Clever tech-savvy Mom manages kids

This is how I feel when Lynda shops.

Politics of Envy

“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. 
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. 
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.”
― Abraham Lincoln

How to cheat the system

VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHY: Electric-lighted berth on a deluxe overland limite...

VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHY: Electric-lighted berth on a deluxe overland limite...: via

“The Milky Way Galaxy is one of billions, perhaps hundreds of billions of galaxies notable neither in mass nor in brightness nor in how its stars are configured and arrayed. Some modern deep sky photographs show more galaxies beyond the Milky Way than stars within the Milky Way. Every one of them is an island universe containing perhaps a hundred billion suns. Such an image is a profound sermon on humility.”

—	Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, New York: Random House, 1994, p. 21. (full text online)

The Americans With No Abilities Act (ANAA)

President Barack Obama and the Democratic Senate are considering
sweeping legislation that will provide new benefits for many more Americans. The Americans With No Abilities Act is being hailed as a major legislative goal by advocates of the millions of Americans who lack any real skills or ambition.

"Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in society," said California Sen. Barbara Boxer. "We can no longer stand by and allow People of Inability (POI) to be ridiculed and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be able to grant special favors to a small group of workers, simply because they have some idea of what they are doing."

In a Capitol Hill press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pointed to the success of the U.S. Postal Service, which has a long-standing policy of providing opportunity without regard to performance. At the state government level, the Department of Motor Vehicles also has an excellent record
of hiring Persons with No Ability (63 percent).

Under the Americans With No Abilities Act, more than 25 million mid-level positions will be created, with important-sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance.

Mandatory non-performance-based raises and promotions will be given to guarantee upward mobility for even the most unremarkable employees. The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to corporations that promote a significant number of Persons of Inability (POI) into middle-management positions, and give a tax credit to small and medium-sized businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for every two talented hires.

Finally, the Americans With No Abilities Act contains tough new measures to make it more difficult to discriminate against the non-abled, banning, for example, discriminatory interview questions such as, "Do you have any skills or experience that relate to this job?"

"As a non-abled person, I can't be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them," said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, Mich., due to her inability to remember righty tighty, lefty loosey. "This new law should be real good for people like me. I'll finally have
job security." With the passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other untalented citizens will finally see a light at the end
of the tunnel.

Said Sen. Dick Durbin,II: "As a senator with no abilities, I believe the same privileges that elected officials enjoy ought to be extended to every American with no abilities. It is our duty as lawmakers to provide each and every American citizen, regardless of his or her inadequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great
nation and a good salary for doing so." 

This message was approved by Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama.

 

Socialism and Populism failing Economics 101

President Nicolás Maduro ordered managers of electronics chain Daka to lower prices or face prosecution.

(Photo: Girish Gupta for USA TODAY)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The assault against business comes amid a severe shortage of basic goods and extreme inflation
• Televisions were the most in-demand item
• President Maduro's popularity has dropped significantly in recent months

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro intensified his perceived fight Monday against "bourgeois parasites" he accuses of an economic war against the socialist country by threatening to force more stores to sell their merchandise at cut-rate prices.

National guardsmen, some of whom had assault rifles, were positioned around outlets of an electronics chain that Maduro has ordered to lower prices or face prosecution. Thousands of people lined up at the Daka stores hoping for a bargain after the government forced the companies to charge "fair" prices.

"I want a Sony plasma television for the house," said Amanda Lisboa, 34, a business administrator who waited seven hours outside a Caracas Daka store, similar to Best Buy. "It's going to be so cheap!"

Five managers of electronic retailers including Daka are being threatened with prosecution for unjustifiable price hikes, the Venezuela government said. More stores may be at risk, as well. Government inspectors were dispatched to check prices at an array of other businesses.

"This is for the good of the nation," Maduro said, referring to the military's occupation of Daka. "Leave nothing on the shelves, nothing in the warehouses … Let nothing remain in stock!"

Maduro said his seizures are the "tip of the iceberg" and that other stores would be next if they did not comply with his orders. Maduro is expected to win decree powers in Congress in the coming days that he says will be used to take over more businesses.

