Posted by ( dadw5boys ) on November 04, 2008 at 8:05 pm

Jody when I do post links it is to provide people with different views which to consider.
Just like many people complain about interest rates on credit cards but few ever look past that and ask how many days are in the billing cycle for that card. Many are only 22 days but they still only send out 12 bills each year. 22 Day billing cycles is the same as 16.6 months to a years. Now add that to your total and they hvae compounded compound interest rates.
See different views of the same problem.
Like when Desmond TUTU said “ When the White man came to Africa we had the land and he had the Bible. After a few years we looked up and the White man had the land and we had the Bible. The White man said we got the better deal”.
Recently in Bolivia they kicked out the U.S. Ambass and several other American groups. All the Bolivan Government wants is control over their natural resources. Like Natural Gas. But like reading a play by play from the book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” we see news storys making the Bolivian Government out to be evil and militias suddnedly getting advaced weapons like machine guns and rocket launchers. The news storys never mentions that just over the border the U.S. is building a militarty base in Paraguay on the 99,000ac ranch the Bush Family owns.
I say owns but the Paraguayian Familys who lived there for centuries never put thier land up for sale, never received any money and can’t find out who signed the deed to the land when it was sold. But the land sets on the Largest supply of fresh water in the world.
Just little things like that are what I try to get people to look at with lonks to web site. Or the previous one where the Bush Adminstration is moving funds around to keep the Justice Department open and the FBI with limited funds from other programs. They control investigation and trails and charges placed by limiting the funds. Right now there is so much fraud in the SubPrime Loans made by Country Wide the FBI is limiting their investigations to $290,000 or more because they lack funding to do more.
Bush long time buddy and church member owned Country Wide and was the CEO but jumped ship before the collaspe.

NOTE FROM JODY:  I get why you post them and an occasional one is fine (especially when it references some little-known fact), DW5, but I would still rather hear what YOU think.  Most folks who bother to read blogs are savvy enough to find as many different viewpoints as they can stomach!  Thanks as always, JL

Posted by ( dadw5boys ) on November 01, 2008 at 12:47 pm

I wouls suggest everyone do a little reading of the accounting from the U.S. Treasury.
See how Bush transfer money from Social Progams to the FBI and Department of Justice at will.
ftp://ftp.publicdebt.treas.gov/dfi/tfmb/dfifh0808.pdf

Posted by ( Jody Lee ) on October 31, 2008 at 9:39 pm

Cheiron, an interesting story indeed - especiallly that the Europeans you dined with think that Obama is anywhere near conservative.  Obviously their definitions of liberal and conservative are vastly different from our own!

I have to question your observation that they appeared to be knowledgeable about American politics, however.  That they believe McCain would start randomly invading countries just for the fun of it, or that America is MOSTLY racist shows a pretty radical lack of accurate information or any kind of understanding of how our society and our citizens live and work in general.

From my own travels and interactions with Europeans, I can agree that as a whole, many do tend to think of Americans as stupid.  Such a shame, and such a loss on their part.

Those you dined with may know our political heirchy better than you did, but as far as how our government works, I think YOU are way out in front.  Even if McCain wanted to randomly invade countries (please!) for no apparent reason, our system of checks and balances would prevent it.  And even if the unthinkable happened and the scenerio you presented about Obama came to be, at least WE know that one insane racist does not represent a majority.

Silly, silly.

In any case, was the food great?  Authentic Italian food - the kind where the garlic is so strong, it parts your hair - now THAT’S good eatin’!

Thanks for sharing these notes from your trip.  You were right - it was both interesting and entertaining!
Jody

Posted by ( Cheiron ) on October 31, 2008 at 8:38 am

Something I thought you may find interesting (or at least entertaining).

So, while I was in Italy last week I had to opportunity, over dinner one night, to discuss US politics with a number of people, in particular one elderly gentleman from northern Italy and 2 men my age from France (late 20’s - early 30’s)

All of Europe is watching our election very closely; that’s no secret. Most of them are amazed we were “stupid” (their word) enough to elect W. the first time. But they understand why we reelected him for a second term. (the evil you know, and not changing in the middle of a conflict)

What did surprise me was HOW MUCH they knew about our election and political system. They were also amazed many Americans think of Obama as a liberal. To them, he is fairly conservative and it appears we have 2 right wing candidates running against each other.

One of the most interesting topics they wanted to discuss, much to my surprise, was how the US handled the order of succession. It seems many people in Europe think one of the 2 following things will happen:

1. We elect McCain, he starts invading other random countries, and because of his poor health he dies in office, or is killed by “terrorists” from whatever country we invade next. Followed shortly after by someone shooting Palin because she isn’t smart enough to be president.

2. Obama is elected and is almost immediately shot because most of America is racist. Biden becomes president and the world lives happily ever after.

So maybe they see things a little extreme, but it was a very interesting conversation.

One of the few things I knew more about with our political system was, I happen to know the first portion of the order of succession. The sad part is the Italian gentleman knew who our current Speaker of the House and our President pro tempore of the Senate are, and I did not.

I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about our government and systems, but it seems that much of Europe does as well, and I suspect many know more than most Americans.