Don't cut off your nose to spite your face

Perhaps some third world leaders should look at the latest poll conducted among the citizens of Cuba before making bold statements about the United States. The latest poll reveals 79% of Cubans are dissatisfied with the country’s economic system; 70% want to start their own business and the Cuban government will not allow them to do so. Nearly two-thirds of Cubans (64%) believe normalizing relations with the U.S. could change the economic system, though only 37% thought the Cuban political system would allow the changes to take place because it would mean them surrendering control to the people.

Growth has slowed sharply in recent years. According to Cuba’s national statistical agency, the country’s gross domestic product in 2013 was 77.2 billion pesos – which, depending on which exchange rate one uses, could equate to anything from $77.2 billion (at the official rate of 1 convertible peso to $1) to $3.2 billion (at the internal rate of 24 regular pesos to 1 convertible peso). But either way, growth has slowed dramatically from the mid-2000's. The rate exchange of their money is different for Cuban citizens and foreigners visiting or doing business in the country. The growth rate in GDP is below 1.3 percent. They rank 177 out of 222 countries world wide. Compare that to the Philippine GDP - The Philippines economy grew an annual 7.0 percent in the second quarter of 2016. GDP is based on population that must be kept in mind.

The Soviet Union was the main trading partner and strategic ally of Fidel Castro during the time of the Cold War. The collapse of the socialist bloc put the island on the brink of economic collapse in the early 1990's. Since the Russian government could no longer provide the support they had given Cuba they agreed in 2014 to reduce the DEBT Cuba owed Russia by 35%. Cuba could not pay the debt anyway.  Cuba still owes Russia 3.5 billion dollars after the debt was reduced. In return for reducing the debt Cuba agreed to allow Russia to open a small spy facility in Havana.  

There was a time in the early 1960’s when Fidel Castro made statements like, “It will be Russia and Cuba against the United States.”  That did not work out so well! Obama in my opinion is making a bad mistake in giving Cuba any aid and relaxing the trade embargo with Cuba. It is obvious due to the Russian economy slowing Russia cannot provide what the Cuban government needs to survive so why should the United States bail Cuba out of their bad decision to “sever ties” with the United States in the 1960’s. Why should our incompetent President Obama be allowed to give them the $132 billion in aid he wants to give them, since in 2014 Cuba agreed to allow Russia to open a small spy station in Cuba?

Cuba is so desperate today that they are drifting out of Moscow’s orbit and wanting to return to the United States orbit. The people  not the leaders paid a price for fifty years by severing their ties with the United States for Russia and no longer can afford to pay the price. It seems some third world leaders do not do their research before making bold statements against the United States and other Western Nations.

It is best for third world countries not to sever ties with any first world country. They should try to maintain a relationship with them all. What does a third world country really have to offer a first world country? If Roosevelt and Truman believed they could attack and beat Japan without defending the Philippines I believe modern day Presidents realize they do not need the Philippines to defend themselves against China.  A war that most likely will never happen because China or the United States or Russia do not want that.

Cuba could not survive with the help they were getting from Russia and had to turn to Venezuela, the Cuban authorities made it clear that further economic cooperation with Moscow was not a priority.  Today the Venezuela economy is failing and Cuba cannot depend on Venezuela or Russia so they reach out to the United States to save them. Why should we?

Russia did build In northeast Cuba two nickel plants, but Russia has since turned them over to the Canadians. Why would Russia be interested in mining in the Philippines if they were not interested in maintaining mining in Cuba and turned the mines over to the Canadians? The Canadians presently mine in the Philippines. New hotels were built by Mexican and Spanish firms in Cuba they were not build by Russia or China. True, two years ago Cuba did seem to express renewed interest in working with Russian oil companies. But experience tells us to remain cautious. For two decades Russian experts explored for oil off the Cuban coast, finding a few juicy items along the way, but then suddenly turned all their discoveries over to  Mexico. I would tend to think any oil deal China makes with the Philippines will benefit China far more than it will the people of the Philippines. I doubt that the Russians really have any interest in the South China Sea oil production since it would possibly damage their relationships with China.

