Deviations From the Mean

Is he a pirate? Pirate has become the general term used by most people today to call someone who sails the seas and commits crimes. But other names were used to help identify particular pirates through the ages.

Privateers would have been pirates legally commissioned by a country or government giving them permission to wage war against another country or government. The French and English pirates that were living in the Caribbean about the time of the seventeenth century went by the name, buccaneer. Of course the name buccaneer is a very anglicized version of the French word, boucanier.

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In an interview with Wall Street Journal reporters yesterday that mostly was about trade issues President Bush deplores American opinions. According to President Bush the reasons the public is so skeptical of his policies is easy to explain. The problem is not with the policies — it’s with the American public’s opinions.

“We have lost sight of what it means to be a nation willing to be aggressive in the world and spread freedom or deal with disease. And we have lost our confidence in the ability to compete internationally,” Bush said yesterday in the interview.

Once again Rep. Ron Paul demonstrates that he is the only Republican candidate for President who even vaguely knows how far the United States is slipping in its standing as a world power and that to reverse the slide the US must change many of its policies.

The other Republican macho men candidates prove once again that they are out to prove to all that they are all for the “war on terror” and that basically the US has to right to attack any country that we think may in some way be a threat, if not now, at sometime in the future.

The turmoil in Burma gives President Bush the perfect opportunity to put his “democracy and freedom” rhetoric into positive action. But will he act in a forceful effective way? One can’t count on it, especially if you are a long suffering Burmese dissident.

The ruling military junta in Burma is one of the most secretive, repressive, brutal, and plain weird regimes in the world. They are so strange that they almost make North Korea’s “great leader”, Kim Jong Il, look normal. Over the protests of the international community the junta has ruled Burma for the past 19 years.

It’s very clear from this exchange between President Bush and President Vladimir Putin of Russia that Putin has lost all respect for Bush and for the Bush administration’s policies.

No world leader likes to be lectured to about how to run their country. Especially by a clumsy lecturer like Bush. Based on Bush’s performance, especially in Iraq, Putin and other world leaders will no longer remain silent when President Bush continues to try and market his program of democratization and to lecture them on how they should be governing their own countries.

There is one Congressman in Washington D.C. who has maintained his integrity while working in Washington, D.C. He is concerned about the sea of recklessness, lack of discipline, corruption, and abuse of power that has engulfed our nation.

That lonely Congressman is Dr. Ron Paul, a US House of Representatives member from the 14th District of Texas. Paul’s freedom principals are as follows:

As an online business owner, do you find yourself facing  major challenges with getting more work done, in less time. As a result does your business suffer?

If you’re one of the thousands of people that suffer from running a one man operation and are desperately seeking serious help with the necessary key areas of your online successfully, now you will have the answers, but first…

Which of these every day Business tasks take up most of your time?

Answering Email
Web Design
Script Installations
Recruiting Affiliates
Recruiting Link Partners
Search Engine Optimization
Article Submissions
Testing Marketing Campaigns
Keyword Research
Content Research
Developing AdSense Websites

Prior to the US lead invasion of Afghanistan some five years ago the Islamic Taliban had almost eradicated the growing of poppies and the production of opium. Drug use is forbidden under Islamic law and the Taliban were ruthless enforcers of the law.

The story is quite different today. The Taliban and corrupt warlords are cooperating in reaping immense profits from the drug trade. Often at the point of a gun they are forcing poor farmers to grow their crop of choice, poppies, which are used for opium production.

I stumbled across the following posting today which compares the British military approach taken in Iraq with the American.

While the post is nearly three years old it is well worth reading as it sheds light as to why the war in Iraq was lost long ago.

The heavy handed tactics used by American forces have made far more enemies than friends, not only in Iraq, but throughout the world.

For every insurgent killed there are probably ten or more ready to seek revenge and to take their place.

Athletes who have two perfectly good legs are fearful of being beaten by a man wearing prosthetic devices. To them the possible embarrassment is too much to even contemplate. So they are trying to block Oscar from the Olympics.

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As the Yahont can also be fired from the new class of extremely silent diesel Russian submarines, which the Russians have sold to the Chinese, Indians, and Iranians, the threat to US battle groups must be considered as tangible.

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Being shot to death while attending class is the last thing on earth that a college student should have to worry about. Or a college professor.

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