Adherents: A bigoted website?

Adherents – a bigoted website ?

Talk among some at the Assemblies of God Fine Arts Festival in Orlando last summer centered on the growing influence of what some see as a bigoted online website which seems bent on destroying their denomination.  Selected entries, false information, censored material and a failure to respond to corrections dominated the complaints.   “If there is anyone controversial, with any remote connection to the Assemblies of God, they will post their name,” a denominational leader explained to me, “if there is anyone positive, they will omit it.”

Numerous controversial, independent Pentecostals, some of whom spent less than three years in the Assemblies of God are listed but Sarah Palin, who grew up in the denomination all her life is not.  In fact, rather than be forced to list Palin as a member of the denomination Adherents fails to list her at all.  Palin, who appeared on the cover of TIME magazine, is regularly mentioned as a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.  Meanwhile, the Jonas Brothers, who grew up in an Assemblies of God home and who performed at the very Fine Arts Festival I spoke of, and whose father was an Assemblies of God pastor and now their business manager, are not listed.  I guess the Jonas Brothers aren’t famous enough.

Most serious of all is the charge that Adherents allows persons of one faith to use the website to attack persons of other faiths and with false information.  According to this charge, enemies of the Assemblies of God are turned loose to attack without correction or oversight for their sources.  While the site promises that “we are always striving to increase the accuracy and usefulness of our website. We are happy to hear from you. Please submit questions, suggestions, comments, corrections…” repeated attempts to correct false information have remained unanswered for many months.

While posts for other religious groups include input from their leaders and officials, the post on the Assemblies of God does not.  “They don’t even do a spell check for our entry,” a pastor told me in Orlando.  For example, Adherents posts a link to “Famous Mormons,” a site ran by the Church itself.  The site is careful to respect non Christian faiths.  According to Adherents there are now 5.6 million Jews in the United States and more than 13 million worldwide.  Its site now rates more than 9,000 famous Jews.  Meanwhile, Adherents says there are 2.8 million members of the Assemblies of God in America and 52.5 million worldwide, making it the fourth largest Christian religious body and yet it lists only 31 famous members almost all of them negative.  Adherents lists close to 100 famous members of the Christian Scientist denomination, all positive.  Its list of “Famous Catholics” numbers beyond 20,000.

Included in the lists of other denominations but missing for the Assemblies of God are the founders of the Church and all major ecclesiastical leaders.  Adherents ignores the A-G General Superintendent and Mission’s Director.  C. M Ward is not famous enough for the website.  Ward was a friend of presidents.  His ABC radio show lasted 25 years and rivaled Paul Harvey for audience size.  His books line the shelves of pastors’ studies worldwide.  Thomas F. Zimmerman, who led the denomination for almost 30 years is not mentioned.  Don Argue, friend of the Clintons, who was president of the National Association of Evangelicals and was appointed to the United States Commission on Religious Freedom or Jerry Rose who served as President of the National Religious Broadcasters Convention are likewise considered unworthy by Adherents.

In general, names on Adherents Assemblies of God “Famous List” must have been the subject of negative publicity or conform to a rigid right wing, Republican stereotype. The talented, Joshua Dubois, a member of the United Pentecostal Council of the Assemblies of God, a small, predominantly black denomination, was Barack Obama’s choice to direct the Council for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a White House position.  He is ignored by Adherents.

My interest was piqued by my own entry.  I had left the Assemblies of God 25 years before. When I organized the Charity Awards, receptions held in the White House, six first ladies and presidents serving as honorary chairperson, spinning off Mercy Corps as a prominent worldwide charity, Adherents ignored me.  As they should have, I had not been a part of the A-G for much of my adult life.  And as a presidential advisor, serving in the White House they continued to ignore me. When I wrote New York Times bestselling books and appeared on dozens and dozens of television shows there was nary a mention.  Appropriately so.  But suddenly, when the Bush taping controversy erupted, presto, I appeared as a “famous member of the Assemblies of God” on Adherents, even though my link to the denomination was 25 years cold.

The site about me was written by a person of another religion who attacked my motives and implied that I made money.  What is interesting is that my accuser was herself embroiled in scandal and forced to withdraw as a nominee to the George W. Bush cabinet.   None of her controversy appears on her own Adherents site, she is in one of their “protected” religions.  As to her information and implications?  They are false.  I took no money from the taping controversy, went off television for six months, took no related speaking fees or book royalties, nor have I since published a book.

All of this raises the question, who is behind Adherents?  Who runs its vitriolic Assemblies of God pages?  Speculation in Orlando centered on enemies of Pastor Karl Strader, who were seeking revenge online.  Others suggested that it was a writer for an independent Charismatic magazine with a denominational vendetta. (Highly unlikely, since the pages are riddled with grammatical errors and misspellings.)

