The VonFrederick 

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April  2009  Volume 7 Issue 4

  Feature Article:

The World Through Pink Glasses.

Eric Chevreuil, Retired Captain, French Military, The VonFrederick Group

Don’t Take My Word For It! 

I know that you are still hanging out by your nails to the Audacity of your unlimited hopes and to the pledges and over-promises of the “one we have been waiting for” and that you have eventually put in the White House. 

Just read the Tehran Times of February 21 2009! Reporting on a US TV interview by Stephanopoulos (ABC). The Iranian news media stresses President Obama ’s commitment to “break away from President George W Bush’s policy on Iran and seek a much broader approach with the Islamic state” and quote him stating that ““We are going to have to take a new approach. And I’ve outlined my belief that engagement is the place to start,”. Also, the reader is reminded that the US President ran a campaign saying that “there should be no pre-conditions in discussions with the Iranian leadership”. Add to that an interview with Al Arabya where he basically apologized to Muslim dictatorships and other third world tyrants for the past American intolerant behavior toward Islam and the tone of the new administration has been set: America is going to revive the happier American-Muslim times of 20 to 30 years ago, he said (“We have not been perfect. But if you look at the track record, as you say, America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago”). The problem is that such a statement is wrong and shows a total ignorance of the historic realities of that time, and that 20 to 30 years ago, Middle Eastern terrorists were plaguing our skies or killing our soldiers and citizens all over the world while the cold armed war raged on through Arab proxies. Sure, all of this has happened on “day one”, a couple of days after our country had yet another peaceful democratic change of power that saw the first “black” president elected. But we are the bad guys right? Sure! Try to be a driving woman in Saudi Arabia or a school girl in Afghanistan. Try homosexuality or adultery in any of these Muslim tolerant banana republics. Have Sean Penn film a Harvey Milk movie in Saudi Arabia or organize a Gay pride in Tehran! Or just try to set free election, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to dissent anywhere in the world where Minarets are standing tall and proud, beside Western countries and maybe Tunisia of course. I rest my case. 

On day one, America lost its credibility and on day two, Iran had its first official nuclear power plant thanks to the overt Russian help. And why not? Because of our support to Georgia, Russia has kicked us out of Russian airspace and out of our rear bases in the former Soviet Central Asian states of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Suddenly we have lost our critical resupply route to Afghanistan (Nato imports about 70 per cent of its food, fuel, water and equipment from Pakistan via the Khyber Pass, and flies in much of the rest through Russian airspace via bases in Central Asia. -Timesonline UK-). NATO had to choose between a rock and a hard spot, between Pakistan, Russia, or an expensive and nightmarish non sustainable airlift solution! But thanks to President Medvedev-Putin’s “generosity”, and Pakistan’s instability, new Russian routes have been opened and we are back in business….right! Medvedev-Putin have also tested us, and strong armed us into relying on their good will to maintain our forces in Afghanistan, just when Obama plans on reinforcing our combat troops there and on winning that thing. As the Russian ambassador to Afghanistan said: if the Americans stay and win that thing it would be OK but if they lose or run away, we would not be the first one to cry over it! But was it innocent or was it the direct result of Obama’s capitulation personal letter hand delivered to the Russian presidential twins? 

On day one, President Obama wrote a letter to the Russian president team (Medvedev-Putin) asking them to support the US regarding the Iranian nuclear research in exchange for the dropping of the US missile defense plan for Europe. The defeated and begging attitude had the predictable effect one gets when trying to appeal to the goodness of a bully. It showed weakness and lack of spine. America had lost its big stick! Within weeks, Russian scientist were openly supporting the Iranian nuclear team and the US were kicked out of their Soviet Central Asian bases. Now you understand why the European military’s effort for the ten next ten years is the development of a European missile shield, early warning satellite detection system, spy satellite system, GPS “constellation”, airborne warning radar systems and other drones that used to be American made and operated for the protection of its allies.