The assault against business comes amid a severe shortage of basic goods and extreme inflation, which is currently at an annual rate of 54.3%. Both are tied to policies of the government, which is boosting public spending and printing money in record amounts to pay for it.

Venezuela's central bank said the country's money supply grew 70% in the past year. As a result, the value of the Venezuela bolivar continues to drop at a time when the country must import increasing amounts of basics like food and even toilet paper due to failed state schemes for running the economy.

For Venezuelans, it costs more bolivars every week to buy from stores that must pay the foreign producers of goods they order in hard currency like U.S. dollars. But Maduro blames it on greedy business and his opponents here and abroad.

Hebert García Plaza, head of the High Commission for the People's Defense of the Economy, said a new washer/dryer cost 39,000 bolivars on Nov. 1, and went up to 59,000 bolivars a week later. According to the exchange rate set by the government, that is the equivalent of a washer-dryer going from $6,190 to $9,365.

But that math is distorted because the state's official exchange rate is set artificially far lower than what people get for their bolivars on the black market. In that case the washer/dryer cost $650 on Nov. 1.

Also, Venezuela's policy of restricting the reasons for which people can exchange bolivars legally has raised the exchange rate on the black market, making dollars more expensive for retailers and thus raising the cost of the goods they import.

Importers complain that there is such a shortage of dollars they are having to buy them on the black market to import inventory at a good price. If they were to charge clients based on obtaining the dollars at the official rate, they say they would make no profit.

Maduro's government has brushed aside such complaints and is trying to put an end to black market currency exchanges. The government banned websites that publish the black market dollar rate, a strategy that one prominent Venezuela blogger likened to banning the sale of thermometers to crack down on cold weather.

Nonetheless, many Venezuelans lined up for the reduced-price goods. Televisions were the most in-demand item in the line outside Daka. Also sought were refrigerators, washing machines, sewing machines and other imported appliances.

Water and snacks were being sold outside the stores by Venezuelans keen to profit from the commotion. Happy customers emerged carrying large-screen televisions and other items back to their cars.

"I would bet that the next thing to disappear from shelves are televisions," said Alberto Ramos, an analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York. "What the government is doing is aggravating the picture. There is no economic justification for this."

The government said that five people had been arrested in the country's central city of Valencia for looting. Even Venezuelans who knew the policy was unsustainable were in line for a good deal.

"I have no love for this government," said Gabriela Campo, 33, a businesswoman hoping to take home a cut-price television and fridge. "They're doing this for nothing but political reasons, in time for December's elections."

Maduro has been taking dramatic measures up to the approach of municipal elections on Dec. 8. His popularity has dropped significantly in recent months, according to some independent media polls.

Ramos and most analysts are expecting a devaluation soon after the election, likely leading to even higher inflation. This is not the first time Venezuelans have seen their government steal company assets in times of trouble.

Former president Hugo Chávez often theatrically expropriated or seized assets from more than 1,000 companies during his 14-year tenure. This, among other difficulties for foreign firms, led to a severe drop in foreign investment in the country that has hobbled its ability to produce oil despite having the world's largest estimated oil reserves.

"This is more like government-sanctioned looting," said Caracas-based engineer Carlos Rivero, 42. "What stops them going into pharmacies, supermarkets and shopping malls?"

Bill's comment: History repeats. This approach to economics and governance has failed repeatedly in third world countries. 

Update: NY Post 27Nov13

Venezuela is in a death spiral that could produce a crisis for the United States. Economic collapse, incompetent leadership and Cuban meddling may provoke a showdown among well-armed chavista rivals, with civilians caught in the crossfire. US diplomats, who’ve spent years ignoring or minimizing threats emanating from Venezuela, must act urgently to prevent a Syria scenario on our doorstep.

The late dictator Hugo Chávez left behind a mess: His divisive, illegitimate regime polarized society and devastated the economy. Inflation is running at 50 percent, while the vital oil sector is faltering. The bloated, bankrupt state can’t sustain the social spending that kept the peace; the nation already faces food shortages, power outages and rampant crime.

Chávez’s hapless successor, Nicolás Maduro, won disputed elections in April in what even he called a “Pyrrhic victory.” His mismanagement since has only hastened the country’s decline — for example, dealing with toilet-paper shortages by confiscating paper companies.

