Knowledge Seeker
  • Home
  • Articles

Foreign Aid (Three Minutes to Read)

9/17/2012

 
Even though we have no money to spend we’re still sending $53 billion of borrowed money to other countries. Keep in mind that every dollar that goes out in foreign aid doesn’t come back so our economy/GDP shrinks. This is how it’s broken out:
     
Altruistic purposes ($11.7B)     
Economic/Political interests region stabilization and ally support ($33.9B)      
Military interests ($13.7B)

Israel receives a majority of the aid followed by Egypt (where our Embassy is being attacked). The other big recipients include: Africa, Columbia, and Pakistan. Keep in mind this budget is for aid only we also lend countries money which in most cases isn’t paid back. 
 
We have loaned over $1 billion dollars to Egypt that they haven’t paid back. This is a game played by our federal government to where they can post a budget that reflects $53 billion dollars for
Foreign Aid but the budget also includes a discretional fund that can be spent however our government sees fit. Basically it makes tracing money that goes over seas practically impossible; so much for transparency. This isn’t a new practice as it has been going on for years.      

It’s recognized that most of the aid we send doesn’t reach our intended target due to corruption. Plus let’s face it, when it comes to the Middle East a friend today can become your enemy tomorrow. We helped the Afghanis defeat Russia and it came back to bite us as the people
we trained turned their weapons on our troops. Even recently an Afghani solider who was going through military training killed his American instructor. 
 
My policy would be to not provide any country in the Middle East with military training, money, and/or weapons. They’ve been fighting amongst themselves for thousands of years; we’re not going to change it. I hate to say it but in some of these countries a dictator is the best way to stabilize their country. Human rights would be negatively affected but that’s happening now because of Islamic extremist. If another country wants to learn from us in order to pursue a democratic government then fine but Muslims want no part of Western culture so it’s ludicrous for us to try and force it; this only increases they’re hatred towards us. 
 
Our government is allied with various Middle Eastern leaders the problem is that we don’t have an alliance with their citizens and that’s why they do what they do to us. I believe that our Ambassador of Libya getting murdered sent us a clear message. Pictures taken of Hillary Clinton with various leaders in the Middle East are just for political purposes. It makes it look like we are forming good relationships over there when it certainly isn’t the case. The Obama Administration hasn’t done anything to effectively move our relationships forward; my question is if it’s even possible? 

President Obama recently said he didn’t know if Egypt and Libya were our allies and he received a lot of flak for saying it but I’m with him on this one. It might not have been politically astute for him to say these words out loud (outside of his administration) but what he’s saying is the truth. I’d rather these countries know we aren’t stupid. Most Muslims don’t want us there. Those who do are mostly in the business world but unfortunately there aren’t enough of them to protect our interests. American tourism is big business in Egypt so these business owners hate what’s happening. 
 
I guess what it boils down to me is how many civilians and soldiers have to be killed before we say we get it? What more can they do to communicate they don’t want us? It’s kind of like we're stalkers who just don’t take no for an answer. We are giving billions of borrowed money to these countries and what exactly are we getting in return? The regions certaintly aren't stabilized. Pakistan put the doctor in prison who helped us get Osam Bin Laden; what kind of an ally is this? I think it makes us look like idiots to continue sending money that is used to against us in the end. The only three countries I'd work worth at this juncture are Egypt, Israel, and Saudi Arabia and let the rest of the Middle-East companies fend for themselves. The only one I'd really trust as an ally is Isreal as they've constantly proven their loyalty. I wish I could say the same of us towards them.  

Racism in America (Four Minutes to Read)

9/17/2012

 
In my opinion race will always be a dividing factor in our country; it can be improved but it’s never going away.

This only makes sense as mankind has forever needed to be part of a group/tribe. It’s human nature for people to want to be around others who share common characteristics and people who understand what they’re going through. This is why a black person can join a company and it
doesn’t take long for this person to find other blacks in the company to hang out with. I’ve heard whites complain about this but more than likely we’d do the same thing if the roles were reversed. Once again it’s just human nature.

I disagree with anyone who says they aren’t racist because I believe everyone is it’s just a matter of the degree. For example, if there’s a boxing match and one person is black and the other is
white and I know nothing else about them, I root for the white guy. Not that I hate the black guy I just need someone to root for so I’ll enjoy the fight. 
 
Let’s take it a step further. If the same two guys were fighting and I knew the black boxer was a great guy (like Evander Holyfield), I’d root for him. I don’t care who was fighting Evander Holyfield I
always cheered for him. So I do have a degree of racism but character trumps color for me. 

I’m embarrassed by white people who are in my opinion “White Trash.” I often see people on the news who are in my opinion “Black Trash.”  I apologize for using these words as they sound so terrible but I know of no other way to express it. The fact is there are good and bad people regardless of color. As a percent are there more blacks that are bad, I believe so as can be seen in our prison populations. There are underlying causes to this as a higher percentage of blacks are high school dropouts and come from dysfunctional families. This doesn’t make it right for them to break the law but the factors are there.

