"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show." ~ Andrew Wyeth

40 miles north of Norfolk, Nebraska on U.S. Route 81 (January 2010).

Political Joke of the Week?

A Bain executive, a union shop steward and a worker met in the conference room. Two dozen "Mitt 2012" cupcakes are on the table. The Bain executive takes 23 cupcakes and then turns to the worker and says, "You'd better watch out for that union guy. He's gonna try to take your cupcake."

"The purpose of life is a life of purpose."
~ Robert Byrne

Venezia, Italy (Spring 2002)

...inspiration...

"Ultimately, America's answer to the intolerant man is diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired."
~ Robert F. Kennedy

Mitt Romney ~ Serial Flip Flopper?

YouTube has changed forever how a campaign manages the theme and messages of a candidate. Love it or hate it, in 2012, every recorded word a politician utters in front of voters becomes part of the digital public record. In an exclusive news release to Reuters in January, Google reported roughly '60 hours of video is now uploaded to YouTube every minute'. The theory that a candidate can use an 'etch-a-sketch' to change political direction in the middle of a campaign is dead. Campaigns are no longer a debate over ideas but about the actual use of words. And yes, this blogger believes a politician's use of words reveals something about the person. Read More...

Betty White endorses Obama for re-election?
Read More...

[infographic]

"I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons." ~ Will Rogers

JoJo Rimar

Down With Everything?
Read More...

798 Art Zone, Beijing, P.R.C. (May 2008)

It's all about selling SOAP?

In July 2011, Sarah Palin's documentary The Undefeated opened to an empty theater in Orange County (READ MORE). While on the surface, the movie's box office failure was rather humorous, unfortunately, a majority of journalists missed the point on why the film was released in the first place. It's the same reason why Newt Gingrich, despite getting destroyed at the ballot box, stayed in the race. 

When this blogger lived and worked in the People's Republic of China, I discovered that cigarettes and alcohol were used to bribe government officials. Indeed, the central government actually monitors the sell of expensive cigarettes to gauge the level of corruption in different cities. While the average price per pack was LESS than a dollar, several brands from Yunnan Province cost more than $110s a cartoon. 

Why? Well, cigarettes are a form of hard currency which cannot be individually traced by the government. Thus, local officials accept cartoons of cigarettes, as bribes, without drawing the attention of the central government. 

Economic crimes, such as tax fraud and corruption, routinely appear among the criminal dockets of those given the death penalty READ MORE...

Intead of cigarettes, in the United States, 527 special interest groups purchase books and DVDs (in bulk) to support politicians and so-called journalists who support their specific agenda. For example, the reason Sarah Palin toured Iowa during the primary season was to SELL books and DVDs. She earns more than six figures a year giving speeches. As long as she remains a political celebrity, she'll continue selling SOAP. While this blogger respects Senator John McCain, somebody spiked his political Kool-Aid in 2008.

Suggested Reading:
Money Unlimited ~ How Chief Justice John Roberts orchestrated the Citizens United decision.
Read More...
Covert Operations ~ The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.
Read More...

Due to technical difficulties...

The original status update about Hugh Hefner's latest attempt at love & marriage has been cancelled.

"Life attracts life." ~ Paulo Coelho 
The Alchemist (Paperback)
Photo of Lobster Dinner by Peter Rimar in Jakarta, Indonesian (July 2009).

New York Stock Exchange opening new Casino in Las Vegas?

"Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway." ~ Warren Buffett

Is JPMorgan's Loss a Canary in a Coal Mine?
Read More...

How soon we forget?

"Is there decency left in American politics?" ~ Senator Byron Dorgan

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Watching Faux News Lowers Student Math Scores?

59% + 35% + 26% = 100%

Faux Forgets Its Role Downplaying Magnitude Of Recession?
Read More...

Economics 101?

"A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain." ~ Robert Frost

Hong Kong S.A.R. (May 2008)

Photo by Peter Rimar

It is what it is?

"If there were only one truth, you couldn't paint a hundred canvases on the same theme." 
~ Pablo Picasso

Possible Definition of the word 'Globalization'?

North Korea access to outside media up, says US study?
Read More...

Considering this blogger's previous apartment landlord in Beijing was North Korean (Spring 2008), the above story by the BBC comes as no big surprise. Once again, as I've already stated on numerous posts, the CCP and the PLA hold the keys to a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.
Read More...

Mitt Romney saved GM and Chrysler?

Can you say [dih-loo-zhuh-nl]?

