Why Can’t We All Get Along!

I am so tired of seeing Facebook posts of those that feel obligated to slam Islam or Muslims in general or immigrants to the US whether legal or illegal.

There have been some horrible things done by People of other cultures and I will fully admit that but these people that seem to believe it is perpetrated by the majority of those folks are so very wrong.

I personally am not alarmed by whatever your religious affiliation is. You are welcome in my house. You may be Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Shinto, Taoist, Christian, or whatever faith I have missed. I may not be familiar fully with your beliefs but I know that there is no religion out there that is truly looking for the eradication of the rest of the world that is not the same religion.

Many people in the US complain and go after Muslims while Christians historically have been some of the most violent people in history. We have the the unfortunate obligation of being responsible for the Crusades and the Inquisition.

Christianity as a whole has probably been responsible for more death and violence over the course of history than anyone else.

Anyone in this world, regardless of their religion, is welcome in my house. Although in todays economy I will be rather hard pressed to provide anything more than basic necessities.

Never fear me. I am the most tolerant person that anyone will ever meet.

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Are the European Elections Telling the Rest of the World Something?

I believe that the elections are absolutely sending a message. I believe they are. The election results show that enough people are fed up with the way things are going and are willing to change the type of leadership they have in some cases rather dramatically.

People want some very dramatic change that will help the common folk as quickly as help was given to the financial sector.

I am not at all advocating a Socialist government. I am however, strongly advocating for a change in the type of Capitalism we practice.

What we need is a retreat back to Stakeholder Capitalism where company decisions took into account everyone involved. Vendors, neighbors, customers, employees and shareholders were all considered in the decision making process and in so doing very powerful and strong decisions were made that would keep a company growing and increasing in abilities and stature for years and years to come. This is the advantage of stakeholder capitalism.

Shareholder capitalism on the other makes decisions based almost solely on the wants of the the shareholders. The shareholders, who are risking their money and absolutely deserve to have good decisions made, are nowadays only interested in how much a return can be made in the shortest time. The problem with that is that it really allows no long term planning to occur since the vast majority of the profits go right to the stockholders. This is also the reason for astronomical CEO pay that is seen because the stockholders vote in the board of directors and the goal of the board of directors is of course to stay in that position so their duty in today’s world lies almost completely to the stockholder.

I am not sure that many people have even heard of these two types of capitalism but it would truly make for a far more equitable world while still allowing the wealthy to increase their wealth to a great extent.

It would also allow the less wealthy to move into an area of somewhat more wealth that may give those who have been working hard all their lives to actually retire. As things are going now I will likely die on the job at some point, hopefully far in the future, but unless things change I will never be able to retire. I will work until the day I die.

I am also not advocating that we give high salaries to those that are not doing a job that is good enough to warrant it but we have people that have been doing their jobs for years and have become better and better at it but are making less in real terms than they were 15 or 20 years ago and I find that to be incredibly sad.

Technorati Tags: company decisions,ceo pay,socialist government,dramatic change,sending a message,financial sector,stockholder,capitalism,stockholders,stature,shareholders,election results,shareholder,board of directors,neighbors,profits,extent,decision making process,leadership,elections

Does Anyone Understand Riots?

There seems to be a common theme all over the world when unrest starts to foment. In Greece right now there are terrible riots going on and we have had out share in the past, and with the economy as it is we may see more(I hope not).

I don’t seem to grasp the mindset of those that are rioting. Let me see if I can get this straight. I am unhappy with something going on. I am going to make sure everyone knows how unhappy I am. I know. I will destroy my own neighborhood. That’ll show them.

The next day you will have weeping and wailing from everyone in the area. Some of it totally justified but inevitably some of those doing the weeping and wailing will turn out to have been part of the most egregious damage that was done. Does anyone understand this at all?

I guess we are all more alike through the world than we would like to believe.

Technorati Tags: Riots,theme,unrest,Greece,mindset,area

Smart Shopping In a Poor Economy

With the economy in the state that it is in it is wise to make use of anything at all that can help you save money and get value for the money you do spend. There are many sites claiming to help but I found one that is actually useful.

Become is an excellent site for researching a product and comparing prices.

Suppose you were looking for a white wooden lamp base. You find a substantial selection of them and are able to see prices from several retailers.