Maduro has resorted to accusing the Obama White House of plotting the collapse of the Venezuelan economy. He’s also created a “vice ministry of supreme social happiness” in an Orwellian gesture to tamp down widespread social anxiety. He even moved up Christmas celebrations up in advance of the Dec. 8 local elections.

Last week, Maduro publicly ordered retailers to lower prices on consumer goods. Security forces arrested dozens of shopkeepers and stood by as mobs emptied store shelves. Good luck seeing those shelves restocked. As he further tightens economic controls, Venezuelans will have to settle for what the government provides. Their only other choices: Flee the country, turn to crime — or oppose the regime.

Maduro is most worried about the last. He recently ordered the detention of several civic leaders who’d been mobilizing protest rallies. Regime sources say that he may even nix the upcoming elections and jail well-known opposition politicians.

Most blame these draconian measures on Maduro’s Cuban handlers, the puppeteers behind his rise to power. The destitute Castro regime’s survival depends on Venezuelan oil, so it means to keep Maduro in power by repressing popular unrest and ferreting out dissent — including within the regime.

By pushing Maduro to purge powerful chavistas — many with ties to the military — who disapprove of Havana’s heavy hand, the Cubans have likely overreached. This crackdown has stoked tension within the military between those aligned with Maduro and nationalists who’ve never been comfortable in a Cuban harness.

The regime has very little room to maneuver. Virtually every Venezuelan is infuriated by the daily fight for survival. The anti-chavistas are fed up with the harassment by an illegitimate and incompetent one-party state. All sides in the military are busy weighing their options.

Any act of repression, street brawl, electoral fraud or corruption scandal could unleash all the fury built up over the regime’s 15 years. Tragically, the sight of military units squaring off in the streets of Caracas is not a distant memory.

The United States imports about half the Venezuelan petroleum that it did when Chávez was elected in 1998, but that’s still 9 percent of our foreign oil purchases. Plus, an implosion of Venezuela’s economy — or, God forbid, prolonged civil warfare — will roil the international oil markets and destabilize the region when the US economy is sputtering.

What’s worse, in the last decade, Venezuela has become a narco-state, with dozens of senior officials and state-run enterprises complicit in the lucrative cocaine trade. The regime also is an ally of Iran and Hezbollah, which may find their own ways to exploit chaos in Venezuela.

Geography makes the bloodbath in Syria all but invisible to Americans, but Venezuela is a three-hour flight from Miami and No. 3 in the world in social networking. The US public will see photos and videos of innocent demonstrators mowed down in the street. Moreover, in the Americas, the United States will be expected to lead.

The Obama administration must work with regional partners to respond to the brewing crisis. It should invoke the Inter-American Democratic Charter as a step toward restoring democratic governance, and to warn Maduro and military leaders that they’ll be held responsible for violence against citizens.

If the administration fails to confront these events decisively, Congress should demand action and make clear to the president that leading from behind is not an option.

Roger F. Noriega was US ambassador to the OAS and assistant secretary of state under President George W. Bush. He is an American Enterprise Institute visiting fellow and managing director of Vision Americas LLC, which represents US and foreign clients.

Corruption in China...charges and counter-charges, who do you believe?

