crises every President faces.
Stay tuned. Pass it on. Subscribe or follow for updates. comments and intelligent discussion is always welcome..
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Election 2012...It's the GLOBAL Economy & Foreign Policy Stupid...
Election 2012: It's the GLOBAL Economic Policy of the Next President that is important to Americans --not just his proposed Domestic Economic policy.
Our future depends on it.The question for all American voters is HUGE: Which Presidential candidate's plans will best strategically advance America in this brave new world we find ourselves in?
Voters should be asking:"what will it take for our country to be successful in a 21st century high tech world economy in which over 40 nations have their own space programs and their students are better educated in math and science than our American children?
How will cutting education help us win this new battle for dominance in the world economy?
Today in America we have nearly 3 million OPEN, UNFILLED JOBS ready for the taking. These jobs pay $70,000 a year and more. Filling those jobs would cut today's unemployment rate from 8.1% to 6.1% OVERNIGHT. So WHY are those jobs still unfilled with so many people wanting a job?
One American company that needs people to fill some of these jobs requires all applicants to take a test to see if they qualify for training for one of these jobs, which involve running computerized equipment in manufacturing, etc.
90% of the American applicants taking the test fail! Only 10% do well enough for the company to give them the training for these $70,000+ jobs. Without Americans qualified to step into them they either remain empty -- or filled by a foreigner on a work visa or get shipped to people overseas who DO have those skills because Americans don't have the necessary skills. Which President will help Americans get that education? And training?
Chinese kids have those skills. Indian students have those skills. So either these jobs remain empty or the companies will farm them overseas unless we can improve our education and training to fill that gap with Americans.
In this inescapable, space age century, our kids must-compete-or-die on a high tech level with competitors worldwide, on technology that will increasingly become more complex, and will continue to be high tech, and even MORE high tech, forevermore -- or they will end up flipping burgers at minimum wage instead while the rest of the world passes us by. The choice is ours, and it depends on WHO voters elect as President in 2012. From my vantage of having been involved in global high tech business, traveling to nearly 50 countries and terrorism analyst who predicted 9/11 (its on youtube), here is how I see it:
President Obama has supported investing in education and advanced technology needed for America to stay competitive. He wants to invest in updating our infrastructure - like repairing the 144,000 derelict bridges in America before they fall into the rivers below them. That would create jobs! Every jobs bill Obama has proposed, the GOP has opposed, even when he was proposing one of THEIR original proposals! the insurance mandate was originally a Heritage Foundation idea. That is not an American value - to block jobs in the name of politics in the middle of the worse Recession in 70 years!
To his credit, President Obama who inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression and a $1.3 Trillion Annual baked-in Deficits his first day on the job! He has done a miracle job of saving our sinking ship on short notice and despite half the crew who refused to help fix the damage, the same one who put it up on the reef to begin with.
Despite their obstacles, the President has put us on a more sustainable path that does not penalize the 47% or the 99% in favor of the 1%. Gov. Romney's plans favor that top 1%. President Obama's represents all Americans as well as the majority who elected him.
Now the Economic Trend is UP! America is past the worst of the storm (save for any European Econmic meltdown). The President has generated more jobs in 4 years that were generated in the entire 8 years of the prior Bush administration.
Given another term, the president can finish the job and build and continue positioning America to win the 21st space age high tech global race.
To do THAT, Voters Also NEED TO GIVE THE PRESIDENT A CONGRESS that will HELP HIM INSTEAD OF OBSTRUCTING America's rebuilding. Tbe President needs a stronger Democrat Congress that share his vision and commitment to protect the Middle Class, people who believe our destiny and future are linked to our success in upgrading our education and training of all Americans in this global race of higher brain power and technology.
The President has done a tremendous job under the worst of economic and political conditions...
Brief History. Bush inherited a $300 Billion SURPLUS from Pres. Clinton. But Bush handed Obama a $1.3 TRILLION DEFICIT (plus another $6 TRILLION in new DEBT) on his 1st day on the job.
BIG Difference! (FACTS Count)/ Bush inherited cash-in-bank. Obama inherited $6 TRILLION in Bush IOUs and ZERO CASH and an economy bleeding 800,000 jobs a month his first days on the job when he took office.
From that Titanic wreck, Obama has created 4.5 Million jobs in the past months and the trend line has gone from negative to positive.
Don't mess with what's working people. Rome wasn't built in a day. A shipwreck isn't repaired overnight. After Pearl Harbor, it took years and both sides worked to do it.
Question for voters: Why would the GOP reject their own proposals once the President comes out in favor of it? Why have they BLOCKED ALL (not some) of the President's proposals? Why would they even delay normal bipartisan bills like the Transportation Bill that repairs our infrastructure and generates JOBS? The GOP sat on it for MONTHS, when people needed those jobs and the roads needed the work. Were they hoping that by blocking him things get worse so they can blame him for it.?
That's pretty non-American bad behavior when a lot of Americans are out of work and need a Congress helping a President who is working for them instead of playing political games. Obama had barely warmed his chair in the Oval Office when GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said: "Our only priority is to insure that he is a one-term President." Note that McConnell didn't say his No. 1 priority was helping unemployed Americans; it was obstructing a brand new President who didn't create the Fiscal Disaster he got from the Bush administration and the GOP Congress that created this mess and has not bargained in good faith since.
