"The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think." 
~ Horace Walpole

The Foundation for Rational Economics and Education?

If a passing visitor spends more than just a few seconds looking at the various images uploaded on this blog, it's evident that this blogger has flown around the world and back again. I've physically walked on the streets of Baghdad, Kabul, Sarajevo, and Mogadishu. I've lived and worked in Alaska, China, South Korea, Italy and Germany. I've vacationed in Berlin, Prague, Bangkok, Jakarta, and Ho Chi Minh City.

It's difficult to summarize 50 years of a life of traveling in a single post. Every image has its own story. Every short video is just another piece added to this puzzle called life.

A beautiful sunrise. A busy street corner. A smile shared.

In 2012, the events of 9-11 are already starting to feel like a lifetime ago. However, like a lot of folks, this blogger sill vividly remembers the day itself.

I was listening to a local radio station while driving across Austria. Then, the announcer broke into the music and started talking about New York City. While I cannot speak German, I immediately knew something big had occurred back in the United States. When I finally reached a television in Germany, and the tragedy unfolded before the eyes of the world, my first thought was, "our country is going to war".

Which brings this blogger to the central theme of this post: Among other things, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights did not create traffic lights or crosswalks. The U.S. Constitution did codify slavery into public law and rejected the voting rights of women, but this blogger will leave that particular political rant "for another day".

Ron Paul raises campaign cash to 'end the TSA'?
Read more...


To quote Benjamin Franklin, a man with more personal baggage than Newt Gingrich,"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." What if the TSA had existed prior to 9-11? How different would our shared world be today? The following NBC story aired on July, 20, 2004:

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

The events of 9-11 illustrated how a lack of oversight in screening passengers had real economic consequences for the global economy. For those that actually remember the 1970s, believe it or not, there are reasons why governments around the world became involved in monitoring and enforcing aviation safety and security. Can you say "Entebbe"? Additionally, the U.S. Constitution created a system of government guided by the principals of the "rule of law" and NOT a country void of any form of social or economic accountability. And yes, "Liberty" comes with an actual price tag.

Congressman Ron Paul is a soap seller. In the view of this blogger, his 2012 candidacy is NOT about what's in the best interest of the country. Paul is running for President to pave the way for his son's continued political career. The taxpayers put food on his table. Politics is the family business. That's why he repackaged himself as a Republican. He's attempting to permanently interject his misguided, 18th Century inspired, Social-Darwinistic, fantasy island idiotology into the GOP brand name.


His latest run for the White House is no different than Mitt Romney's father running for President in 1968. Or better yet, the four generations of public service by the Kennedy Clan as well as the two previous Bush Administrations (with Jeb waiting in the wings).

As far as this candidate's latest money-bomb targeting the TSA, what Congressman Paul lacks in social empathy, he more than makes up for with his record of political futility.

According to a story researched and published by the Washington Post the day after Christmas, "of the 620 measures that Paul has sponsored, just four have made it to a vote on the House floor. Only one has been signed into law." Perhaps it's just me, but something is seriously wrong with this picture. Read More...

Instead of working to fix a problem, or advocating a more responsive, efficient and effective government, Ron Paul's solution to each and every issue is a verbal ax. This man is the perfect Presidential candidate for the Twitter Generation. 140 characters of text is about all the candidate can handle. 

Suggested Reading:
Glass-Steagall Act
The Marshall Plan

Possible Definition of Lamestream Media?

Rest Stop on I-35 near Council Bluffs, Iowa (March 2010).

Under the terms of their collective bargaining agreement...

72 Virgins have permanently "locked out" Osama Bin Laden?

‎"People say Intelligent Design, we must teach Intelligent Design. Look at the human body, is that intelligent? You have a waste processing plant next to a recreation area." ~ Robin Williams




Weapons of Self Destruction (DVD)

"Taking time to sit back and watch and think about what you've seen is important. Traveling did a great deal to me. I found that when I travel and just sit in the corner and watch, a million ideas come to me."
~ Lionel Richie

etc. etc. etc.

Tax Breaks for Job Creators?

