Monday, December 26, 2011

Iran Can Be Our New Friends, North Korea Too...

"Last night Rick Perry compared himself to Tim Tebow. The difference? Tim Tebow actually has a prayer." – Jay Leno

"The candidates all have their position on the Federal Reserve. Ron Paul is anti-Fed. Mitt Romney is pro-Fed. And Newt Gingrich is over-Fed." – Jay Leno

"USA Today reports that the number of death row executions this year has hit a 35-year low. They attribute that to DNA evidence clearing more people and the fact that Rick Perry has been on the road campaigning. " – Jay Leno

"Gary Busey has just withdrawn his endorsement of Newt Gingrich. That's when you know your campaign's in trouble. " – Jay Leno



I don't have any lists of books or favorite news events that rocked my world for 2011, lord knows there are plenty of other blogs where they do such things. Then, I don't have some crappy editor to answer to, just myself, and I tend to let myself slide a lot. The only discipline I try to adhere to is keeping my writing to a few paragraphs, and not making references that are too obscure. Almost all news stories can be found in the New York Times or the Washington Post, though I often read a lot more sources. I'm in the process of adding source sites to my new laptop, and will soon add and subtract more blogs that I like. I have the ads in my blog because they were supposed to make some extra money, yet, to date, I've made less than $5 from Google ads, and MSNBC won't return my e-mails... So, I will have to rethink the ad thing. I have asked a couple of friends if they'd like to add content, but so far everyone has declined. It looks like I will still be the only author, and I will try to publish every two or three days, as a labor of love...

There's been a couple of signs that Kim Jong-un will be less severe as a "Beloved Leader" than his father and grandfather were. When his father died, there were military troops out on maneuvers, and one of the first orders Jong-un gave was to have them all return to their bases, giving some reassurance that they weren't going to over-run the borders. Second, he has received a delegation of diplomats from South Korea. Indications are that he's easier to talk to. Since he's only 28 years old, we might think about sending Kim Kardashian over as Ambassador, or our secret weapons of Beyonce and Christina Aguilara... If we make an effort, we could normalize relations with North Korea and change the tone of the whole region. I'm guessing, but I'll bet that North Korea wouldn't mind being more economically successful...

Another country that we might be able to have better relations with is Iran. Of course, we'd have to stop calling each other Satan and the Axis of Evil (if you want to use this to rename your rock band, you have my permission), and making other dumb accusations... For example, a New York judge has ruled that Iran is linked with al-Qaeda to the 9/11 attack, which is just not true. It's propaganda made up by the conservative elements in our State Dept to create guilt by association. Iran has never been friends with al-Qaeda, other than to sell them roadside bombs and suicide vests, but that's just business. Iran kept members of Osama bin Laden's family, a wife and some children, as hostages. They lived in some comfort in a compound on the outskirts of Tehran, and was Iran's guarantee that al-Qaeda would leave their country alone. Of course, Iran gets more mileage out of demonizing the US, take away the Great Satan as an enemy, and they wouldn't have any scapegoats to hide their mistakes and corruption, the Grand Ayatollah wouldn't last much longer as Supreme Leader ( OK, how about Supreme Leader and the Ayatollahs for another rock band's name???)

The most important event of this last year was the Arab Spring, how it evolved from a single man's protest to circle the globe and influence movements against corruption in the US, in Russia, and even in China. It remains a positive, inspired influence despite areas that devolved into violence in Egypt, Syria, and Yemen. Even in those places, the end results is a struggle away from autocratic styled rule to a more democratic one, unless you are a woman or a member of a minority tribe... It's just a few steps on a long journey in the right direction...





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