FACT: It normally takes 7 years to recover from an Economic Tsunami of that size. If it takes 8 years to mess it up it will take at least 8 years to fix the damage, so that is another reason Obama should be given a second term - there's more fixin' to do.
Despite the Tidal Wave of crap he inherited, President Obama has made great progress with the fiscal cliff cards he was dealt. He followed the FDR path -- not the President Hoover path where the 1% said: "You will get nothing and like it" and the voters swept out Hoover and swept in FDR who created jobs. Obama is today's closest thing to FDR in this election. FDR acted for the 99% of Americans and it worked.
From my global perspective over the past three decades, in my view President OBAMA has made strategically wise choices to set America on a path of economic sustainability and technology leadership needed for America to lead and succeed in this brave new world -- where we will soon see private companies mining asteroids and planning trips to Mars. China will have a new space station set up when our ISS, International Space Station, is ready for retirement. What then? Do nothing? Let them own the ultimate high ground? Not invest in the education and technology needed to maintain our economic lead in a global economic world never seen before?
I have a unique perspective by which to evaluate the President's performance. I grew up on a farm, so I know ordinary Americans go through, but ended up working for the Fortune 500 and being sent to over 30 countries in 5 years on negotiating contracts. After a lay off I became an entrepreneur and added another 15-20 countries on my own helping small American companies expand their sales of U.S. made products because every $1 billion in USA export is another 25,000 American jobs! I became a TV Terrorism Adviser on 9/11. Before that I was a TV Mideast expert during the first Gulf War in 1991. I have seen China and India evolve over three decades from nothing to cocolossal economic powers.
In my opinion, based on my global knowledge of technology and markets in over 50 countries, the one candidate that I trust to deal with all of these issues facing America and the 3 a.m. calls a President gets is... President Obama.
Unfortunately, Romney has been a constant diplomatic train wreck even on friendly territory. America cannot afford screwing up tougher issues than offending our long term British allies during the Olympics. Romney's reaction to Libya shows that he is an amateur in international affairs -- other than hiding money in offshore tax havens to dodge taxes. How does hiding money overseas equate with knowing how to deal with the next event in the Middle East or Asia or where-ever?
Presidential issues are not the same as setting up a Swiss or Caymans bank account (I have been to both countries and researched the legal structure. I am very familiar with what people do there, having been there, seen that).
Presidential issues are vastly more complex than finding an offshore tax haven to cut your taxes to 13% while his secretary and horse trainer is paying twice as much as the boss. Not to mention Romney deducting $77,000 for horse expnses (got yours yet?) and shopping for a car elevator. He was born wealthy and never had to face the hard choice of either buying food or paying the rent, like President obama and many Americans know all too well. Romney doesn't know what it's like not to have health insurance; most American don't know what's its like o have a special tax dodge account in Switzerland.
Gov. Romney wants to be President of the USA but does not want Americans to see more than two years of his tax returns. The President has released over 8 years of his returns. Romney required each of his Vice President candidate to submit to him 10 years worth of tax returns! But he himself will release only 2 years of returns. Ummmm. Why? What's in there we shouldn't see?
Why should we trust someone so withholding of information he himself demands of others? The idea of a secretive President with offshore accounts he is not willing to tell Americans about, but demands 10 years of returns from others, should worry any American who doesn't have a Caymans bank account.
President Obama eliminated Osama bin laden by taking a chance on a mission that could have ruined his Presidency like President Carter's Iran attempt. Instead he played it smart and it worked. It was Obama's idea to have the extra helicopter on hand --the one that they needed when the first one crashed. He thinks ahead so things work. No voodoo economics.
Obama has eliminated more terrorists in four years than President Bush did in eight years. With my first-hand experience seeing the growth of China, India, Egypt, etc. the last 30 years, I firmly believe that President Obama is the best choice in 2012 and deserves the opportunity to finish cleaning up the giant mess handed to him not that long ago. Voters should also give him a Congress willing to work with him to make jobs grow faster, or vote them out!
Stalemate won't create jobs if the Eric Cantor's and Joe Walsh's or the "legitimate rape" Akin's get elected or re-elected and continue obstructing progress sought by the President to create jobs and advance the education needed for Americans to get their game on at this critical time. Obama got the equivalent of being the new Captain assigned to the Exxon Valdez just AFTER it had been piled on a reef by Bush and the GOP.
And after piling the ship up on the reef, the GOP who put it there fought the costs required to fix it -- even when the President adopted their own proposals, like providing vets with jobs!
Congress just bailed out of Washington for the elections next month, leaving farmers without a renewed farm aid bill, and nothing done. The Senate GOP PARTING SHOT VETOED A BILL THAT WOULD HAVE HELPED VETS GET JOBS.
The President is the only candidate who is supporting our farmers, our vets and their medical and job needs, our seniors and OUR Medicare system, our students who need Pell Grants, our green energy eonomy along with "all of the above" energy strategy. He is the only one with a global strategic plan that will boost opportunities for the vast majority of Americans.