Meanwhile, irritated by its critics, who hound Google and other search engines with complaints about the bigotry, Adherents only rubbed salt in the wounds by appending to their list of famous church members the following disclaimer. “[Note: Although some observers may consider the history of the Assemblies of God to be tainted by such famously scandalized televangelists as Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Gene Scott, and others, we would urge people to not judge the denomination only by these famous few. Although the denomination has more than its share of unsavory preachers and leaders, the general membership of the Assemblies of God is, for the most part, a bastion of strong values and sincere religious commitment. Statistically speaking, Assemblies of God members exhibit a higher than averge (sic) commitment to Christian living and striving to live ethically.”

According to complaints, the modus operandi at Adherents continues unabated.  Duane Chapman, star of the reality show, Dog and the Bounty Hunter, was ignored by Adherents when his show was a hot feature of A&E.  Chapman had gained notoriety for hunting down Andrew Luster, the Max Factor heir, who had fled to Mexico after being charged with drugging and raping women.  When Mexican officials tried to throw Chapman in prison, for violating Mexican extradition laws, bragging that he would not last a year, 15 members of congress and the Secretary of State rushed to his defense.  All ignored by Adherents.  But when a negative controversy erupted over Chapman’s use of a racial slur Adherents suddenly decided he merited inclusion in their famous members of the Assemblies of God list.  Apparently, Chapman, who by his own admission has not been an active member of the denomination, once attended and Assemblies of God Sunday School as a child.

Hmmm, well okay, if Duane Chapman had to be rushed onto the Famous Assemblies of God list for using a racial slur, what about Bernie Madoff, who pulled of the biggest white collar crime in history?  Does his name appear among the 9,000 plus “famous Jews” of Adherents.  Nope. Not famous enough for Adherents.

Nor does the website, which felt compelled to say that [the Assemblies of God] “has more than its share of unsavory preachers and leaders,” make any mention in its Catholic section on the pedophile crisis that has erupted twice in modern times.  Nor are any of the names of the accused priests mentioned among the 20,000 plus “famous Catholics.” In June, 2002, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.  The so called John Jay Report, which came out of the work of the Conference, found 11,000 allegations against 4,392 priests.  Not a mention in Adherents.

The Adherents website, which has ignored repeated attempts to correct inaccuracies and offer some balance, apparently remains committed to the vilification of the Assemblies of God.  While other sections have been co-opted by leaders of the religious groups named or have substantial input to guarantee accuracy, or at the very least, employ spell check, Adherents has given its anonymous Assemblies of God editor free reign to vent his or her anger.  It is what happens when a website becomes hi-jacked by an agenda.

What can you do?

1.) Register your complaint to Adherents for its bigoted coverage of the Assemblies of God.

webmaster@adherents.com

2.) Encourage professional, websites such as Wikipedia, which make an effort to get their facts right.  Or new religious sites such as Ascension Gateway, which insist on strict factual guidelines, with no theological or socio-cultural agenda.

http://www.ascensiongateway.com/quotes/people/religion/christians/index.htm

3.) Register your complaint to Google for giving special status to a site that is inaccurate and bigoted.  Not to mention rife with grammatical errors.

While Google does not normally interfere, employees tell me that they sometimes remove special search engine enhancements for sites that are deemed “junky,” inaccurate, libelous or intolerant.  Google celebrates diversity, which is what the internet is all about and is sensitive to attacks on gays and other minorities but this includes religious groups, especially if a website is misrepresenting its purpose.   Here is a page about how to get things removed by Google:  http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=13926

Russia: Land of Opportunity

What country’s individual tax rate tops out at 13%?

Hint.  It isn’t the USA where federal and local taxes in New York are projected to reach a 57% bite.  If you are rich? Move to Florida or Nevada to avoid State Income Tax.  If you wanna be rich?  Move to this new “land of opportunity.”

What country’s higher education fosters a curiosity and practical involvement for its student body in free enterprise?

Hint.  It isn’t the USA where ironically the very corporations who fund university endowments are seen as the enemy by professors and students alike.  They are viewed as polluters and exploiters of a beleaguered laboring class.  But in this country, this new “land of opportunity,” the professors, themselves, own real estate businesses, factories and sit on the boards of directors of major corporations.

Meanwhile, state corporate taxes in the USA have reached scandalous proportions and all but kill the chances for a new, emerging, small business.  For example, all fifty states have higher corporate taxes than the nation of France, which has the fifth highest corporate taxes in the world and is frequently held out as the poster child of anti-small business and entrepreneurs.  But in this new “land of opportunity,” the maximum federal and regional corporate tax is 20%.

What country has sensible consumers who pay their bills on time and save their money?  Only one in 100 even carries a credit card?  Where capital investment potential abounds?

Hint.  It is surely not the USA where Americans carry 450 million Visa cards alone and where their credit card debt approaches $2 trillion.

What country is a true metling pot of religion, culture and race, where Moslem, Jew and Christian live and work side by side and their values are openly appreciated?