I have also been amused that all the contracts and deals China has proposed with the Philippines requires they use China Companies to build them which helps the Chinese economy not the Philippine economy. The loans to build go right back to the Chinese government and the Philippines pays interest on the money. I am not aware of any contract or deal that the United States has made with the Philippines that requires them to only use American companies.

I know that the powers to be in the Philippines have far more knowledge of deals, contracts, trade agreements, foreign relationships than stupid little me. I have never work for any government in my life. I am just a simple man with little knowledge, but I cannot make sense of all the talk of ending a long term relationship for a promise that may never materialize and if it does the strings attached may be more than the strings you claim you want to break with the United States.

In my personal life I have never ended a long term friendship in order to gain a new friendship. In my professional life I have never ended a business relationship with an old reliable company to do business with an unknown company with no proven record. 

Revenge is hell and destroys! The Aquino's and some in the Philippines have spent three decades trying to get even with the Marcos family and it has not brought them peace. There are some that were and still are loyal to the Marcos family that have sought revenge on the Aquino family and the United States for not supporting Marcos and it has not brought them peace. Only forgiveness brings peace. 

To show how arrogant some in governments can be when it comes to revenge a United States Congressman is stopping the sale of 27,000 weapons to the Philippine National Police. Who does that hurt? Certainly not the Philippines. Duterte will purchase the weapons in China, Israel or Japan. It only hurts the people of the United States and the United States economy. The people we elect are not as smart as we think they are. 

Be careful insulting the United States - things change with time!

I do not think Putin has any grand scheme to confront America. I believe Putin’s policies have been aimed at boosting his personal image at home and Russia’s international standing abroad to deflect attention from the country’s grave and growing economic woes. In my humble opinion there is no ‘Cold War’ with the United States looming in the back of Putin’s mind. Third World leaders that think they can get even or insult the United States by playing up to Russia/Putin or even China are going to find themselves in a quandary.

Russian President Putin has criticized western nations for straying from their Christian roots. Putin’s statement, made during his state of the nation address this past December, contends that America has become a “Godless” nation.  What Putin actually said was: “Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values.  Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan.  This is the path to degradation.”  This is quite a statement coming from a former KGB officer who faithfully served a nation that executed more than 200,000 clergy in the years between 1917 and 1937. But, what if he really believes what he is said to be true? My mother always told me even a broken clock is right two times a day. Many of Putin’s policies are more in line with Christian conservatives than with the liberal Democrat Party ideology or our adopted political correctness.

When Putin claims that religious conservatism represents the only way to prevent the world from slipping into “chaotic darkness” he is echoing the messages of thousands of pastors in American churches every Sunday morning, pastors who are concerned about our country doing precisely what Putin said it is doing: slipping into “chaotic darkness.”

Christians in the United States should ask themselves have liberals conspired with left wing academics to rewrite American history so that the Christian principals upon which the United States of America was founded have been expunged from the record and replaced by anti-Christian, anti-American tripe that focuses solely on our nation’s warts and blemishes?  American students today spend 12 years learning why they should be embarrassed by and ashamed of our country?

Christians in the United States should ask themselves have liberals become more tolerant of every religion in America except Christianity?  Is it not true that government and media tend to give Islam, Hinduism, moral relativism, and other religions a pass while they would like Christianity not to be mentioned and some would prefer it not to be tolerated?

Christians in the United States should ask themselves have we allowed liberals to conspire to transform public education in America into 12 years of left wing indoctrination that belittles and scorns Christians as Puritanical bigots while praising secular humanism?

Liberals have been successful in bringing about exactly what President Putin said has happened in the United States.  I don’t like the messenger, but I must admit the message is accurate.

I stated earlier that  Third World Leaders that find it amusing to bash the United States may find themselves in a quandary is a direct reference to this remark made by President Duterte, “"America has lost now. I've realigned myself in your ideological flow," he told business leaders in Beijing on Thursday. "And maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world: China, Philippines and Russia. It's the only way." China, Russia and the United States do not want to be at odds with each other when it might lead to war. I believe President Duterte will find himself and the Philippines standing alone against the world. These three major powers China, Russia and the United States know there is nothing for any of them to gain if they go to war against one another. It would be suicide.

