Two Thirds Done

Thoughts and experiences of an eighty one year old Wild Duck.

Avram Miller by the sea
EN | IT

587 posts since 2006

Category: Political Views

  • Israel and Palestine from 1967 to the present-the past or the future?

    In this post, I am going to attempt to cover the period between 1967 and now.  It is not going to be easy.  After this, I intend to write one more post.  This will be on the future.   I have not had a chance to have anyone edit this post.  So all you folks that keep sending me emails about my grammar and spelling mistakes and some time factual mistakes will have to forgive me.  Maybe you can you the time to post something of your own.

    I leave Israel today, after living her this time 3 1/2 months.  I don’t have a lot of time to write so I may have to give up being subtle and I will have to be brief.  Will not be able to go through the time line.  There is just to many events in the more than 45 years from the six-day war. I really want to write about the future and the alternatives I see so I am just going to list a few highlights to take us up to the present.

    Israel should not have kept the West Bank and Gaza. 

    Not only did this place the Jewish Nation in the uncomfortable role of being an occupying power but it also made it possible for the settlement  movement to take route.

    Israel should never have allowed Arafat and the PLO to take charge of Palestine. 

    Arafat was a criminal who exploited his people for his own personal gain.  Abbas who succeeded him is probably a well-intentioned criminal who together with his cronies are stealing so much of the money meant to support and develop Palestine. 

    The USA has not helped the situation by trying to mediate.

    Both the Israeli’s and the Palestinians use the situation to bargain for stuff from the USA.

    I know that many will disagree but I don’t see how the USA has had much of a positive impact on the situation.  Every American President and Secretary of the State with the possible exception of George Bush, wanted to be the one that brought peace to the region.  It is hard to understand the level of energy given all the other problems in the world.  Clearly it started out as both a love of oil and a love of American Jewish political power.  Now the only thing that the Israel and Palestine can agree on is that they can’t stand Kerry.

    The USA forced “free elections” in Palestine which resulted in Hamas getting control of Gaza and creating more a less a civil war between the Palestinians.  

    Hamas is a terrorist organization that has the intent of distorting Israel and pushing the Jews into the sea.  I have no doubt about this.  Gaza is an awful place.  It is a jail.  Its neighbors, Israel and Egypt do not want to allow open access to Gaza.  It is located just 40 miles for Tel Aviv.  Periodically, people there fire rockets into Israel.  Israel then goes back in and targets those responsible but since they often hide in civilian areas, Israel may end up killing innocent people who is frankly, one of the objectives of Hamas in my opinion.

    Most Israelis believe that Gaza is an example of what the West Bank would become if a two state solution was in-acted.  I think the Palestinian Authority fears this even more than the Israelis because the leaders of this organization would be the first to be killed.

    The Second Intifada combined with the increase in Settlements has pretty much distorted the chance of a two state solution

    Rather than accept the Camp David Accord in the Middle of the year 2000, Arafat, choose to renounce it and start a period of terrorism against Israel which included suicide bombers targeting civilians.  There have been a series of bad choices taken by both sides but if I was going to pick one that might actually may have resulted in making a true peace between Israel and Palestine, I would choose this one.   The result was a total breakdown of trust by Israeli’s in the concept of security with the Palestinians.  

    The second most destructive  decision belongs to the Israelis.  That was the decision to aggressively contract settlements through the West Bank which also required Israel to slice and Dice the West Bank with roads connecting the settlement to Israel proper.  These roads had to be secured and the result was chopping up the West Bank.

    Arab countries don’t really care about the Palestinians but use their cause for their own selfish political aims. 

    It continues to amaze me to see how little the rich Arab states have done to help Palestine.  And not state other than Jordan has granted Palestinians refugees citizenship.  This is the opposite of what Israel did when it took in more than 700,000 Jews who were expelled from Muslim countries.  Now with the Arab spring, the mess in Syria and the rise of Iranian power, even less attention and support is being given to Palestine which is  becoming weaker and weaker while Israel become stronger and stronger.  The only exception and an important exception is on the world stage where Israel is seeing more a more aggression against it policies including boycott activities. Israel does not like this of course and considers it unfair but if the choice is being “liked” or “secure”, Israel will choose the latter.  The question of course is can Israel ever be secure.

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    The Separation Barrier made Israel safer and created a prison out of Palestine.