Hint. Not here in the good old USA, where government and big business restrict language and clothing in schools and the public marketplace. (I have a friend who writes screenplays for television movies.  He tells me that “Jesus” cannot be mentioned on one of the networks except as a curse word.)

What country boasts an airline where the stewardesses are still tall, trim, bright and attractive?  They still smile at their passengers, and wear elegant white gloves as part of their smart uniforms.

Hint. It isn’t the USA where a $15,000, first class, round trip international ticket on a US airline will get you a bitter, grouchy stewardess, who hates her job, her passengers but has union guarantees that virtually prevent her from ever being fired.

Answer to all the above?

Russia.

Welcome to the new land of opportunity.

Yes, there are still problems galore in Russia.  The roads outside of the major cities are still in disrepair. Grade schools are awful.  Airline equipment is dated, even for the clever, well run, Rossiya Airline. The government still struggles to deal with endemic corruption. (If security personnel at the airport will steal your coins going through the x ray machine, which happened to me, it kinda makes you wonder how vulnerable they would be to a terrorist bribe.)

The biggest problem of all?  Excessive regulation.  Perhaps, a hangover from the Soviet years or needed to combat corruption or maybe just part of the Russian DNA.  A new restaurant, for example, faces endless government regulations not only regarding hiring, but even regarding the choice of entrees on a menu.  And such rules not only limit the imagination of their people, they are cleverly exploited by competitors to block the emergence of any newcomers.

In complex industries, like “Direct Sales” the DUMA is vulnerable to manipulation by big companies who seek monopolies by regulating competitors out of the market.  Members of the DUMA must be generalists and can’t be experts on everything so some will be innocently led by foreign companies seeking to “clean up” their industry.  The result? Expect new regulations that will confine and harass their own Russian work force and limit their income opportunities, all to the advantage of big foreign corporations.

Nevertheless, Russia under Putin brought law and order to the streets, began an aggressive campaign against corruption and released an entrepreneurial spirit that is quickly producing a growing middle class and a Russian nouveau riche.  When the “dreamers” and “doers” outnumber the “takers” Russia will truly explode.  The atmosphere is right.  Immigrants, the bane of fortress America, are welcome in Russia where they are needed and wanted.

And the Russian Miracle is not just a Moscow – St. Petersburg phenomenon. There are business and cultural zones now popping up all over the Russian landscape.  For example, Putin helped the city of Kazan win the 2013 Universiade.  The city is being transformed in preparation. Yekaterinburg is a showcase city.  Distant Khabarovsk has it all.  Booming Black Sea resort Sochi will host the 2014 Winter Olympics and anyone who has visited this exotic city can tell you that it will forever after become one of the world’s glamour spots. 

So when President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin sit down together in the coming days to discuss their relationship and their future, they hold the hopes and dreams of millions in their hands.  And they are on the verge of history.  What has happened in Russia, its diversification, its wise use of the oil boom, its new freedoms for the marketplace now make it a “land of opportunity.”  And just in time for a world in global crisis.

Новая страна возможностей

В какой стране мира индивидуальная налоговая ставка, ниже 13%?

Намек.  Это – не США, где федеральные и местные налоги в Нью-Йорке  достигают 57%.  Если вы богаты? Переезжайте во Флориду или Неваду, чтобы избегать налога на прибыль.  Если вы хотите быть богатым?  Переезжайте в эту новую “землю возможностей.”

В каких странах высшее образование поощряет любознательность и личное участие студентов в свободном предпринимательстве?

Намек.  Это – не США, где по иронии судьбы сами корпорации, оказывающие материальную поддержку университетам,  рассматриваются профессорами и студентами, в качестве врагов. Они рассматриваются как угнетатели и эксплуататоры рабочего класса.  Но в этой стране, этой новой “земле возможностей,” профессора сами владеют фирмами по продаже недвижимости, фабриками и сидят в советах директоров этих корпораций.

Тем временем, налог на прибыль компаний в США достиг скандальных размеров и тем самым убивает возможность развития появляющихся новых фирм малого бизнеса. К примеру, все 50 штатов имеют более высокий налог на прибыль компаний, чем  население Франции, чей налог на прибыль компаний пятый по величине в мире  и часто воспринимается как враждебный малому бизнесу и предпринимательству. И в этой стране максимальный федеральный и региональный налог на прибыль компаний – 20%.

В какой стране есть здравомыслящие потребители, которые платят по счетам вовремя и копят  деньги? Где только один из ста человек имеет кредитную карточку? Где огромный потенциал капитальных инвестиций?

Намек.  Это – несомненно, не США, где американцы имеют только 450 миллионов карточек Visa, и где долг по кредитным карточкам доходит до 2 триллионов.

Какая страна является местом, где реально переплетаются религии, культуры и расы, где вместе живут и работают  мусульмане, христиане, евреи  и их ценности принимаются?

