THE ENTERPRISE-To Make You Think
MOSTLY SECONDARY MATERIAL, BUT GOOD STUFF
This has been a busy week, preparing for travel, speaking and consulting engagements. I am using three pieces of material I gathered from widely divergent sources to get you thinking....about things we know...things we might suspect... and how we might look at life and its challenges. I hope you find them stimulating.
IRAQ IS A MESS, RIGHT? HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT IRAQ IS REALLY LIKE?
I got this via a friend, on the Internet, and it contained many things I certainly didn't know. I didn't take the time to check all the facts on the DOD web site, so I cannot vouch for the absolute accuracy. (I doubt that the author of this would have cited the reference if it wouldn't support the facts stated.) I did check a couple of them, and found them to be accurate or understated--see NOTES.
How Could We Know?
I didn't know! You didn't know! How could we know? Did you know?
...That 47 countries' have reestablished their embassies in Iraq?
NOTE: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ask/20051118.html says there are really 52 embassies or foreign organization's "missions" there now.
...That the Iraqi government currently employs 1.2 million Iraqi people?
...That 3100 schools have been renovated, 364 schools are under rehabilitation, 263 new schools are now under construction and 38 new schools have been completed in Iraq?
...That Iraq's higher educational structure consists of 20 Universities, 46 Institutes or colleges and 4 research centers, all currently operating?
...That 25 Iraq students departed for the United States in January 2005 for the re-established Fulbright program?
...That the Iraqi Navy is operational? They have 5 - 100-foot patrol craft, 34 smaller vessels and a naval infantry regiment.
NOTE: The DOD site indicates that more craft are being added right now.
...That Iraq's Air Force consists of three operational squadrons, which includes 9 reconnaissance and 3 US C-130 transport aircraft (under Iraqi operational control), which operate day and night, and will soon add 16 UH-1 helicopters and 4 Bell Jet Rangers?
NOTE: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46950 says there are 45 aircraft in the Iraqi Air Force.
...That Iraq has a counter-terrorist unit and a Commando Battalion?
...That the Iraqi Police Service has over 55,000 fully trained and equipped police officers?
...That there are 5 Police Academies in Iraq that produce over 3500 new officers each 8 weeks?
...There are more than 1100 building projects going on in Iraq? They include 364 schools, 67 public clinics, 15 hospitals, 83 railroad stations, 22 oil facilities, 93 water facilities and 69 electrical facilities.
...That 96% of Iraqi children under the age of 5 have received the first 2 series of polio vaccinations?
...That 4.3 million Iraqi children were enrolled in primary school by mid October?
...That there are 1,192,000 cell phone subscribers in Iraq and phone use has gone up 158%?
...That Iraq has an independent media that consists of 75 radio stations, 180 newspapers and 10 television stations?
...That the Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in June of 2004?
...That 2 candidates in the Iraqi presidential election had a televised debate recently?
OF COURSE WE DIDN'T KNOW! WHY DIDN'T WE KNOW? BECAUSE OUR MAJOR NEWS MEDIA FAILS TO TELL US!Instead of reflecting our love for our country, we get photos of flag burning incidents at Abu Ghraib and people throwing snowballs at the presidential motorcades. Tragically, the lack of accentuating the positive in Iraq serves three major purposes of the extreme liberal news media in the USA:
1. It is intended to undermine the world's perception of the United States thus minimizing consequent support from our allies, and:
2. It is intended to discourage American citizens and erode their support for our efforts in Iraq.
3. It is intended to help the Democratic Party gain more power in the next elections.
All the above facts are verifiable on the Department of Defense web site, and other related resources.
http://www.defenselink.mil/>http://www.defenselink.milIsn't it tragic that news media in a free country with a “free press” can be totally selective with the type of news that is printed or air and, at the same time, the same free press can suppress news that the public needs to see and hear?
CONGRATULATIONS TO CHARLIE GIBSON AND ABC NEWS ON THE DEMOCRATIC "DEBATE"
Finally, the news moderators: Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous asked some of the questions that needed to be asked, and fired back follow-up questions that were not "softballs." Of course the huge body of the liberal mass media vilified them for pursuing such "unimportant issues" as whether the candidates promises were lies, pandering, misguided or merely evasive. Despite a couple of direct questions to Obama about how he could keep his commitment that he would not raise taxes on anyone earning less than $250,000/year, and then plan to raise the capital gains tax rate from 15% to 28%. Over half of those filing tax returns with capital gains on them earn less than $100,000. Isn't that a tax increase?
And when Gibson twice pursued the issue further, pointing out that every study shows that lowering capital gains tax rates results in increased Federal tax revenue to pay for other programs, Obama first commented that it depends on conditions on Wall Street, and then shifted the topic to an attack on McCain over housing programs and problems. Hiillary only fared marginally better, in trying to explain her sniper fire statements and her contradictory pledges to not raise taxes and then maybe only raise the capital gains tax rate to 20% (the level her husband lowered it to when he was in office. Both swore that they'd get out of Iraq in the first 12-18 mo., even if it meant over-riding the advice of the Military command officers, a statement that commentator David Gergen opined was foolish since it completely foreclosed their options in the face of a rapidly changing global situation. (Gergen is a pretty smart guy, who has served in several White Houses under Presidents of both parties.)