    A great deal of Palestine is separated from Israel by massive walls.  These walls were the direct result of the second intifada.  Israeli general believe that the Walls  have resulted in a period of significant security for Israel.  Palestinians disagree.  But it is far more complex like most things here.  The Barriers create a great deal of anger amongst the Palestinians.  I would be angry too if I lived on the other side.  The wall makes them feel that they are in prison.  It slices up the west bank.   But I actually support it in general only because I believe without it, there would have been much more violence on both sides.  However, I do believe that they are sometimes place with the explicit intention of creating psychological  damage to the Palestinians.  

    The West Bank has a better economy, health care and education than any arab county.  The only arabs besides the Oil rich ones that are doing better are the arabs living in Israel proper.  It is no accident.  There is a lot of positive spill over from the Israeli economy.  Israel also provides a great deal of security for the leadership of Palestine.   But one could only imagine how much better of Palestine would be having peace with Israel.  You only have to visit Arab cities in Israel to understand that.

  • Meet President Boehner: Lead by the Koch Brothers, the Republican’s are not trying to destroy the Presidency they are actually trying to take it over

    I really have trouble believing that the Republicans are as dumb as they appear.   While the Koch brother’s may be evil, it is hard to imagine that they are stupid.  So maybe this is what’s going on.

     

    Debt Limit and Government shutdown creates constitutional crisis

    Everyone is wondering  what is the Republican’s end game with respect to funding the government and increasing the Debt Ceiling.  Obama rightly will not negotiate  about either one. The Democrats agreed to the Republican budget which takes the government back to 2007 spending levels. This was a major compromise by the Democrats.   Then the Republicans, lead by Ted Cruz, had the audacity to include defunding Obamacare.  The Debt Ceiling is just the way we pay for the spending that was already authorized.

     

    No president should allow a minority of one half of one of the three branches of government to dictate policy.  He must stand up to this.  But if he does, and the Republicans don’t blink, we will have one of the biggest crisis in our country’s history which could lead to the end of our democracy.

     

    Obama uses Executive Powers to fund the Government 

    I believe at this point, Obama will have to use his executive powers to fund the country, borrow money and pay interest in debt otherwise there will be a total collapse of the world economy.  After all, he controls the Treasury.  He is sworn to defend the country from attack and that is just what the Republican Congress is doing- attacking the people of the United States.

     

    The Republican’s are counting on this.  They are boxing him in.  If Obama takes this action, there would be a movement in the House to impeach him. That vote would pass.   It only needs a simple majority. Then it is up to the Senate to try Obama (remember Clinton).   But the vote in the Senate requires a 2/3 majority.  Frankly, I can’t figure out how this can happen but it does not mean that it could cannot happen.

    Then they would try to deport Obama to Kenya.

     

    Next President Biden comes and goes

    Then we would have President Biden.  He would continue Obama’s policies because to do otherwise would wreck the world economy.  So he would be impeached too.  That brings us to the next in line to be president, the Speaker of the House, John Boehner.  Remember that Ford was Speaker of the House, and became President when Nixon resigned after Vice President Agnew had already resigned.

     

    President Boehner and Congress end the Crisis

    President Boehner would then meet with the Congress and low and behold, the debt ceiling would be raised and the government would be funded.   Of course, just before that, the Koch Brother’s would cover all the short positions they took in the financial markets prior to creating the crisis.

    Ted Cruz is elected Speaker of the House

    We know what this means.  If Boehner wants to stay in office as President, he will be taking orders from Ted who in turn is taking his orders from the Koch Brothers.

     

  • Syria, one person got it right

    Last thursday, I wrote on my facebook wall, the real reason Obama had asked congress to vote on the attack in Syria was to get a reason to delay so he could meet with Putin and Putin could talk with Assad but giving up his chemical weapons.

    Well it is happening.  But the press has it all wrong.  Putin proposed this to Obama last week.  It is a big win for both Putin and Obama not to speak of Assad who gets to stay in power.  Even Israel is a winner.

    So, how did I get it right.  Only Snowden knows.

     

  • See where you tax money goes and puke

    Every year when I file my taxes (which I actually have to pay quarterly), I wait for the IRS to send me a thank you note but it never comes.  Today, I thought that it would be wonderful to have an app that would let you see where you tax dollars went.   I did a search on the Internet an discovered that the White House actually has a calculator.  You put the money paid Federal Tax and you can find out where it went. Lets say you paid $125,000 in federal tax. You would find out that you spent $31,125 for defense which is about 25% of your tax.  However, this does not count the $5,625 for veterans benefits which I think are really part of  the Defense Budget but instead shows up in separate category called Veterans Benefits.  We can contrast this with $875 for environmental protection which means you pay almost 33 times as much for defending the country against other countries then defending the country against climate change.  You pay even less for Energy and Conservation, about $625.  Healthy and Food Safety does somewhat better at  $17,500.

