Govs. of Emerging Nations

I was listening to a discussion of the organizational problems in the Congo on C-Span.  Specifically, there is civil war in the East Congo.  It should be clear that the regional leaders of the area should be replaced by those who can maintain stability and peace in the area.  Be that as it may, the discussion drifted into the arena of policy--whether the US, should offer its aid and assistance to the country (leading to governmental reform, e.g., through the middle level, regional structures), should be "top-down" or "bottom-up."  My answer to the issue is intergovernmental communications and actions should be direct from country to country through proper channels.

What are these channels?  There should be an enclave at the national level of provincial governors, which forms a governing body.  This enclave is to recognize and give voice to the local or provincial territorial leader.  Provincial needs that cannot be met regionally are funneled into the national governmental structures through this body.

The aired discussion offered governmental structures in Semolia as a possible model for the Congolese to follow.  And others have argued that since the Kabul regime's domain is simply its city's limits, the US dealings with the various tribal leaders might also serve as a model for establishing direct aid and assistance to the localized communities in the Congo.

But I am convinced that the Chinese model is much more advantageous than those mentioned in the broadcast.  It's that model which comes closer to what has been established through the Russian Federation Constitution, a document I had a say in creating some years ago.

The Chinese model is built upon the recognition of regional warlords of ancient tradition who control their virtually autonomous areas of land which makes up China.  These immensely powerful individuals comprise a body that rules China from its capital, currently, Beijing.  It is this body which has much influence in setting forth policies and identifying individuals to rule the nation.

This model has the benefit of tying the disparate regions of China into a whole, so that its President (or Premier) speaks for all, i.e., his voice is that of his governing board.

Countries like Afghanistan, Semolia, Syria, and the Congo are so culturally disparate, marked by the several regional peculiarities as to need the "federation" approach to national governance--each identifiable region granted recognition  and say by being provided a place at the round table of "King Arthur's Court!"            

Featuring:   

Lest the obvious be overlooked, the emerging EU federation seems modelled in the same fashion I am arguing for.  The existing countries that comprise the EU maintain their own unique character yet give direction to the nation.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

--Today, I've updated the ruminations on the educative learning experience of student participation in capitalism.  Evidently, though justification given by others with the same idea is faulty, there's a coming of minds that capitalistic approach to student learning has value!

--Someone has encouraged me to add to the social contract discussion in the Social-X  blog the topic of arbitration and so I'm scurrying to do the research.  Thanks for the contribution,

Friday, November 16, 2012

--I've been recuperating from a fractured left arm caused by a fall on September 30.

--Good to see that Russia has joined the WTO.  Maybe the treaty to foster trade between the US and Russia will be ratified in the US and bring about an era of good relations between the two empires!

--Been working on what I believe to be a major change in the way we view the education of children: focusing on motivating the learner to learn as much as possible as quick as he can!  The teacher is only a encouraging agent, not the learner himselfd, after all; and it is from the learner that the lust for knowledge must come.  In the ruminations series, soon.

--Incidentally, I'm thinking of returning to L,A. should I need to live in assisted living apartments.  I've already seen the one they have in mind for me there! 

Thursday, September 27, 2012

--I've completed the item "Israel vs. Iran" in the Studies in Interplay series.

--Turning attention to preparing a manuscript for EBook submission--the entire Social-X series.

--Meantime, will keep an eye on anything I should take up in the ruminations series.

--It's a lot of fun!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

--I've completed most of the research for the topic "Israel vs. Iran" in third study of the  Studies in Interplay series.  I' ll start the study today and will be entering written matter over the next week or so.

--There's some recent breaks in the continuing hot, dry weather we've been experiencing this past summer in Omaha, Nebraska, where I reside.  Ahead, I should be inspired to write more and more and more as Fall and Winter develop!

--What I've found in gathering research materials about the Iran-Israel interplay (that's interesting) is that not much has changed, since when in intermittent times, I was conversant with Middle-East affairs.  The struggles just keep churning up more and more oil rivalry.  The really developing news is still the aftermath of the revolutions in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia--the Arab Spring; and the revolution brewing in Syria, which if, it were to occur, would affect Lebanon and Turkey directly, but also would demote Iran's posture among nations in the Middle-East; nevertheless, would hardly affect Iran-Israel's sparring.