As I see it, Obama represents 100% of Americans. He tried to work with Republicans and was stiff armed each time. Gov. Romney from his own words represents the 1%, who want to have more and let the 99% of us get less to pay for it. He wrote off 47% of Americans in his own words. He got it wrong about those AMericans- over 80% of that 47% are the elderly and poor working families. They aren't deadbeat takers. They have and are paying all kinds of taxes.
Gov. Romney, a has called for CUTS to education when we already rank 37th in math and science in the world. He wants to end incentives that have created a new green economy that is already producing the next "big thing" in America, thousands of jobs in wind and solar businesses - brand new energy savings and clean energy industries to name just two.
My green+security company for example both saves enough energy to pay for itself, while at the same time protect a building's weakest link, its windows, from breach by burglars, hurricane-force winds, triple digit heat and harmful UV. It's thrived during the "Great Recession" and has zero government contracts. Governor Romney would discourage the green economy and we'd lose those jobs to countries like China and India.
We've had several economic waves: the computer surge, then the Internet surge. Now its the Green Economy economic surge that will fuel untold numbers of new jobs if we elect a President who will let it happen. Otherwise we lose it to our global competitors if we don't nurture it like an industry in its infancy. Romney favors giving over $4 billion yearly tax subsidies to already profitable 100 year old oil companies.
That makes no sense. It's as if the buggy whip lobby got Congress to block the new "horseless carriage" (the car) that threatened the horse and buggy industry in 1900. If we had then what we have now, we'd still be riding horses instead of packing them under a V8.
Gov. Romney's economic plan would give the top 1% another tax cut that would generate an additional $5 Trillion in our national debt and wouldn't create a single job. It would only increase the debt and the economic pain while redistributing even more wealth from the middle class to the top 1%. Now only 20% control 80% of our economy under these bizarre tax schemes by millionaires for millionaires. We don't need more voodoo economics from Gov. Romney.
Romney's plans would not advance education (you don't advance it by cutting it) nor support public investment on our nations crumbling bridges and roads. Under Gov. Romney, Medicare benefits would be cut and become diminishing-in-value vouchers. Under the Romney-Ryan plan more of seniors medical costs would fall on the elderly whose incomes are fixed and need it the most. Insurance companies would benefit the most.
Under Romney, Germany would remain the No. 1 solar producing nation in the world - and cloudy Europe does not have the abundant year round sun of the American Southwest! With President Obama's foresight, we could be No. 1 - ad generate twice (or more) as much free solar energy as Germany, creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs in a new, clean 21st century industry that would move us closer to energy independence, domestically produced!
Last question voters need to ask:
WHICH CANDIDATE has the Best Strategy or America to win in the GLOBAL Economy coupled with a foreign policy that deals with global threats and builds on our global partnerships. Insulting our British allies over their Olympic preparations is not one of them.
In 2012 America needs a President with the best Agenda for American Greatness in a space age century where the winner has the greatest education system. The only candidate offering that is President Obama.
And even the President's plans could be more global and more strategic - like encouraging even greater Space exploration and projects to generate energy from space.
Stay tuned by subscribing or following for more Global AMerican Values updates.
To see how we got here and more importantly how we get out of our situation AND SOLUTIONS, check out "Agenda for American Greatness." It is based on the author's experience in nearly 50 countries (Fortune 500 to entrepreneur) and time as a terrorism analyst, detailed in "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" described more fully at:for
http://bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/
PASS IT ON...Every American needs to know this before Nov. 6...2012.
Election 2012...It's the GLOBAL Economy & Foreign Policy Stupid...
Election 2012: It's the GLOBAL Economic Policy of the Next President that is important to Americans --not just his proposed Domestic Economic policy.
Our future depends on it.The question for all American voters is HUGE: Which Presidential candidate's plans will best strategically advance America in this brave new world we find ourselves in?
Voters should be asking:"what will it take for our country to be successful in a 21st century high tech world economy in which over 40 nations have their own space programs and their students are better educated in math and science than our American children?
How will cutting education help us win this new battle for dominance in the world economy?
Today in America we have nearly 3 million OPEN, UNFILLED JOBS ready for the taking. These jobs pay $70,000 a year and more. Filling those jobs would cut today's unemployment rate from 8.1% to 6.1% OVERNIGHT. So WHY are those jobs still unfilled with so many people wanting a job?
One American company that needs people to fill some of these jobs requires all applicants to take a test to see if they qualify for training for one of these jobs, which involve running computerized equipment in manufacturing, etc.
90% of the American applicants taking the test fail! Only 10% do well enough for the company to give them the training for these $70,000+ jobs. Without Americans qualified to step into them they either remain empty -- or filled by a foreigner on a work visa or get shipped to people overseas who DO have those skills because Americans don't have the necessary skills. Which President will help Americans get that education? And training?
Chinese kids have those skills. Indian students have those skills. So either these jobs remain empty or the companies will farm them overseas unless we can improve our education and training to fill that gap with Americans.