A BLACK MAN--AND A VERY SMART ONE--WEIGHS IN ON OBAMA
Barack Obama, The Big Talker, Is A Living Lie
By THOMAS SOWELL | EXCERPTS FROM IBD© Posted Tuesday, April 15, 2008 4:30 PM PTAn e-mail from a reader said that, while Hillary Clinton tells lies, Barack Obama is himself a lie. That is becoming painfully apparent with each new revelation of how drastically his carefully crafted image this election year contrasts with what he has actually been saying and doing for many years. Sen. Obama's election-year image is that of a man who can bring the country together, overcoming differences of party or race, as well as solving our international problems by talking with Iran and other countries with which we are at odds, and performing other miscellaneous miracles as needed.
There is, of course, not a speck of evidence that Obama has ever transcended party differences in the United States Senate. Voting records analyzed by the National Journal show him to be the farthest left of anyone in the Senate. Nor has he sponsored any significant bipartisan legislation — or any other significant legislation, for that matter.
Obama is all talk — glib talk, exciting talk, confident talk, but still just talk. Some of his recent talk has stirred up controversy because it revealed yet another blatant contradiction between Obama's public image and his reality. Speaking privately to supporters in heavily left-liberal San Francisco, Obama let down his hair and described working class people in Pennsylvania as so "bitter" that they "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them."
Like so much that Obama has said and done over the years, this is standard stuff on the far left, where guns and religion are regarded as signs of psychological dysfunction — and where opinions different from those of the left are ascribed to emotions ("bitter" in this case), rather than to arguments that need to be answered. Like so many others on the left, Obama rejects "stereotypes" when they are stereotypes he doesn't like but blithely throws around his own stereotypes about "a typical white person" or "bitter" gun-toting, religious and racist working-class people.
In politics, the clearer a statement is, the more certain it is to be followed by a "clarification," when people react adversely to what was plainly said. Obama and his supporters were still busy "clarifying" Jeremiah Wright's very plain statements when it suddenly became necessary to "clarify" Obama's own statements in San Francisco. People who have been cheering whistle-blowers for years have suddenly denounced the person who blew the whistle on what Obama said in private that is so contradictory to what he has been saying in public.
However inconsistent Obama's words, his behavior has been remarkably consistent over the years. He has sought out and joined with the radical, anti-Western left, whether Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers of the terrorist Weatherman underground or pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli Rashid Khalidi. Obama is also part of a long tradition on the left of being for the working class in the abstract, or as people potentially useful for the purposes of the left, but having disdain or contempt for them as human beings.
"The working class," said Karl Marx, "is revolutionary or it is nothing." That is, they mattered only insofar as they were willing to carry out the Marxist agenda. ...
... It is understandable that young people are so strongly attracted to Obama. Youth is another name for inexperience — and experience is what is most needed when dealing with skillful and charismatic demagogues. Those of us old enough to have seen the type again and again over the years can no longer find them exciting. Instead, they are as tedious as they are dangerous.
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THIS ALSO CAME FROM A FRIEND, AND IT IS WONDERFUL--I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT AND PASS IT ALONG
I encourage you to share this one with your entire family, and with friends. We need inspiration in these trying times.
The Daffodil Principle
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, 'Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over.' I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead 'I will come next Tuesday', I promised a little reluctantly on her third call. Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.
'Forget the d daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!'
My daughter smiled calmly and said, 'We drive in this all the time, Mother.' 'Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!'
I assured her. 'But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks,' Carolyn said. 'I'll drive. I'm used to this.'
'Carolyn,' I said sternly, 'please turn around.' 'It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.'
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, ' Daffodil Garden.' We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.
It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.
'Who did this?' I asked Carolyn. 'Just one woman,' Carolyn answered. 'She lives on the property. That's her home.' Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.
On the patio, we saw a poster. 'Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking', was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. '50,000 bulbs,' it read. The second answer was, 'One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain.' The third answer was, 'Began in 1958.'
For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.
That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world...
'It makes me sad in a way,' I admitted to Carolyn. 'What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!'
My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. 'Start tomorrow,' she said. She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, 'How can I put this to use today?'
Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting....
Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die...There is no better time than right now to be happy.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
So work like you don't need money.
Love like you've never been hurt, and, Dance like no one's watching.
If you want to brighten someone's day, pass this on to someone special.I just did! Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day!
Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.
~Anonymous
THERE'S NOT MUCH I CAN SAY AFTER THAT
I hope you will think hard about all of the pieces in this week's edition, and share them--especially with younger people you know, those of voting age, especially. They all make excellent points, far better than I could have made them.
As spring comes in to your life again this year, I hope you have many "daffodil days."
Best, John
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