Tag: International diplomacy

Conviction

I believe for every US soldier currently serving abroad, we should send TWO State Department Diplomats. No, make it THREE. President Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you,” and then he proceeded to ENGAGE with the world, through projects of prosperity and co-operation. Because he knew what WAR looked like.

Because he knew how war BEGINS… and he knew how to PREVENT it.

It’s foolish to believe that PEACE can be found at the point of a SWORD… when we know it’s so much easier to achieve when we simply extend our HAND.

 

What STOPS a WAR?

 

tank_man

 

 

Compassion. Connection. Understanding.

 

I join in Prime Minister Trudeau’s call for Accountability and Justice, and we must accept the fact that our FREE and FAIR elections have given RISE to this toxic fog of war.

 

So now, let the call go forth from OUR generation. One tempered by the horrors of WAR, both on the battlefield and in the classroom; disciplined by a hard and bitter TRUTH, longing for a Restoration of Justice; and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of seventy-five years of established order, that has given rise to PEACE and PROSPERITY, the likes of which the world has never known.

The safety and security of the world is assured when the safety and security of the United States is assured. When the United States STANDS divided, and our citizens are targeting each other… the safety and security of our ENEMIES becomes REALITY. When the United States is no longer an active participant on the World Stage and seeks an isolationist position, we become subject to the agendas of other nations, who prefer to be in the LEAD.

When we judge OTHERS based NOT on the content of their character, we invite that inevitable fate that has befallen EVERY oppressive leader, of EVERY nation throughout history… upon OURSELVES.

Judge NOT, lest ye be Judged.

Do unto OTHERS, as you would have them do unto YOU.

All Mankind is created EQUAL.

Endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights… THESE are OUR COMMANDMENTS. THESE are the values we hold SACRED. When they are withheld from ONE, it should be seen as an outrage to us ALL. And they only continue to exist, because BRAVE men and women have given of themselves to ensure it remains so…

 

To be SILENT is to be COMPLICIT.

 

We’ve learned these lessons. We must not learn them AGAIN! When ANY nation rattles the Saber of WAR, every American gives PAUSE, and thinks back to where this all began… 20 YEARS AGO. The price we’ve now PAID can only be measured in lives. Let us CHANGE that outcome, and remember WHY…

So it may NEVER happen again.

 

The oppression of the MINORITY by the MAJORITY was feared by the Framers of our Constitution. And because of that, they sought to ensure that the VOICE of dissent would always be seen as patriotic and necessary to the health of our democracy. If you are so CONFIDENT in your ideas, they should be able to STAND UP to rigorous debate. Even IF they prove to be in-error, either in part or in total, they may STILL prove to be important by informing the NEXT decision… helping us to avoid causing real harm.

 

Should my ideas prove to be in-error, I welcome the chance to be EDUCATED. Should my position prove to be unacceptable to THE PEOPLE, then they will know better than I what they want in a leader. I’m STANDING UP and offering my OPINION. Offering my assistance… because I believe in the INSTITUTIONS that countless souls have fought and died for… simply for the CHANCE to create them.

 

Democracy DIES in Darkness… the only cure for that is SUNLIGHT. NO VOICE is so small that it should not be heard, and no opinions so outlandish that they should not STAND as our guardrails. That’s why we VOTE in the SUNLIGHT. To avoid causing harm to OTHERS, that are by LAW… our EQUALS.

Wrapped in the protection of the 1st Amendment, I STAND to fight for those without a VOICE. To ensure it is for EVERYONE. Because if we do not… it will be for NO ONE.

 

Let it be known, when it is written upon mine… that I STOOD UP and was not SILENT.

May it be so for 200 MORE, LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!

 

End the Electoral College.

 

JC

 

Cookie-Cutter Tin-Pot Dictatorship

Imagine the possible outcome of that… Isolated pockets of ideologically pure groups, spread over a VAST distance and unable to organize. Barriers erected, both physical and mental, stopping the free flow of ideas and the communion of countrymen, matriarchs and mothers.

Laws passed to suppress one group of people are seen as frivolous and not impactful in ONE city, and in another… families are terrorized and live in fear, constantly keeping watch, to avoid being destroyed by a family member being deported to a country THEY’VE NEVER KNOWN.

But, that city that does not fear the unfair deportation of “OTHERS”, faces other laws that can destroy THEIR way of life. To artificially shift the judgement, shift the blame… to speak out against oppression is difficult to justify when “money is TIGHT”, and “good jobs are hard to find”…

“Keep your head down, don’t draw attention, and this, TOO, shall pass.”

When MOUTHS need fed and BILLS need paid, that fear of losing it ALL focuses the mind… just as intended.

The only hope for anyone trying to make ends meet, especially with dependents, is the STRENGTH found in a team. Two people, COMMITTED to making a family successful, working to make things better for themselves and also, the future…

“Let’s make sure HALF of the population can only make $0.75 on the dollar compared to the OTHER HALF.” — Lawmakers.

And as we see more families with TWO PARENTS working full-time jobs just to make ends meet, in the middle of it all stands the FUTURE of Our Nation, watching the insanity and only wanting ONE THING- To live in PEACE with their parents in safety.

But the answers they are given don’t seem to fit in with the realities they face. The anxiety at home due to the stress of the family, the anxiety at school due to the constant fear of the unknown assailant.

 

Q: Who knows BEST how to provide the safety these children need at school?

A: Wealthy, geriatric men in the District of Columbia who DEPEND on money from gun lobbies to get re-elected.

 

Q: Who knows BEST how to break the cycle of BOOM and BUST our financial institutions are ENABLING? When they SPECULATE on barrels of FUEL, or WHEAT for our BREAD, or CORN for our CATTLE… Who should be TRUSTED to legislate a SOUND framework, to protect BOTH the people AND the financial institutions from Criminal Behavior?

