Preserving High Wages

There was an article in the paper recently about how people from Vietnam are going into China illegally to find better paying jobs. Sounds familiar? It seems that when a lower paid community beats out a higher paid community by being able to offer cheaper prices, they will eventually rise up to become higher paid than someone else. If the high paid community wants to remain high paid, high tariffs to artificially keep their wages up might work temporarily but not in the long term. Instead, the high paid community has to continually offer new products and services that others can not (at least until the others figure out how to do it or make it themselves). That is the challenge for you American humans. Your strength is in your ability to innovate, and in your ability to attract and integrate immigrants from all over the world to bring new ideas to America. If an American dog like me can see it, hopefully enough of you American humans can see it too.

Politics Should Not Pervert Religion

More examples of where religion and politics should not be mixed together. That crazy minister who has been on the news lately for wanting to burn the Koran is not only promoting something that is wrong for its own sake, but he is also playing into the hands of the crazies on the other side who also use religion for ulterior motives. Then there are those people who oppose the building of a mosque 2 blocks from Gound Zero. Who cares? It's private property, and they are not doing anything illegal or immoral. Again opposing a basic American right of freedom takes the focus off things that are really important and gives ammunition to the enemies of freedom. The scum that destroyed the Twin Towers perverted religion by killing themselves and others because in their stupid view of things they thought it would promote the politics of their religion over the politics of other religions. Human idiots! The purpose of belief in God since prehistoric times has been an attempt to deal with the temporary nature of life, not to make it more temporary for selfish goals.
If we dogs had religion, we would not squander it away so foolishly.
Chloe

Hi Israeli and Palestinian Humans,
As a follow up to my blog yesterday about the Israel/Palestine peace talks, let me give a little doggie advice to you. As I said yestrerday, the biggest problems are not between Israelis and Palestinians, at least not between the majority of you who are sane. The big issues are between Israelis and Israelis and between Palestinians and Palestinians.
To Israelis I would say, don't narrow the definition of who is a Jew and who should be an Israeli. Narrowness is demographic suicide. Immigrant workers who want their children to remain in Israel as Hebrew speaking loyal Israelis should be encouraged, not discouraged. Immigrants give a country life, progress, and innovation. It was not Herzl's dream to make Israel a closed national ghetto theocracy. The Middle East already has too much of that. Judaism is a beautiful religion, but you you don't have to be a religious Jew to be a Hebrew.
To the West Bank Palestinians I would say, your bretheren in the Gaza strip have bought themselves a bad leadership in Hamas that is taking them nowhere. Don't let them drag you down. Partnership and peace with Israel has already brought you a certain measure of prosperity with the potential for even more growth. Cut Gaza loose. Do your own thing. Make your own peace. If and when Gaza is ready for peace in the future, the two of you can join together if by then you still want to.
Anyway, that's how this dog sees it, and I think dogs have greater insight than humans.
Chloe

Peace

Hi Humans,
There is an article in the latest issue of Time Magazine that comes with a front page headline in bold letters that says that Israel doesn't care about peace. But if one reads the content of the article, one does not necessarily come to that conclusion. Essentially, the article reports that after the Palestinian leadership under Arafat rejected the Clinton/Barak Plan for a 2 state solution, the 2nd Intifada began which assaulted Israel with a wave of suicide bombings. The Israelis being a relatively intelligent people as humans go, built a wall with a defense system that has neutralized the effects of the Intifada. At present the economy in Israel is doing well. The average Israeli is more content with the relative peace that exists in Israel now than the potential peace that an agreement might bring. So, the challenge is to bring a peace agreement that will bring real peace, which means no terrorism or bombs or killings, not just a piece of paper that creates a Palestinian state. So, the title is misleading. Actually the Israeli people desperately want peace, but it has to be a real peace that preserves the present relative peace that the Israeli people enjoy, not a phony peace which gives the peacemakers the ability to claim success while terorrism resumes. Actually, there is a possibility now that a 2 state solution and peace can both be achieved. Not only has Israel's economy thrived recently, but so has the economy on the West Bank. The biggest hurdles are not between Israel and Palestine, but within each country. It is impossible for Palestine to include Gaza and maintain security there as long as Gaza is ruled by Hamas which by words and actions has shown no sign of wanting to make real peace with Israel or the West Bank. Israel has its own divisions between religious nationalists and secular Israelis who would prefer to separate religion and government.
Anyway, we dogs don't need screaming headlines. We take things as they are.
Chloe