Намек. Не здесь в старых добрых США, где правительство и крупный капитал ограничивают язык и одежду в школах, и общественный рынок. (У меня есть друг, который пишет сценарии для телевизионных фильмов. Он говорит , что имя “Иисус” нельзя упоминать на одном из каналов, т.к. как там оно звучит как проклятие).                                                                                                                Какая страна может похвастаться авиалиниями,                                                                                               , где все бортпроводницы высокого роста, аккуратны, умны и привлекательны?  Они все еще улыбаются пассажирам и надевают изящные белые перчатки как часть  своей элегантной униформы.

Намек. Это – не США, где заплатив $15,000 за билет первого класса на международном рейсе американских авиалиний, вы  получите обслуживание, которое вам предоставит вредная, ворчливая бортпроводница, которая ненавидит свою работу, и своих пассажиров, но имеет гарантии профсоюза, которые фактически делают невозможным ее увольнение.

Ответ на все эти вопросы?

Россия.

Добро пожаловать в новую землю возможностей

Да, все еще есть проблемы в изобилии в России.  Дороги за пределами главных городов находятся все еще в ветхости. Образование в школах ужасное. Авиаоборудование устарело, даже в такой умной компании с хорошим управлением как Российские авиалинии. Государство до сих пор борется с эпидемией коррупции. (если служащие охраны аэропорта украдут ваши монеты проходящие осмотр, как это произошло со мной, то это заставляет задуматься на сколько их легко их подкупить террористам.)

Наибольшая проблема всего?  Чрезмерное регулирование. Возможно, пережиток  Советских времён, либо нужно было бороться с коррупцией либо возможно только часть Русской ДНК.  Новый ресторан, к примеру, сталкивается с бесконечными государственными ограничениями, не только по вопросу найма, но  даже выбору блюд в меню. И такие правила не только ограничивают воображение их людей, их умно эксплуатируют конкуренты, чтобы блокировать появление любых новичков.

В комплексной промышленности, подобно «Прямые Продажи» Дума уязвима к манипулированию большими компаниями, которые ищут монополию путём ограничения конкурентов вне рынка. Члены Думы должны быть универсалами и не могут быть экспертами во всем, таким образом, некоторые будут невинно приводить зарубежные компании, ищущие «очистить» их индустрию. Результат? Ожидайте новые ограничения, которые ограничат и будут беспокоить их собственную русскую рабочую силу и ограничивать их возможности прибыли, все для удобства больших иностранных компаний. Однако, Россия с Путиным во главе, принесла закон и порядок на улицы, начал агрессивную кампанию против коррупции, выпустила предпринимательский дух, который быстро создаёт и развивает средний класс и русского nouveau riche. Когда “мечтатели” и “исполнители” перевесят количеством “потребителей” Россия по настоящему взорвется.  Атмосфера правильна.  Иммигранты, the bane of fortress America, желанны в России, где они нужны и где их ищут.

И Русское Чудо – не только феномен Москва – Санкт Петербург . Есть деловые и культурные зоны ,которые сейчас возникают по всей русской территории. К примеру, Путин помог городу Казан выиграть в конкурсе по проведению универсиады в 2013 году. Город преобразовывается во время подготовки. Екатеринбург – город витрин. Отдаленный Хабаровск так же имеет все. Быстро развивающийся Сочи, курорт на Черном Море примет в2014 году, зимние олимпийские игры и кто-либо, кто посетил этот экзотический город, сможет сказать вам, что после их,  это будет одно из самых эффектных мест в мире.

И так, когда Президент Медведев и Премьер-министр Путин садятся вместе, чтобы обсудить их взаимоотношения и их будущее, они держат надежды и грезы миллионов в их руках. И они на грани истории.  Что случилось в России, её диверсификации, её мудром использовании нефтяного бума, её новых свобод для рынка сейчас делают её “землёй возможностей.”  Как раз вовремя для мира в глобальном кризисе.

Russian scientists close in on Fountain of Youth

Now, this is interesting.  An international group of scientists have embarked on the ultimate quest.   To find the fountain of youth.  Not since Ponce de Leon has the world been this hopeful. This time we should all expect a little more due diligence.The goal of the project is “to extend the period of human youth.”  And – get this – a biochemical laboratory of Russia’s Southern Federal University has joined the project.  This is getting serious.  And they are testing the affects of various stimuli on the DNA of lab animals. Vladimir Chistyakov is the senior scientist at the lab.  Apparently, in the 1970s, an academician named Skulachev “dissipated the energy of a living organism on the molecular level.”  This according to Pravda. Human cells produce a toxic by product which speeds up the aging process and Skulachev developed nano-constructions to neutralize the toxins.  Sound likes XanGo’s new secret product x51. Anyway, Skulachev’s experiments worked on rats, (which means it should be immediately effective for most politicians.)  The rats remained vigorous throughout their lives but it did not extend their average life spans.   It translates into a life of longer youth but not of longer years. Meanwhile, a group of English doctors have compiled a list of everyday, ordinary things that have already proven to extend life.  And what is the one, single, biggest thing that most people don’t do that has been proven to extend life? Floss. Now, when the Russians figure out how to extend a youthful life without flossing we will be getting someplace.