The outlook in the Philippines is murky; lots of Filipino officials are as appalled by their president’s remarks as anybody. But what isn’t murky at all is that President Obama’s faltering foreign policy has taken another serious hit. It is hard to think of another American president whose foreign policy initiatives failed as badly or as widely as Obama’s. The reconciliation with the Sunni world? The reset with Russia? Stabilizing the Middle East by tilting toward Iran? The Libya invasion? The Syria abstention? The ‘pivot to Asia’ was supposed to be the centerpiece of Obama’s global strategy; instead the waning months of the Obama administration have seen an important U.S. ally pivot toward China in the most public and humiliating way possible.

Obama’s efforts to balance a commitment to human rights and the niceties of American liberal ideology have made the world less safe for both human rights and for American security. As Russia, China, and Iran gain ground, foreign leaders feel less and less need to pay attention to American sermons about human rights and the rule of law.

Death squads and extra-judicial executions on a large scale: the Americans will lecture you but China will say nothing and still be your friend. The Russians will not only supply you the weapons they will help you bomb weaker nations if it will advance Russia. They will even help you bomb your own people if they disagree with the leader as they did in Syria.  Obama’s foreign policy is making the world safer for people who despise and trample on the very values that the United States once stood for. His lack of strategic insight and his inability to grasp the dynamics of world power politics have opened the door to a new generation of authoritarian figures in alliance with hostile powers.

Now in the final days of Obama’s presidency, Russia, Iran, and China are all stepping up their game. Putin has been humiliating and outfoxing Obama at one end of Eurasia; Iran has gone from routing Obama at the bargaining table to enabling its proxies in Yemen to fire on American ships. Xi now has a triumph of his own, with one of America’s oldest Asian allies insulting Obama at official events. Clearly, America’s opponents (and some of our allies) have reached the conclusion that this particular American administration is unable or unwilling to respond forcefully to provocations. But, Obama’s Administration is coming to an end and if not the next President soon a President will take office that will not allow the United States to be pushed around and that is when many Third World Countries will find themselves in a quandary.

I am a staunch Republican, I do not like Hillary Clinton regardless of the party she belongs to, but I sincerely believe Secretary Clinton is well aware of just how damaging the Filipino defection is in Asia; she helped develop the Obama administration’s Asia strategy and she knows that China’s challenge has just grown much more dangerous. She knows what a wreck the Middle East has become, and she is well aware that Obama will hand her a region that is in much worse shape than it was when Obama took office. She knows how Putin made a patsy and a laughingstock of Obama around the world, and she knows that Obama’s efforts to stabilize the Middle East by conciliating Iran have had just the opposite effect. She knows that even as Donald Trump’s poorly led, poorly conceived electoral campaign weakens, America’s enemies abroad are using every day of Obama’s tenure in office to weaken the foundations of America’s power around the world.

Should Secretary Clinton make it to the White House, her first and biggest job will be to stop and then reverse the deterioration in America’s global position that her predecessor permitted. She will have to convince both friends and foes that the President of the United States is no longer a punching bag, and that the United States of America is back on the stage. She will need, and she will deserve, the support of patriotic Americans in both political parties as she undertakes this necessary mission. President Obama’s mismanagement of foreign affairs is creating a genuine international emergency; the White House and Congress will have to work together to restore American prestige and stop the slide toward chaos and war.

The goal of all American’s now must be restore America’s prestige after eight embarrassing years!

Western Foreigners and Sex Trade

This is my reply on a social media site to a Western 'gentleman' that comes to the Far East to participate in 'Sex Trade' and returns home to bad mouth the women, people and the country as a whole.

I know that I am going to say too much and I should keep my thoughts to myself on this subject, but like Donald Trump I cannot keep my thoughts to myself when it comes to some subject, especially the subject of foreign westerners and sex trade.

