Roguedinosaur.com

Greetings Readers,

This is my favorite time of year here on Batam Island, Indonesia. The brisk winds blow down the Malacca Strait from the China Sea, from the same area where the winds unfortunately affected the search for the Air Asia flight Qz851 that crashed into the sea two weeks ago. That said however, the effect of the wind on this island is cool, clear bright weather with a broiling sea this time of year.

Batam is just a short ferry ride from Singapore and I enjoy living here due to its convenient location as well as being tropical. The island communications with the outside world is pretty good. So, like most other interested viewers this week I saw the U. S. State of the Union address on cable TV in real-time. 

I heard every word and though it was an excellent address, felt as if I should return to the United States immediately and live under Obama’s articulate, sane, patient, exceptional, and smart leadership. But then again, I’ll wait for the Republican criticisms that after such an event is hot and heavy with criticisms. So I did, and the rebuttals did not turn me on. It was the same old negative reaction the Republicans are noted for, sour grapes as the economy is well along in improving whether they admit it or not.  So, I’ll pass on it and not say much right now. Let the reader decide. I will not change your ideology. It’s a free country. Instead I’ll turn to the network news and updates around the same time period and provide the latest with my usual few slightly caustic comments.

The slide in oil prices to a little over $40 a barrel is hurting most of the producers with the exceptions being Saudi Arabia , Kuwait, and the Emirates….Russia is on the ropes and so is Venezuela. 

The movie The Interview is being sent to North Korea by Southern Korean interests, as if the North didn’t have it already. Should you be an average or a disloyal citizen and a copy is found in your house, it’s only 20 years hard labor, it you’re lucky. 

A Russian spy ship docked in Havana just as historic negotiations were underway for lifting the decades old embargo and sanctions on Cuba. How dare they? One Russian vessel in the Caribbean?  That’s outrageous. We’ve only got the 5th and the 7th nuclear armed fleets surrounding  Russia as I write…

If it’s correct, and often it isn’t, ISIS beheaded a dozen teenage football, soccer,  enthusiasts playing the game near their camp. For this act ISIS is through, through, finished. European football is by far the most popular sport with 800 million fanatical fans around the world…. ISIS  has completely ruined its public relations image…

Looks like the rebels are taking over Yemen step by step.  They have surrounded the residence of the president. Well at  least they’re Shiite and not Sunni, a slightly different sect aspect to the religion, in which suicide bombers are rare, and their philosophy is less radical than the Wahahbe followers in Sunnis ISIS, but still ideological Muslims of the Al Qaeda strain…

The Mayor of Paris is suing the Fox network for reporting that there are special Muslim sectors, or zones in French cities where it’s not safe for non Muslims to enter, and have  their own community government. I wonder are there parts of Chicago, Detroit, or say even Baltimore where a white couple may not be safe walking at midnight? Naa!

Just after the Obama speech CNN’s breaking news had a flash: Nine Israeli bus passengers were stabbed that morning in Tel Aviv by a Palestinian. Those damn Palestinians behave like animals just because 50 years ago Israel confiscated their land, by force of arms, displaced 80,000 Arabs, massacred hundreds of men, women, and children, destroyed village buildings and houses, raped, and looted homes. Those colonized Palestinians are not very patient at all, let alone possessing bus passenger courtesy.

The Prime Minister of China Mr.XI, pronounce ‘She’ makes $22,000 dollars a year. Hmm. At  a glance one cannot believe the figure is correct, does he work as a manager at McDonald’s, but it is, but it is.  Reminds of the President of the Philippines back in the 60’s,  Ferdinand Marcos,who purportedly had a salary of 600 U. S. dollars a year, but of course plenty of on the side opportunities. The opposite stratagem in the Singaporean government, the Prime Minister of the miniscule city states makes more than the President of the United States. The strategy is that in order to prevent graft, pay government leaders in abundance and they will not stoop to petty graft and other corruptions. The ploy seems to works as Singapore is one of the most graft-free countries in the world, and is always in the top ten most honest…

Obama wants to Soak the Rich’; well it’s about time.

Good news, my hearing aid is working today.

All the Best.

Ron Miller