No change 022812

Riots have overtaken Afghanistan with locals and foreigners being caught twixt a clash of cultures.  The spark that ignited the latest wave of violence was the burning of copies of the Quran and other religious papers at a major U.S. base.  Before American damage control kicked in an official spokesman implied that the Quran burning was purposeful, since prisoners held at the base were reciting passages as some terrorist code.

To Muslims the Quran is held in higher esteem than the Bible by even the most fundamentalist of Christians.  Destroying a Quran is an insult to Islam.  The military probably understood this but failed to appreciate that it was considered a sin and insulted all Muslims everywhere, not just the prisoners who owned the books.  The riots would probably have passed with little notice if American soldiers had not also been killed. Both Christians and Muslims honor those martyred defending their faith but religion is about life not martyrdom.

The American military has shouted that it will continue to ignore reality and follow its conquering army policies as sound strategy.  As regrettable as the deaths are, they are understandable, a sense of frustration and hopelessness grips Afghans.  For millenniums they have resisted foreign occupying armies and despite self-disillusionment the Americans are an occupying army.  The Afghans see assaults on their culture and religion, destroyed villages and wandering refugees, corruption, insults and abuse.  The foreign army has attempted to impose an American society, that the Afghans can’t afford, on the country.  They hear American political candidates using harsh Afghan rhetoric as a campaign tool.  They see American agencies stirring up Muslim unrest in Africa, Near and Mid-east.  Christian fundamentalists call to smite the heathens. Afghans see the military supporting attacks on Muslims around the world and the NYPD targeting Muslims across America. The problem with all this is that Muslims can read papers, search the Internet and watch TV as American voices fan flames of hatred.  Even before the latest unrest the intelligence community was attempting to warn the American government of the failures of military policies in Afghanistan.  The military countered they were on track and the people loved them, much the same as British claims before its 1857 Indian mutiny.

The military is very slow to learn about Islamic culture having only confronted it since 1784 (five years before the Constitution was ratified) and battled them in 1801 (shores of Tripoli).  Fought Philippine Muslims since 1898 (took a break during WWII but still continues attempts at suppression.) In the post war era the military supported a number of surrogate wars across Africa and Asia and overthrew the only democratic elected Islamic government. There are still serving soldiers from the first Gulf War and soldiers have been in Afghanistan for eleven years still not understanding the culture. The Afghans do not want and will not accept life as a military colony. The strength of a military is to destroy but make only token attempts at building social structures. The military’s short view on development serves its own strategic need for long wars.  Constructing an Afghan state, they can afford, must be done by Afghans, advised by civilians skilled on social processes not strutting soldiers intent on prolonging war for their greater glory.

shifting culture

Editorial comments on recent Florida news

011212 Chalk

Chalk one up for totalitarian government.  Totalitarianism survives on creative interpretations of laws to circumvent constitutional protections.  The Government is making much that the “chalker” made no resistance to going to jail for his non-crime.  Smart kid, to question would have been termed resistance and probably have led to his severe beating and possibly death which the government would have called justified defense of freedoms.  The City need to pass a new law to ban all chalk sales, imprison chalk smugglers along with children, teachers and artists who have ever polluted the environment with chalk dust.  How’s that for an ‘ex post facto’ creative interpretation of environmental law.  (Ref Orlando mayor’s counter to occupy movement actions. The “crime” was to chalk ‘justice for all’ on the sidewalk.  After keeping the young man in jail for several days (18?) he was released without ever seeing a courtroom.  Similar actions across the country by authorities seem to indicate a conspiracy by government leaders to silence increasing popular dissent.)

011712 FAMU

In the less than growing debate over hazing one point seem to escaped debate.  Hazing has always been around and probably always will be but there has been a cultural change that accepts abuse.  In the FAMU case a man died and not a case of child play that got out of hand.  His death followed a long period of well-known serious injuries to other adults.  The subsequent media focused is on band hazing but it is probable that there are other examples of hazing at the school.  The administration signaled that hazing was acceptable by ignoring and covering up hazing.  It continues to do so by hiring a PR firm to “improve its image” read that as diverting attention from and covering up administration complicity in murder.  Instead of proactive classes in ethics, reforms or even psychological assessments the administration chose to spend its money on PR dis-information. The Band doesn’t need to be suspended instead the Administration should be permanently suspended.  Otherwise the problem continues to grow as soon as public focus shifts. A fitting tribute to the victim would be real cultural reform by a Robert Champion moral code of conduct for the school.  (Ref the hazing beating death of a young man.)