I will start by saying there are a few good men that come to the Philippines, Thailand and other Third World Countries that marry the local women. They stay in the foreign country and raise families and provide for them. Some take their wife back to their own country. Some take their wife back to their country and return to the wife's country when they retire. BUT, for everyone of these good men there are thousands of sorry S---O---B---'S.

The sorry ones actually believe they are doing these women a BIG favor by coming to their country and spending their money and TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THEM and DESTROYING THEIR LIFE'S. They think they are doing the Philippines a favor by helping the economy.

I have lived in the Philippines for nearly two decades. I am now retired. I was in active ministry when I came. I am now home bound and have a caregiver. I did not come to the Philippines for the sex trade and I have never participated in it. It disgust me when I see the elderly men (younger than me), but old with 17 and 18 year old girls. It is embarrassing because most decent Philippine people assume any white man that comes here comes for these reasons, "cheap food,cheap lodging, cheap beer and cheap p---y" (his words - the only reason he would come to this disgusting, dirty country). Likewise it disgust me when I see the young Western men doing the same, but they are not as noticeable as the old geezers.

The sex trade bars in Los Angeles Philippines are mostly owned by foreign men that married a Filipino woman so they could open a business. They to disgust me. If they wanted to operate a house of prostitution why didn't they stay in their own country and do so. They came to the Philippines because they can take advantage of the POVERTY!

I have worked with the children these nasty men have left behind. Many are scared for life. There was a documentary made some years ago, I think called "Lost Angles", if you can watch that and not feel deep compassion for these children and their mothers then you cannot feel compassion for anyone or anything.

President Duterte should actively address the sex trade in his country as actively as he is pursuing the drug problem. I have more compassion for the drug addicts than the foreign men that come to his country and degrade their women. I honestly believe some addicts in this country got started on drugs because they had a sense of hopelessness. I know the young women selling their bodies to this foreign trash are doing so hoping for a better life. FALSE HOPE - it is like a poor black boy hoping he becomes a professional sports start - few do!

People may criticize the women in these countries calling them all kinds of bad names, but what about the filthy men from THEIR OWN country that come here and other places and destroy life's and leave fatherless children behind?

I think that it would be worthwhile for the media to cover these stories - publish the pictures of these foreign men walking around the streets of Los Angeles, Philippines with young girls hanging on them like strutting cocks getting ready for a cock fight. They should print their names, addresses, country of origin also.

I am against vigilante justice, but if the government cannot solve the problem maybe they could. The goal of the vigilante justice is to make people afraid to use or sell drugs I think that might slow the Philippine sex trade if some of these men did not return to their home country walking and upright.

Yes, I am bitter, yes I am angry, yes I am disgusted with these men taking advantage of the poverty in the Philippines. I know I will get nasty replies, but if just one of these men considering coming to the Philippines or anywhere else to destroy the life of a young girl and possibly a child will rethink his decision then send the hate mail.

General Ban Ki-moon - United Nation head is a hypocrite.

The United States accepted more than 70,000 refugees in 2014, or roughly 700 for every one accepted by South Korea and Japan combined.

The current Secretary-General of the United Nation is Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who took office on 1 January 2007. He wants to push Syrian refugees off on other nations when his own nation and Japan will not take them. He should not be telling other nations to take them when his own nation will not. 

At the end of September 2015, the Ministry of Justice in South Korea said there are 848 Syrian asylum seekers in South Korea. Of those that applied for refugee status in South Korea only 0.3% were considered. Keep in mind he is using figures from 1994 - to present. There was not a crisis in Syria during those early years. There TOTAL refugees number is 848 from all countries.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, crucified Hungary for the way it was handling the tens of thousands of immigrants massing on its border, “I was shocked to see how these refugees and migrants were treated by Hungary. It’s not acceptable … since they are the people who are fleeing the violence and persecution, we must ensure our compassionate leadership.” Why is he not shocked that his own country South Korea will not take them in and treat them compassionately? Why isn’t he speaking out against South Korea?