    The things that stand out clearly is that we spend way to much for defense.  We have an army greater than the next twenty countries.  Why do we need this force?  I think the answer is simple.  We need to spend this kind of money to keep the military/industrial complex happy.  The NRA is nothing compared to those bastards that bleed our country by paying off the whores of Washington otherwise none as Congress.  Not only do they drain our country of it wealth but they kill our young people in senseless wars to accomplish this.

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  • Romney Tax Strategies: A Tutorial by Avram Miller

    Why am I writing this
    I have been trying to keep myself from writing about Romney’s taxes but I can’t help myself.  As person who prides himself on being very astute on tax reduction matters, I have to admire a true star and I am not sure I am worthy to write about this.  If I thought for a minute that Romney would be as good at being a president as he has been in avoiding taxes, I would definitely vote for him.  But then again, my guess is his role in all of this, has been to hire the very best tax advisors and give them the objective of paying as little tax as possible. This demonstrates clear leadership and delegation which is the hallmark of a CEO.   I, on the other hand, have had to figure out a lot of this on my own.   As Steve Rattner said,  “I will tell you that as a private equity guy, I’m familiar with many of the things that he did. And I know many people who have done many of the things that he did. I do not know anyone who did everything that he did.”

    This post is not about my political views.  Clearly, I am not going to be voting for Romney for many reasons but how he has handled  his taxes is not one of them.  But how he presents his taxes is definitely one reason because it reflects the character of the man.

    First the Latest News
    Romney released his 2011 taxes.  I am sure we will learn more as time goes on but there are a few interesting items:

    • He ended up paying 14.1% but not taking all his Charitable Deductions.  He must have done this to comply with his statement that he would be paying at least 14%.  This did not really cost him anything since he can do an amended return after the election and get the money back
    • His return shows income of 13.7 million dollars down about nine million dollars from the forecast he made as late as Jan.  2012.  I would guess his average income was around 20 million a year in Adjusted Gross Income (IRS income…..not all income).  So what happened to the nine million bucks?
    • Price Waterhouse released a letter saying that he paid an average of more than 20% over the last ten years.  But this was not the weighted average.  For instance, he could have had a year where he paid 10% on fifty million dollars and another year where he paid 20% on five million dollars.  The average of the two is 15% the way Price Waterhouse did it but it is really more like 11%.

    All that is Legal or might be legal
    In my opinion, there is nothing wrong in paying the lowest amount of tax you can legally pay.   After all, you can always write an additional check to the US Government or even better yet, donate to charity (and get that wonderful additional tax deduction).  My issue with Romney and his tax returns is that he not being truly honest to the voters.  He manipulates statements so it appears that he is paying more as a percentage then he really is.  He is not referencing how much money he made, he is referencing his Adjustable Gross Income.  The recent letter that Price Waterhouse release on his behalf is a perfect example.  Romney does not really want us to know much about him.  But one thing is clear, he does not like to pay taxes.  I don’t like to pay taxes either but then again I am not running to be the President of the United States. I probably could not get elected as I have an FBI record which I earned demonstrating against the Vietnam war. A war that Romney supported, but in which he did not serve, choosing rather to spend a few years doing missionary work in the barbaric nation of France.

    I should also point out that there is a lot of grey in the Tax Code.  For instance, the difference between a business and a hobby.  Ann Romney has a Dressage Horse – remember the 2012 Olympics?  Romney says that this is a business and wrote off $77,000 in 2010.  Most of this was Passive Loss and he could not take more than $5,000 off his taxes in 2010 but not to worry, you can carry forward passive losses indefinitely and we can rest assured that he will find a way in the future to use this.

    A few comments about our Tax Code
    IT SUCKS!  It is so incredibly complicated that no one can really understand it.  But it also creates opportunities for those that can afford to get the very best advice. Most tax payers will not be able to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the best tax advice. You have to be able to save a lot of money for that to make sense.  Of course, if you do it correctly, and I am sure Romney does, you can write off the cost of most of that advice from your taxes.  This means the government is in effect subsidizing the advice you get on how not to pay the government.  Something wrong here?