A: The ELECTED OFFICALS who rely on DONATIONS FROM the SAME financial institutions, and oil companies, and Agra-business. DONATIONS from organizations composed of a… Complex. Of producers and manufactures who supply the Military and Law Enforcement communities… FOR THEIR RE-ELECTION.

 

“But… this is an OUTRAGE! We should PROTEST!”

And, as we saw during the Occupy movement, Laws have been created to keep THAT to a minimum. Any susstained effort make REAL and LASTING fiscal policy change happen in the interest of THE PEOPLE is SILENCED by any means necessary.

 

“We’ll camp RIGHT HERE on this PUBLIC LAND until…”

“… that’s no longer public land, move along.”

 

So it seems pointless to SCREAM and SPEAK OUT, as a single mother loses her home to the bank through foreclosure, and as a grandmother is tossed from her home, with so little to fall back on… After a while, the story is repeated. A new face, another community. Houses boarded up, cul-de-sacs empty. “Things were just starting to turn around from the LAST TIME this happened.”

… and the time before that.

In times past… yes, back in my day… the knowledge of the past was a privileged resource, available only to those with the means to attain it. So, children with parents who had education and upward mobility would naturally be exposed to knowledge and receive guidance, but also take them TO THE KNOWLEDGE… at the library.

The ability to provide the opportunity to learn was dependent on the knowledge of the parents. Children of single-parent homes, or parents with minimal education, work MORE HOURS and have LESS TIME to devote to important support for their kids… and the CYCLE CONTINUED.

Today, the KNOWLEDGE OF THE PAST is fully available in the POCKET of EVERY CHILD. Where, as a child, I would ask questions of my parents and if they didn’t know, the out-of-date encyclopedia from 1971 MIGHT have the answer… The knowledge known only to a few in times past, is now TRIVIAL PURSUIT to the youth today. The political hypocrisy of the past is simply OUTDATED RHETORIC in the eyes of a kid with an iPhone-

 

“Voter fraud is a threat to democracy!”

“… I have FIVE SOURCES that say THAT is a lie.”

 

“Abstinence is the best way to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancy.”

“… statistics show that EDUCATION starting at an early age AND safe sex practices work more effectively… FALSE.”

 

“A ‘Good Guy’ with a gun is the answer to a ‘Bad Guy’ with a gun.”

“Hold on. Let me ask David Hogg about that one… he just said “that’s bullshit”.

 

The advancement of technology has SKEWED the playing field. The “adults” now have the knowledge and skills of a child, and the child now has the knowledge and TOOLS of a Statesman or a Diplomat.

The ability to deceive and successfully manipulate messages to fit different audiences has become an Historical Artifact, a relic of a time gone by. To “play to the base” inorder to secure a primary nomination, then swing your political views back to a moderate stance for the general election, is FANTASY in the era of live stream, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.

GOOD RIDDANCE! to the liar and manipulator! Two-faced and deceptive, they play their games and keep score with the LIVES lost. They pick up the pieces that were lost by families who’s lives have been shaken and destroyed, put them back together, then sell them to the highest bidder… for personal gain.

And MOST of us can only GRIN and BEAR IT. Unable to do ANYTHING because we are the provider for a family, we swallow our pride… hoping to provide a strong foundation for OUR CHILDREN to one day RISE UP and DEMAND the change…

 

demand the change.

JC

Kim Jong-un vs. “…Your Mom!”

I am… a giant. At 6’4″, 175 lbs, I stand above everyone. With RARE exception, I can either see over a large crowd unobstructed or my hat (a SpongeBob SquarePants Yellow hat) can bee seen over everyone. I am instantly shocked when someone taller walks into the room. Because it never happens! I have been tall all my life. Tallest in class, tallest in the school. Taller than all but one of my teachers. (second grade, my teacher was 6’1″. I was only 5’6″.) I was the tallest kid in my elementary school at the beginning of 5th grade, but at some point that year, Mindi hit her growth spurt and passed me by a couple inches.

I think that’s the reason I had a crush on her.

When I was in Cub Scouts, around 13 yrs old, my friend Tim’s Mom was our Den Mother. I was 5’6″ or so and a mouthy thirteen year old, and she was as tough as a wolf mother, and not even 4’6″ tall… To my eyes, it was a DRAMATIC height difference. And, being a 13 year old, I liked to… um, kindly reference our differences in height…? (did anyone buy that?)

Right. I would smart off “Oh yeah? What’cha gonna do about it, shorty?”

…. quick aside here. As I write this, I have in my minds eye a scene where I am being sarcastic with Tim’s Mom. I HOPE that’s how it was? I sound like a hell-child writing it out loud! I HOPE that’s how it came across. If not, I guess, Look for my “Apologies and Retractions” section, coming soon!… sigh…

SO, smart-ass me says “What’cha gonna do about it, shorty?” And, bless her heart, all four-foot-nothing walks right up to me, serious as can be, looks me in the eyes and says “No matter how tall you get, I can ALWAYS stand on a chair.”

boom.

She was a wonderful woman. Very caring, loved her being our Den Mother. So she had earned our respect, and each of us tried to show it. And we had seen he grab Tim’s ear a time or two, so we knew NOT to piss her off!

I could not think of a better person to be engaging overseas with aggressive foreign leaders on behalf of the People of the United States. Honestly, who could make decisions that reflect the overall wellbeing of the ENTIRE US better than “…Your Mom!” I would say, in fact, IF Tim’s Mom were to run in 2020, that would be the ONLY possible opponent I could not defeat.

After all, she could just stand on a chair.