Obama and American Arrogance

President Barack Obama is taking some hits for referring to America’s “arrogance.” Karl Rove rushed onto Fox News this morning, huffing and puffing, to criticize the president, saying that he could have made the same remarks with a positive spin on the subject. He should say what good things American is going to do not dwell on the bad she has done. If he needed to, Rove opined, he could even show a contrast with the past, but without admitting to our weakness. Act presidential.

But there is a time to quit “acting.” Most of the people in the world think that we are arrogant and talking about that perception openly is disarming and long overdue.

The Pope could have answered the Church pedophile crisis by announcing a new “quality search” for the best men, the most balanced and moral of men to serve the Church as priests. “This is a new, forward looking program that will make the Catholic experience better for us all.” But ignoring the truth of what was happening would not have helped. Sometimes you have to hit the problem head-on.

It doesn’t hurt for Americans to learn what the rest of the world thinks. They think we are myopic, self-centered and foolishly arrogant know-it-alls who are wrong at least half the time and should quit trying to tell everybody else how to run their countries. Balance your own budget, they say. Don’t lecture us on how to solve the Global economic crisis, you started it, you ninnies. Educate your own stupid children, they say. And start doing something about your own epidemic of pornography and violence, as in the spate of killings this week, before you lecture us on “freedom.”

Mary Wells transformed Madison Avenue by her “truth in advertising” philosophy. According to Wells, you simply state a truth, especially a negative one, and people will then believe everything else you have to say.

In the 1960’s the French automobile manufacturer, Renault, took out full page ads in major newsweeklies to headline why their cars broke down on American highways. People read the ads and thought, now why did Renault pay all that money to talk about their mistakes? But then the ad went on to say something along these lines, “our cars broke down because they were built for the smaller European roads but now, the engineers who built the bestselling automobiles in Europe have designed a new car for the American highways.” They started with the unpleasant truth and everything else they said was believable.

Barack Obama cannot be blamed for the worldwide perception of American arrogance. But in an age when some believe that it is only a matter of time before a terrorist will possess a nuclear device, it is a dangerous, isolated place for this country to be. The first way out is to see what others see and admit it and try to solve it. At least now, thanks to Obama, they will listen to what else we have to say.

Of course, the next step is to listen to them.

I’m not a socialist and I feel the painful irony as Europe looks on aghast at America’s flirt with the very leftist policies that sent their economies reeling. No wonder the Germans and Swedes are horrified. Has America lost its’ mind? And I am hoping that the first thing America learns in its retreat from arrogance is that embracing what Europe has already tried and abandoned will not work. I am hoping that President Obama means what he says and that he is actually rethinking things after encountering Merkel and others at the summit. But admitting to American arrogance is not a bad start.

Now if Obama will only admit to his own.

What would Reagan Do?

“But we are not going to simply kill some people to say, ‘Oh look, we got even.’ We want to know when we retaliate that we are retaliating with those who are responsible for the terrorist acts.”

- President Ronald Reagan, 1984.

This is the first in an ongoing series on what Ronald Reagan would be doing. On war, on the economy, on spending. Of course it is all speculation but we have his words and deeds to reference and we can juxtapose some interesting possibilities.

For example, if 9-11 had happened on Ronald Reagan’s watch what would the Gipper have done?

In fact, it is very likely that Ronald Reagan would have invaded Afghanistan. After all, they were harboring Osama Bin Laden and by Reagan’s thinking that would have made it a legitimate war. Leading up to his election he sent strong signals that he would attack Iran if the hostages were not released.

But it is very unlikely that he would have invaded Iraq. Reagan didn’t believe in collateral damage for thousands of innocent people. It was not his style or a part of his belief system. He walked away from Lebanon not because he was a coward but because he would not risk killing thousands of innocent people in order to get a few who were guilty. And he wanted to make sure that he was targeting only the guilty people.

Listen to his own words from 1984….

Reagan on terrorism and collateral damage.

And ah yes, I have my own reasons for admiring the former president:

Reagan on Doug Wead

Is the economic crisis really a conspiracy?

There was a fire at the Hyatt Regency in Kiev recently. It was a Sunday night, March 8, 2009. And the reaction in the lobby was like the reaction of many of us in this the Second Great Depression. It was surreal. People were in denial. They could sense the overpowering smell of burning plastic, which meant that the fire somewhere nearby was very, very hot and was devouring multiple rooms but because no one could see the flames or smoke, there was this very certain state of denial.

