South America

South America is not only populated by Americans, but also has the biggest river, the longest mountain range, and the driest desert of any continent.

It is a beautiful land with beautiful people. Even so, it has as many imperfections as any other continent.

Let me begin our conversation with talk of the greatest of rivers, the Amazon. It has been called the river sea. How big is the amazon? Google it. How long is it? What is the flow of water that it carries? Check Wikipedia. Rivers that follow the Amazon in size include: Congo, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Mississippi, Yenisei, Orinoco, and Lena. These eight rivers combined do not equal the average Amazon discharge. I'd guess that discharge to be sixty million gallons per second.

Remind me to say a few words about the Andes and the Atacama. I'm willing to speak with you about S.A. Just say the word, make the comment.

Imperial Expansion

While Europeans were dividing up much of the rest of the world, The imperial expansion westward across North America held the attention on many U.S. citizens. Americans used the period of relative peace between their Civil War and the Spanish American war to subdue and confine American Indians.

It seems westward expansion has had a strong effect on our America culture and democracy. Many influential Americans, contrary to some of their founders, decided that the rest of the world was a new frontier for the empire of the rulers of the United States.

It was not long before railroad, steel, and oil business leaders became meg-employers of citizen laborers. Some of the movers and shaker citizens were wise enough and lucky enough to practice a monetary policy that steadily increased the value of the dollar. Foreign lenders were pleased to lend large amounts of wealth at low interests rates to influential Americans. Lenders were pleased to lend because they were being repaid with money worth more than the money they had lent. Americans were able to gather capital to buy arms and  infrastructure that allowed them significant expansion around the world. That expansion cost the people of other lands dearly and allowed some Americans to profit well.

Not Perfect

A page about Fidel Castro in a world history book I was looking at stirred me to consider how I think about 'the people' in the 'We the People of the United States ...' which begins our Constitution. 


I think that, that 'People' is meant to be inclusive. I don't think that it just refers to the comfortable ones. I think that it includes the ones who want a better, more honorable, more just nation.


I think that 'the People' of our Constitution includes the hundreds of thousands of Americans without work, the hundreds of thousands who work and cannot earn enough to house their families without crushing debt. I think 'the people' includes industrial workers who not only lost their jobs, but also saw much of their benefit and retirement funds disappear.


The people includes those who pay interest on money borrowed to get their families from on moth to the next in some dignity. The people includes tens of thousands of teachers and professors who are treated like jailers and trainers, but paid less. Teachers and professors vital for maintaining the good in our society and for providing the people a chance for a better destiny are honored less than a stock broker and paid less.


The tens of thousands of small business men and women weighted down with debt and too often with confounding paper work are part of this 'People.'


Tens of thousands of young professionals with fresh degrees and a desire to work find themselves before closed doors are part of this 'People.'


Each of these  people are responsible for his or her -self and, have also united to form a move perfect union.

Kucinich on how to create jobs in America, Part 2 | Countdown with Keith Olbermann

Kucinich on how to create jobs in America, Part 2 | Countdown with Keith Olbermann

Jobs and people.

People and jobs.

The Most Toys

After decades of study and travel I was easily able to see why our underhanded, dangerous, neo-colonialism disturbed the peoples of nearly every nation on earth with our corporate tentacles distorting the political, economic and cultural aspects of their lives with its wringing exploitation.


However, criticism of another of our 'national characteristics' surprised and disturbed me. It was something I knew well and thought I understood pretty well. It was something I a accepted and had found acceptable. What had surprised and disturbed me was how deeply it was felt by the peoples of the earth and how profoundly disillusioned and betrayed many felt because of it.
They called us materialistic and it was our materialism which disturbed them. What touched and disappointed them so deeply was to observe that our concern with money and possessions seemed  stronger than our concerns with spiritual and intellectual values. We might say, "Right, he who dies with the most toys wins." Do we value dollars, gold, goodies, and the power of material wealth more than, say, church and school? Were dollar values very much greater than spiritual values in our lives. What surprised  and disturbed me was that I had not even noted that much in our lives was biased toward the material.


The more I saw us as many others do, the more the more I thought about our apparent prioritization of values, the more I felt a sort of disappointment. My earlier surprise turned a bit sad upon realizing how easily I had gone along with fellow American attitude that the buck and the stuff came before mind and spirit.


How many prominent Americans value monetary power over others more than they value the quality of their own spirit and intellect?


Who are we?

Americans

I have traveled a lot.

I enjoyed my travels. I was treated well everywhere.

