As a result, I have been out of touch with the political scene back home. Not surprisingly, no one in Europe really cares about our details. They like Obama and as long as he is in charge, they feel like the Americans will behave in a more civilized and rational manner. I've been here when Bush was on the mound. When he was in charge, the world saw us a bully.
On to China.
Europe is currently at war with this Asia behemoth. The Chinese are invading economically and its much more frightening that if they had tanks. They are using their typical practice of providing poor quality at such a low price that no one can resist. The scariest part is that they are taking over the telecommunication industry. This is a country that routinely monitors the internet habits of its own citizens. They shut down cell coverage areas when protests start up and blame "temporary" problems with equipment.
Here is an example. The "Jasmine" uprising is a what is being called the latest attempt of the people of China to protest against their government. Several marches were planned with the intent of meeting at a certain point in a large city. As the marchers approached from all directions, they found the streets "conveniently" blocked off for maintenance.
Cisco recently proved China had pirated some of their software. The Chinese government strongly denied the allegation until Cisco showed hidden code embedded in the software that showed the birth date of a Cisco developer's wife. Seems China had a hard time explaining that.
If you buy something made by China; if you use a service provided by China, you are funding the overthrow of the free market and democracy everywhere.
Remember, you heard it here first.
Microsoft continues to implode. After the failure of the latest Office Suites, they now have a phone that no one wants to sell. The Windows based Phone7 has been rejected by all of the major service providers. By the way, Apple will soon follow for the same reason: protectionism. Google makes stuff just as good or better and gives it away from free. Apply makes great products but when Jobs goes, the company is history.
Products that I am waiting to replace: GoDaddy and Norton Antivirus. Both of these companies provide the best service in their field, but they are not overly impressive. I've had run-ins with both over the last week and it feels like I am their very first customer and they are still trying to figure out how to provide the service they are selling.
The Sand Countries continue to revolt. I think it's great.
I watched as a Libyan man mourns the loss of a loved one. Men around him tried to offer comfort. When I saw this, something very important struck me...they are just like everyone else.
They are like you and me.
They want families and love and play and freedom.
So many in the States will tell you to be afraid of everyone that doesn't live across the street from you. How many opportunities have passed us by as we cling to fear of others rather than embrace them as members of humanity.
Maddoff has been speaking out from his Life in Prison soapbox. The latest is that he called the entire government a Ponzi scheme. He is referring to government in general. The more I think about it, the more I think he may be on to something.
Sooner or later, I will have to return home. It's hard to save a world overseas when my outfit has no place to hold my passport.
Up, up and away...
Jim