Now, let me say, before I go any further in this illustration, that the Hyatt Regency in the center of Kiev, is a great hotel, probably the best in the Ukraine. It is walking distance from St. Sophia’s. And Kiev has become a great city. Yes, the political state of the country is in turmoil. The people don’t like any of their politicians. The roads and infrastructure are crumbling. But, like second hand smoke, they have picked up just enough prosperity from nearby Russia to see some real progress. There have been improvements in this city in the last two years.

I was speaking for a convention of networkers in Zaporozhye and rather than fly out early the next day, had talked my hosts into getting me back to Kiev, where I could sleep late and fly home rested to Washington, D.C. But this meant a long, nighttime drive across highways with pot holes to Dnipropetrovs’k and a flight to Kiev.

My translator and host were with me when we drove up to the Hyatt. And we all noticed that a fire truck, a 1950’s vintage fire truck, had pulled up to the hotel in front of us. But we weren’t worried. The firemen were casually walking into the lobby, stringing out their flaccid fire hoses behind them.

The expansive lobby was busy. The luxurious couches were filled with people in animated conversation, or solitary readers waiting for their friends, or someone enjoying a piece of cake at a nearby coffee bar.

We headed straight for the front desk which was alive with attractive young ladies and young men, bustling from one computer monitor to the next. And behind them, through a glass wall, was a busy office, that didn’t seem to know that it was late evening. It too was filled with activity and glowing monitors.

I guess I detected the first signs of fear in the eyes of the desk clerks. Their smiles and automated reactions to our questions could not mask their nervousness. We handed over my passport and negotiated the room. They handed back a key.

And then I turned to look back at the front doors, just to check on the firemen, who were moving with no apparent urgency, and I spotted three maids, in their black and white uniforms, standing together, as close to the front door and the freezing night as they could get. They had clearly seen something that no one else in the building had seen. They had fear all over their faces and their bodies. Their hands fidgeted and they were frantically whispering to each other.

A smiling bellman interrupted me to ask for my bags. He explained with a jocular voice that the elevators were down because of the fire alarm and I was on the eighth floor, so we would wait a few minutes before going up if that was all right.

“Sure.”

I noticed that the three glass elevators were shut down, standing on the lobby floor, with some sort of tenting over them. Apparently, the automated – in case of fire – routine had kicked in.

At the same time I saw young men in black suits passing through the expansive lobby, politely leaning over and speaking to people. And the people would immediately rise and start moving for the front doors, picking up others on their way, so that the little streams from all over the lobby floor were moving into a river that was heading out into the freezing, cold night into the giant square in front of the hotel.

But it was the maids that got to me. They had seen something. They had probably actually seen the flames and maybe even fought them a little by turning on the showers or trying to use the hoses on the floor. They clearly thought they knew something that the rest of us didn’t. And it wasn’t good. They rushed to the front desk, consulted with someone and then literally ran, I mean ran, as fast as they could go, in unison, three maids in black and white. But rather than run out the front door with the public they ran down a hallway to the side of the front desk. Maybe another way out? Maybe picking up their purses or street clothes?

By the time I was outside in the cold and my hosts had found me in the crowd, I had some time to think all of this through. There was no reason for me to stay at the Hyatt that night. If the fire was hot enough to make plastic drip, then it would take some time to cool down. And I didn’t want to stay up late nor did I want to sleep with one eye open.

My wife and I had been in a hotel fire in Segre, France. We had awakened in the middle of the night to a stampede of panicked feet running out of their rooms. We had casually walked out into the night ourselves. But the next day we had visited the ruins of the fire and realized how close we had been to death and how easy a fire can start. In Segre, someone who had laid a damp T – shirt over a lamp shade to dry out. It was from Segre that I had learned the smell of melted, burning plastic, the result of dripping televisions.

I thought of Segre and realized that the maids in Kiev had not only moved near the front doors, they had moved away from the tiered, balcony landing above the checkout desk. If the fire got bad, that would collapse.

My translator and my host had apparently come to the same conclusions. They had my passport and when they found me outside we all got back into the car and drove across town to another hotel. The wonderful Vazdvizhenskij, in the artists’ section. It was a great place, when I awoke the next day I thought I was in Greece.

But as we drove from the Hyatt that night, we strained to see fire or smoke and saw none. Kiev’s beautiful landmark hotel was fine.

This whole experience struck me as a metaphor for the world global crisis.

1.) Conspiracy theorists. There are those who will insist that it isn’t real. Did you actually see any smoke or fire? The hotel owners set it all up to scam the insurance company. The global economic crisis is being faked to raid the treasury.

But this is a bit preposterous to anyone who has actually been a part of a conspiracy, however small. How do you get the maids and staff and firemen all to rehearse and cooperate? No matter how much money you pay them? Some people just do not have it in their nature to keep quiet. It is hard for two people to keep a secret, let alone dozens and, in the case of the global economic crisis, ten of thousands. No, sorry, the global economic crisis is not fake, the unemployment statistics are probably accurate and all the other economic indicators too.