     

Thursday, August 23, 2012

--I've finished with the Social-X series--will probably turn it into an ebook.

--I'm starting to do research in the Studies in Interplay series on the topic Israel vs. Iran.  I've become somewhat familiar with the topic over the years, but in order to clarify the issues of today between them, I'll need that research!  I'm sure my position will be different, as I'm not a politician--isn't it always?  Should take about a month, I think.



 

Sunday, August 12, 2012

--I've concluded the Social-X series.  Will probably attempt to compile its topical postings into an e-book in a year or so.  The series started with examining the Social Contract and ended with the Social Uplift topic.

--The "On Occasion Topic" label is proving useful in the ruminations series.

--Weather in Omaha has been hot and humid.  The Central States of Nebraska and Iowa are experiencing a phenomenal drought.

--Omaha is a wonderful place for me to live!  Finishing up a ruminations post on experiencing dimensions of reality, a topic I've oft pondered.  It centers around the recognition I've come to aver that the human being just isn't a rational creature!  He has rational moments, only.  

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

--Just about to write on the Social Uplift topic pertaining to international agencies, a feature in the worldwide globalization project.  It's been fun researching via book, articles, and TV, primarily panels appearing on C-SPAN.   I'm amazed how much attention the emergence of these agencies have garnered. 

Republicans tend to regard them as a threat to US exceptionalism, a doctrine to which they are firmly committed.  If the US doesn't dictate how the world should do things, then it's somehow lost its effective power.  Such nonsense.  If it weren't for the US coaching and encouraging countries to participate in the agencies, they would lose interest in pursuring international matters--they would let "things take a natural, chaotic course!"  And, they'd go about their own business!  The US' exceptionalism is that this government cares deeply about working with other countries to promote order and structure to world affairs for the sake of the planet's humankind domicile.

--I was most pleased at the direction Mexico's government seems to be heading with the recent election of the PRI new President.  I was in El Paso for a time two years ago and tried to learn all I could about the cartels' war with the Mexican Military, seemingly initiated under Caulderon's leadership.  I understand that some 55,000 Mexicans have been killed during the 7-year conflict.  I think the PRI's dealings with the cartels will be different from a war scenario. 

--I am hopeful that at some time or other, the US Congress will impose a carbon-tax on oil usage.  It is obvious by anyone who listens to the weather channel that the earth is warming; and discouraging reliance on carbon-based products for energy should make a significant dent on oil-consumption.  It's not as if that moving away from reliance upon oil we will stop global warming, but it is something, at least, we humans can do to lessen the natural phenomenon's effects.  We certainly don't want the planet to be consumed with methane gas!

--As you can see, I've expanded the "progress tracking" to now include "random thoughts."     

      

Sunday, May 20, 2012

-I've been researching the next item (i.e., post) in the Social-X series having to do with the burgeoning International Governing Agencies around the world.  The United States, I believe, is trying to direct their development as much as it can.  Many have sprung from the work of the United Nations. 

If the topic of social uplift's main theme is the identity of who the bystander is that will benefit from a main social force in the world, the bystanders in this case are the nations themselves, many of whom join through membership the particular governing body.  I believe the paradigm of such governing agencies to date is the World Trade Organization and next to it, the International Energy body, which follows closely the WTO structure.

Something will be "out there," shortly.  The topical item is very important, to be sure, in the effort at globalization.

-Nothing else of reader interest to report.  Enjoying Omaha, immensely!

 

          

Theory VIII: Keystone Pipeline'Guaranteed'to Leak

A current topic of interest in the Senior Center I attend in Omaha is the status of the Keystone Pipeline.