In this inescapable, space age century, our kids must-compete-or-die on a high tech level with competitors worldwide, on technology that will increasingly become more complex, and will continue to be high tech, and even MORE high tech, forevermore -- or they will end up flipping burgers at minimum wage instead while the rest of the world passes us by. The choice is ours, and it depends on WHO voters elect as President in 2012. From my vantage of having been involved in global high tech business, traveling to nearly 50 countries and terrorism analyst who predicted 9/11 (its on youtube), here is how I see it:
President Obama has supported investing in education and advanced technology needed for America to stay competitive. He wants to invest in updating our infrastructure - like repairing the 144,000 derelict bridges in America before they fall into the rivers below them. That would create jobs! Every jobs bill Obama has proposed, the GOP has opposed, even when he was proposing one of THEIR original proposals! the insurance mandate was originally a Heritage Foundation idea. That is not an American value - to block jobs in the name of politics in the middle of the worse Recession in 70 years!
To his credit, President Obama who inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression and a $1.3 Trillion Annual baked-in Deficits his first day on the job! He has done a miracle job of saving our sinking ship on short notice and despite half the crew who refused to help fix the damage, the same one who put it up on the reef to begin with.
Despite their obstacles, the President has put us on a more sustainable path that does not penalize the 47% or the 99% in favor of the 1%. Gov. Romney's plans favor that top 1%. President Obama's represents all Americans as well as the majority who elected him.
Now the Economic Trend is UP! America is past the worst of the storm (save for any European Econmic meltdown). The President has generated more jobs in 4 years that were generated in the entire 8 years of the prior Bush administration.
Given another term, the president can finish the job and build and continue positioning America to win the 21st space age high tech global race.
To do THAT, Voters Also NEED TO GIVE THE PRESIDENT A CONGRESS that will HELP HIM INSTEAD OF OBSTRUCTING America's rebuilding. Tbe President needs a stronger Democrat Congress that share his vision and commitment to protect the Middle Class, people who believe our destiny and future are linked to our success in upgrading our education and training of all Americans in this global race of higher brain power and technology.
The President has done a tremendous job under the worst of economic and political conditions...
Brief History. Bush inherited a $300 Billion SURPLUS from Pres. Clinton. But Bush handed Obama a $1.3 TRILLION DEFICIT (plus another $6 TRILLION in new DEBT) on his 1st day on the job.
BIG Difference! (FACTS Count)/ Bush inherited cash-in-bank. Obama inherited $6 TRILLION in Bush IOUs and ZERO CASH and an economy bleeding 800,000 jobs a month his first days on the job when he took office.
From that Titanic wreck, Obama has created 4.5 Million jobs in the past months and the trend line has gone from negative to positive.
Don't mess with what's working people. Rome wasn't built in a day. A shipwreck isn't repaired overnight. After Pearl Harbor, it took years and both sides worked to do it.
Question for voters: Why would the GOP reject their own proposals once the President comes out in favor of it? Why have they BLOCKED ALL (not some) of the President's proposals? Why would they even delay normal bipartisan bills like the Transportation Bill that repairs our infrastructure and generates JOBS? The GOP sat on it for MONTHS, when people needed those jobs and the roads needed the work. Were they hoping that by blocking him things get worse so they can blame him for it.?
That's pretty non-American bad behavior when a lot of Americans are out of work and need a Congress helping a President who is working for them instead of playing political games. Obama had barely warmed his chair in the Oval Office when GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said: "Our only priority is to insure that he is a one-term President." Note that McConnell didn't say his No. 1 priority was helping unemployed Americans; it was obstructing a brand new President who didn't create the Fiscal Disaster he got from the Bush administration and the GOP Congress that created this mess and has not bargained in good faith since.
FACT: It normally takes 7 years to recover from an Economic Tsunami of that size. If it takes 8 years to mess it up it will take at least 8 years to fix the damage, so that is another reason Obama should be given a second term - there's more fixin' to do.
Despite the Tidal Wave of crap he inherited, President Obama has made great progress with the fiscal cliff cards he was dealt. He followed the FDR path -- not the President Hoover path where the 1% said: "You will get nothing and like it" and the voters swept out Hoover and swept in FDR who created jobs. Obama is today's closest thing to FDR in this election. FDR acted for the 99% of Americans and it worked.
From my global perspective over the past three decades, in my view President OBAMA has made strategically wise choices to set America on a path of economic sustainability and technology leadership needed for America to lead and succeed in this brave new world -- where we will soon see private companies mining asteroids and planning trips to Mars. China will have a new space station set up when our ISS, International Space Station, is ready for retirement. What then? Do nothing? Let them own the ultimate high ground? Not invest in the education and technology needed to maintain our economic lead in a global economic world never seen before?
I have a unique perspective by which to evaluate the President's performance. I grew up on a farm, so I know ordinary Americans go through, but ended up working for the Fortune 500 and being sent to over 30 countries in 5 years on negotiating contracts. After a lay off I became an entrepreneur and added another 15-20 countries on my own helping small American companies expand their sales of U.S. made products because every $1 billion in USA export is another 25,000 American jobs! I became a TV Terrorism Adviser on 9/11. Before that I was a TV Mideast expert during the first Gulf War in 1991. I have seen China and India evolve over three decades from nothing to cocolossal economic powers.
