ECONOMIC TERRORISM

The US security services allow billions of dollars to be stolen from individuals and credit card companies. Nigerian scammers, Russian mobsters, almost everyone is allowed to defraud Americans with absolutely NO consequences.

The entire world wide economy almost collapsed in 2008 because the feds ignored warnings about the mortgage industry. I believe that the warnings were ignored because each individual mortgage transaction was too small to get the notice of the federal government. However, as we painfully learned, the internet can turn small, relatively unimportant scams into a large scam that can bring down governments.

I am tired of hearing how business and banks are being defrauded by stealing credit cards. I am tired of listening to clients explain how they needed money so badly that they fell for a sophisticated version of the Nigerian email scam. (A large law firm was stung by a check cashing scam.)

The internet has made these small scams into big business.

As we have recently learned, the NSA has the capabilities to track down these international thieves and prove the theft. Since we can not stop the NSA from collecting the data, the NSA might as well use the data to protect the American people from economic terrorism.

Who knows, maybe some of the thieves are buying bombs with their ill gotten gains.

POISON AND THE FDA

The tobacco industry adds numerous poisons to cigarettes. The FDA does not care about the poisons, but does care about menthol. Why? Because some people think menthol tastes good.

I am SO tired of the FDA treating us all as addictive children. Less than 5% of the population is addicted to ANYTHING. Addiction can only be stopped by the addict making a decision to stop being an addict. How hard is this to understand?

The FDA allows acetaminophen to be added to prescription pain medications. Too many people, in pain after surgery, take too much of this pain medication, causing liver damage and deaths which can be proven. But gosh, menthol is SO much more important, because people might overuse tobacco. People DYING from overusing pain medication is unimportant, because they should have known better. (It should be noted that the overuse of acetaminophen is the leading cause of liver failure in the US.)

EVERYONE knows that tobacco is not good for you. However, trying to force everyone to stop using tobacco will just result in a VERY profitable illegal tobacco industry. 

YOU HAVE TO TALK

You have to learn to talk with people who disagree with you. It is not possible to shoot everyone who disagrees with you. Sitting in the street will eventually destroy a country or a city because it stops the normal commerce necessary for living.

I may have misread the New York Times, but it seems like the Egyptian generals are asking for permission to start a repression of the Muslim Brotherhood. Personally, I think Sharia law is a way to repress modern political thought.

I am asking all people in Egypt to TALK to each other. I am also asking the people of Egypt to recognize that ALL people have a right to think the way they want to think. It is possible to use the normal laws against violence to arrest the people who resort to violence.

Egypt is not Syria. Assad wants power so badly that he is willing to destroy his county in order to have power. No leader in Egypt has done that.

There are rules about reaching a consensus decision. One of my favorite is to have a debate where a representative of every faction gets to state their position. This should include those people who are not normally invited to speak but who have a group point of view. Then the moderator can get people to talk about their view of the country and a discussion of how to resolve the differences can begin.

I will also advise you that educating women is the key to having young people who can compete in the modern world, because education begins with parental teaching.

A ROYAL BABY

The entire world, including me, is agog about the new British royal baby. I am hoping for a girl as that will cause an interesting constitutional crisis. Also I think it is time dukedoms go to the oldest child.

Why do I care? It is living history. Many of us in the US are interested in the monarch system of government, as evidenced by much of fantasy science fiction. (I tend not to read the male authors of fantasy science fiction as I want my monarchy fantasies to include women being treated as equals.)

But most fascinating is the modern reenactment of the royal birth from Disney's Sleeping Beauty. We even have the equivalent of the wicked witch (the paparazzi). Right now, most of Britain is seeing the birth as an excuse for an impromptu street party.

Have fun watching the party. The BBC has already told you, but. All news regarding the birth will come from the palace. How cool is that?

INJUSTICE

You march in protest over the death of one black teenager. I mourn the deaths and destruction of millions of black and brown people under the excuse of the War on Some Drugs.

People are now telling me that drug prohibition can not be stopped because too many people are making too much money, I believe that the reason no one stops the insanity is that they do not want to give up this method of controlling minorities. If 25% of minority men are incarcerated, that keeps minorities from demanding the right to be treated as equals.