In that it is to cut across Nebraska, many farmers have protested lest the farmland's water here become contaminated from leaks.  The leaks are contemplated, I understand, because of the considerable pressure that would be exerted upon the pipeline's walls, as the oil is forced along its extensive distance from Canada to Texas.  Add to this, the Pipeline extends through many regions with differing climates from season to season and so might lead to breakdowns caused by temperature fluctuations, these farmers fear.

Most members of our little senior group have concurred with the Nebraska farmers who have come out against allowing any pipeline of this nature to cross Nebraska aqua reserves.

I'm not a farmer and haven't been in Nebraska that much over the years to take part in the discussion.  Nevertheless, I present it as my WHACK-O THEORY VIII! 

 

Caste System Creeps West

There's been a continuing migrating of peoples from lands, once deemed their homeland, to other countries.  The lure has been typically food, when in their homeland they would confront starvation; safety, when in their homeland they would confront steady onslaught of violence and death; jobs, when in their homeland there are so few that pay well enough; and religious and/or political freedom.

Current Immigration patterns 
The magazine National Geographic, Feb. 2012, notes the present-day migration patterns occurring in Europe.  It also makes reference to the fact that many of the Africans who are moving into France, even as far north as England are Muslims.  Because these foreigners are so different from the native culture, they usually live together in the poor neighborhoods and from time to time cause trouble when they go to the streets to protest what they deem as wrongful treatment of aliens.  The article does not mention that the native populations have tended to reject these foreigners' presence on their soil despite being cheap labor for indigenous industry and long range, offering age change from an older population to a youthful majority.

Maldovia, comes to mind, as a country supplying domestics in Turkey, but whose society looks down upon this new source of laborers.  Indeed, some in the country have called for the return of Maldovian immigrants no later than in 3 months! 

I understand the Japanese has been encouraging workers from  Bangladesh to take menial jobs in the country.  And, the US has still not decisively cut off the flow of immigrants from south of its border--permitting these illegals to stay, seemingly, for much the same reasons.

Be it understood, that these immigrants are treated differently from the indigenous peoples.  Because they don't usually worship together, they tend not to share the same foundation from which may be derived ethical principles.  Moreover, they are relegated to doing mential chores or doing low-level farming tasks, e.g., removing animal detritus.  So, it is relatively easy to separate them from the native born and to look upon their differences in behavior and dress as indicative of a lower class.

Caste Presence in the Educational Systems
To take one example from abroad, in Great Britain currently, the state supported schools are being conjoined with state-supported private schools.  The latter group of educational institutions develop their own budgets individually, in consort with the parents who send their kids to these private schools.

And in the US, as an example I cite the Washington, DC schools, where in addition to the typical public schools have developed another educational system of schools, the latter having greater control in choosing its students and teachers from those who apply, and in developing its own curricula.  It also draws upon an aggregate governmental stipend of some $13,000 annually per student, plus other public sources of funding.  In DC, this system is called "charter schools."  As a result, there's been a "migration" of the better students into these new, quasi-independent schools away from the ordinary public school system.

In some form or other, the same bifurcating of students to make up both the regular public school system and the above-average, semi-private school system has been occurring throughtout the country with public funds--the latter system made up of schools capable of controlling their own educating environment to a far greater degree, including accepting or rejecting any student who applies for admission. 


Add to these trends, viz., an educational caste system and an obvious immigrant population division of labor, is the local property tax which separates the social classes by neighbohood--with the wealthy affording the very expensive homes--and you've got the makings of a marked fossilization of class intransigence, whereby the individual is confined to the boundaries of his own class in which he was born, educated and employed.  Of course, the European countries are more familiar to this outcome than is the United States, since at one time the wealthy class were given title designations and stately honors.  Notwithstanding these trends toward class identity, some individuals, a very few, are able to rise above, or fall below, their initial class fit, e.g., President Obama!    