In my opinion, based on my global knowledge of technology and markets in over 50 countries, the one candidate that I trust to deal with all of these issues facing America and the 3 a.m. calls a President gets is... President Obama.
Unfortunately, Romney has been a constant diplomatic train wreck even on friendly territory. America cannot afford screwing up tougher issues than offending our long term British allies during the Olympics. Romney's reaction to Libya shows that he is an amateur in international affairs -- other than hiding money in offshore tax havens to dodge taxes. How does hiding money overseas equate with knowing how to deal with the next event in the Middle East or Asia or where-ever?
Presidential issues are not the same as setting up a Swiss or Caymans bank account (I have been to both countries and researched the legal structure. I am very familiar with what people do there, having been there, seen that).
Presidential issues are vastly more complex than finding an offshore tax haven to cut your taxes to 13% while his secretary and horse trainer is paying twice as much as the boss. Not to mention Romney deducting $77,000 for horse expnses (got yours yet?) and shopping for a car elevator. He was born wealthy and never had to face the hard choice of either buying food or paying the rent, like President obama and many Americans know all too well. Romney doesn't know what it's like not to have health insurance; most American don't know what's its like o have a special tax dodge account in Switzerland.
Gov. Romney wants to be President of the USA but does not want Americans to see more than two years of his tax returns. The President has released over 8 years of his returns. Romney required each of his Vice President candidate to submit to him 10 years worth of tax returns! But he himself will release only 2 years of returns. Ummmm. Why? What's in there we shouldn't see?
Why should we trust someone so withholding of information he himself demands of others? The idea of a secretive President with offshore accounts he is not willing to tell Americans about, but demands 10 years of returns from others, should worry any American who doesn't have a Caymans bank account.
President Obama eliminated Osama bin laden by taking a chance on a mission that could have ruined his Presidency like President Carter's Iran attempt. Instead he played it smart and it worked. It was Obama's idea to have the extra helicopter on hand --the one that they needed when the first one crashed. He thinks ahead so things work. No voodoo economics.
Obama has eliminated more terrorists in four years than President Bush did in eight years. With my first-hand experience seeing the growth of China, India, Egypt, etc. the last 30 years, I firmly believe that President Obama is the best choice in 2012 and deserves the opportunity to finish cleaning up the giant mess handed to him not that long ago. Voters should also give him a Congress willing to work with him to make jobs grow faster, or vote them out!
Stalemate won't create jobs if the Eric Cantor's and Joe Walsh's or the "legitimate rape" Akin's get elected or re-elected and continue obstructing progress sought by the President to create jobs and advance the education needed for Americans to get their game on at this critical time. Obama got the equivalent of being the new Captain assigned to the Exxon Valdez just AFTER it had been piled on a reef by Bush and the GOP.
And after piling the ship up on the reef, the GOP who put it there fought the costs required to fix it -- even when the President adopted their own proposals, like providing vets with jobs!
Congress just bailed out of Washington for the elections next month, leaving farmers without a renewed farm aid bill, and nothing done. The Senate GOP PARTING SHOT VETOED A BILL THAT WOULD HAVE HELPED VETS GET JOBS.
The President is the only candidate who is supporting our farmers, our vets and their medical and job needs, our seniors and OUR Medicare system, our students who need Pell Grants, our green energy eonomy along with "all of the above" energy strategy. He is the only one with a global strategic plan that will boost opportunities for the vast majority of Americans.
As I see it, Obama represents 100% of Americans. He tried to work with Republicans and was stiff armed each time. Gov. Romney from his own words represents the 1%, who want to have more and let the 99% of us get less to pay for it. He wrote off 47% of Americans in his own words. He got it wrong about those AMericans- over 80% of that 47% are the elderly and poor working families. They aren't deadbeat takers. They have and are paying all kinds of taxes.
Gov. Romney, a has called for CUTS to education when we already rank 37th in math and science in the world. He wants to end incentives that have created a new green economy that is already producing the next "big thing" in America, thousands of jobs in wind and solar businesses - brand new energy savings and clean energy industries to name just two.
My green+security company for example both saves enough energy to pay for itself, while at the same time protect a building's weakest link, its windows, from breach by burglars, hurricane-force winds, triple digit heat and harmful UV. It's thrived during the "Great Recession" and has zero government contracts. Governor Romney would discourage the green economy and we'd lose those jobs to countries like China and India.
We've had several economic waves: the computer surge, then the Internet surge. Now its the Green Economy economic surge that will fuel untold numbers of new jobs if we elect a President who will let it happen. Otherwise we lose it to our global competitors if we don't nurture it like an industry in its infancy. Romney favors giving over $4 billion yearly tax subsidies to already profitable 100 year old oil companies.
That makes no sense. It's as if the buggy whip lobby got Congress to block the new "horseless carriage" (the car) that threatened the horse and buggy industry in 1900. If we had then what we have now, we'd still be riding horses instead of packing them under a V8.