    Living off of my Investments
    Like Romney, I live off of my investments.  I have had no job since I left Intel in 1999, where I was Vice President of Business Development.  For a number of years, I did serve as a board member to public and private companies.  I also advise a number of companies.  A few of these engagements paid me fees which were subject to ordinary income tax.  But the bulk of my compensation has been in the form of stock grants of various types.

    I should also say that, while I am a member of the 1%, I have nothing like the wealth of Romney.  I got the bulk of my wealth by saving money I earned and on which I  paid tax. In most cases I paid the highest marginal rate on this money sometimes more than 45%.  I did of course have a 401k and an IRA but I was not smart enough to know that I could have placed common stock from early stage companies into my retirement accounts.  That is how Romney probably got an IRA with about a hundred million dollars in it.

    Trust for Romney’s Children
    Romney has way more than the $250 million he says he has.  For instance, he set up a trust for his kids that currently has more than $100 million dollars.  It frankly takes my breath away and shows what a great dad MItt is.   The beauty of the trust is it avoids Estate Tax and Gift Tax. I actually tried this my self but my timing was not good,  it did not work out for my kids. They still have to work. I just hope they don’t become part of the 47% like their dad – I am on medicare and social security.   Here is what you do: You create a Trust with for your children in which you are the trustee. This allows you to do all the complicated tricks you know to avoid taxes for your kids.   Then you either contribute low basis stock to the trust keeping it under the amount that does not require Gift Tax to be paid. For instance for a long time that was $10,000.  He has five sons.  So Romney and his wife can each give $50,000 to the trust every year with out Gift Tax.  It is a bit more these days.  They  can either do that with low basis stock or give cash instead and then have the Trust buy the stock.  I would guess they even used some kind of liquidity discount the get the value on the stock even lower.  They could have also used their life time limit on gifts to put even more assets in the trust for their kids but that was only about a million dollars until recently.   Now if the Romney’s gave their children $100k a year in stock, and they earned 10% after tax on the stock, which would be great long term performance, they would end up with about $3.5 million after twenty years.  So how did the trust get to be about $100 million? You have to get a compounded annual return of about 26% to do that.  It is the magic of Private Equity.

    Lets say I want to buy a company.  Well first, I create a company which has almost no value at first. Let call it NewCo.    I issue myself lets say 100% of the outstanding shares of the company valuing the company at $1000.  Now, I bring in other investors to fund the acquisition of another company worth $100,000. But being a great dad, I give my five sons, 10% of my shares which are valued at $100. Then  NewCo sells newly created shares for 90% of the company to to these new investors for the $100 million dollars.   So I am now left with 9% of the company which is worth $9 million dollars.  My very smart kids (smart because they picked me as their dad) have shares now worth a million dollars.  But since no shares were sold, no tax is due. Later the company does real well and we sell it for a billion dollars.  I get $90 million and my smart sons get $10 million.  It is all capital gains so I pay maybe three million dollars in tax and am left with seven million dollars in the children’s trust (assuming we have not figured out a clever way to avoid this tax).  Note, no Estate Tax or Gift Tax was paid.  What a dad!

    Charitable Remainder Trust
    Romney set up a Charitable Remainder Trust  (CRT) in 1996.  I have one of these too.  He is how it works.  You take appreciated assets like stock in a company you invested in and contribute it to the CRT.  The CRT  then can sell the asset without any tax due at that time.  The money in the Trust eventually goes to charity when you die.  Because of this fact you get an immediate tax donation  which is based on your age.  For instance, for every million dollars, you might get about $150,000 as a deduction.  While that is good news, the really good news is that you have avoided paying capital gains.  So lets say you contribute stock that is now worth a million dollars but you only paid $100 dollars (you cleaver Private Equity guy).  Right now the capital gains rates are pretty low but when Romney was setting this up they were about 28% not to mention the state tax.  So I would guess that Romney saved at least $350,000 net for each million he contributed.  So now for every $650,000 he has a million working for him.  If he set it up like I did, he only has to pay out money if he has a net profit in the CRT. It will be taxed based on the nature of the investment. If he only invests in stocks that have capital gains, he only pays capital gains rates.  There is a lot more too this but you are probably getting the point. Of course, at the end the CRT’s principle will go to charity but if your intention is to do that anyway, that would not be an issue.  And in general, if you live longer than 15 years, your estate will be worth more because you did the CRT then if you did not.  Romney was only 50 years old when he set up his CRT so by now,  I am pretty sure he is beyond the break even point.