This is going to be a sensitive topic but I believe African Americans are in general more racist than whites; I’m not saying it’s wrong or not justified, but it is what it is. The reason I say it’s justified is that whites haven’t experienced what blacks have. If you were black you’d have a parent that shared stories of having to use separate restrooms and water fountains among other things. Then your grandparents could tell you about having to get low paying service jobs instead of the better jobs given to whites and how they were told to not look whites in the eyes.

Now you might think it was in the past and they shouldn’t hold it against you but how would you feel? Could you imagine having people you love tell you about how terribly they were treated just
because of their skin color? There’s no way we wouldn’t have an increased level of racism even if things had gotten better.

But the natural feelings they have unfortunately serve to bring them down. Here they have so many better opportunities but they let their anger get in the way of taking advantage of it.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew things would never be perfect he just wanted the door to opportunity to be opened for blacks to pursue their dreams. He expected blacks to walk through the door not to be pulled or pushed through it.  

My company (and I’m sure most) doesn’t care a thing about the color of someone’s skin. Whoever could come in and make our company better is the one who got the job. Surely other companies feel the same way. Failure to do this would undermine the success of the company. The types of
jobs I’m talking about wouldn’t have been offered to minorities years ago but the opportunities exist now; a dream realized for the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Another reason I say blacks are more racist than whites can be seen in the last presidential election. Millions of white Americans didn’t care about President Obama’s race but black Americans did with 95% of them voting for him. I don’t blame them; quite frankly it wouldn’t have
mattered to me what his policies would be, I’d just want the first person of my race to hold the Oval Office. Many white people were upset by the way the votes went down but I feel strongly that if the roles were reversed they’d have done the same thing. Once again, it’s just human nature whether we like it or not. My  hope is that Black Americans will now vote for the candidate who will have the greatest impact on our economy.  
 
Blacks also vote for African Americans a majority of the time regardless of the political position or their record. Take D.C.’s Mayor Berry, he was caught with a prostitute and was smoking crack
cocaine yet he was re-elected. I personally don’t like this level of racism just because of my mentality towards choosing character over race but not everyone thinks this way.

Racism is a sensitive topic and I certainly  don’t think there are any easy fixes to the problem. One thing that definitely helps is when both races spend more time together. When I was in the military
there was no color among my fellow sailors. We were a family and we looked out for each other. This typically happens when blacks and whites play sports together and/or work together. This is really the best way for different races to realize their similarities.

A good example of this is in New York. It is much more progressive so blacks and whites have been working together in executive jobs for years. What do you know; racism is significantly lower there than in the southeast. They slowly become color blind and the best part about it is the
people who are experiencing it can influence the thoughts of other people within their own race. 

My hope is that you’ll take away from this  that racism will always exist there’re just various degrees of it. I also hope you’ll agree that racism is only natural and has existed in one way or another since the existence of mankind. We don’t like it but it’s not going away. I hope you’ll understand why blacks are more racist than whites but there are reasons for it even if it only hurts them to hold onto it. I hope that if you’re white you’ll truly try to put yourself in their shoes because I guarantee you that you’d understand better why they do what they do.

Lastly I hope you’ll agree the best way to improve our situation is to find ways to share time with people of other races. If there are African Americans working with you, invite them out to dinner. If there is a black family living on your street, invite them over for dinner. Anything you can do to
proactively create opportunities to spend time with people of other races will make a positive difference in all of our lives. 


Terrorism (Two minutes to read)

9/17/2012

 
Since this topic has been all over every news station I thought I’d write a little something about it.

I don’t believe the most recent demonstrations and terrorist attacks are primarily due to the anti-Muslim movie: “The Innocence of Muslims,” as most experts are saying these were coordinated attacks that couldn’t have been put together in a few days. They think these groups already had the plans in place for September 11th and the movie was an opportunist means to unleash their plans. 
 
I’m disgusted with what these groups have done and I’m also disgusted with the Obama Administration’s response to why this is happening. On September 14th White House Press Secretary (Jay Carney) said the attacks were due to the movie and not the Obama Administration’s foreign policy or hatred towards Americans. I’m not going to be politically astute and say his statement was misleading or untrue, it was a lie. Fortunately, I believe the reporters and those of us who watched the video knew exactly what Carney was doing; his statements only served to lessen the Administration’s credibility. 

The truth is radical Muslims hate Americans no matter what we do. Some who aren’t necessarily religious hate us because they’re paid to. In a lot of the mobs we see on television there are several of them who were paid to participate. Many Muslim consultants who go on various
television news programs say a lot of the protestors are poor and they are easily swayed to be terrorists for a few hundred dollars a month (which is a lot there). They are paid by various sect leaders who want more power and influence.

This is just my opinion but I believe many sect leaders are paid by Saudi Arabia and other large oil producing countries to keep places like Afghanistan and Iraq unstable. This would help prevent
investment by large oil companies in countries such as these thus giving the Saudis control over oil production. Because of this oil companies would have to go to Saudi Arabia for a stable oil supply. Any time you are trying to figure what’s going on the answers can often be found by following the money. 


    Author: John Mann

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly