Saying No to Mexican Violence

I have been continuing to comment about the violent situation in Mexico. I do so because many people are still vacationing or day tripping into that country. It’s just not safe.

While crime is low in El Paso the killing in Juarez, just across the river is the worst of any city in Mexico. Reports are on the internet, CNN and in the newspapers. The Auto Club of Southern California has always promoted cruises down the coast from California cities. They no longer offer those trips in their Westways magazine. Their latest issue has not one single reference to anything in Mexico and that includes advertising.

The U.S. State Department has put Mexico on its travel alert list. I have commented about this before and hope that everyone will take this situation seriously.

American concern should be the possibility of terrorists and drug smugglers bringing violence across the border. Those opposed to walls fences and other U.S. government efforts to stop illicit traffic into this country should look at the case of the Nigerian who almost brought down a commercial airplane near Detroit.

Latin America’s Opportunity to Shine

Brazil has started its campaign of desired respect that will lead to the 2016 Olympics. This conduct will benefit the country and that is a good thing even if the Olympics are a financial disaster.

This October 2, 2009 BusinessWeek article succinctly highlights the challenges for Brazil. Lack of infrastructure, serious poverty, and gang violence are the same issues facing many countries in South America. If Brazil can successfully address these issues then so can most other Latin American nations.

To counter the BusinessWeek article Brazil has followed up with the magazine by placing a seven page “special advertising section” in the middle of the December 21, 2009 edition. The presentation looks like part of the editorial comment along with advertisements. It is very impressive.

Preparation for the Olympics will help to improve the quality of life and image for all of Latin America. Between President Calderón of Mexico and Lula of Brazil perhaps the drug trade can be replaced with quality trade. That could be the start of a new Latin America. It’s a very hopeful sign.

Are You a Senior or Poor? Listen Up!

Are you old or poor? Seniors and the poor are the president’s targets. In his July 22, 2009 press conference the transcript of his words reads, “And it’s about the fact that the biggest driving force behind our federal deficit is the skyrocketing cost of Medicare and Medicaid.” Again on August 15 CNN quotes the President saying, “…must get control of Medicaid/Medicare spending.” The problem is Mr. Obama never talks about the ways to control costs. Will there be limits on the payments to doctors and hospitals, limits on payments for drugs, or limits on payments to insurance companies? Ignoring the discussion on cost control, I believe, is intentional.

We all know that older people are the ones most likely to need health care services. Where do you suppose the savings on medical cost will be found? The answer is obvious. Reduced funding for Medicare. You need care that is not covered? Take it out of your bank account. That is the direction this Obama Health Plan is going.

Medicare will run out of money by 2018. Senator Dianne Feinstein has this item on her agenda as a primary issue along with Social Security. She has a specific proposal at her web site.

You need to call your congressman and tell him that the focus should be on reducing the cost of medical care for everyone, Not reducing Medicare benefits.

Please do not sit back and wait for someone else to stand up and speak out. Passage of the Senate bill is not the end of this campaign. The law has to be reconciled in a conference committee in January 2010. There is still time to stop this bill before it becomes law.

How to Fight al-Qaeda

The president correctly said in Oslo that the United States would fight al-Qaeda wherever it is. Not just in Afghanistan and Pakistan but in all countries and especially noted was Somalia and Yemen. Did he know of the planned strikes in Yemen when he made that speech?

My immediate reaction was that was the right thing to do. It proved my contention that stopping the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan will not stop al-Qaeda terrorism.

Sending 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan is the wrong strategy. Tracking terrorists is the correct strategy. This is a program that will cost less American lives and dollars too. Will the right wingers shut up now? Probably not.

End of Free Press?

Many years ago I subscribed to a magazine titled “Home Office Computing.” It was an informative monthly that really provided excellent advice for those people trying to start and run a business from an empty bedroom. Scholastic, Inc. was the publisher. For reasons not divulged to its readers the magazine was sold to another publisher. Almost immediately thereafter the magazine was discontinued. That was 2001.

Newsweek changed its format this past year. Rather than news, the magazine has become an outlet for essays and columns. No reason for the change was ever published in the magazine. Interesting idea but how many readers have been lost during this past year?