011912 Tax the internet

Florida merchants term Internet sales as unfair because most do not charge Florida sales tax.  The merchants are correct; Internet sources are unfair but not because of no sales tax.  Most people would much rather pay sixty-five cents in sales tax on a ten-dollar item rather than a ten-dollar shipping and handling charge and three day wait.  The unfairness is that outsiders provide products and services scorned by local merchants.  Customers are forced to spend half a day and gallons of gas going from mall to mall before giving up local searches for the simplest product.  Customers discovered sales personnel are only marginally qualified to take payments, can provide no product information and are surly if not outright abusive. Customers who turn to the Internet, in a matter of minutes, can find the item they are looking for, information on use and comparison of products.  They can order online even talk to a real person who for the most part is civil if not outright nice and knowledgeable of the product line.  Legislation instead of imposing taxes on Internet sales should force local merchants and sales personnel to provide products and services customers need.  In the era of the customer is always wrong the Internet is our only savior.   (Ref a major legislative push by merchants and business oriented governor to suppress Internet sales.)

112012 Internet cafes

To state it clearly, I am opposed to eliminating Internet cafes.  I don’t use them but multitudes do staying informed and in touch with friends.   The shutdown justifications given by officials are bogus and not supported by any data.  Ever since the so-called “Arab Spring” politicians have been petrified that electronic media may focus on them and expose their failures to govern in the democratic interest of the people.  Totalitarian states have repeatedly attempted to shut down the Internet and failed.  Now politicians are using spurious justifications in attempts to legislate a piecemeal Internet shutdown.   Yes Internet commerce does cut into profits of friendly political contributors but more importantly it provides a voice to the powerless, who have no paid access to legislators.  The governor’s latest thrust will only benefit his business friends and suppress dissent for only so long before it boils over into an American Spring.”  The people need a voice even if the powerful don’t listen.  Fight to protect the one few remaining freedoms (wide access to information in order to become the informed public that democratic freedoms require.)

Never learn 120411

At the end of the Vietnam conflict a senior American officer taunted a senior NVA officer that the North had never won a battle during the war.  The NVA officer responded that it was irrelevant because they won the war.

An American General recently berated the Afghans for not appreciating all the Americans were doing for the country.  It was clear from his interview that despite ten years in Afghanistan the General still did not understand the culture or blunders his Army had made during its occupation.  He pointed to the country’s army once it completed American training as a future success.

Wait a minute General haven’t you been training that Army for over ten year?  Considering that the training program began with history’s greatest and most experienced warriors your training program seems to have a few problems.  Afghans stood off the Persians, fought Alexander to a standstill, absorbed the Great Khan’s forces, captured much of India, and defeated the British three times.  The British claim their third occupation attempt is really a victory, but they left despite their use of chemical weapons, aerial annihilation and concentration camps.  The country became a Cold War battlefield when the Soviets attempted to prop up a friendly government and Afghan fighters forced a withdrawal.  American supplied weapons brought local warlords to power and a bloody civil war ensued until the Taliban brought a degree of peace to the country.

Afghans have long memories and astute judgement of realities over propaganda.  Comparing the Soviet and American occupations the Afghans see Soviet built roads, hospitals, schools and housing.  Despite American crowing the Afghans see military roads leading to permanent American occupation forts, corruption and blatant attempts at destruction of their culture.  America has dumped a great deal of money into the country attempting to establish a little America that the Afghans don’t want and can’t afford once foreign aid ends.

When the Americans invaded, fragile victory could have resulted in good government and lasting peace.  Instead under U.S. Army’s flawed assumptions the country was burdened with puppets prohibited from negotiating a settlement.  For the Army all “Rag Heads” were the enemy and with a beard they were evil.  Now over ten years later the Army wants negotiations with the insurgents but have a missed opportunity that is remembered.  Afghans remember indiscriminate bombing, imprisonments and cover-ups. 

General, Americans are easy to deceive because they want to believe their own propaganda.  Building your new propaganda radio station on Kandahar air base to preach American gospel is counter productive.  The Afghans remember that Kandahar base was American built in the fifties as a cold war base, and became an invasion base fifty years later.  The American administration wants its army out by 2012 but the military is already pushing the withdrawal years down the road.  There are all those new American bases to use and besides it’s the only war it has left.  General, keep wondering why the Afghans don’t love you.

Overload`103011

If it has escaped anyone’s attention the 21st century is known as the information age.  The last vestiges of blue collar production is rapidly disappearing, replaced by a horde of no collars and grubby sneakers who expound at great lengths on why they as information workers are more important than producers.