Really? Who came up with this talking point? Some K Street lobbyist? According to CelebrityNetWorth.com, on July 2, 2008, Rush Limbaugh signed an eight-year contract with Clear Channel Communications for $400 million. The conservative talk show host "broadcasts his show from a $26 million ocean front home in West Palm Beach, which has 7 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms and an elevator".

Between January and May 2009, Clear Channel Communications eliminated 2,440 positions (roughly a 12% drop from its December 2008 workforce). Read More...

Still confused?
Here's what Seattle billionaire Nick Hanauer wrote in Bloomberg's op-eds section in November, "When businesspeople take credit for creating jobs, it is like squirrels taking credit for creating evolution. In fact, it’s the other way around." Read More...

At what point will the GOP wake up and finally retire its silly "job creator" talking point?

Every person who spends money is a job creator. Every person with money deposited in a savings account is an investor. At the end of October 2011, one month after the start of #Occupy Wall Street Protests, the Congressional Budget Office published a detailed report on the distribution of household income between 1979 and 2007. The raw numbers are alarming. Read More...

Can you name the first time in American history that the government cut revenue as it marched off to war? Once again, President Obama needs to stop calling his proposal to raise revenue to address the budget deficit the Buffet Rule. It needs to be called the After 9-11 Tax. Dear Mr. and Mrs. Tea Party, can the country do its collective Patriotic Duty and pay for the ongoing Wars? Speaking of which, how many millionaires and billionaires served in Iraq or Afghanistan? 1%?
Read More...

"I Pledge of Allegiance to Grover Norquist"?

In case you missed it, according to the latest Gallup, only 11% of Americans approve of the job U.S. Congress is doing. The 86% disapproval rating for the 112th Congress is the highest since Gallup started asking the question in 1974. Read More...

Public service is NOT about being a Republican or a Democrat. It's not about being a liberal or conservative. It's about doing the right things for the right reasons. It's about being a citizen. And believe it or not, the word Compromise is NOT one of George Carlin's original seven dirty words.

Understanding the latest political games being played out in Washington D.C. is not complicated. Power is crack. Money buys crack. Perhaps it's time for this country to take a serious look at enacting a 28th Amendment to the Constitution which overturns the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case (perhaps the worst decision in America's judicial history since Dred Scott).

"94% of elections in America are won by the candidate with the most money. Is this how we want to pick our leaders?"
~ Buddy Roemer

...life in contrast...

Dirty Blue Jeans in Broken Window, Changsha, PRC (December 2008)

2010 Tax Returns for Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and President Obama?

"A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it." ~ Bob Hope






The following are the raw tax numbers for the three top candidates researched and published by CNN:

Mitt & Ann Romney
Total Income: $21,661,334
Effective Tax rate: 13.9%

Newt & Callista Gingrich
Total Income: $3,162,424
Effective Tax Rate: 31.6%

Barack & Michelle Obama
Total Income: $1,795,614
Effective Tax Rate: 26%


Romney’s 13.9% Tax Rate Shows Power of Investment Tax Preference?
Read More...

"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted." ~ Bertrand Russell

Possible Definition of Mainstream Media?

Twenty years ago, if a Presidential candidate said something to a small crowd in a coffee shop in New Hampshire, the words and emotions of that moment would forever stay in that moment.

Times have changed. Believe it or not, it was just seven years ago the domain name YouTube.com was activated. It's difficult to image today's digital world without an endless stream of uploaded cute puppy and dancing baby videos. Beyond the funny and humorous, with a cell phone, one person has the power to change the political conversation. Links to a YouTube video, shared on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, can actually be "the shot heard around the world".

In an exclusive news release to Reuters, Google reported that YouTube receives more than four billion video views a day. Additionally, 60 hours of material are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Read More...

Despite being BLOCKED by the Chinese and Iranian Government, judging this website by just the raw numbers, YouTube is already recognized globally as mainstream.

In terms of describing and defining the mainstream media itself, radio stations, TV stations and printed newspapers are all traditional, brick and mortar type business operations.