Such hypocrisy, here is a man who likes to think he stands as a moral compass for the world yet he comes from a country that has contributed absolutely nothing in the way of a solution to the human tide generated by the Syria crisis. He wants other countries to shoulder their responsibility, but overlooks the fact that South Korea is doing nothing to help with the problem.  

South Korea does have plenty of company when it comes to talking and not doing. According to Amnesty International, here are a few other countries willing to stand by and do nothing as a human tragedy unfolds: Gulf countries including Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain have offered zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees. Other high income countries including Russia, Japan, Singapore along with South Korea have also offered zero resettlement places.

Why hasn’t our Imperial President Obama brought this to the attention of the American people? Why has he not spoken out publicly about the fact the head of the United Nations cannot even get his own country to take in refugees? 

I do not want any of the Syrian refugees to be allowed in the United States. I do believe we should established a safe zone in their own country for them and I think ALL countries that are members of the United Nation should shoulder that responsibility.  

Donald Trump is a fool!

Those that read my blog know that I have been a supporter of Donald Trump from the day he announced his campaign. I will still vote for him, but for one reason only, I do not want Hillary Clinton appointing any Supreme Court Justices.

I watched from my wheelchair as Donald Trump mocked Hillary Clinton going to her car. I must say he stooped to a new low. When I was his age I was working in my profession fifteen hours a day six days a week and had few health issues. In just a few short years my health had deteriorated and today I am home bound cared for by caregivers. The same could happen to him!

I think the man is an arrogant, pompous, disgusting person who respects no one but his immediate family. I gave him credit for raising beautiful children, but today I think they must have had very intelligent mother's.

Only a fool would fall into the traps that Hillary Clinton is setting for him. The beauty contestant issue is a fine example of that. Intelligent people know beauty contest are about looks and besides there was a stipulation in her contract about weight. Donald Trump did not need to make any comment at all about the issue. He has subordinates that could have done that for him, but instead as he has many times he opened his big mouth, let his tongue start flopping and forgot to engage his brain.

I think Hillary Clinton is a habitual liar and criminal. I do not think Donald Trump is those things are at least he is not as bad as her. But, I am convinced now that he is a very foolish man!

He will most likely lose the election because he cannot stay on message or stay focus. I am afraid the last chapter in his life story will not be that of a great president. I at one time blamed the elitist in the Republican Party for his difficulty during the campaign, but now HE HIMSELF will lose the election without any help from anyone, not even stupid lying Ted Cruz.

I hope people will vote for Trump simply because we cannot afford to be stuck with liberal justices for ten or twenty years.

I am not going to even go back and check this post for errors because I think everyone got my message - Donald Trump is a fool and I am not going to waste any more of my time on the matter. Excuse the mistakes and send all the angry replies you want because I am not going to allow them to go through.

Is she a justice crusader or an immoral woman?

The atmosphere of the Philippine government at the moment is like a circus or tabloid newspaper. I do not know if the world is watching or not, because I do not know if the average citizens around the world care what is going on in the Philippines.

I believe the way the government deals with their drug problems is an internal matter and others should stay out of it. If the Philippine people are happy with the way their President is dealing with the problem then so be it. When they have had enough they will solve the problem for themselves. When the Philippine people had enough of Spain they booted them out, the same is true of the United States and President Marcos. I do not want outsiders (especially the United Nations) telling Americans how to run their country or what is best for our country.  

I admit I am confused by what the Philippine President says from day to day. One day he wants the U.S. military out of the Philippines and the next day he says he will allow them to stay. I am an expat living in the Philippines and frankly I do not care if the U.S. military is here or not. I would like to know if I am going to be able to stay or not. I am nearing eighty and in bad health. I have been advised by my doctors that I most likely could not survive a trip to the United States and I will be quite happy to die and be buried in the Philippines.