Just as the wheel advanced civilization by trade and communication rolling on to gears of the industrial revolution.  The information age is an evolutionary revolution of technology advancing from carrier pigeons through telegraph, radio and TV to a wireless instantaneous globe.

The difficulty is that while information may flow far, wide and fast the world becomes less informed. Anyone can now tap into a stream of data and watch pages and screens of numbers, letters and images.  With a few finger taps on a tiny keypad they can even add to the torrent.  Information brokers have emerged seeking to profit from the free flow by sampling the data in support of any agenda requested. 

It is the old academic principle of “Save the hypothesis,” that is only report data that supports your point of view and bury any data that contradicts it.  Governments and so called journalist now use sophisticated programs that swim down stream collecting favored bits and bytes while ignoring facts and realities they had rather not exist. 

Real people have to work hard just to live having no time, nor programs to capture the gems of truth needed to be considered an informed public.   Newspapers are dying and TV news has become entertainment where jovial anchors tease a story of the sky really is falling, but first a word from our sponsor, selling falling sky shelters.   TV journalists now use social media blurbs as factual news reports.  Politicians not only use positive social media blurbs as proof of popularity but also use social media for their own dis-information programs. Dissidents use social media to leverage fragmented agendas into power positions that mislead and guarantee dysfunction.  With no filter the multitude of voices overload democratic processes and fracture coalitions of similar interest into ever smaller groupings that destroy nation states. An overload that collapses into another dark age of xenophobic tribal warfare.

The real threat is that charismatic fanatic will learn to use the information flow to rise to power and then dam the river.   Only a biased trickle of information will remain. 

Is there hope for democracy?  Maybe, it is not government control and censorship but rather a public educated in how to swim in swirling rapids of information flow.  Once taught in schools, the art of critical thinking must become a rudder that can navigate the rocky shoals of social media’s self interest.   Social media can rally a mob that paddles around in backwaters, but to sail of a rising tide of information overload requires disciplined sailors and ethical merchants of information.

On reflection there may indeed be no hope!

Manifest Spring 102611

In the late 19th century America focused on “Manifest Destiny” as justification of coast to coast imperialism.  By the turn of the century manifest destiny morphed into American global imperialism that continued throughout most of the 20th century, under many political correct names.

While Americans deny they were ever an imperial power the rest of the world recognizes the United States as a global exploiter of under classes. During the late 20th century the United States encouraged the overthrow of governments even providing overt support to break nations.  Having sown the seeds of foreign political unrest in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia the United States hasn’t reaped its expected harvest or resources and respect.  Instead it has lost its ethical standing among States and engendered animosity among friends and foes.

The United States became an active combatant during the Arab Spring resulting in the collapse of several governments and continued civil conflict in other States.  The U.S. intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign States impedes their ability to deal effectively with civil unrest. Having firmly established the principles of foreign interventions the United States may soon become the target foreign economic and political interventions in its own internal affairs.

The world now gleefully watches as the Arab Spring takes root on Wall Street and quickly spreads to other cities.  A popular uprising of young and old expressing discontent.  There is little focus of the popular discontent as long suppressed angers boil over into streets and public spaces.  The reaction may have been triggered by economic missteps by financial institutions and governments but the popular movement expresses the frustration, helplessness and sense that the establishment is betraying the peoples’ continued trust.

The people are right to be fearful of losing their rights, benefits and future security already eroded by bad legislation and worse business practices.   Arrogant politicians and business leaders have long dismissed the needs of the people in favor of the interests of wealth and power, forming an elite of self-interest.  There is a term,” Rational Maximization,” which for the Elite has come to mean it rationalized that their maximum benefit is in the interest of the people.  They further rationalize that high school dropouts and those than can only afford a community college education are two dumb to ever notice that they are on a downward spiral while the elite soars higher and higher. 

The hard fought battles for labor reforms, higher standards of living, equality and equity before the courts is in danger and the people are noticing. When the cracks begin to form they quickly spread and great edifices tumble. The Elite answer, control the message suppress movements.  It is interesting to note that a simultaneous crackdown on the popular movement occurred in several distant cities at the same time. An indication of central government or business control?  The Elite should look to Roman, British and Soviet greatness, that was to last forever, their people also spoke.

Laboring 102011

The industrial revolution of the 19th century was hardly a bloodless revolution.  Similarly to the 21st century technological revolution the industrial revolution generated great wealth to the few, robber barons and their political supporters.  The revolution also modernized serfdom for the many, cheap labor from poor whites, freed blacks Irish, Eastern Europeans and Chinese immigrants.