On day one America lost its credibility and on day two even South Korea resumed rattling its saber again while getting closer to having its nuclear weapons thanks to the same tactics used by Iran: delay, negotiate, break up, misinform, blackmail, negotiate, delay, test, breakup, etc, etc…Within Obama’s only term, two anti-American terrorist and unstable dictatorship will become nuclear powers! Also, we are not committed to Somalia, nor are we regarding the genocide in Darfur, nor have we stopped supporting the Ethiopian genocide against its rebelled minorities. We bomb Pakistan, thus accelerating the decaying of its elected government and let the Pelosis state that these bombing are conducted from our bases within Pakistan with the government approval. Way to go! We are going to close GITMO but nobody want the remaining inmates in their backyards, not even our anti-GITMO liberals and they will most likely fall back in Al Qaeda’s arms like so many others we have released (France is actually the only country that takes to court its nationals that are released from US hands!). 

And finally, the “coup de grace”, the strawberry on the sherbet, is Mrs Billary Clinton first foreign trip, to Asia! The first trip ever of our new famous -and qualified by marriage- State Secretary representing the new administration to China, a strong economic partner (have you bought anything made in the USA lately?). It was marked, branded with a red iron in the history books, with the strongest signal ever that the US, weakened by its own economic crisis and addiction to credit, will put the issues of human rights to the back burners and will not let them “hinder” cooperation with China. She even stated that " our pressing on those issues can't interfere on the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis," Amen. Basically, a new era of unrestricted trade is born and America will not put on the negotiation table the lives of the victims of the Chinese regime. Sure, the next day the US State department released a written report criticizing the Chinese abuses but again, this is not going to “hinder” a good deal, is it? Mrs Clinton did really good and the world is a safest place, especially China.

The echoes of the campaign still ring in my head, the audacity of hope, the changes and the one we have been waiting for, the pledge to cut the deficit by increasing it three fold today to return to its current level in ten years, the pledge to study budgets a line at a time and to cut the Pork out of it, blah, blah. 

It took what, ten days, for the new world stage to be set, for America’s new administration to throw its spine down the sewer. Russia, China, Iran and North Korea already got it and there is nothing we can do about it. The paper tiger is begging, meowing for love and understanding, compassion and help. Who has friends with such enemies? We chose the music and now we will have to dance to it, at least for the next four years. I wanted my country to be feared and I wanted my military to be respected. There is a saying stating that a country’s diplomacy is only as strong and successful as its military! Think about the diplomatic disaster of these first week and get back to me! Look above your self-inflicted credit card depts. or overpriced mortgage and imagine a world where Russia and China boss us around and where Iran and North Korea have become nuclear powers and possible nuclear technology “proliferators”. Think of all these people who hate your liberal guts and what you stand for, and after that, get back to me! In the meantime, enjoy the changes! The new Neville Chamberlain administration has promised us “Peace for our Times”..

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Can Capitalism Cause Violence (Part II)?

Dr. Lionel C.M. von Frederick Rawlins, President & CEO, The VonFrederick Group

We live under the most violent and criminal social system in history. It is the socioeconomic system that has run amok. In its efforts to salvage itself and its profits by tightening all the screws on working people, the poor, the racially and nationally oppressed, it commits the most violent crimes and abuses.

To carry out this effort, monopoly capital maintains a vast army, a national network of penal and criminal control systems, backed up by the force of law. It uses the FBI, the national-guard, and other enforcement agencies to keep the people under surveillance and under control. 
There are huge think-tank institutions, like the Heritage Foundation, that are paid by the government and corporations to come up with schemes to diffuse militancy and class struggle trade unionism, to destroy the trade unions and slow down the development of class consciousness. 
Racism is the weapon of choice by the ruling class. It spares no cost and uses every form of brutality and violence to keep the working class divided. Unity – black, brown, white working-class unity – is feared more than almost anything else by Corporate America which uses every form of coercion, manipulation and violence to keep the working-class from coming together to fight their common enemy.

American society is gripped by a passion for violence and death that borders the pathological – especially today with the economy the way it is – and many using it as an excuse to carry out their macabre behavior.
This deeply disturbing trend has not, of course, gone unnoticed. Editorialists, political commentators, cultural critics, religious leaders – all join in a chorus of anguish over violence in America. And many do accurately identify the reasons for the violence epidemic.

