This is my opinion on how the problems with Al Qaeda can possibly be solved in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The biggest problem I see is that the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan see us Americans the same way the people of Iraq sees us, as occupiers. I know the president already knows this because of his response to Steve Kroft, when asked about how the Afghan people view us on 60 minutes last night, which happened to have aired March 22, 2009.
As long as people see us as foreign governments in their countries, they will continue to act out against us. What we need to do is find a way to withdraw.
This is my solution. The US, Afghanistan and Pakistan governments, along with Taliban leaders need to secure a ceasefire, and do some good old fashion talking. I would try this; put the word out in advance that we want to put an end to this war within the next two to three years. Let them know that we the United States will not fire a shot while negotiations are going on and we expect others to do the same. Give them a few months to get the word around. Secure a meeting place that everyone can agree on. This is to show good faith. Let them know that we all want the same thing; that’s to go home to out wives and children. Appeal to them as men, for I truly believe all men want the same things, and that’s to see our children grow up healthy and prosperous. We can’t achieve this through war.
America must change its policies when it comes to negotiations with foreign and rogue nations. We must learn to communicate with nations that harbor terrorist because not talking is going to get us the same old thing, nothing but more death. Make them understand that we are not trying to tell them how to run their governments and that we understand that democracy is not for everyone.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying we should be easy on terrorism. We cannot tolerate such behavior, but we must learn to view each other as human beings. Al Qaeda must not be able to thrive, but the only way to stamp out its tyranny is to convince the very nations that protect them that it’s wrong. There is no honor in mass murder. If this bloody war is allowed to continue there will be no winners. Find a way to convince the Afghan government that we Americans are willing to give them a chance to run their government the way they please as long as they are willing to stand against Al Qaeda. Taliban leaders must also know that they will not be allowed to go back to their old ways of religious extremism.
Stop and look back at history. Arabs and Muslims will defend what they believe until death. They don’t quit. Look at the Russian and Afghanistan war which began in 1979, where the last of the withdrawal didn’t come until February of 1989. We must ask ourselves if we want to be involved in a ten year war where there is a good chance we could come out looking like Russia. America cannot afford to loose another war.
Mr. President, if you happen to read, this I am available to come to Washington to sit down and share my views and ideas with you.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Love Is an Action Verb
Love is an action verb. What I mean by that is, love is not just something you say to another, but it is what you do for another. I have loved many people in my life and I have tried my best to show each person that my love was real. For example, when I told my parents that I loved them, I showed them by being respectful to them. I tried my best to be a good son even though I haven’t always been as good as I would have liked. Loving your parents mean you go out of your way not to embarrass them. In my case when I did something that I knew my parents would object to, I used a different name not to embarrass the family name. It wasn’t that I went out trying to do things my parents would have a problem with, but sometimes life isn’t fair and we have choices to make that doesn’t always go along with our up-bringing. On other occasions it was as simple as destiny calling.
Love is a powerful thing. As I have said before in previous blogs; God is love and there is nothing in this world greater than God. Even the worst of man is capable of love and loving someone else. In my line of work I came across men that were capable of anything, but yet they had parents, wives, girlfriends and children whom they loved with all their being. Going back to love being an action verb, these men would give their lives to the ones they loved.
Using myself as an example again, I am an intense lover. I would give my life for the ones I love, meaning my woman and my family. Going back to what I said previously about loving the people in my life, I will give yet another example. I loved my brothers enough to sacrifice myself so that they could have a better life. Once I was in a situation where things got intense at a party. I got into an altercation with a guy defending a woman one night. Things got so intense that night that I thought either I, or he [the other man] would die that night. I could have called my brothers to help insure that I lived, but I felt they had too much to loose to save my life by ending someone else’s. Thank God no one died that night.
I say, I love you. Sometimes, I say it a lot and other times I say it seldom, but it’s the things I’m willing to do that say it the loudest. What good is loving someone when you never take the time to show them? How do they know it’s for real? When you truly love someone you are willing to do the impossible for them; even if it’s not possible; you want to do it if it’s for the good, or if you know it will make them happy. Never take a person’s love for granted. Some people search the world for someone to love only to never find it. If you are ever lucky enough to find it, hang on to it because it may never come around again. So many songs have been written on the subject, but I wonder if people actually realize what true love is all about. Sometimes love can be painful, but we push through that pain having faith that the one that hurts us will someday understand what it was they did that hurt us, or vice versa. Love has no boundaries. It can abide near or far, today or forever.