I found that Americans were generally well liked, but that the America government was not.

I am not surprised that I am well liked. I'm a likable guy. For a time I was surprised that my government was not well liked.

As I traveled, I not only talked a lot, I also listened a lot, and learned to keep my eyes open. I began to learn. I began to understand that even though most people wanted to like the United States, they could not.

I remember being taught that one of the strengths of democracy was its stability. I saw my government supporting anti-democratic government everywhere. We supported those who trusted the people least and who were trusted least by the people. We supported killers, despots, dictators, and cruel exploiters. We supported those interested in the greatest good for the very special few.

My travels began in the days when Americans still referred to the government as 'we' and 'us.' I went to Embassies and Consulates and asked, "Why are we supporting these guys?" When they found that I was serious they explained that it was done in the name of stability! At first I asked, "What about my teachers?" "What about democracy?" I said that I talked to many people who wanted their own democratic government. I said that the people found it confusing that Americans supported their actual point of teaching that government how to suppress them. When I noted How I was being asked, "What people?" and "Which people?" I began to think that I was talking too much.

I began to make my observations a bit more discreetly. My earliest inquiries were mostly in Latin America. I continued observations in Europe, the East and wider.

The major change over these years is that Americans began to refer to their government as they and them.

"Stats" are Great

Just now persons from Malaysia and India were checking out my posts.

Earlier today individuals from Hungary, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Belarus, and the Philippines were doing the same.

Earlier this week Russians, Chinese, Hungarians, Slovenians, Vietnamese, Canadians, and Malaysians were looking t my posts along with Arabs, Americans, and others.

Foreign "Aid"

There are some Americans born and educated in this country, whose parents, grandparents, an teachers are from this country, who still know very little about how heir tax money is used in foreign aid.

If you are among the numerous purposely ignorant persons, you may continue reading to learn one popular way your money is used.If you are not among their number you may still find the following reminder interesting.
The tax money is taken from you by powerful functionaries, who give it to a few special persons in a selected country. "Given" may not be the best word, for usually a more or less modest interest must be paid on it. That interest is usually collected from vulnerable people in the selected country. Most often the money is not actually delivered: the 'aid' is more an extension of credit.

The credit extended is seldom of a general sort, but rather of  special sort. It is often credit with two or three designated companies or dealers. The agreement often is that the credit must be used with, say, his grain dealer and that arms dealer.

If you were to watch the money, you would see it leave the pockets of the many tax payers here, make a fast pass through the hands of a very few 'helpful' persons in the foreign country, and then be deposited in the pockets of a few favored men here. Often the process is even more efficient. The money goes directly from the pockets of  the many here to the pockets of a very few here and some grain or guns arrive in the selected country.

There are lots of interesting little wrinkles. For example, the arms may be used to kill or threaten people of that foreign country so as to keep that country 'stable' for US trade.


For the curious, I favor tax and foreign trade when I know that you, my fellow citizen, are practicing your informed civic duties.

Cultures in California

Some time ago I wrote a bit about difficulty some Californian Indians had in dealing with some Spaniards, Russians, and Frenchmen. Most of these Europeans were more understanding than the Americans, but still a considerable problem. For example, most of them could't tell a Cahuilla from a Mojave.


As I remember, the focus was on diplomacy and ignorance. There is really little more to write. In 1821 a noble of the Cocomaricopa arrived at San Gabriel mission. His people had been in contact with Europeans and had learned how to impress them. He came from a rancheria called "Avitucupaiba" six days from Tucson. He had been told by Cahuillas of Spanish settlements at San Diego where he could trade for cotton and beads. In the course of the conversations, powers at San Gabriel learned from the Cocomaricopa that it would take only 15 to 20 days to get a letter to Tucson from San Gabriel. Important information because the Spanish saw it as an opportunity for improving their communication with Mexico and Madrid.


At about the same time Emperor Iturbide, who had assumed control of Mexico, decided to send Reverend Augustin Fernandez de San Vincente, a high churchman from Durango, to inspect California in order to find out the extent of foreign activities in California and of the loyalty of the Caliornios.


Diplomacy not spying.


Iturbides envoy, Fernandez along with Padre Mariano Payeras, president of the California missions, inspected Russian settlements at Fort Ross and Bodega Bay.


Do you remember a post about happenings at Fort Ross?

Despisers

The despisers of the Americans on the lower 90% of the the economic pyramid, are those who support top down governance and trickle down economics. These despisers of so many Americans do not trust the people and fear participatory democracy. They cause biological, emotional, and economic depression.