2.) It’s not that bad. We will get you into your room in a few minutes. And the economy will rebound in a few months.

This comes from an ignorance of history. Nothing is solved that easily. A fire and an economic meltdown, take some time to bring under control. This is nothing like 1982 or 1987. When foreclosures rise to this level and unemployment as well, it means more foreclosures and more unemployment, less spending on consumer goods. And the excessive printing of money means that prices of necessities, like food, will eventually go up even while prices of homes and other investments will remain temporarily deflated. 3.) It won’t affect me. The fire is not near my room. Whatever may be happening in the global crisis, my income is secure. Maybe so, maybe not. An economic crisis, like a fire, cannot be fully anticipated or controlled. No one knows just how it will blow. It is wise to be prepared.

4.) This is the end? The Hyatt Regency will burn to the ground. The Global Crisis means the end of civilization as we know it.

Actually, the Hotel was intact the next day. And most of the people who checked in on Monday had no idea about the excitement the night before. The affected areas of the Hotel were already sealed off and repairs had begun. No, this is not the end of the world. Life and commerce will eventually regain its footing. And most will recover from the Global economic crisis but not all of us. And not everything will be exactly as it was before. The last Great Depression brought us fascism and communism, revolution and great changes. There may be some surprises still ahead this time too.

Looking for Mr. Goodwrench

 

Before the government turns over billions of dollars to those very automotive executives who have taken their industry off the cliff, shouldn’t they be looking for someone else?  We will call him Mr. Goodwrench.  I am talking about that “loose cannon” on the executive floor who warned about all of this and even offered thousands of pages of memoranda with alternatives.  Shouldn’t Mr. Goodwrench finally be given the power to do what only he knew needed to be done long ago?

Now, who is Mr. Goodwrench?  Well, I don’t exactly know.  I would guess he is part engineer, part mechanic, part artist, part salesman and whole lot of demographic expert and statistician.  He is so prescient that he knew I would be trading in my 20 years of Lincolns Navigators and Chrysler Mini vans for a Honda and a Toyota even before I did.  He has been excluded by his colleagues as an alarmist, an eccentric, an oddball but now it turns out that he has been right all along.

Mr. Goodwrench may be young but not necessarily.  He may be a gray beard, a visionary like DeLorean.  He may be an old crackpot like Winston Churchill who turned out to be old but also right about Germany and Hitler.  He probably has already been fired and if not, he is walking on egg shells on the corporate floor these days.  He cannot even look anyone in the eyes lest they shoot back angrily, “yeah, you told us so, rub it in, rub it in, but you are still not getting your own car and driver and you will never set foot on the corporate jet.”  You know they must all still be in denial on that executive floor.

Someone in power has already ordered a scrub of the e-mails because Mr. Goodwrench’s pleas may be interpreted by an uninformed journalist or government inspector as an indictment of their own executive stupidity.  And at the same time, other executives are actually sending him “holiday greetings,” being friendly, so if Goodwrench ends up on Sixty Minutes and writes a book, he will be nice to them.

My point is this, why should Goodwrench be wasted as one weekend of national entertainment on a Sunday Night news show?  Why shouldn’t he run General Motors?  If we, the tax payers, are going to bail them out, why can’t we have someone at the top who is not in the cult but is objective, with common sense, who knows what will work and why?  Why can’t we benefit from all of his good ideas?  Why shouldn’t he have those billions to spend?  And then maybe we could give the Japanese and the Koreans and Germans some competition. 

Give us Goodwrench!  If anybody knows who he is, or where he lives, speak up now!  We know he is out there.  Just as someone was laboring in the bowels of the FBI before 9-11 and was warning us about the use of jets as weapons.  Why do we have to repeat this story?  Give us Goodwrench!

Well, you say.  It is one thing to see the crisis coming and even have the right ideas, the plans that can solve the problems but how can this guy survive the culture at the top?  Does he have the corporate political savvy? 

And the answer is that he doesn’t have to last very long.  Just long enough to get us on the right track.  And anyway, the corporate political animals that come out on top will all be stealing his ideas anyway.

Oh, one other thing.  I have heard you nagging at me all through this blog.  Yes, I know, Mr. Goodwrench may be a woman.

Russia and Georgia: Ron Paul is right again

This story is a little more complicated than we thought.  And when I got back to the USA and started digesting all that I had seen and heard in Russian and the Ukraine and started looking into our own State Department involvement I was surprised to find Congressman Ron Paul in the middle of it.

And I can tell you that Ron Paul is right again.  Take a look at this…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuAuPXYT8No

Like most Americans I accepted the conclusions of our famous “keep it simple” national media and their instant interpretation of the Russian “invasion” of Georgia.  The big bullies were imposing their will on a tiny democracy that dared become an American friend and the Ukrainians were next.  Or so we were told. 