In the view of this blogger, if a syndicated talk show host reaches millions of daily listeners on more than 600 radio stations, by definition, that individual is a card-carrying member of the mainstream media. If this same college dropout earns more than $40,000,000s a year speaking into a Golden Microphone and actually watched Superbowl XLVI in the luxury box of the New England Patriots owner, Rush Limbaugh's sheer wealth, political connections and public notoriety makes him the poster child of today's mainstream media.

The Year of the Dragon!

No culture in the world does fireworks like the Chinese!

When we moved to Changsha, the first thing my wife and I noticed was the sounds of fireworks going off at all hours of the day and night. I asked one of my students, "why do people shoot off so many fireworks?" He answered, "This is Hunan Province." Until our first Chinese New Year's celebration, I really didn't know what he meant.

Unlike the United States, where the most you can buy is a maybe some bottle rockets or roman candles, in Changsha, on every street corner, it's possible to purchase a professional aerial display for less than 10 dollars. Indeed, a friend of mine and I bought a single 75 pound display. The gunpowder packed in this one box could blow off an arm or a leg...


The following 30 second video was taken from our apartment balcony:

This exploding celebration went on for more than an hour.
Over 1,000,000 exploding fireworks! Truly Unbelievable!

"A country, like a car, is the sum total of all its parts. Remove the tires or the spark plugs and see how far a driver gets down the road." ~ Self

CBS News
The Big Three's dramatic U-turn?
In 2011, "Ford was up 11 percent. General Motors: up 13 percent. And Chrysler was up a whopping 26 percent."
Read More...

Update: Superbowl XLVI Commercial
"This country can't be knocked down by one punch. We get right back up again and when we do the world is gonna hear the roar of our engines." 
~ Clint Eastwood


Karl Rove ‘offended’ by Clint Eastwood’s Chrysler ad?
Read More...
Clint Eastwood’s Manager: Chrysler Ad ‘Not a Political Thing’?
Read More...

Why discover a new economic truth when it's politically more comfortable to continue to wrap oneself in the rhetorical status quo?
Can you say," Cost-benefit analysis"?
Read More...

Campaign Slogan of the Week:
"Bin Laden is dead
and General Motors
is alive."
~ Vice President Joe Biden
Can you say "Bumper Sticker"?

American Soldier, Konduz, Afghanistan (July 2003).

H-e-e-e-r-e's Johnny...

"Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn't grow up can be vice president."
~ Johnny Carson



Save the Twinkie?
Corporate insider rumors that Bain Capital is planning a hostile takeover of this American snack food icon are untrue? Mitt Romney plans to announce his economic strategy to save us from a Twinkie apocalypse? Rick Perry wants President Obama to call out the Texas National Guard? Donald Trump demands to see the Twinkie's Original Birth Certificate?
Read More...
The Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food

Neighborhood Home Brewery, Changsha, P.R.C. (June 2009).
Photo by Peter Rimar.

‎"It's my MONEY and I need it NOW"?

“Computers have enabled people to make more mistakes faster than almost any invention in history, with the possible exception of tequila & hand guns”
~ Mitch Ratcliffe



Rick Sex-torum wins Iowa? Newt Gringrich releases his tax returns and then donates his little black book (holodex) to the Silvio Berlusconi Library? Rick Perry leaves South Carolina to re-invade Texas? The Koch Brothers offer Steven Colbert a job as a pizza delivery guy? Americans for a better tomorrow, tomorrow? Non-unionized workers at Nevada's Bunny Ranch pimping for Ron Paul? Rumors that Viagra privately endorsed the Keystone Pipeline are true? King Mitt Romney wants to ban the movie It's a Wonderful Life on Caribbean cruise ships?

Joke of the Day:
"Rick Perry? There's a guy who thought Arab Spring was a Saudi Deodorant." ~ John Fugelsang on MSNBC's the Ed Show

SOPA & PIPA?

Did someone "set fire to the rain"?

Wikipedia joins blackout protest at US anti-piracy moves?
Read More...