"Only in politics do people root for bad news."

~ President Obama

Who do you love?

"We’ve arrived at a point where the President of the United States is going to lead a war on traditional marriage." 
~ Rush Limbaugh


Limbaugh's first, second, third, and fourth wives could not be reached for comment.

Rick Santorum changes his Facebook Status to 'Endorsing'?

Does Santorum believe his political future hinges on a Romney defeat?
Read More...

That was then, this is now?

When my wife and I first moved to Beijing, I made the mistake of renting an apartment too close to Tiananmen Square. One evening after dinner, we sat down and to watch the nightly news on CCTV 9. A story came on asking various "random" people, "what are the 10 things you LOVE about China?"

My wife then said, "I can tell you 10 things I hate about China." About 3 or 4 seconds later, the electricty to our apartment was completely cut off. Looking out the window, EVERY other apartment in the 200 unit complex still had power.

Sitting together in the dark, I looked at my wife and said,
"Welcome to China!"

Thankfully, our spying hosts turned the power back on after about five minutes. From that moment on, every time something strange or unusual happened in our lives, this blogger just repeated the phrase,
"Welcome to China!"

Click on image to open in a new window.

The above photograph shows the last paragraphs of a five page business report written by Thomas A. Worrall (Peter's Step-Great Grandfather) from the MacAndrews & Forbes Company office in Shanghai, China on October 23rd, 1926. This original report was mailed from Shanghai to the company's treasurer (Mr. F.J. Maginniss) in New York City.


"Gate of Heavenly Peace"
Original photograph taken by Thomas A. Worrall
(Peter's Step- Great Grandfather)
Circa October 1926
Tiananmen, Beijing (Peking), China

Chen Guangcheng case puts pressure on Chinese activists?
Read More...

To Facebook or NOT to Facebook?

It's ALL about choice. Up until Google+, Facebook did not have any REAL social nutworking competition. There's a reason why the auto industry produces different vehicles. Consumers should DRIVE the internet marketplace.

Indeed, after the Goldman Sachs backroom investment deal with Mark Zuckerberg, a deal which at first left average Americans standing on the sidelines, I was waiting for a dot-com to challenge the Jolly Green Billionaire. READ MORE...

China forbids Google+ Social Network?
In life, I've learned that most things usually happen for a reason.
READ MORE...

Why, IF Facebook is BLOCKED in the People's Republic of China, did the Chinese Communist Party invest in Facebook?
READ MORE...
READ MORE...

Broken Dragons: Crime and Corruption in Today's China (Paperback)

Tweets of the Day?

Jon Snow, anchor of the Channel 4 News in the UK, directly responds to a Tweet by Rupert Murdoch:

What's the difference between political propaganda and a product's branding and marketing? In the case of Faux News, absolutely nothing.

How Will the Murdoch Implosion Be Felt in the U.S.?
Read More...

Why is it that even when everybody speaks English...

everything I say still gets "Lost in Translation"?

Wall Street Journal
Cognitive research suggests that language profoundly influences the way people see the world
by Lera Boroditsky




"It turns out that if you change how people talk, that changes how they think. If people learn another language, they inadvertently also learn a new way of looking at the world."
Read More...

Last year, this blogger's  wife finally retired her "I'm with STUPID" T-Shirt.

The Ripple Effect of the Internet

"Words can be deleted, but the facts won't be deleted with them."
~ Ai Weiei



On June 13th, 2009, my wife and I were still living in the Chinese city of Changsha. After lunch, I turned on CCTV to catch up on the latest news. There on my TV screen were the CCTV news anchors discussing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election victory with a visiting Iranian Professor and a representative from the Iranian Embassy. A graphic crawl indicated that CCTV had scheduled ALL DAY extended coverage of the Iranian Election.

After about 20 minutes, the TV went black. Roughly two minutes later, a travel documentary started airing. No mention was made about why the station went dark or the sudden, unannounced change in programming. Curious, this blogger logged onto the internet and discovered that Iranians in Tehran were taking to the streets to protest the election results.

Economic sanctions against Iran? What sanctions? One member of the security council will continue doing business with the current Iranian Government (as well as the DPRK).

Chinese activist wants to go to U.S.?
Read More...

Is the internet changing China?

...wanderlust...

"The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination." 
~ Don Williams, Jr.

One Year Later...

“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful.”
~ Edward R. Murrow

Full Speech: Obama on Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal (Transcript)
Read More...