Trouble in a region few have heard of...

I have recently finished a course on the history of the “Steppes” or that part of the world known as Central Asia, a geographical region that is very unfamiliar to Americans as is its history and the affect that history had on the rest of the world.

Recently there have been many reports of turmoil with fatal consequences in the Chinese region known as XINJANG UYGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION roughly in northwest China.

That area known throughout history as the TARIN BASIN was where the SILK ROAD started and meandered all the way to Europe and brought the two parts of the world closer together through trade and communication.

The people living in the area and causing all the uproar are TURKIC UIGHUR MUSLIMS (wee-gurs) who want independence from China who they accuse of mistreating them.

The history of the region includes Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun and even Marco Polo. The peoples that populated the Steppes came out of Mongolia and were fierce warriors that conquered Central Asia and all the way to even include parts of Europe and the Middle East; and that is why their history is so important to understanding the peoples that now occupy those lands (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, etc.).

Note: Ukrainian and now Russian Crimea was populated by Tartars (decedents of the Steppe people) who live there to this day and are now under Russian domination.

We are living in some very interesting times…

 

 

 

 

RELIGIOUS FANATICS DESTROYING HISTORY AND CULTURE...WHY?

As a history nut or shall I say a lifelong student of history, I treasure what history has left us to see, to touch, to read and to ponder.

I consider historic relics as sacred no matter from what age or location they came from; a piece of physical history is priceless.

I know wars and revolution endanger pieces of history such as recently in Egypt and more recently in Iraq where the invading Muslim insurgents are hell bent on destroying everything that they feel is not part of their religion or their belief system. Remember the age-old Buddhist statues blown up in Afghanistan by the Taliban or al-Qaeda…why?

Now I am reading that the insurgents in Iraq blew up The Nabi Younes Mosque which housed Jonah’s tomb; yes the Jonah that spent some time in the belly of a whale.

I don’t care if you believe the Biblical story or not but the fact that Jonah is mentioned in the Bible as well as the Quran and people “believe” he is buried there and revere the place is enough to respect its place and function in history.

Hell anything that is part of the archaeology of our planet should be sacrosanct and treated with the utmost care because history is, I feel, so important to our human existence and experience.

The religious fanaticism that prompts these fanatics to destroy the relics of our history to me is just plain barbarism and the height of absurdist ignorance. I don’t care how you interpret the pronouncements of your religion; if your beliefs in any way hurt or damage people, places or things, you are then dubbed a common criminal and should be punished as such.

I think that Muslims around the world and especially in the United States need to stand up and voice opposition to what these fanatics are doing or risk the condemnation of their entire faith which I am afraid is happening anyway and mainly because good Muslims are silent and that silence appears as if they condone the fanatic’s behavior.

 

 

 

Gaza and Israel...WTF?

This morning’s Wall Street Journal said that we have not seen the world in this big of a mess since the 1970s…I agree, we have a lot of shit going on.

The current clash between Hamas of Gaza and Israel is on a list of hot button issues but this issue still confounds me…

I hear from my wife about how innocent Palestinians are being killed by Israeli bombs and how that needs to stop and I also see on the local news protesters from the Middle East holding up anti-Israeli signs demanding a stop to the slaughter.

When I ask why Hamas does not stop shooting rockets into Israel all I get is that those rockets have not killed anyone in Israel and that is a sane answer…really?

Three Jewish teenagers were killed by some Palestinians followed by the murder of a Palestinian teen as retaliation and we now have over 200 dead Palestinians and more to come…why?

Why is Hamas shooting rockets into Israel and why do people in the Gaza Strip support the insane actions of Hamas at least those interviewed on TV.

Why do women wail on TV at the sight of dead children after an Israeli bombing attack even though enough warning was given by the Israelis to evacuate the area; are they trying to look like martyrs? Do they want sympathy from the world but for what; they are responsible for their own conditions; their choices are what put them into this dire situation.

Even though my wife supports the Palestinians she also agrees with me that they are the cause of their own woes.

The fact that the rockets Hamas is firing into Israel will not do any damage and Hamas knows that and that is very telling as to what their motives could be for doing that. They know Israel will retaliate with force and possibly an invasion and yes, they want that to happen…why?

In my many arguments about this issue I keep asking what the people of Gaza / Hamas want to happen in the end. What is it that will make them happy enough to stop attacking and antagonizing Israel?

Well it seems Hamas wants this status quo to go on in perpetuity. Every few years they start a war with Israel, Israel bombs the hell out of them, money pours in to help them rebuild and the cycle starts all over again.

Is this a way to live? Would you not want a country of your own that you can prosper in, have the freedom to travel, raise a family without constant fear and have a realistic future?

Eventually, Hamas will build rockets or as seen today, drones that actually can do serious damage to property and life in Israel. When that happens, Gaza and its inhabitants will have to be eliminated by deporting them to Muslim countries that will take them and the Gaza Strip will be settled by Jews who will eliminate the problem that is Gaza today.

Does that sound like a solution the people of Palestine want? Once again, it is all up to them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW INFO WHY CHILDREN FROM C. AMERICA ARE COMING HERE IN DROVES...

There was a critical part to the influx of Central American children into the United States that I was not aware of until now but if we had “secured” our borders like I stated in the previous blog, the issue would still not be an issue today.