Pundits took to the airwaves to say that the Russians obviously were trying to preempt the new oil pipeline across Georgia and maybe get access to the Black Sea.  They surely had an eye on Ukraine next, to regain their breadbasket and to retake Sevastopol, the deep water naval port.  But my six trips to Russia and Ukraine, trips that have taken me from one end of both countries to the next, and allowed me to talk to Georgians, Russians and Ukrainians, have given me an entirely different perspective.

A poll in the Ukraine got my attention.  It showed that 70% of all Ukrainians thought that the Russian invasion of Georgia was needed and justified.  It didn’t sound to me like they considered themselves threatened, next in line, the next domino to fall, as good old, John Foster Dulles, might say.  What did the Ukrainians know that I didn’t?

Well, it turns out that Georgia and Ossetia and Abkhazia have been fighting each other for centuries.  Joseph Stalin, who hailed from Georgia, settled it once and for all, cutting Ossetia in two and declaring that South Ossetia and Abkhazia would henceforth be under the thumb of his old Georgian homeland.  That was that.  The war was over.  Georgia and Stalin won.  Call it the perks of a dictatorship; you can settle old scores from childhood.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union the Ossetians and Abkhazians demanded autonomy.  All through the communist era they had suffered job and power sharing discrimination.  Now it was their turn to unravel a mistake from the Stalinist era.  But the first leader of the newly independent Georgian Republic, President Gamsahurdia, would not have it.  His slogan “Georgia for Georgians” set the tone for what was to come.  But President Gamsahurdia ended up murdered and discovered days later, like a common citizen of the street.  The former KGB operative and later Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze mysteriously came to power.  And he, in turn, was overthrown by the popular President Saakashvili in the “Revolution of Roses.”

But the so-called “Revolution of Roses” has turned instead into a “Revolution of Thorns.”  The opposition press has been squashed.  Promised reforms were delayed and then cancelled altogether.  And then there was the action against the South Ossetians and Abkhazians.  The reason the Ukrainians cheered on the Russian invasion was because for days they watched on television as Ossetian civilians were shelled and bombed by Georgian forces.  Imagine the American Air Force and army, bombing and shelling an American city, say Houston or Atlanta, and you get the idea.  Even the Georgians I spoke with were embarrassed by what their government had done.

For days the Russians watched and did nothing.  Hoping that by moving troops to the border they could get the Georgians to stop the slaughter.  When the Georgian army moved to block a tunnel leading into the region, a tactical move which would have blocked any hope of Russian rescue, the Russian forces finally acted and invaded, ending the attacks on the population of the troubled region.

Now, the American news media has long sense abandoned any pretence at serious, objective news gathering.  The budgets are limited.  They have to find news where they already have a bureau close by with cameras and staff.  The point is that they simply didn’t have the interest or the money to get into Ossetia to show the destruction by the Georgians.   We missed that part.  What we got were the Russian tanks rolling in afterwards.  Ahhh, what theatre.  It was October, the same month that they had rolled into Budapest in 1956.  We thought we knew this story.

But the world is a different place today.  And if we haven’t figured that out in the United States yet, they surely have in the old former Soviet Union.  Communism is dead.  But leadership is not.  Russian Premier Putin is a man of action.  People and governments may massacre each other with impunity all over Africa and nobody seems to be able to do anything about it.  But not on Russia’s border.  That won’t be allowed.  And the whole region, except for Georgia, which got its hand caught in the cookie jar this time, is grateful.

There is a bumper sticker on cars in the Ukraine, the country our television experts told us was next on the Russian list of invasions.  The slogan says…. “loan us your Putin.”  Frustrated by a resurgence of street crime, deteriorating infrastructure and general disorder Ukrainians don’t want a reunion with Russia but they wouldn’t mind borrowing a leader for a few years to get things back on track.

Here are some YouTube stories that offer the other side of the story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE1WNJOfnHY

Laughing Georgian soldiers shooting up South Ossetia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu8DrIRsrKU

A visiting American gets caught in the middle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLoBckWl-dg

Even though trying to be supportive of the Georgians, a Fox TV reporter is suddenly shot at by Georgian troops.  The Fox reporter tries to explain why this has happened so we will understand and not blame them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEYEVoRa8K8&feature=related

Fox TV cuts their own story on Georgian attack that traps girl now safe in San Francisco.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lptVAbw5oos

Of course, you can find sensational video on all sides of this issue.  In any conflict, once the killing starts, reprisals follow.  But the thing to keep in mind is the date of each incident.  Who started the shelling and bombing and when and why?  What was the provocation or justification?

And the point that Congressman Ron Paul is making is sound.  American involvement in these conflicts does not make us safer.  It not only makes the world more dangerous, it makes us hated by millions of new people who might have been our friends.  And it is all costing us billions of dollars which we are borrowing from China.