BusinessWeek has been sold by McGraw-Hill to Bloomberg. Ownership was transferred on December 1, 2009. The result so far has been the loss of at least three outstanding writers: Jon Fine, Maria Bartiromo, and Steve Wildstrom.

The Los Angeles Times has lost most of its great writers and reporters. Those remaining are probably looking over theirs shoulders. This was newspaper that earned 39 Pulitzer Prizes since 1942.

Other national newspapers and magazines are struggling to survive. Many have already folded.

Significant lost advertising revenue is the reason for these changes. The internet is to blame as well as the overall economy.

It’s a sad ending for one of America’s most vital segments. The free press will no longer be free and now will be controlled by very large media companies. That translates to a controlled press.

An Alternative to Hot War in the Middle East

It’s just another finger in our eye when Iran tests its missiles. Iran’s recent announcement of plans to build 10 more nuclear facilities was that country’s response to Obama’s short circuited challenge to their intent to build facilities for electrical energy generation.

America’s ability to dissuade an Israeli pre-emptive strike is limited. As I pointed out back on September 26, 2009 Israel is too small not to take the threats seriously. Other Arab nations may also feel threatened and that might help in negotiations with Iranians.

Is this latest missile test a warning to the United States and Israel or is this meant strike fear into its neighbors? Obviously the CIA won’t share its thoughts but this is another serious saber rattling event. My view is that Israel ought to do some of its own saber rattling. The stand off would be a regional “cold war” and that is better than the alternative.

Global Warming is Real

The Los Angeles Times printed the following pictures

The Matterhorn

Photographs of the Swiss mountain — taken in 1960, left, and in 2005 — show the shrinkage of its glacial ice. Both photos were taken after major snowstorms.
Left photo copyright: Bradford Washburn / Courtesy Panopticon Gallery
Right photo copyright: David Arnold

ABC news showed a glaciated mountain in Bolivia on its December 12 evening news. The glacier has mostly melted and that is an issue for the country’s water supply.

Deniers must confront reality. The question are: 1)What is the cause? 2)Can anything humanity does stop global warning?

America Wants Accomplishments Not Words

“Words! Words! I’m so sick of words!” from My Fair Lady.

President Barack Obama is a fabulous speaker. His Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo only reinforces that fact. He told us all his views of America in a well worded presentation. Many outspoken Republicans have said complimentary things about the speech. None the less, Rush Limbaugh may have his hopes fulfilled. President Obama is struggling to find some success.

It has been reported that President Obama wants to spend $200 Billion of TARP money on a second round of government sponsored stimulus. The first $$787 Billion has not been spent. It’s obvious that the money spent to date was not used for “shovel ready” projects. “There are plenty of ways to stimulate small businesses, including three-quarters of the stimulus money we have not spent yet without adding billions and billions in debt through TARP, which is basically a line of credit,” Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, Obama’s opponent in the 2008 presidential election, said at a news conference.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are viewed inconsistently by Obama. In his desire to please anti-war Democrats and please moderate Americans his position is a moving target. When the war in Iraq was going poorly he stressed his opposition to the 2007 troop surge but later when the surge was successful he grudgingly acknowledged success. Just last week, in a speech at West Point, the plan to stop the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan will be accomplished using a 30,000 man troop surge but without using the word “surge.” To please those opposing the war he says that troop withdrawals will begin in July 2011 but the secretaries of defense and state say that we will only review our commitment on that date.

Health care for all Americans has been a cornerstone of Obama’s vision. He says he wants it to be deficit neutral, cut costs, and improve quality. The reality is that he has never outlined his vision of how to achieve these goals. There is nothing in the plans proposed by either the House of Representatives or the Senate that addresses these objectives. Instead there is a Democratic Party objective to pass a law for the president’s signature even if no objectives are met.

Few of us fully understand climate change issues. Politicians are trying to impose more control everywhere in the world to save humanity. It’s a nice goal as long as it doesn’t cost me any money is the view of most people. Neither Al Gore nor Barack Obama have made the case in ways that most Americans will understand. I understand air and water pollution but I do not understand the need to control CO2. Cap and trade? I do not understand this idea at all. I oppose things I do not understand.

Unless the president delivers some real accomplishments he will have a difficult time being re-elected in 2012.