Gov. Romney's economic plan would give the top 1% another tax cut that would generate an additional $5 Trillion in our national debt and wouldn't create a single job. It would only increase the debt and the economic pain while redistributing even more wealth from the middle class to the top 1%. Now only 20% control 80% of our economy under these bizarre tax schemes by millionaires for millionaires. We don't need more voodoo economics from Gov. Romney.
Romney's plans would not advance education (you don't advance it by cutting it) nor support public investment on our nations crumbling bridges and roads. Under Gov. Romney, Medicare benefits would be cut and become diminishing-in-value vouchers. Under the Romney-Ryan plan more of seniors medical costs would fall on the elderly whose incomes are fixed and need it the most. Insurance companies would benefit the most.
Under Romney, Germany would remain the No. 1 solar producing nation in the world - and cloudy Europe does not have the abundant year round sun of the American Southwest! With President Obama's foresight, we could be No. 1 - ad generate twice (or more) as much free solar energy as Germany, creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs in a new, clean 21st century industry that would move us closer to energy independence, domestically produced!
Last question voters need to ask:
WHICH CANDIDATE has the Best Strategy or America to win in the GLOBAL Economy coupled with a foreign policy that deals with global threats and builds on our global partnerships. Insulting our British allies over their Olympic preparations is not one of them.
In 2012 America needs a President with the best Agenda for American Greatness in a space age century where the winner has the greatest education system. The only candidate offering that is President Obama.
And even the President's plans could be more global and more strategic - like encouraging even greater Space exploration and projects to generate energy from space.
Stay tuned by subscribing or following for more Global AMerican Values updates.
To see how we got here and more importantly how we get out of our situation AND SOLUTIONS, check out "Agenda for American Greatness." It is based on the author's experience in nearly 50 countries (Fortune 500 to entrepreneur) and time as a terrorism analyst, detailed in "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" described more fully at:for
http://bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/
PASS IT ON...Every American needs to know this before Nov. 6...2012.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Sunday's are great quiet days. What Really Counts...
Sunday's are great quiet days.
We need quiet time for finding that one piece of paper the CPA wants -and its hiding in one of several piles of papers that manage to build up before you know it. That means I will finally get it all organized for the next time I have to do this. LOL.
Next week is the Sales Tax filing date - but waiting to a busy week starts is asking for stress no one needs. So I spent the quiet moments today doing great world things, like Calculating the sales tax OWED from last month. To do that the bookkeeper (also me) has to log sales into Quickbooks - and wondering if the computer really calculated it RIGHT, so I ended up cross checking it manually against invoices. Worse thing you can do is either underpay or overpay what's due..
While we are saving the world and making the best witty point, we still need to take a timeout for the details that need to be done - that is not limited to doing our bookkeeping but includes a meal with a child or listening to the concerns of a good friend, going for a walk, having a little harmless fun.
I see quotes all the time about this God and that God etc. on Facebook. Some of the same people posting these wonderful and often obtuse statements are also adamantly OPPOSED to American citizens getting better Healthcare!
I don't think God or Jesus or Muhammad or Buddha would be amused by those attitudes. I don't recall Jesus favoring tax cuts for the rich paid by the rest of us, or the least among us."
What really counts is what we DO to help our fellow man and woman kind, globally. We can start by stop being so ignorant of each others religion and culture. I have been in nearly 50 countries, starting as a young negotiator, and discovered that all nations and cultures have much in common.
The problem is that few of us know how much we have in common (other than people like me who have spent real time meeting people worldwide over decades). Why? Because most Americans haven't (yet) been "over there."
People should go over and see for themselves -- or listen to someone who has credible experience across Europe, China, India, Brazil, etc.because only someone with that experience over time truly knows how America stacks up against each.
Listening to someone who hasn't "been there, done that" is the "blind following the blind." After 50 countries the past 30 or so years I went to Norway for the first time last year. Despite even my global experience, I found I had no idea what it was really like -- until I went there. Books alone are not enlightening. Meeting people is. Americans need to know this in the global economy.
Following a Rush Limbaugh or Glen Beck who doesn't have that knowledge is fatal to America's future because such people are truly CLUELESS how we win a global economic high tech 21st century where our strength will depend on growing global business not war. Business generates profits and jobs, war only generates COSTS and death. Haven't we learned that the past decade in Iraq and Afghanistan?
You can get a good look into these countries in my journal "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" that took me to 30 countries for the Fortune 500 - before getting laid off and what I learned to do to survive. It is a model for what is happening today. While millions go through the agony of what I see firsthand in the Texas Bust of the 80's, I am founder of a thriving green company that is saving money for people and protecting them from breakins, hurricanes and triple digit heat - with a "carbon negative" technology that was put on the pentagon and federal buildings after 9/11.
At the end of "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" (the question mark is whether or not we fool ourselves and make the wrong choices) I have produced a blueprint for America's success in the future. TO understand it, you also have to understand HOW we got into the mess we are today, and HOW we get out.
It's in "Agenda for American Greatness" now updated and available FREE at:
http://bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/Agenda_for_USA_Greatness.html
Read it and THINK. In October 2012 I was return to China - and report how far it has come since my first trip there in 1982 - 30 years ago - as one of the first Americans to enter this formerly closed country after President Nixon established relations with this rapidly developing colossus of the 21st Century...