The new information concerns the treatment of children from Central America and not children from Mexico, etc. Children from Mexico or other South American countries are immediately sent back (deported) to their country of origin.

Children coming from Central America cannot be immediately deported but must undergo a complex process mandated by a law passed a few years ago (2008) specifically to combat and deter sex trafficking.

So instead of changing the law or blocking this particular loophole and allowing immediate deportation of children from Central America and more importantly, removing the main reason these children are being sent here, Obama wants billions to process these children.

Unless the law is changed, these children will continue to come here. Our government is desperately trying to find housing for these children but state governors as well as ordinary Americans are trying to block these efforts knowing that these children will become and remain wards of the state for many years since the process to send them back is broken.

Well this is a fine mess we are in because of the ineptitude of our government and all those that work for our government…now what?

 

HOW COULD THE IMMIGRATION CRISIS IN TEXAS HAVE HAPPENED?

There are so many issues this Sunday (July 13^th) but I will start with the current immigration issue that has monopolized the airwaves for the last two weeks and has created a political firestorm.

The issue concerns the thousands of children from Central America (Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica & Panama) crossing our borders, many without any parents, and overwhelming our immigration system which appears to be at a loss as to what to do with these thousands of kids.

Immigration has been a hot button issue for years and is treated as a political hot potato. Obama wants to address the issue as did Bush before him, but the Republicans said it is a dead issue until after the November elections.

We all seem to agree that we absolutely need “secure” borders but where has that gone…nowhere. I have been to McAllen, Texas on many occasions and to the town across the river in Mexico called Reynosa and I will tell you that the river is basically a stream that anyone can cross including five-year-old kids; which they have been doing in the thousands.

Apart from the big issue of immigration, the immediate issue that needs immediate attention is that of the children from Central America which are streaming across our border because they have heard that once they get here they are in for good and statistics seem to prove that as fact.

Now we must admit that conditions in Central America have to be so horrendous that parents will send their kids towards the American border without them; paying individuals whose business is to transport children into the U.S.

First, I cannot believe that this has been going on for some years and this is the first we are hearing about it; how god-damn incompetent is our government.

Obama is asking for $$$ BILLIONS to send those kids back…really… so they can turn around and come on back?

I have already seen protesters blocking buses transporting those children to places they can be housed (like Lackland AFB where I did basic training in the 60s). These protesters are saying these children are bringing leprosy with them and will infect us all if allowed to stay here…I can see a scary movie out of this.

Bleeding hearts are saying we cannot send them back into the hell holes they came from; it’s inhumane.

This would NEVER even be an issue if our politicians had the balls to SECURE OUR BORDERS FIRST and then decide what to do with the illegals already in our country.

I am disappointed in Obama because I good CEO should always be aware what the fuck is going on in his country and not be surprised on so many occasions. Rick Perry the governor of Texas where the children crossed into is criticizing Obama for not being on top of the issue but it is Perry’s state and why in the fuck did he not know what was going on right under his stupid nose.

No, all the politicians are to blame for this fiasco because we have a dysfunctional political system which only WE can fix with our VOTE.

I am thinking we should throw the bums out…

 

 

 

 

 

THE END OF AN ERA: No More AACC Conventions...

Since I sold my company and retired in June 2013 after over 30 years in business, I have encountered many new firsts with the biggest one being not getting up at 6am every morning and going to work.

Another milestone is coming up this month.

My professional career has been in CLINICAL CHEMISTRY which is chemistry connected with the human body. An easy way to explain what I did was to point to all the “blood tests” your doctor ordered to determine the status of your health. My company Pointe Scientific, Inc. crated and manufactured a variety of “blood tests” for use by laboratories around the world.

My industry, like many other industries, has an annual convention that brings together practically everyone working in my industry and I am talking worldwide and that convention or meeting where new ideas are presented and discussed is called the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR CLINICAL CHEMISTRY and brought together many, many CLINICAL CHEMISTS; nerds of the clinical laboratory.

Since 1980, I have travelled to convention sites around the country. In many cases I brought my family when I could so we could create an adventure vacation out of a business trip.

Last year I attended the convention in Houston, TX which was basically my swan song where I got the chance to say goodbye to friends and colleagues I have known for all these years.

In 2011 we celebrated 30 years in the business with a great party in Atlanta, GA attended by many of our clients and colleagues from around the world.

This July the convention is in Chicago, IL, long one of my favorite convention cities.

Some of the other cities included; New Orleans, LA, Boston, MA, Anaheim, CA, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, CA, Orlando, FL., Philadelphia, PA., San Diego, CA. and Los Angeles, CA.

Sometimes we flew to other destinations from the convention city like to Hawaii when the convention was in San Francisco or to Cabos San Lucas when the convention was in Anaheim, CA.

I have marked on my calendar the fact that I will not be attending the AACC convention this year for the very first time in my career but I am marking the occasion with mixed feelings. Yes, it was a pain to get everything organized for the show but once there, it was a magical if very exhausting time.

I think I will miss the friendships and relationships I have established with people worldwide in all these years but I also can feel the pressure of age and the energy required to perform this job adequately and I think I am glad to leave that to my younger cohorts who remain with the company, many of whom I have trained and guided through many years.