Say you want a lap desk with storage compartment or a lightweight duvet cover. Again you find a good selection and are able to compare prices.

There are many online shopping options but I believe that Become is definitely a good one because it does give you the ability to compare prices and information from a number of suppliers so you can make an intelligent decision about what you want to spend your hard earned money on.

Technorati Tags: Smart,Economy,money,Become,product,lamp,selection,retailers,desk,storage,compartment,duvet,information,suppliers,decision

The Arrogance of Power

For those that dislike the US Congress please remember that we are not alone in the world with politicians that are really only interested in consolidating and maintaining their power base.

I agree with you 100% about the congress. They just keep on doing what they are doing despite the fact that only about 11% of the country thinks they are doing a good job.

Other places have their issues as well. In Russia Vladimir Putin has been quoted as stating that he believes that the old Soviet Union should be put back together which would fix things in that country. Oh for the good old days of the Cold War.

In Syria the government has been firing on its own citizens when they protest. They then deny it vehemently even when presented with pictures and videos showing it happening.

Never forget that it could always be worse. That being said, Congress is absolutely doing a horrible job. A number of Congressional Leaders have publicly stated that their job is to make sure that President Obama is a one term president.

Come election day 2012 please make sure you all remember that in order for us to move ahead and bring prosperity back to the ones that have lost it and to finally let those that never had it to enjoy it, we need to vote out the whole kit and caboodle of them and bring in all new.

Remember that we have that option. As arrogant and self righteous as our politicians are, I can not see them sic'ing the military on on the public as has been done elsewhere.

We badly need to move forward and fix the mess that we are in as soon as we can but keeping everyone in office will just maintain the status quo we will have the same issues after the election.

 

Technorati Tags: Politics,protests,Syria,Putin,Congressional,prosperity

The Danger of Iran

I am actually a bit frightened right now because I actually agree with Michelle Bachmann about something. She lambasted Ron Paul over his views on Iran and as much as I don’t want to, I agree with her.

Ron Paul’s isolationist stance is a very dangerous view of the world. The idea that we will be perfectly safe if we just ignore the rest of the world shows a Foreign Policy naivety of the average 3 year old playing peek-a-boo believing that hiding his or her face means they become invisible.

Martin Niemöller is credited with the following quote that shows the dangers of only looking out for yourself and I have no doubts that Congressman Paul is fully aware of this quote which makes it even worse because he knows better.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

I am frightened about agreeing with Michelle Bachmann because she is, in my opinion, completely incapable of speaking in public without screwing up big time. She does not seem to be aware that when you are stating what you mean that the words that come out of your mouth need to be defined the way you mean it.

Blurting stuff out when you are speaking with a foreign ruler or diplomat is dangerous because you can go back and tell them what you meant to say but the damage will already be done because they will have their own people with them giving real time interpretation from English to whatever language they speak. Even if they speak English care is still needed because from the perspective of work meanings and pronunciation, English is an incredibly difficult language.

Congressman Paul and Congresswoman Bachmann please for the love of everything, give it up and let someone with common sense (assuming we can find that in a politician) take over and run this ship.

 

Technorati Tags: Politics,Foreign Policy,Ron Paul,Michelle Bachmann,Isolationism

A Little Common Sense Goes a Long Way!

I am very happy for the parents of the students released in Egypt and flying home and I am very glad they appear to be unharmed. My question is why were they there in the first place?

No doubt we will hear things about learning tolerance through experiencing foreign cultures and other such niceties. I am all for that and I agree 100% that it is a great experience for young people and really, for everyone. My problem is the timing. I do not recall hearing anything about student trips abroad to places like the Ia Drang Valley or the villages around Khe Son in Vietnam in the 60s. They had common sense and knew to keep their kids out of harms way.

If the students were there when the original protests took place they should have been pulled out of school and flown home immediately. If they just recently went over there then their parents are incredibly naïve or stupid for not waiting for things to settle down completely.

I truly hope to some day be able to travel to Egypt but I will be traveling there when the chance of protests with people number in the 10s of thousands has gone away and things are relatively peaceful. Until there is a stable government to replace Mubarak then it is foolish to travel there for anything other than your job.

Technorati Tags: Egypt,protests,detained students