Here is a photo of traffic when I was there in 1982 (behind me) and a shot of Beijing traffic 2012
Stay tuned for updates by "Subscribing" or "Following"..
We need quiet time for finding that one piece of paper the CPA wants -and its hiding in one of several piles of papers that manage to build up before you know it. That means I will finally get it all organized for the next time I have to do this. LOL.
Next week is the Sales Tax filing date - but waiting to a busy week starts is asking for stress no one needs. So I spent the quiet moments today doing great world things, like Calculating the sales tax OWED from last month. To do that the bookkeeper (also me) has to log sales into Quickbooks - and wondering if the computer really calculated it RIGHT, so I ended up cross checking it manually against invoices. Worse thing you can do is either underpay or overpay what's due..
While we are saving the world and making the best witty point, we still need to take a timeout for the details that need to be done - that is not limited to doing our bookkeeping but includes a meal with a child or listening to the concerns of a good friend, going for a walk, having a little harmless fun.
I see quotes all the time about this God and that God etc. on Facebook. Some of the same people posting these wonderful and often obtuse statements are also adamantly OPPOSED to American citizens getting better Healthcare!
I don't think God or Jesus or Muhammad or Buddha would be amused by those attitudes. I don't recall Jesus favoring tax cuts for the rich paid by the rest of us, or the least among us."
What really counts is what we DO to help our fellow man and woman kind, globally. We can start by stop being so ignorant of each others religion and culture. I have been in nearly 50 countries, starting as a young negotiator, and discovered that all nations and cultures have much in common.
The problem is that few of us know how much we have in common (other than people like me who have spent real time meeting people worldwide over decades). Why? Because most Americans haven't (yet) been "over there."
People should go over and see for themselves -- or listen to someone who has credible experience across Europe, China, India, Brazil, etc.because only someone with that experience over time truly knows how America stacks up against each.
Listening to someone who hasn't "been there, done that" is the "blind following the blind." After 50 countries the past 30 or so years I went to Norway for the first time last year. Despite even my global experience, I found I had no idea what it was really like -- until I went there. Books alone are not enlightening. Meeting people is. Americans need to know this in the global economy.
Following a Rush Limbaugh or Glen Beck who doesn't have that knowledge is fatal to America's future because such people are truly CLUELESS how we win a global economic high tech 21st century where our strength will depend on growing global business not war. Business generates profits and jobs, war only generates COSTS and death. Haven't we learned that the past decade in Iraq and Afghanistan?
You can get a good look into these countries in my journal "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" that took me to 30 countries for the Fortune 500 - before getting laid off and what I learned to do to survive. It is a model for what is happening today. While millions go through the agony of what I see firsthand in the Texas Bust of the 80's, I am founder of a thriving green company that is saving money for people and protecting them from breakins, hurricanes and triple digit heat - with a "carbon negative" technology that was put on the pentagon and federal buildings after 9/11.
At the end of "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" (the question mark is whether or not we fool ourselves and make the wrong choices) I have produced a blueprint for America's success in the future. TO understand it, you also have to understand HOW we got into the mess we are today, and HOW we get out.
It's in "Agenda for American Greatness" now updated and available FREE at:
http://bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/Agenda_for_USA_Greatness.html
Read it and THINK. In October 2012 I was return to China - and report how far it has come since my first trip there in 1982 - 30 years ago - as one of the first Americans to enter this formerly closed country after President Nixon established relations with this rapidly developing colossus of the 21st Century...
Here is a photo of traffic when I was there in 1982 (behind me) and a shot of Beijing traffic 2012
Stay tuned for updates by "Subscribing" or "Following"..
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Shouting "FIRE!" in Global Theater - Caused Death of US Ambassador - First in over 30 years
A false video version of "FIRE!" has just happened on a GLOBAL scale, caused by a racist film that Hillary Clinton called "deeply cynical and false." It was deliberately designed to incite violence by Muslims, using false facts about the Prophet Muhammad. It worked. We have entered a dangerous new era where technology and ignorance can get other Americans harmed or killed in other parts of the world.
That doesn't justify the killings, but in the YouTube Internet age it is now possible for a tiny number of people to manipulate events and make false claims designed to cause great harm to innocent people. In this case American extremists sparked anger that resulted in the deaths of our own diplomats.
This is the first time a U.S. diplomat has been killed in over 30 years. 1979 was the last time - a time when I was traveling the world for the Fortune 500 on international negotiations (including the Middle East).
We could see more of this disturbing trend by our own "Christian" extremists (think Terry Jones) spreading hate speech via the Internet, which Islamic extremists can use to stoke anger by "small, savage groups" (as Hillary Clinton called them) in unstable places like Egypt and Libya. It becomes a vicious cycle and threatens ordinary Americans and others worldwide.
Riots as a result of this twisted movie have spread from Libya to Egypt in the Middle East to Indonesia to Malaysia - provoking anger and riots in Muslim countries far outside the Middle East. There are over 1 billion Muslims in the world.