The western world’s industrial great leap forward came at a steep price of starving families, maimed and dead workers.  Workers had no protections, no safety standards and no security.  Children received no education often entering the coal mines and factories at six years old, their few pennies the margin of life for the family.  Workers who questioned conditions were beaten, fired and replaced by even cheaper labor.   By the turn of the 19th century labor movements emerged around the globe. 

Management met labors calls for reforms with evictions, lockouts and guns.  Management demonized workers as anarchists, communist and played to xenophobic fears.  Management played power politics using thugs and official force to gun down labor leaders, even entire work forces.  A few industrial giants, like Henry Ford, came to realize it cost money to train skilled workers and well paid workers bought the products they produced and slowly reforms came to be accepted. 

Child labor laws were enacted, safety standards established but mostly it was the draw on a limited pool of skilled labor that advanced labor’s cause.  Labor movements still had to fight many bloody battles throughout the first half of the 20th century.  Workers were on the verge of victory but poorly chose their labor leaders. The open battles between labor and management conditioned labor leaders to warfare.  Management however shifted its strategy to leverage its wealth to political power.

Legislation gave reforms and at the same time limited labor’s ability to organize.  In 1938 the American Supreme Court upheld labor’s right to strike but added that employers had the right to permanently replace strikers.  Labor was slow to realize that its back was broken but the latter half of the century saw its hard earned bargaining power slowly erode.

Labor is again under assault of money and power.  Corporations leveraged its wealth into favorable legislation and court decisions that limits unions ability to support candidates but allows business to use its wealth to support business friendly candidates.

This is not lost on politicians and want-a-be who by dictate or anti-labor legislation are moving to bury the last vestiges of a century’s labor benefits.  Pensions, health insurance, job security and collective bargaining are rapidly disappearing.   Emboldened by prospects of cheap labor from an army of unemployed, deep pocket Corporations are funding renew labor demonization and elected officials who will repeal worker protections.  “Look for the union label,” is museum nostalgia filed alongside the buggy whip industry.

Taxes and death 101811

The old cliche is, “nothing is certain but death and taxes.”  As more and more nations face bankruptcy taxes focus on certain.  In one corner is redistribution of wealth and in the other corner taxation prevents growth.

These two positions probably date from the cave man era and in the millenniums since both positions have been tested.  The American income tax debates of 1913 stated that the, “Power to tax is the power to destroy.”  This slogan is well proven by feudal Europe, Lords taxed freemen and merchants into serfdom and the Dark Age.  Post war England taxed its industry and landowners into receivership and ended up owning much of private industry and holdings. The bureaucracy and incompetence ran them into the ground ending British positions in world markets and draining public coffers. The British even attempted to squeeze the last shilling from the once rich by taxing the dead.   In the United States the top tax bracket reached 94% (some sources state 96%) followed by disappearance of some great names, the rise of tax lawyers and masses of exemption legislation.

There are some lessons to be learned from redistribution school of finance.  The poor doesn’t profit, national deficits continue to rise, the middleclass become downward mobile and tax lawyers become more creative. Expropriative taxation does destroy.  Ultimately it destroys productivity; the financial structure and governments fall.

There is an axiom that governments will always miss-spend more than its income.  Here lies a problem governments have no income.  Every dime it spends is acquired directly or indirectly from its populace.  During periods of growth governments are lavish in their spending, inflating expectations.  During periods of readjustment high expectations are that central governments’ great wealth will fund continued lavishness.  Frightened politicians appease the mob by borrowing money against the future and spend more not less.  It is a great Ponzi scheme that eventually destroys governments.

Expropriation does not work.  Modern cultures need transportation, water systems, sewers etc. These must be paid for out of tax revenues, the crumbling infrastructure must also be maintained by tax revenue.  New needs must be met; can revenues also support popular nice to have agendas?   Every citizen should support needs by fair share taxation, but what is a fair share?  Tax none of the income of one and all the income of another is it fair?  Confiscation of all the billionaires’ income may make a short-term interest payment on national debt but won’t reduce that debt.  Then what about the the next payment?

Governments must determine what expenditures are necessities and cut the fat. What are realistic fair share taxes? Politicians must remove the public’s and their own rose colored glasses.  They must create a realistic budget and live within it, as does most households.  Leaders must become responsible, governments are not bottomless money buckets to be dipped into for electioneering.  The risk is revolution and national collapse.  The model is Eastern Europe, Africa and the Mid-East.