Today, I read posts in social media from some Philippine women about the Senator DE Lima's sex films. They feel that showing the films would shame her and that she should not be shamed because she is a woman. One said, “When you shame Senator DE Lima you are shaming all women.”  One said, “When you shame Senator DE Lima you are shaming all mothers, sisters, aunts and nieces in the Philippines.” How could that possibly be so? My mother, sisters, aunts or nieces have never made a sex tape. How could they be shamed by a sex video that Senator DE Lima allowed to be made. They are not responsible for what Senator DE Lima did and it in no way reflects upon them?

Is the sex video a fake? I do not know, but they appear to be real and if you take her private visits to the prisoners inside the maximum security prison and her attendance at parties sponsored by prisoners and her pictures hanging on the wall of prisons rooms it does not look good for Senator DE Lima. It certainly appears that she made bad decisions.

At the time Senator DE Lima was Secretary of Justice (Attorney General) why would someone in that position allow prisoners to sponsor private parties and invite outside guest to raise money? Why would someone in that position allow prisoners to have their own private quarters with offices and conference rooms and computers? Why would someone in that position visit those private quarters and attend those parties? I wish I could say that I never doubted Senator DE Lima’s sincerity, but I always have, even when she headed up the Human Rights Organization in the Philippines. Her motivation has always been in question by me.

How does it help the people of the Philippines to cover-up her transgression. Does anyone deserve a pass simply because they are a woman, elected official or celebrity? I personally do not think so. In fact I think people in those position, women and men, should be held to a higher standard.

Corruption within the government has been allowed by the people of the Philippines for so long I do not even know how you would begin to clean it up. Perhaps President Duterte’s way is the only way. I am certainly not comfortable with extra judicial killings or vigilante killings, but if the whole system is corrupt how do you clean it up? I still believe President Duterte is doing what he thinks is best for the country. I also can feel his frustration for his countrymen, especially the poor.

I was ask today if Senator DE Lima has ever admitted to doing any wrong and I honestly do not know if she had or not. I have not heard her do so. I could easily forgive anyone that admitted they were wrong and ask forgiveness. It is difficult for me to ignore wrong or the perception of wrong when the person will not admit to their wrong doings or that they may have committed acts that would lead others to perceive she or he had done wrong. Senator DE Lima has not presented any argument thus far that would persuade me that she is not guilty.

God blessed the Philippines with lots of potential. God blessed the Philippines with beautiful landscapes. There is absolutely no reason a country with educated young people to be a Third World Country. Do you blame the people or the corrupt politicians? 

I have learned in my near eight decades on this earth that as long as you allow any human being to take advantage of you they will, so I must ask why have the Philippine people allowed EDSA to be in vain. There will be a price to pay, sacrifices to make for the people to gain control of their government and they must decide is it worth it or not. One thing I am sure of you cannot keep electing the same corrupt politicians and expect things in your life to get better. THINGS only get better in the politicians lives when you keep electing them over and over again. I have never believe politics was meant to be a lifetime career. 

I want to state the same thing is happening in the United States. We are not electing politicians that give a darn about the people of the United States. They are not in politics to devote their lives to service of the country or the people they are in politics to advance their own personal interest. Of all the people in the United States we cannot find two people better qualified than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump to run for President. I suppose people that are honest, truthful and moral no longer are interested in associating day in and day out with thugs and criminals.  It is up to the young people in the Philippines and the United States to bring about change in politics for us old people have screwed it up for you.

In closing I cannot wrap my mind around where or when did Senator DE Lime go bad. Was it the result of one bad decision or an accumulation of many bad decisions or was it she forgot what she set out to do and allowed vengeance for one man, the Mayor of Davao City, to take control of her? She had everything going for her and her legacy could have been similar to Senator Santiago, but instead the final chapter of her life story will read like a cheap novel. 

There is a lesson for us all in this story and that is our decisions do matter. Every decision will play a role in our life story be they good or bad. Not only do our decisions/actions matter the perceptions others have of our decisions/actions matter. If she would have only stopped for a moment and given thought to what she was doing perhaps she would not have taken the wrong path and the same is true for us. Once you start living a lie you will live that lie until you die or be destroyed when the truth comes out.