We live in times where people live very busy lives. I’m asking everyone that reads this blog to stop what they are doing and take the time to let someone you know and love actually know that you truly love them by doing something to show it. It doesn’t have to be big. Sometimes the simplest gesture says it the loudest. Especially, to the person you are in love with. Ciao.
Love is a powerful thing. As I have said before in previous blogs; God is love and there is nothing in this world greater than God. Even the worst of man is capable of love and loving someone else. In my line of work I came across men that were capable of anything, but yet they had parents, wives, girlfriends and children whom they loved with all their being. Going back to love being an action verb, these men would give their lives to the ones they loved.
Using myself as an example again, I am an intense lover. I would give my life for the ones I love, meaning my woman and my family. Going back to what I said previously about loving the people in my life, I will give yet another example. I loved my brothers enough to sacrifice myself so that they could have a better life. Once I was in a situation where things got intense at a party. I got into an altercation with a guy defending a woman one night. Things got so intense that night that I thought either I, or he [the other man] would die that night. I could have called my brothers to help insure that I lived, but I felt they had too much to loose to save my life by ending someone else’s. Thank God no one died that night.
I say, I love you. Sometimes, I say it a lot and other times I say it seldom, but it’s the things I’m willing to do that say it the loudest. What good is loving someone when you never take the time to show them? How do they know it’s for real? When you truly love someone you are willing to do the impossible for them; even if it’s not possible; you want to do it if it’s for the good, or if you know it will make them happy. Never take a person’s love for granted. Some people search the world for someone to love only to never find it. If you are ever lucky enough to find it, hang on to it because it may never come around again. So many songs have been written on the subject, but I wonder if people actually realize what true love is all about. Sometimes love can be painful, but we push through that pain having faith that the one that hurts us will someday understand what it was they did that hurt us, or vice versa. Love has no boundaries. It can abide near or far, today or forever.
We live in times where people live very busy lives. I’m asking everyone that reads this blog to stop what they are doing and take the time to let someone you know and love actually know that you truly love them by doing something to show it. It doesn’t have to be big. Sometimes the simplest gesture says it the loudest. Especially, to the person you are in love with. Ciao.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
My Thoughts On President Obama's First Address to Congress
Last night I was listening to the President of the United States of America and a since of pride came over me. In these grim times he gave us hope as a nation. One of the things that I have had concerns about is the status of our banking system. With our largest banks freezing credit it looks as though things are going to go from bad to worse. President Obama impressed me when he said he would no longer allow CEO’s to pad their paychecks, buy fancy drapes and disappear on private jets. No longer are we going to look the other way. You may ask yourself, what actually is naturalization? Let me do my best to explain.
Naturalization is when the government steps in and takes complete ownership of something; in this case it would be the big banks. The government will take ownership, become the CEO of those banks, run them for a few years and return them to the people when they become stable and began to return a profit. If this is to happen I suggest to those that own stock in those banks to sell, because if and when the government take over you will lose whatever percentage you have.
The Wall Street Journal has just reported that U.S. Federal reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke stating that the president has no intention of naturalizing the banks. When asked about Citigroup, Bernanke is quoted as saying, "It may be the case that the government will have a substantial minority share in Citi or other banks, but again we have the tools... to make sure that we get the good results we want in terms of improved performance"
This should come as good news to all of us. What scares most people about naturalization is the unknown such as, where does it stop? Mr. Bernanke added that we have the tools to make sure those banks are behaving in a way that is good for business in terms of long-term viability but while also supporting the economy in terms of lending going forward. The president is hoping that his economic plan will ensure the nation’s largest banks have the capital they need to meet the needs of their customers.
The Obama administration is giving the larger banks six months to raise the capital they need to do business as usual; if for some reason or another they can not raise the funds the government will step forward and purchase a minority share providing the big banking industry the capital needed to survive.