Frustrated, angry, hopeless, stressed-out – people lash out violently at the individuals they imagine are responsible for their distress, or even randomly at people they do not even know. Just pay attention to the recent spate of murders all over the United States and the Caribbean notwithstanding. 

While identifying the causes of violence, the commentators are nevertheless at a loss to find a solution for it. It is not because no solution exists. It is because they all – liberal and conservative alike – share an allegiance to the profit of the economy, an allegiance that is a prerequisite for being a recognized “expert.” Intellectually chained to the status quo, they are prohibited from acknowledging that the social breakdown they describe is the inevitable product of the competitive system and can only be reversed by building a new economic system.

There are two main classes in our society. And there are essentially two kinds of crime: the officially sanctioned criminality of Corporate America (Bernard Madoff, et al) and its state-monopoly government, including organized crime. There are the racist, anti-Semitic hate groups backed and tolerated by Corporate America to promote and provoke division between peoples. 

Then there are the crimes of the working and poor people who for one reason or another, lose all hope and commit crimes. Sadly, the crimes of ordinary people are usually committed against each other. To seek root causes, we have to ask: what is there about our society that provokes, promotes, and perpetuates criminal behavior?
There are unique features of capitalism which make people vent their rage against society and those they see as their oppressors. One is the widening gap between the rich and the poor in the United States – the widest in the world. Another is hopelessness, which lays the basis for terrible anger, frustration, thus, deviations from socially acceptable and normal behavior.
There are large sectors of people who see no future for themselves. This is especially true for those millions suffering in the ghettos, barrios, reservations, and Appalachias of America. Economic and environmental racism is destroying their lives. Many of our young people see drugs, gangs, and anti-social behavior as a way to get back at a system that sees them as expendable.

 Alienation, common to all capitalist societies, is unique in the United States. It is the deepest kind of alienation. The description you hear so often to describe alleged murderers is “loners.” Hopelessness and anger turns people inward, into brooding loners and potentially violent – against themselves and others.
Crime, like joblessness, is a national disease. When people – any people – lose hope, when poverty and despair is the only view of the future, crime, drugs, gangs, and violence are the results. 
Crime and violence, inhumanity, competition and a dog-eat-dog individualism could be replaced by a sound system that allows the full flowering of every individual’s potential: a socialist system perhaps? Once again, I am writing from the perception of a bona fide communist whom I met on a West Pac flight…some ideas I found interesting and in total agreement…others, I question.

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The pattern emerging for juvenile offenders in many parts of the country is one that emphasizes punishment over rehabilitation. This pattern is not, however, new. It has been taking shape since the late 1970s, until there are now more juveniles confined than ever before, despite the fact that the juvenile population nationwide has dropped.

Crowding and state budget constraints, moreover, have meant that relatively little is made available for the kinds of intensive educational and therapeutic programs that advocates believe, are necessary to prepare youths in confinement for re-entry into the community. In a recent article in Crime and Delinquency entitled “The Punitive Juvenile Court and the Quality of Procedural Justice,” Barry Field, professor of law at the University of Minnesota wrote that the emergence retribution and just-deserts model for juveniles has gone hand in hand with a public and political unwillingness to allocate resources to children, particularly those who commit crimes.

The spirit of punitiveness toward youths adjudicated as delinquent - the term used in the juvenile system for “found guilty” – prevails even though the actual number of serious offenders is small. Most juveniles in custody are there for non-violent or property offenses. But violent crimes highly publicized by the media have led state legislators to enact an array of mandatory and determinate sentencing laws that are packing juvenile detention centers and training schools around the country.

Virtually most of the incarcerated youths are African Americans, and one especially troubling aspect of the growing numbers of incarcerated juveniles concerns race. With respect to their proportion in the population at large, minorities are vastly overrepresented. The “Children in Custody” survey found that nearly 60 percent of youths in public custody facilities are either black or Hispanic. Nor does the circumstance hold true only in states with large urban areas like Los Angeles, New York and Miami. In Utah, whose black population statewide is less than one percent The Division of Youth Corrections has reported that blacks held in detention are represented eight times more frequently than would be expected from their proportion in the youth population at risk.