    A Word about Off Shore Accounts
    Now what about those off shore accounts?  I am not sure if Romney includes those in his net-worth.  But one thing we can be sure of is that he is not paying tax on the income of those accounts and they are not included when he says he is paying 14%.  So how did he get these accounts?  It is part of the magic of Private Equity. Lets say you have a private equity firm.  We will call it Bain Capital.  You set up a fund to acquire a company.  The partners in your fund get what is called carried interest. They get 20% of the gains in the investment.  The limited partners, the investors, get the 80%. But you have some foreign  investors that want to invest and not be subject to US taxes.  So you set up a sister fund lets say in the Cayman Islands.  The General Partners of that fund also get 20% carried interest.  The off shore fund also invests in the deal to acquire the company.  The company does well and eventually the stock is sold.  You and your partners now have a profit in Cayman.  If you bring it back to the USA you have to pay taxes so instead leave it there in the Cayman and start to invest it in deals outside the USA.  Not only is your money getting a great sun tan but it is also growing tax free.

    The Power of Capital Gains
    If you buy a stock and sell it after it has increased in value, the increase is called Capital Gains.  If you sell a stock that has declined in value, the decline is call a Capital Loss.  If the sale happens within one year of the purchase, it is called a Short Term Gain or Short Term Loss. If it is more than a year, it is called a Long Term Gain or Loss.  The rates for Short Term are normally the same as ordinary income. For instance for the highest federal bracket, it is 34%.  If it is long term, the rate drops to 15%. Alternative Minimum Tax plays a role here but forgive me if I do not deal with that complication.

    So lets say I am a smart fellow. Maybe I am a former head of the American Olympic Committee or a one term Governor that would not have gotten re-elected,  and I have lots of stocks in lots of different entities.  My objective is of course to grow the value of my stocks but I am smart enough to know that I have to think about that with tax in mind.   So the first thing I know is that I never want to have short term capital gains.  If I have a stock that has done really well after I buy it, but it is not long term, I do not want to sell it unless I have capital losses that I can use to off set it (there are complicated rules about how you apply these losses).  So I am always taking losses to shelter my gains.  Of course, being the great investor I am, I will have on average more gains than losses.  But as long as I believe the stock I own is going to go up, I will want to hold on to it rather than pay 35% in taxes. After all, the stocks I would buy after paying the tax would have to do much better to be equal to the stock I am now holding since I would only have 65% of the value to invest.
    How to Keep Ann in Cadillacs and Horses
    So how do I get enough money to keep my three houses, horse’s, my wife’s Cadillacs and build my car elevator?  First, I always take my losses so I can sell stocks with the equivalent amount of gain without any tax due.  Then I sell stocks that have little gains. So if I have stocks worth a million dollars but I paid $990,000, I only pay tax on $10,000 but I now have a million in cash.  At the same time, I may have $25 million in unrealized gains.    Now I am worried about the $25 million in Unrealized Gains but I don’t want to realize the gains.  So there are a lot of hedging strategies that I can use like selling Covered Calls and Buy Puts (you will have to buy my newsletter to learn how to do this).   A nice aspect of capital gains is that you can carry forward losses in years where your realized losses are greater than your realized gains.  For instance, most of us that have investments in the stock market had capital losses in 2008 that exceeded any gains we wish to take.  But we got to use them in 2009 or even 2010.  Romney could have not realized capital gains in 2009 because he used losses from 2008. That year his income would have only been a fraction of normal years from the IRS’s point of view, even if he had twenty millions of dollars in gains that year, provided he had more than twenty million dollar loss in 2008.  He could have found himself with lets say $500,000 in income after deductions which was taxed at a 34% tax rate.  He could have made two million dollars in donations that year,  but if it was in the form of appreciated assets. He could have only taken $400,000 as a deduction but could carry the additional $1,600,000 forward to future years (there is a five year limitation).