Another thing that impressed me last night was when President Obama mentioned in his address to congress the state of our nation’s schools. Dropping out of high school is not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country. I believe this is possibly the only thing said that everyone in the room could agree upon. The icing on the cake was when the little girl was introduced that goes to school near the rail road tracks where the teachers have to stop teaching whenever the train comes through because the school shakes. They were told there is no hope for their school, so she went to the library and typed out a letter, asking her principal for money for a stamp to mail her congressional representatives to ask for help. In her letter she stated, “We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters.”
Americans are a unique breed of people. We are a nation made up of everyone. We must again become the leaders of the world. We can only achieve this through our education system. We must have the best teachers and students in the world. We should lead the world through advance technologies. Two areas I believe we should lead are in creating and preserving new forms of energy and becoming the nation to find cures for all forms of cancer, a disease which has touched everyone’s life.
Last, but not least, President Obama thanked our service men and women. He assured us that we would not standby and allow terrorist to plot against Americans from half a world away. The closing of Guantanamo Bay is a statement that resounds loud and clear to me, America does not torture.
Finally, as I said before, I was impressed by President Obama. With his approval rating being that as it is I can confidently say that America is also impressed. It appears to me that he is hard at work overseeing nearly every issue facing this nation today. For those that feel he’s not doing a good job, I say this to you. Give him time; it takes time to get used to job he’s been elected to. As he has said himself, it didn’t really hit him that he was president of the United States of America until he had to sign the letters to the families of men and women that gave their lives fighting, protecting and serving this country. Pray for our country, keep the faith, and never give up. We are not quitters.
Naturalization is when the government steps in and takes complete ownership of something; in this case it would be the big banks. The government will take ownership, become the CEO of those banks, run them for a few years and return them to the people when they become stable and began to return a profit. If this is to happen I suggest to those that own stock in those banks to sell, because if and when the government take over you will lose whatever percentage you have.
The Wall Street Journal has just reported that U.S. Federal reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke stating that the president has no intention of naturalizing the banks. When asked about Citigroup, Bernanke is quoted as saying, "It may be the case that the government will have a substantial minority share in Citi or other banks, but again we have the tools... to make sure that we get the good results we want in terms of improved performance"
This should come as good news to all of us. What scares most people about naturalization is the unknown such as, where does it stop? Mr. Bernanke added that we have the tools to make sure those banks are behaving in a way that is good for business in terms of long-term viability but while also supporting the economy in terms of lending going forward. The president is hoping that his economic plan will ensure the nation’s largest banks have the capital they need to meet the needs of their customers.
The Obama administration is giving the larger banks six months to raise the capital they need to do business as usual; if for some reason or another they can not raise the funds the government will step forward and purchase a minority share providing the big banking industry the capital needed to survive.
Another thing that impressed me last night was when President Obama mentioned in his address to congress the state of our nation’s schools. Dropping out of high school is not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country. I believe this is possibly the only thing said that everyone in the room could agree upon. The icing on the cake was when the little girl was introduced that goes to school near the rail road tracks where the teachers have to stop teaching whenever the train comes through because the school shakes. They were told there is no hope for their school, so she went to the library and typed out a letter, asking her principal for money for a stamp to mail her congressional representatives to ask for help. In her letter she stated, “We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters.”
Americans are a unique breed of people. We are a nation made up of everyone. We must again become the leaders of the world. We can only achieve this through our education system. We must have the best teachers and students in the world. We should lead the world through advance technologies. Two areas I believe we should lead are in creating and preserving new forms of energy and becoming the nation to find cures for all forms of cancer, a disease which has touched everyone’s life.
Last, but not least, President Obama thanked our service men and women. He assured us that we would not standby and allow terrorist to plot against Americans from half a world away. The closing of Guantanamo Bay is a statement that resounds loud and clear to me, America does not torture.
Finally, as I said before, I was impressed by President Obama. With his approval rating being that as it is I can confidently say that America is also impressed. It appears to me that he is hard at work overseeing nearly every issue facing this nation today. For those that feel he’s not doing a good job, I say this to you. Give him time; it takes time to get used to job he’s been elected to. As he has said himself, it didn’t really hit him that he was president of the United States of America until he had to sign the letters to the families of men and women that gave their lives fighting, protecting and serving this country. Pray for our country, keep the faith, and never give up. We are not quitters.
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