Ads

Facebook and possibly Google are under the gun for the way the treat personal data. At this point most people are not that concerned but there is an upside. Perhaps commercials can be directed at possible users and make buying more knowledgeable. For a senior citizens ads about ski trips may not be as informative and ads about cruises. For young people ads about Medicare supplements are a waste of time but ads about new cars may not be. Most would prefer no ads but then that would likely mean no TV. One thing for sure is that we don't need more ads about buying gold or for "My Pillow".

Gay marriage

Yesterday in the senate hearings on the confirmation of the new proposed Secretary of State a question was asked about gay marriage. Several years ago this subject came up in our church and the pastor asked for opinions from the parishioners and I sent him the following letter. I read your letter in The Messenger and if I interpreted things correctly you were asking for input and thus I offer my humble opinion. First of all I have no objection to same-sex marriage whether it be in the courthouse or the church and while the American public may be leaning toward approval they are not ready to accept the concept of homosexual life style and I offer the following as proof that the people are not ready. On any given afternoon watching the Soaps you can see a man and a women in bed together going through the motions of sexual activity. You will not see two scantily clad men rolling around in bed, hands roaming and open mouth kissing and pretending to have anal sex. I maintain the reason you will not see that is that people are not ready. When the campaigning for the law was in full swing it was often said that two people in love should be allowed to marry. I am the first to agree that two men loving one another is a beautiful thing as the world can always use more love but that is not the whole story. The part that is not talked about is the intimacy. The accepted way for homosexuals to engage in sexual activity is either or both oral and anal sex. This is somewhat disturbing to many and a subject they would prefer to ignore. I believe that the gay life style should be accepted by all but it must include the whole story. If we are embarrassed or ashamed by the intimate actions of gays we are not ready. Now perhaps partial acceptance precedes full acceptance and if that is the case we can proceed in steps. I do believe that all too often peripheral issues overtake the main purpose and this may be one of those cases as you referred to regarding the Pope. I have been watching the new Pope and I couldn’t be more pleased. His central theme is to look out for those in need. He recently chastised those who concentrate on divisive issues like abortion, same sex marriage and contraception. These are issues designed to allow people to pass judgment on others. It allows some to tell others how they should live their lives and what they should believe. Notice the,”shoulds”, in that sentence. I believe the Pope is telling us to quit wasting all that psychic energy fighting over issues and get on with sharing your talents, knowledge and experience with others in ways that are helpful. Give up trying to be right and trying to convince others of your right and get on with reaching out a helping hand. There are people around you every day that need what you have to offer. Open your eyes and see, and open your heart to those crying out for help. This is what I hear this new Pope saying to me. Thanks John Novick

SS number

Recent court cases are ruling that using a false social security number to get a job or buy a car is not a crime as long as you use your own name. That follows a ruling last year by the U.S. Supreme Court that a Mexican man who gave a false SSN to get a job at an Illinois steel plant could not be convicted under federal identity theft laws because he did not knowingly use another person's identifying number. He used a social security number that was not his but he didn't know if it belonged to someone else. It could have belonged to another person but he did not know if it did or not. This must be back to idea of intent. He didn't intend to use another person's number.

Assad

During the Obama years three women proposed that the US invade Libya. Samantha Powers and Susan Rich proposed a new doctrine which they called the “The Responsibility to Protect Doctrine”. After having witnessed the slaughter in Rwanda a few years earlier they felt the US could not stand idly by while Gaddafi attacked the city of Tripoli where thousands of civilians would be killed. They along with the help of Hilary Clinton convinced Obama to get rid of Gaddafi and they were successful but left the country open for terrorist to take over and that is where things stand today. We are now faced with another humanitarian crises in Syria and the question is what if anything should be done about. Does the Syrian leader Assad pose an imminent to the US or are we to take action to protect innocent people. Are we just trying to punish Assad or are we trying to get rid of him as Obama suggested in 2011. “For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside. If we could get rid of Assad what then?

Syria

The decision to invade Iraq was based on Saddam having weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and while he had tons of these at one time none were found. Leaders around the world concurred with President Bush that Saddam had WMD. The CIA said he had them and the UN along with NATO. To begin with, numerous foreign intelligence agencies also believed that Saddam Hussein had an active WMD program. The "intelligence agencies of Germany, Israel, Russia, Britain, China and France" all believed Saddam had WMDs. CIA Director George Tenet also rather famously said that it was a “slam dunk” that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We are now confronted with a similar situation but this time in Syria. Everyone says that Assad is using WMD on his people but no one has presented proof. The US is not considering an all out war against Assad but rather targeted bombing to convince him to change his ways. His use of these weapons does not pose an imminent threat to the US but if true they present a humanitarian disaster and many feel that the US should intervene. The use of planes is to be avoided in case a pilot should be captured and the feeling is that missiles can do the job without endangering pilots. People on both sides of the aisle are encouraging Trump to send missiles to destroy Saddams air force and air fields and it is reminiscent of Iraq just before the invasion. Syria a country of 18 million has suffered 500,000 deaths along with many more injured. Over 6 million internally displaced and over 5 million seeking refuge abroad. Currently another million are in danger from Saddam. Some might conclude that no matter what the US does it will be too little too late.

Foreign policy

The foreign policy that the US has followed over the years is mindful of how to keep a teenager happy. You let them do what they want. The US allows other countries to place high import tax on products while keeping US import taxes much lower. The US allows other countries to maintain low cost defense budgets by using US power to protect them. The US pays more thant their share of the United Nations cost allowing other countries to pay much less. The US pays more than their share of NATO while allowing other countries to pay less. The US shares advances in medicine including new drugs with other countries reducing their need for research and development. The US shares high tech innovations with the world lowering their cost for research. The US university system is the best in the world and over one million come here to study while only 300,000 Americans go abroad to study even though the US is only 5% of the worlds population. Last year more than one and one-half million legal immigrants came to America In 2016, 1.49 million foreign-born individuals moved to the United States, a 7 percent increase from the 1.38 million coming in 2015 The US has more immigrants than the next five countries combined. This does not include any illegal immigrants.

More in bias

The messages I send to my daughter are designed to keep her up to date on current events. They are not meant to convince her to think like I do but rather to convince her to think. I receive a response to a recent email which demostrates my purpose for writing. It was a person who took what I said, did some investigative work and responded in a way that broadened my remarks. He pointed out that not only did the press jump to a conclusion about the attack on the gay club in Florida but Trump reacted in the same way. This does not exonerate either party but can serve as a warning not to judge until all the facts are in.