Prohibition has ALWAYS fostered violence. In Chicago, during prohibition of alcohol, people were using machine guns to fight each other in the streets. We will NEVER stop the violence in our inner cities until we repeal the prohibition laws regarding any drug that is proven by unprejudiced scientific research to be less dangerous and less addictive than alcohol.

Violent protests only make minorities look less rational. Peaceful protests, political organization, and VOTING are the only way to stop this stupid and immoral prohibition. 

Trayvon died because of fear of black people. Fear of black people will not abate until the violence we cause with our drug laws ends. As was proven by 60,000 deaths in Mexico, escalating the enforcement of prohibition only escalates the violence. Then the violence is used as an excuse to treat all black and brown men as if they were criminals.

The case in Florida is very sad. Fear caused a man and a boy to react with the fight or flight response. From the evidence I read, I would probably have voted for acquittal. Just because an event is so tragic that it makes us rethink how we treat each other, does not make it a criminal act.

RAMADAN KAREEM!

Have a generous Ramadan. Please be extra nice to your Muslim friends who are fasting. People who do not eat, drink or have sex between sunrise and sunset can get irritable. Worse, they may feel (and possibly be) morally superior for giving up something in order to try to become a better person.

Anyway, you can greet Muslims with "Ramadan Kareem", from now until August 7, when Muslims will celebrate with a feast. If you get a reply you do not understand, feel free to ask for a translation.

Sometimes learning only one word in another language can make an incredible difference in how you are perceived by another culture. When I was in Europe, I always learned the word(s) for "thank you" for every country I was in. Even though I am HORRIBLE at pronouncing other languages, I would ALWAYS get a smile for my attempt to communicate.

Talking with each other is one of the most important things we can do. If someone you would not normally talk to tries to open a conversation ALWAYS talk with them at least briefly. You never know what you will learn. You never know when you will make a friend.

Ramadan Kareem!

WE DO NOT BELIEVE YOU SPEAK FOR GOD

People who are pretending to speak for God almost always refuse to talk about the issues. They say that God has told them what to do and therefore they do not have to talk with anyone about how to solve problems facing us all.

EVERYONE must know by now that other people believe in other religions. The people who say that they talk to God are NOT willing to take orders from other people who talk to a differently defined God. Frankly, I am not willing to take orders from people who pretend to talk to God. Too often the orders are that all women should shut up and go home.

I believe that the Muslim Brotherhood has lost credibility in Egypt because the MB are misusing the name of God. I believe that the MB was trying to force the rest of Egypt into obedience to whatever the MB said that God wanted.

As Egypt moves forward, please remember that EVERYONE needs to talk to EVERYONE. Everyone needs to vote. Boycotting elections and boycotting conferences is STUPID. It is like saying that you will not talk with anyone who disagrees with you. I usually enjoy talking with people who disagree with me. Often, this allows me to see a solution that I did not know existed.

The other thing to remember is that the majority is not allowed to pass laws that harms a minority. Respect for everyone should be the goal of a good government.

Almost every religion believes that a person needs to treat all persons as the person would like to be treated. Please understand that this means that you have to treat women, Muslims, Christians, Copts, Sunnis, Shiites, Hindi, Buddhists, cripples, elderly, Black, Asians, everyone with respect. You must LISTEN to everyone so that you can find a path to the future that you can all walk.

DEATH IN A FOREST

Firestorms kill everything and everybody in a sudden blaze of unimaginable fury. We have a solution, but idiot Bush could not understand the solution and stopped controlled burns.

I have no idea if Bush's failure to learn even the simple rules of forest management killed 19 brave men in Arizona. I do know that controlled (or prescribed) burns are the solution to lowering the number of firestorms.

Firestorms happen when we try to stop all fire. Fire in the forest is necessary for the health of the forest. Without fire, the underbrush grows too tall and then becomes dry. Then, instead of a small fire, there is a huge fire that leaves a lunar landscape.

Do not even THINK that cutting down the brush can work. Although, for slow learners, I am certain that there are places where you can volunteer to cut brush. Anyway, cutting the brush and taking it away also takes away the nutrients that a healthy forest needs.

Controlled and prescribed burns will get out of control. Fire is tricky and wind is even trickier. But without controlled burns we will have firestorms that leave an entire forest devastated. No bears, no bunnies, no nothing.