US-based Chinese businessman Vincent Wu faces charges for role as ruthless crime boss
(10-18 16:22)
When more than 500 policemen swooped in to arrest 40 suspected gangsters in southern China last year, the alleged kingpin was a Los Angeles businessman who had hoisted an American flag amid a crowd to welcome Xi Jinping, now China's president, to California.
Vincent Wu's (pictured with wife and daughter, waiting to greet President Xi Jinping in Los Angeles) children and lawyers say he is an upstanding, philanthropic Chinese-American entrepreneur who has been framed by business foes who want to seize his assets, including a nine-story shopping mall. But police in the southern city of Guangzhou say he was a ruthless mob boss who led gangsters with nicknames such as “Old Crab'' and “Ferocious Mouth.''
Wu is expected to stand trial within weeks in Guangzhou on charges of heading a crime gang that kidnapped rivals, threw acid at a judge, set fire to farmers' sheds, operated illegal gambling dens and committed other offenses. Wu has told his lawyers that police interrogators tortured him into confessing, AP’s Gillian Wong, reports.
In the absence of an independent legal system, the truth may never emerge. And although Wu is a naturalized US citizen, American diplomats have not been able to see him because China recognizes only his residency in Hong Kong.
The case provides a glimpse into the often murky world of business in China. Widespread corruption means entrepreneurs can cozy up with police and run roughshod over the law, but they are also vulnerable if their rivals gang up with local authorities.
When disgraced politician Bo Xilai led the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, hundreds of businesspeople were accused of involvement in organized crime; many were believed to have been tortured into confessing while authorities seized their assets. Bo was sentenced to life imprisonment last month for embezzlement, bribery and abuse of power, but allegations that the businessmen were wrongfully convicted were not aired at his trial.
Wu was detained in June last year in a pre-dawn operation involving hundreds of police across Guangdong province, which includes Guangzhou and Wu's hometown of Huizhou.
He is charged with getting an associate to throw acid at a judge who ruled against him in a lawsuit, and with ordering thugs to set fire to sheds owned by farmers who refused his offer of compensation to clear off land he wanted to develop. He's also accused of operating illegal casinos that raked in 48 million yuan (US$7.8 million), and of attacking or kidnapping people who crossed him in various disputes. About 30 other people face related charges of gang crimes.
Wu maintains his innocence, his attorney Wang Shihua said. Before his detention, Wu had been praised by local Chinese newspapers for giving more than 20 million yuan to his hometown.
“My dad is a really good person at heart, especially to the people who are farmers and have not enough money to go to school. He's donated money to the elderly and to help build a road,'' said Wu's daughter, Anna Wu, in an interview from Hong Kong, where she has based herself to try to draw attention to her father's case. “But in China, money speaks louder than law... if you want to bring someone down, you can bribe the police and certain people to make it happen.''
Huang Xiaojun, a former business partner of Wu's and one of his accusers, said it is Wu who exploited government corruption. Huang said Wu tried to kidnap him four times and sought to seize his share of their business by bribing court officials.
“He is a man with no morals and integrity,'' Huang said in a phone interview. “He's extremely good at playing or acting and confusing right and wrong.''
Wu's lawyers want to use his case to test the Chinese government's resolve to stick by its stated opposition to convictions based on evidence extracted through torture. In a written record of a December 2012 meeting with his lawyers, Wu described being beaten, kicked and deprived of food and sleep as police tried to coerce him to sign a confession.
On occasion, Wu's arms were tied behind his back with a rope that was then strung from a ceiling beam _ a torture method dubbed the “suspended airplane,'' he told his lawyers. If he fainted, he was woken with water or chemical stimulants.
“As soon as I did not cooperate, they hit me, hanged me,'' Wu told his lawyers, according to a copy of the deposition provided to The Associated Press by Wu's family.
Wu's legal adviser, Li Zhuang, said more than 20 witnesses also were tortured. During a pretrial meeting at the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court on Monday, Wu's lawyers demanded that the court keep their testimony out of Wu's trial, which they expect to begin within a month.
An official at the Huizhou police bureau's propaganda department said he “had not heard'' that interrogators might have tortured Wu.
Wu left China in the late 1970s as a stowaway to neighboring Hong Kong, where he obtained residency. He moved with his family to the U.S. in 1994, settled in Los Angeles and eventually became a US citizen.
Even as an American, Wu spent most of his time in China, tending to his businesses and visiting Los Angeles twice a year, his daughter said. But she said he was also active in Los Angeles' Chinese-American business community; photos provided by her show him hoisting an American flag as he welcomed then-Vice President Xi Jinping _ now the president _ to the city early last year.
Chinese authorities have denied Wu access to U.S. officials, saying they regard him as a Hong Kong resident because he last entered China on a Hong Kong identity card.
US officials have sent several notes to Chinese authorities about Wu's case, Wu's daughter said. U.S. Embassy spokesman Nolan Barkhouse said American officials were monitoring the case but could not comment out of privacy concerns.
Associated Press researcher Yu Bing contributed to this report. 