I have been in nearly 50 countries, including the Middle East. I have been in Cairo. I was there when President Carter took over my hotel for the first ever peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979. I have been a TV terrorism adviser since 1991 and again on/after 9/11. I can tell Americans this FACT.
People in Arab countries are used to a system where NOTHING happens without GOVERNMENT APPROVAL (all MEN). So, they would naturally assume anything coming from the Unites States is with GOVERNMENT APPROVAL.That's why the people vented their anger at our diplomats. Little do they know how little our government controls when it comes to speech even when its false.
Being provocative may be protected speech in the United States, but it has deadly consequences in other parts of the world. Christian extremism, combined with the Muslim extremist reaction it was intended to provoke, resulted in the death one of our best Ambassadors, Chris Stevens, and three other Americans in Libya. Stevens loved Libya. He was a career guy who showed up on a ship during the revolution and helped Libyans get free from dictator Gaddafi, the terrorist who ruled Libya for 42 years and bombed American Pan AM 103 in 1988, killing 270 people. Gaddafi had murdered untold numbers of his own citizens.
Imagine if someone had done a video of Jesus committing rape or having sex. Christians would be outraged.Why would Muslims not be upset by a false portrayal of Muhammad as Christians would be of a false portrayal of Jesus? Just because Episcopalians don't burn buildings or kill Ambassadors because Jesus was shown having sex with women, don't expect poor Arab workers to be as sophisticated and emotionally controlled.
Video fraud and twisted reality by American extremists can be deadly globally for our own fellow Americans who are doing good things in the world. With YouTube, the extremists on each side can "troll" for an outrageous video to incite their own people. In a way, each extremist camp, Christian and Muslim, can "feed" on each other for their own twisted purposes of generating hate and anger. God would not be pleased with either.
Ordinary Libyans are as shocked as Americans are. The Libyan President apologized and four suspects have been arrested. (The Egyptian President has hedged, and that is a problem, but that's a topic for another day.) The damage is done from ONE hate speech video put on YouTube which goes "Viral" globally with tragic consequences.
Solution? Showing disrespect is the root cause of the problem, along with a lack of personal responsibility for the consequences of "anything goes" speech.
It's time we got back to Interfaith dialogue between Muslims, Christians and Jews and showing respect - a tall order when ignorance and false facts rule the day.
In the high-tech, global 21st century, now ONE VIDEO has the ability to CAUSE DEADLY CONSEQUENCES TO AMERICANS, GLOBALLY.
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For background info and story, plus Free "Agenda for American Greatness" for Election 2012, etc go to:
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Tuesday, September 11, 2012
What I did on 9/11 11 years ago
We were that close to Osama taking out our entire government!
I was there for a reason - I had been in the same studio ten years before --in 1991-- during the first Gulf War with Saddam Hussein. Why? Because I had been laid off and was writing a "fiction" book about a flash war in the Middle East involving Iraq - and the second part of my book involved a terror attack on the United States! I had traveled to the Middle East on business for Fortune 500 companies.
I had appeared on the same Houston TV station in 1991 during the first Gulf War as their "Middle East Expert" talking about a "fiction" book I'd written about a flash war in Iraq and a terror attack on the USA. That "fiction" story became fact within two years - first Saddam invaded Kuwait and second, in 1993, was the first bombing of the WTC. That was the prelude to 9/11. The above link is to one of short TV videos made in 1991.
From early that morning 11years ago to the 9 o'clock news that night (when the top photo was taken), I was sitting in the studio, and like all Americans I was SHOCKED that it had happened on such a large scale. It became clear later that it was an act carried out by AL Qaida under Osama bin laden - NOT Saddam Hussein as I had first assumed on that confusing, chaotic day.
9/11 was our generation's "Pearl Harbor." It was our wake up call. The CIA warnings were there, but the Bush administration didn't pay attention. No one did.
No one listened to a video I made in 1994 with a weapons expert from the Reagan administration in which I raised the possibility of a terror attack on the U.S. (at the link). No one cared when I gave copies of that video to then Majority Whip Tom DeLay and sent one to Dick Cheney, 9 months before 9/11.
In another TV interview in 2003, right after the capture of Saddam Hussein, I was asked "Where the war on terrorism would go from here?" In this video, I talk about the need to shift the focus BACK TO OSAMA BIN LADEN. That didn't happen until President Obama came into office, and gave the order that finally resulted in the death of America's No. 1 Public Enemy. Killing bin laden was the equivalent of the American pilots who intercepted the plane of Admiral Yamamoto, who led the fleet attack on Pearl Harbor, and shot it down.
Let us not forget those who died on 9/11. Let us now forget that we must stay involved with what is going on around us in the world, or pay a huge price when we ignore the warning signs, just like we did before Pearl Harbor.
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So on this 9/11, we should also ask ourselves "WHERE do we go from here?"
That's in "Agenda for American Greatness" the (free at the link) final chapter of my ebook "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" my story about reinventing yourself after a lay off, which is what many Americans face today. That lay off led to writing the book that predicted 9/11, so you never know how a dead end can lead to enlightenment.
Details at: www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com
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