In fact, black and Hispanic juveniles are more likely to be arrested than white youths who commit similar crimes. Racial bias in arrest procedures has been pointed out by many commentators as well. Because of poverty, the families of minority youths are often unable to arrange for the kind of strong legal representation more generally possible for white families. Even when free legal counsel may be available, it may be inadequate. The juvenile court is frequently used a training ground for prosecutors and public defenders, and, therefore, the most inexperienced attorneys may be assigned there, some of them just out of law school.

As for the prevention of juvenile crime, budgetary constraints that have caused communities to make sharp curtailments in their most basic public services have long-range negative implications for youth at risk. But resistance on the part of state and local juvenile justice officials to experiment with such programs on a wide scale remains strong in regions with an entrenched reliance on the institutional model. Solid changes are not yet to be expected because the will to do right for at-risk youth is not present at this moment, especially with a lackluster economy in a period of uncertainty.

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Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven… John Milton

Recently Dick Morris and a few others have made references to Obama’s War on Prosperity. While an accurate description it only references current events. The fact is that Prosperity and Economic Liberty have been under assault for decades. Marxism has engaged in a War on Prosperity since its inception. Generalissimo Obama is only renewing the battle. 

Obama telegraphed his battle plans during his campaign and the day he was elected president the struggling economy responded by crumbling and the stock market crashed. Since the messiah's election the stock market has lost over 3000 points and Americans have suffered substantial losses of wealth and savings. Obama “says” he wants to “jump start the economy” but each time he announces a new plan it entails more government spending, more regulation and taxes, more intrusion into economic freedom and the economy sinks further into the abyss and the stock market continues to crash.

One would think that any village idiot would recognize the correlation and do something different. Not Obama! He repeats the same plan and gets the same outcomes. At first it seemed the messiah was an absolute idiot with no understanding of economics. However, when you consider his Marxist upbringing and training as a radical Marxist by the likes of Saul Alinsky, a new perspective takes shape. While he may not understand economics, he is not an idiot. Rahm Emanuel’s admission to “never waste a crisis to advance the agenda”, revealed Obama’s end goal. He is escalating the economic crisis to advance his Marxist agenda and transform America into another Marxist state in the model of Russia, China or Cuba and the Democrat Party as the new ruling Bourgeoisie. To accomplish this end Obama has declared War on Prosperity. 

The War on Prosperity has been a global conflict with historical venues. It was waged in Russia by Lenin, Stalin, et al., with one Marxist plan after another and managed by the central government. All failed miserably. Instead of prosperity it resulted in abject poverty for all but the ruling class. Other battlefields in the War on Prosperity occurred in Communist China led by Mao, in Vietnam led by Ho Chi Min and in Cuba led by Fidel Castro. The war has been waged in several African countries. All suffering the same fate: poverty, high taxes, commercial malaise, inflation and lack of freedom. 

War on Prosperity has a history of being waged in America. To date, FDR has been its greatest general. In the 1930s FDR talked of economic recovery but his Marxist policies prolonged the depression. His new government plans and his doubling of federal spending kept unemployment at 17% from 1932 to 1940. The American standard of living remained depressed until after long after WWII. His Marxist policies kept the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the 100’s throughout his terms and they did not return to pre-1929 crash levels until the 1950’s. FDR’s Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau proclaimed the success of FDR’s War on Prosperity when he said, “… We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work… after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started and an enormous debt to boot." 

Jimmy Carter was another general in the War on Prosperity. His economic malaise began in 1979 and by 1980 the "misery index", unemployment plus inflation, was 20%’. His policies depressed job growth and businesses cut prices and workers agreed to less wages to stay in business. By 1982, Carter gave Americans the worse recession since the Great Depression. Unemployment exceeded 10%, business bankruptcies rose 50% and nearly a third of American industrial capacity lay idle.

The simple truth is recessions are normal in economic cycles. In US history major economic reverses also occurred in 1815, 1837, 1873, 1893, 1920, 1958, 1979, 1987 and 2000. Only liberal or Marxist presidents used them to advance Socialism. Obama is most likely aware that history has proven the remedy for these recessions was less government spending and regulation and a decrease in taxes. But economic recovery is not his goal.