(█ ) ███ ██████ ██ ██ click "Share" ██ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██.
This posted blog comment has been found in violation of H.R. 3261, S.O.P.A and has been removed.

SOPA/PIPA Update:
Before Google's and Wikipedia's Blackout on January 18th, only 31 Congressman were against these specific pieces of legislation. On January 19th, with a firestorm building around the halls of Capital Hill, 101 Congressman quickly issued statements against SOPA/PIPA. 

Welcome to the new political world order?

Betty White for President in 2012?

This blogger hopes and prays that I have as much ZEST for life and raw energy as this Hollywood icon when I'm 90!
Read More...


"Once I first heard about the campaign to host Saturday Night Live, I didn't know what Facebook was. And now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time."
~ Betty White on NBC's Saturday Night Live

...reflections...

Chinese Couple, Beijing (June 2008)

"The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes." 
~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Political Quote of the Week?

"As far as Huntsman goes, he's in the wrong party. That's his problem. He's fundamentally a decent guy."
~ Howard Dean
Interviewed on MSNBC's
Weekends with Alex Witt

...Chinese Love Locks...

Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China (Paperback)

"Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it."
~ Henry David Thoreau

Possible definition of idiotology?

[id·i·ot all o gee]

"I have a scheme for stopping war. It's this - no nation is allowed to enter a war till they have paid for the last one." ~ Will Rogers

The Iowa·nom·ics of the Bush 3.0 Campaign?

After bashing Turkey (the country not the bird), a faithful NATO ally and pivotal political player in the region (see Syria), this Blogger is thankful the Governor saddled up his Koch Brothers funded 527 campaign and decided to re-invade Texas.

Ministry of Education, Baghdad, Iraq (April 2005).

Still Lost in Translation?

Beijing, P.R.C. (April 2008)

Photo by Peter Rimar.

"Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul." 
~ Marilyn Monroe

The Power of Positive Thinking?

"I am a nobody. Nobody is perfect. Therefore, I am perfect."

Subliminal Message?

Mitt is it?

After two strong showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, Ron Paul continues to be the Rodney Dangerfield of the Republican establishment. The Texas Congressman continues to get "No Respect" from the political pundits within his own adopted party. Un·e·lect·a·ble? Perhaps. One thing remains clear after Iowa and the New Hampshire Primary: Narcissistic Newt has made it his K Street mission to be a Bain in Mitt's vulture capitalist butt.

...contrasting imagery...

JFK selling watches in Hong Kong, S.A.R. (July 2009)?

Related Link:
China reveals its space plans up to 2016?
Read More...

Embracing the current political SUCK with a BIG SMILE and HOPE?

IF you're running for President and your NET FINANCIAL WORTH is OVER $250,000,000s, it's an X-tremely BAD IDEA to joke about being UNEMPLOYED with an audience of out-of-work voters struggling to keep a roof over their heads & food on the table. It's like joking about your sore GOLF knees to a room full of amputee combat veterans.


Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney decides NOT to release his tax returns?
Read More...


Campaign Update:
Romney paid 14.5% rate on $42.6M over the last 2 yrs?
(January 24, 2011)
Read More...

Social Networking = The BORG? IF you're reading this message, you've been Assimilation!

Make your Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie 
before it's too late!

"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts."
~ Will Rogers
Chairman Mao Watch

Remember when sports fans wrapped rabbit ears in aluminum foil so they could watch the Superbowl on a 14" B&W TV?

‎"If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?" 
~ Vince Lombardi
What it Takes to be Number One (Hardcover)

Prairie Homestead, Milepost 213 on I-29, South Dakota (May 2010).

Maybe I had the wrong high school English teacher. I always thought that the words FAIR meant FAIR and BALANCED meant BALANCED?

My curfew was the street lights. My mom called my name NOT my cell phone. I played outside with friends NOT online. If I didn't eat what mom cooked then I didn't eat. Sanitizer didn't exist but you COULD get your mouth washed out with soap. I rode a bike without a helmet, getting dirty was OK & neighbors cared as much as your parents. Re-post if you drank water from a garden hose & survived.