    Charitable Giving
    The Romney’s give a lot of money to Charity. Mostly it goes to the Church of the Latter Day Saints, more commonly know as the Mormon Church. My guess is that they do this by giving appreciated stock. This is how I too fund my charitable giving.   So from the value of the gift, they avoid paying federal and state tax on the appreciation and get a deduction for the full value of the gift from their federal and state tax.  While Romney is paying a 14% federal tax rate, please keep in mind that is the average rate.  He may be paying about 35% Marginal Rate (the tax he pays on the last dollar he earns).  The donation will save him tax dollars at his Marginal Rate.  The combination of not paying Capital Gains Tax and then getting the deduction means that it really only costs him 50% of what he donates.   Romney appears to be a very generous man but maybe only half as generous as he presents himself.

    The Mormon Church
    I can really understand Romney’s commitment to the Church of the Later Day Saints.  It is run like a business  but one that pays no taxes.  It owns about $35 billion in real estate and invests heavily in business.  It has income of about $7 billion dollars a year from members which results from a requirement on Mormons to pay the Church 10% of their earnings.  One of the main activities of the church is to send out missionaries to get additional members of the church who will also have to pay 10% (pre-tax) to the Church. This is a great strategy for growth.  And remember the Church pays no tax.

    Blind Trust
    Romney’s money is supposedly managed in a blind trust which is administered by his personal attorney.  If you believe that they do not have discussions about investments, then you should definitely not vote for Romney.  He would be too dumb for words.

    In Closing
    Hope you made it this far.  Please forgive me if I made any math, spelling or grammar mistakes.

  • Let the Government do more with less

    We seem to have two political positions in our two political parties.  The first by the republicans is “spend less and do less”.  The second by the democrats is “spend more and do more”.  How about “spend less and do more”.  We need the government to do more, especially at this time. There is a role for government to deal with major policy, regulatory, and defense issues.  But the government is inefficient and not business minded.  We need regulation for instance but not mind numbing impossible to understand regulation.  Obama should appoint a committee of successful business people to look at how to increase government efficiency.

    Obama says, that we need to hire more public sector employees.  I am ok with that but he also says we need to go into debt to do that.  I am no as ok with that although there is an argument to be made for that at his moment.  But I have an other idea.  How about cutting everyone in government’s salaries back by 10%  (with the exception of congress and the white house where a 20% reduction should be done)  and then hiring 10% more people to work for the government. That would improve government productivity without an increase in government spending.

    Romney, wants to lower the tax for the wealthy but only paid about 13%.  How is that possible with the Alternative Minimum Tax? being at 28%? The answer (assuming he is telling the truth about the 13%) is  charitable deductions.  So lets have a minimum tax at 20% with no deductions for those making over a million dollars (top line).

  • I don’t believe that Israel will attack Iran before the 2012 election. This is why

    Dear readers, I have redone the blog post.  It turns out that a draft copy was sent to all my subscribers which had even more grammar and spelling mistakes than normal.  I apologize and ask you to read it again. Thanks.

    These are my views on a very complex situation.
    Iran is trying to provoke Israel into attacking it. The result would be a massive change of sentiment particularly in Europe and America. Israel would find herself even more Isolated.  Iran would then be able to play the victim. The ruling Iranian government bodies would get more support from their populace. Few Iranians would be injured or killed since Israel’s target would be the reactor facilities which are not located near population centers. The Iranians would have an excuse for delaying making a bomb, and a better reason to have one. But while Iran is playing this game, they are paying a high price because of crippling sanctions.
    Israel wants to convince the USA that it is willing to attack Iran and wants to get concessions from the Obama government. Some of these involve actions that the USA would take against Iran in different situations.  Some involve things that will never be made public. Israel is in a good position to get these concessions because Obama does not want Israel to attack Iran before the election.  Such an attack would have a very negative effect on oil prices which could tank the US economy and could cost him the election. Furthermore, Obama would be in a very difficult position responding to the Israeli action.

    If Obama wins the election, he will probably honor whatever commitments he made to Israel.  If he loses to a Republican, that person will probably honor the commitments and maybe even give a bit more. But things could get out of hand.  There are militant elements in Iran and Israel that actually want to have this war.  There are also such elements in the United States Congress.

    I also believe that Israel has infiltrated the Iranian government and military computers.  It would not be surprising to me, that if  Iran launched missiles at Israel they might “accidentally” blow up Iranian cities.  The Iranians probably suspect that this might be the case.

    Now, I need to get back to writing my novel.