Bill's note: In the USA we rely on the FBI to investigate corrupt government. We trust the FBI and the courts. I hope this is the case anyway.

A German's View of Islam

ref: This is an email circulated to me that is worth reading. Other posts on this subject can be found by using the search box for muslim or islam.

The author of this

email is Dr . Emanuel Tanya, a

well-known and well respected

psychiatrist. A man, whose family was

German aristocracy prior to

World War II, owned a number

of large industries and estates.

When asked how many

German people were true

Nazis, the answer he gave can

guide our attitude toward

fanaticism.

'Very few people were true

Nazis,' he said, 'but many

enjoyed the return of German

pride, and many more were

too busy to care. I was one of

those who just thought the

Nazis were a bunch of fools.

So, the majority just sat back

and let it all happen. Then,

before we knew it, they owned

us, and we had lost control,

and the end of the world had

come.

My family lost everything. I

ended up in a concentration

camp and the Allies destroyed

my factories.'

We are told again and again by

'experts' and 'talking heads'

that Islam is the religion of

peace and that the vast

majority of Muslims just want

to live in peace. Although this

unqualified assertion may be

true, it is entirely irrelevant. It

is meaningless fluff, meant to

make us feel better, and meant

to somehow diminish the

spectre of fanatics rampaging

across the globe in the name of

Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics

rule Islam at this moment in

history. It is the fanatics who

march. It is the fanatics who

wage any one of 50 shooting

wars worldwide. It is the

fanatics who systematically

slaughter Christian or tribal

groups throughout Africa and

are gradually taking over the

entire continent in an Islamic

wave. It is the fanatics who

bomb, behead, murder, or

honour-kill. It is the fanatics

who take over mosque after

mosque. It is the fanatics who

zealously spread the stoning

and hanging of rape victims

and homosexuals. It is the

fanatics who teach their young

to kill and to become suicide

bombers.

The hard, quantifiable fact is

that the peaceful majority, the

'silent majority,' is cowed and

extraneous. Communist Russia

was comprised of Russians

who just wanted to live in

peace, yet the Russian

Communists were responsible

for the murder of about 20

million people. The peaceful

majority were irrelevant.

China's huge population was

peaceful as well, but Chinese

Communists managed to kill a

staggering 70 million people..

The average Japanese

individual prior to World War II

was not a warmongering

sadist. Yet, Japan murdered

and slaughtered its way across

South East Asia in an orgy of

killing that included the

systematic murder of 12

million Chinese civilians; most

killed by sword, shovel, and

bayonet. And who can forget

Rwanda, which collapsed into

butchery. Could it not be said

that the majority of Rwandans

were 'peace loving'?

History lessons are often

incredibly simple and blunt,

yet for all our powers of

reason, we often miss the

most basic and uncomplicated

of points: peace-loving

Muslims have been made

irrelevant by their silence.

Peace-loving Muslims will

become our enemy if they

don't speak up, because like

my friend from Germany, they

will awaken one day and find

that the fanatics own them,

and the end of their world will

have begun.

Peace-loving Germans,

Japanese, Chinese, Russians,

Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans,

Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis,

Nigerians, Algerians, and many

others have died because the

peaceful majority did not

speak up until it was too late.

Now Islamic prayers have been

introduced into Toronto and

other public schools in Ontario,

and, yes, in Ottawa too while

the Lord's Prayer was removed

(due to being so offensive?)

The Islamic way may be

peaceful for the time being in

our country until the fanatics

move in.

In Australia, and indeed in

many countries around the

world, many of the most

commonly consumed food

items have the halal emblem

on them. Just look at the back

of some of the most popular

chocolate bars, and at other

food items in your local

supermarket. Food on aircraft

have the halal emblem, just to

appease the privileged

minority who are now rapidly

expanding within the nation’s

shores.

In the UK, the Muslim

communities refuse to

integrate and there are now

dozens of “no-go” zones within

major cities across the country

that the police force dare not

intrude upon. Sharia law

prevails there, because the

Muslim community in those

areas refuse to acknowledge

British law.

As for us who watch it all

unfold, we must pay attention

to the only group that counts --

the fanatics who threaten our

way of life.