FDR’s New Deal was not an economic recovery policy but a series of political decisions by very politically minded men to implement Socialism and consolidate Democrat control of government. It was achieved by declaring war on prosperity and it was successful. So Obama is following the FDR model to achieve power, even if it creates economic disaster for decades to come.

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Did You Know? Michelle Glisan Blevins         

• That Equatorial Guinea is one of the smallest countries in Africa and consists of a mainland and five small islands

• That it is believed the first inhabitants of Equatorial Guinea were Pygmies (people whose average adult height is less than 59 inches)

• That even though the government has had a large increase in revenue due to relatively recent off-shore oil and gas discoveries, the general population’s living conditions have improved very little

• That the first Europeans to discover the island of Bioko were the Portuguese in 1471

The Equatoguinean flag has three equal bands of horizontal color: top, green; middle, white; and bottom, red; with a light blue isosceles triangle on the hoist side. Centered on the white band of color are six yellow six-pointed stars (representing the mainland and five offshore islands) above a gray shield bearing a silk-cotton tree and below which is a scroll with the motto UNIDAD, PAZ, JUSTICIA (Unity, Peace, Justice)

WILLIAM HARRISON

William Henry Harrison

1773 - 1841

William Henry Harrison was a United States soldier, statesman and the 9th President of the United States. He was the first presidential candidate to have a campaign slogan, “Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too.” Harrison is known for having given the longest inaugural speech of any U.S. president to date. The 68-year-old spoke for one hour and forty-five minutes outside during a heavy snow. After having given his inaugural speech in such cold weather Harrison contracted pneumonia leading to his death just 31 days later. This made Harrison the first president to die in office and also the one with the shortest term of office

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How To Stop A Runaway Horse

1. Hold on tight to the saddle with your hands and thighs. 
   Most injuries occur when the rider is thrown, falls, or jumps of the horse and hits the ground or some immovable object, such as a tree or fence post.

2. Grip the saddle horn or the front of the saddle with one hand and the reins with the other. 
   If you have lost hold of he reins, hold on to the saddle horn or the horse’s mane and wait for the horse to slow or stop. 

3. Sit up in the saddle as much as you can.
   Fight the instinct to lean forward (it will be especially strong if you are in a wooded area with many trees and branches), since this is not the standard position for a rider when the horse is asked to stop (whoa!), and the horse can feel the difference. Keep a deep seat, with your feet pushed a little forward in the stirrups. 

4. Alternately tug and release the reins with a medium pressure
   Never jerk or pull too hard on the reins of a horse running at full speed—you could pull the horse off-balance, and it may stumble or fall. There is a very high risk of serious injury or death if the horse falls while running a full speed (25 to 30 mph).

5. When the horse slows down to a slow lope or a trot, pull one rein to the side with steady pressure so that the horse’s head moves to the side, toward your foot in the stirrup.
   This maneuver will cause the horse to walk in a circle. The horse will become bored, sense that you are in control again, and slow to a near stop. 
   

6. When the horse is at a walk, pull back with slow, steady pressure on both reins until the horse stops. 

7. Dismount the horse immediately, before it has a chance to bolt again. 
   Hold the reins as you get down to keep the horse from moving. 

BE AWARE

• Long reins dangling in front of a horse may cause it to trip. Inexperienced riders should tie the ends of the reins together so that they cannot fall past the horse’s neck and pose added danger. 

• Horse bolt when they are frightened or extremely irritated. The key response is to remain in control of the situation without causing the horse greater anxiety. Talk to it reassuringly and rub its neck with one hand. Yelling, screaming, and kicking the horse will only make it more agitated. 

(Piven and Borgenicht)

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The VonFrederick Group

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Email:

Dr. Lionel C.M. VonFrederick Rawlins
Lionel@VonFrederick.com

George A. Torres, MBA
George@VonFrederick.com

Eric Chevreuil
Eric@VonFrederick.com

Pat McLane
Pat@VonFrederick.com

Albert Globus, MD
Al@VonFrederick.com

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