 

 

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

--I've just completed the second item on the Social Uplift topic--The Emergence of the Welfare State in the US.  Alluding to its Meta-Elements, you can see that there's a long way to go before reaching fruition on this front.  Some critics express a fear that the US will lose its posture in world affairs should the project be successful.  I believe them mistaken.  Through this enterprise, the government in its various forms touches the individual--understanding his inner self and his humanness--heretofore beyond government's ken.  Now, it can truly work with the individual to reach his aspirations and help him meet his express wants, when, before, the individual had to "go it alone," or as the Republican Conservatives would say, the individual ought to be (euphematisically) "self-reliant."  In a day and age, when the realm of knowledge has litterally exploded beyond the comprehension of any lone individual, the exhortation to rely on oneself is preposterous, and if taken seriously, would exhort the individual citizen to succumb to the wiles of those "in the know," as does the novice player of poker pay up to the card shark.  He  can't stand a chance!

Thus, the need for rules and regulations to govern any transaction in which there's an unequal knowledge base among the transactors, e.g., the banker as mortgage lender and the home-seeker wanting a home loan.  So too, until recently, the investment banks could deal in derivatives without rules to abide by.  That's changed; despite the howl of the investment houses.  Apparently, the idea was to have knowledge of how to play the game above and beyond what other participants in the transaction have so as to always make the others into sucker players!

--There's at least one more topic to the Social-X series.  After "Social Uplift," I'm planning "Social Experience."  Because the Social-X series doesn't deal with current events as such, I'm going to expand the "Pithy" section of John's "What's Up?" to at least mention some important (to my way of thinking) present-day phenomena in an ever-changing world.

--P.S. I really like Omaha!  A place I've settled down in.
       

Monday, January 23, 2012

I started researching Social Uplift: Welfare and Unemployment Insurance.  I discovered to my surprise that this topic--so far researched-- is not as muddled as is 'Entitlements.'

In the latter topic I found that somehow the subject of what the government pays out as benefits to construct an individual's safety net is, by some fiction, inextricably tied to what funds it receives under this or that specific account rather than from simply its general funds, irrespective of the accounts from which the construct is drawn.

In the present topic (and I'm thinking primarily of welfare in the US), I have come to realize--thanks especially to Tanner's treatment of the topic in his book (1996; Cato Institute)--that the welfare uplift project has been a tremendous success to government's credit, despite Tanner's negative evaluations from a libertarian viewpoint.     

Frankly, I was not expecting to discover the many areas of poverty and human destitution that government programmatic intervention has had a remedial effect.  I probably won't find in the unemployment picture as many programs at work, but my approach to that area will be to apply what has been learned and successfully implemented among the poor recipients of welfare grants.  Especially heart-warming is the way in which government has not attempted to mold the recepient to a code of behavior deemed better than that which those in poverty exhibit, but to adjust the governmental programs to how the poor act in situ, making them more relevant and important.

Well, I just had to give a present progress report, because of its surprising features, to my mind!

      

Friday, January 20, 2012

I've been busy moving to downtown Omaha!  Near the library, where I do my blogging.

In the series Social Uplift, I'm dealing next with "Welfare and Unemployment Insurance in the US."  I've taken up the item of 'Entitlements,' where, I argue, the fundamental basis for the concept is the exercise of the right to live, honored through the government action for the sake of societal protection via the social contract (my understanding).

In discussing welfare et al, the general supposition is that the individual who accepts this "handout" will return to the mainstream, i.e., at some point will re-enter the workforce and will find a job.  Yet it is also understood that there may be circumstances beyond the individual's control which will make successful re-entry unlikely, such as age or lingering disability.  In such cases, being on welfare is understood merely as a "holding tank" until being adjudged "disabled" in the sense of "permanently unable to work" or "retired," i.e., in line to receive some kind of pension, e.g., social security.

In the interim while I'm producing this item, I'll of course add items to the ruminations and  John's "What's up?" blogs.    

The New US Military International Mission

Since there may be a change in the federal administration, I put this item forward simply in sketchy form.

I think the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya; and the US' role in the Phillippines' handling of the communist insurrection have provided data as evidence to support the proposition that the US military should allow native troops and other governments' military to take the lead to achieve cooperative ventures and projects.  The US military need not do it all, so to speak.  The US military will still provide the war-machine equipment and troop-training, but then will simply act as a consultant to those governments designated in command of some specific area of conflict.