  • Is God a Superhero

    Karen Santorum, Rick Santorum’s Wife, Says “Campaign Is ‘God’s Will”

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    I understand that some people believe in God or some other spiritual  force.  My relationship with God would be best described as “its complicated”.  There is a lot we do not understand about the Universe and our own existence, such as “How did the Universe get created?”, “Why is the Universe so finally tuned that life can exists?”, “How did life begin?”, “Why are we conscious and what does it meant to be conscious?” , “What is time and does it really exist?” Trying to answer such questions takes scientists to some strange places like String Theory (multiple-dimensions) and the Multiverse (infinite numbers of Universes which means that we exist an infinite number of times).  We still do not know how life was established and are not even sure what consciousness means.  If science has a religion, it is belief that someday we will be able to answer all these questions.  I personally am not sure.  We will have to survive long enough to answer these questions and even then we may not be capable of understanding the answers.

    I have spent my life studying physics.  When I was a child of seven, I started listening to science programs on the radio.  There was one show that dealt with physics.  Einstein was my hero. I had trouble tying my shoe laces and my mother told me that Einstein could not do that either so began my life long identification  with him.  My other hero was Superman.  I thought that someday I would be able to jump into a phone booth and emerge as a superhero myself.  I had very acute childhood asthma and spent most of my 7th year in a convalescent home in Palo Alto, CA (now the location of the Ronald McDonald Home).  I had a lot of time on my hands to ponder the mysteries of the universe. One things I wondered about was the ratio of positive energy to negative energy.  I only knew of protons, electrons and neutrons then.  I wish I had known about anti-matter and dark energy – it certainly would have keep my mind even busier.

    Over the years, I have explored Jewish mystic teachings, the Kabbalah, before Madonna made it fashionable.  I  continue to study physics and have become a student of evolution as well as  exploring my own views about time and space. I think of human beings like the cells in my body – they are alive in their own right but totally dependent on the other cells.  While my cells may not be aware, they are the foundation of my awareness.  What ever I am, I am probably dependent on them for my awareness and existence.  So we humans may be like these cells in making up  something much greater and much more aware, the Universe (or Multiverse).  But just like a single cell in my body has little impact on the body as a whole, we humans individually have little impact on the Universe as a whole.  And just like I have limited ability to effect the behavior of a single specific cell in my body, the Universe might have limited ability to impact us individually.  So I struggle with the concept of Rick Santorum’s God.  He (I am pretty sure that Santorums God is a “he”) seems more like Superman than an all powerful force. So while he can run faster than a speeding bullet, is more powerful than a locomotive, and is  able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, he cannot guarantee the election for Rick.
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    I am hoping that one of you can help me understand this better.  If God wanted Rick Santorum to be president, then why would God not make him President?  Why does Rick Santorum have to campaign? If God, does not want us to use birth control, why does it exist?  And what is God doing all day and night?  Oh, by the way, how did he get to be God?  Normally, I would not think much about this kind of God but this year, God has joined the campaign.  According to Rich Santorum’s wife Karen, the Campaign is “God’s will.” I would think that if God were on your side, you would not need a PAC and a billionaire  (Foster Freiss), who believes that putting aspirin between he knees of a woman is effective birth control.  But then again, I guess God works in mysterious ways. I just wish he had put some aspirin between the knees of Rich Santorum’s mother.

  • Obama, I am willing to run as your Vice President but only if you listen

    Dear Barack,  the person that I wish would be come president is the man I voted for in 2008, you. But you turned out not to be the person I thought you were.  Some how you thought you could play the political game and win. You thought you were a giant but you even a giant will sink if it stands in quicksand.  I am thinking about running against  you.  But before I do that, I have  an offer. I will run as your vice president.  But only if you listen to me.  I think you are a good person but you are lost. You need help.

  • The Republican Nominee was not on the stage at the debate

    The next president of the United States could well be a republican but it will not be any of the clowns we have been seeing at the republican debates. I believe that none of the current list of candidates will get a majority of the votes but rather it will be split. While Romney may have the most he will not have enough to secure the nomination. The voting process is very complicated. In addition to delegates that are elected via the primary or caucuses, there are delegates that are just important members of the party. I remember the days when political conventions did not have a clear winner going in. The was a lot of arm twisting and back room deals and then someone was nominated from the floor. I could see Christie or someone like that getting the nomination without ever having to have run for the primary. That person would be “drafted” and would say they had no choice. They would also not have the baggage of having run in the primary. I think that person would have an excellent chance of beating Obama unless Obama gets smart and has Hillary run as his VP. The republican convention will be held in Tampa Florida starting on August 27, 2012. The democratic convention is scheduled to be held during the week of September 3, 2012.